The Better To Hear?

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – I got curious, and went on a search. When, I wondered, did the Democrats and Republicans begin using donkeys and elephants as party symbols? And more puzzling, WHY? A donkey, aka, JACKASS, with an annoying bray? And a big lumbering elephant who would surely eat you out of house and home if you let it in?

Turns out the story actually does begin with somebody calling somebody a jackass. Andrew Jackson, back in the election of 1828, was depicted as being “stubborn as a jackass” and Andrew just flat turned it around and, with a donkey as a mascot, beat out John Quincy Adams! Remember, Adams became president in 1824, though Jackson had won the popular vote. But Jackson tried it again, and whupped Adams you-know-what. It was a landslide.

The “mascot” idea didn’t really catch on until the mid-1800’s however, and I found some interesting examples of political cartoons. The first I’ll share, with full credit to American Antiquarian, explains what “seeing the elephant” generally referred to. Citation: “Jeff. Sees the Elephant,” The News Media and the Making of America, 1730-1865, https://americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/items/show/120

Jeff. Sees the Elephant

This color lithograph published by E. B. & E. C. Kellogg of Hartford, Connecticut, and George Whiting of New York City dates from 1861 or 1862. It is believed to be the first time that the elephant and donkey appear together depicting the Republican and Democratic parties. The phrase “to see the elephant” was a common expression in the mid-nineteenth century and often appears in descriptions of both the gold rush and the Civil War. It is thought to originate with the circus. The large mammals such as lions and elephants were the climax of the circus experience and always appeared toward the end of the performances. When one had “seen the elephant” then one had seen the entire show. The term then gradually became synonymous with experiencing or” seeing it all.”

In this image the elephant bedecked in formal attire with accessories festooned with stars and stripes and the U.S. Constitution in his pocket represents the Union. The cannon barrels protruding from his waistcoat, and the multitude of even more cannon and cannon balls behind him, represent the great military prowess of the Northern states. Eventually Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) took on the elephant as his mascot. By his reelection campaign in 1864, trunks and tusks were used in his campaign materials and “the elephant is coming” became his slogan. Republicans have been associated with elephants ever since.

This humorous image also contains Jefferson Davis (1808-89) as a donkey, peering through a monocle at the elephant and his enormous quantity of arms and armaments. Behind him is an army of “jackasses” carrying pitchforks, rakes, brooms, and scythes, which are clearly no match for the North’s cannon. The gallows in the center background of the image portends a bleak future for the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis was a lifelong Democrat, having served as a U. S. representative and senator before becoming president of the Confederacy after the South seceded.

A fellow named Thomas Nast (1840 – 1902), a German-born American caricaturist, is considered the “Father of American Political Cartoons.” He was associated with Harper’s Weekly, and popularized the donkey-elephant symbols in his work. In general, his political cartoons supported American Indians and Chinese Americans. He advocated the abolition of slavery, opposed racial segregation, and deplored the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. Harper’s Weekly, and Nast, played an important role in the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and Ulysses S Grant in 1868 and 1872.

Clifford Berryman (1869 – 1949) was another influential political cartoonist; he worked with both the Washington Post and Washington Star. He drew thousands of cartoons commenting on American presidents, lampooning both of the Roosevelts and Harry Truman. A Pulitzer Prize winner, his cartoons are in the National Archives, and the Library of Congress today.

I found hundreds of donkey-elephant images during my search – they seem to be handy critters for “poking fun” or making serious accusations in a clever, right-to-the-point manner. The DEFINITION of each animal didn’t go far in explaining how they keep winding up on bumper stickers every four years though:

• Donkey: a domesticated hoofed mammal of the horse family with long ears and a braying call, used as a beast of burden; an ass.
• Elephant: a heavy plant-eating mammal with a prehensile trunk, long curved ivory tusks, and large ears, native to Africa and southern Asia; the largest living land animal.

Then I thought of PETA

PETA had been thinking about it too, and published a piece about it. In a showdown, which real animal would win? PETA called it a tie.  https://www.peta.org/blog/elephants-vs-donkeys-win/

• Physical prowess: Elephants are active for 18 hours a day and can travel up to 30 miles a day. Donkeys can run up to 30 miles per hour and are sure-footed on rocky mountain crags.
• Compassion: Elephants will pitch in to help a mother elephant rescue her drowning baby. Donkeys are affectionate and patient with children.
• Beauty: Standing up to 13 feet tall with trunks that can reach for 7 feet, elephants make a majestic sight. Donkeys are beautiful with soft coats of fawn, chocolate, red, or black fur and a graceful gait.
• Intelligence: Elephants figured out a shortcut researchers hadn’t thought of in an experiment to see if they could work together, both pulling opposite ends of a rope, in order to move food close to them. Donkeys are smart too; companion donkeys answer to their names, go for walks off leash, and can even learn to pull carts through obstacle courses.
• Enjoying leisure time: Elephants like to cool off by using their trunks to spray water all over their bodies. Donkeys like to roll on their backs in the grass or dirt and love receiving treats and ear rubs.

One thing is clear. Both animals have big ears. The better to hear you with?

Who Counts?

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Interesting, isn’t it, that women fought so long and hard to be allowed to vote, but still must live in the right state for their vote to count. That’s true for men too! If you favor a Democrat, but live in a state full of Republicans, your vote isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. And vice versa. In fact, you don’t actually vote for a CANDIDATE at all, though political campaigns are designed to appeal directly to the individual, coddling us with love and promises, if we vote for THEM.

Once our vote is cast, however, it actually starts a ride through the maze known as the Electoral College, and if you recollect, five times since 1788 a candidate has won the popular vote but lost the election.

• Andrew Jackson in 1824 had 38,149 more votes than John Quincy Adams, but lost.
• Samuel Tilden (Dem) in 1876 had 254,235 more votes than Rutherford B Hayes (Rep), but lost.
• Grover Cleveland (Dem) in 1888 had 90,596 more votes than Benjamin Harrison (Rep), but lost.
• Al Gore (Dem) in 2000 had 543,895 more votes than George W Bush (Rep), but lost.
• Hillary Clinton (Dem) in 2016 had 2,868,686 more votes than Donald J Trump (Rep), but lost.

The Electoral College

I’m sure you’ve got this memorized from Civics 101 in 6th grade, but just in case the details have gotten fuzzy, here is where your vote goes. Established in Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States. Each state has as many “electors” in the Electoral College as it has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress, and the District of Columbia has three electors. When voters go to the polls in a Presidential election, they actually are voting for the slate of electors vowing to cast their ballots for that ticket in the Electoral College.

Got that? You are voting for Electors.

Most states require that all electoral votes go to the candidate who receives the plurality in that state. After state election officials certify the popular vote of each state, the winning slate of electors meet in the state capital and cast two ballots—one for Vice President and one for President. Electors cannot vote for a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate who both hail from an elector’s home state.

But not every state is the same.

Maine and Nebraska employ a “district system” in which two at-large electors vote for the state’s popular plurality and one elector votes for each congressional district’s popular plurality. In the November 2, 2004 election, Colorado voters rejected a “proportional system” in which electors would vote proportionally based on the state’s popular vote.

The District of Columbia and 26 states “bind” their electors to vote for their promised candidate, via a number of methods including oaths and fines. Though still rare, electors more commonly changed their vote in the 19th century—particularly on the vote for Vice President. Such “faithless electors” have never decided a Presidency however.

There has been one faithless elector in each of the following elections: 1948, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1988. A blank ballot was cast in 2000. In 2016, seven electors broke with their state on the presidential ballot and six did so on the vice presidential ballot.

Faithless Electors! But to continue – A Job You Wouldn’t Want

Since the mid-20th century, on January 6 at 1:00 pm before a Joint Session of Congress, the Vice President opens the votes from each state in alphabetical order. He passes the votes to four tellers—two from the House and two from the Senate—who announce the results. House tellers include one Representative from each party and are appointed by the Speaker. At the end of the count, the Vice President then declares the name of the next President. With the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (and starting with the 75th Congress in 1937), the electoral votes are counted before the newly sworn-in Congress, elected the previous November. Sitting Vice Presidents John C. Breckinridge (1861), Richard Nixon (1961), Hubert Humphrey (1969), and Al Gore (2001) all had to announce that they had lost their own bid for the Presidency. https://history.house.gov/

There have been a total of 165 instances of elector faithlessness as of 2016. The United States Constitution does not specify a notion of pledging; no federal law or constitutional statute binds an elector’s vote to anything. All pledging laws originate at the state level. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Chiafalo v. Washington that states are free to enforce laws that bind electors to voting for the winner of the popular vote in their state.

Supporters of the Electoral College argue that it is fundamental to American federalism, that it requires candidates to appeal to voters outside large cities, increases the political influence of small states, preserves the two-party system, and makes the electoral outcome appear more legitimate.

Non-supporters would argue that the Electoral College places powers governing a national election within state boundaries and removes the ability of the individual to select their leader.

Voting, and the Virus

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – As of August 20, the World Health Organization reports 22,536,278 cases of COVID-19 in the world. Of that, 5,511,793 cases are in the United States, a number which amounts to one quarter, that is 25% of the worldwide total. In case you’re wondering, the population of the United States is 5% of the world population. Just saying.

I find it difficult to keep up with the current hoopla about “who is doing what when” with regard to decisions about managing a pandemic on local ground; and even more hoopla about “how to have a secure vote” with regard to the upcoming presidential election. So the recent announcement about New Zealand’s decision to postpone a national election due to an upsurge in COVID-19 cases really caught my eye.

Action in New Zealand

On Monday, August 17 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand announced that the September national election would be delayed by four weeks as new virus cases spread across Auckland, making it difficult to campaign. Prime Minister Ardern, who has the sole authority to determine when people cast ballots, said she had consulted with all the major parties before delaying the vote, originally scheduled for September 19, to October 17. Ms Ardern called the decision a compromise that “provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we could be campaigning under, for the electoral commission to prepare, and for voters to feel assured of a safe, accessible and critical election.”

The shift keeps Election Day within the time frame allowed under the law — the latest possible date is November 21 — but it also highlights the national concern as a cluster of at least 58 new cases frustrates investigators, clears the streets of Auckland and suspends scheduled campaign events. Pressure on Ms Ardern and her Labour Party to change the date had been building over several days. A poll taken over the weekend showed that 60 percent of New Zealanders favored a delay. The leaders of other major parties also argued that the Level 3 lockdown in Auckland, the country’s largest city, prevented campaigning and would have made a free and fair election impossible on the original date.

I noted earlier, when on my NDI RTW visit to New Zealand, that their voting process is quite different from the US, where campaigning begins early and the media races to outdo itself by predicting, and announcing, results “before midnight.” I still recall my frustration in Seattle one year when I headed for the polls after work, only to hear “the winner declared” on the car radio. With our current Cell Phone Mentality, it’s a second-by-second race to get ahead of the game. I call it blather. Just saying.

From the New Zealand Electoral Commission webpage, I see today’s schedule for their 2020 General Election.

• Monday 17 August: Prime Minister announces new dates for the 2020 General Election
• Tuesday 18 August: Regulated period for election advertising expenses begins
• Sunday 6 September: Parliament dissolves
• Sunday 13 September: Writ Day – the Governor General formally directs us to hold the Election
• Thursday 17 September noon: Deadline for party secretaries to get their bulk nomination schedules and the party lists to us
• Friday 18 September noon: Deadline for electorate candidates to get their individual nomination forms to us
• Wednesday 30 September: Overseas voting starts
• Saturday 3 October: Advance voting starts
• Friday 16 October: Advance voting ends
• Friday 16 October midnight: The regulated period ends. All election and referendum advertising must end. Signs must be taken down by midnight.
• Saturday 17 October: Election day. Voters can vote from 9am to 7pm
• We’ll start releasing preliminary election results from 7pm on electionresults.govt.nz
• We won’t count referendum votes on election night
• Friday 30 October: We release the preliminary results for the referendums
• Friday 6 November: We declare the official results for the general election and referendums
• Thursday 12 November: Last day for the return of the writ

Easy peasy. Sit back and have a cup of tea. So, what will Ms Arden and the New Zealand government DO during this “delayed election” time? They will focus primarily on the virus. Health officials in New Zealand are scrambling to test thousands of workers at airports and other points of entry, along with quarantine facilities and a frozen food warehouse, to try to determine how the virus re-emerged last week.

New Zealand’s election is far from the first to be postponed because of the pandemic. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems reports as of  08/20/2020 that 64 countries and eight territories have postponed a total of 109 election events due to COVID-19, ranging from local municipal elections to parliamentary and national events. The idea of delaying the US general election was floated by President Donald Trump, but it was shut down by members of Congress and his own party.

Everything you need to know about voting in New Zealand https://vote.nz/

Everything you need to know about voting in United States https://www.usa.gov/election

Women, And Politics

August 19, 2020, Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Iceland, a parliamentary representative democracy at the northern end of the globe, was the first country to have a female president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, elected in 1980. It also has the world’s first female and openly gay head of government, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who was elected prime minister in 2009. Iceland has had a woman as either president or prime minister for 20 of the last 36 years. In the 2016 parliamentary election covering 63 seats, 30 women were elected.

New Zealand, a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government at the southern end of the globe, was the first country in the world in which all the highest offices were occupied by women, between March 2005 and August 2006: the Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson, and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias. Currently Queen Elizabeth II continues as Head of State, Governor-General is Dame Patsy Reddy, Prime Minister is Jacinda Arden and Chief Justice is Dame Helen Winkelmann.

There has never been a female President or Vice-President in the United States, a federal democratic republic. There has been one female major party presidential nominee in US history: Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. She was the first woman nominated for president by a major party, the first woman to participate in a presidential debate, and the first to carry a state in a general election. She won the popular vote in 2016, receiving nearly 66 million votes to Donald Trump’s 63 million.

There have been three female major party vice presidential nominees: Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, on the ticket with Walter Mondale; Republican Sarah Palin in 2008, on the ticket with John McCain; and Democrat Kamala Harris in 2020, on the ticket with Joe Biden.

Voting

Both Iceland and New Zealand rank in the World List of Voter Participation Top 10 , each averaging about 76% turnout. Others in the TOP 10 are Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, South Korea, Netherlands, Israel, and Finland. The United States ranks in the World List of Voter Participation Bottom 10, with 56% in the 2016 presidential election. Others in the BOTTOM 10 are Estonia, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Chile, Japan, Latvia, Poland, Mexico, and Switzerland.

August 26, 2020, marks the 100^th anniversary of the passage of The Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote in the United States after 72 years of the largest civil rights movement in the history of the world.

THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE TIMELINE as complied in the LIZ LIBRARY is available for your review; read of the events that have transpired since 1776, when Abigail Adams first spoke up for “the ladies.” http://www.thelizlibrary.org/suffrage/

I offer only a few highlights regarding women’s efforts to be ALLOWED to vote.

1700s

• 1776 Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, asking him to “remember the ladies” in the new code of laws. Adams replies the men will fight the “despotism of the petticoat.”
• 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention places voting qualifications in the hands of the states. Women in all states except New Jersey lose the right to vote.

1800s

• 1848 First Women’s Rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Equal suffrage proposed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. After debate of so radical a notion, it is adopted.
• 1867 Fourteenth Amendment passes Congress, defining citizens as “male;” this is the first use of the word male in the Constitution. Kansas campaign for black and woman suffrage: both lose. Susan B. Anthony forms Equal Rights Association, working for universal suffrage. Suffrage Movement Divides Over Black v. Woman Suffrage.
• 1868 Fourteenth amendment ratified. Fifteenth Amendment passes Congress, giving the vote to black men. Women petition to be included but are turned down. Formation of New England Woman Suffrage Association. In New Jersey, 172 women attempt to vote; their ballots are ignored.
• 1870 Fifteenth Amendment ratified. The Grimke sisters and 42 other women attempt to vote in Massachusetts, their ballots are cast but ignored. Utah territory grants woman suffrage.
• 1878 Woman suffrage amendment first introduced in U.S. Congress.
• 1894 Despite 600,000 signatures, a petition for woman suffrage is ignored in New York.

1900s

• 1910 Washington (state) grants woman suffrage.
• 1911 California grants woman suffrage. In New York City, 3,000 march for suffrage.
• 1912 Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive Party includes woman suffrage in their platform. Oregon, Arizona, and Kansas grant woman suffrage.
• 1913 Women’s Suffrage parade on the eve of Wilson’s inauguration is attacked by a mob. Alaskan Territory grants suffrage. Illinois grants municipal and presidential but not state suffrage to women.
• 1917 Beginning in January, NWP posts silent “Sentinels of Liberty” at the White House. In June, the arrests begin. Nearly 500 women are arrested, 168 women serve jail time, some are brutalized by their jailers. North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan grant presidential suffrage; Arkansas grants primary suffrage. New York, South Dakota, and Oklahoma state constitutions grant suffrage.
• 1918 The jailed suffragists released from prison. Appellate court rules all the arrests were illegal. President Wilson declares support for suffrage. Suffrage Amendment passes U.S. House with exactly a two-thirds vote but loses by two votes in the Senate.
• 1919 In January, the NWP lights and guards a “Watchfire for Freedom.” It is maintained until the Suffrage Amendment passes U.S. Senate on June 4. The battle for ratification by at least 36 states begins.

And that battle ENDED in Tennessee on August 18, 1920, 100 years and 1 day ago. The story told by the guide when I toured the Nashville capitol was that young Harry T Burn from Niota gets credit for what happened that fateful day. At least, his mother does. The resolution had passed the Tennessee State Senate, but the vote in the House was close, in fact, on first vote it did not pass. Harry’s mother, Febb Ensminger Burn, a prominent businesswoman, sent her son a note. After lunch, he changed his vote, then HID from the angry crowds, but that one vote was all it took. Tennessee was the 36^th and final state needed for ratification and the 19^th Amendment became law August 26, 1920.

Women, and Politics. Interesting.

Potato Potatoe

August 18, 2020, Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – There is a political convention going on today, sort of a TV event. Watchers will get doused with speeches about issues, and positions, and planks and platforms and worthiness. When a person runs for political office, they wind up smack in the middle of the bullseye; everything they’ve ever done, or haven’t,  is attacked, or praised, or tangled up with spin control and one-jump-ahead-itis. One must filter wisely.  Lots of buzz about a female VP on the Democratic ticket. Lots of buzz about AGE too. Something I notice myself, being 81. I did a little research, on that matter, and others.

AGE. Assuming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris get through the convention as The Democratic Candidates for 2020, and assuming that Donald Trump and Mike Pence get through next week’s convention as The Republican Candidates for 2020, here are their birthdates and how their ages stack up, oldest to youngest. See how old they will be on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021 and again in 2025.

• 1942, November 11 – Joe Biden 78-82
• 1946, June 14 – Donald Trump 74-78
• 1959, June 7 – Mike Pence 61-65
• 1964, October 20 – Kamala Harris 56-60

That means an average age of 67 for the Democrats, and 67.5 for the Republicans on Inauguration Day, for those who are concerned about AGE. Don’t forget – lifestyle is as much a part of aging as years out of the womb. The youngest elected president was John Kennedy who was 43 when he took office; Teddy Roosevelt was 42 when he took office after McKinley’s assassination.  Nine vice presidents have become president unexpectedly – John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson through a president’s death and Gerald Ford through a president’s resignation. The oldest elected president was Donald Trump, who was 70 when he moved into the White House.

There is also a lot of talk about APPEARANCE. Who has the prettiest hair, and the most of it? Who has the nicest smile? This counted for a LOT during the Nixon-Kennedy debates. Remember that? We’ve had some really FAT presidents and really TALL presidents and some BALD presidents. What should POTUS look like? Dignified? Commanding? Trustworthy?

Do you believe EDUCATION is important? Where a person went to school, and what they studied. You’d think grades might be important, but those records are closed, for some of the candidates. Here’s what I found about college, alphabetically.

• BA Hanover College & JD Indiana University – Mike Pence
• BA Howard University & JD University of California, Hastings – Kamala Harris
• BA University of Delaware & JD Syracuse – Joe Biden
• BS Wharton School – Donald Trump

RELIGION. Does that make a difference to you? That also factored large in the Kennedy-Nixon campaign. Kennedy was a CATHOLIC and non-Catholics had great fear that the Vatican would rule the US with a Catholic president. But remember, Kennedy was good looking enough to overcome that. Here’s the religious preferences the four claim.

• American Baptist; grew up attending Black Baptist Church and Hindu Temple, husband is Jewish – Kamala Harris
• Catholic, attends mass regularly with wife Jill – Joe Biden
• Evangelical Catholic; grew up Catholic, switched to Grace Evangelical megachurch – Mike Pence
• Presbyterian, doesn’t attend; wife Melania Catholic – Donald Trump

FAMILY. Spouse, kids? Some good stories here, as the years have gone by.

• 1966 – Joe Biden married Neilia Hunter, they had three children, Hunter, Beau and Naomi
• 1972 – Joe Biden was widowed when Neilia was killed in an automobile accident; daughter Naomi, age 1, died too
• 1977 – Donald Trump married Ivana Zelníčková, they had three children, Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric
• 1977 – Joe Biden married Jill Jacobs, they had a daughter, Ashley
• 1985 – Mike Pence married Karen Batten, they had three children, Michael, Charlotte, Audrey
• 1992 – Donald Trump and Ivana Zelníčková divorced
• 1993 – Donald Trump married Marla Maples, they had a daughter, Tiffany
• 1999 – Donald Trump and Marla Maples divorced
• 2005 – Donald Trump married Melania Knauss, they had a son, Barron
• 2014 – Kamala Harris married Douglas Emhoff, he has two children, Cole and Ella, who call Kamala “Momala” rather than stepmom

BIRTHPLACE. This has been a topic of note in previous campaigns. Where were they born? Where did they grow up? How many in their family? Which state can claim them?

• California, Oakland. Kamala Harris was born here, grew up in Berkeley with one sister Maya; mother, Indian, was a biologist in cancer research; father, Jamaican, a professor of economics at Stanford.
• Indiana, Columbus. Mike Pence was born and raised here, along with five siblings; mother Irish ancestry, father, Irish/German descent, operated a group of service stations.
• New York, NYC Queens. Donald Trump was born and raised here with four siblings; mother born in Scotland, father German descent, real estate businessman.
• Pennsylvania, Scranton. Joe Biden was born here, grew up here and in Delaware with three siblings; mother Irish descent; father Irish, French, English, a used-car salesman.

POLITICAL OFFICE. Also bandied about – how many times has a candidate been ELECTED and SERVED in public office?

• 10 Joe Biden: 1 Delaware Councilman, 7 US Senator, 2 Vice President
• 5 Kamala Harris: 2 District Attorney, 2 State Attorney General, 1 US Senator
• 4 Mike Pence: 2 US Representative, 1 State Governor, 1 Vice President
• 1 Donald Trump: 1 President

NAME. What’s in a name? Names are good for name-calling, nick-naming, and campaign buttons, such as I Like Ike. Or Honest Abe. What is their actual spelled out name their Mama gave them? And what chemical reactions, or memories, or associations pop into your head when you see the words?

• Donald John Trump
• Joseph Robinette Biden
• Kamala Devi Harris
• Michael Richard Pence

I didn’t get any info on their favorite TV shows. That is a telling qualification too. Favorite foods…pets…hobbies…where they go on vacation…if they do. Knowledge of geography. Spelling skills.

Count Me!

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – I’m signed up for regular updates from the U S Census Bureau because I love anything that gives me facts and figures to analyze. And as a dedicated student of family history, I rely heavily on Census records to “follow footsteps through time.” I was delighted a few years back when the Census was released that first had MY name on it! I was verified. There is something very satisfying about being counted. And 2020 is time to do it again.

As you may know, every 10 years the United States counts its population. It’s a requirement, written into the Constitution. And the first count dates back to our first president, when U S Marshals conducted the census on horseback. It’s happened once a decade since then, as the country has continued to grow, and changes in our laws, our cultural norms and our attitudes have changed the focus of information gathered, and questions asked, in an effort to make sure everyone is counted.

1790

The very first U S Census was conducted a year after George Washington took office. Every household in the original 13 states was visited, plus the districts of Kentucky, Maine, Vermont, and the Southwest Territory. The inquiries called for the name of the head of household, and the number of persons living in the household, as described:

• Free white male of 16 years and up (to assess the country’s industrial and military potential)
• Free white males under 16
• Free white females
• Slaves

The count according to that first census as of August 2, 1790 was 3,929,214.

1850

It was 1850 when the inquiries expanded to include every free person’s name, not just the head of household. Relationships were not listed, just names and ages, but additional “social statistics” included information on taxes, schools, crime, wages, and value of the estate.

Zachary Taylor was President of the United States on Census Day June 1, 1850. The U S had grown to 30 states by then, with a population count of 23,191,876.

1870

Census Day was June 1 in 1870 and Ulysses S Grant was President of our 37 United States.

After the Civil War, the decennial census questionnaires were redesigned to end the slave questionnaire. The schedules for the 1870 census were: General Population, Mortality, Agriculture, Products of Industry, and Social Statistics.

This was the first year a rudimentary tallying machine helped with the count, which added up to 38,558,371.

1880

Census Day was June 1 in 1880 and Rutherford B. Hayes was President of our 38 United States.

This census is a genealogists dream, because for the first time, relationships to “head of household” are listed: wife, son, daughter, and such things as lodger, or servant. Information about Alaska was included in this census, as well as all untaxed Indians within the jurisdiction of the United States.

The count in 1880 was 50,189,209.

1920

Census Day was January 1 in 1920 (more people would be at home in January, was the theory, than during the busy summertime) and Woodrow Wilson was President of our 48 states.

The format no longer asked about service in the Union or Confederate army or navy and there was no separate schedule for Indians in 1920. The instructions to enumerators did not require that individuals spell out their names. Enumerators wrote down the information given to them; they were not authorized to request proof of age, and the determination of race was based on the enumerator’s impressions.

Can you guess what our population count was a hundred years ago? 106,021,537!

2020

What will our 24^th U S Census reveal?

The 2020 Census counts every person living in the United States and five U S territories, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U S Virgin Islands. Each home received an invitation to respond to a short questionnaire—online, by phone, or by mail—between March 12-20. No horseback! House calls only as necessary or requested.

Why is it so important to respond?

The census provides critical data that lawmakers, business owners, teachers, and many others use to provide daily services, products, and support for you and your community. Every year, billions of dollars in federal funding go to hospitals, fire departments, schools, roads, and other resources based on census data. The results of the census also determine the number of seats each state will have in the U S House of Representatives, and they are used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.

The Census Bureau will never ask for your:

• Social Security number.
• Money or donations.
• Anything on behalf of a political party.
• Bank or credit card account numbers.

Additionally, there is no citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

If you haven’t responded yet, you can do so online, go here.

https://2020census.gov/en/what-is-2020-census.html

And for a little fun, test your knowledge of census history with this quiz. I did, and (brag, brag) I answered every question correctly. Hint: read the third paragraph of this post and you’ll ace the first question.

https://2020census.gov/en/what-is-2020-census/focus/history-quiz.html

Birds of a Feather

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – “Are you a bird watcher? Can you recognize bird calls? There is a particular bird I hear all the time around here that I can’t pinpoint. I’m going to do some research this morning on it.” Those questions were posed to me in my early morning weekly email from friend Rita today.

The answer is Yes, and No. My Katy cat and I are inveterate bird watchers, though I suspect for vastly different reasons. (I don’t view them as potential “dinner,” I watch because birds are beautiful, and smart.) My Birds of Arkansas Field Guide by Stan Tekiela is clogged with paperclips as I mark every species of bird I spot in my yard, more than 20 so far.

Brown-headed Cowbird * Downy Woodpecker * Eastern Bluebird * Blue Jay * Pine Siskin * House Finch * House Sparrow * White-throated Sparrow * Northern Cardinal * Brown Thrasher * Mourning Dove * Red-breasted Nuthatch * White-breasted Nuthatch * Dark-eyed Junco * American Robin * Ruby-throated Hummingbird * House Finch * American Goldfinch * Northern Mockingbird

I can identify these birds because Tekiela’s book includes gorgeous color pictures, as well as detailed descriptions of a bird’s size, and habits. Even their sounds, but there are so many that my answer is “No, Rita I do not recognize bird calls.” I can tell when a call is quarrelsome (and they do get into quarrels around the feeders!). And we all recognize the squawk of a blue jay or the disagreeable sounds that a crow makes, strutting around the yard like the King of Sheba.

My favorite is the Northern Cardinal, an elegant bird of medium size (8”-9”) with a reddish-orange beak and a black mask. The male is a vivid red, but the female is buff brown with tinges of red on her crest; with the same black mask and orange beak. I’ve noted that the male and female often come to the feeder as a pair; the male first to “check it out;” then he watches as she feeds. He makes a good husband and father – during courtship the male feeds the female; he also feeds the young of the first brood while she builds the second nest. They live in “cup” nests and generally produce 2-3 broods a year, so your yard might have a number of fledglings throughout the summer. Cardinals are non-territorial in the winter time, hanging around Arkansas as non-migrators and gathering in small flocks of up to 20 birds at a time. And their call is, most appropriately Rita, “whata-cheer-cheer-cheer.”

Bird-watching is a great activity to take up anytime, but now with quarantines and social distancing guidelines in place, it goes to the top of the list as an easy, inexpensive, and highly entertaining way to spend time. It is great for young kids, old fogies, and everyone who has a minute, or a long day, stretching ahead. I just sent a hummingbird feeder kit to the mother of a four-year-old tasked with entertaining an energetic little one all summer – in addition to the feeder itself is a pack of wildflower seeds to plant, and tend to, and a book about the hummingbird, one of the hardiest critters God ever created.

Start your birdwatching with a simple feeder outside a window. You can watch birds coming and going and feeding and chatting from inside your air-conditioned house. If you’re really serious about attracting and caring for birds, create a wildlife habitat in your yard. Birds need a few simple things: cover and places to safely raise their young, and water and food sources. To have your habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation, you must follow sustainable practices such as reducing lawn size, using native plants, and eliminating chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Besides being a simple bird lover, who finds birds fascinating creatures (yes, they crap on the porch, so what), I am a member of two organizations I recommend to everyone. Yes, they will ask you for money (again, so what).

One is the National Audubon Society, whose mission is “to protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. We conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and their habitats, for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.”  https://www.audubon.org/

The other is the National Wildlife Federation, whose statement “We Believe” goes like this: America’s experience with cherished landscapes and wildlife has helped define and shape our national character and identity for generations. Protecting these natural resources is a cause that has long united Americans from all walks of life and political stripes. To hunters, anglers, hikers, birders, wildlife watchers, boaters, climbers, campers, cyclists, gardeners, farmers, forest stewards, and other outdoor enthusiasts, this conservation ethic represents a sacred duty and obligation to protect and build upon our conservation heritage for the sake of wildlife, ourselves, our neighbors, and—most of all—for future generations. https://www.nwf.org/

Check it out. You know the rhyme: birds of a feather, stick together.

The Glad Game

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – If ever a year called for The Glad Game, 2020 may be it. The Glad Game, you know, a way of coping by looking for the positives in a difficult situation. Eleanor H Porter first wrote about such a “game” in her 1913 novel Pollyanna, a story about a young girl who faced life with an unfailingly positive attitude about everything. Her father created the game when the missionary barrel arrived with a pair of crutches for her, although she’d asked for a doll. “Be glad,” her father said with a smile, “that you don’t need them.”

After Pollyanna’s mother and father died, at age 12 she was sent to live with a stern aunt who relegated her to a room in the stuffy attic. Still Pollyanna managed to find things to be glad about. Sent to the kitchen with only bread and milk because she was tardy for dinner? “I love bread and milk!” said Pollyanna. She taught The Glad Game to everyone in the village – whiny Mrs Snow, who had been bedridden for years, refusing even to look out the window; grumpy Mr Pendleton, who barely spoke and wouldn’t lift a finger to help a soul. They changed. Even Aunt Polly began to smile as the infectious spirit of optimism filled the house.

That’s the way it works.

I admit to being sad of late. Sad for my three grandchildren who suffered a senior year of school closures and virtual graduation ceremonies, masked and alone even for the filming of those. Sad for my uncle, who spent the last three months of his 96 years in quarantine, a world traveler no more. His body is now stored at the funeral home until August, funerals are that backed up. Sad for my stepmother, also 96, quarantined in a nursing home, no family in-person contact; and for friends experiencing the same situation with their loved ones. Sad for many family members who have been instructed to work from home since March 1, or whose salary was cut, or, who were laid off. Sad that my Round The World trip, which was to begin July 7, will not happen. Sad, by golly, about the toilet paper shortage! And those are just things that affect me directly and personally, before tuning in to the daily news of despair all around the world. It was time to buck up.

So I called on Pollyanna today. I watched the most recent of the movies that have been made based on Porter’s book, a TV Masterpiece version starring Amanda Burton as Aunt Polly and Georgina Terry as Pollyanna. I am GLAD Eleanor Porter wrote that first book and created the entrancing Pollyanna character. She has cheered folks and lifted spirits through world wars and depressions and other ups and downs for over a hundred years. Other authors have chimed in over time with “Pollyanna Glad Books” – Harriet Smith, Elizabeth Borton, and Virginia Moffit to name a few; I counted fourteen at least.

A silent film starring Mary Pickford as Pollyanna came out in 1920. Pickford was 23 at the time, playing the role of a twelve-year old! The film grossed $1.1 million ($14 million in today’s dollars), a huge success. You may be more familiar with Disney’s 1960 version starring Hayley Mills, who won a special Oscar for the role.

Other adaptations of the Pollyanna character include a Turkish musical drama comedy, a BBC TV serial, a Japanese 51-episode anime TV series, a Disney TV musical with an African-American cast, and in 2018, a Brazilian telenovela. Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley produced The Glad Game for a time, and Glad Clubs were in vogue. In 2002 a statue depicting a smiling Pollyanna was unveiled in Littleton, New Hampshire, Eleanor H Porter’s home town.

Hang Miss Pollyanna’s picture beside your TV screen, or wherever you get your daily pandemic updates. A little optimism can go a long way. It radiates, you know.

Patchwork Love: The Buzz

Good news, readers and planning-to-be readers — Patchwork Love is now being read in 47 states (that we know of) and in Japan and the UK! If you’ve already got your copy, and have already read it — please go to Amazon.com and post a glowing review. Yes, it’s okay to tell everyone how much you enjoyed it, and how intriguing the characters are. (Just don’t give away the surprise ending.) And after THAT, tell at least three people about the book, and where they can get it. Or order one sent directly to someone else. They’ll thank you.

If you’ve got your copy but haven’t read it yet, my goodness, what are you waiting for? It’s a mystery wrapped around a love story with plenty of “I can’t believe they really did that” thrown in. What it isn’t is one of those one-two slam-bam quickies that slide to an end even before you’ve finished your first nibblies. No, as one reader said, you need to “snuggle in and get absorbed.” Connect. Make friends with the wonderful characters who live in Wake Robin. Get to know Merit, and Lovely. And  those kids. Reading this book will enrich your life and boost you up for spring.

And if you haven’t got your copy YET, don’t let the buzz pass you by. Order Patchwork Love. Do it today.

Making the List

Getting High

It’s a thrill to “make the list,” and to be able to proudly proclaim across the top of your book cover “New York Times Best Seller.” It is wonderful when your book pops up as a “top seller” with Amazon’s powerful marketing clout.

Sales rankings can change on a dime – just like the ups and downs of the stock market, not entirely predictable, though the tried and true reliables always seem to do well. A check of today’s best sellers has some newbies at the top – Andy Weir and Celeste Ng have a second book on the lists, helped no doubt by the resounding success of their first book not so very long ago.

Andy Weir is a hero to all “first novelists” – The Martian (2011) was a hit as a book, and then a movie, with Matt Damon, no less. Congrats, Andy, good job! The list is well populated with the tried and true as well – Dan Brown, John Grisham, James Patterson, E L James, Nora Roberts. Seven men, six women, ages 60 to 25, writing about murder and mayhem, love and romance, and who knows what all. How does an author get to the top? And a better question – and stay there?

“Develop a following,” is good advice; create a series, perfect a style. That’s the way to sell books. And keep writing.

That’s the plan.

Top Authors on the New York Times Best Selling List and/or  Amazon’s Most Sold List December 29, 2017

• Andy Weir, b 1972, 2^nd book. http://andyweirauthor.com/
• Celeste Ng, b 1980, 2^nd book. https://www.celesteng.com/
• Dan Brown, b 1964, http://danbrown.com/
• E L James, b 1963, http://www.eljamesauthor.com/
• Ernest Cline, b 1972, site NA
• James Patterson, b 1947, http://www.jamespatterson.com/
• John Grisham, b 1955, http://www.jgrisham.com/
• Lee Child, b 1954, http://www.leechild.com/
• Lisa Wingate, http://www.lisawingate.com/
• Mark Sullivan, b 1958, https://marksullivanbooks.com/
• Nora Roberts, b 1950, http://www.noraroberts.com/
• R J Palacio, b 1963, 1^st book, best seller since 2012. https://wonderthebook.com/about
• Rupi Kaur, b 1992, https://rupikaur.com/

TOP TEN NEW YORK TIMES FICTION BOOKS REPORTING TODAY

https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/

1. ORIGIN by Dan Brown. A symbology professor goes on a perilous quest with a beautiful museum director.
2. THE ROOSTER BAR by John Grisham. Three students at a sleazy for-profit law school hope to expose the student-loan banker who runs it.
3. THE SUN AND HER FLOWERS by Rupi Kaur.  A new collection of poetry from the author of “Milk and Honey.”
4. THE PEOPLE VS. ALEX CROSS by James Patterson. Detective Cross takes on a case even though he has been suspended from the department and taken to federal court to stand trial on murder charges.
5. MILK AND HONEY by Rupi Kaur. Poetic approaches to surviving adversity and loss.
6. DARKER by E.L. James. Christian Grey’s tormented and difficult pursuit of Anastasia Steele is told from his perspective.
7. THE MIDNIGHT LINE by Lee Child. Jack Reacher tracks down the owner of a pawned West Point class ring and stumbles upon a large criminal enterprise.
8. ARTEMIS by Andy Weir. A small-time smuggler living in a lunar colony schemes to pay off an old debt by pulling off a challenging heist.
9. YEAR ONE by Nora Roberts. When a pandemic strikes and the world spins into chaos, several travelers head west to find a new life.
10. READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline. It’s 2044, life on a resource-depleted Earth has grown increasingly grim, and the key to a vast fortune is hidden in a virtual-reality world.

TOP TEN MOST SOLD AMAZON FICTION BOOKS REPORTING TODAY

https://www.amazon.com/charts/mostsold/fiction?

1. Origin by Dan Brown.
2. Artemis by Andy Weir.
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
4. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham.
5. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur.
6. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
7. The Midnight Line by Lee Child.
8. Wonder by R J Palacio.
9. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.
10. Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.