Part Four – Plagued by Worry: An Historical Look at Pandemics in Four Parts

Read Part One and Part Two  Part Three   Part Four Literature It was Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Masque of the Red Death that probably sparked my early fascination with epidemics.  I remember checking it out of my elementary school’s library over and over.  It both terrified and intrigued me.  Prince Prospero is hiding in his […]

Part Three – Plagued by Worry: An Historical Look at Pandemics in Four Parts

Read Part One and Part Two When a disease is ready to spread to humans, it will find a way, and, like rats, bacteria do not recognize international borders.  It’s natural to want to find something to blame for a disease like this.  But it shouldn’t be at the expense of already vulnerable populations, or […]

Part Two – Plagued by Worry: An Historical Look at Pandemics in Four Parts

Part One can be read here. Part Two The Little Towns that Could (Quarantine) The bubonic plague made a large resurgence in Europe in the mid-1600s.  Venice was one of the first ports of entry.  Knowing their history, however, once it showed up, all boats were quarantined for a time outside of the harbor.  If […]

Plagued by Worry: An Historical Look at Pandemics in Four Parts

I asked historian and chronicler of social justice history Anne E Lynch to help us understand the social justice implications of the COVID-19 pandemic – Sue. Part One Some of you may be seeing memes posted around social media of people in strange bird masks, wearing dark clothes and/or cloaks and carrying canes, and you […]

Phat Man Dee “I remember the Holocaust so that I can see it happening to other people and speak against it.”

Phat Man Dee International Holocaust Day of Remembrance

A guest blog post from Phat Man Dee on this International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2020   As a child it never occurred to me that people would not remember the Holocaust. After all, who could forget something that stole so many branches of my family tree? It was this deep understanding of horror in my […]

Podcast Review: Abigail Adams, Lizzie Borden, Helen Keller, Dolley Madison, Cinderella & Red Riding Hood #HistoryChicksBinge

The History Chicks Podcast Review

Welcome back to my quest to listen & review all of the episodes of The History Chicks podcast. I’ve made a bit of progress this week, listening to five podcast episodes plus one minicast. So let’s break them down. Episode Three: Cinderella Podcast Date: February 21, 2011 Time Period: 500 BCE to contemporary period Length […]

Podcast Review: Marie Antoinette and Laura Ingalls Wilder #HistoryChicksBinge

Laura Ingalls Wilder Marie Antoinette

I’ve kicked off my planned podcast binge for 2020 by listening to the first two episodes from The History Chicks, a podcast launched in 2011. Episode One: Marie Antoinette Podcast date: January 30, 2011 Time period of subject’s life: 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793 Length of podcast: 66 minutes The first episode sets […]

Q&A with Susan Stein, Playwright Offering Another Glimpse into the Holocaust Through the Diaries of Etty Hillesum

Etty The Play

Intersectionality is how to understand Etty Hillesum. She insists on not being defined by her circumstances (the Holocaust, yet unnamed), by her gender, by her religion, race, age, class, sexual orientation, political leanings. And yet she identifies herself as a woman, as a Jew, as a 28 year old middle class Dutch student. She is a truth seeker and digs deeply into her own self to work herself out. – See Etty the Play at Carnegie Stage February 7-10, 2019.

Pittsburgh History of Halloween 1858 – Pittsburgh Daily Post

Pittsburgh Halloween History 1858

Very interesting account from 1858 about the Halloween traditions from the times of Robert Burns (1759-1796) Mon, Nov 1, 1858 – Page 3 · Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com

Pittsburgh History of Halloween 1890 – The Pittsburgh Press

Pittsburgh Halloween History

Fri, Oct 31, 1890 – Page 2 · The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com Fri, Oct 31, 1890 – Page 2 · The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com