Comments on: Understanding the Past

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:46:24 +0000

Tonight I’ll be saying my esteemed parent and he’ll be picking names out of a hat (okay, a salad bowl). I’ll announce the winner tomorrow.

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:42:28 +0000

Thanks, Mara. *g*

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:37:31 +0000

Ah. Gutenberg. Great choice, Jan! *g*

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:36:27 +0000

Great story, Lia. That’s how my dad was in Britain. His hosts thought he was more than a little odd. *g*

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:35:45 +0000

Murphy, I remember seeing a PBS special on Chapman-Catt years ago. It was appalling to me to hear the arguments against women getting the vote. Clearly it was a threatening notion.

Your mom sounds like she was a wonderful woman.

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:32:42 +0000

Thanks, Murphy!

By: Mara

Mara — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:15:35 +0000

I enjoyed your post. It’s not every person who can regard a complicated parent so understandingly (I know from personal experience!).

“It’s an early planet”. I love that, too. So true.

By: jan

jan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:06:58 +0000

Lovely post Josh, your dad sounds a lot like mine, mine was a womaniser until he married my step mom, now the thumb print glows!

We did historical sites around europe, have you any idea how many standing stones there are in Brittany and Normandy! And Rome is still my favourite city for the history, Roman and mithraic temples.

My paternal grandparents were huge influences, although their lives were easier than many other posters, but they had the time to have fun whist teaching us faith and patience and lots of little things that I find myself qoting to my own children.

Historically, Johannes Gutenberg, books have been incredibly important in my life since before I started s chool, so the biggest influence has to be the man who introduced ‘modern’ printing.

By: lia

lia — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:35:58 +0000

Your post rang a number of personal bells. Complex man, lots of childhood trips, each and every one with a running commentary on the history of the place: you could have been talking about my own father, Though, bar room brawls, womaniser: no, you weren’t *g*.

He was a history teacher for over 30 years, and after he retired, he actually went back to studying, finally getting his PhD (about some REALLY obscure bit of German history) at the age of 73.

The first time my parents visited my English mother-in-law, she showed them round Suffolk and parts of London. And I remember her bemusement when – wherever she took them – my father knew a lot more of the place and its history than she did herself; bearing in mind that she was a teacher herself, and that he’s German.

By: karen

karen — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:39:41 +0000

The Civil War (particulary battles in the Golden Triangle near Wash DC) is a particular interest of mine. Read Gods & Generals, Killer Angels and The Last Full Measure (Killer Angels by Michael Shaara; the other 2 by his son, Jeffrey) if you get the chance…Because you have so much time, ya slacker, LMAO …Excellent historical novelization of the war, though. Killer Angels won a Pulitzer for fic. Or rent Gettysburg to watch Jeff Daniels make the bayonet charge to hold Little Round Top. Then, go to disk 2 to see Pickets Charge. It’ll blow you away.

Chamberlain is definitely a hero of the series, but he led a genuinely awe-inspiring life.

By: charlie

charlie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:56:11 +0000

I’d be lying if I said it was coincidence. And the Charlie is a nod to my dad, who fought in Burma during WWII.

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:32:20 +0000

Thanks, Jordan. I did enjoy writing that little story — it’s got a peculiar vibe to it. *g*

William Haines. Interesting choice!

By: Murphy

Murphy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:20:27 +0000

Josh, loved your blog!

By: Murphy

Murphy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:18:11 +0000

My favorite historical figure is Carrie Chapman-Catt. She was instrumental in getting women the right to vote. What was a tragedy to me is that I never heard of her until College! I wrote a report on her and she was absolutely the classic manager. I was a manager at the time and I was very influenced by her. She had goals, plans and she followed them. The southern women in the movement wanted to slow down the process and she give them an ultimatium. Get on the team or get out of the way! Yet, she was reported to be absoluted charming. The one trait I could never cultivate but I really envied. She had the ability to turn surly crowds into glorious united Americans. Believe it or not, she sold sewage systems and community organization. She also started the League of Women Voters after we got the right to vote.

My other role model was my mother. Tough, hardworking and determined that her two children would be able to take care of themselves. She made is learn things we didn’t want to know, take risks we were scared to take and learn to play bridge which we loved. What can I say, she never quite, never gave up and kept on going being herself. She also had charm. What can I say, they left the charm gene out of me but I did succeed to do what I wanted to do and absoluted loved what I did so she certainly accomplished her goal for her kid.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:34:48 +0000

Nice post! Will have to get The Dark Farewell when it’s out. I’m always looking for fiction set in the 1920s, and it sounds great.

William Haines for the historical person. Although, if he was a bit more historical, I might say Paul Monette. But he only died about 15 years ago. My mom for the person in my own life.

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:27:22 +0000

Ah, that’s very interesting, Sempra. About Swynford — but also about your grandmother. That kind of passive-aggressive thing makes for wonderful villains in fiction. Not quite so entertaining in real life, true enough.

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:25:38 +0000

Your dad sounds like an amazing man, Jeanne. That’s really astonishing — and moving — that so many people showed up to pay their final respects.

Abraham Lincoln — I read so many bios of him in grade school. I’ve always felt like he was family. *g*

By: Sempra

Sempra — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:52:13 +0000

Wonderfully put!
Wonderful written historicals made me research more about Catherine Swynford, whom I now admire a great deal – she never gave up on politics and John of Gaunt even when he choose both before her.

My grandpa was another fantastic man. He teached us a lot of love, even while having a wife that over the decades abused him and his children with her passive-agrassive way

By: jeannebarrack1

jeannebarrack1 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:58:18 +0000

Great post, Josh.
I’d have to say my dad influenced me the most. He had little formal education, but was a voracious reader. In our house books were the most precious things we owned. He overcame childhood polio in that he learned to adapt and never shirked working on his feet long shifts at first a tavern he managed during WWII and then through luncheonettes (think coffee shops) he partnered with his brothers-in-law. He and my mom were like your dad in that they preferred going to historical sites when they visited us. (Bored my MIL silly). He loved people and was always curious to learn more about them whether it was the waitress at a Perkins or his hospital nurse.
He died after a long illness in the hospital. At his funeral held just two days later, he had over two hundred people from all walks of life and from as far away as California, drop everything to pay their respects. His charge nurse returned days early from her vacation upstate NY to be there.
He was the type of guy who would give you the shirt off hs back -even when he didn’t have one. He taught me that everyone had a story worth telling.
For history – Abraham Lincoln. There is something so homely – not regarding appearance – but so unprententious. There is just so much to admire about him.

By: josh lanyon

josh lanyon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:30:52 +0000

Thank you, Angela. I admit I laughed plenty writing it. *g*

That is a tragedy. I admit that Alzheimer is on my secret dread list. Our family has been miraculously free of it so far but I fear all these tin cans are going to catch up with me one day.