-
What Have I Got to Prove?
As part of my research for Murray Shipley’s biography, I’ve been exploring the backgrounds of the members of the Trustees and the Board of Lady Managers of the Children’s Home, which Murray is generally credited as founding in 1864. According to contemporaneous newspaper articles, the Trustees included Murray Shipley, Samuel S. Fisher, and Obadiah N.…
-
The Write Way Forward
For my husband’s birthday, I got him a subscription to MasterClass online courses. It was a two-for-one deal, so I was able to set up an account for myself as well and take various classes on writing. Recently, I watched a series of lectures by James Patterson, who among other things talked about the value…
-
Blind Men and Journalists
There is a parable about a group of blind men encountering an elephant for the first time. Each is asked to describe the animal. One man feels the elephant’s trunk and says, “An elephant is like a snake.” Another feels the elephant’s leg and says, “An elephant is like a tree.” Another feels the elephant’s…
-
Judging a Book by Its Cover
Apparently, the old maxim is wrong: you can judge a book by its cover, or at least get a feel for its content. A good book cover designer considers the significance of the color palette, typeface, photos or graphics, and positioning of the design elements. A good cover does more than communicate the book’s title;…
-
The Things We Keep
One of my post-retirement To Do tasks has been to winnow all the items in our basement. We have boxes that we have moved from house to house to house without even remembering their contents. (It turns out that writing Basement on the side of a box is not helpful.) One of these days, we…
-
The Power of Vocabulary
When is a General not a General? This is not a riddle, but rather a serious question. I recently completed the chapter on the Civil War in my biography of Murray Shipley, and one of my faithful draft readers is a former high school history teacher who keeps abreast of trends among contemporary historians. In…
-
Lights! Camera! Action!
This past Thursday, I met with the crew of Elwin Studios at the Cincinnati Friends meetinghouse library to talk about the Quaker abolitionist Levi Coffin for their documentary series, Agents of the Underground Railroad. Elwin Studios is a small production company made up of six brothers and sisters whose diverse skills—including writing, cinematography, and digital…
-
A Quaker by Any Other Name
Many genealogists are thrilled when they discover that they have a Quaker ancestor–not because that confers any particular honor by association, but because Friends are such meticulous record keepers. Quaker meetings keep track of when a person was born to members of that meeting, along with the names of their parents; when and to whom…
-
The Best Kind of Editing
When I was in high school, I took an excellent advanced composition class. We diagrammed sentences and explored the intricacies of grammar. I got good grades and thought I knew my stuff. After my son was born, I wanted to do some freelance editing from home. I offered my services to a publisher who asked…
-
I’m Ready for My Close-Up
The first time I spoke in public on a Quaker-related topic was when I participated in the 2015 Quaker Genealogy & History Conference, “Working for Freedom: The Life of Levi Coffin.” What goes around, comes around, it seems. Recently I was approached by a small film production company, Elwin Studios, about appearing in their documentary…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Sabrina Darnowsky 