I'm not celebrating Saint Patricks day

Expecting any one with even a drop of Irish blood or a tiny bit of information about the Irish diaspora to be "celebrating" St Patrick's day is to suggest Native American's should be celebrating Columbus Day. For what St Patrick did to the Irish, is just as horrible as what Columbus did to the indigenous people he "discovered" Please before anyone drinks a drop of green beer do some research about what really happened to the Irish. I'll even start you off with some information and links. The reason the Irish did not return to Ireland had nothing to do with the famine, and everything to do with the English property owners. For many people they watched the "property owners" knock down their villages, dump them into open wagons with little more than the cloths on their back and dumped into "plague ships" Many Irish only spoke Galic, did not know how to read or write and had spent many years as the English slave class. The Irish were mistreated here but it was still better than living there. Check out these web pages Irish Diaspora The short over view of the reasons the Irish left (were forced out) of Ireland Great Famine Reasons behind the great famine. Little known fact, during the height of the famine Ireland was exporting food to England. Penal laws These laws made it illegal for the Irish to learn to read or own property. These laws were the base for the later Protestant Ascendancy which

Been doing a lot of reading

Just not the kind of reading that fits in this blogs focus. I went to Boskone in February and picked up some new books, Life Signs - Biology of Star Trek and Religions of Star Trek Notice a theme there. During the convention I attended a panel on the life of two amazing female authors who passed last year. Anne McCaffrey and Diana Wynne Jones The discussion wandered as discussions often do to the lives of these woman and the childhood experiences that formed them. We started discussing Anne's time in a boarding school and her treatment there. She was teased and bullied for her religion and appearance. Something that to many of us in the room was a regular occurrence growing up. The one man on the panel found it hard to believe Anne or any one would get bullied for their skin color, after all to him Anne was "white". I suggested he might want to read the works of David R Roediger including two books I thought I had in my lbrary The Wages of Whiteness and Working toward Whiteness I could not find the Roediger books in my library, they were not even listed in my library thing, so I did something silly and I ordered the books. It has been a while since I read them so I started re-reading Wages of Whiteness. I also have been reading the second book in the Fire and Ice series for the upcoming season. I read them a long time ago, and I kind of like to have the new book residing in my short term memory as I watch. I got them as E-books since they are door stoppers in all the best ways. Speaking of which, if you have read the books they jump chapters between point of view characters. I would like to be able to read the books reading every characters chapters as a whole. I have also started tossing out some books!!! Well not really books, I tossed out many magazines, and baseball annuals (kind of a big magazine about baseball teams and players) Not really something worth keeping. So I have been doing a lot of reading, just not a lot of reading that fits into the theme of this blog. So many I will expand the theme of the blog, or at least make more posts like this one.

Couple of links to share

Boston Under and good by to a long time Boston voice Dave Maynard has died

So many things can end up being about Boston.

Sorry there has been not a single blog post from me since the beginning of December. Next week is the big Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention Arisia and my entire being mentally and physically has been all wrapped up in getting ready for the convention.  I hope to see many friends there and make a few more while I am at it. 

I happen to  be a fan of the blog 
 Unlikely Words  I like that he always finds new and interesting things for me to learn.  Wednesday's blog post was especially interesting because it talked about accents.  As a strongly non-rhotic "speaka" --- "er" I have always wondered how the Boston accent came to be.  Lucky me, Aaron Cohen was thinking about the very same thing.  Just unlike me he actually knew the answer. British people use to have American Accents

So with dropped R's to all and good reads I bid you not good bye but see you soon.  I will be attached to Byron, as always and having the time of our lives. Please remember when Byron is wearing his blue vest he is working and should not be bothered. That and my severe food allergies, I want to spend the weekend at the convention, not Mass General.

I am watching Warehouse 13

And, I wonder what would the Boston section of the warehouse contains?  What special things would be there?  What special abilities would those things have?

My list -
A bit of Plymouth Rock - Makes any place feel like home?
The wishbone from the first turkey cooked on Thanksgiving - bringing peace?
A bit of wood from USS Constitution - making even the smallest boat unsinkable?
The real John Harvard statue - I wonder what he would really look like.

Super busy

For the most amazing reason.  I was asked by a writer friend to proof read her most recent novel before it goes to the printers.  So I am getting to read a book before any one else does. 

Squee!!!!!!!!!

It is with great sadness that I write today

To share the new that one of the great authors has passed away.  Born in Cambridge Massachusetts on April fools day, author and world builder  Anne McCaffrey has passed away.  She had not been well of late, but hearing the news she had passed away from a stroke was still a blow.  I always admired Anne, and the one time I meet her years ago only made me love her more.  She was the first female author to win a Hugo, for her novella Weyr Search, and the first to win a Nebula for Dragonriders   The first woman to win both awards.  She always had time for her fans, and encouragement for people who wanted to write themselves.

I discovered Anne in high school. She had created a wonderful world where woman DID something. Must fiction and fantasy use woman as objects, some thing to be protected, to be chased after, never once to add or subtract anything to the story.  Anne was different, no one was useless.  Every person no matter what they did or who they were did something. Woman took the lead in many stories, strong woman, who did not need protecting.  In the Harper Hall series, Anne was writing commentary about  male centric  society.  Well she was writing a story about a woman who was a great songwriter and singer who lived in a society where woman did neither.  Kind of like how the world felt to me in the late 70's.  I wanted more than a working class girl should have wanted. I married the first guy who agreed with me that a woman should go to college, and be more than just a wife and mother.  In middle class and upper class famalies, it was expected that woman would go to college, but not in the blue collar world I lived in.  In Menolly I found a teen age girl wanting to be so much more than just a wife and mother. It was my life, only with Dragons!  I'm not a great singer, and it has been ages since I touched the organ even longer for the clarinet . But, like Menolly I wanted some thing more. When she found her place, I felt like I could do that too!

If you have not yet read this wonderful writer or know anything about  Pern wiki this will help. 

Anne did not just write Pern novels, thought they were her longest series.  She also wrote
The worlds of Anne McCaffrey



 My personal non Pern series is the Freedom Series 4 novels about what happens when the Earth is attacked by a superior alien race and manages to fight back. The series is complex, amazing and follows the  many races enslaved by the Eosi as they work together to bring freedom to the galaxy. As always Anne writes strong woman, and equally strong men.


When is a legend a legend? she famously asked in 1968 in the introduction to Dragonflight.  Well Anne my dear, you are a legend. An amazing woman who opened doors, and held them open for any one else who wanted to go through. 

 some of the most wonderful writing about her from the web. 

  NPR Remembering Anne McCaffrey   

About scifi Anne McCaffrey

My heart goes out to her family, and her son Todd, who like his mother is a wonderful talented writer, who always has time for fans, and turns most of them into friends.