The United States of Paranoia

 

“There is nothing new under the sun.”  — Ecclesiastes 1:9

An attempt has been made on the President’s life, but the would-be assassin doesn’t complete his task. Soon after the incident, it is reported to the public that he’s just a crazy lone gunman. Murmurs. It is said that the gunman was in cahoots with the President’s political opponents, so an investigation is initiated. The President himself asserts that the shooter was probably hired by one or more members of the other party. The opposition counters by announcing that the shooting was staged to garner public sympathy for the President. Others blame the opposing party’s inflammatory comments made prior to the act for inciting it. Continue reading “The United States of Paranoia”

Not the Camilla You Think It Is…

 

I had a tough time selecting a book to read and review for this blog this time. I didn’t know anything about the League of Nations or Woodrow Wilson, nor did I really care to learn the ins and outs of the gubernatorial races in mid-twentieth century Louisianan politics enough to continue reading the two books I started on those topics, so I turned on the TV and looked for a distraction. Continue reading “Not the Camilla You Think It Is…”

Armed and Fashionable– When Fashion Meets Public vs. Personal Safety

While “flipping the books” (converting library call numbers from Dewey to Library of Congress) in the circulating collection of the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library, the book entitled, “The Hatpin Menace: American Women Armed and Fashionable, 1887-1920,” crossed my desk. The cover art was catchy; a beautiful, behatted young lady with a Mona Lisa smile looked out at the prospective reader next to a silly black-and-white cartoon of a man being skewered by a woman’s hatpin that is as long as she is tall. Continue reading “Armed and Fashionable– When Fashion Meets Public vs. Personal Safety”