Ann S. Epstein Writer

Learn History Through Fiction: German Americans Interned in WWII

During WWII, German Americans were labeled people of “enemy ancestry.” The Alien Registration Act of 1940 required resident aliens aged 14 and older to register with the U.S. Government “subject to arrest, detention, or internment for the duration of war.” After Pearl Harbor, in December 1941, President Roosevelt expanded restrictions on travel and property ownership. Approximately 11,000 German Americans were interned in camps in rural, isolated areas throughout the U.S. Many were pressured to “repatriate” to Germany where they could be exchanged for American prisoners of war. Read more about a German-American during WWII in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

“Enemy Alien” registration card of a German American during World War II

A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press) by Ann S. Epstein

Learn History Through Fiction: The Wicked Witch on Mr. Rogers

Margaret Hamilton, who played Elvira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, said children often asked her why she had been so mean to poor Dorothy. On an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, she explained that she was only playing a role and showed how make-up transformed her from a nice lady (a former kindergarten teacher, in fact) into the nasty warty and green-faced witch. Read more about the movie and Margaret Hamilton in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Children asked Margaret Hamilton why she was so mean to Dorothy

Learn History Through Fiction: X-Rated V-Mail

In WW II, mail was vital to maintain morale in the armed forces. But mail was bulky and took up precious space on cargo ships. So the U.S. Government instituted V-Mail, converted to Microfilm, which limited letters to one page. Correspondents, especially sweethearts, invented acronyms to save space, much like today’s social media users. Some, popular before the war, are still familiar today: SWAK (Sealed With a Kiss). Others were chaste or uplifting: OOLAAKOEW (Oceans Of Love And A Kiss On Every Wave). However, a few were downright raunchy. To bypass censors, creative acronyms borrowed from geography: NORWICH (kNickers Off Ready When I Come Home) and CHINA (Come Home I’m Naked Already). The best could work both ways: EGYPT (Ever Give You Pleasant Thoughts OR Eager to Grab Your Pretty T**s). Read more about the U.S. Navy during WW II in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Billions of V-Mail letters were exchanged in WWII

Letters were vital to maintaining troop morale in WWII

Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press) by Ann S. Epstein

Learn History Through Fiction: Sidney Luft Before and After Judy Garland

(A Hollywood romance in honor of Valentines Day) Sidney Luft (1915-2005) was a Hollywood producer and impresario. Of German-Russian-Jewish descent, he started out as an amateur boxer and barroom brawler, nicknamed “One Punch Luft.” He is perhaps best known as the husband of Judy Garland (1952-1965), responsible for orchestrating her comeback in the 1950s and 1960s, notably in A Star is Born. Luft was married once before and twice after Garland. They had two children, Lorna and Joey. Read more about Hollywood and movie history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Judy Garland & Sidney Luft in happier days

Learn History Through Fiction: Post-Civil War Exodusters

After the Civil War and the arrival of railroads, Kansas was populated by German immigrants, migrants from the Eastern U.S., and Negro Freedmen from the South called “Exodusters.” Farmers tried to grow corn and raise pigs, but failed because of a shortage of rainfall. They switched to soft spring wheat and later to hard winter wheat, which did well in the temperate Kansas climate since it does not have prolonged periods of heat and cold. Read more Kansas and wheat farming history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Post-Civil War wheat farmers in Kansas included “Exodusters,” Negro Freedmen from the South

Learn History Through Fiction: Midwives Safer Than Doctors 100 Years Ago

Midwives, like physicians, practiced without education or regulations until the early 1900’s. In an era before germ theory was known, doctors moved between anatomy labs, medical wards, and surgery without washing their hands, thus transferring germs. As a result, midwives’ patients were less likely to die of infection than those delivered by doctors. Read more about pregnancy and childbirth 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

In the early 1900’s, midwifery at home was more antiseptic and safer than doctor-assisted births in hospitals

Publishing News: Ponder Review to Publish “David’s Crossing” Memoir

My creative nonfiction piece “David’s Crossing” was accepted for publication in Ponder Review, 2019, Volume 3, Issue 1. Here’s the log line: “David’s Crossing” captures my father’s uncertainty as a young boy aboard an immigrant ship, the SS Rotterdam IV, journeying from a Polish shtetl to an American city during World War I — a century-old tale with resonance for today. The publication is particularly meaningful to me because my late father’s acceptance into this country is in such stark contrast with today’s harsh policies toward immigrants, migrants, and refugees. More about the publication in MEMOIR and more about the SS Rotterdam IV in BEHIND THE STORY.

The SS Rotterdam IV, a passenger liner that also transported European immigrants and refugees to the U.S. from 1908 to 1940)

Learn History Through Fiction: Oz’s Horse of a Different Color

In the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, the horse pulling Dorothy and her friends around Emerald City changes from white to purple to red orange to yellow. The ASPCA would not let the crew paint the horse, so they tried food coloring and liquid candy but it was too pale and tasted so good that the horse licked it off. Arnold Gillespie, in charge of special effects, finally used paste made with Jell-O powder. The horse still licked it, but with frequent touch-ups, the paste stayed on long enough to complete the filming. Read more about the movie in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

A horse of a different color, thanks to grape-flavored Jell-O powder

What I’m Reading: The Library Book by Susan Orleans

My Amazon and Goodreads review of The Library Book (Rating 5) – Ablaze With Affection, Awe, and Archives. If you love to crack open a book, you will consume this attempt to crack open the case of the conflagration that consumed the Los Angeles Central Library in 1986. In Susan Orlean’s entertaining and absorbing The Library Book, the story of the fire is interwoven with the library’s history, its diverse patrons and their sprawling city, the impressive past and creative hope of tomorrow’s libraries, a cast of dedicated and endearingly eccentric librarians, the science of book burning and salvage, and the author’s early memories of visiting the library with her beloved mother. Orlean’s usual talent for empathy, imagination, and solid research glows here, luring you inside a subject you never thought you’d be curious about but are delighted to have discovered.

Learn History Through Fiction: When Donkey Labor Pressed Olives

Pressing when olives are at their maximum freshness produces vibrant flavor and a bright yellow and green color. Huge stone wheels, six feet in diameter, grind the fruit. Unlike the grindstones of a flour mill, which are horizontal and turn one atop the other, the grindstones of an olive press are vertical and rotate in a tub, crushing the olives against the floor. The mill (frantoio) is chilly, to keep the fruit fresh. In the early 1900s, in the olive-growing regions of Italy, local fruit growers brought their olives to a communal mill, where donkeys turned the presses. Today the process is largely automated, but some presses are still turned by hand to minimize the bruising of the fruit. Read more about olives and olive farming 100 years ago and today in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).