Ann S. Epstein Writer

One hundred years ago today, September 26, 1918, was the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in World War One. The battle lasted 47 days until the Armistice of November 11, 1918 (now celebrated as Veteran’s Day). The battle, fought on the Western Front, was the turning point in the Allied defeat of Germany. It was the largest offensive in U.S. history, involving 1.2 million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). At the end, over 26,000 Americans, 28,000 Germans, and countless French had died. Read more about WWI in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

After WWI, the U.S. refused to join the League of Nations. Isolationism was exacerbated by the Depression. Americans were afraid their government would raise taxes and control industry. This national mood continued through the 1939 onset of WWII in Europe. However, German victories in France and Poland, and the Battle of Britain in 1940, began to change attitudes. After Pearl Harbor (12/07/41), a majority of the U.S. public favored going to war. Read more about World War II in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

It takes a couple of hours and three people to harvest one olive tree by hand. One person, who stands on top of the ladder (which must be repositioned dozens of times) slides the olives gently down the branch like beads sliding off a necklace. The two people below drop the fruit into a basket (brucatura). A mix of green and black olives makes the most flavorful oil. Read more about olives and olive farming 100 years ago and today in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Coming across a news article about a death café, I was inspired to write a short story titled “It Ends With Cake.” Here’s what I discovered while researching the tale: The modern death café, developed in the U.K. in 2011 by Jon Underwood, is modeled on the ideas of Bernard Crettaz, a Swiss sociologist who originated the idea of “café mortel” after the death of his wife. A death café is an informal gathering where “the sole topic of conversation is every living thing’s inevitable demise,” a topic we are all preoccupied with but rarely talk about. Although meetings can be held anywhere, the word “café” captures the idea of a community where ideas flow freely. In keeping with that principle, a death café always includes food and drink along with talk. Read more about the death café movement in BEHIND THE STORY.

In the years leading up to WWII, Hollywood movies were popular in the cities of Europe. Favorite comedies included the slapstick A Night at the Opera, in which the Marx Brothers help two young lovers take revenge on the opera world. The famous shipboard scene, in which 15 people crowd into a tiny state room, immortalized the line, “Is it my imagination, or is it getting crowded in here?” Popular dramas numbered Mutiny on the Bounty, based on real-life events, which pits Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) against Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton). Midshipman Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is tried for the mutiny, a scene which became a classic of cinema courtroom drama. Read more movie history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

 

After the boyish look of the 1920s flapper, women’s fashion in the 1930s returned to a feminine silhouette. The waist was where it belonged and bias-cut fabrics emphasized curves by hugging the hips. Dresses got longer, just below the knee for daytime and mid-calf for evening. Other innovations: three-quarter length sleeves, bold and contrasting colors, dainty white collars, and fur trim. Jaunty hats were worn tilted over the right eye, while brims became flatter and wider. Bobbed and curled hair, sleek and close to the head, peeked out from underneath, and makeup, artfully applied was more acceptable in polite society. Read more about changing fashions in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

(More about foul weather at a time when our minds are preoccupied by hurricanes and typhoons) Hail is formed during thunderstorms when there is an intense updraft, high water content increases, and, if the storm cloud is well below freezing, ice water forms. The colder the air temperature, the more hail. Hailstones are essentially layers of ice, sometimes too small to be noticed, other times golf-ball size or larger. Hailstorms can last 10-15 minutes. Read about a devastating Kansas hailstorm a century ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS.)

Nearly half the U.S. soldiers who fought in World War One were foreign born. Because of large-scale immigration at the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. changed from a population that was 60 percent British and 35 percent German at the time of the Civil War into the proverbial “melting pot” at the start of the Great War: 11 percent British, 20 percent German, 30 percent Italian and Hispanic, and 34 percent Slavic. In fact, one-third of all Americans were foreign born or the children of immigrants. WWI draftees, who today we might call “hyphenated Americans,” spoke 49 different languages. Although it made communication difficult, the recruits performed splendidly on the battlefield and were proud to fight — and die — for their country and its principles of democracy and inclusion. Read more about the era of WWI and the lives of an immigrant family on the Lower East Side in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

In 1909, two years before the infamous 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire, shirtwaist factory workers in New York City went on strike to demand higher pay, shorter hours, and better working conditions (including ventilation, lighting, and bathroom breaks). Many manufacturers agreed, but not Triangle which instead fired 150 suspected union sympathizers. Read more about sweatshop labor 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).