All About Jody Allen
|
Connect with Jody
|
||
Chapter NewsMember News
HHRW Authors |
Blog Posts from JodyKirkin’ Of the TartansPosted by Jody Allen Apr 20 2012, 11:52 am After a week long fun at Barbara Vey’s Readers Luncheon and Romantic Times Convention in Chicago, I returned home early on Sunday to participate in a time honored tradition of my local St. Andrew’s Society of the City of Milwaukee … “The Kirkin’ of the Tartans”. If you live in a boating community or maybe a farming community in the spring usually the local church clergyman/woman will come out to bless the fleet or bless the animals. Well for Scots throughout the United States and Canada the “Kirkin of the Tartan” is when our family tartans are blessed by the best kind of holy water… whisky (uisge beatha- water of life) a truly an American event originating in the United States in the mid 20th century. Elizabeth (Bessie) Watson SomervillePosted by Jody Allen Mar 20 2012, 11:49 am In honor of Women’s History Month… the suffragette movement in Scotland and one of the youngest members… Elizabeth (Bessie) Watson Somerville (1900-1992) Suffragette, Piper and Violin teacher) Bessie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to a bookbinder and his wife. When she was seven her parents chose an instrument for her to learn that they hoped would improve her lungs and prevent TB. She at this tender age began to learn the Bagpipes. This instrument was usually reserved only for men to play with most women only allowed to play the chanter. Bessie wanted the full privilege and was Music as a Research ToolPosted by Jody Allen Feb 20 2012, 9:31 am As authors when we research we often look to books, archival records and first hand reports on a particular subject and historical period to fill in the historical gaps. But one area we rarely look to for information is the music or songs of the period. We know that music is for much more than just entertainment; historically songs/ballads often were a way an illiterate culture passed on the history of their culture from one generation to another. Songs developed for various reasons. In Scotland it was as a way to make work easier to endure, a way to address Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish or Scots/Irish but not Irish Scotch?)Posted by Jody Allen Jan 20 2012, 8:30 am “In assessing the contribution of the Scotch Irish to American life and culture, three fields stand high on the list: their influence in education, religion and politics.” The Scotch Irish: A Social History, James G. Leyburn The US Census Bureau in the American Community Survey has recently decided that the ethnic group known as Scotch-Irish (or Ulster Scots) is no longer a group larger enough to report and has placed them in the other category. There are many reasons why this is upsetting and really is kind of an insult to history not only to those of us Americans of DETECTING PSEUDO-HISTORY IN YOUR RESEARCH EFFORTSPosted by Jody Allen Dec 20 2011, 7:03 am As writers no matter if you write historical or contemporary, fantasy or suspense,we all do research to make our characters come alive in their period and locations. For those writing fantasy world building is the key, but for those of us who write historicals we must rely on the historical facts of an event or era or location to give credibility to our story. For us the history becomes like another character in our story. We know the basic tenant for historians doing research is to use the historical method, but the kind of research most of us do is
|
||
.jpg)
home | authors | about | contest | classes | members | newsletter | contact
© 2011 Hearts Through History Romance Writers. All rights reserved.
Site designed and maintained by Bemis Promotions.