EASING INTO a TECH SAVY WORLD

At first glance, this whole new tech world is intimidating, don't you think? Life was easier when we pounded out news releases and memos on a Smith-Corona. That's a manual typewriter, right? Or is my psyche telling me I'm thirsting for a beer? (I hate it when I stress over a word).

The point is, it's a new and wonderful world. It takes a bit of an adjustment but think about how far we've come. Imagine our great-grandparents huddled around a wall-mounted phone in the 1900s to talk, hah! shout a hello, how are you to someone a few miles away while the operator who connected the call listened to every word (so he or she would know when to disconnect the call). There was no NSA just the neighborhood gossip that may pick up on the party line. Ah, yes, the good old days.

There actually was a day before "delete keys," and "cut and paste strokes." Easier? Humph! Corrections on a manual typewriter took the hand of an artist and the eye of a forger to accomplish and setting the type back on the same line was a game of chance to be celebrated when it was successful. As the old cigarette (remember them?) commercial said, "we've come a long way, baby."

That commercial was popular around the time that copies were still rolling off a mimeo. Now those were hazardous to your health. Twenty copies for an afternoon meeting? Maybe, but no guarantee. Pity the poor person called to don the apron and gloves. Up went the window. On went the fan. I've got news for our dear environmentally conscious brothers and sisters. Car emissions and cow flatulence did not cause the hole in the earth's ozone layer, It was the chemically induced belching of the mimeograph machine.

You may as well embrace the new world of techies, people. It's here to stay. And OMGosh the possibilities. Some of them are discovered by curiosity and the thought of, I wonder what will happen if I press this key? Sometimes, a whole new world opens before your eyes and somewhere in your moment of awe, you wonder how on earth you did that and know you'll never be able to duplicate it. Other times, as you shake your head in despair, you try to explain to the IT person on the other end of the phone . . . Well, you see, it was like this. 

I'm going for a techie moment right now. Last night, I typed in the URL (yes, I know what that means) for the "Begotten With Love" book trailer on YouTube onto my Facebook page. I thought the address would go live and you'd be able to call it up if you'd like to see it. But what to my wondering eyes should appear (shamelessly borrowed from a brilliant writer*) but the video itself! Wow! I was shocked. I'm going to type the address in now and see if the same thing happens again. The book trailer is on YouTube at:  http://youtu.be/NgyRew1Jm38. Hope you enjoy it and pass it on.

*References to: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Jo Ann V. Glim is a 40 year veteran of  freelance writing and author of the newly released eBook "Begotten With Love." To learn more:

FOLLOW/Like: on Facebook or
VISIT: www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com
BUY ON: Amazon.com/author/joannglim

BOOK TRAILER on YouTube 

THE BACK STORY on PHOTOS

When I was younger and looked at family photo albums with my mom or grandma, I couldn't get past the old-fashioned styles worn by the people staring back at me. I'd laugh until my sides hurt! These poses in sepia were pictures of strangers that couldn't possibly know anything about life, according to the mind of a thirteen year old. They lived in the past. What did they know about anything?

By the time I was twenty, we had lost all but a few of these keepsakes. The ones I had, I treasured. As my parents and grandparents passed away, I began to appreciate even more the memories these faded images recalled for me. I also began to recognize certain family resemblances, such as: my crooked smile from my father's side of the family; and the straight, blond hair of my grandfather in his younger days. But it still sends shivers down my spine when I look at my great, great grandmother with her slickered-down hair and frozen scowl and wonder if her looks are my impending doom?

It wasn't until I began working on our family's genealogy that I really began to understand the back story of photos. This was a lip smacking morsel of cake set before me. A pound of research and an ounce of creativity stirred into the fertile mind of a writer and BOOM! Thirty years later, the book, "Begotten With Love" became a reality.

Now, when I look at these pictures, they shape a glimpse into history which is both personal and worldly. So, you see, there is a lot to learn from photos: history, style, geography, relationships . . . but the one thing that doesn't change through the generations is the temperament of man. Each of us, as individuals (no matter which generation), struggles with temptation and sorrow, lust and greed. We cling to faith and hope and love and if we live long enough our courage and strength will be tested.  That's why I chose to write "Begotten" in story form, so the reader could share the experiences as the plots unfold.

Following are my observations of the pictures adorning my FaceBook page that you see at the top of this post. Studying pictures like these helped me to develop the personalities of the families in my book (along with documents and personal stories told and retold around the dining room table).

YOUNG WOMAN WITH BURRO (Grand Junction, CO) - I see a beautiful, young woman dressed for a special occasion (the style suggests 1890-1900). I've not been able to verify my supposition, yet, but it looks to me as though the baby is dressed in a Christening Gown. This is also around the time open hearth cooking was becoming a thing of the past and kitchens were being outfitted with wood/coal burning ranges. A blessing because many women were maimed or killed by embers falling from the hearth and catching these long skirts on fire.

FORGEMEN (Prattvile, AL) - This picture was a gift to me from the historical files of Daniel Pratt's Manufactory in Prattville, Alabama.  The company had changed owners (and names) over the years but had been continuously operational since the mid 1850s until 2013. To walk the halls of these massive buildings and hear the history of Daniel Pratt and what he accomplished . . . his innovations and generosity, was a profound moment in my life. If you'd like to learn more about one of America's first entrepreneurs, Google the "Honorable Daniel Pratt, A Biography, Eulogies on His Life and Character" by M.S. Tarrant.  To look at this picture and realize 3 generations of my family was a part of this amazing time in history is both inspirational and humbling.

IN THE GARDEN (Anacortes, WA) - John (in his mid eighties) tended to his garden; not as a hobby or for organic produce but for survival. His family had fallen on difficult economic times in the 1950s and could not survive without his hard labor. Behind him is the orchard where blackberry brambles grew wild. The abstract tee-pee structures (made from strips of cloth from an old sheet) gave structure for pole beans and a hiding place for a young girl who did not want to eat liver for dinner.

CHANGING TRANSPORTATION (Chicago, IL) - The history of this picture is still a work in progress. What I do know is that it was taken on Clark Street in Chicago (near north side) possibly next to the building where the St. Valentine's Day massacre (mob hit) occurred. I don't know what kind of car it was but the man standing along side is the driver and probably its machinist. It was a well-respected and exciting form of employment to be a machinist. Many of these men came from the ranks of blacksmith. This was a major transportation transition in our country and the world. Machinists in the early 1900s made as major a contribution to the world as Microsoft, Apple, and IT specialists everywhere do for us today.
What makes me laugh about this picture is the trail of manure alongside the car. Both forms of transportation shared the roads in Chicago in the 1920s and '30s.

Well . . . I'll bet somewhere in your home is a faded and dusty album filled with pictures similar to the ones I chose to display on my Facebook cover page.  Did you ever wonder whose faces were silently starring at you as you turned the pages? I encourage you to find out more. Tracing their history may uncover your richest legacy of all. Good luck!

Jo Ann V. Glim is a 40 year veteran of freelance writing and author of "Begotten With Love."

To learn more:

FOLLOW/Like on Facebook or

VISIT www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon.com/author/joannglim

The MAKING of a VIDEO TRAILER

To celebrate the launch of BEGOTTEN With Love on Amazon.com, we wanted to share more about the book with you . . . to make the pictures come alive! Our bright idea? A video trailer. Mariana Llanos, our dear friend and fellow author, made it look so easy when she did one for the Tristan Wolfe series. It's charming and creative and we were hooked. This would be the perfect way to present "Begotten With Love" to the world. Even though I wrote a book on video production . . . no, seriously, I did! A lot has changed since then. Here I am with another straight-lined learning curve, trying to avoid cyber gaffs and pull together a cohesive product. We hope to have the finished video functional in the next few days. If you have received more than one version, of anything, our apologies.

I thought you might like to see three of the four pictures we chose for the video and give you a little back story on them. None of the pictures in the video (with the exception of one) appear in the book or on the Begotten web site but each one was pivotal in researching the history of the story.



The first picture was taken at Ahlestatorp (which means Ashe Grove Farm in Swedish). It's where John lived as a young boy in the late 1800s. This peaceful family picture doesn't begin to tell the tale of the field hospital set up (where they now pose) last winter during the blizzard. Chapter 11, "Amerika"





The second picture was taken at a dinner party in John's apartment in Chicago around 1910. John and Hedvig (seated to the right/front) are entertaining visitors from Sweden (including Sven and Carolina). This picture was the inspiration for Chapter 15, "The Parcel."



The picture of the woman with the burro is my grandfather's sister (on my father's side) and taken in Grand Junction, Colorado at the home of her parents, Adam and Sannie Weir. Their house on Pitkin was torn down a number of years ago, so, memories such as these now live only in these faded photos. After looking at her holding a baby on the back of a donkey, I silently ask myself, how on earth will I ever complain, again, about driving to the store to pick up a few items?
I hope you have boxes of old photos to sort through. They can teach us so much about living and life. So much for which to be grateful!

Jo Ann V. Glim is a 40 year veteran of  freelance writing and author of Begotten With Love. To learn more:

FOLLOW/Like on Facebook or

VISIT www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com

NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon.com/author/joannglim