Tag Archives: History

About « A Hundred Years Ago

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About « A Hundred Years Ago.

About

Hello, my name is Sheryl Lazarus.  One quarter of my genes come from the woman who wrote this diary. I’m seeking to learn from the past and gain insights that will lead to a better future. I’m posting the entries because friends and relatives might also be interested in the diary.

As I read the diary I find that many of the entries spark questions and that I search for answers.  If I find answers—or even if I’m am just reflecting on an entry—I’ll share them with you.

 Why I Decided to Post the Diary 

In 2009, I compiled a  family cookbook. Some of the recipes had originally been recipes of my mother and grandmothers. I included some family photos in the book. One of them was a photo of me walking through a doorway at my bridal shower. Sitting on the couch in the photo’s foreground was my 82-year-old paternal grandmother.

When I gave the cookbook to my children, my daughter asked who the old lady was. I told her that it was her great-grandmother. But her question jogged my memory about a copy of an old diary I had —

After Grandma Swartz died in 1980, her children went through her belongings. One of the items they found was a diary that Grandma had kept from January 1911 through December 1914.

Her children circulated that diary amongst family members. While I had it, I made a copy before passing it on. The copy laid in a paper bag in the bottom of my hutch for more than 20 years until I pulled it out in January 2010 and started reading.

My memories of Grandma Helen were of a feeble, elderly woman—Helena (the name she used in the diary) was a fun-loving, self-absorbed teen. Helena wasn’t an Anne Frank—and most days she only wrote three or four lines. Some days she wrote that “nothing of importance” had occurred. Yet as I tried to decipher the handwriting a fascinating young woman emerged, and I wanted to learn more about her and how she evolved into the grandmother I remember.

Acknowledgements

Preparing Grandma’s diary entries has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with relatives, neighbors, and friends. I would like to thank the many people who have shared information with me about my grandmother. I’d especially like to thank my father  for all of the wonderful stories, and my aunt and uncle  for the photos of Grandma as a young woman.

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About the Author | The History of the Republic

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About the Author | The History of the Republic.

About the Author

My name is Jonathan Hall. I have been passionate about American history since I was a young boy. I have been, and probably always will be, the guy that reads all of the information in museum exhibits. A voracious reader of history books, my love for America and her champions has been influenced greatly by the work of countless historians. However, I have found that there are some moments when history can come to life outside of books by visiting historical sites. Read. Visit.

I graduated with a B.A. in History and a B.A. in Government from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK. I am a lifetime member of Pi Alpha Theta, a history honors society. Additionally, I  was the chief research assistant for Dr. Paul Vickery’s book, “George Washington: A Legacy of Leadership” and a researcher in Dr. Vickery’s upcoming book on Gen. Andrew Jackson. My own work, “Falling Gloriously: Colonel Thomas Gardner and Isaac Gardner, Esq., Patriots of the Early American Revolution,” was named one of my alma mater’s Outstanding Honors Research Papers–a portion of which was presented at a preceding Pi Alpha Theta Conference. I am currently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship

The Biggest Supermoon in Years is Coming Saturday Night

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The Biggest Supermoon in Years is Coming Saturday Night | Surprising Science.

This Saturday evening, take a look at the night sky and you might see something special. The moon will make its largest, most stunning appearance of the year—an event known to scientists as “the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system” and to the popular skywatching public simply as the “supermoon.” As one of the most spectacular supermoons in years, the moon will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than when it is on the far side of its orbit.

Why does the moon sometimes appear larger, and sometimes smaller? The answer lies in the fact that its orbit around Earth is elliptical, so its distance from us varies—it ranges from roughly 222,000 to 252,000 miles away each month. On Saturday, the moon will reach what is known as the perigee, coming as close as it ever does to the Earth, just 221,802 miles away. At the same time, it will be a full moon, with the entirety of its Earth-facing surface illuminated by the light of the sun.

This supermoon will appear especially large because the exact moment of perigee will neatly coincide with the appearance of a perfectly full moon. The full moon will occur at 11:34 p.m. EST, and the perigee will occur at 11:35. During last year’s supermoon on March 19, 2011, for comparison, the perigee and full moon were 50 minutes apart.

“The timing is almost perfect,” says NASA, according to the Washington Post. AccuWeather’s astronomy blogger Daniel Vogler notes that a look through recent data reveals no more closely-timed (and therefore bigger) supermoons.

Apart from providing a sight to behold in the night sky, the moon’s perigee also has a tangible effect on Earth: It causes higher than normal tides. Because tides are driven by the moon’s gravitational effects, a closer moon means that the oceans will be pulled more than usual towards the satellite. In most places, this will mean a tide that is an inch or so higher than usual, but geographical factors can multiply the effect up to around six inches.

There has long been speculation that the moon’s gravitational effect during its perigee could be the cause of natural disasters, including earthquakes and volcanic activity. In particular, many suggested this link following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami off the coast of Japan in March of 2011. However, the devastating quake occurred over a week before the supermoon, and studies have shown no strong evidence for increased frequency of high-intensity seismic activity during the moon’s perigee.

There are more concrete examples, though, in which supermoons may cause problems. In particular, flooding during storms may be made more severe because of the higher tides. In 1962, the coincidental arrival of a powerful storm with the moon’s perigee inundated the entire Atlantic coast of Cape Cod, causing 40 deaths and $500 million in property damage.

On Saturday, assuming no damaging storms or floods are at your doorstep, just hope for a clear night and take a look outside. The moon will appear larger and brighter than usual all night, but for the most striking views, try to catch it just after it rises above the horizon, when an optical illusion causes it to look larger than it really is, and viewing it through the gases of the earth’s atmosphere can cause the moon to appear yellow, orange or red in color.