An original short story by Marilyn Bay Marcus could scarcely contain his excitement. For nearly a year, he had been planning, working and saving to give his mother a dozen oranges for Christmas. At least once a week over the past eleven months, he had left the ghetto and walked to the section of the city with fine shops. He would pause just long enough to gaze into the window of the fruit shop at the perfectly round, plump oranges. Then he would scurry back into the ghetto where he could again slide into oblivion. At first, the price of a single orange astounded him. Had he been able to sell his one pair of shoes and tattered clothes, it would have been enough to purchase a single piece of the succulent fruit. But Marcus had a plan. He would work enough extra chores every month to buy one orange,…
You know you live in a small town when you lock your car in late summer to prevent neighbors from putting zucchini in it. I read this some time ago in one of those lists meant to make the reader smile and feel nostalgic. I think the original quip about zucchini came from Garrison Keillor of Minnesota Public Radio fame. I sure can identify. This spring I planted a very modest amount of zucchini—about six seeds, if I recall—but the plants have overtaken the 6×12 garden box and produce more than I can use or give away. If you are overtaken by zucchini (either left in your car or from your own garden), try this recipe. It is good enough to go to the store or farmers’ market and (dare I say) purchase some zucchini. It’s a bit different from straight up zucchini bread. I like muffins, because they freeze…
For Immediate Release: Aug. 27, 2013 Contact: Marilyn Bay Wentz, author of Prairie Grace marilyn.wentz@tds.net 303-594-3827-cell www.MarilynBayWentz.com Prairie Grace Depicts Events Leading up to Sand Creek Massacre Colorado Native’s Researched Fictional Account Will Educate and Entertain STRASBURG, COLO.—In Prairie Grace, the clash of white and Native cultures in 1864 Colorado Territory is told through the eyes of throw-caution-to-the wind frontierswoman Georgia MacBaye and Cheyenne brave Gray Wolf, who is cast into the white world when his uncle, Chief Lean Bear, seeks help for him from Georgia’s mother, a well-known “healer.” When Lean Bear (actual historic figure) returns nearly a year later to retrieve his nephew, he explains that he was delayed by a trip to Washington, D.C., where he and other Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs met the Great White Father (President Abraham Lincoln), a documented event. “Prairie Grace demonstrates the worst and the best of humanity,” said debut…