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…
As the mother of an adult daughter and her teenage sister, I’ve been on the receiving end of plenty of eye rolling when I dare to express my angst with today’s young people. If you are over 40, you probably will agree with me. If not, respect your elder and read on. In my next blog, I promise to write about the positives of today over yesterday, but I must start by lamenting what we as a nation, as a culture, have lost over the past generations. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did not walk to school uphill both ways in three feet of snow, but some of their tales of everyday life and what they endured and achieved is worth recounting. From my great-grandparents I learned education is a privilege. One set of great-grandparents on my mother’s side immigrated to the United States as teenagers in the late 1800s.…
Prairie Ponderings-A Blog from Marilyn Bay Wentz, author of fiction that entertains, educates & inspires Nineteenth Century Bullying Brings Devastating Consequences Nov. 29, 2014 will mark the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, when Col. John Chivington ordered troops to kill and mutilate a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, most of them women, children and the elderly. The massacre took place in southeastern Colorado—then Colorado Territory—at a site that only recently was designated a national commemorative monument. Reports vary on the number killed, anywhere from 100 to 400 people. (There was not a Census that included Native Americans at that time.) If ever there was a spin master, it was Chivington. He reported the massacre as a military victory against hostile Indians. His men were encouraged to display their trophies of war–body parts and belongings from the massacred–in the streets of Denver several days after the…
Prairie Grace Depicts Events Leading up to Sand Creek Massacre By Marilyn Bay Wentz My debut novel, Prairie Grace, is set in 1864 Colorado Territory and chronicles many of the events leading up to the Sand Creek Massacre. This heavily researched work of fiction will be available in bookstores and online fall 2013. Prairie Grace depicts the worst and the best of humanity, detailing both the Indian depredations and the ruthless U.S. government/military campaigns to eliminate the Native Americans and their perceived threat to the whites. 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,…