Comments on: Little House on the Prairie, serial killers, and the nature of memoir http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:14:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Derisory Apodaca http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1518000 Derisory Apodaca Sat, 25 Aug 2012 05:06:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1518000 As a three year old I retained the memory of a car my Father owned.. Well, part of it. I recall the color, and that it had wooden spoke wheels. My Mom swears I couldn't possibly recall this because of my age at the time, but back then we didn't have color photos. She finally conceded that I had to have absorbed this information into my memory banks since there was no other way I could have known the color and have been able to describe it so accurately. (It was the color of butterscotch pudding) I also recall at age 4, attending a circus with my grandparents. The sent, a wooden bench seat grandpa covered with the Indian weave blanket from the back seat of his 49 ford sedan to make the sitting a little more comfortable, an elephant and a woman in a pink feathered costume. Age 5 I have vivid recall of grandma taking me and an Angel Food cake she had backed and decorated to the one room country school I would attend that fall. I had turned 5 in Jan. and she took to me to introduce me to the teacher and kids on their last day of school that spring. So, yeah.. early memories, I would say are very much like snap shots stored in the brain. As for memories created, I have those also, but they were created over a period on many years by many people, and I have since seen those memories embellished upon by generations after mine. It makes me laugh, because the actual even was really very simple, and when I hear people speak of it now one would think this happened 50 years ago when in fact it probably occurred 150 years ago. One family member has attempted to have my Father and Grand father taking part in this event. My Grand Father was yet to be born. The story of an execution of a murderer placed before a firing squad made up of the posse that tracked him down. The man died on a tree stump located at the corners of four counties, Clarke/Decatur/Ringgold/Union in south central Iowa. For those who are interested in this the story is called ... FOUR COUNTY JUSTICE And may be read @Antinous_Moderator:disqus http://iagenweb.org/ringgold/history/misc/hist-crimestories.html I was off on how long ago this took place... it was over 150 years ago... As a three year old I retained the memory of a car my Father owned.. Well, part of it. I recall the color, and that it had wooden spoke wheels. My Mom swears I couldn’t possibly recall this because of my age at the time, but back then we didn’t have color photos. She finally conceded that I had to have absorbed this information into my memory banks since there was no other way I could have known the color and have been able to describe it so accurately. (It was the color of butterscotch pudding)
I also recall at age 4, attending a circus with my grandparents. The sent, a wooden bench seat grandpa covered with the Indian weave blanket from the back seat of his 49 ford sedan to make the sitting a little more comfortable, an elephant and a woman in a pink feathered costume. Age 5 I have vivid recall of grandma taking me and an Angel Food cake she had backed and decorated to the one room country school I would attend that fall. I had turned 5 in Jan. and she took to me to introduce me to the teacher and kids on their last day of school that spring. So, yeah.. early memories, I would say are very much like snap shots stored in the brain.

As for memories created, I have those also, but they were created over a period on many years by many people, and I have since seen those memories embellished upon by generations after mine. It makes me laugh, because the actual even was really very simple, and when I hear people speak of it now one would think this happened 50 years ago when in fact it probably occurred 150 years ago. One family member has attempted to have my Father and Grand father taking part in this event.
My Grand Father was yet to be born.
The story of an execution of a murderer placed before a firing squad made up of the posse that tracked him down. The man died on a tree stump located at the corners of four counties, Clarke/Decatur/Ringgold/Union in south central Iowa.
For those who are interested in this the story is called …

FOUR COUNTY JUSTICE
And may be read @Antinous_Moderator:disqus http://iagenweb.org/ringgold/history/misc/hist-crimestories.html

I was off on how long ago this took place… it was over 150 years ago…

]]> By: Susan http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513661 Susan Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:01:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513661 It astounds me that people are bringing up the TV show as evidence of anything. A few seasons in they lost the rights to base the storylines on the books. That's one reason it got so ridiculous! (ps I can't figure out how to get my name to show at the top of the post. @luindriel on twiter.) It astounds me that people are bringing up the TV show as evidence of anything. A few seasons in they lost the rights to base the storylines on the books. That’s one reason it got so ridiculous! (ps I can’t figure out how to get my name to show at the top of the post. @luindriel on twiter.)

]]> By: MarlboroTestMonkey7 http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513654 MarlboroTestMonkey7 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:55:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513654 That would have been the greatest episode ever! That would have been the greatest episode ever!

]]> By: ChickieD http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513629 ChickieD Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:09:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513629 My husband and I met in college, 20 years ago. He and I dated starting about 2 months before graduation and then on for about a year after graduating. We then broke up and had no contact for 15 years. During those 15 years I participated in a lot of therapy. I constructed a narrative of my childhood and teen years over the course of that therapy. Certainly part of that narrative was this one nice, more mature relationship I had with this fellow at the end of my college years.  I'd gotten to this place where I felt like I could review my whole life over and over again and there was nothing new to learn.  I had maybe 6, 7 really distinctive memories of the one good relationship and nothing I could do would dredge up anything more. This was the point where I decided to reconnect to my old boyfriend - not thinking to rekindle the relationship but just to see if he had some additional memory he could add that could shift my thinking now that I'd come to such a dead end.  How weird to find out how much I had forgotten and he had remembered. It was as if I had tried to extinguish him altogether from my past. Try to remember forward round the calendar from graduation I would remember the summer we spent together in DC. Remebering backwards from later events in my life, all I could recall was painful loneliness; he is absent from my memories in that direction altogether. Now I have to wonder about my other memories; some I can confirm with an objective fact, like remembering that I was in some class or another and then verifying that against my school transcript. Others are clearly out of order when I compare them with some objective fact, but I can't figure out where it goes wrong. My older sister, 4 years old, could confirm some things. It's disturbing to discover that one's memory is so cloudy and slippery. My husband and I met in college, 20 years ago. He and I dated starting about 2 months before graduation and then on for about a year after graduating. We then broke up and had no contact for 15 years.

During those 15 years I participated in a lot of therapy. I constructed a narrative of my childhood and teen years over the course of that therapy. Certainly part of that narrative was this one nice, more mature relationship I had with this fellow at the end of my college years. 

I’d gotten to this place where I felt like I could review my whole life over and over again and there was nothing new to learn.  I had maybe 6, 7 really distinctive memories of the one good relationship and nothing I could do would dredge up anything more. This was the point where I decided to reconnect to my old boyfriend – not thinking to rekindle the relationship but just to see if he had some additional memory he could add that could shift my thinking now that I’d come to such a dead end. 

How weird to find out how much I had forgotten and he had remembered. It was as if I had tried to extinguish him altogether from my past. Try to remember forward round the calendar from graduation I would remember the summer we spent together in DC. Remebering backwards from later events in my life, all I could recall was painful loneliness; he is absent from my memories in that direction altogether.

Now I have to wonder about my other memories; some I can confirm with an objective fact, like remembering that I was in some class or another and then verifying that against my school transcript. Others are clearly out of order when I compare them with some objective fact, but I can’t figure out where it goes wrong. My older sister, 4 years old, could confirm some things. It’s disturbing to discover that one’s memory is so cloudy and slippery.

]]> By: ChickieD http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513613 ChickieD Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:55:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513613 That sounds awesome!!! That sounds awesome!!!

]]> By: ChickieD http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513612 ChickieD Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:54:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513612 One of my big regrets is that I didn't save the printouts with the original testimony. I'm sure it's available now somewhere on the web. It's been forever since I took the course, but I remember thinking that there would be a lot of repressed sexual imagery and there was almost none. Instead, there was a tremendous amount of violence being expressed. It made more sense once we learned that the town was supposed to be a model Christian village where everyone was supposed to at their Christian best. They all were suing each other left right and center and there were so many personal tensions, but they were supposed to just smile and act holy. I don't see how anyone could take it literally as it was just so odd and of its time, what with the devil always trying to make you write in his book and such - wow (shakes head). One of my big regrets is that I didn’t save the printouts with the original testimony. I’m sure it’s available now somewhere on the web. It’s been forever since I took the course, but I remember thinking that there would be a lot of repressed sexual imagery and there was almost none. Instead, there was a tremendous amount of violence being expressed. It made more sense once we learned that the town was supposed to be a model Christian village where everyone was supposed to at their Christian best. They all were suing each other left right and center and there were so many personal tensions, but they were supposed to just smile and act holy. I don’t see how anyone could take it literally as it was just so odd and of its time, what with the devil always trying to make you write in his book and such – wow (shakes head).

]]> By: Petzl http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513547 Petzl Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:18:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513547 "... SUBJECT [REDACTED] AKA "ANTINOUS" THEN ENTERED A CRITICISM OF BUREAU ON THE INTERNET BLOG "BOINGBOING.NET", CALLING BUREAU "WASTE OF TAXPAYERS DOLLARS". SUGGEST BUDGET BE EXPANDED A FURTHER $[REDACTED] FOR EXTENDING SURVEILLANCE ..." “… SUBJECT [REDACTED] AKA “ANTINOUS” THEN ENTERED A CRITICISM OF BUREAU ON THE INTERNET BLOG “BOINGBOING.NET”, CALLING BUREAU “WASTE OF TAXPAYERS DOLLARS”. SUGGEST BUDGET BE EXPANDED A FURTHER $[REDACTED] FOR EXTENDING SURVEILLANCE …”

]]> By: debreese http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513531 debreese Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:09:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513531 People like to think of Pa as the moral center of the stories. He says things about how the Indians have a right to be mad that whites are on their land, and he counters the feeling that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" when the only Indian with a personal name (Soldat du Chen) and specific tribe  (Osage) tells a large gathering of Indians (with no names, no tribes, few clothes) who "yip" and "yap" and "howl" as they discuss attacking the settlers that he and the Osages will fight them if they attack the settlers. The "good" Indian who deserves to live is the one who would fight alongside Ingalls. And, by the way, prior to the time Ingalls and his family got to Indian Territory, the Cherokees and tribes that had been removed from the south, had built towns, schools, stores, etc., much like they had in the south. They weren't running around half-naked as Wilder depicts in her book. Good story telling (maybe, it depends on your viewpoint), but her depictions of Indians is wrong. Factually wrong. And yet, her books are taught to children in schools, as-is. Pa does blackface in one of the books. In another, he tells Laura about his life as a little boy in New York, where he'd pretend he was hunting wild animals and Indians. Wilder repeatedly dehumanizes Indians, makes them animal-like, and as such, it is ok (not) for Pa to imagine hunting them. THAT hunting-humans theme is not in children's books. But again, the book with the hunting Indians and blackface are taught to children... (Editing my comment to include a thanks to Maggie for linking to my site, American Indians in Children's Literature. I've written about LHOP several times, and other books that misrepresent American Indians. CADDIE WOODLAWN is one; TOUCHING SPIRIT BEAR is another, and... there's TWILIGHT. Wanna know more? Visit my site.) People like to think of Pa as the moral center of the stories. He says things about how the Indians have a right to be mad that whites are on their land, and he counters the feeling that “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” when the only Indian with a personal name (Soldat du Chen) and specific tribe  (Osage) tells a large gathering of Indians (with no names, no tribes, few clothes) who “yip” and “yap” and “howl” as they discuss attacking the settlers that he and the Osages will fight them if they attack the settlers. The “good” Indian who deserves to live is the one who would fight alongside Ingalls.

And, by the way, prior to the time Ingalls and his family got to Indian Territory, the Cherokees and tribes that had been removed from the south, had built towns, schools, stores, etc., much like they had in the south. They weren’t running around half-naked as Wilder depicts in her book. Good story telling (maybe, it depends on your viewpoint), but her depictions of Indians is wrong. Factually wrong. And yet, her books are taught to children in schools, as-is.

Pa does blackface in one of the books. In another, he tells Laura about his life as a little boy in New York, where he’d pretend he was hunting wild animals and Indians. Wilder repeatedly dehumanizes Indians, makes them animal-like, and as such, it is ok (not) for Pa to imagine hunting them. THAT hunting-humans theme is not in children’s books. But again, the book with the hunting Indians and blackface are taught to children…

(Editing my comment to include a thanks to Maggie for linking to my site, American Indians in Children’s Literature. I’ve written about LHOP several times, and other books that misrepresent American Indians. CADDIE WOODLAWN is one; TOUCHING SPIRIT BEAR is another, and… there’s TWILIGHT. Wanna know more? Visit my site.)

]]> By: planettom http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513508 planettom Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:44:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513508 Reading through some of these comments and the essays at some of the above links,  I think the existence of the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE TV series is a 400-pound gorilla in this story:  People who read about Laura Ingalls Wilder's real childhood, can't help but picture Michael Landon sagely solving every problem in an hour, you know, sort of the impossibly good and wise father on the order of Atticus Finch.      And there's cognitive dissonance; when they realize that her real dad was maybe morally ambiguous.  So there's a point where they get backwardly angry at the book dad, and/or the real life dad, for not being Michael Landon! Reading through some of these comments and the essays at some of the above links,  I think the existence of the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE TV series is a 400-pound gorilla in this story:  People who read about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s real childhood, can’t help but picture Michael Landon sagely solving every problem in an hour, you know, sort of the impossibly good and wise father on the order of Atticus Finch.      And there’s cognitive dissonance; when they realize that her real dad was maybe morally ambiguous.  So there’s a point where they get backwardly angry at the book dad, and/or the real life dad, for not being Michael Landon!

]]> By: Ronald Riley http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513462 Ronald Riley Tue, 21 Aug 2012 05:35:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513462 I did a ton of research recently on the Benders, and Kate wasn't the only one of the family reportedly seen/captured in all sorts of places. Some accounts had the family fleeing to France. The Bender story is truly one of a kind. I did a ton of research recently on the Benders, and Kate wasn’t the only one of the family reportedly seen/captured in all sorts of places. Some accounts had the family fleeing to France. The Bender story is truly one of a kind.

]]> By: Elizabeth Hasseries McKeeman http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513455 Elizabeth Hasseries McKeeman Tue, 21 Aug 2012 05:18:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513455 I need more dates to figure this out. Mrs Wilder moved the books around a bit from her personal history. In fact the events in LHotP take place before Little House in the Big Woods. If you keep that in mind them maybe the dates with the Benders line up? I need more dates to figure this out. Mrs Wilder moved the books around a bit from her personal history. In fact the events in LHotP take place before Little House in the Big Woods. If you keep that in mind them maybe the dates with the Benders line up?

]]> By: Peppermint http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513415 Peppermint Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:46:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513415 In the US, possibly, but in Europe, hell no it hasn't. In the US, possibly, but in Europe, hell no it hasn’t.

]]> By: B E Pratt http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513286 B E Pratt Mon, 20 Aug 2012 23:15:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513286 Oh lordy, will THAT episode stick in my mind! First time I EVER saw projectile vomiting (not implied!) on TV. And never again until The Sopranos. Oh lordy, will THAT episode stick in my mind! First time I EVER saw projectile vomiting (not implied!) on TV. And never again until The Sopranos.

]]> By: B E Pratt http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513280 B E Pratt Mon, 20 Aug 2012 23:11:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513280  Not only is memory dodgy, so is sight. An experiment was performed by having a subject wear glasses continuously that caused everything to be upside down. I don't remember how long it took, but eventually the brain would correct for this and make everything right side up again. Unfortunately, and rather sickeningly,  it didn't happen all at once. Wondering if perhaps I had misremembered this from school I asked my ophthalmologist about this once and he confirmed it.  Not only is memory dodgy, so is sight. An experiment was performed by having a subject wear glasses continuously that caused everything to be upside down. I don’t remember how long it took, but eventually the brain would correct for this and make everything right side up again. Unfortunately, and rather sickeningly,  it didn’t happen all at once. Wondering if perhaps I had misremembered this from school I asked my ophthalmologist about this once and he confirmed it.

]]> By: B E Pratt http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513273 B E Pratt Mon, 20 Aug 2012 23:02:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513273  When I was at UT Austin in the early 70's, I took a course called Vampirism in Eastern Europe (really, how could one resist that title?). Turned out to be one of the most pleasurable and memorable course I have ever taken and, oddly, full of actually useful material.  When I was at UT Austin in the early 70′s, I took a course called Vampirism in Eastern Europe (really, how could one resist that title?). Turned out to be one of the most pleasurable and memorable course I have ever taken and, oddly, full of actually useful material.

]]> By: B E Pratt http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513266 B E Pratt Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:51:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513266 Hum, hasn't Hansel and Gretel and pretty much all of Grimm been collectively erased (or at least scrubbed) from modern children's lit? Hum, hasn’t Hansel and Gretel and pretty much all of Grimm been collectively erased (or at least scrubbed) from modern children’s lit?

]]> By: millie fink http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513248 millie fink Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:35:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513248 Boy howdy, hellions! Boy howdy, hellions!

]]> By: Adam Baranowski http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513200 Adam Baranowski Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:52:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513200 Louise Brooks was born there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Brooks .  Louise Brooks was born there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Brooks . 

]]> By: Antinous / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513195 Antinous / Moderator Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:47:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513195 Heath and Audra as you've never seen them before! Heath and Audra as you’ve never seen them before!

]]> By: KludgeGrrl http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513166 KludgeGrrl Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:22:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513166 The witch trials are fabulous for exposing the problems in believing source material, given that they not only contradict each other but also contain lots of incredible details (like Satan speaking to people in the guise of a dog, etc).  Not that the latter stopped my students from taking it literally...  Sigh. I did not anticipate how fundamentalist christian students would read them. Mea culpa. The witch trials are fabulous for exposing the problems in believing source material, given that they not only contradict each other but also contain lots of incredible details (like Satan speaking to people in the guise of a dog, etc).  Not that the latter stopped my students from taking it literally…  Sigh.

I did not anticipate how fundamentalist christian students would read them. Mea culpa.

]]> By: Greg Seamon http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513162 Greg Seamon Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:20:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513162 Saw this historical marker a few years back after visiting the Engles house in Kansas. Just scroll down the page a bit. There is a marker about the Bender's. http://profilesofmurder.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/how-many-serial-killers-are-homegrown-in-your-state/ Saw this historical marker a few years back after visiting the Engles house in Kansas.
Just scroll down the page a bit. There is a marker about the Bender’s.
http://profilesofmurder.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/how-many-serial-killers-are-homegrown-in-your-state/

]]> By: KludgeGrrl http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513160 KludgeGrrl Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:19:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513160  I might hazard that you are not entirely comparable to an ordinary undergraduate student, Antonius...   I might hazard that you are not entirely comparable to an ordinary undergraduate student, Antonius… 

]]> By: Antinous / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513097 Antinous / Moderator Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:26:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513097 <blockquote>The idea that no source is completely reliable, even a memoir, is apparently a tough one</blockquote>Not for me. I've read accounts of events in which I participated and persons whom I knew that are completely split off from reality. I've also read some of my friends' extensive FBI files. Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars. Maybe 5% of the information is accurate. Maybe.

The idea that no source is completely reliable, even a memoir, is apparently a tough one

Not for me. I’ve read accounts of events in which I participated and persons whom I knew that are completely split off from reality.

I’ve also read some of my friends’ extensive FBI files. Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars. Maybe 5% of the information is accurate. Maybe.

]]> By: Antinous / Moderator http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513091 Antinous / Moderator Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:18:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513091 <blockquote>Serial killers murdered by vigilantes doesn't make for great children's literature.</blockquote>Hansel and Gretel?

Serial killers murdered by vigilantes doesn’t make for great children’s literature.

Hansel and Gretel?

]]> By: Peppermint http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513044 Peppermint Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:29:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513044 I would SO watch Little House on the Plains of Leng. I would SO watch Little House on the Plains of Leng.

]]> By: ChickieD http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513039 ChickieD Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:26:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513039 When I was in college, I selected courses based on the criteria that it had to be the strangest course that fulfilled one of the college requirements. This is how I ended up taking a history course entitled "Salem Witchcraft". I  got into the class and learned that I was the only Junior allowed into a class of 12 students. The rest were Seniors, and I believe largely history majors. The class was designed to teach you how historians work. We read the original trial records. We read land records, church records. We read other histories related to similar towns at the time to understand the historical context. We had databases we could sort to find out about church membership, lawsuits, land ownership. Each piece of information we were presented seemed to lead us to a new conclusion about the root causes of the hysteria. I ended up with a huge appreciation for the decisions a historian makes when presenting her ideas, how many little judgements you have to make about small details - at a time when spelling wasn't standardized, for example, it was hard to know if a record pertained to two people with similar names or the same person whose name was spelled differently in two records. I wish more people got to take a class like this; it made history so exciting to me and taught me a great deal about digging into the research people have done to back up their ideas. When I was in college, I selected courses based on the criteria that it had to be the strangest course that fulfilled one of the college requirements. This is how I ended up taking a history course entitled “Salem Witchcraft”. I  got into the class and learned that I was the only Junior allowed into a class of 12 students. The rest were Seniors, and I believe largely history majors. The class was designed to teach you how historians work. We read the original trial records. We read land records, church records. We read other histories related to similar towns at the time to understand the historical context. We had databases we could sort to find out about church membership, lawsuits, land ownership. Each piece of information we were presented seemed to lead us to a new conclusion about the root causes of the hysteria. I ended up with a huge appreciation for the decisions a historian makes when presenting her ideas, how many little judgements you have to make about small details – at a time when spelling wasn’t standardized, for example, it was hard to know if a record pertained to two people with similar names or the same person whose name was spelled differently in two records. I wish more people got to take a class like this; it made history so exciting to me and taught me a great deal about digging into the research people have done to back up their ideas.

]]> By: ipolitico http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513021 ipolitico Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:03:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513021 More about cartoonists/graphic novelists, but I like this article's discussion of how the divide between fiction and non isn't that clear cut, even when we think it is... http://www.theawl.com/2012/08/truth-and-lies-autobiographical-cartoons More about cartoonists/graphic novelists, but I like this article’s discussion of how the divide between fiction and non isn’t that clear cut, even when we think it is…

http://www.theawl.com/2012/08/truth-and-lies-autobiographical-cartoons

]]> By: Devon Heffer http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1513007 Devon Heffer Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:48:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1513007 That's not fair! I had zombies too! Yes. You had zombies. But this is ZOMBIE REDNECK TORTURE FAMILY. Entirely seperate thing. It's like the difference between an elephant and an elephant seal. That’s not fair! I had zombies too!
Yes. You had zombies. But this is ZOMBIE REDNECK TORTURE FAMILY. Entirely seperate thing. It’s like the difference between an elephant and an elephant seal.

]]> By: manybellsdown http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1512974 manybellsdown Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:03:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1512974 Re-reading those books as an adult is fascinating for all the things she left out.  Every house, barn, shed, and woodpile Pa builds is described in loving detail, but he never builds an outhouse.  And of course we never hear about pregnancies or menstruation. Re-reading those books as an adult is fascinating for all the things she left out.  Every house, barn, shed, and woodpile Pa builds is described in loving detail, but he never builds an outhouse.  And of course we never hear about pregnancies or menstruation.

]]> By: colleenmorgan http://boingboing.net/2012/08/20/little-house-on-the-prairie-s.html#comment-1512968 colleenmorgan Mon, 20 Aug 2012 18:01:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=177124#comment-1512968 Fantastic post! Little House on the Prairie was my introduction to one of my favorite genres, survivalism, albeit in a little girl form.  Did anyone else make snow candy? Fantastic post! Little House on the Prairie was my introduction to one of my favorite genres, survivalism, albeit in a little girl form. 

Did anyone else make snow candy?

]]>