Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?

Recently the local writer's group heard Amanda Cockrell, one of my former professors, give a talk about the Hollywood blacklist, which happened in the 1940s through the early 1960s. It's also known as the McCarthy era.

Professor Cockrell explained how her parents, who were screenwriters at the time, sometimes did not have work, but never knew if it was because they were on some list somewhere or if that was just the nature of the freelance screenwriting business.

Apparently, though, the time period left a mark on my professor, who could remember people talking about how much harm the "blacklist" did to folks.

She recently released a book, called Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?: A Novel of the Hollywood Blacklist. 

I have read it. 

She takes the dark history of the Hollywood blacklist and turns it into an entertaining novel about friendship, betrayal, loyalty, and the consequences of choices made when fear takes over.

The story centers on Elizabeth “Liza Jane” Sydney, an aging Hollywood star whose unusual will requires that she be buried in the oak grove behind her home. When she dies, an assortment of relatives, friends, former lovers, enemies, beneficiaries, and assorted Hollywood characters descend on the little California town, determined either to carry out her wishes or overturn them. As the story moves between Liza Jane’s later years and the Hollywood of the 1940s and ’50s, the reasons for her peculiar final demand, along with the secrets behind it, gradually emerge.

What makes the novel particularly effective is that the blacklist isn't simply historical background. Cockrell shows how political fear and suspicion can turn ordinary human relationships into impossible moral choices. Who do you protect? When do you speak up? And what happens when protecting one person puts someone else at risk?

The characters are lively, complicated and occasionally downright outrageous. Cockrell clearly knows her Hollywood. But beneath the entertaining story is something much more serious: a reminder that political persecution doesn't end when the headlines disappear. The damage can follow people and their families for decades.

This is a fascinating piece of historical fiction, and an especially good choice for anyone interested in old Hollywood, McCarthyism, or the complicated ways that loyalty and betrayal can shape a life.

The author at the podium.

Thursday Thirteen

1. We had a little rain, but still not enough to break the drought. We'll take what we can get, though.

2. We also had high winds, and that means broken trees over fences, and in one case, across a neighbor's driveway. My husband was out late Tuesday night helping to clear the tree from the driveway so the neighbor could get out.

3. I have not remembered how to do a Rubrik's cube. I also haven't cheated and looked up how to do it. At least not yet.

4. We have a squirrel that is addicted to some mineral that we put out for the animals. We placed it on a stump in the backyard, and while it was a solid cube, all the animals ignored it. Now that it's melted down and the minerals have seeped into the stump, one squirrel just can't get enough of licking the stump. I wonder what it is after?

5. Last night someone in Illinois won a $1 billion lottery. That's a tremendous amount of money to suddenly obtain. What will they do with it? Will they quit their job today? Will they buy a new house, a new car? Move to some remote island? Buy a castle in England? What would you do with that kind of money?

6. Facebook keeps showing me ads for something called a Qwerty Machine, which looks a bit like an old timey typewriter except it's a computer keyboard. I already use an ergonomic keyboard, which is not at all like a regular keyboard.

7. National Geographic has a story about squashing spotted lantern flies. I'm sure we have them, but I haven't seen any near the house. I don't know if I actually am supposed to be squashing them, though, because I had to sign up to read the article and I didn't feel like doing that.

8. There's another article about redacted names in the Epstein files. Not victims' names, as required by law, and which the DOJ has infamously failed to do, but the names of "Hollywood royalty" and real royalty, and apparently other big hot shots who appear to need to be protected by the government while victims get harassed by the proletariat that follows a certain cult of personality.

9. Sometimes you just can't make stuff up: From ABC-13: UPDATE: The fire marshal's office determined that a fire at Forest Middle School was accidental and caused by an escaped classroom snake knocking over a heat lamp. 

10. My Facebook feed has several tributes to Jackie, the eagle who died over the weekend. I'd been watching Jackie and her fellow Shadow for several years and I learned a lot about eagles. I wonder what will happen to Shadow now? I assume he will find another mate. I also wonder if the nest will be abandoned, or if Shadow will continue to use it, or perhaps some other eagle pair will take it over.

11. Today, the delegates assembled at the 58th International Association of Fire Fighters convention in Arlington, Texas voted unanimously to censure the Governor of Virginia, Abigail D. Spanberger. Apparently, they were unhappy for this reason: "During Governor Spanberger’s campaign for office, she repeatedly committed to signing statewide collective bargaining legislation for Virginia’s public safety professionals. This commitment was made publicly and privately to firefighters who steadfastly supported and endorsed her candidacy. Collective bargaining legislation (Senate Bill 378 and House Bill 1263) passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly in 2026. The legislation was vetoed by the Governor signaling a clear disregard for the will of Virginia’s elected representatives and a violation of the promises made to those who protect the citizens of Virginia." I seem to remember muttering from my retired firefighter husband about Spanberger's veto at the time.

12. It has taken me longer to find 13 things to write today than it took me to do the dishes, fold the laundry, and make the bed. Some days the words don't come easy.

13. And this is 13, and thankful am I for that!

_________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 971st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

A Ghost Book Found Me

 

Recently, I slipped into Barnes & Noble to use the restroom. Of course, I can’t walk into a bookstore without spending a little time there, so after I washed my hands, I looked around.

At this B&N, the section nearest to the restrooms was New Age items. Tarot cards, runes, books on Wicca. I glanced over the selection and saw a book called Haunts of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Highlands.

Intrigued, I picked it up, and as I frequently do when looking at local work, because, you know, reporter brain, I flipped to the back to see if there was an index that might have any places in my county listed. I idly flipped to “F” for Fincastle.

What I found instead was my name!

The book author, Joe Tennis, had listed a bibliography in the back, and he cited an article I’d written for The Fincastle Herald in 2008 as a source for one of his entries.

I bought the book. Not everyone can walk into a bookstore and find their name in it, after all.

This was a delightfully weird little full-circle moment. Of all the places to discover it, this was unexpected. I know my name is in some local history books at the museum. I’ve seen my name in emails from folks who were researching other aspects of the county, and I know some of my work has been used (frequently without permission) in various books and publications.

But I wasn’t expecting to find my name in something at Barnes & Noble while I was wandering through the New Age section. The universe apparently decided the ghost book needed to find me.

Seeing my own name in the bibliography of a published book made me realize that my work is history now – not history as in “done with it,” but history as in, many of the pieces I wrote will someday end up in other publications. Maybe cited, maybe not, but about 40 years of the story of my community lives because I wrote it up.

I spent decades gathering small pieces of local history, the stories people might dismiss as "just folklore," only to find that one of the pieces traveled beyond the local newspaper pages and became part of someone else's research.

I found the author on Facebook and wrote him a little note thanking him for listing me in his bibliography. He wrote back, telling me he remembered the first time he’d found his work cited in something else. He too wrote for newspapers and is now retired. It was a little kinship between strangers.

This was a quiet reminder my life and my work exist whether or not certain people acknowledge it. 

The story exists because I showed up. My byline is in the annals of the newspaper because I was there. I interviewed people. I wrote articles. Other people will find my work useful.

I went out and I created. No one can take that away, overlook it, or decide it didn’t count. Because what I did counted then, and it counts today, and it will count 100 years – maybe 200 years, even – from now.

It was a pretty remarkable thing to find on a random Tuesday morning.

Currently

Currently, I am:

Reading . . . The Women of Wild Hill, by Kirsten Miller and Finders Keepers, by Brett Battles (writing for Stuart Woods)

Watching . . . JAG, Reacher, Password, The Eye of the Storm, Deadliest Catch

Listening . . . to the sound of the air purifier in my office and the soft sound of my husband talking to someone on the phone in the other room.

 

Eating . . . nothing at the moment. I am chewing gum, though.

Thinking . . . that we had a little rain and I'm very grateful for it, though the winds have been wicked.

 
Feeling . . . perturbed that the custom orthotics that I paid $$$ for are causing more pain than they are helping, and I will have to go back to see if they can redo them. This has been going on for 7 months and I think I'm ready for a refund.

Celebrating . . . the little bit of rain and the fact that our power has so far stayed on in spite of the high wind.

 

Thankful . . . for my friends who check in on me.

Enjoying . . . a couple of video games that I play. 

I swiped this, at least in part, from Stacy. I don't know where she got it, maybe she made it up.

The Eagle Has Landed

Several years ago, I started watching a pair of eagles in Big Bear Park in California on their live cam feed.

The eagles were named Jackie and Shadow. They had bad luck with their eggs the first year I watched, with no eggs hatching. Last year they had three chicks hatch out, but one died during a severe snowstorm. Those two chicks were named Sunny and Gizmo.

This year they raised two chicks, Sandy and Luna.

About the time the two young hatchlings were ready to begin their journey away from the nest, Jackie disappeared. Shadow kept feeding his young for a few days and then they disappeared from the camera view.

And someone found a sick eagle not far from the nest area. The Friends of Big Bear soon identified the eagle as Jackie, who was last seen on the cam on July 23. The eagle was taken to the Ojai Raptor Center for care.

Today, the Friends of Big Bear notified everyone via Facebook that Jackie had passed away:

The Ojai Raptor Center

Patient Update: Bald Eagle 26-519

It is with profound sadness that we share that Patient 26-519 passed away in the early hours of this morning, following more than three weeks of intensive medical care.

Over the past several days, her condition continued to deteriorate despite intensive treatment and the combined efforts of our veterinary team and consulting specialists. She remained critically ill, receiving oxygen therapy, supportive treatment, and around-the-clock monitoring in our intensive care unit.

. . . Her remains have been transferred into the care of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

We know this news will be deeply felt by the many thousands of people around the world who have followed her journey, hoped alongside us, prayed for her, and supported the people caring for her.

. . . We ask for patience and kindness as our staff process this loss. We are working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and will provide a more comprehensive statement including additional information on her treatments and test results.

I admit I was expecting this, given the previous updates about Jackie's condition. Hopefully there will be a report as to what it was that actually caused the eagle we came to know as Jackie to pass away.

This cam has become world famous for these two eagles. They've had media coverage about their offspring and efforts to raise chicks. Jackie sat through something like a 42-hour snowstorm once, covering the eggs to ensure they stayed warm.

Raised as I was in a rural setting, and still living in one, I am aware of the circle and cycles of life. Some animals mate for life, others do not. I try not to become attached to the wildlife around me - squirrels, deer, raccoons, etc. because I know it will eventually make my heart hurt. It's hard to watch a bunny day after day only to one day see it devoured by a fox, after all.

This past year I continued to check in on Jackie and Shadow's world. They were fascinating to watch. I enjoyed learning how eagles sound - nothing like hawks and frankly some of the sounds we hear on TV that are supposed to be eagle screams actually aren't - and they could be incredibly careful with one another, and with their eggs. I personally found it amazing to watch the big feet of the eagles around those tiny eggs. How they kept from stepping on them is beyond me.

The commenters on Facebook are wondering now what will happen with Shadow. Will he grieve? Will he find another mate? Will some other eagle pair take over the nest? Nobody knows. I wonder how long the Friends of Big Bear will leave up a camera at a nest that is empty, if it is not claimed during the next cycle of brooding for eagles. 

School children have been watching this pair of eagles, too, and will learn a hard lesson about life when they come back to learn that Jackie and Shadow are no longer a pair, and that Jackie has perished. I hope the teachers have the proper things to say when they are asked.

Farewell to Jackie, the queen eagle of Big Bear, thought to be the first successful hatchling there after many years of no eagles in that area. She reigned for 14 years.

A capture from the cam of Jackie & Shadow
in better days.

Sunday Stealing

 

When You Can't Think of Anything to Blog About ...

1) Describe your typical weekend and tell us how this weekend has been different.

A. My typical weekend involves changing the bed linens and washing them, doing laundry, maybe a dinner out, watching TV, and regular chores. I can't think of anything different that's happened.

2) What food hits your bliss spot?

A. Chocolate. But good chocolate. Lindt has good chocolate these days.

 

3) Where did you stay on your last vacation (hotel, Airbnb/Vrbo, friends/family)?

A. I haven't been on a vacation in 7 years. I stayed in a condo.

4) If you had a personality eraser, what part of yours would you erase?

A. I might not be so blunt about things. I can be pretty straightforward when it comes to saying what I think.

 

5) Think of your friends. Tell us about the first one who popped into your head.

A. I'll tell you about an old friend I saw this past week. I hadn't seen her in I bet 20 years. She's a retired journalist and editor. She has a lovely smile and a twinkle in her eye. She's got a dog, and she has brilliant white hair (not gray). She is almost 80 and still works. She's lost her husband and a son, and she told me she's had two knee replacements and a shoulder replacement, so she's almost bionic! It was nice to see her again.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Sugar, Sugar

 

Saturday 9: Sugar, Sugar (1969)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This month Saturday 9 will be tasty, featuring songs with food in the title.

*Here is where I confess I still have this album.*

1) This week's song is credited to The Archies, a band that never actually existed. The song is performed by singer Ron Dante and studio musicians and backup singers hired on behalf of the five members of the popular Saturday morning Archie Show. Were you a fan of this animated series?

A. I would have been in 1st grade when this show was on, so I barely remember it, but I do remember it. I think, however, I could only watch it when I spent the night at my grandmother's house. At my house, we could only get one or two channels. She could get all three plus PBS!

2) Archie was Archibald Andrews, a character first introduced in the 1941 comic strip. Archie was the linchpin, the leader of the band, and the center of his social group. Tell us about one of the popular kids from your school days.

A. I stayed away from the popular kids in school, as I wasn't one of them. I was a nerd who made straight As. But let me think. Ah, I know! Jodi E. He was always funny. Kind of short, red hair, made everyone laugh all the time. I wonder what he's doing these days. 

3) The Archies' drummer was Jughead Jones. He was smart, funny, and had a fondness for headwear. Do you often wear hats or caps?

A. Not anymore. I used to wear hats back in my younger days, especially in high school, and I was married in a hat with a veil behind it, I refused to cover my face with a veil.

4) Reggie was the lead singer and bass player. He was a gifted athlete who liked to come in first. If he couldn't win with his natural talents, he was not above cheating. Have you ever cheated in a friendly game?

A. I imagine I have but I can't think of anything right off. Does turning on the God-Mode so you can get through a level in a video game count?

5) Blonde Betty Cooper was on the tambourine. Her hobbies include playing baseball, caring for her cat, and helping Archie work on his car. Tell us three of your favorite pastimes.

A. My favorite three pastimes include writing, playing or listening to music, and reading.

6) Raven-haired Veronica Lodge was the keyboardist and joined Betty for backup vocals. She was a fashion plate, known and loved by Riverdale store owners because of her willingness to spend big bucks to stay on trend. What's the latest thing you've added to your wardrobe?

A. I bought some tops and a single pair of pants a while back. When I came home and washed the pants and went to wear them, I realized that one leg is about an inch longer than the other. I didn't notice it when I tried them on in the store, but it is certainly noticeable at home. They will have to be wear-around-the-house pants unless I decide to rehem them.

7) The biggest news story of 1969 was one of the biggest stories in history. On July 21, man first stepped onto the moon. Without looking it up, do you remember the astronaut's name?

A. Neal Armstrong.

8) Also in 1969, Triple H was born and today he's in the WWE Hall of Fame. Do you follow professional wrestling?

A. I do not follow professional wrestling. In my younger days, my grandfather would stop whatever he was doing on Saturdays to sit down and watch wrestling, though, and I would watch it with him sometimes. I remember some loud dude named Rick Flair.

9) Random question – Would you prefer to be: a) super successful in business or b) a politician elected to an influential office or c) a champion athlete?

A. Geez. Is there a D? Of the three I would choose being super successful in business. I could be super successful in the writing business since it doesn't specify what kind of business.

BONUS #10: Mister Linky has become extremely hard to navigate, and no one is home at the Help Desk. How do you feel about leaving your link in the comments?

A. This does seem to have become an issue, doesn't it. I've been looking into it and there doesn't seem to be another option that works like Mr. Linky (and is free). Apparently, there is some way to make Google Docs create a form that you can use that goes to a spreadsheet or something or another, but it was so complicated I didn't try it.

As for leaving the link in the comments, it is probably the easiest thing. If it is all that's available, then I don't have a problem with it.

_______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen

 

1. This drought that we're in has been particularly difficult this summer. Our area remained in severe drought even though some parts of the state has received inches of rain. We've received sprinkles.

The green circle is our area of the state. We're in that little red portion of extreme drought.

2. One of the things we do that helps is pasture rotation, which means moving the cattle from one pasture to another, allowing the grass to grow in areas while the cattle eat down the pasture it's in.

3. Two springs on the farm that have never gone dry in the 40+ years I've been here, now are. These springs feed into Rulman Branch, which feeds into Tinker Creek. No springs, lower creek. Lower creek, less water in the cove that is one of the city's main sources of water.

4. The pond beside the original house (built approximately 1808) is the lowest I've ever seen it. The aforementioned springs led into it.

5. The peaches are small this year compared to other years. Not enough water.

6. The berries - blackberries, wine berries, blueberries - didn't have any water so they were mostly seed.

7. Our garden is producing because we're watering it, but the tomatoes have thick skin, as does the squash. Too much heat, not enough rain.

8. This drought has been up and down the eastern seaboard, especially from the Mid-Atlantic to the southern states like Florida, so many food items are affected. Watermelons are expensive, locally grown items are up in price, some things are hard to find.

9. The deer are testing out some of my flowers they've never bothered in the past. I can see their ribs sometimes.

10. The cattle are still fat because we're feeding hay as well as using pasture rotation. We've also started supplementing their feed with grain.

11. Before a recent cough of rain, the grass in the yard had browned so that it crunched under foot. My husband has only mowed the yard 5 times this year, and that was just to knock the weeds down. He usually has to mow every week.

12. Trees are already losing leaves. Some of them have turned yellow and it's just the first week of August. I've stood at the front door and watched the wind blow leaves off trees that shouldn't be shedding yet.

13. The pine tree that stands out above the rest of the trees in the front of the house has died. I don't know if that was drought or pine beetles, though.

How are things in your part of the world? Too wet? Too dry? On fire? Flooding?

What a weird weather year we're having.

_________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 971st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Truth in Advertising

I remember a time when “truth in advertising” actually meant something. Ads weren't lies, claims had to be provable, and the fine print couldn’t contradict the big print. The FTC even chased violators. It wasn’t perfect, but there was at least a cultural expectation that ads had to resemble reality.

Somewhere along the way, that expectation evaporated.

Ads are just lies now.

I play a city‑building game called Elvenar. I enjoy it. It’s strategic, cooperative, and visually polished. But the ads for it are nothing like the game.

The ads show tiny villagers you can drag around, little elves picking up lumber, and chests that drop out of the sky. None of that exists in the real game. Not one pixel of it.

All I do in Elvenar is build structures, manage resources, and work with my fellowship. We have a weekly tournament that isn't against one another but against the game itself, and you can auto-fight that if you want to and never see a movement of a bow. There are no wandering villagers to interact with. No puzzles. Just city planning, resource checks, and "events" that are simply doing the things one needs to do play the game anyway.

My biggest city in Elvenar. Mostly all you do is move buildings around. No people to play
with. No chests dropping from the sky. Just a city-building game.

Elvenar is run by InnoGames, the same company behind Forge of Empires, and they use the same advertising strategy for both: show a completely fictional version of the game because it gets more clicks. Real gameplay footage doesn’t convert well. City builders look slow and thoughtful, which is great for players like me, but terrible for marketing. So, the ads show a fantasy instead of the product.

Legally, companies defend this as “creative representation.” Regulators treat game ads as harmless exaggeration. As long as the ad doesn’t promise a specific feature you pay extra for, they get away with it. The fine print says “not actual gameplay,” and that’s apparently enough.

The irony is that Elvenar and Forge of Empires are actually good games. Deep, strategic, and well‑designed. But I wonder how many people sign up only to be disappointed when the games are nothing like the advertisements.

So what happened? Why can't cigarette companies still not advertise on TV but video game promoters can flat-out lie about their product? 

I think a few things happened:

• The internet blew the doors off regulation. The FTC was built for TV, radio, and print. It was not built for millions of micro‑ads, influencers, sponsored posts, and algorithmic targeting.

• “Puffery” became a legal shield. Companies can now say things like “best,” “fastest,” “most trusted,” “America’s favorite,” without proving a thing. Courts treat it as harmless exaggeration.

• Influencers blurred the line between opinion and advertising. Half the time you don’t even know you’re looking at an ad.

• Fine print became microscopic. Legally, the disclosure is there. Practically, nobody can read it.

• Enforcement budgets shrank. The FTC can’t chase every misleading claim across social media, YouTube, TikTok, and a thousand ad networks.

• Algorithms reward exaggeration. The more dramatic the claim, the more clicks. The more clicks, the more money. Honesty doesn’t trend.

So “truth in advertising” technically still exists. The laws are still on the books. But in practice, the guardrails have rusted. Companies learned how to skirt the rules, regulators haven’t kept up, and the internet rewards exaggeration far more than honesty.

And that’s how we ended up with Elvenar ads that advertise a game nobody can actually play.

A Fawn

 

This little one was by the driveway when we came home the other evening. Its momma was not far away. They don't run far when they see the car. The deer are used to us driving in and out. Sometimes we come home and they are resting in the yard. We open the garage and pull in and they never move.

We don't feed them or anything. We are simply part of their lives now.