Author #110: Maritcha as biographied by Tonya Bolden

Born in 1848, Maritcha lived in lower Manhattan  for the first part of her life. After the Draft Riots her family moved to Rhode Island.  When she reached high school there was no where for her to go to school.  Maritcha spoke before the Rhode Island state legislature at the age of 16 to petition them to grant that she be allowed to attend the Girls' Department of Providence High.  Her plea was granted.  In her compositions she often wrote about slavery, the Draft Riots, the Civil War and the Underground Railroad.  A teacher questioned the sincerity of the pieces and their authenticity-suggesting that Maritcha had used her imagination.  "'The half has never been told.' was Maritcha's typical terse response."  Maritcha later became a teacher.  Maritcha: A Nineteenth -Century American Girl  was written by Tonya Bolden after she read Maritcha's memoir written after Maritcha retired as an Assistant Principal in Brooklyn, New York.

Sunday Randomness #29 BYU Fudge

Pralines and Cream Fudge-caramel, pecans and white fudge

Italian Cream Fudge-swirls of milk chocolate fudge with a browned sugar type fudge

German Chocolate Fudge-milk chocolate fudge with a coconut topping

pecans, caramel, white fudge and dark chocolate fudge

same as fudge above-don't remember the name-it was the fudge of the day

Milk chocolate fudge with walnuts

side view of walnut/milk chocolate fudge

Available in these flavors and more at the BYU bookstore in Provo, UT.    ( We bought the fudge for our own delicious consumption and were not paid, compensated or otherwise given any incentive to write the post other than our opinion that the BYU bookstore has great fudge.)

Authors #107-109 plant the trees of Wangari Maathai of Africa

 Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter  I like the simplicity of this book-focusing on how Wangari started with just nine seedlings in her Kenyan backyard back in the late 1970's.

 Planting The Trees Of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola  With this book we see more of the devastation of drought from cutting down forests for firewood and clearing the land to grow commercial crops, many of which do not provide enough complete nutrition for the sustainability of life.  She helps the women of Africa to see that they must and can be part of the solution by planting trees.

Mama Miti written by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

The last book, Mama Miti outlines a few of the specific trees that Wangari tells the women to plant.  She had them plant everything from fruit trees, to trees for firewood, trees with leaves that cured some problems in cattle such as cattle gall, and trees that would help form natural fences to protect gardens and livestock from predators.

She also encouraged women to use the trees to filter water, provide shade and restore the land so that they could again grow traditional crops such as sweet potatoes, maize and sugarcane.  With the reforestation came other benefits such as the return of frogs, birds and other animals.  By 2004, thirty million trees had been planted and the green belt movement had spread to thirty African countries.

Author #106: Leda Schubert shares the magic of the marvelous Mime Marcel Marceau

Monsieur Marceau by Leda Schubert

Little Known Notable Quote from Marcel Marceau: 

"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

During his lifetime he had many numerous accomplishments.  Other life changes included changing his name from Mangel to Marceau.  His father died in Auschwitz.   He helped hundreds of Jewish children escape from occupied France to Switzerland on Boy Scout trips.  

Here's a little clip of Monsieur Marceau as a Parisian waiter:

Marcel Mareceau-Le petit cafe parisien