Paper description A look at the various means people have used during the centuries to find out their future including astrology, palmistry, tea leaves and even reading the entrails of dead animals. Are these people honest or are they stringing gullible people along? The author reviews the history of fortune-telling, inspired by her visit as a child to the 1933-1934 World’s Fair in Chicago, where a fortune teller read her palm. Katrina told us about the hurdy gurdy lady, tarot cards, reading dead animal...

Paper description The author includes a collection of poems, essays, and memoirs. Poems: Bare Feet, My Grandfather's Hilltop, and Whiter Than Snow. Essays and Stories: August: The Last of Summer, Stone Still Girls, Thanksgiving Turkeys, Golden Trees and Caramel Apples, and Never? Contemplating the Future. The writings were a beautiful collection of several of the author's prior writings, many previously published, all revolving around or invoking the seasons of the year. Her essays and poetry described grade...

Paper description The author told the story of the women who had an impact on aviation. We were curious to hear more from her opening lines: “One aviator was a super-star, another a shy poet; one was a professional horse-trainer with a scandalous reputation; another a military leader; and one was a homemaker and recreational pilot.” We learned interesting insights about Amelia Earhart, and also about less well known women aviators, including Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Beryl Markham. These were daring women,...

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Memoir of a summer spent at her grandparents’ cabin when her children were young. Shauna and her children had what she called a “close encounter” with a bat, which unfortunately, resulted in the need for rabies shots. Believe it or not, Shauna told this tale with humor and a feeling of nostalgia, quite a feat.

Paper description From the author, a careful history, beginning in the 1850s, of World's Fairs. She describes their ideological, commercial, and entertainment underpinnings, the fairs' influence on culture over time, and an argument for continuing them . We learn that the author's mother-in-law and longtime member of the Winnetka Fortnightly had been a contestant in the Chicago Tribune contest to choose a Queen and her Maids of the Court of Honor for the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair held on Chicago's...

Paper description Fiction/Essay: The author continued her fun and thought-provoking dialogue style story, this time of the 60th reunion of five women who now live in different parts of the country and whose lives have taken them different directions. We learn from their dialogue that their bond of friendship remains strong. The Conversation continued covering subjects of: tenting in Alaska, downsizing moves that comes with age; description of a Frank Lloyd Wright house and its owners; the 7-generation span:...

Paper description The author discusses different attitudes towards childbirth and different ways of going about it. She describes her own home births and the reasons for her choice. We were spellbound by Laurie Nielsen’s paper “Do Not Try This at Home,” her story of the home births of her two daughters. Laurie shared her unique experiences - and I think we were all on the edge of our seats during this paper, even though we knew Laurie has two beautiful and healthy daughters – but still, this was intense!...

Paper description The story began in 1965 with the construction of the author and husband's amazing glass walled house in Lakeside, Michigan. The author described her family’s adventures in the nearby getaway of Lakeside, Michigan, and the famous and infamous people who were her neighbors over the years. The paper contains stories about the building, the neighbors and the Lakeside community. They still vacation there. Well-known people in the story: Lillian Marshall (heavy equipment business), Mies van der...

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A poignant tale of the lessons learned as five different American flags appeared at significant stages of her life. Susie’s paper was beautifully and elegantly written and read, and inspired us to appreciate the touchstones that talk to us and continue to teach and guide us.

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This paper presents a history of Currier & Ives prints through an abbreviated version of a paper on this topic written by the author’s great grandmother, Franc Palmer Babson, in the 1930’s. Context for her paper is provided through an introductory biography.

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This paper describes the author’s changing perception of her family’s past history, from childhood roots based on cherished family memories, to adolescent awakenings of unpleasant skeletons in the closet, to adult stifling of those unpleasant facts, and eventual reconciliation with the truth. It considers slavery in our past and continuing racism in the present day, and calls for reconciliation.

Paper description A piece of fiction that is a dialogue between two women, who are relatives, reconnecting and talking about their ancestry and kinfolk. Caroline hosts Margaret at her home and they try to clear up various misconceptions that they had about their ancestors. What becomes highlighted in their conversation, is how we have a mutual language of idioms in our conversation. These phrases are often of unknown origin but are understood by all. Examples include, ‘mad as a wet hen,’ ‘tight as a tick,’...

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This paper is a consideration of the importance of the horse in human history and culture since man's beginnings. Archaeological evidence is included with examples of horse imagery through time. Two main sources were utilized, "Farewell to the Horse" by Ulrich Raulff and " The Horse the Wheel and Language" by David Anthony.

Paper description Kelley focuses on women writers of murder mysteries and tells us about the authors that she has particularly enjoyed and recommends. Starting with her childhood summer spent in Wolcott, Indiana where she read Anne Katherine Green’s The Filigree Ball, she explicates the different nuances of mystery writing. There are “cozies” and “hard core” thrillers, and the author highlights their different effects on readers, and the elements of their styles. She posits that murder books written by women...

Paper description This paper is a fiction in which Jill Bennett, a successful illustrator of children's books, receives a request from sculptor Peter Nordberg to cooperate on his new commission. Jill, who has recently broken off a romantic relationship, is not interested as she is too busy to enter into any new project. She reconsiders, however, when she recognizes the challenges of the project as well as discovering she knows the family commissioning the work. She finds there is much to learn as the...

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The author writes a breathtaking story of a fictional young girl with a mysterious and debilitating medical condition that was treated for years on end as hypochondria, until finally a proper diagnosis and treatment arrived. Just before beginning college the family discovers that she has Myasthenia Gravis. The diagnosis and disease is described as well as the differing treatments by which she finally becomes well 17 years later.

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The author reflects on forty years as a docent at the Art Institute of Chicago, opening the eyes and minds of patrons and young students to art, even the student who declared, "I ain't no art buff".

Paper description In 1697, Abenaki warriors attacked the frontier village of Haverill, Massachusetts. At the time, Hannah Duston, a young woman had just given birth, and was alone with her newborn daughter and a neighbor. Taken captive, the daughter was brutally killed, and the two women were marched 100 miles north by their captors. With the help of an Anglo teenager named Samuel Leonardson, who had been captured the year before, she was able to kill their sleeping captors with a tomahawk and then lead the...

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The author, a native East Tennessean explores the Appalachian Dialect, including the theory that the dialect includes remnants of the Elizabethan era.

Paper description The author is excited about her nephew, recently chosen as one of twelve members of the Astronaut Candidate Class of 2017. The aunt is thrilled about the 2 degrees of separation between her and a future astronaut. Included are the backgrounds and achievements of the twelve, explanation of the rigorous training, and the future plans of the space program. The paper also includes a brief history of the early requirements of NASA's space program and coverage of the International Space...

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The author, also a Tango dancer, writes a spirited description of the beginning, evolution, and present condition of the Argentine Tango, which is unique in its structure and universal appeal. The paper covers the emotional, political and sociological components of 19th and 20th century Argentina that created the iconic dance. Following the paper the author displayed her gorgeous array of Tango shoes and demonstrated the dance with her dance partner, who had attended the presentation.

Paper description Margaret Mead is worth our attention because, for 50 years of the 20th Century, she articulated our everyday lives and national and international issues, while at the same time making a significant contribution to the course of 20th Century social sciences. In this paper, the author introduces this charismatic, controversial and enigmatic person, and reflects on the significant social changes that occurred during the 20th century. The author wrote an in-depth and insightful review of...

Paper description The author describes her journey to a second time of wedded bliss. After the death of her husband of 60 years, a man she adored, she says "I worked hard at the hard work of being a widow." By her own gumption, and the help of family and friends, she found new joy in life. She renewed friendship with a widowed friend and unexpectedly, as a young octogenarian, they began to date, finding new happiness together. They married and she says, "We felt whole again...this new pair, that was, US!"...

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The author explores the history of surnames and titles, particularly the varying meanings of Miss, Mrs. and Mistress over the centuries, and the development of the title “Ms.” The paper also discusses the history and practice of a woman changing or keeping her last name upon marriage.

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The 1848 Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York gave birth to a consciousness and platform that still resonates today. The courage and vision of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass and others can be celebrated in the upcoming 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote.