MEanderings

Thought for the day: each step of defeat merely touches another stone on the path to success. ©2007 Penny White

Finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Satisfying, as always. Didn't waste any time getting started on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I cannot help but marvel at the brilliance of J.K. Rowling. How imaginative and creative the idea is of having a school for witches and wizards and the whole Harry Potter story.

Of course, I also find the works of Judy Mercer and Pat Conroy equally engaging and marvel at their mastery of writing as well.

Stephen King, too, is a master, though it is master of the macabre. King, though, tends to get tiring after awhile. He writes to formula and he uses the same metaphors for fear over and over again. If you read a number of his books one after the other, you'll begin to spot patterns in his descriptions. The ideas are all different, but the way he writes those ideas is similar from one book to the next. His formula obviously works as he is laughing all the way to the bank.

The true master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe, could teach many contemporary writers, King included, a thing or two.

Still no word on Steve Fossett. You would think that with today's technology it wouldn't be that difficult to find someone. What with all the satellites up there looking down on this planet among other things. But it's a great big world out there. Some things are never found.

For instance, Gertrude Tompkins-Silver has yet to be found and she's been missing since 1944.
Tompkins-Silver was part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II (http://www.wasp-wwii.org/). These were women who flew planes on domestic missions so men pilots could go and fly in the war. Their history isn't taught in school, though it should be. But, just like the Women's Professional Baseball League, their story probably won't be widely known until a movie is made about it.

Tompkins-Silver took off from Los Angeles headed for the East Coast. She and her plane disappeared along the way and, although search efforts continue today, no trace of her has ever been found.

The WASP served under government auspices for four or five years, yet were not recognized as part of military service until the 70s. 38 women pilots died in the line of duty, but were not given military burials. Cornelia Fort, now with an airport in Tennessee named after her, was at Pearl Harbor giving flying lessons the very day it was attacked. She and her student bore witness from the sky to the carnage. She was the first woman pilot killed in the line of duty when a hotshot male pilot clipped their plane while showing off. Cornelia had the wherewithall to turn off the plane's engine before it crashed so as to avoid the plane bursting into flames.

Women are truly amazing. Aren't we?

I hope they find Steve Fossett alive today.

www.cafepress.com/penspen

Later

Pen