August 24th, 2009

And so another work week begins. I’m inspired this morning by the late producer Don Hewitt’s favorite expression, “Tell them a story.” I hope to do just that with the Elizabeth Custer book I’m working on. Hopefully I’ll be able to speak with George Custer’s descendant, Gail Kelly-Custer today. I believe the interview will provide a much needed balance to the story and am looking forward to speaking with her. Gail wrote a book about her famous heritage and has received a great deal of criticism by several self-proclaimed historians. I already like her just because of that. Someone once said, “Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they’re unable to do it themselves.” In addition to the work I’ll be doing on the book about Libbie Custer, I’ll be working on a new book proposal about Nellie Bly. Bly was a fascinating journalist who went so far as to have herself committed to an asylum so she could write about the atrocities within the system. She had critics too and shot one of them in the arm for his constant barrage of negative comments. In a scenario that sounds all too familiar, her critic was expressing the feelings of an author friend of his who hoped to write about the same subject. Instead of writing their own book, they spent copious hours picking apart her work. Frustrated by the never ending harassment, she marched in to the bar where the critic worked serving drinks, ordered a beverage, and paid for her drink with a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. Unfortunately the critic lived. In other matters, we should find out something concrete about the production company involved with bringing Thunder Over the Prairie to the screen. I should have a definitive idea about where I’ll be moving next as well. That’s good. I do don’t well in limbo. I’m looking forward to my high school reunion in a couple of weeks in Southern Arizona. It should be fun getting reacquainted with people I shared the same bit of carpet with for three years. I’ll be working with a team of budding college attorneys on helping my brother. At the very least I’d like to get some teeth sent to him. Criminals and blackhearts run the institutions and family members are forced to watch the suffering. The corruption within the system goes unchecked. There’s very little I can do to help, but watch things get worse and plan for my brother’s ultimate funeral.