When a nine-year-old girl asked about trading cards, her mother and aunt got busy. And “Supersisters” went viral.

HEROESBruce WatsonJanuary 11, 2024Supersisters, SupersistersTM, Lois Rich, Women's history, Trading Cards, 1970s, Women's culture, Great women Comments

THE NIGHT THE STARS FELL

In 1833, when fire and brimstone lit the sky, most Americans trembled. But a few turned to “the lights of science.”

WONDERS, WondersBruce WatsonJanuary 4, 2024The Night the Stars Fell, Astronomy, Meteor Showers, Second Great Awakening, Leonids, 1833 Comments

EDISON'S LITTLE GLOBE OF SUNSHINE

On the eve of 1880, Thomas Edison threw a New Year’s party unlike any before or since. Let there be light!

WONDERSThe AtticDecember 27, 2023Thomas Edison, Electric light, Menlo Park, NJ, Menlo Park New Jersey, Edison national historic site, invention, American invention, Edison Comment

THE "ICE FLOWERS" OF SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY

Folks in Jericho, Vermont thought the Bentley boy was crazy to be out in the snow. Then they saw his photos.

WONDERS, ART-ISHThe AtticDecember 18, 2023Snowflake Bentley, Vermont, WInter, Snowflakes Comments

THE EINSTEIN OF GREEN LIVING

Critics scoffed but Amory Lovins has stayed on “the soft path” to renewable energy.

HEROES, TEACHERS, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticDecember 15, 2023Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute, RMI, Environment, Environmental Movement, Solar Energy Comments

THE COLD WAR COMES TO VERMONT

Drafted into the Cold War, Cavendish gave Alexander Solzhenitsyn what he’d never had — a home.

BOOK-ISHThe AtticDecember 7, 2023Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Cavendish, vermont, Cold War, Gulag Archipelago, Nobel Prize for Literature Comments

THE DUNE SHACKS OF PROVINCETOWN

Like citadels against modernity, 19 shacks stand on the edge of America. Can they survive?

American PlacesThe AtticNovember 30, 2023Dune shacks, Peaked Hill bar, Provincetown, Cape Cod, Dune shacks of Peaked Hill Bar, Dune Shacks of Provincetown Comments

TECH'S BIG COMEBACK -- VINYL!

Obsolete, old-fashioned, vinyl records went into history’s dustbin. And then. . .

WONDERS, COMEBACKSThe AtticNovember 25, 2023Vinyl, Vinyl comeback, Music industry, Jack White, Vinyl revival Comments

FINDING ZORA

Her books forgotten, her style only a memory, Zora Neale Hurston died a pauper’s death. And then. . .

BOOK-ISH, COMEBACKSThe AtticNovember 15, 2023Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Their Eyes Were Watching God, African-American literature, American literature Comment

THE COMEBACK CLINIC

His arm blown out, his career finished, Tommy John tried the surgery that led to a thousand comebacks.

WONDERS, COMEBACKSThe AtticNovember 1, 2023Tommy John, Tommy John surgery, Dr Frank Jobe, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baseball Comments

STAR OF JOY -- THE VOYAGE OF Hōkūle‘a

In one heroic voyage, one craft stirred the pride of Hawaiians and their ancestors.

DREAMERSThe AtticOctober 26, 2023Hōkūle‘a, Mau Piailug, Ben Finney, Kon Tiki, Polynesian Voyaging Society, Hawaii, Hawaiian history, South Pacific, Polynesia Comments

DEEP DOWN IN CARLSBAD CAVERNS

A century after becoming famous, America’s biggest hole in the ground has yet to touch bottom.

American PlacesThe AtticOctober 20, 2023Carlsbad Caverns, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico travel, Southwest travel, Jim White Comment

THE WONDERFUL WORDSMITH OF OZ

From Oz to the moon, Yip Harburg’s lyrics captured America’s hopes and dreams.

WITS, ATTIC AT THE MOVIES, ATTICATTHEMOVIESThe AtticOctober 12, 2023Yip Harburg, E.L. Yip Harburg, Wizard of Oz, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Finian's Rainbow Comments

PROJECT 562 -- REBIRTH OF NATIONS

Native-American portraits were stuck in the past. So Matika Wilbur set out to photograph all 562 nations.

HEROES, ART-ISHThe AtticOctober 3, 2023Project 562, Matika Wilbur, Native Americans, Native American photographs Comments

MOWING STRAIGHT ACROSS IOWA

When his brother had a stroke, Alvin Straight headed across the Plains to see him. On a lawnmower. (As seen in “The Straight Story.”)

WONDERS, ATTICATTHEMOVIES, ATTIC AT THE MOVIESThe AtticSeptember 29, 2023The Straight Story, Alvin Straight, Iowa, Great Plains, David Lynch Comments

TRUTH'S OWN HISTORIAN -- JILL LEPORE

Despite three jobs — professor, New Yorker writer, mother — Jill Lepore solved the mystery. “Who Killed Truth?”

BATTLING THE B.S., TEACHERS, teachers, TEACHERS & HEALERS, DEMOCRACYThe AtticSeptember 21, 2023Jill Lepore, American history, These Truths, The New Yorker, Harvard University Comments

KINDER, COOLER, SMARTER

NOW IN OUR TENTH YEAR!

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