* bulgur is amazing. Think of it as a whole grain minute rice- it’s cracked and steamed wheat that you basically just have to either pour water over in the morning and let it soak while you go about your day, or bring it to a boil and let it sit for about 15 minutes while you get the rest of your meal on. And it’s delicious- creamy and nutty and a whole grain that is just perfect for getting your fiber up!
“She was a Holy Terror: Her Pen was as Venomous as a Rattlesnake’s Fangs; Former Washington Editress: How Ann Royall Made Life a Burden to the Public Men of Her Day.”- Washington Post headline from 1891
The newspaper called Paul Pry aggravated many readers, as it was dedicated to exposing political corruption and religious fraud. This was pre internet, so when postmasters refused to deliver the paper to its subscribers, the readers couldn’t read it. Undaunted, the editor and owner changed the paper’s name to The Huntress, and attacked nepotism and graft in the government, as well as political corruption and religious fraud. She also published the names of all the people standing in the way of her paper and her readers. She also made sure every article about financial waste ended with how that money could have been put to good use supporting the members of our society who needed it.
Before running the papers, Anne Newport Royall had traveled extensively in the young United States, as a solo woman. Her travel books also got her into hot water, because she named each inn that overcharged and took advantage of travelers. But it was the time between her travel books and the founding of her paper that got her into the most trouble. She took aim at a popular Reverend, exposing his religious fervor as a cover for his political ambition.
She wrote: “Their object and their interest is to plunge mankind into ignorance, to make him a bigot, a fanatic, a hypocrite, a heathen, to hate every sect but his own, to shut his eyes against the truth, harden his heart against the distress of his fellowman and purchase heaven with money.”
People hated her for this so much, they threw rocks at her windows, pushed her down the stairs, whipped her with horsewhips and of course, bought her books and burned them. She was 60 years old at this time. But when people prayed under her windows and tried to convert her, she told them off.
And that’s what led to Anne becoming the first person in America to be found guilty of being ‘a common scold’ at her trial in 1829. Punishment for this was supposed to be a dunking in water, and the chair was actually built just for her, but instead she was fined $10 and allowed to go on her way. Shortly after she started Paul Pry, with the aid of orphans of the city to set the donated type and deliver the papers. It was one of her young workers who named the publication.
Over the course of the 23 years she ran her papers, she wrote about land fraud targeting Native Americans, slammed abolitionists for their infighting, criticized the temperance movement, and argued against the interference of the government interfering in peoples lives. She was also a widow of a Revolutionary War veteran, at a time when each widow had to travel to DC to petition for their husband’s pension. She argued over decades that women should not have to be individually granted pensions, and in 1848, a new pension law was passed that reflected this. Her inlaws fought her in court, and gained her husband’s pension for themselves. They had previously won a case denying her anything from her husband’s property when he died 15 years after they were married, in 1812. After a seven year court battle, the courts annulled the will.
At her death in 1854 when she was 85 years old, her papers closed. But her writings shaped our country and kept people in all states informed. And though you may not have heard of her, you know one word she coined for her travel books: redneck.
Did you ever call someone Italian and have them respond, ‘no, I’m Sicilian?’
You probably just laughed, it’s all the same country, right? And if you’ve said it, you may not even know why you did.
Around the time of the American Civil War, Italy was being united. Unlike America, Italy wasn’t a group of colonies with a common language and culture who came together voluntarily to form a country. Italy was a set of kingdoms and city states, all with their own cultures and languages.
Sicily in the early 1800’s, when Austen and Shelly were writing their novels, was intellectually and civically advanced. Sicilians had an established pension system, steamships, iron and steel plants, low taxes, high arts, low infant mortality rates, a school for the deaf, botanical gardens, glass recycling programs, and a nearly universal ownership of a small patch of land (enough to grow food)- it was equal to any of the other countries in Europe.
Then in 1860, Garibaldi (of the English cookie fame) ‘liberated’ Sicily. Who was he liberating the Sicilians from? Well, the Sicilians. And who was one country who backed him? Everyone’s favorite colonizer, England! Well, that explains why the English and not the Sicilians have a cookie named after him.
The British wanted sulphur, which Southern Italy had, and wanted to open the Suez canal, and sent warships to help Garibaldi take the Kingdom (which wasn’t just the island, but stretched at that point to Naples (have you ever heard a person say ‘I am not Italian, I am Neapolitan?’) ) The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which had only been united since 1816, being two separate kingdoms before that, ceased to exist in 1861.
In various cities in Sicily, revolts were squashed. After the mostly unarmed farmer rebellions were put down, with the resultant massacres, the ‘leaders of the revolt’ were put on trial. Given 30 minutes to prepare a defense, they were then either executed or given life sentences. Their property was stolen, their women raped, their children told they were dirty barbarians.
One of the first things that was done to the newly ‘liberated’ Sicily, was the seizure of nearly all religious property. Most of the schools were run by religious orders, and thus for nearly 30 years, there was no place for children in the South to be educated. Twenty seven years passed before the liberators of Sicily gave their children schools.
One hundred and fifty four years after the liberation of Sicily, Italy apologized for the mistreatment of the South which threw it into ignorance and depression.
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was only under self rule from 1816-1861. That’s 45 years.
Oh, and Italians don’t use spoons to twirl their pasta. Sicilians do. Remember that the next time someone laughs at spoon use. So, use a spoon to twirl your pasta, eat some pastries, and remember that Sicily has not been under it’s own rule since 1861.
