NONFICTION RESEARCH - ALICE ROOSEVELT NOT AT 1904 MARATHON

I am in the midst of a new book project. This one is on the 1904 Marathon held at the St. Louis World's Fair. As with all of my nonfiction projects, I have stumbled upon many inconsistancies in "the facts." I put this in quotes because the more books I work on the more I have come to realize that there is no truth, it is all perspective. 

One of my obsesions was to determine whether Alice Roosevelt was at the 1904 Marathon and whether she placed a wreath upon Fred Lorz's head. Lorz had cheated and rode part of the race via car due to cramps. He got out of the car because it broke down and started running again. Feeling quite well he finished first. Here's the puzzle I have been trying to figure out: Was Alice Roosevelt (President Teddy Roosevelt's daughter) at the ceremony and did she place a wreath upon Lorz's head?

The Smithsonian Magazine states: "Alice Roosevelt, the 20-year-old daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, placed a wreath upon Lorz’s head and was just about to lower the gold medal around his neck when, one witness reported, “someone called an indignant halt to the proceedings with the charge that Lorz was an impostor.” You can read the rest of the article here. 

If you google the name "Alice Roosevelt" and "1904 Marathon" many, many webpages come up siting the incident of Roosevelt placing a wreath upon Lorz's head. Current books also mention the same thing. 

I wanted to confirm this and also to find the "photo" that many websites claim exists of Alice and Lorz.

I went digging. Not only do I think I found the REAL answer but I found out some amusing things about Alice (and in one case her brother) as well. 

Below is Alice in trouble for getting caught betting on horses...

And this article is Alice denying it...sort of.

Then I stumbled upon this ridiculous article about Quentin Roosevelt and his goat:

And back to my research about Alice and whether she was in St. Louis giving out medals -- what I did find was that she WAS there a month earlier:

What I found super odd was that they gave her a girdle! As my mom said, "Isn't that kind of personal?"

So... yet another project for me. I knew that the girdle we think of today... or rather a 1950s type girdle...can't possible be what they were referring to in the article. I found another article that mentioned a "girdle belt." So I key word searched that in google. Nothing. I tried the historical newspapers and found that belt girdles came with jackets. So I looked further and found this article:

So from what I can surmise, the belt girdle is what the lady is wearing on the right. It's the belt on the outside of her dress. 

So back to the other mystery of where was Alice: I was not having any luck searching for her in St. Louis but from all of the articles I was finding it was clear that newsmen at that time followed her everywhere! One letter to the editor even complained about just that and suggested that the newsmen leave her alone and stop reporting on her daily activities. So what I needed to do was find out where she was not where she wasn't.

That's when I found this article:

The article was dated the day the Olympic Marathon happened. Now, one can surmise that an article would be written a day or two after an incident BUT it would also take an individual time to get from place to place and Alice was not in St. Louise on this day. On a side note: I found SEVERAL Alice fainting articles.

I then found this article:

Not only was Alice in Newport, RI on the day of the Marathon but she would remain there for another week! 

One must ask how this myth of Alice Roosevelt got rolling and why everyone believed it... including such renowned institutions such as the Smithsonian. It IS always possible that the news articles I found were untrue but in that case I would like to see the photograph of Alice in question. Until then I will stick with my guns and say that I have disproven a long held myth.

The Other Meghan McCarthys

I keep getting mistaken for one of the other Meghans!

SIBLINGS DRAW CRAZY ALIENS

These kids had a snow day and spent some time drawing some crazy aliens!

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HOW TO PAINT AN EYE

I've been really busy but I do want to post on this! I've been working on some videos. One is a sort of "day in the life of an author" kind of thing. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of how to paint an eyeball:

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HAND MAKING A BOOK

The silence is because I'm moving... to who knows where. All of my things are going into storage! Eeek! Stay tuned for more on that. Anyway, isn't this video mesmerizing?

MY ONE STAR REVIEW

My friend Marc Tyler Nobleman got this idea based on my favorite late night guy Jimmy Kimmel:



So this was my response:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxJzbGJiTc8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUviaE5osnagBOVWgAZKC2og

I found out it was too long.  Alas. Marc got too many responses so I needed to give him like 10 sec. And I wasn't supposed to put sound in, etc. So I'm posting the video here. This is not for kids so that's why it's here and not on my website. I can't have them knowing that I swear! Maybe I'll edit it when I have the time...

SELFIE... HOW ABOUT SHELIE?

And the word of the year by the OED is... SELFIE! Perhaps you already know about this. Perhaps you take plenty of your own "selfies" or perhaps, like my sister, you are a tad nauseated by the idea. Whatever the case may be, this is the new word according to Oxford. They say that there has been a huge increase in usage of such word and thus the need to make this word the word of the year.

But do you know about "shelfie"? This term is a snapshot of oneself using your camera phone or other device in front of your bookshelf.

Observe:

There's a clue in this photo as to what book I'm working on next. I haven't sold it yet but I've been working on it for years and I'm very passionate about it!

AUDIOBOOKS WHILE PAINTING

You haven't heard from me because I'm busy painting. I don't have time to do anything including do normal human activities. Sigh.

Since the start of my new book, these are the audiobooks I have listened to while painting thus far:

THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT
Oliver Sacks
- I wasn't as interested in this as I would have been if a lot of the medical "mysteries" weren't mysteries anymore. For instance, the man who could not recognize faces is no longer alone. A famous example is Chuck Close the painter: he was interviewed recently on 60 minutes and spoke of his fascination with faces because he could not recognize even his wife's. This book was written in the 70s I believe with updates added at the end of each section. The updates are in doctor speak and I sort of spaced out when those were read.

THE RACKETEER
John Grisham
It was entertaining for what it was. There were so many unrealistic parts to it that I couldn't fully get into the mystery of it all.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
David Finkel
I really recommend this book. So many soldiers come back from the war with brain damage. The suicide rate is high. Their demeanor changes it's not just them who suffers. This book talks about the wives who have to deal with these "invisible" war wounds. It's a sad tale but one that needed to be told.

A WALK IN THE WOODS
Bill Bryson
My dad had hiked part of the Appalachian Trail and had told of people who immerced themselves in the "culture" of the trail. This is an interesting read and made me want to check out the trail for myself.

WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER
Elizabeth George
This is extremely well written. It's also a very good story.

DIVERGENT
Venonica Roth
Eh. That's all I have to say about this one.

THE STRANGER BESIDE ME
Ann Rule
This was very compelling. Now I know what you're thinking: here I am painting a kids' book and I'm listening to the true story of Ted Bundy. Hmmm. But I need to keep my mind occupied! And occupied it was kept. Ann Rule worked with Ted at a call center. She was a crime writer who was eventually assigned the job to write about the murders that Ted committed before she knew that he committed them.  Intriguing to say the least. Even though Ann had written about the criminal mind, she too was fooled by this charming psychopath.

THE IMMORTAL LOVE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
Rebecca Skloot
I'm not finished with this yet - halfway through - but it certainly is interesting. What is called the HeLa Cell and is used in everything and has even been sent up into outer space first started with cancer cells taken from Henrietta Lacks. The author goes on a hunt to look for Lacks's relatives to find out who Henrietta was.