1. "Lizzie Through The Looking Glass"
Posted by kashesan on Nov-25th-02 at 7:26 AM

Well, I've been on vacation and without access to the board til now-hope you're better Stef! (small amounts of prussic acid, just enough to make you dizzy, will not cure the flu but will make you less concerned about it...)
The presentation at the library was a success! We got there early expecting traffic, but there wasnt any. So it gave me time to set up and get used to the room. There were high ceilings and great acoustics. Although the director of the historical society insisted upon setting up a mike, I didn't need one at all. We had about thirty seats out and had to add a couple of extras for a latecomer or two.Part of my Intro: I started out by mentioning that as I was compiling my materials for the talk, everybody who asked what I was doing smiled when the name Lizzie Borden was mentioned. Why is that, I posited. The crimes she was accused of were no laughing matter. Could it be that we try to disarm her by laughing at her? If Jack the Ripper taught us anything, it was nothing new, was it? That prostitutes were not safe in the streets. But Lizzie Borden taught us for the first time, in America at least, that we are not safe in our own homes. She was no faceless fiend ripping up hookers in the East End. Lizzie represented our wives, our sisters, our daughters. And the social structures that she tampered with by merely being associated with the crimes, let alone accused, still strike a deep chord in us today. So we smile at the mention of her name. Not because she is funny or even ridiculous-we wish that she was- we smile to disarm her, to try and take away her power. Its much easier to laugh at her, imagine her like the Elizabeth Montgomery movie portrayal: sweating, steely-eyed, the monotone voice, running about naked with an axe.We can dissociate from that image, never imagine her as being part of our families. But as we'll see, that was not an accurate picture of the woman that was Lizzie Borden. The woman who was Lizzie Borden did not stand out as a homicidal lunatic. The woman that was Lizzie Borden could have come into this room, sat next to any one of you and made polite small talk. She would have seemed charming, even shy, certainly harmless. She was the type of woman you wouldn't give a second glance to...
(etc)Anyway, I had a great time and even nailed every question afterwards (luckily there were no smart alecs in the audience)!

Oh thank you Kash for coming back and telling us the beginning of the story, and the theme of your talk.
That sounded poetic and evocative, and would tend to impress people to start over in their assumptions of Lizzie.
Just Grand!

Good for you Kash!  Sounds like it went off well.

Can I ask what kind of questions the audience asked?  What were they most interested in?

Woo Hoo!  Way to go, Kash!!!  Sounds like you knocked 'em dead!  So, did anyone ask any really good questions?  Did you clear up any myths or misconceptions that people had about Lizzie?  Do tell. 

Yes -- that's exactly what I want to know, too.  What kind of questions did you get?  Thanks for the giving us a taste of the evening.  That was great!

The questions were very routine: How much did she inherit, did she give cookies to the kids in the neighborhood (I said I thought that was unlikely-but she did feed the birds...)whatever became of Nance (I recommended Cimmaron) how much did she pay for Maplecroft, and can you visit there today; stuff like that. I think that since I had so much time to prepare that I actually left little room for questions! The people who attended were mostly middle aged, well-read persons who liked an occasional night away from the boob tube, and they were extremely cordial (depending upon one's idea of cordiality). The Historical Society provided cidar and cookies, and after the talk many of the guests chatted me up. The Newzletters that Stef sent me all went, and the Society director and I both plugged the website (of course)It was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again.
Part of my conclusion?
Despite the brutality of the crimes, we don't shiver in our beds at night when we think of Lizzie Borden, do we? Because the middle of the night is not the time to think about Lizzie. The time to think of her is a hot summer afternoon with the windows open and the neighbors passing by outside. And mabe you're lying back on the sofa to watch the game, and perhaps your sister's out in the kitchen. Cleaning up. Again. And mabe you got the piano lessons and the college education, and she got the crappy job in the department store. Thats the time to think about Lizzie. And as you're reclining your head back on the sofa arm, dropping off to sleep, say a prayer that while your sister's rattling around in the cutlery drawer, she isn't thinking about Lizbeth of Maplecroft.

What think?

Cool!  Wish I could have attended!  Great, now I'm going to be looking over my shoulder everytime I take a nap on the sofa! 

Kash -- that was so good.  Sometimes I wonder, when we're all so steeped in the case, if there's any fresh way to see it.  You did a masterful job of proving there is.  I got chills reading your conclusion. 
Thanks for indulging our vicarious interest.

I'm not the only one out there! Thank you so much for your words; I only wish some of you all could have been there (to give me some smart-alec questions. NOT!)

That's wonderful writing, Kash.
It almost sounds like a nightmare in the daytime.
Thank you for filling us in.  We were with you in spirit.
Now, how do we get you booked on Letterman?  (cause he's closest)

Many thanks Kat and all. Letterman? NOT! (I'll stick to the library crowd. Longer attention span)

I figured you'd say that.
I was heckeling you from the crowd and asking obnoxious questions which you pined for!  NOT!

It would be worth it to have you in the audience, Kat. You could help when I screw up!! (And buy cheap domestic beer for all and sundry after)

OOO I've got DRAFT. Someone left it on here a while ago and I captured it! So it is from all of us:

I'll bet this was from Harry!
The strangest thing just happened.  Well, a coincidence in timing...
I clicked on the attachment to capture the photo for full display, and in that two minute period the thread disappeared off "New Messages", which is where I go first to see the *tree* of messages.
So it turns out I last wrote on here at 1:27 a.m. and now it was 1:30 a.m. the next day.  I'm wandering around with a pitcher of beer, or rather a "picture" of beer, held suspended in my clipboard memory tring to find the thread to set it down upon.!
Reminds me of my bar dayz., waitressing!

Mmmmmm, put it down here Kat. Thank you much!