I have become totally obsessed with vintage magazines these last few weeks. I have spent so much time browsing in Antique Malls that customers are beginning to think that I am a vendor! Actually, I would like to be a vendor, but that is another story for another day.

Today’s story is about my latest find…the February, 1939 issue of the American Cookery magazine, published by The Boston Cooking School Magazine Company.  I had never heard of this magazine until last Thursday when I was at the Montgomery Street Antique Mall in Fort Worth. I was going to have lunch at the Secret Garden, a pretty tearoom inside the large store.

After lunch, I thought that I would browse around for a short while. Two hours later, I had walked through only half of the 61,000 feet of everything from yesteryear that you had no idea that you needed. I was on a mission to find vintage magazines …specifically the Delineator, a fashion magazine published by the Butterick Company beginning in 1893. If you want to read more about the Delineator , I wrote a post about the magazine on February 19, 2017…the beginning of my obsession with vintage magazines!

An advertisement in American Cookery

There were no Delineator magazines to be found, but I did find a gem in the American Cookery magazine. There was just one problem with the magazine…

There were absolutely no VIVID colors inside the magazine and a small amount of red on the cover! In fact, all of the pages of the American Cookery were in black and white! 

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A Recipe From the February, 1939 Issue of American Cookery…

Apple Crumbles

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup softened butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

4 cups sliced apples

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Oven temperature-375 degrees

Cooking Time-45 minutes

Blend together flour, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place the sliced apples into a well-buttered 8 x 8 x 2 baking dish. Top with the flour mixture and bake as indicated or until the apples are tender. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

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American Cookery was originally called The Boston Cooking School Magazine, but the name was changed to American Cookery in 1914. The magazine included articles on food and food preparation, cooking and serving advice as well as recipes personally submitted by readers. The magazine stopped publication because of competition from a new entry into the publishing industry.

The new magazine was called Gourmet and featured a much fancier European approach to preparing food. However…one reason that the competition won readership from American Cookery was…

Vivid Color Photographs!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/vivid/

Much to my surprise, I found fourth graders to be an exciting and fun group to teach. They listened when I asked them to listen   …well, most of the time. They worked when I asked them to work…well, most of the time. They laughed at all of my jokes and when I asked them to stop laughing, they did stop…well, most of the time.

They talked when I asked them to talk…all of the time! Honestly, it was the desire of my fourth graders to please the teacher, to make friends, to be happy and very surprisingly to figure out life beyond school. These were children who knew that their home environment was most likely not ideal.

Their parents…for the most part…  struggled from paycheck to paycheck or did not work at all. The children clearly wanted to try to make something good out of themselves…to find success beyond their poverty stricken neighborhood.

Some would make it…how I hoped that they all would figure out life after school.

Even though fourth graders face high stakes state tests in the Spring, I felt like I needed to focus on their hopes and fears for the future. I needed to work on building up their confidence. I needed to teach them that a strong work ethic is the first step. I needed to teach them that they could and should start working on a plan for the future. These fourth graders needed to decide what types of work they might desire as a grownup.

Their opinions and their questions about education and jobs were continuous. Their interest in what they might be when they grew up proved that nine and ten year old children could be deep thinkers as well as deep worriers. I thought that once we got the conversations going about their plans for the future…that they then would realize the importance of making super effort on their regular classroom work. And thus…do well on the big tests in the Spring.

The plan worked. They learned to persevere. They learned to figure out their possible choices and desires for the future. They learned that doing well in school was the important first step.

In order to help each student to start thinking about the future…we began to talk in small discussion groups, to write in daily journals, to post writing samples around the room, to share hopes with the class. Of course, we worked on the science curriculum, the math curriculum, the social studies curriculum, the reading curriculum and so on.

However, our class project was called “working on a plan for the future”. I found out that it is never too early to place a class of children on a strong pathway to tomorrow. How I wish that this type of concept would be taught in teacher preparation coursework in colleges…especially important for teaching the children in Title I schools where crime is rampant, money for food/housing is limited, and street smart children are sometimes the norm.

I had no idea about the possibilities of stepping outside of the box. The “powers that be” were not on board with the idea or supportive at all. So sad, but our class kept on the same pathway no matter what…because it was working.

The students wrote many important stories, poems, paragraphs about future careers. One nine year old girl wanted to be a teacher. These are her words about teachers and what they do:

“Like a Teacher”

Like a teacher, I can help.

Like a teacher, I could know the answers.

Like a teacher, I can help people to understand something that they don’t know.

Like a teacher, I could encourage kids to do what is right.

Like a teacher, I would want to learn and tell people what I have learned so I could pass it on.

Like a teacher, it feels good to break apart something to help someone understand.

Like a teacher is being myself.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/desire/

We will just call the student Hunter. The number one reason…simply because I like that name. And…for the second reason…his relatives were always hunting for excuses to explain his growing number of absences. Something told me that I might should doubt some of the reasons. Sometimes a teacher can just tell when the truth is not exactly emerging!

And then, Spring Break came along and the child did not return to school after the break. Instead of a one week vacation, he enjoyed more than a two week vacation. Upon his return, I received the most classic and elaborate absence excuse note in the history of absence excuse notes! This was upwards towards 20 years ago and I have saved a copy of the note…it is just that confusing and that interesting and just plain…

DOUBTFUL!!!! SEE IF YOU AGREE!!!!

“To the teacher:

During Spring Break, my family went to visit a son in North Carolina. We went by plane and came back by bus. The bus we took to get back to Texas made 3 stops and 2 layovers. We left North Carolina on Sunday morning and were supposed to arrive back in Texas Monday or Tuesday night. The bus broke down coming out of North Carolina and there were no more buses left for us to take. So, we had to spend another night with the son.

The next morning, the bus was ready to leave. We made our first stop in Tennessee. That was OK I guess. The next stop was in Alabama. That was OK too. Now, here’s where we had a big problem. The layover was in Mississippi. The layover was supposed to be for only 4 to 5 hours. But it ended up lasting 2 to 4 days. 

Some man on the bus stole this lady’s purse and gave it away and the police wouldn’t let anyone out of the bus station until it was returned. The purse was returned the next morning. Wednesday morning, the bus needed some small work so we didn’t leave until late Wednesday night. The next stop was in Arkansas. After that, the driver was so tired that he took a wrong turn and we ended up in Atlanta, GA. We stayed there for about 8 hours. They had to call another bus driver to drive us to Texas. After that, we made it home Friday morning, but we were so tired from that long bus ride that we just came home and went to sleep.

Please excuse him from school the week after Spring Break. It really wasn’t our fault. We were on our way home. If you have any questions about the trip, call me. Thanks a lot.”

Doubtful or Not Doubtful? You decide! I just feel sorry for that poor bus driver for making the wrong turn in Arkansas! I do wonder…did anything happen in Louisiana? Personally, I would have made a stop in New Orleans!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/doubt/

Forgiveness. Saying “I’m sorry” are such simplistic words compared to the all encompassing word “forgiveness”.  It can be so very easy to use the word “sorry” to explain away any small or large indiscretion. For someone to truly forgive you, “sorry” is not enough. An explanation…a reason…an admittance of the misdeed will help to speed up the forgiveness process. Complete forgiveness takes effort and honesty and time and sometimes includes a large dose of hesitation.

People may hesitate to forgive because they do not want to give up the control in a relationship. They want to take the proverbial upper hand. Dr. Everett L. Worthington, Ph.D* suggests that people may hesitate to offer or ask for even a bit of forgiveness because they feel that they personally have nothing to gain in return. According to writings by Dr. Worthington, research shows that there is a strong connection between forgiveness and physical, mental as well as spiritual health. Forgiveness can even play an important role in the totality of health for families, communities and even countries.

Thinking about the current negativity in our country…perhaps understanding the benefits of forgiveness is not just another naive solution.

Our personalities have sharp edges individually just as countries have sharp edges. Irritation is predictable in most relationships whether it be personal or happening in a political atmosphere. This does not mean that we should continue to assume that anger has taken control and is the lead decision maker in our actions. We sometimes need to forgive even though we may hesitate.

According to Dr. Worthington, an international leader who placed emphasis on reconciliation was Nelson Mandela. Despite his critics and in direct response to his many supporters, Mandela did not hesitate to believe in effective forgiveness.

Just something to consider.

*Everett L. Worthington Jr., Ph.D has been a professor in the department of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Worthington is also the author of Humility: The Quiet Virtue as well as an article titled “The New Science of Forgiveness”.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/hesitate/