]]>(Seen at Lifeline Theatre in Chicago 2009)
]]>I made this mostly for teachers, librarians, educators, and I suppose, the curious too. I am sure that a good teacher could make quite a unit out of writing tall tales from family stories, or recording family stories, transcribing them, and then concocting all sorts of other written work -- short stories, picture book texts, poetry, and experimental whatnots. I hereby throw this into the educational pot!
So here's the raw material that inspired the book, The Dirty Cowboy. Papa was the first person that told me this story and I tried to use Papa's turn of phrase in writing the book. In fact, the voice in the book is my best imitation of Papa (which you can now hear below and judge for yourself where I hit it right on and where I fell short).
Hope you like!
]]>Wiggins Hill, from That Girl Lucy Moon, is based on Coon's Hill in Hudson, Wisconsin. What a hill it was.
Here's some quotes from a Feb 2009 The Hudson Star-Observer article written by Doug Stohlberg. (Also, the historic photos in the slideshow are scanned from the same article):
...Many Hudsonites describe their first venture down the hill with words ranging from "fun" to "sheer terror."
...The huge sledding hill once covered about 10 acres of land and offered a wide expanse for sleds and skis. ... It wasn't just a sliding hill in the old days. There was a version of a ski jump, or a ski slide, for many years and in 1949 a new jump and rope tow were installed.
...One of the early accounts of Coon's Hill came in the Dec. 15, 1932, edition of the Star-Observer when it was reported: "The first ski tournament of the season will be held on the new runway on Coon's Hill next Saturday afternoon. The hill and slide has been greatly remodeled."
Taken from the same article, here's Willis Miller (Hudson's truly loved, local historian) reminiscing about the hill in 1946:
After I was of school age, Christmas always meant the annual two week's vacation, which was well taken up with little parties, sliding, skaing, and tobogganing out on Coon's Hill.
What did I write in That Girl Lucy Moon about Wiggins Hill?
Sledders dreamed about that extra slide, when the air turned so blue that the whole world looked like it was underwater, and the only light came from the reflection of the dusk moon on the blue-white snow. Those blue-lit runs were crazy, out of control, rushing, rushing, with roots of trees, clumps of snake-grass, and gopher holes taking on different shapes.
Loved that hill.
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