| Letters and Diary Non-Fiction posted January 18, 2025 |
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Thank you Julie Helms
A Synopsis of the Past
by Tom Horonzy
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To begin, this release began with a prompt from Julie Helms. I found her idea intriguing yet a different shoe size than I wear because this story is non-fiction and tells of a repository of old tomes; not in "An Olde Bookstore," but where I adventured in tales that used to exist, but are seemingly now extinct.
A 'different' world; not necessarily a better one, where my imagination came alive from words read by renowned authors, like Homer, Melville, and Chaucer.
There, as a lad, I read history books, dreaming while seated behind a wooden desk bearing an inkwell, with an Easterbrook pen in hand, writing about Charlemagne, King of the Franks, son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. When Moors and Huns continually ransacked noble civilizations, and legendary explorers like Chris Columbus, Magellan, Drake, Cabot, and Cook sailed an unknown universe.
My Imagination would run amok, on placid blue seas that became engulfed by ravaging storms, in ships constructed of cedar, oak, and pine. Whose masts were rigged with flaxen sails, and a crow's nest from where a boatswain could hail, "Land Ho." It still sends shivers through my mind.
Geography was also a fave of mine, traveling into vistas that no longer exist. Can you see Marco Polo traversing the Silk Road over the whole of Asia today, asking for directions to Acre, now Israel, then eastward to Persia, over the Himalayas before descending to rest at the feet of Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongols?
His journey, chronicled by Rustichello da Pisa, titled "The Travels of Marco Polo" lasted twenty-four years and covered fifteen thousand miles, and on camels to boot. He must have had a calloused ass!
And then there were the romance languages, derived from Vulgar Latin, inclusive of French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and... Romanian, a previously unknown fact to me.
Here, let me interject Vulgar then is not what vulgar is today - The ignorance of or lack of good breeding or taste, but instead was the informal, everyday variety of classical languages as 'sermo plebeius 'or 'sermo vulgaris,' meaning "common speech."
Back in the day (1953), Pluto was an oddball planet, and Charon, its moon virtually unknown. Jupiter had 12 moons, the most of any planet in the solar system, with Saturn just behind it with nine moons. They're known to have 67 and 62 today, respectively. Oh, and there were suspicions of seasonal plant growth on Mars. So, baby, we've come a long way at least regarding science.
Another thing I miss somewhat is cursive writing, but not the repetitive practice of loops and strokes. Italicized writing has been around since the fifth century becoming more popular in the 17th century under the tutelage of John Ayre's "The Universal Penman."
Can you envision the Declaration of Independence signatures being penned in Calibri or Helvetica instead? Though keyboard-type sets are generally more legible, the beauty of a quill or fountain pen is as different as Baroque is to Cubism.
I appreciate the way things were because in taking a lead from Dickens yet not fully agreeing, "It was the best of times, not the worst, an age of wisdom, and delightful foolishness. It was a season of discovery and incredulity. A season of light, with only a speck of darkness, for I chose to paint in vibrant oils rather than the misty watercolors, Barbra sang in "Memories."
 Recognized |
I wanted to join the challenge's demand but what you have read is not fiction.
The picture is of my bride when she taught school some time ago, but not as far back as when I was in grammar school. She's ten years my junior.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. The picture is of my bride when she taught school some time ago, but not as far back as when I was in grammar school. She's ten years my junior.
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© Copyright 2025. Tom Horonzy All rights reserved.
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