A Flash Mob Story of 1947

Full Moon from Stock Vault, free.

When I see the commercial of the fellow at the station that breaks into a cheer only to find out the the Flash Mob has been rescheduled, (*And who can forget the trouble between the gay couple on Modern Family when one joins a flash mob?) I am reminded of a story my Dad tells.

He and at least 8 other WWII vets returned home to Mississippi to attend Southwest Junior College in Summit, MS, during the summer of 1947. They called themselves The Plowshare Boys. My dad Paul Smith and Jerry Clower, renowned comedian and pundit, were members. 

 

The Plowshare Boys had a pact. Anytime the song "I Saw the Light" by Hank Williams was heard, they would all stand and sing along. *Imagine these vets rising with military precision, standing at attention, and returning to their seats with military precision.

At least 9 of the men had an English Lit class during the noon hour in a classroom directly above the Student Union. In the Student Union was a jukebox with the Hank Williams record "I Saw the Light." And most days, someone would drop money in the jukebox to play this song. When this happened, these proud vets would all stand and sing. (*YouTube video)

  

Luckily for them, their teacher Ms. Brown never objected. When the song ended, all sat down and class resumed as if nothing had happened.

Through the years, my dad has sung this song as he walks through the house. We usually joined in. Today he plays Hank Williams on his CD player and tells us often of his days at Southwest. My mother met him when he was a Plowshare Boy, and they married within the year. They raised 5 daughters who can all sing along to a Hank Williams song.

We recently lost my mother. We played and sang "I Saw the Light" at her memorial service. (Originally published 5/20/11)

*added in 2020.

2020 Addendum. We lost my father 2017. Born 1927, he was a vet of 3 wars and a US Navy retiree, and a physician's assistant for TDC when he retired the second time.  His ashes are interred, along with a portion of Mom's, in the Houston National Cemetery. All of his daughters now live in Texas.

Why Teach with Science Fiction

I have posted 10 reasons for using science fiction to teach science to the blog Reading for the Future Reflections.

The article is based on a paper I co-wrote years ago, but is still relevant today.

There are many books on the value of Science Fiction. Of interest to school teachers are the works of Julie Czerneda that offer lessons on teaching with science fiction.
Search Amazon.com for czernadaStardust: Teacher's Guide (Tales from the Wonder Zone)
also 
Odyssey: Teacher's Guide (Tales from the Wonder Zone) and Packing Fraction &_Other Tales of Science &_Imagination (2002 publication)

More lessons and thoughts on using all types of speculative fiction with students k-12 are presented on the blog Reflections and in my website. Feel free to explore that webpage for more teaching tips.

Try Past through Tomorrow for Heinlein' short stories that are guaranteed to interest youth. There there is Wondrous Beginnings, an anthology of authors' first works. Mostly short stories that should interest your young adult readers. From Piper is Federation and from Asimov is  everything he wrote.

Looking for Sci Fi by Women Authors?

This cat sculpture
by Sue Lannen
reflects the several
sci fi cats
featured in the list.

This book list of YA science fiction features women authors. The types of sci fi ranges from military to romance to coming-of-age to epic to mixed types. Although suitable for YA, many are stories good enough for adults to enjoy, too.

Enjoy a good read. Then give the book to a teenager.

The Courtesan Prince by Lynda Williams A Book Review by Valerie Coskrey

I recently discovered a new science fiction universe to explore. The deftly built Okal Rel Universe is visited through the books of the Okal Rel Saga by Lynda Williams and her proteges. The central character of the saga is introduced in The Courtesan Prince as Von who is, well, a popular gigolo of the royal ladies of the court. He is also a young man who was stolen at birth and is just discovering his specialized genotypic heritage. He is, unbeknownst to anyone, a Sevolite, genetically engineered and of royal descent.

In a society with legal prostitution, courtesans are used openly by society's elite. This is the story of how one such man becomes a popular lover, a valued friend, a protector of children, and a spaceship pilot. It is the story of a society in chaos and of its promise of better days with a new leader. It is a story of how contact between planetary societies is reestablished after centuries of mutual avoidance following a destructive war. And, finally, it is the story of the relationships that are possible when society sets artificial taboos on who is allowed to love and what types of sex are permissible.

It is not a story rife with explicit descriptions of sexual acts, but there are numerous sexual encounters and the development of a few romantic-love relationships. There is an underlying theme of the consequences of abuse and the victim's emotional growth needed to cope with an abusive past and present. The book has numerous characters allowing for a variety of stories to be told and relationships to be examined, from both homosexual and heterosexual perspectives; from the ugliness of abuse to the passivity of prostitution, to the passion of infatuation, to the caring of friendship and the love of mates.

Lynda Williams builds a cohesive universe populated with real people in real, slightly dysfunctional societies, with believable interactions and adventures. It is an action-packed adventure with sword fights, politics, murder, spaceship battles, justice and betrayals.

I enjoyed it and plan to read the others in the series. The Okal Rel series spans about 15 books to date, including some written by proteges of Lynda Williams. They can be purchased through Amazon.com; but to get the list of all books available, visit the Okal Rel Universe website.

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Much of this text is also in my blog Dirt Poor Books. Note: I updated the Amazon links and added labels to this post in July of 2014. Lynda Williams had written several books since then, and has greatly advanced the saga.

My Article on Robert J. Sawyer and his Books Wake and Far-Seer

I have posted an article on Robert J. Sawyer, science fiction author, on the RFF Reflections blog. I invite you to read it. He writes exciting tales of aliens and of computer networks.

Of his books displayed on his website, these are the ones I want to read first.

. .. Then I would want to read Calculating God followed by Illegal Alien. Then I would want to finish the trilogies and maybe start on the Hominids series.

I suspect that the ones listed above will be suitable for teens. Far-Seer has been reviewed as a YA novel.  Wake's main character is 15.

Check them out and tell me what you think.