"Sense of Adventure, Positive Attitude, Determination to Succeed." (Chicago City Council Resolution on Bessie Coleman, 1992)

Elizabeth Coleman, Aviator

On a cool crisp morning in my youth, I launched myself from Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix on my first “long distance” flight.  It was a short journey  over about half a day, through several hundred miles of Arizona, Nevada and California.  Of everything I remember about that flight, it was the freedom of it, and the sense of empowerment, that remain with me today.  For those moments, I was the only one in control, I was responsible for every outcome. In flying over several decades since then, those feelings of freedom, responsibility and accomplishment are among my most enduring impressions of the joys of flying.

Can you imagine how important (or exhilarating) that experience would be for someone from a non-privileged background - where freedom in general, and more specifically, freedom of opportunity, was an almost unheard of thing?  Bessie Coleman, remarking on that sense of freedom experienced in flying, said that she didn’t see any racism or experience prejudice while at the controls of her airplane. In flying, she escaped those things for that time that she was in the sky (that were so otherwise common not only for black people, but also for women).

I had been thinking of some way to honor Black History Month. I thought of writing about Rosa Parks, or the Buffalo Soldiers.  But I ran across the story of Elizabeth Coleman (or Bessie, as she is known to history).  She was not only one of the earliest female pilots; she was one of the first black pilots.  She was also part Native American (Cherokee) and so she may have been the first Native American aviator as well.  But above all, Elizabeth Coleman was a winner and the real story is about what she went through to accomplish what she did. 

Life wasn't very easy, and obstacles were thrown in front of her all of her life.  She was raised in Atlanta, Texas, which is about 22 air miles SSW of Texarkana. While it is reported she had a poor but “happy childhood,” her father left the family while she was still a child. Like most poor children in her circumstances, Elizabeth helped with her siblings and worked hard, both in the home and outside of it. Bessie’s young life consisted mostly of school, watching after her brothers and sisters, chores and church.  The entire family picked cotton whenever it needed picking (they were sharecroppers). 

Elizabeth walked 4 miles each way to school and apparently she went every day because she completed through eighth grade. She went on to post-secondary education in Oklahoma, until her savings ran out and she was forced to return home.  She had been especially capable in mathematics. The college she attended specialized in agricultural education and the training of teachers (for the “colored” schools only of course).  Those times, roughly around 1910, were at the height of Jim Crow segregation in the USA; black folks were “equal” - as long as they kept to themselves.  All that aside, what Bessie Coleman wanted and strove for was to “amount to something.” [1]

She left Texas for Chicago with hope in her heart.  While the racism and limitations blacks experienced in the south were present there as well (if in less blatant forms), she also found opportunities.  She lived with her brothers and she became a manicurist in local barber shops.  She heard the stories of those who had returned from service in WW1, and having learned about flying, she decided to become a pilot; among the stories told to her were about how French women were "superior" to American women because they were allowed to fly!  But for Elizabeth, the problem was how?  No one would teach her – she was not only female but she was also black in early twentieth century America.  White flight instructors wouldn’t teach her.  Male black pilots wouldn’t either. But Elizabeth Coleman wouldn't take no for an answer, at a time when that attitude could have gotten her beaten or worse in some areas of this country.

Nieuport Type 82

Flying is how she had decided she would “amount to something,” and so on the advice of a knowledgeable friend and mentor, she went to France, where she could obtain the training she wanted.  She saved her money, she got local financial backing in addition, she learned French. Then she went to France and took her flying lessons at the famous Caudron Brothers' school.

The Caudrons held a place in French aviation much as the Wright Brothers did in the USA - they were among the earliest pioneers. Like many American pilots in WW1, she learned to fly in a French Nieuport (like the one in the photo). The Nieuport had a pesky tendency to shed its wings during flight. It took Bessie 7 months. She earned and was granted a pilot's license from the prestigious Federation Aeronautique Internationale (the FAI) in 1921 – the only woman among her classes' graduates and the first black woman ever to earn a license from the FAI.  She had learned enough about aviation and piloting - in French - to obtain that license, even though she had barely a basic ability to speak or understand that language.  She was 29 years old (although for some unknown reason she lied about her age). She continued with more advanced training there, recognizing that in order to be financially successful in aviation, she’d need additional skills. She was the very first American of any race or gender to obtain the FAI's international flying license.

On her return to the US, she was greeted with a good amount of attention and publicity and became a “media sensation,” although it wasn’t all flying and roses from then on (though there was a little of that)…

When Coleman returned to the US in September, 1921, scores of reporters turned out to meet her. The Air Service News noted that Coleman had become “a full-fledged aviatrix, the first of her race.” She was invited as a guest of honor to attend the all-black musical “Shuffle Along.” The entire audience, including the several hundred whites in the orchestra seats, rose to give the first African American female pilot a standing ovation.[2]

She carried herself with a certain amount of swashbuckling “dash,” she was beautiful, she was charismatic and she was a great speaker.  She appeared in airshows (in the then-new "barnstorming" business) and she harbored dreams of opening a flying school of her own – open to all.  She quickly obtained a reputation as an expert and daring pilot. She thought briefly of a movie career in California, although she ultimately declined those offers because of the predjudice she encountered there, which she couldn't tolerate.  Elizabeth Coleman not only rose above prejudice, she actively fought it.

All during this time, money was a problem – she struggled to work for or get funds to buy airplanes, suffered set-backs when she crashed them, opened a beauty shop at one point (to amass money to open her school), gave lectures; she was an "eloquent" speaker.  She was broken and injured in flying crashes and she kept going. She fought racial barriers as well as gender barriers at every turn. [3]  She would refuse to perform – either flying or speaking – unless her audiences were desegregated, or if blacks were not allowed into the venues where she was to fly or speak. While she achieved a phenomenal level of success for someone as limited in means and opportunities as she was, those limitations finally did catch up with her.

Bessie Coleman and a Curtiss Jenny

On April 30, 1926, Bessie and her mechanic took her just-purchased “Jenny” for a test flight.  The Curtiss Jenny was, even then, considered a rattle-trap and a bucket of bolts -- and the one she bought reportedly wasn't even in that good of condition.  But it was what she could afford. During the flight, a forgotten or misplaced wrench got entangled in the control linkage, and the airplane apparently inverted and dove to earth with "jammed" controls.  Elizabeth was not wearing a safety harness (she was stretched up in her seat, trying to observe the ground at the time) and she was thrown out of the plane as it fell – 2,000 feet to the ground. The mechanic was also killed in the ensuing crash.


Thousands of mourners attended services and memorials after her death.  She had been a pilot for only five years. Her flying achievements all took place before Charles Lindbergh made his flight to Paris, and before Amelia Earhart made her famous flights.  What more might this driven and talented young American have accomplished had she lived beyond the young age of 34?  How much of aviation's early history might have had Bessie Coleman's name on it?

As it is, she has become an enduring symbol of personal courage, integrity, talent, intelligence, motivation, confidence, enthusiasm and perseverance in the face of extreme adversity and continual obstacles.  She never quit; she is a lesson in success, despite encountering difficulties in the pursuit. She had all the best qualities we revere.

Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman was an inspiration to countless black would-be aviators – male and female alike -- helping them stand in the face of not only racial injustice but gender inequality and according to William J. Powell (himself an influential and accomplished black aviator of those times) “the barriers within” themselves.[4]   I wonder how many of the Tuskegee airmen were inspired by this intrepid young woman as they faced the same kinds of difficulties or externally imposed obstacles? And Bessie Coleman is also an inspiration to me.

In the intervening years, libraries, airport facilities, streets and schools have been named for Bessie Coleman in cities and towns across our country.  There are scholarship awards in her name, and the U. S. Post Office has issued stamps which bear her likeness. She was listed as No. 14 in Flying Magazine’s 2013 list of “51 Heroes of Aviation,” and she was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006 – the highest honor in American aviation.  In the end, Bessie Coleman did indeed "amount to something."

---

[1] Texas Roots (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bessiecoleman.com/Other%20Pages/texas.html

[2] American Experience. Fly Girls; Bessie Coleman (1892-1926). (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Coleman-Bessie.html

[3] Bessie Coleman; Pilot; (1892-1926). The Biography.com website (2015). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928

[4] Bessie Coleman (Wikipedia).(2015, February 26) Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bessie_Coleman&oldid=648941490

Bourbon Chicken

Bourbon Chicken w/cucumber salad

I used to eat lunch at a food court in the Arizona Center, a business and shopping complex at 4^th Street and Van Buren in Phoenix.  There was a Greek/Mid-Eastern themed outlet there that served this dish every day – once I had this for lunch it is all I ever ordered when we went there. It's gone now, along with the food court. This may not be exactly like their dish, but I think it must be pretty close. I always got it with a fresh cucumber salad.  So…

5 or 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
8 oz soy sauce
¾ cup bourbon
1 cup packed brown sugar (you could sub honey)
2 tsp ground ginger
4 TB dried minced onion
1 tsp garlic powder

Slice the chicken into pieces, not too small, not diced.  Make the marinade and divide in half.  Place one half of it in a Ziploc bag with the chicken and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.  Take the other half, simmer it for about 20 minutes to cook off the alcohol in the whiskey, then thicken with a bit of cornstarch mixed with a small amount of cold water. Store this in the refrigerator until time to assemble the dish.  Make your cucumber salad… (it needs to sit a while to develop its flavor).

Drain the chicken pieces somewhat, then stir fry them quickly in a bit of olive oil, just until done (toss out the marinade the chicken was soaking in).  Do not overcook the chicken.  Heat the 2^nd half of the marinade you prepared earlier.  Drench the chicken (after cooking) in the heated sauce.  Serve over rice with a nice cucumber salad on the side!

Cucumber Salad

1½ cucumbers, peeled and diced
½ small to med red onion, diced
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup water
1/6 cup sugar (this is 34 grams, or one half of a 1/3 cup measure)
Salt/pepper
1 clove garlic, cut into pieces

Mix the dressing (everything except the cucumber and onion) and let it set for about 20 minutes.  Then toss it into the vegetables and refrigerate for several hours before serving.  A really nice addition at serving time is some diced ripe tomatoes.

Note:  This dish can be prepared with chicken breast, or tenders, but it is a better dish with the thighs.  If you use white meat, it just requires care not to overcook the chicken.  Cook only a few minutes -- just enough that the pink is gone.  Again, it is a better tasting dish when using the thighs!

Food too salty?

Yesterday I made a Yankee style pot roast - you know the kind, a chuck roast browned and

Classic American Comfort Food

simmered, with roasted potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms and a rich gravy?  Oh yeah.  I found the recipe online and because of the ingredients used to season the roast, the finished product (mostly the gravy, not the meat) turned out to be very salty.  It was too salty for me, and my Mom couldn't even have tolerated one bite.  But everything else about it was perfect.

A lot of old fashioned cooks probably know this trick -- I was not sure it would work, but I remember someone saying that potatoes soak up salt.  You can salt and salt and salt the little buggers but it just disappears into that starchy potato-ness without much effect.

So I stored the gravy from the roast separately (from the meat and vegetables, after cooking), and tonight I put that into a saucepan and added a peeled and diced russet to it.  The gravy was very thick (almost completely a solid after it cooled), so I also added a little water.  I brought it a boil then simmered it for about 30 minutes.  I added a little more water to keep it fluid, and after thirty minutes or so of cooking and another 30 minutes or so of sitting there resting, I fished the potato chunks out of the gravy with a slotted spoon, leaving as much of the gravy in the sauce pan as possible.  Then I rinsed them with a little bit more water, swished that around amongst the tater chunks, and poured that "gravy-rinse" back into the gravy in the pan.  I then tossed out the potatoes -- along with all that sodium they'd soaked up.  The remaining gravy is perfect -- all that lovely beef flavor intact and not salty at all.

You could use this same idea with other liquid foods that are overly salty, whether accidentally or otherwise.  I was happy to be able to figure out a way to "save" that gravy - it's just not Yankee Pot Roast without it.

Buen Provecho!

Cowboy Canned Supper

Use these...

Back in the olden days, cowboys often had to throw dinner together with whatever they had. Heck, I remember times when all there was, was an old burlap sack and some muddy water to make soup outta (you had to boil that a long time, which by then you might coulda rode inter town fer a steak.)  So this recipe here was for days when the chuck wagon had a bit of a surplus for Cookie to work with.  It ain't much, but it'll make you lose your appetite. 

2 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup or so chopped onion
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 garlic bulb, chopped
2 wienies or hot links, etc, sliced thin
1 can pintos
Salt and pepper to taste

Start by frying up the bacon until it is about halfway to crispy.  Then add the vegetables.  You can use others just as easy -- green pepper, or chilies, whatever suits you, but keep it simple.  Simple is better.  Fry those and the hot link slices (add the meat about half-way through) over med-low heat until the onions and celery are tender.  By now, the bacon should be all the way crispy.

Next step is drain off most of the bacon fat, but leave a little bit for flavor.

Dump in the pintos with their sauce and a touch of liquid smoke if you like it, or maybe a dash or two of pepper sauce, and simmer until it cooks down a little.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve it with cornbread or biskits.

This'll serve one hungry, or two skinny. Like I said, you won't be hungry no more after you-ins eat this.

This recipe came from this old guy here... he war ugly, but he wouldn't lie to ya none.

Hallowed Ground

On July 3, 1863, three divisions of Confederate soldiers, about 12,500 men and boys, led by their generals on foot and on horseback, marched for about a mile across the open ground of a Pennsylvania valley, near the town of Gettysburg. 

They concentrated and centered on this patch of ground, on a corner of this wall (just beyond the focal point of this photo) – hidden from view by the aged veterans you see standing here. 

This was perhaps the greatest military blunder ever made by Robert E. Lee.  Nearly 7,000 Confederate troops were killed or wounded in the battle (roughly 56% of the soldiers who marched that day), and about 65% of their officers were casualties.  Union defenders lost 1,500 men.

This place is called “the Angle.” Thousands of Federal defenders awaited them here, standing and crouching behind this low wall.  As the soldiers marched across the valley and came within range of the Union guns, they faced a curtain of cold steel.  Once here, the fighting became hand-to-hand and the Confederate assault appeared for a moment to be succeeding. But almost as quickly, turning as they tried to breach the Union's defenses at this corner, the "charge" broke and the Rebel advance shattered and was turned back in defeat. 

Today, this event is remembered as “Pickett’s Charge,” the high-water mark of the American Confederacy and the climax of the Battle at Gettysburg.  It marked the end of any lasting offensive success by Rebel troops in the Civil War and from this moment on the final Union victory was assured. General Lee led the demoralized remnants of his Army back to Virginia, never to venture in force into Union territory again, in the remaining (almost) two years of the Civil War.

Because of what happened here, on this ground, nearly four million of our fellow Americans were ensured their ultimate freedom, and this nation started a long process of finally fulfilling the promise of its own enshrined ideals, that “all men and women are created equal” and are deserving of freedom, inviolably deserving of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This process is not finished, but continues today.

That pivotal moment happened here, at "the Angle," on July 3, 1863. This is sacred ground. 

On the day this photo was taken, many years later, former adversaries met each other in friendship, stretching their hands to touch each other once again across the wall they had so bloodily contested.  

Humans are such strange creatures.

"The real problem with Americans and their disrespect for Obama—according to a Canadian"

From Quartz today, an article by William Thomas...  (and my feelings exactly)

There was a time not so long ago when Americans, regardless of their political stripes, rallied ’round their president. Once elected, the man who won the White House was no longer viewed as a Republican or Democrat, but the president of the United States. The oath of office was taken, the wagons were circled around the country’s borders, and it was America versus the rest of the world, with the president of all the people at the helm.

 

Suddenly president Barack Obama, with the potential to become an exceptional president, has become the glaring exception to that unwritten, patriotic rule.

Four days before Obama’s inauguration, before he officially took charge of the American government, Rush Limbaugh boasted publicly that he hoped the president would fail. Of course, when the president fails, the country flounders. Wishing harm upon your country in order to further your own narrow political views is selfish, sinister and a tad treasonous as well.

 

Subsequently, during his State of the Union address, which is pretty much a pep rally for America, an unknown congressional representative from South Carolina, later identified as Joe Wilson, stopped the show when he called the president of the United States a liar. The president showed great restraint in ignoring this unprecedented insult and carried on with his speech. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so stunned by the slur, she forgot to jump to her feet while clapping wildly, 30 or 40 times after that.

 

Last spring, president Obama took his wife Michelle to see a play in New York City and Republicans attacked him over the cost of security for the excursion. The president can’t take his wife out to dinner and a show without being scrutinized by the political opposition? As history has proven, a president in a theater without adequate security is a tragically bad idea. (Remember: “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”)

 

At some point, the treatment of president Obama went from offensive to ugly, and then to downright dangerous.

 

The healthcare debate, which looked more like extreme fighting in a mud pit than a national dialogue, revealed a very vulgar side of America. Obama’s face appeared on protest signs, white-faced and blood-mouthed in a satanic clown image. In other tasteless portrayals, people who disagreed with his position distorted his face to look like Hitler, complete with mustache and swastika.

 

Odd that burning the flag makes Americans crazy, but depicting the president as a clown and a maniacal fascist is accepted as part of the new rude America.

 

Maligning the image of the leader of the free world is one thing; putting the president’s life in peril is quite another. More than once, men with guns were videotaped at the healthcare rallies where the president spoke. Again, history shows that letting men with guns get within range of a president has not served America well in the past.

 

And still the “birthers” are out there claiming Barack Obama was not born in the United States, although public documentation proves otherwise. Hawaii is definitely part of the United States, but the Panama Canal Zone where his electoral opponent Senator John McCain was born? Nobody’s sure.

 

Last month, a 44-year-old woman in Buffalo was quite taken by president Obama when she met him in a chicken wing restaurant called Duff’s. Did she say something about a pleasure and an honor to meet the man, or utter encouraging words for the difficult job he is doing? No. Quote: “You’re a hottie with a smokin’ little body.”

 

Lady, that was the president of the United States you were addressing, not one of the Jonas Brothers! He’s your president, for goodness sakes, not the guy driving the Zamboni at “Monster Trucks On Ice.” Maybe next it’ll be, “Take Your President To A Topless Bar Day.”

 

In president Barack Obama, Americans have a charismatic leader with a good and honest heart. Unlike his predecessor, he’s a very intelligent leader. And unlike that president’s predecessor, he’s a highly moral man.

In president Obama, Americans have the real deal, the whole package, and a leader that citizens of almost every country around the world look to with great envy. Given the opportunity, Canadians would trade our leader—hell, most of our leaders—for Obama in a heartbeat.

 

What America has in Obama is a head of state with vitality and insight and youth. Think about it: Barack Obama is a young Nelson Mandela. Mandela was the face of change and charity for all of Africa, but he was too old to make it happen. The great things Obama might do for America and the world could go on for decades after he’s out of office.

America, you know not what you have.

 

The man is being challenged unfairly, characterized with vulgarity and treated with the kind of deep disrespect to which no previous president was subjected. It’s like the day after electing the first black man to be president, thereby electrifying the world with hope and joy, Americans sobered up and decided the bad old days were better.

 

President Obama may fail but it will not be a Richard Nixon default, fraught with larceny and lies. President Obama, given a fair chance, will surely succeed, but his triumph will never come with a Bill Clinton caveat—“if only he’d got control of that zipper.”

Please. Give the man a fair, fighting chance. This incivility toward the leader who won over Americans and gave hope to billions of people around the world that their lives could be enhanced by his example just has to stop.

 

Believe me, when Americans drive by the White House and see a sign on the lawn that reads, “No shirt. No shoes. No service,” they’ll realize this new national rudeness has gone way, way too far.

 

This post originally appeared at Senior Living.

A note by Bob...  I disagree with the author's assertion that this change occurred with President Obama's administration.  It had been developing for quite a few years (and at least a couple of presidents) before that, and to be sure, politics in the USA have always been ugly.  But it surely accelerated and became more venomous with Mr. Obama; racism has come out of the closet and joined with political hatred.  Many people are blinded to the good in the man by their own ignorance. I also disagree with the statement that our last president was not intelligent. He had opinions and policies that many of us found abhorrent, that we feel damaged our nation, and he was often awkward when expressing his thoughts in public forums (which also often made him seem less than intelligent). But these are differences of opinion, and do not necessarily indicate a dearth of intelligence.  While I think he was misguided, I would never say he wasn't "smart," or that he was dishonest. 

The Roundabout in America

Roundabouts have been slow to catch on here in the USA, but they are very common in other parts of the world and they are becoming more common here as well.  This doesn’t, however, keep the average stateside driver from hating them irrationally.  Let me ask you, what's not to like about a traffic interchange that saves taxpayer dollars, saves lives, and keeps traffic moving at the same time?  If drivers in other countries can learn to use them safely, so can you!

How do they save tax dollars?  They typically require less land when they are buying expensive real estate for an intersection, and they don’t require a hugely expensive signal light system – just a few yield signs.  They keep traffic moving because even when busy, everyone can typically keep moving – there is no 45 second wait for a signal to “come around.”  Saving lives is easy, when the only possibilities for wrecks are lane-changing sideswipes and low speed failure to yield conflicts.  The left-turn fatal or serious injury collisions, the red-light-runner t-bones, and the potential head-ons at normal intersections all go away.   

Once you understand how the roundabout is supposed to work, and what the rules are for using them, they become less-intimidating and less stressful to use. If my little essay doesn’t work for you, search online for instructional videos – there’s more than one.  ADOT has one specific to Arizona that is very good, but the rules are basically the same everywhere.  Please note that this discussion is not for the "traffic circles" often used for traffic-calming in neighborhoods or business areas.  Those are different.

The first rule about using a roundabout is you need to know where you are going.  There are signs posted ahead of a roundabout that show you graphically which lane you want for which direction you wish to exit the thing.  Pay attention to those signs if you don’t already know which lane you want – and position yourself in the lane you want.  This may seem elementary, but you and I both know that a vast number of drivers don’t pay attention to anything except their cell phone conversation or even worse, their text messages (don’t let this be you). But typically, you want the right lane entry for a right turn or straight through.  You want the left lane entry for straight through, for left turning and for u-turns.

Then, on arrival at the entry point, prepare your mind to yield, not roll right on in. All roundabouts should require a yield on entry; the vehicles already in it have the right-of-way. You may need to wait a few seconds to yield and then enter the traffic flow in the circle. When you do, enter directly to the lane from which you will exit the roundabout – this is not like a turn at an intersection where you must turn right lane to right lane, or left lane to left lane.  One thing they don’t want you to have to do is to change lanes in the roundabout.

Then just drive on through. Keep in mind the roundabout is not intended to be a high-speed interchange.  Maximum speed is typically 20-25 mph.

One or two more things – if you are driving a long vehicle, pulling a trailer, etc, the center apron is designed to allow you to drive on it.   If you encounter an emergency vehicle in or near a roundabout, you yield to them the same as you would anywhere else – clear the roundabout if you have time to do that, and pull to the right as far as possible, stop and wait there until they have passed the required distance down the road before you resume driving.  If you have to stop IN the roundabout because you weren’t paying attention and they caught you by surprise, pull to the right and stop where you are.

Once you learn to follow these rules, you’ll get used to driving in roundabouts and they won’t stress you out!

Keep the shiny side up!