“If This House Could Talk” – historical essay

Today’s blog post is about the last story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories.

*Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories*, by Janet Morrison

The house

Actually, “If This House Could Talk” is more of an essay than a short story. It is written from the viewpoint of an old abandoned one-and-a-half-story wooden farmhouse that I saw a thousand times in my life.

That house fascinated me because it did not face the main road. It faced a dirt driveway that led to a couple of other houses. Often, when we would pass it, my father would point and say, “the old Snell place was over there.” I didn’t know any Snells and, as a child, did not care that they once “lived over there.”

It was only after I was an adult and discovered the 1777 estate papers of my Morrison 4^th-great-grandparents that I discovered that Francis Snell taught my 3^rd-great-grandfather in the 1770s. By then, I had also met a descendant of Mr. Snell’s who lived in Ohio.

Why is it that you don’t know what questions to ask your parents until after they are gone? But I digress.

The essay/story

“If This House Could Talk” is set in the 1970s, a few years before the house at the center of this essay was demolished. After doing some genealogical and Civil War research, I discovered some incredible things about the family that occupied that house in the mid-1800s.

I did not know the history of the house until I was researching the 72 men and boys from Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, who were killed or died of disease during the Civil War.

“If This House Could Talk” gives that house an opportunity to tell us what it witnessed during that time as it reminisced about a much different time more than 100 years earlier. There were happy times and sad times for the family that house sheltered when it was young.

What kind of memories is your home making, in case a writer decides to let it talk years from now?

Links to the blog posts about the other 12 stories

I hope you have enjoyed reading about each of the stories in Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories over the last several months in my blog. If you like my book or know someone who might, tell them that they can get a print of electronic copy on Amazon or a print copy at Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC.

Update on Hurricane Helene recovery in North Carolina

As we get further away from September 2024’s Hurricane Helene, it is easy to forget how long it takes for a place and a people to recover from a natural disaster of such proportions. I have little new to report since my last update on February 2.

Hurricane Helene has dropped from the news cycles even here in North Carolina, except for an occasional reference, but I’m still trying to shine an occasional light on the recovery on my blog.

Via Facebook I keep up with some of the things Beloved Asheville has done and continues to do since the hurricane. As of last week, Beloved Asheville delivered its 140th new home to a family who lost their home in the flood. After living in an RV for 17 months, another family finally has a home. It might just look like a mobile home to a lot of people, but it is life-changing for this family. To learn more about Beloved Asheville, go to https://www.belovedasheville.com.

Several roads remain closed in the mountains due to the record-breaking rain (upwards of 30 inches in some places) during Hurricane Helene. For example, I read that Sampson Road in Watauga County reopened a couple of weeks ago after two sections were washed out during the storm. When a road “washes out” in the mountains, it often means that the road and all the soil beneath it slid down the mountainside. It is a feat of engineering to rebuild the roadbed so the road can be reconstructed. That is one reason why recovery takes so long in the mountains.

Portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway have not reopened since Hurricane Helene. I-40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee border remains just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit. Highway construction is hampered by snow and ice in the winter months.

The National Park Service reported: “As of February 12, 1026, many sections of the Parkway remain closed due to winter weather, though recreation is authorized at your own risk in these areas. Specific closures include a bridge rehabilitation project from milepost 63.5 to 63.9, with detours in place. Visitors should exercise caution, as ungated sections may still be accessible but are subject to emergency closures.”

There were at least 57 landslides in the 269 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. Work is ongoing and has moved into Phase 2 in which repairs to 21 landslides between milepost 318.2 and 323.4 are underway, with completion expected by fall 2026. That includes the North Toe River Valley Overlook, Chestoa View Trail, and Bear Den Overlook.

Sign blocking travel by car, bike, or on foot on National Park Service property on Blue Ridge Parkway at Asheville, NC, June 10, 2025 — A road closure sign on the Blue Ridge Parkway in June 2025.

The thousands of us who are fans of the Blue Ridge Parkway can hardly wait for all of it to reopen. I’ve read hints that that might occur by the end of 2026.

One of my best vacations ever was a leisurely drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway from its beginning just southeast of Waynesboro, Virginia to its end near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The wildflowers were spectacular and so varied all along the 469 miles!

Businesses in the affected areas continue to rebuild and reopen. Many had to relocate and many will not reopen. Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, which I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, is relocating to higher ground in Asheville. I understand that the town of Lake Lure is well on its way to reopening for the summer tourist season and the lake itself is expected to be back to full-pond stage in May.

The town of Chimney Rock, just a few miles up US-74 from Lake Lure, is still in recovery mode, as the little tourist village was almost wiped off the map by the hurricane.

Life in my part of the state quickly returned to normal after the hurricane, with only small pockets of flooding, but life and the landscape were changed forever in various hard-hit parts of the Appalachian Mountains in the western part of North Carolina.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

War in Iran and My Second DIY Writing Retreat

Donald Trump and Israel started a war with Iran just after midnight Eastern Time on Saturday. I say “Donald Trump” and not “the United States” because Trump did this without the blessing of the U.S. Congress. He did this after telling the American people that, if elected, he would not start a war.

This is the man who was furious over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

There must be “an imminent threat” against the American people for the U.S. President to take such an action. Democrat members of the U.S. Congress are furious and saying that intelligence reports indicated no such threat.

The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Congress the power to declare war. In this case, the Congress was not even informed that this was about to happen.

As I write this on Sunday night, Iran is retaliating by bombing numerous countries where the U.S. has military bases. Three U.S. military service members were killed and five seriously injured in a Iranian drone attack on a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

It has been reported that Lebanon has bombed Israel and Israel has bombed Lebanon.

No one knows what the near or far future holds as a result of this attack on Iran.

Trump says he joined Israel to take this action to save American lives – not today, but in the future. He expects the Iranian people, who are not organized and have few resources, to now waltz in and create a new government since the bombs have killed the supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

I don’t see that happening. It would be wonderful if the Iranians, who have suffered under a brutal regime for 47 years could take control of their government, but I fear they do not have the wherewithal to do that.

I see the U.S. mired in another endless war started on a whim by a man who dodged the draft five times during the Vietnam War.

By the time this blog post “goes live” eight hours from now at 5:00 a.m. Monday, Eastern Time, there is no telling what will have happened.

I’m a “night owl,” so I was still awake after midnight last Friday night when I learned that Trump and Israel had started this war in Iran. I had already planned my second DIY (Do It Yourself) Writing Retreat for Saturday afternoon.

It was difficult to turn off the TV and distract my brain from current events and focus on 1768 in North Carolina, but I managed to do that.

I needed to make a major change in my historical novel’s plotline. Research last week had uncovered a fact that changed the course of the story somewhat. That necessitated deleting many paragraphs, rewriting others, and juggling some scenes.

It was tedious work, but I committed to it for around six hours. The result was a net gain of 2,200 words – one of my most productive writing days. My word count stands at 60,000. I’m aiming for 90,000 words.

After accepting the fact last week that I am a binge writer and I cannot force myself to set daily business hours to work on my novel, freed me to stop feeling guilty for not working on it every day. I plan to schedule more DIY Writing Retreats in the near future as I continue to find a writing process that suits me.

I plan to blog about the last story – which is more of an essay – in my latest book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, on Tuesday. I’ll just “wing it” after Tuesday, depending on what the coming days bring.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

My new discovery: I’m a binge writer!

Every weekend, I make to-do lists for each of the next seven days. I am a list-maker. I can’t help it. I get great satisfaction when I get to check an item off my list as “done.”

Some tasks on my list appear every single day. Some pertain to daily habits for my health, some pertain to social media, some are book marketing, some of writing, some are categorized as “household.” There is even a “decluttering” category.

Unfortunately, I haven’t checked anything off my decluttering list in several weeks. That section of my list is like a black cloud hanging over my head. Until I feel the urgency in checking those items off, they will continue to just be moved to the next day and then to the next week.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

It is the “writing” category on my to-do list that worries me the most. If I don’t finish the first draft of my historical novel, I will suffer with guilt feelings. I want to finish it, get it published, and move on to the next book. I have told people I’m writing a novel. They’re getting tired of asking me, “How’s your novel coming? When are you going to finish writing your novel?”

I enjoy writing, and I enjoy doing the research to back up my historical fiction writing. Where am I getting this wrong? Why can’t I finish writing that book?

I subscribe to Janice Hardy’s Fiction University Narrative Nuggets email. I trust her writing recommendations. She makes things easy to understand. Of course, the problem lies in putting them into practice.

Her “Narrative Nuggets” on Tuesday hit me between the eyes. She addressed the fact that all writers have slumps. We all hit a wall. We all get discouraged. We all get stuck. We all beat ourselves up when this happens; however, Janice Hardy said on Tuesday that “we” might not be the problem. The problem might lie in our process.

Most writers who write or speak about their writing process tell us that we must write every day. Some tell us that we should treat our writing as a job, putting ourselves on a daily 8 to 5 schedule with a lunch break, if we must.

That does not work for me. For one thing, at my age, I no longer want to maintain an 8 to 5 workday schedule. For another thing, chronic fatigue syndrome and other health issues have completely wrecked my circadian clock. Since I rarely go to sleep before 3:00 a.m., it would be useless for me to sit down at my computer at 8:00 a.m. sharp and expect to write anything worth reading.

Janice Hardy gave me permission to stop feeling guilty for not following someone else’s writing schedule. She said I need to find what works for me.

I’ve read that before, but it really resonated with me this time.

Ms. Hardy wrote:

“Do you swear you’ll write every day, then only produce on weekends? Maybe you’re a binge writer who needs longer stretches full of sprints, not daily sessions.”

Thank you, Janice Hardy! Thank you for taking away the guilt I feel when I move “Write Scene 48 – Sarah meets Betty Jackson” from today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s and even to next week’s list.

Ms. Hardy nailed it! I am a binge writer, and it’s high time for me to admit it, accept it, and go forward with it!

I hope you have a good book to read. If you are a writer, I hope you have learned what your writing process is so you don’t have to feel guilty for not following someone else’s schedule.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

“Ghost of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse” – historical ghost story

The twelfth story in my book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is a story about a ghost from the American Revolutionary War.

The story takes place in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1965, but it is about the ghost of a British soldier from the Battle of Guilford Courthouse which took place during the American Revolutionary War on March 15, 1781. It is my first (and possibly, last) ghost story.

This story was inspired by some unexplained happenings at the condominium my sister and another teacher shared near the Guilford Courthouse Battleground in the 1980s.

None of us had any particular interest in ghosts until the commode upstairs would flush when no one was up there and even guests on occasion had the feeling that someone had entered their bedroom when there was no one to be seen. A can randomly falling off a pantry shelf was also unsettling.

I hope my ghost story will make you a little more knowledgeable about the Battle of Guilford Courthouse which was one of the last battles before Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia.

There is a dog in the story for all you dog lovers.

Note: I made an error in the story. I originally had it set in the 1970s. At the last minute, I changed it to 1965. One of my 1970s characters called 9-1-1, and I forgot to change that when I shifted the story to 1965. It has been brought to my attention by an astute read and fellow writer that 9-1-1 emergency telephone service did not begin in the United States until 1968. My apologies. I try to have all details in my historical fiction writing to be accurate, but this one got past me.

Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore. Stores that I know try to keep it in stock are Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC; Highland Books in Brevard, NC; and Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville, NC.

I thank those stores and I thank you for supporting my writing!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

I’m not just about politics

Spring is teasing us here in the southern piedmont of North Carolina. February is the month when our daffodils pop out of the ground and remind us that spring is coming.

As usual, though, winter is reluctant to give up its grip. The last two weeks of February this year brought us a record-breaking one-day foot of snow and two record-breaking high temperatures in the high 70s.

The day the first daffodils bloom is perhaps my favorite day of the year. That’s how much I don’t like winter!

Among my earliest memories is watching in February for that first daffodil blossom, running back into the house for a pair of scissors, and going back out into the yard to cut that flower.

I would take it in the house and my mother would share in my excitement as she reached in the kitchen cabinet for a little vase. We would put that vase and its precious flower in the center of the kitchen table to be enjoyed for days as more daffodils opened and joined it in a larger vase.

It was nearly 80 degrees here on Thursday and Friday. Today’s predicted high is 46 degrees.

This is what we expect in February and March. The electric blanket won’t come off my bed and be put away until mid-May. Just in case!

Janet

P.S. The U.S. President’s State of the Union Address is scheduled for tonight. I have not yet decided if I can bear to watch it. The sitting President does not command my attention or respect; however, a part of me believes I should watch it so I will know what he says. It will anger me, but I suppose I will watch it as a concerned citizen.

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

To tariff or not to tariff? That is the question.

I celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday in the Learning Resources, Inc v. Trump case! FINALLY! Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to rein in Donald Trump’s overreach of presidential powers!

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs Trump has inflicted on other nations (and, ultimately, the American consumer!) over the last 13 months under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal. The Court ruled that the IEEPA cannot be used to impose tariffs.

The Court reminded Trump that tariffs are a form of taxation, and taxation is a power of the U.S. Congress – not the U.S. President.

Trump did not take the Court’s decision well, to put it lightly.

Trump responded by making one of his typically rambling, long statements, calling the U.S. Supreme Court Justices derogatory names including, “fools and lapdogs for RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). He accused them of being anti-American and under the influence of foreigners. He said they should be ashamed of themselves and their families should be ashamed of them. It went on and on from there. I cannot quote his entire rant here.

Following his statement, he held a press conference in which he refused to answer a question from CNN (calling the news network “fake news” because he is offended by the truth) and answered the questions posed by other reporters and journalists as vaguely as he chose.

The event was a display by Trump unlike any other statement and press conference by any other U.S. President in history. He was a toddler whose parents had said, “No,” but whose parents had then left him to his own devices and allowed him to vent his anger and frustration on the world stage. There are no guardrails on his words and temper.

His remarks would have been embarrassing; however, after 13 months, I will not be embarrassed by anything Trump says or does. I did not vote for him. I have not been shy about expressing my opinions about Trump and his childish incompetence, hatefulness, racism, and disregard for the U.S. Constitution.

I watched his entire public statement and press conference on Friday afternoon. In a word, it was horrible. In other words, it was painfully indicative of how Trump believes he is above the law and can do anything he wants to do. He said, “I can do anything I want to do.” It wasn’t the first time he has said that.

In addition to lashing out at individual U.S. Supreme Court Justices who had been appointed to the Court by Trump himself and from whom he expects loyalty to him instead of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, he then twisted the ruling into a pretzel by quoting at length the dissenting opinion of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Although a dissenting opinion in a U.S. Supreme Court decision is not law – it is part of the minority opinion, — Trump clung to Kavanaugh’s words and later said that Kavanaugh is his “new hero.” (I can’t help but think back to Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings in 2018 after Trump nominated him. All I can remember from the hearings is Kavanaugh’s repeated, angry defense, “I like beer!” Not exactly “hero” material in my book.)

In the press conference, Trump said nothing will change. He will continue to impose any tariffs he desires. He announced a new 10% global tariff on top of all the existing tariffs. On Saturday, he announced the new global tariff will 15% instead of 10%.

There’s no telling what that global tariff will be by the time this blog post goes live on Monday, February 23. (I am writing it on February 21.) This new global tariff is imposed using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That Act allows the U.S. President to impose duties up to 15% for 150 days to deal with “large and serious” balance-of-payment issues. Friday and Saturday’s 15% global tariff takes effect today.

Trump indicated that he is exploring additional ways to get around the Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump ruling. His Commerce Department, headed by Howard Lutnick of Epstein file fame, is investigating Trump’s options.

Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum, and motor vehicle imports were not affected by Friday’s Supreme Court ruling.

As only Trump can do, he portrays himself as the most pitiful victim in history and repeated on Friday that the United States is the most victimized country in history. As a 73-year-old American, I have never felt that the United States was a victim. I have counted it a privilege to have been born in and lived my entire life in the most blessed and prosperous country in the world.

For the first 72 years of my life, the United States was the “beacon on a hill.” It was the world’s symbol of freedom. It continues to be the world’s greatest experiment in democracy, but it is currently being tested from within like it has not been tested since the Civil War in the 1860s.

Just as people in the midst of a war or national crisis don’t know what the outcome will be, I don’t know how this greatest experiment in democracy will end. However, Friday’s 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court was the first ray of hope I have seen in 13 months.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Just another week in Trump World

For those of you who are sick and tired of my political rants in my blog posts, I regret that Donald Trump and his ilk have put you in that state of mind. I do not apologize for the tone or the content of my political postings. As an American citizen, I feel it is my duty and obligation to use my First Amendment freedom of speech right to voice my opinions.

As I have stated before, it was never my plan when I started blogging more than a decade ago to take my blog in a political direction. I feel strongly about the direction Donald Trump is taking my country, and I cannot keep silent. I am obligated to speak out as I see him governing from a Fascist playbook.

The FCC and Stephen Colbert

Trump’s FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, is the Pam Bondi of the Federal Communications Commission. He is only in that position to do Trump’s bidding.

On Monday, Stephen Colbert of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was scheduled to interview James Talarico, a member of the Texas State House of Representatives. But there was a problem: Talarico is a Democrat.

Under the law, late night talk shows are not required to give equal time to Republican and Democrat politicians, but Trump and Carr are never bothered by laws they disagree with.

Colbert was told CBS would not air the interview. He said he was told he could not mention on his show on Monday night that the interview had been pulled. As only Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel can do, he talked about it and paid his respects Carr and the FCC.

This isn’t the first talk show to get in trouble for hosting Talarico. He appeared on “The View” on the ABC TV network a few weeks ago, and now “The View” is under investigation by the FCC.

I never have and never will watch Fox News, but from the little bit I’ve seen and heard of it I don’t think they abide by any equal-time rule. Perhaps Carr should turn his attention to Fox News even though it is Trump’s mouthpiece.

The appalling deportation case of Godfrey Wade

We have witnessed 13 months of abuses perpetrated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and many of those abuses victimized American citizens. Many of them were inflicted on immigrants who were going through all the proper channels to stay in the U.S. and/or seek citizenship.

Godfrey Wade legally immigrated to the United States as a teenager more than 50 years ago. He went on to serve overseas in the United States Army. He was pulled over in Conyers, Georgia last fall for failing to use a turn signal. It was discovered that he had failed to appear for an ICE hearing in 2014 because ICE sent the hearing notices to the wrong address and Mr. Wade was not aware of the hearing date.

After being held in a detention center for more than five months and filing an appeal for his deportation order, Mr. Wade was deported to Jamaica. His family is appealing his deportation.

Who knew failing to use a turn signal could get you stopped by the police? That’s certainly not a law I see enforced in North Carolina. I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Wade was pulled over since he was black. It irritates me when other drivers do not use their turn signals, but I didn’t know anyone was ever stopped by police for the infraction.

Thank you for your military service, Mr. Wade, and Happy Black History Month.

Congressional Medal of Honor

Speaking of military service… yesterday in Rome, Georgia, Trump said he will “test the law” to award himself the Congressional Medal of Honor. It’s beside the point, I guess, that this is the nation’s award for military valor in action and Trump repeatedly dodged the draft during the Vietnam War, claiming bone spurs. He thinks he deserves it “for bravery” because he flew to Iraq once.

What a small, pitiful man. He tarnishes everything he touches.

According to https://www.cmohs.org/medal/design, “The U.S. Army and U.S. Navy have always had separate designs for their personnel. Until the U.S. Air Force introduced its design in 1965, all airmen received the Army design. The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard receive the U.S. Navy design.”

I wonder which design Trump will demand to hang around his own neck. It will be another in a long line of beautiful and honorable things he will tarnish.

Black History Month

At a Black History Month event, Trump went off topic and ranted about “illegal aliens” committing the vast majority of crimes in the U.S. Of course, that’s not true. The truth never has interfered with anything Trump wanted to say.

Most crimes in our country are committed by U.S.-born people, mainly men.

The Board of Peace

Trump appeared to fall asleep (again) at the inaugural Board of Peace, which he invented after he changed the name of the Institute of Peace to the Trump Institute of Peace.

I’ve never seen anyone so rabid to put their name on everything. There’s no end to it. I look forward to the day his name is removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Trump’s Arch of Triumph

I was encouraged yesterday to learn that Public Citizen, a watchdog organization has sued to try to stop construction of the 250-foot-tall Trump Arch of Triumph in Washington, DC because it will ruin the views of the Lincoln Memorial and other monuments as seen from Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump wants his arch to be the tallest in the world, of course. He operates under the illusion that bigger is always better, gold is never gaudy, and might is right.

Iran

Trump is itching to bomb Iran. I guess that’s what the Nobel Peace Prize Committee gets for not giving him that coveted prize. He’ll show them! He must take out his revenge on someone, and it’s not necessarily the person or people who slighted him.

The Epstein Files

As other countries, like Great Britain, show us that there is still such a thing as consequences for actions, here in the United States the U.S. Department of Justice seems incapable and uninterested in bringing charges against any of the men who abused little girls and teens. Trump feels sorry for former Prince Andrew for being arrested, but he cannot bring himself to express sorrow for the abused girls.

The U.S. Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche says the lurid and disgusting photographs in the Epstein files are not enough proof to file charges against anyone. The U.S. Department of Justice has managed to “investigate” the case without taking testimony from any of the victims.

This is akin to recently reassigned U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino stating that the victims in the murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were the ICE officers who pulled the triggers.

The Trump Administration is following the fascist playbook in thinking if they just tell us enough lies enough times, we will doubt our lying eyes and ears.

Yesterday when asked about former Prince Andrew’s arrest, Trump replied, “I’m the expert in a way because I’ve been totally exonerated.” The definition of “exonerated” is “to clear from accusation or blame.” Did he just admit wrongdoing? I didn’t realize he had been exonerated.

I’m sure there were a dozen other things I could have included in today’s blog post, but I’ve been distracted by the Winter Olympics and failed to take notes on the things Trump was doing.

I hope to have something uplifting to blog about next week. I just never know. The daffodils in my yard are blooming. Spring must be coming!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Let’s have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Dear Congressman

I have written about my Congressman before, and it has never been complimentary. It is not positive in today’s post. I try to keep an open mind, but I will be surprised if I ever have anything good to say about him.

What is my latest criticism of him? He doesn’t quite tell the truth when it comes to the SAVE America Act. The SAVE America Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and has gone to the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Capitol
Photo by Caleb Perez on Unsplash

When my Congressman and most of the champions of the SAVE America Act try to summarize it, they say it is “just” voter ID. There is more there than meets the eye, though.

The SAVE America Act, if passed by the U.S. Senate as written for the House and, subsequently, signed into law by the President (which is a given), will require voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship.

My Congressman is proud to be a co-sponsor of the SAVE America Act. And now, to get to the title of today’s blog post, I will quote from Representative Mark Harris’ weekly email from February 14, 2026:

“Americans are required to show ID to board an airplane, open a bank account, and even enter Costco. So why are Democrats making a fuss over applying the same standard to federal elections?” He went on to call this “common sense.”

There is simply something wrong with Mr. Harris’ paragraph: He is conflating a birth certificate with a Costco membership card. I have a Costco membership card, and I did not have to prove I was born in the United States to get it.

Mr. Harris made a serious mistake when he wrote, “applying the same standard to federal elections.” The examples he gave do not require the same standard (proof of U.S. citizenship) but we are heading toward a national requirement to have proof of citizenship in order to vote.

There is nothing wrong with that on the surface. I do not think non-citizens should vote. I also do not think more than a handful of non-citizens try to vote in the U.S. The proponents of the SAVE America Act are wielding it as a solution to a problem that does not exist.

The SAVE America Act is its proponents’ way of making it more difficult for poor and disabled people to vote. It adds unnecessary “hoops” for voters to jump through. For instance, if your current name does not match your birth certificate you must provide additional documentation to prove that you are the individual named on your birth certificate. If you don’t have easy access to transportation, gathering all your documentation and taking it to designated government offices is a burden.

I’ll let you in on a little secret… this requirement that you need to prove why you no longer go by your birth name is primarily a problem for married women. How many married women do you know who did not change their name when they got married? How many married men do you know who changed their name when they got married? I rest my case.

This will also cause anyone who was adopted to have to produce additional documentation.

To quote one of my Facebook friends, “this fuss the Democrats are making about the SAVE America Act is much ado about nothing.” She went on to explain that “it only costs $165 to get a passport.” She obviously trusts the Trump Regime. I don’t.

I was born in the United States to American citizens. At one time, I had a U.S. passport. A passport proves citizenship. I let my passport expire and have had no reason to spend $165 to apply for a new one. That amount of money is not easy for me to come by. I am not alone in that situation. It is impossible for wealthy members of Congress and wealthy citizens to imagine that.

I recently had to renew my driver’s license. To get a “Real ID,” I had to take my birth certificate, my expiring driver’s license, and two utility bills addressed to me at my current address to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

I tried to get an appointment at the DMV in October, but the first available appointment within 100 miles of my home was on December 31. True story. Perhaps it isn’t like that in your state, but that was my experience. My only option was to go to a DMV office, stand in line for hours, and be seen after everyone with an appointment had been seen – or be told to try again the next day. My health does not allow me to stand outside for hours, especially in the winter.

It remains to be seen if my “Real ID” will suffice to prove that I am qualified to vote in November 2026 or November 2028. This is an issue every American needs to pay close attention to as it works its way through the legislative branch of our federal government.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Embarrassing Performance by U.S. Attorney General

In my blog post last Friday, I promised a near future post about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

If you saw her performance last Wednesday in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, you probably do not want to be reminded of it. I saw all of it that was televised, and I wish I could unsee and unhear it.

The audacity of Pam Bondi to prance into The Capitol and call members of Congress names! It was a circus but not an entertaining one. It was an embarrassment. Her body language alone was abhorrent, not to mention her trash mouth.

It was a performance meant for one person only: Donald Trump. I am sure he thought it was a brilliant display. Even when she was reminded that it is her job and sworn duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution and to represent the United States of America (i.e., the people!) in all her dealings as U.S. Attorney General, she continued to call members of Congress derogatory names and refuse to look the Democrats on the committee in the eyes.

The hearing was supposed to be for Bondi to give U.S. Representatives some answers about the Epstein files and the recent and current operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Instead, it was half pep rally for Trump and half demonstration of how sarcastic and snarky the current U.S. Attorney General can be when facing legitimate questions that make her squirm.

In case you missed the performance, when being asked questions by Republicans on the committee, Bondi smiled and gushed. She thanked them profusely for “asking that question.” When asked “a yes or no” question, she replied accordingly.

When asked questions by a Democrat on the committee, Bondi made a great show of shuffling the papers in front of her and looking down. She was suddenly busy, busy, busy. Instead of answering “yes or no” questions by Democrats, she deflected – usually by turning to that Congress member’s section in her three-ring binder so she could attack that Representative personally with a reference (true or not) to a vote that Representative made sometime in their career along with her editorial comments (true or false).

She repeatedly said, “Mr. Chairman, I refuse to get down in the gutter with these people.” She called one of them “a washed-up lawyer.” She hurled various insults at most of the Democrats. The fact that she had that three-ring binder at her fingertips was visible evidence of her disdain for every Democrat Congress member. She used the same binder when testifying before a U.S. Senate Committee.

She accused one member of the committee of being antisemitic, even though that member’s grandfather died in the Holocaust.

Even the BBC questioned why Bondi lost her temper in the hearing.

Early in the hearing, survivors of the sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his rich and political friends in high places were asked to stand where they were seated in the audience. Bondi never acknowledged their presence. Even when asked by at least one member of the committee to turn around and look at the survivors and family members of at least one victim who is now deceased, Bondi would not do it. She is apparently incapable of looking truth in the face.

Bondi cares not that she is now the U.S. Attorney General because she was confirmed for that position by the Congress of the United States. She has a particularly peculiar way of showing her appreciation for the misguided confidence they put in her after her shaky confirmation hearings last year in which she said she would not “weaponize” the U.S. Department of Justice. Yet, that is all she has done since assuming office. I have heard people who knew and respected her as the State Attorney General in Florida say they no longer recognize her as the person they used to know.

Her behavior was bizarre, to say the least. When asked a question about the Epstein files, she “answered” by touting the fact that the stock market reached and broke the 50,000 mark the day before, then bristled when a Democrat on the committee asked, “What does that have to do with the Epstein files?”

It was horrible to see and hear a U.S. Attorney General stoop to such childish and insulting behavior. Such behavior as demonstrated by Bondi would not be tolerated in a court of law, and it should not have been tolerated in the U.S. Capitol. She should have been held in contempt of Congress, but she wasn’t because the committee is chaired by a Republican – a very self-righteous Republican who does not have enough respect for the institution or his position in Congress to even wear a suit.

In “answering” one question, she waxed poetic about what a wonderful U.S. President Donald J. Trump is. It was gag-worthy and inappropriate.

The U.S. Attorney General is not supposed to be beholding to the U.S. President.

The person in that position is not supposed to be political.

The person in that position is not supposed to be a cheerleader or public relations representative for the U.S. President.

The U.S. Attorney General is not supposed to do the President’s bidding.

In just one year, Bondi has broken every time-honored rule – written and unwritten — governing her position.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

“Secrets of a Foster Child” – historical short story

The eleventh story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is about a fourteen-year-old foster child who is a veteran at changing homes and foster families.

Some foster children only have a trash bad to put their belongings in.
Photo by Sven Brandsma on Unsplash

In “Secrets of a Foster Child,” Lorraine finally found a family she felt a part of in 1948, just three years after World War II ended.

Things did not go as hoped, but she just might find dignity in a simple suitcase.

The dignity of a simple suitcase.
Photo by Shamblen Studios on Unsplash

In 2001, the congregation of the church I am a member of contacted the county’s Department of Social Services in search of a hands-on project. When we were told that many foster children have nothing but a garbage bag to carry their belongings in to a foster home, we knew we had found a project we could get excited about.

We collected enough new and like-new suitcases to make sure every foster child in the county had a suitcase. We hoped that would help them no longer think of themselves as “throwaway children.”

As you can see, if you have been reading my book or reading this series of blog posts about the stories in my book, I get my inspiration from many sources.

In case you have missed any of the previous blog posts about the stories in the book, here are the links:

Thank you for reading my blog and supporting my writing. Look for Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories on Amazon or at your favorite independent bookstore.

Where to find my book of historical short stories

If you cannot find it locally, you can visit my website, https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, click on the book, then click on the Bookshop.org button. Through Bookshop.org you can order books from any independent bookstore in the United States. As an affiliate, I will make a commission from the sale of any book purchased through my website. Thank you!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

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