Here's to you ‘a handful of history’, my sharing of real-life stories from around the world. All the narratives I pick are rooted in history one way or another, yet most of them carry themes and happenings that we can easily reflect upon today.
Enjoy :-) - Majken xx
The Lady and the Panda
I've come across this adventurous real-life story I heard on The Memory Palace podcast.
In NY in the 1930s, the dress designer Ruth marries the wealthy adventurer Bill Harkness. A few weeks after their wedding, Bill embarks on a journey to China to become the first Westerner to capture and bring back a giant panda. Many had tried and failed before him, and sadly Bill ended up in the same statistics. But even more tragic was that he died while trying.
Ruth, now a widow, decides to adopt her late husband’s dream and complete the mission herself. She sets off to China on her own. It’s 1936, and going on an adventure like that is very uncommon and risky, especially for a woman. Ruth treks her way through Tibet, where she gets some help from a local Chinese adventurer. And she does end up finding a panda which she brings back to the US. The panda causes a great sensation in the American press, and eventually, it ends up at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
But Ruth’s adventure does not end here. Shortly after her return in 1937, she goes on another expedition, and she manages to bring back a second panda. Actually, Ruth even went on a third journey, and she could have caught yet another bear. But she chose not to. Explorers like her had now taken too many pandas from their natural habitat, and Ruth saw it was wrong.
Then her own life took some twists and turns. She writes a book about her adventure - “The Lady and the Panda” - and travels to Peru and Mexico, where she works for different magazines. In 1947 it all came to an end, though. Ruth Harkness was found dead in a NY apartment; the remarkable woman was no more. But oh my, what an adventurous life she’d had.
Newspaper article from Democrat and Chronicle, NY, 1936 December 22.
The Story of Nostalgia
Here’s a short TED video telling about nostalgia. The condition was discovered in the late 1600s by a doctor who treated soldiers from the Swiss army who served abroad. Back then, it was seen as a strange illness that afflicted anyone who was separated from their native place for a long time. Its symptoms were fatigue, insomnia, and irregular heartbeat, among others and often, the soldiers who had “caught the nostalgia” were discharged from their military service.
Later, in the early 1900s, nostalgia was viewed as a mental condition similar to depression. But then, a few decades later, the ‘disease’ once again changed its meaning. Thanks to a more scientific approach, nostalgia studies showed that it was not an awful illness. It should rather be seen as a general longing for the past, and being nostalgic was actually a pleasant experience which you shouldn’t try to avoid. On the contrary, the studies showed that it could (can!) even help increase feelings of self-esteem and social belonging.
Nostalgia - from Greek: Nostos = return home. Algos = longing or pain.
Stray in Kars
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”
Orhan Pamuk, 1998.
In 2004 Turkey published a law that made it illegal to kill free-ranging dogs - the so-called Animal Protection Law. This ‘no kill, no capture’ practice means that thousands of stray dogs are now living alongside human beings. In 2020 the documentary “Stray” by Elizabeth Lo was released. It follows the lives of these freewheeling dogs as it plays out in Istanbul, and also it is a perspective on human lives. However, while filming Stray, Lo also shot a short documentary observing a group of dogs in Kars, an ancient city located in the northeastern part of the country. In Kars, the dogs wander in and out of a local mosque and bark and howl when the imam calls to prayer. Also, they have a habit of lending the visitors' shoes, who have left them at the mosque entrance while praying. The c. 9 minutes long “Stray in Kars” is charming and unique and definitely worth watching.
WHAT IS THIS? This is a blog post from me to you. I send it out once every fortnight - if you want to join my email list please go HERE.
In turn, you will receive ‘a handful of history’, which is me sharing real-life stories from around the world, narratives I’ve picked that are rooted in history one way or another.
Every other time, my latest act, ‘from my corner of the world’, will land in your email. These are texts in which I share with you thoughts and views about writing, researching and creating. All the doubts and wonders I come across, all the surprises and discovery of new roads I am lucky to experience when working with my non-fiction texts.
Thanks for reading. I’m happy and grateful to see you here! Majken xx
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