Every day Feminist - becoming the Best you can be

There is no age limit to becoming the best you can be.

This is demonstrated by the person we recognize today, Shirley Ann Gordon. She was born in Charleston, South Carolina on March 3rd, 1942. She moved to Newark New Jersey in 1967. She passed recently, but I am sure, she is in a better place. And the super senior arrival in her new home, immediately means heaven is on the upgrade. She won't let it be any other way.

Shirley Ann Gordon was a woman of God, and a mother of 10 children. But she wanted to be more.

She became a licensed evangelist and tended to people's spiritual needs. She cared for other so much that she went back to college and received her degree in social work at the age of 66.

She retired from her work to offer aid and volunteered for a new job, supporting the spirits of others at the VA hospital. She was honored by the Mayor of Newark as a "Super Senior," and she certainly was. She was known in her community as "G. Ma."

Not only did she influence her family, the community's children admired her as well. And why not?

As a northern raised white male, I have no understanding of the courage and fortitude it must have taken for a black female in the south in the 1940's and 1950's to maintain any interest in advancement and education. Getting by, surviving was a daily gauntlet to run. Even in the 1960's in Newark, the atmosphere surely was not congenial for a black woman to better herself. Yet, here is the documentation that this spirit overcame the obstacles to achieve. She achieved, not for herself alone, but for the betterment of others.

That is an inspiration in itself. She was known for being outspoken and "telling it like it is." That is the drive that allows you to complete your degree no matter your age or other factors that work against your achievements. She received her college degree at 66 years of age. At that age many people are slowing down, but Shirley was getting revved up.

She is remembered for her love of God, her unique and graceful hats, that accompanied her superbly beautiful dresses. Her presence was felt by the mighty and the minions of America, as demonstrated by Michelle Obama mentioning her on her Twitter page.

In a time when we respect and admire the courage of the famous women celebrities who speak out against abuse, and chauvinistic practices. We should note that every woman can fight this battle in their way. Shirley found her voice in the battle against inequality and bias.  

I have been told by many of my female friends that there are few women over forty-five that have not been put in situations similar to the famous women who have spoken out. They receive inappropriate flirting or requests/demands that are gross, indecent, and illogical. Others were physically assaulted without their consent (rape in any court of law) in a variety of situations beyond their control.

Our culture needs readjustment. We need to respect others, male and female human beings, alike. No human is without merit and talents. No human is lesser than you or greater than you, if you understand God's laws. And I use the word God as all encompassing, because there is no religion in this world that sanctions rape, sodomy and defilement, unless you include Satanism - i.e. that is not a religion, but an anti-religion reactive creation.  

Ego-centric power plays must be made passé, while empowerment of individuals to reach their potential is glorified. The right of every individual to have the control over their person is the most basic of laws. It is inherent in the rights of all humans.

Shirley Ann Gordon is a role model for empowerment. She is an ordinary person who would not be stopped from reaching her goals and serving others. When the world said, you can't, she did.

We cannot praise such a person enough.

-- L.A. Preschel

We did not know ... it sounds so familiar ... the excuse of the self-righteous for not speaking up

I received a post from an acquaintance on Facebook. He said that he has had enough with Harvey Weinstein being in the papers every day. He reasoned we are making Harvey famous, "writing his biography in the mass media." I would say we make him infamous by publicizing his extended felonies. Every time we mention his name we should follow it with, "never again."
The only way to unmask and unempower the boogieman is to display him naked with all his warts exposed - oops I should watch my phraseology - that is figuratively naked, not literally, so Harvey don't get excited.
As to my male acquaintance's comments, I am appalled that a man (a person of the male gender) would put his two cents into the discussion about sexual harassment of women. Which dog in the fight is his? We should never forget Harvey Weinstein, or Andrew Weiner or Bill Cosby or any of the men with position that used that position to harass and molest and rape with impunity.
What is my dog in the fight? I feel a moral duty to "be a man, and do the right thing by any other human." I seek no power for myself; I seek justice for those wronged.
What Harvey Weinstein did and what he represents is of ultimate importance to remember for every American if we want to be true to the Constitution and keep America the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. It should not take a truly brave person to say, no I won't do that. Freedom of choice is a basic freedom of Americans. Look who they choose and President.
All of America should repeat every morning on waking and every evening on going to sleep, I will not intimidate another human to gratify myself. I will not use others against their will. It is always wrong and shameful. Should a truly ethical and moral person even need to remind themselves of this. But what we have in America today is a lack of morality, replaced by avarice and a need to succeed over the dignity of self. This is not rocket science it is simple human ethics. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Harvey, Bill, Andrew, President Clinton all broke the law without fear of punishment. Yes thank you Cy Vance and all the other D.A. who don't understand the simple term "no." Shame on you and shame on your brethren. I will define no - nyet, non - for you. NO as in stop, don't touch me. I am not consenting to this contact. It may not be in Latin, the language of the Law, but your first language is English correct? No means negatory response to your offer big boy. The flashing red light means stop, do not proceed down this road.  
My acquaintance used the excuse that with so many other causes needing support - the Hurricanes recoveries, and the wild fire victims and black people matters, and our President eroding our freedoms while distracting us with hurricane recoveries, and fire victims and NRA-white supremacists, etc. that we should not put Harvey Weinstein first. Other situations merit our attention more. Really? BTW is it just coincidence that the hurricane in Texas was named ... Harvey.
Getting back to my buddy's statement about other causes are more urgent or first in line. I did not realize that empathy and energy to accomplish moral goals had a cumulative limit. "Oh no. I've no more energy to do the right thing. I'll just ignore evil exists. If I think about Harvey Weinstein, I won't be able to think about Harvey the hurricane's victims. Or the victims of the fires in California. I'm so limited.
I was further appalled, because his Facebook statement received praise and thumbs up from several women we both know - friends in common. I am sure that if any of the women sexually harassed had been their daughters or themselves they would not limit the publicity concerning Harvey Weinstein. Harvey lost his position in the film industry - so freakin' what. His marriage will break up. What marriage, he was screwing around on his wife for 40? years. The first women he harassed through his producer's office represented degradation of every women in America. Objectify one, objectify all.
Why have laws at all, if we enforce them inconsistently, and with an eye toward the felon's wallet.
Today, every male and many women in the film industry claim, "I did not know he was ... "
Yeah, how often have we heard that before. In the worst juxtaposition I can propose, I remember the "good Nazis" at the Nuremberg Trials saying, "I just did my job, I did not know of the exterminations in the camps."
And remember those who could not deny knowing said, they could not speak up for fear of losing ... you fill in the blank. Humans balance risks to themselves with personal gains and make decisions. It is a faulty method to evaluate moral actions.
The expression describing the knowledge of Harvey Weinstein's activities is "it was an open secret in the industry. Harvey was a predator." That makes every agent who sent a poor female alone up to Harvey's hotel suite a pimp who was waiting to claim his fifteen percent of the deal.
Finally brave women spoke out are to be praised, but what took so long. It's like a Greek morality play where the poor flawed hero or in this case heroine is tested by the Gods, put through lengthy trials and finally when his metal is proven, he dies. As a society, we have failed the test. We have chosen poorly. We have chosen selfishly. We have chosen the wrong path.
We are lost.
Not just with sexual harassment, but with racial discrimination and religious prejudice and narcissistic moral decay. Each time we chose the wrong response in reference to another's situation, we bring our personal demise closer, because we all have differences waiting to be exploited.
Our President as an icon represents present day America to a tee, narcissistic, greedy, and without an honest bone in his skeleton.
Why should an actress have to decide between her dream of being a star and her dignity. Why must she sacrifices one for the other.
She should never have to make that choice, especially knowing that in this male oriented society, her word - if she speaks out - may be taken as a lie (self-serving, bitter because she lost the part or etc.). All this while the big honcho's sociopathic lies are considered the truth without questioning. What reason does he have to lie? Everyone, he is a felon. Felons lie to avoid being caught.
Does this scenario ring true on a national level. It was Hitler who said, if you tell a lie, make it a big one, because they are harder to perceive as untrue.  
It is not just in the film industry. Why is Ezekiel Elliot still carrying the football? Hell the professional football players will take a knee to protest Black Lives Matter, but when the black life is a woman's ... oh well, just hand him the ball and let him run for America's team.  
So whenever a woman speaks out against the Harvey Weinstein's and the Bill Cosby's and all the others who use power to obtain their way - think Uber, Fashion, and many other industries - they must be praised as the bravest of warriors. Unless they have it on video tape - think Ray Rice's episode - plus the offender has exhausted his usefulness in his industry (Harvey Weinstein), the women has a even money chance of not being heard or believed.
Susan Fowler is iconic in her courageous unmasking of such activity at Uber. And yet the women on the board when asked to investigate the situation denied such activity occurred on a consistent basis. The section of Uber where Susan was employed started out 25% female and now is 6%, guess a lot of engineers got pregnant and took maternity level together, but it was not from their supervisors. We swear.
The women who were asked to "clear Uber" show that avarice knows no gender. How can a stockholder or even an Eric Holder be objective in the face of millions of dollars.
So for all you fans of feminist rights, remember this phrase you are going to hear it so often in the future.
I DID NOT KNOW THAT (You fill in the blank) WAS DOING THAT.
Ignorance is bliss.
To advocates of Black Lives Matter: I DID NOT KNOW THAT RACIAL PROFILING REALLY EXISTS.
Forty years from now, the time era from 2000 to 2025 will be know as the dumb ass era, because nobody knew nothing about anything that was going on except as it happened to them. Every one is a moron who only smartens up when it is their ass on the line. Take that any way you want.
Every known story of sexual harassment should be repeated in every newspaper, every day for the next five years. You tell these stories to your daughters, forewarned is forearmed. "I don't know" is unacceptable and "never forget" is the operative motto. Always beware because society will not defend you, you are on your own.

Women need to resist the power plays of men when it is against the woman's better interest, and in that rare situation where it is a man that is being intimidated by the power of another that man must have the strength and the will to act in his best interest too. Resist the manipulation and become a hero or heroine. Every human deserve the respect they demand. Demand your respect everyday.

-- L.A. Preschel

Not Every leader is Famous

In 1971, Judith Schffler broke ground in corporate America. She passed from this earth near the end of September 2017, but the repercussions of her achievement will last longer than her time on earth.
She may not be famous in the obvious sense of the word, but she pioneered change in the way corporations in America think about female employees. Her talent forced A.T. & T's to promote her to a position of authority.
Judith was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in a time when most teenage girls in American high schools concentrated on home-ec(nomics) courses. Many people - men and women - thought a female went to college to earn not a B.A. but her Mrs. As if that were the crowning achievement for a female. We know such limitations are just B.S. Those letters represent another degree, women of the 1950's and 60's were not expected to earn in college, but Judith had other ideas.
From Canonsburg High School Judith matriculated to the Carnegie Institute of Technology - now called Carnegie Mellon University. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Writing and Electrical Engineering. Women engineers in the 1960's were rarer than five-legged camels wandering Madison Square Park.  
In 1965, Judy found a job at A.T. & T. Bell Laboratory. During her employment at Bell Labs, she earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Sciences. She also found time to raise two daughters.
Her management of her time and her education must have impressed the powers that be, because in 1971, she became one of the first female supervisors at Bell Labs.
But that was just the first line to be crossed by Judith.
In 1989, A.T. & T. promoted her to an executive position. Maybe a male who had demonstrated her level of knowledge and talent would have been promoted up the ladder faster, but Judy was an undeniable force that broke through the barrier of sexual bias to achieve the impossible. She was named Chief Information Officer and Vice-President of a large business unit of Lucent Technologies.
Subsequently, she was offered early retirement, when corporate consolidation was under way in 1998.
She took advantage of the offer to retreat from the pressures of work. She lived in Maine and Florida, and maintained a home in Delaware.
In 2004, Judith Scheffler authored an edited collection of essays concerning the challenges a pioneering female executive faced in the male dominated corporate environment, "Beyond the Corner Office," is a history and an memoir and an autobiography of sorts, but mostly, it is a road map disclosing the potholes that threaten to unseat a feminist corporate administrator on her ride to the corner office.
Those who do not know the history of their environment, are doomed to repeat the mistakes and slip into all the potholes on the journey. Judith's legacy is to point them out so they can be avoided. When I was training to be a surgeon, I was often told know your enemies, meaning know where the danger and complications lie in the surgical field. I would offer that advice to any executive on the raise, and Judith describes a whole bunch of enemies that block the way for female executives.

She remains an unknown, unsung feminist pioneer to most, but now she is known to you.

-- L.A. Preschel

Feminism is the right to reach your full potential - no matter the field of play

Feminism is about women being allowed to reach their full potential and enrich the universe with their unique abilities. There should be no qualifications, asterisks, or separate but equal denotations as it relates to opportunities and accomplishments in this world.
Man, woman and child as long as they are not endangering themselves should be allowed to compete on the highest level to show their talent. Some would say even self-protection does not deter a true feminist like Joan of Arc.
How can someone show their greatness unless they are tested to the point of failure or ultimate success, vanquishing all their competition. Contesting against the best, brings out your best and shows who is the best. That is what the Olympics are about. That is what life should be about.
No artificial man-made limits to protect/advantage selected competitors to the detriment of others. Darwin did not propose a theory that in a natural state, only the strongest win, and the weaker shrink to the sidelines, becoming extinct.
Deanna Guzman already has won the state championship in the shot put, so she has proved she is a top-level athlete. Guzman who describes herself as a geeky book reader, is also a role model.
This fall as a high school senior she has tried out for and made her high school's football team. It is not the flag football team, but the "boy's" football team. She not only made it through the rigorous training camp, running laps like any player when she made a mistake, but she is a starting offensive tackle. On the record, multiple male teammates respect her as an athlete, not as a female athlete, but as a peer.
Kamil Vickers a 300 pound tackle on her team stated, "she is not afraid to get hit or to mix it up. ... She's like a ball of energy. That's the kind of thing teams need nowadays."
Deanna stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 205 pounds. She can bench press 150 pounds. She earned her starting position and she earns mention in this blog. She is a pioneering woman, breaking new ground  for women. High school records show that Deanna is the first female to make a varsity "boy's" football team in New Jersey as an on the field player.  
Her coach noted that because of Deanna, several other female students have told him they are thinking about trying out next year. Alexis Littlejohn (14 years-old) has told the coach she was inspired by Deanna, and she will definitely be at tryouts next year.
Deanna has become a leader/role model outside her school as well.
In Pop Warner Football in Newark, several girls are now playing on "boy's" teams. Many are starting and they are recognized by their teammates as playing at the high level needed to win games. Quite a few of them have heard of Deanna and look forward to walking in the path she is clearing.

In one obvious difficult parental situation, 12 year-old Madison Jacobs, played against her younger brother, Javon Swain (10) in a Pop Warner game, but then aren't brothers and sisters always fighting and tackling each other. I feel sorry for Mom, Avia Jacobs, who has to play referee on the ride home from the game. A tie satisfies no one, but sure would decrease the acrimony before eating dinner.

Back to Deanna, she has had to overcome more than just gender bias to be the athlete she is. On her 13th birthday, while walking to school, she was struck by a speeding car. She suffered multiple fractures, some of which required open reductions and internal fixations. She had a rod inserted in her femur (the bone between the knee and hip joints) and wires were used to hold the bones about her shoulder to the rest of her arm. After she healed sufficiently, she needed extensive physical therapy to relearn how to walk. She needed to strengthening and to regain motion to return her arm to full function. Imagine how hard she worked so that now she can play football or bench press 150 pounds.
She became the state champion in the shot put and a starting tackle on her football team.
If she never does anything else in her life (and I would not bet against that) she is already a very special person. She is a leader and a success story.
Deanna is a pretty stylish, athletic geek. She reads books on brain function and urban communities's socioeconomic conditions and how they affect young people. Like I said earlier, I won't bet against her changing the world in the future, nope, not me.
She has figured out a part of the puzzle who is Deanna Guzman.  She knows whom she wants to be and she is in the process of becoming that person - using her unique talents.
She is a winning feminist.

-- L.A. Preschel  


Sourced from an article "Girls tackle football and the rest is history," by Barry Carter for the Newark Star-Ledger 03 October 2017

Feminism starts here

Feminism is not new nor has it changed. We hope it grows stronger until women and men are judged by their talents, morals and abilities, not the number of x chromosomes.

When Thomas Paine argued the natural rights of man (The Rights of Man) versus the Edmond Burke’s critique of the anarchy of the French Revolution (Reflections on the Revolution in France), neither man included any humans with paired X chromosomes for consideration of inalienable rights. A women of the time received rights through her association with a man.

Mary Wollstonecraft (a female) had published in England, A Vindicationof the Rights of Men two years prior to Paine’s publication, making her the groundbreaking philosopher in the field of men’s rights. She became the leading feminist theorist when in 1792 she published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. If we ignore world leaders like Nefertiti, Cleopatra, and Joan of Arc, then this is a wonderful date to establish as the beginning of feminism in the world. Mary Wollstonecraft did and said what she thought, without bowing to any man’s opinion. 

Sidebar – Mary Wollstonecraft’s writing ability was passed to her daughter - Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley – who wrote Frankenstein, the classic novel of a male monster composed of pieces of unwanted men parts. Continuing the feminist attitude of the family? Probably not, but a political statement, none the less, concerning modern science and tinkering with God’s plan.   

The idea of a Women’s Rights Convention was initiated at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London. Although the men at the convention did not want slavery, they did not want to let female delegates onto the floor or in debate even more. Both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were excluded from debating or participating in any way other than being present near the convention floor. By not allowing them to participate, an incredible waste of intelligence happened.      

And they pissed off two women who can think for themselves. From their mistreatment at the Convention in London, the First Women’s Rights Convention was born.

Radical Feminism is dated back to The First Women’s Rights Convention of 1848 at Seneca Falls New York. This meeting was lead by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott and supported by several active Quaker women. At this meeting, and the subsequent one, two-weeks later at the Rochester Women’s Rights Convention the ideals of the Declaration of Sentiments (a women’s Bill of Rights) and other resolutions were debated and put forward for signature.

Mott argued against inclusion of a woman’s right to vote in this resolution – probably for political reasons, too radical – while Frederick Douglass, the only African American attendee, argued articulately and powerfully for its inclusion. Douglass’ group won out and it was kept in the final document. Of note, 100 out of the 300 people attending the Seneca Convention signed the document – reportedly mainly women (68 to 32).

Sidebar – the abolition of slavery was also debated at this meeting.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott both continued to argue and demonstrate for women’s rights relentlessly. America stood stolid against their efforts, but they were determined and their idealism, encouraged others to take up the banner. Slavery was abolished for over fifty-five years before women received the right to vote; how ironic is that. 

After Stanton and Mott began the movement, America was no longer just for white men over 21 years old.   

-- L.A. Preschel

Everyday in Everyway I am getting Better?

If better is establishing new norms for gender equality.
Hollywood Hills High School Sophomore Holly Neher achieved a high school first. She became the first female quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in a regulation high school game. 

It may not seem to move the needle much in the frame of the world where the President's daughter is talking about giving up equal wages as an acute cause, but it is still a touchdown strike for feminism. There is no job that a dedicated female cannot do, even give birth to a baby. 

This girl can play. She quarterbacked the girls flag football team last spring, and she can obviously take the hits to play with the boys. The pass play covered 45 yards.

So here is to one small step for womanhood in its march to overcome a world running on rules that men make for themselves.

-- L.A. Preschel 

A true Definition of Feminism - Equality that Enhances the Talent Pool

A Feminist by definition is a person (no matter their gender) who believes that the limits of an individual’s reach and success in life, should be determined by that person’s ability alone. There is no limitation because of gender, skin color, religious beliefs, or ethnicity. Talents vary according to individuals and with random relations to gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexual preferences, and the other traits named above. Talent in a certain enterprise is not limited to one sex category or the other.  

Abilities are not determined by gender, physical stature, or wealth. Even a DNA/genetic predisposition to a inability can be overcome with perseverance and determination. Our fates are not predetermined, but in flux and changeable with effort and perspiration.   

The psychological limitations artificially established by man at the initiation of the Industrial Revolution are made moot by the advancement of capabilities brought on by the inventions and the intellect of (wo)mankind in the intervening time period. 

If Archimedes had a long enough lever, he could lift the bias of sexism from the face of the earth. Or even a woman could do the heavy lifting with mechanical advantage in her favor.  

The division of labor, man kills food and woman cooks it, should have died when the first caveman invented the wheel, because now using a spear, a woman could kill an animal and cart it home for dinner. A male chief could then flambe it over the fire in his man cave. A woman’s lighter foot might be a talent a group of hunter’s could use to sneak closer to their prey, assuring success in the kill. 

Each individual's talent should let her or him raise to the greatest level at which she or he can succeed. Talents vary across gender lines, and are individual specific, not sex or ethnic group related. 

“A group of women that NASA called ‘human computers,’ many of them black, helped put a man on the moon. Their intellect was an essential part of America’s ability to launch rockets into space.” (https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-african-american-women-behind-nasas-rocket-launches/)

You do not even need to be able to read to learn the link, as the movie Hidden Figures documents the history of this event quite accurately. Without the help of these minds (and I purposely left out a gender specific pronoun to make my point.), NASA might not have successfully launched a “man” into space.  

A Fem Noir twist on the paradigm of Noir murder mysteries allows two women (my protagonist and her partner) to successfully inhabit the Noir genre that Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and others popularized in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The women can be as hard-boiled as Lew Archer, and Travis McGee. Women can enjoy sex and men just as Mike Hammer was chauvinistic about the women. Samantha and Catherine can be as physical Jack Reacher, and as deductive as Sherlock Holmes. 

Instead of a Fem Fatale, what is wrong with a men fatale.  

Instead of the man using the woman and moving on, in today’s world of contraception and safe sex, shouldn’t a woman have the equality of using a man, enjoying it, and moving forward without a life time commitment? Especially if he looks like a hunk and rates a "10," in the same manner as Bo Derek did for the male audience. 

We are talking equality of the sexes and increasing the pool of talent to advance society. 

Let’s modernize the genre; let’s move into the future.

Fem Noir Mysteries are here and now.

My first short story: 30 years to Life will be published in late October in an Anthology collected by the Central Jersey Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The collection celebrates 30 years of Sisters in Crime and is called, 30 Shades of Dead.

-- L.A. Preschel 

Murdering Medical Myths – no surgery has a greater mortality rate than 100%

 This post previously was printed in the newsletter of Central Jersey Sisters in Crime. Membership in the organization offers an opportunity to learn the writer's craft and to discuss an author’s writing problems with friends who write mysteries. Support your local Sisters in Crime.  

Today, I offer proof that a single surgery can have a mortality rate of over 100%.

Dr. Robert Liston’s colleagues venerated him. In 1835, he became the first Professor of Clinical Surgery at University College in London. In 1846, he performed the first surgery in Europe using ether anesthesia. Prior to that, surgical patients were put under hypnosis to reduce pain. You felt it, but you did not remember how bad the pain was - post-hypnotic suggestion. He was famous for his surgical techniques, and inventing surgical tools. He was a man of many talents.  

Germs, however, were not his concern. They were too small to register on his radar. One of his students, Dr. Joseph Lister, who graduated University College in 1846, championed antiseptic technique and carbolic acid’s use as a disinfectant. We can thank him for Listerine, fresh breath, and survivable surgery.     

At that time, people judged a surgeon’s quality by his surgical speed. No greater authority than Florence Nightingale in Notes on Nursing offered that quickness in surgery was paramount to good surgery. In theory, the surgeon went so fast, the germs could not catch up and infect the patient. Just kidding. I imagine, speed diminished the amount of time the patient suffered from acute pain. 

Dr. Liston, the Ricochet Rabbit of surgeons, worshipped speed over accuracy.    

His surgeries became classroom demonstrations for his colleagues. He was faster than the funny cars at Englishtown during the Grand National Championships.        

In this pre-Listerian age, infection was the chief cause of death. Post-operatively the patients were sent to the public ward, which was essentially a warehouse of deadly microbes. Using the New York City grading system for restaurants, the ward would not qualify for an "F" rating. 

Caregivers did not wash hands between patients, becoming the Angels of Death (transporting infection from patient to patient – like a tick carrying Lyme disease). The rotting and dying patients’ festering wounds were agar plates for fatal germs. The old patients served up the fatal infections to the arrivals via the nursing staff and physicians. The lack of antibiotics or disinfectants made the ward’s infection rate higher than the number of individual Zooplankton in the Caribbean.     

Routinely, surgeons performed operation in front of street-clothed spectators. The physicians and associated medical personnel would encircle the surgeon to see his techniques. Their proximity to the surgeon made contact inevitable - farther contamination. Neither surgeon nor spectator wore a mask, as they formed a scrum about the patient. Their huddle further diminished the dim light available to the surgeon. The operations were performed in a 19th century dungeon.    

In this environment, Dr. Robert Liston amputated a patient’s leg in two and one-half minutes. Post-op, he shipped his patient to the public ward where he died from infection. (100% mortality).

Dr. Liston moved so swiftly that he accidentally amputated three fingers from his assistance hand. The assistant was treated and ... sent to the public ward to recover. Infection killed him. (Mortality 200%).

In addition, during the surgery, Dr. Liston inadvertently slashed the waistcoat and coat tails of an elder surgeon-spectator. The gentleman’s shock and fear caused an acute myocardial infarction (a heart attack). He died immediately. (300% mortality).

The surgery set a world’s record mortality rate. Dr. Liston holds the record for speed of a surgical amputation, 28 seconds, as documented by the Guinness book of records.

By today’s standards, he was a surgical Jack the Ripper, a serial killer in the OR. Dr. Liston routinely sacrificed accuracy for speed. In another under three minutes leg amputation, Dr. Liston accidentally amputated his patient’s scrotum with the leg. Oops, but that took a lot of balls.        

Thank you for your kind attention. 

-- L.A.Preschel

references: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Liston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_on_Nursing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lister
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur

The Noir World has Changed.

In the beginning, (1930’s & 1940’s) there was Hammett, Chandler and Cain. In the misty unlit pre-historic noir world of the Mystery-a-sauris Rex (the King before Stephen King), there existed our Adam in Garden of mystery’s Eden, Edgar Allen Poe.

The Lords of the publishing world saw it was good and perpetuated the noir divisions of gender roles to prevent procreation of ideas about the worth of a female mind. Only a snake of a publisher would let females be more than an after thought – an undeveloped furious character with a small role signifying nothing. The world of H.C.&C. demanded insignificant women as its truth. After all, men controlled publishing and wrote the rules. Women had babies and fixed their hairdos.    

From 1950 to 1980, Mike Hammer, Travis Magee and Lew Archer had their moment. Hard drinking and cigarette-smoking male P.I.'s were the blue plate special. Their world remained dark with evil in every shadow and behind each dark door. Women need not apply for active duty in such a world. They did not have the testosterone to handle it. (The eunuchs who published those manuscripts lacked the testosterone to change the paradigm - probably because it won't not earn them a dime.) At those times, a female character was either the window dressing necessary for a sex scene, or a fem fatale - the subservient part of the evil forces trying to distract and dissuade our hero.  

The world has changed. Rosie the Riveter and the mass invasion of the work force by females changed our world. Why there are even female CEO’s now, how progressive.

By 1980, women were expected to give birth and return to their jobs after 6 to 8 weeks maternity leave and while still twenty pounds heavier than when they left. Although still not paid at the level of men, they performed the same jobs with the same level of success.

Jennifer Doudna, inventor of CRISPR Cas9 gene editing therapy, changed our health expectations forever. It is a brave new world that we tread upon.

The universe had changed. Our noir stories should reflect the world the way it is today, unless we are writing a period piece. The stories should demonstrate empowered confident women, accomplishing goals that know no gender divide or bias.

An estimated 15 to 25 percent of the police force is female today. Multiple female private investigators are listed in every yellow page book across the country. These women back down from no one. In today's news, a female police officer subdued and arrested a felon via a fistfight – using appropriate force. This is the new reality.

Michael Connelly, one of my faves as an author (long live Harry Bosch), has a new book out: The Late Show. It stars a female cop, Renée Ballard who was demoted to the night shift because she filed a sexual harassment suit against a supervisor. She has to breaks some rules to solve her case, because she knows only a woman can get the job done. You go girl. It is the new fem noir.

The noir world needs female characters, who are fully developed and not cookie cutter supporting cast members for their male counterparts. Females today are not the shrinking violets of the 1920’s. They tend to more than the stove and the babies. They tend to business, and that includes bringing home the bacon.

We need to write about women that are alive and fulfilling their dream no matter the cost. They play under the rules established by men, but man's rules do not confine or define them. They won’t let the men in their lives determine who they are or what they can do.

Samantha (Sam) Cochran, a feminist P.I., knows all the rules of the game, because you have to know the rules, to know how to break them. No rule is sacred if it gets in the way of getting her job done. Machiavelli was a wimp. Here is Sam from her second short story.  
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The NYPD made a mistake when they pinned a gold detective’s shield on my chest, but recognizing my talent was not the mistake. On my promotion, I was the best detective in homicide. Their mistake: leaving the All-Star Freakin’ Misogynist Boy’s Club unprotected from me, a TNS woman on a mission of attitude adjustment.        
The seven good ole homicide boys, of assorted ages, sat around their table in a Neanderthal man-cave, wanting me to fetch coffee and lunch, maybe polish their boots and clean their guns. As if I were Sam Spade’s secretary, my job was to keep my valueless female theories to myself, and follow their orders.
I do not play that way, ever. I am an independent woman who knows how to use a gun.      

-- L.A. Preschel

Excited about Job Offer

Today I was offered a post in the Administration. Trumped any offer I have gotten in years. Unfortunately, I had to turn it down. I do not do temp work, even for the President. You know in Washington, you are here today and gone tomorrow.

At this time in the history of the United States of America, what feminist would consider voluntarily being confined in the White House? 

L.A. Preschel

In the beginning there was a feminist with a gun.

I propose to write noir murder and other mysteries with a twist that changes the expected roles of all the players. My first story is to be published in the Sister's in Crime Central Jersey Anthology entitled: 30 Shades of Dead. If you enjoy it, please look for the first in the Sam Cochran Mysteries: Lyin' Eyes which I hope to have published before 2017 becomes 2018.

Sam thanks you and so does her Nana, as well as Baby.

- L.A. Preschel