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Bjorklunden!
Aug. 30th, 2023 08:38 amGreetings from Bjorklunden Vid Sjon! The names means "Birch Forest by the Water," although there are not many birches left now. As I learned on the naturalist hike on Monday, the area was logged in the early 20th century, and the sun-loving birches grew by the lake afterward; in their shade grew cedar and spruce and hemlock, which dominate the forest now.
When I was in college, clubs would host weekend retreats at Bjorklunden, and it's so peaceful and lovely, I've always meant to come back someday. And now I'm here, and I've got all week to hike through the woods and write in the lounge and sit watching the waves on Lake Michigan.
I was meant to take a class on The Chemistry of Art, which got canceled, so instead I've converted the week to a writing retreat, which has gone well! I've drafted an outline of Sage, which of course will shift as the writing goes on, but nonetheless it's a good beginning.
Also, I was SO delighted to discover that Bjorklunden has a near-complete set of Lawrence yearbooks! So I've been perusing the old ones, which is wonderful research for my 1910s college girls book which will not die! it calls to me! Of course it would be better if I could find the yearbooks for a women's college, and conveniently Lawrence merged with a women's college in the 1960s, so theoretically we ought to have all of Milkwaukee-Downer's yearbooks too! But alas, there are only a few from the 1950s and 60s.
The Lawrence yearbooks are nonetheless delightful. Thrilled to rediscover the anarchist story in 1910! A young man is boating on a misty river, when he comes abreast of a boat containing a woman with a beautiful voice, though he can't see her through the fog. They talk, he proposes, she leaves, and some time later he reads in the newspaper about a lady anarchist assassin... who was of course the girl in the boat!
Another delightful find in 1910. So in these old yearbooks, the students in the junior class all get a brief description, generally a send-up of some kind. So here we have this description of Frances Van Patter: "Who says she loves Miss Carter? Yet actions speak louder than words and whoever has seen Frances' adoration can not doubt what state her affections are in."
(May Esther Carter was Dean of Women and Associate Professor of Literature; she graduated Ohio Wesleyan in 1892, and was apparently the idol of the girl students, as 1908 also features a Miss-Carter themed slam: "Don't mention my crush on Miss Carter," begs Lelia Johnson.)
Miss Van Patter's crush was evidently visible FROM SPACE because it is mentioned AGAIN later in the 1910 yearbook: "Wanted: Position as constant companion to Miss Carter. - Francis Van Patter."
I have so many more delightful yearbook stories to share (Mildred McNeal Sweeney's meeting with William Dean Howells! the saga of Mary Slack! convinced that Miss Slack jilted someone on the yearbook committee), but the sun is shining and the waves are rolling on the beach, so I must away for a walk!
When I was in college, clubs would host weekend retreats at Bjorklunden, and it's so peaceful and lovely, I've always meant to come back someday. And now I'm here, and I've got all week to hike through the woods and write in the lounge and sit watching the waves on Lake Michigan.
I was meant to take a class on The Chemistry of Art, which got canceled, so instead I've converted the week to a writing retreat, which has gone well! I've drafted an outline of Sage, which of course will shift as the writing goes on, but nonetheless it's a good beginning.
Also, I was SO delighted to discover that Bjorklunden has a near-complete set of Lawrence yearbooks! So I've been perusing the old ones, which is wonderful research for my 1910s college girls book which will not die! it calls to me! Of course it would be better if I could find the yearbooks for a women's college, and conveniently Lawrence merged with a women's college in the 1960s, so theoretically we ought to have all of Milkwaukee-Downer's yearbooks too! But alas, there are only a few from the 1950s and 60s.
The Lawrence yearbooks are nonetheless delightful. Thrilled to rediscover the anarchist story in 1910! A young man is boating on a misty river, when he comes abreast of a boat containing a woman with a beautiful voice, though he can't see her through the fog. They talk, he proposes, she leaves, and some time later he reads in the newspaper about a lady anarchist assassin... who was of course the girl in the boat!
Another delightful find in 1910. So in these old yearbooks, the students in the junior class all get a brief description, generally a send-up of some kind. So here we have this description of Frances Van Patter: "Who says she loves Miss Carter? Yet actions speak louder than words and whoever has seen Frances' adoration can not doubt what state her affections are in."
(May Esther Carter was Dean of Women and Associate Professor of Literature; she graduated Ohio Wesleyan in 1892, and was apparently the idol of the girl students, as 1908 also features a Miss-Carter themed slam: "Don't mention my crush on Miss Carter," begs Lelia Johnson.)
Miss Van Patter's crush was evidently visible FROM SPACE because it is mentioned AGAIN later in the 1910 yearbook: "Wanted: Position as constant companion to Miss Carter. - Francis Van Patter."
I have so many more delightful yearbook stories to share (Mildred McNeal Sweeney's meeting with William Dean Howells! the saga of Mary Slack! convinced that Miss Slack jilted someone on the yearbook committee), but the sun is shining and the waves are rolling on the beach, so I must away for a walk!
