Friday, October 30, 2015

Tiger Mother circa 1970

Warning: Sad story. This is an entry my husband just showed me from his father's journal. In 1970 my father-in-law was stationed in San Jose, Costa Rica. His wife, Arlene, was teaching senior high school English classes at an American school that served ex pats' kids, diplomat families, etc.

10/27/70 – Arlene calls the wife of the Chinese Ambassador to tell her that their children have to turn in some homework. She expresses surprise and said the children studied at home a great deal. 30 minutes later she grabs a gun from a guard and kills herself.

I can't find a reference to this online.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Family Research Reveals

The following letter is addressed to William Murray, from E. Gordon Bill, Dartmouth College, November 26, 1929:

My dear Bill:

You can imagine my extraordinary personal pleasure in informing you that Donald has just been reported as showing "outstanding promise" in no less than four out of five freshman freshman courses: Chemistry 1, Latin 7, Evolution and French 11.

There was only one other member of the freshman class with such a brilliant mid-semester report and we can all look ahead with confidence to Donald's future. He has got brains and industry, neither of which is much good without the other.

Sincerely yours,

E. Gordon Bill

Donald Murray is the subject of Soft Snap, available on Amazon.