Three's a crowd? Anyhow, I do love this picture.

what would irritate Amelia Earhart more?

Say you got to research your life, say you were pretty much able to debunk every single theory about you, and say you had no way to make that public? That's what Amelia faces when she heads to the library to see what's been written. Luckily for her it's only 1980 so certain books are still waiting to see the light of day. One that I find particularly irritating is The Sound of Wings. This writer's conceit is that Amelia's life is as fascinating as that of her husband, G.P. Putnam, thus we move from a chapter about her, to a chapter about her husband. I can imagine the pitch the agent gave on this one. . . a new and unique take on an iconic figure.

And then there are the various elaborate theories about how it all ended, that she never died, that she was Tokyo Rose and returned home to spend the rest of her life alive and well and living in New Jersey. Or even worse, that the round the world flight was an elaborate deception, she used it to leave her husband because she, poor frail thing, couldn't have done that all on her own. Back then, she used her fame to make sure she could live a relatively private life. Now everything is scrutinized in obsessive detail. I think she'll find all of this remarkably intrusive, and also infuriating.Frankly, I don't blame her.

the library now

Columbia gem of the ocean and Amelia Earhart

Returning to visit my former alma mater, I find that it's a sunny day for once. The former library is not quite as I remembered, grander inside, with one full room for lectures. Funny that I would set my novel here since I don't have the fondest memories of my time spent at Columbia. Then again I was a writing student, and writers are notoriously competitive. I was also older than most of my counterparts, all of us vying for the prize of being most talented and first published. I lost out on that one, but then again,many of those I went to school with have come and gone and gone somewhere else, hopefully happier than they were.
I keep writing, and publishing as best I can, and writing some more. But I feel like I probably started this novel then, so many years ago. I wanted to create a world where the dead and living could coexist and hey I'm not Garcia Marquez but I did have aspirations. First it was my grandmother, then it was Darwin, but now it's Amelia.
I looked up at the top of this building yesterday and thought of all those odd connections one makes with one's characters and how she wasn't a character at all, she was an amazingly vibrant and courageous person. The idea that she went up to the top of that building, that she found her way up there and watched the stars, it's just wonderful to imagine, no writer could have come up with it. But I use it. Boy do I use it.
So dear reader, if you are out there, here is a photo of how it looks now, better I think when Amelia dug her heels in and sat, or brought friends up at night to chart the constellations.

Amelia Earhart and Universal Health Care

Hey, we know she would have been for it. Not even a question. I mean, Teddy Roosevelt was for it. Anyone with a brain is for it. Anyone who's ever had to deal with an insurance company and fight and fight and fight till their face turns blue is for it.
Anyone bankrupted by those same greedy insurance giants is for it. And most of the people who are against all this government interference will be for it too once they
see what it is. Another example of how our educational system fails us. Instead of having a reasonable argument people scream and yell and curse and insult each other and lie, they just outright lie.

As I posted on facebook,my mother began to work towards Universal Health Care as a medical student. She is now ninety six years old and it was a proud moment for me when I called her to thank her for her efforts. She's seen change, yes, not as much as I would have hoped. Not as much as many others have. Still, something. It does offer you a sliver of hope in what is often a grim landscape.

I think Amelia will be disappointed that the world in 1980 is so unchanged in some basic way. She's missed several wars. And though we've come through the sixties and there has been progress for women, other things are not so rosy. Ronald Reagan is president. The homeless lack adequate care and shelter. Class and race still matter far too much. Change is incremental. Still today I cheer for it. I think she would too.

amelia at the controls

Amelia Earhart in the cockpit of a Boeing 727

When last she left, she was flying a Lockheed Electra. I am wishing, wishing, wishing I had one in my home office right about now. That and a Boeing 727. Because Amelia is going to get a tour of the cockpit, she has a way of convincing people to let her do what she needs to do. What she needs is to see inside and understand some of the differences, which have to be vast. So if you're out there and you know what they are, please help me. I know that there's a lot of talk about flying by the numbers, or that planes fly themselves these days. I know that Amelia's didn't. I'd like her to wonder at that difference and to get it, but to be able to do see means I have to get it. I'm sure that those who pilot for a living don't fly by the numbers at all, but they do have loads of electronic help. When these fail, then they have to fly by the seat of their pants, as in Captain Sully Sullenberger and his magnificent crew.

What I think is she would be overwhelmed, and curious, and a little appalled. But she'd also be amazed by the power that propels a jet engine. She'd want to know more, but she'd recognize some things all the same. Details, it's all in the details, right? So what would she notice for starters? And after she noticed it, would she still want to fly that plane? I'm thinking she'd be more inclined to want to fly something smaller, where she could be more in touch with the act of flying again.