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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

So You Think Modern Life Is a New Concept?

by Chautona Havig · 4 Comments

Modernity is Relative

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Little Town on the PrairieModernity is relative.

“Our grandmothers would turn in their graves, but after all, these are modern times.”

I don’t know if that’s an exact quote or a paraphrase, but Ma Ingalls said that or something awfully close to it in Little Town on the Prairie. What was she talking about? Sewing a long seam down the center of a sheet on a… *gasp!* sewing machine instead of lapping it by hand.

What would those grandmothers think of California King-sized bed sheets with no seam! Shocker! Modernity run rampant!

And we’re just talking about sheets! Twenty years later, people could afford cameras. (Madeline Brown’s camera in Sweet on You was a dollar. Just a dollar! (I feel like Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. “I only have a dollar. Just a dollar!”

They had telephones, bicycles, motor cars.

Girls didn’t have to sit in general stores sewing shirts for homesteaders. They could be nurses, clerks, and bank tellers.

Those with a more traditional outlook, those who still remained at home without employment, were still free to roam the city without causing gossip.

suffrage
Courtesy of LSE Library

They joined causes and furthered their educational pursuits because it interested them.

And I don’t think feminism can take credit for it.

Some would say I’m in denial, or I have an agenda against girls doing anything but crocheting doilies while they wait for a prince charming to arrive at their doorstep to inform them that he’s there to take care of them forever and all time. Yeah. Because that happens.

Wait. It did. For my daughter. Whatever, it usually doesn’t happen. I’ve got six more daughters who will attest to that little fact.

No, I don’t think feminism can take credit for young women having more opportunities at the turn of the 20th century. The world changed. Household work took less time, and people moved from farms to the city. They had so many new conveniences that their life more resembled ours than that of Laura Ingalls just twenty years earlier (those in the cities, I mean). Without any need for them at home, what else were girls to do?

I imagine that change was rather difficult for some people to handle.

Madeline’s Aunt Louisa is one such person. Like many of us when modernity encroaches on our lives, strips away traditions that we value, and turns her niece into a “meddlesome chit,” she pulls back, grasping onto the familiar.

Madeline’s complaints that her aunt’s notions would have been outdated back in her mother’s day are valid.

modernityDon’t we do that, though? When one thing sends us running, we swing to the opposite extreme—as if on a pendulum. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post on that once. You can read it, HERE.

I guess it’s kind of like why, when a father first sees his little girl dressed in an evening gown, he’s ready to lock her in the basement for the rest of her life.

Hmmm… is that legal? I do have six unmarried daughters…

Instead of saying:

“Um, that cleavage is advertising what you do not have for sale,”

…he just withdraws her from the… market?

Yeah, that analogy got away from me.

But anyway, my point is that sometimes people react to new things in not so great ways. We overreact.

And you know what? 

Just like with Madeline’s Aunt Louisa, that overreaction can and usually does push people away. And c’mon. There’s nothing new under the sun, Louisa.  You deplored the marching and protesting of the suffragettes in Rockland.

Those hussies!

In your day, young ladies reserved “the vote” for what kind of punch to serve at the ladies’ bazaar. All this modern marching and protesting. You’ll be glad when the girls get it out of their systems, right?

Because that sort of unladylike behavior couldn’t possibly happen almost 120 years from now…

I said it before. I’ll say it again.  Modernity is relative.

And Solomon had it right. There’s nothing new under the sun.

And Louisa?

Just be glad you didn’t see the hats some of THIS year’s marchers were wearing.

Even YOU wouldn’t touch one of those suckers!

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Comments

  1. Diane says

    March 22, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    Yup, in architecture Modern was underway before my parents (now in their 80s) got married. Then there was Post-Modern. I’m not sure what comes after that, but it probably already has 😉 And Modern Art has been around for a long time–nearly 100 years. I’ve lost track of how many art movements there’ve been since!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      March 22, 2017 at 7:27 pm

      And our ideas of modernity will CRACK UP our grandkids and great grandkids. “You actually had to hold your phones? How WEIRD!”

      Reply
  2. Peggy says

    March 21, 2017 at 5:20 am

    It’s been a while since I’ve read any of your books. I once had read almost all of them but it looks like I’ve now got some catching up to do!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      March 21, 2017 at 5:53 am

      Hi, Peggy! Well, I’ve got quite a few out in the past couple of years. I’d recommend starting with the first Madeline, though. and it’s on sale for .99 right now, so that’s always good!

      Reply

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Episode 155: Chatting with Heather Day Gilbert & Jen Cudmore
byChautona Havig

To Love a Viking by Heather Day Gilbert and Jen Cudmore has been released, and I got to chat with them about it last week. Guys, this series!  If the Christian influence on Viking history isn’t enough, what about adventure, fight scenes, and romance that won’t make you blush? How about that a damsel is in distress and… gets rescued by another woman instead of the stereotypical DUDE! Listen in!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Are You Ready for an Exciting New Viking Series from 2 Great Authors?

 

One of the biggest surprises I recall from researching books by different authors was that the cozy mystery and suspense author I liked and respected, Heather Day Gilbert, had also written historical Viking books! I made the erroneous assumption that they were romance and skipped them (for the time being… I knew I’d read them some day), and then something happened.

A few months ago, I saw this cover.  With Heather’s name on it.  And some other gal I hadn’t heard of–Jen Cudmore.  What is this deliciousness?  The cover was AMAZING… not stereotypical nor was it inauthentic.  It was just GOOD (not to mention gorgeous) and with the Celtic frame (the Vikings did go over to Scotland/Ireland after all), I just felt like it hit all the sweet spots.

Well… the book is here, folks.  And I’ve got a copy in my hot little hands.  No, really. It’s July. And I live in the desert.  My hands are totally hot and in totally all the wrong ways. Just throwin’ that out there.

Anyway, Heather and Jen chatted with me about To Love a Viking, and oh my!  This book sounds fabulous. We know Viking women were strong. Even those that weren’t warriors had to survive Nordic winters. Ergo, strong.  But what about strong enough to build a new society with people they’d once fought against. Oh, and rescue a damsel in distress #BecauseYeah!

I’m ready to dive in to To Love a Viking myself, and I hope you’ll grab a copy, too. It promises to be incredible.

To Love a Viking by Heather Day Gilbert and Jen Cudmore

Get swept up in an enthralling new romance series featuring women who rule the hearts of Viking men.

ELLISIF Forced into a financially advantageous marriage that spirals into a nightmare, Ellisif cannot help but imagine what might have been and ache for what was lost. The only lights in her life are her daughters and the friendships she’s forged with the household servants.

Though seven years have passed since Ellisif wed another man, Dagar still cannot forget the woman who captured his youthful heart. As the Viking warrior battles for his country’s future, he finds himself entangled in a personal war for Ellisif’s freedom that could cost his family their reputation and standing with the king. If he risks all, can he save the woman whose face still haunts his dreams? And if given another chance, will she choose him?

INARA Escaped slave Inara is determined to start a new life. Under the guidance of warrior and shipbuilder Håkon, her sword skill grows, as does her confidence that the Viking men will accept her as a warrior in her own right.

When she is selected to lead a perilous rescue mission to protect Ellisif, Inara finds herself blindsided by feelings for Håkon…and by threats to her freedom far closer than she feared. As dreams and desires collide, she wrestles against the lies holding her captive. Can she conquer her doubts before all that she’s hoped for slips from her hands?

Written by award-winning historical author Heather Day Gilbert and fresh voice Jen Cudmore, two love stories entwine in this sweeping Viking-era romance, the first novel in the Tavland Vikings series.

You can find out more about the series and the authors on Heather’s WEBSITE.

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Episode 155: Chatting with Heather Day Gilbert & Jen Cudmore
Episode 155: Chatting with Heather Day Gilbert & Jen Cudmore
July 1, 2022
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Episode 151: A Chat with Christian Romance Author, Carrie Padgett
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