Actress, Author, Adventurer
The Harvard Square Coop
1400 Massachusetts Avenue, 18 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA 02238
7:00 pm.
Barnes & Noble
50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Union Station, Washington DC 20002
5:00 pm.
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington
7:00 pm.
Left Bank Books
17 8th Ave., New York, NY 10014
8:00 pm.
Hi Whip fans! We’ve got some exciting news!
San Francisco television (KRON/NBC) film critic and historian Jan Wahl has invited Karen Kondazian, author of The Whip, to discuss her book on Ms. Wahl’s television show on June 2nd. They’ll be chatting about Charley Parkhurst, the inspiration behind The Whip, and about the fascinating process of transforming this great summer read into a big screen adaptation.
“I read the entire book in three days… really a great story. I saw the movie all the way through the book…” — Jan Wahl
Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry"
The film Albert Nobbs recently showed us women of the same timeframe who lived as men in Ireland. Albert is remote and scared even in this courageous choice, but his friend, played brilliantly by Janet McTeer, reminds me a great deal in looks and the gruff-but-kind temperament of our Charley. Charley also has a wit, born of survival skills and intelligence. I would have liked to know Charley, and now I feel I have met her.
Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There"
Booksellers from ’round the globe have received this lovely letter from Barnes & Noble store manager Danyel Lund in St. George, UT. The Barnes & Noble at Red Cliffs Mall played host to Karen and many of her fans for a book signing earlier this month.
Thanks Danyel!
Charley Parkhurst began driving stagecoaches for the Birch Stagecoach Company upon her arrival in Sacramento in 1849. By 1850, the Birch Company merged with Wells Fargo to create the Wells Fargo & Company Overland Stage, and Charley was put in charge of a brand new Concord Stagecoach, longer runs and more treacherous routes than ever.
Along with more responsibilities, came the following stipulations for a pleasant ride aboard the new Wells Fargo coaches that all drivers were expected to provide to the passengers:
Wells Fargo Stagecoach Rules of the Road
Abstinence from liquor is requested, but if you must drink, share the bottle. To do otherwise makes you appear selfish and un-neighborly.
Abstain entirely in cold weather – you’ll freeze twice as fast under the influence.
If ladies are present, gentlemen are urged to forgo smoking cigars and pipes as the odor of the same is repugnant to the Gentle Sex. Chewing tobacco is permitted, but spit with the wind, not against it.
Gentlemen must refrain from the use of rough language in the presence of ladies and children.
Howdy, Whip fans!
This past week Karen was invited for a chat with Prairie Miller on WBAI’s “Arts Express”. If you’re in New York, you can catch the live interview tomorrow, Monday 30, so tune in to 99.5 FM @ 10pm ET.
But if you’re not in the East, don’t despair! We have the full interview right here for you. Aren’t we thoughtful?
Click below, kick back, and enjoy!
Joan and Peggy in a world of Mad Med
Recently it seems like everyone’s stuck trying to define his or her own human rights in today’s society. Religious freedom is strongly misconstrued by fanatics and radicals; human rights are being exploited in all parts of the world, and human rights for any sexual orientation are being ignored, not just in other countries, but also in America, “the land of the free”.
Leaving local politics aside, after years of oppression and progress, women’s rights have once again taken a back seat to entertainment and profit. In the time where retro and pop art have become so popular that 1950s paraphernalia is considered “hip”, we have come to the point where a sense of style is more important than the underlying struggle that comes with it.
“Be true to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done some thing strange and extravagant, and broken the monotony of a decorous age. It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‘Always do what you are afraid to do.’ A simple manly character need never make an apology…” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
It was perhaps these words by renowned thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson that gave Charley Parkhurst that push towards the West, disguising herself as a man and leaving her past behind. Letting go of all fear, the townspeople’s gossip in Rhode Island, the pain of losing her family; it only fueled her desire to do something – anything – with her life, for herself, without having to apologize for it.
Emerson’s independent thinking was thought revolutionary and risqué during that time, as was no doubt Charley’s preferred lifestyle. Published from 1841 through 1844 in two volumes, Emerson’s Essays brings together a collection of the philosopher’s most popular and sensational idealistic concepts, including the Over-Soul, where he details the individual Self as part of a universal All. Accused of atheism for these notions, Emerson wasn’t taking away power from the “One True God” Catholicism believed, but was rather giving humankind a transcendental power in return; perhaps giving society more credit than it was due in his time.
For a Book Signing, Video and Q&A
of her New Historical Novel
inspired by a true story
Red Cliffs Mall, 1720 East red Cliffs Drive
St. George, Utah, 84790
(Also Enjoy Some Refreshments)
