#autobiography — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #autobiography, aggregated by home.social.
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Finished this last evening. There are parts I enjoyed, but not much, per se, as it’s more ‘informative’ than ‘fun.’
The #CIA assessed the content as mildly self-inflated, as well as some passages being wrong. Don’t read this for the final word on anything.
Mostly it’s a man obsessed with finding a mole in #MI5 who he cannot prove to be one particular person.
The good parts are near the front, with explanations of radio waves used for microphones.
★★★☆☆
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Finished this last evening. There are parts I enjoyed, but not much, per se, as it’s more ‘informative’ than ‘fun.’
The #CIA assessed the content as mildly self-inflated, as well as some passages being wrong. Don’t read this for the final word on anything.
Mostly it’s a man obsessed with finding a mole in #MI5 who he cannot prove to be one particular person.
The good parts are near the front, with explanations of radio waves used for microphones.
★★★☆☆
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📖 Down with the System by Serj Tankian (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) #biography #autobiography #music #nonfiction #biographyautobiography
An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System of a Down , Serj Tankian Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System of a Down, was “unlikely a chart-topper as had ever...
https://www.coryd.dev/reading/books/9780306831928/down-with-the-system
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📖 Down with the System by Serj Tankian (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) #biography #autobiography #music #nonfiction #biographyautobiography
An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System of a Down , Serj Tankian Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System of a Down, was “unlikely a chart-topper as had ever...
https://www.coryd.dev/reading/books/9780306831928/down-with-the-system
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📖 Down with the System by Serj Tankian (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) #biography #autobiography #music #nonfiction #biographyautobiography
An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System of a Down , Serj Tankian Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System of a Down, was “unlikely a chart-topper as had ever...
https://www.coryd.dev/reading/books/9780306831928/down-with-the-system
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📖 Down with the System by Serj Tankian (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) #biography #autobiography #music #nonfiction #biographyautobiography
An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System of a Down , Serj Tankian Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System of a Down, was “unlikely a chart-topper as had ever...
https://www.coryd.dev/reading/books/9780306831928/down-with-the-system
-
📖 Down with the System by Serj Tankian (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) #biography #autobiography #music #nonfiction #biographyautobiography
An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System of a Down , Serj Tankian Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System of a Down, was “unlikely a chart-topper as had ever...
https://www.coryd.dev/reading/books/9780306831928/down-with-the-system
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Quote of the day, 13 July: St. Teresa of the Andes
I was born in 1900 on the 13th day of July. My mother is Lucía Solar de Fernández, and my father is Michael Fernández Jaraquemada.
We lived with my grandfather, who was already quite old (Juanita was born and lived 7 years in the house of her maternal Grandfather at 1352 Rosas Street in Santiago, Chile. The house has since been demolished).
You can say that he was a saint, since one could see him praying his rosary all day long. His name was Eulogio Solar.
Jesus did not desire me to be born poor like Himself; I was born in the midst of riches, spoiled by all.
I was the fourth child in the family. The first was named Lucía, who was 7 years old; Miguel, the second, was 6 years old and Luís, the third, was 3.
My aunt Juanita Solar lived in my grandfather’s house with her four children. My uncle, Luís Albert Domínguez, had already died. The eldest of my cousins was 13 years old, and the youngest was 5.
My aunt Teresa Vicuña also lived there with her two children. One of her boys died in childhood. Her older child was called Thomas Bernardo (the name of my uncle). And Teresita, her second, was 8 years old.
My uncle Francis (Francisco Solar Armstrong), who was a bachelor, also lived there. He was 23 years old.
A short time later, Rebecca was born, and there was a difference of 1 year and 8 months between us (In 1910, her last brother, Ignacio, came into the world; he died at Santiago, November 2, 1976).
Though quite spoiled, I was very timid. Rebecca was the opposite. We were both very spoiled. We could do whatever we pleased with my Granddaddy, and we used to trick him with our kisses and caresses.
From the time I was small, they used to say that I was the prettiest of my brothers and sisters, but I paid no attention to this. But they kept repeating these same words to me as I grew older, unbeknownst to my mother, since she didn’t like this.
God alone knows what it cost me to overcome this pride or vanity that took possession of my heart as I grew older. My character was timid, my heart sensitive. I used to cry for any reason, but my disposition was extremely gentle; I never used to get mad at anyone.
Saint Teresa of the Andes
Her intimate spiritual diary, 2
Griffin, M D & Teresa of the Andes, S 2021, God, The Joy of My Life: A Biography of Saint Teresa of the Andes With the Saint’s Spiritual Diary, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: Saint Teresa of the Andes, not long before she entered the Carmel of Los Andes. Original photograph: Discalced Carmelites (used by permission). Artistic treatment by Carmelite Quotes using Paintt.
#autobiography #childhood #familyLife #pride #StTeresaOfTheAndes -
Quote of the day, 13 July: St. Teresa of the Andes
I was born in 1900 on the 13th day of July. My mother is Lucía Solar de Fernández, and my father is Michael Fernández Jaraquemada.
We lived with my grandfather, who was already quite old (Juanita was born and lived 7 years in the house of her maternal Grandfather at 1352 Rosas Street in Santiago, Chile. The house has since been demolished).
You can say that he was a saint, since one could see him praying his rosary all day long. His name was Eulogio Solar.
Jesus did not desire me to be born poor like Himself; I was born in the midst of riches, spoiled by all.
I was the fourth child in the family. The first was named Lucía, who was 7 years old; Miguel, the second, was 6 years old and Luís, the third, was 3.
My aunt Juanita Solar lived in my grandfather’s house with her four children. My uncle, Luís Albert Domínguez, had already died. The eldest of my cousins was 13 years old, and the youngest was 5.
My aunt Teresa Vicuña also lived there with her two children. One of her boys died in childhood. Her older child was called Thomas Bernardo (the name of my uncle). And Teresita, her second, was 8 years old.
My uncle Francis (Francisco Solar Armstrong), who was a bachelor, also lived there. He was 23 years old.
A short time later, Rebecca was born, and there was a difference of 1 year and 8 months between us (In 1910, her last brother, Ignacio, came into the world; he died at Santiago, November 2, 1976).
Though quite spoiled, I was very timid. Rebecca was the opposite. We were both very spoiled. We could do whatever we pleased with my Granddaddy, and we used to trick him with our kisses and caresses.
From the time I was small, they used to say that I was the prettiest of my brothers and sisters, but I paid no attention to this. But they kept repeating these same words to me as I grew older, unbeknownst to my mother, since she didn’t like this.
God alone knows what it cost me to overcome this pride or vanity that took possession of my heart as I grew older. My character was timid, my heart sensitive. I used to cry for any reason, but my disposition was extremely gentle; I never used to get mad at anyone.
Saint Teresa of the Andes
Her intimate spiritual diary, 2
Griffin, M D & Teresa of the Andes, S 2021, God, The Joy of My Life: A Biography of Saint Teresa of the Andes With the Saint’s Spiritual Diary, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: Saint Teresa of the Andes, not long before she entered the Carmel of Los Andes. Original photograph: Discalced Carmelites (used by permission). Artistic treatment by Carmelite Quotes using Paintt.
#autobiography #childhood #familyLife #pride #StTeresaOfTheAndes -
The Book That Deserves a Sequel
What’s a book you think deserves a sequel? If I had to pick one book that deserves a sequel, it’d be my autobiography. Minor problem. I haven’t written the first one yet. The first book would mostly be me trying to survive while the universe keeps throwing random garbage at me like it’s running
#autobiography #Blog #book #dailyprompt #Dailyprompt2817 #sequelRead The Whole Post By Clicking The Link Below:
https://ericfoltin.com/2026/07/09/the-book-that-deserves-a-sequel/ -
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!
"Global icon Liza Minnelli shares her inspiring story "
Sale: $36 to $4.99
by Liza Minnelli
Rating: 4.5/5 (1,431 Reviews)
#memoir #biography #actors #actresses #hollywood #entertainment #books #booksky #addiction #autobiography
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! -
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!
"Global icon Liza Minnelli shares her inspiring story "
Sale: $36 to $4.99
by Liza Minnelli
Rating: 4.5/5 (1,431 Reviews)
#memoir #biography #actors #actresses #hollywood #entertainment #books #booksky #addiction #autobiography
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! -
Cliff Potts: Time in the Frequency of a Nation
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — July 4, 2026 —
Introduction
Two hundred and fifty years ago, a small group of men signed a document declaring independence from empire. Today, from Baybay City in the Philippines, I write as one American citizen who has lived through a slice of what that declaration became.
This is not the story of a public figure. It is the story of a participant. A boy shaped by California lift, a teenager formed in Chicago bleachers, a man who watched systems rise, harden, and strain.
History is not only written in marble halls. It is carried in memory.
California Lift
I was born into early-1960s California. You did not need to hear the word “Gemini” to feel the rockets. Aerospace optimism was atmospheric. Highways grew. Suburbs spread. The future felt engineered.
Songs on AM radio carried that lift. “Up, Up and Away” floated everywhere in 1967, just as we returned from Peru. It was sunlight set to melody. It was motion upward, literal and cultural.
“California Dreamin’” had already framed longing and geography in song. Even before the counterculture defined itself, there was a sense that the West Coast was a place where something was beginning.
In 1966, we left. In 1967, we landed in Chicago. The contrast was immediate. California was horizon and expansion. Chicago was density, machine politics, industry, and winter. The country revealed its internal weather systems.
Prosser and the Rowdies
I attended Prosser Vocational High School on Chicago’s Northwest Side. When I arrived, it was an all-boys school. No cheer squad. Barely a football team. So we built our own energy in the bleachers. We became the Prosser Rowdies.
It was not rebellion for its own sake. It was tribe.
Across the street sat Nicky’s. During study hall, I sometimes signed myself in as office help and crossed over for donuts and coffee. The jukebox became a timestamp.
“Rock On.”
“Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me).”
“Play That Funky Music.”
And above all, “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance).”That Leo Sayer track seemed to play every time I walked in during 1974. To this day, when it comes on, I bounce in my chair. I could never dance well. I could fake a twist. I once nearly injured someone attempting the bump. But that bass line still moves me.
High school was not defined by grades. It was defined by structure and belonging. I understood what I was supposed to do, even when I did not execute perfectly. College later became the place where I proved to myself that I could perform within academic systems.
I loved school because it made sense.
The Soundtrack of Becoming
The late 1960s and 1970s unfolded in music.
“Kicks” warned.
“White Rabbit” experimented.
“Aquarius” announced an age.
“American Pie” autopsied a decade.“Color My World” meant prom lights and awkward slow dances. “Ballroom Blitz” meant raw energy without ideology. “Barracuda” meant defiance.
And for my tribe in the 1970s, “Dust in the Wind” became a quiet anthem. Even as we gathered to study the Book of Revelation, even as we spoke of prophecy and permanence, we felt the fragility. All we are is dust in the wind. It was not nihilism. It was recognition.
Time moved.
“Fly Like an Eagle” named it. Time keeps on slipping into the future.
“In the Air Tonight” captured the tension that followed. Something unresolved. Something suspended.Music was not my obsession. It was my barometer. It marked the shifts in atmosphere.
Faith, Work, and Institutions
I moved through religious movements, countercultural remnants, and corporate structures. I saw idealism institutionalize. I saw institutions calcify. I saw protest give way to management. I saw corporate systems consume youth and energy.
The lesson was not despair. It was clarity.
Systems require vigilance. Culture requires renewal. No generation escapes responsibility for maintenance.
From Chicago to other states and eventually to the Philippines, I carried that awareness. Distance sharpens contrast. Watching the United States from Southeast Asia is different than watching it from within.
America at 250
In 1976, the bicentennial arrived. My family largely ignored the fireworks. Today, in 2026, the 250th anniversary arrives under strain.
The United States is older now. Heavier. Divided. Questioning itself again.
The language of liberty remains. The practice of it is contested.
From here, it feels like something is still in the air tonight — unresolved, suspended, waiting for a release that has not yet come.
I do not write this as condemnation or nostalgia. I write it as record.
I was there for California lift.
I was there for Chicago grit.
I was there for bleacher chants and jukebox quarters.
I was there for faith and doubt.
I was there for time slipping.At 250 years old, the United States is still asking fundamental questions about power, responsibility, and freedom. I am one ordinary citizen who lived through a fraction of its arc.
I did not shape history in dramatic ways. I participated in it quietly. I studied. I worked. I believed. I questioned. I observed.
That is enough to archive.
For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com
This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.
#250thAnniversary #AmericanHistory #autobiography #California #Chicago #CliffPotts #culturalMemory #WPSNews -
Cliff Potts: Time in the Frequency of a Nation
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — July 4, 2026 —
Introduction
Two hundred and fifty years ago, a small group of men signed a document declaring independence from empire. Today, from Baybay City in the Philippines, I write as one American citizen who has lived through a slice of what that declaration became.
This is not the story of a public figure. It is the story of a participant. A boy shaped by California lift, a teenager formed in Chicago bleachers, a man who watched systems rise, harden, and strain.
History is not only written in marble halls. It is carried in memory.
California Lift
I was born into early-1960s California. You did not need to hear the word “Gemini” to feel the rockets. Aerospace optimism was atmospheric. Highways grew. Suburbs spread. The future felt engineered.
Songs on AM radio carried that lift. “Up, Up and Away” floated everywhere in 1967, just as we returned from Peru. It was sunlight set to melody. It was motion upward, literal and cultural.
“California Dreamin’” had already framed longing and geography in song. Even before the counterculture defined itself, there was a sense that the West Coast was a place where something was beginning.
In 1966, we left. In 1967, we landed in Chicago. The contrast was immediate. California was horizon and expansion. Chicago was density, machine politics, industry, and winter. The country revealed its internal weather systems.
Prosser and the Rowdies
I attended Prosser Vocational High School on Chicago’s Northwest Side. When I arrived, it was an all-boys school. No cheer squad. Barely a football team. So we built our own energy in the bleachers. We became the Prosser Rowdies.
It was not rebellion for its own sake. It was tribe.
Across the street sat Nicky’s. During study hall, I sometimes signed myself in as office help and crossed over for donuts and coffee. The jukebox became a timestamp.
“Rock On.”
“Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me).”
“Play That Funky Music.”
And above all, “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance).”That Leo Sayer track seemed to play every time I walked in during 1974. To this day, when it comes on, I bounce in my chair. I could never dance well. I could fake a twist. I once nearly injured someone attempting the bump. But that bass line still moves me.
High school was not defined by grades. It was defined by structure and belonging. I understood what I was supposed to do, even when I did not execute perfectly. College later became the place where I proved to myself that I could perform within academic systems.
I loved school because it made sense.
The Soundtrack of Becoming
The late 1960s and 1970s unfolded in music.
“Kicks” warned.
“White Rabbit” experimented.
“Aquarius” announced an age.
“American Pie” autopsied a decade.“Color My World” meant prom lights and awkward slow dances. “Ballroom Blitz” meant raw energy without ideology. “Barracuda” meant defiance.
And for my tribe in the 1970s, “Dust in the Wind” became a quiet anthem. Even as we gathered to study the Book of Revelation, even as we spoke of prophecy and permanence, we felt the fragility. All we are is dust in the wind. It was not nihilism. It was recognition.
Time moved.
“Fly Like an Eagle” named it. Time keeps on slipping into the future.
“In the Air Tonight” captured the tension that followed. Something unresolved. Something suspended.Music was not my obsession. It was my barometer. It marked the shifts in atmosphere.
Faith, Work, and Institutions
I moved through religious movements, countercultural remnants, and corporate structures. I saw idealism institutionalize. I saw institutions calcify. I saw protest give way to management. I saw corporate systems consume youth and energy.
The lesson was not despair. It was clarity.
Systems require vigilance. Culture requires renewal. No generation escapes responsibility for maintenance.
From Chicago to other states and eventually to the Philippines, I carried that awareness. Distance sharpens contrast. Watching the United States from Southeast Asia is different than watching it from within.
America at 250
In 1976, the bicentennial arrived. My family largely ignored the fireworks. Today, in 2026, the 250th anniversary arrives under strain.
The United States is older now. Heavier. Divided. Questioning itself again.
The language of liberty remains. The practice of it is contested.
From here, it feels like something is still in the air tonight — unresolved, suspended, waiting for a release that has not yet come.
I do not write this as condemnation or nostalgia. I write it as record.
I was there for California lift.
I was there for Chicago grit.
I was there for bleacher chants and jukebox quarters.
I was there for faith and doubt.
I was there for time slipping.At 250 years old, the United States is still asking fundamental questions about power, responsibility, and freedom. I am one ordinary citizen who lived through a fraction of its arc.
I did not shape history in dramatic ways. I participated in it quietly. I studied. I worked. I believed. I questioned. I observed.
That is enough to archive.
For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com
This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.
#250thAnniversary #AmericanHistory #autobiography #California #Chicago #CliffPotts #culturalMemory #WPSNews -
#Suspect on trial for killing of Tupac Shakuur to have #autobiography in which he claimed involvement in case to be used against him in trial
https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-murder-las-vegas-dae886dcf21467d334d308eaff40f0b7 #Tupac #LasVegas #GangstaRap #Legal #CriminalLaw #Books
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#Suspect on trial for killing of Tupac Shakuur to have #autobiography in which he claimed involvement in case to be used against him in trial
https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-murder-las-vegas-dae886dcf21467d334d308eaff40f0b7 #Tupac #LasVegas #GangstaRap #Legal #CriminalLaw #Books
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#Suspect on trial for killing of Tupac Shakuur to have #autobiography in which he claimed involvement in case to be used against him in trial
https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-murder-las-vegas-dae886dcf21467d334d308eaff40f0b7 #Tupac #LasVegas #GangstaRap #Legal #CriminalLaw #Books
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#Suspect on trial for killing of Tupac Shakuur to have #autobiography in which he claimed involvement in case to be used against him in trial
https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-murder-las-vegas-dae886dcf21467d334d308eaff40f0b7 #Tupac #LasVegas #GangstaRap #Legal #CriminalLaw #Books
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#books #readingcommunity #feminist #fiction #autobiography #memoir #nature #scifi #history #literary
I read a whole lot in June! It has been very good. A distraction that is also deeply invasive and utterly important.
I loved:
I Who Have Never Known Men, A Protest History of the United States, and The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Very excellent. And I couldn't get enough of Deborah Levy, particularly her nonfiction. -
#books #readingcommunity #feminist #fiction #autobiography #memoir #nature #scifi #history #literary
I read a whole lot in June! It has been very good. A distraction that is also deeply invasive and utterly important.
I loved:
I Who Have Never Known Men, A Protest History of the United States, and The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Very excellent. And I couldn't get enough of Deborah Levy, particularly her nonfiction. -
Book of da Month #2: Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson 💄
This fantastic autobiography is by Cassandra Peterson. She’s best known as portraying horror queen icon Elvira, who here in the UK wasn’t really a thing, but in America has continued cult status.
After hearing a You’re Wrong About podcast episode last year, Peterson’s story piqued our interest. We bought Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of Darkness (2021) for further insights into her life. It’s an often remarkable time of it, with many highs and low, all told with brilliant humour and wit.
Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of Darkness
“Okay. Let me just get this out of the way. I’m seventy years old. There’s no hiding it from Wikipedia. My age is always announced in the first sentence of any interview I do. I’m going to do my absolute best to remember as much of my life as humanly possible even though nowadays I can barely remember what I did last night. I’ll try to recall every gory detail and be as factual as possible because I sure as hell don’t want to end up like that James Frey who got reamed by Oprah after she found out his autobiography was bogus. The bottom line is, this story is the truth. My truth.”
Cassandra Peterson is 74 now, born in September of 1951 over in Manhattan, Kansas. She begins her autobiography with a terrifying story of how, at 18 months of age, an accident at home left her with severe burns over 35% of her body.
This happened when boiling water from a kettle fell over her. Peterson believes she must have accidentally pulled it onto herself when her parents were in a different room. The toddler was rushed to hospital and spent years receiving skin grafts.
Experimental penicillin treatment saved her life and, by chance, most of her significant scars can be covered up by clothing and the positioning of her hair. But the scars left a big impact on her childhood and teenage years, leaving her battling self-esteem problems, and she became a shy loner. Not helped by her family setting of a loving but eccentric father with a penchant for engaging in manly fisticuffs.
“Every other word out of his mouth was ‘damn’, ‘goddamn’, ‘son of a bitch’, ‘bastard’, or ‘hell’. And that wasn’t when he was angry; it was just his normal, everyday speech.”
Worse are Peterson’s recollections of her mother, who she acknowledges had undiagnosed narcissistic personality disorder, which led to frequent verbal and physical abuse.
“My childhood might have seemed idyllic to the outside observer, but at home with my mother, it was anything but. She was a tough one, man. She didn’t take crap from anyone, least of all her kids. Mother came from the do-it-because-I-say-so-or-I’ll-give-you-something-to-really-cry-about school of parenting. She wasn’t the kind of person who should have had kids to begin with. She was a nervous, anxious woman of the ’50s who did what you were supposed to do in those days: get married and start a family.”
To deal with this unstable home life, Peterson immersed herself in pop culture and fell in love with cinema. Most notably, she took a big fancy to horror and her favourite actor was Vincent Price.
But she was also obsessed with music. After an Elvis infatuation, she went ballistic for The Beatles once Beatlemania stormed the US.
“I ate, slept, and breathed The Beatles. The downside was that this spelled the end of my long friendship with Nyliram, because she hated them and said they looked like girls. That was it. I was forced to drop her like a hot potato and search out other like-minded Beatlemaniacs. I found them in the form of my new BFFs, Molly, Kathy, and Eileen. We talked in British accents like The Beatles, dressed in Beatle boots and hats, and screamed our heads off whenever one of their songs came on the radio. We went to the Chief Theater to see A Hard Day’s Night at least a half dozen times and shrieked and sobbed our way through it until we lost our voices. When one of The Beatles’ birthdays rolled around, we held a party, complete with candles and a Jiffy cake we whipped up ourselves. We put a lot of energy into hating the guts out of Cynthia Lennon, John’s wife, and Jane Asher, Paul’s girlfriend, because we were so jealous.”
From there she worshipped any bands who visited Kansas and became a groupie, the young women famous for trying to hang out with bands (often getting exploited in the process).
This is one of the darker sides of this autobiography, Peterson’s depictions of sexual assault at the hands of often much older men.
Apologies for the male gaze here, but Peterson is a very attractive women and, as she admits in the book, puberty led to a surge of interest in her. Although still affected by burn scars, she uses (to this day) her long red hair to cover up the scarring on her neck. And often pokes fun at the size of her breasts and how these make men behave like idiots in front of her.
“Suddenly one day I sprouted boobs. Not just boobs. Enormous boobs. When puberty finally struck, I developed faster than a Polaroid. In my mind at least, I remember going to bed flat as a board one night and waking up with ginormous breasts the next morning. It was like, whoa, dude—this is better than the tooth fairy!”
A timely confidence boost for her, but as she soon found out her appearance also brought with it a lot of negative geezer attention.
As a groupie she was meeting famous rock stars already feeling pretty entitled and important, some of whom really do not come across very well at all in this book. Some are straight up sex pests (she dishes the dirt in the book without holding back).
Then you’ve got the ones clearly battling chronic addiction problems. Jimi Hendrix gave Peterson his number (at the Denver Pop Festival, June 1969), but when she rang him later that night he was too drunk/stoned to make any sense (unfortunately, he died just over 12 months later). Then The Who turned up on their first US tour and baffled her by destroying their equipment onstage in a frenzy.
Who does come out of it really well is the lovely sounding Frank Zappa, who gave Peterson fatherly advice about staying safe (i.e. by not being a groupie).
The chaos of these disorderly teenage years are told with charm and great humour. It’s a very funny, if also melancholic, retelling of a difficult childhood turning into a rock ‘n’ roll coming-of-age. In a demonstration of leering behaviour from men that Peterson would have to deal with for decades ahead.
Throughout those formative years, she was intent on making it as an actor. But as she acknowledges, that kind of thing doesn’t work out for 99% of people. She put off trying to get a “normal” career in her efforts to make it. But by the age of 30, her efforts hadn’t gone anywhere and was told by everyone (including her agent) she was now “too old” for Hollywood. She was close to packing in her dreams.
But then an unexpected bit of a luck came her way in 1981, which has become her defining act.
The Elvira Years: 1981 to Present
Right, the first time we ever heard about Elvira was in August 2025 with the You’re Wrong About podcast. We don’t know where we went wrong there, but presume it’s mainly a US thing, as we don’t recall ever seeing her on anything in the UK.
How did the character come to be? Well, in the 1970s there was an LA-based TV show called Fright Night that ran as a celebration of dodgy B movie horror films. Producers were looking for a new host, wanted it to be an attractive woman, and went about with auditions.
Peterson didn’t want the role at first and turned down audition offers.
“Finding a woman who was both sexy and funny was a tall order in those days. Women were allowed to be sexy or funny, but not both. If you were the least bit attractive it was impossible to have a sense of humour. If you were funny, you needed to look like Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields, or Joan Rivers (with their original faces). I loved old horror movies and I’d been working in LA’s top comedy improvisational group, the Groundlings, for a little more than four years, so had the timing been better, horror host actually seemed like a bill I could have filled. Damn.”
Eventually, she agreed to an audition and nailed the role in one. The producers then left it up to her to create the Elvira character, so she went for a goth/vampire look similar to The Addams Family type vibes.
What was crucial here is Peterson seized on the role and took it seriously, but not so seriously she couldn’t have an enormous amount of fun with it. Wearing a dress heavily exaggerating her breasts, with a giant and almost absurd beehive black wig, plus the pallid makeup, and the result was a very arresting look.
As a character, she’s confident, open with her sexuality, sassy, and a kickass type feminist. An outsider anti-heroine, but someone oozing in confidence, the creation of that alter-ego seems to be in stark contrast to Peterson’s confidence struggles when she was younger.
Plus, an outsider who doesn’t give a toss about that and is happy in leading her life as she pleases.
Couple that image with the one liners (“I’m the hostess with the mostess!”, “Unpleasant dreams!”, “Bad dreams, darlings!” etc.) and you’ve got an instant camp LGBTQ+ icon.
The character is so popular it led to two films. There was Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and then Elvira’s Haunted House (2001). In those, she frequently deals with approaches from randy men, who she thwarts through one liners and/or the likes of stamping on their feet with her high heels. She doesn’t let them get away with it.
The hostess with the mostess feels even more relevant to modern life and progressive attitudes than in the 1980s. This led to the TV concept returning in 2010 for public domain films, before returning to the horror hostess in 2014 with Nights of Elvira (a Hulu exclusive).
Of course, there’s the also official website: Elvira, Mistress of Darkness.
Her story story is rumbling on in fine style. For 2021, alongside this autobiography launching, there was a 40th anniversary special celebrating the character on Shudder (a horror-based streaming service). And there doesn’t seem any end to the character. She’s active on social media and still attends comic cons and the like to meet fans.
View this post on Instagram
Anyway, we’re all sold on this. We feel stupid for having missed out on Peterson’s excellence, but pleased to belatedly get there. Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of Darkness is an excellent book and was a New York Times bestseller after its launch.
It perfectly balances her great sense of humour (she is naturally very funny) alongside her intelligence, but also recalling the psychological battering she faced due to the sexist nature of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.
There’s a positive and endearing spirit in her every sentence and we can highly recommend the autobiography. Charming, uplifting, and an insight into an impressive mind.
#autobiography #BMovies #Books #camp #CassandraPeterson #Devil #Elvira #ElviraMemoirsOfTheMistressOfDarkness #Feminism #Horror #LGBTQ #Lifestyle #Literature #YoursCruelly -
Book of da Month #2: Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson 💄
This fantastic autobiography is by Cassandra Peterson. She’s best known as portraying horror queen icon Elvira, who here in the UK wasn’t really a thing, but in America has continued cult status.
After hearing a You’re Wrong About podcast episode last year, Peterson’s story piqued our interest. We bought Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of Darkness (2021) for further insights into her life. It’s an often remarkable time of it, with many highs and low, all told with brilliant humour and wit.
Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of Darkness
“Okay. Let me just get this out of the way. I’m seventy years old. There’s no hiding it from Wikipedia. My age is always announced in the first sentence of any interview I do. I’m going to do my absolute best to remember as much of my life as humanly possible even though nowadays I can barely remember what I did last night. I’ll try to recall every gory detail and be as factual as possible because I sure as hell don’t want to end up like that James Frey who got reamed by Oprah after she found out his autobiography was bogus. The bottom line is, this story is the truth. My truth.”
Cassandra Peterson is 74 now, born in September of 1951 over in Manhattan, Kansas. She begins her autobiography with a terrifying story of how, at 18 months of age, an accident at home left her with severe burns over 35% of her body.
This happened when boiling water from a kettle fell over her. Peterson believes she must have accidentally pulled it onto herself when her parents were in a different room. The toddler was rushed to hospital and spent years receiving skin grafts.
Experimental penicillin treatment saved her life and, by chance, most of her significant scars can be covered up by clothing and the positioning of her hair. But the scars left a big impact on her childhood and teenage years, leaving her battling self-esteem problems, and she became a shy loner. Not helped by her family setting of a loving but eccentric father with a penchant for engaging in manly fisticuffs.
“Every other word out of his mouth was ‘damn’, ‘goddamn’, ‘son of a bitch’, ‘bastard’, or ‘hell’. And that wasn’t when he was angry; it was just his normal, everyday speech.”
Worse are Peterson’s recollections of her mother, who she acknowledges had undiagnosed narcissistic personality disorder, which led to frequent verbal and physical abuse.
“My childhood might have seemed idyllic to the outside observer, but at home with my mother, it was anything but. She was a tough one, man. She didn’t take crap from anyone, least of all her kids. Mother came from the do-it-because-I-say-so-or-I’ll-give-you-something-to-really-cry-about school of parenting. She wasn’t the kind of person who should have had kids to begin with. She was a nervous, anxious woman of the ’50s who did what you were supposed to do in those days: get married and start a family.”
To deal with this unstable home life, Peterson immersed herself in pop culture and fell in love with cinema. Most notably, she took a big fancy to horror and her favourite actor was Vincent Price.
But she was also obsessed with music. After an Elvis infatuation, she went ballistic for The Beatles once Beatlemania stormed the US.
“I ate, slept, and breathed The Beatles. The downside was that this spelled the end of my long friendship with Nyliram, because she hated them and said they looked like girls. That was it. I was forced to drop her like a hot potato and search out other like-minded Beatlemaniacs. I found them in the form of my new BFFs, Molly, Kathy, and Eileen. We talked in British accents like The Beatles, dressed in Beatle boots and hats, and screamed our heads off whenever one of their songs came on the radio. We went to the Chief Theater to see A Hard Day’s Night at least a half dozen times and shrieked and sobbed our way through it until we lost our voices. When one of The Beatles’ birthdays rolled around, we held a party, complete with candles and a Jiffy cake we whipped up ourselves. We put a lot of energy into hating the guts out of Cynthia Lennon, John’s wife, and Jane Asher, Paul’s girlfriend, because we were so jealous.”
From there she worshipped any bands who visited Kansas and became a groupie, the young women famous for trying to hang out with bands (often getting exploited in the process).
This is one of the darker sides of this autobiography, Peterson’s depictions of sexual assault at the hands of often much older men.
Apologies for the male gaze here, but Peterson is a very attractive women and, as she admits in the book, puberty led to a surge of interest in her. Although still affected by burn scars, she uses (to this day) her long red hair to cover up the scarring on her neck. And often pokes fun at the size of her breasts and how these make men behave like idiots in front of her.
“Suddenly one day I sprouted boobs. Not just boobs. Enormous boobs. When puberty finally struck, I developed faster than a Polaroid. In my mind at least, I remember going to bed flat as a board one night and waking up with ginormous breasts the next morning. It was like, whoa, dude—this is better than the tooth fairy!”
A timely confidence boost for her, but as she soon found out her appearance also brought with it a lot of negative geezer attention.
As a groupie she was meeting famous rock stars already feeling pretty entitled and important, some of whom really do not come across very well at all in this book. Some are straight up sex pests (she dishes the dirt in the book without holding back).
Then you’ve got the ones clearly battling chronic addiction problems. Jimi Hendrix gave Peterson his number (at the Denver Pop Festival, June 1969), but when she rang him later that night he was too drunk/stoned to make any sense (unfortunately, he died just over 12 months later). Then The Who turned up on their first US tour and baffled her by destroying their equipment onstage in a frenzy.
Who does come out of it really well is the lovely sounding Frank Zappa, who gave Peterson fatherly advice about staying safe (i.e. by not being a groupie).
The chaos of these disorderly teenage years are told with charm and great humour. It’s a very funny, if also melancholic, retelling of a difficult childhood turning into a rock ‘n’ roll coming-of-age. In a demonstration of leering behaviour from men that Peterson would have to deal with for decades ahead.
Throughout those formative years, she was intent on making it as an actor. But as she acknowledges, that kind of thing doesn’t work out for 99% of people. She put off trying to get a “normal” career in her efforts to make it. But by the age of 30, her efforts hadn’t gone anywhere and was told by everyone (including her agent) she was now “too old” for Hollywood. She was close to packing in her dreams.
But then an unexpected bit of a luck came her way in 1981, which has become her defining act.
The Elvira Years: 1981 to Present
Right, the first time we ever heard about Elvira was in August 2025 with the You’re Wrong About podcast. We don’t know where we went wrong there, but presume it’s mainly a US thing, as we don’t recall ever seeing her on anything in the UK.
How did the character come to be? Well, in the 1970s there was an LA-based TV show called Fright Night that ran as a celebration of dodgy B movie horror films. Producers were looking for a new host, wanted it to be an attractive woman, and went about with auditions.
Peterson didn’t want the role at first and turned down audition offers.
“Finding a woman who was both sexy and funny was a tall order in those days. Women were allowed to be sexy or funny, but not both. If you were the least bit attractive it was impossible to have a sense of humour. If you were funny, you needed to look like Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields, or Joan Rivers (with their original faces). I loved old horror movies and I’d been working in LA’s top comedy improvisational group, the Groundlings, for a little more than four years, so had the timing been better, horror host actually seemed like a bill I could have filled. Damn.”
Eventually, she agreed to an audition and nailed the role in one. The producers then left it up to her to create the Elvira character, so she went for a goth/vampire look similar to The Addams Family type vibes.
What was crucial here is Peterson seized on the role and took it seriously, but not so seriously she couldn’t have an enormous amount of fun with it. Wearing a dress heavily exaggerating her breasts, with a giant and almost absurd beehive black wig, plus the pallid makeup, and the result was a very arresting look.
As a character, she’s confident, open with her sexuality, sassy, and a kickass type feminist. An outsider anti-heroine, but someone oozing in confidence, the creation of that alter-ego seems to be in stark contrast to Peterson’s confidence struggles when she was younger.
Plus, an outsider who doesn’t give a toss about that and is happy in leading her life as she pleases.
Couple that image with the one liners (“I’m the hostess with the mostess!”, “Unpleasant dreams!”, “Bad dreams, darlings!” etc.) and you’ve got an instant camp LGBTQ+ icon.
The character is so popular it led to two films. There was Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and then Elvira’s Haunted House (2001). In those, she frequently deals with approaches from randy men, who she thwarts through one liners and/or the likes of stamping on their feet with her high heels. She doesn’t let them get away with it.
The hostess with the mostess feels even more relevant to modern life and progressive attitudes than in the 1980s. This led to the TV concept returning in 2010 for public domain films, before returning to the horror hostess in 2014 with Nights of Elvira (a Hulu exclusive).
Of course, there’s the also official website: Elvira, Mistress of Darkness.
Her story story is rumbling on in fine style. For 2021, alongside this autobiography launching, there was a 40th anniversary special celebrating the character on Shudder (a horror-based streaming service). And there doesn’t seem any end to the character. She’s active on social media and still attends comic cons and the like to meet fans.
View this post on Instagram
Anyway, we’re all sold on this. We feel stupid for having missed out on Peterson’s excellence, but pleased to belatedly get there. Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of Darkness is an excellent book and was a New York Times bestseller after its launch.
It perfectly balances her great sense of humour (she is naturally very funny) alongside her intelligence, but also recalling the psychological battering she faced due to the sexist nature of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.
There’s a positive and endearing spirit in her every sentence and we can highly recommend the autobiography. Charming, uplifting, and an insight into an impressive mind.
#autobiography #BMovies #Books #camp #CassandraPeterson #Devil #Elvira #Feminism #Horror #LGBTQ #Lifestyle #Literature #YoursCruellyElviraMemoirsOfTheMistressOfDarkness -
Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom by Jet Li, 2026
Martial arts legend and international movie star Jet Li distils 10 powerful insights from his iconic career, his personal life and philosophies, and his 30-year Buddhist practice.
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Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom by Jet Li, 2026
Martial arts legend and international movie star Jet Li distils 10 powerful insights from his iconic career, his personal life and philosophies, and his 30-year Buddhist practice.
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Lovely One: A Memoir "Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt" Sale: $35 to $1.99 by Ketanji Brown Jackson Rating: 4.8/5 (2,117 Reviews) #books #memoir #biography #law #justice #supremecourt #inspiration #women #history #autobiography #booksky
Lovely One: A Memoir -
Lovely One: A Memoir "Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt" Sale: $35 to $1.99 by Ketanji Brown Jackson Rating: 4.8/5 (2,117 Reviews) #books #memoir #biography #law #justice #supremecourt #inspiration #women #history #autobiography #booksky
Lovely One: A Memoir -
'My Pressures: The Bizarrely True Story of Andy Serkis' by Andy Serkis, out November 2026
#AndySerkis #Autobiography #StarWars #FanthaTracks #andyserkis #mypressures #autobiography
Andsy Serkis autobiography, coming late 2026.
Read the whole story at the below link:
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'My Pressures: The Bizarrely True Story of Andy Serkis' by Andy Serkis, out November 2026
#AndySerkis #Autobiography #StarWars #FanthaTracks #andyserkis #mypressures #autobiography
Andsy Serkis autobiography, coming late 2026.
Read the whole story at the below link:
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When a member of some of the most fruitful creative collaborations in modern comedy talks about how it works & how it doesn’t, it’s worth listening to. We review @JohnCleese‘s #SoAnyway: http://the-agency-review.com/so-anyway #memoir #autobiography @CrownPublishing #comedy #humour @MontyPython
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When a member of some of the most fruitful creative collaborations in modern comedy talks about how it works & how it doesn’t, it’s worth listening to. We review @JohnCleese‘s #SoAnyway: http://the-agency-review.com/so-anyway #memoir #autobiography @CrownPublishing #comedy #humour @MontyPython
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https://www.europesays.com/africa/243369/ Danjuma donates N3bn at Gowon autobiography unveiling #AbdulsamadRabiu #abuja #AlikoDangote #autobiography #BookLaunch #KashimShettima #MatthewKukah #MilitaryLeaders #MyLifeOfDutyAndAllegiance #Nigeria #NigerianHistory #TheophilusDanjuma #YakubuGowon
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https://www.europesays.com/africa/242605/ Shettima: People Said I Charmed Tinubu with Clothes He Wore #2023Campaign #autobiography #BolaTinubu #BornoState #KashimShettima #NationalUnity #Nigeria #NigerianPolitics #PoliticalSuspicion #PowerCircles #suspicion #YakubuGowon
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28/?
I've seen Karen Armstrong's books since I worked as a manager at Barnes & Noble in the early 2000s while I was recovering from Lyme. For whatever reason, I was not ever tempted enough to pick one up and read it.One of my neighbors recommended the Spiral Staircase the other day so I borrowed it. It was a really good book for me at this moment in time. There's a lot about her inner personal story that I relate to - even though outer circumstances appear to be quite different. And, as the best authors do, she shines a light and a potential pathway of understanding.
I'm not sure I know how to explain it right now but the past three books that I've read all seem to connect with one another. I'm glad I read her, and have borrowed a few other books.
#MagpieReads #books #reading #autobiography #religion -
28/?
I've seen Karen Armstrong's books since I worked as a manager at Barnes & Noble in the early 2000s while I was recovering from Lyme. For whatever reason, I was not ever tempted enough to pick one up and read it.One of my neighbors recommended the Spiral Staircase the other day so I borrowed it. It was a really good book for me at this moment in time. There's a lot about her inner personal story that I relate to - even though outer circumstances appear to be quite different. And, as the best authors do, she shines a light and a potential pathway of understanding.
I'm not sure I know how to explain it right now but the past three books that I've read all seem to connect with one another. I'm glad I read her, and have borrowed a few other books.
#MagpieReads #books #reading #autobiography #religion -
I am now 42 books into the year, and I am starting this one next. It has languished on the teetering tower that is my to be read pile for a few years now, but I always feel a level of trepidation when it comes to reading autobiographies: the author could turn out to be a self-centred egotist blowing their own trumpet or a boring fart with nothing of any actual substance to say. That said, I’m pretty sure that neither of those will turn out to be true for this particular hero of mine!
#CurrentlyReading #Goodreads #ReadingChallenge #Bibliophile #BookLovers #Bookworm #Autobiography #MadBadAndDangerousToKnow #RanulphFiennes #TBRpile #SirRanulphFiennes
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KV Thomas defends revelations in memoir; Padmaja says remarks on Karunakaran ‘unnecessary’ https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/kv-thomas-defends-revelations-in-memoir-padmaja-says-remarks-on-karunakaran-unnecessary-yfm65tlm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Autobiography #PadmajaVenugopal #KVThomas #KKarunakaran
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Infidel "Every society that is still in the rigid grip of Islam oppresses women and also lags behind in development" Sale: $19.99 to $1.99 by Ayaan Hirsi Ali Rating: 4.6/5 (7,990 Reviews) #Memoir #Politics #WomensRights #Islam #Refugee #Autobiography #BookSky
Infidel -
Infidel "Every society that is still in the rigid grip of Islam oppresses women and also lags behind in development" Sale: $19.99 to $1.99 by Ayaan Hirsi Ali Rating: 4.6/5 (7,990 Reviews) #Memoir #Politics #WomensRights #Islam #Refugee #Autobiography #BookSky
Infidel -
Indrans’ autobiography ‘Indradhanuss’ now open for pre-booking https://english.mathrubhumi.com/features/books/indrans-autobiography-indradhanuss-now-open-for-pre-booking-ayum5bn7?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Autobiography #MathrubhumiBooks #Indrans #NSMadhavan
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Betsy Whyte’s autobiography THE YELLOW ON THE BROOM – “a beautiful book, shining with honesty, a classic” – is a fascinating insight into the life & customs of traveller people in the 1920s and 1930s, & is available as an ebook from Birlinn
2/3
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/the-yellow-on-the-broom-2/
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #travellers #autobiography #womenwriters
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Betsy Whyte’s autobiography THE YELLOW ON THE BROOM – “a beautiful book, shining with honesty, a classic” – is a fascinating insight into the life & customs of traveller people in the 1920s and 1930s, & is available as an ebook from Birlinn
2/3
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/the-yellow-on-the-broom-2/
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #travellers #autobiography #womenwriters
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"As a #Jewish #food #writer and #anthropologist of sorts, #JoanNathan had always been interested in her own family’s history. The “Julia Child of Jewish #cooking” has even #written about it in her recent #autobiography, “My Life in #Recipes.”
But many details about her father’s family, some of whom had perished in the #Holocaust, were scant.
On a recent Thursday morning, #Nathan spent two hours at the Ackman and Ziff Family #Genealogy Institute in #Manhattan, where those secrets would be uncovered as part of a new program called “Histories and Mysteries.” Nathan learned about the fate of a great-aunt, who was confined at #Theresienstadt, and her grandson, who by a circuitous, ultimately tragic path is remembered by #Catholics as a #martyr.
She discovered not only what happened to those relatives, but saw photographs of them and their homes, and read newspaper articles and letters about them."
-
"As a #Jewish #food #writer and #anthropologist of sorts, #JoanNathan had always been interested in her own family’s history. The “Julia Child of Jewish #cooking” has even #written about it in her recent #autobiography, “My Life in #Recipes.”
But many details about her father’s family, some of whom had perished in the #Holocaust, were scant.
On a recent Thursday morning, #Nathan spent two hours at the Ackman and Ziff Family #Genealogy Institute in #Manhattan, where those secrets would be uncovered as part of a new program called “Histories and Mysteries.” Nathan learned about the fate of a great-aunt, who was confined at #Theresienstadt, and her grandson, who by a circuitous, ultimately tragic path is remembered by #Catholics as a #martyr.
She discovered not only what happened to those relatives, but saw photographs of them and their homes, and read newspaper articles and letters about them."
-
"As a #Jewish #food #writer and #anthropologist of sorts, #JoanNathan had always been interested in her own family’s history. The “Julia Child of Jewish #cooking” has even #written about it in her recent #autobiography, “My Life in #Recipes.”
But many details about her father’s family, some of whom had perished in the #Holocaust, were scant.
On a recent Thursday morning, #Nathan spent two hours at the Ackman and Ziff Family #Genealogy Institute in #Manhattan, where those secrets would be uncovered as part of a new program called “Histories and Mysteries.” Nathan learned about the fate of a great-aunt, who was confined at #Theresienstadt, and her grandson, who by a circuitous, ultimately tragic path is remembered by #Catholics as a #martyr.
She discovered not only what happened to those relatives, but saw photographs of them and their homes, and read newspaper articles and letters about them."
-
"As a #Jewish #food #writer and #anthropologist of sorts, #JoanNathan had always been interested in her own family’s history. The “Julia Child of Jewish #cooking” has even #written about it in her recent #autobiography, “My Life in #Recipes.”
But many details about her father’s family, some of whom had perished in the #Holocaust, were scant.
On a recent Thursday morning, #Nathan spent two hours at the Ackman and Ziff Family #Genealogy Institute in #Manhattan, where those secrets would be uncovered as part of a new program called “Histories and Mysteries.” Nathan learned about the fate of a great-aunt, who was confined at #Theresienstadt, and her grandson, who by a circuitous, ultimately tragic path is remembered by #Catholics as a #martyr.
She discovered not only what happened to those relatives, but saw photographs of them and their homes, and read newspaper articles and letters about them."
-
"As a #Jewish #food #writer and #anthropologist of sorts, #JoanNathan had always been interested in her own family’s history. The “Julia Child of Jewish #cooking” has even #written about it in her recent #autobiography, “My Life in #Recipes.”
But many details about her father’s family, some of whom had perished in the #Holocaust, were scant.
On a recent Thursday morning, #Nathan spent two hours at the Ackman and Ziff Family #Genealogy Institute in #Manhattan, where those secrets would be uncovered as part of a new program called “Histories and Mysteries.” Nathan learned about the fate of a great-aunt, who was confined at #Theresienstadt, and her grandson, who by a circuitous, ultimately tragic path is remembered by #Catholics as a #martyr.
She discovered not only what happened to those relatives, but saw photographs of them and their homes, and read newspaper articles and letters about them."
