Main Street by Sinclair Lewis Distilled by the Local-Lady

"a rebellious girl is the spirit of that bewildered empire called the American Middlewest"

~Main Street~

Sinclair Lewis 

(for all of the Carols of the world)

"Even when she was tired her dark eyes were observant. She did not yet know the immense ability of the world to be casually cruel and proudly dull, but if she should ever learn those dismaying powers, her eyes would never become sullen or heavy or rheumily amorous."

"She took walks, and was sensible about shoes and diet. And never did she feel that she was living."

"She slowly confessed that she was not visibly affecting lives." 

But

"Whatever she might become she would never be static."

"I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of seeing just a few people able to be individualists. We're tired of always deferring hope till the next generation. We're tired of hearing politicians and priests and cautious reformers... coax us, 'Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have the plans for a Utopia already made; just wiser than you.' For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our Utopia now — and we're going to try our hands at it."

There is a passage in Main Street, that describes in a few words the sameness of America's small towns: the doctor could "wake up anywhere" stumble out of bed walk down Main Street towards his office and not realize he was in another city until he reached the door with another name above it. It's true that if you drive for long periods of time along an interstate today that you may find yourself turned around, discouraged by the sameness & the sprawl, or perhaps you are one of those comforted by the familiarity and you might see the brand logos as helpful angels along your way. Not only are our streets names the same in many cities, even the names of our cities are duplicated: Portland, Oregon, Portland, Maine, Portland, Indiana. Main Street, America. 

But while, Lewis wrote of human nature, exposing the worst of us, that lurks even in small towns, I also see Carol on Main Street, the heroine doing her best and never admitting defeat,

"I do not admit that Main Street is as beautiful as it should be! I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dish-washing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith."...

I see the name above the door and the implications of our individuality, our involvement and the fact that it is who we are and what we do in the towns where we live that potentially makes the difference, the impact. And if we never succeed in altering human nature or the dynamics of our Main Street, our existence and attitude runs through the fabric like a bright and lively thread, adding beauty to it. 

"But I have won in this: I've never excused my failures by sneering at my aspirations, by pretending to have gone beyond them."

It is your "name above the door" that signals the possibility of change. This was not Lewis's intent or point, but it's what I come away with from Main Street believing. 

It's autumn in Richmond, Indiana, and the colors of the foliage outside blaze against the gray sky. The ground this morning was covered in icy frosts. It's a perfect Sunday for reading cozily inside. What are you reading? 

Here are a few titles popular in Richmond, Indiana now:

I hope your Sunday is peaceful. 

<3 the Local Gal

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Local Lady Featured Interview: Hoosier Girls STEM KickStarter Project

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As small children we are all primarily driven by a natural, innate scientific curiosity, but as young children mature into young men and women a divide occurs. Girls are not as actively encouraged to pursue math, science, technology or engineering as equally as their male counterparts. Erin Albert is passionately pursuing a plan to change this, especially in the Hoosier state.

Frazier Designs is a one woman Graphic Design company recently relocated to Richmond, Indiana. Pam Frazier is a part of Erin's Kickstarter project designed to encourage Hoosier girls to get involved in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) through an exciting story (written by Erin Albert) about Princesses who save the world from ignorance in The Amazing Adventures of the Princesses from Planet STEM.

The dynamic duo are on a quest to promote STEM to Indiana's young girls, one book per library at a time. I chatted with both author, Erin Albert & illustrator, Pam Fraizer below. Here we go:

Erin Albert/Pharm, LLC:

Statistics show that girls aren't encouraged to pursue STEM careers nationwide. What makes you especially eager to encourage girls specifically in your home state of Indiana?

"See this article I wrote for Inside Indiana Business on the terrible stats for girls in Indiana and STEM: Why It Is Imperative to Get Girls in Indiana Engaged in STEM.  

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Also, relative to Indiana - I grew up in Indiana (not in Indianapolis--actually outside of South Bend).  I was a first generation college graduate.  And although at the time when I went to college, I had no idea that first generation college grads really struggle with completing college, let alone going into STEM as a girl - the stats were against me completing.  But, I did.  And now that I'm in STEM (I'm a professor of pharmacy practice at Butler University during the day), I feel an intrinsic motivation to give back in a way that I can best accomplish (through writing a book) and make sure we reverse the abysmal trends in Indiana when it comes to STEM performance and girls."

In addition to funding your Kickstarter project and hopefully one day reading this fantastic story to young girls, what can adults do to help encourage the young women in their lives to pursue this type of knowledge (STEM)?

"The most successful women in STEM now had a wide variety of interests when they were girls (myself included).  

• Get girls (and boys for that matter) a library card early.  
• Take them often to the library.  
• Take children to museums.  
• Get engaged and excited about what they want to learn more about, and co-learn as a family.  
• Don't as a parent get sucked into the gender bias when it comes to toys - if a girl wants to play with Legos or Matchbox cars - encourage her.  

Getting girls and boys interested in a variety of subjects when they are young is the best way to get them to think broadly about their careers and their lives later on in life.  As an aside, I will include a link in the book to resources I'm finding for after school programs, summer camps, and learning programs outside of the traditional classroom that encourage kids and girls in particular in STEM."

Pam Fraizer/FraizerDesigns:

Is this your first gig as an illustrator for a children's book?

"This is the 2nd children's book I've illustrated. The first one was a "customizable" book "God Smiled." It was published by two entrepreneurs as a fund-raising vehicle for churches and schools There were over 30 customizable fields for parents/grandparents to complete. Each book ends up being a story about an individual child—featuring their name, parents and grandparents names, time and place where the child was born, school they first attended, first teacher, friends, etc."

Do you have a favorite fictional character? 

"Charlotte's Web is one of my favorite books! It's an important book about loyalty, friendship and love. This book also has fantastically sensitive illustrations by Garth Williams. Garth's illustrations have an honesty to them that makes the characters come alive. I would have to say Charlotte is one of my favorite characters and a beautiful female role model—smart, resourceful, imaginative and brave."

(For more positive Princess characteristics see Erin Albert's Princess Manifesto HERE)

Thank you so much Erin & Pam! Best of luck to you both! Indiana is lucky to have such creative STEM advocates. 

To make this book happen it needs funding! It's not too late to be a part of the Princesses from Planet STEM- visit the Official Kickstarter Page HERE!!!

I can't wait to introduce the Princesses of the Planet STEM to my kids!

<3 the Local Gal

PS Never heard of Kickstarter? Learn more HERE.

Local Lady Interview/Featured Event: Visiting Author & Illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh

Photo by Alma Ramos- McDermott via La Bloga

"At the end of the day, children are children and people are people. We are more alike than different" 

~Duncan Tonatiuh~

This October in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Richmond Indiana will host acclaimed author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh. Duncan Tonatiuh will be visiting area schools to read and present his books. Duncan is an artist, storyteller & creator who is using his talents to advocate a better understanding of migration & primarily to celebrate Mexican heritage and art. When contacted by the Local-Lady for an interview, he was quick to respond! Here we go:

When did you decide to write children's books?

"I graduated from Parsons the New School for Design in 2008. My senior thesis was a short graphic novel called Journey of a Mixteco. It was based on the story of my friend Sergio, an undocumented worker who left his Mixtec village in the south of Mexico to find work in the US. 

A professor named Julia Gorton came to critique my work. She really liked my project. She had illustrated a few books for Abrams Books for Young Readers and introduced me to an editor named Howard,  who she had worked with and was friends with. Howard liked my illustrations. I told him I liked writing also. He said, great, and explained to me a few things about children's books like typical page count. If you write something you can send it to me, he said and gave me his email.

One day while I was still working on my senior thesis I had an idea for a book about two cousins, one that lived in a rural community in Mexico and one that lived in an urban center in the US, and even though they lived in different environments were more alike than different. That eventually became my first picture book Dear Primo; A Letter to My Cousin."

Audience & Fans: Image Source

Can you tell us about how Ancient Mexican art & culture have shaped your art? 

"I was born in Mexico City and I grew up in a town called San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico. When I was a kid I loved Japanese anime and comic books. I would draw my own superheroes and make small comics. I came to the US when I was 16. In high school I became interested in painting and liked painters like Van Gogh and Egon Schiele. After being away from my country of origin for a couple of years I began to miss the food, the music and traditions; things I took for granted when I lived there. I became extremely interested in Mexican art and culture when I was in college. 

When I decided to make the short graphic novel about Sergio I began to look for Mixtec artwork in the Parsons library. I was delighted when I found  books about the Mixtec codex of the fourteenth century. I decided that I would make a modern codex about Sergio's story. That is how I developed my current illustration style. I draw by hand, but then I collage my drawings in the computer. I've been working in that style for the last five  years. 

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My father is American and my mother is Mexican, therefore I have dual nationality. I am specially interested in making books that reflect the experiences of people of Mexican origin on both sides of the border. My second book Diego Rivera: His World and Ours is a simple biography of the famous Mexican muralist, but then the book tries to imagine what he would paint nowadays. My latest book Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote reads like a classic fable, a little bit like Little Red Riding Hood, but the book is also an allegory of the journey that undocumented immigrants go through to reach the US. Coyote is slang for a person that smuggles people across the US-Mexico border."


What can attendees expect at your upcoming presentations and readings?

"I will speak and read from my three books. I will also give attendees a sneak peak of a picture book I finished recently and that will be published next May. Its called Separate is Never Equal; Sylvia Mendez and her Family's Fight for Desegregation. The book is about a civil rights case that desegregated schools in California seven years before the landmark case Brown vs Board of Education took place. 

I try to tailor my readings according to who is in the room. Although my books are in English I "read" them in Spanish if the audience is predominantly Spanish speakers. If there are young kids at the event I usually do some drawings on a large pad of paper for them. I often stand on my head like the break dancers in a page from Dear Primo for them too. When the kids are older I connect my laptop to a projector and show them how I collage my illustrations in Photoshop. 

Hopefully my books and presentations are a way to introduce topics like immigration and Mexican art to children. I try to make books that are accessible and that can be enjoyed by all children, regardless of their background. One of my aims though is for Latino children to see themselves reflected in my books and feel proud of their roots and background. I hope my books will inspire them to read, draw and write their own stories."

Thank you for sharing your art & stories with us, Duncan, and thank you for your response to my questions! I hope you enjoy your visit to Richmond, Indiana! 

Visit Duncan's Blog HERE.

Watch: "Life on the other side / La vida en el otro lado: 

Duncan Tonatiuh at TEDxSanMigueldeAllende"