Chit-Chat Over Coffee Swirls (13)

 "A Creed to Live By."

Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others, It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Do not set your goals by what other people deem important, only you know what is best for you.

Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart, Cherish them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living your life in the past or for the future, By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Do not give up when you still have something to give, nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Do not be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect, it is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.

Do not be afraid to encounter risks, it is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find, the quickest way to receive love is to give love, the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Do not dismiss your dreams, to be without dreams is to be without hope. To be without hope is to be without purpose.

Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been but also where you are going, Life is not a race but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

Table Of Contents : Mimi Speaks Blog

There are many people who love to read blogs, but just don't have the time to waste, or are in the mood to go through it's entire contents trying to find something that may be of interest to them. Usually when people approach a blog, they like to go quickly from one thing to the next. As for actually reading the text, there is little evidence of that unless the subject matter should catch their eye, then it becomes worthwhile.

Since my blog was started in 2007, there have been postings of 201 tid-bits of information, which talk about history, life situations, goals and success. So my dear reader, for your benefit, I am making every attempt to improve the navigation to this treasure trove of information as quickly as possible. For this purpose I have created a table of contents divided by categories, for easy accessing. However if there is something that may catch your eye, I suggest you find yourself a comfortable chair, and while you're at it, grab a steaming hot cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese and you'll be all set to settle down for a while. So happy reading.

MAIN DIRECTORY

Table of Contents (2)

(A. ) Getting To Know Mimi (B.) N.Y.C. History (C.) East Harlem
(D.) Spanish Harlem (E.) Black Harlem (F.) New York State

Table of Contents (3)
(G.) Chit-Chat Over Coffee Swirls

Table of Contents (4)
(H.) Jewish Knowledge (I) Self-Improvement (J) Historical Facts On England & United States

Table of Contents (5)
(K) Miscellaneous (L) Timetables (M) Ethnic Groups (N) Legal Talk
(O) Entertainment: Backward Glances (P) Immigration

Table of Contents (6)
(Q) Women__Bio Sketches, Feminine Fancies, Recipes, Kitchen Talk.
(R) Worship

Table of Contents (7)
(S) A Little Taste of History

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Contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net

Chit-Chat Over Coffee Swirls (12)

I love to watch all the reruns of the three Godfather movies. Great actors and a great plot give insight into the era that formed part of the history of New York City and Chicago. This brings to mind, the father of organized crime, Al Capone who terrorized Chicago during the prohibition days of the 1920s. Alfonso Capone (1899-1947) known as "Scarface Al" was raised in Brooklyn, New York. It is said that he received this razor slash on his left cheek as a result of an altercation with a tough hood named Frank Galluccio, during a dispute over some girl. Among his closest friends, was Lucky Luciano who became a major crime boss. During his teen years, Capone was hired by Johnny Torrio as a bouncer in a saloon-brothel he ran in Brooklyn... When Johnny Torrio moved to Chicago, to help his uncle, Big Jim Colosimo, soon after the 1919 Volstead Act, he asked Capone to come and help him to take advantage of Prohibition and corner the Chicago bootleg market, which promised profits in the millions.

The Torrio-Capone's men terrorized and murdered the competition which included the assassination of Dion O'Banion, the head of the largely Irish North Side Gang. This assasination resulted in an all-out war with the rest of the North Siders. Torrio was badly shot in an ambush hovering near death for days. Torrio decided to retire from the business and went back to Brooklyn with an estimated $30 million in his pocket, leaving behind the fertile soil of Chicago to Capone.

The Capone mob had at least 1000 members, with a weekly payroll of over $300,000, of which most of them were experienced gunmen. Capone was always boasting that he owned Chicago, as well as having the police in his pocket. Less than half of the police were on his payroll in one way or another. Capone also had a great holds over the politicians among which were state's attorneys, mayors, legislators, governors and even congressmen. Whenever an election came about, the gangsters from his organization would intimidate and terrorize the voters in order to get the vote to go the way they wanted it to go.

In the month of September in 1926 the O'Banions sent a convoy of cars loaded with machine-gunners to pour in about a 1000 rounds into Capone's Cicero hotel headquarters, which he luckily escaped. Vengeance was on the run. Capone began to eliminate one by one all his North Side enemies, as well as anyone who dared to resist him. In an effort to kill Bugs Moran, who was the last major force among the old O'Banions, he ordered the St. Valentine's Day massacre. Capone was sentenced to the federal prison at Atlanta for income tax evasion and not for murder. He later was transferred to Alcatraz in 1934, and released in 1939. His health began to decline until his death on January 25, 1947.

Photo Credit: The Encyclopedia of American Crime Abbando to Zwillman by Carl Sifakis Publisher: Facts On File, Inc. 1982

Contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net

Chit-Chat Over Coffee Swirls (11)

Americans have always been going to the fairs or either talking about them. Here are the major fairs that have been celebrated in the United States.

In 1853 the "Crystal Palace,"was held in New York's Reservoir Square (now Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue at 42nd street). It covered an area of 13 acres, cost $640,000, and 1 1/4 million people attended.

Then there was Philadelphia's "Centennial Exposition," in 1876 celebrating the nation's 100th birthday. This Exposition had 167 buildings and 30,000 exhibits on 236 acres and cost almost $9 million, attracting 8 million people.

1893: Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition belatedly celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. The fair itself was called the "White City" because of its white, classical buildings and because its 686 acres of displays were electrically lighted at night.

In 1901 there was the Buffalo's "Pan-American Exposition" which attracted 9 million visitors to its "Landscaped City." This Exposition featured a 375-foot electric tower studded with lamps and searchlights and topped with its famous "goddess of light" statue, all power courtesy of Niagara Falls. Sadly, President McKinley was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz while attending a reception at the Fair's Temple of Music.

St. Louis' "Louisiana Purchase Exposition" took place in 1904. It was the 100th anniversary celebration of the Louisiana Purchase and cost $15 million. Its 1,240 acres was the largest of any World's fair. Its most attractive features were the gardens, promenades and fountains. There were almost 13 million visitors that were in awe about the 100 automobiles displayed and eating their first ice cream cone.

In 1915 there was San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition and San Diego's more regional Panama-California Exposition which celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal.

1933 was Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition. This was Chicago's 100th anniversary. Here was the first demonstration of television as well as the buildings were air-conditioned.

Let's not forget New York World's Fair in 1939-1940, with its 728-foot, tapering Trylon and the 180-foot diameter "Perisphere," General Electric's "television Studio and many more.

In 1962 Seattle's Century 21 Exposition was symbolized by its 607-foot steel Space Needle with a revolving, glass restaurant on top. The monorail was popularized here.

As for the 1964-65 New York's World Fair,I highly, recommend these websites for some further information about the World's Fair. NYWF64 has a exhaustive description of almost every pavilion and Jeffrey Stanton also has an excellent site about it as well..

Contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net

Chit-Chat Over Coffee Swirls (10)

How many of you can remember when you went on your first date, or experienced your first passionate kiss? Wasn't that an extraordinary moment?

While today's public exhibition of passionate love making on the television screen leaves little to the imagination, it is interesting to learn about how the early days of courting was displayed in Colonial America and later.

It was alleged that the couples who were courting would have the use of a six-foot long wooden tube, called a "courting stick" to whisper sweet nothings to each other under the careful supervision of their parents. How exciting! Now it gets better. Another early English custom practiced in America during the 1630s was called "bundling." This was when the couple that was courting would get into bed together, he in his small clothes and she in her petticoats, where they would have their privacy of conversation, kissing and holding each other. Oh, let me not forget to mention that there was a bundling board placed by the girl's careful family between the couples as a precautionary measure . Because it was so cold in the small colonial houses, this was the only way the couple could keep warm and have some sort of privacy, even though the girl's family would also be in the same room clustered around the fireplace.

"To spunk up" a girl, was to fondle her, make love to her, and this expression was known in the 1840s. The term "spoon" was used in the late 1850s, which meant when one nestled against one another spoon fashion, as to keep warm, make room for others in a family bed. etc. "To mash" in the 1860s was to flirt, or try to attract a girl's attention, , which later was replaced by "to make a pass at," in the 1920s. . "Lovey-dovey" was used during the 1870s referring to the billing and cooing stage. Actually after the Civil War chaperoning began to decline, and young couples were able to "walk out together,", without supervision, so probably this was considered as "dating" during the 1870s. Nineteenth century couples were given many opportunities to speak, walk and meet together alone. This was acceptable in the northern part of America but not in the South. When a young man would come A Courting after his young lady, it was not unusual for the family to leave them alone in the parlor giving them many moments for their intimacy of affection. Also by the 19th century it was taken for granted that love was essential for a good marriage, and courtship was the manner in which both partners learned whether or not they shared that feeling. Although having a chaperon was not widely practiced in the United States, at the end of the nineteenth century prominent upper-class families expected it.

Another term which came about in 1881 was that of "Lover's lane." This pertained to a secluded walk or lane where lovers could be by themselves. For the more modern times like the 1930s it meant a secluded road where the couple would park and neck. In 1900 when a girl wore her sweetheart's fraternity pin, she was considered engaged, whereas in 1935 it meant that she was going steady.

Courtship or dating began to change when the 1920s rolled around. Kissing and fondling were no longer "necessarily preliminaries to marriage, but could be indulged in for their own sake, for fun or sociability."

The term "necking" which is a display of passionate caresses, leaving visible red marks on the neck, and referred to as "hickies" was used between the 1920s into the early 1940s. By the 1920s girls were known to say "they were going all the way, and men were already calling condoms, rubbers." Back in the 1940s it was very common to see a guy driving with one hand on the steering wheel of his car while he had the other arm wrapped tightly around the neck of his date. This was called the "necker's knob. So from the 1950s, while nice boys and girls were necking, others were having sex. Circa 1953, women began to use an oral contraceptive labeled the "birth control pill."

so there you have it............a little bit of history about A Courting We Will Go!

Contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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