The Spirit of '76

 

Well, it finally happened. I feel old. It’s not my physical health that brought on this revelation, or the wrinkles and age spots that appeared seemingly overnight. No, sir. It was an email that read, “The 50th class reunion is coming!” Yikes! Has it been 50 years?

We were the Class of ’76, aka, the Spirit of ’76. It was the nation’s 200th birthday. Everything had a patriotic theme to it : an impressive fireworks display would take place at the Statue of Liberty; the “Freedom Train,” packed with historic artifacts from the nation’s founding, such as the Liberty Bell, would be touring the country; our yearbook and the tassels on our graduation mortarboards were red, white, and blue and featured the iconic “Spirit of ‘76” image created by Archibald Willard.

It was a time when just about every Friday night, my parents, God love them, put up with the “gang” and our weekly parties that took over the house.

It was a time when we frustrated our girlfriends as they tried to teach us how to disco dance and instead, me and the guys broke out doing the knight’s dance from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” I should have learned to dance. I admit it—I regret not being able to dance with my girlfriend at the senior prom, and still hear about it every now and then to this very day. Sorry…again.

And with age comes the inevitable contemplation of 'what if,' a feeling most pronounced when I reflect on the cherished relationships and early love that slipped away. And then there are those close friends who are no longer with us.

Here's to you, those of you who remember 1976. You, too, are the Spirit of '76!

A Chat With Friends

Welcome to the new year! I hope you had a happy and safe celebration. I spent a few moments New Year's Day at the Fairhope pier on Mobile Bay chatting with my cozy mystery's two protagonists, Judy Campbell and Art Foley.

No, I'm not crazy. Writers tend to do things like that, talk to their characters to get a feel for their personalities. So there I was, on the banks of Mobile, a beautiful blue sky above, and with the city my amateur sleuths love shining on the opposite side of the bay, we talked about their love of the city and how a world war was affecting it, its residents, and the radio station they work at.

We also talked about the couple's plans for the future, if there was any talk of a wedding we should know about. Art gave me the stink eye, and Judy rolled her eyes and muttered, "I hope so. My mother keeps asking me when is he going to ask."

They did stress that there was no time for talking about the future, not until they can figure out who murdered the radio station's lead actress without getting killed themselves in the process.

Hopefully 2026 is the year that Dead Air, gets a publisher. Fingers crossed.

Regardless of the Weather

 

I tell everyone who asks what is the best way to improve your writing, I always suggest joining a writing group. Whether you are a new writer or a published author, a good writing group will provide feedback on your work and prompts that will push your writing to places you've never been.

I currently belong to the Pensters Writing Group in Fairhope, Alabama. The group has been around for 60 years and have nurtured and inspired many writers who became published authors. The one thing I love about the Pensters, are their writing prompts that challenge us to stretch our imaginations, write outside our comfort zone, and experiment with writing while honing our craft. 

Several months ago, the Pensters Writing Group gave us the prompt, "Regardless of the Weather." It challenged me to break out of my usual genres – humorous short stories and nonfiction history - and write something with feeling, something I didn't think I had in me. This is that story:

# # #

Regardless of the Weather

Regardless of the weather, love was blooming.

 
Despite a steady rainfall that would have dampened the spirits of most people and ruined the day, we relished in it, dancing in the shower, swirling beneath the amusement park’s carnival lights, their brilliant colors shimmering off the puddles and in her dark brown eyes as we spun around to the music in our minds. Raindrops flew from her long hair while people huddling for cover watched our performance thinking we were both quite mad.

 
We ducked into an arcade booth where I won two huge stuffed animals that were almost as tall as she was. For some unknown reason, we named them “Ferdinand” and “Freddie” before putting them up for “adoption” and handed them to two youngsters standing nearby with their families.

When the rain let up, we hopped onto the park’s giant Ferris Wheel where we proved that singer Freddie Cannon was right when he sang, “You’ll never know how good a kiss could feel ‘til you stop at the top of a Ferris Wheel.”

 
Regardless of the weather, that love continued to grow.

We both disliked football, but one frosty Saturday afternoon we trekked to our high school football field and watched our team play. Despite the howling wind and the thick snowflakes falling from the sky, we brushed off the icy aluminum stadium seats and huddled together underneath a tartan stadium blanket, clinging to each other for warmth. We had no idea who won the game. It didn’t matter.

Regardless of the weather, time marches on.

 
We had come to the proverbial fork in the road for a romance we thought would never die as we left the cozy confines of high school and became adults, forced into the harsh, cruel world. In a cool spring rain, salty tears mixed with the rain drops. We said our goodbyes, not knowing this would be the last time we would see each other.

Decades later, as I sat thumbing through the pages of my old yearbook, I came to her picture and the full page note she wrote to me that last day. My gaze turns to watch the heavy rain falling outside my window, and my mind wanders back to those happy, innocent times, wondering where she is, what she is doing now, and if she is happy. I wonder if she ever thinks of me as I do her.

Wrapping Up

 

Wrapping up. See what I did there? Christmas is just a few days away. Sometimes, I crack myself up. But seriously, before we're overwhelmed with the magic and wonder, peace and joy of the holiday, I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanza which starts on Friday. 

I'm doing a little housecleaning today with a few odds 'n ends to pass along. First, my Holiday 2025 Giveaway ends December 24th. It's your chance to download, listen to, and stream a few goodies for free including two sample chapters from the audiobook version of Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space read by Tim H. Dixon, a sample chapter from the book The Pig War and the Pelican Girls (in eBook format), and a brand new mystery short story (eBook format): Brenda Daring: Private Investigator in A Fortune In Blood. And there are special discounts on select books. Click here to start downloading.

I'm starting the New Year right with a book signing. I hope you'll join me January 10th from 1pm to 3pm at Page and Palette in Fairhope, AL, where I'll be signing copies of my latest book, Notable Women of Alabama. 

Once again, Happy Holidays, everyone, and thank you again for your support and friendship this past year.

The Pelican Girls

 

It was a long time coming, but the Pelican Girls were finally recognized by the city of Mobile, Alabama, on December 7th.

Who were the Pelican Girls? It is a fascinating story that is rarely told or even known outside of the Port City, but now, they have been recognized.  

After failing to create a sustainable settlement in what would centuries later become Biloxi, MS, the French moved east and discovered a bay that was described to be a Garden of Eden. They established a settlement, Fort Louis de la Louisiane, or Fort Louis de la Mobile. The name "Mobile" was an anglicized version of the Native American tribe who called the area home, the Maubila. 

There were only a very few women among the settlers, so to foster population growth, the settlement's founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, wrote to the king requesting he send women of undeniable virtue to the fort.

The king began a search, enlisting the Catholic church to conduct interviews of possible candidates. In the end, 21 women were selected, climbed aboard a ship - the Pelican, and headed for the Gulf Coast.

It was an arduous journey with savage storms and sickness. The ship arrived in Havana, Cuba, for supplies and when the women finally made it to the new fort, they brought with them yellow fever, contracted from mosquitoes they encountered in Cuba. 

The women were free to choose their husbands and did so rather quickly. But the future Mobile, Alabama, was far from the Garden of Eden promised. There were pools of muck and water teeming with mosquitoes, incredible heat and humidity to contend with, and husbands who were more interested in searching for rumored treasure than maintain the women's homes and farms. The Pelican Girls had enough and staged the Petticoat Rebellion in which they refused to let their husbands into their homes until they straightened up. It worked.

Not only did the Pelican Girls foster the population of the settlement, but they also formed the culture and personality of what would become a booming port city. As historians say, without the Pelican Girls and their determination to make a go of it in the new world, Mobile would not exist, at least not as we know it with its rich history and traditions. The girls were honored with a recreation of their arrival on December 7, 2025, and a new historic marker was unveiled at the city's Fort Conde in downtown.

This is only a VERY short summary of the Pelican Girls' story. You can read much more in my books, Hidden History of Mobile and The Pig War and the Pelican Girls, available through your favorite local and online bookstores.

     

Tis the Season

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are ready for Christmas. I can't tell you how incredibly humble and thankful I am for all of the support you have given me and my writing over the past - gulp! - 25 years. Once again, as in years past, I have launched my Holiday Giveaway Page. It's my way of saying thank you. This year, you can download and stream eBooks and audio books, and receive discounts on select books! This year's giveaways include:

• Two sample chapters from the audio book version of Space Oddities
• A sample chapter - eBook format - from The Pig War & The Pelican Girls
• A brand new mystery short story (eBook format)
• And discounts on several of my books

So, please visit the page and enjoy the gifts. I do have to congratulate Debby Hackbarth and Shane Day, the winners of a collection of my local history and space history books.

I have another book signing coming up in January. It will be at one of my favorite indie bookstores, Page & Palette in Fairhope, AL, January 10th from 1pm to 3pm. I'll be there signing copies of my new book, Notable Women of Alabama, as well as others. I hope to see you there.

For the Holiday Giveawy this year, I am excited to offer my new short story mystery, A Fortune in Blood. This short story will eventually appear as a bonus in one of my Crystal Bay Mystery books when they are published. Unlike the stories I'm writing for the series that are strictly cozy mysteries, A Fortune in Blood is a hybrid - a little cozy, a little noir, but still fun. Download it, take a read, and let me know what you think.

Just before Thanksgiving, I received an email from an old friend and radio colleague from the 1980s at the Mel Tillis station WMML, Kathy Richardson. She asked me to meet with her at Soundworks Studio in Mobile. I hopped in the car and crossed the bay. When I arrived, I met another Mobile DJ from the "golden days" of radio in the Port City, Dennis Gould.

I felt like I was home and back where I belong. When I walked into the studio, clamped on the headphones, and shimmied up to a microphone, the memories of my radio days came flooding back. What a fun time I had had hanging out with those two. There was lots of laughter, walks down memory lane, and talk of a possible new collaboration. It's too early to tell you the details, but they're coming.

That's all for this issue. I will be on hiatus with the blog until the New Year, so let me wish all of you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Happy Holidays 2025

 

2025 is pulling into the station. The final gasps of the year are upon us with Thanksgiving coming this week and Christmas not far behind. As we edge our way into the holiday season, I wanted to thank all of you for your support over the last 25 years. Who would have thought that I would still be standing as an author 25 years after my first book, Hiking Alabama, was released, and it's all because of you. Thank you for buying my books and your encouragement. 

As a thank you, once again this year, I'll be holding my Holiday Giveaway. There will be lots of freebies including free audiobook samples and ebooks to download, special discounts on select books, and of course, a big contest. This year, you will have a chance to win one of two collections: either a collection of my Arcadia history books (Hidden History of Mobile, A History Lover's Guide to Mobile, Notable Women of Alabama), or a collection of my Prometheus space books (Space Oddities, Everyone's Gone to the Moon).

The contest begins Monday, Nov. 24th and ends Monday, Dec. 1st. You can download the freebies through Christmas. Visit my website, http://joecuhaj.com, to start downloading freebies and for you chance to win a collection.

In other news...

I need to send a big thank you out to Rebecca, Sherry, and the staff at Mobile's Bellingrath Gardens & Home for hosting me Nov. 14th for my first ever reading. I know, right? All of these years and my first reading. We had a nice little turnout for my reading and a fun conversation about writing. Next up: a signing at Page and Palette in Fairhope, AL, January 10th from 1 to 3pm.

 

I was so proud when I received the email telling me that my short story was selected to appear in the 23rd edition of the Emerald Coast Review. Out of over 175 entries by incredible writers, poets, and artists on the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast, 70 were selected.

The story I submitted has a long history. It was the first short story I ever wrote; I performed it once on on my overnight radio show 45 years ago. I later transformed it, along with others, into my podcast, "Joe Cuhaj's Shorts." This is the first time it has appeared in print and I can't be more excited.

I've just started reading the anthology and the editors did select the best of the best. You can purchase a copy through Amazon.

That's all for now. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Till next time...