Ann Silverthorn

As one who has done a fair amount of research on World War One and whose great uncle died in that war, I was especially eager to read Bill Welch’s book, Duty, Terror and Survival: The World War One Diary and Art of Doughboy Cp. Harold W. Pierce. Bill and I were part of the Erie…

Would any of us today in North America have the fortitude to resist a fascist government or dictatorship? To withstand prolonged periods of cruel torture? To lose our lives? To see our children killed before our eyes because of our own actions, though noble? Thousands of Italian women during World War II said yes. Of…

I, like so many, feel utterly helpless sitting here at home while a maniacal monster scourges the landscape of Ukraine. I wish I could reach back in time and change the course of history and the insidious spread of communism into China in 1949.  I learned about China’s civil war as I researched my book William…

No spoilers) There’s little dialogue in Hannah. I was afraid this film would be one of those where at the end you say, “It’s over? What was this movie about anyway?” Well, when this film ended, I knew exactly what happened even though no one ever actually said it. That’s brilliant. Imagine a retired couple having…

After a couple of years off, we decided to purchase the $35 Cinemark Oscar Movie Week Pass. This is when we spend a whole week viewing all the nominees for the best-picture Academy Award. It can be a bit exhausting, but it’s fun, too. Even though many of the movies can be viewed on streaming platforms,…

Getting my book William E. Dimorier: Servant Leader onto Amazon was quite an uphill climb, especially for me who would rather do anything but spend time clicking through menus. Hopefully reading my story will save you some headaches when you list yours. I Googled how to do sell my independently published book on Amazon found a handy How-To page.…

Tonight, my friend and I were having dinner at a fun Mexican restaurant in my town, when we heard shouting and screaming. Not knowing if it was reaction to something sports-related on one of the TV screens, we casually looked toward where the sound was coming from and realized this was actually an incendiary altercation…

It’s been a long time coming, but the Dimorier Project finally has something to show for decades of research and writing and thousands of dollars to honor a good man—William E. Dimorier. After numerous efforts to get William’s story published in the traditional way, I finally decided to publish his biography myself. It is now…

We recently gave up our landline. We had that phone number for many years, since the kids were little. It was sad to see it go—but somewhat liberating.  I resisted parting with our landline for years. My reasoning was that in an emergency (especially a catastrophic one), our cellphones might not work.  I kept a…

How do young kids learn to call 911? A long, long time ago, a child could simply run to a phone wired into the wall, pick up the receiver, hear a tone, and dial (either push button or rotary). The good old landline. When my husband and I got rid of our landline a few weeks ago,…