Beyond the Scenery

Park News

         March is Women’s History Month, honoring female achievements and contributions in our country. The commemoration originally began in 1978 as a local celebration in California, centered around March 8, International Women’s Day. In 1980, President Carter pronounced the week encompassing that date as National Women’s History Week. Congress passed a law designating all of March as Women’s History Month in 1987.

         The month is affiliated with other historical events concerning women as well: the first major suffrage march, the founding of the National Women’s Party, and the signing of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act. That decree prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational institutions, which furthered women’s sports.

         I wrote about the 2020 centennial of the 19^th Amendment granting women the vote for AAA World magazine, mentioning the two National Park Service sites exclusively devoted to the fight for parity at the polls:  upstate New York’s Women’s Rights National Historical Park and the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C.

         And coming soon to a national park site near you…fewer workers…and possibly a park featuring American heroes (wait, don’t we already honor great figures in National Park Service sites all over the country?).

An Intriguing New Historical Fiction Book

         My fellow Pelican Book Group author Penelope Marzec  releases Love’s Gift on March 8 (coincidence?). The plot centers around the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the first time the federal government severely restricted an ethnic group’s entry into our country. This law wasn’t fully rescinded until 1943, a concession to our World War II ally.

Yay Spring!

         “For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land; the fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell” (Song of Solomon 2:11-13).

         Enjoy the sights and smells of a new season, courtesy of a creative God who not only spoke the seasons into existence (Genesis 1:14), but keeps them going (Colossians 1:17).

         And speaking of the permanence of those cycles He made, God also guaranteed the survival of the Hebrew people (Jeremiah 31:35-37). So happy Purim! On the evening of March 13, read the story of Esther (Hadassah, in Hebrew) in the book of the same name, and how she saved her fellow Jews from destruction at the hands of the evil Haman.

         Although God’s name is never mentioned in this book, His sovereignty and providence are evident throughout. God always keeps His promises (Joshua 21:45, 23:14-15; 1 Kings 8:56), as Esther’s relative Mordecai advised her: deliverance for the Jews will happen no matter what, but perhaps you’ve been put in a place where you can be the instrument of that rescue (my paraphrase of Esther 4:13-14).

         Bake some hamantashcen (Haman’s hats, pockets or ears, depending on the dialect) for a yummy treat—here’s a recipe.