Early Cold Equals Snow?

It is only October and the weather is getting colder and colder in Kingston, PA! Hopefully this rapid change of weather implies the falling of a lot of snow this year. After all, there was no snow days last year, which depressed me. As a person from a tropical country, I only get excited and super happy when I see snow in the States. This cold weather, combining with the time period that we're studying in Poetry class, reminds me of the "Appalachian Storm of November 1950."

On November 25, 1950, the "storm of the century" hit the U.S Eastern Coast, striking from North Carolina, where the temperature was recorded to be 26 degrees below zero, to Ohio; it even spread to part of the south. The storm was unique, in which it not only consisted extreme winds and snow fall , but also variations in temperatures, such as places that saw no snow, but experienced 50 mph wind and 50 degree Fahrenheit. Many buildings collapsed under 2 to 3 feet of snow. The storm created $66.7 millions in damage, affected 22 states, and killed 353 people.

"The Children's Blizzard," a non-fictional book by David Laskin.

Since there's not much to talk about this storm, except the small details, which I don't really like, I decided to take Mrs. Lewis' recommendation of researching the "Children's Blizzard." There was a non-fiction book written about it, so I guess it must be very interesting. In 1888, the article on the Washington Post describe the storm as "a blizzard swept down suddenly on the unsuspecting inhabitants on the prairies of the upper Midwest with unprecedented ferocity." The weather changed almost instantaneously from warm to freezing. An estimated 4-5 feet of snow had fallen, not including the amount that got drifted away. Many children got stuck in the snow while trying to go back home from school, thus a high proportion of them got killed.

While looking up pictures about snow on Google, I found a picture of this cute chubby bird. The article, where this picture was posted, mentioned that this bird is a harbinger of spring. Its name is "snow bunting." It is one of the migratory bird that arrives at the end of winter. The melodious wirble of the bird reassured people that spring is coming.








Last but not least, let's pray for snow this year!!! I miss the school buildings all beautifully covered in white snow. I want to see the scene before I leave this school, and end my high school career. Pretty please, Sky and Weather God. 

Roles of Women in the 1950s

In the 1950s, men came back from the World War II, and women were encouraged to return home and do household chores instead of working out side of the houses. They were expected to be perfect mothers, obedient wives, and diligent housewives. As perfect mothers, they had to stay home to take care of children. As obedient wives, they had to agree with their husbands and comfort them. As diligent housewives, they had to prepare dinner right on time when husbands arrived at home from their work.

Here was a women's daily routine during the 1950s
1. Wake children up, cook breakfast for them, and send them to school
2. Clean the dishes with minimum noise and do laundry
3. Prepare dinner for their husbands and make sure that their husbands were the main focus of the evening







There was the expectation that women would always stay home because it was the men who went out to work and had real jobs. Women eventually were able to have real jobs but earning total respect took a long time. Now women have the freedom to choose whatever they want to do.

In the 1950s, patterns, especially checks and flower pattern dresses were in vogue. They wore long dresses to emphasize femininity. It was because of women's duty at home and men were the ones who went out to work and wore pants.