Look it Up, Write it Down

The year 1922 was a busy one (most are). The first insulin shot. The Supreme Court upholding the 19^th Amendment, defending a woman’s right to vote (Leser v. Garnett). Howard Carter and his archaeological crew finding the entrance to King Tutankhamun’s tomb, after which Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first folks to step foot inside it in more than 3,000 years. Warren Harding becoming the first president in history to address Americans over a radio. And the birth of a very interesting gal.

I get all sorts of notes via my website, especially from individuals with family members who served during World War II. Enter Rosamond Naylor. Roz served in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War II. (Learn more about the Corps here.) The community in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, showed up to celebrate, including past and present members of the Marine Corps. Want to see a picture of Roz on her special day with two of those military men? I thought so. Check out this story in the Havasu newspaper and click through the photos. (Photo two: That’s Roz in the middle.)

I was delighted when Roz’s cousin sent a picture of the birthday girl holding a copy of one of the history books I cowrote with Joe D’Agnese. But that’s not the best part: Roz’s cousin sent me her address so we can all send Roz a birthday card! This also involves one of my favorite activities—writing by hand!

🎂 Roz’s 104th birthday was April 15, 2026. 🎂 Please address letters to:

Rosamund Naylor

Haven Health

2781 Osborn Drive Rm T4

Lake Havasu City AZ 86406

Say Happy Birthday! Thank her for her service! Say Get Well Soon! Ask her for exercise tips! Her cousin says she should be at this address for a couple more weeks, so if you’re going to send something along, do it sooner than later.

Tired of those pesky artificial intelligence summaries popping up during your online queries and sitting right up there at the top of the page like they’re oh so important?

Slightly alarmed by the slop or hallucinations or, to put it more bluntly, complete and utter INACCURATE nonsense that this so-called intelligence offers whether or not you are specifically asking for its opinion?

While using a search engine—and do remember there’s more than one— locate the handy-dandy minus sign on your keyboard. Adding “-ai” to the end of your search will remove those results from the top of your page.

Does this completely eliminate AI from meddling in your search engine? I doubt it. But it does remove that annoying summary from the top of the results page.

AI isn’t going anywhere, but it doesn’t have to be everywhere.

As a lover and of both the ukelele AND the dictionary, this video by Franchesca Ramsey strumming the uke and extolling the joys of looking things up for yourself is hilarious and kind of like Schoolhouse Rock for the AI generation. 🎶 “Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur…” 🎶 Enjoy!

The Obstinate Daughters tour is growing and stretching and (for the most part) set. Tour kicks off at my beloved hometown bookstore, Malaprop’s, on June 22. I’ll be in conversation with the astoundingly talented #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Kostova.

Visit my calendar for more information on my travels.

The days may be getting longer, but our time on this earth…well, that’s another story. What kind of story? That depends on us. No matter how many trips around the Sun we get to make—104 if we’re really lucky—our unique, wondrous lives get shorter every day.

See a friend. Take a walk. Stare at a tree. Exhale.

With Gratitude,