In other news ...

Cassie Edwards deleted her My Space Page and her website now contains just the words "under construction" whereas before it directed visitors to the aforementioned My Space page. Hmmm.

For some time I have been writing 'foe fiction' based on a popular comic strip and posting it on my Live Journal site. Of course it is sorely in need of updating, but one reason for that is I have been working on original fiction. I may, repeat, MAY start posting that here, chapter-wise. Doing so will mean it will be nearly impossible to ever get it published as a book, but chances are excellent that won't happen any way with this particular piece. I'm just not sure anyone would be that interested in it, even if it's free ;)

Elle

A life goal, realized!

I'm on National Public Radio!

Okay, I, personally, am not on NPR. But the Cassie Edwards plagiarism story, in which I was ever so peripherally involved was! The Bitches at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books revealed today that ferret story made its way onto Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!

So, even though the examples of plagiarism that I found along with specious claims of Cheyenne ancestry technically had nothing to do with this, I will claim a very small share of the NPR appearance. Because it's the closest I am likely to ever get to actually being on NPR.

Elle

In today's Kimmer news ... (and save a ferret!)

It's not too late to contact ABC News regarding your experience with Kimkins. Both Carb Wire and Jimmy Moore have posted about it (actually, now that I look at it, Carb Wire has Jimmy Moor's post!) and so are many, many others. You need to contact them by Thursday, January 17 2008 (tomorrow) so if you are a Kimkins victim, please consider contacting them. You can help stop Kimmer, a sociopathic nutbar who has absolutely no medical training at all and can't even follow her own deadly diet (I heard you're up a pound this week, Kimmer!) from hurting anyone else. Be a hero!

Even if you weren't harmed by this menace, you can still be a hero by saving a ferret! For those of you who are following the Cassie Edwards plagiarism developments, Paul Tolmé, an environmental journalist appears to be one of the individuals whose work was plagiarized. Parts of an article he wrote for Defenders Magazine later appeared in one of Cassie Edwards' books. In an effort to bring about something positive from this mess, Smart Bitches Candy and Sarah at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have joined forces with the incomparable Nora Roberts to raise money for Defenders of Wildlife. Nora Roberts has very generously offered to match contributions made to Defenders of Wildlife up to $5,000 US! You can read all about how you can help the Smart Bitches and the Bitchery get this generous match and defend wildlife right here.

Elle

I think I'll write an 'Indian Romance'

I mean, why not?

"So," Charlynne said. "The lake ... is sacred ... to your Native American Indian people?"

Silver Falcon nodded. "The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitchee Gummee."

Charlynne raised an eyebrow. She was stunned by the depth of his concern for her! He was sharing ... the legends of his people!

"The lake it is said never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy," Silver Falcon said thickly.


Elle

Back to Kimkins!

Goodness, what a week.

When I first started Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pickles I wrote a post about the origins of the name. I also babbled something or other about putting up samples of my writing, but what I seem to do is talk about my fiance, bitch about my job, rave about my cats, talk about plagiarizing romance novelists with specious claims of Indigenous ancestry and what appears to be my favorite subject of all, Kimkins and Kimmer.

What's funny about that last is I had no time at all for Kimmer when our paths intersected over on Low Carb Friends. I thought she was an obnoxious know-it-all who was probably lying about the extent of her weight loss. As it turned out, I am a psychic, at least about people who claim to have lost 198 lbs in 11 months and kept it off for years by the expedient method of eating like a concentration camp victim. That claim, of course, turned out to be totally false.

There are many wonderful blogs about this lying scammer, and I urge anyone who's reading this to check out the Just Say No to Kimkins webring (you can find it at the top right of this blog). I have many favorites, such as the ever-funny Medusa's Blog and 2bigformysize (who comes here to comment on occasion) but really, they're all amazing.

---------------------------------------------------

One final note about Cassie Edwards -- someone over on Fandom Wank (Hi guys! I love you and wish I could join but I don't know any paid members) mentioned that they were cautious to agree with my conclusions regarding the Cheyenne thing given that people changed their names etc.

I know, and I think that's a valid point. People did change their names, or the spelling of their names, which makes genealogy an ever-fun pursuit. But as for census records -- those weren't self-reported then. It was the census taker who recorded names (a big reason why names don't always match) and races. If an ancestor was listed as white on a census, chances were excellent they were just that. I repeat again, though, if you were a full Indigenous it was very, very unlikely that you were listed as white on an official document. Marrying someone of another race doesn't change this. Of course, if you and all your progeny thereafter married Europeans -- this changes. Your children could possibly be listed as white. Your grandchildren, probably. Your great-grandchildren, almost definitely. But you? Highly unlikely. Don't forget, this was a country which classified 'negro blood' to octoroon status and beyond.

Furthermore, anti-miscegenation laws, segregation, removal and reservations and the fact that there were just not that many Indigenous left in this country compared to the European population means that very few people actually have a Cherokee Princess great-grandmother. There are some like me who may have indigenous ancestry, but it goes way back -- in my case, to a tenth-great-grandmother (maybe, there is a weak link in that chain) who was a Canadian Algonquin. But seriously -- absent a DNA test (only useful for matrilineal descent) or an entry on one of the reservation rolls, people should treat claims of Indigenous ancestry with a healthy skepticism, particularly if there is no long-standing knowledge of such ancestry in one's family.

In other words, if you are in your fifties and your great-Aunt Mildred suddenly recollects being told that there was 'Indian Blood' in the family, something you have never heard before, you may want to investigate before accepting it as gospel. Yeah, it could be true. But it's probably not.

At the very least, and this is important, while CE may have Indigenous ancestry somewhere in her line, it is unlikely that the great-grandmother in question was a full-blood Cheyenne. She was born in Illinois, her parents were from Ohio, their parents were from Virginia and Ohio ... all counted on the census (as most Indigenous were not, they were counted separately and generally incompletely) and all listed as white.

I could be wrong. But I don't think I am. In the end, that possible tenth-great-grandmother and full-blood Navajo fiance notwithstanding, this is not 'my' fight. Her publisher and authors of copyrighted works will determine what, if anything needs to be done regarding the plagiarism charges, as for whether or not she is Cheyenne at all and whether it matters ... who knows.

The Ferret Guy, on the other hand, has something to say about all this.

Elle

Snow Deer, The Musical!

Oh, please.

Okay, so I mentioned in an earlier post that author Cassie Edwards based one of her novels, Savage Longings, on her alleged great-grandmother who was supposed to be a 'Cheyenne Princess' named Snow Deer. Snow Deer fell in love with a white man, allegedly Edwards' great-grandfather Charles Cline, married him, and lived happily ever after. Well, maybe in the story but probably not in real life.

Well, guess what? There's an old song called Snow Deer, and guess what it's about? An Indian Maiden and her Cowboy Lover! There are different versions of Snow Deer/Snowdeer floating around, but here is one version taken from The Mudcat Cafe.

SNOW DEER
Words, Jack Mahoney. Music, Percy Wenrich.
New York: Wenrich-Howard Co., 1913.

Sweet Snow Deer mine, moon's a-shine through the pine.
While Mohawks sleep, let us creep through the vale.
Your cowboy lover your heart will cover.
Don't hesitate. It is late. Ponies wait
For you and me by the tree in the dale.
Hear tom-toms beating. Let's hit the trail.

CHORUS: My pretty Snow Deer, say you will go, dear.
From your side I'll never part.
Every trail leads to your heart.
It's time to marry, no time to tarry.
Let me carry you from here, my sweet Snow Deer.

The red men come, bullets hum! There�ll be some
Left on the trail. I can't fail. Cling to me.
We'll crown the story with love and glory.
Now after all, must I fall? Hear my call
And fly away while we may. Can�t you see
Those ranch lights gleaming? Safe there we'll be.

Now I actually wish I owned a copy of Savage Longings so I could check if phrases like "every trail leads to your heart" appear in it.

Elle

Cassie Edwards -- Cheyenne Blood?

Today I am taking a break from the Kimkins mess, and jumping into a whole other controversy. Those of you who love romance novels (as I do) may have heard about recent plagiarism charges leveled against Cassie Edwards, author of many "Indian Romances." The ladies at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books found, with the help of their readership, that Edwards apparently lifted passages from various out-of-copyright (and some still copyrighted) reference books and inserted them, unattributed, into her own work. You can read all about it here. Follow the links in the header, or look on the right menu bar to find all the stories.

This has exploded into a Big Honking Deal, mainly due to Edward's publisher's initial response (no big deal) which has since been amended to 'We're looking into it.' Powerhouse author and plagiarism victim Nora Roberts has weighed in on this, calling it plagiarism and condemning Edwards. Other individuals have decried the Smart Bitches' actions, basically calling them mean and nasty and accusing them of willfully trashing Cassie Edwards' career.

A disclosure: I actually have some Cassie Edwards books lying around here. The condo complex where my mother lives has what they call a 'free bench' which is, as the name implies, a bench in a common area. People who live there put out things they don't want, but are still fine to use. Books are a popular item, and because of Mom's free bench I have a complete set of Tony Hillerman Navajo novels and a few Cassie Edwards tomes.

I've definitely read better. But that's not the point of this post. The point is, in the author blurbs in all of her books that I've seen, it's stated that her grandmother was "a full-blood Cheyenne." However, in a recent quote, Edwards states that it's actually a paternal great-grandmother. From romantictimes.com:

"Along the way, Edwards learned she had a very personal connection to the Native American community when her father casually revealed that one of his grandmothers had been a full-blooded Cheyenne named Snow Deer. Stunned that he didn't tell her when she launched her Savage series, Edwards never actually learned much about Snow Deer from her father beyond the story of how she came to marry a white man. That became the inspiration for a novel, Savage Longings, and a photo of Snow Deer appears in the back of Savage Secrets. "Knowing about her truly didn't influence my writing, but I am very proud of my Native American heritage," Edwards says. "

That's nice, or it would be if this were true. I don't think it is.

One of my interests is genealogy, and once the plagiarism mess began, I fired up my Ancestry account and Google and started digging. Savage Longings stars 'Snow Deer' and 'Charles Cline.' Through obituaries and census records, I established that Cassie Edwards' great-grandfather was indeed a Charles C. Cline. But her great-grandmother was almost certainly not a Cheyenne named Snow Deer. She appears to have been a white woman named Mamie Bolinger (alternate names Mary, Mame, Mayme, and Bolling, Bolner, Bollinger). Illinois marriage records show that Charles C. Cline and Mamie Bolinger were married on 30 October 1884 in Clark County Illinois. Mamie Bolinger is the daughter of Hiram and Nancy Bolinger (Bolling in the census, Bolner on other records). The 1870 Census lists Hiram and Nancy as white. I have traced her maternal and paternal ancestry back several generations, and none of her ancestors are listed as any kind of Indigenous.

So, what does this mean? Am I right? Did she lie about her ancestry? Or was it an innocent mistake?

I don't know. I could, of course, be wrong but I haven't found anything yet that convinces me that I am. I have multiple sources to verify her lineage, and despite what a lot of people would like to think, full-blood Indigenous people rarely passed for white on census records. It is entirely possible that Cassie Edwards was told her great-grandmother was a Cheyenne. Certainly she would not be the first person to be told that her family had Indian blood (usually a great-grandmother, invariably a princess) and she has more reason than most to want to take such a statement at face value, given what she writes about for a living. I haven't seen this alleged picture of Snow Deer, but if Kimkins proved anything, it's that pictures lie all the time.

So, there it is for what it's worth. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she is part Cheyenne. But given recent revelations, I'd certainly want to see some proof of that.

There is an old song called Snow Deer though. I think the lyrics are quite interesting since it's about an Indian Maiden and her Cowboy Lover.

Here are some pix of the records. I am not including anything about living people (in so far as I know whether or not they are living.)

Here is the Cline Family Tree. I still have some work to do on it. Cassie Edwards' birth name is Kathryn Cline.

Here is the the 1920 US Census. Cassie Edwards' father, Virgil F. is listed on this as the son of Hiram F. and Hannah Cline.

Here is the 1910 US Census. Cassie Edwards' probable grandfather is listed here as Frank, son of Charles C. and Mamie (Mame) Cline.

Here is the 1900 US Census. Cassie Edwards' probable grandfather is listed here as Hyram F. son of Charles and Mamie (Mayme) Cline.

Here is the marriage record of Charles C. Cline and Mamie Bolinger, retrieved from ancestry.com

Here is the 1870 US Census. Cassie Edwards' probable great-grandmother Mamie Bolinger is listed as Mary Bolinger (Mamie was a common nickname for Mary), and her parents are listed as Hiram and Nancy Bolinger.

Keep in mind, these are just records. I could be wrong about my conclusions. Let me also make it clear that I am not basing these conclusions on the names proper. Many Indigenous people adopted English- or non-Indigenous surnames. I am basing these conclusions on the racial designations on the census racial designations. Are those always correct? No. But contrary to what some people would like to think, full-blood Indigenous were generally listed as Indian.

Here's another little something. This review of Savage Longings (the book allegedly based on Cassie Edwards' Cheyenne great-grandmother) from romantictimes.com points out the following:

"If the stated date of Cassie Edwards' story is correct, her history puts the proud, fanatically brave Cheyenne in Kentucky villages 30 years after the northern group moved to Montana, the southern group settled in Oklahoma and nearly 20 years after the notorious massacre at Sand Creek, Colorado."


Elle

PS: I dug out my CE books, and within five minutes found another instance of plagiarism. She literally just changed a single comma:

Savage Passions

By Cassie Edwards
Published 1996
Dorchester Publishing
Company, Incorporated
Romance
ISBN 0843939028

p.204

“Indian corn and sweet flag in the swamp, are the descendants of beautiful spirits who still live in them."

Algonquin Legends of New England
By Charles Godfrey Leland
Published 1884
Houghton, Mifflin and
Company

p. 339

“The Indian corn and sweet flag in the swamp are the descendants of beautiful spirits who still live in them"

The funny thing is, Savage Passions is about the Ottowa Tribe in Michigan, and Leland wrote about the Algonquin of New England. That's some meticulous research!

And here's another:

Savage Passions, p.206

“But I will tell you this now – that the highest ambition of an Ottawa Indian is to become mequomoowessoo, a mystical being who enjoys all highest privileges of humanity allied to the supernatural.”

Algonquin Legends of New England, p.376

“The highest ambition of an Indian was to become a Megummoowessoo, a mystical being, which is explained differently as a fairy, faun, sylvan deity, but which means one who enjoys all the highest privileges of humanity allied to the supernatural.”

And goodness! It looks like she lifted something from yet another book which is presumably still copyrighted. I am using Google Books for this, and this book offers only a 'snippet view' which you can see here.

From Savage Passions, p.206

“A bearwalker was a man or a woman who, with herbs and special words which only they knew, could instantly transform themselves into balls of fire, or assume animal forms. Anthony had explained that once the person was transformed, they were able to travel great distances quickly, and go unrecognized.”

And from:

The Tree that Never Dies: Oral History of the Michigan Indians
By Pamela J. DobsonPublished 1978
Grand Rapids Public
Library

p.82

“man-doz-it to the Potawatomi, can with herbs and special words which only they know, instantly transform themselves into balls of fire or assume animal forms. Once transformed, they are able to travel great distances quickly and go unrecog-“

That's the only text available from the snippet view.

Not as egregious, but pretty damn similar:

Savage Passions
p.344

“But we must remember always the belief of our people, that the eye of our Great Spirit is the sun by day, and by night the moon and the stars, and therefore the Great Spirit sees all things everywhere, night and day. It is impossible to hide any action, either good or bad, from the eye of the Great Spirit. When no human eye can observe a criminal’s evildoings, the criminal action will be revealed at some future time, to his disgrace and shame.”

History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan
By Andrew J. Blackbird
Published 1887
The Ypsilantian job
printing house

p.13

“They also believed, in their primitive state, that the eye of this Great Being is the sun by day, and by night the moon and the stars, and, therefore, that God or the Great Spirit sees all things everywhere, night and day, and it would be impossible to hide our actions, either good or bad, from the eye of this Great Being. Even the very threshold or crevice of your wigwam will be witness against you, if you should commit any criminal action when no human eye could observe your criminal doings, but surely your criminal actions will be revealed in some future time to your disgrace and shame.”

That last line is quite poignant, I think.