Welcome to Albaniac!
This newsletter tries to focus on American author Rose Wilder Lane’s time in Albania from August 1926 to January 1928. If you don’t know Lane, you probably know her mother, iconic children’s author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, or at least heard of the television show based on her books, Little House on the Prairie.
Over time, I’ve come to embrace that Albaniacism isn’t limited to Albania, because it’s a MINDSET. In other words—Fair warning: I might not always write strictly about Rose Wilder Lane and Albania.
I post weekly (let’s make that bi-weekly) installments about all the above.
About me
I once retraced the pioneer journey of Laura Ingalls Wilder in a prairie dress. I tell that story in my book, My Life as Laura: How I Searched for Laura Ingalls Wilder and Found Myself (Press 53). My work has appeared in pubs such as Witness, South Writ Large, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Terrain.org, and The Cleveland Review of Books.
After years of chasing Gen X dreams (Ultimate Frisbee, drummer in a band, working in restaurants to avoid the cardinal sin of “selling out”), I went back to school and now I’m an all-grown-up Assistant Professor of Magazine Media at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism where I struggle with AP Style because all my degrees are in English. I can’t quit you, Oxford comma!
More than you want to know about me
I’m a Libra, Cancer rising, moon in Pisces. My Enneagram is 6, The Loyalist, with a 5 wing, The Investigator. My aura is violet, tinged with green. The love line of my palm reveals a sensitive nature with a weak heart, while Graphology indicates I’m disorganized, creative, impulsive, insecure, and emotionally removed. Origins are somewhat Irish/French/German. Recovering Catholic. Right-brained. When I was four, I ate a mothball and had to have my stomach pumped or I would have died.
About subscriptions
After years of hustling to “make it” in the arts, I have a job. My goal with Substack is to connect with readers.
I'm just happy you’re here. That being said, it seems dumb to turn down money. Rose Wilder Lane would have been first in line to monetize. Give as you like or can.
