Author Archives: CleoLampos

Feeding the Mind: Pack Horse Library Project

“With no money to feed the body, how could they feed the mind?”- Eleanor Roosevelt Wanted: Librarians The search for dedicated women to serve as librarians began with the impetus of Eleanor Roosevelt as she cooperated with the WPA, Work Project Administration. The WPA was created by her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as a […]

Dust Pneumonia: When Breathing is Deadly

Dust pneumonia. A respiratory illness that slithered like a snake across the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, and Colorado during the 1930’s. The continual coughing jag, high fever, nausea, chest pains and shortness of breath signaled the dreaded condition. Old people succumbed. Those afflicted with bronchitis, asthma or tuberculosis breathed in the dust to their detriment. But […]

Dust Bowl: Photojournalists

Life Through a Lens “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves – for the rights of all who are destitute.” Proverbs 31:8 Ever wonder who took the iconic photos from the Dust Bowl that make our hearts ache and give us nightmares? A few pioneers in a new field of photo documentary brought […]

Dust Bowl: From CCC to Greatest Generation

Civilian Conservation Corps boys at work – Photo: Library of Congress The family’s farm is in foreclosure. Dust storms blot out the sun and bury the livestock. The older siblings try to share their beans, biscuit and Jack with the younger ones who cry themselves to sleep on empty stomachs. Dad’s eyes stare blankly at […]

Do You Have the Skills to Succeed in Writing a Book Report?

Need help writing a book report? Then check out Book Report Insights. These teach the skills you need to succeed in reading and writing. These supplemental aides are for the teen who needs to read a book and write a report on that book. Educator Cleo Lampos breaks down her novels into easily understandable parts for […]

Doughnut Quilts: Salute to Donut Dolly

  “With its clubs for recreation, its coffee and doughnuts in the forward areas… (with) the devotion and warmhearted sympathy of the Red Cross girl.. The Red Cross has often seemed to be the friendly hand of this nation, reaching across the sea to sustain its fighting men.”- Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945 Photo […]

Diamonds from New York’s East Harlem

Jody Hart, a retired teacher from Utah, handed the aged book to me. “You are going to identify with Leonard Covello.” I took her word for it as well as the book, The Heart is the Teacher, written by none other than Leonard Covello, copyright 1958. Later that day, I started to read the first chapter, […]

Definition of a Quilter

quilter Every year, the publishers of dictionaries nominate new words that have become culturally accepted. Noticeably lacking are the descriptors for quilters. Here are five nominees for “quilter words” that need to be entered in the upcoming editions of the dictionary. Proquiltinating– This word is a verb. The active part of the word, proquilt, is […]

Cultivating Wildflowers is FREE on Kindle until March 10th!

Summer isn’t looking good for Alana Alcott, an urban teacher of gifted students. She’s been court ordered to teach summer school with Outward Bound instructor Mike Reynolds. Their students? Five unruly foster kids whose stories of abandonment mirror Alana’s own childhood more than she wants to admit. Mike, in particular, initially chafes on Alana’s nerves. […]

Crossing guards: Safe Passage to School

Crossing Guards: Safe Passage to School By Cleo Lampos For weeks now, those of us who live in the city of  Chicago have been hearing about Safe Passage. It is the route that the children of Chicago Public Schools need to traverse twice every day to get to and from their institutions of learning. Most […]