Author: Beth Michaels

A Brief History Well, not exactly… But it probably seemed so!  Since the days of Confucious, nudity, even in art, has been viewed by the Chinese as immoral and was strictly prohibited.  This stance was so extreme that doctors could not look upon the naked bodies of their female patients to help treat them (more on this later). Digging Deeper For her series on instances of female nudity that were socially, culturally or historically significant, the author wanted to include examples from the Far East so that her lists would be more inclusive.  In the midst of her research, she discovered that there are very…

A Brief History Sometime in the year 62 B.C., the famous Roman General Julius Caesar decided to divorce his second wife Pompeia.  In regard to his reasoning, he famously said that any wife of his must be above suspicion.  Digging Deeper Actually he said, “my wife ought not even be under suspicion.”  This quote, however, later evolved into the expression: “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.” So, what event brought about the doubt concerning Pompeia’s character?  Well, she had hosted an all-girls party known as Bona Dea (good goddess) to which Vestal Virgins had been invited and to which entry by males was prohibited. …

A Brief History On October 24th, 1537, in a cruel twist of fate, Queen Jane Seymour died of complications following childbirth after having just 12 days earlier provided Henry VIII with his much longed-for son and heir. Digging Deeper There is a popular rhyme that people can memorize to remember the fates of Henry VIII’s six wives: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Jane, the only one of his wives to bear that name (the rest were either “Catherines” or “Annes”), was the one who died.  If she had not died, however, she would have been the one who survived, as…

A Brief History The first record of dressing up in costumes on Halloween in North America goes back to 1911 when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported how the neighborhood children were “guising.”  It was not until the 1930s, however, that companies began mass-producing Halloween costumes for commercial sale.  Early costumes were scary in nature and were often of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, mummies, witches, etc.  Later costumes moved on from the ghoulish characters and expanded to include non-scary figures ranging from superheroes to cowboys and Indians to fairy princesses to athletes to animals.  In recent years, it has become a popular trend for women to…

A Brief History On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson shot his famous footage of a bigfoot at Bluff Creek, California.  The creature was later determined to be female and became known as “Patty.”  Digging Deeper Patterson was someone who might be considered an amateur bigfoot hunter.  Together with Robert “Bob” Gimlin, a rancher and horse trainer who acted as a guide, he set out on horseback to capture a bigfoot, or sasquatch as they are also known, on film.  They followed various sets of tracks (Patty’s were later found to have been the medium-sized ones…) until they reached Bluff Creek where the horses reeled upon catching sight of…