From the Author
A Writer

Update: A visit to Front Royal, Virginia (link).

XXX. The British Heritage: The appreciation came later after learning the history of Elizabeth II and now Charles III in the unfolding works towards a Commonwealth. Two Global Powers, The UK and The US depend and function by a language that will appeal to a citizen in America. The UK Sovereign, as head of the Episcopal and Anglican Church, will focus on topics that eventually prove useful to Americans, as I came to read the texts. From King Charles' appearance to The Congress, a quick recognition which formerly would come by reading a newspaper (and now via ".gov" and "royal.uk"):

In 1991, the End of The Cold War Period: Queen Elizabeth II to Congress.

In 2026, the End of the Post-Cold War Period: King Charles III to Congress (link) arriving at or very near the anniversary date in April of English ships landing in Virginia seventeen years before the Mayflower.

The King at Front Royal Virginia,  known for its oak trees; see visitor center link.

XXIX. From the Armenian Highlands to the United States or Britain is a long and winding path in time and space; the geographies include the Mediterranean eastern coasts, an Island near Venice, Amsterdam, Isfahan or Calcutta. The arrival in America will be drawn to the churches and ultimately chose a tradition or assimilate one by the written word and aesthetics of a character inherent in architecture, helped by his memory of an alphabet that is articulate in phonetics. The American experience that welcomes nearly every gographies to its shore on a vast scale, also reminds an observer how difficult governing the American Republic is and will trace their competence to Britain--if, say, he be as competent an observer as Margaret Craine Fuller Ossoli. Most likely he will not  but there is the experiential to instruct how talent is promoted or succeeds in the PUBLIC Spirit. At the same time, countless clues are offered that THE AMERICAN DREAM is the essential poise and outlook that captivates the new. It is a Business endeavor and preoccupation, as I read the writings where a person will innovate or become wealthy within the bounds of a REVOLUTION that reject monopolies wherever and whatever form they may take. In Britain, the shared responsibilities of a dynamic system (Sovereign and Parliament), tested by trials and intense thinking devised a constitutional temperament. How it shaped an American continent including Canada and later a global competence will focus on the National and Federal powers. The years which would take to learn such a competence eludes the present writer but celebrating it is not.

Updated: A Nautical Almanac for 2026; link.

XXVIII. At a frontier town in Virginia named after Lady Staunton, it's possible to notice the Ohio influence while working at Kroger and tune to a CEO, originally of New Zealand, who also will remind a listener of Australia. The Ohio men were once called Men of the West and a reputation that was esteemed in countless individuals; I think a Virginian would agree and recall the battles along the Ohio with Washington and the stoicism that follow in future wars. Australia & New Zealand are another experience of the West founding a new continent that can inform Americans, so fortunate are we. The Cincinnati Museum showcases the Ohio workmanship; Ohio, too, sculpted men who would prove great astronauts irrespective of their place of birth (link). A good clue for Cincinnati: The aesthetics in Private Label packaging (link).

Photo: In America, there is no state church though the Episcopal church has built a National Cathedral to convey the Establishment's role in government as I viewed it when I walked the grounds in the 1990s. The ties to the Anglican Communion and how it organized the American frontier with religious tolerance came to view in Virginia, with texts and authors describing the Protestant work ethic dedicated to restoration and maintenance of enduring style. Westminster Abbey is directly under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign (per Web site) with Queen Camilla as Patron, and to me, represents the origins of the West by a long line of educators who attended colleges and solved the difficult problems in law; they appear amidst the muscularity of Shakespeare. The joy inherent in a faith that assembles a dynamic system steeped in craftsmanship is an individual responsibility (Westminster Abbey link guide book link, King Charles III architecture link, Its foundation stone link, Learning as a personal habit link).

XXVII. Of Armenian Parents: Urartu was an ancient kingdom near Lake Van landlocked by neighbors; it will rise and fall in the 9th and 6th century BC just when the Hellenes begin their ascent in the south. Toynbee follows their intelligible story by including the worship of tools by Assyrians who linger nearby. The Armenians appear soon before the 4th century, as I have briefly read the tale, when the country Christianizes, and in my estimate helps keep its culture. In the centuries that follow, one Armenian Population reached the Mediterranean and formed Cilicia to welcome Baldwin I from Belgium; another are moved by a Persian King in the Early Modern Period to Isfahan, a town esteemed for its network to Holland and ultimately the Philippines with a notable church standing at Singapore. That span can be helpful when reaching the West in America and quickly attracted to the Protestant Church and writings that inevitably lead to Great Britain, an island surrounded by the seas and defending its faith so ably. And when the Present Reader meets Shakespeare after many years of attempts to read the plays well, it is possible to discern when and how the Bard does make an impact by the Elizabethan from the vista of a Virginia town. 

XXV. On art: In Washington, DC and Williamsburg, Virginia the role of art is evident in public spaces. That observation, by daily life, or careful visits, inevitably leads me to the Church that is the foundation of the first arrivals; colleges and local governments organize by the members of the Parish. To my knowledge, the Episcopelian did not proslythize but attracts individuals who graps the arts which affect personal habits and language. So difficult is the constitutional character, it helps me to relate how successful men and women have governed by the stories once told in newspapers.

XXIV. On religion: I haven't seen a reason in the founders to proslethyze or convert to the Episcopal Church--except to worry about the Wars of Religeon that annihilated towns in Germany. As the country evolved, the increasing responsibilities looked for talent that would contribute to the national story, but how each sect or religion would relate as a PUBLIC official is never expressed. The Presbyterian with the arrival of Jackson enrolls his skills in a long line of successors who acquire the temperament that is essential in PUBLIC office. Going further, the broadening freedoms brought geographies to American states and that experience remains to be explained and evaluated. In America, a citizen may observe and write and discuss with neighbors the events of the day, so rendered in the Bill of Rights which are so integral in Britain also; the sense for Responsibilities are derived from not just property but how may one describe it?

XXIII. The Dissenters who moved to the American Continent founded societies uniquely their own. In Virginia, the Anglican Church continued the British heritage as an organizing principle and defender of the Protestant Faith while expressly connected to the Ruling authority that was the governor of the Colony. It is here that an observer could follow how the laws of the home world would transplant unto the new that bore the Four Rivers. Britons landed in Virginia first,  and conceptualized a means to raise revenue and established America's First Assembly. It is quite a building that schooled Washington and Lee, while there appears a record in a town named after Lady Rebecca Staunton to tolerate religious sects, and First Families established as vocational names that included intermarriages with American Indians. Virginia's Constitution separated church and state, and it remains for me to see how it envisioned a Commonwealth would organize the PUBLIC interest when much later the variety of religions, and not just Christian sects, did arrive in the Commonwealth. On a grander scale the Federal Constitution oversees the Continent to flourish and respects the American Dream to pursue business. The Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church did raise talent to lead Virginians while the drive to find a diversified economy took much longer and challenged officials because of the soil--credit must be given to the Department of Agriculture. The Episcopal Church, as I see it, continuously has looked for talent and promoted competence in PUBLIC positions, specially in the Global Period when the US reached out its hand to  diverse and new faces, at home and abroad. It followed a tendency I read in British stories which continue, and the rigor they brought to public office that engage the planetary scale. 

From Staunton, such talent whom I call Pioneers can be recognized in a Archbishop in Canterbury, in a Bishop of Southwest Virginia--a region which holds a distinction that cherishes the laws and the Courts as much as Tidewater, and a Reverend who gives a literate and scholarly sermon at a historic parish.

Archbishop Sarah link (Privy Council);
Bishop Karen link (cum laude  and English major);
Rev Cara link with Father AJ, Rector link.

An Individual born of Armenian parents landing in Penns' Landing and learning the Histories would meet the West and the Enlightenment Period and adapt, grow and enjoy as his reading habits would uncover, by the wisdom of the public writings, and the beauty inherited and the English language aquired, link.

XXII. A shared history led me to the recognition that the complete story needs to be told or learned; it inevitably proves how much effort engaged the British and Western origins and the American frontier that we inherited; the beautiful story is recognized then. Such details can appear unexpectedly and highly respected in a town named after Lady Rebecca Staunton, Governor's wife and Mary Baldwin Alumnae and Mary Baldwin Men who will learn the Humanities:

"Most people today remember Henry VIII as the man with six wives, but it is well to remember too that he was said to be the best educated monarch that England had had up to that time. His daughter, Elizabeth, who was well versed in Latin and Greek carried on that tradition and proved that women were capable of higher learning."

J.B. Priestly, A Guide to Britain.

Shakespeare teaches Henry VIII as well as his predecessors to anticipate Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth Ashby, Curator of Books and Manuscripts from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle on Shakespeare's birthday." link

XXI. In Staunton, I've discovered Mary Julia Baldwin, an Englishwoman, whose family arrived from Maine and established a branch in Virginia. Her grandmother was German and spoke the language still. Woodrow Wilson, on the other hand, related to an Englishwoman originally from Strathclyde--a once region bordering Scotland and England. Wilson taught a class at UVA that helped explain how England was organized prior to the year 1066 and influenced a young Cochran who would play a role in his election. Both individuals in such a town recognized the importance of the Humanities in Virginia and its consequent role in governing well, be it the Home or in government, all of which pointing to the long experience that is Britain. In the United States, The American Dream draws talent towards Business and men and women of any origin have yearned to participate in the free exercise of accumulating wealth and pursue happiness within the confines of laws arbitrated by the Courts. The Governing principle that makes the Federal System function so well against challenges and widens or lengthens the map, now vertically, is a combination of talents that are mustered in years by local or state practices. While I landed in Philadelphia and met the Colonial evidence in the City, and came close to the thinking and elegance of the once Capital, the influence of the Quaker who is a Midlander (in England) is heartfelt. For George Fox was a robust individual as well as articulate, and Friends follow his example to secure the peace that is won. The Image of an American Republic is unmistakably clear and attractive while the arts that support it often look to the British mastery that is gained over centuries--to explain principles that are a joy to the senses. Once the entire Island was united, Britain became a global and naval power based on internal PUBLIC relationships that require explanation--so easy are they to miss. To me, the Book of Common Prayer is such a work as are the Federalist letters that will challenge any reader.

XX.  Unexpected find in my personal experience that begun in high school and continued by personal effort for 40 years: The impact of Shakespeare on one's observation and speech is real; that marvelous sense and energy in his characters anticipates the cultural geographies and  help visualize the boldness of men and the graces that travelled to the New World. In Virginia, an individual will discover the dedication to the Humanities and familiarizes the perils of not learning by reading or by other's experiences. That cultural geography meets in the US by new arrivals in numbers greater than anywhere else, I would like to ask.

Maps: 

John Smith's remarkable details; link.

John Hale, Cartographer, details the work and building; previews link.

XIX. To read the complete story of a nation is a challenge, as the unfolding events since WWII remain to be examined and told squarely. By World War I, though, writers in Britain had successfully persuaded an audience of the long and hard works that entail the  path of the Enlightenmen Period--though the Commonwealth was just beginning a rendition to improve over the Colonial, with America's participation. Without that perspective, it would be difficult for me to describe the attractiveness of laws and habits that become apparent to the reader. An American, meanwhile attempting to tell such a complete story, to understand his reasons for being an American, would be discouraged by the specialists. The Non-specialist, though, would write like a Quaker or a Scotsman for his own pleasure or his descendants and explain the dissenters who rose in Britain and the ensuing reconciliation which fosters the advances both in the psyche and in techniques--and trace to the Roman landing and the influence of Christianity.

There is a great deal of public education that takes place in elected governments; PM Cameron with the weekly debates in parliament played such a role for me by also mentioning such a book--which awaits its later chapters; link.

In America, the Presidency and the Senate held my imagination by speeches and remarks that are really instructions in civics. The Supreme Court decisions are well reasoned arguments and a better read than some newspapers today. The complete story needs to predate the Revolution, entail the hard work in gaining a foothold on the continent while competing with Three Powers. The contact with diverse cultures that arrived by being a global power and the freedoms given tested the Protestant origins as it looked to seek talent in the same. Is there such a  book? if not, who will write it? The Post-Cold-War Period Chapters, when so much influenced the home, as well as the Cold War will intrigue and reveal a dedication, as I conjure the years.

XVIII. Meanwhile at home, the advances that come by far-distant travel would be known to Britain as well; in the digital period and the lessons learned by the Moon landings altered our publishing industries by the introduction of the pixel and the binary codes. The capacity to write instant messages across vast distances altered our focus as well towards reading. All of which did not persuaded me to stop writing.  When so much of the Enlightenment Period as demonstrated in Scotland towards Britain and later as it affected America depended on a vast literature, the dissenters too who rose in England revealed how much thought and reasoning took place to explain a case or outlook. Attending one of their high schools taught this writer the singular skill to active listening, while the story that is America I learned  is made beautiful by a language that is embedded in the Parish and its schools and the long years it takes to teach it. It is a personal maxim that the American story can only be understood if its completeness in time is learned by public sources to discover the beauty of a motivation that also I see in Britain. Now that it is a Commonwealth, Great Britain and America both cultivate the home except tested in their competence now by the basics done well that gave them rise. Formal Education appears ever important when one reads of the advances as well as personal initiatives.

Pending: Looking for a painting of an American Landscape, preferably when the frontier closed in 1890s and one that will ask a viewer whether the Frontier is required in the American Character.

XVII. That the species conquered the mysteries of flight and reached the Moon during the Modern Period by advance manufacturing is a result of the West does not bother me; I follow the notion that its virtue is accessible to anyone on the planet but that it is difficult and comes in degrees. Its attraction lies in the reality that when one discovers where he or she flourishes, that life becomes a dedicated one and is pursued relentlessly until it is mastered. An individual from a difficult background may not reach at the level a native born may though he befriends that excellence. That the rigor to reach the NEW CONTINENT [on the Moon] will impose  the criteria by which our skills are measured and test our faith will make possible fantastic leaps and maintain that optimism is the All American; in this writer's case, he follows the British origins for clues and guides to approach the frontier that America was and is and which the British cultivated by first steps on the Atlantic coasts and is amazed at the complexity that the inheritance maintains on a continental scale. Books and book reading representing such a vital part of the Enlightenment, that they cannot be dismissed when one discovers in person how much they teach--to the man on the prairies under the shade of a tree or to the innovative man who must design a propulsion system.

A people versed in such language on a Sunday, as below, see the New Continent, having taken first steps  with the Apollo, with confidence ahead as the home front does inevitably transform by the doing or by support:

"At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home."

XVI. A dissenting opinion would present Athens as the school of the Mediterranean at a point when its culture colonized the coasts as London would on behalf of the  West on a planetary scale, the Argonauts might appear familiar to the reader in England by the texts left with the arrival of Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, Danes, and Vikings, while the Doric dialect in Scotland suggests a kinship to a distant world which every modern Greek could recognize by his skill in the English pronunciation. Such a voice would remain a friend as they both looked across the Modern Period map to recognize the Advanced Manufacturing skills mentioned in the Federalist Papers. In that field, the British excel and distinguishes its design that arrives in America also as both build a global navy and the requisites that follow.

That manufacturing skills and innovation are a defining character of the West would be accepted or denied to shape a governing constitution. To an American, Rome would appear more relevant because of its scale while London appreciates Athens ability in education. As a compound name, the West would be differentiated from the Classical by a dedicated reading in the Humanities and choice of authors as each person decides how to contribute. To paraphrase Ben Franklin: A writer without manufacturing skills would competently write of the national experience to reach the new frontiers.

XV. While reading Livy and key successors remain vital, pursuing his predecessors in Thucydides and Xenophon proved a dilemma to this non-specialist reader. I would simply had to follow the Roman north (as Shakespeare does) to the North Sea countries to arrive at the Western root in Britain and comprehend the Modern Period where the British Character has been forthcoming and soon makes sail to the New continents--each small step dependent on the former. The wide literature of the British made so formidable too in Scotland delivers insight to the American because as seen in Virginia, English laws have to adapt to the American vast continent. And the new arrivals set their sight to the Pacific even as they found comfort on the Atlantic Coast by the mentorship that arrived with the governing officials and local shops--one can read their grooming pamphlets to appreciate discipline on the wild forests which Washington crossed as "a sensible man." Writers like Hume would teach the British Union under Scotsman sovereigns; Adam Smith would invigorate the American hope;  Toynbee would carry the length to all corners by the wisdom of practice; Wedgwood, a writer who visited the battlefields of the 17th century would turn a reader's senses to stillness to comprehend the centers of power and their usefulness; as Dickens instills a sense of characters to adopt (by my stepdad's affinity for them), or Woodrow Wilson's writing as the newest discovery to explain the English and its educational foundation. Increasingly so, as the West and its adherents in various countries meet the rest, the American Character became more legible to me via Britain.

What I didn't realize till later in my experience, because it is up to me to learn the Protestant Ethics which is deliberated at depth in books and pamphlets--secular and religious--but refrain from giving too many verbal and explicit advice in person out of politeness:  What I met on the grounds of museums and by personal examples shown on blogs and speeches is the importance of a sense of the perspective in the arts; they clothe one's bearing and decorum and writing and furniture and government practices and I call beautiful and is instilled by wisdom that a craftsman would recognize (link  and link). By such paths, I came to see myself as a British American and a US Citizen.

XIV. First lady Lady Laura Bush first hinted my attention to the importance, then Dolly Parton with her outreach--storied at the Library of Congress--and finally Queen Camilla with her Reading Room to help realize as I looked about the vista of this town that as a generation we don't read. The graduates versed in the classics or in critical-thinking writing that emerged in the UK by formal education or outside the classroom were of a motivation that culminated after World War Two; it would soon relent to the digital age. As more books became accessible online in free libraries, it's peculiar that we read less or some related deficiency in our rituals. It was during this meditation while anchored in an Episcopal Parish, I continued my path to the Enlightenment Period that will bestow via books  joy and beauty that are as strong and wise as we can interpret them. And registering at Mary Baldwin University as a non-degree student, I look to measure my skills by the feedback of the dedicated teacher who is a hallmark of this college towards pioneers. Where as originally it focused on women who acquire increasing skills, it still ought to while it welcomes a New American like I am who started from small skills but truly must do the hard work to understand and acquire the American Character.

The Way of the West link

XIII. Britain as the founder of the West: It was easier to hear of the Protestant Work Ethic when I was growing up, and it is all too real still; in the capacities to unify a continent while everyone may flourish is a skill in governance that one may call beautiful as inherent also in domestic fashion--while the implicit understanding remains that the new arrival will contribute and represents how I describe myself: The Pioneers in Williamsburg strived and ached and pondered the best means to transfer laws of the Englishmen to apply in a new geography and maintain the interior beauty of the home. The present writer (and migrant) chose to acquire civic skills as a citizen rather than rely on habits of old as naturally one speaks the language of a settled country and discovers the virtues penned by hard inquiries of readers and writers in the speaker's literature--the innovation by manufacturers eludes him while recognizing the foundation of the modern age they begin; the space age is a marvel. In the Commonwealth of Virginia,  it's not difficult to eventually look towards Britain and read and recognize the restored friendship that is British American. Why be surprised if the inspiration to write my writing is schooled by the stylish examples there and by Shakespeare who makes Britain independent with Henry VIII? When the Queen Anne's Men and their sovereign who is a Scotswoman unify Scotland and England, and when The Royal Society is birthed, isn't the Sea frontier conquered when under King George born of Germany wins the first global war for Britain? This Atlantic Friendship that won victories is likely to innovate in the space frontier just as Germans blossom in a kingdom steeped in with a Parliament and in a continental republic versed by difficult works, by their wide skills after arrival. Their stories are written along The Philadelphia Wagon Trail. With Queen Elizabeth II, and now King Charles III, The Commonwealth character takes shape and awaits a description.

The Moon Landings as a beginning like the Atlantic States; looking with new eyes (link);

Constitutional Law meets the Frontier (link).

XI. A pattern to live by open to all:  The proposition that a way of life that is Western, is based on books--lifetime journaling and reading--would not be a novel approach to a Scotsman who invented the tools of the West; at the same time, to propose that a Language like English is fundamental to that life and good governance by a constitutional nature has to be explained. The moment when English becomes the primary language and when one's thinking is also in the same might not be memorable to some, though I found it highly constructive. All the skills I acquired or influenced by culminated in becoming a writer; how it can effect a career will have to be explained by neighbors though often one's vocation is about character. Clues by George Washington also point to the importance of grooming and style so evident in the instructions of Colonial life that was a frontier. The reading that began with the patriotism of Livy would follow to the stoicism of Tacitus and dexterity of Machiavel (on the Republic) then continue onward until C.V. Wedgwood's unparalleled fluency of the English Civil War and 17th century turned this reader's attention to Margaret Fuller's potent observational skills as she reaches Italy. And soon after standing by Mary Baldwin University where Mary Julia as the second founder shaped the departments and earlier Rev. Rufus Bailey laid the confidence to see women's potential for analytics, it becomes possible to render a PUBLIC prominence that depends on language. That skill may be forgotten as newspapers fade away--a dangerous proposition to contemplate--while the attention of a visitor is drawn to the Buildings' namesakes to wonder who they might have been or how motivated. Thomas Grafton for one elicits the timelessness of virtue that comes from education, written during once celebration (link). The Campus that Mary Baldwin built welcomed Wilson, FDR, and Eisenhower, by an intimate style that looks to the introvert, as I see it, who will be versed in the Western Histories and speak intelligibly as required. The West, then in this reckoning follows the Hellenistic to Roman Britain and lays the cornerstone by Constantine's vision, in England, of the cross to begin the framework for organizational capacity over "cultural geography;" it promotes civics, flourishes by innovation, writes exquisitely, and will travel far by an upbringing that instills confidence in adults. So fortunate are we in the Space Age. 

I was lucky while born to Armenian parents in Iran (link) and (link) to discover a Parish when I arrived in Staunton to call home and to detect details by which the Anglican Communion reasoned and practiced PUBLIC "manners and the good arts and sciences." This quote seen at William and Mary (link) will beguile such a writer and point ahead to Queen Anne's Men who heralded the Scotswoman as sovereign and the Presbyterian heritage at both colleges. Who will explain?

"It was a Merry Christmas of 2025
when all was solemn under the Constellation;
A walk to the Parish, lit by the Nineth hour after Noon
Spoke forth language 'inestimable,'
except by the long span of time by which it tells its history.

And the Young bring forth celebration in their Chorister, open to all." (link)

X. On Acquired Habits: Arnold Toynbee wrote a masterpiece including a description of "Change and Habit" enforced by the nuclear age plus a survey in time and place that helped clarify the West as a planetary phenomena. In one of his travels he describes the Armenian in a region where my stepfather served with the Peace Corps. Later references from newspapers of an Armenian wife to Samuel Huntington or an Armenian  Mom to Steve Jobs or an Armenian Governor of California during or just before Reagan were encouraging--though their experience were never advertised by me. It was intense reading of non-fiction and constant over the years outside the classroom that ultimately prevailed to help gradually acquire the understanding and practices, though not completely, the public spirit that is civic virtue in the US. While after the Apollo Landings, the country burst forth in a call to freedom to unleash the potential energies of the Public Mind, that original assessment by the British Enlightenment held my imagination: It was beautiful, sturdy or "steadfast," evident in the civil war that upheld the federal idea by its ability for restoration, and the remarkable journeys to extreme distances. In the Rural South that begins in a Philadelphia Landing and contours towards Virginia with stays in Golden and Dallas and Houston, the culture that teaches by work also is made apparent. To an only child living a sheltered life that experience would be helped by Dolly Parton's admonition and example. The Blue Ridge Mountains include the Kars formation, a former sea coastline, and life-giving farms in their rich flora ready for portraits and advanced robotics.

Arriving near a campus, a catalogue entry describes Japanese lessons offered by a college. The Western Idea truly took hold in fantastic measures, and the night sky introduces the new map. For the American as I observe it,  the frontier appears a reason of the Revolution and is called the Spirit of '76.

IX. I visited the Mormon Temple in Washington DC ("The Church of the Latter-Day Saints" is preferred as explained to my by two young missionaries on the road) and recognized a language in its Bible that was intricate and thoroughly American: That Jesus landed in the US in ancient times (after His resurrection?) and that a location in the state of New York holds a key discovery; it is persuasive to me by the architecture it constructs. Such a people who move to a hard country of salt flats and develop it while displaying a sense of proportion that can be studied did come later. My Journey to Greece did not result in a successful marriage nor able to relate by its language while incredibly I met two young Church of the Latter-Day Saints missionaries again in a quaint town outside of Athens ("Maroussi") to remind me of their faith. The Island of famed Aegina, meanwhile, by its small library showcased the history of Mycenae in superb prose in English as did the famous Postal Museum of Athens in Ancient Greek written on walls as art and originally the home of a German and his Greek wife. Upon my return to the US, I looked for the rural setting that appreciates Christianity which I regard by their its intimate architecture so readily dominant to the visitor appearing before it. I also learned by Nasa's gifts in photographs how an Apollo module was named "Aegina" to remind me how the Classics influenced Americans then,  but I believe British icons will prove more definitive to the Modern Period as we venture to stay on the Moon--as they did on the Atlantic coast. A book on churches in any Valley or ridge would reveal the religious background by which the frontier and then the giant Continent was civilized as we know it today and is doubted unconsciously after the Moon landing.

A good sermon awaits which will reason our judgment beyond the biosphere. 

VIII. On differentiation - Attention with words comes much later as one's thinking is blessed with clarity that comes from the beauty of sentence structures. With 9-11, the first attack the US Continent experienced, this writer's response was to follow the public news and unexpectedly learned of the war against insurgency that was also experienced in Afghanistan earlier and appeared then very similar by its public focus during world wars, as I read the American Heritage Series.  The American ability was shown within days as was in Iraq earlier, and it was inevitable to think of reconstruction as with the World War Experiences. Looking for the origins of the US Character in the 1990s, the Hellenic experience came to attention and only became intelligible with a marriage to a women born in Athens and an Illyrian line. The Mediterranean being a colony of Athens, it represented an encounter in time that could educate by the classics if a new American was interested to trace origins. It was only after the return to the US that the traces to Britain, its civil war, and religious roots to America became obvious: A Writer like his predecessors in Athens would describe the colonial enterprise that was British American but in our case proven by the advanced manufacturing that leads to space travel. Who were the Christian Churches a young arrival would sketch on Philadelphia streets? How does internal architecture describe the sacred? All those notions came early and transcended by the practical writings of Franklin and later by Civil War writers--who discovered too keenly the awful truths of such conflicts (also made known in the long trials of the Peloponnesian War).

Once again the German comes to mind's attention; Handel arrives in the UK to write beautiful composition to the Royal Navy. Beethoven's "Grand Flight" suggests the reasons of the American revolution without explanation. A book at a Gettysburg Library notes the presence of Germans in American battles and elsewhere their presence in Britain to win global wars reveals a sovereign. It was as a Scotsman-learning-English, though, that I retained my mooring and my friendship with an idea worth living.

VII. In this town, Staunton Virginia, the 116 Regiment points to the First Global Contest that tested the British American and subsequently won the East and West Indies. And to discover Col. George Washington again by his contribution in the West, simply reveals a key matter. The US is a global responsibility while its citizens often look to rights; the newcomer too who follows the Gatsby tale will be impatient or deluded by missing the point of a Franklin in Philadelphia, rendering his Almanac to the public education of a farmer. That same Washington coming to grips with the eloquence of Sarah Fairfax and shaping his manners by them point to the importance of language in the public sphere of such a wide scale. I'm not surprised the New Frontier opened with Goddard's notebooks and followed an arc of accomplishments that planted on a new sea [of Tranquility]. The women will pioneer in like manner as described in Virginia and the Atlantic states.

Meanwhile, it helps to regard Beethoven as a contemporary with Washington and American Pioneers who fought for a Parliament. Listening to his late string quartets proved important. The sentiment for republic (or "representation") away from empire begins with him in the The Third Symphony "Hero" when the Composer changed his dedication from Col. Napoleon to a "Hero" in anticipation of an archetype soon evident in countless independence movements. While Napoleon chose the path to Emperor, Washington crosses the Delaware, while in Japan the Meiji Era heralds the modern period inspired by a Sun Goddess lineage that MacArthur will meet in Tokyo and refine by a sensitivity informed by a Quaker in the safety of an American peace time and parliamentary discipline. 

VI. A milestone to recognize - Like the native born who reads first and takes on the discipline of grammar in formal education, my example is filled by the successive rigors of reading first as an adult learner of the English language--the stylist who attracts most by not just content but a poetic sense that is practical as if the practitioner needs to write clearly before he can master his craft. It was not at the beginning nor now that I discovered the confidence that comes with grammar; my approach is the independent study uniquely suited to me, but in the middle years as I look back to the 40 years that have engaged my attention. There are ways to teach grammar by a book which the Department of Agriculture promoted in a school that it ran and left me highly motivated to accept grammar by its exceptions and to look upon the Department as highly competent.

What proved useful just now: "In titles and subtitles of books, plays, student papers, and so on, capitalize the first and last words and all other words except articles, coordinating conjunctions, prepositions and the to in infinitives. The articles are a, an, the; the coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet." (Reference pending)

The reasoning that is Britain comes to a reader by carefully following the developing texts that are published as The Commonwealth is established from small beginnings and in turn arrives on the shores of the Atlantic in America to establish the Protestant Work Ethic. The same reasoning conceptualized the Continental Army because the Continent was intended to be organized under an administrative know how as old as the unifying England and then later Wales and Scotland--and Northern Ireland by its sinews.  The manners that connect both the US President and the Sovereign (King Charles III, now) represent a flourishing public responsibility that has to be experienced. In America it is called a Manifest Destiny and in Britain expressed by the love earned as one neighbor speaks to another in good will. At Mary Baldwin University, her second founder established "Schools" to instill the English and History Departments as she later traveled to discover Britain to return "refreshed" and invigorated by a writing uniquely authored by  Mary Waters Ph.D. in 1942, as she recollects the achievement of analytical studies. Undoubtedly in the year she wrote, the combined efforts of the British-American and the Commonwealth to defend the origin of the West that is Albion was all too apparent.

-Antony Frame

V. Examples that gave confidence: The Germans arriving in America were of a region that had to be learned arriving also in Philadelphia and follow a Wagon Trail that traversed Virginia Ridges. Their insistence on maintaining their skill in German kept them aloof but by Marhsall and Eisenhower, following Muhlenberg's example, had completely earned the trust of the country, after the tough challenges of the First World War. By example, too, he or she conveys the demeanor that is competent and will converse all the while engaged in book making. By the same example, today, this reader recognizes a similar impulse by a migration that arrived from Livy's homeland. The turning point as I see it, is his capacity to translate Homer--better than I have seen in English examples that render the Classical English unique to the Universities--and also in increasing number of writings that show a temperament to conduct the constitutional affairs at sea or on land. The Italian takes on the burden of innovators for a reason all his own but most likely if I understand the process also familiar. This tendency to construct shows in America in every age. With the Air Force, recently birthed in the 1940s, I think, a reader of American forces at work in the recent battles will try to portrait a combined operation that is uniquely American and also global in scope as with Britain's Admiralty. Their successes as with Germans and Italians who inform this writer are all the while respectful of tradition and recognize the difficulties of a Continent that insists on an intelligible map; fortunately for this writer, the beauty of the English language in Sherlock Holmes, and successors provided the reasons to clothes his understanding. Should I be surprised if the British American and the like minded allies experience joy in orbiting the space frontiers?

-Antony Frame 

IV. On learning English: On discovering a Parish to call home, the early years too come to view when first discovering the potent language which English is. Its story will guide a reader around the world and recount countless invasions in the British Isle that affected vocabulary or spelling until Independence was attained; a reader by the sheer example of books written by reasoning authors led the present writer towards non-fiction. And good writing required a style which a People would convey their sentiment most lasting when it is for joy. In my case, I discovered several such records but one remains a competent voice that teaches the national theme that was American when published and is instructive by narrating the arts and sciences as they can apply to future subjects. Melville fights in the Army during the War Among US States can also recall a harpoon ship's fate and explain whaling--that most rugged of men who are fishermen archetypes in Britain's coasts as in New England-- and draws a map of the Pacific. The language by its early admonition while at port teaches the lesson of the Pulpit with Father Maple, is all male while the sea is ever Unconsciously a feminine principle that reveals the Captain. The narrator's voice reaches with disinterestedness as a Presbyterian, to once again discover the religion which travels far like the ships-of-war manned by officers of the Royal Navy by the Anglican or the US Navy by the Episcopalian who kept and keep the sea aloft as global powers (as I read it). In Melville's "The Whale," religion, biology, psychology, and English combine to teach the multidisciplinary method of looking at nature and write it well. If it is reflective and observing, it too follows Margaret Fuller's lead to traverse the planet in parts and make sense of it.

I believe by hard schooling in letters, men and women will help work the frontier as it opens again while the Colleges respecting British Studies will prove essential.

-Antony Frame

See "Journey to Britain" in 1840s by Margaret Fuller, a writer who studied intensely from an early age:
https://www.lulu.com/shop/antony-frame/journey-to-britain/ebook/product-95jry5d.html

Mary Julia Baldwin becomes president of the Women Seminary (now Mary Baldwin University) in 1863, after loosing a parent and graduating first in class, 1846; Cornelius Baldwin settling the Virginia Branch of the Family. Gold College, today, that includes The English Department which she directly led as a teacher--just as future women presidents will prove a preference.
https://marybaldwin.edu/meet-mbu/colleges/gold/

III. On writing: An Argument to commemorate Margaret Fuller at the U.S. Post Office - From the contours of Mary Baldwin University as a resident in Staunton, Virginia, it is easy to think of Margaret Fuller as a kindred spirit if only she and Mary Julia had met. Margaret Fuller was born soon after George Washington in a decade known as the Federalist Period and to this reader, writes as if she is devoted to his writing and memory, while Mary Julia Baldwin, born in 1829 and graduating first in her class, rises to the occasion as an underestimated niece of General and later Judge Briscoe Baldwin to take the leadership of what will become the oldest Women Seminary and Presbyterian School. When Margaret Fuller writes in the plural pronoun, “We,” she is referring to the signers of the Constitution and as if speaking on behalf of that pioneering voice that brought the republic to the American shore. The first founder of Mary Baldwin University was Dr. Rev Rufus Bailey of Maine who instilled the not so revolutionary idea that the Society of Friends in Philadelphia also lived by: That women are “rational beings” and that analytical studies like mathematics and the English departments are worthy skills to cultivate in a nation and its causes.

        Margaret reached Italy via England to practice her keen capacity for observation and as an observer for Greely and represents the American outreach to inaugurate the post-colonial period that instills or liberates nation-states by constitutional laws. Mrs. Ossoli, as her highly literate brother would introduce her is a far more insightful portraitist, while we can only appreciate the adherence to literacy she displays that our higher schools need promote. Do we read as well? Can we pen an article in depth as minutely detailed? The Baldwin schoolmates who were in awe of their fellow “Full Graduates” could, and so it is easy from this town in Virginia to support any effort that supports an artist with the US Post Office to commemorate Margaret Fuller.

        Most remarkable of all, in one article written, as I read “Marianna,” we are placed in the confines of limited opportunities that women were assigned and recognize how the mind would shrivel at the boredom and insanity of the situation. Slowly and with the Wilsons in the Wilson presidency, women finally gained the vote and continue the pioneering work they are so proficient—if only we can celebrate the true character of Margaret Fuller without exaggerations and recognize women friendship in all their nuances.

Post script: This letter is written after recognizing how Educators determine the fate of colleges and students as practicing decision makers, and the role they represent to any department. 

-Antony Frame

Member:
Margaret Fuller Society
Augusta County Historical Society

see "Reflections for The New Year" by Margaret Fuller:
https://www.lulu.com/shop/antony-frame/reflections-for-the-new-year/ebook/product-v8qe74d.html

II. The American Idea: As I lived it while growing was the proposition that the continent is a destination where men and women of races would acquire skills and well being to succeed by precedence of political manners and innovation of tools. I didn't quite phrase it that way at first,  but landing in Philadelphia, meeting Franklin on Market Street at his print shop or come upon the Liberty  Bell accessible behind a glass architecture, not too far from the famed Franklin Mint did introduce me to Protestant churches and their writings.

Language, pronunciation, or the Histories that describe America included moves to Washington DC and also the search for Hellenic layers in the Eastern Mediterranean that ultimately pointed the origins to the British Isle with its Roman imprints. A Quaker Highschool, and a sweetheart who never watched television revealed the importance of books by the Enlightenment Period that instilled Constitutional abilities, just as my stepdad's background as a Hopkins graduate, when it was still an all-male school, encouraged self-study at home at my own pace.

The City or Town you're born in and the one where you flourish may be the same to enjoy the charm and decorum of responsibilities. When not, the town that chooses you or you flourish by is akin to a Huguenot discovering the serendipity of America's adoption. So much time and critical thinking has been written in the pages of Western thoughts and ideas that heralded the West since the arrival of the Saxons in Britain--as President Wilson at Hopkins describes the administration of a uniting England--that the organizational skills and political finesse to practice the Federal System in the US is an integrated study and much to be admired. 

It inevitably attracted the present writer to keep learning, and now settles in Staunton, Virginia surrounded by a character steeped in the Arts, Education, History, and Military--foremost to him is Mary Baldwin. 

-Antony Frame