Author Archives: readersquest

About readersquest

I'm a retired naval officer and writer. I live with my husband, two sons, and several family pets in a house in the woods.

The First of the “Golden Fourteen”: Yeoman 2/C Armelda Hattie Greene, USNR (F)

Posted on August 12, 2018 by readersquest

On August 12, 1918—one hundred years ago today—Miss Armelda Hattie Greene became the first African American woman to enlist officially in the United States armed forces.  Greene was born in Jackson, Mississippi on August 12, 1888, the oldest child of … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Leave a comment

Making WAVES: Depiction of Navy Women in a 1951 Recruiting Comic Book

Posted on July 31, 2018 by readersquest

In honor of yesterday’s 76th anniversary of the creation of the Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), I thought I’d post about this 1951 WAVES recruiting comic book that I found in a file of women’s military recruiting … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literary Criticism | 1 Comment

“Describe a barn…”

Posted on September 5, 2017 by readersquest

I always find the criticism of war literature on friend and colleague Peter Molin’s blog Time Now thought-provoking, and one of his posts this week challenged me to some personal reflection. A subsequent e-mail exchange provoked me into writing about … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Literary Criticism, Stories, Writing Life | 3 Comments

Between Us “Girls”: The US Naval Institute’s 2016 Naval History “Athena Conference”

Posted on September 12, 2016 by readersquest

I’m going to call out an admiral and a general in this post, with all due respect and only the kindest of intent. But first, I’d like to start with a story that I’ve told elsewhere. As a lieutenant on … Continue reading →

Posted in History, In the News | 6 Comments

The Water Is Off in the Fountain. Don’t Let the Lights Go Out, Too.

Posted on June 24, 2016 by readersquest

Friends who are veterans (and family members): I had an email yesterday from the Women’s Memorial Foundation, which is in immediate and serious danger of closing. The Foundation has been forced to cut staff, and when I visited the Memorial … Continue reading →

Posted in Stories, writing life | Tagged | Leave a comment

Writing Life: Down the Rabbit Hole (Again)

Posted on April 17, 2016 by readersquest

I’ve been struggling for a couple of weeks to write the introductory section of Chapter Four of the book Tracy Crow and I  are working on. I have pages of research notes and only 1,500 words or so to write. … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing Life | 2 Comments

The Matriarch of Contemporary Women Veterans’ Literature

Posted on January 27, 2016 by readersquest

Since Cara Hoffman wrote her op-ed “The Things She Carried” for the New York Times in 2014, critics have either pointed out the “absence” of women veterans’ narratives in the canon of war literature, or wondered what female authors today’s women … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Writing Life: Year in Review

Posted on December 29, 2015 by readersquest

I’m not usually inclined to write a “year in review,” even in my journal, but I ended up with so many projects about women veterans and writing that a recap seems to be in order – especially since I got … Continue reading →

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Writing Life: Stitch-and-Bitch

Posted on November 19, 2015 by readersquest

Was recently reading over some of the emails home that served as my journal of our three-year tour in Moscow. My late mother-in-law, God bless her, had the foresight to print out the ones she found interesting and collect them … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Writing Life | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Writing Life – Call for Submissions, Upcoming Deadline

Posted on October 20, 2015 by readersquest

The response to our call for submissions to the Veterans Writing Project’s literary journal O-Dark-Thirty for a special themed issue, writing by women veterans, has been gratifying. We’ve received four or five times the usual number of submissions for a quarterly issue, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Writing Life | Leave a comment