Author James G.B. Allardice's new book "The Red Diaries" is an evocative portrait in real time of two decades in the life of a family and of a nation

From benzinga.com

MANCHESTER, N.H., June 26, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- James G.B. Allardice is a New Jersey native and father of two who was born in 1941, served four years as a commissioned officer on US Coast Guard cutters after his graduation from the University of Vermont, had a long career in various phases of retail banking, and currently enjoys his retirement in Manchester, New Hampshire. He has published his new book "The Red Diaries": a selection of journal entries written by his father, James K. Allardice, between 1943 and 1963. James K. Allardice was born in Jersey City in 1899, had successful careers as an entertainer, theatrical producer, newspaperman, legislator, and public servant until he retired in 1959.

The author writes, "On January 1, 1943, my dad, James K. (Kenneth) Allardice, began keeping a diary he called 'national diary'. These were fairly large diaries (9½" × 7½"), and he faithfully kept a daily accounting of family activities as well as noting important local, national, and international events.

"In many respects, these diaries resemble newspaper pages. This was due to his early endeavours as a newspaper founder, columnist, editor, and publisher.

"What you will read in the following pages are just excerpts from the diaries. It was quite a task to choose what to include as the diaries from 1943 to 1963 contain almost 7,300 pages as well as hundreds of clippings and photos.

"I hope that what follows will give an interesting account of my family growing up together, dealing with the everyday joys and challenges, and what life was like at 611 Main Street, Toms River, New Jersey."

The diaries are archived with the Ocean County Historical Society in Toms River, New Jersey."

Published by Page Publishing, James K. Allardice's nostalgic book is a contemporaneous window into an enormously eventful period in American life.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase "The Red Diaries" at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/20/06/n16400889/author-james-g-b-allardices-new-book-the-red-diaries-is-an-evocative-portrait-in-real-time-of-two-

Why you should read Anne Frank's diary during lockdown

From timesofindia.indiatimes.com

'The Diary of a Young Girl' by Anne Frank, often abbreviated to Anne Frank's Diary, is one of the most important pieces of fiction to come out of the second world war. It follows a young Jewish girl named Anne who lived in the Netherlands during the second world war. She had to go into hiding due to the prosecution of Jews and most of the diary is about how she lived with her family, another family of three and an old dentist named Fritz Pfeffer (called Albert Dussel in Anne's version as she wished to use pseudonyms). She spent about two years in hiding and maintained a diary, which has now been translated into many languages and is published worldwide.

While comparing her forced confinement to our corona confinement in many ways underplays how much she had at stake, readers will no doubt better understand the book if they read it now. While books are often used for escapism in times like these, reading this now might be psychologically helpful. It can be cathartic and inspiring. Even if you have read the book, as it's often recommended to young teens, you should revisit it now, and encourage teens stuck at home during the summer holidays to read it.

                                                                Photo: annefrank.org

Anne was 13 when she was confined to the hideout. Her diary starts a little before then and she comes across as a confident and cheerful girl, talking about outwitting her teachers, her large group of friends and the many boys who 'fell in love' with her. The evidence of Jew persecution is evident as she details how it grew in the beginning. After she moves with her family into hiding, you see the stress of the war and the hate outside and the tension of always living in close quarters with less than perfect people affecting her, but she still holds on to hope and more often than not remains cheerful. Many might be feeling similar things worldwide in their confinement.

Re-reading the book is recommended right now, not to draw comparisons and feel miserable that your life might resemble that of a Jew hiding from a Nazi; or to force yourself to feel better as you don't have it that bad; but to simply share the thoughts of someone who lived through something similar and find strength as you feel empathetic or inspired by her.

If you have read or are re-reading it during lockdown, here are some thoughts you can take away

Life goes onThe world was at war outside, their home was a hideaway and their future uncertain. Yet there are still chores to do, studies to attend to and work and money to worry about. Mixing the mundane with the new reality sometimes seems trivial, sometimes is comforting but always seems at odds with the situation.
However this book proves it can be a pathway to making a new normal, as they had to.

Books can provide a good escapeAnne constantly told her diary about what she was reading. How a funny series lightened her mood, how mythology fascinated her etc. Most in the annex were kept busy with their reading the same way many today are binging on book, movies and TV/web series.

Constantly learning and keeping the mind busy is good for youDespite the prospect of school being far, all the children kept up with their education, studying as well as taking other courses to supplement their learning. They had limited materials, relying on what books their friends could smuggle in for them but they never stopped trying. Just as Anne's sister decided to take up calligraphy, many today are trying to pick up skills as well as study something new. As Anne wrote, “Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.”

People don't want to be cheered up and your cheerful voice will be silenced by gloom sometimesCabin fever is strongly displayed in the book and one thing we can take away is that in hard times not everyone is receptive to positivity. Though her words were concise, Anne was a chatterbox and often tried to maintain conversation only to be rebuked for it, even if she meant well. Such irritability is building up in many quarantined together and one shouldn't take it too personally.

It's okay to indulge in your 'shallow' interests if they bring you joyEven after a year of not being outside Anne would get excited to read the magazines on films their friends would sometimes get them. She would also try out hairstyles she saw in them and show them to the family and they made clear they found this frivolous. Many of us might have equally simple hobbies that bring us peace or joy. As long as they don't harm anyone, indulge in it and don't let anyone shame you for something that brings you joy.

Families aren't perfectSince Anne was a teenage girl, it's not surprising she had a lot of disagreements with her family and with the others, who thought she had been raised far too modern. A lot of her frustration was vented out in the pages and it shows that every family, even with the best intentions is not perfect. A sentiment all locked down with their families are feeling.

People can get very pettyLiving in such close quarters bought out some of the worst sides of everyone's character. Mr. Dussel would grudge sharing his desk with Anne for even a few allotted hours though she needed it for her studies. Anne would resent her sister's relationship with her parents and Mrs. Van Pels would fight with her husband. Such occurrences were commonplace but confined quarters made big issues out of small problems, as many quarantined together would have noticed.

It's normal to crave for a friendAnne over time got so lonely she became friends with the van Pels' son Peter. Though they never liked each other at first, due to lack of options they became friends and at times Anne thought she felt more for him but also admitted to her diary that it was because they were stuck together. Humans are social animals by nature and being kept away from society for so long will make us find solace anywhere, so don't be surprised if you feel strongly in different ways about the people around you.

All the depressive and anxious feelings you feel are normalThough Anne seems to complain about others a lot, she is open about how that's also a manifestation of the frustration and fear the outside situation brings on. She writes on how hearing gunfire would fill her with fear, of how she sometimes had trouble sleeping especially if alarms were going on around the city and enemy planes were heard overhead. She openly admits, despite her age, that she'd go from the room she shared with Mr Dussel to sleep in her parents bed for comfort.

"I've been taking valerian every day to fight the anxiety and depression, but it doesn't
stop me from being even more miserable the next day. A good hearty laugh would
help better than ten valerian drops, but we've almost forgotten how to laugh.
Sometimes I'm afraid my face is going to sag with all this sorrow and that my mouth
is going to permanently droop at the corners. The others aren't doing any better.
Everyone here is dreading the great terror known as winter," she wrote.

With the constant news of increasing numbers, people doing risky things, governments not helping the situation and no cure in sight, many people are feeling exactly what she does.

You can remain positive most of the timeDespite all she would vent, Anne's thoughts would always end on a hopeful note that wasn't illogically wistful and one has to admire her strength. Maybe we should all try to ride out our emotions and face them and we can end in a better place.

Maintaining a diary helpsA diary helps sort out your emotions. When living in lockdown it can be hard to confide with the ones you're constantly with, as it might make the situation worse. A diary can help in that situation, as it helped Anne. She wrote, “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

A diary doesn't have to be maintained with a notebook and fountain pen as Anne did but can be typed on a device, a series of voice recordings or even a video journal.

News shouldn't be constantIn Anne's life news was heard on a radio at certain times of the day and local news came from friends who bought them supplies. Hearing it only fuelled the stress and anxiety but it was and is necessary to stay aware and informed. In our times we have to be careful we aren't overconsuming news or content as that will convince us the world is worse than it is. Like them, we must keep busy with other activities while staying informed.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/why-you-should-read-anne-franks-diary-during-lockdown/articleshow/76336704.cms

The Bright Side To Every Crisis: How Covid-19 Can Help You Become A Better Leader

From ceoworld.biz
By Rick Andrade

One day everything’s normal, the next we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. Not since 1918 has the world mobilized to fight such a common invisible foe. And back then as now many would-be leaders were compelled for the first time to dig deep, step up, and lead with the strength of an intrepid warrior.
“A nobleman compares and estimates himself by an idea that is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself.” This quote from Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher is relevant now more than ever.

Today, whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or CEO of your home and family we’re all in the same fight against this Great Virus. And given the uncertainties of our decisions, we will undoubtedly question ourselves, doubt ourselves, and search for ways to manage our daily affairs better. But we may also recognize that in troubled times we can also learn important things about ourselves, and in turn use this challenging opportunity to reflect, adjust and emerge a better, more insightful person and leader. And the best way to see the forest through the trees and help improve upon your personal performance in a crisis according to experts is to get in touch with your inner self-expression by keeping a Personal Journal.

Outward self-expression is nothing new. There are many forms from art to science. Personal self-expression via clothing, jewellery, footwear and body-art have been a hallmark of mankind since the dawn of human existence. But what of the mind of the creators of written self-expressive forms? Do creators of personal literary artefacts learn from their creations? How does it matter really? Have you ever wondered what people who self-express in written form truly gain from it? You be the judge.

By the time of his death in 180 AD Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius had long learned and appreciated the benefits of writing down his personal thoughts as a conscientious leader, soldier and philosopher of his day. His posthumous 12 books of the Meditations are well studied for their keen observational insights the introverted emperor pondered and recorded over the many campaigns he waged during his 20 year reign.  Perhaps like many great leaders today Aurelius was a complex blend of deep influences. As a Stoic Philosopher common of the day he imbued as an acute and persistent inner quest a rare yearning for self-development. And he learned that finding quiet time to journal his thoughts provided a therapeutic activity of mind and hand to reflect and to take note of his most poignant perspectives, even when they conflicted. Far ahead of his time the Roman conqueror saw the benefits to inscribing his thoughts as an essential part of understanding and developing who he was as a man and a leader. To Marcus Aurelius admittedly keeping a personal diary (or journal) was his way to perpetually self-evaluate and improve himself, a form of hand-written meditation.

Of course, the earliest known written personal form of self-expression is still the ubiquitous Diary. Historically, the diary by definition is a simple daily scribing of chronological events. Over time as personal observations were naturally added as narrative to the text a diary became a personal diary, and from there a Personal Journal which is less about chronology and more about jotting down personal feelings to accompany observations of a particular event or subject.

The earliest known personal diaries with commentary narrative tended to be travelogues. The first written travelogue ever identified and to have survived as such came from the Chinese philosopher and writer Li Ao in the year 809 AD while on a trip through southern China with his then pregnant wife, a detailed account which survives today.

However, in western culture the earliest English written account as a chronological personal record is from Thomas Beckington in 1442 as King’s emissary documenting his 6-month journey from England to France to help arrange the marriage of King Henry VI to the niece of King Charles VII of France. A dreadful endeavour we now know from extraneous personal letters. Flipping through the text you immediately take note of its chronological nature and limited personal reflections. That made this personal diary an effort hardly the self-reflective learning tool it could have been. While Beckington was keeping his personal diary, he was also composing letters wherein he struggled to express and alleviate his truer deeper frustrations during the trip. Given the chance to self-address and work through persistent personal and political ambiguities his keeping of a diary missed the golden opportunity to settle his mind and arbitrate his opposing views.

Enter contemporary times… wherein the best of both diaries and journals have combined into one blended form. Of the most notable accounts in modern history we benefit from today include the written words, drawings, figures and formulas of Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Lewis & Clark, Madame Curie, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson, and of course, Oprah Winfrey who started journaling when she was 15 years old and claims “Keeping a journal will absolutely change your life in ways you’ve never imagined.”

Despite its rich history and promising rewards, however, journaling seems to be a lost art for most people. But not for everyone. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has long been journaling and carries a little notebook with him as he goes about his day to make regular hand notes of his thoughts and feelings as they occur to him. The idea is to learn from your own thoughts. “Don’t just take notes for the sake of taking notes,” he says, “go through your ideas and turn them into actionable and measurable goals.” Good advice.

Dan Ciampa a former CEO of his own consulting firm kept a 12-year personal journal and has authored 5 books on CEO leadership. He advises CEOs today on how important it is to replay events in your day. Because “while the brain records and holds what takes place in the moment…the learning happens after the fact during periods of quiet reflection.” And Marcus Aurelius would agree if only more people everywhere kept a personal journal and referred to it frequently, perhaps we’d have a higher understanding of the importance and positive effect this form of self-expression provides to advancing personal development and enabling better decisions across all of humanity, especially in times of crisis.

So why is keeping a personal journal so effective?
According to research there are many tangible benefits to journaling as mentioned, but other benefits while less tangible are more significantly ethereal. Experts cite three such benefits commonly overlooked to journaling:

• It provides a chance to slow things down, meditate and be contemplative.
• It provides a chance to ask yourself insightful questions like: What biases might be influencing my actions and decisions?
• It provides a chance to allow the connection between mind, body, and spirit to add voice to your introspective opinions.

Getting started
Once you commit to keeping a personal journal the steps to getting started are super easy:

• Buy a paper journal. While digital-online journals are handy. They are not always better.
• Create a Personal Quote on your title page that summarizes your reason for keeping a journal eg) I write this journal to myself and no-one else with the intent to document and explore my observations as…
• Find a quiet place to settle your mind regardless of where you are.
• Start with the basics of your observations – who, what, where, when, and add the ‘why.’
• Try to get in the habit of journaling as often as possible and within 24hrs of an observation.

How to approach your writing

• Be self-reflective – consider how you feel emotionally & why.
• Be balanced in your evaluation of people, and projects, not too critical not too kind.
• Discuss how things are developing good vs bad, pro vs con.
• And finally ask yourself — How can I get better at this?

In summary, what I’m trying to communicate to you is that keeping a journal or personal diary is a proven self-awareness, self-evaluation tool any person can adopt and benefit from. The chance to organize your thoughts into a written narrative that pulls together all aspects of experience and expression is a key best practice these days. The thinking is that while the stresses of a Covid-19 world create lingering unknowns, keeping a personal journal provides a way to not only quietly reflect, but also blow off steam and help relieve the stresses of the day. It’s helped me. Keeping a personal journal allows me to summarize my observances more cerebrally from many points of view, un-edited. And by doing so I can develop new points of view, and often discover new paths through critical problems and that has made me a more confident and actionable leader in my view.

Lastly, when you think about it… now is when the people who count on you the most need the most from you. And so, when you think of the bright side what better time than a global crisis is there to learn another way to reach deep inside yourself and pull your inner voices together and down onto a waiting page. Or as Emperor Marcus Aurelius put it “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” And journaling is our thoughts. So, grab your pen… and let’s journal-down on this crisis.

https://ceoworld.biz/2020/06/08/the-bright-side-to-every-crisis-how-covid-19-can-help-you-become-a-better-leader/

Keeping a journal can be good for your memory, stimulate creativity and can help clear your head

From lasvegasweekly.com
By Geoff Carter

Keeping a personal journal can be a useful way to maintain a healthy mind. “Journaling has become a hallmark of the so-called self-care movement, right up there with meditation,” The New York Times wrote in 2018. Having kept my own journal since 1993, I can affirm that it aids your memory, improves your grammar, enhances your focus and draws out admissions and insights that you’d never share on social media. Here’s some advice on starting your own.

Gear

You generally don’t need special accoutrements for journaling, like fountain pens or Moleskine notebooks. I kept my first journal on office legal pads with a cheap ballpoint pen, then graduated to spiral-bound notebooks and more expensive ballpoints, and then ultimately to, um, fountain pens and Moleskine notebooks. But that’s just me. You can start with any kind of pen and paper—or forgo analogue completely and use a laptop or smartphone. Go with whatever feels natural to you, as long as it’s private and personal.

They wrote it all down

Many authors keep journals as a repository for insights and ideas. Here’s what some have to say about the process.

“This book is my savings bank. I grow richer because I have somewhere to deposit my earnings; and fractions are worth more to me because corresponding fractions are waiting here that shall be made integers by their addition.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. Never mind the misses and the stumbles. Going at such a pace as I do I must make the most direct and instant shots at my object, and thus have to lay hands on words, choose them and shoot them with no more pause than is needed to put my pen in the ink.” –Virginia Woolf
“In the diary you find proof that in situations which today would seem unbearable, you lived, looked around and wrote down observations. … We may be wiser because we are able to look back upon our former condition.” –Franz Kafka
“I’ve been keeping a diary for 33 years and write in it every morning. Most of it’s just whining, but every so often there’ll be something I can use later: a joke, a description, a quote. It’s an invaluable aid when it comes to winning arguments. ‘That’s not what you said on February 3, 1996,’ I’ll say to someone.” –David Sedaris

Journaling for artists

Mary Martin is a self-described “art journaler.” She’s part of a community of creatives that approaches journaling as a form of collage, primarily using Midori Traveler’s Factory notebooks (travelers-factory.com), a leather-bound Japanese import with removable sections. Martin calls this style of journaling “memory-keeping,” and it’s strikingly beautiful—words twist around drawings, plein air watercolours, stickers and bits of applied found art, which Martin calls “ephemera.” In a way, it’s like looking through an illuminated manuscript. (See the #midoritravelersnotebook hashtag on Instagram for examples.)

Martin got her first Midori Traveler’s Factory Notebook as a birthday gift in April 2018. Years ago, she used to keep a Moleskine journal—including “bits of ephemera,” even then—but it didn’t compel her the way art journaling does. “It pulls on me creatively,” she tells the Weekly. “Like many artists, if I’m looking at an A5-sized sheet of blank paper, I’ll freak out. Since this is a smaller format, I feel like I can experiment and not screw up—and if I do, I can always cover it.”

It also provides an invaluable emotional aid. “I disassociate, and I don’t always know that I’m doing it,” she says. “Many parts of my life I just don’t remember, because I was in a dissociative state. This is my way of combating that. If I’m not fully present, I can now look back and remember what I said or did.”

It has proven so beneficial for Martin, she now keeps several books. “I have a journal for my memory-keeping, a separate one for my tarot studies and also a dream journal. Having everything in one spot … that’s too convoluted for me,” she says, chuckling.

How to start a journal (and keep it going)

Just start. Write down whatever comes into your mind, even if it’s I don’t know what to write. “Writing in your journal is the only way to find out what you should be writing about,” the 2018 New York Times article explained. Write something down, then something else and just keep going. (And don’t forget to date your entries when you’re done; it’s a nice way to track your progress over time.) Still stuck? Do a web search for “journaling prompts.”

Make it a habit. Journaling is very similar to exercise, in that while it’s easy to skip, you feel better after you’ve done it, and the positive effects of it unfold over time. If you don’t want to make it a daily thing, you don’t have to. Commit to the idea, and you’ll find your own rhythm, whether it’s daily, weekly or even monthly. And don’t beat yourself up when you lapse; just pick it up again when you’re feeling it.

Don’t hold back, and don’t overthink. Journaling is for your benefit and no one else’s. Knowing that will allow you to be more honest in your writing. And don’t write for an audience other than yourself; that’s trying too hard. You’ll end up writing stuff that doesn’t even make sense to you later on.

Never cross anything out; never tear out a page. When you’ve written something cringe-worthy—something you’re embarrassed to admit came out of your own head—or misspelled a word beyond recognition, don’t give in to the urge to trash it. We make mistakes in life; it’s only natural we should make mistakes in our journals.

https://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/2020/jun/04/keeping-a-journal-can-be-good-for-your-memory/