Lee Behlman
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lbehlman.bsky.social
Lee Behlman
@lbehlman.bsky.social
130 followers 300 following 25 posts
Professor of English, Montclair State University
I write about things Victorian with teaching sidelines in the Bible and crime fiction. Movie fan. Thelma Ritter acolyte.
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lbehlman.bsky.social
I especially enjoy the "Do you teach grammar? I hated that" line of inquiry.
December 1, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Reposted by Lee Behlman
dfarnitano.bsky.social
“I’ll fight until hell freezes over and then I’ll cut the ice and fight on”
post by @jamellebouie.net from chandra manning's wonderful book "what this cruel war was over" Nothing made slavery's toxicity more obvious to Union troops than its effect on the fundamental unit of society, the family. For one thing, slave sales separated families. In the Upper South, where many Union soldiers were stationed in 1861, about one in three first marriages was broken by sale, and about half of all slave children were separated from at least one parent. 129 With their own eyes, soldiers saw slavery snap bonds between parents and children. The men of the Seventh Wisconsin were awakened by gunshots one November night. The following day, soldiers "learned, and saw the cause of the alarm in the form of two negro women—a mother and a daughter." The pair had fled to Union lines to avoid the proposed sale of the "goodlooking" daughter into the so-called fancy trade, which soldiers viewed as a form of concubinage. Outraged by the plight and moved by the vulnerability of the mother and daughter, "every private in the ranks" cursed "that system which tramples on the honor of man, and makes merchandise of the virtue of women," according to one member of the regiment. 130 When an Iowan encountered a young child about to be sold by her own father, who was also her master, he vowed, "By G-d I'll fight till hell freezes over and then I'll cut the ice and fight on."
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
lbehlman.bsky.social
I really miss Flashback. 😔 My wife and I have been listening to the old episodes with great pleasure. I hope that someday you and Kam can get the band back together.
November 16, 2025 at 6:49 PM