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The setup

The Whittaker Saga: the setup

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 I  was vastly inspired when reading the decades challenge, and as a history teacher, I could not stop myself from giving it a try. Of course, true to my nature or refusing to do things by the book, the first thing I did was break the rules. How? By creating as my protagonist a single, working woman living on her own! Gasp! Why? Partly because a story popped into my head, but also, partly, to honor the many women who - by choice or necessity - actually worked, and worked hard for their living in the 1890s. We tend to forget them, but the working women were there - from the hard working farmers that we often downgrade by calling wives, as if they weren't an essential part of the economy of the farm, to the working class women working as domestic help or in the factories where they were only payed half of a man's wages.  So with that, I introduce Abigail Spencer, a single, working, middle class woman in 1890s Willow Creek:  As middle class there is only a few jobs avai...
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1970s: Birthdays, studies and finding someone to love

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While tensions are high at Thomas and Betty's, Arthur and his family are preparing for a birthday party. 1970 and 71 has been intense. The failure of Apollo 13 meant all current projects had to be reviewed and reexamined with upgraded emergency response protocols and extensive failure-mode simulations, while the fact that the Soviet launched the first space station, and then successfully docked with it a few months later, meant a double down on the attempts to create something similar. Over all of Edwards, focus shifted, from getting to the moon (now that they had) to being able to stay up in space for longer, and then land - rather than splash down - on reentry making them reusable. Projects such as M2-F3 and X-24A, focusing on what was called "lifting body technology" (being able to glide and land) meant Arthur spent his days pouring over wind tunnel data, telemetry, and prepping for post-flight debriefs with pilots. At home, however, the girls were getting bigger, wild...
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1970s: In which Susan goes to prom, Carl rebells, and Michael finds it hard to keep his promise.

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To prepare her for prom, Betty is taking Susan shopping for a new dress. There has opened a new clothing store on Oasis Strip, and they are both eager to check it out. They start browsing for a dress, and Susan tries out a few different ones. Betty likes the color of the pink one, but thinks it bares too much skin, Susan dislikes the color but likes the cut.   But even if they are looking for dresses for Susan, she finds something for mum too. "Isn't it too..." Betty starts, but Susan interrupts her. "It's radical. So cool. Mum, you must get it!" Back home Betty shows off her new outfit, which she chose to buy in a completely different color than what Susan suggested. In Susan's mind, it's not nearly as cool, but mum is happy so she doesn't say anything. Besides, she has other things on her mind. Like getting ready! She spends hours in front of the mirror, trying to get her hair and make-up right. They're seniors, she's not, she has to lo...
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