A while ago I saw a truly, terrible rant by a blogger on WordPress who was outraged that people were liking their posts without actually reading them. They had a list of reasons to justify how they knew people were doing this.  They also had a long list of grievances against subscribers who treated their posts so shoddily.

So, here I am to say that I am guilty of this heinous offence. 

I sometimes struggle to get onto WordPress. When I do feel well enough and I see how many posts I have missed, I feel overwhelmed. I try to click into each post using the WP Reader, to at least get a sense of the publisher’s aim, or to look at the pictures, but frequently find even that too much for me. 

Quite apart from the fact I have a grand-sized excuse for my lethargy, (for those who don’t know, I have a degenerative condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome), I don’t understand why anyone would be upset at getting acknowledgement for their post, even if cursory.

I am very fond of the people who write the blogs I follow and want them to know I haven’t disappeared into the ether. A quick click on the like button lets them know I am still interested and still trying to stay in the loop. A quick check-in also helps to maintain my passion for publishing my own posts, when I am back to being able to sit up long enough to write them.

So, am I bad? Am I insulting you? Are you offended by the careering clicker? Let me know in the comments section, below.

Catherine at 16

When I first introduced the photos above and below, in my post Sweet 16, I was unable to read the name that was written on the back of one of the photos. I received a lot of help identifying the sitter from reader’s comments. Ellis Tyd from How to Spot a Fraud was the first to give me her correct name, Catherine Nichepor. He also sent me a link, as did Mike from Mike’s Look at Life, to a blog where Catherine’s hand written recipes were being posted. This link also contained a lot of information about her history. John Crispin from John Crispin’s Notebook sent me a link to a US census of a Katherine Nichepor. It is definitely the same Catherine, despite her first name being spelt differently. I also received other links that were not quite as fruitful, but thank you to everyone for their help. I was thrilled with the response!

Here is some of Catherine’s story from the blog Yesterdish. Most of this information was taken from a scrapbook the author bought at a car boot sale.

Catherine was the daughter of Russian immigrants. In primary school, she went by the name Katrina Nichepor, then Cathern in middle school, finally settling on Catherine in high school. 

Her parents operated a general store. She graduated from Wyandotte High School in 1933, a year after her elder sister Sophie. Sophie and Catherine both grew up dancing, and danced together in festivals at their Russian Orthodox church.

In 1935 Catherine started her dancing career. She danced under her own name and occasionally under the name Kay Nichols. She kept a scrapbook with newspaper clippings of some of the shows in which she performed, including the Hit Parade of 1936 in an autographed photo she sent home to her sister.

Catherine around 20 years old

 Catherine met her husband, Michael Carl Marian, in Detroit in 1936, when she was 21 and he was 32.

Catherine in a dancing costume, aged 17

A page from her scrapbook

With her elder sister Sophie in dancing costume

The final image of Catherine is from Vintage Burlesque Photos. It is signed and dedicated to her sister, who at some point changed her name to Sonia.

I prefer the softer Catherine to the later fashionable, risqué Catherine. I wonder what her Russian Orthodox family thought of her move into burlesque theatre, the hard lines of her make-up and her provocative PR photos? I fear they wouldn’t have approved at all!