Iris Frank
chasing history
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PONTIAC RISING
The name Pontiac usually brings to mind the image of an automobile, the name of a city or street, or perhaps the icon of a forgotten legend. What few remember is that Pontiac was the catalyst who inspired an Indian revolution that changed the course of global history.He was a French loyalist and we almost remained French because of him. Had the French held up their end of the bargain after Pontiac’s War recaptured nine British forts, we could be speaking French today.
Some may argue that we are “American” because Pontiac’s War bankrupted the British, causing them to enforce a tax on the Americans, which in turn caused the American Revolution. It’s curious to think of all the pivotal dominos that fell in the past, leading us to where and who we are today.
I aim to pull the shadows of time from this infamous Indian War Chief and Statesman, showing the tumultuous times and political landscape in which he lived. His story presents fascinating glimpses of famous historical figures like George Washington, Robert Rogers, Sir William Johnson, Joseph de Montcalm, and Charles Langlade who all played a part in this formative inflection point in our history.
This is the story of a young brave, born into a prophecy to save his people, who became a legend in American history. To the British, he was the face of defiance. To his people, he was the voice that united the tribes.
Ice Garden
A Young Adult Fiction Novel
" I could see from the footprints in the snow that she’d been there. She’d made the drop. I sat idling in my gray 1989 Oldsmobile Calais looking out my cigarette-stained window at the strange and desolate stone church. The cement plaque to the right of the oversized, engraved wooden doors read 1819. Under the date, two words had been cut away from the cement. It looked like someone’s name but I couldn’t make it out from the distance. Man that’s old, I thought, for Michigan at least.
I stared at the fresh footprints filling with snow. They began at the curb about twenty feet in front of me and continued in a straight line to an ice-covered garden. The garden ran against the right side of the church and looked to have been neglected for years. The long yellow overgrowth bent at uneven angles from the weight of the ice and snow. At the back of the garden was a towering crab apple tree. It hovered over the landscape from ancient roots that caused the earth around it to look menacing and uneven; its bark rugged and black against the shades of white, gray and yellow that surrounded it. The footprints stopped at a wrought iron bench at the center of the garden. My eyes traced one horizontal foot print parallel to the bench and then followed the prints back to the curb.
There. She’d dropped it there at the bench. "
The Tooth Fairy's Goof
A children's book I wrote for my daughter :-)
"In a land far away from our own, was the world the tooth fairy did roam. Every day and night was spent collecting teeth as house to house she went.
On a shooting star she'd ride, with a magical key by her side.
A key that opened up the doors to all the houses that she'd explore."