Miscellany I

Little Red Horse

   Blackbull rode into town on the mustang Shinka Jootsi Kawa, or "Little Red Horse." They had come from the cool forests and springs of the Missouri woodlands, westward to Kansas and the Arkansas River but would be well south of that stream by the time they reached the Rockies where they would meet up with the San Juan River on the other side and continue their journey across the rib-jarring, hoof-cracking fields of the Colorado Plateau. Their journey, as described in the tales of the Osage elder, Traveling Rain, and as first undertaken by the Osage one thousand years ago and repeated every seven generations thence, was to "The Doorstep of God." Their arrival in our little prairie town was with much fanfare and featured in all the news where it was reported that this was a journey that Blackbull had been wanting to make since he was a boy.

   No one knows what Little Red Horse wanted.

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   That was ten years ago. I somehow lost track of that story and never learned the outcome. I assume they made it. Still . . . it would be nice to have some kind of confirmation. I have googled it (using Google search engine, of course) with no luck. So if you are reading this and know anything, pass it on, either through comment or via email. 
   I need to add that "The Doorstep of God" refers to Rainbow Bridge, one of the largest natural bridges in the world, located in southern Utah. It was thought by the Osage to be the entrance to a heavenly teepee and was held sacred by various tribes in that area. (Much of what I gave you here was gleaned from an article by Rebekah West appearing in the Belle Plaine, Kansas News, Thursday, August 19, 2004.) 

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   I have recently learned that "typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, inarguably wrong." This I found while trying to 'remember' how many spaces after a colon.  The author of the above quote, Farhad Manjoo, in an article appearing in Slate online magazine, Jan 12, 2011, says it is a done deal and has been so for quite some time. The MLA Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style both "prescribe a single space after a period."  My bad. It will be hard to unlearn two spaces. The font I have been using for text, Trebuchet MS, is supposedly one optimized for use on the internet and the screen. It seems to handle the single space well. Incidentally, I checked "inarguably" and it is ok. So is "unarguably". You pays your money . . .