The endless, stupid teasing of half-grown boys her own age was the worst. In a mining town increasingly populated by underfed, undersized immigrants fresh off the boat, she could never escape the goggle-eyed notice. The tall American daughter of tall Slovenian parents, Anna Klobuchar had topped six feet at fifteen. It was simply meant to distinguish her from another – much smaller – Annie in her class. It never occurred to anyone that she might be embarrassed by the nickname. She didn’t mind at all when the teachers started calling her Big Annie. She liked being the biggest in her kindergarten class. But that day at the Houghton fair? She was just a big, gawky girl – tired to tears of being pointed at, remarked upon, ridiculed.īeing tall didn’t bother her when she was five. Ten thousand miners would march behind her in a wildcat strike against the richest, most powerful copper company on earth. People who’d never before seen the girl called Big Annie up in Calumet.Īt twenty-five, Anna Klobuchar Clements would be known around the world as America’s Joan of Arc. Quilts, pies, and jams vying for blue ribbons. There were horse races and ox pulls, all day long. Her father probably expected the excursion to cheer her up. A rare family outing down to the county fair in Houghton, Michigan. It’s an echo from 1903 when she was almost sixteen. Excerpt from The Women of Copper Country Prologue Turn tears to fire! – Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
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