This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Pictures From the Past, E-10
October t
Undaunted
By Susan Larson
Book editor
BAY ST. LOUIS
The morning of Sept. 11, 2002, is clear and lovely. National Public Radio is broadcasting memorial services for the victims of last year?s terrorist attacks; one speaker remembers them as ?citizen soldiers,? quoting from historian Stephen Ambrose?s bestselling book of the same name. But inside the comfortable house here called Merry Weather (presumably a pun on Meriwether Lewis? name), Ambrose isn?t listening to his own words on the radio. He is planning the rest of his life. He?s working, as usual.
Despite the warmth of the morning, he is wearing a yellow V-neck sweater over a blue T-shirt. There is a beaded necklace around his neck. ?A grizzly bear claw,? he explains, holding out the pendant, ?given to me by the Blackfoot Indians. For courage.?
The comfortable home on the beach is filled with a historian?s mementos ? everything from a George Marshall Award to a Theodore Roosevelt Award to a Golden Globe for best television miniseries, ?Band of Brothers,? based on his book. There are pictures of Ambrose with presidents, pictures of Ambrose in the East Wing of the White House addressing presidents. He seems proud but not arrogant while discussing his accomplishments, and his anticipation of the coming Emmy Awards ? he would win one for ?Band of Brothers,? but was unable to attend the ceremony ? is boyishly gleeful.
See AMBROSE, E-3
In the twilight ofa stunningly successful career, author, historian andfriend of Hollywood Stephen Ambrose talks about his new books, his achievements, his critics and writing his way through his private war with an implacable foe, cancer.
? See review of ?The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation,? D-6
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY MATT ROSE
STAR POWER: Historian and National D-Day Museum founder Stephen Ambrose May 25,2000, before opening day at the National D-Day Museum.
Signing on the river
What: Co-authors Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley discuss and sign ?The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation.? When and where: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Louisiana State Museum Cabildo, 701 Chartres.
???????
What: Douglas Brinkley and photographer Sam Abell lecture and sign books.
When and where: 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Louisiana Old State Capitol, 100 North Blvd. at River Road, Baton Rouge.
Princess of the box office
ANGUS Lit
Chao
theor
It may be the fi of Get Organize but he?ll think that tomorr
?I?ve got to get my gether. I?ve got to get nized.?
How many times h said that to yourself? dreds? Thousands? H times have you follow through? Once? Twic< Less than that?
About once a year urge to get organized happens when the slo of paper, legal pads, n azines, books, newsps tos and moldy old tun wiches on my desk sti and I have to bend ov them up off the floor i straighten the piles.
But like a craving 1 chovy pizza at midnig urge to get organized passes.
Besides, there?s a ( side to picking up tho of paper on the floor, gathering them up, y find something you w looking for, such as tl: tion to the wedding y want to go to from th ago. ?Oops, guess I n Or that novel you wei ?Hey, I wondered wh pened to that. It was good. Wonder what p on??
For people who ar organized, pleasant U prises like that never their regimented, me lives.
Today is the start ganized Week and th well-meaning folks a tional Association of sional Organizers say this is I a ?an opportu-nity to stream- ** line your life, thl create more time, lower your stress all and frustration i;s| levels ... and get organized.? COI
One year I |)g took a look at the messy piles *01 next to me QO about 16 inches high, sighed, and said,	pig
?They can go another four inches easily.? po Actually, they got higher 113 than that.
People who are tc nized don?t like mess they do like to make of things that need t now, lists of things ti done, lists of errand