Volume 1, Issue 3 March, 2005 Northern Accents
NMU DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
SPECIAL POINTS OF In Germany, A Christmas-season Contest: Santa Vs. INTEREST: Saint Nicholas • St. Nicholas was a monk in The following article is from reminder of the encroach- selling Advent calendars - Patarra, a vil- the Christian Science Monitor. ment of American commer- minus chocolate or cartoon lage in what is cialism into Europe. figures - by the hundreds of now Turkey. SAINT NICHOLAS, GER- "People are starting to be- thousands. • He attended MANY - Peter Hahne does come critical of commer- "The demand shows that the Council of not like Santa Claus. In cialism in every respect," people are yearning for Nicea in AD fact, this German television says Hermann Bausinger, a quietness, spirituality, and 325. celebrity is promoting a cultural anthropologist at a sense of meaning again," • He was made "Santa Claus Free Zone," the University of Tübingen. says Bishop Margot Bishop of Myra calling on people to distrib- Indeed, Hahne's lament Käßmann, of Hannover, while still a ute anti-Santa Germany. young man. stickers. The village of Rat- The problem, as tenberg in nearby Mr. Hahne sees it, Austria isn't even is that American- allowing commer- style Santas are cial stands during crowding out Saint INSIDE THIS its Christmas ISSUE: Nicholas, the tradi- events this year. tional Christmas Instead of focus- icon of this hilly ing on gingerbread Germany village cookies, there will How Spanish Ar- 2 named after the rived in My Life be songs, story 4th-century bishop. German students at NMU enjoy St. Nicholas day at Stammtisch. telling, and a live "Santa is a symbol nativity scene go- of consumption," Hahne has struck a chord: Across ing through the village to says. "Nicholas was a real Germany, initiatives are "go back to what Advent Spanish Club 3 bishop [who] taught us sprouting to push com- means originally," says Ger- what's still very true today: merce out of Christmas. tie Doblander, Rattenberg's giving does not make us Protestant churches Christmas events coordina- poorer. It makes us richer." throughout Germany this tor. German Club 4 To many Germans, Santa's year launched a "Christmas spread is an unwelcome in December" initiative, Continued on page 3. Page 2 Northern Accents
How Spanish Arrived in My Life
The following article is the first part sunshine reaching between thick, dark contaminated wa- in a narrative series about Profes- gray clouds. With the next slide, we ter. In my mind, I sor Maria Offer’s initial encounters sat peering into the faces of sick revisited the sterile with the Spanish language. women, waiting for their turn with the waiting room of my “...I saw doctor as they held babies suffering youth, with Better t was on that day, when spring from malnutrition. Homes and Gar- children who were hinted its arrival and winter threat- dens, Highlights, I remember their eyes the most. too weary to ened to stay, that the course of my and Dr. Seuss Through the children’s eyes, I saw life changed forever. I was a sopho- books on coffee homes swallowed by fire and a child- play, too weak to more in college the day that I rode my tables. Two boys hood stolen by war. These truths were bike over to St. Michael’s church, with tattered pants laugh and run’” denied to me in the in the white- which was not far from Northern’s and no shoes play- washed textbooks and biased news of campus. When I arrived, I dismounted ing in a mud puddle the ’70s and ’80s. As my eyes met my bike, parked it outside the church brought back my theirs in the image of the slides, I saw and went inside to sit with a group of own memories of a swing-set, hula children who were too weary to play, friends and listen to a doctor who hoops, and wading pool on a mani- too weak to laugh and run. The spark would share her experiences of work- cured lawn in suburbia. I was begin- of childhood was absent from those ing in a Salvadoran refugee camp. I ning to understand how the “Land-of- eyes; only pain reflected in them now. simply wanted to learn more informa- Plenty,” related to plenty of others tion about Central America; I was not I could see truth in their eyes, an un- who suffered as a result of the U.S. expecting my world to be shaken up. deniable truth that the Channel 4 economic policies that preyed on raw Beginning that evening, I would em- News cover-up could not hide. At that materials from Central America: ba- bark on a new journey, leaving behind moment I realized that what I had nanas, sugar cane, cotton, and coffee my familiar, comfortable path. I would been told as truth was a sham. The beans. question what I once held as true and news media, controlled by large corpo- Images of fire, homes in ashes, I would begin the long, complex proc- rations with economic interests in bombs exploding, and children run- ess of learning a new language. What Central America, would not want this ning burned in my mind and shat- I did not foresee was that learning a other story to be told. Cindy talked tered my view that the American gov- new language would allow me to see about her experiences, sharing the ernment was founded on principles of another way of thinking, living, and story of pain and destruction, of fami- freedom and justice for all. In the caring about others. lies fleeing from their homes as the image of the faces that Cindy cap- Salvadoran Army, supported by the In 1981, Dr. Cindy Lack had traveled tured on film, we could see their de- U.S. government, bombed mountain to Honduras with “Doctors without sire to live in peace. In this moment, I villages and scorched their cornfields, Borders,” an international humanitar- was jerked out of the slumber known their milpa, their sacred corn, which ian aid organization, after she com- as the American Dream; I knew I fed their children and sustained their pleted a residency at Marquette Gen- would not rest under that blanket of culture. eral. Now she had returned to share denial again. I saw disparate images her story. Her slides flashed to rooms While Cindy showed a slide of several as I looked first through one lens and partitioned with curtains, the sick wait- families crowded into a single room, saw families torn from their homes ing for medicine to be spooned out images from my memories flashed to and then looked through a different like hope, providing momentary relief the four-bedroom house where I had lens at my own privileged childhood. from a life of pain they could not es- grown up, with two cars parked out- In this refracted light, I saw a com- cape. Around the Salvadorans’ make- side and to summer vacations on the mon humanity. shift homes of cardboard, wood, and lake and ski vacations in the winter. tarpaulins, we could see carefully culti- In the next slide, a mother held a child vated gardens, like silver beams of suffering from dehydration due to Volume 1, Issue 3 Page 3
Spanish Club Update he Spanish Club is open in the lip sinking competition in to all students at NMU no JXJ and was quite good! For the matter what language back- rest of the semester, the Span- ground you may have in Span- ish Club will continue to hold its ish. This semester the Spanish weekly meetings and will be club has been active in holding having a fiesta before the end meetings every Wednesday at of the Semester where stu- 5PM and often going to Border dents can make any food dish Grill to chat and have some they would like and bring it in good Mexican food. Earlier this for all to enjoy! semester the club participated By Jesse Greenleaf
St. Nicholas (Cont’d) But guarding the holiday is getting 4,000 letters flooding her village so man with the white beard harder. Every year, Christmas far. "That's the spirit of Christmas." and sparkling eyes. Then “And Santa’s red in the early 1930s, Coca decorations come earlier. And One child wrote to say he's struggling Cola, in need of a spokes- Santa's red suit is obscuring the with shyness. "Dear Nicholas," Adrian suit is obscuring man to boost sales, emphasis on the charity that St. wrote, "Can you give me a bit of cour- tapped the merry figure, the emphasis on age, please?" Tobias and Sebastian Nicholas embodied centuries ago completing his path from wrote to say thank you. "Among all the charity that St. as a monk in what is now Turkey. saint to salesman. presents you gave us last year," the
two brothers wrote, "the most beauti- Gerecke doesn't believe Nicholas Rarely seen years ago, Santa ful was our little brother Felix." And anti-Santa stickers will embodied centuries Claus is on the march here, on Michael has pledged reform. "St. bring children nearer to wrapping paper, television ads, or Nicholas," the rambunctious second the heart of Christmas. ago…” as chocolate figurines filling su- grader promised, "I'm going to get But telling them the story permarket shelves. better." of the real, charitable Saint Nicholas, she says, will help "Christmas has switched from being But missives like these are becoming keep the spirit alive. only a celebration within the family rare, volunteers say. More children are and the church to being a public event writing gift wish lists, addressed to "Christmas is a time when one looks starting late in November and going Santa. inside oneself," says Phillip Tengg, a on through January," says Mr. Baus- vocational teacher who six years ago The myth of Santa Claus evolved from inger. started Pro-Child Christ, a group based the fusion of two figures: gift-bearing in Innsbruck, Austria, that promotes Especially troubling, say villagers Saint Nicholas and the representation traditional celebrations of Christmas. here, is the shift in tone of the letters of the infant Jesus known as "It's something for the heart and not children send to Saint Nicholas on his "Christkindlein" (Christ child), which only for the eye." namesake holiday Dec. 6. later became "Kriss Kringle." After "In these letters, children show they're Dutch immigrants brought Sinter Klaas to the US, German immigrant thinking of somebody else," says Sa- By Isabelle de Pommereau, correspon- Thomas Nast drew a lasting image of a bine Gerecke, who has read the dent of the Christian Science Monitor HTTP://WWW.NMU.EDU/ LANGUAGES/
Knowledge of languages other than Eng- lish and sensitivity to other cultures are becoming increasingly important as we NMU DEPARTMENT OF MODERN start the twenty-first century. Efficient LANGUAGES AND transportation and instantaneous com- LITERATURES munications make contact with people from around the globe more and more frequent and vital. Technological ad- vances offer exciting new opportunities. Modern Languages and Literature Northern Michigan University's Depart- Northern Michigan University ment of Languages seeks to open doors 1401 Presque Isle Ave. Marquette, MI 49855 to students in their wide-ranging pursuits through the study of languages and cul- Phone: 906-227-2940 Fax: 906-227-2533 tures. E-mail: [email protected]
German Club update In the past, the German Club has par- Club under her wings once again. February. There, members and non- ticipated in events such as the members came together to play Taboo As for this semester, many good ideas Women’s Right’s Fair and Fasching. in German. Those who did not know have been discussed for the German The members have raised their money the language or who were in the lower Club to participate in. Such things in- by selling popcorn at Campus Cinema classes were given a dictionary. Before clude an open house to allow students movies on Saturday and Sunday nights the semester is up, the German Club around campus to see this club’s po- in Jamrich 102. hopes to have a German song day, a tential and taste delicious German German Video day, and participate in Jessica Hekkila has put a good foods; entertaining other language May Day along with the Socialist Club. amount of time and effort into the clubs to learn about other cultures German Club. Hekkila has been the through games, song, and food; build- Many of its members are students who president of the German Club prior to ing up the German Club’s funds by are or have already taken a german the winter 2005 semester. Right now, hosting bake sales around campus class either in college or in high she is studying and asking for donations; continuing school. German Club, however, in Germany and German Jeopardy, where topics such stresses that it is for people who have will be back by as art, history, places, and culture are an interest in German culture, not only this summer included; as well as celebrating Ger- the language. and ready to man holidays. The German Club has By Elle Madison take German thus far had a German game day in