Dust Bowl Balladeer Next Door Who Would Have Thought That the Dust Bowl Balladeer Texas; Jobs Such As Working in the Men

Vol. 9, Issue 1 Dr. Jeanne Ramirez Mather, Ed. December 2006 The Genius Kid Dust Bowl Balladeer Next Door Who would have thought that The Dust Bowl Balladeer Texas; jobs such as working in the men. In 1939 he moved to David Meigooni at age 14 would was Okemah native Woody fields, carpentry, moving garbage New York and wrote and be an award winning scientist? Guthrie, who was named after cans, shining shoes, painting signs, worked with such folk singers Of course he started before he Woodrow Wilson. While and washing spittoons. His life as Burl Ives and Pete Seeger. In was 14. In fourth grade he de- Woody is often referred to as changed when his uncle bought 1940 he wrote the song perhaps veloped a science project called the voice of the common man him a guitar and taught him to he is best known for, This Land “Mom’s Fear of Radiation” in and a singer with a social con- play. He found that all around him is Your Land. The Department which he proved that his mother science, he was also a Renais- was life worth singing about. He of Interior commissioned actually was exposed to more sance Man. He was not only a wrote about what he saw and Woody in 1941 to write songs radiation while gardening than singer, musician, and song felt—the good, the bad, and how about the Grand Coulee Dam while watching television. writer, but also an artist and an to make things right. being built in Oregon. This in- Later he wondered if the rela- author. He married young, and had cluded Roll on Columbia and tionship between the curry in the Knowing some of Woody’s three children. He continued fac- Grand Coulee Dam. In 1943 Indian diet, and the low incident history might give light to his ing hard times with the Great De- his autobiographical book of bowel and prostrate cancer ability to empathize with the pression and the Dust Bowl and he Bound for Glory, describing his was related. What he discovered downtrodden. He grew up in left Texas, and his family, and Dust Bowl Years, was pub- was that both radiation and cur- one of Oklahoma’s first Oil hitchhiked his way to Los Ange- lished to critical acclaim, and cumin (the major component in Boom towns. Before he was les. Some of his songs of this later would become a movie curry) killed cancer cells. At the 12 his family had lost several period include I Ain’t Got No starring David Carradine. age of fourteen and still inter- homes and fortunes to fires; his Home, Goin’ Down the Road His passion for justice led ested in radiation he decided to older sister had died in one him to serve in both the Mer- investigate the effect of curcu- fire; his father, a cowboy/land chant Marines and the Army min on radiation effectiveness. speculator/local politician, was during World War II. Woody’s What he found was that not only severely injured in another fire life was hard on his family and does curcumin prevent cancer, suffering financial ruin; and after about 10 years and three but it can sensitize cancer cells his mother was institutional- children and having an affair, he so that only one seventh as much ized in an asylum for life. But divorced his first wife and mar- radiation was needed to destroy Woody was able to draw Feelin’ Bad, So Long It’s Been ried his mistress. This marriage them. So it is no surprise that strength from his father’s re- Good to Know Ya, and Hard Trav- produced four children, includ- David won several national sci- fusal to give up and continuous elin’. ing his son Arlo who would fol- ence awards and now at age attempts to bounce back, and He eventually got a radio job low in his father’s musical foot- nineteen is studying to be an from his parents’ love of sing- giving him an opportunity to sing steps. After a few years, oncologist. ing. some of his protest songs, and Woody and his deteriorating Who would have thought that Woody spent much of his comment on unions and some of health and behavior resulted in 16-year-old Yunchao Lou, who early life working odd jobs in his socialist beliefs about corrupt yet another failed marriage. He was born in Shanghai and boom towns in Oklahoma and politicians, lawyers, and business- (Continued on page 4) moved to the United States when she was 5, and was passionate about music, tennis and debate Table of Contents would be inducted into The Na- The Genius Kid Next Door; Dust Bowl Balladeer 1 tional Gallery For America's Young Inventors in 2005. Af- Yote 2 ter a fire and near tragedy in Who Was Boudica? The Literature Connection 3 (Continued on page 3) Alvarado’s Leap 4 USAO’s Classroom Spice Yote Yote is a West African game influenced by European checkers, but at a much faster pace. Tradi- tionally it is usually played with sticks and pebbles as markers, on a grid of holes on the ground. Each player has 12 pieces and of course the object of the game is to capture all of the opponent’s pieces. Materials: A traditional grid of 5x6 is simply marked off on the ground, with 30 small holes scooped out. However, to play indoors you may use the grid below. Instead of sticks and stones you may use 24 markers (twelve markers of each of two colors) Players: 2 players Preparation: Enlarge playing board. To Play: Decide who starts. Take turns placing a stone (marker) in an empty hole or on an empty circle. At any time you may use a turn to move one of your pieces already in play, or may add another to the board. *Note, you do not have to have all 12 pieces on the board before you can start moving any given marker already in play (in fact it is a smart move to do just that). Pieces may be moved up, down, right, or left, but not diagonally. As in checkers, when you jump an opponent’s piece you capture and remove it from the board. However, unlike in checkers you may then select any other piece to remove from the board as a bonus capture! The first player to capture all 12 of the opponent’s pieces wins. Note: it is possible for the game to end in a tie. 2 USAO’s Classroom Spice (Genius—cont’d from page 1) her neighborhood and without ever The Literature Connection having studied electronics Yunchao invented a life saving device called The In recognition of Oklahoma's Centennial likes to write poetry and hang out with his Alarm-Triggered Shut-off Appliance System. It can be programmed to recog- the first book to be reviewed is Crossing Bok cousin and uncle. But living in the barrio he nize an audio alarm and automatically Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and finds himself enticed into a gang as so many turn off any appliance to which it is at- Freedom by Tim Tingle, the well-known youngsters do. The story follows the initiation tached. Thus, if a television or stereo author of Walking the Choctaw Road, the and trouble that Monchi encounters. The au- system were plugged into it they would “Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma” 2005 Book. thor knows well the gang mentality and situa- automatically be shut off if a smoke de- This is a children's adaptation of one of the tion as he was a gang member from age 11 tector went off, allowing the resident to short stories from that book. It is set in Mis- until 18, so this story shows how difficult it is hear the alarm and take appropriate ac- sissippi during the early 1800s. Bok Chitto is to stay out of gangs and some of the conse- tion. Yunchao hopes to pursue a career a river on one side live the Choctaw, on the quences of being a member might be. Today in the medical field. other the plantation owners and their slaves. Luis is a poet, author, and educator who coun- Who would have thought that Krysta Unbeknownst to the non-Indian sels young gang members. (ISBN 0- Morlan who suffers from cerebral palsey population the Choctaw have 89239-161-8) would have become an award winning built a stone path just below the The Ainu of Japan by Barbara inventor as a tenth grader? Her first in- water's surface, building it up in Aoki Poisson is a fascinating book vention, the cast cooler, was a device times of flooding, and down in about the "native people" of Japan. that pumped air into a cast through a times of drought. As a secret After years of living with other Japa- plastic tube to relieve the irritation crossing it is not to be used by nese, many of the ancient differences caused by wearing the cast. In 2000, the children, however, young Martha Tom have disappeared, and relatively few full- while still in high school, she also in- crosses the river in search of berries and loses blooded Ainu still live in Japan. As was/is true vented the Waterbike, a semi- her way. A young black boy helps her back of many Native Americans, Ainu often do not submersible, fin-propelled pedaled ve- to the river, where she shows him the secret want to reveal their heritage for fear of reprisal hicle featured in National Geographic World.

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