Maritime Folklore of NYC's Forgotten Borough
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Fall–Winter 2017 Volume 43: 3–4 The Journal of New York Folklore Maritime Folklore of NYC’s Forgotten Borough Foraging Apples and Pressing Cider in the Finger Lakes “The Golden Arm” Performing the Folktale Pageantry Puppets and Community Memory The Market on Saturday Night From the Director From the Editor Because of our state- in the Buffalo, NY, region. The project will My friend Jack Leadley wide mission, the train community tradition bearers and folk died April 4, 2018. He New York Folklore artists in the skills needed to be teaching art- was 90 years old. I’ve Society necessarily ists within the K–12 school setting and will known Jack for some works in collabora- introduce classroom educators to curricu- 30 years. We first met tion with a variety of lum connections, which can be made with during my first survey of partners. Our most folk and traditional arts. A workshop with folk artists working in the extensive partner has the nationally recognized consultant on folk Adirondacks. been the Folk Arts Program of the New arts in education, Amanda Dargan, will be Called “An Adirondack Legend,” Jack York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), conducted in partnership with the Erie and was a skilled woodsman, hunter, and trapper. with which we have partnered since 1990 to Niagara County BOCES on August 21 and He was also an artist, writer, and snowshoe provide professional development and tech- 22. Participating educators will have the op- and ski instructor. He made beautiful pack nical assistance to the folk arts community portunity to have a two-day artist residency baskets and rustic furniture. He flew a plane, within New York State. With NYSCA, New in their own classrooms as a follow-up ac- giving me my first aerial view of the Adiron- York Folklore conducts the annual New tivity. This program is supported by grants dack Park, saying how handy it was for a York Folk Arts Roundtable and an ongoing from NYSCA and the National Endowment quick trip to Maine to catch up with family Mentoring and Professional Development for the Arts, with plans to duplicate it in over a lobster dinner, and be back in time to Program. NYSCA is also a partner in an subsequent years. sleep in his own bed by nightfall. annual folk arts internship that is provided Probably, our most extensive partnership Jack’s love of the Adirondacks came early to graduate students in folklore, so that in 2018 is our joining with the American in life. In the 1930s his family drove up from they can gain on-the-job public folklore Folklore Society (AFS) and NYSCA to Staten Island to spend summers in a rented experience. co-chair the annual meeting of AFS. This cabin on Lake Pleasant in Speculator, New Since 2016, the New York Folklore So- annual conference draws hundreds of folk- York. The mountain air helped his father’s ciety has also partnered with the William lorists, oral historians, and cultural special- asthma. After serving in the Second World G. Pomeroy Foundation in approving the ists for four days of academic presentations, War, Jack returned to the mountains perma- placement of markers that designate specific workshops, forums, and professional devel- nently, marrying his wife Joan and joining a sites as important to folklore in New York opment. This year’s theme is “No Illusions, family with roots that traced back to 1794. State. In the past few years, more than 30 No Exclusions,” and it will be held October He opened Leadley’s Adirondack Sug- markers have been placed throughout the 17–20, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown arbush in 1949. He and his family tapped state, highlighting the role of “place” in Buffalo. We hope you’ll plan to join us there some 2500 maple trees each spring to make New York’s heritage. “Legends and Lore” as we showcase folklore and folklife, with a maple syrup to sell from the gift shop on recognizes the role of local legends and the special focus on New York State. Route 30, just north of Speculator. It is one folk stories of New York’s communities The New York Folklore Society remains of several buildings on the 115-acre Leadley through markers explaining the tales. For a membership organization, open to all. compound, along with immediate family more information, or to make a nomination, We hope to be in YOUR community soon. households, including those of Leadley’s please see the website: http://www.wgpfounda- three adult children who are eighth-genera- tion.org/index.cfm/nys-historic-grant-programs/ Ellen McHale, PhD, Executive Director tion Lake Pleasant natives. legends-lore. New York Folklore Society Jack’s Adirondack pack baskets were sec- The New York Folklore Society is pleased [email protected] ond to none. He made them the old fashioned to enter into two new partnerships in 2018. www.nyfolklore.org way, cutting black ash trees, usually in the Local Learning: The National Network for spring when the bark peels off easily. He Folk Arts in Education has begun a program soaked and pounded every square inch of continued on page 2 “… the making of art is an irrepressible force that is true of everyone.” —Greg Sharrow, Folklorist, Vermont Folklife Center VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Contents Fall–Winter 2017 Features 3 Maritime Folklife of New York City’s Forgotten Borough by Naomi Sturm and Daniel Franklin Ward 11 In Memoriam: Jack H. Leadley, Sr. (1927–2018) 17 Fruit in the Forest 3 Foraging Apples and Pressing Cider in the Finger Lakes by Maria Elizabeth Kennedy 23 At Work in the Garden of Eat and Be Eaten by Chuck F. Tekula, Jr 24 “The Golden Arm”: Collecting and Performing the Folktale by Timothy Jennings 30 Pageantry Puppets, Community Memory, and Living Traditions: Extending the Reach of Cultural and Educational Institutions into Immigrant Communities by Kate Grow McCormick 38 In Memoriam: Gregory Sharrow (1950–2018) 40 The Market on Saturday Night by Dan Milner 17 41 Two Poems: Jack “Legs” Diamond and Portal by Shannon Cuthbert 42 Analysis and Intuition: Reflections on the Mystic Union of 24 Measure and Abandon in the Art of Figure Drawing by Stephen Alcorn Departments and Columns 12 Upstate by Dan Berggren 13 Poetry of Everyday Life by Steve Zeitlin 30 16 Good Spirits by Libby Tucker 29 Voices of New York by Libby Tucker Cover: The Warasila bay house survived Superstorm Sandy due to 35 ALN8BAL8MO: A Native Voice the use of helical piles and having a by Joseph Bruchac trap door in the floor, which allows water in, but keeps the house in place during storms and hurricanes. From the Waterfront 37 Photograph by Martha Cooper, by Nancy Solomon courtesy of Long Island Traditions. Read more in Nancy Solomon’s 39 Artist Spotlight From the Waterfront column, “In Harm’s Way” on p. 37. Fall–WinterFall–Winter 2017,2017, VolumeVolume 43:43:3–4 3–4 1 1 From the Editor (continued) the log, causing the annual growth rings granite boulder formed the north wall and to loosen and separate. He then pulled the the back of an open fire pit. Inside, smoke splints off the full length of the log. These escaped through a small, covered wooden Fall–Winter 2017 · Volume 43: 3–4 he smoothed and cut into uniform strips, to tower on the roof. The two pole beds lining Acquisitions Editor Todd DeGarmo create the raw material used to weave the the walls of the 8 by 10-foot cabin were Copy Editor Patricia Mason basket. filled with fresh balsam. He welcomed Administrative Manager Laurie Longfield Design Mary Beth Malmsheimer Jack had carried a pack basket since visitors, including a special road trip from Printer Eastwood Litho the 1940s while running his traplines, and Glens Falls, as a part of our kids’ workshop began to make his own when quality baskets series on “Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties.” Editorial Board Todd DeGarmo, Chair. Gabrielle Berlinger, Sydney Hutchinson, were getting hard to find. He shared this Jack demonstrated his craft at our earliest Maria Kennedy, David Puglia, Puja Sahney, knowledge wholeheartedly with anyone. Adirondack folk festivals and children’s Joseph Sciorra, Emily Socolov, Nancy Solomon He’s noted as a strong supportive influence workshop series. He enjoyed these visits of many basketmakers, and I’ve found his with us and with other venues like Fort Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is published twice a year by the interviews as far away as Maine. For me, Klock, Hanford Mills, and the Adirondack New York Folklore Society, Inc. he breathed life into the old, discarded Museum. As he became more sought 129 Jay Street, Schenectady, NY 12305 pack basket hanging in the garage of my after, he began to limit these activities, as New York Folklore Society, Inc. childhood, owned by my stepfather, who, he recalled in a letter: “You and Crandall Executive Director Ellen McHale according to a family story, was carried Library have always been special as I Administration and Gallery Laurie Longfield Web Administrator Patti Mason in it by his own stepfather across a frozen started going away from my workshop to NYC Regional Representative Eileen Condon Saranac Lake. Jack carried his own young demonstrate my work.” But it was a two- Upstate Regional Representative Hannah Davis son in a pack basket of his making while edged sword. “Almost all my work is sold Voice (518) 346-7008 / Fax (518) 346-6617 hiking the woods near their home. on order…I don’t need more ‘exposure’. Website www.nyfolklore.org Jack also made rustic furniture.