The Boar & The Bear

Volume 1II, Summer 2016-Spring 2017 Inside this Issue:

Carvet Tang’s Internship 1 - 3 arvet Tang talks about her summer internship in C Germany with the American Chamber of Commerce for First Year Seminar Russian 4 Germany.

Fall Events: Marathon Reading 5 Thanks to Caerus, the God of Opportunity

Faculty News 6 and Luck, I received an offer from Ernst

Oktoberfest 7 & Young (EY) Germany last summer to Interview with Kimberly Annas 8 - 9 do an internship in Germany. Ernst &

Russian News 10 Young, is headquartered in London and

Guest Column Hanna Randall 11 one of the “Big Four” accountant firms in

Interview with the world. It was an exciting opportunity, David Burch 12 - 13

Research News because I could not imagine I was able to Dr. McAllister 14 - 15 get a paid internship offer from EY

Frankfurt am Main Germany, especially from a country other

than the one I am pursuing a college

degree in and my home country. junior

student majoring in Accountancy and

minoring in German at Wake Forest

University. As I have decided to do a

business trek in the future, the poster of

the AmCham internship Program caught Page 2

my attention. The application process was a bit complicated for me as

an international student, since I needed to apply for a work visa. So, I flew

alone from GSO to Atlanta to get a visa. But I was glad I did that, since it was

an essential step for me to work in Germany for the whole summer. Right at

“ I felt like the beginning of the spring term last year, I was contacted by the manager of

being in a big the US tax department at EY Germany, and I then received an offer and the family” corresponded contract after I finished my phone interview. The whole process

was exciting, but I did have worries, because to do an internship in another

country and speaking a different language must be challenging. However, I

also realized that I should take this opportunity. And then, mein Abenteuer

began

My workdays

Not until I arrived at Frankfurt airport did I recognize that I was going to stay

in this awesome city for three months. The busy scenes in downtown make the

Happy hour is part of the job! city alive. I was fortunate to find an apartment-hotel in downtown Frankfurt (though it’s pretty expensive). It’s on die Zeil Straße which is the busiest and

most popular area in downtown.

I was really nervous on the first day of my internship, not to mention that EY

is one of the biggest companies that all business students love to go to. And

since it was right after my sophomore year, I didn’t have the chance to have a

Tax course. But all colleagues and managers in the office said a lot of

encouraging words to me and taught me how to manage files, manipulate Tax

system and prepare Tax returns. I felt like being in a big family, and we went

out together sometimes for a meal or a Live escape game.

I was assigned one specific project to work on, and I learned a lot of things Page 3 during the time. I was excited every morning of the work days, because I knew I would definitely learn something new each day. To ask questions was really a good way to get things done well and efficiently. At first, the German-written files were a hindrance to understand; however, I would say that it helped my

German-speaking a lot. I studied a lot from the accessible documents by myself in order to know the project and task assignments better. Carvet’s place of work: Ernst & Young One of my favorite parts of working at EY Germany was the “Happy hours” Frankfurt am Main after work. Employees can leave work one hour early and enjoy the free wine and beer in the lobby. There is also a small soccer field outside the building so What is Am Cham? Am Cham is the that people can have a wonderful break with drinks, colleagues and soccer game! American Chamber of Commerce for Germany. Fourteen colleges and My weekends universities in the south- east of the United States The most awesome thing to live in downtown was that there were always fun have formed a consortium with things to do. During weekends, I went to a lot of events like Italienische- Am Cham to offer market-based internships for students of German at Deutsche Woche, Farmer market and some opening events for new clubs. My these universities. Wake Forest University mom visited and spent a month living with me, and we traveled a lot during became a member in 2014, and Carvet Tang was the first student from weekends, holidays and my vocation. The convenient and efficient public WFU to serve an internship with Am transportation system made traveling easy and simple. We went to Heidelberg, Cham. Three of our German majors and minors will Munich, Salzburg and some small towns around Frankfurt. I love to visit serve an internship in the summer of 2017. historical buildings and attractions, and Germany is absolutely a great place to travel around. Besides, I enjoyed the free entrances to several museums and galleries in Frankfurt by simply showing my EY badge. Language is the most wonderful thing in the world. To learn one new language makes you able to know a culture by yourself, and it can also widen your career choices.

Good Luck! The Boar & The Bear

Page 4

New First Year Seminar:

“Unraveling the Riddle of Russia”

Dr. Clark taught a new First Year Seminar in the spring semester 2017:

“In the Spring 2017 semester I taught the FYS "Unraveling the Riddle of Every semester our Department offers interesting Russia: Contemporary Russian Culture and Society." I've taught versions of First Year Seminars. Some this class before, but because we discuss a lot of current events in the course, examples of past and present it changes every semester. This makes it interesting to teach every time. FYS are: The basic idea behind the course is that you have to understand Russian his- Blue Grass Music tory and culture in order to understand contemporary Russia. So we have Wide Open Spaces: four thematic blocks to the class: "Russia Past and Present, East and West," The Frontier and American about pre-Revolutionary Russian history, "(Post) Soviet Russia," about the National Identity Soviet Union and its collapse, "Russia's War on Terror," about the Chechen wars, and "Russia in the 21st Century," about contemporary issues. Each Newer German History in Documents, Movies, and block has a book that we spend several weeks reading, and then we cap off Literature each block by watching a film and then holding a roundtable discussion about it. Although during the first half of the semester we focus on history, we al- Fairy Tales: Grimm, Disney, and ways tie it back to current events, so that for example during the first block Beyond we study Kievan Rus', and even read excerpts from the Primary Chronicle, a In Cold Blood: Examining the medieval chronicle about the House of Ryurik and the rise of Kiev, and then Psychopath in Literature, Film, we connect that to what is currently happening between Russia and Ukraine. and Television This is a really fun class to teach for a number of reasons, but I think my fa- The Myth of the Dragonslayer vorite thing about it is that I want the students to move from "content con- Myths and Monsters sumers" to "content generators." So they get to spend a lot of the class time doing things like participating in debates, giving mini-presentations, and leading the roundtable discussions. They also each do a big research paper Be cool and on a topic of their choice, and they write the final exam questions! The last week of class is devoted to the students talking about their research projects and their exam questions, so that they can share with each other what they've learned. I'm always very impressed by how thoughtful and insightful they are, and I really enjoy reading their papers and listening to their debates and roundtable discussions.”

WANT TO KNOW WHAT PUTIN IS THINKING? take a FYS with us!

“UNRAVELLING THE RIDDLE OF RUSSIA”

The Boar & The Bear Fall Events: Marathon Reading!

Some pictures from the Reading Visiting German Professor Rory Bradley organized a quite unique event in November 2016: a Marathon Reading! Dr. Bradley:

““In the spring of my life, and in the full enjoyment of unimpaired vigor, and of dearly bought experience, do I stop, to look back on the path I went, or, rather, was led. I behold, in all the mazy labyrinths of my career, a visible hand, that, perhaps, is also extended over many of my friends, guides them in the dark, and has wove the thread which they, in careless security, fancy to spin themselves.” So begins the Gothic novel Horrid Mysteries, a translation of Karl August Grosse’s novel Der Genius, which unfolds an intricate and meandering story of secret societies and mysterious rites, passionate loves and violent deaths, hidden knowledge and forbidden secrets. On November 9, 2016, a group of undergraduate students and faculty members took turns reading aloud from this 700-page book on a small stage in the Campus Ground coffee shop at a marathon reading event sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of German and IPLACe. For 10 hours, from 10 am to 8 pm, readers worked their way through over 350 pages of the book, alternating between the German original and the English translation. The idea for this marathon reading came from an anecdote of literary history. In 1794, when Der Genius was something of a literary sensation in Germany, the young Romantic author Ludwig Tieck sat down one afternoon with several of his college friends and started to read aloud from the bestseller with them. Engrossed by the dramatic events that unfolded in those pages, they read for 10 hours straight, only stopping after everyone but Tieck had fallen asleep around 2 am. That reading experience had a profound effect on the young Tieck – he reports walking around in a daze for some time afterwards, and it eventually inspired him to write his first novel. So far, our recreation of this marathon reading hasn’t inspired the publication of any epic Romantic or Gothic novels, but many students stopped in throughout the day to read aloud, hear some of the story and enjoy German pastries from Guglhupf bakery in Durham. Some eerie decorations on the stage, the cozy low-lighting of the coffee shop, and a ready supply of warm drinks provided a perfect atmosphere for this unique event.”

A truly Gothic stage! Page 6 The Boar & The Bear

Dr. Hamilton goes to Harvard “Back in August, Sarah Van Sickle, who was a Russian student here, was beginning her second semester at Harvard working on Ukrainian, Women, and Art. A nice interdisciplinary master's program. At the same time, Dr. Shaw was enjoying Cambridge, since he was up there in his first semester of phased retirement leave. They both, almost simultaneously, sent me an email saying "Hey, Billy! Your linguistics book is on sale in the Harvard Bookstore and it's a textbook for one of the courses here at Harvard." I asked Sarah to figure out who the professor was, and she figured it out. Steven Clancy. I didn't know him but he knew "of" me, so I wrote to him. We rather quickly agreed that it would be fun for me to come up to Cambridge and "teach Chapter 10 of my book." Since their class actually meets on MWF. Mrs. Hamilton and I took advantage of our fall break, hopped a plane for Boston and I had the chance to teach at Harvard. Once. We might repeat it again. After class, the grad students and the prof and I went to a nice Indian restaurant nearby.

Dr. Boyer and Dr. Wiggers give talks in Germany

In July 2016 Dr. Wiggers gave a talk at the In March 2017 Dr. Boyer gave Europa Universität Flensburg titled: a talk at the University of “Die Bedeutung der plattdeutschen Sprach am Potsdam titled: Arbeitsplatz” “Riesen, Religion und Menschlichkeit” Page 7 The Boar & The Bear

As usual, the entire WFU and Triad community was invited to celebrate Oktoberfest with us on September 30. Fun, Bratwurst, and Beer (for those 21 and older) was had/consumed by all. According to some unofficial estimates, the beer supply lasted 7.5 minutes longer than in 2015, which surely must be a new record of sorts. Here are some pictures:

The leader of the Band: Dr. Stewart Carter Sicherheitskontrolle at the entrance

The Lords of Paulaner Bier Dr. Wiggers & Dr. Blumenthal Declare Yourself! Page 8 An interview with Kimberly Annas (class of 2018) and recently declared German Major

B&B: Why did you decide to major in German? I knew from my first semester at Wake Forest that I wanted to at least minor in German because I love learning the language. After taking a literature course in October of last year, I knew that I wanted to continue learning German beyond fulfilling the minor, so I decided to become a major and continue taking classes in the department. B&B: How did you get interested in German? Did you already take German classes in high school? I did take one year of German when I was a freshman in high school. My school offered the class through a grant that, unfortunately, expired after my freshman year. The classes I was able to take developed my interest in the language and culture of Germany. I knew very little about Germany before high school, but my introduction to German was enough to get me hooked. B&B: What do you like about the German language? Are there things that you find especially interesting, funny, or easy? Are there things that you find especially difficult? Why? I like everything about the German language! Actually, I think the use of compounding in the German language is really interesting. If there isn’t a word for something, you can put other words together and create a new word to express that idea. That doesn’t really happen as much in English, so that concept is really interesting and cool. Some German grammatical concepts are difficult for me, like Plusquamperfekt and Subjunktiv, but those concepts can be difficult in English, too. I feel like my ability to figure out the gender of new nouns has gotten better over time, and also my verb conjugation. Also, I’m much more comfortable writing in German than speaking it because I have more time to think about what I’m saying and to conjugate things correctly, but my speaking confidence has grown so much in the last year! B&B: Have you been to Germany or Austria? When did you go and where did you visit? Can you share a story from your visit? I studied abroad at the Flow House in Vienna, Austria in the spring of 2016. Without a doubt, my semester abroad was one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve had. It made me a more globally aware person and grew my appreciation for the German language and culture. I’ve been to both Germany and Austria, but have travelled more extensively throughout Austria. I visited seven out of the nine provinces while I was there! Some of my favorite things that I did was waltzing at Viennese balls, seeing Wagner’s Ring Cycle performed at the Vienna State Opera House, learning how to ski in Innsbruck, and touring a winery (in German) in Eisenstadt. One of my favorite memories from my semester abroad was attending a Mayday Festival (Maifest) in Vienna with my RA. We both wore our Trachten (traditional dress) and tourists wanted to take pictures with us, which I thought was funny. Also, the people hosting the event made us the guests of honor and they taught us Austrian folk dances. There was also a lot of beer and food…needless to say, that was a really fun day. B&B: Academically speaking, which areas or fields of German do you find particularly interesting? Which fields would you like to explore Page 9 more and why? Do you already have specific projects in mind? My favorite German classes that I’ve taken are literature courses and History of the German Language. I’m really interested in sociolinguists; I’d love to take more classes exploring the power, prestige, gender, class and socioeconomic status associated with languages and dialects—basically who Some of the courses gets to use a language and how. I am planning to write an honors thesis for that we offer for the German major next year, so I may explore this topic for that. Also, I could German majors and see sociolinguistics being important for me in pursuing future degrees. minors: B&B: What are your plans for the future? Will it involve German? Absolutely! My current plan is to apply to be a Fulbright Scholar and teach in German Conversation Germany or Austria for a year following graduation. From there, I’d like to attend graduate school, but I’m not sure what I’d like to study yet. As I Survey of German Film mentioned, sociolinguistics has really peaked my interest right now…But I German Literature think my dream job would be working for the U.S. Embassy abroad or 1700 - 1815 teaching English to immigrants. I’ve even considered applying for German citizenship in the future, so we’ll see! German Women Writers B&B: What advice would you give to future German majors and minors Business German I + II at WFU? First, I would want to commend them on picking a really awesome major/ German Culture and minor. You can’t go wrong in studying German! I think that’s something that Civilization I + II a lot of people might not realize, that German is actually really widely Weimar Germany applicable. Also, I would encourage German students to be confident in their abilities with the language and to know it’s okay to make mistakes and not be History of the German perfect with the language. Finally, I would say that majors and minors should Language make the most of the wonderful faculty and staff in the German & Russian German-Jewish Literature department as resources. and Culture

B&B: Vielen Dank, ich wünsche Ihnen viel Spass und viel Erfolg! Germanic Myths and Monsters

Advanced Writing and Stylistics

Advanced Grammar and Composition

German Literature from 1900 to present

und, und, und…..

New German Major Kimberly Annas Russian News Page 10

Dr. Clark and Dr. Hamilton talk about their research

Dr. Clark: I recently started working on a joint research project with Russian major Logan Stinson. I had recommended the book "One Soldier's War," by Arkady Babchenko, to Logan last year for a project he was doing on Chechnya for another class. We then read the book together last semester in RUS 341, Masterworks in Translation. Logan became extremely interested in Chechen war literature, which is a very contemporary but understudied topic, and we agreed that he would propose an Honors Thesis on it. At the same time, I also decided to begin a research project on Babchenko's writing, which I had taught in multiple classes. I was so impressed with Logan's papers and his passion for the subject that I invited him to work on the project with me. We are currently studying Russian identity formation in Chechen war literature, and are looking at both books such as "One Soldier's War" and at blogs by these authors. We are planning to co-author and submit an article on the topic in the upcoming year. I am very excited about this project, not only because it is topical and highly relevant to current events, but because it's an example of how teaching and research can go together hand in hand.

Dr. Hamilton: A summer research grant has been given to Hayden Graser, an advanced student of mine in linguistics. He's now in my (perhaps) infamous linguistics course titled "Obscenities." On this Richter Scholarship he will travel to South Africa to study something he's been working on, which we might call "inadvertent dialect acquisition." The lucky part is worth telling: in our textbook for the Obscenities course, several pages were devoted to quotes from the research of a man who may indeed be "the world's foremost expert on the etymology of the F-word!" It turns out that he, Prof. Roger Lass, retired from the University of Cape Town, is still living there and has agreed to mentor Hayden as he spends his summer collecting dialect data. Now here's the incredible part: I played Blue Grass with Dr. Lass in New Haven from 1963 to 1965. We were good friends. And he was a very good banjo picker. At that point I was on the mandolin. The Wake Forest chapter of Dobro Slovo, the National Slavic Honors So- ciety, is pleased to announce that we will have two new initiates this year, Russian major Anna Pasekova and Russian minor Julia Rauchen- berger. Members of Dobro Slovo must demonstrate both exceptional academic ability and a commitment to the study of Slavic languages and cultures. GUEST COLUMN GUEST COLUMN GUEST COLUMN Page 11 Sie haben das Wort!

Hanna Randall, German Major and President of Delta Phil Alpha talks about her time in Austria and being a German Major

Coming from an extremely small town outside of Asheville, North Carolina, I was Bad Ischl, Österreich desperate to escape the seemingly never-ending forests that had held me captive while growing up. When an opportunity to go abroad as an exchange student with Rotary International presented itself, I went for it without any hesitation. Through Rotary’s program, I was randomly selected to go to Bad Ischl, Austria as a junior in high school. When I stepped off the plane, I did not know a single word of German. The fact that Austrians spoke a completely different language was an after-thought to me; my priority was to get out of no-where North Carolina. I was quickly brought back to reality when I sat down at the dinner table for the first time in my new host family. I didn’t understand anything at all, and therefore could not join the conversation. As I sat there uncomfortably silent, I began to contemplate my questionable decision-making skills. Luckily, that initial panic faded, and I learned to love everything about Austria and the surrounding countries. I ended up staying until high school graduation, then studying abroad again in Vienna during sophomore year of college. It wasn’t until college that I learned to communicate in German, however. To make it clear, I am not a “language person.” I do not learn languages easily, and I do not really enjoy the process of learning languages. Nevertheless, I understand the massive necessity for it. I was lost at the dinner table pretty much my entire stay, but it sparked an interest that has persisted for years. Learning a new language opens up an entire new world that was completely inaccessible previously. Sure, you can translate everything into English, but you will never truly grasp the intended meaning of a piece of literature unless you read it in the language it was written. A translation can be perfect, yet it will not encompass the “feeling” and the precise word choices of the original text. With the rise of English prevailing as the “global language,” it is more important than ever to keep learning other languages. So much culture can be lost when we bypass the effort of language learning in exchange for a quick translation. As I stand on my soapbox lecturing about the importance of multilingual skills, please note that I am nowhere near fluent in German. However, I am, overly excited to know that eventually I will be fluent, and I am passionate about motivating others to continue their interest in German and other new languages.

Hanna Randall in Austria Declare Yourself! Page 12 An interview with David Burch (class of 2018) and recently declared Russian Major

B&B: Why did you decide to major in Russian? I had originally decided to minor in Russian after taking language courses to meet the language requirement. After one month in St. Petersburg, I knew that I would be a Russian major. While in St. Petersburg, I developed a love for Russian music, art, literature, and most importantly, people. After making friends in Russia that will last a lifetime, I knew I wanted spend my life using Russian to communicate and create lasting relationships with other people. The Russian Department at WFU helps me to improve my skills everyday by enhancing my grammatical, conversational, written, and linguistic knowledge. B&B: How did you get interested in Russian? Did you already take Russian classes before you came to Wake Forest? RUS 111 with Dr. Hamilton was the first time I had dealt with Cyrillic letters and hard ’s. I was instantly hooked. With my interest in Central and East European history, Russian was the perfect language to learn for my historical interests and future research. Russian consistently comes in handy when reading newspaper articles or academic texts for history and politics. B&B: What do you like about the Russian language? Are there things that you find especially interesting, funny, or easy? Are there things that you find especially difficult? Why? Russian seems to fit poetry better than just about any language. With consistent case endings and genders of words, Russian poets have always been able to use the language flexibly and creatively. Pushkin and Lermontov are just two of endless examples of this. I also find it funny that there’s an extraordinarily high number of ways to say ‘to go.’ Verb aspects tend to be the most difficult part of Russian for me. When speaking Russian, I have to think very carefully about the context of a situation in order to use the correct aspect of a verb, or else my speech will sound nonsensical. B&B Have you been to Russia or another Slavic-speaking country? When did you go and where did you visit? Can you share a story from your visit(s)? I have been to Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Perhaps my most interesting story comes from Ukraine. While in St. Petersburg, I flew through Minsk to Kiev with a friend in order to see the nature of the current political situation firsthand. While there, I used my language skills to speak with Ukrainians who had personally felt the effects of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. This included talking with those whose families had been separated because of the conflict. At the same time, I was able to compare this perspective with Russian perspectives that I had picked up during my time in St. Petersburg. Altogether, this experience allowed me to better understand the personal nature of the conflict and how I can use my language skills to bring differing opinions together.

B&: Academically speaking, which areas or fields of Russian do you find Page 13 particularly interesting? Which fields would you like to explore more and why? Do you already have specific projects in mind? I find Russian history of the Second World War, or Great Patriotic War, to be very fascinating. Due to the Cold War, Russians and Americans have long held differing beliefs on the role of each country in WWII. I hope to bridge this gap, and, with historical background and Russian language abilities, conduct research Some of the courses on the legacy of this war. In Russia, WWII is still a major talking point in that we offer for politics. Therefore, understanding the Russian view of the conflict is key to Russian majors and dealing with public policy and international affairs between Russia and the minors: United States. B&B: What are your plans for the future? Will it involve Russian? The Russians and their I plan to pursue international law or public policy and work between the United World States and Eastern Europe. Thus, I hope to use Russian language every day in my future career. The Structure of Russian

B&B: Are you interested in other Slavic languages? Seminar in Russian Yes! Before studying abroad in St. Petersburg, I spent a summer at Charles Literature University in Prague. While there, I took Czech language courses. Through courses such as Dr. Hamilton’s “History of Russian,” I have been able to Russian Culture and continue studying Czech at WFU. One of the coolest parts about studying Slavic Civilization languages is that they are often very similar to one another. Once you gain Russian Masterworks in proficiency in one or two, it is easy to learn others! Translation B& B: What advice would you give to future Russian majors and minors at WFU? Advanced Russian The rigorous nature of studying Russian is no easy task, but the rewards are Grammar immense. Go to Russia, live with a host family, eat some pyshki, drink some Russian Conversation kvass, and make friends with Russians. Once you do this, your abilities will and Composition increase immensely and you’ll have friends to help you continue learning. Whether you’re a native speaker or totally new to the language, studying it will The History of the Russian Language provide you with skills you will use for the rest of your life. B&B: Спасибо большое, и желаю Вам счастья и успеха The Language of Russian Press and Mass Media

New Russian Major David Burch Page 14 Research News

Dr. McAllister forscht in Old Salem

The Winston-Salem Journal featured an article about Dr. McAllister‘s research work at Old Salem

Grant McAllister — professor McAllister to his students at Wake Forest University — laughed when he heard the question. Then he repeated it. “How do I read these?” he said. “I have to wear my glasses, that’s for sure.” “These” would be a few 200-year-old pages of the official Home Moravian church diaries, handwritten in an old German script on paper produced at a mill that stood on Peters Creek near Academy Street.

The pages McAllister was holding detailed Holy Week in 1817 and the preparations for that year’s Easter sunrise service, which would go off almost exactly like the one this morning that will likely draw thousands to God’s Acre. “It’s just fascinating to me,” McAllister said. “Look. Here’s a Dr. McAllister at the discussion about the number of ‘foreigners’ — that’s what they called non- Moravian Archive in Moravians — coming to take part in the sunrise service.” Old Salem

McAllister is a professor in the German and Russian department at Wake Kurrentschrift Forest. He’s long been aware of the rich recorded local history available in and Sütterlin the Moravian archives overlooking God’s Acre and used it occasionally for Kurrent is an old form academic reasons. He knew, for example, that the Moravians came to of German handwriting based on late medieval Forsyth County in 1753 and formally established the town of Bethania six writing. It was years later. Salem, and the Home Church, followed in 1766. used in Germany until the early 20th century and in Switzerland even Moravians were prodigious record keepers, and McAllister also knew that longer. church diaries were written in Deutsche Schrift [Kurrentschrift] — an Sütterlin is a more modern variety of ornate style of writing peculiar to German — until 1857 when English Kurrent and was also elbowed it aside a mere century after the Moravians arrived. A small used widely in handful of people in the Triad can read Deutsche schrift. McAllister being Germany. one of them, he decided in the fall that it’d be instructive to have for his classes. He went to the Home Church archives, and with the help of archivist Richard Starbuck started looking through religious poems.

“The original goal was to find something for the students to read a little in Kurrentschrift,” he said. Once McAllister started reading, the elegant writing on the delicate old parchment began to draw him in. Page 15 “You find all these stories,” he said. “There’s one about a 16-year-old who just died one day while working in a field. You learn about the loss and burial. Then you see all these names — Spainhour, Beroth, Pfaff — that you see all over the place now.”

There are also cultural subtexts and the hints about the slow but sure changes going on in the larger society. English words started showing up, previewing the growing influence of “foreigners” and the eventual switch to English by local congregations. Some sermons were given in English by 1817.

Then there was the incorporation and eventual welcoming of black Kurrent families into the Moravian faith, words that show at the same time how far we’ve come in terms of race relations and how far we’ve yet to go. “There are entries about the large numbers of African-Americans — slaves — who gathered in Bethania and additional services being added for them,” McAllister said.

Because he’s an academic at heart, McAllister is also interested in some of the more technical history of the writing itself. “There are some older Germans who can still read it,” he said. “The Nazis outlawed it.” The records themselves are copious and detailed. Births, deaths, weather conditions and issues within the larger congregation were all liable to turn Sütterlin up. A diary entry could be one page or 10,” McAllister said. “They picked out the most interesting aspects of the day for the diary.” The daily record keeping continued after local congregations officially switched to English about 1857 and remained part of official Moravian church for another 50 years.

“The practice of a daily church diary began fading in the early 1900s,” Starbuck wrote in an email. “The last Home Church (Salem) Diary was 1963.” Other traditions remained, and continue to this day. In between answering questions Friday about record-keeping, Starbuck stayed busy helping people locate gravestones of their ancestor so that they might wash and tend to them the same way as earlier generations. Binding it all and flagging such traditions as important for future generations are the diaries housed lovingly in the official archives above the cemetery. The daily lives of a people have been recorded there for scholars and other interested parties to rediscover in their own time.

It’s a fascinating and important trove, and we’re lucky to have it here. “I don’t know where to stop,” McAllister said last week. “I had to keep coming back because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Dear Readers, Page 16 I hope that you enjoyed the third issue of The Boar & The Bear. If you have any comments, ideas, pictures, or stories that you would like to share for our next issues - no matter if you are a current student, a prospective student, a former student or someone from the greater Triad community– please let me know by email or call me.

Many thanks to all contributors!

Yours, Heiko Wiggers

Email: [email protected] Phone: (336) 758-5360