Fall–Winter 2013 Volume 39: 3–4

The Journal of New York Folklore

Raquel Z. Rivera Puerto Rican Artist & Scholar

Remembering Pete Seeger

Irish Lace in Western NY

Fair Fotos

A Portrait of Karyl Denison Eaglefeathers (1952–2012) From the Director From the Editor

On September 17, Henry’s nomination was supported by several What a blow to hear of 2014, Henry Arquette folklorists and folklore organizations, and it Peter Seeger’s death on received the highest was promoted by members of his Mohawk January 27, 2014 at the award that this na- community, in recognition of his importance age of 94. tion offers to folk and not only as a traditional artist but also for his I thought the man traditional artists. A prominence in teaching others to carry on would live forever. maker of utilitarian the tradition. One can’t say with certainty What a champion of so baskets held in high what the effect of this award will have for the many causes over the regard by his Haude- future. The youngest members in attendance, decades of his life, and nosaunee Mohawk community, Henry Ar- great grandchildren of Henry Arquette, made a master of weaving music into this activism. quette was one of nine award honorees for the nine-hour journey from Akwesasne to I’m so glad to have joined recent 2014, and the only artist from New York State Washington, DC, to witness the ceremony. celebrations of his life’s work. At last year’s to receive the National Endowment for the Their wide-eyed look at the ceremony and benefit concert at Proctors Theater in Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award for its trappings of splendor will without doubt Schenectady, I enthusiastically sang along 2014. In a gala ceremony and banquet, Mr. remain in their memories for years to come. with Pete, as did a full house of supporters. Arquette received his award surrounded by Will it inspire them to follow in their great In 2007, I joined the American Folklife three generations of his family members. This grandfather’s footsteps? Center’s symposium and concert in honor is the first time in the history of the award In her remarks, NEA Chair, Jane Chu said, of the Seeger family, at the Library of that a representative of the Mohawk Nation “These individuals are just a few examples Congress in Washington, DC, where Pete has been honored in this way. (See photo of of exemplary artists in this nation worthy Seeger had been employed 67 years earlier by Henry on p. 45) of distinction; the makers of incredible the Archive of American Folk Song. What a Begun by the founding director of the Folk music, dance, and crafts, who are passing treat to be a part of the conversation, and, and Traditional Arts Program of the National the arts forward, to make sure that the next of course, to sing with Pete Seeger, his sister Endowment for the Arts, Bess Lomax Hawes, generations will have the same opportuni- Peggy, his brothers Mike and John, his wife the National Heritage Awards have a 32-year ties to experience these traditions, and find Toshi, and other family members. history of awarding excellence within folk and meaning in their practice.” (National Heri- As a college student, I first experienced traditional arts. During this time, New York tage Awards Program, 2014). I would hope Pete’s power of music to fuel all his causes artists have been well represented (see www. that Henry Arquette’s honor would have a in a live, sold-out concert at Harvard nyfolklore.org/tradarts/neafellow-ny.html), and beneficial effect towards the continuation of University. It took place on Saturday, January Henry joins this group as the 33rd recipient traditional Mohawk basketry, utilitarian and 12, 1980, my weekend off from a somewhat from New York, out of the 386 so honored fancy baskets alike. boring Gloucester fisheries lab internship. I since 1982. took a train into Boston and hoped to get My colleague, Steve Zeitlin has mused tickets from someone by hanging around the Ellen McHale, PhD, Executive Director that our actions as folklorists often create hall. My notes from the time say, “No luck at New York Folklore Society ripples, which reveal themselves long after all but it gave me a chance to go back stage [email protected] the project or program has faded in people’s and watch Pete put the finishing touches www.nyfolklore.org memories (personal conversation, n.d.). Like on an audience-participation sign, chat with traditional arts themselves, the ramifications some people, and smile a lot. He seemed and outcomes of traditional arts learning and genuinely nice.” I remember the excitement exposure sometimes take years, if not gen- of waiting with other folks hoping that, erations, to germinate and become apparent. despite the announcement of a full house continued on page 2

“If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning, I’d hammer in the evening, All over this land. I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning, I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.” —Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, “If I Had a Hammer” (1949).

VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Contents Fall–Winter 2013

Features 3 Reimagining Irish Lace in Western New York 3 by Carrie Hertz 14 Raquel Z. Rivera: Portrait of a Puerto Rican Artist and Scholar Introduction and Interview by Eileen Condon 28 Fair Fotos by Wendy Liberatore, Photographs by Clifford Oliver 38 Remembering Karyl Denison Eaglefeathers A link in the chain of New York Folklore 14 by Ira McIntosh 48 Remembering Pete Seeger by Ellen McHale

Departments and Columns

12 Upstate by Varick A. Chittenden 13 Downstate by Steve Zeitlin

27 Foodways 28 by Margaret French 41 ALN8BAL8MO: A Native Voice by Joseph Bruchac 43 Voices in New York by Dr. Constance Sullivan-Blum 44 NYFS News and Notes

48

Cover: Puerto Rican traditional artist and scholar, Raquel Z. Rivera, is interviewed by Eileen Condon in this issue (see p. 14). Photo by Erika Morillo.

Fall–WinterFall–Winter 2013,2013, VolumeVolume 39:39:3–4 3–4 1 1 From the Editor (continued) standing room, we’d finally get in. At conservative village. I now see his hand in intermission, a fellow college student and the technique used by my enthusiastic fifth- usher took pity and slipped me into the grade music teacher, Mrs. Raycraft, who hall. He had me climb a ladder to a wooden got a bunch of unruly rural fifth-graders to Fall–Winter 2013 · Volume 39: 3–4 platform holding spotlights above the hall, “stand up” and “sing out like we meant it,” Acquisitions Editor Todd DeGarmo Copy Editor Patricia Mason and from this perch, I sang along with the while she pounded out on the upright piano, Administrative Manager Laurie Longfield entire hall led by this extraordinary man. I Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer.” In my rural Design Mary Beth Malmsheimer Printer was energized by the concert. I was energized Methodist Church, we all sang his “Turn, Eastwood Litho by his message that every voice can be heard, Turn, Turn” and “Where Have All the Editorial Board Varick Chittenden, Lydia Fish, Hanna Griff-Sleven, Nancy Groce, Lee Haring, everyone can take a part. What a good feeling! Flowers Gone?”—understanding both the Bruce Jackson, Christopher Mulé, Libby Tucker, “Pete,” someone mentioned, “is the message and the underlying encouragement Kay Turner, Dan Ward, Steve Zeitlin closest thing we have today to an American that each of us could make a difference. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore Folk Hero. His message is passed on in his I must admit. Pete Seeger’s passing has is published twice a year by the song. A powerful tool.” been hard to take. But his song reminds us, New York Folklore Society, Inc. 129 Jay Street I must admit, I love the Huffington Post’s “To everything (Turn, Turn, Turn) there is Schenectady, NY 12305

take on the man in a recent blog, “30 Things a season (Turn, Turn, Turn). . . .A time to New York Folklore Society, Inc. You Need to Know About the Hudson be born, a time to die. . . . A time to laugh, Executive Director Ellen McHale Valley Before You Move There”: #20: “Pete a time to weep. . . . A time of peace, I swear Folklorist Lisa Overholser Administration and Gallery Laurie Longfield Seeger is the unspoken king of Beacon. If it’s not too late.” Web Administrator Patti Mason you don’t know who Pete Seeger is, prepare Thank you Pete Seeger. Music moves Voice (518) 346-7008 Fax (518) 346-6617 for a master class. The wildly influential folk the message. You may be gone, but your Web Site www.nyfolklore.org singer-songwriter made the Hudson Valley message lives on: Lend your voice. Sing out. Board of Directors town of Beacon his home for most of his Participate and make a difference. President Gabrielle Hamilton life, until his death in January. These days, Todd DeGarmo Vice President Christopher Mulé Secretary he’s treated as a demigod around the area.” Voices Acquisitions Editor Puja Sahney Treasurer Jessica Schein And why not, I could nod a bit smugly Founding Director of the Folklife Center at Ellen Fladger, Anna Mulé, Gregory S. Shatan, as a resident with eight-generation roots Crandall Public Library Connie Sullivan-Blum, Kay Turner, Thomas van Buren in the Hudson Valley. Pete Seeger was on [email protected] the front lines of cleaning up our beloved Advertisers: To inquire, please call the NYFS (518) 346-7008 or fax (518) 346-6617. Hudson River in the 1960s and ‘70s. His “Sailing Down My Golden River” Circles and Seasons (1979) was a rallying cry for Sailing down my golden river, the youthful charter members of Ecology Sun and water all my own, House at Colgate University. I especially Yet I was never alone. Voices is available in Braille and recorded versions. Call the NYFS at (518) 346-7008. love his “Sailing Down My Golden River” Sun and water, old life givers, on this album (see insert). And fresh out I’ll have them where e’er I roam, The New York Folklore Society is committed to And I was not far from home. providing services with integrity, in a manner that of college, what a thrill for this member to conveys respect for the dignity of the individuals and Sunlight glancing on the water, join the volunteer crew of the Hudson River communities the NYFS serves, as well as for their Life and death are all my own, Sloop Clearwater (which Seeger co-founded cultures, including ethnic, religious, occupational, and Yet I was never alone. regional traditions. in 1966) to teach environmental education Life to raise my sons and daughters, The programs and activities of the New York Folk- and later use his songs and techniques lore Society, and the publication of Voices: The Journal of Golden sparkles in the foam, New York Folklore, are made possible in part by funds to awaken environmental activism in our And I was not far from home. from the New York State Council on the Arts. young campers at Wildwood, in neighboring Sailing down this winding highway, Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is indexed in Massachusetts in the early 1980s. Arts & Humanities Citation Index and Music Index and Travelers from near and far, abstracted in Historical Abstracts and America: History Yet even years before becoming a Yet I was never alone. and Life. folklorist or a budding environmentalist, I Exploring all the little by-ways, Reprints of articles and items from Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore are available from the NYFS. Call was touched by Pete Seeger’s power of song, Sighting all the distant stars, (518) 346-7008 or fax (518) 346-6617. without even knowing it. I was in elementary And I was not far from home. school in the 1960s, a bit young to be a part of ISSN 0361-204X Originally titled: “Sailing Down This Golden © 2014 by The New York Folklore Society, Inc. All his earlier causes. Nonetheless, Pete activism River” Words and music by Pete Seeger (1962) rights reserved. TRO - ©1971 Melody Trails, Inc. New York, NY found its way to us in our rural, somewhat

2 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Reimagining Irish Lace in Western New York

BY CARRIE HERTZ

n 2011, I began research that would New Yorkers, but like anywhere in the Irish Lace” attempted to understand how I culminate in “(Re-)Making Irish Lace,” world, the region is marked by global in- a particular art form has been interpreted an exhibition that ran at the Castellani Art terconnectivity with ongoing histories of by different groups of people, locally and Museum of Niagara University (CAM) from migration, tourism, and social networks abroad, for nearly 200 years, comparing July 15–December 2, 2012. The mandate of supported by technology. A diasporic Irish past and recent practice. Fundamentally, I CAM’s Folk Arts Program is to document identity, for example, matters to a good wanted to see how the unfurling story of and interpret the cultural lives of Western number of people in the area. “(Re-)Making Irish lace is playing out in the daily lives of

Yardage of Irish Crochet, 1890–1910. From the collection of Molly Carroll. Courtesy of Molly Carroll.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 3 Buffalonians. What does this tell us about Though some styles achieved periods of Attempts at “improvement” seem to have contemporary efforts to preserve and revive widespread acclaim, winning first prizes and had mixed results. When award-winning traditions that developed under circum- even enjoying the patronage of monarchs designs were circulated to manufactur- stances that no longer exist? And, as these and popes, most were largely undervalued ing centers without being adopted, Cole art forms move out from their geographical and criticized for lacking refinement. Com- decried that ‘innovations are regarded and temporal origins, who determines the mon stylistic features often diverged from with timidity’ by Irish lacemakers (quoted direction of their development? This essay the preferences of affluent buyers who in Ballard 1992, 50). It is more likely that offers two case studies of current practition- tended to favor delicate scale and perfect women, working closely together within ers living in Western New York, with the symmetry. The famed lace industries in small or rural communities, inspired each hope of shedding light on the negotiation France and Belgium relied on ateliers and other. Probably some workers cared little of meaning and aesthetics as it relates to design studios to produce stylish patterns beyond getting paid. We cannot assume Ireland’s recent efforts to promote its lace- that suited discerning, high fashion tastes. that their goals were always aligned with the making traditions around the world. First, In contrast, most Irish lace production, di- interests of critics, socialites, businessmen, let me briefly sketch the historical context rected more by philanthropic necessity than and buyers. Evidence, like Cole’s account, that informs current activities. business acumen, had neither such clear indicates that individual women invented or artistic direction nor hierarchical structures modified some conventional motifs them- Handmade Lacemaking in of management. In some places, decisions selves, based on their own preferences and Ireland regarding design were left to the discretion improvisations. Looking again at examples Handmade Irish lace was always a global of makers who pleased themselves. of Youghal and Irish Crochet from this product, sold first to wealthy aristocrats Irish Crochet and Youghal, arguably two period, we see pieces of lace crowded with throughout Europe, and then, increasingly, of the more distinctive Irish styles, received demonstrations of virtuosic needle skills marketed worldwide as a token of Ireland. some of the harshest reviews from critics. and whimsical shapes. Youghal, for example, The country’s lacemaking industry was a In 1897, textile expert and Englishman has been described as “exuberant chaos,” latecomer to the international marketplace, Alan S. Cole, after touring lacemaking cen- “idiosyncratic,” and as a “perplexing per- arising in the 19th century as a commercial ters, complained that ‘the trade leaves the versity” (Kurella 1991, 4). Why would poor response to poverty and famine. Numer- invention of ornamental forms for crochet workers take the extra time, only to make ous convents, philanthropic societies, and work practically to the workers themselves, their products less desirable for sale? The wealthy patrons promoted widespread who have no training in drawing and conse- frequency of “over-decorated” Irish laces instruction in lacemaking, hoping to create quently cannot produce properly designed instead suggests that makers shared a differ- a means for poor women to earn income. patterns’ (quoted in Ballard 1992, 45). He, ent aesthetic—one that valued imaginative Conversely, shrewd entrepreneurs saw an like many Victorians, preferred lace “com- and complicated stitchwork over careful, opportunity for exploiting low-wage, skilled posed of simple geometric forms repeated reserved compositions. As many were not labor. Given the variety of motivations driv- in an ordered manner” (Cole 1888). Many engaged in typical factory-style production ing it, the organization of lace production examples of the Irish styles, in contrast, with explicit directives, perhaps boredom ranged from cooperative workrooms run by look spontaneously arranged with dense, was staved off by creativity. As curator nuns to factory “schools” demanding inden- busy flourishes. Linda Ballard points out, in the absence of tured servitude. Many of the characteristic There were others like Cole who hoped better information, we cannot know how Irish laces began as conscious imitations to improve the widespread commercial much creative control individual makers had of popular Continental styles, but these appeal of Irish lace by encouraging mak- over the outcome of their work, though it adaptations were quickly transformed by ers to conform to international market likely varied greatly (1992, 53). local circumstances. demand. Philanthropists and entrepreneurs The handmade lace industry across Eu- Regional styles emerged and matured; compiled “study collections” of the finest rope collapsed after the 1920s, unable to they were named for their main centers of laces from around the world. They held survive slackening demand and the compe- production. Some of the new motifs that design competitions with cash prizes and tition of improved mechanical production gained prevalence were the conventional offered scholarships to promising workers, methods. Irish styles of lace, however, did symbols of Ireland like the rose of Sharon so they could attend prestigious art schools not disappear. Antique laces continue to and the shamrock. As samples were sent to in Ireland and England. Most Irish lace- circulate today, given new lives by restor- industrial exhibitions, like the 1893 World’s makers had not been trained in drawing. ers, dealers, and collecting institutions. This Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, Some convents provided classes in art, but material legacy fuels interest in both the Irish laces began receiving international nuns were hardly well versed in the world of past and future of Irish lacemaking. Over recognition, both positive and negative. fashion (Ó Cléirigh and Rowe 1995, 17–31). the last few decades, the Irish government,

4 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Molly Carroll, 2012. Photo by Carrie Hertz.

with the help of the European Union, to groups of eager hobbyists. Rather than of beauty, we can record the subjective has opened numerous lace museums and exporting lace products, entrepreneurs in experiences of people living today who are centers throughout the country. Organiza- Ireland are exporting techniques. re-imagining Irish lace in a new place and a tions like the Guild of Irish Lacemakers, As I began looking into the origins of new era. In Buffalo, Molly Carroll collects, the Irish Countrywoman’s Association, the Irish lace, I was disappointed by the paucity restores, and sells antique lace with the Royal Dublin Society, and the Education of scholarship available about the early lace- hope of keeping it relevant. Her beautiful and Training Boards provide a network of makers. Despite the best efforts of dedi- collection provided most of the historical support for enthusiasts and practitioners. cated and compassionate historians (Nellie examples for the exhibition and a glimpse New generations of devoted lacemakers O’Cléirigh, for one), history has privileged into the impact of contemporary connois- have reverse engineered once lost styles, the voices of the philanthropists, entrepre- seurship. Mother and daughter, Mary Lou like Youghal, or revived others that had neurs, and art critics who were involved in and Joan Sulecki, are present-day lacemakers been limping along, like Limerick. Lace has the Irish lacemaking industry to various who, having studied in Ireland, adapt Irish again become an important part of Ireland’s degrees. We can only guess, for example, styles to their lives in Western New York. tourist industry, now as a conscious heritage what individual lacemakers thought about project. With this upsurge in interest, a the many attempts to “improve” designs. Molly Carroll growing number of women are devising Most of these lacemakers remain anony- The first time I met Molly Carroll, she successful careers as international instruc- mous to us, but the work they left behind welcomed me into her home in Amherst, tors and experts, publishing and traveling gives us clues. New York. I was escorted to the “inner around the world to provide hands-on While we can no longer ask the early sanctum,” as Molly’s husband Chuck refers training, workshops, seminars, and lectures lacemakers about their agency or standards to the bright sitting room where she restores

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 5 fragile pieces of historical lace. On a table, she had fanned out an ivory spray of textiles for me to inspect. Molly is a lace dealer, but even more importantly, she is a lover of beautiful dress. It was this first love that led her to lace; she began collecting it because she wanted to wear it. Molly received her first piece of lace—a giant collar of Irish Crochet— in her late 20s as a gift from her mother-in-law. “I thought it was the most beautiful thing,” she recalled. “And this is kind of a vain statement, but people were at me. And I’ve always been kind of costume-y, into music and all that.” Molly describes her style of dress as “very romantic, very feminine.” The “New Romantic” fashion scene, popular- ized and softened by Princess Diana during the 1980s, easily captures her preferences. Like many Americans, she sees a connection between her tastes in clothing styles and types of music. Classically trained in violin, Molly grew up in a family of musicians. She reasons, “We know beauty through music. We know about ornament through music. That’s my whole background, but it gave me the eyes to see real beauty. It’s very tied to music. And remember that music is the last calling for real dress. Part of that love of costume comes out of formal music events that I’ve been so fortunate in my life to attend, namely the opera. People [in the audience] wear the most incredible things. Sometimes men show up in capes.” With this penchant for sartorial drama, Molly relished the showiness of her new Irish Crochet, a style of lace that reminded her of carved ivory. It sparked a lifelong passion.

Becoming a collector Historically, handmade lace was created for a variety of domestic purposes, but the finest materials and the highest quality craftsmanship were reserved for items of dress and adornment. Molly began collect- ing lace to expand her personal wardrobe. “I’ve had to learn to restrain myself,” she admits, “because I had this notion of myself Molly Carroll’s grandmother, for whom she was named, was the first generation born ornamented, with ornament. And I did it up in the US, near Syracuse. Here, Molly Bresnahan (later Mullen) is shown in 1908, wearing a bolero jacket of Irish lace. Courtesy of Molly Carroll. pretty well for a lot of years. And there’s a

6 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore strange invitation to buy something if you backing, Molly has dedicated herself to fully made, recognized in part by tight, even think you can sell it. And then that got a hold study. In the past three years, she has been stitches. She will also inspect the scale of of me and I kept on buying.” Collecting and taking courses in French in order to speak composition. The threads should be fine selling presented an easy excuse for Molly more freely with her fellow enthusiasts. and delicate; the motifs should be small. to surround herself with beautiful things. France currently serves as a central hub The details of the design should “seem to be It also offered her conventional tools for for the contemporary, international world working together as opposed to just thrown defining herself as an individual and as a of lace. The most prominent organization, in there.” So what happens to those laces, woman. She explains, “Collecting is a very OIDFA (L’Organisation Internationale de la like some Irish styles, that defy universal special bird, because it’s very time consum- Dentelle au Fuseau et à l’Aiguille, or in English, standards? As we have seen, enough Irish ing, very courageous of me, a little bit wacky, The International Bobbin and Needle Lace lacemakers during the 19th century were and also expensive. I also lived with four Organization) was founded in that country clearly evaluating their work using a differ- men—my husband and three sons. So, part during the early 1980s. ent set of criteria. Should we not judge, to of me said, you know, I had to have this kind Molly attends OIDFA’s biennial con- some extent, through the eyes of the mak- of female costume thing.” gresses when she can—like the one held ers? Molly believes so. In Irish lace, she sees Today, Molly rarely buys anything for her- in Caen in 2012—where she sells lace. “It’s what she considers characteristic Irish pluck. self. Age has tempered her fashion courage, very costly,” she confesses. “Just to fly there The Irish people endure because of hard and she prefers to dress more simply. Her is a big deal. I was kind of pleased [during work and stubbornness. As she explains, collecting, though much reduced, continues. my last trip] because just selling enough al- “In a time when no one was paying atten- While it started as a means to adorn herself, most paid for the ticket. But I would rather tion to Irish lace, I did. Because I thought, collecting led to something greater: entry be with people who are serious, knowledge- this is my heritage.” into a new social world. able.” Molly is a saleswoman who never Irish lace appealed to Molly for a number makes a profit. Making money has never of reasons—some practical (it was afford- The world of lace been her goal. From the beginning, collect- able at the time) and some aesthetic (she When I asked Molly what has kept her ing and selling have put her where she always thought it very lovely). But her appreciation collecting all these years, she named inter- wanted to be: in the company of learned went deeper. Molly saw a reflection of her esting people she has met from all over the people—scholars, connoisseurs, and artists. ancestral roots. She says, “In the famine world. She listed lectures she has attended “I’ve only been a small player,” she admits, times, I knew that my family came from that were given by famed authors, historians, “but at my level, I’ve been intense about it.” Ireland [to New York] during those terrible couturiers, and lacemakers. She pointed to times. They were not lacemakers. They all the places she has visited—some lifelong Collecting Irish lace came to this country. And so then when I dream trips, like to Ireland and France, Collectors contribute to the preservation saw the product of so many Irish women, and others more surprising. “These lace of important objects. In the process, they especially in the west [of Ireland, where conventions,” she explained, “have taken help construct which parts of material her ancestors had lived], that they were me to San Antonio, Tulsa, to LA, to Puerto culture should be saved for the future. An making this lace to keep their families fed, Rico, to Montreal. Places I really would not individual collector’s most valuable skill is I thought it’s contemporary with what was have gone to. I’ve been to Tulsa twice! And the ability to see what others ignore. Molly happening in my own family. They had to wherever I go, there are the field trips to has spent the past three decades collecting leave Ireland. Those who stayed had to find local museums, the experience with local and studying all sorts of lace, but the most other ways to keep alive. So that is a very food. Puerto Rico was unbelievable. We important to her have been handmade personal connection.” If the women in her danced! It’s been very exciting.” Because of Irish styles. Looking back, she says, “I’m family had not immigrated, Molly believes her interest in lace, deep friendships have extremely proud of this Irish lace, because they, too, may have become anonymous been forged, and unanticipated adventures nobody else was paying attention, and I was. lacemakers. Instead they were fortunate to enjoyed. Collecting has opened the door to That’s worth something, isn’t it? Everybody become educated women—school teachers, something glamorous—international travel looked down her nose at the Irish lace. They as well as accomplished musicians. and camaraderie—but more importantly, to wanted the Continental, the great laces.” Molly is full of the same pluck that she something intellectual. The stylistic elements deemed most ascribes to Irish culture. Collecting Irish Molly told me that she regrets having valuable in a piece of handmade lace have lace, for Molly, has a touch of feminist zeal never pursued higher education, but she is varied very little over hundreds of years. behind it. “People study art,” she acknowl- right when she says, “I’m basically a curator, When Molly purchases things for sale, she edges, “but they don’t necessarily study wom- but without the PhD and without the job.” looks for these hallmarks, because they are en’s work, because it’s considered…trivial! I Though she lacks credentials or institutional what buyers want. The lace must be skill- feel a tremendous kinship with the women

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 7 who came before us. [Irish lace] represents Molly describes herself as a “fussy” person, historic flax—the spell is cast. A spell comes hand labor of the anonymous female, the and this personality suits a lace restorer. over me. So yeah, I’m at a crossroads.” poor female. They supported themselves.” The activity is exacting, requiring close While many of the lace industries across and patient work. If done well, it is also a Joan and Mary Lou Sulecki: Europe were under the managerial and cre- thankless task, because the results should Lacemakers and Teachers ative control of men, Irish lace—organized be invisible. She tells me that repair work Art forms—their production, dissemina- by convents and benevolent socialites—was might be “calming for about two hours, but tion, and valuation—are continually reas- primarily women’s endeavors. Molly believes no longer.” After that, the process becomes sessed in the face of changing technologies. that Irish lace is more than art; it is an en- too tedious—for the fingers, but especially Machines ended widespread handcraft, and during record of the accomplishments of for the eyes. Many early lacemakers, in fact, the Internet is altering the circulation of disenfranchised women who have otherwise had only brief careers, cut short by blind- objects and knowledge. We can see some of been lost to history. ness. For this reason, she was never drawn to these effects in the experiences of individual actual lacemaking, which demands far more makers. In Buffalo, New York, Mary Lou The art of restoration time with slower results. Being a restorer Sulecki makes Carrickmacross and Limerick Molly not only collects old pieces of lace, has only deepened her appreciation of the lace, and her daughter Joan makes Youghal. saving them “from the rag bin,” but she lacemaker’s undertaking. Unlike their friend Molly Carroll, Joan hopes to bring them back to life for others and Mary Lou have no ancestral ties to to use and wear. Most objects that Molly At a crossroads Ireland. They were attracted to Irish lace takes into her collection need some work. Molly recently turned 71 years old. She purely for its beauty. While they appreciate Pieces of antique lace are often dingy with has been seriously collecting, restoring, and knowing “how it started and why it started,” layers of destructive dust and dirt. Collars, selling lace for more than 30 years. Much has the history and development of Irish lace, cuffs, and other clothing worn against the changed, and she realizes she must change, or any lace for that matter, is incidental to skin may be yellowed or discolored from too. Antique lace is harder to find at afford- their practice. “We know there’s a social natural oils and perspiration. Washing, how- able prices, and the marketplace has started history attached to it,” Joan admits. “We ever, can destroy most handmade laces by moving to the Internet. “My strength,” she often talk about the social history—that loosening the fibers. The delicate layers pull explains, “has been finding beautiful things. it was essentially sweatshop labor for hun- away from each other or rot. Bleaches wreak I would say those things are not available. dreds of years, that it was not well paid, men irreparable damage. Through much study The competition, I guess, is so great. At would design and provide the materials, and and experimentation, Molly has discovered Sturbridge [Massachusetts for the 2012 women would do the work. Yes, it’s interest- safe ways to bathe most laces, returning Antique Textile and Vintage Fashion Show ing. In our group [of lacemakers], we have them as close as possible to a “natural cream in May], I heard by way of the grapevine all one person who’s very much the historian. color.” When she described this process to these different people were stopping [their Like Molly, she collects and identifies. Super me, she recalled that her daughter-in-law, businesses].” detailed. It’s always fascinating to hear what before she married her son Ian, asked him Because travel is becoming more difficult this person has learned, but we hear it, and incredulously: “Your mother cleans things for at her age, Molly has considered embracing then we go back to making it.” Joan and a living?” Laughing, she said to me, “Doesn’t a whole new set of skills in order to create Mary Lou understand lace through their that sound Irish? Like the [stereotype of the] her own web-based business. This new hands, through action. Consequently, their Irish washer woman!” model, however, would mean a departure view of Irish lace is neither emotional nor Molly repairs by hand the pieces that from what she most loves—the travel, the romanticized. It does not connect them to have been improperly washed or otherwise adventure, and the continually renewed ancestors or ethnic identity, but it does bring ravaged by time. Although she does not con- fellowship with fashionable, like-minded them creative satisfaction. sider herself a needle worker, she knows the people. I asked Molly if she felt like she Like Molly, Joan and Mary Lou also con- basic stitches needed to join together tears was at a crossroads. Through lace she has sider themselves collectors, not of historical and to anchor broken or brittle threads. A been able to foster a sense of identity and objects, but rather of traditional skills. They vital step is finding the proper thread, one community. Was she ready to retire? After are ever eager to learn a new style of lace- that matches the original in material, color, some thought, she answered, “When I was making. Joan describes herself as a “general- and thickness. Molly buys most of her ma- there [at Sturbridge], walking around, see- ist.” She and her mother, nevertheless, have terials from specialized vendors at lace con- ing the people—the man who sold textiles developed preferences. Joan actually prefers ventions. The finest spools of cotton come from the Himalayas, a person from [the bobbin laces with their pretty paraphernalia. from Belgium or France, but extraordinary Czech Republic] selling homespun linens, In contrast, Mary Lou, who knows a large silks have started appearing from Thailand. the woman from Pennsylvania who had the repertoire of bobbin, needle, and tape laces,

8 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore likes Carrickmacross and Limerick best. These styles are her favorites to make, in part, because they are also her favorites to look at. The joy of making is both tactile and visual, as you watch something beautiful take shape in your own hands.

Learning to make lace and the importance of modern guilds Even though Joan did not “learn at her mother’s knee,” a passion for lacemaking is something she and Mary Lou share. Joan was the first to try lacemaking. Soon after graduating college, Mary Lou surprised Joan with a bobbin-lace pillow. “She had been talking about wanting to do it,” Mary Lou explains. So when a friend said she was getting rid of her pillow because she “absolutely detested it,” Mary Lou bought it for Joan. Luckily, unlike Mary Lou’s friend, Joan was quickly hooked. Joan remembers that in the 1980s, lace- making was pretty rare in Western New York. “It was just growing [in the United States],” she recalls. “Someone’s husband would transfer to England. They’d see bobbin lace there. Learn. Get transferred back to the US and start teaching in a little pocket in some town. And then they’d get transferred again and move. So there’d be these little lace guilds, these little pockets Christmas ornament (original design in the style of Carrickmacross Lace) by Mary Lou of ladies around, learning from people who Sulecki. Photo by Carrie Hertz. often learned abroad.” When Joan first got her pillow, there were not many local opportunities for learning. Mary Lou was persuaded to give lace a presentations or lead hands-on workshops. Like many who want to embrace dwindling try. “I had been an embroiderer up until More importantly, lace guilds create com- traditional arts, she turned to published that time,” she told me. “I belonged to munities and networks of makers. “It’s nice manuals. But learning from books is diffi- the Buffalo Chapter of the Embroiderers’ to belong to a guild,” Mary Lou explains, cult. Diagrams and explanations never fully Guild of America. Suddenly this lace guild “because it’s fun to [make lace] with people. capture what can be conveyed by an expert turned up, and Joan was an original member See what they do and let them see what sitting next to you, nor can they substitute of it. I didn’t join until a year later. When you’re doing. I think without that, you for the face-to-face intimacy that animates Nellie O’Cléirigh was here from Ireland to wouldn’t do as much.” shared practice. teach Carrickmacross Lace for the [annual] Guilds help spur activity because they By the 1990s, local lacemaking received a seminar, Joan said, ‘you really should come serve the social functions necessary to major boon. The Buffalo Niagara Heritage and take this class. It’s embroidered lace, and support vibrant art forms. They provide Village (formerly known as the Amherst you’d love it. It’s your kind of thing.’ And I motivation by supplying occasions, as well Museum) began hosting a lace guild. Like took the class, and I’ve been making it ever as an audience. Regional, national, and craft guilds all over the country, the Heri- since. So that’s how it all started.” international guilds typically hold annual tage Village Lace Guild was established to Lace guilds provide special access to conferences where works can be submit- bring like-minded people together to learn formal instruction. They host, for example, ted to themed competitions. Through her from each other. With this new resource, distant and prestigious teachers who give memberships, Mary Lou has won a number

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 9 of awards for her lace. In both official and the manor house on its property and take a central image with older motifs relegated unofficial competition within guilds, the courses of their choosing in traditional arts, to border decoration. Colorful threads and criteria for judging excellence are hashed crafts, and cooking. During their stay, Mary nontraditional motifs may be incorporated. out by members. Lou attended hands-on classes in making Personal innovation is highly prized. In a Though guilds host a variety of work- Carrickmacross and Limerick lace, while culture of mass-produced conveniences, shops and classes led by guest instructors, Joan learned Youghal from Veronica Stuart. contemporary makers like to show off much of the teaching that goes on within “I took the Youghal class from the person their originality and hard won hand labor. guilds is informal. Once a month, members who actually re-invigorated Youghal,” Joan Unlike the poor Irish women toiling at the of the Heritage Village Lace Guild gather exclaims. “She went to the convent and went turn of the 20th century, today’s lacemak- for what they call “any lace,” a time to in their attics and started to pick [the lace] ers expect recognition for their individual come together and work on their respective apart and figure out how they had done it.” achievements. projects in a social setting. “It’s a great thing Veronica Stuart literally pulled an otherwise Perhaps because new designs look so very if you’re stuck,” Joan declares. “We’re very forgotten style of lace out of Ireland’s attic different, contemporary teachers invested in good at teaching each other.” For nearly and reintroduced it to the world. preservation may insist that certain technical two decades, “any lace” nights were held in Traveling to Ireland was a sort of pilgrim- elements must be present. So while some Joan’s living room, but Joan’s career as an en- age for Joan and Mary Lou who, like most generic features have been unleashed from gineer has become more demanding. Now, people, continue to associate these styles conventional standards, others have calci- the guild members rotate hosting duties. with their Irish origins. I understand their fied. As Mary Lou was showing me a Christ- The Heritage Village Lace Guild claims trip as a sign that Ireland is still considered mas ornament she had made—a stylized around 30 members. Joan joined when she the creative epicenter, thoroughly invested reindeer sporting an impressive rack of ant- was in her 20s, but young members are rare in claiming the “Irish-ness” of its character- lers—she warned, “There are some people now. After a 30-year period of growth, she istic laces. Americans like the Suleckis wish who would say that’s not Carrickmacross.” believes local lacemaking must be declining to honor the historical roots of the tradition, The design is indeed nontraditional—one in popularity. “Things have their cycles,” even as they feel free to adopt and adapt it. invented by Mary Lou—but what calls the she reasons. “Someone rediscovers it, and In modern times, instruction in Irish lace ornament’s authenticity into question hinges it has a little burst of activity. There’s always has become a successful tourist attraction. on the use of specific stitches, namely those something old to be rediscovered. And that’s Even as they traveled to Ireland, at An Gri- known as “pops” and “loops.” Pops are a good thing. It’s just an evolution. Things anán, Joan and Mary Lou were surrounded created by outlining a single opening in the we make now—our businesses—a hundred by other Americans, also hoping to learn tulle with buttonhole stitches. Loops make years from now may become hobbies, too. something “authentically” Irish. up the twirled border found on many, but We just don’t know which ones they’re go- certainly not all, historical examples of Car- ing to be.” This has certainly been the story An evolving tradition rickmacross. Wanting to make “authentic” of handmade lace. As Joan summarizes, Traditional Irish styles of lace have cer- versions of Carrickmacross, Mary Lou usu- “With lace, people always presume it’s the tainly changed with time. The techniques ally tries to incorporate these elements, but Victorian lady sitting in her parlor. No, it for making them have remained largely the this ornament was “just a fun piece,” free- was 300 years of a cutthroat business. And same. Contemporary patterns, however, ing her to re-interpret convention. Rather then once it died out, then it became a leisure reflect handmade lace’s new purpose. His- than adding the traditional twirling edge, activity for genteel ladies.” torically, handmade lace was principally a she references loops with a tiny row along lavish embellishment. Made to edge skirt the border of the reindeer’s saddle. The A pilgrimage to Ireland flounces, collars, and sleeves, or fashioned piece won first prize in a lace contest held Mary Lou and Joan have had the oppor- into shawls, handkerchiefs, veils, or table in Paducah, Kentucky, suggesting flexibility tunity to study with some of the world’s runners, the most common designs were within American guilds. Mary Lou, however, leading experts in Irish lace, including Mary linear and repetitive. Few makers today has encountered competing interpretations Shields, Sheila Reagan, and Veronica Stuart. create lace for garments. Even couturiers of what counts as “real” Carrickmacross or In 2004, the Suleckis travelled to Ireland in leave such time-consuming work primarily Limerick lace. order to improve their skills at the source. to machines. According to Mary Lou, hob- Mary Lou became especially conscious They spent a week taking hands-on classes byists working in their spare time, like she of genre distinctions when she studied in at An Grianán, a residential adult education and Joan, prefer to concentrate on small, Ireland. “I had never done Limerick officially college managed by the Irish Country- accomplishable creations they can frame or before,” she concluded after her trip. “I had women’s Association. Since the 1950s, the easily display as handmade art. Consequent- tried it on my own, but I really didn’t know college has welcomed visitors to stay in ly, designs are more often composed around all the details of it. And in Limerick lace,

10 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore there’s two stitches that either both of them some people want to take [the traditional] Works Cited or one of them has to be in it in order to be as inspiration and move it forward. And I Ballard, Linda. 1992. Irish lace: Tradition or real Limerick lace. I think that most people think both are good. I think it depends on commodity? Folk Life 31: 43–56. here [in the United States] don’t know that; personality. I like extending things.” The Carroll, Molly. Interview Transcripts: No- I hadn’t heard it before I went [to Ireland]. prevalence of modern publishing is a factor. vember 2, 2011; March 8, 2012; March And I think a lot of people make what they Even as it has the ability to spread informa- 31, 2012. think is Limerick lace, but it doesn’t have that tion more widely, printed sources also have Cole, A. S. 1888. A Renascence of the Irish stitch, so officially, according to the teacher I a tendency to limit variation by providing Art of Lace-Making. London: Chapman had, she said it was necessary. But I’m sure a definitive and verifiable version. Joan and Hall. you could find it without that. Though I believes publication can actually stymie the Kurella, Elizabeth M. 1991. Youghal: The do try to incorporate at least one of them vibrancy of tradition. Living traditions, after Irish strut their stitches. The Lace Collector always.” For Mary Lou, the authority to all, are responsive and adaptable. “Although 1(3): 3–6. determine authenticity rests in the hands they’re well researched,” she explains, “20th- Ó Cléirigh, Nellie, and Veronica Rowe. of Irish-born practitioners, especially those century books can’t really capture all the 1995. Limerick Lace: A Social History and who taught her face-to-face. variation in a lace. An introductory book A Maker’s Manual. Gerrards Cross, UK: After the invention of lacemaking ma- will have to document the typical, and that’s Colin Smythe, Ltd. chines, an international debate arose around all that many of us see. Through time many Sulecki, Joan and Mary Lou. Interview the very definition of lace. What makes lacemakers certainly did the typical, but Transcript: March 29, 2012. something “real” lace? Carrickmacross others did it differently, either accidentally and Limerick, both made by embroidering or intentionally, probably at the very same machine-made net, were initially dismissed time. Lace was made [by hand] for 300 years. Dr. Carrie Hertz is the as lesser fakes. Similar debates continue Sixteenth-century Flanders did not look like Curator of Textiles and Costume at today, especially in relation to revivals of 19th-century Flanders. Innovation is a part the Museum of traditional styles as they gain popularity of it. And it’s the exciting part to a lot of it.” International Folk Art. From 2011 to 2014, around the world. Now people ask, what Traditions are shaped and understood she served as the makes something real Carrickmacross, Lim- through the creative choices of the individu- Curator of Folk Arts at the Castellani Art erick, or Youghal? als who attempt to take responsibility for Museum of Niagara Joan argues that we should embrace the them. If its history is any indication, Irish University, where she also taught classes on material culture and museum studies. diversity of approaches to perpetuation. lace will be transformed by diverse hands She holds a PhD in Folklore from Indiana “Some people want to really replicate the for years to come. University. Photo by Thomas Grant traditional and never vary,” she says. “And Richardson.

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Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 11 The Times (on the Farm), They Have Changed! BY VARICK A. CHITTENDEN

I’ve never been a farmer but have always crib, and machine sheds, and maybe 100 acres • They milk cows 24 hours a day in three shifts, been surrounded by them. Glen Parker, Herb of meadows, pastures, a woodlot and, quite shipping about 90,000 pounds of milk every Jones, Johnny Burgess, Curtis Benham, and my likely, a sugar bush. Many still used draft horses; day to cheese plants. UPSTATE Uncle Lyndon Miller are long gone now, but my some had small tractors and a few machines for • They employ about 30 to 40 men and memories of them from the 1950s are still vivid. mowing and raking hay or “thrashing” grain. women; all are local, and the Gilberts train They kept small farms around my hometown in What they knew about farming they learned them on the job to develop skills needed for St. Lawrence County that produced enough to from their fathers or from “ag” magazines their operation. This is unusual, as most other feed their families and bring in some cash for and the Grange. A milk truck would come by large operations employ significant numbers taxes and extras. I was reminded of them and a couple of times a week to haul away a few of migrant workers. their way of life when I participated in a very cans of milk to a local cheese or butter factory. • Cows are not put out to graze in pastures; interesting project this past year. Farm wives helped with milking or haying, they are kept indoors year round in a controlled For a program managed by the American kept a garden and chickens for meat and eggs, climate. Folklife Center at the Library of Congress (the canned and pickled for the winter food supply, • Specialists themselves, Andy and Tony also Archie Green Fellowship), TAUNY (Tradi- and “kept house” for the family. Some worked get services from contractors, most of whom tional Arts in Upstate New York) was awarded outside the home to supplement the family are on the farm frequently: a veterinarian, nutri- a grant to document, with oral histories and farm income. tionist, artificial inseminators, a hoof trimmer, a photography, changes that have occurred in Over the years, I confess I was not paying a genome tester, a manure management planner, work on dairy farms in northern New York in lot of attention to changes on local farms. So, and others. the last few decades. Eventually, 13 farms from it was the third farm I visited, Adon Farms of • Six days a week, three tractor-trailers haul four counties participated. TAUNY folklorists Parishville—owned by brothers Andy and Tony loads of liquid manure to be spread on distant recorded over 30 hours of interviews with Gilbert with help from their mother Adrienne fields as natural fertilizer for crops. farmers and their employees on farms ranging and nephew Nick—that really opened my eyes • Records are all computerized; information in size from 35 milkers to one with well over to the most dramatic changes in dairy farming. on each cow’s daily milk production, feeding, a thousand. Although there are several other larger dairies and health is constantly updated. I worked with three families on farms of in the area, the Gilberts’ operation represents • Equipment is large, high tech, and expen- varying sizes. As fifth and sixth generations, what is happening now in their industry. Adon sive; a self-propelled feed mixer to feed all the Clark and Nancy Decker and their two sons is now a big business, with Andy and Tony, animals individually daily and operated by one operate their family farm in West Stockholm both Cornell graduates, overseeing anything man arrived in 2013, costing $390,000! that dates back to 1849. They now milk about related to the animals and to fields and crops, Change has come fast to all the farms we 150 cows and own about 700 acres. They also respectively. Here are some highlights from my visited. All agreed that a good farmer today is produce a significant amount of maple syrup conversations with the Gilberts: a good manager, a survivor when others have each year. Kevin and Phyllis Acres of Madrid • They operate one of only two dairy farms still given up or gone under. But whatever their milk about 330 cows, own about 700 acres, left in their township today; they estimate there size and their methods, they had certain things and employ four men—two of them from may have been at least 40 or 50 at one time. in common: while production and efficiency Guatemala—on a farm they acquired from • They milk about 1,200 cows daily, keep matter for survival, they do the hard, constant, his father in 1982. Each is a modern farm. another 1,000 or so heifers and young stock; and risky work because they love it more than All of the owners are college graduates, most about 100 calves are born each month. anything else they can imagine doing. That specializing in agriculture or related courses • They own or rent a total of about 3,000 hasn’t changed, and they don’t think it will. and continuously educating themselves about acres of tillable land in four towns; that means latest trends. They utilize up-to-date methods about 40 former small family farms in a radius and equipment, with cost effectiveness and the of more than 15 miles. Varick A. Chittenden is professor emeritus of market always on their minds. • They maintain several large, open, free stall humanities at the State The farms I remember of only 60 years ago barns, spread over several acres, with special- University of New York in Canton and Director were hardly like these. Typically, the farmstead ized uses for milkers, heifers, calving, etc.; no of Special Projects included a small but substantial farmhouse, a silos or haylofts, as they store feed in trenches. for Traditional Arts in Upstate New York “hip roof ” barn with a silo and hayloft, several • They plant 1,500 acres of corn and cut 3,000 (TAUNY). Photo: Martha outbuildings for horses, pigs, chickens, a corn acres of hay each year. Cooper.

12 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Annie’s Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir BY STEVE ZEITLIN

You should not read Annie Lanzillotto’s the Bronx (and upset that she always had to be L Is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom on the Shirts), Annie describes how “Spaldeens Memoir just to learn how to catch a fly ball in hid behind car wheels . . . . Spaldeens took on oncoming traffic, or simply because it’s the the smell of the street. Spaldeens sweated and best tough-minded and deeply poetic prose I got dirty. Spaldeens taught me soul; to find can remember reading since Hemingway—“a adventure, to fly, to roll, to hide, to float, to be voice, writes author John Gennari, “as richly buoyant, to bounce back even after you rolled soulful as her mother’s lasagna and as bracingly down the sewer.” At night, “I’d wash my hands unsentimental as her father’s Marine masculin- and face, and my Spaldeen. I scrubbed it in ity.” You should also not read it because it’s the sink with soapy water and a washcloth. It the best depiction of a Bronx childhood since smelled clean, ready for the next day. I slept Kate Simon’s Bronx Primitive. You should not with it under my pillow.” read it because you’re a New Yorker who wants More than a decade ago, the Smithsonian to understand the impulse to freedom that brought Annie down to perform at the folk defines the city, or to revel in a deeply sexual festival as an iconic New York City storyteller coming out story. You shouldn’t read it just to when they featured New York folklife. Among learn “how to cook a heart” from a butcher her most well known monologues: at the Arthur Avenue market. You should not read it because it’s the most heart-rending I grew up playing in traffic. Under the arcs depiction of an abusive father suffering from of balls, balls hit high―til they became small post-traumatic stress after surviving Okinawa. and black in the sky. The ball’s going back and ber,” she answered, and her Bronx childhood Don’t read it for the stories of a two-time all the while you have your inner ear on the car supported and inspired her as she struggled cancer patient, the only one to survive her at the intersection. You don’t miss the ball. You with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 18, thyroid cancer support group called Teenagers with Terminal don’t get hit by the car. With a car coming at you, at 37, along with double pneumonia, a deflated Illness at Brown. you face the open sky. You never miss a pop fly immune system, and recurring tumors through You should also not read the book for its as- because a ball is coming at you. You listen. You the years. tonishing and often outrageous array of meta- turn your ear to the horizon. The ball is in the All through her life, the illnesses came at phors. To discover, for instance, how Annie’s air. Your feet are moving beneath you. Your ear her like the cars along Zerega. But keeping her father—who called her “Daddy”—handed her tracks the speed the car is coming at you. Your eye on the ball and the poetry of everyday life, a bucket of batteries and taught her how to find eye you keep on the ball. With your throwing arm she flagged them all around her. In the waiting which ones had a charge with the tip of her you flag the car around you. You figure which side room for chemo as a teenager, she recognized tongue—which she puts to use years later with of the street the ball is favoring in the wind. You a friend whom she had recently beaten at pool. utter abandonment in her lesbian love affairs wave the car to the other side of you. You may “What’s up Kimosabe?” she said. “Yeah,” he where “my tongue was sensitized to the salty temporarily halt the car ‘til the ball is square in answered, “Chemo-sabe.” With her unflagging DOWNSTATE sting of energy.” your hands. The car inches forward ‘til the ball sense of humor and poetry, she called the third Set all that side. You need to read this book is in your hands, then the car proceeds. The car is chapter of her book, “Kimosabe” and—with because it’s the most powerful depiction I have your audience rushing to find you. The car came her sense of humor and poetry intact—did ever read of how a human being can draw on all this way, down this particular street, around far better than survive. L is for Lion is a lesson her folk culture, her humor, and her poetic several corners, jumped the exit ramp, to back up on how to live. insight to pull life-affirming meaning out of around the corner to see you make this play. The the gutter like a lost Spaldeen. car in the middle of the play is part of the play. Steve Zeitlin is the The Spaldeen is the New Yorkism for the It’s all in the timing. founding director of ball that became ubiquitous on New York City City Lore in New York City. Photo by Martha streets and playgrounds, sold at the corner store The Spaldeen taught Annie to bounce back. Cooper. and manufactured by the Spalding Company, “What do you think, you’re made of rubber,” from whence comes its mispronounced name. her mom called out as Annie skinned her knees Playing Shirts against Skins on Zerega Street in playing on the street. “Yes, I’m made of rub-

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 13 Raquel Z. Rivera: Portrait of a Puerto Rican Artist and Scholar

INTRODUCTION AND INTERVIEW BY EILEEN CONDON

What follows is a portrait of an important Puerto Raquel Z. Rivera (RZR): I was born Eileen Condon (EC): Can you share Rican traditional artist in New York City, Raquel and raised in Puerto Rico, but I have a lot your beginnings with traditional Puerto Z. Rivera, told in her own words—through a con- of family history in NYC. My mother, Rican/Dominican/Caribbean musical versational interview with folklorist Eileen Condon Amalia Domínguez, came to Bushwick, forms? and through excerpts from Raquel’s creative and Brooklyn, with her extended family when scholarly writing, as well. she was seven and lived here until she was RZR: My father was a musician. He Raquel was born and raised in Puerto Rico and 25, when she married my father. She was played música jíbara, boleros, danzas, and other left the island in 1988, at 16 years old, right after born in Oriente, Cuba, from Cuban-born Caribbean genres on accordion, piano, and high school to complete a bachelor’s degree in Develop- parents, but with maternal grandparents guitar. He was trained in Western classical ment Studies at Brown University in Rhode Island. that were Puerto Rican-born and Do- music, but he loved traditional Caribbean She returned to Puerto Rico in 1992, to obtain a minican Republic-raised. My father, Jorge music. Family gatherings on my paternal side master’s in Puerto Rican Studies, and then moved Rivera, was born and raised in Naranjito, always involved my father, uncle, aunt, sister, to New York City in 1994 to enter a doctoral Puerto Rico; at 14, he came to live in the brother, cousins, and other family members program in Sociology at the Graduate Center of the Bronx with my grandfather. As soon as making music together. They especially loved City University of New York. “My intention was my parents married in NYC in 1969, they playing boleros together. They all have beau- to return to Puerto Rico, but by the time I finished moved to Puerto Rico, where I was born tiful, rich voices for boleros. my PhD, I had fallen hopelessly in love with New in 1972. I moved to New York in 1994, But—more importantly for the develop- York,” Raquel explains. It was here, in New York but I presently “commute” between East ment of my own vocal style and musical City’s many and varied Puerto Rican and Caribbean Harlem and Albuquerque, New Mexico. taste—I also remember them playing seises, musical scenes, that Raquel matured further as an I’m an author and singer-songwriter. I’ve aguinaldos, and trullas while my grandmother artist and a scholar in her own traditions, integrating written one book titled, New York Ricans Carmen and my great-uncle Quique sang the music of her youth with her present and future from the Hip Hop Zone, edited another titled with their beautiful, nasal, jíbaro voices. I also musical aspirations. Reggaeton, and published many articles in remember in the late 1980s, Papi recorded In the interview that follows, Raquel Z. Rivera books, journals, magazines, and newspa- and played a lot with Taller Boricua, Andrés describes in rich detail her development as a singer pers. Most of my articles deal with New Jiménez, and other well-known jíbaro musi- and a songwriter—as well as a scholar—within York and Caribbean Latino popular music cians. My sister, my brother, and I would the musical genres of her heritage, which live on in and culture. I also write fiction, poetry, go watch him play. I was in my early teens, New York City. Accompanying the interview here and songs. I’ve sung my songs with roots and I felt proud of him, but I didn’t care for are selections from Raquel’s creative and scholarly music groups like Yaya and Alma Moyó, jíbaro music back then. It bored me. I was writings to create a rounded portrait of a woman who but for the past few years, I’ve been mostly a Menudo and pop fan in my early teens. In commands enormous respect among her peers in Latin singing with my band, Raquel Z. Rivera & my mid-teens, I became a fan of heavy metal music in New York City, both as a participating Ojos de Sofía. music. But all that early exposure to jíbaro artist and as a scholarly analyst/interpreter. music definitely had an impact on the music

14 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Raquel Z. Rivera. Photo by Jorge Vazquez. that I would eventually gravitate towards as at La Casita de Chema (Rincón Criollo) in the with whom I went to many of these places). a singer-songwriter. South Bronx. There were many of us in our But, eventually, I became more confident and When I moved to New York in 1994, I twenties, very eager to learn from the elders. started to sing coro without feeling like I had was deep into my hip-hop phase—hip-hop Back then, I wasn’t a musician, just a lover to hide beneath anyone else’s voice. was the subject of the doctoral dissertation of music; I would sing coro under my breath Those years (late 1990s and early 2000s) that I would eventually publish as New York and dance in the sidelines. At the same time, were intensely filled with music for me. Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone in 2003. My fa- I would go to clubs or more formal events Most young folks around me, like me, were vorite aspect of hip-hop was b-boy and b-girl where plena and bomba were protagonists, obsessed with learning about traditional Ca- “cyphers” (or dance circles) set to the sounds like Los Pleneros de la 21 presentations and ribbean music and religions. It eventually got of a DJ playing breakbeats. That was around Viento de Agua’s weekly show downtown too intense. I was especially turned off by all the same time I developed a taste for rumba at González y González. And I would also the arguing about the “correct” way to carry and bomba “cyphers.” The energy and intent go to religious ceremonies where music was on the musical and spiritual traditions that we I felt at hip-hop cyphers and more traditional central: promesas de aguinaldo and toques de palo were invested in. So I cut down dramatically Caribbean music cyphers was very similar. It in homes, 21 división ceremonies in botánicas, on my hanging out and started concentrating was bomba that most caught my attention. fiestas de cruz on church steps and community on developing a music project of my own While the street rumba scene I got to know centers, mesa blanca ceremonies at an espiritista where I could process and filter what I had in NYC was extremely male-dominated and templo. I started imitating the high-pitched learned, but that at the same time would “testosterone-y,” the street bomba scene that and nasal female voices that sang coro an oc- reflect my own truths. That music eventually I started to get to know was family friendly, tave above the male voices. Initially, I would became the CD I released in 2010 titled Las full of women and children. By then it was “hide” my voice beneath the other women’s 7 Salves de La Magdalena / 7 Songs of Praise for the late 1990s, and I started hanging out a lot (especially Dominican singer Nina Paulino, The Magdalene.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 15 Raquel Z. Rivera & Ojos de Sofía performing at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture. Foreground, left to right: Catarina dos Santos, Raquel Z. Rivera, and Kaila Paulino. Background, left to right: Camilo Molina-Gaetán and Donald Nicks. Photo by Marisol Díaz.

EC: Please describe your present reper- intentionally write décimas to go with the could stop being angry about the stifling as- toire, your work with recomposing/reinter- traditional seises or aguinaldos. pects of religions and spiritual beliefs. Those preting décima, salves, and other traditional I write most of my songs as décimas, agui- songs are my way of being able to participate genres. What inspires you to do this? How naldos, bombas, salves and palos, probably in my family’s and my larger community’s is music a part of your life now? because those are the genres I know and love religious/spiritual rituals, without feeling best. But now that I’ve been spending a lot of stifled. In retrospect, it dawned on me that RZR: Composing music is a mystery to time in Albuquerque, I’ve been experiment- the term “liberation mythologies,” that I had me. It doesn’t feel like it’s under my control ing with Mexican alabanzas and son jarocho. been using in my academic work to describe (even if it is). I haven’t been able (yet) to I’ve even taken a stab at country-folk… but the social justice impulses underlying the write a good song intentionally. Unexpect- that’s one of those songs I’ve tried writing work of many roots musicians in New York edly, I hear the basic melody and/or lyrics intentionally that hasn’t quite worked out. City, was a term that was also very appropri- in my head. It always happens when I’m Making music, along with writing (whether ate in the case of my own creative work. taking a shower or washing dishes. Then I lyrics, fiction, or academic work), are the For me, the character of Mary Magdalene run to record it before I forget. And then I ways in which I process what’s inside of me. points toward “liberation” for many reasons. spend days, sometimes weeks, fleshing out Often, it’s the way I understand what I think Her story questions the male-dominated the song. That part does feel intentional. and feel, and how I come to terms with ideas history and theology of Christianity. I also The few times I’ve tried to write a song or feelings that trouble me. offer her up as a “spirit” or “muse” or “meta- intentionally from scratch, I haven’t really Many of my songs are dedicated to ances- phor” that can give us strength or clarity or liked the results. I’ve got those songs “in tors or spirits. Though I wasn’t conscious of whatever we need. She can be whatever we the drawer,” so to speak. Maybe someday it at the time, in the process of writing those need her to be. That is why my Magdalenic I’ll figure out how to make a good song songs, I have processed traditional beliefs collaborator, painter Tanya Torres, and I out of them. and developed my own. The process has have named her Our Lady of Lexington. We The one genre I can be intentional in is been extremely healing, especially in the case needed a muse that would give us strength jíbaro music’s décimas, since the melody is of my songs to Mary Magdalene. Through and courage in that East Harlem stretch of already pre-established. So in that case, I can those songs, I figured out ways in which I Lexington Avenue where we have lived and

16 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore created; so we made Our Lady into what intersections between nations that interest invited a few select among our male peers, we needed her to be. But my devotion to me. This is a project I’m working on closely like Jorge Vázquez and Alexander Lasalle; Our Lady is not literal; it’s poetic. That feels with our band’s musical director and guitarist, they were patient and nurturing teachers and liberatory to me, too. Our Lady of Lexington Bryan Vargas. they agreed it was necessary for us women to is my favorite myth; the one that gives me do more that just dance and sing coro. Right the most strength, the one that best helps EC: What challenges have you faced as after the first time we dared sing publicly me understand life, and the one that makes a musician/composer/performer over the at the weekly “Julia’s Jam” in East Harlem, me feel the freest. years? How have you overcome obstacles master percussionist Alberto “Tito” Cepeda The songs that I’m working on now I’m that have appeared before you? offered to teach us percussion. He became calling my “décimas del amargue.” They are our mentor. Eventually, some among that heartbreak songs from a female perspective, RZR: Challenge number one was coming group of women plus others co-founded where pain is processed through humor. This to terms with the fact that I wasn’t content the all-female group, Yaya. to me is liberatory, too. The lyrics question to be just a lover of music, that I wanted to I don’t think I would have overcome that our sexist society. They vent anger, but their be also a maker of music. So I took the scary second challenge had it not been for that purpose is to filter pain through humor, so step to sing coro openly. Challenge number group of women and encouraging men. that pain goes away. Also, in my lyrics, all two was coming to terms with the fact that Challenge number three—I was hungry to men are not made to pay for the sins of the I wasn’t content to do coro, that I wanted to learn about traditional music and spirituality. heartbreaker; I don’t like gender polarization. sing lead, write songs, and learn percussion. And I did. But in the process I lost myself. To me, my “décima del amargue” lyrics are There were many women of my genera- I felt stifled. I was swallowed up by other also my liberation from nationalist dogma, tion who experienced something similar. So people’s logic and beliefs. I was too much according to which jíbaro décimas equal “love we came together in the early 2000s to of a coward (or perhaps a diplomat) to chal- of nation,” narrowly defined. I love the encourage each other to learn how to do all lenge folks directly; so I hid myself away, Dominican Republic as I love Puerto Rico. these things. We would meet away from the surrounded myself by nurturing, like-minded I love Dominican salves and bachata as I love public eye: in homes, at Tanya Torres’ Mixta folks, and eventually distilled my love and my Puerto Rican jíbaro music, plena and bomba. Gallery (with the storefront gate closed) in hope and my fears and my anger into the Dominican bachata and Puerto Rican jíbaro East Harlem, at the furthest corner of the songs in our CD Las 7 Salves de La Magdalena. music owe a lot to each other; I am highlight- Harlem Meer in Central Park, on the rocks by ing that in this project. National boundaries the river shore on Wards Island. We jokingly EC: Are you involved in transmitting don’t speak to my heart anymore. It’s the called ourselves “The Femme Cypher.” We these musical forms to younger people?

Front and back covers of 2010 CD, Las 7 Salves de La Magdalena / 7 Songs of Praise for The Magdalene by Raquel Z. Rivera & Ojos de Sofia.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 17 RZR: All the times I have taught as a dominated stage renditions of Puerto Rican RZR: The process of recording Las university professor (Hunter College, Tufts traditional music. Both groups emphasize 7 Salves de La Magdalena was one of the University, Columbia University), I have the spiritual dimension of Puerto Rican scariest and most exciting and satisfying spent considerable time covering these music roots music. projects I have ever undertaken. Each step genres. My academic and journalistic writing In 2002, I was one of the co-founders was completely new to me. And there was devoted to these genres are also my ways of of Yaya. What began as a drumming circle, a musician friend at each step to guide me sparking interest in these genres among all eventually became a performing and teach- along. It all began with pianist and record- people, but especially young people. In fact, ing collective. Yaya was different from ing engineer Desmar Guevara, who through my book on hip-hop explored hip-hop’s Yerbabuena and Alma Moyó, in that it was a much prodding finally convinced me that it connections to traditional music forms of women-only collective where decisions were was a worthwhile effort to record my series the Caribbean. Also, I am regularly a guest made by consensus. We wanted to nurture of songs of praise for Mary Magdalene. lecturer at universities throughout the coun- women’s musicianship, leadership, and teach- Then, arranger, cuatrista and guitarist Alejan- try, and I constantly stress the links between ing skills, so we decided this was the best way dro Negrón took the first set of songs to a contemporary commercial popular music to make it happen. Yaya’s music, like Alma new level by arranging them and composing and traditional music forms. Moyó’s, was percussion-only. But different one of them. Then, vocalists Sandra García As a member of the groups Pa’ lo Monte, from both Alma Moyó and Yerbabuena, we Rivera and Catarina dos Santos lent their Yerbabuena, Yaya and Alma Moyó, I have decided to focus not on a genre or genres gorgeous voices and ideas to the recording also participated in numerous workshops associated with one particular national- project. Meanwhile, two amazing percussion- and educational presentations for university ity/ethnicity: we decided to cultivate both ists joined the team: one was talented, young students, high schoolers, middle school and Puerto Rican bomba and Dominican salves. percussionist Obanilú Iré Allende and the elementary school children, as well as com- ¡Retumba! is an all-female Caribbean music other was Juan Gutiérrez (director of Los munity members at large. ensemble that has been around for over 20 Pleneros de la 21), who blessed us with his years, so we definitely weren’t the first ones experience, support, guidance, and amazing EC: Please tell us about the other groups to have a women-only, percussion-focused bomba drumming skills. Then I worked with you have founded, and the musicians/ Caribbean music group. But, at that mo- two other arrangers on two songs: guitarists singers/drummers you are working with. ment we founded Yaya, we decided to come Yasser Tejeda and Bryan Vargas, each lend- How are these groups different in their ap- together to fill what we felt was a void. It felt ing a very specific flavor I was craving for proaches and performance? Do you feel you like the chain of women’s participation and the project. Yasser achieved the fusion of are a kind of pioneer? What are you doing leadership had been broken. So part of our salves and jíbaro styles that I was dreaming in your music that has never (or rarely) been work was actually to educate ourselves on of—particularly because his Luis Días influ- done before? the women that had come before us and try ence is very marked … and, being a Luis Días to piece that history back together and share fan, it sounded just perfect to me. Bryan is RZR: Over a decade ago (1999), I was it with others. It seems like other women into being creative but privileging simplicity; one of the founding members of Yerba- were inspired by our work, because other I love the arrangement he made for “Nuestra buena, a NYC group that focuses on Puerto women-only or women-led music projects Señora de Lexington (Our Lady of Lexington).” Rican roots music, especially plena, música began soon after Yaya’s in New York, Puerto He became the group’s musical director, jíbara, and bomba. A few years later (2002), I Rico, California, and Chicago. and most recently we’ve been co-arranging was one of the founding members of Alma Each of those groups [that] I have been my “décimas del amargue” and other new Moyó, a group that focuses on bomba. In a founding member of has been crucial in songs. For our live performances, we have 2010, we released our first CD, titledNo hay my development as an artist. I wouldn’t be also had the privilege of working with per- sábado sin sol. where I am if I hadn’t gone through each cussionists Camilo Molina-Gaetán (one of Yerbabuena’s music features not only one of them. the youngest members of Los Pleneros de la traditional plena and bomba percussion A few years ago, I left Yaya so that I could 21, he’s in his early 20s) and Jonathan Tron- instruments; it also features cuatro, guitar, focus on my CD and my own band. It was coso (Palo en Cuero, Ilú Ayé), vocalists and drum kit, and bass. Alma Moyó does tradi- difficult trying to juggle my academic career, percussionists Magic Mejía and Tito Matos tional percussion-only bomba. Both groups my novel-in-progress, and the various music (Viento de Agua), vocalists Pedro Raposo perform traditional and original songs, and projects I was a part of. (La 21 División / KumbaCarey) and Kaila both groups emphasize Puerto Rican roots Paulino (she’s also in her early 20s), and bass music as living tradition, not stuck in time. EC: Tell us about some of the best mo- players Itaiguara Brandão and Donald Nicks Both groups share a distaste for the chore- ments of your career so far. (Los Pleneros de la 21). For our most recent ography and costumes that have for decades concert, we worked with vocalist Anabellie

18 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Raquel Z. Rivera. Photo by Erika Morillo.

Rivera, an amazing boleros singer who also a promesa de aguinaldo; and they gave us music, rock, and other musical influences. happens to be my sister. a wonderful standing ovation at the end. For similar reasons, I love the music of I feel extremely happy to be working with It was also very moving for me to see the two young Dominican musicians that have some of the best young and veteran Puerto camaraderie and the fusion of Puerto Rican been influenced by Días’ music: Yasser Rican and Dominican roots musicians of the and Dominican percussion styles that we Tejeda and Rita Indiana. Rita Indiana is not NYC/DR/PR circuit. achieved, thanks to the collaboration of Tito only a singer-songwriter but also a well- Singing backup for Luis Días, Xiomara Matos and Magic Mejía. To me, that fusion known fiction writer; I love her boldness Fortuna, Nito Méndez, Alfonso Vélez, and and that collaboration is important to see, and her writing skills. Los Pleneros de la 21 have been other high- because we are two very alike communities Spanish singer Concha Buika is one of lights of my music-making career. Also, the that unfortunately also have a lot of static the rawest, most intense performers I have first time I sangLas 7 Salves de La Magdalena between us, especially in Puerto Rico. ever heard. Her voice speaks to my heart. live at St. Mark’s Church in September of So do traditional Dominican bachateros like 2010, it seemed like a dream that all these EC: What musicians presently inspire Edilio Paredes, Ramón Cordero, and El wonderful musicians were playing the songs you, and what about their skills or their lives Chivo Sin Ley. I composed for Mary Magdalene. Another inspires you? Portuguese singer Catarina dos Santos highlight was our CD release in Puerto Rico writes simple, beautiful, and deep songs, at the Fundación Nacional para la Cultura RZR: The late Luis Días is one of my mixing Portuguese, Cape Verdian, Angolan, Popular. It was an intimate space and an musical heroes. His lyrics are gorgeous, very and Brazilian traditions. I love the fusion. extremely enthusiastic crowd. They were deep, and at the same time, simple. I love how Los Pleneros de la 21 and Viento de Agua singing the coro all throughout, like it was he spliced together traditional Dominican are also favorites of mine. I love that each

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 19 has developed such a distinctive sound out RZR: The intense pleasure of compos- EC: Is your website (www.ojosdesofia.com) of the same raw materials. ing and recording my music is what keeps the best way to keep up with your perfor- I am inspired by and borderline obsessed me making music. I’m hoping to figure out mance schedule? with older women with nasal, high-pitched a way to weave my music and fiction writing voices. I love to be in contexts where they are together. My (as of yet unpublished) novel RZR: Yes. Our website is the best way singing. That’s why I love going to promesas Beba has much to do with bomba and palos to keep up with our performance schedule. de aguinaldo, fiestas de cruz, and homes and music in NYC, so I’m hoping that when I churches where women are singing songs to publish the novel, I get to release also an ac- EC: Can you share some selections the Virgin and the saints. companying CD. Another one of my hopes of your creative, journalistic, and schol- for my music is to have other singers perform arly writing that connect with your musical EC: What keeps you involved in the music my music—performers I love like Concha work? over the long term? Where do you want to Buika, Rita Indiana, Julieta Venegas, Catarina be, musically, in the future? dos Santos, Choco Orta, Ileana Cabra, and RZR: I am so happy to do that. It is so Anabellie Rivera. rarely that I get to wear my fiction writer,

Excerpt from Beba: A Fake Memoir, a novel by Raquel Z. Rivera Chapter 3: La Casita

I saw Josué’s hands before I saw his face. covered all the walking and dancing spaces. decided to forget Manny and dance by myself, Well, just one of his hands. His left. It was The guy I went there to hit on was looking getting lost in the crowd that was mostly made at a Los Pleneros de la 21 show at La Casita even more gorgeous than I remembered. I up of older couples. de Chema in the South Bronx. had met Manny a few weeks earlier at Central Warm, slender fingers grabbed a hold of Los Pleneros were just going into the Park’s Sunday rumba. He was in his early twen- mine. I opened wide my partly closed eyes first notes of their opening song, when I ties and the youngest among Los Pleneros de and first noticed the creamy skin, the perfect rounded the corner of Third Avenue and la 21. The other pleneros wore fitted clothes, half-moon nails. Then the gray eyes with 158th Street. Thick vines and rose bushes Panama hats, and short cropped hair, but gold flecks. The dark brown eyebrows with a crisscrossed over almost every inch of the Manny’s white guayabera was oversized, his few unruly sprigs of red and blond. And the chicken wire fence that blocked off the wide pants balanced on meaty butt cheeks, chipped-tooth smile. wooden house and community garden and his shoulder-length dreadlocks hidden He wore his dreadlocked hair in two thick from the street. A few treetops rose above underneath a white Rasta tam. He crouched braids. A coppery cloud of stray naps made the fence, the tallest waving a shiny load of a bit lower than the rest of the drummers, a halo around his head. My own hair was also green apples. I pushed open the squeaky rocking back and forth on his feet, the heavy done in two fat braids—except mine was not entrance gate just as the lead singer was frame drum he held on his left hand jumping locked and dark brown. His neck and wrists hitting the second verse, his long goatee off every time he hit it with his right. were piled with beads, most of them shells flapping, a silvery brushstroke against his Los Pleneros had barely finished that first and seeds—same gray camándulas, brown dark, cinnamon skin. song, and Manny’s guayabera was already flamboyán seeds, and black and red peronías The drummers and singers were set up in sticking to his chest and arms in dark sweaty that also hung over my chest. He was decked a semicircle, right next to the formica tables patches. That was when I noticed a lot of out in a plain, white T-shirt, olive green army holding up a long row of heated aluminum other women looking at him with greedy pants and shelltop Adidas. So was I. serving trays. The keyboardist, guitarist, and eyes. Back then, I had no problem with being Weird. cuatro player were set up a step higher, on aggressive in going for a man. But if there was We danced together the rest of that first the casita’s mint green porch. Bunches of no quick and clear interest from him, then I set. He wasn’t exactly good at it. Or maybe he Concord grapes dangled over the awning, moved on. I hated competing, and it looked was. I couldn’t decide. He had an old-school bees all around their purple stickiness. A like getting to the young plenero would take hip-hop toprock. His moves were jagged and crew of gap-toothed kids played catch in some elbowing that I wasn’t up for. Extremely hard to follow. His fingers insisted on staying between the dancing legs, their grimy knees handsome men like him are usually nothing locked on mine while our arms pulled in dif- and blue Icee mustaches often sliding over but trouble anyway. The music was too good ferent directions, and he glided his feet, arms the weather-beaten mismatched rugs that to spend on man-related scheming, so I slicing the air, with a logic all his own.

20 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore scholar, journalist, and singer-songwriter hats The second selection is the English trans- all at the same time. lation of a series of short articles originally Dr. Eileen Condon is folklorist and project The first selection I want to share is Chapter published in Puerto Rico’s Claridad weekly director at the Center for 3 from my (not yet published) novel Beba: A newspaper. I felt compelled to write those Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD) in New Fake Memoir. The novel narrates the journey of articles as a way to counter the idea that the York City, where she has coordinated CTMD’s self-discovery of a young Puerto Rican woman musical traditions that Puerto Ricans culti- Ukrainian, Chinese, who works as a university professor (and hates vate in New York are somehow not as “pure” and Haitian Community Cultural Initiatives. it) but longs to be a singer. I have set the story or “authentic” as those in Puerto Rico. Previous to this position, Eileen served within the musical and spiritual traditions that For further reading, see the selected bibliography as the Folk Arts program director at Dutchess County Arts Council. She inform my work as a singer-songwriter. This that accompanies this article, including, “New York holds a PhD in Folklore (1999) from excerpt is titled “La Casita,” and it is set in La Afro-Puerto Rican and Afro-Dominican Roots Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Casita de Chema—the place I mentioned ear- Music: Liberation Mythologies and Overlapping lier where my generation of musicians learned Diasporas,” published in 2012 by the Black Music so much about our roots musical traditions. Research Journal 32(2): 3–24.

“Josué,” he introduced himself once the would love to. I noticed Manny standing on who first told him about the oasis that the music stopped, in a voice as perfectly wide the casita porch, smiling at me over his plate old-timers had coaxed into blooming out and round as his nose. He shook my hand of food. So he did remember me! of South Bronx ashes. From that first visit, and pulled me into a kiss on the cheek. “Want one?” Josué asked, pointing at the Josué started spending hours and hours— “Beba,” I said, my hand still in his. “You grape bunches hanging down from the leafy often whole days—at La Casita, learning look so familiar. Haven’t we met?” tunnel’s ceiling. how to play plena and bomba and also how “I think maybe we were twins in a differ- “Of course,” I said, flashing Manny a quick to garden. He got really into weeding. It ent life,” he said, with another flash of his peace sign. was like therapy. There was something chipped tooth. He let go of my hand, took Josué climbed a small stepladder, and I held about pulling those little suckers up, about a small step back, and opened his arms. “Or it steady while he plucked two grape bunches. hearing the little roots cracking. He said it maybe we were one of those married couples He washed them off with a nearby hose. was like pulling answers out of the ground. that end up looking like each other. What’s They were acidy and sweet like tamarinds. I As we rounded the corner, past the up with this?” he asked, looking down at his ate those two bunches and then a few more, latrine and the chicken coop, I was startled clothes and gesturing to mine. until the roof of my mouth was stinging. For by an old woman’s voice: Three of the blue mustached little kids the next hour or so, we walked up and down “Don’t let him fool you into thinking he’s parted the crowd shouting, ‘scuse me, ‘scuse the rows of raised beds packed with tomatoes, the only one with the keys to the garden. me, lechón coming through, trilling their r’s. Right peppers, cilantro, spearmint, eggplants, and Or to the promised land.” behind them, two fridge-shaped old men hur- long stalks of corn. Every so often, Josué I looked around, confused, until I saw ried by with a huge metal tray holding a crispy, would pull out a satiny red handkerchief from a dark blue headscarf move away from us dripping, roasted pig. Folks hurried to get a his pocket, and I would catch a strong whiff on the other side of a thick fence of ivy, good place on the growing food line that was of cinnamon as he dried the sweat dripping trailing behind giggles that sounded like already winding around the back of the casita. from his forehead and running down into sneezing kittens. I followed Josué away from the crowd his thin, scruffy beard. The bright red cloth “That was Titi Yaya,” Josué said, with a to the back garden, past the shade of the soon turned a damp maroon that matched the resigned flick of the shoulder, as if meddle- apple tree, and to the tunnel-shaped walkway darker red stitching along its edges. some old titis had unrestricted license to completely covered by vines. He pointed to I asked him how long he had been hanging step on his toes in that garden of wonders. the baby gourds starting to peek through the out at La Casita. He said since the summer “She loves to be all up on other people’s vines. He said if I came back a month later, before, when his mom was going through business.” I could help him carve out some of them to chemo. Like me, he’d also met Manny at the turn them into maracas and shékeres. I said I Central Park rumba; and it was also Manny

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 21 In Praise of New York Bomba: A Three-Part Series By Raquel Z. Rivera

[Note: Originally published in Claridad news- testosterone-laden, street rumba scene that I Under the direction of Juango Gutierrez, paper between October–December 2004 as knew in New York. Los Pleneros have created a sacred space “Elogio de la bomba de Nueva York.” This that fuses Catholicism, non-denominational English version was translated from the Span- Two spirituality, and intense joy. ish by Juan Cartagena and published in Güiro The Festival of the Holy Cross, sponsored Year after year, an enormous group of y Maraca magazine (2005).] by Los Pleneros de la 21, is going on its sec- neighbors, friends, and acquaintances gather ond decade. Every year in El Barrio scores of for the festival. And every year new arrivals In Praise of New York Bomba: people, sometimes hundreds of them, gather come, get hooked, and assiduously return Part I to commune and to pay homage to the cross. for more. One Sammy and Nelly Tanco, dressed entirely in The last night of the festival always ends I first encountered New York bomba in white, lead the choral responses. Just looking with a musical jam of bomba and plena a casita and garden on 4th Street called La at them gives you goose bumps. Brother and rhythms where the labor of over 20 years Yarda de Loisaida. Juan Usera, already a sister—strong, svelte, and graying handsome- of commitment by Los Pleneros comes to master dancer and member of Los Pleneros ly—they have voices that transport you. Their fruition. The number of youngsters and de la 21 and still in his twenties, introduced elderly mother sits across from them, first row, children that participates is impressive. Some me to this bomba. It was markedly different to complete a triangle of energy, with man- were actual students of Los Pleneros; others from the bomba I saw on the folkloric stages nerisms and facial expressions that evidence informally acquired the knowledge through of our island. And it resembled little of the her devotion. observation.

Raquel Z. Rivera & Ojos de Sofía. From left to right: Yasser Tejeda, Bryan Vargas, Raquel Z. Rivera, and Anabellie Rivera. Photo by Erika Morillo.

22 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore At the end of the Festival of the Holy Cross Alexandra would later explain that, of nucleus of pleneros performed at the back at the Julia de Burgos Center, the party moves course, bomba has a body language that ev- of the casita. elsewhere. This year it moved to a local bar eryone must learn. But it is always better to Bomba in New York has its own history, its that featured the group Yerbabuena. Packed dance it, even badly, than not to dance it all. own form. It navigates the boundaries of the to the hilt with people of all ages, it was the sacred and the profane. In unique fashion it 30-something and under-30 crowd that carried Four converges with plena, jíbaro music, rumba, hip- the music and dance. Tato Torres sang a yubá; Bomba in New York has its own particular hop, and Dominican palos. It really takes root at Flaco Navaja and Sandra Garcia Rivera added trajectory. It has grown and spread, thanks the community level. It is tradition reclaimed, a heavenly chorus; Obanilú Iré Allende played to the passion and commitment of numer- culture on the move. And it has its own magic. the primo; and Georgie Vázquez, Nico Laboy, ous people. It has its key families, key loca- and Camilo Molina-Gaetán played the bulead- tions. Families like that of Toña and Beatriz, In Praise of New York Bomba ores. Indira Córdova had just finished dancing, one a lead singer, the other a percussionist. Part II: The Diaspora Strikes and Liana was waiting, revving up her motor. I Like the family of Mickey Sierra, Josie, and Back was standing by the door when Juango and his their kids. Like the family of Mercedes Molina, I confess. In the first segment of this article I wife, Luci, walked by. They looked exhausted of Nilsa, and Benny Ayala, of Luci Rivera, and dared not say what I truly wanted to say. Silly me. but smiled nonetheless. “We can’t stay because Juan Gutierrez, the Tancos and the Flores. Oh, I definitely celebrated the history of we’re dead tired.” And with the satisfaction Chema’s casita is one of bomba’s key spaces. bomba, its practitioners, and its manifestations that comes with knowing that his mission was This was confirmed once again with the spon- in New York. But I never explained the real accomplished, Juango added: “Let’s let you taneous bombazo / plenazo jam that developed concern that inspired my ponderings. young ones keep the party going.” on the Friday after the Hostos Community I censured myself thinking: Who am I to College concert by Los Pleneros de la 21 and get into this? I’ve barely started to learn about Three Los Pleneros de la 23 Abajo. There at nightfall, these traditions. I have green eyes and light Her seasoned gaze crosses that of the ado- in the communal space of the casita, bomba skin, and no bomba pedigree. I am a relative lescent young man who converts her move- and plena was sung, danced and played until newcomer when it comes to these matters. ments into music on the drum. Her left knee Chema announced, gently but firmly, “People, But what I held back from saying is now anchors the slender arch that her sinewy and it’s now two in the morning . . . “ an annoyingly sharp pebble in my winter supple body creates. With subtlety and preci- There were people there from New York, boots. So I’m putting aside my insecurities. I, sion, she rotates various joints of her limbs New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, too, have opinions and insights. in multiple directions, thus creating delight- Puerto Rico, and a large contingent from What I’m about to say should ideally go ful, complex dance moves for the drummer Chicago. Those who had previously visited without saying. But recent (and not so recent) to transform into sound. Her feet, ankles, the casita were happy to return. Those who events require that it be stated plainly: wrists, thighs, hips, fingers, waist, shoulders, hadn’t looked in awe at their surroundings: the BOMBA, AS IT IS PLAYED AND LIVED and elbows speak of salt, of sugar. I’ve only handsome wooden casita painted in intense IN NEW YORK, IS NOT INFERIOR TO seen her use a skirt to dance when she’s on greens with shuttered windows, the apple THE BOMBA IN PUERTO RICO. It is stage. Without the fabric as medium, the black tree, the enormous shekeres hanging aloft from neither less legitimate, less masterful, less raw, contortions of her body speak profoundly and the imposing and gigantic beams, the plants less lively, nor less ingenious. honestly. Camilo Molina-Gaetán translates growing wildly and abundantly like yerba buena, It is neither better, nor inferior. It is simply into music what she speaks in dance. mint, rue, cilantro, basil, and oregano . . . and distinctive in certain respects. And that merits Alexandra Vasallo was born in Cataño but all of this in the middle of the South Bronx? respect. raised in New York. She says that our ances- If that Friday night was intense, then Sunday The same can be said about other places tors speak through our movement, which is was glorious. The streets were blocked from in the United States. What Ramón López has why for her, dance technique is meaningless oncoming traffic and instead, a stage was documented about Chicago is a good example. if it lacks a communication line to the invis- built. It provided the space for presentations What constitutes the elements of “true” ible world. from La Familia Alduén, Los Pleneros de la bomba has always been debated in Puerto Years ago, she once saw me at the outskirts 23 Abajo, and many more groups. The street Rico. There are people on the southern coast of the bomba circle. “So why haven’t you was packed and on fire. After several hours who say that the bomba of Santurce and danced?” she asked. “I don’t know how to of on-stage presentations, the music moved Loíza lacks the elegance and decorum of dance,” I answered. “Why not? Anyone who down to the property of the casita. Under the “real” bomba. There are others that claim moves, can dance,” and with these words she apple tree came hours and hours of straight that the booty shakes of Loíza’s bomba is gave me the license to do what I had never bomba. On the patio of the casita, plena a tasteless modernism outside of what they dared to try, because I lacked “credentials.” was performed. Indeed, at one point, a third consider “true” bomba. And others note that

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 23 the “typical dress” of bomba is really made merit our respect and recognition. The same Voice 8: “Please, stop inventing so many up, not “typical” at all. is true for the families, groups, and persons things and just take a few classes in bomba.” We have barely begun to engage in a col- who do the same within the borders of their Voice 9: “In New York there’s more free- lective dialogue about the variety of bomba own neighborhoods. Indeed, all who invest dom to dance,” observes a young dancer. “In over time and over regions. The First Na- their commitment, passion, and dedication Puerto Rico, the people who dance are more tional Bomba Congress at the beginning of to continuing to show the many faces that likely to have taken classes.” 2004 and the documentary Raíces are notable have always characterized bomba, deserve Voice 10: “Bomba classes? What’s that? Girl, first attempts to recognize the many faces our respect. you don’t learn this in class!” says a veteran fe- of bomba. But the prep work, so to speak, male Bronx dancer. didn’t just start recently. That groundbreaking The Diaspora Strikes Back As Julia L. Gutiérrez-Rivera, another young work was done by groups like Paracumbé and I borrow this notion of a diaspora that dancer, concludes: “In New York, dancing Bambalué, who for years have been present- strikes back from Juan Flores, who in a recent connects you to your roots, it reaffirms what ing the southern style of bomba; by families article challenged the myth, which claims that it is to be Puerto Rican.” and communities in diverse towns who have what is authentically Puerto Rican can only perpetuated bomba far from the public eye; by originate and reside in Puerto Rico. Flores In Praise of New York Bomba research and education projects like C.I.C.R.E. notes that diasporic communities should see Part III: Tradition? What Can (Centro de Investigación y Cultura “Raíces themselves as sources of cultural innovations You Eat That With? Eternas”) and Restauración Cultural,not to and not just as repositories or extensions Defining “tradition,” be it in bomba or in mention the numerous musicians and re- of the traditions of the island of Puerto other cultural expressions, is a complicated searchers who have repeatedly affirmed the Rico. And he warns us that these new diasporic task. Reaching consensus on what is, or is not, diversity of bomba. perspectives often challenge traditional defini- “traditional” is frequently impossible. What Healthy and necessary, this debate contin- tions of what is, or is not, Puerto Rican. some consider traditional, others consider ues. Is bomba in its “essential” form, Puerto innovative and enriching, or useless and Rican? Does the fact that so many of its Coda: New York Rican Polyphony dangerous. songs and rhythms carry words outside the Warning: This sampling of voice is ab- It is productive to engage in dialogue re- Spanish language make bomba any less Puerto solutely subjective, fragmented, and non- garding the complexities of the concept of Rican? If a dancer “mixes” steps associated representative! tradition and to encourage more research and with different regions of the island, does it Voice 1: “In New York, bomba is excessively debates about history. Conversely, it is highly adulterate bomba? Is today’s bomba merely a mixed in with rumba and hip hop.” counterproductive for us to attack or silence reduction in simplified form, of yesteryear’s Voice 2: “You know, body movements are, one another by brandishing the mythical sword more complex rhythmic patterns? Does to a certain point, involuntary. If people, es- of tradition and shouting that my opinion is bomba have spiritual / religious dimensions? pecially our youth, are mixing in bomba with the only thing that counts. It is one thing to say, These debates are rendered with the same rumba and hip hop, it’s because these are often “I don’t like what you do,” and quite another passion in the United States as they are in the maternal language, the principal language, to say, “what you do has no value,” or “what Puerto Rico. And on both sides of the ocean, that their bodies speak.” you do is disrespectful.” there is wide array of opinions. Voice 3: “And so what if they mix it with I am far from being the only one who pro- Both locations have masters, both male and rumba and hip hop? Over in Puerto Rico, poses these things. I present below a number female, and serious researchers. Both have there are people who mix it with flamenco of diverse voices from the trenches that in- their share of impostors and troublemakers. In and ballet.” spire, challenge, and nurture my own. the United States, just like in Puerto Rico, there Voice 4: “Is it a bombazo if it also includes are some who take poetic/musical/dance li- Dominican palo?” Hector “Tito” Matos cense to compose new songs, innovate dance Voice 5: “Who cares? Why do you have to This master percussionist, singer, composer, moves, and thereby integrate their subjective label it? If they want to play bomba for a while, and director of Viento de Agua says: “If you take on this collective expression. then palo for a while, what’s the problem?” look closely, the real studious and learned ones There are veterans, both young and old, answers a Dominican speaking with a Puerto are humble and will avoid putting roadblocks who are bomba masters both in and outside Rican accent. to the development of the tradition. You know the island. Their perspectives and lived experi- Voice 6: “Is it a bombazo if only bomba is that I am one who always supports creativity; ences all deserve respect. played, but half of those who play and dance and it’s important to learn (to the extent we The families and groups, on both sides of it are Dominican?” still can) the forms and elements of the genre, the ocean, that have distinguished themselves Voice 7: “Of coooourse,” replies a Puerto not just to show others that we know them, internationally by cultivating these traditions, Rican speaking with a Dominican accent. but to prove to ourselves that we have the

24 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Raquel Z. Rivera & Ojos de Sofía. From left to right: Bryan Vargas, Raquel Z. Rivera, Anabellie Rivera, Camilo Molina-Gaetán, and Jonathan Troncoso. Photo by Erika Morillo.

necessary tools to construct and deconstruct and preservation of cultural norms, that are the table. You can possess all of the cultural the traditions we’ve inherited.” not fixed, but in continuous change. In the case by-products (the music, food, dress) but if of Puerto Rican bomba who can really vouch your family doesn’t come to the table, it is Awilda Sterling Duprey for its ‘authencity’? And if it were possible, not culture. Culture is a living thing. These This dancer, visual artist, performer, and authenticity under what criteria? To paraphrase cultural by-products are tools, but they are not professor says: “To my understanding, the the biblical passage: ‘Let he that is free from culture. Instead, they adapt and change with act of dancing, in the case of the popular sin throw the first stone!’” time. The dance, dress and songs, that is not genres, is an intuitive response of rhythmic/ culture. It is culture if it serves as a space of muscular–skeletal associations blended by Tato Torres cultural expression, like a rite of intensification the idiosyncratic sensory framework that the The singer-composer and director of the that reinforces the bonds that exist between dancer possesses. Accordingly, it is perfectly jíbaro music, bomba and plena group Yerba- certain persons. The magic lies in how to call acceptable (that is, if one’s mind is receptive buena, says: “What is ‘traditional’? Simply out those persons and how to preserve those to the reasoning behind contextual change) whatever is repeated over more than two or bonds.” that in New York so many stylistic variants three generations independently of how ‘genu- are added to the traditional patterns danced ine’ it may or may not be. If people continue Yerbabuena in Puerto Rican bomba.” to do it, it’s traditional. Some people confine According to Yerbabuena’s website, the “It seems to me that bomba in New York is themselves to their conceptualization of what group started five years ago from a “need an example of constancy in the chain of hu- things are, or are not, and that makes it difficult for cultural expression, redefinition and re- man survival: the adaptation and appropriation for them to break from that mold.” appropriation of the Puerto Rican musical of cultural patterns that converge in a social “I play the music that I play to commune heritage by a new generation of Boricuas. system and where a specific vocabulary surges with my parents, my brothers and sisters, and Yerbabuena reclaims the Puerto Rican music from within, contributing to the development my grandfather. My goal is to get my family to branded ‘folkloric,’ refusing to accept its pack-

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 25 aging as frozen-in-time museum pieces, only Selected Bibliography Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “De una bestia las dos vaguely connected to contemporary culture.” Books greñas.” Claridad, September 9–15: 30. So how do we translate all of this in con- Rivera, Raquel Z., Wayne Marshall, and Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “Encarnada.” Claridad, August 5–11: 30. crete terms? Let’s visit a local bar–restaurant Deborah Pacini Hernandez, eds. 2009. Reggaeton. Durham, North Carolina: Duke Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “Papi El Gato.” Claridad, in El Barrio called Camaradas on a Thursday University Press. May 6–12: 30. night: There is Flaco Navaja re-interpreting a Rivera, Raquel Z. 2003. New York Ricans from the Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “Que me dé sombra.” seis mapeyé recorded by Ramito but appropri- Hip Hop Zone. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Claridad, February 19–25: 30. ated by these young folks in true Bronx style as a new “seis Boogie Down.” In addition to being Book and Journal Articles (recent publications only) Selected newspaper, magazine and web articles Rivera, R. Z. 2013. “Home Birthing Nico a singer, Flaco is a well-known poet in the hip Rivera, Raquel Z. 2012. “New York Afro- Puerto Rican and Afro-Dominican Roots Tenoch.” Cascabel de Cobre (online), Feb- hop world. Just check out his mannerisms; Music: Liberation Mythologies and Over- ruary 20. anyone would swear he was rapping. Now lapping Diasporas.” Black Music Research Rivera, R. Z. 2011. “Conversaciones con erase the visual image from your mind and Journal 32(2): 3–24. Noemí Segarra: de raíces y ramas.” 80 just listen: don’t you hear echoes of Héctor Rivera, Raquel Z. 2010. “New York Bomba: Grados (online), April 1. Lavoe? Luis “Bebo” Reyes plays his cuá sticks Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and a Bridge Rivera, R. Z. 2010. “Recordando al Terror: un año sin Luis Días.” 80 Grados (online), to a rhythm called “down south,” which he Called Haiti.” In Mamadou Diouf and Ifeoma Kiddoe Nwankwo, eds. Rhythms of December 22. learned from the kids who play spackle buckets the Afro-Atlantic World, pp.178–199. Ann Rivera, R. Z. 2010. “Para cantar salves on the subway stations. Bebo is also a producer Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. dominicanas en Puerto Rico.” 80 Grados of house and hip hop music. Hector “Pucho” Marshall, Wayne, Raquel Z. Rivera, and (online), October 29. Alamo, the cuatro player, has his hair in corn- Deborah Pacini Hernandez. 2010. “Los Rivera, R. Z. 2005. “Jean-Michel Basquiat: rows and is a big fan of reggaetón. Nick Laboy circuitos socio-sónicos del reggaetón.” radiante griot, nuestro grillo.” El Nuevo Día, June 26: 2 (Letras). and Obanilú Allende, excellent percussion- TRANS: Revista Transcultural de Música 14. Rivera, Raquel Z. 2009. “Policing Morality, Rivera, R. Z. 2005. “Entre la fe y el mercu- ists both, play the barrel drums. The former Mano Dura Stylee: The Case of Under- rio.” Claridad, February 17–23: 30. wears a doo-rag and hat, T-shirt, and baggy ground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico Rivera, R. Z. 2005. “In Praise of New York jeans. The latter wears a guayabera, dress pants, in the Mid-1990s.” In Rivera, R. Z., W. Bomba.” Güiro y Maraca. and a hat his grandfather would wear. Marshall, and D. Pacini Hernandez, eds., Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “Elogio de la bomba de That’s some gang of 20-something year olds Reggaeton, pp. 111–134. Durham, North Nueva York (3): Tradición, ¿y con qué se come eso?” Claridad, December 23–29: 30. that fronts Yerbabuena! They are a perfect Carolina: Duke University Press. Marshall, Wayne, Raquel Z. Rivera, and Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “Elogio de la bomba de complement to the gorgeously nasal voice and Deborah Pacini Hernandez. 2009. “Reg- Nueva York (2): ‘la diáspora contraataca’.” rural aesthetic of Tato Torres which is indebted gaeton’s Socio-Sonic Circuitry.” In Rivera, Claridad, November 18–24: 30. to the sacred aguinaldos and secular jíbaro party R. Z., W. Marshall, and D. Pacini Hernan- Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “Elogio de la bomba de music he witnessed growing up in the hills of dez, eds., Reggaeton, pp. 1–16. Durham, Nueva York.” Claridad, October 21–27: Guayanilla. Their website doesn’t lie when it North Carolina: Duke University Press. 30. Rivera, R. Z. 2004. “De un pájaro las dos declares: “Yerbabuena makes gorgeous music Negrón-Muntaner, Frances and Raquel Z. Rivera. 2009. “Nación Reggaetón.” Nueva patas.” El Nuevo Día, April 4: 3 (Foro). that incorporates past and present. Yerbabuena Sociedad 223 (September-October): 29–38. taps right into the core of who we are.” Short Stories Tradition and Invention Went to the Moun- Rivera, Raquel Z. 2012. “While In Stirrups.” Fall Tour In Nieves, Myrna, ed., Breaking Ground: tains One Day . . . RAQUEL Z. RIVERA The only thing left for me to do now is Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980–2010. New York, NY: & OJOS DE SOFÍA share the following quote from the German Editorial Campana. architect and painter, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Rivera, Raquel Z. 2012. “Con los pies en los Tour de Las Décimas del that Tito Matos brought to my attention: estribos.” Letras Salvajes 7. Amargue & Other Songs of Love “Tradition inspires innovation, but innovation Rivera, Raquel Z. 2012. “In Yellow.” En la keeps tradition alive.” Orilla (online literary journal). Please see Raquel’s website Rivera, R. Z. 2010. “Of Woman Born.” En (http://raquelzrivera.com) for Discography la Orilla (online literary journal). upcoming dates on her touring Raquel Z. Rivera & Ojos de Sofia. 2010.Las Rivera, R. Z. 2010. “Papi, El Gato.” En la schedule with her Ojos de Sofia 7 Salves de La Magdalena / 7 Songs of Praise Orilla (online literary journal). band, including performances, for The Magdalene. Independent CD and Rivera, R. Z. 2005. “Abuela Luz.” Hostos artist talks and musical digital release. Review / Revista Hostosiana, 2: 82–88. demonstrations, and décimas Alma Moyó. 2010. No hay sábado sin sol. In- Rivera, R. Z. 2005. “Más vieja es la brisa.” writing workshops. dependent CD and digital release. Claridad, January 20–26: 30.

26 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore FOODWAYS Saturday Night Baked Beans BY MARGARET FRENCH

Growing up, we ate homemade baked beans every Saturday night—because my family was Saturday Night Baked Beans Amount: Makes enough for a small 6-cup bean pot. from New Brunswick, on the east coast of Canada. Lots of people in upstate New York, Ingredients: 2 cups yellow-eyed beans. Navy beans work, too. New England, the Maritime Provinces, and ½ cup molasses. Not blackstrap. You want the label to say Quebec still have a bean pot tucked away in a “fancy” or “mild.” You can use pure maple syrup if money is no object. kitchen cupboard. 1 teaspoon salt After I moved to upstate New York, I heard ½ teaspoon black pepper others’ stories about baked beans. My husband 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 small, whole onion, peeled tells my favorite. As a boy, he worked on a farm 4 ounces salt pork. Your supermarket probably stocks this. In near Stamford, NY, for a program that brought Saratoga, I buy it in a 12-ounce package, good for three pots of beans. It keeps forever in the fridge. city kids to work on farms during World War II; ¼ cup ketchup, optional. My mother felt daring when she added ketchup, though I’ve seen it in quite he mostly ate hot beans for supper, cold beans a few old recipes. from the bean pot for breakfast the next morn- Method: ing. • Beans are not a last minute affair. Ideally, start the evening before. You can begin early in the morning. I’ll explain how below. As a girl, I decided beans were a boring ex- • Spread the beans on a light-colored plate or tray, a handful at a time, to look for and discard cuse for a meal. Adding hot dogs and biscuits stones, stems, or damaged beans. Cover beans with water. Throw away anything that floats. Swish or homemade bread didn’t particularly help. It the beans around to get them clean. Drain. • Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water. (If you forget that, put them in a pot, add water to didn’t matter —if it was Saturday, beans were cover by 3 or 4 inches, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and let them sit for an hour.) Drain and rinse. what we were going to eat. • Put them in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil, and simmer on very low heat for half an hour. My mother insisted she made beans because • In the bottom of the bean pot, put onion and the salt pork. Cut the pork down to the rind in 3 or 4 it was convenient. She shopped on Saturday places. Add the beans, salt and pepper, molasses, mustard, and ketchup, if you’re using it. without worrying about cooking dinner. The The beans should be covered by about 1/4” to 1/2” of water. If it’s not, add a little boiling water. Put the lid on. beans were already in the oven. • Put in a 300º F oven. Cook 7 or 8 hours or until the beans are tender. From time to time, check the But I knew the truth. It was tradition. water level. If the beans are not covered with liquid, add a little boiling water. Don’t add any liquid in the last half hour or so. You want the liquid to get dark and thick. By the time you serve the beans, My mother was proud of her beans. Other they should be just barely covered with liquid. people liked them, too. Now living in Western Notes: Canada where the only beans people saw came You can cook beans in a crock-pot or a covered casserole instead of a bean pot, but the beans may not be quite as dark and delicious. The water will evaporate quicker in a casserole; you’ll have to keep a sharp eye on it. It will out of a Heinz can, our friends stopped by on evaporate more slowly in a crock-pot. Be careful not to add too much. Beans freeze beautifully. Saturday afternoons, hoping to be invited for supper. My mother always cooked enough to The first time my mother visited, she made The right colors, the right shape, the right kind feed a crowd. I silently wished they wouldn’t herself at home in my kitchen. I heard pots of handles, the right lid. encourage her. clanging. She came to me, puzzled. Once in a long while, I now make baked I dreaded the years my birthday fell on a Sat- “Margaret,” she demanded, “Where do you beans. I know how. I’d watched my mother urday. Birthday cake—and beans! keep your bean pot?” hundreds of times. I’d made them myself, too, Washing the bean pot was one of my most “I don’t have one,” I replied. reluctantly to be sure. dreaded chores. My sister and I took turns My mother thought about that for several My mother never used a written recipe. But washing the dishes, and each of us, day by day, seconds. “Well, then,” she said, “How do you I’ve approximated her recipe, just in case you or decided the pot needed to soak a little lon- make beans?” my children or grandchildren develop a craving ger. Saturday morning would come, and the My answer left her flabbergasted: “I don’t.” for homemade beans. bean pot would be full of smelly, funky water Years passed. I reached the age of nostalgia. with a few of last week’s beans still clinging to I began to long, just a little, for real homemade Margaret French is a the sides. My mother was not happy. baked beans. I even began to long for a bean writer and storyteller When I grew up, I stopped thinking about pot of my very own. in Saratoga Springs, NY. You can read many baked beans, unless I was visiting my family In an antique shop in western New York— of her stories at http:// and Saturday night rolled around. In my own one of those cluttered, junky, dusty, dirt cheap margaretfrench.com. home, I didn’t make or eat homemade beans. antique shops—I found a small bean pot. Ever. Chubby, brown on top, cream on the bottom.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 27 Fair Fotos

BY WENDY LIBERATORE PHOTOGRAPHS BY CLIFFORD OLIVER

hrough the lens of Clifford T Oliver’s camera, the ubiquitous sights of the county fair are transformed into timeless nods to rural living. He captures the focused determina- tion of a boy atop a massive Percheron horse, the thrill and fear on the faces of rollercoaster riders, and the wet and dimpled nose of an ox. Moreover, Oliver’s photographs of New York’s county fairs glorify its people—those who visit by the thousands and the exhibitors who make the seasonal spec- tacle what it is. Yet no matter where he turns his lens, Oliver sets up his scenes to define the annual summer ritual as iconic, wholesome, and pleasurable. “Cliff captures with his camera the joy of the fairgoers and participants,” said Ida Williams, public relations and marketing manager for the Washington County Fair (WCF). “Awe, wonder, and happiness. The WCF folk life that his photos represent document the vast array of activities that are occurring at any given moment at the fair. Not only does he capture the action, he captures the emotion.” The folks at the fair liked his photos so much that, a few years ago, they hired Oliver as its official photographer. “It’s so much fun and so beautiful,” said Oliver of the Greenwich event that takes place every August. “It celebrates how we live, and there is something for

the entire family.” Plowboy atop a Percheron horse.

28 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore The veteran photographer said he has been in love with the county fair since childhood. A native of the Bronx, he lost himself in books about the wilderness and Above Left: Rollercoaster rural living. And against his mother’s bet- riders at the Washington County Fair. ter judgment, he also tended a menagerie in their city apartment, which included Above Right: Laughing dogs, rabbits, chickens, and a snake. With Percheron. his love for animals and the country, he Right: Nosey ox at the cherished his frequent weekend visits to Washington County Fair. upstate New York to see extended family and friends. On one of those trips, his family made its way to the Dutchess Coun- ty Fair in Rhinebeck. It was a revelation.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 29 “The animals, the people, the food, the carnival atmosphere—I loved it all,” he said. “Everything I love about the country was compressed in one place for a week. It was wonderful.” Moreover, he realized that the county fair was, and still is, responsible for up- holding fading agrarian traditions. Above: Draft “I think the county fair helps to pre- horses pulling serve rare and endangered feats,” said weight with focus Oliver, who is well known regionally as on horseshoes. a portrait and landscape photographer. Right: Scott “You see a sheep being clipped, and its Nokowski waves from his tractor. wool being spun, and a team of six horses being driven. It’s not often you see that. It’s beautiful.” Not surprisingly, Oliver eagerly began to document it with his camera. “For a city kid, I thought it was a fantasy land, and too, I was having experiences that my inner city peers didn’t have,” he said. “Photographing it was proof.”

30 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Right: Fairgoers Howard and Fuller.

Below: Team of six working horses, pulling wagon.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 31 32 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Besides, he added, “I always take pic- tures of things I love.” After a stint with the US Navy, during which time Oliver honed his photo skills, he moved to Pine Plains. In his decade there, he photographed the Dutchess County Fair. After landing a job as a bio- medical photographer at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, he regularly trained his camera on the New York State Fair, with an occasional visit to the Herkimer and Cayuga county fairs. But the pursuit was recreational. When he moved to Greenwich in 1990, to become the staff photographer of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservations, he discovered the Washington County Fair. He recognized that this fair was special.

Left: Ruth Potter at spinning wheel at the Saratoga Fair.

Above: Washington County Fair bicycle giveaway.

Right: Singing cow.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 33 Three “ticket ladies” greeting fairgoers at the gate at the Washington County Fair.

Equine coffee clatch at the Washington County Fair.

34 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Easton Murray leading two horses by harnesses.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 35 Helping hands at the Washington County Fair.

While Oliver is attracted to the herds of farm animals, he also is lured by the old-time country arts. That’s obvious in a portrait of a woman at her spinning wheel. Dressed with care in skirt, blouse, and jewelry, and her hair pulled back neatly in a bun, the woman sits in a sheep barn, spinning wool. Surrounded by other spin- ners, this older, stately looking woman glances up at the camera as her wheel spins rapidly in a blur. Easton Highway Supervisor, in straw hat. “I feel like the photos provide a histori- cal record,” said Oliver. “I’m afraid these things will go away.” “It was the best of all fairs,” said Oliver. these powerful animals easily haul their His pictures also demonstrate Oliver’s “It had the largest collection of animals, burden. reverence for fair fellowship. Exhibitors a big horse show with pleasure horses, In yet another image, Oliver’s keen eye readily smile for his camera, helping him gymkhana, barrel races, rodeo, and the grabbed a team of six horses pulling a wag- to grab a shot of a happy young woman working horses. I love draft horses. They on with two cowboy hat-wearing drivers. leading two horses by their harnesses, a are so strong, intelligent, and versatile.” With dust kicking up around the animal’s man waving from the seat of his tractor, That adoration is plainly in view in feet and a ridge of trees as the backdrop, and a trio of women greeting fairgoers his photographs. Consider the image of the photo hints of the frontier pioneers. at the gate. a team of draft horses pulling weights. “These are the animals that built The delight of the visitors is palpable, The focus is on their strength—chests America,” said Oliver. “They worked the too. It is clear on the faces of a man in a of rippling muscles, supported by large fields, they carried us to war. People used straw hat and a little girl in cowboy boots legs with bulging joints and mug-sized to be brought up to handle horses. The who, pressed against a corral fence, per- hooves. Two men, in the rear, adjust the fair shows us this. Horsemanship hasn’t haps daydreams of the year she rides a slide of concrete weights that shift as changed much, but it’s a fading art.” horse like the one cantering by.

36 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore to think, ‘I want that.’ For the fairgoer, “that” is not an item, but a moment or connection. In a time when connec- tions are distant and primarily through electronic sources, Cliff is able to capture the intimate, cherished moments of life.” For this, Oliver only receives a small stipend. But he doesn’t seem to mind. “When I’m at the fair, I feel like I’m in heaven,” said the photographer who spends every hour of the week within its borders. “I have access, and I photograph to my heart’s content, and at the same time, expose the joys of the farm. I think it will always have a universal appeal.”

Clifford Oliver has been focusing his camera on a wide variety of subjects including equines, canines, portraits, and lifestyles. His images have appeared in numerous books, magazines, and in exhibitions in such distinguished spaces as the Fenimore Art Museum and the Albany Institute of History and Art. He lives in Greenwich, New York. Above: A wishful little girl watches a rider at the Washington County Fair. Wendy Liberatore is a Right: Eraserhead at the freelance writer Washington County Fair. who specializes in dance and visual arts. She After the fair shuts down for is a regular contributor another year, Oliver hands over his to The Daily/ photographic record to fair officials Sunday Gazette and Saratoga who will use it for advertisements, Living. Her programs, and other promotional works have also material for the following year. appeared in Playbill, Dance Magazine, Chronogram, “In the selection I look for the and Hudson Valley Magazine. She lives photo that is going to reach the in Greenwich, New York. potential fairgoer on the personal level,” said Williams. “I want them

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 37 Remembering Karyl Denison Eaglefeathers A link in the chain of New York Folklore

BY IRA MCINTOSH

[Editor’s note: Ira McIntosh is the son of Karyl Eaglefeathers, who died in September 2012.]

“Karyl could write a winning grant proposal, bake fresh loaves of bread, and knit a pair of mittens all on a Sunday morning. . . and still get to church on time.”—Laurie McIntosh

aryl Eaglefeathers made significant K contributions to the preservation of the folklore and culture of New York State, and the Catskill Mountains, in particular. I remember her development as a graduate student and a budding folklorist. You might say that I was her research assistant back in those days. She was often trying to track down yet another old-timer to urge them to share their stories, songs, and memories of life in the homespun days. We traveled the back hollows of the Catskills together while she Karyl in 2011. Photo courtesy of the Ira McIntosh Archive. was doing her field research. It astounds me how many of those roads, fields, and farms have since grown up to brush and woods. on it. It seemed so big and heavy, but I was Her research involved ethnomusicology, I can still picture her field recorder. It was scarcely more than a toddler then. Maybe it folk heritage, and museum studies. Even quite a machine. I remember she was very, just seemed big because I was littler. when I was just a little kid she talked to me very protective of that machine, because it Her work often seemed big. Many of the about her work as if I were a colleague, not was so outrageously expensive to get a quality sources she sought out for interviews and just somebody who was tagging along. I tape recorder like that in the ‘70s. And she had research were elderly, but they still tended to happened to be the person who was on hand. that recorder for years and years and years. be exciting characters who were larger than I guess I was sort of like an unpaid intern. I She was so proud of it and the recordings life. I was five years old when she took a never have published as much as she did, but that she made. It had a lot of fascinating year off from teaching to go get her master’s I guess I might have gotten started earlier in knobs and switches and meters and gauges degree. life than she did with serious cultural studies.

38 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore And it wasn’t just working with the tape After earning her master’s degree in recorder and collecting people’s stories. She American folk culture from the Cooperstown Karyl D. Eaglefeathers (1952–2012) was also at the cutting edge of photography. Graduate Program, she went back to teaching Dr. Karyl Denison (Hunt) Eaglefeathers or Vanheo’o (Standing Sage Woman) died on Remembering I remember going to the dark room with for a year. That was convenient for me, because Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. her an awful lot as she was developing her she taught third grade in South Kortright, just She was born on Aug. 2, 1952, to Charley pictures. I had to be there, because she didn’t a few doors down the hall from where I was and Louise Hunt. have a babysitter for me. I would bring books attending second grade. So we still traveled to A resident of Bloomville, Karyl was the Karyl Denison Eaglefeathers and read them by the red light of the dark work together, pretty much every day. And wife of Clifford Eaglefeathers, mother of Ira, Shana, Erika, Eli, Tyson, Jonathan, David and room. For a long time, she was really, really after school we would very often go do some Nate. She was grandmother to “about 17 of intent on documenting dry stone architecture: of the same sorts of things… go try to find ‘em,” including, Sol, Eli, Cedar, Julian, Sage, Ava, things made of local field stone, put together stonework to take pictures of, if the light was Charley, Barley, Jasmine, Sky, Kaylee, Destiny without mortar, like the stone walls we see good that afternoon, or go meet with an old- and Nathan. Karyl’s siblings were Barbara, Barry (deceased), Jill, Jack and Daryl. She was all over the landscape. But not just stone timer back in some hollow or clove to talk adopted by Nancy Sandcrane in the Cheyenne walls: barn foundations and stone piles and about how things got along, and how things way; and sister to Patty Old Man. stone silos and stone gate posts and carriage were different now from the way they were KD was a teacher in the broadest sense. blocks and stone buildings and stone barns before electricity came along. As her mother, Louise wrote about her own mother, “Teaching came as easily to her as and milk houses. I suppose it was after Having saved some money from a year of breathing.” Beyond the simple conveying of seeing some stone structure fall down that teaching, it was time to continue pursuing knowledge, she was a moral exemplar for she decided that different styles and types of her work in folklore, so we went out to her family, her students and her community. stonework needed to be documented. She Bloomington, Indiana, where she studied Karyl’s lifelong commitment to service and nurturing continues to have a ripple effect on did that all over the Catskills and beyond, folklore under Richard Dorson at Indiana countless lives across the world. and she demonstrated local differences in University. Around the same time, she was Excerpted from the obituary published in The the stonework. In one neighborhood, there working during the summers with Norman Daily Star, Oneonta, NY, September 17, 2012. would be someone who was particularly good Studer to revive the Catskill Mountain www.thedailystar.com/obituaries/x1709879243/ Karyl-Denison-Hunt-Eaglefeathers at it, and so all of the neighbors would have Folk Festivals. Much of Studer’s invaluable that person help with their stonework, and work is preserved in the M. E. Grenander you’d see that style in that area. A couple of Department of Special Collections and Council, the International Commission miles away, it was likely to be a completely Archives in Albany. I can imagine that it for the Training of Personnel, and for different sort of work. must have been an exhilarating time for her: governments and organizations on every Like traveling around collecting culture working with Dorson and Studer, two of the continent, except Antarctica. Her doctoral and trying to document things with her tape real pioneers of folklore as a science. Norman dissertation in folklore focused on the role of machine, photography was something she was very excited about the idea of reviving museums in developing countries. did not only as part of her studies—she just that folk festival with the enthusiastic young She spent two years as a professor in the did it because she knew it needed to be done, energy of my Mom who wanted to make Museum Science Program at Texas Tech and that some of these unique ways of doing things happen. And that enthusiastic energy is University in Lubbock, where she was curator things ought to be preserved. She knew that something she kept for her whole life, making at the National Ranching Heritage Center. as an older generation aged and passed on, things happen all the time. She was good at Then it was back to Indiana University to a whole way of life was at risk of being lost biting off more than anyone could chew and work as Director of Museum Studies while unless some human context and wisdom then chewing it all and then some, and just teaching folklore and anthropology. She took could be gathered and saved. generally accomplishing more than anyone great pride in an award-winning introductory Karyl felt that it was especially important should be expected to. folklore course that she wrote. In 1995, to do that for people who had grown up Later, while working on her PhD in Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer appointed before homogenized popular culture became folklore, she became director of the Monroe her as State Director of Cultural Resources so ubiquitous. She saw that diverse ways County Historical Society Museum in for the duration of his term in office. There, of making life work became specialized to Bloomington, Indiana. There she absolutely she was responsible for the State Museum, local areas. She was able to document and immersed herself in figuring out how to as well as other culturally and historically preserve a lot of the ways that our regional best run a museum. She began to specialize significant sites throughout the state. and local culture here had developed prior to in museum management and did work for When a new governor was elected in being blended into a much broader culture The International Council of Museums and Wyoming, Karyl headed north to Montana, by electricity, telephones, broadcasting, and conducted museum training projects for where she pursued another one of her other high-speed, easy communications. the United Nations Economic and Social passions—early childhood development—

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 39 dances and fiddling styles and facilitating the mentoring of a new generation of dance callers and musicians through the Catskills Folk Connection, an organization she founded along with fellow folklorist Virginia Scheer in 2006. Catskills Folk Connection continues to organize and sponsor community dances. I am grateful that she left me with some of the skills that allow me to carry on with parts of her work. I don’t bring quite the depth of scholarly research and the same formidable credentials to my work, but forging community connections, shared experiences, and a sense of history and place through music and stories has been a large part of my mission in the world. She made sure I understood, by the time I was a tiny little fellow, that making music and sharing stories is what real people do with their time, and that it’s important for individuals, as well as their communities. That’s an idea I’m glad that I got early and never lost. One recent project I particularly enjoyed was working with my mother, K. D. Eaglefeathers, to develop a musical ethnography of the New York City water supply system in the Catskills, a program we presented together at venues in the Catskills and Hudson Valley between 2005–2011. Considering that I began accompanying her on field work jaunts starting in 1973, one could rightly say our professional collaborations Karyl in 1978. Photo courtesy of the Ira McIntosh Archive. spanned nearly 40 years. She crafted a body of work that will continue to serve others, becoming Director of the Tribal Head Start in the Northern Cheyenne Sundance. Since and so many of us are fortunate to be able program for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. 2008, their language preservation work has to build upon her efforts to preserve bits of While working in Montana, she developed been supported by the National Science our heritage, so that it can be passed along for health, community, and identity-based Foundation, and Clifford continues this generations yet to come. programs, including a Cheyenne Language important task. immersion program. There she met Clifford In 2003, Karyl returned home to New Ira Mcintosh is a performer and Eaglefeathers. He was one of very few York to join the faculty of Empire State teaching artist who remaining Northern Cheyenne elders fluent College. She was able to buy the house her presents programs in the Cheyenne Sacred Language. parents had built in the 1930s, and in that way, for schools, libraries, festivals, conferences, Clifford became Karyl’s husband, and reconnected with some more of her own historical societies, for more than 10 years, they collaborated family heritage. When she got back home and other venues across the state. He on various projects, including teaching, a to the Catskills, she simply picked up where also collaborates on weekly radio program, the preservation she left off, finding ways of preserving and projects with his wife, acclaimed story- and field documentation of the Northern celebrating local heritage and traditions. teller Story Laurie McIntosh. They live Cheyenne Sacred Language, and a Rockefeller Communities around the region still benefit with their two children at the site where the Catskill Folk Festivals occurred in the fellowship to study persistence and change from her work documenting traditional 1970s. Photograph by Catskill Images.

40 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore ALN8BAL8MO: A NATIVE VOICE

He Comes Flying BY JOSEPH BRUCHAC

Editor’s Note—Many thanks to our new Though we have no birth certificate or despite the fact that he married the daughter columnist, Joseph Bruchac for his new papers specifying his percentage of Indian of the head chief Simon Obomsawin. column “ALN8BAL8MO1: A NATIVE blood to identify Peter Paul as an Abenaki Perhaps, the animosity was too much for VOICE.” As a writer, performing storyteller, Indian, it’s a good bet that he was, based on him. For whatever reasons, he eventually and musician, Joe has given voice to his the fact that there were—and still are—many left the reserve, going with his family to Abenaki heritage and Native American Abenaki families in the Adirondacks, a place Port Huron, Michigan, sometime between heritage for over 30 years. We are very where Algonquin and Iroquois people have 1858 and 1861. There he died in 1890. I’ve pleased to welcome him to Voices. lived and hunted for countless generations. found no record that indicates he continued  (Such back and forth travel between Canada writing or publishing—though I hope that Have you ever heard of Peter Paul and the northern regions of New York and more work of his remains out there and may Wz8khalain? Probably not. But over the last New England is a long established pattern— still turn up some day. several years, as I’ve become more familiar even today, despite border restrictions that What was it that he wrote and published with his life story, the journeys he took, and treaties say were never supposed to apply to in Abenaki? Three books: Kimzowi Awigihgan, the work he did during that complex span the first Americans.) The Ten Commandments, and The Gospel of of some 90 years, I’ve come to consider Peter Paul went from Dartmouth to Mark. Why do I consider his publishing so him one of indigenous America’s most the St. Francis Reserve in 1829. There he worthy of note? My answer is that—like fascinating early writers and publishers. established a Protestant church and an the man himself—the books he wrote He also was a true Native son of New English language school and began his and published are complex, fascinating, York State, born in the Adirondacks on the publishing. He was accepted at St. Francis, and reflective of an important period in Raquette River around 1800. though not by everyone, as an integral part American Indian life, as well as supportive If he is so interesting, you may ask, why of the Abenaki community. of a deeply endangered indigenous language. is he so little known? Three reasons for The problem he faced was that the first For a student of our language, someone that. First is that his books, first appearing Christian missionaries who had come to St. trying to learn how to speak it fully and well, in print around 1830, were written entirely Francis in the 17th century were Catholic. It’s his books contain a wealth of information. in the Abenaki language. Second is that he hard for some people today to understand Although it was published in Abenaki alone, published from St. Francis (now known as just how wide the gulf between Catholics The Gospel of Mark is a translation from Odanak), a Reserve (the Canadian equivalent and Protestants was in Canada during the English into Abenaki. Thus, we have a well- of a reservation) in Quebec. Third is that few 19th and much of the 20th century. Close known text to use as comparison. So, too, copies of his published books survived—for to outright warfare. That Wz8khilain was his The Ten Commandments. reasons I’ll explain later in this story. introducing Protestantism to St. Francis But Kimzowi Awighigan is of even greater Wz8khilain. That name of his, one of the made him the enemy of the “true faith.” interest. Designed as a primer for Abenakis many names he was known by—including So it was that the Catholic priest made a themselves, containing traditional stories Peter Masta, Pial Pol, and Pierre Paul point to go about St. Francis obtaining every and some religious instruction, it provides Osunkherhine—means either “The Birds copy he could of the three books Peter Paul us with a glimpse into the worldview of are Flying” or “He Who Comes by Flying” published in editions of about 500 each—to Abenakis at a time when few authors— in the Abenaki language he so loved. And burn them. Native or non-Native—were paying much fly he did, first to Moor’s Indian School at Despite that, a few copies of Peter Paul’s attention to American Indian folklore and Dartmouth College, which he attended from books survived. So, too, did that divide cultures. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s Algic 1822 to 1829. between Catholics and Protestants— Researches (1839) is one of the rare examples An unusual accomplishment for a Native reflected in the two surviving main clan of anyone in that period taking Native American in the early 19th century, but not a divisions of Bear and Turtle. My old friend stories seriously. Lewis Henry Morgan’s unique one. Both Harvard and Dartmouth were Maurice Dennis/Mdawelasis, who worked League of the Iroquois would not be published founded with “Indian Education” as central for years at the Enchanted Forest in Old until 1851. missions. The money to start Dartmouth, in Forge, New York, before returning to spend Until very recently, none of Peter fact, came from the efforts of Samson Occom, his last years on his home reserve, explained Paul’s work was translated into English. a Mohegan Christian minister who raised over it to me: “Up at Odanak,” he said, “ Turtles But that is changing. Two years ago, my 12,000 pounds to fund an Indian school during remain Catholics, and the Bears, Protestant.” son Jesse Bruchac published a trilingual his 1766–1767 preaching tour of England. Peter Paul did not remain at St. Francis, edition in English, French, and Abenaki of

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 41 Ol8jmow8gan Wji Malk/ The Gospel of Mark pioneering writer and publisher Peter Paul Joseph (Bowman Books, 2011). was. His contributions—like our Abenaki Bruchac is And now Jesse and Elie Joubert2—an language—will live on. a writer, Abenaki elder who has devoted much of Peter Paul Wz8khalain. I hope that from musician, and traditional his life to the teaching and preservation of now on you may remember his name. Native his beloved language—are working through storyteller whose work a translation of Kimzowi Awighigan. They are Endnotes often reflects turning up some treasures as they do so. For 1 In writing the Abenaki language, the his American Indian example, there is an almost identical telling number 8 is used to stand for a sound (Abenaki) of one of the stories, about Partridge and like that of the “un” in Uncle. Aln8ba ancestry and the Fox, that appears as “Rooster and Fox” means “human being.” Wilal8 means Adirondack in Zora Neale Hurston’s Negro Folk-tales “tongue” or “voice.” Region of 3 2 northern New from the Gulf States. And Peter Paul’s tale Elie Joubert’s own initial book in English York, where he lives in the house he was of the turtle captured by his enemies who and Abenaki, The First Council Fire raised in by his grandparents. Author of over 120 books for young readers and convinces them the only way to kill him is (Bowman Books, 2012), is just one adults, including the award-winning to drown him was collected as a Cherokee example of the amazing work he has volume, OUR STORIES REMEMBER, story decades later and parallels the familiar done and continues to do.) American Indian History, Culture and Values through Storytelling. In addition African American story of Bre’r Rabbit and 3 Collected by Hurston in 1927, and to performing traditional and original the briar patch. eventually published in 2001 as Every Native American music, often with his son Jesse, his experiences include running a I have no doubt that when Elie and Jesse Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-tales from college program in a maximum security finish that translation of Kimzowi Awighigan the Gulf States (Harper-Collins). prison, three years of teaching in West Africa, and four decades of studying and that it will show just how important a teaching martial arts.

To continue to receive Voices and enjoy the full range of New York Folklore Society programs, become a member! Visit our web site for more information: www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/membership.html

Thank you to Trader Joe’s, SNOWFLAKES IN THE GALLERY 79 Wolf Road, Albany, Thank you to all those who contributed to our snowflake wall. New York for donating The snowflakes were displayed at the NYFS Gallery main window a mystery gift basket to throughout December 2013: benefit the New York Folklore Society. Our Lynn and John Aber, University of New Hampshire holiday raffle winner Karen Park Canning received a $75.00 Trader Linda Sweet, Mayor’s Office, Schenectady, New York Joe’s gift certificate. Mayor’s Office, Schenectady, New York Kathryn McCormick Libby Tucker

And a special thank you for the dinosaur pencil drawing.

42 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore VOICES IN NEW YORK The Fraser Family — Home of Our Hearts INTERVIEW BY DR. CONSTANCE SULLIVAN-BLUM

Certain places grasp hold of hearts and imaginations of the people who live there. The cadence of language, the rhythms of daily life, the particular way the universal dramas of life, love, and death are played out in a place can lodge themselves under the skin, into the souls of a people. This intense experience of place is shared through the music of the Fraser family on their CD, Home of Our Hearts. For the Fraser family, two locations are “home”: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and the foothills of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Cape Breton is a palpable presence in the Fraser family’s music. The patriarch of the clan, Angus Fraser, like many others on Cape Breton Island, came from a family of fishermen. In Cape Breton, he learned to play the fiddle. Angus left Left to right, front row, sitting: Sharon Fraser Collette (vocal), Ebby Fraser (vocal), Kelley his ancestral home, following the lumber camps Fraser Zimmerman (vocal and mandolin), Meghan Fraser (vocal and whistle), and Kelsey Fraser (vocal and violin). Middle row: Amanda Fraser Pignone (vocal, accordian and into New York State. There, he fell in love whistle), Linda LaBow (vocal), Laura Miller (vocal), Sheryl Fraser Luther (vocal), Leean with and married the camp cook, a story told Carbone (vocal and bass), Kim Fraser Young (vocal and guitar), and Johnny Miller (vocal and drum). Back row: Cameron Young (vocal), Rod Fraser (vocal), Danielle Fraser (vocal), Pat by Angus’s grandson, Rod, in the song “Cape Fraser (vocal and harmonica), and Steve Miller (guitar). Photo courtesy of the Fraser Family. Breton Breeze.” Angus and his wife raised their family in Briggs Switch, near Oswegatchie, NY. Kim’s father, Don, worked hard all his life, in by music, learning the harmonies instinctively. Angus’s son, Don, and his wife, Ethel, moved to the mines and paper mills of upstate New York. Musicians were always stopping by to play with Harrisville, where most of the family still lives. Songs like “Fisherman’s Son” and “Coal Town their dad. Every gathering of family and friends Four generations of Frasers have lived in Har- Road” connect the labor of the common man included music. Kim says that music is just as risville, and 14 family members play and sing on on Cape Breton with upstate New York. The present in her life now. The result is that her the CD. The Frasers still maintain property on song, “Farewell to the Rhondda” is about Welsh children are musicians, as well as many of her Cape Breton and return every summer. Many of coal miners facing the closing of the mines. The siblings’ children and grandchildren. the songs on the CD were learned on their trips Frasers love the song because they’ve seen the Their music remains grounded in a sense of to the Island and tell the story of people who closure of New York mines and mills, and they place. Home of Our Hearts celebrates “home” in all make their livings from the sea. know what it means to families who rely on its meanings: a place, heritage, a family, a future. The CD is chock full of labor songs. When I industries for a living. Like the protagonist in The Fraser Family’s CD, Home of Our Hearts, asked Kim Fraser Young why, she said, “It’s the “Chemical Worker,” written to honor factory was the January 2012 featured selection in the plight of the working man. We’re drawn to it.” workers exposed to dangers during the Industrial New York Folklore Society’s CD-of-the-Month Revolution, Don Fraser’s health was damaged Voices in New York membership program and by years of exposure in the mill and the mines. is available for purchase from NYFS’ online The music on Home of Our Hearts honors the store: http://www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/music. resilience of laborers in the face of danger and html#fraser sorrow. For more information about the group, The Frasers not only work hard, they play visit the NYFS Directory of Traditional Artists: hard too. Practically every one of them plays an http://www.nyfolklore.org/tradarts/music/artist/ instrument or sings. Kim said her father played fraserfamily.html “everything—mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo.” Her mother, Ethel, in her 90s, plays piano and Constance Sullivan-Blum has a PhD in cultural anthropology and works as the guitar. Kim is a self-taught musician, as are her Folk Art Coordinator at The ARTS Council siblings. They all sing. She grew up surrounded of the Southern Finger Lakes (www.earts. org).

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 43 NYFS hosts the Folk Arts NYFS presents two separate Roundtable December 2–4, traveling exhibitions 2014, in Troy The New York Folklore Society is spon- The New York Folklore Society again soring two distinct traveling exhibitions, hosts the Folk Arts Roundtable of the which are available for viewing around the New York State Council on the Arts, on state. “Farm and Field: The Rural Folk December 2-4, 2014. The Roundtable is an Arts of the Catskill Region,” a photo annual forum for the public folk arts field exhibition on Catskills Farming, featuring in New York State devoted to the discus- the photographs of Benjamin Halpern, is sion of ideas, issues, and practices of public currently on view at the State University of folk arts programming. It is organized by New York at Delhi and will be on view at the Folk Arts Program of the New York “A Taste of the Catskills” Festival at Maple State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and Shade Farm in Delhi, NY over Columbus the New York Folklore Society (NYFS). Day Weekend, 2014. One of the New Everyone attending the Roundtable actively York Folklore Society’s latest collaborative participates through discussing their own initiatives that showcase the rural folk arts experiences with folk arts programming, of the Catskills region of New York State, and by attending sessions of general interest especially those folk arts which relate to

NYFS NEWS AND NOTES NYFS NEWS to the folk arts field. New program ideas the community of farmers and agricultural and collaborative projects often develop workers in this region, this exhibit hopes to Exercise rider, Roger Horgan, checking his out of discussions and experiences at the shine a light on this identity by documenting tack at the Palm Meadows Training Facility, Florida. Photo by Ellen McHale. Roundtable. and highlighting these ongoing activities. In 2014, the New York State Folk Arts The photographer, Benjamin Halpern, Roundtable will convene in Troy, New a native of Sullivan County, remembers modern landscape and its people, and the York. The theme for the meeting will be the dairy farms that once surrounded his cultural connection between the modern documentary video, with all participants hometown. Through his photographs, he farmers and their agrarian roots. learning basics of shooting, making, and ed- seeks to define the connection between the “Stable Views: Voices and Stories from iting videos in a special day-long workshop. the Thoroughbred Racetrack”—an exhibition about the community found within the backstretch of the thoroughbred racetracks in New York and around the na- tion—continues its tenure at Crandall Pub- lic Library in Glens Falls through December 2014 and will be on view at Flushing Town Hall in Queens, NY, June 2015, continuing to Traditional Arts in Upstate New York in

Milking time at Pete Diehl’s farm, 2010. Photo by Benjamin Halperin.

44 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Canton, NY, from July–December 2015. Based upon research by NYFS Executive Submission Guidelines for Director, Ellen McHale, through an Archie Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore Green Fellowship in Occupational Folklore from the Library of Congress, this exhibi- Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is Style tion portrays the workers in the “back- a membership magazine of the New York The journal follows The Chicago Manual of Style. Folklore Society (www.nyfolklore.org). Consult Webster’s Third International Dictionary for stretch” through photographs and their The New York Folklore Society is a nonprofit, questions of spelling, meaning, and usage, and avoid reflections of work in their own words. It statewide organization dedicated to furthering gender-specific terminology. cultural equity and cross-cultural understanding Footnotes. Endnotes and footnotes should be also features the paintings of Sarah Camele through programs that nurture folk cultural expres- avoided; incorporate such information into the text. Arnold, handmade objects by riders and sions within communities where they originate, Ancillary information may be submitted as a sidebar. share these traditions across cultural boundaries, Bibliographic citations. For citations of text trainers, and video. A book based on Dr. and enhance the understanding and appreciation of from outside sources, use the author-date style McHale’s research, with the same title as folk culture. Through Voices the society communi- described in The Chicago Manual of Style. cates with professional folklorists and members of Language. All material must be submitted in the exhibition, will be published by the related fields, traditional artists, and a general public English. Foreign-language terms (transliterated, University of Mississippi Press in July 2015. interested in folklore. where appropriate, into the Roman alphabet) should Voices is dedicated to publishing the content of be italicized and followed by a concise parenthetical Both exhibitions are available for loan folklore in the words and images of its creators and English gloss; the author bears responsibility for the from the New York Folklore Society. For practitioners. The journal publishes research-based correct spelling and orthographics of non-English articles, written in an accessible style, on topics words. British spellings should be Americanized. details, call (518) 346-7008. related to traditional art and life. It also features stories, interviews, reminiscences, essays, folk poetry Publication Process Henry Arquette receives the and music, photographs, and artwork drawn from Unless indicated, the New York Folklore Society people in all parts of New York State. Columns holds copyright to all material published in Voices: National Endowment for on subjects such as photography, sound and video The Journal of New York Folklore. With the submission the Arts National Heritage recording, legal and ethical issues, and the nature of of material to the editor, the author acknowledges traditional art and life appear in each issue. Fellowship Award for 2014 that he or she gives Voices sole rights to its publica- tion, and that permission to publish it elsewhere Editorial Policy must be secured in writing from the editor. Feature articles. Articles published in Voices For the initial submission, send an e-mail attach- represent original contributions to folklore studies. ment or CD (preferably prepared in Microsoft Word Although Voices emphasizes the folklore of New and saved as Rich Text Format). York State, the editor welcomes articles based on Copy must be double spaced, with all pages num- the folklore of any area of the world. Articles on bered consecutively. To facilitate anonymous review the theory, methodology, and geography of folklore of feature articles, the author’s name and biography are also welcome, as are purely descriptive articles should appear only on a separate title page. in the ethnography of folklore. In addition, Voices Tables, charts, maps, illustrations, photographs, provides a home for “orphan” tales, narratives, and captions, and credits should follow the main text and songs, whose contributors are urged to provide be numbered consecutively. All illustrations should be contextual information. clean, sharp, and camera-ready. Photographs should be Authors are encouraged to include short personal prints or duplicate slides (not originals) or scanned at reminiscences, anecdotes, isolated tales, narratives, high resolution (300+ dpi) and e-mailed to the edi- songs, and other material that relates to and en- tor as jpeg or tiff files. Captions and credits must be hances their main article. included. Written permission to publish each image Typically feature articles range from 1,000 to must be obtained by authors from the copyright 4,000 words and up to 6,000 words at the editor’s holders prior to submission of manuscripts, and the discretion. written permissions must accompany the manuscript Reviews and review essays. Books, recordings, (authors should keep copies). films, videos, exhibitions, concerts, and the like are Materials are acknowledged upon receipt. The selected for review in Voices for their relevance to editor and two anonymous readers review manu- folklore studies or the folklore of New York State scripts submitted as articles. The review process and their potential interest to a wide audience. Per- takes several weeks. sons wishing to review recently published material Authors receive two complimentary copies of the should contact the editor. Unsolicited reviews and issue in which their contribution appears and may proposals for reviews will be evaluated by the editor purchase additional copies at a discount. Authors and by outside referees where appropriate. Follow of feature articles may purchase offprints; price Henry Arquette, Mohawk the bibliographic style in a current issue of Voices. information is available upon publication. basketmaker, Akwesasne Reservation, Reviews should not exceed 750 words. with his wife at the American Folklore Correspondence and commentary. Short but Society annual meeting in 2002. substantive reactions to or elaborations upon mate- Submission Deadlines Photo by Martha Cooper. Read more rial appearing in Voices within the previous year are Spring–Summer issue November 1 about Henry at http://arts.gov/honors/ welcomed. The editor may invite the author of the Fall–Winter issue May 1 heritage/fellows/henry-arquette. materials being addressed to respond; both pieces may be published together. Any subject may be addressed or rebutted once by any correspondent. Send submissions as Word files to The principal criteria for publication are whether, Todd DeGarmo, Voices Editor in the opinion of the editor or the editorial board, (e-mail preferred): [email protected] the comment constitutes a substantive contribution or to folklore studies, and whether it will interest our New York Folklore Society general readers. 129 Jay Street Letters should not exceed 500 words. Schenectady, NY 12305

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 45 46 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Join the New York Folklore Society today and become a subscriber to Voices

Join the New York Folklore Society and A Public Voice become part of a community that will deepen  The NYFS raises awareness of folklore among the Yes, I want to join the New York your involvement with folklore, folklife, the general public through three important channels. Folklore Society. traditional arts, and contemporary culture. As a member, you’ll have early notice of key events. Print. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore, published twice a year, brings you folklore in the Name ______Annual Conference. People travel from all over words and images of its creators and practitioners. to meet in a different part of the state each year Organization ______The journal’s new look distinguishes it from other for the NYFS Conference and Annual Meeting. publications in the field. Read Voices for news Address ______Professionals in folklore and related fields join you can use about our field and legal issues, with educators and practitioners to explore the City, State, Zip ______photography, sound and video recording, and culture and traditions of the area. Lectures and archiving. Country ______discussions are balanced with concerts, dancing, and tours of cultural sites. Radio. Voices of New York Traditions is a series of Telephone ______radio documentaries that spotlight the folklife of New York State Folk Arts Forums. Folk arts E-mail ______the state, aired on public radio. Stay tuned! professionals, colleagues in related disciplines, and lay people come together each year to Internet. Visit www.nyfolklore.org for the latest $45 Basic member address a topic of special interest—whether it news on events in folklore. Updated weekly, the $25 Full-time student be folklore and the Internet, heritage tourism, NYFS web site is designed to appeal to the public $25 Senior (65+) cultural conservation, or intellectual property as well as keep specialists informed. $55 Joint (two or more at the same address) law. $60 Organizations and institutions Advocacy Please add $10 for additional postage for foreign Help When You Need It The NYFS is your advocate for sympathetic and memberships. Become a member and learn about technical informed attention to folk arts. assistance programs that will get you the help • We represent you on issues before the state  New member. you need in your work. legislature and the federal government when  Gift membership. Introduce a friend public policy affects the field. Visit the advocacy or relative to the world of folklore! Mentoring and Professional Development pages at www.nyfolklore.org to learn what we’re Program for Folklife and the Traditional doing and how you can help. Make a tax-deductible donation and help Arts. Receive technical assistance from a • The society partners with statewide, regional, mentor of your choosing. You can study with and national organizations, from the New York support the organization that supports a master traditional artist, learn new strategies State Arts and Cultural Coalition to the American folklore. for marketing, master concert and exhibition Folklore Society, and frequently presents its production, organize an archive, or improve projects and issues at meetings of professional your organizational management. organizations in the allied fields of archives, 2014 2015 history, and libraries. Membership dues $______$______Folk Artists Self-Management Project. Tax-deductible If you’re a traditional artist, you know the donation $______$______importance of business, management, So Join! and marketing skills to your success in Become part of a community that explores and Total enclosed $______$______the marketplace. NYFS can help you with nurtures the traditional cultures of New York The amount of memberships greater than workshops, mentoring, and publications. State and beyond. Membership in the NYFS Folk Archives Project. What could be entitles you to the following benefits: $20 and all donations are tax-deductible to more critical than finding a repository for an • A subscription to Voices: The Journal of New the extent allowed by law. important collection? The NYFS is a leader in York Folklore the preservation of our cultural heritage. Attend • Invitations to conferences, workshops, and our workshops and order copies of NYFS meetings Make your check payable to New York books at a discount. • Updates on technical assistance programs Folklore Society and send it with this form to: Consulting and Referral. The NYFS offers • Opportunities to meet others who share your informal counseling and referral services to the interests New York Folklore Society members in the field. Contact us by telephone, • Discounts on NYFS books 129 Jay Street e-mail, or letter. Plus the satisfaction of knowing that you support Schenectady, NY 12305 the only organization devoted to folklore across Publications. Members receive discounts on New York State. all NYFS publications. Visit www.nyfolklore.org for current titles.

Fall–Winter 2013, Volume 39:3–4 47 Remembering PETE SEEGER 1919–2014 t is with great sadness that we mark the I passing of friend and longtime New York Folklore Society member Pete Seeger. Pete contributed in many ways to the con- versations and discussions of the Society. It was not uncommon for us in the New York Folklore Society office to receive periodic postcards with words of encouragement or praise—always signed “Pete” and sporting his trademark hand-drawn banjo. This writ- ten correspondence could be for a journal article, which he particularly appreciated, congratulations on a Society-sponsored program, or an idea for the Society to pursue. His unannounced visit to the New York Folklore Society’s offices on May 12, 2013, before his Schenectady appearance at the Eighth Step Coffeehouse, was unfortu-

Pete Seeger performing with Arlo Guthrie at a 2003 festival honoring Alan Lomax at the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College (see www.nyfolklore.org/ pubs/voic29-3-4/lomax.html). Photo by Martha Cooper.

nately our last exchange with this folk music New York Folklore Quarterly. He was always legend. quick to draw one’s attention to someone Pete Seeger’s involvement in the Society other than himself, and his support for up- dates to at least the early 1950s, when he and-coming artists is legendary among folk Postcard from Pete Seeger, mailed to frequently attended and performed at New musicians. He lived his convictions and was Ellen McHale at the New York Folklore York Folklore Society conferences and a model for us all. He will be missed. Society, September 30, 2008. gatherings, or contributed to our journal, —Ellen McHale, NYFS Executive Director

48 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Thank You, New York Folklore Society Supporters!

Individual Members Dance, Cleveland Public Library, College versity of Toronto, University of Vermont, Catherine L. Angell, Raymond A. Baumler, of St. Rose, College of William and Mary, US Military Academy, Utah State University, Dan Berggren, Robert D. Bethke, Warren Colorado College, Columbia University, Utica College, University of Virginia, Vas- F. Broderick, Simon J. Bronner, Candace S. Crandall Public Library, Duanesburg Jr./Sr. sar College, Western Kentucky University, Broughton, Edward H. Bruhn, Elizabeth High School, Duke University, Dutchess Winterthur Museum, Yale University A. Burbach, Karen Park Canning, Alan F. County Arts Council, East Carolina Uni- Casline, Leona Chereshnoski, Fred Childs, versity, East Meadow Public Library, Elmira 2013 Contributors William M. Clements, Helen Condon, College, ETSU Sherrod Library (Tennessee), Alan Casline, Anna Chairetakis, Arden Henrietta Conney, Alden (Joe) Doolittle, Georg-August-Universität, George Mason Delacey, Ellen Fladger, Enikö Farkas, Lynn Case Ekfelt, Dolores N. Elliott, Enikö University, Hartwick College, Harvard Col- Wanda Fischer, Hanna Griff-Sleven, Robert Farkas, Ellen H. Fladger, Sean Galvin, Ann lege, Hofstra University, The Huntington Hoffning, Muriel Horowitz, Michael Leach, Githler, Robert Godfried, Ann F. Green, Library, Jefferson Community College, Joan Studer Levine, Nicole Macotsis-Hefny, Hanna Griff-Sleven, Nancy Groce, Eric J. Library of Congress, Long Island Univer- Leslie Ogan, Lynne Williamson Hamilton, Gabrielle Hamilton, Lee Haring, sity, Louisiana State University, Maison des Joseph C. Hickerson, Dorothy Hill, Amy Sciences de l’Homme, Marshall University, Corporate Funders Hillick, Robert J. Hoffnung, Muriel Horow- Memorial University of Newfoundland, Mi- American Folklore Society, IBM Interna- itz, Karen B. Johnson, Lucine Kasbarian, ami University, Mid Country Public Library, tional Foundation, Price Chopper/Golub Kate Koperski, Rena Kosersky, Jonathan Middlebury College, Mind-Builders Creative Foundation, Stewart’s Holiday Wish Kruk, Alice Lai and Eric Ball, Michael D. Arts Center, Monroe Community College, Leach, James P. Leary, Joan Studer Levine, New York State Library, New York Universi- Foundations Laura Lee Linder, Marsha MacDowell and ty, Newberry Library, Ohio State University, Community Foundation of Herkimer and C. Kurt Dewhurst, Nicole Macotsis-Hefny, Ohio University, Onondaga County Public Oneida Counties, Alfred Z Solomon Chari- Elena Martínez, Ellen McHale, Phyllis S. Library, Pennsylvania State/Capital Campus, table Trust McNeill, Daniel M. Milner, Daniela Muhling, Port Washington Public Library, Princeton Anna Mulé, Annette Nielsen, Leslie Ogan, University, Queens Library, Rochester Public Public Support Patricia H. Park, Cornelia Porter, Stanley Library, Saugerties Public Library, Skidmore New York State Council on the Arts, Nation- and Christina Ransom, Paul Rosenberg College, Sks/Kirjasto (Finland), St. Bo- al Endowment for the Arts, Erie Canalway and Patricia Kernan, Dave Ruch, Suzanne naventure University, St. Johns University, National Heritage Corridor, New York Samelson, Boria and Linda Sax, Jessica St. Lawrence University, Stanford University, Council for the Humanities, Documentary Schein, Joseph Sciorra, Cindy and Robert State University College (New Paltz), State Heritage Program of the New York State Skala, David B. Smingler, Diane Hale Smith, University College (Plattsburgh), Staten Is- Archives, Schenectady County Initiative David Socholitzky, Emily Socolov and Itzik land Arts, Steele Memorial Library (Elmira), Program, Friends of Gary McCarthy Gottesman, Constance Sullivan-Blum, SUNY Albany, SUNY Geneseo, Syracuse Elizabeth Tucker, Kay Turner, Joan Cooper University, Temple University, Texas A&M Uhrman, Zoe van Buren, Brenda Verardi, University, Traditional Arts in Upstate New The New York Folklore Daniel Franklin Ward, William Westerman, York, Ulster County Community College, Society thanks the people Lois Wilcken, Lynne Williamson, Robert Union College, Universite Laval, University and organizations that Wright, Lois A. Young of British Columbia, University of Cali- supported our programs fornia (Berkeley), University of California Institutional Members (Davis), University of Chicago, University and publications in 2013. American University Library, Arizona of Colorado, University of Delaware, Uni- Your help is essential to State University, Arkansas State University, versity of Houston, University of Illinois, our work. If your local Bloomsburg University, Brandeis Univer- University of Minnesota, University of sity, Brooklyn College, Brown University, New Hampshire, University of Oregon, library is not listed among C. W. Post Center, Calpulli Mexican Dance University of Pennsylvania, University of the institutional subscrib- Company, Cardiff University, Castellani Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, Univer- ers here, please urge them Art Museum, Cayuga County Community sity of Southern California, University Park to join. College, Center for Traditional Music & Campus, University of Texas at Austin, Uni- Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID Albany, NY 129 Jay Street, Schenectady, NY 12305 (518) 346-7008 • www.nyfolklore.org Permit #751

For you holiday shopping, please visit the New York Folklore Society’s online Gallery at:

http://www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store.html anytime for unique, hand-crafted gifts, affordable folk art, traditional music, and books for both folklorists and folklore enthusiasts.

Regular in-store Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and on Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please note that the Gallery is closed on Sunday between the end of December and the end of April. Handmade Christmas ornaments by Carol Lukovich are available online and in the Gallery.

Please plan to stop by the New York Folklore Society’s Gallery of New York Artists during these special holiday events in downtown Schenectady:

Small Business Saturday is November 29, 2014! The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation’s (DSIC’s) local businesses will be celebrating the day and kicking off the start to the holiday shopping season! Show your support and Shop Small on the big day.

The 11th Annual Holiday Open House is Saturday, December 13, 2014, from noon to 4:00 p.m., sponsored by the DSIC, is an arts and cultural event that highlights Downtown Schenectady as a centerpiece of Schenectady County for shopping, dining, and entertainment during the holiday season. Many shops will be offering in-store specials and promotions, and refreshments.