Bridgewater Review, Vol. 27, No. 2, December 2008
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Bridgewater Review Volume 27 | Issue 2 Article 1 Dec-2008 Bridgewater Review, Vol. 27, No. 2, December 2008 Recommended Citation Bridgewater State College. (2008). Bridgewater Review. 27(2). Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol27/iss2/1 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. VOLUME 27 NUMBER 2 DECEMBER 2008 Bridgewater Review BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE Karen Callan Branch Office. Sky Lights. Fisherman’s Blues. VOLUME 27 NUMBER 2 DECEMBER 2008 TS N TE N CO Bridgewater Review INSIDE FRONT AND BACK COVERS ON THE COVER Karen Callan Ivana George, Assistant Photographs Professor of Art: New York City, 2200 A.D. Additional works 2 Editor’s Notebook from Professor George’s Being an American Again Climate Change series are Michael Kryzanek on pages 15–18. 3 Restoring Chinese Heritage EDITOR in Boston’s History Michael Kryzanek Wing-kai To Political Science 7 Dance ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jody Weber William C. Levin Sociology 12 Energy Efficieny Andrew Holman in an Educational Setting History Soma Ghosh EDITOR EMERITA Barbara Apstein 15 Climate Change Ivana George BOOK REVIEW EDITOR Charles Angell 19 The Federal Courts English and Constitutional Interpretation DESIGN A Second Amendment Case Study Mark Kemper Donna Stepien FACULTY PHOTOGRAPHS 24 ‘Absolutely part of what we should be doing’ Gary Stanton Kevin Curry, Water Filters and the International Mission ___________________________ of the Modern University The Bridgewater Review is pub- Andrew Holman lished twice a year by the faculty of Bridgewater State College. 28 Cultural Commentary Opinions expressed herein are Race and The Race those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies of William C. Levin the Bridgewater Review or Bridgewater State College. Letters 30 Wrong Way to the Editor should be sent to: Tom Vanderbilt: Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do Bridgewater Review, c/o Editor, Charles Angell Department of Political Science, Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater MA 02325 ___________________________ Articles may be reprinted with permission of the Editor ©2008, Bridgewater State College ISBN 0892-7634 Editor’s Notebook Being an American Again Tough economic times often create a dismal mood in It is also important to remember that we are a people of our nation with a mix of anger, second-guessing and invention, imagination and innovation, a people of good fear enveloping the citizenry. Those who have been intentions and goodwill, a people of community and hard hit by the downturn readjust their priorities and self-help, and a people with the unlimited capacity to scale back their dreams; some even adopt a kind of think big and achieve wonders. Most of all we are a “bunker” mentality as they prepare for the worst. people with self- confidence and a positive outlook. Those that are seen as the culprits who caused the Americans are never fatalistic (except perhaps Chicago turmoil become the object of public disdain as cries of Cubs fans). punishment and revenge fill the air. All in all, not a All economic downturns end and for every problem pretty picture. there is a solution. Unfortunately, for too many years The dismal mood in this country is compounded by an we Americans have been so divided on how to deal with ever-widening list of other dangers and declines. An our present and future challenges. Our political leaders unpopular war, millions living in poverty and without from both parties, and at all levels of government, have health care insurance, predictions of cataclysmic climate failed us by spreading and deepening this division. The change, and the gap between the haves and the have result is that we have wasted too much time criticizing nots growing daily make for a toxic social and political those who disagree with us, rather than finding environment. As Americans look around them it is easy common ground. We have forgotten what it means to come to the conclusion that the future of this to be an American, and instead just waved the flag country is certainly not bright. and argued over petty concerns. But there is another way to look at this But this latest economic crisis offers us an opportunity down period for America. This is to find our “specialness” as a people, to put what clearly the time to remind ourselves divides us aside and take this country forward. The about the strengths of this country times that we live in offer us the chance to trans- and the people who have made the form this country, not just with new programs and K E United States as Lincoln said, “…the new reforms, but more importantly with a renewed last great hope of mankind.” Getting commitment to be Americans. This country is after AN Z out of this mess we are in will not just all a nation of endless possibilities and countless success Y happen because political leaders take stories. All we need to do is to get our act together again KR action or government implements policy and start rebuilding the American dream. It really isn’t L prescriptions. Turning this country that difficult; just be ourselves and the rest will take E around will only be achieved because we care of itself. HA as a people begin again to take seriously C —Michael Kryzanek, Editor, Bridgewater Review those values, principles and beliefs that MI have for generations made this country special and the envy of the world. It is important to remember during these dark days those one of a kind American characteristics—the fierce determination OTEBOOK to succeed, the courage of those who serve, the willingness to give generously ’s N to the needy, the unabashed pride in our individualism and that indefati- TOR gable American spirit. We are a I people skilled in picking ourselves ED up by the bootstraps and marching ahead; we are the entrepreneurs to the world; and we are not used to being down on our luck. Restoring Chinese Heritage in Boston’s History Wing-kai To “Are Boston Chinamen Becoming Americanized?” This There were Chinese sailors who arrived with the New was the question raised by an essay in Boston Globe England merchant ships including one named “Chow” printed on October 31, 1899. This quote exemplified the who was buried in the Boston Common Burial Ground attitudes toward the Chinese at the turn of the 20th in 1799, but a fuller picture of the lives of any sailors century when Chinese settlers were perceived as both who landed in Boston remains a speculation. In an essay exotic and foreign on the entitled “First Chinaman one hand and capable of in Boston” published in being assimilated on the Boston Globe on August other. The essay discussed 17th, 1902, the legendary the division between the merchant Ar-Showe was merchants who were more considered to be the first and more becoming Chinese who lived in Americanized and the Boston. He arrived on a laundrymen who had been merchant ship in 1848 in the country only for a serving Captain Ryan as a short time and remained servant and while in totally Chinese in outlook. Boston was taken by the A decade later, on April 3, Halliburton family to 1910, another essay advertise the tea trade. entitled “Sunny Side of Later he married a German Boston’s Chinatown” was employee Louisa Hentz, published on Boston Globe cut off his queue, became that included a picture and the first naturalized story about Mrs. Lee Kim, Chinese in the US, and had a merchant’s wife, and her four children. Ar-Showe six children, four of whom established a tea store on attended American schools. 25 Union Street by the The essay was written by 1850s and later lived in the famous writer with the Malden until about 1878 pen name Sui Sin Far when he went to San (1865–1914), whose real Francisco and China to name was Edith Eaton. A continue his business. biracial woman, the child of an English father and Ar-Showe’s life thus marked both the end of the era of Chinese mother. she was born in England but grew up prosperous Chinese tea trade in Boston and the in Montreal. Sui Sin Far published a series of fictions beginning of Chinese presence in the city. about North American Chinatowns and has been Another origin of the Chinese in Boston came from referred to as the first Chinese-American writer because western Massachusetts after the construction of the of her sensibilities to the complex stories of Chinese- transcontinental railroad in 1869. It is unclear how American men, women, and children instead of the many of the seventy-five Chinese workers employed by orientalist gaze of the Yellow Peril atmosphere. These the Calvin T Sampson shoe factory in North Adams to depictions of Chinese merchants and families contrast break the labor strike in 1870 arrived in Boston after more sharply with the downtrodden image of the 1875. Yet the earliest laundries of Chinatown can be anti-Chinese movement, represented in immigration found on 110 Harrison Avenue as well as a couple others raids, opium dens, gambling and crime, and tong wars. on Kneeland and Washington Streets in the 1875 Boston City Directory. By the 1885 directory Chinese laundries BRIDGEWATER REVIEW DECEMBER 2008 3 were listed all over the city of Boston and several groceries and restaurants can also be found. A Chinese reading public was able to support a Chinese newspaper named Chinese Monthly News. The newspaper office was located at 36 Harrison Avenue, managed by P.Y. Moy and the paper sold for 5 cents. The paper provided news of China and sold advertise- ments to an assortment of stores selling liquor, TO jewels, firearms, hats, and paper items.