Fall–Winter 2016 Volume 42: 3–4 The Journal of New York Folklore “The Wreck of the Julie Plante” and Its Offspring What’s Your Watershed? Folklore and the Environment Hello, Hannah! NYFS’ Upstate Regional Rep Puerto Rican & Garifuna Drums Democratizing the Folk Arts Workplace American Public Folklore In Nanjing From the Director From the Editor According to New “Save the Date,” and join us at the Castellani Thirty years ago I began York State’s Office of Art Museum of Niagara University. Details my first consultant job New Americans, one will be posted on our website, www.nyfolklore. as a folklorist in upstate in four New York State org. New York. adults of working age The New York Folklore Society, in col- Crandall Library want- are foreign born and laboration with Green Worker Cooperatives ed to expand their bud- almost one-third of (GWC), hosted the second in a series of ding Folk Arts Program New York’s business workshops on October 23, in Brooklyn, on and agreed with the folks owners are immigrants. Our state’s diversity “Democratizing the Folk Arts Workplace: at the New York State Council on the Arts provides a tapestry of colors and patterns of Forming a Worker-Owned Cooperative” that a young folklorist working and studying culture, language, and arts that enriches us all. with GWC’s Ileia Burgos. You can read in Washington, DC, could breathe new life Although New York City has been histori- about both workshops in this issue in a into their program. cally the destination for immigrants, Upstate report from NYFS’s NYC Regional Repre- I was to conduct a Folk Arts Survey of New York has most recently benefitted from sentative Eileen Condon. Eileen is currently Warren County, New York. The emphasis newcomers. For example, in rural New York, planning an artists’ meeting to take place was on finding “folk arts” and those “folk Bhutanese farmers are providing expertise at the same Oxford Street location. You’ll artists” that could be a part of a festival or on dairy farms1 and providing their skills as find more information on our website at workshop series. My job was to inspire the yogurt makers for New York-based yogurt www.nyfolklore.org/progs/conf.html. folks at Crandall with the wealth of folk art makers Siggis and Chobani. Buffalo, Roch- At the 2016 annual meeting in New in their own backyard and the possibilities ester, Syracuse, and Utica have all turned to York City, NYFS members voted to allow of future programming. refugee and immigrant populations to revive electronic and paper voting. Previously, as Warren County is where the Hudson their population bases, as the postindustrial per the New York Folklore Society’s Bylaws River rises into the Adirondack foothills. situation has left vacant houses and dwindling of 1944, voting could only take place in A place of hardscrabble farms, logging school enrollments, where once there were person with decisions made by a majority and wood lots, hunting and fishing, and vibrant communities. Newcomers to our state of annual meeting attendees. This change 150 years worth of tourism. My journey are repopulating neighborhoods once again, in bylaws allows us to take advantage of that summer became more ethnographic and corner grocery stores and restaurants are current technologies. If you are a member, in approach, searching for those activities, providing housewares, clothing, food, and please watch in the upcoming year for splashes of creativity, and their practitioners spices that bring a global perspective. information regarding board member that helped define the region. It was about On Saturday, April 8, 2017, the New elections and bylaws adjustments. If you are letting the region and its people speak for York Folklore Society will explore some of not a member, please consider joining us! As themselves, and taking the time to listen. the nuances of cultural encounter through always, if you have questions or concerns, or That summer, I first encountered the tied a daylong symposium, CULTURAL MI- ideas for where New York Folklore Society quilts of the Johnsburg United Methodist GRATION: DISPLACEMENT AND RE- can make a difference, please contact us at Women (UMW). Not overly structured in NEWAL. The symposium will take place in [email protected]. design, these tied quilts were made of lots partnership with the Castellani Museum of of little scrap pieces of material, somehow 1 Robbins, Liz. 2016. “From Bhutan to New York’s Niagara University. It will begin with artists’ coming together into a colorful whole. This Dairy Heartland.” The New York Times, January 26. workshops (by invitation only), followed fun-loving group of women raised money by a public event on Friday evening, April with church suppers and craft sales at locally 7, 2017. Saturday’s sessions (April 8, 2017) Ellen McHale, PhD, Executive Director affordable prices, proudly pointing out the will include formal presentations, as well as New York Folklore Society “Ladies Aid Society” stained glass window, a conference format that encourages discus- [email protected] symbolizing generations of hard work in sion and dialogue. We hope that you will www.nyfolklore.org support of their small country church. continued on page 2 “We’re all better talkers than we are listeners.” —Bruce Cole in Festival of the Adirondacks: Celebrating Living Cultural Traditions (1990). VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Contents Fall–Winter 2016 Features 3 “The Wreck of the Julie Plante” and its Offspring 3 by Stan Ransom 12 What’s Your Watershed? Folklore at the Intersection of Place, Culture, and the Environment by Ellen McHale, PhD 18 An Interview with Hannah Davis: Regional Folklife Survey and Program Development Consultant for the New York Folklore Society and the New York State Council on the Arts Interview by Jason Baird Jackson 26 Echoes of Familiar Rhythms: Puerto Rican & Garifuna Drums 12 by Elena Martínez 32 Democratizing the (Folk) Arts Nonprofit Workplace by Eileen Condon 36 Radio Flyer by Helen Condon 38 Transcendence: Making Meaning with American Public Folklore Diplomacy Programming in Nanjing, China by Beverly Butcher, PhD, with Li Jinke and Xu Jiayi 44 Snowdrops: Science, Myths, and Folklore by Barbara Schramm Departments and Columns 7 Upstate by Dan Berggren 8 Downstate 18 by Steve Zeitlin 24 ALN8BAL8MO: A Native Voice by Joseph Bruchac 25 Artist Spotlight: Bill Smith 31 Voices of New York: Maxwell Kofi Donkor & Sankofa Drum and Dance Ensemble by Polly Adema 45 Good Read Cover: Read “Echoes of Familiar by Chris Linendoll Rhythms: Puerto Rican & Garifuna Drums, by Elena Martínez on p. 26. Garifuna percussionist and dancer Chester Nuñez of Libana Maraza 32 was moved by the bomba drums, so he began to dance (2013). Photo by Elena Martínez. Fall–WinterFall–Winter 2016,2016, VolumeVolume 42:42:3–4 3–4 1 1 From the Editor (continued) For the next several years, Johnsburg I learned to rely on the wisdom of these UMW worked closely with Crandall Library’s women, who patiently told me, “Of course Folk Arts Project. We co-hosted an annual we all use sewing machines to make tied quilt and needlework show to document lo- quilts—it makes the work go quicker.” One Fall–Winter 2016 · Volume 42: 3–4 cal textiles, and they provided a sampler tied proudly showed me her Singer sewing ma- Acquisitions Editor Todd DeGarmo Copy Editor Patricia Mason quilt for our growing archive of folk culture. chine, the same machine her grandmother Administrative Manager Laurie Longfield They also helped us experiment with ways to used to make quilts at the end of the 19th Design Mary Beth Malmsheimer present local traditions to a general audience century. Printer Eastwood Litho by participating in festivals, children’s work- Looking back to that summer 30 years ago, Editorial Board Varick Chittenden, Lydia Fish, shops, and other activities. I was the one to be inspired. I learned not Hanna Griff-Sleven, Nancy Groce, Lee Haring, Bruce Jackson, Christopher Mulé, Libby Tucker, I remembered being questioned by col- to be limited by my own preconceived con- Kay Turner, Dan Ward, Steve Zeitlin leagues about the use of the label “tied quilt” structs, but to listen and to learn from the folk Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore rather than “comforter” and even about the themselves. is published twice a year by the validity of calling these quilts “folk art,” given Todd DeGarmo New York Folklore Society, Inc. Voices Acquisitions Editor 129 Jay Street the use of sewing machines rather than hand- Schenectady, NY 12305 work. Founding Director of the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library New York Folklore Society, Inc. Executive Director Ellen McHale [email protected] Development Director Marcia Harrison Moss Administration and Gallery Laurie Longfield Program text from “An Adirondack Quilt Show: A Celebration of the Tied Tradition,” Web Administrator Patti Mason Wevertown Community Hall, Saturday, August 13, 1988, 10-4 p.m. Rain or Shine. New York City Regional Representative Tied quilts have a long history in the Adirondack North Country. For generations, they have been Eileen Condon Upstate Regional Representative used as bedcovers at home and in the lumber camp, placed in hope chests by prospective brides, Hannah Davis given to neighbors in need, and sold to raise money for the local church. Voice (518) 346-7008 Quilts are commonly three layers: the backing, batting, and top. The backing is often simple, not Fax (518) 346-6617 given much attention, since it is the underside of the quilt. The batting is the interlining, once only Website www.nyfolklore.org made of cotton or wool (though sometimes an old blanket was used). Bats are now also made of Board of Directors synthetic fibers, and said by some to make quilt care easier.