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. The top is the decorative side of the quilt. President Tom van Buren Pieces of material are sown together into blocks, these blocks then used to form the overall design. Vice President/Secretary Christopher Mulé Tying and quilting are two different ways to fasten the three layers of a quilt. North Country fami- Treasurer John Braungard lies often practiced both techniques, but relied on tying for the enormous task of making their own Past President Gabrielle Hamilton bedcovers. In the tying process, spaced threads are passed through the layers of the quilt and tied Gabrielle Berlinger, Wilfredo Morel, Gregory S. into knots. Tying is quicker than quilting and allows a thicker batting to be used for a warmer cover. Shatan, Naomi Sturm, Julie Tay, Kay Turner A tradition of “waste not, want not” has influenced the choice of materials used in tied quilts. Advertisers: To inquire, please call the NYFS Scraps are commonly salvaged from family sewing projects. Other materials have included leftover (518) 346-7008 or fax (518) 346-6617. scraps from making shirttails at a local factory, cloth grain bags that came in an assortment of prints and patterns, and even unworn portions of wool jackets and pants. New material, when used, is often bought on sale or donated. Voices is available in Braille and recorded Such scraps are preferred by many of the area’s longtime tied quilters. They like the effect of com- versions. Call the NYFS at (518) 346-7008. bining materials of many different colors and patterns, and say that the more little pieces you have, The New York Folklore Society is committed to the better the variety, and the faster the top comes together. providing services with integrity, in a manner that Many area women learned to make tied quilts from older relatives. Pauline Waddell, who has tied conveys respect for the dignity of the individuals and communities the NYFS serves, as well as for their quilts all her life, recalls learning the skill at home: cultures, including ethnic, religious, occupational, and “I started in while I was a teenager or maybe a little bit younger, working on these quilts at night regional traditions. with my mother. We pieced them by hand. I guess that would be seen as kind of tame to teenagers The programs and activities of the New York Folk- now, spending your evening, piecing quilts. But I did. Long winter evenings. That’s the way we spent lore Society, and the publication of Voices: The Journal of our time.” New York Folklore, are made possible in part by funds Others have learned within quilting groups. Some of the most common in this area are the United from the New York State Council on the Arts. Methodist Women organizations. Located in Johnsburg, North Creek, North River, Wevertown, and Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is indexed in Arts & Humanities Citation Index and Music Index and Porter Corners, these groups help to support their churches while keeping alive the tradition of tied abstracted in Historical Abstracts and America: History quilts. and Life. These quilts have been used and enjoyed, not tucked away. Tops made a generation or more ago Reprints of articles and items from Voices: The Journal are given backing and batting, and are tied by the new generation. In some, colors are faded and of New York Folklore are available from the NYFS: www. materials are worn from constant use. Sometimes patches are added where the material has worn nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/books.html#back or call (518) clear through. These are quilts used and loved by the present owners, to be passed on with pride to 346-7008 or fax (518) 346-6617. the new. ISSN 0361-204X — Todd DeGarmo © 2016 by The New York Folklore Society, Inc. All rights reserved.
2 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore “The Wreck of the Julie Plante” and its Offspring BY STAN RANSOM
first came across this song in the 1990s, De night was dark lak’ wan black cat, MORAL I when local bookstore owner Larry De wave run high an’ fas’, Now all good wood scow sailor man House sent me the words, as published in W’en de captinne tak’ de Rosie girl Tak’ warning by dat storm An’ tie her to de mas’. An’ go an’ marry some nice French girl Plattsburgh’s Press Republican newspaper. I Den he also tak’ de life preserve, An’ leev on wan beeg farm. was motivated to look up references to this An’ jomp off on de lak’ De win’ can blow lak’ hurricane French-Canadian ballad, which led to the An’ say, “Goodbye, ma Rosie dear, An’ s’pose she blow some more, discovery that it was the second poem in a I go drown for your sak’.” You can’t get drown on Lac St. Pierre book, The Habitant, written by Dr. William So long you stay on shore. Henry Drummond in 1897. He called it Nex’ morning very early ‘Bout ha’f-pas’ two—t’ree—four— “The Wreck of the Julie Plante: A Legend of I now have the complete works of Dr. De captinne—scow—an’ de poor Rosie Drummond, including a signed first edition Lac St. Pierre.” Was corpses on de shore. For de win’ she blow lak’ hurricane, of The Habitant, with extra illustrations, and THE WRECK OF THE JULIE Bimeby she blow some more, have also visited his home in Brome, Cana- PLANTE: An’ de scow bus’ up on Lac St. Pierre, da, a stop made during a visit to do storytell- A LEGEND OF LAC ST. PIERRE Wan arpent from de shore. ing at the nearby Brome Storytelling Festival. by William Henry Drummond, MD The most interesting account was given by ©1897
On wan dark night on Lac St. Pierre, De win’ she blow, blow, blow An’ de crew of de wood scow “Julie Plante” Got scar’t and run below— For de win’ she blow lak hurricane Bimeby she blow some more, An’ de scow bus’ up on Lac St. Pierre Wan arpent from de shore.
De captinne walk on de fronte deck, An’ walk de hin’ deck too— He call de crew from up de hole He call de cook also. De cook she’s name was Rosie, She come from Montreal, Was chambre maid on lumber barge, On de Grande Lachine Canal.
De win’ she blow from nor’-eas’-wes,’— De sout’ win’ she blow too, W’en Rosie cry, “Mon cher captinne, Mon cher, w’at I shall do?” Den de Captinne t’row de big ankerre, But still the scow she dreef, De crew he can’t pass on de shore, The scow schooner Alma depicted here is the same type of ship as the Julie Plante. Becos’ he los’ hees skeef. Alma was constructed in 1891, transferred to the National Park Service in 1978, and designated a National Historic Landmark in San Francisco in 1988. Public domain photo, www.nps.gov/safr/learn/historyculture/alma.htm
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 3 The Wreck of the Julie Plante
his wife, May Harvey Drummond, who de- inhabitants, and the voyageurs, and listened to is quoted as saying the poem was first writ- tailed the history of the song in a biographi- their tales. According to his wife’s unpub- ten about 1879. cal sketch in the first pages of the 1908 edi- lished biography, Gédéon Plouffe, one of Following this time, Drummond returned tion of Drummond’s book, The Great Fight. the older inhabitants, had entreated William to school, then to McGill College, and on William Henry Drummond was born to stay off the lake because of an approach- to Bishop’s Medical College, graduating in April 13, 1854, near the village of Mohill, ing storm and told the tragedy, retold later as 1884. He moved around the Montreal area County Letirim, Ireland, also noted as the the “Wreck of the Julie Plante” on the “Lake with his medical practice, finally ending up birthplace of the blind Irish harp player, of Two Mountains.” William heard the older in Knowlton and the Broome area for four Turlough O’Carolan. After about seven man recite the words, “An’ de win’ she blow, years. He met May Harvey in 1892, and years, his father, an officer in the Royal blow blow!” which rang in his ears so per- they were married on April 18, 1894, and Irish Constabulary, and his wife and fam- sistently that in the dead of night, unable to then lived in Montreal on Mountain Street. ily moved to Canada. When his father died sleep, he “sprang from his bed” and wrote Drummond started writing and reciting po- after a few months, his mother was left to the poem about the wood scow Julie Plante. etry about this time, to excellent reception. face the New World with four boys aged He couldn’t find anything to rhyme with Many of the pieces in The Habitant were five to 11. Young William left school, stud- “Lake of Two Mountains,” so he changed written in his Montreal home. He sent his ied telegraphy, obtained an appointment, it to “Lac St. Pierre,” just below Montreal. verses to Putnam Publishing Company, who and became an expert telegrapher. He was Drummond thought little of the poem at brought out The Habitant in 1897 to a great located at L’Abord-à-Plouffe, a small vil- first, telling it to those who would listen; he response from the public. Curiously, he re- lage on the banks of the Rivière des Prai- sent a copy to the Montreal Star in Decem- ceived letters from some outraged members ries, at the back of Mount Royal, at that ber 1886. It became popular as a song in the of the public for including “Julie Plante” in time a great center of the lumber trade. He lumber camps and spread from person to his book, as they had been singing it for came in contact with the habitants, or local person. His wife, May Harvey Drummond, many years!
4 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Other books followed. Phil-o-rum’s Canoe the poem in elementary school. School mu- According to my good friend, Gordie and Madeleine Vercheres in 1898, Johnnie Cour- sic instruction books list “Julie Plante” as “a Little, a local radio personality, writing in teau and Other Poems, in 1901, The Voyageur, good song for students to sing.” the Press Republican in 2002, Edith Fowke and Other Poems, in 1905, and The Great Fight, Early on, an article in the 19th century included the song in her Folk Songs of Can- in 1908. He received numerous honors, in- Harper’s Magazine entitled “A Family Ca- ada book, and noted that “French-Canadian cluding being elected a fellow of the Royal noe Trip” quoted the song. It was sung by shanty boys found a tune to fit it and carried Society of Literature of the United King- Mr. A. W. Craig of Port Henry, NY, at the it to many widely scattered lumber camps.” dom in 1898, and receiving the degree of American Canoe Association meeting and Gordie’s fellow announcer, Chet Bosworth, LLD in 1902 from the University of To- was later adopted as the Club Song by the recorded it in the 1970s and played it from ronto. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Association. time to time on Plattsburgh’s local WIRY April 6, 1907, and was laid to rest on the side In September 1886, the poem appeared in radio station. of Mount Royal. the Winnipeg newspaper, Siftings. As a song, Gordie also mentioned that in 1929, Dan- According to Jay Johnson, author of “The the words and music were included in The iel T. Trombley, from Isle La Motte, VT, Age of Brass: Drummond, Service, and Ca- McGill University Song Book in 1896. writing as “Batiste,” borrowed the song, nadian ‘Local Colour’”: “Drummond devel- Franz Lee Rickaby included a fragment in with credit to Dr. Drummond, and changed oped the habitant dialect into a conventional, his Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy, in 1926. the name of the lake to Lake Champlain. highly formalized poetic medium which he E. C. Back, in his 1941 Songs of the Michigan He published it in his book, Poems of Batiste, could manipulate with great skill...” Drum- Lumberjacks, reported that he had heard it Whoa! Bill, in 1929. From thence, it became mond remarks that he has “the habitants from at least nine lumberjacks in Michigan popular all over the North Country. Colleen telling their own stories in their own way, as and Wisconsin, some changing the lake to Pelletier, the Plattsburgh Public Library ref- they would relate them to English-speaking Lak San Clair. The McGill Song Book version is erence librarian, remembers her family sing- auditors not conversant with the French similar to the one sung in Manitoba by Rev. ing it and reciting the refrain. tongue.” His point of view was sympathetic, C. W. Gordon (Ralph Connor) in 1885. Nelson Eddy, the “American Tenor,” sang and he is quoted as remarking, “I would The poem was set to new tunes by H. H. it on his radio program on May 26, 1945, and rather cut off my right arm than speak dis- Godfrey (1899), Herbert Spencer (Delmar recorded it on an album of eclectic songs. paraging of the French-Canadian people.” 1907), and Geoffrey O’Hara (Ditson 1920) Geoffrey O’Hara, born in 1882 in On- Correspondence with the Great Lakes in choral and solo voice versions. tario, composed music for it, and recorded Shipwreck Society brought forth an array of sunken boats, which may have prompted the initial story of the tragedy. The Emily, sunk in 1830, was thought to be a vessel that could have led to the story of the Julie Plante. The scow schooner, built in 1826, was lost on Lake St. Clair December 15, wrecked in a gale, with the loss of seven men. Lake St. Clair is a fresh water lake located between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Another scow schooner lost on Lake St. Clair was the Jules La Plante, lost in the 1800s, with only one man saved. Lee Murdock and other major folksingers say the boat sank in Lake Ontario. Some versions add “Off Grosse Pointe” to the Lak San Clair loca- tion. Most versions mention the archaic French-Canadian unit of measurement, “one arpent from the shore,” either the side of one acre, or 560 feet. The poem passed into folk culture in Can- ada. The song is sung in Canada, and visitors from Hemmingford, Quebec, have told me they were required to memorize and recite
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 5 it on a wax cylinder. James (Jimmy) Rice re- celebration around September 11th for the Johnston, Richard, and Edith Fowkes. cited it in 1922 in Montreal on 78 rpm under benefit of the Canadians in attendance. 1954. Folk Songs of Canada. Waterloo, ON: His Master’s Voice, No 216383-A, Berliner “The Wreck of the Julie Plante” is now Waterloo Music Co. Gramophone. Contemporary recordings firmly established in Canadian and Ameri- McGill University. 1896. The McGill Uni- available on amazon.com include Back to can folklore and literature. We North Coun- versity Songbook. Montreal: W. F. Brown. Back by Mustard’s Retreat; The Recruiter… try residents can all recall and recite with Mustard’s Retreat. 1995. Back to Back. CD, Free Rum Ain’t Free, by The Whiskey Bards; satisfaction the final transferred line, “You Red House. Mason Street Sessions, by Blue Water Ramblers; can’t get drown on Lake Champlain, So long Rickaby, Franz Lee. 1926. Ballads and Songs Old Dogs, New Tricks, by Sportive Tricks; and you stay on shore.” of the Shanty-Boy. Cambridge: Harvard Uni- Old Timers, by Neil Woodward. Neil’s record- versity Press. ing of 1999 featured the song done in old- BIBLIOGRAPHY Ransom, Stan. 2005. North Country Memo- timey fashion with banjo. His rendition uses Back, Earl Clifton, 1941. Songs of the Mich- ries: Songs from Upstate New York. CD, Stan “Lak St. Clair,” “Grosse Pointe,” and “ten igan Lumberjacks. Ann Arbor: University of Ransom, the Connecticut Peddler. acres from the shore.” All the above, except Michigan Press. Sportive Tricks. 2011. Old Dogs, New the O’Hara version, can be heard on You- Blue Water Ramblers. 2003. Mason Street Tricks. CD, Sportive Tricks. Tube under the song title. Sessions. CD, Blue Water Ramblers. Trombley, D. T. 1936. Poems of Batiste. Es- British composer Howard Blake (he did Drummond, William Henry. 1897. The sex Junction, VT: Roscoe Printing House. The Snowman music) composed catchy mu- Habitant, and Other French-Canadian Poems. The Whiskey Bards. 2010. The Recruiter... sic for the five-minute animated film, Wreck New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Free Rum Ain’t Free. CD, The Whiskey Bards. of the Julie Plante, directed by Steven Weston, Drummond, William Henry. 1898. Phil-o- Woodward, Neil. 1999. Old Timers. CD, produced by Taylor Grant, and issued by rum’s Canoe; and, Madeleine Vercheres: Two Po- Black Dog Records. Flying Horse animated films in 1985. The ems. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. song features Barry Dransfield playing the Drummond, William Henry. 1901. Johnnie violin and singing the words. Norman Blake Courteau, and Other Poems. New York: G. P. Stan is a retired played the piano accompaniment. A delight- Putnam’s Sons. Library Director of ful film, it can be seen on YouTube. Nor- Drummond, William Henry. 1905. The the Huntington, Long man Blake also composed music for five Voyageur and Other Poems. New York: G. P. Island, and Plattsburgh Public libraries and singers and piano, Opus 416 in November Putnam’s Sons. the Clinton-Essex- 1990, and also Opus 244 in January 1984, Drummond, William Henry, and May Franklin (CEF) Library System in Plattsburgh. available at the publisher, Highbridge Music Isabel Harvey Drummond. 1908. The Great He plays hammered Ltd, London. This animation film is in The Fight: Poems and Sketches. New York: G. P. dulcimer, guitar, mandolin, and autoharp in New York and in Canada. He is a Analog Archive (YouTube) and was includ- Putnam’s Sons. professional musician and professional ed in the 1991 Animation Film Festival. Eddy, Nelson. 1950. A Song Jamboree. LP, storyteller. Performing as Stan Ransom, the Connecticut Peddler, he has 10 CDs, Finally, I supplied the poem with my com- Columbia Masterworks, ML2091. mostly traditional and historical, with posed music and recorded it in 2005 on my Johnson, Jay. 1988. “The Age of Brass: some original songs and tunes. He specializes in the traditional music of CD, North Country Memories (available in the Drummond, Service, and ‘Local Colour’.” Long Island, the Adirondacks, and the NYFS gallery store, http://www.nyfolklore.org/ Canadian Poetry Studies, Documents Reviews No. North Country, as well as the Battle of Plattsburgh, Civil War Songs, and North gallery/store/music.html#nocountrymem). I sing 23, p. 22. http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadian- Country Christmas songs. He researches it annually at every Battle of Plattsburgh poetry/cpjrn/vol23/johnson.htm New York State local history for songs and tunes, sometimes creating a song where one is needed. He delights in performing for public libraries, historical events, and Head Start sites. He works To continue to receive Voices to encourage imagination in children, as an antidote to their digital life. He and enjoy the full range of is the editor of two editions of the life and poems of Jupiter Hammon, first New York Folklore Society programs, Black poet published in the US, and has established October 17, Hammon’s birthday, as Black Poetry Day, nationally. become a member! Stan’s latest CD is Down the Saranac, released in June 2016, a hearty Visit or our web site or page 48 for more information: compilation of amusing and historical songs and tunes featuring the City of www.nyfolklore.org/about/member.html Plattsburgh and Clinton County (available at www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/ music.html). Photo by Sharon Bandhold.
6 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore UPSTATE
The Gift of Song BY DAN BERGGREN
My parents told me about my first trip to Finally, the conductor snapped it out of I asked him about one of his songs, and he the Adirondacks, riding the train to the North the man’s mouth, punched the ticket, and invited me to his hotel room. “Stop by tomor- Creek station. I was too young to remember walked down the aisle laughing at the row morning—bring your guitar,” he said. I old man. As he left the car, the old man the Delaware & Hudson, but I do recall when did, and for several hours we played old folk said under his breath, “He thinks he’s so we switched to all-night rides in my brother- smart. I was just licking the date off of songs that I knew and new songs Townes had in-law’s Oldsmobile that took us from Brook- last year’s ticket.” written. It was a personal workshop in writing lyn to Trout Brook Road. At the age of seven, new songs that sounded old. I didn’t know the farm was my mother’s home The joke became public as I told my friends, Not long after that I left home and served before she married my dad, or that it would but the record remained a personal treasure. three years in the army with the American be my home when I turned 12, or that some It fascinated me that someone could make up Forces Radio Network in Europe. During day I’d be writing and singing songs about my a melody and words, and then record it, too. my time in Germany, thousands of miles grandfather, Harry Wilson. Until that point, songs just existed. Uncle Eric from Trout Brook Road, I wrote my first Ad- We would arrive before the sun rose over was my first encounter with a songwriter, my irondack song: a tribute to my grandfather, a the mountain to the east. The waist-high grass introduction to the concept of songwriting. I gentle man who loved the land. Thank you soaked my sneakers as we walked to the back decided to take piano lessons, but they didn’t Townes, thank you Doc and Merle, thank you door. Unlocking the farmhouse meant un- last long. The next year my brother John came Ralph, thank you brother John. And thank leashing familiar smells of woodshed, cellar, home from college and, like magic, he knew you Uncle Eric for sharing a joke, for asking knotty-pine kitchen, and screened-in porch. how to play the guitar. Not only did he intro- me to pump the reed organ while you played Even more exotic, but just as comforting, duce me to the music of folks like Pete Seeger your own sweet songs, and for giving me the were the tales the barn told with its hay, old and The Weavers, but he taught me my first record to remember you by. And most of manure, horseshoe forge, grease from a trac- chords. all, thank you for helping a small boy dream tor, and the smell of thyme crushed under- Four years later, I met Ralph Rinzler at a songs, so that some day he could write one foot in the barnyard. It didn’t take long to private family camp where I was a chore boy about your brother-in-law Harry. renew acquaintances with the trail to the river, by day, singing folk songs by night. Ralph had giant boulders, summer toys, dusty books, se- just returned from a hectic week at the New- Harry twitched his moustache as he walked along, cret hiding spots, and the pump organ whose port Folk Festival (the year Bob Dylan “went Wearing a wide-brimmed hat and singing wheeze was as familiar as the smell from its electric”), where not only had he performed as a song. leather lungs. one of the Greenbriar Boys but was also the He looked at the mountains and knew One summer my great uncle Eric Van festival’s talent coordinator. Instead of treat- he was free. Norden visited for a week. He seemed as old ing me like the teenager I was, Ralph made Oh, how I wish that were me. and fragile as his sister, my grandma Ella Wil- me feel like a fellow musician. After some He always did the best that he could. He never forgot the earth was good. son. When he played the reed organ, I had song swapping, he let me hear some old reel- to pump the pedals for him. After that week, to-reel recordings of Uncle Dave Macon and I never saw him again, but he gave me two gave me a new record of songs by a North things I still have to this day. One was a 78 Carolinian he’d been working with—Doc Dan Berggren’s roots are firmly in rpm record that held two of the many Tin Watson. Two years later, I met Doc and his the Adirondacks, Pan Alley songs that he’d written: “I Couldn’t son Merle at their performance in Schroon but his music has taken him Tell You From An Angel” and “I Love to Go Lake’s Boathouse. They were friendly and full throughout the to a Ball Game.” The other was a joke he told of encouragement. Overwhelmed, I watched US and abroad. me: Dan has worked them perform, bringing the songs to life. It’s in the woods with times like this when you either want to burn a forest ranger This conductor found an old man asleep and surveyor, was a radio producer in on the train with a ticket sticking out of your guitar or practice harder. Europe, professor of audio and radio his mouth and thought he’d have some I practiced harder, and it helped prepare studies at SUNY Fredonia, and owner fun at the old man’s expense. So he woke of Sleeping Giant Records. An award- me for my next and most significant encoun- winning musician and educator, Dan is him up, shouting, “Where’s your ticket? If ter with a songwriter—Townes Van Zandt. also a tradition-based songsmith who you don’t have a ticket, I’m throwing you When he performed at St. Lawrence Uni- writes with honesty, humor, and a strong off of this train!” Well, the old man got all sense of place. Visit www.berggrenfolk. flustered and searched all of his pockets at versity in the winter of 1971, I was running com to learn more about Dan and his music. Photo by Jessica Riehl. least twice and couldn’t produce the ticket. lights and sound for the event. Afterwards,
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 7 Jim and Julie BY STEVE ZEITLIN
“The electric lights on city lampposts took him to the Museum where he proudly had decided to renovate Astor Place—the come on at night and go off during the accepted the large, bronze subway token plaza at the north end of Bowery where day: thus they mark and regulate night and for New York’s longest lasting guerilla art. Cooper Union is located—precisely the day,” writes folklorist Eric Miller. “The red- Then, after all the fanfare, the car took him spot where eight of Jim’s most iconic poles yellow-green traffic lights likewise regulate right back to Astor Place where he slept were located. The famous sculpture called traffic, telling one to go or to wait…. Jim outside with Jesse beside one of his poles. “The Cube” needed to be taken down and DOWNSTATE Power’s mosaic work on lampposts fea- For the next decade, Jim continued to refurbished. In addition, all the light poles tures hundreds of colors! What messages work, but in 2015, distressing news swept needed to be summarily taken down, be- might this send? Certainly not just stop or through the East Village. New York City cause the City decided that an entirely new go! Perhaps it might signal one to pause and wonder, consider, meditate, admire the beauty of it, relax, and think, ‘I have ar- rived in the East Village’”1 Sixty-nine-year-old, Irish-born Jim Power grew up in Queens, served in Vietnam, and arrived in the East Village of Manhattan in 1981. Inspired by his work as a stone- mason, he got his start doing concrete and stone decorations on planters and on the bases of lampposts. “But people kept telling me, ‘go up, go up,’” Jim said. He began embedding tiles into the concrete and slowly developed his unique style of cutting plates and tiles and fitting them to- gether like a jigsaw puzzle to fully cover the Mosaic pole leaving Sixth Street Community Center, July 20, 2016. All photos by Julie Powell. poles. His idea was to create a mosaic trail with the theme “Around the Village in 80 Light Poles.” Jim’s mosaic work is made up of a wide variety of materials: tiles, crockery, colored glass, mirrors, and seashells— some purchased, some donated, some found. New Yorkers can catch their glitter- ing reflections in the shards of mirror and glass. There is abstract design, figurative representations, and a good deal of let- tering. For almost 30 years, Jim was often homeless, working outdoors in wind and cold or blazing heat, with an open hat for contributions. In 2004, City Lore awarded Jim a Peo- ple’s Hall of Fame Award for beautifying the City with distinctive, artful mosaics. The ceremony took place at the Museum of the City of New York, with Jim insist- ing that he could not come unless he could bring his dog Jesse. Jim tells the story of how a fancy car service picked him up and Mosaic pole being installed at Astor Place, New 3.5-foot top added to Historic June 21, 2016. Directional Pole.
8 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore and I met Jim in Clayton’s studio. We had a good talk about how restoring the poles as artworks rather than decorated lamp- posts would cement Jim’s legacy. While we were there, he willingly signed a document giving the City permission to restore his poles—Clayton photographed the historic moment. Once we left, Jim continued to protest strongly. He claimed his poles to be a more significant landmark than the Great Wall of China—and, in fact, he threatened to sell the poles to China. After working for small contributions for so many years, Jim heard on the news that Mayor de Blasio had announced $26 million for the arts in 2016. He began demanding $1 million per pole. To William, Bob, Clayton, and me, there seemed no way that Jim could move for- ward with a modest city contract to restore the poles. The years of living on the street had taken its toll on Jim, who had such se- Jim with the article from the East Villager about his Astor Place Project and his poles being vere hip problems that he could not walk deemed Historic Artifacts. July 6, 2016. and travelled only on a motorized scooter. lighting system was called for, with new, Club and a longstanding friend and fan We made a plan to have a different mo- taller, black lampposts, instead of the now of Jim’s. An intervention was required— saic artist restore the poles and have Jim old-fashioned gray ones. and on February 26, 2015, Bob, Clayton supervise. Clayton and I visited Jim in The future of Jim’s poles looked omi- nous, but there was a sliver of hope. Wil- liam Kelly, the director of the Village Alli- ance who loved mosaic art and Jim’s work, was overseeing the restoration. He was convinced the poles could be saved. Jim wouldn’t hear of it. He was beside himself with anger. On August 13, 2014, DNAinfo reported, “Jim ‘Mosaic Man’ Power began tearing down his multicol- ored mosaics from lampposts around Astor Place Wednesday as a preemptive strike against the city, which had planned to remove the art, he said.” Riding his red scooter, chisel in hand, he savagely chipped away at the pole that had Bloomberg’s name in orange tiles. Out of despair and frustration, William Kelly called me and Clayton Patterson, a photographer and denizen of the East Village who had been photographing and helping Jim since 1985, and poet Bob Hol- man, proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Jim in East Village, November 11, 2015.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 9 Julie worked for Home Depot on 59th Generosity crowd-funding campaign was Street at the time. As an employee, she planned. The lampposts were taken down heard about a company program for veter- from Astor Place and stored by the De- ans. “Even in his Common Ground build- partment of Transportation, ready to be ing on Pitt Street,” Julie said, “Jim was liv- restored as art poles rather than lighting ing like a homeless person. His desk was equipment. All Jim and Julie needed was his overturned scooter box. I needed to a space to work. City Lore called several organize and clean his space before Home community gardens to ask if they would Depot could actually come in and make take on Jim and give him space to refurbish his space liveable for him and Jesse. They the poles, but they all had their reasons for took everything out and then gave him a turning us down. new bed, new workbench, bins to store “At that point last May,” Julie contin- tiles. They separated his work space from ued, “I had started going to his apartment his living space. Now that he had a bed, he where I would bring him food. It was on a started sleeping better, getting more linear Sunday, and I was walking down 6th Street. in his thought process, and better able to A super from the block was washing his take care of his dog Jesse.” car with his hose, and I saw a gate open Suddenly, it seemed possible that Jim to a side yard. I remember it like a bas- could restore the poles with Julie as his tion of hope—a saving grace.” It turned trusted assistant and intermediary. The out to be the 6th Street Community Cen- Village Alliance raised funds from the City ter, and they took on Jim and Julie. The with City Lore as a fiscal sponsor, and a Community Center is headquartered in a Jim Power and Bob Holman from the Bowery Poetry Club, September 26, 2016.
the Common Ground apartment for the formerly homeless on Pitt Street. In his crammed apartment, Jim seemed to agree to the plan. Enter Julie Powell. She arrived in the East Village in 1983, and watched Jim’s poles slowly evolve. She recalls passing by poles that were in progress, noticing as they were chiseled off by the cops, and continually reconstructed by Jim. She had studied art and photography at the Univer- sity of Buffalo and Parsons, “and I know for myself,” she said, “that I secretly always wanted to do mosaics—I even have a box of beautiful broken dishes that I was sav- ing. I think I dreamed of making a mosaic table.” Julie was deeply scarred by Septem- ber 11th—her husband of 20 years com- mitted suicide soon afterwards, and Julie, like Jim, suffers from PTSD, she from Sep- tember 11th, Jim from Vietnam. We met Julie in Jim’s apartment the day we visited. Looking back on the event, Julie said she could see in Jim’s eyes that having someone else refurbish the poles was utterly unacceptable to him. It was, in retrospect, a singularly bad idea. Mosaic Man working on June 28, 2016.
10 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore And, as the poles progressed I watched Jim grow stronger—I saw him actually walk- ing a few steps without the walker. And I took him to the VA. In his own mind, Jim thought he only had a few years to live, but he was now told by the doctors that he was strong and healthy. They were willing to put him in line for the double hip opera- tion he needs.” Today, the poles, which prior to the ren- ovation were often only partially finished, are complete and standing proudly not as tiled lampposts but as totems: the Direc- tional Pole, which marks the directions to the adjoining neighborhoods; the Astor Pole, which tells the history of Astor Place and the nearby Public Theater; the Fire Pole, honoring the firemen and first re- sponders of September 11; the Police Pole, with its new addition honoring the 9th Pre- cinct and the fallen officers; the President’s Pole, honoring Presidents who spoke at the Great Hall at Cooper Union, including Astor Alive Festival. Jim Power and kids, Close up of the President Pole, which hon- with his September 11th planter. Lincoln; and the Art Pole, honoring artists ors leaders who spoke at the Great Hall at from the East Village. Funds are still be- The Cooper Union, July 27, 2016. lovingly restored former synagogue, locat- ing raised for the last pole, honoring long- ed between Avenues B and C on the Lower standing businesses in the neighborhood Bob, Clayton, William, and I were re- East Side. Led by Howard Brandstein, the (see https://www.generosity.com/community- minded of how a little tender loving care Center embraced the unusual project and fundraising/jim-power-the-mosaic-trail). “Julie is can turn lives around and make them allowed Jim and Julie to use the small side now the other side of the coin,” Jim said. whole—and how an angel earns her yard for work on the poles. “She elevated the art, no question—and wings. Jim himself was a hobbled man. “He there’s no telling what we can do in the fu- couldn’t walk because his hip issues caused ture—and I’m talking about the next 1,000 Notes his legs to constantly cross. It was diffi- years not the last ones.” 1. Reaven, Marci, and Steve Zeitlin, eds. cult for him bend to his knees,” Julie said, Jim’s—and now Julie’s work too—stand 2006. Hidden New York: A Guide to Plac- “and it was difficult to see him navigate to as a permanent legacy at Astor Place. The es that Matter. New Brunswick: Rutgers the process of restoring the poles. I don’t work is celebratory, exalting the individu- University Press, p. 234. know where we found the strength and al’s urge to give of oneself for free, as Jim 2. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 1983. mental fortitude to do this. But we started has done for most of the past 35 years. “The Future of Folklore Studies in this major collaboration, working pole by Jim’s work is part of a tradition of custom- America: The Urban Frontier.” Folk- pole. And we enjoyed it. Some of the time, izing mass culture in the urban environ- lore Forum 16 (2), p. 222. we were laughing like little kids and sing- ment. As Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett ing along to classic rock on the radio.” The writes, “Cities and mass culture…offer a two developed a crazy chemistry. Working new frontier for exploring the indomitable Steve Zeitlin is the dawn to dusk, Jim described the process as will to make meaning, create value, and de- founding director “madness and mayhem. We pressed the velop connoisseurship under the most ex- of City Lore in New York City. Steve pedal right through the floor. We were hilarating, as well as the most devastating Zeitlin’s latest sucking gasoline.” conditions.”2 My mosaics, Jim said, take book is The Poetry of Everyday Life: “Neighborhood children would come “the anxiety out of people’s days when Storytelling and the by,” Julie said, “and we would let them put they see them. It’s not just long miles of Art of Awareness. Photo by Martha a tile in place, which made them so proud. lonely streets. It’s your home.” Cooper.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 11 What’s Your Watershed? Folklore at the Intersection of Place, Culture, and the Environment
BY ELLEN MCHALE, PhD
rom an airplane, the Mohawk River Erie Canal. Later renamed the Mohawk Haudenosaunee, was settled by Europeans F of New York State appears as a low Barge Canal, it was enlarged to carry freight in the 18th and 19th centuries and became ribbon of eastward flowing water, fed by traffic and oil barges westward. In the 20th home to numerous small villages, popu- the Catskill Mountains to the south and the century, the canal lost this commercial lated by European immigrant groups—the Adirondack foothills to the north. Its role function to the railroad and the highway. Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, Irish, and Ger- as waterway expanded when the Mohawk The Mohawk Watershed, originally the mans—who came to work in the region’s River’s waters were diverted to become the homeland for the Mohawk Nation of the textile and leather industries. The industries
Students document Schenectady’s historic water plant with video. All photos courtesy of the Schoharie River Center.
12 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Darian Henry, Assistant Director of YouthFX, works with Lillian on camera techniques. were situated on these streams to take ad- focused on the ecology of the watershed— mores” that form the moral code for the vantage of the power accorded by rushing its plants, animals, insects, and geology—as utilization of the commons, with inhabit- waters heading to the Mohawk River— well as its human habitation, to document ants working towards the common good creeks with place names such as the Chuc- the ecological and cultural records of the in an implicit force of law that preferences tanunda, the Schoharie, the Otsquaga, and region. The Community Cultural Docu- the welfare of all, over the advantages of a Canajoharie creeks, as well as the Alplaus mentation Project of the Schoharie River few (Loeffler 2012, 13). Kill. European population groups were Center’s Environmental Study Team (EST) We believe, along with Loeffler and joined in the 20th century by Latino mi- uses an outdoor-based model of inquiry in ecologist Laird Christensen, that when we grants from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and South order to enable students in the watershed are disconnected from the environment we America, who settled in Amsterdam and to become better stewards of our environ- lose a sense of concern for its well-being. Gloversville to work during the twilight ment and advocates for its health. The pro- The program encourages “watershed con- years of the regions’ textile industries. By gram merges the scientific inquiry of wa- sciousness,” in that it encourages the prac- the 1980s, these industries had moved else- tershed ecology, macroinvertebrate identi- tice of profound citizenship in both the where to take advantage of other regions’ fication, and water quality monitoring with natural and social worlds, drawing atten- and countries’ lower labor costs and less folklife documentation and oral history, tion to ourselves as members of ecological stringent environmental oversight. drawing upon the local folkways and cul- communities. As Christensen points out, It is upon this backdrop that the Schoha- tural activities of the Mohawk Watershed such positioning is a “radical act,” because rie River Center, a nonprofit environmental and cultural connections to the region’s wa- “when we love the places we call home, and cultural organization, has been work- ters in an effort to encourage intimacy in ‘business as usual’ is no longer acceptable” ing with the New York Folklore Society to community relationships with the environ- (Christensen 2003, 126). record and document the biotic communi- ment. The program allies with the writing The work of Mary Hufford provides ties of the Mohawk Watershed. The two of aural historian Jack Loeffler, who posits further support for this work. In “Deep organizations work closely with teens in the that the watershed is a commons for the Commoning: Public Folklore and Envi- region in a model of collaborative learn- biotic community it cradles and sustains. ronmental Policy on a Resource Frontier,” ing, conducting hands-on scientific inquiry Loeffler points to the folkways or “cultural Hufford draws upon the concept of the
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 13 that is the Mohawk Watershed, what would be our collective experience and our shared resources? The most apparent connec- tion is to the waterways themselves, which Congressman Paul Tonko names “Mighty Waters”—a navigational highway and cor- ridor of economic activity that defined the Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee and spawned a 19th-century chain of small villages and Main Streets. To delineate the watershed as a com- mons, today’s Mohawk Watershed is a site for boating and swimming, for cooling off on a hot day, and for seeking that teenage adrenaline rush that one receives by throw- ing oneself from the high bluffs that have been forged from the ravages of time and erosion. The waterways that are the Mo- hawk Watershed offer fishing and hunting grounds that still provide important food security for economically strapped house- holds. The watershed provides berrying and foraging activities and bait collection for fishing. Its riparian zones are used for free-range poultry, garden plots, maple syrup-making, and large-scale vegetable farming. It provides the location for camp- ing, bird watching, and hiking. Its forests provide firewood for heating homes or to be sold along roadsides for extra income. In her examination of West Virginia’s mountains, Hufford speaks of “deep com- moning,” as a study of the commons from within. Hufford writes, “The framework for the study of commons is what I call ‘deep commoning’: world-making from within Trout Unlimited member teaching fly tying techniques. that also reflects on those worlds, the rules for making them and the meanings for all “commons,” as “that which gathers us to- espoused by capitalism. In the true sense participants.” She continues, “I read this gether while granting each of us a place” of the “commons,” the commons belongs as a clarion call for the phenomenologi- (Hufford 2016, 639). To medieval Europe, to no one and to everyone, provided by na- cal ethnographic approaches espoused by the word “commons” had several mean- ture. The community is the steward (Ricov- public folklorists and a number of heritage ings. The commons referred to the land, eri 2013, 32). scholars as well” (Hufford 2016, 641). Huf- water, pasture, forest, and fishing zone that As Hufford examines the forests of ford draws attention to folklore’s utility in were available, by rights, to a local com- West Virginia as a “commons” that in- providing a framework to understand reci- munity to use. It was the rights to natural forms and sustains the communities of procity in the relationships between nature, goods through which a local community West Virginia, so, too, does the Community ecology, and the land. The methodology could derive its subsistence (Ricoveri 2013, Cultural Documentation Project explore of fieldwork provides a dialogic structure 30). The “commons” constitutes a social watersheds as a “commons,” supported in to examine culture and community within arrangement that is completely opposite our work by folklore and its connections the construct of the “commons” (Hufford to the one created by the market economy to place. If one were to map the commons 2016, 639). Hufford points to folklore’s
14 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore inquiry as an important tool to answer Studer, who was emboldened by the writ- a generation of folklorists and environ- questions of environmental degradation ings of John Dewey to begin an experi- mentalists. (personal communications with and a region’s response to this degradation. ential and controversial summer program, Camp Woodlanders, 2014). In our work together, the Schoharie Riv- Camp Woodland, in New York’s Catskills Using the student-centered approaches er Center and the New York Folklore So- Watershed. Studer, along with Herbert pioneered by Norman Studer and Camp ciety are encouraged by Hufford and other Haufrecht and Norman Cazden, founded a Woodland, the Community Cultural Pro- folklife scholars who work at the intersec- youth-focused educational model in which gram of the Environmental Study Team tions of folklife and natural resource stud- students became the folklore fieldworkers, uses the watershed as its focus of study. ies. Folklorists working on the Pinelands collecting the folklife and oral traditions of It asks questions and seeks answers of the Folklife Project of the Library of Congress the Catskill Mountains (Johnson 2002). The Mohawk Watershed: what is the human ac- (1983–1984), directed by Mary Hufford, campers met tradition bearers, took field tivity that is forged from and sustained by documented the rural folklife, ethnobotany, expeditions to community venues, and an- the watershed, and how do we, as residents and occupational traditions that were inti- nually performed cantatas based upon local of the Mohawk Watershed, interact with mately connected to the landscapes of the stories and local issues, composed by Her- this environment? How can we, as stew- New Jersey Pine Barrens. The folklorists bert Haufrecht. In their work with youth in ards of this commons, draw attention to its of this 1980s study used folklore method- the Catskills, Studer and his staff at Camp condition over time? What tools are in our ology to identify and describe the connec- Woodland merged a love for the environ- metaphorical “toolbox” that can help to tell tions between folklife, historic resources, ment with a respect for the local knowledge its story? and natural resources (Hufford 1988, 217). and folklife of the Catskills, while provid- The youth who make up the Environ- We are similarly encouraged by the work ing youth with the skills of tolerance and mental Study Team are residents of the of progressive educator, the late Norman deep listening. Along the way, they inspired Mohawk Watershed. Ranging in age from
Members of the Environmental Study Team use a kick-net to gather macroinvetebrates.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 15 13 to 19, they come from a number of dif- followed by interview sessions with Rich- this year, with the completion of a pedes- ferent Mohawk Watershed communities ard Sullivan, a retired lock tender on the trian bridge across the Mohawk, linking and from a wide range of backgrounds. Mohawk Barge Canal and Tom Prindle, a the City of Amsterdam on its north shore In many cases, they have deeply ingrained retired boat captain. Lessons about mac- with the historic Erie Canal Port Jackson knowledge of the watershed, having grown roinvertebrates in the streams exist side by on its south shore. This pedestrian bridge up as members of the bioregion, like their side with fly-tying lessons by members of now also links Amsterdam’s Latino resi- parents and grandparents before them. Trout Unlimited.3 Interviews with com- dents with Port Jackson’s Italian commu- These students share a love for the region munity elders, such as Eleanor Currie, en- nity, providing easy access to Amsterdam’s and its places. In many cases, they are al- tertain students with stories of the elders’ two shores. Students of the Community ready the experts who know intimately the own teen years while, at the same time, pro- Cultural Documentation project have set commons that is the Mohawk/Schoharie viding a lens to view the students’ current out to explore how the newly constructed Watershed. Mike is an expert noodler, able interactions with place. In a 2013 interview, bridge impacts community perceptions of to snag a fish with his bare hands. Tyler when students posed questions about the the Mohawk River. They ask, “Once seen knows every birdcall around, and Lillian effects of Hurricane Irene and the devas- as a barrier to community interaction, how can tell you the best swimming holes along tation it caused in 2011, the mood turned does the new pedestrian bridge change the the Schoharie. They can direct you to the somber as Eleanor laid bare her sadness at community of Amsterdam?” clay deposits along the banks that have the state of the Schoharie Creek after the Mary Hufford proposes the concept been used throughout time to fashion utili- flood, and she related her own advocacy for of “deep commoning,” the exploration tarian ceramics. These youth possess expert the waterway and its protection. Students of the commons from its interior to dis- knowledge that propels them towards fur- are able to draw upon their knowledge of cover the networks and intricacies of the ther inquiry in the Environmental Study ecology and environmental science to pose relationships between ecology, nature, and Team. Others of the Environmental Study questions and to elicit oral narratives from the land. Such explorations expose the con- Team come to the experiential learning sit- experts. Through the Community Cultural nections between human emotion and the uation for a love of outdoor activities, such Documentation Project, youth feel in con- physical fabric of landscape, to discover as snowshoeing and hiking, or because they trol and empowered in their interactions those places that are centers of meaning are allowed to handle authentic scientific with adult mentors who are eager to relate to individuals and to groups. In folklorist equipment that is either withheld or absent their experiences. Kent Ryden’s words, the study of places are in a public school environment. For what- Currently, the Community Cultural Doc- “fusions of landscape, experience, and lo- ever reason they participate, EST offers a umentation Program has embarked on a cations, bound up with time and memory.” framework for future success in school or filmmaking program, partnering with yet (Ryden 1993, 39). Place, as described by in life. another organization, YouthFX, a youth humanistic geographers, includes a strong The Community Cultural Documenta- development program focused on youth sense of rootedness to location, member- tion Program provides instruction in the media productions. Over the course of the ship in a place-based community, and a skills and methodologies of history, folk- fall of 2016, the Schoharie River Center and common world view as a result of a com- lore, and archaeology. Just as students learn the New York Folklore Society are working mon geographical experience. This coin- the skills of kick-netting, macroinverte- with YouthFX to examine the role of the cides with the work of regional folklor- brate identification, and bacterial analysis, Mohawk River within people’s perceptions ists who “seek out instances where people youth learn to use video, audio, and inter- of ”place” within the City of Amsterdam, share a body of folklore because they live viewing skills to explore the diversity of a postindustrial city that is sharply divided in a certain geographical area and their geo- human experiences in the watershed. Place- between its Latino and non-Latino popula- graphical location is the primary basis for a making for the Community Cultural Docu- tions, and its northern and southern shores shared identity” (Jones 1976). mentation project includes the recording of the Mohawk River. Access to the Mo- The Schoharie River Center works with of oral narratives by tradition bearers and hawk River in Amsterdam is blocked now the New York Folklore Society to docu- local experts to explore differing perspec- by railroad tracks, a highway overpass and ment “place,” “storying” the landscapes tives within our watershed. Following the urban renewal projects of the 1970s that of the Mohawk Watershed to understand experientially based model of the Envi- created a downtown mall, now shuttered. the impacts and effects of our region’s wa- ronmental Study Team, students pursue a Through the efforts of local politicians and ters on its human inhabitants. Through the hands-on approach to documentation. In advocates, however, access to the Mohawk Community Cultural Documentation Proj- 2015, a boat ride with Riverkeeper1 to look River has begun to open up, first with the ect of the Environmental Study Team Pro- at point source pollution2 in the Mohawk building of an urban park along the river- gram, students become familiar with their River and to collect water samples was front, and most recently in September of own bioregion, taking a cue from author
16 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Robert Finch, who says, “Ultimately we can only care for and connect with that which PARTNERING ORGANIZATIONS we have come to love…. only by storying the earth do we come to love it, does it be- come the place where imagination chooses to reside.” (Christensen 2003, 125). The nonprofit Schoharie River Center has as its mission “to instill a love for References learning, arts and science, promote the values of stewardship for our local environment, Bodenhamer, David J., John Corrigan, and encourage the positive and responsible involvement of youth in their communities.” and Trevor M. Harris. 2010. “Challenges Its core programs include the award-winning Environmental Study Team youth de- for the Spatial Humanities: Toward a Re- velopment program that works with youth throughout the Mohawk and Susque- search Agenda.” In The Spatial Humanities: hanna Watersheds to monitor water quality and improve the local environment, GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship, enjoy the outdoors, and instill a sense of environmental awareness. Twice awarded 167–76. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univer- the national Environmental Excellence Award by the Seaworld/Busch Garden sity Press. Foundation, the EST program of the Schoharie River Center has also been rec- Christensen, L. 2003. “Writing the Wa- ognized by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation with tershed.” In Teaching in the Field: Working with an Environmental Excellence Award in 2013.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 17 An Interview with Hannah Davis Regional Folklife Survey and Program Development Consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York Folklore Society
INTERVIEW BY JASON BAIRD JACKSON
[Editor’s Note: This interview has been re- printed with permission from Jason Baird Jackson’s blog Shreds and Patches (
Hannah Davis earned her MA in Folk Stud- ies from Western Kentucky University (WKU) and a BA in Folklore and Ethnomusicology from Indiana University. While at Indiana, she served for four years as a Program Coordinator with Tra- ditional Arts Indiana, Indiana’s statewide folk and traditional arts agency—now a constituent program of the Mathers Museum of World Cul- tures. Throughout her MA training at WKU, she worked as a Graduate Assistant for the Kentucky Folklife Program. In June 2016, she began work as a public folklorist for the NYSCA Upstate Folklife Survey and Program Development – A Partnership with the New York Folklore Society. While a student, she gained additional internship experience working with the Smithsonian Institu- tion’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the American Folklore Society.
Jason Jackson (JJ): Hannah—I am so happy to be doing this interview with you, especially just as you are getting settled into your new role as a public folklorist in upstate New York. Could you describe your new position? Hannah Davis (HD): Since June 1, I’ve been working as a contractor for the New Hannah Davis. Photo by Eli Drumm. York Folklore Society and New York State
18 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore An exhibitor shows in an open-class Angus competition at the Cayuga County Fair in Weedsport, NY. Photo by Hannah Davis.
Council on the Arts (NYSCA). I’ve been tween now and the end of my contract, I versation with each other about a specific tasked with doing a folklife survey of nine will have conducted dozens of interviews topic, and their audience will be able to counties (six in the Finger Lakes and three with all kinds of artists, musicians, and oth- interact and ask questions. As I’m conduct- in the southwestern corner of the state). er informants, and crisscrossed the state, ing fieldwork in their service area, then, I I’m also responsible for coordinating a few documenting fairs and festivals. I’ll record, will make note of informants who seem to public programs with smaller regional arts photograph, and film as much as possible. particularly enjoy discussing their life and organizations and acting as a consultant Especially when a survey includes so work. Towards the end of my contract, I’ll in the planning of future folklife-based many unique communities, it’s important work on organizing photos and recordings, programming. The state of New York is to stay organized and keep your eyes on the transferring files to others, and drafting my unique in that it has an organized network big picture. There’s only one of me, and so programming recommendations. It’s pos- of folklorists working in many different ca- many hours in a day. This is not intended sible that parts of this project will turn into pacities. This position was created as a way to be a comprehensive survey of all the tra- more long-term work for NYFS. I’ll also to serve counties that are not otherwise ditional arts and culture that one may find publish a few articles discussing my work in served by folklorists. in each of my nine counties. Rather, my NYFS’s journal, Voices: The Journal of New goal is to be able to paint a picture for our York Folklore. JJ: For those who are reading about partner organizations of the kinds of tradi- such work for the first time, what goes tions that exist in their service areas, and JJ: It does sound like it will be a lot into doing a multi-county folklife sur- the ways in which they may continue to do of fun. You know you will meet great vey? How will your findings translate folklife programming in the future. people, but you do not yet know who into further research and eventually It’s important to me to respond directly they all are or what they are passionate presentations, publications, or other to the needs of these organizations. The about. How did your work in Indiana outcomes? Auburn Public Theater, for example, is and Kentucky prepare you for your new HD: Surveys involve, in many ways, all interested in doing a narrative stage, dur- work in New York state? the fun parts of working as a folklorist. Be- ing which informants will engage in a con- HD: Exactly! A big part of my job at TAI
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 19 Saundra Goodman shows Davis a crocheted wall-hanging at her home in Lansing, NY. Goodman learned how to crochet from a friend as a young woman. Photo by Hannah Davis.
[Traditional Arts Indiana] was transcribing, museum as a whole, your experience smoothly things have gone. I don’t mean logging, and organizing materials collected will be a source of encouragement. On this to be self-congratulatory at all—the by fieldworkers. I’m grateful to Jon Kay, the flip side, what kinds of experiences people here have just been so kind, and so the organization’s director, for introducing do you wish you could have had while at happy to share their work with me. When me to basic ethnographic methods through IU and WKU? What are you surprised you’re learning how to do fieldwork, you this kind of work, and allowing me to par- by as you get going in New York? hear a lot of horror stories. I don’t have ticipate (even as a college freshman!) in HD: I certainly wish I had been able to any yet! collaborative projects like the one I’m tack- take some [undergraduate] public folklore ling now. Certainly, entering my grad pro- classes to complement my work at TAI. I JJ: Building up undergraduate course gram already comfortable with convening didn’t really understand the origins of the opportunities for public and applied meetings, drafting grant applications, and field I was working in until I began grad- folklore work is on the agenda at IU, planning public programs allowed me to uate-level classes at Western. Once I got as are opportunities for public humani- work more independently at the Kentucky to Western, though, I really missed being ties involvements more generally. Your Folklife Program. My time in Indiana and able to take advantage of the diverse pro- reflection contributes to the making of Kentucky really equipped me to take a “big grams offered at IU. Pursuing my interests the case for such efforts. I am glad that picture” approach to my work here in New in digital media, for example, became a lot you have no horror stories, and I hope York—I didn’t just learn how to do field- more difficult. There’s only so much you that things continue in that vein. work, I learned what to do with fieldwork. can study and prepare for, though! There’s HD: That’s great to hear. a lot to be said for just diving in. JJ: That is good. As we continue This might be a silly answer, but hon- JJ: What are you learning about pub- working with students in TAI and at the estly, I’ve been most surprised by how lic folklore infrastructure in New York
20 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore State? Things seem really strong there, and this seems to be a longstanding pattern. HD: The infrastructure here is part of the reason I was so excited to take the job. There are capable and accomplished folk- lorists, including a few IU students and grads, working across the state. Many are within arts organizations, some work more independently, but they are all part of a col- laborative network loosely bound together by Ellen McHale at NYFS and Robert Baron at NYSCA, who both work hard to support what we do (financially and oth- erwise). Their leadership has been crucial to the longstanding pattern you’ve noticed.
JJ: What is one cool cultural discovery that you have already made as you be- gin to learn your way around your part of the state? HD: Word on the street is that there’s a A handwritten sign lures visitors into Gambino Garlic Growers’ booth at the Garlic Festival game called “roque” played in the western in Cuba, NY. Photo by Hannah Davis.
A competitor in the town of Angelica’s championship roque match lines up a shot. Roque, a derivative of croquet, is believed to be played only in a few small towns across the country. Photo by Hannah Davis.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 21 it’s been ages! Here’s what I’d say: “It will be okay. There are jobs.” Sincere commit- ment to an interest goes a long way at IU, especially in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. I knew as a fresh- man that I wanted to graduate as a folk- lore major, and it was entirely because of a pep talk from a grad student who saw some potential in me and sent me to talk to Jon [Kay]. With the guidance of wonderful professors like you, Jason, and some very honest graduate students, I became a suc- cess story. And there are so many others. I’m proud to be an IU alumna, and to be part of the community that the department has fostered. A degree in the humanities is not a death wish. To the provost and president, I’d say this: “My training at IU made me the profes- sional that I am today.” I’ve been thinking a lot about my time at IU since yesterday’s announcement about the department’s move to the Classroom Office Building. I met some of my nearest and dearest friends and mentors in the TAI office. Our buildings were run-down. They were not accessible to members of the community with different physical capabilities. That’s a terrible thing. But they were home, and I’m sad that I won’t be able to go back there. The department is a whole lot more than a cluster of neglected brick buildings, though. It’s an incubator, it’s a community, and it’s a wonderful thing to be a part of. I couldn’t have learned the things I learned there anywhere else.*
Rafael Diaz poses for Davis after an interview at his restaurant, El Morro, in Geneva, NY. JJ: Thank you Hannah for sharing Diaz traveled to the United States from Puerto Rico to work at Seneca Foods in the 1980s. your experiences with me and with our Photo by Hannah Davis. readers. Keep us posted on your adven- part of the state. I hadn’t heard of it until a roque. Hopefully we’ll all be playing it tures, and come back soon and teach few days ago! An annual tournament is held soon, or at least watching your docu- your Bloomington friends how to play in Angelica, a village in Allegany County, mentary! Here’s two to go out on. If roque! during the community’s Heritage Day cel- you could share a word of counsel with ebration. It resembles croquet, but has en- an IU sophomore with an interest in a *In her closing remarks, Hannah is refer- tirely different rules. Readers might be in- humanities career, what would you say? ring to the offices of the IU Department of terested in this 2010 ESPN article:
22 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore another on N. Fess Ave. and N. Park Ave. Jason Baird Jackson is Director of the Mathers in Bloomington have, for alumni, staff, and Museum of World Cultures and a Professor of Folklore faculty, become icons of the department at Indiana University. His interview with Hannah Davis is part of a series of interviews that he has over the course of many decades. In July undertaken to explore the work of younger museum 2016, it was announced that the Department and public folklore professionals whose careers were touched by either the Mathers Museum or Traditional would be moved to new, more modern and Arts Indiana, the statewide public folklore program accessible quarters in a university building now based at the museum. Jackson is the editor, most recently, of the edited collection, Material known as the Classroom Office Building Vernaculars: Objects, Images, and Their Social Worlds on 3rd Street, across from the campus’s his- (Indiana University Press, 2016). Photo: Jason Baird Jackson revisiting Tulsa, Oklahoma, a place at the toric “Old Crescent” area. The department center of his life and work. Michael Paul Jordan took looks forward to showing off its new home this picture across the street from the Woody Guthrie Center, June, 24, 2016. to returning alumni very soon.
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Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 23 Speaking For Creation:
Tom Sakokwenionkwas Porter BY JOSEPH BRUCHAC If you were to describe Tom Porter as a writer teacher at the Akwesasne Freedom School, a place where the Mohawk language is taught, to his face, he would probably laugh. That is, in he held the title of chief for 21 years among where seasonal festivals of thanksgiving (such part, because the several books he’s “written” his Akwesasne people before moving to the as their annual Strawberry Festival in early were largely dictated by him or drawn from Mohawk Community of Kanatsioharkeke, that summer) are open to all, and where the Earth his speeches and interviews with him over the he established in 1993 on 332 riverfront acres is treated with the respect deserved by a mother. years. Despite his deep well of wisdom, Tom near Fonda, New York. Even before his adult So it is that, to this day, if you are fortunate doesn’t regard himself as an “educated” man. years, I’ve been told, people would come to enough to hear Tom, you will recognize his In fact, some of his “writings” describe in listen to this boy who spoke like an elder. voice as one speaking for Creation. When he great detail his struggles within a Eurocentric Cataloguing his many accomplishments stands up to speak the traditional Thanksgiving education system that regarded his people as would take far more space than I have in Address in Mohawk and then in English, worthless savages and led to his leaving that this column. So I’ll only mention two more sharing those words that come before all others, system before high school. things. The first is his role as the organizer of giving greetings and thanks to our Creator, to He might be happier to be described as a the “White Roots of Peace” several decades our Mother Earth, to the waters, the plants, the keeper of oral traditions, a storyteller whose ago. The objective of that group, a traveling animals and birds, the winds, the sun, moon, words are at times funny and even corny, at multimedia collective, was to revitalize Native and stars, you may feel as moved as I always am. other times deeply philosophical, and at all traditions and beliefs in North America. As its You may agree with what one of my Onondaga times filled with messages that we human main speaker, Tom lectured at universities and friends and teachers, Alice Dewasentah beings need to hear. colleges all over the US and Canada. Papineau, the Head Clan Mother of the Eel He would also probably laugh because The second is his work as the Native American Clan, said to me one day at Kanatsiohareke
ALN8BAL8MO: A NATIVE VOICE A NATIVE ALN8BAL8MO: laughter always seems to come easily to him. consultant for the New York State Penitentiary after Tom spoke the Address: He recognizes it as a sacred gift. system, where he served as Chaplain for all the “It seemed as if even the grass was All of that is obvious in the following quote Native inmates in New York’s prisons. listening.” from the chapter entitled “Turtle Island” in his All of this ties into one of the main 2006 book Kanatsiohareke: Traditional Mohawk objectives in Tom’s life, as he explained it to For Further Reading: Indians Return to Their Ancestral Homeland: me 20 years ago. That objective was to create Porter, Tom. 1993. Clanology: Clan System of a Carlisle Indian School in reverse, a place the Iroquois. Native North American Traveling When you read this Iroquois Mohawk that would be the opposite of Carlisle and all College. Creation Story, I hope that you will bear in the other American Indian boarding schools Porter, Tom. 2006. Kanatsiohareke: Traditional mind that all races of the world have Cre- and residential schools in the US and Canada, Mohawk Indians Return to Their Ancestral Homeland. ation stories. This particular one belongs to where the stated objective was to destroy Native the Mohawk. The Creator gave it to us. It is Greenfield Center, NY: Bowman Books. not a garage sale or second hand story; it is American cultures to “Kill the Indian and save Porter, Tom. 2008. As Grandma Said, Iroquois Mohawk through and through. Sometimes, the man,” as voiced in 1892 in a public speech Teachings As Passed Down Through the Oral it is funny and hard to believe. If it is funny, by Richard H. Pratt, founder of the Carlisle Tradition. Philadelphia: XLibris. then laugh. The one thing I ask you to do is Indian Industrial School. realize that the Creation Story of all races In the 2008 collection of Porter’s speeches of People throughout the world are equally and interviews As Grandma Said, Iroquois Joseph Bruchac is as funny and hard to believe as well. When Teachings As Passed Down Through the Oral a writer, musician, human beings laugh, the Creator is pleased. and traditional Tradition, he shared these words in the chapter Native storyteller (Porter 2006, 12) titled “The Future”: whose work often reflects his It also may make clear to you another aspect We must teach our people, our children, and American Indian of Tom Porter as storyteller, as elder, as wise teach them how to be mothers and fathers, (Abenaki) ancestry and the Adirondack teacher and, yes, as writer. He has the sort of give them back their ceremonies, give them Region of northern down-to-earth humility that only those who are back their language, give them back their New York where he sure of themselves and their beliefs can show. spiritual history and their history altogether, lives in the house teach them how to be wholesome family he was raised in by Few people are as respected as Tom is by the his grandparents. members, ambitious, honest, and morally Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee—or Native He is the author of over 120 books for good. That is what Carlisle took away from young readers and adults, including the American and other indigenous people in the Indian nations. (Porter 2008, 389) award-winning volume OUR STORIES general throughout the world. It is no wonder REMEMBER, American Indian History, that his Mohawk name Sakokwenionkwas That is a mission carried on to this day by Culture and Values through Storytelling. Photo by Eric Jenks. means “The One Who Wins.” A director and Tom and by the supporters of Kanatsiohareke,
24 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Bill Smith Born in 1937 into a large family in the time Bill received his first musical instrument He performs for a variety of audiences “Featherbed” section near South Colton, on by mail—a guitar from the Sears & Roebuck with a wide repertoire of stories and songs the northern outskirts of the Adirondack Company. Bill was inspired to play from about local life. He has been written about Park, Bill Smith is a teller of tales, a singer of hearing Dick Law, an accomplished musician, in numerous articles and books, and has songs, and a maker of traditional Adirondack and also by his mother who played pump produced a series of recordings of his stories pack baskets. He learned each of these trades organ and taught him many songs. and songs for Front Hall Records and his first at home from his parents, his father’s With his father often gone for weeks at own label, Featherbed Productions. lumberjack friends, and the assorted other a time, working in the woods, Bill and his characters who would come through the mother would spend many lonely nights Reprinted from adirondackmusic.org with Smith house and the nearby woods in Bill’s playing and singing together; country songs permission from Traditional Arts in Upstate New childhood. The household was without and sentimental love pieces were among York, Canton, New York. electricity until 1954. their favorites. Bill remembers well that New Bill has been a trapper and fur buyer, a Year’s Day in 1953, when he and his mother Bill’s CDs are available at the Gallery of New pulpwood cutter, and a hunting and fishing heard on their car radio that Hank Williams, York Traditions at the NYFS in Schenectady or guide. For several years, he taught outdoor their musical hero, had died; they both cried. online at www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/music. education in area public schools and colleges. Bill Smith is widely known throughout html As the youngest of 10 children, all his the Adirondacks and beyond as a master brothers had moved out of the house by the of various traditional arts of the region.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 25 Echoes of Familiar Rhythms: Puerto Rican & Garifuna Drums
BY ELENA MARTÍNEZ
n 2012, Bobby Sanabria and I, Artis- I tic Co-Directors of the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) attended a Gari- funa event at the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture. It was the first time that Bobby had seen drum and dance groups from the Garifuna community, and his drummer’s ear (he is a percussionist and jazz drummer) immediately picked up on the rhythms coming from the stage. “That sounds just like our holandés (referring to a rhythm from the Puerto Rican bomba musi- cal style). A light instantly went on in my mind—the Puerto Rican and Garifuna drum traditions have a lot in common, as well as do the communities themselves— so let’s create a program at the BMHC to present them together. That was the seed that became, Parranda con Paranda: A Puerto Rican & Garifuna Holiday Celebration, which will celebrate its 4th annual program this coming December. At first glance, this is not so strange a pairing as it might seem. Many Puerto Ri- cans jokingly referred to the Bronx as the second largest Puerto Rican city, after San Juan (the capital of the island). The Bronx is currently home to the largest Garifuna community outside of Central America— the Garifuna come from Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. The borough shapes both the communities, as they have in turn shaped the Bronx. The Puerto Ri- can legacy is found in places such as Teatro Puerto Rico, which was the center of the local show business scene for decades, and the traditional music scene has been re- invigorated at Rincón Criollo, one of the oldest Puerto Rican casitas and community gardens in the City. The musicians playing the traditional music of Puerto Rico have Matthew Gonzalez dancing bomba (2013). All photos by Elena Martínez.
26 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore gained a lot of their training in groups and have never realized the connection between when enslaved Africans participated in venues based in the Bronx—with the cen- Hondurans and Garifunas, within the com- dances (bailes) to celebrate their day off, ter of activity being the casita, which was munity, almost everyone had been person- baptisms, and marriages. The drums used created by Chema Soto to reclaim a space ally affected. The fire at the social club, ac- in bomba are called barriles. A bomba group for his community amid the devastation. tually a small after-hours disco, changed the requires at least two or three barriles, a cúa (a Rincón Criollo, or “La casita de Chema,” as face of the music scene in New York City, pair of sticks struck upon a hard surface), it has affectionately become known, is the as small social clubs came under scrutiny and a single maraca. The barriles that keep place where traditional Puerto Rican musi- for better safety regulations in terms of the constant rhythm are called the bulead- cians from New York and Puerto Rico go building and fire codes. This affected the ores, or seguidores, while the drum that inter- to hear and play this music. immigrant/ethnic communities who rely acts with the dancers when they perform Sadly, the Bronx was also the home to on social clubs as meeting places, refuges, their piquetes (steps), is called the primo or the Happy Land Social Club, where in a and centers of information. Various music subidor. During the dance, the dancer cre- fire, which happened on March 25, 1990, scenes, such as the salsa circuit, lost neigh- ates a dialogue with the drummer of the 87 people lost their lives. Fifty-nine victims borhood gigs as the music shifted to more subidor, by getting the drummer to respond were members of the Honduran commu- commercial venues. to her dance movements with repiques or nity, of which many were Garifuna (many Musically, Puerto Ricans and the Gari- toques (drum strokes). of the Garifunas in the Bronx are from funa also have a lot in common. They both The Garifuna drums are collectively Honduras). The fire was the worst in New play huge barrel-shaped drums, which have called garawoun. Bronx Garifuna drummer York City since the Triangle Shirtwaist Fac- big, powerful sounds. The Puerto Rican Bodoma says originally they were called tory fire in 1911, and the small park in front bomba tradition is the oldest of all of Puer- dômbü. According to James Lovell, a noted of the original site at 1950 Southern Blvd. to Rico’s Afro-based musical traditions and Garifuna musician and educator, the indi- has become the Plaza of the Eighty-Seven has roots in West Africa. Bomba developed vidual drums are called lanigi garawoun (heart in their memory. Although most people in the context of colonial plantation life drum), which is used for sacred music; the
Chester Nuñez dancing in Wanaragua regalia (2014).
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 27 Andrew Clarke dancing as Pitchy Patchy (2014).
bass drum called segundo, which keeps the or Epiphany) on January 6, and ends with The Black Caribs of Honduras, Doris Stone tempo of the music; and the primeru, the Octava, eight days after Tres Reyes—and writes, “The Black Caribs [a name for the smallest drum with a higher pitch. These if you really want to keep partying there is Garifuna] call this type of song a parranda- drums are accompanied by smaller percus- Octavitas, another eight days! During this tinu, a word taken from the Spanish paranda, sion: sisira (maracas), wadabu agei (conch time, groups of strolling musicians go from which signifies ‘spree.’” Other scholars have shell), and tagei bugudura (turtle shell). The house to house in the parranda tradition, posited that the roots of the word, “par- Puerto Rican and Garifuna percussion in- also called trullas navideñas, and sometimes randa” come from the Arabic, Portuguese, struments have similarities, so it is not sur- called asaltos, as people join in to surprise or Basque with meanings that include: “joy- prising that when listening closely to the and musically “assault” their family and ful celebration,” “noisy feast,” or “uproar,” big barrel-type drums of both groups, you friends. It is customary to give food and and “laugh” or “laughter.” Whatever the can hear echoes of familiar rhythms that drink to the parranderos who stop by one’s roots of the word, at the Bronx program call to both. home. all participants feel this annual celebration Our Parranda con Paranda title and theme The paranda genre of music is thought is truly a joyous occasion. came from combining elements from both to have entered the Garifuna musical Each year we have focused on a different musical styles. The Garifuna have a musi- lexicon during the 19th century when the aspect of the musical traditions from the cal style called “paranda” (with one “r”), community settled in Honduras and incor- two communities. In 2014, we celebrated which is played using drums and guitar. porated Spanish and Latin American musi- masquerade traditions from the Christmas Both communities have the tradition of the cal elements, including the acoustic guitar, season, with reference to the Puerto Rican “parranda” (with two “r’s”)—the holiday into their repertoire. Nowadays, the genre Festival de Máscaras (Masks) celebrated in procession where neighbors sing Christ- has become quite popular due to modern the town of Hatillo on December 28, the mas carols from home to home. The par- paranderos such as Paul Nabor, Junior Aran- Day of the Holy Innocents, and a presen- randa tradition in Puerto Rico takes place da, Andy Palacio, and Aurelio Martínez. tation of the Garifuna Wanáragua, which during the holiday season, which begins on Parranda or paranda—they share some itself is a variation of Jamaican Jonkonnu. Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), climaxes on similar roots. In the liner notes for the We included Jamaican masquerade per- El Día de los Tres Reyes (Three King’s Day Smithsonian Folkways Records recording, formers in the program as well. Jonkunnu
28 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore and Wanáragua include processions that component of the Dugu, a religious cer- there are different styles on the island. In incorporate African drumming with Euro- emony to communicate with ancestors. In the south of the island, in Ponce, vejigantes pean and African masked traditions, and in various cultures, drumming has tradition- with large papier-mâché masks have many the case of Jonkunnu, English mumming ally been the purview of men, even though horns of various sizes and march through traditions. All three traditions feature masks the Yoruba of Nigeria consider the spirit of the Carnival processions prior to Lent. In made out of a wire mesh; Jonkunnu and the drum to be female and call it aña (thus, the northeast, during the Fiesta Patronal de Wanáragua have stock figures such as the the name of another of the BMHC’s se- Santiago (Festival of St. James) in July, veji- Queen and the Devil, as well as beribboned ries, “The Spirit of Aña,” which celebrates gantes with coconut shell masks that usually figures, of which the most well known is women and drums in all their forms). Yet, sport 3–5 thinner horns, dance through the probably Pitchy-Patchy from Jamaica. for the current generation of musicians, patron saint celebration. Their name comes In 2015, the focus was on women as these genres have many women as active from a combination of “vejiga,” meaning dancers, vocalists, and as drummers. The percussive participants and bandleaders. cow bladder, which these tricksters use as Garifuna abeimahani songs are semi-sacred, Young Puerto Rican and Dominican wom- balloons to hit people during the celebra- unaccompanied, gestured songs only sung en are forming their own groups, which tions, and “gigante” (giant), as these figures by women, as opposed to another song include Yaya, The Legacy Women Circle, seem larger than life. Around Christmas- type, arumahani, which are sung a capella by Bámbula, and Ojos de Sofia. time, the Garifuna have a “bull dance” men. During the performance of abeimah- This year our theme will be Celebración de that is called Charikanari in Belize and Pia ani songs, the vocalists stand alongside each los Cuernos—Celebration of Horns. We’ll Manadi in Honduras. A man dons a long, other, clasping pinky fingers to the person include a tribute to the iconic Puerto Rican dark coat and face mask, and adds a pair next to them. These songs are usually a masquerade figure, the vejigante, of which of horns to his forehead to evoke a bull.
Abeihamani performed by Garifuna Women Abeimahani directed by Luz Soliz (2015).
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 29 Are you New to the New York Folklore Society? Missing back copies of the journal?
You can fill in the gaps in your collection. Selected back issues of Voices, New York Folklore (1975–1999), and the New York Folklore Quarterly (1946–1974) are still available. You can check availability of a specific is- sue by calling our office at 518/346- 7008, or checking online at www. nyfolklore.org/pubs/bkissue.html
Bomba: Ines Mangual (vocals), drums: Jorge Vazquez, Kya Perez, and Manuela Arcinegas Voices and New York Folklore (2015). Single Issues $10 each ($8 member price) Another character, “Hunter Man” carries a gun and chases after the bull—and some- New York Folklore Quarterly times, the bull turns the tables, and using its Single issue $5 each ($4.50 member price) horns, chasing the hunter in return. These antics are accompanied by music (James Special offer for the Quarterly Lovell, personal communication). 5 issues for $15 Our mission at the BMHC is to pres- ent the musical legacy of the Bronx, look- If you want to order just a single ing to its past as the birthplace of hip hop article from any journal, you’ll find Elena Martínez received an MA in and its Latin music connection—after all, it Anthropology and an MA in Folklore at order blanks in our publications sec- is “El Condado de la Salsa” (The Borough the University of Oregon. Since 1997, she tion of the website. A PDF can be has been a folklorist at City Lore and is emailed to you for $3. of Salsa). We also seek to present the thriv- currently also the co-artistic director for ing contemporary soundscape. Nowadays, the Bronx Music Heritage Center. She co-produced the documentary, From Latin music heard in the streets is bachata and Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale, TO ORDER not salsa, reflecting the growing Dominican which aired on PBS in September 2006 Tell us what you which issue(s) you want: and won the NCLR’s (National Council of o Voices o NYFolklore o NFYQ community, and the music of the emerging La Raza) 2007 ALMA Award for Best TV new communities, most notably the many Documentary. She was also a producer for Vol. & Issue No(s)______or the documentary We Like It Like That: The Date ______African styles of music from Gambia and Story of Latin Boogaloo, which premiered Mali and the large Garifuna community in at the SXSW Festival in 2015. She has Publication Subtotal $______the Bronx. been a contributor to Latinas in the United Shipping & Handling $______States: An Historical Encyclopedia by (add $5.95 for orders under $25; $6.95 for $25–$50; So this December, come to the Bronx and historians Virginia Sánchez Korrol and $8.95 for orders over $50. Email [email protected] follow the beat of the drum because el tambor Vicki L. Ruíz (Indiana University Press, about foreign postal rates) 2006); Women’s Folklore & Folklife: An llama—the drum calls. Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Total enclosed $______Music, and Art (ABC-CLIO, 2008); and New Enclose check payable to New York Folklore Society York State Folklife Reader: Diverse Voices and mail to New York Folklore Society, 129 Jay Street, Many thanks to José Francisco Avila and the (Univ. of Mississippi Press, 2013). She is Schenectady, NY 12305. Garifuna Coalition for their support as our partner currently on the Advisory Boards for Casita ______Maria/Dancing in the Streets’ South Bronx Name in “Parranda Con Paranda: A Puerto Rican & Culture Trail, the Center for Puerto Rican ______Garifuna Holiday Celebration.” Special thanks also Studies Archive at Hunter College, , and Shipping Address Los Pleneros de la 21. She was awarded go to the musicians who are parranderos with us every ______a 2013 BOROMIX Puerto Rican Heritage City, State, Zip year, especially the core organizational group: Lucy Award and Comité Noviembre’s Lo Mejor Or order online at: Blanco, Bodoma, Alex Colón, James Lovell, Bobby de Nuestra Comunidad 2013. Photo by Francisco Molina Reyes, II. www.nyfolklore.org/gallery/store/books.html#back Sanabria, Jorge Vázquez, and Matthew Gonzalez.
30 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore VOICES OF NEW YORK Maxwell Kofi Donkor & Sankofa Drum and Dance Ensemble BY POLLY ADEMA
Master drummer and Asante call and response in each piece? Prince Maxwell Kofi Donkor Are these factors prescribed spent much of his childhood by the song/tradition of the in the Ghanaian villages of song? Is there room for “artis- Otumi and Besoro-Kumawu, tic license,” leaving you free to learning Asante (or Ashanti) interpret as you see fit, or is it drumming from his grandfa- completely open to negotiation ther. As a young man, he was among members of the group? chosen to carry on the an- It is a collective decision. I, cestral drumming tradition, a with the help of a few of the commitment he has pursued drummers/dancers, made the with a passion throughout his decisions about the drums and life. Kofi cultivated his drum- instrument used for the call and ming while also studying Gha- response on each piece. These naian culture, sculpture, and factors are prescribed by the industry at university. His life’s songs and the traditions and work blends beautifully his by the ceremonies surrounding musical and intellectual talents the songs. There is definitely with his love and respect for lots of room for interpretation the arts, tradition, and people on some of the rhythms, like of all cultures. the-scenes look into the group’s artistic “Fanga,” “Ega,” and “Bak2Roots.” Other Since arriving in the United States in process. His thoughtful responses follow rhythms, in particular, “Kpalogo,” “Ogidi- 1992, Kofi has been active with several each question. gidi,” “Damba,” and “Sogbadza,” were left drum circles. In 1997, he and other drum- the way they are ethnically and traditionally. mers formed Sankofa Drum and Dance How do you and the group decide what Ensemble. The ensemble is comprised of to include on a CD, and in particular the What are you working on now and drum and dance artists from the tri-state Drums CD? what’s next for Sankofa? area. Every rhythm Sankofa plays evokes We all made the decisions as to what We are now exploring the original tribal lively village experiences. Village life also rhythms to include on the Drums CD, even rhythms from West Africa beyond what I informs Sankofa’s dynamic modes of play the order of rhythms and songs. We want- know, and how they have evolved in the and performance: “I use the village as the ed to capture the village story the group Caribbean Islands and South and North model for our philosophy, to bring every- has been studying for years from me and America in general. The next CD is based one in,” Kofi explains. When performing Yacine [Yacine Wade, a Wollof princess on this research, which will involve some and leading demonstrations, he encour- and co-leader of the ensemble]. travels to West Africa and South America. ages audience participation and involves Most of our music is based on authentic audience members in singing, dancing, and rhythms from West Africa, mostly Ghana Sankofa African Drum and Dance Ensemble’s playing instruments. and Senegal. We allow contributions from DRUMS CD is available from the Gallery of Asante rhythmic textures speak of the each willing member and review them New York Artists at the New York Folklore multifaceted character of West African before we get to the studio. Some of the Society or online at
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 31 Democratizing the (Folk) Arts Nonprofit Workplace Sunday, February 28, 2016, 5–8 p.m., Brooklyn, NY
BY EILEEN CONDON
Overview (PFP); Lisa Rathje, assistant director for Lo- their varied work experiences and positions On Sunday, February 28, 2016, from 5–8 cal Learning: The National Network for Folk within or in connection with the field of p.m. in the Great Room at South Oxford Arts in Education; cooperative developer and traditional arts administration. The general Space, 138 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, strategist Joe Rinehart; and UAW Local 2110 purpose of the forum was to generate and New York, the New York Folklore Society President Maida Rosenstein (Local 2110 rep- document a critical conversation about best welcomed approximately 20 attendees, some resents part-time academics and museum work practices in the (folk) arts nonprofit who had come from as far as Philadelphia, workers). New York Folklore Society NYC field (aka public sector ethnography/culture to a folk arts forum convening local and na- Representative and folklorist Dr. Eileen Con- work). The speakers explored several differ- tional arts and labor leaders for panel presen- don organized and curated this event. Kath- ent schools of thought about how more sus- tations and an open forum on the topic of leen Haughey, a colleague of Andy Kolovos tainable and more democratic ways of work- “Democratizing the (Folk) Arts Nonprofit in educational programs at Vermont Folklife ing together in the field of folk arts could be Workplace.” Presenters included Andy Ko- Center cancelled her planned participation achieved. Their approaches included: lovos, co-director and archivist of the Ver- due to illness. (1) changing nonprofit organizational work mont Folklife Center (VFC); Selina Morales, The presenters approached the forum’s styles and practices through consultation; director of the Philadelphia Folklore Project topic from intersecting approaches, based on (2) considering alternative working struc- tures to the nonprofit (such as the worker- owned cooperative and the movement sup- porting it in NYC) for the traditional arts; and (3) exploring precedents and prospects for unionizing traditional arts nonprofit organi- zations.
Presentations Lisa Rathje began by sharing that she, Andy, and Selina had previously participated in a national conversation about leadership in the field of public sector folk arts in Chi- cago, together with folklorists Christina Barr (Nevada Humanities) and Sally Van de Water (Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage). Out of that conversation, a “mani- festo” was written collectively, and some of the following questions emerged: (1) How can we better foster peer-to-peer Seven Cooperative Principles. According to the Willy Street Co-Op in Wisconsin: mentoring to sustain ourselves and our work? “Cooperatives operate according to seven basic principles. Six were drafted by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) in 1966, based on guidelines written by the (2) What are the core qualities of leader- founders of the modern cooperative movement in England in 1844. In 1995, the ICA ship that suit the values, ethics, and methods restated, expanded, and adopted the 1966 principles to guide cooperative organizations of our field? into the 21st century.” See www.willystreet.coop/seven-cooperative-principles. Image courtesy of Willy Street Co-Op. (3) What are the internal mechanisms of
32 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Leaders of Green Worker Cooperatives (GWC) and affiliated cooperative workers. GWC receives New York City funding to offer two worker-owned cooperative business start-up training sessions (“Coop Academy”) per year. Photo courtesy of Green Worker Cooperatives. healthy organizations, and do they reflect the going forward. Here is a selection of some of Andy Kolovos outlined how he and his co- values and ethics of our discipline? the points from Selina’s staff-generated list: director Greg Sharrow have evolved through (4) In what ways can effective leaders im- • We recognize peoples’ multiple and a process of hiring more staff, including an pact or facilitate creative, healthy workplaces? intersecting identities. educational director and a fundraiser, while Lisa and Selina Morales pointed to the • Due to overt and covert systemic asking themselves how to accommodate importance of defining leadership and work- oppression, many cultures and ethnici- these new people in a structure that gets the place practices in this value-grounded way, ties are not valued and respected. This is work done. Andy and Greg “flirted” with a and they also described leadership as some- not OK with us. “what if there’s nobody in charge?” or “what thing more than “ambition,” more than just • Opportunities to practice valued if no one person is the boss?”—as a way of the acquisition of positions of greater and cultural traditions and knowledge en- working, in which “everyone could have an greater power within organizations. Andy’s hance lives, self-determination, and equal stake in what happens…everyone has and Selina’s organizations had both come community vitality. a say in major decision-making, and where through recent upheavals in directorship— • Because of economic injustice and things still get done.” After Andy attended PFP’s longstanding founding director had re- disparity, there is a real need to fund art- the Chicago meeting of folklorists (which tired two years earlier, opening that position ists who are systematically denied access Lisa Rathje described), he, like Selina and her to Selina, and Andy had joined a coworker to resources and support. staff, consulted with AORTA to build a de- five years ago in a “marriage” of sorts as co- • Care for people, relationships, and centralized organizational structure. Despite directors of VFC. Through these periods of artistic connections nourishes us. his excitement at having progressed into this change, both PFP and VFC benefitted from • We see our work as playing a role in structure at the staff level, Andy confessed consultations with Jenna Peters-Golden from building a world without violence. that he and Greg realized their group has nev- the worker-owned cooperative AORTA • We are working towards a world in ertheless “created a parallel structure,” one (www.aorta.coop—Anti-Oppression Resources which folk and traditional artists and which “as far as the board is concerned… and Training Alliance). Selina outlined the practitioners can practice their arts and doesn’t exist.” They have tried to mitigate this “points of unity” that PFP staff generated, be valued for it, monetarily and socially. by making sure that staff are welcomed at with Jenna’s encouragement, as a set of As Selina explained, the points of unity are board meetings, but according to the organi- values that all staff believed in wholeheart- still a work in progress, and the list also serves zational bylaws, the executive(s) who run the edly, and which would serve (and continues as a reference by which PFP staff can moni- organization remain the primary individual(s) to serve) as a foundation for revisioning the tor the success of their work, conversations, responsible to the board, while the board re- routines and practices in PFP as a workplace and collaborations, at present. tains the hiring/firing responsibility over the
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 33 executive director(s). Having staff at board meetings helps “mitigate” these power dy- namics and helps the board “recognize that staff are people,” Andy quipped. However, staff members are “part of the organiza- tion,” he reflected, paradoxically, “more than the board members are.” From the complexities of power sharing and values-based decision-making in non- profit workplaces, the conversation moved to Joe Rinehart. Joe outlined his experience as a worker-owner at a cooperative bookstore in North Carolina, a cooperative developer at the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and a cooperative director at the Democracy at Work Institute. His inquiry centered on questions of what “democracy” and “de- mocratizing” could actually mean in relation to workplaces. Democracy, he pointed out,
is often equated with “participation,” but Ileia Burgos is the Outreach Coordinator for Green Worker Cooperatives. She leads work- teasing these concepts apart can be useful. shops and political education with groups fighting for justice on environmental, climate, Democratic work implies the generation of economic, and gender frontlines across the country. Ileia came to activism and knowledge of Bronx history through involvement in hip hop and as a photographer–artist, documenting “stronger bonds of accountability” and the her life in the Hunt’s Point and Mott Haven sections of the South Bronx. Photo courtesy of “decentralization” of power. But what are Ileia Burgos/Green Worker Cooperatives. those bonds of accountability, exactly, and to whom are they being decentralized? “Think- tory work styles can exist within a hierarchi- ing a participatory workplace culture, versus ing about how we are democratizing wealth cal structure where decision-making can be creating an organization that shares risk and is also a huge problem. How can we make alternately made by an executive and collec- reward in order to share wealth more broadly. wealth more distributed, more evenly con- tively. In situations in which the “loop of ac- Maida Rosenstein explained that UAW trolled, and more community controlled,” countability” is long—running from execu- 2110, the local for whom she is president, Joe asked? “Monetary wealth” could also be tives through middle management to work- does not serve any “united auto workers;” replaced by “cultural wealth” in this question. ers and shareholders—some co-ops may use rather, the union serves workers in cultural Sometimes, Joe pointed out, there is conflict unions to shorten that accountability loop, institutions, ranging from the very large (such between spreading participation and spread- or even an employee advocacy committee, in as the Museum of Modern Art) to smaller ing wealth. He provided several cases in point place of a union. museums and a number of small nonprofits, based on real organizations he had worked One motivating factor for considering many of which are involved in publishing with or within. Lest worker cooperatives be the worker-owned co-op model, as opposed rather than with the arts directly. Reflect- opposed as some sort of utopian concept to nonprofits, is the desire for members to ing on the conversations she had been lis- for nonprofits, Joe teased out the complexi- “share risk, share reward, and share financial tening to thus far, and the approaches the ties further: large (1,000+ member), worker- reward much more broadly.” Joe joked that other presenters had been describing, Maida owned cooperatives can operate with very he would like to see a “folk arts for-profit” noted that no approaches presented so far, traditional management structures, which organization come into being, especially one in her view, would “preclude” the process are hierarchical and rely on decision-making that would support contra dances (his current of unionization right alongside other efforts from single individuals coming into play area of interest is running Brooklyn Contra)! and methods to make work and wealth more from the top down. Likewise, nonprofits and The juxtaposition of “folk arts” and “profit” democratic. That being said, Maida com- worker-owned cooperatives alike can operate caused most panelists to smile. A for-profit mented that she found it “amazing” how few with participatory discussion being a regular dance hall might work, he said, pointing out cultural institutions were organized in terms part of worklife, whether or not the major that leasing space is one area that can be prof- of labor, even in the more public institutions. decision-making is made traditionally by an itable and sustainable in the arts. Joe wound In smaller organizations, or more “rari- executive or more collectively. There can be up by returning to the differences between fied” ones like galleries, she said, “unions are a “middle ground” in which the participa- asking how far one wants to go with creat- virtually nonexistent.” “Most workers who
34 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore are working in those settings have very little power.” An option of electing board mem- See more online: bers or changing the work structure “does Own The Change: Building Economic Democracy One Worker not actually exist.” These cultural workers Co-op at a Time “don’t have any ability to make changes in the “A short, practical guide for those considering worker owned cooperatives, workplace, other than as individuals hoping made by GRITtv & TESA, the Toolbox for Education and Social Action. Featuring to negotiate or navigate a better situation.” So conversations with worker-owners from Union Cab; Ginger Moon; Arizmendi the step that Maida said she would posit is Bakery, Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA); New Era for these workers to begin looking at unions. Windows; and more.” (22:12) Folk arts, she conjectured, would be a field in
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 35 New York Folklore Society followed up Submission Guidelines for the initial forum on democratization with a Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore workshop at South Oxford Space in Brook- Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is lyn on October 23, 2016. The workshop, led Style a membership magazine of the New York The journal follows The Chicago Manual of Style. by Ileia Burgos of Green Worker Coopera- Folklore Society (www.nyfolklore.org). Consult Webster’s Third International Dictionary for tives in the Bronx, presented an overview of The New York Folklore Society is a nonprofit, questions of spelling, meaning, and usage, and avoid statewide organization dedicated to furthering gender-specific terminology. cooperatives as business structures and fo- cultural equity and cross-cultural understanding Footnotes. Endnotes and footnotes should be cused on how this work structure might be through programs that nurture folk cultural expres- avoided; incorporate such information into the text. sions within communities where they originate, Ancillary information may be submitted as a sidebar. of benefit to artists and culture workers/ share these traditions across cultural boundaries, Bibliographic citations. For citations of text arts administrators. Green Worker Coopera- and enhance the understanding and appreciation of from outside sources, use the author-date style folk culture. Through Voices the society communi- described in The Chicago Manual of Style. tives
36 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore RadioBY HELEN CONDONFlyer
[Author’s Note: When I was eight years old, in 1948, I crept downstairs in the middle of the night Christmas day to find Santa had left me a doll carriage. I tried to take it apart, thinking I could make it into a wagon and my parents wouldn’t know the difference.]
I offer to pull the wagon for Mrs. Borst I could run with it and still talk polite. As I am short and the handle is a little low “Yes, dear, it is. He pulls the baby around in it.” For an adult. Oh now, isn’t that just the ticket. It has been raining and the road is wet A little blanket in the bottom covering the grooves, So wet that the wide wheels throw water towards me And with its rounded sides for good gripping. Just missing my legs. The baby would get cut on any sharp edges The wagon is such a deep red, so thick with paint If you tipped over. That the Radio Flyer Company I figured I’d even take a brown one if Santa brought it. Must have dipped the body into the paint Even though brown is my worst color. Instead of painting it with a brush. When it comes to drawing pictures I The handle is black. even color tree trunks green. It fits my fingers perfectly as I grip it. In fact, if I wasn’t such a sensible girl, I Now, this is more than a just a toy. would throw out every brown crayon This is a tool. In the box. A tool that can carry rocks and dirt and plants. The white letters printed on the both sides of the wagon Mrs. Borst smiles as she walks beside me. Are in script. Her thick heeled shoes go, snock, snock, snock, Now that’s proof that this is a serious piece of equipment. On the pavement. Most toys have printed letters That along with the swooshing wheels form a song In upper case. As we leave silvery tracks on the road. Billy is a lucky boy, I know that. “Is this Billy’s wagon” I ask. And boys get wagons and girls get doll carriages. I’m not out of breath, not even a little. I know that too. It glides so nicely.
Growing up in Connecticut in the ‘40s, Helen remembers playing ball on the village green and wanting a wagon instead of a doll carriage for Christmas. Following the death of her husband of 33 years, she went back to school and received her graduate degree in Creative Non- Fiction from University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She teaches rug braiding and memoir writing and lives in Parishville, New York, near her three children. Photo by Todd Condon.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 37 Transcendence: Making Meaning with American Public Folklore Diplomacy Programming in Nanjing, China
Dedicated to Dr. Edward Guiliano, NYIT President and CEO
BY BEVERLY BUTCHER, PhD, WITH LI JINKE AND XU JIAYI
“Folksongs as Regulators of Politics,” by the Nanjing University of Posts and Tele- (CHC), Teaching Building One, Room 207, Betty Wang (1965) in The Study of Folklore, communications (NUPT) Overseas Educa- we as Americans were granted permission edited by my mentor Alan Dundes, served tion Program, my undergraduate students, by the Chinese government, through our as my introduction to Chinese folklore other students, professors, administrators, partner institution, to explore the folklore when a graduate student in the folklore and a few members of the public had the of specific regions of the United States by program at the University of California at opportunity to learn about the thoughts bringing folk artists, folklorists, and other Berkeley from 1979–82. From that article, and feelings—or worldviews—of region- scholars of folklore to this space. I learned, for example, that during different al groups of Americans, as expressed in As a result, Cultures of the American Gulf periods of history, the Emperor of China their folklore not only through assigned Coast: Work and Play through Story and Song had sent officials out into different regions course readings—for my students—but from Louisiana to Florida brought Dr. Nick of the country to collect folk songs in order also through the Public Folklore Diplomacy Spitzer, folklorist and NPR “American to understand how well he was governing Programming that occurred in one of the Routes” founder and host, as well as Tulane from the point of view of the people, as ex- original 12 American Culture Centers in University professor and co-editor of Pub- pressed in these narratives (Wang, 308–14). China, funded by the US Department of lic Folklore with Robert Baron (2007), along Approximately 35 years later, at the New State, on our campus. In the NYIT Cen- with folklorist Josh Kohn, to Nanjing during York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and ter for Humanities and Culture at NUPT the 2013–14 academic year. Their entourage included the Louisiana-based Cajun musi- cians Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival; Cajun filmmaker and Uni- versity of Louisiana folklorist Connie Cas- tille; and sacred steel guitar musicians, The Campbell Brothers. Independent scholar Sandra Parks also joined them and spoke on the work of Florida folklorist, social activ- ist, and author of The Klan Unmasked (2011), Stetson Kennedy. Finally, a “Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie” per- formance was offered. In 2014–15 Folk Arts of New York State were highlighted in this American Culture Center. Harvard-trained sociologist and Alex Torres and His Latin Orchestra poster. All New York posters by former CHC assistant NYIT Campus Dean Dr. Monique Taylor Zhu Ruida, presently a student in Northwestern University’s MS in Leadership for Creative spoke on “Changing Foodways in Gentri- Enterprises Program.
38 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Frank London and Lisa Gukin of The Klezmatics informally discuss similarities between klezmer music and that of Chinese folk music with Chinese student musicians, CHC, April 10, 2015. All photos by Beverly Butcher unless otherwise noted. fying Harlem,” and MIT Professor Chris- what lasting value will the experience of in addition to the two surveys before pro- topher Dewart lectured on “From Shaker these two programs have? As Stephen D. viding any feedback they wanted to share to IKEA,” A Folk Arts of New York State Winick asked in the conclusion of his piece with us. Additionally, we made this request Lecture on Furniture Making.” New York on “Folklore and/in Music”: “What does of all of our programming participants. Folklore Society Director Dr. Ellen McHale this mean?” (Winick 2014, 480). Finally, we asked for feedback from Dr. offered a presentation on her book Stable In an effort to answer this question as Jennifer Tarlin, then director of the Univer- Views: Voices and Stories of the Thoroughbred a folklorist, professor, and the director of sity of Shanghai for Science and Technol- Racetrack (2015). In addition, Goucher Col- the former NYIT Center for Humanities ogy (USST)–University of North Dakota lege Cultural Sustainability faculty member and Culture at NUPT, now known as the (UND) American Culture Center with re- Dr. Robert Baron presented on “Folklore NYIT–NUPT Campus Commons, the two gard to our shared folklore programming and Cultural Tourism.” The world class former Student Associate Directors Li Jin- during these years. We received 21 respons- Klezmer band, The Klezmatics—whose ke and Xu Jiayi and I created two surveys to es to our inquiries. performance included songs from their be completed by 22 other former student Prior to sharing our findings, I would 2006 CD, Wonder Wheel, with music put assistants who worked in the Center during like to provide a bit more of the context in to Woody Guthrie lyrics—and the award- the years under consideration. We sent the which the Cultures of the American Gulf Coast winning Amsterdam, New York-based Alex surveys via email to the students, many of and Folk Arts of New York State program- Torres and his Latin Orchestra were also whom are now in top graduate school in the ming occurred and some of my relevant brought to China through one of the two US, China, or Europe or working full-time history which brought me to be director of US Embassy Beijing $50,000 Supplemental in any of these locations. We also sent a re- this programming in China. In one of those Grants awarded to NYIT for this folklore quest for NYIT and NUPT administrators institutions of higher learning—that is, In- programming. and professors who attended any of the stitutes of Technology—described by cul- What is the effectiveness of such folk- folklore programming to review my annual tural critic University of Pennsylvania Eng- lore programming in an Overseas Educa- grant reports, as well as Cultures of the Ameri- lish Professor Wendy Steiner as being likely tion Program in China? What purpose has can Gulf Coast and Folk Arts of New York to “become increasingly central to cultural it served? Who has gained what from these State Literature and Folklore course syllabi education in the future” due to the fact outstanding performances and lectures? Of (which had also been sent to the assistants), that interactivity through the internet and
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 39 ation in the Catholic Church (Butcher 1994; 2010), as a result of these Taiwan years. My year of teaching American folklore and lit- erature at USST—coincidentally—from 1986–87, when I had the opportunity to personally learn how revered Alan Dundes (1934–2005) was among Shanghai folklor- ists and his Chinese folklore studies coun- terpart, the honorable Beijing-based Zhong Jingwen (1903–2002), did as well (Butcher 1990, 54; Liu 2014, 192; Kang, Baron, and Wang 2014, 267). In my case, I came to the folk, and the folk shared with me, for the most part, in a non-traditional setting. In the case of my students and of others at NYIT–NUPT Nanjing, Room 207, for the most part, The Campbell Brothers perform during informal session with audience, CHC, May 15, 2015. served as the non-traditional setting where Student Associate Director Huang Wei (2015–16), “American Routes” host Nick Spitzer, and ac- companying musician Cao Jiawang (Guangzholu Xinghai Conservatory of Music) on left. the various folk under consideration came to them, and where the attempted applica- mass media are “the central thrust of con- small mountain to a temple in Taiwan dur- tion of Public Folklore Diplomacy “to an temporary culture” (Wendy Steiner, pers. ing those years, as well as during 1997–98 ‘audience’ in a new setting in an honest way comm.)—the New York Institute of Tech- in Chungli, Taiwan, changed my future. I that accurately conveys its meaning” oc- nology (NYIT)—and a highly esteemed wrote my University of Pennsylvania dis- curred, to use Richard Kurin’s words per- second tier university in China, the Nanjing sertation, later published as a book, on Chi- taining to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival University of Posts and Telecommunica- nese and Chinese American ancestor vener- (Kurin 1997, 23). tions (NUPT)—formed the extremely suc- cessful joint Overseas Education Program in 2007. Three hundred Chinese students a year, primarily from China’s educational capital Jiangsu Province, where Nanjing is located, enter our program and four years later receive undergraduate degrees from each university, after having spent their fourth year in New York (a three-plus-one program). In regard to my part of the story, my first experience with an “intimate, authentic en- counter with the other,” a Robert Cantwell phrase (1993, 274), through the “gift” (Cantwell 2007, 303) of the sharing of Chi- nese folklore by my students—as opposed to reading about the academic discipline of Chinese folklore studies for my professor— occurred during the years 1982–84 in Hsin Chu, Taiwan, where I had gone to teach English as a Second Language after having earned my master’s degree in folklore. The re-contextualization of the folklore narra- tion shared with me in the classroom or NYIT Campus Dean, Dr. Monique Taylor lectures on “Changing Foodways in Gentrifying Har- lem,” based on her fieldwork, November 13, 2014. Photo taken by a CHC assistant Zhu Ruida, on the back of a motorcycle driving up a courtesy of the author. “Changing Foodways in Gentrifying Harlem” poster.
40 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Former CHC Assistant Yin Xin indicates thought America was a perfect place and only remaining dread that the black[s] are in her narrative response to the survey ques- people there might feel superior to others danger[ous] or offensive[, a] kind of ste- tions evaluating the effectiveness of Cultures before, but when I got a close look, I found reotype in most Chinese mind[s]. Actually, of the American Gulf Coast programming that that most Americans are very nice just like they are awesome and talented, creative” prior to her experience of these events, she everywhere else, and there are also many (Anonymous, pers. comm.). Another as- felt that “American culture was a blur pic- problems in this country and it is still not sistant who evaluated the New York State ture” while Zhu Ruida maintains that she perfect” (Yang Zheyu, pers. comm.). Jing programming described the ACC in gen- learned, “American culture is not just all Yifei shares, “I love the Ellen McHale [pre- eral. Jin Yifei writes, “So when compared to about modern civilization and technology. sentation]…in regard to her experience with other student associations on the campus, There are more mysterious parts about... na- ture and traditions” (Yin Xin, pers. comm.; Zhu Ruida, pers. comm.). My observation over the years has been that Chinese students are typically educated about major historical events in American history, but not geogra- phy. Robert Baron concurs in his narrative response to our request for Folk Arts of New York State programming feedback, in which he states that although Chinese students are well informed about American popular cul- ture and “enjoy our fast food, they have a limited understanding of regional variations and traditional cultures in the United States” (Robert Baron, pers. comm.). Both the Cul- tures of the American Gulf Coast and Folk Arts of New York programming served to rectify this situation for our students and others. Yin Xin states, Jese Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival bass player Nadine Landry teaches CHC Our [C]enter brings concerts, film assistant Meng Xiang-lei the two-step while “American Routes” Nick Spitzer and Cajun film- events, scholar speeches to people in maker Connie Castille teach other students and faculty, Administrative Building Auditorium, NUPT, April 10, 2015. Nanjing, and let[s] them feel, hear and think about American culture. Besides, discussions after those events among the study of racetrack folklore…fascinating the ACC is undoubtedly more efficient and people from different background[s] stories behind the scenes attracted us much. attractive and meaningful. Being efficient (Chinese and American students and This lecture provided us with a chance to may be an important element in American international professors) deepened their understanding…It was a pleasure for take a glimpse of American hardships [in] culture because it sounds so ‘American,’ us to enjoy the time. We were relaxed a certain walk of life, which is exactly what which I barely experienced before” (Jing in the music and the stories….it was we crave since we’d better know the states Yifei, pers. comm.). Yin Xin shares that she meaningful in the way that it makes us [more] roundly” (Jing Yifei, pers. comm.). was surprised to learn that listening to the to think about things behind the events, And Wang Shuai responds, “Since I [have] “church music” of The Campbell Brothers such as cultural differences…it served as worked for the ACC [American Culture could have meaning to her life as an atheist. a platform for us to make more friends. (Yin Xin, pers. comm.) Center], it… [no longer means just a] won- She states, “I was a little doubtful…before derful indoor condition, nice western food, I went to [a] religious concert. But when I Indeed the formation of friendships in dessert and fluent English anymore … was there, I enjoyed it and found resonance” the Center during our presentation of the [rather, this place gives] … me a sense of (Yin Xin, pers. comm.). folklore programming is a repeated mantra belonging[;] our members…[are] a team…” Both Yang Shuyuan and Jing Yifei com- throughout the narrative responses. In the (Wang Shuai, pers. comm.). An anonymous ment on the meaningfulness of spending process of developing friendships, precon- assistant has learned, “…Each person time with the Klezmatics, especially on their ceived notions about the other were either should be respected. The brilliant concert tour of Xuan Wu Lake, the Nanjing Wall, changed or affirmed while positive experi- performed by The Campbell Brothers im- and Jiming Temple. Shuyuan remembers ences were shared. Yang Zheyu states, “I pressed me the most which eliminate[d] the the band “intently listening and observing
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 41 the Buddhis[t] chanting in Jiming Temple.” their meanings and they ours” (Spitzer chant the group heard at the Jiming Temple He adds, “Since I guided several groups of 2007, 99). is analogous to the repetition of sounds people…around the archaic part of the city, The students and other audience mem- found in klezmer music (Butcher and I [found] these pros, unexceptionally, mar- bers were the most joyful—exuberant, re- Mitchell 2015, 9). NYIT Professor Sumiao veled at how…Nanjing and China differ ally—during events in which they had op- Li, who earned her PhD in the US, but grew from their original understandings” (Yang portunities to participate in folk music tra- up in China, shares her experience along Shuyuan, pers. comm.). These words echo ditions as they were being introduced, such these lines: “…I remember asking the mu- those of Ellen McHale who also finds she as the playing of their erhu, pipa, hulusi, and sicians if those often repeated sounds had had misconceptions of China prior her visit guzheng with the Cajuns, or their violins with special meanings, and after being told they (Ellen McHale, pers. comm.). Yifei com- the Klezmatics, or dancing with or before were just vocals, I remember feeling amazed ments on how he heard the Klezmatics sing the performers—the two-step in the case of how people from very different corners of during the tour: “They are kind and easy the Cajuns and traditional wedding dances the world would use similar sounds to voice going, and they love much from their deep with the Klezmatics. In addition, perceiving feelings, feelings that could never be fully heart.” He continues, “It was magical to parallels between the American and Chinese captured by words maybe, feelings that were witness their daily life and talks before they traditions for the first time were found to be probably more similar than different, if we gave a show and shone. Also, they are pro- illuminative experiences: an NYIT profes- did not try to use complicated ideologies to fessional in that they composed and prac- sor (Butcher 1989, 1) sharing that she had differentiate and thus hierarchize you and ticed their songs again and again when walk- collected the Chinese folksong “Liange Lao- me, us and them, citizens and foreigners…” ing and chatting” (Jing Yifei, pers. comm.). hu” or “Two Little Tigers” in Philadelphia (Sumiao Li, pers. comm.). In response to Stephen D. Winick’s (2014, 480) question, “What does this mean?” I offer the following conclusions: transcend- ing difference to the extent to which all in the room become one through the sheer joy of the experience of the traditional or tradition-based music is perhaps the high- est, most meaningful point of magic real- ized though the folklore programming during these years 2013–15. The uplifting transformative “dialogic” and “emergent” experiences of all present—which made those moments possible with the Power- Point presentations followed by Q&A, ex- changes with and without dancing, where who is the guest and who is the audience becomes “a blur picture”—only in a good sense—could only help prepare our stu- Dr. Ellen McHale, executive director of the New York Folklore Society, lectures on the occupational folklore of horseracing as described in her book STABLE VIEWS: Voices and dents for their fourth year at NYIT New Stories from the Thoroughbred Racetrack (2014), CHC, March 23, 2015. Photo taken by a CHC York and for graduate schools they now assistant, courtesy of the author. attend in the US—the University of Penn- Comparatively, “love” and “magic” prompted Yang Shuyuan to exclaim, “I re- sylvania, University of Southern California, are two words used by folklorist Robert call how amazed Professor… [said she] was Dartmouth, Massachusetts College for Art Cantwell to describe the highest points of when she knew the nursery rhyme ‘Frère & Design—as well as in Europe and else- communication through folklore (Cantwell Jacques’ [had] a Chinese counterpart…” where (Bowman 2006, 67; Baron, 2016a, 2007, 303; 1994, 180), while another, Deb- (Yang Shuyuan, pers. comm.). 4; Baron 2016b, 14; Yin Xin, pers. comm.); ora Kodish, maintains, “Folklore is best Other enriching comparisons were made and for their first full-time jobs, as well as when it is practiced with a full and loving as well: Cajun musician Joel Savoy informed provide preparation for “better and deeper heart…” (Kodish 2014, 588). Our students the audience that the “ancestor” of the fid- thinking in [a] global cultural system” (Sun naturally discern such qualities when pro- dle/violin was originally from China (Butch- Rui, pers. comm.). vided with the opportunity to engage in er and Mitchell 2014, 12); the Klezmatics’ The evidence provided by the responses “cultural conversation” where “we learn Frank Young mentioned that the Buddhist to our surveys, and by my observations, il-
42 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore “American Routes” Nick Spitzer records jam session of Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival with Chinese students playing the erhu, pipa, hulusi and guzheng, which inspired Dr. Spitzer to exclaim, “That’s the best jam we’ve had since we’ve been in China!” CHC, April 11, 2015. lustrate that the CHC, in general during For what more can we as folklorists ask? tions: Cultural Representation and the Smithso- these years, and the folklore programming, Alan Dundes, though an armchair scholar nian Folklife Festival, edited by Cadaval, Ol- in particular, provided a platform where himself and a self-proclaimed “missionary ivia, Sojin Kim, and Diana Baird N’Diaye, 11–17. Jackson: The University Press of students and others could gain insight into of folklore studies”—a phrase he shared Mississippi. a variety of American worldviews by learn- with me about himself shortly before his Baron, Robert and Nicholas Spitzer. 2007. ing about Louisiana, Florida, and New York passing—would likely be overjoyed to learn “Cultural Continuity and Community regional variations and traditional culture. of the ability of an American Culture Cen- Creativity in a New Century.” Preface to This place and the programming here were ter’s Public Folklore Diplomacy Program- Public Folklore, edited by Robert Baron also found to empower these individuals ming in Nanjing, China, to ignite and inspire and Nick Spitzer, vii–xviii. Jackson: Uni- versity Press of Mississippi. and others to form international friendships students and others to carry his torch, a Bowman, Paddy B. 2006. “Standing at the and strengthen those at home, perhaps by torch which can only serve to enhance in- Crossroads of Folklore and Education.” participating in newly introduced American ternational understanding and world peace, Journal of American Folklore 119 (471): folk music traditions and/or by perceiving as folklore converts making friends, creating 66–79. parallels between American and Chinese an “authentic future,” writing their unfin- Butcher, Beverly J. 1989. “‘Two Little Tigers’ vernacular culture for the first time. At least ished stories (Baron and Spitzer 2007, xiii). in the Lives of One Family: A History.” Unpublished paper, 1–11. The University two students have chosen to include folk- of Pennsylvania. lore as part of the focus of their future ca- References Butcher, Beverly J. 1990. “Folklore: The reers: Communication Arts graduate Chen Baron, Robert. 2016a. “Public Folk- Chinese Approach.” Unpublished paper, Tianchen plans to “promote communica- lore Dialogism and Critical Heri- 1–59. University of Pennsylvania. tage Studies.” International Journal of tion among different cultures” while Zhu Butcher, Beverly J. 1994. “Remembrance, Heritage Studies 22 (8): 588–606. DOI: Ruida, our devoted poster-maker, hopes to Emulation, Imagination: The Chinese 10.1080/13527258.2016.1150320, 1–19. and Chinese American Catholic Ancestor use “media to bring culture and folklore of Baron, Robert. 2016b. “Mediating and Im- Memorial Service,” PhD diss., University each place to the world” (Chen Tianchen mediating at the Smithsonian Folklife of Pennsylvania. and Zhu Ruida, pers. comm.). Festival.” Prologue to Curatorial Conversa- Butcher, Beverly J. 2010. Chinese and Chinese
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 43 Kang, Baocheng, Robert Baron, and Wang ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Dun. “States of the Folklore Profession in China and the United States: A Tria- This article is dedicated to Dr. Edward Guiliano, NYIT President and CEO, who logue.” Journal of American Folklore 127 was principal investigator for the initial grant awarded to NYIT to form the (505): 264–84. NYIT Center for Humanities and Culture at NUPT by the US Embassy Beijing/ Kennedy, Stetson. 2011. The Klan Un- US. Department of State in 2011. NYIT Dr. Allison Andors, Assistant Provost, masked. Tuscaloosa: University of Ala- Research Director, Sponsored Programs and Research and Carlton Mitchell, bama Press. Director, Grants also deserve recognition for their part in the writing of Kodish, Debora. 2014. “Imagining Public grants and final reports, respectively. CHC Student Associate Director Huang Folklore.” In A Companion to Folklore, Wei (2015–16) has earned special thanks for his invaluable and numerous edited by Regina F. Bendix and Galit contributions to the folklore programming during 2013–15 as well as for his Hasan-Rokem, 579–97. Malden, MA: written feedback, as do former CHC assistants Niu Yicong, Yang Yue Yue, and John Wiley & Sons. Wang Shuai; NUPT Dean of Foreign Languages, Dr. Wang Yukuo, and “Woody Kurin, Richard. 1997. Reflections of a Cul- Sez” deviser and performer David Lutkins, for the latter. Thank you to all CHC ture Broker: A View from the Smithsonian. student assistants, past and present—beginning with Yu Hao—without whom Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institu- such programming would not be possible. Gratitude is also extended to USST– tion Press. UND American Culture Center then director Dr. Jennifer Tarlin for sharing her Liu, Lydia H. 2014. “Translingual Folklore US Department of State grant-funded programming with us: “Woody Sez: the Life and Folklorics in China.” In A Compan- & Music of Woody Guthrie,” devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley and ion to Folklore, edited by Regina F. Bendix Darcie Deaville, Helen Jean Russell and Andy Tierstein, directed by Nick Corley; and Galit Hasan-Rokem, 190–210. Mal- as well as MIT faculty member and furniture maker Christopher Dewart’s “From den, MA: John Wiley & Sons. Shaker to Ikea” PowerPoint presentation. Finally, the support of NYIT Nanjing McHale, Ellen. 2015. Stable Views: Voices Campus Dean, Dr. Monique Taylor, and Associate Campus Dean, Professor Keh and Stories of the Thoroughbred Racetrack. Kwek is, as always, greatly appreciated. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Spitzer, Nicholas R. 2007. “Cultural Con- A version of this paper was presented at the 2016 American Folklore Society/ versation: Metaphors and Methods in International Society for Folk Narrative Research (AFS/ISFNR) Joint Annual Public Folklore.” In Public Folklore, edited Meeting in Miami, October 19–22, the theme of which was “Unfinished Stories: by Robert Baron and Nicholas Spitzer, Folklife and Folk Narrative at the Gateway to the Future.” 77–103. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Wang, Betty. 1965. “Folksongs as Regula- American Ancestor Veneration in the Catholic Cantwell, Robert. 1993. Ethnomimesis. Cha- tors of Politics.” In The Study of Folklore, Church, 635 AD to the Present. Lewiston: pel Hill: University of North Carolina edited by Alan Dundes, 308–14. Engle- Edwin Mellen Press. Press. wood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Butcher, Beverly J., and Carlton Mitchell. Cantwell, Robert. 1994. “Conjuring Cul- Winick, Stephen D. 2014. “Folklore and/in 2014. New York Institute of Technol- ture: Ideology and Magic in the Festival Music.” In A Companion to Folklore, edited ogy– NUPT [Supplemental] ACC Grant of American Folklife.” In Conserving Cul- by Regina F. Bendix and Galit Hasan- Final Report for 9/20/2013–9/30/2014. ture: A New Discourse on Heritage, edited by Rokem, 464–82. Malden, MA: John Wi- Date submitted: 10/07/2014. Mary Hufford, 167–83. Urbana: Univer- ley & Sons. Butcher, Beverly J., and Carlton Mitch- sity of Illinois Press. ell. 2015. New York Institute of Tech- Cantwell, Robert. 2007. “Feasts of Unnam- nology–NUPT Supplemental ACC ing: Folk Festivals and the Representation Supplemental Grant Final Report for of Folklife.” In Public Folklore, edited by Beverly J. Butcher, PhD, is a multicultural 9/29/2014–9/30/2015. Date Submit- Robert Baron and Nick Spitzer, 263–306. interdisciplinary scholar (BA, English; MA, Folklore, UC Berkeley; PhD, University ted: 11/5/2015. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. of Pennsylvania, Folklore and Folklife) and former NYSCA Schoharie County Arts Council folklorist (1999–2003). She is the author of Chinese and Chinese American Ancestor Veneration in the Catholic Church, 635, A.D. to the Present (Edwin Mellen Press, 2010), as well as of a number of folklore-related articles, mainly with a focus on the Chinese diaspora and Pacific Islander Americans. Beverly serves as Editorial Board Member for CHINESE AMERICA: History & Perspectives, THE JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. She is Associate Professor of English, English Department Chair, and Director of the NYIT-NUPT Campus Commons (the former NYIT Center for Humanities and Culture at NUPT), Nanjing. “Folklore and Cultural Tourism” poster.
44 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore January 2017 Good Read Programming with the Charlie Whistler’s Omnium Gatherum: New York Campfire Stories and Adirondack Adventures Folklore Society The New York Folklore Society is extending its By Philip Delves Broughton. New York: Harper, May 17, 2016, 272 pages, 8 in x 8 reach! Please look at our January schedule as we in. ISBN: 9780062323613, $29.95, hardcover. may have a program in your region.
Jan. 14, 2017, 2–4 p.m., Mabee Farm Historic Site, Rotterdam Junction, NY Story Sharing. In Harm’s Way: Responses to Hurricane Irene In collaboration with the Mabee Farm/Schenectady County Historical Society. The recording of per- sonal experience stories by the NYFS is part of a two-year documentation project that will culmi- nate in an exhibit and a series of public presenta- tions beginning in the fall 2017. Each session will provide a brief introduction to the project, fol- lowed by one-on-one or small group interviews conducted by trained interviewers from the NYFS. Interviews will be scheduled in ½ hour blocks of time. Refreshments will be served.
Jan. 21, 2017, 2–5 p.m., The History Center of Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY (details TBA) Textile Arts Program, a program of the NYSCA Upstate Folklife Survey and Pro- gram Development – A Partnership with the The best stories are often passed down through the generations. Joy becomes a New York Folklore Society. memory, memories become tales, and tales become legend. Family photo albums Ithaca area textile artists, representing a vari- ety of textile traditions, will present their work. become time machines, allowing us to see into the lives of our ancestors, providing Project folklorist, Hannah Davis, will also speak brief glimpses into the lives they lived. Charlie Whistler’s Ominum Gatherum is a spectacular about her survey of Tompkins County folk and look at the fictional lives of the Whistler family, who have spent their leisure time in the traditional arts.
Adirondacks for the past 150 years. Jan. 22, 2017, 2-5 p.m., Auburn Public Presented as a faux scrapbook, discovered by young Charlie Whistler at his family’s Theater, Auburn, NY (details TBA) camp, this is an extremely attractive hardbound journal. The interior is lavishly illustrated Folk and Traditional Arts Narrative Stage, a program of the NYSCA Upstate Folklife with photographs, paintings, sketches, and loose-leaf notes that have been collected by Survey and Program Development – A Part- Charlie’s family. Every single page has a story to tell, and no two pages are alike. nership with the New York Folklore Society. Among the collected ephemera of the Ominum Gatherum are recipes for flapjacks, a Upstate Regional Folklorist Hannah Davis presents her work in Cayuga, Wayne, Yates, Sen- terminology chart for baseball fans, postcards, and newspaper clippings. The steady eca, and Ontario Counties, documenting the re- progress of time is strongly felt while flipping through, as a young boy in the 1960s gion’s folk and traditional arts. slips in a newspaper article that predicts 3D televisions, moving sidewalks, and video Jan. 25, 2017, 7–9 p.m. Mabee Farm Historic telephone calls. Earlier in the book, a young Whistler includes a letter from his father, Site, Rotterdam Junction, NY telling him that their family friend Teddy has received an urgent telegram informing him Story Sharing. In Harm’s Way: Responses to that the President was critically ill, and Teddy was quickly needed back in Washington, Hurricane Irene See description above for Jan. 14 event. DC. Suitable for nearly every age, Charlie Whistler’s Ominum Gatherum is a fantastic idea for Jan. 28, 2017, 1-4 p.m., Jamestown Commu- the quickly approaching holidays. The artwork included is incredible, and the practical nity College (details TBA) A Dance Showcase, a program of the NYS- knowledge makes this a gift that will keep on giving. Family members of all kinds will CA Upstate Folklife Survey and Program enjoy taking in this beautiful book, and it is sure to be looked over by every friend that Development – A Partnership with the New spies it on your coffee table. York Folklore Society. Project folklorist, Hannah Davis, presents a showcase of participatory dance traditions —Chris Linendoll drawn from Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chau- Northshire Bookstore, Saratoga Springs, NY tauqua Counties. Davis will also speak about her Follow us on Twitter @TogaNorthshire survey of folk and traditional arts in this region.
Fall–Winter 2016, Volume 42:3–4 45 Snowdrops: Science, Myths, and Folklore BY BARBARA SCHRAMM
looked out my office window to my life- I slipped on my blue, toasty-warm puff coat The Historical Prospective I less garden below, which is ringed with and boots and went to the garden. There, on In the 16th century, John Gerard, a cobalt blue bottles to stave off the dullness my hands and knees, I photographed, nose- botanist and herbalist, and author of the of winter. Then one cold day with branches to-nose, the little blossoms. When I breathed 1,484-paged Herball, compared the snow- bare, gray skies overhead, and snow covered in their delicate fragrance, I felt happy. I was drop and snowflake. He found they were so ground, something magical happened. The eager to learn more about them. similar he named them early and late bloom- snowdrops Galanthus nivalis have pushed For example, snowdrops’ thermogenesis ing Bulbous Violet. In 1465, he listed the their way up through the snow. I wanted to melts the snow. Their outer petals are stron- plant as Leucis i viola alba, or the white violet. jump with joy when I saw the little white ger than their inner ones, which allows the At first, Gerard said snowdrops had no me- buds and later their delicate, white blossoms. buds to push through the snow, heads up. dicinal value, but later they were listed as an Snowdrops, also called the Flowers of Hope, When they bloom, the blossoms face down- emmenogogue used to regulate menstrua- and the Fair Maid of February, are the har- ward. Sweet nectar within the inner petals tion and more (Larkin 2009; “Snowdrops” bingers of spring. Lured by their appearance, draws hummingbirds and bees. 2011). In the 1950s, snowdrops were used to
Snowdrops on April 8, 2016, Ithaca, NY. Photo by author.
46 VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore successfully treat polio in Bulgaria. (Kew Sci- her and transformed some of the snowflakes blog, July 21, 2013. http://lymeuk.blogspot. ence n.d.; “Snowdrops” 2011). into snowdrops. The plant was then named com/2013/07/snowdrops.html the Flower of Hope. The Druids named the Mayo Clinic. 2016. “Galantamine (Oral The Scientific Perspective snowdrop to honor the goddess Bridget, the Route)”. Drugs and Supplements. http:// An article in Planta Medica 2009, reported goddess of poetry, inspiration, and healing. www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/ researchers in Barcelona found 10 alkaloids In a German legend, snow lacked color, so galantamine-oral-route/description/drg- in snowdrops Galanthus nivalis, and another God asked the plants and animals for some 20067458 seven in in Galanthus elwesil. Of the 17, three of their color. The animal’s response was, “Snowdrops: Health Benefits Proven by were new to science. The haemantamine-type “No.” Only the snowdrop was willing to Medical Science.” 2011. Herbs—Treat and alkaloids can cause highly selective apoptosis share her color–white (Larkin 2009; “Snow- Taste blog, January 30, 2011. http://herbs- (programed cell death, involved in the con- drops” 2011). treatandtaste.blogspot.com/2011/01/snowdrops- trol of development and growth). In Galan- health-benefits-proven-by.html thus elwesil, licorice derivatives have anti-ma- The Folklore “Three new Alkaloids Found in Winter larial properties and can inhibit the enzyme In the Caucasus mountains in Southern Snowdrop Plants.” 2010. Science Daily. acetylcholinesterase, which effects the neu- Russia, old people eat the bulb to strengthen January 4, 2010. https://www.sciencedaily.com/ rotransmitter acetylcholine. Galantamine is the brain and to feel younger. In Bulgaria, releases/2009/12/091220175319.htm approved for treating mild to moderate cases people rub it on their foreheads to ease pain. of Alzheimer’s disease and treating traumatic The snowdrop uses are said to range from For further reading: injuries. In Galanthus nivalis, agglutinin lectin, an insecticide, to a remedy for memory prob- Grieves, Margaret. 1971. “Snowdrop.” In A is said to help injuries and the nervous sys- lems. (Larkin 2009; “Snowdrop” 2011). Modern Herbal. New York: Dover Publications. tem. Lectin is an antibacterial and antiviral. It From the scientific perspective, to folklore, http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/ inhibits protein synthesis. Research is being indications point to snowdrops playing an im- snowdr59.html done to determine its efficacy in fighting ret- portant role in health. Personally, I embrace Remedial Herbs. n.d. “Snowdrop.” http:// roviruses like HIV and AIDS. (“Three New the natural approach to medicine, but I also en.heilkraeuter.net/herbs/snowdrop.htm Alkaloids” 2010). strive to be an informed consumer. Always Sam Malone, who suffers from Lyme dis- consult a qualified expert before taking any ease, blogs about his success in combating remedy, or confer with your physician. This When I was very Lyme disease by making and taking a tincture material is not intended as medical advice. young, my father made from snowdrops. At first he used the At this moment, April 8. in the North- showed me how to look under a wild whole plant, now he uses the leaves and flow- east, bitter cold weather lingers, the skies ginger leaf for the ers which have less lectin. (Malone 2013). are gray, and the tree branches are bare. little cinnamon colored cup. I was The Mayo Clinic offers extensive informa- The snow flurries were so dense this morn- delighted. I have tion on products containing galantamine, US ing that my garden view was nearly oblit- had a passion for plants since then, brand name Razadyne, Razadyne ER, Raza- erated. But I’ve seen my snowdrops, the especially medicinal dyne IR, with warnings of interactions with Flowers of Hope, and the harbinger of plants. I lead other medications. (Mayo Clinic 2016). Is that spring. How grand. my first woodland walk when I was 13. After nursing school, a degree in Health because snowdrops remedies and Razadyne Psychology from Empire State Collage, actions are similar? and becoming a Certified Health Care References Practitioner, I studied many different The demand for snowdrops has caused Kew Science. n.d. Galanthus nivalis (common healing modalities and natural remedies “galanthrophiles,” snowdrop mania. The snowdrop). Kew Gardens. http://www.kew. such as homeopathic remedies, flower essences, and essential oils. I became a costs to purchase them have spiraled upward. org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/galanthus- master gardener in 2000, and then took Snowdrops are so sought out that picking nivalis-common-snowdrop a two-year apprenticeship in Medicinal Herbs. I developed teaching gardens at The them in Spain is prohibited. (Malone 2013). Larkin, Dierdre. 2009. “Fair Maids of Foundation of Light in Ithaca, New York, Perhaps we should plant more snowdrops or February.” The Metropolitan Museum and led garden walks for children such as “Taste, Touch and Smell,” and for adults share the snowdrops we have? of Art, The Cloisters Museum and as well. Truly, plants are our teachers. My Gardens, The Medieval Garden Enclosed, front dooryard garden is full of medicinal February 20. http://blog.metmuseum.org/ plants. Tea from Lemon balm, Melissa Myths officinalis for a relaxing tea, and much Legend says when Adam and Eve were cloistersgardens/2009/02/20/fair-maids-of- more. Discovering the properties of the thrown out of the Garden of Eden, it was february/ little Snowdrops was a treat. Studying the folklore, the uses, and the history, is a joy. winter and snowing. Eve was cold and cried Malone, Sam. 2013. “Snowdrops.” Making Barbara Schramm RN BS CHTP for the warmth of Paradise. God took pity on Herbs Remedies for Chronic Disease Mind/Body Health Care Ithaca, NY 14850
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CULTURAL MIGRATION: SAVE DISPLACEMENT AND RENEWAL A Conference of the New York Folklore Society THE DATE! The Castellani Art Museum At the center of Niagara University, New York 14109 April 8, 2017
The New York Folklore Society invites participants to explore the topic of migration and its impacts upon cultural information and cultural arts from a New York State lens. Migration across national borders reflects the conditions of an ever-changing world. The impacts of migration include the communication and sharing of cultural knowledge across geography and across ethnic and community boundaries. Migration also engenders accommodation, both from the hosting communities and the new arrivals. This shifting landscape may spark both positive and negative emotions, as hosting communities and migrants experience tensions arising from cultural intersections and differences. Dairy farmworkers in upstate New York. Photo by Lisa Catalfamo-Flores. Read more in VOICES, Spring-Summer 2016, “The Dream of America: Separation & Sacrifice in the Lives of North Country Latino Immigrants.”
For more information, call us at 518/346-7008 or email us at [email protected] Check the website for updates: http://www.nyfolklore.org/progs/conf2017.html