Let's compare 28 different "sky cultures" to see differences and similarities in the shapes they've seen in the night sky. Ranging from the so-called "Modern" or Western constellations, to Chinese, Maori and even a few shapes from historical cultures such as the Aztecs.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2019 (vol. 48, no. 4) issue of Mercury magazine, an ASP members-only quarterly publication.
As a tool for artists, perspective made its appearance consistently sometime in the early 1400s. It was not long before both linear and aerial perspective were utilized, giving depth and dimension to the scene, providing a more realistic view of the world.
For many years I have pondered the relationship of art to science, and cultural change in general. Is it art that drives change within culture, or are the artists merely reflecting on new ways of thinking and giving them manifestation? As scientists, it seems we would like to have the science driving changes in perception, however I suspect it is the artists who are leading us towards a more realistic way of seeing nature.
Of course, this may break down with the modern abstract and minimalist schools of art. Though the roots of these predated the now pervasive quantum physics, and its emphasis on probability, and uncertainty. So, perhaps the artists were a step ahead, preparing our perception for the coming change in scientific paradigms.
Teaching and learning are cultural processes. As such, they do not express themselves the same way in every society. Just as individual artists have different ways of expressing themselves, so too do cultures. Many times, this is evident within individual classrooms, as learners from diverse backgrounds bring with them different ways of knowing, and responding, not only to the culture in which they find themselves, but also to the natural world they are studying in science courses. At times it is difficult as educators to recognize and respect the differences, particularly because we tend to give preference to a rigid idea of what it means to learn science. As with the rest of our society, our western European roots are well established in not just the science we engage in, but also in how we teach, and learn in the formal classroom.
Many students, particularly those from indigenous cultures, have a different approach to nature. While students brought up in a western European style culture take a taxonomic approach focusing on the properties of individual parts, learners from indigenous cultures take a more nuanced approach, emphasizing relationships within systems. Cultures taking a relational approach to nature also tend to have a rich history of storytelling, bringing together different aspects of nature to create a coherent narrative.
In some ways, these two approaches to nature are at the heart of every interaction and controversy having to do with conservation of natural resources. In these cases, the approaches are manifested in a tension between seeing nature as transactional versus relational. The transactional approach to nature is rooted in the viewpoint it is there for humans to make use of, to always think of the value we extract from either the place itself or the underlying resources. The relational approach recognizes deep connections to nature, with humans intimately connected to the Earth and the other lifeforms who also call it home. History is rife with the tension between these two viewpoints, with many members of the dominant western European culture crossing over to advocate for the more nuanced, relational approach to nature, resulting in legislation such as the Wilderness Act, Endangered Species Act, the Antiquities Act, and others. Of particular note are those who advocate the most strongly for the transactional viewpoint continue to fight for the exclusion, and rescission of any protections placed on land and species in an effort to add them to the inventory of places available for resource extraction.
In so many ways there is little difference between the Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park, Celilo Falls on the Columbia River, Bears Ears in Utah, Standing Rock, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Tongass National Forest, and the summit of Maunakea. In every instance, not only is there a tension between a transactional vs. relational approach to the land, but there is also one between the dominant western European, and an indigenous culture.
For an educator, providing a transformational experience for learners focused on relationships within systems can create a greater awareness of perspective than when focusing on individual elements. Many times, such an experience requires a slowing down, to decrease the sensory load, allowing nuances to emerge of how component parts interact in relationship. The creation or appreciation of art can provide such an experience, and park rangers in their interpretive practice do this on a regular basis as they tap into visitors’ affective realm. While a seemingly ordinary venue may provide such an experience, many times it is in the most spectacular places where we feel closest to nature. Indigenous peoples certainly recognized how some places evoke a greater feeling of relationship and perspective than others. Once such a place is gone, it is no consolation to point to it as an object lesson of what could have been.
Slowing down, one might sense the interconnectivity within a forest, or observe the sophisticated dynamics within groups of communal animals. To truly see the night sky may require stepping away from the eyepiece, taking in the depth of the vistas before you. We just might discover the truth John Muir knew: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”
Maunakea: A Matter of Perspective?
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has provoked a good deal of controversy. The process of getting the telescope constructed on the summit of Maunakea has seen both approvals and protests. Without a doubt, the telescope would provide a valuable addition to the tools astronomers use to explore the universe. When thinking about perspective, the TMT would certainly provide additional depth to the vision of our place in the greater cosmos.
As detailed in this issue’s feature about the TMT’s stalled construction, the summit of Maunakea is already home to a suite of instruments, so one might think the environment is already degraded, with little left to protest.
In recent years issues of human rights, and in this instance, the rights of indigenous people, have attained greater prominence in our consciousness. Or at least in the minds of those who take a broader perspective to see the land, and those who live there, are not just resources to tap into for monetary profit—or, in the case of the TMT, adding to human knowledge, which in a way is a different kind of profit.
Normally, I would celebrate the growth of knowledge, particularly when it comes to having a greater understanding of the universe. However, many times profit and knowledge come at the expense of another group’s rights and ability to practice their culture.
Perhaps the scientists, much like some sects of the religious majority in our country, would decry this point of view, claiming they are the ones who are made to suffer persecution. The last I looked, no one is suggesting the destruction of a place sacred to the majority; no observatory is scheduled for construction on the grounds of Notre Dame, or the Temple on the Mount, or in Mecca, for example.
The TMT is slated for construction on a mountain sacred to a particular group of people. It is not for anyone else to say what qualifies as sacred ground. To many of us, all ground is sacred, and worthy of protection from unbridled development and profit taking, no matter what form the profit takes.
As John Muir said about the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley: “These temple-destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar. Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.”
Brian Kruse manages the formal education programs at the ASP. Read more articles by Brian.
TORREY – Wayne County has some of the darkest skies in the continental United States. And, from October 4th to October 6th, enthusiasts from around the world will converge on Torrey to celebrate the wonder of those star-studded heavens. This annual Heritage Starfest encourages participants to enjoy the dark skies of the Colorado Plateau, to share the heritage of night skies, and to preserve and protect the nighttime environment.
Capitol Reef National Park will sponsor Heritage Starfest events on Friday, October 5th. Activities at the park include a daytime astronomy event and an evening presentation by Zach Schierl, the Education Specialist and Dark Skies Coordinator from Cedar Breaks National Monument. Stargazing will follow Zach’s discussion.
Saturday, October 6th, events sponsored by the Entrada Institute at Robbers Roost in Torrey begin at 7:00 with a children’s activity and prizes. Zach Schierl will be the guest speaker and stargazing will follow.
Finally, everyone is invited to join dark sky monitors in Teasdale between 9:30 and 10:00 PM. From the home of Gary Pankow and Barb Walkush, they’ll travel to five sites in the area using sky quality meters to assess the sky’s darkness.
Put these dates in your calendar. Plan to join in the fun. Call 435.425.2228 for more information.
On the longest night of the year, under a full super-moon, a ritual evolves in a small Utah town.
Mark Bailey, thotsandshots.net
A full super-moon rose as complete dark enveloped a crowd gathered in the December cold around campfires and torches to celebrate the longest night of the year with art, culture, and sculptural pyrotechnics.
For those like me who are not motivated by the Christian religious myth of Christmas, Winter Solstice is the natural time to celebrate the turn of the seasons. A ritual is called for and one is evolving in rural Bluff, Utah, with all the resulting tensions that come with change and growth.
Bluff is a newly incorporated town of some 320 souls in San Juan County in the far southeast corner of Utah. Like Torrey, it is an oasis of progressiveness in a desert of right-wing politics. Bluff supports Bears Ears National Monument and has launched a popular new education center to promote visiting Bears Ears with respect while the political system sorts out the restoration of the monument. Belligerent San Juan County commissioners (see Malicious Prosecution in San Juan County) were the primary antagonists to the formation of the monument. They infamously celebrated with Trump by getting their white cowboy hats signed by the nakedly racist president at the Republican monument destruction proclamation ceremony in Salt Lake City in December 2017.
Native Americans were the primary advocates for the history making monument. 30 Tribes have formally declared their support for the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition‘s effort to protect the Bears Ears landscape for all future generations. Half of San Juan County is Native American.
For seven years now, artist Joe Pachak has been creating sculptures made of local branches and brush to ceremonially burn on Winter Solstice. Upcoming Torrey House Press author Zak Podmore tells how Joe did not start out with a Native American theme. In 2011 he built his first sculpture to burn in honor of an elk he’d bow hunted that year. The next year he built a mammoth. The sculptures got bigger and so did the crowds. In 2017 he built a 40 foot tower of two dancing bears in a connection to the Ute bear dance ritual. This year music and dance were performed by Navajo groups and Navajo medicine man Curtis Yanito was invited to offer a prayer.
My guess is that around 300 people were gathered for the burn, a majority of them white and many, like Kirsten and me, from out of town. It was dark, and chilly, but I did not see many white cowboy hats. My sense, again a guess, is that most of those in attendance were supporters of the Bears Ears National Monument. The monument is to protect the natural landscape and its myriad cultural resources. The land is so resplendent with ancient Native American artifacts that it should have been the first national monument and not, 110 years later, the latest. At a celebration of land and culture it makes sense to invite Native Americans to share their culture. But the crowd and Yanito had different expectations for the evening’s program and not all Native Americans were comfortable with appropriation of their culture as entertainment for the evolving ceremony.
Max Oelschlaeger in his magnificent work, The Idea of Wilderness, expresses his hope that a new creation story will develop in way that rings true in the postmodern age which necessarily has, ” . . . both scientific plausibility and religious distinctiveness.” I have been besotted with the notion since I first read it at my son’s suggestion a dozen or so years ago. I founded Torrey House Press based on the same hope. A solstice ceremony is primed to have both scientific plausibility and religious distinctiveness. It is not the celebration of an implausible virgin birth, but rather of the shortest day of the year caused by the earth’s axial tilt. It is a celebration of the dark, of the assurance of a return of the light, of waiting and of receiving, of reflection and of promise.
The Native American creation narratives of human-kind emerging from the earth is much closer to the scientific story of our evolving from it. In both, creation is the creator and in neither are we created separately from the earth. Yet science cannot explain how life came about, nor what our consciousness is or how it came about, and a sense of awe is called for of the unlikelihood of it all. If you believe we were created by the Earth then you have a sense of natural source and connection. If you believe you were placed here by a super-natural being, a something or someone that is beyond nature, and ordered to fill and subdue the Earth, then you have a sense of a disconnected relationship. From this divide comes conservationists like me who think we need to revere and protect that which created us, and extractors, like the San Juan County commissioners who think they will get their end reward only after they have logged, mined, drilled, drained and grazed every last fragment of creation.
In Bluff at Solstice this year there were a couple of metaphorical crossroads. One was the diagonally opposed desires of conservationists, both Native American and non-native, in favor of Bears Ears National Monument, and the desires of the extractors opposed to the monument. Then there was the more nearly parallel crossroads of the Native American traditions and of non-natives in search of ritual who both revere and respect the land and celebrate the natural seasons.
Of the more nearly parallel paths this year, the medicine man Yanito and at least some of the crowd seemed to have differing expectations for the burn ceremony. Last year for the first time a short Native prayer was offered and translated. This year the dancing performance and the story of Coyote went on for much longer. Navajos may have a different sense of time than the impatient, and chilled, visiting non-native crowd. Perhaps a Navajo origin story should not be abridged yet many were there only for the spectacle of the burn. It is likely that both Pachak and Yanito were at least somewhat offended by the crowd’s rowdy impatience. Later, on social media, there was reticence expressed by Native Americans about incorporating their sacred traditions as performance in the context of a secular burning ceremony. The burn is a non-native’s idea and how to blend in Native tradition appropriately has yet to be fully determined. It is a creative and spiritual tension from which something original will evolve.
Where there is creative tension there are creators. Artists, poets, sculptors, and writers were all there. Kirsten mingled with writers in search of future words from the land. She will be there again. I may drop her off and observe from a quieter, more solitary vantage point. I like to listen in the dark silence for the music of the spheres. But I am eager to see how this ceremony with both scientific plausibility and a religious distinctiveness evolves. Under a coincident full super-moon, on the longest night of the year, how could something new not emerge?
Telescopius (formerly known as DSO-Browser) is a great tool for astrophotographers who are planning an astrophotography session. It provides a lot of useful information regarding the deep-sky objects visible from your location, and hosts an active community to share your work.
Getting started with Telescopius:
The first step is to enter your precise location (GPS coordinates or the name of your city), and Telescopius will give you a list of interesting objects to observe or photograph. It also displays useful information, such as the apparent magnitude, the elevation and the size of your target.
Telescopius has a comprehensive list of objects: galaxies, emission and planetary nebulae, star clusters, supernovas… Powerful filters allow you to search for your favourite objects, with criteria such as magnitude, elevation, brightness, constellation…
Clicking on an object reveals a lot of useful informations and additional features. For example, you can check the elevation (how high an object is in the sky) at any given time of the day, which is helpful to know if the target will be high enough in the sky. The background indicates the periods of the day: night, sunrise, day and sunset.
The monthly elevation graph tells you the maximum elevation of the object during the year, at a given time. For instance, in Germany, the Andromeda galaxy is a late summer object and is best seen from August.
As for the data sheet, it shows other interesting information. For example, the red shift indicates the speed of the object compared to the speed of light. Here, a negative red shift of -0.0010 (which is actually a blue shift) means that the Andromeda galaxy is actually getting closer to us, to a speed of 300 km/s!
THE TELESCOPE SIMULATOR
Another great tool is the telescope simulator. It allows you to preview how the object will look in your telescope, binoculars or camera sensor.
This is great for beginners, for whom most of the objects are totally new. Not to mention that some of these objects are actually much bigger that what we think! For instance, the Andromeda galaxy is about four times wider as the Moon.
How to use the telescope simulator:
If you are registered on Telescopius, you can save the lenses and telescopes that you are using, as well as the cameras, and select them easily in the simulator.
THE WEATHER FORECASTS
Yet another interesting feature on Telescopius is the 7-day hourly weather forecast. This page presents an overview of the meteorologic parameters of the upcoming nights, based on your location. It also displays the phase of the Moon, which is useful since our satellite is a source of light pollution.
The bands at the bottom represent the hourly evolution of the main parameters, such as seeing, wind and cloud coverage, as well as the sun- and moonlight. The colour code is simple: black is optimal, red is the worst.
For example, at 4pm, the sun is still up, so the darkness is obviously red. At midnight, the darkness is optimal (i.e. black), but the Moon is rising and will create a bit of light pollution, so the band is slightly reddish.
Of course, this is a forecast, and by definition, it’s wrong! But it is usually accurate enough for you to plan your session in advance.
Despite its convenience, I rarely use Telescopius’ forecast, because I prefer the more detailed astroforecasts of Meteo Blue.
A community to share your workLast but not least, Telescopius also hosts a community of astrophotographers, which you can use to discover the work of very talented photographers.
International Dark Sky Association 1/12/18
If an entire community could earn a gold star for good conduct, then the town of Torrey, Utah, has done just that. IDA awarded that star today by officially recognizing Torrey as Utah’s first International Dark Sky Community. Only 18 communities in the world have achieved this distinction.
An IDA International Dark Sky Community is a town, city, municipality or other legally organized community that has shown exceptional dedication to the preservation of the night sky through the implementation and enforcement of a quality outdoor lighting ordinance, dark sky education and citizen support of dark skies. International Dark Sky Communities excel in their efforts to promote responsible lighting and dark sky stewardship, and set good examples for surrounding communities.
Torrey is situated adjacent to Capitol Reef National Park, which was designated an IDA International Dark Sky Park in 2015. It is the first such U.S. national park ‘gateway community’ to earn the International Dark Sky Community designation. Torrey’s new status is therefore key to preserving abundant natural nighttime darkness in Capitol Reef.
“As Torrey joins the IDA family today, together we take a major step forward in achieving an important goal of the International Dark Sky Places Program to join parks and neighboring communities in dedication to preserving their shared night skies,” said IDA Executive Director J. Scott Feierabend. “Torrey has proven its commitment to protecting this resource for the benefit of both its residents and national park visitors.”
The stars began to align for Torrey when Capitol Reef was designated an International Dark Sky Park. This prompted Torrey residents, friends, and citizens from across Wayne County, Utah, to hitch their wagon to the International Dark Sky Park by working toward International Dark Sky Community status. In turn, the Torrey Town Council implemented an outdoor lighting ordinance, which requires street and building lighting to be shielded and directed toward the ground.
“While those who came before us left us our dark night skies to love, now we leave a legacy to generations of future residents of this special place we proudly call home,” explained Torrey Mayor Scott Chestnut. “We’ve often been accused of being ‘in the dark,’ but now we’re being honored for it!”
In a partnership with the Torrey-based Entrada Institute, engaged citizens raised money to replace the town’s high-pressure sodium streetlights with dark sky-friendly, fully-shielded light-emitting diode (LED) lights. The success of this campaign, along with education events and publications, made it possible to bring darker skies and brighter dreams to Torrey.
A unique group of leaders supported this effort: town council members, Torrey Town and Wayne County residents, local business owners and friends from across the country. Their enthusiasm and advocacy make it possible to preserve the stars for present and future generations.
“My 72-year-old heart skips a beat every time I see the glow of the Milky Way core rising from behind the silhouettes of hills where I know there is no nearby city to explain the intense brightness of this glowing,” said Torrey resident Bonnie Kaufman. “It is eerie, breathtaking and spiritual!”
To maintain its International Dark Sky Community status, Torrey must continue to preserve its night sky through education and awareness materials, dark sky events, exhibits, and programs. An official celebration will be held in Torrey during the Heritage Star Festival on October 5 and 6, 2018.


Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Parti-clothing or mi-parti fashion describes a method of decoration where one half or one quarter of a garment was made in one colour and pattern and the other or others in a different hue. The fashion first appeared in the 12th century Europe and became a fashion zenith into the 15th century. Commonly worn by either sex, from ladies’ gowns to men’s tunics, hoods and cloaks, were all made in parti-colours, but it was masculine hose which were most often treated in this way. Described by Lewandowski (2011), these were divided vertically down centre back and front and sometimes quartered at the knee which according to Yarwwod (1981), highlighted accent and distinction to a well-turned leg.
Parti-coloured garments were thought to have became popular with the rise of heraldy . Among the titled the display of a coat of arms became popular according to Wilcox (1969). Costumes were divided into variegated colours displaying the family coat-of-arms, stamped in gold and silver leaf and coloured enamels. When these families intermarried their colours and coats of arms were conjoined. These costumes were passed down the family and valued as historic dress. Parti-coloured garments soon became a wider fashion trend.
During the late Middle Ages, European clothing began to evolve into fashion. No longer just costume with styles that varied little over time, the cut, shape, style, and decoration of clothing changed at a much faster pace. Fourteenth century, hose or chausses covered men’s legs were made of wool and generally brightly coloured. Wool fabrics were available in a wide range of qualities, from rough undyed cloth to fine, dense broadcloth with a velvety nap. High-value broadcloth was a backbone of the English economy and was exported throughout Europe. Wool fabrics were dyed in rich colours, notably reds, greens, golds, and blues.
After the spinning wheel replaced the drop spindle and distaff (a hand held spindle), the horizontal loom with foot treadles and shuttle simplified the production of textiles and clothing. Attractive clothing became more available and affordable and the emerging middle class began to emulate the styles of the elite. Improved tailoring techniques allowed hose to get longer, and by the last quarter of the fourteenth century the two separate legs of hose reached the waist and were joined into one garment, similar to what we today call tights. Some had leather soles and could be worn without shoes. At first, full length leg coverings were made of two separate pieces tied with laces called points to the breech belt, or to the breeches themselves, or even a doublet (a short, close-fitting jacket). Chausses were usually seamed up the back and closed over the crotch with an overlapping panel or a codpiece. As shorter clothes for men became vogue, chausse were made as a single garment similar to modern tights. Often the parti-coloured hose were matched with different colour shoes. In fourteenth century, red and blue were especially popular colour combination clothing.
The techniques of Italian tailoring allowed full-length parti-coloured hose to be cut in woven fabrics in separate panels. Using curved seems the leggings coul fit tightly to the leg and lower torso. Closer fit over the body became the fashion and well-fitted hose were an important fashion item for men of the gentry and nobility. As men's legs and leg coverings became more prominent, parti-colour hose were worn without the corresponding top, so the colour split was contained to just the legs,and each leg was a different colour. Various trends in colour and patterning were seen in men's hose throughout each period of their predominance. In fourteenth century, red and blue were especially popular colour combination clothing. The fabulous clothing once restricted to royalty now became available and affordable for the merchant class and a new upwardly mobile urban middle class. Fashions of the Late Middle Ages were influenced by the Gothic style, a look that accentuated slenderness and an elongated form for both men and women.
The fashion for long toed shoes (poulaines) became an obsession for men in the Middle Ages. Over this period in European courts the size of men's shoes got longer and longer until they were 24 inches longer than the foot.
By the late 14th century wooden or cork overshoes (pattens) fastened to the foot with leather cross straps and were worn to protect the foot segments of chausses. Fashionable courtiers could wear their peaked pattens at the height of fashion and protect their fine leggings
At first court jesters relied on elaborate skills such as singing, music, magic and storytelling to earn their place in the court. Then towards the end of the Medieval period when parti clothing became less fashionable, jesters frequently wore a coat made from motley colours, usually bright and patterned irregularly. Under this coat, they wore tight breeches often with one leg coloured differently from the other leg. Whether this was to lampoon parti clothing which had become passe, no one knows. The site of a fool dressed in gaudy clothes, using mismatched colour schemes and different comical embellishments gave instant amusement .
Lewandowski, E J. 2011 The Complete Costume Dictionary. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press
Wilcox, R. T. 1969 The Dictionary of Costume Charles Scribner's Sons
Yarwood, D. 1981 Costume of the Western World: Pictorial Guide and Glossary New York: St. Martin’s Press,
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Monday, November 09, 2020
At first, quality footwear was imported from England during early Colonial times . according to Allen (1916), the price of leather was high and the absence of skilled shoemakers within the colonies meant little use was made of the hides of the abundant native wildlife. England saw its colonies as a great market for finished goods, while it permitted colonists to export only raw materials and thereby safeguard the home based leather and shoe industry. Matters concerning the colonies were primarily dealt by the Privy Council of England and its committees. The Commission of Trade was set up in 1625 as the first special body convened to advise on colonial (plantation) questions. From 1696 until the end of the American Revolution, colonial affairs were the responsibility of the Board of Trade in partnership with the relevant secretaries of state, which changed from the Secretary of State for the Southern Department to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1768. Provincial laws with severe penalties were common as England's policy was to export more goods than it imported. Paid for in coin assured gold and silver was kept in kept in the mother country.
Pennsylvania issued a law in 1720/21 which fixed the maximum price for shoes. This caught selling shoes above the prices fixed by Provincial law or above the rates set from time to time by the mayor, aldermen, and justices of the courts, faced forfeiture. A good pair of men’s shoes was set at not more than; "six shillings and six pence.” ($49 in today’s money or three days labour). Women’s shoes should cost no more than five shillings, ($37 or two days labour ). The cost of children’s shoes would be proportionately less. Footwear could be paid for with money (pounds, shillings, and pence), more often by barter, and sometimes in receipt for labour. Cash in the Colonies, was denominated in pounds, shillings, and pence, but the value of each denomination varied from Colony to Colony. A Massachusetts pound, did not have the same value as a Pennsylvania pound, and all colonial pounds were of less value than the British, pound sterling. C olonists used several overlapping currencies and coins in circulation during the Colonial Era were, most often, of Spanish and Portuguese origin. The prevalence of the Spanish dollar throughout the Colonies, led to the money of the United States being denominated in dollars, rather than pounds.
Cost was prohibitive and the poor or less affluent let their children go barefoot and leather shoes were generally kept for special occasions (Sunday best), and usually only worn in church. Poor Colonial families might walk bare-foot to church carrying their shoes only stopping to put them on before entering the church building. Most faiths regard wearing special dress for worship important. From clergy to congragation special attire was thought to distract thoughts away from everyday activities. For many the discomfort of wearing ill fitting shoes had to be borne stoicly as a mark of faith. For others fine clothing was a mark of standing in the community and success. Ironically youths in Colonial America came to regard going barefoot a mark of general bravado.
Generally the faihtful considered it important to put some effort into their church attire in the belief God deserved the absolute best. In the Old Testament, God demanded consecration, that is setting the faithful apart by breaking their pattern of daily living. High priests wore sumptuoius clothing (Exodus 28:1-39); and by contrast ordinary priests wore linen clothes designed for “dignity and honour” (Exodus 28:2, 40). By extention the faithful should follw suit and both St Jerome and St Clement badgered the faithful to wear special dress for worship on the pretext the way in which one presented physically before God frequently betrayed an attitude of mind. To paraphrase Ecclesiastes, “Guard your steps when you go to church!” (Ecclesiastes 5:1).
Walbert D 2020 The Value of Money in Colonial America A North Caroline History Online Resource
Allen FJ 1916 The shoe industry Tha Vocation Bureau of Boston
Bezanson A, Gray R D, Hussey M 1935 Prices in Colonial Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania Press
Friday, November 06, 2020
Ebenezer Mackintosh was born in 1737 in Boston to impoverished parents. A shoemaker to trade, Ebenezer Mackintosh enlisted in the militia in 1754. Most Boston shoemakers were lower class with little opportunity to rise in society but in the militia, he became the Captain General of the Liberty Tree , a principal mob leader in Boston riots protesting The Stamp Act .
Guy Fawkes Day / Pope Night was held on November 5th and became a holiday celebrating independence from foreign military and political intervention in the affairs of the colonies. Pope Night was espcially popular in the seaport towns of New England, and in Boston, became a boisterous occasion for the "lower orders" of society to drink, riot, and make anti-elite protest. In the 1740s, gang violence was well established and residents of different Boston neighbourhoods, exclusively male, battled for the honour of burning the Pope's effigy. Prior to the procession through the streets, rival mobs (North and South) spent weeks building an effigy of the Pope. The processions were organized by an elected local officer with one from the North End and the other from the South End. Rivals fought to capture the others' effigy and the robust rivalry meant fights were common leaving many injuried and some dead. The end of the night saw the burning of the effigies by the victors. During the procession, masked and costumed revelers sometimes stopped at the homes of wealthy threatening to break their windows unless they contributed funds for the festivities. Pope N:ight was permitted only because the anti-papal theme made them acceptable to the ruling class.
With the passing years, violence escalated and Boston's elites were appalled urging authorities to crack down and The Great and General Court passed legislation in 1753, which prevented "all riotous, tumultuous and disorderly Assemblies" from "carrying pageants and other shews through the streets and lanes of the town of Boston and other towns of this province, abusing and insulting the inhabitants". Authorities were further hampered because many militiamen were themselves among the revellers. The locals were determined to have their fun and subsequent acts had to be were passed.
In 1764, a young boy was killed on Pope Night when the procession turned into a riot and authorities ordered the militia to destroy both effigies of the pope. after they destroyed the North End mob's pope, Ebenezer Mackintosh, and the Boston's South gang End protected their model. In protest, the two mobs stopped battling each other, and became unified in protest under direction of "General" Ebenezer Mackintosh, who led a single procession with his counterpart, Samuel Swift, leader of the North End.
In the following year, the Parliament of the Great Britain issued The Stamp Act 1765 which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America . The collected taxes were for payment for British military troops stationed in the American colonies after the French and Indian War, The Stamp Act was not popular and caused much unrest. Despite petitions being sent to Parliament and the King and protests organised. Mackintosh played a key role in wild events related to the protests and eventual repeal of the Stamp Act in March 1766.
The Sons of Liberty were a leading group of American dissidents led by the Loyal Nine . In 1765, the Loyal Nine had arranged the unification of the North and South End crowds and appointed Ebenezer Mackintosh, as their leader. Ebenezer Mackintosh was a born leader of men, and much respected for his abilities and as reward he was given a gilt uniform and a speaking trumpet for the occasion. He played a key role in other riots and events in the following year related to the protests and eventual repeal of the Stamp Act in March 1766. He led a crowd with Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Andrew Oliver captive, to an elm (the Liberty Tree), and forced him to publicly swear he would never act as stamp distributor.
By the 1769 Riot Act, colonial America had moved towards the American Revolution (1765-1783), and the class rivalries of Pope Night gave way to anti-British sentiment. There is no record of Mackintosh was involved in mobs in the late 1760s and 1770s protesting regulations by Britain. Although most authorities believe he was a Boston Tea Party agitator in 1773. He also spent some time in debtors' prison before leaving Boston in 1774. Ebenezer Mackintosh fought gallantly in the army for a short time before returning to boot making in Haverhill, New Hampshire. The First Capt General of the Sons of Liberty died in 1816 almost forgotten and in somewhat impoverished circumstance.
Tuesday, November 03, 2020
Sachsenhausen was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany and used from 1936 to 1945. Those held at Sachsenhausen were considered enemies of the Third Reich, treated harshly, fed sparingly, and killed openly. At least 30,000 inmates died in Sachsenhausen from causes such as exhaustion, disease, malnutrition and pneumonia, as a result of the poor living conditions. The labour camp had a large task force of prisoners sent to work in the nearby factories.
Exploitation and inhumane treatment of thousands of forced laborers included being parted from with their shoes and given hard to wear wooden shoes or no shoes at all.
The confiscated footwear was sent to the nearby Salamander shoe repair shop There other detainees sorted through thousands of shoes, some were sent for repair before being redistributed to people who had been bombed out, or those resettled in the occupied territories. The remaining footwear was sold to assorted German industrial and agricultural enterprises.
High demand for civilian clothing combined with war shortages and lack of natural materials like leather, gave high incentive to develop new polymers. Whilst priority was given to the armed services, manufacturers were determined to convince civilian consumers shoes with synthetic soles or shoes made altogether of synthetic material were bona fide. The German shoe industry connived to establish a shoe-testing facility at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1940. The Special Committee on Wehrmacht Footwear for the tests was established and the incarcerated population were inhumanely used to test new shoes on the "shoe test tracks." These were built by a research institute with nine types of surface, including asphalt, cement, cinders, broken stones, gravel and sand. There is evidence companies paid a "user fee” of RM 6 (Reichsmark) per day per prisoner to the Reichsamt für Wirtschaftsausbau (Reich Office for Economic Expansion) for the tests on the “shoe test track”. At first Nazi SS guards forced an undocumented number of prisoners ie Schuhläuferkommando (the shoe-testers commando) to wear new shoes and march about 40 kilometres. In 1944, the SS devised a special torture and made prisoners walk in shoes one or two sizes too small while carrying sacks filled with 20 kilograms of sand. Prisoners had to walk, march, or perform sporting exercises for hours on end, day after day, night after night in summer and winter. To keep awake some were given stimulants to keep walking even with giant blisters on their feet. Merciless guards beat the inmates and forced them to sing songs as they stood in line waiting to join the track. When weakened with exhaustion anyone daring to fall risked being shot by the SS guards and many thousands died whilst others were left crippled for life.
According to documents from the state authorities in the Federal Archives in Berlin among the better known shoe manufacturers involved were Salamander Shoes , the leading shoe manufacturer during the Reich. Richard Freudenberg claimed his company’s extensive research findings were attained by employees testing shoes at its headquarters in Weinheim. The managers at Salamander managers stoicly denied involvement to the allied forces, claiming only the Wehrmacht commissioned the tests. Records reveal, Salamander was among the first companies to send shoe models to the concentration camp for testing in 1940. After the War, few within the industry admitted to being directly involved, despite findings on shoe design from the inhumane experiments significanlty changing production and a move away from stitiching to using synthetic glues. Despite the denials many other experimental findings found their way into the ealry standard industrial handbooks of the early 50s. Those directly involved were never identified and thought to have made good careers within the industry or its trade bodies. Only one person was ever convicted in connection with the shoe tests and he spent a few years of forced labor in the Soviet Union.
Surviving heirs of Freudenberg , shocked by the role played by Richard Freudenberg whose Weinheim-based shoe company tested footwear at the concentration camp, called for financial assistance from shareholders, to develop a fund to help prison camp survivors as well as erect memorials at Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück .
Many other German companies in addition to Freudenberg, were involved and had their products tested in the Nazi shoe experiments. From makers of the shoe-lasts to companies responsible for developing synthetics and shoe soles all used slave labour to improve footwear for the Wehrmacht during the war. Only now are surviving German companies previously under the influence of the Nazi beginning to come to terms with historic atrocities and make recompense from profiting from during WWII. Through the process of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung the country is trying to learn from its recent past by admitting these unsavoury events did exist, and attempt to remedy same as far as possible, the wrongs committed in a positive attempt to move froward. A foundation was set up in 2000, to pay compensation to former Nazi forced laborers or their families, in which the German government and industry contributed in equal measure to a more than five billion euro fund.
Frankle E 2020 Germany’s Continental says it used slave labor to supply Nazis, test shoe soles The Times of Israel
Guenther I Nazi chic? 2004 Fashioning women in the Third Reich Berg Oxford
Jones E C Empty shoes 2001 In Benstock S I and Ferriss S Footnotes on shoes Rutgers University Press NY
Nahshon E 2008 Jews and shoes Berg Oxford
Reid C 2020 German Automotive Giant Continental Admits To Nazi Past Including Concentration Camp Deaths Forbes
Blau J 2014 Bloody Shoes Uneasy History
Continental was “the backbone of the Nazi war economy” Web 24 News 2020
Friedländer V 1983 Man kann nicht eine halbe Jüdin sein Verlag Roter Morgen.
Sudrow A 2010 Der Schuh im Nationalsozialismus: Eine Produktgeschichte im deutsch-britisch-amerikanischen Vergleich Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag
Supplier for Hitler’s War Continental During the Nazi Era Continental Magazine
Salamander The Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center in Berlin-Schöneweide
Sunday, November 01, 2020
People in the 19th century loved trains and when a five working day week became norm, urban families clambered to visit the seaside particularly in the summertime. Working boots were discarded as day trippers wanted to shoes walk through the sand. Sand shoes were lightweight canvas topped rubber soled shoes and thanks to vulcanisation of rubber were cheap, flimsy and usually wore out after a day’s wear. To reinforce the shoe a thin, flat rubber band was wrapped around the shoe and because this looked like a plimsoll line, they were called plimsolls and usually painted white. The significance of the colour was form a distance they could resemble white croquet shoes (made from kangaroo skin) and worn by the well to do. White plimsolls became a fashion icon of the younger working class and promenaders keen to look their best wore them with flannels and a Madras jackets. The simple plimsoll evolved into many other forms including the tennis shoe where sole patterns were added to improve grip; and in the US the high top shoe was worn to protect the ankle in games like basketball and baseball.
In the US at the turn of the 20th century Converse introduced the high top Converse All Stars (or Chucks - named after Chuck Taylor a famous 30s basketball player). During the wars servicemen were issued with canvas topped rubbers for exercise and most took them home as souvenirs. Soon their older kids were wearing them to dance to quick tempo dance music of Swing and Jive.
By the end of the thirties an Australian called Adrian Quist was a tennis champion and realized ground traction was the secret to better foot control on grass surfaces. Eventually he convinced the Dunlop Rubber Company to include tread patterns on their tennis shoes and Dunlop Volleys were born. Younger children wore gym shoes when the schools’ curriculum started to include compulsory physical exercise.
The appeal of American sneakers was confirmed when James Dean and Elvis Presley were photographed wearing low cut canvas topped rubber soled shoes. Chucks and Keds became a by-word for teenage rebellion.
Today the big footwear companies target inner city youth Afro-American, Hispanic and Asians demographics. Promotions rely heavily on “cultural influencers,” like bold colours and logos to appeal to cultural sensitivities in “ethnic pride.” Commodifying ethnicity is a deliberate marketing strategy to attract new and brand loyal consumers among inner city, low socio-economic groups.
High priced designer trainers have obvious appeal to street gangs keep expressing their individualism and sartoria. US street gangs like LA Crips and Bloods wear specific designer trainers as part of their uniform. Preferred brands are those worn by popular hip hop gangsters and rap artists. Colours play an important role in gang clothing i.e. blue in Crips’ and red for Bloods. As a result many leading sport shoe companies deliberately court the patronage of popular rappers and some continue to make reference to gang behaviours in their lyrics or videos. Probably the most obvious and up front example is in Michael Jackson's Extended Music Video, “The way you make me feel “. The video starts with the Crip Walk and Michael Jackson is wearing a blue shirt.
Some shoe companies have had to distance themselves from affinity with street culture by renaming some of their shoe lines such as adidas did with their 'Hemp" range, which was renamed “Gazelle natural, after public outrage. Also things like ‘stash pockets’ feature less in shoe design. Many high schools and universities have now banned footwear associated with gangs. Subsequent merging of music with fashion has seen leading sneaker companies working in close tandem with well-known graffiti, tattoo and sneaker artists to create an individual aesthetic which attract collectors.
The popularity of Retro sneakers (reintroduction of older classic styles) is principally to allow the younger customers the opportunity to own a pair of originals. Another reason for the retro perspective is many of the companies are now reaching critical birthdays which give them ideal opportunity to niche market classics. Corporate take-overs have also seen a crop of retro styles make comebacks as new parent companies are keen to see new life breathed into old established names like Converse (1908) and Reebok. Up until quite recently being smart definitely did not mean being ostentatious but all that changed as more rap royalty become actively involved in shoe retail and design. Run–D.M.C arguably started the pimp shoe movement by immortalised their favourite runners in song “My adidas.”
This started a landslide of interest with rappers designing their own footwear range. Hip hop impresario Jay-Z was the first rapper to receive a sneaker deal with a mainstream shoe company. He then went on to set up his own clothing and accessories line. Reggaetón, Daddy Yankee released his signature collection of athletic footwear DY and many others have followed.
The move from competition to freestyle skateboarding in the 90's meant boarder (now called slashers) were no longer restricted to skateboard parks. The popularity of thrashing brought a revolution in clothing which was heavily influenced by hardcore punk and hip hop. Skateboard shoes (decks) was another mutation of canvas topped trainers made by independent companies like Vans, Airwalk and Vision Street Wear. These sold in huge quantities and were bought by young people keen to avoid the shoes sold by sport shoe giants like Nike and adidas.
Skateboard attire became a fashion counter culture more in tune with Grunge than Bling- bling.
Experts believe the drive for the sneaker phenomena relates to a mix of popular culture, nostalgia, technology and investment.
In the past, high profile sports personalities were used by the major companies to endorse their products but due to recent falls from grace and spurious claims that sport shoes either prevent injuries or improve competitive times have caused the companies to rethink their strategy. Whilst the main bulk of sport shoes are sold for sport a significant market is directed at ath-leisure or fashionable trainers. The shelf life of a trendy trainer is short (3 months) and companies like Nike and adidas are forever introducing new lines. To add incentive companies offer "quick hit" shoes which is a clever marketing ploy and involves the sale of a small number of limited edition shoes as a special offer in selected outlets for a limited period of time only. With minimum advertising these events are hurriedly communicated through networks, websites and SMSs.
Sneakerheads range from casual fans of sneaker fashion to those who buy and sell shoes like blue chip investments. The shoes can cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars depending on their cachet. Some wear them, and have multiple pairs (in case one gets scuffed); whereas others keep them in their boxes and store in a bank and or display them, unworn. Shoe collectors will often determine what will sell and companies are obliged to follow. There are many web sites (Nicekicks.com and Sneaker Freaker), magazines (Sole Collector), books, songs and even radio shows all dedicated to sneaker culture. The phenomena have caught the media’s attention and now there are several TV documentaries on the subject.


The objective of this unit is to expose a Spanish for Spanish Speakers eighth grade class to poetry written by Spanish and Hispanic writers in Spanish and English. My purpose is to develop discussion and inspire creative poetry writing in both languages. This unit will have two phases: The first will introduce the Hispanic students to poetry in Spanish, and the second will introduce the students to the poetry of writers who like themselves are second generation Puerto Ricans. Although my students are fluent in spoken Spanish, they all have varying degrees of difficulty writing the language, but they are all fluent in English. This unit will be appropriate for use in language classes as well as bilingual classes in the Middle Schools. The poetry that I have selected will promote discussion, develop vocabulary and inspire writing. It can be taught in translation, in English, and can therefore, be used by an English teacher who wishes to expose his or her students to a sampling of Hispanic poetry.
My objective is twofold: in the first phase of this unit it is to motivate students and elicit their enthusiasm about poetic language in Spanish, allowing them to recognize how the sounds of the language that they hear at home are part of a very rich cultural literary heritage, thus affirming their pride in their cultural identity.
The main objective of the second phase of this unit is to present to the students poems written by Puerto Rican writers living in the United States who write primarily in English, also in Spanish and sometimes in “Spanglish.” Should the students identify with any of the themes presented in the poetry of the “Nuyorican” writers, it is my hope that this recognition would solidify their Puerto Rican identity, and affirm their uniqueness, as a part of this national minority in the United States.
The procedure that we will follow weekly will be to have a student volunteer read the poem of the week for its rhythms and musicality. The teacher will then read the poem to the class. The class will look for any vocabulary which might present difficulty in any or both languages. We will study the content and structure of the poems as well as any other linguistic characteristic of the poems, such as rhymes, metaphors or images. Definitions of these poetic terms will be given and discussed, examples of each will be provided, (whenever appropriate in the course of a lesson. After the study of the poems has been completed; the students will be asked to write their own poems in the language in which they feel more comfortable writing. We will discuss any difficulties found in the poems either in the content or in the structure. The procedure for analyzing individual poems will be further explained in the section of this unit devoted to lesson plans.
Background on Spanish American Poetry
It is not my intention to give a summary of the history of literature in Spanish America in this unit, it is rather, to highlight important moments or ideas within literary movements, in order for us to have a clearer idea of the development of poetry in Spanish America. For teachers who wish to have more detailed information about the poetry of Spanish America, I refer to very useful literary and historical sources in the Teacher’s Bibliography of this unit.
Poetry has existed in Latin America since the earliest pre-Colombian civilizations existed. The most advanced pre-Colombian cultures were the Maya who occupied today’s Honduras and Guatemala up to the Yucatan; the Incas of the Andes lived where we find Peru, Chile and Ecuador today; the Aztecs lived in Central and Southern Mexico. There were many languages throughout the continent, the most well known are “Quechua” spoken by the Incas; “Quiche” spoken by the Mayas; and the Aztec’s “Nahuatl.” We know that these civilizations were very artistic and advanced in many areas. However, they did not have a writing system. Their poetry was oral. The Spanish missionaries were the first to hear the artistic value of this oral poetry of the indigenous populations of America. We must then, rely on their translations to Latin, for the earliest examples of poetry in this continent.
In the anthology
The Yellow Canary Whose Eye is so Black
Poems of Spanish America,
Durán says about the Aztec kings, “ . . . they maintained “houses of songs” to train young poets and sponsored poetry contests . . . The Aztecs did not use rhyme but relied on a delicate balance between accented and unaccented syllables and elaborate symbolism. Their poetry of “flowers and songs,” was always sung or declaimed to music.” (Durán, Cheli 3)
The coming together of Indigenous and Spanish cultures produced a unique and extraordinary body of literature in Spanish America. Since the arrival of Columbus the mixture of races and cultures created a new way of seeing the world which was reflected in literature. In his book
Reflections on Spanish-American Poetry
, Jorge Carrera-Andrade says “The Spaniard “changed” upon contact with America and, although he did not yet become a Spanish-American, he gradually acquired the coloration of New World attitudes . . . the inner transformation induced by the American environment and way of life produced a whole literature: the narratives of the Cronistas de Indias, the first observers and interpreters of the New World’s beauty.” (Carrera-Andade 3) During the period of Conquest and Colonization many Hispanic Americans were educated in Spain. The poets of this historical period followed the European trends in literature but their subjects were always distinctly American. An example from 1569 would be
by the conquistador Alonso de Ercilla who praised the Araucan chiefs.
The period of struggle for independence of the Spanish Colonies saw a literature of deflance of authority and a sense of social injustice that never left the Spanish American writer. Jose Mart’ is an example of a poet-martyr who literally died fighting for the freedom of his Island. The poet Ruben Dar’o began the movement of Modernismo which was to influence even the poets of Spain. After 1880 when most of the countries were independent from Spain, Spanish American literature was to be unique and innovative. Dar’o experimented with new meters and introduced many new ideas, Duran notes the influence of Poe and Whitman on Spanish American poets from Dar’o to Neruda.
After Modernismo and the First World War there were many new currents which influenced the poets of Spanish America namely Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism. In Spain Ultraism appears and the Argentinian poet Borges brings it to this continent. Creacionismo is introduced by the Chilean poet Huidobro. All this activity occurs between 1910 and 1940. Many more movements and groups continue to write the history of Spanish American literature until the present.
The images found in Aztec poetry will appear again in poets like César Vallejo from Peru, Pablo Neruda from Chile, Octavio Paz from Mexico and many others from this continent. They are images of the tropics, and of ancient Machu Pichu, of hunger and injustice, of freedom, of life and death. Poets like Nicolás Guillén from Cuba and Luis Palés-Matos from Puerto Rico incorporate the African roots in the rhythm of their poetry, making their song unique. This Afro-Caribbean trend will reappear in the poetry of Nuyorican poets such as Tato Laviera. It is also interesting to note how contemporary Nuyorican poets gather the urban speech of their people and transfer it to their poetry, so that, like the Aztec poets, they continue the tradition of poetry as song. Their drum is played to also awaken their people but also to preserve this new speech, this so called “Spanglish” which defines who they are.
Carrera-Andrade sums up the uniqueness and value of Spanish American poetry as follows “ . . . an attitude exists in Spanish-American man which is his own; this attitude concerns not only the physical world but also the great concepts such as time, love, religion, politics. In contrast to the European, who feels historical emotion, the Spanish-American is a creature of the future and lives with passion in the present, which seems to him the only thing truly ‘perpetual’. There is a ’Spanish-American time’ which is not the same as time in other geographic regions. Similarly the poetry of Latin America is different from Spanish and European poetry in general, since it is the fruit of America’s sociological evolution and constitutes a stage in the development of its thought.” (Acarrera-Andrade 20).
As I stated in my objectives the first part of this unit will be devoted to the study of poems by Spanish or Spanish-American poets. To initiate the student’s glimpse into the roots of poetry in Latin America I have selected a poem from Duran’s anthology already mentioned. This poem is “Yo, el Poeta” (I, The Poet)(C. Durán 2) from Nahuatl. Discussion of this poem will give us a chance to find out how important an art form poetry was in pre-Colombian America.
In “Yo, el poeta” the poet says he is singer and he plays a drum which he hopes will awaken the souls of the dead. We will discuss how the poem shows the function of the poet in Aztec society. Why does he play a drum? Who does he want to awaken and why? In the second part of this unit I will show how the contemporary poets see their function in todays society and we will try to tie the two together to realize how far back our poetic roots go.
Next I have selected three poems by Feder’co Garc’a-Lorca, (1898-1936) perhaps the best loved and most universally known poet of Spain. His poetry is full of mystery and music and he has a profound understanding of nature. I selected a poet from Spain to tie the two continents together and to show the cultural continuity between Spain and its descendants. Two of the poems are from the book
The Cricket Sings
which was written for children and its language will not present great difflculties to the students. I also selected these poems because I think the subject matter will elicit good discussions. In the poem “Canción de Jinete ” (The Rider’s Song) (Blackburn ) the poem describes a place, Córdoba, in Spain to which the rider will never arrive. Our discussion will include the mystery that surrounds the rider. Why is he never to arrive at his destination? Is there a reason? Why are the words “distant and alone” repeated? Why does the poet repeat the exclamation “Ay”? Is there a rhyme?
The next poem from the same book is “De casa en casa” (From House to House) (Blackburn ). This poem suggests the idea of going from place to place as in “The Rider’s Song” discussed above, but in a different way, here the poet searches for and ideal place and finds that childhood is that ideal. It is a graphic poem, the children will be able to draw pictures of what the poet describes: houses, the seahorse, the sky, the earth, clouds, slings and stones, and a boy. There is a wish in the final verse of the poem: “I want to be a boy, a boy!” (Blackburn) This last verse will elicit the students’ own poems. They will be asked to write their own poems imitating Lorca’s; either beginning or ending them with “I want to be a . . . ”
The last of Lorca’s poems we will study will be from the book
Poems of Federico Garc’a Lorca
it is the poem “Surprise.” We will study the vocabulary of this poem, its use of the verbs in the preterite and the imperfect and its rhyme pattern but the content of this poem will be more important than the structure. It is a poem about a man who is mysteriously stabbed in the street. It will elicit discussion about the senseless cycle of violence that the children witness everyday in the inner city. In this poem death takes place without a reason and by surprise. Could students write about such an event in their city, either because they have seen it happen or because they learned it through the media? Children will be asked to write about an event they thought was violent. This might be a vehicle to exorcise the pain and anger often displayed by the students in school.
From Spain we will move to South America and study three poems by the Chilean Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) considered by some critics the greatest poet of Spanish America. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972. He echoed the voice of the Inca ancestors when he wrote his poem to Machu Pichu. He captured the sufferings of his people living in constant political turmoil, poverty, and oppression in Spanish America. He started writing poems of love and desperation but later on in his career, he stripped his poems of any literary pretensions and wrote the “Elemental Odes.” In this period of his poetry he wanted to be understood by the people, the masses. Thus, he wrote about concrete aspects of life and found joy in the simplest objects, and in nature: an onion, a pair of socks, the color green, the air, a seagull. We will adhere to the following definition of an ode in order to study Pablo Neruda’s odes: “A lyric poem typically addressed to some person or thing and characterized by lofty feeling and dignifled style.” (Guralnik 519)
We will explain this definition to the students and look for these characteristics in Neruda’s odes. The odes I selected are rather long but light in content and I think the students will enjoy reading them. Before we begin the reading of “Oda al color verde” Ode to the color green,) (Neruda 93) the students will be asked to make a list of “green” objects they know (grass, leaves, eyes, etc.). They will be asked to contrast their lists with the many definitions of green given in the poem. Are there any metaphors for the color green? Is there a rhyme? Students will be asked to write their own “Ode to the color . . . ”
The “Oda a una estrella”, (Ode to a star) (Neruda 113) is a fantasy about a man who steals a star and takes it home. The light of the star creates many problems for the man. He encounters many difficulties and must dispose of the star. We will discuss the story within the ode, and how the poet creates this fantasy. The students will be asked to respond to the following questions: What metaphors represent the star? How does the man steal the star? Where does he keep the star? What problems does he encounter? How and why does he return the star? Is there a rhyme in this ode? What vocabulary needs explanation? The students will be asked to think about something they have or had that they were asked to give up. They will be asked to write an ode to something they consider to be very precious but must be given up.
In his odes, Neruda tries to find what is universal to all mankind in the minute description of everyday objects; and in some odes humor is a main ingredient. Such an ode is the third one we will study, “Oda a los calcetines” (Ode to a pair of socks) (Neruda 127). The study of this ode will give us the chance to compare the many words used in Spanish for “socks” What is the word in Chile, in Puerto Rico, in Argentina, etc.? What does the poet compare his socks to? Why are socks so important to him? What are some metaphors for feet? We will review what is the “moral” of a story and answer what is the “moral” in this ode, according to the poet. Is there a rhyme? At this point, for our written practice we will make a class list of the objects we would like to praise, and we will write a class collaborative ode. For example, “Ode to gloves, hats, coats, . . . ”etc.
Background on “Nuyorican” Poetry
The term “Nuyorican” originally was coined by Puerto Ricans on the island to denote emigrants who settled mostly in New York. It was a term which had negative connotations. In his article “Teaching Puerto Rican Authors: identity and Modernization in Nuyorican Texts” Mr. Cruz-Malavé explains: “In the 1960s Puerto Rican authors began to reclaim this term. In so doing, they were affirming the immigrant community’s specific experiences, history and social practices, particularly code switching .” (Cruz-Malavé 51) This last characteristic, “code switching,” that is moving from one language to another, is what sets these writers apart from Insular, Spanish-American, Anglo, and African-American poets. Their language shows that they are indeed part of two cultures as the term Nuyorican implies.
This language dichotomy, at times, shows a feeling of ambivalence, of belonging neither here nor there, as expressed in the first two lines of Tato Laviera’s poem, “my graduation day ” “i think in spanish/i write in english.” (Laviera 7) There is much controversy among critics surrounding the language of the Nuyorican poets. Some believe that the use of English in a Spanish text interspersed within a Spanish text, somehow diminishes its “Puertoricanness.” Others like Miguel Algar’n state: “The power of Nuyorican talk is that it is street rooted. It is the way people talk in the raw before the spirit is molded into “standards” . . . It is a language full of short pulsating rhythms that manifest the unrelenting strain that the Nuyorican experiences.” (Algar’n 16)
This is a new language which requires the passage of time to become “legitimate” and “standardized.” If time shows that it does not survive because English overpowers Spanish or vice versa, at least the poetry will give testimony to its existence. Algar’n believes that “The poet is responsible for inventing newness. The newness needs words, words never heard before or used before. The poet has to invent a new language, a new tradition of communication.” (Algar’n 16)
The force that propels this poetry is a sense of social injustice encircled by a feeling of outrage at the conditions in which the Puerto Rican immigrants find themselves in most large urban centers like New York. It is bearing witness to the endless cycle of poverty and discrimination that drives the denunciation of this poetry. There is also anger at what the poet perceives to be the submissiveness of a people who come to the big city in search the “American dream.” This poetry wants to awaken its people and shock them into action as in Pedro Pietri’s “Puerto Rican Obituary,” where he shows that the dream does not exist. In this poem there is also a mythification of Puerto Rico as a vision of paradise another characteristic present in much of this poetry.
There is another type of poetry written by female Puerto Rican writers either born or raised in the United States, who write primarily in English, although Spanish is an ever present force in their work. They are concerned with the disenfranchized of the “barrio” but their poetry begins to move away from pure denunciation into other areas. They are concerned with international issues, femenist issues, and they show a preocupation with cultural identity. Their protest takes a more intimate and subttle approach than that of their male counterparts mentioned above. Rosario Morales, Aurora Levins-Morales and Judith Ort’z-Cofer are representative of this poetic trend which can be aligned with the poetry of contemporary Chicana writers.
As stated in the objectives, the second part of this unit will be devoted to the poetry of Puerto Rican writers. This part of the unit will be taught beginning in February until the end of the school year and it will be introduced once a week as in phase I of this unit.
The majority of the students in my target class are second generation Puerto Ricans much like the writers mentioned in Edna Acosta-Belén’s article “The Literature of the Puerto Rican National Minority in the United States.” They are “those Puerto Ricans who were born or raised in the United States and who are part of a national minority.” (Acosta-Belén 107) They struggle with their sense of identity in a society that will often reject or isolate them. These students are not exposed to the writings of second generation Puerto Ricans in their traditional English classes. Many times these students express their frustration because the schools they attend do not recognize people in their national minority, a fact that furthers their ostracism and sense of isolation.
In this phase of my unit I intend to expose the students to the second generation of Puerto Rican writers who have expressed a sense of outrage at the isolation of their people, and who have shown through their poems the injustices caused by discrimination and poverty among other social problems. We will study and discuss the attitude of the poets towards the United States and their feelings about Puerto Rico. The students will be introduced to Ms. Naomi Ayala, a young Puerto Rican writer born in Puerto Rico but emigrated with her parents to New Haven in 1968. Ms. Ayala teaches creative writing in New Haven and gives workshops for adults and children. She will be discussing her poetry with my class in a workshop she is planning to conduct for us during this phase of the unit. It is important for my students to identify with people who, like themselves, feel the isolation and injustices I mentioned above. In an issue of the magazine
Ms. Ayala says; “There is a feeling of displacement, because for me my home is still Puerto Rico. The richness of that culture is part of my make-up as a person and as a poet. I often feel like a fish out of water.” (Rodriguez 28) After the workshop, students will then attempt to write their own poems expressing their feelings about being Puerto Rican in the United States, and will discuss each other’s poems.
We will continue this phase of the unit with a poem in Spanish by Julio Marzán. This poet was born in Puerto Rico in 1946 and teaches Spanish-American literature in this country. The poem entitled “Sustancia” (Nutshell) (Barradas 94) is about a doorman in a New York City building. We will focus on the relationship between the doorman and Sra. Mathews for whom he sometimes has to get a taxi. We will need to explain the significance of the Park Avenue address to the students. Once the importance of the address is established, the social class differences will be evident, and the students will be able to analyze the tone of the poem and its meaning. Is the tone angry or matter of fact? Does the poet use a rhyme scheme? What is the irony in this poem? What is the relationship between Sr. Rodriguez and Sra. Mathews? The students will be asked to discuss this relationship as well as the irony at the end of the poem. How is social injustice shown in this poem? The students will be asked to imitate the style of this poem and write a poem that begins with “El se–or . . . es . . . ”
We will next study fragments of Pedro Pietri’s poem (in English) “Puerto Rican Obituary.” Pedro Pietri was born in Puerto Rico in 1944 but grew up in this country. His poems appear in several anthologies and he is also a playwriter. “Puerto Rican Obituary” (Lauter 2510) is a long mock epic of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States. It is sarcastic in its anger. I have selected verses 94 to 125 and 291 to 313 because of the age level of the students. An analysis of the entire poem may be too difficult at this stage. In the first fragment we will focus on the idea of the American dream. What is this dream according to the poet? Who promotes this dream in society? How are Puerto Ricans and African-Americans portrayed on T.V.? Why did all the people mentioned in the poem die? What is an Obituary? What is the empty dream? The second fragment is the end of the poem and Pietri’s idealization of Puerto Rico as a vision of paradise. What does the poet think about Puerto Rico? What is Puerto Rico like in this vision? The students will be asked to write about an aspect of being Puerto Rican in their city. They will be asked to imitate the style of this poet by repeating a certain phrase for emphasis.
The next poet we will discuss is Tato Laviera who was born in Puerto Rico in 1951 and has lived in New York City since 1960. He is best known for his book
La Carreta Made a U-Turn
in which he, like Pietri denounces the injustices that the poor immigrants from Puerto Rico are faced with in the city. From this book we will study the poem “Frio”(Cold). This poem is about spending a cold night in a building without heat; it is also about poverty and alienation. The students will be asked to look at the vocabulary and find the Spanish words in the poem, what do they mean: why did the poet choose to write them in Spanish. How does the poem make you feel? What do the last three lines of the poem mean and why are they apart from the rest of the poem? Students will be asked to think about a time they felt cold, hungry, tired, upset, etc., and write a poem about this experience. They can write their poems in English but they must use three words in Spanish, this procedure may also be reversed for students who are more fluent in Spanish.
We will continue our study with two poems from the book
Getting Home Alive
co-authored in 1986 by Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins-Morales who are mother and daughter respectively. Rosario was born in Puerto Rico. She married a Jewish-American political activist and in 1954 gave birth to Aurora, who moved with her parents from Puerto Rico to different parts of the United States. The poems I have selected are not about protest or denunciation of social conditions but rather about themes that celebrate life or that show how cultural diversity is a positive aspect of our multicultural society.
We will study “Happiness Is A Coqu’” (Morales 131) by Rosario Morales. The poet prefaces her poem with the following explanation: “A coqui is a small Caribbean tree frog named after the sound it makes. Coquis fill the Caribbean night with music. The one I write about is a species that lives in El Yunque, the national rain forest of Puerto Rico.” (Levins-Morales 131) The poet writes with admiration of the sound the coqui makes in the still of the night. She describes how the sound enters her body, fills her heart, and how it makes her feel. She marvels at how such a small “instrument” can make such loud music. Students will be asked, how many notes does a coqui make? What are the sounds like? What is the sound of the coqui compared to? How does the sound of the coqui enter the body of the poet? Where does it lodge? Why the heart? What color is the coqui and where does it live? What does the repetition of “coqu’” and “qui” do for the poem? We could continue asking questions about this poem which is so rich in images and joyful in its evocation of this minuscule but unique and endearing symbol of Puerto Rico. The students will be asked to write a poem beginning with “Hapiness is . . . ”
Aurora Levins-Morales is a product of two very distinct national ethnic minorities in the United States she is as she states in her poem “Child of the Americas” “ . . . a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew.” (Levins-Morales 50) I have choosen this poem because it expresses the multicultural aspect of American society. Some of my students have Hispanic surnames, but are also products of either multiethnic or multiracial marriages. In “Child of the Americas” the poet recognizes her Hispanic, European, Taino and African roots, that is, her multicultural background. She does not limit herself to two ethnic minorities, she wants to be accepted as a child of many cultures. She says English is in her consciousness and it is her craft. Spanish is in her flesh because she also speaks with her body, thus recognizing the importance of body language as a tool of communication in the Hispanic world. The discussion of this poem will be centered on the theme of multiculturalism. We will discuss who were the Tainos, when did they live in Puerto Rico, why did they disappear, when did Africans come to the Americas and why, what is a mestiza, what is a diaspora, what are crossroads, why is English a “tool”? The student will be asked to imagine a world at peace, without racial conflict; and write a poem about a future, ideal world, where peace and understanding among all people triumphs over discrimination.
The last poet we will analize is Judith Ort’z-Cofer. She was born in Puerto Rico 1952. Her father was in the Navy and her family often moved from the island to different parts of the United States. She had to make constant adjustments moving back and forth between two cultures. She is an English professor and has published poetry since 1981. From her book
Terms of Survival
I havechosen three poems: “La Envidia” (Envy), “The Angel of the Trash Collectors,” and “So Much for Ma–ana.” These three poems were written in English.
In “La Envidia” (Ort’z-Cofer 11) the poet envisions envy as a green snake. Through the use of several metaphors we see envy in its different forms. It is a necklace, it is someone elses strong muscles, it is a place you will never visit. Envy is insidious, and it starts as early as wishing for your mother’s milk when she gives it to another child. We will discuss first why the poet chooses to entitle the poem in Spanish. We will review metaphors and look for metaphors of envy within the poem. We will look for rhyme. We will discuss how does the poem makes us feel. Is envy a good feeling? What does the expression “The grass is always greener mean”? Do we have and equivalent expression in Spanish? The students will be asked to write a poem about a negative feeling such as envy, jelousy or hate, imitating the style of this author.
“The Angel of the Trash Collectors” (Ort’z-Cofer 53) is a fantasy. The poet tells us about an angel of grey wings who travels in the cities’ trash collecting trucks protecting the men who must leave their homes at “dangerous” hours to performe the task of collecting garbage. There are several vocabulary words which will need explanation. They are: laden, refuse, exhaust, dispelling, vehicle and oblivious. We will make use of dictionaries to find meanings for these words. We will then discuss when do the men leave their homes? Why are their dreams unfinished? What are the “oblivious jaws” of the vehicle? Who is the angel? Why is the angel with the men? What do you think about the work the men do? What feeling does this poem evoke in the reader? Students will be asked to write a poem entitled “The angel of the . . . ”
The poem “So Much for Ma–ana” (Ort’z-Cofer 37) is about several things. It is about so many unfinished things that we leave for “ma–ana,” (tomorrow) but it is about going back to Puerto Rico. It is the story of a mother who goes back to the island after twenty years and then corresponds with the daughter who has stayed behind in the United States. It is about a “mamá” asking her “ni–a” (child) to come back too. It is poem full of humor and emotion contrasting the many differences that exist between “here” and “there.” Students will be asked to look for the Spanish words in the text for their poetic value, such as in the rhyme “ni–a” “pi–a.” They will be asked to find out what is Mother’s life like since her return to the island? What does she write in her letters? What is the daughter’s life like? Is she happy? What is the daughter’s promise at the end of this poem? How does the poet convey humor and emotion? The student will be asked to think about the times they have been to Puerto Rico, who is left behind, perhaps grandparents, an aunt, an uncle, cousins? What is it like to go for a visit and then come back? How does this event make them feel? They will be asked to write a poem using Spanish and English, expressing some of the feelings that emerged during the discussion of this poem.
The last poem that I am including in this unit need not be the last poem to be discussed in the school year. There are so many wonderful poets that I have discovered in the course of preparing this unit that I hope to be able to incorporate more in my teaching if the busy school calendar allows it.
The poems chosen for this unit are a small sampling of the wide thematic and stylistic range of Spanish-American and Nuyorican poetry. Depriving the second generation Puerto Rican students of contact with these writers, will continue their social isolation and promote lack of self-esteem. They must not be deprived of their identity. Spanish-American voices should be integrated into the regular English curriculum. The canon must be also expanded in the middle grades.
Copies of all the poems presented in this unit will be available at the Institute’s office.
Lesson Plan 1
Poem: “Fr’o” (The Cold) by Tato Laviera.
Poem will be read aloud by a student volunteer first, then by the teacher.
In English: mph, penetrated, pores, mr. steam, embryo. In Spanish: asustos, (explain to the students that they will not find this word in the dictionary as it is spelled in this poem. It is probably a coloquial form of the verb “asustar” which means to frighten). Explain “personification.”
This is a poem about poverty and alienation. What is the importance of the three Spanish words used in this poem? What does the verse “second birth called nothingness” refer to? What is the effect of the last three lines of the poem on the reader? Why are these lines set apart from the rest of the poem? Why is the heat called “mr. steam”? Should these two words have a capital letter? What unfair aspect of society does this poem talk about? Is there any humor at all?
: Think about a time you were cold or hungry or upset, was it fair? Write a poem about this experience. If you write in English, use three key words in Spanish. Follow the structure of the poem “Frio.”
Lesson Plan 2
Poem “Sustancia”(Nutshell) by Julio Marzán.
Poem will be read aloud by a student volunteer first, then by the teacher.
: portero, calle 85 y Park Avenue, dama, tiene razón.
: Map of New York City.
: What is this poem about? What does Sr. Rodriguez do for a living? Who is Sra. Mathews? What is the relationship between Sr. Rodriguez and Sra. Mathews? What is the tone of the poem? What is irony? Is there irony in this poem? How is social injustice shown in this poem? Is there a rhyme in this poem? How many lines does this poem have? How many words in each line?
: Sometimes things are not what they appear to be. People are not aware that something is wrong in their life. Was Sr. Rodriguez really happy as a doorman? Write a poem imitating the style of “Sustancia.” Begin with “El se–or . . . es . . . ”
Lesson Plan 3
Poem: “So much for Ma–ana” by Judith Ort’zCofer.
In this poem the author creates an episode in the life of a mother and daughter separated by the return, after twenty years, of the mother to the lsland. The poem relates their correspondence which contains their impressions and feelings about each other.
Poem will be read by a student volunteer first, then by the teacher.
The vocabulary of this poem written in English, should not present any difficulties to the eight grade students.
Pictures, posters, postcards and books about Puerto Rico.
: What does the title of the poem mean? Why is the word “ma–ana” expressed in Spanish? Why did the Mother go back to the Island? Why do you think that the daughter stayed behind? What does mother do in the Island? What is Mother worried about? Find the Spanish words in the poem and explain their importance? Are there any metaphors? Is there a rhyme? What is the effect of the rhyme in this poem? What does the daughter promise at the end of the poem? Is there humor or sadness in this poem?
: Think about a time you have been to Puerto Rico or to another place; what is it like to leave someone behind? Write a poem expressing your feelings about this event.