Gammelgården Museum - Scandia, Minnesota

http://www.gammelgardenmuseum.org/index.shtm

Gammelgården Museum

"Established 1972 to Preserve, Present and Promote Swedish Immigrant Heritage."

'Jenny Jenkins' - notes filed here so I don't lose them again

Found in my copy of Betty Smith's "Jane Hicks Gentry: A Singer Among Singers," a version I scribbled out that combines Gentry's (p. 198) with the version in "Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee: The George Boswell Collection," ed. Charles Wolfe (pp.69-71) and, of course, Jerry Garcia's and David Grisman's (guitar tab in D at http://jerrygarciatabs.googlepages.com/jennyjenkins). If you want to hear them noodling endlessly on "Jenny Jenkins," the Jerry Radio website at http://www.jerryradio.com/ has a download available of outtakes from a National Public Radio broadcast in September 1993.


To write out my version:

D
I'll buy me a double of a
D
Girly whirly silk
D
To wear with my old gingham britches.

And here's a YouTube clip from Jean Ritchie's DVD "Mountain Born" improvising on what I consider the festival version ... the one that Garcia and Grisman also recorded. Priceless.

HUM 223: Three questions to ask yourself about your response to a work of art

Here are some questions that are designed to get you thinking about your response to a piece of art ... whether it's a poem, a play, a movie, a song, a dance routine, a movie or any other piece of art. They derive from English education professor Louise Rosenblatt's "reader response" theory, but they can be applied to other texts than those we find in literature. Ask yourself:

1. What about this work stands out in my mind?
2. What in my background, values, needs and interests makes me react that way?
3. What specific things in the work trigger that reaction?

We'll ask ourselves variations on these questions all semester. Please note: If you were taught in English class never to say "I" in a paper for school, you're off the hook in HUM 221! There's no way you can write about these questions without saying "I." One would guarantee it. I guarantee it.

Keep these three questions in the back of your mind. We'll keep coming back to them.

Here are links to earlier posts I put on "Hogfiddle" about how to write about music and on the literary theory the questions are modeled after, which is called reader response and which works just as well for music as it does for literature.

HUM 221: Postcolonialism, Native American literature and some links for in-class discussion Friday and Monday (Jan. 22 and Jan. 25)

Since we didn't have internet access in class Monday, we'll postpone this discussion till Wednesday, Jan. 27.

An interview with Sherman Alexie, who wrote the screenplay for a movie we'll watch (and who is also quoted at the top of our syllabus), on what he does as a Coeur d'Alene/Spokane Indian writer. In an interview with Katherine Wyrick of BookPage, Alexie spoke of the conflict inherent in reviving Native traditions in a culture shaped by a dominant European-American society that largely eradicated the traditions. "We've lost old ceremonies," he said, "and we're casting about looking for new ones. And we don't know yet if they're going to work or not."

Alexie said he feels "trapped by other people's ideas of who I am and who I'm supposed to be ... there are so many ideas about Indians, none of which we created. It's a special situation being colonized people where the colonizers always get to define us — and that still happens." The "colonizers," of course, are European-Americans.

But Alexie said Native writers have to take part in the larger culture.

I love museums, but for me the greatest part of all this is I'm a completely active member of the culture. Forgive the immodesty, but I think it's much more important for an Indian like me to be in The New Yorker magazine than it is for me or an Indian to be in a museum [so that] we join the culture rather than become a separate part of it. It's great to talk about traditions and to see them represented and to get a sense of history, but I think it's more important to change the possibilities of what an Indian is and can be right now.

We're not separate, we're not removed, we're an integral and living part of the culture.

Alexie talks a lot about "colonialism" ... in the quote at the top of our syllabus, he told a reporter for a newspaper in California, "I'm a colonized man ... we're a colonized people" Sonoma County Independent Oct. 3-9, 1996).

Colonial. Colonized. What does that mean?

Let's find out.

The links below will take us to a website on a literary theory known as postcolonialism that will give us a useful international perspective on it.

Here's a pretty good overview by Bill Ashcroft, of the University of New South Wales; Gareth Griffiths, University of Western Australia; and Helen Tiffin, University of Queensland, the authors of an important book called "The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures" (1989). They say:

We use the term 'post-colonial' ... to cover all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day. This is because there is a continuity of preoccupations throughout the historical process initiated by European imperial aggression. We also suggest that it is most appropriate as the term for the new cross-cultural criticism which has emerged in recent years and for the discourse through which this is constituted. In this sense this book is concerned with the world as it exists during and after the period of European imperial domination and the effects of this on contemporary literatures. ... What each of these literatures has in common beyond their special and distinctive regional characteristics is that they emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power, and by emphasizing their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre. It is this which makes them distinctively post-colonial.

While Ashcroft et al. specifically leave out the United States as they focus on former colonies in the British Commonwealth of Nations, a lot of what they say about emerging literatures applies as well to Native American authors.

Ashcroft et al. are quoted at http://www.postcolonialweb.org/, a website at the National University of Singapore that has a lot of information on postcolonialism. We'll keep coming back to it.

Also informative is the Introduction to Post-Colonial Studies on the Emory University website in Atlanta. Authored by Emory's Deepika Bahri and students, it has essays on a variety of topics. And the English department at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan has a detailed, although somewhat "literary" and specialized, website at http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/postcolonism/ ...

In class Monday, we'll also read some traditional poetry in Brian Swann's anthology "Native American Songs and Poems." One is a Navajo [Dine] "Deer Song" (page 5), and we will read a report on deer hunting traditions written for Utah's San Juan school district by Clifford Marks, a Navajo student at the College of Eastern Utah-San Juan Center. If my link doesn't work, paste this address in your browser:

www.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/bms/Issue3/NAVAJODeerHuntin.PDF

Joy Harjo, a Muscogee poet who now lives in New Mexico, has a poem called "Deer Dancer" ... we can learn something by comparing and contrasting it with the traditional Dine hunting lore.

HUM 221 - my schedule - spring semester

To make an appointment, email me at my school address -- pellertsen@sci.edu -- to enlarge schedule, click on the JPEG below.

Old church in family painting Olav's chapel in Sarpsborg?

That painting I have from someone in my grandmother's family of a church with a tile roof in Norway, maybe Sarpsborg? Linked here so I don't lose it, a picture of a building at Borgarsyssel Museum in Sarpsborg. Sure looks like it.

And Sarpsborg i middelalderen has a picture, with these cutlines: "Portalen på Olavskapellet på Borgarsyssel muesum er en kopi fra Skjeberg kirke en av de to middelalderkirkene i Sarpsborg." [Portal of Olav's chapel in Borgarsyssel museum is a copy of Skjeberg church one of the two medieval churches in Sarpsborg.] Not much information, but something to go on. It's a two-page PDF file available on the Sarpsborg kommune [local government] website. Address:

http://www.sarpsborg.com/pub/multimedia/archive/00006/Sarpsborg_i_middelald_6663a.pdf

hum 221 syllabus - spring 2010

HUM 221: Native American Cultural Expression
Springfield College in Illinois
Spring Semester 2010

http://www.sci.edu/faculty/ellertsen/humanities/hum221syllabus.html

"I'm a colonized man ... we're a colonized people." -- Sherman Alexie (Spokane, Coeur d'Alene), Sonoma County (Calif.) Independent Oct. 3-9, 1996.

Humanities 221-01 meets at 10 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Dawson 220. Instructor is Pete Ellertsen, 211 Beata Hall (the old Ursuline convent), telephone 217-525-1420x519. e-mail . Office hours TBA.

I. Catalog description. An interdisciplinary survey of cultural engagement and expression of Native American peoples in their encounters with European-American societies from the time of contact through periods of conquest, removal, assimilation, and the current restoration of tribal government and Native culture. Particular attention will be paid to processes of cultural adaptation, commodification and expropriation.

II. Textbook and materials. Larry Zimmerman and Brian Molyneaux, "Native North America" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1996); "Native American Songs and Poems," ed. Brian Swann, ed., (Dover, 1996); and Sherman Alexie, "Smoke Signals: A Screenplay" (Miramax, 1998). Also required reading are the explanation of postcolonial theory by the English Department at Fu Jen University in Taiwan and the "Introduction to Postcolonial Studies" by Asian Studies professor Deepika Bahri of Emory University, which give the theoretical background for the course.

III. Mission Statements. The mission of Springfield College in Illinois-Benedictine University Springfield is to provide students the best liberal arts education in the Ursuline tradition of a nurturing faith-based environment. We prepare students for a life of learning, leadership and service in a diverse world.

Benedictine University in Lisle is dedicated to the education of undergraduate and graduate students from diverse ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. As an academic community committed to liberal arts and professional education distinguished and guided by our Roman Catholic tradition and Benedictine heritage, we prepare our students for a lifetime as active, informed and responsible citizens and leaders in the world community.

IV. Goals, Objectives and Outcomes
A. Goals. Upon completion of the course the student will:
• Appreciate both universal and specific cultural values as expressed in the literature, religion, architecture, visual and performing arts in Native American cultures from a global perspective.
• Develop an esthetic appreciation of the contributions of Native forms of artistic expression as part of the nation's multicultural heritage.
• Reflect on cross-cultural communication processes and question culturally determined assumptions and beliefs in diverse cultural settings.
• Understand the processes and ethical implications of cultural appropriation and commodification of Native culture.
Objectives. The following Common Student Learning Objectives adopted Dec. 9, 2004, are addressed:
• Content Knowledge (Lifelong Learning) Know and apply the central concepts of the subject matter. (CK-1)
• Content Knowledge (Lifelong Learning) Use current research to support assumptions and beliefs. (CK-2)
• Communication Skills (Lifelong Learning and Leadership) Communicate effectively in oral and written forms (CS-1)
• Problem-Solving Skills (Lifelong Learning and Leadership) Seek information and develop an in-depth knowledge base, grounded in research. (PS-2); Use self-reflection to enhance personal growth and understanding of content (SR-3)
• Global Perspectives (Diversity) Recognize the importance of diversity of opinion, abilities and cultures. (GP-1)
C. Course Based Student Learning Objectives (Outcomes). Upon completion of the course, students will demonstrate their mastery of the following learning outcomes:
• CBSLO-1. Explain how Native modes of religious, philosophical, artistic and cultural expression were transformed by: (1) conflict between Native and Euro-American peoples; (2) forced assimilation of Native to Euro-American cultural and religious norms; and (3) adaptation of Native cultures to new languages, artistic media and social conditions (CK-1, CK-2, CK-3, PS-2).
• CBSLO-2. Describe recent strategies of cultural survival, intertribal adaptation and resistance to cultural appropriation that have influenced the revival of Native American spiritual practice and art forms (CK-1, GP1).
• CBSLO-3. Evaluate the esthetic merit of specific Native American expressions of practice, music, dance, visual arts, crafts and literature (CK-1, SR-3, GP-1).
• CBSLO-3. Exercise critical thinking in the use of current research and evaluative skills in written and oral presentation, study and research, including facility with using the World Wide Web for research and evaluating Web sites for content (CK-1, CS-1, SR-3).
V. Teaching Methods/Delivery System. History is more than a list of dates and names, and culture involves more than reading great literature or going to the opera. The humanities in general and history in particular are an accumulation of ideas and values that can be drawn upon so we can survey the past, find understanding for the present and better plan for the future. Students will be called upon to articulate their response to Native cultural expressions utilizing Louise Rosenblatt’s reader response theory, and to reflect on the transmission of artistic values across cultural boundaries. HUM 221, in other words, is approached from sociological, cultural, esthetic and artistic perspectives well as history, and Native American as well as European-American viewpoints will be addressed. Teaching methods may include class discussion, lecture, small group activities, videos and/or audio and video clips on the World Wide Web. There will be written assignments (both in- and out-of-class), conferences and quizzes as needed; students will post comments to the instructor’s blog in class. In order for students to keep this information in perspective, it is essential to attend class every day and keep up with assigned readings in the textbook and on the Internet.

VI. Course Requirements. As follows:

Attendance Policy. Class attendance is mandatory. Students will need to take a great deal of responsibility for their own learning outcomes - i.e., for what they learn. It is understandable that illnesses and emergencies may arise. In either case, please notify the school office or leave a message with the instructor by e-mail at pellertsen@sci.edu or telephone at 217 525-1420, ext. 519. If a student misses a class, it is that student's responsibility to get class notes and assignments from a classmate. In-class work, by its very nature, cannot be made up. Missing class will hurt your final grade!

Reading assignments. Please see course calendar below. In addition to the textbooks, links to assigned readings will be posted to the instructor’s Web log Hogfiddle at http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/. While we may not discuss the textbooks in detail during class, you will need to keep up with assigned readings in the textbook in order to maintain continuity and understand the broad cultural context for the artistic expressions we discuss in class.

Written and oral assignments. From time to time, you will journal your response to artistic texts – including visual arts, music, dance and crafts as well as stories and poetry – and comment on assigned topics by posting comments to the Hogfiddle blog. These posts are designed to help you engage in the artistic statements and focus on the topics we cover in class; some assignments will be reflective in nature, i.e. they will ask you to reflect on how your attitudes have changed as you engage the material in the course. All journals will address CSLO CK-1, CS-1 and GP-1; some may also address CK-1, PS-2 and SR-3 as stipulated in the calendar below. There will be a midterm and a final exam, each of which will address . Each student will write: (1) a documented term paper (at least 2,000 words or eight pages) on a subject to be chosen by the instructor on some aspect of cultural and artistic expression of a Native American people, or a related artistic endeavor or subject to be agreed upon by the instructor and the student; or (2) two documented essays (at least 1,000 words or four pages each) responding to an artistic text or reflecting on topics to be assigned by the insstructor. In addition to CK-1 and GP1, the term paper will address CK-2, CS-1 and PS-2. Additional in-class writing may be assigned without notice.

Means of evaluation of outcomes. Journals and blog posts will be graded for mastery of CBSLOs as evidenced by an evaluation of content, including clarity of thought and the use of relevant detail to support the student's conclusions. A final examination will be given, consisting of essay and short-answer questions, which will be evaluated for content. Quizzes and in-class journal exercises will be assigned without notice at the discretion of the instructor. Contribution to class discussion and participation in on-line research exercises in class will weigh heavily in each student's grade. Final grade weighting is as follows:

• Class participation, 25 percent
• Written/oral presentation, 25 percent
• Midterm and Final Exam, 25 percent
• Journals, 25 percent

Grading scale: A = 90-100. B = 80-89. C = 70-79. D = 60-69. E = 0-59.
Springfield College-Benedictine University policy on academic integrity:

Academic Integrity Statement. Academic and professional environments require honesty and integrity, and these qualities are expected of every student at Springfield College-Benedictine University. In accordance with such expectations, academic integrity requires that you credit others for their ideas. Plagiarism, whether intentional or not, is a grievous offense. Any time you use words or ideas that are not your own, you must give credit to the author, whether or not you are quoting directly from that author. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism. Any incident of plagiarism and/or academic dishonesty may result in serious consequences. Penalties for academic dishonesty vary depending on the severity or extent of the problem but are always serious. The following are consequences you may face for academic dishonesty:

• a failing grade or “zero” for the assignment;
• dismissal from and a failing grade for the course; or
• dismissal from the Institution.

Please refer to the Springfield College Benedictine University Catalog or the Student Handbook for a complete discussion of the Academic Integrity policy.

Grade Appeal Process. According to the Springfield College Catalog, grade appeals must be initiated 90 days prior to the end of one semester after the course in question has been completed. The process for appealing a grade is outlined below. First, contact the Instructor.
1. A student must appeal to his/her instructor in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed.
2. The instructor must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide a copy to the division chair. Second, contact the Division Chair.
3. If the student wishes, he/she may then appeal to the division chair in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed without the instructor’s permission. The student should understand that overwhelming evidence must be presented to the division chair to prove that the current grade is incorrect.
4. The division chair must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide a copy to the academic dean. Lastly, contact the Academic Dean.
5. If the student wishes, he/she may appeal to the academic dean in writing (e- mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed without the instructor’s or the division chair’s permission. The student should understand that overwhelming evidence must be presented to the academic dean to prove the grade is incorrect.
6. The academic dean must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable). The academic dean’s decision is final.

Add/Drop Dates

Jan. 25 - Last day to add courses
Jan. 25 - Last day to drop a course without a W (4:00 p.m.)
April 5 - Last day to drop courses

Incomplete Request. To qualify for an “I” grade, a minimum of 75% of the course work must be completed with a passing grade, and a student must submit a completed Request for an Incomplete form to the Registrar’s Office. The form must be completed by both student and instructor, but it is the student’s responsibility (not the instructor’s) to initiate this process and obtain the necessary signatures. Student Withdrawal Procedure It is the student’s responsibility to officially withdraw from a course by completing the appropriate form, with appropriate signatures, and returning the completed form to the Advising Office. Please refer to the Student Handbook for important financial information related to withdrawals.

VIII. Course Outline.
A. Cultural conflict and engagement
1. Meso-American and Native American cultural diversity and lifeways before 1492
2. Conflict between Western and Native cultural values and assumptions, warfare, removal and forced assimilation
3. Cultural survival, intertribal adaptation and revival of Native American spiritual practice, music, dance, visual arts, crafts and literature
B. Regional diversity and national cultural expression
1. Northeast -- Iroquois confederation and American political philosophy
2. Southeast/Oklahoma -- assimilation, identity and literary flowering
3. Great Plains -- Black Elk, White Buffalo Woman, the Red Road, commodification and cultural expropriation
4. The High Plains and the Powwow Trail -- cedar flutes, drums, dance and intertribal cultural identity
5. Great Basin -- Chief Joseph, Chief Seattle's speech, indigenous peoples and environmental consciousness
6. Southwestern Desert -- Water, corn, cliff dwellings and adobe architecture, meso-American cultural patterns and the Spanish mission system, and cultural/religious survival among the Tohono O'odham and Pueblo (Hopi and Zuni) peoples
7. The Dinetah and the Old Southwest -- Navajo (Dine) and Apache cultural adaptation, sheepherding, weaving, visual arts, metalwork, literature and other forms of cultural expression
8. California -- Issi, the "End of the Trail" and European-American attitudes toward Native cultural survival
9. Northwest Coast -- collision of maritime cultures
10. Arctic and Subarctic cultural areas -- comparison of Canadian, U.S. and (briefly) Russian colonialism
C. Cultural identity, engagement, commodification and survival

IX. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Springfield College in Illinois/Benedictine University at Springfield provides individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in educational programs, activities, and services. Students with disabilities requiring accommodations to participate in campus-sponsored programs, activities, and services, or to meet course requirements, should contact the Director of the Resource Center as early as possible.

If documentation of the disability (either learning or physical) is not already on file, it may be requested. Once on file, an individual student’s disability documentation is shared only at that individual’s request and solely with the parties whom the student wishes it shared. Requests are kept confidential and may be made by emailing jharris@sci.edu or by calling 217-525-1420, ext. 306.

X. Assessment. Goals, objectives, and learning outcomes that will be assessed in the class are those of SCI's statement of Common Student Learning Outcomes dated Dec. 9, 2004, as stated in Sections IV and VI of this syllabus above. In addition to a non-graded reflective essay regarding student learning outcomes throughout the course, the instructor will use embedded questions in graded work and other Classroom Assessment Techniques as deemed necessary in order to provide continuous improvement of instruction. Specific assignments will be assessed for students' progress toward the goals set forth in Common Student Learning Outcomes statement of Dec. 9, 2004, as stipulated above. Students are required to take part in all assessment measures.

XI. Illinois Articulation Initiative. HUM 221 has been approved by IAI as meeting the criteria for interdisciplinary humanities course No. HF 906D: American Ethnic Cultural Expression (3 semester credits) Interdisciplinary study of art, architecture, music, literature, history and philosophy reflecting the cultural identity of American racial and ethnic minorities.

XII. Names. Following the usage of many -- although not all -- writers of Native American heritage, I use the terms "Native American" and "American Indian" interchangeably. "First Nations" and "indigenous people" also are commonly encountered, especially in Canada. Since tribal customs vary widely, it is usually best to identify people by specific heritage -- e.g. Cherokee, Kickapoo, Shawnee, Sauk, Fox, etc. Many Native peoples prefer to name themselves in their own language rather than English; I try to follow their usage, with the English name in parentheses -- as with the Dine (Navajo) or Tohono O'odham (Papago) peoples. For U.S. Census figures on the preferred names of different ethnic groups, see http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762158.html.

XIII. Tentative Calendar. As follows:
PLEASE NOTE: Mandatory assessment for sophomores is Wednesday, April 7. Eligible students will be dismissed from 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock classes to take the CAAP modules for assessment required of the college as a condition for accreditation. The test is mandatory and required for graduation.

Week 1
Native peoples, cultures and values. Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, Introduction, discussion of the First American Peoples, pp. 1-19. This will provide you with a context as we read and discuss the following on the Web: (1) "The Old Man Said" and poems on nature, tobacco smoke and gratitude (Wado is the Cherokee word for "thank you"), by Carroll Arnett, who also went by his Cherokee name Gogisgi; (2) summaries of Dakota (Sioux) values and culture at the Blue Cloud Abbey website; and (3) the values of Alaska Native peoples at http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/ANCR/Values/index.html. We will also an interview with Sherman Alexie, Coeur d'Allene writer and filmmaker, at http://www.bookpage.com/0306bp/sherman_alexie.html on some of the artistic and cultural values in his work.

Week 2
Myths of origin. On the Web, we will compare: (1) some traditional Cherokee legends about how things came to be the way they are http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/Stories/Default.aspx and (2) another origin myth -- the "First Thanksgiving" story we all learned as children. In "Native American Songs and Poems," ed. Brian Swann, we will compare traditional and contemporary poetry and reflect on some of the differences.

Week 3
“A colonized people.” Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, "Disposession,"We also read the explanations of postcolonial theory by the English Department at Fu Jen University in Taiwan and the "Introduction to Postcolonial Studies" by Asian Studies professor Deepika Bahri of Emory University, which give the theoretical background for HUM 221. On the Web, we will read Sherman Alexie’s thoughts about issues of language and colonialism in Native American writing.

Week 4
Northeast and woodland cultural areas. Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, pp. 36-43. We will supplement it with readings on the Web about the Indian nations that once lived in Illinois, and the Potawatomi Trail of Death that led through Springfield in the fall of 1838. I will assign your first paper, a reader response on “Blue Winds Dancing” by Ojibwa (Chippewa) writer Tom Whitecloud, and background reading on Native American dance.

Week 5
The “Five Civilized Tribes,” removal and Oklahoma. Zimmerman and Molyneaux, pp. 44-45. We will supplement it with a bland little summary of the various Native peoples in Indian Territory, put out by the Oklahoma state government; the a official history of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; and a poem by Muscogee writer Joy Harjo on "a stolen people in a stolen land." We will also compare traditional Creek and Cherokee “stomp dancing” with the Native American Church founded by Commanche leader Quanah Parker and the rich tradition of Cherokee gospel singing in Oklahoma. Your first paper is due.

Week 6
Great Plains, the 7th Cavalry and ‘plastic shamans.’ Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, pp. 46-51 on the Plains and Great Basin cultural areas; and pp. 74-113, “The Life of the Spirit.” On the Web, read: (1) a Public Broadcasting System account of the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 1880s; (2) material on Dakota spirituality by the American Indian Culture Research Center at Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota at http://www.bluecloud.org/dakota.html; (3) an overview of Native spirituality by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance; and (5) a "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality" outlining the threat posed by "wannabes" and "plastic shamans." I will assign your second reflective paper.

Week 7
The Old Southwest (in Spanish, “el norte”). Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, pp. 52-57. On the Web, read: (1) a description of the Hohokam people, who left villages and irrigation canals and the name of the Chicago Cubs' spring training ballpark in what is now Phoenix at http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/PARKS/pueblo.html (2) a recreation of a Hohokam village of the 1500s at http://carbon.cudenver.edu/stc-link/hohokam/Hohokam.htm (3) a description of the Tohono O'odham, or Desert People (Papago), whose culture is related to the Hohokam and who may be their descendants, at http://www.ihs.gov/FacilitiesServices/AreaOffices/Tucson/tucsonsu-tohono-oodham.asp; and (4) a description of the Spanish mission San Xavier del Bac near Tuscon at http://www.sanxaviermission.org/Index.html

Week 8
California, the Northwest Coast and the Arctic. Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, pp. 58-73. Read: (1) a portal with lots of links on the "thriving, unbroken artistic traditions" of the Northwest Coast and the authentic work of Native artists; (3) a website on the culture of an Aleutiiq village off the coast of Alaska; (4) stories about Raven, the trickster and cultural hero of the Tlingit and other peoples of Alaska and Canada; and (5) a profile of what ravens are like in nature and why they might make a good culture hero.

Week 9
To the 7th Generation. Read Zimmerman and Molyneaux, pp. 114-59. We will revisit Brian Swann’s Native American Songs and Poems and see how our response to traditional and contemporary Native poetry may have changed (or not) over the semester. Your second reflective paper is due.

Week 10
Telling the story in music, dance and electronic media. Read Sherman Alexie, introduction to "Smoke Signals: A Screenplay," and an interview with Sherman Alexie on the writing and production of his movie "Smoke Signals."

Week 11
"Smoke Signals." Read the screenplay and reviews linked to the Rotten Tomatoes website at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ while we watch the movie. Be sure to read the “Scene Notes” from pp. 151 to 168 to see how it changed as it was being filmed. I will assign you a paper responding to Alexie’s movie and reflecting on the cultural issues he raises: Is it a movie about Indians, or is it a movie about sons and fathers, children and parents.

Weeks 12-13
Discussion and review for final exam.

Final exam TBA.

Of life, fate, gloom, wry humor, 'Fargo' and Scandinavian detective novels

In a thoughtful review article on Scandinavian detective novels over the weekend, Laura Miller of The Wall Street Journal makes a case for gloomy Scandinavian fiction, in this case detective novels with what she - or a headline writer for the Journal - terms an aura of "existential malaise and bad coffee." She says:

Counterintuitive as it may seem, the Scandinavian brand of moroseness can be soothing in hard times. Its roots lie deep in the ancient, pagan literature of the region, preserved in sagas that were first written down in medieval Iceland. The sagas, created by and for people who led supremely difficult lives, are about love, death and war, like all great stories, but above all, they're about fate. ...

True, the inevitability of fate can lead to the kind of despair that grips Gudrun in "The Saga of the Volsungs," (a source for Wagner's "Ring Cycle"), when her friend Brynhild predicts that she will win her first husband by trickery, lose him, lose both of her brothers and then marry another man she will be driven to kill. "The grief of knowing such things overwhelms me," says Gudrun, understandably enough. But fatalism also annihilates regret; if things can only ever have turned out like this, there's no cause to blame yourself. Your misfortunes aren't your fault, but rather the working out of forces beyond your control. In such a universe, the real test of character is not worldly triumph, but the courage with which you respond to life's inevitable hardships.

In Scandinavian detective fiction, this stoic ideal takes the form of a stalwart, methodical practicality. ...

So, Nordic crime novels tend to be procedurals, a genre Miller defines as "focus[ing] on the often monotonous, day-to-day details of police work." American procedurals, she says, are more apt to focus on technology. Think of literally dozens of high-tech crime scene investigators. Nordic detectives are more likely to be "ordinary schlubs [who] have no flashier alternative than to knuckle down and gut it out."

Miller catches something else, when she notes that a "certain pitch-black humor has always accompanied the legendary Nordic fatalism. Granted, catching the bad guys is never a futile quest, but sometimes the genius of Scandinavian crime fiction lies in elaborating on the idiocies that make doing your job needlessly difficult."

Dark humor is typically Scandinavian, sure. But do we see "a certain pitch-black humor ... elaborating on the idiocies that make doing your job needlessly difficult" in the Coen brothers' movie "Fargo?"

Yeah, sure. You bet we do.

What's a blog without cat pictures?

Did you notice Oley the cat, on top of chair, is looking out the window and ignoring the funny man trying to play the Appalachian dulcimer?



Picture was taken in our old house on Feldkamp. It wasn't a bad house.

dulcimer festivals / dulcimer workshops

Linked here so I don't have to waste a lot of time looking for what I already found once:

Buckeye Dulcimer Festival, Ashley, Ohio, March 10 - 14. http://www.buckeyedulcimerfestival.com/

Yellowbanks Dulcimer Festival, Owensboro, Ky., June 5-6. http://www.kyfestivals.com/details.php?id=591

Gateway Dulcimer Music Festival, Belleville, Aug. 13-15. http://www.gatewaydulcimer.org/

August Dulcimer Daze, Friday, Aug. 14-Sunday, Aug. 16, West Dover, Vt. Workshops by George Haggerty, Lorraine and Bennet Hammond, Mike Anderson - some theory and technique that sounds good, almost entirely in DAD, tho'.

Cheap dulcimers

http://www.yourworldinstruments.com/

They have a European Mountain Dulcimer made in Pakistan that looks reasonably like a hummel or epinette des Vosges. Priced about $150.

COMM 291 syllabus - special topics, magazine editing

Communications 291: Topics / Magazine Editing
Benedictine University at Springfield
Spring Semester 2010

Communications 291 is a special topics course, in this case offered on an independent study basis covering selected aspects of communications, in this case the principles and practices of editing magazine copy for publication to bring out a writer’s intent and voice. Instructor: Pete Ellertsen, 211 Beata Hall (old Ursuline convent), telephone 525-1420 x519. email: pellertsen@sci.edu. Office hours TBA. Home: 2125 South Lincoln, Springfield, IL 62704. tel. to be determined.

I. Course description. Student(s) will read a book about editor Harold Ross of The New Yorker and one of the University of Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing and Publishing; edit manuscripts for publication in Benedictine University Springfield’s campus magazine, The Sleepy Weasel; and reflect on their experience in writing and at periodic meetings with the instructor, who serves as faculty adviser and production manager of the magazine. The catalog description of COMM 291 is as follows:

Course Title: Topics
Course Number: COMM 291
Credits: 3.00
Description
Study of aspects of communication on the intermediate level not listed as regular course offerings. May be repeated.

An Independent Study Learning Contract, agreed to by each student and the instructor among others, will be attached to this syllabus. Credit will not be assigned for COMM 291 until this contract has been executed by all parties to the contract and filed with the Office of the Registrar.

II. Textbooks. There are two: (1) Carol Fisher Saller, The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (U. of Chicago, 2009); and (2) James Thurber, The Years with Ross (ed. Adam Gopnik, HarperCollins Perennial Classics edition, 2001). Stylebooks for The Sleepy Weasel are the Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style.

III. Mission statement of Benedictine University. Benedictine dedicates itself to the education for the undergraduate and graduated students from diverse ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. As academic community committed to liberal arts and professional education distinguished and guided by its Roman Catholic tradition and Benedictine heritage - the University prepares its students for a lifetime as active, informed and responsible citizens and leaders in the world Community.

IV. Goals, objectives and outcomes.

A. Goals.
• Students will learn basic editorial principles, attitudes and practices in academic and quality magazine settings
• Students will gain practical editing experience on Benedictine Springfield’s campus magazine.
• Students will gain metacognitive knowledge of their experience and its relation to the practices and principles detailed in their readings

B. Student Learning Objectives. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to demonstrate mastery of specific editing skills required in the preparation of articles and art for publication and in the production of a campus magazine of literature, the arts and public affairs. Students will reflect on how these skills relate to the following Communication Arts program objectives:

1. Prepare graduates for careers in advertising, electronic and print media, journalism, public relations, publishing, writing or other careers requiring sophisticated communications skills;

2. Prepare graduates for continued study in graduate or professional school;

3. Develop the student's critical and imaginative thinking, reading and writing skills;

4. Develop skills to empower the student to communicate ideas effectively, through speaking, writing and the use of technology;

5. Develop skills for critical interpretation of the media;

6. Foster aesthetic understanding in both production and interpretation of media texts;

7. Develop knowledge of the methods to make responsible social and personal decisions;

8. Develop primary and secondary research methodologies;

9. Develop an understanding of the history, structure and operation of the mass media;

10. Provide an understanding of the impact of mass media industries and messages on the individual, society and culture;

11. Develop professional-level skills in written and oral communication for a variety of media and audiences;

12. Develop professional-level production skills for both print and electronic media;

13. Encourage the development of creative expression; and

14. Help the student develop a professional media portfolio.

V. Teaching Methods. Please see Course Requirements below.

VI. Course Requirements.

A. PRDUCTION AND EDITING – Duties as assigned by the faculty adviser.
B. JOURNAL - The student is expected to keep a log of work performed in the editing and production of the magazine, and to meet regularly with the faculty mentor. The student is encouraged to use these conferences to discuss his/her journals and begin planning for the reflective essay due at the end of the semester.
C. SELF-REFLECTIVE PAPER - The student will prepare a 5- to 7-page self-reflective essay on the internship experience, based on the journal he/she has maintained through the semester and relating his/her learning experience to program goals of the Communication Arts program. The body of the paper should explain the processes, projects, and learning experiences acquired by the student during the internship period. This essay will be turned into the faculty adviser by the last day of regularly scheduled classes in the semester.

VII. Means of Evaluation. Grades are weighted as follows:

• SELF-REFLECTIVE PAPER - 50%
• EVALUATION OF WORK PRODUCT - 30%
• IN-PERSON MEETINGS WITH FACULTY MENTOR - 20%

Academic Integrity Statement. Academic and professional environments require honesty and integrity, and these qualities are expected of every student at Springfield College-Benedictine University. In accordance with such expectations, academic integrity requires that you credit others for their ideas. Plagiarism, whether intentional or not, is a grievous offense. Any time you use words or ideas that are not your own, you must give credit to the author, whether or not you are quoting directly from that author. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism. Any incident of plagiarism and/or academic dishonesty may result in serious consequences. Penalties for academic dishonesty vary depending on the severity or extent of the problem but are always serious. The following are consequences you may face for academic dishonesty:

• a failing grade or “zero” for the assignment;
• dismissal from and a failing grade for the course; or
• dismissal from the Institution.

Please refer to the Springfield College Benedictine University Catalog or the Student Handbook for a complete discussion of the Academic Integrity policy.

Grade Appeal Process. According to the Springfield College Catalog, grade appeals must be initiated 90 days prior to the end of one semester after the course in question has been completed. The process for appealing a grade is outlined below. First, contact the Instructor.
1. A student must appeal to his/her instructor in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed.
2. The instructor must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide a copy to the division chair. Second, contact the Division Chair.
3. If the student wishes, he/she may then appeal to the division chair in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed without the instructor’s permission. The student should understand that overwhelming evidence must be presented to the division chair to prove that the current grade is incorrect.
4. The division chair must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide a copy to the academic dean. Lastly, contact the Academic Dean.
5. If the student wishes, he/she may appeal to the academic dean in writing (e- mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed without the instructor’s or the division chair’s permission. The student should understand that overwhelming evidence must be presented to the academic dean to prove the grade is incorrect.
6. The academic dean must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable). The academic dean’s decision is final.

Incomplete Request. To qualify for an “I” grade, a minimum of 75% of the course work must be completed with a passing grade, and a student must submit a completed Request for an Incomplete form to the Registrar’s Office. The form must be completed by both student and instructor, but it is the student’s responsibility (not the instructor’s) to initiate this process and obtain the necessary signatures. Student Withdrawal Procedure It is the student’s responsibility to officially withdraw from a course by completing the appropriate form, with appropriate signatures, and returning the completed form to the Advising Office. Please refer to the Student Handbook for important financial information related to withdrawals.

Add/Drop Dates

January 25 - Last day to add courses
January 25 - Last day to drop a course without a W (4:00 p.m.)
April 5 - Last day to drop courses

VIII. Course Outline and/or Calendar. See goals and objectives above. Calendar TBA.

IX. Americans with Disabilities Act. Benedictine University at Springfield College in Illinois provides individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in educational programs, actives and services. Students with disabilities requiring accommodations to participate in class activities or meet course requirements should contact the Director of the Resource Center as early as possible.

X. Assessment. Goals, objectives, and learning outcomes to be assessed will be stated in the Learning Contract. Primary means of assessment will be self-reflective essays and examination of any portfolio artifacts.

Final exam schedule TBA.

HUM 221: First Thanksgiving, Hohokam, etc. / D R A F T

We will also read some traditional Cherokee stories on how things came to be the way they are
http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/Stories/Default.aspx

The Beginning/Legend of the Strawberries

and compare them to another origin myth -- the "First Thanksgiving" story we all learned as children. Read an overview in The Christian Science Monitor at http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1127/p13s02-lign.html, (b) the primary historical sources at http://members.aol.com/calebj/thanksgiving.html, (c) a newspaper story on at what Alaska Natives eat along with their turkey at http://www.adn.com/life/taste/story/8435558p-8329710c.html

and (d) an essay by folklorist Esaúl Sánchez at http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/features/1995/112195/abrahams.html suggesting one thing the myth does for us.

Interviewed on young adult author Tina Nichols Coury's blog Tales from Mount Rushmore, Alexie had this take on Thanksgiving ...

[Q.] What is your favorite dessert and why?

[A.] I'm not supposed to have sugar, but when I do I always go for pumpkin pie. It tastes great and I love the year-round irony of an Indian celebrating Thanksgiving.

* * *

Hohokam who left villages, irrigation canals and the name of the Chicago Cubs' spring training ballpark in what is now Phoenix at http://www.ci.phoenix.az.us/PARKS/pueblo.html (3) a recreation of a Hohokam village of the 1500s at http://carbon.cudenver.edu/stc-link/hohokam/Hohokam.htm (4) a description of the Tohono O'odham, or Desert People (formerly Pima and Papago), who apparently are culturally related to the Hohokam and may be their descendants, at http://www.ihs.gov/FacilitiesServices/AreaOffices/Tucson/tucsonsu-tohono-oodham.asp


find links in outtakes on HUM 221 syllabus

Case study: Religious diversity. On the Web, we will read: (1) an overall introduction to traditional and Christian spirituality; (2) a bio of Commanche leader Quanah Parker and the Native American Church he helped found; and (3) material on Christian gospel singing, including an account of how "Amazing Grace" and other hymns were translated into Cherokee in the 19th century; a translation of "Amazing Grace" into the Cherokee language and syllabary (alphabet); an MP3 file of "Amazing Grace" and other gospel songs from a CD cut by the Cherokee Nation of Tallequah, Okla., and a story about a Cherokee gospel singing near Tallequah and an article on how hymn singing helps the Cherokee people, among others, to preserve their language and teach it to their youth. For a glimpse of traditional Cherokee belief and practice, we will read the explanations of the Cherokee belief system, festivals and dances (including the Stomp Dance), medicines and healers on the Cherokee Nation's website. Surf the website of the United Keetoowah Band, a federally recognized band of of traditional Cherokee.

Notes for Picayune (and Decatur gig) on "Clar de Kitchen" / "Clear the Kitchen"

One more reason they had to be out of their damn minds when they thought dialect spellings were so clever in the 19th century ...

A good summary (as usual) in Wikipedia under "Clare de Kitchen" ... a couple of excerpts: "Musicologist Dale Cockrell sees echoes of European mumming traditions in "Clare de Kitchen". In traditional mumming plays, the participants first entered a private household. One mummer, usually with a broom and sometimes with blackened face, would then clear an area and declare the space to now be public, for the use of the players. ... The line "I wish I was back in old Kentuck" is one of the earliest examples of "I wish I was in" from blackface minstrelsy. This line eventually became the famous "I Wish I Was in Dixie" in 1859. ... An alternate set of lyrics, sung by Thomas D. Rice in the mid-1830s, may reflect the input or influence of American blacks. This version features animal characters and trickster figures triumphing over larger animals in the same way that such figures do in African folktales."

It was clearly in oral tradition before the minstrel shows got ahold of it. Andrew Kuntz has some very good background, appropriate for our period, in the Fiddler's Companion. Scroll down CIA-CNU alphabetical directory to entry for "Clear the Kitchen."

CLEAR THE KITCHEN. American, Song tune and Reel. D Major. Standard. One part.

***

A bull‑frog dress'd in soldier's clothes,
Went out in the field to shoot some crows.
The crows smell powder and fly away,
That bull‑frog mighty mad that day. (Ford)

***

Fiddler and musiciologist Paul Tyler has discovered an account by one Joseph Hayes, born in 1786 in Pennsylvania, who moved from that state down the same Ohio river to settle in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Late in his life he dictated memories of frontier life from circa 1810, including an account of dancing after corn-huskings. Hayes writes that at these events "in one corner would be seated the fiddler delving way with fingers, elbow, cat-gut and horse-hair, to the joy of all around - The pieces of music mostly called for, were 'The gray cat kittened in Charley's wig,’ 'Captain Johnston', 'Buncomb' &c. the whole ending in a jigg called 'Clear the kitchen'.” The minstrel-dialect title “Clar de Kitchen” appears in Howe’s Musician’s Companion, Part 2, published in 1843. Additional verses in Ford (1940, pg. 407). Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 105.

For an Irish tune possibly related to "The Gray Cat Kittened in Charley's Wig," look up "CAT THAT KITTLED IN JAMIE’S WIG, THE" in the CAT - CAZ directory and scroll down past CAT AND THE BACON, THE (An Cat Agus an Bagun), the CAT CLUMB UP THE PLUM TREE SCHOTTISCHE and other cat songs.

Battle Hymn of the Republic - links for Decatur gig - and a link to the King Biscuit blues show in Helena, Ark.

this can follow "There's a Song Among the Forest Trees" ...

Cf. performance in New Chautauqua Revue, Nov. 17, 2007, by Christopher Brune a musician from Vernon, N.J. ...


Best starting place for information ... Wikipedia page on "John Brown's Body" has information about and links to

• "Say Brothers (Will you Meet Us)," with a GIF file of the Methodist camp meeting song ... also speculation about its role with African Americans before the Civil War, i.e. "Canaan's happy shore" and Canada
  
• George Kimball's account of how "John Brown's Body" was developed by 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia at the beginning of the war
  
• The "Marching Song of the First Arkansas" ... which has its own Wikipedia page with history and a JPEG of the lyrics.

Here's some more on the First Arkansas:

The First Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment (African Descent) began recruiting among former slaves in Helena, Arkansas following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, and was officially established on May 1. In June the regiment saw action at Mound Plantation, Mississippi, and at Goodrich's Landing, Louisiana, where the unit remained through January 1864. The unit then moved to Haines Bluff near Vicksburg, Mississippi until May 1864.[5] The Union Army standardized the varied names of colored regiments as “United States Colored Troops” (U.S.C.T.), and the First Arkansas became the “46th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry” on May 11, 1864.

Sojourner Truth is also said to have authored the song and almost certainly sang it, while collecting food in Battle Creek for the 1st Michigan Colored Infantry in 1863.

Footnote: Helena, Ark., is an important venue in American music history for more than the 1st Arkansas Colored Infantry. It is the home of the King Biscuit Time show on KFFA radio since 1941, originally featuring artists Sonny Boy Williamson (II) and Robert Lockwood Jr. Other musicians who got their start on WFFA include Pinetop Perkins and B.B. King. It's still airing, hosted by "Sunshine" Sonny Payne, Monday through Friday at 12:15 p.m. on KFFA AM, and station's website has streaming audio and downloadable files of recent shows. It's the longest-running show now on the air in America, and No. 15,877 aired Dec. 30.

New schedule of 2010 central Illinois Sacred Harp singings

As submitted today by Berkley Moore of Springfield to the fasola.org website:

Central Illinois:
Quarterly singings at the Rock Springs Nature Center in Decatur - Year-round irregular singings at various sites - Info: Terry Hogg, (217) 422-2363, UserGem5136[at] cs.com or Berkley Moore (217) 793-0024, berkleymoore7195 [at] sbcglobal.net.

Berkley also maintains an updated central Illinois schedule on the SACRED HARP.mus website. The website has MIDI files from the Sacred Harp, both Denson and Cooper books; the Christian Harmony, both Alabama and North Carolina books; as well as other 19th-century books including the Hesperian Harp and a link to Berkley's online publication of JEPG files of The Hesperian Harp, William Hauser (1848). A valuable resource. Berkley argues the tunebook is "the largest, and arguably the best, of the shape-note tune books of the Nineteenth Century."