Yellow Tree Cafe silhouette
Hello from Mumbai–& from a blogger who says of his previous life: “I may have been a dog.” RT
“You’re My Father”
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Folks: when you’re managing two blogs, the question of whether or not to repost might not even occur to you…it could be the only way to stay ahead of the curve. But building traffic & interest aside, this post is one of the most affecting my mother has produced so far in the telling of her childhood. In re-reading this–and other posts–it occurs to me that one thing my mother is is a frustrated novelist. Imagine having Edith Wharton in your family all this time and not knowing it. The curve ball life throws us… RT (reposting from Mood Indigo).
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Image: True Confessions; Mood Indigo, CC 3.0 Unported.
Edward Curtis, Photographer of the American Indian
During his long life, the photographer Edward Curtis (1868-1952) created perhaps the most authentic and certainly the largest photographic record of the American Indian. He took more than 40,000 photographs of Native Americans, determined not just to record, but also to document his subjects.
The son of a minister, Curtis grew up in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Fascinated with photography, he dropped out of school in the sixth grade and built his own camera. At 17, he apprenticed with a photographer in St. Paul.
After some years, the pace of Curtis’s life began to pick up. In 1892, he married Clara Phillips; the first of their four children, Harold, was born the following year. When his parents moved to Seattle 1896, Curtis and his family went with them.
Fate struck. Curtis photographed his first Native American, Princess Angeline, daughter of Chief Sealth of Seattle (1895). A few years later, he was invited to join the Harriman Alaska Expedition, and after that, he photographed the Blackfoot people of Montana (1900).
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By this point, Curtis had made thousands of images of Indians, and financier J.P. Morgan offered to publish his work. The product of this collaboration, The North American Indian, was issued in twenty volume and contained more than 1,500 photographs. The final volume was published in 1930.
“The information that is to be gathered … respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost.”
–Edward Curtis, preface to The North American Indian
Curtis was an ethnographer, dedicated to recording the Indian’s way of life before it vanished; in addition to his photographs, he made wax cylinder recordings of Indian music and language, wrote down tribal folklore and history, and noted down facts of everyday life such as food, clothing, recreation, and funeral customs. Not infrequently, these materials are our only surviving information.
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Such devotion to his calling, however, came at a cost to Curtis. In 1917, his wife divorced him. He was not a good businessman and was arrested once for failure to pay alimony. In 1924, he sold an original ethnographic film, The Land of the Headhunters for $1,500; the film had cost him $20,000 to make.
Despite these troubles, Curtis continued his work. Much of the material he produced is now part of a special archive at the Library of Congress.
His work remains an astounding gift to the American people.
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Photos: Top: Edward Curtis; Middle: Princess Angeline; Bottom: Apache, Morning Bath. All photos: Edward Curtis, WikiCmns; Public Domain.
casey baugh
Neologisms–The Red Dragon!
One should never underestimate a dragon, and especially a Dragon of Grammar. Now RT must confess that when he listed out the original Dragons of Grammar, he made a serious oversight and failed to mention the Red Dragon, the Dragon of Neologisms. Personal Circumstances Be Damned! External Reality Be Burned to a Crisp! As the Red Dragon has been reminding me, the oversight really ought to be corrected.
& RT can see that he needs a break from the sturm und drang of his recent existence; so, without further ado…
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A neologism is a new word, a word that has been recently coined. Neologisms, like dandelion seeds, happen more often than one might think. Here are some examples:
* radar (1941); warp speed (1966); meme (1976); alien space bats (1998); political correctness (1970); prequel (1958); and–last but not least–Brangelina (2005).
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How are often are neologisms generated? Without getting too scientific, RT would venture that new words (and new phrases and grammatical structures) are created all the time in the spontaneous working of the mind to convey itself to others. It may even be that this spontaneous creation is a sign of mental health and energy.
So when is a neologism accepted as a word and included in (at at least some) dictionaries? The short answer is: it is accepted when it is frequently and widely used. Some words, for instance, warp-speed, doubtless found themselves almost immediately recognized–such is the power of the TV. Others quickly come into use in a certain community–as Brangelina doubtless did in the entertainment industry–but never gain usage in the broader community of speakers. Many people simply never run across the word. Others will be accepted for a time and then fade away–anyone remember guesstimate?
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It may be that some neologisms are better at conveying meaning than others. How do we distinguish the pick of the litter(s)? Some suggestions follow:
1) A neologism should fill a need or gap in communication. Radar is a good example–it names a new technology that previously was labeled with a string of words: Radio Detection and Ranging (acronym: RADAR).
2) A neologism should express the speaker’s emotional frame of mind: “Hey, he ripped me off!” You can feel just how angry the victim of robbery is…and it just plain sounds better than “he robbed me!”
3) A neologism should be easier to pronounce than the word(s) currently used to convey a thought: for instance, zeitgeist for spirit of the times or Xerox for photocopy.
4) A neologism should be eloquent: it should enrich the sound of the language. For instance, ansible.
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So there it is, folks: our lastest (and did i mention that neologisms sometimes originate as mistakes, in this case for latest) addition to the Dragons of Grammar. A final note: Wikipedia has more information about word formation. RT
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Image: Dragon Rouge; WikiCmns; Public Domain.
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Free Food
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Today something odd happened: several times around noon someone knocked on my door & offered me free food. In about half an hour I ended up with a box of food that included a frozen pizza, frozen sausage, steak, and even lamb…! Market value? Maybe 40 or 50 dollars?
The benefactor was not very anonymous: “Pastor Debbie sent you this,” the delivery guy said. That would be Pastor Debbie of Harvest Light Ministries downstairs, a ministry that serves the homeless of Martinsburg’s downtown. HLM, perhaps not too popular because it attracts the “wrong sort,” provides worship, food, and general guidance to a population that I would imagine hovers somewhere around a hundred (doubtless more, these days).
Thank you, Pastor Debbie and Harvest Light Ministries!
But I will admit to being somewhat perplexed, bebothered, and bewildered. Maybe I fall into HLM’s “catchment area” or maybe it’s just part of the ministry’s world view, but this is the first time I’ve received direct aid without asking. The “without asking” part may seem a minor part of the aid equation, but for adult Americans asking for help may be the single hardest thing they ever do. This is America, gosh dang it, and nice people don’t ask for help because nice people don’t need help. Unfortunately, I apparently need help just at the moment, and I still consider myself to be a reasonably nice guy.
Now HLM and I probably do not share much overlap in our theological perspectives–more’s the pity. I do (more or less regularly) attend what I consider to be one of the most liberal worship services in the area. Like the worship, love the coffee hour conversation. HLM I gather is much more on the traditional side of things. But on this issue, I have to take my hat off to them: they apparently realize that when a person needs help, you’re supposed to help them. One might think of this as the heart of hospitality and the spiritual ethic. But for some reason, almost no one else has provided tangible help. I can name those who have stepped in quickly: my mother, my therapist (a woman), the local community ministries, and the lady who helped me acquire my two cats. Readers, by the way, should take a moment and notice the gender imbalance in this list. Almost all the people who’ve stepped in are women.
Money is the hardest thing of all to discuss in the United States, the most private matter, it seems to me. But what we are talking about here is a taboo–an unconscious social prohibition acquired as a small child and only marginally amenable to discussion or reflection. As many people struggle to keep their houses, to keep themselves and their children clothed and fed, why is it that those who do not have these problems ignore those who do?
There is a spiritual dimension to all this: I am on walkabout, spirit quest, or whatever. And I am very lucky–many, many people do not have the intelligence, education, and life experiences that have been given to me–and that help me cope. I will have to do most of the repair work in my life.
But still I have to wonder: is this really the best we can do? What about the more-or-less permanently homeless? Why are we so bothered by the idea of helping other people? Why can’t we find a solution to homelessness that might actually make the homeless happy?
OK, OK. Enough of the soapbox. Time to get out some my owner’s manual and figure out the next step. RT
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Photo: Pizza; Jon Sullivan; WikiCmns; Public Domain.
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Ella & the World
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Folks: by way of whetting the appetite for A Daughter’s Song and Dance, here is an excerpt from the story. Nobody can sing like Ella…Enjoy! RT
