tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25401002455567953472024-02-20T16:16:10.524-05:00Forums on FolkloreConversations on contemporary issues in folkloristicsDebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-38577176020063780702011-10-24T09:44:00.001-04:002011-10-24T09:44:25.271-04:00Congratuations to Professor Erika BradyErika Brady, Professor of Folk Studies at Western Kentucky University, was awarded the 2011 Kentucky Governor's Awards in the Arts-Media Recipient. Congratulations, Erika! <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FmBCwH0tdeI" width="560"></iframe>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-272946756630014902011-04-22T20:09:00.000-04:002011-04-22T20:09:38.623-04:00County Music Legend Hazel Dickens dies at age 75<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"></span><br />
I remember the first time I met Hazel Dickens. I was attending a screening of It's Hard to tell the Singer from a Song at an Appalshop fundraiser in Washington DC. It was 2001 and I was a new professor at George Mason University. I went forward to meet Hazel and get her autograph. During this brief encounter I told her I taught Appalachian Folklore at GMU and would love to have her come to campus to perform. I'll never forget her look of surprise. <br />
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Hazel died on Thursday evening in her sleep. May she rest in peace.<br />
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I'm reprinting the obituary from the Sunday Charleston Gazette:<br />
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Country music legend Hazel Dickens, who grew up in poverty in Mercer County and sang her hard-hitting songs about working people, coal mining and West Virginia all over the world, died in her sleep Thursday night at age 75.<br />
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"She was a treasure, a musical pioneer in bluegrass music, a gifted songwriter, an activist and a very wise woman who saw the truth in things and spoke it freely," Goldenseal magazine editor and musician John Lilly said Friday. "She sang and wrote about mining issues and mine safety issues and women's issues in general, and spoke up in her songs and conversation for people who needed a voice."<br />
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Dickens was "an authentic voice of America's working class," The Washington Post said Friday.<br />
She received a 2001 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and has been honored by the mithsonian Institution, the International Folk Alliance, the International Bluegrass Music Association and many other organizations.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">But she frequently said that no award meant more to her than her induction into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.<br />
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"These rugged mountains and these coal-dusty mining towns and lonesome hollers have shaped my life," she said during her induction in 2007. "They shaped my music for all time."<br />
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Her songs were recorded by Dolly Parton, Kathy Mattea, Johnny Cash and scores of other musicians. Her song "West Virginia, Oh My Home" has become an unofficial West Virginia anthem, and "Mama's Hand" was an International Bluegrass Music Association song of the year. Her deep understanding of working women showed in songs like "Working Girl Blues" and "Don't Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There."<br />
Dickens' songs like "Black Lung," "They'll Never Keep Us Down" and "The Farmington Mine Disaster" chronicled West Virginia's coal mining history and were featured in the films "Matewan" and "Harlan County USA."<br />
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"Hazel was a real inspiration to coal miners everywhere," United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said Friday. "She was a strong, clear voice when we needed one and was never at a loss for words when it came to describing the hard lives miners and their families endured."<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
Dickens frequently sang on picket lines and at benefit concerts to raise money for miners on strike, Roberts recalled. "She was a sister to us all."<br />
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"She was an icon, not just for West Virginians, but for anyone who had a concern for labor and women's issues," said Michael Lipton, founder of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. "She entered bluegrass music when it was a man's world, and she didn't push open doors. She kicked them open and allowed many other women to follow."<br />
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Dickens was raised in a hardworking family of 11 children who sang and played music together at home. "Any day at my house, somebody was singing," she said. "It didn't cost a dime to sing. Sometimes people passing by on the road thought it was the radio, and they'd stop and listen."<br />
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Her father, Hillary (H.N.) Dickens, trucked timber to the mines during the week and was a Primitive Baptist preacher on Sundays.<br />
<br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">"He taught me to love the old-time country way of singing," Dickens said in 2009. "I can't remember a time when I didn't sing. I'd just open up my mouth and let it roar."<br />
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"We should all have that visceral a connection to our music," Kathy Mattea said Friday. "I thought I knew what singing was until I started digging into Hazel's singing and her music. Listening to that voice challenged me to let go on another level. She had such a simple eloquence to her writing. There's just no gimmick to it. It takes you straight to the gut of your longing."<br />
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Dickens had agreed to be part of a June 5 rally to protest the strip mining of Blair Mountain. Organizer Mari-lynn Evans said the event also will now be a memorial service and concert in Dickens' honor at the state Culture Center in Charleston.<br />
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For more on Hazel Dickens, including some of her songs, visit<a href="http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/Teachers/HazelDickens.html" style="color: #333399; text-decoration: none;"></a><a href="http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/Teachers/HazelDickens.html" style="color: #333399; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/Teachers/HazelDickens.html"></a><a href="http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/Teachers/HazelDickens.html" style="color: #333399; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/Teachers/HazelDickens.html">www.wvmusichalloffame.com/Teachers/HazelDickens.html</a></span>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-13610615658163794962010-07-14T10:45:00.000-04:002010-07-14T10:45:29.521-04:00Chupacabra in Texas?<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" id="msnbc5363e1" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=38224385&width=420&height=245"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="opaque" /><embed name="msnbc5363e1" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=38224385&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="opaque" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br />
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; color: #999999; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-top: 5px; text-align: center; width: 420px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(153, 153, 153) ! important; color: rgb(87, 153, 219) ! important; font-weight: normal ! important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none ! important;">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(153, 153, 153) ! important; color: rgb(87, 153, 219) ! important; font-weight: normal ! important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none ! important;">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(153, 153, 153) ! important; color: rgb(87, 153, 219) ! important; font-weight: normal ! important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none ! important;">news about the economy</a></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-11404957557378106632010-06-23T13:56:00.002-04:002010-06-23T13:56:31.588-04:002010 Folklife FestivalThe festival begins on the mall tomorrow. Why are you sitting at that desk? Get out there and enjoy this celebration of American and international Folklife!Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-51721376963848169352010-02-19T16:01:00.000-05:002010-02-19T16:01:24.403-05:00Chuck PurdueAs part of the site's memorial for Virginia Folklorist Chuck Perdue, I am reprinting this article from the University of Virginia's UVA Profiles in 2007 that outlines much of Purdue's career:<br />
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<blockquote id="release"> <h2>U.Va. Profiles: Chuck Perdue Preserves, Documents Folk Culture from the Inside</h2>Oct. 8, 2007-- Charles Perdue is a storyteller, a farmer's son, mechanic, cryptographer, folk singer and geologist who documents the lives of working people not unlike himself. His work will continue to benefit the University and the study of folklore and music for years to come.<br />
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Because Perdue’s interests defy the tidy compartments of the University, he simply carved out a singular niche on Grounds — one part anthropology department, one part English. <br />
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Perdue’s friend and colleague in the English department, Raymond Nelson, said, “Chuck has always puzzled people. Where do you put him?” <br />
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Throughout his professional life, Perdue’s consuming interest has been the lives of others — their stories, customs and songs. In particular, he has sought to document the lives of rural working people. When he isn’t recording oral histories on his own, he is compiling and editing records and interviews from other sources: narratives on the lives of Virginia slaves, Depression-era workers, dispossessed mountain folk.<br />
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“When I first knew him, I think he was attending a black congregation up there near Culpeper and listening to the music,” Nelson said. “That takes quite a bit of doing. It’s a matter of going there for a long period of time and sitting aside and behaving. But he had done that and recorded some of the music.”<br />
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An Ivy League-educated professor studying the lives of Depression-era poor or the worship habits of Southern African-Americans could easily have resulted in something full of saccharin and starch. <br />
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But Perdue is not a typical Ivy League-educated professor. As he said, he “came in with the Depression” and spent his childhood on a Georgia farm. “My mother sang ballads and folk songs, and I grew up being rocked to sleep with the ballad about the murder of Mary Phagan, which may account for my twisted personality.”<br />
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Even as a boy, Perdue felt that he didn’t fit in. “See, if you’re too smart, or not smart enough, you’re a behavior problem,” he said. “I was too smart. I was always getting into trouble.”<br />
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When Perdue graduated from high school, he faced stiff competition for jobs. “I got out in ’47, which more or less coincided with about 10 million servicemen having been released from all the services, filling every damn job in the country.”<br />
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Perdue worked at a grocery store, rebuilt carburetors and “one thing or another tried to figure out some way of making some money.”<br />
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At a military college in Georgia, Perdue soon found his earliest calling: troublemaker. “I set a record for walking off more hours of guard report for various incendiary offenses — conduct unbecoming a cadet, failure to salute an officer, goose-stepping in ranks. I couldn’t stand it. I goofed off. <br />
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"I shouldn’t have been in college. I wasn’t ready for that. So I had the good sense not to go back.”<br />
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Perdue ended up working as a cryptographer in the U.S. Army Security Agency in California, where he later attended Santa Rosa Junior College. This time, college focused Perdue’s intellect and turned the youthful mischief-maker into something of an iconoclast. He also met his future wife and collaborator, Nancy Martin, at Santa Rosa.<br />
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“I walked into French class, and Nan was sitting in there, and I decided that was it. All I had to do was get a date with her. Never asked her to marry me, just told her we were going to, and I guess she agreed.”<br />
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Nan and Chuck — rarely mentioned separately and then never called doctors or professors or even Nancy and Charles. It is always Nan and Chuck, and they are as much professional colleagues as husband and wife.<br />
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“I think that seems to be a key to both of them,” Nelson said. “They live their interests. It’s not something they sit down at night and write down. It’s their work. It’s their lives. That’s why it can’t be Charles Perdue and Nancy Perdue; it’s Chuck and Nan. They’re inseparable.”<br />
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Nan and Chuck married and moved in 1955 to University of California-Berkeley, where he earned a degree in geology. The young couple began singing in the local folk-music coffee houses. “The Kingston trio recorded ‘Tom Dooley.’ Nan and I heard it and said, ‘We can do that.’” Perdue called their performing “good therapy.” Soon they were holding “therapy” sessions at legendary venues like the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles and the Ash Grove in Hollywood.<br />
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The world’s only husband-and-wife-geologist-folk-singing duo soon found themselves in Washington, D.C., where Perdue worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. Perdue founded the Washington Folklore Society, while once again he and Nan were playing in clubs and living rooms in the metro area.<br />
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One of Perdue’s greatest collaborations began as a chance encounter. In 1964, he had stopped at a service station in Fairfax, Va., and ran into a musician named John Jackson.<br />
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“Jackson was holding a guitar, so I said, ‘Do you play that thing?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I can hit a couple of chords.’” Perdue asked him to hit a few, and the man played “Candy Man,” legendary bluesman Mississippi John Hurt’s signature song. Jackson went on to become a blues great. Nan and Chuck introduced him to the world, acting as his unofficial managers and promoters. They also became his close friends.<br />
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After Perdue completed his Ph.D. in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, he drew the attention of U.Va. English department professor and chairman E.D. Hirsch, who was interested in socio-linguistics, then a new field of theory being taught at Perdue’s alma mater.<br />
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Perdue said, “I had just come from Penn and could rattle off all the latest, hot bibliography and stuff that was happening. Hirsch hired me on the spot. I didn’t send in a vita. I didn’t interview with anybody else in the English department.” <br />
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Nelson remembers there being some concerns about where to put Perdue, but Hirsch was clearly impressed. Nelson recalls Hirsch saying, “We’ll worry about where to put him later. Let’s just get him here.” <br />
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The University was fortunate to get him. Perdue has been a prolific writer and a wise teacher. His books, “Talk about Trouble: A New Deal Portrait of Virginians in the Great Depression,” “Pigsfoot Jelly & Persimmon Beer: Foodways from the Virginia Writers’ Project” and “Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves,” are considered classics and standard issue in history, anthropology and folklore classes. <br />
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The University was also fortunate to get Nan Martin-Perdue in the bargain. When Chuck came aboard in 1971, appointments for professor’s spouses were considered nepotism. (Today, the practice is commonplace). Over the years, Nan served as a de facto scholar-in-residence for the University, although she received no salary and no pension.<br />
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In 1980, the Perdues established the Kevin Barry Perdue Folklore Archive at the University. Named for their son who died in 1979, the archive is a collection of folk songs, histories and documents from the Depression-era Virginia Writer’s Project.<br />
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“Talk about Trouble,” which they co-edited, won the National Oral History Association Award for best book on oral history for 1997. It consists of oral histories recorded by members of the Virginia Writer’s Project, which Chuck and Nan discovered hidden in the Virginia State Archives. By copying them, they saved these narratives from imminent disintegration due to age, moisture and acidic ink. <br />
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Edward D.C. Campbell Jr., editor of the Virginia state library’s Virginia Cavalcade history journal, said, “‘Talk about Trouble’ is a remarkably moving testimonial. No other first-person collection reveals as much about how ordinary Virginians, and by extension Southerners and other Americans, confronted the palpable threats raised every day by the Great Depression.”<br />
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While Perdue’s writing established his scholarly reputation, Nelson believes that teaching has been an equally important part of Perdue’s legacy. “The really dangerous thing about academics is they get very lofty in their interests and concerns, but Chuck’s very earthy. He teaches people to be curious and that’s the best thing you can teach someone.”<br />
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Perdue’s earthy beginnings and his own curiosity have taken him from a Georgia dirt farm to legendary folk clubs, to the University of Pennsylvania and finally to the University. In “Talk about Trouble,” Chuck and Nan wrote, “Life as an academic in a university setting was not, then, among the options either [editor] recognized as desirable or thought to be attainable. But both editors were also products of the same changing cultural values and rising expectations with regards to higher education that affected so many of the people interviewed as part of the New Deal life history projects in Virginia.” <br />
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The lives of the ex-slaves and Depression-era workers Perdue wrote about were much like his own. Sometimes — like folk songs and blues — out of the chaos and struggle of individual lives, something unique and artful emerges. <br />
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<strong>— Written by Tim Arnold</strong><br />
</blockquote>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-25303810947955222042010-02-15T11:05:00.000-05:002010-02-15T11:05:06.395-05:00Remembering Chuck PerdueFolklorists Chuck Perdue, Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, died at home in Twyman's Mill, VA today after a long battle with cancer. I will post obituaries and other recollections of his life and work as they are available.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-8480434939646680462010-02-11T10:56:00.000-05:002010-02-11T10:56:50.274-05:00Sugar and SnowThis essay from the Washington Post discusses a family's revived food tradition, made possible by the blizzard of 2010.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-44959607098427302012010-01-28T12:26:00.003-05:002010-01-29T15:26:51.209-05:00Diana Parker's RetirementDiana Parker has retired as Festival Director after 35 years of leadership at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. During her tenure she hosted many memorable festival programs featuring the cultures of foreign lands such as Mali, Bhutan, Scotland; the diverse cultures within our own borders from Texas border music to the watermen of the Chesapeake to New York fashion designers and U.S. Forest Service rangers. Though most of the festivals, which falls annually for two weeks over fourth of July, were hot and humid, they were also memorable, moving, exciting and informative. Through it all Diana's hair never seemed to frizz and she kept the show going, despite electrical storms, escaped camels, and the inevitable malfunctions and miscommunications that come with such a big event. In the midst of the crowds and the craziness, Diana was always cool.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144089985328323534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-87010240674814610842009-11-30T06:56:00.002-05:002009-12-01T08:18:51.882-05:00Folklorists & Musician Bess Lomax Hawes dies at 88<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNFHmXRvAgUy96fjusqQPOlUCb0o_YL7E2EwCYYAMH66zU4jGz06_0FdnnSJI6GlEThP69ffeb0PURTsmertj4F2RBK9LTTprrhp8VfhyphenhyphenmSf0HCpy6NG1chtin9-TwjafpVN6Pobs-U38/s1600/50782631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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From the <b>LA Times</b>: <br />
<blockquote>Bess Lomax Hawes, a musician and folklorist who tapped into the legacy of her influential family of archivists and became a prominent anthropologist at what is now Cal State Northridge, has died. She was 88.<br />
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Hawes, who directed folk and traditional arts programs at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1977 to 1992, died of natural causes Friday in Portland, Ore., where she had been living the last two years, her daughter Naomi Bishop said.<br />
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CSUN houses the <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/17/magazine/tm-50480">Bess Lomax Hawes Student Folklore Archive</a>, a collection of student research projects that Hawes oversaw. She was particularly interested in children's folklore; among her <a href="http://www.media-generation.net/DVD%20PAGES/Bess/Bess.htm">documentary films</a> is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YodFqZ7nQ">“Pizza Pizza Daddy-O,”</a> showing black schoolgirls singing and clapping on a Pacoima playground in 1967. With Bessie Jones she made another film, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRy5MoWPyS0">“Georgia Sea Island Singers,”</a> and they co-wrote "Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs and Stories from the Afro-American Heritage" (1972).<br />
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"To me, it's another way of getting to the human mystery -- why people behave the way they do," Hawes said in a 2000 Times interview in explaining the value of studying folklore. <br />
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Steeped in folk music from birth, she was the youngest child of John A. Lomax and Bess Bauman Brown. Born Jan. 21, 1921, in Austin, Texas, she was home-schooled by her mother, who also taught her to play piano. Her father and her brother, Alan Lomax, collected seminal field recordings of traditional songs that had been sung by cowboys, prisoners and slaves.<br />
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After her mother died in 1931, the family moved to Washington, D.C., and Hawes assisted her father's pioneering research compiling the folk song archive at the Library of Congress. <br />
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She graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from Bryn Mawr College in 1941 and worked during World War II as a radio programmer for the Office of War Information. She was also one of a rotating crew of vocalists in the Almanac Singers folk ensemble, along with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and her future husband, Baldwin "Butch" Hawes.<br />
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The couple married in 1943 and moved to Cambridge, Mass., where Hawes co-wrote the folk song "M.T.A." that later became a hit for the Kingston Trio.<br />
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She also began a successful career as a music instructor.<br />
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"Everyone wanted to sing and play guitar like Bobby Dylan," Hawes told the Daily News in 2002. "Folk music was a real postwar phenomenon. Everyone had either been tromped over or was out tromping over someone else during the war, and people were anxious to get back a sense of their roots."<br />
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In 1952 Hawes and her husband, an artist, moved to California and settled with their children in Topanga Canyon, immersing themselves in the bohemian community anchored by actor Will Geer. <br />
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Besides performing in coffeehouses and at music festivals, Hawes taught guitar, banjo, mandolin and folk singing through UCLA Extension courses, at the Idyllwild summer arts program and, starting in 1963, at San Fernando Valley State College. She expanded her instruction to folklore, folk music and ethnomusicology and, after receiving a master's in folklore from UC Berkeley studying under Alan Dundes, became head of the anthropology department at what is now CSUN. <br />
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Hawes began shifting from teacher to arts administrator in 1975 when she led a group of folk music and arts performers from California in a program on the National Mall presented by the Smithsonian Institution. The next year she participated in a bicentennial event staged by the Smithsonian, and in 1977 she joined the NEA. <br />
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She directed the national arts agency's folk and traditional arts program and created the agency's National Heritage Fellowships, which recognize traditional artists and performers from across the country. She retired in 1992 and the next year was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton. <br />
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To Hawes, folk art was "an identifier . . . a public statement of what a hell of a fine thing it is to be a Lithuanian or a Greek or a Comanche Indian . . . so that you feel good and people looking at the work will say, 'That's good,' or 'That's beautiful,' or 'That's different.' "<br />
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All three of Hawes' children followed in her footsteps professionally. Her daughter Naomi Bishop of Portland, Ore., is a retired CSUN anthropology professor; another daughter, Corey Denos of Bellingham, Wash., is a teacher; and her son, Nicholas Hawes of Portland, Ore., is a folk musician.<br />
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Besides her children, Hawes is survived by six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1971.<br />
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Services will be private.<br />
</blockquote>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-82548779744290696002009-11-21T08:45:00.001-05:002009-11-21T08:45:00.573-05:00Why are the Quileute people werewolves in 'Twilight'?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>It turns out Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga is based on some documented folklore--at least when it comes to werewolves.</p>in reference to: <p><blockquote>"The Quileute Nation has lived on the Olympic Peninsula for thousands of years. Today, the Quileute Tribe is located in La Push, Washi., on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. La Push is not far from Forks, Wash., where the "Twilight" series takes place. Author Stephanie Myers references Quileute folklore in her decision to create Quileute characters in her story that transform into werewolves. The actual "origin" story of the Quileute people, as documented in "Quileute Religion: What the Old People Believed," prepared by the Quileute Tribal School in 1989, reads: "There was a kixi' (elder/knowledge carrier) that tells how k'w a'-ti (the transformer) was on First Beach when the wolves came down to run on the beach. The k'w a'-ti often had trouble with the strong and fierce wolves. So the transformer decided to be free from the wolf problem once and for all. He transformed the pack of wolves into the Kwo' li' yot, the people who live at the village, which came to be called La Push. …That is how the Quileutes of La Push came to be.""<br/>- <a href='http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/185752.asp?from=blog_last3'>Why are the Quileute people werewolves in 'Twilight?'</a> (<a href='http://www.google.com/sidewiki/entry/103443107517399487749/id/vAAbjSH3pgp2Grdnk_fNVStICgY'>view on Google Sidewiki</a>)</blockquote></p></div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-50922445082261641432009-11-18T06:30:00.002-05:002009-11-18T06:30:56.461-05:00Dell Hymes Obituary<blockquote>Dell Hathaway Hymes Dell Hathaway Hymes, 82, a founding figure in the field of sociolinguistics and Commonwealth Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, at the University of Virginia, died Friday, November 13, 2009. An innovative thinker, an energetic researcher and writer, and a tireless intellectual advocate, Hymes worked for more than five decades at the intersection of linguistics and anthropology, exhorting linguists to move beyond treating language as a purely formal system and to study its mutual interactions with culture and society. His work has had an impact not only on his own dual fields of anthropology and linguistics but on the study of folklore, literature, and education. Hymes, the son of Howard Hathaway Hymes and Dorothy Bowman Hymes, was born and grew up in Portland, Oregon, where he first developed his lifelong interest in the study of Native American language and culture, conducting his first field research on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon while he was still an undergraduate at Reed College, and beginning friendships and collegial relationships with members of the Wasco, Wishram, and Sahaptin peoples that he would maintain throughout his life. Interrupting his college education, Hymes served in the army in American-occupied Korea, working as a decoder and reaching the rank of staff sergeant, and returned to Reed to graduate in 1950. Hymes and his close friend the poet, Gary Snyder, were the first two Reed students to combine majors in literature and anthropology. Hymes went on to graduate work in linguistics at Indiana University, where he met fellow student Virginia Wolff, n‚e Dosch, whom he married in 1954. He earned his Ph.D. in 1955 with a dissertation on the Kathlamet language, formerly spoken near the mouth of the Columbia River. Between 1955 and 1987 Hymes taught successively at Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the departments of Anthropology and Folklore and then served as Dean of the Graduate School of Education for 12 years. In 1987, Hymes moved to Virginia, taking up a joint appointment in anthropology and English, and remained at Virginia until his retirement in 1998. Throughout his life Hymes was a writer of poetry alongside his academic work, and many of his poems have been published. He was also a man of strong political views and engagements, a lover of music and amateur pianist, an excellent joke-teller, and an avid reader across a multitude of fields, in his later years especially including theology and the history of religion. Since he arrived in Charlottesville 22 years ago, he has been a congregant of St. Paul Memorial Church and more recently of Peace Lutheran Church. His love of his native Pacific Northwest was a deep theme not only in his work but in his life, and for more than three decades, while living and working in Philadelphia and then Charlottesville, he spent every summer on Mt. Hood, which lies between Portland where he was born and Warm Springs where he did his fieldwork. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Virginia Dosch Hymes, a researcher and teacher in her own right in linguistics, anthropology, and the study of narrative; a brother, Corwin Hymes; and by four children, Vicky Unruh, Robert Hymes, Alison Hymes and Kenneth Hymes; as well as five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will take place 1 p.m. Saturday, November 21, 2009, at Peace Lutheran Church, Charlottesville. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice (CCPJ) or a charity of choice.<br />
</blockquote>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-15570386637542072282009-11-16T16:33:00.000-05:002009-11-16T16:34:48.431-05:00Fellowships in honor of Archie GreenArchie Green Fellowships<br /><br />Current application deadline: November 30, 2009<br /><br />Background<br /><br />To honor the memory of Archie Green (1917-2009), the pioneering folklorist who championed the establishment of the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress and was a scholar and advocate for the documentation and analysis of the culture and traditions that arise from and are passed on by American workers, a fellowship program has been established at the American Folklife Center. The Archie Green Fellowships will support new documentation and research into the culture and traditions of American workers and will create significant digital archival materials (audio recordings, photographs, motion pictures, field notes) that will be preserved in the Folklife Center's archive and made available to researchers and the public.<br /><br />Program Description<br /><br />The American Folklife Center will award up to three fellowships for the period February 2010 – February 2011 that will support new, original, independent field research into the culture and traditions of American workers and/or occupational groups found within the United States. Applicants must develop a project plan detailing the subject of the research and methods of digital documentation. The original documentary materials generated during the course of the fellowship will become part of the Folklife Center's Archie Green America Works Collection. <br /><br />Applicants must submit proposals to be received by the American Folklife Center no later than November 30, 2009. The term of each fellowship will be limited to a period of one year and will be supported with funds up to $45,000.<br /><br />Eligibility Requirements<br /><br />U.S. citizens are eligible to submit applications for a fellowship to support their new, original research on and documentation of occupational culture. Applicants may include individuals, organizations or groups. Occupational groups, labor unions or organizations may wish to involve folklife researchers for the purpose of undertaking fieldwork projects on their behalf.<br /><br />Selection<br /><br />Proposals for the Archie Green Fellowships will be evaluated by a committee that is composed of the Director of the American Folklife Center, Head of Research and Programs for the American Folklife Center, Head of the American Folklife Center archive, the Chair of the American Folklife Center Board of Trustees, and the Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress. A summary of the proposals and a recommendation for selection will be provided to the Librarian of Congress, who will make the final selections.<br /><br />Expectations<br /><br />Fellows will provide the American Folklife Center with the original versions of documentary materials created during the course of the fellowship research. All documentation must be in digital formats as outlined below. The cost of creating secondary copies may be factored into the applicants’ research budgets. Fellows will submit completed informant releases and biographical data forms (provided by the American Folklife Center) as well as electronic logs for audio/video recordings and still photographs. Fieldnotes describing daily research activities through the course of the project will be submitted in digital form. These materials will become part of the Archie Green America Works Collection. Fellows will submit a final report and financial accounting to the American Folklife Center upon completion of the fellowship. In addition, Archie Green Fellows will offer a public lecture or presentation at the Library of Congress at the end of their fellowship year, to become part of the Archie Green Fellows Lecture Series. These lectures or presentations will be recorded to become part of the Archie Green America Works Collection. Fellows' travel expenses related to the lectures will be covered separately by the American Folklife Center.<br /><br />Request for Proposals<br /><br />Applicants for the 2010 Archie Green Fellowships at the American Folklife Center should submit the following materials by November 30, 2009<br /><br /> * Project Description (1-3 pages)<br /> * Project Budget, which, if necessary, may include the cost of purchasing professional-quality documentation equipment<br /> * List of documentation equipment to be used<br /> * Project Timeline<br /> * Statement of agreement/letter from occupational group to be documented<br /> * Resume (for individuals) or Organization Description (for 501.c.3 orgs.)<br /><br />Digital Document Requirements & Specifications:<br /><br />All fellows must comply with the AFC/LOC digital standards and, therefore, provide documentation in the following specifications:<br /><br />Digital audio: 96khz/24bit bwf (or .wav) file, or 44.1khz/16bit .wav file.<br /><br />Digital video: high-resolution digital video format (consult with AFC)<br /><br />Digital images: high-resolution digital images (consult with AFC)<br /><br />Text files (for logs, fieldnotes, final report, etc.): Microsoft Word<br /><br />Databases, spread sheets, etc.: consult with AFC<br /><br />Application Process and Deadlines:<br />November 30, 2009 2010 Proposals due to AFC<br />December 15, 2009 2010 Adjudication final and awards announced<br />February 15, 2010 2010 Awards final and fellowships begin<br /> <br />October 20, 2010 Request for Proposals released by AFC for 2011 Fellowships<br />November 30, 2010 2011 Proposals due to AFC<br />December 15, 2010 2011 Adjudication final and awards announced<br />February 15, 2011 2010 Fellowships final reports and documentation submitted<br />February 15, 2011 Plans for 2010 Fellows lectures finalized<br />February 15, 2011 2011 Awards final and fellowships begin<br />Submit Materials to:<br /><br />Please email or FAX your submission, do not send via U.S. Postal Service.<br /><br />Email to: Archie Green Fellows Committee at mabu@loc.gov<br /><br />FAX to: Archie Green Fellows Committee at 202-707-2076<br /><br />Questions? Call Mary Bucknum at 202-707-5354Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-30828441674014484242009-11-16T10:41:00.001-05:002009-11-16T10:44:04.639-05:00Food, Folklore and Hurston<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKM6QUDtm1EnUh8VnihOOEbiBaGsZF3t6Ny85JFXW41IgNNkTqC0isUc0Y-H8J5CfEFlmlYHeY3Eu5z_Ar2BkPdJEncOkl9TqeamXP3Bloz_2gkDA3Ep8CGhpkurmJu8LUCgzBgva_Vw/s1600/PH2009111502866.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 245px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKM6QUDtm1EnUh8VnihOOEbiBaGsZF3t6Ny85JFXW41IgNNkTqC0isUc0Y-H8J5CfEFlmlYHeY3Eu5z_Ar2BkPdJEncOkl9TqeamXP3Bloz_2gkDA3Ep8CGhpkurmJu8LUCgzBgva_Vw/s400/PH2009111502866.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404727254160663362" /></a><br /><br />This article features the D.C. restaurant "Eatonville," dedicated to the hometown and heritage of Zora Neal Hurston. Folklorists everywhere should cheer.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-30163543367292536732009-11-16T07:45:00.002-05:002009-11-16T07:45:55.382-05:00Remembering Dell HymesThis is the first of what will be many remembrances of Dell Hymes:<br />
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<blockquote>Remembering Dell Hymes<br />
by Jason Baird Jackson<br />
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While no obituary has appeared yet, there seems to be conclusive understanding via the moccasin telegraph that Dell Hymes has passed away. So soon after the death of Claude Lévi-Strauss, this is another significant loss in the fields of Native American studies, anthropology and folklore studies. Dell Hymes was a amazingly influential folklorist, anthropologist, and linguist who revolutionized the study of language in (/and) culture in general, and of Native American narrative traditions in particular. He made important contributions to the history of anthropology, to descriptive and theoretical linguistics, to sociolinguistics, to folkloristics, and to Native American studies. He essentially created the areas on inquiry known as (1) the ethnography of speaking and (2) ethnopoetics and he played a key role reshaping linguistic anthropology from the 1960s onward. His work is at the root of the performance orientation central in contemporary folklore studies and he directly influenced the work of a great many folklorists, including Richard Bauman, Henry Glassie, and Lee Haring, among many others. His influence in the field as practiced in the United States is pervasive.<br />
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Dell Hymes was an especially central figure for his fields of study at Indiana University, where I earned my Ph.D. and to which I returned in 2004 to join the faculty in Folklore and Ethnomusicology. At Indiana, Hymes earned his Ph.D. in 1955, studying under Carl Voegelin, a student of Alfred Kroeber and Edward Sapir, both themselves students of Franz Boas. He was deeply immersed in the Americanist tradition and he took the task of understanding, enriching, and conveying that tradition to new generations to be a key task. When he left Indiana for jobs at Harvard, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia, his impact and influence kept flowing back and influencing the faculty and students here. At Pennsylvania in particular, he worked closely with scholars that have gone on to play a key role in shaping the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. Evidence of the breadth of his influence and his commitment to the Boasian vision for the study of language, culture and society can be seen in the fact that he served as president of the American Folklore Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the Linguistic Society of America.<br />
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More coherent and elaborate remembrances will be written by scholars and friends who knew him well, but I wanted to acknowledge his passing and record my appreciation for his many contributions that have enriched the fields of study in which I work.</blockquote>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-69917634946890524162009-11-15T11:41:00.001-05:002009-11-15T11:42:35.562-05:00Luto for Dell HymesDell Hymes, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and English at UVA, passed away on Friday, November 13, 2009 at the age of 82. I will post links to his obituaries as they are published.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-76797600307825315792009-11-08T06:48:00.001-05:002009-11-08T06:48:10.922-05:00Havana to host international Folklore Conference<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Havana will host the 39th Conference of Organizations for Folklore Festivals November 8-15. Representatives from 40 countries will be on hand. UNESCO and the International Council of Organizations for Folklore Festivals will co-sponsor the event.</p>in reference to: <a href='http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/cuba-to-host-international-folklore-conference_100270083.html'>Cuba to host international folklore conference</a> (<a href='http://www.google.com/sidewiki/entry/103443107517399487749/id/DMEhEt9DhjK70dj4ls9t4mZuK0I'>view on Google Sidewiki</a>)</div>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-65939345934681479352009-10-29T06:31:00.000-04:002009-10-29T06:31:11.729-04:00What's the role of Narrative in a point and click world?The article linked here from today's Washington Post explores the role of storytelling an a world of twitter and other snippet reading alternatives. Is there a role for the narrative (especially the long narrative) in this world of short attention spans and 120 character limits?<br />
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According to this author, there are many reasons to believe that a well-told story is still worth most people's time. He writes, "Narrative isn't merely a technique for communicating; it's how we make sense of the world. The storytellers know this."<br />
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He goes on to discuss new digital forms of storytelling (not in the traditional sense)<br />
that have evolved recently. It turns out (no surprises for folklorists) that people love a good story. Even if it is longer than 120 characters long.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-24639680658495899172009-10-28T19:17:00.002-04:002009-10-28T19:18:11.053-04:00Folklorist Sabina Magliocco lectures on the Folklore of Harry PotterSabrina Magliocco, a Folklorist and professor of anthropology at Cal State Northridge, gave a lecture on the ancestors of Harry Potter and the history of witchcraft and folklore on Monday Oct. 26. Follow the link to the full story above.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-41802350392133513442009-10-28T19:12:00.000-04:002009-10-28T19:12:12.189-04:00Missouri State University Folklore Students to give Campus "haunted" tours<blockquote>Members of Missouri State University’s Folklore Club will give guided tours of campus tonight, sharing little known tales and spooky stories about the Springfield campus. KSMU’s Missy Shelton reports.<br />
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The Missouri State students who will serve as tour guides tonight will share legends and stories collected from students and alumni. Dr. Rachel Gholson is faculty advisor of the Folklore Club, which is presenting tonight’s Haunted Tours.<br />
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Gholson says, “Students will be sharing narratives that have been collected from other students across campus for the last eight years that are all about various mysterious events, strange bits of information you may not know about campus, such as underground basketball courts that you can reach through tunnels that exist in specific places or ghosts that are in various buildings. There will be all kinds of haunting narratives and then little bits of interesting information they’ll share.”<br />
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Tours begin at 7 tonight and groups will leave every 20 minutes from Plaster Student Union. Tickets are required but can be purchased on site this evening. Just to get you “in the spirit,” Dr. Gholson shares a story that will not only be told this evening but will be reenacted by students from the Missouri State Theatre and Dance Department.<br />
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Gholson says, “There is the young woman who is purported to have been studying in the library one evening. She had a bit of a scary experience where a young man was walking around and she felt uncomfortable. She picked up her books and she disappeared into the restroom and hung out for a while. She came back out and saw that he was gone. Everything was fine and she continued her studying. But when the library closed just before midnight when she was leaving, she happened to run into him again. I wont’ give away the narrative but I will tell you that the fountain out front has not always been the best place to get your feet wet.”<br />
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You can hear the conclusion of this story tonight during the Haunted Tours that the Missouri State University Folklore Club will be hosting beginning at 7 outside the Plaster Student Union.</blockquote>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-13331324293716433512009-10-27T19:24:00.000-04:002009-10-27T19:24:16.046-04:00IU Professor and Alumnus Share Chicago Folklore PrizeThe American Folklore Society (AFS) and the University of Chicago have awarded Michael Dylan Foster, an IU assistant professor in the departments of folklore and East Asian languages and cultures, and Ray Cashman, an associate professor of folklore at Ohio State University who earned his doctorate at IU The Chicago Folklore PrizeDebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-43514256054260816902009-10-26T10:20:00.002-04:002009-10-26T10:20:07.641-04:00Egyptian Folklore Conference<blockquote>Delegation heads to Egypt for folklore conference<br />
[25/October/2009]<br />
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SANA'A, Oct. 25 (Saba) – Yemen is set to take part in the special conference on Muslim and Arab folklore' present circumstances and prospective horizons' that would be organized by the High Cultural Council in Egypt.<br />
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The meeting will take place on 26-29 October, with more than 17 Arab states expected at it.<br />
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Deputy Culture minister for Yemen Folklore Njaiba Hadad, head of the Yemeni delegation to the meeting, said on Sunday Yemen will present a work paper on its cultural heritage and visions over the heritage as well as the role of the ministry of Cultural in protecting it.<br />
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Hadada will deliver the opening speech that will highlight visions over protecting the Muslim and Arab identity under current difficult challenges and the negatives of the media while tackling crucial issues concerned by the Muslim and Arab nations.<br />
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The conference will discuss several issues including activating the dialog on the reality of the Muslim and Arab nations, the challenges and political crises in the Muslim and Arab worlds and how to preserve their fading folklore, she said. </blockquote>Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-64668172838314210952009-10-26T10:16:00.002-04:002009-10-26T10:16:51.371-04:00Oral History Opportunity with the SmithsonianNext year marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of the National Museum of Natural History. The Museum plans to mark this occasion with a Centennial Celebration-a year-long series of events that will highlight the Museum's scientific contributions, as well as the lasting impact that their exhibitions and educational programs have had on visitors over the past one hundred years.<br />
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The Centennial Celebration will kick-off on March 17th, 2010, with the opening of the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. Throughout 2010 the Museum will implement a targeted media and public outreach effort that will include a Centennial exhibit, television programming, a website, social media experiences, family festivals, and a lecture series.<br />
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A key component of the Centennial Celebration will be an Oral History Project - to be conducted in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Archives - that will tell the history of the Museum through the stories of staff members and volunteers. The Museum's plan is to document the reminiscences and contributions of twenty interview subjects, representing the wide range of the work conducted at NMNH over past decades. These interviews will be placed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives to serve as a lasting resource and documentation of its history. Excerpts from the interviews will also be featured on the Centennial website.<br />
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The Museum is seeking volunteers who would like to participate in the production of the Oral History Project. If you are interested in volunteering, please e-mail: Paula Cardwell, Public Programs Specialist, Cardwell@si.eduDebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-55081870471480589232009-10-26T07:06:00.002-04:002009-10-26T07:08:00.364-04:00Storytelling is a GiftThis article from the Times-West Virginian highlights the work of Ruth Ann Musick, who collects local folklore in WV. Her work will be featured next week at the ninth annual Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center Gala, which will will take place Saturday, Oct. 31, at <a href="http://fairmontstate.edu">Fairmont State University</a>.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-75649166390231472292009-09-02T08:11:00.002-04:002009-09-02T08:22:39.782-04:00How important is Tradition?Folklorists understand that tradition is extremely important. How that importance translates into everyday life is something that folklorists regularly examine. This <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/02/convocation">article</a> from today's Inside Higher Ed looks at the re-emergence of the university convocation as a way to boost retention of incoming freshmen and graduation rates. The idea is that convocations mark a rite of passage for new students. Convocations invoke ritual that allows students to see themselves as part of the idea of the university.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540100245556795347.post-88211710866064341502009-08-31T08:18:00.005-04:002009-08-31T08:32:27.890-04:00The Folk Value of "American Idol"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiSKzhQVzE45IUlLZLFwL0Ugo1_rUKRTyx3LA8qS0SzDbLZ7jBTiCi7D76rYY8FL3zUl_cwttX4KesWKEHmVvs3M5cQzBMfEDDHCdyDchDQ8PAy8XufcMkZWeRJef_BTrynYE-nERRKg/s1600-h/DSCN1200.jpg"><img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiSKzhQVzE45IUlLZLFwL0Ugo1_rUKRTyx3LA8qS0SzDbLZ7jBTiCi7D76rYY8FL3zUl_cwttX4KesWKEHmVvs3M5cQzBMfEDDHCdyDchDQ8PAy8XufcMkZWeRJef_BTrynYE-nERRKg/s400/DSCN1200.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376102079971510450" /></a><br />This <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082704411.html">article</a> in Sunday's Washington Post explores the acquisition and display of the judges desk from American Idol. The desk was donated and is currently on exhibit at the Smithsonian Castle. The accompanying text situates American Idol as part of a long tradition of amateur talent shows that have been part of American culture since the inception of the republic. <br /><br />What I love about this article is the way it problematizes the acquisition of the desk and whether it really is an authentic piece of folk culture worthy of display at the Smithsonian. It's the type of discussion I like to introduce with undergraduate and graduate students when we're working on a definition of folklore early in the semester.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936987045489514277noreply@blogger.com0