Wednesday, May 1, 2019



The North American cranberry industry has a long and distinguished history.  Native peoples used cranberries as food, in ceremonies and medicinally.  Revolutionary War veteran Henry Hall planted the first commercial cranberry beds in Dennis Massachusetts in 1816.  https://www.cranberryinstitute.org/about_cran/_aboutcranberries.html

akimbo (adv., adj.)  "with the hands on the hips and the elbows bent outward at sharp angles," c. 1400, in kenebowe, of unknown origin, perhaps from Middle English phrase in keen bow "at a sharp angle" (with keen in its Middle English sense of "sharp" + bow "arch"), or from a Scandinavian word akin to Icelandic kengboginn "bow-bent," but this seems not to have been used in this exact sense.  Middle English Dictionary compares Old French chane/kane/quenne "can, pot, jug."  Many languages use a teapot metaphor for this, such as Modern French faire le pot a deux anses "to play the pot with two handles."  https://www.etymonline.com/word/akimbo

The 'arms akimbo' stance generally indicates that combination of impatience and defiance which is these days called 'attitude'.  That is well exemplified in this design for a statue of the US politician Barbara Jordan  https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/arms-akimbo.html
Fearless Girl is a bronze sculpture by Kristen Visbal, commissioned by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) via McCann New York.  The statue was originally installed on March 7, 2017, at Bowling Green in the Financial District of ManhattanNew York City.  It depicts a girl who, as originally installed, faced the Charging Bull (or Wall Street Bull) statue.  Fearless Girl was commissioned to advertise for an index fund that comprises gender-diverse companies that have a relatively high percentage of women among their senior leadership.  The plaque below the statue states:  "Know the power of women in leadership.  SHE makes a difference," with "SHE" being both a descriptive pronoun and the fund's NASDAQ ticker symbol.  It was removed in November 2018 in preparation for relocation to a site in front of the New York Stock Exchange.  A plaque with footprints was placed on the original site of Fearless Girl.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_Girl

The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY was designated the "Official National Comedy Center of the United States" on March 12, 2019.  The Center also operates the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, which explores the lives, careers and legacy of the “First Couple of Comedy,” and the incredible impact they had on the world.  For over 25 years, the organization has produced the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, with performers including Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Jay Leno, Lewis Black, Trevor Noah, Joan Rivers, Ellen DeGeneres, Jim Gaffigan, Paula Poundstone, Ray Romano, Bob Newhart, and the Smothers Brothers.  The 28th annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in August 2019 will be headlined by Sebastian Maniscalco and John Mulaney.  https://comedycenter.org/national-designation/

Knossos (pronounced Kuh-nuh-SOS) is the ancient Minoan palace and surrounding city on the island of Crete, sung of by Homer in his Odyssey:  “Among their cities is the great city of Cnosus, where Minos reigned when nine years old, he that held converse with great Zeus.”  King Minos, famous for his wisdom and, later, one of the three judges of the dead in the underworld, would give his name to the people of Knossos and, by extension, the ancient civilization of Crete:  Minoan.  The settlement was established well before 2000 BCE and was destroyed, most likely by fire (though some claim a tsunami) c. 1700 BCE.  Knossos has been identified with Plato’s mythical Atlantis from his dialogues of the Timaeus and Critias and is also known in myth most famously through the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.  It should be noted that King Minos’ character in the story, as the king who demands human sacrifice from Athens, is at odds with other accounts of him as a king of wisdom and justice who, further, built the first navy and rid the Aegean sea of pirates.  According to the myths surrounding the early city, King Minos hired the Athenian architect, mathematician, and inventor Daedelus to design his palace and so cleverly was it constructed that no one who entered could find their way back out without a guide.  In other versions of this same story it was not the palace itself which was designed in this way but the labyrinth within the palace which was built to house the half-man/half-bull the Minotaur.  In order to keep Daedelus from telling the secrets of the palace, Minos locked him and his son Icarus in a high tower at Knossos and kept them prisoner.  Daedelus fashioned wings made of wax and bird's feathers for himself and his son, however, and escaped their prison but Icarus, flying too close to the sun, melted his wings and fell to his death.  Joshua J. Mark  https://www.ancient.eu/knossos/

British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1941), best known for his excavation and reconstruction of the Bronze Age palace of Knossos on Crete, spent a considerable amount of his life in Oxford, England, where he was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum (which now houses his archive and a collection of finds from Knossos).  Evans built a large house, called Youlbury which no longer exists.  Much of the former grounds is now a Scout Camp.  The public can still visit Jam Mound Wild Garden.  Anna P. Judson  https://itsallgreektoanna.wordpress.com/2016/08/21/arthur-evans-gardens/  Find a picture of Youlbury House at http://johnevans.ashmolean.org/evans/arthur-evans.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2090  May 1, 2019           

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