Birmingham Days:  Life and Times of Toledo's Hungarian Neighborhood  (Locate on Google Map)

by John F. Ahern, Thomas E. Barden, and Andrew Ludanyi   From the beginning, Birmingham's strategic location near the mouth of the Maumee River was attractive to settlers in northwest Ohio.  The locale's easy access to Lake Erie, its abundant fresh fish, and its situation under a major migratory bird route made it appealing to Native American tribal groups even before the first Europeans arrived.  What was to become the Birmingham neighborhood was inhabited early on by French, German, and Irish farmers who were impressed with the setting's rich, loamy soil.  Streets and park names such as Collins, Valentine, and Paine commemorate these early farming settlers.  The shift from agriculture to industry as the primary activity in Birmingham can be attributed specifically to the establishment of a foundry by the National Malleable Castings Company, which transferred a number of Hungarian workers from its home plant in Cleveland to its new East Toledo site on Front Street in 1892. This was the origin of the neighborhood as it is presently known.  With approximately two hundred workers moving in, Birmingham quickly became a working-class Hungarian enclave.  Their arrival is documented in the registers kept at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where many of the first Hungarian settlers recorded their baptisms, marriages, and deaths before St. Stephen's Church was built in 1899.  Moreover, this dating of the origin of Birmingham is confirmed in a profile of Hungarian-American communities that was published at the turn of the century by the Cleveland Hungarian daily newspaper Szabadság (Freedom).  Local records show that most of the populace had emigrated from the so-called Palóc counties of North-Central Hungary:  Heves, Abauj, and Gömör (now in Slovakia).  Most, though far from all, were Roman Catholic.  Although assigned to Sacred Heart, a nearby Toledo parish, the newly arrived Cleveland Hungarians were visited regularly by a Hungarian priest from Cleveland, and in 1898 their own parish was established, the Church of St. Stephen King of Hungary.  Its registry showed about one hundred families in 1899.  Birmingham's name, like that of the "Irontown" neighborhood just to its north, was meant to invoke a thriving iron and steel manufacturing center, and by the time of the First World War, it did resemble its English namesake, with National Malleable having been joined by United States Malleable; Maumee Malleable Castings; two coal yards; a cement-block manufactory; and the Rail Light Company (later Toledo Edison).  Birmingham got its own neighborhood school early in its history.  The first mention of it in the public record comes in 1894 in the annual report of the Toledo Public Schools. The report had this to say:  "Near the Craig Shipyard on the east side of the river in a settlement known as Birmingham, a four-room brick building was erected which is now wholly occupied, furnishing ample school facilities for the people of this neighborhood."  Early records list Miss Lillian Patterson as the school's principal in 1899 at a salary of $750 a year.  The Birmingham School saw numerous additions and by 1916 it was sixteen rooms in size.  A gymnasium was added in 1926, which completed the school as it stood until 1962 when it was torn down and replaced by the current structure on Paine Street.  Throughout this period of Birmingham's history, the school was a social as well as an educational center, since it was used for public gatherings and adult night classes in reading and writing.  The pre-WWI era also saw the heyday of Birmingham's military marching bands, the first of which was assembled in 1903.  John Lengyel and later Julius Bertok were the organizers of these musical ensembles, which served social and ethnic purposes as well as patriotic and musical ones.  The most impressive was the Rákóczy Band, named after Prince Francis Rákóczy II, who led the anti-Habsburg rebellion of 1703-1712.  The band, which dressed in genuine Hungarian military uniforms, performed in Courthouse Park in Toledo and in Cleveland as part of the dedication of the Louis Kossuth Monument.  Read much more at https://toledosattic.org/essays/92-essays/culthistory/130-birminghamdays?showall=1



"Hungarian heritage.  Youth gathering spot.  Neighborhood place to be.  Walk into the Birmingham Branch Library and take a step back in time.  This beautiful branch has a traditional library feel as well as beautiful Hungarian artwork.  Although we are the smallest branch in the system, Birmingham has a large presence in our community.  Weekly programs are offered for children and teens in areas such as STEM, karaoke, gaming, crafts, life skills and dance.  We have two community meeting rooms, with GED classes available Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  We also partner with the Hungarian Club of Toledo to offer ethnic cooking classes and host a monthly book discussion for adults."  Julie McCann, branch manager, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library  http://www.toledolibrary.org/locations/birmingham



Black Pepper Bacon Pineapple Fried Rice from Wok On  by Ching-He Huang   Be generous with black pepper here and please used freshly cracked, it makes all the difference.  serves 2,  20 min. prep, 5 minutes cooking  Find recipe and picture at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/black-pepper-bacon-pineapple-fried-rice



In her relentless quest to solve mysteries, Nancy Drew has been locked in a tower, knocked unconscious, and nearly boiled alive.  But far from a damsel in distress, the fictional detective bravely has overcome every obstacle to stand as one of the most enduring and accessible female role models in children's literature.  To date, more than 200 million books starring the spunky heroine have been sold and translated into 45 languages—with new mysteries released every year.  "Nancy Drews were no ordinary children's books," UI journalism professor emerita Carolyn Stewart Dyer writes in Rediscovering Nancy Drew, a series of essays she compiled with Nancy Tillman Romalov (84MA, 94PhD) shortly after organizing the world's first Nancy Drew conference at the University of Iowa in 1993.  "Reading Nancy Drew was a pivotal childhood experience for millions of girls."  Yet the chief Nancy Drew mystery for many fans involved the identity of the original author, who wrote 23 of the first 30 novels under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.  For decades, she remained shrouded in secrecy until the UI finally cracked the case wide open for the world to see.  Ninety years since Iowa journalism grad Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson (25BA, 27MA) unleashed a cultural phenomenon with The Secret of the Old Clock, the demand for new Nancy Drew adventures remains as strong as ever. In fall 2019, another UI alumna—Hollywood screenwriter Stephanie Savage (93MA)—will introduce the gutsy gumshoe to the next generation of fans with a TV series on the CW network.  Shelbi Thomas  Read extensive story and link to the trailer for CW's Nancy Drew TV series at https://magazine.foriowa.org/story.php?ed=true&storyid=1883



He's written or co-authored some 147 books aimed at humans great and small; he's won a slew of mainstream literary awards, and he's donated millions to scholarship and school libraries and school programs designed to foster the next generation of readers.  His subjects range from mystery and romance to true crime, and in recent years, he's sold more books that Stephen King, John Grisham, and Dan Brown combined.  "The library is the free store." -  James Patterson   Patterson's first book was rejected by 31 publishers.  Patterson will be in Toledo October 19 from 6-9:30 p.m. at the main branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library 325 Michigan Street.  Cost:  $400-$2,500  Information:  419-259-5196 or http://events.toledolibrary.org/event/3269506  Mike Pearson  https://www.toledoblade.com/a-e/culture/2019/10/12/author-james-patterson-toledo-event-information/stories/20191013017



FOOD WITH PIZAZZ  Eat plenty of protein (chicken, turkey, lean beef, eggs, nut butters, seeds or beans).  *  Fiber (whole grains, fruits, vegetables) keeps us full.  *  Make sure you've got some version of the rainbow most days.  Laurie Pressel  The Buzz Book, a guide to the very best in Northwest Ohio  Autumn 2019  See also http://www.eatingwell.com/gallery/13088/high-fiber-high-protein-lunch-ideas-for-work/



Breaking the Booker Prize rules, the judges named both Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo winners of the 2019 Booker Prize on October 14, 2019  in London.  Atwood won for “The Testaments,” her long-awaited sequel to “The Handmaid's Tale.”  Evaristo won for “Girl, Woman, Other.”  Washington Post  October 14, 2019 



WORD OF THE DAY  chicory  noun  (countable and uncountable, plural chicories)  (countable, botany)  Either of two plants of the Asteraceae family. quotations ▼ (chiefly Britain)  The common chicory (Cichorium intybus), the source of Belgian endive, radicchio, and sugarloaf. quotations ▼ Synonyms: blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailor, blue weed, chicory button, coffeeweed, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailor, succory, wild bachelor's button, wild endive (chiefly Canada, US)  The endive (Cichorium endivia), the source of escarole and frisée. quotations ▼ (uncountable, cooking)  A coffee substitute made from the roasted roots of the common chicory, sometimes used as a cheap adulterant in real coffee. quotations ▼ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chicory#English  October 16 is recognized by the United Nations as World Food Day to highlight the importance of food security and good nutrition, and the need for action against hunger.



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2169  October 16, 2019

Lentilles du Puy, the French green lentils from the Auvergne, are not called ‘the caviar of lentils’ for nothing.  Lentils from Puy are indeed the most fantastic lentils in the world and I’m one of their biggest fans.  I didn’t think it was possible to get so excited about a grain (well, they’re actually a ‘pulse’, but that sounds funny) until I tried them.  Their unique, nutty flavor is attributed to the volcanic soil they’re grown in, sans fertilizer, which gives them their fine, mineral-rich taste.  The climate in the Auvergne also contributes to their unique texture:  a lack of humidity and abundant sunshine, courtesy of the surrounding mountains and volcanic deposits, ensures that the lentils dry on the plant all by themselves.  Consequently, lentilles du Puy have less starch than other green lentils, so they don’t get all mushy and muddy when cooked.  David Lebovitz  Find recipe and pictures at https://www.davidlebovitz.com/cheap-caviar-1/



The Shambles were places in England where butchers plyed their trade.  A “Shamble” itself was, as early as the 9th Century, a wooden stool.  Later, it meant a different piece of furniture:  a table where butchers set out meat for sale.  From a still later and metaphorical use, I’ve seen “shambles” used in works about naval warfare during the age of sail; the insides of wooden vessels under cannon fire looked like butcher shops.  From these grisly examples we get the figurative “shambles,” meaning a messy, disorderly situation or place.  And thus the adjective “shambolic,” marked by the OED as colloquial and of recent coinage–the late 1950s!  Joe Essid   https://blog.richmond.edu/writing/2019/06/27/metaphor-of-the-month-shambles-shambolic/  See also What a Shambles:  a walk around York’s ancient walls and alleys by Alan Franks at https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jul/12/york-walk-around-ancient-walls-minster-railway-station with many pictures of York plus information on the Shambles, a long medieval lane barely wider than its pavements and overhung with upper storeys.



While many readers now associate the term "concrete poetry" with poems whose outlines depict a recongnizable shape—John Hollander's collection Types of Shape, for example—the ideas behind concrete poetry are much broader.  In essence, works of concrete poetry are as much pieces of visual art made with words as they are poems.  Were one to hear a piece of concrete poetry read aloud, a substantial amount of its effect would be lost.  European artists Max Bill and Öyving Fahlström originated the term in the early 1950s, and its early methods were described in the Brazilian group Noigandres' manifesto "Pilot Plan for Concrete Poetry."  During this period, concrete poems were intended to be abstract and without allusion to an existing poem or identifiable shape.  An interest in ideograms—and the notion that words themselves could be ideograms—accompanied the typographical innovations developed by these artists and by such visual writers as E. E. Cummings and Ezra Pound.  As the movement spread across the continents, reaching the height of its popularity in the 1960s, concrete poetry became less abstract and was adopted by many conventional poets as a specific poetic form rather than a combination of literature and visual art.  In response, some artists adopted the term "poesia visiva" to describe more experimental fusions of word and image.  As with much visual art, concrete poetry and poesia visiva now use photography, film, and even soundscapes in combination with letters and words to achieve new and startling effects.  https://poets.org/text/brief-guide-concrete-poetry  See examples of concrete poetry at https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/what-is-concrete-poetry/



A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg 

eustress  (YOO-stres)  noun  A positive, beneficial form of stress.  Coined by the endocrinologist Hans Selye (1907-1982).  From Greek eu- (good) + stress, from shortening of distress or from Old French estressei (narrowness or oppression), from Latin strictus, from stringere (to bind tight).  Earliest documented use:  1950s.



"For sale:  baby shoes, never worn"  is the entirety of what has been described as a six-word story, making it an extreme example of what is called flash fiction or sudden fiction.  Although it is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, the link to him is unsubstantiated and similar stories predate him.   The claim of Hemingway's authorship originates in an unsubstantiated anecdote about a wager between him and other writers.  In a 1992 letter to Canadian humorist John Robert Colombo, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke recounts it thus:  While lunching with friends at a restaurant (variously identified as Luchow's or The Algonquin), Hemingway bets the table ten dollars each that he can craft an entire story in six words.  After the pot is assembled, Hemingway writes "For sale:  baby shoes, never worn" on a napkin, passes this around the table, and collects his winnings.  The general concept of trying to tell a story with the absolute minimum of words became known by the general term of flash fiction.  The six-word limit in particular has spawned the concept of Six-Word Memoirs, including a collection published in book form in 2008 by Smith Magazine, and two sequels published in 2009.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_sale:_baby_shoes,_never_worn



Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.  Often attributed to Dr. Seuss without citation; also cited as an anonymous proverb.  This quote has also been attributed to Gabriel García Márquez, in Spanish:  “No llores porque ya se terminó, sonríe porque sucedió.”  German poet Ludwig Jacobowski's  “Leuchtende Tage” was published in the August 1899 issue of a literary journal.  The title could be rendered as “Bright Days” or “Radiant Days”.  One verse rhapsodized about the bright days of the past, and the next verse began with these two lines:  Nicht weinen, weil sie vorüber!  Lächeln, weil sie gewesen!  English translation:  Do not cry because they are past!  Smile, because they once were!  Find other variants at https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/25/smile/ 



Garlic Roasted Olives are undoubtedly an indulgent dish when it comes to the grocery budget, but the wow factor that it delivers on a holiday or party table is pretty close to incomparable.  Served with a rustic, crusty bread, Garlic Roasted Olives can either be the appetizer to end all appetizers, a hearty vegetarian main dish, or a rich side dish for any of a number of grilled, broiled, baked, or seared fish, chicken, or pork dishes.  Find recipe shared by Rebecca at https://www.foodiewithfamily.com/garlic-roasted-olives/



October 13, 2019   The Blair Museum of Lithophanes has sat on Elmer Drive in West Toledo for 17 years.  In two weeks, it will be closing its doors for good.  Tucked away in the Toledo Botanical Garden, the museum is one of the city's best-kept secrets.  The decision was made to change locations after the Metroparks system took it over full time last year.  The future for the Blair Museum is unknown.  Larry Durholt with the museum said that at this point, the collection could move anywhere in the world.  Filled with porcelain creations from night lights to beer steins, the museum has something of interest for just about anyone.  The artistry behind the wide array of lithophanes is truly something to be admired.  Lithophanes are translucent, three-dimensional translucent porcelain plaques which reveal detailed images when back-lit.   https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/lithophane-museum-to-close/512-95a1852b-3c28-44b2-8530-1385ed32c07c



WORD OF THE DAY  Woozle effect  noun  A reference to the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) by English author A. A. Milne (1882–1956), in which the characters Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet follow their own tracks in the snow, believing them to be the tracks of the imaginary “Woozle”.  The phenomenon whereby frequent citation of earlier publications leads to a mistaken public belief in something for which there is no evidence, giving rise to an urban myth.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Woozle_effect#English   British author A. A. Milne’s book Winnie-the-Pooh was first published on October 14, 1926.  It features a story in which Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet follow their own tracks in the snow, believing them to be the tracks of the imaginary “Woozle”.


From:  Andrew Pressburger  Subject:  Tigger  tigger, tigger, burning bright / in the forests of the night / what immortal hand or eye / pooh-poohed your fearful seam and try (to get away with it)?  From a song of innocence and inexperience.  With humble apologies to William Blake, A.A. Milne, and the citizens of Winnipeg, Canada.



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2168  October 14, 2019 

John Chapman, more famously known as Johnny Appleseed, was born on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts.  Overwhelmed by chaotic family life, John Chapman (at the age of eighteen) convinced his younger half-brother Nathaniel to roam west with him.  John and Nathaniel had reached Ohio when the rest of the Chapman family arrived; Nathaniel opted to remain with their relatives.  Prior to his roaming John Chapman (then aged thirteen), with the aid of his father, was given an apprenticeship to an orchardist, Mr. Crawford, who managed apple trees.  Chapman began to wander once more in 1802, travelling through Pennsylvania and later back through Ohio, harvesting apple nurseries.  He constructed fences as part of these nurseries to prevent his trees from being trampled by animals.  Chapman primarily wore discarded clothing, or would barter apple saplings for used clothes.  He spent most of his time in Ohio in Richland County near Mansfield.  Many of Ohio's first orchards began with saplings from Chapman's nurseries.  His trees fed many of Ohio's early white settlers as they struggled to establish farms and homes on the frontier.  Johnny Appleseed eventually owned more than 1,200 acres of land across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  Prior to his death, he claimed to have walked over four thousand miles around the United States. John Chapman died near Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the early 1840s.  https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/John_Chapman 

  

Boots on the Ground  Conservationists make the case that veterans can have a career in the environment and a home in nature by Jenny Rogers   Greg Jacob, a TNC policy advisor in Albany, New York,  co-leader of a Nature Conservancy group, says later that these retreats build on what some have called “dirt therapy.”  “It has a tradition all the way back to World War I, when the doughboys came back from war and [some] were experiencing what they called at the time shellshock—or what we call PTSD now,” he says.  The British government opened up plant nurseries to employ the returning veterans and to ramp up food production for the postwar population, Jacob says.  “What they found was that the veterans that were employed in these horticultural roles were doing better than the veterans that were either in industrial scenarios or weren’t working at all.”  https://www.nature.org/en-us/explore/magazine/magazine-articles/veterans-careers-in-nature/



The New York Public Library will present a rare glimpse into the life and work of author J.D. Salinger with an exhibition of manuscripts, letters, photographs, books, and personal effects drawn exclusively from the novelist’s archive.  This will be the first time these items--on loan from the J.D. Salinger Literary Trust--have ever been shared with the public.  The exhibition, entitled simply J.D. Salinger, is organized by Salinger’s son Matt Salinger and widow Colleen Salinger with Declan Kiely, Director of Special Collections and Exhibitions at the Library.  The free exhibition coincides with the centennial of J.D. Salinger’s birth, and will be on display October 18, 2019 through January 19, 2020 in the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.  The exhibition will feature more than 200 items spanning Salinger’s life, including:  The original typescript of The Catcher in the Rye, revised by the author, as well as the revised galley proofs of the novel; The original typescripts of some of Salinger's shorter fiction, including “Franny” and “Zooey"; An original pencil portrait by E. Michael Mitchell, who made the original cover design for The Catcher in the Rye; Family photographs from J.D. Salinger’s childhood, youth, and later life, including photographs from his World War II service, and time as entertainment director on the cruise ship MS Kungsholm in 1941; Correspondence between J.D. Salinger’s friends, fellow soldiers, and authors and editors, including William Shawn, William Maxwell, and Ernest Hemingway; A bookcase from his bedroom filled with books from his personal library; Items from his childhood, including a bowl he meticulously made at summer camp when he was about 10 years old (and kept his whole life); Notebooks, passports, honorable discharge papers from the army in which he identified his civilian occupation as “Playwright, Author,” and personal artifacts such as his pipes, eyeglasses and wrist watch; One of the author’s two typewriters, his film projector, and numerous other personal effects.  The exhibition also includes a description of J.D. Salinger’s life and profession written by Salinger himself, a rare glimpse into how Salinger viewed himself.  The description was written as part of a 1982 legal document.  https://www.nypl.org/press/press-release/october-7-2019/new-york-public-library-present-items-jd-salingers-archive   The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is at 476 Fifth Avenue (42nd St and Fifth Ave) in Manhattan.  (917) 275-6975  Find hours at https://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman



The New Yorker Festival brings together names in news, politics, books, film, music, art, and popular culture--from panels and performances to exclusive screenings.  The 20th annual festival will be held October 11-13, 2019 in New York City.  Find featured events and link to information on tickets, venues, and frequently asked questions at https://festival.newyorker.com/



September 28, 2019  Cincinnati's public library system has organized events featuring historians to mark the 100th anniversary of the Reds' first World Series victory.  The series was tarnished by revelations of a gambling conspiracy to "fix" the series, resulting in the lifetime banishment of eight Chicago White Sox players, including famed hitter "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.  The scandal was featured in the film "Eight Men Out."  See picture of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson at

https://www.examiner.org/sportsx/ap-sports/116307-tour-talks-mark-100th-anniversary-of-black-sox-scandal



Universal Pictures built a baseball diamond on two farms, a few miles outside Dyersville, Iowa, for the 1989 film Field of Dreams.  When production completed, the baseball diamond created for the movie was left behind. Most of the baseball field, including the diamond and the adjacent house, was on a farm owned by the Lansing family, but the left and center field were on an adjacent property owned by the Ameskamp family.  The field was built across the two properties because the producers wanted to place the field in a location where sunset shots would have a clear line-of-sight.  After filming completed, the Lansing family kept their portion of the field intact, and added a small hut where visitors could buy souvenirs.  The Ameskamp family returned their land to farming for a year, but then restored the remainder of the field and opened up their own souvenir stand.  The two owners had operated separate tourist facilities and had also been at odds regarding commercialization of the site.  In 1990, Keith Rahe, a neighboring farmer, put together a baseball team dubbed the "Ghost Players" to entertain the visitors at the field.  The team's presence at the field on Sunday afternoons once a month attracted thousands of additional fans to the field.  In 1991 and 1992, the Upper Deck Company sponsored a celebrity game at the field. Executive producer Tony Loiacono, who later received the key to the city, brought Hall of Famers like Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson and Bob Feller to take on Hollywood stars like Kelsey Grammer and Meatloaf in a charity game.  The two games raised over $100,000 for local charities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_Dreams_(Dubuque_County,_Iowa)  "Shoeless" Joe Jackson made a "ghost" appearance in Field of Dreams. 



Hunter's moon is mentioned in several sources as the Anglo-Saxon name for the Full Moon of October.  This is the month when the game is fattened, and it is time to start preparing for the coming winter.  Traditionally, this included hunting, slaughtering and preserving meats for use in the coming winter months.  Other names are Travel Moon and Dying Grass Moon.  Some also called it Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon, which also refers to the hunting season.  However, this name should not be confused with the term Blood Moon to describe a Total Lunar Eclipse.  Hunter's Moon 2019 in Toledo is scheduled for Oct 13, 2019 at 5:07 pm   Link to other locations for the full moon at https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/hunters.html



It's a year-long celebration!  With a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder, Sesame Street has brought the life-changing benefits of early learning to children across the globe for 50 years.  In 2019, we reach kids in 150 countries and 70 languages—and we’re celebrating our landmark anniversary with fans and families all year long!  Link to descriptions of events and more information at https://www.sesameworkshop.org/what-we-do/sesame-streets-50th-anniversary



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2167  October 11, 2019 

The Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks:  the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks.  This complex, built by the Hopewell culture between 100 CE and 500 CE, contains the largest earthen enclosures in the world, and was about 3,000 acres in total extent.  Less than 10 percent of the total site has been preserved since European-American settlement; this area contains a total of 206 acres (83 ha).  It is operated as a state park by the Ohio History Connection.  A designated National Historic Landmark, in 2006 the Newark Earthworks was also designated as the "official prehistoric monument of the State of Ohio."  Read much more and see pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Earthworks



5 Ways to Eat Chard Stems by Emily Han  Young and tender chard stems require little extra thought, but when the stalks turn thick, and perhaps stringy, it’s usually best to trim them from the leaves.  That doesn’t mean you should toss them in the compost or garbage bin, though.  Treat them as another vegetable and you have an ingredient for pickles, gratins, and more.  https://www.thekitchn.com/5-ways-to-eat-chard-stems-177885



Swiss chard actually goes by the name "spinach" in South Africa.  It's relatively easy to grow in most parts of the United States, and it's easy to wind up with more than you can easily eat.  Fortunately, it's easy to blanch and freeze both stems and leaves to enjoy later in the year.  Blanch (boil) Swiss chard stalks for two minutes and the leaves for one minute.  Place them in the ice water immediately after blanching to stop the cooking process.  Colleen Vanderlinden  https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-preserve-swiss-chard-3972330



The Actual Size of Greenland by Rob Lammle   In 1973, Arno Peters, a German filmmaker and journalist, called a press conference to denounce the widely accepted map of the world known as the "Mercator Map".  Peters' position was that the Mercator Projection—a cylindrical projection first developed in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator—was not only inaccurate, but downright racist.  Peters pointed out that the Mercator map has a distortion in the northern hemisphere, making North American and Eurasian countries appear much larger than they actually are.  For example, Greenland and Africa are shown as roughly the same size, although in reality Africa is about fourteen times larger.  In contrast, the regions along the equator—Africa, India, and South America, to name a few—appear smaller, especially when seen next to the distorted northern half of the map.  Of course Peters had a suggestion on how to fix this problem—his own map.  Cartographers agreed that the Mercator map was outdated, inaccurate, and wasn't the best way to represent the world's landmasses.  They'd been calling for the use of a new projection since the 1940s.  One of the reasons experts wanted to move away from the Mercator was because of the distortion.  However, they also understood that it was distorted for good reason.  The Mercator map was intended as a navigational tool for European mariners, who could draw a straight line from Point A to Point B and find their bearings with little trouble.  Because it was made for European navigators, it was actually helpful to show Europe larger than it really was.  It wasn't a political statement, but a decision made purely for ease-of-use.  However, the biggest insult to cartographers was the Peters projection itself.  It was essentially the same map devised in 1855 by a cartographer named James Gall.  Many have recognized this similarity and now you'll often see Peters' map called "The Gall-Peters Projection."  https://mentalfloss.com/article/57050/actual-size-greenland



When J. P. Morgan formed U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation, in 1901, it marked not only his signature deal but the apogee of banker power in America.  The negotiations would feature Morgan in his most famously histrionic mode:  knocking heads together, barking out prices for properties, and forcing titans to truckle to his will.  In the end he fused together a trust that controlled 60 percent of the steel industry and employed 168,000 workers.  This colossus encompassed everything from Andrew Carnegie’s massive steelworks to John D. Rockefeller’s iron ore and shipping interests in Minnesota.  As the deal’s impresario, Morgan forever altered the balance of power between American industrialists and New York’s financiers.  Relations between the two camps had been cool ever since the industrial boom that followed the Civil War.  Many manufacturers were plain. self-made men who had no use for Wall Street pashas and inherited wealth.  Fierce individualists, they were determined to shield their firms from intrusive bankers who knew little about the grimy realities of smokestack America.  Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan detested nothing more than competition.  He berated Carnegie as someone who would “demoralize” the industry with price cuts rather than do the smart, gentlemanly thing:  join a cartel.  While instructing his corporate wards to prepare for war with Carnegie in crude steel and finished products, he preferred an alliance that would eliminate competition altogether.  So he was hypnotized by a speech he heard on December 12, 1900, when Charles Schwab, Carnegie’s right-hand man, addressed eighty financiers at the University Club in Manhattan.  In sonorous phrases Schwab conjured up a vision of a supertrust that would make everything from raw steel to finished products.  Morgan sat there so bewitched that he forgot to light his trademark cigar.  The linchpin of the new trust was to be Carnegie Steel.  After consulting with Morgan in the storied “black library” of his Madison Avenue home, Schwab sounded out Carnegie, who was golfing at the St. Andrews Golf Club in Westchester County.  Carnegie pondered the matter overnight, then handed Schwab a slip of paper the next morning with an asking price of $480 million scrawled across it.  The instant Morgan set eyes on it, he exclaimed, “I accept this price.”  The corporate ideal is now transparency, not opacity.  Companies publish glossy annual reports, issue reams of information, and deluge stock analysts with reports on company developments.  Chief executives monitor the share prices of their companies as prophecies of their future tenure and ignore the stock market at their peril.  This state of affairs was unwittingly set in motion by J. P. Morgan, who never imagined when he formed U.S. Steel in 1901 that he and his fellow bankers would someday cede control of their foremost clients to tens of millions of small, obscure investors.  Ron Chernow  Read more at https://www.americanheritage.com/deal-century



Thorny Problems in Tennessee by Eric Seeger  The pile of invasive rosebush cuttings sits about waist-high and 5 feet long.  This morning, I’ve learned the trick is to hold the branches tight as I haul them away; otherwise, the mass pulls apart as thorns snag on the ground and other trees.  So I lean over what will be my 10th pile of the day and give it a bear hug, knowing that my work jacket and leather gloves will stop most of the thorns.  I keep my face clear of loose branches and curse—long, hyphenated strings of curse words—under my breath as I carry nature’s barbed wire to the side of the road.  I volunteered for this assignment.  The workday at The Nature Conservancy’s bog preserve near the small community of Shady Valley, in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, was arranged by Gabby Lynch, TNC’s director of land protection in Tennessee.  About 15 volunteers from state and federal land-management agencies, local conservation groups and even the Zoo Knoxville are here, helping remove invasive multiflora rose. From the road, the bog looks like a mile-wide overgrown pasture.  But between us and that wild expanse stands a barricade of 8-foot-tall tangles of this stupid, merciless, vile rosebush.  For fun, Lynch leads us single file into the bog to find wild cranberries.  They are reddish white, floating on the surface of the shallow water.  “Can we eat them?” someone asks.  Lynch says yes.  They crunch like tart little apples.  https://www.nature.org/en-us/explore/magazine/magazine-articles/restoring-tennessee-bogs/



Life imitated art October 8, 2019 when “The Big Bang Theory”—the American TV sitcom, not the scientific explanation for how the universe began—entered the annals of Nobel Prize history.  The announcement of the winners of this year’s Nobel in physics began with a nod to an unlikely cultural reference:  the opening lyrics to the show’s theme song.  “The Big Bang Theory” had its finale in May 2019.  In the episode, two of the main characters, Sheldon and Amy, win the physics prize.  “Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state, then nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started,” academy member Ulf Danielsson said, quoting “The Big Bang” theme at the presentation in Stockholm.  A Canadian-American scientist and two Swiss scientists won the physics prize for their work in understanding how the universe has evolved from the Big Bang and the blockbuster discovery of a planet outside our solar system.  Goran Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said the TV show was a “fantastic achievement” that brought the “world of science to laptops and living rooms around the world.”  Referencing its theme song therefore seemed fitting, he said.

https://www.apnews.com/c14bf683c2294c4083e1eea09dcc0313



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2166  October 9, 2019 

Food trends come and go, but "stuff on toast" is forever.  Try sliced tomatoes with something like shrimp cooked with garlic on top of toast.  Toast is good.  Alison Roman   The New York Times



The New York Times (sometimes abbreviated as the NYT and NYTimes) is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership.  Founded in 1851, the paper has won 127 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper.  The Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S.  The Times stayed with the broadsheet full-page set-up and an eight-column format for several years after most papers switched to six, and was one of the last newspapers to adopt color photography, especially on the front page.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times



PARAPHRASES from Snapper, a novel by Brian Kimberling  * The Ten'O Clock Line is a hiking trail now, but it was an international border in 1809.  Indiana Territory lay to the north, and to the south--a loose coalition of the Miami, Delaware and Potawatomi.  *  Warblers are passionate about warbling and reticence from them is a likely sign of an intruder.  *   An Indiana town was called Santa Claus after the preferred name, Santa Fe, was already taken.  *  The Caborn-Welborn culture, a former settlement in southern Indiana, is named after its discoverers  *  Bald eagles have no diving scream--what you hear in movies are recordings of red-tailed hawks.  *  In 1987, Indiana attempted to legislate 3.2 as the value of pi so it would be more amenable to commerce  *  Here all the important national debate issues are carried out on bumper stickers and highway signs.  * 



Brian Kimberling grew up in Evansville, Indiana, and graduated from Indiana University.  As a student he was involved in a major study of songbirds, an experience central to his first novel, Snapper.  Subsequently he taught English in the Czech Republic, Mexico, and Turkey.  He now lives in England.  Link to books, events and interviews at https://briankimberling.com/about/



In Australia, a team of marine biologists is restoring a small chunk of history.  In 2018, the country began working with The Nature Conservancy to replant 7 million flat oysters across 50 acres of seafloor in a gulf near Adelaide.  *  The Key West National Wildlife Refuge in Florida has protected a chain of islands, all except for one small key.  In 2019 the 14-acre island Ballast Key joined the refuge after owner David Wolkowski donated it to the Nature Conserancy.  *   Nature Conservancy magazine  Fall 2019



Pistou is an olive oil—based basil sauce from the south of France that closely resembles Ligurian pesto.  There's only one way to make true pistou—by hand.  Tear the basil leaves into pieces first, then grind the leaves against the side of a mortar with a pestle to puree them into a silky, creamy sauce.  Like its Italian twin, pistou can also be served as an accompaniment to grilled meats, poultry, fish and vegetables.  Paula Wolfert  Find recipe at https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/classic-pistou



The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign is a major forest restoration effort with a goal of planting a billion trees across the planet.  Trees provide so many benefits to our everyday lives.  They filter clean air, provide fresh drinking water, help curb climate change, and create homes for thousands of species of plants and animals.  Planting a Billion Trees can help save the Earth from deforestation.  Learn more at https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/plant-a-billion/



Warbonnets (or war bonnets) are the impressive feather headdresses commonly seen in Western movies and TV shows.  Although warbonnets are the best-known type of Indian headdress today, they were actually only worn by a dozen or so Indian tribes in the Great Plains region, such as the Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree.  Roach headdresses (also called porcupine roaches or artificial roaches) were the most widely used kind of Indian headdress in the United States.  Read about other headdresses including basket hats and fur turbans plus see pictures at http://www.native-languages.org/headdresses.htm



Brimstone is an alternative name for sulphur, or sulfur.  Find uses such as in arts, media, and species at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimstone



The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers:  0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 . . .   The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it.  The 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1)  The 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+2),  And the 5 is (2+3), and so on.  Fibonacci was not the first to know about the sequence, it was known in India hundreds of years.  His real name was Leonardo Pisano Bogollo, and he lived between 1170 and 1250 in Italy.  "Fibonacci" was his nickname, which roughly means "Son of Bonacci".  As well as being famous for the Fibonacci Sequence, he helped spread Hindu-Arabic Numerals (like our present numbers 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) through Europe in place of Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, etc).  Fibonacci Day is November 23rd, as it has the digits "1, 1, 2, 3" which is part of the sequence. Read more and see graphics at https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/fibonacci-sequence.html



Today, the first Monday of October in 2019, is designated by the United Nations as World Habitat Day to encourage reflection on the state of towns and cities, and on people’s basic right to adequate shelter.  It is also marked as World Architecture Day by the International Union of Architects.  Wikipedia 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2165  October 7, 2019     

COINED WORDS  A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

unbirthday (uhn-BUHRTH-day)  noun  A day other than one’s birthday.  Coined by Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) in Through the Looking-Glass (1871).  Earliest documented use:  1871.

runcible  (RUHN-suh-buhl)   noun  A utensil that is a combination of a fork and spoon.  Also known as a spork.  adjective  Shaped like a combination fork and spoon.  Coined as a nonsense word by the poet Edward Lear (1812-1888) in 1871.  

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day

From:  Julye Berry  To unvite:  I regularly got unvited to my mother’s home--she would invite me and my husband and children for a holiday, but then unvite us if she got an invitation to go somewhere.
From:  Ida Reichardt  When my daughter was a child, she would refer to something that had happened before as yestertime.
From:  Russell Lott  I coined the word unknowance as a somewhat less derogatory synonym for ignorance, a blend of ignorance and unknowing.  One could be highly educated and generally very astute, yet would be offended by being called ignorant for being unaware of certain knowledge.

From:  Patrick Paternott  Here in Australia, we call it a splade/splayd, which is a combination of fork, spoon, and knife . . .  not quite runcible.



June 17, 2017  The book  Arabia Felix first published by Danish novelist Thorkild Hansen in 1962, later translated into English by James and Kathleen McFarlane, and now out in a new edition—flirts with the ambiguous boundaries between history, fiction and travelogue.  But almost from the very beginning, it is unmistakably firm on one point:  Just about every one of the bright young scholars who undertake the ambitious scientific expedition at the heart of the book is going to die.  What's more, Hansen notes:  "Today, two hundred years after their expedition, they are almost completely forgotten."  Yet at the outset of the actual trip, in 1761, the Danish financiers behind it could scarcely have had higher hopes.  This quest to uncover the empirical truths behind the Bible in Arabia Felix—"Happy Arabia," or Yemen, as it's known today—was to be King Frederick V's chance to make his own splash in the era of the Enlightenment.  With a favorite phrase—"we can picture"—he and his able translators repeatedly call upon us to conjure scene after scene from the dustbin of history:  a rare balmy evening on the Atlantic, a troupe of girls dancing barefoot on the sand, a bitterly painful request from one member of the expedition to another.  These moments lurk between the lines of diaries that might otherwise have made for dry reading; in Hansen's words, they take on the weight of the living.  It can be tough sometimes to root for these guys.  Their failings can be deeply frustrating to watch, and their astute observations are matched only by their blithe obliviousness—to the plight of the slaves around them, for example, or the colonial blind spots most of them bear.  But then, that's part of the "double chord" that Hansen mentions at one point, that quietly plays throughout this book.  Colin Dwyer  https://www.npr.org/2017/06/17/531929925/in-the-refrains-of-arabia-felix-a-reminder-often-the-end-is-just-a-start



Liberty Island chronology

A.D. 994  Native Americans begin to inhabit the land that is now Liberty Island.  This island is one of the three "Oyster Islands" in New York Harbor, for the numerous shell beds in this location and a major source of food.

1609  Henry Hudson lands in New York Harbor and the Hudson River estuary.  Europeans begin to colonize the area which includes the Oyster Islands. 

1667  Isaac Bedloe, a Dutch colonist, obtains a colonial land grant for this Oyster Island.

1669  Colonial Governor Francis Lovelace confirms Bedloe's ownership of the island on the condition that it is renamed Love Island.

1673  Bedloe dies, Governor Lovelace is overthrown by the Dutch navy, and Love Island is renamed Bedloe's Island.

1877  Bedloe's Island is designated as the site for the Statue of Liberty.

1956  Bedloe's Island is renamed Liberty Island by a joint resolution in Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1965  October 3rd - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1960 at Liberty Island.  The bill abolishes the national origins quota system and states that all who wish to immigrate to America shall be "admitted on the basis of their skills and their close relationships to those already there." 
May 11th - President Johnson signs a Presidential Proclamation, adding Ellis Island to the National Park Service, under the administration of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/liberty-island-a-chronology.htm  My husband's grandfather was born to Irish immigrants in New York Harbor in 1840 and automatically became a U.S. citizen. 



Abstract Expressionist painter Mary Abbott, known for her colorful canvases and sweeping brushstrokes, has died at the age of 98.  In 2008, the New York Times praised Abbott as “one of the last great Abstract Expressionist painters of her generation.”  Nevertheless, Abbott’s work received little scholarly recognition until 2016, when the Denver Art Museum organized the exhibition “Women of Abstract Expressionism,” which traveled to the Mint Museum in North Carolina and the Palm Springs Art Museum in California.  Abbott’s work was shown alongside that of 11 other women who were among the pioneers of the Ab Ex movement in the late 1940s and ’50s, including better-known figures such as Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and Grace Hartigan.  (Those five painters were the focus of Mary Gabriel’s prize-winning 2018 book Ninth Street Women, in which Abbott was a recurring figure.)  One of just three living artists in the show, Abbott spoke on the occasion about what drew her to abstract painting.  “It just hit me. I just liked it,” she said in a video produced by the museum.  Sarah Cascone  Read more and see graphics at 

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/painter-mary-abbott-has-died-1647730



On balance, reports from Federal Reserve Districts suggested that the economy expanded at a modest pace through the end of August.  Although concerns regarding tariffs and trade policy uncertainty continued, the majority of businesses remained optimistic about the near-term outlook.  Reports on consumer spending were mixed, although auto sales for most Districts grew at a modest pace.  Tourism activity since the previous report remained solid in most reporting Districts.  The Beige Book reporting on overall economic activity on or before August 23, 2019  https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beigebook201909.htm


http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2164  October 4, 2019