Give and Take . . .

(from http://www.courant.com/entertainment/hc-winter-history-giftgiving,0,2002289.story)
By 1860, the New York Evening Post said Christmas in New York was an embarrassment of the riches that made holiday shopping more difficult and time-consuming. Most of December was spent preparing and shopping for Christmas.

The ``American,'' a journal published in 1887, asked: ``What is Christmas for? Not to enrich the shopkeepers.'' Instead, the journal argued that Christmas should be a time of worship, reunion and ``old- fashioned sports.''

Even before the 1800s, merchants were encouraging the nation's colonial culture to copy the aristocratic holiday observance of genteel gift-giving.

During the mid-1800s, entrepreneurs seized the opportunity to sell holiday trinkets and gifts in the streets, from carts and stalls. Visionaries of the modern consumer culture, from P.T. Barnum to R.H. Macy, knew how to sell Christmas to the middle-class consumer.

Children, in particular, liked this way of celebrating Christmas. It was around 1840 that children began to hang their stockings by the fireplace, according to the Connecticut Historical Society. About 20 years later, Santa became every child's hero with such 1860 stories as ``The Night Before Christmas.''

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Black and White. . .

. . . or NOT?   (not to be confused with 'Black & White Then Back' [see below])


. . . all the hubbub about the smug Fox News reporter who said that both Jesus and Santa Claus were white would be laughable IF IT DIDN'T BECOME THE NEWS ITSELF!   (Yes Virginia, Marshall McLuhan was right- the media HAS become the message.

Personally, I don't put ANY stock in television news at all - let alone Fox News.  Nor does watching pretty, smug and snooty little egocentric blond girls on television do anything at all for me.

BUT, SANTA CLAUS.   Give me (I was gonna say effin', but will refrain) a BREAK!!   Adults, in the year 2013, are actually spending valuable time thinking about, listening to, watching television programs or debating the skin color of a mythical figure based upon a 13th century religious figure??

SOMEBODY give me some music PLEASE!!!!!!

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A Lake . . .

(from http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel-ta-keuka-lake-state-park-hammondsport-new-york-fishing-sidwcmdev_054640.html)
To the Seneca Indians, Keuka was "Canoe Landing," and their fishing paradise.

Near what is now Branchport lived Otetiani, the famous Indian Philosopher, better known as Red Jacket. Seth Green, The Father of Fish Culture invented and used the Seth Green rig for the first time at Keuka Lake.

Today there is Keuka Lake State Park with camping and launching facilities. Keuka Lake State Park is accessible by road from route 54. Across from the state park is a private campground and launch. Take note of the 24 foot hole across from the state park. This is a fine fishery in itself. On route 54 between Branchport and Penn Yan is Keuka College.

PENN YAN - In the early years at the end of the eastern arm the Pennsylvania Dutch and New England Yankees settled their sectional differences by changing the name of the town from Unionville to Penn Yan.On the east shore next to Morgan Marine is Red Jacket Park named after Otetiani. Picnics facilities, swings, green grass and a statue of Red jacket is at the park. South of Morgan Marine is the YMCA encampment, Camp Cory. There is a new and improved town launch in Penn Yan on Water Street. Once a year Tioga County Bassmasters of Pennsylvania and Flower City Sportsmen of New York meet for a day of bass and pike angling, comraderie, bantering and a cook out.

HAMMONDSPORT is a town from the past with two distinctions. Glenn Curtiss, creator of the World War I's famous "Jennie" made the first flight in the Empire State in 1908. It is also the hub of America's champagne industry. All-round the lake are vineyards and wineries open to visitors. Hammondsport has a town launch with private marina in the area.

Oh yes, the latest iteration of my composition Keuka brought all this to mind.  Here it is for your aural enjoyment.


Keuka
©2013 Raymond M. Jozwiak







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History . . .

. . . well, what else can you call it.

It's my history anyway.


I have this ability, which in my view really isn't THAT special, to recognize people from my past.  And since as I get older that period of time continues to grow larger, that number likewise continues to grow, quite possibly making it increasingly difficult to maintain this ability.

But anyway, I had an opportunity to practice this (mostly) wonderful talent recently when I encountered my tenth-grade biology teacher in the grocery store.  And although we had a most pleasant conversation, there are some things, as happens in many conversations, that I did not say at the time but which occurred to me later making me wish that I had said them at the time.  So I thought I would say them here.

This particular teacher was a breath of fresh air in some otherwise unspectacular high school years.  She was young, not unattractive, energetic, enthusiastic, articulate, funny and unmistakably dedicated.  I was an impressionable, un-academic, socially awkward, decidedly uncool, dweebie, acne-faced adolescent young male biding my time in a school that offered me very little in the way of intellectual stimulation or social opportunities.  She taught biology, one of the few subjects that held some appeal for me, being a lover of reptiles and amphibians. But she taught biology, as I'm sure she could have any other course, with pizazz and finesse resulting in one early-morning class to which I actually looked forward favorably.

One component of this biology class, which now upon reflection I realize, was instrumental in shaping my academic future and later life.  It was a  project we undertook of a multi-media presentation within the topic which required team work, writing, selection of visual material and accompanying narration and audio.  I, with the encouragement of this teacher, was selected to be the narrator, which in truth was mostly because I was one of a small few who could read more than one sentence without stumbling.  But this distinction helped shape the direction I soon decided to take toward a career (or at least the pursuit of such a career) in media.  This decision (which by the way I have never regretted due to the many pleasant years and good friends which resulted) at which I arrived was the result of the (rare for me, at the time) confidence I felt because of this science project and with the help of this wonderful teacher. 

So not only is this petite, unassuming figure not difficult for me to discern in a crowd because of her smiling, wise and pleasant face, she is one of a select few persons from my past who helped instill something in me that I have never lost and which has become an integral part of my makeup as a happy, responsible, functioning adult.  Thank you Miss Wells.

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Bah . . .

. . . ancient  humbug!


Saturnalia was a public holiday celebrated around December 25 in the family home long before the common era and the cult of Saturn survived in Mediterranean locale such as the province of Constantine, somewhere in present day Algeria until the third century CE. The Saturnalia celebrations were annual events well into a century after Constantine's, the first 'Christian' Emperor's reign.  During its popularity, the length of the celebration ranged from two to seven days. 

The earliest known reference to December 25th commemorating the birth of Christ is in the Roman Philocalian calendar of 354 CE. The same day also appears in the Philocalian calendar as a Roman civil holiday honoring the cult of sol invicta, originating in Syria and relating to the cult of Mithras.

Buying gifts to celebrate Christmas is steeped in tradition, dating to the 1820s when newspapers began to advertise items for Christmas presents.

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For Sure? . . .

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/health/we-all-speak-valley-girls-now-2D11722245)
We are always asking questions, even when we're not. A new study suggests that "uptalk," phrasing your statements with a rise in pitch at the end, isn't just something young women do: it seems to be expanding to other demographics, including young men.

In Southern California, anyway, young people tend to uptalk no matter their gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, suggests a small new study presented last week at the Acoustical Society of America’s annual meeting.

. . . Uptalk serves several purposes in the speech of SoCal speakers. . . Here's an everyday example: When the barista at Starbucks asks for the customer's name, an uptalker almost sounds like he or she is guessing at the answer (Mike? Isabelle?), "even though we know that this person is not actually questioning his or her name,” the authors write.

Ritchart and Arvanti rounded up 23 UCSD undergrads – 12 women, 11 men, all “native speakers of SoCal English." Their backgrounds varied widely: most self-identified as middle-class, but six said they were upper-class, and four said they were lower-class. Eight of them were bilingual. But despite their differences, they all used uptalk, the authors say.

It’s easy to dismiss uptalk as the airhead’s language quirk, but it can be a useful way of speaking: Ritchart and Arvanti identified an interesting way uptalk is used – to “hold the floor,” or to let the listener know they’re not done talking. The uptalk sort of acts as a verbal comma, explains Arvanti, who notes that their study is not the first to find this usage. For example, in the map experiment, the speaker might say something like, “OK, so, go toward Warren?” before continuing on with his instructions (“And then do you see Valley Mall?”). Ritchart and Arvanti found that 45 percent of “floor holding” instances used uptalk, and 16 percent of simple statements did, too.

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A Blast . . .

. . . from the past (circa 1997 and featuring Spencer Jozwiak, formerly of Angel Fallen and Left Stronger)

Taking in my daily sustenance
Down at my local Scottish restaurant
When I noticed that my entree was
More than I bargained for
Look what I got
The manager said there was compensation
Coming my way
But not today

Don't call us
Don't call us
Don't call us
We'll call you

Auntie Lynn said it would be a sin
To waste my precious vocal expertise
So I took me to audition down
At the prestigious theater called the Ritz
Producer man was nice as he could be
He said I was fine
But not this time

Don't call us
Don't call us
Don't call us
We'll call you

Seems I've been hearing
The same thing since
I don't know when
Some with a little less
Confidence might just give in
I'm no one's fool
Unless I want to be
Life can be cruel
Won't someone please
Just call me

At the end of what had seemed to be
A perfect evening
Just what did I do
Could it be something I said
Or didn't follow-through
I wish I knew
We danced and dined
I even kissed your hand
Under a twinkling sky
I said goodbye
When you cried

Don't call us
Don't call us
Don't call us
We'll call you


We'll Call You
©1997 Raymond M. Jozwiak





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