OH, Suzanna! Folklore and Fairy Tales

*****This post is for adults only- there is no x-rated content. It is just time we adults sat down and had a chat about something very important for a bit. *****

I promised myself that this would be a Sandy Hook Elementary -free zone. I thought we all needed to have a safe place to go to not have to think about that awful day almost a week ago and begin the process of healing by dreaming of different things to think and talk about.

I am breaking my promise.

Today marks the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales Collection.

Don't worry I am not up to my usual flippant act of comically connecting two seemingly different subjects.
First of all let me list the subjects I will connect here:

1. The Whitewater Valley area of Indiana
2. Fairy Tales/Brothers Grimm
3.Unspeakable Tragedy / Sandy Hook Elementary
4. The importance of Writing, Communication, and Human Contact
5. Innocence/Knowledge/ Wisdom

I really do think this is an important post for everyone to understand. My love of history, tales, writing, and loving life just seemed to have no point in these last few days.

Until I flipped on the laptop and on my Google search engine page was this funny little graphic with Little Red Riding Hood. Usually I don't mess with these annoying grabbers that Google tries to suck me in to with their marketing of articles and products, but I could not resist Little Red Riding Hood today. And there in lies the point.
After all, if it is something I don't want to look at I can just "x" out of it right?! Harmless....

Little Red Riding Hood thought that her actions were harmless too....

http://www.usm.edu/media/english/fairytales/lrrh/lrrhji.htm

The Brothers Grimm wanted so very passionately to convey to ALL, not just children, the importance of heeding good advice, or wisdom. Using wise knowledge to maintain your innocence. Or how to get through a tragedy - if that is even possible. They wanted to convey that there were horrible evil things out there that just do not seem to be that harmful....but we must listen to the older, wiser ones to have the knowledge that will bring US wisdom about life. They wanted to do this in a manner that would best fit the ones who needed it. Somehow, they knew we would ALL need it. And we would need it in a bound safe little collection of stories.

So how does the Whitewater Valley come into this?

Well, as has been said many times before the middle part of the U.S. was settled predominately by Scottish, Irish, and German immigrants and pioneers. Many have said that Indiana so very much resembled the Black Forest of Germany. The blackening canopy of trees that extended beyond its borders was home to many resources and unseen fears to those trying to make a nation out of its dark, often cold and damp, recesses. These were qualities that the Germans, Irish and Scots knew all to well. They knew how to live with it, they knew how to use it to their advantage and make it a paradise. My family are descended from these first white settlers. Many others who live here have that in common. Along with their genes we inherited their stories and bit by fading bit their attitudes.

Growing up on a heavily wooded farm in Fayette County Indiana in the 1960's and 1970's I thought my surroundings very much resembled those of Snow White and Rose Red's, or a hundred other backgrounds to stories I was read as a small child. I identified with the characters and so I could identify with their plights.

The key here is: those characters, those plights could be stopped in an instant! All I needed to do was slam the cover of the book shut! Breathlessly I could take what had been on those pages and inhaled into my senses, my mind's eye, and try to assimilate it into what I already knew. AT MY OWN PACE.
Questions about good and evil, safe and harm, poor and rich, plenty and want, reality and lie, beauty and ugliness- these were all addressed here. The original versions of these stories were often what we would call violent and horrific. When they were collected and rewritten by the Brothers Grimm they were more close to the truth of how life's stark realities were then. (Of COURSE there were not any talking animals and dwarfs that dug in gold mines and took in lost beautiful waifs unmolested - of COURSE there were no Fairy godmothers who turned pumpkins into carriages and mice into footmen!)Then Walt Disney Studios and Pixar came along....watered down and bastardized versions of the originals muddied the lessons the Brothers Grimm were hoping to convey.

Especially Walt Disney Studios, and of course the hundreds of other production companies and publishing houses, came after WWII. NO ONE wanted to relive the atrocities the Nazis brought forth. Every one in the world had had enough of the depression, starvation, war, horrific cruelties, and even sub-animalistic tendencies - everyone had thought they had learned their lessons and it was time to go on.

The Brothers Grimm were at just such a time in their history when they decided it was NOT time to move on and forget those warnings. They were good warnings, they were good lessons. Sometimes things happen in life by no fault of our own, sometimes no amount of warning and lessons can divert disaster from visiting us. BUT we can learn how to carry on. We can learn how we continue to act human, how to hold on to decency, how to hold on to love, how to hold onto hope.

People, there is definitely a difference between seeing something with your own eyes-experiencing it in your mind to the point of it imprinting there before you give it permission to, and reading and learning about something. There is a finesse to allowing this information- this concept cooked up by another human mind - to be accepted and processed as truth or lie. Then the truth or lie must be positioned somewhere in our minds. We have to judge it and decide is it worthy of note. Is it just complete rubbish and needs to be discarded and forgotten (but do we REALLY ever forget anything?) Our minds learn as we get older how to do this processing faster and faster based on previous examples. This becomes a part of our mindset, part of our biased thinking. Most of this learned biased thinking is beneficial - example: wolves will probably eat you given the chance. Some of it is very destructive socially- example: Step mothers will probably lead you out to the woods and leave you for dead given the chance. BUT, if a person has the time and chance to weigh this information against concrete examples they KNOW to be true - much of this socially destructive biased thinking can be undone, or at least modified.
So, seeing and the mind experiencing an event is much more likely to sink into our minds faster than the event or information that is presented for thought and introspection at our own pace.

In a few studies I have read over the years it has been said that the Grimms helped shape German imagination, communication of those ideas, and language. History has shown that the German people have  been creative and imaginative as a whole. Before WWII it was said that Germanic cultures had a high sense of right and wrong. There was a rigidity to it as time wore on, some said. Now we refer to the German Guilt. This sense of right and wrong holds them to a commitment to be better, to never let the big IT happen again. The dark stories of the Brothers Grimm seem to land on the lap of German blame. Those stories were collected because they were world wide archetypes- a theme of passage from innocence to experience.They were not meant to showcase "just how dark the Germans are." I have seen and heard from Germans many times over: there is this stifling of new ideas and dreams in the suspicions that they could produce another homicidal Pied Piper ready to soothe the ills of those willing to follow along.

I believe this is an another tragedy. I believe there are a great many works that have gone undone because of the grief and fear and blame that has been held so tightly by a people that also carry a self shame.

We need to be careful what we allow in our minds' eyes, what we allow in our conversations, what we allow in our hearts. Not to be like the self condemned Germans, but to protect our sense of love, innocence, hope and perseverance. Take the time to process and filter what is being said, what is being heard, what is being seen in the media. I am NOT making a call for censorship, or regulations or anything like that. I am making a call to beg everyone to use their minds, use their wisdom they have, use their sense of love and carefully and lovingly consider what you teach and carry on to the next person you see today, and the next day. Do not let these things we have seen and heard make us fearful and reactionary beyond what is reasonable.

This time before Christmas I ask that you slow down, unplug, take a deep breath, clear your mind and focus on what and who are most important to you. Choose to see, do, think, and speak intentionally.

It is perfectly fine to cry for the children, the adults, and their families at Sandy Hook Elementary School. For them, the Big Bad Wolf was real and he devoured them. We did not get to be the Wood Cutter that rescued them, because this is not a fairy tale, this is real life. It is OK to not know what to do or how to move forward. Grief and Mourning is this phase of life, the next one will be healing.

 -Suzanna

Cancelling Cambridge City Caroling

Due to my recent illness I am forced to cancel the Caroling events for Cambridge City. 

This saddens me a great deal as I believe that we all need this more now than ever. 

If any of you would like to gather in your own communities to carol this season please do. 

Our communities need the out pouring of warmth and hope that caroling brings more than any other activity. 

-Suzanna-

OH, Suzanna! Apprenticeships in Colonial America

I have continued to think about apprenticeships from the colonial times these past few days. I have always considered education and skilled trades to be an important part of the fabric of any society. How does one obtain this education? It has not always been the norm to go to a community school or trades school and pay for instruction in these areas.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12045/12045-h/12045-h.htm

The idea of Apprenticeships have been around for a long time. At first they were only restricted by the contract agreed upon. Then as society began to change, and the value of a childhood spent with families was recognized, and also economies improved, child labor laws began to be more of the norm. With these new concepts of child labor laws becoming a restriction, the definition of what an apprentice was changed gradually.

Most of you have probably at least heard of the tale of Oliver Swift. From accounts that I have read in old court documents and poor house ledgers little Oliver's trials and hard luck life was one that many children throughout the ages have endured. His good fortune, I am sorry to say, was more of the myth. Many times a poor child's only hope was to be apprenticed to someone, or a company, that would HOPEFULLY not be cruel. Perhaps that child would have the fortune to be clever and learn a skill, thereby enabling them to prove their worth in an over burdened society. I believe that is why so many were apprenticed or just made their way to the new Americas. There was a continual shortage of labor and ANYONE that had a basic level of skill was an asset to the local community or the company that employed them.

I have also began to compare my employment experiences in my younger years to that of more recent times. I observe what goes on in the work places I frequent on a day to day basis. Something I am witnessing is a\the lack of training before a new employee is set loose on the public, or the plant floor. They call it on the job training. I call it not respecting the craft. When I first entered food service and then later retail as a teen and twenty-something never was I sent out to face the customer with out at least 2-3 days of training with a manager or trainer. In some of the department stores I worked for there was a separate training room/s with mock sales floor and products. We studied at least 2 weeks with a trainer. An employee was given 3 chances at a 2 week training course before they were let go - either on the sales floor, or to find other employment. During that time we were trained on the mundane, as well as the insane, possibilities that could occur on the sales floor. We were trained how to handle difficult situations with customers so that the very most care was taken to be a professional, present yourself as such, and present a good face for the company. We were trained on all possible equipment that we would encounter with in that particular store also. It was not satisfactory to face a customer and say "I don't know how to do that." You were expected to already know. I blame the business community for allowing the standards for employment to drop. It should be alright to expect your employees to know how to do their jobs, but training should be provided. I do not mean just an orientation into the policies and procedures that a company has to follow either.

I now see that I took to these practices so readily because I believed in the training systems of older times. One should be an apprentice for a period of time. Then when they are able to conduct business or a craft efficiently and effectively they can be set out on their own to be a journeyman. That term comes roughly from the French for day - journee. A man to be paid by the day. A journeyman could not train or have apprentices, and he could not have his own shop. He was considered skilled but lacked the experience that was called for to be a master craftsman. A master could open his own shop, have apprentices and employees. As one can see to become a master at your craft was the coveted role. More money, freedom  and prestige within the community.

http://www.mitchellteachers.org/WorldHistory/EuropeafterRome/LifeinMedievalEuropeLesson.html

OH, Suzanna! Apprenticeships

As often happens to me in a library I went to the inner sanctum of the Indiana Room recently looking for two particular things and not finding them, stumbled across something else quite interesting to say the least.

Child Apprentices in America was a book that just seemed to jump off the shelf at me. It was not anything like what I was searching for, but after exhausting the shelves of anything that resembled my original research I gave into the bibliophile in me to sit down in the big comfy leather chair and have a read.

Now, anyone that has spent any amount of face time with me knows that I would champion a system of apprenticeships here in this country and in this era. I am all for a more vocational approach to education beyond 6th grade, within reason. So, thinking this would be entertaining at least to read, I began.

Upon finishing the introduction and some of the background information on Christ's Hospital I learned it was Greyfriar's (One of my favorite stories is that of Greyfriar's Bobby - not related to this story except that the Franciscan Monks were called Greyfriars because of the grey robes they wore..... )

Now, in medieval times "hospital" meant a charitable institution for the needy, aged, infirm, or young. Christ's Hospital was founded in 1553. You can read more about it in the links above.

What strikes me as heinous is the tradition to present the apprenticeship system that started with Christ's Hospital and involved the Virginia Company most often as one that trained and cared for these poor waifs. We have been told all through out our history classes that apprentices "took articles" and accepted apprenticeships for training and a better life AFTER they had reached a certain age and mastered some basic skills- most likely about the age of 14 - we have been led to believe. 

Although this book, Child Apprentices in America, is NOT a primary source, there is evidence of vast amounts of documentation and research into ship records and that of the articles of apprenticeship that leads me to believe that the book is pretty darn accurate. I will do more research on this matter I can assure you.

The indexing that this book offers is a sad one. I read abstract after abstract of articles of apprenticeship for children ages 4, 5, 6 and some older. Some of these children were orphaned, while others' parents just could not afford to keep them any longer and conscripted their very young child to work upon one of the hundreds of ships that ran the merchant routes between the old world and that of the new. Many a shop keeper in the new America sent back to London for a young child to become an "apprentice" in their shop. 

A child of 4 years old could not possibly have mastered any skill except going to the potty without help.

I saw listings of children ages 5 or 6 being sent off in the hands of a ship's captain in the employ of the Virginia Company to Barbados, Jamaica, Bermuda, and many other islands to be dock hands. There were hundreds of other snippets of stories to be gleaned from the abstracts found in this indexing. 

Honestly it was too much for me to bear. As I helped my six year old daughter with her first grade math tonight and looked into her sweet innocent eyes, I thanked God that I have never had to face that situation in mine or my children's lives. I left the room for a few minutes so I would not cry in front of my daughter at the thought of ever having this happen to her, or my son. 

I look at our idea of what poor is, or our idea of a hard life in the year 2012 in the United States. And then I imagine what life had to be like in order to think that sending my tender child off to work in such horrible conditions with a complete stranger and no expectation to EVER see them again would be an improvement over the situation they were in?

The book tries to honor these children that quite possibly shared the load on their backs to bring our country from a colony to a growing democracy with relatively free markets in the 1800's. I would like to believe that these children were able to work through the average 7 year term of articles and then go on to have a better life....but I know better. I wonder how many even LIVED through their apprenticeships, or the passage across the Atlantic. Think, there was no one really to answer to on the part of the company or the one requesting an apprentice. Abuse, ill care, and starvation were a common situation world wide for children. How could it be any better for an apprenticed child?

There were two other avenues for a child to go also...

St Thomas' Hospital (an actual medical hospital and housing facility)- for those impoverished by disease or accident and they were cared for. St Thomas' hospital has basically been known as a research hospital from the beginning.

The Bridewell Institution - for those reduced to want by their own idleness or vice where they were restrained, corrected and put to useful work. (How can a young child be reduced to want by their own idleness or vice? Restrained and corrected as a treatment?)

Again, I am brought back to a re-occurring issue: How are we taught HISTORY? How are we taught so called facts?

I knew before this book that there was ill treatment. That is a common theme throughout history. I just had never seen documentation of the AGES of these children before. I had always glossed over the obviousness of this fact. OF COURSE the apprentices were of such young ages. Few older children that were impoverished lived without crossing the law and lived a very rough life. A younger child would be preferred to that of an older child that would not be as easily manipulated - or discarded. A few older children were apprenticed to lawyers, surgeon-barbers, land acquisition offices and the like, but most of what I saw were ship hands bound for the East Indies, New England, or the Caribbean.  

Just as when I walk through an older cemetery and see row upon row of children's graves it moves me very deeply to know that children's lives were so very HARD. And of course there are millions right now that do not have what we take for granted. 

Again, History makes me take a long hard look at my present situation in a new light. Again, History has taught me something new about myself.

-Suzanna

OH, Suzanna! Whoa is me!

After a recent bout with pleurisy I thought about why it took so long for me to go to the doctor when I first started feeling poorly.

Was it because I am generally stubborn and think I can take care of everything? Probably.

Was it because I have an inbred suspicion of doctors and all modern medicine that was genetically passed down from my ancestors? Maybe.....

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I LOATHE laziness. Somewhere along the line I equated napping, or resting with laziness. My entire family are poster children for ADD. We are kind of proud of it actually. We had the benefits of strong parents that just constantly told us to sit down, shut up, and act right! No, actually we had parents that expected children to be active, energetic and a bunch of pains in the rear for busy adults. We were told to find something to do with ourselves or Mom would find work for us to do. That was not hard on a 65 acre farm!

Our play mimicked the work we saw all around us going on. As we grew older work was more and more esteemed and applauded, necessary and then later PAID! We all wanted to be applauded, we all wanted to be PAID! So any way, I grew up valuing work. Not all work looked the same, but if it was productive it became my definition of work.

But really, is that why I waited to go to the doctor for so long?

My Grannie Katie once told me when I was a young girl that I was a born mountain woman, never mind that I was only born in the hills and hollers of Indiana, she said. "You are definitely a mountain woman." At the time I did NOT take that as a compliment. For most of my 44 years I have tried to shy away from my Appalachian roots. In the last 10 years or so I have slowly seen the wisdom of being who you were meant to be though. Part of that for me is that of "mountain woman."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nursingpins/4697852283/

I now know that Grannie Katie meant I had the heart and ideas that would steer me through an old fashioned mountain woman's life. One of those not so endearing qualities is self reliance. We mountain woman types can begin to think that the whole family's welfare rests on our shoulders. That if we don't do it NO ONE is gonna do it! That we have to sacrifice unnecessarily for the benefit of the rest of the family.

Well, this mountain woman was very happy to have the E.R., antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory drugs when I needed them!

I began to wonder this week how the Indiana pioneers handled illness and what their attitudes toward doctoring was like. I had a pretty good idea from an earlier project researching the life of Dr.Charles Smullen of Fairview, Fayette County, and then later Raleigh, Rush County, Indiana. I lived in his house for a few years. His life and that of his two wives were so intriguing that I researched them. I found a great deal of similarities between us too, and wanted to know more.

The medical profession was sort of hit or miss for a great deal of time here in Indiana - and any new areas being settled. A bit of information from the Conner Prairie website will give you a more in-depth idea of what was going on here in Indiana at the time of settlement. Basically, though, lack of sanitation and sanitary procedures, the isolation from growing knowledge of the medical profession, and the lack of many truly qualified doctors, all made the medical profession very suspicious and there fore not trusted.

These settlers had made it through wilderness and Indians, horrible weather and beasts, deprivation and isolation - so what about a few ailments? They could muddle through and tough it out! Or so many thought, and so I thought.

I have finally conceded that I am not 19 years old any more and I cannot go for 30 hours a day like I used to. Now that I have given myself that gift I am enjoying naps for the first time in my life. I do still wake with a bit of guilt that I should have been up doing housework, or writing, or.... but it does not linger too long. It knows when it's not welcome. I am convalescing....hahaha!

http://www.gothicgourds.com/fascinators/woman-on-fainting-couch-reading/

Connersville Bicentennial HQ

Tonight I went down to Connersville’s Bicentennial Headquarters and picked up our pictures taken with Santa at Knecht's Interiors during the Winterfest celebration November 17^th.  While I was there I got the chance to snap a few pics of the main entrance and some of the volunteers working this evening. Bicentennial Books can be purchased at the Headquarters ( 416 N Central Ave Connersville IN 47331 )  11a.m.-1p.m. and 4-7p.m. on Friday, 4-7p.m. Saturday, and 12-4p.m. Sunday this weekend (Dec 1-3) and next weekend (Dec 8-10). Also, I was told the coverlets and ornaments commemorating the bicentennial year will be coming in this week and will be available Dec 8 -10 and any other days the HQ will be open. Books, coverlets, and ornaments....OH MY! What a great set to present your loved ones with for Christmas. 

Be sure to at least stop by and give your moral support to the volunteers that give their time to all of us in this endeavor.

If you or anyone you know would like to volunteer, or would like to attend planning meetings, please visit the link above and the Bicentennial website will point you to the right contacts for any of your questions. This really is a great time for individuals or organizations to get in on the act of making our area a bit more noticeable to outsiders - and to ourselves! The entire Whitewater Valley Canal area has a shared history in which individual stops on the way cannot be extracted from the whole. Just because you may not be from the Connersville area do not think that your community was not important to the development here. It is funny how history connects us in the present day.

-Suzanna

Christmas Lights

Tonight we were able to visit CreitzPark in Cambridge City to view the annual Celebration of Lights in the park. For $5 per car load you can view the light displays throughout both sides of the park as well as visit a newer feature: The Western Wayne Railroaders hobby train display. Some members of the Richmond Area Railroad Society who happen to live in the Western Wayne County area agreed to participate in the Creitz Park festivities this year as an added attraction. Please come to Cambridge City and check out the displays at the park and visit the folks at the Western Wayne Railroaders temporary site in the park. So many volunteers put their time an heart into making our areas better all year long - why not show them our support and visit the events they provide for us for little or no money? Each year we support efforts in our communities the better they become the following years.

Here are some scenes from our visit:

Western Wayne Railroaders

Some residents near the park getting in the spirit

A few of the many displays at the park

One of the things I will attempt to do this Christmas season is to snap some pictures of the displays we see when we are out and about. If you know of some fun displays that need to be seen please comment here, or email me at: historygal68@gmail.com. I will try my best to post them on here. 

- Suzanna

OH, Suzanna! Yum Yum Chewin Gum!

I just could not resist the urge to post my latest find at Rural King in New Castle this evening:

I did indeed share this with my daughter, however... "EEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!" was the response and I don't think I will have to share again!

Poor ole Black Jack. Same hard waxy consistency as it always was but, only half the flavor and not even a trace of the black color left on your teeth, tongue, gums and lips! Black licorice is not one of my favorite of flavors, but Black Jack was always a solid hitter when you wanted a reliable gum. Funny thing about this childhood chew - it always makes my teeth feel cleaner (even with the pesky oral blackening side effect of long ago) and settles my stomach. 

By the way .... this innocent little 5 - pack of gum was 95 cents tonight. A far cry from that quarter dad threw out across the counter at Nulltown Store some forty odd years ago.

With that, I will leave you while I go off chewin' chewin' gum.

-Suzanna