Story Telling - the Oral Tradtion, Bards, Ballads, Folkmusic, Folktales & gossip used in the classroom.
MUSIC USED TO TELL THE STORY
Plato warned that reading would be the downfall of the Oral Tradition and memory.
ORAL HISTORY
Children's oral history - playground rhymes found in newspapers
"Plea for the Old Ballads" [1914 Sep 18 "far superior to the Present Day Lyrics"]. "Put a volume of fine old ballads on the piano and begin you child's education not only in song but romance."
America's Highway: Oral Histories of Route 66 Jay Crim and Shekar Davarya spent the summer of 2002 driving across the country on Route 66, collecting interviews with the people who live, work and travel on the old road.
SEE BALLADS
BARDS ARE THE OFFICIAL STORY TELLERS
About Irish Bards - Such rhymes were not to be patronized by the Anglo-Normans, in the Statute of 1367.
Antiquity of Irish Music - From The Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 1, Number 42, April 13, 1833.
'Ted Hughes and the British Bardic Tradition'. The British Bardic tradition is extremely old. The earliest historical records of it were made by the Romans who invaded Britain just over 2000 years ago, but the British Celtic culture which they describe, and within which the Bards assumed great importance, was at that time already ancient. Some reflections on a Poet Laureate's training, its Celtic origins and the traditional role of the bard.
Welsh bards called themselves Cerddorion (sons of Cerridwen). The bard Taliesin, founder of their craft, was said to be born of Cerridwen and to have tasted a potent from her magick cauldron of inspiration.
Power of Print, Ballads, & Literacy The Story of Welsh - Reading the Word In 1718 the first book to be printed on a permanent printing press in Wales was a ballad about smoking.
THE SONGS OF A NATION
"BUT THE SONGS OF THE NATION [WAR SONGS] are probably the last things which are committed to writing, for the very reason that they are remembered" From the Bard who knew songs with 2500 verses down through time to the minstrals who knew maybe a hundred verses to end up being sung by the women who were paid to come to funerals and cry. The Jewish and the Irish cultures still carry on this practice today. Essentially the women criers (who are paid for their services) are the last vestige of a tradition that keeps the memory of those original 2500 verse ballad alive.
Esther Martinez Act: Native-languages bill becomes law 2006
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Esther Martinez, of Ohkay Owingeh, N.M., received her 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellowship award from National Endowment for the Arts. Martinez, 94, taught her native language at schools in Ohkay Owingeh, formerly known as San Juan Pueblo. She also helped translate the New Testament of the Bible into Tewa and compiled Tewa dictionaries for various pueblos, which have distinct dialects of the language - LINGUISTICS. |
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The bill aims to help preserve indigenous languages that are still being spoken, increase support for language-immersion programs to create fluent speakers and allow tribes and pueblos to develop their own immersion programs. New Mexico is home to 19 pueblos and three tribes; there are six major languages and various dialects. Wilson said language is a key element of each community’s identity. Experts estimate that only about 20 of more than 300 precolonial indigenous languages will remain by the year 2050.
Traditionally, memory-aiding symbols and pictures were inscribed on birch bark to preserve the stories and songs, because the Ojibwe had no written language.
Ojibwe Scrolls Come Full Circle
The sacred scrolls took a 275-year journey from a medicine lodge to a doctor then to his grandson in Kentucky -- who came to realize he was their guardian, not their owner.
TOWER, MINN. - For those who believe in spiritual forces, the story of
the sacred scrolls of the Bois Forte Chippewa offers a wonderful
affirmation. For those who believe we walk alone, the story offers an
amazing coincidence. In September, members of the northern Minnesota
tribe gathered at Spirit Island on Nett Lake for a ceremony. There,
according to witnesses, a drumkeeper named Shane Drift recounted his
recent dream that forgotten stories and songs of the tribe would somehow "come back to us."
About two weeks later, in early October, the phone rang at the new Bois
Forte Heritage Center and Cultural Museum, next to Fortune Bay Casino.
The caller was Raymond Cloutier, a physician in Bowling Green, Ky.
Cloutier said that hanging in glass cases on the walls of his study were
42 birch bark scrolls inscribed with symbols and pictures.
Cloutier said the scrolls had come with a letter saying that some of the
scrolls were more than 200 years old, and all originated "at Nett Lake
on the Bois Forte Reservation."
The letter -- a report from a historical society that had sought
interpretation from Ojibwe medicine men -- said the scrolls depicted
ceremonial songs "concerning the most fundamental laws and needs of the
[Ojibwe] people."
Cloutier told the astounded museum curator, Bill Latady, that he had
cherished the scrolls for decades, but he had come to believe they
belonged with the tribe. Last week the band announced that the scrolls
are back at Bois Forte, in a climate-controlled museum room, after
untold decades away.
A group of elders has confirmed that they are long-lost records of the
Bois Forte lodge of the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, a
selective Ojibwe religious order that preserved its rites on birch bark
and was driven underground for most of the 20th century, when Indian
religions were outlawed by the U.S. government.
"Spiritually, this is probably the most important thing that has ever
happened [to the tribe]," said Rose Berens, the tribe's preservation
officer. "I was awestruck."
The Bois Forte Reservation is largely in Koochiching County in far
northern Minnesota.
The band's elders decided the scrolls cannot be photographed, or even
seen, by anyone who doesn't belong to the religious order, except for
curator Latady.
Berens says that even she has not seen them, and won't until she is
initiated into the order next spring in a ceremony on the Red Lake
reservation.
Mysterious journey
Cloutier said his grandfather, Dr. Herbert Burns, acquired the scrolls
when he was superintendent of Ah-Gwah-Ching tuberculosis sanatorium near
Walker, Minn., in the early 1900s. Bois Forte leaders speculate that
poverty-stricken ancestors might have bartered them for treatment.
Cloutier isn't so sure. He said Burns was a "Renaissance man" with many
interests and collections, including a trove of Indian artifacts, most
of which eventually went to a museum in Walker. Cloutier suspects his
grandfather bought the scrolls and the authentication letter
accompanying them, probably from another non-Indian.
A few years after Burns died in 1949, the scrolls, packed in cardboard
drums, went to Cloutier, then only about 12.
The scrolls range from 9 by 3 inches to 6 by 2 feet, according to
Latady. The drawings are on the brown side of the bark, some drawn with
charcoal and others applied with red paint. Some images are carved, he
said.
Out of respect to the band's wishes, neither Latady nor Cloutier would
describe the drawings, but experts who have studied similar scrolls say
they most often contain "mnemonic," or memory-aiding symbols, to recall
songs among a people with no written language. "The coming of the gods is portrayed bestowing creation of men and other
creatures upon the land and in the waters of the earth," says the Bois
Forte scrolls' accompanying report, written in the 1930s by the Becker
County Historical Society. "The heralds of these gods, half land and
half water spirits, serve the gods as ambassadors. ... Another song
relates how the gods give the Indians the privilege of for the first
time eating meat."
From owner to guardian
Cloutier said that in the 1990s he became aware of a law requiring
institutions that get federal funds to return sacred artifacts to Indian
tribes. The law didn't apply to him, but he said a nagging idea grew in
him: "The people the scrolls came from were not some dead Indians from a
dead culture; they were still there, and they may have been suffering
somewhat for having lost part of their culture. About the time I
realized this, I stopped being an owner and became a guardian."
He found the Bois Forte band's website, saw that a museum had opened in
2002, and decided to return the scrolls. His only stipulation was that
the band retrieve them; he didn't want to risk shipping them.
A few days after hearing from Cloutier, Berens, spiritual adviser Vernon
Adams and Bois Forte elders Myra Thompson and Phyllis Boshey drove to
Kentucky, dined with Cloutier and his wife, Joyce, and left with their
precious cargo.
"Once I got over the damage to my greed, it made perfect sense to return
these things," Cloutier said. "Unfortunately, most of the time, these
things were taken from their owners in ways that probably wouldn't make
us proud today."
Tribal Chairman Kevin Leecy wrote to Cloutier that his "thoughtfulness
is deeply appreciated by everyone ... from the elders who listened to
the songs and stories in their youth to their children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, who will once again have that opportunity due
to your generosity."
Adams said he now wonders if the strange journey of the scrolls was
fortunate. Similar scrolls were destroyed by missionaries and others
during the century that the Midewiwin was outlawed. "To me, they took a path they were meant to take," Adams said. "They left, were preserved and now have come back. It's exciting to see. This
is where our past meets the future."
About the Midewiwin
The Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, practices the traditional
religion of the Ojibwe Indians of northern Minnesota. The society seeks
spiritual growth and bodily healing through prayers, songs and natural
medicines. Elaborate creation stories and legends are memorized and
handed down through generations by "mide" or shamans. Traditionally,
memory-aiding symbols and pictures were inscribed on birch bark to
preserve the stories and songs, because the Ojibwe had no written
language. The society has a reputation for strict secrecy, no doubt
reinforced when it was outlawed for almost 100 years and was driven
underground. Many of the original birch bark scrolls were destroyed by
missionaries who saw the Midewiwin as an obstacle to Christianizing the
Ojibwe.
History and Myth Making
What is the Difference Between Information and Propaganda when Trusted Media Sources are The Official Story Tellers?
- FOLKTALES: What is important? Who Is Telling The Story!
- TEACH HISTORY THROUGH MUSIC AMERICAN CULTURE MAKERS Character Education
Keith Olbermann's story on the interesting authorship of many Wikipedia edits - Fox News, NSA over 100 entries. Aug. 16 2007: A young computer scientist has developed a program called Wikipedia Scanner that can show who makes changes to Wikipedia articles by tracing their computer address. Kevin Poulsen, senior editor of Wired.com discusses.
VOTER EDUCATION
'It's Not the People Who Vote that Count;
It's the People Who Count the Votes'
PRWatch.org
Taking a cue from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is interested in promoting media literacy and citizen journalism "of, by and for the people." To achieve this goal, they publish a quarterly investigative journal, their "Spin of the Day", and the very useful PR Watch website. On the site, they investigate and craft critical appraisals of various public relations media. Recently, they have looked at the "green" claims made by print advertisements for various automobiles and media claims about other products.Overall, the site is a good resource for journalists and for people who are just plaincurious about the world of journalism and investigative reporting.
The Sneaky "Sneaks" from Sneaksville © Dan Cassidy
Starring: The House Sneaker, "Fats" Hastert, & his sidekick "Sneaks" Foley.
Sneak, v., to move or walk in a stealthy or slinking manner; to creep or crawl furtively; to slink, or skulk.
Sneak, n., a sneaking, shifty, underhanded person. One who steals in a sneaking manner; a sneaking, shifty, underhanded person.
Sneak: “Of doubtful origin...” ( Oxford English Dictionary) Dictionary Dicks are the thought police.
Like the words "slang," "vagabond cant," and "thieves' jargon," “doubtful origin” is often a sneaky Anglo-Saxon code for the Irish language.
- Snighe, (pron. shniγə), n., crawling (as a snail);
- snigheach, (pron. shniγaċ), adj., creeping, crawling;
- snighim, (shniγəm), v., I creep, I crawl. Snag, n., a small creeping thing or person; a “crawler;” (ornithology), a tree-creeper.
- Snagadh, (pron. snagah), vn., creeping.
- Snagaim, v., I creep, crawl, or move slowly.
- Snagach, adj., creeping, crawling, snail-like.
- Snagaire, al. snagóir,n., a sneak, a creeper. (Dineen, 1071, 1078, Ó Dónaill, 1121, 1122)
Although “sneak” sneaks into works by William Shakespeare in the 16 th century, it was still classified as “Cant” by slang dictionaries as late as the 19 th century. Interestingly, the Barnhart Dictionary of English Etymology traces the English “sneak” back to the Irish snighim, I creep or crawl. . . .
- “A poore... Out~law, sneaking home. “(Shakespeare, Henry. IV, 1596)
- “Sneak, a pilferer. Morning sneak; one who pilfers early in the morning...To go upon the sneak; to steal into houses whose doors are carelessly left open. Cant.” (Grose, Egan, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785, 1811)
- Sneaker, n., someone who sneaks, creeps, crawls, acts surreptitiously; an athletic shoe.
- Snagaire, n., a sneak, a creeper, a crawler. (Dineen, 1071)
- Sneaky,adj., creeping, crawling, shifty, underhanded.
- Snagach, adj., creeping, crawling. Snagaí, n., creeper, crawler. (Dineen, 1071)
- Snigheach, (pron. shniγaċ), adj., creeping, crawling. (Dineen, 1078)
- “Jesus at the Movies: Some prominent proselytizers hope to save America -- and the world -- by doing some ‘sneaky preaching’ through a new movie they're calling ‘one of the greatest outreach tools of the church in this century.’" (Sarah Posner, Alternet, Oct. 12, 2006)
About News Sniffer
The News Sniffer project aims to monitor corporate news organisations to uncover bias. Latest articles, Latest revisions. Blog
FROM GOSSIP TO STORY TELLING
In Old English, gossip - or god-sibb - originally meant a person related to one in God, specifically referring to a woman's close female friends at the birth of a child (those she would choose to be godparents to her child, her 'god-sisters', if you like). The word later came to mean more generally a close (female) friend or companion, and then the kind of talk characteristic of intimate friends, i.e. chatty talk about the details of personal matters and relationships, the sharing of secrets - more or less what we currently mean by gossip.
Life Lessons Learned by hearing the stories. All of history is one long story. History is nothing more than story telling.
Have You Heard? Gossip Turns Out to Serve a Purpose
Summary:
- Some investigators now say that gossip should be central to any study of group interaction. Gossiping is a protective group function.
- Sarah Wert: "Not participating in gossip at some level can be unhealthy, and abnormal." Adept gossipers usually sense which kinds of discreet talk are most likely to win acceptance from a particular group.
- People find it irresistible for good reason: Gossip not only helps clarify and enforce the rules that keep people working well together, studies suggest, but it circulates crucial information about the behavior of others that cannot be published in an office manual. As often as it sullies reputations, psychologists say, gossip offers a foothold for newcomers in a group and a safety net for group members who feel in danger of falling out.
- David Sloan Wilson says: "There has been a tendency to denigrate gossip as sloppy and unreliable" and unworthy of serious study "But gossip appears to be a very sophisticated, multifunctional interaction which is important in policing behaviors in a group and defining group membership."
- the content and frequency of gossip are universal
- Social scientists find this grapevine branches out through almost every social group and it functions, in part, to keep people from straying too far outside the group's written and unwritten rules.
- Failure to gossip can put the group at risk. in this context there may be an expectation that you should gossip: you're obligated to tell, like an informal version of the honor code at military academies.
- Anthropologist Kevin Kniffin: gossip levels peaked when the team included a slacker. When he left "There was very little negative gossip."
- Healthy gossip has evolved to protect social groups, it will also ultimately expose many of those who cheat and betray. Any particularly nasty gossip has an author or authors and a functioning gossip network builds up a memory. People can mask devious intentions, spread false rumors and manipulate others for years but also get turned into the network.
- Video yourself telling your story and put it up online.
"A rumor is what you do when you try to figure out the truth with other people," DiFonzo says. "It's collective sense making. The classic example is 'I heard that…'"
Gossip, on the other hand, is sharing information with an agenda, he says. It could be for entertainment or to bond with another person or to reinforce a social norm. Gossip, which may be true, tends to have an edge.
"Gossip is more to do with social networks," DiFonzo says. "A strong motivation we have as humans is to connect with a group." [1]
Kate Fox: Evolution, Alienation and Gossip
http://www.sirc.org/publik/gossip.shtml
Executive Summary: Gossip is not a trivial pastime: it is essential to human social, psychological and even physical well-being. The mobile phone, by facilitating therapeutic gossip in an alienating and fragmented modern world, has become a vital 'social lifeline', helping us to re-create the more natural communication patterns of pre-industrial times.
Key findings:
Mobile gossip is good for us
Gossip is the human equivalent of 'social grooming' among
primates, which has been shown to stimulate production of
endorphins, relieving stress and boosting the immune system.
Two-thirds of all human conversation is gossip, because this 'vocal grooming' is essential to our social, psychological and physical well-being. Mobiles facilitate gossip. Mobiles have increased and enhanced this vital therapeutic activity, by allowing us to gossip 'anytime, anyplace, anywhere' and to text as well as talk. Mobile gossip is an effective and important new stress-buster.
Mobile phones are the new garden fence
The space-age technology of mobile phones has allowed us to return to the more natural and humane communication patterns of pre-industrial society, when we lived in small, stable communities, and enjoyed frequent 'grooming talk' with a tightly integrated social network. In the fast-paced modern world, we had become severely restricted in both the quantity and quality of communication with our social network. Mobile gossip restores our sense of connection and community, and provides an antidote to the pressures and alienation of modern life. Mobiles are a 'social lifeline' in a fragmented and isolating world.
Additional findings:
* Men gossip as much as women. The study found that men gossip at least as much as women, especially on their mobiles. Thirty-three percent of men indulge in mobile gossip every day or almost every day, compared with twenty-six percent of women. Men gossip for just as long and about the same subjects as women, but tend to talk more about themselves. The study did find a sex difference in 'gossip partners', with men more likely to gossip with work colleagues, partners and female friends, while women gossip more with same-sex friends and family. Male and female gossip also sounds different, as women use more animated tones, more detail and more feedback.
* Mobile as 'symbolic bodyguard'. Women use their mobile phones as 'symbolic bodyguards' when feeling vulnerable in public places - in the way that they used to use a newspaper of magazine as a 'barrier signal'.
* The joy of text. Texting is particularly important in maintaining contact with a wide social network - allows us to maintain social bonds even when we do not have the time, energy, inclination or budget for calls or visits. Texting
re-creates the brief, frequent, spontaneous 'connections' with members of our social network that characterised the small communities of pre-industrial times.
* Teenage social skills. Texting helps teenagers (and some adult males) to overcome awkwardness and inhibitions and to develop social and communication skills - they communicate with more people, and more frequently, than they did before mobiles.
* Text as 'trailer'. Mobile gossip is enhanced by the use of the text message as a 'trailer', alerting friends to the fact that one is in possession of an interesting item of gossip, but saving the details for a phone call or meeting.
* Entertainment. Women are more skilled than men at making gossip entertaining - three factors are involved: highly animated tone, plenty of detail and enthusiastic 'feedback'.
* Risk-therapy. Enjoyment of gossip is also about the thrill of risk-taking, doing something a bit naughty, talking about
people's 'private' lives - this is particularly important for the reserved and inhibited English, but all humans have inbuilt need for risk-taking.
* Benefits of negative gossip. Only about five per cent of
gossip-time is devoted to criticism and negative evaluation of others - but this 'negative gossip' has clear social benefits in terms of rule-learning and social bonding.
