Thanksgiving Poem
" . . . Morgan said he still wants his pupils at Cleveland Elementary School in San Francisco to celebrate Thanksgiving. But "what I am trying to portray is a different point of view." Others see Morgan and teachers like him as too extreme.
Even American Indians are divided on how to approach a holiday that some believe symbolizes the start of a hostile takeover of their lands.
Chuck Narcho, a member of the Maricopa and Tohono O'odham tribes who works as a substitute teacher in Los Angeles, said younger children should not be burdened with all the gory details of American history. "If you are going to teach, you need to keep it positive," he said. "They can learn about the truths when they grow up. Caring, sharing and giving — that is what was originally intended."
Adam McMullin, a member of the Seminole tribe of Oklahoma and a spokesman for the National Congress of American Indians, said schoolchildren should get an accurate historical account . . . So we come again to table
Weary, bearing marks of travel
Years and stories to unravel
Eat, then settle down to cable.
The country through which we travel
Has pulled on autumn's worn cable
Sweater, (knitted threadbare fable)
That one tug might yet unravel.
Another table now groans here
Harvest of field and mini-mart
Cranberry, ibimi, too tart
Unsweetened for these sour years.
Now night draws near, fall's failing days:
Congratulate dear A., née Smith
And praise all the handmade house dis-
plays of Indian corn, née maize.
Thankfuls said, and goodbyes given
Tankfulls topped up, homeward driven
With living's promise: that we might
Try yet again to get it right.
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Which is what I'm going to do with this poem - starting from the beginning, since it definitely isn't right. Trying to make the poem and the ritual framework of the holiday act as a kind of mediator between the two things - the present-day get together with family to give thanks (and squabble) holiday, and the history it obsessively memorializes.
In the linked article above: "I think that is very sad," said Janice Shaw Crouse, a former college dean and public high school teacher and now a spokeswoman for Concerned Women for America, a conservative organization. "He is teaching his students to hate their country. That is a very distorted view of history, a distorted view of Thanksgiving." Certainly there are real and challenging questions of how to teach this sort of thing, especially to younger kids, without oversimplifying one way or another. It's almost a relief (though also an annoyance) to have this sort of simplemindedness to shake one's head at!
posted by Dan S. on 1:01 PM
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Definitions, definitions
1. ". . . one of North America's most distinctive kinds of wetlands . . . characterized by spongy peat deposits,
acidic waters, and a floor covered by a thick carpet of spagnum moss."
*
2. A relentless, hard-driving mix of political commentary, recipes, idle ramblings, and so on.
More about bogs here.
Something about the blog format made me think of spagnum moss slowly growing, forming layer after layer of peat deposits many feet thick, sometimes preserving (in Europe) ancient bodies . . . Also, it rhymes.
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Songs currently stuck in my head
despite all my best efforts
"My Happy Ending," by {yech} Avril Lavigne:
"Let's talk this over,
It's not like we're dead . . "
and "Laiska" by Varttina:
Laiska luotu laulmann
oikosormi soittamaan
yskin oita viettelen
unetonna laulelen
Toppling off the bedside book-pile:
Classroom Management for Middle-Grades Teachers , C.M. Charles & Marilyn G. Charles
Teaching U.S. History as Mystery, David Gerwin & Jack Zevin
Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska, William W. Fitzhugh & Aron Crowell
Arctic Crossing: A Journey Through the Northwest Passage and Inuit Culture, Jonathan Waterman
Northern Tales: Stories from the Native People of the Arctic and Subarctic Regions, Howard Norman (ed.)
Life in the Cold, Peter J. Marchand
Wandering Through Winter, Edwin Way Teale
The Winter Vegetarian, Darra Goldstein
Teas of the week:
Tea of Good Tidings: Winter Fruit Blend,
The Republic of Tea
Russian Caravan,
Jacksons of Piccailly
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December 22, 2002
December 29, 2002
January 12, 2003
January 19, 2003
February 2, 2003
February 16, 2003
February 23, 2003
March 2, 2003
March 9, 2003
March 16, 2003
March 23, 2003
March 30, 2003
April 6, 2003
June 8, 2003
October 5, 2003
January 16, 2005
October 22, 2006
November 5, 2006
November 12, 2006
November 19, 2006
November 26, 2006
September 16, 2012
December 23, 2012
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