GAP and Me : A lesson in argument

So for the past two days the "Genocide Awareness Project" people have been outside in the quad with their giant anti-abortion display.

Today it finally made me snap. Now I am not strictly pro-choice, in fact I lean more toward pro-life, but given our political climate and the way both women and children are treated in society, I currently vote pro-choice... but that's another tale.

My real problem with the GAP is not their politics vis a vis the abortion issue, but rather the way they mix their anti-abortion message with totally unrelated things.

Next to their images of aborted fetuses (which make sense given their argument) they have:

1. Images of the Holocaust
2. Images of African Americans being lynched
3. Images of animal testing
4. The word Genocide

Now, the word Genocide applies correctly to 2 out of the four things portrayed. The Holocaust and the treatment of blacks in the us could aptly be called "Genocide"

Genocide means the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

I pointed this out to them, but they mostly seemed confused. Furthermore I expressed my concern over the fact that they were conflating issues that have no relationship.

Their response? All these things are bad... lol

Um well, ok yes I see that I suppose, but really does this make for a sound argument?

I further pointed out that as white non-Jews their use of racial/ethnic oppression and genocides as a tool for furthering their cause is offensive to those who are actually concerned with racial equality.

Their response? "A black woman showed us support earlier"

Um ok. But one African American showing support doesn't debunk my claim at all. Furthermore this sort of "Token" woman sounds like the old "I'm not racist I have a black friend" argument.

I then inquired about the animal rights issue.

Are you guys pro-Animal rights? Are you vegetarian? (No) Do you work to avoid buying products tested on animals (No). Well then your use of this image is not only totally unrelated to "Genocide" but is also an obvious emotional ploy. You are -- by using this image with no real opposition to what it portrays-- merely exploiting the pain of these animals for your own ends. Making you just as bad as those who test on animals in my mind.

Similarly you are exploiting the suffering of Jews and Af. Am. people with out any real concern about the conditions --present or historical-- of minority peoples.

I also wanted to ask if they found it problematic that dominant white christian ideologies played a fair role in both the Holocaust and the persecution of African Americans. But I refrained on this point.

Introduction So Far

On November 9, 1989 representatives from fifteen countries gathered together to discuss the politics of food. From their discussion the Slow Food International movement was formed and began to promote their manifesto that, “[i]n the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now the only truly progressive answer” (“Manifesto” par. 8). Since its inception the Slow Food movement has spread to 122 countries. This movement is not the only one of its kind. In recent years the focus on food has been a critical part of the ecological movement, introducing new concepts and even new language to describe the human relationship with food (locavore for example). These movements represent a sensible ordering of thought around a logical central idea. Food is a logical point around which to organize ones feelings and actions regarding their relationship to nature and resource use, because food is one of the few items that make obvious human reliance on and interconnection with the natural world.

The body of American literature contains multitudes of works focused on humanity’s relationship to the natural world. Many of these works, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, rely upon a worldview which vilifies the urban and elevates the wild as a sacred place apart. This tension between urban and wild is a central element in Willa Cather’s 1925 novel The Professor’s House. Characters such as Tom Outland and Louis Marsellus seem emblematic of this dichotomy. Even their names provide support for this concept, Outland (out-land) as the mesa dwelling place apart, and Marsellus (mar-sell- us) as the eager capitalist who Cather portrays as corrupter of Outland’s legacy. While this division has been widely accepted in many circles for generations, the concepts of glorified “wild” and vilified “capitalist” are not in the end polar opposites, but rather reflections of a similar human desire to manipulate and organize the natural world while conveniently ignoring the relationship between humanity and nature that exists at all levels of landscape.

A useful place for interrogating this binary in The Professor’s House rests in Cather’s representation of gardens. According to garden enthusiast and philosopher Mara Miller, “[t]he task of the garden is to mediate those tensions or polarities which are important for a given culture” (25).

Ecocriticism and the Locavore

Today I started working on the introductory paragraphs of my Cather seminar paper. In the paper I intend to look at how productive garden's in The Professor's House occupy a place between the idealized wild and vilified city. For me the garden is a place that destabilizes the civilization/nature binary. 

To kick off the essay I've begun by looking at how food has become intimately related with ecology and environmental movements. I will claim that food is a logical point around which to organize ones feelings and actions regarding their relationship to nature and resource use... then examine it in the Cather novel... 

It is only a beginning, but if feels like a good move.

Road Call '08 (back tracking)

We had lost some film a while back and recently recovered it. What great fun to develop these shots taken during out March 2007 trip from MA to Oregon.

1. Wall Drug Jack-a-lope
2. SD rest area
3. Portland OR's world famous Voodoo Donuts

Equality is Equality

It's pretty depressing to think about how many African-Americans voted to preserve or create inequality.

For me Judy Weider says it all.

I think the simple fact is that struggles for equality have been linked in American History and if we as a people really want equality we will need to find our way together.

In the meantime I'll be enhancing my political activity now that my faith in the process has been somewhat restored. 

Free at Last

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America. - Obama


But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!- MLK

Eyes on the Prize!

I am so excited about the election. Having had Bush in office for the past eight years I've felt pretty down about America and our politics. Now for the first time since the great robbery of 2000 I'm excited about the election and hopeful about the future. Naive? Perhaps, but I am still feeling good.

Looking at the images of black voters and young voters taking to the polls I am filled with pride. Could it be that the American ideal of equality is coming an inch closer to fruition?

Beware of all the lies and hype... whatever your opinion vote.

Happy Camp and Indian Village

Pendleton Round-up began as a fourth of July celebration in 1909.  Searcy’s account of the first Round-up states, “[t]here was horse racing and bucking horses…Nothing was very organized but the bruised and dust laden cowboys who limped back “uptown” from the gravel bar on the river where the events were held nourished roots that were deeply implanted in the soil of Eastern Oregon” (57). Indeed this allusion to the roots, river and soil of Easter Oregon is justified. Just as the industrial success of the town was linked to the ecology of the region, so was the development of the Round-up “homegrown”.

                  Furthermore, just as Pendleton’s industrial success with textiles was intimately linked with the town’s proximity to the Umatilla Reservation, so is the town’s cultural identity indelibly marked by the iconic image of “cowboys and Indians”. The Pendleton Round-up, an annual event which has become as synonymous with the town as the Pendleton Blanket, relies strongly upon these American West icons. From the earliest Round-up Indians have been active participants. On September 29, 1910 the first official Pendleton Round-Up began. Gilbet Minthorn of the Umatilla led a number of his people to the cottonwoods alongside the Umatilla River and set up tipis there (Rupp 4).  Indian parades and dances were held as part of the first celebration (5). In 1911, Pendleton Woolen Mills sponsored and Indian race which had a $250 prize (7). Pendleton Mills and the Bishop brothers were instrumental in encouraging Indian involvement in the early years of the Round-up.

                  Authors Ronald J. Pond and Daniel W. Hester note that “[i]n the early years, the people held on to their traditions and practiced them at the Round-up Grounds and Indian Village” (133). Such traditional practices include the construction and use of sweathouses, and large tribal dinners.  Other traditions specific to the Round-up have developed. Pond and Hester write: 1911, Pendleton Mayor Roy Raley wrote the Wild West show…called the Happy Camp Pageant…The story told…was rife with stereotypes, yet  efforts to update the show have been thwarted. The paegent in its original form is still held dear to many, giving all who participate a chance to laugh at themselves once a year. The Indian participants know their roles just like people remembered their camping places in the Indian Village,  and those roles have been passed down to the younger generations (133).

                 The Round-up is still a major event in Pendleton   

Karson, Jennifer ed., As Days Go by/ WIYÁXAYXT / WIYÁA AWN: Our History, Our Land and Our People — The Cayse, Umatilla and Walla Walla (2006)

Searcey, Mildred. Way Back When. East Oregon Publishing Co. Pendleton 1972. 203ps

Woolen Mills Finale & Round-up Tease

Despite the bleak outlook, textile production at Pendleton was not over. In February 16, 1909, ownership of the Pendleton Woolen Mills changed hands. New owners, from a prominent family with a history of successful textile businesses, Clarence and Roy Bishop “eagerly accepted the challenge of the management of the new company” (Lomax 274) The Bishops felt that the mill needed substantial physical and mechanical improvements before the business could resume. Working alongside a construction crew, the Bishops oversaw the building of a new three-story cement facility on land adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad Company’s tracks. By September 1, 1909 construction was complete (274).

            The Bishops intended to continue the Pendleton production of Indian blankets and robes. The brothers employed Joe Rounsley, of the Philadelphia Textile school, to develop designs for the company’s Indian blankets. Rounsley’s product was “pure art, conceived by…living with the Indians” (276).

            In 1912 the Bishops procured the recently foreclosed Wahougal Mill in Washougal Washington (277). This purchased marked the beginning of a series of expansion moves the Bishops would coordinate. The expansions were used as a way to diversify product lines. During WWI Washougal produced army blankets while the Pendleton mill continued to produce Indian products (277) After the war, Pendleton began to develop virgin wool products and market them under the Pendleton blue and gold brand (279). By the late 1940’s Pendleton Woolen Mills  Inc. came to include facilities as far away as Nebraska (300).  Today Pendleton Woolen Mills is still operated by the Bishop family, and consists of seven facilities and 75 stores. The mill located in Pendleton Oregon continues to be the site of all Pendleton Indian blanket production (“About Pendleton”).

I'm hoping to find information regarding the ecological impact of the Indian blanket production that goes on at Pendleton. I am concerned that the intense colors of the blankets may mean that significant pollution from dyes is part of the process. So far I have found very little information. What I do know is that Pendleton has taken a public position advocating sustainability. Of course in this political and social climate this is a smart market move, but it is still significant. 

My next research endeavour is the Pendleton Round-up. So far I have a lot of fantastic vintage pictures depicting the Round-up's history, stay tuned for the visual feast.

Image of Pendleton Round-Up Blanket

Lomax, Alfred F. 1974. Later Woolen Mills in Oregon, First Edition, Binfords & Mort,Portland, 301.

 

Pendleton Woolen Mills and Woody Guthrie

As promised here's part two of the Pendleton Woolen Mills Saga:

In the late 1890’s the pro-business East Oregonian newspaper ran an editorial extolling the virtues of suits made from wool that was raised, spun, and woven in Umatilla county. Although this promotion likely helped business at the young Pendleton Woolen Mills, manager and stockholder Theron E. Fell’s plan was not to focus on the production of suiting materials but rather to focus attention on selling blankets and Indian robes to the nearby Umatilla reservation (261) The total Indian population of the United States at the dawn of Pendleton Woolen Mills was approximately 263,000 people. Populations in the Northwest were approximately 4000 in Oregon, 10,000 in Washington and 12,500 in California (261).

 

Shortly after the opening of the scouring plant, then scouring plant manager Theron E. Fell had “talked hopefully of a woolen mill” (257).  By mid-July 1898 Pendleton Woolen Mills was legally incorporated and plans for the mill were made public. However, raising money for the venture was slow. Lomax states that “Money-raising was always a difficult task…but especially at this time when the country was just emerging from the panic conditions of the early 1890’s” (258). Despite delays caused by the economic slump the Pendleton Woolen Mills began operation on September 7, 1896 (260).

 

“The company took particular pains to weave the correct designs and color demanded by the Indians…Robes with colors acceptable to the Crows in the north were unacceptable to the Navajos in the southwest. To meet this diversified demand and to assure accuracy in manufacture, a factory representative visited the various reservations” (261). Such attention to detail paid off, and Pendleton blankets sold well on the reservations. One store in Yakima, Washington placed an order for 1000 blankets in March 1897 and estimated that an additional 1500 would be sold that year (262).

 

Pendleton products also sold well off the reservation. Robes in school colors were popular at colleges and universities, steamer rugs sold well in the east. But Pendleton remained primarily focused on the production of Indian blankets and robes. They worked to capitalize on the idea of the “romantic western Indian” to sell these products off the reservation. Early advertisements explicitly announced the connection between the Pendleton Mills and the Umatilla reservation pointing out that Pendleton robes are to Indians what a “Paris hat is to a Chicago girl on Easter morning” (264). In 1902 further investments were made in advertising. A number of well-known Indians were photographed wearing Pendleton robes, and these images along with a variety of images depicting Pendleton’s being used indoors and out were reproduced. An eight page booklet showing suggested uses for Pendleton robes was also produced from these images (268)

 

Despite initial success, the first woolen mill at Pendleton did not last long. Using a number of primary source documents including legal proceedings, newspaper articles, and property leases Lomax infers that the Pendleton Mill went idle around 1907 (271). His sources seem to indicate that both economic problems in the region and legal problems at the mill played a role in the company’s collapse.

Photo:. Umatilla County: A Backward Glance. Compiled by theUmatilla Historical Society. Published by E. O. Master Printers, Pendleton. 1980.

Lomax, Alfred L. Later Woolen Mills in Oregon. Portland:Binfod and Morts, 1974.

As an aside to all this Pendleton talk, I had the privilege of watching a 1950 film called "Columbia" which was put out by the Boneville Power Administration. It was one giant ode to dam building as a force for colonization and weapons manufacture. It was totally disturbing and would have been funny had it been fiction. The entire musical score was Woody Guthrie...

Pendleton Oregon, a Wooly Idea

As I'm sure I've probably mentioned ten times or more in the course of this blog the due date for my paper in Columbia Basin History and Ecology class is fast approaching. For my topic I had weeks ago decided on Pendleton, Oregon. This choice was not completely random, but might as well have been since I was only passingly familiar with Pendleton due to their line of Indian blankets and robes. Since beginning my research I've learned a great deal about the town, and I'm glad I picked it as my topic because the story of Pendleton is bizarre and fantastic.  In light of my new deep love for Pendleton's history I intend to post a series of blogs about my findings. I hope you'll all find them as interesting as I do.

Since wool was my source of inspiration it seems only appropriate that Pendleton's woolen mills be the topic of my first Pendleton Blog string. 

In Pendleton there are historically two facilities which are involved in the production of wool. One is the Pendleton Wool-Scouring and Packing Co. and the other is Pendleton Woolen Mills.  The county of Umatilla, of which Pendleton is the seat, was a major wool producer in the late 1800's. In December 1893 “the Pendleton Wool-Scouring and Packing Company was incorporated with capital stock of $12,000 in $50 shares” (Lomax 245). The first $6000 in preferred stocks sold quickly but sales lagged and the committee worked hard to solicit support from woolgrowers and townspeople. Editorials ran in the East Oregonian such as this by CS Jackson “Now it is your duty and to your interest Mr. Woolgrower, Mr. Business Man, Mr. Property Owner…to take one or more shares in the enterprise!” (246)

In 1894, right around the time that the mill was beginning operations, optimism was high (optimism in those days seems on paper at least to have always run high). Board Director E.Y. Judd  stated “I expect to see Pendleton the most important wool market in Oregon” (247). Indeed Mr. Judd was correct, in 1894 daily scouring capacity was 15,000 pounds on the day shift and warehouse capacity could hold 1 to 1.5 million lbs of wool (249). By late 1894 “Pendleton was…established as an important primary wool market. Buyers from flourishing Willamette Valley mills came regularly to Pendleton” (250). 

The Pendleton Woolen Mills began around 1895 and were originally deeply invested in producing and marketing "Indian Robes".  

to be continued... 

Tune in next time for The Pendleton Woolen Mills "the emporium of Indian fashion".

Picture 1: Pendleton Scouring Plant circa 1900. Umatilla County: A Backward Glance. Compiled by the Umatilla Historical Society. Published by E. O. Master Printers, Pendleton. 1980.

Lomax, Alfred L. Later Woolen Mills in Oregon. Portland:Binford and Morts, 1974.

Picture 2: Mill Creek Trading

Finley, Fruit, and Film

This morning bright and early-ish Bird and I headed out to the William L. Finley wildlife refuge where Bird is doing part of her study. The place we were looking at is basically a field dominated by various grasses and small rose bushes. Unlike where we were yesterday, Finley had almost no fruiting plants. There were, as far as I could see, no cherries, only a few apples and some other dark berries on a tree I've yet to identify. There were a number of lovely wildflowers, some that I know by name, but many unfamiliar to me. I took photos of them for later identification.  While at Finley we saw a group of about five Western Kingbirds. They are apparently uncommon in this area, so it was a nice find. They were also terribly cute and talkative. 

On the thesis front, my reading of The Fruit of the Tree continues. I spoke with one of the instructors at school today. She is the Composition Coordinator, in other words she essentially runs the writing program and is my boss when it comes to my capacity as a TA. She gave me some advice about planning out the organization of my thesis, and suggested that I make multiple introductions until I can nail down exactly what I want to focus on in the thesis. I told her that my focus might be shifting from Water to more broad connections between Ecology and Wharton's writing. She did not discourage the idea and suggested looking at Woolf also. I've considered combining a look at Wharton and Woolf before, but in many ways it seems like it might just complicate matters, or prevent me from digging deeply enough into either. I am unsure. The deadline for a Conference proposal I had been hoping to submit is tomorrow and I have nothing, but maybe it's for the best. I have a paper from my Columbia Basin Ecology class coming up (eco-historical look at Pendleton), my thesis to work on, and an English class starting on Monday. On top of all this I signed up to be a Comp. Coordinator Assistant this summer and that involves quite a bit of work that I've yet to attend to. There will be other conferences.

For tonight work is over and we're watching a film, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. I read this book some time ago, but so far the film doesn't disappoint.

Red Rose Tea, Birds and a Box Fan

It is finally heating up in the Willamette Valley. Not that I wanted it to get hot, but it had been cool and rainy from October well into June. Enjoyable, but I had wondered if there would be a summer. There is. It is overwhelmingly warm. We have the front door propped open with the dog kennel and a cheapo (though oddly made in the USA) box fan on top of it. 

We fill a giant glass jug with Red Rose and ice every morning and by the next day we need to do it all again. For some reason I love this tea and this tea alone though my current financial straits have prevented me from branching out toward some organic black tea (this will be done eventually, though by then it may not be hot enough to warrant it).

Bird and I went to EE Wilson today to prepare for her upcoming research project regarding mature forest birds in early sucessional forests. EE Wilson is run by the Fish and Wildlife folks, and has some interesting history (good overview at the attached link) .  There we saw a number of birds; osprey, herons, orange crowned warbler, bushtits, pied billed grebe... as well as some great plant life, butterflies, dragonflies, and deer. 

The rest of this day has largely been spent prostrate in front of the fan. I'm about 200 pages into Wharton's The Fruit of the Tree. Originally published in 1907 (after The House of Mirth) this book seems to have been ill received by the public and critics alike, but I am enjoying it quite a bit. It centers on a mill in the North Eastern US (I believe New England though others claim New York). I don't know how useful it will be for my attempt at ecocritical analysis of Wharton, but it is a good read.

On the topic of Wharton I am trying to assemble a list of any novel or story (or poem) of hers which contains suicide or attempted suicide. Any help is welcome. So far I have:

The House of Mirth

The Custom of the Country

Ethan Frome