Voices Journal Volume 2015: 1-2

This article discusses, from the perspective of transnational cultural studies of performance-based symbolism, the practice of New York-based dancers, who learned the tradition in urban migrantcommunities in Lima and have practiced the dance there, as well as in the rural settings of their origin and now abroad in the US.

It was Arthur C. Parker who, through his extensive writing, his professional career as a museologist (his own description of his work), and as an activist, did much to dispel the stereotypes about Indians that characterized his time and make visible to the wider world the history and the contributions of the Haudenosaunee.

Hilt and Stella Kelly and the Sidekicks were long central to Roxbury’s annual Fiddlers! programs, which started in 1994. Not only during these years but long before, Hilt and his music were important to old-time square dancing and music throughout the Catskills region.

High banter is a key ingredient of folk culture andfamily folklore. It’s also the essence of the poetry duels... Both on street corners and stages, poets riff off each other in rhyme, participating in traditions ranging from extempo in Trinidad, in Portugal, contrasti in Italy, freestyle rap in the US, and repentistas in Brazil. The banter between couples and others is also reminiscent of what happens when jazz musicians riff off one another.

Joe Crookston defines himself as “an artist, writer, singer, guitar picker, painter, claw hammer banjo player, fiddler, eco-village member, and believer in all things possible.”

Today’s Western economic structure, based on technology and services, is radically different from the one that existed before industrialization and has resulted in many of the economic crises that face us in the early 21st century. The control of goods has been concentrated in the hands of a few large corporations, rather than distributed throughout the community of small, independent businesses. The production of goods by corporate manufacturing, through modern machinery and technology, has displaced the labor force, separated the mind from the production process, depersonalized and devalued the act of manual skill, and enslaved us to a system of forced consumption. The consequences of these manufacturing practices have had profound effects on us and on our communities.

Throughout history humans have responded to a profound need to translate the experience of life into marks, signs, and symbols onto an infinitely varied number surfaces, using an equally varied number of tools and materials, ranging from compressed charcoal on a cave wall to a rod of gold on specially coated parchment. The medium of drawing has chronicled the history of humankind—a rich and varied tapestry comprised of countless interwoven threads, each one bearing the mark of an individual in relation to a series of larger wholes. For the novice, the act of drawing can prove irresistible: give someone a pencil and a sheet of blank paper, and they will likely leave their “mark.” For the accomplished draftsman, drawing provides the satisfying experience not only of exercising a well-honed skill, but also of giving eloquent form to a vision.

The boatyard has a long and impressive history, as one of the first to cater to recreational fishermen and boaters in this “Five Towns” community on Long Island’s South Shore....The architecture of boatyards is somewhat traditional, but there are unique structures found in each one.

Until the publication of Tahawus Memories, this old titanium town seemed as though it was destined to end up in the dustbin of history.

Some Binghamton legends describe ghosts who struggle to reach their lost loved ones.... we think about connections between the past and the present, and bonds between the living and the dead. The column describes notes that Rod Serling's ghost is said to haunt a carousel in his hometown of Binghamton.

What was on the minds of Adirondackers in 1906? Through its weekly column “Neighborhood Notes,” The Warrensburgh News gave simple sketches of what mattered. The author wandered away from a genealogical search to discover the flavor of everyday life in upstate New York over a century before.