Part 1: Earth Day

Did YOU know? Earth Day History


The History of Earth Day in America began on April 22, 1970.  With an estimated 20 million Americans involved, an environmental resurgence began.  The passage of the Clean Air Act in ( December, 1970) signed by Nixon was designed to control air pollution by enforcing regulations that protect people from air pollutants such as acid rain and gasoline emissions.  The Clean Water Act of (1972 ) (interestingly enough, vetoed by Nixon, to be overridden by the Senate)  provides for the removal of toxic substances in the water and to ensure that public recreational spots are free of contaminates in the water.  The Endangered Species Act of (1973) signed by Nixon, to protect endangered species from extinction due to development projects that reduced their habitat.  All of these acts were enforced by the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, a federally run agency that uses recent scientific information to enforce environmental measures to make sure that citizens throughout America are protected against pollution. They also make sure businesses are adhering to policies inhibiting pollution in order to ensure a healthy society.  They also protect species that were previously threatened by unfair business practices. 

This awareness has continued to promote better living practices in American and world wide.  With global warming and the resulting climate change humanity's existence is at stake.  Every year everyone comes together on Earth Day to celebrate how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful world and that only through preservation of our planet will it last.


Here is the official Earth Day website that will give you plenty of activities and community outreach opportunities to spread awareness to the human impact on our environment.
http://www.earthday.org/2013/about.html

Part 1: The History of the May Day Celebration

This week’s Did YOU Know? series is about the celebrated May Day festivals occurring all around the world starting on the 1^st of May.

Part1: The History of May Day

Through my research into the history of this festival; I have traced our practice of May Day in Marin to the Irish Celtic celebration of the summer solstice called Bealtaine.  The Celtic revival, a cultural reemergence of Irish history and religion, previously suppressed by British influence, reinstituted this Celtic pagan celebration based on the lunar cycles.  This astrological event marks the Sun’s progression from the spring equinox to the summer solstice. 

A have included a video of a woman who describes the Bealtaine festival in the ritual aspect of the celebration.  She talks about easy ways to access objects that can be used to express your creative side.  She also includes where to go for workshops to get in touch with your spirit animals that represent fertility and nature.

Part 2: May Day in Kentfield

Part 2: May Day in Marin

Kentfield’s May Day festival began in 1909.  The Tamalpais Center was established that year as a gift from Mrs. A.E. Kent which included almost 30 acres of land.  The event center was designed to create a place for educational and entertaining activities for everyone in Marin County.  The May Day festival was considered the most celebrated event at the Center.  

The school kids wore different colored ribbons to identify their schools in competitive events such as potato sack races and pole dancing.  At the end of the celebration a Queen of May was crowned, an honor every woman aspired to receive.

                                         Sack and Pole Dancing in 1909, courtesy of UC Libraries

As I was looking through the Marin History’s collections I found one of the flags that was presented at the festival from 1913, exactly 100 years ago.

May Day is such an interesting event and how it evolves either in a traditional manner or new age context the festival will live on as a moment to embrace the blessings that spring brings!

In Part 3 I will talk about how we celebrate it in Marin in 2013!

Part 3: How May Day is Celebrated in Marin in 2013.

The closest example of May Day celebrations in the Bay Area, despite countless hikes and workshops in Marin, is this event at Berkely's botanical garden on May 5th from 2:30-3:00.  Morris Dancers will preform a routine that is similar to dances practiced in May Day celebrations.  The event is free with admission, adult is $10,
to the botanical garden. For more information visit:

http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/bot.html?event_ID=64332&date=2013-05-05&filter=Event%20Type&filtersel=

Curate your life

Recently I was forced to go through my things at my parents’ house.  I was unsure what to keep and what to get rid of.  I was able to convince my parents to keep storing big-ticket items, like my old dollhouse and rocking chair, with a promise of grandchildren in the future.  Smaller toys, however, had to go to my house or goodwill.  I wanted to keep it all, but I also did not want my house to look like a children’s playroom!  The entire experience got me thinking about how to decorate and showcase toys from my past in a sophisticated way.  

This week’s Curate Your Life blog is dedicated to answering that very question!

Barbies

Most of us played with Barbies, dolls, GI Joes, or some other kind of action figure.  My sisters and I loved to play Barbies, and with three girls we managed to accumulate lots of Barbies and accessories.  When it came down to what to get rid of, I found myself unable to discard certain Barbie clothes.  They were the dresses my sisters and I fought over every time we played Barbies, and were therefore what I remembered most.  Here is how I displayed them in my home.

Framing clothes, or even the dolls themselves, in keepsake frames can be used to highlight all types of childhood toys!

LEGOS

LEGOs were a great toy for both girls and boys.  My Dad hated playing Barbies, but we would play with LEGOs for hours.  We played until our fingers hurt from pulling the pieces apart and putting them back together!

Here are some great ways to add color to your home and highlight your past love of LEGOs!

LEGO people make great wall art!
Would this work with Polly Pockets? Image from
http://cheezburger.com/7074794496 

   

Image from:http://furdancs.blog.hu/
This blog has lots of ideas on how to use LEGOs 

Image from: trendland.com

Toy Cars

I never played with little toy cars, but I know they were popular.  I am sure there are many men out there that have little toy cars hidden around their parents’ home.  If you have a collection of miniature cars, maybe you can make an art piece for your wall.  

This is an image of David T. Walker’s installation entitled Car- Atlas Rainbow.  This art piece, made of 1,500 toy cars, is installed on the floor, but something similar could be done on a wall in your home! 



Toy Planters

While doing my research for this blog, I came across the idea of using toys to make planters.  You can use old tonka trucks or hollow plastic toys.  I can't wait to spruce up my garden with these whimsical planters! 

Image from: www.moredesignplease.com

Troll Doll planter!
Image from: puppylovepreschool.blogspot.com

Tonka Truck Planter! Image from: www.thisoldhouse.com

Please share how you highlighted your favorite childhood toys in your home!  

Check back for next week's blog about highlighting your photograph collections!   

Do YOU remember? Part 2

This is the second part of the Do YOU remember? series.

This newspaper clip is a political cartoon of John F. Kennedy from the Marin IJ on April 28, 1961, eight days after the Bay of Pigs' invasion.  It depicts Fidel Castro as a chicken exclaiming, “I have licked the eagle” as a rhetorical response to the American eagle that is the U.S. national bird.  There is also a dead chick covered in blood resting next to a sign that says, “Barely hatched revolt”.  This is referring to how the Bay of Pigs' Invasion was not executed properly.  When Kennedy did not approve one of the crucial air strikes, many historians claim he crippled the success of the invasion.  The newspaper reporters at the time were weary of what was going to become of the Kennedy administration's decision to claim responsibility of the invasion but, leaving out significant details was what, I believe, warranted this caricature.

By Sarah Jochumson, Collections Intern.

Did YOU know? Part 3

Did YOU know?

The third of the series on the Coastal Miwok Indians.

This is an example of a man who transformed his life by searching for his true identity.  I believe that Marin residents can also become more active in their community through events by learning the story of this man, and how by finding his roots; he has become an active person in the community, bringing awareness to the environment and pursing a community-based lifestyle.

         Greg Sarris is a living descendant and now modern-day chief and spokesperson for the Miwok people.  His long journey to finding his Miwok roots and uncovering his true heritage were attributed to the falsification of his real identity.  His childhood was ideologically painful.  Assimilating into a suburban lifestyle as an adopted kid was hard enough but the prejudice he received from his looks caused him to turn to harmful ways.  It took Sarris a near-death experience to wake up to his addiction and move towards a better life for himself.  He excelled in high school and made his way through college obtaining a Ph.D. in English from Stanford University.  His quest to uncover his true identity came about in 1977 while attended Santa Rosa community college.  His first informer was his doctor, telling him the sad news about his accidental assistance in the death of his biological mother.  The heart-aching truth was consuming him yet his journey did not end there.  He made his way to his paternal grandfather who enlightened him on his father and proclaimed Sarris as his own.  This pivotal moment in Sarris life story brought tears and joy to his Miwok community who accepted him with open arms.  This touching story goes to show how European ways can shape natives positively through education yet; community and identity are what need to be re-established in western belief systems.  

 Here is a Youtube video of Greg Sarris himself in a lecture series talking about his family history.  Some people have discredited his native background however; his story is fascinating and up to interpretation.

A quest to uncover the messages that these natives knew, a stronger connection to our land, and the inter-connection they shared with their neighbors; will help us, westerners, see how far we have drifted from the nature we were once enveloped in.  I believe that we need to be more self-sufficient, community oriented and nature driven people in order to achieve a stronger continuity here in Marin County.  Looking back at cultures, such as the Miwoks, who shared the same interests and survived on the basis of collective-self, us westerners can model our lifestyles to be more in tune with these beliefs systems, thus creating a more community based society focused more on communal interests rather than individual interests.  Marin county residents can achieve a higher level of happiness by helping out in the community through social events, charity work or clean-up crews.  These are just a few ways that locals can join in their community which I hope will help bring about a stronger positive environment for everyone.

Here is a website called Marin.org which gives a list of events that are happening in Marin County which YOU could become involved in!

http://www.marin.org/calendar/index.cfm

By Sarah Jochumson, Collections Intern.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (of all three series)

         Schneider, Tsim D. 2007. "Shellmounds and Colonial Encounters in the San Francisco Bay Area."

News From Native California 21, no. 2: 14-36. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 13, 2013).

         Schindehette, Susan, and Danelle Morton. "Native Son." People 50, no. 22 (December 14, 1998): 83. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 13, 2013).

         Slaymaker, Charles. The Material Culture of Cotomkota: A Coast Miwok Tribelet in Marin County, California. San Rafael, CA: Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin, 1977.

            Lescohier, Ruth. The Coast Miwok People. San Rafael, CA: Poco Presidio Press, 1979. 

Did YOU know? Part 2

This is the second of a three part series on the native Coastal Miwok Indians.

Did YOU know?

This image was retrieved from the Bel Aire School in Tiburon.  Their website highlights the culture of the Coastal Miwok.  These are examples of beautiful baskets the Miwoks made for holding acorns, seeds and roots which women in the tribe would gather for communal meals.  The water tight baskets were often made with tule reeds with quail head feathers on the rim and some contained abalone shells from decoration.

Archeologists continue to discover Miwok treasures in the San Francisco Bay Area which help to further our understanding of the peoples who preceded us.  A team of graduate students from University of California, Berkeley found three shell mounds on their excavation expedition at China Camp State Park in 2008.  Compared to over two hundred that Nels C. Nelson, a Berkeley alumni, discovered from his archaeological digs between 1906-1908.  By retracing Nelson’s steps, the Berkeley graduates are continuously shaping a better picture of the culture and landscape that aided the Miwok’s sustainability and existence to this day.

                It is also important to note that the students are in full disclosure of their excavation findings with the California Department of Parks and Recreation as well as with the descendents of the Coastal Miwok and Southern Pomo tribes represented by the Federated Indians of Graton Racheria.  The continuity between the three is essential as preservation of the park is important and respecting the Miwoks by releasing artifacts that have ceremonial value.  In 1992, a new Miwok chief was elected and his story shed light on how his Miwok past and European upbringing bridged the gap between western civilization and his native roots.

By Collections Intern, Sarah Jochumson

Do YOU remember? Part 1

 Do YOU remember? This is the first of a two part series on the Bay of Pigs' Invasion.

This is a newspaper clipping I found from the Marin IJ of a headline from April 21^st.  I find this article particularly fascinating considering the misinformation that was reported by the Kennedy Administration at that time.

                The Bay of Pigs’ Invasion was a series of attacks on Cuba by CIA sponsored Ex-Cuban exiles from April 15-20^th 1961.  I included two clips from the Marin IJ’s Newspaper from April 15-28^th 1961.

The Freedom of Information Act of 1998, which requires government documents to be declassified over 50 years, allowed many historians to investigate further into the Bay of Pigs fiasco.  They were able to finally see the CIA’s internal investigation on the invasion called, The Inspector General’s Survey of the Cuban Operation.  By seeing the first-hand accounts of the Marin IJ’s newspapers, I was shocked at what the government was not providing the media with information for Kennedy said, “the facts would be revealed in due time” (pg.1)  The confusion of U.S. involvement was circling and there were even protests by U.S. students.  This event was a dramatic affair in the U.S. which I feel was overshadowed by the escalated Cuban Missile Crisis.

By Sarah Jochumson, Collections Intern