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mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Class Wars

April 19, 2014 — 5 Comments


Americans have trouble understanding the whole British royalty and fancy person hierarchy. My own British family has been fairly fancy in their time, but I have nothing to show for it except my family tree. In history brutal repression of common people, or peasants, was the way commerce was conducted. The United States is returning to a system of government that separates the elite in a special world of privilege and security while the majority of the population is loosing security of every kind.  Our country goes around bullying other nations about lack of democratic systems that protect the population.  Who will come to the United States and reprimand us for this recent class and income discrepancy we are growing?  Since many around the world are already hardened against the United States for our politics about war and violence, the facts about our upper crust citizens will cause more disgust for our economically bifurcated culture.  In an odd twist of fate, Americans who often use Brit accents and royalty to make fun of snooty class struggles, are making big strides creating inequity of our own.  What do you think will happen to our reputation abroad, gentle reader?

 

Poets and Education

April 15, 2014 — 1 Comment

From the time we learned our first Dr Seuss rhyme we were being educated by poets.  Nursery rhymes and fairy tales are used to teach morals and ethics to children.  There is value in the use of language to enchant and stick in the memory.  Poets are feeding the artistic as well as the language skills of readers.  Our own stories can only be told by our own voice.  To develop a voice as a writer or a poet one simply needs to start. Children are ready to rhyme and laugh at almost any word.  Adults often loose enthusiasm for word play as they grow older.  Since poetry stimulates creativity, and is a tool to jog the memory it makes sense to read and write poems.  Often hidden meaning can be found in song and story, as it is in Calypso.  Political protest can be carried out in a rhyme using allegory to mask the obvious.  Some of our nursery rhymes today were once hot treason against authorities.  What kind of symbolic words would you use to write a poetic protest today?

Blood Moons and Prophecy

April 14, 2014 — 4 Comments

Prophecies are made all the time about the end of the world.  I am not very interested in the end of the world because it is such a relative term.  I noticed the blood moon tetrad news was of interest to astronomers and astrologers.  Now I see it is being discussed by those who see at as a sign that Jesus is returning.  Tonight is the first night of Passover which will begin at sunset.  After the seder in the middle of the night the moon will be seen as blood red during the total lunar eclipse.  This is the chance for everyone in North America to witness this unusual spectacle of a full lunar eclipse appearing as a red full moon.

While I agree to a certain extent with the end of timers, I am not sure if we have 4,000 more years or 3 more weeks.  Facing mortality is fine.  That doesn’t mean we need to be morbid. If we are realistic we have to admit that Mother Earth is in dire straights.  I plan to go out tonight and enjoy floating around while the moon turns red and listen for a message.  I am not expecting prophecy, but I do think this is a special time.  Those of use who have clear skies and a clear schedule can be bathed in the light of this auspicious blood mood whatever it may mean.  What do you think the blood moons mean, Gentle Readers?

Mary Priest, 12th Great Grandmother

April 13, 2014 — 2 Comments

Netherlands

Netherlands

Mary Priest was born in the Netherlands. Her father Degory was a hatter who sailed to America on the Mayflower, and died in Plymouth Colony shortly after his arrival. His wife and children, including Mary, came later to Plymouth to inherit his allotment:

DEGORY PRIEST
ORIGIN: Leiden, Holland
MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
OCCUPATION: Hatter (when admitted as a citizen of Leiden) [Leiden 216].
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division “Cudbart Cudbartsone” received six acres as a passenger on the Anne in 1623 [ PCR 12:6]; four of these six shares would be for the deceased Degory Priest, his widow Sarah and his two daughters. In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division “Marra Priest” and “Sarah Priest” were the tenth and eleventh persons in the second company, just after their mother and stepfather [PCR 12:9].
BIRTH: About 1579 (aged about forty in 1619 [ Dexter 630]).
DEATH: Plymouth 1 January 1620/1 [ Prince 287].
MARRIAGE: Leiden 4 November 1611 [NS] “Sara Vincent, widow of Jan Vincent” [ MD 7:129-30; Leiden 216]; Priest is said to be of London. She was sister of ISAAC ALLERTON and married (3) Leiden November 1621 (betrothed 25 October 1621 [NS]) GODBERT GODBERTSON [Leiden 101].
CHILDREN:
i MARY, b. say 1612; m. by about 1630 PHINEAS PRATT.
ii SARAH, b. say 1614; m. by about 1632 JOHN COOMBS.

COMMENTS: Bradford includes “Digory Priest” in his list of those on the Mayflower, and in his accounting of 1651 says that Priest “died soon after … arrival in the general sickness,” but “had his wife and children sent hither afterwards, she being Mr. Allerton’s sister” [ Bradford 443, 447].
In 1957 John G. Hunt published the 1582 baptism for a “Digorius Prust” in Hartland, Devonshire [ NEHGR 111:320]; although there is nothing to connect this with Degory Priest of London, Leiden and Plymouth, it is a useful clue.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: Degory Priest and his descendants have been given full and definitive treatment in the eighth volume of the Five Generations project of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, compiled by Mrs. Charles Delmar Townsend, Robert S. Wakefield and Margaret Harris Stover, and edited by Robert S. Wakefield (Plymouth 1994). The Great Migration Begins
Sketches
PRESERVED PURITAN View Full Context

 

Mayflower increase

Mayflower increase

Mary Priest (1613 – 1689)
is my 12th great grandmother
Daniel Pratt (1640 – 1680)
son of Mary Priest
Henry Pratt (1658 – 1745)
son of Daniel Pratt
Esther Pratt (1680 – 1740)
daughter of Henry Pratt
Deborah Baynard (1720 – 1791)
daughter of Esther Pratt
Mary Horney (1741 – 1775)
daughter of Deborah Baynard
Esther Harris (1764 – 1838)
daughter of Mary Horney
John H Wright (1803 – 1850)
son of Esther Harris
Mary Wright (1816 – 1873)
daughter of John H Wright
Emiline P Nicholls (1837 – )
daughter of Mary Wright
Harriet Peterson (1856 – 1933)
daughter of Emiline P Nicholls
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of Harriet Peterson
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

She married Phineas Pratt, a joiner, who was part of a group that got into trouble with both Pilgrims and Natives:

Phineas Pratt was a member of a company of men sent from England by Thomas Weston. They arrived in New England in 1622 on three ships : the Sparrow, Charity and Swan (Pratt was a passenger on the Sparrow, the first to arrive). The approximately 67 men, many of them ailing, arrived with no provisions. The Pilgrims supported them throughout the summer of 1622.

In the fall of 1622, the Weston men left to colonize an area north of Plymouth called Wessagusset. They soon fell into difficulties through behaving, generally, in a very foolish and improvident fashion. They also severely angered the local Native Americans by stealing their corn.

Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags, informed the Plymouth colonists that there was a conspiracy among the Natives of the Wessagusset area to massacre the Weston men. Myles Standish prepared to head north with a small company of Plymouth men to rescue Weston’s men.

The same message was also delivered by one of Weston’s men, who came to Plymouth in March of 1623 “from the Massachusetts with a small pack at his back.”

Phineas Pratt was the man with the backpack. He had secretly snuck out of the Wessagusset settlement, traveling for several days without food through a snowy landscape on his 25-mile journey.

Myles Standish and a small contingent (minus Phineas, who was still recovering from his arduous journey) headed to Wessagusset to recognize Weston’s men. The Plymouth contingent killed several Native Americans in the process (for which, they were roundly scolded by their pastor, John Robinson). Soon afterwards, Weston’s group abandoned Wessagusset. Sometime in late 1623, Phineas joined the Plymouth settlement.

Sometime before May of 1648, when he purchased a house and garden in Charlestown (now a part of Boston), Pratt left Plymouth. In 1662, Pratt presented to the General Court of Massachusetts a narrative entitled “A declaration of the affairs of the English people that first inhabited New England” to support his request for financial assistance. The extraordinary document is Phineas Pratt’s own account of the Wessagusset settlement and its downfall.
Phineas Pratt was by profession a “joiner.” “Joining” was the principle method of furniture construction during the 17th century. “Joiners” were highly skilled craftsmen who specialized in this work; their skills were valued more highly than those of a carpenter.

Phineas Pratt married Mary Priest, daughter of Degory and Sarah Allerton Vincent Priest (the sister of Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton, Sarah had been married to Jan Vincent and widowed before she married Degory Priest). Degory Priest journeyed to Plymouth on the Mayflower, his wife and two daughters intended to join him later. Priest died during the first winter. Before sailing for America, the widowed Sarah Allerton Vincent Priest married Godbert Godbertson, who became Mary Priest’s stepfather. The family (mother, stepfather and two daughters) were among the passengers of the Anne and Little James, arriving in Plymouth in 1623.

Phineas was probably born about 1593, Mary was probably born about 1612. It seems likely, given the probably age of their oldest child at the time of her death, that they married about 1631 or 1632. Phineas and Mary Pratt had 8 children.
According to his gravestone in the old Phipps Street Cemetery, in the Charlestown area of Boston, “Phinehas Pratt, agd about 90 yrs, decd April ye 19, 1680 & was one of ye first English inhabitants of ye Massachusetts Colony.” (Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 6, p. 1-2).

Priest and Pratt

Priest and Pratt

The Mind’s Eye and Poetry

April 8, 2014 — 8 Comments

Poetry is an expression of wonder.  Painting a scene with words is one way to keep a vision eternal.  I can see the Asyrians come down like a wolf on the fold when I hear this poem.  The colorful battlefield Lord Byron creates poetically lasts forever.  He was not at the battle, but he has made it part of our cultural memory.  Each of us has experiences that are unique to us, that only we can express.  Poetry is a vehicle for these stories or impressions to reach the mind’s eye of the reader.  If we do not tell those tales or color in the details of the scenes we have seen, they will not be told.  A sense of wonder and willingness to write are the only tools needed.  There are good reasons to write poetry:

  • Vocabulary can be used in new ways and expanded
  • Creativity  and self expression can be enhanced
  • Memories can be savored and expressed
  • Places and events can be chronicled
  • Emotional elements can be exposed and refined
  • Personalities can be developed artistically

Consider celebrating Poetry Month this April by writing some of your own.  You will not meet the poet within until you try.  Tomorrow, April 9, 2014, at noon  you can join NPR on twitter writing a collaborative poem.  Using the hashtag #CSPoetry contribute a line to the poem.  The Code Switch poem will be presented in the stream when completed.  You just don’t know what will happen next.  You only have to think of one good line.  Go for it, Gentle Readers.  Do some gentle writing.

Politically Correct in 1957

April 4, 2014 — 4 Comments

I grew up in the 1950’s watching You Bet Your Life on our big black and white TV.  When I see this episode I am shocked that Chiricahua Apache Chief, Niño Cochise was a contestant on the show.  The jokes made at his expense by Groucho were equalled later in the show with his comments to an overweight woman in the contest.  Our prejudices may have remained active, but nobody would publicly joke in such racist and chauvinist ways in 2014.  Niño Cochise used sit at the Wilcox visitor center and to greet tourists when I moved to Arizona in the 1970’s.  He is buried in Tombstone in the old cemetery.  It is odd to see him in a business suit answering quiz questions while he is the Chief of the tribe.  Times have changed.

April is Poetry Month

April 3, 2014 — 3 Comments

April is for poets, and we are all poets.  There are many ways to celebrate.  I have taken the challenge to write a poem each day in April.  My approach is zen.  The weekend workshop on ekphrastic poetry helped me find a place to begin.  By responding to art, the ekphrastic poet reflects, or echoes the artist by interpreting the artwork.  Memorizing a poem is another way to participate in the fun this month.  My father could recite almost all of the Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W Service, which was always impressive.  Stories told in rhyme stay in the mind’s eye.

Poets.org has a poetry party happening right now.  You can make a commonbook with quotes and poems using resources on the site.  If you are lucky enough to live in Tucson you can visit our Poetry Center to experience space completely dedicated to poetry.  Docents there are happy to give tours of the rare books and more if you call for an appointment.  Today in Tucson the 31st annual Poetry Festival invites the public for free readings and activities all weekend.  Fluency and artistry enhance the lives of those who listen.  Tune in this month to hear what you may have been missing.

Smiling Indians by Ryan Redcorn

March 30, 2014 — 1 Comment

Ryan Redcorn, an Osage entrepreneur, has produced this video of smiling Indians.  It is dedicated to Edward Curtis whose Native American images dominate the web and the memory.  Just yesterday I was at the Arizona State Museum viewing some Curtis photos shot in Arizona, and all were new to me.  His seemingly endless portfolio was shot in the first decades of the 20th century.   The work has become controversial.  Mr. Redcorn believes in producing yourself, which inspired him to create this video as a counterpoint to Curtis.

I was in Pawhuska, Oklahoma a few years ago on an ancestry hunt.  My cousin and I were trying to sort out a story that our great-grandmother as Cherokee.  We never found any evidence pro or con, but we went to the tribal headquarters of both the Osage and Cherokee tribes to seek answers.  My cousin (like many Americans) was stuck on the romantic notion that we are Cherokee.  When I saw the tiny museum in Pawhuska and talked to the curators I wanted to be Osage.  They were always distinct among the 5 civilized tribes.  They got rich from oil and spent much of their wealth buying products from France, especially elaborate fashion items.   My father told me when he was a kid the Osage used to drive around in Cadillacs with goats in the back seat.  I am probably not descended from the Osage tribe, but I do really admire the way they are.  I loved the art, the history, and their sense of humor on my visit with them.  Now I also love Ryan Redcorn who has a sense of humor and a bigger sense of justice.

Poetry at the Gardens

March 29, 2014 — 1 Comment

Today at the Tucson Botanical Gardens docents from the U of A Poetry Center offered a reading and workshop in Ekphrastic Poetry. This style of poem is a response to a piece of art, the Ek being from Greek and referring to echo. The group attending was a mixture of students, visual artists, and poets.  By far the most emotional poem of the day was read by a Nam Vet who sat behind me. He chose to read War Photograph by Kate Daniels.  His choked up emotions brought tears to his eyes which brought tears to the eyes of the audience.  The other poems were discussed and analyzed but we were all very touched and had nothing more to say after he read.  At the end of the session participants wrote poems about the photos in the gallery.  All were striking.  I apologize, gentle reader, for cutting off the very beginning of some of these gentle readings.  It was a well produced and very well appreciated poetry experience, and we all have beautiful handouts to finish at home.  There is one more session this spring of Poetry in the Gardens, Native poetry on April 26, 2014.  These programs are included with garden admission.  It is SUCH A DEAL!!

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Pandora and Eve, First Ladies of Earth

March 27, 2014 — 3 Comments

Pandora was created as a trophy bride for Prometheus’ younger brother, Epimetheus.  She was intentionally created of earth and water to play havoc with humans. The gods endowed her with super powers, thus worthy of her name which means all-gifted.  After her arrival at her husband’s house she opened her famous box (or jar) which was full of evil spirits.  Like Eve, she had orders to keep the box closed but her curiosity was too strong.  Unlike Eve, at the bottom of Pandora’s box one spirit remained, Elpis, the spirit or diamon of hope.  While the evil spirits escaped and forced man to do hard labor, just like the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, hope remained in Pandora’s box.  Her daughter, Pyrrha was the first mortal child born on earth.  Pyrrha and her husband survived the Great Deluge to repopulate the earth, not unlike Noah and his family.

Can you think of events in your life or in history that remind you of Pandora’s box?