Monday, April 26, 2010

Growing in Knowledge (3)


Topic: Resources For A Great Classroom Day!

Thehistorybox.com is devoted primarily to New York City and New York State history, though it also contains an extensive exploration of American history in general.

Its main features are the New York State and New York City Directories that offer more than 1900 transcribed articles of historical interest and thousands of web links, organized under topics such as Arts, Biographical Sketches, Architecture, Business Matters, Immigration, Education, Women and Historical Tid-Bits . Though its reach is large, thehistorybox.com focuses a particularly long lens on the early history of political and economic events, panics, riots and other related matters affecting or contributing to New York City's development and growth. Extensive research of public records, newspapers, books and web links comprise the site's primary and secondary sources. The website is continually updated with new articles and web links, which can be found in the What's New section.

One of the newest addition to thehistorybox.com is "Resources For A Great Classroom Day".Thehistorybox.com has selected websites that are of substantial educational value and scope , many of them maintained by recognized institutions. Such universities or governmental bodies help guarantee the quality of the information maintained on their websites.Exceptional independent websites that have proven their accuracy and sustained a high quality for their primary and secondary sources are also included.
http://thehistorybox.com/ny_city/resources_great_classroom_day_nycity.htm

TheHistoryBox.com is a source of trustworthy information for literary scholars, writers, historical societies and academic institutions.
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Academic Websites where thehistorybox.com has been added to:
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3. Professional children's School Library Media Center (scroll to history of NYC 19th,20th Century)
4. New York Public Library (scroll down to NYC directories: Education History
5. History Matters (put Miriam Medina in search box)
8. New York State Library (scroll down to New York Genealogy)
9. Bryan Waterman (NYU's Department of English) (the History Box listed as a New York City Cultural History Resource.

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net or miriam@thehistorybox.com
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Growing in Knowledge (2)

Topic: The History of Education in New York City

The history of education in New York dates from 1629, when the West Indies Company, under whose charge the first Dutch colonists came to the city, enacted a law which required the establishment of sehools. Four years later the first school was opened, and in 1652 the first public school came into being, and was established in the City Hall. After the English obtained possession of the colony education suffered for a few years because of the conflict in languages, the Dutch adhering to the language of their mother country.

The English established many schools, and church and state united in their support. No charge was made directly for tuition. In 1704 a society for the propagation of the Gospel began the work of establishing schools in the English language, and in 1732 an act was passed to establish a public school in the city. Early in 1748 two schools were erected, one by Trinity, in Rector street, and another by the Dutch Reformed Church, in what is now Exchange Place. Many private educational institutions existed, some of them under the jurisdiction of religious bodies and depending on them for support. "It may be stated," says an authority, " that, so far from retrograding toward barbarism, the people of the colonies previous to their independence were securing for their ehildren more education than the people of any other contemporaneous country, and this was exceptionally true of New England, whose population was better educated then than any other in the world." In educational force New England antedated New York by nine years, as the first aet of the Plymouth colonists was to provide a meeting house for religious purposes and a schoolhouse for the children. In 1754 King's College, now Columbia University, was founded.

New York at first encouraged private schools, and when the Board of Regents of the University of New York was created, in 1784, its chief function for many years was to encourage academies and colleges. It is to the credit of that board, however, that it presented to the legislature many propositions for the founding of a school system which would tend to the establishment of common schools. In 1795 Governor Clinton urged the creation of the New England type of common schools, and through the legislature a fund was created for the successful carrying out of the scheme.In 1797 free schools were established in the State.

The progress of the free school movement toward New York City was slow, however, and old ideas of teaching only children whose parents were affiliated with the different religious bodies caused the education of many of them to he neglected. Public-spirited citizens desirous of providing means for the education of neglected children called a meeting in 1805 to consider the question, and shortly after petitioned the legislature for permission to incorporate a sociaty having for its object "the establishment of a free school for the education of poor children who do not belong to or are not provided for by any religious society." On April 9, 1805, the petition was granted by the legislature and the society duly Incorporated. Money was needed for carrying on the project, and was to be sought privately, so that it was not until May 19, 1806, that the society saw the fulfilment of its benevolent scheme, when apartments were rented in a house on what is now Madison street, and the school begun. So anxious were the people to take advantage of the work of benevolence for the education of their children that it was only a short time after the school's establishment when it was overcrowded, and larger quarters were sought.Through the generosity of Colonel Henry Rutgers, two lots in Henry street were given to the society, and a portion of the excise moneys was set aside by the legislature for the erection of a building on them. Pending the completion of the Henry street school, the corporation presented to the society a building in Chambers street, and donated 560 to put it in repair.

By 1809 it had become too small to accommodate the pupils, and a new school was erected in Chatham street. In 1810 the cornerstone of the Henry street building was laid.

The necessity for more schools became apparent, and in 1811 the Trinity corporation gave two lots on the corner of Hudson and Grove streets for a third school. In 1815 and 1819 two "African schools" were built, one on ground in William street given by the corporation, and the other by the Manumission Society on ground in Mulberry street, "which cost $2,400." At this time the population of the city was 119,657, and in 1820 had increased nearly 3 per cent, so that an impetus was given to the building of schools. In 1820 the Hudson street school (No. 3) was ready to receive pupils, and in 1821 No. 4, in Rivington street, corner of Pitt street, was opened. In 1824 No. 5, in Mott street, between Spring and Prince, was erected, and No. 6 was occupying the Almshouse. The following year No. 7, in Chrystie street, between Pump and Hester streets, was built, and in 1826 No. 8, in Grand street, between Laurens and Wooster streets, was opened to pupils. In 1827 three more schools were opened, one (No. 9) at Bloomingdale, one (No. 10) in Duane street, and one (No. 11) in Wooster street.

In 1825 the society that had done so much for the youth of old New York changed its name to the Public School Society, with the object of eliminating the idea of charity and giving to the citizens that education which was considered theirs by right.

Through the operation of the State law passed in 1805, by which the proceeds of 500,000 acres of land were to be accumulated until the income should reach the sum of $50,000, which should he applied to the uses of the schools of the State, new measures were adopted for extending the common school system of the State. In 1819 the fund had reached the sum of $1,200,000, and in 1822 a change of the constitution made the school fund "inviolable and inalienable to other purposes." In 1842 Governor Seward recommended to the legislature in his message that a law be passed extending the common school system of the State to the city,resulting in the forming of the Board of Education and the establishment of a wise system—the separation of church and state schools so far as the bestowal of State moneys went. The existence of the old Public School Society ceased in 1853, and all its rights and belongings passed to the Board of Education.

Bibliography: Cradle Days of New York (1609-1825) by Hugh Macatamney; New York-Drew & Lewis, Publishers 1909

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Growing in Knowledge(1)



One of the many concerns that our nation is facing is to make sure that there is a sufficient supply of well-educated and well-prepared teachers, to meet the increasing demands of the classroom.

It was not until a considerable time after the close of the Revolution that much interest was manifested in public education. In 1805 a society was formed which in 1808 took the name of "Free School Society of the City of New York." The first building which they erected was dedicated on the eleventh of December, 1809.The dedicatory address was given by De-Witt Clinton, who said " First Free School Building in New York." The purpose of the society was not "the founding of a single academy, but the establishment of schools."

Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.

The term knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose.

James Madison:
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

John Adams:
The preservation of the means of knowledge among the lowest ranks is of more importance to the public than all the property of the rich men in the country.

The sentiment of the people of New York in favor of public instruction was early developed, and has been of constant, steady, and progressive growth. It has long since been fixed as a wise State policy. Even in its colonial condition some efforts were made in that direction; but when the State had come to be thoroughly organized, and its political status established one of the first of its deliberate acts was a provision made for the organization of a system of instruction for the young. The importance, as a measure of State, of the establishment of a system of common-school education was apparent to the mind of Gov. George Clinton, who, as early as 1792, called attention of the Legislature to it in his annual message.

In 1798, and before the expiration of the five years limited by the act, schools had been established in a majority of the then counties of the State, and about sixty thousand children during that year received public instruction. The legislation so happily inaugurated by Governor Clinton was further supported by subsequent executives and legislatures. Through the encouragement of Governors Jay and Tompkins in the early period of its history, and in later years of Governors Marcy, Seward, and others, all legislation needed to firmly esta blish and liberally sustain the system was from time to time secured.

In the year 1826 the various schools of this society, together with others which were in existence and not under its control, were united and directed under the management of a corporation called the "Public School Society." This organization gave a new impulse to the cause of popular education, and placed the whole system on a broader basis and infused new energy in all its operations. This society performed a most useful service to the State and to the cause of education during the period of its existence, and those who managed its affairs deserve high commendation for their disinterested public service.

The Board of Education was organized under an act of the Legislature, passed April 18th, 1842, which act extended to the city of New York the common-school system which prevailed in the other portions of the State, the schools under which were managed by officers elected by the people for the purpose. The Board of Education commenced its operations as soon as its measures could be perfected, and proceeded to erect school-houses and gather scholars for instruction.

Since the year 1853 and up to the present time, the public schools of New York have been under the control of this organization, called the "Board of Education," the members of which have been elected by the people, and during that period of time our school system has attained to its present great prosperity and usefulness. Under its care and management has been perfected a wise and judicious system of instruction; it has progressed and expanded and adapted itself to the improvements which have taken place in science and arts and the methods of instruction. The cause of education or its administration has not been stationary. It has steadily grown and increased in its means of usefulness.

Bibliography: History of New York City From the Discovery to the Present Day; Virtue & Yorston-New York 1872.

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Thoughts of an Italian Writer: Article #3

Dr. Antonio Castaldo, Sociologist and Journalist, Brusciano, Italy.

"The Modern Dance"

The City of Brusciano, led by Mayor, Dr. Angelo Antonio Romano and the Sports and Entertainment Department architect Francesco Maione, has granted the Patronage to a great event of art and culture. The City Council of Brusciano, Director of Social Policies, Nicola Di Maio has commissioned Antonio Castaldo of the Press Office for the communicative contribution in the brochure of presentation:

"Shalom", is a beautiful word with which to begin a meeting to open the human spirit to a productive emphatic contact. It is carved in a greek-Jewish inscription of the IV century A.D. discovered in Brusciano at the beginning of last century and there identified in the 50s only to be brought to its residence at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. "Peace" is the corresponding word in Italian, but it is a concept that universally accompanies the history of man, and precisely this content, this spirit, has humanized our evolutionary journey on this earth. So it was nice to hear recently expressed in the quotation symbol of Muslim identity with "Assalam aleikum (peace be with you) in the greetings of U.S. President, Barack Obama in a speech at Cairo University in Egypt and of Pope Benedict XVI in the opening of the Mass in Nazareth at his last visit to the Holy Land in front of thousands of people from Israel, Europe and the United States. And again, directly affected the newly passed experience at the Pontifical Basilica of Sant'Antonio di Padova, as a simple and powerful Franciscan greeting of "Peace and Good" received every time, along with Prime Minister Antonio Di Palma and the President of the Feast of the Gigli, Nicola Di Maio during the week of preparation for the big event of cultural and religious exchange culminated with the pilgrimage, led by Don Giovanni Lo Sapio, and the "Ballad of Gigli of Brusciano", led by Mayor Angelo Antonio Romano, Sunday May 31 in Padova.

Signs, symbols, cultures, peoples, civilizations and identities that come together and talks under the sign of peace, as repertoire of the "Modern Dance" of Clelia Cortinia from Brusciano. I had the pleasure of working with some moments of the long creative journey of "Modern Dance" in 2003, winning the International 1st Prize of San Marino and "Donne Afgane"; and in 2004, to review regional "Teatrum et Ars" in Saviano, with "Il bacio dell' addio"; in 2007, participation in the Prize "Gallo D'Oro" in Mariglianella, conceived and directed by journalist Anita Capasso, who was the guest of honor of the award-winning Franca Rame. This year's Modern Dance celebrates its first twenty years of activity with the festival "Free Art" enriched by the notes of the Neapolitan pianist Ivana D'Addona, the collaboration of the Nunzia Zazzera and the sponsorship of the Community of Brusciano and of Saviano and the Province of Naples. Clelia Cortini the choreographer, his students and associates and our warmest good wishes for what he has done and continues to do for artistic growth, social and cultural of Brusciano and of southern Italy into a united Europe.

Dr. Antonio Castaldo
2009

Translation from Italian to English: Miriam Medina


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Poesías de José Martí

Titulo: ¡10 De Octubre!

No es un sueño, es verdad: grito de Guerra
Lanza el cubano pueblo, enfurecido;
El pueblo que tres siglos ha sufrido

Cuanto de negro la oppression encierra.
Del ancho Canto a la Escambraica sierra,
Ruge el canon, y al bélico estampido,
El bárbaro opresor, estremecido,
Gime, solloza, y tímido se aterra.

De su fuerza y heroica valentí
Tumbas los campos son, y su grandeza
Degrada y mancha horrible cobardía.

Gracias a Dios que ¡al fin con entereza
Rompe Cuba el dogal que la oprimía
Y altiva y libre yergue su cabeza!

Nota: Soneto publicado por José Martí en “Siboney”, periódico manucrito que se repartía entre los estudiantes de segunda enseñanza de La Habana durante los primeros meses del año 1869.

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Poesías de José Martí

Titulo: Carta De Madrugada a sus Hermanas Antonia y Amelia

Me han dicho que hay dos ángeles
Estremecisos,
Que habitan de pasada
Un pobre nido.
Me han dicho que a la puerta
Del caserío,
Asoman los lobeznos
De los caminos.
Me han dicho que los ángeles,
Desfallecidos,
Tristes de no ver cielo,
Lloran impíos.
¡No se corten las alas
Los angelillos,
Que cuando el cielo luzca
No podrían ya volar del pobre nido!

José Marti

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Friday, April 16, 2010

El Rincón Borinqueña : Latin Dancing (1)

Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton, Bachata, Grupero, Ranchera, Bomba, Plena, Regueton, Reguero and many more are forms of Latin artistic expression evoking positive emotions. It is said that "Listening and dancing to music can benefit people suffering from stress. The Latin music is part of the culture and heritage of the artist who interprets it and for those who listen to the Latin music, it races the heart beat and awakens in the blood the movement of dance.

Today's topic is the "Bachata Dance". Let me give you a little background on this sensuous dance. There are many Latin cultures in the United States, and their music and dance styles are constantly changing and intermingling with each other. One of the major groups that define U.S. Latino popular music is the U.S. Puerto Ricans. In the early 2000s the "Bachata," was the newest trend in popular music among the Puerto Ricans. The Bachata originated in the Dominican Republic, and is also a popular guitar music from there. It has a variety of romantic or sad themes telling a story of love which are reflected in the mood of the music and dance steps, which show close sensual hip and body movements. This dance consists of basic back and forth or sideways motions. The Bachata is an informal dance and is deeply rooted in tradition and folklore. As you will see in this video, a couple heating up the atmosphere on the dance floor with their sexy bachata moves, that the Bachata is an erotic and expressive dance which many definitely enjoy watching. Actually this dance is much like a bolero. The Bachata is in 4/4 time. The Bachata Dance is becoming progressively popular not only among the Latinos in the United States but also in the world. So as they say in Spanish "caliéntalo, y menéalo (heat it up and move it.....enjoy the video). :-)

Here is a link to another video on the Bachata Dance. Great dance couple in their exciting interpretation of the Sensual Bachata.



To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano (5b)

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

"Così come fu dichiarato dalla FAO il 2008 è stato l’anno della patata. Ma per i contadini in Campania non è stata una festa." (3)

A giugno di raccoglie. Un moggio di terra produce da un minimo di 100 ad un massimo di 150 quintali di patate. Per i nostri calcoli stimiamo la media 125 quintali. Se quest’anno sono stati offerti 5 centesimi per un chilogrammo di patate vuol dire che ogni quintale di patate ha reso 5 euro al coltivatore.

Dati i costi fin qui calcolati in oltre 600,00 euro, considerati i ricavi di 625,00 euro prospettati per i 125 quintali di patate, si capisce perché il prodotto non può nemmeno essere raccolto. Infatti occorrerebbero almeno 5 lavoranti a 40 euro ognuno ed una macchina a 60,00 euro per la raccolta delle patate dal moggio di terra fin qui curato. Allora, prima di buttare via altri 260,00 euro è preferibile far frullare il tutto, terra e patate, imprecando e sperando nell’annata successiva. Tempo e danaro andato via anche quest’anno. Nell’anno della patata a friggere sono stati i contadini nei debiti e nella frustrazione.

Zi Sastiano che ne ha viste tante nella sua lunga vita non dispera e attende che la roulette gli dia una possibilità vincente. “I prezzi del seme quest’anno ancora non si conoscono. A breve lo sapremo. Aspettiamo. Intanto voglio ringraziare i miei figli maschi, Gaetano, Luigi e Francesco, ognuno con diverse altre professioni, che non mi fanno mancare di tanto in tanto il loro aiuto. Ma la terra dopo di noi chi la coltiverà più? ”.

Interessanti risultati si leggono in uno studio del 2004, termine iniziale di un triennio sperimentale, fatto su un terreno di Marigliano dal CRA Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura in un progetto di “Miglioramento della qualità della produzione pataticola campana”, Responsabile Italo Giordano dell’Istituto Sperimentale per le Colture Industriali, ISCI di Battipaglia.

Per le tecniche agronomiche consigliate in questo studio, le indicazioni date sull’impiego di alcuni fattori produttivi:

1. Epoca di piantamento. Si consiglia di anticipare la semina della patat “novella” per ottenere poi un prodotto sufficientemente maturo quando il mercato non è ancora saturo per cui la domanda del prodotto è disposta verso un prezzo migliore. I rischi climatici sono attenuabili con una rincalzatura-assolcatura precoce.

2. Concimazione azotata. Per i terreni con buone quantità di azoto sono sufficienti dosi di questo concime non superiori a 100 Kg/ha. Eccessi di questo fertilizzante procurano l’allungamento del ciclo di maturazione e peggioramento di alcune caratteristiche qualitative e merceologiche del prodotto. Inoltre le quantità in eccesso non utilizzato dalle piante scende verso le falde acquifere sottostanti inquinandole stabilmente.

3. Concimazione fosfo-potassica. Il terreno di questa nostra tanto bistrattata campagna è caratterizzato da un elevato contenuto di fosforo e potassio (100 ppm di P2O5 assimilabile e addirittura 983 ppm di K2O scambiabile) è ottimale per questo tipo di colture ed il loro impiego potrebbe benissimo essere evitato riducendo i costi di produzione e l’inquinamento ambientale, atteso che la produzione comunque non viene ad essere incrementata, né in quantità e né in qualità con l’apporto di questi due macroelementi.

4. Concimazione calcica. Anche qui gli effetti sono stati deludenti perché l’apporto di calcio sotto forma di concime fogliare non ha migliorato la buccia dei tuberi.

5. Irrigazione. Gli apporti irrigui devono essere limitati, attese le sufficienti precipitazioni primaverili. Troppa acqua rischia di allungare il ciclo colturale peggiorando alcune caratteristiche qualitative dei tuberi.

Mese di Dicembre 2008
Antonio Castaldo
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To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano (5a)

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

(Continua da pagina: 1)

"Così come fu dichiarato dalla FAO il 2008 è stato l’anno della patata. Ma per i contadini in Campania non è stata una festa." (2)

La CIA, Confederazione Italiana Agricoltura, precisa che l’Italia produce circa l’1% della quantità mondiale con i suoi 2 milioni di tonnellate, 1,6 milioni di patate comuni e 0,4 milioni di “novelle” per un valore economico di 600 milioni di euro. Ma il mercato nazionale è in forte sofferenza. Crescono i costi di produzione; si contraggono i consumi; non si riesce a collocare il prodotto, né in Italia né all’estero; ; le aziende vanno in crisi; trionfo del prodotto straniero, soprattutto francese, il 50% dell’import ed egiziano il 21% dell’import totale.

La CIA chiede “un mercato più trasparente, attraverso una corretta informazione sull’origine del prodotto e misure finalizzate alla promozione della produzione nazionale”.

Quest’anno è stata davvero una tragedia per i contadini della Campania, soprattutto per quelli dell’Agro acerrano-mariglianese-nolano. Si offrivano 5 euro per un quintale di patate: insufficienti anche per il solo recupero dei costi di produzione. Forse ad incidere negativamente è stata anche l’etichetta deleteria dell’appartenenza territoriale al “triangolo della morte” marchiato dalla diossina.

Comunque per renderci conto del reale andamento dell’annata pataticola 2008 nella nostra zona abbiamo incontrato un piccolo produttore. Sebastiano Cerciello, 81 anni di Brusciano, 5 figli tre maschi e due femmine. Proprietario di circa 10 moggia di terra di cui tre dati in affitto e 7 coltivati direttamente. L’agricoltore Zì Sastiano ha dichiarato con tanta amarezza che “le 5 moggia destinate alla coltivazione delle patate, tre in Contrada Spena a Marigliano e due presso la Masseria De Ruggiero a Brusciano, le ho fatte tutte frullare con il trattore, terra e prodotto insieme, perché il ricavato non sarebbe bastato nemmeno a pagare la manodopera”.

Ma quanto costa ad esempio lavorare un moggio di terra per un ciclo di produzione della patata. Ce lo dice sempre Zì Sastiano o’ Cantiniere che sin da bambino affronta la vita di campagna. Incominciamo dal prendere coscienza dell’estensione di un moggio che corrisponde a circa 4.000 metri quadrati di superficie.

A fine febbraio inizio marzo si semina. Per seminare un moggio di terra ci vogliono 9quintali di patate al costo di 0,70 al kg per un totale di 63,00 euro. Per la rullatura e la zappatura ci voglio 120,00 euro. Per l’irrigazione due giornate a 40,00 euro ognuna per un totale di 80,00. Per gli i fitofarmaci occorrono 10 kg di prodotto vermicida per un totale di 40,00 euro; il verderame da irrorare tre volte, ogni volta 7 kg di prodotto, altri circa 150,00 euro. Per il solfato da somministrare due volte, per un totale di 8 quintali a 25 euro al quintale, totale 200,00 euro.

Alla prossima:
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Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano: Articolo #5

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

"Così come fu dichiarato dalla FAO il 2008 è stato l’anno della patata. Ma per i contadini in Campania non è stata una festa." (1)

Alla biennale “Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)” del novembre 2005 la Rappresentanza Permanente del Perù propose di dichiarare l’anno 2008 l’anno della patata.

E giustamente l’iniziativa era pienamente legittima dal punto di vista storico e culturale. La patata, infatti, ha origine sulle Ande, in Sudamerica, e risale a circa 8000 anni fa la sua coltivazione a scopo domestico come ordinaria alimentazione di qui popoli. Da noi la “Solanum tuberosum” giunge nel XVI secolo sulle caravelle di ritorno nei traffici aperti verso l’Europa in seguito agli sviluppi commerciali dell’impresa esplorativa americana di Cristoforo Colombo inaugurata nell’anno 1492.

Questo tubero è importantissimo nell’alimentazione umana per l’apporto di vitamine e minerali. Per fare un esempio dei livelli nutritivi, consideriamo una patata di medie dimensioni che corrisponde ad un peso di circa 150 grammi. Se consumata con la buccia essa procura 27 mg di vitamina C (45% della dose giornaliera raccomandata), 620 mg di potassio (18% della dose giornaliera raccomandata), 0,2 mg di vitamina B5 (10% della dose giornaliera raccomandata). Inoltre vi sono tracce di tiamina, riboflavina, folati, niacina, magnesio, fosforo, ferro e zinco. Ed infine il contenuto della patata presenta diversi composti fitochimica come i carotenoidi ed i polifenoli.

“La patata rappresenta la quarta coltivazione mondiale dopo riso, grano e mais, con una produzione annuale di oltre 300 milioni di tonnellate”, come affermato da NeBambi Lutaladio, esperto FAO e coordinatore dell’anno internazionale della patata.

Nel mondo sono più di 300 i Paesi, dall’America alla Cina, dall’India al Nord Europa, dall’Ucraina a casa nostra, in Campania. Sì, perché la nostra zona è una delle più produttive e di alta qualità di patate.

Nel 2007 la produzione mondiale di patate è stata di 320 milioni di tonnellate ed il suo consumo va aumentando rapidamente nei Paesi in via di sviluppo. Essendo solo una piccola parte della produzione piazzata sul mercato internazionale, il prezzo della patata oscilla di meno e resiste meglio alle speculazioni.

Secondo i dati della Coldiretti in Italia la patata è la seconda produzione orticola dopo il pomodoro da industria, con un raccolto di 1,8 milioni di tonnellate realizzato in quasi 70mila ettari coltivati da circa 29mila imprese. La Campania e l’Emilia Romagna sono in testa alla classifica produttiva con il 14% ognuna. Seguono la Sicilia con 12%, la Calabria con il 9%, l’Abruzzo con il 9% ed il Veneto con l’8% della produzione nazionale tricolore. Noi italiani consumiamo in media 40 chilogrammi a testa, mentre nei Paesi dell’Europa Nord-occidentale il consumo è il doppio e quasi il triplo nei Paesi dell’Europa dell’Est.

Alla prossima: (2)
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

New York City's Early Artists (2)

Miscellaneous Early Artists Tid-Bits

The last of the Dutch painters to arrive was Gerret van Ravolst, who is so described in the minute by which he is made a freeman of the city of New York in 1751. Meantime, the English painters were making themselves felt in the New World. In 1754 Richard Clarke Cooke, "limner," was admitted a freeman. Lawrence Kilbrunn was painting in New York from 1754 to 1755. During this early period New York was visited by John Wollaston, who painted a number of portraits while here, but is confused by Dunlap and other authorities with his father, also an English painter of distinction, but who spelled his name Woolaston. Many of the portraits of the Bayards and Beekmans of this early period were the work of Abraham Delanoy.

Matthew Pratt painted some fifty large portraits in New York, which also received professional visits from Malbone. Joseph Wright executed some commissions and was liberally patronized, as was also Gilbert Stuart, when, on his return to America in 1793, he set up his easel for some months in New York City before going to Philadelphia. Bass Otis appeared in New York about 1808, two years later than Thomas Sully, who came in 1806, and again in 1814, by invitation from New York City, to paint Commodore Decatur's portrait, the first of the series of full-lengths of heroes of the War of 1812, ordered by the Common Council.

Meanwhile a number of talented artists had settled permanently in New York City. James Sharpless, an Englishman, who worked principally in pastel, came about 1798, John Trumbull in 1804, and John Paradise in 1810. Rembrandt Peale removed to New York City in 1834. John Wesley Jarvis, an Englishman by birth, was for many years one of the foremost portrait painters in New York, which owns a number of his pictures. Among his contemporaries were William Dunlap, James Herring, who, with James B. Longacre, of Philadelphia, published the "National Portrait Gallery"; Samuel F. B. Morse, among whose portraits is one of Fitz-Greene Halleck in the Public Library; Asher B. Durand, and Samuel L. Waldo, who entered into a partnership with his pupil, William Jewett.

Institutions

The first of New York's institutions devoted to fine arts had for its president Chancellor Livingston. Founded in 1801 as the New York Academy of Fine Arts it was incorporated in 1908 as the American Academy of Fine Arts . The second institution of importance was the National Academy of Design, founded in 1828, but it is a matter of regret that the records of both were most inadequately kept.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: From My collection of books, History of New York State 1523-1927.Volume V Publisher: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.-New York Copyright: 1927.

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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New York City's Early Artists (1)

Jacobus Strijcker

The little town of New Amsterdam was from the first a community of art lovers. Even those who could not read remembered the pictures and the public exhibitions at which they were shown, and it is not surprising to find during the brief period of Dutch rule half a dozen painters of more than average excellence. In point of merit the most important of all was Jacobus Strijcker, whose name is more often spelled in Colonial records Strycker and has become, as borne by his many American descendants, Striker. In 1643 the Dutch West India Company issued a grant of land to Jacobus Strycker and his brother Jan Strycker, on condition that they would pay for the transportation of ten colonists. There is no record that they brought over as many as the grant required, but, at any rate, they came with their families. In the light of the most recent investigation it is assumed that the portrait of Peter Stuyvesant in possession of the New York Historical Society is the work of Strycker.The Stuyvesant portrait justifies the statement which most critics will agree to, that Stryker's work is in the finished manner of the Dutch school, and the ablest in seventeenth century New York.

Evert Duyckinck

Even earlier in point of arrival was Evert Duyckinck, who came over in the service of the Dutch West India Company in 1638. Early records characterize him as "limner, painter, and glazier." For one hundred years, and during three generations, four members of the Duyckinck family painted portraits in New York, besides such decorative work as outlining in glass coats of arms and other decorations. Evert Duyckinck's sons were Gerret and Evert 2d. The most authentic example of the work of Evert Duyckinck is the portrait of Governor Walter Stoughton, of Massachusetts. Gerret Duyckinck is remembered by portraits of himself and his wife. To a third Evert Duyckinck are attributed portraits of six members of the Beekman family.

Benjamin West

In 1758 and 1759 the city was honored by the temporary residence of Benjamin West (1738-1820), the first American born painter to attain world celebrity. In that year he devoted himself to portraiture. Perhaps the most striking of his compositions, certainly the one most widely reproduces, is "Death on a Pale Horse," which is appropriately the possession of a Philadelphia Museum, since he was both a Quaker and a Pennsylvanian. In 1753 West began his career, and his portrait of Bishop Prevost is his best work here. During his long career in London, where he succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds as president of the Royal Academy, it was his delight to render what assistance he could to the oncoming generation of American artists.

Robert Feke

The art of miniature painting speedily followed the close of the Revolutionary War, and at a time when the one outstanding name of a native New Yorker in painting was that of Robert Feke, there were a number of miniaturists at work. Robert Feke was born in what is now Oyster Bay, Long Island, speedily made a reputation as a portrait painter second only to that of Benjamin West. A number of portraits of nearly New Yorkers bear his signature, but the greater part of his work was done and is owned in Philadelphia.

Henry Coutrie (Sieur Henri Couturier)

Still another Dutchman, of Walloon descent, although for a long time he was rated as a Frenchman by the historians of New York art, came over in 1657 or 1658, Hendrick Coutrie, to give the ordinary Dutch version which would be more correctly rendered as the Sieur Henri Couturier. He was a deacon in the Reform Church in which Peter Stuyvesant was elder in 1670, a distinction which no subsequent New York painter has sought. His best known works which are in the possession of the New York Historical Society, are portraits of Oloff Stevense van Cortlandt (1610-84). Frederick Philipse (1626-1702) patroon of Philipsborough. The picture of William Nicholas Stuyvesant (1648-93), son of the Governor, represents him on horseback, and the figure worked is done so badly that it may possibly have been an attempt at humor. In 1663 Mevvrouw Couturier, who had gone into business in a retail line, received a demand from the municipality of New Amsterdam that she purchase her burgher rights. Her defense was that her husband had already received burgher rights, and that in return he had painted portraits of Director-General Stuyvesant and drawn pictures of his sons. As a consequence there was long a disposition to attribute to Couturier the Stuyvesant portrait which is reproduced in this work, and now recognized as from the brush of Jacobus Strycker.

(Continue on page: 2)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: From My collection of books, History of New York State 1523-1927.Volume V Publisher: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.-New York Copyright: 1927

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano: (4a)

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

(Continua da pagina: 1)

"Scheda Storico-Culturale: Brusciano, Italy"

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Altro importante monumento è la vecchia Sede Comunale, sita in via Semmola, con il Circolo degi anziani al piano terra ed altri locali al piano superiore, in parte sede della Pro Loco, fu acquistata dal Comune di Brusciano il 12 settembre 1837. Il Sindaco di allora, Michele Cassano, in carica dal 1835 al 1840, ne ottenne la proprietà, con l'autorizzazione di Ferdinando di Borbone e il pagamento di 400 Ducati a favore di Francesco Saverio Porcaro. L'immobile venne destinato a Casa Comunale e sede del Corpo delle Guardie e per oltre un secolo fu destinato a tale uso. Nel 1874 risultavano impiegati: un segretario, un vice segretario ed un servente comunale e regolatore del pubblico orologio. Come salariati vi erano: il custode del camposanto, il predicatore quaresimale, l'organista, il sagrestano, il maestro, la maestra, l'infermiere ed il medico condotto.

Degna di nota è, infine, la Croce di Casaromano, fondata il 4 ottobre del 1884 e posta proprio nel gomito interno di Casaromano, oggi Via Giovanni Esposito, giovane militare, caduto prima della II Guerra Mondiale. Il 1° maggio del 1999, l'edicola sacra nonché la Croce in legno, furono riconsegnate al culto popolare dopo il restauro dell'esperto Giovanni Ortica, a spese del Comune di Brusciano. Alla presenza di fedeli e laici, fu officiato il rito della benedizione con Don Michele Lombardi, della Chiesa S. Maria delle Grazie ed il Nunzio Apostolico, Mons. Luigi Travaglino. La cittadinanza assisteva con il Sindaco, defunto, Dott. La Gatta Salvatore, e la Giunta Comunale.

La Festa dei Gigli: il paese si rigenera

La vita dell'antico borgo è allietata durante l'anno da una particolare manifestazione che richiama nel comune un gran numero di visitatori: la Festa dei Gigli. tale festa è la forma cristianizzata di antichi riti pagani, la cui origine risale al culto degli alberi. Le foreste primordiali, infatti, che coprivano l'Europa incutevano un sacro timore nei popoli antichi, per la cui cultura, il mondo, compresi alberi e piante, era percepito come divino e richiedeva una speciale integrazione con esso. Fra le tribù di razza finnica i culti pagani si celebravano essenzialmente nei boschetti sacri, che erano sempre recintati e, spesso, consistevano in una radura, o spiazzata, con pochi alberi sui quali, in tempi andati, veniva appesa la pelle delle vittime sacrificali. Il punto focale del boschetto, almeno per le tribù del Volga, era l'albero sacro: davanti ad esso si radunavano i fedeli e il sacerdote innalzava le sue preghiere; ai suoi piedi veniva immolata la vittima e, talvolta, i suoi rami servivano da pulpito. Nel boschetto era fatto divieto di segare il legno o spezzare un ramo e, in genere, le donne non venivano ammesse. Del resto anche nell'antica Roma nel foro, fulcro della vita romana, il fico ruminale, sacro a Romolo, fu venerato fino all'epoca imperiale; e quando il suo tronco inaridì , la città tutta ne rimase costernata". Di questo passato, molto lontano, troviamo dei residui in Lucania, dove, col Maggio di Accettura si celebra il rito del matrimonio fra due alberi, benedetto dalla religione ufficiale e San Giuliano. Lo stesso accade a Baiano in Campania nella Festa di Santo Stefano a fine anno.

In generale le origini della Festa dei Gigli, dunque, risalgono al V secolo d.C., quando dopo la morte di San Paolino, Vescovo di Nola, avvenuta il 22 giugno del 431, per ricordare la liberazione dalla schiavitù patita in Africa ad opera dei Goti nel 410 d.C., i nolani pensarono di istituzionalizzare l'evento attraverso questa festività.

Nei secoli si è passato dagli omaggi floreali alla macchina da festa come la vediamo oggi.

In tempi più recenti e, precisamente, dal 1875 anche Brusciano crea la sua Festa dei Gigli, per ricordare il miracolo di Sant'Antonio avvenuto il 13 giugno di quell'anno. È possibile vedere la sfilata dei gigli, nel nostro paese, l'ultima domenica di agosto di ogni anno. Il forte agonismo che si sprigiona fra le paranze che portano a spalle i gigli lungo il percorso cittadino, è ammesso giusto nel tempo extra-ordinario della festa, durante la quale si svolgono anche riti di iniziazione e di ricambio generazionale.

Dr. Antonio Castaldo

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net

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Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano Articolo #4

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia
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"Scheda Storico-Culturale: Brusciano, Italy"
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I Siti Architettonici, Archeologici e Monumentali.
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l Comune di Brusciano, che è compreso tra le pendici del Monte Somma e la zona dei Regi Lagni, vanta una particolare origine geologica: ceneri, lapilli e banchi tufacei risultanti dall'attività vulcanica del Vesuvio hanno costituito il substrato su cui si è formato il suolo locale. Lo strato superficiale si presenta con una profondità variabile nell'ordine di alcuni metri, con una particolare composizione di elementi sabbio-argillosi e vulcanici frammisti a ceneri, lapilli e pomici.

Il sito architettonico di maggiore interesse è la Chiesa di S. Maria delle Grazie, nonchè l'adiacente Confraternita della Pietà. Ubicata in via San Francesco, la chiesa risale all'anno 1308. In "Rationem decimarum Italiae", sec. XIII, si registra il contributo della Chiesa "S. Marie de Bussiano", attraverso il versamento delle decime, al sostegno delle campagne contro gli infedeli. Petrus Gogus era il nome dell'abate titolare.

el 1615, si censivano con visita pastorale, due confraternite denominate: Corpo di Cristo e S. Maria della Pietà. La sede della seconda, adiacente alla chiesa S. Maria delle Grazie, ancora esistente, è in fase di recupero grazie all'impiego di fondi del Comune di Brusciano e presto sarà riconsegnata alla comunità locale per esclusivi usi civili. La precedente ristrutturazione avvenne nel 1880, per 6.000 lire di spesa, sostenuta dal Comune e dai fedeli.

La chiesa S. Maria delle Grazie ospita dal 1808 il protettore della comunità: S. Antonio da Padova. Nel 1920 un incendio si sviluppò per causa forse dolosa e ingenti danni ne derivarono alla chiesa che, però, in seguito al generoso intervento dei fedeli, venne in pochi anni recuperata.

i particolare interesse è anche il Vico Tre Santi a Cortaucci, una delle numero se traverse di via San Francesco, in cui avvenne il Miracolo di Sant'Antonio che gli meritò la riconoscenza di tutta la comunità con l'istituzione della Festa dei Gigli. Era l'anno 1875 e la povera Zi Cecca De Falco, con un figlio che versava in gravi condizioni di salute, si rivolse a S. Antonio promettendogli una coroncina tutta d'oro per il bambinello qualora avesse ricevuto la grazia. Il figlio della donna guarì, ma il debito non potè essere onorato così come promesso. Le ristrettezze economiche della povera mamma le permisero nel giorno della processione, il 13 giugno, solo di lanciare dal balcone della misera casa 16 ostie: di esse, 13 andarono a posizionarsi a corona sospesa nell'aria, proprio sul capo del bambinello di S. Antonio.Don Francesco Monda, parroco pro tempore della Chiesa Madre S. Maria delle Grazie dal 1845 al 1879, fissò l'avvenimento in forma di versi:

Che gran prodigio, che bel portento!
Ostie leggere versate al vento
Sul capo fermarsi del Dio Bambino
A foggia quasi di un cappellino.
Erano sedici le ostie versate,
ma solo tredici si sono fissate.
Le altre andarono in preda al vento.
Che gran prodigio, che bel portento!

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Alla prossima: (2)
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Sunday, April 11, 2010

Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano (3b)

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

"Il Terremoto In Abruzzo. Voci Della Speranza" (3)
(Continua da pagina: 2)

La domenica di Pasqua sono ad Onna il paesino più carico di lutti, che ha perso un terzo dei suoi 350 abitanti ed il 75% del patrimonio edilizio. Conosco Tonino 69 anni, contadino, l’unico che si vede lavorare nei campi da lontano mentre accudisce le bestie. Galline razzolano libere. I pompieri lavorano fra le macerie. Tonino mi parla della sua diffidenza verso le guardie campestri che lo hanno più volte multato a proposito di irregolari percorsi d’acqua attivati per l’innaffiamento della sua campagna. Rievocando così ideologiche atmosfere di inizio Novecento raccontate in “Fontamara”, il romanzo di Ignazio Silone. Poi, a proposito di acqua, Tonino mi invita a dare un’occhiata alla fessura che si è aperta con terremoto, presso la sponda del fiume Aterno, a circa un chilometro fuori paese. Siamo sulla sponda sinistra dell’Aterno e sul posto ho potuto vedere la faglia che si è aperta. E’ impressionante, va zigzagando per un centinaio di metri, larga in qualche tratto circa 15 centimetri, come una biscia va verso il fiume per poi perdersi chissà dove, lasciando immaginare una buia, insondabile, misteriosa profondità.


Grazie al permesso dei Vigili del Fuoco di Latina, presenti sul posto, ed all’assistenza del Caposquadra Giovanni Rosato e dei Vigili del Fuoco, Pino Giordano e Cosimo Meroli entriamo nel devastato centro di Onna, una volta abitato, ora cumulo di macerie. Tutto è crollato. Uno spicchio di giardino indenne, con vialetti e cespuglietti di tulipani variopinti, testimonia per un attimo la tranquillità, la bellezza e la semplicità della vita dei piccoli centri della provincia italiana che qui in Abruzzo è stata scossa e ferita a morte dal terremoto del 6 aprile 2009. A San Gregorio conosco Nonno Ivo, pensionato di 63 anni. La notte del terremoto subito uscito di casa ha percepito immediatamente la tragedia e partecipato ai primi soccorsi. Un forte odore di gas pervadeva il paesino e lui che conosceva il posto della chiave di immissione della distribuzione locale è corso a chiuderla evitando rischi di incendi ed esplosioni. La Chiesa , interamente crollata offre alla luce del giorno gli stucchi dorati di un angolo rimasto in piedi a stento. Nonno Ivo ha promesso al nipotino di ricostruirgli interamente quella chiesa perché “come sono cresciuto io in paese con al centro la chiesa, così dovrà essere per il mio nipotino”. Nella tendopoli di San Martino ho conosciuto un’altra persona proveniente da San Gregorio. Si Tratta di Antonella Gatti, 50 anni, sposata. Antonella mi dice che il marito sceso subito in strada quella notte ha aiutato i primi soccorritori a tirare fuori dalle macerie alcuni morti. In effetti a San Gregorio anche un orfanotrofio, con suore e bambinoni ha ceduto al sisma. Antonella poi ricorda anche il sisma dell’ottanta a Napoli e lei ex studentessa dell’Orientale ora rivive quel dramma direttamente a casa propria. E gli studenti di oggi, quelli dell’Aquila, coloro che animavano la città, ora sembrano ombre e fantasmi a perenne custodia di quelle macerie assassine che hanno disegnato il loro destino sotto i colpi della natura implacabile e, in diversi casi, sotto colpa di uomini insaziabili. Abbiamo attraversato in macchina la spettrale città dell’Aquila, in silenzio noi e le macchine pesanti dei pompieri a scavare e rimuovere pietre e desolazione ove una volta c’era vita.

Ora che lo Stato sta intervenendo, con leggi e provvidenze economiche, con case e assistenze a lungo termine, si spera in una rapida e razionale ricostruzione. Auspichiamo che quanto prima l’Aquila ferita, pienamente recuperata, ritorni ai più alti volo a contemplare l’Abruzzo riscattato dal dolore di oggi.

dott. Antonio Castaldo

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
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Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano : (3a)

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

"Il Terremoto In Abruzzo. Voci Della Speranza" (2)
(Continua da pagina: 1)

A 15 chilometri dall’Aquila, a 900 metri sul livello del mare, vi è il Campo di San Martino, un frazione che insieme alle altre due, Petogna e Villa, completa il territorio del Comune di Barisciano vicino a Poggio Picenze. A San Martino vi è la Protezione Civile Colonna Mobile della Regione Piemonte ed il Coordinamento della Provincia di Alessandria. A capo del Campo vi è Marco Bologna con l’aiuto di Claudio Fantino. A San Martino, proveniente da Brindisi, c’è anche il Battaglione San Marco della Marina Militare, con il Capitano di Vascello, SAN, Andrea Tortora al comando del Presidio Sanitario Avanzato comprendente pure il Servizio di Supporto Psicologico assicurato dal Sottotenente di Vascello Giuseppe Frassica.


Un paio di chilometri più a valle, proprio a Poggio Picenze, è situato il campo montato e gestito dalla Protezione Civile della Regione Campania presente con uomini e mezzi, personale, strutture sanitarie e persino una ludoteca.

Ma è dal Campo di San Martino che incomincio a conoscere la varia umanità fra terremotati e soccorritori, civili e militari, laici e religiosi a scambiarsi bisogni ed aiuti, dolori e conforti, smarrimenti e speranze. Nei personali ricordi giovanili, di pari tragico e solidale contesto, conservo un mese di lavoro nella ricostruzione del Friuli, in un campo internazionale, per la ricostruzione dopo il terremoto del 1976. Poi la paura per i propri cari, nella distanza, per il lavoro in Emilia Romagna, azzerata in una lunga notte di viaggio verso casa sorpassando colonne di automezzi e soccorritori sull’autostrada verso sud.

Nel Campo di San Martino, guarda un po’, conosco subito Martino. L’immediata empatia irrompe nel racconto: “Sono di qui ma porto nel mio cuore gli anni di bambino, quelli vissuti, fino alla scuole medie, a Nomadelfia presso la comunità di Don Zeno. Io sono un figlio spirituale di Norina e nel suo insegnamento ho portato ieri, Venerdì Santo, alcune ragazze a casa mia, dopo l’autorizzazione dei Vigili del Fuoco, a poter fare una doccia. La prima dopo giorni di ininterrotto intervento nel campo. Io stesso sto respirando le prime ore di riposo. Comunque la vita è dura, tiriamo avanti con tanti sacrifici ma gli insegnamenti di ‘Mamma Norina’ ci aiutano ad orientarci e saperci comportare. Io ho due figlie che vivono fuori, così fra oggi e domani verranno a prendermi per passare qualche giorno con loro”. A Martino, che scorgo bambino da una foto del 1959 stampata sul libro che mi ha regalato, scritto dalla sua “Mamma di vocazione” Norina, dono in cambio, commosso quanto lui, il mio documentario sulla “Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano” augurandogli un momento di serenità dopo tanta sofferenza. La straordinaria esperienza cui si riferisce Martino deriva dalla “rivoluzionaria” esistenza di ispirazione evangelica della Comunità di Nomadelfia, fondata da don Zeno Saltini insieme all’Opera Piccoli Apostoli, negli anni trenta in provincia di Modena. Oggi Momadelfia, che significa “dove la fraternità è legge” è situata nella zona di Grosseto.

Le emozioni si incorrono e si moltiplicano, come nella notte del Sabato Santo, durante la messa officiata da padre Benjamin Dasan Kuzhyar, sotto la tenda che di giorno funge da refettorio. Il parroco invita “chiunque lo desideri” al suo fianco presso il provvisorio altare per le letture bibliche. Giunge un marinaio, poi un volontario della Protezione Civile, quindi un giovane della sua parrocchia. Anch’io mi lancio nella lettura come per dire “ci sono anch’io al vostro fianco”. Padre Benjamin è di origini indiane e mi premeva conoscere la genesi della sua vocazione pensando al variegato panorama sociale e religioso della sua terra. Il parroco mi racconta della sua rinuncia alla di vita abile orologiaio quale era , ma l’essere figlio di un edile costruttore di chiese ha lasciato il segno ed indicato al giovane Benjamin la via da seguire. Ora, da parroco di sette chiese, si ritrova con tutti i suoi luoghi di culto inagibili e sotto una tenda celebra la messa per gli sfollati ed i volontari del Campo di San Martino di Licenze. Nella notte santa, concluso il rito religioso, prendono la parola il Sindaco Domenico Panone ed il suo Vicesindaco, Giuseppe Calvisi, del Comune di Barisciano i quali ringraziano tutti i volontari accorsi da tutta Italia insieme alla Protezione Civile in soccorso dell’Abruzzo e del loro piccolo paese, Barisciano con le sue frazioni. A loro, nell’accomiatarci, porto il saluto del Sindaco di Brusciano Angelo Antonio Romano, del Vicesindaco Vincenzo Cerciello, del Presidente del Consiglio Antonio Di Palma e di tutta la Comunità di Brusciano con la promessa di successivi e concreti aiuti.

Alla prossima: (3)
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Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano : Articolo #3

dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia

"Il Terremoto In Abruzzo. Voci Della Speranza"

Prime case consegnate nell’Abruzzo ferito. Le tendopoli si svuotano. Le scosse ritornano. La memoria richiama i primi giorni della tragedia. Ma la speranza non si arrende.

Il terremoto del 6 aprile 2009 in Abruzzo ha fatto 299 vittime, fra cui 20 bambini e lasciato in strada 80.000 persone poi sfollate nelle oltre 100 tendopoli allestite dalla protezione Civile. La zona intorno all’Aquila con quella scossa, di magnitudo 5,8 Richter, ha subito una deformazione di 650 chilometri quadrati come rilevato dal CNR elaborando i dati del satellite europeo Envisat.

Il patrimonio edilizio che si è salvato dal terremoto è ora oggetto di sopralluoghi per verificarne l’agibilità e permettere il ritorno in casa degli abitanti più fortunati. I Funerali di Stato, per 205 delle 299 vittime, sono stati officiati dal segretario di Stato vaticano, Tarcisio Bertone e dal Vescovo dell’Aquila, Giuseppe Molinari presso la Caserma della Guardia di Finanza a Coppito, il 10 aprile, con una affranta platea di 1600 familiari e 5.000 persone.

Erano presenti Giorgio Napolitano, Presidente della Repubblica; Silvio Berlusconi, Presidente del Consiglio; Renato Schifani e Gianfranco Fini, rispettivamente Presidente del Senato e Presidente della Camera dei Deputati; Roberto Maroni, Ministro dell’Interno ed i Sottosegretari Gianni Letta e Paolo Bonaiuti. Da parte dell’Opposizione erano presenti Dario Franceschini, Piero Fassino, Paolo Ferrero, Rosy Bindi, Franco Marini, Paolo Cento e Lorenzo Cesa.

Per sette morti islamici veniva officiato il rito islamico dall’Imam, Mohammed Nour Dachan, Presidente dell’Unione delle Comunità e Organizzazioni Islamiche in Italia.

Questo il quadro a distanza mostrato dai mass media. Poi c’è la quotidiana realtà che si può percepire e raccontare andando direttamente sul posto. E così, nei giorni conclusivi della Settimana Santa mi sono recato nelle zone terremotate a seguito di un drappello di volontari dell’Associazione Europea Operatori Polizia per la Campania, presidente regionale il Generale Giovanni Cimmino. Sul luogo del disastro fra i primissimi soccorritori ad intervenire gli operatori dell’AEOP Regione Abruzzo con il Presidente Nino Pezzi e la “consacrazione” massmediatica, per l’esposizione in copertina sul numero speciale immediato di Panorama, dell’operatore AEOP Rosario Zuccarello 31 anni durante l’intervento di Onna alle prime luci del giorno dopo la notte del terremoto.



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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Brusciano, Italy News/Events (21)

"L’Ambasciatrice Internazionale di Pace Legalità Agnese Ginocchio consegna la “Colomba della Pace” al IV Circolo Didattico di Acerra. "

La pace e la legalità, l‘educazione civica e la progettualità sociale, i valori religiosi e civili, l’impegno e la coerenza comportamentale sono stati i temi trattati durante la Cerimonia di consegna del Premio internazionale “La Colomba della Pace” assegnato al IV Circolo Didattico di Acerra diretto dal nuovo dirigente scolastico prof. Lorenzo Antonelli. Un diploma d’onore è stato assegnato alla docente Rosanna Bianco referente del Progetto Legalità ed infine è stato messo a dimora nel cortile di ingresso della scuola un “Ulivo della Pace”. Durante la manifestazione, Agnese Ginocchio, Ambasciatrice Internazionale della Pace, rappresentante del “Movimento Internazionale della Pace e la Salvaguardia del Creato (III Millennio)” nel consegnare l’ambito riconoscimento ha dichiarato di “essere gratificata dalla collaborazione prestata nel corso di un progetto educativo e dalla riscontrata sensibilità dell’istituzione scolastica, dei dirigenti che si sono avvicendati, dei docenti e degli alunni e delle alunne. Ma occorre impegnarsi sempre di più per la legalità e la pace che sono alla base del vivere umano e del rispetto di Dio e del Creato. Ognuno deve fare la sua parte, quotidianamente, le Istituzioni, la Politica, la Società civile, i singoli e le associazioni coerentemente con quanto si enuncia nei principi etici e morali”.

Il dirigente scolastico Antonelli, dopo il cordiale saluto di benvenuto alle Autorità civili, militari e religiose, ha affermato che “l’alto riconoscimento ci inorgoglisce e ci spinge a rinnovare l’impegno nei confronti dei ragazzi, nel rafforzare l’offerta formativa e potenziare i rapporti con tutto il territorio”. Il vescovo di Acerra, Mons. Giovanni Rinaldi, ha ricordato “l’irrinunciabile ruolo della famiglia, veramente unita, che coltiva il bene tra i coniugi e soprattutto il bene ed i diritti dei bambini. E poi il sacrosanto rispetto dell’ambiente, in una terra già martoriata. Ora che ci hanno messo l’inceneritore, l’abbiamo accettato, vogliamo però che ci sia un costante monitoraggio fatto da un organismo indipendente”. Il Sindaco di Acerra, Tommaso Esposito, ha scaldato la platea degli alunni e dei loro docenti suggerendo “una Giornata da Sindaco, una da Comandante dei Vigili Urbani, una da Comandante della Caserma dei Carabinieri, da praticare con i ragazzi nella diretta conoscenza delle problematiche e dei servizi messi in campo per risolverle. Noi tutti staremo a vostra disposizione con l’ascolto e l’accompagnamento”. Il Presidente del Consiglio comunale, Raffaele Lettieri, presente con l’Assessore alle Politiche Scolastiche e Sociali, l’ex Sindaco Immacolata Verone, ha invitato gli alunni a realizzazione il “Consiglio Comunale dei Ragazzi”.

Hanno allietato le note del Complesso Bandistico “G. Pinna” diretto da Modestino De Chiara. Hanno seguito la manifestazione il Comandante dei VV. UU., Felice D’Andrea; il Comandante della Caserma dei Carabinieri di Acerra, Mar. Vincenzo Vacchiano; la delegazione del Corpo Forestale dello Stato guidata da Mirco De Rosa della Stazione di Roccarainola. Erano presenti anche il giornalista, direttore de “L’Ambasciatore”, Francesco Martignetti ed il sociologo Antonio Castaldo i quali insieme all’Associazione “Città Invisibile”, Presidente Felice Marotta, stanno preparando l’incontro pubblico, con il Patrocinio del Comune di Brusciano, del 30 ottobre alla Scuola “Dante Alighieri” di Brusciano, riguardante “Usura e Racket problematiche del nostro territorio” che avrà fra i vari partecipanti l’Ambasciatrice di Pace e Legalità Agnese Ginocchio.

CON PREGHIERA DI PUBBLICAZIONE
Antonio Castaldo – Istituto Europeo di Scienze Umane e Sociali - IESUS -
Comunicato Stampa del 24 Ottobre 2009

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Tenement Living: Domestic Violence/Brutal Assault (1)

Topic: Brutal Tenement Murder: Woman's Face Split Open 1902

With her face split open by the blows of an ax and her skull crushed, Mrs. Mary Ann McCusker, 60 years old, was found murdered in her apartment on the third floor of the wretched tenement at 79 Thomas street, Manhattan, at 5:30 o'clock, this morning. Her husband, Patrick, 70 years old, is under arrest at the Leonard street station on suspicion of having knowledge of the crime.

Mrs. McCusker was the housekeeper of the tenement and with her husband occupied two squalidly furnished rooms in the rear of the third floor. They had lived there about ten years. McCusker, who is a war veteran drawing a small pension, did no work. He formerly peddled umbrellas. The other tenants of the house say that he and his wife apparently got along amicably, although sometimes he drank, and when under the influence of liquor was erratic.

McCusker went to the station house shortly after 5 o'clock this morning and reported to Sergeant Brown that his wife was dead. He did not say that she had been murdered. When Sergeant Frank relieved Sergeant Brown shortly afterward he sent Detective McKenna and Patrolman Olpp to the house to investigate the woman's death.

The policemen found the body of Mrs. McCusker, attired in a tattered wrapper, lying diagonally across the bed with her head toward the wall. The dead woman lay on her back with her arms outstretched, the bed clothing under her head being stained with blood. Diagonally across her face, from a point over her left eye, extending half way down her right cheek, was a deep gash, evidently made with an ax, the result of several blows. Her right eye was forced out on her cheek. There was no evidence of a struggle, and the blow had evidently been unexpected and had stunned the woman so that she was incapable of crying our or offering resistance. The bedroom in which she lay had no windows and was quite dark.

McCusker was found pacing up and down the other room. McKenna asked him what had happened to his wife, and he replied: "Some one has murdered her." He said he had slept in a vacant room downstairs last night, and did not know anything of his wife's fate until he went up to call her this morning. When asked if it was not peculiar that he should have slept in an unfurnished room, when his own apartments were at his disposal, he said no, that he had often done it before.

Hidden in a corner behind the bed McKenna found a blood-stained ax, which McCusker admitted was his. Questioned further, the old man said he had a suspicion that the crime might have been committed by former tenants with whom his wife had had some trouble.

The police say that McCusker had evidently been drinking last night, and that he was very nervous when taken into custody.

In the room on the floor below in which he said he had slept McKenna found a crazy quilt that was spotted with blood. He also found a coat belonging to McCusker and a waist that had been the property of the murdered woman. These, too, were stained with blood and were wet in places, as if an effort had been made to wash away the tell-tale marks.

When McCusker was taken to the station house he was taken into Captain O'Brien's room and the captain put him through a severe cross examination. The result seemed to strengthen the opinion of the police that McCusker knew who murdered his wife. There were blood stains on his trousers, on his waistcoat and on his shirt, but none on his hands. He told the captain he kept the ax that had been found as a weapon to be used against burglars, of which he frequently dreamed.

The floor above that on which the McCuskers lived is occupied by a Mrs. Kane. No one in her household heard any unusual or suspicious noises in the McCusker apartments this morning. The woman was alive last night.

The floor on which the murdered woman lived was partially vacant, she and her husband being the only tenants. The rooms immediately below are also vacant. Nobody in the house had heard anything to excite their suspicion, and all were astonished to learn that the housekeeper had been murdered.

Later the police made a second arrest, on account of a story told by McCusker. He said that he was awake last night when he heard someone stirring in his wife's room. As he went to find out if anything was the matter he saw a man leaving the room, and recognized him as John Helm, a lunch man, now living at 43 Beach street, Manhattan, but who had at one time lived in the Thomas street house. Acting on this story, in which, however, they place but little faith, Helm was arrested and together with McCusker taken to the Tombs Police Court, where at the request of Captain O'Brien, and with the advice of Assistant District Attorney Smythe, Magistrate Cornell remanded them back to the Leonard street station until Monday.

Coroner Goldenkranz went and viewed the body of the murdered woman.

Captain O'Brien says that Helm called at the station house on Monday and complained that McCusker had ordered him to vacate his room and had refused to allow him to take his clothes with him. An officer was sent with Helm and managed to get the old man to allow Helm to obtain his things. McCusker told the policeman there had been a fire in Helm's room, and he had an idea the latter had caused it.

Helm, Captain O'Brien says, is only in custody as a precautionary measure, as all the attending circumstances go to disprove the story told by McCusker.

Source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle November 8, 1902

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Tenement Living: Housing (1)

Topic: The Crowded Condition of New York Dwellings 1883

An interesting and valuable census has just been completed in New York under the supervision of the Mayor and Fire Department, and is now given to the public for the first time. It sets forth the number and character of all the structures in New York, such as piers, sheds, bridges, dwelling houses, business buildings and so forth. From the report we are enabled almost at a glance to understand some of the fundamental characteristics of the Metropolis, which will rather astonish dwellers in the substantial Old World cities who, when they build, seem to do so with the intention of erecting everlasting structures.

It appears from the figures before us that new York contains 102, 624 buildings, of which 78,368 are used as dwellings and the remainder as business buildings exclusively. Of these there are but 185 which may be considered absolutely fire proof; that is buildings constructed of non inflammable materials. Of these, 65 are dwellings and 120 business structures, a rather suggestive not to say uncomfortable showing when one reflects that 3,742 dwellings and 3,278 business buildings are more than four stories in height, and that not a few in both classes reach ten stories. The awkwardness of escape from such lofty buildings in case of fire has already been demonstrated, and the fact that a number of firemen have been trained especially for life saving purposes under these conditions will not materially console the occupants of the loftier floors. Nor is it especially encouraging to learn that, so valuable is space in New York, rear premises have been built upon to an extent scarcely conceivable in Brooklyn, or indeed in any of the large cities of the country. There are, indeed, no less than 15,798 such buildings, nearly one-sixth of the entire number, of which 10,594 are used for business purposes and 5,199 for dwellings. We do not need to be told what sort of dwellings these are. They are, of course, the wretched tenements where poor people are huddled together like animals and where disease and crime are bred to scourge alike the just and the unjust and to remind the rich, the hard hearted and the indifferent that human wrongs are redressed by Providence and that not all the money in the world is an absolute protection from pestilence.

Of the total number of buildings used as dwellings but 49,565 are occupied exclusively for this purpose, the remainder, 28,803, being partly given up to business. Comparatively small as this figure is, it does not fully express the crowded condition of the Metropolis. The total number of dwellings occupied by one family only is but 32,096, very much less than one-half of the entire number. Indeed, from this statement it is clear that the New Yorker no longer follows the Anglo Saxon method of housing his family apart and entrenching himself in his house as in his castle. The majority of dwelling houses being thus surrendered to more than one family it follows that the great bulk of the people live apart. In 10,314 houses the characteristic feature is that at least two families live there; in 16,992 one family occupies each floor, and in 18,966 houses there are more than one family on each floor. This gives us a better idea of how the people of our neighbor exist. The population that is represented by these three classes can be guessed at, if we suppose, a household or family to consist of six persons, including servants. The remainder will yield the enormous number who are more or less closely packed. Indeed, while these statistics are not given, if we take the population of New York to be 1,250,000 a small estimate the average number of occupants of each house used wholly or partly as a dwelling is very nearly 16. For several years past the pressure has been so great upon the area of the city, in spite of the elevated railroads which opened up a large territory, that in order to remain within reasonable distance of the business center the householder had to content himself with the tenement principle. New York has built into the air as the only direction in which it could spread. There must soon be relief, for it is clear that the limit of loftiness has been reached. No account is given, by the way, of the number of structures built in New York during the past year.

Brooklyn, however, has still plenty of room to grow and is growing in point of buildings more rapidly than any city in the country, not excepting even the young giant of the West, Chicago. She has added to her buildings during the eleven months of which record is made more than 2,500, the majority of which, we suppose, are dwellings. This is not a sudden speculation. The industry must go on for several years to come, for the supply is not equal to a demand based upon the mere prospect of rapid transit. When that becomes a fact the overflow from New York to Brooklyn must be provided for. That it must come in our direction is inevitable. The percentage of persons who would prefer the misery and unhealthfulness of tenement life in New York to the comfort of a house for each family in Brooklyn on moderate terms, in a city that is surpassed by but two in the world for healthfulness and by none for comfort, proximity to the salt water, and the pleasures of metropolitan life, must be very small. Indeed the solution of a most pressing and serious problem, namely, where the New Yorker can live, is solved only by our own hospitality. When rapid transit is fully developed here residents of our own outlying wards will be nearer to their places of business in New York in comfortable houses than they would be in noisome tenements on the other side of the river. With this growth of population must come about, moreover, a corresponding expansion of business. There is no reason in the world why New York should, even now, be depended upon to supply the needs of our residents. The growth of our city, therefore, is likely for some time to come to be more extraordinary than it has been in the remarkable past.

Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 30, 1883

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Tenement Living: Diseases (1)

Topic: Malaria in the Dirt Piles 1901

Deputy Street Commissioner Quinn, Health Commissioner Black and controller Coler will be ably assisted by many of the respectable business men and property owners of Coney Island if they really intend to give the famous resort a thorough sweeping and washing.

While there has been so much talk of late about the city purchasing certain garbage plants at an enormous cost, the Coney Island people have been wondering why the city authorities do not take it upon themselves to again put in operation the crematory now located at Coney Island. The sight of heavily laden garbage trucks being drawn through the streets and up over Ocean parkway has long been a disgusting nuisance and the suggestion has been made that it could be done away with by burning the garbage at the crematory as did the officials in the former town of Gravesend.

It was said yesterday that the plant at Coney Island could be placed in first class condition for a very small expenditure, and in a short time. Nobody seems to know why the plant was abandoned at the time of annexation, but the residents do know that the resort has been sadly neglected since that time by the police and health departments.

When the old town was in existence great care was taken by the reigning officials in preserving the health of both resident and visitor, and the way it was carried out was in gathering all the garbage and trucking it over to the crematory, where it was burned. The island was not nearly as thickly settled in those days as it is today, but the crowds of visitors on Sundays and holidays were equally, or almost, as large and a considerable amount of garbage would be collected in twenty-four hours. The town officials introduced a system, however, and the men who held the contract for cleaning the streets and collecting the garbage were forced to keep constantly at work. That resulted in making Coney Island a remarkably clean place, when the big crowds were taken into consideration.

Every one who has visited Coney Island during the past five years has noticed the condition of the main thoroughfare, Surf avenue and the many board walks and they have often wondered how it was that an epidemic did not seize hold of Coney Island and carry off the people to their graves.

Every season since the former town people decided to become a ward in the old City of Brooklyn and later one little corner of Greater New York, the garbage conditions have grown decidedly worse and today finds the more thickly settled portion in the grasp of malaria, caused, the local physicians declare, by the rotten condition of the island. Thousands of people now make their homes the year round at Coney Island, whereas in the days of the former town, the permanent residents were few.

The crusade made by the street cleaning force of men during the past week has not amounted to a great deal. Most of the time has been passed along the beach, where, it is said, a large quantity of refuse and objectionable matter has been collected. Perhaps the beach needed the cleansing, but no complaint was ever made as to its alleged filthy condition. The people have entered numerous complaints, however, against the filth that is permitted to lay in the streets leading to the beach and on Surf avenue, through which thoroughfare hundreds of thousands of people pass. A futile attempt has been made to clean the thoroughfare, but practically the same conditions exist.

A new dumping ground has been chosen at Coney Island and the terrible odor that is noticeable in passing by brings one back to the days when Contractor Charles Hart "planted" hundreds of scow loads of filth on the meadow land near the Harway avenue bridge. Hart's Park, as some have named it, is now covered with green grass and all kinds of vegetables are growing there.

The vicinity of West Eighth street and Neptune avenue is now being filled in with filth and the residents are complaining. All kinds of refuse, it is said, is being dumped there. The land is partly meadows and there is a narrow roadway which leads across to the West End railroad tracks, and it is along side this road that the filth is noticeable. A number of complaints have also been made about the lots in the rear of the Albermarle and Prospect Hotels, on Surf avenue, near the old Culver depot. A policeman who had occasion to cross the lots yesterday stepped in a soft spot and sank down over his shoes. He said it was garbage and the smell coming from it was horrible. Down at the intersection of Thompson's and Henderson's walks and Surf avenue, barrels and bosses filled with refuse are piled up in the morning and it is well along in the afternoon before it is removed. The filth is still to be found along the board walks, many of which it has been said, should be torn up and filed in with earth, and despite any effort that may have been made toward cleaning Coney Island, a tour of the resort yesterday showed that conditions are just as they were before the crusade was commenced. The trucks are few and far between and when they do put in an appearance they are loaded up over the tops of the wagon and much refuse drops to the street.

Source: Brooklyn Eagle August 4, 1901 Page: 40

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Tenement Living: Crime & Vice (1)

Topic: Fortune Tellers and Clairvoyants

The city journals frequently contain such advertisements as the following:

"A TEST MEDIUM.--THE ORIGINAL MADAME F----tells everything, traces absent friends, losses, causes speedy marriages, gives lucky numbers. Ladies fifty cents; gentlemen, one dollar. 464----th Avenue."

"A FACT--NO IMPOSITION. The Great European Clairvoyant. She consults you on all affairs of life. Born with a natural gift, she tells past, present, and future; she brings together those long separated; causes speedy marriages; shows you a correct likeness of your future husband or friends in love affairs. She was never known to fail. She tells his name; also lucky numbers free of charge. She succeeds when all others fail. Two thousand dollars reward for any one that can equal her in professional skill. Ladies fifty cents to one dollar. Positively no gents admitted. No. 40----Avenue."

It seems strange that, in this boasted age of enlightenment, the persons who make such announcements as the above, can find any one simple enough to believe them. Yet, it is a fact, that these persons, who are generally women, frequently make large sums of money out of the credulity of their fellow creatures. Every mail brings them letters from persons in various parts of the country. These letters are generally answered, and the contents have disgusted more than one simpleton. The information furnished is such as any casual acquaintance could give, and just as trustworthy as the reports of the "reliable gentleman just from the front," used to prove during the late war. The city custom of these impostors is about equal to that brought to them from the country by means of their advertisements. Some of them make as much as one hundred dollars per day, all of which is a clear profit. The majority earn from three to six dollars per day. Servant girls are profitable customers. Indeed, but for female credulity the business would go down.

Still, there are many male visitors. Speculators, victims of the gaming table and the lottery, come to ask for advice, which is given at random. The woman knows but little of her visitors, and has no means of learning anything about them. Sometimes her statements are found to be true; but it is by the merest accident. The clairvoyants do not hesitate to confess to their friends, in a confidential way, of course, that their pretensions are mere humbuggery, and they laugh at the credulity of their victims, whilst they encourage it. It seems absurd to discuss this subject seriously. We can only say to those who shall read this chapter, that there is not in the city of New York an honest fortune-teller or clairvoyant. They knowingly deceive persons as to their powers. It is not given to human beings to read the future-- certainly not to such wretched specimens as the persons who compose the class of which we are writing. The only sensible plan is to keep your money, dear reader. You know more than these impostors can possibly tell you.

Many of these fortune-tellers and clairvoyants are simply procuresses. They draw women into their houses and ply them so with temptations, that they frequently ruin them. This is the real business of most of them. They are leagued with the keepers of houses of ill-fame. No woman is safe who enters their doors.

Love Charms

These parties will also offer for sale "amulets," "charms," or "recipes," which they say will enable a person to win the love of any one of the opposite sex, and excite the admiration of friends; or "to give you an influence over your enemies or rivals, molding them to your own will or purpose;" or to "enable you to discover lost, stolen, or hidden treasure," etc., etc. For each or any of these charms the modest sum of from three dollars to five dollars is demanded, with "return postage." All these, as well as "love powders," "love elixirs," etc., are either worthless articles, or compounds consisting of dangerous and poisonous chemical substances. Many of the men who deal in them have grown rich, and the trade still goes on. The world is full of fools, and these impostors are constantly on the watch for them.

Bibliography: The Secrets of the Great City; A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City by Edward Winslow Martin Publisher: Jones Brothers & Co., 1868 Philadelphia .

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MAIN BLOG DIRECTORY-April

Table of Contents (2)
A.) Getting To Know Mimi (B.) N.Y.C. History (C.) Italian Harlem(D.) Spanish Harlem (E.) Black Harlem (F.) New York State
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(G.) Tenement Living: Social Issues Of Urban Life
(Poverty, Crime&Vice, Homelessness, Group Conflicts, Diseases, Gays&Lesbians: Gender Identity, Domestic Violence, Drug&Alcohol Abuse, Police Brutality )
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Table of Contents (3)
(H.) Chit-Chat Over Coffee Swirls

Table of Contents (4)
(I.) Jewish Knowledge (J.) Self-Improvement (K.) Historical Facts On England & United States

Table of Contents (5)
(L.) Miscellaneous (M.) Timetables (N.) Ethnic Groups (O.) Legal Talk(P.) Entertainment: Backward Glances (Q.) Immigration

Table of Contents (6)
(R.) Women__Bio Sketches, Feminine Fancies, Recipes, Kitchen Talk.(S.) Worship

Table of Contents (7)
(T.) A Little Taste of History, (U.) U.S. History-Transportation, (V) U.S. History-Panics, Economic Depressions, Business Matters

Table of Contents (8)
(W) El Rincón En Español (The Spanish Corner: )
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This section is dedicated to articles of historical facts, poetry, self-improvement, human interest stories etc. written in Spanish.

Table of Contents (9)
(X) So Mr. President, What Did You Do During Your Term in Office....? (The Series)

Table of Contents (10)
(Y) Brusciano, Italy News/Events: Dr. Antonio Castaldo, Journalist
(Articles in Italian and English)

Table of Contents (11)
(Z) The Italian Niche
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Table of Contents (12a)
Pensieri di uno scrittore italiano: dott. Antonio Castaldo
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Table of Contents (12b)
Thoughts of an Italian Writer : Dr. Antonio Castaldo
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Table of Contents (13)
I) "El Rincón Borinqueña"

Table of Contents (14)
II) Arts and Entertainment

Table of Contents (15)
III) Architecture
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IV Education
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V Wisdom: Thoughts From the Indian Masters
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