Sunday, February 27, 2011

WOMEN'S EDUCATION – WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT; 2012 National Women’s History Month Theme

MARCH -- NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment

PASSHE Names 1st Women President of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Julie Wollman
     Just before the dawning of 2012, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors concluded a six-month national Edinboro University search by naming Edinboro’s 17th president, and the first woman to lead the region’s largest and most comprehensive institution of higher education, Dr. Julie Wollman.
     Wollman, currently the vice President for Academic Affairs at Boston’s Wheelock College, will begin her duties at Edinboro June 1, succeeding Dr. James Moran, who was appointed interim president last June.
     President-select Wollman, who has already made several visits to campus to prepare for her administration, found the Edinboro community “warm, friendly and engaging.”
 
2012 Honorees


Recognizing the Pioneering Leadership of Women and Their Impact on the Diverse Areas of Education.

•Emma Hart Willard (1787–1870) - Women Higher Education Pioneer
•Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837 – 1914) - Freedman Bureau Educator
•Annie Sullivan (1866 – 1936) - Disability Education Architect
•Gracia Molina de Pick (b.1929) - Feminist Educational Reformer
•Okolo Rashid (b.1949) - Community Development Activist and Historical Preservation Advocate
•Brenda Flyswithhawks (b. 1950) - American Indian Advocate and Educator

Emma Hart Willard (1787–1870) - Women Higher Education Pioneer


     One of the pioneer reformers of Women’s Education, Emma Willard was born in 1787 into a world that did not value the schooling of girls. Her father, however, was liberal minded, and encouraged his daughter to read widely and to enter into discussions of philosophy and politics.
     Self-taught in areas of study reserved for men, she went from being a student to being a teacher, and at the age of 20 became the principal at the women’s academy in Middlebury, Vermont.
     Two years later she married physician John Willard, and because it was considered improper for married women to work, she retired to the home, rearing her husband’s four children from his first marriage and bearing a child herself.
But neither her “retirement” nor the work of running a large household kept Willard from advancing her studies. She borrowed college textbooks from a male relative, and her eyes were opened not only to advanced learning, but also to the world of the mind denied to women.
     When her husband was struck with financial troubles, Willard opened a school in their Middlebury home, but met with opposition there to her belief that women deserved an education on a par with men. She criticized the finishing school curriculum directed to young women, noting that “the education of females has been exclusively directed to fit them for displaying to advantage the charms of youth and beauty ... [and] though [it is] well to decorate the blossom, it is far better to prepare for the harvest.”
     Seeking a more hospitable location for her school, she moved with her family to New York State, and approached state legislators with her “Plan for Improving Female Education”—a document she had to submit in writing, as women were not allowed to address the legislature in person. In it she wrote that “ reason and religion teach that we [women] too are primary existences...the companions, not the satellites of men."
     While her ideas did not meet with universal acceptance, the Governor of New York, De Witt Clinton, was impressed. The booming industrial city of Troy raised taxes to endow the Troy Female Seminary, and families across the country sent their daughters to be educated according to the philosophy of Madame Willard. The real education of American girls had begun.
     On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Troy Female Seminary it was named the Emma Willard School, and continues today to provide a first-rate education to young women from all over the world. In 1895—twenty-five years after Willard’s death—a statue in her honor was erected on the campus of her groundbreaking experiment. Its inscription reads in part:

HER MOST ENDURING MONUMENT, [is]
THE GRATITUDE OF EDUCATED WOMEN.


Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837 – 1914)  Freedman Bureau Educator

     Charlotte Forten was bornin Philadelphia to an affluent and educated black family—a family of abolitionist activists who championed any number of civil rights organizations. She received her education at the Higginson Grammar School in Salem, Massachusetts, where she was the only non-white student in a student body of two hundred students. She then went on to the Normal School in Salem, where she studied literature and teaching. Forten became a member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, where she proved her abilities as what we would now call a community activist—organizing, speaking, and raising money.
     When her financial situation demanded that she find paid employment, Forten became the first Black woman to teach white children in Massachusetts, at the Epes Grammar School of Salem. During this time she also began publishing poetry, much of it activist in theme.
     But with the coming of the Civil War,Forten’s determination to participate in the education of liberated slaves brought her to South Carolina, where slave-owners had fled the Union army. She left the north under the auspices of the Philadelphia Port Royal Relief Association and taught on the island of St. Helena—the first black woman to do so.
     Her activist spirit and idealistic determination are evident as she contemplates the challenge she has taken on: "The long, dark night of the Past, with all its sorrows and its fears, was forgotten; and for the Future—the eyes of these freed children see no clouds in it.”
     The physical and emotional stress finally took its toll on Forten, and she left St. Helena after two years. But she had achieved one dream, and had years ahead to achieve still more. She had national impact on education in the United States when she worked for the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. recruiting teachers. At the age of forty-one, Charlotte Forten married Presbyterian minister Francis Grimké, himself a freed slave, and nephew of the famous Grimké sisters, who were abolitionist activists. Charlotte supported his work at his Washington D.C. church, where she organized a women's missionary group, and continued to work with and for the black community.
     Scholar, teacher, abolitionist, crusader, Charlotte Forten Grimké is remembered and read today as a writer whose careful documentation of her varied life is a testament to the racial experience of 19 th century America.

Annie Sullivan ( 1866 – 1936)  Disability Education Architect

     Johanna Mansfield Sullivan —more recognizable as Annie Sullivan to millions of people who have seen The Miracle Worker, William Gibson’s play (and later a film). The film is about the education of Helen Keller that starred Anne Bancroft as Annie. But Annie’s humble beginnings certainly did not predict such accomplishment and fame. Born to poor, illiterate Irish immigrants in 1866, Annie was denied schooling and was nearly blind from an untreated eye infection. Her mother died of tuberculosis when Annie was eight, and her alcoholic father deserted Annie and her siblings two years later.
     Annie was sent to the state almshouse and orphanage in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, where she spent four years, and underwent two unsuccessful eye surgeries. But her life was transformed when the state board of charities chairman, Frank Sanborn, visited Tewksbury; reportedly Annie, who was never known for either restraint or polite behavior, threw herself in front of him crying, "Mr. Sanborn, I want to go to school."
     So, at the age of fourteen, Annie Sullivan became a student at the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, where she learned to read and write—and from which she graduated as valedictorian of her class. While at Perkins, she had several operations that restored a significant amount of her vision. She also learned to use a form of manual alphabet that allowed her to “talk” with a friend who was both blind and deaf.
     After Annie’s graduation, the director of the Perkins Institute was asked to suggest a teacher for an Alabama family whose daughter was also blind and deaf. He suggested Annie Sullivan—and thus began a near fifty year relationship that would end only with Sullivan’s death. Annie Sullivan, who had struggled so to be educated herself, took on the education of Helen Keller, an uncontrollable child trapped in a world of dark silence.
     Starting with the hand-spelling of “doll,” which Sullivan had brought as a present for Helen, it took more than a month before the girl understood the relationship between object or idea and the movements of her teacher against her hand—but at that point, education set Helen Keller free.
     Sullivan took Helen to the Perkins School for several visits when her pupil was ready to benefit from the resources there, and, thirteen years after Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller first met, they went to Radcliffe College—Helen as the student, Sullivan as her translator. Only Helen Keller received the diploma, but Annie Sullivan had also been educated beyond her wildest dreams.
     Sullivan and Keller lived, worked, and travelled together until Annie Sullivan’s death. They lectured, appeared in vaudeville performances, and appeared in a silent film called Deliverance, which was the life story of Helen Keller. But their work turned to more serious business as they collaborated with the American Foundation for the Blind as advisors, fundraisers, and advocates for change. Both received honorary degrees from Temple University in Philadelphia.
     Annie Sullivan was a pioneer in a kind of education that was in its infancy. And if a student’s gratitude is a teacher’s greatest award, then Sullivan was richly rewarded. When Keller died in 1968, thirty-two years after the passing of her teacher and friend, Keller’s ashes were placed in the Washington National Cathedral next to Annie's.

Gracia Molina de Pick (b.1929   Feminist Educational Reformer

     Gracia Molina de Pick is a force of nature—an activist, feminist, educational reformer, and philanthropist who has said that one’s “individual life only has meaning if you unselfishly engage as sisters and brothers in the fight for equality, justice, and peace.” Born in Mexico City in 1930 and raised in a family that valued political activism,
     Molina de Pick’s community organizing skills developed in high school, where she was involved in post-World War II peace movements and political efforts to get women the right to vote in national Mexican elections. By 16, she founded and led the youth section of the Partido Popular, the only political party at the time that advocated women’s voting rights.
     Molina de Pick moved to California in 1957, and there earned two degrees in Education. She remembers that in her early days of teaching in a school where seventy percent of the students were Hispanic, children whose only language was Spanish, were placed in classrooms for those with developmental disabilities. She was appalled by the number of Mexican students who were in those classes, and were—in her words—“Failing miserably, miserably.” She said “No way, no way”—and thus began a crusade for change.
     Realizing the critical relationship between parents—especially mothers—and their children’s education, Molina de Pick built library resources and created reading opportunities to engage the whole family. On the faculty at Mesa College, she founded and wrote the curriculum for the first Associate’s Degree in Chicana/Chicano Studies, which appeared in the Plan de Aztlan, the 1970 blueprint for Higher Education for Mexican Americans. She was the founding faculty of the Third College (now Thurgood Marshall College) at the University of California San Diego, where she developed the undergraduate sequence for Third World Studies.
     Molina de Pick is the founder of several organizations that bring together her passionate work on behalf of women’s equality, native communities, labor and immigrants’ rights—among them IMPACT, a community organization fighting for the civil rights of Mexican Americans in San Diego; and the Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional, the first national feminist Chicana Association. She also served on the National Council of La Raza, the first Civil Rights Advocate group for Mexican American Civil Rights.
     The tireless Gracia Molina de Pick, now eighty three years old, whose early philanthropy was in the giving of her time, intelligence, and spirit has turned in later years to giving financial resources as well. “I don’t have a lot of money,” she says, “but I’m rich in so many other ways. Everything I have, I give to the causes.” Such has been the impact and inspiration of her generosity and passion that her advocacy for improved education as a key to equality was honored on January 12, 2010 by the designation of Gracia Molina de Pick Day in San Diego, California.

Okolo Rashid (b.1949)  Community Development Activist and Historical Preservation Advocate

     Born in Mississippi in 1949, the daughter of sharecroppers, Okolo Rashid grew up in the tumult of racial strife in the south, and has been a life-long advocate of social justice, multiculturalism, and anti-racism. After earning degrees in economics and public policy, she had a varied career, specializing in project administration with a focus on community development projects, including historic preservation, working primarily with inner city communities and grassroots organizations.
     But her experience as an educator began almost by accident, and produced an amazing outcome. How many people would imagine that the one and only International Museum of Muslim Cultures in the United States would be found in Jackson, Mississippi? That fact is the result of Okolo Rashid’s vision—a vision that comprises activism and an inclusive world view where human dignity and individual worth are central values.
     In 2000, Rashid had what she describes as an “activist moment” when she saw a TV promotional program for an exhibit on Spain to be hosted by the Mississippi Arts Pavilion. As she watched, she noted the utter absence of any reference to Islam and its contributions to Spanish culture. Rashid decided that she would organize an exhibition that would allow visitors to learn the full scope of Spanish history—not by producing a counter-exhibit, but rather by providing a supplementary experience for museum-goers.
     With only five months to prepare, Rashid drew upon her background in community organizing and in just four months, the IslamicMoorish Spain exhibition opened; it was visited by nearly 25,000 people during its first six months.
     The exhibit was scheduled to close on September 30, 2001—but then history happened. Jackson community leaders, including Christian ministers, were successful in keeping the exhibit open—permanently. They saw the profound need for Americans to understand Islam, and thus the exhibit became a museum, of which Okolo Rashid is now Executive Director.
     The Museum’s Mission Statement reflects Rashid’s goals of using education to promote tolerance and understanding, even in the most difficult times; it asserts that through its work, the Museum “strives to facilitate multicultural and interfaith tolerance, reducing religious and racial bigotry and advancing religious and civic dialogue.”
     Moving in the concentric circles of the local, the national, and the global, Okolo Rashid has used the lessons of her education and her experience to create a most unexpected, much-needed center of learning for Americans of all cultures.

Brenda Flyswithhawks (b. 1950)   American Indian Advocate and Educator

     Brenda Flyswithhawks, a member of the Eastern Band of the Tsalagi (Cherokee) Nation. By birth a member of the Bird Clan, she is an American Indian activist and educator—as well as a traditional dancer, singer, drummer, and storyteller.
     Dr. Flyswithhawks, one of the first women of the Cherokee Nation to receive a Ph.D., might best be described as an activist teacher/learner. As a psychologist, Dr. Flyswithhawks works as an advocate for the American Indian community to help ensure that their cultural values are respected. She works within and across cultural circles in support of both mutual understanding and cultural home-coming.
     Dr. Flyswithhawks has taught in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Santa Rosa Junior College in California since 1989, and from that position her impact on education has radiated throughout the United States. In 1995, she initiated and implemented the SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project on Inclusive Curriculum at Santa Rosa Junior College, and is now Co-Director of the national SEED Project based at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Through that role she has affected the lives of thousands of children here and abroad by “training the trainers”—preparing other educators to create professional development seminars on issues of diversity and equity for their colleagues. SEED promotes discussion focused on ways to make school climates and curricula more gender-fair and more inclusive of all cultural perspectives. Participants are invited to examine not only contemporary educational scholarship, but also “the textbooks of our lives” in order to create a coherent sense of the human experience for all the human beings in a classroom.
     In a 1996 article in the Holistic Educational Review entitled “The Process of Knowing and Learning: An Academic and Cultural Awakening,”Flyswithhawks contends that “genuine learning cannot avoid the discovery of the ‘truth’ and reality of one’s self and one’s culture,” and notes the joy of watching her students make that discovery:
     "As I encourage [them]” she notes, “I become encouraged. As I lift them up, they lift me up. As I believe in them, they believe in me. As they are transformed, I become transformed.”
     Winner of the 2007 Elizabeth Carlson Award for Significant Contributions that Advance Awareness of Women’s History, lauded by her colleagues for her grace, compassion, courage, and integrity, Dr. Brenda Flyswithhawks is both an exemplary educator and a model learner.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

BLACK HISTORY MONTH -- Februrary.

Black (African-American) History Month



February 2012

To commemorate and celebrate the contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week. The first celebration occurred on Feb. 12, 1926. For many years, the second week of February was set aside for this celebration to coincide with the birthdays of abolitionist/editor Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month. Each year, U.S. presidents proclaim February as National African-American History Month.


Note: The reference to the black population in this publication is to single-race blacks (“black alone”) except in the first section on “Population.” There the reference is to black alone or in combination with other races; in other words, a reference to respondents who said they were one race (black) or more than one race (black plus other races).


Population


42 million


The number of people who identified as black, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, in the 2010 Census. They made up 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population. The black population grew by 15.4 percent from 2000 to 2010.
Source: The Black Population: 2010 www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf


65.7 million
The projected black population of the United States (including those of more than one race) for July 1, 2050. On that date, according to the projection, blacks would constitute 15 percent of the nation’s total population.
Source: Population projections http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb08-123.html


3.3 million
The black population in New York, which led all states in 2010. The other nine states in the top 10 were Florida, Texas, Georgia, California, North Carolina, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio.
Source: The Black Population: 2010%20www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf


38%
Percent of Mississippi’s total population that was black in 2010. Mississippi led the nation in this category followed by Louisiana (33 percent), Georgia (32 percent), Maryland (31 percent), South Carolina (29 percent) and Alabama (27 percent).
Source: The Black Population: 2010 www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf


52%
Percent of the total population in the District of Columbia that was black in 2010.
Source: The Black Population: 2010 www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf


2.2 million
People who identified as black in New York City, which led all places with populations of 100,000 or more. It was followed by Chicago; Philadelphia; Detroit; Houston; Memphis, Tenn.; Baltimore; Los Angeles; Washington; and Dallas.
Source: The Black Population: 2010 www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf


84.3%
Percent of the total population in Detroit, who identified as black, which is the highest percentage nationally among places with populations of 100,000 or more. It was followed by Jackson, Miss. (80.1 percent), Miami Gardens, Fla. (77.9 percent), Birmingham, Ala. (74.0 percent), Baltimore, (65.1 percent), Memphis, Tenn. (64.1 percent), New Orleans (61.2 percent), Flint, Mich. (59.5), Montgomery Ala. (57.4 percent) and Savannah, Ga. (56.7 percent).
Source: The Black Population: 2010




Serving Our Nation

2.4 million
Number of black military veterans in the United States in 2010.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey  http://factfinder2.census.gov/













Education

82%
Aong blacks 25 and older, the percentage with a high school diploma or higher in 2010.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey

18%
Percentage of blacks 25 and older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2010.
Source: 201 0 American Community Survey


1.5 million

Among blacks 25 and older, the number who had an advanced degree in 2010.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey


2.9 million
Number of blacks enrolled in college in 2010, a 1.7 million increase since 1990.
Source: 2010 Current Population Survey









Voting


11.1 million
The number of blacks who voted in the 2010 congressional election, an increase from 11 percent of the total electorate in 2006 to 12 percent in 2010.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of 2010


55%
Turnout rate in the 2008 presidential election for the 18- to 24-year-old citizen black population, an 8 percentage point increase from 2004. Blacks had the highest turnout rate in this age group.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of 2008


65%
Turnout rate among black citizens regardless of age in the 2008 presidential election, up about 5 percentage points from 2004. Looking at voter turnout by race and Hispanic origin, non-Hispanic whites and blacks had the highest turnout levels.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of 2008




Families and Children


62.5%
Among households with a black householder, the percentage that contained a family. There were 9.4 million black family households.
Source: 2011 Current Population Survey, Families and Living Arrangements, Table F1 and Table HH-2


44.4%
Among families with black householders, the percentage that were married couples.
Source: 2011 Families and Living Arrangements, Table F1


1.3 million
Number of black grandparents who lived with their own grandchildren younger than 18. Of this number, 47.6 percent were also responsible for their care.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey





Homeownership


44.2%
Nationally, the percentage of households with a householder who was black who lived in owner-occupied homes.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey







Jobs


28.4%
The percentage of blacks 16 and older who worked in management, business, science and arts occupations.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey


Businesses


$135.7 billion
Receipts for black-owned businesses in 2007, up 53.1 percent from 2002. The number of black-owned businesses totaled 1.9 million in 2007, up 60.5 percent.
Source: 2007 Survey of Business Owners


37.7%
Percentage of black-owned businesses in 2007 in health care and social assistance, repair and maintenance and personal and laundry services.
Source: 2007 Survey of Business Owners

10.6%
Percentage of businesses in New York in 2007 that were black-owned, which led all states or state-equivalents. Georgia and Florida followed, at 9.6 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.
Source: 2007 Survey of Business Owners http://factfinder2.census.gov/



Tuesday, February 22, 2011

March is Irish-American Hertiage Month, with St. Paddy's Day, March 17.

Irish-American Heritage Month (March)
St. Patrick's Day (March 17): 2012


Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish. The world's first St. Patrick's Day parade occurred on March 17, 1762, in New York City, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military. This parade became an annual event, with President Truman attending in 1948. Congress proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995, and the President issues a proclamation commemorating the occasion each year.


Population Distribution



34.7 million
Number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2010. This number was more than seven times the population of Ireland itself (4.58 million). Irish was the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German.
Sources: 2010 American Community Survey http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541
Ireland Central Statistics Office
http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/current/Population%20and%20Migration%20Estimates%20April%202011.pdfPopulation%20and%20Migration%20Estimates%20April%202011.pdf



144,588
Number of Irish-born naturalized U.S. residents in 2010.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541

39.2 years old
Median age of those who claim Irish ancestry is higher than U.S. residents as a whole (37.2 years). Source: 2010 American Community Survey http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541


13%
Percent of New York state residents who were of Irish ancestry in 2010. This compares with a rate of 11.2 percent for the nation as a whole.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/DP02/0400000US36
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/DP02


Irish-Americans Today


33%
Percentage of people of Irish ancestry, 25 or older, who had a bachelor's degree or higher. In addition, 92.5 percent of Irish-Americans in this age group had at least a high school diploma. For the nation as a whole, the corresponding rates were 28.2 percent and 85.6 percent, respectively.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541


$56,363
Median income for households headed by an Irish-American, higher than the $50,046 for all households. In addition, 6.9 percent of households of Irish ancestry were in poverty, lower than the rate of 11.3 percent for all Americans.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541


41%
Percentage of employed civilian Irish-Americans 16 or older who worked in management, professional and related occupations. Additionally, 26.3 percent worked in sales and office occupations; 15.7 percent in service occupations; 9.2 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations; and 7.8 percent in construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541


70%
Percentage of householders of Irish ancestry who owned the home in which they live, with the remainder renting. For the nation as a whole, the homeownership rate was 65.4 percent.
Source: 2010 American Community Survey
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/S0201//popgroup~541


Places to Spend the Day



7
Number of places in the United States named Shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland. Mount Gay-Shamrock, W.Va., and Shamrock, Texas, were the most populous, with 1,779 and 1,910 residents, respectively. Shamrock Lakes, Ind., had 231 residents and Shamrock, Okla., 101, and three Shamrock Townships in Minnesota, Nebraska and Missouri had populations of 1,272, 413 and 40, respectively.
Source: 2010 Demographic Profile


http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0600000US2700159368%7C0600000US2902766962%7C0600000US3108944525%7C1600000US1868976%7C1600000US4066600%7C1600000US4867160%7C1600000US5456342

16
Number of places in the United States that share the name of Ireland's capital, Dublin. The most populous of these places is Dublin, Calif., with a population of 46,036.
Source: 2010 Demographic Profile
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/1600000US0620018


If you're still not into the spirit of St. Paddy's Day, then you might consider paying a visit to Emerald Isle, N.C., with 3,655 residents.
Source: 2010 Demographic Profile
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/1600000US3721160


Other appropriate places in which to spend the day: the township of Irishtown, Ill., several places or townships named Clover (in South Carolina, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and the township of Cloverleaf, Minn.





The Celebration


26.4 billion and 2.3 billion
U.S. beef and cabbage production, respectively, in pounds, in 2010. Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish.
Sources: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service http://www.ers.usda.gov/news/BSECoverage.htm
and http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1397


$24 million
Value of potted florist chrysanthemum sales at wholesale in 2010 for operations with $100,000 or more sales. Lime green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick's Day celebrations.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/FlorCrop/FlorCrop-04-21-2011_revision.pdf

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Edinboro University Book Discussion Group choose Solar by Ian McEwan for Feb. 21st

The Edinboro Book Discussion Group met on January 17 to discuss the book, Ransom, by David Malouf.

The group will next meet on February 21, 2012, and will discuss the book , Solar, by Ian McEwan. The meeting will be held in Baron-Forness Library in room 715 and will begin at 6:45 pm. All are invited to attend.
Michael Beard is a Nobel prize–winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions, and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. While he coasts along in his professional life, Michael’s personal life is another matter entirely. His fifth marriage is crumbling under the weight of his infidelities. But this time the tables are turned: His wife is having an affair, and Michael realizes he is still in love with her. When Michael’s personal and professional lives begin to intersect in unexpected ways, an opportunity presents itself in the guise of an invitation to travel to New Mexico. Here is a chance for him to extricate himself from his marital problems, reinvigorate his career, and very possibly save the world from environmental disaster. Can a man who has made a mess of his life clean up the messes of humanity? A complex novel that brilliantly traces the arc of one man’s ambitions and self-deceptions, Solar is a startling, witty, and stylish new work from one of the world’s great writers.
The group has decided to read the book, Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee for our March 20 meeting.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Edinboro Student Newspapers and Yearbooks from the early 1900s.





The Normal Dial, an old student newspaper with issues from 1897 to 1899; the Edinboro Normal Review, a student newspaper with issuse from 1902 t0 1911; and VITA, student yearbooks from 1910, 1911, and 1912, have been added to the EUP Archive Digital Reading Room. More will be added as time permits. The Archive is on the 7th floor of the library.

"it's good to see that current generations do not have a lock on odd behavior. This poll from the 1898 version indicates that feeding robins or fondling kittens, seeing crazy people or boys wearing dresses were 2nd and third in rank in order of recollections. Now it's all on youtube!" comment from an Edinboro faculty member.

How about this, from the December 1898 issue of the Dial: "Several intelligent visitors who recently visited the library remarked that it was the finest Normal school library that they had seen anywhere in the state. We are all proud of our library, but we hope to see it still further improved during the year. We certainly do not need to take second place when our large, handsome and well equipped reading room is taken into account."

Click below to access the Digital Library, The Normal Dial, Edinboro Normal Review, or Vita.

EUP Archive Digital Library

Monday, February 14, 2011

Advice for the Eco-minded from Audubon

An article from the Jan-Feb 2011 Audubon, "Green Guru" by Susan Cosler, compares books and e-readers for their eco-friendliness. The conclusion: " e-reader owners would have to read 40 to 50 e-books to break even on most of the environmental costs. (The average e-reader owner buys 31 books a year.) For now your greenest bet is a loner from the library."