Book Review: Harriet Tubman: Hero of the Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman: Hero of the Underground Railroad, by Lori Mortensen, illustrated by Frances Moore, Picture Window Books, Minneapolis, MN, 2007.

 

I enjoyed this brief history of Harriet Tubman in picture book format.  The artwork added something to the story as many of the illustrations had a fabric pattern.  Harriet Tubman did not have a good time as a slave.  She was taken from her mother.  She had to tend a baby, and was beaten if the baby cried.  She was disciplined for stealing sugar.  She did not prevent another man escaping, and her master through an iron at her, hitting her in the head.  This caused her to have headaches the rest of her life.

 

Tubman hated being a slave, and as a young woman, when she heard of intentions to sell her, she escaped.  Using referrals for the underground railroad she was able to make it to Philadelphia, free territory.  However. Tubman’s efforts did not stop there.  She made at least 19 trips back to slave territory, and brought about 300 people back with her in total.  She acted as a conductor for the underground railroad.  She helped her parents and other family members escape. 

With the commencement of the war, she still made trips to slave country, to serve as a nurse, and to help the Union effort as a spy.  She was able to conduct and direct an expedition to clear torpedo mines.  She knew where they were because of her spying efforts. 

Harriet Tubman was an interesting woman, who lived a long life.  When she passed away at age 93 she was buried with military honors, based on her service to many through the underground railroad and the Civil War. 

Book Review: The Story of Halloween

The Story of Halloween by: Carol Greene, illustrated by: Linda Bronson, Harper Collins Publishers, 2004.

This book is a good historical review of where our Halloween traditions get their origin.  Halloween was the combination of several different holidays, from several different cultures.  The Celt tradition of October 31 being the last day of the year, when ghosts of those who had died in the past year, as well as elves and fairies and scary creatures roamed.  They would make big bonfires to scare the creatures away.  From this tradition we have a feeling of spooks in the night this day.  The Romans added their traditional day of honoring the goddess of fruits.  This is likely where we get the apple dunking tradition.  From Christians we get honoring all Saints day, and the day before being Halloween, or all Hallows Eve.  But Britain still held some of their believes in Spirits wondering the night.  SO they would still build bonfires and tell scary stories.  England also had a tradition of going door to door begging for soul-cakes, or a penny.  Some of those going around started the tradition of playing tricks, boarding up doors, or chimneys.  “The spirits did it.”  From Latin countries we get the honoring of the Day of the Dead.

From Ireland we got the first jack o’ lanterns, originally made of turnips or rutabagas and potatoes.  These were carved out with ugly faces.  When many of the Irish immigrated to the United States, they brought this tradition with them.  However, pumpkins were more readily available, and easier to carve, so became the fruit of choice. 

By the end of the 1800s, celebration of Halloween was firmly entrenched into our society.  Our Holiday includes parts of many different celebrations, and has evolved over time.  It took a turn for the worse, when excessive tricking threatened to take away the safe play of young people on this day.  Building fires, slashing tires, and excessive vandalism, along with older boys bullying younger, threatening to take candy, threatened the safety of all.  Now there are more community and organized events, and parents supervising children, especially younger children.  It is a good day to meet your neighbors.

The Jungle of Death: Stephen Brookes

This story is taken from the book Incredible Journeys But together by Readers Digest.  Stephen was eleven years old when he lived with his family in Burma, which was a part of India at the time.  The Japanese invaded Burma, and swept through the country so quickly everyone was taken by suprise, and many were left refugees.  The Japanese planes flying overhead were the first Stephen had ever seen.  His family was slow in leaving, not believing the disaster, and so had to leave quickly.  The headed north, away from the Japanese, into China.  In China they were held up, and finally were released to travel cross the country on foot to India.  They had to travel through 250 miles of jungle known as the Hukawng Valey.  50,000 refugees would try the same trip, only 25,000 would survive the ordeal, thee others would die in the jungle.  This included Stephen's father. 
This trip resulted in the break up of the family.  Stephen remained in India, and eventually traveled to England.  His mother, who was Burmese, returned to Burma after the war with his sister and brother. 

Movie Review: Island of Lemurs: Madagascar

This is a look at lemurs.  On thing I didn't know, lemur only live on Madagascar.  The evolved in Africa, traveled to Madagascar, and all those left behind somehow passed away.  Morgan Freeman narrates this tail of an interesting animal.  They are so cute the way they hop.  This movie is presented by Warner Brothers and IMAX.  This movie follows the work of Patricia Wright.  The Lemur is endangered due to excessive land clearing.  Fire is the most common tool to clear land, and these fires often burn out of control.  There is a process of reeducating farmers about the dangers of their indiscriminate burns. 
This is a good educational movie, and talks of practical things being done to help the lemur.   It is available only in IMAX theaters.

Documentary Review: Civil War Journal: Stonewall Jackson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcxSZMhT7Ek
This is an intriguing documentary about Stonewall Jackson.  This video portrays him as an eccentric, rigid man, with a genius streak which would serve him well in battle.  He was perseverant.  He had had only a minimal education when he went to West Point.  His initial year he was at the bottom of the class.  However, by the time he graduated, he was in the upper third.  He distinguished himself in the Mexican War, rising to the top of his class. 
He then took a position at VMI.  As a lecturer he was a failure, having to memorize his lectures and give them verbatim.  However he was a very good professor or artillery.  Many of his students were convinced he was a hard teacher, but if there were war they would want to follow him.  Some of Jackson's oddities including eating food he didn't like, which he felt would benefit him, feeling his body was off balance, so sometimes holding his hand over his head trying to regain his balance.  He was also a religious, and very strict in his observance. 
Jackson earned the name Stonewall at the Battle of Bull Run.  However it was the campaign of the Shenandoah Valley were he earned his fame.  His men would march excessive miles, and then be ready to battle.  He defeated three armies, who had almost four times his number of total men.  He used his knowledge of the land, the screen of the mountains and the movement of his own troops.  Jackson also always gave credit to God. 
This short film goes from the Valley to Chancellorsville.  This is likely one of Lee and Jackson's greatest victories.  However friendly fire, and pneumonia took Jackson's life.  "Let us cross over the river, and rest in the shade of the trees."  Jackson lead the way. 
Jackson's death leads to the what if question, which still is dominant today.  It was a blow to the Confederate morale.

Movie Review: Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog)

Encounters at the End of the World: Go Someplace Cool; A Werner Herzog Film, Discovery Films, 2008.
There are two disks with this this movie.  I put in the second first by accident.  It was a boring interview.  I realized my mistake and put in the second, which presented a story of Antarctica.  I was hoping to see strange sea animals, like a Jacque Cousteau movie.  And I wasn't disappointed, there was some of that.  The divers had to drill, and then blast a hole in the iceberg they were on, and under the iceberg was a new world.  No there wasn't a lot of wildlife, but what there was was beautiful.  There were clams, and creatures that looked like the developed to open clam shells, and a strange light under the ice.  It was pretty cool. 
Thee were even one cell creatures, which seemed to have intelligence, and attracted elements to itself, which would then become a part of the whole.  People were studying the DNA looking for the foundations of life.
The looked at penguins, and the penguin scientist would not confirm that there were homosexual penguins, he did confirm that sometimes penguins go off kilter.  Sometime they go the wrong direction, and no matter what you do, you can't turn them around.  They wonder into the mountains and die. 
This was also a study of the people that go to Antarctica.  What would drive a person to go to the end of the world.  Of course some go for the science, but others are just drawn to travel, or to adventure, and leave their careers to take up something else so as to travel that far south.
There was a neat look at a volcano, with a molten lake.  I guess it is one of three in the world, but the other two, due to political reasons, aren't really open to research, while this one is.  Research there can be scary at times, because it spits molten lave from time to time.

Book Review: The Tongva of California

The Tongva of California: The Library of Native Americans by Jack S. Williams, PowerKids Press, New York, 2003.
The Tongva, also known as the Gabrielinos, inhabited the area where Los Angeles is now.  They also inhabited the Catalina Islands, and their native lands also extended inward as well.  They were a coastal people, and crafted canoes from logs, as well as larger blank boats.  They spoke a dialect similar to Shoshone. 
This book gives an adequate history of the people, since the appearance of Europeans in about 1542.  However it wasn't until about 1769 that the Spanish decided to colonize the area.  The decided to do this using the Mission method.  They hoped to recruit the native population of California to defend the area for Spain and against other influences.  Father Junipero Serra was instrumetal in this.  The Spanish Monks saw this method as a way to Christianize the Natives, but also as a service to the poor.  The book points out they may not have wanted help. 
This effort however divided the people into two groups, the neophytes, or new converts to Christianity, who generally lived and supported the missions; and the gentiles.  Threats to the mission system came from the non religious Spanish settlements claiming some converts, and raids from the Native Americans from the Mojave area.
When the Mexican government took control form the Spanish, they secularized the missions, telling the natives they would now control their own resources.  However, rich Europeans moved in and took control of the mission properties.  Some of the Native peoples were able to find work in the European communities, but for the Tongva the effect was devastating as they lost their identity, culture and language. 
Today the Tongva are coming back together ass a community.  They are not a federally recognized tribe and do not have a reservation.  It is hard to know how many Tongva there are.