Yule and Misrule

With the holidays incoming, we're taking a moment to share some festive illustrations from the papers of J.J. Lankes. Lankes was a 20th century American artist who worked primarily in woodcuts like the ones shown here, and illustrated the writing of authors such as Robert Frost.

Both of the prints selected here refer to older folk customs associated with the end of the year. The first shows a costumed procession, including a man on a hobby horse, playing music and holding up greenery, accompanied by the words "Yule! Yule"!" This might be a representation of a mummer's play or a wassailing group, both raucous theatrical performances conducted in England around Christmastime.

The other print we've pulled out today is "My Lord of Missrule." This little jester would have appointed, likely from the lower clergy, as a sort of officiant for the Feast of Fools, a medieval celebration conducted on the 1st of January.

To check out these illustrations (and others!), ask for MS-1115 Box 7 Folder 6.

Captured!

We have lots of various captivity narratives in our collection. They are usually sensationalized stories set in New England--stories of terror designed to frighten and titillate. There is almost always a racially charged dichotomy set up between the "savage" and the "civilized" reflecting the pervading fears of the white settlers. We just acquired a new one that is both very different and still frighteningly similar. In this second edition of Bartolomej Georgijević's De afflictione tam captivorum quam etiam sub Turcae tributo viuentium Christianorum (Worms: excudebat Gregorius Comiander, 1545), the captive is a Croatian captured and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire. The same tropes appear: a good Christian is captured by a threatening non-Christian other and forced into servitude. 

Interestingly, Georgijević was also a talented linguist and the slender volume contains a basic Latin to Turkish lexicon and a short Croatian-Latin dictionary. The book took off, as so many captivity narratives did, and served as a highly biased account of Turkish culture at a time when Europe was both fascinated and terrified of that which lurked just to the East.

To take a look (it has seven wonderful woodcuts), ask for Rare DR481 .G46 1545.

Frankenstein on Stage

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein wasn't just a hit in the bookstores. Just a few years after its publication it was adapted in 1823 as Presumption! or the Fate of Frankenstein, and then again a few years later, in 1826, as The Man and the Monster! or, the Fate of Frankenstein. The two shows appear to have competed against each other for a period of time in London. We have a set of playbills for Presumption! from the Theatre Royal, English Opera House, on the Strand, starting in 1823 and running through 1827. Then we have the script for the 1826 production of The Man and the Monster! "as it is performed at the London Theatres."

Both the playbill and the script give us all kinds of information about the productions. The August 15, 1823, playbill for Presumption! states it is the 16th performance and they have added new scenes. By 1827 it has a whole new ending "comformably to the termination of the original Story" with a "schooner in a violent storm." Apparently you could keep them coming back if you just kept changing the play. The 1827 playbill has the dream double feature--the evening's entertainment opened with The Vampire!, the stage adaptation of another story conceived late one night on Lake Geneva, followed by Frankenstein.

The script gives us the original cast, instructions on costuming and the basic stage set, but most importantly it shows the actor who played the monster in costume, making this the earliest depiction of the monster.

When you come in to see them, be sure to ask for the 1831 edition Shelley's classic--it is the first time the Monster's image appears in the novel. You can see the script by asking for Rare PR5021 .M62 M3 1826. The Playbills are in MS-1414, Box 1, and the 1831 third edition is Rare PR5397 .F7 1831.

Springtime Dreams

In the winter of 1956, Robert Frost made inquiries about acquiring apple trees for his home in Ripton, Vermont. Ira Glackens, a farmer with an orchard in New Hampshire, was only too happy to provide:

It would be a signal honor for me to supply some scions to Robert Frost, -- I am almost tempted to write to Mr. Frost myself, so many years have I been devoted to his poetry. And he wrote, ‘Goodby and Keep Cold’, my favorite poem about Apple trees. 

I can offer, but not in large quantities in most cases, the following which you name; Red Astrachan; Porter; August Sweet (which is the same as Sweet Bough); and Sops of Wine (Sopsevine). A neighbor has the Old Peach, or Montreal Peach. I cannot supply the original Duchess, but only the later sub-variety, Red Van Buren. I do not have Gravenstein, as I lost both trees I set out.

Frost’s response is enthusiastic: “Your letter fills my hibernation with springtime dreams…” The two go on about his aspirations for apple trees, more thoughts on different varieties, and the best way to get new trees started and producing fruit early.

To read the whole of this correspondence, ask for MS-1178, Box 15 Folder 1. To read the first appearance of "Good-by and Keep Cold" in print, ask for MS-1178, Box 32 Folder 17.

The First Bartender's Guide

Drinking has been around pretty much forever, but it took some time before anyone got around to creating a guide for the budding mixologist. In 1862, the publisher Dick & Fitzgerald stepped in to fill the void with How to Mix Drinks, or, The Bon-Vivant's Companion. It has one of those title pages that tells you everything--practically a table of contents. There is an introduction that carefully distances the author, Jerry Thomas, from advocating for the consumption of ardent spirits, but the details inside, as well as the illustration of the sot with a muse emerging from a bottle tell us otherwise.

There are lots of great recipes, but we were taken by the list of other publications of the firm with titles like: Hard Words Made Easy; The Mother's Medical Advice; The Art of Conversation; The Ladies' Guide to Beauty; and Every Woman her own Lawyer. Dick & Fitzgerald created a self-help wonderland for the young and naive seeking to make their way in the world. But perhaps the most fitting companion volume to How to Mix Drinks is the must-read Blunders in Behavior Corrected, because, you know after you've been drinking, you might need to correct the blunders in your behavior.

The binding is a stunner, and this particular book resides in our Bindings Collections. Just ask for Bindings 178 to see it.

The Devils at Dartmouth

“This play is based upon historical fact.” So begins the text of a program we found recently for a play written by John Whiting and produced by Dartmouth in 1974. “The Devils,” itself an adaptation of a book by Aldous Huxley, tells the story of the Loudun possessions, in which a 17th-century convent of nuns claimed en masse that they were being possessed and harassed by demons. These declarations led to the trial and execution of a local priest, Urban Grandier. Huxley’s book asserted that the accusations against Grandier were motivated by the Mother Superior’s own personal obsession with him.

Huxley’s book (and John Whiting’s play) served as the basis for a controversial 1971 film also called The Devils. Rendering the story as an epic drama filled with sexuality, violence, blasphemy, and a depiction of the Catholic Church as deeply corrupt, The Devils was largely panned, heavily censored, and condemned by the Vatican as “an insult to cinema” and “a crude lynching of the Church of yesterday, of today, of all time, as a political instrument of oppression."

As such, we’re a little surprised to find that the play, though somewhat separate from the film, was put on at Dartmouth three years later. Notably, and perhaps as part of an effort to create something more careful in its depiction of the Church, the program thanks multiple members of the clergy for their assistance with the play. The director’s note consists, in its entirety, of a quote from William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, which had been adapted into its own controversial film the year before. The director, Robert Pridham ’74, stated “I know it sounds like we’re climbing on the ‘Exorcist’ bandwagon, but I’ve actually wanted to do this play since my freshman year, which was before the ‘Exorcist’ was even published.”

It’s difficult to find much more information, with the exception of some photos from the production and a couple of favorable reviews in the Dartmouth student newspaper. When referenced there, the film is described only as “widely hailed.”

To see the program for “The Devils” and a press release, ask for DA-694 Box 4082 Folder “The Devils.” To see photographs, ask for DO-60 Box 6560 Folder 9. If you want to do a deeper dive, you can find our copy of Whiting’s play (Williams/Watson PL4413) and Huxley’s book (Huxley BF1517.F5 H8 1952). If you want to see the film, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

On Ribs and the Bible: The Implications of Christianity and Colonialism for Native Women

“I find very great Profit by having the other Rib join’d to my Body for it hath taken away all my Housework from me. But I had very hard spell geting it up here Rocks and Hills almost broke it into Peices two or three Times”.

Eleazar Wheelock created Moor’s Charity School in 1754. The goal for this school is apparent through Wheelock’s writings - the objective was to “civilize and Christianize” the Native American students as well as make them instruments of Christ, but also of Wheelock. The instruction of this school focused on Native young men and taught them reading, math, and geography, as well as putting them to work on his farm. Around the late 1750s, Wheelock concluded that when the Native men left his school they would resume the path of a ‘savage’, he had to figure out a way to keep them from turning Indian.

Wheelock began to admit young Native women into his school in 1761. Hannah Garrett was a Pequot resident and student at the school from 1763 to 1766. Based on Wheelock’s intention and goal for his female students to marry to “...prevent a Necessity of their [Native male students] [from] turning savage in their Manner of Living…”, Garrett was the only successful student. In this post, I will discuss one of the only remaining accounts about Hannah Garrett and deconstruct the gender and religious stereotypes placed upon her, as well as how she navigated these factors. The lens through which we’re viewing her is that of her husband David Fowler since her accounts are greatly limited.

At the time of their marriage, Garrett was around 17 years old while Fowler was around 30 years old. Fowler had succeeded in finding a wife, however, Garrett was the third woman who attended Moor’s Charity School that he tried to marry. Fowler wrote to Wheelock in search of a wife whom he could take on missions; Fowler had his hopes set on Amy Johnson. He wrote: “I know you love her as much as you do me, all she desires will be given… (if Mr Wheelock, Don’t love my Rib as well as my whole Body”. The reference to her as a Rib is a Biblical allusion to Genesis 2:22-23.

²² And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. ²³ And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

By referring to Johnson as “my Rib” he describes how he believes his wife should act – as a fixed extension of himself. The visual of the rib is a staple that Fowler held onto during his search for a wife and its prominence in his writing is a testament to the Christian influences of Wheelock. 

After Fowler had moved on from Johnson, he set his mind on another female student at Moor’s Charity School, Hannah Pyamphcouh. He wrote to Wheelock “If she won’t let her Bones be joined with mine. I shall pick out my Rib from your House”. He’s determined to follow Wheelock’s plan and marry a Native woman. His use of words like “pick” and “rib” objectifies the woman he wants to marry, creating a bond that ultimately engulfs his partner. In the end, Hannah Pyamphcouh doesn't marry him and Fowler is forced to look for a new rib.

A short time later, in a letter to Wheelock after Fowler has left for his mission with his new wife, Hannah Garrett, Fowler writes:

“I find very great Profit by having the other Rib join’d to my Body for it hath taken away all my Housework from me. But I had very hard spell geting it up here Rocks and Hills almost broke it into Peices two or three Times”.

The language used is objectifying while also lacking compassion and a sense of companionship. From this moment on, Fowler almost exclusively refers to her as his wife or rib. By not calling her by name, he exerts ownership over Garrett: there’s no autonomy in a rib as it serves to protect and support the body of which it’s a part. In the same breath, however, Garrett is forever cementing her name in history and is now attached to her husband's legacy. This begs the question of what it says about women in that period and how they were valued in their communities. Garrett was made to move between the culture of her tribe to adapt to the often demanding and demoralizing pressures of Wheelock’s school.

The juxtaposition between Garrett being successful and the struggle for autonomy brings up the question of how Garrett viewed her experiences. Returning to the biblical verse, God took the rib out of man to make woman, removing her from the inner workings of man. They’re still united but God gave her form, no longer assigning her to the role of supporter and protector. The line “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” adds to this commentary because it’s saying that the woman’s bone and flesh are the same as the man’s. However, given the context of the time and views on women, the phrase “my” in the verse allows for the assertion of beliefs of how a woman should act and how they should serve their male counterparts. In Fowler’s letter to Wheelock, he writes the phrase “joined to my Body” which takes on the meaning of ownership instead of realizing partnership, inadvertently moving away from the message of God to fulfill a socially constructed gender role reinforced by religion. Although no pieces of writing authored by her exist today, she still survives in history and her life is an example of the complex effect of colonialism and the spread of Christianity in the 1700s and 1800s.

To read the letters quoted in this post, visit Rauner Library and ask for Mss 766652.2, Mss 765302.2, and Mss 766313.1; or read the letters about Amy Johnson and Hannah Pyamphcouh on the Occom Circle website. For a compilation of letters like these, see The Letters of Eleazar Wheelock's Indians by James Dow McMcCallum. To read about Moor's Charity School in Wheelock's own words, request A Plain and Faithful Narrative... (1763).

Posted for Sydney Hoose '25, recipient of Historical Accountability Student Research Fellowship for the 2023 Fall term. The Historical Accountability Student Research Program provides funding for Dartmouth students to conduct research with primary sources on a topic related to issues of inclusivity and diversity in the College's past. For more information, visit the program's website.

A Digital Blast from the Past

One night in the 1980s (or perhaps it was the 1970s?) a young computer programmer named Bill Atkinson sat on a park bench near his California home and took a tab of LSD. As he started to trip, he looked up at the stars, those eternal wells of thermonuclear energy blanketing the night sky. Then he looked down and saw the lamp posts lining the street before him. He noticed how the streetlights echoed the stars above, casting little pools of light in a sea of darkness. Two systems speaking the same language, but so separated by time and space that they could not communicate. It made Atkinson think about human knowledge; the ways that physicists know some things about the universe, and biologists some things, and poets and artists and musicians some other things, each contributing their own little pool of light, but not able to connect and see the whole picture. Knowledge, Atkinson realized, lay in the connections between points of information. One might even call them… hyperlinks… in a world wide web. 

This fateful acid trip ultimately led Bill Atkinson to develop HyperCard, an Apple-based software released in 1987 that would go on to be influential in the development of many computer applications that we take for granted today, from PowerPoint to the World Wide Web. HyperCard stacks were highly customizable, with dynamic and interactive components very similar to HTML components in the websites we used today. Since the Web had yet to be invented, HyperCard stacks were accessed not by visiting a web address, but by downloading files from computer servers or via email. HyperCard’s greatest asset was its graphical user interface that was easy and intuitive to use. Everyone from schoolchildren to artists and educators could create a HyperCard stack to share information. 

One group of people who seized the opportunity were the folks of the Environmental Studies Department (known as ESD) here at Dartmouth. They released the first edition of their digital magazine, Sense of Place, on September 27, 1990 by sending HyperCard stacks via BlitzMail, Dartmouth’s homegrown email system. (Hard copies were available for off-campus readers for a fee of $5 a term.) SOP was the successor to the digital newsletter ESD News (ca. 1989-1990) which was distributed in the form of Microsoft Word files sent through BlitzMail. While the Word files included graphics and text, they lacked the dynamism and interactivity of HyperCards. 

As publisher Lynne Rainville ‘93 explained in the first HyperCard issue of SOP, this change in format represented a new direction for the publication: “The Magazine has outgrown its original function as a newsletter for ESD, taking on the more ambitious goal of informing and meeting the needs of the Dartmouth Community.” Editor Anne Gore ‘91 noted in her column that establishing SOP as an independent publication had allowed it to make the switch to HyperCard and nearly double its readership “in a matter of a few weeks” and to “gain support and encouragement from environmental groups all over the Upper Valley.” 

Read the first issue of Sense of Place in the embedded emulation below. To access the other issues in Dartmouth College, Sense of Place and ESD electronic newsletter records (DO-59), please visit our public Preservica website. To read, simply download the files to your computer and then upload them to the open source HC Simulator at https://hcsimulator.com.

27 September 1990

Race to Save the Planet: Conception,

Production, and the Dartmouth Connection

Race to Save the Planet: Topics to be Addressed

Centerpiece: A Sense of Place at Dartmouth

DEN's Second Environmental Symposium

Spirituality and the Environment:

Enlightening Words in Middlebury, VT

Ji Yeon Choi

Deb Koh

Greg York

Jon Kohl

Anne Gore

Ji Yeon Choi

Table of Contents

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the first issue of SENSE OF PLACE. Although the purpose and structure of the magazine remain more or less the same, many changes have taken place — the most obvious being, of course, our name and the new Hypercard format. These changes finally became feasible and appropriate after a summer of deliberations that led to the seperation of ESD NEWS from ESD and the DOC. As an independent magazine, sponsored by the Environmental Studies Program, SENSE OF PLACE has been able to realize objectives (like switching to Hypercard) and has gained an extensive and enthusiastic new audience. Besides increasing our readership from 320 to just over 600 in a matter of a few weeks, SENSE OF PLACE continues to gain support and encouragement from environmental groups all over the Upper Valley.

This issue and the next are designed to introduce you, the reader, to this publication and the many other environmental resources and opportunities at Dartmouth College and the Upper Valley. Today's issue addresses the upcoming RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET television series. Keep your eyes peeled for information about possible public viewings in Collis or the Environmental Studies Library. Also in this issue, Jon Kohl gives his interpretation of the many implications of our name, "Sense of Place," and its relevance to Dartmouth –

a College with a unique commitment to conservation and environmental action and awareness. Future issues will focus on more specific aspects of our environmental community, but we will continue to keep you informed of local and world events.

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who helped make this issue possible. Thanks to the subscribers, and general supporters; to those who helped provide office space, funding, computers, and technological expertise; and thanks especially to the dedicated writers and staff members. Everyone, enjoy! aeg

— Anne E. Gore '91

Message from the Editor

1 of 1

Sense of Place encourages letters from its readership to appear in “Words From the Wilderness.”

This issue marks our one year Anniversary ! Over the last year “Sense of Place,” formerly “ESD News,” has increased its public profile by articles in The Vox, The Dartmouth, Chubbers (DOC alumni publication), and Interface (newsletter of Kiewit), a News Service national press release, an interview on WFRD’s Environmental Insights, and inclusion in Alumni Fund’s 1990 brochure on student activities that has gone out to 21,000 alumni.

The Magazine has outgrown its original function as a newsletter for ESD, taking on the more ambitious goal of informing and meeting the needs of the Dartmouth Community. Our new growth is marked by a new sponsor, the Environmental Studies Program, the use of a Macintosh in Murdough, and a subscription list of over 550 Community members. Although we are no longer officially connected with the D.O.C., as a co-chair of ESD I will be strongly encouraging and supporting interaction between “Sense of Place” and the D.O.C. clubs.

Saving paper, spreading environmental news, and attending meetings in a moveable office are only the beginnings of the benefits to be had working for SENSE OF PLACE. If you’re interested in writing, drawing, or editing, please blitz SOP.

— Lynn Rainville

Words from the

Wilderness

1 of 4

Think Globally, ACT Locally !

If your environmental consciousness hasn’t persuaded you to attend weekly ESD meetings or take an Environmental Studies class, you can still make a difference in your everyday actions. The following list will be a regular feature of SENSE OF PLACE, promoting environmental education.

— Items excerpted from:

50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THE EARTH

Fact:

Americans produce enough styrofoam cups each year to circle the earth 436 times.

Action:

Buy a GO BIG GREEN-KEEP IT CLEAN reuseable plastic mug. Use it instead of paper or polystyrene cups and get a discount from DDA.

Fact:

967 kegs! If each student left a 100-watt bulb burning unnecessarily for only one hour a day, the yearly campus waste would be 14,000 gallons of oil — enough to fill 967 kegs.

Action:

So, turn off all lights in unoccupied rooms, including bathrooms, and use only those lights that you need!

Fact:

The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes.

Action:

Write to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association — 11 West 42nd ST, PO Box 3861, NY, NY 10163-3861, and request that your name be taken off nationwide mailing lists. You can also write to individual catalogs and ask to be removed from their lists, while keeping a subscription with your favorites.

ECO-

FACTS

28–30 September 1990

Saturday and Sunday will be spent at Moosilauke, enjoying nature, and attending forums discussing the "Protection of Environmentally Sensitive Areas." The admission fee is $20, and only a limited number of students will be allowed to attend. Please contact Ying Lam (x4149).

12–14 October 1990

If you care about the 27,000 acres of wilderness that the College owns and administers, please attend this weekend of discussion. In the past, students have had minimal participation in deciding policy concerning the Grant; here is your chance to make a difference!

5-7 October 1990

Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Native American Studies Program at Dartmouth College. Events include student and alumni panel discussions, Pow-Wow and Give-Away, Community Dinner, and a Memorial Service. For a schedule of events please contact the Native American Studies Program at 646-2110, 323 College Hall.

12 October 1990

The Class of 1943 is sponsoring an environmental symposium at 3 pm in 105 Dartmouth Hall. Professor James Hornig, Chair of Environmental Studies, will give the keynote address, then four Dartmouth students will discuss environmentally focused leave terms and experiences they have had.

Upcoming

Events

1

Sunday, 16 September 1990, The New York Times , page A30

California residents are currently considering a bold new environmental initiative aimed at improving air and water quality. Known as the "Big Green," the new plan would call for stricter emissions standards, the phasing out of CFCs and various carcinogenic pesticides and herbicides, the limiting of clear cutting of timber as well as off-shore drilling, and new funding for applied research. Recently, debates over the cost and effectiveness of the plan have escalated as the public prepares to vote on the issue on November 6.

Sunday, 23 September 1990, The New York Times, page A30

The Yosemite Restoration Trust is a new company formed by wealthy environmentalists with the purpose of forcing out much of the commercialization and overpopulation which has threatened the integrity of Yosemite National Park in recent years. Many argue that the area has turned into a theme park rather than remaining the national treasure it was originally meant to be.

Tuesday, 18 September 1990, The New York Times, page A16

Exxon's summer cleanup crews have finished for the year after what some have called a remarkably successful season of removing oil from Prince William Sound. While much oil has been removed, the general condition of the area is debatable, as are the cleanup techniques which Exxon might use when it returns next year.

Tuesday, 18 September 1990, The New York Times, page C1

Recent studies at a laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona suggest that if rising levels of carbon dioxide do not induce global warming, they may in fact inflict significant alterations on the agricultural environment. The research suggests that the predicted doubling of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere by the turn of the century could result in a massive growth explosion of larger and hardier plants which could disturb the balance of the agricultural ecosphere.

Tuesday 22 May, The New York Times, page A14.

The world ivory ban has begun forcing most Asian carving factories to shut down almost completely.

Wednesday, 19 September 1990, The New York Times, page B1

The Senate has approved a bill which would allow states to ban imports of garbage. If such a bill were passed, the two hardest-hit states would be New Jersey and New York, each of which currently exports large proportions of its garbage to neighboring states.

Another New Field

Guess what, a new field

— Compiled by Mark McNellis '93

9/16 to 9/23

Environmental

News Issues

1

Lynn Rainville '93

Anne Gore '91

Stephanie Rupp '93

Mark McNellis '93

Nathalie Pierre '92

Gregory R. Sengle '92

Gregory R. Sengle (still a '92)

Ji Yeon Choi '92, Deb Koh '92, Greg York '92

Publisher

Editor

Executive Editor

World News Editor

Circulation Manager

Hypercard Designer

Computer Graphics

Contributors

Editor of DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE

Assistant Director of B & G, Director of Dartmouth Recycles

Professor of Chemistry, Chair of ENVS Program

Most Recent Former Publisher

Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies

Interim Vice-President, Dartmouth Environmental Network

Jay Heinrichs

William Hochstin

James Hornig

Jon Kohl '92

Donella Meadows

Sam Smith '49

SENSE OF PLACE is published every other Thursday by the Environmental Studies Program and distributed free over the BlitzMail™ electronic mail system of Dartmouth College. Hard copy subscription is available for those off-campus or unable to use BlitzMail™ (for a $5 per term fee). All correspondence should go to sense.of.place@mac.dartmouth.edu or sent to SENSE OF PLACE, HB 6182, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755; or call (603) 646-2838. Unsolicited submissions welcomed.

SENSE OF PLACE aims to educate and enhance the communication of environmental issues and events at the College and abroad. No artwork or article may be reproduced or used without permission of the editor. Opinions herein are not necessarily those of the Environmental Studies Program or Dartmouth College. Back issues and writer’s guidelines available upon request, and on the Public File Server. SENSE OF PLACE staff meets weekly on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm at various Dartmouth College locations, all are welcome.

— Press me to make me go away.—

SENSE OF PLACE STAFF

Ji Yeon and Deb are both Juniors. Ji Yeon is a Visual Studies Major and a free-lance writer. Deb is also a free-lance writer, and a Physics Major.

—Press me to make me go away.—

Article

Conception, Production, and the Dartmouth Connection

– J. Choi, D. Koh

Donella Meadows claims that RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET, title for the 10-part PBS series on environmentalism, which begins showing this month on campus and next month on international television, is a poor choice for a title. She criticized the producers for pulling an improper publicity stunt. According to Meadows, a faculty member of the Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth, the title is inappropriate because it, "makes us sound bigger than the planet. We can't save a planet." It's an example of unfounded human arrogance in her eyes.

Admittedly, the world as a whole lacks the commitment and knowledge even to begin an undertaking of such scale. The people, however, behind the creation of the TV series have taken a big step in the right direction toward spurring the world's environmental consciousness. This program has global significance. Not only will it reach public television viewers throughout the US, the production will also be shown in India, Australia, and the Soviet Union. It is intended for public television viewers' interest and education, and even more importantly, the series is structured so that it can aid teachers in a telecourse. For example, this series will provide "Life-Long learners" in Lebanon with the much of the material needed to acquire a college credit.

Meadows recounted the story of the beginning of the telecourse's creation, when the idea was conceived. The strongest force behind RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET, according to Meadows, has been Linda Harrar. Linda has worked for the WGBH NOVA team and has produced several NOVA shows. Inspired by Lester Brown's STATE OF THE WORLD, which presents world environmental problems and their possible solutions, Harrar contacted Meadows. Harrar's interest lies not only in developing the mini-series, but also in using the series for a telecourse and student guide for community colleges, and specific universities (i.e. the University of New Hampshire's School for Life-Long Learning). With fellow faculty members Jim Hornig and Colin High, Meadows secured funding for the series from the Annenberg Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Ocean Spray Cranberries, making the educational program a reality. Annenberg was the first to commit, contributing $2.2 million toward the project. Linda pursued fundraising for four years, raising the rest of the $7 million necessary for completion. Ocean Spray was the only company to support the project. The rest of the funding came from what Donella Meadows calls the "triple-star environmental foundations."

It took three years, "to make the production happen," says Donella. The growth of Linda's idea continued with the appointment of John Angier as the executive producer. The producers for each show were independent and many had no previous experience with environmental subjects. Meadows, Hornig, High, and Brown became educational and scientific consultants for the show, primarily advising the producers on which issues to present in the series. They had to distill the many environmental factors being addressed, narrowing them down to the main organizing ideas. Next they had to search out interesting visuals to support the facts. Special experts were recruited and the first rough scripts for each of the 10 shows, called "treatments," were presented to the Dartmouth crew and Lester Brown to analyze and critique. Then after dissappearing for three to four months to shoot, the producers had to reduce reels of tape down to a roughly-edited hour-long show. The consultants helped review the rough cuts of the film, and later gave their reactions, keeping in mind that the series should be people and story-oriented. The series is arranged in a structure similar to that of Dartmouth's Environmental Studies 2, taught this term by Hornig.

Of the consultants, Meadows had perhaps the most influence on the script. With her dedication to the program grew her interest in writing a textbook which she agreed to write to accompany the series as a telecourse. Each script passed through Meadows's office where she worked hard to write a chapter coinciding with each show. The text and program are interwoven to the extent that the producers were prevented from altering the script and format in any way that would force her to alter the already-written parts of her book.

Meadows says she hopes that soon many colleges and other teaching institutions will keep a collection of the tapes for teaching purposes and student interest. Meadows's book is currently being published. The first of the nine-part series will air on October 4.

"What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care. Men pay most attention to what is their own: they care less for what is common."

Aristotle

POLITICS, Book II, Chapter 3

Quotes

"The preservation for use and enjoyment of natural resources is everybody's concern, everybody's responsibility... But few responsible persons care to give pat answers to large questions of this kind."

Henry Jarrett

Editor, Resources for the Future

Quotes

Race to Save the Planet: Topics to be Addressed

– Greg York

The 10-part series RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET will focus on both the plethora of environmental problems which plague the world and the increasing number of proposed solutions for these problems. Made by the producers of NOVA and hosted by Meryl Streep, the programs will take viewers around the globe to witness the ravages of humankind on land, water, and air, forcefully demonstrating the urgency of environmental issues while also suggesting pathways to improvement.

The initial five programs will deal with specific environmental problems.

"Environmental Revolution" details the history of human interactions with earth, concentrating on the agricultural and industrial revolutions and describing the new environmental revolution. "Only One Atmosphere" details the greenhouse effect and the alarming reduction of the ozone layer. "Do You Really Want to Live this Way?" explores the connection between affluent societies and their pollution. "In the Name of Progress" investigates the contributions of developing nations to environmental problems, specifically focusing on the role the World Bank plays in tropical deforestation. And "Remnants of Eden" discusses the decline of wilderness and wildlife in the modern world, also addressing the problem of protecting endangered species.

The final five programs will deal with specific solutions to the problems mentioned. "More for Less" details methods of reducing energy use and developing alternate energy sources. "Save the Earth, Feed the World" explores environmentally sound means of agriculture. "Waste Not, Want Not" discusses solid waste and toxic waste disposal. "It Needs Political Decisions" describes strategies for sustained economic development at a national level. And finally,

"Now or Never" introduces individuals who are contributing to the improvement of our world in ways great and small.

The series will be broadcast in one hour weekly installments on Thursday evenings at 9:00 pm on public televsion, Channel 11, beginning October 4 and ending December 6. Each program will be rebroadcast on Sundays at 2:00 pm. The series will also be broadcast in a blockfeed during the week of October 7. Two programs will be aired in succession each evening from Sunday to Thursday; check local television listings for the times.

Greg York is a junior and a STAFF WRITER for the magazine. He is a Biology Major and plans to study in the rainforests of Costa Rica next term.

—Press me to make me go away.—

Article

Centerpiece

A Sense of Place at Dartmouth

– Jon Kohl

Jon Kohl, a junior, founded ESD NEWS in September 1989 and was editor/publisher for the first 25 issues. Jon resigned his position last spring in order to intern with the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE, but continues his enthusiastic commitment to the environment and SENSE OF PLACE.

—Press me to make me go away.—

Centerpiece

...As when I was a freshman, images still dance in my mind of the mighty skeleton of virgin wood and the heat of the fire keeping back the cold air of a New Hampshire morning. On their trips freshmen felt the cool rain bat down on their heads, inching its way through their dry packs; and the rushing of clear water from the mountains indicated some parts of nature have yet to be conquered. John Sloan Dickey ’29, president of Dartmouth College from 1945 to 1970, dissolved his thoughts in these same observations. While president of Dartmouth, Dickey never missed an opportunity to enjoy the out of doors and commune with nature. It was this sense of place, this place loyalty, that always drew him back. It was this "sense of place" that Dickey described again and again to freshmen at the Lodge as Dean of Freshmen Diana Beaudoin now does in his stead.

There is something about Dartmouth from the very outset that continues to draw alumni back: maybe the Lodge Crew singing about aardvarks and frogs, or the history of Dartmouth, or Mount Moosilauke. Whatever it is, Dickey I’m sure, realized its vulnerability. The sense of place that Dickey described was neither irrevocable nor permanent. From the perspective of recreation, the wilds of the North are the out of doors; from the perspective of potential destruction, they are the fragile environment.

At high-altitude, red spruce continues to die off from an uncertain poison, whether from the acid rain, or from the pollution-ridden air that greets us on those crisp mornings. What before were pure mountain springs running from the clouds down the side of Moosilauke, are now Giardia-tainted waters. It does not take an environmental zealot to realize the out of doors — the environment — can be damaged and destroyed, and with it Dartmouth’s sense of place. The spiritual conception of sense of place that echoes in our minds has its well of truth, as do all spiritual matters, deep in the physical world. As quiet trails erode away and tracts of forests disappear to the apetite of development, vital chunks of our sense of place are lost.

Despite the efforts of all our scholarly research, of Dartmouth Recycles, of the Environmental Studies Division of the DOC, the environment of Dartmouth is still assaulted from above, from the sides, and from within. Bad habits in otherwise nice people can always enter a campus, however innocuously at first. The harm of one person’s decision to throw away an aluminum can equals nothing. (The equivalent of six ounces of gasoline would have been saved if the can were recycled. If, however, one person’s friends were convinced it is cool to waste that can and many like it, our environment degrades. A can, perhaps, is a mild example of humankind's explosive propensity to damage the world in which we live, but Dartmouth, as anywhere, remains ever vulnerable to new threats.

Thus we have this magazine SENSE OF PLACE that aims to enhance and emphasize the environmental component of everything Dickey had in mind. True, even in Dickey's later years, he too expressed explicitly that the environment should be given more attention at Dartmouth. SENSE OF PLACE encourages education and activism, such that no student passes through Dartmouth and fails to realize the significance and fragility of the environment in which they walk.

DEN 1990

DEN's Second Environmental Symposium

Anne Gore is a senior who transferred from Bryn Mawr College to pursue environmental studies. She is a Government Major and plans to get a dog after graduation (and maybe a job). She is also the editor of SENSE OF PLACE.

—Press me to make me go away.—

– Anne Gore

Article

This weekend the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge won't feel the pounding of 100s of feet dancing the Salty Dog Rag on its worn wooden floors. The virgin spruce rafters won't hear the familiar words, "I will not eat them, Sam I am." But the Lodge will not stand empty awaiting the onset of another New England winter. Instead it will be the site for conferences, symposia, and alumni groups, including this weekend's major event, the 1990 DEN Environmental Issues Symposium.

The Dartmouth Environmental Network (DEN) is a group made up of alumni/ae, faculty, staff, students, and other Dartmouth Community members who are committed to environmental issues in some form or another. DEN was formed a year ago at the 1989 Environmental Issues Symposium, one of several events held in celebration of the Ravine Lodge's 50th Anniversary. DEN acts as a channel of support for academic programs, and provides a "ready source of talented people that can be consulted" for environmental or conservation information. The group was officially recognized by the College on Earth Day 1990.

Just as last year's symposium brought the group together for the first time, this year should help strengthen old and facilitate new connections. Panel discussions, field trips, and presentations are scheduled, but there will no doubt be plenty of time for participant interaction between, if not during, organized discussions. Featured speakers include an attorney for the US EPA Region V, a reporter from THE BOSTON GLOBE, and several Dartmouth alums. Topics to be addressed will cover a range of issues within the context of the Symposium's title — Protecting Environmentally Sensitive Areas: "A Good Planet is Hard to Find."

See our next issue for a review of the Symposium and related events.

Quote

Drew Jones is an engineering major and a senior. He has done much for environmentalism at Dartmouth such as leading ESD, Trashcapade ’89, and Dartmouth Earth Day along with Beth Donovan ’91; Drew has published in numerous campus publications, served on ESD News’s Advisory Board, and is currently finishing up a thesis on the social, economic, and scientific challenges of ethanol use as an alternative fuel. ESD and ESD News will miss him dearly.

Spirituality and the Environment

– Ji Yeon Choi

Junior Ji Yeon Choi, a talented free-lance writer, is also a Visual Studies Major with a budding interest in environmental issues.

—Press me to make me go away—

Article

Original articles "Dalai Lama Sees Reason for Hope" and "Symposium Audience Hears Plea to Respect Natural Cycle" by Ed Barna, appeared in THE RUTLAND DAILY HERALD.

Two speakers expressed their environmental concerns on Thursday, September 13, at Middlebury College's four-day symposium on religion, ethics, and the environmental crisis. Audrey Shenandoah, an Onandaga Iroquois elder who is grieved by the increasing destruction of nature on her ancestors' land, gave the opening address. Her speech compared the attitudes of indigenous people in undeveloped lands to those of the people in the "industrial and technical world."

"In our world there is no such word as a wilderness. It was a free place and there was no reason to fear it." In addition to wilderness, she claimed the words "nature" and

"religion" are also missing from the Iroquois language. Wilderness and nature are objects of worship and should be respected. She added that all creatures compose the "cycle of creation" which is vulnerable to destruction if even one is malevolently affected.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, shared the basic principles of Shenandoah's religious view. Humans are children of the planet, he stated, and the planet is warning its children of their environmental carelessness by altering the environment.

In addition to religion, the Dalai Lama equated people's changing attitude toward politics to that of the environment: they have finally realized that nonviolent means of achieving political goals are far more effective, and less costly than war. As with politics, people are beginning to see the need to protect the environment for their self-interests. Like war, exploiting the environment offers no long-term benefits. Instead, it threatens to "leave wounds that would be hard to heal."

Hello, and welcome to the first edition of the SENSE OF PLACE Hypercard Stack!

For those of you unfamiliar with Hypercard, we provide this little tutorial. Basically, anything that looks like a button (like the squares with the arrows pointing to them above) is something that you can press on with the mouse to take you to another “page” (or card in Hypercard lingo) of information. After you are done reading that particular topic or article, press one of the buttons that is labeled on this screen to go somewhere else. The “next page” and “previous page” buttons will let you go through the program as if it were a book, and the “Contents” button will take you back to the table of contents. When you’re ready to quit, press the “Q” button above, and the “?” button will take you to this card. The scroll bar to the side will allow you to see more information than will fit on the screen at once.

Why have we changed the medium of our publication from Microsoft Word™ to Hypercard? For one, this format tends to discourage the printing of hard copies, which is part of our primary principle: to reduce waste and protect the environment. We ask that you refrain from attempting to create hard copies. Hard copies of the Text will be available for $5.00 per term. Send mail to either:

sense.of.place@mac.dartmouth.edu. or,

Sense Of Place, C/O Environmental Studies

324 Murdough, Hanover NH 03755

We have worked hard to make this stack as easy to use and intuitive as possible, but we're sure there are many who will have suggestions to make this production better. Should you have any questions, comments, suggestions, and even criticisms please feel free to BlitzMail them to sop@dartmouth.edu. (this is the same for all on-campus readers as blitzing to "sop" [SENSE OF PLACE]). Any input is appreciated. Think of all the trees we'll be saving!

Enjoy!

— Gregory R. Sengle and Matt Williams

Help!!!