March 15th, 2015: Big Feathers

Sorry for the picture quality but this is a semi-bootleg photo of a sculpture which won't be dedicated for a few more months.
It consists of nine huge stainless steel Eagle Feathers. [Groucho with cigar] I'd hate for somebody to give me that bird.[/Groucho]



Let's back up and explain the backstory.
It started 1847, only 16 years after signing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, by which President Andrew Jackson agreed to rescue the Choctaw from the snake and mosquito infested swamps of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Probably as a reward for being one of Andy's faithful allies in the War of 1812, he magnanimously gave them the fruitful prairies of Oklahoma. The Choctaw were so happy the cried the whole way to their new paradise.
You may of heard of the journey... The Trail of Tears?

Anyway, those ungrateful, treacherous Choctaw gathered in Scullyville, Oklahoma, and collected $170 (probably stolen from good Christian children on there way to Sunday School), which would be almost $5000 today. They then forwarded it through agents in the USA, to a foreign rabble preparing to swarm our shores by the millions.
You may have heard of them... the dreaded Irish.

OK, calm down bluecuracao, put away the sword, Griff.
Obviously I've been having fun with some bits of history which are very serious, and have left permanent cultural scars, however...
IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A FURY,
BE YOUR OWN JUDGE AND YOUR OWN JURY.
PASS THAT PEACE PIPE AND BURY THAT HATCHET
LIKE THE CHOCTAWS, CHICKASAWS,
CHATTAHOOCHEES, CHIPPEWAS DO.
See, you can fleece us at the casino, but we'll smack your butt in popular culture, so let's all lighten up and make fun of the Australians.


NAG, ironically a Canadian, reminds Americans of the generosity of the Choctaw, who weren't exactly living large themselves, when they heard of the Irish potato famine. However the Irish have not forgotten, as this sculpture under construction in Bailic Park, Midleton, Co Cork, Ireland, proves.

links
Irish central on the sculpture.
Irish central on the Choctaw gift.

That's pretty awesome...what a story!

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce ...They then forwarded it through agents in the USA, to a foreign rabble preparing to swarm our shores by the millions. You may have heard of them... the dreaded Irish.

Can you name another role played by Cleavon Little besides Sherriff?

clue: it's in a car movie

I don't know if maintaining a dialog rapport with Gene Wilder would make it easier or tougher, but he was a fantastic Sherriff Bart. I don't remember seeing him in anything else. Maybe he doesn't usually do stuff lowbrow enough for me... or they all look alike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV Can you name another role played by Cleavon Little besides Sherriff? clue: it's in a car movie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr I thought it was a Richard Pryor movie, and checked after I made my guess. It was "Greased Lightning", the story of Wendell Scott, the first black NASCAR driver to win a top tier NASCAR race.

This was signed near Noxapater, Mississippi. Also there's a large indian mound at Nanih Waiya

Thomas Gallagher points out in Paddy’s Lament that during the first winter of famine, 1846-47, as perhaps 400,000 Irish peasants starved, landlords exported 17 million pounds sterling worth of grain, cattle, pigs, flour, eggs, and poultry—food that could have prevented those deaths. Throughout the famine, as Gallagher notes, there was an abundance of food produced in Ireland, yet the landlords exported it to markets abroad. from here

You can argue about who was more evil the capitalists or the corrupt government that gave them life and death power over peasants lives. It is possible for the narrative to be lost consciously or unconsciously.

It still exists in Irish cultural memory.


The Fields of Athenry
Pete St. John
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.

Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matters Mary when you're free,
Against the Famine and the Crown
I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.

Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

By a lonely harbor wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.