Buy Fresh, Buy Local

This picture is copied from the following web site (Buy Local, Buy Pennsylvania/Lehigh Valley):

http://www.buylocalpa.org/lehighvalley

Today I bought some produce and baked goods from the Farmers' Market at the Allentown Fairgrounds on Chew Street. I enjoy browsing in the market - there is a wide variety of stands and products. I think the farmers' market has existed for well over 100 years. Many stands are run by Mennonites or Amish people - others by Middle Eastern restaurants or Polish food importers - you can drop by and learn some Polish phrases!

The poster above depicts the "Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local" program, which is a coalition of organizations and volunteers that provide information to the public about locally produced farm and food products. Consumers can become familiar with the local geography while supporting the economy in their area. Local foods are special - they are fresh because they don't have to be shipped, and they are unique to the region where they are grown or produced.

A variety of information is available at this web site on places to purchase products. There are lists of farm and farmers' markets, wineries, and restaurants and stores that use locally produced foods.

Local organizing efforts are part of a larger coordinated effort - the link below provides more networking information:

Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)

Eat Hearty!

Classes on Lehigh Valley History to be held in September

Two classes relating to the history of the Lehigh Valley region will be held this fall at the Lehigh County Senior Center in Allentown. Call the Center at 610-437-3700 for further information.

1) Lehigh Valley
This class explores the history of this region and how various events shaped the development of distinct cultures. Meets three Mondays (9/28, 10/5, 10/12) from 10-11 a.m.

2) Hamilton Street Mansions (and perspective on Influx of Ethnic Populations)
The class explores The Allentown and Lehigh Valley area as it existed 100 years ago. Meets two Fridays (9/4, 9/11) from 1-2 p.m.

Both classes are taught by Ted LaRose, who has graduate degrees in U.S. History and Education. He taught high school economics and sociology before retiring. Earlier this summer, Ted took a trip overseas, and I asked him to write me a note about where he'd been:

" I recently returned from a cruise on the Black Sea. I was impressed by the beauty and charm of both the Ukraine, Odessa and Yalta as well as Istanbul. An experience that I recommend for anyone. Sochi in Russia, however, although lovely, seems to be somewhat backward and the people are either apathetic to foreigners or would rather not be receptive to the outside world."

I'd like to hear more stories about what Ted experienced during his travels. For people interested in languages, as I am, this is a fascinating part of the world. Maybe sometime I'll write about that region in my "Language Land - World" blog.

State Flower of Pennsylvania

Mountain Laurel

State Flower of Pennsylvania

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/mountainlaurel.aspx

This image and text are taken from the above Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry web site.

A variety of blooming native flowers herald spring and summer in Penn's Woods. Chief among them is the evergreen Mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia.

Governor Gifford Pinchot decided the choice of the official State flower in the 1930s. The General Assembly had passed two bills each naming a different favorite shrub-(Mountain laurel and the Pink azalea). Governor Pinchot chose the former and signed the bill into law on May 5, 1933.

Mountain laurel in Pennsylvania normally begins to bloom late in May and its pink and white blossoms are in evidence well into June. Thousands of tourists from the Commonwealth and surrounding states are attracted to the mountains each spring to view this colorful display

History of Lehigh Valley languages

Below is a link to some information I jotted down about the history of languages in the Lehigh Valley. It is not complete - just a sketchy overview.

http://www.lehighvalleylanguageland.blogspot.com/

Heritage Languages

I recently became acquainted with the term "Heritage Language." I don't know if there is one official definition of the term. Some online articles refer to it as a language spoken at home (other than English) by residents of the United States.

I wonder if the term can also refer to an individual's family's ancestral language, even if it's not spoken in their home or hasn't been for generations. There are many families in the Lehigh Valley who have a heritage language, but don’t speak it on a daily basis at home, e.g. Pennsylvania German, Ukrainian, Yiddish, etc.

I feel that we suffer loss when we lose the ability to understand or speak our heritage language. Sayings, lullabies, prayers, nursery rhymes, jokes in that language are forgotten. The wisdom contained in these word may have been passed down in our families for hundreds, or even thousands of years.

When you move to a new place, you learn the language in school or at work…but your teachers and co-workers will not sing you lullabies or chant silly childish nursery rhymes to you in the new language. The children who forget their ancestral language will have no lullabies to sing to their babies.

When you immigrate to a new place, your first priority is to learn the new language. It's necessary for education and employment, and in understanding and taking part in your new community. But it seems that from what I've read and heard, learning a new language is not hindered by retaining use of the "old" one - it shouldn't be a case of "either or."

Upon arriving at the new country, parents should try to learn the new language as quickly as possible, even if it's difficult for them. Then they can help their children to learn it, while encouraging them to value their heritage language. Feeling ashamed of their native language will give a child negative feelings and resentment about languages, instead of pleasure.

Children learn English so much more easily than their parents and forget the old language so quickly that it's hard for them to have a conversation together. And with their grandparents, it may be impossible!

Parents can convey a love of languages to their child. Languages can be fascinating - with each one you can view life and express yourself in subtly different ways. It's like painting - you can create shades of meaning with colors.

Children child can feel excitement about learning a new language if they treasure the "old" one and realize that woven in the words of prayers and songs are connections to years of their family's love and wisdom that is passed down to them.

When children understand that language is a tool to express their feelings, they may be happy to add a new "tool," and interested in the differences between the two. It's fun to express yourself in new ways!

A language is something to be treasured during an entire lifetime, and may bring unexpected pleasure in later years. A person who comes across something in their ancestral language - a poem or prayer, a saying or a song - that they hadn’t heard since childhood may rediscover buried emotions.

Many Pennsylvania German people I know in the Lehigh Valley are still fluent in their language 350 years after their families immigrated to America! This contrasts with families who came to the U.S. during the 1900s - most of them seem to have completely forgotten their ancestral language. Pennsylvania German people appreciate the fact that there are things said in "the dialect" that don't translate well into English. Many jokes are funny in "Dutch" but fall flat in English. The entonation of the voice adds an interesting layer of feeling in Pennsylvania German.

It is a sad fact that prejudice against Germans during World War I and II caused parents during those years to discourage their children from learning "the dialect." Many of these children in the Lehigh Valley area, now in their "senior" years, can understand the dialect, but not speak it. This will be the last generation it is spoken in many of these families.

People who have come here not knowing how to read and write the old language find it even harder to pass down the language through the generations. There are many cases where the immigrants speak a dialect which is not the standard written language of that country. In Italy and many other places there are local dialects that are not written.

This was also true for the Pennsylvania Germans, who did not speak the same dialect as the one that books and hymns were written in. There are no Bibles or songbooks in your language pass down. Also, many people who've immigrated, especially up to the early 1900s just never had the opportunity to learn to read and write in their "old" country.

My heritage is primarily German. Unfortunately, I did not learn any German growing up. My parents only spoke English, and my grandparents were not alive. I am sad that I didn't have a chance to hear it spoken, or learn some lullabies or sayings. Maybe that's why I encourage immigrants to value their parents' ancestral language.

I found an online entry about a book on heritage languages. I don't know any more about the book than the quote below, which was copied from this web site.

http://www.languagebooks.com/books/heritage_language_development.html

Heritage Language Development Edited by Stephen D. Krashen, Lucy Tse and Jeff McQuillan

"Most people think that immigrants resist giving up their heritage or family language. Just the opposite is true: Heritage languages are lost rapidly, victims of language shift, a powerful process that favors the language of the new country over the language of the family. The papers in this volume argue that heritage language development, in addition to full development of the language of the country, is an excellent investment, both for the individual and for society. Heritage language development can lead to academic and economic benefits, can be an important part of identity formation, and enables the heritage language speaker to profit from deeper contact with family, community and the country of origin. Other sections discuss parental support for heritage language development, and how heritage languages can be effectively (and easily) fostered."

I assume that this quote is taken from the book or is written by the editors of the book. I would appreciate any comments about people's experiences, feelings, or knowledge of this subject.

Stories from Friends

I'd like to thank my friends and teachers for many interesting stories they've told me over the years about languages or geography. These may be about little things that have happened to them, or something they've read or heard about.

Thoughts about dialects and changes in English are interesing also. I just noticed the other day, when hearing people talk on television, a way of phrasing that seems new to me. People start sentences with the word "so" in a different way than when I was growing up. We only used "so" if the following statement was a direct consequence of the previous one. "He threw the ball to me, so I caught it." But now, it seems like new topics are opened with "so". That's very interesting! Has anyone else observed this?

Languages are always evolving... reflecting the changes in culture and geography, in a fascinating dance!

Geography is always changing also! My friend Alan tells me about chess games he plays in person and on the internet. I've learned a lot of geography from those stories, because his matches are with people from all over the world. I remember when he told me how the matches of an international chess organization (FIDE?) were affected by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Suddenly that huge region was no longer sending just one brilliant player. Each new country was now sending its own!

Please post any stories or observations you have from your daily life!

Houses of Worship and Ethnic Customs and Languages

Many churches, temples, and other organizations use their ancestral languages and customs in their services or meetings. These traditions enrich the lives of many Americans, and help them to appreciate and feel connected to their families' past. Understanding their history may give them a deeper view of how their unique outlooks developed.

Many Roman Catholic churches that were built about one hundred years ago in Pennsylvania were built by immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. The churches lie in the general area of Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon, Schuylkill and Northumberland counties - I'm not sure which others. The parishes reflected these families' cultures and languages. The workers had various occupations - many worked in the coal mines, others at Bethlehem Steel.

Last summer, over 60 of these churches were closed - many combined into single parishes with no particular ethnic identity. Before the churches closed, I was able to visit masses at several in South Bethlehem - Hungarian, Slovenian, Slovak, and Polish. I heard beautiful hymns and prayers in these languages. These final masses were so sad - and I wasn't even a member. Inside these walls, peoples' lives had been shared for so many years - the happy times and the sad times.

Then the doors were locked, and the people were left outside, looking in. They looked through stained glass placed by their ancestors, many reflecting scenes of the towns they'd left behind in Europe. The builders wanted their children to remember where they'd come from.

I would enjoy hearing from parishioners of temples, churches and other organizations that use the language of their ancestors for services. I would imagine that these concepts and words hold special meaning when they are expressed in these ways.