Archive for March, 2021
Rachael Ray Show & Interview of Tough as Nails Host (Mar. 10, 2021)
When I first saw commercials about the program titled, Tough as Nails, it did not appear to be appealing to me. Since watching Rachael Ray’s interview of the host of Tough as Nails, Phil Keoghan, I am now wondering whether I should watch one of the episodes of Tough as Nails?
The host, New Zealand personality, Phil Keoghan, spoke very eloquently about an issue which this retired professor has believed is a correct assessment of what is necessary to be done to solve our problems. He addressed the declining number of people who work with their hands and have an interest in the trades, but are precluded by a society which is pushing our young people to go, en masse, into academics. This movement is done at great cost to individuals (student loans) and to society. The movement to do this has been done over several decades and is reaching a pinnacle of failure for America.
As a professor, I have witnessed our college president, Dr. Dennis P. Gallon (1998-2015), develop a vocational program for training young people in the trades. My experience in growing up in Upstate New York saw something a bit different, but there are always two ways to make things better. Dr. Dennis P. Gallon needs to be given kudos, along with the wonderful faculty, both vocational and academic, which helped make it happen.
When growing up in New York eduational programs, I recall that we had dual paths and the regents exams and diplomas were designated for the college bound path. Those of us choosing college began to learn to research and write for college term papers, beginning in the sixth grade. It continued through high school, up to graduation.
Those wishing to pursue a career in the trades were not required to go through the college-bound process for regents exams and were directed to vocational skills training while in high school.
If the contemporary idea about regents exams in NY required EVERYONE in the schools to be assessed, then why is the answer to simply eliminate such exams all together? Why not pursue the dual path which once existed and has been applauded as a good example by some of my former teachers? Instead, work on issues for regents exams which parallel those about cultural differences, similar to issues with the SAT and ACT. Design the exams only for those who choose to head to college and consider the ramifications of cultural differences. Sounds difficult, for sure, but we are talking about the lives of human beings. Perhaps someone like Dr. Diane Ravitch, has endorsed similar ideas? (See Dr. Ravitch’s extensive bibliography of her writing).
On Rachael Ray’s show (Mar. 10), Phil Keoghan spoke about how, with this emphasis on college academics and dismissal of the need for the trades, we have ended up putting people in academics in a superior position to those in the trades. How true that is! I could not agree more. Keoghan’s hope is to teach and bring a change in attitude away from this thinking. Everyone plays a role in making this nation fantastic. Each one of us plays a role and nobody is superior over others. I made an attempt to try to help students understand that, but when one is alone in doing this while society is crying out for more academics and shutting down the trades, we as a nation can fail. It is time for a change.
At this college where the vocational program was built, the faculty worked to stay in touch with the needs of employers in the trades so as to meet demand for employees. I have heard about the same attempts in upstate New York, particularly in the Rochester area. But we need to do more than just this.
Thank you, Rachael Ray, for exposing this issue and bringing it to the forefront in this manner. You are wonderful and in ways beyond just cooking!
COVID-19 Stimulus & Survey of Americans
Just released is a survey of Americans regarding approval or disapproval of the stimulus package proposed by the Democrats. The survey claims that 75% of Americans, 46% of them Republicans, approve of this plan. What percentage of the Republicans in Congress approved of it? Hmmmm… 0% perhaps, not 46%? OK. I just speculate (a hypothesis). Certainly, it might be accurate to say that less than 46% of Republicans in Congress approved. Why? Perhaps it is a fear and intimidation of retribution, as with the conviction of Trump, for this? Where does the “fear and intimidation” emanate? From Trumpicans and the Dixie white Republicans.
There are a number of us who have been Republicans longer than most, but have thumbed our noses at the current leadership of the party which goes against the people. We witnessed this in Florida with gerrymandering for the benefit of the REPUBLICAN PARTY only and so as to imitate Jim Crow and curtail black people from serving in the Florida legislature. Same political party in Florida, where Donald Trump has taken up residence, have FRAUDULENTLY stolen elections and made it possible by way of methods of voter suppression. As all Trumpicans do, they want a dictatorship so no one questions what they do and they don’t need to be held accountable, as they whip up the passions of a bunch of American traitors who wave Confederate battle flags and disrupt America with chaos by way of thugs and goons. We witnessed this in Florida as Republicans win by such narrow gaps, as a result of the fraud in the Rick Scott elections and the DeSantis election. Add to this the voter suppression, too. A Republican supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, in 2000, sabotaged the elections of 2000. We, as Republicans observed it happen. The voters fired that Supervisor of Elections when she was up for re-election in 2004. In 2018, Rick the Prick Scott was unhappy with the Democrat at the helm of the Supervisor of Elections, so he simply fired her, never allowing the voters to make the decision. Yet, these Republicans make a claim that they “speak for the people.” BS. Thus, they have led many of us to thumb our noses at the Republicans and tell the Republican leadership to go to hell. Add all these people to the 46% of Republicans who favor the stimulus package and what do you get? You still get 75%, but what is the percentage of Republicans? It might just be much higher than 46%. But of course, according to Trumpicans, we are just a bunch of assholes, right? Silly us.
Cornwell Family Across the North
My Cornwell – Cornell family arrived in the Boston Colony from Saffron Walden, County Essex, England in 1638. We have not yet identified the ship upon which they arrived or why they were part of the “Great Migration” from England during that period of time.
Speculation (i.e., speculation is like a hypothesis to be proven and not conclusive) has it that because the family arrived here during some tumultuous times just prior to the overthrow of King Charles, they may have been seeking to “migrate” to get away from the tumult and chaos which ensued. They were also part of the Anglican Catholic Church (St. Mary’s of Saffron Walden) and this indicates they may have felt threatened by the puritans of England as they were being led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell eventually became Lord Protector in the overthrow and execution of King Charles.
Cromwell ruled England while the Cornwell-Cornell family was in Boston, living on a street which is now considered the center of the city of Boston in today’s world. They owned a tavern. Once Cromwell died in England, his son tried his hand at being Lord Protector and then relinquished it in order to return control back to the monarchy.
The progenitor of this family, Thomas Cornell, was doing well, from the accounts which have been recorded in a genealogy written by Rev. John Cornell in 1901. However, Tomas ran into difficulty as he wished to sell his beer / ale on Sundays. Facing an increase of puritans coming to Boston Colony, following the return in England to the monarchy, he was met with opposition by the puritans and banished from Boston Colony. Thomas then moved his family to Rhode Island with Roger Williams.
Most of the Cornwell-Cornell family remained in Rhode Island. Three of the children moved to what was then New Netherlands / New Amsterdam and were present when the British took control and renamed it New York. Following the death of Thomas, his widow was murdered and his eldest son, Thomas, Jr., was falsely accused of murder as Thomas, Jr.’s wife admitted apparitions into court as evidence and the court never utilized alibis of Thomas, Jr., being in a tavern at the time of the murder. Some speculate that Thomas, Jr.’s wife may have been the murderer and she manipulated things, with the help of the victim’s brother, to set up Thomas, Jr. They hung an innocent man.
The children who had moved to the New York City and Long Island area (Flushing) were in that area at the time of the murder. Richard, Sarah, and Hannah were living in the New York City area. Sarah lived near Westchester County and the Bronx. She was married to Thomas Willett. Richard and Hannah were living in Flushing and both were married, Hannah no longer going by Cornell or Cornwell. Speculation has it that Richard tried to be more like the Dutch who were in control at that time. The Dutch pronunciation of Cornell was “Cornewel,” with the “w” with a “v” sound. There are very good chances that was how those in the generations following Richard had changed their name to Cornwell. Only time and further research will provide conclusions.
While Thomas, Jr.’s descendants remained in Rhode Island and retained the name of Cornell, they eventually moved westward to New York and the Hudson River, then, following the American Revolution, further west to the area south of Syracuse, NY, known as central New York.
My line of Cornwells can be followed from Flushing, up the Hudson River to Dutchess and Greene County (then part of Albany County). Following the American Revolution, several moved westward to settle, as pioneers, in Cortland County.
My line remained in Cortland County during most of the 19th Century, moving to the southwest corner of Cortland County, bordering on Tioga County, in the town of Harford. Across the county line is the towns of Richford, Berkshire, and Newark Valley.
Following the American Civil War, my own branch of the family with my 2nd great-grandparents, George and Eliza Cornwell, headed west to Danby, Ionia County, Michigan. George had been a lumberer and worked to clear the land in Harford. He also worked as a lumberer in Michigan. George and Eliza left behind, in central New York, his widowed mother, his siblings, and a daughter who was married and living in the city of Cortland. My third-great-grandmother, Jane Cornwell, had moved to Cayuga County and lived, until her death at an age close to 100 years of age, with a daughter in Cayuga County. That was the late 1890s.
My great-grandparents met in Michigan and married there. The first child, May Cornwell, was born in Michigan. However, by the 1892 New York state census, Samuel, his wife Minerva, and their budding family, were living in Harford, New York, the land where Samuel had been born in 1859, before his parents departed for Michigan.
Samuel’s other siblings had moved further westward with their father who apparently had become a widower. By 1900, George and his son, George, Jr., and others were in the Sturgis, South Dakota area. George, Jr., had started a retail business there and was listed as founder of the local Presbyterian Church in Sturgis.
Samuel’s other siblings had moved on to North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and the state of Washington.
Meanwhile, George, Sr., had returned to Cortland County where he lived with his daughter in the city of Cortland. That was Alzina (Cornwell) Hammond and her husband, Ira Hammond, and daughter. According to George W. Cornwell, Sr.’s death certificate filed with the state of New York, George died in 1904 in Cortland.
My branch of the Cornwell family can be traced along the very same lines which early settlers of Massachusetts had envisioned happening with Massachusetts extending across America to what is now Seattle and to the Pacific Ocean. Massachusetts had, at one time, tried to lay claim to that swath of territory from Boston to Seattle, but it never happened. Interesting to note that Interstate 90 extends from Boston, through upstate New York, south of the Great Lakes and heading west, and across the Rocky Mountains to the state of Washington. I-90 covers the territory which some had wanted to be Massachusetts. Those developing New Amsterdam, the Dutch, squashed the idea for allowing this to happen, by extending its hold up the Hudson River and starting the settlement of Fort Orange which changed its name to Albany. When the English took over that colony, they had an advantage over those further east. Did the government in England, not being supportive of Puritans as those who settled in Boston, have a strong influence in blocking this? After all, one of the first governors of New York under British rule, had come from an Anglican Church clergy class which likely did not approve of Puritans.
The Empire State of New York was born after the American Revolution. Likewise, the city of New York became a huge commercial center, due to “Clinton’s Ditch” (the Erie Canal), which extended travel westward past the Hudson River. Today, I-90 through upstate New York, parallels the old Erie Canal. Of course, I-90 extends further west to the Pacific.
Mister Doug
Retired Professor
Tioga Herald 
Systemic Racism, Hidden Racism Among Many White People?
RE: “‘Strange Fruit’ – still ripe for debate” (USA TODAY byline, Patrick Ryan).
The article in today’s “Go! Binghamton” section of the Press & Sun-Bulletin (March 11, 2021), was an interesting and inspiring account of jazz singer, Billie Holiday and a new movie about Ms. Holiday on Hulu (The United States vs. Billie Holiday). The wonderful achievements of Billie Holiday are important to point out and that was done quite well by Mr. Ryan of The USA Today network.
When Billie Holiday and this song was presented to a room full of young students of all colors at a Black History Month presentation in the college library where I was a professor, most of the students were weeping when they listened and viewed the “strange fruit” which was represented by black people hung from trees during the Jim Crow era. The author of the article gives a good overview of this. It is very informative to realize that the FBI had gone after Billie Holiday for singing such a song. In other words, a 1930s era FBI of law enforcement which likely would have no disapproval of what has recently happened to people like George Floyd. No surprise, but for a historian, there is a recognition that the events of the 1930s in which there was the FBI which went after Ms. Holiday on the tail of a one-term president of Herbert Hoover and the KKK of those years. The actions of the administration that followed Herbert Hoover, to be able to curtail some of that (but not as completely as it should have been, in my humble opinion) is the reasoning behind hatred of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. After all, the New Deal was about a deal for EVERYONE, not just white folks who rubbed each other’s backs, asked for favors to be restricted within the white community and an expectation of handouts. Without these things, such white folks carrying Confederate flags don’t appreciate what they have received from this wonderful nation over the years.
It is important to teach Americans about the venomous racism of Jim Crow so as to end the systemic racism today which is an extension of a war which was one in 1865 and those traitors carrying Confederate battle flags lost. It was the end of a war, not the end of one battle and invoking more battles over time.
For those who read to the end of the article, they will notice, once again, support of anti-racist ideas is “left-wing progressives.” Never are far-right-wing mentioned with their ties to bigotry and contention with equality of the races. How sad that is. They will also notice the use of the word “reality” to describe what exists, as if to say, “too bad, too bad, there is nothing to be done.” The “reality” is one dictated by wealthy white snotty piggish white folks from groups like Duke’s KKK and the John Birch Society. Folks who refuse to INTEGRATE groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution which rejected black singer Marian Anderson from appearing before an event sponsored by the DAR and for which Eleanor Roosevelt expressed her disdain for the DAR because they refused to acknowledge the fact that ancestors of black AND black/white folks follow a positive “tree” in which they are not hung like fruit. In other words, their “tree” includes their ancestors who DID fight to fight for independence from the Crown.
Same thing with the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) in not allowing black people to become members when they are able to PROVE an ancestry from American Revolution patriots. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that a black man was the first to lose his life when the British first fired on a colonist crowd near Boston. How many of the white people in that crowd which was there to fight the British are members of the SAR or DAR? Then compare whether there are any descendants of the black man or other black people who were fighting for our independence allowed in the SAR or DAR?
Then there are the segregated Masonic orders. And why has the AME not joined with other mixed denominations of religious orders?
Reality is dictated and reality can be changed by helping all of us rid ourselves of the conditions for maintaining a status quo of systemic racism. It is NOT an issue of politics, but an issue with no debate among human beings.
Finally, I have to ask who wrote the headline for this article? Was it the local Press & Sun-Bulletin or USA Today? This headline of “‘Strange Fruit’ still ripe for debate” is inappropriate and meant to sensationalize this article for white supremacist and bigots. Argue as you may about my conclusion. Could the headline been a bit more tempered? Bottom line. This issue is NOT for debate. Learning about what Billie Holiday had to say with this song is not open to debate. I know plenty of conservatives and liberals alike who DO NOT embrace such lousy attitudes about white supremacy. It DOES NOT describe left-wing or right-wing when discussing such matters as “strange fruit.” And if you are one who feels it never impacted you, especially if white, so why care about it, then shame on you for your lack of love and preferred hatred of fellow Americans. Hatred is what it is and there is NO validation for it.
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