Category: Mohican

Posted on March 1, 2022

SONNY RAMADIN in his later years.

by Renwick Rose

GLOWING TRIBUTES are flowing from all over the world to the great West Indies spin bowler of the epic era of the 1950s, Sonny Ramadin of Trinidad and Tobago who passed away over the weekend.

Sonny Ramadin(left) and Alfred Valentine

He was literally the last of the figurative Caribbean cricket “Mohicans”. All of the other members of the West Indies’ historic series win over England, in England in 1950 are already deceased.

That win, the West Indies’ first ever on English soil paved the way for the rise to the top for Caribbean cricket and it took doubtful umpiring decisions on two tours of Australia (1951/52 and 1960/61) and what became known as a “padathon” by two English batsmen in 1957 to delay the inevitable triumph of Caribbean cricket on a global stage.

Sonny Ramadin was an integral part of both the triumph and the rise to glory. A raw 20-year-old with only two first-class matches to his credit, he and fellow spinner, Alfred Valentine of Jamaica, a left-arm spinner to complement Ramadin’s right arm ‘mystery spin’, turning both ways, he joined his equally inexperienced spinning destroyer to engineer the complete humiliation of England, in its own backyard and give the West Indies a 3-1 series victory.

Most satisfying of all was the unforgettable defeat of the team of the colonial power at the acclaimed “headquarters of cricket”, the Lord’s cricket ground, in the second test, June 1950. It used to be said that England preferred to lose a battleship than a Test…

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The U.S. Board of Geographic Names released alternative names on Tuesday for more than 660 natural landmarks that still use the term “squaw,” considered an ethnic and misogynistic slur. 

Of those, only six are in Massachusetts and one in Berkshire County. 

But the name of Squaw Peak in the Monument Mountain Reservation, listed by Interior, was already changed last year by the Trustees of Reservations.

The Trustees worked with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohicans to rename the summit “Peeskawso Peak,” which they say means “virtuous woman” in the Mohican language, and the trail leading up to it Mohican Monument Trail, rather than Indian Monument Trail.

The name changes were announced in April 2021, along with changes to the narrative of the mountain that had focused on the famous picnic of authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville in 1850. The signage now includes more on the history of the indigenous people who had lived there first. 

This altered framing was repeated throughout the Trustees’ 120 conservation and historic sites as part of an internal review process. 

BGN offers four possible alternatives of naming for each site and the ones for Peeskawso Peak are bit — head scratching. Three are for bodies of water — Agawam Lake, Agawam Brook, and Konkapot Brook — and one for the mountain gap,  Brookside Col. All four of the names already exist as geographic sites in Berkshire County, with the exception of Agawam Lake in New York State.

The reasoning, according to the declaration of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, was to offer “candidate replacement names drawn from a list of nearby associative topographic features, the names…

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As part of their education program, The Seed Savers Exchange recently hosted a webinar series about seed rematriation. The SSE is a non-profit organization that connects farmers. The SSE also collects, stores and regenerates heirloom seeds, distributes seeds via a catalog and website and educates gardeners.

Seed rematriation, as the SSE handout accompanying the series states, “addresses the desire for Indigenous communities to actively reclaim their ancestral seeds and traditions.”

This webinar series covers the efforts of SSE, funded through a grant by the North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Partnership.

The first webinar was hosted by Shelley Buffalo, an enrolled member of the Meskwaki Tribe and 2021 Seasonal Seed Steward for SSE. Currently, Buffalo works for the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust through the Americorp VISTA Program.

Buffalo introduced the two featured partners, Dr. Rebecca Webster and Kellie Zahn.

Dr. Webster is an enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation and an assistant professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Zahn is the agriculture agent at the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians Community, located in Bowler, WI.

Both the Oneida Nation and the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians originally lived in the modern New York area. However, early colonists from Europe pushed the indigenous peoples out of their ancestral lands and with the loss of their ancestral lands, the ancestral seeds were also lost, too.

Dr. Webster began her presentation with an introduction to her Oneida farmstead, Ukwakhwa: Tsinu Niyukwayay’thisl, which translates as “Our foods: Where we plant things.” Starting with a humble crop of white corn in 2015, Ukwakhwa expanded to more indigenous and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Nations) varieties including corn, beans, squash, tobacco and sunflowers.

In 2017, Dr. Webster and her partner, Steve, purchased ten acres within…

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The leader of a northeastern Wisconsin tribe delivered a list of grievances to lawmakers during state tribes’ annual legislative address Tuesday, touching on election bills, climate change, discrimination and a lack of infrastructure.

Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, delivered the State of the Tribes speech to a joint legislative session in the state Assembly chambers.

She said democracy itself is at stake, saying the tribes have seen a force that would “shatter our nation rather than share it” and that effort very nearly succeeded. She didn’t elaborate, leaving it unclear if she was referring to former President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept that Joe Biden defeated him in 2020 or the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation’s capital.

Holsey criticized Republican-authored bills moving through the state Senate that would tweak Wisconsin election laws, saying they would make voting harder and rob people of their voices.

She then pivoted to climate change, praising Democratic Gov. Tony Evers for establishing a task force to address the issue. The tribes are especially worried about plans to reroute an Enbridge oil pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation, she said. A spill could pollute scores of tributaries leading to the Great Lakes, poisoning drinking water for millions of people, Holsey said.

She also called for keeping protections for wolves, calling the animal a brother. A federal judge this month restored protections for wolves across much of the continental United States.

Holsey went on to complain about the use of American Indian names and likenesses…

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MADISON, Wis. — The leader of a northeastern Wisconsin tribe delivered a list of grievances to lawmakers during state tribes’ annual legislative address Tuesday, touching on election bills, climate change, discrimination and a lack of infrastructure.

Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, delivered the State of the Tribes speech to a joint legislative session in the state Assembly chambers.

She said democracy itself is at stake, saying the tribes have seen a force that would “shatter our nation rather than share it” and that effort very nearly succeeded. She didn’t elaborate, leaving it unclear if she was referring to former President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept that Joe Biden defeated him in 2020 or the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation’s capital.

Holsey criticized Republican-authored bills moving through the state Senate that would tweak Wisconsin election laws, saying they would make voting harder and rob people of their voices.

She then pivoted to climate change, praising Democratic Gov. Tony Evers for establishing a task force to address the issue. The tribes are especially worried about plans to reroute an Enbridge oil pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation, she said. A spill could pollute scores of tributaries leading to the Great Lakes, poisoning drinking water for millions of people, Holsey said.

She also called for keeping protections for wolves, calling the animal a brother. A federal judge this month restored protections for wolves across much of the continental United States.

Holsey went on to complain about the use of American Indian names and likenesses in sports, calling their use “dehumanizing and objectifying.”

“Imagine the outcry if there was a team called the Colonizers,” Holsey said.

She also called for expanded internet access throughout the state, saying she’s hopeful that the federal infrastructure bill…

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BETHESDA-CHEVY CHASE, MD — This home was aptly nicknamed the “R. A. Castle,” a nod to its stony exterior and silhouette. It was built in 1883 but updated in 2013, the listing agent said.

It has panoramic views of the Potomac River and a stone terrace with space for outdoor dining. Inside there’s a wood burning fireplace, a butler’s bar in the dining room, a breakfast area and a loft.

This home has been listed on Redfin for two days. See more photos of it below.

• Address: 5417 Mohican Rd, Bethesda, MD
• Price: $2495000
• Square feet: 4074
• Bedrooms: 5
• Bathrooms: 4.5
• Listing Description: With panoramic views of the Potomac River and over 4,000 square feet of living space, this stately 5 bedroom, 4 and 1/2 bath, solid-stone home is known throughout Bethesda as the “R. A. Charles Castle. ” The “castle” features a large open-plan main floor flooded with natural light. There is French door access to a large stone terrace for outdoor dining. Also on the main level is a 1/2 bath, large walk-in pantry, kitchen bar seating and a beautiful wood burning fireplace. On the main floor you will appreciate the multiple seating areas and the large dining room with butler’s bar. Don’t miss the breakfast area on the enclosed former porch which is a perfect spot for morning coffee as the sun rises over the river. On the second floor are three bedrooms and two full baths including a primary bedroom with en suite that features a large walk-in steam shower, separate tub and notable solid marble double sink. The third floor consists of a large bedroom/loft, also with en suite bath. The lower level is currently a capacious family room with additional storage, wine cellar, 5th bedroom and full bath. There is a fully…

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A university-based anti-racism group is calling out Mayor Drew Dilkens for referring to holdout protesters in the dying days of the Ambassador Bridge blockade as “the last of the Mohicans.”

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UWindsor RAACES sent Dilkens a letter following his comments Sunday on CTV’s Question Period.

“When you say racist things and refer to racist concepts, it’s evocative of a really problematic thought process,” said group member Natalie Delia Deckard, also an assistant professor of criminology. “When we have elected officials that engage in that type of conversation, it’s concerning that we have elected officials that are seeing Indigenous issues and issues of racialized communities and people in a problematic and concerning way. We’re hoping this letter draws attention to that for the mayor.”

Dilkens made the comment in response to a question from host Evan Solomon about why it was taking so long to clear out protesters.

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“It is very, very frustrating and I understand police have a difficult job to do,” Dilkens told Solomon. “There have been calls of bomb threats. You have people who are here, sort of the last of the Mohicans, using that term to say these are people who are saying they are willing to die for the cause.”

UWindsor RAACES (Racialized Academics and Advocates Centering Equity and Solidarity) sent Dilkens the letter on Monday.

“Your use of the phrase, at best, creates a false equivalence between alt-right movements and Indigenous claims and at worst, is hate speech that celebrates the genocide of Indigenous peoples,” the organization stated in the two-page letter.

RAACES members said Wednesday they had not received a response. But Dilkens sent the Star a statement including a link to an online dictionary defining “last of the Mohicans” as “the final remaining or surviving person or thing…

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‘West Side Story’the film directed by Steven Spielberggets well 7 nominations ai Oscar ofAcademy Awards 2022, which will be held on March 27, 2022, now in their 94th edition. The nominations are for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Ariana De Bose), best director (Steven Spielberg), best sound, best production design, best photography and best costumes.

Hollywood Records released the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s film in December, from a screenplay by the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winners. Tony Kushner. ‘West Side Story’ tells the classic story of fierce rivalries and young love affairs in 1957 New York. The 20th Century Studios film was released on December 23rd.in Italian cinemas, distributed by The Walt Disney Company Italia.

‘West Side Story’ was adapted to the big screen from the original 1957 Broadway musical. The original choreography is by Jerome Robbinsthe booklet is from Arthur Laurentsthe music of Leonard Bernsteinwith the lyrics of Stephen Sondheimconceived, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins.

“I dedicated this film to my father – Spielberg said – but it was my mother’s love for music, combined with my insatiable appetite to understand everything about making films that led me to collect film soundtracks, when I was young. I loved the soundtrack made by the cast of ‘West Side Story’ from the first moment I listened to it. As a child I was able to sing all the songs by heart, and I sang them for real until my entire family couldn’t take it anymore. This soundtrack is as if it has always…

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Frances Levett (left) presents a fundraising cheque to Father Tom McGovern for St John’s Catholic Church in Melton, with fellow church members Ann Kirby and Sheila Sulley EMN-220213-181203001

Frances Levett hoped to raise a few hundred pounds from sponsors for the work at St John’s by wearing the radical haircut in church and around town but she has been amazed with the response.

She handed over a cheque to the parish priest Father Tom McGovern at the Thorpe End church to help pay for a £45,000 project, which has included the repainting of the sanctuary, using elements and motifs from the original Victorian design, which had been painted over in subsequent redecoration jobs.

Frances, who is chair of the Friends of St John’s, told the Melton Times: “I would like to thank everyone who has sponsored me.

The striking mohican sported by Frances Levett, which has raised £5,700 for St John’s Catholic Church in Melton EMN-220213-181153001

“When we started fundraising I said I would have a mohican done if the total reached £1,000.

“People were very generous and when I had the hairstyle done people seemed to like it.”

St John’s, which was built in 1842, was designed by a renowned architect, AWN Pugin, and it originally had intricate colourful artwork.

Unsympathetic alterations have spoiled the integrity of the building with the designs being painted over.

St John’s Catholic Church in Melton EMN-220213-181214001

That look has now been restored with elements of that early design using clay-based paints.

Go to www.justgiving.com/campaign/fosjmm to pledge money for the refurb of St John’s. Other fundraising events are also planned.

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