VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore, Vol. 33: 1-2

Volume 33
Spring-Summer
2007

Luz Solis performs with two traditional dancers at folk cultural presentation at Mind-Builders

The Seventeenth Separate Company Team (basketball), Flushing New York

Street games in NYC area of Smithsonian Folklife Festival, 2001

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org


10	The Absentminded Professor: A Case Study of an Academic Legend Cycle by Michael Taft
16	Mind-Builders: Training Youth Interns as Beginning Folklorists by Deidre Lynn Hollman
25	Hoops, Hebrews, and the Hudson River League by John Thorn
32	Voices of Others: Personal Narratives in the Folklife Festival by Barbara Cohen-Stratyner
40	Peeling the Pop: Exploring a Tradition in Orkney by Michael A. Lange

2	Announcements
3	Creative Ethnography Don’t Anyone Walk Around Barefoot: Life in a College Town’s Second-Run Theater by Meg Nicholas
8	Upstate From Gypsy Lane to Tupper Road to State Highway 310 by Varick A. Chittenden
9	Downstate Urbanitas by Steve Zeitlin
14	Creative Writing A Recipe from Grandmother’s Diary by Edward DeZurko
14	Letter to the Editor
15	E-Resources More Than Just Text for Free by Kathleen Condon
30	Good Spirits Ghosts That Refuse to Go Away by Libby Tucker
31	Foodways Nick Tahou’s Garbage Plate by Lynn Case Ekfelt
37	Artist Profile Alberta Nell Romano: The Story of My Dolls

38	In Praise of Women Vaughn Ramsey Ward (1939-2001) by Eileen Condon
39	Play Bruegel and Me by John Thorn
46	Reading Culture The Press and Folk Arts by Tom van Buren
47	Books to Note

Cover: Alberta Nell Romano, Maple Downs Retirement Community. Photo: John M. McMahon.

FROM THE EDITOR
From the Spring-Summer 2007 issue of Voices:
The breadth of articles in this issue is extraordinary, ranging from a description of a college-town theater’s culture, to an academic legend cycle, an intern program for inner-city youth, the story of “this crazy American jumping” (basketball), and the use of personal narratives in Smithsonian Institution folklife festivals.

In this issue we are pleased to introduce a new column by Eileen Condon. “In Praise of Women” will focus on the work of women in folklore and folk arts in New York State. Eileen’s first column highlights the work of Vaughn Ramsey Ward (1939-2001), one of a number of women nominated last summer by those responding to a NYfolk-list query asking folklorists to identify women whose unique contributions to the field had inspired others. Subsequent columns will introduce the nominees, incorporating the praises offered by colleagues. This issue’s profile of Vaughn is based on a December 2006 interview with her husband and colleague, George Ward.

“The Story of My Dolls,” which documents the life and needlework of Alberta Nell Romano, represents the first contribution to a new regular feature, “Artist Profile.” We hope that readers will send us profiles, so that Voices can continue to recognize the work of the many talented folk artists and citizens of New York State.

Please continue to keep us in mind for your research, your reports, your stories, and your poems. Our journal is only as good as the writing you submit to us.

Felicia Faye McMahon, Ph.D.
Acquisitions Editor
New York Folklore Society