2
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https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/dbc319bb23e4f5eddbf689dba6111309.jpg
49940967809ecb63700e84435b511700
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
ACE Events - 2017-2019
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of ACE (Arts and Cultural Enrichment) events at Great Basin College from 2017 through 2019
Video
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Transcription
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Not yet availalbe
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.mp4
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:28:46
Director
Name (or names) of the person who produced the video
Scott A. Gavorsky
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Reintegration of Returned Veterans (Black & White Movie Night Panel Discussion)
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Pre-movie panel discussion on "Reintegration of Returned Veterans" before the Black & White Movie Night showing of <em>The Best Years of Our Lives</em> (dir. William Wyler; 1946). Panelists for the discussion included:</p>
<ul>
<li>Nick Beitia: Veteran and GBC student</li>
<li>Mark Koppe: Veteran and GBC student</li>
<li>Jacob Park: Veteran and Director, GBC Veterans Resource Center<br /> </li>
<li>Moderator: Scott A. Gavorsky, GBC Professor of History</li>
</ul>
<p>The panel was filmed on 6 April 2017 in the GBC Theater.</p>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/p/2096981/sp/209698100/embedIframeJs/uiconf_id/39808892/partner_id/2096981?autoembed=true&entry_id=0_7xb4uz6p&playerId=kaltura_player_1502932218&cache_st=1502932218&width=560&height=395&flashvars[streamerType]=auto"></script>
<p><a title="Reintegration of Returned Veterans panel video in separate page" href="http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/2yxjz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View video in separate page if above player does not work.</a></p>
<p><em>Diary of a Sergeant</em>, the 1945 War Department film featuring Harold Russell discussed in the panel discussion above:</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xp1E5smfSDI" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
6 April 2017; 4/6/2017; 6/4/2017
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC];Jacob Park [GBC Veterans Resource Center]; Nick Beitia [GBC]; Mark Koppe [GBC]
Rights
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All rights reserved. Use of any content only by express permission of Great Basin College © 2017
Format
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streaming video [original .mp4]
Language
A language of the resource
English
Action
B&W Movie Night
Faculty
Story
Students
veteran
VRC
World War II
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/0747d1c3848932215c5bc4237bf74c83.pdf
9a9753d51c7e8166f1587c3293c9e055
PDF Text
Text
Western Shoshone Oral History Collection Since 2005, the Great Basin Indian Archives has been collecting the stories from Shoshone elders from across the communities of northeastern and central Nevada, as well as events throughout the region. Currently, these 63 treasures are available on DVD through the Great Basin College Library and in community centers. The Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College (VHC) is pleased to partner with the GBIA to begin presenting this unique resource in a digital, streaming video format to the Shoshone communities of northeastern and central Nevada and the broader world. There are two ways to access these materials online: www.gbcnv.edu/GBIA - click on “Collections” humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/gbia With the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and community partners like Barrick Gold of North America, the VHC will have all the existing oral histories available online by May 2017, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Moreover, the oral histories with transcripts will be fully searchable in both English and Shoshone. As new oral histories are collected in the future, they will be added to this online collection, creating a permanent and expanding repository for the Shoshone communities of Nevada. �GBIA Western Shoshone Oral History Collection – November 2016 GBIA 001 Te-Moak Pow-Wow October 2005 GBIA 027 Blossom, Dan 3/27/2012 GBIA 002 Little, Eleanor 1/17/2006 GBIA 028 Fisk, Edith and Adele 3/27/2012 GBIA 003 Jackson, Ellison 1/17/2006 GBIA 029A Blossom, Katherine 3/27/2012 GBIA 003B Jackson, Ellison 8/27/2014 GBIA 029B Blossom, Katherine 8/28/2014 GBIA 004 Crum, Earl and Beverly 2/1/2006 GBIA 030A Jones, Virginia Mae GBIA 005 Woodson, Clara, and Hand Drum Talk 2/27/2012 Begay, Gracie 3/16/2006 GBIA 030B Jones, Virginia Mae June 2012 GBIA 006 Penoli, Nevada 4/26/2006 GBIA 031 Hall Jones, Rosie 4/14/2014 GBIA 007A Yowell, Raymond - IEN 5/8/2006 GBIA 032 Pete, Sr., Dennis F. 4/15/2014 GBIA 007B Yowell, Raymond 8/16/2007 GBIA 033 Hanks, Lloyd 4/16/2014 GBIA 008 Woods, Andrea 6/20/2006 GBIA 034 Mason, Naomi 4/23/2014 GBIA 009A Temoke-Roche, Evelyn 8/22/2006 GBIA 035 Rainey, Laura 5/28/2014 GBIA 009B Temoke-Roche, Evelyn 3/27/2012 GBIA 036 Spilsbury, Delaine 5/28/2014 GBIA 009C Temoke-Roche, Evelyn 9/15/2014 GBIA 037 Spilsbury, Delaine, and GBIA 010 Brazzanovich, Beverly, and Rainey, Laura 5/28/2014 Miller, Harold 10/12/2006 GBIA 038 Graham, Boyd 5/29/2014 GBIA 011 Miller, Harold 10/12/2006 GBIA 039 Tom Lee, Anthony 6/5/2014 GBIA 012 History of the Ghost Dance GBIA 040 Begay, Gracie 6/27/2014 [Miller; Hoferer] 11/12/2006 GBIA 041 Ridley, Barbara 7/30/2014 GBIA 013 Brady, Elizabeth 11/29/2006 GBIA 042 Bobb, Johnny 9/20/2014 GBIA 014 McKinney, Dave 11/30/2006 GBIA 043 Dixon, Ronnie 11/5/2014 GBIA 015 Steele, Florence, and GBIA 044 Price, Georgianna 12/19/2014 GBIA 045 Moon Glasson, Judy 4/9/2015 GBIA 046 Hooper Dewey, Darlene 4/10/2015 Moon, Lee GBIA 016 12/6/2006 Shoshone Indian Language Reunion 8/14/2007 GBIA 047 Bill, Madeline S. 12/24/2015 GBIA 017 Cummings, Delores 6/20/2008 GBIA 048 George, Delaine 6/2/2016 GBIA 018 Hall Puella, Marge 6/20/2008 GBIA 049 Allison, Doris 4/22/2016 GBIA 019 Dann, Carrie - IEN 7/17/2008 GBIA 050 Collins, Floyd 6/2/2016 GBIA 020 Hilman, Toby 8/11/2008 GBIA 051 Walker, Helen 3/18/2016 GBIA 021 GBC Native American Club GBIA 052 Shaw, Jr, Lester 6/1/2016 Pow-Wow 1/30/2009 GBIA 053 Sam, Ruby 4/22/2016 GBIA 022 Cinnabar, Vivian 11/24/2009 GBIA 054 Sam, Theresa 3/18/2016 GBIA 023 Sims, Alvin and Lorraine 11/30/2009 GBIA 055 Cavanaugh, Antoinette 6/14/2016 GBIA 024 Premo, Illaine 11/30/2009 GBIA 056 Honaker, Keith 3/9/2016 GBIA 025 Nutting, Lyle, and GBIA 057 Semahte Wahatte man To'ainkanna Thacker, Eloy GBIA 026 6/2/2010 Whitney, Louis May 2010 (Twelve) – SYLAP Play Summer 2014 Highlighted oral histories have significant Shoshone language conversation, and are recommended for usage by community language teachers.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral History Collection flyer
Description
An account of the resource
Flyer prepared for the Shoshone Community Language Teachers Workshop hosted by Great Basin College on 18-19 November 2016. The flyer contains a list of the Western Shoshone Oral Histories collected through November 2016, with oral histories with significant Shoshone language content marked.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/0b6395eac7e390e7609b14d4e4222663.pdf
b0f6ab248074cb4b236790a71a7cad93
PDF Text
Text
GBC Virtual Humanities Center (VHC) Review Report for HUM 111 Course 27 May 2015 This report presents the review by the VHC’s NEH Challenge Grant Committee of the HUM 111 course pilot program, looking at the HUM 111 courses taught in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015. The purpose of the review was to assess whether the HUM 111 courses were meeting the design goals set out by the VHC and the requirements of the NEH Challenge Grant, and to offer recommendations. Background As part of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant awarded to GBC in 2013, GBC committed to a “refurbishment” of the Humanities 101 seminar. The goal as stated in the grant proposal was “expose first-year students to core humanities concepts and approaches” (GBC Proposal, 2013). Part of the refurbishment was to incorporate material from other components of the VHC focusing on Northeastern Nevada to ground students in how the humanities impact their current and future experiences, to be achieved by a small-course model of no more than 30 students. Given GBC’s service area, the primary platform for the course should be online. The intent was to pilot a revised HUM 101 course and potentially institutionalize it as a core requirement for associate degrees if the pilot proved successful. When design work on the refurbishment began in the first year of the grant (academic year 20132014), a problem was noted in that the HUM 101 designation in the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Common Course Numbering System indicated a course focusing solely on the Classical Antiquity through Renaissance periods. The HUM 101 course was designed as part of a paired chronological sequence, with the HUM 102 course covering the period from the Renaissance to the modern day. Given these constraints, the HUM 101 would not meet the grant proposal’s requirement for a “refurbishment” of a single humanities survey-level course. Course Design Goals The VHC moved to create an alternative “Gateway to the Humanities” course, which eventually was submitted to the NSHE Common Course Numbering process under the designation HUM 111. In designing the course, the VHC settled on a format which focused on four “core questions”: 1. 2. 3. 4. What is “human”? How do we relate to each other? How do we express ourselves? What boxes are we in? Page 1 of 3 �VHC – HUM 111 Review – May 2015 These four questions would be explored in the course through a range of media and modalities. One encouraged emphasis would be for instructors to incorporate a range of content, both in terms of material and format. The course would then culminate in some form of a master project which would require students to apply these questions in a student-centric exploration. By focusing on the four broad questions, the course intended to provide flexibility for individual instructors to incorporate course materials and approaches to guide students through the four core questions without mandating specific materials, assessments, or approaches. The purpose was to create a course outline which could readily be used by faculty from various disciplines who might be interested in teaching the course. During the construction of the pilot course offerings, the instructor volunteering to teach the pilot classes decided to format the class around a series of “Quests” built around the four core questions. In addition, the Quests also served to explore the six essential qualities outlined by Daniel L. Pink in his A Whole New Mind (Riverhead Books, 2006). These qualities—Design, Play, Empathy, Story, Meaning, and Symphony—are the basis of the VHC’s biannual theme structure. Such an approach would allow experimentation with gamification theory of course navigation (in place of a traditional module/unit structure) and provide a unique approach to introducing students to the humanities. Note, however, that this model is NOT the only approach the VHC is recommending for the HUM 111 course. Review Findings Overall, the course has met the goals set out by the VHC’s NEH Challenge Grant Committee. The instructor’s assessments of the two classes and feedback provided by students indicate that the primary goal of introducing students to the humanities was met by the course. The Committee was particularly impressed with the reports of students commenting that they had not fully understood what was meant by “the humanities” before taking the class—which was a primary goal of the course. In addition to answering the four core questions, the Committee noted that the course further encouraged a strong mix of the Humanities Core Skills and Habits of Mind which the VHC emphasizes. Six core skills corresponding to the GBC General Education areas of Critical/Creative Thinking, Communication Skills, and Personal/Cultural Awareness were strongly emphasized in the course. A further six core skills, including those dealing with Technological Understanding, were significantly present. Although course enrollments to date preclude an effective statistical analysis, one item of note was considered. There appeared to be a shift in the student majors taking the course between Fall and Spring semesters, with a higher percentage of AS / AAS students taking the course in Spring semester. The Committee would like to see this breakdown tracked Page 2 of 3 �VHC – HUM 111 Review – May 2015 in future iterations of the course, since it may indicate the course is successfully reaching traditionally non-humanities-inclined students who may be the best served by a broad introduction to the humanities. While the Quest format used in the classes was not part of the VHC design goals, the Committee was interested in the gamification approach. The Committee found the use of fantasy gaming structures in the form of the Quests as an alternative to traditional module/unit formats created a unique experience for students which, based on reported levels of participation, may have contributed to the success of the course in the online format. More experimentation with this format may be warranted. Note, however, the Committee is not recommending this model as the sole or even primary approach for the course. One area where the course pilot did not entirely meet the goals in the NEH Challenge Grant proposal was the incorporation of Northern Nevada content. However, this is less a problem with the course design or the particular implementation in these classes than the need of the VHC to collect a sufficient collection of Northern Nevada content which could be used in the course. Future iterations of the course should strive to use such material as it becomes available. RECOMMENDATION: The Committee strongly recommends the course be continued to be offered through the Arts and Letters Department as a humanities survey-level offering. The Committee would like to have the opportunity to review future iterations of the course to assess whether the course continues to meet the goals laid out in the NEH Challenge Grant and by the VHC more broadly. Attachments 1) “Course Demographic Analysis: HUM 111, Fall 2014—Spring 2015” 2) “Report on HUM 111 WebCampus Structure / Materials” 3) “HUM 111—Correlation with Core Skills / Habits of Mind” 4) “Humanities Core Skills / Habits of Mind” Page 3 of 3 �Course Demographic Analysis: HUM 111, Fall 2014 – Spring 2015 Fall 2014 data based on completion data; Spring 2015 data current through 16 April 2015. COURSE COMPLETION: Fall 2014: 23 enrolled; 19 completed; 4 Ws Spring 2015: 12 enrolled; 10 completed; 2 Ws Notes: Grade distribution data not part of this report. Students withdrawn for non-payment (“purged”) are not recorded here. CLASS STANDING (includes W students): TERM FALL 2014 SPRING 2015 FRESHMAN 10 7 SOPHOMORE 6 3 JUNIOR 5 1 SENIOR 2 1 TOTAL 23 12 DEGREE TYPE (includes W students): TERM FALL 2014 SPRING 2015 NDS 3 3 UND 3 - AA 8 4 AS 1 3 AGS 1 1 AAS 3 4 BA 3 1 BAS 1 BSN 1 - TOTAL 23 17 * * Total exceeds enrollment because five (5) students listed dual degrees. BREAKDOWN BY MAJOR (includes W students): Major Fall 2014 non-degree seeking 3 undecided 3 no major listed 8 Bus Admin 1 Criminal Justice Digital Tech Early Child. Ed. 1 Spring 2015 3 6 3 1 1 1 Major Elementary Ed. Gen Std (AGS) Natural Resour. Nursing Radiology Social Sciences Fall 2014 1 1 2 1 2 Spring 2015 1 1 - �Report on HUM 111 WebCampus Structure/Materials Overall, the structure for the Humanities 111 course seems to effectively serve not only the content of the course, but the needs of its students. It is creative, open‐ended, and allows students to tailor their personal experience of the course to their needs while still requiring them to engage in communication and meaning‐building with their fellow classmates. This respect toward individuality (in terms of learning style and interests) coupled with an emphasis on collaboration and community discourse gives the class a unique structure more than suitable to its content. Instead of using the traditional module/unit structure, the course is arranged around multi‐ stage Quests, which are centrally located and simple for students to navigate. Each week of a Quest contains the sum of the course material for a given week’s work, as well as effectively details the week’s assignments. Additionally, each Quest makes extensive use of hyper‐linked materials in a variety of media that address the needs of a variety of learning styles and aptitudes. The assignments required in each Quest are categorized and labeled with terminology taken from fantasy gaming (i.e. “Perception Checks” require students to analyze course materials from the viewpoint of their discipline; “Dungeon” assignments require students to research and find new materials related to course content, much as gamers explore dungeons for rewards). Additionally, these different assignment types reflect Pink’s essential skills, and are explicitly designed for their application and development. In almost all cases, students are expected to share their work with their classmates, creating lively and productive discussions from week to week. The Quests often contain side quests, which allow students to select an activity from a range of possible options, and these side quests provide students an opportunity to shape their own learning experience and, in many cases, ask them to explore their skills not only as students of the humanities but as content producers in their own right. Assignments and side quests allow students to craft videos, text and a variety of other media that encourage them to explore not only how the humanities reflect human experience, but provide them an opportunity to engage in the process of production and reflection necessary for cultural development and expression. Throughout the course, students are asked to engage with, consider, reflect on and articulate how we define and interpret human experience and activity, as well produce their own contributions to the ongoing discussion of the humanities as individuals as well as members of a classroom community. Additionally, the reframing of modules/units as Quests and assignments as fantasy gaming structures creates the sense that students are engaged in a unique and creative learning experience, which establishes a tone of intellectual play that welcomes and elicits their participation. � 10 May 2015 VHC Committee of the Whole To: From: Cyd McMullen, Project Director Re: HUM 111, the Humanities Gateway Course (online) – Correlation with Core Skills/Habits of Mind For this evaluation I focused on seven of the Quests (Weeks) and the assignments given for the Forum (Discussion Board) in each Quest. The Quests center on these questions: What is “human”? How do we relate to one another? How do we express ourselves? What boxes are we in? Students do several directed writing assignments every week, most of them based on the students’ choice of scholarly readings located online. They also read the posts of other students in the course and are encouraged to engage with the ideas expressed by others. The final assignment is a group project in which students choose an issue to study and collaborate in writing the final paper. They are required to evaluate their own work, the contributions of their colleagues, and the work of other groups. Rubrics are provided to guide their evaluations. I found that the following Core Skills/Habits of Mind are strongly emphasized: ‐the capacity to write intelligently, lucidly, and fluently ‐the ability to absorb, analyze, and interpret complex artifacts or texts ‐the ability to analyze and interpret abstract ideas ‐the ability to understand the historical and cultural foundations of ethical behavior, and develop and apply a personal code of ethics based on that understanding ‐the capacity to express an opinion that diverges from that of the majority; the ability to hold and defend a divergent point of view and allow others the same right ‐the capacity to recognize the validity of alternate viewpoints or opinions The following are less strongly emphasized, but are significantly present: ‐the ability to analyze and interpret visual communication ‐the ability to place data into a larger context ‐the capacity for a critical understanding of fine arts expression ‐the application of knowledge to real‐world problems ‐the ability to use technology to benefit humanistic inquiry, not to replace it ‐the ability to capitalize on technology as a tool to enhance the experience of the humanities In my opinion, this course fulfills the intentions of the committee when it envisioned a gateway humanities course centered on the core skills and habits of mind promoted by the humanities. �General Education Objective: Critical [and Creative] Thinking Humanities Core Skills/ Habits of Mind At the heart of GBC’s Virtual Humanities Center (VHC) is this list of core skills and habits of mind that the humanities encourage and promote. Every aspect of the VHC is centered on these skills. They are not only college learning skills, but life skills, and they are aligned with GBC’s General Education Objectives. ÐÐ the ability to use facts: working from evidence to a conclusion (induction) ÐÐ gathering enough facts to warrant the conclusion ÐÐ making valid inferences based on facts ÐÐ using accurate observation to form a hypothesis and then test it (the scientific method) ÐÐ the ability to use principles: working from principle(s) to a conclusion (deduction) ÐÐ avoiding prejudices, pressure from authority or peers ÐÐ avoiding flaws in thinking: personal attack, overgeneralization ÐÐ the ability to absorb, analyze and interpret complex artifacts or texts ÐÐ the ability to assess the reliability and validity of information, especially on the web ÐÐ the ability to synthesize information from diverse sources ÐÐ the ability to place data into a larger context ÐÐ the ability to make decisions based on evidence ÐÐ the ability to analyze and interpret abstract ideas ÐÐ the ability to recognize and compensate for ambiguity ÐÐ the ability to prioritize ÐÐ the ability to innovate ÐÐ the capacity for curiosity General Education Objective: Communication Skills ÐÐ the capacity to write intelligently, lucidly, and fluently ÐÐ the capacity to speak intelligently, lucidly, and fluently ÐÐ the capacity to communicate through a variety of media: visual, performance, design & composition ÐÐ the ability to participate effectively in deliberative conversation ÐÐ the ability to analyze and interpret visual communication General Education Objective: Technological Understanding ÐÐ the ability to utilize new technologies as they are developed ÐÐ the ability to understand the ethical implications of technological advances ÐÐ the ability to use technology to benefit humanistic inquiry, not to replace it ÐÐ the ability to capitalize on technology as a tool to enhance the experience of the humanities ÐÐ the ability to use technological tools to expand and extend our understanding of what it means to be human General Education Objective: Personal/Cultural Awareness ÐÐ the ability to understand the historical and cultural foundations of ethical behavior, and develop and apply a personal code of ethics based on that understanding ÐÐ the maturity to take responsibility for one’s thinking and actions ÐÐ the capacity to express an opinion that diverges from that of the majority [OR the ability to hold and defend a divergent point of view and to allow others the same right] ÐÐ the capacity to recognize the validity of alternate viewpoints or opinions ÐÐ the capacity to recognize multiple perspectives, from local to global ÐÐ the capacity to accept diversity of people and ideas ÐÐ the capacity for a critical understanding of fine arts expressions ÐÐ an awareness of the past and its application to the present ÐÐ the application of knowledge to real-world problems Visit our website at humanities.gbcnv.edu
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College - Records
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Repository of meeting minutes, memorandums-of-understanding (MOUs), and other organizational documents generated by the Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College in relation to managing the NEH Challenge Grant and related projects.</p>
<p>Access to specific materials may be limited by administrators for legal or human resources purposes.</p>
<p>Note: Archive deposit agreements are stored in the collections of the deposited materials, and administrator access is required.</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Scott A. Gavorsky
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
10 May 2016
Rights
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All rights reserved. Use of any content only by express permission of Great Basin College © 2016
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Mostly pdf
Document
Documents such as transcripts, pdf files, legal documents, letters, etc.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Review Report for the HUM 111 "Introduction to the Humanities" Gateway Course
Description
An account of the resource
Pilot Program Review of the HUM 111 "Introduction to the Humanities" Gateway Course offered online at GBC during Fall Semester 2014 and Spring Semester 2015. The development of a Gateway Course in the Humanities was one of the goals of the NEH Challenge Grant Proposal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
27 May 2015
Rights
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All rights reserved. Use of any content only by express permission of Great Basin College © 2015.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf; 7 pages
Language
A language of the resource
English
Gateway
reports
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/38e0f9d71cbad235f4d5e9b3c2e206f7.jpg
a9315a095e715182b415e606330e1a89
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
ACE Events 2013-2016
Subject
The topic of the resource
Recordings of selected ACE events for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 academic years.
Description
An account of the resource
Selected events sponsored by ACE (Arts and Cultural Enrichment) Committee at Great Basin College. Included is the 2015 Cowboy Poetry Speakers Series (Teresa Jordan and Gary Nabhan).
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
GBC / ACE (Arts and Cultural Enrichment); individual artists and speakers.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
GBC
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2013-2014; 2014-2015; 2015-2016
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Scott A. Gavorsky
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Great Basin College / Virtual Humanities Center
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ACE 2013-2015
Video
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Not available
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.mp4 (720 dpi)
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:46:53
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Second World War Veterans Ted Blohm and George Winch, Sr.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Interview with Elko Second World War veterans Ted Blohm and George Winch, Sr., recorded at the GBC Theater as part of Black and White Movie Night on 1 April 2016. Dr. Joshua Webster of GBC conducted the interview.</p>
<p>COL Ted Blohm served in WWII, enlisting in the Army in 1944. He returned to Elko in 1946 as a Staff Sergeant. He spent 25 months in the Army, and 18 months overseas.</p>
<p>LT George Winch Sr. served in WWII and the Korean Conflict. His service encompassed service in the Army, Navy and the Fleet Marines.</p>
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<p><a title="Blohm and Winch Interview streaming video" href="http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/au9f8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">[Click here to view streaming video if embed above does not work]</a></p>
<p>The featured film of the evening was <em>The Stranger</em> (1946), directed by Orson Wells and starring Orson Wells, Edward G. Robinson, and Loretta Young. The film is in the public domain, <a title="The Stranger film" href="https://archive.org/details/TheStranger720p" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and can be viewed here</a>.</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
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1 April 2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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streaming video [Kaltura]; originally .mp4
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English
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Title
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Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths
Subject
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Series of articles by Vince Juaristi on encounters between the Basques and American travelers. Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press.
Description
An account of the resource
Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. Hundreds of thousands attend from across America and around the world to study and learn about diverse cultures in the United States. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, 2016, this year's festival will showcase the Basque. In the lead up to this important event, we are publishing a series of historical and human interest articles that demonstrate how Americans and the Basque have crossed paths for centuries. An introductory article ran in January. Additional articles will run monthly through June 2016. We call the series, "Intertwined".
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Vince J. Juaristi
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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2016
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
Rights
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: /omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
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<h2>A Basque-American Fairytale</h2>
<h4>By Vince J. Juaristi</h4>
<p>(Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press<em></em>, 11 June 2016)</p>
<p align="center"><a title="Early Basque Workers full size" href="/omeka/files/original/dd7adc9c70d661f5b8a26a999495ea8f.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img title="Early Basque Workers" src="/omeka/files/original/dd7adc9c70d661f5b8a26a999495ea8f.jpg" alt=" Early Basque Workers" width="600px" height="400px" /></a><br /><span> Basque sheepherders in the United States circa 1970 who toiled daily in the most austere conditions of the American West. </span></p>
<p>During a bedtime story, a godchild of mine interrupted with a question, "Why are Basque people good?"</p>
<p>How fascinating, I thought. Mother Goose quickly went by the wayside.</p>
<p>"It has to do with a frustrated devil," I told her. "One day, the devil climbed from the fire and smoke of hell to visit the Basque and turn them bad. With his red forked tongue, he whispered evil temptations in their ears. That's how the devil works, you see, twisting hope and light into despair and darkness. But no matter how hard he tried, or how much he wagged his devilish tongue, he could not speak Euskera, the Basque language, so he had no power or influence over the Basque people. He finally gave up and returned to hell, and that, my dear godchild, is why the Basque are good to this day."</p>
<p>The tale satisfied her, and I finished reading the three bears or the three pigs or some other less riveting fairytale for her proper education.</p>
<p>Her question had been a good one, even if it had no objective answer. Years later, I pondered it again, though I asked it differently, "Have the Basque thrived in America?"</p>
<p>The question really had two parts – first, the status of Basque in America, and second, their status compared to others in similar circumstances.</p>
<p>When I turned to the U.S. Census for something quantitative, I didn't know what I might find. If the data showed the Basque lagging others in America, it would be as disappointing for me as it was for Pinocchio learning that he had descended from a piece of plywood and not the warmth of parents. Worse, it would be a far more difficult story to tell a godchild who already believed in Basque goodness.</p>
<p>But what I discovered confirmed a sentiment that was already tucked away in my heart of hearts.</p>
<p>More than 75% of Basque age 25 years or older have some level of college education compared to only 58% of Americans overall. The contrast is starker at higher educational levels where Basque are 50% more likely to hold a graduate or professional degree than other Americans.</p>
<p>This propensity for education makes them 10% more likely to be in the American labor force, and 31% more likely to hold jobs in management, business, science or the arts.</p>
<p>Their median household income is $70,159 compared to the U.S. median of $52,176. Their poverty rate is half the national average, and they are more likely to own their own home. When they do, the home is 48% more valuable than the average American home.</p>
<p>Had I not studied the data myself, I might have been skeptical of such a rosy picture. Indeed, skeptical I should have been. To compare a smaller homogenous group to a larger heterogeneous group risks statistical overreach. Yet to ignore the data would be equally egregious. What the data illuminate are the pointers, like Peter Pan's northern star, showing areas where Basque excel, and confirming what I and others have witnessed anecdotally for generations.</p>
<p>These pointers – more education, higher wages, and better jobs – are good indicators of a thriving ethnic group. The analysis, consequently, begs a natural question – why have the Basque thrived when others have thrived less or not at all? Are the Basque, indeed, untainted by the devil's poisonous whispers, or is there another plausible explanation?</p>
<p>Ideally, I'd like to point to a single quality or decision that explains Basque performance, but there isn't one. Much like Little Red Riding Hood who studied eyes, nose, ears, and teeth to expose the wolf in grandma's nightie, only a combination of cultural factors can explain the success of the Basque in America. There are no doubt many, but four resonate most – Basque cohesion, a strong work ethic, frugality, and an independent spirit.</p>
<p>First, the Basque are a cohesive group. They hail from a narrow part of the world, practice Catholicism, revere their own flag, and speak a language that is both ancient and nearly impossible for non-Basque to understand without years of concentrated study. Equally ancient are their special dances, color patterns, costumes, games of strength, and foods that reinforce a bond with each other, their past, and their origins in the Pyrenees.</p>
<p align="center"><a title="Basque in Pamplona fullsize" href="/omeka/files/original/603ef0c812f247631ff4476f5e38baf6.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img title="Basque in Pamplona – Basque Cohesion" src="/omeka/files/original/603ef0c812f247631ff4476f5e38baf6.jpg" alt="Basque in Pamplona – Basque Cohesion " width="600px" height="400px" /></a><br /><span>Basque in Pamplona hold up the Basque flag and raise their red scarves as a sign of cohesion and solidarity,<br />a strong sentiment that the Basque carried with them across the ocean to America where it only grew in strength.</span><br /> </p>
<p>This cohesion does not guarantee Basque success, but it does create a social and economic ecosystem that helps the Basque spin straw into gold. Their bond generates trust, familiarity, cooperation, business associations, and even competition among members of the group and with others outside the group. The Basque work with and for each other and often look inward for support. If one Basque needs something, another provides it.</p>
<p>The arrangement is common among other ethnic groups that have immigrated to the United States. What makes this tendency so powerful among the Basque is that they started as a cohesive group in Euskadi, their homeland. Amid the isolated peaks of the Pyrenees, they resisted the persistent influences of Spanish and French cultures, laws, and royalty. When they arrived as immigrants in the United States (or elsewhere), their bond only strengthened, which added to their highly productive social and economic relations.</p>
<p>This point recalls the fable of the father who summons his boys to his bedside. He gives them a bundle of sticks and says, "Break these if you can." Each son strains and strains to do so but fails. Then the father unties the bundle and tells the boys to break each stick and they do so easily. "You see my meaning," says the father, "there is strength in union." The Basque know this lesson and stick together.</p>
<p>These shared qualities would advance them little, however, if not for a second characteristic – a driving work ethic.</p>
<p>Measuring work ethic is not easy. Without a record showing the clocked hours of Basque and non-Basque in a day, week, month or year; a productivity curve; or a calculation of watts, it is difficult to quantify or compare the work ethic of groups.</p>
<p>But still valuable evidence abounds. With a relatively small sampling of 57,000 Basque-Americans, anecdotes and personal accounts can offer weighty confirmation of group habits.</p>
<p>During the 1940s and 1950s, the ranchers of the west, for example, petitioned Nevada's U.S. Senator Patrick McCarran to bring Basque shepherds from Spain for their herding expertise and their remarkable endurance to work from sunup to sundown with little rest and without complaint. At least 1,135 Basque sheepherders came to America and populated the West by this method.</p>
<p>My father and uncle were among them. I'd be negligent if I ignored their work ethic or my mom's, or the work ethic of so many Basque men and women of their generation whom I watched and admired daily and counted as friends and neighbors for so much of my life. They herded the sheep, tended the bars, made the beds, cooked the meals, and mopped the floors, often seven days a week. A hundred Basque mothers and fathers come to mind still today who have calloused hands, sore backs, and a yearning to get ahead. Their stories cannot be ignored or denied.</p>
<p>As they worked, the Basque earned money, but they were not spendthrifts. On the contrary, their third quality was frugality. When I was a boy, my mother pointed a finger at me and repeated words her mother had taught her. "Spend half," she said, "and put the other half away." Her words echo in my head each time I collect a paycheck or balance a budget or launch a foundation, and they always will.</p>
<p>Mom's advice appears common among the Basque. Annually, the average interest and dividends earned on savings by each American is $1,371. For the Basque, the average is $3,100, over 126% more.</p>
<p>"Oh, ant, why do you work so much?" asked Aesop's grasshopper. "Come lounge with me."</p>
<p>"That is not in my nature," replied the ant. "Better to work and save for the winter."</p>
<p>"Do what you must," said the grasshopper.</p>
<p>The Basque are more ant than grasshopper. They work and save; it is simply in their nature.</p>
<p>Tied like a bow around this cultural cohesion, work ethic, and frugality is a fourth characteristic which John Adams, an American founding father, called a "High and independent spirit." It might be the most important of all Basque qualities.</p>
<p>This spirit nests in the heart of every Basque and dates to ancient times. When the Romans invaded, the Basque resisted; when Isabel asked for allegiance, the Basque exacted a price; when a king imposed a tax, the Basque refused to pay and formed a militia; when Franco outlawed Euskera, the Basque defied the order. Despite these confrontations – and perhaps because of them – the Basque persevered, but not without pain or death. Their sacrifices only enriched their pride in language, culture, and an ancient heritage. Loss made what they had more precious.</p>
<p>They brought this independent spirit across the ocean where it blossomed in America's free soil, a land that Goldilocks herself might have said was "just right." The Basque shepherds who lived in the hills, fought coyotes and mountain lions, slept under stars, and ate by campfires each epitomized, in their own way, the self reliance that Emerson had spoken of a century earlier. They looked not to old Europe or government to shape their collective future, but to themselves and to each other.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, this streak of independence makes the Basque 34% more likely than other Americans to earn their daily bread as self-employed entrepreneurs rather than salaried employees working for someone else. In my own family, mom and dad owned and operated two businesses, and two of their children are now CEOs of companies.</p>
<p>When my godchild, who is Danish and raised on a healthy diet of Hans Christian Andersen, asks again about the Basque, I can surely repeat the story of the frustrated devil, but I'll have another story for her that reads very much like a fairytale. Numbers have confirmed what my heart and experience already knew. I'll tell her of a people who came with nothing, worked until fingers bled, saved and stuck together, and stood independent and strong on two firmly committed legs. It's a good story and almost complete except for one ingredient – the ending.</p>
<p>It's too soon to say that all lived happily ever after. The Basque are still in the throes of the tale, still seeking their fortunes, and occasionally, still fighting big bad wolves. Yet all signs so far point to these Basque-American ducklings slowly emerging as swans.</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Vince J. Juaristi was born and raised in Elko, NV. He is CEO and President of ARBOLA, a technology company, in Alexandria, VA. His newest book, <em>Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World</em>, will be released this year by the University of Nevada Press.</p>
<p>Please donate to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program attend the Smithsonian event this summer. All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt. Go to: <br /><a href="http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246</a></p>
<p>If you would like to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program in other ways, contact Angie deBraga at Great Basin College. <a href="mailto:angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu">angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu</a>.</p>
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A Basque-American Fairytale
Description
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<p>Inspired by the simple question asked by a godchild at bedtime, Vince Juaristi ponders why the Basque have become by a multitude of measures one of the most successful immigrant communities in the United States. He identifies four key factors which explain in part the Basque success: <span>Basque cohesion, a strong work ethic, frugality, and an independent spirit.</span></p>
<p>Part of the <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Intertwined</a> series of articles celebrating Basque and American Encounters in conjunction with the <a title="Smithsonian Institute's 2016 Folklife Festival" href="http://www.festival.si.edu/2016/basque/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian's 2016 Folklife Festival</a>.</p>
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Vince J. Juaristi
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http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-a-basque-american-fairytale/article_6fcfd3c9-234e-5a63-a36e-113860d27df6.html
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
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11 June 2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank Sawyer [VHC]
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]
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English
Basques
Community
Crossroads
Elko Daily Free Press
heritage
Story
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths
Subject
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Series of articles by Vince Juaristi on encounters between the Basques and American travelers. Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press.
Description
An account of the resource
Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. Hundreds of thousands attend from across America and around the world to study and learn about diverse cultures in the United States. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, 2016, this year's festival will showcase the Basque. In the lead up to this important event, we are publishing a series of historical and human interest articles that demonstrate how Americans and the Basque have crossed paths for centuries. An introductory article ran in January. Additional articles will run monthly through June 2016. We call the series, "Intertwined".
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Vince J. Juaristi
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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2016
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
Rights
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: /omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
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<h2>Eleanor's Children</h2>
<h4>By Vince J. Juaristi</h4>
<p>(Originally published in the <a title="Eleanor's Children in Elko Daily Free Press" href="http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-eleanor-s-children/article_25e651e9-fa2b-56eb-a9fb-d4cee2fb91d9.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Elko Daily Free Press</em></a>, 7 May 2016)</p>
<p align="center"><img title="Refugee ship SS Habana, 1937" src="/omeka/files/original/bc3dfac35160381f87b697c3a175b593.jpg" alt="Refugee ship SS Habana, 1937" width="600px" height="413px" /><br />The SS <em>Habana</em> pulled into the Southampton port in England on May 23, 1937. The ship's capacity was only 800, but it carried 3,840 Basque children, 80 teachers, 120 helpers, 15 Catholic priests, and two doctors.</p>
<p>Never had a First Lady of the United States traveled to Europe without her husband. Despite the German Luftwaffe prowling the skies, Eleanor Roosevelt shrugged off the danger and flew to England in 1942. She had four sons in military service and wanted to do something for the war effort, if only to raise British spirits and carry a vital message across the pond, “America is coming.” She and Franklin had been visited by King George and Queen Elizabeth at the White House, so returning the call seemed only fitting. She also hoped to bring good tidings to the few American troops already in country and study the effects of wartime programs on average families. Additionally, a chief priority was spending time with refugee children, three in particular whom she had adopted and supported for years. Among them was a Basque boy, Kerman Mirena Iriondo.</p>
<p>Five years earlier in 1937, Kerman had been swept up in the aftermath of Gernika. In the first aerial assault in world history, Hitler’s Condor Legion dropped bombs for three hours on this center of Basque culture, killing men, women and children, and reducing homes and livestock to ash. Hundreds, if not thousands, died (the number remains disputed), as survivors fled to Bilbao, the last refuge against the indiscriminate onslaught. Fearful of a similar attack, the Basque parents of Bilbao pled with other nations to take their children and keep them safe. England was one of a few nations that answered the call.</p>
<p>Kerman’s mother and father bundled him, then only 8 years old, in a heavy jacket in spite of the warmth of May, and packed food for several days. They pinned a cardboard hexagon to his jacket that included an identification number and the words, “Expedición a Ingleterra,” and then escorted him, his older sister, and two older brothers to the harbor.</p>
<p>There were children everywhere, all clothed in heavy jackets with a pinned hexagon like Kerman’s. Parents hugged and kissed their sons and daughters once, twice then a third time, and loaded them on a boat. No child was older than eighteen, and others were not yet old enough to walk. There were tears, lots of tears, even wails from many children who did not want to leave, and from moms and dads who agonized whether giving up their children was foolhardiness or a supreme act of love.</p>
<p>As the ship raised anchor, Kerman remained stoic. A part of him looked forward to being on a ship at sea. His father had told him stories of the ocean and of men who had sailed to distant lands. It felt very much like an adventure. He waved to his mom and dad, who stood on the dock, and to his four-year-old sister, who wore a sun bonnet and sat in the crook of their father’s arm. It was a scene he’d recall well into old age.</p>
<p>Kerman and his older siblings found a corner of the SS Habana and settled in. The ship had a capacity of 800, but on this day it overflowed with 3,840 children, 80 teachers, 120 helpers, 15 Catholic priests, and two doctors. They covered every inch, slept above and below deck, even in lifeboats, the legs of one child touching the head of another. The choppy waters caused many to wretch until the ship pulled into Southampton port two days later on May 23, 1937. Pale and dizzy from seasickness, Kerman stepped onto English soil with his brothers and sister and never again yearned for the ocean.</p>
<p>Few had noticed these thousands of Basque children fleeing their homeland, but Eleanor Roosevelt had. “I noticed yesterday that the Basque children taken to England were not very happy,” she wrote in her daily column. “It makes me feel more strongly than ever that our own contribution should be in money and these children should be kept as near their own country as possible.”</p>
<p>Her suggestion could not have been more astutely timed. The British government had agreed to accept the refugees but not pay for their upkeep or education. To do so would have violated a non-intervention pact with the Spanish government. Encouraged by Eleanor, a group of citizens formed the Foster Parent Program for these “Tomases, Marias, and Teresas.” The program solicited $15 per month to house, clothe, feed, and educate Basque children.</p>
<p>The children desperately needed the help. Soon after their arrival, Kerman and the other kids were taken to North Stoneham Camp in Eastleigh where rows of white tents stood ready to receive them. Each tent was designed for five but ended up housing 10 to 15, food supplies ran short within a couple of weeks, and septic overflowed. Despite these conditions, the children made the most of the ordeal, dressing in Basque costumes and dancing jotas on Sundays.</p>
<p>The camp at Stoneham proved temporary as children moved into foster homes throughout the country. Kerman and his brothers were separated from their sister and transferred to a convent in Darlington. He found the experience miserable, and it only worsened when, shortly after, he was separated from his brothers too and moved 250 miles south to Barnet, a borough of London. He was 8 years old, alone in a foreign land, separated from parents, brothers and sisters, and living among people he could not understand.</p>
<p>No one can say what Kerman might have felt at this moment, but fair guesses would include isolation, desperation, and profound sadness. But then a kind of other-worldly news reached him. He was told that he had been selected for adoption by a woman in America named Eleanor, and she was the president’s wife. He did not know the full import of the news, or even what the word adoption meant in this context, but he came to know her as the American Queen.</p>
<p>By supporting a Basque child financially, Eleanor wanted to set an example and encourage others to do the same. The motivation succeeded. Housewives across America dug into sugar and flour jars for quarters and dimes that had been squirreled away, churches passed extra collection plates, and schools and civic clubs knocked on doors for nickels and pennies. Her example fired up Hollywood, attracting contributions from Bing Crosby, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, and Helen Hayes.</p>
<p>By the time Eleanor flew to England in 1942, her on-going efforts had inspired multiple programs in several countries, all raising money for Basque children and orphans from World War II. Most of the Basque children had already been repatriated to Spain, although 250 or so remained in England, including Kerman. His parents had died shortly after the Spanish Civil War, so at a young age, he had made a very adult decision to stay in London rather than return to the country of his birth with its terribly painful memories.</p>
<p>He was then 13-years-old and waited anxiously to meet the American Queen who had supported him all these years. He followed her in the London Times which reported her arrival on October 24, 1942, her stay with King George and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, her lively conversations with Winston Churchill at 10 Downing Street, her visit to the bombed wreckage of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Nelson’s Tomb, and her review of American soldiers on bases around the country. To think that in a few days he would be in her presence set his heart aflutter.</p>
<p><img title="Eleanor Roosevelt with adopted children, 1942" src="/omeka/files/original/323b8467c8f8da18aabb99e45b934f1c.jpg" alt="Eleanor Roosevelt with adopted children, 1942" hspace="20px" align="left" />Kerman was a shy, quiet boy, who struggled still with English. It gave him some relief to learn that he would not be meeting the American Queen alone. Two other children whom Eleanor had adopted would be present as well – Janina Dybowska, a 17-year-old Polish girl who had been orphaned after Germany’s invasion in 1939; and Tommy Maloney, a 4-year-old son of a London stoker who had been orphaned during the Blitzkrieg.</p>
<p>When Eleanor entered the warm living room at Hertford Heath, a children’s colony where the three had gathered, she greeted them in a stately black suit with a fur collar. In Kerman’s eyes, she lacked only a crown to finish her regal impression. Had any of the children been nervous, her toothy smile quickly soothed them, and a few toys from her bag drew their smiles. Janina was dressed in a traditional Polish outfit with beads and flowers braided in her dark hair. Little Tommy climbed on Eleanor’s lap as he might a grandmother’s. Not sure what to say or do, Kerman stood stoic, though clean and groomed with slicked-back hair and pressed clothes. Their conversations were not recorded, but the foursome sat for a portrait and seemed at ease in one another’s company. The meeting lasted no more than an hour, yet he would recall the encounter and “Auntie Eleanor,” which she had asked him to call her, until his dying breath.</p>
<p>Eleanor left England two days later. She continued to nurture the Foster Parent Program, and others that had evolved from it, through the war and beyond. With her guidance, several of the programs coalesced after the war into the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, which the world still knows today as UNICEF.</p>
<p>Kerman would not see Auntie Eleanor again, but she continued supporting him until his 18th birthday. During his teen years, he boarded in Carshalton London where he befriended and later married Manolita Abad, another Basque child from the SS Habana. He completed his studies at commercial college and entered the import-export and international banking business. His skills in Basque, Spanish, and English served him well.</p>
<p>The work took him back to Spain for the first time, back to Bilbao and Basque country, back to the memories of an eight year old waving goodbye to a mother and father crying on a dock. There he was welcomed by his little sister, the one in the sun bonnet, who had sat in the crook of their father’s arm.</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Vince J. Juaristi was born and raised in Elko, NV. He is CEO and President of ARBOLA, a technology company, in Alexandria, VA. His newest book, <em>Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World</em>, will be released this year by the University of Nevada Press.</p>
<p>Please donate to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program attend the Smithsonian event this summer. All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt. Go to: <br /><a href="http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246</a></p>
<p>If you would like to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program in other ways, contact Angie deBraga at Great Basin College. <a href="mailto:angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu">angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu</a>.</p>
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Eleanor's Children
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<p>In 1937, 8-year-old Kermit Mirena Iriondo was evacuated from the Basque country following the Nazi bombing of Guernica (Basque: Gernika). Along with his old sister and two brothers, he boarded the SS Habana and sailed for England with 3,840 other Basque children. American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led a global effort to support these refugee children financially. During her 1942 visit to Britain, now 13-year-old Kermit met his benefactor and was photographed with the First Lady.</p>
<p>Part of the <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Intertwined</a> series of articles celebrating Basque and American Encounters in conjunction with the <a title="Smithsonian Institute's 2016 Folklife Festival" href="http://www.festival.si.edu/2016/basque/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian's 2016 Folklife Festival</a>.</p>
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Vince J. Juaristi
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http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-eleanor-s-children/article_25e651e9-fa2b-56eb-a9fb-d4cee2fb91d9.html
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
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7 May 2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank Sawyer [VHC]
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]
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English
Basques
Community
Crossroads
Elko Daily Free Press
refugee
Story
World War II
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bdc3f788d8d373d6f0c02bb046764bac
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1ddd49db249bddac91fbe4658c4877fd
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Title
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Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths
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Series of articles by Vince Juaristi on encounters between the Basques and American travelers. Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press.
Description
An account of the resource
Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. Hundreds of thousands attend from across America and around the world to study and learn about diverse cultures in the United States. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, 2016, this year's festival will showcase the Basque. In the lead up to this important event, we are publishing a series of historical and human interest articles that demonstrate how Americans and the Basque have crossed paths for centuries. An introductory article ran in January. Additional articles will run monthly through June 2016. We call the series, "Intertwined".
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Vince J. Juaristi
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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2016
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
Rights
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: /omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
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<h2>The Good Shepherds</h2>
<h4>By Vince J. Juaristi</h4>
<p>(Originally published in the <a title="The Good Shepherds in Elko Daily Free Press" href="http://m.elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-the-good-shepherds/article_ef33f582-142a-546d-9f4d-728dada3056b.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Elko Daily Free Press</em></a>, 9 April 2016)</p>
<div style="text-align: center;" align="center;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/omeka/files/original/62ad2a2d21931ee61fb2a72fa316451d.jpg" alt="Juan Juaristi, sheepherder" width="600px;" height="410px;" /><br /><span style="font-size: 10px;">Juan Juaristi, a Basque sheepherder allowed to stay in the U.S. under Senator McCarran's legislation</span></div>
<p>Sheepherding is the world's second oldest profession according to Genesis.</p>
<blockquote>"Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil."</blockquote>
<p>Then Cain killed Abel and received the mark, and his brother became the good shepherd whose namesake appeared a million times thereafter in scripture, mythology, nursery rhymes, literature, film, and economics. But it was not until the legislative maneuvers of U.S. Senator Patrick McCarran that Basque sheepherders, who followed Abel in his profession, ignited a fracas in American politics.</p>
<p>Senator McCarran of Nevada presided as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1948 when millions worldwide lacked food and shelter, and yearned for a life of peace, economic security, and hope. They eyed America as their promised land. It was McCarran who determined if they could walk through those "golden doors" which the poet Emma Lazarus had written about in the "New Colossus" sixty-five years earlier.</p>
<p>At age 71, McCarran was a dour man with wavy silver hair, fleshy jowls, and a piercing squint. By seniority, he stood fourth in the Senate, though some of his colleagues whispered near the cloak room that he was first in power, and no one dared say otherwise.</p>
<div style="text-align: center;" align="center;"><img src="/omeka/files/original/a669d77c39afbbee84a1036864588e09.jpg" alt="Senator Patrick McCarran" /><br /><span style="font-size: 10px;">Senator Patrick McCarran of Nevada</span><br /> </div>
<p>Although he represented only 140,000 souls spread mostly in the rural countryside of Northern Nevada where sheep outnumbered people, he wielded nearly exclusive authority over America's immigration laws. One of his earliest bills, the Displaced Person's Act, granted residency to 200,000 refugees from Germany, Austria, Italy, and Czechoslovakia.</p>
<p>Less than a year after Truman had signed the bill, McCarran quietly pushed through a one-page amendment to grant residency to 48 Basque sheepherders. It went largely unnoticed. The request had come from ranchers in Nevada, Idaho, and California. Herds were shrinking; wool production was down. Ranchers believed that the able hands of "sturdy Basque sheepherders" could help staunch the decline of herds from a peak of 705,000 in 1935 to 321,000 in 1948.</p>
<p>Heartened by this success, McCarran put forward a bolder bill two months later that admitted 250 Basque sheepherders from Spain. "Unless skilled and competent sheepherders are promptly made available," he said, "it will be necessary for the herds to be progressively reduced."</p>
<p>But this bill did not go unnoticed, not because his fellow senators doubted the skill of Basques as shepherds, or because the country could not absorb 250 hard working men. They balked because more than a year had gone by and McCarran's Displaced Person's Act had restricted, not assisted, refugees into America. Some of his senate brethren suspected that he had poisoned the act on purpose with labyrinthine regulations to reduce the flow of refugees to a trickle, if not a drip. Until McCarran loosened the restrictions, his colleagues planned to delay his shepherd bill.</p>
<p>There was merit and a twist of irony to their suspicions. The war had been replaced in America with a fear of foreign and domestic communism, the great Red Menace. McCarran had become one of the most ardent crusaders, along with Joseph McCarthy, against allegedly ubiquitous communist sympathizers hiding among immigrant populations or lurking in the diplomatic corps of the State Department. He fancied himself always vigilant of communists and communist sympathizers. Yet as much as he tossed up roadblocks to the foreign born or launched witch hunts for men and women of questionable character, he ironically made special accommodations for Basque sheepherders born in a country ruled by a Fascist.</p>
<p>When challenged, he simply retorted that "communism is worse than fascism." Even if Franco's regime had purged thousands of Basque and other opponents after the Spanish Civil War, McCarran saw Spain as an ally against the Soviet Union. Moreover, cordial relations with Franco ensured a constant flow of Basque sheepherders for the ranchers of his state. "I am nothing without serving Nevadans," he said.</p>
<p>In September 1949, he decided to investigate the refugee camps in Europe and evaluate for himself (some would say validate) the extent of communist influence. "Since I am defending the economy of the country," he said, "I want to find out how many of these people should come in and why. I want to find out what they'll do once they get here." He also stopped in Madrid to visit Franco.</p>
<p>After his return, McCarran did not loosen the restrictions on refugees, but he did back a $100 million loan to Spain, and even threatened the Secretary of State with a budget cut unless the department warmed diplomatic relations with the fascist country. "Until that policy is changed," he said, "I'm going to look into this appropriation with a fine-tooth comb."</p>
<p>All the while, his shepherd bill languished and the ranchers of Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and California pressed him for action. Not until the summer of 1950 was he able to craft a compromise. He agreed to loosen restrictions on refugees if his colleagues accepted the 250 Basque sheepherders, and in a second measure, granted legal residence to 163 Basque sheepherders who had arrived in the United States between 1943 and 1949. The deal was struck, the House concurred, and President Truman signed both bills.</p>
<p>This matter had hardly settled when McCarran decided to rewrite America's immigration laws. "Today, as never before," he said, "untold millions are storming our gates for admission and those gates are cracking under the strain." He warned that America's porous borders and weak immigration policies had allowed 5,000,000 illegal aliens into the United States including "militant communists, Sicilian bandits, and other criminals." Although he offered no proof of this claim, his fiery speeches riled the public and stoked fears inside and outside of government. "We have in the United States today," he said, "hard core indigestible blocs which have not become integrated into the American way of life, but which, on the contrary, are its deadly enemy." He joined with Congressman Francis Walter of Pennsylvania to introduce the McCarran-Walter Act.</p>
<p>The bill was an overhaul of America's immigration policies. It retained a quota system for nationalities and regions and codified a system that gave preference to different ethnic groups based largely on labor qualifications. It defined three types of immigrants: immigrants with special skills; average immigrants, governed by quotas, not to exceed 270,000 per year; and refugees. Every immigrant had to be of "good moral character," which prevented entry of anyone with ties or affiliations to "communist or other subversive parties." The bill eventually passed, though drawing a veto from President Truman, which was quickly overridden. The bill became law on June 27, 1952. Many of its provisions remain intact today.</p>
<p>Under the new law, the once paralyzing scrutiny of refugees expanded to all immigrants. Basque sheepherders were considered immigrants with special skills, giving them preference over average immigrants. That they hailed from a fascist country no longer mattered. In fact, by cooperating with Franco's government, McCarran was able to open a special immigration office in Bilbao to expedite the flow of Basque sheepherders from the Pyrenees to America. McCarran pressed the State Department to admit the annual quota of 250 Basque sheepherders immediately and another 250 in 1953.</p>
<p>With ranchers in Nevada and other western states rejoicing, he proposed legislation in 1954 to bring in another 385 Basque sheepherders which exceeded the quota in his own law. He declared wool production "essential to national security" and the work of Basque men vital for the preservation of America's economic vitality in the world. He was riding so high that even Franco decorated him in Spain with the Grand Cross of Isabel Catolica, a rare honor for a foreigner.</p>
<p>Many senators did not share Franco's admiration for McCarran, one in particular, Senator Herbert Lehman of New York, who blocked the bill. "This bill," he said, "is for the benefit of one small group and one region of our country." He sympathized with the need for sheepherders, he said, but "what about the American citizens who have mothers and fathers, grandparents, brothers and sisters, foster-parents or foster children in Italy, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, Hungary and Czechoslovakia? Are they not deserving of the same consideration as the sheep of Nevada?"</p>
<p>Restrictions on refugees had tangled into such a draconian noose, Lehman maintained, that more Basque sheepherders had entered America in the past five years than "all refugees, escapees, persecutees, orphans, and surplus population in Europe and Asia." The claim was an exaggeration, but not by much. He then questioned McCarran directly, asking, "Would you raise your voice in behalf of special bills to admit some Swiss watchmakers, some Czech tailors, some Greek goat herders, some Italian farmers, and some Polish boot-makers in a non-quota status?"</p>
<p>Whether rhetorical or not, the question went unanswered.</p>
<p>The bill seemed doomed. Yet a day after blocking it and posing his question, Lehman lifted his opposition and voted for the measure. He gave no explanation, nor did the congressional record provide insight to his change of heart. Whatever argument, promise, swap, threat or special deal caused Lehman to flip his vote will likely stay buried in history. The bill passed and became law.</p>
<p>By 1954, McCarran had opened America to 1,135 Basque sheepherders. No other group of immigrants enjoyed such preferential treatment, or expeditious attention. If a Basque sheepherder in the Pyrenees applied for a visa, he received an interview at the American consulate, a physical, and a plane ticket. Within a month, he found himself with a dog at his side and a willow in his hand herding a band of 1,000 sheep in Nevada or another western state, sleeping by a campfire, and eating beans from a can.</p>
<p>The pace of Basque immigration would never be greater than during these controversial years, though the Basque would continue to settle western states during the rest of the decade and well into the 1960s.</p>
<p>In September 1954, not long after McCarran had won passage of his last shepherd bill and prepared another for 1955, he returned to Nevada to campaign for fellow Democrats. He left Reno in the early afternoon for a speech in Hawthorne. He stopped in Fallon for a haircut, but finding a line at the barber shop, and not wanting to be late, he paid a man so he could jump ahead. In Hawthorne, he gave his speech to rousing applause, and then, leaving the stage, he collapsed. McCarran had suffered his third heart attack in three years.</p>
<p>He left his mark on the state: an airport in Las Vegas, a boulevard in Reno. The good shepherds continued to thrive after him. Some worked for the rest of their lives in the sheep camps during spring and summer and lived solitary lives in nearby towns during the off-seasons. Others moved to town permanently, worked 9-to-5 jobs, raised families, and returned to the sheep camps only for a weekend to hear the bleats of lambs, or help deliver or dock or sheer.</p>
<p>After two generations, many of the 57,000 Basque who now populate America can trace their origins to these early sheepherders who left the Pyrenees for America's western states. Today in the hills of Nevada or Idaho or California, a few Basque men still tend flocks like Abel before them. To see them work is to witness an ancient craft that is simple, wonderful and older than scripture.</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Vince J. Juaristi was born and raised in Elko, NV. He is CEO and President of ARBOLA, a technology company, in Alexandria, VA. His newest book, <em>Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World</em>, will be released this year by the University of Nevada Press.</p>
<p>Please donate to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program attend the Smithsonian event this summer. All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt. Go to: <br /><a href="http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246</a></p>
<p>If you would like to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program in other ways, contact Angie deBraga at Great Basin College. <a href="mailto:angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu">angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu</a>.</p>
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The Good Shepherds
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An account of the resource
<p>The efforts of Nevada Senator Patrick McCarran to pass an amendment to his Displaced Person's Act to allow Basque sheepherders to emigrate to the United States in 1948 through 1952. As a result, the McCarran-Walters Act (1952) adopted similar principles for all American immigration policy, many of which remain in effect to today. The story combines debates about the Basque to the flagging American sheep-herding industry in the post-war West, the question of refugees and their legal status as immigrants, and the calculations of international relations in the developing Cold War.</p>
<p>Part of the <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Intertwined</a> series of articles celebrating Basque and American Encounters in conjunction with the <a title="Smithsonian Institute's 2016 Folklife Festival" href="http://www.festival.si.edu/2016/basque/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian's 2016 Folklife Festival</a>.</p>
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Vince J. Juaristi
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http://m.elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-the-good-shepherds/article_ef33f582-142a-546d-9f4d-728dada3056b.html
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
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9 April 2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank Sawyer [VHC]
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]
Language
A language of the resource
English
Basques
Community
Crossroads
Elko Daily Free Press
immigration
Story
World War II
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/1fa15bbeb1335c199a8328e6bf1c0934.jpg
37147897df0e2dacbeb6235d0ffe1d68
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/aff599010187b4fdef75fc3dda821937.jpg
3a4969c02a6bea6fa176492e064bfeb3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths
Subject
The topic of the resource
Series of articles by Vince Juaristi on encounters between the Basques and American travelers. Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press.
Description
An account of the resource
Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. Hundreds of thousands attend from across America and around the world to study and learn about diverse cultures in the United States. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, 2016, this year's festival will showcase the Basque. In the lead up to this important event, we are publishing a series of historical and human interest articles that demonstrate how Americans and the Basque have crossed paths for centuries. An introductory article ran in January. Additional articles will run monthly through June 2016. We call the series, "Intertwined".
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Vince J. Juaristi
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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2016
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: /omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
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<h2>The Tail of the Comet</h2>
<h4>By Vince J. Juaristi</h4>
<p>(Originally published in the <em><a href="http://m.elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-the-tail-of-the-comet/article_ec8ac7bb-9520-5b57-86e3-191a9c019098.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elko Daily Free Press</a></em>, 5 March 2016)</p>
<p><img src="/omeka/files/original/aff599010187b4fdef75fc3dda821937.jpg" alt="Florentino Goicoechea" align="left" />Florentino Goicoechea (Basque: Florentino Goikoextea) lived in a 24-mile stretch of land between Hernani, Gipuzkoa, Spain, and Ciboure, France. He grew up in a small farm house without electricity or plumbing, hunted antelope and big-horned sheep in the hills south of San Sebastían, and fished the Bidassoa River that traced the Spanish-French border. He knew the Pyrenees that ran like a zipper from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean with more than 50 alternating teeth peaking above 10,000 feet. He knew the sounds of night and day and the animals that growled, chirped, snarled, or hissed in the dense foliage and jagged rock along the high mountain passes. He had no formal schooling, only the knowledge afforded by these 24-miles, but it was this familiarity most of all that came to serve America and the Allies during World War II.</p>
<p>Florentino began to apply his knowledge and skill as a smuggler against Franco during Spain's Civil War in 1936. Wearing a black beret not a helmet and carrying a walking stick or fishing pole not a gun, he crisscrossed the border to deliver secrets between commanders in the field and Basque exiles in France. If Franco's soldiers, the <em>Guardia Civil</em>, spotted him, he smiled and passed as a harmless peasant in search of a meal; the soldiers would nod and go back to their patrol.</p>
<p>Despite his skullduggery, the Republic fell to Franco's forces by 1939. Wary of going home, he settled in Ciboure, where he happily took up a quiet solitary life of hunting, fishing, and hiking on the French side of the Pyrenees.</p>
Months later, his calm was shattered as it was for all Europeans when Germany's invasion of Poland sparked World War II. The effects of war did not reach him for six months, and then only as reports in newspapers filled with shocking details of massacre and tragedy. Later, when food shortages forced rationing of eggs, cheese, potatoes, and wine, he smuggled supplies for himself and neighbors.
<p>As a Basque man from Spain, a neutral country during the war, he was never called into military service. Still he felt he had to fight. His few words on the matter suggest that opposing Germany would vindicate the earlier loss to Franco, though no one may ever know his true motivation.</p>
<p>After France surrendered to Germany, Florentino found his calling. He learned of a kind of underground railroad called <em>Réseau Comète</em></p>
– the Comet Line – that held as its motto, "Fighting Without Arms." It smuggled downed Allied pilots safely from Brussels to Paris, but once Germany occupied France, it had to escort a pilot beyond Paris, across the Pyrenees, into neutral Spain to get him home.
<p>The first guide for this dangerous journey had been caught and arrested. Who, then, would fill the vacancy? Who would escort these American, British, Canadian, and Australian pilots over the treacherous Pyrenees and deliver them safely home? Who would dare defy these Nazis and the Guardia Civil?</p>
<p>Only one man had the knowledge, skill, and cunning to pick up the cause – Florentino Goicoechea.</p>
<p>Every day Florentino walked across a bridge that connected his new home of Ciboure with St. Jean de Luz, and then drank wine or ate a meal at the Euskalduna Hotel. A mother-daughter pair worked there whom he had known since the Spanish Civil War. He marveled still at their sneaky talents. They hovered near tables to watch, hear, absorb, and convey secrets while serving drinks or clearing dishes. As much as Florentino was master of the Pyrenees, these two were masters of subterfuge which turned the Euskalduna into a kind of central nervous system for the French resistance in the south.</p>
<p>Florentino did not know when the pair talked with operatives of Comet, or when a downed pilot might require escort. In truth, he knew little of a pilot's difficult journey up to the point he met him.</p>
<p>A pilot typically traveled by train or bus from Paris to Bayonne and then pedaled a bicycle sixteen miles to the St. Jean de Luz railroad station. He waited inside a bathroom stall until nightfall and then slipped out a side-door that opened to an alley. Concealed by the shadows for about 500 feet, he entered Euskalduna where the mother and daughter whisked him to a room or another safehouse.</p>
<p>The next day while drinking his wine or sipping his soup, Florentino would hear a whisper, "Expect a package."</p>
<p>He watched the Ciboure Bridge at midnight for the unmistakable signs of a foreigner, usually a nervous man all alone or two men anxiously whispering and white-knuckling the rail of the bridge. With the stealth of a cat, Florentino sneaked up and quickly drew the one or the pair off the bridge into the shadows.</p>
<p>With the spryness of a younger man, he led them along the N10 road and then uphill into the tall grasses and thick pine and spruce around Ciboure. "It was everything I could do to keep up," said one flier from Ohio. For nearly three miles, the pace never slowed until they arrived at one of three safehouses in Urrugne - Tomásénéa, Bidegain Berri, or Yatxu Baita. Florentino knew the farmhouse owners. A wife of a French POW ran the first, a widow the second, and a single father with twelve children the third. Each risked all they had to help him. He alternated his visits to reduce suspicion on any one.</p>
<p>Already exhausted, fliers received warm milk at the farmhouse. Then each was outfitted as a Basque peasant with chord-roped espadrilles, blue workman's clothes, and a black beret. He also received a Benzedrine pill to boost his energy. As soon as the milk bowls were licked clean, Florentino handed each flier a walking stick, and then he squinted and thrust his chin, for he was a man of few words, and they returned to the night.</p>
<p>In complete darkness, they climbed Mont du Calvaire. It was not high, but steep, burning thighs and calves with each step. At the peak, they collapsed, but Florentino pushed them beyond their limits, up a steeper mountain that the Basque call Xoldokogaina. They climbed for more than two hours, sometimes on all fours over sharp rock, through pines and across shallow brooks, falling into holes, stumbling over branches, scraping arms and legs. A foot or two ahead were Florentino's heels and if a flier lost sight of them and panicked, a sudden strong hand pulled him up and forward moving him on.</p>
<p>"There was a kind of peace at the top," said one Ohio flier surveying the landscape from 5,200 feet. In the calm of this blackest night, they could hear the Bidassoa River in the distance and see the hazy glow of Fuentarabia, Irún and San Sebastían.</p>
<p>Yet between this high tranquility and the lights of freedom were German patrols and Franco's <em>Guardia Civil</em>.</p>
<p>Florentino crouched with the pilots on Xoldokogaina to catch his breath and rest his legs and wipe sweat from his cheeks. They waited for the guards to change shifts at about 3 a.m. which opened gaps in the security. Then they descended as quickly as they could, sometimes in a slide, to the footpaths of Col des Poiriers.</p>
<p>Here was the most dangerous point in the journey. The terrain afforded little passable ground besides the trails, so they had to jog in the open, breathing heavily, risking exposure and capture. "I was scared as hell," said a flier from Washington.</p>
<p>The exposure lasted only a few moments until they dipped into the winding Lantzetta Erreka creekbed that ended at San Miguel near the river separating France and Spain.</p>
<p>The Bidassoa River was unpredictable. In winter, it froze over for easy crossing, or froze enough that a man could hop from floe to floe. In summer, it rose in places to the knees. But in spring, it often swelled its banks, forcing Florentino and the fliers to strip and swim with clothes in a plastic bag or held over their heads as the water lapped their armpits. If they heard barking, they had to swim fully clothed.</p>
<p>Up the opposite bank they scrambled on to Spanish soil. By 5 a.m. a crisp dawn had cracked the horizon behind them. Lying on their bellies in the tall grasses, they listened for the <em>Guardia Civil</em> that had barracks only 1,200 feet downstream. Florentino expected the soldiers to be sleeping, not patrolling, and sure enough several fliers reported hearing snoring nearby.</p>
<p>They crept past the slumbering guards over a railroad and across the Irún-Pamplona road. It was a "steep and exhausting climb to Erlaitz," wrote one flier. Every step was taken in stealth, yet every kicked pebble or snapped limb sounded like a pistol shot.</p>
<p>The terrain eased after Erlaitz and so, too, their anxiety. Florentino led them along old mining tracks to the Sarobe Farm, and for the first time in hours, they felt cautiously safe. The farmer served eggs and cheese, wine and bread. The fliers untied their espadrilles to air their bruised and blistered feet and soak them in salt water.</p>
<p>After resting an hour and pulling on new socks and shoes, they walked two hours over meadow and quiet pasture and well-kept roads.</p>
<p>In Renteria, Florentino bought tickets for the tram and he and the fliers boarded like ordinary commuters. None of the riders that morning knew how treacherous the last 10 hours had been for these dirty-faced, haggard strangers.</p>
<p>In twenty minutes, the tram stopped in Hernani, Florentino's birthplace, where he took the fliers to a safehouse owned by an old friend of the family. Then he bid them goodbye.</p>
<p>He never knew their names, nor they his. His daring acts were carried out anonymously – to know a name presented undue risk. He continued escorting fliers across his 24-mile stretch of land until D-Day and the liberation of France in August 1944. He never lost a pilot nor was any pilot captured under his care.</p>
<p>From the Hernani safehouse, the fliers traveled easily to San Sebastían and then to the British Consulate in Bilbao. Under Allied protection, the men made their way to Gibraltar in the south for passage home.</p>
<p>The Comet Line saved over 700 American, British, Canadian, and Australian pilots. Of those, Florentino Goicoechea had a hand in leading 207 over the Pyrenees to safety. While some hung up their wings to enjoy the comforts of home, others returned to the fight. Even though they did not know his name, the fliers wrote thank you notes, never forgetting the kind and quiet man who guided them over the mountains.</p>
<p>After the war, Florentino remained a wanted man by Franco's Guardia Civil, so his deeds went unrecognized for most of his life. Yet when Franco died in November 1975, Florentino emerged from the shadows of Ciboure to receive widespread recognition in both France and Spain. He was also honored in England at Buckingham Palace, where he received the George Cross for gallantry and bravery. During the ceremony, he was asked, "What is it that you actually do?" In broken English, he replied, "I am in the import-export business."</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Vince J. Juaristi was born and raised in Elko, NV. He is CEO and President of ARBOLA, a technology company, in Alexandria, VA. His newest book, <em>Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World</em>, will be released this year by the University of Nevada Press.</p>
<p>Please donate to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program attend the Smithsonian event this summer. All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt. Go to: <br /><a href="http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246</a></p>
<p>If you would like to help the young people of the Great Basin Basque Program in other ways, contact Angie deBraga at Great Basin College. <a href="mailto:angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu">angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
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The Tail of the Comet
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<p>The story of Florentino Goicoechea (Basque: Florentino Goikoextea), a Basque resident and occassional smuggler living in the Pyrenees between France and Spain who operated the <em>Réseau Comète</em> or "Comet Line", an escape route for downed Allied airman shot down over Europe during World War II. Florentino Goicoechea would assist airmen in hiding in occupied France and smuggle them across the border to neutral Spain for return to the Allies.</p>
<p>Part of the <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Intertwined</a> series of articles celebrating Basque and American Encounters in conjunction with the <a title="Smithsonian Institute's 2016 Folklife Festival" href="http://www.festival.si.edu/2016/basque/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian's 2016 Folklife Festival</a>.</p>
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Vince J. Juaristi
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]
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English
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http://m.elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-the-tail-of-the-comet/article_ec8ac7bb-9520-5b57-86e3-191a9c019098.html
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
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5 March 2016
Basques
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Crossroads
Elko Daily Free Press
Story
veteran
World War II
-
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eb868e5369ae3f4581eadf97145947a4
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/fc98d212903c0969d3a01eb27e8a0d18.jpg
2b95fe7e767aff9023a21f0372593f77
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Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths
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Series of articles by Vince Juaristi on encounters between the Basques and American travelers. Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press.
Description
An account of the resource
Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. Hundreds of thousands attend from across America and around the world to study and learn about diverse cultures in the United States. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, 2016, this year's festival will showcase the Basque. In the lead up to this important event, we are publishing a series of historical and human interest articles that demonstrate how Americans and the Basque have crossed paths for centuries. An introductory article ran in January. Additional articles will run monthly through June 2016. We call the series, "Intertwined".
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Vince J. Juaristi
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
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2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: /omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
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<h2>The Work of a Generation</h2>
<h4>By Vince J. Juaristi</h4>
<p>(Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press<em></em>, 23 January 2016)</p>
<p>Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. It's really something to see with all the care and detail one expects of a Smithsonian exhibit. In the July swelter, hundreds of thousands attend to study and learn about unique cultures from around the country and across the globe. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, this year's festival will showcase the Basque.</p>
<p>When I learned this news last year, I felt a bit of pride; well, not a bit, a lot. I thought about dad's journey from Spain to America, and the journey of so many Basque like him during the 1940s. I marveled at how far the Basque had come as a people.</p>
<p>Their story is courageous, maybe heroic. In Spain after World War II, a boy or girl born with nothing grew up with nothing and died with nothing. That was the way of most things. It was a cold life, as it still is in much of the world. You got nuthin', dad said in broken English.</p>
<p>Tired, desperate, and poor, the Basque came to America to start anew. Most arrived with five dollars in the pocket, and others arrived with even less. They did not speak the language. They had little education. They boasted no special contacts or prominent pedigrees. Their titles were sheepherder, laborer, waitress, maid, cook, or seamstress.</p>
<p>With strong backs and a thirst to do better, they worked until sweat dripped and muscles ached. For dad, as for most Basque, what had been nuthin' grew more optimistic. You got nuthin', you make sumthin', he said. The Basque worked harder still, learned English, and gained citizenship.</p>
<p>They raised families and pressed education for their kids. Those children soon graduated from the finest colleges in the land, and then branched far and wide into business, politics, medicine, law, and science. The parents nourished the oak, the children enjoyed the shade.</p>
<p>The news about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival did indeed swell me with pride, but it was not for me. It was pride for dad and mom, and for all Basque who had crossed an ocean and then a continent to settle in the American West. These were men and women with courage and unbridled determination. They herded the sheep and farmed the fields, waited the tables and tended the bars, made the beds and mopped the floors, kept the language and honored the traditions.</p>
<p>The pride was for Ana Marie Arbillaga's dancing lessons, for Bernardo Yanci's accordion playing, for Gene Irribarne's brilliance on the clarinet, for Chapo Leniz's steak and beans, for Juan Juaristi's sheepherding, for Nick Fagoaga's castanet playing, for Pete Ormaza's craftsmanship, for Jess Lopategui's mastership of ceremony, for Felicia Basanez's famous flan, and for so many others. Some are no longer here, only in spirit, but the pride is for them too.</p>
<p>This story is not a new story in America's legacy as a beacon for the downtrodden and oppressed. But it is an important story. Dad's optimistic words – You got nuthin', you make sumthin' – epitomize the spirit of his generation, and in a real sense, describe our country's unique role in the world better than any statement I've heard.</p>
<p>Few groups have lived the story as well as the Basque. Few have worked so hard and achieved so much in so short a time. Fewer still have balanced a unique culture and language with the duties and obligations of being fully American.</p>
<p>Now even the Smithsonian recognizes the achievement. When the folklife festival kicks off this summer, I hope the Basque attend in great numbers. I hope the mothers and fathers come, and the children too. I hope they remember their personal journeys and share their stories. I hope they see where they're at, amid the stone architecture, pomp, and democratic cradle of a great nation, and feel themselves an important part of history.</p>
<p>When Gernikako-Arbola, the Basque tree of freedom, is planted on the national mall, or a band of sheep grazes near the White House, I want the Basque to know that their story is a good story, and the work of a generation has been worth it. Out of nothing, the Basque have made something.</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Vince J. Juaristi was born and raised in Elko, NV. He is CEO and President of ARBOLA, a technology company, in Alexandria, VA. His newest book, <em>Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World</em>, will be released this year by the University of Nevada Press.</p>
<p>Anyone wishing to support the Elko Basque Program at the Smithsonian should contact Angie deBraga at Great Basin College - <a href="mailto:angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu">angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu</a>.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The Work of a Generation
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Vince J. Juaristi's experiences and pride as a member of the Basque community and looking forward to Basque celebration as part of the National Folklife Festival.</p>
<p>Part of the <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/26" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Intertwined</strong></a> series of articles celebrating Basque and American Encounters in conjunction with the <a title="Smithsonian Institute's 2016 Folklife Festival" href="http://www.festival.si.edu/2016/basque/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian's 2016 Folklife Festival</a>.</p>
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Vince J. Juaristi
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http://elkodaily.com/news/opinion/commentary-the-work-of-a-generation/article_aa675a01-60cd-5ac7-8bce-8c1502644860.html
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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23 January 2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
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html webpage
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English
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
Basques
Community
Crossroads
Elko Daily Free Press
Story
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/ddc794ad5ee5dc7c61872ca845d5ed81.jpg
9ac70446c1f6fd0e081dcfb4b9ec41f3
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Official Presidential Portrait of John Adams
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John Adams
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Official presidential portrait of John Adams, painted by John Trumbull, c. 1792-93.
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John Trumbull
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www.whitehouse.gov
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths
Subject
The topic of the resource
Series of articles by Vince Juaristi on encounters between the Basques and American travelers. Originally published in the Elko Daily Free Press.
Description
An account of the resource
Sprawled between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian hosts the National Folklife Festival each year. Hundreds of thousands attend from across America and around the world to study and learn about diverse cultures in the United States. From June 29-July 4 and July 7-10, 2016, this year's festival will showcase the Basque. In the lead up to this important event, we are publishing a series of historical and human interest articles that demonstrate how Americans and the Basque have crossed paths for centuries. An introductory article ran in January. Additional articles will run monthly through June 2016. We call the series, "Intertwined".
Creator
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Vince J. Juaristi
Publisher
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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2016
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L. Sawyer [VHC]
Rights
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles cannot be reprinted or redistributed.
<p>Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: /omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]</p>
Text
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<h2>John Adams Encounters the Basque</h2>
<h4>By Vince J. Juaristi</h4>
<p>(Originally published in the <em><a href="http://m.elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-john-adams-encounters-the-basque/article_1ead4c34-e4b9-5a8d-8c91-a29985854351.html?mobile_touch=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Elko Daily Free Press</a></em>, 8 February 2016)</p>
<p>"Providence has favored me, with a very unexpected Visit to Spain," wrote John Adams to his friend, James Lovell, on December 16, 1779. Over the next month, this landing on Spanish soil would test Adams like few journeys in his life, and yet afford him a surprise glimpse of the Basque, a people with such "a High and independent spirit, so essentially different from the other Provinces" that he would recall them years later during America's struggle for a new constitution.</p>
<p>Weeks earlier, as battles raged along America's eastern seaboard, Adams had left Boston harbor for Paris to begin dialogue for a peace accord. His ship, the <em>Sensible</em>, had run into a nor'easter two days out and sprung a terrible leak that forced all aboard to man the pumps day and night. After three thousand miles of winter weather on the Atlantic, the water-logged and rotting Sensible, manned by a desperate and exhausted crew had put into port at El Ferrol off the northern tip of Spain.</p>
<p>With peace possible and the fate of American, English, and French lives resting on his shoulders, Adams could not spare several months for ship repairs, so he decided to travel the nearly 900 miles over land to reach Paris. All the Spanish officials at El Ferrol assured him that his plan was a prudent course. The hospitality on the way was the finest in the world, they told him, the journey an easy excursion through lush countryside, even in December. It sounded very much like a vacation.</p>
<p>Determined and confident, Adams gathered his sons, John Quincy and Charles, and a few escorts, and headed out a day after Christmas 1779 in a caravan of thirteen mules like Don Quixotes from the New World.</p>
<p>Much of Spain at the time resembled what Adams had spent a lifetime fighting in Boston and then Philadelphia. Nearly all of the country fell under a trident of power. First, a monarchy levied taxes, drafted fathers and sons into Spain's never-ending wars, and ruled by royal decree without election or the consent of the people.</p>
<p>A second prong was the clergy who had erected in town after town massive cathedrals, and then collected heavy tithing for their upkeep. Failure to tithe, warned the clergy, condemned a commoner to perdition's flame. Most paid, and had paid for centuries, keeping peasants as peasants, destitute and powerless. Though a devout man, Adams saw through this ruse commenting, "Nothing appears rich but the Churches, nobody fat, but the Clergy."</p>
<p>The noblemen comprised the third prong. They commanded vast lands and ships that kings and queens of the past had bestowed on their ancestral lines in exchange for political loyalty and obedience. The nobles imposed fees for the privilege of using their lands or ships to grow bread, catch cod, or build homes for families.</p>
<p>This trident of king, clergy, and nobles acted like a devil's fork to draw life and blood from the people much like King George of England and the noblemen under his reign plagued the American colonies. "I see nothing but Signs of Poverty and Misery," Adams wrote. "A fertile Country, not half cultivated, People ragged and dirty, and the Houses universally nothing but Mire, Smoke, Fleas and Lice....No Simptoms of Commerce, or even of internal Trafic, no Appearance of manufactures or Industry."</p>
<p>Along the path, mile after mile, this gloom did not let up, not for a moment. From El Ferrol through Galicia, León, and Castille, the scarcity of terrain and the poverty of people weighed on Adams, his sons, and his party. The taverns offered little accommodation, so each man carried his own blankets and sheets, food and water, flint and steel.</p>
<p>In the December chill, he hoped only for a comforting fire at night, but even that simple luxury eluded him. "I have not seen a Chimney in Spain," he wrote. Whenever a fire was lit, the room filled with smoke and soot, causing everyone around the small flame to cough and wheeze. With watery eyes, they turned gray as shadows and then black as coal, their faces "looking like Chimney Sweepers."</p>
<p>The grime and filth wore down the whole party and by the new year, every one of them had come down with some kind of respiratory illness. The humid chill froze them to the bone. Adams admitted in a letter home to Abigail that reaching Paris by land may have been a grave error in judgment. "The Church, State, and Nobility, exhaust the People to such a degree," he wrote, "I have no idea of the Possibility of deaper wretchedness."</p>
<p>This glumness felt uncharacteristic for a revolutionary such as Adams. He was renowned for optimism, an undaunted fighting spirit, and intellectual vigor that had infused America's revolutionary cause with philosophical underpinnings and legal reason. His was a character that would serve as Vice President to George Washington, and later the second President of the United States. Dejection felt ill-suited for someone cut of his sturdy cloth.</p>
<p>Yet by the time the mule train reached Burgos, his heavy feelings had turned to dark despair. "In short, I am in a deplorable situation indeed," he wrote on January 11, 1780. "I know not what to do. I know not where to go."</p>
<p>With heavy heart, he climbed into his mule-drawn carriage the next morning, and plodded through Bribiesca, Pancourbo, and Ezpexo. Sitting across from him were his children, John Quincy and Charles, listlessly rocking back and forth, each shivering, coughing, and sneezing. He worried for their safety, health, and proper schooling.</p>
<p>The carriage descended from a mountain peak, round and round, as if riding the back of a coiled snake, before it finally came into the valley of Biscay where the party would overnight in the town of Orduña.</p>
<p>No signs or landmarks delineated the boundary between the Spanish lands and the Basque territory, but Adams knew he had crossed an important line that stretched from craggy cliffs across a valley and north to the sea. His diary and the writings of others grew cheerful and upbeat almost immediately, like sunshine burning off the gray and cold of suffocating clouds.</p>
<p>In this new land, everyone rose before the dawn. The air had warmed, the chill had broken. "It is a beautifull, a fertile and a well cultivated Spot, almost the only one We have yet seen," wrote Adams. Riding north, they met merchants on the path with salted fish, sardines, cod, and horse shoes, an assortment greater than any they had seen since Boston Harbor, and "the Mule and their Drivers look very well, in comparison of those We have seen before."</p>
<p>On January 15, the mule train entered Bilbao, a city half the size of Boston, smelling of sea air and gutted cod, and buzzing with trade. Burly men, some in black berets, loaded and unloaded goods, dealt in the street and shook hands, dangled trinkets for trade, and marketed fruits and vegetables. Women sold yards of cloth and linen and hand-made scarves. Shops lined the road selling books, glass, china, toys, and cutlery. Most impressive of all, Adams beheld a splendid sight – a chimney! The hustle and bustle, all vibrant and freewheeling, felt so familiar to him. "In riding through this little territory," he wrote, "you would fancy yourself in Connecticut."</p>
<p>He and his party settled at a "respectable inn" where they could warm fingers and toes without breathing in ash. Hardly an hour had passed when a knock came, and there at the door stood a Basque merchant, Joseph Gardoqui, with an invitation to dinner. With a courteous bow, Adams happily accepted.</p>
<p>Gardoqui and his sons had built a thriving business that traded between Bilbao and the American colonies. He had sympathy for these revolutionary fighters, calling them "patriots," and doing his small part, he believed, for their cause. Funneled through Basque territory and ports, his secret cargoes would include 30,000 muskets; 30,000 bayonets; 51,314 musket balls; 300,000 pounds of powder; 12,868 grenades; 30,000 uniforms; and 4,000 field tents.</p>
<p>At dinner, Gardoqui recounted with wild swings of arms and hands several Basque achievements. He spoke of the academy at Bergara, unlike any in Spain, where children of Biscay, Gipuzkoa, and Álava learned trade and the customs and cultures of Europe and America. He spoke of townships electing councils for decentralized governance and described how the Basque collected revenues in a common formula transparent to all. Adams listened with rapt attention, drinking wine of Gardoqui's own vintage.</p>
<p>The two walked the streets of Bilbao after dinner to see the Board of Trade, a Basque institution that had been 150 years in the making. Merchants by lot and election chose members of the Board to settle all disputes of trade on land or at sea. Neither foreigners nor appointees of the King could serve.</p>
<p>Adams marveled how this Board had blossomed outside the King's reach, writing of it in letters home and in his diary. Its origin mirrored events in Adams' colony of Massachusetts that had sparked the American Revolution. In 1632, the King of Spain levied a tax on salt. The citizens of Bilbao refused to pay and then killed the officers who tried to collect it. The King dispatched three thousand troops to put down the rebellion, but the Basque organized, fought back, and killed or drove out the soldiers. Consequently, the King lost much of his authority over the Basque to collect duties or confer lordship over lands and ships.</p>
<p>That night Adams wrote in his diary, "The Lands in Biscay are chiefly in the Hands of the People – few Lordships." He also dispatched a letter to Samuel Huntington, President of Congress in Philadelphia, saying, "It may seem surprising, to hear of free Provinces in Spain, but such is the Fact,...that a Traveller perceives it even in their Countenances, their Dress, their Air, and ordinary manner of Speech, has induced the Spanish Nation and their Kings to respect the Ancient Liberties of these People, so far that each Monarch, at his Accession to the Throne, has taken an Oath, to observe the Laws of Biscay."</p>
<p>Adams might have stayed in Bilbao weeks longer to satisfy his profound curiosity, but he was eager to reach Paris. The next morning, he bundled John Quincy and Charles into the mule-drawn carriage, and assembled the rest of his party to leave Bilbao. They crossed into Bayonne three days later, and then Bordeaux two days after that. Paris came into view on February 9.</p>
<p>A year later in America, a defeat at Yorktown ended any hope England had of retaining her thirteen colonies. The Treaty of Paris brought the American Revolution officially to a close in 1783, due in no small part to Adams' brilliance. The founding fathers then turned their attention to the long, painstaking challenge of forging a new constitution. They asked Adams to research and study the best political philosophies, the best models of history, and the best examples of the day, if he could find any, to illuminate their debate after so much sacrifice and miserable bloodshed.</p>
<p>In May 1787, he published his findings. Even though more than seven years had passed, and he had spent only eight days among the Basque, he remembered the people fondly and wrote of them with eloquence. "While their neighbors have long since resigned all their pretensions into the hands of kings and priests," he wrote, "this extraordinary people have preserved their ancient language, genius, laws, government, and manners, without innovation, longer than any other nation of Europe."</p>
<p>Adams declared the Basque a republic. Then abiding the example of these remarkable people in the Pyrenees, the wise men of Philadelphia with studious care crafted a republic of their own.</p>
<p>----------------------</p>
<p>Vince J. Juaristi was born and raised in Elko, NV. He is CEO and President of ARBOLA, a technology company, in Alexandria, VA. His newest book, <em>Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World</em>, will be released this year by the University of Nevada Press.</p>
<p>Anyone wishing to make a donation for the Elko Basque Program at the Smithsonian should contact Angie deBraga at Great Basin College - angie.debraga@gbcnv.edu.</p>
Original Format
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html webpage
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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John Adams Encounters the Basque
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Account of John Adams visit to the Basque country in Spain in 1779. The visit was the result of delays in Adams travelling to Paris to begin the peace process in the American Revolution.</p>
<p>[<a title="John Adams Encounters the Basque" href="/basques/neh_basques_adams.html" target="_self">View Article webpage</a>]</p>
Part of the <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/26" target="_self"><strong>Intertwined</strong></a> series of articles celebrating Basque and American Encounters in conjunction with the <a title="Smithsonian Institute's 2016 Folklife Festival" href="http://www.festival.si.edu/2016/basque/smithsonian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smithsonian's 2016 Folklife Festival</a>.
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Vince J. Juaristi
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Originally posted in the <a title="John Adams Encounters the Basque" href="http://m.elkodaily.com/lifestyles/intertwined-john-adams-encounters-the-basque/article_1ead4c34-e4b9-5a8d-8c91-a29985854351.html?mobile_touch=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elko Daily Free Press</a>, 8 February 2016
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Virtual Humanities Center at Great Basin College
Date
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8 February 2016
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Scott A. Gavorsky; Frank L Sawyer [VHC]
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html webpage
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English
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Copyright © 2016, Vince J. Juaristi. Articles may not be reprinted or redistributed.
Used by explicit permission of author; VHC Archive Deposit Agreement on file: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7be251bbb6b73065a4187dcad994ffbf.pdf [administrator access only]
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