Journal Entries of the Upper Delaware River Region • Serving PA, NJ & NY
Late Summer 2022
Publisher & Editor
Amy Bridge publisher@milfordjournal.com
Creative Director
Jimmy Sheehan jimmy@milfordjournal.com
Associate Editor
B’Ann Bowman bann_bowman@yahoo.com
Advertising
Amy Bridge amy@milfordjournal.com Susan Mednick susanmed2@optonline.net Kimberly Hess Kimberlyhess212@gmail.com
Contributors
Julia Schmitt Healy, William R. Bathgate, Michael Worden, Maureen Newman, Paulette Calasibetta, Eric Francis, Robert Bowman
Mission
The tri-state upper Delaware River highlands and valleys are a place of rare beauty…. Seeing the region and living in it almost aren’t enough. Such beauty should be captured on canvas or film so that one can truly appreciate it, glimpse it in the quiet of an art gallery or museum, or between the pages of a poetry book or literary sketch. The Journal Group’s mission is to capture these momentary snapshots of beauty graphically and through the written word. We celebrate our area and the uniqueness of the people who live and work in the tri-state region. From Pike to Wayne and Monroe to Lackawanna Counties in Pennsylvania, upriver to Sullivan County and on to Orange County in New York, and to the headwaters of the Wallkill River and along Sussex County’s rolling hills in New Jersey, with quaint, historic towns and hamlets at the center, the Journal Group opens its doors to our communities, businesses and organizations, to serve as a communicative journal of all that we have to offer for those who live here and for those who love to visit us, too.
Publication Information
The Journal Group publishes The Journal ten times a year and distributes it in eight counties in PA, NJ and NY. We assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission. We reserve the right to refuse to print advertisements that we deem inappropriate. All rights reserved.
Uniting PA, NJ & NY PO Box 1026 • Milford, PA 18337 • 908.578.3138 www.milfordjournal.com
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Contents
Late Summer 2022
10
• art •
16
• history •
22
• food •
26
• life •
30
• nature •
Nelson & Alex DeMille Fogotten Memories
Paul Freedman
It’s All in the Game Sunflower Amazed
6 • journal entry 7 • poem 8 • calendar 35 • signs
Journal Entries of the Upper Delaware River Region • Serving PA, NJ & NY
Late Summer 2022
Cover Line Father and son, Nelson and Alex DeMille will be interviewed at the Milford Readers and Writers Festival on Saturday, September 17th. Top photo by Alex DeMille, bottom photo by Dagmar Weaver-Madsen 5
Journal Entry
Ode to the Poet
I
love poetry. I’ve written some myself, and I’m always in awe of the people that look at life through a poetic lens. They can express themselves so beautifully. These sensitive and special folks see with unique eyes, possessing the distinct capability of focusing their creative thoughts into what seems to be effortless stanzas of articulation. The poets among us are a separate breed.
that within the poetry genre, there are quite a few different forms of poetry, from free verse and sonnets to haiku. Some of the poets that we publish in The Journal have never been published before. I imagine the feeling they have when they see their words in print.
With an uncanny ability to direct their imagination, poets combine both a fresh way of looking at the ordinary with an oft times romantic perspective of the world or maybe they just give us a glimpse into a few seconds that are happening in the real world, or maybe just a peek into their own world, but nevertheless, they make time stand still with their words.
As we get ready for next month’s Milford Readers and Writers Festival, we pay tribute here to our poets and also explore the writing dynamic of best-selling author Nelson DeMille and his son Alex DeMille as they discuss their collaboration on the 2019 book, The Deserter. Celebrated historian and food author, Paul Freedman took time out from his professorship at Yale to speak about his newest book. We also hear from local true-crime author Michael Worden about a horrific crime that took place in 1892.
What many people don’t realize is that writing poetry is a separate skill set from other types of word-smithing and
And in this issue, I’d like to acknowledge our many local writers who work with The Journal. We all say thank you!
Amy
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Photo courtesy of nasa.gov
Poem
Celestial Phenomena Exploring a brilliant evening sky Polar white stars wink at me, Infinitely vast as far as the eye can see Luminous against a velvet veil of darkness, Constellations and the Milky Way Paint the canvas up above, Sparkling and shimmering Like diamond dust tossed into space, Gleaming and twinkling They glitter in their heavenly finery, Flashing and flickering Shooting stars streak by, Magical and mystical Is this wondrous cosmic site! -Maureen Newman
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Calendar Thursdays 6:30–8:30 p.m. .............................
On the Lawn Concerts. Sugar Loaf Crossing, Sugar Loaf, NY. Best Friends Girl, 8th Grade Science, Hudson Valley Jazz Sextet, The Bruce Show. Free. Info: 845.469.2713, www.onthelawnconcerts.org, Facebook: On the Lawn at Sugar Loaf Crossing.
August 3rd–7th
Wednesday–Sunday 7:30 p.m. .............................
Tavern at the Edge of the World. Willow Wisp Organic Farm, Damascus, PA. Featuring the Farm Arts Collective Ensemble. Adults/$30; children 12 & under/$15. Info: 570.798.9530, www.farmartscollec tive.org.
August 5th–13th 9 a.m.–11 p.m.
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Wayne County Fair. Honesdale, PA. Rides, animals, food, shows. Info: 570.253.5486, waynecountyfair.com.
August 5th–13th 10 a.m.
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New Jersey State Fair & Sussex County Farm & Horse Show. New Jersey State Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ. Info: 973.948.5500, www.njstatefair.org.
August 6th
Saturday 3 p.m.
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Ukrainian Music Celebration. Ann Street Park, Milford, PA. And other locations around town, 2–7 p.m. Donations help people of Ukraine. Hosted by Kindred Spirits Arts Programs. Info: 570.409.1269, www. kindredspiritsarts.org. 5–7 p.m.
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A Taste of Cinema. Marie Zimmermann Farm, Dingmans Ferry, PA. Cocktail party and sneak previews of 2022 Black Bear Film Festival. $75. Info: 570.832.4858, blackbearfilm.com.
August 6th–20th 8 p.m.
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Sunset Concert Series. Sunset Concert Pavilion, Livingston Manor, NY. $10–$35. August 6th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 20th. Presented by the Shandelee Music Festival. Info: 845.439.3277, www.shan delee.org.
Saturday 2–4 p.m.
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Artful Bears Community Picnic. Community House, Milford, PA. Free. Artful Bears unveiling, music, games & snow cones. Info: 570.832.4858, blackbearfilm.com. 8 p.m.
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The Sinatra Show. Outdoor Stage, Dingmans Ferry Theater, Dingmans Ferry, PA. With Jim & Angela Manfredonia and the Summer Swing Orchestra. Free. Info: ding mansferrytheatre.com.
August 18th–21st Thursday–Sunday
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Hudson Valley Jazz Festival. Orange County and Hudson Valley sites. Featuring local talent. For schedule and info: 917.903.4380, www.hudsonvalleyjazzfestival.org.
August 20th
Saturday Noon–5 p.m. .............................
Pupstock Festival. Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ. Dog activity zones, adoptions, art, food trucks, live music. $5– $20. Benefits Father John’s Animal House. Info: www.pupstock.com. 5:30 p.m.
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Tea for Two. Grey Towers, Milford, PA. Violin & cello duets. $25. Hosted by Kindred Spirits Arts Programs. Info: 570.409.1269, www.kindredspiritsarts.org.
August 21st Sunday 1 p.m.
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History of the Appalachian Trail. Walpack Church, Walpack Center, NJ. Hosted by Walpack Historical Society. Info: 973.948.4903, walpackhistory.org.
August 23rd
Tuesday 4–6 p.m.
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GlassRoots 2022: Opening Reception. Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton, NJ. Artist presentations, 7 p.m. Info: 973.948.5200, www.petersvalley.org.
August 27th–28th
Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. .............................
August 9th
Warren County Antiques Show. Warren County Fairgrounds, Harmony Township, NJ. Over 100 dealers, free parking, on-site food. $8/under 12 free. Info: 908.343.5873, warrencountyantiqueshow.com.
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August 28th
Tuesday 6–9 p.m.
Black Dirt Feast. Glenwood Green, Pine Island, NY. $150/person. Hosted by the Pine Island Chamber of Commerce. Benefits local food pantries, beautification, scholarships. Info: 845.258.1469, www. pineislandny.com. 8
August 13th
Sunday 4–6 p.m.
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Opera! Pike! Park! Ann Street Park, Milford, PA. Performances by Academy of Vocal Arts. Free. Part of the Music in the Park series. Info: pikeopera.com.
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Art
By Julia Schmitt Healy
Partners in Crime Authors of The Deserter at the Milford Readers & Writers Festival
N
elson DeMille’s thriller novels have long been a staple on the New York Times Bestseller Lists. If you go to the library, you will find a shelf or two devoted to the numerous titles he has written over what has been a long and successful career. And it happens that all of his books are still in print, which is a rarity in the world of novelists.
Top: Nelson DeMille. Photo by Alex DeMille. Bottom: Alex DeMille. Photo by Dagmar Weaver-Madsen
His work includes four different thriller series consisting of several books each, along with stand-alone novels and short fiction. And thus far, three of the books have made it to the screen—The General’s Daughter, a film starring John Travolta; Word of Honor, a television movie starring Don Johnson; and Mayday, another television film starring Aiden Quinn. It is, therefore, wonderful news that he is coming to the Milford Readers & Writers Festival as the headliner this year. But there is an added bonus: his son Alex—a screenwriter and director who collaborated on The Deserter—will be joining him. I recently spoke to each of them (separately) and have to say that I am very much looking forward to attending this panel. Nelson’s personal history informs his work. After three years of college, he joined the Army and attended Officer Candidate School. He saw action in Vietnam and was an infantry platoon leader. Not surprisingly, his military experiences have enriched his novels, which feature familiarity with firearms and details about tactics that his characters employ to wriggle out of what seem like impossible situations. Returning to civilian life, Nelson completed his degree in political science and history at Hofstra University on Long Island. Soon after, he was writing full-time. The characters in his books tend to be wise-ass types who flout rules and get into difficult situations, often with an attractive female sidekick. The plots have the usual twists and turns as good thrillers should, but they are very well researched and include accurate historical and geographical details mixed into the fictional stew. Understandably, the novels often take place on Long Island, where Nelson lives and works. When I asked how the collaboration between Nelson and Alex came about, I learned how two people might go about writing a novel together and also a thing or two about the publishing business.
A few years ago, Nelson relates that he moved from Hachette Publishing to Simon and Schuster, where he was offered a contract for three solo books and three co-authored books. Apparently, there was a sort of “contest” among seven writers to co-author with him, and Nelson picked one he thought would be a good fit. But once on the project, things weren’t smooth. There had to be a parting of ways. So in thinking about what to do next, it hit him, and he broached the idea of a collaboration with his son. After all, Alex had a Yale education followed by a Masters in Fine Arts in Film Directing from UCLA. Plus, he was familiar with the Nelson DeMille genre. Why not try this? Nelson thought. He asked his son if he was interested, and happily, Alex agreed to join the project. Alex DeMille, who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and child, tells me he had written some prose here and there, but, until this book, had not done much fiction writing, as he had spent most of his career screenwriting and directing films. Of course, as a parent, I wanted to find out if things were dicey taking this on. Au contraire. It was a “privilege to work with him,” Alex tells me. “It was like attending the ultimate writers’ workshop.” The process was interesting. Nelson had outlined the book. Alex did much of the research. He would email what he wrote to Nelson and get back comments and corrections penciled in. “The logistics were worked out… and stylistically it was good,” Nelson notes, because “Alex added freshness and youth.” This included the language. Nelson liked the fact that Alex is around the same age as the two main characters, so their dialogue reflects how Continued on next page
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Art
people in their thirties speak today. “Language is dynamic. It’s important not to get stuck in a time period,” he adds.
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Continued
So what is The Deserter about? “The premise of the novel,” Nelson says, “stemmed from the Bowe Bergdahl case.” There’s an army deserter from the elite Delta Force (Kyle Mercer) who disappears in Afghanistan and is captured by the Taliban, only later to be sighted in Caracas, Venezuela. Two Criminal Investigation Division (CID) agents (Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor) are sent to find and apprehend him. It’s a real long shot, considering the skill set Mercer possesses and the state of the country, which is unbelievably dangerous. It doesn’t hurt that our CID agents have a certain amount of chemistry.
The overarching questions, of course, are why did Mercer desert? What brought him to that decision? And do they get their man? You’ll have to read the book to get the answers. No spoilers here. .................................................................................. The authors will be interviewed on Saturday, September 17th, on the Main Stage by none other than publisher Steve Rubin, who currently holds the position of Consulting Publisher at Simon and Schuster. Rubin has an impressive record in the book industry. He has worked with and published authors such as John Grisham, Dan Brown, Hillary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Tina Brown, Margaret Atwood, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Wolff, and others. Information about tickets for the festival may be found at milfordreadersandwriters.com.
The Venezuelan location makes for very powerful and quite disturbing descriptions of, ironically, what was once a paradise. Now it is corrupt and crumbling with desperate people trying to survive.
Julia Schmitt Healy is an artist, professor, and writer who currently lives and works in Port Jervis, NY. Her work is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago. Check out some of her art at westernexhibitions.com and juliahealy.com. Continued on page 14
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Art
Continued
The Book Biz • A new work of fiction by Nelson DeMille—The Maze— is coming out this October. It features Nelson’s character, John Corey, who will now have been featured in eight books. It concerns the true-life Gilgo Beach Murders that have yet to be solved. • Nelson does not adapt his own books to the screen. “You have to divorce yourself somewhat from what happens when a film is made. Movies and print novels are different media.” • Alex writes on the computer; Nelson always writes in longhand. The latter says, “I can think better that way.”
Photo by Dagmar Weaver-Madsen
• Nelson referred to his work as “the thinking man’s thriller.” “I don’t want to write a polemic; I want action and adventure in my books.”
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• Alex and Nelson were dissuaded from going to Venezuela to do research when they learned about Americans who were in the country to record regional folk music and were forced off the road by the police and robbed. • Brodie and Taylor will be returning as characters in their next collaboration. Maybe someday, Alex will completely take over the franchise. Nelson didn’t say as much, but he did comment that, “I passed the baton off so the series can continue.”
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Sketch of Robert Lewis from the June 9, 1892, edition of the Tri-State Union.
History
Orange Square in Port Jervis, NY. Photo courtesy of the Minisink Valley Historical Society
By Michael Worden
Lynched by a Mob in Port Jervis, NY Editor’s Note: This is a true story, and it has graphic depictions, as history often does.
A
storm had moved in, and the sky was alive with lighting and crashes of thunder. Robert Lewis was dead. His half naked, bloodied, and battered body lay in the gutter. The newly falling rain had begun to wash the blood from his body. It was as if mother nature was weeping and cleansing the signs of violence from his body. It was the evening of June 2, 1892, and a violent mob had just lynched one of their own. Robert Lewis was a local African American man who had been accused of sexually assaulting a white female named Lena McMahon earlier in the day. He was apprehended by some local citizens, and before the local police could take him into their custody, he was seized by a blood-thirsty mob and dragged nearly half a mile through the streets, viciously beaten along the way, before he was hanged, not once, but twice, from the limb of a tree on Main Street. This was an all-too-common occurrence in the southern states, but Robert Lewis wasn’t lynched in the South: he was murdered by his fellow residents in Port Jervis, New York. And no one was ever held accountable for his murder.
It was a story I was familiar with. My late paternal grandmother, Marge Worden, used to occasionally bring it up. She wasn’t alive in 1892, but her aunt Jenny was. Mary Jane Clark, or Jenny as she was known, was a young factory worker who had been near the scene of the sexual assault and had tended to Lena McMahon in the immediate aftermath. In 2018, when I set about researching the lynching of Robert Lewis, the facts had been largely lost to history. Most of the facts were forgotten and what was remembered were the cursory details interspersed with misinformation. I set out to change that and began what amounts to an investigation into a nearly 130-year-old cold case. My goal was to tell the most factual account of the events leading up to the lynching, the lynching itself and aftermath, and the various failed legal inquires. I also wanted to tell the stories of the people involved, including Robert Lewis, which I determined was not even his real name, and his alleged victim, Lena McMahon. Continued on next page 17
History
Continued
Lena McMahon from Tri-States Union, June 9, 1892 (Port Jervis)
The story that unfolded was more complex that I could have imagined. Lena McMahon was an intelligent, industrious, and beautiful young woman with a likeable personality. She was an 1889 graduate of the Port Jervis Academy and in 1892 operated a small confectionary on Kingston Avenue in Port Jervis. She was an adopted daughter of John McMahon, a glassblower, and his wife, Theresa, both of whom had emigrated from Ireland to the United States with their respective families at very young ages. Lena had all the promises of a happy life ahead of her. Enter P.J. Foley.
When I refer to this event as a cold case, it isn’t an exaggeration. It is based on my research of one of the few unsolved homicides in Port Jervis. I also approached this as a cold case because of my experience in law enforcement. I served for twenty-two years as a police officer with the Port Jervis Police Department, having worked my way up through the ranks from patrol officer, to detective, and finally sergeant. I retired in June of 2021. For nearly nine and onehalf years of that service, I was a detective handling a lot of major crimes, including among other offenses, several homicides and sexual assaults. I had extensive experience and training with investigations, forensics (especially death investigations), interviewing, and the applicable laws we deal with on a routine basis. I was approaching this as if it were a police investigation, only all of the witnesses are dead, there are no crime scenes to study, no body to have autopsied, no suspect to interview. I thus plunged into the years of research required to uncover as many primary source documents as possible, including court records, newspaper articles, and other government records. 18
P.J. Foley was an insurance salesman from Massachusetts who had arrived in Port Jervis in the fall of 1891. His real name is a source of confusion, even after I had concluded my research. He and Lena were drawn to one another and began a relationship that was most certainly romantic in nature. Foley’s suitability as a future husband, however, took a hit when he was sentenced to the county jail for two months in the winter of 1892 for defrauding a hotelkeeper. Lena had been forbidden to see him, but in defiance of her parent’s wishes, she continued the relationship clandestinely. In the spring of 1892, Foley began extorting money from Lena. In a drama that later unfolded in the pages of the local press after the lynching, Foley threatened to ruin Lena’s reputation unless she paid him money. By June 2, 1892, those threats seemed to escalate. On that morning, Foley had offered to help Lena, who was determined to leave home, obtain her property so she could travel to Boston where she had relatives. Foley’s generous gesture was a ruse. He accompanied her to the bank of the Neversink River and left her there to go and secure some food. Shortly after he left, Robert Lewis approached Lena and sexually assaulted her, a crime that was witnessed by three young boys who were fishing nearby. Lewis then fled from the scene and traveled toward Huguenot, New York. My great aunt Jenny and her co-workers, on lunchbreak from the nearby harness factory, heard the commotion and observed P.J. Foley hiding in the bushes overlooking the scene of the crime! The young women assisted Lena until her mother arrived, by which time Foley had fled from the area. Sol Carley, a neighbor of the McMahons, and other men began searching for Lewis and tracked him to a canal boat in Huguenot. He was apprehended by Carley and two other men, Seward Horton and John Doty, and taken back to Port Jervis in a wagon. Lewis’s hands and feet were securely bound, and Lewis confessed to the crime on the journey back to the village. His confession not only incriminated himself, but he inculpated P.J. Foley, whom Lewis said had set him up to commit the crime. Continued on page 20
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History
Continued
The captors with their prisoner arrived in Port Jervis shortly before 9:00 p.m. Doty had been sent ahead to notify the police that they had Lewis and would be at the jail shortly. In 1892, the jail was located behind a firehouse on lower Sussex Street, near the corner of Ball Street. A sizeable crowd had assembled there, fueled by reports that a suspect had been arrested in Otisville and was being brought in by the train. Rumors swirled through the crowd that Lena was in critical condition and could die from her injuries. Anger swelled and the crowd morphed into a blood thirsty mob that was intent upon swift, exact justice, mob style. By the time Sol Carley turned his wagon onto Sussex Street, Robert Lewis’s fate was sealed. Police officers, including a heroic man named Simon Yaple, stepped in to take custody of Lewis. The men untied the leg straps, but before Yaple could take him from the wagon, Lewis was pulled out and thrown to the ground, where he was viciously beaten. The savagery of the violence is appalling. The exact details of his experience from the moment he is pulled from the wagon until he is dead hanging from a tree are described in my book. It was a nearly half mile journey from the jail to the tree, an unholy procession during which Lewis was repeatedly beaten, punched, and kicked. The entire time his hands were tied behind his back. His last minutes on earth had to have been filled with terror, fear, and pain. Not everyone that night was there to do violence. Many prominent men attempted to stop the lynching, including Judge William H. Crane, brother of famed author Stephen Crane. Brave stands were made in defiance of the mob. But “judge lynch” had pronounced sentence, and nothing but Robert Lewis’s life would satisfy the mob’s rage. The days and weeks that followed were marked by a coroner’s inquest and a grand jury investigation, both of which failed to place blame for Robert Lewis’s murder. Some prominent members of the community had been implicated, and credible witnesses gave testimony. But justice failed Robert Lewis. It failed him again in September of 1892 when a second grand jury did not hand down any indictments. It was the beginning of the collective amnesia that would lead to the incident becoming a mere footnote in history. Lena McMahon was never the same after the assault, and in August of 1894, she made national headlines when the decomposing remains of an infant were found in her room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in New York City. Her story after 1894 is a sad one, and her complete life story is told for the first time in my book. As is the life story of Robert Lewis, who was more than the victim of a lynching. He was a local who had spent most of his life in Port Jervis. His life story, including his actual name, deserves to be remembered and accurately told. 20
The book, Lynched by a Mob! The 1892 Lynching of Robert Lewis in Port Jervis, New York, was released in early May of this year, and it coincided with the 130th anniversary of that tragic event, a date that was marked with the erection of a historical marker near the site of the lynching. Over 635 sources were used to unravel the story, and it was fully noted with an extensive bibliography. The book is a larger format (8 ½” x 11”) at 444 pages with 178 illustrations and photographs, including court records that are being published for the first time in 130 years. Some have described the book as my magnum opus, and perhaps it is. Regardless, it is a step forward in accurately remembering this event and ensuring that it is never again relegated to the forgotten memories of our past. ............................................................................... Lynched by a Mob is available locally at Foundry 42 in Port Jervis and online through Amazon and other book sellers. Michael J. Worden is a retired police officer and is a researcher and author of historical true crime. His first true-crime book, The Murder of Richard Jennings: The True Story of New York’s First Murder for Hire, was published in 2013. Worden is presently the town historian for the Town of Deerpark, NY, and serves on the board of directors for the Minisink Valley Historical Society. When he isn’t buried deep in the pages of old newspapers or court records, he enjoys practicing special fx makeup, reading about the Civil War and World War II, and is an avid traveler. He resides in Deerpark with his wife, Renee, and sons, Ryan, Michael, and Douglas. He can be reached at mworden@sisubooks.com.
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Food
By Julia Schmitt Healy
So Much to Digest Paul Freedman at the Milford Readers & Writers Festival
T
alk to Yale professor and author Paul Freedman and you may want to spend the next few hours in conversation. His knowledge spans many areas—Medieval European history, the history of taste, how the desire for spices and luxury products affected world history, and recently, why food matters. Milford resident Richard Morais (The Hundred-Foot Journey) will be interviewing Professor Freedman about his recent book, American Cuisine: And How It Got This Way, at the Milford Readers & Writers Festival…so you will be able to see what I mean. Time will fly by, and you will be left wanting more, kind of like eating an expensive gourmet meal with smallish portions. A few years ago, Professor Freedman was at the festival talking about his 2016 book, Ten Restaurants That Changed America. The response was so positive, he’s now been asked back, this time to share his insights about what “American Cuisine” might be and how it got this way.
Photos and photo captions courtesy of Paul Freedman
Freedman tells me that many people don’t take food as a serious subject worthy of intellectual investigation. “They have a contempt for the importance of food,” he says. Yet, as he talks, you realize how food can be a factor in diplomacy, business, relationships, and other areas beyond sustaining life. For example, when President Nixon was preparing to go to China, he learned how to use chopsticks as a matter of respect. The business lunch has launched many deals and, possibly, cost some people jobs or contracts after they ordered one drink too many or became recalcitrant when demanding menu changes. Many handshakes have resulted in financial transactions at private clubs—which often excluded women and minorities. The book is comprehensive and nicely illustrated with an overarching theme of how, over time, three main forces have influenced American food: regional cooking, the industrial system, and the American desire for novelty. Freedman discusses regional foods and what actually is regional and what is not. Some recipes, he points out, are now identified with a certain area but are not authentically from that place (fish tacos in San Diego, pepperoni rolls in West Virginia being examples). When we think of Southern Fried Chicken, Tex-Mex Fajitas, or New England Clam Chowder, we think “regional,” but they may not be. Then there are regional traditions that have food elements associated with them, such as round-up barbecues, clambakes, and—who knew?—cemetery-cleaning picnics! (The latter is one that I’m thinking might be fun to revive.)
The industrial system also changed what we ate and how it got to us. White bread and bottled salad dressing are only the tip of the iceberg of what became convenience foods. Some people bemoaned the mechanization of food preparation, but many Americans embraced the assurance of sameness. Cooking could be considered a chore, and prepared food meant less time in the kitchen. Another broad idea in the book is the American love of novelty. While food writer Michael Pollan has advised us not to “eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize,” many Americans have embraced newness in grocery store products, as well as preparation. Turducken, anyone? Advertising, of course, plays a part in this. If you are of a certain age, you might remember those straws that turned milk into chocolate or strawberry drinks. I couldn’t wait to try those. (They were terrible, now that I think of it, but seemed so cool at the time.) Today’s cereal aisles can give you a sense of the desire for variety and newness. There is always a box of something you have never seen before— usually targeting children. The book points out how racism has sometimes been embedded in historical cookbooks, where there might be early black dialect in the instructions. In some cookbooks, the white mistress of the plantation, who likely rarely, if ever, visited a kitchen, took credit for a recipe that was clearly not hers. And then there is the enormous role that slavery played in the production of sugar. And when sugar became less expensive, what with not paying slaves for their labor, Americans taste for sweeter foods took off. Sugar can be found in so many products— salad dressing, pasta sauce, yogurt, energy drinks, dried fruit. Freedman writes about “commensality”—the act of sharing food at the table. It is in decline at present, as you might guess. Family members come and go. Some are in front of a screen and psychologically absent, even if they are seated at a table. We eat on the run or at our desks. Clearly, they have not taken Talleyrand to heart, who famously said: “Show me another pleasure like dinner which comes every day and lasts an hour.” Continued on next page 23
Food
Continued
Included are lists and descriptions of cookbooks, from early efforts printed in the 19th and 20th centuries to such standards as The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, the Time Life Cookbooks, and community or charity cookbooks. Throughout the book, Freedman addresses many other important topics too numerous to go into here: sustainability, water use, transportation costs, health, sociology, class, poverty. This book has really made me think every time I grocery shop, cook, eat out, or even open my fridge. At the end of our conversation, I ask him about his diet. He tells me he doesn’t always eat organic and that he eats meat. He is “unenthusiastic” about “alt grains” such as buckwheat or farro. But, he assures me, “I am not a food snob.” Maybe I’ll bring him some of my mom’s “Fruit Cocktail Jello Mold Supreme” in that case. ..................................................................................... Julia Schmitt Healy is an artist, professor, and writer who currently lives and works in Port Jervis, NY. Her work is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago. Check out some of her art at westernexhibitions.com and juliahealy.com.
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Tidbits Things most Americans don’t like to eat: organ meats Average miles a food product travels to get to your grocery store: 2,000 miles Most disgusting photograph of food in the book: Mount Fuji King Crab Gelatin Salad on page 215 Recipe you probably will never make: raccoon on page 129 Salesman for printing companies who sold his name to be put on cake mixes: Duncan Hines Something positive in the world of food: Farm to Table
Photo Captions Photos on Page 22 Top: Edward Hopper’s painting shows two women dining in a Chinese restaurant with a chop suey sign. Americans were early adopters of the food of foreign countries. Bottom left: An advertisement (from about 1963) by the Grand Oven Company. The housewife is both a great cook, pleasing her husband, and ready to go out after the meal, wearing pearls and a low-cut dress. Bottom right: Once common at fancy restaurants, the practice of cooking dishes tableside by setting them on fire is almost a lost art. Photos on Page 25 Top: Americans have been obsessed with health in relation to food and seduced by claims that industrial food products are good for you. Bottom: Mid-20th century advertisers seem to have assumed that men are irritable babies.
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Above: Dominos set, circa 1930s. Note that the alternative spelling of dominos was used on the box.
Life
By William R. Bathgate
Dominos Anyone?
T
here are athletic clubs of every description: fishing clubs, archery clubs, hunting clubs, but a domino club? How did that fall into place?
I surmise that dominos became a thing much the same way that card games and board games served as chief forms of home entertainment before the inventions of modern pastimes. As we will see, domino playing did have a special place, and it was played earnestly in the town of Branchville, NJ. That special place was a one-room building, fourteen feet by twenty-four feet, which sat on the borough square, opposite the First National Bank. It was built in 1897 as an insurance office by Mr. Oscar Bowman, and in later years, it was sold to Mr. N.A. Hopkins, a very successful home-building contractor who had a penchant for playing dominos. It is believed that this may have been the beginning of Branchville’s Domino Club, as Hopkins always made the domino players feel welcome there. Upon his death, the borough purchased the building for use as a meeting place, election polling place, and other municipal functions. The daily “block” games continued in the club room—strangers and visitors alike were made to feel welcome. Its door was seldom locked.
During winter, the old potbellied woodstove was stoked up with a sufficient amount of oak; the spittoon location was checked for its convenience; cigars and pipes were taken out and lit or a goodly sized pinch of chewin’ tobacco was drawn from its pouch and placed between jaw and cheek—then it was “game on.” In February of 1937, there was big news in Branchville—a reporter from the Newark Evening News ascended upon the town to do a story on the Domino Club. Although the town laid no claim to being a health resort, the ages of its members attested to the refreshing climate enjoyed here. In the first photo taken for the newspaper article, it just happened that four of the town’s most successful businessmen could be seen. There was Mr. George Ingersol, aged 82, who had come into the Branchville area in the mid-1880s with a team of mules and a plow. In 1888, he started a coal and lumber business at the corner of Mill Street and Newton Avenue and became one of the town’s most astute businessmen. Mr. Ingersol’s daily routine was to check in at the office in the morning, and if there was nothing pressing, he’d leave for the day to go fishing at Culvers Lake. When he sold his business in 1925, it was without any indebtedness. He owned a lovely large home on Wantage Continued on next page
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Life Ave. and was a director of the First National Bank of Branchville. Also pictured were Mr. J. Warren Holton, 81 years old, who had many successful businesses as well as connections to the local bank, and Mr. George P. McDanolds, 78, who was the patriarch of a large clan of McDanolds. He was not only very successful in a large dairy business, but was also very successful in land dealings. Mr. Abram Stoll, 75, posed for the photo, as well. The story was that Stoll had never been seen without his crooked, stemmed tobacco pipe in his mouth. Be that as it may, Mr. Stoll made his living by culling the forest of timber and transforming it into workable lumber, particularly the woods in Sandyston. He had many sawmills and employees. As the picture inside the “Domino House” showed, when these gentlemen got together, which was quite often, it was domino time. Mentioned in the article were other prominent names of Sussex County who also played dominos there. For exam-
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ple, there was Senator Cole Price; Frank Allen, real estate operator and grandson of the builder of the Sussex Railroad; John Canfield, president of the First National Bank; former assemblyman Steve Case; and last but not least, John McCarrick, former editor of the Branchville Times and a representative of the Newark Evening News, for many years. In 1937, the old beloved “Domino House” was set to be removed to make way for a new firehouse. It was only fitting that the newspaper would gather as many old domino players as possible to mark this solemn event. Some locals said that the building was trucked to Walpack; others said that the building was dismantled and its building material was used in Walpack. The old potbellied stove was auctioned off, and the spittoon found a new home in the Park Place Hotel’s tavern. Two questions remain in this story, though: Who won the last game? And who took the dominos home? .............................................................................................. William Bathgate III is the fourth generation of his family to live in Branchville, NJ, and has served as a town council member, as well as on the local school board. Bill considers himself to be a local historian.
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Nature
Sunflower sun kissed golden face outstretched arms with alms and grace prayers of peace embrace
Photo by Raj Sinha
- Paulette Calasibetta
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Photo by Mo Devlin
Photo by Mo Devlin
Continued
Photo by Raj Sinha
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....................................................... The Sussex County Sunflower Maze will be open for visitors, weather permitting, from August 24th to September 17th at Liberty Farms in Sandyston, NJ. Check their website, sun flowermaze.com, or Facebook page, Sussex County Sunflower Maze, for updates and daily videos.
Photo by Raj Sinha
Raj Sinha. Photo by Amy Lobban
Nature
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Photo by Raj Sinha
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Signs
Planet Waves by Eric Francis
Aries
(March 20-April 19)
Now is the moment in your life when you determine what you want, and make the decisions you need to make in order to acquire, do or create whatever that is. Will you succeed? That’s uncertain, as are nearly all matters involving the future. But you control the most important variables, which are your abilities to observe yourself, connect with your desire, make choices and take action. That may seem like a lot to ask in a world where most days it seems like nobody knows anything.
Taurus
(April 19-May 20)
Be careful with decisions about money over the next few days, and make sure your expectations are a little lower than what you think is possible. From there, you can aspire to better things, as long as you keep a sense of proportion, and understand the many variables involved. There are going to be certain areas that you probe and find uncertainty, mush and confusion; there will be others where you have a clean line of sight and know exactly what to do.
Gemini
(May 20-June 21)
Be strategic. Work from a game plan. Such are never assured to work out exactly, but at least they provide you with an opportunity to evaluate your situation, study the landscape and lay out a few variables. One of them is what you want; your basic preference. But that is not the most reliable, because it’s likely to change. Rather, I suggest you work from a place of necessity, and first determine what is the most practical thing you can do, based on what you know.
Cancer
(June 21-July 22)
Wednesday’s Full Moon in your opposite sign Capricorn represented a turning point for you. Something that has seemed wedged in or otherwise intractable has given way, and you can see the ways that your options are open — especially a few that you may have missed recently. Keep your mind and your senses open to your environment. The puzzle you may be working out involves aligning what you offer with the needs that people around you are expressing. They tend to do this with their actions more than with their words.
Leo
meaning of what you say, and what others say to you. Take the time to parse out whatever is said to you; remember exactly what that is. A deeper factor is involved, which is the reasoning process that got you to your present location — and the reasoning process that will get you to the next place. Yes, many people love making up what they think people mean, which is the source of nearly all misunderstandings.
Scorpio
(Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
The cup is more than half-full with so many planets currently in water signs, especially in the angle of your chart associated with optimism and gaining perspective on your life. One place the past few years of madness have damaged many people is in their ability to have a sense of what is possible, and to embrace that there is in fact a future. This is not about planning but rather connecting with the idea that you have a full tank of gas and can go anywhere you want.
Sagittarius
(Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
The beautiful thing about art is that it does not require you to be correct. You need freedom from the pressures of life, which are demanding that you get it right all the time. You may not consider yourself an artist, though you will get a feeling for the beauty of the creative process by doing anything whatsoever that is not subject to verification. This could be skipping stones, toasting marshmallows, or something more complex — as long as it’s not telling you who you are, or comparing you to anyone or anything else.
Capricorn
(Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
Wednesday’s Full Moon in your birth sign is still vibrating across the landscape of your consciousness. The chart looks like you went deep and then pulled yourself out the other side, ready for some deeper contact with your fellow humans. This will pick up momentum over the next five or six days, which will be fed by your desire to be a little more adventurous. Between Mars in Taurus and the Sun opposite Pluto, there will be opportunities to connect with someone physically and emotionally, and you will benefit from doing so.
Aquarius
(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You move in mysterious ways, especially this time of year. The weeks before your birthday can have you wondering just what it is that motivates or inspires you, and why it seems to change so much. This can come as a relief from your usual intensity of mental activity and tendency to constantly aspire. There is one topic that stands out boldly in your chart, which is the relationship between your spiritual path and the food that you eat.
You have grown accustomed to Saturn being in your sign since early 2020. This may have arrived with increased responsibilities, or a sense of urgency that is affecting you personally (as apart from what others are going through). Others find it to be a depressive influence. Regardless, this transit presents an opportunity that you only get a few times in life, and you have it now. Set some difficult goals for things that you want to accomplish, and get ready to do them by sometime around next March.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Pisces
Libra
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(July 22-Aug. 23)
Your best romantic and business prospects can be found in social situations, meaning where people are gathered in groups. You usually have an affinity for one-on-one encounters, though the signals in those situations may be clouded or jammed up lately. At least in your world, people will be more relaxed and affable where they are gathered for small affairs. It’s challenging to navigate any situation involving human contact in our strange era of human history, though you have a way of bringing out the person in people when you are part of a gathering. (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Words are your best friend right now. This includes how they are said, and in what context. However, focus the
(Feb. 19-March 20)
Several unusual planetary assets are in your sign right now, and one of them is Vesta. She is a reminder of the importance of holding space open for something to happen. This is not about doing, or not necessarily; it’s about facilitating, allowing, and in a sense, standing guard. In a sense, you do this wherever you are, and whatever else you may be involved with — though it will help if you bring it to a conscious level. Vesta has another expression, which is to tend the fire. This is the gradual process of observing and taking small actions to gradually build, to make corrections, and to ensure that there is continued life to what you’re doing.
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