Category Archives: Sense of place

Douglass in New Bedford

The New Bedford Historical Society is training volunteers to serve as guides for a walking tour of Underground Railroad sites in downtown New Bedford. I signed up, and attended the first training session this evening.

Tonight we got an overview of where we’ll take people on this walking tour. Generally, we’ll start out at the New Bedford YMCA, which stands on the site where Frederick Douglass and his wife Anna first came in to New Bedford on the stage coach, accompanied by two New Bedford Quakers who helped the fugitives on the last leg of their trip. Then we’ll take people to 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Plaza, named in honor of the first all-black regiment that fought for the North in the Civil War. From there, we’ll lead people up to the site of Liberty Hall, where many an abolitionist spoke. Of course we’ll show off the statue of Lewis Temple next to the library — he was the African American who revolutionized the American whaling industry by inventing the toggle harpoon, which increased catches fourfold.

And we’ll wind up at the Nathan and Polly Jones House, home of two of New Bedford’s most active black abolitionists, who welcomed Frederick Douglass when he first arrived here in 1838. New Bedford’s connection with Douglass is, of course, the center of this walking tour. Douglass, perhaps the greatest African American of the 19th C., first found freedom here in New Bedford — earned the first wages that he got to keep for himself — saw with amazement that the schools in New Bedford were integrated — walked and breathed for the first time as a free man. What a compelling story, really the most interesting moment in New Bedford’s history.

Concert

Every month, downtown New Bedford has an arts and culture night — AHA! Night — with concerts, art exhibits, lectures, and tours. For the past six months, our church has hosted a free classical music concert on AHA! Night. And tonight, Ann Sears, from the music faculty of Wheaton College, played Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

After the concert, Ann told me that the stillness was so profound that she was tempted to look up after the first variation to see whether everyone had walked out. I told her that was my experience of New Bedford audiences as well; that sometimes when I’m preaching everyone’s so quiet I wonder if anyone is actually listening; and I think maybe it’s a cultural combination of New England Yankee reserve and Portuguese politeness and reticence. Yes, said Ann, after the concert people came up to me and told me how moved they had been.

They had been moved. I greeted people as they walked out, and you could see it in their faces. The man who had shouted Brava! at the end of the concert had a transcendent smile. The hip young couple who had literally run in at the beginning of the concert, talking and laughing on their cell phones, went out smiling and she gave me a thumbs-up sign — Good, she mouthed (she was on her cell phone again). Everett, who’s a poet, stopped to talk with me for a while. Wow, said Everett, wow. I said to him, My head’s in a different place than when I came in.

I walked Ann out to her car. She said, It’s such a good thing to have free concert series like this. You know, I said, there were at least a couple of people there who didn’t have two nickels to rub together. She said, I thought so. And, I said, there was one woman who had just come back from chemotherapy today; this was very healing for her. Ann said, Yes. I said, You don’t get that kind of audience in a concert hall. Ann said, I know; I’d love to come back and play again.

May afternoon

Three o’clock on a beautiful bright May afternoon in Davis Square. I walked out of McIntyre and Moore Used Books, blinking at the sun. Two cops were standing just outside the door, looking down the street.

“… why I don’t like him,” said one cop to her partner.

“He’s a troublemaker,” the other cop replied.

“Well, let’s try not to antagonize him.”

They were slowly moving up the street on the edge of the sidewalk. Without thinking about it, I moved over to the other side of the sidewalk, next to the buildings.

Twenty feet further along, a man was just sitting on the edge of the curb. Corduroy sport coat, much the worse for wear; slicked back messy hair; filthy bike messenger bag over his shoulder. He had to concentrate hard in order to sit down — drunk, or strung out on something.

A third cop was talking to the man saying, “No, you got in trouble because…”

I didn’t wait to hear what the cop was going to say. When you pass three cops lined up waiting to deal with one guy, it’s always best to keep walking. I threaded my way through the hipsters and students who populate Davis Square during the day, walking along under the bright sunshine of a May afternoon.

No Internet access yesterday, so I’m posting this a day after the fact.

In the bagel store

This morning, I burned the oatmeal. By the time I noticed it had burnt (the scorched smell seeping into my sleep-fogged brain while I dreamily ironed a shirt), it was too late to salvage any of it, and too late to start cooking more. I went to work without breakfast.

Fortunately, I had to run an errand at about 9:30. On the way back to the office, I stopped in at the new bagel place, which is in the same location as the old bagel place, but with new decor and a new owner.

“Hi,” said the young woman behind the counter, putting down a sandwich and smiling. “What can I get you?”

“Are those all the bagels you have left?” I said, pointing to the glass case under the counter.

“No, no,” she said, reaching down, and talking quickly. “I just haven’t had time to put anything out. It doesn’t look it now, but it was crazy in here just a few minutes ago. I just now was getting to my breakfast, and I’ve been here since five a.m. I’ve got spinach back here, and whole wheat and cinnamon raisin and… I guess that’s it, but I might have more out back.”

“Could I please have two whole wheat bagels with cream cheese?” I said.

Just then, a man walked up. He was about fifty-five, pencil-thin moustache, bit of a paunch. He looked like the tradesmen I used to see when I worked at the lumberyard.

“Hi Charlie,” said the woman behind the counter. “The usual?”

“Yeah,” he said, putting a travel mug down on the counter.

“You still sick?” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I feel tired.”

“You got that bug that’s going around?” I said.

“That’s right,” he said. “Don’t get too close to me, I’m contagious!” He had a twinkle in his blue eyes.

“No, I already had it,” I said.

“I’ve gotten sick a lot this winter,” said Charlie. “Most winters, nothing. This winter, I’ve been sick three times,” holding up three fingers.

“Me too,” I said.

“Me too,” said the woman behind the counter, fixing Charlie’s coffee and slicing my bagels and spreading cream cheese and talking, all at a fast pace. “I’ve been sick a lot. I think it’s because it’s been so warm this winter, so you get sick more often. Last week, I had this feeling in my head, my head was pounding, right here behind the eyes. Someone said it’s allergies, but I knew it wasn’t allergies. But I couldn’t take time off to be sick, I just opened this business. So I had to come into work anyway.”

She gave Charlie his coffee, and he slowly stirred it. “Thanks,” he said.

“Plus, I’ve been eating like crazy, nervous eating, you know?” said the woman. “Starting this business has been really stressful, I eat all the time. I get nervous, I grab something to eat. I’ve put on twenty pounds since I opened up.”

“You gotta watch what you eat,” said Charlie. “Me, now I eat only organic vegetables, and I feel healthier. It helps you keep up your resistance. I get the organic milk, too.” (The thought flashed through my head: Boy, he’s not your stereotypical buyer of organic food.)

“Milk, bleah,” said the woman while she wrapped my bagels. “I don’t like milk. I just don’t drink it any more.”

“We eat organic, too,” I said to Charlie. “I don’t like milk either,” I said to the woman.

“Well, I might put some skim milk on my cereal in the morning,” said the woman, equivocating a little. “That’s a dollar ninety-four. Maybe skim milk on my cereal, but I don’t drink milk. I haven’t had a glass of milk to drink in years.”

I gave her two dollars, and put a dollar in the tip jar. Charlie told us how good organic milk tastes, nice and foamy like it just came out of the cow. I exchanged a glance with the woman behind the counter — he was a nice guy, but neither one of us was going to drink milk, organic or not.

Burning my oatmeal cost me three dollars and ninety-four cents, money I would have preferred not to spend. I guess the conversation was worth it, though.

Blogger BioBlitz 2007 final list

Today was my only day off this week, and I had planned to do my Blogger BioBlitz survey today, trying to find how many of each different species — plant, animal, fungi and anything in between — live within the small area I chose to survey (the garden at First Unitarian in New Bedford). We had heavy downpours most of the day, so I had to cut the survey short. In between rain squalls, I took as many photos of living things as possible; I also relied on photos and notes I had taken earlier in the week when I was surveying the area. Unfortunately, the weather meant that I didn’t have time to search out many animals (e.g., I wasn’t able to dig up some soil and look through it for invertebrates, etc.).

My identification of many plants was hampered because it’s still early in spring and many plants have just begun to emerge from dormancy or sprout from seeds; and only a few of the flowering plants were actually in flower. I’m thinking I may continue with this survey of living things over the course of the summer, to see if I can do additional identifications.

I’ve included my list of organisms below, arranged in rough taxonomic order. Over the next week, I’ll be working on further identifications as well as filling in the taxonomic order, and when done I’ll update this entry. (Final update, 28 April, link to final data sheet included.)

Video tour of the site.
Photos from field work.
First post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007.
Second post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007.

Continue reading →

Spring watch

Three years ago, we lived a mile away from Verrill Farm in Concord, Massachusetts. We used to walk down and buy our vegetables there. In the winter, they’d bring in vegetables from California or Florida, but at about this time of year they would start having some of their own vegetables for sale.

I drove up to see Carol’s parents this afternoon, and I took the route that went by Verrill’s Farm. Sure enough, they had their own spinach on sale, the first vegetables out of their greenhouse: nice, crisp, curly, succulent, bright green leaves of spinach. I bought a big bag of their spinach. By this time in the spring, I’m desperate for fresh local vegetables. The stuff they truck in from California and Florida always tastes a little limp and flat.

It’s a quarter to ten, and I just got back home. I was tempted to cook up some spinach before I went to sleep, but it’s really too late. Now I can hardly wait until tomorrow: spinach salad for lunch, steamed spinach for dinner….

Bioblitz in an urban garden

As part of the Blogger BioBlitz this week, I’m looking for biodiversity in an urban garden in downtown New Bedford, Mass. I actually found more biodiversity than you might expect.

Next post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007: Link.
Previous post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007: Link.

Note: video host blip.tv is defunct, so this video no longer exists.

Blogger BioBlitz 2007 update

My two assistants were unable to join me in the Blogger BioBlitz this afternoon as we had planned, so we’re going to put off our main effort to document the biodiversity of the church garden here in urban New Bedford until later in the week.

However, I went out this afternoon for an hour and did some preliminary research. Counting only non-cultivated species, I found at least two species of bryophytes, several species of lichens, at least one species of algae, at least five species of arthropods (4 of these in class Insecta), at least four species of non-cultivated flowering plants which are currently in bloom (and lots of other non-cultivated plants), 5 species of birds (2 native, 3 non-native and invasive species), and one mammal. Not bad for a cultivated, very human-dominated half acre plot of land.

First post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007: Link.
Next post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007: Link.

Blogger BioBlitz 2007

I just signed up to do the first annual Blogger BioBlitz. Jeremy, science blogger at The Voltage Gate, writes:

In honor of National Wildlife Week, April 21 – 29, I am inviting bloggers from all walks to participate in the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz, where bloggers from across the world will choose a wild or not-so-wild area and find how many of each different species — plant, animal, fungi and anything in between — live in a certain area within a certain time. Link

Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be surveying the garden of First Unitarian in downtown New Bedford, which is a small green space in a highly urban environment, assisted by two teenagers from the church (thanks, Dylan and Tyler!). You may have noticed that on this blog I already maintain desultory lists of birds and molluscs I’ve seen in New Bedford Harbor. The Blogger BioBlitz is an oportunity for me to examine the even more human-dominated environment surrounding our church, ten blocks from the harbor. It’s also an opportunity to live out our liberal religion by doing some low-key citizen science. We expect to find many non-native and introduced species in this urban environment — I’ll post photos and lists later this week.

Want to participate in this blog swarm? Register here.
Thanks to Invasive Species Weblog for the link to the Blogger BioBlitz.

Next post on Blogger Bioblitz 2007: Link.