The Pennsylvania Germans

Caught in a grinding war zone and persecuted for your beliefs? What're you gonna do? Where are you gonna go? A bunch of Germans caught in this situation made their way to sanctuary in Pennsylvania, starting in 1683. From Germantown, they spread out into the countryside, farming or developing Utopian societies like Ephrata (pictured above). And so began the Pennsylvania Germans or "Dutch," Anabaptists, Mennonites, Amish, and what have you. In many cases, they still dress as they did way back when. Why? I have no idea. Seems like an arbitrary place to freeze fashion and technological developments. But so it's said -- God works in mysterious ways -- and people even more so.



















Haag's Hotel and Restaurant, Shartlesville, Pennsylvania: "Haag's Family Style Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner." All a farmer -- or motorist -- can eat!

Today's Rune: Growth.

Let's Not Spend the Night Together

The celebrity media zoo is nothing new, certainly, nor are crazy scandals gone public. How many remember the "accidental" shooting of skier Spider Sabich by pop singer Claudine Longet (after her divorce from Andy Williams) in 1976? For some reason -- probably the Tiger Woods circus and Elin Nordegren's whirling Dervish golf club -- the incident came to mind; also that (in 1979) the Rolling Stones recorded a wicked little ditty about it, called "Claudine," after Some Girls (1978). A little too pointed for its day, "Claudine" is now available via YouTube thirty years later, at least for the time being. It's especially sardonic given Claudine's Let's Spend the Night Together album (1972): not exactly a ringing endorsement from Mick and the dudes. It sounds unfinished, but is worth checking out if you're a Stones fan. Incidentally, Ron Wood is in the news thanks to yet another domestic situation.



Today's Rune: Flow.

The Mix: Population of Canada

I proposed a Canadian Studies class several years back, but it was voted down by Michigan students in favor of Latin American Studies and another class. I find them equally interesting to US history, regardless, and everything more compelling from an international perspective.

Canada has a population of about thirty-four million people (California has more by a few million). Of this, about 16-17% are "visible minorities" (a specific Canadian census term). In and around Toronto (which has a metro population of more than five million people), some 50% are visible minorities, making Toronto Canada's most diverse international class city.

Besides Anglo and French populations that go back as far as the 17th century, there's a First Nation and Métis (compare with the mestizo category in Mexico) population that goes back way beyond that; and many newer immigrant groups besides, from all over the rest of the world. Canada's biggest religious affiliations? Catholic (43%) and No Religion (16.5%).










The Québécois francophone population bloc in Canada numbers about six million people -- a strong and enduring cultural survival of Nouvelle-France, even after the British won the Seven Years War in 1763. French elements also persist in Louisiana, upper New England, and in a more indirect way (through street, place, family and product names), in Detroit.

Today's Rune: Defense.

New Sensations: A World Called Earth

Take that, Ptolemy! Does this make you dizzy or disoriented? At "top" is an Australian map: MacArthur's Universal Corrective Map of the World (updated from 1979 edition).

I'd like to find a widget that lets one spin the globe around from any angle, virtually.

The Mix: The Population of Mexico

Mexico rides the rails of history as much as any other county, and its closest relationship is with former opponent in war, the USA. Before the Great Recession of 2007-2009 or so, about ten million Mexicans lived in the US legally, and about one million non-Mexicans from the US lived in Mexico legally. These are the biggest groups of expatriates -- by far -- living abroad from both countries, a sort of swap.

Mexico has a more complex relationship with the rest of Latin America, of which it is one of the region's most populous countries, with over 100 million people; Mexico City is the largest city in all of Latin America, with nearly twenty million in its Metro area and nine million in the city itself. More than half the country's residents live in the top fifty urbanized areas of Mexico. But, at least until now, Mexicans by large percentages prefer living in the US over the rest of Latin America and there is some mutual dislike among different Latin American groups.

Mexico has a diverse Amerindian/First Nation population including Maya in the South and smaller tribes displaced by the United States in the North. Maybe ten percent of the population are criollo/Creoles (mostly European) and eighty percent are mestizo -- mixed Indian, European and African. Officially, the preponderance of Mexicans are Catholic.

Today's Runes: Disruption; Possessions.

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

Happy birthday, Woody Allen! At 74, he keeps making movies at the rate of about one per year -- just like Clint Eastwoood, who is now 79.

2010 should see the release of You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (shot in London), with a new French project already in process -- possibly including Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Meanwhile, pictured above is the paperback edition cover of Eric Lax's Woody Allen: A Biography (2000+).

Today's Rune: Warrior.

Amsterdam: More Cowbell at the Melkweg

Here's a night shot I took at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, summer 1983. This cultural center opened in 1970 and is still going strong in 2009. Back in '83, I saw plenty of live music and a Janis Joplin film, packed with people. Sort of like an elaborate version of the Majestic Complex (including the Magic Stick) in Detroit, it's located not far from the International Youth Hostel at Lijnbaansgracht 234. Here's a link to the Melkweg ("The Milky Way") website: http://www.melkweg.nl/ I stayed at a different hostel over the noisy Texas Lone Star Saloon for $3 per night, which is not to be recommended for those who prefer more luxurious lodgings.

In 1983, evidence of Pink Floyd abounded in every milk bar, coffee house or real bar I ever checked out. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972) was flashing on multiple screens, particularly "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." Cafés served all sorts of concoctions with the word "Space" in their names. Above is the COW album cover of Atom Heart Mother (1970) which I first came across in my sister Linda's record collection soon after it came out. The one that stuck out to me as a kid was "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast," sizzling on the grill.



"Under the Milky Way" (1988) by The Church was inspired by the Melkweg. Amsterdam is very colorful at night. Can you dig?

Today's Rune: Strength.

The Milkman Cometh

How many out there reading this have had milk delivered to your door? It's nifty-fifty, unless the delivery area is dodgy-patchy. One thing I've noticed -- organic milk lasts longer than injected milk.

In any case, I took this shot in London in 1991. The last time I remember milk being delivered to the door back at home must have been in Durham, North Carolina, in the 1970s. There was an insulated Thermos-like box on the small front porch. I also recall my Mom having a large cylindrical milk container that was decoratively painted.










Here's a milk float in London. These electric vehicles -- like big golf carts -- glide along quietly in the wee hours of the morning, helping milkmen make their deliveries. Now (and within the past twenty years), people in the States are more likely to have big containers of spring water delivered to their door, presumably for water coolers.

Today's Rune: Protection.