Silberstern at DAR
Henry Silberstern was the honored guest speaker at the Col. Wm. Prescott Chapter of the NSDAR on Wednesday, May 20 at 1:00 PM in the chapter house, 119 High Street, Newark, NY. Silberstern’s powerful story about being in Nazi concentration camps evoked strong emotional responses and questions from the audience.
Eight-year old Henry Silberstern’s life began to change in 1938, when France and Britain signed the Munich Agreement. This agreement ceded an area of Czechoslovakia called the Sudeten Land to Germany. In 1942 Henry was sent to a camp for the first time.
It wasn’t until April 15th 1945 that an Allied convoy of a Canadian contingent of the British Army liberated prisoners of Bergen-Belsen. It was Henry’s 15th birthday.
The deprevation of food, water, clothing, and privacy evoked a mother’s question: How did you survive? Silverstern reflected that the children’s priorities are, quite naturally, different from the adults’ priorities. He mentioned that not being allowed to go to school, he thought it was great; however, his parents understood the significance of what was happening. When asked if he’d ever returned to see the camps, Silberstern remarked that he remembered every thing as dark and dirty, but when he returned with his wife and several students, the camp had green grass, trees, and was all spruced up. He said that upon viewing the barracks and bathrooms, he could still smell them, even though years had passed.
Silberstern has kept in touch with many of the boys who survived the Holocaust. Some of the survivors never got over what happened to them; others have put it in perspective and have gotten on with their lives. One of the boys is more like a brother to Silberstern, who had no family after the war.
In response to a question about history repeating itself and could the holocaust happen again, Silberstern said: “Well, I don’t think we’ve learned much.”
Silberstern Has noticed an increase in the demand for speakers on the Holocaust and that first person accounts by survivors are getting fewer. Speakers can be contacted through:
Center for Holocaust Awareness and Information
Jewish Community Federation
441 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607
Ph. (585) 461-0490 x250
Fax (585) 461-0912
Bonnie Abrams, Director: babrams@jewishrochester.org.
Native American – Victor, NY
The featured speakers for the Walworth Cub Scout Pack meeting on March 06-09 were Tonia & Michael Loran who work at Ganondagan, who would be speaking about the oral traditions and ceremonies of indigenous people.
Michael’s people are of the Northern Peyote tribe in Nevada and shared with us how, instead of wearing badges, patches and pins on a uniform, his ancestors would tattoo their accomplishments on their skin. He told of his ancestors’ rites of passage for boys to become accepted as men to hunt and provide for the tribe. To be come accepted as a hunter, a boy would use his bow and arrow to kill small game such as squirrels and rabbits, to give to the elders who were no longer able to hunt. Then, when the boy was about 13-years of age, he would go without his bow and arrow where the deer are to wait in a tree or perch, perhaps for days, for a deer to come near enough for the boy to jump on his “brother’s” back and strangle him. The elders would sacrificially butcher the deer and the boy would have to crawl under the up-turn antlers to signify passing through to manhood.
Lacrosse was not played as a sport with protective padding and a small playing field. It was a means of keeping your body fit and trim. The playing field may be many miles wide, such as from Canandaigua Lake to Seneca Lake.
Michael told how the gift of maple syrup was mis-used, so the gift was altered to only come in the early spring and the people would have to boil 40-gallons of the maple sap to get one gallon of sweet maple syrup.
Tonia’s people are the Mohawk and her clan is the bear. She introduced her children and noted that it is the belief of her people that during the ninth month of pregnancy, a woman should not eat meat to ensure a healthy baby. Also during this time, the father runs every day for the same reason. Apparently it is a good custom, because her children seemed healthy and happy.
Tonia told a story of how her people believe the sharks came into the waters and how butterflies were given as gifts from the Gods.
When she told the tale of the Grass People and the Chief, she came alive and truly became part of the story. As her clear, pleasant voice pronounced in accented English the Grass People taunting the chief, saying: “I am better than you.”, her words flowed into the melodic, undulating sounds of an Indian.
After the Chief vented his rage by grabbing hands-full of grass and eating it, his tummy began to rumble. Flatulence began to launch the chief all over the place, until he conceded that, indeed, The Grass People were mighty. Evidence of this can be found in the shape of the Yellow Poplar that the chief held onto to keep from being launched thither and yon. As you can imagine, her sound effects were fabulous as they got louder and louder, totally captivating her laughing audience.
Michael and Tonia invited everyone to visit the The Ganondagan State Historic Site: Preserving a Past. Providing a Future:
P.O. Box 113, 1488 State Route
444, Victor, New York 14564-0113
phone: (716) 742-1690
www.ganondagan.org
Yikes, Grandma’s Coming
Yikes! Grandma is coming to live with us. Now what do we do?
multigenerational households may be an increasing trend, they can enjoy opportunities many families will never have if potential problems can be headed off before they happen. Keep in mind that Grandma is probably thinking: I don’t want to be a burdon to my children. I still want to be independent, but I can’t afford to be on my own any more. How will I ever fit into their active family?
First of all, talk together and identify potential rough points.
`Identify “personal space” for each person or age group. Even if Grandma has only a corner of the family room to call her own or a teen-ager has his own room or Dad can have cave-time in his basement workshop. Each must respect the other’s personal space and wait to be invited in.
`Perhaps Grandma can help out with latch-key school aged children, but not be expected to babysit all of the time.
`Be realistic about how much the grandchildren can participate in elder care based on how much or little Grandma wants/needs and the willingness and competency of the grandchildren to meet her needs. It is also important to acknowledge that Mom can’t possibly be every thing to everyone in the family.
`Discuss how kitchen duties and other household chores can be shared. Sometimes a chart can help organize large families and reduce the “I did that yesterday. It’s your turn. Types of flare-ups.
`A calendar with large squares is a great way to keep track of youngster’s play dates, teen-agers sports events, parents date night, and everyone’s doctor’s appointments. When drivers are in short supply, it is important to be very organized.
`Sticking to a basic schedule as much as possible, such as bedtime/quiet time, meal time, and time to visit with friends will enable everyone to get the needed rest, nutrition, and energy to be up to life’s challenges.
`Don’t be too proud to call in professional care-givers if you all are getting over-whelmed.
Multi-generational families have a real opportunity to share and learn from each other, bond, and creat wonderful memories together.
`Set up a card table or special spot to put out a 5000 piece jig-saw puzzle for everyone to work on whenever they have a few minutes. Lots of non-confrountational conversation happens as the puzzle unfolds.
~Research your family tree and put it together with anecdotes and photos. The youngsters can show-off their cyber-surfing skills.
`Bake holiday cookies together using old family recipes mixed in with favorites that will become your new tradition.
`Tell family stories, maybe tape them or jot them down in a scrapbook.
A multi-generational family under one roof certainly isn’t the end of the world. In fact, our country grew great and strong when the nuclear family was strong. I suspect a lot of it is in your attitude. It will work, if you want it to work out well.
Kate’s Cornucopia: Town Clean-up
This year our town will not run its town-wide spring clean-up. A few years ago it stopped doing the annual curb side pick-up and now it has dropped the tab for taking one vehicle per family load of stuff to the dump.
Basically, I applaud this move as it indicates less dependency on government, no new tax, and encourages individual initiative. So the stuff is in our court, so to speak. What are we going to do about it?
Every Ssaturday, years ago, my husband would load the trash into the trunk of our little Nova, the boys in the back seat, and off to the dump they would go.
A little family outing that the older boys still talk about. We might do that again. Perhaps a neighbor with a truck could pool his neighbors stuff and split the dump fee. Perhaps we’ll think twice about buying the product that is “over packaged” and/or not in a re-cycleable container; locate or start up an outfit to re-cycle pieces and parts of old computers, refridgerators; use re-chargeable batteries; and donate some items to places like Open Door Mission or VOA.
What suggestions do you have?
Kate’s Cornucopia: Demise of Gato
Our beloved mighty hunter, Gato D., succumbed to the injuries he sustained during an encounter with a coyote. He was 15-years old, living the past 9-years with us.
When I first met Gatos, as he was then called, he was living in an apartment with our son. Gatos never went out; although, he often tried to escape. Some of the stories we heard about this crazy, fat cat, led me to think I’d never want a cat like that.
Then, our son moved to another apartment and the cat came to live with us. We kept him confined to one, large room for a few days until he became used to us. Then, his home enlarged to our whole house, and eventually, the out-of-doors, too. Gato D., as he became known due to being our fourth cat, calmed down and slimmed into quite a good cat with a unique “cat”ality..
I know what goes around, comes around and he did leave numerous trophies on our doorsteps, but, somehow, I’m glad he didn’t become some *?!* coyote’s dinner. Gato made it home, but, alas, his internal injuries were too much for our old, mighty hunter to survive.
I suppose I’ll miss him the most, as it was my lap he’d jump into whenever, where-ever I sat and stretch out just like a human baby. His arm would stretch up to touch my chin or he’d nuzzle his head into my arm. He is gone, but not forgotten. We’ve been offered another cat and, maybe someday another cat will come our way, but for now, I want to savor my memories of Gato a while longer.
Kate’s Cornucopia: Gato vs Coyote
When we let our cat in this morning, he was moving very slowly and his neck was swollen. Another cat fight with the neighbor’s cat? Not unheard of, however, we’d heard coyote yips and howls two nights ago. I checked on him periodically, but by afternoon Gato had gone into hiding. I feared the worst. At dinner time, we located him and noticed that he was still bleeding. My husband took him into the vet’s office PDQ.
The vet said the wounds were not consistent with a cat fight. The cat had been picked up by the neck/head and shaken and was now severly dehydrated.
Needless to say, Gato is spending the night in the hospital and possibly the weekend. I’ll phone in the morning to find out when our poor old Gato can come home.
Kate’s Cornucopia: Bandimonium
Last evening we attended a band concert by all the bands in our school district: Two 5th grade bands, the 6,7, 8th, and hisgh school bands. As the individual bands entered and exited, the Senior High School Jazz Band played. The jazz musicians’ confidence in their musical abilities really shone through as they went through tunes old and new. It was wonderful to hear the progression from beginners to accomplished.
Our 5th Grader looked really sharp in his white shirt, tie (that he tied himself.) and nice dark slacks; not to mention how great he did on his French Horn.
Kate’s Cornucopia
Welcome to Kate’s Cornucopia. This is my maiden voyage in the blogisphere; however, I have read “Blogging for Dummies” and shall endeavor not to flame or insult anyone. Pardon me if something strange happens. I’m not really sure what is up just yet or how to do it. Have patience with me.