French Heritage DNA Project

To join the French_Heritage_DNA surname project, please fill out the order form below. Your DNA test kit will be mailed tomorrow.

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=T86200

French Heritage DNA Project

including French, French-Canadian, Acadian, Metis, Cajun and others of French Heritage
sponsored by the

French Canadian Heritage Society of California
and the

Southern California Genealogical Society
http://www.frenchdna.org/fcdna.html

Holy wah! She's studying how Yoopers talk

(Photo by T.J. Hamilton/Associated Press)

Posted March 21, 2007


Holy wah! She's studying how Yoopers talk

The Associated Press

A Yooper sampler

A few “Yooperisms” — words and pronunciations that are fixtures of Upper Peninsula dialect. Provided by Dan Junttila, teacher from Houghton; Jim DeCaire, author of “Da Yoopers Glossary;” and Kathryn Remlinger of Grand Valley State University.

# dem (them)
# brudder (brother)
# smelt (past tense of “smell;” also a small Great Lakes fish that spawns in U.P. rivers)
# sisu (Finnish word meaning intestinal fortitude or toughness, for which Yoopers pride themselves)
# hafta (have to)
# tirsty (thirsty)
# teek (thick, as in ice)
# udder (other)
# side by each (side by side)
# nort (opposite of ‘sout’)
# sowna (sauna)
# pank (pack, as in pack snow)
# choppers (long-armed mittens with removable flap over fingers)
# Ahmeek (Keweenaw County village named after Ojibwe Indian word for beaver)

A linguist at Grand Valley State University fascinated by the way many in the Upper Peninsula speak — their “ehs,” “hehs” and “holy wahs” — is heading there to study how local and ethnic identity are linked to language.

Kathryn Remlinger, an English professor, has researched the dialect for years, tracing certain words to the area’s early immigrants and the 12 languages that formerly coexisted there.

Now she’s returning to the Keweenaw Peninsula, once home to a thriving copper mining industry, to learn how settlers’ attitudes toward their native languages affected the dialect that developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Remlinger said she wants to understand better the dialect, its history and continuing evolution. She want to help debunk stereotypes about the way Upper Peninsula residents supposedly live and talk, which some label “Yooper-isms.”

“If we understand where something comes from, we can understand how it’s used to help eliminate negative attitudes,” she told the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press.

Movies featuring some of the dialect have perpetuated the stereotypes, Remlinger said.

“It’s fascinating to people because it seems like an exotic, faraway place,” she said. “It is far away, but people work and live here as they do there.”

Remlinger, originally from Ohio, became enamored with the Upper Peninsula dialect while attending Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

She started researching the dialect in 2000 and has interviewed 75 people. This year, a grant will enable her to conduct research from the university’s Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections in Houghton.

During the mining boom, the Upper Peninsula attracted immigrants from places such as French Canada, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Slovenia. Their native languages influenced the local vocabulary.

Words like “chook” or “chuke” were borrowed from the French-Canadian ‘touque,’ meaning winter hat. The expression “eh” as in “Have a nice day, eh?” might come from French Canada or the Ojibwe Indians.

Finnish was the language that most influenced the dialect, contributing words and changing how people use English, she said. Upper Peninsula natives might say “I’m going post office” instead of “to the post office” because Finnish doesn’t have equivalents to the preposition ‘to’ or the articles ‘the’ and ‘a.’

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/GPG0101/70321154/1207/GPGnews

---------

Yooper-Speak Being Researched
There have been 0 comments posted about this story
Reporter: Associated Press
WILX-TV, MI
A linguist at Grand Valley State University fascinated by the way many in the Upper Peninsula speak, their "ehs," "hehs" and "holy whahs," is heading there to study how local and ethnic identity are linked to language.

Kathryn Remlinger, an English professor, has researched the dialect for years, tracing certain words to the area's early immigrants and the 12 languages that formerly coexisted there.

Now she's returning to the Keweenaw Peninsula, once home to a thriving copper mining industry, to learn how settlers' attitudes toward their native languages affected the dialect that developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Remlinger said she wants to understand better the dialect, its history and continuing evolution. She wants to help debunk stereotypes about the way Upper Peninsula residents supposedly live and talk, which some label "Yooper-isms."

"If we understand where something comes from, we can understand how it's used to help eliminate negative attitudes," she told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Tuesday.

Movies featuring some of the dialect have perpetuated the stereotypes, Remlinger said.

"It's fascinating to people because it seems like an exotic, faraway place," she said. "It is far away, but people work and live here as they do there."

Remlinger, originally from Ohio, became enamored with the Upper Peninsula dialect while attending Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

She started researching the dialect in 2000 and has interviewed 75 people. This year, a grant will enable her to conduct research from the university's Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections in Houghton.

During the mining boom, the Upper Peninsula attracted immigrants from places such as French Canada, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Slovenia. Their native languages influenced the local vocabulary.

Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh?" might come from French Canada or the Ojibwa Indians.

Finnish was the language that most influenced the dialect, contributing words and changing how people use English, she said. Upper Peninsula natives might say "I'm going post office" instead of "to the post office" because Finnish doesn't have equivalents to the preposition `to' or the articles `the' and `a.'

http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/6622757.html

-----------

Grand Valley professor listens to UP talk, eh?
Journal Times Online, WI - 14 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...
Michigan Professor Listens To UP Talk, eh?
CBS 5 - Green Bay, WI - 14 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...
Grand Valley professor listens to UP talk, eh?
Rhinelander Daily News, WI - 14 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...
Grand Valley professor listens to UP talk, eh?
WOOD-TV, MI - 16 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...
Professor to study, listen to 'Yoopers'
DetNews.com, MI - 16 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...
Grand Valley professor listens to UP talk, eh?
The Bay City Times, MI - 16 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...
Grand Valley professor listens to UP talk, eh?
MLive.com, MI - 16 hours ago
Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian `touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh? ...

-----

Published March 22, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Grand Valley State professor to study U.P. dialect
Linguist trying to link ethnic identity to 'Yooper-isms'

Associated Press

Off to the U.P.: Kathryn Remlinger, a linguist and an English professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids is seen on March 21. The professor, who is fascinated by the way residents in the Upper Peninsula speak, is heading there to perform research focusing on how local and ethnic identity are linked to language.
Yooperisms
A few "Yooperisms" - words and pronunciations that are fixtures of Upper Peninsula dialect. Provided by Dan Junttila, teacher from Houghton; Jim DeCaire, author of "Da Yoopers Glossary;" and Kathryn Remlinger of Grand Valley State University.

• dem (them)

• brudder (brother)

• smelt (past tense of "smell," also a small Great Lakes fish that spawns in U.P. rivers)

• sisu (Finnish word meaning intestinal fortitude or toughness, for which Yoopers pride themselves)

• hafta (have to)

• tirsty (thirsty)

• teek (thick, as in ice)

• udder (other)

• side by each (side by side)

• nort (opposite of 'sout')

• sowna (sauna)

• pank (pack, as in pack snow)

• choppers (long-armed mittens with removable flap over fingers)

• Ahmeek (Keweenaw County village named after Ojibwe Indian word for beaver)

GRAND RAPIDS - A linguist at Grand Valley State University fascinated by the way many in the Upper Peninsula speak - their "ehs," "hehs" and "holy whahs" - is heading there to study how local and ethnic identity are linked to language.

Kathryn Remlinger, an English professor, has researched the dialect for years, tracing certain words to the area's early immigrants and the 12 languages that formerly coexisted there.

Now she's returning to the Keweenaw Peninsula, once home to a thriving copper mining industry, to learn how settlers' attitudes toward their native languages affected the dialect that developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.


Remlinger said she wants to understand better the dialect, its history and continuing evolution. She want to help debunk stereotypes about the way Upper Peninsula residents supposedly live and talk, which some label "Yooper-isms."

"If we understand where something comes from, we can understand how it's used to help eliminate negative attitudes," she told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Tuesday.

Movies featuring some of the dialect have perpetuated the stereotypes, Remlinger said.

"It's fascinating to people because it seems like an exotic, faraway place," she said. "It is far away, but people work and live here as they do there."

Remlinger, originally from Ohio, became enamored with the Upper Peninsula dialect while attending Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

She started researching the dialect in 2000 and has interviewed 75 people. This year, a grant will enable her to conduct research from the university's Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections in Houghton.

During the mining boom, the Upper Peninsula attracted immigrants from places such as French Canada, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Slovenia. Their native languages influenced the local vocabulary.

Words like "chook" or "chuke" were borrowed from the French Canadian 'touque,' meaning winter hat. The expression "eh" as in "Have a nice day, eh?" might come from French Canada or the Ojibwa Indians.

Finnish was the language that most influenced the dialect, contributing words and changing how people use English, she said.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070322/NEWS01/703220362/1001/news

'Museum in the Street' honors Franco-Americans

'Museum in the Street' honors Franco-Americans

Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Thursday, March 22, 2007
from the Morning Sentinel

more info:
www.fawi.net/Muse/museinthests.html

A few years ago, the Franco-American Heritage Society of the Kennebec Valley established the "Museum in the Street" in the South End of Waterville. Our goal was to honor the contribution of Franco-American individuals to our community. Each of our panels has a photo of an individual(s) that highlights a specific contribution.

The historic buildings you have identified can be linked to the individuals who were the shakers and movers at the time these buildings were built. Good luck on your project.

Much appreciation to Mayor Paul R. Lepage for mentioning the "Museum in the Street." Guided tours have been given to groups of school children and adults. We enjoy sharing our heritage. For group tours, just give us a call.

Pearley Lachance

Franco-American Heritage Society of the Kennebec Valley

arvpal@verizon.net

Auburn's Cote inducted into Franco Hall of Fame

Auburn's Cote inducted into Franco Hall of Fame

By Jessica Alaimo , Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007

AUGUSTA - For more than four decades, French-speaking Twin Cities residents could wake up Sundays to Constance Cote on the radio.

"It's the only time French people can hear weekly French music," she said.

Over the years, Cote, an Auburn resident and former state representative, has made strides to celebrate French culture in Lewiston-Auburn. On Wednesday she was inducted into the Franco-American Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the State House, as part of the Capitol's Franco-American Day.

She was a musician. She was an organizer. She was a politician. And she could do it all bilingually.

Wednesday's events were exhausting, but Cote said being recognized was very meaningful. During an afternoon news conference, she sat smiling as members of the Maine Senate and visiting dignitaries talked about how French culture has grown over the years.

Judy Paradis, a former state legislator from Frenchville, was the force behind the first Franco-American Day six years ago. With it came the first Hall of Fame inductees. Three are inducted each year.

"We needed to do something to let the rest of the state know what a wonderful culture we had," she said.

Besides Cote, this year's inductees are Cleo Ouellette of Frenchville and Norman Beaupre of Biddeford.

Inductees are featured at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston.

Cote has a long history of public service: 12 years as an Androscoggin County county commissioner and, before that, 12 years in the state Legislature. There, she was the first female head of the Judiciary Committee.

Her musical talents bring her to St. Peter's Basilica and St. Patrick's Church every Sunday, playing the organ. She has starred in several operettas, as well.

She said it warmed her heart when one of the churchgoers told her, "It wouldn't be Sunday without you."

Cote said her parents grew up in L-A and surrounded her with French culture.

"My mother spoke beautiful French, and I attended French Catholic schools," she said. "Most people my age don't speak the language anymore (because of) lack of practice."

French culture in the area wasn't that big when Cote started to get involved more than four decades ago, she said, but it grew over the years.

During Wednesday's ceremonies, Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Androscoggin, acknowledged the large French population in the Twin Cities.

"The greatest honor that has ever been bestowed upon me is when I was made an honorary Franco," she said.

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/204353-3/MaineNews/Auburns_Cote_inducted_into_Franco_Hall_of_Fame/

Lynn Pauley Exhibit

John Clayton: Exhibit comes at end of several happy accidents
Manchester Union Leader
3-19-07

BEING AN ART LOVER - and a curious one to boot - I had to wonder how a painter like Lynn Pauley came to have an exhibition of her paintings in Manchester, so I asked her.

Is it because she's the first chairman of the illustration department at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, which makes her one of five women to hold such a post in the United States?

Not really.

Is it because she's been the artist-in-residence at the Norman Rockwell Museum on three separate occasions, or perhaps because her work has been commissioned by renowned publications like Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Sports Illustrated?

Not so much.

All of those things are true, mind you, but the reason Lynn is about to open her first exhibition in Manchester is because she parked her car in the wrong spot.

That spot is in the lot at the Franco-American Centre on Concord Street. It's where Lynn expected to find her new car after completing one of her first days on the job at the NHIA, but when she got there, her car was gone.

After learning her car had been towed because she parked two spaces outside of the turf the NHIA had leased from the Franco-American Centre - I explained to her that's how we say "Welcome to Manchester!" - she struck up a conversation with Manon Therrien.

Manon is the director and program coordinator for the Franco-American Centre. She let Lynn use her phone to arrange for a ride to the impound lot and they chatted while she waited.

They chatted in French.

That's important, because as you may recall, Manon works at the Franco-American Centre, which is home to the splendid Maurice Beliveau Gallery, which is a wonderful place to exhibit paintings - especially paintings with a Franco orientation - and at that moment, sitting before her was an artist of great renown who happens to own a home in Auvillar, France.

Serendipity?

Wait. It gets better.
pauley artist franco center (BOB LAPREE)

Artist Lynn Pauley hangs one of her acrylic on paper paintings for her show at the Franco-Americain Centre in Manchester. (BOB LAPREE)

It also happens that Lynn had just completed a series of paintings of Auvillar, the charming village that's her home away from home - she even had her sketch book in hand - and by chance, Manon was searching for just the right artist to highlight for "La Semaine de La Francophonie."

That means French Week.

It begins today.

So does Lynn Pauley's first exhibition in Manchester.

There's an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. today at the Franco-Americain Centre. It's going to be packed - her dad will be there, plus old classmates, fellow artists, her NHIA students, faculty friends, assorted Franco-American dignitaries and plain old art lovers like me - but it will be easy to find Lynn in the crowd.

Just look for an amazing life force.

I'd like to say it's a force she is able to transfer onto canvas, but Lynn doesn't paint on canvas. Her medium is acrylic on paper. She uses a warm palette, but the pastel colors are offset by a bold style and it's the mindset behind that style that she hopes to instill in her students.

"Here's me signing my name," she said, as she grabbed one of her primary tools - that being a British-made 9B Derwent Cumberland pencil - and scrawled away. "Did I hesitate? No. I wasn't trying to write my name. I was writing my name. It's the same with painting. I'm not trying to paint. I'm painting."

She paints standing up.

She does so because it allows her to get her whole body into the process and her creative process is not for the faint of heart. It's a physical act, and it doesn't matter whether she's painting pastoral French landscapes, action portraits of the New York Jets or the devastation of 9/11.

That's the kind of range you'd expect from an artist who describes herself as a "visual reporter," and bringing Lynn to Manchester was an act of vision by those at the Institute of Art.

"During the interview process, we were very impressed with her work," said NHIA president Roger Williams, "but we were particularly impressed with her commitment to young artists. Seeing the work of students she had taught before convinced us she was an ideal person to join our faculty. That, and her work, coupled with her energy, made a package that was very compelling."

Equally compelling is Lynn's local focus.

She may have spent the last 17 years in Brooklyn and may have that house in France, but she is a total immersion-type of painter and now she is immersed in Manchester.

"And that commitment to this community also impressed us," Roger added. "We want our students to be engaged in the community - to be a part of it - and that's very much a part of Lynn's philosophy and her strategy. It will give us a presence here in the city that's quite different from other programs we offer."

So keep an eye out for a gaggle of illustration students moving about Manchester.

One day, they'll be at the JFK Coliseum. Next day, they're at the Audubon Society out by Lake Massabesic and the next, Lynn's leading them on a "sketch hunt" down Elm Street, and even while her students are taking it all in, Lynn admits that she is totally taken with Manchester.

"My job is fantastic," she said. "It's life-changing, but so is this place. There are so many vistas. When I flew in for my interview, I got off the plane and I looked up and I saw big clouds. This place has big clouds, and the light. The light...

"Maybe people who've been here for a long time don't see it," she added, "but I see this place with new eyes. It's new to me, and I see these places that are so real, I have to paint them."

She's doing that now.

Her sketchbook is quickly filling with the familiar. There's Post Office Fruit, the Red Arrow and the Wild Rover. She's just beginning to explore the Millyard and she's ready to scour the West Side for the kind of landmarks and touchstones that speak to life here in the Queen City.

Meanwhile, her first exhibit in Manchester opens tonight - in fact, it's the first time her Auvillar paintings will be seen in the United States - but she can't wait for her next showing.

Neither can I.

Her next subject?

It's us.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=John+Clayton%3A+Exhibit+comes+at+end+of+several+happy+accidents&articleId=48c58939-bddb-4376-9a6a-1064f6df0a93

Priest urges Catholics to stand up for change

Priest urges Catholics to stand up for change

By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, Saturday, March 24, 2007

Roman Catholics should push for a stronger role in the church and seek greater accountability from the clergy, a noted theologian told an audience of 80 people in Portland Friday evening.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens, a Catholic priest, professor and author, said the denial and secrecy that pervaded the church's reaction to the priest sexual abuse scandal exposed its feudal structure, in which priests are viewed as lords of the manor and church members are expected to be docile serfs.
Cozzens said the church must abandon its feudal roots to survive and grow beyond the priest scandal and other challenges facing parishes around the world.
"These are not easy times for the church and these are not easy times for people who love the church," Cozzens said. "This is the laity's moment and we need good leadership."
Cozzens spoke at St. Pius X Church hall at the invitation of Maine Catholics Together, a fledgling organization of several groups, including Pax Christi and Voice of the Faithful, that are seeking church reform. It was Cozzens' first visit to Maine, which has 193,228 Catholics, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
"He presents an honest, reasonable appraisal of the church with a laity that has a secondary role. He encourages us to move away from the mindset of pray, pay and obey," said John Wirtz, a member of Maine Catholics Today who lives in Scarborough and attends St. Patrick's Church in Portland.
Cozzens is writer-in-residence and professor of religious studies at John Carroll University, a Jesuit school in Cleveland, Ohio. He has written several books on issues facing today's church and its shrinking priesthood, including "The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul" and "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church."
In his latest book, "Freeing Celibacy," Cozzens, who is celibate, proposes making celibacy optional rather than mandatory. He said such a change in church doctrine would recognize that the call to celibacy is a gift and not one that can be demanded
[N.D.L.R.:...was doing ok...till the following...like being a man is something sacred...wake the font up and smell the reality...body parts, notwithstanding...pauve innocent...]
from God or expected of every man who wants to be a priest.
"I think we would have a lot more men in the priesthood if celibacy were optional," he said. "I think we would have a healthier and stronger priesthood."
Cozzens said today's younger Catholics aren't interested in institutions, so they're more likely to demonstrate their faith by volunteering at a soup kitchen than attending Mass. Since the 1960s, he said, the number of Catholics who attend Mass every week has dropped from 70 percent to less than 30 percent.
He said many Catholics suffer from a crisis of belief rather than a crisis of faith. They no longer have confidence in official directives or decisions of the institution, but they hold true to Christ's teachings.
He said lay members should have the courage to examine the church to forge a deeper faith and a stronger relationship with God. The church's structure, he said, should further its mission and reflect the fact that all Catholics are disciples of Christ, whether they are ordained or not.
Cozzens' talk drew different reactions from the audience.
"There's a lot of truth in what he said, but my experience with the church has been very positive," said Lori Arsenault, a Gorham resident who is a member of the Sacred Heart and St. Dominic Parish in Portland.
Brian Trask is a Chelsea resident who is Catholic and no longer attends church.
"I'm interested in the subject and interested in the role of celibacy in the church," Trask said. "I think the institution of the church is collapsing."

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070324priest.html

Franco Center hosting french authors

Doris Provencher-Faucher

Gerry Robichaud

Maurice Fillion

Norman Beaupré

Rhea Côté Robbins
Franco Center hosting french authors

Saturday, March 24, 2007

On Sunday, March 25 from 2 to 3 p.m. the Franco American Heritage Center at 32 Cedar Street will host an free public reading called "Authors Forum." This will be an opportunity for an invited group of Franco American authors to read to the public from their works. The readings will take place in Performance Hall followed by the opportunity for members of the public to speak with the authors. Additional copies of the authors' works will be on sale.

In this invited group is Gerry Robichaud, the elder statesman of Franco American authors. Robichaud was born in St. Evariste, Beauce, Quebec in 1908, but he grew up in Lewiston, Maine. In 1961, he wrote about his family in the novel, "Papa Martel" a novel based loosely on the life of his father. Recently, the Baxter Society of Maine recognized "Papa Martel" as one of "one hundred distinguished books that reveal the history of the State and the life of its people". As a result of new public awareness for the book, the University of Maine republished "Papa Martel". Now, Robichaud is busy at 98 years old giving interviews and traveling to receptions throughout Maine to discuss the book is dedicated to his wife Elizabeth who inspired him to write the story when the two were living in Greenwich Village in New York City during the early 1950s. "I've resisted all the temptation writers have to revise the novel", says Robichaud. "I haven't changed one word of 'Papa Martel' since it was published."

Norman Beaupré is yet another one of the great Franco American authors who follows in the footsteps of Kerouac and Proulx was born in southern Maine. He received a Ph.D. in French Literature from Brown University in 1974. He taught French language and literature, World Literature and Transcultural Health Care at St. Francis College in Maine, now known as the University of New England. He was chair of the Department of the Humanities. He is presently Professor Emeritus and continues to pursue his two great interests, travel and writing. He is the author of seven works: L'Enclume et le couteau, Le Petit Mangeurs de Fleurs, Lumineau, Marginal Enemies, Deux Femmes, Deux Rêves and his most recent work which wil also receive its world premiere reading at the FAHC on April 14th at 7:30pm He is currently writing a novel based on the life and art of Van Gogh from the point of view of an eleven-year old boy in Arles.

Rhea Côté Robbins was brought up bilingually in a Franco-American neighborhood in Waterville, Maine known as "down the plains." She attended Waterville High School and graduated in 1971. Her maman came from Wallagrass, a town in the northern part of the state and her father was from Waterville. Tracing the family tree back, on both sides of her parents, she found that in Québec their people settled in close proximity to each other, and on a further search into their origins in France, she discovered that in the 1600s they lived within ten miles or less of each other. At least three of the branches of the original settlers came over on the same boat. She has spent many years researching the origins and visiting the hometowns of these people in Canada and France. She attended the University of Maine at Presque Isle, 1980-1982, graduating with an A.A. degree with a concentration in Art. In 1982-85, she attended the University of Maine on a bilingual education scholarship. This was in part funded by a federal grant in recognition of the Franco-American population that exists in the State of Maine. After teaching public high school briefly, she worked as editor of an international, bilingual socio-cultural journal entitled, Le FORUM, formerly known as Le F.A.R.O.G. Forum, at the Franco-American Center from 1986-96. She has had the luxury and opportunity to spend much time contemplating what it means to be Franco-American and female in the U.S. She has made contact with many people across the countries that are also interested in this cultural group. She traveled to Louisiana to compare the progression of the culture within a different milieu. She has also traveled to Canada and France to visit the hometowns from where her ancestors emigrated. Currently, she teaches literature courses in Franco-American women's experiences. She will be reading from her novel "Wednesday's Child."

Doris Provencher-Faucher attended the bilingual elementary school offered by her Franco-American parish in southern Maine, graduated from public high school, and later earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees through the University of Maine. She and her husband spent their first year of marriage in France, and then returned to southern Maine to raise a family of four children. Since her retirement from teaching at the local public high school, she has spent much of the past ten years conducting bilingual research through Québec and French archives, Canadian, French, and American historical references to produce a series of historical novels which depicts the evolution of the French presence in North America through the everyday experiences of the majority of its people. She conducts courses in French-Canadian/Franco-American Heritage at the University of Maine's local Senior College, and continues to develop her trilogy series which was launched two years ago with the publication of "Le Québécois: The Virgin Forest" in 2000. "The Rapids" was released in November 2002 and "Imperial Conflicts" in 2006. All three novels are will be available at the reading on March 25.

Rounding out this array of authors will be Maurice Fillion, author of "Priest" about which has been written: "This memoir will leave you reflecting upon your own life...with a bit of hope. It's a great read for anyone who has experienced that often painful battle between one's internal passions and the external forces that shape our environment. Above all, it is an insightful look back at a life that is unique enough to capture the interest of readers from all walks of life, yet universal enough to capture the human experience. Its truest test: it has been read, then passed on to a friend, then passed on to another friend, and so on. He tells us how he became interested and joined the seminary at a very young age and then as time passed, doubted his calling. Read about his inner thoughts, and actions in a life closed off from the outside world."

The "Authors Forum" will be held on Sunday, March 25 from 2 to 3 p.m. is open to the public and free of charge. Please call 783-1585 for any further information.

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/204593-3/Entertainment/Franco_Center_hosting_french_authors/

Sumner pupils learn folk dancing, fiddling

Sumner pupils learn folk dancing, fiddling

By Mary Standard, Special to the Lewiston Sun Journal
Saturday, March 24, 2007

SUMNER - The Hartford-Sumner Elementary School gymnasium was rocking and rolling when the Ti' Acadie Folk trio from Maine led workshops in folk dancing and fiddle playing recently.

Students learned several types of traditional folk dances, including French Canadian and New England. In the evening they helped their parents through those moves as the sessions came to a close.

Bill Olson kept the lines moving in intricate patterns, and no one seemed to get lost when he had lines winding around themselves all over the gym floor.

During the day, Pam Weeks led several sessions with a number of violin students who gave rapt attention to their fiddle teacher. Jim Joseph played accordion, mandolin, fiddle and jaw harp. The workshop was arranged by Hartford-Sumner music teacher Meghan Andrews-Wright and sponsored by the Nezinscot Valley Music Boosters.

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/204617-3/OxfordHills/Sumner_pupils_learn_folk_dancing_fiddling/

Calendar shows off funeral directors' bodies

Calendar shows off funeral directors' bodies
helps women living with breast cancer

more info:
http://www.menofmortuaries.com/

By SETH HARKNESS, Staff Writer
Portland Press Herald, Monday, March 19, 2007



SACO - Though most of his clients would never know it, Stacy Cote, the fourth-generation owner of Cote Funeral Home here, likes to spend weekends water skiing on competition slalom courses at speeds up to 34 mph.
He's also a former competitive bodybuilder who wants to lay to rest the image of funeral directors as somber men who speak in hushed tones and wear nothing but dark suits.
That's partly why Cote, 38, sent a shirtless photo of himself along with an application to appear in a calendar of handsome funeral directors, "Men of Mortuaries 2008," being assembled by a California mortician.
Of the more than 250 funeral directors who applied to be included in the calendar, Cote was among 16 chosen to go to California in May for a photo shoot and a chance at making the final selection.
Regardless of whether he succeeds, Cote said he thinks his profession needs this project.
"I do think it's a chance to show that funeral directors are normal people outside the funeral home," he said.
The first edition of the calendar, "Men of Mortuaries 2007," featured 11 funeral directors standing bare-chested in a variety of funereal settings. The calendars are the work of Ken McKenzie, owner of McKenzie Mortuary in Long Beach, Calif.
McKenzie, 40, said his sister came up with the idea shortly after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. He printed 50,000 copies and donated $15,000 from their sale to Kamm Cares, a foundation that helps people living with breast cancer.
Charitable benefits aside, McKenzie said he, too, believes the calendar can help dispel the gloomy image of funeral directors. Some may wonder whether the calendar, with its images of men standing half-naked in a graveyard, undermines the sense of compassion and decorum required of morticians. McKenzie said he has received only a few complaints. Mainly, he said, the calendar helps to humanize people in his line of work.
"I want to let people know these are just guys," said McKenzie, who is shown washing a hearse in a sleeveless T-shirt in the 2007 calendar. "When they come in to make funeral arrangements, (people) should not be so scared."
Cote said he, too, saw no conflict between the portrayal of funeral directors in the calendar and his professional duties.
"They did a tasteful job with the calendar," he said. "I don't feel it's negative in any way."
There was one piece of feedback McKenzie said he heard repeatedly after the 2007 calendar appeared. "The only thing people wanted was more skin," he said. "If they wanted it, they're going to get it."
Next year's edition will feature models pursuing their hobbies or interests, McKenzie said. One funeral director, a rodeo rider, will be photographed with a horse. Another who worked his way through school as a waiter will be shown serving chocolate-covered strawberries to a table of women customers.
Cote, who is packing his water ski and swim trunks for his photo shoot, said he has been dieting in preparation for his tryout.
"I'll go in about 180 pounds," he said.
He said he also intends to go to a tanning salon before he leaves for California in mid-May to be on an equal footing with contestants who haven't endured a Maine winter. Cote said he believes he can hold his own, but he knows the competition will be intense.
"This is a unique group of funeral directors," he said. "Trust me, they're not like this all around the country."
Staff Writer Seth Harkness can be contacted at 282-8225 or at:

sharkness@pressherald.com


Reader comments
1-8 of 8 comments:

Stephanie of Jacksonville, FL
Mar 23, 2007 8:25 AM
As a breast cancer survivor and recipient of the Donna Hicken Foundation that helps women living with breast cancer in our community here in Jacksonville, I can only say that this is a commendable project. Morticians are people too! This is the last person to see you when your life ends.
In Maine I have lost 2 sisters and my mother as a result of breast cancer (not to even mention the women I have known to die of breast cancer) and I say all the power to this gentleman for putting his image out there for such a great cause. When a woman has lost her job or loses time on the job the bills still have to be paid and these foundations help women be less stressed when they are going through the rigors of chemo treatments, loss of breasts, loss of hair, breast reconstruction surgery and not to mention how sick all this makes a breast cancer survivor.
I hope that someday, if it hasn't already happened in Maine, someone starts up this same tpye of project for women and men surviving breast cancer.
Thank you Stacy Cote for putting yourself out there for such a wonderful cause.
Sincerely,
Stephanie

Bigdaddy of Raymond, ME
Mar 20, 2007 6:57 AM
Amen Diecast747! It's so easy to sit back, do nothing, and criticize, but at least this is guy from Maine who is DOING something. The PPH needs to cover a positive story once in a while. There's only so many stories that can be printed about gridlock over taxation, Brookings, and whatever the Maine Municipal Association is opposed to this time. Good for this guy, I hope he does well and the calendar -- which supports a good cause -- sells well.


Outspoken1 of Lewiston, ME
Mar 19, 2007 4:38 PM
Shirtless...and SCULPTED!?...yeeeee haaa =}


http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/070319yrk.html?com_full=1#begin

America remembers Grace Metalious

The original desperate housewife: America remembers Grace Metalious

The original desperate housewife: America remembers Grace Metalious
She exposed the seedy secrets of the suburbs in her novel 'Peyton Place'. And Grace Metalious wrote from experience. As the author's life is made into a film, Andrew Gumbel tells her story.
Published: 20 February 2006

Mention the name Grace Metalious these days, and chances are that few Americans under the age of 60 - or anyone else, for that matter - will recall who she was. Her once notorious creation, the racy novel Peyton Place, is a more familiar cultural reference point, but more by association with the Oscar-laden movie (starring Lana Turner) and the long-running television series (starring a young Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal) than for the book that inspired them.

And yet Peyton Place was once a phenomenon unto itself, a book that smashed the previous fiction sales record set by Gone With the Wind and remained the best-selling American novel for close to 20 years. It shook the complacent, tightly buttoned world of America during the Eisenhower years, prefigured the sexual and societal liberations of the Sixties, entirely transformed the paperback end of the publishing industry and first introduced the notion that a mere book author could become a major media celebrity and public figure in her own right.

The memory of it, though, has become severely diminished. If people think of Peyton Place at all, they think of some kind of tawdry small-town soap opera filled with frustrated ambition, repressed sex drives, bitching and conniving - an early prototype for the sort of super- market trash fiction later pioneered by Jacqueline Susann and Jackie Collins.

During Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings in 1998, a South Carolina congressman called Lindsey Graham famously asked of the relationship between the President and Monica Lewinsky, his over-eager but politically insignificant White House intern: "Is this Watergate or Peyton Place?" In the annals of Hollywood, the set of the television show is remembered as the place where a 47-year-old Frank Sinatra swept 19-year-old Mia Farrow off her feet and scandalised the gossip-mongers by sweet-talking her into a shortlived marriage.

None of this does justice to the original book, or to the intriguing, free-spirited but ultimately self-destructive woman who wrote it. For years, Peyton Place was actually out of print, making it all but inaccessible to a new generation of readers, and Metalious seemed well on her way to the sort of oblivion reserved for the inventors of cultural fads that burn bright for a while only to fizzle out completely.

With the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book looming later this year, though, she could be in for a major reassessment and rehabilitation. A biopic, called Grace, is in the works, with Sandra Bullock in the title role and a script written by Naomi Foner, the mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Vanity Fair has just published a vast profile of Metalious, hailing her as an original and genuinely inspired writer prepared to tell the truth about the hidden underbelly of small-town New England. Peyton Place, the magazine writes, is "a crafty, page-turning brew of illicit sex, secret lives, public drunkenness, abortion, incest and murder" - not prefiguring Jacqueline Susann so much as the hit TV show Desperate Housewives.

Metalious is well on her way to academic respectability, too. Ardis Cameron, an English professor at the University of Southern Maine, helped get Peyton Place back between soft covers a few years ago with an introduction describing it as "America's first blockbuster" and a key to understanding both the stifling cultural conformity of the 1950s and the first stirrings of rebellion against it.

Emily Toth, whose biography of Metalious is the basis for the forthcoming movie, teaches the book at Louisiana State University and entirely shares Cameron's premise. As she once put it: "I was living in the Midwest in the 1950s, and I can tell you... Elvis Presley and Peyton Place were the only two things in that decade that gave you hope there was something going on out there."

There have been similar attempts at pop-culture rehabilitation in the past, not all successful. A few years ago, Hollywood went gaga over Jacqueline Susann, seeking - perhaps significantly, at the height of the dot-com stockmarket bubble - to enshrine the author of Valley of the Dolls as an enduring symbol of the triumph of packaging and entrepreneurial optimism over content. The magazine articles, book reissues and film projects were duly cranked into high gear, only to grind to screeching halt again when a biopic, starring Bette Midler and Nathan Lane, asked the question Isn't She Great? and was met with a resounding "no" from the critics.

Grace Metalious may fare rather better, for the simple reason that Peyton Place turns out to be a surprisingly good, and literate, read. In its opening lines, it describes Indian summer in New England as being like a woman, "ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle". The language may seem a little purple now, but that opening managed, with remarkable efficiency, to "unbutton New England", as Ardis Cameron once put it.

Through her main characters - the free-spirited but fragile Allison MacKenzie, her earthy, gypsy-featured friend Selena Cross from the wrong side of the tracks, the bad boy Rodney Harrington, Selena Cross's boozing, abusive stepfather Lucas, and the conscientious, deeply anti-clerical doctor Matt Swain - Metalious aimed not for sensation and raciness for its own sake so much as a witheringly accurate portrayal of the hypocrisies, power games, emotional impulses and cruel repressions of a small town in New Hampshire.

Her book is not a forerunner of mindless airport fiction so much as the kind of attack on bourgeois complacency and puritan cant later formulated by offbeat, not to say camp, film-makers like John Waters - the trash pope of Baltimore and a huge Metalious fan - and David Lynch. New England towns, Metalious once wrote, "look as peaceful as a postcard picture, but if you got beneath that picture it's like turning over a rock with your foot. All kinds of strange things crawl out." She could have been talking about Twin Peaks or Blue Velvet as much as her own work.

Among the things that crawl out of Peyton Place are topics considered entirely taboo at the time Metalious wrote about them, with child sexual abuse right at the top of the list. Selena Cross's abuse at the hands of her alcoholic stepfather, and the murder she commits to end it once and for all, were inspired by the real-life case of a young New England woman who shot and killed her rapist father and buried his body in a goat pen. Metalious originally intended Lucas Cross to be Selena's father, too, but her publisher said America was not ready to confront full-on incest so he became Selena's stepfather instead.

The critics were no less appalled. Peyton Place was denounced as wicked, sordid and cheap. William Loeb, writing in the local paper, the Manchester Union Leader, said its popularity demonstrated "a complete debasement of taste" heralding the collapse of civilisation itself. Libraries refused to purchase it, and bookstores refused to carry it. In Canada, the book was banned altogether.

And yet it was a huge seller from the very start. Metalious's publishers not only promoted the book as the astonishingly scurrilous outpouring of a seemingly ordinary New Hampshire housewife - Metalious was married to a school teacher and had three children - but also intimated that her husband would lose his job because of it.

The hypocrisies Metalious had skewered in her book were evident in the public reaction to it. People may have claimed to be shocked and outraged, but they were also lapping up her every word. It sold 100,000 copies in its first month and went on to sell 12 million more. Metalious summed up the paradox in admirably blunt fashion. "If I'm a lousy writer," she said, "then a hell of a lot of people have lousy taste."

But then Metalious stood out from the crowd long before she became famous. She did not refuse to conform to New England conventions so much as completely fail to understand them. The shack she shared with her husband and three children - nicknamed It'll Do - was perenially filthy. She locked her children out of the house for hours while she was writing. And she drank herself silly - the vice that would eventually kill her on the eve of her 40th birthday.

"I didn't know any other woman like her," Lynne Snierson, the daughter of her lawyer, told Vanity Fair. "Grace swore a lot, and she drank a lot, and she had lots of guys around her. She got married and divorced and had affairs. And she talked about sex and she talked about real life and she didn't filter it. I didn't know any other woman who was like that in the 50s."

Her book had an immediate attraction for Hollywood because of its commercial success, but its content proved too much for the world of mainstream entertainment. Both the film and the TV series shifted Peyton Place from inland New Hampshire to the more picturesque coast. Her graphic descriptions of abortions and erections were gone; incest was no longer something hushed up and tolerated, but a rare, irrational act of violence.

Peyton Place, in short, was transformed into a cultural artefact flirting with the forbidden but never quite daring to explore it. The director of the TV series admitted that he hated the book; the producer reassured the press before its launch in 1964 that in the new Peyton Place, "villains will always be punished, justice will always be done, character will be improved by adversity".

Metalious would no doubt have been horrified, but she died shortly before the show went on the air. Because of an overhasty deal to sell the rights to her book years earlier, her estate did not receive a penny in royalties from either the film or the TV series. She died, in fact, saddled in debt, having torn through her money with luxury trips to New York and the Caribbean, fast cars, fancy dinners and case upon case of booze.

It was, in the end, a tragic life - but one that may now at last be recognised for its solid achievements, not just for its propensity for generating shock and scandal.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article346491.ece

50 Years Later, 'Peyton' Memories Remain

50 Years Later, 'Peyton' Memories Remain


Sat Mar 11,12:53 PM ET

The borders of this colonial-era town suggest an A-frame house on the brink of toppling over. They form a squarish figure with a triangular extension that appears raised to the right and balanced on one corner, as if a mere push could send it tumbling down to Massachusetts.

For the most part, history has respected Gilmanton to the point of indifference. No wars have been fought here, no gold or oil discovered. There have been no major plagues or natural disasters. No president, movie star or Internet billionaire was born in Gilmanton or uses one of its lakefront residences as a summer home.

Only once, 50 years ago, did the house of Gilmanton receive a fatal shove, from a novel named "Peyton Place."

Grace Metalious' sensational story of sex, violence and other scandals in a small New England town, based in part on Gilmanton, made the author an international celebrity and a local pariah. It transformed an otherwise obscure township into a symbol of decadence and hypocrisy and rivaled Elvis Presley as a shocking breach to the official decorum of the 1950s.

Metalious is long dead, and many who knew her have also passed on, but "Peyton Place" remains the biggest news ever to hit Gilmanton. Thanks to the book's anniversary and to a planned movie starring Sandra Bullock as Metalious, a discussion few desire could well begin again.

"Most people just don't like to talk about it (`Peyton Place')," says 42-year-old Kimberly Warren, who works behind the counter at the Gilmanton Corner Store, a general store that serves as an informal gathering place. "It's just such a sore subject."

With some 3,500 people spread out over nearly 60 square miles, Gilmanton is a spare, quiet community of lakes and forests and cattle farms, of historic homes that proudly display the years they were built and roads as likely to be dirt as paved. Besides the Corner Store, the main "downtown" district consists of town hall, a church, a bed and breakfast and a library that's closed for much of the year.

On a recent afternoon in Gilmanton, Warren had just prepared a hearty roast beef sandwich for longtime resident Tom Smithers, 77 and a retired contractor. He remembers when the book came out and all the anger it caused. But did he ever read "Peyton Place"? Smithers, a laid-back, heavyset man wearing blue trousers and a checked hunting jacket, shakes his head.

"I didn't have to read it," he says with a smile. "I sat around and watched it."

Smithers recalls some of the gossip about Metalious, a housewife in her early 30s at the time "Peyton Place" came out her drinking, her love affairs, a rumor that she didn't even write the book. Such talk angers her friends, who don't claim she was a saint, but believe that a great spirit has been dishonored.

"She was one of the most intelligent, fascinating people I've ever known," says her friend, Jeannie Gallant. "Her problem was that she was naive and she put her trust in the wrong people."

Metalious was born Grace de Repentingny in 1924 in Manchester, N.H. She grew up poor but ambitious, so determined to be an author that she would sit in her aunt's bathtub, a washboard across her lap, and write story after story.

She was still a teenager when she married George Metalious, with whom she had three children and lived in and around Gilmanton, where he served as school principal. Stuck in a small house with no running water, dubbed "It'll Do" by the author, Metalious completed a novel based on what she had seen in Manchester, Gilmanton and other New England towns.

"Peyton Place" centers on the fortunes of three women: Allison McKenzie, a teenager and aspiring writer; her friend, Selena Cross, the dark-haired "bad girl" from across the tracks; and Allison's mother, Constance McKenzie, strapped like an old corset into her life as a single parent until unfastened by the town's handsome new school principal, Tomas Makris.

With its famously suggestive beginning "Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle ..." Metalious' novel describes a petty, mean-spirited town in which rape, alcoholism and sexual passion seethe behind a facade of old-fashioned propriety.

"The function of a novel is to entertain, but you can grind an ax at the same time," the author said when the book was published.

Detractors blamed Metalious' novel on the ravings of a dirty mind, but the most notorious plot turn, the rape of Selena by her stepfather, Lucas Cross, was based on a true story: The 1947 confession by a Gilmanton woman that she had murdered her father, who had been sexually abusing her for years.

Metalious had few connections in the book industry and her manuscript was turned down by several publishers before she was taken on by two women: Kitty Messner, head of the Julian Messner publishing house, which released "Peyton Place" in hardcover, and Helen Meyer, director of Dell Publishing, which put out the paperback.

"This was a time when women were gaining more influence in the business," says Ardis Cameron, a professor of American and New England studies at the University of Southern Maine who contributed the introduction to a 1999 reissue of the book. "Both Kitty Messner and Helen Meyer understood the appeal this book would have to women, and to men."

Published in fall 1956, "Peyton Place" sold millions of copies, becoming more desired as censors sought to stop it. Metalious' novel was banned in several cities, declared "indecent" by Canada and labeled by New Hampshire's Manchester Union-Leader as symbolic of a "complete debasement of taste." A sign in front of a library in Beverly Farms, Mass., read: "This library does not carry `Peyton Place.' If you want it, go to Salem."

"I was 14 when `Peyton Place' was published, and I was a ninth grader starting at (Phillips) Exeter (Academy)," recalls novelist and Exeter, N.H., native John Irving. "Everyone was passing that book around. We all thought it was trash, but that didn't exclude our interest in the subject matter."

"Peyton Place" may have seemed like a new and alien world, but in some ways it was as old as the New England tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who also disdained the Puritan facade, and as universal as the fiction of Sinclair Lewis, who ridiculed small town life in his native Minnesota.

"The late Sinclair Lewis would no doubt have hailed Grace Metalious as a sister-in-arms against the false fronts and bourgeois pretensions of allegedly respectable communities," critic Carlos Baker wrote in a New York Times review that ran when the book was released.

But in Gilmanton, "Peyton Place" was treated as if it had burned a letter "A" into the town's very soul. The author received threatening letters and calls and her children were taunted and ostracized. Olive Hartford, head of the PTA at the time, recalled being asked by 20th Century Fox to help get residents to attend the New York premiere of the film version, which came out in 1957.

"The movie studio was offering an all-expense paid trip for 25 to New York, but I could only get around 15 to go," says Hartford, now 88 and still living in Gilmanton. "I would ask people if they were interested and they would back away, `Oh, no!'"

In "Peyton Place," Metalious observed that there were two kinds of people, those who lived behind "tedious, expensive shells" and those who did not. For the former, the price was living in fear of exposure. For the latter, the risk was being "crushed."

Friends agree that Metalious was ruined by fame. She wrote three more novels, but never approached her initial success. Her marriage broke up, her finances were a disaster and her drinking took on fatal dimensions. Near the end of her in life, she became lovers with a British journalist named John Rees, unaware that he had a wife and children back home.

On her deathbed in a Boston hospital, she reportedly murmured, "Be careful of what you want, you may get it." She died in 1964 of cirrhosis, at age 39.

Gilmanton did not mourn. Only in the 1970s did the local library stock her book and no plaques or statues are to be found in her honor. At the Smith Meeting House Cemetery, her burial spot is set well apart from the others, marked by a plainly inscribed white headstone arched sharply at the top, like a pair of eyebrows raised in anger.

Meanwhile, her novel, or at least the title, lived on. "Peyton Place" was turned into a juicy, but slightly tamed movie starring Hope Lange and Lana Turner, and later a wholly domesticated TV series, starring Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal.

Few would call "Peyton Place" a literary classic, but the novel has admirers ranging from Stephen King to John Waters, and has been taught in numerous history and cultural studies classes, including courses at Harvard University, the University of Oregon, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Southern California.

"I think increasingly that historians and cultural studies teachers see it as an important part of the postwar era," says Ardis Cameron of the University of Southern Maine.

Gilmanton has caught up to "Peyton Place" in some ways the town hall even includes pamphlets on legal advice for "unwed custody" but people here disagree on whether the novel is ancient history or lasting embarrassment.

"People just brush it off now," says Olive Hartford, and younger residents, especially those who grew up elsewhere, say few care anymore about what happened. But not all have forgiven. When The Associated Press called the home of longtime resident George Roberts, Jr., a young man answered. Upon hearing that the subject was "Peyton Place," he responded, "We don't care to discuss that in this town at all," and hung up.

Nathaniel Abbott, 47 and chairman of Gilmanton's three-member board of selectmen, says anger at Metalious fades as the elderly population dies off. But when asked if he could imagine anyone getting up at a town meeting and suggesting a resolution in Metalious' honor, he laughed and laughed.

"I'll let you do that," he said, then added. "There's one thing in Gilmanton people are not afraid to do, and that is if they feel strongly enough about something, they will really let you have it."

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20060311/114211038000.html

50 Years of Grace: Manchester Looks at Peyton Place

50 Years of Grace: Manchester Looks at Peyton Place
Project to explore the legacy of Grace Metalious & her infamous novel
The Manchester School District has received a grant from the Humanities Council for a project that will examine the life and legacy of New Hampshire author Grace Metalious. This collaborative project will involve a number of community partners in the Manchester area including the Manchester City Library, UNH-Manchester, the Manchester Historic Association, and the Franco-American Centre. The project marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Peyton Place and the release of the film version.
Grace Metalious was a 1942 graduate of Central High School in Manchester and Central will host many of the project’s events. Public events also will be held in a number of other venues including the Manchester City Library, UNH-Manchester and the Millyard Museum.

Grace Metalious was an unknown and impoverished young mother when Peyton Place created a cultural explosion in 1956. Metalious wished to be taken seriously as a writer but her novel was both villified by critics as “pulp fiction” and embraced by a reading public shocked and enthralled by the book’s sexually-explicit scenes. The novel remained on the New York Times best-seller list for more than a year. “If I’m a lousy writer, then an awful lot of people have lousy taste,” Metalious said in response to the critical reception Peyton Place received.
While Peyton Place was made into a successful film and a long-running television series and the book has sold more than 20 million copies world-wide, Metalious herself remains largely unknown, even in her home state. Peyton Place overshadowed her subsequent novels including her most autobiographical work, No Adam in Eden. The novel’s setting is “Livingstone, New Hampshire,” a fictionalized version of Manchester, and most of the story takes place at “Livingstone Central High School.”

Metalious lived at the center of a firestorm of controversy and resentment following the publication of Peyton Place and derived little pleasure from its financial success. “If I had it to do over again,” she said, “it would be easier to be poor.” Alcoholism shortened her life; she died in 1964 at the age of 39.

From both literary and socio-historical standpoints, Grace Metalious belonged to a generation of writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and others who played a major role in launching a cultural and political revolution that came to fruition in the 1960s. In addition, as a Franco-American Roman Catholic from a working-class background, Metalious represented and wrote about a generation of ethnic Americans who lived a marginal life, caught between their linguistic and cultural origins and their quest to join mainstream America. For these reasons, project organizers think it is imperative that Metalious be the subject of a fresh, serious and objective study, free from the bias and sensationalism that clouded the reception of her writings in her lifetime.

The project will launch in April with “One City, One Book” discussions at the Manchester City Library. Mayor Frank Guinta will issue a proclamation urging citizens to read Peyton Place and see the film. Copies of the book will be available at the library and the film will be available to borrow on DVD.

The series will continue with several lectures on Metalious and her work including “Beyond Peyton Place: In Search of the Real Grace Metalious” presented by Robert Perreault, St. Anselm College; “Peyton Place and Its Role in Film History” presented by Dr. Jeffrey Klenotic, UNH-Manchester, and “Unbuttoning America: Re-reading Peyton Place” presented by Dr. Ardis Cameron, University of Southern Maine. The project will include several showings of the film version of Peyton Place, a dramatic reading of Metalious’ work, and walking tours of Metalious’ Manchester.

All of the project’s events will be open to the public free of charge. The full schedule is available below and will be printed in the Humanities Council's March Calendar.

In addition to the public events, Manchester High School Central will mark the anniversary by reprinting “The Fuller Brush Man,” Metalious’ first published work, in The Oracle, Central’s literary magazine. The story first appeared in The Oracle while Metalious was a student at Central.The school newspaper, The Little Green, will run an interview with Metalious’ former husband, George Metalious, conducted by Central students.

For more information on this project, contact project director David Scannell by e-mail or call 624-6300 x169.

Schedule of Events for 50 Years of Grace

All events are open to the public free of charge.

April 18, Wednesday, 7 p.m., Manchester City Library, WEST SIDE BRANCH
April 24, Tuesday, 7 p.m., Manchester City Library, MAIN BRANCH
One City, One Book - Peyton Place
Copies of Peyton Place will be available to borrow at the Manchester City Library through the New Hampshire State Library's Bookbag program. DVD copies of the film will also be available. These two community book discussions will be led by Dr. Franklyn G. Bass. Peyton Place and Metalious' other three novels will be available to the public through the UNH-Manchester library.

April 2, Monday, 11:15 a.m.
Central High School, Classical Hall
Beyond Peyton Place: In Search of the Real Grace Metalious
Robert B. Perreault, an expert on Metalious' life in Manchester, will discuss her local roots and their impact on her work.

April 3, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. & April 5, Thursday, 5:30 p.m.
UNH-Manchester, Third Floor Auditorium
Showing of the film version of Peyton Place
The 1957 film adaptation of Peyton Place will be shown with an introduction by a scholar on Metalious and her work.

April 10, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
UNH-Manchester, Third Floor Auditorium
Unbuttoning America: Re-reading Peyton Place
Dr. Ardis Cameron will re-examine Peyton Place as a novel. Dr. Cameron wrote an introductory essay for the newest edition of Peyton Place and is writing a book on Metalious and the Peyton Place phenomenon.

April 11, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Central High School, McAllaster Auditorium
Words of Grace - Dramatic readings of Grace Metalious' writings
This event will feature dramatic readings of a variety of Metalious' work by the Central High School Drama Club, The Maskers. The Maskers will present selections from Peyton Place, Return to Peyton Place, The Tight White Collar, and No Adam in Eden. A discussion will follow the dramatic readings facilitated by Dr. Ardis Cameron and Chad Sandford, a history teacher at Central and faculty advisor to The Maskers.

April 16, Monday & April 21, Saturday, 10 a.m. to Noon
Central High School and its environs - Meet at main entry of Ash St. School
Walking Tour - In the Footsteps of Grace Metalious
Robert B. Perreault will lead this tour of Grace Metalious' Manchester. The tour will include Central High School, Metalious' alma mater, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods that are featured in her autobiographical novel, No Adam in Eden.

April 28, Saturday, 10 a.m.
Manchester Historic Association's Millyard Museum
Memories of Peyton Place - Book discussion and oral history recording
People who were young when Peyton Place was published often have strong memories of having to hide the fact that they were reading the scandalous Peyton Place from their parents. Older Manchester citizens also remember stories about Grace Metalious, the woman who wrote "that dirty book." Members of the community with stories about Peyton Place or Metalious are invited to share their memories. Dr. Robert Macieski will moderate th is event.

May 1 , Thursday, 6 p.m.
UNH-Manchester, Third Floor uditorium
Peyton Place and its Role in Film History
Dr. Jeffrey Klenotic, UNH-Manchester, will discuss the 1957 film version of Peyton Place, its role in film history, and its impact on popular culture of the time.

http://www.nhhc.org/featured-programs.php

City Coalition to Mark 50th Anniversary of ‘Peyton Place’

City Coalition to Mark 50th Anniversary of ‘Peyton Place’

Book’s Author, a City Native, To Be Profiled

Manchester, NH - A series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Peyton Place,” a novel by Manchester native Grace Metalious that set the literary world on fire with its frank discussion of life in a small New England town, is set for the month of April, according to an announcement made on March 20 at a meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. The New Hampshire Humanities Council provided funding for the project.

Mayor Frank Guinta proclaimed the novel to be Manchester’s selection for participation in this year’s “One Book, One City” program, a national initiative through which mayor’s “assign” citizens a book to read and endorse events designed to encourage citizen participation in the effort. In his proclamation, Mayor Guinta termed the novel “a cultural phenomenon that forever shattered fixed notions of life in a small New England town.”

A coalition of local organizations, including the school district, the Manchester Historic Association, the Manchester City Library, and the UNH Manchester, will kick off the month-long celebration of the book and its companion movie that was released in 1957 with a lecture April 2 at 11:15 a.m. by Robert Perrault, a member of the Saine Anselm College modern languages and literature department and an expert on Metalious. The lecture will take place in Classical Hall in Central High School’s Classical Building. Metalious was graduated from Central in 1942.

“The high point of the series will be a lecture by Ardis Cameron, Associate Professor of New England studies at the University of Southern Maine, and a Metalious expert,” said Selma Naccach, head of Central High School’s English department. Metalious was a Central High School graduate.

Cameron’s lecture is titled “Unbuttoning America: Peyton Place and Grace Metalious in American History and Letters” and is being billed on posters put out by the coalition as an attempt to “explain ‘Peyton Place’s’ importance as a key text in American history and culture and culture and introduce the remarkable author whose work rocked a nation and unhinged her life.” Cameron’s lecture will take place April 10 at 6 p.m. at UNH Manchester located at 400 Commercial Street.

Other events include:

Film Screening
A showing of the 1957 movie version of “Peyton Place,” starring Lana Turner
April 3 and April 5, 5:30 p.m.
UNH-Manchester, Third Floor Auditorium, 400 Commercial St.

Words of Grace
Selected dramatic readings of Metalious's writings and discussion by Maskers, Central High School’s theater group
April 11, 7 p.m., McAllaster Auditorium, Central High School, 207 Lowell St.

In the Footsteps of Grace Metalious
A walking tour of sites significant in Metalious’s life
April 16, 10 a.m., main entry of the Ash Street School, corner of Maple and Bridge Sts.
April 21, 10 a.m., main entry of the Ash Street School, corner of Maple and Bridge Sts.

One Book, One City Discussion
A book discussion of the novel led by Dr. Frank Bass, assistant superintendent of the Manchester School District
April 18, 7 p.m., Manchester City Library, West Side Library, South Main Street
April 24, 7 p.m., Manchester City Library, Carpenter Memorial Building, Pine Street

Memories of “Peyton Place”
Book discussion and oral history recording moderated by Robert Macieski, UNH associate professor of history
April 28, 10 a.m., Manchester Historic Association, Millyard Museum, Commercial St.

“Peyton Place” and its Role in Film History
A discussion of the movie version of the novel presented by Jeffrey Klenotic, UNH associate professor of communication arts
May 1, 6 p.m., UNH-Manchester, Third Floor Auditorium, Commercial St.

All events are free and open to the public. Updates on the schedule can be obtained at www.manchesterhistoric.org, the Manchester Historic Association’s web site.

The Manchester City Library has obtained a number of copies of the novel and its sequel, “Return to Peyton Place.”

http://www.unhm.unh.edu/marketing/news/news_releases/2007/03/20peytonplace.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 20, 2007
Contact: Kim Wall
Public Relations Program Coordinator
Marketing and Community Relations Office
University of New Hampshire , Manchester
(603) 641-4306
kim.wall@unh.edu

'Peyton Place' author to get 50th anniversary feting

Grace DeRepentigny Metalious (1924-1964) from the book jacket of Peyton Place; photo by Larry Smith.
'Peyton Place' author to get 50th anniversary feting

By JOHN WHITSON
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Wednesday, Mar. 21, 2007

MANCHESTER – The city will fully embrace one of its most famous native daughters with a series of events next month marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of "Peyton Place."

Grace Metalious' novel was an instant sensation in the fall of 1956. It quickly sold millions of copies and captivated the nation with its peek behind the curtains of life in a small New England town.

The book, which was spun into a 1957 movie and a hit television series in the 1960s, has sold more than 20 million copies, remains in print and has become one of the nation's cultural touchstones.

Last night, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen unveiled a list of events, sponsored by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities Council, throughout April that will be dedicated to examining not only Metalious and her work, but why the material continues to sell and resonate with readers.

Mayor Frank Guinta proclaimed the novel Manchester's selection for this year's "One Book, One City" program, a national initiative in which mayors "assign" citizens a book to read.

In his proclamation, Guinta called the novel "a cultural phenomenon that forever shattered fixed notions of life in a small New England town."

A coalition of local groups, including the school district, the Manchester Historic Association, the city library and the University of New Hampshire-Manchester have mapped out the month-long celebration.

The attention is expected to drum up renewed local interest in Metalious' most famous work, so the city library has stocked about 30 copies of "Peyton Place."

Considered scandalous for its time, the novel was banned in several cities. Canada officially declared it "indecent," and this newspaper called it a "complete debasement of taste."

"When you read it now it's kind of tame," said Sarah Basbas, a city reference librarian. "I think people should give her the credit she deserves," said Basbas, "because I think it is a good book."

As "Peyton Place" took on a notorious life of its own in pop culture, Ardis Cameron said its merits and those of its author were overlooked.

The Southern Maine University associate professor of New England studies will give a lecture on the book and author April 10 at UNH-Manchester. She said the city's celebration of Metalious is long overdue.

"It is about time they've done something for her," said Cameron, a Metalious expert who has written introductions to "Peyton Place" and "Return to Peyton Place."

Cameron is writing a book about "Peyton Place," tentatively titled "Tales of Peyton Place: The Biography of a Big Book."

"A lot of people now in their 30s or 40s have heard of it but they've never really read it," she said. "I'll be talking a little bit about Grace next month and Peyton Place itself and why it is important."

Cameron said people reading the book for the first time today will likely be struck more by Metalious' rendering of class and ethnicity than her take on sexuality.

"She was very smart, she was very sensitive, she was very modest," said Cameron. "She just felt clobbered by the public attention and the pressure on her to produce another book."

Metalious, a 1942 graduate of Manchester Central High School, did pen three other novels, but after publication she was treated as a pariah in her adopted hometown of Gilmanton. She became an alcoholic, dying from cirrhosis at age 39.

The Cameron lecture, "Unbuttoning America: Peyton Place and Grace Metalious in American History and Letters," will take place April 10 at 6 p.m. at UNH-Manchester, 400 Commercial St.

Other events include:

April 2: Robert Perreault, a member of the St. Anselm College modern languages and literature department, will discuss Metalious' local roots and their effect on her writing at 11:15 a.m. at Central High School's Classical Building.

April 3 and 5: Showings at 5:30 p.m. of the 1957 movie version of "Peyton Place," starring Lana Turner at UNH-Manchester, third floor auditorium.

April 11: Selected dramatic readings of Metalious' writings and discussion by Maskers, Central High School's theater group, 7 p.m., McAllaster Auditorium, Central High, 207 Lowell St.

April 16 and 21: Walking tours of sites significant in Metalious' life; tours start both days start at 10 a.m. at the main entry of Ash Street School, corner of Maple and Bridge streets.

April 18 and 24: Book discussions of the novel led by Frank Bass, an assistant superintendent of schools in Manchester; talks both nights start at 7 p.m. The April 18 discussion will be at the West Side Library on South Main Street, and the April 24 discussion will be at the main library on Pine Street.

April 28: Book discussion and oral history recording moderated by Robert Macieski, a UNH associate professor of history, at 10 a.m. in the Manchester Historic Association's Millyard Museum on Commercial Street.

May 1: A discussion of the movie version of the novel presented by Jeffrey Klenotic, UNH associate professor of communication arts, at 6 p.m., at UNH-Manchester's third floor auditorium, 400 Commercial St.

All events are free and open to the public.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline='Peyton+Place'+author+to+get+50th+anniversary+feting&articleId=c7f74620-7453-453d-8b5a-bcdb488c82dd

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50 Years of Grace

Manchester Looks at Peyton Place

Sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council


A special series of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of the blockbuster novel Peyton Place (1956) by Manchester author Grace DeRepentigny Metalious, and the ground-breaking Hollywood movie, Peyton Place, released in 1957.

See the calendar of events below, and click here for more details on this project.


Beyond Peyton Place: In Search of the Real Grace Metalious

Lecture by Robert B. Perreault, Department of Modern Languages & Literature, St. Anselm College
Perreault will discuss Grace Metalious' local roots in Manchester, including her French-Canadian family, and the impact her background had on her work.

Monday, April 2 from 11:15 a.m.-Noon, Central High School, Classical Hall (in the Classical Building)



Film Screening – Peyton Place
This blockbuster movie starred Lana Turner and Lee Phillips and was directed by Mark Robson.

Tuesday, April 3 & Thursday, April 5, 5:30 – 9:00 p.m., UNH Manchester, 400 Commercial Street, Third Floor Auditorium



Unbuttoning America: Peyton Place and Grace Metalious in American History and Letters

Presented by Ardis Cameron, Director and Associate Professor of American and New England

Studies, University of Southern Maine

Explore the memory and meaning of Peyton Place as it moved from best-selling novel in 1956 to American icon in the late twentieth century. Dr. Cameron will contextualize the novel for modern readers, explain its importance as a key text in American history and culture and discover the remarkable author, Grace Metalious, whose work rocked a nation and unhinged her life. Dr. Cameron is currently writing abook about Metalious.

Tuesday, April 10, 6:00 –7:30 p.m., UNH Manchester, 400 Commercial Street, Third Floor Auditorium



Words of Grace

Selected dramatic readings of Grace Metalious’ writings and audience discussion by the Central High School Maskers Theatre Group, moderated by Dr. Ardis Cameron and facilitated by Chad Sandford, history teacher and faculty advisor to Maskers.

Wednesday, April 11, 7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m., Central High School - McAllaster Auditorium, 207 Lowell Street



In the Footsteps of Grace Metalious

A walking tour led by Robert B. Perreault. The tour will include Central High School, Metalious' alma mater, as well as surrounding neighborhoods where there are several locations associated with her family, and that are featured in her autobiographical novel No Adam in Eden.

Monday April 16, 10:00 a.m.– Noon, main entry of the Ash Street School (Ash & Bridge Streets)

Saturday, April 21, 10:00 a.m. – Noon, main entry of the Ash Street School (Ash & Bridge Streets)



One Book, One City

A book discussion of Peyton Place, led by Dr. Franklyn G. Bass, Assistant Superintendent,

Middle & Secondary Schools, Manchester School District
Copies of the book and the movie are available at the City Library. The library at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester is also making Metalious' other three novels available.

Wednesday, April 18, 7:00 p.m.– 8:30 p.m., Manchester West Community Library, 76 North Main Street

Tuesday, April 24, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Manchester City Library,405 Pine Street



Memories of Peyton Place

Book discussion and oral history recording moderated by Dr. Robert Macieski, Associate

Professor of History, UNH
A panel of women who remember vividly what it was like to to read the scandalous novel after it was first published will tell their stories, and the audience will be invited to join in with their own recollections. Pre-registration is required.

Saturday, April 28, 10:00 a.m. – Noon, Manchester Historic Association, Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford Street
Click here for more details available on the MHA Calendar of Events.



Peyton Place and its Role in Film History

Lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Klenotic, Associate Professor of Communication Arts, UNH
Dr. Klenotic will discuss the 1957 film version of Peyton Place, its role in film history, and its impact on the popular culture of the time.

Tuesday, May 1, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m., UNH Manchester, 400 Commercial Street, Third Floor Auditorium


Special displays on Grace Metalious and her books will be on view during the month of April at the Manchester Historic Association (at the MHA Research Library, 129 Amherst Street); the Manchester City Library (main branch on Pine Street); Central High School, and the library of the University of New Hampshire at Manchester.

Also during the month of April: Central High School will re-publish Grace Metalious' first published work in the school's literary magazine The Oracle. This short story, entitled "The Fuller Brush Man," was first published in this magazine while Metalious was a student at Central. Also, George Metalious, Grace Metalious' former husband, will be interviewed by Central High students for an article that will be published in the student newspaper, The Little Green.

The following institutions are partners in this project: the Manchester Historic Association, the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, the Manchester School District, and Central High School. The events are sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council and are free and open to the public. If you have any questions, please contact the Manchester Historic Association at (603) 622-7531.

http://www.manchesterhistoric.org/Metalious.htm

Fresh Look at a banned book

Thursday, March 22, 2007
A fresh look at a banned book

By GEOFF CUNNINGHAM Jr.

GRACE METALIOUS' Peyton Place will be the subject of a reading series at Laconia Public Library.


Fifty years after its publication prompted nationwide shock and the banning of the book in several states, Grace Metalious' Peyton Place has been selected as the book Laconians will read together.

Organizers of Laconia's "One City, One Book" program have selected the Gilmanton author's torrid tale of small-town New England as the subject of this year's citywide reading event and are confident that their will be no shortage of discussion about a book that rocked America immediately after its 1956 release.

Deann Hunter, a librarian at Laconia Public Library, said Peyton Place seemed like a good fit for the program this year as it relates to the Lakes Region, and the book recently reached the 50th anniversary of its publication.

"Every year we try to pick something that has a connection with Laconia or may have special interest in the community. Many people have read it, but for some it's been a long time," said Hunter.

One City, One Book — sponsored by the Laconia Public Library, Laconia School District and Laconia Putnam Fund — is designed to bring people together to discuss literature and to share views on common issues by having several copies of the same book available to residents.

Laconia Public Library has obtained several copies of Peyton Place, which are available at the library and at the Laconia School District superintendent's office on Harvard Street. Residents can pick up the book, read it, and pass it on to a friend.

People can then participate in a variety of related discussion panels and other events associated with the book.

Hunter said this year's program will see Dr. Ardis Cameron of University of Southern Maine coming to Laconia Public Library on April 18 at 7 p.m. for an event titled: "Unbuttoning America: Re-reading Peyton Place."

Cameron wrote the forward for the most recent version of Peyton Place that is being handed out to residents.

One City, One Book has been undertaken the past two years with the first year focusing on Gary Paulsen's sled-dog themed "Winterdance"and last year involving Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime"— a book about an autistic teenager in New England.

Hunter said the selection of Peyton Place is more spicy, but she noted that times have changed to a point where Metalious' book is relatively mild in today's standards.

"As far as writing and authors ... it's not as scandalous as it once was. It's small town New England so it's interested," said Hunter, adding that the book was selected by a committee made up of three library employees and three school district staffers.

Peyton Place was among the hottest books in the nation with its themes of lust, adultery and social inequality. Cameron's introduction of the book describes the book as one of "America's first blockbusters" and notes that its sexual content caused it to be banned in numerous states. Canada banned it from the country.

Peyton Place and its characters are said to be based on people and places in Gilmanton, Belmont and Laconia. Hunter said she and other One City, One Book organizers just hope it makes for good reading and interesting discussion.

"We really want to bring the community together and get everyone reading the same book to spark discussion and different issues it may raise," said Hunter.

Additional events relating to the program include an April 12 talk called "Before Peyton Place: In Search of the Real Grace Metalious" which will be held at 7 p.m. with St. Anselm College's Robert B. Perreault.

An adult book discussion will be led by Suzanne Brown of Dartmouth College on April 23 at 7 p.m. with a viewing of the 1957 film version of Peyton Place coming on April 25 at 1 p.m.

All events will be held at the Laconia Public Library's Rotary Hall and for more information call the library at 524-4775 ext. 12.

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070322/CITIZEN_01/103220255/-1/CITIZEN

LaMarche Web site praised for its creativity

LaMarche Web site praised for its creativity

By SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer, Waterville Morning Sentinel,
Monday, March 26, 2007

AUGUSTA -- Pat LaMarche didn't win the race for governor, but she's being praised for the innovative way she used her Web site to reach out to voters.

The Green Independent candidate's campaign recently won a Golden Dot Award for Best Web Site Local Campaign. The award was handed out earlier this month at a Washington, D.C., conference sponsored by the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.

"It's pretty obvious you can use a Web site to be extraordinarily creative," LaMarche said, noting that her campaign held online town hall meetings and solicited donations to help her qualify for public funding.

"The Web has just put the world at people's fingertips," she said.

The site also will become part of the archives at the Library of Congress because of its historic value, LaMarche said.

Although some of it has been deactivated because the campaign is long over, you can check out the rest of the site at http://www.pat2006.com.

Le Vent du Nord, symphony present night of fun

Le Vent du Nord, symphony present night of fun

By CHRISTOPHER HYDE, Portland Press Herald, Monday, March 26, 2007

CONCERT REVIEW
WHO: Portland Symphony Orchestra

WHAT: Le Vent du Nord

WHERE: Merrill Auditorium
Every so often a concert comes along that is unpretentious and just plain fun. When it has a whiff of the unusual about it, there's no better way to spend an evening.
For example, consider a pops concert of Celtic music by the Portland Symphony Orchestra with that Quebecois phenomenon, Le Vent du Nord, at Merrill Auditorium on Saturday night. The concert was sponsored by Canada to promote the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City, which will be celebrated in 2008.
Guest conductor Daniel Meyer, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, is one of the more flamboyant of the season, and he established great rapport with both the orchestra and the folk musicians. His remarks about the composers and their works were humorous and enlightening, although he couldn't describe much of Australian pianist and composer Percy Grainger's career in front of a family audience. Suffice it to say that Grainger believed that sadomasochism was the wellspring of his art.
I love Grainger's work, no matter what its origin, and it was entirely appropriate for a program of Celtic music, with the kind of driving rhythm and repetitious phrases that characterize, for example, both an Irish reel and the foot-stamping music of Celtic Brittany as played by Le Vent du Nord.
His arrangement of "Danny Boy" is still the best, even though the tune appeared in more symphonic form in the Irish Rhapsody No. 1 in D Minor (Opus 78), by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.
I had heard and seen Le Vent du Nord before, at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, and a more talented and ingratiating group would be hard to find. Their knowledge of French songs and dances that go back to the Renaissance or earlier, and have survived in Quebec, would be worthy of an ethnomusicologist if it were not so entertaining.
The orchestra, which performed alone during the first half of the program, primarily sat back and enjoyed the quartet after intermission, although they did play backup effectively on some numbers arranged for orchestra. On one of these, Meyer seemed to listen like a jazz musician and bring the orchestra in gradually, like an unrehearsed pickup of melody and refrain.
One of the group, Nicolas Boulerice, who played the grand piano during some of the orchestral arrangements, is both a player and builder of the hurdy-gurdy, a respectable musical instrument (not to be confused with a barrel organ or street piano) that goes back to 1,000 A.D. It is basically a large violin whose strings are vibrated by a rosin-covered wheel and stopped by means of a keyboard rather than the fingers. The sound alone is worth the price of admission.
I wish I could have understood the patois of the lyrics to songs such as "The Complacent Monk," which are full of double-entendres that would have made Grainger proud.
Christopher Hyde's Classical Beat column appears in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/070326hyde.html

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Classical Quebecois

By STEPHANIE BOUCHARD, News Assistant
Portland Press Herald,Thursday, March 22, 2007

IF YOU GO:
LE VENT DU NORD WITH THE PORTLAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
WHERE: Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 9:30 and 11:10 a.m. youth concerts on Monday and Tuesday. 11:10 a.m. concerts are sold out.
HOW MUCH: $15-$54 Saturday and Sunday. $5 per person youth concerts on Monday and Tuesday.
TICKETS: Call PortTix at 842-0800 or go to www.porttix.com for Pops concert tickets. Call the Portland Symphony Orchestra at 773-6128 for tickets to the youth concerts. Reservations are required for youth concerts.
WHAT ELSE: Pops concerts ticket holders will be entered to win a three-night stay in Quebec City, including a transportation allowance and free access to museums.
Award-winning Quebecois band Le Vent du Nord joins the Portland Symphony Orchestra Saturday and Sunday for two concerts honoring Celtic and French-Canadian music traditions. The concerts are the final shows in the orchestra's Pops series and coincide with International French Week events in New England.

Formed in Canada in 2002, Le Vent du Nord features four singers who play eight musical instruments, including some odd ones, like the hurdy gurdy. The band has performed in Maine several times over the last five years, most recently last month to a sold-out crowd in Lewiston. Le Vent du Nord has won several awards for its first two albums. A third is set to be released in October, with new band member RŽjean Brunet, who's replacing Benoit Bourque. Bourque is the band's step dancer, and he plays the diatonic accordion, bones, jaw harp and mandolin. His final concerts with the band are this weekend.

While this weekend's concerts mark an ending for the band and its fans, it also marks a first for the quartet. The shows mark the first time Le Vent du Nord has worked with a symphony orchestra.

"It was very funny for us when they asked," said Nicolas Boulerice, the band's hurdy gurdy player, from his home outside Montreal. "We were thinking it was a joke."

It wasn't a joke, and the band is really excited about this new venture, Boulerice said. The orchestra, led by guest conductor Daniel Meyer, will perform Irish and Scottish tunes for the first half of the program and Le Vent du Nord will join in for the second half, performing with the orchestra and solo.

Le Vent du Nord is renowned for bringing new life to traditional French-Canadian music Ð and bringing that music to new, and often, younger audiences. "It's happy music," said Boulerice. "Even if it's sad songs, we sound, I don't know, happy."

In addition to performing with the orchestra on Saturday and Sunday, the band is also joining the orchestra and local meteorologist Joe Cupo and weather forecaster Kevin Mannix from WCSH (Channel 6) on Monday and Tuesday for four youth concerts. The orchestra's youth concert series is offered to students ages 8 to 13. The series introduces local children to orchestral music and the instruments orchestras use. The youth concerts are mainly offered to school groups, but if seating is available, tickets are offered to the general public.

The youth concerts performed with Le Vent du Nord have a weather theme. The orchestra and Le Vent du Nord will show how instruments can be used to sound like weather and will perform music inspired by weather.

Le Vent du Nord has worked with youth groups before to teach about the instruments the members of the band play and French-Canadian musical traditions, but explaining how musical instruments can sound like the weather is new. "We aren't afraid," said Boulerice, as the band considers how it will pull off its part during the youth concerts. "With our instruments, we can fake many things. We can fake the weather. There's a lot of improvisation. We like to try things with our instruments. It's always about sharing."

To hear Le Vent du Nord audio clips, go to the band's Web site, www.leventdunord.com. Tickets are still available for Saturday's and Sunday's Pops concerts. Limited seating is available for the 9:30 a.m. youth concerts on Monday and Tuesday.

http://entertainment.mainetoday.com/news/070322leventdunord.html

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Le Vent du Nord to appear at Merrill

By Juliana L'Heureux, Portland Press Herald,
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Maine's celebration of "la semaine de la Francophone" culminates with a special concert at Merrill Auditorium featuring Montreal's lively music and dance ensemble, "Le Vent du Nord," performing with the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
"We're excited about this rare chance to play and perform with a symphony orchestra in Portland," says Olivier Demers, 30, violinist and guitar player with the Quebecois group. Demers, trained in classical music, is one of four accomplished performers who formed the Celtic-inspired "Le Vent du Nord" four and a half years ago.
"Our Portland concert is the first time we've performed with a symphony," he says.
"Le Vent du Nord" (or "North Wind") will connect their Quebec traditions and music to the classical symphony with performances Saturday night and a matinee Sunday at Merrill Auditorium. Daniel Meyer is guest conductor for the performances.
Canada's government is a principal sponsor of the program, in celebration of Maine's Francophone week, which recognizes the state's French-Canadian population.
"We've been touring like crazy lately," says Demers.
Performing with him is Nicolas Boulerice, 31, lead singer and fiddler who also plays a hurdy-gurdy. Demers said the hurdy-gurdy is actually a wheel fiddle, or a stringed musical instrument using a circular shaped bow.
Boulerice first learned music and singing with his grandmother, who often hosted kitchen soirees in Quebec. Simon Beaudry, 28, from Quebec's LanaudiËre area, is the group's guitar player and lead singer.
"Simon lives our Quebecois traditions," says Demers.
Benoit Bourque, 49, is the accordion player who also performs with bones ("Like barbecue ribs," says Demers) and does step dancing. Beaudry has danced since he was 13, having grown up in a musical family.
All four performers take pride in their French-Canadian heritage. French is their first language, because they grew up in Quebec Province and Montreal. Demers recognizes the good work being done by people of French-Canadian descent in Maine to help preserve the culture and the language for future generations.
"Le Vent du Nord is proud and pleased to be part of the celebration of the French language in Maine during the week of the Francophone," he says. Although Demers was surprised to learn how common his family's surname is among Mainers, he was, nevertheless, knowledgeable about the migration of French-Canadians who left Quebec to help settle the state.
"Maine is into 100 years of receiving French-Canadian immigrants," he says. French- speaking Canadians recognize how hard it is to carry on the Quebecois traditions and culture in an English-speaking society.
"We work hard to preserve our language and traditions because they're important to us," he says. "Francophone people in Maine are like our extended Quebecois family."
Performing with Le Vent du Nord is essentially a cultural tribute to the 400-year history of French-Canadian heritage, beginning with the 1608 founding of Quebec by explorer Samuel de Champlain.
"Quebecois music is not only a product of making recordings, it's actually a reflection of our lifetime of work," says Demers. "It's like researching our heritage and creating a collection of pictures or photographs of our culture."
The performers want to create a window for audiences to see through, as they peer into the lively nature of the French-Canadian and Quebecois culture. "We're totally dedicated to our Quebecois traditions," he says.
Ticket-holders for the Portland Symphony's performance with Le Vent du Nord are eligible for a drawing to win a three-day trip to Quebec in 2008.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/070322juliana.html

"More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Maine Women"

A woman's place is in history

By RAY ROUTHIER, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald,
Sunday, March 25, 2007

SOME INSPIRING WOMEN
INSPIRING AND independent women are the focus of Kate Kennedy's "More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Maine Women."

KENNEDY WILL talk about her book during a program for the Yarmouth Historical Society at 7: 30 p.m. April 9 in the American Legion Log Cabin, Main Street, Yarmouth.

THE BOOK tells the stories of 13 strong and determined women who broke through social, cultural or political barriers, including Franco-American folk hero Marguerite "Tante Blanche" Thibodeau Cyr; botanist-artist Kate Furbish, who explored Maine's wilderness, collecting, classifying and painting all of its flowering plants; and Florence Nicolar Shay, a Penobscot basketmaker who struggled to gain rights for her tribe.

FOR INFORMATION, call the Historical Society office at 846-6259 or e-mail: yarmouthhistoricalsociety@verizon.net.

Melinda Plastas teaches history, and writes books on history.
But when she was in high school, she could not have cared less about history.
"It wasn't about me, it was about men, presidents," said Plastas, a visiting assistant professor in the women and gender studies program at Bates College in Lewiston. "But when I went to college, I minored in women's studies and that gave me the tools to think differently about history. I thought 'Where are the women?' "
The women were there, of course, throughout history, but they often didn't show up in the history books, which for years were filled with "official" histories of public life, of business leaders, of government leaders, of men mostly.
But as women's history has developed into its own field of study over the last 20 or 30 years, historians like Plastas and others have helped show that it's a way of digging much deeper into the past. If we want to know how people lived, how children were raised, what were the social causes of an era, often the best way to find out is to study what the women were doing.
"History is about you and your family and your place. It's where you walk," said Polly Kaufman, an associate professor of history at the University of Southern Maine, and one of several people who created the Portland Women's History Trail about 10 years ago. "It doesn't matter where you are, you'll find women's history."
March is National Women's History Month, a recognition of the importance of woman's history that was first proclaimed by Congress in 1987. A National Women's History Week had been recognized beginning in 1981, just about the same time that history students and professors were beginning to specialize in the field.
Women's history, as a subject, was virtually unheard of 30 or 35 years ago. Eileen Eagan, associate professor of history at USM, said that when she was in college and graduate school, more than 25 years ago, she had no opportunity to take courses in women's history. But her advisor, a man, encouraged his students to do papers and research on women's history.
"You could not become an expert in women's history by taking courses," said Eagan. "Now you can go to a place like the University of Wisconsin and get a Ph.D in women's history."
The faculty and staff at USM have been particularly visible in their efforts, producing a Portland Women's History Trail with more than 100 listed sites and reams of information on women and their roles in shaping their city, their state, and their nation.
While most Maine colleges have a women's studies program, women's history usually includes courses that can be offered under the banner of history or women's studies.
Eagan, for instance, has taught courses about women in labor history and working women in the film industry, which are often cross-listed as women's studies courses and history courses.
Eagan and other historians say looking at women's history opens new avenues to various issues.
"It lets you look at things in different ways, like birth control," said Eagan. "It's not just looking at the history of birth control, but the fact that people no longer had 12 children, women were going into the labor force in different ways, and so birth control had a huge impact on the family structure, the social structure, and the economy."
And of course there are the great stories of women who broke through the social barriers of their time to do astounding things.
Kaufman, for instance, said she got interested in women's history when she was working for the Boston school department and noticed that many Boston schools were named for women. When she dug a little bit, she found they weren't teachers or principals, but 19th-century education reformers who had been elected to the Boston school committee. Some were elected during the time when only men could vote for school committee members.
"That helped me realize there was a whole lot of history out there and it was accessible. I knew I could understand it and do it," said Kaufman.
In Maine, maritime history is much discussed. But looking at women's history gives a different view of that as well. It's one thing to look at a sea captain's log, but it's another entirely to look at the writings of the wives who often traveled on the ships, with children in tow.
"Traditional history is treaties and wars," said Sharon Barker, director of the women's resource center at the University of Maine in Orono. "But looking at (women's history) you get a lot more information about how people actually lived."
Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:
rrouthier@pressherald.com
SOME INSPIRING WOMENINSPIRING AND independent women are the focus of Kate Kennedy's "More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Maine Women."KENNEDY WILL talk about her book during a program for the Yarmouth Historical Society at 7: 30 p.m. April 9 in the American Legion Log Cabin, Main Street, Yarmouth. THE BOOK tells the stories of 13 strong and determined women who broke through social, cultural or political barriers, including Franco-American folk hero Marguerite "Tante Blanche" Thibodeau Cyr; botanist-artist Kate Furbish, who explored Maine's wilderness, collecting, classifying and painting all of its flowering plants; and Florence Nicolar Shay, a Penobscot basketmaker who struggled to gain rights for her tribe. FOR INFORMATION, call the Historical Society office at 846-6259 or e-mail: yarmouthhistoricalsociety@verizon.net. -->

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/mainelife/stories/070325womenshistor.html

Le Voyageur staffer wins prestigious francophone award

Le Voyageur staffer wins prestigious francophone award

Date Published | Mar. 26, 2007
NorthernLife.ca, Canada

The marketing director of Sudbury's French-language newspaper, Le Voyageur, Yves Nadeau, has been named the Richelieu International's Merite Horace-Viau.

Nadeau received the award last night at a ceremony attended by more than 200 Franco-Ontarian personalities from the Sudbury area.

Originally from Matachewan, near Kirkland Lake, Nadeau has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in marketing and sales throughout Canada.

Since 1997, Nadeau has been a driving force behind the many successes enjoyed by Sudbury's French-language newspaper.

Nadeau is an avid film buff and has collaborated with Cinefest Sudbury and other cultural organizations to bring French-language films to Sudbury. He has also chaired the boards of Centre de sante communautaire de Sudbury (Sudbury Community Health Centre) and the Centre Alpha-culturel, Sudbury's French-language literacy organization.

"We have given this distinction to Yves Nadeau because he has worked so hard to promote a better quality of life for all of Sudbury, but also because he does it with such a marvelous sense of optimism and a great respect for everyone," said Dr. Claire Lucie-Brunet, governor of the Richilieu International for the Mid-North, in a news release.

The Merite Horace-Viau is awarded every year to an individual who has helped improve the life of French Canadians in the Sudbury area.

Other nominees this year included Josee Forest-Niesing, Louise Paquette, Father Ronald Perron, Dr. Youssou Gningue and Stephane Gauthier.

The Richilieu International regroups more than 250 French-language social clubs active in 10 countries. The clubs' objective is to improve the living conditions of children around the world. The first Club Richilieu was founded in 1944 in Ottawa by Dr. Horace Viau.

Greater Sudbury now has four clubs.

http://www.northernlife.ca/News/Lifestyle/2007/03-26-07-Voyageur.asp?NLStory=03-26-07-Voyageur

...in the "spirit" of South Park?...[see earlier post on this program]

Win: Yvon of the Yukon DVD
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6490000/newsid_6496600/6496601.stm

Monday March 26 2007 15:52 GMT

Minneapolis/St. Paul put differences aside

Minneapolis/St. Paul put differences aside for marketing


For generations, St. Paul parents taught their children a simple lesson: Don't spend your money in Minneapolis.

"Part of the St. Paul community identity was that Minneapolis didn't need - didn't deserve - our money," said Mary Lethert Wingerd, a historian of the Twin Cities and proud St. Paul resident herself.

But the 21st century economy is forcing St. Paulites to swallow their civic pride, and obliging indifferent Minneapolitans to stop ignoring their neighbor. This summer the so-called Twin Cities will embark on a joint marketing campaign to tie the longtime competitors together as a single tourist destination.

While the Minneapolis-St. Paul rivalry has abated some in recent decades, it still burns strong in the local imagination. And even St. Paul boosters admit that selling Minneapolis and St. Paul as one place, while economically beneficial, has a predictable result.

"The truth is, if you're not from here you probably just think it's all Minneapolis," said Karolyn Kirchgesler, St. Paul's chief tourism official.

Plans for the national ad campaign include a logo, Web site, billboards and print ads and potentially TV and radio commercials to attract tourists, conventioneers and new residents to what will be portrayed as one Minnesota hot spot.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the idea came from tourism officials in Minneapolis. While they're called twins, Minneapolis has been more like St. Paul's bigger brother for more than a century.

While St. Paul has undeniably humble roots -- it was founded in 1840 as Pig's Eye, for the French Canadian trader who settled the area -- it wasn't always this way. By the time Minnesota became a state in 1858, the renamed St. Paul was its biggest city, the state capital and a regional transportation hub.
In 1840 Pierre “Pig's Eye” Parrant, a French-Canadian trader, became the first settler at the site of modern Saint Paul.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Parrant

Then came a late-19th century boom in lumber and flour milling, which triggered a population explosion across the Mississippi in the city that St. Paul once considered its "industrial suburb," Wingerd said.

In the 1880 census, Minneapolis surpassed St. Paul in population. That led to an intense census war, and in 1890, authorities in both cities arrested census takers from the other side of the river and charged them with padding their population counts. Turns out, both cities were guilty.

"They were counting people in cemeteries," Wingerd said. "One barber shop supposedly had 15 people living in it. It was shameless."

But since then, Minneapolis has never looked back. Today, it has almost 100,000 more residents than St. Paul and is seen as the more cosmopolitan of the two, with its modern skyline, wide boulevards and bustling economy marking it as the first city of the West.

That makes scrappy St. Paul the last city of the East, and it fits the bill with its winding streets, Victorian mansions and working-class character. Former Gov. Jesse Ventura, a Minneapolis boy, once ticked off the entire city of St. Paul with an offhand remark on national TV that the city's streets appeared to have been laid out by drunken Irishmen.

"When I go to Minneapolis, someone is always trying to give me a quiche or a slice of pizza with goat cheese and pine nuts on it," said Bruce Larson, a lifelong St. Paulite who helps organize neighborhood festivals for the city. "In St. Paul they give me a brat and a beer, and that's what I want."

But decades of hearing "and St. Paul" affixed to Minneapolis has given plenty of capital city residents something of an inferiority complex.

"Sure, it's a little sleepier over here," said Ralph Kromarek, owner of an antique shop on St. Paul's hardscrabble East Side.

The minds behind the new campaign are quick to stress that St. Paul attractions will be just as heavily featured in the promotion. And St. Paul boosters are quick to point out that perhaps the biggest convention in Minnesota history, the 2008 Republican National Convention, will be held not in Minneapolis but in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.

Still, some stubbornly proud St. Paulites suspect that the marketing scheme is likely to leave their hometown in Minneapolis's shadow. Again.

"Oh sure, you're the 'big city' over there," said Don Corcoran, a cabinetmaker and third-generation St. Paulite, making quotation marks with his fingers. "You've got the Twins. You've got the Vikings ... well, you've also got your murder rate."

And what do Minneapolis folk think of being linked to St. Paul for the purposes of national advertisements? The better question might be whether they think of St. Paul at all.

"The truth is I just hardly ever get over there," said Lisa Scholl, a stay-at-home mom having lunch recently at a trendy bakery in her city's posh Linden Hills neighborhood. "Everything we need is over here."

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=249158