​This week, The Extraordinary Times catches up with Haley Knuth, whose graduate research on race and journalism in pre-Civil War Cincinnati recently featured in Miami University’s public stories web page. A recent graduate of Miami’s History Master’s program (as of May 14) Haley’s research focused on antebellum history and Black history. She credits her time at Miami University, and the opportunity the History Department has provided, in enabling her to pursue her interests in museum content creation. Her Master’s Thesis Project, an exhibition entitled “Who Controls the Narrative? Newspapers and Cincinnati’s Anti-Black Riots of 1829, 1836, and 1841” is currently on display at Cincinnati’s Harriet Beecher Stowe House (the exhibit will be open through June 12 of this summer). When not pursuing history, Haley enjoys hiking in Hueston Woods, baking cakes or bread, knitting, or reading novels and nonfiction.
 
* What story did you set out to tell in your exhibit, "Who Controls the Narrative"? 
 
I wanted to explore the experiences of the victims of the anti-Black riots that took place in Cincinnati in the antebellum period. Unfortunately, I discovered that I wasn’t able to find first-person accounts from Black victims of the riots (apart from two survivors, John Mercer Langston and John Malvin). This is partially why I pivoted to discussing the newspapers and their impact on the riots.
 
* What inspired you to produce a thesis exhibit for your Master's degree, rather than the more traditional written thesis? 
 
I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in museum curation, and I thought that making an exhibit would be a great opportunity to get a feel for what it’s like putting together an exhibit for the public. I also thought it would be a good chance to meet some of the people who work in the museum industry in Cincinnati.

* What person, story, or event most surprised you in researching this project? 
 
Probably learning the truly racist origins of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The first editors, brothers John and Charles Brough, not only were pro-slavery, they frequently opined that the abolitionists were at fault for the dwindling business prospects in Cincinnati in the late 1830s and early 1840s (never mind that Chicago and other Western cities were becoming more relevant and vying with Cincinnati for business prospects). And of course, they portrayed the events of 1841 as the fault of the abolitionists and the Black Cincinnatians who were trying to defend their homes and businesses. And John Brough went on to be Governor of Ohio in 1864!


* Do you see more differences or similarities between the role of the newspaper press in nineteenth century Cincinnati and today's media landscape? 
 
Probably more similarities. I think that whether it be nineteenth-century newspapers or the twenty-four-hour news cycle and social media landscape today, media is the place where people go to try to influence others to think the way they do themselves. But oftentimes (especially when the people controlling the news all look the same way and come from the same background) the public only gets told one story. And just one story can be a very dangerous thing, especially when the person holding the pen (symbolic or otherwise) knows the position of power they are in and abuses it.
 
* What do you plan to do next after your Master's degree? 
 
I’ve recently accepted a position as a Guest Services Specialist at the National Underground Railroad and Freedom Center in Cincinnati! I’m very excited to start working, the Freedom Center works to teach the public suppressed narratives, just like the history of the race riots in antebellum Cincinnati I worked to uncover in my thesis. It’s the type of work about which I am most passionate.

In his Autobiography, penned in his seventies, Benjamin Franklin conceded: “There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself … Even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.”
 
Despite being older than Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Company by a generation, Ben Franklin is the most modern of America’s founders. He was also one of the few revolutionary leaders from humble roots—Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Paine being the other exceptions. The son of a Bostonian soap maker, Franklin took huge pride in his rise as a printer-journalist, scientist, diplomat, and statesman. What he lacked in humility he made up for in self-awareness. He recalled as a young man making “a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues.” Ranging from temperance to frugality, from industry to moderation, Franklin kept a running tally of these virtues, marking off, “by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.” Humility revealed itself the most consistent of his failings. This exercise in self-accountability, Franklin wryly called the “bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.”
 
Franklin was infuriating; he was vain—but he was often disarmingly witty. Fixing himself up in the Philadelphia publishing business, young Franklin rose to fame under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders, peppering his Poor Richard’s Almanack with the sort of folksy aphorisms that made these inexpensive volumes runaway bestsellers:

“Fish and visitors stink in three days.” “God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.” “The greatest monarch upon the proudest throne, is obliged to sit upon his own arse.”
 
“One of Franklin’s greatest inventions,” opines biographer Walter Isaacson in the new two-part PBS documentary, “is that American style of homespun humor—somebody whose pricking at the pretensions of the elite.” This “cracker barrel sensibility,” Isaacson insists, laid the foundations for subsequent American humorists such as Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Combined with Franklin’s business and political acumen, not to mention his scientific genius, such sensibility made Franklin America’s first modern celebrity—the first cultural hero whose fame spanned the Atlantic.
 
Ken Burns seems destined to tell the story of Benjamin Franklin. Like the Sage of Philadelphia—but behind the lens rather than in the public eye—Burns has blazed his unique sensibility on public understanding of America’s history.
 
All the Burns hallmarks are present: the sonorous narrator (Peter Coyote); the stirring music; the slow panning, zooming camera angles; the constellation of actors, historians, and biographers. Franklin himself is voiced by the Broadway actor Mandy Patinkin with gravelly dignity. Knowing the identity of the actor, however, made me half-expect to hear Franklin break into song at every unexpected turn. Other parts are voiced by Hollywood stars including Liam Neeson and Paul Giamatti, the latter reprising his role as the testy John Adams from the 2008 HBO miniseries of the same name. The gallery of historical talking heads is similarly first-class, featuring such luminaries as Isaacson, Gordon S. Wood, Joseph Ellis, Joyce Chaplin, H.W. Brands, and the late, great Harvard historian Bernard Bailyn in one of his last public appearances.
 
Viewers expecting a home run won’t be too disappointed. In truth, Benjamin Franklin is not the best Ken Burns documentary, but it seems churlish to gripe when the standard is so consistently high. Burns’s masterpieces—from The Civil War to more recent treatments of the Vietnam War and of Country Music—spin familiar strands into a rich tapestry of American history. They work best on an epic scale. Clocking in at four hours, Benjamin Franklin is certainly thorough, but lacks the panoramic qualities of Burn’s longer work, rooted in the experiences of ordinary American men and women. Reportedly, Burns is at work on a new multi-part retelling of the American Revolution, scheduled for release in 2025 and the 250th anniversary of the War of Independence. In this case, Benjamin Franklin may be only a foretaste of this bigger project, but fans of Burns’s unmistakable style will still enjoy this fresh look at an American icon.
 
***
 
Currently, Benjamin Franklin is free to stream online at pbs.org (no annoying ads; no subscription required): https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/benjamin-franklin/
 
Grade: A-

This month The Extraordinary Times caught up with Ray Rechenberg, a 38-year resident of Hamilton and a 2008 retiree of Square D/ Schneider Electric in Oxford, Ohio. Ray’s business expertise was in the sales and marketing as well as the teaching of the company’s electrical products. About the time he retired from business, Ray discovered a community singing tradition known as Sacred Harp (“shape-note”) Singing. He has been immersed in the tradition ever since, singing the music in places as distant as New England, Alabama and Georgia, California, and Washington, and even overseas in Germany; and sings regularly with groups in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus
 
* For readers who may be unfamiliar, what is the Sacred Harp tradition?
 
“Sacred Harp” is actually the name of the book that we sing from. The true (“generic”) name of the tradition is actually “shape note” singing. It is a method of acapella singing with no instruments involved at all; the only “harp” is your voice, the harp given to you by God. The basic method was developed in 11th century Italy when a music theorist used different shape noteheads to distinguish the notes of a scale on a page of music. The method came to America from Europe in the late 1700s and was prominent in New England to teach congregants to sing better in church.
 
The tradition fell out of favor in New England but spread to the southern states where it was kept alive (but under wraps) for 150 years. From 1800-1950, there were many “singing school masters” who conducted 1–2-week instructional classes throughout the south on how to sing the music using a 4-shape system. It had a re-awakening in the folk revival and festivals of the 1960s and has now spread nationally and globally via the internet. It is not like a Civil War re-enactment or a hobby, but rather a vibrant, modern, and continually maintained method of gathering people together for pleasant interaction around a shared passion.
 
The tradition today uses a 4-shape system where a triangle represents a “FA,” an oval represents a “SO,” a rectangle represents a “LA,” and a diamond represents a “MI.” Rather than the “do-re-mi” scale we are accustomed to (with all round noteheads), the shape note 8-note musical scale would be sung FA-SO-LA-FA-SO-LA-MI-FA as we read those shapes on the sheet of music.
 
* What is the root of your own enthusiasm for shape note singing?
 
I sang in choirs for nearly 50 years; High School, US Navy, and church choirs … but had never learned to read music, always relying on the person next to me to hit the right notes! As I retired from business, I also had retired from my church choir, because as age had taken over, I could no longer hit the high notes and I could no longer sing softly when the music called for it.
 
Then I discovered shape note/ Sacred Harp Singing where learning to read music with 4 simple shapes is MUCH easier. Also, the tradition is very democratic, warm, and welcoming. There are no auditions or rehearsals, and we do not “perform” as a choir. Our gatherings are informal, and for the singing itself, we sit in a “square” with the four voice parts facing inward to a person standing in the center, leading a song of their choice from our Sacred Harp songbook.
 
The tradition is very respectful of its elderly long-time singers and the way that those elderly have brought the tradition along, maintaining it though some hard times. Although the text of most songs is religious in nature, our gatherings are not religious at all. The powerful, soaring 4-part harmonies are what bring most people to the Singings and keeps me coming back.
 
* How has the Sacred Harp/ shape note tradition influenced subsequent bluegrass, gospel, and country music?
 
Mention ‘shape note’ to a performer in any of those genres and you will get at least a head nod. It was seemingly present in all of their youth as so many of those performers were exposed to it at the same time, they found their first interest in the pickin’ on the family front porch.
 
Shape note singing was one of the earliest musical influences on Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music. It was a prime learning tool for The Cathedrals, one of gospel music’s most prominent groups of the last 50 years. Country music stars The Delmore Brothers and the Louvin Brothers both allude to their upbringing with shape note music. The intricate 2-3-4 part harmonies of many stars today were founded on their exposure to shape note/ Sacred Harp Singing.
 
* How can readers get involved with this music, or find out more information?
 
Go to a “Singing.” This is not music to be consumed like listening to a rock concert or even a symphony. It is participative music, where yes, you can listen for a while, but then you’ll find yourself joining right in! The tradition is practiced in most states of the USA and in many cities within any of the states. Just Google “Sacred Harp (city/state)” and find an event nearby.
​
The best resource for all aspects of Sacred Harp singing is fasola.org, where you can find various essays, links, and Q&A on this marvelous experience.
 
***
Note: among many representations, here is a good YouTube video explain the workings of one Singing in North Carolina.

This weekend I drove home to Ohio from the Appalachian Studies Conference in mountainous Morgantown, West Virginia. Conference-goers enjoyed warm hospitality and spring sunshine along the banks of the Monongahela River, gathering in-person for the first time since the pandemic. But for those attuned to distant news, the war in Ukraine furnished a troubling backdrop to an otherwise uplifting conference.
 
For several years now, the Appalachian Studies Association has hosted international scholars—geographers, historians, artists, and sociologists—from the Carpathian Mountains. Carpathia is a land of striking physical and cultural similarities to Appalachia. Its landscape even stood in for North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains as the location for the 2003 Civil War movie Cold Mountain. Carpathia’s coal-rich mountains extend from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, through sections of western Ukraine, now trapped in the crosshairs of Vladimir Putin’s military aggression.

This year’s Appalachian Studies Association included the late addition of a roundtable discussion: “Appalachians/ Carpathians: Mountain to Mountain Connections During the Russian Attack on Ukraine.” Panelists from the United States and Romania were joined by Dr. Roman Poznanskyy from the Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, to discuss cultural connections and support for Ukrainian scholars, students, and citizens.
 
Symbols of solidarity were visible throughout the conference, notably the blue-and-yellow of Ukraine, displayed on badges and clothing. The bright, unfussy primary colors of the Ukrainian flag represent clear blue skies and golden fields of wheat, the produce for which Ukrainian agriculture is famous. They stand in poignant contrast to lurid atrocities being committed by Putin’s armed forces.

​Though I have no immediate connections to Ukraine, this war has felt strangely personal. Since the invasion began on February 24, its horror has been flashed by on reflections from the handful of Ukrainians I’ve known in life. I think of my brilliant grad school friend from Kharkhiv in eastern Ukraine, a city reduced now to rubble. Or my wonderful colleague at Miami University—a fellow naturalized US citizen. Her 83-year-old mother has been trapped in the port city of Odessa. Such experiences are too common, patches in a quilt of human suffering.
 
Like many friends of Ukraine in America, I have watched the war coverage with growing alarm. As the brave resistance of Ukraine’s military has stalled the invasion, Putin has resorted to increasingly desperate and barbarous tactics, bombing and shelling apartment blocks, schools, theaters, and even maternity hospitals.
 
Whatever comes next, we must insist that this is Putin’s war, not the Russian people’s war. Thousands of Russian citizens have already been arrested in anti-war protests. These numbers will only rise as the carnage filters home in ways the Kremlin will be powerless to control. More Russian soldiers—often teenage conscripts—have died in the first three weeks of this campaign than combined US deaths from twenty years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. They did not choose this war.
 
But the real victims are the ordinary Ukrainian people. At the time of writing, some 10 million Ukrainians—one in four—have been driven from their homes. Over 3 million have already fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, which are struggling to cope with Europe’s greatest humanitarian crisis since 1945.
 
What can we do to help? In the 1930s, thousands of foreign volunteers joined the International Brigades fighting the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Reportedly, thousands of foreign volunteers—including hundreds of Americans—have already joined the new Ukrainian International Legion, joining ordinary Ukrainians defending their homeland. But at a time when fewer than 1 percent of the US population is active duty or reserve military, such drastic measures are hardly to be recommended for those without the proper training and skills. More realistically, we can offer support with solidarity and generosity to the Ukrainian people. Numerous reputable agencies, including UNICEF, Médecins sans Frontieres, and the Red Cross welcome your donations to help the growing refugee population.
 
And when you tire of images of destruction on TV, consider joining or organizing a vigil or demonstration, such as the one that gathered in West Chester’s Union Center on March 7. Despite the freezing cold weather that evening, dozens of local citizens and interfaith leaders turned out to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people, including Ukrainian Americans who testified before the gathering. Although such displays of solidarity might be dismissed as mere rhetoric, words assuredly do matter. And demonstrations of action are the foundations on which healthy democracies are built, at home and abroad.

This week, The Extraordinary Times catches up with another good friend from southwestern Ohio. Mike Maloney was founding director of the Urban Appalachian Council (UAC) the forerunner of today’s Urban Appalachian Community Coalition (UACC) in Cincinnati, where he now serves as Convenor. Mike was recently honored for his distinguished career as a scholar and community organizer, being named 2022 recipient of the Berea College Service Award, along with fellow Appalachian activist Jane Stephenson. 

Mike grew up in the mountain section of Eastern Kentucky, the son of a coal miner and a mother who managed to raise nine children under often harsh conditions. He has extensive teaching experience—having served as a lecturer in Appalachian Studies at six area colleges and universities—and providing training on Appalachian culture for social workers, health providers, and educators. He has served as a trainer for the Ohio Child Welfare Training Network and as consultant for the Ohio Appalachian Outreach Project for the Ohio Arts Council. The Ohio Humanities Council recognizes him as an expert on Appalachian culture. His work as a writer includes co-editing the 4th and 5th editions of Appalachia: Social Context Past and Present and the Urban Appalachian section of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia.

* From your own perspective, what does it mean to be an urban Appalachian?

Until the early 1970s, people who had moved to cities outside the Appalachian Region were called Appalachian migrants. In the Dayton-Miami Valley area we were often called “briars” or “briar hoppers” on the streets and in the factories where so many of us worked. In Cincinnati we were called hillbillies and by church and social workers Southern Appalachian Migrants or SAMS. Cincinnati Appalachian leaders used the Appalachian migrant nomenclature until one of the students in my Appalachian studies class challenged me. “Migrants are people who have moved recently. Some of your people have been here for a long time. You are not migrants!”  After that we adopted the term urban Appalachian and named our organization the Urban Appalachian Council, keeping the initials of our first organization (1968-1970), UAC for United Appalachian Cincinnati. We have since defined urban Appalachians as people who moved to the cities outside the region or whose ancestors did so. What being urban Appalachian means to me personally is that my spirit will always live in the mountains from which I came. “My heart is in the Highlands” as the Scottish ballad says. I realize that the sense of being “from” Appalachian changes with each generation but in my family the awareness is still there at some level.  A few years ago in Trenton, Ohio, I watched a 6-year-old grandnephew carefully cultivating a bean patch in his back yard and I knew our culture was still alive in that family. In my family there is a band of 2nd and 3rd generation urban Appalachians, 9 Castle Close, which plays mostly Irish Music.  But when elders are present they always sing some songs from the mountains. My people still know who they are.

Note: When Phil Obermiller and I edited the urban section of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, the editors forced us to expand the definition of urban Appalachians to include people living in cities within the Appalachian region. (We knew we had coopted the term for our part of the movement and did not resist.)

* What influences in early life drew you towards scholarship and activism?

My family placed a high value on books and learning. Even my older brothers who got little formal education were well read and self-educated. My high school teachers and principal made sure that I went off to college. My family did not know how to make that happen. My family also had a passion for justice that was inspired by mountain culture (egalitarianism) and Biblical tradition. I was also influenced by Catholic social justice teaching and the civil rights movement as a young man in the 1960s.

* What was the original mission of the Urban Appalachian Council at its founding?

We wanted to found a social movement in which urban Appalachians could be proud of and celebrate their heritage, be recognized as an ethnic group and advocate for inclusion in the opportunity structure of our new home communities. We would advocate fair treatment for our neighborhoods, for our school children and our workers. This all came down to practical issues like better housing, job opportunities, recognition of our culture by school systems, countering stereotypes in the media.  We provided cultural awareness training for teachers, police, and social workers. We set up identity centers and GED programs in storefronts and church basements.

* How is the UACC carrying on this mission, or developing it in other ways?

In many ways, we have scaled back and become a network with no real office or full-time staff. In other ways, we have expanded our reach by using social media. We serve a larger geographic area including Dayton, Hamilton, and Northern Kentucky. We still sponsor some arts and cultural events, co-sponsor civic events, do some advocacy (especially in health issues) and maintain community research and operate the Frank Foster Memorial Library. We are a resource for our artists and writers and for students, social workers and educators who want to learn about Appalachian history and culture.

* What is your proudest achievement in life?

I have been able to touch the lives of thousands of people helping them gain knowledge about and pride in their heritage.  To do this I helped found the Urban Appalachian Council and now the UACC and helped found or strengthen at least 50 small non-profits across Southern Ohio—from Cincinnati to Martin’s Ferry and in other urban centers from Cincinnati to Cleveland and Baltimore. Community centers, GED schools, emergency services, a day care center, a domestic violence shelter, a community development corporation, the National Quilt Barn Trail. I have helped my people find their voice and raise their aspirations.

This month, The Extraordinary Times continues its exploration of southwest Ohio, with Dr. Jack Green, the Jeffrey Horrell ‘75 and Rodney Rose Director and Chief Curator of Miami University Art Museum. Originally from London, United Kingdom, Dr. Green received his M.A. and Ph.D from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (2001, 2006). His doctoral research focused on the archive and collections of Tell es-Sa’idiyeh, Jordan. He was curator of Ancient Near East at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford (2007–11) and came to the United States as chief curator of the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago (2011–15). He served as deputy director of collections, research and exhibitions at the Corning Museum of Glass, NY (2016–17) and as Associate Director at the American Center of Research (ACOR), Amman, Jordan (2017-21). Dr. Green’s interests include museum and cultural heritage studies, and the intersection of art and archaeology.
 
* How are you enjoying your first year at Miami’s Art Museum?
 
I'm enjoying being at Miami University Art Museum very much! Since arriving here last summer I've found everyone to be extremely welcoming and supportive across the university. Our wonderful team at the Art Museum and Sculpture Park does amazing work to bring together our exhibitions, public programs, collections documentation and research, as well as making the museum accessible for teaching and learning. It's in a beautiful location in Miami University's Western Campus and I love walking in the surroundings with its wooded areas, pathways, bridges, ponds, and streams. What I love the most about working at the museum is that there's always something new to learn, an artwork to be inspired about or new people to connect with. From day to day, you never know what might happen or who might walk through the door! What's also inspirational is the enthusiasm of students who visit the Art Museum as part of their classes, or just for fun. It's great to see how engaging with art transforms and enriches their experiences at Miami.
 
* How does Oxford, Ohio compare to Oxford, England?
 
I lived in Oxford, England for several years while I worked at the Ashmolean Museum, so I got the chance to know it well!  There are quite a few similarities beyond the name and both being centers of learning. The name given to Oxford, Ohio, established after Miami University was chartered, emulated the dreaming spires and colleges of the University of Oxford. Natural beauty within its campus and surroundings is clearly an area of great similarity with Oxford, England. The "town and gown" distinction is often made in Oxford, England, i.e. a sense of a divide between locals and university faculty and students from the outside. I guess that's a familiar situation in all college towns and especially apparent at the start of the school year, as well as during the holidays when things quieten down.
 
One big difference is that Oxford, Ohio does not endure hordes of visiting tourists as does Oxford, England. Many more came after the Harry Potter films came out!  Architecture is an interesting one to compare. Oxford, England has diverse architecture because of its longer history, ranging from Medieval, Baroque, Georgian, and Victorian up to modern and postmodern architecture. Miami's style is more nostalgic and uniform with its distinctive Georgian red-brick style—a notable exception being our own very modern building at the Art Museum. 

* What are some new exhibitions and events at the museum this year?
 
We have some great new exhibitions and public programs, thanks for asking!  In addition to our permanent galleries which present artworks from across 5,000 years of art history, as well as our outdoor sculpture park, we have three special exhibitions this Spring. From the Ground Up explores ceramic production from ancient to modern times with examples from our collections, in addition to pottery samples which you can pick up and handle. An archaeology-themed program related to this exhibition is happening at the Art Museum on March 16. Reflections: Visual Constructions of Race is a student-curated exhibition for the Art and Architecture History Capstone Seminar. This innovative exhibition explores how racial and cultural identity is represented by artists across the world, and how images of identity are interpreted in terms of 'self' and 'other'. Works on view include those by Kara Walker, Thom Shaw, Roger Shimomura, Felice Beato, and Paul Gaugin. A celebratory program marking over a decade of the Student Capstone exhibition will take place on March 9.
 
Lastly, we have Collections Highlights: Recent Acquisitions presenting 50 works including paintings, prints, photographs, textiles, and sculpture acquired by the Art Museum in the last few years. Our related program, An Activist's Lens: Donna Ferrato on Domestic Violence, will take place on February 24, in response to the Art Museum's recent acquisition of a number of the photojournalist's works.
 
In the Fall, we have three upcoming exhibitions: Miami Interconnected: Land/Identity/Community is a student response exhibition related to the theme of Sovereignty, developed in collaboration with the Myaamia Center. We have two photographic exhibitions, supported by and part of the FotoFocus Biennial: A Lens for Freedom: Civil Rights Photographs by Steve Schapiro, and PhotOH: Photographers in the Heartland.
 
Check out our website and subscribe to our e-news for updates!  
 
* How has Miami’s Art Museum found different ways to engage visitors over the last two years?
 
When the global pandemic hit in 2020, many museums closed their doors, and turned to online engagement to reach their audiences and gain new followers. Miami University Art Museum did exactly that by increasing its online offerings, especially through virtual programs and guest lectures, collections connections videos, and more. Now we are back to being in person, we retain many of the skills and resources employed during the pandemic by providing a combination of in-person and virtual programs, and we create engaging digital content and marketing. One example this spring is a series of live virtual lunchtime talks and tours called Noontime Chatter. (Check out our website and YouTube channel for details.) We're also emphasizing putting our collections online for teaching and research purposes and raising awareness of the rich resources we have on offer to the Southwest Ohio community and beyond.
 

* What are some cool things to notice, for someone who has never visited the museum (or who hasn’t visited in recent years)?
 
The architecture of the Art Museum, as well as its surrounding sculpture park has an entirely different look and feel to the rest of campus. The architect—Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Chicago—designed our building according to his architectural "field theory," which is an ordering system based upon mathematical proportions. Each space corresponds to a series of interconnected or rotated triangles of varying size. As a result, our exhibition galleries with their ascending scales, have a subtle but profound impact on the visitor experience and presentation of artworks that goes beyond the traditional art museum. The building was quite ahead of its time in 1978. 
 
Also, the recently repainted monumental sculpture For Kepler, by Mark di Suvero is particularly eye-catching, serving as a red burst of energy as you enter the Miami campus and Art Museum grounds. 
 
Another thing you might notice is that the Art Museum has developed a strong relationship with the Myaamia Center at Miami University. The land upon which Miami University and the Art Museum stand on today is part of the traditional homelands of the Myaamia people. We currently present a number of artworks by Myaamia artists and collaborate with the Myaamia Center on multiple exhibitions and programs. 

The Extraordinary Times returns to catch up with leaders in the local arts, historical, and cultural scene of southwestern Ohio. This month, we meet Ian MacKenzie-Thurley Executive Director of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio. A native of Australia and a naturalized American citizen, Ian attained his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, and earned a post-graduate diploma in directing at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia. Before moving to the States, Ian worked in the UK, producing and directing stage productions in Wales and London.
 
* How and when did you end up moving to Hamilton, Ohio to run the Fitton Center?
 
I first came to Hamilton, Ohio in the summer of 2000 after meeting my (then to be) wife in an opera house in the Czech Republic. She was living and studying in Cincinnati at the time, but she had grown up in Hamilton. We came back for a few months’ vacation in spring 2013 and decided to stay. After being granted my Green Card in 2014, I applied for the position at the Fitton Center in early 2015 and started as the new Executive Director in May of that year. And in January of 2017 I became a citizen of the United States.

* Is it fair to say that Hamilton has defied expectations in flourishing around the arts? If so, what is the secret of this community’s success?
 
Yes, very fair to say that! But not just in the arts. Hamilton tends to “punch well above its weight” on community and business development, economic growth as well as innovation and expansion. With that the arts are very well valued, respected and supported by the city as a whole and most importantly the community that is made up of. The secret of this community’s success is exactly that, the community. The great majority of what Hamilton has achieved in the past 10-15 years has been community led. City leadership and City Council have certainly been a huge part of that equation, but the changes in city council leadership and development have all been led by grass-roots community involvement that have laid the foundations. Volunteerism and hands on community involvement are at the backbone of all that Hamilton continues to achieve!

* How has the Fitton Center adapted to the challenges of the pandemic to build engagement in our community?
 
2020 & 2021 turned out to be extraordinarily challenging and also extraordinarily busy for the Fitton Center and the team here. We were able to open our doors for education and summer camp programming as early as June 2020, with outstanding support from the City of Hamilton Health Department, and have continued to grow that programming in the subsequent months. We have found innovative ways to engage with our existing and new audiences through programs such as Fitton Outside the Box, which saw performances in bars, restaurants and bowling alleys. The Fitton on the Hill series had live concert performances and family shows up at Pyramid Hill over two seasons. And the Hamilton Current digital art show saw original artwork projected at 40ft high on the side of the Fitton Center. In addition, we were able to work partners such as TVHamilton to produce original programming on TVHamiton’s cable and digital channels, including symphony, cabaret and Christmas programming. The Wings of Hope mosaic mural came as a direct response to the pandemic with over 1000 hand made glass butterflies created, coming for 29 US states and 8 countries internally to form an original mosaic mural on the Fitton’s Monument Avenue pergola, which has been incredibly impactful.

* What new experiences can Fitton audiences look forward to in 2022?

We’re always excited to offer an incredibly diverse range of programming at the Fitton Center. We want to ensure we offer education, entertainment and engagement opportunities that will appeal to a broad spectrum throughout the community. We are right in the middle of our (shortened) 2021-2022 Season of performances, exhibitions and events.  This ranges from family programming that includes drama, comedy, dance and puppetry, through to our Fitton Showstoppers Series that has Funk, Classical, Broadway and Rock performances, as well as our Jazz & Cabaret Series with live music, dance nights and a Drag Show! We are currently planning our 2022-2023 Season and we are taking that opportunity to step back and have a good look at all our programming and scheduling to keep all of our events fresh, exciting and engaging for the whole community.

* As a naturalized US citizen, what do you enjoy most about living in southwest Ohio?
 
I had always enjoyed visiting the Midwest. It’s its own slice of America, with a very different vibe and pace to it, especially after living in cities like Sydney and London. But aside from our family here, it’s the community that has really drawn us back and kept us here. Being a part of something bigger than ourselves, but small enough that you can see the impact we can make, together. It’s something very special. I am sure that other small cities are doing incredible things around the county, but right now in Hamilton we have a unique opportunity and it’s great to be a part of that coming together.

This week, The Extraordinary Times catches up with TaraShea Nesbit, Miami University Assistant Professor of English Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, and acclaimed author of two historical novels: The Wives of Los Alamos (NY: Bloomsbury, 2014) and most recently, Beheld (NY: Bloomsbury, 2020). Beheld, which dramatizes the world of Plymouth Colony, comes out in paperback format 10/19/2021. Order your copy today!

* Do you see a connecting thread between your first published novel, The Wives of Los Alamos, and your second novel, Beheld?
 
Yes! Both projects reexamine a turning point in human history and are interested in thinking about the implications of individual actions within the scope of a larger collection of people, as well as how these past events shape and echo our present moment.
 
The Wives of Los Alamos explores the creation and subsequent detonation of the atomic bomb through the experiences of women in the community of Los Alamos, and Beheld tells the story of the murder of a colonist through the alternating viewpoints of two very different women in the colony: the governor’s second wife, Alice Bradford, and a woman of a family recently out of indentured servitude, Eleanor Billington, on the day the murder takes place. But both books explore a group of people in a closed-off community who have it in mind to work for a greater good, but personal interest gets in the way—social striving, professional ambition—and the group loses sight, if they ever had it, of the importance to care for the whole.
 
* What inspired you to explore Plymouth Colony in Beheld?

I was in an early American literature class in graduate school, reading William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, when I learned that a woman slipped, jumped, or was pushed off the Mayflower when it was moored.
 
People often repeat a story told by Cotton Mather, who was not on the ship, about her cause of death. Mather wrote in his biography of Bradford in 1702, roughly 80 years after the Mayflower docked and after William Bradford was dead:"...at their first landing, his [Bradford’s] dearest consort accidentally falling overboard, was drowned in the harbour" Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana (Hartford: Silus Andrus & Son, 1853), vol. 1, p. 111.
 
Was it really an accident? Should we trust this account by someone who was not present, not even alive, when the death occurred? Is a moored ship easy to slip off of?
 
We know the story of “the pilgrims” primarily from William Bradford, who wrote his book around the time a new colony, The Massachusetts Bay Colony, was founded. Some historians have speculated that he wrote the book in part because he feared the status of Plymouth was declining, and he needed to assert the colony’s goodliness. In his account of Plymouth, we learn of the difficult struggle to establish the colony and all of the deaths that occurred that first winter, but Bradford does not mention the cause of one death that first winter: the death of his very own wife, Dorothy.
 
I wanted to know more about the history of the northeastern woodlands and look again at the early American story about “pilgrims” that I had been told as a child with the eyes of an adult. And I started my research with that mystery of the woman who died by falling from the Mayflower. 
 
I thought: If Bradford left out the death of his first wife, was he leaving out other important stories from Plymouth, about who these people were and what they did and did not do? Of course he was. The national holiday meant to represent peaceful cohabitation, is for many a day of mourning.
 
* What historical sources did you draw on in your research, and how did they color your fictional characterizations?
 
So, so many! Not only historical resources, but conversations and interviews with scholars working today. I worked at the American Antiquarian Society for a summer and was fascinated by early maps of the northeastern woodlands and execution sermons. The maps helped shape my understanding of how populated and developed the area around Patuxet (which the settlers renamed Plymouth) really was. And the sermons were fascinating pamphlets to see an execution as a place for gaining parishioners. I read all the primary documents from Plymouth in the early 1600s that I could find—Bradford’s letters, the Plymouth Court Records, the pamphlets sent back to England to try to sell Plymouth to people thinking of going to the colonies, like Good News From New England, and documents I could find written by women at the time, though none existed from Plymouth, I did find letters by European women discussing their views on parenting and infant loss, two aspects I explore in the book.
 
Some critical reads: This Land Is Their Land, David Silverman; Our Beloved Kin, Lisa Brooks; Dissenting Bodies: Corporealities in Early New England, Martha Finch; The History of White People, Nell Irvin Painter; White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, Nancy Isenberg
 
I began writing when I was in a literary history class, to the book was inspired by that research, and then I kept adding as I learned more and more, up until the very last moments the editor said, That’s it!  The acknowledgements in the back of the book highlight many more.
 
* Do you see any compelling parallels between 17th century Plymouth and today's United States?
 
Yes. We are a divided nation, as we have been, from the beginning. Perhaps our division is linked to a sense of scarcity and xenophobia, inequity of economic stability and ideological line drawing related to beliefs, often religious beliefs, but if we acknowledge America as a country partially founded on xenophobia and a want for economic gain and acknowledge how the Mayflower stories have often been previously told in ways that deny unsavory aspects of the settlers, perhaps we can reckon with that violence and inequity, and develop a more equitable future.
 
* What historical novelists, living or dead, do you most admire, and why?
 
This might sound surprising and I hope it doesn’t sound dismissive: I don’t read historical novelists as a genre. I look to texts that pull me in at the level of language, or surprise, or humor often derived from satire and sometimes those are set in a time before the author’s life and sometimes they aren’t. I love Laird Hunt’s Neverhome, about a woman who pretends to be her husband in order to fight in the civil war—it was both a book that evoked a time period and explored timeless aspects of humanity in very distilled prose. I’ve recently loved and/or returned to Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats (satire), Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book (earnest book about a grandmother and grandchild relationship following grief), Leslie Jamison’s The Recoverings (explores the relationship between writers and addiction), and George Saunders’ short story “Sea Oak” (a story I have an essay forthcoming about on LitHub).
 

This week, The Extraordinary Times caught up with writer John Kiesewetter. Kiesewetter grew up in Middletown, where his favorite Reds player was pitcher Joe Nuxhall from Hamilton. He started his journalism career as a Middletown Journal summer intern while attending Ohio University. After he graduated from OU, the Cincinnati Enquirer hired him for a 13-week summer internship which he parlayed into a forty-year career, the last thirty as TV/Radio columnist. He has covered TV/media for WVXU-FM and WMUB-FM since 2015. Kiesewetter just published his first book, Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me—My Conversations with Joe Nuxhall about the Reds, Baseball & Broadcasting.
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Note: Join the author for a free public talk on Joe Nuxhall at Miami University’s Middletown campus, 6pm Tuesday November 9. The Old Lefthander & Me is available at Kiesewetter’s website, tvkiese.com, and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, and Amazon.

This week The Extraordinary Times caught up with Nancy Brown Diggs, author of the recently-published In Search of Appalachia (Hamilton/Rowman and Littlefield). An avid traveler who has visited every continent, Nancy has lived in France, participated in language immersion/ homestay programs in Japan and Mexico, and volunteered in Ecuador, Romania, and Haiti. Her long interest in other cultures is reflected by her PhD in East Asian Studies, by her language skills—for many years she translated French, Spanish, and German for Ohio companies—and by her many books. In addition to her latest study of Appalachia, Nancy has written: Breaking the Cycle: How Schools Can Overcome Urban Challenges (Rowman and Littlefield), Hidden in the Heartland: The New Wave of Immigrants and the Challenge to America (Michigan State University Press), Looking Beyond the Mask: When American Woman Marry Japanese Men (State University of New York Press), and Steel Butterflies: Japanese Women and the American Experience (State University of New York Press). She co-authored A Look at Life in Northern Ireland, with Tanya Higgins, and My Century, with Evangeline Lindsley.
 
*What drew you to explore Appalachia as a subject?
 
Having written several books that touched on other cultures, I decided to look at one closer to my own, geographically, that is. In spite of my Kentucky roots, I never dreamed that the culture was my own. I suppose I had bought into the stereotypes that the media promoted. But the people I met were more like The Waltons than The Dukes of Hazard, more Sgt. York than Pvt. Gomer Pyle, and it’s a culture to be proud of.
 
* You describe in your recent book discovering your “inner Appalachian.” On reflection, what are your connections to the region and its culture?
 
I have deep family roots in Kentucky, and I discovered that I share so many of the values: humility, honesty, self-reliance, a strong sense of family, and, I hope, neighborliness. One reason I wanted to write the book was to counteract the stereotypes that J. D. Vance perpetuates in his book Hillbilly Elegy. I came to realize that one reason I so dislike the book is that I feel he is disloyal to his family.
 
* How did you go about identifying and interviewing the various Appalachian voices reflected in your book?
 
The experts in Appalachian Studies at Sinclair Community College were very helpful. I also contacted churches with Appalachian congregations and put an ad in The Kentucky Explorer, a monthly publication. Mostly, though, there were a lot of lucky coincidences.
For example, I learned that someone from my church had taught at a college in eastern Kentucky. She was eager to visit old friends, so she and I traveled to Hindman, Kentucky, where she introduced me to some fascinating people.
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When an Orkin inspector came to check for termites at my house, we talked about the forthcoming book, and she suggested I speak to her father, a World War II veteran from Kentucky. He gave me the names of several others of his generation who were willing to tell their stories.

At a French conversation group, I met someone who put me in touch with a friend from West Virginia. A chief master sergeant in the Air Force, he had given a great deal of thought to the cultural conflicts he was experiencing with his family back in the hills. One of my best interviews!
While I was taking an adult education class on country music taught by Fred
Bartenstein, the University of Dayton’s expert on the genre, I learned that Ricky Skaggs would be performing not far away. I used Fred’s contacts to arrange an interview. I think it was Fred who also had the contact information for Japan’s expert on country music. Michael Furmanovsky, who was born in Zimbabwe of Lithuanian Jewish heritage, grew up in England, and now teaches at a university in Kyoto. People never cease to amaze me!
 
* Amid all the challenges faced by Appalachians today (economic uncertainty, health inequality, the opioid epidemic) is there cause for optimism about the future?
 
There are challenges indeed, but the experts I talked to were generally optimistic. With the closing of the coal mines, people are putting their trust in the “new economy,” and governments are investing funds in technology and training. In the meantime, communities are promoting small projects; there’s “not a silver bullet, but rather a lot of silver beebees.”

Some believe that the Appalachian people themselves are the best asset, “unmined beautiful diamonds,” as Ricky Skaggs puts it. According to one political leader, “Their work ethic is second to none. These people will crawl into the side of a mountain and never see the light of day to feed their family. Imagine what they could do for a company with good working conditions.”
Even Robin Harris, who holds the unenviable job of directing the Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services Board for Ohio’s Appalachian counties, sees a ray of hope. “We are incredibly resilient in coming together and problem solving,” she says, as she sees the emergence of young leaders in the area.

As for the drug problems, new treatments, new ways of dealing with addicts, and concentrating on prevention are bringing results, as state governments confer and learn from one another. Law enforcement, too, is making inroads, according to Ohio’s Gov. Mike DeWine, who praises Ohio’s “bulk task forces.”