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CURRENTS THE
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JULY 6, 2011 - Like much of the world, I've spent most of my adult summers (springs, falls and winters, too) in the confines of an office, staring into a computer screen. And as technology has increased, in many ways the cyber world has become more real to some people than the natural world.
Last year, however, circumstances allowed me to break away from the office and venture onto paths almost forgotten. And so one gorgeous afternoon, I grabbed my camera and set forth to explore and re-acquaint myself with the outdoors. It was spring then, and I immersed myself in the bright colors of azaleas and daffodils, irises and dogwoods. But as spring drew to a close, I wondered if summer with its sweltering heat and shimmering humidity would provide as many interesting adventures. There was no need to worry. Summer's tapestry of colors, odors and adventures was just as enticing as that of spring. What is more Southern than the lemony tang of a magnolia blossom reflecting the early morning light in such a way that its seem to glow as if lit from within? Early mornings saw dew glistening on daylilies of a dozen different colors, from bright yellow to soft peach to glowing burgundy. Not long afterward, the heady scent of frilly, white gardenias greeted me on my morning walks.
Wildflowers (or "weeds" in the eyes of many) also abounded. They, too, glowed in the early morning sun in a variety of colors, from pale yellow to lavender to a deep, almost electric blue. These electric blue flowers, which in some cases tended toward purple, had even bluer stamens. Curious about what they were, I returned (briefly) to the computer. A quick search revealed that they're called spiderworts, and that the blue, blue stamens are quite a good thing. If the plants are exposed to radiation, the blue stamens turn a bright pink. These flowers therefore have earned a reputation like canaries in coal mines and in some parts of the world are grown outside nuclear reactors as a warning system. I kid you not. While flowers, fresh with dew, were the centerpiece of an early morning walk, there were other marvels that could only be experienced later in the day. Many insects don't become active until the sun has had time to dry their wings. So, it was necessary on occasion to brave the heat of early afternoon. The show was well worth it. Butterflies flitted from bloom to bloom, and before too long, I was easily able to identify swallowtails, tiger and spicebush; buckeyes; gulf fritillaries; gray hairstreaks and more.
But it was the dragonflies that really caught my attention. Electric green, blue, red, brown, golden. I'm not sure it's possible to truly appreciate them without a long camera lens. And I also marveled at how social these insects are. They seemed eager to pose for the camera. And I often wondered just what I looked like to them through their huge compound eyes. Late afternoons seem to lend themselves to landscape photos. A field shimmering in the afterglow, a gorgeous sunset featuring summer storm clouds, a solitary individual reading on the bank of Williamsburg County's crown jewel, the Black River, all are now memories stored in photographic reproduction. Summer
came early this year, with high temperatures and little rain. Some wild
plants have disappeared, apparently a result of the drought, but other,
more hardy, ones have taken their place, and I'm learning that there is
always something to marvel at in the outdoor world, if we only take the
time to see and appreciate it.
A different kind of Eden By ANDY BRACK, publisher JULY 6, 2011 -- The Garden of Eden is one of the oddest places I've ever visited.
No, not THAT Garden of Eden, but the one in Lucas, Kansas, just an hour away from the geodetic center of the original 48 states of the United States. Back around 1907, an eccentric Kansas farmer and Civil War veteran, started building a cabin-style, two-story home made of concrete. In the two decades that followed, S.P. Dinsmoor started adding concrete trees filled with Biblical representations along the western side of the yard.
By the time Dinsmoor got done on the western side, he added more concrete trees and depictions along the northern side. It has a concrete flag that still turns in the wind via a ball-bearing mount. You also see a soldier shooting an Indian, who is shooting a dog, who is "after the fox, fox after the bird, bird h as its mouth open after a little work eating a leaf. This shows how one animal is after another down to the leaf," the farmer wrote, a social commentary on modern American civilization.
The white-bearded Dinsmoor, who at 81 married a 20-year-old Czech woman as his second wife, used more than 113 tons of concrete -- 2,273 sacks, he wrote -- in building the 29 cement trees, art and other features around his strange home in Lucas. Dinsmoor described his Garden of Eden as "the most unique home for living or dead, on earth." And so it may be.
To Charleston Currents:
-- Marcia Rosenberg, Charleston
JULY 6, 2011 -- According to a new report, "Consumers are increasingly prioritizing economic concerns ahead of environmental concerns." Why, you might ask? Not because of current economic tension, but because of dissatisfaction with the environmentally friendly marketplace. How does Charleston rate in all this? What are you seeing and hearing out there? How can we improve that marketplace? Share your ideas with me and I'll pass them along to others.
The 1981 German film "Das Boot" was nominated for six Academy Awards. At Patriots Point, a submarine tour of the USS Clamagore (Guppy III diesel boat) will be conducted each evening from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with showing of "Das Boot" starting at 7:15 p.m. Tours with be conducted by submarine service veterans. Tickets for this event are $12. For more information call (843) 884-2727. Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum is located at 40 Patriots Point Road in Mount Pleasant. College biology graduates find 17-year-old bonnethead shark Two College of Charleston marine biology graduates have recorded the oldest known bonnethead shark in the nation as part of the COASTSPAN shark survey conducted by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Bryan Frazier, a year 2000 graduate and current Master of Environmental Studies candidate, and David Shiffman '11 (M.S.) determined through the direct aging process that this shark was at least 17 years old. Previously, the oldest direct aged bonnethead was captured in the Gulf of Mexico at age seven. Frazier is a SCDNR marine biologist and Shiffman is a SCDNR hourly field assistant. Frazier helped capture this particular shark for the first time in 2002, just after the COASTSPAN shark survey was started (1998). It was captured again in 2006 and only grew 27mm (1.1 inch) in the 9 years between initial tagging and the most recent recapture (2011). "It is the long-term nature of this program that has allowed us to continue to contribute to the biological knowledge about these species," Frazier said. "In addition to the long-term recapture of the bonnethead, we have also recaptured the oldest aged Atlantic sharpnose shark (at least 16 years old), and the oldest aged blacknose shark (at least 21 years old). All were recognized due to the fact they had been captured and tagged years ago. Having this information about how long they live allows SCDNR and the National Marine Fisheries Service to properly manage these species - as they are often overfished."
"It's amazing that even with a species of shark as commonly seen as the bonnethead, there are exciting new discoveries being made all the time," Shiffman said. "We know that sharks are extremely important to our oceans, and we know that many species are declining in population around the world at alarming rates, but there's still so much more to learn!" Shiffman's thesis for the Master's in Marine Biology focused on another local shark species, the sandbar shark, and its feeding ecology. Frazier's thesis for the Master of Environmental Studies program is focused on the age and growth of the bonnethead. Shiffman will continue his study of shark ecology and conservation at the University of Miami while he earns his Ph.D. He writes about sharks for the marine biology blog SouthernFriedScience.com, and tweets about sharks @WhySharksMatter. Three students win scholarships from PrimeTime Fitness
Three local students each were awarded a $500 scholarship from PrimeTime Fitness based on their dedication to living a healthy lifestyle despite the demands of college. Lizzy Willingham, a cross country athlete, attends the College of Charleston. Catherine Peeples, a volleyball player, attends Clemson University and Brandon McLaddie, a football player, attends The Citadel. Each submitted proof of academic achievement along with an essay. 33rd Annual Piccolo Spoleto
Festival honors arts leaders
Recipients
of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award
included:
Produced and directed by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs since 1979, Piccolo Spoleto's mission is to provide access to the Spoleto Festival USA experience for everyone, regardless of their economic, social or physical circumstances and to provide the opportunity for excellent local and regional artists, writers and performers to be showcased in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival venues.
Essayist and poet Louisa Susanna Cheves McCord was born in Charleston on December 3, 1810, the daughter of the South Carolina lawyer Langdon Cheves and Mary Dulles. Her father's career as state attorney general, congressman, and president of the Bank of the United States took the family from Charleston and Columbia to Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. As a result, McCord grew up among the political and social elite of the young nation, exposed to both slave and free labor and rural and urban environments. Although her formal education consisted solely of Philadelphia boarding schools, her later writings suggest the veracity of the family legend that her father allowed McCord to study with her brothers as they prepared for college.
After the death of her mother in 1836, McCord became the de facto mistress of her father's household. By this time Langdon Cheves had returned to South Carolina and purchased or inherited several rice and cotton plantations. McCord had inherited 50 slaves from her grandmother Sophia Dulles in 1830. Just before her wedding to the Columbia lawyer David James McCord on May 20, 1840, Louisa's father presented her with the cotton plantation Lang Syne, located in Orangeburg District. This plantation remained in her name throughout her 15-year marriage to David McCord, and she would pass the property on to her son-in-law Augustus Smythe upon his marriage to her daughter Louisa in 1865. The years between the birth of her third child and the death of her husband (1845-1854) proved most prolific for Louisa McCord's writing. Ensconced in the intellectual and political world of Columbia, where her family lived between the South Carolina College and the State House, McCord published the essays in which she synthesized contemporary thought on the defense of slavery, women's subordination, and political economy. She believed that African Americans constituted a natural working class and that slavery acted as a means of maintaining social order. White women, while intellectually equal to white men, were forced to subordinate themselves within a social hierarchy due to their physical inferiority to white men, whom she believed possessed both the intellect and the physical prowess required to maintain a peaceful society. She warned that abolitionists and the emerging woman's rights movement exposed the nation to unrestrained violence from the working classes, specifically to the threat of slave rebellion. She also wrote on political economy, in support of free markets, and translated the French economist Frederic Bastiat's Sophisme Economique. Published under the initials "LSM," her essays appeared in important southern journals such as De Bow's Review and Southern Quarterly Review, and they were well received and praised by her male contemporaries and were reflective of the dominant opinions of South Carolina's elite classes in the decades preceding the Civil War. Less renowned are McCord's poetry and drama. Her poetry, written in her twenties, suggests an intellectually ambitious young woman struggling to accept her place in the social order that she described in her essays. Her play, Caius Gracchus (1851), is the dramatic culmination of those ideas in the depiction of a stoic mother sacrificing her personal happiness and children for the greater good of republicanism. Little did she guess as she wrote the play that she would find herself in an almost identical position ten years later. During the Civil War, McCord cast herself as a mother of the Confederacy. McCord became matron of the Confederate hospital set up on the grounds of South Carolina College, and she donated crops, livestock, and uniforms to South Carolina troops. Her greatest sacrifice to the war, however, was her only son, Langdon Cheves McCord, who died as a result of head injuries received at the Second Battle of Manassas in 1862. She, her daughters, her daughter-in-law, her sisters-in-law, and her granddaughter witnessed the Union invasion of South Carolina, during which General Oliver O. Howard occupied her home. His temporary residence possibly saved the house from destruction in the 1865 Columbia fire and placed McCord in a position to negotiate on behalf of the white women remaining in the city. Throughout the ordeal, women of her class, including her friend Mary Chesnut, noted her strength and resilience with awe and admiration. Although
she became the head of the South Carolina Monument Association after the
war, the conflict's losses and changes so depressed McCord that she went
into a self-imposed exile from South Carolina during the years 1870-1874.
When she returned to South Carolina, moving into the Charleston residence
of her daughter Louisa McCord Smythe, she began preparations for a biography
of her father. A serious stomach ailment identified as "stomach gout"
interrupted this work. McCord died on November 23, 1879, and was buried
in Magnolia Cemetery.
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PUBLICATION
NOTE Today's issue is the only issue this week to allow our staff to enjoy the Fourth. Next week, we'll be back to our regular Monday/Thursday publication schedule.
Pesky *%!#@*! mosquitoes We enjoy a morning in the shade of the cypress tree in our back yard -- until a bunch of hungry mosquitoes move in for brunch! Here are some tips from Charleston County on protecting yourself from these bloodthirsty nuisances:
"The art of
life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings."
Hooves and Hides: 3:30 p.m., July 6, Charleston Museum. Kid Tours is a series designed to highlight artifacts from the museum's collection that have fascinated children for years. Kid Tours meet every Wednesday in July at 3:30 p.m. and include a craft project or activity. This week, kids can encounter some of the large animals in the collection, including a horse, a camel and a bison. Free for Museum members and free with admission ($10/adults, $5/children, under 3 free)
(NEW) Small Business Lunch: 11:30 a.m., July 7, Halls Chophouse, 434 King St. Charleston Visitors Bureau Executive Director Helen Hill will be featured speaker at a meeting open to small business leaders. Ticket price includes lunch and parking. Tickets are available online. For information on this or future events, call 843-303-1113. SOAR on Folly 5K: 8 a.m., July 9, Folly Beach. Runners, walkers, supporters and athletes are invited to take to the course together to run or walk 3.2 miles on the hard sands of Folly Beach. Celebrate the Special Olympics community as athletes run and walk beside you or cheer you on near the finish line. Stay after the event for a day on the beach or join us at Loggerhead's Grill for discounted brunch and beverages. Parking is limited, carpooling is recommended. All proceeds from the event will benefit Special Olympics South Carolina. Cost: $25 for adults (over 12) and $15 for kids (11 and under) until June 30; $30 for adults and $20 for kids starting July 1. (NEW) Military Woman of the Year: 6:30 p.m., July 9, Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Women in Defense will present its 2011 Military Woman of the Year Award and will auction off special edition RiverDogs jerseys during the RiverDogs vs. Delmarva Shorebirds game. Each RiverDogs player and coach will wear the special jerseys and bids will be accepted through the seventh inning. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. For information, call 843-256-2065. Reggae Nights Concert: 8:30 p.m., July 9, North Charleston Wannamaker County Park. Gates open at 7:30 p.m. and music by Mystic Vibrations begins at 8:30 p.m. Bring a chair or blanket. Hungry concert-goers can purchase Caribbean-style dishes, pizza and other festival foods at the event. Crafters and other vendors will be on site. Children 12 and under, as well as Gold Pass holders, enjoy free admission. Tickets can be purchased at the gate. Tickets are $8 for adults. No outside alcohol or coolers. CALENDAR: ONGOING AND SOON
(NEW) Summer Children's Theatre: 10 a.m., July 15 at Northwoods Park and Recreation Center, 8348 Greenridge Road in North Charleston, and 2 p.m., July 15 at Sterett Hall Auditorium, 1530 7th St. Flow Circus presents Paul Miller's one-man variety show of juggling, mystifying magic, and comedy. Fee: Children $2, Adults Free. Group reservations required. Call 843-740-5854. (NEW) Family Fun Weekends: Saturdays and Sundays, July and August. South Carolina residents who want to enjoy a "staycation" can take advantage of reduced admissions at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Weekend admission to the gardens and a nature train ride will be $40 for each vehicle carrying up to five passengers. Free snow cones and popcorn will be served at the Peacock Café. For more information, call 571-1266 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
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You
can see Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel and the devil. The garden offers Dinsmoor's
peculiar version of religion. As he wrote in a pamphlet about the project,
"There must have been many things in the Garden of Eden that Moses
didn't mention. I have substituted some things that I know were there.
The storks were there, because the kids were there: Cain and Abel."
And because the storks carried kids in the darkness, Dinsmoor stuck light
bulbs in their mouths to show them the way.
When
he got done with this section, he poured more concrete -- for his own
mausoleum (you can see his bones through a plate glass window in the coffin),
a visitors' dining hall and more. And there's an area where he goes after
monopolies by showing Labor being crucified by grafters. He wrote, "I
could not put them all up, so I have put up the leaders -- Lawyer, Doctor,
Preacher and Banker. I do not say they are all grafters, but I do say
they are the leaders of all who eat cake by the sweat of the other fellow's
face."
I
loved reading about how you (Marsha Guerard) finally settled on a chihuahua,
and it all makes lots of sense. I know it's too late now, but did you
consider adopting from one of the local shelters? I'm certain that had
you gone to see their current offerings, you would have fallen in love
with the perfect little dog and saved it from possible/probable euthanasia.
Greg
Garvan of James Island is president of Money with a Mission, an 18-year-old,
fee-only financial planning firm that specializes in socially responsible/
'green' asset management. On the Web: 
The
Bakker Career Center provides personal development and academic support
programs, and leadership and career technology training. The participants
are children and youth in shelters and group home care at CYDC. 
As
part of the "do Deutsch" series of events on German culture
and language organized by the German missions (http://bit.ly/pr3QVY) and
the Goethe-Institut locations in the United States, the film "Das
Boot: 30th Anniversary Director's Cut" and a combined guided submarine
tour will take place at Patriots Point on July 17, 18 and 19.
Bonnetheads
are a member of the hammerhead shark family (Sphyrnidae). They are classified
as small coastal sharks, and are common to the Southeastern United States
and Gulf of Mexico. They are summertime residents of South Carolina's
estuaries, entering the waters in April and May and leaving when water
temperatures cool in the fall. They grow to as large as 4 feet, and once
mature, they reproduce annually.
The
Piccolo Spoleto Festival Cornerstone Award went to two individuals who
have coordinated programs for Piccolo Spoleto every year. Robert Ivey,
founder of Robert Ivey Ballet, headed up the Piccolo Spoleto Dance Festival
when the festival began in 1979, and in years since has coordinated the
Dance at Noon Series, elements of the Children's Festival, and outreach
programs through the years including arts programs that Piccolo Spoleto
took into hospital wards and nursing homes. Emily Remington, also a coordinator
of programs in the 1979 festival, helped with chamber music and the Festival
of Churches series. She also served as the choral director for the Charleston
Symphony Orchestra Choir for many years of its performances in Piccolo
Spoleto and now coordinates the Remington Concert Series at Franke at
Seaside. 
Revolutionary
War focus tours: 4 p.m., July 12, 19, 26, Heyward-Washington
House, 87 Church St. The Charleston Museum's Heyward-Washington House
will offer special Revolutionary War focus tours every Tuesday in July.
Reservations are not required. Admission is $10/adult and $5/child (free
for Charleston Museum members). For more information, Call 722-2996 ext.
235. Please note: the July Revolutionary War Focus Tours are not available
to tour groups during this time slot.
(NEW)
Lowcountry
Local First: 6 p.m., July 13, Cone 10 Studios, 1080-B Morrison
Drive. Meeting for members and prospective members of Lowcountry Local
First. Theme is supporting the local arts scene.