Black Angel Research Articles

Otolith Chemistry of Common Sculpins (Myoxocephalus scorpius) in a Mining Polluted Greenlandic Fiord (Black Angel Lead-Zinc Mine, West Greenland)

Sculpins are widely used as key species for monitoring heavy metal pollution near arctic mine sites. Typically, metal concentrations in liver and muscle tissue have been used as a proxy for metal exposure but such analyses lack temporal information of uptake and accumulation. Otoliths (ear bones) are considered metabolically stable and can potentially contain a complete record of the fish’s metal exposure history. To investigate the otolith chemistry of sculpins and the potential of these as records of metal exposure, common sculpins (Myoxocephalus scorpius) were collected at five sites near a former Pb–Zn mine in West Greenland. Otoliths were analyzed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for 12 elements of which Mg, Mn, Sr, Ba, and Pb were detected. The highest Pb concentrations were found within the otoliths from the most Pb-polluted sites near the mine (up to 0.6 ppm), and decreasing concentrations were observed in a gradient away from the mine. Notably, Pb and Sr variations were closely correlated and showed an annual oscillatory pattern with peaks consistently found in the winter zones. It is not clear to what the extent high winter-time accumulation of Pb in the otoliths is due to high winter-time exposure of Pb through diet or water and/or to physiological processes such as growth in the sculpins. The study indicates that LA-ICP-MS analyses of sculpin otoliths have the potential to become a valuable method for assessing time-resolved metal loading near mine sites but also that more studies are required to investigate the links between metal sources, pathways, and processes affecting otolith metal deposition.

Thousands of Times Throughout the Day

Thousands of Times Throughout the Day Kim Addonizio (bio) Oh to be a black-tailed gnatcatcher in the mesquite gleaning insects from branch-tips with my mate, our complex song reduced to easy chatter, our tiny, adorable bodies puffing all blue-gray, our tails flipping in an expressive way. Or to walk with a nymph swigging Mike’s Hard Lemonade hand in hand through the bosky suburbs, late for the stupid party, the dark houses lit by snow and gaudy crèches, our mouths wet where they met; and will they meet again? Notyet, not yet, sings the store-bought animatronic bird. Oh to be thrashing and caught face-down and fevered on a feathery bed, or sprawled and scrawled across a page, adored in ink; to be a glove upon that floor those bare feet have touched, as my love bends over to retrieve it. Not yet, not yet, maybe not ever to be part and parcel, pleasured, paired sings the little robot, geared and levered. Here, here, calls the bird forever. [End Page 70] Kim Addonizio Kim Addonizio’s latest books are My Black Angel: Blues Poems and Portraits (Stephen F. Austin Press, 2014) and a story collection, The Palace of Illusions (Soft Skull Press, 2014). A new book of poems, Mortal Trash, is forthcoming from W. W. Norton, along with a memoir, Bukowski in a Sundress (Viking/Penguin). Copyright © 2015 Middlebury College Publications

My Father's House: 4 Poems

My Father's House: 4 Poems Edward Madden Sacrifice, revisited And then the son took the father, placed him on the altar of a small white bed, locked the wheels, lifted and locked the rails along the sides. The son took the knife that dropped from his father's hands, took it between his teeth, sheathed: jaw harp, trump, a tongue. Community after a painting of Saint Irene by Leslie Pierce homophobia is a weapon of sexism In Leslie's painting, a woman lifts a lamp inside a cave, the church, its dark architectures of liturgy and stone. She's not alone there, in church or cave, catacombs, or cloaca maxima where Sebastian was thrown. Resist the darkness is her theme. She's thinking of Irene of Rome, fag hag avant la lettre, the one who took Sebastian home, worked the arrows out and washed the wounds, washed his skin, tended him. And later, when the emperor's thugs beat him to death, threw him in the sewers, a group of women fished him out of it, the filth and shit, his body undefiled. Pierced then pummeled, thought killed by arrows and yet was not, later ordered killed again by the man who'd had him shot, pricks then fists (then flushed), the martyr martyred twice, a strange tale, with miracles, too—the blind to see, the mute to speak, but both of these were women, and women tended him, as if there's some connection between the man who would become a gay icon and the women who tended him, the ones whose voice and vision were grounded in some shared sense of who they were and he— who they all might be. The Rapture 21 May 2011 I. Trumpet flower on the ditch, orange blare of blossom over dark water, over the snake that traces the edge of what we know. 2. On tv they say the world will end today, some preacher has the news, but I walk the perimeter of eave and soffit anyway to zap the carpenter bees, the ones emerging from the bored wood, the ones that hover all around the house, bothered, like fat black angels. My father's house 1. This is the body Sundays someone always stops by with the travelling show of crackers and magic juice, the shuffle of little cups from a Ziploc bag—Lord's Supper for the shut‐ins, the sick and afflicted as they say in the ministry lingo. They left behind the empty cups. Washed up, they nest on my dresser, hold the moment when together we had prayer over my father's bed about flesh and blood and something I'm not sure I still believe—but I believe in this: five people around a bed, something shared, a broken body, bowed heads. 2. after the Our Father Father, lying in that narrow bed, I am listening for my name. We know what is coming, we know what needs to be done here, now—and later, when you're finally okay. Mornings, I give you your daily meds. Please forgive me all that needs forgiven, as I keep forgiving you. Later I'll wheel your chair outside for fresh air and a cigarette, this simple thing you want. © 2014 Association for Religion and Intellectual Life

Evaluation of the use of common sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius) organ histology as bioindicator for element exposure in the fjord of the mining area Maarmorilik, West Greenland

The former Black Angel lead–zinc mine in Maarmorilik, West Greenland, is a historic example of how mining activity may result in a significant impact on the surrounding fjord system in terms of elevated concentrations of especially lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) in seawater, sediments and surrounding biota. In order to shed light on the present contamination and possible effects in the fjord we initiated a range of studies including a pilot study on gill and liver morphology of common sculpins (Myoxocephalus scorpius) around Maarmorilik. Sculpins were caught and sampled at five different stations known to represent a gradient of Pb concentrations. Fish livers from all specimens were analyzed for relevant elements in the area: Fe, Zn, As, Cu, Se, Cd, Pb, Ag, Hg, Co and Ni. Lead, As and Hg showed significant differences among the five stations. For 20% of the sculpins, Hg concentrations were in the range of lowest observed effect dose (LOED) of 0.1–0.5μg/gww for toxic threshold on reproduction and subclinical endpoints. Likewise LOEDs for tissue lesions, LOEDs for biochemistry, growth, survival and reproduction were exceeded for Cd (0.42–1.8μg/gww) and for As (11.6μg/gww) in 28% and 85% of the sculpins, respectively. Similar to this, the no observed effect dose (NOED) for biochemistry was exceeded for Pb (0.32μg/gww) and for growth, mortality and reproduction for Zn (60–68μg/gww) in 33% and 24% of the sculpins, respectively. For all sculpins, females were significantly larger than males and for five of the elements (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Se) females had higher concentrations. The chronic lesions observed in liver (mononuclear cell infiltrates, necrosis, vacuolar hepatocytes, portal fibrosis, bile duct hyperplasia, active melanomacrophage centers) and gills (fusion and edema of secondary lamellae, laminar telangiectasis, mononuclear cell infiltrates, blebs) were similar to those in the literature studies for both wild and laboratory exposed sculpins and other fish species carrying similar or higher Hg concentrations. Ignoring sex and size, specimens with hepatic cell infiltrates had the highest concentrations of most elements, a relation that was also found for gill telangiectasis and Hg (all p<0.05). When controlling for sex and size, the prevalence of vacuolar hepatocytes and endoparasites was significantly highest at the three most contaminated stations and similar differences were found for liver necrosis. We suggest that beside exposure to mining-related elements, other environmental factors, such as parasites, might be co-factors in the development of the observed liver and gill lesions. Therefore, sculpin liver and gill pathology are likely to be suitable health indicators when biomonitoring gradients of mining and other element related activity effects; while a larger study is required to fully evaluate the relationships.

Accumulation dynamics and cellular locations of Pb, Zn and Cd in resident and transplanted Flavocetraria nivalis lichens near a former Pb–Zn mine

Accumulation dynamics and cellular locations of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) were studied in Flavocetraria nivalis lichens near the former Black Angel Pb-Zn Mine in West Greenland. Natural resident thalli were collected from four dust-contaminated sites near the mine. In addition, thalli were taken from an uncontaminated reference site and transplanted to the contaminated sites followed by a collection 1 year after. Total thalli metal contents were determined, and thalli were subjected to a sequential extraction procedure. After 1 year of transplantation, total Pb thalli contents were significantly elevated compared with initial concentrations at all sites (for Zn and Cd contents only at the two sites closest to the mine). However, transplanted thalli contained significantly less Pb (26 ± 12%), Zn (64 ± 13%) and Cd (34 ± 7 %) compared with resident thalli from these sites. Results from the sequential extraction procedure showed marked differences among Pb, Zn and Cd in the extracellular, intracellular and residual fraction. The lower total metal concentrations in transplanted compared with resident thalli at the contaminated sites were mostly due to a larger metal content bound in the residual fraction in resident thalli. In contrast, the metal content bound in the extracellular fraction were not significantly different in transplanted and resident thalli. The results indicate that extracellular-bound Pb, Zn and Cd in F. nivalis can be used as a proxy for recent (annual) atmospheric metal deposition whereas the large residual metal fraction in resident lichens indicate an accumulation of metal-containing particles in the thalli over time that includes several years of uptake.

Modelling atmospheric bulk deposition of Pb, Zn and Cd near a former Pb–Zn mine in West Greenland using transplanted Flavocetraria nivalis lichens

Atmospheric deposition of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) was investigated near the former Black Angel Pb–Zn mine in Maarmorilik, West Greenland during 2010–2011. Thalli of the lichen Flavocetraria nivalis were transplanted from an uncontaminated site into sites near the mine and collected the following year. At 20 of the total 21 sites, concentrations of Pb, Zn and Cd were significantly elevated in lichens after 1 year of transplantation compared to initial concentrations. Elevated concentrations were observed within a distance of approx. 20km from the mining area. Concentrations decreased with increasing distance from the mine and the relation was well described using a power function with a negative exponent (r2=0.90; 0.83 and 0.83 for Pb; Zn and Cd). To examine the relation between metal concentrations/uptake in lichen transplants and atmospheric bulk deposition, 10 Bergerhoff dust samplers were placed near lichen transplants and samplers and lichens were collected after a 7-weeks exposure period. A significant linear correlation was observed between metal concentrations in lichen transplants and atmospheric bulk metal deposition (r2=0.94; 0.88 and 0.89 for Pb; Zn and Cd). Combining the results and including an area distribution within a defined metal deposition area, the “annual” deposition of Pb, Zn and Cd as dust was estimated during the 2010–2011 snow-free period (∼5months). The results reveal that 20years after mine closure, 770kg Pb, 3700kg Zn and 24kg Cd were still being deposited as dust per year (snow-free period only) within a distance of 20km from the mine.

Trends of lead and zinc in resident and transplanted Flavocetraria nivalis lichens near a former lead–zinc mine in West Greenland

This study investigated spatial and temporal trends of lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) in resident and transplanted Flavocetraria nivalis lichens near the former Black Angel Mine in Maarmorilik, West Greenland. The objectives of the study were to evaluate resident and transplanted lichens for monitoring dust contamination and investigate trends in mine-related dust contamination near the mine. The mine operated between 1973 and 1990 and lichens were regularly sampled between 1986 and 2009. When the mine operated, elevated concentrations of Pb, Zn and other elements were observed in resident lichens up to 35 km from Maarmorilik. In the period after mine closure, Pb and Zn concentrations in resident lichens decreased with 1–11% and 0–6% per year, respectively. From 1996 to 2009, lichens were transplanted into the study area from an uncontaminated site and collected the following year. After 1 year, transplanted lichens showed elevated concentrations of Pb and Zn but contained consistently less Pb and Zn compared to resident lichens (24 ± 23% and 63 ± 37%, respectively). During the most recent sampling in 2009, transplanted lichens still showed significantly elevated Pb concentrations (up to a factor 270) within a distance of 20 km from Maarmorilik. Zinc concentrations were only significantly elevated at sites within 5 km from the mine. Time-series regression analyses showed no significant decreases in Pb and Zn in transplanted lichens at any of the sites during the period 1996–2009. In conclusion, our study showed that resident F. nivalis lichens could not be used to evaluate the recent annual dust contamination in Maarmorilik. Lichen transplants, however, were considered adequate for assessing spatial and temporal trends in Pb and Zn contamination from recently deposited dust. The continuous dispersal of contaminated dust in Maarmorilik almost 20 years after mine closure reveals a slow recovery from mining contamination in this arctic area.

Long-term response of an arctic fiord system to lead–zinc mining and submarine disposal of mine waste (Maarmorilik, West Greenland)

Contamination by lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) was studied in seawater, sediments, seaweeds and blue mussels near the former Black Angel Pb–Zn Mine in Maarmorilik, West Greenland. The mine operated during the period 1973–90 when mine waste (tailings and later waste rock) was discharged directly into the sea. Metal concentrations peaked during the mining period and Pb and Zn in seawater within the discharge area were measured up to 440 and 790 μg L −1, respectively. Pb in fiord sediments, seaweeds and blue mussels just outside the discharge area were measured in concentrations up to 190, 84 and 2650 and Zn up to 300, 360 and 1190 μg g −1 dry wt., respectively. Within the discharge area, seawater metal concentrations (especially Pb) decreased abruptly after mine closure. Metals concentrations in sediments and biota, however, decreased more slowly and two decades after mine closure seaweeds and blue mussels were still contaminated 12 km from the mine.

Quotation and Framing: Re-contextualization and Intertextuality as Newness in George Crumb's Black Angels

George Crumb's Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land for Electric String Quartet (1970) are individually original, but also representative for compositional practices for the twentieth century. As in his other compositions, Crumb has integrated musical quotations and various musical styles, including a web of references that extend into other media in such a way that they form an indispensable part of the basic construction of the work: these components form part of its newness. In Black Angels the composer—among other well-known pieces of music—quotes the medieval `Dies irae' sequence and the second movement of Schubert's string quartet in D minor (D. 810). The musical and intermedial references are framed with striking modernistic sounds exploring instrumental possibilities far beyond the traditional, thus creating a framework of extreme contrasts. The paper will contextualize, analyze and interpret Black Angels—which the composer explicitly linked to the Vietnam War—in a broad context of music, intermediality, religious symbolism, and cultural memory, pointing to the cultural meaning of this technique of recontextualization as a break with, as well as a continuation of, modernity.

Contamination of arctic Fjord sediments by Pb–Zn mining at Maarmorilik in central West Greenland

This study focuses on heavy metal contamination of arctic sediments from a small Fjord system adjacent to the Pb–Zn “Black Angel” mine (West Greenland) to investigate the temporal and spatial development of contamination and to provide baseline levels before the mines re-opening in January 2009. For this purpose we collected multi-cores along a transect from Affarlikassaa Fjord, which received high amounts of tailings from 1973 to 1990, to the mouth of Qaumarujuk Fjord. Along with radiochemical dating by 210Pb and 137Cs, geochemical analyses of heavy metals (e.g. As, Cd, Hg, Pb, and Zn) were carried out. Maximum contents were found at 12 cm depth in Affarlikassaa. After 17 years the mine last closed, specific local hydrographic conditions continue to disperse heavy metal enriched material derived from the Affarlikassaa into Qaumarujuk. Total Hg profiles from multi-cores along the transect clearly illustrate this transport and spatial distribution pattern of the contaminated material.

Pb isotopes as tracers of mining-related Pb in lichens, seaweed and mussels near a former Pb-Zn mine in West Greenland

Identification of mining-related contaminants is important in order to assess the spreading of contaminants from mining as well as for site remediation purposes. This study focuses on lead (Pb) contamination in biota near the abandoned ‘Black Angel Mine’ in West Greenland in the period 1988–2008. Stable Pb isotope ratios and total Pb concentrations were determined in lichens, seaweed and mussels as well as in marine sediments. The results show that natural background Pb ( 207Pb/ 206Pb: 0.704–0.767) and Pb originating from the mine ore ( 207Pb/ 206Pb: 0.955) have distinct isotopic fingerprints. Total Pb in lichens, seaweed, and mussels was measured at values up to 633, 19 and 1536 mg kg −1 dry weight, respectively, and is shown to be a mixture of natural Pb and ore-Pb. This enables quantification of mining-related Pb and shows that application of Pb isotope data is a valuable tool for monitoring mining pollution.

The Maritorious Melodrama: Film Noir with a Female Detective

The Maritorious Melodrama:Film Noir with a Female Detective Philippa Gates (bio) Feminist critics tend to disagree whether the parachuting of women into traditionally male roles—for example, that of detective—results in a feminist representation.1 The female detective of the 1930s, however, can be seen to offer a decidedly positive feminist hero in that she defies the stereotype of the "masculine" (i.e., unnatural) woman—especially when one considers the time in which she appeared and representations of female detectives in contemporary film.2 Despite popular conceptions of classical film, Hollywood did offer progressive representations of working women, ironically in the decade characterized by economic and social upheaval during the Depression. The prolific female detective of 1930s B-films and series is an independent woman who puts her career ahead of the traditional female pursuits of marriage and a family, and who chases a mystery as actively as, and with greater success than, the men who populate the police department or a rival newspaper's staff. However, during World War II and especially its aftermath, the representation of the female detective began to change, and the independent woman came to be depicted as all but the criminal herself. Critics of film noir have discussed at length the figure of the femme fatale as dangerous femininity, but noir's female investigative protagonists have been ignored.3 This article focuses on the representation of the female detective in film noir of the 1940s and the shift from the celebration of the independent and career-oriented woman to her demonization. More specifically, it examines how the sex of the investigating protagonist complicates the traditionally male noir detective narrative. The result is a hybridization of generic conventions: the narrative is driven forward as much by the female protagonist's personal desires familiar in many types of melodrama (specifically the woman's film) as by her investigation, which usually drives the narrative of a detective film;4 however, at the same time, the heroine's independence as a detective poses an undesirable challenge to the masculinity of her husband (or husband-to-be), as with film noir. Just as the maternal melodrama demanded a woman make personal sacrifices to facilitate her daughter's success in the world, so too do these noir films demand the sacrifice on the part of the female protagonist to see the man she loves returned to his "proper" place as head of the household. Thus, I term these films "maritorious melodramas" as opposed to "maternal melodramas" because they see the female protagonist "excessively devoted" to her husband.5 In the noir films Phantom Lady (1944), Black Angel (1946), and Woman on the Run (1950), the heroine is offered simultaneously as a progressive image of femininity—because she occupies the center of, and drives forward, the investigative narrative—and as a contained one because ultimately she is proven incompetent as a detective and is returned [End Page 24] to the prescribed social role of devoted and sacrificing wife. From Women to Wives The female detective was an ideal heroine for the Production Code, as one whose sexuality was literally kept under the wraps of her tailored suit while the focus of the narrative was on her investigation of a crime.6 Although her popularity and increased presence on screen by the mid-1930s might be related to the stricter enforcement of the Code by 1934, the female detective was a notable figure in the early 1930s as well and was most likely the result of the industry-wide shift to sound at the dawn of the decade. Certainly the fast-talking woman and her penchant to engage in witty banter with male rivals seemed well suited to the "talkies" and saw the detective film in keeping with the themes of the screwball comedy—including the inversion of sex roles. The female detective was a woman operating in the male-dominated world of criminal investigation and, as a woman with authority and power over men, could be regarded as a potential disruption to dominant masculinity—just like the criminal. Kathleen Gregory Klein suggests that the female detective must be put in her "proper" (i.e., secondary) place: "Like the criminal...

If the Moon Kept Goats: The Veteran’s Tale, and: The Moment before a Change

If the Moon Kept Goats: The Veteran’s Tale, and: The Moment before a Change Christopher Howell (bio) If the Moon Kept Goats: The Veteran’s Tale I can’t believe I’m saying this again after so many years, but those things that keep coming back name us and we have to let them in. There was a war. Unquenchable roaring bells surrounded it like a woman on fire inside a dress. Some of us were taken away on ships to be part of this and came back full of broken furniture, our faces [End Page 135] black kites over fields of ice. We had walked in harness so wrong and deep, not even the sand man would let us sleep. And me? I was a case. I left everything lie like dead thieves in a bank, and, beyond loyalty and war, set my desperate bones to hold a woman who could barely hold herself inside the world become a world I didn’t know. And what if she had left her husband then and the light by which we thought we knew ourselves had not failed, as it does, when we needed it exactly? What if the moon kept goats? As I touched her to lure happiness out of its tormented cage, I thought of my father’s faithfulness and wondered how it was, and by what right, he had returned from his war and fashioned from the remnants a whole life. I thought of the southern cross and the enemy—then now and always—looking up, as we had, but breathing easy, minds luffing a bit, buoyed out by the wonder of clarified commitment and it occurred to me that from a certain point of view there was no hope at all. [End Page 136] I saw things in the trees. I stopped eating salt and grew a red shadow that drifts with me still under the April wood, circling a candle of dead confusion, unable to blow it out. Think of that. Think of a whole generation of us, hands in our fathers’ hands and the sun seething with impossible conjunctions, war on both sides of us and love in between. The Moment before a Change In shallows, among reeds and whispers of the troubled lilies, I am uneasy. The yellow mouth of the moon is shut. A grey glow comes upon the world again and again it is Mercer Lake in 1955 when I crept out of the rented cabin and saw the huge black angel bathing, hard pewter-colored pieces of lake falling from his wings. I gave some of my eyesight and most of what I had been hoping for as a bribe that he might bless me [End Page 137] and he gave me an onyx lens to hold against the change of light and its bread bumping darkly under layers of mist. All common prayer is uselessness when memory dresses and descends into you, leaving doors ajar and immense fir trees and mirrored alleyways of fallen shelves everywhere you step. I know you, it says, you’re the one who stands reed still under new stars and the old ones with their faces turned away, the one who’s uneasy, who remembers and hasn’t quite paid. Christopher Howell Christopher Howell’s ninth collection of poems, Dreamless and Possible: New & Selected, will be published by the University of Washington Press next year. Other work may be seen in current issues of FIELD, the Journal, Crazyhorse, and Gettysburg Review. “I was born right at the end of the war and have gone through my whole life with this huge knot of people, like a snake swallowing an orange, as they say. In some ways it has been good, since it provided us all with many compatriots whose general understandings about life had similar bases. But that large population group also created unprecedented competition for jobs, housing, notoriety, perhaps even for spouses: by external measure, the very terms of satisfaction. I think the interplay between the collegiality and the competition has driven many of us inward, away from material standards, which is, of course, a good thing. So it’s been an interesting...

John W. F. Dulles (1913–2008)

John W. F. Dulles (1913–2008)

Music and Spirituality: 13 Meditations around George Crumb's Black Angels

Music and Spirituality: 13 Meditations around George Crumb's Black Angels

Black devil and iron angel: the railway in nineteenth-century German realism

Black devil and iron angel: the railway in nineteenth-century German realism

The Pot Calling the Kettle "Black"

The world of performance provides a space in which to theorize and reflect upon identity. Traditionally, "blackness" has been susceptible to the identity politics circulating within the particular historical context of its representation on and off the stage. On the proscenium stage that was the auction block, for example, there was no question in the auctioneer or the buyer's mind that blackness was sutured to the phenotypical black body. That particular "opening" on the auction block was a command performance of blackness. The subversive, coded performances of the slave in the presence of slaveholders, on the other hand (i.e., spirituals, signifying, etc.), bespoke yet a different kind of "playing black"—a performance whose doubly intended signification had varying effects—e.g., escape, food, avoidance of beatings. To complicate matters, when white bodies began their "love and theft"34 shuffle of blackness via minstrelsy, playing black became an even more ironic, if not troubling, phenomenon. Undoubtedly, each of these terms—performance and blackness—signifies differently within the specifics of its historicity. Wedded together in dialogic and [End Page 605] dialectic tension, however, these terms are at the interstices of black life, politics, and cultural production. "Blackness" and "performance" complement one another in a dialectic that becomes an ontology of racialized cultural production. "Blackness," for instance, is a simulacrum until it is practiced—i.e., performed. The epistemological moment of race manifests itself in and through performance in that performance facilitates self- and cultural reflexivity—a knowing made manifest by a "doing." Far from undergirding an essentialist purview of blackness, performance, as a mode of representation, emphasizes the ways in which cultures struggle to define who they are and who they want to be. Blackness, however, is not only a pawn and consequence of performance; it is also an effacement of it. Indeed, according to Rinaldo Walcott, "to read blackness as merely 'playful' is to fall into a willful denial of what it means to live 'black.'"35 And as I have stated elsewhere, "blackness does not only reside in the theatrical fantasy of the white imaginary that is then projected onto black bodies. Nor is blackness always consciously acted out. It is also the inexpressible yet undeniable racial experience of black people—the ways in which the 'living of blackness' becomes a material way of knowing."36 The implication of this construction of blackness in relation to performance is that performance may not fully account for the ontology of race. The interanimation of blackness and performance and the tension between blackness as "play" and material reality further complicates the notion of what constitutes a "black play," and of what "playing black" is and what "playing black" ain't. A performance of an adapted short story for the stage at Northwestern exemplifies this complexity. In 2004 a class called "Performance of Black Literature" staged a production of Bruce Jay Friedman's short story titled "Black Angels." The story chronicles the life of Stefano, a New York Jewish suburbanite suffering a mid-life crisis because his wife has left him and taken their ten-year-old son with her. To make himself feel better, he decides to fix up his house and hires four black workers (the "black angels") who, much to his delight, charge him ridiculously low prices to do the work on his home (e.g., $58 to paint his two-story colonial). After the black men have transformed Stefano's home into a showplace, he is still unhappy. It turns out that what Stefano really needs is someone to talk to about his problems. In the end, it turns out to be Cotten, the head worker, who is most sympathetic to Stefano's plight. Realizing how "therapeutic" it is to talk to Cotten, Stefano asks Cotten how much he would charge to "listen" to him talk about his troubles once a week. Cotten's reply of "fo' hunerd" an hour sends Stefano into paroxysms, yet he accepts the offer and Cotten sits...

George Crumb's Channels of Mythification

George Crumb's fascination with mythology has not previously been specifically addressed, although since the 1970s, when he wrote the largescale works that brought him fame--Ancient Voices of Children, Black Angels (both 1970), Vox Balaenae (1971), and Makrokosmos I-III (1972-74)--the lexis of the critical essays on Crumb has included references to magic,1 mythic characters, and mythic time. Evidently, this perception stemmed from two major components of Crumb's style. First, the provocative titles, program notes, character designations, and other verbal comments by the composer convey his interest in the mythological. Second, of course, is the sound matter itself-a bricolage of unusual timbres, spell-like recitations, counting in multiple languages, and other sound that invoke the supernatural. These very elements stirred some criticism among a few commentators who refused to take Crumb's spooky effects seriously.

Secret Integrations: Black Humor and the Critique of Whiteness

The category of black humor has a racial resonance when applied to American fiction of the 1960s. A recurrent object of critical interest in this body of comic writing was the function of "blackness" in the formation of "white" identities. In Bruce Jay Friedman's "Black Angels" and Terry Southern's "Twirlin' At Ole Miss" desperate individuals are shown negotiating their sense of self in ambivalent exchanges with an imaginary other. Thomas Pynchon, in "The Secret Integration," analyzes an adolescent act of imitation across racial lines as an effort to overcome socially prescribed differences. And in "Lost in the Funhouse," John Barth locates racialized fantasy as a constitutive element of sexual maturation.

Applying foraminiferal stratigraphy as a biomarker for heavy metal contamination and mining impact in a f iord in West Greenland

Sulphidic mine waste disposed in marine environments constitutes an environmental risk to aquatic life due to potential uptake and accumulation of heavy metals in biota. Fiord sediments near the former Black Angel Mine in West Greenland are contaminated by lead and zinc as a result of submarine tailings disposal in 1973–1990. In 1999 cores were taken up to 10 km away from the disposal area. Analyses include heavy metals, radiochemical dating ( 210Pb) and high-resolution foraminiferal stratigraphy. The mining operation resulted in significant changes in the assemblage composition. In addition, up to 20% of the Melonis barleeanus population found in sediment deposited during nearby tailings disposal was deformed compared to a natural background of less than 5%. Throughout cores representing the last 100 years of sedimentation, the total numbers and frequency of morphological abnormalities among M. barleeanus revealed some correlation with heavy metals concentrations (up to r 2=79%). We conclude that abnormalities among foraminifera may represent a useful biomarker for evaluating trends in the biological impact resulting of submarine tailings disposal as well as long-term environmental impact and subsequent recovery.