Beach Town Research Articles

The Portuguese Blues

KNEW that Henry Fielding died in Lisbon and that it was Byron s first stop on his way to the Levant, the journey he recorded in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. But I didn't go to Lisbon to chase after ghosts, literary or otherwise. My reasons for leaving Madrid, where I was living for the summer, involved a girl. Elena and I had parted ways in early June back in the states. Yet, up to the day of my departure for Spain, I had planned on her visiting me, and memories of our two years together curled around me. Parks, cafes, plazas all evoked experiences that we could and, in my darker moods, should have shared. When I visited museums I missed her company more than I admired the paintings. At the Prado I wandered by El Grecos, Velasquezes, and Goyas, but pictured her standing beside me. She stood a certain way: with her arms folded across her chest and one leg bent so that the opposite hip splayed outward, a posture uniting stillness and energy, concentration in contrapposto. Then with a nimble pivot she would turn to the next canvas. I realized that I needed to escape Madrid with all its ghostly reminders. And so I left for Lisbon at the end of June. I would spend five days in the capital followed by three in Lagos, a beach and bar town in the Algarve. After an overnight bus trip I arrived in Lisbon at seven in the morning. My pension was located steps from the neoclassical plaza Praga Dom Pedro iv, the city's focal point. The clerk led me through a lounge in which a man in a crumpled suit slept in a chair, a blanket draping his lower body, and down a dim corridor to my room. I ditched my belongings and left. In Praga Dom Pedro iv I huddled against a chilling wind and looked around. Lisbon's central districts form a saddle. Baixa is the seat, flanked to the west by Barrio Alto and east by Alfama. The Rio Tejo, or Tagus River, passes to the south. A grid of streets meeting at right angles, Baixa pivots around Praga Dom Pedro iv and the far larger Praga Do Comercio located along the waterfront. Barrio Alto, its narrow alleys lined by bars and restaurants, springs to life in the

America's boardwalks: from Coney Island to California

Gaudy, intoxicating, bright, loud, lucrative, and altogether American: they are our nation's boardwalks. The boardwalk was first invented for utilitarian reasons - so that beach-goers could stroll along the shore in their evening wear without tracking sand into train cars or hotel lobbies. But it wasn't long before the imagination of a country just becoming acquainted with the concept of leisure time transformed the boardwalk into something much more. In James Lilliefors takes us on a journey along the edges of the country to twelve of its most famous beach towns. Starting in the Northeast with Coney Island, Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Wildwood, and Cape May, we continue south to Rehoboth Beach; Ocean City, Maryland; Virginia Beach; Myrtle Beach; and Daytona Beach. In California, we explore the exotic scenes at Venice Beach and Santa Cruz. Lilliefors traces each town's history from the building of a boardwalk to what are frequently ambitious plans to revitalize and redevelop today. In every case, he shows how the boardwalk has been integral to the area's economic growth, status, and appeal. This richly documented and illustrated tale, however, tells more than the story of the birth and development of boardwalks. Weaving together observations and conversations with business owners, planners, and strollers themselves, Lilliefors reveals the vitality of the boardwalk as an idea, rather than just as a place. Boardwalks, he argues, are living monuments to American enterprise, a young country's founding dreams, and its unwavering optimism. Born at a time when the country was busy rebuilding and reinventing itself as an industrial and economic power, these lively seaside destinations seemed to herald a new life of relaxation, recreation, and middle-class prosperity. On the nation's first boardwalk in Atlantic City, you could find everything from a home of the future, to diving horses, kangaroo boxing, and the world's largest typewriter. With no admission gate, boardwalks were also a thoroughly democratic idea, inviting visitors from all social and economic groups to join the same parade. Even today, these glittering coastal hubs, with their always unique blends of people, sea spray, shops, inventions, and oddities remain a last frontier - a testament to the power of individuality in an increasingly homogenized world. From Thrasher's French fries in Ocean City to Mack's Pizza in Wildwood and Nathan's hot dogs in Coney Island, people still visit these resorts for products and pleasures that break the otherwise mundane stream of chain restaurants and retailers. Evoking the spirit, tastes, smells, and sounds that have become a beloved part of our nostalgia and that continue to lure new generations, this book is a deserved tribute to America's iconic seaside wonders.

Spam in the Cuban Ajiaco : An Interview with Alaen Perez

Spam in the Cuban Ajiaco:An Interview with Alaen Pérez Karina L. Céspedes (bio) In 1939, the Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz introduced his ajiaco metaphor, and described the ajiaco as a traditional Cuban stew of ameridian origin that is cooked over a long period by continuously adding new ingredients to the simmering mixture. Like the ingredients of mixed race and culture, additions to the dish maintain their identities to varying degrees; some dissolve fully or evaporate, while others remain more distinct. This Ortiz described as "transculturation," a complex appropriation and transformation of identity that is different from "acculturation." Ortiz argued that this term best described Cuban identity. However, there have been some changes in the ajiaco and in Cuban identity since Ortiz's use of the ajiaco metaphor. The pot is no longer slow cooked over a long period by continually adding new ingredients to the simmering mixture; rather, today's Cuban ajiaco is ready in less than an hour and made in a pressure cooker. The ingredients are grown domestically as well as arrive via packages sent by Cubans who reside in the exterior, or they are canned thousands of miles away, imported, and purchased exclusively in stores that only accept a convertible currency, which, since 2004, physically replaced the dollar but remains at an exchange rate of twenty Cuban pesos for one convertible dollar. Much of the quaintness of Ortiz's ajiaco, which inferred a self- sustaining national economy that drew natural and human resources from the land, has been either radically changed or perhaps has simply stayed the same, as the constant stream of "transculturation" requires such drastic social economic and political changes, such as those that would lead to adding Spam to the Cuban ajiaco. Alaen Pérez lives in Cardenas, Elian's home town. Here Alaen is an engineer for a state run firm that builds and maintains hotels in the neighboring beach town of Varadero. His wife, also an engineer, works for a Canadian company in Varadero. Both moved to Cardenas from the neighboring village of Maximo Gomez to be closer to their job sites and to meet the state's requirement that workers within the resort town of Varadero live within the boundaries of the county. The interview was conducted December 27, 2005 in Pérez's mother-in-law's kitchen in Maximo Gomez. * * * CÉSPEDES: When do you usually make ajiaco? PÉREZ: I make it when I have been able to gather up enough of the ingredients and then when I have enough that is all I need to have a reason to make it and it turns into an impromptu [End Page 71] party. I also only make it from my mother-in-law's kitchen. The stove my wife and I have in our apartment is not that good and we come here to make the ajiaco. CÉSPEDES: When was the last time you made ajiaco? PÉREZ: I would have to say about six months ago when I got my hands on enough malanga and yucca to make a good sized pot that would feed almost ten people. The farmers' market comes to Cardenas only once every six months so when I am able to buy what I need is when I make a pot. I have to make that much because people in my house don't just have one or two servings. They eat until they can't eat anymore and then they have one more bowl [laughter]. CÉSPEDES: What do you do when the farmers' market is not here? PÉREZ: We use the rations that come into the state run stores, we buy other things at the dollar store, but not much because everything there is so expensive. We also buy from folks that are growing food locally. We end up eating seasonally that way so sometimes you really have a craving for corn or need some green beans but if they are out of season then you have to wait. I also do a lot of my own pickling, I can pickle just about anything, and I make my own tomato paste and my own butter. CÉSPEDES...

The Cronulla riots: exposing the problem with Australia's Anti-vilification laws

The hate crime legislation is introduced in the UK and US to send a strong message to the community that serious racism leading to violence will not be tolerated in a democratic society but such laws are not implemented in Australia because of which violence motivated by racial and ethnic hatred in the Sydney beach town of Cronulla is considered under standard criminal laws. Hate crime legislation must be introduced by Parliament which includes all violent acts which are motivated by racism, ethnic or religious hatred in order to enable the police and the courts to successfully prosecute those who partake in acts such as those carried out in Cronulla as hate crime offenders.

Unraveling the General: A Chilean Perspective of Pinochet’s Downfall

Issues 81 ISSUES UNRAVELING THE GENERAL: A CHILEAN PERSPECTIVEOF PINOCHET’SDOWNFALL JavierA. Couso UniversidadDiego Portales, Chile Just one year ago, former Chilean dictator General August0 Pinochet was enjoying a period of relative calm and tranquility, safe from prosecution due to his senile dementia, which was diagnosed after his return from “house arrest” in the United Kingdom in 2000.This highly disputed diagnosis allowed Pinochet to avoid prosecution in over a hundred criminal lawsuits for human rights violations perpetrated during the military regime he led between 1973 and 1990. With a few exceptional incidents, such as the occasional demonstration by opponents who recognized him when he shopped for books or took a walk in his favorite beach town, Iquique, Pinochet managed to stay out of the public eye, leading a peaceful life, similar to that of millions of anonymous pensioners. Thanks to this low profile, for the first time in thirty years the Chilean media confined the old general to the kind of obscurity that fugitives find rewarding. Although this scenario was not the one he had planned for his final years-he had hoped to enjoy the honor and recognition of being a Senator for life, but he was forced to relinquish the seat as part of his lawyers’ strategy of claiming he was mentally unfit to stand a criminal trial. This outcome , however, did not seem altogether bad, given how close he came to a life sentence in jail in 1998. In an ironic twist of fate, as a consequence of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the US Senate began an investigation into the sources of Islamic terrorist organizations’ funds, which led to the disclosure of the Chilean dictator’s secrets accounts at Riggs Bank of Washington, D.C. This revelation had far reaching implications. The initial revelation caused a scandal, which was heightened by the sum of money involved, almost 15 million dollars, which 82 The Latin Ainericanist 9 Spring 2005 far exceeded what Pinochet could have saved from his relatively modest salary as career military officer or as President of Chile. The most damning element that emerged from the investigation of the secret bank accounts was the disclosure that Pinochet had personally performed sophisticated banking operations even after having been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Indeed, according to the U.S. Senate investigation, as late as 2002-two years after the medical diagnosis of senile dementia-Pinochet personally transferred money from his Riggs Bank’s account to other banks in the Caribbean and Chile. The revelation that the General was a completely ableperson, except when it came to face justice, outraged many Chileans. In response to this disclosure, some Chilean lawyers involved in the scores of criminal lawsuits filed against Pinochet made a formal request to the courts to strip the general of his senatorial immunity in order to re-open criminal procedures against him. In the first case heard by the courts after the Riggs Bank secret accounts scandal, the Santiago Court of Appeals agreed to deprive Pinochet of his immunity, thus forcing him to face criminal charges relating to ‘Operation Condor’ case.’ However, the Court of Appeals simultaneously instructed the judge in charge of the case, Juan Guzmin to order a new neurological examination of the 88 year-old general, and only then assess his ability to defend himself in a criminal trial. Judge Guzmh asked three different neurologists to examine Augusto Pinochet, but they were unable to agree on his mental fitness to stand trial. Guzmin, then interviewed the General, reviewed his medical reports, and ruled Pinochet mentally fit to stand trial. Pinochet was then indicted. At the time of writing, Pinochet’s trial in the ‘Condor Case’ was still on course, but a final sentence is not expected for years, given the slow pace of Chile’s criminal procedure, particularly in such high profile cases tried under the old criminal procedure.’ In the meantime, the General remains under house arrest. What is the Likely Impact of Bringingthe Former Dictator to Justice on Chile? The events of the last decade concerning Pinochet have taught us to be very cautious when it comes to forecasting outcomes. Indeed, nobody ever expected...

Lester J. Cappon and the Relationship of History, Archives, and Scholarship in the Golden Age of Archival Theory

In the mid-1990s, the hip magazine Wired conducted an “interview” with futurist Marshall McLuhan who, at that point, had been dead for a decade and a half. At the beginning of the essay, the following advisory was provided: “The fallacies of this interview with McLuhan are as follows: About a year ago, someone calling himself Marshall McLuhan began posting anonymously on a popular mailing list called Zone (zone@wired.com). Gary Wolf began a correspondence with the poster via a chain of anonymous remailers. McLuhan (who would have been eighty-five this year) said he now lives in a beach town in Southern California named “Parma.” (This town does not exist.)

Emeritus Professor W.F. Connell 1916–2001

OBE 1978, PhD Lon., Hon D Lit (Ed) Lon., Hon D Litt (Ed) Syd., MA Illin., MA M Ed Melb., FASSA, FACE Foundation Editor of the Australian Journal of Education (1957-1972) William Fraser (Bill) Connell made a profound contribution to research and scholarship in relation to education in Australia, to teacher education and its organisation, and to policy and public understandings of education. He conceived education as a field of practice that was at the same time a field of knowledge, arguing consistently that both should be augmented as much as possible, the one informing the other. Bill Connell enjoyed a long and highly productive career, which continued after he stepped down from full-time work at the University of Sydney at the age of 60 in 1976, `retiring' to Mornington, a beach town located just off the south-eastern edge of Melbourne, to produce major work in the history of education and in comparative and international education. He influenced generations of students and was greatly respected by his colleagues here and abroad. Bill Connell was born on 28 June 1916 in Lockhart, New South Wales. He was raised in Melbourne, attending Glenferrie State School, Mont Albert Central School and Melbourne Grammar School before completing a BA and BEd at the University of Melbourne, where his lifelong interests in the history of education, and comparative and international education, had their roots. During World War II he served in the Navy while enrolled in an MEd at Melbourne, where he won the Cohen Prize. In 1946 he graduated with a PhD from the University of London. The thesis was published as The educational thought and influence of Matthew Arnold. From 1948 to 1951 he worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he completed a second MA. This was a seminal period: Bill developed strong and affectionate ties at Urbana-Champaign, returning as a Visiting Professor and encouraging many Australian colleagues and graduate students to make the same journey. The University of Illinois established a Connell scholarship to facilitate international movement. He was appointed as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney in 1951, becoming a Reader in 1954 and a Professor in 1955 before turning 40. At that time he had only one other academic colleague in education. The Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney was created in the next two decades. The growth of education at Sydney and other `sandstone' universities was particularly important. It ensured that the emerging field of education was not confined to the teachers' colleges and the colleges of advanced education, which were formally excluded from the university research culture. While at Sydney University, Bill was active on many fronts. He conducted two major surveys of adolescents in Sydney, he chaired the Australian UNESCO Education Committee (1964-1973) and the National Committee on Social Science Teaching (1970-1977), and organised a major international conference on education in the social sciences for UNESCO. He contributed markedly to international relations in and through education, being active in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as Australia, and conducting visits to China and the USSR during the period of the Cold War. He took part in study tours to China in 1972 and 1974, just as relationships between Australia and China were beginning to open up. At different times he was a Visiting Professor at Illinois, Columbia, the University of California Los Angeles, London and Wolfson College at Cambridge. He served as President of the Australian Association for Research in Education in 1973: in 1978 he was made an honorary Life Member of the Association. He was a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia. On his formal retirement, Bill Connell became an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney, and a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. …

Compressed air conquers running sands : Darling, P Tunn TunnlgV25, N5, May 1993, P17–20

The Southport Coastal Waters Interceptor (sewer) tunnel is currently being constructed under the town's beach promenade. The route of the tunnel lies almost one kilometre inland, and passes under a marsh area, two golf courses and the town centre. The construction of this 5.1km tunnel and 11 shafts has had to take account of the migratory habits of ducks as well as the seasonal tourist trade that the town enjoys. However, the important tunnelling story involves the use of compressed air. While the job was started with a Lovat machine working in EPB mode, the mucking screw has since been removed and compressed air at 13.9 psi applied. A bearing failure, running sand and a ground water pressure exceeding that of the compressed air have turned an interesting job into an exciting one.

Out East Hamptonites Share Convictions With Faraway Bronx Neighbors, They Never Leave

The green car people watch me sun myself in cold rain. My escape, the buildingless horizon, occupies their afternoon ride. know no one, nor makes of cars more than is usual. Drawn to green, near the car's contents, its mix of voices, baby's cry, perhaps two women, the father. She asks, Brooklyn, that near the Apollo? or I like your dreads, you muslim? Father invites me for Labor Day. How got here. It was raining; picked a heavily populated Long Island beach town. My vacation. Cars pause elegantly for pedestrians waiting out rain at the movies. Almost lose my life crossing defensively. White-haired ticket taker smells of wet carpet. It's scary, he warns. like him. He gives directions to shore like a t.v. series doctor. Patty Osborne and her midnight blue ride lift me to water. know she's scared. She doesn't understand this city independence, my 12-hour retreat from nightweekend slaving. This founding mother refuses being local color my photographs need. Says New Yorkers, tourists have no manners and lack thereof is the matter with the world today. We sit like townies breathing in surf, talking, being cold. Either you're brave or crazy, she says, learning of my quest. hadn't come to visit friends. Some here have never seen New York. Nice clubs out this way, purred GreenCar Brother. They drop me in town. Trains leave 3 p.m. and midnight. Outside, dine and muse. Locals stare, some speak. One would've invited me to her table. All want hair like mine. Coffee pours. Eyes twitch. I'm not cold. The station. PinkMan is naked in his car. My face up to his window spits, Boo! He leaves, of course. He knows, he can't be laminated, my journal won't know his name.

Saving California's Coast: The Coastal Zone Initiative and Its Aftermath

Abstract In 1972 California's voters gave control over nearly all construction along the state's 1,000‐mile coastline to powerful state and regional boards. These boards will administer a permit system for three years, then submit a plan to the Legislature for the future preservation and development of the coast. The permit zone includes a wide variety of natural environments and possible uses, including open water, large tracts of undeveloped land, beach towns and resorts, and some of the nation's most valuable urban‐land. In the boards’ brief existence, the coastal regulators have acted on more than 5,000 permits, including controversial issues of beach access, density, agricultural preservation, power‐plant siting, and growth inducement.