American Essence- Vol.1 Issue 7- Preview

A me rican Es s e nc e

American Essence FO R E V E RYO N E W H O LOV E S T H I S C O U N T RY

Oklahoma Dreaming

A family creates a welcoming gathering place on their idyllic property

DECEMBER 2021 ISSUE 7 | VOLUME 1

Contents

Features 8 | Home Sweet Home in Oklahoma At their 60-acre property, a couple hosts farm-to-table dinners for people yearning to gather together with loved ones.

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14 | A True Home for the Holidays Former NFL player Benjamin Watson and his wife have 7 children. The couple shares advice on how to maintain loving relationships in the family.

18 | Dear Santa In 1897, a young girl famously wrote to the now-bygone New York newspaper The Sun, asking for the truth about Santa. Her grandson carries on her legacy.

20 | Patriotism in Plaster Emily Bedard is the rare artist who’s still making sculptures in the American tradition of classical monuments.

24 | John Perkins

40 | The Power of the Bow Tie When Philadelphia-based attorney Jonathan Ziss appears in court, his neckwear often makes its own statement. The bow tie is an expression of striking individualism.

44 | Learning Through Love and

Resilience When Karen Framnes runs in ultramarathons, she thinks about how her daughter overcame a multitude of health issues, and she finds the strength to power through.

46 | Shaping Flowers by Hand

The legendary civil rights leader knows much about suffering—he also knows that, with faith, it can lead to joy.

In the heart of Manhattan’s Garment District, M&S Schmalberg makes fabric flowers to decorate clothing—from the works of top designers to costumes for TV and film.

28 | Baking With Love

52 | Among the Ashes

Inspired by her family’s love of food, Kristina Cho has created inventive American twists on classic Hong Kongstyle pastries.

After the Bronners lost their farm in a devastating fire, charitable neighbors reached out to help them recover.

34 | Hope and Healing

Chef Jake Wood wants to recreate the flavors from his childhood in the rural South—when family meals were always buoyed by Grandma’s soulful cooking.

Amber Jewell’s childhood was marked with instability. Through her healing journey, she found the tools to help others heal, too.

38 | Iconic Posters One Nashville printing press’s concert posters have spurred the success of many country music legends, from Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.

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54 | Cooking Close to the Heart

Holidays 58 | Gifts for the Giving Season Not sure what to get your loved ones this holiday season? We’ve gathered some unique ideas that make for memorable gifts.

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78 60 | Hanukkah In the United States, 68 percent of Jews consider Hanukkah to be one of the three most important Jewish holidays. How the holiday came into being is a fascinating history lesson.

History 68 | Trailblazing the West Benjamin Bonneville led expeditions to the West in the 1830s that blazed the Oregon Trail and enabled the settlement of California.

70 | The First Selfie The photographic process was invented in France, but the first photographic self-portrait was taken by an American in Philadelphia later the same year.

72 | A Girl Who Changed History In her brief life, Sacajawea was kidnapped, served ably as translator for Lewis and Clark, and had a river named after her.

74 | ‘Join, or Die’ A snake chopped into pieces? Here’s the story behind Benjamin Franklin’s famous 1754 political cartoon.

A Love of Learning 76 | Closing the Gap A principal weighs in on the challenges students and educators had in 2020, the learning gap that was created, and ways to get back on track.

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78 | How Books Can Inspire One teacher’s favorite novel, “Misty of Chincoteague,” became a reality when she traveled to the islands of Assateague and Chincoteague to get her very own pony.

82 | Teaching Citizenship Incorporating the classical philosopher Plutarch into education can instill morality and good character as foundations for citizenship.

84 | Building Trust Communication with children is key to helping them navigate the emotional and social challenges they face in an ever-changing and complicated society.

88 | Hershey School Growing up in dire straits led Milton Hershey to build a different kind of educational institution, which still proves successful 100-plus years after its inception.

Arts & Letters 92 | Temples of Transportation In 1862, arguably one of the darkest and most uncertain years for our republic, President Abraham Lincoln pressed Congress to pass the Pacific Railway Act.

96 | Southern Hospitality Susan Sully has written several books on Southern architecture and design, highlighting the principles and traditions that give the region its unique aesthetic.

100 | Norman Rockwell’s America Known for his kitschy illustrations of American life, Rockwell’s lesser-known artwork draws upon the ethics and values that are integral to the traditions of America.

The Great Outdoors 110 | Appalachian Trail The longest hiking-only footpath in America crosses 14 states, showcasing the country’s wild beauty.

116 | Niagara Falls From its Revolutionary War-era fort to its hydroelectric power plant that served as a monument of America’s industrial age, this scenic site is rich in history.

120 | Why I Love America A teacher recounts his sabbatical spent touring America’s natural wonders.

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WRITTEN BY

Annie Wu

Home Sweet Home in Oklahoma

Supported by a loving family and tight-knit circle of friends, a couple achieves their dream of building a farm-to-table experience for all to enjoy

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Farm to Table | Features

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LEFT Brad and Kelly Claggett with their daughter Autumn.

Kelly wants to create a cozy, inviting space for dinner parties at her family’s property in Grove, Okla.

ut in this part of America that is not quite the South and not quite the Ozarks, where the land is flat and the people free-spirited, Kelly and Brad Claggett are finally fulfilling their longtime dream after years of hard work.

When they first moved to this 60-acre property in Grove, Oklahoma, around 2009, Kelly recalled telling her husband that she could imagine hosting weddings and events on the bucolic grounds.

“The space is beautiful and I don’t want to enjoy it on my own,” she had said, as they looked out onto a small pond.

At the time, she could sense that the property could be turned into a space that was welcoming and safe. More than a decade later, the dream has come true. In the fall of 2020, the couple opened The Local Farm to Table, allowing guests to book lunch and dinner parties on its premises, with Kelly cooking up family recipes and her takes on comfort food. Ingredients and meats are sourced locally whenever possible. Meals are always served family-style, with guests encouraged to disconnect from their phones. In a small town, word travels fast. This fall, bookings were already full through the end of the year.

As Kelly was thinking about the family members and friends who supported her and Brad throughout the years, tears welled up in her eyes.

“I’m so grateful,” she said.

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Coming Together Kelly grew up in Minnesota, learning to cook and bake from “very confident women” in her family who showed her the ropes, she said. It was a “traditional, generational thing” to pass on those skills. She recalls big family gatherings nearly every weekend—her grandmothers had a total of 20 children. When the family went out camping, the men hunted game and brought back the kill; then the women butchered the animal and cooked the meat over an open flame. Family dinners were boisterous affairs, with the men talking and laughing as the women prepared dishes in the kitchen and children played. Men and women performed their duties “out of love,” Kelly said, “not because it was an expectation.”

She wanted to re-create that experience for people: to provide a place where people could gather with family and loved ones and cherish their time together. In 2018, Kelly invited a group of her best friends—all who shaped her in some

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Features | Farm to Table

way—to the property for a dinner party. Brad had built two wooden tables, while Kelly strung up lights and decorated the space. They sat by the fire, drank wine, and took photos. After that, Kelly told Brad, “This is where my heart is.” But finances, schooling, and other ventures—including raising poultry and running a food truck that traveled to local events serving burgers, tacos, and other light fare—indicated that the timing wasn’t quite right yet.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it allowed the Claggetts to reflect on what they really wanted to do with their time. During the pandemic, people were told they couldn’t be together with loved ones, and they feared social gatherings, Kelly said. She felt she needed to create “an inviting place during a super-scary time,” where “people can feel safe and enjoy each other again.”

The Local Farm to Table was thus born.

Brad, who teaches at a local college, always wanted to create a business together with Kelly.

From the time they met at 22 and 19, respectively, 10

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Farm to Table | Features

The Local Farm to Table started with just a dozen people gathered at the table on the Claggetts’ deck.

BOTH PAGES The Claggetts set up yurts on their property after demand surged for their hosted parties.

LEFT (L to R) Melissa Hunter and the Smiths—Stefany, Reid, and Mason— provided the furniture and design for Local Farm to Table.

he was enamored with the way Kelly worked confidently around the kitchen. Nearly 18 years later, Brad is ecstatic that he can help Kelly realize her passion—while raising their 2-year-old daughter, Autumn.

“It takes sacrifice, time, persistence—as with everything,” Brad reflected. He thinks back to the years of struggling through the financial crisis, of juggling grad school and running a day care business with Kelly, of naysayers who doubted them.

“You have to overcome people who are against you. … It forces you to choose to love those people too,” he said.

A Community The Local Farm to Table started with just a dozen people gathered at the table on the Claggetts’ deck.

Then, to accommodate growing demand—date nights, birthday parties, movie nights, and weddings, ranging from groups of 2 to 40 people—the couple began setting up yurts on the property.

They soon outgrew the yurts too, especially as inclement weather sometimes forced them to can-

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cel bookings. So they decided to remodel a barn that existed on the original property when Brad’s father, affectionately called “Pop” by all who know him, purchased it. Brad is excited to soon start creating new furniture in his woodworking shop for the expansion. They’re thinking of building a pavilion, possibly getting a pizza oven, and maybe setting up overnight stays on the property one day.

A group of friends and local producers make the experience possible: Brecka, who operates a kitchen store in the downtown area of Grove, supplies the tableware. Kim, who arranges flowers and Kelly says is able to know what she wants “like she’s in my brain,” Kelly said. Holly, a baker who caters special desserts for Local Farm to Table, has known Kelly for over 15 years; while Reed and Stephany, who are the contractors who helped design the space, are “like family.” There’s also an Amish friend from whom Kelly regularly buys pantry samples and gets baking tips. Smallscale farmers like Bobby Alfaro supply the meat— she swears that giving her pigs belly rubs makes the meat taste better.

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Features | Farm to Table

Meals are always served family-style, with guests encouraged to disconnect from their phones.

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Farm to Table | Features

LEFT Kelly and Brad’s group of friends who helped make The Local Farm to Table a reality.

BELOW Brad’s father, affectionately called “Pop” by all who know him, plays with Autumn.

Love It can be hard to balance work and family while running a small business. But it’s clear that the Claggetts’ love for each other keeps them going.

They named their daughter after their favorite season because they got closer in the fall of 2002, while hanging out on a pumpkin farm where Brad worked at the time. They plan to name the farm on the property Autumn Acres, where they currently raise several Scottish Highland cows and a horse named Scarlet.

While reminiscing about their wedding, which took place in 2007 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, they had an epiphany. The couple had invited a small group of family and friends to a cabin in the woods and held a party underneath a covered deck—just like the dinners they’re currently hosting. “It was exactly like this!” Kelly said, with a similar array of hodgepodge chairs. Amid the chaos of wedding day, no one went to pick up the catered food. So Kelly and Brad drove to the caterer in their wedding dress and tux. They laughed at the memory.

“We had no idea 15 years later that we’d be doing this,” Brad said.

“We wouldn’t change a thing about it,” quipped Kelly. • ISSU E 7 | DE CE M BE R 2 0 2 1

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Features | Family

WRITTEN BY

Neil Cotiaux

Benjamin and Kirsten Watson, and their seven children aged 2 to 12, have recently put roots down in Georgia, closer to their extended family and grandparents.

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Family | Features

A True Home for the Holidays After having 7 kids and living in 4 cities, former NFL player Benjamin Watson and his wife Kirsten have plenty of advice to offer on family relationships

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s people of deep faith, retired NFL star Benjamin Watson and his wife Kirsten know that Christmas is about much more than tinsel, tunes, and turkey.

Like a 21st-century version of the eponymous family at the center of the 1970s TV series “The Waltons”—who, like the Watsons, raised four boys and three girls and likewise built their values around God—the couple understand that a well-functioning family is built on a strong, loving relationship between husband and wife as well as parent and child.

At the Watsons’ new home in Fayetteville, a small town south of Atlanta, Georgia, there’s special reason to celebrate this year as father, mother, and the kids, ages 2 to 12, settle into the first home they’ve ever owned. That’s because Benjamin, the former tight end and 2005 Super Bowl champion who played for the New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and New Orleans Saints, now has firm roots after hopscotching across the country.

Benjamin and his wife both graduated from the University of Georgia, Athens, and knew that they would likely return to Georgia. Kirsten has family in Atlanta, while his family is in South Carolina.

As their parents got older, they wanted to make sure their seven children spent more time with the grandparents.

Now, without having to worry about finding suitable rental properties in different cities as their kids are growing up, Benjamin and Kirsten are publicly sharing their thoughts on how to build a stronger marriage and stronger family.

They’re doing so through their blogs, through a weekly podcast that was started in 2020, in personal appearances, and in print. Benjamin’s “The New Dad’s Playbook,” a how-to on parenting, was released in 2017; “Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race. Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us,” published in 2016, continues to garner critical acclaim.

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7 Kids, 7 Life Lessons With seven children in various stages of growth, here is what the couple, who first met through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, told parents and parents-to-be during several episodes of their podcast, “Why or Why Not with the Watsons”: Bring faith home, but keep work at work: “It’s easy to just wait until Sunday,” Kirsten said about showing a family’s devotion to God. “Bringing it into the family is something we have to be intentional about.” At the same time, Benjamin said, work should not be brought home at the end of the day—something he learned from a former teammate. “Being present, I think, has been important to me; [...] when you walk through that door, you’re a daddy, you’re a husband—you’re all those things that are much more important and separate than your occupation outside of the home.”

Engage in annual check-ins with your spouse: “We talk about our highs and lows, we talk about our goals, we talk about sex life, we talk about

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Features | Sculpture

Alice Giordano

Patriotism in Plaster The works of American sculptress Emily Bedard follow in our country’s tradition of paying homage through classical monuments

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n spite of her “made in the USA” appeal, being an American sculptor is not something Emily Bedard was always celebrated for. “When I first entered the molding industry, I had people who questioned my ability because I wasn’t French or European,” recalled Bedard. “I would produce a really strong structural element, and the salesman would sell it as if it was a French artist who made it.”

Clients, in fact, sometimes wouldn’t trust Bedard because she was American. “There is a general stereotype that Americans don’t have roots in traditional craftsmanship, that traditional American art has to come from Europeans,” she said. “That’s ridiculous,” she added, “since America has such strong roots in classicism.”

At age 34, this native-Vermonter-gone-NewYorker has undoubtedly proven that American hands are creating ageless, epochally awe-inspiring works of art that our country can be proud of. Bedard has won multiple awards in her young 20

life, including the highly coveted Edward Fenno Hoffman Prize from the National Sculpture Society, and the Award for Emerging Excellence in the Classical Tradition from the prestigious Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, which Bedard says has been a tremendous support for her continuing education as a sculptor.

Her early works include the breathtaking 6-foot Liberty statue at the 1876 Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which graces the highly celebrated Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut; the life-like clay bust of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, and the pair of gold eagles that flank the central clock at the Edward Kennedy Institute in Boston. Bedard has also had quite the A-list of private clients, including Mark Wahlberg, Yoko Ono, Oprah Winfrey, and Uma Thurman.

She is currently working on a piece for the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial, to be built at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This sizable memorial will

ABOVE & RIGHT Emily Bedard at her studio in Brooklyn, New York City.

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Features | Civil Rights

WRITTEN BY

J.K. Olson

Legendary Civil Rights Leader Writes the (Last) Book on Suffering

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ohn Perkins’s hands move with a passion that still fuels him at 91, as he tells his story of suffering and redemption. Like most black families in Mississippi in the 1930s, life was an all-consuming effort to survive. No one can remember Perkins’s exact birthday, but the significance of one early memory has become very clear.

John was living with his grandmother, a woman who had birthed 19 children of her own before taking in John and his five siblings. Pellagra, a vitamin B3 deficiency, had taken his mother’s life when she was still nursing 7-month-old John. Already-full beds grew fuller. John’s grandmother was supplementing their sharecropping income with bootlegging.

Mississippi had banned alcohol statewide in 1908, a decade before the 18th Amendment to the Constitution prohibited it throughout the nation.

Then, Mississippi became the last state to repeal its state prohibition in 1966, three decade after the 21st Amendment had repealed Prohibition nationally.

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LEFT John Perkins received his honorary doctorate from Wheaton College in 1981. It would be the first of 16 such degrees he’d obtain.

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“I’ve been so blessed in my life to have so many people who have given me the help I need.”

—J O HN P ERKINS

One day, the sheriff came into the house and claimed he found alcohol.

John’s grandmother knew the sheriff had planted it there. When he told her he was going to haul her to jail, her response traveled deep into John’s soul.

She said, “If I was a man, I would kick your a__ for thinking that I would go with you and leave these little ones.”

Her defense fueled a sense of dignity in John: his grandmother loved him; she had stood up for him against the white sheriff. He knew then that he was worth as much as any other child.

This incident helped counter the reflection of himself that John saw in the eyes of many others: like when he was 12 and had worked hard all day for a white farmer. Instead of the dollar or two he expected to receive at the end of the day, the man dropped just 15 cents into his hand. John knew what would happen, to both himself and his family, if he did what he wanted to do at the time: throw the money on the floor in front of the man. “We would get the reputation of being ‘Uppity Niggers,’ or worse, ‘Smart Niggers,’” Perkins said. But the incident had made him think and ask questions, and he had made a decision. This man, John realized, had the capital, and could make evil decisions about what to do with it; one day, John decided that he, too, would be in a position to make decisions about his own capital.

Perkins left Mississippi in 1947, after his older brother, Clyde—home from serving in World War II—was shot by the police. He died in John’s arms.

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foundry where, while still a teenager, he helped to form a union. It gave him a taste of the success that united action could bring.

After he was drafted into the Korean War and served two years, John and his bride, Vera Mae, a hometown girl who was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, settled in Monrovia, California. They’d already had five of their eight kids, and were enjoying a lifestyle better than either of them had known growing up.

Perkins’s life would change drastically, however, when his oldest son, Spencer, was invited to a local Good News Club. Spencer, still in preschool, then invited his dad to church. John went and started reading the Bible for the first time. One Sunday, he heard

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He said that verse spoke to his whole life experience. He knew about wages: it was a dime and a buffalo nickel from a white man. And sin—that was oppression.

But what about his own sin?

That morning was the culmination of much searching. John said yes to Jesus, had inner peace for the first time, and didn’t look back. “I moved into my new life like I did everything else: as hard as I could,” Perkins said.

Soon he felt God calling him back to Mississippi, where he started teaching Bible classes in schools. He and Vera Mae started Mendenhall Ministries, to help break the cycle of poverty and facilitate reconciliation.

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Features | Made in USA

The flowers are still handmade by expert flower makers using traditional techniques and vintage molds passed down in the family. for costumes or to emulate flowers in vases— like “The Gilded Age” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” “We’ve worked with the New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, the Australian Opera, and even Walt Disney,” Brand said.

The company was founded by brothers Morris and Sam Schmalberg in 1916, when the Garment District was considered the fashion manufacturing capital of the world. “There’s a picture in the hallway of 35th Street in the ‘40s,” said Brand.

“And you see all the trucks and pushcarts. It was like a highway of just fabrics and dresses going from one factory towards another to the designer.”

Brand’s grandfather, Harold, was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Harold was 17 years old, and living in their attic, when he first started helping out at Schmalberg, a company started by his uncles. Harold eventually got married and had children—Adam’s father, Warren Brand, and Warren’s sister, Debra—who took over as their father got older. Adam now runs the family business, assisted by his team of expert flower makers.

Traditional flower making is on the decline, as an increasing number of companies have turned to Chinese manufacturers and automation. “As the last competitors in New York closed down, a lot of the time, my dad would buy out their old tools,” said Brand. “There’s nobody who owns a factory like this that could make thousands, 10 thousand pieces or more, that pays New York 48

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Made in USA | Features

M&S Schmalberg has provided flowers to top fashion designers and the costume departments of hit television shows.

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WRITTEN BY

Holidays | Traditions

Joseph D’Hippolito

Embracing Hanukkah For one historically oppressed minority, a fall holiday celebrating liberty resonates powerfully in the United States

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anukkah, the “Festival of Lights,” commemorates Jewish guerrillas’ victory in the second century B.C. over a Greek ruler who suppressed Jewish religious practices in Israel. In the United States, 68 percent of Jews consider Hanukkah to be one of the three most important Jewish holidays, compared to 38 percent of Jews in Israel, according to a 2018 survey.

“For the first time in perhaps thousands of years, we live in a place and in an era where we’re able to celebrate freely who we are,” said Rabbi Motti Seligson from the Chabad community of Hasidic Jews. “That’s what this country represents.”

Author Dennis Prager elaborates. “Jews have been equals and honored as such from even before the creation of the United States,” Prager wrote. “Many of the founders studied Hebrew;

Thomas Jefferson wanted the Seal of the United States to depict the Jews’ exodus from Egypt; Yale University’s insignia is in Hebrew; a verse from the Torah (Leviticus) is inscribed on the Liberty Bell; a rabbi attended George Washington’s inauguration—the list of pro-Jewish expressions in U.S. history is endless.”

Washington himself expressed that spirit at the end of a letter to a Jewish congregation in Newport, R.I. in 1790: “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.”

Hanukkah’s Roots The story of Hanukkah starts in 168 B.C. in Judea, which encompasses central Israel and the West Bank. At the time, Judea belonged to the Seleucid Empire, one of three that arose after Alexander the Great’s generals partitioned his continental conquests after his death. Emperor Antiochus IV—who nicknamed himself “Epiphanes,” Greek for “divine manifestation”—began imposing Hellenistic culture and repressing Judaism.

Antiochus even plundered and desecrated Jerusalem’s Temple, the focal point for worship.

But a rural priest, Mattathias, began the revolt. Mattathias killed a Jew who had acted for the priest in offering a sacrifice to a Greek deity, then fled with his five sons to nearby hills.

When Mattathias died in 166 B.C., his son Judah emerged and formed an army that used guerilla tactics against Hellenized Jews and Seleucid forces. Judah and his soldiers earned the nickname “Maccabees,” Hebrew for “hammers.”

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ILLUSTRATED BY

Traditions | Holidays

Junhao Su

“God gave each of us a soul, which is a candle that He gives us to illuminate our surroundings with His light. We must not only illuminate the inside of our homes but also the outside, and the world at large.”

—Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

In 164 B.C., Judah and his army captured Jerusalem and began to rededicate the Temple.

Rededication involved relighting the menorah, a multi-columned candelabra that had to be illuminated continuously. Yet only enough oil existed to keep it lit for one day. However, that small amount of oil lasted eight days, until the Maccabees made more. Hanukkah honors Judah’s victory and its ultimate sign, which Jews consider miraculous.

Celebrating Despite Persecution For centuries, Jews celebrated Hanukkah privately and surreptitiously. Instead of placing lit menorahs outside their homes for public display, the recommended practice, persecuted Jews kept them inside their homes or synagogues. When millions of European Jews came to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they found a completely different challenge in commemorating Hanukkah.

Though Jewish immigrants faced none of the state-sponsored persecution they escaped, they confronted the problem of maintaining their identity amid the pressure to assimilate.

Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas proved challenging, especially with Christmas becoming more secularized and commercialized. As early as 1890, Rabbi Kaufman Kohler posed the following questions in The Menorah: “How can the Jew, without losing self-respect, partake in the joy and festive mirth of Christmas?

Can he without self-surrender, without entailing insult and disgrace upon his faith and race, plant the Christmas tree in his household?”

led the Chabad community, began a campaign to erect large menorahs in public. For the previous 30 years, since emigrating to the United States in 1941, Schneerson, an Orthodox scholar, founded numerous educational and social projects in the United States and Israel. He even rescued Iranian Jews after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and Ukranian Jews following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Schneerson started the campaign in 1973. One year later, it staged a public menorah lighting near Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell. Similar events soon followed. By 1979, the White House grounds featured a lit menorah. The campaign continues nearly 30 years after Schneerson’s death.

Schneerson’s idea reflects the traditional practice of placing lighted menorahs along the streets outside homes, a practice with a profound significance that Schneerson described: “God gave each of us a soul, which is a candle that He gives us to illuminate our surroundings with His light. We must not only illuminate the inside of our homes but also the outside, and the world at large.”

After centuries of persecution, Jewish immigrants found the ability to fulfill that public calling in the United States. •

A Remedy In the 1970s, a renowned rabbi devised a way to encourage Jews to embrace Hanukkah’s ultimate meaning.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who ISSU E 7 | DE CE M BE R 2 0 2 1

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WRITTEN BY

History | Colonial Times

Deborah Hommer

‘Join, or Die’ Ben Franklin’s 1754 political cartoon ultimately met with success and became inspirational during the country’s early history

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enjamin Franklin published “Join, or Die”—now considered to be the most famous colonial political cartoon—on May 9, 1754. It appeared in “The Disunited State,” an editorial in his Pennsylvania Gazette, which was the most successful newspaper in the colonies at that time. The symbolism of the cartoon’s fragmented snake is significant, and the message is simple: If we do not unite, we shall die at the hands of our nemesis. It was such a powerful message that it was used again during the American Revolution, and in other wars and crises that were to come later in America.

Let’s review the significant events that led up to the publication of this most famous political cartoon. In 1669, French explorer Sieur de La Salle discovered the Ohio River. During the 1700s, the Ohio River Valley (present day Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky) had bountiful hunting grounds, a flourishing fur trade, and a river that served as an integral transportation corridor. This important Ohio River Valley was claimed and coveted by both France and Britain, in their competitive pursuit of control and ultimate imperial domination over the North American continent. This rivalry led to the French and Indian War—beginning in 1754 and ending in 1763.

The Start of the French and Indian War Major George Washington arrived at Fort Le Boeuf (in today’s northwestern Pennsylvania)

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on December 11, 1753, with orders to remove the French fort. He met with French Commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, who denied that this contested Ohio River Valley belonged to Britain. The Virginia legislature had determined that the French were trespassing on British territory and must be driven from their forts.

In the spring of 1754, both nations attempted to persuade Native American Indians to side with them. Depending upon their interests, and what they felt was a greater threat to their communities, some Native Americans sided with France, while others sided with Britain, and still others remained neutral. The French and British, with their respective Indian allies, assembled military forces and built forts, resulting in skirmishes in which both sides attempted to capture the other side’s territory. Tensions escalated, culminating in the seven-year French and Indian War. Separate Parts Are Weaker Than a United Whole It was not lost on the prescient Benjamin Franklin that the American colonies were caught in the middle of a heated dispute between longtime rivals Britain and France, and their respective Indian allies, over who owned the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The American colonies had not yet picked a side. But they needed to. Separate parts can be defeated more easily than a united whole.

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Colonial Times | History

It was a common myth at that time that a snake, if rejoined after being cut up into pieces, could come back to life.

After Franklin published the Join, or Die cartoon, other newspapers in the colonies followed suit and reprinted his article, some with and some without the actual cartoon. In this cartoon, a snake is divided into eight disjoined pieces, each representing a different colony. The head of the snake represents the New England colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island), geographically located at the northernmost part of the British colonies.

After New England, the descending order was New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (including Delaware), Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina (Georgia was added later).

The tail of the snake represents the southernmost area of the colonies, with the disjoined pieces winding and weaving in sequence from north to south.

The snake is divided into pieces to illustrate that the 13 colonies were split on whether the colonists should stand with Britain, stand with France, or stay neutral. The disjoined snake, as separate pieces depicting their disunity, illustrates that these colonies were weaker individually than they would be as a united whole.

It was a common myth at that time that a snake, if rejoined after being cut up into pieces, could come back to life. Franklin’s editorial was intended to galvanize the colonies to join the British in fighting against the imminent threat of the French and their Indian allies. This threat of French and Indian aggression was real. French ISSU E 7 | DE CE M BE R 2 0 2 1

intruders were converging in western Ohio, and the expectation was that more were coming, intending to ruin the frontier colonies by establishing French settlements. The British had recently suffered a military loss to the French.

Franklin warned that if the colonies did not unite and join with Britain, and win, the French and Indians could encroach on the colonies, and they all could die.

In the myth, the rejoined snake comes alive, and the 18th century colonial reality had a similar outcome. Franklin’s campaign to join the colonies in a collective effort with Britain to defeat the French was successful. The separate colonies mobilized as a united whole and joined with Britain to defeat the French and their Native American allies. These seven years of war culminated in Britain winning enormous territorial gains on the colonial frontier.

Franklin’s message of mobilizing the separate British colonies as a unified front was the first time these colonies became a collective formidable force; but the image was so powerful that it lived on well beyond the French and Indian War. A decade later, that same image of unity was revived during the Stamp Act crisis, which led to the Revolutionary War and American independence. Although both sides used Franklin’s Join or Die cartoon 100 year later during America’s Civil War, even that North-South conflict could not dim Franklin’s image as a symbol of his call to unite. • 75

WRITTEN BY

Education | Civic Duty

Dawn Duran

The Teaching of Citizenship An introduction to the philosopher Plutarch “Every man is called upon to be a statesman seeing that every man and woman, too, has a share in the government of the country; but statesmanship requires imaginative conceptions, formed upon pretty wide reading and some familiarity with historical precedents.”

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hus wrote Charlotte Mason, a turn-of-the-20th-century British educator, in her seminal work, “Towards a Philosophy of Education.” What truth these words still contain for us today!

As American citizens, we must understand that with rights come responsibilities, and we personally have a role to play in the proper functioning of our society. In the United States, some of our specific obligations include understanding how our system of government works, as well as educating ourselves during elections to vote for people we believe will best uphold the principles that our nation was founded upon and the system of government that our Founding Fathers established.

We must have respect and gratitude for the wisdom of the past, which in today’s culture can serve as an important tonic against the all too prevalent idea that we are the first enlightened people to populate the earth. C.S. Lewis refers to this as “chronological snobbery,” and it is endemic in America today. This attitude tends to destroy and erase the past, rather than to learn and grow from it.

One aspect of citizenship is to conduct an honest assessment of what has 82

gone before us, and to learn from it.

How do we impress this upon today’s youth? A study of Plutarch fits the bill.

By presenting the virtues and vices of men, and holding them up for you to see and to judge, Plutarch encourages us to continue the same process, and to learn from history, so as not to make the same mistakes.

Our Founding Fathers were so strongly influenced by Plutarch, and so well-acquainted with his “Lives,” that they wanted sets of this work to be bought and placed in every library in our new nation! They knew that the noble ideas and heroic actions contained within the pages of Plutarch’s “Lives” were mind-fodder for our citizenry, and they wanted us to keep these models at the forefront of our minds. But you ask, is Plutarch still relevant today? Why, yes. Yes, he is.

But first, who was Plutarch? Born in A.D. 50 in the Greek region of Boetia, at a time of great decadence in Greece, as well as military despotism in Rome, he was a philosopher most famous for his work, “Parallel Lives.” Written in pairs of one Greek and one Roman life, this work includes details of the great-

est men of these two great nations.

Plutarch is referred to as the “prince of biographers,” and was also an educationalist, with many thoughts on the responsibilities of parents and the training of children—in particular, character formation and citizenship.

He wrote to warn his contemporaries what would result if the culture continued to decline morally, and that this “loss of moral sanity must sooner or later cause national decay.” This objective remains relevant in today’s cultural moment, does it not?

Charlotte Mason incorporated the study of Plutarch into her schools, but not under the category of history; rather, students studied Plutarch under the banner of citizenship. This does not imply that children merely studied what it meant to be a citizen of their nation (although they also did that).

Instead, a study of citizenship fostered the ability to discriminate between a man’s actions as right or wrong, and it inspired ideas of what makes a person a valuable citizen.

In Plutarch’s day, history was written in the form of biography. Plutarch himself, in his “Life of Alexander,” writes: AMERI CAN ESSE NCE

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Civic Duty | Education

R.W.

Good character is the foundation of citizenship, and highlighting this makes Plutarch ideal for its study.

“For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives; and in the most illustrious deeds there is not always a manifestation of virtue or vice, nay, a slight thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of character than battles where thousands fall, or the greatest armaments, or sieges of cities.”

Good character is the foundation of citizenship, and highlighting this makes Plutarch ideal for modern study.

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differentiate between right and wrong, good and evil. It inspires children to emulate the valor they find in the readings, while avoiding the poor decisions made by men in the past. Plutarch’s “Lives” furnishes our children’s minds with real-life examples of the formation of character that remains the great desire of parents for their children today.

What is it about Plutarch that makes him such a good choice for this subject? “Parallel Lives” inspires our moral imagination by placing before us the life of a real man who made deci-

sions, good or bad, which had consequences, for better or worse. Reading about the repercussions of these choices encourages our students to ask questions: Should he have done that?

Was it right or wrong? What would I have done in this situation? Plutarch is masterful in his ability to bring out character strengths and flaws, without moralizing or pointing to the message he wants you to take from your reading.

Thus, he is excellent food for our modern scholars’ minds.

We must all be serious students of history in order to understand the influence of the past upon our lives today. At a time when the concept of personal responsibility has been abandoned for a culture of passing the buck, Plutarch can fill the gap by offering an education in civic virtue. His “Lives” is replete with ideas, such as that of individual responsibility and the consequences of ideas. It inspires us to patriotism and provides living examples of honor and valor.

Turn to the wisdom of the past to successfully navigate the present. You will find yourself surprised by how relevant the words of this ancient biographer prove to be. • 83

WRITTEN BY

Education | Schools

Krista Thomas

Milton Hershey’s Philanthropy A legacy lives on through an education of giving

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ne could say that philanthropy is good for the nation and good for the soul.

In fact, philanthropy is a key component permeating the backbone of America’s success: American communities have benefited from private initiatives long after the benefactors have passed on.

Such is the case with one of America’s most beloved innovators: Milton S. Hershey. The wealthy industrialist invented legendary chocolates known the world over. However, Hershey’s legacy of philanthropy started with a belief in moral responsibility to others in need. “What good is money unless you use it for the benefit of the community and of humanity in general?” he was quoted as saying.

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Born in Pennsylvania in 1857, Hershey had experienced hunger and poverty throughout his youth.

Although loved, Hershey was accustomed to a routinely absent father.

With limited choices, he left school at 14 and began a series of apprenticeships; he found success in the candy making industry 12 years later with his own business, Lancaster Caramel Company. Hershey’s thriftiness, ingenuity, and hard work placed him in a position to give back. After selling his caramel business for $1 million in 1900, he made plans to build the Hershey Chocolate Company near where he grew up in Derry Church, Pennsylvania. There, he could mass-produce affordable, yet delicious, milk chocolate candies; create employ-

FAR ABOVE Statues of Milton and Catherine Hershey adorn the grounds of the Milton Hershey School campus.

ABOVE Milton Hershey holds student Robert Shaeffer in his arms in 1923.

RIGHT Houseparents prepare a meal with students; a young girl works on an art project.

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Schools | Education

Hershey’s thriftiness, ingenuity, and hard work placed him in a position to give back.

ment opportunities for others; and utilize the rich, creamy products from the dairy farming community.

Without heirs, Hershey and his wife Catherine dedicated their lives to philanthropic opportunities through the creation of the Hershey Theatre, the Hershey Amusement Park, and the Hershey Industrial School. The latter started out as an orphanage on the old homestead in the early 1900s. Today, Hershey’s legacy lives on as thousands of students have benefited from attending the well-endowed Milton Hershey School (as it is now known), a cost-free, private school for boys and girls from low-income families. As a home and school, MHS covers 100 percent of the cost of medical, dental, and psychological care, housing, clothing, food, extracurricular activities, and more for its students, allowing them to focus on their personal growth. This year’s enrollment consists of 2,000 students.

Josh Kelly, like so many students before him, comes from an adverse background. Students who experience ISSU E 7 | DE CE M BE R 2 0 2 1

neglect, poverty, or negative environments apply for free admission and find themselves on a new path of opportunity. Kelly, a bright senior who hails from Philadelphia, plays ice hockey, works as a lifeguard at the school’s pool, and plans to further his education in the field of business or finance after graduation.

“When I was younger, my dad was never around. I was getting into trouble because I didn’t know how to express my emotions of anger very well,” said Kelly of his time as a troubled 1st grader. He and his older sister arrived at Milton Hershey School to get away from home and school dilemmas. Upon arrival at the Milton Hershey School, Kelly credits his elementary school houseparents for their tremendous influence on his emotional growth and well-being.

“They always push you to do better because they want you to succeed,” he added. “I didn’t have parent figures, so to speak, so they really set me up for a better future.”

A better future, asserts School Historian Susan Alger, is why Hershey’s visionary ideals led him and Catherine to contribute to and support an institution like no other—a private establishment that not only educates but offers support and balance in family life.

“Students can relate to Milton Hershey’s story, who experienced a meager existence in a dysfunctional family. He wanted students to be useful citizens with stability,” Alger explained.

“He just always said he wanted to get away from the idea of institutions and give them a happy life.”

In the beginning, Hershey’s Industrial School was an all-male enterprise. Aside from studies, everyone helped with daily chores, from gardening to milking cows. And the school grew in numbers. Being completely self-contained with truck patch farming, the students and employees grew everything they needed.

After Catherine Hershey passed away in 1915, Milton Hershey endeavored to be more involved in all aspects of the school’s success, providing opportunities in trades for students and financially ensuring needs were met.

According to Alger, his direct involvement of care and concern for the school was essentially fatherly.

Being a bit sentimental and shy, Hershey would take boys for rides in his car and visit their student homes.

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Education | Schools

Hershey was quoted as saying, “If we had helped a hundred children it would have all been worthwhile.”

Even during World Wars I and II, the school continued its deliberate mission to educate youth from troubled homes. Originally, the Deed of Trust allowed boys ages 4 through 8 to attend if the father was deceased; however, about the time of the Great Depression, the age restriction expanded to ages 4 to 14 with either mother or father deceased. Even when enrollment was down during World War II, it was due to those who chose to serve. “Close to 1,000 served, and we annually honor our Gold Star alumni who gave their life to service,” Alger stated.

While other philanthropists, in their generosity, give away partial or complete estates after their passing, Hershey was different. “He gave the bulk of his entire wealth while still alive,” Alger said. With the success of the Hershey Chocolate Company, Hershey quietly and humbly transferred the entirety of his company’s shares in 1918 to the school. But this fact was not known until a few years later.

With heart and will bent toward benevolence, Hershey was motivated by his own upbringing but also motivated through innovation.

“I wanted to get away from the idea of institutions and charity and compulsion, and to give as many boys as possible real homes, real comforts, education, and training, so they would 90

be useful and happy citizens,” he said of his school. “Most of them [students] have better chances for character building and education than ever before. Perhaps they don’t have the chance to make as much money as some individuals have made, but they will lead to happier lives.”

Historical records and oral histories indicate that Milton Hershey was a fair man. “He always gave the benefit of the doubt. As a problem solver, he wanted things to be right and ethical.

He wanted people to live honestly.”

And unlike his contemporaries, she added, Hershey was grounded. As an example, in comparison to other wealthy philanthropists like the Fords, Wrigleys, and Vanderbilts, Hershey built a modest yet graceful home, High Point Mansion.

And though Hershey passed away in 1945, his innovative school continued to cultivate an education that helped hundreds of students. In 1977, the founder’s original dreams expanded, admitting girls from disadvantaged homes or tragic backgrounds.

“My dad tragically died when I was 4 years old,” said Christine Cook, a recently retired kindergarten teacher of 35 years at the Milton Hershey School.

Cook remarked on her own journey as the first female to graduate.

“I arrived in 10th grade as a sophomore from Philadelphia. We were taught intangibles—to work hard and to be kind. And we were taught tangibles

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT A Milton Hershey School student waters plants during CTE class; the Milton Hershey campus in Pennsylvania; Christine Cook was formerly a kindergarten teacher at the Milton Hershey School for 35 years.

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Schools | Education

“A successful person is one who helps others.

Hershey was big on helping the other guy, making the world a better place.”

— CHRI STI NE COOK

like milking cows at 5:30 in the morning on the coldest of winter days or in the middle of the summer with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees.

This is good, character-building stuff.”

Even if students didn’t like the chores, it was part of the overall experience. But Cook admits she was fortunate. Other students came from families with tragic, even abusive, backgrounds. Leaving family behind and starting fresh can be extremely challenging for the students and their families.

“I remember it being difficult for my mother. It was a tough decision, but a great one. So many parent supports exist today that help families experiencing feelings of guilt, […] giving up their children even though the school provides them with better opportunities,” Cook continued.

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had played field hockey, basketball, and softball. She was a member of the school’s band, earned a spot in the National Honor Society, and held positions in student leadership. She graduated from college and returned to the school to teach the hallmark values, ideals, and integrity so instilled from her own experiences at the school. Cook believes that if Milton Hershey were alive today, he would be impressed by the vast majority of alumni who have successfully graduated and are employed in solid leadership positions. The school’s alumni have surpassed 11,000.

Cook was named the Alumna of the Year in May 2021, and she attests to the amazing honor of being a student.

Her experiences led her to contribute in many ways to countless others who came through her classroom. In fact, she taught just under 500 students over her 35-year tenure.

“Hershey’s idea of success was making your mark in society in a positive way. A successful person is one who helps others. Hershey was big on helping the other guy, making the world a better place,” Cook added.

When her students graduate, she makes a point to stay in touch with those who are considered “Lifers”— having attended from kindergarten through their senior year. For the seniors, she invites them over to her house, cooks a homemade meal, and breaks out photos to share memories.

When a Lifer graduates, she makes sure her congratulatory card includes a copy of his or her kindergarten report card.

“As you graduate, you understand the needs of the kids; it makes you work harder. I would tell my kindergartners that they attend the best school in the whole wide world.”

These kids are the lucky ones because no other school subscribes to what Milton Hershey stood for, she added. He left a mark in the world and lived up to his words.

The philanthropic mission of Milton Hershey has been good for the students and employees. As School Historian Alger put it, “There’s one quote of Milton Hershey that sums up what he wanted, and it’s what we still do today: ‘One is only happy in proportion as he makes others feel happy and only useful as he contributes his influences for the finer callings in life.’”

It’s an adage that Kelly appreciates.

Every year, he and the other students become philanthropists of sorts. With community service days, they learn to give back, too. He appreciates the opportunities awaiting him after graduation, thankful for the founder he never met who helped turn his life around.

If Milton Hershey’s philanthropic success continues from within the hallways of his hometown private initiative, it will be good for America, for his legacy of education lives on with students long after they graduate. One could say his gratefulness and generosity echo beyond the grave: “I hope to see the school carry on to new heights.

After a man dies, he cannot spend his money, and it has been a pleasure for me to spend mine as I have done.” • 91

Arts & Letters | Illustrations

WRITTEN BY

Bob Kirchman

Both da Vinci and Rockwell could capture the fine nuance of personality.

Norman Rockwell’s

America

Capturing the heart of our nation through painting

“I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed.”

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— NORMAN ROCKWEL L

orman Rockwell’s career spanned six decades, and he is certainly one of America’s best-known 20th century artists. Many of us love him. Many dismiss him as a romanticist and kitschy caricaturist, but a showing of his works gives a much deeper appreciation for “America’s Best Loved Artist.”

When the show came to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, we went to see it with anticipation. “Will it have any original paintings in it?” my wife asked. “I certainly hope so,” I replied.

Yes, I would have enjoyed a selection of Saturday Evening Post covers, but I really wanted to see brushstrokes! I was not to be disappointed!

Rockwell began painting professionally at a young age. At 21, he was painting covers for the Saturday Evening Post. He was a disciplined and masterful painter and achieved solid 100

success very early. While most of us are familiar with the oft-reproduced Saturday Evening Post illustrations, few are aware of other masterful works that appear early in his career. These paintings show a keen sense of observation and composition, and a genuine knowledge of the techniques of the old masters.

She stands erect before an audience, lit from above and behind, in a style reminiscent of the works of Degas or Rembrandt. The light is accentuated by a touch of impasto and skilled brushwork. The subject is a serious one.

“The Young Valedictorian,” painted in 1922, captures a young girl standing before her school in a white dress at graduation. The interior behind her is meticulously detailed. In the shadows, a row of seated faculty members listens. A globe on stage reflects a spot of light in highlight on its varnished surface. A clock on the wall, to the upper right of the speaker, marks time.

All eyes are on the face of the young speaker. Rockwell’s lighting and masterful composition see to

RIGHT Norman Rockwell’s “The Young Valedictorian.”

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The Great Outdoors | Hiking

Rachael Dymski

Wild Beauty The joys of living near the Appalachian Trail

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few weeks ago, after years of searching, my husband and I bought our dream property: an old but beautiful farmette in Pennsylvania. We both grew up in rural settings, but we have lived in cities or neighborhoods our whole married lives, so to find a place together

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and build the life we’ve imagined for so long has been an exciting adventure.

One of our favorite aspects about our new home is that it borders the Appalachian Trail, the longest hiking-only footpath in the world, stretching 2,193.1 miles from Maine to Georgia. I remember feeling amazed

that I would be able to hike parts of the trail, and meet travelers from all over the country, once we moved to Pennsylvania. Now that we’re going to be living so close to this American treasure, I decided to do a little bit more research into the trail’s history.

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Hiking | The Great Outdoors

Rhododendrons in full bloom on Roan Mountain, along the Appalachian Trail.

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