Salt, Vol. 6, No. 4

Blarney and salami at Fitzhenry’s Store. Content 2 Junior Miller A salute to Junior Miller, who believed in hard work, persistence and optimism. This issue is dedicated to him. 4 The Deacon’s Bench Thomas Bradbury writes about Chester, the chicken plucker, in his column. 7 Letters to Salt 8 Center for Field Studies Salt’s Center hosts a series of visiting professors as part of its Semester-in-Maine program for college students. 10 Fitzhenry’s Store Fitzhenry’s is so little “there ain’t too much room to wrassle,” but it has everything from pickled eggs to shoe horns-and some back country conversation to boot. 18 Shaker Revival in Maine A decade ago, Maine’s Shaker community had dwindled to four elderly Sisters. As Maine Shakers adapt to a changing world, four converts have joined. This is a sensitive look at the Shakers by a Salt student who was their weekly guest for three months. 38 “I’m Singulah!” That’s how John Gaskill describes himself at 92. He tells the story of a black boy with a mind of his own growing up in Portland, his own singular story. 52 Black Child of Maine Geneva Sherrer is a native of Augusta, Maine, who has begun to document the untold story of Maine’s black people. 62 Rhythm of the Loom Bessie Swain of Exeter, New Hampshire, is the grandmother of weaving in northern New England. She has taught her art to generations of students.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/salt_magazine/1021/thumbnail.jp

The production of rep weave floor coverings in Avinurme from the 1950s to the 1970s as a regional inherited skill

The making of rep weave floor coverings was an important source of income in Avinurme, a northern Estonian settlement, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Weaving began for commercial reasons after collective farms were established in 1949, when alternative sources of income were sought, as such farms only paid meagre wages. At the time, any sort of entrepreneurship was prohibited and punishable as “speculation”, and thus sales activities were banned, so the sellers sought to leave village council inspectors with the impression that the weaving was being done for their own families. A unique cultural phenomenon thus developed which was shaped (and eventually fell into decline) for the following period-specific reasons: cotton yarn which was suited to the rep weaving technique could be obtained from the Kreenholm Manufactory in Narva, floor rugs were not available in shops, all households had looms, and rep weave rugs were considered to be classier than rag rugs. Despite the illegality of the activity, commercial weaving persisted for decades. Due to the wide territorial range of the sales, the Avinurme rugs had an impact on home furnishing culture throughout most of Estonia.The special feature of the Avinurme practice was the use of a thinner and finer pattern warp (the so-called No. 10 thread) in conjunction with a thicker and coarser background warp; the dark weft is visible through the thin warp and is conducive to the formation of the pattern. Other features peculiar to the Avinurme rep woven rugs include composition featuring a double cross of rhombuses, which cannot be found in any printed source. In addition, the region in question had a rich array of patterns which combine squares and rectangles. Brown was often featured as the warp colour in combination with beige or orange tones; the background warp was frequently made up of brightly coloured lengthwise-striped patterns along the patterned edges.  The tradition of weaving these types of rugs and mats started to decline in the late 1970s when industrially produced floor coverings became available in retail stores, leading to changes in interior furnishing fashions. Purchasing power had also improved over the decades, and handwoven traditional floor coverings were seen as old-fashioned in this context. Keywords: traditional weaving, rep weave, rep rug, warp rep pattern, subsistence practices in Soviet Estoni

The Arachnids of Richmond

Following the spirit of Aristophanes, this comedy combines ancient Greek and contemporary elements to point to the inspiration that nature can provide to the solution of human problems. Istotle speaks to Diktyophanes about three problems that threaten to destroy the world – the extinction of acrobats, the nightmares babies are having, and the staggering amount of information produced daily. Spiderman presents himself as deux ex macbina claiming that he can solve all three problems. Answering Istotle and Diktyophanes’ questions, he informs them that he runs a shop on Acharnnon street, where his workers (the Spiders) work tirelessly for the good of humanity. Spiderman goes to the shop and interrupts the Spiders, who are talking about their amorous adventures during the weekend. He asks them to get to work for a great cause. For their part, they weave three objects designed to solve all three problems – a safety net, a dream-catcher, and the World Wide Web

A Nest of Hooks

Chosen from 350 entries, A Nest of Hooks by Lon Otto is the winner of the 1978 Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction. Otto received the $1,000 Award contributed annually by the Iowa Arts Council. This volume of 28 stories is the ninth winner of the Iowa Award. Stanley Elkin, who judged this year\u27s competition, teaches creative writing at Washington University, St. Louis, and has published six books–four novels and two collections.—Front flap.https://ir.uiowa.edu/uipress_isfa/1018/thumbnail.jp

Textiles in Texts: Literary Representations of Women's Textile Crafts

Textiles in Text

Guardians, Start of a Light Novel Series

The fictional story of Edward Alfred and his friends, a group of teens known simply as the Guardians. They safeguard the planet in secrecy to protect humanity until it is ready to exit childhood and enter the greater interstellar community

Because the Muddiness of Mud Must Be Uttered: A Personal Essay

Because the Muddiness of Mud Must Be Uttered, by disabled senior writer Dorothy Ellen Palmer, is a personal, braided, nonfiction essay tracing how her access to and understanding of moving on land has been shaped by ableism, ageism, and the pandemic