[Review of] Flore Zephir, Haitian Immigrants in Black American: A Sociological and Sociolinguistic Portrait

Zephir explores Haitians\u27 identification with Americans through the transitional nature of Haitians\u27 ethnicity, roles of languages, the roles of bilingual educational programs, the generational transmission of Haitian ethnicity, and Haitians\u27 and Black Americans\u27 relationships. For historians and sociologists who are unfamiliar with the history of Haiti and Haitians in American, this book is informative and insightful, especially because of its useful maps and tables. Scholars interested in migration and adaptation are provided with helpful demographic information on Haitians\u27 immigration and settlement in America. Very relevant is a critical discussion of Haiti\u27s history and the resulting effects in the behavior and attitudes of Haitian immigrants in New York

Exploring Proximal and Distal Psychosocial Stressors Influencing the Health Outcomes of Urban American Indians in the Midwest

Researchers have theorized that colonization and forced assimilation of American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) in the U.S. are associated with the current health outcomes of AI/AN groups. The literature has begun to link a number of negative health outcomes such as chronic illnesses, substance abuse, grief, depression, and anxiety with distal stressors associated with historical loss, as well as with proximal stressors that are continued reminders of historical trauma such as present day discrimination. The present study utilized a quantitative methodology along with a community informed framework through collaboration with multiple urban AI/AN-serving agencies in a metropolitan area of the Midwest to empirically study proposed theoretical models to explain health disparities in urban AI/AN adults. A paper-pencil self-report survey was provided to 285 voluntary adult participants. The measures gathered information about the participants’ thoughts and feelings relevant to historical loss, their involvement in health-promoting behaviors, current alcohol, commercial cigarette, and commercial smokeless tobacco use, and their perceptions of their experience being part of their cultural group and a minority within the United States. The results of this study document the prevalence of historical loss and its associated symptoms in a sample of urban AI/ANs adults living in the Midwest region of the U.S. The findings provide support for the impact of both the proximal stressor of perceived discrimination and the distal stressor of historical loss thoughts on the outcome of historical loss associated symptoms. Additionally, historical loss thoughts had a significant impact on cigarette use. No direct connection appeared to exist between historical loss thoughts and health-promoting behaviors, or between historical loss thoughts and alcohol use. Psychosocial variables of ethnic identity, mainstream comfort, and social affiliation did not appear to have a moderating influence between historical loss thoughts and historical loss associated symptoms. This study was funded by a community grant from Mayo Clinic’s Spirit of E.A.G.L.E.S. American Indian/Alaska Native Leadership Initiative on Cancer, a National Cancer Institute funded Special Populations Network. The project occurred in collaboration with an organization that provides employment and career services to AI/AN people living in the Southeastern region of a Midwest state. This project was informed by community feedback from AI/AN-serving organizations, including an urban Tribal agency, an urban AI/AN wellness consortium, and a regional inter-Tribal council. The de-identified aggregate results and findings will be disseminated with the appropriate community agencies and the funding program, for their use as they see fit. The findings from this project can potentially inform future health promotion work with local AI/AN organizations and urban AI/AN groups

[Review of] Chalmers Archer, Jr. Growing Up Black in Rural Mississippi

Archer\u27s book is a non-fictional account of the pain and anguish of one extended family\u27s struggle and fight during the 1930s and 1940s to survive the racist south

[Review of] Maria del Carmen Boza. Scattering the Ashes

Because of the relatively recent Elian Gonzalez political controversy, whether he should be returned to Cuba to be with his father and grandparents or be allowed to stay in the US, Maria del Carmen Boza\u27s book is timely. Elian\u27s mother drowned while fleeing Cuba for the same political and socioeconomic reasons that Boza\u27s parents did, except that Boza\u27s parents arrived in Miami by airplane in 1960

The Use Of Improvisation And Mapping To Teach A Dramatic Text

The majority of ninth grade students indicated a strong negative attitude toward the study of Shakespearean drama. The same students had difficulty comprehending the Shakespearean language, understanding the plot and characters and recalling important information in the play. The degree of difficulty which these students exhibited was indicated by the best average grades earned on a comprehensive pretest of the play, Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare. The teaching strategy used to correct the problem was script-based improvisation and mapping. This strategy involved much activity and utilization of all the senses. Students were involved both as actors and spectators. Recall techniques, specifically in conjunction with mapping, were used frequently and consistently. The results indicated increased levels of achievement in test scores, and increased positive attitude to the study of Shakespearean drama

Human Service Professionals\u27 Practice with Families After Parental Incarceration

Social workers and other human services professionals helping families reintegrate after parental incarceration deal with multiple issues without a model of for facilitating family resilience. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to explore the essence of the perceived role, activities, and practices of a sample of social workers and other human service professionals engaged in the use of family group conferences (FGCs). FGCs are also referred to as restorative justice, as they inform and assist human service professionals in developing clinical interventions and best practices to support reintegration, family preservation, and stabilization. The framework for this study was built around restorative justice theory, resiliency theory, and a larger social ecological theory and focused on the use of FGCs as a developing practice within family systems and the community. The primary research questions investigated the practitioners\u27 experiences using FGCs. Data came from interviews of participants (15) drawn from professional associations and included their own case notes and reflections. The data was sorted and analyzed with the assistance of qualitative analysis software (Atlas.Ti7) to search for themes that may assist in identifying the phenomenon. The findings suggest that the FGC model should consist of a training curriculum, consistent practice, and dedicated and committed financial resources to support programs. This study impacts social change by informing human services professionals of current best practices and may provide a model of FGCs that will help implement services to families

Assaig d'implantació de Platanus x acerifolia al viver 3 pins de Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona

S’estudia la resposta de Platanus x acerifolia a 4 tipus de terres de plantació diferents (terra origen T1, terra tipus Amsterdam T2, terra vegetal T3 i terra origen millorada T4) i 3 tipus de millores (capa de grava al fons del forat de plantació B, aportació d’hidrogel C i aplicació amb el reg d’un producte coadjuvant D). Per tal de determinar els efectes s’han mesurat diferents paràmetres: perímetre del tronc, mesures de potencial hídric (abans de la sortida del sol i al migdia), número i longitud de branques i branquillons, número de fulles. També s’han fet valoracions visuals sobre l’estat dels arbres i un seguiment fotogràfic. Es presenten els resultats dels dos primers anys de creixement. Es pot indicar que el tipus de terra emprat en aquest assaig té molt poc efecte sobre els paràmetres de creixement analitzats. No obstant , es podria suggerir una certa millora amb la Terra 4, especialment en el perímetre dels arbres i número de fulles i una tendència a un millor comportament de la terra control (T3) pel que fa al número i longitud de branques en els dos primers controls. La tendència a presentar menors creixements s'associa a la Terra 2. Els resultats respecte a les millores indiquen que l'addició de gel de poliacrilamida al substrat de plantació (millora D) comporta un increment del creixement com a mínim en els dos primers anys des de la plantació. També s'observa increment respecte el testimoni quan s'aplica un tensioactiu en l'aigua de reg (millora C)

Esotismi musicali del Dibbuk: Ispirazioni da un soggetto del folclore ebraico

[Italiano]: Il volume analizza le realizzazioni musicali del Dybuk (1914), dramma yiddish dello scrittore e folclorista ebreo russo S. An-Ski (1863-1920), incentrato su una tragica vicenda di amore e possessione, che ha sempre esercitato grande fascino sui compositori. Sono studiati numerosi adattamenti in Europa e negli Stati Uniti: le musiche di scena di Yoel Engel, il Trio Vitebsk di Copland, l’opera non realizzata di Gershwin, Il Dibuk di Lodovico Rocca, un film musicale polacco del 1937 (Dybuk), il balletto Dybbuk di Bernstein e l’opera statunitense in yiddish (1997) di Solomon Epstein. Il volume esplora lavori rari e inediti, manoscritti e documentazione d’archivio, concludendosi con un repertorio degli adattamenti musicali di questo soggetto ./[English]: An analysis of musical adaptations of Der Dybuk (1914), a Yiddish drama by Russian Jewish writer and folklorist, S. An-Ski (1863-1920), focused on a tragic story of love and possession, which since its debut has inspired many composers. Numerous European and American adaptations are explored: the incidental music by Yoel Engel, Copland’s Trio Vitebsk, Gershwin’s unaccomplished project for a folk-opera, Il Dibuk by Lodovico Rocca, a Polish musical film in Yiddish (Dybuk, 1937), Bernstein's ballet Dybbuk, and a contemporary American opera in Yiddish by Solomon Epstein (1997). The book examines rare and unpublished works, musical manuscripts and archival sources, and provides a repertoire of musical adaptations of this subject