Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Landforms of New York state: the Hudson Valley and route of the Erie Canal

The source of much of NYC's wealth is the enormously productive Hudson valley (apples, grapes, iron and hearty men) and the Erie Canal waterway, a connection to the Great Lakes.

Thus today we sketched a map of the Empire State with an emphasis on the Hudson, Erie Canal and Lakes Ontario and Erie. Illustration? The Erie Canal barge.

This question arose: "Gotham. Does it relate to Gothic?"
The definition of Gothic includes
* architecture - the thorny-pointy medieval cathedrals
* art - the medieval, non-classical styles
* fiction - dealing with mystery, extreme meotion, the unconscious
* and the Germanic tribe called the Goths - reputed as uncouth and barbarous.

Finally, the class recognized the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan and the observance of the Jewish New year, Rosh Hashanah.
* Ramadan is some 30 days of fasting - dawn to sunset - and abstinence from ordinary pleasures. It is a month of purufucation and joy through sacrifice.
* Rosh Hashanah is a 2-day period of fasting and introspection. Please see the Shreveport Times story in Monday's paper.

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