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

NY terrain from http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/ny_0.html
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

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.