Return to Brantingham - Continued Part 2

Click image to enlarge

Today was another amazing day at the lake and I am so very happy that we made the arduous drive - although, I think next time we will try to fly and rent a car - which has allowed me to reconnect with much of my family history on my mother's side.  We took the "Class of 1941" (pictured above) out again today, lazed on the beach and on the dock in the sun and visited some with cousins who now co-own the camp next door.  My brother arrives shortly and the three of of us and four cousins will have dinner once my brother gets here - the husband, a/k/a Martha Stewart is doing the cooking. 

The views below are scenes of the ever change lake today.  It is truly heaven here.

Early morning

Mid morning view

Afternoon view

To give a sense of the length of time my family has been coming to Brantingham Lake, below is a photo from 1919 of my great grandparents, grandfather, and an uncle and aunts from my grandfather's generation.  Consensus is that the photo was taken at a no longer existing inn just up the road from our camp.

I plan on trying to take photos of other even older photos here at the camp.  One more photo: me feeding the ducks who decided to join us as we had drinks on the beach last evening.  

Return to Brantingham - Continued

The husband and I had a wonderful day today as we revisited my family's past and he got to meet some of my more distant cousins.  First we went in to Lowville - about 17 miles away from the lake house - where my maternal grandparents lived after moving from Central America. The husband  got to see my grandparent's former home pictured below (which my grandfather had bought for his parents around 1920), the family cemetery plot with my grand parents and great grand parents graves, and a farmer's market at the county fair grounds where we bought luscious looking preserves from a delightful Mennonite woman.  

Once we got back to the camp, we took out the "Class of 41" - my brother's 1941 Chris Craft (pictured above) which is the main photo on this blog - and we circled the lake a number of times stopping to wave and talk to friends from long ago.     We finished the afternoon with wine and munchies sitting in Adirondack chairs looking across the ever changing scenery of the lake.  Tonight I am taking him to dinner to a restaurant that has been here for at least 50 years.

The husband at the wheel

A windblown me in the rear seat

My brother joins us tomorrow and the fun and making of new memories will continue.  More posts tonight if we don't treat ourselves to too many cocktails. :)

Return to Brantingham Lake - 42 Years Later

Lake after sunset

This weekend is turning out to be a wonderful and also emotional weekend.  I am back at the family summer "camp" on Brantingham Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State for the first time in 42 years.  It is my husband's first visit.  It's a long story as to why I haven't been back, but better late then never sums up the situation.  My maternal grandparents purchased the camp in 1938 but the family connection goes back far longer.  There are photos of my great grand parents here at the lake in 1896 and subsequent years.  Among the many photos are those of my late mother during her last visit to Brantingham in the summer of 2010.   So, so many memories.  Above is a photo of the lake just after sunset last night and below is a photo of the house and views of the lake early this morning.  

In my June 2015 VEER Magazine I wrote in part about growing up gay and here's the portion that looked at the role this place played in my life:

If the school year was a nightmare, summers were what likely saved me and helped me survive my teen years.  Through my mother's  family, we had a summer home on Brantingham Lake in the western Adirondack Mountains in northern New York State.  As my siblings and I got older, we spent large parts of the summer at the "camp" as such summer homes are called in local parlance.  And this allowed me an opportunity to reinvent myself, if you will.  While I truly sucked at school team sports, I excelled at slalom water skiing, sailing, canoeing and swimming.  I could compete and hold my own.  In addition, at camp, we had a whole different circle of friends, most of whom were from other parts of New York or surrounding states and were far more sophisticated than my school year friends.   Yes, I still struggled to "pray away the gay" and convince myself that I wasn't really attracted to some of my male friends.  And , yes, the mental gymnastics to deny the truth about my sexual orientation continued at Olympic proportions.  But these summers allowed me to finally feel somewhat good about myself.   As one friend from those years with whom I have reconnected through the magic of Facebook wrote in a post "the memories of the lake, the times in the boats at night, skiing in the mornings at 6am so as to be the only boat on the lake..... these are the memories that never leave me and are the ones I use to help me get to sleep at night."  They were the summer time experiences that helped me survive growing up gay.

There have been changes in the place over the years - most notably the loss of a number of huge pine trees felled in a severe "mircobust thunder storm some years back that wreaked havoc on the area - but other aspects have not changed at all.  

Camp in the fading sunset

Early morning view - mist over the lake

Early morning - mist over the water

The Panama Canal - The First and Next 100 Years

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Much of my mother's family history links to Panama and Central America.  My grandfather - pictured above - worked on the building of the Panama Canal and with the money he earned - the pay was good for that era, especially given the high death rate from malaria and yellow fever - that he was able to go to Vanderbilt University where he earned his medical degree.  Graduating just in time to spend America's period of involvement in World War I as an army doctor, he returned to Panama at the war's end where he met my grandmother - they are pictured below.  My mother was born in Honduras and under the Honduran Constitution I am entitled to dual citizenship in Honduras.  All of the family saga began, however, with the building of the canal.  

The 15th of August was the centennial of its opening.   A piece in The Economist looks at the history of the Canal and its possible place in geopolitics in the coming years.  Here are article excerpts:

IN 1914, troubled by the onset of the Great War, The Economist published a 176-page special edition on what it called a great “achievement of Peace”: the opening of the Panama Canal. “It may be long before the tolls become remunerative, but its immediate effect on commerce will be stimulative,” it said. “Eventually the Isthmus is likely to become one of the busiest resorts of shipping upon the face of the globe.”

Half right. In fact, the first world war meant there was almost no commercial traffic on the canal for its first six years. But from 1921 onwards, the canal quickly started paying rich dividends—particularly to its owner, the United States.

On the eve of the anniversary of the Panama Canal’s opening on August 15th, the Egyptian government has announced a plan to upgrade the Suez Canal for the first time in its 145-year history. Nicaragua has endorsed a 278km (173-mile) route for a $40-billion canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific, the quixotic-sounding dream of a little-known Chinese magnate and the country’s Sandinista government. Causing further intrigue, on August 8th a delegation of Chinese businessmen from the state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company visited Panama to explore the idea of building and financing a fourth set of locks—even before the third set, part of the existing expansion plan, are in place.

As 100 years ago, numerous commercial and geopolitical interests are at play.  In 1914 Panama’s beauty was its lack of competition. It was the dawn of an American century. The United States’ west coast was enjoying an oil boom and wanted a cheaper way than the steam train to move goods and fuel between the Pacific and Atlantic. The canal lopped 12,600km from the sea route between New York and San Francisco. It also had strategic value. After the Spanish-American war in 1898 gave it territories and protectorates from Cuba to the Philippines, the United States needed a naval route between Atlantic and Pacific.

The gains were swift. By 1922 real shipping rates on some routes had dropped almost one-third below their pre-war average, according to “The Big Ditch: How America Took, Built, Ran and Ultimately Gave Away the Panama Canal”, by Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu. American taxpayers quickly recouped their investment. After the second world war, however, America’s trade with Asia soared above that between its east and west coasts . . . . Competition to the canal came from America’s interstate highways and new diesel-fuelled railways. That led to the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999.

Panama has done a good job of running it. But competition is emerging on all sides. . . . Nicaragua, once deemed too earthquake-prone for a big canal, is trying to rekindle its 19th-century dream. Many doubt the commitment of Wang Jing, a 41-year-old billionaire, to build a giant waterway through Nicaragua. But the pharaonic project, and the more recent interest of Chinese businessmen in expanding the Panama Canal, reflect the fact that China may want a say in the isthmus’s future.

In a fiercely competitive shipping market, analysts say the key to Panama’s competitiveness in future may be niggling issues like the size of its tolls. But for now it is focusing on the long term. “They’re not doing this for 2017,” says Paul Bingham of CDM Smith, an infrastructure firm. “It’s the 100-year view that’s important.”

 Interestingly enough, one of my nephews just finished a stint in the Peace Corps - in Panama.  Who would have thought that 100 years later, a family member would be once again in love with Panama.

Why Is Chiquita Blocking a 9/11 Victims’ Bill?

As some long time readers may recall, my mother's father launched his successful medical career by signing on as a surgeon and later a hospital administrator for United Fruit Company's Medical Department at the end of World War I as a way to get out of the army more quickly after spending America's years in that war stationed at what is now the VA Hospital in Hampton, Virginia.  My grandmother, a non-conforming New Orleans belle likewise signed on as a nurse for United Fruit Company's Medical Department after serving in Europe in the Army Nursing Corps.  My grand parents are shown in the image above. While the Medical Department did many positive things in Central America - clearing swamps, fighting malaria and yellow fever, and treating patients for free -  United Fruit Company had as a whole had a very ugly track record often siding with dictators or even aiding in the overthrow of non-accommodating governments.  Now, Chiquita, the descendant entity of United Fruit Company, seems to be repeating some of the ugly days of the 1920's through 1950's by opposing a 9/11 victims bill.  The Daily Beast looks at the situation.  Here are highlights:

Washington makes for strange alliances—and even stranger enemies. But this could wind up being the oddest confrontation of all. Chiquita, the world’s largest banana producer, is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to block a 9/11 victims’ bill, The Daily Beast has learned. And outraged supporters of the legislation accuse a senior lawmaker, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA0, of working with the fruit kings to stand in their way.

 

According to Congressional lobbying disclosures, Chiquita has spent some $780,000 over the past year and a half lobbying against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a bill conceived of and supported by a group of 9/11 victims and families to aid their claims against actors who supported the terrorist attacks.

The result is a stalled piece of terrorism legislation that shows the dizzying influence of a deeply pocketed corporation, and how its tremendous power is prevailing over the interests of the most sympathetic of little guys: 9/11 victims. And it illustrates how the influence of major fruit companies—such a core component of 20th-century American policy that they gave rise to the phrase “Banana Republics”—endures today.

“The path to justice for me and the other 9/11 family members and survivors is being blocked by a banana company. I think Chiquita should mind their own bananas and let justice be served,” said Terry Strada, whose husband was killed in the terrorist attacks.

The major fruit supplier is not in any way connected with 9/11, but in 2007 it pleaded guilty to making over 100 payments to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Chiquita, which had operated in Colombia for over 100 years, began making payments to the terrorist organization after a 1997 meeting between an AUC leader and a senior executive of its Colombian subsidiary. Nearly every month, additional payments followed. The fruit company has maintained that it only made payments due to extortionary threats of violence, and reacted to protect the lives of its workers.

Through a deal in which Chiquita was represented by now-Attorney General Eric Holder, the fruit company agreed to pay a $25 million fine. Chiquita acknowledged that between 1997 and 2004, it made over $1.7 million in payments in cash and checks to the terrorist group.

Having acknowledged payments to terrorists—though they claim to be extorted—Chiquita’s interests conflict with those of 9/11 victims’ families.

JASTA would clarify the Anti-Terrorism Act by expanding liability against those that had funded terrorists.

“It would also make it clear that victims of terrorist attacks both outside and inside the U.S. could seek damages against perpetrators,” explained Matt House, a spokesman for Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the primary sponsor for the bill in the Senate.

By expanding the liability of groups that have aided and abetted terrorism, the bill incidentally became relevant to Chiquita, with its history of paying off the terrorists of the AUC.

Chiquita certainly appeared to respond as if JASTA were a threat. In the months after the bill was reintroduced in the House and Senate, the fourth quarter of 2013, Chiquita spent $450,000 hiring lobbyists from Covington and Burling, a high-powered white shoe law firm.

According to a Congressional source with direct knowledge of the lobbying, the fruit conglomerate approached lawmakers with Chiquita facilities in their districts—as well Congress members with influence over their senior colleagues like Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the primary sponsor of JASTA in the House.

The lobbyists appeared to find an ear in the office of senior lawmaker Rep. Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where JASTA now sits languishing.

There's more, but it looks like Chiquita reprized some of the bad old days of United Fruit Company and now wants to avoid the consequences.  It's little surprise that Bob Goodlatte, a Republican seems more that willing to act in exchange for Chiquita's money.

 

The Circle of Time - Please Donate

A little over a century ago my mother's father worked on the building of the Panama Canal and made enough money to put himself through medical school at Vanderbilt University.  Shortly after graduating and after a stint as a U.S. Army doctor ironically stationed in Hampton, Virginia, he returned to Panama (with an interlude in Honduras where my mother was born) working for United Fruit Company's Medical Department to provide medical services to both company employees and local inhabitant free of charge.  Now, the circle of time has closed and my nephew (pictured above) is working in Panama for the Peace Corps.  As part of his effort for underprivileged my nephew is seeking donations to finance a project that will help needy residents.  I hope readers will consider helping out by making donations to this effort.   Here are details on how to make a donation:

This project’s webpage can be viewed by going to www.peacecorps.gov/donate and searching by project number (14-525-005) or my last name Godburn.  

 Here is a message from the Peace Corps about the grant being sought:

We are excited to tell you about Matthew Godburn’s Peace Corps Partnership Program project.  Since its inception in 1964, the Peace Corps Partnership Program has helped thousands of Peace Corps Volunteers implement community-initiated projects worldwide.  Now Matthew is taking on a new Latrine Initiative project in Panama that needs your support.

This project, developed to address a pressing community need, will be implemented by both Matthew and local partners.  This project will benefit the people of the community for many years to come. 

In order to begin implementation, Matthew must raise $1,300.60 from friends, family and other interested donors.  Matthew and the people of the community are asking for your assistance to turn this project into a reality.

I continue to think of my late mother and her youth in Central America.  If you are able, please donate to my nephew's project.   Below are photos of what is left of the hospital where my mother was born and a scenic vista that she would have known.

Former hospital building in Puerto Castilla where my mother was born.

View across Trujillo Bay that my mother would have known

The Passing of a Generation

Yesterday I received the news that the last of my late mother's sisters has died (my aunt is pictured at left in the family passport photo from 1930 - my mother is the youngest child in the center).  There is no one left now who remembers first hand the remarkable and unusual lives my mother's parents and that she and her sisters experienced.  Like my mother, my aunt was born in Puerta Castilla, Honduras, which at the time was a model town built by United Fruit Company ("UFC") which thrived until a banana blight struck after my mothers family had moved to Puerto Armuelles, Panama.   My grandfather was the head of the hospitals in locations and as such was among the most important men in both places.  Despite United Fruit Company's many faults during the years that it was the de facto ruler of much of Central America, it did one thing right: the medical department treated everyone in the towns regardless of whether they were employed by the company.  As a result, medical care was significantly improved.

Today, Puerto Castilla is a container ship port and little remains of the 1920's town (pictured below at upper right) save and except for the former hospital building.  The structure in the upper left of the photo was the UFC built and operated school where my mother and her sisters began their education - in Spanish. 

Despite my entreaties that they write down their memories of this time that seems so remote, neither my mother or her sisters did so.  Hence my effort in some small way to keep the story alive via this blog and the assistance I gave three years ago to a Costa Rican publication that did a piece on the UFC medical department.   Here are some brief excerpts from my aunts obituary:

Catharine "Ann" Lopushinsky was born June 3, 1925, in Puerto Castilla, Honduras, to Dr. Bruce M. and Mary Azelie Hibben Phelps. Her early childhood years were spent in Honduras with her family. While she lived there, she learned to speak Spanish fluently. Ann attended Marymount Boarding School for Girls in NYC for grades 4-8. She later settled in Lowville, NY, with her family, where she finished her high school years.

During the '70s, '80s and into the '90s, she was an active member of the Red Cross Disaster Action Team. She responded at all hours of the day and night to fire calls in Syracuse, aiding those who lost their homes and needed assistance in housing, clothing and food. She also participated in Red Cross National Disaster Relief efforts. The longest one was in Puerto Rico for three months, during the mudslides. She stayed on there because she could speak Spanish with the residents and helped them to receive the aid that they needed.

Throughout her life, Ann loved gardening. She maintained extensive gardens in Liverpool and Syracuse, including an English garden, and belonged to the Rose Society. Her most favorite flower of all was the Hybrid Tea Rose.

Ann was predeceased by her beloved husband, Michael, and her sisters, Mary Alice Isachsen and Marion Hibben Hamar.

 
May they all rest in peace.  Oh, an in a bit of irony, my late sister's son is currently in the Peace Corps - in Panama.