The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 11
- Publication:
- The Tampa Tribunei
- Location:
- Tampa, Florida
- Issue Date:
- Page:
- 11
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TBO.com THE TAMPA TRIBUNE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 NATION 4 WORLD Other View; mm From the 1 percent to 99, occupy community gardens TJ's guiet little brother gains unfair notoriety WWWTi -v- a 1 3sd BY ALAN PELL CRAWFORD The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.) Ef you've not heard of Randolph Jefferson, don't feel bad. There's reason to believe most historians have been unaware of the man's existence, including, until recently, some scholars specializing in the life and thought of his better-known older brother, Thomas Jefferson. Randolph Jefferson has nonetheless been in the news lately, for one reason and one reason only People determined to exonerate the author of the Declaration of Independence of claims that he fathered one or all of Sally Hemings' children have rounded up a new suspect. They've decided Randolph did it. This is most unfair.
Twelve years younger than Thomas, Randolph Jefferson was by all evidence an unassuming fellow, content to work his plantation, called Snowden, in Buckingham County, Va. Not much is known about and he might have vanished completely from sight were it not for the DNA studies of descendants of Sally Hemings' youngest son, Eston Hemings. While there is no way to do justice to this enormously complicated controversy in a newspaper story, one (for now) indisputable result of those studies was this: They eliminated as suspects the two men who for many years had represented the default-position candidates of "deniers." these were two of Thomas Jefferson's nephews, Samuel and Peter Carr. Blood work, however, BYLES KISHLER Special to The Tampa Tribune t's time to prepare for I spring. The Arab Spring 1 in the Middle East continues to move forward year round.
Does the occupy movement stand for something positive or something negative? It depends on the purpose and actions of those participating. Is the occupy movement directionless? Maybe. Maybe not. A positive direction will include a diversity of elements. Some elements will be economic.
Some social. Others political. An element that is already playing a part is community gardening. Occupying community gardens is a metaphor for the work that community gardeners perform. Community gardens are associations of individuals who garden at a'common location.
The gardeners can exchange ideas and the harvest of their work. The occupy movement and community gardens have in common that they empower individuals to play more productive roles in their lives. Com-. munity gardens can strengthen the occupy movement, and the occupy movement can in turn strengthen community gardening. Community gardens have an important history and can play an important role in creating a healthy society.
Community gardens produce nutritious food while connecting people to their communi- ty. Some of the world's most respected restaurants acquire produce from community gardens. Occupy movement locations have already included community For example JIM REEDSTAFF. satieties. They can be one -of the answers and one of the most powerful.
Sustainable agriculture and gardening can promote sustainable economies that are good for the 1 percent as well as the 99 percent. Community gardens may not completely replace large scale agriculture but can provide an important alternative in the economics of how humans obtain food. There is much that agribusiness can learn from community gardens that practice the science of sustainable agriculture. This science is called agroecology. Community gardens also exemplify economies of scale that allow greater participation by people in all walks of life.
If the occupy movement in your area has already started a community garden, you can participate. If your area does not have a community garden, you can start one or find someone who can. Occupying community gardens provides a direction that allows individuals to become more productive while improving lives. It can be done for an hour a day or an hour a week. Those who haven't started don't need to wait.
Les Kishler Is a community gardens advocate based in California. This first appeared at community gardens are part of the occupy movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Spring is a metaphor for bringing new things to life. The Arab Spring is planting seeds of democracy. Community gardens plant seeds of life.
These seeds produce food as well as plants that enhance our environment by adding interest and beauty. In most places growing plants can be done year round. Spring becomes an all-seasons event. The time to begin is now. One reason community gardens are important is the emotional and cognitive reward that gardening and community bring to a person's life.
Not only does the 99 percent benefit in this way, but so does the 1 percent. Community gardens are a chance' for the whole 100 percent to benefit. Harvard's Howard Gardener's theory of multiple intelligences includes a human's connection to the natural world. This connection is necessary to the human condition. Community gardening is one way to satisfy this need.
Community gardens are not demands. They are life-enhancing alternatives that help people participate in their society in a meaningful way. Community gardens are not the only answer to developing sane and well-balanced f- Some have translated this into "fiddling" around with the slaves. That, folks, is pretty much the case against Randolph Jefferson, which, until the DNA studies, was considerably weaker than the case against the Carrs. The pro-Jefferson side can't even place Randolph Jefferson at Monti-cello during the time when Eston Hemings was conceived.
They must content themselves with the fact that he was invited to visit back then, though whether he did so no one knows. It's fair to wonder how much credence deniers would put in the blacksmith's memoirs had he claimed, as Sally Hemings' son Madison Hemings, a carpenter, did in 1873, that Thomas Jefferson fathered all five of her children. Who fathered Sally Hemings' children? I don't know, and I would be surprised if anyone ever finds out for sure. Those who in good faith seek answers to questions of this nature should always be open to evidence, and they should acknowledge the very real possibility that they could be wrong. But those who think they want to safeguard Thomas Jefferson's legacy should remember this: If all men really are "created equal," then Randolph Jefferson's reputation deserves the same care and consideration as his illustrious brother's.
I hereby recommend a commission of scholars to vindicate him. Alan Pell Crawford is the author, most recently, of "Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson." your values. has shown that neither of these two men could have been Eston's father. This left deniers casting about for somebody other than the Carrs to blame, so they have come up with a new "most logical" culprit. In fairness to all parties, some of the historians, researchers, writers and freelance controversialists who have weighed in on the question have made significant contributions to our knowledge of an understandably sensitive sub-' ject.
Where they all fall down, however, is in their treatment of Randolph Jefferson. Because Randolph had not the imposing intellect of his elder brother his clumsily composed letters show he was most interested in simply running his farms he has been labeled as "retarded" and a "halfwit." These assertions are not only cruel but false. It has been well established that Randolph Jefferson was educated at the College of William and Mary (though he might have attended only the grammar school associated with the college) and that he studied the violin with Francis Alberti, who was also his brother's music teacher. While his letters are those of a tobacco planter and not a scholar, he was certainly capable of carrying on a serviceable correspondence. The "smoking gun" for the pro-Thomas faction is an 1847 interview with Isaac Jefferson, a Monti-cello blacksmith.
In it, Isaac Jefferson calls Randolph Jefferson "a mighty simple man, who used to come out among black people, play the fiddle and dance half the night." TAMPA'S NEWSPAPER torn Sdsitiw I I 'c THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Is your trusted source for journalistic excellence. THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Embodies who you are; your history and your character. THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Continues the tradition for local reporting that is.focused and straightforward. I THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Delivers insightful opinion and commentary that reflect THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Provides balanced, in-depth and relevant coverage to more than 1 million readers every week. Source; 2011 Scarborough Research BEST AVAILABLE CUPY.
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