Latest news with #RevolutionaryWar-era
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Revolutionary War-era reenactment being held at Hagerstown City Park
HAGERSTOWN, Md. () — This Saturday, everyone is invited to a Revolutionary War-era reenactment at the Hagerstown City Park. Living historians will showcase military drills on the grounds of the Jonathan Hager House and there will also be a reenactment of battlefield experiences from the 18th century. Hagerstown rallies for return of Vietnamese woman detained by ICE Matt Penrod gives guided tours of the Hager House and City Park grounds. The people here rebelled. This was the first community, really, of all the colonies, to stand up to the British to repudiate the Stamp Act. This was in 1765,' he said. Saturday's activities will be held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and will feature black powder firing demonstrations and a showcase of firearms from the Revolutionary War era. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Orien McNeill, artist/pirate prankster who made merry mischief on the water, dies at 45
Soon, a cohort of street artists and dumpster-diving freegans -- the anti-consumerist foragers of the late aughts -- who might otherwise have been squatting in Brooklyn warehouses, were drawn to the same lawless territory. It was a last frontier and haven in the ever-gentrifying New York City boroughs. They made art from scavenged materials and held events that harked back to the Happenings of their 1960s predecessors, although the events were intended for no audience but themselves. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up No critics were summoned, and not much was documented. Mr. McNeill was their pied piper, guru, and pirate prankster, who hatched extravagant, loosely organized adventures involving costumes, flotillas of handmade rafts, and, once, a pop-up bar on a sinking tugboat. Advertisement When Caledonia Curry, otherwise known as the artist Swoon, began to conceptualize 'Swimming Cities' -- winsome floating contraptions built from salvaged materials that she launched on the Hudson River in 2008 -- Mr. McNeill, her classmate from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, was an inspiration, project architect, and co-pilot. Advertisement 'Some of the funniest and proudest and most exciting moments were with Orien, just making things," said Duke Riley, a fellow traveler in art and antics. Duke Riley/NYT The following year, when she reimagined the project for Venice, Mr. McNeill played the same role. With a crew of nearly 30, Curry sent her materials to nearby Slovenia, where customs inspectors initially held up their shipping containers: They were confused by the contents -- they thought it was garbage. The crew members built their fantastical crafts in Slovenia and sailed to Venice, where they crashed the annual Biennale, enchanting the assembled art crowd as the vessels floated through the canals. Mr. McNeill served as the escort and advance guard, scooting about in a battered skiff in case someone fell overboard. 'Orien introduced me to world building,' Curry said in an interview. 'He was living this beautiful, feral existence on the water -- the center of this artist community. He shied away from the limelight, but his spirit informed everybody.' She added, 'With artists, there's always this thing about what's art and what's life, and nobody held that closer to the bone than Orien.' Duke Riley, an artist known for releasing thousands of pigeons outfitted with LEDs into the night sky above the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as well as building a wooden replica of a Revolutionary War-era sub and launching it at the Queen Mary 2, was a co-conspirator on a variety of adventures. One was the sinking bar, which Mr. McNeill persuaded Riley to help him build in a half-submerged tugboat with a rusted-out floor. The bar opened at low tide, and as the hours passed, guests eventually found themselves waist-deep in water. They swam out before the tide rose too high. Advertisement 'He never let personal safety get in the way of a genius idea,' Riley said. He added: 'Some of the funniest and proudest and most exciting moments were with Orien, just making things. . . . Maybe, in time, people will look back and realize what an important catalyst he was.' Mr. McNeill was irresistible, said Dan Glass, a fellow artist and frequent collaborator. He was like a combination of Auntie Mame and George Carlin -- or like a Martin Scorsese character but in a Wes Anderson movie, he added, noting Mr. McNeill's singular style. (Mr. McNeill favored blazers and jaunty feathered hats.) He made meals into performance art. He once served a roasted alligator to Riley in lieu of birthday cake (there were candles). Another event featured martinis made from Pepto Bismol and garnished with Band-Aids (surprisingly drinkable, by all accounts). He conceived an annual adventure he called 'The Battle for Mau Mau Island,' named for a lump of landfill circled by a creek near Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Hundreds of intrepid people would organize themselves into themed gangs and set out in homemade crafts of dubious seaworthiness through Jamaica Bay to compete, 'American Gladiators'-style, with various props and pseudo-weapons. The 'boats' disintegrated once the shenanigans were over. For McNeill, the intent was to highlight the potential of the city's waterways 'as a frontier of temporary arts and theatrics,' he told Gothamist magazine in 2016, while pointing out the scarcity of free creative space on land. Mr. McNeill's most ambitious project was inspired by Curry's 'Swimming Cities.' He wanted to do the same thing, but bigger, and conceived a 500-mile trip along the Ganges River to Varanasi, the sacred city and pilgrimage site in northern India. He called it 'The Swimming Cities of the Ocean of Blood.' Advertisement Mr. McNeill and a group of collaborators built five metal pontoon boats in Brooklyn -- three of them powered by motorcycles, one by sail and oars, and another by paddle wheel -- which he would captain. The boats were designed to lock together for camping on the water. In 2010, they shipped the components to a small Indian university in the city of Farrukhabad, which had agreed to host them while the collaborators reassembled their crafts. Though they had spent two years raising money through events that Mr. McNeill orchestrated, they were still underfunded and under-provisioned. It was an arduous monthslong trip. Marauding monkeys attacked their camp. They often saw bodies floating in the river. At one point they encountered a quarter-mile-wide concrete dam -- a terrifying 'Class 5 rapid,' said Porter Fox, a participant who knew his waterfalls (he had been a white-water guide). Mr. McNeill tackled it first. Fox went next, his boat flipping end over end as it plummeted over the torrent. Clearly, it was not going to be possible for the rest of the boats, or their crews, to survive the dam. Mr. McNeill single-handedly disassembled the remaining boats on shore, somehow found a tractor for hire, and set off on land to bypass the dam. 'I remember seeing him coming over a rise, like Lawrence of Arabia, waving from the tractor,' Fox said. 'It was just so herculean. No one else could have sallied their spirit enough to think about getting out of this jam. Everyone just wanted to go home, and he's, like, 'No, we're not done.'' Advertisement Orien McNeill was born Dec. 7, 1979, in Manhattan, the only child of Van Cleve, a filmmaker, and Malcolm McNeill, an artist, author, and television director. His mother and father are his only immediate survivors. Mr. McNeill's godfather was author William S. Burroughs, with whom the elder McNeill had collaborated on a graphic novel. Burroughs baptized Orien with a dab of vodka from his afternoon drink. He also turned over the lease on his loft in Tribeca to the family. By age 10, Orien was drawing, painting, and sculpting 'as well as any mature artist,' Malcolm McNeill said. He taught his son how to use an airbrush at 12 and a vacuum forming machine, for molding plastic, at 13, because Orien wanted to build a spaceship. 'Otherwise, I got out of the way,' McNeill said. 'He could make anything.' After graduating with a degree in industrial design from Pratt in 2001, Mr. McNeill spent a year traveling, stopping in New Zealand, Borneo, India and Ireland. When he returned, he bought the Chris-Craft, parked it in the Gowanus Canal and began homesteading there. He later lived on a sailboat, which he reconfigured by cutting the mast off to make room for a massive deck -- the kind one might build for a house, cantilevered over the boat's bow -- so that he could host more people. 'He would do anything to create the ecosystem he wanted,' Fox said. For his 10th birthday, Orien had asked his parents to get him business cards. His father still has a few. 'Orien McNeill,' they read. 'All your dreams made real.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
These landmarks make list of 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in New Jersey
From a Revolutionary War parsonage in Morris County to a long-shuttered chemical office in Perth Amboy, Preservation New Jersey's 2025 list of its 10 Most Endangered Historic Places spans centuries of New Jersey history. It also highlights the risk of losing that history. Announced May 3 aboard the Battleship New Jersey, Preservation New Jersey's 2025 list calls out landmarks facing demolition, neglect or uncertain futures due to development pressure and funding shortfalls. In a special 11th entry, the group's board of directors also included funding cuts to historic preservation programs as a broad threat affecting efforts across the state. 'These places matter,' said group president Paul Muir. 'They tell the stories of who we are and where we've been. By bringing attention to these threatened sites, we hope to inspire action, partnerships and solutions that can save them.' Preservation New Jersey's 2025 list of its 10 Most Endangered Historic Places, includes the Van Houten House in Paterson and other area landmarks. Now in its 30th year, the "10 Most" initiative spotlights cultural landmarks that face threats from neglect, development pressures, insufficient funding or natural hazards. These sites, nominated by the public and selected by Preservation New Jersey's board based on historical significance, urgency of threat and community impact, serve as tangible links to New Jersey's heritage. The Boylan House in Bernardsville 1. Boylan House – Bernardsville (Somerset County) Built in the mid-18th century, the Boylan House at 35 Olcott Square is one of Bernardsville's oldest surviving structures. The property was once home to Dr. James Boylan, a Revolutionary War-era physician and brother of Capt. John Boylan, a prominent merchant in nearby Pluckemin. The house is a rare link to Bernardsville's colonial past and stands within the Olcott Avenue Historic District. It faces the threat of demolition as part of a proposed redevelopment project that would replace it with a mixed-use housing complex. Local preservation advocates have raised concerns about the impact on the district's historic character and are seeking alternatives to preserve the structure. 2. The Universal Building – Jersey City (Hudson County) Located at 50 Journal Square, this eight-story office building was called the area's first "skyscraper" when it opened in 1926. The building once housed WAAT radio and Labor National Bank, but is now at the center of a legal dispute over Jersey City's plans to take it by eminent domain. City officials say the acquisition and demolition would improve public safety and support the broader redevelopment of Journal Square, including an arts district anchored by a new museum and updated public spaces. Preservation advocates, including officials from the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, disagree, citing the building's history. Designed by J. Hollis Wells and Clinton & Russell, the former Universal Building features cast stone trim and tapestry brickwork and once housed early radio broadcasts and political offices. Its future remains uncertain amid ongoing court proceedings. 3. Cornelius Doremus House – Montville (Morris County) Also known as the Parsonage of the Montville Reformed Dutch Church, this structure features Dutch Colonial and Greek Revival architecture. Originally built in the 18th century and remodeled in 1840, it retains much of its original look. Though listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house has deteriorated since its 2015 sale. A proposal to cut into its original stonework for an addition was denied, followed by a failed demolition request in 2016. A court upheld the denial in 2017, but the building has remained vacant despite a proposal to turn the site into a public museum, according to Preservation New Jersey officials. 4. 202 and 210 Main St. – Moorestown (Burlington County) Located at a key intersection in Moorestown's historic downtown, 202 and 210 Main St. face potential demolition despite their longstanding role as former residences, now real estate offices. Possible site redevelopment centered on a new residential complex has been proposed and the Victorian-era homes with ties to Moorestown's founding families could come down as a result. Moorestown lacks a historic preservation ordinance, and updates to the master plan's preservation element are stalled due to legal challenges from commercial property owners, according to Preservation New Jersey officials. The Van Houten House is considered to be the oldest house in Paterson suffered a suspicious fire, causing heavy damage. The original part of the house was built in what is today Westside Park in 1741 with an addition in 1831. The fire started around 11:30pm on July 4th, 2019. 5. Van Houten House – Paterson (Passaic County) Tucked inside Westside Park, the Van Houten House is Paterson's oldest structure. Owned by the city and long shuttered, the house includes an early Dutch stone section dating to 1741 and a larger addition from 1831 that reflects changing architectural tastes. The property originally belonged to the Van Houten family before being acquired by the Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places but remains at risk due to long-term neglect. Perth Amboy Police Headquarters 6. Perth Amboy Police Headquarters – Perth Amboy (Middlesex County) Perth Amboy's former police station, a two-story brick building from 1911, blends utilitarian construction with classical flourishes. The building also once housed the Main Technical Office of the Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Company, a major global chemical producer in its time and remains largely intact. Still, the building shows signs of wear, and its future is uncertain. The city has moved to sell the property to Kushner Companies, clearing the way for a 600-unit residential development. Demolition could follow despite pleas for adaptive reuse. The Abbot Manor House in Plainfield 7. Abbott Manor – Plainfield (Union County) Abbott Manor, built around 1893 and situated in the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District, has spent decades in legal and regulatory limbo. Though listed on all levels of historic registers, its post-residential use has stirred repeated controversy, starting with a 1950s plan to operate a nursing home in violation of local zoning. Despite opposition, the Colonial Revival mansion eventually served post-acute Muhlenberg patients before closing in 2009. A failed 2012 veterans housing proposal left it vacant and deteriorating. Though sold again in 2024, its future is unclear. Navesink River ice surronds the dock at the Monmouth Boat Club in Red Bank Tuesday, January 21, 2025. 8. Monmouth Boat Club – Red Bank (Monmouth County) Founded in 1879, the Monmouth Boat Club is one of the nation's oldest yacht clubs and the last of its kind on the Navesink River. It now faces severe structural decline. Perched on aging wooden pilings, the historic clubhouse has been slowly tilting toward the water and the risk of possible collapse is rising. Boat club members have been attempting to raise funds to reset the building on a new foundation, but work has yet to begin. The Washington Wells Farm 9. Washington Wells Farm – Skillman (Somerset County) The Washington Wells Farm in Skillman, established in 1750, is closely tied to the Revolutionary War and known for a well where George Washington's troops reportedly stopped to drink in 1778. Despite its historic value, including original colonial features and multiple outbuildings, the property deteriorated under prior ownership. Flood damage in 2021 exposed a small structure believed to have housed enslaved laborers that was later relocated for preservation. Most buildings, including the 1753 farmhouse, show signs of serious neglect, according to Preservation New Jersey officials. 10. Andrew Mershon Tavern – Titusville (Mercer County) Once a landmark along the colonial road to Trenton, the former Mershon's Tavern has a history that spans nearly 300 years. Located in a house first built by Cornelius Anderson, the tavern was later identified on a Revolutionary War-era spy map as simply 'Mershons,' according to Preservation New Jersey officials. Long linked to stagecoach travel and wartime movement, the structure is in poor condition despite maintenance efforts earlier this century. This article originally appeared on These are 2025's 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in NJ
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Perceived consensus drives moral intolerance in a time of identity-driven politics and online bubbles
To live together in social communities, people create and maintain expectations about what is normal and what is not. Sometimes things can fall outside the range of normal and people are OK with it. You might have a neighbor who likes to wear Revolutionary War-era costumes on their evening walks around the neighborhood. Their behavior seems weird to you, but you consider it an instance of everyone's freedom to express themselves. But other times something seems not only abnormal but also unacceptable. In this case, people take active steps to squelch what feels unfair, inappropriate, bad or deviant. Things that people think are morally abnormal – aberrant behavior, transgressions, violations of their most sacred values – are viewed as highly threatening and necessary to shut down, with force if necessary. Most people would find a neighbor who purposefully starves and tortures their dogs morally repugnant. That neighbor would need to be stopped and would deserve to be punished. A decade of research in my psychology lab and others' demonstrates that people struggle to express tolerance for different moral values – for instance, about sexual orientation, helping the poor, being a stay-at-home mother and so on. In study after study, people are less willing to help, share with, date, be roommates with and even work for people who have different moral values. Even children and adolescents express more willingness to shun and punish moral transgressors than people who do something personally obnoxious or offensive but not immoral. When asked to talk with a stranger who they know disagrees with them, people will turn their bodies away more and move farther away when the disagreement involves a moral rather than personal disagreement. And they are more willing to condone using violence against someone who doesn't share their morals. All this sounds like bad news for societies like ours filled with people who hold diverse moral values. But there is an important counterbalance to this blanket intolerance. When people sense disagreement within their community about moral issues – even those they personally feel strongly about – it pushes them to have tolerance for people with other views. In other words, when it is clear that people you see as your peers – members of your community – disagree with each other, you recognize the need for continued respectful discussion. It automatically tones down the natural tendency toward intolerance for moral views that differ from your own. While perceived disagreement within a community appears to function as a corrective to intolerance, the opposite is also true: Consensus is a powerful trigger of intolerance. When most of the community agrees that something is morally bad, then those who disagree are viewed as outliers and labeled as 'deviant.' Intolerance becomes not only justified but is seen as necessary. But how is consensus reached? In diverse, democratic societies like ours − where people are allowed to form their own opinions − there are two ways this might happen. The democratic ideal is that over time, through shared discussion and reflection, people eventually come to an agreement or compromise. Once a sense of consensus – or close enough – has been reached, group members can be confident that those who continue to disagree can be safely ignored or no longer tolerated. More often, though, consensus is achieved when the disagreement becomes strong enough to fracture communities into multiple, smaller 'issue-position' groups. Here's an example. Consider a controversial issue, such as abortion. Two people may agree that terminating a pregnancy is something that causes harm but also falls within women's reproductive autonomy. Yet, at the same time, they may disagree – one prioritizes discouraging abortions whenever possible, while the other prioritizes the freedom to make that choice. Over time, the two people encounter others whose views are more extreme. Because the two resonate more with different sides of the issue, they find themselves pulled in opposite directions, eventually becoming more at odds with each other. At the community level, when more extreme views grow strong enough and gain enough traction with enough people, it activates new group identities. Where once there was a community of people who disagreed with one another about abortion, there are now two smaller, distinct and separate communities of pro-lifers and pro-choicers. What is problematic is that issue-position groups, by definition, create consensus, signaling to their members that they, and not the other group, have got things right. Civility toward the other side is no longer required: The other viewpoint, and anyone who holds it, is considered morally wrong. Intolerance, though, can become a moral mandate. Members of issue-position groups often find themselves on a moral crusade against the other side. Unfortunately, this type of group-driven consensus is increasingly common. One prominent example in the United States is that people are more likely than they were in the past to experience politics as not just about disagreement on various political values and approaches to governance but as opposing groups. Being liberal or conservative is an identity that puts one group in opposition to the other. And only one side can be 'right' and 'moral.' At least in these group-identity-fueled contexts, people can lose sight of the fact that they are all Americans, even going so far as to assert that their smaller group represents the only 'true' or 'real' Americans. The proliferation of issue-position groups is made easier by the ability to quickly find and connect with people who share your views via the internet and social media. Many Americans don't actively participate in civic life within the larger groups they're a part of, such as their neighborhood or city, where they would naturally encounter a diversity of opinions. People have less practice sharing their views and making room for those who disagree. In contrast, it's easy, especially online, to find like-minded communities to join and feel validated. This is made even easier by the algorithms employed by search engines and social media apps that prioritize showing content that reflects and reinforces your beliefs, values, activities and practices and shields you from those who are different – unless presenting them as things to disparage and hate. This process can accelerate movement toward extreme issue-position groups and identities. As online algorithms begin taking people down different paths, the likelihood that they will find themselves ultimately with more extreme attitudes becomes more probable and more rapidly accomplished. How can people combat this dangerous trend? For one, you can get off social media and back into your communities, welcoming opportunities to interact with the complex diversity they contain. And even when online, you can take intentional steps to 'burst' the alogrithms, actively finding ways to connect with people who are not like you and ideas with which you may not agree. Most importantly, you can always take a step back from the impulse toward intolerance and humbly remember our shared humanity. Even looking into another's eyes without words can activate compassion and remind you that we are all ultimately members of the same global community. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Jen Cole Wright, College of Charleston Read more: Humility is the foundation to a virtuous life Humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don't fit their worldview Your political rivals aren't as bad as you think – here's how misunderstandings amplify hostility Jen Cole Wright is affiliated with the Charleston Climate Coalition, a 501c3 that advocates for a livable climate in the Lowcountry.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NY bill would give critters due process after P'Nut the squirrel was seized, beheaded by DEC agents
Don't tread on P. State Republicans are pushing a bill that would give animals seized by the government a stay of execution after internet-famous P'Nut the Squirrel was decapitated by the government last year. P'Nut's grieving owners Mark and Daniela Longo joined with state Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz (R-Nassau) at the state Capitol Tuesday to unveil 'Peanut's Law: The Humane Animal Protection Act' — which would require the Department of Environmental Conservation to wait 72 hours before euthanizing any seized animals. 'I sit here trying not to cry, but passing this law will be a movement to make sure that animal rights are not overlooked anymore,' an emotional Mark Longo told a large crowd gathered at the foot of the Capitol's Million Dollar Staircase. 'I loved those animals to death,' he added, referring to P'Nut and another pet named Fred the Squirrel that was seized in the same raid and also put down. 'And today is a day that we push forward to make sure that this tragedy never happens again.' The owner wore a tiny cowboy hat P'Nut had worn in social media posts pinned to his lapel. The critters were housed at the Longos' upstate farm before a DEC raid on Oct. 30, 2024 that officials said was sparked by anonymous complaints of animal mistreatment. The animals' heads were cut off by state officials within hours so their brains could be tested for rabies after the frightened squirrel allegedly bit a handler's leather glove — setting off a massive backlash to the DEC's behavior. 'His death stopped people in their tracks, from the president of the United States to the chief justice of the Supreme Court, to celebrities to everyday New Yorkers,' said Assemblyman Blumencranz, who pointed out that the tests which cost P'Nut and Fred their lives came back negative for rabies. 'They were not dangerous. They were not sick. They were not wild threats roaming the streets. They were rescues — loved, nurtured, and safe,' he said. 'Here is the cold, hard truth. It is too little, too late. Words don't save P'Nut and Fred, and words won't save the next animal, or the next family, unless we change the law.' The bill would also require an administrative hearing before any animals can be seized or euthanized from wildlife sanctuaries, unless their is hard proof of an immediate threat to the public. During the announcement Tuesday, Longo and other speakers stood before a lectern adorned with banner emulating the yellow Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag — with the image of rattlesnake replaced by a squirrel perched atop the words 'Don't Tread on Me.' There was also a picture of Fred, and one of P'Nut in his tiny one-gallon cowboy hat.
