Years Ago

This column is a revitalized weekly addition to the paper.  The following moments in history are selected, researched, and edited by Skaneateles High School students enrolled in Kate Hardy’s 10th grade Honors English class. For the next school year they hope to celebrate the past and remember the days from years ago. Thank you to the Skaneateles Library and the Historical Society for providing the Press archives.

20 Years Ago

… there was a large advertisement for the Food Bank of Central New York. It urged people to donate even just a dollar to their cause, promising “for every dollar you donate, we’ll fill local pantries with $14 worth of nutritious food.” It went on to share that the previous year they had helped to serve over 5.5 million meals to those in need in our area. Today, if you look on the Food Bank of Central New York’s website, they display statistics stating the distribution of 33,276 meals to central and northern New York every day, and that in the 2017-18 fiscal year, they provided 12,145,759 meals to those who are hungry. Recently, the high school’s School Improvement Team raised money and food donations at the Wizards’ Basketball game earlier this month. They were able to raise $250 as well as a considerable amount of food for the bank. The Food Bank of CNY’s primary responsibilities involve raising money and stocking up on food to then distribute among more local pantries and groups throughout the area. You too can donate to the bank if you would like, by going to their website and clicking the donate button on the top of their page. Every little bit helps to feed our community members who are in need.

40 Years Ago

… a story was published in the Skaneateles Press about a sexist advertisement from Skan-A-Matic Corporation of Skaneateles. The company received over 450 letters complaining about the ad claiming it was sexist. The woman was wearing a zippered sweater with a Skan-A-Matic subminiature sensor detecting a missing tooth in the zipper. Amid claims of sexism the company countered the claims, saying “Our model is wearing a sweater no different from ones commonly worn in public, and considerably more demure than those featured on the cover of ‘Cosmopolitan’” according to the Skaneateles Press article. Today some companies are producing advertisement in order to combat sexism. One of these companies is Nike. As Nike is a very large company, they have a heavy influence on many people that love and wear their products. An ad that Nike has produced is called Dream Crazy, which readers can view on youtube. This commercial features Serena Williams and many other female athletes playing a variety of sports like football, soccer, tennis, etc. This commercial is a message to women that they can do anything that they want. By using popular and positive female athletes in the commercial, Nike helps inspire the next generation of women and combats sexism.

60 Years Ago

…An advertisement for the New York Telephone Company was published from the point of view of a woman who had just reconnected with her sister over the telephone. The elderly woman, named Louisa Crowson, resided in Tonawanda, NY and her sister was located 3,000 miles away in Manchester, England. While the sisters had written each other frequently, the telephone allowed Mrs. Crowson to listen to her sister’s voice for the first time in 43 years! Mrs. Crowson described the experience as unforgettable as she instantly recognized her sister’s comforting voice. Today, with the widespread accessibility of video-audio technology, not only can you hear your loved ones, but see them as they speak to you. With an influx of new video-audio technologies in the mid-2000s, services such as FaceTime and Skype have revolutionized the way in which people communicate. 60 years later, new technologies have been able to give the gift of connection to people all over the world.

80 Years Ago

On March 24, 1939, the Skaneateles Press published an eye-catching blurb concerning Thomas Titcombe, a missionary “…who lived and worked for over 30 years among the cannibals…” He was going to give a lecture in the Baptist Church, and the paper encouraged “every student of geography, or human nature…” to attend. The article did not pique my interest because of his missionary work. It was rather the usage of the word “cannibal” and the phrase “human nature”. Being published in 1939, I did not discount the article having perhaps racist undertones of a Conradesque nature. I decided to look into cannibalism in Nigeria, expecting to find a more historical account of the practice. As it turns out, it is still a problem today. According to Leadership Magazine, a Nigerian publication, in certain parts of Africa, cannibalism still exists with the idea of magical protections. Albinos are murdered and butchered because it is believed that their bones are magical. Now, this was not what Titcombe encountered in Africa, but it is interesting to see how the use of a single word can be linked to a startlingly prescient problem.

100 Years Ago

Following World War I, certain nations of the world sought to form a diplomatic group dedicated to maintaining peace and preventing future conflict at the scale of World War I. This group, called the League of Nations, was met with a lukewarm reception from the United States. Concerns about the potential infringement on the United States’ national sovereignty prevented the nation from joining. Article 10 of the Covenant of the League of Nations was highlighted as problematic in this edition of The Democrat. The author explains that an Irish political group claims that the article, which calls upon member-states to commit to defending the ‘existing political independence of all Members of the League,’ would force the United States to ‘aid Great Britain in holding Ireland in subjugation’ and be ‘the most shameless betrayal of a people in history’ (avalon.yale.law.edu). Ultimately, the United States did not join the League of Nations, and the push for Irish independence from the United Kingdom has once again resurged.