Seasons Greetings!

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus

‘Tis the season to tell all we meet (though those numbers are of course relatively low this year due to Covid) Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings! But which holidays do we mean? What is the season, exactly? A law librarian by day, your humble blog author is dusting off her Religion degree to present this brief and fun overview.

The Winter Solstice and its general timeframe has been seen across cultures, space, and time as an excellent moment to mark the birth or rebirth of God or the gods. In our American society, Christmas is the most obvious and omnipresent modern example. However, particularly here in Houston, the United States’ 7th most diverse city, a wide variety of celebrations take place.

Our readers may be most familiar with Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. The holiday spans eight days and nights, and commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple when Jerusalem was retaken during the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire circa 160 BCE. Prior to that time, Judaism had been made illegal, and the Temple had been defiled. It appeared there was not enough purified oil to burn in order to properly cleanse the space, but miraculously the small amount found lasted for 8 days of continuous burning. This year, it lasts from December 10th through 18th.

Hindus celebrate Pancha Ganapati, a family festival of giving that spans five days and centers on Lord Ganesha, the god of new beginnings and deva of wisdom. Each day is marked by its own color and discipline, as adherents spend the five days exchanging gifts; presenting offerings for Ganesha’s five-faced form Lord Panchamukha; and nurturing five realms of their lives: family, friends, associates, culture and religion. The festival runs from December 21 through 25.

In Iran and adjacent territories, the very old holiday of Yaldā Night is still observed, albeit in a much more casual and contemporary manner than in ancient times. Extended family units gather to share specific foods, engage in general revelry, and stay up past midnight as a nod to an old Zoroastrian belief that one must stay awake and vigilant against evil spirits on the longest night of the year. Iran does not follow the Gregorian Calendar, but the holiday generally correlates to December 20 or 21st.

Many Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day, which marks the day Siddhartha came to enlightenment after several days of meditation beneath a bodhi tree. Reflecting the many differences among Buddhist sects around the world, this holiday goes by multiple names, and is celebrated or acknowledged in quite a wide variety of ways on different winter days, though frequently in December.

Whatever you celebrate or observe this winter holiday season, we hope it brings you happiness, and a sense of connectedness in these unusual times. Stay warm!

National Adoption Day

Tomorrow is National Adoption Day, so today we will be sharing some resources.

As we see in the library speaking with our patrons, families may seek out the legal benefits of adoption for a wide variety of reasons. There are also multiple types of adoptions in Texas, including Adult Adoption.

It is possible to find great, high quality free information about adoptions in Texas. As with so many family law issues, TexasLawHelp.org can provide pro se litigants with a wealth of details about the laws surrounding adoption in the Lone Star State.

Families thinking of adopting a child currently in foster care can start at the searchable database maintained by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

At the moment, fill-in-the-blank forms are not available to start an adoption. Pro se litigants hoping to handle an adoption themselves must rely on templates designed for attorneys. We are happy to provide a variety of templates covering multiple aspects of adoptions in Texas, though many patrons are left feeling overwhelmed by a process that even attorneys can find daunting.

For families looking to complete an adoption with an attorney, their local city or county bar association is likely to be able to provide referrals in their area. Some families also find referrals through word-of-mouth on social media groups for similarly situated families.

Local referral services for Houston and Harris County:

• The Houston Lawyer Referral Service

• The Harris County Bar Referral Service

Texas-wide:

• Texas State Bar Referral Service

Saxophones and Jazz

Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you.  – Charlie Parker

Perhaps the greatest saxophonist of his time, Charlie Parker, who would have turned 100 on August 29, left a lasting mark on American jazz during his short life. Credited with the development of a new style of music known as bebop, Parker revolutionized American jazz with his complex harmonies and rhythms. Of course, none of Parker’s virtuosity would have sparkled were it not for the invention of the saxophone. First patented in 1846 in Paris by Belgian-French musical instrument maker Adolphe-Joseph Sax, the saxophone, a single reed instrument noted for its flexibility and penetrating sound, became a favorite of the masters of jazz improvisation. If Oscar Wilde was correct in his assessment that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” then Sax should have indeed been pleased that his invention gained such popularity. Unfortunately, Sax spent decades embroiled in lawsuits defending against creators of reproductions before his patent expired in 1866, losing many profits along the way.

Those patent lawsuits were not the last time that the saxophone, or more specifically, the music in which it was so prominently featured, became the subject of legal disputes. Lawsuits involving jazz music and dancing typically focused on their characterization as public nuisances. A court in California even based its determination on “the effect that jazz music ha[d] on the health and comfort of residents.” Jazz was also the source of marital discord, prompting a music-loving wife to seek a divorce from her husband. As one would expect, copyright also played a role in some of the litigation surrounding jazz. The characteristic improvisations of jazz presented some unique challenges for the musical style in gaining copyright protection. The style was not viewed as particularly original and deemed to be more derivative, and therefore not entitled to such security.

From a societal standpoint, jazz was no stranger to the discrimination and racism that was so prevalent during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and beyond. Despite their appeal and popularity among Blacks and whites alike, jazz musicians faced discrimination from those outside the jazz community. From the required, but revocable, cabaret cards in New York City to the prohibition on becoming members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), African-American musicians and composers were prevented from performing in clubs, deprived of copyright protection for their original works, and divested of well-deserved royalties. It’s no wonder then that jazz was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

America was not the only place where jazz flourished. In Europe, in the years leading up to and during World War II, jazz managed to survive boycotts of all things from “enemy” nations, bans on dancing, and life within the German concentration camps. In fact, jazz music boosted the morale of both prisoners and soldiers, served as camouflage for illegal meetings among prisoners, offered the possibility of avoiding the gas chamber to those in the camps, and acted as a means of propaganda and distraction for the government.

Jazz has a rich and colorful history, one that would not have existed were it not for the invention of the saxophone. So, on this National Saxophone Day, we commemorate not only the birth of Adolphe-Joseph Sax, the inventor the saxophone, but also those great jazz musicians who made that instrument sing and the masses dance.

Further Reading and Listening

Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Trade Dress Rights in Musical Instruments - Robert M. Kunstadt and Ilana Maggioni, 94 Trademark Reporter 1271 (2004) (available remotely through HeinOnline)

Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law: The Story of Jazz and Intellectual Property - Aleksey Nikolsky

Saxophone History Timeline - Steve Stusek

The Soul of the Saxophone - Library of Congress

Jazz Research at the Library of Congress

The Law Police Used to Discriminate Against Musicians of Color - Jazz Night in America - NPR

Songs of the Civil Rights Movement - NPR

I Voted!

This “Future Voter” visited the polls in New Orleans in the 2016 presidential election. Vote early!

As we posted on Monday, early voting has begun in Harris County. It continues through October 30, allowing all registered voters plenty of time to make their voices heard!

As we conclude one full week of record activity at the polls, social media abounds with photos of proud friends, family, and famous folks who have already cast their ballots in the 2020 elections. No Instagram pic of a satisfied voter is complete without an “I Voted” sticker and a few words to rally all followers. Tack on an #ivoted hashtag, and the 21st century voting ritual is complete!

The Texas “I Voted” sticker is simple and no-frills — not big, bold, or bombastic as one might expect from the typically titanic Lone Star State. (Alaska, by contrast, which is geographically larger than Texas — and proud of it!— just revealed its 13 new “I Voted” stickers for 2020, which celebrate women and highlight native languages. Even Alaskans who vote from home can download digital stickers to proclaim their voting pride.) Instead, for a state as unique as Texas, our voting stickers are rather plain. However, the clean, classic design of our ballot badges still conveys the outsize honor we feel in being part of the democratic process. No one struts, swaggers, and swells with pride like a Texan!

Voters in other parts of the nation celebrate their visits to the polls in much more colorful and creative ways. Many of the stickers reflect the flavor, culture, and people of the regions they represent, highlighting features that make each state, city, county, or borough unique. Samples of our favorites are shown here, and links to even more stand-out stickers can been seen in the list below. Which is your favorite?

From Left to Right: New York City, Nashville, Louisiana

• The ‘I Voted’ Stickers You’re Wearing — From All 50 States (2018) — CNN

• Most Creative and Original ‘I Voted’ Stickers — U.S. Election Assistance Commission

• Download your Digital ‘I Voted’ Sticker — When We All Vote

• Why the ‘I Voted’ Sticker Matters (2012) — The Atlantic

• Houston Restaurants Offer Specials, Freebies to Folks Who Vote — Houstonia

• An ‘I Voted’ Sticker Can Get You Free Stuff, But It Shouldn’t (2016) — The New York Times

Feel Good Friday: National Angel Food Cake Day

Tomorrow, October 10, the United States will celebrate the annual National Angel Food Cake Day. How did this amazing confection, which manages to delight despite containing no butter or oil, come into our world?

Historians agree that the angel food cake is a truly American food, born in the United States. Some question remains, however, about the exact circumstances. An impressive number of angel food cake pan molds, dating to the 1800s, have been found in Pennsylvania Dutch country, fueling speculation that this fat-free dessert was invented there. Others believe that the enormous amount of physical labor involved in creating the batter in a time without electricity means it likely originated in a state with legalized slave labor.

An 1839 recipe published in “The Kentucky Housewife” appears to be the missing link connecting the modern angel food cake to traditional sponge cakes. According to Joy of Cooking, angel food cakes are unique because they contain “no chemical leaveners such as baking powder or baking soda,” which means the “main sources of leavening . . . are air and steam, so the volume of air beaten into the egg whites is of utmost importance (75th Anniversary Edition, p 705).” This means angel food batter is extremely difficult to create by hand.

In 1856, we see the first patent for a rotary egg beater. The idea for a mechanical egg beater continued to be perfected over the ensuing decades, and the 1870 advent of the dual whisk egg beater set the stage for the explosion of the angel food cake in American home cooking. An angel food cake recipe that would be recognizable to modern readers was printed in the New York Times in 1880. We know it was a White House favorite of then-First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes.

While angel food cake has its roots in the adolescent days of our republic, its perfection and widespread popularity were only made possible through the mechanization of home cookery.

Further Exploration

• Read more about the history and nature of angel food cake at MarthaStewart.com