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A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Festivus and Family Lore

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

This time of year many people celebrate Festivus, an alternative holiday that is based on a single episode of the television show Seinfeld, “The Strike,” which aired on December 18, 1997. It is most commonly celebrated on December 23 or another date in December, but it can be celebrated at other times of the year. …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Flashbulb Memories: Where Were You When…?

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

Flashbulb memories are those vivid, autobiographical memories that form when we learn of a particularly surprising, traumatic or impactful event. These kinds of memories burrow themselves deep into our memory banks, and often remain dormant until triggered to resurface. An image. A sound. A scent. Anything, really, can be the catalyst that sets the wheels …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

News Coverage of Folklife Research for African American History Month

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The American Folklife Center has recently received some coverage for our efforts to research and recognize African American history which we'd like to tell you about. Last weekend the Atlanta Journal Constitution published this article about the spiritual "Kumbaya." In the article, Shelia M. Poole interviews AFC staff members John Fenn and Stephen Winick (hey, that's me) and even call me "the folklorist version of Sherlock Holmes" for locating what we believe to be the first sound recording of "Kumbaya" some years ago. She also interviews Griffin Lotson, who did research here and in Georgia, and who helped get the song declared the first State Historical Song of Georgia. We wrote about that research here on the blog. We also did a podcast about it, at this link. And we've previously  been covered and interviewed by the New York Times, which you can find here.