All Astir

All Astir Mary K. Bercaw Edwards July 9, 2021, saw the successful completion of the NEH-funded K-12 Teachers' Institute, "Moby-Dick and the World of Whaling in the Digital Age," co-sponsored by The Melville Society and the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The Institute, originally scheduled for early Summer 2020, was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and instead held virtually in late June and early July 2021. Timothy Marr and Wyn Kelley served as co-directors. They were joined as faculty by the other members of the Melville Society Cultural Project—Jennifer Baker, Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Christopher Sten, and Robert K. Wallace—as well as Jeffrey Markham, a high-school teacher and 2018 participant. Wyn's MIT colleague Erica Zimmer served as a much-appreciated technology specialist. The 25 participants came from across the country, including South Dakota and California, and taught in a wide variety of settings: public schools, private schools, charter schools, prisons, and institutions focusing on immigrants and ESL students. Our apprehensions that meeting virtually might diminish the pedagogical quality of the Institute were unfounded: discussions were vibrant, profound, challenging, and enriching. Each participant worked on a project throughout the Institute and presented that project in the last few days. All projects will eventually appear on the Teaching Melville site so they can be accessed by teachers and others. For example, Jason Vermillion designed an infographic project exploring geography within Melville's work as a model for his students for his final presentation, "The Counterpane: An Infographic Approach to Moby-Dick." Jeff Peterson, one of the West Coast participants, introduced the teachers and Institute faculty to the work of muralist Jos Sances. Erica Zimmer then traveled to Sebastopol, California, to join Jeff at Sances's July 14, 2021, presentation of "Or The Whale," a 51-foot by 14-foot scratchboard sperm whale. The label for the whale reads: To create his life-size drawing of a sperm whale, Jos Sances was deeply inspired by Moby-Dick and the history of whaling in America, an industry that didn't end in California until the last whaling station closed down in 1971. In departing from C.L.R. James's idea that Moby Dick is a metaphor for capitalism, Sances embeds within the body of his scratchboard whale a history of capitalism in America. . . . "Or The Whale" celebrates workers—those who carry the human burden of this exploitation. Sances's iconic work suggests [End Page 131] the urgency of the current climate crisis and its effect on the health of all of us, but particularly on the most vulnerable—the exploited and abandoned. Colin Dewey, former Executive Secretary of the Melville Society, wrote after the presentation, "Look for something honoring this work and artist at the California State University Maritime Academy in, let's hope, the not-too-distant future. People are very interested." Click for larger view View full resolution Images from Jason Vermillion's project, "The Counterpane: An Infographic Approach to Moby-Dick," for the NEH-funded K-12 Teachers' Institute, "Moby-Dick and the World of Whaling in the Digital Age," co-sponsored by the Melville Society and the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Images courtesy of Jason Vermillion. Melville Electronic Library associate director Christopher Ohge received the Boydston Essay Prize 2020–21, given by the Association for Documentary Editing, for "Melville Incomplete" (American Literary History, 31.1 [Spring 2019]). Ohge's essay is a review of Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Uncompleted Writings (2017), volume 13 of the Northwestern-Newberry edition of The Writings of Herman Melville. The abstract notes: "The final volume of Melville's unfinished [End Page 132] writings by the Northwestern-Newberry edition is a monumental achievement. Monumental but also vexed, and vexing. Melville's unfinished poetry and especially his unfinished novella Billy Budd challenge traditional editorial theories of eclectic editing that have guided the NN editions for decades." Click for larger view View full resolution Audience members studying "Or The Whale . . ." (2018–2020), a 51-foot by 14-foot scratchboard sperm whale created by Jos Sances. July 14, 2021, Sebastopol, California. Photo courtesy of Jeff Peterson. In other news of the Melville Electronic Library, the first installment...