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ECP NetHppenings Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane

Olivia Phillips – Review of
Dan Gutstein. Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2023. 316 pages. ISBN: 1666915432.
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jfrr/article/view/41138/43112

Reviewed by:
Olivia Phillips
Indiana University
ohphilli [ @ ] iu.edu
Black and white images of little girls in dresses, some of them jumping off a wall

In Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane, Dan Gutstein takes on the challenge of tracing one of the USA’s most widely sung folk songs through history from the Civil War era to the 1970s. He examines the meandering of the “Liza Jane” song family between Black and white musical traditions, as reflected in studio recordings and on the page, stage, and screen. Illustrated through the saga of “Liza Jane” is the song’s presence within some of both the most disturbing and most uplifting moments in African American history. Gutstein suggests that the song served as a bridge between Black and white Americans in the era of segregation, perhaps because the “every-woman” character of Liza Jane is not racially bound (219). The book is a testament to Gutstein’s meticulous research, his profound care for “Little Liza Jane,” the many voices that have carried her through centuries, and the far-reaching significance of the song and her sister variants.

Two helpful concepts Gutstein uses to frame Poor Gal are “snotches” and “sludge.” Each of the book’s sixteen chapters, for example, is a snapshot in time, piecing together parts of the song’s story. Chapters are organized in a more-or-less chronological order and are based around periods and settings where “Liza Jane” was found—from 1860s newspaper columns to minstrel shows, the Bristol Sessions, Mickey Mouse, The Andy Griffith Show, and the music of Nina Simone and David Bowie. These chapters reflect the concept of “snotches,” small fragments or motifs of a song that, when considered within a larger pattern alongside other snotches, take on greater meaning in the re-creation of that which is unknown within the history of a song tradition. “Sludge,” meanwhile, refers to the messiness or uncertainty surrounding historical records. By drawing on these concepts throughout the book, Gutstein acknowledges the challenges of tracking down a history of “Liza Jane.”

A great gift of a folk song such as the “Liza Jane” family, from a scholarly perspective, is the variety of musical, cultural, and contextual facets that may be unearthed in its study. Through some combination of lyrical and musical analysis and attention to performance style, and social, historical, and performance contexts, the possible approaches to the study of folk song are limitless, if one bears in mind that options for historical case studies may be highly dependent on which records were preserved. Given this, I humbly suggest that Poor Gal is “a” cultural history, rather than “the” cultural history, of “Little Liza Jane.” Regardless, Gutstein, as an experienced musician and writer with an impressive history of combining the two crafts, brings a great deal of careful research and vast historical context and analysis to an understanding of this song’s story. He appreciates the importance of interdisciplinary study, evidenced by his citation of musicologists, ethnomusicologists, African American music scholars, folklorists, historians, and many others.

With full appreciation that Gutstein is writing from a different angle, I note an issue that folklorists, sociolinguists, and perhaps anthropologists might consider in a similar study involving printed folksong lyrics. Throughout Poor Gal, Gutstein references published lyrical transcriptions from the “Liza Jane” song family, going as far back as 1864. Many, if not most, of the transcriptions employ the racialized dialectal interpretations of the (usually white) transcriber. Thus, some discussion of the politics of language transcription and eye dialect may aid readers in considering the unavoidable biases of these lyrical transcriptions, or any transcription based on oral performance.

Gutstein’s evident care for Liza Jane and the people who have sung and recorded her stories in the past 160 years has paid off. Poor Gal would make a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any scholar with an interest in American folksong, the blending of white and African American music traditions, or archival studies of folklore, folk music, and popular culture in the United States.

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[Review length: 637 words • Review posted on February 19, 2025]

ECP NetHappenings U.S. Virgin Islands saves the US Mainland from Trump

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ECP NetHappenings U.S. Virgin Islands saves the US Mainland from Trump

GOLF

Fitting. Golf originated when Scots’ shepherds killing time hit petrified sheep turds with wooden sticks into rabbit holes. Honest.
The one and only thing Trump cares about is golf. All protests should be focused on gold courses. Scottish pranksters are targeting Trump’s Aberdeen golf course with some, uh, creative acts of defiance! Reports of intruders “decorating” the greens have led to increased security. I can’t help but chuckle.

POLITICS

The richest country in the world is now
asking its citizens for donations on to help pay off its debt.
Or billionaires could just pay taxes like everybody else.

Canada and Mexico are launching the $120B
Northern Corridor, a new trade route created
to bypass U.S. tariffs and customs. It will reduce
reliance on the U.S. and avoid Trump-era tariffs,
it’s set to boost their economies.

Paul Manafort: Pardoned for lying to protect Trump.
George Papadopolous: Pardoned for lying to protect Trump.
Mike Flynn: Pardoned for lying to protect Trump.
Roger Stone: Pardoned for lying to protect Trump.
Next up, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Sandi Bachom @sandibachom
I was in court when one of Epstein’s victims
described how Ghislaine Maxwell trained her
and groomed her. She was a virgin and Epstein raped
her on the floor, and she looked up and saw all the
photographs of the famous people, and Ghislaine
said she had to tell Epstein how fantastic he was after he raped her

Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma schools chief who
wants bibles in the classroom and Christianity
taught to kids, just got caught watching adult content.
On his work computer.
During a Board of Education meeting.
Read that again.
https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/ryan-walters-tv-displayed-nude-women

In 2002, at an Edge Foundation “Billionaires’ Dinner”
event in Monterey, CA, Jeffrey Epstein brought
Sarah Kellen and Cindy Lopez on his plane
to the event. Here they are with John Brockman.

It’s a great thing that regular TV is on the decline.
They preach merit too. The loudest preachers of
merit are nepo babies like these two and Musk.
Bitching about DEI while acting oblivious about bs like this.
@karlbode.com
To be clear Larry Ellison, a billionaire Trump
donor who believed the 2020 election was stolen
from Trump, used his own money to buy CBS
and install his son as the boss.
They’ll then convert CBS into another right wing
propaganda mill like Fox News.
It’s not really subtle!
Larry Ellison Invests $6 Billion in Son David’s
Paramount Takeover
The family office is funding the majority of the
$8 billion merger with Skydance as RedBird Capital Partn…
July 17, 2025 at 10:36 AM

Melanie D’Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie
Trump can’t legally deploy the military on US soil.
His budget bill gives $30B to ICE to hire 10,000
more masked, armed agents to be deployed in our communities.
He’s building a domestic military accountable only to him.
This isn’t about immigration.
It’s authoritarianism.

GOOD TROUBLE

If you haven’t yet seen the New Episode of South Park
Yes, ‘South Park’ Went There — And It’s Glorious
In a moment when Hollywood and the media are gripped by fear, Trey Parker and Matt Stone stepped to the mic and dropped a balls-out critique of President Trump and Paramount
Amazingly Aired Uncensored
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6khV7jD9xU

Donald Trump is DONE. Stick a fork in him.

Rep. Ro Khanna has FORMALLY
contacted Epstein’s Lawyers to obtain the
birthday book after learning it’s in their
hands – and not the DOJ’s.
“This is an extraordinary step toward justice…
and if needed, we can subpoena it.”
Things just got real for Trump. @RoKhanna is doing
what justice demands, going straight to Epstein’s
lawyers to get the birthday book. No more stalling.
No more sealed secrets.
The truth is knocking, and it’s not asking twice.

ARE YOU AWARE:
While the DOJ — at Trump’s bidding —
hides the Epstein files, little if any attention is
being paid to this: The U.S. Virgin Islands, acting
independently from U.S. law enforcement, exposed
Epstein’s international sex trafficking empire —
and won a record $105M+ civil settlement
in 2022 from his estate.

U.S. Virgin Islands saves the US Mainland
from Trump Their AG called it:
“An expansive criminal enterprise…
where dozens of young women and children
were trafficked, raped, sexually assaulted, and held captive.”
They named it the “Epstein Enterprise”.
They froze accounts, forced the sale of Epstein’s
private islands, and clawed back over $80M
in fraudulent tax credits.
This case got next to zero headlines.

Why?
▶️ It didn’t come from the FBI.
▶️ It didn’t come from U.S. DOJ.
▶️ It came from a Black woman AG in a U.S. territory who did what the U.S. DOJ wouldn’t do: expose the elite cover-up.

So we ask:
Where are the Virgin Islands Epstein files?
The documents. The photos. The logs.
We know they exist.
We demand their release.
Follow this link 12/1/02 to the official
announcement of the
U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice
https://usvidoj.com/u-s-virgin-islands-attorney-general-settles-sex-trafficking-case-against-estate-of-jeffrey-epstein-and-co-defendants-for-over-105-million/

THESE U.S.V.I. PEOPLE ARE SO STRONG AND RESILIENT!!
1990 Festival, U.S. Virgin Islands, Celebrations, Environment
In the Heart of the Storm: The Resilience of Culture

How many of those 4725 wire transfers
were made between Trump and Epstein?
Over 1 BILLION dollars And what were they for?

The Supreme Court just let the Trump
admin remove 3 members of the Consumer
Product Safety Commission without cause,
overruling a federal judge who reinstated them.
This continues a pattern of Trump removing independent officials
with no accountability.

Ralph Nader@RalphNader
Here’s a calculation for you.
Take all of DOGE’s cuts, the close downs of agencies,
the firing of hundreds of thousands of federal workers,
the breaking of all kinds of contracts with business
contractors including small businesses, the depletion
of the social safety net. Add it all up and it doesn’t
amount in terms of dollars to the three major
additions that Tyrant Trump has added:
-$150 billion more to the bloated military budget.
-Another $45 billion for building corporate
concentration camps for migrants who have not been
convicted of anything.
-And another $44 billion to build the wall
between Mexico and the United States.
Those totals are far greater than the cruel
and vicious so-called savings at the expense of the lives
and livelihoods of American families. -R

FOLKLORE

Professor Gregory Hansen
Here are some articles that include lots of photos.
https://arkreview.org/

“Envisioning a Storyworld at the Crowley’s
Ride Raceway.”
Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 55.3 (2024): 186-205.

“Delta Sources and Resources:
Delta Gateway Museum.”
Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 53.3 (2022): 227-9.

“KASU FM 91.9’s ‘Bluegrass Monday’: Performing
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Fostering Historic
Preservation in Arkansas, USA.” In Sustaining Support
for Intangible Cultural Heritage, edited by Shihan de
Silva Jayasuriya, Mariana Pinto Leitão Pereira and
Gregory Hansen.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022, 96-113.

“The Lepanto Terrapin Derby: A Photo Essay in the Time of a Pandemic.” Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 52.1 (2021): 36-52.

BITCOIN

Bitcoin just proved it can absorb a $9 BILLION
sell order in 36 hours with minimal market disruption.
Huge green light for large fund managers and sovereigns
who can be assured of moving their money in/out w relative ease.
Incredibly bullish liquidity test.

American HODL says the coming Bitcoin treasury bubble
could rival the dot-com era—$11T of capital chasing BTC,
with true mania not hitting until 2026+. That’s when
Bitcoin could theoretically run towards a $1M
blow-off top. Is he on to something?

ECP NetHappenings Saylor Academy Free Education For All

Supreme Court allows Trump to lay off nearly
1,400 Education Department employees

@grok said
Comparing debt-based fiat and Bitcoin:

Fiat: Relies on perpetual debt expansion to pay
prior obligations, eroding value via inflation
(e.g., USD lost 99% since 1971). Ponzi-like as new
money funds old without real backing,
risking collapse sans growth.

Bitcoin: Decentralized, fixed 21M supply, no central promises. Value from scarcity/market demand, not new entrants paying old.

Fiat more Ponzi-like (70% probability) due to debt
pyramid; Bitcoin low (10%) as asset, not scheme.
GROK AI SAYS THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS CORRUPT
BECAUSE IT “CREATES MONEY FROM THIN AIR.”
ITS ONE WORD SOLUTION: #BITCOIN

Mark Moss @1MarkMoss Jul 25
The “Holy Grail” Bitcoin indicator is the PI Cycle Top Indicator.
It has perfectly nailed Bitcoin cycle tops in 2013, 2017,
and 2021, but… what it’s calling next is hard to believe.
While everyone is expecting BTC to peak in Q4 2025,
the PI Cycle Top is calling for a peak in Q1 2027, with the
bitcoin price being $395,000
Will the Pi Cycle top continue to be accurate, or is it broken?
Only time will tell.

What Is the Dolphin Card?
The #DolphinCard has a 1% fee but you maintain full privacy & sovereignty.
Other cards might pay you 4% to use them, but you have to give up all your info, let them track your spending habits, and sell your data.
*They can de-platform you anytime too. I know which one I prefer.

HEADLINES

@BladeoftheS
The USA is the only country on the planet that
employs more people in Health Insurance than
it employs as Doctors and Nurses.
Most of your money is spent BLOCKING your own treatment.

OPT OUT OF ADVERTING

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21 children, some birthed by surrogate mothers,
found in connection with L.A.-area home
A local hospital notified police of an infant
who was taken to its care with head injuries.
Police said they are investigating whether the
children found at the home in the San Gabriel Valley
east of Los Angeles were part of a surrogacy scam.
The home’s residents — Silvia Zhang, 38,
and Guojun Xuan, 65 — were released from custody,
pending further investigation, authorities said.
It is not clear how many children at the
home were born to surrogate mothers

Meta shareholders vs Mark Zuckerberg in $8 billion lawsuit

The Patterns of Elites Who Conceal
Their Assets Offshore | Dartmouth

Minnesota Supreme Court Rules on
Unicorn Riot DAPL Subpoena

Ex-NYPD commissioner sues NYC mayor,
alleging he ran police department as a ‘criminal enterprise’

7 Concerning Levels Of Acoustic Spying Techniques
Take my hand while I gradually show you how to
spy in ways that will make KGB agents look like noobs.

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ECP NetHappenings It is getting Weirder and Weirder

I’m not sure what it’s going to take for the press and the public to recognize that we have a desperate raging NAZI puppeteering the fucking President in public. He is screaming it in your face—with his Nazi mom. Does he have to burn a cross, or what?
The billionaire owner of a social media platform that amplifies Nazis, and does Nazi salutes, and promotes the German AfD Party, is defending Hitler — and Trump is letting him run our government.

Proof of ELMOs avg. IQ
Tesla’s latest decline could be one for the history books, JPMorgan analysts say. It will be the first company ever to lose one *trillion* dollars of value.
Trillion. $1,000,000,000,000.
Elon Musk confidant James Murdoch member of Tesla’s board of directors becomes the latest Tesla insider to sell, cashing in $13 million amid the historic single-day plunge.

CNBC is calling the recent stock market drop the Tesla Chainsaw Massacre.

WHERE DOGE ISN’T CUTTING
DOGE is basically not touching the US military, where there actually is rampant fraud.
Because DOGE is just a scheme to gut social spending.
What is the biggest Pentagon contractor by market valuation? Elon Musk’s SpaceX, with $5.6 billion in contracts.

Tesla is leasing hundreds of private lots across the nation to store unsold vehicles away from dealerships.

THIS TRAJECTORY LOOKS LIKE ONE OF ELON’S ROCKETS

WAKE UP AMERIKA
Elon Musk Shares Meme Declaring ‘Hitler Didn’t Murder Millions’ — ‘Public Sector Employees Did’

Musk shared the post Thursday from an account named “TheAliceSmith” without comment, but was clearly trying to hype his work at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has fired thousands of federal employees. The image Musk shared read, “Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.” The original poster later wrote on X, “After the Nuremberg trials, the so-called ‘superior orders’ defense – ‘I was just following orders’ – is considered invalid under international law. Individual rather than collective responsibility for your actions is enshrined in law.”

Elon Musk has installed 10 of his DOGE operatives at the Social Security Administration.

We got their names The operatives—whom the government did not name in its filing—are, according to internal documents, Akash Bobba, Scott Coulter, Marko Elez, Luke Farritor, Antonio Gracias, Gautier Cole Killian, Jon Koval, Nikhil Rajpal, Payton Rehling, and Ethan Shaotran. This team appears to be among the largest DOGE units deployed to any government agency.

Inside the SSA for DOGE:
• 4x private equity guys with no gov experience
• 3x 22/23yr-old recent college grads
• 1x SpaceX intern who didn’t finish college
• 1x engineer who previously resigned for racist comments

Weirder and Weirder

The @USTreasury announced that the threshold for currency transaction reports has been lowered from $10,000 to $200 for Americans living in 30 zip codes in CA and TX. This is a drastic increase in financial surveillance, says @EconWithNick @CatoInstitute

President Trump announced that he will personally craft the strategy for US wars against Greenland-Denmark, Canada, and Panama. He said, “I have to do it, not the generals, they’re smart but I’m smarter, can you believe it, people said I’m smarter, very smarter….”

BREAKING: US Postal Service: We plan to reduce workforce by 10,000 employees in next 30 days through a voluntary early retirement program
The Postal Service is literally in the Constitution. It’s an essential PUBLIC service, and it should never be privatized. This would hurt millions of Americans, especially those in the most rural places.

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ECP NetHappenings Neo-Nazis Blood & Honour Music

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Neo-Nazis Linked to “Terrorist Activities” to Host Budapest Concert
Blood & Honour (B&H), a UK-founded international neo-Nazi music network.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/01/30/neo-nazis-linked-to-terrorist-activities-to-host-budapest-concert/

ROUGH MUSIC AND THE KKK

An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Cultures of Honor – Bryan Palmer

https://web.archive.org/web/20120531001221/https://www.trentu.ca/history/publications_palmer.php

explains the connections between charivari, rough music and forerunners of the KKK in American Southern history in a Canadian journal called Labour. A key element of cultures of honor is that men in these cultures are prepared to protect with violence the reputation for strength and toughness. There’s new scholarship on Klan history, including the role of women in the Klan. Yes, identity, as happens, plays a significant, three-pronged, role in honor. Honor influences shared identities, often through nationalism. Primarily the KKK hated Catholic, Jewish, Black and Franco-American, French Canadian communities.

Folklorist Roger Abrahams in his classes at U of Penn on public display events pointed out the CHARIVARI / Klan connections, building on the work of rough music, skimmington, whitecaps, and other related European-American masking traditions and community morality.

What the [ alt-right ] actually wants from President Trump
There is no “altRight” #KKKsplaining where they have a continuing and disproportionate influence. The alt-right’s priority, first and foremost, is preserving America’s status as a white-majority nation.

Folklorist Stetson Kennedy argues, if I remember correctly, that Klan immigration proposals have pretty much been adopted over the years. Folklorist Stetson Kennedy exposed the KKK’s inner workings U.S. status as a white-majority nation.

Donald’s Father Fred Trump was arrested when anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klansmen attacked police in New York in 1927. Fun fact: On Memorial Day of 1927, Trump’s father was arrested at a KKK rally in Queens, NY

ECP NetHappenings KKK Project 2025 in the White House

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