Edith Nash

Last updated
Edith Nash
Born(1913-07-12)July 12, 1913
Oak Park, Illinois
Died November 9, 2003(2003-11-09) (aged 90)
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

Edith Nash (July 12, 1913 – November 9, 2003) was an American educator and poet. She served as the second director of the Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC from 1961-1975. She and her husband Philleo Nash, who served as a political appointee in several Democratic presidential administrations, lived most of their lives in Wisconsin. She published several collections of poetry, and her work has been included in anthologies.

Georgetown Day School (GDS) is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students across two campuses in the city's Northwestern quadrant. Russell Shaw is the current Head of School.

Philleo Nash American politician

Philleo Nash was a government official, educator, anthropolologist, and the 33rd Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1959–1961 as a Democrat.

Contents

Early life

Edith Henriet Rosenfels was born in 1913 as the youngest child and only girl in a Jewish family in Oak Park, Illinois. She had three older brothers: Richard, and identical twins Paul and Walter. [1] Edith later described their mother Helen (d. 1965) as politically liberal; for years she was on the Abraham Lincoln Center Board on the South Side of Chicago. Their father Irwin S. Rosenfels, a businessman, died in 1935. In terms of family dynamics, Edith believed she was the favorite of their father; she said he found the boys difficult to deal with, and Richard was preferred by their mother. [1] Richard earned a PhD in botany; Paul became a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and Walter worked in advertising as a copy writer. As they grew up, the three brothers realized they were homosexual, but never discussed it openly with their parents. [1]

Oak Park, Illinois Village in Illinois, United States

Oak Park is a village adjacent to the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the 29th largest municipality in Illinois as measured by population in the 2010 U.S. census. As of the 2010 United States Census the village had a population of 51,878.

Paul Rosenfels was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst known as one of the first American social scientists to publish about homosexuality as part of the human condition, rather than defining it as an illness or deviation. After leaving the academic field of psychiatry in the 1940s, he developed some of his own thinking and a larger philosophy. He published Homosexuality: The Psychology of the Creative Process in 1971, and other books about his arguments with psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Edith Rosenfels met her future husband Philleo Nash while in college at the University of Chicago. He roomed for a time with her older brother Paul and was getting his PhD in anthropology. On November 2, 1935, they married. Edith Nash, also trained as an anthropologist, did field work in the American West in the 1930s among Native Americans. Their children were daughters Maggie and Sally. [1] [2]

University of Chicago Private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. The university is composed of an undergraduate college, various graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees organized into five academic research divisions and seven professional schools. Beyond the arts and sciences, Chicago is also well known for its professional schools, which include the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Booth School of Business, the Law School, the School of Social Service Administration, the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, the Divinity School and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. The university holds top-ten positions in various national and international rankings.

Anthropology is the scientific study of humans and human behavior and societies in the past and present. Social anthropology and cultural anthropology study the norms and values of societies. Linguistic anthropology studies how language affects social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of humans.

Paul Rosenfels became a board-certified psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in Chicago, but taught as well as having a clinical practice. He left academia in the 1940s, serving in the military and then in the California prison system. He published a book against psychoanalysis. He was the only brother to marry and have a child, but left his family when he moved to California. After living there as a homosexual, he moved to New York City in 1962. He started a private practice and in 1971 published a book about homosexuality, saying it was as valid as heterosexuality. In 1973 he and Dean Hannottee with students co-founded the Ninth Street Center in New York City for the study of humanity. It included peer counseling and group discussions. [1]

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are medical doctors, unlike psychologists, and must evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments, or strictly psychiatric. A psychiatrist usually works as the clinical leader of the multi-disciplinary team, which may comprise of psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and nursing staff. Psychiatrists have broad training in a bio-psycho-social approach to assessment and management of mental illness.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and the U.S. state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Years in Washington, DC

After the Nashes moved to Washington, DC in 1942 when Philleo gained a position in the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, Edith Nash became the second director and co-founder of the Georgetown Day School, the first racially integrated school in the capital. She served there from 1961 to 1975. [3]

Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd president of the United States

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which realigned American politics into the Fifth Party System and defined American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II. Roosevelt is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in American history, as well as among the most influential figures of the 20th century. Though he has also been subject to much criticism, he is generally rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

After they left Washington, the Nashes settled in Philleo's home town of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. They returned to Washington in the early 1960s, when Philleo served as Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He always said was the best job he ever had. [2] After her husband's death in 1990, she managed their family Biron, Wisconsin, cranberry marsh and processing business mostly from there. [1] They had also often stayed at their cottage in Biron. She became active in local and state politics, and was an early supporter of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat. [3]

Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin City in Wisconsin, United States

Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,367 at the 2010 census.

Bureau of Indian Affairs US government agency

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American Tribes and Alaska Natives.

John F. Kennedy 35th president of the United States

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, commonly referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician and journalist who served as the 35th president of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. He served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his presidency dealt with managing relations with the Soviet Union. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate prior to becoming president.

Literary career

Edith Nash also wrote poetry and critical essays. Practice: The Here and Now (Cross+Roads Press, 2001), her best-known book, includes a sample of her poetry and prose. Included in it are poems about her 1930s "coming out" party at a Chicago speakeasy, meeting "Ernie" Hemingway through his younger sister in 1929 at their parents' house, and progressive causes she had championed. [3]

Her life was celebrated in the poem "When You're Eighty-Five," written by her friend Mark Scarborough and published in the summer 2001 issue of the Wisconsin Academy Review. [3]

Among Nash's other writer friends were Muriel Rukeyser and Frances Hamerstrom. Nash, an inspiration for generations of writers in central Wisconsin, also was a tireless advocate of free expression during her tenure as a member of a book review committee of the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools. She founded the Riverwood Roundtable, a writing group and literary society.

Elisa Derickson was a student member of the Roundtable. In 1994, after winning a Seventeen magazine award and scholarship, Nash assisted Derickson in setting up the Elisa Derickson Fund for Writing through the newly formed South Wood County Community Foundation, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Nash contributed money from the Roundtable and other fund raising to this fund. [3]

Edith Nash's other volumes of poetry include White Line on the Left (Round Robin Press, no date, but circa 1990), The Words (Home Brew Press, 1992), Now is the Time (Round Robin Press, 1996), and A Christmas Offering: Selected Poems, 1985–2000 (privately printed, 2000). Her poetry has been included in the anthologies, The Poetry of Cold (Home Brew Press, 1997), and At the Heart of Riverwood (Round Robin Press, 2000). [3]

Her poems and essays were published in magazines as Free Verse,Wisconsin Poet's Calendar, and Wisconsin River Valley Journal. [3]

Edith Nash died in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.

Related Research Articles

Ogden Nash American poet

Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry.

Biron, Wisconsin Village in Wisconsin, United States

Biron is a village in Wood County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 839 at the 2010 census. It is the site of ND Paper's Biron Mill.

H.D. American Imagist poet

Hilda "H.D." Doolittle was an American poet, novelist, and memoirist, associated with the early 20th century avant-garde Imagist group of poets, including Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington. She published under the pen name H.D.

Edith Sitwell British poet

Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell, was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess. She never married but became passionately attached to Russian painter Pavel Tchelitchew, and her home was always open to London's poetic circle, to whom she was generous and helpful.

Thomas Nashe 16th-century English pamphleteer and poet

Thomas Nashe [also Nash] was an Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel The Unfortunate Traveller, his pamphlets including Pierce Penniless, and his numerous defences of the Church of England.

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May 1, 1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive the Pulitzer.

Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words". By definition, sound poetry is intended primarily for performance.

Paul Blackburn (poet) American writer

Paul Blackburn was an American poet. He influenced contemporary literature through his poetry, translations and the encouragement and support he offered to fellow poets.

Julia A. Moore American writer

Julia Ann Moore, was an American poetaster. Like Scotland's William McGonagall, she is famed chiefly for writing notoriously bad poetry.

Frederick Feirstein is a poet, playwright and psychoanalyst. He has published nine books of poetry, has had twelve plays produced, and has had numerous psychoanalytic and literary essays published. His ninth book of poems, Dark Energy, was published in 2013 as the first book in the Grolier Series of Established Poets.

Olena Kalytiak Davis is an American poet.

Elizabeth Barnard granddaughter of William Shakespeare

Elizabeth, Lady Barnard was the granddaughter of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Despite two marriages, she had no children, and was his last surviving descendant.

Homoerotic poetry is a genre of poetry implicitly dealing with same-sex romantic or sexual interaction. The male-male erotic tradition encompasses poems by major poets such as Abu Nuwas, Walt Whitman, Federico García Lorca, Sandro Penna, W. H. Auden, Fernando Pessoa and Allen Ginsberg. In the female-female tradition, authors may include those such as Sappho, "Michael Field", "Marie-Madeleine" and Maureen Duffy. Other poets wrote poems and letters with homoerotic overtones toward individuals, such as Emily Dickinson to her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert.

Edith Gyömrői Ludowyk was a Hungarian Jewish psychotherapist, poet and communist. She was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka.

Anthony Chute English poet

Anthony Chute was an Elizabethan poet and pamphleteer. Very little is known about him.

In Medieval Europe, attitudes toward homosexuality varied by era and region. Generally, by at least the twelfth century, homosexuality was considered sodomy and was punishable by death. Before the Medieval period early Romans tolerated alternative sexual practices, such as masturbation in males and females and homosexuality. Despite persecution, records of homosexual relationships during the Medieval period did exist. This persecution reached its height during the Medieval Inquisitions, when the sects of Cathars and Waldensians were accused of fornication and sodomy, alongside accusations of satanism. In 1307, accusations of sodomy and homosexuality were major charges leveled during the Trial of the Knights Templar.

The Choise of Valentines Or the Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo, which alternatively acquired the label "Nashe's Dildo", is an erotic poem by Thomas Nashe, thought to have been composed around 1592 or 1593. The poem survives in three extant manuscript versions and was first printed in 1899. It recounts in the first person a sexual encounter in a brothel between the narrator, Tomalin, and his lover, Mistress Frances. The poem contains the most detailed description of a dildo in Renaissance literature, and constitutes the first known use of the word "dildo", though the word may derive ultimately from popular ballads.

Clara Hapgood Nash American lawyer

Clara Holmes Hapgood Nash was an American lawyer who was the first woman admitted to the bar in New England.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dean Hannotte, "A Conversation with Edith Nash", Paul Rosenfels Community website
  2. 1 2 Edith Nash, "Some Reminiscences about Paul", Ninth Street Journal, Vol. 7, Winter 1987, accessed 17 March 2014
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Norbert Blei (1935-2013) "Edith Nash", Poetry Dispatch & Other Notes from Underground, online journal and website
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.