For those who celebrate May Day, it's all about the ding-dong-ditch - ringing a neighbor's doorbell, leaving a basket of flowers or candy and then racing to hide. Kids love it, and so do some shameless adults.

The May 1 holiday goes virtually unnoticed for many people in the United States, but it's a great opporunity to teach our children how to do nice things for other people.

May Day wasn't always an obscure, secular holiday. A thousand years ago, the Celtic pagans of the British Isles celebrated it as a cherished holiday that marked the beginning of the growing season. Pagans throughout medieval Europe made offerings to their gods and asked for a fertile year. There was communal feasting, and the youth danced around a Maypole, often the tallest hawthorne tree that could be found, stripped of its branches.

''If you're anticipating fertile crops, you need to talk to the gods,'' says Anthony Aveni, an astronomy and anthropology professor at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., by way of explaining the holiday. ''You need to cook up a deal with the gods.''

May Day's medieval popularity didn't transfer to the Americas, according to Aveni, author of The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays. The Roman Catholic Church, however, has long dedicated May to the Virgin Mary, and celebrates Mary on May 1 - effectively Christianizing the holiday.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union put its socialist twist on May Day, using May 1 for trotting out its military might in parades marked by red flags and red flowers.

Interestingly, the holiday has had a secular resurgence in U.S. schools, where children learn about plant life while celebrating the traditional holiday.

''Maybe what goes around, comes around,'' says Aveni. ''That's the way holidays work - new ones are created out of old ones.''

What's a simple smile worth these days? Make a May Day basket with the kids and find out.

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The Colgate men's lacrosse team had just defeated Bucknell in the Patriot League championship game to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in its 76-year history. The Raiders now gathered on the field of conquest for the ritual postgame team picture, complete with wide smiles and arms extended with index fingers pointing at the camera or toward the sky.

Kneeling on the far left in the front row, much removed from the focus of the camera and the wild celebration it captured, was Brandon Corp, looking in toward his teammates with a simple expression of satisfaction.

That scene, frozen in time, defined the junior attackman from Chittenango better than any words could. Corp had just set Patriot League Tournament records for goals (eight) and points (11) in victories over Navy and Bucknell, performances that earned him tournament MVP. In a semifinal victory over the Midshipmen he had faced the league's defender of the year, senior Jordan DiNola, and scored five goals.

"When he plays his game, no one can touch him," teammate and fellow attackman Kevin Colleluori said.

Yet, after demanding the attention of the spotlight with his brilliant play, there Corp knelt to the side afterward, content to soak in the joy exuded by his teammates.

"There are a lot of great players around me," Corp said earlier this week.

"I couldn't do what I've done without them." Welcome to the world of Brandon Corp, who Raiders coach Jim Nagle calls "the most unselfish superstar type of kid I've ever met." Unselfish and almost painfully unassuming off the field and an amazing talent on it.

"He definitely was on our (recruiting) radar," said Syracuse coach John Desko, whose No. 2 Orange (12-1) will face Corp and the No. 12 Raiders (10-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Hamilton. "I think he was even on the basketball radar a little bit at the time. I just know he is a tremendous athlete." Folks in Chittenango know it has always been that way for Corp, who graduated as the school's career scoring leader in basketball and lacrosse and was a star quarterback/tailback on the football team. As a youngster he was a national wrestling champion.

“He's always had great success in every sport he's played,” Nagle said. “And I knew that wasn't going to change.”

That is why Nagle, who had just been allowed to phase in athletic scholarships under new Patriot League rules, decided to make Corp the centerpiece of his plan to build Colgate into a national player. Never mind that Chittenango is an outpost compared to the usual Central New York destinations of college recruiters. That didn't stop the region's Empire State Games talent scouts from recognizing Corp's ability and adding him to the 2004 CNY roster that captured ESG gold. It didn't stop Corp from earning All-America recognition. And it didn't stop Nagle.

“He was really pushing for me,” Corp recalled. “He had a lot of confidence in my potential, and that's what led me to make my decision. I couldn't be happier.”

Corp (6-foot, 180 pounds) walked onto the field and into the lineup as a freshman midfielder and endured the usual growing pains associated with making the leap from high school to Division I lacrosse. He made rookie mistakes but still produced 19 goals and six assists.

Sensing he needed a player of Corp's ability on the field all the time, Nagle moved Corp to attack early last season and he blossomed with 32 goals and 18 assists — among them three goals and an assist in a 12-5 victory over Syracuse — and was honored as the league's offensive player of the year.

“He is very quick,” Desko said. “He is very dangerous. He's got a quick release, and he can get in front of the goal.”

“He's got all the tools,” Nagle said, “speed, quickness and strength.”

What Corp didn't have was an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament despite leading the team to a 22-9 record in his first two seasons. The Raiders entered the 2006 PL tourney as the top seed but were upset at home by Army in the semifinals. Last season they lost to Navy in the PL title game but then defeated SU and expected to receive an NCAA at-large bid. Corp and his teammates were bitterly disappointed when they were passed over.

The frustration mounted early this season when Nagle and Corp were greeted by teams that had designed strategies to neutralize the most dangerous player on the field.

“It caught Brandon by surprise, and to be honest it caught us as a coaching staff by surprise,” Nagle said. “It took us a while to adjust.”

“It was definitely frustrating at times,” Corp said. “Teams definitely come early to me with the slide (double team). Things weren't going my way, but I tried to do the little things such as riding and hustling to get ground balls and just help my team any way I could.”

Nagle, sensing his star was putting too much pressure on himself to produce points as the team struggled to a 4-5 record, sat down with him and redefined his role in the offense.

“It reminded me of Mike Powell his senior year at Syracuse,” Nagle said. “In the beginning he (Powell) was trying to do too much himself against defenses loaded to stop him. Then he figured out that by moving the ball quickly against those kinds of defenses somebody was going to be wide open. When he started doing that the team caught fire.”

Corp went the same route, and Colgate will enter the SU game on a six-game victory streak.

“I've been learning to move without the ball and just go full speed all the time and just get my teammates more involved,” he said. “I just played for the team and continued to work.”

The work paid off. Two weeks before the annual PL tournament, there was doubt as to whether the Raiders would be one of the four teams to make the field. A road upset of Bucknell got them the third seed and a rematch with Navy in the semifinals.

The Middies had defeated Colgate 8-3 on Easter Sunday in Hamilton. This time, Corp took over with a six-point performance against a team that had been allowing fewer than five goals a game at the time. Colgate won 12-9.

“He was pretty special,” Nagle said. “Friday (against Navy) he was really at his best. Our whole team feeds off him. He has the defensive player of the year covering him, and they're a great team defensively (Navy leads Division I in scoring defense). Brandon was just really, really special. He played at a real high level.”

“He makes everyone else's job easier,” Colleluori said. “He's that good of an all-around player. He's the best athlete on the field, game in and game out.”

Corp added five points (3-2) in the 13-9 title victory over Bucknell to complete his record-setting weekend and prove to all in attendance why he was named the league's offensive player of the year for the second consecutive season. He will enter the SU game with 38 goals and 52 points. He is already No. 7 in school history in goals (89) and No. 10 in points (127).

Still, you would never know it by looking at that team picture of the Raiders celebrating their title.

“He'll never give himself credit,” Colleluori said. “He's almost shy about it. He's such a team player.”

“As long as I'm satisfied with what I've done here and have no regrets,” Corp said, “the accolades really don't mean much to me. Honestly.”

Nor does the spotlight, even if Corp's play on the field demands it.

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Four Central New York arts organizations are among 1,014 groups to receive grants today from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The NEA plans to distribute $77.4 million to nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations across the country in five categories: Access to Artistic Excellence (in dance, design, folk and traditional arts, literature, musical theater, opera and more); Arts on Radio and Television; Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth; Partnership Agreements (state and regional); and American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius (for performances, exhibitions, tours and educational programs that "acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy").

The local groups are:
Cornell University, $50,000, for "Objects and Their Makers: New Insights," a visual arts education project based on the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art's permanent collection. The program will offer grade- and culture-specific learning units focused on the art of Africa, Asia and the Americas and their historical context.

Geneva Concerts Inc., $10,000, for "Taylor 2 Company," a three-week residency that includes outreach activities for youth and young adults at 11 sites in rural and underserved areas surrounding Geneva. The program culminates with a performance by the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Skaneateles Festival Inc., $7,500, for "I Love New York," a celebration of chamber music works by New York composers, including "Spirituals" by R. Nathaniel Dett, "Five Portraits for Cello and Piano" by Virgil Thomson; "Corner in Manhattan" by Michael Torke, "Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6," by Samuel Barber; and three works by John Novacek: "Barcarolle," "Stephen Foster Fantasy for Piano Trio" and "Four Rags for Clarinet and Piano."

Syracuse Symphony Orchestra Inc., $22,000, for a concert tour to the North Country. The orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Daniel Hege, will perform concerts in rural and underserved communities.

And International Film Seminars, based in New York City, $35,000, for the 54th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. The weeklong event will be held at Colgate University and will bring together students, scholars, filmmakers, curators, librarians and film enthusiasts to explore and discuss the art of the moving image.

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The Salt City's salt didn't dry up - it was a victim, in part, of politics.

That was the theory offered Saturday by a Colgate University professor who has studied the history of Syracuse's salt springs, which produced salt for more than a century until they were shut down in 1926.

Geography professor William Meyer's presentation was one of five given Saturday morning on a variety of topics funded by Colgate's Upstate Institute. The institute was launched five years ago to focus much of the college's research on Upstate New York to help boost the region's profile. 'I think it's part of us being good neighbors in the best possible way,' said Colgate President Rebecca Chopp. 'We want to join the effort to make Upstate a livable and attractive place, to make sure people stay here and so more people come to live here.' Other research presented included a comparison of support networks for senior citizens in Hamilton and Albany, what scientific analysis of old maple syrup reveals about increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and how African-Americans built social networks across Upstate New York.

In his presentation on the salt springs, Meyer said most people assume that when a natural resource like salt is no longer extracted, it must have run out. But there is still plenty of salt in the springs at the south end of Onondaga Lake, he said; the reasons it is no longer extracted vary from economics to politics.

The springs, where salty water was pumped from underground and then dried to separate the salt, were a key source of revenue for the state in the early 1800s. Meyer said it made up as much as 20 percent of the state's general revenues. But when Congress in 1830 cut in half the tariff charged on imported salt, New York had to reduce its prices to remain competitive. When the tariff on imported salt later disappeared, Meyer said, New York's salt springs couldn't compete with other, cheaper sources.

Still, he said, Albany politics were much like they are now. Even after the salt springs began losing money, he said, they remained open because they provided about 50 politically appointed jobs. 'This was the most important program of patronage appointments available in Upstate New York,' Meyer said. Most salt today is extracted from mines, which is much cheaper than drying out salt water, Meyer said.

Meyer plans to write a book on the history of the salt springs. Publication is still several years away, he said.

Other researchers offered their findings Saturday. Among them:

Sociology professor Meika Loe discussed how senior citizens in Hamilton and Albany differ in the way they receive help. In Albany, that help tends to come from government. In the town of Hamilton, population 5,700, the help comes from friends, families and neighbors.

For example, she said, four Hamilton widows call each other every morning at 8 to ensure all are OK. The women, who range in age, from 72 to 94, also have keys to the homes of the other three, Loe said.

The implications of the research are important, Loe said, as the population in the state and nation gets older. The overall populations of Albany and Hamilton are expected to grow just 3 percent by 2025, but the number of senior citizens will rise by 35 percent, Loe said.

"As the community demographics change, how will local institutions adapt to serving an aging population?" she asked.

Geography professor William Peck discussed how sugar maple trees provide evidence for the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide, and how the climate change believed to be caused by that buildup will change where sugar maple trees will grow.

In chemical analyses of syrup produced over the past 15 years, Peck and his students found increasing amounts of the form of carbon produced by the burning of fossil fuels.

"The atmosphere is changing in the last 30 years because of the burning of coal and oil," Peck said.

Scientists believe that carbon dioxide is acting like a greenhouse gas, retaining heat from the sun and slowly warming up the earth. That will have consequences for the maple syrup industry, worth about $8 million a year in New York, he said.

"Climate change is going to do something to the sugar maple zone," he said. "One possibility is the southern margin of where the sugar maple thrives is going to march northward and leave our area."

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Fabric fragments excavated from the tomb of an ancient Maya queen rival modern textiles in their complexity and quality, scientists say.

The tomb was discovered in the Maya city of Copán in Honduras by a team led by archaeologist Robert Sharer of the University of Pennsylvania.

Some of the fabrics found within her tomb have thread counts of over 80 weft yarns per inch, said Margaret Ordonez, a textile expert at the University of Rhode Island who studied the cloth.

"This is in the range of the clothing that we wear," she said. "This is a higher thread count than your jeans."

Some of the fragments contained as many as 25 layers of fabric, stacked atop one another and fused together over time.

"What's surprising is the fragments still exist," Ordonez said.

"We're talking about a humid climate, and to have fragments of fabric exist in the tomb for that long is just amazing."

Archaeologists suspect that the tomb was opened after the queen's death to allow worshipers to perform rituals and make offerings of fabric and other items.

"It was fairly common that there was a ritual conducted, especially for royalty," Sharer, the archaeologist, said.

How Did the Maya Weave?

The fabrics were made of various plant materials, including cotton, grasses, leaves, and tree bark. Some of the fragments retained hints of glorious hues, including a bright red made from cinnabar and a deep black, possibly created using iron.

The high quality of the weaving suggests it was a very time-consuming task, Ordonez said.

It's unknown how the Maya wove their fabrics, but Ordonez suspects they used an instrument called a back-strap loom.

One end of the loom was anchored to a tree, while a strap at the other end was wrapped around the weaver (see enlarged picture at left).

"The weaver leans forward and backward to create the tension on the yarns," Ordonez said.

Ordonez's work was funded by the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies and is currently being prepared for publication.

"Boon" to Maya Studies

Allan Maca, an archaeologist and Maya expert at Colgate University in New York called the discovery "extraordinary" and a boon to Maya studies.

"The samples are probably too small for substantive studies of symbolism, but Ordonez's work is providing new insights into ancestor veneration, weaving technology, and women's production," Maca said.

"A great number of archaeologists anxiously await the whole of her results."

William Saturno is a Maya expert at Boston University and a National Geographic Society grantee (National Geographic News is a division of the National Geographic Society).

He said the fabric's sophistication is not surprising considering the attire worn by figures in Maya paintings.

"The most important part of this work is the variety and subtlety of the materials being used," Saturno said.

"We finally get to look at the very fabrics themselves rather than just the images of them in art."

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Placing thousands of acres of Oneida Indian land into federal trust would give the Nation virtual free rein when it comes to land-use decisions, new construction and environmental matters.

The U.S. Department of the Interior's final decision, which could come as soon as this week, would put as much as 13,000 acres of Nation land beyond the reach of state and local regulators. And it's unclear to what extent federal agencies would be involved in overseeing matters such as proposed Nation development in wetlands areas.

The Nation says little would change from current circumstances, under which the Oneidas have built Turning Stone Resort and Casino and developed numerous other business enterprises since the early 1990s. It maintains its regulatory policies are equal to or more stringent than comparable state and local land-use measures.

Local officials, however, have many questions.

“Placing land into trust would allow any development to take place without regard to state environmental laws and regulations,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said. “But it doesn't set forth the Nations law's and we don't know what the laws will be in the future.”

Parcels not contiguous
The Oneidas have sought since 2005 to put their land into trust, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that year that stated one of its enterprises in Sherrill was subject to city oversight. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the Interior Department, has been reviewing the matter.

In February, the agency issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement recommending that 13,000 acres be put into federal trust. That document acknowledges that the fact the parcels of land are not contiguous might cause some problems when it comes to governance and regional planning in western Oneida County and northeastern Madison County.

At the same time, however, the document states that there's no point in comparing state and local laws and regulations with Oneida laws and regulations, since the Nation doesn't have any immediate development plans.

“It is not necessary or appropriate to engage in side-by-side comparison or critique of the protectiveness of Federal/Nation laws versus New York State/local laws,” the federal document reads. “The Nation proposes no change in land use as part of its Trust Land Application. Thus there would be no direct environmental impacts that would result from a change in jurisdiction following the acquisition of land in trust.”

The Oneida Nation declined to give its thoughts on the future regulatory landscape once trust status is formally granted by the federal government. Nation officials pointed to portions of the Final Environmental Impact Statement and to earlier comments made by Nation general counsel Peter Carmen.

“The Nation has made clear that it will continue to negotiate toward a full fair and final resolution even after the Department of the Interior issues its final decision,” Carmen said in a recent interview.

Oneida County's Picente said the legal and regulatory ambiguity of the situation requires such negotiations.

“What's the assurance ultimately that we can give to the people of the county that enacting this will not have environmental consequences or other impacts?” he said. “That's why the ultimate decision on land into trust needs to have an agreement attached to it, rather than just land in trust.”

‘Disney-like destination'
The Oneidas say they don't have any immediate development plans, but Nation Representative Ray Halbritter has repeatedly suggested growing new businesses surrounding Turning Stone Resort and Casino.

“What many don't seem to realize is that the Oneida Indian Nation has the ability to create a Disney-like destination,” Halbritter said at a December 2006 land-into-trust hearing at the then-Stanley Theatre in Utica. “This area can have a world-class destination. Why limit that potential for success?”

The Nation's enterprises have generated about 5,000 jobs, but its projects were constructed largely without going through state and local permitting processes.

David Vickers, president of the group Upstate Citizens for Equality, questioned the Nation's claim that its regulatory structure is the same or better than local ones.

“There is no evidence, nor is any oversight mechanism in place, to help produce evidence to substantiate that oft-repeated claim,” he said.

Tribal-federal relationship
On trust lands, federal and tribal laws would form the basis of the legal and regulatory system, experts said,

The tribal-federal structure, however, is just the foundation for what one expert called an evolving relationship in which states, municipalities and tribes try to co-exist and to navigate new challenges in ways that work for both.

Local counties offer their view of how that might work.

“If the Oneidas were going to engage in some extraordinary activity that would impact the surrounding community, and particularly if it could impact various resources, for example water, they would consult with the state and local governments and the communities that would be affected,” said David Schraver, who is counsel to Madison and Oneida counties regarding Indian matters. “They have not always done that in the past, but you would hope they would do that.”

Tribes across the country have developed service agreements with surrounding municipalities on issues including law enforcement and firefighting, Bureau of Indian Affairs spokeswoman Nedra Darling said.

Even in other areas where land has been in trust for years, the discussions between tribal and non-Indian governments are ongoing.

“What would your favorite spin-meister say?” said Colgate University's Director of Native American Studies Chris Vecsey. “It's a work in progress, which makes everyone nervous. People want assurance, and it's not so clear.”

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When His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke to distinguished guests at Colgate University's Sanford Field House on Tuesday, his topic was happiness. It is hoped that his platform was particularly conducive to that topic.

The chair from which His Holiness gave his stirring talk was specially made for him in Manlius by L. & J.G. Stickley. The chair is a natural fit, being substantial, yet elegantly simple.

It is a custom-built Stickley Eastwood chair, enhanced to provide particular comfort for the Dalai Lama. The chair has been extended to allow His Holiness to sit cross-legged with maximum comfort.

Stickley is not new to the public sphere, having been connected to some of the world's most well-known figures since its founding.

Back in the first years of the 20th century, Gustav Stickley's magazine, 'The Craftsman,' was an intellectual platform for many of the most recognizable names in the world.

In the October and November 1910 issues of 'The Craftsman,' magazine, Gustav Stickley included excerpts from the writings of former President Theodore Roosevelt.

Stickley and Roosevelt were men of similar interests - believing in the inherent benefits of nature and of simple living. Stickley endorsed Roosevelt's Progressive Party before it was even formed, and a full two years before the presidential election of 1912, when the Bull Moose lost to another Gustav Stickley favorite, Dr. Woodrow Wilson.

The early champions of conservation were counted as friends by Gustav Stickley. Beyond Roosevelt, 'The Craftsman,' included writings on John Muir, America's great naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club. In fact, Stickley devoted the March 1905 on Muir and his 'get back to nature philosophy.' It is not surprising that Stickley is connected to those who appreciate that a life can be lived well by being lived simply. What Muir and Roosevelt recognized in the first decade of the 20th century and the Dalai Lama speaks about in the 21st century, Stickley has advocated all along.

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