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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Locations: Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA, and Recco, Liguria, Italy
y
name is Arthur Ashley Jones. I was born and raised in rural central West Virginia,
in the heart of the Appalachian Mountain chain in eastern United States. Under
the influence of my parents, uncles and aunts, nearly all of whom were Welsh-American
teachers, I began studying Latin one cold, sick winter when I was nine years
old (Goth. naihunwintrus).
From there, I went on to German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Russian,
Welsh, and others. I obtained a bachelor’s degree in European Languages, Phi
Beta Kappa, in 1963. I then studied Germanistik u. Sprachwissenschaft for three
semesters at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany, under a Rotary
Fellowship. That afforded me much travel throughout Europe on “grass-roots
diplomacy” speaking tours. Next, I studied law and was admitted to practice
in West Virginia, Virginia, Federal Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967,
after which I returned to Europe on a Fulbright Grant. With that, I studied
three more years at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany,
where I obtained my Doktor Jura in International and Comparative Law in 1971.
I then lived two years in Rome, then one year on the island of Guernsey, Channel
Islands. Thence to Brussels, and seven years teaching at NATO, writing books
on comparative labor relations and social legislation, and living in Brabant
towns (Werchter, Tremelo, Mechelen). Then two years in Amsterdam, two years in Geneva, three years
in Genoa, Italy, one year in Paris, one in Bad Tölz, Germany, three more in
Munich, then Augsburg, Ulm, then Hamburg—from there, four years in Great Britain—then
back to Hamburg, Jork, Stade, Mitternkirchern, and Norderstedt. I now divide
my time between Recco/Avegno, Italy, and Los Angeles, California.
Click
to read
about it and buy it at Amazon: [USA][UK]
My area of specialization is international human rights law, especially police education, civil liberties, and a burgeoning advocacy of “soft power” methods in countering terrorism. This bundle of integrated civic functions focuses on international social reforms and addresses the complex causes of terrorism. It thus serves as a superior alternative to the militarism of the “war on terrorism.”
I recently completed a research and speaking grant that took my wife, Robin Wiseman, and myself on a rather difficult tour of countries around and near the Black Sea. We found more traces of Gothic in Crimea than we anticipated would have survived, and were deeply touched by the efforts of several groups to reconstruct the more recent histories and family fates of Mennonites who once lived on that peninsula.
I’m afraid that my occasional contributions to Lowlands-L are of faint scholarship
and undetectable utility. I benefit much more than I help. Such is the nature
of Ron Hahn’s magnificent circle of brilliant friends who, together, are advancing
lowlands Germanic and neighboring languages, their respective histories, art,
culture, and linguistic survival much more than they realize. The “Triple L”
is a daily source of joy and amazement for me.
Frontpage
y
name is Arthur Ashley Jones. I was born and raised in rural central West Virginia,
in the heart of the Appalachian Mountain chain in eastern United States. Under
the influence of my parents, uncles and aunts, nearly all of whom were Welsh-American
teachers, I began studying Latin one cold, sick winter when I was nine years
old (Goth. naihunwintrus).
From there, I went on to German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Russian,
Welsh, and others. I obtained a bachelor’s degree in European Languages, Phi
Beta Kappa, in 1963. I then studied Germanistik u. Sprachwissenschaft for three
semesters at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany, under a Rotary
Fellowship. That afforded me much travel throughout Europe on “grass-roots
diplomacy” speaking tours. Next, I studied law and was admitted to practice
in West Virginia, Virginia, Federal Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967,
after which I returned to Europe on a Fulbright Grant. With that, I studied
three more years at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany,
where I obtained my Doktor Jura in International and Comparative Law in 1971.
I then lived two years in Rome, then one year on the island of Guernsey, Channel
Islands. Thence to Brussels, and seven years teaching at NATO, writing books
on comparative labor relations and social legislation, and living in Brabant
towns (Werchter, Tremelo, Mechelen). Then two years in Amsterdam, two years in Geneva, three years
in Genoa, Italy, one year in Paris, one in Bad Tölz, Germany, three more in
Munich, then Augsburg, Ulm, then Hamburg—from there, four years in Great Britain—then
back to Hamburg, Jork, Stade, Mitternkirchern, and Norderstedt. I now divide
my time between Recco/Avegno, Italy, and Los Angeles, California.