Category: Notes on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project

Niagara History and Poetry Podcast

 
 
history
I’ve talked about it for a while, but I’ve finally started up a podcast called Niagara History and Poetry, in which I discuss the history of Niagara Falls through the poetry that has been written about it.
The first episode is an introduction to the podcast, the second is about bears at the falls, and the third is about Captain Matthew Webb, who attempted to swim the rapids & whirlpool.

Click here for the video version

Click here for the audio version or go to your favourite podcast distributor and search for “Niagara Falls History & Poetry”

 
 
Please give it a listen, and feel free to comment, subscribe. like and share

Where are they coming from?

coming from

I have a plugin on the website to give various statistics about usage. I’ve noticed a couple of things this last week. When I look at the countries that people are visiting from, Ukraine, Russia, & Khazakhstan are in the top 10. There are usually just a handful of vistors that are not from Canada, the United States, or the United Kingdom.

Similarly, there are stats for the top referrers, usually topped by Google. This past week, however, the top referrer by far has been from McMaster University, although I can’t see from which department as you need login information to get any further in to their site. I know that sometimes my site is used in courses. I know, for example, that Niagara University has a course on Niagara Literature that uses the website, and also that the stats generally spike in September-October and again in January-February, coinciding with the beginning of academic terms.

Stats also spike when an individual who has a poem on the site is in the news. When Priscila Uppal, a well known poet and novelist died, I had about 1,200 hits on her poem Niagara Mermaids  on the day her death was announced, and they stayed high for a few days afterwards.

So if you’re dropping in from McMaster or anywhere else, I’d love to hear how you are using the site. You can drop a note in the comments, or email at aporteus@niagarapoetry.ca. 

Cheers, Andrew

Moving from X/Twitter to Bluesky

I’m in the process of making the move to bluer skies with both my regular account and the Niagara Falls Poetry Project account. If you have an account over there, please feel free to follow either or both of my accounts – the personal one and the Niagara Falls Poetry Project one. I will be winding these accounts down over time.

The Niagara Falls Poetry Project website (the one you’re looking at now) will remain as the main site of the NFPP.

bluesky
Bluesky account information

“The Most Dedicated Scholar of Canada’s Niagara Region Culture”

Today I got a huge compliment from Terry Trowbridge, a sociolegal scholar with many poems and scholarly articles published in a number of diverse journals. Terry commented on my Major Research Project (MRP), completed at Brock University as part of the requirements for my Master of Arts degree, which I received in 2020.

The MRP is entitled The Development of the Poetry Walking Tour of Niagara Falls Using Mobile App Technology, and is available on the Brock University website, my website, on ResearchGate, and Google Scholar. It details some background information on Niagara poetry, the use of mobile apps in tourism, crowdsourcing, print and electronic anthologies, and a detailed explanation of how the Poetry Walking Tour was conceived and executed.

dedicated

Terry wrote on ResearchGate:

Andrew Porteus is the most dedicated scholar of Canada’s Niagara region culture who I know. I strongly recommend this MRP to anyone who is developing projects in public history, multimedia literature, and interactive tours.

I take this as a tremendous compliment from a scholar who encouraged me tremendously (often at local poetry readings in pubs) in the early phases of the development of the Niagara Falls Poetry Project, and encouraged me to go to Brock University and bring some serious scholarly insight to the site.

Thanks very much, Terry.


Two songs composed by Harris Loewen

loewen
Harris Loewen


I just discovered that two Niagara poems that are on the NFPP site have been set to music by Harris Loewen, a retired Brock University professor. For a delightful treat I’ve embedded the recordings to At Niagara Falls by Anson G. Chester and Niagara in 1882 by John Macdonald. The Macdonald poem was named Peaceful Niagara for Loewen’s choral version.