tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86617701816752773142024-03-14T00:24:34.668-07:00Jeanne CarstensenJeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-34382048227980545242016-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:002016-03-08T11:41:03.085-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Please visit me at my new website -- <a href="http://jeannecarstensen.net/">jeannecarstensen.net</a>.</span><br />
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Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-57039087453961079232015-12-29T15:29:00.001-08:002015-12-29T15:29:26.515-08:00The Ghosts of Refugees Past<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
December 23, 2015 <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/23/lesbos-refugee-crisis-greece-syria-kindness/">FOREIGN POLICY</a><br />
<br />
SYKAMINIA, Greece — In a scene repeated nearly every day in this
small fishing village on the Greek island of Lesbos, a Coast Guard boat
had recently pulled into port and unloaded a group of wet and frightened
refugees who had just been rescued from the sea. It was 10 p.m., a cold
wind was blowing, and the newcomers were shivering. But it wasn’t long
before one of the cafés neighboring the port opened its doors so the
group could take shelter. Not long after that, several women arrived to
quietly distribute dry clothes to the children.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUYS3xIQuG4u4dHaEEaLQWB4AW02xVbilHsgroUsHz5ib6yCSWcc8VIH0g64OFgVFpVcvIl5vu7GAhc4jGQBQb4EWPIgODeZRu_1bHRz8i_lxOQUufW8wEOPeqq4nUr2H4eD4FB3-4Pjw/s400/gettyimages-494181384_960.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="image-credit">ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images</span></td></tr>
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As the refugees made the long uphill walk to a reception center for
migrants, they passed an olive press that’s over a century old.
Exhausted as they were, it’s unlikely the refugees inquired about the
building’s history. But if they had, the locals would have explained
that the olive press once housed desperate refugees, much like the
present-day newcomers from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The only
difference is that the earlier migrants were Greeks — the ancestors of
most of the very people assisting today’s refugees.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/23/lesbos-refugee-crisis-greece-syria-kindness/">READ MORE AT FOREIGN POLICY </a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-58139278751416880092015-12-29T15:24:00.000-08:002015-12-29T15:24:39.632-08:00Syrian Refugees in Greece: “We Don’t Have Peace in Anything”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
November 23, 2015 <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/11/23/after-paris-syrian-refugees-face-a-darkening-future/">THE INTERCEPT</a><br />
<br />
<u>I MET SIMA FARAUATE</u>, 27, at the entrance to Kara Tepe refugee
camp on the Greek island of Lesbos a few days after the terrorist
attacks in Paris killed 130 people and unleashed an anti-immigrant
backlash across Europe.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXA-Qos48B38X3doIM-GhBOQof9pzXVmEjryFWacKEZ8onxhCRPyUi2sV_Mw_5qRmVYrMBZ4eIANxaurFoBkNTtMVUODoB3iONEyJP88NZpaM_x1c56fXQlTffTMor3gxVJr-JFdvPDE/s1600/6U8A9263.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXA-Qos48B38X3doIM-GhBOQof9pzXVmEjryFWacKEZ8onxhCRPyUi2sV_Mw_5qRmVYrMBZ4eIANxaurFoBkNTtMVUODoB3iONEyJP88NZpaM_x1c56fXQlTffTMor3gxVJr-JFdvPDE/s400/6U8A9263.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="caption">
Sima Farauate, a 27-year-old Syrian refugee, stands
by an old olive tree at the Kara Tepe transit camp on the outskirts of
the city of Mytiline on the Greek island of Lesbos, November 19, 2015.</div>
<div class="caption source pullright">
Photo: Heidi Levine for The Intercept</div>
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She and her husband, Amaas, had just survived
the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey operated by smugglers that has
been the main route for refugees and migrants seeking safe haven from
ISIS in Europe. For around $1,000 each, they had been transported to the
coast by bus from Izmir, Turkey, kept hidden in an olive grove
overnight, then jammed into a rubber dinghy with 45 other refugees. Once
their boat reached Lesbos, they walked to a reception center along the
coast and then a bus transported them 45 kilometers over the steep
terrain of northern Lesbos to the camp near the capital city of
Mytilene. “I’m so tired,” Sima said. “So tired.”<br />
<br />
I could imagine that she was, and not only because of the boat trip.
The young couple was from Aleppo, which has been devastated by the
ongoing war in Syria. Sima told me they couldn’t survive there any
longer. “It was impossible.” So they walked three days from their home
to cross the border into Turkey. “We walk all the time. This is our life
now.”<br />
<br />
<a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/11/23/after-paris-syrian-refugees-face-a-darkening-future/">READ MORE AT THE INTERCEPT </a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-7678527721422782042015-12-29T15:16:00.000-08:002015-12-29T15:16:22.424-08:00 How one Syrian refugee wound up bringing his dying wife with him to Greece<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
November 28, 2015 <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-11-28/theres-no-let-refugees-trying-reach-europe-through-lesbos"> PRI'S THE WORLD</a><br />
<br />
When the boat arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos, his wife was dead.<br />
<br />
Some 100 refugees have died trying to make the treacherous crossing
from Turkey to Lesbos, including more than 60 on one tragic night in
October, when a trawler sank in high seas. The dangers are well known,
but people keep coming. More than 725,000 refugees have arrived
in Greece by sea this year alone — 425,000 of them at Lesbos.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIxnfdFYwGvrRLiy4cyCrJglYr85qhD2595hU_ZEqUMf4VjhAkfCShMP3I369tTpZZkzFhcmHfa2mcThxZmcAWIJdfnSl42sjQhFv5d3DyW0Fg2ssGk5LKGd4rm9h2w33okPwfmCJGiTY/s1600/DOA-small.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIxnfdFYwGvrRLiy4cyCrJglYr85qhD2595hU_ZEqUMf4VjhAkfCShMP3I369tTpZZkzFhcmHfa2mcThxZmcAWIJdfnSl42sjQhFv5d3DyW0Fg2ssGk5LKGd4rm9h2w33okPwfmCJGiTY/s320/DOA-small.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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An Iraqi man mourns his wife on the beach on Lesbos on Oct. 15, 2015.<br />
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Credit:
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Alison Terry-Evans<br />
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After having spent two months on the island reporting on the refugee
crisis, I can remember countless scenes of vulnerable people being
rescued. Every single day, dozens of boats are launched and many of them
flood, or the engines fail and they drift at sea.<br />
<br />
Or they make it to shore, only to smash against the rocks. People end
up floating in the water in fake life jackets holding tight to children
and infants as body temperatures plummet. It’s a race against death as
the Greek Coast Guard, Frontex, local fisherman and a network of NGOs
and lifeguard groups and volunteers respond again and again, day and
night.<br />
<br />
If it weren’t for their heroic efforts, the death toll would be drastically higher than it is. But some situations are so terrible that they transcend even the possibility of rescue ...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-11-28/theres-no-let-refugees-trying-reach-europe-through-lesbos">READ MORE AT PRI'S THE WORLD </a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-51885407918897934582015-11-07T23:31:00.000-08:002015-11-07T23:31:06.048-08:00The cemeteries on Lesbos are full. But refugee families still need to bury their dead.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Nov. 3, 2015 <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-11-03/cemeteries-lesbos-are-full-refugee-families-still-need-bury-their-dead"> PRI's The World</a><br />
<br />
There’s no more room to bury the dead. Sypros Galinos, mayor of the
Greek island of Lesbos, announced the main cemetery's area reserved for
refugees who have drowned at sea is full. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmbjM-wVrlrBnev4chJOntxEEQZEA6ppUllGviDTEcmVhcTZhnq_8XmYzsmZXmBGg3IcUZp0fS4s7kEPl9uPDXO5_Lp4DZr1DNSmCbTo0NKLgZVx_D3qi1VGGQIx_BdjQZXuco2ilRtk/s1600/lesbos5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmbjM-wVrlrBnev4chJOntxEEQZEA6ppUllGviDTEcmVhcTZhnq_8XmYzsmZXmBGg3IcUZp0fS4s7kEPl9uPDXO5_Lp4DZr1DNSmCbTo0NKLgZVx_D3qi1VGGQIx_BdjQZXuco2ilRtk/s640/lesbos5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Efi Latoudi at the cemetery for refuges in Mytilene, Lesbos. PHOTO BY<a href="http://www.jodihilton.com/"> JODI HILTON</a></td></tr>
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<br />
The situation symbolizes the despair this island feels at being at the
epicenter of Europe's migration crisis — and having dead bodies washing
up on its shores. Fifty-five more bodies sit in the morgue. <br />
<br />
Ilias Maravas, a reporter for Greek ERT TV here, was the first to
find two dead children on the beach two days after a trawler heaped with
migrants sunk in high seas between Lesbos and Turkey last week. Two
hundred and forty two people were rescued; 43 are confirmed dead with an
unknown number still missing. Pointing to his computer, Maravas
said: “This is full of 10 months of pictures of dead people. I don’t
ever want to see this again.”<br />
<br />
Maravas told me that locals are deeply disturbed by corpses in the
sea. “For us, the ocean gives us strength. We fish in it, swim. The
sea is our home. It should bring life, not death.”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-11-03/cemeteries-lesbos-are-full-refugee-families-still-need-bury-their-dead">STORY AND AUDIO @ PRI'S THE WORLD </a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-81134140334725855832015-11-01T23:51:00.000-08:002015-11-07T23:52:49.060-08:00On Lesbos, today's refugees are met by the children of refugees from a century ago<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="story__deck">
October 21, 2015 <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-21/lesbos-todays-refugees-are-met-children-refugees-century-ago">PRI's The World</a><br />
<br />
Constantina Mesisklis and her friends, women
in their 80s and 90s, are a fixture on the bench in Skala Sykaminia,
the tiny seaside village on the northern coast of Lesbos where 1000s of
refugees have been arriving from the nearby Turkish coast every day for
months on end.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhWp9pFmQcB6GZ61lAChBcSc03MwyinR3DSEHJL_wzoL_tsCj7xJ60uoWrTUlawKacCL8w4I0Cn_pt9kEVxZ-RAs7sJavLbImIXvUTjVrPyyXGzoV-nbMx5hMyMZxVXu2L12CN9hXf7k/s1600/ConstantineSmallCROP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhWp9pFmQcB6GZ61lAChBcSc03MwyinR3DSEHJL_wzoL_tsCj7xJ60uoWrTUlawKacCL8w4I0Cn_pt9kEVxZ-RAs7sJavLbImIXvUTjVrPyyXGzoV-nbMx5hMyMZxVXu2L12CN9hXf7k/s640/ConstantineSmallCROP.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Constantina Mesisklis, center. PHOTO: ALISON TERRY-EVANS</td></tr>
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The population of Skala Sykaminia numbers about 150 and all of them
are the children, grandchildren or great grandchildren of a another
group of refugees — the Greeks who fled Turkey in 1922-23 after what is
known in Greece as “The Asia Minor Catastrophe.”<br />
Thousands escaped in
boats as the Turks routed the Greek army and set fire to Smyrna, today’s
Izmir. Eventually a population of 1.5 million Greek Orthodox, Greek
language speakers would be expelled from Turkey to Greece; likewise,
500,000 Muslims were forcibly resettled from Greece back to
Turkey. Today more than half the population of Lesbos descends from the
1922 refugees.
</div>
<div class="media media-element-container media-original_image">
<br /></div>
“My mother came here alone when she was a girl in 1922,” Constantina
tells me in her soft voice. “Her parents were dead over there.” She
learned English in the United States, where she lived for many years
before returning to Sykaminia to bury her husband two years ago. “They
didn’t have anything. It was very, very hard. There was no food to eat,
no work, no clothes, no nothing when she came.”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-21/lesbos-todays-refugees-are-met-children-refugees-century-ago">STORY AND AUDIO @ PRI'S THE WORLD</a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-52131879010469178562015-10-05T15:30:00.000-07:002015-12-29T15:36:47.952-08:00This beautiful Turkish tourist town is now home to boats stuffed with refugees and migrants headed for Lesbos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
October 9, 2015 PRI'S THE WORLD<br />
<br />
Staring out from the high cliffs above the ancient Greek city of Assos
in Turkey, now a beautiful tourist town, your vision merges with the
vast blueness of the sky and Aegean Sea until it rests on the melodious
green hills of the island of Lesbos in the distance. It’s a grand view
that has captivated people for millennia.<br />
<br />
Aristotle lived there for a time before leaving for Lesbos, where <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/27/the-lagoon-armand-marie-leroi-review-rewarding-aristotle-science%E2%80%9D" target="_blank">he and Theophrastus did seminal work</a> classifying flora and fauna.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBjPtAWIRgj98vXa_Wylt0YtSUp0r__rIf0nMwSQDGNgTwbxAD4UPtz7gSZ2AU3-XW42YKsi_LtTjoP-_QozhonVa2WnTlYF-tsC_kpyxmrminSAObmnrkwi4kyco_7YRvWQN7sTMEDTw/s1600/Assos+Theatre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBjPtAWIRgj98vXa_Wylt0YtSUp0r__rIf0nMwSQDGNgTwbxAD4UPtz7gSZ2AU3-XW42YKsi_LtTjoP-_QozhonVa2WnTlYF-tsC_kpyxmrminSAObmnrkwi4kyco_7YRvWQN7sTMEDTw/s400/Assos+Theatre.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="field-caption">
The ancient Theatre of Assos overlooking the Aegean Sea, with the nearby island of Lesbos on the horizon.<br />
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<div class="image__credit">
<span class="image__credit-label">
Credit:
</span>
Vindobona/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assos#/media/File:Theatre@Assos%28Turkey%29,_April_%2709.JPG" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a><br />
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<br />
Today it’s also an excellent vantage point to observe boats stuffed
with refugees and migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other
nations leaving from camps run by the Turkish mafia. They are bound for
Lesbos, only five miles away at the closest point. On the other side, a
ragged group of NGOs, foreign and local volunteers and international
media <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-09-25/journalist-describes-scene-shores-lesbos">await them with long camera lenses</a>, hugs and, if they’re lucky, some water, pieces of fruit and dry clothing.<br />
<br />
The day I arrived in Assos to meet Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights
Watch, some 50 boats carrying 3,500 refugees would reach Lesbos, adding
to the 400,000 who have passed through Greece this year — 100,000 in
August alone. Most of the Lesbos-bound boats left from five camps tucked
into the pretty olive groves that dot the shoreline around Assos....<br />
<br />
READ MORE AT PRI'S THE WORLD </div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-77809885655747791322015-10-03T02:32:00.000-07:002015-11-08T00:00:07.178-08:00'Please, have some tea.' For refugees, civility before danger.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
October 2, 2015 <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-02/please-have-some-tea-refugees-civility-danger">PRI's The World</a><br />
<br />
<div class="story__deck">
IZMIR, Turkey “Please, have some tea. Do you take sugar?”<br />
<br /></div>
“Yes, thank you.”<br />
<br />
“This is Syrian tea. Please, it is our pleasure.”<br />
<br />
“Thank you.”<br />
<br />
The Syrians I meet in the small square outside the Sinbad Restaurant
in Izmir, Turkey are all fleeing an escalating war in their country they
say has made it impossible for them to stay in their homes. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLphW_ZBXtDc8p0k29NRrzHH_sFZaUmLuWtSiiCF16mXCyOYyy1oleXQ8utD87b5wQQ49rqUJjcDNWEmNvGPgcyHtOpDWU77jPWkxNUKnWCZ3qWiPw5-ssIQNTXPXIfBELi_dptUGcrXg/s1600/IMG_465318843.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLphW_ZBXtDc8p0k29NRrzHH_sFZaUmLuWtSiiCF16mXCyOYyy1oleXQ8utD87b5wQQ49rqUJjcDNWEmNvGPgcyHtOpDWU77jPWkxNUKnWCZ3qWiPw5-ssIQNTXPXIfBELi_dptUGcrXg/s320/IMG_465318843.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sinbad Cafe in Basmane neighborhood in Izmir</td></tr>
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Asas, a fashion designer from Damascus in his early 30s, tells me
that mortar shells are falling all over the capital, even in formerly
“safe” neighborhoods. Recently a bomb fell during his fashion show; the
before-and-after photos on his mobile phone show elegant evening gowns,
then exploded plaster and hanging wires. <br />
<br />
Nour is just 17 and is traveling alone. “If you are walking in the streets suddenly you hear <b><i>deeewwww</i></b>,”
he says, crouching a little, “a missile or an explosion. There is no
life.” His two older brothers have already gone to Europe. His parents
are still in Syria and call him constantly on Skype or Whatsapp. “My
father’s soul is with me,” he says.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-02/please-have-some-tea-refugees-civility-danger">MORE ON PRI.ORG</a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-82813377618844274242015-10-03T02:25:00.003-07:002015-10-03T02:25:44.230-07:00Rough Aegean Seas Don't Deter Refugees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
September 30, 2015 <a href="https://soundcloud.com/theworld/rough-aegean-seas-dont-deter-refugess">PRI's The World</a><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-T4lw_GPULgdyprfNqlq5v4R54ov4RC0N8w4eYPJ06qWKD-9KFzt5EFDGHGwxLOvf_0ic0VpOE6Jja2Hbs1clpTDdBtitL9oTN9UhgYEUpkamkLLSTtlJ7g5eTcn5lHk3NAKLi7wU7s/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-03+at+12.17.33+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-T4lw_GPULgdyprfNqlq5v4R54ov4RC0N8w4eYPJ06qWKD-9KFzt5EFDGHGwxLOvf_0ic0VpOE6Jja2Hbs1clpTDdBtitL9oTN9UhgYEUpkamkLLSTtlJ7g5eTcn5lHk3NAKLi7wU7s/s200/Screen+Shot+2015-10-03+at+12.17.33+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div>
IZMIR, Turkey Reporter Jeanne Carstensen in Turkish town of Izmir tells host Carol
Hills about new dangers facing the migrants and refugees who work with
smugglers.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/theworld/rough-aegean-seas-dont-deter-refugess">LISTEN </a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-45756816924900656912015-10-03T02:00:00.000-07:002015-10-03T02:35:49.206-07:00Landfall. A selfie. Another refugee celebrates survival. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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September 25, 2015 <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-09-25/journalist-describes-scene-shores-lesbos">PRI's The World</a><br />
<br />
LESBOS, Greece Today I joined the pack of volunteers and
media awaiting the arrival of refugee boats to the Greek island of
Lesbos from Turkey — just a few miles away across the Aegean Sea.<br />
<br />
My companions from the BBC and I had coffee in the picturesque
fishing village of Sykaminia. An old Greek man with a bushy mustache sat
on the dock slowly rinsing sand out of a freshly caught squid.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dBzcAdcNl-XoC2taliZwj7FnNXA-UIAl4hPy2B_wvvXa25PSkeVn_KCK0O9k0aU1pjvN-cPALp34smWCwiWuxNNSsN3CyfEJDAqcu4mYJ9Zs802xJI5iWOdQwkX5WFUp49BTdNoT0OU/s1600/IMG_3355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dBzcAdcNl-XoC2taliZwj7FnNXA-UIAl4hPy2B_wvvXa25PSkeVn_KCK0O9k0aU1pjvN-cPALp34smWCwiWuxNNSsN3CyfEJDAqcu4mYJ9Zs802xJI5iWOdQwkX5WFUp49BTdNoT0OU/s320/IMG_3355.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Refugees arrive to Lesbos from Turkey, Sept. 25, 2015</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The stretch of coast on Lesbos where the biggest wave of refugees
since World War II has been coming ashore is a rugged, mountainous
landscape of steep olive groves and oaks dotted with small villages.<br />
<br />
It’s easy to feel that here the time machine got jammed back around
the beginning of the last century, until you look down the rocky shore
and see that it is littered with the carcasses of destroyed inflatable
boats and immense piles of hundreds of brightly colored life jackets
left behind by refugees.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-09-25/journalist-describes-scene-shores-lesbos">READ MORE AND LISTEN TO AUDIO ON PRI'S THE WORLD</a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-62548508863504037212015-10-03T01:30:00.000-07:002015-10-03T02:36:00.636-07:00Migrants and Refugees Continue to Pour Ashore in Greece<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFacfEdUoBduVSj2szYMFJsat2YkfxeRaJBnH4VgfOX1E6TNtKO2BsG3bwphDO2fSFbafA3vX-m0p8JUc6B8561ZRUxZG1Y5y6aWlI1k0xZuVfSI9td-c-WKHiWcmysKcaAZOrym3fw20/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-10-03+at+12.17.33+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFacfEdUoBduVSj2szYMFJsat2YkfxeRaJBnH4VgfOX1E6TNtKO2BsG3bwphDO2fSFbafA3vX-m0p8JUc6B8561ZRUxZG1Y5y6aWlI1k0xZuVfSI9td-c-WKHiWcmysKcaAZOrym3fw20/s200/Screen+Shot+2015-10-03+at+12.17.33+PM.png" width="200" /></a></div>
September 23, 2015 <a href="https://soundcloud.com/theworld/migrants-and-refugees-continue-to-pour-ashore-in-greece">PRI's The World</a><br />
<br />
LESBOS, Greece Twenty-six overcrowded boatloads of migrants and refugees landed on the
Greek island of Lesbos Wednesday. Some 2,500 people made it ashore,
after making the dangerous and expensive trip from Turkey. Host Marco
Werman speaks with reporter Jeanne Carstensen on Lesbos.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/theworld/migrants-and-refugees-continue-to-pour-ashore-in-greece">LISTEN </a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-43107680376502336982015-07-29T07:51:00.001-07:002015-07-29T08:38:53.028-07:00 The Ambiguous Colors of Nanotechnology: Kate Nichols’ nanoparticle paints have changed how she sees color<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
July 2015 <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/26/color/the-ambiguous-colors-of-nanotechnology">Nautilus</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjijWIkn3WJoqrWmJs0lMNBUmMBwT12Esr1CGJQzuQBZ00pkJ76WyJp90T-Gd96rwAyA3xY__o0vu1_NucvkA6Fa28lg2a1Oc78KKZg6tdfcSqUcmSFW089B1d0ZnlQjqHS1o7U9wJCjeA/s1600/Nichols_BR-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjijWIkn3WJoqrWmJs0lMNBUmMBwT12Esr1CGJQzuQBZ00pkJ76WyJp90T-Gd96rwAyA3xY__o0vu1_NucvkA6Fa28lg2a1Oc78KKZg6tdfcSqUcmSFW089B1d0ZnlQjqHS1o7U9wJCjeA/s320/Nichols_BR-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Kate Nichols leans her delicate face against the glass of a chemical
fume hood in a University of California, Berkeley lab, peering into a
beaker filled with a pale yellow liquid—“like a well hydrated person’s
pee,” she says, laughing. The yellow brew is a fresh batch of silver
nanoparticles. Over the next week, the liquid will turn green, then
turquoise, then blue as the particles morph in shape from spheroids to
prisms under the influence of time and fluorescent light. Post-docs and
grad students elsewhere in the nanotech lab are synthesizing
nanoparticles for research on artificial photosynthesis and quantum dot
digital displays. But not Nichols. She isn’t a scientist, but an artist,
gripped by color.<br />
<br />
Read more <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/26/color/the-ambiguous-colors-of-nanotechnology">@Nautilus</a><br />
<br /></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-86004510422476763862015-07-28T08:26:00.000-07:002015-07-29T08:27:03.768-07:00(ESSAY) “You are not just an affair”: I fell for the world’s oldest romantic cliché — being human <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
July 2015 <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/07/11/%E2%80%9Cyou_are_not_just_an_affair%E2%80%9D_i_fell_for_the_worlds_oldest_romantic_cliche_being_human/">Salon</a><br />
<br />
When my lover and I arrived at the Pont des Arts in Paris I
immediately wanted to hook a lock with our initials on it to the mass of
other “love locks” dangling from the railings on both sides of the
bridge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarBnYWNghdwNxjqOC2B-bdcbt3gYE-EvM44URPmA8zymVHCZF1iERkwIzov6t5DBtxfAZBwswMvs8UOvvOVayARH14K5nOhSaHEM_tNbGJauES9PpIRIvM0deQ_i1_QdLXBdPOfwHlRI/s1600/romantic_locks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarBnYWNghdwNxjqOC2B-bdcbt3gYE-EvM44URPmA8zymVHCZF1iERkwIzov6t5DBtxfAZBwswMvs8UOvvOVayARH14K5nOhSaHEM_tNbGJauES9PpIRIvM0deQ_i1_QdLXBdPOfwHlRI/s320/romantic_locks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><span class="photoCredit">(Credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2059538p1.html">JaysonPhotography</a> via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/">Shutterstock</a>)</span></span></td></tr>
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I took her hand and whispered my intentions into her ear. She turned her head slowly toward me, and I saw that she was — <i>really?</i> — rolling her eyes. She
looked beautiful in her classic black wool coat, pulled tight around
her neck against the October chill. Her silver hair, with an impeccable
French cut, fell dashingly across her face. I loved that hair.<br />
<br />
Now
I know that the French had grown weary of the locks on the Pont des
Arts. What began as a romantic gesture by couples in the 2000s had
turned into a tourist scourge weighing many tons. Not only were the
locks — <i>quelle horreur — </i>ugly, they were threatening to sink
the bridge into the Seine. In fact, Paris officials recently announced
that they are going to cut off the whole lot of them. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/07/11/%E2%80%9Cyou_are_not_just_an_affair%E2%80%9D_i_fell_for_the_worlds_oldest_romantic_cliche_being_human/">Read more @Salon</a> </div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-73521000056275225432015-04-04T15:31:00.000-07:002015-07-29T08:38:03.419-07:00Robots Can't Dance: Why the singularity is greatly exaggerated<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
January, 2015 <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/20/creativity/robots-cant-dance">Nautilus</a><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHQt8xVc3bNOO51561Ujqc_NA2jaSQtxDCHLU2BipaDVSFjxP9iC6bO0tMk_uzUC2V1kGGVH75ABD9rWh-g8vw7JuOK6OhaaVz7Uto8nnsyFuFRtFIdyAyxW50bIK5j4Q7_RpCP5pjAA/s1600/Robot-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHQt8xVc3bNOO51561Ujqc_NA2jaSQtxDCHLU2BipaDVSFjxP9iC6bO0tMk_uzUC2V1kGGVH75ABD9rWh-g8vw7JuOK6OhaaVz7Uto8nnsyFuFRtFIdyAyxW50bIK5j4Q7_RpCP5pjAA/s320/Robot-art.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by James Yang for Nautilus</td></tr>
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Can a robot be creative? Advances in cloud robotics—machines connected
to supercomputers in the cloud—have given self-driving cars, surgical
robots, and other “smart” devices tremendous powers of computation. But
can a robot, even one supercharged with artificial intelligence, be
creative? Will a mechanical Picasso paint among us? <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/20/creativity/robots-cant-dance">Read more @ Nautilus</a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-11803687926560605012015-04-02T15:49:00.000-07:002015-07-29T08:28:17.557-07:00 Ingenious: Ken Goldberg -- Creative robots, the Kurzweil fallacy, and what it means to be human<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
January, 2015 <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/20/creativity/ingenious-ken-goldberg">Nautilus</a><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsVJDTHNL1GYO1__hk8hnaExftujJ4r3LPIgW6MgQ-ae4kMlkMwQQWfeMRzYEjDJtwMe8qDciyJeqs4o0ShJ31RegQr57o47c9uKnf2TfsoxzpFvGsh1Qpbbgo3DC_QJLch1VQM4kQCg/s1600/Goldberg-screen.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsVJDTHNL1GYO1__hk8hnaExftujJ4r3LPIgW6MgQ-ae4kMlkMwQQWfeMRzYEjDJtwMe8qDciyJeqs4o0ShJ31RegQr57o47c9uKnf2TfsoxzpFvGsh1Qpbbgo3DC_QJLch1VQM4kQCg/s1600/Goldberg-screen.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visit <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/20/creativity/ingenious-ken-goldberg">Nautilus</a> to watch video</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We are not on the verge of a “singularity,” when intelligent
robots will take control. In fact, Ken Goldberg told me in this interview at his lab at UC Berkeley, his work in robotics has
made him appreciate the quirks of humanness that can’t be modeled with
algorithms. Smart robots and artificial intelligence systems can enhance
our creative capacities, but true creativity remains a singularly human
trait. <br />
<a href="http://nautil.us/issue/20/creativity/ingenious-ken-goldberg">Read more @ Nautilus</a><br />
<br /></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-12378984540544299662015-04-02T15:25:00.001-07:002015-04-02T15:25:36.755-07:00Slam Poet Bob Holman Tracks Endangered Languages in New Film<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
January, 2015 <a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2015/01/22/slam-poet-bob-holman-tracks-endangered-languages-in-new-film/">KQEDArts </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bobholman.com/" target="_blank">Bob Holman</a> is
a word man. His decades of frenetic activity in the slam poetry,
hip-hop and spoken-word scenes once led Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to call
him “the postmodern promoter who has done more to bring poetry to cafes
and bars than anyone since Ferlinghetti.”<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9l1PpouRLQrlW0lsocs8SeAfGhPX4T54VoxwPSOn_5T3Xk7f2nkIt15LeVkou0dcv0uXlt4uDrglDJQG-_I-WtGFShfxYEuj3rthPr7TVPQXwEEOxMihN0_d-HAo_i11PtblzgS6u8g/s1600/GiantandBob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9l1PpouRLQrlW0lsocs8SeAfGhPX4T54VoxwPSOn_5T3Xk7f2nkIt15LeVkou0dcv0uXlt4uDrglDJQG-_I-WtGFShfxYEuj3rthPr7TVPQXwEEOxMihN0_d-HAo_i11PtblzgS6u8g/s1600/GiantandBob.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Holman with Rupert Manmurulu in Australia. (Photo: David Grubin)</td></tr>
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Now, Holman is pouring his love for words into a movement to save the
world’s endangered languages. There are roughly 6,500 languages spoken
around the world today; linguists estimate that by the end of the
century, that number could be cut in half. That’s right: Some 3,000
languages could soon pass away from this sweet earth.<br />
<br />
“Every language contains a singular way of looking at the world,”
Holman tells me by email. “The brain may be infinite, but we’ve only
been able to invent 6,000 of these ways of looking at things. To lose
one of these is a tragedy.” <a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2015/01/22/slam-poet-bob-holman-tracks-endangered-languages-in-new-film/">Read more @ KQEDArts</a></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-2920673140488317632014-10-23T13:39:00.000-07:002015-04-02T15:18:23.506-07:00Job Fair for Bacteria at Modernism Gallery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
October 23, 2014 <a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/10/23/job-fair-for-bacteria-at-modernism-gallery/"> KQEDArts </a> <br />
It wasn’t clear that Mark Zuckerberg was going to show up, but Jonathon Keats was hopeful. Tuesday night was the launch of <i>Microbial Associates</i>, the world’s first corporate training academy for microbes.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFE5o7d-Ub2hYY5sqdgDLT9WpQbPFB8ugTs2oFvABKA9rnCSscVI0zNWg9h5TZ1aQKptytf0hk79PYcaNrb6_yL0XUYEN4PJegj1mDN0uMsfCYfZiCltGWC2xIIsBepmsmvxy5gph74E/s1600/microbial.keats.portrait.1.lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFE5o7d-Ub2hYY5sqdgDLT9WpQbPFB8ugTs2oFvABKA9rnCSscVI0zNWg9h5TZ1aQKptytf0hk79PYcaNrb6_yL0XUYEN4PJegj1mDN0uMsfCYfZiCltGWC2xIIsBepmsmvxy5gph74E/s1600/microbial.keats.portrait.1.lo.jpg" height="400" width="335" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Chrissy Hughes. Courtesy of Modernism Gallery, San Francisco." </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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With Silicon Valley companies struggling to add diversity to their
workforce and otherwise stay competitive in the rapidly evolving global
marketplace, Keats saw an opening. The industry is hungry for disruptive
technologies, so why not train and certify bacteria to join the
workforce and bring their skill set to the corporate environment?<br />
<br />
After all, “2.3 billion years ago they fundamentally changed the
composition of the atmosphere,” Keats, who is the founder and managing
director, explained. “Oxygenation. It doesn’t get any more disruptive
than that.”<br />
<br />
This isn’t the first business that Keats has launched at Modernism
Gallery. The experimental philosopher, artist and writer also created <a href="https://www.modernisminc.com/artists/Jonathon_KEATS/SPECULATIONS.html">a real estate investment company offering properties in extra dimensions</a> and a start-up that tried to <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Project-Aims-At-Genetically-Engineered-God-SF-3237252.php">genetically engineer god</a>, among other endeavors...<br />
<br />
(<a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/10/23/job-fair-for-bacteria-at-modernism-gallery/">more at KQED Arts</a>) <br />
<br /></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-19230659567434778912013-12-15T05:12:00.000-08:002015-07-29T08:29:25.264-07:00(ESSAY) For Syrian Refugees, Even Jail Is Paradise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
December, 2013 <i><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/12/syrian-refugees-greeceturkey.html">Al Jazeera America</a></i><br />
<br />
“I know a woman in Izmir who has tried three times to make it to Greece by boat,” a Syrian traveler named Ammar told me.<br />
<br />
“What happened?” I asked.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2QJPIu8VoOUaT_BmAoIE0RwxI9reNE9h9U3dfJLMaRGQHZu95vCWoEqQPx_P_LlTHa2-_eaeAIZyRroTc_2_odP-F7GAgSSomqZ9_88P8ffyQazmbGZntRFVK3IEuJXHYphqCJ2dT-Q/s1600/src.adapt.960.high.1387001087517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2QJPIu8VoOUaT_BmAoIE0RwxI9reNE9h9U3dfJLMaRGQHZu95vCWoEqQPx_P_LlTHa2-_eaeAIZyRroTc_2_odP-F7GAgSSomqZ9_88P8ffyQazmbGZntRFVK3IEuJXHYphqCJ2dT-Q/s320/src.adapt.960.high.1387001087517.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asylum seekers in Turkey. Ali Balli/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
“Three times it sank, ” he replied<br />
<br />
We met in the rooftop bar of the Nomade Hotel in Istanbul, enjoying
the spectacular view of the domes and minarets of the Blue Mosque. I was
in town with my friend Tzeli for a symposium celebrating <a href="http://www.istanbulkadinmuzesi.org/en/semiha-es" target="_blank">Semiha Es</a>,
Turkey’s first female photojournalist, and we were chatting with
Colleen, a woman from Philadelphia who had been traveling the world for
almost two years.<br />
<br />
That morning Colleen told me she was heading to Athens the next day,
but then she was talking about going to Geneva or the U.S. instead. Her
face glowed blue from her laptop screen as she clicked through plane
fares on a discount travel site. “I don’t know. Maybe I should go to the
States for a bit,” she said, tapping on the keyboard. “It’s so cheap
now. My dad is 84. I could see him for Christmas.” Tap, tap. “But Geneva
is so great in the winter!” (<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/12/syrian-refugees-greeceturkey.html">more</a>)<br />
<br /></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-66182237255530148562013-06-05T12:05:00.000-07:002013-06-05T03:52:57.700-07:00Dress for Evolutionary Success<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
April, 2013 <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/1/what-makes-you-so-special/dress-for-evolutionary-success">Nautilus</a><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.45em;">Picture one of those ascent-of-man
charts that depict a progression of profiles, from an ape walking on all
fours to a slumped hominid to a modern human standing erect. What’s
missing? The modern human is naked. No accessories!</span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPVwpq18swiJQ3FqCT_4yY3yt9_NTcq0_UbAdV-s-X64SDNIHE5iwK2Z12kxmIFa_bXDQe0uXkOa1jq1j5R51WFpuxInHdiNaJM4oytsJLjs3w28vfDfGwC9ZyJ0cddPiRx5nI8OFsD0/s1600/115_2b44928ae11fb9384c4cf38708677c48-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPVwpq18swiJQ3FqCT_4yY3yt9_NTcq0_UbAdV-s-X64SDNIHE5iwK2Z12kxmIFa_bXDQe0uXkOa1jq1j5R51WFpuxInHdiNaJM4oytsJLjs3w28vfDfGwC9ZyJ0cddPiRx5nI8OFsD0/s320/115_2b44928ae11fb9384c4cf38708677c48-1.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by John Hendrix</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="line-height: 1.45em;"> We
may not find a chapter on fashion in science textbooks but
ornamentation and tailoring have played feature roles in our success as a
species. On the prehistoric catwalks we creamed the Neanderthal
competition on both functionality and style and went on to become the
dominant hominid in virtually every climate zone on earth. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.45em;">As
I discovered through a host of interviews with paleontologists,
anthropologists, evolutionary psychologists, and fashion historians,
clothes don’t just make the man—they make us human. Clothes and body
decoration evolved in a suite of human communication tools and behaviors
that have shaped the runway of human evolution and culture. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="overlap-text">
<span style="line-height: 1.45em;">Fashion
has been as “crucial to the emergence of the modern human as music and
dance, art and humor, and language,” says evolutionary psychologist
Geoffrey Miller, an associate professor of psychology at the University
of New Mexico. “It’s a legitimate part of human nature.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.45em;">That’s
hardly news to the well-dressed man and woman. Still, putting fashion
and science in the same sentence can seem a little strange. So, to
reassure you that the pride and excitement you feel when you put on an
Armani suit or a pair of Manolo Blahniks is emotionally legit, let’s
turn back to our evolutionary past. The dawn of clothes reveals that we
were born to strut.</span><span style="line-height: 1.45em;"> (<a href="http://nautil.us/issue/1/what-makes-you-so-special/dress-for-evolutionary-success">More</a>)</span></div>
</div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-85547838307950000962013-06-04T05:52:00.001-07:002015-07-29T08:42:45.923-07:00Inside The Secret World of Plant Communication<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
April, 2013 <i><a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/inside-secret-world-of-plant-communication/">Modern Farme</a></i><br />
<div class="mf-single-article-excerpt">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZQzX2Z7cQXBHcZTdeFUfP1udHA9ap6JjiPSfUjwYbIv3egzohKGJ4lqbUefjwsYsmga4UJkKP1Nt-QbYg-VAS9tpK2N6BU6cHdpbni2M4VQLfgAgKuefMA2uWcGyke6s1_Ewpi_urcI/s1600/plant-whisperer-hero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZQzX2Z7cQXBHcZTdeFUfP1udHA9ap6JjiPSfUjwYbIv3egzohKGJ4lqbUefjwsYsmga4UJkKP1Nt-QbYg-VAS9tpK2N6BU6cHdpbni2M4VQLfgAgKuefMA2uWcGyke6s1_Ewpi_urcI/s400/plant-whisperer-hero.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos by <a class="mf-single-article-photog" href="http://www.sarahillenberger.com/" target="_blank">Sarah Illenberger</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Without plants, humans and animals
could not survive, so it’s no wonder we long to communicate with them.
Many past civilizations worshiped plants and have tried to converse with
them through rituals and other means. <a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/inside-secret-world-of-plant-communication/">Read more @Modern Farmer</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-41785149750405745132013-06-01T04:37:00.000-07:002013-06-05T04:39:45.979-07:00How to Grow A Cocktail<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
March, 2013 <a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2013/04/how-to-grow-a-cocktail-with-amy-stewart-the-drunken-botanist/"><i>Modern Farmer</i></a><br />
<br />
What do you see when you walk into a liquor store? If you’re nature
writer Amy Stewart, you see “the world’s most exotic botanical garden,
the sort of strange and overgrown conservatory we only encounter in our
dreams.” Indeed, without plants we wouldn’t have the martini. Or
prosecco. Or single-malt scotch. Almost every element that goes into a
great drink—from the fermented grains and grapes, to the herbs and
fruits that flavor them, to the celery stalk in your glass—is a denizen
of the plant world. Stewart’s latest book, The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks,
tells the story of over 150 of these intoxicating flora and includes
loads of tips for bartenders, gardeners and farmers on the art of
alcohol.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApZ4ZiRRkc-nVWZx2RezjZ6VLkdbbrOK86a-sNR474A-8Yn6zqvBTfQ7RA3QsY8pb3Fi5vMV0f97H7HT4xCCwJatcJ1a7CmYkzZKftMndmCKM4uqN1HVW5KfELdnxWyX87vN3cBn6UtA/s1600/Botanist-Amy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApZ4ZiRRkc-nVWZx2RezjZ6VLkdbbrOK86a-sNR474A-8Yn6zqvBTfQ7RA3QsY8pb3Fi5vMV0f97H7HT4xCCwJatcJ1a7CmYkzZKftMndmCKM4uqN1HVW5KfELdnxWyX87vN3cBn6UtA/s320/Botanist-Amy.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<strong>What are some weird plants that can show up in an alcoholic beverage?</strong><br />
You name it. If it’s a fruit or an herb, if it’s edible, someone
somewhere has dropped it into some alcohol and made booze out of it. A
lot of these plants go back to medieval medicine. Capillaire syrup was
originally a medicinal thing made from maidenhair fern that was supposed
to treat jaundice. But it became sweet botanical syrup that ended up as
a cocktail ingredient. No one makes maidenhair syrup anymore. But you
could. And I have.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s it used for?</strong><br />
Mostly old punch recipes like Jerry Thomas’ Regent Punch, which is
one of those strange drinks that have green tea, Champagne and all kinds
of crazy things. (<a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2013/04/how-to-grow-a-cocktail-with-amy-stewart-the-drunken-botanist/">More</a>) </div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-53345483058763004722012-11-06T09:22:00.002-08:002015-07-29T08:29:44.180-07:00(ESSAY) Safety Not Guaranteed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
November 4, 2012 <i></i><a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6571/safety_not_guaranteed/"><i>Religion Dispatches</i></a><br />
<br />
<div class="dropcap">
Looking at the online flood zone map of our neighborhood, I feel calm.</div>
<div class="dropcap">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpP79XR33yKeinSe4Lk6ZKwKvB_tsqwvZc3Pgwrsr5TEw11R87iDXTnN6AXJitTAAdu5roTkM5J2iBVdjhpEkSZtH2iv8gPGdB7TOZ8sB4YcMfHdF2Pf7TevbmYidd54utpH7c5gNIsxw/s1600/evacmap_302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpP79XR33yKeinSe4Lk6ZKwKvB_tsqwvZc3Pgwrsr5TEw11R87iDXTnN6AXJitTAAdu5roTkM5J2iBVdjhpEkSZtH2iv8gPGdB7TOZ8sB4YcMfHdF2Pf7TevbmYidd54utpH7c5gNIsxw/s1600/evacmap_302.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>NYC Flood Zone Evacuation Map</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I’m a bit of a map freak and I appreciate how clearly this one
presents the information and how easily I can navigate within it. I
know, vaguely, that the East Village is vulnerable to flooding from the
East River but now I can see the facts. Zooming in, I see the exact
boundaries of Zone A—the mandatory evacuation zone. It extends from the
river up to the public housing blocks along FDR Drive, to the German
Biergarten on Avenue C, up to Sheens on Avenue B, the bodega where you
can spend $8 on a carton of milk and toilet paper.<br />
<br />
We live just to the west of Avenue B—bright red on the map, along with
everything to the east. Mayor Bloomberg has ordered everyone living in
the Red zone to evacuate. The storm looks big on the satellite images,
really gnarly. (<a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6571/safety_not_guaranteed/">more</a>)</div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-35079501599645508082012-05-01T09:50:00.000-07:002012-05-01T09:50:14.780-07:00Today’s Vineyards, Yesterday’s Tall Oaks April 21, 2012 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/new-napa-valley-atlas-is-a-lesson-in-historical-ecology.html"><i>New York Times/The Bay Citizen</i></a><br />
<br />
On a recent sunny day in the Napa Valley, Robin Grossinger cupped his
hands around his eyes and surveyed the landscape. He said the scene gave
him “a feeling of grandeur.”<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVNO1kwLC7nDJH0Dvxx7KpqKvHgU8cdAAPtO1-UUHHQvBIREDGbO1YQ9Wgw-PxXYglUzoJDu1GiXBc3MMLLpoLEcnT4QCZubcuoQ4FcMpy5H2ymifBNDzW7zwup22s7L3KJ7343LdnxuU/s1600/napa01_handout_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVNO1kwLC7nDJH0Dvxx7KpqKvHgU8cdAAPtO1-UUHHQvBIREDGbO1YQ9Wgw-PxXYglUzoJDu1GiXBc3MMLLpoLEcnT4QCZubcuoQ4FcMpy5H2ymifBNDzW7zwup22s7L3KJ7343LdnxuU/s320/napa01_handout_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/22/us/22BCNAPA/22BCNAPA-articleLarge.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">Tidal marshlands. Courtesy CA Historical Society</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="articleInline runaroundLeft">
<div class="columnGroup doubleRule">
<div class="story">
He was not talking about the vistas of hillsides draped in vineyards,
with their gnarled vines tinged green with new growth that by fall will
be laden with the valley’s renowned cabernet sauvignon and other grapes.
Mr. Grossinger, a scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute
and author of the new Napa Valley Historical Ecology Atlas, had turned
his gaze onto another charismatic species: a small line of valley oak
trees. <div class="summary">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="doubleRule">
</div>
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
While today’s visitors — around five million annually — come to drink
wine and soak up the beauty of Napa’s viticultural landscape, past
visitors came to marvel at the majestic oaks. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The area where Mr. Grossinger was standing, near Oak Knoll in the
southern end of the valley, is where travelers entering from the south
first took in the beauty of the oak savannas that defined the valley
floor, bursting with wildflowers in the spring. The trees at Oak Knoll
supported abundant wildlife and created shade in the heat, among other
benefits, prompting the California State Senate in 1858 to declare them
“at once an ornament and a blessing.” (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/new-napa-valley-atlas-is-a-lesson-in-historical-ecology.html">more</a>)</div>Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-88394227603456024492012-04-10T10:28:00.000-07:002013-06-05T03:52:15.544-07:00Berkeley Group Digs In to Challenge of Making Sense of All That Data<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
April 7, 2012 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/us/berkeley-group-tries-to-make-sense-of-big-data.html"><i>New York Times/The Bay Citizen</i></a><br />
<br />
It comes in “torrents” and “floods” and threatens to “engulf” everything that stands in its path. <br />
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
No, it is not a tsunami, it is Big Data, the incomprehensibly large amount of raw, often real-time data that keeps piling up faster and faster from scientific research, social media, smartphones — virtually any activity that leaves a digital trace. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The sheer size of the pile (measured in petabytes, one million gigabytes, or even exabytes, one billion gigabytes) combined with its complexity has threatened to overwhelm just about everybody, including the scientists who specialize in wrangling it. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
“It’s easier to collect data,” said Michael Franklin, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, “and harder to make sense of it.” (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/us/berkeley-group-tries-to-make-sense-of-big-data.html">more</a>)</div>
</div>
Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661770181675277314.post-11007430922719083322012-04-07T12:01:00.000-07:002012-04-07T12:01:26.201-07:00Law, Order and a Life in Robes March 23, 2012 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/us/law-order-and-a-life-in-robes.html"><i>New York Times/The Bay Citizen</i></a><br />
<br />
As he had many times before, Judge <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/vaughn_r_walker/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Vaughn R. Walker.">Vaughn R. Walker</a> — impeccably dressed in a gray suit and muted red tie — took command of the room.<br />
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody"> It was not a courtroom, but the Verdi Club, the site of a law-and-order-themed evening of storytelling hosted by San Francisco’s Porchlight storytelling series on Monday night. </div><div itemprop="articleBody"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnRvOnCUDQSZEizL6SzdNE7_Z69zLxGAounjTkaKILAG7XoEB9yc-FwA5nZdZtaA0SCpM9I1tGpkvrQkWIePqpYConVx2vJj2KNiZnXzgFcNMfAIROZR8ePf-j7rf64flLsblpJ8Xljns/s1600/walker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnRvOnCUDQSZEizL6SzdNE7_Z69zLxGAounjTkaKILAG7XoEB9yc-FwA5nZdZtaA0SCpM9I1tGpkvrQkWIePqpYConVx2vJj2KNiZnXzgFcNMfAIROZR8ePf-j7rf64flLsblpJ8Xljns/s320/walker.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judge V. Walker takes the stage. Photo by Adithya Sambamurthy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div itemprop="articleBody"> Judge Walker, recently retired from Federal District Court, became something of a local celebrity after his 2010 ruling that <a href="http://www.salon.com/2008/11/25/proposition_8_religion/">Proposition 8</a>, the voter-approved California measure that banned same-sex marriage, was unconstitutional. He became even more of a lightning rod after it was revealed that he is gay. So expectations ran high when he took the stage under yellow and purple lights and the flash of a disco ball, telling the crowd that he had been told not to expect a typical legal audience. “That, I assume, was a compliment to you,” he said. </div><div itemprop="articleBody"><br />
</div><div itemprop="articleBody"> He quipped about how, in the courtroom, he was not used to being accompanied by a piano player, particularly “one that I know when I go on too long is going to start playing.” (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/us/law-order-and-a-life-in-robes.html">more</a>)</div>Jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15149017015565918514noreply@blogger.com0