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Tag Archive | social commentary
in artworks, exhibitions, writing
Fighting For Crumbs…
I've been involved in setting this project up for the best part of a year…
Over the past few years or so I have found a few people who were agreeing with my growing sentiment:
That the mood and spirit of this society (global too) was in a deep depression, and that this had to be addressed before there could ever be a popular movement that would well and truly galvanise the daily-downtrodden's into believing in something so much that they were prepared to fight for it.
(Let's be honest. I'm a daily-downtrodden myself. I'm no freedom fighter.)
Trying to hold a belief that another world is possible up to the light of a new day in UK2015 was like holding a flower up to a nuclear blast – it withered and recoiled before the toothpaste was on the toothbrush. Before you know it the old depressive-pleasure-seeking kicks in: cider after cider, angry self destructive acts, a spree of undecipherable text messages – enough to write another day off until a new dawn fades.
Art has been my backbone in a world which seems bent on being cold and meaningless in equal measure. Without it I'm a mollusc looking for the nearest dark spot to dwell in For "there are brighter sides to life and I should know, because I've seen them, but not very often". And I always recoil to my work as an antidote-maker.
I'm bored of expressing this. Deeply bored.
Another world….
…a better world
Isn't there a plant in the desert that only flowers once a generation? Is that not a perfect analogy for English optimism?
The week that followed from May 8 2015 was actually a special week for me, for it felt like I was sharing something with others. What I felt I shared was a despair and fear now that the Tories and the media were taking their gloves off for some sadist pleasures. And I felt this sharing of despair beginning to jolt people into a sort of action most of us hadn't engaged in before. But it didn't last…
Rotten Soil….
…A couple of months later I discovered the Sleaford Mods. Their channeling of the rotten soil of nowhereland sank into hole where a soul, a love of life should've been. An Antidote. Later that year I was surprised to find that a film called Invisible Britain, that followed the band, was following them on a tour of the Ingored-lands. The Ignored-lands I meandered within and wrote about: mainly Barnsley and Wakefield.
I felt an idea coming along..
This idea was given one leg to stand on when I was asked by friends to put on an exhibition at the Wakefield Labour club (Aka The Redshed).
2016 marks the 50th birthday of The Redshed, also known as The Labour club. Situated in the heart of the Yorkshire city of Wakefield, the place is somewhat unique, and has defiantly resisted the capitalist forces that have penetrated nearly everything else around it. A year-long line-up of events are now marking this anniversary.
Sandra Hutchinson, a lifelong supporter of the club, spoke of how The Redshed began at the height of the social and political changes happening in the 1960's. In-spite of the seismic troubles around the world, it was an age of political optimism, and there was a strong belief that things could be and would be changed.
I needed to put something on that spoke of the disbelief that has penetrated the years I've been an adult.
Artist Corinne Deakin coincidentally came up to me thinking of doing something very similar. Looking at the way the arts were being pushed out of the reach of many people due to 5 years of needless austerity, low wages and high living costs. I must've said the words 'fighting for crumbs', in one of my waffles that I never remember, and Corinne remembered it and said that we need to call our project this.
And then it just seem to fall into place. I'd worked with the artist John Wilkinson the year before, and knew his work and thoughts were ideal for our project. And during conversations with friends Rebekah Whitlam and poet Jonathan Butcher I realised how appropriate their work was to addressing the cultural mood of this secretly unhappy Island. Corinne knew a photographer from Barnsley called Connor Matheson, who was just that little bit younger than my own town centre social circles for me to have know him prior to the this project, but I think I'd already seen his photographs and thought they would work well alongside our works, especially John Wilkinson's paintings. In a way that is sort of Inspired by Invisible Britain, I thought it would be great to make a talking head documentary for this project – the Fighting for Crumbs documentary will be on show at the Redshed event, and hopefully all way through the Gage Event. Anyway, here's a link to all that. https://www.facebook.com/events/1766943633588740/
Here are a few lines from each artist. All I can say is that I hope whoever reads this can make it to at least one of the events that we are putting on:
John Wilkinson (B 1962 – Sheffield based)
The Price of Coal
Austerity, the ugly reality of post-war Britain and the backdrop to the founding of the welfare state has come back to haunt us once again. Trying to invoke that spirit that enabled us to survive and rebuild the last time, David Cameron famously said 'We're all in it together' but the truth is that we're not, and it isn't the same. A North decimated by industrial decline and unemployment is not the same as the manufacturing centres that provided the growth and foreign trade that led us to economic revival in the 50's. A class abandoned because the education bar has become too costly to climb over is no longer the motor of the economy, and so the economic benefits of whatever financial services revival they paid for never reach them. Instead of building the State that supported growth we are dismantling Health, Education, Housing and Welfare, and replacing all but the cheapest labour with technology that frees us from work and with it income. As an artist, my work is a response to the world I live in – a mirror that reflects reality, and what it might become. Through it I express my compassion for a people who built the foundations of our world, and will be left to rot in its basements until we can see what is happening, and ask for better. Then I'll paint pretty landscapes.
Corinne Deakin (B 1988)
During the past 5 years, or perhaps longer, we have seen old architecture and independent business give way to gentrification and cuts that effect the working class. Education is being stifled and the youth of Britain are entrenched in large debts they may never be able to pay off, with suggestions of unfair consequences. The idea of community is disintegrating, as we are encouraged to evolve into self absorbed, cutthroat individuals where its constant networking and making a career for yourself is based more and more on who you know, not what you know- and it never hurts if you're born into wealth. Glorifying low paid internships and getting very little in return. This is the ideology that's being sold to aspiring artists; the dark introduction of how to make it as a successful artist today.
Jonathan Butcher (poet, B 1978, Sheffield)
Over the last 40 years the structures that should constitute a society have been eaten away by ideals which have been instigated by the few, with the intention to pollute the many. Ideals that strive to restrict us and attempt reduce human expression to the level of the banal and the superfluous; achievements considered wasteful,and without worth. We have been left empty, yet we are expected to remain grateful for the meager gains we have scraped together; gains which when pursued only through shear necessity, place money above time and psychical and mental strain above thought and basic fulfillment. Slivers of hope are offered, but are usually temporary, and for the large part conducted by those just as driven by this machinery as those they purport to despise. This now continual scenario enforced upon us attempts to define us. It claims to speak on our behalf, without offering a single answer to this problem or a solution to our fate.
John Ledger (B 1984, From Barnsley, works in Wakefield)
"There has arisen a deep disbelief in the abilities of the human race, without much shared understanding of how we came to feel this way. Maybe it comes from the fact that with what we now know (regarding climate change, the impacts of social inequality, living memories of 20th century horrors), there's a sense that we SHOULD be in the process of building a far better world to live in. But NO: in 2016 we are within a state of affairs that is making us scrap amongst ourselves for pieces of barely anything. Are we surprised if nervous breakdowns and spells of aimless rage are commonplace amidst this deeply absurd situation?"
Rebekah Whitlam, Sheffield, 1984
Vanitas Britannia.
Since the recession there has been a pseudo-nostalgia of post-war Britain. Kettling, rioting, and protests were swiftly detracted from by weddings, jubilees, and cake on the BBC. The "keep calm and carry on" craft trend has escalated; beer, baking, and bunting have become synonymous with community togetherness.
Whilst we crave authenticity in ourselves and our society, empty slogans are sold back to us. The commodities of craft offer us promises of a community, but leave us all the more alienated. As handmade, locally sourced businesses cash in on redeveloping the streets, financial and emotional security remains distant for their neighbours and the divide becomes increasingly widened.
As a textile artist I feel a pressure of balancing a vision of socially inclusive creativity without undercutting myself and other artists financially. The lapping of cushions, cards, and craft is at my feet, but how do I not become part of the problem?
Austerity strains us economically and is having a detrimental effect on personal integrity and creative freedom.
Connor Matheson (B 1992 Barnsley)
The works I am showing in Fighting For Crumbs explore the everyday lives of normal people in the Post-Thatcher era, with particular focus on themes such as family relationships, the local economy and drinking culture. With a specific focus on the north of England, this project is an accurate representation of working class culture, depicting the everyday lives of people who are often vilified in the mainstream press as "scroungers" or "yobs". The work shows the effects of government economic policy yet also shows the human element, relationships and humour in life and celebrates the diversity of people and the character of areas.
Gage Gallery, Ball Street, Sheffield, S3 8DB
Monday 8 August: Opening night. 6:30 – 9pm
Friday 12 August. Music and poetry night. 6:30 – 9 pm
The Redshed, 18 Vicarage St S, Wakefield WF1 1QX
Saturday 13 August. 1Pm onwards. Film-viewing, and talk by JD Taylor
Normal gallery opening times: 8 August – 13 August, 7-11pm (call 01924215626 to check room is not in use)
Tired of Life ("I Want To Leave Myself")
Tired of Life ("I Want To Leave Myself") 2016, ink on paper
All I need to add about this drawing is that the title isn't necessarily referring to me, and my state of mind. It refers also to a general mood in an age where I believe our increasing dependency on the 'matrix' is nihilizing us, daily; draining any colour from the world, and its eroding all mystery. These are the qualities things which make our time spent in this world more than a the knowing dead-end of unit-shifting pleasure-seeking.
in Stories From Forgotten Space, writing
Recent Mapmaking (2014 so far) part 2
This is the second post in a series what I still call psychogeographical maps (or cognitive mapping). Quoting certain sections and using a selection of photographs to widen the project, which at its core still has the intention to be a Cognitive Mapping of Now – aiming to be useful for locating the current socio-political mood, and the psychological impacts of it. (The first post can be found here. A collection of the 2014 maps can be found here).
"The smell of 'Americanness' emanating from Wakefield's expansive retail park, from a very doughnutty smell.Yet [I am] at lest 200 yards away at the moment. I say 'Americanness' because it's a distinctive smell from childhood, largely due to it's lack of presence in it, except when I was with other [children's'] parents. I think it is fair to say my dad was highly critical of large swathes of American culture – mainly that which forms around the likes of Disney and Macdonalds. Thus we rarely indulged in them, and more often had fish and chip takeaways.
"The trains are far more advanced than the clunky ones [the commuters of] lower-West and South Yorkshire get. It certainly does feel commuters from some areas are treat as a higher class of citizens than commuters from other areas. There is certainly an unacknowledged hierarchy and snobbery relating to commuter transport in this country."
"Low-seating on Northern Rail means that I can't help but see what everyone is doing/reading on the train. [A] Girl/young woman sits in front of me. She looks like a student [do to student badge hung around her neck]. I notice that the book she is reading is called 'Overcoming Anorexia' [and] it is now clear to me why. I feel really sorry for her, she's obviously so ashamed of it, as she has covered up the book cover with white paper. It also deeply saddens me, coming home from Manchester, slightly more sentimental than usual due to alcohol intake. Manchester will always be [a place] connected with my own anorexic spell, due to having to leave [a course I was studying in] the city due to it. As she reads a chapter on the damages it does to relationships, I am reminded how I never truly overcame it, I just channeled the obsessive behaviour into other things. But it's still there, only skin-deep. The young woman probably has parents going prematurely white-haired due to this thing that has inflicted their daughter in this violent world".
"Bus stop outside district hospital. [I always feel there is] a lot of really unwell-looking people within our borough. Across the road are posters for last Monday's Jarrow-inspired march to save the NHS (from privatisation). In some ways it is one of the [only] visible signs of class politics within a town of this size".
"Sat in cafe [close] to the cathedral. Two males sit in front of me. [They are] loud, and aggressive in tone – especially the one who's back is facing me. After being audibly subjected to it, it is apparent that they are capitalist gangsters – no doubt about it. Discussing dark deals. The man doing most talking is of Asian ethnicity, but with strong West Yorkshire accent; the other is an obese white man, with terrible skin on his face. I feel offended by the money amounts they are talking about, and intimidated by the main-speaking-man's warnings to the other man that he will get himself killed if he isn't careful, and that he himself is prepared to kill for business".
"On Trans-Pennine train, I sit facing a young man of near-Asian ethnicity – wearing sunglasses and white earphones. Despite his 'westernisation' and my general blaming of Western forces for the rise in extreme militancy in the [Islamic] group ISIS, I can't avoid the irrational fear brewed in everyone's mind by the thought-masher that is the mainstream media. "What if he cut my head off on the train?" my reptilian brain-part asked my other brain-part. I felt so bad for having these thoughts. He got off at Huddersfield. I just fear that the [mainstream] media's making everyone's minds harbour such thoughts – it can only make the world a nastier place if so".
"Want to get out of tourist area on the docklands as soon as I find myself there. Just have no interest in the gimmickry of it. Union Jacks and Beatles' memorabilia; a mixture of things associated with Britain/Liverpool re-appropriated into the conservatism of making everything into a tourist spot. Isn't it odd how many sites of former industrial/political strife have since been 're-developed' into meccas from tourism and consumerism?"
"I realise we have taken a different rail route back into Manchester, due to unfamiliar look of route. Settlements begin unexpectedly quick [again, after exiting Liverpool]. Due to this, I almost fool myself into thinking that maybe there's an urban sprawl/city between the Manchester/Liverpool sprawls that I've somehow managed to erase from my memory".
Recent mapmaking. (2014 so far, through maps)
I've begun including a few photographs within my (what I still reluctantly call -as I've not found a better word for them yet) psychogeographical maps.
"Street Art-clad entrance into Victorian storm tunnels, before they descend under central Leeds. Perhaps the element of urban decay is what prompts us to talk about the rise of capital flight from urban areas in the future, alongside the rise of 'disaster capitalism."
"Waiting to cross the road and notice man stumbling down Huddersfield Road. He looks severely distressed. Can't tell if it's emotional, pyshical or both. He looks extremely impoverished, possible addiction problems. He stumbles onto road, rush hour traffic has to stop, and he stumbles onto the next road. I turn around dreading I'm going to see him run over. It's as if he's lost the will to care. Can't help feeling that I'm seeing many individual tragedies of neoliberalism's race to the bottom."
"Passing homeless person on Division Street. Dave says there was a program on TV recently confirming what I have thought: that [cases of] homelessness has exploded in Sheffield. I never used to notice it 4 years ago. Now it feels like a city close to a social time-bomb.
"Large juxtaposition between aspirational, digitally-utopianised imagery, whilst old men sit and watch the demolition [going on] beyond the imagery. Is there really enough people in this area [who can afford to shop at extortionate upmarket shops] to justify this total gentrification of Leeds?"
"Trees growing from disused railway line momentarily give me impression of a city abandoned by humans, and lush plant life taking over"
Pro-Scottish independence sticker of gas/electric meter (?) at bottom of Victoria Road. It says 'End London Rule!' My first thought it "we're all [as in the rest of England] with you on that!" I've noticed a lot of pro-Scottish Independence stickers posted around this end [north] of Barnsley – a Scottish/Yorkshire link trying to be harnessed maybe?"
"Aspirational poster of good-looking couple pillow-fighting next to private apartments. I always find this advert offensive, even as its believability fades as it gets bleached by the sun."
"Can't ignore rolling news bulletins flying past on big screen in Wetherspoons. It's all about responses from nations regarding the Malaysian passenger plane being brought down by a missile in Eastern Ukraine. It starts to make me feel unwell – the unending possibilities of consequences that can crush your well-being."
"6 Chimneys Wetherspoons, Wakefield. The only place I found to sit and have a coffee. Sit across from young man, wearing vest, on his laptop. [See him] trawling his Facebook and Hotmail accounts, no doubt feeling the need to keep up to date with things and search for opportunities. It is something an increasing number of us are familiar with, including myself; the low-paid, precarious, or unemployment mass all trying to better their predicament through the network – an endless, relentless searching and (virtual)door-knocking."
"Listening to the Louder Than Bombs compilation, The Smiths, in roads/landscapes akin to the ones I used to walk/cycle through whilst I was in my early adulthood. It reminds me of how, despite it being a difficult time, I still had hope for life/the future."
"Head to Baby Jupiter, a pub [I frequented] often in the early recession days. Near-past friendship groups. There's a little glass jar on the bar; "help us from going bust". This is the most 'Retromania' bar I can ever imagine. Yet, right now it feels like a comfort blanket, immune from time"
"The long urban walk begins to [blend together] with my long urban walks in South East London. I think about how Manchester is portrayed as 'Coronation Street', but is experientially very akin to gritty South London."
"Suddenly notice cars, and realise the seeming 'place of safety' is within grasp. Forests, especially dark, near impassable ones, warp [your] sense of time and distance. My wrong turn [within] it has felt like an hour, when in reality it's only be 25 minutes. I have sweat dripping from my forehead."
"Two very tall policemen surround a poor-looking, possibly malnourished teenage male, outside [the train] station. Whatever he's done, he now looks noticeably scared. A nearby person says "haven't they got anything better to do than to pick on a boy?"
"Barnsley library now literally one big heap of rubble. What a waste. It almost looks like a dark monolithic construction. From here [viewed on Shambles street] it is placed right in front of the town hall – it almost looks like an attempt to rebuild Barnsley's past landscape of spoil heaps."
in artworks, Urban aimlessness
(New Book) A Walk Down The Hallam Line: a personal account of the West Riding of Yorkshire
A Walk Down The Hallam Line@Blurb.com
http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/5273100-a-walk-down-the-hallam-line-a-personal-account-of
This account has culminated from years of wandering and musing around an area loosely centered around Leeds, Wakefield, Barnsley and Sheffield. It has been displayed in an arrangement of photographs taken between 2008 and 2014, that roughly span the time that the thoughts that make this personal account came together. Yet, always being somewhat concerned with the notion of place – what is urban, what is rural, what is home, what isn't – it is probably more accurate to say these thoughts have grown over 30 years.
This 'walk' through 4 districts that span the old West Riding of Yorkshire is foremost a personal account, yet it also aims to serve as a psychogeographical account. I know psychogeography is a term that is often said to be thrown around carelessly. So, to my make my use of it more clear, I see it as a means of mapping ones experience of a place. I'm trying to show what inhabiting these places/walking through a human landscape feels like, because I believe doing so has much-overlooked potential for understanding a 21st century world that few would argue is working for the majority of us. Thus the accompanying photos aren't the type to make pretty wall-hangings; all too often I find reality is massively cropped to take the more picturesque. I have chosen this area because it is a landscape I know better than any other. My time remaining on this earth as John Ledger will be indelibly-coloured by this area, whether I am in Barcelona or still in Barnsley.


text:
Q: Float issue with smaller screen size I am trying to figure out the best approach to have a link with an image floated next to it inline, that will force the link to become multi-line as needed while keeping the image inline floated next to it.
I setup an example here - http://jsfiddle.net/ubernoob/tYeGR/
If you size the result window you will see that once it hits a small enough width the image will fall below the link.
How can I code this so the link will go to multi-line and leave the image floated next to it?

A: Try putting <img> tag before <h3> and remove float:left from <h3>
I've edited the jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/tYeGR/7/

A: this example works: http://jsfiddle.net/jalbertbowdenii/tYeGR/18/ but i changed your floats to absolutely positioning the img's. if that's not good enough, @mediaqueries are the way to go. i tried two in jsfiddle but to no vail. probably user error.

A: You can absolutely position the images in their rows and then add some padding to the <h3> elements so the links don't get covered by the images:
.list img {
    position : absolute;
    right    : 10px;
}
.list h3 {
    float      : left;
    font-size  : 12px;
    padding    : 10px 60px 10px 0;/*notice the extra 50px of padding I added to padding-right*/
    min-height : 50px;/*Notice this is added beacuse the image will not dictate height since it is positioned absolutely*/
}

Here is a jsfiddle to mess around with: http://jsfiddle.net/jasper/tYeGR/19/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


In this podcast, we talk about hot props, magnetos, and how moving a propeller can result in your death. I had never seen a video of a propeller starting accidentally, but while researching this episode I found one, and I've included a link to it here. You'll see that pilot was shocked when the engine started and that he barely escaped serious injury.
We also talk about magnetos, which are the culprits that can lead to a hot prop. We'll discuss the mag check that most pilots do during their runup before takeoff, and how to use it to make sure you don't have a hot prop. I wanted to talk about this because I run into many experienced pilots who are not aware of how to determine whether they have a hot prop, or of safe ways to move a propeller by hand.
Plus listener email: A Private pilot asks how much flight instruction he can legally and safely give to his wife who is a student pilot.


If you are an existing Leeds Beckett student and you have forgotten your password, you can find out how to retrieve it using this link.
If you are a new applicant to Leeds Beckett, you need to enter your Student ID or UCAS personal ID and your personal email address (the one you provided for your correspondence with the University). You will receive an email containing a password reset link.
Your student ID should be used in this form and is not the same as your computer ID, which starts with a 'c'.


Boutique 18-room mid century style hotel on the beach.
Upstairs from "Eddies Grub House" Coolangatta's best live music dive bar and burger joint.
King size bed, ensuite, bar, neon and wall art.
Bedroom with King Size bed, Lounge room with Sofa that can be folded into an etxra bed, bar, neon and wall art, exposed timber ceilings or ocean views.


Small investors can now get in on some of the mega-trends that have traditionally been the domain of investment bankers. Equity crowdfunding platforms, such as GreenVesting, Bettervest and Crowd4Climate are now offering German investors a piece of the action in green tech. The total financing volume through platforms compares to the savings and loans of a small town in the Uckermark, a region just north of Berlin.
What is more impressive is that this number saw a 219% growth in 2017 compared with the year before. While this is not yet a challenge to the banking industry, it does show that a new financing source is emerging and that parts of the investing community are willing to move from banks to the crowd to invest their money.
"If governments look to create national digital currency we'd be very happy to look at those in a more favourable way [compared with existing cryptocurrencies]," Ari Sarker, Co-president of Mastercard's APAC business, said.
UK bank Standard Chartered is making a play for the mobile financial services market in Côte d'Ivoire – where it has no physical presence – with the the launch of its first digital-only retail bank. The bank will offer digital services allowing users make transfers and pay bills.
Standard Chartered currently has retail banking operations in ten African countries, but is opening up in the West African Francophone country because without a legacy commercial banking business it hopes to start from scratch by redefining itself as a digital bank there. If successful in Côte d'Ivoire, Standard Chartered is expected to replicate the digital bank model in other major African markets including Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.


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Tish James' top New York aide resigns following harassment probe
James' office confirmed her chief of staff Ibrahim Khan resigned after an outside probe into accusations against him.
Tish James' office has been a leading voice in combating harassment in New York. | Brittainy Newman/AP Photo
By Anna Gronewold
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Attorney General Tish James' top aide stepped down Friday after an investigation into claims of sexual harassment.
"The Office of Attorney General has protocols in place to thoroughly investigate any allegation of misconduct," a spokeswoman for the office said in a statement. "The office takes these matters with the utmost seriousness and this situation is no different. An independent, impartial investigation was conducted, and the employee has since resigned."
James' office has been a leading voice in combating harassment in New York. In 2021, she investigated sexual harassment claims against then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Her conclusions, that nearly one dozen allegations against him were legitimate, led to his resignation.
The allegations against Khan reported by The New York Times included at least two separate sexual harassment accusations, including at least one of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing.
James hired a law firm to independently investigate, according to a person familiar with the matter, and the investigation did not find evidence of misconduct within the office.
The office was first made aware of the allegations several weeks ago, according to the person familiar with the "handful" of complaints, and they were not notified directly by the complainants. The person said that none involved current employees, meaning when the alleged conduct occurred, the individuals were not employed by the Attorney General's Office.
In a statement to Gothamist, Khan said his resignation was not related to the allegations, saying he was planning to leave at the end of James' first term. She was re-elected last month.
"After a successful four-year term, I've been slated to leave the office for the private sector at the end of this year," Khan wrote. "This is unrelated to an investigation which, nevertheless, found no official workplace misconduct. I'm proud of all we have achieved over these past four years in serving New Yorkers."
Khan was a spokesperson for James' campaign for New York City public advocate in 2013 and became chief of staff after she took office. He managed her run for attorney general and continued as her chief of staff once she was elected to her current role in 2018.
Harassment,
Andrew Cuomo,
Attorney General,
Tish James

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


i've never been much into yoga. but if i'm being honest, i never really tried. i guess i felt that if i was going to spend an hour exercising, i wanted it to be "worth it" – you know, really heart pumping cardio. i wanted to feel the burn. but at the same time, i always envied the lifestyle, mindset (and bodies) of yogis.
this past year was challenging. i was faced with health issues and i found myself more in my own head than ever before. more sleepless nights than i can count. i had a profound realization that without a sound mind and able body, you can't enjoy and explore this planet of ours. i started to understand the value of a clear mind, as much as a fit body. i sought out meditation, craved exercise, started to learn about how to properly fuel my body, and was desperate to do anything that would help me naturally relax and sleep better. i became much more mindful of how i was treating my body, my vehicle for life.
so the goal for this trip was to slow down, recharge and focus on ourselves. to use this time to take our health and wellness to new levels. no excuses, right? you've got all day every day. and when we were doing our research on central america, we were led to nosara, which is the ultimate beach/yoga/surf culture town.
so our first day in nosara – it was on. time to focus. our hotel (The Living Hotel) offered daily yoga classes, so this was it. that first morning, danny and i were having breakfast and we met two canadian gals, Emilie and Jacinda, who days earlier had completed their month-long yoga teaching certification up in the mountains. i was telling them how i pledged to really give yoga a try, that i needed yoga and meditation in my life, but was intimidated by it. it's got such a cult-like culture – from the gaggles of lulu lemon girls to the extreme hippies, i wasn't sure where i'd fit in.
but they assured me that yoga is a very personal, lifelong practice. everyone has to start somewhere and i should never let anyone make me feel intimidated. go at my own pace, listen to my body and learn. okay, i was going to try. i promised myself i would.
and later that morning, sweet jacinda said, "hey, why don't i give you a private class this morning to teach you the basics so you feel more comfortable with poses, phrases and general flow?" "really?? wow! sure!" so we did. and i'll forever be grateful to her for it. it was the start of my journey.
after that session i felt energized. i felt calm. i felt strong. i felt strangely emotional. i couldn't wait for more.
that was one-week ago, so today marks my seventh day in a row of 90-minute yoga classes. every day at 10am i'm excited to be back on the mat. each class and instructor has been different. each wonderful in their own way. all helping me to stop, be present and be thankful. some days were more focused on meditation and breathing. others more physically challenging. tim did a private drum ceremony. one day we had colombian bark blown up our noses through a wooden pipe (crazy sensation). sometimes the music was really loud, other times we laid in silence. we walked like monks. we swayed and chanted the names of hindu gods. we did drinking meditation (with water). and all of my mis-conceptions shattered. each instructor has been patient and helped nudge me along, correct my form, give me mantras and remind me to pause and be thankful for life. to love and listen to my body.
downstairs in the rancho for breakfast every morning.
emilie and jacinda for a fun dinner at the Guilded Iguana one night.
The Harmony Hotel has a free yoga class every Saturday at 4pm and it's awesome.
the studio couldn't be more beautiful or tranquil.
exploring your town on two wheels.
may is national bike to work month.


text:
The Freedom to Believe--A Lie
Why Do Men Reject God?
How Can We Deal with Evolution in the Classroom?
December 18, 1975. October 6, 1984. December 20, 1996. What do these dates—representative of three consecutive decades—have in common? The answer is that each represents a day in that particular decade on which an eminent evolutionary scientist died. In the decade of the '70s, it was Thursday, December 18, 1975, when Theodosius Dobzhansky, the world-class geneticist of The Rockefeller University, passed away. In the decade of the '80s, it was Saturday, October 6, 1984, when George Gaylord Simpson, the renowned paleontologist who served as a professor at both Harvard and the University of Arizona, died. In the decade of the '90s, it was Friday, December 20, 1996, when Carl Sagan, the acclaimed astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cornell University, passed from this life.
Each of these evolutionists was a multi-talented, highly intelligent individual who was well known and widely respected, both by those within and without the scientific community. Because of their reputations, and the lifetime achievements that in some cases had made their names household words, their passing did not go unnoticed by those involved on either side of the creation/evolution controversy. The evolutionary colleagues they left behind invariably penned glowing tributes acknowledging the tireless dedication that their now-deceased coworkers had demonstrated on behalf of a common cause. Those same colleagues repeatedly emphasized the profound scholarship that these men had exhibited through the years as they promoted and defended evolution; simultaneously, they expressed their deep regret that the concept of evolutionary thought now had lost such remarkable and powerful champions.
Creationists, on the other hand, had a somewhat different reaction. While certainly they shared the grief at the loss of a valuable human life, and while they deeply regretted the various circumstances surrounding the death of each of these men, other feelings could not help but surface as well. For example, it is extremely difficult for those who believe in God, and who accept the biblical account of creation as the correct explanation for the origin of the Universe and its inhabitants, to comprehend fully how intelligent people can accept the naturalistic concept of organic evolution. In fact, one of the most mind-numbing mysteries for those who do not believe in evolution is trying to understand the rationale of those who do. In every decade, whenever an evolutionist of the stature of a Dobzhansky, a Simpson, or a Sagan dies, one of the first questions that comes to mind is this: How could someone who possessed such obvious talent, and such undeniable brilliance, spend a lifetime believing, promoting, and defending a concept as false, and as meritless, as organic evolution?
THE FREEDOM...
The answer to such a question is to be found, at least in part, in the fact that when God created humans, He endowed us with freedom of choice. We often refer to that freedom as "personal volition" or "free moral agency." The truth of the matter is that God did not create mankind as some kind of robot to slavishly serve Him, without any personal choice in the matter. This stands to reason, considering Who God is. The Scriptures describe God as being, among other things, a God of love (1 John 4:8). But is it not true that love allows freedom of choice. Ask people who are responsible parents. Do they love their children? Certainly. Do they—because of that love—allow those children freedom of choice? Indeed.
God, Who often is depicted in Scripture as a loving Father, is no different in this regard. Even a cursory survey of the biblical text documents God's desire that man, as His creation, possess, and employ, freedom of choice. For example, when Joshua—who had led the Israelite nation so faithfully for so long—realized that his days were numbered and his hours were few, he assembled the entirety of that nation before him and, in one of the most impassioned pleas in Holy Writ, urged them to employ their personal volition in a proper fashion when he spoke these words:
And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah (Joshua 24:15).
Joshua's point was clear. The Israelites, individually and collectively, had the ability, and yes, even the God-given right, to choose whether or not they wished to follow Jehovah. As the text continues, it indicates that on that particular occasion they chose correctly.
And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods;... And Israel served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Jehovah that he had wrought for Israel (Joshua 24:16,31).
In the New Testament, the principle is the same. When Jesus condemned the self-righteousness of the Pharisees in John 5:39-40, He made this observation: "Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life." The Pharisees of New Testament times possessed the same freedom of choice that the Israelites of Old Testament times possessed. But while the Israelites to whom he spoke chose to heed Joshua's plea and obey Jehovah, the Pharisees to whom Christ spoke chose to ignore His plea and disobey God.
Two chapters later, when Jesus addressed the Jews in their own temple, the text indicates that they marveled at His teaching (John 7:15). But Jesus demurred, and said: "My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself " (John 7:16-17). Jesus' point to the devout temple Jews was no different than the one He had made earlier to the legalistic Pharisees. God has imbued mankind with the ability to choose. If a person wills, he can accept God and His teaching, but God never will force Himself on that person. As the apostle John brought the Book of Revelation to a close, he wrote: "he that will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). The operative phrase here, of course, is "he that will."
...TO BELIEVE...
But what of he that will not? Freedom is accompanied by responsibility. With freedom of choice comes the responsibility to think carefully, choose wisely, and act forcefully. Freedom of choice always works best when tempered with wisdom and good judgment. For that reason, to use just one example, parents who allow their children freedom of choice do not give them just freedom of choice. Rather, they provide their offspring with rules, regulations, and guidelines intended to help them use that freedom of choice correctly. If the children heed their parents' admonition, it is likely that wisdom and good judgment will prevail.
In mankind's relationship with God, it is much the same. In addition to giving us freedom of choice and personal volition, He has provided the rules, regulations, and guidelines that He knew we would need to help us use our personal freedom wisely. When we obey the rules, follow the regulations, and adhere to the guidelines, our lives are enriched. When we disobey the rules, refuse to follow the regulations, and ignore the guidelines, the opposite effect occurs. The Proverbs writer commented on this aspect of human life when he remarked: "The way of the transgressor is hard" (13:15). Jeremiah wrote: "It is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps" (10:23).
Thus, in every human activity the process of recognizing, believing, and properly utilizing truth is vitally important. Especially is this true in the spiritual realm. Jesus tried to impress this upon His generation when He said: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). The same principle operates even today, almost two thousand years later. If knowing the truth makes us free, surely, then, not knowing the truth makes us captives of one sort or another. When we refuse to acknowledge, and believe, the truth, we are susceptible to every ill-conceived plan, deceptive scheme, and false concept that the winds of change may blow our way. We become captive to error because we have abandoned the one moral compass—truth—that possesses the ability to show us the way, and thereby to set us free. What we as humans so often fail to realize is that we are not involved in a search for truth because it is lost; we are involved in a search for truth because, without it, we are!
...A LIE...
Some, however, have elected to employ their freedom of choice to ignore or disobey the truth—or both. They are the spiritual descendants of the first-century Pharisees; they could come to a knowledge of the truth, but they will not. Paul said: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22). Strong words, those! Why would the apostle use such terms to describe some of the people of his generation? His reason, according to the text that follows, was because "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25).
Is this not an apt description of the evolutionists of our day? Have they not "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator"? Is this not what evolution does best—exalting the creature over the Creator? And all in the name of "science"? When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, he warned: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20, KJV). To the Colossians, the apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world" (Colossians 2:8).
The simple fact of the matter is that we are responsible for what we choose to believe. Using the personal volition with which God has endowed us, we may choose freely to believe the truth, or we may choose just as freely to believe error. The choice is up to each individual. And once that individual has made up his mind that he prefers error over truth, God will not deter him, as Paul made clear when he wrote his second epistle to the Thessalonians. In that letter, he spoke of those who "received not the love of the truth" (2:10), and then went on to say that "for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11). What a horrible thought—to go through life with the absolute freedom to believe a lie! This concept is of such a serious nature that it deserves sustained attention.
What are the potential consequences of actually believing a lie? An Old Testament example addresses this very issue. In 1 Kings 13, the story is told of an unnamed young prophet whom God sent to deliver a stern rebuke to king Jeroboam for having established idol worship at Bethel. God commanded the prophet: "Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the same way that thou camest" (1 Kings 13:9). Yet an older, lying prophet met the younger prophet and said: "I also am a prophet as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of Jehovah, saying, 'Bring him back with thee into thy house that he may eat bread and drink water' " (1 Kings 13:18). The young prophet accepted at face value the older prophet's instruction—false though it was—and on his return trip home was slain by a lion sent by God as punishment for his disobedience (1 Kings 13:24). The young prophet believed a lie—the end result being that he incurred the wrath of God and suffered the loss of his (physical) life. Pity those today who similarly choose to believe a lie—the end result being that they incur the wrath of God and suffer the loss of their (spiritual) life.
On Sunday morning, September 3, 1893, the late Restoration preacher, J.W. McGarvey, presented a powerful sermon titled "Believing a Lie," the text of which has been preserved in print. In that lesson, McGarvey remarked:
Notice, now, that it is not a bad man, but a brave and good man, who is thus overcome. Even such a man is not free from danger at this point. Many a man just as brave and true in many particulars, has been led to his own undoing by the belief of a lie.... The fate of the young prophet cries out like the blast of a trumpet to startle us from our fancied security, and makes us look around to see if we, too, are in any such peril (1958, pp. 331,333).
McGarvey's point is well taken. The young prophet probably meant well in what he did. In all likelihood, he was both brave and good. Furthermore, he may have been convinced that, as he strayed from God's commands, all the while he actually was engaged in believing and acting upon the truth. But none of this saved him from the fate that awaited him because—regardless of how brave or good he was, and regardless of how much he thought he was involved in believing the truth—he ignored, and disobeyed, the truth God gave him, and ended up believing a lie. As McGarvey went on to say:
The lie which he believed led him to disobey God. His disobedience was the immediate cause, while the belief of a lie was only the remote cause of his death.... You can see now very plainly that this incident happened for a type, as Paul said of many other Old Testament incidents, and that it was written for our admonition. It was written to warn us against the belief of a lie. In view of the solemn lesson now before us, taught both in the Old Testament and in the New, it becomes a question of transcendent importance, How shall we be sure that we are not believing lies...? (1958, p. 333).
Indeed, the fate of the young prophet should make us want to examine our own lives to see if we, too, are in peril of condemnation as a result of having believed a lie. Frequent self-examination of our beliefs, and the evidence upon which they are based, is a good thing, and much to be desired. The consequences of believing a lie are too painful, and too permanent, for us to grow complacent.
But what, exactly, was Paul suggesting when he stated in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 that "God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie"? Was the apostle teaching that God purposely causes men to believe error?
No, he was not. Paul's point in this passage was that because God has granted man personal volition, and because He has provided within the Bible the rules, regulations, and guidelines to govern that personal volition, He therefore will refrain from overriding man's freedom of choice—even when that choice violates His law. God will not contravene man's decisions, or interfere with the actions based on those decisions. The prophet Isaiah had recorded God's words on this subject many years before when he wrote:
Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations: I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did that which was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delighted not (Isaiah 66:3-4).
Concerning the people who refused to have God in their knowledge, and who actually preferred believing a lie to believing the truth, Paul repeatedly stated that "God gave them up..." (Romans 1:24,26,28). In his commentary on the Thessalonian epistles, Raymond C. Kelcy observed:
There is a time in the progression of sin when God gives a man over to that which he prefers. The man prefers a lie.... God gives the man over to the belief of the lie which he prefers. In a sense it might be said that the means by which a person is deceived is God's permissive agency—not God's direct agency (1968, p. 157).
There is an exact parallel in the instance of the Pharaoh who battled Moses and Aaron over the release of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage. Several times the biblical text records that it was God Who "hardened Pharaoh's heart" (Exodus 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20,27; 11:10; 14:8). Are we to understand, therefore, that somehow God caused Pharaoh's stubborn disobedience? Certainly not. The simple fact of the matter is that God did not cause Pharaoh to harden his heart and disobey, but instead permitted the pagan king's actions. The Scriptures speak to this point when they acknowledge that Pharaoh himself "hardened his heart" (Exodus 8:15,32; 9:34-35). [See related article, "Pharaoh's Heart Weighed in the Balance."] In their commentary on the Pentateuch, Keil and Delitzsch addressed Pharaoh's hardness of heart, even after he witnessed the miraculous plagues sent by God.
After every one of these miracles, it is stated that Pharaoh's heart was firm, or dull, i.e. insensible to the voice of God, and unaffected by the miracles performed before his eyes, and the judgments of God suspended over him and his kingdom.... Thus Pharaoh would not bend his self-will to the will of God, even after he had discerned the finger of God and the omnipotence of Jehovah in the plagues suspended over him and his nation; he would not withdraw his haughty refusal, notwithstanding the fact that he was obliged to acknowledge that it was sin against Jehovah. Looked at from this side, the hardening was a fruit of sin, a consequence of that self-will, high-mindedness, and pride which flow from sin, and a continuous and ever increasing abuse of that freedom of the will which is innate in man, and which involves the possibility of obstinate resistance to the word and chastisement of God even until death (1981, pp. 454,455, emp. added).
Pharaoh's hard heart was not God's doing, but his own. God's permissive agency was involved, but not His direct agency. That is to say, He allowed Pharaoh to use (or abuse, as Keil and Delitzsch correctly noted) his freedom of will in a vain attempt to thwart God's plans. Throughout history, God's actions have been consistent in this regard. The psalmist wrote:
But my people hearkened not to my voice; and Israel would not hear me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels (Psalm 81:11-12).
In Romans 11:8, Paul (quoting from Isaiah 29:10) stated concerning the rebellious Israelites: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear."
In every generation, God has granted mankind the freedom of self-determination to be blind to the truth, and in so doing to believe a lie. E.M. Zerr put it well when he said:
The Bible in no place teaches that God ever forces a man to sin, then punishes him for the wrong-doing. Neither does He compel man against his will to do right, but has always offered him proper inducements for righteous conduct, then left it to his own responsibility to decide what he will do about it (1952, 5:159).
The world generally looks upon people of the stature of Dobzhansky, Simpson, or Sagan with awe. Their scholarly attainments are many, their academic credentials are impressive, and their world-class reputations are undisputed. They spend lifetimes building legacies that will remain long after they have passed from these earthly scenes.
But when they die, it causes some among us to ponder the point of why people of their intelligence believed as they did. It causes us to question how someone so brilliant could reach the conclusions they reached. And it causes us to reflect on the fact that it is possible to waste a lifetime allegedly searching for truth, all the while remaining firmly entrenched in error.
A few months before he died, and while battling what he knew was most likely a fatal disease with no cure, Carl Sagan granted an interview to Parade magazine, which was published in the March 10, 1996 edition under the title of "In the Valley of the Shadow." Included in that interview was this statement from Dr. Sagan:
I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking (1996, p. 18).
How terribly sad. Here is a man who knew—perhaps as well as anyone in the world—how to do exhaustive research. Yet for some reason, he never researched the historical evidence (provided by the resurrection of Christ) for the very thing he admitted he "would love to believe"—life after death.
It is heartbreaking indeed to witness the death of men such as Dobzhansky, Simpson, and Sagan who, by worldly standards, are the very epitome of brilliance and accomplishment. But the great apostle Paul warned:
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?... Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called (1 Corinthians 1:20,25-26).
Later, in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote of those "who have no hope" (4:13). No hope! What a chilling thought—to be endowed with the freedom to believe, only to spend a lifetime believing a lie and end it all with no hope.
Keil, C.F. and F. Delitzsch (1981 reprint), Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Kelcy, Raymond C. (1968), The Living Word Commentary: The Letters of Paul to the Thessalonians (Austin, TX: Sweet).
McGarvey, J.W. (1958 reprint), Sermons (Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate).
Sagan, Carl (1996), "In the Valley of the Shadow," Parade, pp. 18-21, March 10.
Zerr, E.M. (1952), Bible Commentary (Bowling Green, KY: Guardian of Truth Foundation).
Always Be Ready
New! A Christian evidences book for teens. Equipping young people to deal with unbelief.


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text:
Climate change ranks highest as vital issue of our time – Generation Z survey
By S O'M10th December 2019 News
10th December 2019, 12:42:54 UTC
Climate change was the most commonly cited among most important issues facing the world, in a survey of more than 10,000 young people
Young people living inside a "failed system", warns Amnesty International
Leaders are "betraying a generation" unless they act now
Climate change is one of the most important issues facing the world, according to a major new survey of young people published by Amnesty International today to mark Human Rights Day.
With the findings published as governments meet in Spain for the UN Climate Change Conference, the organisation warns that world leaders' failure to address the climate change crisis has left them out of step with young people.
"In this year when young people mobilised in huge numbers for the climate, it can be no surprise that many of those surveyed saw it as one of the most important issues facing the world," said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
"For young people the climate crisis is one of the defining challenges of their age. This is a wake-up call to world leaders that they must take far more decisive action to tackle the climate emergency or risk betraying younger generations further."
Ipsos MORI, on behalf of Amnesty International, questioned more than 10,000 people aged 18-25-year olds—also known as Generation Z—in 22 countries for the "Future of humanity" survey.
They were asked for their opinions on the current state of human rights in their country and the world, which issues they feel are most important and who they feel is responsible for addressing human rights abuses.
Respondents were asked to pick up to five issues from a list of 23 major issues facing the world. In total, 41% of respondents said climate change was one of the most important issues facing the world, making it the most commonly cited globally, followed by 36% who chose pollution and 31% who selected terrorism.
Global warming was also most commonly cited as one of the most important environmental issues facing the world (57%), out of 10 environmental issues such as ocean pollution, air pollution and deforestation.
"As we mark Human Rights Day, we need to recognise that the climate crisis will arguably be the defining issue for younger generations. The right to a healthy environment, including a safe climate, is essential for the enjoyment of so many other rights. It is a right that young people today have been forced to take the lead in asserting," said Kumi Naidoo.
Generation Z "living inside a failed system"
However, the survey's findings extend well beyond the climate crisis, reflecting the everyday struggles and concerns facing Generation Z in their own countries.
At a national level corruption was most commonly cited as one of the most important issues (36%), followed by economic instability (26%), pollution (26%), income inequality (25%), climate change (22%) and violence against women (21%).
"This generation lives in a world of widening inequality, economic instability and austerity where vast numbers of people have been left behind," said Kumi Naidoo.
"Faced with all this, the message from young people is clear. We are living inside a failed system. The climate crisis, pollution, corruption and poor living standards are all windows on an alarming truth about how the powerful have exploited their power for selfish and often short-term gain."
The survey's findings come at a time of widespread mass protests around the world, from Algeria to Chile, Hong Kong, Iran, Lebanon, and Sudan. Many of these movements have been largely led by young people and students, who have angrily called out corruption, inequality, and abuse of power and faced violent repression for doing so.
"Amnesty International believes that young people want to see systemic transformations. They want a reckoning with the climate emergency, with the abuse of power. They want to see a completely different future blossoming instead of the wreckage that we are heading towards," said Kumi Naidoo.
Call for system change built on human rights
Alongside climate change, a clear majority of young people value human rights in general and want to see their governments take most responsibility to protect them, according to the findings of the "Future of humanity" survey.
The majority of survey respondents agreed that:
the protection of human rights is fundamental to the future of the countries tested (73% agree vs 11% disagree);
governments should take the wellbeing of their citizens more seriously than economic growth (63% agree vs 13% disagree); and
human rights must be protected, even if it has a negative impact on the economy (60% agree vs 15% disagree).
The findings also revealed an unequivocal belief among many young people across every country surveyed that governments should take most responsibility for ensuring human rights are upheld, with 73% of respondents in total picking governments over individuals (15%), businesses (6%) and charities (4%).
Coupled with the results that show that most young people believe voting in elections is an effective method for initiating human rights change, over and above going on strike or attending a protest, the results were not all bad news for leaders who are "willing to listen".
"If the leaders of the world are willing to listen carefully, they will notice that Generation Z are not asking for small tweaks. Young people are looking for fundamental changes in the way the world works. If leaders fail to take that seriously, they risk betraying a generation," said Kumi Naidoo.
"If the events of 2019 teach us anything, it is that younger generations deserve a seat at the table when it comes to decisions about them. Unless the voices of those on the frontlines are part of the discussion on how we tackle the challenges facing humanity, the crises we are witnessing in the world will only get worse.
"Above all, governments must begin the new decade with meaningful action to address the climate emergency, reduce inequality and put in place genuine reforms to end abuses of power. We need systemic changes, built on human-rights, to the economic and political systems that have brought us to the brink."


Yes, diabetes affects blood sugar. But it doesn't stop there, so neither should your testing. Regular health checkups and other tests are important for identifying how your overall diabetes management plan is working. Have a look at the tests your healthcare provider may recommend.
An A1c test is a blood test that reflects your average blood sugar levels over a three-month period and is shown as a percentage. Your healthcare provider may ask you to get an A1c test every 3–6 months, depending on your progress toward your A1c goal.
Blood pressure is the measurement of the force of blood against the walls of the blood vessels. Your healthcare provider will check your blood pressure at every visit and may also ask you to check it at home.
Usually, high cholesterol does not have symptoms, so blood tests are a good way to check your cholesterol levels. This test is recommended at least once a year. Just remember: LDL = Low, HDL = High.
Dry mouth could be a symptom of diabetes and it can cause soreness, ulcers, infections, and tooth decay. So see your dentist regularly for exams and cleaning. A good goal is to have a visit every six months.
Because of potential damage to the blood vessels in the retina (also called diabetic retinopathy), most people with diabetes have their eyes checked once a year. But be sure to confirm this with your healthcare provider. It's smart to always tell your eye doctor you have diabetes. He or she can do a special test with eyedrops that's especially important if you have diabetes.
Because of the dangers of poor circulation related to diabetes, your healthcare provider should check your feet at every visit. But you should look over your own feet daily for cuts, blisters, and bruises.
Some people schedule all their tests at the beginning of the year. Others use a calendar to remember to have all their tests throughout the year. Regardless of how you do it, the results from the tests your healthcare provider recommends will help you understand if your diabetes treatment plan is working.
Review all the tests your healthcare provider recommends—and schedule any that you've missed.
Learn from a TeamingUp Champion how to remember important health tests.
Have a list ready and handy.
Do you know all the reasons your blood sugar goes up and down?


text:
Rangers by Birth
Will Hurd
Mursi, Suri, Nyangatom, Dizi and Me'en have managed the biodiversity in Ethiopia's Omo area for centuries. Is it wise to push them aside in the name of conservation?
The midday heat brings the men together under a small shade tree on the edge of a plateau overlooking the Omo River in Ethiopia. Long fighting sticks and cow skins for sitting have been stored in the branches, among dried grass that has been stuffed there to increase the shade. The tree is just outside the cluster of small grass huts that is Benna Orr (Stones Village). The men look out over a large island in the river where the tall Mursi sorghum grows. The island and surrounding banks are dotted with makeshift grain huts, where the women thresh grain or talk and eat, hiding from the brunt of the sun.
Hogo (Beans) is here under the tree, as are Uligidangdor (Greybull), Char Koro Ramai (Long Leopard Tail), Nebi Jare (Buffalo Legs), Ari Holi (White Ox) and many of the other men of Stones Village. They are making rope from the sword-like extensions of kashwi (Sansevieria, or bowstring hemp), which is found only near the river. As the Mursis' ever-present, emphatic speech and raucous laughter ring out, Hogo grips the sharp stick with his toes, scraping off the outer fibers to get the long, weavable strands. His finished rope will be taken back to the cattle camps on the plains for leads on calves and bulls.
From atop the plateau, I can see the place where we ford the Omo River to Greybull's garden. The water is fast here, and the crocodiles can't navigate well in the current. Crocodiles are ever-present around the village, basking on the river's shores or floating with their eyes just above water. Although the swift current at the ford makes for a somewhat safer crossing, it is still treacherous. The water is up over our waists, and I can only avoid being swept away by holding onto Greybull, a massive man whose hands and feet are at least one-and-a-half times larger than mine. One time, a friend of Greybull's got drunk while weeding his garden, and we joked that if he tried to cross the river home he would end up in Bongos, a village three days downriver.
Many times I have tried to define the Mursi by their most dominant quality, but it is difficult to choose just one. Are they herdsman foremost, or botanists, orators, or rangers? The Mursi excel at all of these occupations. Like the Suri and Nyangatom—the other cattle herders in the area—the Mursi are so thoroughly entwined with cattle that it has been said they think in terms of cattle. All words for colors are described as colors of cattle coats. When shown a color they don't have a name for, they say, "There is no such beast." It is dizzying to listen to them rattling off plant names while walking through the bush. I never learned a measurable fraction of the plants most Mursi know, plants for building huts, carving milk containers, for veterinary and human medicine; plants to eat or to tie around the arms as rattles during initiation. They even have a water-clarifier, a root called kamogi, (Maerua subcordata). It is shaved and spun on a stick in brown, murky water, causing the dirt particles to drop to the bottom, leaving clear water. It is used when the rains come. The rain drags more dirt into the Omo, which the Mursi say makes them sick.
The Mursi also know animals. As trackers they know where animals are, what they eat, and how they behave. It is astonishing to watch them come across a riot of tracks and quickly decipher how many marchan (lesser kudu) crossed the path. Their localized, empirical knowledge of animals of the area—animals amongst which they and their ancestors have lived for thousands of years—greatly surpasses the knowledge of the highlanders who are employed as park rangers in Omo National Park, which surrounds the Mursi. At one point the warden of the national park asked if I had ever seen gusheny (blue monkeys) and wondered where they could be found. The Mursi had already shown me the monkeys—just one of the animals they know intimately. Unfortunately, the Mursi and other nearby indigenous groups are seen as a liability for the park rather than an asset. As a result, the Mursi live under the constant threat of relocation that would destroy their culture.
Omo National Park was established in 1966 on the territories of five tribes: the Suri, Dizi, Mursi, Me'en and Nyangatom. Virtually the entire park is the home of these five tribes or used by them for cultivation, cattle raising, bee-keeping, food gathering, and occasional hunting. The Suri, who have the largest territory, are closely related to the Mursi, their languages being mutually intelligible. The Mursi became Mursi 150 years ago, when they branched off from the larger Suri group by crossing to the east bank of the Omo River. The Mursi say they and the Suri "are one people." The Suri and the Mursi still primarily follow an animist religion, and the Mursi practice a form of divination by reading cow entrails.
The Nyangatom cultivate sorghum and graze cattle in the southern regions of the park and are culturally and linguistically different from the rest of the groups. The Nyangatom men often have facial tattoos of raised bumps, and the women wear hundreds of beaded necklaces, which collectively resemble a small inner tube. The Dizi and Me'en are highland agriculturalists who live in the northern regions of the park.
The total combined population of all these tribes is around 140,000, but the number of people who use the land inside the park is difficult to estimate, especially as Mursi, Suri, and Nyangatom are seminomadic. They change residences several times throughout the year. Fifty thousand would be a reasonable approximation for the number of park inhabitants.
Although the creation of Omo Park forced the Mursi and other tribal people out of certain areas, the park mostly existed on paper, infringing little on the lives of the local people. This all stands to change, as the park now has a new manager, the African Parks Foundation of the Netherlands.
African Parks Foundation is the brainchild of billionaire Paul van Vlissingen, whose family business is based on liquid petroleum gas distribution and a global retail business. The foundation is partially funded by Rob Walton, the chairman of Wal-Mart, who is also on the board of African Parks Foundation of America. In November 2005 the foundation signed a contract to lease the park for 25 years, a change of management that could have a huge impact on the five local groups, restricting their access to vital resources and even physically displacing them.
Government park officials have been collecting signatures from local people, on documents they cannot read, by which they give their "consent" to the park boundaries. These documents will then be used to gazette, or legally establish, the park's boundaries, a process that will make the local people illegal squatters on their own land. There was no meaningful consultation with local residents about where the boundaries should be drawn, and those who signed these documents (of which they were not given copies) either did so unwillingly or did not appreciate the full implications of what they were doing.
This development comes on the heels of forced resettlement from the other park in Ethiopia that African Parks Foundation has taken over, Nech Sar National Park, near Arba Minch. In 2004, the government moved 3,800 Kore who traditionally cultivated within the park. They claim to have allo-cated land outside of the Park to 1,800 of the Kore. The whereabouts of the remaining 2,000 Kore people is still unknown. No compensation was paid for lost property or crops. Approximately 5,500 Guji-Oromo, a seminomadic pastoral people who traditionally reside within the park, have been harassed and a number chased from the park. According to a report by the Guji themselves, which neither the government nor APF have denied, 463 of their houses were burned down by Ethiopian park officials and police in November 2004—ten months after APF signed a contract in which the government stipulated that all residents of the park would be removed. Despite this, the Guji-Oromo remain, pushed to two small corners of the park. This does not bode well for the Mursi under the tree or the other tribal peoples of the Omo Park area.
There is no extra space for a park to be created in the Omo area. The resources are fully used by indigenous peoples' different strategies for deriving a living throughout the year. In the case of the Mursi, they plant along the riverbank in the renewed silt after the rainy season and inland during the rains. They also graze cattle on the surrounding plains. If large sections of land are taken, they could not survive without becoming permanently dependant on food aid.
African Parks Foundation has been asked many times to add a "no evictions" clause to its contracts with the government. They have been asked to make the contract available to tribal people so they can seek independent legal advice. They have also been asked to sign written agreements with the local groups, safeguarding their rights to secure livelihoods and co-manage the park. On all these counts the foundation has refused. And the Ethiopian government, no doubt anticipating large tourist revenues, has abdicated it's responsibility to help the Mursi.
But will the park plan succeed if local groups are marginalized? In the end, would this be good for biodiverstiy? Mark Dowie writes in his recent article in Orion magazine, "Many conservationists are beginning to realize that most of the areas they have sought to protect are rich in biodiversity precisely because the people who were living there had come to understand the value and mechanisms of biological diversity. Some will even admit that wrecking the lives of 10 million or more poor, powerless people has been an enormous mistake—not only a moral . . . and economic mistake, but an ecological one as well."
The fact that Omo National Park can be mistaken for a wilderness by Westerners is a tribute to the benign environmental impact of the livelihood strategies of local people. This is a landscape created in part by millennia of human use; there is evidence of similar agricultural practices in the area dating back 5,000 years. Pastoralists open grasslands by burning the dense brush, promoting the growth of new grass, which is good for both cattle and wildlife. The Mursi know that they live well with the biodiversity: "In the Elma valley," said one Mursi bari (elder), "We have zebras, hartebeest and buffalo. In your land you have destroyed all your animals, so, after you have come here to see things, we can go together to your land so that I can see what kind of animals you have."
The local groups in the area do not derive much of their economy from hunting—1 or 2 percent at the most and usually when they are hungry. The guns they have are 30-year-old AK-47s, with barrels that have widened from use, making an already-inaccurate gun more inaccurate. Hunting is close range, and in the case of one of the most often-hunted animals, cape buffalo, extremely dangerous. What would be of more interest to the Mursi is having real decision-making power in the use of their land and getting a fair share of the tourism revenue from the park. What is certain is that having hungry, angry, displaced people at the outer edges of the park is a recipe for park failure. A large proportion of the park budget would be needed for policing activities.
A better approach would be for African Parks Foundation to truly partner with the local groups, not just hire some as game guards. The collective knowledge of people who have lived among the animals in this area for thousands of years should be seen as an asset for the park. One has to ask if African Parks Foundation, with a corporate manager at the helm, is really in a better position to manage the biodiversity than the local people. If the Suri, Dizi, Mursi, Me'en and Nyangatom are given real decision-making power in Omo National Park, it could be the most exciting conservation project in Africa.
Will Hurd lived with the Mursi for four months. He founded Native Solutions to Conservation Refugees in response to a Mursi request to help them stay on their land. For more information on the Mursi, Suri, Dizi, Me'en and Nyangatom and their possible displacement visit http://conservationrefugees.org/.
30-2 Indigeneity in Africa


text:
Raymond Brebach, PhD
Department of English and Philosophy
brebach@drexel.edu
BA, English, MacMurray College, 1968
MA, English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1971
PhD, English: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1976
Modern British Fiction
I came to Drexel in 1978, after teaching for three years at Texas Tech University. In addition to my classroom work, I have served Drexel as Chair of the Faculty Senate, Head of the Department of English & Philosophy, and as an Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences. I was given the Harold J. Meyers Award for Outstanding Service to the University. My research interests include Joseph Conrad, the Modern novel and textual studies. In my spare time I am an enthusiastic amateur flutist.
"Conrad in Context: 'Heart of Darkness' and 'The Man who would be King.'" Conradiana, Vol. 42, No 1-2, 2011.
Assistant Editor. 'Twixt Land and Sea, by Joseph Conrad Eds. J. A. Berthoud, Laura L. Davis, S. W. Reid; Assistant Ed., Raymond T. Brebach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. [Series: The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad.]


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