My New Hero-Rachel Carson

COLLAPSE

Rachel Carson challenged all the social paradigms (cultural, scientific, political, and social) to help, after Olga's birds were killed in her sanctuary. At the time she was writing her book, the use of DDT/Pestroy was prevalent and widespread. 

Because government experts,like Dr. Stevens and Dr. Nichols, were endorsing the usage,saying that it was safe, and, as in the video, social drama was used, along with two elderly white men, who could be a grandfather. There were at least three (mothers) spraying and laying down Pestroy to stop the insects. 

The country was being bombarded with pictures of children and waterways being sprayed to help show its benign status.

Carson affected the distribution of DDT, even though the government from President Kennedy to scientists and politicians were investigating whether she was correct in her assertion that DDT is dangerous to all animals, including humans. She stated that "progress has a price."  

Consider what would have happened if Carson had not been effective in her campaign to stop the spraying of DDT and other destructive pesticides.  Would we now have more birth defects, health issues, and other problems in our lives than what we have now?  

So, yes, she is one of my heroes for her stand and how she used the system's rules to prove her point in a male-dominated society.

Natural Disasters' effect on different stratus of people

In Environmental Sociology 480 at OSU, these are questions we were asked to answer and I hope it will make others think about the inconsistency in the way the social stratus of a society determine how disasters will affect their community.

When we think of natural disasters, we often assume that because it is 'natural' everyone is affected equally. 

 Can you think of examples other than Hurricane Katrina where a natural disaster did not affect everyone equally?

People are affected differently in natural disasters. The very poor will be continually affected negatively in natural disasters as they live in the areas where these disasters are more likely to occur, have the least amount of resources to get out of the way or survive aftereffects. Vulnerability is defined in two categories of social and physical by Youngman. I lived in tornado alley and, when I was in Mississippi, we could do nothing but watch and pray that we survived, because we did not have anywhere else to go. We had no underground shelters, strong buildings, or community center, etc. to go to.

When I moved to Illinois to go to college, I was again in tornado alley. The difference this time is I was at an expensive college, which had been built by some of the best architects. So, no, we were not affected and stood in our dorms and watched the tornadoes come and go or combine but were not afraid, as I had been in Mississippi. For me this emphasized the social and physical environment do matter. What level on the ladder of capitalism is your family on? How would a natural disaster affect you and yours? What about relatives living in poorer neighborhoods where you live?

Kate Chopin's Desiree's Baby Comments

Chopin's Twist

COLLAPSE

Having grown up in the South for the first 17 years of my life, I am aware of the diverse people we are studying this week, but I had not read Chopin's story. This is a subject, which has affected many blacks, being part white in a black and white society. 

When I was little, a new family moved into my neighborhood. They looked very white but one of the children was darker than the others. We knew they were black but when they first moved to town, they moved into the white community and went to the white school, I later attended. They were immediately expelled when one of the staff told the principal that the school they came from up north was black. When questioned, the family did not deny this claim and had to move and relocate schools.

The plot in Desiree's Baby was unexpected as few writers had the audacity to attack a man, let alone one who was passing. It was usually the woman who were at fault. I liked this twist but it sure put a roadblock in any future plans for Armand, the main character. He actually put Desiree in his shoes, which he was ashamed of. 

In the past, Thomas Jefferson actually sent his sons up north so that they could pass as did some other slave owners. This practice is perpetuated throughout history, so that few families in America are entirely of one race. 

My immediate family is black and are very proud, almost to the extreme.

Yet, I married my husband, who is white and his family has branches that are Spanish, Vietnamese, Indian, black and white.

So yes, I know the joys, pride and understanding of diversity, prejudice, freedom, and love.

Walt Whitman," Song of Myself" comments

After reading Whitman, I almost believe that aliens have been here and influenced our history. Consider Galileo, Aristotle, Michelangelo, and now Whitman. The futuristic view of the heavens, the learned opinion of the past and the refusal to accept just the present are all evidenced in his writing. This writing should be studied during all years of education. It can be fed to the young in snippets and later expanded on for the older ones. How many lives would be saved, how many souls would find comfort, and how many people would rejoice after reading his "SONG OF MYSELF"?
While reading this, I realized that Whitman is basically saying that Everything is Everything, Everybody is Everybody and, conversely, Everything is Everybody, and Everybody is Everything. There is no difference as we are all part of a smaller object. He considers the cosmos more than once. One instance (pg. 3266, line 789) "Speeding through space....speeding through heaven and the stars, Speeding amid the seven satellites and the broad ring and the diameter of eighty thousand miles, speeding with tailed meteors..."

When reading Whitman, could you find yourself, your family, friends, ancestors, and your neighbors in this poem? I certainly could.

What are some of the implications of applying his philosophy to your life?

Would you consider doing it?

HE is such a twentieth century man. I could see him in the smoke shops of the 60s and 70s, in the halls of great auditoriums, on the TED talks, etc. HE would so fit in in our environment (environmentalist, socialist, forward thinking man) CONSIDER!!

Frederick Douglass at his first abolitionist meetingin Nantucket!!!

For approximately two years I was required to sit in an all white auditorium and not being able to talk or participate in any way. My only form of protest was not standing when "Johnny Reb" was being sung to the Union Jack flag. You know the one, "When Johnny comes marching home again."   Because this is the direct opposite of what happened to me, I will try to be Mr.Douglass, sitting in his audience.

At a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society in 1841 Douglass first heard William Lloyd Garrison speak and not long after that Douglass himself was asked to speak for the abolition of slavery.

And this is my interpretation of what Mr. Douglass was thinking when asked to speak before this audience after escaping slavery:

I had heard of these abolitionists and their followers and because of Mr. Coffin,  I am here to see what they have to say. Many say they do not approve of or want slavery to exist.  I have never met nor entertained the prospect of meeting anyone, especially white men, who want a black man to be free.  My heart is in my stomach and I fear this will end badly for me.  Is there someone waiting to take me back to that awful world of cruelty and debasement?  I have seen things that defy description. 

Now they want me to speak and I don't know what I can say or if I should.  Will they be so reviled that they will want to return me to that hellhole called slavery?  I have never seen so many smiles when looking upon a black face, unless it is in laughter at an indignity which has been performed on that person.

I am so ignorant in the speech and ways of these men, yet, they want to hear what I have to say.  After telling them about the atrocities and hardships faced by the black race and telling of my own personal history, I listened as Mr. Redmond, a free black man, talked about the abolition of slavery. 

I will be vigil and try to trust these people. They want me to continue talking and I will do this as I have nothing to lose because I have tasted freedom and that cannot be taken from me.

The Albanian Alps Institute

I am writing this to hopefully generate DONATIONS for a project which has been brought to my attention in my class at Oregon State University, where Dr. Steve Cook teaches a great class in Sustainability, GEO300.  Being fortunate to take this class in my 64^th year of life, I have learned that sustainability is more than saving the environment but also about educating people, so that more can learn what needs to be done to sustain this planet for future generations.  Education is the key to sustainability, along with action.

Dr. Cook is an unassuming person, who has created a sustainable home environment, which he shares with all of his students, to hopefully give them ideas they can adopt in their lives.  He has truly changed the way I shop and look at the world now.

If you give to this Institute, I can assure you that your funds will go to the Albanian Alps Institute for the education of the students, especially the girls, who have never been able to receive an education.

In class, Dr. Cook shared with us how everyone thought girls would not come to school, so he devoted a Wednesday for girls only, and the girls came and are now part of the school.

Please check out http://www.albanianalps.org/about.html or email them at albanianalpsinst@gmail.com to contribute money or time.

The Albanian Alps Institute

Dr. Steve Cook, President with Terri Cook as his secretary started The Albanian Alps Institute.   After he and his twelve year old son traveled there in 1992 and “found a post-Communist country that was barely avoiding chaos”, Steve could not forget the things he had seen with incredibly hospitable people living in dire circumstances.

In 1996, with a Fulbright grant he taught at Universiteti I Shkodres in Shkoder and helped several Albanian university students, while personally sponsoring two high school students to study in the United States who received university degrees in the U. S.

In 2001, Dr. Cook returned to Albania where he consulted with Marash Rakaj, now AAI’s Albanian Manager, on how to contribute to education in the impoverished villages of the Malesia e Madhe, consisting of seven clans on five mountains.  AAI, as a group, decided to concentrate on: school libraries, school supplies, English language classes, school repairs and scholarships for promising students, especially girls, who had not been going to school and educated as the boys were.  He has hired an English teacher in Boga and purchased textbook for the classes, many times at his own expense.

Note from the President:
It's been over ten years since AAI began working to improve the education for students in Shkrel. We've invested over $150,000 into these marvelous students and they've responded accordingly. Kids are reading books, swinging on swingsets, using computers and dreaming of a future unimaginable to them or their parents before AAI. One of the biggest successes is that girls are now attending high school and two of our female scholarship recipients are currently enrolled in universities - one in Albania and one in the U.S.-- Steve Cook