Language Spoken Is Knowledge Saved For A Rainy Day
The consequences of losing a language may not be understood until it is too late.
At first glance, or quick skim, this will inject a darting depression into your soul, because of the seeming hopelessness. But then the grace of the writing, and the beauty of the story, will wash away the darkness and, very possibly, inspire you. Read it, and if you have thoughts, or actions, to share with us on the entrepreneurial (or other) conservation of intangible patrimony please share a comment below:
It is a singular fate to be the last of one’s kind. That is the fate of the men and women, nearly all of them elderly, who are—like Marie Wilcox, of California; Gyani Maiya Sen, of Nepal; Verdena Parker, of Oregon; and Charlie Mungulda, of Australia—the last known speakers of a language: Wukchumni, Kusunda, Hupa, and Amurdag, respectively. But a few years ago, in Chile, I met Joubert Yanten Gomez, who told me he was “the world’s only speaker of Selk’nam.” He was twenty-one.
Yanten Gomez, who uses the tribal name Keyuk, grew up modestly, in Santiago. Continue reading
If You Happen To Be In Ithaca: But You Don’t Have To Be
One of the many reasons we highlight the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on the pages of this site is the vastness of their offerings to both students and the general community (actual and virtual) sharing current studies in the field of ornithology. Continue reading
Marari Pearl Welcomes Sand Artists And Spectators to SAFA
An artist prepares a sand installation at the Alappuzha beach during the trial run of the international sand art festival that will be held in April.– Photo: By Special Arrangement
Thanks to the Hindu for bringing this to our attention:
Come April, sand sculptures and paintings will adorn the picturesque Alappuzha beach. An international sand art competition, titled Sand Art Festival Alleppey (SAFA), is being jointly organised by the Tourism Department and the SAFA Foundation from April 18 to 26.
We love the logo, and the website for SAFA, and will assist any of our guests at Marari Pearl with the opportunity to participate, either as artists or spectators.
Bird of the Day: Spot-bellied Eagle Owl
Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karanataka
Ambassabeth
Photo credit: Seth Inman
The Ambassabeth Ecolodge can be found tucked into the southeast corner of the Rio Grande Valley, at the meeting place of the southern end of the John Crow Mountains and southeastern end of the Blue Mountains. It’s a beautiful, lush nook filled with towering Tree Ferns (Order Cyatheales), fast-flowing tributaries thundering off the valley sides down into the Rio Grande River, elusive Giant Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio homerus), and a healthy mix of Jamaican avifauna.
A recent bridge collapse about a mile and half from the ecolodge, inhibiting the arrival of guests by vehicle, has further amplified the serenity, isolation, and rustic ambiance surrounding this naturalist’s paradise. For us, Ambassabeth provided a base location from which to hike and survey two distinct foot-trails that meander up out of the valley and continue down the other side towards the southeastern coastline of the island. Continue reading
And the Wheels of the Bus Go Round and Round…
Bristol’s Bio Bus runs on faeces and household waste. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
A little over 2 years ago contributor Megan Madill wrote about one of the “Green Cities” of Europe, not to mention all the wonderful bike sharing (and bike friendly) initiatives worldwide.
But this news from the city of Bristol via the Guardian takes first prize. The innovation itself is a wonderful thing, but our applause actually goes more to the cheeky graphics.
UK’s first ‘poo bus’ hits the road
Britain’s first “poo bus”, which runs on human and household waste, goes into regular service this month. Continue reading
Largest Marine Reserve, 2015 Edition
Pitcairn’s residents implored the UK government to protect the area, which is threatened by illegal fishing.
We hope they keep getting formed in larger and larger swaths of territory, and we will celebrate every time the ante gets upped this way:
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government announced the creation of the world’s largest contiguous ocean reserve on Wednesday, protecting 322,000 square miles around the remote Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific. To put that in perspective, that’s three and a half times the size of the United Kingdom and bigger than the state of California, according to National Geographic. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Purple-rumped Sunbird
Bangalore, Karnataka
Cinchona Botanical Gardens
a view of the valleys and Westphalia in the shadows of Portland Gap and some Blue Mountain peaks above
Since my last post, we’ve been several places and seen lots of things, but none of the areas we’ve visited have been so naturally “post-worthy” as the Cinchona Botanical Gardens above Westphalia, in the mountains of St. Andrew Parish. Somehow we had gathered from several people’s hearsay that we should practically expect ancient ruins, with perhaps some scattered floral gems growing feral among old dilapidated structures and a few exotic trees towering over the grounds. As you can see from the photo below, these vague rumors were partially true.
the old Garden Commissioner’s house/office, in need of some minor remodeling
Progress, Evolution & Design
Thanks to the Harvard Gazette for bringing our attention to this magazine, published twice yearly by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design:
Making print modern
New look for Harvard Design Magazine deepens focus on ‘Wet Matter’
By Corydon Ireland, Harvard Staff Writer
In an age of bits and bytes and pixels and text on screens, Harvard Design Magazine — relaunched in a new format last year ― fervently embraces the thingness of print, the quotidian actuality of paper and ink.
The right wordsmiths were on hand to recast and renew the magazine, which is produced at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Progress, Destruction & Roads
A new study looks at the worldwide effects of habitat fragmentation. CREDIT PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORG GERSTER / PANOS
From the Elements section of the New Yorker’s website, this note on roads, a clear symbol (and tangible form) of what most of us would count as progress, related to development, is worth a two minute read. Another reminder that roads, like other signs of progress, can also have unintended and irreversible destructive consequences for nature, for habitat that also sustains human life:
The first paved highway across the Brazilian Amazon began, in the nineteen-seventies, as a narrow, hard-won cut through dense rainforest. The road, which connects the northern port city of Belém with the country’s capital, Brasília, twelve hundred miles away, was hailed as a huge step in the region’s development, and so it was: it quickly spawned a network of smaller roads and new towns, drawing industry to the Brazilian interior. But the ecological price was high. Today, much of the Belém-Brasília highway is flanked by cattle pastures—a swath of deforestation some two hundred and fifty miles wide, stretching from horizon to horizon. Across the planet, road construction has similarly destroyed or splintered natural habitats. In equatorial Africa’s Congo Basin, logging roads have attracted a new wave of elephant poachers; in Siberia, road expansion has caused an outbreak of wildfires; in Suriname, roads invite illegal gold mining; and in Finland, so many reindeer are killed by cars that herders have considered marking the animals with reflective paint. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Yellow Bishop (Masai Mara, Kenya)
Not In Our Kitchens, But Maybe In Yours?
This is a subject that we will be seeing more of, for sure. But for the record, a basic rule we live by at Raxa Collective is that we never have and never will slip such critters into food on the sly. We see the day coming, though we are not confident to predict how soon, when it is taken for granted that some portion of protein in the diets of people in even the most well-developed economies comes from insects. One more story in that vein,from our friends at the EcoWatch website, inspired by the recent TedX talk linked to above:
Maybe you’ve see little cans of chocolate-covered ants or grasshoppers in the exotic food section of your grocery and thought to yourself, “Yuck—who eats that?” Insects may not come to mind when you think of superfoods. But they could be the next hot “alternative” protein. They’re low in fat and loaded with fiber.
You might be surprised to learn you may have been eating insects already. Continue reading
Clothing Past, Experienced In The Present
One of Hortense Mitchell Acton’s Callot Soeurs gowns in the Camera Verde of Villa La Pietra. The gold and silver lace at the neck, the apron skirt, and the five metallic rosettes across the chest recall the forms of a Gothic cathedral. The sleeves are made of metallic lace, now oxidized. PHOTOGRAPHS BY PARI DUKOVIC
It is likely that the New Yorker is the publication we link to the most, between its magazine and its website. If so, there is a reason. They care about stories we care about, enough to put their best writers and photographers on the task:
PortfolioMARCH 23, 2015 ISSUE
Twenty-One Dresses
BY JESSAMYN HATCHER AND PARI DUKOVIC
A number of years ago, a young painting conservator entered a forgotten storeroom in a fifteenth-century Florentine villa and stumbled on a pile of Louis Vuitton steamer trunks. She opened them and discovered a collection of exquisite dresses, the kind usually seen only in movies, or inside protective vitrines in museums. Closer inspection revealed silk labels, hand-woven with the name “Callot Soeurs.” Continue reading
Place, Memory And Experience At Present
Our kind of project, and we look forward to the experience:
MADE WITH KICKSTARTER
In Japan, a Farmhouse Becomes a Journalist’s Elegy
Bird of the Day: Cinereous Tit (Mandal, Uttarakhand)
UK Birders Unite
Voting for a National Bird seems like the perfect example of a ornithologically related Citizen Science activity.
Two amazing things happened in the mid 60′s. The Robin was voted Britain’s national bird and…
The surprising thing is neither has happened since.
Well, all that is about to change. David Lindo (AKA The Urban Birder) feels the Robin’s many decades in power needs to be challenged, so he is fronting a campaign to help find Britain’s new national bird. Running alongside this year’s General Election will be this alternative Election, which we’d love you to take part in. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Silvery-cheeked Hornbill (Nech Sar National Park, Ethiopia)
photo credit: Andrew Murphy
A Bite Into the Past
Singapore airport selfie
Singapore is a strange yet interesting place to experience a 16 hour layover in between flights from India and the Gold Coast of Australia where I have recently arrived. It’s a mecca for travel and a melting pot for cultures from around the globe. Upon arrival, I found myself starving after refusing to buy a $14 turkey sandwich from my low-budget airline. Luckily I also found myself surrounded by restaurants with countless choices of different cuisines inside of the airport. Of all the choices, I couldn’t force myself to part ways with the amazing smell of Indian spices and I sat down and ordered my “go-to”, my “Kerala heaven on a plate”: lacha paratha and a beef biriyani. I took my first bite and it took me way back… Continue reading
Organikos 