Blog #3 Traditions of Mongolia

Mongolia is located in Central Asia north of China. The steep lands and Altay Mountains are home to the Kazakh; a group of nomadic herders who still live the very traditional life styles of the ancestors. In Mongolia, homeland of conqueror Genghis Khan horses out number people and in the barren landscape you can walk for days without seeing another human face. The Kazakh people train golden eagles to catch their food, a one of their prized eagles can spot prey a mile away and shoot down like a missile to nab a rabbit darting out of it's hole. The Kazakh people depend on these eagles for food and the animal pelts they catch for warmth, they are valued members of the community. They have their own spot in the families' yurt, a portable tent that can all be loaded on to the back of a single camel. But they are also very respected animals, after the birds turn eight, they are released back into the wild to live free and make more eagles. This is remote culture is very unlike our own; while I've only lived in three different places in my life, moving for the Kazakh people is a semi-annual tradition. They also value animals in a very different manner than we do. They move everything they have four times a year to find new land to herd their goats, and release their eagles back into the wild after a good time of servitude. In our disposable society, we almost never come in to contact with the animals we eat before their plucked, skinned and processed. And we don't directly depend on any animals in our home for survival. These things lead to a decrease in the over all value of the animals in our society, much unlike the nomadic peoples of Mongolia.
Schmidt, Jeremy. "Hunting with Golden Eagles is Tradition Among the Kazakh People of Mongolia." National Geographic Kids Feb. & march 2009: 28-30.

Blog #2

Almost twenty years ago hundreds or maybe thousands of Chinese protesters were killed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre by Chinese soilders in the governments crackdown on human rights and freedom of speech. A mixture of students and citizens of the People's Republic of China had gathered in the square for over a month, with cries for democracy and freedom of speech. A giant plaster statue the Goddess of Democracy and the unknown Tank Man are still symbols of their lost cries for freedom. After reading this article I compared China then to China now; today it seems that in their huge economic boom, China's free speech movement has lost a lot of momentum, there and around the world. With their increased life style and urbanization it seems China is willing to put their calls for freedom aside as they concentrate on their new found economic benefits. It is an interesting dilema, would you choose a better more wealthy lifestyle without any political freedoms, or would it be better to have democracy and freedom but less economic prosperity? I think, being american, we would all automatically say freedom, but along with our freedom many of us have good lifestyles with economic properity even with the recent recession. Would you choose dirt poor with rights or rich with no protections or freedom? This can also be related to Nectar in a Sieve, the way the village is loosing their culture and tight community but has economicly propered. Like Rukmani I think I would choose rights and freedom. We may only vote once a year, but I could not imagine not reading the newspaper everyday with confidence nothing has been taken out or cencered. At the beginning of Nectar we talked about if someone can be truely happy in poverty, I think as long as I had my free speech and rights I could deal with everything else.
Pearlman, Merrill. "1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre."The New York Times Upfront. 12 January 2009.

Natural Disasters Blog

I started reading The Invention of Air the story of Joseph Priestly, who author Steven Johnson claims to be one of his times greatest scientist, political and forward thinkers along side Benjamin Franklin. You might guess that I did not expect this book to have any relevance to this weeks topic, but the opening chapter talks a lot about an unusual natural sight, waterspouts. This uncommon disaster is like a small tornado on water that can spin up to 150 miles per hour. However before modern technology little was known about these unusual disasters, in the first century B.C. Lucretius described it as "a kind of column that lets down from the sky into the sea, around which the waters boil, stirred up by the heavy blast of the winds, and if any ships are caught in that tumult, they are tossed about and come into great peril." Joseph Priestly was traveling across the Atlantic ocean on his way to newly founded America, when he spotted four different water spouts drifting across the sea. For him it was a stroke of extraordinary good luck, his good friend Benjamin Franklin had been conducting a debate over whether the spouts descended from the clouds or from the sea. He took vigorous notes and took statements from other witnesses around him. Today we have a lot of scientific knowledge about the natural world around us and many warning systems and drills to keep us safe in a sudden fury of mother nature. It is difficult to imagine living in a world where natural disasters and odd weather patterns were unexplained and came out of the blue. Especially rare disaster that only last a short while like water spouts would be extremely difficult to describe and conduct scientific research. In a huge changing and unexpected world, we can really feel small and helpless in the wrath of mother nature.
Johnson, Steven. The Invention of Air. New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.

Adios Mr. Bush; his last press conference without the shoes

President Bush gave his final 47 minute press conference of his presidency. Filled with passion, defiance, reflection and light heartedness Bush displayed many emotions as he reflected on his turbulent time in office and the mistakes he made along the way. When asked to look back, he admitted some things "didn't go according to plan." Mr. Bush repeatedly said that he believes history will be the judge of his presidency. In response to a question about his extreme critics he said, "I don't know why they get angry, I don't know why they get hostile...I don't see how I can get back home in Texas and look in the mirror and be proud of what I see, if I allowed the loud voices, the loud critics to prevent me from doing what I thought was necessary to protect this country." He was very defensive about his policies on terrorism, which have given him the most criticism. He talked about his plans for the future;"I just can't envision myself, you know, with a big straw hat and Hawaiian shirt, sitting on some beach particularly since I quit drinking." He said was going to get busy quick after leaving office, but one thing he said he wasn't going to do is stay in the spotlight. "When I get out of here, I'm getting off the stage, I've had my time in the klieg lights."

Life: A Lawsuit Waiting to Happen

"In America, people used to defend their rights now they use them as weapons" writes George f. Will from the Washington Post. In a Solomonic compromise, schools in Broward Country, Fla banned running at recess because they were sued when a student fell for inadequate supervision. A young member of Teach for America was sued for $20 million because they put a hand on a disobedient 7th grade to lead them from the room. "A 2004 survey reported that 78% of middle and high school teachers have been subjected to legal threats from students bristling with rights." Some school districts have removed all the fun play ground equipment from the fear of being sued. But now with screens and electronics millions of kids are obese because of what attorney and author Philip Howard calls " a bubble wrap approach to child rearing produced by the cult of safety." These are all caused by our "legal culture" and "legal self consciousness that is stifling the exercise of judgement." Now America has become a legal minefield, and you better be careful where you step.

Journeys of a Lifetime

My mom got this really big hardcover book from National Geographic about 500 of the world's greatest trips. I was reading all about possible trips you can take all over the world. My favorite so far is the Temples of Thailand. An exotic trip to east Asia visiting the peaceful Buddhist temples scattered across the country. The total trip is 574 miles and they recommend going from November to February. Some stops on the trip are Wat Po the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok, inside there is a 150 ft. reclining Buddha statue. In Wat Traimit the Golden Buddha is five tons of solid gold. At the bottom of the article there is some odd insider information; it warns travelers not to sit with your feet pointing to a Buddha image, don't make physical contact with a monk, and not to take pictures of the Emerald Buddha. Another beautiful trip is a journey to Australia's outback and the world's oldest living culture. Arnhem land is one of the last unspoiled regions of Aboriginal culture and society in Australia it is home to over 20,000 indigenous peoples speaking a variety of languages. You can see a 40,000 year old Aboriginal rock art depicting scenes from everyday life. The culture sounds immense there, however tourism is restricted to preserve traditional ways of life.

Winter Break Blog #1

A year of our world in review: our earth has made yet another full orbit around the sun, what have we been up to on it? Even with the global economy taking a spin, developing countries around the world are growing at astonishing rates. Brazil, China and India to name a few. The world's tallest building is now in Dubai, the largest movie industry is India's Bollywood not Hollywood and the world's largest plane is made by Airbus in Europe. These changes are unsettling to some Americans, who's country has had economic, political and cultural hegemony on the world for over a century. But as writer Fareed Zakaria suggests Americans should not be afraid that this is the down fall of America but rather the rise of the rest of the world. The percentage of the world's people living on $1 a day is declining from 40% in 1981 to 18% in 2004. Our news media tells us that we live in dark dangerous times fraught with terrorism, unstable states, financial panics, outsourcing and illegal immigration, but how dangerous is our world really? Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that global violence is at its lowest levels since the 1950's. Harvard Professor Steven Pinker concludes that we are probably living "in the most peaceful time of our species' existence." America must bring these rising nations into the global system.This new year America must remain open and flexible and be the melting pot of ideas it has always been.