Bird Brain: An Exploration of Avian Intelligence by Nathan Emery

 

   If somebody calls you a “birdbrain," feel free to take is as a compliment, because the derogatory use of the word “birdbrain” is outdated. Scientists now know that birds are very intelligent.  

   Nathan Emery is a bird researcher, and his book Bird Brain debunks the myth that birds are dumb. It is, indeed, dumb to believe that birds are simple automatons responding to instincts. As a keen observer of birds, the insightful information in Emery’s book did not surprise me, but it may help to transform the perspective of people who never take the time to pay attention to birds’ subtle behaviors. Seriously, how can anybody believe that birds lack intelligence?

 “Some birds display great feats of memory, recalling the location of thousands of different items, even after long intervals. They travel some of the longest unaided distances of any animals on the planet.”

 Birds may not have a human language, but this does not mean that they do not know how to communicate.

 “Birds communicate their intentions using visual signals and recognize what others are looking at, even when hidden from view. Their vocal communication shares traits with human language. Birds are social, yet the pair bond is at the heart of their society. Birds form intense long-lasting relationships with others and can remember friends and enemies. They cooperate, share food to curry favors, and help to support one another.” Specific experiments have shown that birds understand mathematical concepts. Emery shares some of those experiments.

 

Birds and tools

  Did you know that some birds use tools? “Some birds use different tools for different jobs, and stick to the same tool that their peers use, displaying something akin to culture. They create tools to solve novel problems, perhaps using insight.” Birds can plan ahead and store food. To learn more about how some birds resort to the use of tools, read Bird Brain. 

 

  The impressive photographs enhance the reading experience. Bird Brain also contains diagrams and drawings to make the information clear. One drawing I enjoyed was the one about the structure of a birds’ brain, where you can see the different parts of a bird’s brain and then read about their functions.

   The memory of birds

  It is not surprising to me that “birds remember specific events in their past, what happened, where and when, and use these memories to plan for their future. Because some birds respond to hidden marks on their bodies in the presence of a mirror, they may even be self-aware.”

  If you have a backyard, don’t forget to leave some clean water for them on a regular basis.

  There is still so much we need to learn about birds, so go ahead. Open your window and look out. You don’t need to go far away. Embrace the chance to learn and appreciate birds.

  Welcome their experience and observe them with fresh eyes.

 There is a world of opportunities to get to know them. And those who are stuck in the past using the word “birdbrain” to denigrate others… well, there is no hope for them unless they choose to educate themselves, and that is a personal choice, as far as I know.

 

    If you enjoyed this post, feel free to read my writing on the following books:

     Deer Man by Geoffroy Delorme

     Birding to Change the World by Trish O' Kane

 

 

Interview with Natalie Jacobsen

 

 Natalie Jacobsen is an award-winning journalist and writer based in Washington, D.C. She is originally from Oregon and lived for six years in Japan, where she wrote and photographed for magazines, television and music studios.

 Natalie is the author of Ghost Train, a novel based on true events. The story is set in the summer of 1877 in Kyoto, during the last Samurai Rebellion.

Julia: What inspired you to write Ghost Train? What is the book about?

 Natalie: I studied Japanese history and media in college, and became enraptured by the amount of folklore that was born from the Meiji Era. With the influx of introduced technologies and Western ideals, Japanese society was turned upside-down; and folklore was often used to explain the unexplainable. One of the most interesting mysteries was around trains themselves – “ghost trains” were a real concept in 1877 Japan. Train conductors would work long hours, driving trains into the night in desolate areas. When they were sleep-deprived, they were prone to seeing hallucinations; often which took the shape of phantom trains (similar phenomenon have been recorded among long-distance semi-truck drivers). But my book asks: what if those ghosts were real? What are the repercussions? Where did they come from? And what do these ghosts want?

It’s also a metaphor: how does society react when there is a new invention or import of another cultural concept? How does it affect our identity? Do we mourn and grieve what was, or do we embrace the future? The story touches on many existential concepts, portrayed through each of the characters who are living through and witnessing these rapid changes to their own country.

 

Julia: What kind of research did you do to write it?

Natalie: So much! I had a great deal of background in the context of Japanese history and firsthand experience in Japan; I was constantly taking photos and able to comb through those to make sure I was describing places correctly and even conveying the light at the time of day accurately. But there’s more to writing historical fiction than knowing an overview of history. I needed to really understand the myriads of perspectives that would’ve been held during that time – between different classes, sexes, regions, professions, and educational background. And since I didn’t embody each of those perspectives, I needed to do research.

I read nearly 3000 firsthand accounts, documents of recorded history, and essays on the time period. I interviewed a dozen historians and subject matter experts to understand nuances of the time period and civilian life, and get details on particular niche areas that weren’t widely shared – like astrology that geisha would’ve known and advised clients on, types of kimono prints between different classes, and even architectural differences between Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples. The research was half the fun!

 

 Julia: What sets your book apart from others in the genre?

 Natalie: The thing about Ghost Train is it has a touch of almost every genre under the sun, save for Romance. First and foremost, it’s a historical fiction. The amount of research that went into it compares to a student writing a thesis, or educators compiling an academic book, or a journalist doing a long-form investigative report. But Ghost Train also includes the supernatural and paranormal – things you don’t normally see in a Historical Fiction.

  I tied in ghosts and demons into an otherwise grounded historical fiction primarily because of how Japanese perceive and talk about folklore in their own culture: in many instances, these stories are sometimes seen as fact, not as fiction. Yes, demons can be pranksters and silly, and ghosts are considered unprovable entities. Yet, in Japan, they’re seen as synonymous with life, so I wanted to genuinely write about them as if they were real – and that’s not something normally included in a true historical fiction.

 

   Julia: How does the book connect with your life? Did any personal experiences influence your writing?

 Natalie: Surprisingly, there are a number of parallels between 1877 and 2024. We are living in a technology and information age, with globalization spurring so much change every day. Each day we grapple with new information and combat misinformation, we deal with connection and conflict, and progress and hurdles that hinder us toward it. We just experienced the global pandemic from the COVID-19 outbreak, and in 1877, Japan was dealing with a number of cholera outbreaks after Europeans arrived in droves to help install their new technologies. The amount of information Japanese were receiving and processing on a daily basis was immense; it was stripping down their culture and reshaping it for a modern era.

   In some ways today we could relate to their struggles, shock, and situations from 1877, and, there are a lot of emotions we would share, both individually and collectively, as a result. We all have different perceptions on what’s happening around us, and react differently. In 1877, people were no different. People were apprehensive or welcoming, skeptical or afraid, curious and excited. It’s just like us today, when something new is introduced or challenged, so I harnessed my own emotional experiences and wove them into this story, imagining what a civilian would’ve seen and felt during that tumultuous time.

 

Julia: What is the main purpose of the book? Is there something else that you would like to share?

Natalie: The story was intended to examine the process of progress; who does it affect, and what are the societal, philosophical, and emotional conflicts that come with it? It’s neither an argument for or against progress; it’s more of an examination and snapshot of what one civilian’s life might have been like during such a rapidly-advancing time for Japan. Many cultures and countries can relate to the upheavals, so the story is also meant to demonstrate how connected we all are, and how similar we can be when we experience changes. Humans are not so different from one another, even if we speak different languages or live halfway around the world.

 

 Julia: What kinds of books do you enjoy reading? Did they have any influence in your writing?

Natalie: Unsurprisingly, I love reading historical fiction. I love reading to learn. The first books that influenced that love were the Little House on the Prairie series, which many will say felt long in some parts and included details about how to make furniture or cure meat. Growing up, that was fascinating. It made learning history so much more interesting when I could follow a character and immerse in their world, so I wanted to capture that magic and impart some teachings to my own readers.

 Ghost Train was released in October. You can learn more about Natalie Jacobsen and her background by visiting her website:

                                                 https://www.najacobsen.com/

 

Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar

  

  It was emotionally difficult to read this book. Mario Escobar turned the true-life story of Helene Hannemann into a personal diary he imagined she could have written had she had the means to do so.

   When we read what millions of families endured during the Holocaust as a result of Hitler’s abuse of power and rage, the small moments of one’s life acquire a new dimension of greatness.

  Mario Escobar imagined that Helene’s Hannemann last words on her diary were the following:

  “Blessed daily life, may nothing break you, nothing wound you, nothing deny your beauty and the sweet strokes you paint in our souls.” Soon she would walk toward her death while singing a lullaby to her children. 

  Despite the lessons of history, humanity is still assailed by the monsters of hatred. Humanity still faces the abuse of power of dictators who have no respect for life while claiming otherwise.

 Helene Hannemann

  You may wonder who Helene Hannemann was. She was a German woman who married a man considered to belong to a different race. Unlike her family, Helene was considered a “purebreed” by the Nazis, so for a while her family was spared. Her husband, Johann, was Romani, but the Germans used the word Gypsy or tzigane to refer to him. His entire family had been deported to Poland, and they had never heard from them again.

  Johann was a violin virtuoso. He had played for years in the Berlin Philharmonic, but since 1936, the restrictions against everyone who did not fit into the Nazi Party’s social laws had grown much harsher.

  Helene was a nurse. She was heading to work one day, when the German Police showed up to take her children and her husband away from her. Helene Hannemann refused to separate from them, so she was taken too.  

 Their destination would be Auschwitz. Fiercely protective of her five children and of those around them, Helene had to endure the deprivations and violence of a place whose conditions had been created by the evils of hatred.

  Scapegoating and hatred fueled deportations, family separations, forced labor, and torture. Hitler convinced the Germans that he would get rid of people who were like “vermin.” Hitler said they were poisoning German blood.

  Helene’s husband was forced to separate from Helene and their children. They had to join different concentration camps. 

 The Nazis liked to tear families apart.

 Jewish people, Gypsies, gays, and dissidents were imprisoned. 

 The Nazis considered that people with disabilities were a burden to society, so they murdered them systematically.

  The Nazis claimed to be fighting against communism. Hitler and his Nazi followers used “patriotic” emotions to justify their evil behaviors and persecuted those who disagreed with them. Hate crimes were common under Hitler’s authoritarian regime. His dictatorship was fueled by the hatred and distrust he promoted through his speeches and lies.

  Under Hitler’s influence German people followed a pattern of bullying against those who were different. The hostility toward Jews and other groups of people led to the formation of concentration camps where people were starved and abused. The groups of people mentioned above were imprisoned and/or enslaved to serve Hitler’s regime. Hitler referred to them as “vermin.”

  The SS officers tried to create a sense of false reassurance among the Gypsy people at times by making them believe that Hitler’s goal was to fight against communism, and that Gypsies would be treated differently.

 

 The nursery school at the Gypsy camp

  Due to her German ethnicity, Helene was given some privileges. At Mengele’s request, she committed herself to organizing a nursery school at one of the Gypsy camps. This special task enabled her to deal with the suffering and empowered her to give others hope despite the shortage of food, water and the lack of sanitation. The people were tormented by diseases and had to endure the extremes of temperature. They knew the Nazis would not hesitate to murder them if they became sick. They lived under the threat of being taken away to be murdered.

 Helene managed to create a space of comfort and love for the children amid the devastating conditions of the camp. This nursery school was open from May 1943 through August 1944. At least 22,000 thousand Gypsies were slaughtered by the Nazis. Six million Jews perished during the Holocaust.

  The cruelty of the Nazis never extinguished the light of Helene’s bravery and love. Till the last moment of her life, Helene was able to sustain the forces of hope and love for her family and the prisoners with whom she had to interact.

  Helene even said she would refuse to hate her enemies because by succumbing to hate, she would resemble them; she did not want to turn into a monster. Therefore, she chose to hold onto her dignity instead. This choice requires inner strength and resilience, but it also takes courage. 

  I dare say this choice relies on a kind of intelligence that bullies lack.

  Her courage made Josef Mengele uncomfortable. It made him doubt himself.

   The only Holocaust survivor from this book was Elisabeth Guttenberger, a Jewish woman who may have provided details for the story.

 

Nazis and the treatment of women

  Nazis wanted women to be obedient and follow commands without questioning anything. They wanted German women to marry and have many children, so the Nazis banned abortion and contraception in German women. It goes without saying that banning abortion had nothing to do with honoring life. It has been associated with a desire to control and manipulate women’s lives. This is a clear feature of their ideology. Mark Robinson, a MAGA Republican who labeled himself as a “black Nazi” admitted that he had paid for his girlfriend to have an abortion in the past. Yet he fiercely supported banning abortion without any exceptions. Similarly, Donald Trump has complimented Hitler’s regime by saying that “Hitler did a lot of good things.” In fact, his ex-wife Ivana reported in 1990 that Donald Trump kept a book of Hitler’s collected speeches in his bedside cabinet.Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that Donald Trump and Vance spread so many false rumors to vilify immigrants and stoke hate. This is what Adolf Hitler did. Trump simply follows his playbook. 

 Research has shown that immigrants in America are less likely to commit crimes. Extensive research shows that immigration does NOT lead to more crime. Yet Trump and Vance keep repeating a false narrative to ignite hate toward immigrants.

   Hitler  knew that if he repeated a lie several times, people would eventually start to believe it. Trump and Vance follow Hitler’s strategy. Strangely enough, some of his fans are eager to believe and swallow anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth. (Some of those followers were even happy to swallow disinfectant during the pandemic to treat COVID because it was Trump’s suggestion). Again, I am not joking. This happened during Trump’s presidency and you can verify the information here.

  Like Hitler, Trump has referred to his opponents as “communists” and “vermin.” Like Hitler, he insists that migrants are "poisoning the blood of our country."

 The truth is that Hitler was nothing but a very insecure man; he was just a coward. Do I need to say more?

  When the government forces itself into the private realm of women’s healthcare, it follows the Nazi ideology, which viewed women as walking incubators and objects to be used for sexual pleasure. There is no genuine concern for their health and safety. Trump’s presidency had devastating consequences for women because it led to the overturning of Roe v Wade. In states with abortion restrictions maternal mortality is higher. This is a fact.

 Amber Thurman and Candi Miller are examples of women who died as a consequence of overturning Roe v Wade, a change facilitated by Trump through his choice of judges for the Supreme Court. Trump took credit for overturning Roe v Wade, and said he was proud of it… how can anybody support a convicted felon who is proud of letting the government meddle with women’s healthcare? It is incomprehensible to me. The next step will be to scapegoat healthcare professionals because Trump’s strategy is to scapegoat and ignore facts. He lies continuously. How can anybody even believe that he supports freedom and ethical values?

 Let’s hope that history serves an important purpose: to learn from the past and avoid making the same mistakes.

 

Conclusion

 Auschwitz Lullaby shows what the worst of humanity can do. It can be used as a warning. It is a wake-up call to choose human dignity instead of hate. Helene’s life is an example of that. 

 I liked The Librarian of Auschwitz even more than this one, but I think both books can help us to understand the dangers of empowering a bully. Reading these books is an immersive experience. It is effective in exposing the horrors of the Holocaust.

  It is going to be a year since the horrifying terrorist attack by Hamas took place. The fact that some people have justified this brutality shocks me, but it also helps me to understand that there are people out there who are okay with Nazi strategies and tactics. There are also those who choose to deny the Holocaust of October 7. They deny the rapes and the atrocities committed by Hamas, but their denial does not wipe out the truth. The suffering it has caused will not be forgotten. The repercussions of that massacre continue to haunt the world, triggering more wars and violence.

 Those of us who believe in democracy and human rights will continue to speak up against atrocities and vote for candidates who oppose bullies.

  Let’s not forget the hostages and the struggles of the families honoring their loves ones while trying to seek justice. I cannot even start to imagine the desperation of being in such a situation. I am sharing a recent speech by Noa Tishby here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmUSIeL7ZUo&rco=1

 

 

Supplementary links:

 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/data-shows-migrants-taking-black-jobs-hispanic-jobs-114741798

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/life-in-nazi-occupied-europe/controlling-everyday-life/women/

 

https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/categories-of-prisoners/sinti-and-roma-in-auschwitz/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10659129221111081

https://cambridgeblog.org/2023/03/hitler-did-a-lot-of-good-things-trump-and-the-us-rehabilitation-of-nazism/

https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/donald-trump-gives-supporters-the-green-light-to-blame-jews-if-he-loses-in-november

https://forward.com/fast-forward/615880/donald-trump-hitler-nazi-references/

https://sph.tulane.edu/study-finds-higher-maternal-mortality-rates-states-more-abortion-restrictions

https://www.mediamatters.org/abc/new-analysis-shows-no-migrant-surge-or-border-crisis-heres-how-often-broadcast-news-has-said

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/politics/kfile-mark-robinson-abortion-ban-no-exceptions/index.html

https://antisemitism.adl.org/

https://rsf.org/en/free-narges-coalition-calls-urgent-release-narges-mohammadi-ahead-iran-s-address-united-nations

 Mario Escobar has a licentiate’s degree in history and an advanced studies diploma in modern history. He has written numerous books about the Inquisition, the Catholic Church, the age of the Protestant Reformation, and religious sects.

 If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read my reviews on the following books:

Women Heroes of World War II

 The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

Life Went on Anyway by Oleg Sentsov

Israel by Noa Tishby

 

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

 

 A few weeks ago, I received an email from PEN America informing me that Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult had been banned in some places. The notification piqued my curiosity, so I requested the book from my local library. In the story there is a school shooting in which several people die. However, the book is not about gun legislation. The novel focuses on an issue that is often neglected: bullying.

  After reading the beginning of the novel, I wondered if I would be motivated enough to finish it. Why? The reason for my skepticism was that the behaviors of the teenagers showed an astounding degree of shallowness and frivolity. Their relationships were superficial and devoid of empathy and curiosity about the world around them. Their purpose was to be popular and to denigrate those who were different from them.

 The teenagers at Sterling High School behave in ways that follow a tyrannical set of social hierarchies in which a few students are considered "popular" and of higher status, and the ones who do not fit in are abused and treated with disrespect and contempt. Bullying is normalized as part of this “culture.”

   My thirst for justice along with Jodi Picoult’s captivating writing style held my interest, so I finished the read with a flow of reflections and the motivation to research the topic of bullying further, to support those who are trapped in this horrifying pattern. 

   My thirst for justice was not quenched when I reached the end of the novel. 

  The read left me with a sense of hopelessness.

  Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes deserves attention and can be used to share honest discussions on the issue of bullying in schools and everywhere.

  Peter Houghton was only five years old when he became the target of school bullies, on his first day of kindergarten. It was heartbreaking to learn that his Superman lunch box was thrown out the school bus window. No adult cared to intervene to help him. Peter was bullied on a daily basis for many years:

 “From that first day in kindergarten, Peter experienced a daily barrage of taunting, tormenting, threatening and bullying. This child had been stuffed into lockers, had his head shoved into toilets. He had been tripped and punched and kicked. He had a private email spammed out to an entire school. He’s had his pants pulled down in the middle of the school cafeteria. Peter’s reality was a world where, no matter what he did—no matter how small and insignificant he made himself—he was still always the victim. And as a result, he started to turn into an alternate world: one created by himself in the safety of HTML code. Peter set up his own website, created video games and filled them with the kind of people he wished were surrounding him.”

  Somehow his creative skills and sensitive nature were not valued by the standards of the school he attended. 

   It was shocking to read how the parents of the teenagers portrayed in the novel were detached from their own children. The communication between parents and teenagers lacked authenticity. It was as superficial as the relationships with the teenagers’ school friends.

  The teenagers did not communicate with their parents in genuine ways; a false sense of independence appears to cloud the potential for honest conversations between parents and teenagers. Hiding away issues from their parents is considered an acceptable indicator of their sense of independence. This detachment stems from the false notion of providing that state of the so-called independence. It is used to excuse, ignore and/or condone all kinds of behaviors that taint their process of growth and maturation. Some of these teenagers become sexually active at age 15, drink alcohol, take drugs and/or resort to all kinds of senseless behaviors at school. In some cases, their parents seem to condone or ignore these behaviors; they even seem to consider them acceptable or inevitable.

  At school, these teenagers did not have any kind of guide on how to behave toward one another. In fact, the school environment resembled that of a prison. It reminded me of John Taylor Gatto’s book Dumbing us Down, which I read over ten years ago, in which he compared schools to prisons.

  The fact that school staff are complicit in the bullying or even choose to punish Peter when he defends himself and never advocate for him leaves a very distressing feeling in the reader.

    For example, the gym teacher has a very distorted view of bullying. Dusty Spears, the gym teacher at Sterling School, understands bullies and is on their side. He thinks that bullying is a normal part of growing up and that bullies are supposed to be rewarded. This is clearly stated on page 656 of the large print edition, “Dusty Spears understands kids like Drew Girard because he had once been one. The way he saw it, bullies either were good enough to get football scholarships to big ten schools, where they could make the business connections...”

  One of the main characters is Josie Cormier. Her behavior changes through the years. She used to be Peter’s best friend, but during her teenage years, her behavior shifts in unpredictable ways as a result of a toxic relationship with her boyfriend and her motivation to be one of the popular girls. She becomes the girlfriend of one of the most violent bullies: Matt Royston. The most disturbing aspect of their relationship is that he abuses her emotionally and even threatens her physically. Everybody thinks they have an ideal romantic relationship when this is not the case. Matt and Josie are sexually active and Josie’s mother appears to be okay with that.

  Picoult exposes the abuse of Josie by Matt Royston by showing it through various unsettling situations, but Picoult does little to discuss the matter openly through the characters in a direct way to avoid the normalization of such a toxic relationship. I feel this is a weakness of the book. 

  The relationship between Josie Cormier and Matt Royston calls for a thorough discussion about respect in romantic relationships.  I was expecting that would happen at some point, but it never happened. The way I see it, this void in the book requires the work of mentors, parents, teachers and counselors.

    I was hoping and expecting that Alex, Josie’s mother, would have an insightful conversation with Josie on this, and that there would be a reflection on the relationship that was masked as “love.”

  The book was published in 2007. Has bullying changed since then? Are schools doing more to address it?  As I researched the topic to write this blog post, I was shocked to find an endless list of children and teenagers who committed suicide after they had been bullied. You can check this link yourself to verify my statement:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=h_&q=cases+of+children+who+committed+suicide+after+being+bullied&ia=web

 If you come across people who underestimate and dismiss the serious effects of bullying, I encourage you to educate the deniers on the impact that bullying has. First of all, bullying is not a normal part of growing up. Bullying can lead to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other consequences. It can lead to suicidal ideation, and even suicide. It can rarely cause what Peter did. Peter followed the pressure of the social context in which he grew up and ended up doing what he did…

 There is a twist at the end of the novel that could have been fleshed out to shed light on the abusive relationship that Matt had with Josie, but not much is said about it.

  As explained in an article published by Frontiers in Public Health in 2019 bullying may include verbal hostility, teasing, physical violence and social exclusion, and the consequences of bullying can be severe:

 “Many studies have found that bullying is the root of severe negative psychological and physical consequences, including depression, anxiety, reduced self-esteem, decreased school attendance, somatization, as well as suicide, suicide ideation and attempts.” Some researchers claim that school bullying can cause symptoms such as those experienced by survivors of child maltreatment and abuse. It can even hamper bio-psycho-social growth.

 

 When bullying happens there is an imbalance of power between the perpetrator and victim, which can lead into a sense of helplessness and weakness. The pattern of bullying can undermine a victim’s sense of self and can cause short-term and long-term consequences.

 Why do bullies bully? They bully because they can. Lea Page says that it takes a village to make a bully… and it takes a village to stop one. Nineteen Minutes elucidates the roles that bystanders play in the social dynamics of bullying. I am now referring to those who witness the bullying without standing up to the bully. Some of the onlookers feel fear and guilt due to their own lack of response, so it is important to discuss this topic and to address it. Banning a book that deals with the topic is not the solution. Some bystanders celebrate the bully. They even support the bully and act in ways that perpetuate the pattern of bullying. I noticed that the “popular” girls had a positive attitude toward the revolting behaviors of Matt Royston and Drew Girard. They celebrated them.

When dangerous behaviors are normalized and celebrated, the pattern of bullying is established, creating an atmosphere where respect and kindness no longer matter.  

 In 2016 somebody said that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and his supporters would still support him. Take a moment to reflect on this comment. What does it imply? This comment was made by a presidential candidate: Donald Trump. It implies that violence is acceptable in the eyes of his supporters. It implies that as long as he is responsible for the violence, his supporters will condone it and normalize it. This is dangerous. How can we teach ethical behaviors to children and teenagers when a pattern is set to make it acceptable for a man to do this?  How is it acceptable to make him president?  There is no way we can live in a civilized society when we empower a bully. In fact, one of his own 2016 supporters even tried to shoot him recently, which proves my point. (What goes around, comes around).

  The girls who cheered Matt Royston are not different from the adult women who celebrate and support a bully trying to become president, so I can see a pattern that needs to be addressed, because the ways adults behave are not ignored by teenagers, and they will make a difference in the way we live our lives.

   I hope this blog post will be a helpful resource to raise awareness on the topic of bullying. Bullying awareness month is coming up, so this is an opportunity to work to both prevent and address bullying in schools and everywhere.

 

 Supplementary links:

 https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/what-you-need-know-about-school-violence-and-bullying

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/202010/us-high-school-bullying-rates-arent-going-down

https://hr.nih.gov/working-nih/civil/national-bullying-awareness-month

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daughter-bullied-school-adult-bystanders_n_664fcce1e4b058247fa22914#

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6465416/

 

https://time.com/4191598/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-not-lose-voters/

https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/23/politics/donald-trump-shoot-somebody-support/index.html

 https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/15-year-old-boy-cyberbullying-suicide-latin-school-chicago-lawsuit/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-child-died-suicide-online-game-cyberbullying-authorities-said-rcna129247

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/adriana-kuch-new-jersey-online-attack-video-four-charged/

https://wsbt.com/news/operation-education/rio-allred-bully-anxiety-depression-suicide-behavior-prevention-cyber-bullying-report-schools-respond-rios-rainbow-elkhart-indiana

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith

 

 “They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”

 Dino Christalopoulos

   Sweetgrass is considered to be the hair of Mother Earth in Potawatomi culture, and to braid it is to show loving care for her well-being. Sweetgrass has medicinal properties and is traditionally used to make baskets. The fragrance of sweetgrass combines the sweetness of vanilla with the fresh scent of moist earth.

 The author writes, “I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass as thick and shining as the braid that hung down my grandmother’s back. But it is not mine to give, nor yours to take. Wingaashk belongs to herself.”

 As an educator, I want to recommend Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This specific edition adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith contains questions that spark meaningful conversations, reflections and a wellspring of ideas to write essays.

   This book is an excellent resource to awaken an interest in how plants are woven into our cultures and how our connection with animals and plants can teach us how to share the world with others.

  I think the content of the book can be incorporated into the curriculum of science, literature and history, and I hope Braiding Sweetgrass will be translated into other languages, for it is an invaluable resource for high schoolers and teachers across the world.

   I hope every school library owns one of these books.

  The author is a plant scientist and a poet. Her writing style is irresistible, poetical and impeccable. Robin Wall Kimmerer had her writing published in scientific journals as well as literary ones. She is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is a distinguished professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the environment.

 Braiding Sweetgrass integrates history and scientific facts about plants and ecosystems. It also shares illustrated stories. Each chapter offers questions that induce readers to muse on our relationships and interactions with one another, Mother Earth and other living beings.

  Each chapter inspires readers to behold the world through fresh eyes, contemplate their surroundings with empathy and curiosity and make respectful choices that embody gratitude, reciprocity and the spirit of cooperation.

  There are many interesting facts and historical details that help us to understand that respect for the land is also about respecting and healing ourselves. In practical terms, her introspective narrative can bring awareness and lead to constructive solutions on many levels.

 It is time for economists to acknowledge that we should not ignore the limitations of a finite planet. The consequences of neglecting the ecological dimension of the financial challenges have a cost. She writes, “Ecological economists argue for reforms. They work to ground economics in ecological principles that are constrained by thermodynamics. If we want to maintain quality of life, they urge that we must sustain natural capital and ecosystem services.”

  I appreciate how she threads into her unpretentious prose the teachings and wisdom of the Potawatomi culture. For example, here’s a passage that illustrates this:

  “In Potawatomi and many other Indigenous languages, it is not possible to speak of living beings as it. Sure, we still have words for objects—desk, tractors, phone, but they do not describe anything living. Objects made by humans are inanimate.”  It is different from the way they refer to living beings. In Potawatomi culture they apply their own grammar of respect to living beings, which she refers to as the grammar of animacy. She expresses this clearly, “We use words to address the living world, just as we use for our family. Because they are our family.”

  She wonders if there is a way to bring animacy into the English Language. You can read page 12 for more details on her suggestions and her intention.

  The illustrations by Nicole Neidhart add a charming, amusing touch to the edition for young adults, and I’m sure they will inspire many students to express themselves through art as well.

 On Indigenous stories and why she chose to include them

“I am a listener and I have been listening to stories told around me for longer than I care to admit. I mean to honor my teachers by passing on the stories that they have passed on to me and have done my best to give credit to who and where these stories came from.”

  The book offers the opportunity to reflect at the crossroads we are now and to choose a path of collaboration.

  Separation from Mother Nature is a state of loneliness, a detachment from reality that compromises our health. We see it on a regular basis when we encounter the arrogance of those who deny the lifesaving nature of this connection, the fact that we exist as part of a whole. When we kill that sense of belonging from our awareness, we are deprived of health and harmony in the way we live our lives.

 Robin Wall Kimmerer describes this as a “species loneliness.” She writes, “It is a deep unnamed sadness stemming from separation from the rest of Creation, from the loss of relationship. As our human dominance of the world has grown, we have become more and more isolated.”

 Yet Mother Earth gives us the chance to heal our relationship with her. When you feel overwhelmed, take some time outdoors. Infuse the body with the fresh fragrance of the earth…

 “Recent research has shown that the smell of humus exerts a physiological effect on humans. Breathing in the scent of Mother Earth stimulates within us the production of serotonin. Serotonin is a brain chemical that plays a role in regulating mood and behavior.” 

  I disagree with the author when she attaches the label of “Western” to distorted views on nature, because she establishes a false dichotomy—Western versus Eastern-- that does not reflect the truth. The use of those labels is misleading. If these labels were reflective of the truth, we would not be witnessing the brutal slaughter of whales by the Japanese government, and Indonesia would not have destroyed seventy percent of its forests.

 There is work to do everywhere. Both the Western and Eastern worlds need to be part of this movement of solidarity and respect for the land and her creatures. On the other hand, the use of labels and generalizations leads to lack of accountability and a pattern of lazy thinking. It sows prejudices and divisive attitudes that refuse to welcome each individual as a unique contributor to the forest of life. 

  The strong foundation of the book lies in the precious teachings of the Honorable Harvest and the Thanksgiving address.

  I will be returning to Braiding Sweetgrass often to reread parts of it. This unique book transports the self to a setting of peace and harmony, a land of inspiration and reunion with one’s intuition and love for nature.

 

 To gain a better understanding on the need to incorporate ecological economics into mainstream economics, feel free to read this interview with Robert Costanza, en ecological economist:

 https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-is-ecological-economics

 I found a more updated article by Robert Costanza, so I am sharing it here:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/beyond-growth-eu-economy-gdp-sustainable-wellbeing/

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris

 

   Kamala means “lotus flower.” The Lotus Flower symbolizes resilience and strength. I don’t normally read memoirs by politicians, but her book caught my interest as soon as I learned about it, when President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed her.

  The journalists often report Trump’s latest comments without even questioning his mental fitness to become president, and they don’t bother to write about Kamala’s work and accomplishments. They don't seem to be interested in shining a light on what Kamala Harris stands for: truth, integrity, hard work and responsibility.

    Why don’t they take the time to read her book and write about it?  

     My Writing Life blog: Awareness, Reflection, Inspiration is doing the work that journalists should be doing.

    Kamala Harris’s writing style is pleasant and engaging. I appreciate how well she researched every topic she included. I feel thankful and proud of the fact that she is the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.

  The Truths We Hold is not only an excellent resource to learn about Kamala Harris’s work and perseverance in the face of obstacles and challenges; it is also about several issues of interest to Americans and how she worked consistently to address them.

   Kamala Harris has always worked for the people and with the people. Throughout her career, she stood up to rapists, violent criminals, and fraudsters. She did so with intelligence and deep compassion for the victims of violent crimes.

  I will write a list of her undertakings and endeavors to communicate how she has made a difference in the lives of so many people. I hope my post will help to quell the forces of prejudices, biases, lies and insults that are promoted by her hateful opponents.

   Kamala Harris worked hard to protect vulnerable youth from being sexually exploited. When she took a job as a city attorney in California for two years, she co-founded a task force to study the issues of sexually exploited youth. Together with her team, she led the fight “to disrupt the network of brothels masquerading as massage parlors, where so many people were being sexually exploited.” They asked the board of supervisors to direct law enforcement to investigate them as one of their top priorities. As a result of this, her recommendations were adopted and funded. Law enforcement shut down nearly three dozen brothels in the city.

   Her task force established a safe house for sexually exploited youth. It was a kind of sanctuary that offered substance abuse rehabilitation and mental health treatment as well as the resources needed to get back to school. She was actively engaged in the process to get the funding needed and to rescue at-risk youth. This experience was empowering and enlightening to Kamala. She describes it as “the realization that turned my sights to elected office.”

   The foreclosure crisis triggered under the Republican presidency of George Bush was a time period in which she worked hard as an attorney to advocate for the people who were scammed by the banks. She did her part to make banks accountable, reaching settlements that helped the people. However, she reveals the limitations of such settlements due to the social and financial impact of the foreclosure crisis on working families. On the other hand, the Trump administration rolled back regulations that were put in place after the foreclosure crisis to protect the people from the abuse of banks.

  It is crucial to be aware of how history shapes the present to understand that elections matter and the book plays a role in making this clear. “Tomorrow’s generations will suffer as a result of yesterday’s folly and greed. We cannot change what has already happened. But we can make sure it never happens again.” 

    Kamala Harris has always worked to reduce the cost of prescription drugs against the lobby of the big pharmaceutical companies. For details on this, I encourage you to read her book. Trump did just the opposite. Trump tried to make the Affordable Care Act implode during his presidency without offering any suitable alternative. During the years of his administration, he did nothing to address healthcare but appointed somebody who followed the interests of Big Pharma. His promise to reduce the cost of prescription drugs was never fulfilled.

   The Trump administration did not offer an appropriate response to the opioid crisis either. While it declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, the fund they used to deal with it was less than one dollar for each person who died of a drug overdose, and “If Republicans had succeeded in repealing the Affordable Care Act, they would have taken addiction treatment coverage away from three million Americans.”

  As an attorney general, Kamala Harris made the fight against opioids one of her highest priorities:

  “We took down a large-scale transnational drug-trafficking organization in 2011 while sponsoring legislation to make it more difficult to print fraudulent prescription pads. We went after pill mills and shut down so-called recovery centers that were overprescribing, leading to patient deaths. When funding to my department’s drug monitoring program was cut, we fought tooth and nail until I got the budget restored. The system allowed prescribers and pharmacists to quickly access a patient’s prescription history and make sure the patient wasn’t seeking the same painkillers from different doctors simultaneously. We went after criminals who were selling opioids on Craiglist and filed a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company inflating prices for opioid addiction treatment.”

    You can learn more about this topic by reading The Truths We Hold.

     Kamala reveals the details of her work throughout her career and integrates this information with memories about her childhood, upbringing and family, delving into her motivations, ethical principles and goals.

  It was interesting to read how she had to navigate the healthcare system when she had to face her mother’s diagnosis of colon cancer, and how they coped with the management of the disease. Her account is forthright and truthful. It was heartbreaking to read about the loss of her mother, Shyamala Harris, who was an exceptional role model to Kamala.

  Reading Kamala Harris’s book was also an emotional experience of connection and understanding. It is touching to learn about her mother’s life story and how she influenced Kamala:

 “My mother was raising us to believe that ‘It’s too hard’ was never an acceptable excuse; that being a good person meant standing for something larger than yourself; that success is measured in part by what you help others achieve and accomplish. She would tell us, ‘Fight systems in a way that causes them to be fairer, and don’t be limited by what has always been.’”

  As an attorney general Kamala Harris advocated for college students who had been conned by the now-defunct Corinthian College. Kamala Harris said, “They targeted people who they assumed wouldn’t fight back. They targeted people who they assumed no one would be there to fight for. And they were wrong.” They targeted veterans, single mothers and single fathers. They took advantage of people below the poverty line who had suffered the effects of the Great Recession, people who believed in the power of education... The judge agreed with Kamala Harris and the now-defunct company had to pay more than one billion dollars in restitution and penalties.

  This post is about Kamala Harris’s book, but I feel compelled to highlight the contrast between Kamala Harris and her opponent, because Donald Trump did just the opposite. Donald Trump duped college students through his now-defunct Trump University. You can learn the details here:

   Donald Trump brags about being the right person to handle the economy, but the truth is that at the end of his administration he left the economy in shambles. Also, murders and violent crimes increased during the last year of the Trump administration. Thankfully, during Biden’s presidency the rate of violent crimes went down according to the data recorded by the FBI.

  Trump claims to care about security. This is laughable. Trump is responsible for the release of 5,000 Taliban terrorists from prison. Trump makes the world more dangerous. (Facts are not propaganda. I am aware of the fact that his followers label facts as "propaganda.") Why?

  Trump claims to be concerned about inflation in America. Inflation has been an issue across the world over the last few years. However, to tackle the roots of inflation it is important to acknowledge climate change and to address it. We cannot afford four more years of a Trump administration rolling back environmental regulations that will worsen climate change and inflation across the world. If you don’t understand the connection between the two, feel free to check the supplementary links at the bottom of this post.

   The Trump administration rolled back over seventy regulations that are related to climate change and the protection of the quality of water and air.  We are still dealing with the consequences of his lack of foresight and understanding. 

   It is imperative to continue working to lower greenhouse emissions. Trump denies the need to do so. It is convenient for him to ignore the matter altogether because he receives financial contributions for his political campaign from the fossil fuel industry, which has denied the existence of climate change for many years in the same way that the tobacco industry denied the effects of tobacco on human health. In other words, Trump wants to serve himself at the expense of human health and the economy. The wellbeing of his country is not his priority. He said he would be a dictator on day one. He has also told his supporters that they will not need to vote again afer the 2024 election.

   Trump and his supporters claim to be pro-life, but they fail to understand that climate change is killing people every day, so there is nothing pro-life about denying the need to address the climate crisis. There is nothing pro-life about ravaging the environment to satisfy corporate greed.

  Fostering the development and infrastructure of clean energy under Biden’s Presidency has created and will continue to create millions of jobs. It is up to the people to embrace these opportunities. The Biden’s administration also created a plan that is not only creating new jobs in the clean energy field, but it is also raising the wages in the clean energy field. What is not to like about that?

  It is also necessary to remember that when we support regulations that curb climate change, we protect the quality of water, air and soil. Again, what is not to like about that? A clean environment will help decrease the cost of healthcare, because of the cost of pollution and its impact on human health.

   Kamala Harris addresses climate change in her book and the multiple dimensions that the challenge encompasses. Her research is thorough and relevant to what is happening today. She shares statistics, facts, experiences and the work she’s done. Environmental regulations are crucial to human health.

    Paying attention to the statistics and research, however, was not enough for Kamala Harris when she had to support the people of Mira Loma, California. She traveled to the area, listened to the people and  did not let them down.

 The quiet rural community was swallowed up by an industrial warehousing district. The air turned toxic. Every day trucks made more than 15,000 trips on Mira Loma’s main roads, bringing with them soot and other particulate matter. Soon Mira Loma had one of the highest rates of diesel pollution in the state—well beyond state and federal air quality standards. The county failed to respond to standards that would protect the community, even though people did their best to be heard. The community was ignored and the situation would worsen with the plan to bring in more trucks to the area.

  How did this impact peoples’ lives?  Due to the filthy air, it was not safe for children to play outside. The trees in their backyard stopped bearing fruits and were dying. The people in the community were suffering from high rates of cancer, asthma and heart disease. Kamala Harris spent time with the people to understand what they were going through. With tears in his eyes, one father told her about the loss of his fourteenth-year-old daughter to lung cancer.

   In Kamala’s words, “To really understand the pain that a community is coping with, it’s not enough to imagine what it must be like. Smart policies cannot be created in an ivory tower, and arguments aren’t won by facts alone. What matters just as much is being there whenever possible, in person, ears and eyes wide open, talking to the folks living closest to the challenge. It mattered that we were there to hear this anguished father’s story and the stories of other families in Mira Loma.

  “It mattered when I visited soldiers in Iraq who were waiting for their next mission, and sailors in San Diego, preparing to deploy for months on a nuclear submarine. It is one thing to talk about the needs of the military and intelligence communities in a Senate hearing room. It is another to go to the scene and make real, in-person connections with the men and women who are serving.”

   There is a chapter entitled Smart on Security that I strongly recommend. I was impressed by how much Kamala Harris did for the safety and security of the United States of America when she was a Senator. She was an active member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and has knowledge and experience in dealing with issues of security; she makes it clear that her goal is to foster and support innovation in technology to protect the United States of America.

   The Biden-Harris team has always worked to support America’s democracy in every way... On the other hand, what did Trump do? He promoted falsehoods about the 2020 election, incited violence and tried to block the peaceful transfer of power. And what did he do to Mike Pence? You can read about it here. Pence even stated that he was concerned over his family’s safety on January 6, 2021 because of Donald Trump.

  If the people of his own party cannot trust Donald Trump, how can anybody trust him to become President of our country?

  Trump promotes divisiveness and hate in America. His poor decision making continues to have consequences today on many levels.

  It is disconcerting that Donald Trump selected judges for the Supreme Court who have no interest in protecting environmental legislation and the safety and health of human beings. In fact, their decisions prove just the opposite. We are in a very fragile situation as a result of Trump’s poor decisions and choices, but there is hope. We can’t afford apathy and negligence. We have to vote because our life depends on it; the health of our democracy is at stake.

   There is no doubt in my mind that honest Republicans will agree that we need to stand united to protect democratic principles, and that Kamala Harris is the right candidate to represent the values that matter: respect for the rule of law, social responsibility, and democratic principles.

  My Writing Life blog endorses Kamala Harris for president. I will vote for her, and I encourage every American reader of My Writing Life Blog: Awareness, Reflection, Inspiration, to read her book. Her enthusiasm and energy can transcend the boundaries of America. The Truths We Hold is an invigorating, edifying read that will inspire people across the world.

 

 

Supplementary links:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/03/21/climate-change-is-worsening-inflation-and-pushing-food-prices-even-higher-researchers-warn/

 

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-is-the-trump-administrations-track-record-on-the-environment/

 

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/01/31/climate-change-is-killing-millions-an-expert-explains-why-many-deaths-go-unnoticed

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/13/g-s1-9360/judiciary-election-climate-change-environment-supreme-court

 https://apnews.com/article/pence-trump-january-6-capitol-riot-carlson-1e38cb44d55737031ca528b4f33aa1fb

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/03/17/trump-hitler-north-korea-dictator-hungray-prime-minister/72975742007/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/trump-rally-nato/677426/

 

 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/inflation-reduction-act-sparked-manufacturing-clean-energy-boom-rcna167315

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-justice-ketanji-brown-jackson-trump-immunity-ruling/