The Business of Nation Building

Hey Raven,

I really enjoyed your post about the changing landscape of human evolution. Or I guess, our discovery of a different landscape than expected. I find it endlessly interesting when science changes and evolves. We sometimes forget that we don't make the truth or shape the past - we just discover the way it was. And often, we get it wrong.

There are some contemporary issues I would like to talk about today, but I woke up mega early and worked all day then had unexpected (but wonderful) company drop in. So my next post will be about the contemporary issue that has been on my mind since Saturday night. But tonight, it's a bit too serious for me to get into. So instead I'm going to talk about Eloy Alfaro, as I earlier promised. Because the story of a man who helped to shape modern day Ecuador and was viciously murdered for his efforts is more uplifting... I guess.

So, yeah. Spoiler alert, this story doesn't end happily for our protagonist, but he does have a pretty incredible life that is important to understand if you want to understand Ecuadorian politics (which I did and still do).

Eloy Alfaro is known for many things in Ecuadorian history, primarily as a great liberal voice for a secular society, He was president of Ecuador twice, though both times he initially took power by force rather than by a vote. Though he was never brought to power by popular vote his name still looms large in the country; the nation's military college, a famous battleship, and Quito's airport all bear his name.

And one hopes his face, too. That is a good face for currency!

Alfaro struggled for most of his life against the dominant conservative powers in Ecuador. His struggle (and Ecuador's as a whole at that time) mirrored the struggle many other Latin American countries were waging between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives held strong Catholic beliefs and wanted the Church to have a strong, guiding position in the running and educating of the country. Liberals felt there should be a strong separation between the two powers and that of the two, the state should be dominant over the Church. They also fought for freedom of religion rather than a national state religion. Conservatives also generally favored conserving voting rights for those that had them and denying them to new segments of the population. Liberals supported universal suffrage for all men.

Alfaro was a liberal from early in his life. He spent the first 50 years of his life struggling against conservatives, almost dying several times in the process. One of the most important things he did early in his life was marry a Panamanian heiress who helped him fund his literal battles against the establishment conservatives. Alfaro suffered a number of defeats and exiles before taking power in 1895 at the age of 53.

Among his most notable achievements was a great railroad that connected Quito, the capital city, with Guayaquil, the great industrial powerhouse on the Pacific. It was difficult mountainous terrain, but building it helped unify a country that geography had kept very divided for years. The railroad was completed in 1908 and made it much easier for people and goods to travel between the two major cities.

"I connected a whole country and all I got was my face on this lousy 50 cent piece!"

Toward the end of his life Alfaro grew distrustful even of other liberals, even going so far as to tamper with the elections of 1910 to get his chosen successor elected. Then he asked the man to step aside and let him rule again. By then the conservative factions already hated Alfaro (for obvious reasons), but by strong-arming his own political base Alfaro burned many of the bridges he had earlier helped to build. He was not to rule again and was exiled from the country again.

In 1912 Alfaro returned and attempted another coup attempt, this one unsuccessful. He was imprisoned, but before he could be dealt with by any authorities an angry mob dealt him their own brand of justice. He was shot, tied to a wagon, dragged through the streets of the capital, and eventually his body was burned where the Parque El Ejido stands in Quito today.

Despite a checkered history that included dictatorial rule, tampering with free elections, coups d'etat, and general political repression Alfaro is well remembered today as one of the founding members of modern Ecuador. And in fact, he did a great deal to bring Ecuador into the modern age. He stripped away much of the Church's power and gave the issues of education, marriages, and deaths over to the state to run. This move, and others like it, forced the people of Ecuador to think of themselves in terms of their nationality as well as their religion. Alfaro was also an ally to the poor. He did away with debtors prisons and freed many hacienda workers (many of whom were native Ecuadorians). Alfaro made a major push for industrialization and with a newly mobile work force he was able to start, and eventually see completed, one of the great unifying structures of country - the railway from Quito to Guayaquil.

It is perhaps no great surprise that he is a particular role model of the current president Rafael Correa. After all Correa shares many of Alfaro's liberal principles and strives for a free, independent, strong Ecuador. He has also been very successful in negotiating Ecuador's large debt, lowering unemployment as well as lowering the high poverty level in the country. However, Correa shares his some of his role model's less appealing traits as well. Correa has been accused of nepotism, general corruption, limiting free speech, and taking too much of a government role in the private sector (especially where education is concerned). He has been president since 2007 (for 8 years now) and shows no signs of passing the reigns of power. Only time will tell if Correa is interested in building a political dynasty, his own dictatorship (in the style of Hugo Chavez), or only interested in building as strong a country as he can manage by any means necessary.

There are all kinds of ways to build a country. Though his methods may be questioned by modern (and likely his contemporary) politicians and scholars there can be no doubt that Alfaro did move the country forward in terms of modernization during his time in power. There can also be no doubt that Alfaro's name and legacy still loom large in the country's present and future, for good or ill.

Hope you learned something today!

Best wishes,
Owl

The Ledi-Geraru Jaw, Part 1

Hi Owl,

On Tuesday I mentioned that Donald Johanson hinted to some exciting news that would be released on Wednesday. I had planned to talk about this (very) exciting news on Thursday, but was quite ill
 and was not feeling up to doing such an important topic justice. I will try to tackle it tonight.

On Wednesday, it was announced that researchers in Ethiopia had found remains of a Homo habilis mandible that dated back to 2.8 million years ago. They are calling this the Ledi-Geraru jaw as it was found at the Ledi-Geraru research area in the Afar Regional State of Ethiopia, and scientists prefer descriptiveness over creativity when it comes to nomenclature. The bone was found by Chalachew Seyoum, an Ethiopian paleoanthropological student studying at Arizona State University, who first spotted a premolar during a walkover survey, and found that it was attached to a piece of a mandible. Other fragments of the lower jaw were found, along with four other teeth. The jawbone matched most closely that of Homo habilis. H. habilis is considered to be the oldest known member of the genus Homo, though there has been controversy over its categorization as Homo instead of Australopithecus, the genus to which Lucy belongs. The first H. habilis specimens dated from between 1.7-1.9 million years ago. Though older specimens have been found since then, this newest specimen, at 2.8 million years old, pushes the fossil record back considerably, and reshapes
the earliest views of our lineage as a genus.

Chalachew Seyoum holding his discovery

This is incredibly big news, and its significance is multifaceted. I cannot do it justice in the twelve minutes I have until my deadline, but I will resume this topic on Monday for a more complete overview of this discovery.

For tonight, here is an overview of the five biggest implications to come out of this finding.

1.) This fossil is 400,000 years older than any previously discovered fossil belonging to the genus Homo.
2.) It is possible that Homo habilis represents a split in the Homo genus to represent two separate evolutionary lines, one ultimately evolving into H. sapiens and the other dying out at some point but representing an entirely distinct evolution of the genus Homo.
3.) This further suggests that climate change may have driven to the adaptations that led eventually to early species of Homo.
4.) The origins of Homo in East Africa are now even more firmly supported by the fossil record.
5.) It has become clear that three distinct species of Homo existed, not necessarily simultaneously but in very close chronological proximity, between 2.1 and 1.6 million years ago: H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, and H. erectus.

The Ledi-Geraru jaw

This complicates the previously-understood landscape of human evolution, and could have significant implications for how we evolved. I am excited to learn more about this fascinating discovery, and I hope that you will keep reading on Monday for a deeper look at what this discovery means.

-Raven

An Early Lesson From My Mom

Hey Raven,

Sorry for the days of radio silence. We have been on vacation (you were super sick so I forgive you for missing a blog post!)

Tonight we watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and it got me thinking. About a lot of things. Mostly how our society deals (or more frequently doesn't deal) with its oldest members. In the US and in many other similarly "modern"  countries we can easily forget the elderly or pidgeon-hole them into a comfortable role. An older woman is a grandmother, an older man is a grandfather - nothing more. They are no longer autonomous beings. They belong to a younger member of society  in the same way a very young child belongs to its parents. We, as a society, forget that they aren't just that and sometimes they aren't that at all (not all older people are grandparents, after all). We forget that they are a unique individual. We forget that they are still adults with their own desires, traditions, rituals, experiences, and desires. They are not living for us, nor are they waiting around to die. I have my mother to thank for teaching me this early in my life. My mother is an extraordinarily talented therapist who has worked for more than 20 years with elderly. Her stories and her understanding of her patients as people first and patients second gave me my first view of the elderly as they truly are, not as they are so often seen.

Hollywood often deals poorly with this reality. Most older actors and actresses are sent off to the kindly grandmother, wise grandfather, or society recluse as soon as a sufficient portion of hair has turned gray.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel resists this temptation and instead builds a rich story centered around an almost entirely older cast. The youngest member of the main cast is 59 at the movie's shooting time (hardly what I would consider the "Golden Years" though Hollywood's perception of age is very skewed to say the least). I'm not sure how old they are all meant to be, but clearly of retirement age and beyond. They are at the point where society is starting to see them as a burden: a point made clear early in the movie when Judi Dench's character Evelyn is trying to decide how to proceed with her life after her husband's death. There is little conversation - only her son telling her how things will be. Even after she decides she will not move in with him and will instead head to India he doubts her all the way - assuming she can't do it. Dev Patel's character makes it even clearer later in the movie when he is arguing with his mother about where he will get clients from and he tells her there are plenty of countries where they hate the elderly. And while I don't think hate is precisely the right term, I do think the elderly make many of us uncomfortable or unsure how to act. We tend to ignore them, infantilize them, or fear them.

The movie does an excellent job setting up the way these characters are seen and then does an equally splendid job of challenging our first impressions (and society's view) of these characters throughout. There are many lovely plot lines including one of a gay man returning to India to seek out the lover he feels he wronged many years ago. There is a woman searching for her next rich husband. A woman learning how to be independent after her husband's death. And a particularly unlikable character, at first glance, who works to get over some severe racism and bigotry throughout the movie. The plots are rife with adult (not elderly) content. There is love, sex, discovery, forgiveness, loss, and yes a few very wise words. No character is forgotten or pushed aside and though there are no shortage of jokes on the subject of age they are all made in good taste, but the characters themselves. A notable one comes when one of the men is going out on a date that will clearly end in sex and he is warned of the dangers of having sex at his age. His response? "If she dies, she dies." This one joke is a great summation of how the movie gives viewers the familiar picture of the elderly and then turns it on its ear.

We are people at any age is the take away message of the movie. And it is never too late to live a full life. As a young person I think it is important to remember that and remember that everyone will one day grow old. No one wants to be condescended to, ignored, or seen as a burden after a life of self reliance. In other words we all want to grow old with a little dignity and respect. To get there ourselves we have to start giving dignity and respect now. Seeing each person we meet as an individual with a past and a future.

Best wishes,
Owl

Happy Purim!

Happy Purim Raven!

For those following at home who don't know. Today is Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating a time when we Jews were almost wiped out, but then we weren't. And there was much rejoicing. It is a very fun, festive holiday. We (that is Raven and I) went to Raven's childhood synagogue to celebrate. We dressed up as Flame Princess and Fiona from Adventure Time (it's customary to go to Purim celebrations in costume because... reasons?) It's like a second Halloween and I do love Halloween!

Purim happens every year in late winter or early spring (14th of Adar for the Jewish calendar) and focuses on Esther and Mordecai's efforts and eventual foiling of Haman's plot to wipe out Jews everywhere (specifically the Jews of Shushan). The short story is this: King Ahasueres (of Shushan) commanded his wife and queen Vashti to come before him and she disobeyed the king basically nullifies their marriage and sends Vashti away. Nice guy, right

Meanwhile there is some fighting between Ahasueres' leading advisor, Haman, and Mordecai, a well-known Jew and respected councilor to the king. Haman does not like that Mordecai will bow only before his God and not before Haman so he decides he wants to destroy not only Mordecai, but his people as well. Not an overreaction at all.

Ahasueres is pretty oblivious to this and mostly just misses having a wife. So he calls the women of his kingdom before him and chooses a new bride from among them. He chooses Esther, unbeknownst to him the niece of Mordecai and also a Jew.

Mordecai and Esther get wind of Haman's evil plot and Mordecai urges Esther to go before the king and reveal her identity and win the king over so she and her people will live. But even a queen must be called before the king. To do otherwise would risk death. But Esther does just that and the king, impressed with her bravery, pardons her barging in without his say so. She gathers the king and Haman and tells the king both of Haman's plot and her Jewish ancestry. Since Mordecai earlier saved the king's life and the king loves his new wife he's pretty annoyed to find out that his trusted advisor is trying to kill them both and also wipe out their people. So he hangs Haman, honors Mordecai, and keeps Esther as his queen. A very happy ending as far as most Jewish holidays are concerned.

So, pardon the late post as Raven and I are still in her first nest (that is, her childhood hometown) and will be for the rest of the week, ostensibly to watch her parents kittens, who are just such adorable troublemakers. They are half of the reason for my late and hasty post. The other half is a fascinating anthropological discovery that may change the way we see ourselves in the great chain of evolution. However, I will let Raven share that discovery with you tomorrow as she is much more an expert than I.

I hope you are as excited by it as we were!

Best wishes,
Owl

I Love Lucy

Think back. Remember your childhood heroes? I do. I had plenty. Writers, activists, scientists, even fictional characters. Over the years I have had a few opportunities to meet some of these heroes, or at least to hear them speak. Tonight I  had one such opportunity, and it was incredible.

My mother was kind enough to buy tickets for Owl and I to go to an event hosted by National Geographic. Donald Johanson*, the paleoanthropologist who discovered Lucy, came to our city, where he gave an hour-and-a-half presentation on "Becoming Human". His presentation was amazing; he is a wonderful public speaker, and an absolutely brilliant scientist. He is also incredibly funny, and the audience was laughing hard enough that a passer-by might assume Johanson to be a stand-up comedian, only his jokes were actually funny**. The highlight for me was when he explained that sapiens "supposedly means sentient, but I read the same newspapers you do." He then went on to suggest that any species that might let Scott Walker run for President was not, perhaps, as wise as the species name suggested. (At another dig to Scott Walker later on, he also marveled at how Kentucky funneled $25,000 into building the Creation Museum, while certain states were taking money away from education.)

As an undergraduate I studied anthropology with a focus on archaeology, and since childhood I have also cultivated a fascination with geology and paleontology.  Basically, if I can dig for it and then poke it in a lab, I'm interested. As a child I was in awe of people like Donald Johanson, people who help to piece together the puzzle of human origin and our common ancestry.

Tonight's talk was part an explanation of Johanson's research, part an explanation of broader paleoanthropological principals, and part a call to global consciousness. In other words, while the science was important, what Johanson was ultimately stressing was that in studying early hominids like Lucy, we should be made aware a) that all of humankind is very closely related and we should treat each other accordingly, and that b) we are as much a part of nature as any other animal and it is our duty as well as our imperative to preserve the world.

Johanson also mentioned something that has kept me on the edge of my seat with excitement (even while walking back to the car, which was impressive, since I had no seat!): Tomorrow, March 4th, a major discovery will be revealed. Johanson would not say much about it, only that it would affect some of what he was talking about tonight. He gave a few more small hints, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for you any, dear readers. He urged us to check the news tomorrow night, and I will urge you to do the same. In light of this announcement, I will wait until my post on Thursday to talk in any detail about Lucy herself and what her discovery means for the scientific community. Though I went to the lecture primarily to hear Johanson speak about his discovery and the science behind it, his social messages also left a deep impression, and that is what I wanted to talk about tonight.

"We are united by our past...we share more than many of us are willing to expect."

We all share common ancestry. This is scientific fact. And if you (along with Johanson and the majority of the anthropological community) ascribe to the "Out of Africa" (OOA) theory, that anatomically modern humans evolved as a whole species in what is now Africa, and later began to migrate outwards, then not only do we all have a common ancestry, but a common origin as well.

For homo sapiens, alienation is unnatural. We evolved as a cooperative species; this is part of what differentiates us from other animals. No other species has the same level of codependency and familiarity that the modern human has. We are designed to live in social units, develop tight bonds with one another, and protect our kin. While competition for land and resources might drive homo sapiens to violence against one another as it would any other animal, there is nothing natural about the way modern human society isolates and ostracizes members of the species, how social groups are segregated to the point of baseless violence, or how we have developed cultures of hate based around artificial or superficial dichotomies. Johanson urged us to remember our shared past, the uniting factor that, quite simply, makes us all human.

"We are a part of the natural world."

 Johanson also urged us to remember that we are a part of nature. Homo sapiens might be the most universally successful, the most creative, the most dominant species on Earth, but we are also the most destructive. No other species has single-handedly done as much damage to the Earth as we have, and in the towers of glass and steel we have built it is easy to distance ourselves from the natural world. We are very much dependent on it, however, and no matter how much we try to bend nature to our will we will never truly be outside of its control. Nor should we be. Lucy is a reminder that having opposable thumbs, bipedalism, and larger cranial cavities does not mean that we get a "Get Out of Extinction Free Card". If we like living on this wonderful little sphere quietly orbiting the sun, we had better stop ruining it, was his ultimate message, though I may be paraphrasing slightly.

*That's right, linking to Wikipedia! Ahh, the beauty of non-academic writing.
**Sorry, Owl! I swear, I don't dislike all stand-up comedy. Just most of the parts where there's talking.

Dinner for Breakfast and Other Perks of Being a "Grown Up"

Hey Raven,

I'm looking forward to memorizing some of your favorite poems. And thanks for going easy on me and not making me memorize your namesake poem!

It's going to be a short update tonight because I am exhausted and I have more work early tomorrow. Raven and I (together) will post more on this later, but something we both share and enjoy doing when we have the time is cooking (or baking). This weekend and this evening were excellent cooking days. On Sunday Raven, Magpie, Pidge, and I went for a walk across a frozen lake near our house. It's been below freezing for a while so we figured it was pretty safe (also there were tons of other people out there and the local ice report estimated a car could drive across the lake with no difficulty). It was a glorious walk. We found a half-built ice igloo, frozen waves, and a very funny gentleman kite skiing. Pidge also found the water under the ice. With her foot. On literally the last step she took on the ice. Worst luck!

Then we all rushed home to warm Pidge's ice foot, drink hot cocoa, eat breakfast for dinner, and play MarioKart. I got to make pancakes and waffles for everyone and those are two of my favorite things to make. It reminds me of special Saturday breakfasts with my mother and sister. Pancakes were almost an event in my house. For a while I thought they were hard to make and that's why we never had them. I was surprised to find out later in life that they were simple to make (my sister's diabetes was probably the real reason we had them so seldom). Anyways, I made a new recipe to satisfy Raven's new dietary needs and I may not go back to my old recipe. It was so delicious.

Tonight, though I was exhausted and basically just wanted to sit in front of my computer and play Dragon Age (I'm a bit obsessed with Origins at the moment) I finally made a recipe I have been wanting to make all week (all of last week that is). Raven and I will post about it later, but suffice to say I feel full, happy, and accomplished this evening.

I've always thought of cooking full meals and sitting at an actual set table to eat with another human being while you chat about your day was the true sign of adulthood. Well world, for this week I was an adult. And it was actually pretty great. Let's see if it continues...

Best wishes,
Owl

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair

Hi Owl,

Yesterday you took some time to write about one of my very favorite topics: poetry. I could talk for hours upon hours about poetry, and I often do. (Our three-hour discussion that went late into the night a few nights ago was what inspired your blog post, after all.)

I would struggle greatly were I to try to fit all that I wanted to say about poetry into one blog post, so I won't endeavor to do so. This will be a topic that I will come back to time and again I am sure. I am embarrassed to admit, however, that tonight I find myself quite worn down from writing already. Friday's post was surprisingly draining for me to write, and on top of that I have been struggling to put together a short story that refuses to coalesce into something meaningful, and just today finally finished the latest rounds of edits (!!!) for the project I have been working on for over a year now. And while I am relieved beyond measure to be done for the time being, the process was grueling and has left me with little energy left tonight for being a coherent person.

Excuses, excuses, I know. Do not think, dear friends, that I am scorning you. I will muster my energy to speak more eloquently about poetry soon, but for tonight, I will give Owl the homework she requested. (So industrious of her!) Memorizing and reciting poetry is one of my very favorite past-times. I find it incredibly calming and meditative, and it helps me to better understand the piece that I am reading when I take the time to learn it by heart. So getting to help somebody else pick out some poems to memorize is incredibly exciting for me!

5 Poems for Owl to Memorize

1. "When I have fears that I may cease to be" - John Keats

2. "Ozymandias" - Percy Bysshe Shelley

3. "Poem on the Wandering Immortal" - Kuo P'u

4. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" - Dylan Thomas

5. "Readers" - Jose Luis Borges

Hope you enjoy these, Owl. I look forward to hearing you recite some of these poems soon!

-Raven