Dry Neighbors

Erin spotted this desert tarantula (technically an Arizona Blond Tarantula) huddled on the threshold of our kitchen door this morning. It's been raining and cold here in Tucson for a few days, so his burrow must be pretty inhospitable, possibly flooded. This fellow is probably male or juvenile because it's not a very big tarantula (though still damn big for a spider) and the females are larger than the males.

We don't mind sharing a little heat. Keep warm, buddy.




Update: I didn't originally post the following pictures of the tarantula because it was sitting near a pile of packrat turds, which is pretty gross, but upon looking at them again, I noticed that one of those turds is actually not a turd at all, but a regular sized spider. The contrast between the two spiders justifies posting the shots.

Whitmansexual

Walt Whitman

Cold Splinters mentioned the poet Antler today and it reminded me of a poem of his I've been meaning to post for awhile. According to the preface to Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the powers of a great poet to speak the truth have no bounds, can boldly encompass all he or she encounters, and lay bare the hearts of things, the truth of things. Here's an example of the powers of a great poet to capture, not from Whitman, but from Antler writing about Whitman.

Whenever I teach or discuss Walt Whitman, conversation always seems to find it's way back to the poet's sexuality (look, it's happening again...). In once sense, discussing Whitman's homosexuality reaffirms what we should all already know - that our heroes, icons, and leaders of previous generations included gay men and women, even if they weren't able to publicly fulfill their romantic and emotional lives. We should celebrate Whitman's sexuality as an integral part of our understanding of the poet, and, by extension, remember to embrace homosexuality as a creative and generative force in American culture. Of course no one is wholly their sexuality, this is true for Whitman as well. As a teacher and student of literature, I've struggled to meaningfully situate Whitman's sexuality in respect to the totality of his writing and his aura. Luckily, Antler found the words and put them together for us in his poem, "Whitmansexual," reproduced below. Be sure to check out more of Antler poetry here on his website.

Whitmansexual

Whitman was a mansexual,
      a womansexual,
A grasssexual, a treesexual,
      a skysexual, an earthsexual.
Whitman was an oceansexual, a mountainsexual,
      a cloudsexual, a prariesexual,
A birdsongsexual, a lilacsmellsexual,
      a gallopinghorsesexual.
Whitman was a darknesssexual, a sleepersexual,
      a sunrisesexual, a MilkyWaysexual,
A gentlebreezesexual, an openroadsexual,
      a wildernesssexual, a democracysexual,
A drumtapssexual, a crossingbrooklynferrysexual,
      a sands-at-seventy-sexual.
Whitman was a farewell-my-fancy-sexual,
      a luckier-than-was-thought-sexual,
A deathsexual, a corpsewatchsexual,
      a compostsexual, a poets-to-come-sexual,
A miracle-sexual, an immortalitysexual,
      a cosmos-sexual, a waiting-for-you-sexual.

Pururambo

Erin and I watched Pavol Barabas's exploration documentary, Pururambo, and I can't say I'm entirely positive how I feel about it. I've been a delinquent blogger (but perhaps a better grad student) and I thought this movie might be something interesting enough to share.

Barabas is a Slovak film maker and explorer; Pururambo documents his trip into the interior of New Guinea and his various encounters with distinct groups of Kombai native people. I tried to find an English version on Youtube, but no luck. We watched it on Netflix and it's available for streaming.

Barabas travels through thick jungle swamps, encountering wary people, and establishing goodwill with packets of tobacco and sugar candy. He stops with each encounter to highlight something about the group he's with, reveal larger aspects of Kombai life, or pontificate on the deleterious effects of Western cultures on indigenous peoples. Barabas is particularly tough on missionaries for corrupting and destroying cultures, even dedicating the final, frustrating moments of the film to the Kombai's hypothetical cultural death after exposure to missionaries. Of course, his criticisms stand - missionaries wreak havoc on indigenous cultures, inculcating them with ideologies and rules they are not culturally prepared to understand. All the antibiotics and Salvation Army jean shorts in the world can't buy a culture. The result is infrequently conversion to Christianity, but often the loss of the original culture. Yet, as Barabas strolls into villages, quelling arrows and gaining shelter, food, and guidance before a camera lens, one has to wonder whether some of the vitriol he aims at missionaries isn't on some level to ameliorate his own conscience. His presence disrupts each village he enters and he offers gifts of food and reveals technology. More often than not he narrowly escapes being shot by obviously alarmed and bewildered men before gaining confidence and hospitality. If you're a Star Trek nerd, you might say he violates the Prime Directive.

Keeping in mind that the film is translated from Slovak, Barabas's word choice might not quite meet professional anthropological standards. He refers to the Kombai as "barbaric" and "headhunters." I admire how he presents his discomfort and even fear, but at times I felt unguided when trying to determine if he described the Kombai or his own anxiety about them with this language, and I think that distinction matters.

Finally, the film ends abruptly with no explanations. The Internet furnishes no clues, so prepare to be frustrated. That sounds like a lot of criticism, but of course some of it is my attempts to reconcile what it means to be of Barabas's tribe and consider he represents us to the Kombai, whether he intends to or not. With all my ethical reservations, the footage is remarkable and it certainly raises awareness. The film exists to be seen now and even a 55 minute glimpse of a culture so vastly different than ours deserves seeing. At minute 6:50 in the clip I provided, a man explains how they count using places on their bodies rather than with their fingers.

Staggered Landscapes

from Gnomic Verses - Robert Creeley

loop

Down the road Up the hill Into the house
Over the wall Under the bed After the fact
By the way Out of the woods Behind the times
In front of the door Between the lines Along the path

echo

In the way it was in the street

 

Thanksgiving

Monsoon Sundown

Happy Birthday, Tucson!

 

It's the City of Tucson's 236th birthday! Here's a fun essay about it in the AZ Daily Star.

Summer vacation is over so I'll be back in front of the computer more, making me more likely to post something every now and then.

I'm Not a Climate Scientist, but I Can Still Speak the Truth

Warning: The video is not safe for work - the rest of the post is probably OK!



I came across this video earlier today. It's produced by The Hungry Beast, an Australian television show that combines comedy/satire with current events. This rap song, "I'm a Climate Scientist," features real climate scientists using hip hop to both point out the actuality of climate change and demonstrate the utter weaknesses of climate change denier's arguments. It's funny to hear scientists swear, but I'm left asking, who is this for? Who is the audience?

Climate scientists Peter Doran and Maggie Kendall Zimmerman lay out the challenge facing their profession clearly in their 2009 article, "Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change," which appeared in Eos: American Geophysical Union. They write:

It seems that the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes. The challenge, rather, appears to be how to effectively communicate this fact to policy makes and to a public that continues to mistakenly perceive debate among scientists.

Nothing demonstrates the challenge Doran and Zimmerman describe more poignantly than the "I'm a Climate Scientist" song and video. Far from winning over climate skeptics, this video would likely make them feel ridiculed while at the same time offending them with bad language and failing to provide ample facts. It's misdirected as a persuasive video and I fail to find another purpose for it beyond humor. But why make such a dedicated appeal to authority if the intention of the video is merely humor? Why include facts and climate scientists?

More than anything else "I'm a Climate Scientist" expresses frustration. Frustration with lies perpetuated by special interest groups and the people foolish enough to believe them. Science relies on facts and evidence. How are scientists, and those of us who adequately understand most basic scientific ideas like climate change, supposed to communicate information when pointing to a huge pile of evidence and nearly complete consensus among experts fails? The video attacks the credibility of climate change deniers, a good approach for the situation, but the vehicle delivering the message is not persuasive - it's insulting. I also appreciate that a funny video will get more attention than a boring one, but I still believe this video is rhetorically ineffective because of the content - swearing, rapping, etc.

I understand the urge to ridicule climate change deniers. It's painful to see our world shaped by ignorance. It's hard to watch people destroy the environment when we know how it's happening and that we could be working to counteract it. We can understand scientific concepts more easily than we grasp the ignorance and gullibility of our fellow citizens. However, history doesn't support the rhetorical practicality of shaming or ridiculing large groups of people into thinking or behaving properly.

I don't have a complete solution to the challenge Doran and Zimmerman present, but I can say that we shouldn't make climate scientist go it alone. It's in our best interest to help climate scientists out. Get educated about the facts of climate change so that you can influence those you come into contact with. No one - not the most brilliant scientist - has the persuasive power of a friend or family member. If you know lots of climate change deniers, you have my condolences and your work cut out for you.

Friends don't let friend deny climate change.

For more info on climate change, visit The Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Owl Van

We saw this van in Tucson the other day. I feel like it was decorated specifically to kidnap me.

Street Photography with Robert M. Johnson

Worcester, Massachusetts in a small city about an hour west of Boston. It's a Rust Belt town, dominated by brick buildings from a previous industrial age. To give my western readers a reference point, Worcester is not unlike Tucson - an interesting and diverse community that isn't afraid to show it's age a little.

Robert M. Johnson is a street photographer who has captured images of life in Worcester and around the country for decades. My wife and I first became aware of his work years ago from an article in a local Worcester magazine. We lived in Worcester at the time, and so we shared our discovery with our friend Damien Gaudet. Damien is himself a talented photographer, so when Robert agreed to answer some questions for the blog, I asked Damien for some help. Damien composed a wonderful set of questions, so I decided to use them exactly as he wrote them.



Before I get to Damien's questions and Robert's replies, I'd like to take a quick moment to say a few words about Robert's work. Across the spectrum of photographic genres, few take a little equipment and as much skill as street photography. It's the art of capturing a moment as it exists, and Robert does this wonderfully. His subjects are intriguing and interesting people, usually in action, always a part of the environment they're interacting with. He ranges from street scenes to shots of television screens that capture iconic moments in history. Robert entitles nearly all his photographs "Street - Documentary," though, as a former Worcesterite and admirer of his work, I believe he could confidently entitle them "Life - Documentary." See more of Robert's photographs on his Flickr page or at his website, Fullframeimages.com.

Here are Damien's questions and Robert's responses. I'd like to thank both of them for their time and generosity, particularly Robert for sharing his art, his experience, and for inspiring us to capture life and share it with others.

Damien - Street photography is candid by nature, but do you set out wandering the city with any specific goals or is your process more organic, with you simply living your day to day life and capturing interesting moments as they happen around you?  What interests you enough to take the picture when you're out on the street?  Is it a face of a passerby, the context of the moment, or something else?

Robert - Street photography has known themes that are often repeated. By viewing hundreds or perhaps thousands of images you can almost pre-program your mind to react to a situation on a subconscious level. The trick is to be so prepared to shoot that it is almost an afterthought. The mental preparation I did back in my prime shooting days out numbered my time on the streets by far. I believe that the reflexes involved in Street photography are very close to that of an athlete. Pure hand, body and eye coordination. Those reflexes do fade over time and a different type of timing takes it's place. 

D - Do you have a preferred lens/camera setup that you use primarily?  Are you trying to keep a low profile with your equipment, or does an interaction with the subject who knows they're being photographed bring something to the image?

R - I have always been a one camera and lens guy. After much experimenting I found that keeping it simple was the best way to go. An SLR with a 50mm lens loaded with TRI-X and I was ready to hit the streets. I am not a shy person and relished the interaction involved in photographing strangers. Candid photography now is almost too easy. The interaction with your subjects can play a useful role in forming a powerful image.

D - Can you describe how your choice of equipment has evolved (or hasn't) over the years?  For example, have you embraced digital over film, or do you use both?  It seems like digital technology would make street photography much more immediate to share, but is that even one of your goals?

R - I think I'm up to my fifth digital camera now. I like the Panasonic LX3. Using it in the wide angle mode at 24mm is a challenge that I enjoy. I have taken to shooting from moving vehicles and that really adds to the random look of my work these days. It can produce some interesting images. It is real easy to shoot tons of crap; the secret is editing your work as it has always been.

D -You also photograph in color.  As someone who has described themselves as a black and white documentary photographer, what made you incorporate the use of color? 

I think I have always had a good eye for color. I added that specific reference to B&W when I put my first photography site up some ten years ago and it stuck. Google Black & White Street Photography and you should find me. 

D -Street photography has come under scrutiny in some parts of the world, especially the U.K., where photographers on the street have had equipment taken by the authorities and even been arrested.  Have you ever encountered a negative experience such as this, and has the response towards you while you're shooting changed since the 70's?  Also, what words of advice would you impart on aspiring street photographers today?  Especially within the context of heightened security and paranoia in our urban areas.

R - I sometimes take the new restrictions as a challenge and shoot from the hip at local stores. Last week I stopped to take pics outside of a power plant and expected visitors. It didn't happen but I thought about it on my way home. Street photographers are doing society a favor documenting everyday life, don't ever forget that!

D - Have you ever been interested in any other avenues of photography, such as traditional portraiture, fine art or commercial work?  If not, what do you get from your documentary images that those other categories wouldn't fulfill?  

R - My first intentions with photography was to take pretty images and get rich. After being exposed to the work of the masters those thoughts soon faded. Instead I chose to get good at a type of photography that for the most part has no monetary value! The best thing that ever happened to me through my photography is my 30 year marriage and three wonderful sons.

D - You have a substantial list of links on your website to other's work and organizations that support the arts.  Are there any photographers or artists that you look to for inspiration on a regular basis? 

R- I am always amazed with the quality of work that I encounter on Flickr. I have had some contacts with most of the sites and photographers that I have on my link page and can say that I respect all of them. (Here's a link to Robert's Flickr contacts page.)