Crumbling Forest

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Kristen Ober

What’s The Big Deal? On the Future of

the Human Ecology Essay as a Degree

Requiremente

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Phin Ramsey

Why don’t we take

Kim Jong-un seriously?

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Moises Flores Baca

Off the WallApril 2013

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opinion community poetry creative writing 3 5 9 14

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Remember the last time you had Off The Wall in your hands, or on your screen? The land was covered by a white sheet, your muscles did not work properly:

your frozen brain was slowly devouring these pages. Now things have changed.

Warmth creates energy, energy triggers life.

We bring you a little bit of the COA life in this issue.

Enjoy it.

Keep OTW as an open space to share your thoughts and your art - keep it alive.

- anyuRi BETEgOn

The offense you may feel at the thought of dancing on her grave or calling her a cunt pales in comparison to the offenses Thatcher herself inflicted—not just on Britain, but on the world. Collusion with paramilitaries in Northern Ireland to kill civilians, callously watching ten men die on hunger strike, branding Mandela a terrorist, supporting murderous dictators like Suharto and Pinochet, manufacturing a war in the South Atlantic to get re-elected, to name but a few. In Britain she stripped thousands of their livelihoods and then of their social security. When their local police wouldn’t bludgeon them she sent in others on overtime, breaking the mining unions, and also breaking communities. Even as she privatised public services—a project now being completed by Cameron—she introduced a poll-tax, allowing for one person in a million pound mansion to be taxed less than a family of five in a two-up two-down. As someone who caused such widespread suffering and encouraged such greed and avarice, it’s important we remember her legacy, which sadly lives on in her absence—from Brixton to Belfast, from Glasgow to Goose Green, Whitehall and Westminster.

Obit anusBy naTHan THanKi

3opinion

A careful selection of vintage advertisements for all kinds of deranged products from 19th century newspapers by faculty member Jamie McKown. Enjoy the tales from the past.

Why don’t we take Kim Jong-un seriously?By MOisEs FlOREs BaCa

For many people of our generation it is almost inevitable to be reminded of the 2004 film “Team America: World Police” when hearing the words ‘North Korea’. In such film, Kim Jong-il (1941-2011), the late ‘supreme leader’ of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is depicted as an evil, out of touch and preposterous dictator, attempting to conquer the world. Not is he only mocked for the luxurious life he leads, and his ridiculous hegemonic ambitions, but also for his poor English: one of the most widely reproduced scenes from the movie shows him walking around his extravagant mansion singing ‘I’m so ronery’ (or lonely), whose lyrics make reference to the isolation that he lives in. I’m so ronery/so ronery/so ronery and sadry arone, starts singing Kim Jong-il’s puppet representation as he walks in front of a nationalistic mural that is red-colored almost in its entirety. There’s no one/ Just me onry/Sitting on my rittle throne, continues the song.

As funny as Team America’s depiction of Kim Jong-il may be for some people, the racist undertones of such depiction have to be acknowledged, and the kicks we can get out of it such not blind us to the fact that the realities that the movie refers to are complex and have serious consequences for a lot of people, both inside and outside the Korean peninsula. In other words, it would be stupid to let our opinions on the issue of North Korea be informed solely by clearly biased cultural artifacts, such as the film Team America. Unfortunately, for a lot of folk on the cyberspace, this seems to be very much the case: right after Kim Jong-un’s, the current ‘supreme leader’ of North Korea, announced early-March that his government would not abide by the 1953 armistice signed with South Korea, that the hotline that kept the militaries of both countries in constant communication would be cut, and that they were prepared to carry out nuclear strikes were the South Koreans and Americans to continue military exercises deemed as ‘provocations’, there was a flood of internet memes mocking the young leader and his government.

Many of these memes rely on Jong-un’s physical appearance, mocking his chubbiness, which is assumed to be a consequence of his unhealthy eating habits, and his always thinking of food: “When I said nuke the Chinese” reads the first line of one of the many memes that uses a photograph of the dictator talking to one of his officials, “I meant put the take out in the microwave”, reads the punch line. Another meme displaying the same photograph simply reads “I said lunch”; ‘not launch’ the reader would complete the thought.

Other memes refer to Jong-un’s bellicose threats, and imply that the military

might that he boasts about is in no way a real danger: “With this technology” reads the first line of a meme showing Jong-un holding a floppy disk “we will bring the United states to its Knees” reads the punch line.

As true as it may be that Jong-un’s physical appearance is unthreatening (within our cultural framework, that is), and that he is likely to be exaggerating his country’s real military capabilities, focusing on these facts when thinking about the Korean Peninsula’s current state of affairs will only give us an overly incomplete image of the situation, and will perpetuate the ignorance that exists about North Korea; as if its secretiveness and isolation were not enough. Furthermore, by focusing so much on Kim Jong-un’s appearance, we run into the risk of perpetuating racist stereotypes that picture east-Asian people as funny looking, and thus unable of being taken seriously.

We should not settle for the biased and misleading image comedic cultural artifacts, whether they are movies or Internet memes, can give us of North Korea. We need to be mindful that there are millions of real people within North Korea suffering material poverty, political repression, brainwashing…there is even evidence that shows North Korea is very likely to have concentration camps where those who do not agree with the regime are sent to do forced labor. We also need to be mindful of North Korea’s closest neighbors, particularly South Korea and Japan, who are on high alert due to Jong-un’s threats: imagine what it would be like if, whether militarily strong or not, one of the U.S.’s immediate neighbors was constantly menacing it will attack. I am sure most readers will agree that they would not like to live in such a tense atmosphere.

I am not trying to spread panic, or claim that North Korea represents a great danger for the United States. I am simply inviting the reader to not think of North Korea and Jong’un merely as good material for Internet memes, and to inform themselves so they can see beyond what is shown on these and other comedic cultural artifacts.

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What to do on a Spring Day?

Staff member, and devoted hiker, Lynn Boulger shares one of her favourite places to visit.

One of my favorite hikes on the island is up Champlain. I often do it at lunch or before work. You drive down Schooner Head Rd, park across from High Seas, and climb the Orange and Black trail, so named because a group of Princeton Alumni built it. The O and B trail meats the N Champlain Trail and goes up a polished granite surface to the summit. The view of the porcupine islands is stunning. I come down the same way, but alternative routes in down Precipice which is its own fun.

- Lynn Boulger

lauREn BEnZaquEn

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During the first weekend of November, I attended Wise Traditions, the Weston A. Price Foundation’s conference in Santa Clara, California. This 3-day long event brings doctors, scientists, foundation chapter leaders, and members together every year to discuss the conference’s theme. This year it was Nutrition and Behavior. At the conference I attended seminars on subjects such as the effects of our modern diets on behavior, traditional diets, and treating Alzheimer’s disease with coconut oil. On the first day I attended Sally Fallon Morrell’s seminar on the background and history of Weston A. Price, and traditional diets. During her 6-hour presentation, Sally detailed the biography of Weston A. Price, explained the commonalities in the diets of primitive cultures, and laid out 11 steps to make a healthy diet. Below is a brief explanation of Weston A. Price, the 11 most common aspects of primitive diets, and 11 steps to consider when improving your own dietary habits.

Weston A. PriceIn the early 20th century, Price, a dentist, traveled the world studying the diets of native cultures. During his travels he examined individuals who ate their ancestral diet and those who had adopted more modernized diets. Price looked at jaw structure, teeth, and bodies

to compare each group. He found that the people who ate refined flour and sugar, processed vegetable fats, and low fat diets (the western diet) often had high dental arches with crowded teeth, physical deformities such as clubbed feet, and degenerative diseases. In the people who continued eating their ancestral diets, Price found broad dental arches, straight, evenly spaced teeth, properly developed bodies that functioned efficiently, and little to no disease. He recorded all of his findings in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. In 1990, Mary Enig, Ph.D., and Morrell founded the Weston A. Price Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to publicizing and continuing his research. Since the Foundation’s beginning, many specialist, doctors, and researchers from all over the world have become involved and have independently validated Price’s findings.

11 Common Aspects of Traditional Diets

1. No refined or denatured foods:During his travels, Dr. Price found no cultures that consumed refined foods and lived well. Families who began to consume industrial diets were not as healthy and strong as their neighbors who continued eating their native diet. Morrell put it very nicely, “If you think of the body like a building or a temple, the minerals you consume are the bricks of the structure and fat-soluble vitamins are the mortar holding the bricks together,” foods that are mineral and vitamin rich support strong, healthy bodies.

The Wise Traditions Conference and Sally Fallon

‘ sElF PORTRaiT WiTH DOuBlE ExPOsuRE’ - Maya CRiTCHFiElD

By luCia allOssO

2. Diet containing some animal products:Vitamin K2 is a catalyst that aids the body in vitamin and mineral absorption. This vitamin is found in the fats and oil of the liver and organs from grazing cattle, fish, and shellfish. K2 is also found in natto (fermented soybeans), cheese, egg yolks, butter, goose and chicken liver, fatty meats, and sauerkraut.

3. Importance of nutrient density in foods:Nutrient dense foods are particularly important for proper body function. When these foods are consumed the body can fully utilize the nutrients and minerals present in them to provide and maintain health.

4. A balance of raw and cooked foods:Raw foods help promote enzyme levels in the body. Raw foods that are particularly valued by Morrell and the Price Foundation are raw milk, cheese, fish, and meat. 5.High levels of enzymes and beneficial bacteria:Enzymes help the body function. Without them we wouldn’t be alive. There are three types of enzymes: metabolic, digestive, and those that come from food. Enzymes do not survive very warm temperatures, and as a result most of the cooked foods we eat do not contain large amounts. However, there are large numbers of enzymes in raw dairy, raw meat and fish, tropical fruit, raw honey, extra virgin olive oil, wine and unpasteurized beer, and lacto-fermented foods.

6. Seeds, grains, legumes, and nuts are soaked, sprouted, fermented, or naturally leavened:These processes allow easier digestion and make enzymes and nutrients in grains, legumes, and nuts more accessible to the body. 7. In native cultures 30-50% of caloric intake was fats but only 4% of calories were unsaturated fats:Primitive people consumed plenty of animal fats, most of which were saturated. Saturated fats are very unlikely to go rancid which is important because many unsaturated fats are unstable and oxidize easily. The oxidation process produces free-radicals, compounds that can be very detrimental to the body.

8. Native diets consisted of nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3:It is important to have a balance of these fatty acids because they work together to regulate body function.

9. All native diets consumed some unrefined salt:Salt is needed by humans to digest protein and carbohydrates and aids the development of the brain, adrenal function, and cellular metabolism in the body. Salt is also a good source of magnesium, a mineral, humans are usually deficient in. When the body is magnesium deficient, a person could have a variety of symptoms, including muscle twitching, cramps, difficulty swallowing, headaches, hearing loss, and heart

fibrillations. Magnesium deficiency can also cause deficiencies of both zinc and potassium.

10. Primitive cultures used the fats, nutrients, and vitamins in animal bones:Bones of animals were used to make stock by many cultures to support body processes. Some vitamins, like K2 and B12, are found in bones, these vitamins are hard to acquire from other foods. 11. Cultures made provisions for future generations:The primitive cultures were very intentional about their diets and health in order to ensure their children lived well. They understood that their habits would translate and affect future generations of their people.

11 Steps to Make a Healthy Diet (according to the Price Foundation)

1.Make your own salad dressing.:There are many preservatives, rancid oils, and sugars in conventional salad dressings. Try making a homemade salad dressing recipe from the cookbook, Nourishing Traditions.

2. Avoid partially hydrogenated oils – switch to, olive oil, butter (and other animal fats):The hydrogenation of fats is a chemical process in which hydrogen and a catalyst changes a fat molecule to become solid or liquid at room temperature. It is commonly accepted by mainstream and alternative nutritionists that

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hydrogenated fats are harmful to the body and should be consumed in small amounts. Butter is actually very good for the body. It helps stabilize cholesterol, maintain the thyroid and adrenal glands, and gives its consumers many health benefits, including vitamins like vitamin A and E.3.Consume high quality animal products (some raw):Eating foods like grass-fed beef, lamb, chicken, eggs, and raw milk not only helps the absorption of vitamins and minerals but also supports body function through animal fat.

4.Eliminate refined sweeteners and use natural sweeteners in moderation:Sugar is addictive and harmful to the body. Cut out refined sugars and go with raw honey, maple syrup, and rapadura or sucanat.

5. Eliminate toxic metals:Replace your metal bake-ware with glass.

6.Be kind to your grains, legumes, and nuts:Sprout your grains and grind them fresh. Soak and roast your nuts to get all of the nutrients out of them.

7. Make stock once a week:Stock has many health benefits and can be consumed in soups, other dishes, or just by the cup.

8. Eat a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits (preferably organic):The healthiest primitive cultures always had variety in their diet. Eating different foods support a variety of bodily needs.

9. Avoid stresses on the body:Limit your exposure to caffeine, pesticides, vaccinations, extreme heat or cold, chlorinated water, soaps and detergents containing chemicals, stale air, synthetic fabrics, strong electromagnetic fields, syncopated music, microwaved foods, cell phones.

10.Lacto-ferment foods:Make lacto-fermented foods, like sauerkraut, to help your digestive system grow and sustain the beneficial bacteria it needs to function most efficiently.

11.Practice forgiveness:Be realistic when planning meals and making food choices. One (or even many) bad choices does not mean you’re doomed. Do the best you can and be happy about the way you are treating your body.

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The first time we failed at love,I began to walk thelength of the islandas if I were an estuarypitched to a westering.My mother walks anywhereshe can, as long as it’sfar enough. She taught methat the difference betweenleaving and going “is theplace your eyes are fixed, butnever stop moving, sweetheart,”and that words are like bonesbecause when you diethey’re all that’s left.

I met a man who had never stopped moving;he was a storyteller and a racist.He was grizzled and slight anddidn’t trust anybody,especially cops.His name was Catfish.I met him on the riverwalk of New Orleans,the muddy tail of the Mississippi,the crux of flow and flush.

He had waited out the last storm,he said, with a crew of dirty kidsin a crack house, pissing outthe window. He motionedvaguely downstream, wherea water line still slashed acrossthe buildings like a rope burn onthe neck, as if the citywas condemned.

Keep the floodplain stories,keep the letters, keep the bonesyou found below my tide line.I could have becomethe sort of person whois invisible, but that’swhy God gave methis birthmark, like anX spray-painted on thefront door. I write for allthe people who were curiousenough to talk to me, and I driftbecause there wasn’t a lessonin the world that my mothercouldn’t teach mewith her feet.

Water Line

- ElOisE sCHulTZ

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Poetry

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Manipulating space,taking advantage of bodies,personifying energywe can not seebut swim within.This symbiotic, symbolicrelationship withyour orbicular frienddraped over your shouldertogether walking the shore,bare feet springing acrosswarm grains of earthtwisting, spinning, twirling,in deep rapture.

Feel it acrossyour thighs, hip, stomach, ribs,pressure orbiting aroundyour chest, arms, neck, hands,as you spin within, outside thiscircular revolution, thiscircumnavigationcreating movementfor yourselfand this rhythmic vervewe call life.

Hoop Dance

- Kayla gagnOn

KaTiE POWEll

Divine of the Ancient HavenlithicWho is to say where they had come from

Falling from the eyes of the ancientsTo become so like angels they did fall,

Never to be as what they were in the passing.

It was only the passage that made this so possibleAs the stones they were fell like titans

crumbling before the mighty Terra from wence they formedHow then do they come from above as if released?

Like the poignant emotion from the evanescent havenA place from above that once meant home

There that was and how like a epoch Beyond human understanding as it simply stands.

A monument to itself and unto its own beingStellar the enlightenment within its memory

Improbably grasped by the scholars of present’s pastVerily a reminder of something that is passive’s about us.

Why like the diving sealDo these great stones fall so near

Nay anything that we can graspMore yet something not unlike it.

Narrowly defining as the Barrows below it, A havenlithic notion remains ever falling.

- aRROW RinEHaRT

11RhythmI’m ready to be smooth,Those potbelly singers knowit’s all involved in song,but ah got none. Horses backtrack in their sleep,slumping over the ribbed silky grass, whileperipheral jars of commotionlitter their master’s house an osprey skims the water, the same waythe milkman skims his creamand the daughter smells of fresh pine.

- alisa nyE

MOsEs BasTillE

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We create each of them slowlyNourishing them our qualitiesShowing them our passion of comfort

Our time of regretYet, they forget Saddened, we walked with the emptiness in our eyes

The reflection of the mirrorOur bodies moved, our mind and heart buried

Locked and hiddenSaddened, we walked with our lips dried of love

Now they stare at herWondering, how does such indecency ex-ist?They say she lacks independence, she lacks the cold soul

They stare at herThey laugh at her

“Child”, they sayBringing indecent and pointless thoughts into our lives“Ohh Child, why do you bother existing?”“Master, forgive me”

Friend

- ROsHni MangaR

ZuRi DE sOuZa

To a Farm

Like the singing of a bird, the wind can tell stories,stories about the past, stories about the presentand symphonies revealing the future.

Naked trees that freeze by the winterCouldn’t tell me what they did?What they gave? What they saw?

My memories are lost in the history of this place, called Peggy Rockefeller farmI cannot recall my soul being so lostor nostalgic

I could guess someone was herebefore me, before usWas that the past?How could it be? The past live solowithout any one to talk to,wondering for a little of time

time that ran away and keeps goingwithout any intention to stop.

-anOnyMOus

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- KRisTEn OBER

Crumbling ForestYou step off the path towards the shadows of the trees

As you tell me I am the light of your life

You say you are lost without me

That your foundations have been torn down

That the forest of your life has been clear cut

And how am I to believe the sparks in your eyes

As your hand extends to rest on the dusty bark

Your chipped fingernails find hold on the rough surface

As you rip the bark from the body of the tree

And fling the crust towards me

What will become of us come tomorrow

When the sparks in your eyes fade to grey

Harshly setting flame to your life

And they dash up the trunk of the trees

Crisping the leaves

Ashes floating towards the ground

Your eyes are a dull ache

The fleeting beating of crushed dust

You shuffle towards the stumps

As the soot coats your bare feet

You say to me, I am gone

crea

tive

wri

ting

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What’s The Big Deal?On the Future of the Human Ecology Essay as a

Degree Requirement

By PHin RaMsEy

Excerpt of Human Ecology Essay

Six months ago, in November of 2012, I dutifully sat down to compose the first draft of my Human Ecology Essay (HEE) in advance of my pending graduation. While I’d heard from various students within the College of the Atlantic’s (COA) community that the HEE should define what Human Ecology is to you, I decided that I wanted to examine the description of the assignment myself. After reading through the description in the handbook understanding still eluded me. Situated in the far back corner of the library stacks I began to sweat and feel anxious. Slowly, a troubling thought entered my mind, “if you don’t do this, you will not graduate, you must do something . . .”

After deliberating for some time on what could possibly be the educative goals of the HEE I decided to look into the history of the assignment. I found that the HEE first appeared as a degree requirement during the 1973/74 school year. At the time it was described as “an essay in human ecology, dealing with a specific practical or philosophical problem . . . regarded as a benchmark in the student’s progression to the final project and degree.”1 However, in 1977, the College made a dramatic curriculum shift that would be reflected in a new emphasis towards what was deemed to be the “competencies” of being a Human Ecologist. The description of the HEE would also shift: “a Human Ecology essay relating the student’s development as a human ecologist.”2 In 1980 the College would add a new stipulation to the HEE graduation requirement: the essay would now also

1COA student handbook, 1973-‘742COA handbook, 1978-‘79

serve as “demonstrating competency and basic writing skills.” By 1990, the HEE would once again shift. While it continued to serve as the culminating writing assessment for the College, the task was now to write a “statement of your interpretation of human ecology.”3 In 1999 the College would shift the HEE’s definition for a fifth time, resulting in a wording that would resemble closely what we have today, “the student explores & defines his or her perspective on human ecology.”4 While the five major language changes surrounding the definitions of the HEE reflect the changing nature of the College, they also offer us a clue as to why the HEE (as it exists today) seems, from the student perspective to be removed from any implicit or explicit goals. While its important to note the linguistic changes surrounding the College’s definition of what the HEE is supposed to be, it is also important to try and discern how the goal of the HEE has changed. In its earliest form, the HEE was seen as a “benchmark in the student’s progression to the final project.” That is, the HEE was a part of a linear trajectory that built towards the senior project. It can be assumed that this continued to be the functioning expectation behind the HEE until the curriculum shift of 1978. When the College decided that its courses needed to better reflect one’s “competencies” as a human ecologist, expectations for the HEE also shifted. The HEE would now become a reflective piece that also, by 1980, served the additional important role as an instrument for assessing writing competency. Its role as the primary writing assessment for the school would remain unchanged for almost 3 COA handbook, 1999-2000

KaTiE POWEll

Excerpt of Human Ecology Essay

another twenty-five years. In 2003, the College decided to drop the writing competency component of the HEE as it begun to institute more formalized writing classes. Finally, in 2008 the concrete purpose the HEE served was entirely supplanted by the “writing portfolio.” This brief look at the history of the HEE reveals that while the technical definition of what the HEE is supposed to be has changed five times over the course of the College’s existence, the goals of the HEE, or rather the point of the assignment has changed only twice. Over time it evolved into a reflective work, one that also asked students to demonstrate a proficiency in writing. When the writing stipulation was dropped in 2003, this became moot. Yet it does not appear any new goal filled its place. After 2003, the HEE stood alone, without any educational tether to keep it grounded, and this is where we find it today.

My brief sojourn into the annals of COA’s student handbook’s left me worried. I worried because I was beginning to realize that the HEE, in its current state, was, at best, ambiguously connected to a purpose from a different moment in the College’s history, and, at worst, was no longer connected to any real expectations or goals at all.

Intentionality is a term that is used quite a bit these days. As an educator, being intentional about the way you teach means having a purpose, and letting that purpose guide you through your planning. . As a small, struggling, and hopeful College we cannot afford to have action without purpose. Things cannot just happen because, “that’s the way they always have.” Every facet of COA’s organization needs to be imbued with a sense of intentionality that links decision making processes. Moving in this direction may not be easy; it might even challenge some long held assumptions about who we think we are and who we want to be as a College. But, this movement needs to begin sooner rather than later, and in this sense taking a hard, long, look at the purpose and future of the HEE might the first step in the right direction.

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Finucanes WakeBy naTHan THanKi

This story isn’t mine to tell, really. And yet it is, because we all want understanding. We all want to understand—others and ourselves. But some things are beyond comprehension. Love and War, for example, where all is fair (they say. Not true). What’s fair about either? I think what they mean is that all attempts at meaning are more or less fair in the sense that they are more or less valid. Because looking at it, being in it, living with it—Love or War, the remnants of either—seems too overwhelming to decipher any sort of meaning. So this story of ours is about Love and War, and one trampling the other in the most brutal, most intimately public manner, and it is all true in that the basic events described did happen, though my crude attempt at empathy peers out from under them and muddies the already bloody waters. As for the meaning, well… I’m lost. When are we, for that’s sometimes important. Sunday the 12th of February. 1989. Or 24 years ago. More or less. The middle of a bloody Sunday lunch in the soon to be bloody Sunday best. Thank you god for mummies and daddies and brothers and sisters. Amen. A man. Pat Finucane. FatherSonBrotherLoverLawyerHuman fucking being like the rest of us. Didn’t he sweat and cry and shit and lie like the rest of us? Didn’t he love and toil and believe in something? Didn’t he die? He did, he died. Everybody does, but even that’s not common ground. Sometimes death has a bias. Sometimes death has the backing of the British government and the protection of the Police and Security Forces. Sometimes death has hand guns and a getaway car. A sound at the door. What do you suppose you’d find if you could, by magic, and perhaps thank god we can’t do this, go back in time, pause it, and enter the minds of those present? Sat down to eat Sunday dinner: out to kill. Bang bang bang, fourteen times bang. Fourteen that day, how many the next? How many, the Troubles? Round up for Justice, round down for British papers. They shot my dad fourteen times in from of my mother, my sister and brother says Michael. Weeks earlier, Police said—Dad or not, he’ll be dead within three months. Said the government: “unduly

sympathetic…” Kill all Taigs say their murals (kill all Huns say ours). What say you, guilty consciousness? And you, stolen potential? What say you, Belfast, Britain, Buddah? Who birthed this world and breastfed us blood? Who raised Adam and Eve? Who shot Pat Finucane? A man named Ken Barrett said the word “guilty,” but he’s not the only one. Not even the only pawn. The posters want to know: If you don’t defend human rights lawyers…who will defend human rights? Human rights lawyer. IRA sympathiser. Column inches. A father shaped hole in their universe. The man has no peace even in death. No truth, no rest. Our parents were killed, or they were there to see their parents killed. Our eyes have not seen any of this. Our eyes have seen video reels of other times, or run of the mill (for us) water cannon, police line, petrol bomb ballets on the 10 o’clock news. Our parents and their parents have lived and died the Troubles. They tell us, they remind us. My granny tells me, after we watch a play about the Ballymurphy Massacre, “It was so bad you can hardly believe you lived through it.” Past tense. I know, I know. We never had to enter the iron ring round the city. Never felt a bomb blast warm on cheeks. Never saw fourteen rounds put in our fathers over the Sunday roast. Time and tribulation—that’ll do it. Go to a grammar school, you’ll see sectarianism beneath you. Parents worked hard to get above. They have blood on their minds, in their memory, and in their pens there’s blood for ink. We have the milk of sorrow and a peace protest or a police process or somesuch somethingorother. And MTV awards and no jobs and “social media” and recreational rioting and living parents, and we have the second hand, first world memory of all this and we call it “nearly normal.” Pat Finucane’s family get to read in the papers, in the British papers, along with the rest of us of our many different political persuasions and perversions, how his case should be closed. Enough to say it happened—what more do you want? Slander and libel on top of murder and collusion. Peace process. You bury your father when he’s forty, and you spend 25 years asking for truth.

All is bare in love and war.

Announcements

CONCERT: April 20 at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7:30) The Toughcats, a popular group mixing folk, rock, ragtime, and bluegrass , catapulting them from North Haven, Maine to a spot on National Public Radio’s “All Songs Considered.” Gates Community Center,

EARTH DAY: April 20-21 College of the Atlantic celebrates Earth Day with a New Economics Institute conference on Cooperation, Community, and Complex-ity, along with a family celebration of the earth. Cam-puswide. Kyle Shank at kshank@coa.edu.

MORNING KUNDALINI YOGA SADHANA: Sun-day, April 21 from 6 to 8 a.m.: Join Lauren Rupp, for a set of yogic exercises and more. Followed by a potluck breakfast. Deering Common Campus Center.

BIRD WALK: Wednesday, April 24 from 4 to 5 p.m. Search for the birds of spring with College of the Atlantic senior Anna Stunkel, who knows the area and the birds. All ages welcome; dress for the weather. Bring binoculars if you have them. George B. Dorr Museum of Natural History..

GALLERY: Monday, April 29–Friday, May 3: “Illumi-nate Dust,” work reflecting adult themes by College of the Atlantic senior Maddie Magnuson for her final proj-ect. Not suitable for children. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ethel H. Blum Gallery

HEF: Tuesday, Apr. 23 at 4:10 p.m.: “Malaga Island: A presentation and discussion about the controversial hidden history of a tiny island in Maine” a talk by Dru Colbert, College of the Atlantic faculty member in art, and designer of the Maine State Museum exhibition, Kate McBrien, museum curator of historical collections, and Amanda Devine, property steward of Malaga Island for the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.

TALK: Tuesday, April 30 at 4:10 p.m.: Dhiru A. Thadani, architect, planner, and urban designer, offers a talk for College of the Atlantic’s Human Ecology Fo-rum in McCormick Lecture Hall,

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