OCCASIONS ONLINE 2014

OCCASIONS
ONLINE 2014
A Collection of Prize-Winning Works
Produced by Students in
the Program for Writing & Rhetoric
Copy-editor: Dr. Peter Kratze
Managing Editor and Layout: Alex Mancero
Cover Photo: Alex Mancero and Rachel Schmitt
Associate Editor: Rachel Schmitt
Associate Editor: Albert Opraseuth
Associate Editor: Merissa Hirneisen
© University of Colorado
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEALA SMITH | Argument Category, 1st Place Winner
“Paleobsession”
Evaluates the socio-dietary to the “caveman” Paleo Diet, concluding with a plea for moderation.
4
KELSEY HARBERT | PWR Diversity Writing Awards
“Child Soldiers: More Than Meets the Eye”
Probes the problem of understanding the treating child soldiers.
33
BRY KRING | Argument Category, 2nd Place Winner
“The Contradiction Within Cosmopolitan: Is it Telling Us Something About Society?”
Critiques how the rhetorical (and highly sexualized) appeals of Cosmopolitan to its audience of women goes
againstthe grain of feminism.
9
JESSE WISNIEWSKI | Upper Division Arts & Sciences Prize
“The Hind”
Contemplates the sight of an old Russian attack helicopter in giving pause about the meaning and use of war.
37
SAIKRIPA RADHAKRISHNAN | Macksion Engineering Prize
“Identification of the Integrin Subunits Within Bovine Chondrocyte Cells for Tethering to
PEG-thiol Hydrogels”
Studies “one variable that makes the hydrogel more biomimetic: the tethering mechanism between the
integrins on the cell surface and the extracellular matrix.”
39
EMMA GARDNER | Creative Nonfiction Prize (1st Place Tie)
“Hole-y Devotion”
Recounts the moment--and social consequences--of denying the existence of God.
43
ZACH HYKAN | Creative Nonfiction Prize (1st Place Tie)
“Destruction Through a Screen”
Narrates the discovery of how playing video war games differs from watching real footage.
46
J.P. WHITEHEAD, Creative Nonfiction Prize (1st Place Tie)
“Maintaining Balance at Sea”
Meditates about life, love, and loss in adolescence.
48
HANNA LE | Inquiry Category, 1st Place Winner
“The Color of Justice: Culpability and Change in an Era of Punitiveness”
Analyzes the myths and realities of the War on Drugs and its effect on black populations.
13
ZOE PASTERNACK | Inquiry Category, 2nd Place Winner
“A New Kind of ‘Natural’ Design”
Explores the use of natural forms and processes to create new inventions for human use, otherwise known as
bio mimicry (or biomimetics).
17
TRAVIS COBB | Narrative Category, 1st Place Winner
“Of Dragons and Tips”
Depicts how the bright side of life can go suddenly dark.
21
KIMBERLY PRESTON | Narrative Category, 2nd Place Winner & Diversity Award, 2nd Place Winner
“Becoming Changing Woman”
Describes the coming-of-age ritual for a young Navajo woman.
26
EMMA SALDITT | Business Writing Prize
“Subsidizing Inequality: The Socioeconomic Effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement on
Mexican Corn Producers”
Investigates how NAFTA has not delivered on its promise to help Mexican corn famers.
28
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This sounds like a magic, sustainable, and truly helpful
diet--until you begin to flip through a Paleo cookbook, or talk to
a Paleo dieter, and realize that the majority of the diet consists of
eating hearty red meats, and it gives permission to freely eat a large
daily portion of thick lined bacon, as long as some vegetables go with it.
Paleobsession
By Leala Smith
W
ith our world’s rapid modernity, health nuts around
the globe grow hungry for new magic diets and
food fads to keep their waistlines slim. When I established my
fitness company and website Miss Strong last year, people began
asking me to write their diet plans according to the “Paleo diet”
with high hopes of their sporting washboard abs and fitting into
their flouncy summertime bikinis. My clients and readers wanted
to follow a restricted diet because they were convinced that cutting
certain foods would lead to success. The girls reading my website
expressed their concern that carbohydrates were “making them fat”
and that they wanted to adhere to a fad diet that would emphasize
only protein. Feeling ambitious and wondering if this approach
would be effective, I decided to experiment with the Paleo diet
before putting others on it. After a couple agonizing months, my
roommates found me limply lying across the kitchen floor, crawling
to the refrigerator and begging for a bagel and some chocolate milk.
The Paleo diet is simply not sustainable for our evolved physiological
needs as human beings.
The growth of a 10,000-year-old belief in the historical
Paleolithic lifestyle has begun to spread through gyms, books,
kitchens, magazines, and sports, sparking the controversial idea
that in order to achieve optimal health, we must eat like our
caveman ancestors. While many people praise the effectiveness and
sustainability of eating a raw diet based off the hunter-gatherer
approach to food, others challenge the new diet fad and must stop to
wonder how sustainable the Paleo diet truly is for our modern and
developed needs. The small question regarding whether a human can
effectively live off vegetables, meat, and seeds raises a much deeper
one: Is the modern human in truth still a Paleolithic hominoid? Due
to the civilization of global societies, cultivation of agriculture,
and advanced development of our human anatomy and physiques,
the godlike and barbaric portrayal of our ancient primal ancestors,
we no longer are; having a well-balanced and wholesome diet and
consuming whole grains, dairy, and starchy carbohydrates is more
sustainable for our current lifestyle than a diet tailored to fit the
needs of our Paleolithic ancestors of over 10,000 years ago.
The theory behind the Paleo diet is simple. Paleo lovers
strongly believe that the digestive system and body of the modernday human was not originally created to process foods like sugars,
grains, legumes, dairy products, or starchy carbohydrates, so we
should not put stress on our bodies today by consuming these foods.
Every Paleo website and book asserts that the consumption of
these foods and the introduction of them into our diet over the past
10,000 years has created increased obesity and weight gain as well
as high disease rates and shorter life spans. Dr. Loren Cordain, the
world’s leading expert of the Paleo Diet and a professor at Colorado
State University, states in big bold letters atop her website, “The
Paleo Diet, the world’s healthiest diet . . . reduce your risk of heart
disease, type 2 diabetes, and most chronic degenerative diseases that
affect people in the Western world. . . . [L]ose weight if you’re
overweight, enjoy a longer life.” The belief is that by sticking to the
menus and food selections our Stone Age ancestors ate, we can avoid
an unhealthy lifestyle, excessive weight gain, and all other illnesses
and disease risks that snowballed after the Agricultural Era,
when civilization blossomed and people began farming, cooking,
refining and canning foods in an “unnatural” way. Books such as
the bestselling Paleo Solution by scientist and trainer Robb Wolf
(considered to be the Paleo bible for caveman advocates) asserts these
claims and mentions that the diet can severely lower cholesterol
levels and blood pressure, decrease a person’s BMI, weight, body-fat
percentage, and tissue inflammation and that our Paleo ancestors
rarely suffered from any disease (15). In addition to the words of
Wolf and Cordain, other well-known Paleo experts such as Mark
While Paleo promoters are constantly stocking their refrigerators with lavish types
of meat and cooking large portions of Chorizo sausage and bison for every meal, true
hunter-gatherers were not selecting breakfast options from a spread of five different
protein sources at the drop of a hat.
we are no longer cavemen clad in loincloth around our waists with
clubs of raw meat dripping from our fists. As human beings, we
have adapted to the evolution of our environment over thousands
of years. Although it would be wonderful to identify ourselves with
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Sisson argue that our ancestors were healthier, stronger, and better
off (www.marksdailyapple.com)--an interesting concept frowned on
by others who wonder why, then, the entire Paleolithic era died off
thousands of years ago.
4
Because the Paleo diet sticks to the strict philosophy that we
should solely consume what caveman ate for optimal sustainability-meaning meat--almost all food is forbidden in some way because these
foods did not exist during the Paleolithic era and because they, of
course, are not meat. Sweet potatoes and corn, for example, are
crops that were introduced as agriculture and civilization began
to bloom and are, therefore, offensive and strictly prohibited along
with many other food sources. However, Paleo fanatics who walk
into a Whole Foods for their weekly grocery shopping trip are not
going to find freshly killed wild boar or raw deer meat to take home
and are, therefore, presented with a sticky dilemma. Our world has
changed and so has the food available to us.
It is hard to understand, then, if we are to solely eat what
the cavemen ate, why certain foods are acceptable in the modern day
Paleo diet. Cooked meat, for example, is considered a Paleo staple,
yet cavemen spent their lives hunting animals and eating their raw
meat to stay alive. Our modern culture does not supply exactly what
the caveman ate, so we do not have access to a slab of freshly sliced
mammoth in the local butcher shop. Even grass-fed meat can be fed
off artificial fertilizers, and, therefore, almost all food in presentday society should not be Paleo approved. As Tamsin O’Connell, a
researcher for a Paleolithic archaeology study at the University of
Cambridge, points out, “Instead [of cavemen eating the modern
day Paleo diet, the first farmers, who lived around 12,000 years
ago, likely ate no more than 40 to 50 percent of their protein from
animal sources. Those people ate a diet more similar to subsistence
farmers in modern-day India or China. Hunter-gatherers from the
Paleolithic period also ate less meat.” (para. 9).
As modern-day Paleo followers crack down on strict
diet limits and inform others that they consume only what the
Paleolithic caveman ate, they are, in fact, eating many foods that
were not available during the Paleolithic Era and refusing many
foods that were. While followers of the hunter-gatherer diet
detest the concept of farmed food and the agricultural period,
O’Connell’s statement proves Paleo diet fanatics have chronological
misconceptions about the introduction of food and agriculture
in history (the Paleolithic Era was 10,000 years ago, and the first
farmers lived 12,000 years ago). According to the diet and all
my CrossFit friends, followers may not eat the sweet potato even
though the entire African continent has been living off the yam
since our species began roaming the earth. The white potato is also
unacceptable in the Paleo diet; the potato has existed for 35,000
years, thriving well before Paleolithic peoples roamed the earth, yet,
for some reason, it has been discounted. Turkey is one of the most
popular and emphasized protein sources in a Paleo dieter’s kitchen,
yet, interestingly, this type of poultry was not introduced into
Europe until the 16th century. Men thousands of years ago were
not using substitutions for grain and dairy products like baking
with almond flour and buying high-priced organic almond milk.
Author Denis Murphy revealed in his publication People, Plants and
Genes: The Story of Crops and Humanity that although the Paleo diet
looks down on grains, “cereal grain” is a food source humans in
all different global locations have been consuming for over 200,000
years (pg 25). This time-span greatly pre-dates the Paleolithic era,
which occurred 10,000 years ago.
In addition to historical time inconsistencies, many
geographical inconsistencies challenge our present-day claim to
how cavemen ate in the past. The modern-day Paleo diet is based off
67% animal sources and 33% plants, according to Mark’s Daily Apple.
People forget cavemen did not live in only one part of the globe
during this time, and, therefore, while some cultural Paleolithic
groups may have eaten a diet solely based on meat because their
environment lacked the availability of plants, other groups in places
such as Africa may have had an entirely different, and more lenient,
diet. According to the article “Hunter-gatherers and Human
Evolution,” published in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology, the
diet of a caveman was location-dependent, and hunters killed only
several large animals in their entire lifetime. In colder climates with
cultural groups like the Inuits, meat was emphasized for fat, warmth,
and insulation purposes. In lower latitudes and warmer climates,
plants were greatly sought after. In fact, recorded studies of a tribal
group in New Guinea reveal that the typical caveman diet actually
consisted of 50% plants and 25% meat (54-67). While Paleo
promoters are constantly stocking their refrigerators
with lavish types of meat and cooking large portions of
Chorizo sausage and bison for every meal, true huntergatherers were not selecting breakfast options from a
spread of five different protein sources at the drop of
a hat. Katharine Milton studied the African Kung tribe, which is
famous for living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and she recorded her
results in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Surprisingly,
their diet was 67% plants and not focused on high meat and protein
whatsoever (para. 13). Therefore, anthropological examination of
food availability to different Paleolithic groups varied globally and
cannot be based off the one small location on the map where people
happened to prefer flanks instead of broccoli.
Many Paleo-diet lovers argue that the Paleo diet excludes
foods like grains and, therefore, encourages a longer life span by
limiting high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and insulin
resistance. Paleo founders and followers say that these diseases were
brought about after the Agricultural period within the New World
and, hence, the introduction of cultivated, unnatural foods like
rice, corn, and oats. Nora T. Gedguadas, one of the world’s leading
experts on Paleo nutrition and author of the international-selling
book Primal Body: Primal Mind. Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health
and A Longer Life, states in a radio interview,
I don’t find any health aspects in grains. We’re not
designed for grains as a primary food source. No human
people group in the history of human species has ever
eaten a diet based off of USDA standards for grains. If
you are in the wilderness and cold, you aren’t dreaming of
a salad. Grains will not be readily available. [The president
of the dental association] set out across the world to study
cultures that were primitive and traditional. He went to
the Aborigines in Australia, the Inuits, the Outer Emirates,
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the ancient Celtic Aisles. . . . [F]oods that were most
important to them were the most fat nutrient dense foods.
. . . He saw rapid deterioration in health; many more birth
defects and teeth defects in the Western dietary approach.
(Red Ice Radio)
Although I agree that cultures throughout our world have been
depending on natural resources such as fat and meat for thousands of
years in order to survive, there is no direct link between grains like
oatmeal and rice and the cause decay and disease. My friend likes to
eat a giant bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast despite the
horror of Paleo followers, and she, surprisingly, has a wonderful white
smile. The Inuits have never had a custom of slicing bread and eating
it with jam for survival; instead they utilize whale fat and naturally seek
foods that are denser in calories to help insulate them. My friend, and
almost everyone else in our modern society, lives in our current evolved
society and uses a heating system, so she does not need to feast off bowls
of whale fat instead of grains. Gedguadas asserts that there has never
been a human species that has eaten a diet based off the high USDA
standards of grains and legumes besides our modern Western society
(Red Ice Radio). However, let’s not forget about modern-day phenomenal
discoveries of societies like Okinawa, Japan, and Sardinia, Italy.
Okinawa is 400 miles south of the coast of Japan, resting
among a chain of distant Asian islands in the Pacific Ocean. Although
absolutely beautiful, the island is not known for its breathtaking
landscape and blue oceans. Instead, Okinawa stands as home to the
largest population of humans who live over the age of 100 and who
have proven to host the longest life spans in our entire world, as
published in Nadine DeNinno’s International Business Time’s article,
“The Okinawa Diet May Be the Key to Longevity” (para. 2). On
average, an islander lives to be 110 years old and lives a productive
and active life up until death. Because Okinawa sports the longest
living human life expectancies, scientists set out to discover what
the secret to longevity truly is and why Japanese on Okinawa are
some of the healthiest human beings on the planet. Researchers and
scientists concluded that the residents of Okinawa live well past
the age of 100 for one specific reason: their food selection. So, what
is the magical secret to nutrition that promotes proven longevity
and health? I first heard about the Okinawa diet from the very back
seat of my college nutrition class last semester. Interestingly, the
diet barely includes any meat, eggs, or poultry. In fact, the Okinawa
diet is highly based off whole grains and legumes and incredibly
low in fat--the exact opposite belief of Paleo dieters. This new diet
approach it outlined in the New York Times bestselling book The
Okinawa Diet Plan: Get Leaner, Live Longer, and Never Feel Hungry,
written by Dr. Craig Willcox and Makato Suzuki. Counter to the
Paleolithic dieter’s belief of eating as much of a food as your body
needs until full, the Okinawa islanders practice Hari Bachi Bu, the
practice of eating a small amount and waiting until the stomach has
processed what has been consumed. This practice leads to a 20%
less calorie consumption than the regular Japanese diet (Nelson).
Overall, this more sustainable and wholesome diet leads to longterm health maintenance and success. By following a well-rounded
diet, Japanese don’t suffer from yo-yo dieting or food deprivation.
Because they are happy and healthy, they are able to maintain a
certain pattern of eating over the course of a lifetime and not just
over the course of several months.
Japan is not the only location on our globe where people
live well past the age of 100. On the Mediterranean island of
Sardinia, Italy, local Italians spend their days drinking lots of red
wine, laughing over large bowls of pasta and bread, and consuming
large amounts of goat milk, cheese, and fresh fruit, creating an
overall diet low in saturated fat. In fact, the “Mediterranean”
philosophy of both diet and lifestyle has been called one of the
“top eight most popular diets” in the online database Medical News
Today while an Italian study written up in the BMJ Medical Journal
noted that “adherence to the Mediterranean style diet produces a
better Health Related Quality of Life (HQRL) and an increase in
both mental and physical health” (Bonaccio). Dan Buettner, New
York Times bestselling author of The Blue Zones: Lessons For Living
Longer From the People who Have Lived the Longest, points out that
the global phenomenon of expanded human life-spans based off
high grain diets has also been proven in longevity hot spots like
Ikaria, Greece, and Nicoya, Costa Rica. Costa Ricans swear that
their longevity is based off daily consumption of bright fresh
fruits, corn, and rice while Greeks in Ikaria testify that they eat
lots of whole grains and fish (The Blue Zones). Buettner’s book also
points out that chronic diseases are rarely encountered in the Ikaria
region, where residents experience 20% lower cancer rates while
their occurrences of cardiovascular disease have been cut in half
(34). More people should be laughing over a glass of red wine every
day in Sardinia rather than worrying about fad diets and how many
almonds they’re eating in a meal.
In fact, cavemen did not live long enough to experience
disease and, therefore, did not have the chance to experience
longevity, either. They did not experience ailments of the aging
human body, such as inflammation or increased disease risk, because
they didn’t live long enough to see life past the age of fifty. Cultural
groups like the Japanese and Italians obviously live longer lives than
our cavemen ancestors did. In fact, a researcher from the Center of
Aging at the University of Chicago bluntly stated, “There is neither
convincing evidence nor scientific logic to support the claim that
adherence to a Paleolithic diet provides a longevity benefit” (191).
If this fact were pointed out to a Paleo believer, he would emphasize
that today’s Paleo community does not suffer from as many diseases
as those who eat a “normal” diet. Yet, as science has recently proven,
our current health problems as human beings result not from our
diet but from our imbalanced calorie consumption versus calorie
expenditure. While reading through my personal training book
several years ago, I noted that imbalanced calorie consumption is
what causes weight gain, disease, and premature death. Too much
of anything is not good, regardless of whether you are eating
large amounts of bread or Paleo-clean meals. Overconsumption of
calorie-dense, highly saturated fatty foods such as bacon leads to the
formation of diseases like high blood pressure and cardiovascular
disease and strays from a healthy path towards longevity.
Many people have started to believe that high-fat diets that
also emphasize protein, specifically like the Paleo diet, help to keep
waistlines slim and actually increase weight loss as oppose to fat gain.
“Paleo Diet Online” is one of the most well-known and reliable Web
sources for Paleo enthusiasts and provides quick access to data and a
plethora of published books, all Paleo related. Regarding the benefits
of a high-fat protein-rich diet, Dr. Loren Cordian states on her website,
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Protein has two to three times the thermic effect of either fat or
carbohydrate, meaning that it revs up your metabolism, speeding
weight loss. . . . [I]t has a much greater satiety value . . . so it
puts the breaks on your appetite. Numerous clinical trials have
shown high-protein, low-glycemic load diets are more effective
than low-fat, high–carbohydrate diets in promoting weight-loss
and keeping it off.” Paleo experts continue to argue that eating a
diet incredibly high in protein controls appetite levels, keeps fat
off and helps promote the decrease of diseases like diabetes and
hypertension. (The Paleo Diet FAQ)
The emphasis placed on the health benefits of protein in the Paleo
diet, however, actually raise some very dangerous health concerns.
As I learned from numerous college lectures on nutrition and human
health performance, overconsumption of protein for long periods
of time, or an unbalanced diet high in protein like meat, leads to
severe health conditions and fat gain. When we feed the body too
much protein, we do not create bigger muscles but, instead, store and
convert the protein into fat because the body simply cannot use up
overloaded amounts. When we over consume protein, we subject our
bodies to the risks of kidney stones, coronary disease, varieties of
cancer, osteoporosis, and an accumulation of ketones in the body that
lead to organ damage, according to the American Heart Association
(para. 5). Besides health consequences of our solely consuming
proteins like meat, when we cut foods like dairy from the diet, we do
not create a slimmer life and backside. As a protein source, dairy is
a definite no-no for the Paleo lover, yet almost all weight-loss help
websites, advice columns, articles, and magazines targeted for those
trying to lose belly fat recommend other forms of high-protein rich
foods besides meat. Tell the striking and jolly Italians that cheese is
unacceptable, and they’ll most likely laugh in your face. Dairy and
cheese are a huge part of the Italian diet and lifestyle, and Italians
still remain healthy, happy, and well-rounded.
Dairy is a category that is feared by Paleo believers. Because
dairy doesn’t quite appear to fit the standards of a raw slab of
meat, it is strictly forbidden in the Paleo community and considered
unacceptable. Web source Paleo Diet Lifestyle claims that because
dairy “Was simply not consumed during the Paleolithic era, we are
not supposed to drink the milk of other animals besides our own
species, and the consumption of dairy promotes high insulin levels in
the body, relating to weight control problems” (para. 7). Interestingly,
our consuming thick strips of bacon daily for almost every meal does
not lead to worries of weight control problems for the Paleo dieter,
yet low-fat dairy does. While ignoring a yogurt cup on the table
and reaching for a chunk of meat, a die-hard Paleo lover may fail to
realize that low-fat dairy is also loaded with essential vitamins like
calcium, which strengthens bones, increases fat breakdown in cells,
decreases inflammation, increases intestinal function, and provides
fantastic probiotic bacteria. When we consume forms of dairy like
milk, cheese, and yogurt, we stay satiated, preserve muscle, increase
metabolism, and aid in fat excretion. A study conducted by Michael
Zemel, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at the University
of Tennessee, highlights not only these phenomenal health benefits
(51) but also provides a record for a weight loss statistic study
involving dairy consumption. Quite simply stated by Zemel, “If
you compare a dairy-rich versus a dairy-poor diet you can nearly
double the rate of weight and fat loss with the same level of calorie
restriction.” In other words, we shouldn’t worry so much about
searing free-range chicken breasts for every single meal but instead
should move on to our well-deserved Greek yogurt.
While dairy may be marked off the acceptable food list in
the Paleo diet because cavemen did not indulge in ice cream (yet
for some reason must have been churning butter because butter
is commonly used in all Paleo cookbooks), our human bodies have
adapted and evolved in a short historical time span to tolerate foods
today that the cavemen may have relinquished in the past. Some
argue that cavemen did not even have a tolerance for certain foods.
Katharine Milton, a Professor of Physical Anthropology from
the University of California / Berkeley, declares, “There is little
evidience [sic] to suggest that human nutritional requirements
or human digestive physiology were significantly affected by such
diets at any point in human evolution” (483). Therefore, under what
circumstances did creators of the Paleo diet feel the need to exclude
particular foods? Who knows? We may not have been intolerant
at all in the past. Scientists who argue for a Paleolithic lifestyle
demand that 10,000 years is simply not enough time for the human
digestive system to handle newly farmed and created foods (like ice
cream and yogurt). Then again, the entire continent of Europe has
significantly increased their lactose tolerance in the past thousands
of years. The entire country of France is die-hard nationalist for
high-priced cheese and heavy cream. My Physical Anthropology
course emphasizes that within just two thousand years time, human
beings have significantly increased their production of digestive
elements such Salivary Amylase, an enzyme that helps to break
down starchy foods such as the Paleo phobic white potato and corn.
The next time you’re sitting at a restaurant and reach for a roll and
some butter, know that your body will, in truth, be able to handle
proper digestion, just as it has for thousands of years.
The idea of our barbarian ancestors traipsing through
caves with flawless six packs and masculine Zeus hair is incredibly
inspiring; maybe, if we emulate our Paleolithic predecessors, we, too,
can sport immaculate god-like beach bodies and be strong, healthy,
efficient, and long-lived. The Paleo diet hopes that the caveman
can teach us how we should return to eating because our modern
and fast society has introduced so many unhealthy habits and food
choices. However, we do not need to go to the extreme with a diet
to be strong, healthy, and happy, as I continually highlight on my
website and try to promote among readers. Many minute details can
be analyzed and disproven with the Paleo diet, including its health
benefits, sustainability, effectiveness, historical and global origins,
and overall validity. Yet, the lesson to be learned is not whether
dairy is a healthy choice, whether you should eat your grandma’s
potato stew when you go to visit, or whether bacon suffices for an
appropriate breakfast. The lesson to be learned is that everyone has
created some form of a diet that she claims is the true, right way
to eat. Human beings are active and live demanding lifestyles. Our
bodies will crave the food sources they need to continue sustainable
living, and instead of denying yourself the foods your body wants
because of a strict diet like Paleo, you should respect what your body
asks for; the human body will naturally crave what it needs, and this
is how our ancestors managed to survive thousands of years ago.
The right way does not include carb-depleting, dairy-restricting, or
sweet-potato-forgoing because people don’t think it sprouted from
the ground 10,000 years ago. Life is more enjoyable when I look forward
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to eating a whole-wheat bagel or a handful of granola without punishment.
Your body will take in what it needs, when it needs it. Socrates once stated,
“You should eat to live, and not live to eat.” This was the philosophy
of our true caveman ancestors, who hunted and ate what they could to
simply survive. You should center your diet around what is wholesome and
sustainable for you, and your lifestyle. A diet that includes grains, beans,
vegetables, lean protein, and good fat is just as effective as any other. True
sustainability and longevity comes not from an attempted emulation of the
past but from the development of good choices in the present.
Sisson, Mark. “Marks Daily Apple.” Marks Daily Apple RSS. N.p., n.d.
Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Bonaccio, Marialaura, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, et al. “Adherence to
a Mediterranean Diet Is Associated with a Better HealthRelated Quality of Life: A Possible Role of High Dietary
Antioxidant Content.” BMJ Open. 3.8 (2013): n. page. Web. 9
Dec. 2013.
“Weight Loss and Dairy.” WebMD. WebMD, 16 Apr. 2004. Web. 7 Dec.
2013.
“What Is the Mediterranean Diet? What Are the Benefits of the
Mediterranean Diet?” Medical News Today. MediLexicon
International, 6 May 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Willcox, Bradley J. The Okinawa Diet Plan: Get Leaner, Live Longer, and
Never Feel Hungry. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2004. Print.
Cordain, Loren. “About the Paleo Diet.” The Paleo Diet. N.p., n.d. Web.
29 Dec. 2013.
Wolf, Robb. The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet. Las Vegas:
Victory Belt, 2010. Print.
---. “The Paleo Diet FAQ.” The Paleo Diet RSS. Dr. Loren Cordain, n.d.
Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
Dan, Buettner. The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer. Washington
D.C: National Geographic Society, 2008. Print.
DeNinno, Nadine. “The Okinawa Diet May Be the Key to Longevity
and Help You Live 100-Years-Old.” International Business
Times. N.p., 10 Jul 2013. Web. 29 Jan 2014.
Ghose, Tia, and Tamsin O’Connell. “Caveman Diet Secret: Less Red
Meat, More Plants.” LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 25 Oct.
2012. Web. 3 Jan. 2014.
“High-Protein Diets.” High-Protein Diets. American Heart Association,
3 Jan. 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
T
he airplane was stuffy, loud, and crowded. I sat in my
middle seat, sandwiched between two people. Needing
some entertainment and distraction from all the chaos, I reached into
the carry-on bag at my feet and pulled out Cosmopolitan, October
2013 edition. I looked at the cover; it read, “12 Kinky Quickies that’ll
grab him,” “What 90% of men are fantasizing about,” and “flatten
your abs--fast.”
As I dove into the articles about ways to improve my body,
hair, skin, and, most importantly sex life, I suddenly tuned into a
feeling that I noticed myself having: a decreasing amount of selfconfidence. I stopped reading, very perplexed. If this magazine was
making me feel bad about myself, when I usually am pretty darn
happy with myself, why was I reading it? What was I learning from
it? I realized that all I was learning was that there were a million
ways to improve my body and myself, superficially. In other words,
I was being told that there were a million ways in which who I am
naturally was inadequate. I felt a wave of confusion and frustration
on realizing this. I was reading a “women’s magazine,” something
that was supposedly empowering to me. However, if this were the
case, then why was this magazine telling me, step by step, how I
should change and construct myself into what basically seemed
to be the very object of a man’s desire? The magazine explained
how to have the perfect body, hair, and skin and to be great in
bed. Why had I spent $4.99 for something to tell me how many
improvements I needed to make? This was shocking to come to
this realization because I have been reading women’s magazines for
many years. Cosmopolitan is my go-to magazine for distraction and
entertainment, and has been for years. I immediately felt ashamed
of myself and wondered if my female college-age peers had ever
questioned this magazine.
I consider myself a feminist and someone who is very
aware of the possible sexist or repressive things that surround me.
I am active in a women’s group on campus and hold a position on
the board of the Women’s Resource Center. Needless to say, I have
always been one to speak up, very much so, in the face of oppression
against women. So, how could I have been so blind? What it is that
Cosmopolitan is trying to tell me and make me feel? Among the
many swarming questions in my head, one particularly frightening
question stuck with me: are women my age being harmed when
turning to this magazine--as we so frequently do--for entertainment
and advice?
Marlowe, Frank M. “Hunter-gatherers and Human Evolution.”
Evolutionary Anthropology 14.2 (2005): 54-67. Web.
Milton, Katharine. “Primate Foods Have Relevance to Human Health.”
Nutrition 16 (2000): 480-83. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
Murphy, Denis J. People, Plants, and Genes: The Story of Crops and
Humanity. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.
Nora, Gedguadas. “The Paleo Diet: Primal Body & Primal Mind.” Red
Ice Radio. 12 June 2012. 06 Jun 2012. Radio.
I took a look at the magazine in a much more objective way,
and I dissected it, exploring the range of its contents. In doing so,
I decided that the magazine had two key components that were the
themes of the magazine. These themes, I concluded, were physical
beauty and hyper-sexuality.
Paleo Diet. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
Occasions Home
By Bry Kring
Suzanne, Nelson. “Okinawa Diet.” Nutrition and Human Performance,
U of Colorado/Boulder, Boulder, Colorado. 06 Nov. 2013.
Lecture.
Borre, Scott. “Some Info on Bryan Clay---CrossFit Discussion Board.”
CrossFit Discussion Board RSS. CrossFit, 4 Aug. 2008. Web. 11
Dec. 2013
Contents
The Contradiction Within Cosmopolitan:
Is It Telling Us About Society?
Stone, Matt. “12 Paleo Myths.” 180 Degree Health. 180 Degree Health,
03, 2012. Image. Web. 11 Dec 2013.
Vales, Josh. “Here’s 8+ Reasons the Paleo Diet Should be Extinct.”
Outlaw Fitness RSS. N.p., 21 Jan. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
Works Cited
OCCASIONS
PWR Home
8
External Beauty and Body Image
The topic of physical and external beauty appears to be
highly important in Cosmopolitan. When looking specifically at
the October edition, I notice that every single ad--be it for DKNY
jeans, OPI nail polish, Diet Coke, Rimmel mascara, Herbal Essence
body wash, Pulsar Watches, etc.--features a white, stick-thin, young,
airbrushed, and very beautiful woman. It is not just the ads in the
magazine that depict skinny, airbrushed women, however. Articles
about the importance of physical beauty accompany these ads as
well. In this particular edition of Cosmopolitan, there is an article
about Botox in which a woman claims that because of Botox, she
feels “better-than-ever.” She is quoted saying that she would “totally
do it again!” (Cosmopolitan, p. 114). As I almost reach the end of the
magazine, I turn to an article about sushi and how it is the “secret
calorie bomb!” while warning women that it is packed full of hidden
calories and to stay away from it (Cosmopolitan, p. 214). This page
also gives tips for how to order items with the fewest calories at
Starbucks, Subway, and other popular chain-franchises (p. 214). The
page following the food page is an article about working out. This
workout page shows a model wearing spandex and a sports-bra,
stretching. Underneath her, there are advertisements for workout
clothing and next to them are the words “LOOK BETTER WHILE
SWEATING” (Cosmopolitan. p. 216). This page also offers speedy
workouts that can be done on-the-go to burn quick calories.
As I turn through these pages, I notice that the Botox ads,
food and calorie information, and quick workouts are disguised in
ways that make them seem like light-and-fun topics that are easyto-read. But are these ads and specific articles telling me? They
are pointing out that something natural--aging--is ugly. They are
warning me to not eat certain foods because they will make me fat.
And they are telling me that I need to be fitting in quick workouts
here and there throughout my day. I reexamine my emotions now;
how am I feeling? At this point, I feel pretty inadequate. Although
I do not consider myself old, I am, naturally, getting older. After
reading the articles on the importance of keeping one’s skin looking
young, I find myself dreading the wrinkles that will, inevitably,
begin to appear as I get older. I consider myself athletic, and I
exercise regularly. However, I had never heard of the workouts
these articles promoted before. This made me feel inadequate and
even senseless for not making time for these quick workouts in
my everyday schedule, as the article suggested. On labeling my
emotions after reading these portions of the magazine, I stepped
back from the magazine again. Why do I need to do these things that
the magazine is telling me again? Oh, right: so that I can look like
the women in the advertisements whom I see on every other page
of the magazine. The message that I was receiving was that what
is most important about me, a woman, is my external appearance.
9
OCCASIONS
This realization is not unique to me, and many others have
also examined Cosmopolitan’s promotion of the need for physical selfimprovement. Many sociologists and authors of academic literature
agree that promoting beauty ideals with such high importance is
harmful to women because it only stresses the importance of one’s
superficial appearance (Hu & Wang, 2009. p. 1). It is very normal and
perfectly fine for a person to desire to be attractive. However, if there
is too much emphasis put on external appearance--as Cosmopolitan
suggests--this can become unhealthy and problematic.
Fan Hu and her colleagues attended a conference that
discussed the connection between women’s magazines and body
image (2009). The conference spoke about how, in a conducted study
around the magazines, college age women reported feeling severe body
dissatisfaction and “appearance-related concerns” after reading the
contents of the women’s magazines (Hu & Wang, 2009. p. 15). Even
women who reported feeling very pleased with their bodies--who had
no preexisting appearance related dissatisfaction--reported feeling
negatively towards their bodies (Hu & Wang, 2009. p. 14). Thus, Hu
and Wang conclude that a woman’s body images, especially those of
college age women, can be drastically and negatively affected by this
magazine (2009. p. 15).
Promotion of Sexuality
Sexuality is, noticeably, a fundamental component to
Cosmopolitan. Promotion of sexuality, overly sexualized women, and
information on ways to be better at sex can be found on nearly every
page of the magazine. One does not even have to open the magazine to
learn that; he or she can simply look at the cover. In the October 2013
edition, the cover’s advertised articles are “12 Kinky Tricks,” “grab
him and get it on!” and “Ways to get getter at sex.” Not to mention
the cover picture is of Jennifer Lopez, who is only sporting a leather,
halter bra that leaves half of her breasts exposed. She is pictured
tugging down on the waist of a pair of see-through lace “pants.”
Cosmopolitan has an entire section called “Love, Lust, and
Other Stuff.” This section has all sorts of information on a woman’s
sex-life and how she can--or needs to--spice it up. In October’s edition,
the “Love and Lust” section begins with an article called “12 Kinky
Quickies--(just because!)” (p. 156). This article gives 12 snippets of
ways in which a woman should be sexually adventurous in the bedroom
in order to become “happier and more secure in her relationship” (p.
156). This article is followed by a two-page article called “Just a Touch”
about their sex lives and relationship concerns. The topics covered in
this article range from how to make oneself more enthusiastic about
sex, to how to deal with the bad smell of semen, to more (p. 170).
The topic of sexuality is certainly never lacking when
flipping through any issue of Cosmopolitan. Nearly all the images of
a woman in the magazine, be it in an ad or article, is a very sexualized
looking woman. She is scantily clad, dolled-up with makeup, posed in
a suggestive position, or has her mouth open and a “come-hither” look
in her eyes. So, what is the obsession and need for hyper-sexuality in
Cosmopolitan? There are many scholars who have something to say
on the matter, and some of it is surprising.
Various scholarly authors will argue that the promotion of
sexuality is not a negative aspect to the magazine. They claim that
magazines such as Cosmopolitan are important and positive for
society because they helps to promote the liberation, independence,
and power of women (Hunt, 2012, p. 135). Hunt (2012) claims that
“[Cosmopolitan is] founded on the core values of independence,
power, and fun” (p. 135) and that Cosmopolitan strongly promotes and
celebrates women’s sexuality because there is a correlation between a
woman’s sexuality and her liberation (p. 132).
David Machin, a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies, claims
that one reason why a woman’s sexuality is considered powerful and
liberating is because women can use their looks and sexuality to get
what they want (Machin, 2003). When thinking about this claim made
by Machin, I wondered what sorts of things he could be referring to
when saying that we use our sexuality to get what we want. Does he
literally mean that we can trade sexual acts for material things that we
want? I didn’t think he meant it this way. Instead, I concluded that he
means that we women use our looks look and the idea of sexuality to
our advantage over men.
As a woman, had I ever done this? My thoughts were brought
back to when I lived in Mexico three years ago, and my friends and I
would get dressed up (short dresses and heels) and go out at night. I
never had to pay an entry-fee to any place I went out to. The doormen
would grant me free entrance into the club, along with a sometimescreepy-and-sometimes-sweet remark pertaining to my appearance.
This was presumably because the bouncers at the door were men
who liked the way that I looked. Of course, I never minded having
no cover charge, but I began to wonder if this was the type of thing
that Machin was referring to. Although I was not engaging in physical
It seems like the use of a woman’s sexuality is a way in which she can assert a type of
control over men. Perhaps this is why Cosmopolitan so commonly promotes hypersexuality in their articles. It is founded by the idea that there is a correlation between
power and sexuality.
OCCASIONS
When thinking of other, and much more drastic, examples
of a woman using her sexuality to get something, I can imagine using
it to get a job or a raise. It seems as if the use of a woman’s sexuality
is a way in which she can assert a type of control over men. Perhaps
this is why Cosmopolitan so commonly promotes hyper-sexuality
in their articles. It is founded by the idea that there is a correlation
between power and sexuality. Typically speaking, men seem to be more
motivated by their drives for sex. Thus, by looking and acting in a way
that is overly sexual, women can use this against men. Essentially, this
is a form of taking advantage of a man’s weakness when it comes to
their motivation for sex.
The idea that it is liberating for a woman to take advantage
of how men are more sexually driven does not strike me as real power.
Instead, I see this as a form of manipulation. When I was granted free
entry into the club, this was a type of manipulation on my part. I was
using my external appearance and the idea of my sexuality in order
to get something that I wanted from these men. This, however, is not
a type of inherent power. Rather, it is a fleeting form of power that
means that a woman--only if she looks “sexy” enough--can get what
she wants on certain occasions. The fact that I was granted free entry
did not make me a smarter and more powerful woman, inherently.
No, it simply told me that what I was wearing and what I looked like
made the men want to grant me something in those few moments
that I spent outside of the club. This is not true power. Instead, it is
fleeting, shallow, and completely dependent on superficial appearance.
Therefore, its appears problematic to claim that the hyper-sexuality
promoted in Cosmopolitan liberates women (Machin, 2003, p. 456).
If someone is liberated only because of her sexuality, is
not this a form of objectification itself ? It is simply another way of
saying that a woman’s only power and value is through something
completely superficial: her body. This just further perpetuates the
issue of the objectification of women--it is not something liberating
or empowering (Chirita, 2012, p. 11). Instead, it is a false sense of
liberation that makes a woman link her idea of independence with her
sexuality (Moran, 2011, p. 161). This creates simply the illusion of
power, when in reality it just reduces the woman down to an object (of
a man’s desire) (Moran, 2011, p. 161, also see Clarke 2009). According
to Denisa Chirita, a professor of journalism and communication at the
University of Bucharest, this so-called “liberation” that magazines
are promoting only makes a woman into something objectified and
over-sexualized (2012 p. 11). Chirita claims that the idea of women’s
“liberation” through sexuality is something directly contradictory to
the mission of feminism posed in the twentieth century (2012, p. 6; for
more on feminism see Endres, 2011, p. 2-4).
Perhaps Cosmopolitan could be truly liberating for women
if it promoted her power associated with having intellectual ability
and being driven and hardworking. Those are all types of power that
involve more than the external body and thus would help to create the
idea that she is much more than a sexual object of desire.
The Appeal of the Magazines
(p. 158). Here, Cosmopolitan describes how a woman should touch her
man in order to keep the “sizzle” alive in her long-term relationships
(p. 158). As I continue flipping through the section, the next article is
the “Sex Q & A” (p. 170). Here, women can write in with their questions
sexual acts with these men, I was flaunting my external, dolled-up, and
sexualized appearance to benefit myself. Was this me using the power
of my looks and the idea of my sexuality for manipulative purposes?
Perhaps it was, and I had never considered it before.
10
At this point, I have done quite a bit of research and writing
on the topic of Cosmopolitan, and I continue to find myself to be
attracted to reading Cosmopolitan. So, I am still left with the question
of its appeal. What is it that draws me, an active feminist, to pick up
and read an issue of Cosmopolitan--when the majority of its contents
seem to go so clearly against what I stand for? Undoubtedly, it is not
just me who finds it appealing, however, because Cosmopolitan is
among the top-selling magazines on the shelves. So why? There are
varying opinions on this.
Some authors believe that the appeal to the magazine is that it
addresses topics and issues about physical or emotional topics that are
pertinent to women (Hunt, 2012. p. 138). For example, it covers areas
related to women’s physical health, sexual health, and relationship
advice (Hunt, 2012, p. 137). This helps to create a feeling of inclusivity
and mutual understanding among the readers. Cosmopolitan seems
to be able to speak about issues that have been historically been
unmentionable or taboo within society, given that they are specific to
women. The idea of speaking openly about women’s sexual health,
pleasure, and safety is somewhat of a recent development within
history. There is a positive aspect to being able to easily and readily
acquire information pertinent to women’s health and sexuality.
When flipping though October’s issue, readers encounter
articles that provide very important information for women to read
about. For example, on page 205 is an article titled “Healthy Breasts.”
This article talks about scientific research that has just come out about
what types of foods to eat to help decrease one’s chances of developing
breast cancer. This edition of the magazine also provides information
about how to cure a hangover and how to avoid stressing too much. It
includes humorous anecdotal stories and “Confessions” where women
share their embarrassing moments (Cosmopolitan, p. 230).
So, in other words, one of the biggest appeals to Cosmopolitan
is that it seems to provide a type of easy entertainment for its readers
along with some important female-specific health advice (Xiaowei,
2013. p. 189). This is how I have always used Cosmopolitan: for purely
mindless entertainment and escape while in a doctor’s waiting room
or, as I described earlier, on the airplane.
So, Who is the Real Beneficiary of the Magazine?
If a woman is learning to construct herself into what a
man wants, her worth then becomes reliant on his opinion of her. In
addition, his opinion of her is based completely on superficial grounds:
her body and her sexuality. Cosmopolitan promotes the construction
of the “ideal” woman. However, this “ideal” woman has been essentially
reduced to an object. If a woman is an object, then, by definition,
she is not able to claim any sort of equal status as a free individual.
Instead, she is defined only by a man’s standards--thus contradicting
the fundamental idea of feminism.
From what we have seen, Cosmopolitan emphasizes the
importance of external beauty and promotes a woman’s use of hypersexuality as her form of power. Although it is a “women’s” magazine,
this proves ironic and even contradictory after picking apart each of
these components to the magazine. If we take a step back and look at
the superficial beauty advice and promotion of hyper-sexuality--the
two underlying themes of Cosmopolitan--it seems contradictory. Once
analyzed, the sections together seem to serve one purpose: appealing
11
OCCASIONS
to the ideals of what it is that a man wants. In fact, the topic of what
the woman wants seems to be almost entirely neglected. This itself
goes against the foundation of the very basics of feminism. Therefore,
what is being promoted must not be for the woman’s benefit. Rather,
the two fundamental themes underlying Cosmopolitan seem to be
geared towards what it is that a man would want. Minus a few sections
specific to women’s health advice and a bit of humor, it seems like men
are actually the beneficiaries of this woman’s magazine.
Conclusion
So, what conclusions can we now justly make about
Cosmopolitan? Well, as we have come to realize, it appears that there
is a very incongruous aspect within this magazine. It is a “women’s”
magazine, meaning it is supposedly something written for us. However,
as we have seen, this magazine has components that go directly against
the fundaments of what feminism stands for. The idea that something
written for women is also antifeminist is a complete contradiction.
However, although portions of Cosmopolitan are undoubtedly
antifeminist, the magazine continues to be entertaining and beneficial
by offering amusing articles and female-specific health information.
Thus, Cosmopolitan remains appealing to women--even to one such as
me--who consider ourselves active feminists. So, where does that place
this magazine in our society today?
Endres, K. L. (2011). The feminism of Bernarr Macfadden: Physical
culture magazine and the empowerment of women. Media
History Monographs, 13 (2), pp. 1-14.
Hu, F., & Wang, M. (2009). Beauty and fashion magazines and collegeage women’s appearance-related concerns. Conference Papers-International Communication Association, pp. 1-23.
Machin, D., & Thornborrow, J. (2003). Branding and discourse: The
case of cosmopolitan. Discourse & Society, 14 (4), pp. 453-471.
Moran, C. (2011). On his terms: Representations of sexuality in
women’s magazines and the implications for negotiating safe
sex. Psychology & Sexuality, 2 (2), p. 159.
Xiaowei, H. (2013). A critical study of the contradictory role of
women’s magazines. Canadian Social Science, 9(4), 184-205.
doi:10.3968/j.css.1923669720130904.2589
By Hanna Le
We
may think we know how the criminal justice
system works. Television is teeming with fictional
dramas about police, detectives and prosecutors--shows such as
Law & Order, CSI, and Criminal Minds. However, these popularized
shows and their spin-offs concentrate on individual stories of crime,
victimization, and punishment, and they are usually told from
the point of view of law enforcement. The typical storyline is as
follows: a (white) police officer solves a horrible crime and achieves
a personal and moral victory by arresting the bad guy. These TV
shows perpetuate the myth that the primary function of our justice
system is to keep our streets safe by finding dangerous criminals and
punishing them. They romanticize drug-law enforcement. In reality,
the way that the system works bears little (if any) resemblance to
what happens on television dramas or in the movies. For instance,
many people never meet with an attorney, police regularly stop and
search people for no reason whatsoever, and penalties for crimes
are often so severe that many innocent people plead guilty to avoid
mandatory sentences.
Imagine for a moment that you are Emma Faye Stewart,
a thirty-year-old, single African American mother of two who
was arrested during a drug sweep in Hearne, Texas (Davis 50-52).
All but one of the people arrested were black. You are innocent,
but your court-appointed attorney urges you to plead guilty to a
distribution charge because the prosecutor has offered probation.
Initially, you refuse, proclaiming your innocence. But after a month
in jail, you decide to plead guilty so that you can return to your
family. As a branded drug felon, you are no longer eligible for food
stamps, you cannot vote for at least twelve years (in Texas), you
may be discriminated against in employment, and you are about to
be evicted from public housing. Once homeless, your children will
be taken from you and placed in foster care. A judge will eventually
dismiss all cases against the defendants who did not plead guilty
because at trial he discovers that the sweep was based on unreliable
testimony. You, however, are still a drug felon, homeless and
desperate to regain custody of your children.
Works Cited
Chirita, D. (2012). (Non) value in women’s magazines. Communication
& Marketing / Revista De Comunicare Si Marketing, 3 (5), pp.
39-52.
This is the War on Drugs. The story of Emma Faye
Stewart is not an isolated incident, nor is her racial identity
accidental. In every state, African Americans--particularly those in
the poorest communities--are subjected to tactics and practices that
would result in public outrage if they were conducted in middleclass white neighborhoods. We are told that the enemy in the War
on Drugs is a thing--drugs--not a group of people, but the facts
prove otherwise.
Clarke, J. (2009). Women’s work, worry and fear: The portrayal of
sexuality and sexual health in US magazines for teenage and
middle-aged women, 2000-2007. Culture, Health & Sexuality,
11(4), 415-429. doi:10.1080/13691050902780776
2013, October. Cosmopolitan. Print.
Occasions Home
The Color of Justice:
Culpability and Change in an Era of Punitiveness
Hunt, P. D. 1. (2012). Editing desire, working girl wisdom, and
cupcakeable goodness. Journalism History, 38(3), pp. 130-141.
It appears that Cosmopolitan is essentially capturing the
contradictory roles that women find themselves in today’s modern
world. Women have far surpassed the idea that we are not hardworking
and successful intellectuals. We can see factual evidence for this in the
number of women in college. The ratios are higher than ever before,
and, presently, the number of women studying in college outnumbers
the number of men. We can also see a strong presence of women in the
workforce as well as in politics. Be that as it may, women continue to not
make as much money as men. This proves that there are still mountains
of progress to be made before we see true equality. Women seem to be
idle between a place of being the stereotypical mother and wife and a
place of being the powerful and successful worker, and the breadwinner.
Cosmopolitan seems to be reiterating this conflict that women are
facing in society today. Perhaps my confusion around being a feminist
who occasionally enjoys reading Cosmopolitan is not something that
can simply be answered because it represents, and mirrors, a conflict
that is taking place regarding the roles of the modern woman.
Contents
OCCASIONS
PWR Home
12
The War: History’s Strange Fruit
Although the undermining of federal civil rights legislation
is generally considered to be the backlash against the Civil Rights
Movement, a new system of racial control--mass incarceration-developed around the same time, and it has become the enduring
sociopolitical legacy of Jim Crow. The shift to a general attitude
of punitiveness toward structural problems associated with
communities of color--poverty and unemployment--began in the
1960s, when the gains of the Civil Rights Movement required
legitimate changes and sacrifices on the behalf of poor, workingclass whites. By vowing to “crack down on crime” and framing
the welfare recipients as “undeserving,” conservative politicians
successfully appealed to the racism and vulnerability of blue-collar
whites who felt threatened by the sudden progress of African
Americans.
In October 1982, the Reagan administration officially
announced the War on Drugs. Under Reagan, the budgets of federal
law enforcement agencies increased dramatically to combat drug
crime. FBI antidrug allocations increased from $8 million to $95
million between 1980 and 1984 (Beckett 53). However, at the time
that Reagan declared the war, less than 2 percent of the American
public viewed illegal drugs as the most important issue facing the
nation (Alexander 49), and, according to the National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse, drug use was actually in decline (Donziger
116). These facts did not deter Reagan because the drug war had
little to do with public concern about drugs and more to do with
public concerns about race. By waging a war on drug users and
dealers, Regan fulfilled his anti-welfare promise to crack down on
the undeserving--or racially defined “others.”
In order to ensure that the Republican majority would
support the expansion of the federal government’s law enforcement
activities and that Congress would fund it, the Reagan administration
launched a media offensive that sensationalized the emergence of
crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods plagued by poverty and
unemployment. Due to deindustrialization, legitimate employment
opportunities in the inner-city declined, which increased incentives
to sell drugs--notably, crack cocaine.1 “Crack” emerged in 1985,
a few years after the drug war was announced, and resulted in a
1
Crack cocaine is pharmaceutically identical to
powdered cocaine--except that crack has been converted to
a form that can be inhaled for a faster high with less of the
drug, making it possible to sell small doses at affordable
prices.
13
OCCASIONS
dramatic increase in violence as drug markets struggled to stabilize.
Joblessness and crack hit inner-cities at the same time as the backlash
against the Civil Rights Movement was manifesting itself in the
War on Drugs. The Reagan administration seized the opportunity
to publicize horror stories about crack in order to build support
for its war. Thousands of stories about the “crack crisis” flooded
the radio and newsstands, and they all had a clear racial subtext;
the articles typically featured black “crack whores,” “gangbangers,”
and “crack babies”--reinforcing already prevalent negative racial
stereotypes about African Americans as part of a violent criminal
subculture. In reality, the violence associated with crack stems more
from the struggle for power, territory, and market control among
drug dealers than from the narcotic effect of crack itself (Weaver
235).
Nevertheless, the media frenzy resulted in the passage
of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which introduced harsh
minimum sentences for the distribution of cocaine. Under federal
law, possession of five grams of crack--which is associated with
blacks--mandated a minimum of five years, while the possession of
same amount of powder cocaine--which is associated with whites-remained a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of one year
(Donziger 119). These laws ensured that African Americans would
be sent to prison in unprecedented numbers and kept there for longer
sentences. In Malign Neglect, his study on the War on Drugs and its
impact on minorities, criminologist Michael Tonry writes, “African
Americans have borne the brunt of the War on Drugs. They have
been arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned at increasing
rates since the early 1980s, and grossly out of proportion to their
numbers in the general population or among drug users” (134).
By the 1990s, “tough on crime” policies were universally
adopted across the political spectrum. Once elected, Bill Clinton
signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
of 1994, the largest crime bill in history. The $30-billion bill
significantly expanded the federal death penalty, mandated life
sentences for three-time offenders, and authorized more than $9.7
billion in funding for state prisons and $6.1 billion in the expansion
of local and state police forces. In addition to his crime bill,
Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act in 1996, which instituted Temporary Assistance
to Needy Families (TNAF). TNAF imposes a five-year lifetime limit
on welfare assistance and a permanent ban on eligibility for welfare
and food stamps of anyone convicted of a drug felony--including the
The Facts
Nation-wide, the rate of incarceration for African
American drug offenders outstrips the rate of whites. There are
more black men imprisoned today than at any other moment in our
nation’s history (Alexander 175). In 2000, the Human Rights Watch
reported that African Americans constitute 80 to 90 percent of all
drug offenders sent to prison. Even though the number of whites
admitted for drug offenses has also increased, their relative numbers
pale in comparison to blacks’ and Latinos’. In at least fifteen states,
blacks are admitted to prison on drug charges at a rate of twenty to
fifty-seven times greater than of white men (Maurer 96).
The majority of illegal drug users and dealers, however,
are white. Surveys frequently suggest that whites, particularly
white youth, are more likely to participate in illegal drug dealing
than people of color. One study reported that white students use
crack cocaine at eight times the rate of black students and use
heroin at seven times the rate of black students (National Institute
on Drug Abuse 2000). The National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse reported that white youth aged 12-17 are more than a third
more likely to have sold illegal drugs than African American youth
(U.S. Department of Health 2000). Any notion that drug use
among blacks is more common or dangerous is refuted by the data.
Thus, the same year that the Human Rights Watch was reporting
that African Americans were being imprisoned at unprecedented
rates, government data revealed that blacks were no more likely to
be guilty of drug crimes that whites and that white youth were
actually the most likely of any ethnic group to be guilty of illegal
drug possession and sales. Nevertheless, 1 in every 9 black men
between the ages of twenty and thirty-five was behind bars in
2006--compared with 1 in 106 white men--and far more were under
some form of penal control, such as probation or parole (Alexander
98). How does society explain these shocking racial disparities in
our criminal justice system if it cannot be explained by the rates of
illegal drug activity among African Americans?
Politicians and law enforcement officials today rarely
endorse racially biased practices--in fact, many of them fiercely
condemn racial discrimination of any kind. Forms of race
discrimination that had been notorious for centuries were abandoned
in the 1960s and 1970s during the Civil Rights Movement and
transformed into something inherently un-American. The vast
majority of whites supported anti-discriminatory policy by the
Despite the colorblind rhetoric of recent years, the design of the War on Drugs effectively
guarantees that those swept into the criminal justice system are predominately black and
brown. African Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than
whites, but they are made criminals at extraordinarily higher rates for the same conduct.
possession of marijuana. Not unlike Jim Crow, these policies effectively
legalize discrimination against convicts--a disproportionate number of
which are racial and ethnic minorities due to the War on Drugs--in
housing, welfare benefits, employment, and access to education.
OCCASIONS
This considerably changed racial climate has led the
defenders of mass incarceration to insist that our criminal justice
system--despite its long history of racial discrimination--is now
largely fair and non-discriminatory. Instead, they point to violent
crime rates as justification for the disproportionate rates of
incarceration: black men have much higher rates of violent crime-that’s why so many of them are in prison. However, the problem
with this abbreviated analysis is that violent crime is not responsible
for the prison boom. Violent crime rates fluctuate over the years and
bear little relationship to incarceration rates. Today, violent crime
rates are at historically low levels while incarceration rates continue
to increase (Mauer 99).
How It Really Works
think of racism, we think of water hoses, lynchings, and “whites
only” signs. Our understanding of racism is therefore defined by
the most extreme expressions of individual bigotry--not by the
way in which racism functions naturally when it is imbedded in
the structure of a social system. The idea of structural racism is
explained by Marilyn Frye’s birdcage metaphor: if one thinks about
racism and oppression by examining only one wire of the birdcage-one form of disadvantage--it is difficult to understand how the bird
is trapped; only by examining the cage as a whole--how multiple
wires are arranged and connected to trap the bird and ensure that
it cannot escape--can we understand the concept of structural
racism. The reality is that race, poverty, crime, and education are
interdependent variables.
Despite the colorblind rhetoric of recent years, the design of
the War on Drugs effectively guarantees that those swept into the criminal
justice system are predominately black and brown. African Americans are
not significantly more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but they
are made criminals at extraordinarily higher rates for the same conduct.
Drug law enforcement is unlike other types of law
enforcement. When a violent crime, a robbery, or trespassing
occurs, someone usually calls the police. There is a clear victim and
perpetrator; someone is harmed or violated in some way and wants
the offender to be punished. In the case of drug crime, however,
neither the buyer nor the seller has any incentive to contact law
enforcement; it is a consensual activity. Moreover, 1 in 10 Americans
violate drug laws annually (Alexander 101). The consensual nature
and pervasiveness of illegal drug activity requires a more proactive
approach by law enforcement than what is required to address
regular street crime. Nevertheless, it is impossible for the police to
identify and arrest every drug criminal. Hence, strategic choices
must be made about whom to target and which tactics to employ.
A 1995 survey asked the question: “Would you close your
eyes for a second, envision a drug user, and describe that person to
me?” The disconcerting results published in the Journal of Alcohol
and Drug Education showed that 95 percent of respondents pictured
a black drug user. Almost no one taking the survey pictured a
white person. These results contrasted sharply with the reality
of drug crime in America: African Americans constituted only 15
percent of current drug users in 1995 (103). There is no reason to
believe that the 1995 survey results would have been any different
if police officers or prosecutors had been the respondents instead
of the general public. Both have been exposed to the same racially
charged political rhetoric and media imagery associated with the
drug war as we have. In fact, studies show that people, including
law enforcement officers and jurors, become increasingly punitive
when an alleged criminal is darker and more “stereotypically black”
and are more lenient when the accused is light-skinned and appears
more stereotypically white (43).
On every measure of social disadvantage, the rates for
African Americans dwarf the rates for whites--notably, figures
for out-of-wedlock births, single-parent households, and poverty,
which are more than twice the rates for whites (Russell-Brown 57).
In 1992, 46 percent of African American children were born into
poverty compared with 16 percent of white children (Mauer 105).
Because mass incarceration is highly concentrated among the most
disadvantaged in the labor market--poor minority men with little
education--the effects of the penal system on this community are
devastating.
Ending a Costly Enterprise
early 1980s--which reflects a profound shift in racial attitudes--and
the margin of support for colorblind norms and legislation has only
increased since then.
14
Of all the reasons that we fail to know the truth about
mass incarceration, one stands out: a profound misunderstanding
of how racial oppression actually works. As a society, our collective
understanding of racism has been shaped by the shocking images
of the Jim Crow Era and the struggle for civil rights. When we
Collectively, our decision to blame those who struggle and
fail in a system designed to keep them marginalized says more about
us than it does about them. If we had learned to show genuine
compassion and concern across racial lines during the Civil Rights
Movement--rather than adopt colorblindness--mass incarceration
would not exist today. The result of our social and criminal justice
polices is that, among developed countries, the United States has the
highest rates of incarceration, the widest spread income inequality,
and the highest levels of poverty (Donziger 29). If we are serious
about reducing crime, we need to treat substance abuse as a public
health challenge--rather than a criminal justice problem--and fund
effective anti-poverty programs as a part of an overall approach to
crime policy.
In order to reduce crime, we must first commit to reducing
poverty by investing in youths, families, and communities. We
need to address the effect that the War on Drugs has had on poor
minority communities. The Eisenhower Foundation, which works
to develop declining urban neighborhoods, has estimated that it
will cost $30 billion per year over a decade to revitalize urban areas
across the nation (Donziger 217). The federal Job Crops program
helps at-risk youth overcome barriers to employment, and studies
show that every dollar invested in Job Corps returned $1.46 to
society though reductions in costs of incarceration and taxes paid
by former Job Corps members (Weaver 140). According to a report
by the National Criminal Justice Commission, replacing the War
on Drugs with a policy of harm reduction will effectively stem
substance abuse and incarceration costs. Although over $100 billion
has been spent waging the drug war, illegal drug use continues at
the same levels, and drugs available on the streets have not declined
in their level of potency. The purpose of harm reduction is to
minimize the effects of drugs rather than waging a war against
drug users. It also recognizes the fact that the drug trade is mostly
15
OCCASIONS
driven by demand created by addicts--many of whom commit crimes in
order to support their addictions. A statewide study in California found
that, for every dollar spent on substance abuse treatment, taxpayers
saved seven dollars in lowered crime and health care costs. Likewise, in
the District of Columbia, the cost of drug treatment is one-tenth the
cost of incarceration, and inmates who are treated before release have
less than half the recidivism rate of untreated inmates (Donziger 202).
In the private sector, the nonprofit Phoenix House runs residential
and outpatient programs in New York and California, averaging about
$52.20 per day. Notable, more than 93 percent of those who have been
treated in the Phoenix House program have not committed a new
offense in five years (Alexander 143).
Weaver, Vesla M. “Unhappy Harmony: Accounting for Black Mass
Incarceration in a Postracial America.” Beyond Discrimination:
Racial Inequality in a Postracist Era. Ed. Fredrick C. Harris and
Robert C. Lieberman. New York: Russell-Sage Foundation,
2013. 215-56. Print.
By Zoe Pasternack
“You could look at nature as being like a catalogue of
products, and all of those have benefited from a 3.8 billion
year research and development period. And given that
level of investment, it kind of makes sense to use it.”
-Michael Pawlyn
T
his use of natural forms and processes to create new
inventions for human use is called biomimicry (or
biomimetics). Scientists have been observing nature for millennia, but
this new term has turned into an entire field of study. By taking
complex and efficient natural processes and studying them closely,
inventors have created many new things that have revolutionized the
way that we live. From fighter jets to Velcro, and many inventions in
between, biomimicry has contributed to many objects that are used
daily by people around the planet!
Works Cited
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in an Era
of Colorblindness. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Using biomimicry is more beneficial than creating products
through trial-and-error. There are many physical processes and
technical mechanics that we, as humans, may not be able to create
out of thin air. This is not to trivialize the many ingenious human
discoveries and inventions over the millennia. In this day and
age, humanity faces many new problems such as the challenges
of feeding the immense population and the overuse of limited
resources. Biomimicry has created many products for discovery
and entertainment, but, more importantly, we can use it to improve
many peoples’ lives. Biomimicry can even change the direction of
the human race’s development.
Beckett, Katherine. Making Crime Pay, Law and Order in Contemporary
American Politics. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. Print.
Davis, Angela. Arbitrary Justice: The Power of the American prosecutor.
New York: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.
Donziger, Steven R. The Real War on Crime: the Report on the National
Criminal Justice Commission. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Print.
Human Rights Watch. Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in
the War on Drugs, HRW Reports, 12. 2 May 2000. Print.
The history of biomimicry is important in understanding
the field. One of the first applications of biomimicry was in flight.
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with
your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you
will always long to return.” This famous quotation, often attributed
to Leonardo da Vinci, illustrates mankind’s long fascination with
flight. This intense fascination led many people to study the
mechanics of flight as well as the motivation behind it. Civilizations
as far back as ancient Greece cite stories of flight. The ancient Greek
myth of Icarus illustrates the Greek’s fascination with flight from a
time long before it was technologically feasible. The myth goes that
Daedalus, the father of Icarus, built wings made of feathers and wax
for Icarus to use in his escape from Crete to the mainland of Greece.
Icarus was told to stay low enough that the sun would not melt
the wax on his wings. The wings did provide flight for Icarus, but
curiosity got the best of him when he flew too high and crashed into
the sea. Although his flight was unsuccessful, Icarus has become a
symbol for “high-flying ambition” (“Icarus”).
Mauer, Marc. The Race of Incarcerate, the Sentencing Project. New York:
New York Press, 2010. Print.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Monitoring the Future, National
Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-1999. Washington, DC:
National Institute of Drug Abuse. Print.
Tonry, Michael. Malign Neglect: Race Crime, and Punishment in America.
New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Print.
U.S. Department of Health. National Household Survey of Drug Abuse
2000. Washington, DC: Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration. 71. Print.
Occasions Home
A New Kind of “Natural” Design
The War on Drugs has given birth to a system of mass
incarceration that governs entire communities of color. Various
criminal and civil sanctions are used to control and oppress the racially
defined “other,” which have enormous effects on both individuals and
communities as a whole. Only by addressing the extraordinary social
and economic impacts of the War on Drugs and recognizing its racial
dimension can we begin to shift our crime policy from an agenda of
“war” to one of peace.
Contents
OCCASIONS
PWR Home
16
Flight has been a very important development in
human history. It has benefited many aspects of life, including
transportation of goods and speeding the rate of travel in the
modern world. Flight has also, surprisingly, influenced psychology
and the understanding of the human mind. Scholars such as
Sigmund Freud and his colleagues Paul Federn and Ernest Jones
link dreams of flying to other aspects of life (Scherr). Freud linked
flight to sexuality and repression. Federn’s theories linked flying to
a broader range of activities and aspirations. Federn notes that “In
flying the dreamer feels that he/she has ‘rediscovered a long lost
ability” (126). Whether we are awake or dreaming, flight has been
a preoccupation of humanity for millennia and even expanded our
understanding of the inner workings of the human mind.
For centuries, humankind has struggled with the question
of how to achieve flight while avoiding the plight of Icarus. Many
late-19th-century inventors, one of which was Otto Lilienthal, made
leaps and bounds in the direction of sustained flight. By mimicking
the form of birds and even flying squirrels, inventors and engineers
have been able to create flying devices to aid human flight. Lilienthal
understood this principle of biomimetics long before it was a field of
study. Lilienthal was inspired by cranes to invent his gliding device.
He studied the bone structure of crane’s wings as well as the role
the pattern of their feathers played in keeping them aloft. Lilienthal
flew many test runs in his gliding machine and achieved gliding
distances of up to 820 ft., which were never exceeded by anyone in
his lifetime (“Otto Lilienthal”). Lilienthal also designed versions of
biplanes. The most well-known inventors in the search for sustained
flight in the last century were the Wright brothers. They were the
first people on record to achieve sustained motorized flight. Their
achievement is well-know and a great feat of engineering. The
Wright brother’s invention was inspired by the work of Lilienthal
and his contemporaries and has let to the planes and spaceships of
today.
Figure. 1. Lilienthal’s gliding device (left) was inspired by the
form of a stork (right).
17
OCCASIONS
The wingsuit is the modern-day answer to this age-old
search for flight. A Frenchman named Patrick DeGayardon invented
the modern wingsuit in the mid-1990s. Since its invention, it has
been modified and improved on, becoming one of the modern-day
answers to humanity’s search for flight. Wingsuits and gliding
devices have been made of a wide range of materials, from canvas
and whalebones to silk and carbon fiber. Modern wingsuits have
minimal rigid support so that they remain maneuverable. The force
of the wind inflates the areas of the wings (two wings between the
body and arms and one wing connecting the legs) and gives the
wings enough stability that people flying in wingsuits do not have
to worry about keeping the wings extended by sheer force against
the wind. Flying squirrels, known scientifically as “pteromyimi,” are
a family of mammals that can extend their limbs to achieve flight
by gliding between trees. Technically, flying squirrels don’t “fly,” but
they have been recorded to glide up to 295 feet (“Flying Squirrel”).
Fig. 2. Wingsuits (left) were inspired by the form of flying
squirrls (right).
Wingsuits actually have a very similar structure to the
biological structure of this mammal. The flying squirrel was a large
factor in inspiring the wingsuit, which are sometimes even called
“squirrel suits.” Tonysuits Wingsuits Company is run by Tony
Uragallo. Tonysuits is one of the leading wingsuit manufacturing
companies in the United States. Uragallo worked with Patrick
deGayardon when he was designing the first wingsuits. By working
with deGayardon, Uragallo has become one of the premier winsuit
manufacturers in America. Tonysuits have been used by many of the
top wingsuit flyers to win international competitions and advance
the sport as well as to pursue flight in general. One wingsuit flyer
describes the device as an extension of his body. “When I zip my
wingsuit around my body, it becomes part of me. The suit allows
me to leap out of a plane or off a cliff, simply spread my wings
and then glide like a bird” (Pemberton). This achievement is what
humanity has been in search of since the beginning of recorded
history.
There are new developments in biomimicry that will
contribute directly to flight as well. Mercedes-Benz is working with
the aerodynamic shape of the boxfish to create a car that works more
efficiently with the air passing around it and requires less fuel to run
because it has less resistance (“15 Coolest Cases”). By applying this
principle of aerodynamics to planes and space shuttles, inventors
might also improve flight. Scientists from Penn State University
have come up with a new development in wing shape (“15 Coolest
Cases”). They were inspired by species of fish and birds. Different
birds’ wings are built for different speeds and amounts of flying
time. By making an airplane wing that can change shape in the air,
scientists have made faster flight possible while also using fuel more
efficiently. Given the study of the surface of birds’ wings in more
depth, the coating of flying devices could be outfitted to be more
aerodynamic. From applications of transportation (overseas flights
and creating the ability to quickly move products around the world),
to exploration (from wingsuit flying to outer space missions), flight
has changed the human experience drastically within the last
century.
There are many different applications of biomimicry
that can be applied to human designs. We are entering an age in
which biomimicry has moved beyond the study of flight to combat
complex human problems. While flight is an integral part of
daily life in the 21st Century, we now face complex environmental
problems that biomimicry can aid in solving. From making daily
life easier in developed countries to the more serious task of feeding
an overpopulated world, biomimicry is creating the technology to
achieve a wide range of solutions. In a study of 50 students at the
University of Colorado/Boulder, 68% believed that more money
should be spent on new technologies at the university itself, and
84% believed that their lives would see direct benefits from a larger
investment in biomimetic technology (Pasternack).
Scientists have studied shark’s skin to create material that
repels bacteria based on the structure of the surface (“15 Coolest
Cases”). This material has been used in hospitals so that there is
less need for using harsh chemicals, which is beneficial to society
because the use of harsh chemicals can cause antibiotic resistant
bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem. Once humans are
affected by antibiotic resistant bacteria, it can be very hard to treat
the ailments these bacteria cause. An example of this is the MRSA
infection, which is relatively common in hospitals these days. By
using this coating in hospitals and public places that would usually
accumulate a lot of bacteria, we could dramatically cut down the
number of people who infected. The coating makes it impossible
for bacteria to adhere to surfaces, for with no surface to attach to,
bacteria cannot survive. This has a wide range of applications and
could dramatically improve human health, including the suppression
of infectious bacteria!
OCCASIONS
By studying giant lotus plants, inventors have come up
with a coating that beads water and picks up dirt and other materials
on the surface and washes them away. In effect, this has created a
coating that is self-cleaning. It could have many applications, from
self-cleaning windshields on cars to skyscraper windows that never
need to be washed (“15 Coolest Cases”). Cutting down on the use
of harsh chemicals used to clean cars would make runoff of these
chemicals into waterways almost obsolete. The dangers posed to
cleaners of skyscrapers and other large, hard-to-clean areas would
also be eliminated.
Biomimicry is also an emerging field in the build environment.
By studying animal’s habitats and other natural processes, architects
have been able to create more efficient buildings. Mick Pearce’s
Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe, mimics the structure of a
termite mound, which is very efficient in temperature regulation as
well as ventilation. Temperature in the building is controlled by the
use of small moving flaps that open and close according to the need
for cool or warm air. This application of a passive cooling system
can dramatically cut down the energy required to keep a building at a
comfortable temperature (Pedersen Zari). This reduces the electricity
and even gas that buildings consume and could greatly cut down on
greenhouse gas emissions.
Another application of biomimicry in architecture is the
Eden Project. The Eden Project is a greenhouse built on top of a
mining site in the UK. Soap bubbles were studied to come up with
a design that was flexible enough to deal with the changing ground
levels, and carbon molecules were studied to come up with a support
structure that was strong enough to span the immense diameter
of the buildings (Pawlyn). Organisms’ pressurized membranes
were studied to come up with a material that could replace glass
because glass was too heavy. The designers used three layers of
clear material and welded around the edges and inflated the interior
to create a man-made pressurized membrane. Their design was so
efficient that the weight of the building ended up weighing less than
the weight of the air inside the building! Inside the buildings of the
Eden Project, the world’s biomes have been recreated to preserve
species from each biome. It is important to preserve these species
and prevent plant species extinction. By using biomimetics, we have
created viable structures in which to easily house these biomes long
term.
Transportation has also been improved through biomimicry.
When designing a bullet train, the West Japan Railway Company had
trouble with the performance of their train during testing. The air
pressure inside and outside tunnels is different, and this resulted in
a loud booming noise every time the bullet trains exited the tunnels.
To combat this, designers looked to the kingfisher. This bird’s beak
is designed to make the dive from the air into the water seamless.
The kingfisher doesn’t make a single splash as it enters the water.
The West Japan Railway Company redesigned the front of the trains
to mimic the kingfisher’s beak. This aerodynamic design made it
possible for the train to exit the tunnel without a loud noise. This is
beneficial in large cities because noise pollution has been shown to
have many detrimental effects. Loud noises can cause shocked drivers
to veer off of roadways and cause accidents. Noise pollution has also
been shown to cause mental agitation and, with prolonged exposure,
more serious mental health problems as well.
The Nambian Beetle (Stenocara gracilipes), which is a
native of the southwest coast of Africa, has been studied and has
benefited the field of water harvesting. The Nambian Beetle has
bumps patterned to attract water from the air (fog) and condense
it into water on the microscopic bumps of its shell. This process
has been used to create greenhouses that can function in areas with
low precipitation. The “windows” of the greenhouses are angled to
capture water from the air and funnel it to nourish the plants inside
the greenhouse. This design has been used in the Sahara Forest
Project, which utilizes it along the southern border of the Sahara
desert, where desertification is rampant. These greenhouses actually
produce more than enough water for the plants inside them and have
been shown to raise the humidity of the air around them enough
to reverse desertification. Desertification is caused by our changing
environment and is a danger to human progress because it prevents
food production in soil that has suffered desertification.
In conclusion, the search for flight has led to many
achievements. What started out as humanity’s obsession with
floating above the earth has led to many inventions that achieve just
that feat. It has also led to the application of other natural patterns
to achieve products that will benefit society. The field of biomimetics
will improve many lives, whether it be through products used for
recreation or live-saving technology.
Works Cited
“15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry.” Brainz. N.p. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Federn, Paul. “On Dreams of Flying.” Ed. H. M. Ruitenbeek. Heirs
to Freud: Essays in Freudian Psychology. New York: Grove,
1966. Print.
“Icarus.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 16
Nov. 2013.
“Otto Lilienthal.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Nov. 2013.
Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
Fig. 3. Bacteria (left) can be combated with bacteria resistant
shark like coating (right).
18
Fig. 4. The form of the Eden Project (left) was inspired by
studying soap bubbles (right).
Pasternack, Zoe. Survey of University of Colorado students. 5 Dec.
2013.
19
OCCASIONS
OCCASIONS
Pawlyn, Michael. “Using Nature’s Genius in Architecture.” Ted.
Ted Talks, Nov. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2013
Pemberton, Rex. “Passions Combined--Wingsuit from the North
Wall of the Eiger.” AllThingsAero. All Things Aero Media
LLC, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Of Dragons and Tips
By Travis Cobb
Pedersen Zari, Maibritt. “Biomimetic Approaches to Architectural
Design for Increased Sustainability.” New Zealand
Sustainable Building Project. SB07 New Zealand. Web. 16
Nov. 2013.
F
riday afternoon in the middle of fall semester, I rushed
to find my truck. I spent every penny I had earned
over two summers to buy it the moment I turned sixteen. It was
a beautiful fall day in Arkansas, and I couldn’t wait to drive with
the music blaring, down every back road I could find. Last warm
weekend with the guys. Damn, have to wait a minute longer. My
buddy Nathan, fifteen feet ahead, dropped his high stack of books all
over the ground.
Scherr, Arthur. “Sigmund Freud, Leonardo da Vinci, and Fear of
Flying.” Midwestern Quarterly. 42.2 (2001): 115-32. Web.
15 Nov. 2013.
Nathan was the leader of a great little church club on
campus. Unlike the other church clubs, his never ran an outreach
in an effort to “evangelize the lost.” However, you could find him
and his group regularly mowing the elderly’s lawns, or feeding the
homeless, or even cleaning up a neighborhood simply because it
was the right thing to do. He epitomized what every good-natured
young man wanted to be, and did it with confidence.
I ran to help him pick up his books as a sudden chilly
fall wind blew through the parking lot. I picked up the books and
handed them back. He wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“How you doing, man?” I asked quickly.
His eyes dropped: “I’m fine.”
He glanced up at me, and for the first time since I had
known him, I saw an unsure gaze. His eyes bounced away, his
shoulders slumped but still tense, pulling his books closer and
tighter to his chest in turning to walk away. This surely couldn’t be
the Nathan I remembered from even two days before when we met
to set up another trip to the homeless shelter.
Something welled up in me, and I started to ask if he
wanted to join the guys and me for the weekend, when I thought
better of it. This is the kid who has it going on. He is smart, goodlooking, confident, and universally known and admired. What did I
really have to offer him? Why would he even want to join a ragtag
group of guys swimming, grilling out, shooting off fireworks, and
playing video games and trying not to let our swears slip out in
front of my parents? Okay, it sounds pretty good, but he obviously
has his own plans for the weekend, and he doesn’t need me making
him feel bad for saying no.
I told him to have a good weekend, and he turned, looked
me straight in the eye, and simply nodded. I walked away with a
tightening knot in my stomach.
Contents
Occasions Home
PWR Home
20
The weekend was a blast, and everyone stuck around until
Sunday night. As Sunday wore on, the guys and some of the girls
crashed in random spots for an afternoon nap. My parents woke us
all up by turning on the evening news. “The young man that went
missing Friday night in Cabot, Arkansas, is still missing! More after
this short break. . . .”
We all munched on snacks and prepped the table for board
games. Then, commercial music fades away.
“A young man from Cabot High School went missing
Friday night. . . .” Everyone found a patch of carpet.
“His parents, who were working at their local church for
a fundraiser, first noticed him missing when they returned home.
Unfortunately, due to his age, we are unable to release his name.
After waiting for two hours, they called the police to assist in the
search. . . .”
Chris, my closest friend from down the street, pulled out
his phone. After a moment of listening he hung up.
“Guys, it’s Nathan! The kid that’s missing is Nathan.”
“By late morning, his parents became increasingly
concerned when his dog showed up at the house. The boy and his
dog were inseparable. . . .” We couldn’t turn our eyes away. My dad
changed the channel on the commercials, and everyone in the room
yelled at him to change it back. We sat there and waited for some
word that Nathan was okay to come through the speakers.
Thirty minutes later we knew nothing more. We started
the board games and kept the TV on low. At about 8 pm, the news
posted a special report.
Three cell phones started ringing almost at once. Tarvin
answered first. “They found him!”
“The boy was found about three miles from his house in the
middle of the woods. . . .”
Justin smiled as he hung up his phone. “Guys, remember
that place Nathan loved to hike to? That’s where he was.”
. . .”
“He was sitting in his favorite glen on the east side of a hill.
21
OCCASIONS
Greg held his phone to one ear and covered the other with
his left hand. Slowly, his arms dropped to his lap. His hands hit his
knees and his phone hit the floor at the same time. “He’s dead. He
shot himself.”
“He had shot himself. . . .”
When do we start concerning ourselves with other’s
affairs? When does it become just as important to make sure those
around you are acting correctly as it is to make sure you are? I
distinctly remember when it started for me.
I was four years old and playing at my best friend Sally’s
house. I had my GI Joe, and Sally had her Superman figure. We
were playing with a couple of girls from down the street. They
were having a tea party that needed saving from the Joker and
a dragon when Sally’s brother Brian came out of the house.
Brian was four years older than us and quite large for his age. He
regularly threw his weight around to get his way and even more
often to push people around for the fun of it.
When it rained in our neighborhood, the water always
pooled up at the bottom of the hill on top of this manhole. It had
just rained the night before, and there was still a puddle over the
manhole. Brian came down to the sidewalk and grabbed the girls’
dolls from the tea party and threw them in the puddle one by one.
After the second doll was thrown in and the girls were yelling at
Brian or crying, I found myself standing on my feet with my fists
clenched.
I stepped forward as Brian grabbed the third doll from
its chair and yelled, “Why do you have to be such a BITCH!?!”
I had no idea what I had just said, only that it must have been
tremendous from the look on everyone’s face. After a moment, I
realized that their looks were not of pride but of horror. I had
just crossed a line that we all knew was there, but we did not know
why.
Brian looked at me with his mouth open, and I knew what
was coming next. He started marching towards my house and
stated loud and proud, “I’m telling!” I tried to step in front of him
to stop him. After trying and failing at this a couple times, I simply
latched onto his leg as we entered my front yard. I pleaded and
begged for him not to tell my parents, but he simply kept dragging
me across the lawn to the front door.
As we got close, my mom came out and asked what was
going on. Brian told her what I had called him, and she looked
down at me holding onto his leg and shaking my head furiously.
She simply gave me that mom look that makes a boy sit up straight
and close his mouth while he is chewing and said, “Don’t you lie
to me, boy!” Those words were death to any lie. It’s not a question
or even an openness to the truth; it is a warning! It says all in one,
I know you are lying AND you better consider where it’s going
to take you if you continue. The only correct response is what I
chose: turn your eyes to the ground and don’t look her in the face;
she has just become Medusa and she will turn you to stone if you
don’t heed the warning.
Why did I do it? What land of crazy did I enter where I
thought calling him a bitch was a good idea? Something came over
me, and I cared, where I formerly didn’t, or at least not enough to
do anything about it myself. A couple weeks later, I walked outside
to play after lunch and Sally was sitting on the curb rubbing her
eyes. Of course I asked her what was wrong, and when she said
a girl she was good friends with told her she wasn’t any fun and
didn’t want to play with her, I had to help out. She was sad, and
I had to do what I could to make her happy. I promptly marched
down the street to the girl’s house, and knocked on the door. When
she answered, I told her that she was really mean and that Sally
was crying from what she had said. I finished with saying that she
should apologize, and if she wouldn’t, then no one should play
with her. The next day, she and Sally were playing dolls on the
girl’s front lawn.
***
When I started into kindergarten a year and a half later,
life got rough for a bit.
Within the first couple of weeks, I was involved in
three fights. One fight, a week into the school year, started after
I retrieved a buddy’s hat from some bullies who were teasing him
with it. After I sent him off with his hat, the ring-leader grabbed
my hat and asked me what I was going to do now. Without a
moment’s consideration, I punched him squarely in his nose and as
he started wailing, I picked up my hat from where it dropped.
Fighting for my friends continued unchecked and
regularly got me in trouble until I was ten years old. This was the
year when I stood up for a close girlfriend when a boy called her a
whore. When I started saying something to the boy, my friend told
me to stay out of it. I stepped back appalled, wondering what I had
done wrong. Then it hit me: maybe people didn’t want me to make
them feel better. Maybe they just wanted to ignore the things that
made them sad or angry or frustrated.
A few weeks later, while out on the field for Little League,
the oldest boy on our team started pushing the smallest kid
because he missed a pop-fly in the middle of a big game. I started
to tell him to stop when the bully turned on me and the little guy
glared at me--no pleaded with me--to do nothing. “No more!” I said
to myself.
Months later I watched as the same boys threw slushies
at the kid. I climbed on my bike and rode home without much
thought.
OCCASIONS
He told me no at first, and I tossed out the cliche, “Come
on! You know you want to.”
He fell for it, and we watched twenty minutes that
changed both our lives. Over the next week, Ben started spending
every minute alone. No more sleepovers and no more jumping
on the trampoline all afternoon. Within two weeks, we weren’t
hanging out at all.
A couple months into the next school year, sixth grade, I
was standing behind Ben in the lunch line as he asked one of the
girls to do very inappropriate things to him. A week later, I heard
that he was in trouble for possible verbal sexual assault.
Man, the kid had changed. Where was the fun-loving
goof ? He used to make me feel better, and then he just made me
feel dirty. He’d taken it too far and had no excuse. But I was my
own person, and he was his.
***
“Hey, Pampers! Why don’t you stop stinking up the bus
and change your diaper?” the boy yelled from the back row.
Gus Pamp, a boy from down the street, turned with red
cheeks and a running nose and shouted, “Shut the hell up!” My
hands curled into fists and tensed up with frustration over the
situation. I sat there quietly and watched as Gus ran down the
stairs and the driver slowly opened and closed the door. She moved
on down the street without saying a word. How could she? Didn’t
she see that Gus was desperate? The kid at the back of the bus
certainly deserved some sort of punishm. . . .
It was none of my business.
***
Ducky looked up from his notebook as Curtis yelled to
him, “Hey, Ducky! Want to join our club?”
Ducky looked at the group of larger boys standing in a
circle and asked, “Really?”
In a mocking tone, Curtis said, “Really. All you have to do
is pass our little initiation. Do you think you can handle that?”
***
22
“Oops! You looked.” Curtis chuckled.
“What are you talking abo. . . .” Ducky bent over and
groaned in pain. Curtis reared back to take out Ducky’s other shin
with his beefy Doc Martens. Just then every other boy in the circle
started kicking Ducky as hard as they could. Ducky crumpled to
the ground. My heart jumped as it did with Gus, but this time
I couldn’t stand idly by. They were breaking their own rule by
kicking Ducky in the head and stomach.
Before any of them could swing back for another go at
him, I jumped in and shoved Ducky out the side of the circle. The
group kicked me two or three times before they realized who I was.
All but Curtis suddenly backed away, leery of what I would do.
Curtis stepped forward, “What the hell do you think
you’re doing?” I gritted my teeth from the few kicks that landed
and pulled my shoulders back.
“Oh, I see, you want a turn too.” He reared back to kick
me, but before he had the chance I pinned him. My forearm on his
throat, and his back against a column. A quick sucking in of air
sounded all around me. He pulled his arm back to punch me, and I
ever so slightly increased the pressure on his throat. Curtis quickly
relaxed, but he retained a strained red face. “You’ll regret this,” he
proclaimed so everyone could hear him and sauntered off with his
crew in tow.
Ducky and I never found out why we should have
regretted that moment.
Ducky’s face after that moment, the face of gratitude and
acceptance, the wide watery eyes, trembling lips, and hands facing
to the sky. An expression of pursed lips, upward curled mouth,
and shrugging shoulders, of happy confusion. I had no idea that I
could give people the gift of feeling welcome. I brought him in to a
group I didn’t even know about, mine.
***
Later that year, a short stocky scrapper from the skater
group started pushing me from behind as I left the lunch room.
He was about half my size, so I simply kept walking as he grabbed
onto my backpack in an effort to get me to fight. He started yelling
taunts like, “Hey, big guy, you scared of a little guy, like me? Come
on, man, don’t be a pussy!” My feet kept moving.
“Wha . . . what do I have to do?” Ducky asked.
“Just come play a game of hackie-sack with us,” Curtis
said with a smirk.
The night dragged on after watching two movies already,
and Ben didn’t want to go to bed. He ran his fingers through
his shiny black mop as he flipped through ten more channels.
Sleepovers with Ben had become the summer ritual multiple times
a week. He landed on HBO at 3 am. Yeah, that time of the night.
He skipped past it quickly and then looked at me with an ashamed
look. I knew we shouldn’t watch it, but I told him to go back.
The guys at my middle school had come up with a stupid
game that year. They would hold two fingers in a circle and place
it somewhere on their bodies below the waist. If you looked at
the circle they were allowed to hit you as hard as they wanted to
anywhere except the face or the stomach.
Curtis, in his cruelty, took it further. Ducky, of course,
looked at the fingers Curtis was holding in a circle on his right leg.
Suddenly my buddy next to me was almost pulled off his
feet. I turned and wrenched my friend’s backpack from the little
punk’s hands. My friend stood staring until I told him to head to
class. As I turned back to keep an eye on the scrapper, he punched
me across the cheek. I simply stood my ground as my eyes started
watering. I gave this runt of a jackass my steadiest poker face. The
crowd that gathered let out an “Oooohhhh!” The scrapper took
a step back as a teacher walked up. Everyone was still shouting
“Fight!” over and over, though I didn’t notice it before. The teacher
told us both to go straight to the principal.
23
OCCASIONS
The principal towered above me, even from his chair behind the
desk. His voice seemed to shake the very room we were in. “What
happened?”
“Well, sir, I didn’t want to start a fight, but I wasn’t going
to let him hurt somebody.” “I understand, son. This boy is real
trouble and he just found someone he couldn’t push around. You
did nothing wrong. Go ahead to class.”
Oddly, I wondered what was in the future for this kid.
“What’s going to happen to him?” just sorta popped out.
The principal looked at me with eyebrows raised, “He’ll
probably get expelled.” “Wait, why? It was just one incident, I
didn’t mean to get him expelled.”
Same raised eyebrows, “Well . . . this kid has a history, son.
Nothing you did changed where this was leading. Now, go-on and
head to class.”
I head back to class slowly. Really!?! This guy is an ass. He
gets off on pushing kids around, terrorizing people. . . . But there
was something different from Curtis, a longing for connection,
not control. The moment I passed him before he started pushing
me, where were his eyes? Focused elsewhere, a group, the clan of
skater-kids that were always in the driveway during lunch. He was
just trying to fit in. . . . Was he someone else’s Ducky? . . . .This
was just his initiation.
***
My dad shuts off the TV, and his voice seems to echo
from some distant place: “Did any of you guys know him well?” . . .
.Back to reality. Ahhh, Nathan, right. Many of my friends nod their
heads and sit quietly for a bit.
As the guys slowly thin out, most leave with their eyes to
the ground.
I see Nathan’s face, a tower of books in his hands, that
quiet reserved look in his eye. He seems motionless, and yet I’m
moving and talking at unthinkable speeds. Over and over again,
sentence after sentence I could have said to him comes spilling out.
“Want to come? Want togo!?! Wanttosee!!?! Want!to!join!!?!!” Blahblah-blah. Every possible choice that could have saved him.
the Air Force base, asks me curtly what I need. I quietly tell him
that I need him. He looks at me with a sudden change. His eyes
caring and soft now. He comes close and asks, “What’s going on,
buddy?” I hug him fiercely, wetting his shoulder and his neck as
the last two years spill out of me. My story finishes with, “What
should I have done?”
I’m standing in the bathroom, who knows what time.
Eyes are red, nose running, and my stomach aches. It’s funny how
being deeply sad and joyously happy look the same. Snot drips on
my shirt, my neck feels moist, and still arms hang at my side and
I simply gaze at this person. Flashes of the last few weeks come
back to me. I’ve stood here a lot lately when no one else could see
me. What could I have done?
He holds me close, “You should have invited him, but you
didn’t. Now you need to learn from it.” I suddenly feel settled. He
holds me tight as the minutes pass. The heartache lessens a bit and
I can breathe. Nathan died, and maybe I could have saved him. I
didn’t though, and now my life moves on.
Months pass and life returns. Every couple weeks I
find myself gazing at that odd man in the mirror again. Then it
changes to once a month. Two years go by, and no one knows. I
still feel like imploding, never speaking to anyone again, running
away and finding a small shack in the woods.
Tarvin, a buddy from down the street, talks about getting
his new car. His voice trails off in my mind for a bit. Then he asks
me if something is a good idea. What does it matter? God, is this
really that important? “Is what a good idea again?”
The days begin to merge. One week passes in a blur.
Three weeks pass.
After getting home one Wednesday, I sit next to my bed
just inside my room, and the sounds of my parents getting home
filter in. I crawl around to the thin space next to the far wall. This
mattress is tall enough--they won’t see me sitting here. My name
rings in my head, a far-off gong beckoning me back to reality. I
slouch below the edge as my father stands in the doorway. He can’t
see me. There it is, my name again, then quiet. Mom and Dad must
be at church. How long have I been sitting here? Why? It’s dark
outside. Then it flashes through my head again.
All the possible responses were clear in my head for once,
and then my Dad’s words echo from the past. I calmly take a step
towards him and say, “Don’t let your fucking pride get in the way
of taking care of your family. I didn’t do this for you, asshole. Take
this and buy your baby some diapers and get a good apartment.”
He just looks at me for a moment, and then I leave. Every day for
the next two months, I quietly hand him my tips. The harassment
stops, and, on my final day, before I head back to the states, we
simply nod at each other before I walk out.
***
A few months later, Callie, a good friend from the
cheerleading squad, tells me she is dating a college guy. She
explains that her parents hate that she’s dating him and wants her
to break it off. Her eyes look desperate, defensive. I hug her while
standing in the rain and tell her that she is beautiful and smart
and that she shouldn’t do anything rash just to spite her parents. I
remind her that she has a sweet heart with good insight. She stares
at me, wanting a straightforward answer.
“Take some time.”
Her eyes still locked. She shouldn’t be doing this. What is
she thinking!--QUIET!
“Damn, Travis! Are you even paying attention?” Tarvin
asks. “This is important!”
“Listen to your heart. You know the answer. Just focus on
being open to hearing it.” Callie gives me a hug, kisses me on the
cheek, and walks off.
Ironic. “Sorry man, just got lost in thought. What was it
again?” “Should I ask Tracy out!?! Do you think I have a chance?”
Yup, not that important. “Yeah man, you should go for it.
You got this.”
A couple weeks later, I walk into my youth pastor’s office,
“Hey, Shane, you got a bit to talk?”
I’m standing over the kitchen sink looking at my
fingertips; they glisten from the single light over the counter. Then
my hands are dull and I’m sitting in bed. Don’t remember falling
asleep or waking up, just seemed to come to as a buddy asks me if I
am coming to class. He tells me, as we are walking to biology, that
I was just standing there, looking off into space.
OCCASIONS
“Yeah, of course. What’s up?”
I carefully walk him through that day, but before I even
explain what I’ve been going through he jumps in.
***
I’m standing at the end of the grocery store register in
the commissary on the Air Force base in Guam. Only months ago,
I was standing with Callie in the rain. Now I’m packing paper bags
with an older lady’s food. Seems like a world away. Another bagger
stands behind me arguing with his girlfriend.
“It’s not your fault, Travis. Nathan made his own choice.”
So this is what it feels like to be disregarded.
I say OK but, why then should we care about how we treat
others at all if their actions are their own and we can’t change
them? Why be nice, or considerate. . . . There has to be something
real in what I am feeling. My mind reels again, lost after two years
of trying to find myself.
***
Thoughts of what Shane said run around the track in my
mind for a few days.
I stand in the doorway to my parents’ bedroom. My father,
having just got home from a twelve-hour stint on the runway at
24
“We can’t survive like this!” he yells.
“We have to, or I will on my own! I’m not getting rid of
our baby!” she yells back as she returns to her register.
For months, this guy wouldn’t stop making fun of me
for being a “haole” (off- islander). He would speak in his native
language to all of the older ladies that bagged with us. Tauntingly,
they laughed and pointed at me throughout each day. Many times, I
wanted to tackle him after work for how he made me feel. My heart
twists though when I hear their fight.
That day, I make some of the highest tips ever. That one
old lady gives me a twenty dollar bill for carrying two bags to her car. I
walk away with over sixty dollars for four hours of work. As I meander out
to my bike, this bully of a guy saunters out behind me. I stop him before he
got to his car and without a word place the wad of money in his hand. He
looks at me with resentment and says, “I don’t need your fucking money.”
Contents
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PWR Home
25
OCCASIONS
Becoming Changing Woman
By Kiimberly Preston
As
I took off running to the east, the first beams of
sunlight peaked above the horizon, transforming
the sky into a million shades of pink. Although I had been awake
all night, I felt alert and energized as I ran in the thick woven wool
dress and turquoise jewelry. My heavy necklace bounced against my
chest as the chill air whipped my face and my newly washed hair flew
behind me. My moccasins felt light on my feet despite being bound in
huge layers of buckskin around my calves. As the sun began to rise
higher, I started hearing the sounds of my family and friends running
behind me in support. As I came to a stop on top of a tall rock ledge
and looked out over the vast desert landscape, I felt different. I knew
that when I returned back to everyone, I would be seen as an adult
instead of the small middle-schooler I was.
Growing up, I visited my family on the reservation often,
sitting quietly in small hogans1 and trailers, listening as my family
babbled away in Navajo. “Yá’át’ééh2 child,” they would say as the
shook my small little hands. They would sit and talk for hours,
intermixing English and Navajo words in each sentence. When I
was lucky, I could escape out into the dry red dirt and play with my
cousins until the stray dogs came around looking for food. We would
wander down dusty dirt roads until we could look out across the edge
of the mesa. Or, we would ride in the back of a pickup, out to my
parent’s hogan that has a clear view of the San Francisco Peaks, one
of the four sacred mountains.
I was always the “cousin from California,” the one kid who
didn’t look native, the one kid with colored eyes and lighter hair. My
skin wasn’t so dark, and I either wasn’t so tall or wasn’t as round as
the other kids. I hadn’t lived in a trailer on the reservation my whole
life, wasn’t learning Navajo in school, and hadn’t grown up in the
harsh desert climate. I was somewhat of an outsider, and although
everyone knew I was different, I was still family and had still grown
up with an understanding of the traditional beliefs.
Once I got older, everyone would ask my parents, “When will
you have her kinaaldá3?” “Where will it be?” “Better start preparing
1
Hogan (HO-gahn): eight-sided building that is a
traditional Navajo home. Usually has a dirt floor with a smoke
hole in the roof to draft a central fire. Also used for traditional
ceremonies.
2
Yá’át’ééh (ya-at-eh): Navajo greeting used for “Hello”.
Literally translates to, “It is good.”
3
Kinaaldá (kee-nahl-DAH): traditional coming-of-age
ceremony for Navajo girls.
now.” Much like in the Jewish tradition, the Navajo perform a comingof-age ceremony for girls when they reach puberty, but, instead of
one large service, the kinaaldá is a few days long.
I had been looking forward to mine for years, with nervousness
and anticipation. The ceremony would transition me into adulthood
and demonstrate my strength in front of an entire community. In
some ways, I was surprised at how many people wanted to help me into
this new stage in my life. From the cooking to the nightlong prayers,
every member of the family was involved. Family friends from around
the country, who had seen me grow up, came, and even people I had
never met were there to support me and celebrate the traditional and
ancient ceremony that would bring another Diné4 woman into the
community. All these people stayed up with me throughout the nights
of prayers, and they spent the days keeping me awake and giving me
advice. The medicine man and his wife sat with me for hours during the
day, talking to me about my new responsibilities as a woman and how
to respect myself, and others, and continue to work hard in everything
I do to make an impact on the world.
For an entire day, I sat in the sweltering hogan, grinding
corn with a grinding stone for the alkaad, which is a large cake baked
during the last part of the ceremony. The circular cake, which spanned
a few feet in diameter, was placed in the ground lined by cornhusks and
buried. A large fire was built on top and tended to throughout the night
by my uncle Roy, brother Bob, and other male family members. While
I grinded corn, a sheep was slaughtered and traditionally skinned by
the women to prepare for a large meal the next day. I took a break
and watched in astonishment as my grandma dug though a large bowl
of sheep intestines, preparing a traditional dish of intestines coiled
around strips of fat and grilled. In addition to the cake preparation, I
was required to run in the four directions at dawn, noon, and dusk to
show my endurance and strength. The ceremony was grueling, and
when I wasn’t working on grinding corn or running, I was struggling
to stay awake from being up all night in prayer.
OCCASIONS
Coming into the ceremony, I was still a girl--a girl who
loved her culture and was eager to be brought into the world as
a young woman in such a special and spiritual way. The story of
Changing Woman, the daughter of First Man and First Woman,
had been told to me as a young child and depicts the first kinaaldá.
She created the plan for the Earth, and from her skin she created the
initial four clans, one of which, Tó dích’íinii, or Bitter Water Clan,
is mine. Just like Changing Woman, I ran for the last time, starting
before the sun had risen on the last day. My hair been freshly washed
with yucca5 root and tied back in a Tsii’yeel6 by my mother as the fire
above the corn cake died down outside. A lot relied on the cake. A
good cake meant a good future, cooked all the way through without
any burns. When I returned from the run, the sun had risen all the
way, and even more people had arrived for the end of the ceremony.
Seeing all the people standing around waiting, waiting for me, was
intimidating, but I knew I now possessed the strength to push past
my shyness and be introduced to my community.
They had all come to be blessed. Not by the
medicine man. But by me. In the Navajo culture,
women are the leaders and are sacred for their
ability to bear children and to nurture. When people
hear about a kinaaldá taking place, they come from
all around to be blessed by the new woman. As over
a hundred people formed a line, I lay down on a rug outside, and
my closest female family members began to touch my arms and
legs, symbolically molding me into a woman. After, each person
approached and asked me to bless and mold them. Many asked me
to touch their back to heal pain or their head to clear their minds of
any bad thoughts. Although it felt strange to be seen as a healer, the
feelings of maturity began to come to me. I was now the center of
attention and focus of everyone’s prayers in a community that I was
only able to visit a couple times a year and had often felt separate
from. Often, I had felt like I couldn’t relate to my cousins or other
women in my family because I had not grown up the same way as
them and hadn’t lived in an entire community of Native peoples
my whole life. I had always been proud of my heritage and was
grateful I was able to experience traditional ceremonies my whole
life, but I had never felt so accepted into my community until then.
As the ceremony ended, and the women in my family greeted me, I
realized I had been accepted and initiated into a group of strong and
spiritual women who understood the significance of the traditional
ways and teachings and who would continue to teach me the ways
of my people.
The warmth and support that surrounded me were amazing.
“You’re doing great,” everyone said. “If only your father was here; he
would be so proud to see you doing this,” my tiny frail grandmother said
to me one morning. I knew that although he wasn’t there to support me
physically, he was thinking about me and staying up all night in prayer
as well.
5
Yucca: An evergreen plant in the agave family, with
stiff, spiked leaves and clusters of white flowers. The root
squeezed in water makes a soapy liquid. Leaves can be
beaten and the fibers woven into baskets or rope. Native
Americans also use the plant for several medicinal purposes.
4
Diné (dee-NEH): Navajo word meaning “The People,”
which Navajos use to describe themselves.
6
Tsii’yeel (SEET-yeel): Traditional hair bun of a Navajo
woman. Tied at the back of her head and tied with white
buckskin or white yarn, it signifies that she is a woman.
26
Contents
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27
OCCASIONS
Subsidizing Inequality: The Socioeconomic Effects of the North
American Free Trade Agreement on Mexican Corn Producers
By Emma Salditt
Abstract
T
his report examines the socioeconomic effect of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on
Mexico’s largest agricultural sector, the corn industry. The purpose
of this report is to address NAFTA’s lack of regulation on U.S.
corn subsidies, which heavily distort the salability of Mexican corn.
Having not been met with the appropriate policies to fully ensure free
trade between the NAFTA nations, Mexico’s once most profitable
export crop is now dwarfed by the artificially low prices of American
corn. Although free market reform and economic integration under
NAFTA promised prosperity in Mexico, millions of people have been
affected by trade-distorting corn subsidies and are now forced to
migrate to Mexico’s extremely overcrowded urban areas. The lack
of economic opportunities in these urban areas has subsequently led
to an increase in both legal and illegal Mexican immigration into the
United States. Lacking in profitable incentives to diminish U.S. corn
subsidies, an overwhelming number of U.S. policy makers choose to
ignore the economic disparities that their profit-driven policies are
forcing onto Mexico’s agricultural sector. After contextualizing the
effects of corn trade on the increase of Mexican immigrants to the
U.S., this report will provide a variety of policy proposals intended
to influence decisions made by policy makers, economically active
outside parties, and consumers alike.
Exposing North America’s Political Economy
I
n the context of today’s international political economy,
the policies and guidelines that govern the international
trade of commodities have varying social and political effects on
all countries, regions, and sectors of contemporary society. The
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has become a
key player in the inevitable interdependence of countries in today’s
global economy. What NAFTA lacks, however, are transparent policy
guidelines that ensure its three member States receive proportional
socioeconomic gains from the agreement. In this situational report
published for the Foreign Affairs periodical, I intend to expose to
readers the devastating socioeconomic effects of NAFTA on the
livelihoods of Mexican agricultural producers, specifically those in
the corn industry.
This report intends to first shed light on how trade under
NAFTA has affected the standard of living for corn producers in
Mexico and will then further analyze how this correlates to Mexican
immigration across the border into the United States. I will begin by
underlining the reasons for and impacts of trade between the three
nations and then look at the costs and benefits of free-trade-distorting
protection measures such as tariffs and subsidies. This theoretical
knowledge will then be applied to the case of sensitive corn trading
between Mexico and the U.S. after the implementation of NAFTA.
Once the case of corn trade in NAFTA is exposed, I will bring forth
evidence that solidifies NAFTA’s causal relationship to the increase
of Mexican immigration into the U.S.. Finally, the report will offer
various policy recommendations that could be adopted by both the
Mexican and American governments, as well as their consumers, in
order to truly promote equality through free trade.
False Promises under NAFTA
NAFTA is a trilateral “free trade” agreement between
the United States, Canada, and Mexico that was officially enacted
on January 1, 1994, after the U.S. and Canada found it mutually
advantageous to include Mexico in their forum for trade. NAFTA’s
original intention was to act as a forum among the three trading
relationships to enhance the economies of the U.S., Canada, and
Mexico while simultaneously promoting democracy through the
prosperity of free trade. However, adverse effects of NAFTA were felt
in particular by Mexican corn producers, one of the most historically
and culturally significant agricultural sectors in Mexico’s economy.
Why Corn Isn’t Mexico’s Market
With a newly established commitment by the Mexican
government to market liberalization and capitalism, U.S. export
industries were adamant about Mexico’s joining NAFTA. The
promise of new markets, untapped capital, and an eager workforce
convinced nations like the U.S. to confidently invest in Mexico’s
rapidly growing industries. With all three States eager to sign,
NAFTA was drafted with the intentions of significantly reducing
trade-distorting agricultural measures; however, despite the relief of
tariffs, quotas, and international subsidies, U.S. domestic subsidies on
selected crops remained high. In turn, these barriers to trade distorted
the price of American corn up to 40 percent, making U.S. corn appear
significantly cheaper than its Mexican counterpart (Wise, 2010).
After the Mexican peso crisis of the late 1980s subsided,
Mexico’s economy underwent a large structural change, transforming
the majority of Mexico’s state-owned enterprises into privately
owned corporations. Mexico has since seen a boom in private
industries and investment projects, ultimately promoting semi-rapid
industrialization and an increase in international investment, trade
creation, and foreign competition (Oatley, 2012). This new form
of economic stability has, however, not been realized in Mexico’s
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once large agricultural sector. According to The Hecksher-Ohlin
model of trade, which accounts for “cross-national differences
in factor endowments,” we would expect Mexico to capitalize on
their abundant factors of production, namely arable land and
an abundance of cheap labor (Oatley, 2012, p.161). However, the
opposite phenomenon is occurring. Domestic agricultural subsidies
on U.S. crops, provided by the USDA and independent farmer
associations, remain much too high for the largely decentralized
Mexican corn producers to compete.
By capitalizing on political and economic power to
circumvent NAFTA, U.S. subsidies on corn not only violate the
fundamentals of the agreement but also contradict American values
of democracy (debate .org). In 1993, over 3 million subsistence corn
farmers were recorded in Mexico, meaning they produced enough
to support only their family and farms (Cornelius & Martin, 1993).
On average, these farmers own about 5 acres of land on which they
grow and harvest their corn (Cornelius & Martin, 1993). In addition
to small farm owners, another 3 million workers without their own
land perform daily labor for small private landowners (Wise, 2012).
To support its largest agricultural market, the Mexican government
adopted a program in 1990 called “Procampo,” in which direct cash
payments were provided to farmers based on their output of corn
(U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, 2012). Once “Procampo” was
completely phased out in 2008, revenue in Mexico’s maize sector
further declined in the wake of American competition. Ever since,
cheap American corn has been dumped on the Mexican market,
ultimately displacing a massive number of small-scale Mexican
corn producers and leaving them with no choice but to turn north.
Why Corn Should be Mexico’s Market
The production of corn and other traditional agricultural
commodities has historically played a large role in the Mexico’s
economy, culture, and identity. According to an extensive 1993
report produced by Wayne A. Cornelius and Philip L. Martin
titled “The Uncertain Connection: Free Trade and Rural Mexican
Migration to the United States,” over 30 percent of Mexico’s 115
million inhabitants relied on the high prices of Mexican corn as a
safety net prior to NAFTA (Cornelius & Martin, 1993 I CIA World
Factbook). Before NAFTA, the Mexican government supported
high prices of corn by buying it at a price double that of the world
price.
According to the United States-Mexico Chamber of
Commerce, Mexican agriculture is a much more significant
factor in Mexico’s GDP than it is in the U.S. Recent statistics show
that agriculture still contributes to 8 percent of Mexico’s GDP and
employs around 22 percent of its total labor force, which is roughly
8 million workers (U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, 2012). In the
U.S., however, agriculture composes only 2 percent of total GDP and
employs a mere 2.7 percent of the workforce, estimated at about 3.8
million workers (U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, 2012). It is clear
through these simple statistics that Mexico has a traditional comparative
advantage over the U.S. in agricultural production. In regards to corn
production, however, U.S. domestic price support, coupled with better
transportation, more efficient farming techniques, and economies of
scale, leaves Mexican maize producers completely dwarfed.
The Reality of Joining NAFTA
A Lack of Infrastructure
In collaboration with the Mexican Institute of Economic
Competitiveness, The World Bank produced a detailed report in
2007 titled “Integration of the North American Market for Sensitive
Agricultural Policies,” which outlines the policy implications for
Mexican producers and consumers in the corn market. The paper
suggests that Mexican producers are much less competitive than
their North American counterparts and that, with the elimination of
American subsidy support programs, the farmers’ competitiveness
will continue to decrease (World Bank, 2007). Evidence from the
report suggests that Mexico’s lack of agricultural competitiveness
with U.S. crops is an issue deeply rooted in its lack of proper supply
chains and distribution mechanisms. This problem is nothing new
to small scale Mexican producers; however, the consequences
from the lack of infrastructure and technology have been largely
exacerbated under NAFTA. Lacking the institutional structures and
distribution methods to efficiently distribute corn on a large scale,
Mexico’s small and medium-scale producers suffer from a yield
gap as low as 43% a year (Wise, 2010). It has been estimated that
most of the country’s rain­fed farms operate with a yield potential
of up to 50% less than they would if farmers had access to largescale irrigation techniques. Lacking similar institutional structures
and government funded subsidy programs given to American corn
producers, Mexican farmers find themselves struggling to breathe
under the growing mountain of cheap corn imported from America.
The Burden of U.S. Corn Subsidies
Once NAFTA expanded to include the Mexican market
in 1994, it was agreed that a set of sensitive agricultural products
were allowed a 15-year transition period, during which existing
protection measures could gradually be eliminated (Wise, 2010).
Corn, representing a staple agricultural product in all three
markets, fell into this category. However, when this transition
period came to an end in 2008, the elimination of agricultural tariffs
and quotas was observed, but federal domestic subsidies remained
undisciplined. Timothy A. Wise, policy program research director
at Tufts University and specialist on agricultural policy and rural
development in Latin America, offers extremely valuable insight
into the real effects of agricultural trade in Mexico. In his paper,
“The Impact of U.S. Agricultural Policies on Mexican Producers”
(2010), Wise suggests that NAFTA poses clear risks to the large
smallholder population in Mexico whose livelihoods depend
heavily on crop competition with the U.S.. His central argument,
adopted by many trade experts, suggests that although reductions
in tariffs and quotas have already taken place, trade-distorting U.S.
subsidies continue to dwarf the Mexican corn market. Wise depicts
this devastating blow to the Mexican corn market by stating that
in 1996, after a mere two years of NAFTA, there was an import
increase of over 400 percent of American corn (Wise, 2010).
Statistics from the U.S. Environmental Working Group’s
farm subsidy database suggest that domestic corn subsidies between
the years of 1995 and 2011 have totaled $89,752,363,872 over the 16-
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OCCASIONS
year period, averaging at about 5.6 billion dollars a year, depending
on the year’s harvest conditions (EWG: Farm Subsidies, 2012).
Corn is harvested on over 400,000 farms in the U.S., collectively
encompassing 72.7 million acres (U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 2013). In the year 2000 alone, the average receipts from U.S.
corn sales amounted to a whopping $15.1 billion (U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 2013). Lacking the assurance of subsidy safety
nets that guarantee U.S. corn producers large recipients, Mexican
farmers have been forced to make strategic decisions about whether
to continue suffering from declining competition of their products
or to uproot their traditional livelihoods in search of better economic
opportunities.
According to Oxfam, the price of U.S. corn arrives on
Mexican markets at an average of 19 percent below the cost of
and the host State. The rate of displaced and unemployed Mexican
corn producers and their families is too high for the insufficient
number of jobs offered in urban areas of Mexico, resulting in higher
unemployment rates in both urban and rural sectors. NAFTA
initially promised the Mexican economy that, through Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) from the U.S. and Canada, there would be
a massive increase in the demand for labor in Mexico’s urban areas.
However, due to the volatile economic conditions in the late 1990s
and early 2000s, the potential to undergo the “modernization of
Mexico’s economy” was not realized and is ultimately leaving people
with little choice but to leave Mexico behind (Relinger, 2010, p.16).
When applying the socioeconomic principle of rational
choice theory, we can easily explain the increasing trend in migration
out of rural Mexico. This theory assumes that both individuals and
Despite the colorblind rhetoric of recent years, the design of the War on Drugs effectively
guarantees that those swept into the criminal justice system are predominately black and
brown. African Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than
whites, but they are made criminals at extraordinarily higher rates for the same conduct.
production in Mexico. In an interview conducted by the American
Organic Consumers Association with local Mexican corn producer
Casto Davila in the southern state of Jaisco, Davila expressed that
“farmers have long since felt abandoned” and that he and his father
barely break even with rock-bottom corn prices of .25 cents per
kilogram (Campbell & Hendricks, 2006). Since NAFTA, prices for
corn decreased 66 percent in Mexico in relation to pre-NAFTA
prices (Wise, 2010). Although NAFTA claims that overall consumer
welfare in Mexico is enhanced by means of cheaper food and lower
inflation rates through the reduction in government spending on
corn subsidies, highly adverse impacts were felt by the 2.3 million
people who, since the time of NAFTA, have left agriculture in
Mexico (Wise, 2010). In addition to their displacement, over 5
million “unpaid family farm members” have also been forced to
migrate elsewhere (Wise, 2010). The overproduction and dumping
of American corn has cost Mexican corn farmers around $6.6 billion
between the years of 1997-2005, averaging at a loss of $700 million
a year (Wise, 2010). In terms of the losses felt by individual farms,
this averages out to a loss of $99/hectare per year, a devastating
blow to centuries of tradition in Mexico (Oxfam).
The Costly Pursuit for Stability
The Stress of Subsidies on Labor Migration
To grasp Mexico’s socioeconomic agricultural problem in
its entirety, it is essential that this report provide insight on how U.S.
corn exports to Mexico are pushing Mexicans to immigrate into the
U.S. in search of better economic opportunities. Modern theories of
interstate labor migration suggest that migration trends are highly
dependent on the economic conditions in both the country of origin
groups make logical decisions that provide them with the most
beneficial outcomes in terms of social and economic status. Applying
this theory to migration in Mexico entails making a rational decision
by looking at both “push” and “pull” factors, as well as weighing the
costs and benefits of remaining in the corn industry. Implications
of this can be noted by the large rise in displaced Mexican farmers
who have been forced or “pushed” away from their long tradition of
producing corn.
The movement of agricultural laborers in Mexico can be
characterized by “push” factors such as unemployment, poverty,
and lack of other business opportunities in rural Mexico. These
“push” factors have resulted in a migratory trends towards urban
areas in Mexico; however, employment prospects continue to
remain low in overcrowded urban areas that have yet to benefit
from the promise of increased FDI in Mexico after NAFTA. The
“pull” factors encouraging emigration into the U.S. are extremely
prominent. These factors include the prospect of job security,
higher wages, joining established social networks, and, ultimately,
a higher standard of living. Thus, as the profit prospects for smalland medium-sized domestic corn producers continue to drastically
decrease, the displacement of millions of workers in Mexico’s largest
agricultural sector is inevitable. With the lack in effective policies
large enough to properly retrain and reallocate these workers into
other sectors of the work force, the trend in the immigration of
displaced workers in rural Mexico across the border into the United
States will continue to grow.
To Run or Not to Run?
Job creation in urban areas was to some extent noticed by
means of FDI and export diversification, but not nearly enough
opportunities were created to compensate for those displaced
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OCCASIONS
by the shrinking profit margins in the agricultural sector. Since
the beginning of NAFTA, experts have argued that, with the
liberalized flow of goods, services, and capital, it remains puzzling
that regulations concerning the flow of people were not liberalized
but rather strengthened. It was largely believed that the trade
agreement would reduce illegal immigration from Mexico because
Mexicans would, as claimed by Uchitelle, “enjoy the prosperity and
employment that the trade agreement would undoubtedly generate”
(Uchitelle, 2007). Uchitelle notes that “tens of thousands of farmers
who cultivated corn would act ‘rationally’ and continue farming, even
as less expensive corn imported from the United States flooded the
market” and then slowly diversify into exporting other agricultural
products (Uchitelle, 2007). What they have been exporting to the
U.S., however, is themselves, with many joining family already in the
U.S..
The rational pursuit for stable employment and better
wages (or the prospect of a wage at all) has created a “network
effect” in which many young Mexicans have mobilized themselves
in growing numbers to join family already in the United States.
Jeffrey Passel, a demographer at the Pew Hispanic Institute, reveals
the hard truth aboput Mexican emigration to the U.S., stating that
the number has risen from less than 400,000 immigrants a year preNAFTA in the early 1990s to more than 500,000 a year recorded in
2007 (Uchitelle,2007). Passel also estimates that “roughly 80 percent
to 85 percent of immigrants are [in the U.S.] illegally,” of which the
majority are displaced rural families (Uchitelle, 2007). The ability of
displaced Mexican corn producers to move to new industries within
Mexico requires acquiring new skills and relocating families, both
of which are too timely and costly to be provided by the Mexican
government. Thus, millions of corn producers and their families are
left to evaluate the “push” factors leading them to emigrate and the
“pull” factors attracting them to a developed country such as the
United States.
Costs of immigration are high due to America’s strict
border controls; risks include costs to human life during travel and
on the border as well as the separation of families. The increase
in Mexican migrant social bases and networks in the U.S. are
encouraging border crossing. Through this, it is clear that as these
socioeconomic networks continue to strengthen, incentives pulling
migrants into the U.S. will increase cross border emigration, just as
it has been since 1994.
How to Hold On
Restructuring Mexico from Within
Restructuring domestic agricultural and infrastructural
policies in Mexico would be the most enduring way to alleviate
unemployment in its agricultural sector. However, this will be very
costly for the decentralized Mexican government. A committee
within NAFTA should be appointed to take financial responsibility
to invest in such structural changes in the Mexican economy.
Investments should be made in transportation infrastructure such
as rail access to facilitate the movement of goods between producers
and markets. Warehouses for crop storage should be made available
to farming communities in order to facilitate producers in managing
sales and reducing risk. NAFTA should also organize and fund largescale informational and skill training campaigns to teach farmers
about more efficient techniques and familiarize them with new
farming technology. Often lacking credit to make investments in
their farms, the Mexican government could implement microcredit
loan programs, allowing farmers to finance their production with
appropriate resources. When offered appropriate techniques to do so,
Mexican corn producers could capture their comparative advantage
in small niche markets such as red corn and blue corn.
Shifting the Spotlight
By creating a more permeable border for the flow of
goods, services, and capital, NAFTA officials failed to consider
the implications it would have on immigration due to the massive
number of displaced farmers unable to find jobs in Mexico’s urban
areas. The traditional dynamics of Mexican agriculture production
were thrown out of place after NAFTA and were not met with
substantial economic or social reforms to compensate those affected.
In his analysis on immigration trends post NAFTA, researcher
Peter Andreas states that “concerns over labor migration were
deliberately excluded from NAFTA negotiations” and placed in the
“too hot to handle” category so not to overshadow the potential
economic benefits it could bring Mexico (Andreas, 1996). Patterns
of labor migration from Mexico into the U.S. have been prevalent
in North American history for at least a century; however, after
NAFTA, these patterns have proliferated to affect broader groups in
Mexican society.
Rethinking Immigration
In order to alleviate the socioeconomic pressures of Mexican
emigration into the U.S., it is essential that both governments
agree to revise their current emigration policies. In order for these
revisions to be approved by American citizens, discussions must be
transparent and should reflect the commitment to democracy that
NAFTA once stood for. Both the U.S. and Mexican governments
should correlate to provide social and economic networks as well as
informational resources in cities where large portions of Mexican
immigrants reside. Education opportunities for children entering
with their families are essential because they would help to integrate
these families into American society and facilitate future employment
prospects.
Training immigrants to acquire skills relevant to the
U.S. job market will ultimately benefit the American workforce.
Providing these benefits to the whole family will also decrease the
amount of remittances to Mexico, effectively leaving more money
to stay in circulation in the American economy. The tradeoff to
pursuing these policies is social aggravation, which would be felt by
American citizens who may believe these immigrants are a burden
to the U.S. economy and society. To alleviate this, Americans should
be informed through informational campaigns on the benefits
immigrant workers bring to the U.S. economy. Naturally, these
policies will take time to develop and formalize, but it is essential
that immigration policy be adjusted to compensate those displaced
from liberalized economic policies after NAFTA.
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OCCASIONS
Our Responsibility
Alleviating the hardships felt in Mexico as a result of
NAFTA does not start and stop at the hands of elected bureaucrats.
For economically active members in contemporary society, it is the
responsibility of U.S. consumers to seek justice for hard-working
Mexican farmers and restore dignity to their fields. Drawing
attention to the highly successful Delano Grape Strike in the U.S.
during the late 1960s, consumers and producers alike were able
to collectively lobby for the equal rights of small-scale U.S. grape
producers against the profit-hungry agribusiness elites. Starting as
a small grassroots movement, the boycott soon took wind across
the Unites States, with both consumers and producers realizing the
importance of supporting small-scale agricultural production. The
current situation has stark similarities to the grape crisis of 40 years
ago, only this time American agribusiness elites are compromising
the livelihoods of fellow agricultural producers across our southern
border. However, the issues’ implications do not end in Mexico;
the increase of illegal immigration into the U.S. has put immense
pressure on American industries and institutions. For voters and
consumers, it is the responsibility of American citizens to act as
the voice of Mexican corn producers. Through both small- and
large­scale government lobbying, as well as a change in our corn
purchasing habits, American consumers possess the ability to help
millions of Mexicans without a voice.
References
Andreas, P. (1996). U.S.-Mexico: Open markets, closer boarders.
Foreign Policy (103rd Ed), 51-69. The Washington Post.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1149202.
Campbell,M.,& Hendricks, T.(2006, July). NAFTA & dumping
subsidized corn on Mexico has driven 1.5 million farmers
off the land & forced millions to migrate. Organic
Consumers Association. Retrieved from http://www.
organicconsumers .org/art i cles/article 1371.cfm
Cornelius, W., and Martin, P. (1993) . The uncertain connection:
Free trade and rural Mexican migration to the United
States. The Center for Migration Studies of New York,
Inc. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2547097
Crop Production (2013).United States Environmental Protection
Agency. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag
101/printcrop.html
U.S. Farm Subsides, Abolish. In Debatewise. Retrieved from http://
debatewise.org/debates/2907-us-farm-subsidies-abolish/
Fernandez-Kelly, P., & Massey S. D. (2007). Borders for whom?
The role of NAFTA in Mexico-U.S..migration. Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
610: 98- 118. JSTOR. Web. http://www.jstor .org/
stable/25097891
Green, D. (2010 August 18). How much does U.S. corn dumping
cost Mexican farmers? Oxfam. Retrieved from http://
www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=3303
Oatley, H. T. (2012). International Political Economy. Boston:
Longman.
Contents
Occasions Home
Ray, D. E. (2003). Developing countries point out NAFTA faults.
Western Farm Press, 25(16), 20. Retrieved from http://
search.proquest. com/docview/198616190?account
id=14503
Relinger, Rick.(Apr. 2010).NAFTA and U.S. corn subsidies :
Explaining the displacement of Mexico’s corn farmers.
Prospect: Journal of International Affairs. UCSD.
Sawyer, C., & Sprinkle, R. (2009). International Economics (3rd ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearse Education.
The World Bank. (2007).Integration of the North American
market for sensitive agricultural commodities.
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k.org/external/defau lt/WDSContentServer /
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arket0Box361550BOOPublicO.pdf
Uchitelle, L. (2007, February 18). The nation: NAFTA should have
stopped illegal immigration, right?. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www .nytimes . com/2007 /02/18/
weekinreview/18uchitelle.html? r=O
United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. (1999). U.S.-Mexico
agriculture: A trade success story. Retrieved from http://
www .usmcoc.org/b-nafta9 .php
USDA:Foreign Agricultural Service. (2005). NAFTA agricultural
fact sheet : corn. Retrieved from http://www .fas.usda
.gov/itp/ policy/nafta /corn.html
Wise, A. T. (2010, December 20). Q & A [Interview]. NAFTA +
U.S. farm subsidies devastates Mexican agriculture. The
Real News Network. Retrieved from http://thereal news.
com /t2 /index. php?option=com content&task=v i
ew&id=3 &Itemid=74&jumival=5864
Wise, A. T. (2010, November 26).Q & A [Interview]. Why
do Mexican workers head north? The Real News
Network. Retrieved from http://therealnews .com/t2/
index.php?option=com content&task=view&id=31&
ltemid=74&jumival=5863
Wise, A. T. (2010). Subsidizing inequality: Mexican corn policy
since NAFTA.The impacts of U.S. agricultural policies on
Mexican producers, 163-73. Santa Cruz: Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars.
OCCASIONS
Child Soldiers: More Than Meets the Eye
By Kelsey Harbert
Recent studies of child soldiers and ex-combatants in the
eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
have yielded groundbreaking results concerning the aftershocks of
childhood exposure to trauma. According to public opinion, child
soldiers are the embodiment of trauma-related disorders such as Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This disorder is to child soldiers
what coughing is to the common cold in that it is an assumed de facto
result of exposure to traumatic events. Contrary to this popular (and
by no means unwarranted) public opinion, researchers who study
child soldiers find a consistent and unexpected drop in the severity
of PTSD symptoms. In 2010, Hecker, Hermenau, Maedl, Schauer,
and Elbert reported an expected diagnostic rate for PTSD of 50-60%
but found that only 20% of their sample met the diagnostic criteria
for PTSD (p.5). Given the abominable experiences reported by child
soldiers, including but not limited to violent rape, parricide (killing of
family), beatings, and psychological abuse, it is near incomprehensible
to observe such low rates of PTSD. Assuming results are replicable
and valid, how could such results be possible? The answers lie in
a subtype of aggression referred to as appetitive aggression. It is
extremely prevalent in child soldiers and since its discovery has been
deemed a natural buffer for PTSD and other trauma-related disorders.
And, given popular misconceptions about the dichotomy in human
nature such as good versus evil, it is also one of the most challenging
for mental health professionals and social workers to treat.
Before one dives into empirical data on their relationship
with child soldiers and ex-combatants in the DRC, it is crucial to
establish a working definition of PTSD and appetitive aggression. In
terms of defining PTSD, it is best to refer to the DSM-V, a diagnostic
tool used by mental health professionals as the standard classification
for recognized mental illnesses. According to the PTSD section of
DSM5.org, “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury,
or sexual violation” can result in the development of PTSD. The
and/or aggression (fight) in response to the traumatic event(s).
In cases of PTSD, aggression is rare and is more often facilitative
than instrumental. Herein lies the point of departure for appetitive
aggression, which is considered a subtype of instrumental aggression
and is not present in PTSD symptoms involving aggression.
The symptoms of PTSD can include two main forms
of aggression: facilitative and instrumental. In 2013, researchers
Weierstall, Haer, Banholzer, and Elbert defined facilitative aggression
as “a response towards a threat or an aversive stimulus” (p. 506).
Instrumental aggression was described in the same study as, “goaldirected or planned” (p. 506). Appetitive aggression is a subtype of
instrumental aggression, and, as stated above, is not present in PTSD
symptoms. What sets appetitive aggression apart from the two main
types of aggression is an attraction to the perpetration of violent
acts. It is characterized by the perpetrator’s perception of violent acts
as being exciting, arousing, stimulating, and/or fascinating.
It is easier to identify the differences between appetitive
aggression and facilitative aggression than it is to identify the
differences between appetitive aggression and its umbrella,
instrumental aggression. Weierstall et al. (2013) explained the
differences between the two: “The appetitive aspect of aggression
is characterized by violence-related cues such as struggling of the
victim, irrespective of secondary rewards such as gaining status
or reproductive success, as would be required for instrumental
aggression” (p. 506). As a subtype of instrumental aggression,
appetitive aggression shares predator-like behaviors such as rape and
murder. In order to understand the differences between the two, their
respective motivations have to be examined. As the passage explains,
instrumental aggression is motivated by secondary rewards while
appetitive aggression treats the act of violence as a reward in itself.
Perhaps equally as challenging is to understand the relationship
The experience of a child soldiers does not exist as a dichotomy so much as it exists on a
continuum. There are layers to how psychology, economy, politics and development influence violent behavior.
report goes on to describe the behavioral symptoms of PTSD as “reexperiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal.”
In general terms, PTSD is associated with the “fight or flight”
response. Victims often exhibit marked signs of avoidance (flight)
PWR Home
32
between appetitive aggression and PTSD in child soldiers. The
challenge is to disregard the common misconception that perpetrators
of violent acts associated with appetitive aggression are psychopathic,
sadists, and/or “evil.” Given the seemingly arbitrary acts of violence
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OCCASIONS
against innocent men, women, and children, the experience of the
child soldiers is vulnerable to biased exploitation by those who
operate on such assumptions. Dichotomous approaches can result
in misdiagnoses, inadequate reintegration programs, and, worst of
all, further harm to the subjects. So, if appetitive aggression is not
restricted to psychosis or sadism, what is it?
According to at least three major studies, Hecker et al.
(2010), Hermenau et al. (2013) , and Weierstall et al. (2013), appetitive
aggression is an adaptive response triggered by evolutionary survival
instincts. Its adaptive qualities are referred to as the functionality
of aggression in Weierstall et al. (2013, p. 506). The functionality
of general aggression is related to things like reproductive success,
group bonding, and the accumulation of wealth. (p. 506).) In the case
of child soldiers, appetitive aggression serves as a buffer for PTSD
and other trauma-related mental illnesses that might prevent them
from surviving in a violent environment. According to a 2010 study
by researchers, Elbert, Weierstall, and Schauer humans incorporate
traumatic memories into one of two networks. The fear network
“assembles all highly arousing emotional-sensory and somatic
memories of the horror experience, while simultaneously losing
the contextual information.” The authors explained that “one of the
main consequences of untreated traumatic experiences is that the
emotional-sensory (‘hot’) past continuously pushes into the present”
(p. S103). In other words, PTSD is the result of a pathological fear
network in which the negative emotions associated with the memory
overwhelm the contextual factors and create a recurring experience
as opposed to a recollection of a distant traumatic memory. For
child soldiers, this means memories of rape, murder, beatings, etc.
are not simply recalled but re-lived. This means they experience
the trauma over and over again without actually processing it as an
event separate from present reality. The hunting network functions
similarly to the fear network as far as incorporating traumatic
memories. However, in the hunting network, the memories are
associated with positive emotions and are relived as a lustful
experience rather than a traumatizing one (Elbert et al., 2010, p.
S103). In this way, appetitive aggression serves as a buffer for PTSD
and possibly for other trauma-related mental illnesses.
Child soldiers with higher levels of appetitive aggression
tend to behave antithetically to those with severe PTSD. For example,
where soldiers exhibiting high levels of PTSD showed great
difficulty in discussing traumatic events, soldiers with high levels of
appetitive aggression relished the experiences as positive memories.
They had essentially trained themselves (albeit with the unfortunate
help of militia conditioning) to embrace violent acts rather than
to abhor and fear them. Not only does appetitive aggression offer
mental stability through an alternative processing network, but
it also enables some children to do whatever is required of them
to survive. Soldiers must participate in violent acts such as gang
rape, murder, mutilation and other inhumane acts. In a 2013 study
researchers, Trenholm, Olsson, Blomqvist, and Ahlberg reported
that violence was perpetuated by death threats from comrades and
leaders directed at both the soldier(s) and their loved ones (p. 211).
Hence, appetitive aggression served as an adaptive response to a
perilous, life-threatening environment. Despite its evolutionary
qualities, appetitive aggression levels cannot be heightened in all
child soldiers.
In addition to the nature of associations for PTSD and
appetitive aggression, studies have found several other factors that
account for a significant amount of the variation in levels of appetitive
aggression across higher level groups and lower level groups. One
such study is Weierstall et al. (2013). The authors’ objective in this
study was to determine significant predictors of higher levels of
appetitive aggression in child soldiers in the DRC. The authors
used the Appetitive Aggression Scale (AAS) to determine levels
of appetitive aggression in non-abductees (joined willingly at least
once), mixed (were abducted but joined willingly at least once) and
abductees (abducted and never joined willingly). Their findings
indicated that age of entry, rate of perpetration of violent acts
types, and recruitment type were significant predictor variables for
the variance in levels of appetitive aggression and PTSD symptom
severity among child soldiers (p. 505). In sum, the authors found
that younger age at entry, higher rates of perpetration types, and
non-abductee recruitment type all accounted for higher levels of
appetitive aggression. Furthermore, older age of entry, lower rates
of perpetration types, and abductees and mixed recruitment types
accounted for lower levels of appetitive aggression (p. 506).
Children are like new Play-Doh. In the earlier stages of
development, their brain structure is malleable. As with old PlayDoh, over time, they grow more resilient to external pressures
on their cognitive behaviors. In 2012, University of Konstanz
researchers Hecker, Hermenau, Maedl, Elbert, and Schauer offered a
further explanation: “considering the plasticity of the brain (Elbert,
Rockstroh, Kolassa Shauer, & Neuner, 2006), child soldiers are more
likely to report appetitive aggression as they adapt best to the violent
circumstances in armed groups” (p. 245). Neuroplasticity refers to
the malleability of the brain to form new and/or change existing
neural pathways and is greater earlier in life. Hence, the level to
which child soldiers internalize the conditioning of the militias
is largely dependent on their age at entry. The neuroplasticity of
children is also why cult-like conditioning used in militias is so
effective and thereby integral to the recruitment process. In addition
to mentally and physically breaking down the child’s resolve, the
routine beatings, gang rapes, and murders disrupt the regulation of
appetitive aggression that evolutionists assert all males naturally
possess.
The regulation of appetitive aggression is orchestrated by
civil socialization, which is a similar concept to primary socialization
theory. It essentially posits that children learn social norms as well
as deviant behaviors from their primary social sources--parents,
school, and intimate groups of people. Through civil socialization,
children learn appropriate types of aggression, and through the
assimilation of social norms, their levels of appetitive aggression
are regulated. The younger this process is disrupted by recruitment
into an extremely violent environment, the more susceptible child
soldiers are to assimilating deviant behaviors. Weierstall et al.
(2013) reported that “upon entry into a combat force, the process
of civil socialization that is essential for a regulation of appetitive
aggression is impaired and replaced by the socialization in an armed
movement that fosters violent and aggressive behavior” (pp. 506507). In support of the civil socialization perspective, Hecker et. al.
(2010) offered a biological component to the discourse: “Normally,
control mechanisms in the frontal lobe inhibit intraspecific violence
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(Kelly, 2005, Nelson & Trainer, 2007). However, dehumanization
of the enemy . . . can break learned moral standards . . .”(p. 345).
Dehumanization of the enemy is another way of describing a
concept known as “othering” in psychology. Othering is one of the
most efficient tools in the militarization of child soldiers because
it basically rewires the brain to define the concept of “people”
differently. When successfully indoctrinated, othering allows the
soldiers to perpetrate acts of extreme violence such as violent rape
(rape with use of glass shards, sticks, and other objects) and mass
murder without remorse. In Trenholm et al. (2013), twelve child
soldiers were interviewed at a reintegration center in the DRC
that offers a three-month (minimum) program. The purpose of the
interviews was to assess the effects of the construction process in
militias on the development of child soldiers. One of the interviewees
told the interviewer by way of translator that though he took many
lives, none was a person. “He is saying that he didn’t kill any people,
only . . . enemies” (p. 15). By dehumanizing the enemy, child soldiers
are able to foster the growth of appetitive aggression with ease; this
is especially true for the younger recruits.
Recruitment type also shares a strong relationship with
higher levels of appetitive aggression. Those who join willingly
show higher levels of appetitive aggression and little to no
symptoms of PTSD. Researchers believed a pre-existing level
of appetitive aggression could possibly account for their reason
for joining, for “45% of the combatants who joined on their own
accord reported the desire to become a fighter as one reason for
enlisting. . . . [T]hese combatants might feel more in control of
their lives than abducted combatants” (Hecker et al., 2012, p. 247).
This finding is not as generalizable as the age-of-entry finding
because child soldiers with higher levels of appetitive aggression
predating recruitment reported joining for a variety of reasons,
mostly economically based rather than based on a pure desire for
violence. Nonetheless, the strong relationship between recruitment
type and levels of appetitive aggression indicated that recruits with
higher levels of appetitive aggression were more likely to be nonabductees. Furthermore, non-abductees were more likely to cope
with trauma better than abductees with lower levels of appetitive
aggression.
While appetitive aggression buffers the severity of
PTSD symptoms, it cannot sustain its protective influence on the
internalization of trauma indefinitely. According to Elbert et al.
(2010), the reason the protection of appetitive aggression wanes in
some cases is due to a phenomenon called “the building block effect”
(p. S104). The building block effect occurs when “repeated exposure
to different types of traumatic stressors cumulatively heightens the
risk for PTSD symptoms . . . positive and negative memories that
are linked to the perpetration of violence may not only trigger the
hunting network but also the fear network” (Hecker et al., 2010, pp.
5-6). Based on these findings, it appears that all child soldiers have a
threshold for traumatic experience that appetitive aggression cannot
alter. In every study that found a negative relationship between
PTSD symptom severity and levels of appetitive aggression, the
researchers had to exclude combatants with extreme levels of PTSD
symptom severity. Extreme levels of symptom severity indicate that
the child’s threshold for trauma has been breached. As a result, the
fear network extends into the hunting network, causing both the
hunting and the fear network to be triggered by traumatic memories
despite the pre-existing association with positive arousal. The
triggering of the fear network results in the emergence of PTSD
symptoms. This finding speaks to the fallacy of assuming predatory
violence to be coming from an “evil” nature or psychotic state. While
this can certainly be the case--as, for example, with sociopaths whose
emotions are cold and who are incapable of experiencing remorse-it is not the case for most child soldiers. If they are purely evil and
incapable of remorse, such a threshold would not exist, allowing
them an endless supply of positive arousal in response to events that
would otherwise be traumatic. Because this is not the case, it can
be posited that child soldiers exhibiting higher levels of appetitive
aggression are coping with a devastating situation to the best of
their ability. At a certain point, their walls are breakable--a fact that
is bittersweet for therapists because, without their defenses, child
soldiers find the pain from the trauma debilitating.
Research on demobilized and active duty children has
contributed invaluable insight to the discourse on healing child
soldiers not only in the DRC but in Uganda, Colombia, Angola and
several other war-torn regions across the globe. Perhaps the most
valuable insight happens to be the most general. The experience of
child soldiers does not exist as a dichotomy so much as it exists on
a continuum. There are layers to how psychology, economy, politics
and development influence violent behavior. When their stories are
listened to with an objective ear as opposed to a sensationalized
filter, one can picture a web of interweaving stimuli and responses
that account for the unspeakable tragedies witnessed and relayed in
the media. To be sure, such knowledge cannot discount the atrocities
of crimes against humanity such as violent rape, mass murder, and
subjugation of innocent civilians. However, it can provide productive
explanations that might lead to higher success rates in the healing
and reintegration of child soldiers and ex-combatants.
References
Elbert, T., Weierstall, R., & Schauer, M. (2010). Fascination
violence: On mind and brain of man hunters. European
Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 260,
100-5. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00406-010-0144-8
Hecker, T., Hermenau, K., Maedl, A., Schauer, M., & Elbert, T.
(2010). Aggression inoculates against PTSD symptom
severity--insights from armed groups in the eastern DR
congo. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 4
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.20070
Hecker, T., Hermenau, K., Maedl, A., Elbert, T., & Schauer, M.
(2012). Appetitive aggression in former combatants-derived from the ongoing conflict in DR congo.
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 35(3), 244249. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2012.02.016
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OCCASIONS
Hermenau, K., Hecker, T., Schaal, S., Maedl, A., & Elbert, T.
(2013). Addressing post-traumatic stress and aggression
by means of narrative exposure: A randomized controlled
trial with ex-combatants in the eastern DRC. Journal of
Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 22(8), 916-934.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2013.824057
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. American Psychiatric Publishing,
2013. http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/PTSD%20
Fact%20Sheet.pdf
The Hind
By Jesse Wisniewski
Trenholm, J., Olsson, P., Blomqvist, M., & Ahlberg, B. M. (2013).
Constructing soldiers from boys in eastern democratic
republic of congo. Men and Masculinities, 16(2), 203-227.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1097184X12470113
I
t sits there, massive and threatening, not thirty yards
away. The sun rises beside a lone mountain behind it,
silhouetting it against the hazy air and the bright concrete of the
airstrip. I am dead tired after another busy twelve-hour night shift
in the draining, never-ending schedule of “twelve-on, twelve-off.”
A few coils of concertina wire separate where I stand from the
edge of the airstrip, cluttered with cargo and vehicles. Rows and
rows of tan b-huts stand on either side of me, concrete personnel
bunkers here and there between them. Gravel crunches under my
boots while a rifle sling bites into my shoulder. My stomach is
full. I can still taste the yogurt from the chow hall behind me. The
distant drone of a few moving aircraft fills the air, one occasionally
taking off or landing. The breeze smells faintly of dust, exhaust,
Weierstall, R., Haer, R., Banholzer, L., & Elbert, T. (2013).
Becoming cruel: Appetitive aggression released
by detrimental socialisation in former congolese
soldiers. International Journal of Behavioral
Development, 37(6), 505-513. doi:http://dx.doi.
org/10.1177/0165025413499126
I start realizing something isn’t right about this
particular Hind. It isn’t all there. The main rotor blades are
missing, as is the tail rotor and the winglets that would have
held weapons. Even the rotor hub is gone, a plain shaft sticking
straight up out of the main body like a broken nail. The whole
thing is rusty and dirty. Suddenly, it seems much less threatening,
even pitiable in its helplessness, like a fly with its wings pulled
off. Far from being a ready death machine, this is more like a
museum piece or even just so much scrap metal. It is silent and
lifeless.
Is this what happens? When we leave, will we turn in
our weapons and take off our uniforms, and no one will know
Far from being the majestic accomplishment it was supposed to be, it is suddenly frighteningly pointless. We assign so much meaning to our wars, but I realize it is only in our
minds. The machine and this land don’t care.
and concrete. It gently sways some nearby weeds with small blue
flowers, the color of the cloudless sky overhead. The temperature
is perfect. This is early summer at Bagram Airfield. The air is so
pleasant it is almost painful. I think this place has no right being
so beautiful. It is Afghanistan, after all. I close my eyes briefly and
almost fall asleep standing up, quickly forcing them back open.
My buddy, Thuesen, stands next to me. We spend a few
minutes here almost every day, just looking. We speak little,
mainly of trying to imagine being on one of those planes,
having it take us away from this place. We can’t really imagine it,
though; we’ve been here too long. Nine months? Ten? I am too
tired to remember exactly. My attention keeps returning to the
thing in front of us. Something about it seems momentarily very
important, as if there is something to be learned that outweighs
even precious sleep.
The thing is a gunship, a Russian attack helicopter, the
one NATO refers to as Hinds. I have been trained to identify
Hinds on satellite photos. They are true war machines, flying
tanks, each with a maximum takeoff weight of over thirteen tons.
This one sits in its own small area, sectioned off by concrete
barriers and reminding me of a sleeping dragon on the verge of
wakening. I wonder what its story is, how many lives it has ended
or destroyed, and why it is here now.
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what we did here? We may tell some, but the telling will never
equal the doing, and eventually even the telling will be forgotten.
Far from being the majestic accomplishment it was supposed to
be, it is suddenly frighteningly pointless. We assign so much
meaning to our wars, but I realize it is only in our minds. This
machine and this land don’t care. We run around here fighting
like the Russians before us, and the British before them, on and
on all the way back to the Greeks. Any meaning it has all had is
just what we’ve given it, deciding why and how it matters to us.
It matters nothing at all to land or machines, even this war-torn
land or great war machines like this Hind.
We are not machines, though. War does have meaning
to us. I don’t know if I will ever find the words for what it all
means to me, but the meaning is definitely there--I can feel it.
And maybe that makes the meaning even more special, that it is
something we make, unique to us, not some fact of nature. We
own it--it is ours to feel, to know, to tell. When the coffins are
driven down the street draped in flags and we stop and salute
them, that has meaning. When I shake a man’s hand one day and
the next he is gone, that has meaning. Not to the land, not to
this Hind, but to me, to us. To each of us as individuals, and as
members of our cultures, ourselves and our enemies alike. It may
be forgotten with time, but that doesn’t make it any less real or
important.
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One morning, the Hind is gone, like it was never there
at all. Thuesen goes home a few weeks before I do, and I stop
standing by the airstrip. Then, I also leave, finally, and try to move
on with my life. Sometimes, I think about that place, the land that
is probably much the same and will probably continue to know
more war. I wonder what became of this Hind and whether I could
ever track it down. If I could, I know what I would do. I would
stand and look at it, letting it take me back to that place and time
when the sun rose over it at Bagram, imagining the sun and breeze
on my face and feeling the meaning that place has to me.
OCCASIONS
Identification of the Integrin Subunits within Bovine Chondrocyte
Cells for Tethering to PEG-thiol Hydrogels
By Saikripa Radhakrishnan
Principal Investigator: Dr. Stephanie Bryant
Tissue Engineering Lab
1. Abstract
Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage between joints such
as the hip or knee wears out. Current therapy options treat the side
effects such as the pain that arises as bones grate against each other.
Tissue regeneration, however, has the potential to treat the disease
instead of the side effects of the disease. Specifically, hydrogels are
gel structures that house cells. They can be injected into the human
body and degrade to release cells that adhere to the joints. These cells
can subsequently promote cartilage growth to prevent osteoarthritis.
Hydrogels are designed to be biomimetic, which means that they
closely resemble human tissue. I shall study one variable that makes
the hydrogel more biomimetic: the tethering mechanism between the
integrins on the cell surface and the extracellular matrix. My research
goal is to identify the integrin subunits in bovine chondrocytes and
ultimately synthesize the binding sequence. This sequence can be
incorporated into a hydrogel to make it more biomimetic.
2. Introduction
O
steoarthritis is a condition that arises as cartilage
degrades between joints, thus causing bones to grind
against each other. Cartilage is composed of four main parts:
water, chondrocytes, proteoglycans, and collagen (Simon, 2012).
Chondrocytes are the basic cartilage cells, and collagen is the protein
that binds to the chondrocyte to support the joints (Simon, 2012).
Current therapies either treat symptoms of pain or require invasive
surgeries. Tissue engineering shows promise in alleviating osteoarthritis
by introducing chondrocyte cells into the damaged region in order to
regenerate the degraded tissue. Researchers in Dr. Stephanie Bryant’s
tissue engineering lab found that poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels
can entrap chondrocytes within the PEG mesh system to support new
tissue production to restore an injured joint (Nicodemus, G.D. & Bryant,
S.J., 2008). Now, we are interested in creating a hydrogel system that is
more biomimetic. Here, biomimetic is defined as the best imitation of the
native tissue environment in vitro. Our lab goal is to successfully entrap
chondrocyte cells into a biomimetic hydrogel for long-term regeneration
studies. My research goal is to investigate one of the variables that
can make the hydrogel more biomimetic: the tethering interactions
between the integrins on the cell surface and ligands in the extracellular
matrix. I shall study the tethering mechanism between integrins on the
cell membrane surface and the ligands in the extracellular matrix in
bovine chondrocyte cells. This information can be applied in the tissueengineering field at large to synthesize a hydrogel with an environment
that is most suitable for native tissue regeneration in vitro in order to
implant tissue into a degraded joint.
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This project will give me experimental expertise in my
pursuit of an MD/PhD dual degree. I hope to become a physician
who integrates tissue regeneration research with the medical field
because there is a heavy overlap between human research and medical
practice. The research project will allow me to hone my fundamental
skills in tissue engineering research. I shall be learning how to set
up experiments and analyze results in order to produce meaningful
results. Additionally, it will help me understand how my project relates
to the human body and contributes to the field of tissue engineering.
3. Background
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and
occurs most often in joints such as the hip and knee (Mayo Clinic Staff,
2013). There is no cure to osteoarthritis, though current treatment
options can slow down the degradation of cartilage. Doctors
prescribe medications such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen to relieve the
pain while other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
such as aspirin and naproxen are intended to reduce inflammation
at the site (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2013). Otherwise, physical therapy
or occupational therapy can strengthen the muscles around the
damaged region in order to improve the functionality of the site
(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2013). Ultimately, invasive procedures such
as surgery and joint replacement may be the only option for
treatment, though these options do not necessarily prevent the
onset of osteoarthritis. The obstacles associated with these options
include lifelong treatment and numerous follow-up hospital visits.
Due to the obstacles in traditional approaches, tissue
regeneration is a viable option. Tissue regeneration has the ability
to introduce tissue towards sites that lack these cells to counter
specific diseases such as osteoarthritis. It is different from current
techniques in that it could treat the issue of tissue degradation
instead of alleviating the pain that arises from this condition.
Current researchers found that the polymer PEG is a medium
that has the potential to encapsulate chondrocyte cells into its
mesh structure so that they can be introduced to the site of
degradation (Nicodemus, G.D. & Bryant, S.J., 2008). The benefit
of using the PEG polymer is that it can be synthesized in many
ways to form hydrogels that are biomimetic. Other individuals in
the lab are studying variables such as the chemical composition,
the mechanical strength, and the mesh size of the hydrogel in the
lab to most closely resemble the human knee joint. My research
project is to analyze the chemical interactions between integrins
and ligands on the cell-tissue interface to synthesize a biomimetic
hydrogel.
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Within the body, there are interactions between the cell
surface, described throughout this paper as “cells,” and the extracellular
environment, described throughout this paper as “tissues.” The cell
membrane is composed of a phospholipid bilayer, with proteins and
cholesterol interspersed throughout the membrane. Integrins are
receptors attached to the cell surface that aid in attaching a cell to
its extracellular environment (Seibel et. al., 2006). These integrins
are composed of an α and β subunit (Humphries, 2000). Collagen
and other ligands bind to specific integrins and thus reinforce the
cytoskeleton of the cell (Humphries, 2000). Further, these ligands
are involved in mechanotransduction between the cytoskeleton and
the extracellular matrix.
protein and introducing it into our hydrogel matrix, I can encourage
the encapsulated cells to tether to the sequence, and therefore to the
hydrogel scaffold.
There are 11 α subunits (α1, α2… α10, and αv) and 8 β
subunits (β1, β2 . . . β8) (Seibel et. al., 2006). Mathematically, there
are 88 possible combinations of subunits, and thus there are 88
possible integrins. Previous research by Seibel et. al has uncovered
the integrin subunits expressed in humans that bind to extracellular
matrix ligands (Seibel et. al., 2006). The following table, Table 1,
outlines the integrins that associate to the ligand collagen, which is
my interest in this project.
5.1: Isolate the genes responsible for integrin binding within
bovine host cells
Integrin Subunit Combination
Ligand Bound
Functional Role
α1β1, α2β1
Type I collagen
Mediation of
differentiation
signals in early
osteoblasts
α2β1
Native collagen
Adhesion to matrix
αvβ3
Vitronectin, osteopontin, fibronectin,
fibrinogen, denatured collagen
Adhesion to matrix
β1 integrins
Native collagen,
fibronectin, osteopontin
Adhesion to matrix
α1β1, α2β1, α3β1,
α5β1
Types I, II, VI collagen and fibronectin
Matrix adhesion
β1 integrins
Collagens and
fibronectins
Cell survival
Table 1: Integrin subunit table for binding the ligand
collagen
It is not known what differences in integrin expression
occur in isolated cells and in the cell-tissue system (Seibel et. al.,
2006). The difference in expression arises because of different
interactions with the extracellular matrix. As well, it is not known
which ligand sequence the cell’s integrins recognize and therefore
bind to. By identifying the specific amino acid sequence of the ligand
4. Aim
My aim in this project is to identify the integrins within
a chondrocyte in order to design a peptide with the ligand binding
sequence of interest and therefore synthesize a more biomimetic
hydrogel.
5. Methods
First, I shall isolate cells and tissue specifically from an adult
bovine host. Once the cartilage has been isolated, various digests
strip the cartilage down to chondrocyte cells, the fundamental part
of cartilage. RNA can be isolated from cells and tissue through a
RNA isolation protocol. This will be stored in the -80°C freezer until
use because RNA degrades rapidly at room temperature. A reverse
transcription protocol then will convert the single-stranded RNA
to double-stranded cDNA (the complementary DNA strand from
the single-stranded RNA template) using the specific primers and
dNTPs.
The sequence of interest will be amplified using Polymerase
Chain Reaction (PCR). The steps within PCR are denaturation,
annealing, and extension. Denaturation, occurring at 94°C, separates
the cDNA sequence into two single-stranded DNA sequences
(Vierstraete, 1999). Annealing, occurring at 54°C, is when the RNA
primers that fit exactly onto the DNA sequence attach (Vierstraete,
1999). The last step, extension, occurs at 72°C (Vierstraete, 1999).
During this step, the dNTP bases elongate the DNA sequence. PCR
involves adding a “master mix” of different genetic chemicals (like
the dNTPs) to the cDNA sequence. This combination will then be
tested with each of the integrin RNA primers. Integrin primers are
known RNA sequences that correspond to specific α and β integrin
subunits.
5.2: Identify Integrins in Bovine Cells by Gel Electrophoresis
Gel electrophoresis will be run on each of the 19 primer
sequences. This step is done to separate the DNA that was amplified
based on size (Experiment 2: Gel Electrophoresis, n.d.). Bands that
are present indicate which primers are able to attach onto the DNA
sequence and amplify the DNA (Experiment 2: Gel Electrophoresis,
n.d.). As well, the band tells us that the primer gene is present in the
RNA isolated, and the intensity tells us how prevalent that gene is.
Last, the size, which will be compared against the DNA ladder of
known sizes, crosschecks the identity of the primer gene (Experiment
2: Gel Electrophoresis, n.d.).
Once the different bands are present and identified,
literature searches will eliminate any subunit combinations that are
implausible based on the tissue/cell conditions (Seibel et. al., 2006).
Immunocytochemistry tests, like histology assays, will also support
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our conclusions of identifying the combination of α and β subunits
that form a specific integrin. Histology assays image the components
on the surface. The histology assay binds a specific antibody to the
known α subunit receptor. Then, a fluorescent antibody binds to
the antibody that was just attached. Immunocytochemistry uses
the light microscope to express fluorescence. Therefore, if we see
fluorescence, we can say with certainty that the α subunit is present
on the cell surface. This same principle will be applied to the β subunit
to collectively identify the specific combination of the α and β subunit
within the cells isolated.
Once the identity of an integrin is known, literature
searches designate what ligand the integrin binds to (to ensure that
the integrin identified is in the right context). Further literature
searches will unveil a specific attachment sequence (a small portion
of the protein ligand). These steps will be the contingency plan
specifically if the immunocytochemistry tests disagree with the gel
electrophoresis data. Differences will arise if the DNA is degraded in
gel electrophoresis.
5.3: Synthesize the Specific Peptide Sequence to Bind to the
Integrin
The formation of the hydrogel polymer is composed of the
binding of the PEG- thiol polypeptide. This polypeptide monomer
can be synthesized within the lab. This peptide is composed of a thiol
(which tethers into the PEG hydrogel network to create the hydrogel
mesh-like structure) and the peptide sequence (which tethers into
the cell and therefore tethers the cell into the network). Using the
literature, I shall design a peptide with the sequence that corresponds
to the integrin’s identity so that the integrin attaches to it. Thus, the
hydrogel mesh will be formed as the thiol network crosslinks to form
a net. The peptide sequence, which acts as an arm, will attach the cells
of interest to the hydrogel mesh.
5.4: Assess the Biomimetic Properties of the Hydrogel
Synthesized
I shall form the hydrogel and compare the tether-containing
hydrogel against a non-tethered hydrogel to assess the cell response
and production to ultimately regenerate tissue. Specifically,
mechanotransduction of a tether-containing hydrogel will be
compared against a non-tethered hydrogel. Without tethering, I have
seen that encapsulated cartilage cells rearrange away from higher
mechanical forces because they can move within the hydrogel. I expect
to see that mechanical forces are more evenly distributed within a
hydrogel as they are tethered to the hydrogel. This information will
ultimately help create a hydrogel that is biomimetic.
6. Schedule
Summer 2013 (June 03, 2013 – August 19, 2013) Goals
1. Learn the RNA Isolation Protocol, Reverse Transcription
Protocol, and PCR Protocol from Ashley Pennington.
Implement these techniques on the isolated DNA
independently.
2. Complete preliminary Gel Electrophoresis and analyze the
data with Ashley Pennington and Stacey Skaalure.
3. Perfect the technique to avoid contamination. The
contingency plan here is to complete all protocols in the
Cold Room (4° C) to prevent RNA degradation before
finishing the future steps. As well, try to complete all steps
back-to-back without freezing the samples in between in
order to reduce shock to the samples to prevent degradation.
Further, try snap-freezing the samples to immediately freeze
the samples.
4. If necessary, complete the immunocytochemistry assays
on the samples of data to crosscheck the identity of the
integrins.
Fall Term 2013 Goals
1. Using a finalized set of data, identify the most plausible
integrins present within the cell surface and identify the
peptide sequence of some of the most prevalent integrins.
2. Synthesize this peptide sequence and attach it to the PEGthiol hydrogel monomer. Form the hydrogel structure.
3. Complete the mid-year Senior Thesis requirements.
Spring Term 2014 Goals
1. Test the degradability of the PEG-thiol hydrogel with the
tethering mechanism.
2. Do short-term and long-term mechanical tests and
cell viability tests on the tether-containing hydrogels
encapsulating chondrocyte cells compared against a nontether-containing hydrogels encapsulating chondrocyte
cells.
3. Do immunohistochemistry tests to assess the degraded
products of both types of hydrogels. These tests provide
conclusive results on the most biomimetic hydrogels.
4. Complete the Senior Thesis final paper and present my
findings to a panel.
7. References
Bronzino, J. D. (2006). The Biomedical Engineering Handbook (3rd
ed.). United States of America: CRC Press.
Experiment 2: Gel Electrophoresis of DNA. (n.d.) Molecular
Biology Cyberlab at the University of Illinois. Retrieved
on June 23, 2013 from http://www.life.illinois.edu/molbio/
geldigest/electro.html.
Humphries, M. J. (2000). Integrin Structure. Biochemical Society
Transactions, 28(4): 311-339.
Mayo Clinic Staff. (April 9, 2013) Osteoarthritis. Mayo Clinic.
Retrieved on July 1, 2013 from http://www.mayoclinic.
com/health/osteoarthritis/DS00019.
Nicodemus, G. D., & Bryant, S. J. (2008). Review: Cell encapsulation
in biodegradable hydrogels for tissue engineering
applications. Tissue Engineering Part B: Review, 14(2):
149-165
Seibel, M. J., Robins, S. P., & Bilezikian, J. P. (2006). Dynamics of
Bone and Cartilage Metabolism (2nd e.d.). United States of
America: Academic Press.
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Simon, Harvey, MD. (May 31, 2013). Osteoarthritis. University of
Maryland Medical Center. Retrieved on June 23, 2013 from
http://www.umm.edu/.
Vierstraete, Andy. (August 11, 1999). Principle of the PCR.
University of Ghent. Retrieved on June 23, 2013 from
http://users.ugent.be/~avierstr/principles/pcr.html.
Hole-y Devotion
By Emma Gardner
8. Appendices
I shall interview Stacey Skaalure and Ashley Pennington
alongside speaking with Dr. Stephanie Bryant to crosscheck my
interpretation of the data and to advise me on future steps for my
experimentation.
I
sat down at the table as I had a thousand times before.
They’ll love you no matter what, and that is all that
matters. Truly, I had no idea what the outcome of this conversation
would mean for the future. My heart was pounding, and I knew that
if I didn’t get this conversation off my chest, it was going to haunt
me as it had been for years but would become worse. Unconditional
love is what family is for. We’ve been raised to have our own educated
opinions. My sisters and my mom took their places just before my dad
and I. I felt my face turning red as I set my fork down, and, without
warning, my lips had betrayed me: “I don’t believe in God.”
It wasn’t that I wanted to taunt my mother, but I had already
made the assumption that her reaction would be worse than my
dad’s. At this point, my face felt hot and my heart raced. I had never
experienced the shame that presented itself in a physical form. The
heat in my cheeks matched that of the fire you weren’t suppose to touch
while the beat of my heart matched that of my race to hell. My mom,
my idol, looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign tongue. Without
reason, I repeated myself: “I don’t believe in God.”
Immediately, her hazel eyes began to swell with tiny droplets.
This is what you expected. Just relax. This is okay. You don’t have
to agree with everything. Although I kept repeating nearly the same
things to myself, when the tears began to consume napkins and my
dad’s stare seemed to penetrate what soul I still believed I had, the
shame washed over me.
My mom became unfamiliar while my dad became angry.
Once she was able to regain herself, the truly difficult part began:
“What did I do wrong?” This question she repeated a few times before
My dad politely hushed my mom, who was still blotting tears
before he spoke. “What would your grandparents think if you told
them that?” I knew full well what he meant by that. My grandparents
had become the only reason I went to church at all. My grandparents
meant more to me than most anything, and my dad knew that. For my
grandparents to think less of me would crush me, and he knew that,
too. Maybe I should have told them first. At least they wouldn’t cry.
Grandma would be upset a little, maybe, but she would understand. My
poppa would ask me why, but he would ask by means of curiosity, not
disappointment. Maybe I should have asked them how to approach you
two.
The shame I felt was unlike anything I had previously
experienced. This was not the shame you felt being caught stealing
from the cookie jar at age five and being placed in “time-out.” This was
not the shame you felt being caught lying about where you really were
with your best friend at sixteen and being grounded. This was not the
shame you felt bringing home that less-than-impressive calculus exam
score at eighteen and having to watch your GPA take a dive. This was
the shame you felt would never quite leave.
This was my shame, my reason to be silent. I didn’t even take
a bite of my meal; instead, I excused myself and spent the remainder
of the evening in my room. I pushed what had transpired to the back
of mind and did homework, knowing that my parents would be in my
room in due time to confront the issue.
I read “Salvation” by Langston Hughes just weeks before I
found myself in my room that night. This poem, another assignment
for my AP Language and Composition class, was the first time I
If I were to ever believe in God, it would be for my grandma. Of all the people that have
told me how to hold myself, how to act, how to pray, how to live, none of them would have
allow me to breathe on my own if they could have managed it.
she even looked at me. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’ve loved me
unconditionally, but I refuse to submit anymore. She rhetorically asked
me why I didn’t believe and then listed all the things she believed she
could have done to avoid this. It would not have mattered if we went to
church more; I stopped going before the family did. It would not have
mattered if we prayed before meals more; I stopped before I had the
chance to start. It would not have mattered if we were involved with
the church more; I lacked the ability to enjoy the company.
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connected with a reading in a way the comprehension questions did not
cover. Hughes describes a boy surrounded by his congregation, trying
to see God in order to be saved. The prefatory scenario taking place in a
room full of adults pressing young children to understand God is what
causes the little boy anguish and anxiety. The anxiety coming from his
inability to feel connected to God and the anguish that brings him to lie
just to escape the church walls and cry himself to sleep was something
I did not think anyone understood but me.
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To recollect the joys that church brought me when I was
much younger comes with ease. At an age when pleasing my parents
was the best way to end the day, I took pride in getting my Sunday
best together prior to bedtime. I took pride in getting up early the
next morning to comb my untamed curls, to pull my dress on (and
always smooth out the wrinkles), to pull my frilled socks up (and
always fold them over evenly), and to buckle my Mary Jane shoes (and
always use the third hole). Why did it matter what I wore? Which
bird of prey was staring down on my choice of attire? I would put in
the barely visible earrings because too much jewelry gives the wrong
idea and never lip-gloss because that’s inappropriate for church. What
wrong idea does a six-year-old portray with an extra bracelet and
shiny lips? You should be ashamed. I would dutifully help my mom
get my sisters ready, and then we would be off. Weren’t we all in this
place of worship to do just that? Worship. Why were we worshiping
this figure anyway? The pastor was reading from the big book and
interpreting it for us, telling us how we should live our lives week by
week. The elders surrounding me didn’t ask questions. Who is he to
tell me what I can and cannot do? Each of these worshippers surely
lived beyond the walls of this entrapment, yet they all sat and nodded.
Amen. Does he even know my name? In school, we are expected to
interpret on our own, so why do I have to accept this man’s--this
complete stranger’s--interpretation?
My parents didn’t come to my room. I sat in solitude and felt
numb. I thought it would feel great to remove this weight, but it had
come to be anything but a relief. The shame had subsided just barely,
and I was able to think back to why I had come to this point in my life.
As if a broken record, I was six, again, and again, walking
into that Littleton church, giggling with my best friend. Although
we did enjoy church, our devious smiles were the result of the
doughnuts sitting just outside the church kitchen. All we would have
to do was behave for the twenty minutes before they would call the
smaller children up to ask them questions. After the adults got a few
laughs and felt that the children had expressed some understanding,
our subservient shepherds would lead us to school, The Kingdom.
The Kingdom was where we would either compete or reluctantly
participate in any number of activities that occupied the two hours
that service lasted. Participation equated to doughnuts, and I was not
the six-year-old to turn them down.
Why was that okay? Why was it acceptable to have six-yearolds trained to behave through a two-hour service by means of bribery
with a sugary delight? I understand now that doughnuts and coffee
after church was meant for the adults to discuss the sermon, discuss
the past week, and discuss the personal facets of life. I went to church
because I got to hang out with my best friend, see my grandparents,
and eat a doughnut after two hours of games. How could I have known
at an age where Mommy and Daddy know best that The Kingdom
was a way to reel us in? How could I have understood that they may
have been feeding us doughnuts, but they were truly plumping us up
with ideologies they did not want us to question? I thought I believed
in God because everyone else around me did, but what does a sixyear-old know? It’s got to mean something more than showing up
to church and saying amen to truly accept the almighty in your life,
right?
However enticing doughnuts were to my six-year-old self,
they simply no longer held the same power as I got older. I stopped
going to The Kingdom when I realized its children knew nothing
beyond what they had been gavaged with under the interpretations of
the bible. Were my parents really the only ones who raised their kids
to have their own opinions (unless it meant believing in God)? Church
resurrected as a math equation: two hours of fanciful daydreaming
equated to one doughnut, but that no longer equated to fulfillment,
and it surely never occurred by choice. About as soon as I lost interest
in sitting in the pews with the elderly for two hours, we were going to
a new church. This church didn’t have my grandparents or doughnuts.
This church had, what my best friend and I called, babycare. Our
mischievous escapes from The Kingdom were over. At this church,
our mothers had to be physically present in the doorway before we
were emancipated.
A new church clearly meant that my mother had finally
gotten fed up with all the drama that encapsulated the elderly in the
Littleton church choir. That’s not what I would consider emulating
God in your lifestyle. If it truly were “do unto others as you wish
to be done to you,” critically judging others would not be an act to
maintain. Besides, judgment on the final day is left to the big man
upstairs, so why waste the time? Your paraphrases of this book are an
abstraction: my clothes, my sexual activity, my beliefs, my language
were not predetermined. By the time we stopped going, I knew that
my mom was sick of them, though she didn’t confirm that until I
was older. I had watched these people of God get one choir director
fired, one pastor replaced, and several people removed from the choir.
I should not have been expected to see these people as models for right
and wrong. After all, when I think of all the people I know, the ones
who aren’t fully fledged Sunday worshipers tend to be the kindest
(and most accepting). They are not the ones telling me I have to be
something, I have to do something, and I have to say something. They
are not the ones disappointed in me for making a personal decision,
either.
My parents never came upstairs. My parents never said
a word. My parents still haven’t said a word. For the first time in
my life, the dinner conversation, my opinion, was not up for further
discussion. Whether or not they disregarded the conversation as
words from their deliberately stubborn teenager, reaching out about
the subject will not happen unless I repeat history. I haven’t stepped
in a church since, and I haven’t prayed. I never told my grandparents
because that shame, my dad’s words, burns brighter than the desire
for me to discuss it.
This is me. I didn’t have to be placed in a church basement to
feel as though there was something closing in on me, like I was alone.
I didn’t have to sit amongst the congregation to try to see God and
fail. Was I failing God for not looking in the right places for Him?
Was He failing me? Was the search as simple as closing your eyes?
But why was there nothing there? Closing my eyes to say Amen was
just like closing my eyes to go to sleep; it was just like blinking. I’ve
had an imagination my whole life, so if God appears in different forms
to different believers, why was there absolutely nothing? I’d shut my
eyes tighter if that’s what it took. I’d try different places if that’s what
it took. But it didn’t seem to matter how often I tried, how often I went
to church, how often I prayed. I saw nothing.
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OCCASIONS
!!!
Oh my God. My very first thought after answer the phone
just before ten on what I thought was just another summer morning.
July 27, 2013, could not have come as more of a horrifying reality
check. My grandma had a stroke. I was terrified, but being the
oldest and having neither of my parents home meant that I was to
explain what was going on to one younger sister and then withhold the
information from the other.
My mom came home to take my sisters and me to the hospital,
and shortly thereafter reality transformed into a nightmare. Grandma
has a grade-four tumor on her temporal lobe. Grandma has cancer. The
real tears began that evening and have revisited our family throughout
this more than once.
“This hospital is a great hospital. I was real sick when I got
here, and I’mma tell you that they do good things here. Ya’ll be in my
prayers. God is good.” My whole family had been sitting with my poppa
as my grandma went in for another MRI four floors above us. Why was
that necessary? This older man had stopped by and said those few words,
and to my immediate family it may have been a kind gesture, and part
of me wanted to be thankful for people like this man, too. If God didn’t
prevent this science, he surely is going to fix it. Your faith does claim
everything happens for a reason. I would love to be enlightened as to
why my grandmother (and poppa) must suffer through this experience.
This is a matter of science, of genetics. I’d rather not lay blame, but if
we’re going to praise him now, I just have to ask one question: Why
a grade-four tumor? If there is a God out there that helps his angels,
which I do believe my grandma is, why was she the one to get cancer?
It should have been me: punishment for the nonbeliever.
If I were to ever believe in God, it would be for my grandma.
Of all the people that have told me how to hold myself, how to act, how
to pray, how to live, none of them would have allowed me to breathe
on my own if they could have managed it. My grandma, the only
person I’ve ever seen as a true person of God, is the only one who has
never given me lessons in “how to.” Instead, she offers the advice I have
needed over the years. So why is she being tested by God? My grandma
has accepted her tumor in a way that I have not--and in a way I do not
understand. She is not afraid of passing because God has given her
more than she could have asked. “If it’s my time to go, I’m ready.”
When my grandma said that, any shame that still cornered me
faded. I’ve conquered the predator. My grandma can be at peace with
a fatal diagnosis because she has God on her side and can still be the
rock in our family. My grandma was enough for me to understand that
my peace didn’t have to be dependent on my family’s supporting my
decision. My peace came from standing up for myself, from questioning
the one thing I wasn’t supposed to. God is good for some, and some isn’t
me. My grandma’s words broke my heart because I don’t want to let her
go, but those same words enabled me to see that it was okay for me to
not believe in the same thing because I’m happy.
This is me. I do not believe in God. I am not ashamed. I am at
peace. I am happy.
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OCCASIONS
appear where his torso had been. One mouse click later, and you’re
watching an American soldier with a helmet cam recording him
and his squad bogged down by heavy enemy fire. There are even
videos of whatever drone circling a vehicle from miles above before
dropping its payload on the target with the press of a button.
Destruction Through a Screen
By Zach Hykan
I
’ve never fired a gun more powerful than a .22; I’ve never
seen an explosion in person larger than the fireworks
display that the Coal Creek Golf Course puts on every 4th of July;
I’ve never been around a military presence that had a direct influence
on how I live my day-to-day life. I’ve never even been in a fistfight
with anyone, let alone armed conflict. But, despite never having seen
the brutality of war firsthand, it still has a presence in my life that I
see every day--a presence that I still struggle with understanding to
this very day.
As a child, my favorite things focused on war and combat. In
any game I played, I was the grizzled soldier who made it through
the hellfire with a handful of scars and one-liners. If a video game
or movie was coming out that had anything to do with the armed
forces, I’d be there to give up my money and go along for the ride. I
can’t fathom counting the number of men I killed in my imagination
or I saw die on a screen. What’s more, I loved every minute of it. I
even had occasional thoughts that someday I might join the military,
and then I could finally be as good as the guys I saw in these stories-the ones who did their job no matter what and always seemed to
go home with their buddies and live to fight another day. But, my
understanding of war and what it actually entailed began to change
with one forty-some-second video I saw in the seventh grade.
I was sitting in my parents’ study playing Counter-Strike on
the computer as I always did. Back then, I could never seem to find
anything worth doing---typical suburban kid problems. Hundreds
of dollars worth of TVs, movies, video games, and everything else
imaginable cluttered the house, but I still thought that there was
nothing to do. I ached for something new to come into my life but
found excitement in escapism instead.
Then, one day, I saw a sidebar link to a video that sounded
awesome. It had the sort of generic title that riddles the YouTube
sidebar nowadays, something along the lines of “Terrorist gets hits by
mortar, FLYS off roof.” Instantly, I wanted to watch; I’d seen countless
war movies and some footage on the news of troops marching and
completing training exercises but never any actual combat footage.
The real thing had to be better than any game developer, Hollywood
director, or even my own imagination could create. There would be
no corruption or interpretation by an outsider; it would be authentic.
So, I pressed play.
The first thing I noticed was that everything seemed brown
and similar. The sky, the buildings, and the ground seemed to blend
together into some kind of ugly haze. Practically nothing was
distinguishable from its surroundings until the camera zoomed in on
OCCASIONS
a tall building in the middle of the frame.
As the camera zoomed in, I started to hear this strange
popping noise that faintly emanated from the background noise of
the movie. There was one pop, then another, and then one last one.
Screams of panic came from behind the camera, and I realized the
noise was that of rifle shots ringing out from a sniper positioned on
the top of the building.
Suddenly, a dark object flew out of the top left of the screen,
impacted the roof, and erupted into a cloud of debris. Immediately
following the blast, shouts of joy came from off-screen. It seemed
strange that people should feel so happy about a rooftop strike; I
couldn’t grasp why they were cheering until I rewound the video to
just before the shell hit.
I restarted the video to try and determine the cause of
their joy. The second time I watched the video, I knew to look for the
mortar round flying in from the side of the screen, but I also looked
off to the right side as well. Once the shell impacted the roof and the
rubble began to rise from the explosion, a blurry shape soared off of
the opposite side of the building--an object nearly impossible to make
out, except for the flopping arms and legs attached to the sniper’s
plummeting body. As the sniper crashed down towards the earth, the
unchecked limpness of his arms and legs made it clear the man was
dead before he hit the ground below.
The world is more connected than ever before, and this
means our ability to see and experience the other corners of the
world is unprecedented. It took me years to realize it, but there is
always combat and the chaos of war happening. It isn’t just the
hulking soldiers that I idealized in my youth that are impacted, but
everyone in these areas. I’ve never faced war myself, but I’m one of
the lucky few in that regard. Across the world, people are subjected
to these brutalities, and I can watch them knowing I’m safe from
these horrors.
This inability for them to escape the harsh realities of
their existence is something I can’t understand, but what’s even
stranger is how I can see this suffering through such a disconnected
lens. How do I react to this? Do I take issue with the violence and its
justifications? Do I feel disgust for the loss of life, even when it’s in selfdefense? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions never come
easy, and I ju st as often find myself turning off the screen and going
into the world I know, haunted by the knowledge that many corners
of the world don’t know the peaceful existence I’ve had the privilege
to be born into yet thankful that I’ve never had to face the cruel
realities they’re subjected to.
The second run of the video ended, and I sat quietly in the
study, thinking. That man had been alive just seconds before that
video ended, and now he was dead. And not just dead, but people
were happy to have him gone. They literally shouted for joy as his
body plummeted to the ground below. And why shouldn’t they have?
If he had his way, the sniper would have killed them. But, that didn’t
make me feel any better or worse about the situation. It didn’t make
me feel much of anything; it only made me think about what I had
seen, about how I just watched a man die, not make believe, not with
CGI gore or blood packets--just a few popping noises, a cloud of dust,
and the shouts of happiness that followed.
That video was the first combat footage I saw that wasn’t
from the TV or Hollywood, but it wouldn’t be the last. Ever since
then, I have become increasingly aware of how much of this kind of
footage exists. Facebook, YouTube, and a simple Google search could
all get equally, or even more, explicit footage from anywhere in the
world. From the comfort of your own home, you can see a member
of the FSA taking pot shots from a hole in the wall no greater than
the size of his head and then move literally seconds before two holes
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OCCASIONS
My birthday growing up always fell on the first day
of school. Happy birthday. I guess that’s why I have never really
appreciated my birthday like my peers do. To me, it just feels like a
reminder of passing time. Another year of the forty to sixty I have
left—according to Wikipedia. That, or an excuse to call attention to
yourself for a day. Like the day is yours. Like nobody else was born
on that day. Like nobody else means anything
Maintaining Balance at Sea
By J.P. Whitehead
1.
T
his down comforter is it, man. It’s hypothermic out
there.
I’ve got this little bubble of body heat, and I plan on keeping
the fire stoked till two in the morning. I’m all plugged in, too.
Everything will be charged-up come sunrise. But I’m not going to
sleep till my eyelids fall effortlessly.
2.
All people in this grey world are capable of feeling some
bundle of outlying emotions that, when taken as a whole, resemble
something someone once spoke of called love. By this attribute-the capacity to love--all people in this grey world are also obsessive
compulsive.
Let me explain myself. Seated at your wooden table, you
position an unassuming book so that the length of the spine sits
perfectly and inexplicably between the grains. There is no reason for
this spatial anomaly, nor is there any reason to glean from this odd
encounter any satisfaction, but you do. And that’s it--right there--that
satisfaction of conjuncture. It is that moment when two separate and
otherwise independent objects created by completely different people
suddenly make sense when positioned just so. It is as if neither had
truly existed in absence of the other. That is love; coincidence.
When I look at the world, everything begins to appear as
that book on the table. Things mysteriously and without any clear
motive effortlessly fall into place with one another, creating beautiful,
existential meaning from context. Call it obsessive compulsion, or
love, or coincidence, or whatever, as long as I keep from delving into
the why. It is simply happening, and that is reason to rejoice.
semester--a semester of total ignorance, blank-faced in a state of
absolute indifference. But here I am now staring at this thing, silent,
motionless. And it’s slow. It wobbles and flops and drifts lazily. For
twenty seconds, this leaf is as free as it will ever be.
All year, it struggled for this little, brief, lofted dance. And
it’s so slow. My eyes roll down to see it land directly on top of where
some road worker spray-painted the word “VOID” (seriously, can’t
make this shit up). Some girl with her nose in her phone because she’s
too important for “awareness” and “symbolism” steps down right on
top of my little leaf friend. Yeah, so it goes. The metaphor slapped
me in the face like a frozen salmon. It’s tough not to acknowledge that
here I am trying my hardest to wiggle off my own branch.
But, seriously, what if I do? What if my lazy descent is
met with cold pavement and the tread of shoes filled by twentysomethings? What if I end up crunched up next to gutter-trash? I
don’t want that. I don’t think anyone wants that. I know my leafbuddy didn’t want that, and, shit, I’m going to live it up for that leaf
while I still can. He had twenty seconds to show his stuff. I’ve got
between forty and sixty years--according to Wikipedia.
4.
When I look at you, walking to class, walking past me, I
want to talk to you. I want to start building something, and I want
you to help. I want to send the world hopping over a jump rope, with
you and me giggling like crazy, swinging the tether between us in
circles around the globe.
When I see you, I want to talk to you. I want to build
something, and I need your help. But then you’re behind me, still
walking to class, still thinking of school or your weekend or whatever.
I’m just smiling at the thought of jump rope with you.
3.
5.
I was walking down the street that I live on, taking in the
season, and a leaf fell from its tree.
I was fucking floored.
My dad’s father was born on Independence Day. My dad’s
brother was born on Halloween. My dad himself was born on St.
Patrick’s Day. My sister and my dad’s sister were both born on
Mother’s Day. Two generations; all holidays. The answer to your
question is: yes, I have told girls about this in the past to make myself
appear interesting; results vary.
Hear me out--it’s the anticipation. The billions of years
leading up to me standing here observing a leaf on its way to the
pavement. Imagine waiting to see a movie, just waiting in line for
three billion years. You’d enjoy the movie, regardless of its technical
or aesthetic merit, simply because you waited. Leaves fall every day,
but I had walked past this young narrowleaf cottonwood for a whole
In fact, I was also born on a holiday: Labor Day. Perfect--a
holiday for one last day of laziness. I do not know if this is significant
to my character, but sometimes it seems like it is.
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On my last birthday, I turned nineteen. On my last birthday,
“Mind if I have some of your grilled cheese?”
He looked down, still chewing, swallowed and said,
“Yeah, sure. There’s no way I can finish all this.”
For a while, I just sat there with him, eating grilled cheese.
I started to understand the safety he felt in hot yellow velvet.
Wyatt told me that, as a young and confused boy, he would visit
I said that love is coincidence--and it totally is, but what if it were constant and casual? Permanence is boring, you feel me? The primal thrill of life occurs only in the context of a greater plot.
Birth, life, death. The excitement and struggle comes out of establishing structures that will
hopefully outlive you; things with a less predicable outcome, stories that don’t end with yours.
my friend’s girlfriend found him cold with a garbage bag full of
nitrous tied around his head, and then I went to a concert. On
my last birthday, I learned that you and I and everybody else are
nowhere near as important as we would like to think we are, even
on our fucking birthdays.
6.
I have five roommates. They all have birthdays. None of
their birthdays falls on a holiday. One of my roommates, Wyatt,
is always worried about something. I can tell. His girl gave him
trouble a few weeks ago; he cooked up a total of five boxes of
mac-and-cheese over the span of two days. If you don’t quite
understand the correlation, let me try another example. He didn’t
do well on a midterm; quesadillas for a week. The kid crutches on
dairy.
It has gotten to a point where we are spending a
considerable amount more on cheese and milk than other groceries
to accommodate every trauma in Wyatt’s life.
his grandparents. Every day at lunchtime, without fail, Wyatt’s
grandfather would plop a plate of golden toasted gooey yellow
grilled cheese in front of him. He stopped to emphasize that the
grilled cheese back then was always consistently amazing, and that
he could never live up to his grandpa’s culinary legacy. As is wont
to happen in the throes of adolescence, the trips to his grandparents
grew less and less frequent. What few trips they did make, Wyatt
would meet with unyielding reluctance. Besides, he was too old
for grilled cheese. I can’t say for certain whether most kids want
a good relationship with their grandparents, but I do know that
most kids are not sure how to relate. I can say that you’re never too
old for grilled cheese, and that I genuinely sympathize with lactose
intolerant people. That shit sounds terrible.
7.
Anyway, I guess I’m happy that I’ll die someday--forty to
sixty years from now.
I’m terrified of not dying, actually.
A month ago, I came home from class, and I knew he
must be distraught because with his left hand he clutched half a
triangle-cut grilled cheese sandwich. I looked down at his plate
to see two other untouched sandwiches and two steamy bowls of
tomato soup. His eyes looked like he wanted to talk, the same way
competition-eaters look like they want to talk, so I sat down next
to him on our green suede couch. His mouth still stringing hot
cheese, he swallowed causing his eyes to bulge.
I said that love is coincidence--and it totally is, but what
if it were constant and casual? Permanence is boring, you feel me?
The primal thrill of life occurs only in the context of a greater
plot. Birth, life, death. The excitement and struggle comes out
of establishing structures that will hopefully outlive you; things
with a less predictable outcome, stories that don’t end with yours.
Impermanence allows for love, and it’s easy to see why. The symbolic
marriage of two egos feels more profound with the additional
requirement of inevitable separation.
8.
Through melted American he mumbled,
“My grandpa is in the hospital again.”
I started searching for words. I wanted to console him
somehow, but he’s just staring at me, chewing slowly. His eyes
bulging with every swallow. I waited a moment, looked down at
the plate, and then back up at him.
There is a hole in the upholstery on the roof above the
passenger headrest. You can tell that whenever it ripped, what little
life the poor thing still possessed just sort of leaked out.
But, still, we bought this old van to drive it till it breaks. The
odometer has a crack across the sixth digit, but I like the suspense.
49
OCCASIONS
13.
9.
But love is coincidence, and ours was contrived.
A few days ago, I was riding the bus and a cute girl walked
in. Her hair hung carelessly in curls over her face. She sat down next
to me and rested up against my legs like an armrest until she realized
her mistake and apologized. We giggled, rode on in complete silence,
and got off at different stops. It is insignificant, but, for the sake of
closure; I would have gladly been her armrest.
Someday, perhaps our vertices will match up with uncanny
precision, and we’ll be sure that something about me fits into
something about you, and maybe with that knowledge we might
smile more around each other.
10.
I often wonder what it’ll be like when I forget about you.
I wonder how you’ll be in my memory, when you’re not waltzing
between my ears every god damn hour of the day. I think when
someone forgets you, you can feel it. What am I but something to
look at, to hear, to think about and remember and forget? All I’m
saying is: I’m just as real in somebody’s head as anywhere else.
To say “it is what it is” in Spanish, all you have to do is spell
out the word socks.
S-O-C-K-S.
That’s all you have to do.
11.
Right now--like, right now--it’s 1:15 am, and I’m switching
between this essay and a chronology of events in the Soviet Union
from 1920-1945. A chronology, as it would be, which happens to
read a lot like a list I once made of the most depressing things I can
think of. That being said--maybe I’m overtired, but I keep drawing
parallels between Stalin and myself.
Hopefully, I’m overtired, but hear me out--I think maybe
Stalin is misunderstood. I’m not saying he’s a good guy; I think that
assessment has been accepted long before this essay, but I just don’t
know if his motivation is necessarily evil. I think it’s possible he’s
just insecure. Maybe he stays up late thinking about stuff way too
much--I do that sometimes.
Actually, I do that all the time. If I ruled a country as big
as Russia and couldn’t sleep every night because I was overthinking
things, I’d probably start interrogating and killing as many people
as I knew too.
Okay, maybe I wouldn’t do that. I must be overtired. Stalin
was a dick.
12.
I saw her yesterday. She was walking to her house on 16th
Street. I was walking to buy cigarettes. She looked up at me and
smiled; I did the same. I tried to say “hi,” and I think I did, but a little
bit of spit exited my mouth with the word. She laughed. I stopped
smiling. We’ll see who’s laughing in the Gulag.
14.
I think of the headlights of passing cars flashing
momentarily across my bedroom wall at night. That brief,
anonymous luminance. People enter and exit our lives often and on
accident--without ever truly understanding their effect. I think of
the many souls that skirt past mine. That’s how you’ll be.
I think when someone forgets about you, you don’t just
disappear into a void in their head. No, you hide, and you wait.
Maybe you can never leave, trapped under their meninges forever,
floating about in spinal fluid. If that’s the case, you better get cozy.
Don’t be sad. Dormancy is not death.
Don’t be sad. When someone forgets about you, you don’t
just slip away into ether. Remember when we folded that paper
airplane, with care in every crease? And how we climbed up onto
the roof of the old YMCA? Remember when we tossed it into the
wind, how it drifted and dove and swooped around until we lost it,
shrinking ever-smaller into the scenery? That plane is still there,
somewhere--up a tree, crumpled in the gutter.
15.
Maybe when someone forgets about you, you stick around
in the shadows. You quietly and occasionally paint their walls with
light. You whisper in the silence. Waiting to jump out of their mouth,
you sit between the synapses, hoping somehow a signal sparks your
way. Well, I suppose that’s good news for the forgotten. The way I
see it, nothing stays buried; you either decay or get dug up.
Whatever. Spell socks.
he truth is that I’d never send her to a Gulag. No, all I
wanted was to come back to her house with her. I wanted to open the
door and smell lavender. I wanted to cook her chili when it got cold.
I wanted to get drunk and laugh with her. Besides, skinny thing like
her wouldn’t last a month in a work-camp.
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