tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70951040144588581182024-02-20T16:09:16.497-08:00Natural SelectionsNina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-89160008736514189632022-10-25T22:53:00.001-07:002022-10-25T22:53:33.848-07:00When the Last Frisbee Hits the Turf<p>Hello from San Diego. It's been more than a year since I posted here, so bear with me as I shake off the cobwebs...</p><p>First, logistics: I'm sorting out a new way for readers to subscribe to this blog, so if you get two email notifications, my apologies and don't panic! I'm working on it!</p><p>So, what am I doing in San Diego? Recovering -- physically, emotionally, spiritually -- from the USA National Club Ultimate Championships. 2022 marks my seventeenth year playing ultimate frisbee, and my first US Club Regionals and Nationals. I could not have gotten luckier, moving to Brooklyn and joining the mixed-gender team New York XIST.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMraODXow9F1dZzrWPziA_YqJLtzxNHbC399hojtwN7Uaf39wibjsbUretuMvCE4OAvN3fafpVM4DR_k37Tpt5ygRXVibRMSYqDoidpApnCfMpnqsDvMlaf74nbclEK5uoJ6AfBjahhXFTRE2QjHYfZxw_eH63eykhGrhfuwiimKWJxqMCH54iX6VP_Q/s4032/IMG_1137.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMraODXow9F1dZzrWPziA_YqJLtzxNHbC399hojtwN7Uaf39wibjsbUretuMvCE4OAvN3fafpVM4DR_k37Tpt5ygRXVibRMSYqDoidpApnCfMpnqsDvMlaf74nbclEK5uoJ6AfBjahhXFTRE2QjHYfZxw_eH63eykhGrhfuwiimKWJxqMCH54iX6VP_Q/w640-h480/IMG_1137.HEIC" width="640" /></a></div><p>If you're so inclined, you can watch us play in the quarterfinals against Atlanta Dirty Bird <a href="https://ultiworld.com/video/123533/new-york-xist-v-atlanta-dirty-bird-pool-play/">here</a> on Ultiworld, and in the semifinals against Seattle Mixtape <a href="https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/10b64642-38e8-47ff-93fe-bd1584a1d36d?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults">here</a> on the big screen of ESPN. (Sorry, they both need paid subscriptions.)</p><p>Maybe I'll post more reflections on the joy and heartbreak of giving everything to a championship run with this team later. For now, I'm remembering that life exists outside of ultimate, little by little, by spending a few days with family friends and multispecies companions in the Southwest.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bMJYtOm35yZP-T2z9y4vWkFzsjUU40iPIsIxzmZOdoJOmNdjqNGnbRjTaUj-ABd4tW89yJFNny40riCnMVdGqSaHhRRSr3rwr9LpItDEbDB-AQlidv14jugOGXNh-7d993UVxlvZXMdDQZsCF-4dqSxuUUUCT0QM3KeKyvSquHaZI-cz8hgwqYwpvg/s3088/IMG_9282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bMJYtOm35yZP-T2z9y4vWkFzsjUU40iPIsIxzmZOdoJOmNdjqNGnbRjTaUj-ABd4tW89yJFNny40riCnMVdGqSaHhRRSr3rwr9LpItDEbDB-AQlidv14jugOGXNh-7d993UVxlvZXMdDQZsCF-4dqSxuUUUCT0QM3KeKyvSquHaZI-cz8hgwqYwpvg/w400-h300/IMG_9282.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">XIST orange-and-blue hair, and two family friends, Tracy and Ray.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHehQOwYVQe5arIpNxbPr43WuEPzsKAbVNwJmia10mtTQeTwS6AkWL_mSUP-OR685IGussq9YO5lGUME6VX5d-oczb5f7K_6SVmYtBXRnMpWqwFMOz-qYi6neJk3y1gBWgwIF--O6h8nxKM9ellXoh_D4FdXiGRnASaAYscUw96_icLzalukD8b72j7Q/s4032/IMG_9277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHehQOwYVQe5arIpNxbPr43WuEPzsKAbVNwJmia10mtTQeTwS6AkWL_mSUP-OR685IGussq9YO5lGUME6VX5d-oczb5f7K_6SVmYtBXRnMpWqwFMOz-qYi6neJk3y1gBWgwIF--O6h8nxKM9ellXoh_D4FdXiGRnASaAYscUw96_icLzalukD8b72j7Q/w300-h400/IMG_9277.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A native <i>Corethrogyne </i>aster drops a jewel of color into the dry landscape.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPxTllP7htSV4i-yVJWT9oaoTKa2Xi_hJUbh6ldO-gCjdXHMNdby-tBM0wPyqgLDbD85rU_H4GJakL7qiuxg1uR3ProC2vquxz1Kgsz5pQxbpWPpimIDOTgFAYQVeQ0AZ-g6zUMIjbKwAKEMA-ao8wpqS4LmlXcrxhPT6DpcSmqqYmNHdtaFrP-TZBQ/s4032/IMG_9270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPxTllP7htSV4i-yVJWT9oaoTKa2Xi_hJUbh6ldO-gCjdXHMNdby-tBM0wPyqgLDbD85rU_H4GJakL7qiuxg1uR3ProC2vquxz1Kgsz5pQxbpWPpimIDOTgFAYQVeQ0AZ-g6zUMIjbKwAKEMA-ao8wpqS4LmlXcrxhPT6DpcSmqqYmNHdtaFrP-TZBQ/w300-h400/IMG_9270.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A darkling beetle roving the canyon floor.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb30YXwE2r9bkvXsMuBQLi6noSJHMUQyJnWjaXhkuSh6tSvQK5xpqQA4xFUDlz-QEdeyUStQ21QRDKalJCb_FUlRSeVaEwmq3HkAwjdJ9cy_jLngF3GgTl0hg3PjLuKl3uFKkmQ4Wj8p9ccS6Jj3m937yY3r1tyGxJmdlhw2lZEBuAqyaDBp6kdsEH9A/s4032/IMG_9268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb30YXwE2r9bkvXsMuBQLi6noSJHMUQyJnWjaXhkuSh6tSvQK5xpqQA4xFUDlz-QEdeyUStQ21QRDKalJCb_FUlRSeVaEwmq3HkAwjdJ9cy_jLngF3GgTl0hg3PjLuKl3uFKkmQ4Wj8p9ccS6Jj3m937yY3r1tyGxJmdlhw2lZEBuAqyaDBp6kdsEH9A/w300-h400/IMG_9268.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I had to double back and scramble up some rocks when I caught a glimpse of this emerald green Bigelow's spikemoss (<i>Selaginella bigelovii</i>) making its living in the shade. If you think ferns and mosses are cool... wait til you start noticing these fern allies all around you.</div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvHnn-4M91P7_ZR-aLFbS_FJNHUJ-SHEPa3gWfJFBhAnOygf2kwI17m9CMwcuGGj11C5Koi8l1q03ejQDg4q8WUqwAES1gdb7wSOtbcTlrMPtlo-C7Rg1iNLzYZPCoWkwedU_kkutL86kbV0WPSle89zxV2BoH31nuUPuvNTW7PnxmYOrmdR1dq2Rcw/s4032/IMG_9247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvHnn-4M91P7_ZR-aLFbS_FJNHUJ-SHEPa3gWfJFBhAnOygf2kwI17m9CMwcuGGj11C5Koi8l1q03ejQDg4q8WUqwAES1gdb7wSOtbcTlrMPtlo-C7Rg1iNLzYZPCoWkwedU_kkutL86kbV0WPSle89zxV2BoH31nuUPuvNTW7PnxmYOrmdR1dq2Rcw/w300-h400/IMG_9247.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Cholla (<i>Cylindropuntia </i>sp.) in sunshine.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Qpig8-eOshDADyn7U2CRGgAiaCEx9RI58K5LSHmzyymFAoVmveEjx5eote3pqVxSe22l6Y2FFIc78J9Bp9llaVuzVsiV0vmKLGV8Uz-JRa5aeoIS8I4yBNzaZUIMRhcNRqDI5vbVHR8u6gwqLBv6D-r6eigBeVIEbSgZ9WGSFWhXmNDvJUr3TEPx3Q/s4032/IMG_9231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Qpig8-eOshDADyn7U2CRGgAiaCEx9RI58K5LSHmzyymFAoVmveEjx5eote3pqVxSe22l6Y2FFIc78J9Bp9llaVuzVsiV0vmKLGV8Uz-JRa5aeoIS8I4yBNzaZUIMRhcNRqDI5vbVHR8u6gwqLBv6D-r6eigBeVIEbSgZ9WGSFWhXmNDvJUr3TEPx3Q/w300-h400/IMG_9231.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A sacred datura (<i>Datura wrightii</i>), one of several flower species known as Devil's trumpets.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sacred datura is a psychoactive, hallucinogenic, poisonous plant -- technically, an anticholinergic deliriant. I'm reminded of the spring day last year when I walked through a Norfolk meadow in the peak of grass pollen season and got so allergic I could barely breathe or see through all my snotty sneezing. Two Claritins and a Benadryl later, I was lying on the floor, hot, red, and batty as hell. Naturally, I called my mother, who diagnosed an "anticholinergic storm" from too many antihistamines... I wonder if eating a sacred datura would do the same? I will not be tasting one to find out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrUlTCtR2AvLJ_ASGtmXqA5j5iDUQL3p2x5cTPMa7vtXansvjkWuE3NBA7JlE_IEXiyWUTTBxr_MfOYFGiMNNovrkag7Abu-GfS9-uHgv-xdx5b8zpmj8onunUO-GOUvD2p8r2t4XEN7sp3wrIde8gHV-ZplG7CrY_8Wl9NTLP9YdIdONEMntZLBi5PQ/s4032/IMG_9221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrUlTCtR2AvLJ_ASGtmXqA5j5iDUQL3p2x5cTPMa7vtXansvjkWuE3NBA7JlE_IEXiyWUTTBxr_MfOYFGiMNNovrkag7Abu-GfS9-uHgv-xdx5b8zpmj8onunUO-GOUvD2p8r2t4XEN7sp3wrIde8gHV-ZplG7CrY_8Wl9NTLP9YdIdONEMntZLBi5PQ/w400-h300/IMG_9221.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The duckweed-filled pond of Old Mission Dam and Flume, built from 1813 to 1816 to provide water for crops and livestock at the Mission San Diego de Alcala.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The signage mentioned "Indian laborers" and the use of "human hands" under "Franciscan missionary supervision" to build the dam.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One sign said, "In the early 1800's, the Spanish saw the need to control the flow of water to provide it year-round for their permanent settlements. To solve this problem, engineers trained in Mexico supervised Kumeyaay Indian laborers in building one of the first major irrigation projects in the western United States."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No mention of the fact that permanent settlements were an act of genocide on stolen land.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No mention that the "Indian laborers" were likely working under conditions akin to slavery.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No mention that the Kumeyaay lived here and stewarded these lands and waters for 600 generations -- 12,000 years -- without needing to dam the rivers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No mention that the <a href="http://www.kumeyaay.info/kumeyaay/">Kumeyaay</a> continue to live here.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No mention that major irrigation projects in the western United States have become one of the greatest environmental and human rights disasters (see: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/22/mexico-colorado-river-people-left-without-river">Colorado River</a>).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6oVaUtNmlykybDdwhW5sb42Md9f3cWpLAHIAOMlG1kha5vYJFsaLdt9Mb30YJH6ddwqmBIzw_wULknyIGBOWCcxTw2rEhHgzUqnin2IS0TcVwFg4VLAKJapLI2ZUkjaGY3PojD06GraIXoa_LTgo0PFIYqIUTcsEZXgZfBC4r6TmLHgP4i4nMEalcfA/s4032/IMG_9262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6oVaUtNmlykybDdwhW5sb42Md9f3cWpLAHIAOMlG1kha5vYJFsaLdt9Mb30YJH6ddwqmBIzw_wULknyIGBOWCcxTw2rEhHgzUqnin2IS0TcVwFg4VLAKJapLI2ZUkjaGY3PojD06GraIXoa_LTgo0PFIYqIUTcsEZXgZfBC4r6TmLHgP4i4nMEalcfA/w400-h300/IMG_9262.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Old Mission Dam from a lookout point above.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hiking through the desert broom and Fremont cottonwoods and western sycamores of this valley, I was reminded that environmental justice and social justice are deeply linked.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last year, I was honored to join an excellent virtual seminar (free for community members!) at Syracuse University called <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/climates-of-resistance/about?authuser=0">Climates of Resistance</a>, led by Dr. Becca Farnum, about environmental inequalities and the active resistance of Black and Indigenous People and People of Color. If Becca is able to run the class again, I highly recommend it. I will never again see the oppression -- or liberation -- of lands, waters, and people as disconnected.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_jC8IaX-u7M-xfg9H8kqJHFbAGSM3Xz89cKMTm93l0l-ldqIEH-5UyoyCgUOp1pEQ3v4mHGqQk0JbZ8M6tMeKS9zqD2xhC88QP25uG9AnA-PrKGMu5jmeovQgdHyCrqAcyLxV26IrhPQhAPE90hZZ_J_7DLOC5k_9m5_6aMN2cSTlO6lfkeikHXeFQ/s4032/IMG_9296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_jC8IaX-u7M-xfg9H8kqJHFbAGSM3Xz89cKMTm93l0l-ldqIEH-5UyoyCgUOp1pEQ3v4mHGqQk0JbZ8M6tMeKS9zqD2xhC88QP25uG9AnA-PrKGMu5jmeovQgdHyCrqAcyLxV26IrhPQhAPE90hZZ_J_7DLOC5k_9m5_6aMN2cSTlO6lfkeikHXeFQ/w300-h400/IMG_9296.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My favorite find of the week: a Gould beanclam (<i>Donax gouldii</i>) and, attached to its asymmetrical shell, a bean clam hydroid (<i>Eucheilota bakeri</i>).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There were thousands upon thousands of these little beanclams exposed on the low-tide sand, each one with a symbiotic specialist hydroid attached!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hydroids are cnidarians, in the same phylum as jellyfish and sea anemones. Like their jelly cousins, they are predators that hunt microscopic plankton prey using stinging harpoon cells called nematocysts. Apparently, the nematocysts of bean clam hydroids aren't big enough to sting through human finger skin because I touched a lot of them today and didn't feel a thing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When the Gould bean clams were buried under the sand, their hydroid hitchhikers were aboveground, waving in the cold salty water as it washed over them in the rising tide. It's obvious what the hydroid gets out of the bargain -- a hard substrate to attach to and feed from. What does the bean clam have to gain? Maybe the rough, stinging hydroid makes the clams less appetizing to predators? Or maybe the hydroid is a parasite, taking without giving in return?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiH4O_8peoKUz5qZ77kAWNf__u6P0ICMuOziEQrhRA57zu4Hey_c_IlnfMTUMxMe4si4vxoSjgnXUULC2lMWWG3xH-ggUxXTuVZUyhufJKDg_LxUnLh82IudR2b6QdtGyrFEjX3IbS2L3afuF_agAUtQ-ZfG5ZNDKM6QlMWcGUaTgSqfOKA7AEVJRhbQ/s4032/IMG_9320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiH4O_8peoKUz5qZ77kAWNf__u6P0ICMuOziEQrhRA57zu4Hey_c_IlnfMTUMxMe4si4vxoSjgnXUULC2lMWWG3xH-ggUxXTuVZUyhufJKDg_LxUnLh82IudR2b6QdtGyrFEjX3IbS2L3afuF_agAUtQ-ZfG5ZNDKM6QlMWcGUaTgSqfOKA7AEVJRhbQ/w400-h300/IMG_9320.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A lone venus clam (<i>Chione </i>sp.) surrounded by Gould bean clams.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgExFKuVIAt7TmBGm8obXt4N2CpYiutkuY1Z0VOoGMzsy8SKglXLk1LcbHtaxUS5QR1PWlAS0CrXTtEutCfX7-cGsldmfGXD4-bGHUbRTx0H8D3Ua2uIUOku9Utl8dEu0iJeShZ5k2EZQ-8rVDjkJcRGWqBHkjtvENs_4Qv8FMyx7jflQouH0poFH2Vog/s4032/IMG_9326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgExFKuVIAt7TmBGm8obXt4N2CpYiutkuY1Z0VOoGMzsy8SKglXLk1LcbHtaxUS5QR1PWlAS0CrXTtEutCfX7-cGsldmfGXD4-bGHUbRTx0H8D3Ua2uIUOku9Utl8dEu0iJeShZ5k2EZQ-8rVDjkJcRGWqBHkjtvENs_4Qv8FMyx7jflQouH0poFH2Vog/w300-h400/IMG_9326.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A very low tide exposing a rusting naval base boundary fence made for a great opportunity to see gooseneck barnacles (<i>Pollicipes polymerus</i>). Fun fact: I wrote the Wikipedia page for this species when I was in high school... 🤓</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJo29VJpq5EGM_WS6efTka0Yqa73n18rGSM-NpNaNiW7MFGaNuYW0m-x51PDbsdd6O8qI-SLYtGzs3aSduyQKvXyivg86IgNXdl00odtqt4FvYMD6Cmh_DSp0FF2NOcRjrE3cX2HyZaMSdj0DP8dm62AD5p5KAMMeHvKjFJZ3n7iQxtOpA58fmL9Un1g/s4032/IMG_9347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJo29VJpq5EGM_WS6efTka0Yqa73n18rGSM-NpNaNiW7MFGaNuYW0m-x51PDbsdd6O8qI-SLYtGzs3aSduyQKvXyivg86IgNXdl00odtqt4FvYMD6Cmh_DSp0FF2NOcRjrE3cX2HyZaMSdj0DP8dm62AD5p5KAMMeHvKjFJZ3n7iQxtOpA58fmL9Un1g/w300-h400/IMG_9347.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have literally no idea what these translucent tiny magenta spheres are, and I love that.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxAXg3T1K_34OVcqCyURGbLcMZ1BjT5QrQd8zioCoKYe79Lr6lpbhMBn7qdTYHU66qkztQd_LaRCYEC_hexy8uhLYJJLSsVwRbk5v2Htk8nXQ3Fc0HK2Ot37yygS1DwnMHocCId0pj2wSKhnoBEcN0fibkHNm5iFjDfGOynBS2mBZ3F424PFryiQayg/s4032/IMG_9366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxAXg3T1K_34OVcqCyURGbLcMZ1BjT5QrQd8zioCoKYe79Lr6lpbhMBn7qdTYHU66qkztQd_LaRCYEC_hexy8uhLYJJLSsVwRbk5v2Htk8nXQ3Fc0HK2Ot37yygS1DwnMHocCId0pj2wSKhnoBEcN0fibkHNm5iFjDfGOynBS2mBZ3F424PFryiQayg/w400-h300/IMG_9366.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A flock of marbled godwits and willets probe the wet Pacific sand.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLp7Bj8bpmIdDeP2da_jRmbTYbqF2381a6VmzAm2X1pQkNEDLBOZY64Y2jNdDNK2EvwaC5BSxRqENqoRHDWyU6ymS3e8xgLe3UkVjmbxhltdbf8cQhyrenNKWJWF3QDnMShCJcI4T-rAbsBlxUuZD-3y40mkcoA60nv-P0bRK7bkEkn2OgEDZvwmfJXA/s4032/IMG_9368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLp7Bj8bpmIdDeP2da_jRmbTYbqF2381a6VmzAm2X1pQkNEDLBOZY64Y2jNdDNK2EvwaC5BSxRqENqoRHDWyU6ymS3e8xgLe3UkVjmbxhltdbf8cQhyrenNKWJWF3QDnMShCJcI4T-rAbsBlxUuZD-3y40mkcoA60nv-P0bRK7bkEkn2OgEDZvwmfJXA/w400-h300/IMG_9368.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The carapace of a graceful rock crab (<i>Metacarcinus gracilis</i>). Whoever named this species was having a more generous day than the guy who named two other beach finds:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiK8tjjz8rKJF_Sm1k00c5ntr6I27hOR2Ovj6XAQjmFnb-YxCTIc5VmcDRw9vlHX2QYQUKp1toLi5vwOMpkXhUnFDoOFOaOjHrmjQX6vrX7ehYBhZ7fJfEVnh8zeJOWSyN7_RDicrN6NvxeGzzzS0XMHpqSF8sKqE_h32T8oegmCa0AR52GVPdd4DbCQ/s4032/IMG_9355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiK8tjjz8rKJF_Sm1k00c5ntr6I27hOR2Ovj6XAQjmFnb-YxCTIc5VmcDRw9vlHX2QYQUKp1toLi5vwOMpkXhUnFDoOFOaOjHrmjQX6vrX7ehYBhZ7fJfEVnh8zeJOWSyN7_RDicrN6NvxeGzzzS0XMHpqSF8sKqE_h32T8oegmCa0AR52GVPdd4DbCQ/w300-h400/IMG_9355.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">... the socially odd "eccentric sand dollar" (<i>Dendraster excentricus</i>)...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrk87l3psFRsS0cEZPGe8pvC7gsxtQeKShu7kM0_bL25lZ7bIU4lyL_ZmRdQgeVi_ATMZNEISO5-u3ZaoX9KFoHnnDO2RVc73YdLsD_unH0S6TRCmiNcKKPSYNydKQ6fcxijptyOIZza_YA2Nl8tYIHSTc_O8E_u7Q2h2sC8_XQlFvzg2pANmIvGZsg/s4032/IMG_9387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrk87l3psFRsS0cEZPGe8pvC7gsxtQeKShu7kM0_bL25lZ7bIU4lyL_ZmRdQgeVi_ATMZNEISO5-u3ZaoX9KFoHnnDO2RVc73YdLsD_unH0S6TRCmiNcKKPSYNydKQ6fcxijptyOIZza_YA2Nl8tYIHSTc_O8E_u7Q2h2sC8_XQlFvzg2pANmIvGZsg/w300-h400/IMG_9387.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">... and the apparently exasperating "Turkish towel" (<i>Chondracanthus exasperatus</i>).</div></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3UFEZ40-aAHX851oIIk8F2LQzmtUoVvW7MuOwCCo_0B8wEqos-eFlkbxIQOCoQ-0bD8mn-3glZCvVgTyRapKin-05MQxDu-QGHdAYkajrgrboiPzHSgfA4GaFJmGMA2h4nU5O8Cpf191_eCHviJg4jHMdY0yHl-8g25vBY4sEH8PB7D6ga0AqH6R4rg/s4032/IMG_9376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3UFEZ40-aAHX851oIIk8F2LQzmtUoVvW7MuOwCCo_0B8wEqos-eFlkbxIQOCoQ-0bD8mn-3glZCvVgTyRapKin-05MQxDu-QGHdAYkajrgrboiPzHSgfA4GaFJmGMA2h4nU5O8Cpf191_eCHviJg4jHMdY0yHl-8g25vBY4sEH8PB7D6ga0AqH6R4rg/w300-h400/IMG_9376.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A final favorite of the day, a tenacious bryozoan known as Sargassum sea mat</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(<i>Jellyella tuberculata</i>). If I have a kid, I'll be damned if I'm not naming her Jellyella.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">🕊</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQ2JoU4Z9ZGScpxCrwe8DJELktZYHj7PcjUnmFq8-xlJyw_98G6VNUO1mFbD1JYO_yDu2I0l57t4KZ8rvAoIDWF3u4APZhW08P_90R_fX7_eX4cZFg-h2j0I3kVCoMzoKxs4LRcoR2x7gMWkSwRSmdIXu9ycS4u0fWtc924CK-RtZRK7bC07Uk9EHfA/s4032/IMG_9181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwQ2JoU4Z9ZGScpxCrwe8DJELktZYHj7PcjUnmFq8-xlJyw_98G6VNUO1mFbD1JYO_yDu2I0l57t4KZ8rvAoIDWF3u4APZhW08P_90R_fX7_eX4cZFg-h2j0I3kVCoMzoKxs4LRcoR2x7gMWkSwRSmdIXu9ycS4u0fWtc924CK-RtZRK7bC07Uk9EHfA/w400-h300/IMG_9181.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I'm not ready for the XIST season to be over -- like, at all. But at least there are marine invertebrates and desert plants to turn to when the last frisbee hits the turf, for now.</div></div></div><p></p>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-47023444751784934932021-04-17T01:09:00.006-07:002021-04-17T01:09:50.505-07:00Heading Off: Two Weeks on Alison's Biodynamic FarmOn Monday, April 5, I woke up early and bicycled through an unseasonable Norwich snow flurry to the train station. My silver and blue pack, Persimmon, was stuffed to bursting and strapped to my back. I wobbled in the icy gusts of wind under my heavy cargo. Collin, with a day off from Easter, kindly biked in front as I focused all my attention on balance and using my hips and quads to get up the hills.<div><br /></div><div>Although I never had this exact experience on the Watson, it felt like déjà vu: I was reminded of all the early mornings when I rushed to leave one home for another, all the GoJek and Lift scooters I rode for transportation in Indonesia and Malaysia, all the moments of movement when everything I needed was on my back.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today I was making a smaller journey, just one hour south by train from Norwich to Manningtree. I'd leave the district of Norfolk, steam south through Suffolk, and get off just past the border to Essex. My destination: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alisonsorganics/">Alison's Organics</a>, a biodynamic farm.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd found the farm through <a href="https://wwoof.org.uk/">WWOOF</a>, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It's an excellent program where volunteers can find organic farms to host them for periods ranging from days to months. Hosts provide food and lodging, and volunteers work around six hours a day, five days a week, with no money exchanged. I'd always wanted to try it but never felt like I had the time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, lockdown was lifting, spring weather was melting back into freezing winter, and I was on spring break from my master's program at the University of East Anglia. Time to give it a try! I arranged with Alison Bond to spend two weeks WWOOFing (yes, that's a verb) on her five-acre smallholding.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvLKzp_amTMrPO1oQGaWrKNA27T_CqSJX_RvwlVq73vyxOTDz0Oo5Sfy0t_ZHPcW_flQMzhnaZBpoW9c2U-Ji7Ydb9r9oruj3-iJG-GO-YDUOuXcjMbuHnaG1LkPW5ddfVkJv2JBG9jiMx/s1280/AFTO6674.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvLKzp_amTMrPO1oQGaWrKNA27T_CqSJX_RvwlVq73vyxOTDz0Oo5Sfy0t_ZHPcW_flQMzhnaZBpoW9c2U-Ji7Ydb9r9oruj3-iJG-GO-YDUOuXcjMbuHnaG1LkPW5ddfVkJv2JBG9jiMx/w640-h360/AFTO6674.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clear, cold skies.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-U8ehD_rZEqtQWUHLFIljdHKNqS-OdeA6DVDbcT49edyD3kHi0oole5cR2ee355jCk6lJxc0HMyOhwClAKIE77S0CRG_wXo4BGRcUStMhhjG25fV8BcsGw0tg4lgSLHUJZFYNzuV_Wg3X/s2048/UQGG7186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-U8ehD_rZEqtQWUHLFIljdHKNqS-OdeA6DVDbcT49edyD3kHi0oole5cR2ee355jCk6lJxc0HMyOhwClAKIE77S0CRG_wXo4BGRcUStMhhjG25fV8BcsGw0tg4lgSLHUJZFYNzuV_Wg3X/w640-h360/UQGG7186.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home sweet home! I'm staying in this caravan. (Caravan is the British word for trailer - I like how it gives the whole place a circus vibe.)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxklvXKRhifSqOMe36oRCpQ1rmcSlxqOb8Gw2l4nVfHt-_2P1WRJQsiH8eUadpWlDADhyXakLzxsxftHzABqlGhPL_f2EnisGz2Y5E-Nd1hyphenhyphen1Bqce86W_plTeubNh49XOjfe7DTtqkESh3/s4000/IMG_0870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxklvXKRhifSqOMe36oRCpQ1rmcSlxqOb8Gw2l4nVfHt-_2P1WRJQsiH8eUadpWlDADhyXakLzxsxftHzABqlGhPL_f2EnisGz2Y5E-Nd1hyphenhyphen1Bqce86W_plTeubNh49XOjfe7DTtqkESh3/w640-h480/IMG_0870.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An unwelcome houseguest. I found two of these plump spiders living under a board on my windowsill. They're in the genus <i>Drassodes</i>, "ground spiders that... live under rocks or bark in mostly dry habitats." I guess the caravan windowsill fit the bill. (I moved them both outside where they can find a new mostly-dry home.)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyyc6VMGfh51hUuc7v0L2MKCe-tpA_aM0o-PLpcsPtdbepg_wwpjxRNxBU2SAWxHhQTMobTfaVVz0lpUTTBdD1b0YrELGxh8y-qCY4zj-YJ_IreVUWFJbS5_YC5PkCPWjmn_NegQ2dGgy7/s4000/IMG_0896.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyyc6VMGfh51hUuc7v0L2MKCe-tpA_aM0o-PLpcsPtdbepg_wwpjxRNxBU2SAWxHhQTMobTfaVVz0lpUTTBdD1b0YrELGxh8y-qCY4zj-YJ_IreVUWFJbS5_YC5PkCPWjmn_NegQ2dGgy7/w640-h426/IMG_0896.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My loves. Alison keeps two flocks of layer hens to "do the gardening." They live in portable hen-houses surrounded by an electric mesh fence, so Alison can move them to whichever piece of land needs weeding, fertilizing, pest-elimination, and digging.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0rviDWNu0dDCCItJ2S2NG4HP5MZk3dShM97H8NoLKIYPkjdRc4rGcs3vOmKUhYjdoD-GPKG5RsOnoc9fG1xwCjQEGFjDv8aFMJq8LC7qDix-NqSSiXL78qdlwDnx_cE0GNtpVoqA5_QL/s4000/IMG_0882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0rviDWNu0dDCCItJ2S2NG4HP5MZk3dShM97H8NoLKIYPkjdRc4rGcs3vOmKUhYjdoD-GPKG5RsOnoc9fG1xwCjQEGFjDv8aFMJq8LC7qDix-NqSSiXL78qdlwDnx_cE0GNtpVoqA5_QL/w640-h426/IMG_0882.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The greenhouse is the centerpiece of the vegetable farming operation, augmented by three poly tunnels, one propagation tunnel with heated beds for starting seeds, eight outdoor beds, and several orchards of cherry trees, raspberry canes, and currant bushes.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU1_nVsHKT8dyUo89xfjbqrHWr1iSeXkvqrfdAwSMq8vjp_2K4vAB2-xDoqoaaV4GvHZ26HCx4p53NCmFDbTqwzuxfkOTcam9e8jJGEJD2gSpD3D9vOt7UrAWKASxcEAtD2Ad2ZgoLUEzn/s4000/IMG_0923.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU1_nVsHKT8dyUo89xfjbqrHWr1iSeXkvqrfdAwSMq8vjp_2K4vAB2-xDoqoaaV4GvHZ26HCx4p53NCmFDbTqwzuxfkOTcam9e8jJGEJD2gSpD3D9vOt7UrAWKASxcEAtD2Ad2ZgoLUEzn/w640-h426/IMG_0923.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the greenhouse is a lush jungle. Here are rows of garden peas.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTvm-0640d_JjPGxw_uKUZXhmNVI0UmzYQtXAQ-c7iQENchtZZPThFIdvf12i8JKtd6e9L_i5jTl0TE3ZMuWLOpB7oNJOl7nM7PiYHk-AWUj7BZJAY4aqq8viW5jV4biodQRekkB6X3Ss/s4000/IMG_0925.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTvm-0640d_JjPGxw_uKUZXhmNVI0UmzYQtXAQ-c7iQENchtZZPThFIdvf12i8JKtd6e9L_i5jTl0TE3ZMuWLOpB7oNJOl7nM7PiYHk-AWUj7BZJAY4aqq8viW5jV4biodQRekkB6X3Ss/w640-h426/IMG_0925.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pea flowers are out, ready for pollinators.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_y8fgl-WajATDFvFcIvYvrtSeam7PTQtx7K4wpgUWHkdoM5KOgZ1vbCXw6HXe4a90wcG-MGPNENAdkA4SsGA8wbADpQn5fO-onaFs3zWi5O0YKcVQyM2_Ej5xrsFhR2-pFXNXtrOKltm/s4000/IMG_0936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_y8fgl-WajATDFvFcIvYvrtSeam7PTQtx7K4wpgUWHkdoM5KOgZ1vbCXw6HXe4a90wcG-MGPNENAdkA4SsGA8wbADpQn5fO-onaFs3zWi5O0YKcVQyM2_Ej5xrsFhR2-pFXNXtrOKltm/w640-h426/IMG_0936.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter purslane, or miner's lettuce, is a prolific, self-seeding green. I love the lilypad leaves. A less-creative farmer might call it a weed, but Alison appreciates its vivacity and uses it for a succulent, vitamin-rich addition to salad mixes. (It's delicious!)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH96kj5q144EYc8BenIRCSlEXFj4Rf4prtS_0fGgtJbAdNof6fg2TgkQGm27dXGWBXL-b0FK9j58Tg_sFeLLqe6VLoiE57YdJ-4rK1RNlIfBwjY8mpHJxCYnzaXW7kU6GQFS9_nWjN3_Ru/s2048/IMG_3983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH96kj5q144EYc8BenIRCSlEXFj4Rf4prtS_0fGgtJbAdNof6fg2TgkQGm27dXGWBXL-b0FK9j58Tg_sFeLLqe6VLoiE57YdJ-4rK1RNlIfBwjY8mpHJxCYnzaXW7kU6GQFS9_nWjN3_Ru/w640-h480/IMG_3983.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eight Castlemilk Moorit ewes eye me suspiciously.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Alison also keeps a flock of eight primitive-breed sheep called Castlemilk Moorit. They have sturdy horns, milk-chocolate fleeces, and an endearing tendency to walk single-file around the pasture in a tight nose-to-tail line as if they were crossing a mountain pass. I can't wait for the ewes to lamb, hopefully later this week...</div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-14687112878720418172021-04-12T11:57:00.004-07:002021-04-16T12:22:36.799-07:00The Shingle Beach of North Norfolk<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY52W9S6jinXcP2X1_cqafX3V2dF87EmPhhR1zNOr1jK7P3UdDelJUUM1CoWsCeMqXP87yJFSkNPeN5uyBLf5w7G4J-4QVHny3rEMLPZvO-qK_grtXS4-5KWCP-kyP0e_KThXRL3re55ii/s2048/IMG_0653.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY52W9S6jinXcP2X1_cqafX3V2dF87EmPhhR1zNOr1jK7P3UdDelJUUM1CoWsCeMqXP87yJFSkNPeN5uyBLf5w7G4J-4QVHny3rEMLPZvO-qK_grtXS4-5KWCP-kyP0e_KThXRL3re55ii/w640-h480/IMG_0653.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relevant graffiti on the seawall in Sheringham.</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">On Monday, March 29, the United Kingdom moved into Step One in a four-stage "<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/04/09/covid-lockdown-roadmap-dates-rules-easing-restrictions-when-end/">roadmap</a> out of lockdown." We've been weaving in and out of COVID-19 restrictions for a year now, and on Monday we emerged from three solid months of the highest-level lockdown, which began the day after Christmas.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>For once, the weather of Norwich was celebrating with us. I spent a glorious sunny Monday walking the University of East Anglia campus, taking a socially-distanced walk with my classmate Joanne (the first time I've met her in person), and... drumroll please... playing ultimate! Organized sports are allowed with some modifications. We can't mark or stall-count, and we sanitize the discs between drills.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Pulling, marking up, defending, handling, cutting, catching, throwing, winning, losing, cheering, communicating, teaching, learning, sweating, getting grass stains and bruised knees: I can't put into words how happy I felt. Running around on the pitch (as they call it here), out of practice and out of shape, greeted by familiar faces from the early fall, it was like something I'd lost and been trying not to think about for months had suddenly turned up, and everything seemed so much brighter.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimdW5esI34LftSzn_URWCqSkWXNRqVkNv-ormehTyEGocaHHtmofRldrDSIS0Fe8m2gtCKDtWp15TpS_na_wNl_WXnjvZWVo8LIGJyZzbjTw1jAkMQVy5kWxKm5u-D45EWnw0iGfjZDU3P/s2048/IMG_4340.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimdW5esI34LftSzn_URWCqSkWXNRqVkNv-ormehTyEGocaHHtmofRldrDSIS0Fe8m2gtCKDtWp15TpS_na_wNl_WXnjvZWVo8LIGJyZzbjTw1jAkMQVy5kWxKm5u-D45EWnw0iGfjZDU3P/w400-h266/IMG_4340.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaf1YkeZJwq7h8Yl50XmSxIFN34p4MLf5r8GkiHT_IY1PrLJCVxNB_gEozjbA0LZV-ykReUOJAOfSieXocpPCGHg90unMPz8DKgFG2Pu5I6GCzg_0S-4pqQyT6kdJtp_j79WAHsOMwxeni/s2048/IMG_4339.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaf1YkeZJwq7h8Yl50XmSxIFN34p4MLf5r8GkiHT_IY1PrLJCVxNB_gEozjbA0LZV-ykReUOJAOfSieXocpPCGHg90unMPz8DKgFG2Pu5I6GCzg_0S-4pqQyT6kdJtp_j79WAHsOMwxeni/w400-h266/IMG_4339.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the past three months, we have been completely avoiding public transportation. Because we don't have a car, that means we've been existing within the dimensions of where we can walk, run or bike. In Part One of the lockdown exit strategy, we're allowed to use the train again.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My housemate Molly, a plant geneticist from Wisconsin who spends her days emasculating barley in a lab, had never laid eyes on the ocean from the United Kingdom. So, on Good Friday, Molly, Collin and I took the train an hour north to the fishing and tourist town of Sheringham. Our plan was to ride a bus on to Cley Marshes. As we sat huddled in the Coast Hopper bus stop, a kind stranger approached.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Aren't waiting for the bus, are you?" she asked. "No busses been through here all day. Won't be running around Easter, they won't."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No signs, no warning on the website, just common knowledge. We thanked her and found a taxi company that was happy to take us to Cley for about the same cost as three bus fares.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZOs7Qjdt3wIzDmm9jjVy_4snf-IpIwwKmXlq90TG4f8xa5rxyv97UFfXe0taHVyj-jSdpC-N2rN5WdoodJzYoc7-kS1CTa7DfUl54XVWKEd7E5OiX9VxpKlyRyK78GkZi4c7n_G9HQQn/s4000/IMG_0757.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZOs7Qjdt3wIzDmm9jjVy_4snf-IpIwwKmXlq90TG4f8xa5rxyv97UFfXe0taHVyj-jSdpC-N2rN5WdoodJzYoc7-kS1CTa7DfUl54XVWKEd7E5OiX9VxpKlyRyK78GkZi4c7n_G9HQQn/w640-h426/IMG_0757.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collin and Molly begin the long walk back to Sheringam. Every step forward on the shingle beach feels as tiring as two, because the pebbles slide backward and sideways underfoot.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the village of Cley, we stocked up on "vagina bread" (mislabeled at the bakery as <i>fougasse</i>) and fresh mackerel pâté before heading out along the <a href="https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/peddars-way-and-norfolk-coast-path/">Norfolk Coast Path</a>. We had eight miles of shingle beach to trek back to Sheringham, where we'd catch an evening train home to Norwich.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XOsSM2_0Wf8Bn9cOiMZnnt-GlxxeVaGOymwTDKTWplOLvOjjyU8LJdY2H39J7lgwdpRJl3XPgPJNRwA_d6AHvdkesY_EL6mnzBAuxHcg-n0bVRgw7sbuXhtmHBQnSDqLxZII17FDvhlI/s4000/IMG_0749.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0XOsSM2_0Wf8Bn9cOiMZnnt-GlxxeVaGOymwTDKTWplOLvOjjyU8LJdY2H39J7lgwdpRJl3XPgPJNRwA_d6AHvdkesY_EL6mnzBAuxHcg-n0bVRgw7sbuXhtmHBQnSDqLxZII17FDvhlI/w400-h266/IMG_0749.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Egg cases of the common whelk, <i>Buccinum undatum</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFn4Bqi64iln8lBybZbWdC3OPKGi4Kc4qO2rO6eeCAfeh3KpCyjePpXkI66QjytNPSHgeCCs2DkjyXR1Pcq8ZOMRH8k_Gdbx0-7kWcu2p_0_cOrGCbJKIp_eOlQ4jzQc7G5UgPdzwv3-8/s4000/IMG_0773.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFn4Bqi64iln8lBybZbWdC3OPKGi4Kc4qO2rO6eeCAfeh3KpCyjePpXkI66QjytNPSHgeCCs2DkjyXR1Pcq8ZOMRH8k_Gdbx0-7kWcu2p_0_cOrGCbJKIp_eOlQ4jzQc7G5UgPdzwv3-8/w400-h266/IMG_0773.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The common whelk herself! Well, at least her shell.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82fwnpIjDjfdUEqj2Ke5Oqdfn0wls2bJtIvSplF-Ccya2n7SLetfYsoziyTu8BoRv7LYj12__AfhJPv2nieUszUjOeLw6mZ3uFzXvI_6bSHixXk-hBEEWZcgunsOx6uJIYsrROgBc5wos/s4000/IMG_0746.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82fwnpIjDjfdUEqj2Ke5Oqdfn0wls2bJtIvSplF-Ccya2n7SLetfYsoziyTu8BoRv7LYj12__AfhJPv2nieUszUjOeLw6mZ3uFzXvI_6bSHixXk-hBEEWZcgunsOx6uJIYsrROgBc5wos/w400-h266/IMG_0746.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A common sea star, <i>Asterias rubens.</i> This is the same species that's found on the Atlantic Coast of the United States. When I learned that England and the US East Coast are mostly populated by these small five-pointed stars, it suddenly made sense why none of the sea stars in picture books ever looked familiar to me: most children's book illustrations are based on <i>Asterias rubens</i>, not the diversity of colorful, many-legged, many-sized sea stars found on the Pacific Coast.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQcz9O6WNtBOgTkGa_4-fgLOreXKL1-gGwmZpPy8fq_EQEdwzmas8T_7BD2Y0FoTXVX6qYABuWJCFXZf1lNxvoKT-5recXz-W3wrq3YLGPv_xU8x7zGQsDwqPEDae_KK0TZyUPOIUf5ziu/s4000/IMG_0747.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQcz9O6WNtBOgTkGa_4-fgLOreXKL1-gGwmZpPy8fq_EQEdwzmas8T_7BD2Y0FoTXVX6qYABuWJCFXZf1lNxvoKT-5recXz-W3wrq3YLGPv_xU8x7zGQsDwqPEDae_KK0TZyUPOIUf5ziu/w400-h266/IMG_0747.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This common sea star was dead, but its tube feet were still clinging to pebbles.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArTesmhhvKywotZxY7BxXurfnIe54cdMEIRGDZ_4qjXaAZ2KBMyTkrJIMUV4MlgUt36lkIE48LlVXcLfMBOfszQs4P1yi0QKLvtn-iesFX6urHmH79uWWQ-7_ZQx9Bhp0ORUNRSuN9fWa/s4000/IMG_0743.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArTesmhhvKywotZxY7BxXurfnIe54cdMEIRGDZ_4qjXaAZ2KBMyTkrJIMUV4MlgUt36lkIE48LlVXcLfMBOfszQs4P1yi0QKLvtn-iesFX6urHmH79uWWQ-7_ZQx9Bhp0ORUNRSuN9fWa/w400-h266/IMG_0743.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I call these things "cuttlefish bones." I used to buy them in the pet store for my budgies, Steve and Lily, to chew on for calcium. Today, the shingle beach was littered with them. Could they really be the skeletons of cuttlefish, those color-flashing, rainbow, intelligent mollusks that look like alien octopuses? Indeed, iNaturalist confirmed that these bones come from <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/151429-Sepia-officinalis">European common cuttlefish</a>, <i>Sepia officinalis</i>. I would love to see one alive under the water.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3q00eot9F1RxymZ7Zdmwv1W0VfBYAOVyyMjyedchnsEGL0pkbfkyx6DaajDGuBqaEk071Tmu2EKuhWvHRtagMbdlAQ85galzA1lft-P3FQrNlRpQSavmWyQ-aMoJbq4TCA83sxwpRR6z/s4000/IMG_0764.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3q00eot9F1RxymZ7Zdmwv1W0VfBYAOVyyMjyedchnsEGL0pkbfkyx6DaajDGuBqaEk071Tmu2EKuhWvHRtagMbdlAQ85galzA1lft-P3FQrNlRpQSavmWyQ-aMoJbq4TCA83sxwpRR6z/w266-h400/IMG_0764.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mermaid's purse, the egg case of a skate in the genus <i>Raja.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7Hv3hdWdt7E-TggCXXxu4y6BADIJEGxbmTsdyZBvyxD6YlOFReJb9KOKw0F0l-9DwTU80ejFjUO-V-EK8XYi08YETXy76e3g7nzh8gmExT__T9ymQitkKxncbqcqrlF12UFukI3U34Z6/s4000/IMG_0775.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc7Hv3hdWdt7E-TggCXXxu4y6BADIJEGxbmTsdyZBvyxD6YlOFReJb9KOKw0F0l-9DwTU80ejFjUO-V-EK8XYi08YETXy76e3g7nzh8gmExT__T9ymQitkKxncbqcqrlF12UFukI3U34Z6/w400-h266/IMG_0775.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A common Atlantic slippersnail, <i>Crepidula fornicata. </i>Brits accidentally introduced this non-native species to Essex from the US East Coast between 1887 and 1890 when they imported oysters.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ncTEO_yJuQP1dpXZngR3tEYrXA-dFXYB7zX2nsu85cdUDor0VIhVwgxtskPTrRoS0QC-9zDSj-QryZM3qhYPZE3854tJEM0128xI73LdG9X05qug6VKC6wA0vdHQhCaj0783ZGvy3JY0/s4000/IMG_0781.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ncTEO_yJuQP1dpXZngR3tEYrXA-dFXYB7zX2nsu85cdUDor0VIhVwgxtskPTrRoS0QC-9zDSj-QryZM3qhYPZE3854tJEM0128xI73LdG9X05qug6VKC6wA0vdHQhCaj0783ZGvy3JY0/w400-h266/IMG_0781.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An unidentified scallop, family Pectinidae.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6vNEnfyXevnrVJZqS-tgw-OEsXduh105eZBemOZ89LCfpK11gaWu7Ds1otGoN9sRnkJes30yFm7SSwBRfSFB4O94CZ7MSfm1-SL7zzK2MvB4HSRVGyTEe00_48YVIqtMbxj5LjVfptIE/s4000/IMG_0786.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6vNEnfyXevnrVJZqS-tgw-OEsXduh105eZBemOZ89LCfpK11gaWu7Ds1otGoN9sRnkJes30yFm7SSwBRfSFB4O94CZ7MSfm1-SL7zzK2MvB4HSRVGyTEe00_48YVIqtMbxj5LjVfptIE/w400-h300/IMG_0786.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The carapace of a velvet swimming crab, <i>Necora puber</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYI4qGjy2LIO-qCOk22SswFStHCNCajd1LKAOWgjEoBcw1F8jljPT_j90DZEjLFinQRVLoW4z8U9WJ0AWk34YAnNWOKaHSlfaS4lg1Py3yw6UQd3EnRnwwR963WPE2PRhM_PDSYH95F9O/s4000/IMG_0789.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYI4qGjy2LIO-qCOk22SswFStHCNCajd1LKAOWgjEoBcw1F8jljPT_j90DZEjLFinQRVLoW4z8U9WJ0AWk34YAnNWOKaHSlfaS4lg1Py3yw6UQd3EnRnwwR963WPE2PRhM_PDSYH95F9O/w400-h300/IMG_0789.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This hardy plant, a yellow horned poppy, <i>Glaucium flavum</i>, sprouted from the leeward side of a shingle pile where we stopped for lunch. It was a bit demoralizing to realize we'd come only one mile and could still see the Cley windmill. After that, we had to pick up our pace!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4YlHk0dhmgN2aAfB6_IEUacpsJSDFHzOjGiEheo5wuPi3Tr35tbFn8ki1AWpveMPuvVQDH9xMbiCGthyphenhyphenlmID6cEtO3uRR5b8jFl2nI12gRrgXv5k2xgT6KH11pgSwxsxIGJ6-EaS7oGo/s4000/IMG_0806.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4YlHk0dhmgN2aAfB6_IEUacpsJSDFHzOjGiEheo5wuPi3Tr35tbFn8ki1AWpveMPuvVQDH9xMbiCGthyphenhyphenlmID6cEtO3uRR5b8jFl2nI12gRrgXv5k2xgT6KH11pgSwxsxIGJ6-EaS7oGo/w640-h426/IMG_0806.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Molly was determined to swim in the ocean. Collin and I guarded her backpack and watched in awed horror as she dunked in the 6 degree Celsius (43 degree Fahrenheit) water.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilAJe5BbUaxZpcl-bcYn5-gxqlT13iyXZSHxhTiJawo_mJ7D-2q65-PpZrSE5CmVWMTW7Hwo0RHe9DFXtwEQ7veVyvA5TeN2TaWpsGF4YrR4aK-Kg5k9N-8WJsgO9aIohRS2NuDY4uNbA/s4000/IMG_0799.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilAJe5BbUaxZpcl-bcYn5-gxqlT13iyXZSHxhTiJawo_mJ7D-2q65-PpZrSE5CmVWMTW7Hwo0RHe9DFXtwEQ7veVyvA5TeN2TaWpsGF4YrR4aK-Kg5k9N-8WJsgO9aIohRS2NuDY4uNbA/w640-h480/IMG_0799.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A hydrozoan in the family Sertulariidae. I love encountering these strange species on the seashore. Hydrozoa is a class of animals within the phylum Cnidaria, which includes jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals. Hydrozoans form colonies of microscopic individuals with stinging cells on their too-small-to-see tentacles.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9g6ySnnHd5Khw0bIIYCiiCIgGLUwRNhyiF_hUQgbAzWFuWl9gfZTyL-9xnuko3yD0TdPDYEh2pDzWYFZrWoJ9czdkkZ7a0W0BP6gBfi7YzpVcsu3-Vwc_pmQUldO8E3Y89Sygx3P4QyN0/s4000/IMG_0830.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9g6ySnnHd5Khw0bIIYCiiCIgGLUwRNhyiF_hUQgbAzWFuWl9gfZTyL-9xnuko3yD0TdPDYEh2pDzWYFZrWoJ9czdkkZ7a0W0BP6gBfi7YzpVcsu3-Vwc_pmQUldO8E3Y89Sygx3P4QyN0/w640-h480/IMG_0830.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A different species of hydrozoan in the family Sertulariidae.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXJfXWQgAuhBWgsqcceQKbFRT78Ip8tT1QPUZpjl_hd3oviOIiSSuU9Ijq7DSqykhAQ44PjBY5Uz3RVHIEZOWNh3xaEHiJrVXoUCSn1BbB96QvCxOjG7mav81AKvsAU0CIg74A5uqrbmV/s4000/IMG_0816.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaXJfXWQgAuhBWgsqcceQKbFRT78Ip8tT1QPUZpjl_hd3oviOIiSSuU9Ijq7DSqykhAQ44PjBY5Uz3RVHIEZOWNh3xaEHiJrVXoUCSn1BbB96QvCxOjG7mav81AKvsAU0CIg74A5uqrbmV/w640-h480/IMG_0816.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hornwrack, <i>Flustra foliacea. </i>This animal, a Bryozoan, stretches our land-lubber imaginations even further. Bryozoa is a phylum unto itself - the same level of classification as our phylum, Chordata, which includes every animal with a backbone. The word Bryozoa means "moss animal." The microscopic individuals, called zooids, form colonies with sturdy architecture almost like a honeycomb. Each zooid filter-feeds from its cell and passes information and nutrients to other cells across selective membranes.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVLNLE1hPiGeDKG8e2HVFrK_Zyaq0bgoYZL3wfAWwZ2tk1CvudY7M5dNATNvv7-I1eVqrZ_KY1-Qpx1Wt1eIv3fAzBC1g9QcXgFd6iygNsa2Du4M99ry_5hLn5gpOxCC94h_4P44oQrBg/s4000/IMG_0846.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVLNLE1hPiGeDKG8e2HVFrK_Zyaq0bgoYZL3wfAWwZ2tk1CvudY7M5dNATNvv7-I1eVqrZ_KY1-Qpx1Wt1eIv3fAzBC1g9QcXgFd6iygNsa2Du4M99ry_5hLn5gpOxCC94h_4P44oQrBg/w640-h480/IMG_0846.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking ahead, with the shingle beach and the North Sea on our left.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3p6MLGGhgeuo3CHjcT7ufSgnSqbWCdclaqJaHbPD3fUfMwBh21RcLH0dqMQVM0hrJGCCPdChlQQJIbjkaWHPwFHNHse8g9EZ4ruG740wRyqnNbL1Uohl4xd-SFnkA-cDSle5E2BqjFXb/s4000/IMG_0842.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3p6MLGGhgeuo3CHjcT7ufSgnSqbWCdclaqJaHbPD3fUfMwBh21RcLH0dqMQVM0hrJGCCPdChlQQJIbjkaWHPwFHNHse8g9EZ4ruG740wRyqnNbL1Uohl4xd-SFnkA-cDSle5E2BqjFXb/w640-h426/IMG_0842.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This winter, I've been collecting photos of every moss species in Norfolk. Something about this wiry neon moss on the salty seashore caught my eye. I doubled back and maneuvered my camera through a barbed-wire fence to take a few photos with the zoom lens, feeling like paparazzi spying on a celebrity. And it paid off! It turned out to be a species I hadn't seen before: yellow feather moss, <i>Homalothecium lutescens.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3oSUzVm9zM5ptVqK5PDo6FqFBHaDrrDbzWO3eohyAlzVM0LLfLZiMfKXnybfaGZMM-lrTS8v14lEL2goE6VUPkCPm0jv0dpnUMfC0bfCMflHLiJYdMxCJKGGq1IBIm9b0LeuuPDxIE6N/s4000/IMG_0866.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3oSUzVm9zM5ptVqK5PDo6FqFBHaDrrDbzWO3eohyAlzVM0LLfLZiMfKXnybfaGZMM-lrTS8v14lEL2goE6VUPkCPm0jv0dpnUMfC0bfCMflHLiJYdMxCJKGGq1IBIm9b0LeuuPDxIE6N/w640-h426/IMG_0866.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking back from the eroding sandy bluffs as we approached Sheringham.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EJbnc6sP6CYWnGg5OjU45SvkVXTWOjJg7FR9XxYSs6si10xNtmPoJqMQAQT-UtqlDSBdTQ-QrIdVi4fHXy1pTK1T2HK4f5FYVsH9J-TYnt9qcE5s_Ta3j_zrE2a9u90ksZ6a_JEMMRMM/s2048/PXL_20210402_173843068.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EJbnc6sP6CYWnGg5OjU45SvkVXTWOjJg7FR9XxYSs6si10xNtmPoJqMQAQT-UtqlDSBdTQ-QrIdVi4fHXy1pTK1T2HK4f5FYVsH9J-TYnt9qcE5s_Ta3j_zrE2a9u90ksZ6a_JEMMRMM/w480-h640/PXL_20210402_173843068.MP.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An exhausted train ride home.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-10606889817586790132021-04-05T14:02:00.002-07:002021-04-16T12:18:21.501-07:00A Transatlantic Evacuation<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">It's been one year since Collin and I evacuated London in a blurry, COVID-induced rush.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Leaving the UK in late March of 2020 was an eerie experience. First of all, we had to decide whether we were going to leave or stay. That story is told in my blog post from a year ago, <a href="http://www.ninafinley.com/2020/03/exponential-how-nanoscopic-creature.html">Exponential: How a Nanoscopic Creature Accelerated the World</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuD_MvOCMZ1eq1MSjrKoNA1Q_EZHwwfAK3KyczOjPZYxeKcG274p39yDUZ1UppwRS181BiL6T0Py8at2kUXqnG4Coz8MXdr0ivqYC4QdT_gLKS3xZDKhQjBa-AVl45MKge3ZOh58GutpQd/s2048/IMG_1883.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuD_MvOCMZ1eq1MSjrKoNA1Q_EZHwwfAK3KyczOjPZYxeKcG274p39yDUZ1UppwRS181BiL6T0Py8at2kUXqnG4Coz8MXdr0ivqYC4QdT_gLKS3xZDKhQjBa-AVl45MKge3ZOh58GutpQd/w640-h480/IMG_1883.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><a name='more'></a></span>Once we'd decided to go, we had to find a new home for all our food. We piled the last items on a bench in the courtyard for other Goodenough College residents to go through. I cried when I said goodbye to Elster and Estee, the pair of magpies that built this glorious stick nest right outside our second-story window despite heavy pruning by the arborists.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKgS1KILUEazrMJ3BzHTorsQXUVfQ93I2uMOsVn7PHVWIPTfHF45mNXCs5S0Sf7HzSoAp5OXJSrdwE-t0LwamWGetxB4gdo0bMG4wTEcFxspIdKCbfgQoHiQJD71xsRyH9LOCKANrHR9O/s2048/IMG_1838.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKgS1KILUEazrMJ3BzHTorsQXUVfQ93I2uMOsVn7PHVWIPTfHF45mNXCs5S0Sf7HzSoAp5OXJSrdwE-t0LwamWGetxB4gdo0bMG4wTEcFxspIdKCbfgQoHiQJD71xsRyH9LOCKANrHR9O/w480-h640/IMG_1838.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first leg of our journey was walking nine minutes from our flat at Goodenough College to the Tube station at Russell Square for the last time. The station was empty except for chastising signs ("Do you really need to travel?") and three staff members who wished as solemn good luck.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7FYemC2Cj-bS44kYWj5SGZ2lnR1IKePYbAdRJPyUAS89Wwf5RUe38fKUb6xYd9GrydA9iFMUONz5IKFJyCm4gkzSXlB2hhJi4jUCgjYSZhLT99B6PKnvGkBw_Ue9xCMv524Tobi7iZoa/s2048/COVID+Tube+evacuation+%25283%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7FYemC2Cj-bS44kYWj5SGZ2lnR1IKePYbAdRJPyUAS89Wwf5RUe38fKUb6xYd9GrydA9iFMUONz5IKFJyCm4gkzSXlB2hhJi4jUCgjYSZhLT99B6PKnvGkBw_Ue9xCMv524Tobi7iZoa/w480-h640/COVID+Tube+evacuation+%25283%2529.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I have never seen the Tube so empty.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSerD5lwApXKCI2YJvedA9kfNAQzRsmCoQVL-qAIYurXGdGzKOe0T4Fr_nMu5FitrJgJbIXCpMAdXLtOZYBfsUhAxsNS_asF7F7ChDVYgHpvL3sll_O_hKwxLK6gMr_PkYgvNNkKFUpUas/s2048/COVID+Tube+evacuation+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSerD5lwApXKCI2YJvedA9kfNAQzRsmCoQVL-qAIYurXGdGzKOe0T4Fr_nMu5FitrJgJbIXCpMAdXLtOZYBfsUhAxsNS_asF7F7ChDVYgHpvL3sll_O_hKwxLK6gMr_PkYgvNNkKFUpUas/w640-h480/COVID+Tube+evacuation+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Back when we didn't know much about the virus, we decided to wear disposable plastic gloves salvaged from my green hair-dye box and paper surgical masks kindly gifted to us by another Goodenough College resident. The gloves became slick with sweat on the inside and soon tore, making hand sanitizing difficult. Knowing what we know now - that the virus is almost entirely airborne - I would skip the gloves. But at the time, we imagined everything around us glowing with infectious particles.</div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqj3cb5xWP8GqmSqBYibY7j0-IKfayz3_PjyfKtT1kIB4JemuLTKKM0Fb2vCJZJ4O5PxDZn1rU1oiF_58NJX_oQTHRBB_4azr5KvpD-tADPUsvyeZD0RS8CFRQQXv_utz6wHlobZTH-x1L/s2048/IMG_1899.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqj3cb5xWP8GqmSqBYibY7j0-IKfayz3_PjyfKtT1kIB4JemuLTKKM0Fb2vCJZJ4O5PxDZn1rU1oiF_58NJX_oQTHRBB_4azr5KvpD-tADPUsvyeZD0RS8CFRQQXv_utz6wHlobZTH-x1L/w640-h480/IMG_1899.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Heathrow was a ghost town, with a couple straggling passengers and nothing on the luggage carousels. Only a few terminals were open.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfVOXgHHgB7D8d3FJosoj1KDfqMKyQsiY1CpQA6gpy1TQRgwM0TLFzIByfyZGsUjQDwh1HPXS0PUELlQDIpw9SQQL-TcuY52WvLxOBpIG7ljIzZtXynH8k5Ma0QWpj014ZXxQIoa2g-SW/s2048/IMG_1888.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfVOXgHHgB7D8d3FJosoj1KDfqMKyQsiY1CpQA6gpy1TQRgwM0TLFzIByfyZGsUjQDwh1HPXS0PUELlQDIpw9SQQL-TcuY52WvLxOBpIG7ljIzZtXynH8k5Ma0QWpj014ZXxQIoa2g-SW/w480-h640/IMG_1888.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The health signs in Heathrow focused on social distancing. I found the moving advertisement for luxury lipstick above the empty departure hall disconcerting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxbj8zjeJjsBsLxSMv9AfxtkRZ0FoC8ZTyrGTXpr8-NrkRZ641ag41mPet3SbKw8qtqEBr0iU0ChspaJX3y9SBbzCAfCs9yMWX10DAKpuLM1LZBFx0iDYklWd6wg9ucW7WdSNSgSOlJuL/s2048/IMG_1885.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxbj8zjeJjsBsLxSMv9AfxtkRZ0FoC8ZTyrGTXpr8-NrkRZ641ag41mPet3SbKw8qtqEBr0iU0ChspaJX3y9SBbzCAfCs9yMWX10DAKpuLM1LZBFx0iDYklWd6wg9ucW7WdSNSgSOlJuL/w480-h640/IMG_1885.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Goodbye London. When would we be back?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWFJ73Tg1WfZRjUvrVTJ7NgT7m9EZjIqgj-m2_dWTolzydfgwBXzsA_O5qKl42vuhTWk7Yup9v25klN1C-ETN15sGA0Xc32fkru0g7HLrqXt1neptbY70z8Jc_apXtoIg81LFRCUZh5rG/s2048/IMG_1889.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWFJ73Tg1WfZRjUvrVTJ7NgT7m9EZjIqgj-m2_dWTolzydfgwBXzsA_O5qKl42vuhTWk7Yup9v25klN1C-ETN15sGA0Xc32fkru0g7HLrqXt1neptbY70z8Jc_apXtoIg81LFRCUZh5rG/w480-h640/IMG_1889.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The British Airways flight was nearly empty. This photo shows the plane after everyone had taken their seats. The flight attendants asked the passengers to disregard our seat assignments and spread out as much as possible. A few rows ahead, a man in a full gas mask and a woman in a hand-sewn mask sat with two children. The snacks and meals had been replaced with bottled water and burritos in sealed plastic bags.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyU4_CervvsRzIbEP_1KanE8Fp_yjGVwoPyg-I6NGlm6lSgU1-P0q-FkQVdNI68WmjG1wsXLSWiJ_s4twb4wlFpRZAxuLvcj8o2QiugB8u_fvgESBDRqMcwODzij9Wu5ZpDb4VvXHc5LfE/s2048/IMG_1901+-+Copy.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyU4_CervvsRzIbEP_1KanE8Fp_yjGVwoPyg-I6NGlm6lSgU1-P0q-FkQVdNI68WmjG1wsXLSWiJ_s4twb4wlFpRZAxuLvcj8o2QiugB8u_fvgESBDRqMcwODzij9Wu5ZpDb4VvXHc5LfE/w640-h480/IMG_1901+-+Copy.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br style="text-align: left;" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The health signs on the US side were less focused on social distancing and more concerned with the virus itself. I saw many of the spiky charcoal-and-maroon virions <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/health/coronavirus-illustration-cdc.html">created by two CDC illustrators</a>, which remain the most iconic image of SARS-CoV-2 a year later. Signs recommended staying home, washing hands, and covering coughs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24UCCsaeDIR_eODQ7IQFKzAHopzIZDbbKXuC6m1yp9FTybl7mB0coM7sHBK3omxeD82WdQQEcMRHZGg9L05ch5wBzhGXfVuBGuY5AyaE62VmUyBTL6BgXlWWMXZSbaaTd3Y1x7f9xCVep/s2048/IMG_1898.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24UCCsaeDIR_eODQ7IQFKzAHopzIZDbbKXuC6m1yp9FTybl7mB0coM7sHBK3omxeD82WdQQEcMRHZGg9L05ch5wBzhGXfVuBGuY5AyaE62VmUyBTL6BgXlWWMXZSbaaTd3Y1x7f9xCVep/w640-h480/IMG_1898.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Despite our masks and gloves (which, as you can see, had shredded off by the time we reached Seattle) we were paranoid that we'd catch the virus on the plane, so I'd engineered a plan with my mom to get us home from the airport safely. My mom and a friend had driven separate cars to Sea-Tac Airport an hour before our flight arrived. My mom had left her Prius in the parking lot with a hidden key and gotten a ride back home with her friend. When Collin and I found the red Prius waiting for us, the world felt full of ghosts. I swore the driver's seat was still warm. How had it taken so little time to go from living an ocean and a continent away to this moment of closeness? It was weird to be picked up by an empty car at the airport.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Collin and I withstood our masks and the smell of our own breath for thirty minutes more until I pulled up at the dock where my mom lives in a houseboat. We unloaded our bags and stumbled toward Lake Union. There, beaming and waving from the window, was my mom!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We would spend the next fourteen days quarantining inside the unoccupied houseboat of her neighbors, Kiki and Wayne. At their gracious allowance, we were able to keep living there for a couple months of the spring. My mom and her young neighbor, Alex, had decorated the boat with welcome signs and tuppers of homemade cookies.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I dropped by bags and my sweaty mask and danced out onto the boat's deck to wave across ten feet of weedy lake water at my mom, who took this shot from the far side. In the midst of a terrifying, uncertain time, I felt incredibly lucky.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXwoUxJi9DCZ62O2YUuwwiyX0mAZq2G0jaoXYPfjMNFtVmuPTP0vkozb7UEjmsVGVys1_8vqks4eL66KhEKBstfVPUJXeRryc7pQH8g3RKVqYrKjywNaqP4AAc6mPV1z0sWH1YbXZyegp/s1600/BQKY4307.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXwoUxJi9DCZ62O2YUuwwiyX0mAZq2G0jaoXYPfjMNFtVmuPTP0vkozb7UEjmsVGVys1_8vqks4eL66KhEKBstfVPUJXeRryc7pQH8g3RKVqYrKjywNaqP4AAc6mPV1z0sWH1YbXZyegp/w640-h360/BQKY4307.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-69379120777474437782021-03-11T04:51:00.001-08:002021-04-16T12:18:44.765-07:00Strumpshaw Fen and Buckenham Marsh<div class="separator">What separates a weekday from a weekend during a pandemic lockdown? How do we move from home to somewhere new, while staying local and off public transit? When do I get a break from this dang laptop screen?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last week, I decided I needed to get out into a new part of nature - badly! My housemates and I have been exploring the parks and streets of Norwich by foot, but this weekend, Collin and I took a (slightly) longer journey by bicycle. About eight miles from home, we arrived at Strumpshaw Fen, a marshy woodland and meadow preserve run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, known as RSPB.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTJbPaju7HDddv7aJuoGwCQMINElbHQjHIWf-6U9MehDLGRlXMScXkypX1BoAwTQjy3c0ZXxdCCzEA6RQUDBJ3psukKUocv8kyufo97sIrTusw9_iw8wspFJ12iCUmnalznPhP2pnT_Oh/s4000/IMG_0319.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTJbPaju7HDddv7aJuoGwCQMINElbHQjHIWf-6U9MehDLGRlXMScXkypX1BoAwTQjy3c0ZXxdCCzEA6RQUDBJ3psukKUocv8kyufo97sIrTusw9_iw8wspFJ12iCUmnalznPhP2pnT_Oh/w640-h426/IMG_0319.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strumpshaw Fen.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5MaGD2dN2fA4IkY_ESi-psJTfQ8jNHMlLHmM8jnnQgyvtWtv-Cyw6zAuuhShQCAAtUfAPKT8BysetAeGsMf-fVqHJjFb-hSkzPEnJDoxgqbNsk-R9FFhkUlptJp19IRJMCD1D5XMSsnB/s4000/IMG_0339.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5MaGD2dN2fA4IkY_ESi-psJTfQ8jNHMlLHmM8jnnQgyvtWtv-Cyw6zAuuhShQCAAtUfAPKT8BysetAeGsMf-fVqHJjFb-hSkzPEnJDoxgqbNsk-R9FFhkUlptJp19IRJMCD1D5XMSsnB/w426-h640/IMG_0339.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A European robin ringing in the spring.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizp0QCINZI9aefpPuMwjkKTD41SxYcWt4jqEvzdSPoNg5FyzieQ6yvtlqjCQmdF0keo2EaIIXwWmDXmumRuXBdbRay2_Ncf39KAnpQSLcCZYwU5wqm2NJtOoWMTqKU-ySLtAyzVyAibY_h/s4000/IMG_0342.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizp0QCINZI9aefpPuMwjkKTD41SxYcWt4jqEvzdSPoNg5FyzieQ6yvtlqjCQmdF0keo2EaIIXwWmDXmumRuXBdbRay2_Ncf39KAnpQSLcCZYwU5wqm2NJtOoWMTqKU-ySLtAyzVyAibY_h/w640-h426/IMG_0342.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't tell if this was a cherry or a plum. Turns out, it's a cherry-plum! <i>Prunus cerasifera</i>, a non-native fruit tree.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIdbnB6P-VIuKc3FTRYNyBe-KRtXTdR7i-17TIyDYeJyRhyoBOolqc7jGSafYHg_XRMbnFKHvn1bGqRrRMi7ESzaj47czB8HI-eaCw9FfqqmoKFaPAStvnprQ3BOh4asUk8g-WaWqkv6u8/s4000/IMG_0351.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIdbnB6P-VIuKc3FTRYNyBe-KRtXTdR7i-17TIyDYeJyRhyoBOolqc7jGSafYHg_XRMbnFKHvn1bGqRrRMi7ESzaj47czB8HI-eaCw9FfqqmoKFaPAStvnprQ3BOh4asUk8g-WaWqkv6u8/w640-h426/IMG_0351.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rough-stalked feather moss.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCZh4zFLvwqIeYY_uuHILL5AUTF_pbUu40nwwcxgr8Tfeby1bX_GsNUOluTp3hhlMdDWPbwDtu3Zrl9mC4wzJBgX8csieTRkja53Au-SaDYCZyR3X7RxSh8w09TdVIhWC28ciLtjyNyNs/s4000/IMG_0354.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYCZh4zFLvwqIeYY_uuHILL5AUTF_pbUu40nwwcxgr8Tfeby1bX_GsNUOluTp3hhlMdDWPbwDtu3Zrl9mC4wzJBgX8csieTRkja53Au-SaDYCZyR3X7RxSh8w09TdVIhWC28ciLtjyNyNs/w426-h640/IMG_0354.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male catkin of a common alder.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbt73QiEEiH7COTKXC1VxDoT1mlkTF4Nqym8g3N1RDCF7gc2-w4YY2HTkM_PgUDiD9dS13T_ABmx74HLVtRNnNeHOEAcsQXPS1RqcKmO3SrP086R0ZOrqYKQHFCBVPwQehRxLmruVmzOv/s4000/IMG_0364.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbt73QiEEiH7COTKXC1VxDoT1mlkTF4Nqym8g3N1RDCF7gc2-w4YY2HTkM_PgUDiD9dS13T_ABmx74HLVtRNnNeHOEAcsQXPS1RqcKmO3SrP086R0ZOrqYKQHFCBVPwQehRxLmruVmzOv/w640-h426/IMG_0364.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These black finger-like organisms were growing from a dead tree stump. The friendly folks at iNaturalist identified it by the wonderful name of candlesnuff fungus, <i>Xylaria hypoxylon</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAzAAsjEi1RvuKjrQP40A6OC-O6za7l40J0AiQk8bU6v-k2fTlg_bs8SWmTW4kWGsrNlv2VMjTJ7mfsMkXtNZ1Af9RXh9-zGMpZczy1qmDArP-ClvYRtIxkPruCa76_14b4Rb5939bQ8U/s4000/IMG_0369.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAzAAsjEi1RvuKjrQP40A6OC-O6za7l40J0AiQk8bU6v-k2fTlg_bs8SWmTW4kWGsrNlv2VMjTJ7mfsMkXtNZ1Af9RXh9-zGMpZczy1qmDArP-ClvYRtIxkPruCa76_14b4Rb5939bQ8U/w640-h426/IMG_0369.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cypress-leaved plait moss.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2jcCtemJGjYNZYJTs8408ESIrQftGs1cCLiET2r85ATUXef2yqiqbqA9TM2qorWgSVIvmM_ehzumR8Ec8UKOpD9QOUW2u-ek8pDHGbNT2iDEp1odSLFFAS08PYLKBihnO9Kp_B1d3-G-/s4000/IMG_0322.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2jcCtemJGjYNZYJTs8408ESIrQftGs1cCLiET2r85ATUXef2yqiqbqA9TM2qorWgSVIvmM_ehzumR8Ec8UKOpD9QOUW2u-ek8pDHGbNT2iDEp1odSLFFAS08PYLKBihnO9Kp_B1d3-G-/w640-h426/IMG_0322.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh hey there, greylag goose.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8O1OMmsXTdH6vdQVuBMLAMhaQ_ROAI-PmX2CKngQhLy6MCnirz9uhOYdnxhcmf0bFXlHYoDbqozecq6OrT3TWSPM36IjK-HgGrcmKzuw7KKDM4tvp578BgzRlXEbVDjcon56xYPdl1XpP/s4000/IMG_0380.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8O1OMmsXTdH6vdQVuBMLAMhaQ_ROAI-PmX2CKngQhLy6MCnirz9uhOYdnxhcmf0bFXlHYoDbqozecq6OrT3TWSPM36IjK-HgGrcmKzuw7KKDM4tvp578BgzRlXEbVDjcon56xYPdl1XpP/w640-h480/IMG_0380.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shelf fungus grows on dead trees. It's called turkey tail, <i>Trametes versicolor</i>.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZmsLjkMsa8VwCMQ6y99AcMCX7GcEMBrShVtUu68mLnnQ2KNyHtQW3z9t6jNwAxkhSBUnIb2mBtWCyiwP4iaL_RRJq1AruUHmMNIgKlW3s2TI-BWhByLKswvHCV9p7BhKqMeG2eOqDYQM/s4000/IMG_0403.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZmsLjkMsa8VwCMQ6y99AcMCX7GcEMBrShVtUu68mLnnQ2KNyHtQW3z9t6jNwAxkhSBUnIb2mBtWCyiwP4iaL_RRJq1AruUHmMNIgKlW3s2TI-BWhByLKswvHCV9p7BhKqMeG2eOqDYQM/w640-h426/IMG_0403.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These ring-necked pheasants scurried through the underbrush, trying to keep a low profile, but their faces glowed ruby red when the sun hit them.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMOAJQ-VKnBWOe2VF9XfjeXlzs5bBMy2qjNCKrMD3CfKMcWlly7jJNPTzhMXl8XwrlhHHojD1fJSlTEBbvZbsZu9ImVZyXeAcTdRb3AhWBHW8YmmtLypyRMe74RHNZEPPJiFNRZppAdWt/s4000/IMG_0404.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMOAJQ-VKnBWOe2VF9XfjeXlzs5bBMy2qjNCKrMD3CfKMcWlly7jJNPTzhMXl8XwrlhHHojD1fJSlTEBbvZbsZu9ImVZyXeAcTdRb3AhWBHW8YmmtLypyRMe74RHNZEPPJiFNRZppAdWt/w426-h640/IMG_0404.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My patient birding companion, Collin.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgqR-wvZ6hJ21XWkThhNgjjBXpuKk1Yyj34ukDZHDb8sk2yWYyRRwRxjW4FzcVXsh4thr5ikcTYMb9UFU1VjgWr_DoTgLfmi7Tl3q6KPATFxO75O0z964U_4757qfez5eZMuInnZnckrP/s4000/IMG_0414.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgqR-wvZ6hJ21XWkThhNgjjBXpuKk1Yyj34ukDZHDb8sk2yWYyRRwRxjW4FzcVXsh4thr5ikcTYMb9UFU1VjgWr_DoTgLfmi7Tl3q6KPATFxO75O0z964U_4757qfez5eZMuInnZnckrP/w640-h426/IMG_0414.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A western marsh harrier soars low over the wet meadow.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho6yFk3wORpHxhefrKfPka1tjuewkl9e1qf7tv4hFLalWnqQ8UvpaX0YBDTErmc3w2NUMpxAKhlyzru-BpufU2acLD5hQFo5bh73GXNXM6LvGk9qL02FadBpWXvEUTcKfaLuVaWWQ94sgj/s4000/IMG_0399.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho6yFk3wORpHxhefrKfPka1tjuewkl9e1qf7tv4hFLalWnqQ8UvpaX0YBDTErmc3w2NUMpxAKhlyzru-BpufU2acLD5hQFo5bh73GXNXM6LvGk9qL02FadBpWXvEUTcKfaLuVaWWQ94sgj/w640-h426/IMG_0399.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two great tits explore the moss.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After walking the Woodland Loop at Strumpshaw, we had an hour of daylight left, so we biked a mile up the road to another RSPB preserve, Buckenham Marsh.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUebzYOAFeQkVDdSUweuHZsvoW56_59bwvap9qySLw9ow68juaNXmFrS9OqXmDuFEuMoWXxinWdhNOylK3mec3NsITXL02PnKSwfpv-wI9zIQ8M4AEnSxppnb9WLrxRDHTbX2slwQlr_7/s4000/IMG_0421.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUebzYOAFeQkVDdSUweuHZsvoW56_59bwvap9qySLw9ow68juaNXmFrS9OqXmDuFEuMoWXxinWdhNOylK3mec3NsITXL02PnKSwfpv-wI9zIQ8M4AEnSxppnb9WLrxRDHTbX2slwQlr_7/w640-h426/IMG_0421.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you see the sugar factory billowing steam on the horizon? Marshes in Norfolk tend to look very similar to wet cattle pastures... down to the grazing cattle!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7iP1tfQgs9pss3QLl0auwyyA5qQsSpWCWqa5Y0IAKBZDc63rVUL49CXu90LazRWJvtTpHj3_aXP07dZLTzL-uB1rOPireCPhNR3dYReTeYBVm_xyRP-W894wweT3P13t_xktDIm1NPYj/s4000/IMG_0439.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7iP1tfQgs9pss3QLl0auwyyA5qQsSpWCWqa5Y0IAKBZDc63rVUL49CXu90LazRWJvtTpHj3_aXP07dZLTzL-uB1rOPireCPhNR3dYReTeYBVm_xyRP-W894wweT3P13t_xktDIm1NPYj/w640-h426/IMG_0439.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A northern lapwing, one of hundreds that flew overhead in a flappy mass.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYYFqQFtrgy7XgS_WMNbOWLYeiwtk6djS0N8TDHlLwJvwzDAgVK_fNw_vZutjtc0YZxcls2C_N3E_4HM_mPrF7d6B_Ivlf_mWrxYgVpFxmWGjmxuRkk9QZqeW7uey65iY3UMnl1nLyQKNK/s1000/159758372_920745132095866_2436580643707722444_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYYFqQFtrgy7XgS_WMNbOWLYeiwtk6djS0N8TDHlLwJvwzDAgVK_fNw_vZutjtc0YZxcls2C_N3E_4HM_mPrF7d6B_Ivlf_mWrxYgVpFxmWGjmxuRkk9QZqeW7uey65iY3UMnl1nLyQKNK/w480-h640/159758372_920745132095866_2436580643707722444_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collin snuck this photo of me. Glorious bird-watching in action.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As we unlocked our bicycles for the chilly nine-mile ride home, a pair of birders gasped and pointed at something across the marsh.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"A barn owl!" I heard one say to the other.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Collin and I scurried over, unused to human interaction and keeping the awkward six-feet-plus COVID distance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The pair pointed to a beautiful white owl with a round, flat face. She was swooping casually from fence post to post. Not in any hurry to catch prey, not frantic with the hunt. She seemed to be an early riser, just getting her bearings at dusk.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iMlX7zBbexVKPn9SvgOsIhNBbwvBSFdPI91WrssLn1BGNDS1w8FgIydkqnWycqNyCjQ57oVmuhSs0OqsFepzCBgAQzAeN8D92QD4cNRO1grfu2uh2znthNYaNiD3seYqBW5wdQs7sF3H/s4000/IMG_0440.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iMlX7zBbexVKPn9SvgOsIhNBbwvBSFdPI91WrssLn1BGNDS1w8FgIydkqnWycqNyCjQ57oVmuhSs0OqsFepzCBgAQzAeN8D92QD4cNRO1grfu2uh2znthNYaNiD3seYqBW5wdQs7sF3H/w640-h426/IMG_0440.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br style="text-align: left;" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilZXtvA9L0eEojq1ghnPU_06p5gfP8GVpb6A5KXxdnOuAaWT4D9l9WYvkQs3k2JW20wJEEPaRGM5wE1XG2apzfr0zV71YF7q3DANalRsWKuZePYSnkIHzMWKekBoAqPSbEazxFG-mHYQqc/s4000/IMG_0444.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilZXtvA9L0eEojq1ghnPU_06p5gfP8GVpb6A5KXxdnOuAaWT4D9l9WYvkQs3k2JW20wJEEPaRGM5wE1XG2apzfr0zV71YF7q3DANalRsWKuZePYSnkIHzMWKekBoAqPSbEazxFG-mHYQqc/w640-h426/IMG_0444.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br style="text-align: left;" /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIw06fncoftZx4C8wrDON3moayveh91lRQt15y7V-JVU2mC3X48l36NSSiwg2bXz4RmybSLmc70SWRzFhGHI6e_xtbtxUPhKHt50Iqciix46p0nDFZwJRo-T89d3Y4K7118xrUn4BYaB9/s4000/IMG_0447.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIw06fncoftZx4C8wrDON3moayveh91lRQt15y7V-JVU2mC3X48l36NSSiwg2bXz4RmybSLmc70SWRzFhGHI6e_xtbtxUPhKHt50Iqciix46p0nDFZwJRo-T89d3Y4K7118xrUn4BYaB9/w640-h426/IMG_0447.JPG" width="640" /></a></div></div><p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-7681264277517847952021-03-01T03:51:00.001-08:002021-04-16T12:19:14.218-07:00Sketching COVID: Notes from the Coronavirus Multispecies Reading Group<p>On a wintry evening last year, I took the Tube and the Overground to watch a talk about "Hope After the Anthropocene" in south-east London. (What a different time that was - I haven't ridden in a bus, train or car for months!) I'm glad I did, because I met Dr. Eben Kirksey, a Marshall Scholarship alumnus with a curiosity about viruses, CRISPR, and all things multispecies.</p><p>When COVID-19 broke out, Eben invited me to attend the Coronavirus Multispecies Reading Group, a weekly online discussion orbiting widely around the central object of SARS-CoV-2.</p><p>Here are a few sketch notes I've made of the group's conversations. You can find recordings of all the discussions <a href="https://adi.deakin.edu.au/coronavirus-multispecies-reading-group">here</a> if you're curious to hear more. (Click on an image to magnify it.)</p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFgFywbqZfM-m9BNrOIQvc8GGr-DGoFeuQadqZFtEbJC2JWxvfGMAN-iKvtcGVRRkwq996OiJyqDa3wcuLVdvF9TbHEfyZJ80o5BBD1Gx5R1hSqst-vXxCljoFK-8FEb-Nbcmrk7L19mh/s2048/IMG_3189+edit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFgFywbqZfM-m9BNrOIQvc8GGr-DGoFeuQadqZFtEbJC2JWxvfGMAN-iKvtcGVRRkwq996OiJyqDa3wcuLVdvF9TbHEfyZJ80o5BBD1Gx5R1hSqst-vXxCljoFK-8FEb-Nbcmrk7L19mh/w480-h640/IMG_3189+edit.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">November 30, 2020: One Health with Jakob Zinsstag</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjA2NEDTfBzs0YncjHN7oQ0u1pEFS6vaIux6i0CQPtQtIdoy043N7dKfRD18_ad7SoKONcdBJ93Z3WXmhiZyhUWUW-pNyZ1PDrVBO7dlhOsZpVrnH2wEWZuc82tLWDt4-oajt38eJI_Az/s2048/IMG_3724+edit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1546" data-original-width="2048" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjA2NEDTfBzs0YncjHN7oQ0u1pEFS6vaIux6i0CQPtQtIdoy043N7dKfRD18_ad7SoKONcdBJ93Z3WXmhiZyhUWUW-pNyZ1PDrVBO7dlhOsZpVrnH2wEWZuc82tLWDt4-oajt38eJI_Az/w640-h484/IMG_3724+edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">February 15, 2021: Rethinking the nature of viruses with Roberta Raffaeta and Soraya de Chadarevian</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvguQsOea0o9U1oMWLqMKJX-XxRe2P_XN61G_v4shd2F_TbtK7nOYiB8KBPoq3VrX11pFINVojkHjTHnWvFtRY5tHAjkgJP-JtGgqw12WdOj65yZuWNDvbfw3lpJa_IPTy7QiXUP7iZJy6/s2048/IMG-3740+edit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvguQsOea0o9U1oMWLqMKJX-XxRe2P_XN61G_v4shd2F_TbtK7nOYiB8KBPoq3VrX11pFINVojkHjTHnWvFtRY5tHAjkgJP-JtGgqw12WdOj65yZuWNDvbfw3lpJa_IPTy7QiXUP7iZJy6/w640-h480/IMG-3740+edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">February 22, 2021: <a href="https://www.markhonigsbaum.com/books">The Pandemic Century</a> with Mark Honigsbaum</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5x9TUuFtuO_pBXsOxq32vlinZB_G44yVc1nGG1LqAb7vjrAKemGkcB1DO3ug_znw4lhIWPUA1SjByIAAvgHUgEihCxc3RBhKnJf4dZ-2Pr9C-XCJ1TCBgCpv7RgJim-Z_C_7C_oEzt46-/s1102/March+1+2021.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="815" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5x9TUuFtuO_pBXsOxq32vlinZB_G44yVc1nGG1LqAb7vjrAKemGkcB1DO3ug_znw4lhIWPUA1SjByIAAvgHUgEihCxc3RBhKnJf4dZ-2Pr9C-XCJ1TCBgCpv7RgJim-Z_C_7C_oEzt46-/w474-h640/March+1+2021.png" width="474" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">March 1, 2021: A genealogy of coronavirus sequencing with Alexander Gorbalenya</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HtbeqSelPmqiohnmCvopdcsGoh2BW9zZINtgMooGiej1K-7k2p8cf1dr0hE9ZHpVLCdoMwOfJWJd1i4dOKe6uN63NyhdPyrrq_AXukfBTB-YTbuPyIm6dyZn81TPXSKeMQDoLYQEAYSg/s2048/IMG_3152.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HtbeqSelPmqiohnmCvopdcsGoh2BW9zZINtgMooGiej1K-7k2p8cf1dr0hE9ZHpVLCdoMwOfJWJd1i4dOKe6uN63NyhdPyrrq_AXukfBTB-YTbuPyIm6dyZn81TPXSKeMQDoLYQEAYSg/w480-h640/IMG_3152.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And this sketch is not from Coronavirus Multispecies Reading Group, but from a talk Eben gave about his new book, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250265357">The Mutant Project</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>A year ago, I never would have guessed how much practice I'd get drawing RNA viruses in watercolor and pencil. How would you sketch COVID? A virion? A Zoom screen? Dreams of vaccines? Grab a pen, give it a try :)</div><span><a name='more'></a></span>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-51531340997507211612020-11-18T08:34:00.008-08:002021-04-16T12:19:27.298-07:00Slime mold Andi talks to Nina<p>Today we welcome a rather unusual guest on the blog: Slime Mold Andi.</p><p>If you could ask a question of a brainless protist renowned for their adaptability, efficiency and memory, what would you ask?</p><p>I asked (unsurprisingly), "Andi, what do you think about the Sixth Mass Extinction?"</p><p>Andi's human keeper, Jan-Maarten Luursema, relayed my question out loud, then left Andi to their own devices to answer via an ingenious slime-mold-to-human translation method. Andi moves their protozoal yellow body around in the Petri dish, touching letters in order to spell words. A camera records the motion and reads the response out loud. Watch here:</p><p><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="640" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/478636093" width="640"></iframe>
</p><p>Transcript: "Skyrocket soapstone NHS WV XO I reinforced. You thwart cytoplasm we Soyuz USDA resolute acidify flattering undersoil, hares."</p><p>As Jan-Maarten said to me, "Andi is somewhat dense and poetic, no doubt because communicating takes a lot of effort for them and images count for a lot of words."</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">I took my best shot at interpreting Andi's poetic message, which I welcome you to read on Andi's website, <a href="https://slime-mold-andi.medium.com/17-q-nina-lester-finley-andi-what-do-you-think-about-the-sixth-mass-extinction-fd3df4ff30e2">here</a>.</h1><p>You can even follow Andi on <a href="https://twitter.com/slimemoldAndi">Twitter</a> and ask them a question of your own!</p><p>Here are a few of Andi's wild relatives who, as far as I know, aren't on Twitter... They are all a species called Dog Vomit Slime Mold or, more pleasantly, Witch's Butter. The Dutch name, Jan-Maarten taught me, is <i>Heksenboter</i>, and the Latin is <i>Fuligo septica</i>.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVi8zOUuFIcHGF6mFmo-hGYVxx7KzzDFyMfucTY8fJNorj7gI3RF1cCt0afwtNjd-k57HZmknpIdp-WR319IGd0nYo_2DHYHUElEN_vgFZVSgKK_4xx6OwQx4S1slmQSInmlf8w36fYPj/s4000/IMG_7153.JPG"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVi8zOUuFIcHGF6mFmo-hGYVxx7KzzDFyMfucTY8fJNorj7gI3RF1cCt0afwtNjd-k57HZmknpIdp-WR319IGd0nYo_2DHYHUElEN_vgFZVSgKK_4xx6OwQx4S1slmQSInmlf8w36fYPj/w640-h426/IMG_7153.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">I came upon this glowing, banana-yellow specimen in Mousehold Heath, an unassuming public woodland in Norwich, England, in September.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2da1pLKAk1ubI01bg4OF3aXtKkX7T6u7_8Tm2EM-LIU4dhgcOV1CvPvIBqFvY7CKwewj8-FWVMAJ_W0vEJVwcl9zeI_cDMLf3RRl3cPQQoZHlMPHZWG9xg0HdDYypWgWhTngdRfT_Ppws/s4000/IMG_6174.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2da1pLKAk1ubI01bg4OF3aXtKkX7T6u7_8Tm2EM-LIU4dhgcOV1CvPvIBqFvY7CKwewj8-FWVMAJ_W0vEJVwcl9zeI_cDMLf3RRl3cPQQoZHlMPHZWG9xg0HdDYypWgWhTngdRfT_Ppws/w426-h640/IMG_6174.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This deliciously oozy organism was clinging to a tree in Washington's Hoh Rainforest this summer.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3B_LpnHdZgH6To2hmh4bDUTbpeGxrn5keyityCl4y9VcEUwDJuyUiajKqZKwtR6SETgBsiY102iL1iQ4TMBRLmqsQO40a_0WsLmQmqyBGJzruoHE-R_G8qwPh_EsRo7u4n__ep2lNs3U/s4000/IMG_6176.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3B_LpnHdZgH6To2hmh4bDUTbpeGxrn5keyityCl4y9VcEUwDJuyUiajKqZKwtR6SETgBsiY102iL1iQ4TMBRLmqsQO40a_0WsLmQmqyBGJzruoHE-R_G8qwPh_EsRo7u4n__ep2lNs3U/w426-h640/IMG_6176.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I wonder what its gooey tendrils feel like to that plant!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT350Pd30O2rE7s6zNHMwRQUmUMxKBNWFPNMAcFJmpee0KIMre8JbFLQO_NNcvROzWPOnisXFVdKFKlL1-YaxMCnBmZwmWp4fxr8FDrgZWkfp_GSvR2dta9BRZoxw_gSMzwztu8zFkzvO/s4000/IMG_6184.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT350Pd30O2rE7s6zNHMwRQUmUMxKBNWFPNMAcFJmpee0KIMre8JbFLQO_NNcvROzWPOnisXFVdKFKlL1-YaxMCnBmZwmWp4fxr8FDrgZWkfp_GSvR2dta9BRZoxw_gSMzwztu8zFkzvO/w426-h640/IMG_6184.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Truly something from the science fiction movie <i>Annihilation...</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaa8tN6tjkXylUZTlkbriSkZv90B-NbsRStWWVBibnECEB_UBZrofJk2YkBVho5BlWd4M40x3z4lsOuXoQwfYx-unylftm302a2dFaquCgH3oYU0tBwurz7FGAdVDT9JF44c7Ha6i5-Nt/s4000/IMG_6186.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaa8tN6tjkXylUZTlkbriSkZv90B-NbsRStWWVBibnECEB_UBZrofJk2YkBVho5BlWd4M40x3z4lsOuXoQwfYx-unylftm302a2dFaquCgH3oYU0tBwurz7FGAdVDT9JF44c7Ha6i5-Nt/w426-h640/IMG_6186.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Human Collin peers around the trunk for scale.</div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-90784185751168715022020-11-10T16:22:00.002-08:002021-04-16T12:19:52.628-07:00Collaborative Survival: How Protecting Madagascar's Rainforests Might Prevent the Next Pandemic<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What do lemurs, lice, and forests have to do with stay-at-home orders, Zoom school, and lockdowns? Potentially, everything.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizT2EKD3yIVLVnyZtviJxxwlzUhZRsY3Mto7UyN83ALY5fJJWW8wMcD9e4Q8L1g55KaPD3wOeDbAvPBE3vaZ2AbpIDHVyaL536zNGD8V8YkynKecik6dsUaBPBSpo6x1x8aS9nEUVfa5Hp/s2664/Microcebus+023+%25282%2529.JPG"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="1774" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizT2EKD3yIVLVnyZtviJxxwlzUhZRsY3Mto7UyN83ALY5fJJWW8wMcD9e4Q8L1g55KaPD3wOeDbAvPBE3vaZ2AbpIDHVyaL536zNGD8V8YkynKecik6dsUaBPBSpo6x1x8aS9nEUVfa5Hp/w266-h400/Microcebus+023+%25282%2529.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Omy0PRhS0eMqEpoKaz72dfau7rjn7jQAPycu29AuJUbV3KxHHH6lQ_dVmGe4IGrI_26EnN-h83jFTjFUfIxh_NG_n3ZpBXA_m0aaJGdoeJVlxPhu2Dfy2hBLoqQSKNbpP-NBD6iMNKyU/s4000/IMG_3633.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Omy0PRhS0eMqEpoKaz72dfau7rjn7jQAPycu29AuJUbV3KxHHH6lQ_dVmGe4IGrI_26EnN-h83jFTjFUfIxh_NG_n3ZpBXA_m0aaJGdoeJVlxPhu2Dfy2hBLoqQSKNbpP-NBD6iMNKyU/w400-h266/IMG_3633.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On Saturday November 7th, I was honored to give an invited presentation at the Anglo-Malagasy Society titled:</div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Collaborative Survival: How Protecting Madagascar's Rainforests Might Prevent the Next Pandemic"</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can watch a recording of my presentation on the Anglo-Malagasy Society YouTube channel starting at timestamp 30:50 by clicking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sStrQkzYMas&fbclid=IwAR0_MwKi_imc8VX_4X9KAMmseK_df1Dl75eh0wKLUK3E3jIJVsll8mf36Lg&ab_channel=AngloMalagasy">here</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4EkihV0Jnj7wUpyHATblFBggSbzAeCFUlmnT29ZdjhEDr7Qs5mP8BVam0RnCdkcnwLwGlkYVMfqKXLqDxpWY0R36sV61LVC_IGk7hX_k2Z2tSUYD93mNUiY7BoY8ayXg-t42F9USXY71/s4000/IMG_5228.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4EkihV0Jnj7wUpyHATblFBggSbzAeCFUlmnT29ZdjhEDr7Qs5mP8BVam0RnCdkcnwLwGlkYVMfqKXLqDxpWY0R36sV61LVC_IGk7hX_k2Z2tSUYD93mNUiY7BoY8ayXg-t42F9USXY71/w400-h266/IMG_5228.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fnOrFs-yFwZ1VSoFBCCSDNQ9lqQBi6TCt4JMWrB5hzA2yD8eKpQi4pOtA2jTecJiAB7mPR6qFJ6wNaaHENXwg1PvmIiJF6c0aJF57S45MtAq8bzV5PW7tbrsaOBb6GyOjSWec-VCpVeu/s4000/Microcebus+012+%25284%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2664" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fnOrFs-yFwZ1VSoFBCCSDNQ9lqQBi6TCt4JMWrB5hzA2yD8eKpQi4pOtA2jTecJiAB7mPR6qFJ6wNaaHENXwg1PvmIiJF6c0aJF57S45MtAq8bzV5PW7tbrsaOBb6GyOjSWec-VCpVeu/w266-h400/Microcebus+012+%25284%2529.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the benefits of hosting these meetings virtually over Zoom, instead of the typical in-person format in London, is that people all over the world could join. Attendees came from half a dozen countries, including Madagascar, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. The Zoom room quickly filled up to its 100 person capacity, and nobody else could get in! Whoops! Luckily everyone can still watch the recording.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBvxq_P6zpujre9DzXH_vcxmFtrLz0uqLOQdxKu1a0AOcbz3_fBnOL6dYz3oDAV8yMFcUXnmhrPG6wNo23GRgh3ycu697iWZNe0iSaZPLhVdYDbTsvDIKTK_EbS-_VH4oaHM2fwBHpbFn/s2048/Anglo-Malagasy+Society.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1178" data-original-width="2048" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBvxq_P6zpujre9DzXH_vcxmFtrLz0uqLOQdxKu1a0AOcbz3_fBnOL6dYz3oDAV8yMFcUXnmhrPG6wNo23GRgh3ycu697iWZNe0iSaZPLhVdYDbTsvDIKTK_EbS-_VH4oaHM2fwBHpbFn/w640-h368/Anglo-Malagasy+Society.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first 100 attendees of the Anglo-Malagasy Society meeting.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I based my talk on my first season in Madagascar, during the Watson Fellowship, and my second season the following autumn. The paper I refer to, "The Coevolution Effect as a Driver of Spillover," can be found <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471492219300613?casa_token=q2JxkvAssTEAAAAA:6qNaccdm6quUMsx-IoGHJDAW-IAcggx8zIggsNQqECzgUfWoTUfVbJFHc0VpMczzNVjSfMH6">here</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The concept of collaborative survival comes from anthropologist Dr. Anna Tsing, and you can read my writings about it <a href="https://edgeeffects.net/collaborative-survival/">here</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'll leave it there so I don't give away any spoilers—I hope you enjoy the talk! As always, feel free to leave comments or questions below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaBRkh2Zki8Hp7yLzHib5-JFlBZ7FCZ3GBqCdYIP2kvPhtLsCJWLmcND1ejEbYnZObSp5iSQXVP92wVuSPOxcEtPIL4_3sHv0vJwSaBEVgSycT9fjElpiXdpoopnTthR_HDPR3BTx06LG/s4000/IMG_3623.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaBRkh2Zki8Hp7yLzHib5-JFlBZ7FCZ3GBqCdYIP2kvPhtLsCJWLmcND1ejEbYnZObSp5iSQXVP92wVuSPOxcEtPIL4_3sHv0vJwSaBEVgSycT9fjElpiXdpoopnTthR_HDPR3BTx06LG/w400-h266/IMG_3623.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9LOk00OL7T_fqvkGAXZXf_2miFHFnkfZo5-2yzVUxl-M_yenuRzrQNc5xuoM2rJICxUswkK9Ldb4FXQ5lCe4KmB-37xv5Y-0atdbTQ6q6qZl7XlPLBTowDAYZ1K1XDRgyV_YDPdLMt7t/s4000/Microcebus+38+%25283%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9LOk00OL7T_fqvkGAXZXf_2miFHFnkfZo5-2yzVUxl-M_yenuRzrQNc5xuoM2rJICxUswkK9Ldb4FXQ5lCe4KmB-37xv5Y-0atdbTQ6q6qZl7XlPLBTowDAYZ1K1XDRgyV_YDPdLMt7t/w400-h266/Microcebus+38+%25283%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMd6VhSZQbgZOktKi2ktVGB2jS525NxhYW0vBzL81UsAMUZ_Mp9cwe5jSLS_XnAR00nJGLQQi1M1e-ZxWiHKCw6BIuivrDv8JRXd3wmFuVqjsLAIGAi2-GOXYwP3xmj4vSjlLCdY2MsH9/s4000/IMG_2935.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMd6VhSZQbgZOktKi2ktVGB2jS525NxhYW0vBzL81UsAMUZ_Mp9cwe5jSLS_XnAR00nJGLQQi1M1e-ZxWiHKCw6BIuivrDv8JRXd3wmFuVqjsLAIGAi2-GOXYwP3xmj4vSjlLCdY2MsH9/w400-h266/IMG_2935.JPG" width="400" /></a></div></div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-29807126440385663382020-10-19T14:55:00.003-07:002021-04-16T12:20:02.058-07:00Snapshots of a Virus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Are we all tired of COVID-19 yet?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the past eight months (has it been more than half a year, already?!) I've been gathering snapshots of the coronavirus. It's not often that a global pandemic makes microbes visible to us on a daily basis! Most of us have never actually seen a SARS-CoV-2 virion through a microscope, but we microbe-watchers need to be creative and observe our targets aslant, through the ripple affects they cause. For bacteria, that might be the rotten smell and mushy texture of a potato left too long in the fridge. (Don't worry, I won't plague you with photos of that today.) For algae, it might be the green pond scum of millions of photosynthetic cells clumping together. Viruses, being three orders of magnitude smaller than bacteria, are even harder to capture. So this year, I've collected signs of virus—literally.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'll post a few photos today and come back with more later. I hope these reflections on COVID-19 will break the monotony of our self-isolations, quarantines and masked outings, and give us space to reflect on what a wild moment in time this is. If nothing else, they'll be something to look back on with gratitude when this pandemic is over!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGIhErwkKoQ3OL7BgkkOxSFRd4T1jX3KNA9LzVNZ1Lj-sWIl5pmms38l6gEs1OlmOdWPsUBU3ZCKhKb0bQisNhxnctbF6uB7HHv5CP2NwOIQgQazqxP49bUCQBQj6Fln5kPdqwVELtUBO/s2048/IMG_1441.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGIhErwkKoQ3OL7BgkkOxSFRd4T1jX3KNA9LzVNZ1Lj-sWIl5pmms38l6gEs1OlmOdWPsUBU3ZCKhKb0bQisNhxnctbF6uB7HHv5CP2NwOIQgQazqxP49bUCQBQj6Fln5kPdqwVELtUBO/w640-h480/IMG_1441.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">January 26. London. Before COVID, you may have walked past other viruses without noticing. This poster transforms the two spike proteins of the influenza virus (hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, of H5N1 fame) into spiky projections from a globular "FLU."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2RUpUwvK4li66_h9XFtTTDLwGPI-vWI60xcHlkbAeiZ17lT7xIK4HWSeR2cZbAzQdUouTg7xWQKncSE0W0Bp99VxSCpn-avWVy-OahPvfpoL6M7rDAumpSH-Mwrs5XabzE1mDWBuXQZ6/s2048/IMG_1672.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2RUpUwvK4li66_h9XFtTTDLwGPI-vWI60xcHlkbAeiZ17lT7xIK4HWSeR2cZbAzQdUouTg7xWQKncSE0W0Bp99VxSCpn-avWVy-OahPvfpoL6M7rDAumpSH-Mwrs5XabzE1mDWBuXQZ6/w640-h480/IMG_1672.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">February 28. Sea-Tac Airport. Back when COVID was a distant a concern to many Americans, I gathered this sign of a different microbe, the hemorrhagic-fever causing Ebolavirus.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtbGBwcGLjsVIXkCQhfGnpV9YTSKI0PjyqDFmB2WqoiovqHE7wqMXter-zvjJyPJ83IVuS_hmAONB9aG2X4LHaQV8QmR0hspv2JLLV76YqBhb7buQEYrmvliWvaSlCj-hgrK1Ch2-EZ7F/s2048/IMG_1677.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtbGBwcGLjsVIXkCQhfGnpV9YTSKI0PjyqDFmB2WqoiovqHE7wqMXter-zvjJyPJ83IVuS_hmAONB9aG2X4LHaQV8QmR0hspv2JLLV76YqBhb7buQEYrmvliWvaSlCj-hgrK1Ch2-EZ7F/w480-h640/IMG_1677.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 2. Seattle. As I waited in the lobby of my grandma's retirement home in downtown Seattle, I noticed a foreboding article at the bottom of the front page: "Death at Nursing Home as Virus Spreads in U.S."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWE3XmUETM-dgG7qwmv52PcM8_4zcA0TVm3MA3x9FvUTPAR1tQvoFWp7dhV0uBbGGi2bmg47rQ6sV68XEFmjkPVqCRZQX0sowEXy5HDD2x5sloA72Qbji8COff1M1oQNWIZzy4KBg9PZj/s2048/IMG_1683.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWE3XmUETM-dgG7qwmv52PcM8_4zcA0TVm3MA3x9FvUTPAR1tQvoFWp7dhV0uBbGGi2bmg47rQ6sV68XEFmjkPVqCRZQX0sowEXy5HDD2x5sloA72Qbji8COff1M1oQNWIZzy4KBg9PZj/w480-h640/IMG_1683.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 3, 2020. London. The day after I returned to the UK from a short trip to Seattle, posters featuring northern Italy plastered my school.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQLAgO2VbBEUEq6RhB8Bk7G6Z_a1wx0KzXotT7wmzMcs0kcUEo7Vqf9Hw041nDrPg949YNbtyIFT8_37L7losf4jrzKjH0vm_Gnm4nYIIxYqmRkxwjEGAifyQg_GoO_8FTlu_4VBjMHbq/s2048/IMG_1729.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQLAgO2VbBEUEq6RhB8Bk7G6Z_a1wx0KzXotT7wmzMcs0kcUEo7Vqf9Hw041nDrPg949YNbtyIFT8_37L7losf4jrzKjH0vm_Gnm4nYIIxYqmRkxwjEGAifyQg_GoO_8FTlu_4VBjMHbq/w480-h640/IMG_1729.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 14. London. Soon, the UK's National Health Service became the most abundant advertiser in the Tube, London's subway system. I particularly liked this black-light depiction of the coronavirus as a glowing green smudge, lurking on doorknobs and fingertips.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1yxqRgiD6DF_0Dv_49ao4S6frW1glYbVKgQ77MykwnQXMO2TjHUuU2XoWSjhWOmjghG7Rcx3_mME_N6Euy9gPlKolULaKkIh_IrgmiWBN7cZxyRUVRWvCARSXPQGsiPUdHSzTmhA4N9x/s2048/IMG_1777.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1yxqRgiD6DF_0Dv_49ao4S6frW1glYbVKgQ77MykwnQXMO2TjHUuU2XoWSjhWOmjghG7Rcx3_mME_N6Euy9gPlKolULaKkIh_IrgmiWBN7cZxyRUVRWvCARSXPQGsiPUdHSzTmhA4N9x/w640-h480/IMG_1777.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 21. London. By now, items like hand sanitizer and facemasks were in such high demand that pharmacies started posting signs like this "NO FACE MASKS SOLD HERE" to keep out desperate, disappointed customers. I also noted the hand cupping male and female symbols to represent human papillomavirus, a microbe made of non-enveloped DNA.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYV4eHkUlxI0XR8HalijExX1HK-Va5Y_4PK_DLZPFkAJh20vVOUC2FOSqDO189cE0pk0jeVghstw2AO9Ev9KA44aqD5KgC-ODC9QKgeeMHEH9OhTAvob8Mhi7cL5mBDdx75YT5B8ROZKm/s2048/IMG_1803.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYV4eHkUlxI0XR8HalijExX1HK-Va5Y_4PK_DLZPFkAJh20vVOUC2FOSqDO189cE0pk0jeVghstw2AO9Ev9KA44aqD5KgC-ODC9QKgeeMHEH9OhTAvob8Mhi7cL5mBDdx75YT5B8ROZKm/w480-h640/IMG_1803.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 22. London. Some signs told of hasty closures. A hurried employee had taped this hand-written message on the window of American Crew but forgotten to flip the "OPEN" sign above. They'd harbored hope that business might resume as usual on Monday.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVn15v1_F_d8N59XnLostbrL9_o9H4gk1lRfEStjdE3XnuGPCTY3IFvVLVrH5wVpUx1vndBTP6unl_hjWmEVNsYhUC8p2hzoi0katnWwysQ5erLnmdBAmapkdNOiRepf_Lr-E0Kjh25eQg/s2048/IMG_1801.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVn15v1_F_d8N59XnLostbrL9_o9H4gk1lRfEStjdE3XnuGPCTY3IFvVLVrH5wVpUx1vndBTP6unl_hjWmEVNsYhUC8p2hzoi0katnWwysQ5erLnmdBAmapkdNOiRepf_Lr-E0Kjh25eQg/w480-h640/IMG_1801.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">March 22. London. Other signs just seemed suddenly, hilariously out of date.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEriBuS_UDmPVvFRLWiQVu2gbF7lxd6RuNtKnk2uzAqBlg42M9-YHC99KS9dhyphenhyphen7we5JMuTCqYOERfEfF5vBPEZnUWayIO2r3J0IIliDRDriqBnkBDJ98ziBJyQWO5X6HEIKpPDP9hCh1r/s2048/IMG_1809.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEriBuS_UDmPVvFRLWiQVu2gbF7lxd6RuNtKnk2uzAqBlg42M9-YHC99KS9dhyphenhyphen7we5JMuTCqYOERfEfF5vBPEZnUWayIO2r3J0IIliDRDriqBnkBDJ98ziBJyQWO5X6HEIKpPDP9hCh1r/w640-h480/IMG_1809.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 23. London. It might have been coincidence, but I noticed that Italian restaurants were particularly emotional in their responses. "We are fully focused on getting through this awful period and want to thank so many people for their words of support, kindness and generosity to our teams," wrote Franco Manca pizzeria.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyB09GPTSEqvgruyeRew0rXea9rR6i8ONmxGdgo6cBlTRcfYBe6zsurOB3_WG7WknEnQSciHYCpStfCSNMNvUrlydHIl_wyyzMwp7ZWwQVlmdf-zXyD3iL_l4mNMpdzUE-8jD2_bJZ1K5/s2048/IMG_1815.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyB09GPTSEqvgruyeRew0rXea9rR6i8ONmxGdgo6cBlTRcfYBe6zsurOB3_WG7WknEnQSciHYCpStfCSNMNvUrlydHIl_wyyzMwp7ZWwQVlmdf-zXyD3iL_l4mNMpdzUE-8jD2_bJZ1K5/w480-h640/IMG_1815.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 23. London. This reflective plaque in Regent's Park captured me in what would become a familiar position—kneeling and scrunching my face to photograph COVID signs. This one threatened that if Londoners continued to be naughty and socialize in crowds, "we will have no choice but to close the parks."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRP4p5HIqZ0U2JHkj-yjfXMl0P2nCVJWcO2Q0efwe1djO_uGqTL2IrHyFTuHaavCSe3wj-i0-eiocUTNQDFaQ-40gPkRtJ8RFrpCeeah0kfgljVpWA25NHL368aDaqHDy5SG8PBDI-Zo1/s2048/IMG_1826.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRP4p5HIqZ0U2JHkj-yjfXMl0P2nCVJWcO2Q0efwe1djO_uGqTL2IrHyFTuHaavCSe3wj-i0-eiocUTNQDFaQ-40gPkRtJ8RFrpCeeah0kfgljVpWA25NHL368aDaqHDy5SG8PBDI-Zo1/w480-h640/IMG_1826.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 25. London. Other signs, like this one in angular capitals, responded to the growing evidence that COVID-19 weighed most heavily on the elderly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3w0UqqYx_0LKin8IwZaKKOI1hbieWFjLtCB8HQwyLFSdVXACAARPUlT0EF7ntGyhxAz-oD2Lb5TkHQdKQdiMJI4E5QVOpLg4bJbnfcip3EAovxra18ibEuwcanHgoa-TdAuLz9vRxR6WY/s2048/IMG_1830.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3w0UqqYx_0LKin8IwZaKKOI1hbieWFjLtCB8HQwyLFSdVXACAARPUlT0EF7ntGyhxAz-oD2Lb5TkHQdKQdiMJI4E5QVOpLg4bJbnfcip3EAovxra18ibEuwcanHgoa-TdAuLz9vRxR6WY/w640-h480/IMG_1830.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">March 25. London. A child's drawing in the window of Malletti Italian Lunches on the Go brought together the NHS rainbow and Italian flags with a promise of a better future. This was the last photograph I took in London before scrambling to evacuate across the Atlantic just three days later, which I wrote about <a href="http://www.ninafinley.com/2020/03/exponential-how-nanoscopic-creature.html">here</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That's all for today. See you next time, with some wacky viral representations from this summer in Seattle.</div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-19600155069583496412020-07-24T14:54:00.002-07:002020-07-24T14:55:39.932-07:00COVID and us (cats, ferrets and bats included): a sketch-note for the Emergence Podcast<div>COVID affects humans, so why is the World Organization for Animal Health involved? I'm so glad you asked!</div><div><br /></div><div>Alasdair King of MSD Animal Health (known as Merck in the United States) produced an episode of the <a href="https://twitter.com/Alasdair_MAH/status/1266720106861727745">Emergence Podcast</a> on this topic, and commissioned my sketch-note art to go with it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Have a gander, if you please:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42HL57TP8qbCOuBEobzD_Z-SKIvf_ze2PUGEOrNaW09EhEvVV4KfRVas2AakNQLAQ5BKNaecI4SSX4C7pZ33D3YZiF5X5nqVToX23FCrJEJp_ShA74TstOHOz43OhFsdPAWr851f4vyk_/s2048/image002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1638" height="781" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42HL57TP8qbCOuBEobzD_Z-SKIvf_ze2PUGEOrNaW09EhEvVV4KfRVas2AakNQLAQ5BKNaecI4SSX4C7pZ33D3YZiF5X5nqVToX23FCrJEJp_ShA74TstOHOz43OhFsdPAWr851f4vyk_/w625-h781/image002.jpg" width="625" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And have a listen to the podcast, "Episode 6: The One with the OIE on COVID19," <a href="https://player.captivate.fm/episode/0dd40d3a-a402-4b50-ab7a-8ccaea078216">here</a>.</div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-44936543857538983872020-07-11T13:08:00.004-07:002020-07-11T13:11:42.579-07:00Global Health/Global Beats<div>In early May, I got a Facebook message from Dr. Rita Issa, a member of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion and my fellow student at the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Issa told me her friend runs a radio show and asked if I'd be willing to have an on-air chat about One Health.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sure, I said, why not?</div><div><br /></div><div>That led me to Dr. Nicola Stokes, an emergency medicine doctor in the United Kingdom's National Health Service. When she's not saving lives, Dr. Stokes hosts a Soho radio show called Global Health/Global Beats, where she mixes interviews with wide-ranging world music.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Global Health Global Beats (30/05/2020)" src="https://thumbnailer.mixcloud.com/unsafe/300x300/extaudio/1/8/b/2/1e22-544f-4758-ba2e-fda8e44b42f6" /></div><div><br /></div><div>For this episode, Dr. Stokes interviewed me and Dr. Giles Dawnay, general practitioner and author in the UK (on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/gilesdawnay">@gilesdawnay</a>). We had a few COVID-inspired difficulties, like when a float plane landed nearby and its engine roar took over my microphone. (This is when I was temporarily living on a boat after moving back to Seattle... but that's a story for another post.) In the end, we got the thing recorded! Between boppin' musical interludes, we talked about coronaviruses, climate change, zoonotic spillover, antibiotic resistance, meat production, planetary health and poetry.</div><div><br /></div><div>Have a listen here:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5"><a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/global-health-global-beats-30052020/">Global Health/Global Beats </a></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5"><a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/global-health-global-beats-30052020/">with Nina Finley and Dr. Giles Dawnay,</a></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/global-health-global-beats-30052020/" style="font-size: x-large;">the May 30, 2020 episode</a></div><div><br /></div><div>As you listen, let me direct your attention to the song "Clipo Clipo" from "Our Garden Needs Its Flowers," a 1985 album by Jess Sah Bi and Peter One of Côte d'Ivoire, which Nicola introduces around minute 22. Nicola says, "The album was quite striking at the time because it was in contrast with the heaving funk, disco and reggae sounds of the day, whereas the album 'Our Garden Needs Its Flowers' was a lush kind of fusion of traditional village songs and American and English country and folk-rock music. They deliver these beautifully-harmonized meditations about social injustice and inequality."</div><div><br /></div><div>What an honor to be featured along such talented musicians and music-listeners! It wouldn't have occurred to me to weave microbial science with world music, but now that I've heard it, I think it's exactly what I needed.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can follow Global Health/Global Beats on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/nicola_stoke">@nicola_stoke</a>, and search "Global Health/Global Beats" on <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/">MixCloud</a> for more episodes.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to keep bathing your ears in gorgeous global beats after you listen to the Podcast, head to the Global Health/Global Beats <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5BW6ycdNPzgkZZDNow44Rh">Spotify</a> playlist for the featured songs.</div></div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-80266644234912212942020-07-04T23:39:00.002-07:002020-07-04T23:43:24.521-07:00Coronavirus, carbon & colonialism: An interview on The Anthropositive Outlook<div>Have you heard the name Krti Tallam?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, remember it, because she's one of the brightest up-and-coming stars at the intersection of conservation and health!</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFrnabpe5oITaWeF-ejm3r0BpswFoisghDhthimEzvazuTTjlHKWHUHLqmNsTGvHvwIrNGypiNgLIdQethhCNuPtRbdaY4nYMDRXjY4pZRybqMzEceP2apELxOQUI9aOdjGOitkCBSt_b/s937/Krti+Tallam-Ambassador-111318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="937" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFrnabpe5oITaWeF-ejm3r0BpswFoisghDhthimEzvazuTTjlHKWHUHLqmNsTGvHvwIrNGypiNgLIdQethhCNuPtRbdaY4nYMDRXjY4pZRybqMzEceP2apELxOQUI9aOdjGOitkCBSt_b/s320/Krti+Tallam-Ambassador-111318.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The one and only Krti Tallam.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Like so many of the important events in my life, I met Krti through serendipity.</div><div><br /></div><div>Krti was a Udall Scholar a few years after me — the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7095104014458858118/8026664423491221294#">Udall</a> is a federally-funded scholarship for undergraduates engaged in environmental work, indigenous health, or indigenous governance — so we ended up on the same alumni mailing list. She'd posted asking for advice on graduate programs in marine disease ecology, I sent her a few links, and neither of us let the conversation drop. It's like one of the old fashioned pen-pal friendships you read about in books. Except without the actual letters.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Krti just finished a Fulbright year in India looking at the relationship between sea level rise and cholera using machine learning (y'all, that is a technical skill the puts my baby-level computer programming to shame!) And, she's now entering the De Leo lab at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University to start her PhD (the very same lab where I'm doing my master's thesis research, and the one that analyzes Health In Harmony's forest conservation impact with satellite imagery). In short, she is a rock star.</div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7CncTfjkz9qlW-LjAZxkI4FHC_9urOZHvg8eQfDEBGj_5VpKDx6IUPUwyMBMTv8GAxrqwpCinW9r1m8Ga85KqYzVDPThD1eF67Auz1FtFq8JKAONpRR9JqZDuveSCpBePe47Bf0mM9OHW/s1656/anthro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1284" data-original-width="1656" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7CncTfjkz9qlW-LjAZxkI4FHC_9urOZHvg8eQfDEBGj_5VpKDx6IUPUwyMBMTv8GAxrqwpCinW9r1m8Ga85KqYzVDPThD1eF67Auz1FtFq8JKAONpRR9JqZDuveSCpBePe47Bf0mM9OHW/w500-h388/anthro.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you read this logo?!</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />Not only that, but Krti is also the host and producer of the Anthropositive Outlook, an original podcast that weaves together stories of ecologists, health practitioners, programmers and other humans dedicated to making Earth a livable planet for all.</div><div><br /></div><div>One day, Krti asked if I would be interviewed for her podcast.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, I said, what an honor!</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the final product, our hour-long discussion ranging from COVID-19 and ocean acidification to the importance of healthcare for gender equity and the legacy of colonialism in conservation.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Without further ado, have a listen on <a href="https://theanthropositiveoutlook.podbean.com/e/nina-finley/">Podbean</a> to:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font size="5">Anthropositive Outlook Season 1, Episode 6:</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font size="5">"COVID-19, Healthcare, Women in Conservation, and the Role of Colonialism in Conservation"</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font size="5">a conversation with Nina Finley and Krti Tallam</font></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If that doesn't work, try listening on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nina-finley-covid-19-healthcare-women-in-conservation/id1513844677?i=1000476759225">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6h6crN7PxxTC4iQwN8ugDu">Spotify</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I encourage you to also check out the Anthropositive Outlook <a href="https://anthropositive.squarespace.com/">website</a> and follow their Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/anthropositive">@anthropositive</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you, Krti, for the opportunity! Hope to meet you in person someday :)</div></div>Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-33868419509217062162020-05-01T13:39:00.000-07:002020-05-01T13:51:51.905-07:00For Your Ears and Eyes: Sketch-Noting the Emergence Podcast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Have you ever listened to a podcast and thought, "I wish I had a colorful doodle to look at while I listened to this thing?"</div>
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Perfect, I have just the doodle for you.</div>
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A few months ago, the Director of International Veterinary Health at MSD Animal Health, <a href="https://twitter.com/Alasdair_MAH">Alasdair King</a>, noticed my sketch-notes on Twitter. He sent me a message to commission sketches for his monthly One Health podcast, <a href="https://emergence.captivate.fm/">Emergence</a>, which covers news on transboundary and emerging diseases.</div>
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MSD Animal Health, or Merck as it's known in the US and Canada, is one of the world's largest veterinary pharmaceutical companies. Medical and veterinary folks might know of them through their <i>Merck Manuals</i>.</div>
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I'll be sketching a signpost for five Emergence episodes, starting with Episode 5: The One About FMD in Africa. Take a <a href="https://player.captivate.fm/episode/5325ec80-6d4d-4bd2-848c-6f69560d918d">listen</a> while you take a look!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHWaNRzzfgeZ2tVZwb27cLaZtDo6s9EjQQAyUaKQwd708r4H540Psqp0YM9eXSFF8TzYiDYRqqI0TQBhChyphenhyphendG1SRrb2Ctjr9LZxTEUa5ROAXbDftfxLw_mQaXI4uraQev_vpJPMVVfve_d/s1600/EQLC4420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1325" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHWaNRzzfgeZ2tVZwb27cLaZtDo6s9EjQQAyUaKQwd708r4H540Psqp0YM9eXSFF8TzYiDYRqqI0TQBhChyphenhyphendG1SRrb2Ctjr9LZxTEUa5ROAXbDftfxLw_mQaXI4uraQev_vpJPMVVfve_d/s640/EQLC4420.JPG" width="530" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Hot tip: Click on the photo to magnify it. If that doesn't work, try right-clicking and choosing "Open link in a new tab" to magnify.</span></div>
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To give you a little taste of the process, here's the sketch when it was mostly drawn but not yet colored:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintNhhwmc2w-2yZaCBjf1bYEdGDHs2jpeSg193QjhpsrnWjz7iQCM2BSVxLO6DY-NJP3HGXIs8RPZ3YtF9aH6RjPUN0h6S0VFqYd4DvrLt7YvJEP8ZofjMByK-K8inArJJop4etdaFPliU/s1600/IMG_1989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintNhhwmc2w-2yZaCBjf1bYEdGDHs2jpeSg193QjhpsrnWjz7iQCM2BSVxLO6DY-NJP3HGXIs8RPZ3YtF9aH6RjPUN0h6S0VFqYd4DvrLt7YvJEP8ZofjMByK-K8inArJJop4etdaFPliU/s640/IMG_1989.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Stay tuned for Episode 6: The One with the OIE on COVID19, coming soon.Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-52725451357029706912020-03-29T17:53:00.001-07:002020-03-29T18:01:32.214-07:00Exponential: How a Nanoscopic Creature Accelerated the WorldHi everyone,<br />
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It's been a while since I posted. At first that was due to the hectic schedule of grad school. Then, it was because of a nanoscopic piece of RNA that, for some reason, adores the mucosal recesses of our noses and the pink folds of our lungs. What a feat, that this quirky little bit of wildlife has demanded 7.5 billion humans' attention in a matter of weeks! But more on that later.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmo3y5UpAuU5i12AYDBjnzh42MIPA2Rw_Fo_k_4hVG-V7yXBnEOE8fbIZFNg61ufO9SPUB3HVpA8Ri6Mzs36un2pNlziwB09RXNGDlxC0UHv9fXQ7htqhOZoICM0Slg-AqoE4GjekO2N_l/s1600/coronavirus-620-getty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="620" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmo3y5UpAuU5i12AYDBjnzh42MIPA2Rw_Fo_k_4hVG-V7yXBnEOE8fbIZFNg61ufO9SPUB3HVpA8Ri6Mzs36un2pNlziwB09RXNGDlxC0UHv9fXQ7htqhOZoICM0Slg-AqoE4GjekO2N_l/s640/coronavirus-620-getty.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new coronavirus, ensconced in its crown of membrane proteins. I try to include photos of any microorganism I mention. You wouldn't want to read a post about a bird or flower without seeing it, would you? (CDC/Getty Images.)</td></tr>
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On the morning of Wednesday, January 22nd, I walked into a third-floor classroom of the Royal Veterinary College. We were scheduled for a lecture on One Health skills and our final assignment, a policy brief. The professor opened with a question.<br />
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"Who's been following the news of the new virus in China?" he asked.<br />
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A few classmates had seen headlines in the paper on their train commutes, but I hadn't. One Health students are supposed to stay on top of these things. After all, our discipline was founded in response to the 2001 outbreak of SARS coronavirus from a wildlife market in China.<br />
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I Googled it. The first result was one of my favorite websites, NPR's Goats and Soda. They cover lots of microbe stories, from the melting permafrost anthrax that inspired part of my Watson year, to their cartoon video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utcn6LGYHSI">series</a> on the history of humans and germs. This time, the microbe story was destined to dominate every news outlet for months, but we didn't know it yet.<br />
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I clicked on the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/01/21/798137962/china-tries-to-control-travel-in-and-out-of-wuhan-to-stem-coronavirus-spread?t=1579702214644">headline</a>, "1st Case Of New Coronavirus Detected In U.S." I will always remember reading the second paragraph:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">"A man from Washington state returned home after a trip to Wuhan, China, on Jan. 15, sought medical attention on Jan. 19 and now is in isolation at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash."</span><br />
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Providence Regional Medical Center. I stopped cold. That's the hospital associated with my mom's pediatric practice, thirty minutes north of Seattle. I found out later that this very patient works with my dad in the Everett Boeing factory. Here I was, sitting in a One Health classroom in London, reading news that was way too close to home.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrjIkN42lo4M3SAyr0Q4G-07vqc5qfgxOPGOewT6GCqwlQCXXNBZzbCDe5vIReOA2ZHcRSYgeIgxIn5GbooKEbBSuDOdvV25hSd0wUHj1KbN14l6jaocfWDeQYfy5xrcodH7GKmn26mS7/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="1203" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrjIkN42lo4M3SAyr0Q4G-07vqc5qfgxOPGOewT6GCqwlQCXXNBZzbCDe5vIReOA2ZHcRSYgeIgxIn5GbooKEbBSuDOdvV25hSd0wUHj1KbN14l6jaocfWDeQYfy5xrcodH7GKmn26mS7/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The WhatsApp message I sent to my mother and sister when I first heard of the new coronavirus in Everett. My sister Lisa's reaction sums it up.</td></tr>
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The intervening months are a blur. My mother was fine, as was that first patient in Everett, who apparently made a full <a href="https://mynorthwest.com/1728175/snohomish-county-coronavirus-recovered/">recovery</a>. But everything started to revolve around this new virus.<br />
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Today, writing this blog post, I had to dig into the archives of my WhatsApp to find a link to that original Goats and Soda article. No combination of words I Googled could turn it up. It's been smothered under an accelerating avalanche of news.<br />
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My final assignment was a (pretend) policy brief to the government of Malaysia on how to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak. The assignment was due in mid-February. I found it impossible to keep the numbers up to date, as new information was streaming in so quickly. Finally, on February 7th, I decided my brief would be for that day, a frozen snapshot in time.<br />
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Then, on February 11th, the coronavirus got a name.<br />
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"COVID," <a href="https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-2019-ncov-on-11-february-2020">announced</a> Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in a media briefing. "I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine – COVID-19."<br />
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But I couldn't update the name in my policy brief, because then I'd have to update all my numbers to February 11th, too! And every day, more cases were being diagnosed in Malaysia, more restrictions were being laid down by Hong Kong and Singapore, more deaths were reported from China. It was a pace of change that would only increase.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsXBhgbNdsXrByPTN-nzVbH67EZC6n5vMK653BvyH6jF_ML-ehjvqzlYQPV3128w7RbNphAIQnuXXMpbf1IxsPyxefYaaYPQbu8WIS7HpB2q_zRMHPw5ChTPtQbKj5Qk8XbJMcuJiU6Zu/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="1019" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsXBhgbNdsXrByPTN-nzVbH67EZC6n5vMK653BvyH6jF_ML-ehjvqzlYQPV3128w7RbNphAIQnuXXMpbf1IxsPyxefYaaYPQbu8WIS7HpB2q_zRMHPw5ChTPtQbKj5Qk8XbJMcuJiU6Zu/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fragment of my final assignment for the One Health skills module of my master's degree, a pretend policy brief to the Malaysian government on controlling the new coronavirus.</td></tr>
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I created my first Systems Dynamic Model of viral spread and tinkered with the inputs. What if 50% of the population were reached by public-service announcements about hand washing? What if 10% of schools were to close? Up and down I moved the variables, watching millions of imaginary lives get saved or extinguished. But the virus was still mostly contained to China, and it all seemed like a game.<br />
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My university, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is one of the top institutions in the world for public health and virus modelling. I started attending extra lectures on the coronavirus, live-<a href="https://twitter.com/NinaFinley">Tweeting</a> them to spread this information beyond the walls of the John Snow Lecture Theater.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUv4XGOeWyxRgSlmgqVlKlrt009lspeOWmzpunBTu_82Y80UD5sNvcZQ0SvbtMdcabBMZ5GDywCN48CIkVUXi0TTJ_bx13YMzMr84XuXFahniCtPoG0mZ6yA4NK-svvDeEjy6TzSBIoIK/s1600/84797562_10157054723318247_6255290408272658432_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUv4XGOeWyxRgSlmgqVlKlrt009lspeOWmzpunBTu_82Y80UD5sNvcZQ0SvbtMdcabBMZ5GDywCN48CIkVUXi0TTJ_bx13YMzMr84XuXFahniCtPoG0mZ6yA4NK-svvDeEjy6TzSBIoIK/s640/84797562_10157054723318247_6255290408272658432_n.jpg" width="544" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sign says "Coronavirus outbreak" with an arrow into the lecture theater... was I wise to enter?</td></tr>
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In daily emails from my residence hall, Goodenough College, I tracked the UK government's level of concern. Starting with the first bulletin on January 28th, we were assured that "Public Health England has assessed the risk to the UK population as low." Within three days, that risk was adjusted to "moderate," and on March 16th – a few days after the WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020">classified</a> COVID-19 as a pandemic – it was finally ratcheted up to "high."<br />
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The registrar of Goodenough College reassured us often that the residence hall would not shut down, even if it ran into severe staff shortages. "I can clean a bathroom, probably better for you if I don’t try and cook your dinner," she wrote. "We know that there are Members who are unable to return home or have nowhere else to go." That message was one reason why my partner Collin and I decided to stay in London.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUiRYEFTYwmL_yU78Rb5ogmwaRroU-OwChetYWuHD5fnnPJGr4BhHmD-tcuYZIuS29o2VqN-KPhI87KQwHNYh5aKgyE2VHBvWeQgMLdvx_w-TK5P2_rYn1-S2AM7d9X01WzUJau3207Foe/s1600/IMG_1725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUiRYEFTYwmL_yU78Rb5ogmwaRroU-OwChetYWuHD5fnnPJGr4BhHmD-tcuYZIuS29o2VqN-KPhI87KQwHNYh5aKgyE2VHBvWeQgMLdvx_w-TK5P2_rYn1-S2AM7d9X01WzUJau3207Foe/s640/IMG_1725.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the first restrictions I felt was when my school's cafe stopped accepting reusable cups.</td></tr>
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The growth of microbes is a common example of what it means to be "exponential." When you deposit a drop of bacteria onto a Petri dish of fresh agar, the bacteria dawdle for a bit in the lag phase, when you don't see much change. Then they hit the exponential phase. The one droplet turns into two colonies, then four, then eight. In the blink of an eye, half the plate is covered, then the whole thing. Watching exponential growth can be dizzying.<br />
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That's how my world has felt since January. New information comes faster and faster. The intervals between upheavals get shorter and shorter. Life plans I would normally expect to take months are happening in days.<br />
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This comparison between the exponential change in our lives and the exponential growth of microbes is not a metaphor. This time, the two are inextricably, physically linked.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP91ikkJgIGkcVdO-IxYW9wbocSCXktTz0li7agKqofL1PcUhmXv-8ssEMx7uS0XMjv7XvZlYqDGsfHuCKrezzOJdUfZPGlu2uOqKApzjZsuCY7tyjpjj1kmVYTOGvzz4_GbtWIGxyGa7q/s1600/IMG_1681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP91ikkJgIGkcVdO-IxYW9wbocSCXktTz0li7agKqofL1PcUhmXv-8ssEMx7uS0XMjv7XvZlYqDGsfHuCKrezzOJdUfZPGlu2uOqKApzjZsuCY7tyjpjj1kmVYTOGvzz4_GbtWIGxyGa7q/s640/IMG_1681.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airports were among the first places to post alerts about the novel coronavirus. This sign in Sea-Tac focused on travelers to China.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yIbBZuVDWNekIETh0F4nNq6iW43ydwRMpHxaY12VHETWtZL6HBnc-aRkek_4p7WEmrjxRPGpmFrorezugz1E1tZHGBDJVSIbJhj8w-8zz_2dkGDZm6CZnCDnuECPll3KUyRp1S9T9Jfe/s1600/IMG_1687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yIbBZuVDWNekIETh0F4nNq6iW43ydwRMpHxaY12VHETWtZL6HBnc-aRkek_4p7WEmrjxRPGpmFrorezugz1E1tZHGBDJVSIbJhj8w-8zz_2dkGDZm6CZnCDnuECPll3KUyRp1S9T9Jfe/s640/IMG_1687.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soon after, signs were posted in my schools. This photo is from the inside door of a toilet stall. Already, you can see the list of countries has expanded to include Thailand, South Korea, Italy and a dozen more. As my hometown of Seattle became a COVID-19 hotspot, I kept waiting for it to appear on these signs. It never did, maybe because the list would have become too long by then, or maybe because the US did so little testing at the beginning.</td></tr>
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The shifting policies have been hard to navigate.<br />
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On Monday, March 9th, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine announced that its doors would be closing in two weeks, at which point classes would move online. Professors began to speed-talk, cramming two lectures into each session.<br />
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I was suspicious we'd really have two weeks. I imagined a cosmic pipette depositing a drop of coronavirus onto our planet-shaped Petri dish stocked with 7.5 billion pairs of human lungs. The lag phase was nearing its end. One colony, two, four, eight... half the dish...<br />
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Sure enough, within days, the school's door-closing date was bumped up a week. One morning, it was effective immediately. Tests were moved forward, then suspended indefinitely, then replaced by essays, then changed to online tests. We didn't know what to study, or when.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzek9IFAVH40Gpz0ZIN8kGjyQpOh6xK0wkbrUTR7-McyKmUzINLWeItSurlkeWE7N71keFTEVc1Bm862PKvI-CjR23P_fsXF5gMWROpi-B3ekbX5y8uZpvw2A_ucRjK2yJZ1RokgGqZxrG/s1600/IMG_1782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzek9IFAVH40Gpz0ZIN8kGjyQpOh6xK0wkbrUTR7-McyKmUzINLWeItSurlkeWE7N71keFTEVc1Bm862PKvI-CjR23P_fsXF5gMWROpi-B3ekbX5y8uZpvw2A_ucRjK2yJZ1RokgGqZxrG/s640/IMG_1782.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The BT Tower admonished everyone to "stay at home" in our neighborhood of London.</td></tr>
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So I was only mildly surprised when I learned I was getting kicked out of my apartment.<br />
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It was a sunny afternoon, just starting to smell like spring. Grass pollen tickled my nose. I was walking through Regent's Park with my friend Kaytie, a responsible six feet between us, when I got a Facebook message from Collin telling me to check my email.<br />
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In my inbox, I found a message from the president of Goodenough College:<br />
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"The essential message for all Members, at whatever stage of their course or irrespective of their status, is that <b><u>IF you can leave safely now and return home, you should.</u></b>" Bold and underline from the original. It told us to vacate your flat by the end of the week and concluded ominously, "It may be that we will no longer be able to guarantee providing a safe place for you all here in the long-term if the crisis continues to escalate at this current rate."<br />
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A few hours later, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered Londoners to shelter in place and announced that violators would be fined by the police.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgekeDdKOm9ZoJwM6zqXizSI1W3NeYk4akj36rq1t0NXxyCbLAp-_vJ_t1Wl4GLVH7bgdrqMwjwRHsmP0OTElFgWiioqCS_KDGBebCtniVu97LqgrOx-s4Pt6Id0Wz0CaaKt32hDoPfK4gd/s1600/IMG_1722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgekeDdKOm9ZoJwM6zqXizSI1W3NeYk4akj36rq1t0NXxyCbLAp-_vJ_t1Wl4GLVH7bgdrqMwjwRHsmP0OTElFgWiioqCS_KDGBebCtniVu97LqgrOx-s4Pt6Id0Wz0CaaKt32hDoPfK4gd/s640/IMG_1722.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The toilet paper shelf in our grocery store, Waitrose, was the first to be cleared out (well, after hand sanitizer).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ03RLLgSY31nPj5n05Gq4EUnBAUztCCXoARIacYN2n0qZ89jcqJEpJnTDuwNp6G5Il1_FbvCLDOq4dvFkRV-oUzeT_1FMoo7-V_B1qOh7Nw2pkio5pJp0zOwj7y7iGDVk7YC0D0Fhf0iM/s1600/IMG_1763.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ03RLLgSY31nPj5n05Gq4EUnBAUztCCXoARIacYN2n0qZ89jcqJEpJnTDuwNp6G5Il1_FbvCLDOq4dvFkRV-oUzeT_1FMoo7-V_B1qOh7Nw2pkio5pJp0zOwj7y7iGDVk7YC0D0Fhf0iM/s640/IMG_1763.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A local wine store on Lamb's Conduit took quickly to bartering.</td></tr>
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Collin and I did have a home ready to welcome us – my parents' houses in Seattle. But would Collin be able to continue working across the eight-hour time difference? Could we afford US health insurance? What would we do with our belongings? What about the cupboards we'd packed with beans and rice and cans of soup? Were planes still flying?<br />
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We had agonized about whether to stay in London or leave for Seattle, but the message from Goodenough tipped our scales. After weeks of settling in for the long haul, we decided to go.<br />
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Now, we had four days to buy plane tickets, find storage for everything we owned, give away our food, end our lease, beg masks off a friend, cancel our cell phone plans, return library books, inform my schools, make arrangements with Collin's work, plan transportation to Heathrow, and acquire a space for 14 days of self-quarantine once we arrived in the US. We knew the airplane would be the highest risk of encountering coronavirus we'd faced yet, and the last thing we wanted to do was bring an unwelcome stowaway into the lungs of my parents, both of whom are over 60.<br />
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I'll leave the journey itself for the next post. For now, know that we are safe in Seattle, and grateful for the immense support we've had along the way.Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-78002581361968717832020-01-18T14:43:00.000-08:002020-01-18T14:43:47.399-08:00Article published in Icarus ComplexMy photographed article, "Health In Harmony: an NGO using healthcare as a means to fight deforestation," was just published in <i>Icarus Complex.</i><br />
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<i>Icarus Complex </i>is a new print and online magazine created by Afsaneh Rafii, a powerful editor and climate activist fighting for to give her children a livable future. Afsaneh commissioned this article after reading my climate journalism in <i>Mongabay</i>, and I had the joy of joining her for brunch recently in London. I hope we'll collaborate to publish more perspectives on climate and ecological justice soon.<br />
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A sneak peak:<br />
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<i>Walk through the lowland rainforest of Gunung Palung National Park on the western coast of Borneo, and feel steam rising around you. Fungi compost the leaf litter, and termites digest fallen logs into soil. Millennium-old ironwoods and meranti trees brace themselves against thundering rain with buttress roots. Between storms, sunlight bakes the canopy and filters down to dapple the forest floor.</i><br />
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<i>In the 1980s and 1990s, Borneo experienced some of the fastest deforestation in history. Not even areas with legal protection were safe.</i><br />
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<i>When an undergraduate student named Kinari Webb visited Gunung Palung National Park as an orangutan research assistant in 1993, she heard the sounds of chainsaws every day. Webb took the unusual step of asking loggers why they cut trees, and their response surprised her: they logged to afford healthcare. ...</i><br />
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<a href="https://icaruscomplexmagazine.com/health-in-harmony-an-ngo-using-healthcare-as-a-means-to-fight-deforestation/">Click here to read the whole article in <i>Icarus Complex</i>.</a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaLNyJNDtJ0CU6rpkoB9yzCaZBLaECjBRt1BIXJGx8KNxD67KzWeqi6IftnyH0xZoxYQ3CeKeYZ819avH_ubvX5M-ZD7DQwH6K8tmOGeR2pmqFPyjTZgRYEwO7GBQo1nssO_k-Kr-IWlrN/s1600/IMG_5741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaLNyJNDtJ0CU6rpkoB9yzCaZBLaECjBRt1BIXJGx8KNxD67KzWeqi6IftnyH0xZoxYQ3CeKeYZ819avH_ubvX5M-ZD7DQwH6K8tmOGeR2pmqFPyjTZgRYEwO7GBQo1nssO_k-Kr-IWlrN/s400/IMG_5741.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-64043789252691119322020-01-13T11:24:00.000-08:002020-01-13T11:24:31.095-08:00Ice from the sun: a day with Okra SolarWritten June 13, 2019<br />
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Yesterday I rode a long wooden boat through wetlands to the village of Prey Pdao in southern Cambodia. I was visiting the pilot site of <a href="https://www.okrasolar.com/">Okra Solar</a>, a tech start-up whose mission is to bring reliable electricity to the 1.1 billion people who still live without it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt4GJKLX2ewC-lHfH9Y3UnVOc26DgYWUUffJVtfJBpA_WVn9X-TM7LcMW2PZMmf4ufmq5v-NtdXeuIjihnTrXeXvp7xAfOhTATWV0Snd1JuoLTZ0MLoANojYT3ahg7oIcIw7MS936u8J2x/s1600/IMG_9413.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt4GJKLX2ewC-lHfH9Y3UnVOc26DgYWUUffJVtfJBpA_WVn9X-TM7LcMW2PZMmf4ufmq5v-NtdXeuIjihnTrXeXvp7xAfOhTATWV0Snd1JuoLTZ0MLoANojYT3ahg7oIcIw7MS936u8J2x/s400/IMG_9413.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">The waterway between Prey Pdao and the mainland. Getting into the village requires a boat ride year-round.</span></td></tr>
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Here in Prey Pdao, the main occupations are seasonal – tending rice paddies in the dry season, fishing in the wet. At the end of the annual rains, between September and November, the wetland floods into an expanse of open water, lapping at the village on all sides.<br />
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Prey Pdao is a four-hour drive straight south from Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. Yet, it is not connected to the national electricity grid. The neighboring mainland villages have been connected for years. While the national grid is not entirely reliable, it gives families access to all sorts of appliances and electronics. Women can replace hours of drudgery with electric water kettles and washing machines, and children can study after dark. With a smartphone, charger and mobile data, everyone can access the knowledge and entertainment of the internet. It’s a huge step for families climbing out of poverty and achieving the comfort and income they want.<br />
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Until now, those opportunities have been largely absent from Prey Pdao. Utility companies consider hanging wires across the seasonally-flooded wetlands too expensive. Power lines that hang high above the water in the dry season would bump boaters’ heads in the wet season, and the shifting muck might make poles tilt, as I witnessed in coastal Louisiana in 2009.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Z2qOhNR6znkXDbdPt3dQwKx49dOxoLKLy4WPJ5XJh6cq85O8ONoQzz6-myVXmGrmYSySkKI4CtcTREuKEoTraJ7H8tiXksACBpkuUfHjqN5vNx0Muwr2_68H6OXvWuQyuCC3bU3RPZ49/s1600/1936807_113904668246_3536551_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="604" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Z2qOhNR6znkXDbdPt3dQwKx49dOxoLKLy4WPJ5XJh6cq85O8ONoQzz6-myVXmGrmYSySkKI4CtcTREuKEoTraJ7H8tiXksACBpkuUfHjqN5vNx0Muwr2_68H6OXvWuQyuCC3bU3RPZ49/s400/1936807_113904668246_3536551_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">A sideways pole in Louisiana, United States in 2009. One of the first photos I ever took! The shifting muck and seasonal floods of wetlands make utility poles expensive and high maintenance.</span></td></tr>
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Okra Solar, a start-up social enterprise in Phnom Penh, brought electricity to Prey Pdao last year. This community is the pilot site for their unique style of solar energy. Okra Solar is a small team of passionate and brilliant engineers (including the one and only Nithya Menon) who’ve realized that the flaws in solar energy might be solved with some creative engineering.<br />
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Typical small-scale solar comes in two flavors. On the simple end, a <b>single house</b> installs a few panels and batteries and uses the electricity for its own needs. The problem is that to cover big loads, like a washing machine, or periods without sun (think nights and clouds) the system would need so many panels and batteries, it would be too expensive for most people. When it’s sunny, the solar panels quickly fill the battery to capacity and then sit there like inert hunks of metal. Many off-grid houses still manage to run a light bulb or radio from a small solar kit, but Okra Solar is trying to provide a step up in terms of energy quantity and reliability.<br />
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The other flavor of small-scale solar is the <b>centralized microgrid</b>. This system looks like a field of solar panels and batteries in the center of town, running wires out to participating houses. The downside here is that upfront cost can be prohibitive if households are required to buy the equipment. It’s also inflexible. Households need to predict their electricity use years in advance, a difficult task when they have no experience with an electricity bill. And they have to estimate based on rising needs, meaning much of the generated power will go unused at first. Once enough households begin using the full electrical output of the system, after a couple years, they will surpass the power output and need to overhaul the central system – leaving families in perpetual debt. Lastly, all batteries are hooked to each other, so if you want to add a few or replace ones that fail, the entire set has to be switched out at once.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEr2al1ln3zw_DSwnCoEYubcAVwpcOFrEdBz41dyxEsRRPomjAd3Ta5YS3ax1OJVucH6YXTSP3OatW0BRbyfvKS6n1dWjX1Va8SrB_AwB1oL3FdLVOymDXpl5uKYPuHt2oRc-JxGvMOwW/s1600/IMG_9438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEr2al1ln3zw_DSwnCoEYubcAVwpcOFrEdBz41dyxEsRRPomjAd3Ta5YS3ax1OJVucH6YXTSP3OatW0BRbyfvKS6n1dWjX1Va8SrB_AwB1oL3FdLVOymDXpl5uKYPuHt2oRc-JxGvMOwW/s400/IMG_9438.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">James, Okra Solar’s community liaison for the Philippines, holds a first-generation Okra pod in Prey Pdao.</span></td></tr>
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Okra Solar’s solution is to connect houses to one another in a mesh-like network, called an <b>Okra grid</b>. Each participating house has a solar panel or two on its roof, a battery inside, and an Okra Pod. Wires connect each house, so their solar panels and batteries communicate smoothly with all the other houses’. There is no centralized panel field or battery bank. By sharing electricity and loads, the houses of a community can use the electricity they need, even at night and on cloudy days, without massively overstocking their personal inventory of panels and batteries. Surplus electricity from any one house flows out into the grid.<br />
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A local utility company owns and monitors the equipment, so families don’t have to invest a big up-front cost or manage their own repairs. This utility company bills each household for the amount of electricity it actually uses, and it can increase or decrease its consumption at any time.<br />
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The key to this system is a nifty bit of equipment called the Okra Pod. For engineers out there, it technically a controller. On the outside, it’s a plain white box with the cross-section of an okra stamped on it (yes, the vegetable). On the inside, it’s the masterful product of three years of the Okra engineering team’s sweat, tears and laughter.<br />
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The Okra Pod allows impressive flexibility. A household that initially opted out can join a nearby Okra grid at any time, or start a new one. Okra calls this system "plug and play." The minimum number of houses to start an Okra grid is two. Any number of households can join the grid, adding solar panels, batteries, and Okra Pods as they go.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCrjxmKnLH5-6uP0dXcN_jdciq1qsjcIAFRob8gXyIyDSt9e_VXHspld84Tow8RBSRu1mIVHfDCdEK7aeGNEoC56dpMbgiHDRCh4AjGr82d1_tU3mhzpPck3wSp7_LoSKTp5vm_w4ILuC/s1600/IMG_9421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCrjxmKnLH5-6uP0dXcN_jdciq1qsjcIAFRob8gXyIyDSt9e_VXHspld84Tow8RBSRu1mIVHfDCdEK7aeGNEoC56dpMbgiHDRCh4AjGr82d1_tU3mhzpPck3wSp7_LoSKTp5vm_w4ILuC/s400/IMG_9421.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Have you ever cut a pod of okra, that bitter green vegetable, in half? I bet it looked different on the inside than this Okra Pod!</td></tr>
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Yesterday, I accompanied the Okra Solar team to Prey Pdao to see their pilot site and speak with customers. We started by crossing the watery gap in a long, wooden boat with a retrofitted tractor engine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4REaprTSL3hzRObIcfsHr-sl7IXEgBo3TWRmiCsAXHSMD3bz26iPRgU9z4B0DRfSdN5XRHQ5CdPdhDEgTvQd5QXHcq6elmIdeKpzlvEoXj0Lcc0dx0vFI8P4ip5RBl2C9tZGI8bNEW-um/s1600/IMG_9415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4REaprTSL3hzRObIcfsHr-sl7IXEgBo3TWRmiCsAXHSMD3bz26iPRgU9z4B0DRfSdN5XRHQ5CdPdhDEgTvQd5QXHcq6elmIdeKpzlvEoXj0Lcc0dx0vFI8P4ip5RBl2C9tZGI8bNEW-um/s320/IMG_9415.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">A young boy pretends to drive the boat across the wetland into Prey Pdao as we wait for its (adult) captain.</span></td></tr>
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In Prey Pdao, I met Chaathy, a woman who has run a shop with her husband since 2009. She sells drinks, snacks, ingredients and fertilizer. During the two hours we visited Chaathy’s shop, she never paused in her work making fishing nets. She gathered the transparent threads in one hand and used pliers to clamp them in place with metal clips, so quickly her hands were a blur. An LED light bulb glowed blue-white over her head, and a standing fan cooled her with a constant breeze, both powered by the Okra grid.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuUfnnJxvt-7iwh32MiPWuMhyloz_j7T80xyApyuA6H-5hUDjlrlfCGPDmF7UxdbOvsyMKbbCpel2yf0i7n_MhVsYutTn68pTRQGz6HSVGQ-MX7msSwYzBMMg2gKubeShoMPGoTY0Amjd/s1600/IMG_9432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXuUfnnJxvt-7iwh32MiPWuMhyloz_j7T80xyApyuA6H-5hUDjlrlfCGPDmF7UxdbOvsyMKbbCpel2yf0i7n_MhVsYutTn68pTRQGz6HSVGQ-MX7msSwYzBMMg2gKubeShoMPGoTY0Amjd/s400/IMG_9432.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chaathy is a shop owner and fishing-net weaver in Prey Pdao. She uses the lights and fans powered by the Okra grid to make more nets in comfort and increase her income.</td></tr>
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Chaathy’s husband, Sophal, has lived in Prey Pdao since 1987. He sells gasoline for members of his community to fuel their boats. The wetland that blocked the national grid from his village has also been an obstacle to his gasoline business, but now, with the electricity from the Okra grid, Sophal can rely on his phone to coordinate gasoline deliveries and sales. When he receives a call from his Vietnamese gasoline suppliers, he gets a boat ready to meet them and bring their gasoline back to Prey Pdao. On the sales side, many of Sophal’s customers pay him with “mobile money,” a digital currency common in Cambodia. Then Sophal can take his phone to a mobile money stall in the nearby town and convert it to cash, which he uses to pay household expenses or reinvest in his business.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkvfKn0ZrJjUUTZ0ucB0vYPAdYlzbwIzTUoIwYeerjGXaZ4ebiy-F0ikRaCKu2bkJqHrc6ju06WGuj_n5JDCrpfob-SgK4N-ipiijwHGzDd3cda5osLHD0MT4idKwPYr0etdN_JjfdtGB/s1600/IMG_9428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkvfKn0ZrJjUUTZ0ucB0vYPAdYlzbwIzTUoIwYeerjGXaZ4ebiy-F0ikRaCKu2bkJqHrc6ju06WGuj_n5JDCrpfob-SgK4N-ipiijwHGzDd3cda5osLHD0MT4idKwPYr0etdN_JjfdtGB/s400/IMG_9428.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophal uses his cellphone, charged by the Okra grid, to coordinate gasoline deliveries from his supplier and sell the fuel to his community using “mobile money,” a form of digital currency.</td></tr>
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Before Okra, Chaathy and Sophal had a single solar panel from a local shop connected to their house. It powered one fan and two lightbulbs. As Sophal quickly added through a translator, “We could only use one light at a time.” They prioritized lighting the cooking area and the front porch from 6 to 10 pm. Chaathy could make six to eight fishing nets in a day, worth $10 to $12.50, limited by the intense heat of the day and darkness at night. When the sun shone and the battery filled, they could also power a television from one or two hours a day. If the sun didn’t shine, they cut out the fan and TV.<br />
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Now, with the Okra grid, the electricity is reliable and suffers less impact from weather. Chaathy can produce up to 20 nets a day, worth $32, more than doubling her workday with electric lights and fans. The household can power four lightbulbs, two fans, and four mobile phones, which Chaathy uses to stay in touch with her grown children who live on another river in the province. And the family can watch five hours of television a day.<br />
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TV might not sound like a productive activity, but Chaathy said it’s the most valuable benefit for her. She watches local and international news, as well as Cambodian and Thai dramas. It helps her relax and compare what’s going on in Cambodia with the rest of the world, she said.<br />
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When provided fairly, electricity can help improve <a href="https://medium.com/thebeammagazine/the-impacts-of-bringing-electricity-to-rural-and-vulnerable-populations-be3bbd25ee6b">education</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/thebeammagazine/the-impacts-of-bringing-electricity-to-rural-and-vulnerable-populations-be3bbd25ee6b">income</a>, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/deloitte-shifts/women-energy-and-economic-empowerment/261/">gender equity</a>.<br />
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Two women accompanied our visit to Prey Pdao: Juliette, a gender consultant, and Charrya, a staff member from one of Okra Solar’s grantors. Together, we spoke with a circle of women gambling animatedly with cards, and the conversation went something like this.<br />
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Charrya: “Do you have a smartphone?”<br />
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Women playing cards: “No.” (without looking up from their hands)<br />
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Charrya: “Do your husbands have smartphones?”<br />
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Women: “Yes.”<br />
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Charrya: “Do you want a smartphone?”<br />
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Women: “Yes!” (looking from their cards for the first time, laughing)<br />
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Charrya: “Why don’t you have one?”<br />
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Women: “Too expensive! No money.” (absorbed again in the game)<br />
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Between rounds, they explained that while they manage the family’s finances – budgeting, calculating income and expense, making frugal purchases – the male head of the household has more control over using appliances.<br />
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The gambling women gave examples of what they’d seen on television, such as women in business and scenes of domestic violence. One woman said the TV made her more aware of domestic violence, what causes it, and what to do when it happens. She’d even talked to her husband about it. But, she concluded, it hadn’t changed his behavior.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1EzNtY2wPuyvazMkoFHvil5wXDHuSj_bESGi_tjknP-Y5adqbd2EZc4TAE19T-BFp-rNQspu6nik_G8H77-SS1_Y0LqWJX9ocKLUPCNmq7xLeuCzFpYqGcnOozQMa3O1jpSRpthRs611f/s1600/IMG_9441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1EzNtY2wPuyvazMkoFHvil5wXDHuSj_bESGi_tjknP-Y5adqbd2EZc4TAE19T-BFp-rNQspu6nik_G8H77-SS1_Y0LqWJX9ocKLUPCNmq7xLeuCzFpYqGcnOozQMa3O1jpSRpthRs611f/s400/IMG_9441.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A solar panel sits on the roof of a house in Prey Pdao, one of forty houses connected to Okra grids in this wetland-ringed community.</td></tr>
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Chaathy and Sophal are testing out a freezer provided by Okra. The first model, a bulky rectangular box, sputtered out quickly, but a new model in the shape of a yellow cube is still chugging along. It’s the first freezer the community has owned. Both children and adults frequently slide back the lid to peek into its frosty depths. The peeking puts strain on the electrical system, but who can blame them? Here I am, surrounded by a flooded wetland in the tropical heat, peering into a potential source of non-carbon energy for the 1.1 billion people who still live without electricity. I was tempted to slide back the door of the freezer myself and marvel at the transparent chunks of frozen water inside, ice from the sun.<br />
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<i>Post script: </i>When I wrote this post in June, I was visiting my incredible friend from middle and high-school, Nithya Menon, now a firmware engineer. Check her blog, <a href="https://nithyamenon.net/adventure-stories/">Off the Beaten Path</a>, for more insights into the whirlwind life of a tech start-up in Phnom Penh!Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-39825447568522687102020-01-06T05:10:00.000-08:002020-01-06T05:10:35.389-08:00New Year's in Со́фия<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Collin and I spent New Year's in Sofia, Bulgaria, visiting my great friend and Fever teammate <a href="https://comparativestudies.osu.edu/people/craycraft.31">Jules</a>. She's doing a PhD at Ohio State on Bulgarian folklore and the return of young people to the village. We could not have found a better tour guide!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jules fit it well with winter gourds as we explored Sofia on New Year's Day and found all the restaurants closed.</td></tr>
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Lucky for me, we overlapped for one night with another wonderful Fever teammate, <a href="https://solarfuelsengineering.com/research-group/">Dorf</a>, who just finished her PhD at Columbia University on solar production of hydrogen fuels. In short, we explored rad street art, Eastern Orthodox cathedrals, delicious pastries, and a new alphabet with awesome nerdy frisbee people.<br />
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We visited three Eastern Orthodox cathedrals and caught two singing performances by priests. The music sounded eerie and mournful to my ears, but maybe the songs were joyful, I really couldn't tell. Long, thin tallow candles burned all around us. Church-goers can buy and light a candle to make a prayer. If the prayer is for a living person, the candle is placed on a tall golden pedestal. Prayers for the the dead are set lower down.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunlight on domes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Icons and gold filigree cover the walls and ceiling.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKfJQryec0K8L8eHqTgsPoFLH5Ahpje-HHTEiqF1d2gPMTD_pH_41BH5y4arMvMqa832_P_4qdkBcVrLOswwbReBN4L4UiKnPgoka45mqV9VGmDJ_bJvj3LZDoSbl89zBw4tPfyBPj7HS/s1600/Red+Apartment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKfJQryec0K8L8eHqTgsPoFLH5Ahpje-HHTEiqF1d2gPMTD_pH_41BH5y4arMvMqa832_P_4qdkBcVrLOswwbReBN4L4UiKnPgoka45mqV9VGmDJ_bJvj3LZDoSbl89zBw4tPfyBPj7HS/s400/Red+Apartment.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jules took us to a fabulous museum called the Red Apartment. It's a frozen-in-time, hands-on look at a typical Bulgarian home during the late socialist period. Here I am listening to the audio tour and trying on clothes from the wardrobe.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ejZFnDhcpNvwLK4uHuOxwE70MBoVbYx5x8H1NMBei8WgUn61HTRivHltnCDZr9Wbk6o_aJppsLljMVcP9AP6DacGuFpCppzKE1PFAa_FmNHxPS1JCZhDTwX-wKGTfQGxy9LeYdBeOXyc/s1600/IMG_1224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ejZFnDhcpNvwLK4uHuOxwE70MBoVbYx5x8H1NMBei8WgUn61HTRivHltnCDZr9Wbk6o_aJppsLljMVcP9AP6DacGuFpCppzKE1PFAa_FmNHxPS1JCZhDTwX-wKGTfQGxy9LeYdBeOXyc/s400/IMG_1224.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We got to sample delight and other treats in the Red Apartment's kitchen.</td></tr>
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I love learning new alphabets. Reading signs becomes a game, and it's a lot easier that learning a language. The Bulgarian alphabet is a version of Cyrillic.</div>
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В is pronounced "V"</div>
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Г is pronounced "G"</div>
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C is pronounced "S"</div>
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H is pronounced like "N"</div>
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Ф is pronounced like "F" (think about the Greek letter phi)</div>
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Щ is pronounced "Sht"</div>
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Я is pronounced "Ya"</div>
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Л is pronounced "L"</div>
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Ж is pronounced "Zh"</div>
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Д is pronounced "D"</div>
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П is pronounced "P" (think pi)</div>
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И is pronounced "Ee"</div>
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Р is pronounced "R"</div>
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Ю is pronounced "Yu"</div>
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Some letters are pronounced the same in Bulgarian and English, like A, O, K, M and E.</div>
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Okay, your turn! Can you tell what this word says? СOФИЯ</div>
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How about this one? НИHA</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjeh_H4hbqub-h25xwEYBSULLTH76R9Q1FmlaJ48pzN2Sk1tahX88mvhuYpLDQ3OYkdKNoNkg1fDojtqEgzcna2oVChHuqgmcIqhlKvzu4yW4rl_19tqOh7CuBK9lPXNqm_Ht7VH4nPbi/s1600/IMG_1237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjeh_H4hbqub-h25xwEYBSULLTH76R9Q1FmlaJ48pzN2Sk1tahX88mvhuYpLDQ3OYkdKNoNkg1fDojtqEgzcna2oVChHuqgmcIqhlKvzu4yW4rl_19tqOh7CuBK9lPXNqm_Ht7VH4nPbi/s400/IMG_1237.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We visited the Централна минерална баня, or Central Mineral Baths, in Sofia. Natural hot springs pour out of fountains. Citizens collect the water in reused gallon jugs to drink at home.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44DOHloypSrElE-hICNDYJa3Wqn8x_Q01pW3_kElNfBRdgC0kHa5nBiRrjlZvyTW6ItPc2Nnx5RfAn1BIxCKqgXDe1HY_96sNXZ7JMzFYf8V8LeA7osNL0eV2JwVqy0MYPox5irLlJSTk/s1600/IMG_1238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44DOHloypSrElE-hICNDYJa3Wqn8x_Q01pW3_kElNfBRdgC0kHa5nBiRrjlZvyTW6ItPc2Nnx5RfAn1BIxCKqgXDe1HY_96sNXZ7JMzFYf8V8LeA7osNL0eV2JwVqy0MYPox5irLlJSTk/s400/IMG_1238.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ornate theater contrasts with the worn mustard paint of a socialist-era "block" or apartment building.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBNG6cLihWu-AH3pd5adBOJkiTmjn__euU76eYI-x39-jLPSwhbi5J8yVN1PieDd-7baOGBqgLIEuOmgrJ7hsMWmD5y6UBEegXAgVI6GxxBAy5b2KQdi9G1quEixk6SKssWfCnmgQo0scD/s1600/IMG_1242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBNG6cLihWu-AH3pd5adBOJkiTmjn__euU76eYI-x39-jLPSwhbi5J8yVN1PieDd-7baOGBqgLIEuOmgrJ7hsMWmD5y6UBEegXAgVI6GxxBAy5b2KQdi9G1quEixk6SKssWfCnmgQo0scD/s400/IMG_1242.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a sushi restaurant by Jules's apartment. Look closely: she's wearing fish-egg lipstick and nail polish!</td></tr>
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We took a road trip to the historical capital, Veliko Tarnovo. The city is famous for Царевец (Tsarevets), a fortress of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 and 1393 AD.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDc7Ed4Be0M-XJvWiHvROG_bZS1GI2fWF2g8ZmnlVWNrlLk0rR_bMzMCYx8v4AzgPw0GXHjLthS0X5l9ym3McnISXrAgPaUnUff98dR39vPUTAOaDj9Sar1j4he-BgF_ykZUVYFAbmHjLv/s1600/IMG_1299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDc7Ed4Be0M-XJvWiHvROG_bZS1GI2fWF2g8ZmnlVWNrlLk0rR_bMzMCYx8v4AzgPw0GXHjLthS0X5l9ym3McnISXrAgPaUnUff98dR39vPUTAOaDj9Sar1j4he-BgF_ykZUVYFAbmHjLv/s400/IMG_1299.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">The fortress of Царевец in Veliko Tarnovo.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKi3npqWmLuBpG5wzRMYbbaYK23zXp9NBXm9vryybzIHm4QgXIYfdYYT97uC39eBCCJNjgYiqCaWk1Lvub3mpcfhfTjevcpk7rGXpkw2COmm3oEWmwkOgyjTOqenfyJUgYBo1dfqrXNqY2/s1600/IMG_1271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKi3npqWmLuBpG5wzRMYbbaYK23zXp9NBXm9vryybzIHm4QgXIYfdYYT97uC39eBCCJNjgYiqCaWk1Lvub3mpcfhfTjevcpk7rGXpkw2COmm3oEWmwkOgyjTOqenfyJUgYBo1dfqrXNqY2/s400/IMG_1271.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsnquGIGAye-rXoOSRf1gY2y1hMV-rqGwyAdEJ_hsZDSagrFkF25QgHZmvBzusp7JaE8-zrBGZmo-fNcEDAiS9-faFzdc1psWcNzrqAJEMlJXj1qGQa8ESM7qWuiakDi0yLw26kv95zS5/s1600/IMG_1270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsnquGIGAye-rXoOSRf1gY2y1hMV-rqGwyAdEJ_hsZDSagrFkF25QgHZmvBzusp7JaE8-zrBGZmo-fNcEDAiS9-faFzdc1psWcNzrqAJEMlJXj1qGQa8ESM7qWuiakDi0yLw26kv95zS5/s400/IMG_1270.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lichen and moss life on the stone fortress paths.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyDLx_w0rWTyaPzxuwWTQRvhzJ5SOEeYj2gncrgQo3ypstq7E-c-ZfR2Zyh-378WCOYgt9gwcgZxxFfb0J_2y32rCBRwe2En0bhNaYOMh-ynwh6cwl9bmZBDTByfUtl-vQqpQcfYJezJHp/s1600/IMG_1279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyDLx_w0rWTyaPzxuwWTQRvhzJ5SOEeYj2gncrgQo3ypstq7E-c-ZfR2Zyh-378WCOYgt9gwcgZxxFfb0J_2y32rCBRwe2En0bhNaYOMh-ynwh6cwl9bmZBDTByfUtl-vQqpQcfYJezJHp/s400/IMG_1279.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The chapel at the heart of the fortress was filled with disturbing and moving Biblical art in angular gray.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dlT1W7JREMnnRgAQ-xEb2VUPTOdjNGznGZ-qqiSZ7P_UlJlKpylnT4J0QQXBUnKijUl_-9NNizx6A98MjvtCxmUKQF73agDkVZgX73JkxCw1juVLZAeQsNoMx7zxEjanKEK_HkixxHP8/s1600/IMG_1289.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dlT1W7JREMnnRgAQ-xEb2VUPTOdjNGznGZ-qqiSZ7P_UlJlKpylnT4J0QQXBUnKijUl_-9NNizx6A98MjvtCxmUKQF73agDkVZgX73JkxCw1juVLZAeQsNoMx7zxEjanKEK_HkixxHP8/s400/IMG_1289.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veliko Tarnovo clings to the hillside above the semi-frozen Yantra River.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCzS3Yk4HDjt9FEjwZCNEgBQJYE5tXeRYrrKOjGSwksATu9fTjqy975nxFO5RfKCRTjOdfisguVbmylpGkbSyfRZlEAvgx6vh5Y_0IwPiLrGQjt4ozpoSYcfD7kV6WH_2h3LVH7c45EBJ/s1600/IMG_1255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCzS3Yk4HDjt9FEjwZCNEgBQJYE5tXeRYrrKOjGSwksATu9fTjqy975nxFO5RfKCRTjOdfisguVbmylpGkbSyfRZlEAvgx6vh5Y_0IwPiLrGQjt4ozpoSYcfD7kV6WH_2h3LVH7c45EBJ/s400/IMG_1255.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How many cats can you spot on this cobblestone street?</td></tr>
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We slept at Рилски манастир, or Rila Monastery, for a night. This compound, nestled in the snowy Rilska River valley, is Bulgaria's largest Eastern Orthodox monastery. It honors Saint Ivan of Rila who spent the years of his life subsisting on herbs in a cave to become closer to God.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhd_GypXNFZr1lzCLce7qT2PyUUwonuq6njrkI1EcFfl5LYsg4vusZw6JSBPgaALEWd8ZoWihoy7EoXit3ERNv7kf4QhuSqV0MnmruqzB7HL1Kmel9LGM6x02NMTgh6GIWWJB8XorU7mX/s1600/IMG_1309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhd_GypXNFZr1lzCLce7qT2PyUUwonuq6njrkI1EcFfl5LYsg4vusZw6JSBPgaALEWd8ZoWihoy7EoXit3ERNv7kf4QhuSqV0MnmruqzB7HL1Kmel9LGM6x02NMTgh6GIWWJB8XorU7mX/s400/IMG_1309.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Рилски манастир, or Rila Monastery</td></tr>
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Monks banged wood in the mornings and evenings. Snow fluttered down in thick flakes at night. We appreciated the silence and stillness of this retreat, but were grateful for our heated room and soft beds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-A27D4gi7MbUdhdLYGWskD8gO0SeQ2SFTKu8cUGZEoICtaapPTQ1ZVKVddIy-WyQnqRQJfBV3ZwdQ8vWvIU4IT1zlkFcG2OmQM1TsRVliJyDHj9R6ClWJHqi-INBcBfhgIcp-suBTJLCA/s1600/IMG_1311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-A27D4gi7MbUdhdLYGWskD8gO0SeQ2SFTKu8cUGZEoICtaapPTQ1ZVKVddIy-WyQnqRQJfBV3ZwdQ8vWvIU4IT1zlkFcG2OmQM1TsRVliJyDHj9R6ClWJHqi-INBcBfhgIcp-suBTJLCA/s400/IMG_1311.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Religious icons were painted on every surface, including the domed ceilings.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKTE7Igt4Porb2F2Edbmm2gx3OKKChucZCibduzaD6k9-xZsTHPdmQYrJJ2ZDyv-32nsu3DYV18jGEj9Y_isF0jWGUxEYltD1uxtXPFCuYWDcEcuhvrsPquceVdbStkhXqztUlfk-UDqa/s1600/IMG_1333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKTE7Igt4Porb2F2Edbmm2gx3OKKChucZCibduzaD6k9-xZsTHPdmQYrJJ2ZDyv-32nsu3DYV18jGEj9Y_isF0jWGUxEYltD1uxtXPFCuYWDcEcuhvrsPquceVdbStkhXqztUlfk-UDqa/s400/IMG_1333.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jules, Collin and I took a morning hike up the trail behind the monastery. A few downed trees didn't stop us!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfv-hTHSc0kLSAPlXjwKtpBNprU0RjUfFQ4m-FsVWceKAoUu13vgCUHijUNXxqAk-5nv6V_ddS8tk6vehRNuSYcdaIWXoSo_KIwlyZj-yNugLf6EeYfRQADTsIiUBvuK07cbti5o9ZGw4/s1600/IMG_1355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfv-hTHSc0kLSAPlXjwKtpBNprU0RjUfFQ4m-FsVWceKAoUu13vgCUHijUNXxqAk-5nv6V_ddS8tk6vehRNuSYcdaIWXoSo_KIwlyZj-yNugLf6EeYfRQADTsIiUBvuK07cbti5o9ZGw4/s400/IMG_1355.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This furry mountain dog led us up the trail and rolled around in the snow when we took too long to catch up.</td></tr>
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My favorite part of this trip has been баница, or banitsa (emphasis on the first syllable). It's a squishy breakfast pie of layered filo pastry and a mixture of egg and salty feta cheese. I would move to Bulgaria for the баница.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCqRzlkKShYlyqmxIaK14Z27fiEZxeH8VlRPzFF1tiBa0PoCSxeubr-UMuyxqckvdNuLMi_A8MDqgWdX5d3HoqRFebY_ChlovXXNwuRH1HkrXmBsLIFqbnxQiZa7CDFw1PoNXgYETCYGQ/s1600/IMG_1243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCqRzlkKShYlyqmxIaK14Z27fiEZxeH8VlRPzFF1tiBa0PoCSxeubr-UMuyxqckvdNuLMi_A8MDqgWdX5d3HoqRFebY_ChlovXXNwuRH1HkrXmBsLIFqbnxQiZa7CDFw1PoNXgYETCYGQ/s400/IMG_1243.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast pastries at a bakery. Always go for the баница.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWKnkOEpw9MMdzpNVMmJ0qpSBXpMkjdZDPyVo4kvnFLN05r26l712-Jt_4GFAVMXWJOXafXD7Pz6Dh9ri-6Wu0yvwb8Fkh_h5jTq9CFrPpTZp_OFdIOsbD1Q6VrDKiX4ezrbZ1JOogxXUj/s1600/IMG_1202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWKnkOEpw9MMdzpNVMmJ0qpSBXpMkjdZDPyVo4kvnFLN05r26l712-Jt_4GFAVMXWJOXafXD7Pz6Dh9ri-6Wu0yvwb8Fkh_h5jTq9CFrPpTZp_OFdIOsbD1Q6VrDKiX4ezrbZ1JOogxXUj/s400/IMG_1202.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For dessert, try delight, baklava or chocolate mousse!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-58157245211511739032019-12-19T09:28:00.000-08:002019-12-19T09:28:10.146-08:00Nina's Notes: Brain Protozoa, Gut Bacteria, Influenza, and How to Tell if Your Surveillance Sucks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Welcome back to Nina's Notes.</div>
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<a href="https://www.ninafinley.com/2019/11/ninas-notes-tuberculosis-bugs-in-your.html">Last week</a> we covered tuberculosis, enteric protozoa, stakeholder analysis, and on-farm surveillance. </div>
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Today, meet the wild protozoans of your brain and the bacteria in your belly. Get lost in the numerical maze of statistics and the analytical haze of animal-health surveillance evaluation. Then come back to life for influenza, the wiliest virus of them all.</div>
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Mind Control</h2>
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(I mean, toxoplasmosis)</div>
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Enteric Bacteria</h2>
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(to complement last week's dose of enteric protozoa)</div>
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Statistics: Comparing Two Means and Two Proportions</h2>
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(gosh this stuff is dry)</div>
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Evaluation of Animal Health Surveillance</h2>
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(you don't just gotta surveil, then you gotta evaluate how well you surveilled 😱)</div>
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Influenza</h2>
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(finally, back to some microbes!)</div>
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And more... Statistics</h2>
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(but I'll spare you all and cut if off here)</div>
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<br />Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-2625891334268884752019-11-21T07:11:00.003-08:002019-11-21T07:11:45.742-08:00Nina's Notes: Tuberculosis, the bugs in your gut, stakeholders + surveillance<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuMKFxjOzL7ZVjWFTzyf1Q1TiO5tjkWqXQx33uTtXq0Y06BTMOPDzfFtus2SD5I7_GQXi7CQIuITYZMB4sgAIuULhhcwVioMXGoo5LCV5SSoNkg2zxX3y8Iapb8W9rW0Er-N7Ix1BBwPh2/s1600/TB+reservoirs+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="973" data-original-width="1600" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuMKFxjOzL7ZVjWFTzyf1Q1TiO5tjkWqXQx33uTtXq0Y06BTMOPDzfFtus2SD5I7_GQXi7CQIuITYZMB4sgAIuULhhcwVioMXGoo5LCV5SSoNkg2zxX3y8Iapb8W9rW0Er-N7Ix1BBwPh2/s400/TB+reservoirs+2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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More notes! And more cute animals. And their cute TB.<br />
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<a href="https://www.ninafinley.com/2019/11/ninas-notes-sleeping-sickness-viral.html?showComment=1574345362909#c5722330255004750026">Last week</a> we covered sleeping sickness, viral fevers, whole genome sequencing and more.</div>
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This week we have tantalizing microbes—tuberculosis and the protozoans in your gut—as well as some abstract concepts—stakeholder analysis and on-farm surveillance. Take your pick, whatever piques your curiosity.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Hot tip: Click on a photo to magnify and scroll through a high-resolution slide show. For PC users, right click and select "Open link in new tab" to magnify further.</span></div>
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Stakeholder Analysis</h2>
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Tuberculosis</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjfiO14olGE2Tdtjem0CeA-HXId5SsS2BGsXsIJgY6o4LjGuxOSeIdzr8OAzSK8gv7h7-PM2dIv8UnVNajYlFD_KL4mmgfShO8L9k9aZfULtJPBzruUIt7Q3Zh5Jfx-9hjC5O01KSz5tnY/s1600/sketch+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1246" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjfiO14olGE2Tdtjem0CeA-HXId5SsS2BGsXsIJgY6o4LjGuxOSeIdzr8OAzSK8gv7h7-PM2dIv8UnVNajYlFD_KL4mmgfShO8L9k9aZfULtJPBzruUIt7Q3Zh5Jfx-9hjC5O01KSz5tnY/s640/sketch+4.jpg" width="498" /></a></div>
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On-Farm Disease Surveillance</h2>
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Enteric Protozoan Pathogens</h2>
(translation: single-celled organisms that make you sick when they get in your intestine)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtVel6XRQCcHaKKXLtWsNwoGfN6gdq08hEy9XqvvDeepfdriGCotPKs9jpd6qxvCGL8gubjfKX0VYRXpVhjVH8jYfvHAuZO57adTfa5Zn1UT-BfjHfFGPrtc-0n9YeR_59SUf9dU2x2hEu/s1600/sketch+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1249" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtVel6XRQCcHaKKXLtWsNwoGfN6gdq08hEy9XqvvDeepfdriGCotPKs9jpd6qxvCGL8gubjfKX0VYRXpVhjVH8jYfvHAuZO57adTfa5Zn1UT-BfjHfFGPrtc-0n9YeR_59SUf9dU2x2hEu/s640/sketch+6.jpg" width="498" /></a></div>
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Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-74443533348804033652019-11-18T01:05:00.003-08:002019-11-18T01:23:19.371-08:00Full Bellies and Warm Weather: A Mosquito's Dream?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
On Saturday I visited the lab of <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/p.huxley">Paul Huxley</a>, a PhD student at Imperial College in London.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnIRyNLzYsm9kxERnNHD2S9uhdmc0MHAiNyRVL_mtwSzDSqe5ASVj53kj-eI6XuYZkBdD8v5dKNCK9IWIlXzGg41F6skFvIH-6EX5JVR0KqmuqPCYoBnjjBlkHQe0EWxQNjCY75pF3KyF/s1600/Aedes+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="579" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnIRyNLzYsm9kxERnNHD2S9uhdmc0MHAiNyRVL_mtwSzDSqe5ASVj53kj-eI6XuYZkBdD8v5dKNCK9IWIlXzGg41F6skFvIH-6EX5JVR0KqmuqPCYoBnjjBlkHQe0EWxQNjCY75pF3KyF/s200/Aedes+4.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnIRyNLzYsm9kxERnNHD2S9uhdmc0MHAiNyRVL_mtwSzDSqe5ASVj53kj-eI6XuYZkBdD8v5dKNCK9IWIlXzGg41F6skFvIH-6EX5JVR0KqmuqPCYoBnjjBlkHQe0EWxQNjCY75pF3KyF/s1600/Aedes+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="579" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnIRyNLzYsm9kxERnNHD2S9uhdmc0MHAiNyRVL_mtwSzDSqe5ASVj53kj-eI6XuYZkBdD8v5dKNCK9IWIlXzGg41F6skFvIH-6EX5JVR0KqmuqPCYoBnjjBlkHQe0EWxQNjCY75pF3KyF/s320/Aedes+4.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSw-n3ykVwB2BT0Y0Fpkv_lOsT8LzX4-AnM_ngXuA65deRFF9VCVTTpPpBkwn1LMxYRt8COBv84si_yWfcvDJ8en-zvfpw13ouYIE-uaSmhleg-1LtJhhszp7ER7hZNhigN0PKR4sw2npJ/s1600/Aedes+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="854" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSw-n3ykVwB2BT0Y0Fpkv_lOsT8LzX4-AnM_ngXuA65deRFF9VCVTTpPpBkwn1LMxYRt8COBv84si_yWfcvDJ8en-zvfpw13ouYIE-uaSmhleg-1LtJhhszp7ER7hZNhigN0PKR4sw2npJ/s640/Aedes+2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meet Ada, a full-bellied female <i>Aedes aegypti </i>I sketched in class this week.</td></tr>
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Paul showed me his laboratory, a refrigerated white room under the glare of florescent light. In this work, good lighting and temperature control are essential.</div>
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The room was lined with metal racks. One side held shallow plastic trays of water, where mosquito larvae squiggled at the surface. The far side held racks of test tubes, each containing a single pupa or adult mosquito.</div>
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A great sign: a string of giant, hand-crafted mosquitoes adorned the wall. Y'all know I'm a sucker for art depicting organisms typically forsaken as merely pathogens or vectors of disease.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIpI2kBnom4ulR3sBTnrF7SQRlHW_fz20XGYn-QSqe7tFvhT-MAjRw5PeMNkQb0BiBV0I9XwCiZ-VfoBZ6fkQY2fGG1D3k2nYoNC1D-5lXOGhNX_ghu1D9dSlAY1cUdXX4eClQFLa1MTp-/s1600/IMG_0881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIpI2kBnom4ulR3sBTnrF7SQRlHW_fz20XGYn-QSqe7tFvhT-MAjRw5PeMNkQb0BiBV0I9XwCiZ-VfoBZ6fkQY2fGG1D3k2nYoNC1D-5lXOGhNX_ghu1D9dSlAY1cUdXX4eClQFLa1MTp-/s400/IMG_0881.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosquito art.</td></tr>
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This laboratory studies one species in particular, <i>Aedes aegypti</i>. Last week in my infectious disease agents class, my professor, Dr. Jo Lines, unceremoniously referred to <i>A. aegypti </i>as "the pigeon, the rat, the cockroach of mosquitoes!" These adaptive insects thrive in cities across the tropics and sub-tropics. "The more we build up urban environments, the better they do," Dr. Lines summarized.</div>
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Paul stresses that the relationship isn't quite this straightforward. (Very little in ecology ever is.) Urbanization can boost populations of this mosquito, he agrees, but improved living conditions that sometimes come with urban development can also have the opposite effect, reducing mosquito populations and disease transmission.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSoi1KMWSnB_YqcVp83t66KYHCD7Rc0u93KOTot80bjGwICkz5JPkiLp3pow7aY2nSwj23BhnbcfYrrDqqleTq8F9jbts-XdipM_f6P2m-UxYjnyVrmfitC8wd7dqRXwTivQlLQewjbeC/s1600/IMG_0867.MOV" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSoi1KMWSnB_YqcVp83t66KYHCD7Rc0u93KOTot80bjGwICkz5JPkiLp3pow7aY2nSwj23BhnbcfYrrDqqleTq8F9jbts-XdipM_f6P2m-UxYjnyVrmfitC8wd7dqRXwTivQlLQewjbeC/s640/IMG_0867.MOV" width="358" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Aedes aegypti</i> larvae squirm in their preferred habitat of still water.</td></tr>
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Growing populations of this insect are not great news for humans. <i>Aedes aegypti</i>'s common name is the "yellow fever mosquito," a title earned because it serves as the vector for several potentially-deadly viruses including dengue, chikungunya, Zika, Mayaro and, of course, yellow fever.</div>
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Naturally, <i>Aedes aegypti </i>garner a lot of scientific attention. Lots of researchers have asked whether climate change will increase their range or boost their populations, potentially causing a lot of human illness. People have created detailed models to predict the effect of temperature on these blood-suckers.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwWH_HVmenNy0ajYUcirwZgIeftUJiy7kh-4EeSBiwZlYnWcs9RGlgQ94aryDxopxXiMHlFDjDQdQQFbTbZo7qh8OeU_QXGFWAtznroIibNgufXmzqTU5CzfxBuJGpDzveRu9f8StUcZF/s1600/IMG_0864.MOV" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwWH_HVmenNy0ajYUcirwZgIeftUJiy7kh-4EeSBiwZlYnWcs9RGlgQ94aryDxopxXiMHlFDjDQdQQFbTbZo7qh8OeU_QXGFWAtznroIibNgufXmzqTU5CzfxBuJGpDzveRu9f8StUcZF/s640/IMG_0864.MOV" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A single <i>A. aegypti</i> pupa, which Paul will meticulously measure. The pupa stage, analogous to the butterfly's chrysalis, is where the larva metamorphoses into the all-too-familiar, winged and whining adult.</td></tr>
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But, says Paul Huxley, temperature isn't the only variable at stake. Food is on the table, too. <i>Aedes aegypti</i> larvae munch on microbial detritus in stagnant freshwater—anything from natural puddles to upside-down tires—and this food source could become more abundant as temperatures rise and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191112110214.htm">microbial metabolisms</a> speed up.</div>
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That's just one possible scenario. Paul wants to find out how temperature <i>and </i>nutrition affect the mosquito's success in terms of its growth, survival, body size, and reproduction—and how these individual traits affect overall fitness.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXlXU1nvoldtc2UemBvNw8oF5UGJjZP5dmeVyk3bjuNjH505DYwvgWw3HOxwaoZy289W9Um6h0gB2QKJA2aRSfKKTBHRkzvN_nTS0jBROx4qcASfr1NdS-t3MAixxAjhA02UTn0VyG6QEh/s1600/IMG_0880.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXlXU1nvoldtc2UemBvNw8oF5UGJjZP5dmeVyk3bjuNjH505DYwvgWw3HOxwaoZy289W9Um6h0gB2QKJA2aRSfKKTBHRkzvN_nTS0jBROx4qcASfr1NdS-t3MAixxAjhA02UTn0VyG6QEh/s400/IMG_0880.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice the adult mosquito sitting on the water's surface in its own private test tube, with the shell of its pupa behind. Paul counts how many days the adults survive without drinking blood.</td></tr>
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Paul's research is based on something called the <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/03-9000">Metabolic Theory of Ecology</a>. According to this theory, the speed at which an animal uses energy—its metabolic rate—is the fundamental factor governing most of the patterns we see in biology. Across most species, traits such as body size and lifespan tend to scale predictably with metabolism. (As an example for the math-minded among you: an animal's metabolic rate scales to the ¾ power of the animal's mass.)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhywgCNPVf5TRkyCd5cOZKQgjPQrtv8riQDd7MyI0VYILklcMOAKXxTN84uDd1CukOgyY9upHknIJh8SuwClTKX8byFD4tAKXK1TkbFb4fFha-3Atvi8bf7h8hyphenhyphenmFtoCOCagGBYxTQ1RE8J/s1600/IMG_0876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="643" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhywgCNPVf5TRkyCd5cOZKQgjPQrtv8riQDd7MyI0VYILklcMOAKXxTN84uDd1CukOgyY9upHknIJh8SuwClTKX8byFD4tAKXK1TkbFb4fFha-3Atvi8bf7h8hyphenhyphenmFtoCOCagGBYxTQ1RE8J/s400/IMG_0876.JPG" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When the adult mosquito dies, Paul dries it out to check its body mass and measures its tiny wingspan under a microscope.</td></tr>
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Paul wants to know if <i>Aedes aegypti </i>follow this pattern. Do their traits scale with their metabolism, as the Metabolic Theory of Ecology predicts? If they do, scientists could use that relationship predict how <i>A. aegypti </i>populations may respond to shifts in temperature and food in different habitats around the world—a task that is becoming more important as a changing climate and adapting microbes make our world less predictable than ever.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQkm5aKzCrJjNlOIwJ5dxF39i81hzbYdtxYjXURRT6X1jtoQOT8S62A_g6Edmj_8LocEUrHjNte585z2QnOGZOHDnegt4ea_ycZC8ZQc4Ej2cn20qFhfq7g62SSBUQkswaoaT2UHyliM7/s1600/IMG_0883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQkm5aKzCrJjNlOIwJ5dxF39i81hzbYdtxYjXURRT6X1jtoQOT8S62A_g6Edmj_8LocEUrHjNte585z2QnOGZOHDnegt4ea_ycZC8ZQc4Ej2cn20qFhfq7g62SSBUQkswaoaT2UHyliM7/s400/IMG_0883.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A sign on the door out of Paul's lab reminds you to please leave the mosquitoes where you found them.</td></tr>
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Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-49838901694829850452019-11-10T15:30:00.002-08:002019-11-10T15:30:50.408-08:00Nina's Notes: Sleeping Sickness, Viral Fevers, Whole Genome Sequencing + MoreInstallment three of Nina's Notes.<br />
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(For the previous batch on One Health policy, statistics, and influenza, click <a href="http://www.ninafinley.com/2019/11/ninas-notes-one-health-policy.html">here</a>.)<br />
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This week, plunge in for:</div>
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Zoonotic Sleeping Sickness, or African Trypanosomiasis</h2>
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Surveillance for Animal Disease in Multi-Herd Populations</h2>
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Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers</h2>
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Field Trip 1 😁 - the London International Development Centre</h2>
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Field Trip 2 😄 - Public Health England</h2>
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Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-82866371977616507142019-11-01T11:42:00.000-07:002019-11-01T11:42:03.715-07:00Nina's Notes: One Health policy, statistics, and influenza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Welcome to the second installment of Nina's Notes.</div>
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(Check the <a href="http://www.ninafinley.com/2019/10/ninas-notes-virology-epidemiology.html">last installment</a> for a crash course in Virology, Epidemiology, Bacteriology, Immunology and Parasitology.)</div>
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<span style="color: red;">Hot tip: Click on a photo to magnify and scroll through a high-resolution slide show. To magnify further, right click and select "Open link in new tab" (for PC users).</span></div>
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As always, comments, corrections and questions are welcome!</div>
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This week, the professors of the Royal Veterinary College bring you, through my colorful and cramped sketches:</div>
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What the heck is One Health, anyway?</h2>
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Policy Perspectives in One Health</h2>
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Statistics</h2>
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Don't worry, I left most of these out... they don't come with pretty pictures :(</div>
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Agents of Infectious Disease: Influenza</h2>
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<br />Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-55573551988977281162019-10-16T04:16:00.002-07:002019-10-16T04:16:19.870-07:00Nina's Notes: Virology, Epidemiology, Bacteriology, Immunology, and ParasitologyWelcome to a new series of blog posts I'm creatively calling... drum roll... "Nina's Notes."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketching today in class!<br />Photo credit Russell Carter.</td></tr>
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Lots of folks have asked me to post sketch-notes from my master's program in One Health (check out my <a href="http://www.ninafinley.com/2019/09/today-i-moved-to-london.html">last post</a> for deets). So, in the coming weeks, I'll be posting my colorful, messy notes on all things One Health.</div>
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For those of you who prefer less-academic posts, don't abandon ship! I'll intersperse some story and photo posts for y'all.</div>
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Okay. Let's start at the start. Here are my notes from Week 1 in virology, epidemiology, bacteriology, immunology, and parasitology. (Sounds overwhelming? It was!!)</div>
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Finally, a disclaimer: I am sure my notes contain numerous errors, which are my responsibility and not the professors'. If you notice anything that's unclear or blatantly false, please send me an email or leave a comment. It'll help me study, too :)</div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Hot tip: </b>Click on a photo to magnify and scroll through a high-resolution slide show.</span></div>
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Virology</h2>
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Epidemiology</h2>
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Bacteriology</h2>
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Immunology</h2>
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Parasitology</h2>
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Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-419153584661166392019-09-14T04:16:00.000-07:002019-09-14T04:16:10.921-07:00Today I Moved to London!Today I moved to London!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look, I'm the regenerating limb of an axolotl! This photo is from the London Zoo, which I visited last year during the Watson fellowship. How could I stay away from a city with a giant albino axolotl?</td></tr>
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I'll be here for two years on a <a href="https://www.whitman.edu/after-whitman/fellowships-and-grants/major-fellowships-scholarships-and-grants/marshall-scholarship">Marshall Scholarship</a>, which funds up to 50 Americans under the age of 26 to go to graduate school in the United Kingdom each year. The scholarship is named for Secretary of State George Marshall. It was established by the British Parliament in 1953 to thank the American people for helping out the UK after World War II with financial assistance called the Marshall Plan. (Throwback to high-school history class, right?)</div>
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For all you Yankees out there: the United Kingdom includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It's currently part of the European Union, but the people have voted for "Brexit," so the UK is scheduled to leave the EU on October 31, 2019. Stay tuned for some political turmoil.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqe-QKmXmKYSiuYvUd0-s-Ole51YviRKKSLM1jmEBq9lsOlMT4rm-gDpnEv1Z6mQAvdacwNPoH-PQX5Aqcoc1Gzz9icv9gKuflJ5BswRd7_gATqD2HYaEGEXXv7F82zgsq0gVKAx2Gu6g/s1600/IMG_6614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqe-QKmXmKYSiuYvUd0-s-Ole51YviRKKSLM1jmEBq9lsOlMT4rm-gDpnEv1Z6mQAvdacwNPoH-PQX5Aqcoc1Gzz9icv9gKuflJ5BswRd7_gATqD2HYaEGEXXv7F82zgsq0gVKAx2Gu6g/s400/IMG_6614.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with one of my favorite Brits, Charles Darwin, at the Natural History Museum in London on my Watson year.</td></tr>
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There are 48 scholars in my <a href="http://www.marshallscholarship.org/scholars/2019_winners">cohort</a>, studying everything from inequalities and social science, to HIV prevention, to law and the internet, to theoretical physics, to experimental psychology. If you want to read more about what I'm doing in grad school, you can find a couple articles on the Whitman website <a href="https://www.whitman.edu/newsroom/marshall-scholarship">here</a> and <a href="https://www.whitman.edu/newsroom/whitman-magazine/whitman-magazine-spring-2019/feature-stories-spring-2019/whitman-fellows-create-paths-to-the-future">here</a>.</div>
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In my first year, I'll be working toward a Master of Science in One Health, a joint program of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal Veterinary College.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine entrance.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">The Royal Veterinary College entrance. I took these photos last year on my Watson, when I passed through London and toured my dream schools.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Royal Veterinary College motto is "Venienti Occurrite Morbo," meaning, "confront disease at onset." Gotta love that practical Latin. Maybe the One Health lens expands the motto to include "<i>prevent </i>disease <i>before </i>onset... by protecting ecosystems"?</td></tr>
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What’s One Health, you ask? Great question! Think of it as the overlap in a Venn diagram of human, animal, and ecosystem health. It’s where veterinary medicine meets public health meets ecology.</div>
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Image credit: University of Alaska Fairbanks.</td></tr>
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The term “One Health” was coined in 2005 by a consortium of veterinarians and medical doctors who realized that a lot of diseases cross over between animals and humans. In fact, most human diseases began in animals: HIV, influenza, Ebola, Nipah virus, malaria, yellow fever, the bubonic plague, rabies, anthrax, salmonella, Hendra virus, SARS, MERS, the list goes on. And some diseases actually originated in humans and then spread to wildlife and livestock – like tuberculosis!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Like many old buildings in central London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is ornately decorated. But instead of royal insignias, gargoyles, or the faces of dead white men, LSHTM is decorated with these awesome bronze sculptures called the Guilded Vectors of Disease. I'll sprinkle them throughout the post. Can you identify them all? Bonus points if you can guess what disease they vector.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's an easy one.</td></tr>
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A disease that passes from animals to humans or vice versa is known as a “zoonosis.” So far, the One Health paradigm has primarily been used to address zoonoses. For example, vets and doctors need to work together to keep domestic ducks and pigs healthy to avoid the emergence of a new human-infective swine flu. Entomologists and doctors needs to work together to stem the flow of diseases carried by mosquitoes, like dengue and malaria. Wildlife biologists need to be involved when a human disease has a wildlife reservoir, such as the Asian malaria strain <i>Plasmodium knowlesii </i>which is endemic in wild monkeys but can also infect humans bitten by infected <i>Anopheles </i>mosquitoes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DurGW3K63rLcZXP8BvFFaYTpwY3Ajj7nJzIRtx1ZznCuQ1cEszY-Tvk2-erzlMMJsVsCmenqgGvz7rLFswoEFT3MnPkyFeFDxLRGG5Mhk53iLJuw536nFZb3PBLkn4eE_PTbJdYRTk5-/s1600/IMG_1484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DurGW3K63rLcZXP8BvFFaYTpwY3Ajj7nJzIRtx1ZznCuQ1cEszY-Tvk2-erzlMMJsVsCmenqgGvz7rLFswoEFT3MnPkyFeFDxLRGG5Mhk53iLJuw536nFZb3PBLkn4eE_PTbJdYRTk5-/s320/IMG_1484.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I tell you all that to explain that I am actually <i>not </i>planning to focus on zoonosis. My hope is to use the One Health lens to identify and test ecological solutions to human health problems. There are just so darn many examples of how ecosystem degradation harms human health. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/deforestation-in-cambodia-linked-to-ill-health-in-children/">Deforestation</a> leads to pediatric diarrheal disease in Cambodia; <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(17)30301-6/fulltext">peat wildfires</a> cause fatal respiratory distress in Indonesia; warming oceans exacerbate <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/toxic-algae-bloom-might-be-largest-ever/">paralytic shellfish poisoning</a> from harmful algal blooms in Washington State; nutrient pollution fertilizes freshwater <a href="https://eu.news-press.com/story/tech/science/environment/2019/08/16/where-health-department-year-after-toxic-algae-crises-individuals-nonprofits-doing-what-state-agency/1836302001/">cyanobacteria blooms</a> which release aerosolized toxins in Florida.<br />
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One day on my Watson year, I had an epiphany that every one of these problems was a potential solution in reverse – an opportunity to address a human health issue with preventative, upstream, multispecies treatments. Could reforestation be a treatment for children's gut health and access to clean drinking water? Could peat-land conservation be prescribed to prevent lung disease? Could a Washington carbon tax be framed as a solution to shellfish poisoning? Could the Florida Health Department clean up Lake Okeechobee with its human health budget?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMVOsu-EmQsD02wFWPc_HBpjemQ3EvzwEx9hqBheY2LlCxccJhkhuGwUBvfTk62RXvqTJFPgZ-6v8PaQCkhD0xBNhC4Yn_bCW-bMbp2Ce3_Z-qvwpA2XefwT_f3eye4I-fcdDxdXrIomK/s1600/IMG_1494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMVOsu-EmQsD02wFWPc_HBpjemQ3EvzwEx9hqBheY2LlCxccJhkhuGwUBvfTk62RXvqTJFPgZ-6v8PaQCkhD0xBNhC4Yn_bCW-bMbp2Ce3_Z-qvwpA2XefwT_f3eye4I-fcdDxdXrIomK/s320/IMG_1494.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The reasons to consider ecological health solutions are myriad. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes. Preventing disease is more cost effective than treating individual patients. It’s also more equitable, because everyone in a watershed or ecosystem benefits, not just those with insurance, and less toxic, because it lacks the side effects of pharmaceuticals and surgeries.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpeiy95OOG7o2M8EqStzQNRdafaYPXD_AifUDTqOjiBigChBj9I5wcht98oagumBVh4h_GktojsUB5epQ7NkXc9O0rn5cApIRYco7521Ap2vqlqg8eeE4odSBwzflN_Nssw4RaTCzU0-Sm/s1600/IMG_1495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpeiy95OOG7o2M8EqStzQNRdafaYPXD_AifUDTqOjiBigChBj9I5wcht98oagumBVh4h_GktojsUB5epQ7NkXc9O0rn5cApIRYco7521Ap2vqlqg8eeE4odSBwzflN_Nssw4RaTCzU0-Sm/s320/IMG_1495.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Taking a wider lens, I am also drawn to this idea because it might be a way to leverage the political power and money that health attracts and use it for ecosystem conservation. I'm so excited to see people becoming more aware of the importance of biodiversity, ecosystems, and the biosphere for a functioning planet. (See <a href="https://rebellion.earth/">Extinction Rebellion</a>, founded less than a year ago right here in the UK.) As we realize that the life of our own bodies and organs depends on ecosystems, I'm hopeful that we'll direct more of our resources to protecting them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkbuKJHC0WnU2wCRxNd8fTgfQXjMRKvsGn9rWmeLT9b4lnCkmzFKpFX_0u4s4zDKv-4nEwuOscWfkMIHsF6gp5vU-NeHE79pcMbAQVo9dy8rSzPnB0OnbLmFQ2TlgMZdke6FYp5pNbTac/s1600/IMG_1496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkbuKJHC0WnU2wCRxNd8fTgfQXjMRKvsGn9rWmeLT9b4lnCkmzFKpFX_0u4s4zDKv-4nEwuOscWfkMIHsF6gp5vU-NeHE79pcMbAQVo9dy8rSzPnB0OnbLmFQ2TlgMZdke6FYp5pNbTac/s320/IMG_1496.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I was walking down a street in the Philippines last year with my sister (who's halfway through her neurology residency, go Lisa!) as she explained how health insurance works, and it gave me an idea. A lot of insurance companies now provide gym memberships to their customers because staying active helps keep people healthy, and it's a lot cheaper to prevent disease than treat it. What if the link between ecosystem health and human health became so clear that insurance companies started funding river cleanups, wetland restoration, tree plantings, and land protection, not just for corporate social responsibility, but because it actually kept their customers healthier and saved them money in the long run?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOucU013A2pN0VQBcoLRHzo8vSTd9AQ769uITfamgKMfdSFjw5MwAot2JHx_IGT8wQF9XnAsGsX3GZ7YcmpusZTya-Ekn7y4h3v_59ax6hA3JDWyR2zNed7YqAiQFAJw-V_zhBmGxU41I_/s1600/IMG_1497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOucU013A2pN0VQBcoLRHzo8vSTd9AQ769uITfamgKMfdSFjw5MwAot2JHx_IGT8wQF9XnAsGsX3GZ7YcmpusZTya-Ekn7y4h3v_59ax6hA3JDWyR2zNed7YqAiQFAJw-V_zhBmGxU41I_/s320/IMG_1497.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anyway, those are some of the ideas that I'm excited to test out.<br />
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The scholarship runs for two years, and I don't know exactly what I'll be doing in my second year yet, but it will probably be a second master's degree, and it will definitely be in the UK.</div>
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It's been over a year since I started my Marshall application, and two years since I started living out of my backpack. I can't quite believe I'm finally here in London. We even have a studio apartment with a bed and a bookshelf.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs20xfzDO_uugXj-OGjNOX856I9f5AdNrNlczPYnfZBcejvZm6MYBwvdhB-kxaPKB7WMgGDPcGKMqx8bYW0N-4i_JY5JA97HIgbOEp24elyfbjvZPD_uRzMtXnFhXObxVk6RWT7XOqv8q0/s1600/70153747_714713115666411_6849839050270965760_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs20xfzDO_uugXj-OGjNOX856I9f5AdNrNlczPYnfZBcejvZm6MYBwvdhB-kxaPKB7WMgGDPcGKMqx8bYW0N-4i_JY5JA97HIgbOEp24elyfbjvZPD_uRzMtXnFhXObxVk6RWT7XOqv8q0/s400/70153747_714713115666411_6849839050270965760_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collin models our studio apartment in London.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34yuy7uCFRGuJTuYgSEnADzfjLHreKHtKvyJEIIEL5nDC6abRt_c8Pgx04z2GtcAzfWqFJIcnEpraP7Fr-mVWwr2gg_5DekzgXchw0C5mXrnzpN_hMCXq8osGJk93gUqSyXI0ctI6XXES/s1600/70589897_434863564047567_5852079020258099200_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34yuy7uCFRGuJTuYgSEnADzfjLHreKHtKvyJEIIEL5nDC6abRt_c8Pgx04z2GtcAzfWqFJIcnEpraP7Fr-mVWwr2gg_5DekzgXchw0C5mXrnzpN_hMCXq8osGJk93gUqSyXI0ctI6XXES/s400/70589897_434863564047567_5852079020258099200_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fridge! An oven! It might be a bumpy transition from living on Southeast Asian street food to cooking my own meals...</td></tr>
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Last night, Collin and I got on a red-eye flight from Philadelphia to Iceland, then Iceland to Gatwick Airport in London. The little screen on the seat in front of me played Iceland tourism ads the whole flight. I was pretty sad I wouldn't be able to stop over for a smooth ride on a five-gaited Icelandic horse, a walk through a glacial ice cave, or a soak in a hot spring surrounded by rolling mossy tundra to the horizons. Hot tip, if you ever decide to visit me in London.... book a long layover in Iceland first!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFitazcpjy38v6iITg5nzCaaV93pnqzeCNNIOU5mePXx6qfgRZiqredrqQGS5YIznq6yjDu09a-5KLLaJEPja-FWlQeKPzbEggG4pxFDifnxVWZ4F4dkzMVngzEg_TCLrt7mprs_vRXFfR/s1600/70214222_2978004075604952_93651873558429696_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFitazcpjy38v6iITg5nzCaaV93pnqzeCNNIOU5mePXx6qfgRZiqredrqQGS5YIznq6yjDu09a-5KLLaJEPja-FWlQeKPzbEggG4pxFDifnxVWZ4F4dkzMVngzEg_TCLrt7mprs_vRXFfR/s400/70214222_2978004075604952_93651873558429696_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Icelandic glacier from the air.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Z9wXdLUoqYoT7z0w85dPQBH93_bTWG6nCwMNOLD0B2EbOnAmbFx6Pkn-BHI7B-eSx5R5vQMMTnSh4immk0_xwPO6LzhH420T8z3R6k53iT29HrNu444ojzVU0AhuJDmOfMyU0s7K0E0G/s1600/69962815_2136176383351400_4702749242182074368_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Z9wXdLUoqYoT7z0w85dPQBH93_bTWG6nCwMNOLD0B2EbOnAmbFx6Pkn-BHI7B-eSx5R5vQMMTnSh4immk0_xwPO6LzhH420T8z3R6k53iT29HrNu444ojzVU0AhuJDmOfMyU0s7K0E0G/s400/69962815_2136176383351400_4702749242182074368_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fields and hedgerows of England greeted us from below.</td></tr>
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As always, I love to hear your comments, questions, requests, and updates about what's going on with you. No promises on tropical bug photos this year, though!</div>
Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7095104014458858118.post-86616565284512212372019-08-23T23:02:00.001-07:002019-08-27T14:34:28.393-07:00Typhoid and Tuberculosis: Depressing Bugs, Creative Solutions<div>
As promised in my recent post, <a href="http://www.ninafinley.com/2019/07/vini-and-dewi-midwives-of-forest.html">Vini and Dewi: Midwives of the Forest</a>, I'm going to delve into two wickedly successful microbes, the criminal minds behind typhoid and tuberculosis. This post is the third in a series about ASRI's planetary health midwives working for human and rainforest health in the heart of Borneo.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Part One: Wiggly-Tailed Bandits</b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivss8MFPTB4fhnEZFBV38CbQCQhiKIwqxs1o1mWgu0HSEBeCgCCxW0e2ZP6LozB8D3qRqaPJSnFKifYYlt1HqPpS_0tSAg38AeazwsTYsYt5S-rgpzpDlb0Utito77etbGWBMClw45eD8Y/s1600/IMG_6116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivss8MFPTB4fhnEZFBV38CbQCQhiKIwqxs1o1mWgu0HSEBeCgCCxW0e2ZP6LozB8D3qRqaPJSnFKifYYlt1HqPpS_0tSAg38AeazwsTYsYt5S-rgpzpDlb0Utito77etbGWBMClw45eD8Y/s400/IMG_6116.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The river from Mengkilao to Mawang Metatai.</td></tr>
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This <i>sungai</i>, or river, flows from Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park past nine villages where the ASRI midwives work. The 2,000 residents of these communities rely on the river for drinking water, bathing, and washing clothes. The river is also where human and pig wastes drain.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYznKG-pPOWiT-fs6bOPbSDBq8EOCD7uw-M9JPc527z51BOsUhyphenhyphenAn0yxLj_DRKedRQ4VBET80MQUmzNH6dlHI4e09JZ3ZOw0-C-HDRRhqN8h62uv7NSkeB4eO5s3ac49hImnndqZ_a9XyF/s1600/IMG_8739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYznKG-pPOWiT-fs6bOPbSDBq8EOCD7uw-M9JPc527z51BOsUhyphenhyphenAn0yxLj_DRKedRQ4VBET80MQUmzNH6dlHI4e09JZ3ZOw0-C-HDRRhqN8h62uv7NSkeB4eO5s3ac49hImnndqZ_a9XyF/s400/IMG_8739.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An elevated pig sty above the river.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8t7lswZdXZC5VUEq-j5-KFvmpjkDsdkUbQaoCZzCM3dOln-GZX-E6k-DqkFgOhQznRNTU548l1QtmuT0bVQT6TGHMnUxmhTxTIqltzHJcijePy4Z3Vvao8dGvKWcWkcu4gpCnGrS4YO7/s1600/IMG_8750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8t7lswZdXZC5VUEq-j5-KFvmpjkDsdkUbQaoCZzCM3dOln-GZX-E6k-DqkFgOhQznRNTU548l1QtmuT0bVQT6TGHMnUxmhTxTIqltzHJcijePy4Z3Vvao8dGvKWcWkcu4gpCnGrS4YO7/s400/IMG_8750.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two residents of Beloyang village prepare to slaughter a pig in preparation for a thousand-guest wedding.</td></tr>
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The ASRI midwives, Dewi and Vini, noticed a pattern in their patients. Vini, at her clinic in Nusa Poring, had admitted only a couple patients in her first six months as a midwife. Dewi, at her clinic in Beloyang, had admitted a dozen critically-ill patients, tending to their diarrhea, fevers, and other life-threatening symptoms with round-the-clock care. She set up beds by putting mattresses on the living room floor, and cooked and cleaned for the in-patients in addition to providing medical care.<br />
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On the first morning of our visit to the clinics, Dr. Kinari Webb asked Vini, "Why has Dewi's clinic had so many in-patients, and you've had so few?"<br />
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It was one of those direct, non-judgmental questions doctors are so practiced at asking.<br />
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"Dewi's village has lots of typhoid," Vini replied simply, speaking in <i>bahasa Indonesia</i>. "My village has less."<br />
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Typhoid is a potentially-fatal gastrointestinal disease caused by the fecal bacterium <i>Salmonella </i>Typhi. (For those of you wondering at this strange version of scientific nomenclature: no it's not a typo! The bug's full name is <i>Salmonella enterica</i> subspescies <i>enterica </i>serotype Typhi. You can see why it goes by a nickname.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2LrocpyDhRqO_3i2RGHI2CS0ncZRGH8S7Tooz_c5YPzpaE8DR9_ABinctf3sJG0eHhExAr6-8sD5E58b-mAa9s-OTZRVssLghsaPqJDMj0n1PCmb6SzkTk_Fm5rJVT68OncDTuhQUWgN/s1600/Bacilli_of_typhoid_fever_from_a_culture_Wellcome_M0015726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1519" data-original-width="1600" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2LrocpyDhRqO_3i2RGHI2CS0ncZRGH8S7Tooz_c5YPzpaE8DR9_ABinctf3sJG0eHhExAr6-8sD5E58b-mAa9s-OTZRVssLghsaPqJDMj0n1PCmb6SzkTk_Fm5rJVT68OncDTuhQUWgN/s320/Bacilli_of_typhoid_fever_from_a_culture_Wellcome_M0015726.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">A drawing of <i>Salmonella </i>Typhi from 1928.<br />
Image credit: Wellcome Library, London, CC BY 4.0.</td></tr>
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But, Dr. Kinari prompted, why would there be more typhoid in one village than another?</div>
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In a moment of inspiration, the women realized that Vini's village is upstream on the river — closer to its clean source in the rainforest of Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park — while Dewi's village is downstream.<br />
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Vini considered the nine villages along the river, from Mengkilao at the very border of the national park, to Mawang Metatai closer to the river's mouth.<br />
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"How much typhoid is there in Mengkilao?" Dr. Kinari asked.<br />
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"None," reported Vini.<br />
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"How much in Mawang Metatai?" she asked.<br />
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"More than anywhere else. That's where the most typhoid patients come from," said Vini.<br />
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Aha! The upriver village experienced almost no typhoid, the downriver community was plagued by it, and there was a gradient of cases in between. Here was evidence that <i>Salmonella </i>Typhi was getting into the river from the feces of humans and pigs along its banks, concentrating with every community into an increasingly sickening dose. The situation also illustrated how crucial the rainforest is to human health, by providing a clean source of drinking water.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs36KcWEiGglMDu3EQR6LldjdIojzoDKzmGjZvfC_uyf5hNFL0x3wtiUjBQ4UgfChsSxne4Oj7tSs8f9zFYuret3hAb7YCZsJPYjrCaz6oZwIB3rm2o39MnApxrPTT75dA1D0wN92FuxX/s1600/Salmonella_typhi.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs36KcWEiGglMDu3EQR6LldjdIojzoDKzmGjZvfC_uyf5hNFL0x3wtiUjBQ4UgfChsSxne4Oj7tSs8f9zFYuret3hAb7YCZsJPYjrCaz6oZwIB3rm2o39MnApxrPTT75dA1D0wN92FuxX/s1600/Salmonella_typhi.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><i>Salmonella</i> Typhi show off their long, wiggly flagella under a microscope.<br />
Image credit: Roinujs, CC BY-SA 4.0.</td></tr>
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A few months earlier, the downstream midwife, Dewi, had already come up with a potential solution. She had realized that community members were drinking untreated river water. She encouraged everyone to boil their water, but as I mentioned in my previous post, this practice was unpopular. Residents dislike the taste of boiled water, which they call <i>air mati</i>, "dead water," and prefer the flavor of unboiled water, called <i>air hidup</i>, "live water." So, instead of trying to change everyone's preference, Dewi came up with a creative alternative.<br />
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She installed five water filters, each one consisting of two plastic buckets, on her front porch. She held a community meeting to explain how to use the filters and ask the community how they should be responsibly used. The residents decided that the filters should be outside, available 24 hours a day, and free to use, but they shouldn't be stolen or moved. Whoever draws water from a filter is responsible for refilling it with river water, so they next family will have clean water ready to use.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINxxu0twXoNj3mi4IZ35TEVan9YdeAHNoR4xrzhn45xc5uRhpIOwnmXAQ8CYju2205FzDkYws63wImiqj_MPsAIFaP_vOz21rJCD2wH8pFyUB2_4eCZC-i_fh6bLnyVPDtwp1B-GtBynw/s1600/IMG_6148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINxxu0twXoNj3mi4IZ35TEVan9YdeAHNoR4xrzhn45xc5uRhpIOwnmXAQ8CYju2205FzDkYws63wImiqj_MPsAIFaP_vOz21rJCD2wH8pFyUB2_4eCZC-i_fh6bLnyVPDtwp1B-GtBynw/s400/IMG_6148.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Midwife Dewi stands with her innovative water-filtration system in front of her house-clinic in Beloyang village.</td></tr>
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The system was an instant hit. The filtration buckets have been through a few growing pains — such as when the weak wooden table collapsed and broke its load of buckets — but Dewi has installed a new set, and she's working to expand the system to each of the nine villages. Community members say the filtered water tastes <i>hidup</i>, just as good as untreated river water. When I was visiting, I drank from these buckets and even my weak stomach did fine. Dewi, Vini, and everyone at ASRI hopes the filters will capture all the wiggly-tailed <i>Salmonella </i>Typhi and prevent more cases of typhoid downstream of Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83GpjbecUYWJN_dOfWwT6LZQUY1L4K4gHi1PnxBFwFNJqUW968Owj5zaS0aIBt7wg_-UD99CFN-xdypT2ZtVM-SmjI-17T9GUeo5JCZKAxL4LXUf7Y9cFYD9zBnlLp6IGStvvl7Hvuufn/s1600/IMG_6059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83GpjbecUYWJN_dOfWwT6LZQUY1L4K4gHi1PnxBFwFNJqUW968Owj5zaS0aIBt7wg_-UD99CFN-xdypT2ZtVM-SmjI-17T9GUeo5JCZKAxL4LXUf7Y9cFYD9zBnlLp6IGStvvl7Hvuufn/s400/IMG_6059.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The river bank in Nusa Poring village.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Part Two: Wax-Coated Buggers</b></span><br />
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One day in the Beloyang house-clinic, Dr. Fitri asked a young boy about his persistent cough. She suspected tuberculosis, but there's no easy test to give here, so she used questions from a scoring system. Had his weight changed? Did he experience night sweats? When did the coughing start? Did anyone in his family have TB?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_OZjGkljVhIu4c4-VwlFxjNZGjzWyG_wC7K-hNoLHGGHeRrLIshA54n3PRWaNX9fHuoQptEQnzM43K5kmBI3Dd9Tmfb6Hw03zF3n_gzm6nJHpBuz2qNGtx8imXjc1Q8gSOYoEnkwMDJ9E/s1600/IMG_6212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_OZjGkljVhIu4c4-VwlFxjNZGjzWyG_wC7K-hNoLHGGHeRrLIshA54n3PRWaNX9fHuoQptEQnzM43K5kmBI3Dd9Tmfb6Hw03zF3n_gzm6nJHpBuz2qNGtx8imXjc1Q8gSOYoEnkwMDJ9E/s400/IMG_6212.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Midwife Dewi prescribed liquid medicine for a boy after his mother relayed his medical history. For patient confidentiality, none of the people photographed for this post were diagnosed with tuberculosis.</td></tr>
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Dr. Fitri determined that the boy did indeed have tuberculosis. His father and brother had both been diagnosed with TB before him, and his brother’s case was so bad he'd needed to have his lungs surgically drained. Most worrying to Dr. Fitri, the boy's brother was still coughing and not gaining weight even after a six-month course of medicine, which meant the family probably had drug-resistant tuberculosis. This form of the bug is much harder to treat, requiring daily injections.<br />
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Indonesia is the nation with the <a href="https://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/MainText_13Nov2017.pdf">second-highest</a> incidence of tuberculosis. In 2016, over a million new cases were diagnosed in Indonesia alone.<br />
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The disease is caused by <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>, named for its waxy "fungus-like" coating. It's not related to fungi at all. Other members of its genus include a few usual suspects and some odd birds you've probably never heard of. <i>Mycobacterium leprae</i> is the pathogen behind leprosy. The free-swimming, ocean-dwelling organism <i>Mycobacterium marinum </i>causes fish-tank granuloma, a rare disease of aquarists' fingers.<br />
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But tuberculosis dwarfs these other diseases in terms of global impact. According to the WHO, tuberculosis is the world's leading cause of disease from a single infectious agent, ranking even higher than HIV/AIDS. (And, these two diseases often work in cahoots, as the HIV virus suppresses immune systems and makes people more susceptible to infectious lung diseases.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1fYwsuHB9Uq0bUGpOqrdQlyW20qMQOF9ynUfb5IbgbURy1kavHBEMnSV6x7HB5TO-1LhXKV_DXqYx_Ez4cwBrUuq-m2inVKtMbgHq3sjWx7kwmTWe-rwUsOMKTJD6gw6sk_hut9ykOMd/s1600/TB1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="386" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1fYwsuHB9Uq0bUGpOqrdQlyW20qMQOF9ynUfb5IbgbURy1kavHBEMnSV6x7HB5TO-1LhXKV_DXqYx_Ez4cwBrUuq-m2inVKtMbgHq3sjWx7kwmTWe-rwUsOMKTJD6gw6sk_hut9ykOMd/s400/TB1.jpg" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scanning electron micrograph of <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.<br />
Image credit: NIAID, CC BY 2.0.</td></tr>
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Dr. Kinari calls tuberculosis a “depressing disease.” As a healthcare provider and rainforest conservationist, it's one of her top priorities.<br />
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“When you have patients with TB, it just saps the energy of the whole community,” Dr. Kinari explained to me. “It takes so much to take care of these people. They don’t die quickly — you could have TB for five or ten years — but they can’t work. And of course, they’re infectious.”<br />
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She described tuberculosis patients without good healthcare as “wasting away, feeling terrible, coughing the whole time,” and usually the whole family will be infected. “Plus,” she added, “there can be stigma associated with it, so you feel like you’ve done something wrong.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXA5Xiqse8ttLd9Qa7b_SJxf3lcWcw86h2tsmaQdSPnlCettCk1I2APGJZN6sv6CBNAZEb2QWrf5vndrWxVTrwLxuVE8iLToMZqKGaR1_CQAorcTHo8_Fvsxud_zL5pumIipwh03btfwf/s1600/TB3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="932" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXA5Xiqse8ttLd9Qa7b_SJxf3lcWcw86h2tsmaQdSPnlCettCk1I2APGJZN6sv6CBNAZEb2QWrf5vndrWxVTrwLxuVE8iLToMZqKGaR1_CQAorcTHo8_Fvsxud_zL5pumIipwh03btfwf/s400/TB3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">A scanning electron micrograph of <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> showing the waxy cell wall.<br />
Image credit: Janice Carr, CDC/Dr. Ray Butler, public domain.</td></tr>
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Before ASRI opened two clinics around Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park last fall, tuberculosis patients were responsible for picking up their medicine from the government clinic in Menukung, a two-hour drive down the terrible mud road. The Indonesian government will only dispense one month of medication at a time, nearly guaranteeing that families who start the treatment won’t finish it — a perfect storm for creating drug resistance. (When a patient takes only part of a course of antibiotics, the weak individual bacteria die but the strong survive, encouraging the species to evolve resistance to that particular antibiotic.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszZ6DDN01UHae3Xpmvlpxh-gr8jKlgPr2jMKKI8wNrkarPK5MkeMTR3xzaA-llz9GzX20_eyqD61kbZ1LmKZeGe97tL3Akj8jbI1n5wes8wISqXM89sXrvAVS271MncDFmak2Pdbomua2/s1600/IMG_6197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszZ6DDN01UHae3Xpmvlpxh-gr8jKlgPr2jMKKI8wNrkarPK5MkeMTR3xzaA-llz9GzX20_eyqD61kbZ1LmKZeGe97tL3Akj8jbI1n5wes8wISqXM89sXrvAVS271MncDFmak2Pdbomua2/s400/IMG_6197.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Fitri and Midwife Vini organize pharmaceuticals in their pharmacy, a cabinet in Dewi's house-clinic.</td></tr>
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ASRI faced this problem a decade ago at its flagship site outside Gunung Palung National Park. There, ASRI's solution was to implement a Directly Observed Treatment System, or DOTS. Three times per week, DOTS workers visit each tuberculosis patient to directly observe them taking their medicine. Around Gunung Palung, the ASRI DOTS program has treated hundreds of patients. The key to success is commitment.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuKpCaqthrKM9ZW6RUrlvjC5j3XbWNXQLoP3L21tRKVPVg96BDmM5pFXRQr34uEbnlWmHnJvUtLBG326JoXGkx0y-70QzS5GkX2SDdjJhQ7WROINhgPe0KUzg8qHUAtfBmMKjslqfTvZY/s1600/Carolyn+Beeler_November+2016_Ibu+Hamisah+on+farm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="937" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuKpCaqthrKM9ZW6RUrlvjC5j3XbWNXQLoP3L21tRKVPVg96BDmM5pFXRQr34uEbnlWmHnJvUtLBG326JoXGkx0y-70QzS5GkX2SDdjJhQ7WROINhgPe0KUzg8qHUAtfBmMKjslqfTvZY/s400/Carolyn+Beeler_November+2016_Ibu+Hamisah+on+farm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hamisah, the coordinator of ASRI's life-saving Directly Observed Treatment System for tuberculosis, stands in a rice paddy outside Gunung Palung National Park.<br />Image credit: Carolyn Beeler.</td></tr>
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Hamisah, the head of ASRI's DOTS program, is a kick-ass healer who will accept nothing less than success for her patients. To read about some of her imaginative tactics, check out her story, <a href="https://healthinharmony.org/2014/08/05/a-pair-of-ducks/">Sometimes All You Need is a Pair of Ducks</a>. Thanks to the dedicated DOTS team, only 1-2% of patients drop out of the program, meaning that nearly everyone completes the treatment.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVk_U_aH1ugP6Hl55wuxg-ixYBCCPR2ZQC8n_yTFG1xJzV__Dml1EmGUtmdgBR2zkcdtet-bPDh-LC64vEnTrLZQPeqDErGTRuwEAQXP1KtqjQqCZEVFrGBcUb-5eEegmFIz7qGYTRk-r/s1600/TB4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVk_U_aH1ugP6Hl55wuxg-ixYBCCPR2ZQC8n_yTFG1xJzV__Dml1EmGUtmdgBR2zkcdtet-bPDh-LC64vEnTrLZQPeqDErGTRuwEAQXP1KtqjQqCZEVFrGBcUb-5eEegmFIz7qGYTRk-r/s400/TB4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">When grown in a Petri dish, <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> clump together into rough, colorless lumps.<br />
Image credit: CDC/Dr. George Kubica, public domain.</td></tr>
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ASRI's low drop-out rate from tuberculosis treatment is especially impressive when compared to the extremely high national drop-out rate. It’s hard to know just how high, because the government doesn’t report accurate statistics. The official number is 10%, but Dr. Kinari’s experience is that the national drop-out rate is probably over 50%. Often, when government clinics provide tuberculosis medication, they simply ask a member of the family to watch the patient take it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_B6kU-WR1Xp4d_au1LKRWU2l0wz3NxaWNtahDva1AoaMsZt205FKNQu1IILdTkcUDYTray2WZ2N2jYUz_zCriI0P4dJNUIYubnf1CnlOA32r1d6ymRrvMJQIw9ynyQFriZSwrXPRZQQh/s1600/IMG_6225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_B6kU-WR1Xp4d_au1LKRWU2l0wz3NxaWNtahDva1AoaMsZt205FKNQu1IILdTkcUDYTray2WZ2N2jYUz_zCriI0P4dJNUIYubnf1CnlOA32r1d6ymRrvMJQIw9ynyQFriZSwrXPRZQQh/s400/IMG_6225.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A patient awaits treatment at the ASRI clinic near Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. For patient confidentiality, none of the people photographed for this post were diagnosed with tuberculosis.</td></tr>
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It’s clear that a DOTS program is needed around Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. Dewi and Vini are already diagnosing, treating, and directly observing tuberculosis patients. Dewi has trained her childcare helper, Santa, to assist as well. Now, ASRI is working to support a full DOTS program for these communities.<br />
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When you treat a community for tuberculosis, Dr. Kinari explained to me, you lift the health, energy, and quality of life for everyone, from human residents to old-growth ironwood trees and orangutans. She sees health as the foundation on which rainforest conservation must be built, because a community needs energy to learn new farming techniques and begin a transition from logging to alternative livelihoods.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-RrkWIGVWUdYFmeYUc7Cw7VQLHancvEyjgCgr4kwXCEAYNkTFkL42BprR32pA2tpKLjS15c0ZoAPAa4FQe-l3uC8hf3Na4wbCAKQBkOedeZVUPCQhuEBgTUgVFcJE_x1HzezuYUJo0fQ/s1600/IMG_5803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-RrkWIGVWUdYFmeYUc7Cw7VQLHancvEyjgCgr4kwXCEAYNkTFkL42BprR32pA2tpKLjS15c0ZoAPAa4FQe-l3uC8hf3Na4wbCAKQBkOedeZVUPCQhuEBgTUgVFcJE_x1HzezuYUJo0fQ/s400/IMG_5803.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A misty rainforest canopy on Indonesian Borneo, stewarded by healthy communities that ASRI supports.</td></tr>
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Nina Lester Finleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08432560097697123982noreply@blogger.com