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Bird Expert Helps Solve a Murder

August 19, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Chip Clark/Smithsonian Institution/Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Division of Birds.
Ornithologist Roxie Laybourne, originator of forensic ornithology, examining a feather.

I love reading murder mysteries. Not all of them, mind you. I’m a sucker for any mystery from a foreign country or unfamiliar culture, but I recently discarded an Icelandic one that was too noir.

I love mysteries partly for the sense of helping a detective solve a puzzle, and for learning new things. Sometimes it’s a country I’m learning about, sometimes a science. After reading today’s article, I am hoping there will soon be a mystery based on the scientific career of Roxie Laybourne.

Chris Sweeney wrote at the Boston Globe Magazine recently about the “mild-mannered scientist” who created the field of forensic ornithology.

“Murders weren’t Roxie Laybourne’s forte, but she had a job to do. On the evening of April 26, 1972, the 61-year-old ornithologist climbed into the back seat of a detective’s car at Bangor International Airport. … As the car neared the hotel, she noticed a smattering of peculiar structures lining the sides of the road. …

“At her hotel, Laybourne received a handwritten letter from Peter Culley, the young state prosecutor who’d soon be interrogating her on the witness stand. … Culley, a lifelong Mainer who was just a few years out of law school, had plotted an exhaustive case against Henry Andrews, a 35-year-old laborer who stood accused in state court of the brutal murder of Hazel Doak, his elderly former landlord. Laybourne would appear in the penultimate act of the prosecutor’s script, the last witness he’d call before closing arguments. …

“She was an authority  —  perhaps the authority  —  on feathers. Culley hoped that if any embers of doubt were still smoldering in the jury box by the time Laybourne took the stand, she’d extinguish them by offering up scientific analysis showing that feathers recovered from the scene of the crime matched bits of feather that were found on Andrews’s clothing at the time he was apprehended. …

“Build an economy on the back of butchered chickens and life will get messy. As Laybourne observed on her first morning in town, the industry’s leftovers were everywhere. Some residents had to rake feathers off their lawns and others complained of a foul stench that would drift through their yards. Most unappetizing was the steady stream of putrefied byproduct that flowed out of the processing plants and into Penobscot Bay. The bloody, fatty industrial runoff caked the shoreline and congealed into a blanket that bobbed atop the water. At low tide, a rust-colored stain could be seen on the rocks and sand, earning Belfast the unfortunate nickname ‘the City with a Bathtub Ring.’ …

“To showcase the local industry’s might, Belfast started hosting an annual Maine Broiler Day in 1948. What began as a one-day barbecue soon ballooned into a weekend-long bonanza of grilled protein and ice-cold beverages. State and local politicians strutted through the crowds to press the flesh with constituents and the chicken companies sponsored a Broiler Queen contest in which women were judged on ‘poise, personality and appearance,’ according to the New England Historical Society. …

“On the weekend of July 17, 1971, however, the celebration soured. That’s when, according to prosecutors, Henry Andrews blew into town on Friday with two friends who were ready to party.

“Drinks flowed early and the first place Andrews took his buddies was a sturdy white farmhouse a mile outside of town. He had rented a room there a few years earlier while clearing trees on the surrounding property. During the impromptu visit, Andrews found Hazel Doak, a 71-year-old widow who had lived there for more than 20 years. She was Andrews’s landlord during his time in town and the relationship was allegedly rocky.

‘Doak didn’t appreciate Andrews showing up unannounced that Friday: After a tense exchange, she asked the two men accompanying Andrews to remove him from her property and get lost. They complied, shook off the uncomfortable start to the weekend, and made their way into town for dinner and a night of drinking.

“Around 1:45 a.m., an inebriated Andrews reportedly ditched his pals and teetered over to the Main Street taxi stand, where, through droopy eyes and slurred words, he asked for a ride back to the Doak farm. …

“At 10:30 the next morning, Doak’s longtime friend Edith Ladd pulled up to the house. The two women had spoken on the phone the previous night and made plans to head over to the broiler festival together. Ladd went to the back entrance that she typically used and found it still latched shut. She went around to the front of the house, where the door swung wide open. Inside, she found Doak’s lifeless body heaped on a bed, clad in nothing but a nightgown. …

“Ladd called the police and huddled in her car with her daughter, grandson, and other family members, who had been waiting patiently to get to the festival. When the officers arrived, they followed the trail of feathers downstairs and found the cellar door cracked open. The best they could surmise, someone had grabbed Doak’s pillow and smothered her with such force that it burst the pillow open and sent feathers everywhere, including onto the murderer. …

“Near the end of the weekend, a soaking-wet Andrews walked into the Belfast Police Station and, according to police testimony, allegedly declared, ‘I came to give myself up.’ …

“The sheriffs on duty knew exactly who Andrews was and what he was wanted for. They placed him under arrest and collected his clothes  —  and the feathers that were stuck to them. Police sent several bags of evidence to the FBI for careful analysis at the bureau’s crime lab in Washington, D.C. …

“Knowing the murder weapon was a pillow, the agents in Washington understood that the feathers stuck to his clothes might be a key piece of trace evidence, but they had no clue how to analyze them in any meaningful way. Fortunately, they had heard all about a little old lady named Roxie Laybourne over at the Smithsonian.”

Now I’ve done the unforgivable for a mystery! I’ve left you with a cliffhanger. You’ll have to read the rest of the story at the Globe, here. It’s a long one.

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Tribes Protecting Water

August 18, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Navajo Natural Heritage Program via Natural Resources Defense Council.
Diné Native Plants Program members work to restore a headwater stream impacted by livestock grazing.

The more that the US endangers its wetlands, the more we rely on the work that tribes do to protect them. Perhaps today’s article can help us see what the rest of us can do.

At the website for the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, Claudia Blanco Nuñez and Giulia CS Good Stefani describe how “Tribal Nations protect and manage millions of acres of wetlands, which help improve water quality, curb the risk of floods, recharge groundwater, and store large amounts of carbon.”

“Two years ago,” they report, “the U.S. Supreme Court slashed federal Clean Water Act protection of wetlands [with] harmful repercussions for droughts, wildfires, flooding, wildlife, and the drinking water supply. 

“In the absence of federal protection, the imperative to defend our shared waters falls increasingly on individuals, states, and Native American Tribal Nations. … Tribal Nations protect and manage millions of acres of wetlands in the United States, and with commitments made by the U.S. government to Tribal co-management and co-stewardship of federal lands, the amount of clean water safeguarded by Tribal Nations is growing.

“NRDC’s Science Office mapped the wetlands found within and intersecting the boundaries of Tribal reservation lands in the contiguous United States. Across the 294 federally recognized Tribal reservations mapped in this analysis, our scientists found that Tribes steward more than 3 million acres of wetlands. Even typically arid regions like the American Southwest have significant wetlands on Indigenous reservations. …

“In addition to the 56.2 million acres that are part of the Tribal reservation system, many Tribes have reserved or treaty rights on lands outside reservation boundaries, and most Tribes and their members maintain ongoing physical, cultural, spiritual, and economic relationships with their ancestral homelands. These reciprocal land and water relationships extend far beyond the political boundary of any designated reservation.

“This analysis is limited to federally recognized Tribes in the Lower 48 due to the complex Tribal governance systems in Alaska and Hawai’i. For example, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 altered the previous Tribal ownership system to one led by Alaska Native Corporations. This system differs from federally recognized Tribes, which have a government-to-government relationship with the United States that includes eligibility for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That is to say, NRDC’s analysis looked at just a fraction of the total wetlands stewarded by and connected to the lives and well-being of Native peoples today.

“To learn more about Tribal wetland conservation, we spoke with leaders in the wetland management programs of the Navajo Nation and Red Lake Band of Ojibwe. …

“Navajo Nation agency staff are engaged in numerous projects to help restore and protect this essential resource. The Diné Native Plants Program recently submitted a grant application to remove invasive plant species along the Little Colorado’s riverbank. This will make space for native vegetation to grow and help with groundwater recharge for nearby Navajo farmers and families. The Diné Native Plants’ seed program also provides seed mixes for restoration projects that are solely sourced from Navajo plants. 

“Jesse Mike, the Diné Native Plants program coordinator, stepped out of the greenhouse to speak with us. He shared about the history of livestock grazing, trampling, and erosion that have impacted not only the health of the headwater streams on Navajo lands but also the underlying water table. His team is currently working to increase groundwater infiltration and improve the overall ecosystem health of three degraded streams in the Chuska Mountains. …

“The Red Lake Band of Ojibwe’s reservation is in northern Minnesota and has the greatest area of wetlands of any reservation in the contiguous United States. Across the Tribe’s more than 835,000 acres of land — all held in common by the Tribe — the Red Lake Band manages an astonishing 541,000 acres of wetlands. ‘So many wetlands,’ says Tyler Orgon, a biologist and the lead wetland specialist for the Red Lake Band Department of Natural Resources, ‘and we’re very fortunate for that.’ 

“A sizable portion of the Tribe’s wetland acreage north of Upper Red Lake is part of the largest expanse of peatlands in the continental United States. Peatlands cover about 3 percent of the earth and store more carbon than all of the planet’s other types of vegetation, including the world’s forests, combined. 

“One of the most important wetland-dependent plant species for the Red Lake Band — as well as other Anishinaabe and Dakota peoples across the Great Lakes region — is manoomin (Zizania palustris and Z. aquatica), the only wild rice native to Turtle Island. According to an Ojibwe prophecy, their ancestors were instructed to move west to the place where ‘the food floats on water.’

“The University of Minnesota research team We Must First Consider Manoomin (Kawe Gidaa-naanaagadawendaamin Manoomin) works to help protect this essential wetland-dependent plant by combining Western science with Indigenous science and learning from Ojibwe stewardship.

“The scientists have found that an increase in extreme weather conditions (like flooding events and record-breaking snowfall) negatively impact manoomin growth by uprooting the plant or drowning it out in its sensitive early stages. These weather events compound the already present settler-colonial impacts on wetlands in the region, including deforestation and conversion of wetlands into agricultural land use.

“Orgon hopes to restore some of the Red Lake Band’s wetlands that have been impacted by past agriculture.” More at NRDC, here.

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If Your Country Sinks in the Sea

August 17, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Tuvalu Foreign Ministry/Reuters.
Tuvalu’s foreign minister Simon Kofe in 2021 making a point as he gives his address to the international climate convention Cop26.

Climate change has been making itself known to most of us in early blooming seasons and the increased number of wildfires. But we don’t necessarily feel in our guts that this is really a moment that will determine if our country continues to exist.

Unless we live in a place like Tuvalu, an island gradually, and then not so gradually, sinking into the sea.

An article at the Guardian proposes that when the inevitable happens, countries like Tuvalu must find a way to keep their statehood.

Isabella Kaminski writes, “States should be able to continue politically even if their land disappears underwater, legal experts have said.

“The conclusions come from a long-awaited report by the International Law Commission that examined what existing law means for continued statehood and access to key resources if sea levels continue to rise due to climate breakdown.

“Average sea levels could rise by as much as [3ft] by 2100 if climate scientists’ worst-case scenarios come true, and recent research suggests they could even exceed projections. This is particularly important for small island developing states because many face an existential threat. …

“Having waded through international law and scholarship and analyzed state views and practices, legal experts concluded that nothing prevents nations from maintaining their maritime boundaries even if the land on which they are drawn changes or disappears. These boundaries give countries navigation rights, access to resources such as fishing and minerals, and a degree of political control.

“There is also general agreement that affected nations should retain their statehood to avoid loss of nationality. Legal experts say these conclusions are essential for maintaining international peace and stability.

“Speaking at the UN Oceans conference in Nice, Penelope Ridings, an international lawyer and member of the ILC, said the commission’s work was driven by the ‘fundamental sense of injustice’ that sea level rise would be felt worst by the most vulnerable states, which had also contributed the least to the problem. …

“The Pacific nation of Tuvalu has been particularly vocal in its concerns. Sea levels on its nine islands and atolls have already [risen] and are expected to get much higher over the coming decades.

“Australia was the first country to recognze the permanence of Tuvalu’s boundaries despite rising sea levels. In 2023, it signed a legally binding treaty committing to help Tuvalu respond to major disasters and offering special visas to citizens who want or need to move. Nearly a third of citizens have entered a ballot for such a visa. Latvia followed with a similar pledge of recognition.

“At the oceans conference, the Tuvaluan prime minister, Feleti Teo, said his citizens were determined to stay on their land for as long as possible. The government has just finished the first phase of a coastal adaptation project, building concrete barriers to reduce flooding and dredging sand to create additional land. …

“He urged Tuvalu’s development partners to be ‘more forthcoming in terms of providing the necessary climate financing that we need to be able to adapt. And to give us more time to live in the land that we believe God has given us and we intend to remain on.’ …

“Bryce Rudyk, a professor of international environmental law at New York University and legal adviser to the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), said the ILC had been very responsive to small states, which have traditionally not had their voices heard in matters of international law but are increasingly at the forefront of legal advances on climate change and marine degradation.

“In recent years, Aosis and the Pacific Islands Forum have both declared that their statehood and sovereignty, as well as their membership of intergovernmental organizations such as the UN, will continue regardless of sea level rise.

“The international court of justice [was] petitioned by Aosis to affirm this.”

More at the Guardian, here.

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Tunisians Know the Value of a Book

August 16, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Meriem Belhiba.
Girls explore colorful storybooks in the newly inaugurated library at Bir El Euch Primary School in Tunisia.

Meriem Belhiba wrote this story for the Christian Science Monitor.

“To children in this hilltop village, their school library is a portal to another world.

“Israa Al Trabelsi and five other 9-year-olds barely stifle their giggles as they weave – wide-eyed with curiosity – through the colorful room. They can plop down into cushioned chairs, look at bright wall art, and, of course, browse shelves bursting with books. The transformative space was built for children to dream in.

“ ‘I’ve learned so much,’ Israa says after taking a seat with a book about faraway lands in her hands. ‘It is also helping me improve my vocabulary and my writing,’ she notes, quickly adding, ‘I want to be a judge.’

“That might seem an unusual ambition for a child in Bir El Euch, a rural community of 1,600 people southwest of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis. But it makes sense when one learns that the man behind the library, Omar Weslati, is himself a judge who knows how precious books can be to children. ‘This project began as a way to reconcile with the child I once was, who had nothing,’ he says.

“Economic inequality has long been a challenge in Tunisia, a country of 12 million people. Widespread poverty in rural areas, high unemployment, and poor infrastructure were key triggers behind the 2011 mass protests that toppled a 23-year dictatorship and touched off the Arab Spring uprisings. …

” ‘I grew up in a rural school without a library, without light, without transportation, and without heating,’ Judge Weslati recalls. ‘As a bookworm, I needed to walk long distances to reach the nearest public library.’

“Launched in 2016, the initiative is led by white-collar professionals, most of whom hail from rural communities. These journalists, writers, judges, and teachers have chipped in funding to create a new library every year. Each one serves hundreds of students and takes thousands of dollars to complete.

“The project’s launch could not have been timed better. The first ‘imagination libraries,’ as they were initially called, were built in the aftermath of the violent extremism that accompanied the Arab Spring. Amid the waves of unrest that ensued across the region, Tunisia has been the biggest contributor of foreign fighters in the world – with Tunisians joining extremist groups in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and elsewhere.

“This was a factor behind the library initiative. ‘Where the book doesn’t reach, the extremist arrives first,’ Judge Weslati says. …

“Besides offering books as a source of inspiration, Judge Weslati’s team began visiting remote schools and sharing members’ personal stories. ‘We wanted to show kids that people from their own soil once dreamed, created, and contributed,’ he says.

‘We never saw this as charity; it’s about cultivation,’ he adds. ‘Planting stories where they hadn’t taken root before.’

“Beyond reading, the initiative led to something more: a writing club for rural youths. Teenagers craft short stories together and publish their work. One of the teens, Molka Hammami, credits her former teacher Jamila Sherif for lighting a spark in her.

“ ‘Reading changed my life,’ Molka says. ‘It pushed me to do more. I was published in the [club’s] collective storybook last year.’ Now she helps run a radio show for the club.

“Ms. Sherif, who has since become a school inspector, emphasizes the stakes. ‘Many kids drop out after primary school,’ she says. … ‘We’re trying to change that – one library, one book at a time.’”’

“Reports have shown that, despite declining school dropout rates across Tunisia, the problem is most acute in rural areas. Donia Smaali Bouhlila, an expert on educational inequality at the University of Tunis El Manar, says inadequate schools and infrastructure in rural areas are among the biggest reasons that students drop out.

“ ‘When learning spaces lack comfort, resources, or consistency, they stop being places of growth and become sources of alienation,’ she says. ‘Every small success – helping a child learn to read, keeping a teenager engaged – represents a meaningful step forward.’

“Safahat, a cultural organization whose name translates to ‘pages’ in Arabic, aimed to serve schools when it was founded in 2020 [but] faced logistical and financial hurdles because of the region’s remoteness. This prompted its team to pivot to a more mobile model: public bookcases. …

“Through its Maktabtena (‘our library’) initiative, the group placed red-and-white boxes of books in hospitals, youth centers, and schools, and on street corners. … Readers are invited to take a book, read freely, and donate their own books if they can. ‘We want to make reading a habit, not a luxury,’ [Khawla Mondhri, a university professor and volunteer leading the initiative] says. ‘If someone takes a book and doesn’t return it, that just means it’s being read somewhere else. ‘And that’s enough for us.” …

“So far, the team has installed 35 bookcases in accessible, safe, and visible spots. To ensure a bookcase is never empty, the team has formed partnerships with municipalities, associations, and individuals.

“ ‘We send books as often as needed. We plant small oaks,’ Ms. Mondhri says. ‘But we dream of forests.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here.

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The Books of Our Childhood Speak Out

August 15, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Jeremie Souteyrat for the New York Times.
Steve Mills shows his copy of The Naughtiest Girl Again, by Enid Blyton, with marginalia by a child.

In a fun story from the New York Times, Jonathan Wolfe writes about a children’s-book collector in England who was surprised to discover who did the childish drawings inside an acquisition. It reminded me of some favorite childhood books — and how I loved to draw pictures of girls with pointy noses on any piece of paper I could find.

“In retirement,” writes Wolfe, “Steve Mills began collecting secondhand books that he had read as a child. It was an effort to reawaken lost memories. …

“He was at home in Hockley, east of London, flipping through titles from a recent book haul from a charity shop. Inside the pages of an early hardcover edition of The Naughtiest Girl Again, by the English author Enid Blyton, he found a girl’s handwritten notes from more than 50 years earlier. It took a few moments for Mr. Mills to grasp who the writer was: his wife, Karen.

“At first, Mr. Mills, a 67-year-old former civil servant, simply recognized an address in the town where his wife had grown up, written in a child’s handwriting. He brought the book to Ms. Mills, and said, ‘Oh look, they used to live in the village you came from,’ Mr. Mills recalled.

“The address had been her childhood home, though it was spelled wrong. Ms. Mills couldn’t believe it. …

“ ‘I thought at first that it was him being a silly bugger,’ she said. ‘I actually said to him, “Are you trying to misspell our first address?” But I looked at it again, and I thought, “Oh my word, this is written by my brother and me when we were 9 and 10,” ‘ she said. … There were timetables she had carefully recorded, pages she had folded to save her place and a sketch of little Karen, freckles dotting her face. …

“[Ms. Mills] grew up in Staffordshire, about 170 miles northwest of Hockley. Her parents, Brenda and David Larden, both 87, told their daughter that they must have donated the book to a church or school drive around 1975, when they moved. …

“ ‘For 50 years,’ Ms. Mills said, the book had ‘gone around the country, doing I don’t know what — entertaining children — and then it came back to us.’ …

“But his discoveries weren’t over. A few days after finding his wife’s name in The Naughtiest Girl Again, Mr. Mills suddenly realized that there were other titles in the haul that he hadn’t looked at. Could some of those, too, have been from his wife’s childhood home?

“ ‘I picked up another couple of books and, lo and behold, there was my wife’s name,’ he said.

“He found doodles by Ms. Mills and her brother Mark on two other Enid Blyton books, The Adventures of Pip and The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island. The latter was one of Mr. Mills’s favorite books as a boy.

“The find was particularly meaningful for him, he said, because Ms. Blyton’s stories reminded him of boyhood adventures with his mother in Cornwall, on the English coast. …

“In the back of one of the three books, he said, his wife had written, ‘I have got 12 of Enid BLYTONS Books.’

“ ‘So that leaves me with another nine to try and find now,’ he said.”

More at the Times, here. What did you draw in your books — or hide inside? Four-leaf clovers?

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From Stealing Birds to Saving Birds

August 14, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Lindsey McGinnis/The Christian Science Monitor.
Kelik Suparno, a bird-hunter-turned-nature-guide, begins his day by loading fruit onto trees to attract birds to a viewing area near his home in Jatimulyo, Indonesia, March 1, 2025.

As I started to work on this post, I had an uneasy feeling that I’d written before about the birdsong competitions that are mentioned. Alas, yes. Click here to enjoy the charming side of today’s topic. Continue reading for the other side.

Lyndsey McGinnis writes at the Christian Science Monitor, “A decade ago, when Kelik Suparno heard the Javan blue flycatcher’s melodic whistle, he perked up at the promise of a payday. Knowing a single bird could earn him two months’ salary at one of Indonesia’s bustling bird markets, he set off to capture the critically endangered creature.

“Now, when he hears its distinct, high-pitched ‘twee-twoo sounds, he perks up for a different reason. It means he gets to introduce a group of outsiders – researchers, photographers, tourists – to his favorite species.

Photo: Ari Noviyono via eBird.

“Like many other men in the mountain village of Jatimulyo, Mr. Suparno made the switch from bird hunter to nature guide shortly after the village banned poaching. And now, as increasingly popular birdsong competitions across Asia threaten the country’s wildlife, Jatimulyo could set an example for other communities.

“Indonesia is the epicenter of what ecologists describe as the Asian songbird crisis: the rampant, illegal trade of rare and endemic birds to the devastation of their wild populations. The crisis affects at least 26 threatened species within Indonesia, where it’s fueled by the rising popularity of high-stakes birdsong competitions. Everyone wants these species to thrive. The love of native songbirds runs deep, especially here on the island of Java, and many hope to pass that love on to younger generations. But protecting both the country’s biodiversity and its songbird culture will require balance.

“ ‘In Indonesia, all kinds of birds are being hunted, everywhere,’ says Mr. Suparno. ‘The competition accelerates the rate of bird extinction.’

“The practice of keeping caged songbirds originated centuries ago in Java, and among general collectors, competitors, and breeders, up to 84 million caged birds are believed to be kept on this island today.

“Six belong to Emmannuel Tantyo, head of a neighborhood in the heart of Yogykarta – a city about 20 miles away from Jatimulyo, and often described as Java’s cultural ‘soul.’ Here, in the mazelike streets surrounding the city’s historic palace, a kind of perkutut, or zebra dove, reigns supreme.

“For Javanese men, it’s a symbol of prosperity, Mr. Tantyo explains, and a source of calm.

“ ‘When I wake up from sleep and hear the “too too too too” …’ he says, pausing to find the right word to describe the feeling. He taps his fingers to his heart. ‘Peaceful.’

“After Indonesia gained independence in 1945, the Javanese passion for bird keeping spread, spurred further by the introduction of birdsong competitions in the 1970s.

“As the popularity of competitions steadily grew, so did the industry around them – bird markets cropped up in every major city, a network of birder associations flourished, and cash prizes ballooned. Today, Indonesia holds hundreds of competitions annually, drawing thousands of competitors from all walks of life, all hoping to win money and prestige with their champion crooners.

“The competitions help uplift the entire economy, says Susri, a Yogyakarta-based perkutut breeder who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. …

“He didn’t snag these doves from the forests of central Java. ‘Even a bird like the perkutut has its own role in the ecosystem,’ he says, and that’s where he believes wild birds should stay.

“Competition coordinators generally agree. They are trying to phase out the use of wild-caught birds by requiring competitors to prove the origins of their flock, usually through special bands that are installed by breeders like Susri onto a bird’s leg when they’re young.

“Phasing out wild songbirds would mark a seismic shift. A survey of 24 different songbird markets found that 71.5% of the birds were believed to have been taken from the wild, according to a preliminary study by Birdlife International and the international wildlife regulation group CITES. The study, presented during a 2023 workshop, found that only 2.2% of the birds were believed to be bred in captivity. Conservationists say that lax law enforcement and consumer preferences for wild-caught songbirds (which are often cheaper and, some collectors believe, sing better) help buoy the wildlife trade.

“Ultimately, says Susri, it’s up to all sectors of society to preserve Indonesia’s wildlife. ‘We are all responsible,’ he says.”

More at the Monitor, here.

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This School Gives Hope to the Very Poor

August 13, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Ogar Monday.
Two students sit outside an experimental Nigerian school’s computer lab, donated by the Irish Embassy.

Today’s article is about an educational experiment in Africa that makes it possible for the “poorest of the poor” to get an education. The experiment is focused on keeping payments low and teaching kids to become “problem solvers.”

Ogar Monday writes at the Christian Science Monitor, “Groups of students, deep in discussion, are huddled under a large schoolyard canopy on a sweltering morning. Flanked by two teachers, Kingsley Bangwell strolls among the students. He stops beside one group and asks, What problem are you solving?’

“Two students rise. Faridat Bakare, a girl with paper in hand, responds. ‘Our work is on the lack of proper business strategy among female-owned small businesses in Kuje,’ she says.

“She explains that many women in that Nigerian city unintentionally limit the growth of businesses they start by overlooking the four P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. The students’ solution is to start a mentorship cycle connecting established businesswomen with local budding entrepreneurs. Mr. Bangwell nods his approval and moves on to another group.

“Mr. Bangwell is a co-founder of the Knowledge, Solutions, Skills, and Kreativity (Knosk) school in Kuje, on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. For 100 naira (6 cents) a day, the school provides six years of learning for students who would otherwise be unable to afford it.

“The exercise that Mr. Bangwell is observing is part of a solutions ‘hackathon.’ Over four days, students engage with small-business owners in their communities to identify real-world challenges and develop solutions.

“ ‘The goal is to help them think critically and work collaboratively,’ Mr. Bangwell says. Winning teams receive prizes, but the biggest takeaway, he insists, is that the students realize ‘they, too, can provide answers to questions around them.’

“In 2018, while she was at a hospital in Abuja, Irene Bangwell overheard a cleaner talking about her teenage daughter, who had dropped out of school to work alongside her. The cleaner explained that she couldn’t afford the $19-per-term school fees for the girl. She believed that it was better for her daughter to work and save money than to attend an underfunded public school with little promise of quality education.

“Mrs. Bangwell, who had spent years working with young people, understood the mother’s concerns. Although public schools in Nigeria are mostly free, they are chronically underfunded, which has led to crumbling infrastructure, teacher shortages, and frequent strikes. Private schools provide better alternatives, but with nearly 39% of Nigerians living below the poverty line, many families find such schools out of their reach.

“Mrs. Bangwell shared the cleaner’s story with her husband, who has a background in youth development. They started Knosk in September 2019 after reaching out to community leaders, churches, mosques, and public primary schools, asking them to refer students who couldn’t afford secondary education. …

“Parents contribute $4 per term.

“ ‘We cater to the poorest of the poor,’ Mrs. Bangwell says. ‘If we don’t take the child in, they have no other chance at an education.’

“The school provides a curriculum that integrates computer and vocational skills, daily lunch, menstrual supplies for female students, and a boarding facility for a few students. …

“Victoria Simon, one of Knosk’s pioneer students, was 6 months old when she lost her father. By age 9, she had also lost her mother, leaving her in the care of her older sister. After Victoria completed primary school in 2018, her family had no means to send her for further education.

“ ‘We were ready to give up when my sister heard about Knosk,’ Victoria recalls.

“The school sounded too good to be true. But two weeks later, Victoria took Knosk’s entrance exam and wrote a 300-word essay about her aspirations. ‘I wrote about creating a free six-month training program for women and giving them tools to start their businesses,’ she says. …

“For some families, even the small fees that Knosk charges are a struggle. And according to Mrs. Bangwell, those fees are not enough to sustain the school. ‘Between paying teachers, uniforms, feeding the kids, and providing learning materials, we need more support,’ she says. Yet no child is ever turned away for unpaid fees.

“The school, which started with 30 students and now has 170, relies heavily on what it calls ‘education angels.’ These are individuals and organizations that sponsor students, for $156 per year.

“Knosk’s impact hasn’t gone unnoticed. ‘The quality of teaching and learning there is comparable to any private school in this area,’ says Daudu Shedrach, an education inspector with the Federal Capital Development Authority. …

“At Knosk, every student is called ‘solver,’ a title that reflects expectations. ‘A solver sees problems and takes action,’ Mrs. Bangwell explains. ‘We build their capacity to see beyond their challenges and to think like contributors to society, not victims.’

“For solvers like Mustapha Ibrahim, who joined Knosk in 2019 after losing his father two years earlier, the title has become a compass for how he approaches life. ‘There is no problem that I cannot solve,’ he says. ‘I just have to think hard about it.’

“Mustapha recalls how he once struggled with self-doubt and anger, believing that his life had ended when his father died. … Today, Mustapha dreams of becoming an aeronautical engineer. ‘I’m always fascinated by how airplanes stay in the sky despite their weight,’ he says.

“He also hopes to give back to the school that changed his life.

“ ‘I want to make it,’ he says, ‘and then come back to help other kids like me. Because I honestly don’t know who I would have become without this place.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here. No firewall. Subscriptions are reasonable.

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Translators of Poetry: Line Up!

August 12, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Fitzcarraldo Editions.
Three publishing companies have launched the biennial Poetry in Translation prize, which will award an advance of $5,000 to be shared equally between poet and translator.

Anyone who has used Google Translate for a simple sentence knows that AI is not going to be doing quality translations of whole books anytime soon. There is too much subtlety needed.

And if that’s true for, say, a murder mystery, imagine how important a human translator is for poetry!

That’s why a new prize for poetry translation from publishers in the UK, Australia, and the US is arriving just in time — before the world gets lulled into thinking an AI translation is just fine.

Ella Creamer reports at the Guardian, “A new poetry prize for collections translated into English is opening for entries. …

“Publishers Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo Publishing and New Directions have launched the biennial Poetry in Translation prize, which will award an advance of $5,000 (£3,700) to be shared equally between poet and translator.

“The winning collection will be published in the UK and Ireland by Fitzcarraldo Editions, in Australia and New Zealand by Giramondo and in North America by New Directions.

“ ‘We wanted to open our doors to new poetry in translation to give space and gain exposure to poetries we may not be aware of,’ said Fitzcarraldo poetry editor Rachael Allen. …

“The prize announcement comes amid a sales boom in translated fiction in the UK. Joely Day, Allen’s co-editor at Fitzcarraldo, believes that ‘the space the work of translators has opened up in the reading lives of English speakers through the success of fiction in translation will also extend to poetry.’ …

“Fitzcarraldo has published translated works by Nobel prize winners Olga Tokarczuk, Jon Fosse and Annie Ernaux. ‘Our prose lists have always maintained a roughly equitable balance between English-language and translation, and some of our greatest successes have been books in translation,’ said Day. ‘We’d like to bring the same diversity of voices to our poetry publishing.’ …

“The prize is open to living poets from around the world, writing in any language other than English.

“The prize is being launched to find works ‘which are formally innovative, which feel new, which have a strong and distinctive voice, which surprise and energize and move us,’ said Day. ‘My personal hope is that the prize reaches fledgling or aspiring translators and provides an opening for them.’ …

“Submissions will be open from 15 July to 15 August. A shortlist will be announced later this year, with the winner announced in January 2026 and publication of the winning collection scheduled for 2027.

“The ‘unique’ award ‘brings poetry from around the world into English, and foregrounds the essential role of translation in our literature,’ said Nick Tapper, associate publisher at Giramondo. ‘Its global outlook will bring new readers to poets whose work deserves wide and sustained attention.’ ”

More at the Guardian, here. I hope a certain blogger who translates Vietnamese poetry into English will apply for that prize.

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Cleaning Up the Shipping Industry

August 11, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Seabound.
Seabound co-founders are chief executive Alisha Fredriksson (left) and chief technology officer Rojia Wen. Seabound’s carbon-capture prototype sailed for two months on a midsize container ship. 

Today’s story is about two women in the male-dominated shipping industry and their work on what might be a stepping stone to sustainability. The challenge is that the process to create their carbon-absorbing pellets also involves carbon release.

Emma Bryce writes at the Guardian, “An industrial park alongside the River Lea in the London suburb of Chingford might not be the most obvious place for a quiet revolution to be taking place. But there, a team of entrepreneurs is tinkering with a modest looking steel container that could hold a solution to one of the world’s dirtiest industries.

“Inside it are thousands of cherry-sized pellets made from quicklime. At one end, a diesel generator pipes fumes through the lime, which soaks up the carbon, triggering a chemical reaction that transforms it into limestone.

“With this invention, Seabound, the company behind it, hopes to capture large amounts of carbon directly from the decks of cargo ships, and help clean up this strikingly polluting industry. …

“Behind all this is Alisha Fredriksson, a young entrepreneur who once dreamed of being a doctor but reached a turning point in her career after reading a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that detailed the global implications of 2.7 F degrees versus 3.6 F degrees of warming.

“ ‘That’s when I realized that everyone around the world will be affected by the climate crisis, and so if I cared about large-scale social impact, the best thing I could do would be to help tackle it,’ says 30-year-old Fredriksson, chief executive of Seabound. …

“Trials have shown that her invention can scrub most of the carbon from the ship exhaust, filtered through its lime-pebbled interior. Ultimately, the goal is to have this device strapped to ships across the world’s oceans, she says. …

“She and her co-founder, Roujia Wen, hit on the idea of scaling down the existing quicklime-based carbon-capture technology typically employed at industrial plants. They then made a prototype, and attracted about $4m in funding from investors. Some of this came from shipping companies. ‘It all happened really quickly. Suddenly we had money, and we had to go build it,’ says Fredriksson. …

“Since then, successive prototypes of the Seabound container have taken her from the company’s test-bed in east London, to … a three-week voyage to test its efficiency. This showed that a Seabound unit can capture 78% of all the carbon from the exhaust that is pumped through it, and 90% of the sulphur, a toxic air pollutant.

“The latest prototype is being built to the dimensions of a standard 20ft shipping container, so that it can seamlessly slot in with cargoes on deck, Fredriksson says. … Once in port, the limestone-filled units can be substituted for containers of fresh quicklime. This product is made by heating limestone to high temperatures in kilns, an energy-intensive process that also releases CO2 from the limestone, making production extremely carbon-intensive.

“Companies are trying to make quicklime using kilns heated with renewable energy, or developing methods to capture the released CO2 so that it doesn’t enter the atmosphere. Seabound is working to source this ‘green’ quicklime, Fredriksson says. …

“Some critics are concerned that decarbonizing technologies could distract from solutions, such as zero-emission ammonia fuel or wind-powered innovations, that are essential to push the shipping industry to net zero.

“ ‘The potential for short-term use of carbon-capture retrofits on existing vessels should not become a justification to extend the lifespan of fossil fuels or delay the shift to truly sustainable alternatives,’ says Blánaid Sheeran, climate diplomacy policy officer at Opportunity Green, a nonprofit organization focused on gaps in global climate policy.

“But Fredriksson believes Seabound’s technology could support this transition. In April, at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization, UN member states agreed to a landmark deal that will start charging ships for every ton of emissions above a threshold. That threshold will gradually decrease to push the industry towards green fuels.

“Seabound slots into this new regulatory landscape, according to Fredriksson, by enabling ships to decarbonize their fuels, thereby lowering their emissions, and gradually adjust to the rules by adding more containers over time. …

“Fredriksson says [Seabound’s] offering is cost-effective and she has already had a commitment from one company to fit the first full-scale containers on to its ships this year.”

More at the Guardian, here. No firewall. Donations sought.

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Small Town Ways

August 10, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
Island people need transportation on the mainland. Some folks leave a car in the state parking lot near the boat. A mainland-based van allows school teams to compete with other towns and allows other islanders to go on outings.

I went on a theater junket with the New Shoreham senior citizens on a sweltering day mid-July. It was a lot of fun — and also an education in how small towns often manage daily challenges.

Of course, New Shoreham is not a small town in mid-July. The year-rounder number that the Ground Hog Day census captures — about 1,000 — can swell to 20,000 in the summer. Such are the ways of resort towns, islands or not.

But there are a couple aspects of small-town life that you can see anytime of year, like the ability to adapt. On that theater trip I was impressed with how people handled the transportation. And I’m always amazed at the island’s Bulletin Board, a Google Group that can find almost anything you need.

I’ll start with the transportation. The state provided a beautiful van that hangs out in a mainland parking lot near the boat. It has no paid driver. If it’s a question of going to a school sports event or an activity organized by the recreation department, the director of the department will drive.

Otherwise, maybe one of the many island taxi drivers will volunteer. There was one in our theater group, and her license for carrying passengers in a taxi qualified her for the van, too.

We all piled in, and she started the engine.

Then she called to the back of the bus, “Looks like we’re almost out of gas.”

Advice about the closest gas stations flowed from all the seniors. One offered to pay. Another called the recreation director, who told her, “Just fill it with as much as you need.” The driver made a reasonable guess at how much that might be, and off we went for a great afternoon at the theater.

On the way back, a passenger said she’d just got a text that her husband’s glasses had come in at the eyeglass store and asked if we could pick it up at the shopping mall. Everyone agreed we would still have plenty of time to catch the boat. So the van bounced over a few curbs and pulled up at the shop.

I loved how adaptive people were. They know that sometimes it’s their own request that others are willing to fill.

It’s the same with the Bulletin Board, an initiative that my neighbor and two other women came up with some years ago.

The women approve (or disapprove) posts all day from wherever they are in the world. The messages may be offers of free household items, ways to sign up for outings, the town council agenda, an electricity-disruption alert, or where to get oysters.

But most posts are quite idiosyncratic, and you’d be amazed how often those requests are met. Especially amazing to me is that people with a car that they leave in the mainland lot are so often willing to lend their car to someone else. Here goes.

“Just reaching out to ask if anyone may have a slide projector (for those of you who remember what they are!) for my family to use through Sunday afternoon.”

“Hi my Yamaha 9.9 engine on my dinghy keeps stalling every time we put it into gear is there anyone on the island that can work on it?”

“My son’s friend lost a navy blue Nike Elite backpack with Nike Kobe Grinches (red with green laces) size 5/5.5 as well as size 7 pink Lamello shoes a couple of days ago. Please call or text if you see any of these items.”

“I am looking to borrow someone’s mainland car from Sunday night until Monday last boat. I will be going to my apartment in Providence with fenced-in parking area and maybe to Trader Joe’s. I am a super safe driver who has never gotten in any accidents.” 

“Is anyone going thru Westerly that could pick up a package at 35 Broad St for my niece and either drop off at airport or bring on the boat for me – it’s a supplement so doesn’t take up much space.”

“Amazon sent me 4mg Nicorette quit-smoking gum by mistake. I can’t use them and Amazon doesn’t want them back. If you want them, please text …”

“We have friends visiting and their dog could use a vet visit for an infection. Before they head off Island I thought I’d check here.”

“Can someone please contact Hugo M to let him know the Post Office has his DHL package? I can’t remember who posted the inquiry for him.”

“I have this bird and it seems to be injured not able to fly any distance. Attached is a photo of the bird. I would love any help on what to do!”

“I’m looking for someone who is taking the ferry sometime today who doesn’t mind sitting with my 8.5 daughter? Grandparents will be waiting for her on the other side!”

“I am making my granddaughter a Peter Rabbit birthday cake and was wondering if anyone had 1-4 very small or small carrots with the greens on them that I could have or purchase?”

“Can anyone provide a contact telephone number for R— the electrician?”

“Does anyone have a large amount of black lace or similar material that I could buy from you or borrow for the day next Monday (8/4)? Will be used in costuming but will not be altered.”

“Posting for a friend who needs to get a car key to east Providence asap. Looking for a ride, to borrow a car, or the car key to be dropped off in East Providence.”

“Anyone want a August 1939 National Geographic? decent condition with some separation of cover . articles about Iowa and midwest, Australia.”

​​”Does anyone have a car I can borrow for this Saturday please? Only going to be in Wakefield. [A later post says] All set with car.”

“I know this is a huge favor to ask. Looking for a car Friday-Saturday. Trying to get to NYC for the night and train tickets are insane. I’ll fill w gas, wash, wax on wax off. Anything!”

“Is this your dog? I’m a dog lover but this dog has peed on every plant I own.”

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Bronze Menagerie

August 9, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Navy Yard Garden & Art, Inc.
Gillie and Marc’s “The Wild Table of Love,” part of their “Wildlife Wonders” collection.

There’s a new outdoor art exhibit in Boston that seems like it might be worth a special trip. It entails impressive bronze sculptures of animals from rhinos to octopuses. In its way, it conveys messages about conservation and human coexistence.

Solon Kelleher reports at WBUR, “There’s a new 36-foot-long octopus on display in Boston as of this week. It’s made of bronze and weighs nearly 8 tons.

“You’ll find the massive octopus on Dry Dock 2 at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard, as if it climbed out of the water by the USS Constitution Museum to meet a few land animal friends. A different wild animal sits on each of its hefty tentacles. … The piece is called ‘The Arms of Friendship.’

“It’s one of three fantastical wildlife sculptures installed in Charlestown, on view for the next two years. The name of the collection is ‘Wildlife Wonders’ by activists and artists Gillie and Marc, a duo known for public art displays of animals around the globe. This particular installation is organized by the Boston nonprofit Navy Yard Garden & Art, Inc.

“  ‘The term that we gave is a “Bridge of Joy” to connect Charlestown — which is divided by the Tobin Bridge,’ said Robin DiGiammarino, president of Navy Yard Garden & Art. …

“There’s another statue a short walk down 5th Street underneath the Tobin Bridge. That one is called ‘The Wild Table of Love,’ and it features about a dozen wild animals sitting at a table together as if to share a meal. Two empty chairs function as an invitation for passersby to pose with the sculptures. The third is located closer to the water in the Charlestown Naval Shipyard Park. It portrays a figure with the head of a rabbit and the body of a human attempting to get a hippo to try something new. That work is aptly named ‘The Hippo Was Hungry to Try New Things with Rabbitwoman.’

“DiGiammarino said the group collaborated with the Charlestown Coalition and several of its partner organizations — including Turn it Around, Charlestown Trauma Team, Institute of Health Professions, Harvard-Kent Elementary School and the National Parks Service — to review proposals of four different art installations. “’The one that had the most votes was Gillie and Marc,’ said DiGiammarino. …

“Although the scenes are out of this world, DiGiammarino imagines the ways visitors can see themselves in these statues. ‘ There are different animals sitting at the table with all different food in front of them, and those animals in the wild would not get along,’ she said. ‘But here they are having a meal together.’ …

“Navy Yard Garden & Art plans to announce events and curated offerings around these statues, including an augmented reality workshop with local tech company Hoverlay and a photo contest with a grand prize of a Gillie and Marc mini octopus statue.” More at WBUR, here.

Other amazing photos are here. And the artists’ website, here, has additional pictures and background information.

It reads in part, “British and Australian artists, Gillie and Marc … are redefining what public art should be, spreading messages of love, equality, and conservation around the world. …

“The artists are best known for their beloved characters, Rabbitwoman and Dogman, who tell the autobiographical tale of two opposites coming together to become best friends and soul mates. As unlikely animal kingdom companions, the Rabbit and the Dog stand for diversity and acceptance through love. Gillie and Marc believe art is a powerful platform for change. Their art is multi-disciplinary, paying homage to the importance of togetherness, as well as the magnificence of the natural world, and the necessity of preserving it. …

“Gillie grew up in Zambia and realized her love for art by sketching all the wonderful wildlife that surrounded her, falling in love with the captivating creatures with each drawing she created. Tragically, she saw an elephant brutally shot one day. This had a profound impact on her as a young child and from then on she vowed to dedicate her life and work to protecting Earth’s innocent animals. While in his twenties, Marc fell in love with conservation on a trip to Tanzania to see the chimpanzees. …

“Finding an extra special place within the hearts of the artists are rhinos. This love affair began during a project memorializing a black rhino and her calf who mysteriously died in a Zoo in Australia. The artists were heartbroken by this tragedy and wanted to create an artwork that would not only remember the rhinos but also raise awareness about conservation. This sparked a fire that led to the duo learning all they could about rhinos, trying to find a way to give a voice to the voiceless, and help people to understand the urgency for the conservation of these beautiful animals. …

“Their unique approach to contemporary conservation has generated unprecedented awareness and funds to protect some of the world’s most endangered animals. Most recently they unveiled ‘A Wild Life for Wildlife’ in NYC, featuring the world’s longest interactive wildlife tandem bicycle; ‘Love the Last March’ at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, showcasing a 200-meter wildlife-saving sculpture; and ‘A Wild Life for Wildlife’ in London, featuring nine magnificent interactive sculptures displayed along the Thames in the heart of the city.”

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Universal Childcare for $7

August 8, 2025 by suzannesmom

Illustration: The Guardian.
Why did a province in Canada decide to provide universal childcare for only $7 a day? And how was it supposed to decrease the budget deficit?

When I read in June that Quebec was providing universal childcare for very little cost to families, all I thought was, How can they manage it?

Isabeau Doucet explains at the Guardian that the system actually pays for itself.

“When asked how much she pays for childcare, Leah Freeman chuckles and says she isn’t sure. ‘It’s like C$93 (about $67) every two weeks or something. I barely see it leaving my bank account,’ she said.

“To most parents in the US, where the average cost of childcare is $1,000 per month and can reach more than $2,000 a month in some states, the idea of paying so little sounds impossible. But it’s happening – north of the US border in Quebec, Canada, where Freeman’s three-year-old daughter, Grace, attends a subsidized early childhood education center (centres de la petite enfance, known by its acronym CPE), for C$9.35, or less than $7 a day.

“As soon as she found out that she was pregnant, Freeman, a social worker, placed her daughter on a handful of waiting lists through a government website. Now she can drop her daughter off for up to 10 hours a day, between 6am and 6pm, five days a week, all year round. In addition to childcare, Grace sees a speech therapist at the CPE. A daily menu of the home-cooked meals and snacks is posted at the building’s entrance every morning; meals are on a monthly rotation with seasonal changes and locally sourced produce when available.

“All this is possible because in 1997, Quebec lawmakers enacted a universal childcare program as part of an effort to give equal opportunities to all children – especially kids from low-income families – to get young mothers back to work and to increase the government’s tax revenue and eliminate the province’s budget deficit.

“The massively popular program has been a win for everyone involved: it offers high-quality early education to toddlers; good, unionized jobs to childcare workers; has helped close the gender pay gap; affords young families crucial support in the earliest years of their children’s lives and has been a financial boon to the government. It’s been so popular that now the model is being built up across the rest of Canada.

“Perhaps ironically, Quebec’s approach was partly inspired by the groundbreaking research into early childhood coming out of the US – that providing high-quality education early on was not just socially good but a smart economic investment.

“ ‘The best way to reduce social inequalities is to invest in small children very early in their lives,’ said Nathalie Bigras, a retired professor at Université du Québec à Montréal who spent her career researching Quebec’s childcare. …

“On the ground floor of a redbrick school that also houses an adult education center, Les Trottinettes (‘The Scooters) is a CPE that serves 26 kids from nine months to five years old. It’s part of a network of five CPEs in Verdun, a traditionally working-class, though rapidly gentrifying, neighborhood of Montreal.

“Asylum seekers who are single parents can enroll their children here while they take French language classes and continuing education courses upstairs.

“Across two big rooms with a maze of different play stations, children paint bright colors at small easels. There’s a water table, a sand box, wooden construction blocks, colorful bricks, a quiet reading nook and lots of well-loved, sturdy wooden furniture. …

“ ‘You can learn so much about a society by studying its approach to early childhood,’ said Stéphane Trudel, a trained sociologist and the general manager of Les Trottinettes. ‘We’re at the frontline of social inequalities, of gender inequalities, of cultural clashes.’ Yet he finds that very few anthropologists or journalists are interested in it. ‘It’s a blind spot,’ he said.

“Trudel credits research from the US as having influenced Quebec’s approach to early childhood education. American research spanning child welfare, psychological development, nutrition, education and economics was extensively cited in the 1991 report that led to Quebec’s new family policy. And even in terms of pedagogy, Les Trotinette’s curriculum, for instance, is based on HighScope, an approach started in Michigan designed to close the opportunity gap for low-income families.

“HighScope’s longitudinal study, conducted by the Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman, found lasting intergenerational benefits to high-quality early childhood education, calculating an estimated C$12.90 return for every C$1 invested – from success in school, higher earning over decades, reduced crime and use of social assistance programs.

“The roots of Quebec’s childcare model go back decades, to the French-speaking province’s ‘Quiet Revolution’ in the 1960s, which booted the Catholic church out of state institutions and made them more secular and egalitarian. Marriage went out of fashion and rates plummeted, leading to dire poverty among children of single mothers.

“Social movements, feminist activists, labor unions and single-parent family associations demanded new policies, such as parental leave and universal childcare, to address the new family structures. Later, in 1997, the secessionist Parti Québécois government enacted the new family policy as part of an effort to restructure the social safety net and eliminate the budget deficit.

“The crown jewel of this new policy was the creation of the centres de la petite enfance (CPE), an autonomous network of subsidized childcare centers, offering high-quality, low-cost care (C$5 at the time), with unionized staff and parent-led governance.

“ ‘It’s the parents who run the show,’ said Pauline Marois, the architect of Quebec’s family policy who was also Quebec’s first female premier, and is now chancellor of Université du Québec à Montréal. …

“Marois described the key ingredients for this public system’s success as investment into educational programs, universal access through low fees and high parental involvement – because no institution could protect children’s interests better than their parents. …

“It might seem like a public childcare network offering high-quality education, homemade meals and help for children with special needs for about C$10 a day would be expensive for taxpayers, but it actually generates a profit, said Pierre Fortin, an emeritus economist at Université de Quebec at Montreal.

“ ‘The system pays for itself – it brings women into the workplace and they pay taxes,’ said Fortin, a leading expert on the economics of subsidized childcare. ‘You get more money flowing into government coffers.’ This extra tax revenue actually exceeds what the government initially paid to establish the universal childcare system, he said. …

“Today, Quebec has among the highest female labor force participation rates in the world right next to Sweden, while the US lags more than 10% behind. In addition, the gender pay gap . …

“Measuring the causal impact of Quebec’s subsidized childcare on factors such as poverty and social assistance is an imprecise science, but Fortin points out that the number of single-parent families on social assistance in Quebec plummeted by more than 50% in the decade following the reform. Today, Fortin calculated exclusively for the Guardian, that Quebec has 75% fewer single-parent families on social assistance than it did in 1996.

“It’s also had a tremendous impact on childhood wellbeing. In 1996, child poverty rates across Canada were at an all-time high and children in Quebec were among the worst off. Today, it’s the opposite. …

“Fortin estimates that poverty in Quebec decreased by more than 60% in two decades, but points out that universal childcare wasn’t implemented in isolation, but alongside other important social policies, such as enhanced parental leave (now up to 55 weeks of paid leave), high rates of education and employment and pay equity legislation. …

“ ‘I’m convinced that the more women we have in politics, the more we’ll move towards public policies that promote gender equality and the fight against poverty,’ said Marois.”

Lots more at the Guardian, here. No paywall there, but please consider giving them a donation.

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How AI Is Helping a Small Publication

August 7, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: MinnPost.
Cynthia Tu of Sahan Journal is using Chat GPT to improve revenue streams.

A few times in the past, I’ve had reason to link to a story at Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom serving immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota. Now NiemanLab, a website about journalism, links to an article on a surprising development at the small publisher.

Lev Gringauz, reporting at MinnPost via NiemanLab, writes “As journalists around the world experiment with artificial intelligence, many newsrooms have common, often audience-facing, ideas for what to try.

“They range from letting readers talk to chatbots trained on reporting, to turning written stories into audio, creating story summaries and, infamously, generating entire articles using AI — a use case vehemently rejected by many journalists.

“But Sahan Journal, the nonprofit newsroom serving immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota, wanted to try something different.

“ ‘We’re less enthusiastic, more skeptical, about using AI to generate editorial content,’ said Cynthia Tu, Sahan Journal’s data journalist and AI specialist.

“Instead, the outlet has been working on ways to support internal workflows with AI. Now, it’s even testing a custom ChatGPT bot to help pitch Sahan Journal to prospective advertisers and sponsors. …

“While AI has plenty of ethical and technical issues, Tu’s work highlights another important aspect: The intended users — in this case, the Sahan Journal team.

“ ‘A lot of … this experiment is less of a technical challenge,’ Tu said. ‘It’s more like, how do you make [AI] fit in the human system more flawlessly? And how do you train the human to use this tool in a way that it was intended?’

“Sahan Journal’s AI experimentation, and Tu’s job, are supported by a partnership between the American Journalism Project, a national nonprofit helping local newsrooms, and ChatGPT creator OpenAI. …

“Liam Andrew, technology lead for the AJP’s Project & AI Studio, sees part of his job as helping newsrooms overcome hesitancy around AI. …

“Tu joined Sahan Journal fresh from a Columbia Journalism School master’s program in data journalism. She had played a little with chatbots, but otherwise didn’t have much experience working with AI. …

“For one investigation, Tu used a Google AI tool to process the financial data of charter schools in Minnesota. Thinking about how to save time on backend workflows, Tu then helped Sahan Journal generate story summaries, tailored for Instagram carousels, with ChatGPT. …

“ ‘You need to know what the workflow of the organization looks like…[and how] you push for change within a department when they’ve already been doing [something] for the past five years using a manual or human labor way.’

“That knowledge came in handy when finally tackling Tu’s core AI project: improving Sahan Journal’s revenue.

“The project stemmed from an anonymized database of audience insights, which included demographic information and interests. While an important resource, Sahan Journal’s small revenue team didn’t have the time to figure out how to leverage it. …

” ‘What if AI could feed two birds with one scone? A custom ChatGPT bot could process the audience data and personalize a media kit for clients. But it needed to work without being an extra burden on the revenue staff. …

“The magic of AI chatbots like ChatGPT is that you don’t need to know how to code to use them. Just type in a prompt and get rolling. …

“Less magically, AI chatbots can be hard to keep in line for specific tasks. Designed to be eager helpers, they hallucinate false results and stubbornly twist instructions in an attempt to please.

“Troubleshooting those issues was no simple task for Tu.

“The custom revenue chatbot struggled to keep Tu’s preferred formatting, and hallucinated audience data. The bot would also intermix results from the internet that Tu had not asked for. None of that was ideal for a tool that should work reliably for the revenue team.

“ ‘I was kind of jumping through hoops and telling it multiple times, “Please do not reference anything else on the internet,” ‘ Tu said. …

“Working with chatbots is an exercise in prompt engineering — mostly a trial-and-error process of figuring out what specific instructions will get the preferred result. As Tu said, ‘lazy questions lead to lazy answers.’ … Eventually, Tu settled on a reliable set of prompts.

“The custom chatbot takes about 20 seconds to find relevant data from the audience database — for example, pulling up how much of Sahan Journal’s audience cares about public transportation. Then it creates a summary for a media kit tailored to potential clients.

“The chatbot also double-checks its work by referencing the database again, making sure its output matches reality. And part of the database is shown for users to manually see the chatbot isn’t hallucinating. …

“Earlier this year, Tu introduced the final version of the revenue bot to Sahan Journal’s team. …

“By mid-April, the Sahan Journal revenue team had used the custom chatbot on six sales pitches, with three successfully leading to ads placed on the site. …

“But there’s a larger question hanging over this work: Is it sustainable? In a way, newsroom experiments with AI exist in a bubble.

“ ‘Everything is kind of tied to a grant,’ Tu said, referencing the AJP-OpenAI partnership that supports her work. But grants come and go as donor interests (and financials) change.”

The other unknowns are weighed at NiemanLabs, here.

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Finns Really Love Their Libraries

August 6, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Oodihelsinki.
Veera the robot on patrol at $116 million Oodi library in Helsinki, Finland. Last year, the average Finn visited libraries nine times and borrowed 15 books. Finns really love libraries.

Whenever I write about libraries, I think of blogger Laurie and the young adult fantasy series she wrote called the Great Library Series. Laurie is someone who appreciates the power of books, the magical power of reading.

Apparently the Finns do, too.

Oliver Moody reports at the Times [of London], “In the €100 million [~$115 million] Oodi library, which looms over central Helsinki like a cruise ship from the future, robots called Tatu, Patu and Veera trundle back and forth between the shelves and the reading rooms.

“Against this backdrop, foreign visitors might be surprised to see how many children and teenagers are engaged in an almost unsettlingly archaic activity: reading and borrowing books. …

“Last year the average Finn visited them nine times and borrowed 15 books, resulting in the highest lending figures for 20 years.

“The appetite for children’s and young adults’ literature has risen to a record for the third year in a row, with a total of 38 million loans in 2024. That works out at about 40 books or other pieces of material, such as audiobooks, for each person under the age of 18. …

“Even by the standards of a country that is often ranked as the most literate on the planet, the numbers are remarkable. In Britain, the total number of loans has fallen to less than half of what it was at the turn of the millennium, despite a tentative recovery in the wake of the pandemic, and about 40 libraries a year are closing.

“Visits to German public libraries are still about a fifth lower than they were before the advent of Covid-19 and about one in five of them has shut down over the past decade.

“The most obvious explanation for the phenomenon is that Finland values its libraries and invests accordingly. The state spends about €60 [~$70] per capita on the public library system each year, approximately four times as much as the UK and six times as much as Germany.

“Where other countries rely on corporate skyscrapers or shopping centers for their visions of architectural modernity, Finland often looks to its libraries, such as Oodi and Vallila in Helsinki, the main Metso library in Tampere, or the revered 20th-century designer Alvar Aalto’s projects in Rovaniemi and Seinajoki.

“They have traditionally served as engines of social mobility and integration. Erkki Sevanen, professor of literature at the University of Eastern Finland, grew up in a working-class family in Eura, a thinly populated district of villages 110 miles to the northwest of Helsinki.

“ ‘My parents and relatives did not used to read books, but there was a fine and well-equipped public library in our home village,’ he said. ‘It opened a whole world of classical literature and philosophy for me in the 1960s and 1970s.’

“Sevanen said the public libraries were a significant part of the reason he had ultimately pursued a university career, and that today they perform a similar function for immigrants to Finland. …

“The roots of this culture predate Finland’s independence in 1918. Like large parts of Scandinavia and continental northern Europe, it was profoundly influenced by Lutheran Protestantism and its insistence that each individual should engage with the texts of scripture for themselves.

“ ‘The ability to read was a requirement for everyone who wanted to get married. To demonstrate their reading skills, people were tested at church gatherings,’ said Ulla Richardson, professor of technology-enhanced language learning at the University of Jyvaskyla.

“The movement gathered steam in the 19th century, when Finland was a semi-autonomous duchy in the Russian empire and the new public libraries were focal points for an emerging sense of national identity.

“They remain important hubs for Finnish society, providing a space in which people can be alone and together at the same time. ‘Many Finns tend to consider libraries almost as sanctuaries,’ Richardson said.

“Alongside computers and internet access, they offer board games, video games, musical instruments, sewing machines, seasonal theatre passes and even sports equipment in some cases. These services are particularly valued by families with straitened financial means, who might not otherwise be able to afford school textbooks or other media.

“ ‘The libraries are spaces that children and teens can access freely, especially if they don’t have other places to go,’ said Richardson. ‘These days we also have self-service libraries open when there are no personnel working.’ ” More at the Times, here.

The point about libraries helping immigrants acclimate reminds me that when I was still volunteering onsite instead of online (before Covid), we would take classes of immigrants to the nearest public library in Providence and explain how to get a library card.

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Sufi Dervishes in Syria

August 5, 2025 by suzannesmom

Photo: Shirin Jaafari/The World.
Moayyed al-Kharrat, whose family has been performing the Sema in Syria for decades, described the dance as a sort of prayer.

As recently as June, when radio show The World filed this story about whirling dervishes, hope seemed to be the main emotion in Syria. The brutal Assad regime was gone, and victorious rebels were promising diversity and justice. Today sectarian violence has erupted.

But I think there are still reasons for hope — and for diverse groups to flourish. Like the Sufis.

This post shares what Shirin Jaafari wrote about the famous Sufi dance and the performers’ hopes.

“In the heart of Damascus, a group of men and boys dressed in long, white robes and tall headpieces stood in a semicircle. Their chants filled the courtyard of a traditional Damascene house that was turned into a hotel. …

“As the melody built up momentum, several of the men and boys began to twirl, their white skirts flaring out like blooming flowers. The dancers’ synchronized rotations make them trance-like, seemingly detached from everything around them.

“The al-Kharrats say they are the only family in Syria who have continuously performed the Sema, as the dance is known. It was introduced to the country in the 14th century and first popularized by the Persian poet Rumi in Turkey.

“Through years of war, repression and threats from extremist groups like ISIS, the family has still been able to pass the ritual on to younger generations.

Now, they say they are hopeful about new opportunities under the new Syrian government.

“Moayyed al-Kharrat, one of the two brothers who oversee the dancers, said their great-uncle learned the Sufi dance and taught it to others in the family. …

“ ‘The spinning represents pilgrims moving around the Kaaba in Mecca,’ Kharrat said, referring to the ritual performed by Muslims. ‘It’s also reminiscent of the planets moving around the sun.’

‘During the ritual, one hand is extended upward, palm facing the sky, he went on to explain, which symbolizes receiving divine blessing. The other one is turned downward, palm facing the earth, to pass the blessings to the world.

“Mahmoud al-Kharrat learned the Sema when he was 4 years old. He said that keeping the tradition alive in Syria hasn’t been easy.

“Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam focused on spiritual closeness to God. It has long faced suspicion from extremists, who consider Sufis to be non-believers. ISIS fighters have attacked their shrines and killed and imprisoned the descendants of the saints and personalities they represent.

“The regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad didn’t prohibit the Kharrat family from performing, the brothers said. But it did make it difficult for them to get the right permissions. The Assad regime used the arts to paint a more positive image of itself to the world, they explained. For example, when foreign dignitaries visited, they asked the family to perform for them.

“As the civil war ravaged Syria, countries stopped issuing visas for Syrians to travel. The family found it almost impossible to take its performances to international audiences as it had done before. One time, they managed to go to the US, but upon returning, Mahmoud was questioned by a border guard about why he hadn’t yet completed Syria’s mandatory military service, which all men had to complete at the time.

“Mahmoud estimated that he ended up paying around $7,000 in bribes so he wouldn’t get sent to the frontlines. …

“At the Damascene home-turned-hotel, the first part of the performance wrapped up, and the two brothers discussed with the younger members what they could improve on. …

“After some discussion, they got ready for the next part of the performance — their long, white skirts sweeping the ground as they moved around.

“ ‘The best way to keep this tradition alive,’ Moayad al-Kharrat explained, ‘is to pass it on to the younger generation [making] sure they learn the chants, and the full meaning of what this dance represents.’ …

“ ‘When I dance, I feel like I’m flying,’ Mahmoud added. ‘I feel like a child who has just been given a birthday present.’ ”

More at The World, here.

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