Dusty Days With Wheezes & Rales; Randi In Northern Senegal With Peace Corps

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The season for dust has arrived in earnest, and has become a central topic of conversation.   (For context, see The Air We Breathe.)  I'm wheezing and crackling, my ears are sealed (and have been for nearly two weeks), and I've been referred by my lovely German physician to two specialists (ENT and pulmonologist), whom I will seek out next week.  I've twice been on Cortisone, but it's not kicking it this time around (despite the Austrian accent).  Patient as I've been, I continue deaf, or nearly so, my ears compacted.  A creaky door opens with each of my exhalations, a wee bit disconcerting.  It's a dusty place, at least through June, that's the reality.  

As strange as this may sound, I do find it interesting to be deaf, to be cloistered, as it were.  It's not that I'm deaf exactly;  more like I'm walking around with headphones on, or observing the world from a very well-insulated room.  I find the slight separation to be intriguing.  It is easier to remain centered, internal, a little less identified, less prone to drawn to what others say, or the tone with which something is voiced. 

Throughout the day, there persists a sensation of compactness within my ears, within my head.  It's quite different than a sore back, or tired feet.  Here the sensation is much closer to my sense of "I", my experience of myself, and my perception the world.  I've read that it's not possible to experience negative emotion when we're in contact with sensation.  For this reason, the persistent sensation of pressure in my ears is an opportunity for observing it's affect on instances of identification, and negative imagination.

Being deaf certainly changes the experience of teaching.  There is a loss of information coded in the sound of my own voice, and the sound/tone of my students.  I speak with the kids, read for them, provide instructions, feedback, and they seem to respond normally.   While "I" am split slightly, observing myself speaking, observing the strange resonance of my voice, observing the class responding.  My ears become omi-directional microphones, picking up all sounds equally, simultaneously, making it difficult to distinguish one voice from another.  Some tones I cannot hear:  Eric's deep, deliberate tone;  Marie's high pitch voice.  I know someone's speaking, but am unable to decode the sounds into words, like having a conversation underwater.

We need to be flexible enough to find meaning in life's shocks, large or small.  They are the source of real growth, me thinks.  Still, I'll be pleased to be "myself" again.

Addendum (2.7.09):

Since the writing of the blog entry above, I have been seen by an EMT and a pulmonologist.  The acute part of the illness has now passed, and, after a second visit to the pulmonologist, I'm on two inhalers:  Foradil and Miflasone, a corticosteroid.

Dakar & the Cap Vert Peninsula: A Case Study in Evolution, Speciation, and Reproductive Isolation

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Catalog of "hybrid" species from the Cap Vert Peninsula, SENEGAL:  (photo 1) Puppitweeticus senegalus;  (photo 2):  Mallardcrocus dakarus;  (photo 3) Chimpanmutticus africanus;  (photo 4) Kittycattyquirrel verticus;  (photo 5):  Vulpeschirpicus carrapidicus dakaricus honkhornicus. 

For more images of reproductive isolation from around the world, see Worth1000.

Arsuf (Apollonia): The Battle of Arsuf (1191)

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Image links:  image 1: CrusaderMap1;   image 2: Arsuf1;  image 3: from Arsuf2;  image 4: from Arsuf3;  image 5: from Arsuf4;  image 6: from Arsuf5.

The Battle of Arsuf is widely referenced, and serves as inspiration for video and board games, television documentaries, and discussions of military strategy and technologies.

The battle took place on September 7th, 1191.  While Saladin's forces were defeated on this day, it is difficult to know who really won in the larger context. Richard went on to take and hold Jaffa, but he never made it to Jerusalem.  Saladin learned that Richard was a very able commander, and opted to shift strategies, relying more on harassment and wearing down the Crusaders, playing rope-a-dope, rather than engaging in a pitched battle.  Richard returned to England in October of 1192 concerned over the news of his brother John's shenanigans back home.  Saladin agreed to a truce, and agreed to allow free Christian access to their Holy Sites.

An interesting back story to the Third Crusade was the reported respect and admiration shared by the two commanders toward each other.  By example, before his departure from the Holy Land, Richard sent messengers to Saladin proposing a truce.  The legates explained that once completing some business back home, Richard's intent was to return and kick Saladin's butt, if Saladin chose to resist.  In reply, Saladin remarked that "he thought King Richard so pleasant, upright, magnanimous, and excellent that, if the land were to be lost in his time, he would rather have it taken into Richard's power than to have it go into the hands of any other prince whom he had ever seen"  (from Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gestes Regis Ricardi).  Sweet.

The battle was well-chronicled, from both sides.  It's great reading:  a study in hyperbole, fanatical faith, and mythic heroes.  

A nice counterpoint and context to this rather self-serving, inflated source material is Terry Jones' The Holy Crusades, available for viewing on youtube.  

For other media links, see:

Battle of Arsuf (introduction to a video game)

Battle of Arsuf (in Arabic)

Batala de Arsuf (in Spanish)

The Advantages of Being a Biped

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Images (top to bottom):  1: Class conducting focused foot research (observing the roles of the heel/ball, toes, big toe, arch, etc., in walking); 2:  Ben carrying a tube of glue stick balanced on a whiteboard, walking as a biped;  3:  Rhynardt carrying apple as a quadruped; 4:  Emily balancing a full cup of water as a quadruped;  Rhynardt & Ben rolling at the finish line after carrying water balloons as quadrupeds.  

For video of this activity, see biped on BOT.

As my former students will recognize from the photos above, we're currently studying human ancestry in my 6th grade class.  It's a fun unit, with lots of hands-on (and feet-on) activities.  

In photo 1, students walk around the school barefoot, with their attention focused on various parts of their feet, exploring questions such as:  What is the role of the arch in walking?  What does it do for us?  What is the role of the heel, and the ball of our foot?  Why is the skin tougher there?  Can we observe the small muscle contractions in the bottoms of our feet as we walk?  What's going on there?  Etc., etc.

Understanding requires that we interact with a skill or concept from multiple points of entry, and in a rich context.  Thus, in exploring the advantages of being bipedal, students are asked to transport a variety of objects (a meter stick, a tube of glue stick balanced on a whiteboard, a dictionary, a cup of water) both as a biped and as a quadruped.  

I don't mind that the activity is noisy and draws attention, particularly of students in other grade levels.  I'm not concerned that our walking barefoot around campus looks a little weird.  These activities are a public demonstration of teaching for understanding, and a reminder that our teaching need not, and should not, be confined to the four walls of a classroom.

Knuckle-Walking at Hann Zoo

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For lots more media (video and stills) from this trip, go to zoo on BOT.  Look for Gallery 10.

Dakar has a zoo.  Like many things in the area, and I suppose in West Africa generally, the zoo is a little rough, cracked and worn, under-funded.  When I mentioned my interest in taking my students to the zoo, they collectively groaned, the zoo not being high on their list of favorite places.  The kids find the zoo sad, the animals in too-small enclosures, their frame of reference being either large game parks, or well-kept, modern zoos, with larger, landscaped enclosures.

We would be going to visit the chimpanzees, and their handler, hopefully for an up-close and personal encounter with them, an extension of our current study of human origins.

Randi and I visited the weekend prior.  The zoo reminded me of what American zoos might have looked like in the 1960s, prior what I take has been a renaissance in our understanding of animal behavior, and the design of zoos which attempts to more closely approximate their natural habitats.  When I was a youngster, I recall see big cats pacing in relatively small concrete enclosures.  What we attribute to mental illness today was then perceived as normal behavior.  The pacing made them appear more ferocious, as if they were impatiently waiting to escape and eat us. 

The class had a very memorable visit, for the incredible access we were allowed, under the watchful eye of the chimpanzee handler, who permitted students to interact directly with the animals.  Note the videos on BOT, which capture a few golden moments from this trip.

For visitors to this blog, email me at tspedding@sbcglobal.net for username/password access to our class website.

Arsuf (Apollonia): The Battle Of Megiddo (1918)

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Image links:  1:  from map;  2:  from aerial;  3-6:  from the Imperial War Museum Collection On-Line.

As previous entries written in Israel explained, Apollonia (also Arsuf/Arsur) is an archaeological site located on the Mediterranean coast some 10 km north of Tel Aviv.  While there is evidence of occupation as far back as the Chalcolithic Period (4500-3500 BCE), Apollonia reached its prominence during the Byzantine Period (313-636 CE).  

Apollonia was subsequently occupied during the Early Arab Period (638-1099), and the Crusader Period (1099-1260 CE), during which time a castle, complete with a moat, was constructed.  Interestingly, the Byzantine city had no fortified city wall, attesting to the peace of the times, unlike the Crusader fortress, which had layers and layers of fortification.

In March and April of 1265, a large Muslim Mamluk army laid siege to the city for forty days, razed it to the ground, and left it in ruins.  A thousand Hospitallers, including 90 knights, died in the fighting;  the rest were taken as slaves.  Just like the movies.

During its long history, Apollonia was the setting for two major, well-chronicled battles, both taking place in September, separated by a mere 727 years.  The first was the Battle of Arsuf (September 7th, 1191), pitting Richard 1 of England (the Lion-Heart) against Saladin (Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and leader of the Muslim resistance during the Third Crusade).  The second was the Battle of Megiddo (September 19-21, 1918) featuring British Admiral Edmund Allenby's offensive against the Ottoman Turks toward the end of WWI.  Both stories are the stuff of high budget, block-buster movies.

In the early '90s, we found around Apollonia WWI bullets and M1 shell casings mixed on the surface with green-glazed Crusader-age ceramics.  On a class field trip, one of my 5th graders found a howitzer shell casing with the date 1917 stamped on the encrusted back surface.  Amazing.

Over the years, as the internet has grown and its resources expanded, I've occasionally surfed around for images and articles regarding the Battle of Megiddo, hoping to identify images of Apollonia.  A recent search revealed the images above.  Of particular interest is Photo 2, taken in 1917, showing the Arab village of El-Haram, which may be the source of the human bones observed on our holiday.  I have also just discovered that soldiers from the 52nd Division borrowed three Roman-Byzantine columns at the close of WWI to mark their three crossing points on the Auju River, located just north of Apollonia.  Photographs taken recently reveal that these three columns are still standing.

Note the following links for further information regarding the Battle of Megiddo:

Wikipedia

Battle of Megiddo

Allenby

The Soldier's Burden (includes links to column photos)

Mysteries Overhead and Underfoot

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Return to Dakar, back to school, return to the work routine.  Good to have a week down.  Mister Spedding's back in costume.

It seems that my eagle-eyed students -- Will, Yoel, Adam and Damir -- have been finding a lot of interesting artifacts around campus this past week, mostly in the shell-rich ground cover around ISD.  I suspect that the shells are old, coming either from geologically old sedimentary marine layers, or from prehistoric (likely Neolithic) shell mounds.  (Professor Thiaw has mentioned this in his writing.)

It happens that we've been talking about/looking at prehistoric artifacts in our current unit on human ancestry.  

Amongst the cool things discovered by students this past week was the object shown above in photos 2-5.  Consensus is that it is a jaw, lined with little teeth, but of what?  A turtle?  Thoughts?

W. shared with me a very different object, shown in photos 6-9.  He found it in the middle of ISD's large athletic field.  It's metal, one side with a pumice/scorie-like surface, fused with air vesicles, another side with several round bits, as if worked or machined. 

So what is this object, and how did it end up in the middle of a grassy field? 

Being that the simplest explanation is usually the correct explanation, then someone must of dropped the object while walking across the field.  A few of the kids speculate that the object was dropped by a bird.  Whether pooped or carried in a beak, that must have been some painful baggage.

But what is it exactly?

R. thinks it's welding slag, the round bits being metal that curled in welding. 

I prefer to think big (some would prefer to use the word delusional), and offer a more exotic, astronomical solution:  The object is clearly space debris that survived reentry into the atmosphere.  There's a lot of it up there, you know.  See image 1 and these web sites (hunks of junk, space junk, NASA Orbital Debris Program) in support my albeit slightly fantastic, wishful theory. 

I'm sending the photos to NASA.  If they verify that the object's space junk, I'll be back to gloat.  If not, well, you'll not hear another word about it.