Hello,

As the summer ends, many of your are completing your final course requirements. It might be an internship, a thesis or dissertation, or some other kind of project. And as the prospect of finishing your education gets closer and closer, you will begin to worry more and more about finding a job and establishing your career. Below are some helpful steps you can take to set you on the right path.

First, if this is a rather new endeavour, start by scheduling an appointment with your institution’s Career Service Centre. They will have a set of resources for those of you new to curriculum vitae and resume building, networking, career counselling, etc.

Second, sign-up for job search engines that are applicable to you. These engines deliver job ads via email. Set your default to receive a digest of job adds each day or week. For example, www.idealist.org is a well-known job and networking website with a progressive and environmental cast. If you are looking for this sort of work, then checking Idealist daily is a wise move.

Third, bookmark the Employment Opportunities web pages for organizations you would like to work for. Check these pages weekly. For example, if you wanted to work for the Mass. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), you would consistently check their Job Opportunities page at www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aboutus_Job_Opportunities.

Fourth, if you have not already done so, seek out paid, stipend or volunteer internships. The right internship offers not only experience, but excellent networking possibilities as well. Non-profits and government agencies are particularly prone to using internships to vet candidates for jobs that are not yet advertised. See for example the Defenders of Wildlife web page with information on internships, www.defenders.org/about/interns.html.

Fifth, a job-search is full-time work. Don’t put yourself between a rock and a hard place by plunging into a full-time job search before you get your ducks in a row. Prioritize finishing the degree, and organize your life for a full-time search. As soon as your degree requirements are completed, then plunge into the job search with vigour!

Cheers, Bill

Question: What computer should I buy?

Choosing the right computer platform is a personal and institutional decision. The machine and its software has to work for you, as well as integrate into the network of hardware and software applications of your department and institution.

I cannot tell you what is right for your particular circumstance. I will, however, share with you my personal experience.

I was forced to switch from Mac to Windows when I took my first job in the academy. And over the last ten years, I navigated the minefield of Windows software and hardware with some success, as well as much frustration. I have also watched my students struggle with similar issues.

A couple of years ago I began writing about my disappointments with Windows software and hardware. I grew tired of crashes, hangs, bad design and endless clicks. The recent comments of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s Chief Executive, that people buying the Vista OS can downgrade to XP ‘for free’ underscores my point.

So I recently made a switch back to Apple and bought a MacBook Pro with OS X Leopard. I’m extremely pleased I did. I chose a 15″ screen, a 1/2 terabyte time capsule. I supplemented this with a widescreen monitor, as well as a wireless keyboard and mouse. I also had 4 GB of memory installed.

The current iteration of OS X is vastly superior to XP — from the GUI, to the program architecture, to the interoperability with the web. Indeed, I am a bit astonished at the difference. I have not used Vista, but what I hear and see from my students (and Ballmer) does not reassure me. Indeed even Microsofts’ flagship software — Office — works better on a Mac.

If you are or will be a university student or professor, you may be thinking about switching from Windows to Apple. If you do, here are a few resources that may be of help along the way.

Apple’s overview on moving from Windows to OS X. Great place to start.
www.apple.com/getamac/movetomac

Even better, Apple’s Switch 101
www.apple.com/support/switch101

Little Machine’s O2M (Outlook to Mac) software. Before you give it a whirl, make sure you set your dates and times to American standard. World time and Canadian date formats gum up the works.
www.littlemachines.com

Once you’ve accomplished the basics, ThinkMac has a switching guide that takes you to the next step.
ThinkMac.net

For a list of the best open source Mac software, try:
OpenSourceMac.org.

For a complementary list of the best Mac software (open source or not), try:
BestMacSoftware.org.

For a list of portable applications you can use on a usb key with your mac, try:
FreewareOSX.com.

Version Tracker and MacUpdates will help you find other applications, plugins, scripts, etc.
VersionTracker.com
MacUpdate.com

And if you like to keep up with Apple innovations and gossip, look to Apple Insider.

Finally, if you prefer a paper guide, try David Pogue’s Switching to Mac (2008).

If you will be studying in a windows environment, you can install Parallels desktop or use Apple’s BootCamp to run XP and windows programs. Since OS X is built on an open source core, many open source programs made for Unix or Linux will also work on the Apple through the use of the X11 emulator that comes with your Apple. Both Parallels and X11 are easy to use.

If it is of help to you, here’s a taste of what I’m running on my MacBookPro today. I’ve tried to build on a bundle of native Apple software, supplemented with other open source and proprietary software.

OS X Leopard
Coda (Dreamweaver alternative)
Cyberduck (ftp client)
Firefox and Safari (browsers & IE alternatives)
Address Book, iCal and Mail (Outlook alternative)
Google Earth
Inkscape (photoshop alternative)
iPhoto (Picassa alternative)
iTunes (of courese)
KeePassX
Kompozer (Dreamweaver alternative)
MarsEdit (blog editor)
NeoOffice (Microsoft Office alternative)
iWork (Microsoft Office alternative)
Sente (Endnote alternative)
Skype and iChat
SyncDifferent (usb syncronization)
UnArchiver (WinZip alternative)
VLC (Windows Media Player alternative)
Xee (image browser)

I hope my experience is of some help to you, and good luck with your computer purchase

cheers, Bill

A short note to say that as of this Fall, I am joining Williams College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. Williams is a terrific liberal arts college located in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. I could not be happier with this wonderful opportunity.

I hope you will keep in touch. My email and other contact information will remain the same, as will the Practical Ethics website (www.practicalethics.net) and Ethos blog (www.practicalethics.net/blog/).

cheers, Bill

From July 17 to July 23, 2008, I took part in a six-day “Whole Thinking Retreat” sponsored by the Center for Whole Communities at Knoll Farm in Fayston, Vermont. The twenty-plus participants and facilitators were a multi-racial group of environmental leaders from across the country trying to move beyond the limited thinking so often embedded within each of our particular sectors of the movement. My cohort now joins over 700 other alumni of similar Center retreats. The reflections below are adapted from some journal writing I did upon returning home. For more information about the Center for Whole Communities, please go to http://www.wholecommunities.org/.

Steve Chase

Driving home from Knoll Farm reminded me of the last scene in My Dinner With Andre. In that movie, Wally Shawn is driving home in a cab through the streets of New York City–something he’s done countless times before–and he is staring out the window transfixed, seeing everything again for the first time and with appropriate awe. All of life was sacramental to him after his amazing dinner with his friend.

That was also true for me during my quiet trip home through the sometimes cloud-hidden and rainy Green Mountains and hills of Vermont. I drove in silence (without my usual talk radio jabbering on and on) at 55 miles per hour–ten miles an hour less than the speed limit, and twenty-five miles an hour less than I usually drive. Not changing lanes, not passing anyone, and burning far less gas on this trip, I had time to look out the window more, to notice my breathing, to think deeply about my time at Knoll Farm and about all of my companions on the retreat journey, including the luminous green humming bird I saw in one of the flower gardens during one of the few sunny moments in the week.

In Jewish Scripture, the word for “sin” literally translates to the phrase “missing the mark.” At the Farm, I tasted “the mark” with unusual vividness. I tasted being a part of a diverse, inspiring, and intentional community working to create a more environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet. I tasted what Jesus called faithfulness–being both smart as a serpent and as open-hearted as a dove.

For five of our days together, we walked up and down Bragg Hill—or rode in the “sun buggy”–though the Farm’s gardens, grasslands, and woods. At the top of the hill, we sat in a circle in a giant yurt and shared our core visions and values and—very blessedly—took the time to talk honestly about race, power, and privilege in our lives and in our organizations. We did this even when it was painful, incomplete, and raw. All of us experienced moments of anger, hurt feelings, and misunderstanding in that yurt—as we sometimes did during the rest of our time together at Knoll Farm. Yet, we also shared many moments of profound forgiveness, repentance, and insight. We became imperfect, but powerful, allies during those six days.

Our time together also fed my tattered, middle-aged, Quaker soul. We spent from ten at night to ten in the morning in silence. We even meditated together several times during the “talking” part of our day. We told stories about our lives and about our work back home to help heal the world. There was one night of ecstatic dancing and chores everyday, as well as hot, outdoor, solar-heated showers early in the morning, sometimes taken in the rain. I mulched and picked blueberries, sorted wool, or shucked peas most afternoons. There was singing sometimes while we worked or did spoon carving–and some people read poetry before dinner. Don’t even get me started about the food! There were also giant orange moons coming up over the mountains at least partially visible through the clouds to the southeast most every night. These moons were most frequently viewed from a fire circle where several people sat a while before heading off to sleep in their tents.

I found it hard to say goodbye to everyone at the Farm and drive home on our last morning. Yet, as well as one can driving alone in a car powered by gas and lubricated by oil, I came much closer to the mark than normal on that journey home. Inside that car, I drank water from the Farm that I carried in the metal bottle that I now usually keep clipped to my belt loop. On such a trip in the past, I would have stopped along the way and purchased six or seven plastic bottles of diet soda.

I also got hungry for lunch near Randolph and took the town’s exit off Interstate 89 and drove right past the MacDonald’s at the end of the ramp. Usually, driving alone and with no one looking, I would have turned into that parking lot and indulged in some childhood/teenage comfort food, one of my private guilty pleasures that has had a huge addictive pull on me for decades. On this afternoon, however, MacDonald’s did not hold any allure or offer any pleasure to me. It was not just far from the mark, it was also far from my heart.

Instead, I drove into town and looked for a little, locally-owned restaurant that served me a handmade salad with a bit of chicken, a hard boiled egg, and some diced black olives on top of a mix of greens, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and carrots all lightly dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The Depot Restaurant owner brought it to me with a smile, along with a slice of homemade bread, and all of it in a glass bowl!
I ate slowly thinking of the single wooden bowl that I had eaten out of every meal for a week, the very bowl that was now sitting cock-eyed on the front seat of my borrowed car. I also thought of Helen and Jay, two long-time organic farmers that I now knew personally. I silently lifted my glass of local tap water and toasted them for their love of our soil and their ability to help the earth say beans or squash or blueberries.

I only wished that the owner had stood by the table before I ate and told me what farm every ingredient in the salad had come from. I also fantasized about someone standing up at the next booth and reading a poem by Rumi out loud and then another customer on the other side of the room offering a few passages from Wendy Johnson’s Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate. Gently letting go of that sweet image, I offered a silent prayer before I ate my lunch. “Stealth meditating” Wendy would call it.

Driving homeward again, I felt Dunking Donuts, Burger King, even the Olive Garden slipping away from me. As I munched one-handed on Knoll Farm organic blueberries for my dessert, I felt myself drawing closer toward the mark–closer toward farmers markets, roadside produce stands, locally-owned restaurants, and the organic section of my big chain supermarket until those precious folks in Keene, who are working on establishing a food coop in our town, succeed. And, yes, I thought I should send them a little money and a thank you note, right after I send a thank you poem to all the dear ones from my retreat week at Knoll Farm.

When I finally arrived in Keene, I picked up my computer from work and drove straight to my house, unlocked my backdoor—I hadn’t had keys in my pocket for five days, let alone a computer nearby—and I began to put my stuff away. I laughed at a week’s worth of unread newspapers dutifully piled on the dining room table by my partner Katy and I checked to see if there was any mail for me that had arrived while I was gone. I only opened one piece—the invitation to the upcoming September weekend celebration of the Center for Whole Communities’ fifth year anniversary at Knoll Farm.

I drank some water from my own kitchen sink faucet and got back in my borrowed car to fill up its tank at a Citgo station—whose profits at least help some of the poor in Venezuela. I then returned the car to my friend and, by way of a small thank you, gave her my last unmolested box of Knoll Farm blueberries. She was thrilled. We hugged, chatted a bit, and then she offered me a ride home. Even with it threatening rain again, I said no.

Like my four hour drive home, I walked this final bit as Wally Shawn rode home in his cab—in my case, wide-eyed and delighted while walking by our Town Common, which sits across from City Hall and the big white United Church of Christ, then on down our Main Street dotted with small businesses on either side, past the Colonial Theater (an amazing nonprofit arts organization), and up the hill on Water Street to my little house surrounded by Katy’s flowers. Walking through my community, I felt more committed than ever to fostering creative citizen action for climate protection, ecological sustainability, social justice, and the democratic control of corporations.

Still, on this day, I just sat quietly looking forward to Katy returning from work and hearing all about her week. I imagined her as a double rainbow over the Mad River Valley and waited.

Steve Chase is the founding director of the Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program at Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire. He is also the editor of “The Well-Trained Activist” blog (http://eaop-blog.blogspot.com).

cheers, Bill

~

Lori Marino is a senior lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University and a faculty affiliate of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution in Atlanta.

Lori received her doctorate degree in biopsychology from The State University of New York at Albany in 1995, where she began her work on comparative brain size evolution in cetaceans and primates. Her research expertise includes the evolution of brain size and intelligence in other species, cognitive ethology, and self-awareness, as well as human-nonhuman relationships and welfare issues.

Lori is the author of over eighty scientific papers, book chapters, and popular articles. In 2001 she and Diana Reiss published the first definitive evidence for mirror self-recognition in a non-primate species – the bottlenose dolphin. She also publishes and speaks extensively on ending exploitation of dolphins and whales around the world in the dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) and marine park industries. She has developed and teaches courses in animal welfare and non-invasive approaches to neuroscience, including Brain Imaging, and is interested in not only training students to be critical thinkers and scientists but also in providing an academic context for the study of non-invasive models of science, animal welfare, advocacy, and ethics.

Lori is the co-founder of the Atlanta Animal Studies Group (http://atlantaanimalstudiesgroup.blogspot.com/), which is focused on exploring the cultural and ethical relationship between humans and non-humans, and is also a staff member at The Kerulos Center (http://www.kerulos.org/) dedicated to the prevention and treatment of human-caused suffering of other animals.

You can contact her at:

Lori Marino, PhD
Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program
Emory University
1462 Clifton Road Suite 304
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
(404) 727-7582lmarino@emory.edu

Selected Publications

Marino L, Lilienfeld S (2007) Dolphin assisted therapy: More flawed data, more flawed conclusions. Anthrozoos. 20: 239 – 249.

Marino L (2007) Animal consciousness. In The Encyclopedia of human-animal relationships, M Bekoff, ed. Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 1297-1301.

Marino L (2007) Dolphin mythology. In The Encyclopedia of human-animal relationships, M Bekoff, ed. Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 491-495

Marino L (2007) Scala natura. In The Encyclopedia of human-animal relationships. M Bekoff, ed. Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 220-224.

Bradshaw G and Marino L (2007) Minds of their own: The exciting new field of trans-species psychology. Best Friends Magazine, November/December: 24-26.

Marino L, Connor RC, Fordyce, RE, Herman LM, Hof PR, Lefebvre L, Lusseau, McCowan B, Nimchinsky EA, Pack AA, Rendell L, Reidenberg JS, Reiss D, Uhen MD ,Van der Gucht E, Whitehead H. (2007) Cetaceans have complex brains for complex cognition. Public Library of Science (PLOS) Biology, 5(5): e139.

Reiss D, Marino L (2001) Self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 98 (10): 5937-5942.

Marino L, Lilienfeld S (1998) Dolphin-assisted therapy: flawed data, flawed conclusions. Anthrozoos, 11(4): 194-199.

Many of the readers of this blog are spending the summer writing their research project, thesis or dissertation.

One way of implementing her advice is to form a writing support group. Here are a few suggestions that I’ve accumulated over time.

1. Meet every two or three weeks. Weekly is too often, once a month is too long.

2. Take turns providing a writing sample for the group to read and critique. The sample must not be too long, and should be distributed well ahead of your meeting time.

3. Feedback on the clarity and content of your writing is an obvious benefit. Less appreciated is how reading and critiquing the work of another sparks new ideas about your own interpretation and expression.

4. Distinguish between questions of expression (e.g. how to say something) and conception (e.g. theory, method, data sources).

5. Get an experienced writer to attend some of your meetings. This can be a professor, editor, senior grad student, etc. The trick is getting the right person with the right experience for the topic under consideration.

6. Someone (or two) must take responsibility for planning and organizing the meetings. Great ideas and meetings can fizzle out for lack of organization and preparation.

7. Meet in a venue that facilitates your dialogue and has a minimum of disruptions.

I hope these suggestions are of some help, and good luck in writing up your research!

cheers, Bill

cheers, Bill

~

Marc Bekoff is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society and a former Guggenheim Fellow. In 2000 he was awarded the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society for major long-term contributions to the field of animal behavior.

Marc is also regional coordinator for Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program, in which he works with students of all ages, senior citizens and prisoners, and also is a member of the Ethics Committee of the Jane Goodall Institute. He and Jane co-founded the organization Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: Citizens for Responsible Animal Behavior Studies in 2000. Marc is on the Board of Directors of The Fauna Sanctuary and The Cougar Fund and on the advisory board for Animal Defenders, the Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group, and the conservation organization WildEarth Guardians (also see SINAPU). He has been part of the international program, Science and the Spiritual Quest II and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) program on Science, Ethics, and Religion. Marc is also an honorary member of Animalisti Italiani and Fundacion Altarriba, and on the Scientific Review Board of the Great Ape Trust. In 2006 Marc was named a Fellow of the Dancing Star Foundation, an honorary board member of Captive Animals’ Protection Society. In 2005 Marc was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners.

Marc’s main areas of research include animal behavior, cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds), and behavioral ecology, and he has also published extensively on animal issues. He has published more than 200 papers and 18 books, including Species of mind: The philosophy and biology of cognitive ethology (with Colin Allen, MIT Press, 1997); Nature’s purposes: Analyses of function and design in biology (edited with Colin Allen and George Lauder, MIT Press, 1998), Animal play: Evolutionary, comparative, and ecological perspectives (edited with John Byers, Cambridge University Press, 1998), Encyclopedia of animal rights and animal welfare (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998), and a book on the lighter side, Nature’s life lessons: Everyday truths from nature (with Jim Carrier, Fulcrum, 1996). His children’s book, Strolling with our kin was published in Fall 2000 (AAVS/Lantern Books) as was The smile of a dolphin: Remarkable accounts of animal emotions (Random House/Discovery Books). The cognitive animal: Empirical and theoretical perspectives on animal cognition (edited by Marc, Colin Allen, and Gordon Burghardt) appeared in 2002 (MIT Press), as did Minding animals: Awareness, emotions, and heart (Oxford University Press) and Jane Goodall and Marc’s The Ten Trusts: What we must do to care for the animals we love (HarperCollins). Marc has edited a three volume Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), and a collection of his essays titled Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature was published by Temple University Press (2006).

A summary of Marc’s research on animal emotions titled The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy and Why They Matter was published in March 2007 by New World Library and he is currently completing a book on the evolution of moral behavior with Jessica Pierce titled Wild Justice: Reflections on Empathy, Fair Play, and Morality in Animals for the University of Chicago Press. Marc has also edited a four-volume Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships: A Global Exploration of our Connections with Animals for Greenwood Publishing Group (2007) and he and Cara Blessley Lowe have edited a book of readings on cougars titled Listening to Cougar (University Press of Colorado, 2007). Marc’s book Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect was also published in 2007 (Shambhala Publications) and Temple University Press will publish Marc’s children’s book, Animals at Play: Rules of the Game in 2008. He is currently working on a new book titled The Animals’ Manifesto: Ten Reasons Why Animals Are Asking Us To Treat Them Better Or Leave Them Alone (for New World Library) and revising his 1998 Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare (for Greenwood Press, 2009).

Marc’s work has been featured on 48 Hours, in Time Magazine, Life Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, Orion, Scientific American, Ranger Rick, National Geographic Kids, on NPR, BBC, Fox, Natur GEO, in a National Geographic Society television special (’Play: The Nature of the Game’), in Discovery TV’s ‘Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry’, and in Animal Planet’s ‘The Power of Play’ and National Geographic Society’s ‘Hunting in America’. Marc has also appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, and 20/20.

In 1986 Marc became the first American to win his age-class at the Tour du Var bicycle race (also called the Master’s/age-graded Tour de France). Among Marc’s hobbies are cycling, skiing, hiking, and reading spy novels.

Compassion is the key for bettering animal and human lives. People all over the globe are talking about ways to lighten our carbon footprint and accrue carbon credits. But what about our compassion footprint and compassion credits?

A good way to make the world a more compassionate and peaceful place for all animals, to increase our compassionate footprint, is to “mind” them. “Minding” animals means that we must “mind” them by recognizing that they have active minds and feelings. We must also “mind” them as their caretakers in a human dominated world in which their interests are continually trumped in deference to ours.

To mind animals it’s essential for people with varied expertise and interests to talk to one another, to share what we know about animals and use this knowledge for bettering their and our lives. There are many ways of knowing and figuring out how science and the humanities, including those interested in animal protection, conservation, and environmentalism (with concerns ranging from individuals to populations, species, and ecosystems), can learn from one another is essential.

You can read the entire essay at www.dailycamera.com.

cheers, Bill

Harvard students too are feeling the pull of doing good or doing well. You can read about it here:

Big Paycheck or Service? Students Are Put to the Test

Letters to the editor in response to the article further reveal the frustrations around this issue.

Image: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

You can read more about the decision at Reuters.

cheers, Bill

I thought this issue addressed an interesting nexus between ethics, science, culture, and public policy, so I wanted to share it with you. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Best -

Jared Milrad

Our Common Concern.com

—–

Sometimes it seems that blood drives are everywhere — at school, work, you name it. If seems that way, it’s because the need for them couldn’t be greater: of the 37% of adults eligible to give blood in this country, only 5-10% actually do. In fact, 2007 was reportedly one of worst years on record for blood availability. Most hospitals only have half a day’s supply of blood on hand, when experts say they should have at least a 3-5 day reserve.

Not only does this shortage mean extended waits for patients with non-life threatening diagnoses, but it may mean a potentially dangerous situation for those in need of immediate care.

Ready to help? If you’re eligible, go for it. If you’re gay, well, think again.

That’s because since 1983, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has had a blanket policy banning all potential gay male donors who have had sex with another man after 1977 (when HIV was first identified in the U.S. population).

The FDA cites significantly higher rates of HIV and Hepatitis B and C in the gay male population as its justification, saying blood reserves should not be unnecessarily compromised. Fair enough. But some experts and lay persons call the policy — which is replicated in Canada and some European countries — blatantly discriminatory.

For example, blood tests can now identify HIV-positive blood in as little as 10 days, making the process of screening blood much more efficient and accurate than it was in 1983. Others argue that gay men in committed, monogamous, and long-term relationships should be not excluded from donating blood simply simply because of their sexual orientation. And major blood banks such as America’s Blood Centers have revised their policy on the issue in light of new tests.

In California, activists have boycotted some blood drives and/or started their own. Most recently, the FDA rejected a request to amend the policy by allowing gay men who have not had sexual contact within the past twelve months to donate.

And so the debate rages on, albeit quietly (and gay blood-free, of course).

Our Common Concern
:: a socially conscious blog ::

For example, should we kill sea lions to save salmon, coyotes to protect sheep, wolves to safeguard cattle, or cats to preserve song-birds? These are the kinds of questions we addressed.

Hosted by Emily Harris and David Miller, ‘Playing God?’ was an episode of Think Out Loud, a fascinating programme of Oregon Public Broadcasting.

You can visit the ‘Playing God?‘ webpage to listen to the show, as well as add your comments to the interactive blog.

Next week I plan to write about the substance of the conversation for Ethos. Having the benefit of your thoughts on the Think Out Loud blog would be most helpful.

cheers, Bill

Jared was born in New York City and raised both in New York and central New Jersey. Vegan since the age of 14, Jared has been intensely interested in animal welfare for most of his life, rescuing everything from finches to feral cats as a teenager. While a freshman at North Carolina State University in 2002, Jared became the first student in the school’s history to publicly challenge its policy on animal dissections, leading to a national outcry of support for his beliefs and a significant revision of the school’s Student Choice policy.

Jared later graduated from N.C. State with a B.S. in Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences and, most recently, from Tufts University with a M.S. in Animals and Public Policy. His thesis at Tufts, entitled A Fundamental Nexus: Animals and Genocide From An International Policy Perspective, advocated for revised genocide prevention and response policies that account for the many complex roles of animals during such crises.

Beyond human-animal studies, Jared has long been interested in finding common ground among people. Having visited four continents and advocated for a variety of groups, Jared is a strong believer in the intersections between social causes. He is the Founder and Editor of a socially conscious blog, Our Common Concern (http://ourcommonconcern.com), which highlights pressing social issues — from human rights to environmental justice to animal protection — in hopes of inspiring a dialogue for change.

Jared is also a long-time organizer for the Obama Campaign, and part of the team organizing New Hampshire for the presidential election in 2008.

You can contact Jared at ourcommonconcern@gmail.com.

In “The dumbing down of voters” (Op-ed, June 15) Rick Shenkman attributes Americans’ political ignorance to television and the collapse of labor unions. I think there is a deeper problem: The United States tends to raise employees, not citizens.

Our culture emphasizes so-called practical skills, while we thumb our noses at theory, as if theory had no practical effect. Education is being reduced to job training. The humanities suggest pleasant ways to spend our “free time,” as if literature, art, philosophy, and religion had nothing to teach us about how we ought to live.

Work is supposed to be hard, or it’s not work. To commit your life to service means taking a vow of poverty, as if one cannot do good and do well. In short, we are encouraged to act without deep reflection, to toil away without questioning. And, sadly, I suspect that’s how politicians like it.

Karin Lauria

Source: www.boston.com

News is breaking today that Des Moines County sheriffs in Iowa shot about 10-16 pigs who presumably had escaped a factory farm, swam through a massive flood, and found safety atop sandbag levees. County officials feared that the pigs would cut the levees with their hooves or root there.

I am not one to criticize the actions of county officials who, according to their own best judgment, made a difficult decision in an emergency situation. After all, animals are killed in these situations all the time — including a bear who recently strayed into a populated area in Boston. And as one official points out, pigs are killed in slaughterhouses everyday — particularly in Iowa, where there were 15.5 million pigs on over 10,000 farms in 2002.

But the question must be asked: would we have had the same reaction to these animals if they were dogs instead of pigs? What about wolves instead of pigs?

For example, when family pets are shot, county officials often have a different reaction: offer up a reward for the killer. A $4,000 reward is being offered for a dog who was shot to death in Maryland.

In the case of the flooded pigs, what was the true motivation for shooting them? Was it, as one official argued, fear for people’s property? Or was it simply that we value different animals differently?

Some or all of the above may be true. But I for one believe that we should think very, very critically before we take a life, and minimize harm whenever possible. Moreover, while we may value different animals differently, each is still a sentient being who deserves our utmost respect.

We would ask nothing more for our dog, so why not for our pigs?

—–

Our Common Concern :: a socially conscious blog

Donovan’s younger brother was 13 when he was diagnosed with HIV. He did all he could to save his little brother, even working in HIV/AIDS prevention and supporting his single mom. Yet, after the teenager’s condition deteriorated and forced him to quit school, he lost his health insurance and died just shy of his 24th birthday at the age of 23.

Donovan’s younger brother did not live in some hidden, forgotten corner of the developing world. He lived in the United States of America. And he is one of over 500,000 people who have died from AIDS since the disease was formally recognized by the United States in 1981.

Recent events in my life have reminded me that those who live with HIV/AIDS are all around us, and all too often face societal stigmas that can cost them their home, job or more. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that as of 2003 (the most recent data available), over 1 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. alone. Nearly three-quarters of this population are men, nearly half are black, and approximately the same number are men who have sex with men (MSM). Disturbingly, one-fourth do not even know they’re infected.

The National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA), which told Donovan’s story above, prefers that those living with HIV/AIDS be described as what they are — people, not “patients” or “victims”. NAPWA is the oldest national AIDS organization and “the first network of people living with HIV and AIDS in the world.”

Clearly, we could all do more for our fellow Americans who live with HIV and AIDS. More on the continuing (and often bumpy) search for viable treatments and the importance of accurate reporting.

—–

Our Common Concern :: a socially conscious blog

For instance, over the last several days the New York Times printed a number of stories where animals are a central conccern. The international section reported Korean protests (and broader Asian concerns) over the safety of US beef, and the associated politics of industrial agriculture and animal welfare. Ironically, there is also a dining column with advice on how to cut back one’s use of meat, and cook a more vegetable based (and healthier) diet. If we turn to the Science section, we find that Horseshoe crabs are in decline, and Fisher’s are reinhabiting American suburbs. This does not even begin to touch the steady flow of news articles on global warming and its impact on endangered species, migrating birds, etc. Finally, the editorial page features an essay about the recently adopted national bird of Israel. The Hoopoe, as it turns out, is a creature long associated with cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. If there was ever a time to thinking about the political and cultural symbolism of animals, this would be one of them.

To be sure, these and other stories focus on human concerns — agricultural, economic, gastronomic, environmental, political, etc. And the focus on animals is sometimes inadvertent (they are props in the story) and frequently speciesist — the only moral beings who count are human. Even so, the presence of wild and domestic animals in our everyday life and discourse is ever present.

Watch for it!

cheers, Bill

Last week she posted a blog reflecting on animal ethics and social change, as well as her intentions to foster interdisciplinary work on human-animal relations.

We recently received permission from Ms Lochner to publish the whole essay here. (Thank you!) You can read Ms Lochner’s essay below, or view it on the CUP Blog.

For a list of related titles from CUP, visit the Animal Studies series. It is a wonderful, diverse and growing body of scholarship, and well represents the emerging discourse of animal studies in the academy.

cheers, Bill

~

June 3rd, 2008 at 9:28 am

Why Animal Studies Now?:
A Short Personal Note from the Editor

The following post is by Wendy Lochner, senior executive editor for Religion, Philosophy, and Animal Studies

Why animal studies now? Like many people who are interested in the fate of animals and of the Earth, I came to this issue from an activist animal-rights perspective. My background is in philosophy, and I eagerly read and absorbed the arguments of Peter Singer and Tom Regan. As I read further I became hungry for approaches that moved even further toward commonality, and I embraced the absolutist views of scholars such as Gary Francione.

But still I was troubled by the indifference of most people to the conditions of animal life. They can know about deplorable factory-farm conditions, for example, and yet not incorporate that knowledge into their behavior or ethical views. A winning argument, I felt, was not rooted in rational discourse alone; it needed to change hearts and minds by appealing to humans’ emotional connections to, love for, and kinship with animals.

I began to read work by Cora Diamond, Cary Wolfe, John Coetzee, Alice Crary, and others, who convinced me of the power of literature to advance the animal issue. Soon I discovered that many ethologists, religion scholars, and sociologists were also committed to showing the scientific, social-scientific, and humanities bases for a loving involvement with animals as part of a worldview in which the “question of the animal” becomes a fundamental concern of critical inquiry, one in which the terms, concepts, and forms of evidence that we use can themselves be questioned in terms of the presuppositions they make about animals and human—and nonhuman—animal relationships. What is required is no less than a radical rethinking of the nature of humanity itself as inextricably cojoined with our nonhuman kin and in common cause with them.

It is this point of view that I (and many others) call animal studies, and it is my intention as an editor to foster interdisciplinary work from all fields that considers these and many other interrelated questions.

You can view more of Henry’s work at Muse (the Practical Ethics gallery).

The subtext is overflowing with opportunities for interpretation about ethics, the place of humans in the universe, the nature of reality, theories of knowledge, and much, much more.

I responded with a letter to the editor (couldn’t resist!), which the Times ran today. See the last letter on the page.

Some questions:

Why does Greene assume that our engagement with the world as children makes us “little scientists.” Why not little poets, authors, artists, ethicists, or (gasp!) theologians?

Why does awe and wonder for the universe make one a scientist first?    

Photo: Henry David Thoreau, courtesy, Wikimedia Commons.

WHO are animals? Who are we as nonhuman animals? And who are we to each other?

WHERE, WHEN and WHY: One way to begin answering these questions is by exploring the literature that deals with this broad range of topics.

HAS scholar Wendy Lochner (the Columbia University Press animal studies editor) has written a post for the Columbia University Press blog. In it, she briefly explores what HAS means to her, and how the literature she reads deepens her scholarship. An excerpt from her blog entry reads:

I began to read work by Cora Diamond, Cary Wolfe, John Coetzee, Alice Crary, and others, who convinced me of the power of literature to advance the animal issue. Soon I discovered that many ethologists, religion scholars, and sociologists were also committed to showing the scientific, social-scientific, and humanities bases for a loving involvement with animals as part of a worldview in which the “question of the animal” becomes a fundamental concern of critical inquiry, one in which the terms, concepts, and forms of evidence that we use can themselves be questioned in terms of the presuppositions they make about animals and human—and nonhuman—animal relationships. What is required is no less than a radical rethinking of the nature of humanity itself as inextricably cojoined with our nonhuman kin and in common cause with them.

Lochner’s short essay can be read in full by going to Why Animal Studies Now? A Short Personal Note from the Editor.

A list of animal studies titles available from Columbia University Press can be accessed on their website.

The Worst Way of Farming

Photo: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Planning, writing and researching an academic project can be overwhelming. But there are ways to prepare for a large paper without succumbing to down-to-the-wire anxiety that is common among students. Below are some suggestions that are designed to help students feel in control of their project.

1) Outline
The best way to start any major project is with an outline. Having a very basic structure will be immensely helpful in executing the project from beginning to end. Your outline will change as you write and research, but having a place to begin will help you think about your project as a whole, and as individual pieces of a whole. Once you know what your project topic is (and you’ve done some very preliminary research) you should be able to create a basic outline in as little as 20 minutes. Remember, this initial outline doesn’t have to be perfect. It is simply meant to help you plan and envision your project.

2) Scheduling
Once you have an outline prepared, it’s time to pull out the calendar. Mark the start and end date of your project so you have a clearly delineated length of time in which to work. Then, using the outline you created in step 1, plug in deadlines for yourself. (My own preference is to create due dates every Friday on which a rough draft of each section from my outline is “due.”) This forces you to create bite-sized chunks of work that you can complete in a single week. Give careful thought to your own particular process. For instance, do you prefer to complete research before writing? Do you prefer to combine the process of research and writing? Do you feel the need to go in order, or would it be best to start in the middle? Don’t forget to allow time for your mentor to look at a rough draft, give yourself time for revisions, and plan ahead for unforeseen circumstances (an illness, an unexpected vacation, and the inevitable days of procrastination.) Most importantly, make the calendar extremely realistic. Give yourself more time than you’ll need for each part of the project. Be realistic about when you’ll need breaks.

3) Obstacles

Your biggest challenge as a writer/researcher is not your deadline; nor is it finding sources, compiling information, or writing. Your biggest obstacle is yourself. You will face many of your own insecurities as you work your way through this process. I call these insecurities “the demons.” Demons are the thoughts in your head that tell you you’ll fail. They tell you you’re dumb, you’re a bad writer and no one will want to read your work. The best way to combat the demons is threefold: 1) begin to think of them as entities that are separate from yourself so you can easily dismiss the destructive thoughts. 2) identify, as specifically as possible, what these demons are telling you so that you can recognize your personal demons in the future. 3) gather a toolbox of skills to fight against the demons (the calendar is a start that process. I’ll get to a few more in a moment.)

Here are some examples of demons: I have no expertise; I can’t explain things well; I’m dumb; This is going to be really bad; Who do I think I am?

Sometimes demons disguise themselves as angels. They do this by appearing to be encouraging, when in actuality, they create an environment where you feel paralyzed. Here are some examples of demons disguised as angels: Each word/sentence has to be right; This is going to be the best thing I’ve ever written; This has to be good enough to publish; I have to do something no one has ever done before.

You’ll notice that while these things may at first appear empowering, they actually put so much pressure and expectation on you that you’ll be terrified of making mistakes. That means you will have trouble finding the confidence to write.

4) The Writing Process

Here are a few skills to help combat the demons, writer’s block, and general writing anxiety.

“Keep your hand moving”

Blank pages are daunting, so force yourself to fill up the page with your words, even if your word choice, sentence structure and grammar are atrocious. You’ll fix that stuff later. For now, just get the ideas down on paper. Your demons will probably tell you that what you are writing is bad, but don’t forget that your first draft is SUPPOSED to be bad. That’s why they call it a first draft. A bad first draft is the only way you get to a good second draft and a great third draft. Keep your hand moving without judging your writing. You’ll be surprised to find that, once you clean it up in the second draft, a good portion of it will be useable.

“Follow inspiration”

Don’t feel obligated to start the beginning. Start where you feel inspired, even if that means writing the conclusion before you’ve written anything else. I often choose to write my introduction at the end. Take breaks from sections that are driving you crazy, and procrastinate by using other parts of your paper. If you don’t feel like writing, go to the library and do more research. If your brain is fried, work on the bibliography. Don’t let your calendar constrict you. Use it as a guide, but make changes when needed.

“Free write”

Pick a particular topic from your paper — one that you are stuck on, inspired by, fearful of, or curious about — and just write. Without doing any additional research, write for at least 10-15 minutes and see what comes out. You may be surprised by how much you already know, or you may go in an unexpected direction. It will also help you clarify where you need to do a bit more research. Most importantly, don’t judge your writing. Just write and see what you come up with.

“Communicate with your mentor”

Tell your mentor what you need from him or her. Don’t wait for them to tell you how to complete your project. Be clear and upfront from the beginning about how they can help you, what you expect from them and where you think you need the most guidance. If you think it will be helpful, share your calendar with them (make sure they understand it is a loose structure that is only meant to guide you.) By utilizing your mentor in this way, you will actually be teaching yourself how to be your own mentor, a skill that will be useful during future projects in school and throughout your career.

Many students feel helpless when they take on a large project. They carry free-floating anxiety when they are writing, a feeling they can’t even shake when they take breaks. They become paralyzed when they face a blank page or computer screen. But by developing a structure via your calendar, you will feel more in control, and will be able to relax when you have scheduled time to procrastinate. Further, by allowing yourself to make mistakes, to be less than perfect, and to have realistic expectations, the tasks ahead will be that much easier.

Below, I share with you an annotated version of the speech I gave at the school’s commencement ceremony at Marsh Chapel on Sunday, May 18.

***********

Thank you, and good afternoon everyone.

This speech represents the very last assignment I’ll receive as a student of the school of theology, and I’m excited to have been chosen to speak to you today.

Last month marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King’s.[1] As such, I feel it is both good and right to honor him by drawing from his work for the theme of my address today.[2]

Reverend King had a vision of beloved community. By this vision, people would one day recognize themselves as existing in an integrated society of brothers and sisters committed to peace and justice, and redeemed through the transformative power of love.[3]

Today, King’s vision continues to inspire others both here and abroad toward non-violent means of achieving social justice.

Great visions, however, don’t occur in a vacuum. They arise in community with others whose visions can ignite in us our own courage and passion.

King himself was inspired by another great visionary, a man named Howard Thurman. Thurman served as the Dean of this Chapel while King was a student at the School of Theology here at BU.[4]

Thurman had his own vision of community, one in which people of all faiths would connect with each other in a common ground of religious experiences.

These two visions became intertwined here at BU. They’re part of a tradition of hopefulness and imagination.

Many of us came to the School of Theology with our own visions about how we might better ourselves and, in turn, make life better for others. We’ve come from many different places in life and traveled down many different paths.

Some of us came directly from undergraduate programs. Others left jobs in search of a more meaningful way of life. Many arrived with the intention of becoming ordained, while others came to explore how they might minister to the world in a different sort of way.

When I entered the School of Theology in 2004, I was heartened by the diversity of people I met here. There are, of course, students of different races, ethnic backgrounds, faith traditions, and ages.

But I also found that our experiences of BU have been varied as well. They’ve occurred in different contexts and on different schedules.

Many of us were full-time students who continued to stay involved in a range of social justice activities. Others worked part-time jobs while tackling demanding academic work loads, and maintaining close ties with our churches.

Some went straight through their programs without a break. Others took time off to tend to ailing family members, to earn money to pay the bills, or just to breath. Each of us has our own story.

King knew that achieving the beloved community involves a diversity of people, with a variety of life experiences and sometimes conflicting ideas. We here at BU haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. We’ve had our struggles and heated disagreements.

But on balance, we’ve been blessed in many ways—with new friendships, with a caring administrative staff, and with an amazing faculty of professors.

We’ve been enriched by new members, and diminished by the loss of others, such as our dear professor Simon Parker, who we sadly miss.[5]

Along the way, we’ve inspired and challenged each other to think more critically about what we presume to be absolute and true. We’ve perceived the plank in our own eye, and in doing so have learned to see ourselves and others more clearly.[6]

There are those who say that love is an unlimited resource. That there is enough love in the world to help everyone. A cynic might respond to this by saying, “Yes, but time is limited. Therefore, some must take priority, even if others are left behind.”[7]

I hope you don’t know anyone like that. But if you do, you might ask them, “how much time does it take to put your hand on someone’s shoulder and say ‘Great job. You’re making a difference.’”

Showing support often requires only a generous spirit towards those who’ve heard the divine call to minister to the world in their own distinct ways. Community must be built in different places, by different people, with different visions.[8]

The beloved community then, is about unity in difference. It’s about individual, embodied spirits who share a common commitment to achieving the peace of God which transcends all understanding.[9]

St Francis reminds us too that the beloved community need not be restricted to humans, but is a mixture of people, animals, and the natural world [10]. God’s blessings are more beautiful and diverse than we can ever know.

We need each other just for a glimpse.

When you leave here today, take a moment to step out into the plaza, and stop at the monument to Martin Luther King.[11] Think about the way you’re called to build the beloved community, and about all those who have inspired and supported you. May you, in turn, inspire and support others in pursuing their visions.

Say thanks to our merciful God that you are privileged to stand in a long tradition of unity, common ground, shared dreams, and hope.

God bless you all. I’m honored to be part of this community.

Thank you.
______________________________________________

1. King was assassinated April 4^th, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee. He was there to support striking sanitation workers.
2. A special thanks to Steve Chase, Director of Antioch University New England’s Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program. It was his enthusiasm for King’s legacy, and especially for King’s vision of the beloved community, that inspired the theme of my speech. Steve recently wrote for this blog a great essay about Martin Luther King. You can read it here: “The Dream Reborn.”
3. The King Center website provides a nice introduction to the concept of the Beloved Community.
4. King received his Ph.D. from Boston University on June 5, 1955. Thurman was the first African American Dean of Marsh Chapel and a mentor to King. See Religion and Ethics News weekly for a great feature about the life and thought of Howard Thurman.  
5. Simon Parker was a professor of Hebrew Bible studies who began teaching at BU in 1981. He passed away on April 29, 2006.
6. See Matthew 7:3–5.
7. Here I’m alluding to Mary Midgley’s argument that compassion is not a “rare and irreplaceable fluid” that must be reserved for humans to the exclusion of animals (I substituted the word ‘compassion’ with ‘love’). Instead, it is a “habit or power of the mind, which grows or develops with use” (see Midgley, Animals and Why They Matter, p. 31). I’ve read and heard more times than I care to remember variations on the uncharitable and morally hollow response referenced above.
8. This is a quote from professor Norm Faramelli, a highly respected lecturer of ethics at the BU School of Theology and other Boston-area seminaries. Norm generously offered his time to help me brainstorm ideas for this speech.
9. See Philippians 4:7.
10. For more on the concept of the mixed community of people, animals, and nature, see Midgley, Animals and Why They Matter, chapter 10.
11. A beautiful sculpture, Free at Last, erected in honor of Martin Luther King, stands in the plaza in front of Marsh Chapel. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/491106232/ for more information.

Photo: Martin Luther King, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

The email accounts provided by colleges and universities are for your use while you are in school. This is the official address to which most professors and the school will send email. You can recognize this email address by the suffix ‘.edu’.

You have two basic choices regarding your educational email account. First, you can use it as your primary account to conduct all your business and communications. Second, you can use this account for school purposes only, and use a personal account for non-school activities.

Please note that except in the largest or richest of institutions, once you complete school, your educational account is closed. Relying on your educational account can often lead to significant loss of information if its cancelation catches you unaware. At some point, and often at an inconvenient time and with little notice, your address and stored mail will be purged.

It is for the above reason that I recommend the second choice — using both educational and personal email accounts.

Using multiple accounts can seem like additional work. If you have more than two or three accounts to check, that may be true. Still, there are solutions that take but a few extra steps. Use the one that works best for you.

If you are using webmail only, take the following steps.

1. Be sure you have a working personal email account. These can be free (e.g. gmail.com) or for a fee (e.g. mail.com).

2. Set your educational account to automatically transfer messages to your personal account.

3. If you have them, transfer your previous emails from your educational account to your personal account.

Hint: The downside to this option is that when you send mail, you will not be using your educational address. Some institutions may block email whose send and reply address are not the same.

To solves the downside noted above, use an email client (e.g. Eudora, Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird), simply take the following steps.

1. Set up an account profile on your email client for each of your email accounts.

2. Use your email client to receive, access and store your email on your computer.

3. Use your email client to upload email using your educational or personal account.

Hint: You will need your username, password, pop and stmp server address to set up these profiles. If you want to maintain maximum flexibility and access, use a email client like Eudora, Mail or Thunderbird.

For technical support on how to do all this, please contact your service provider.

For example: I have my own web space, the domain www.practicalethics.net. This allows me to have my own professional email address. I set up my educational account to automatically transfer messages to my practical ethics account. That way when I download my email into Mail (OSX), or view it via the web, it is all in one place. Nor can it be accessed or erased by a third party. And because I use Time-Machine with Time-Capsule (OSX), my mail is automatically backed up every hour, every day, every week, every month. So when my drive recently died, I was able to recover all my mail going back to 1997!

I wish I had read something like this before the University of Minnesota erased my .edu account. And I hope this column helps you manage your email both during and after school.

Cheers, Bill