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Around the world – November 2014

Thanksgiving Traditions Many people in the United States look forward to Thanksgiving all year long because of the many traditions associated with the holiday. For kids, one of the most exciting traditions is watching the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade originated in New York City in 1924. Macy’s employees marched to Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street dressed in vibrant costumes. The parade also included floats and professional bands. At the end of that first parade, and every parade since, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square. The parade was such a success that Macy’s declared it would become an annual event. And today, an estimated 3.5 million+ people gather in the streets to watch the parade, and 50 million watch from home. For Dads, one of the favorite traditions is watching football. The first Thanksgiving football game was played in Detroit, Michigan in 1934, when the Detroit Lions decided to host a game on Thanksgiving Day. The Lions have hosted a Thanksgiving Day game each year since 1934, with the exception of a brief interruption during World War II. The inaugural game, held in the Motor City in 1934, saw the defending-champion Chicago Bears defeat the host Lions 19-16. For Moms, one of the traditions is Black Friday shopping. Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year and kicks-off the Christmas season. Stores offer great deals and some people start shopping at midnight and shop all night long and into the next day. While these traditions are fun, the best tradition is spending time with family and taking the time to reflect on all of the good things in your life and to be thankful for them.

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What’s It Like To be

A Cultural Anthropologist

Tell me a little bit about yourself — some background information for our readers. My name is Nathalie Dajko. I’m 38 years-old and I’m mostly from Vancouver, BC.,though I’ve lived in New Orleans, Louisiana for 12 years now — longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. I’m a professor in the anthropology department at Tulane University, where I also got my doctorate. What does an anthropologist do? Anthropology is the study of people. There are different types of anthropologists. Some study humans via bones and/or via similar species (physical anthropologists), some study ancient cultures via material remains like pottery (archaeologists). Some study the cultures of living people (cultural anthropologists). I’m interested in language; I’m a linguistic anthropologist. I’m especially interested in language variation, and in how people express various aspects of their identity, such as their ethnicity, via their dialect. I work with Louisiana French and with Louisiana English. In order to study these things I go out and interview people: I ask them to read passages aloud or translate sentences from French into English, and I ask them to talk about their lives and their cultures. The interviews take an hour or more and are recorded on digital recorders or video cameras so I can listen and/or watch them again later, when I type up what people have said and analyze their speech. I write articles and produce videos based on the interviews I conduct. Language is a part of culture, so I do ethnographic work as well to help me understand the variation I find. This means I participate in both everyday and ceremonial life. As a result, I’ve spent time working as a deck hand on a shrimp boat, helped to clean up after a hurricane, attended church and temple ceremonies and spoken at funerals. I also teach classes at Tulane; I’ve taught introductory classes on linguistics and on cultural anthropology and I’ve taught advanced classes on language variation, field methods and local language documentation. When and why did you first become interested in working as an anthropologist? I’m not one of those people who knew what they wanted to do when they were 7-years-old. I mostly fell into what I do by lucky accident. I tried a few other fields before I settled on anthropology for my undergraduate major because I enjoyed those classes the most (I was a fine arts major first, until it became clear it wasn’t for me). I think my my love of the history and of travel played a role, as well, in making the decision. I came to Louisiana to do my PhD because I wanted to hear what Louisiana French sounded like, since I already spoke Parisian French (thanks to the year I spent in France when I was 16-17) and I had lived in Montreal and heard the French there, too. So I found myself in graduate school studying Louisiana French, and it was the happiest accident ever. I loved the work and I loved Louisiana as well. Best of all, I got to stay! What does it take to become an anthropologist? If you want to do the kind of thing I do, you need a PhD in anthropology or linguistics. But there are anthropologists in all kinds of other jobs as well, many of which only require a four-year degree. Pretty much all you need for any of these is an interest in human diversity. What is a typical day like for you? Every day is different. When school is in, I teach two classes per semester, so I meet with students six times a week, and I meet with the graduate students for extra sessions. Between classes I meet with students, attend meetings, grade papers, evaluate the graduate students’ work and work on writing up my own research. Sometimes I head out into the city to conduct interviews when my teaching is done for the day but more often I leave research for the summer. I also attend conferences at which I present my work a few times a year. What are some of the challenges of your job? Oddly enough, I’m actually very shy, so I have to force myself to overcome my fear of talking to strangers when I conduct interviews. I love people, but I’m also intimidated by the prospect of approaching a stranger and asking them to sit down and talk to me on tape. Likewise, when I teach, I have to overcome stage fright every day. But it’s worth the effort in the end — I meet so many interesting people and hear so many interesting stories as a result! And I get to learn, at least a little bit, what it’s like to live someone else’s life. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working? I live in New Orleans, so I love going to as many of the many festivals we have as I can, though Carnival (Mardi Gras) is still my favorite. I also have a new baby, so lately I spend a lot of time introducing him to the world — his favorite adventure so far seems to have been a ride on the street car. What is something cool that most people don’t know about your line of work? When people hear that I study language, they think I’m here to make sure they’re talking right. In reality, all dialects are interesting and complex and equally good. I’m interested in the way people really speak, not the standard they’re “supposed” to speak. Also I only speak two languages, not 15. You can be a terrible language learner and still study language.

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Wildville

The Indian Cuckoo

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae Genus: Cuculus Species: C. micropterus The cuckoo is a bird native to much of the world. There are members of the cuckoo family on nearly every continent, and each one is a little different. The Indian cuckoo is native to forests in India and some surrounding areas like Bangladesh and Nepal. This bird is very common across India, especially in towns. These birds are native to forests but have been able to adapt to human presences by scavenging for food in towns. Because of this ability, there is no concern for this species going extinct. Here are some facts about the Indian Cuckoo: • They are also called an Asian koel. • There are 54 species of cuckoos. • They eat mostly fruit but sometimes eat caterpillars and other insects as well. • It is a larger cuckoo with a very long tail. • They are an average of 33 cm in length, up to 45 cm. • They migrate, unlike many cuckoos. • It is a very shy and solitary bird. • The females have brown feathers with white or grey speckles. • The male has a pale green bill and is a bluish-black. • They both have bright-red eyes. • Usually the breast and throat are a little lighter. • It is a popular symbol in Indian poetry. • Their feathers can get waterlogged from rain, so they often sun themselves after a storm. One trait that is common to nearly all species of cuckoos is being a brood parasite. This means that instead of making their own nests to lay eggs in, they just lay one egg in another bird’s nest called a host. The mother cuckoo never comes back for her egg; instead, she lets the host bird raise and feed her chick. In Asia, they usually lay the egg in a crow’s or a drongo’s nest. Often the cuckoo is the biggest chick in the nest because it will hatch first and grow faster. They only take 12-14 days to hatch. To help prevent the cuckoo egg from being pushed from the nest, the egg will sometimes mimic the color of the host egg. Sometimes the cuckoo mother will eat the host egg before laying her own.

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Where in the World

India

India is a rather large country that sits near the bottom of Asia. It is a peninsula, meaning that it is surrounded by water on three sides. The earliest known people in India lived along the Indus River, in what is now Pakistan, 5,000 years ago. These civilizations were rather advanced because they had piped water and sewer systems, but were mysteriously abandoned in 1700 B.C. The two cities that archeologists have discovered are called Harappa and Mohenjo. Europeans did not arrive in India until the late 1400s, and in 1757, Britain took control of the country. Britain ruled in India until 1947.Here are some more facts about India: India is home to many incredible animals because it has such diverse habitats. In one country are jungles, incredible mountains and a desert. Some of the incredible animals include tigers, river dolphins, rhinoceroses, leopards, elephants and pythons. There are more 65,000 species in India; it is even the only country in the world with both lions and tigers. Sadly, this beautiful diversity and all of these incredible animals are in danger. India’s population is growing very quickly and as a result, there is a lot of pollution and destruction of habitats for resources. Jungles are being cut down for wood, and land is being used for farms. Here are some more facts about India • The money is called a rupee. • The capital is New Delhi. • Cows are sacred and cannot be harmed. They even roam around cities freely. • India is home to tigers and snow leopards. • 80 percent of the people in India are Hindu. • The north of India is the Himalayan Mountains, the highest in the world. • It has the second-largest population in the world (1.2 billion people). • It is the seventh largest country in the world by land area. • The highest mountain is Kanchenjunga, the third highest in the world. • The most popular sport is cricket. • Many people are vegetarian. • There are 18 official languages, but the three main are Hindi, English and Urdu. • There are 12,000 types of flowering plants. • The tiger is the national animal. • The national flower of India is the lotus. • The national bird is a peacock.

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Kids

A Meteorologist’s Best Friend

Have you ever seen a television weather caster show a colored map of where rain or snow is falling? The colors that you see indicate where the precipitation is and how heavy it is. So, how does he/she get this information? The precipitation is detected by one or more of the National Weather Service’s 150 weather radars, processed by computers and made available to weathermen around the world. So, what is radar and how does it work? RADAR is an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging and was developed more than 100 years ago when countries around the world realized radio waves could be used to detect objects that the human eye couldn’t see. Now, weather radars are used to help meteorologists see raindrops, snowflakes, hail and other small objects in the atmosphere. Weather radars send out a burst of radio waves from a large dish inside the radar dome. The radar dome looks like a large ball on top of a tower. The radio waves travel through the air until they hit something in the atmosphere. When they hit an object, some of the radio waves bounce off the object and travel back toward the radar. The radar listens for these reflected radio waves, something that is called a radar “echo.” From the echo, the radar figures out how much energy (radio waves) is returned to the radar, as well as how long it took to return. Using this information, the radar estimates how heavy the precipitation is and how far away it is. As the radar’s dish spins around inside the dome, it sends out hundreds of bursts of energy each second and collects information on the reflected energy. One full scan of the atmosphere takes around five minutes to complete. Weather radars also employ Doppler technology (that’s why weather radars are often called Doppler radars). Doppler technology allows the radar to determine whether the individual rain droplets or snowflakes are moving toward or away from the radar, which then allows the radar to estimate the winds in a storm. Meteorologists use this wind information to help warn people of gusty winds from a thunderstorm or to detect rotation in the atmosphere that could lead to the formation of a tornado. Ideally, the weather radars would detect only rain, snow or other precipitation, but objects like birds, insects and even passing traffic on a nearby highway can reflect energy back to the radar. Fortunately, recent improvements to weather radars now allow meteorologists to better understand what the radar is seeing. Meteorologists can determine whether the precipitation is rain, snow, sleet or hail. By knowing the type of precipitation and how heavy it is, the radar can also make estimates of how much rain or snow has fallen. Radar is truly one of the most valuable tools a meteorologist can use. In the summer, it is the best tool for watching for developing thunderstorms, tornadoes, strong winds and heavy rain and is used to issue warnings for dangerous storms. In the winter, the radar can be used to monitor winter storms and see snow, sleet and rain.

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Kids

Oct 2014 – Letter from Truman

Hi, Kids! We are talking about character and kindness this month. Sometimes, it is hard to remember to be kind – but it is important that we do. Sadly, there are many people in the world who are not kind. Often, there people are called bullies. Bullying is never good. We talk about bullying in the Come Out and Play, Cool Kind Kid and Cultural Connections features this month. Read these features and learn about different ways to help end bullying and promote kindness. If every person made it a point to be kind each day, the world would be a better place. What is something kind that you can do for someone today?

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Space Place

Tiny Grains of Dust from way-way-Outer Space

Alex H. Kasprak National Aeronautics and Space Administration Everything around us came from an ancient swirling disk of dust. Our sun, our planet and the planets of our solar system all formed from the remnants of this disk. Our mountains, our animals and even humans came from the sun that formed from this disk. Nobody on Earth has ever handled anything that came from anywhere else. Until recently, that is. Scientists think that a few microscopic grains caught by a NASA spacecraft might actually be from outside of our solar system. This interstellar dust — that’s the fancy name for it — was discovered thanks to both NASA and a group of citizen scientists who volunteered their time for the sake of science. In early 1999, NASA launched a mission called Stardust, whose job was to travel to a comet, collect its dust and return to Earth. Stardust used a trap with a special gel to collect tiny dust from the glowing area around the comet. On its way there, it also collected particles of dust floating around our solar system. After reaching the comet in 2006, it returned to Earth with its precious cargo. A great success! But analyzing all those dust grains is really hard. Some of the grains are a thousand times smaller than a grain of sand! Once the material was returned to Earth, scientists had to take millions of close-up pictures of the gel to help them locate the dust and analyze the dust. There were too many pictures for the Stardust team to analyze in their lifetime. So they uploaded these super-zoomed-in dust trap pictures to the Internet and let people — nicknamed “Dusters” — assist in the search. That really sped things along! Thanks to the volunteers’ work and the hard work of scientists involved with the project, NASA reported that they might have found seven (only seven!) grains of dust that came from outside our solar system. They think they came from somewhere else because their chemistry is very different than usual space dust. Where did they come from? They might have come from a huge supernova explosion millions of years in the past. Or they could have come from massive faraway stars. Either way, if the scientists are right, and it does turn out to be interstellar dust, it would be very exciting. These seven small grains could teach us about something that astronomers see all over space, but have never seen up close.

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Movie Reviews for Kids by Kids

The Giver

Based on Lois Lowry’s book, this highly anticipated film tells the story of a perfect world where everyone is happy. When Jonas is 12-years-old, he’s chosen to be the community’s Receiver of Memories, where he learns about pain, sadness, war and all the unhappy truths of the “real” world. He quickly realizes that his community is fake and faces difficult choices about his own life and his future. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Willie J. comments, “This film is really quite an achievement. To take such a loved and popular book, with tons of deep ideas and themes, and execute it as a film as wonderfully as Director Philip Noyce and company do, is great.” Samantha A. adds, “This movie is very captivating. I had my eyes glued to the screen the whole time, not wanting to miss a second of the story.” Willie J., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 15 Full of pretense, theories on life and enough ideas to cause you to rethink your own ideas, The Giver is an intense film about the effects of accepting the good and bad memories of life. Being a huge Meryl Streep fan (Chief Elder), I was very excited to see her performance, and I was not disappointed. Jeff Bridges’ (The Giver) performance gives this film a veteran presence that adds to the wisdom their characters possess. As for Brenton Thwaites (Jonas) and Odeya Rush (Fiona), their performances show great promise for their careers. Their youth and lack of experience add a sense of naïveté to their characters that beautifully contradicts with the characters played by both Streep and Bridges. I find the script a bit pretentious but necessarily so. The premise itself is very complex but suitable for the subject matter. What could have been 90 minutes of melodrama turns into brilliant and intelligent conversations, thanks to the skills of the ensemble. I give an Oscar nod for both Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges. There is a scene towards the end of the film where The Giver and Chief Elder debate on the pros and cons of memories and allowing people to make decisions. That is one of the very best acted scenes I’ve seen this year. The dialogue is so poetic that we’re drawn into the fantasy instead of repulsed by its theatrical nature. My favorite part of the film, second to Meryl’s performance, is the beautiful cinematography by Ross Emery. Mr. Emery and Editor Barry Alexander Brown really come together wonderfully to create awesome moments of visual storytelling. The mixture of black and white with color, and the short shots of real life events give this film a certain vivacity the book is unable to give. This film is really quite an achievement. To take such a loved and popular book, with tons of deep ideas and themes, and execute as a film as wonderfully as Director Philip Noyce and company do, is great. I give this film 4 out of 5 stars and really hope you see it. It opens theatrically on August 15. Due to the mature themes and ideas, I recommend this film for ages 14 to 18.

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Kidsville Kitchen

Quick, Affordable Dinner Ideas

Many families face hectic schedules and tight budgets, especially when kids go back to school. A few quick meal solutions can help you spend less at the store and enjoy more time with your family this school year. Comforting and convenient, a store-bought rotisserie chicken — with a few other additions –— can help you create a complete meal for the family in 30 minutes or less. However, quality is important. Theo Weening, global meat buyer for Whole Foods Market, believes that the best-tasting meat comes from chickens raised the old-fashioned way. “Preparing great-tasting meat starts long before you bring it home from the store. It starts on the farm,” Weening said. “Check the label and opt for chicken that was raised the way nature intended — on a vegetarian diet with no added growth hormones and no antibiotics ever.” For example, the rotisserie chickens at Whole Foods Market come from farms that have been certified to the Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating System, so consumers can know exactly how the animal was raised. While rotisserie chicken on its own is a delicious, easy go-to meal any night of the week, don’t forget to shake things up. Try these simple ideas: • Shredded in tacos or quesadillas: Quick and simple, chicken will be the star of this easily portable meal. • Cubed in a cooked grain salad: Step up a side dish and make it an entrée. Add chicken to whole grains, like brown rice or barley, for a filling meal. • Added to rice and steamed veggies: Turn this plain dish up a notch with protein. Pair with your favorite sauce or dressing for extra flavor. • Added to pesto pasta: Mix whole wheat pasta with pesto, chopped tomatoes and chicken for a well-rounded dinner. • Kabobs: Easy to assemble with fresh or pre-cooked veggies, chicken kabobs make a nice addition to your tried-and-true menu. Chicken Burritos Ingredients • 2 teaspoons canola oil • 1 small onion, diced • 1 cup frozen corn kernels • 2 cups shredded (about 7 ounces) roasted or rotisserie chicken meat • 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice • 1 cup salsa • 6 tablespoons sour cream • 6 large whole wheat tortillas, heated • 3 cups baby spinach leaves Directions Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and corn (no need to thaw it) and cook, stirring occasionally, until corn begins to brown, about eight minutes. Add chicken and rice, and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in salsa and sour cream. Line tortillas with spinach leaves and spoon about 2/3 cup chicken mixture down the middle of each. Fold in top and bottom and roll up. More time-saving tips and recipes can be found at WholeFoodsMarket.com/recipes. This back-to-school season, have plenty of dinner tricks up your sleeve to make weeknights simple.

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Kidsville Connections

Character

Character is basically a big word that really means how you act when no one is looking. Character is a set of qualities that shape our thoughts, actions, reactions and feelings. People with strong character: • Show compassion (put yourself in someone else’s shoes and think how the would feel if they were treated a certain way.) • Are honest and fair you give everyone a change • Display self-discipline in setting and meeting goals • Make good judgments • Show respect to others • Show courage in standing up for what they believe in • Have a strong sense of responsibility • Are good citizens who are concerned about their community • Maintain self-respect Information from U.S. Department of Education char•ac•ter: ˈkariktər/noun noun: character; plural noun: characters 1. the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.”running away was not in keeping with her character” Goodness is about character — integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people. Dennis Prager For Parents: How to teach your kids character • Talk about the point-of-view of others as you watch TV, read books or discuss other people with your child. For example, ask, “What do you think that character is feeling and thinking?” • Show care toward others, such as doing errands for sick neighbors or opening doors for others. • Give others the benefit of the doubt. If your child complains that a classmate deliberately pushed her down on the way to lunch, explain that sometimes when people are in a hurry, they don’t watch where they’re going — they don’t mean to push or hurt anyone. • Be open to differences. If your child says “Our new neighbors dress funny,” explain that people often wear clothes that reflect their cultures or native countries. • Most of all, teach your children right from wrong. More importantly, model it for them on a daily basis. Did you Know… Being kind can actually make you happier and help you live longer! Research also shows that people who don’t know how to be kind or how to accept kindness from others are just as unhappy as they are unkind.

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