Elephants never forget...being caged

As scientific knowledge progresses a huge challenge is to integrate that new knowledge into practice. This problem can be found in many areas of human endeavor  One giant area where our knowledge has exceeded what we practice is in how we treat elephants in zoos. Having worked with elephants for over thirty years in zoos, Les Schobert felt the need to write an article in October 16th, 2005 edition of The Washington Post arguing for a more humane approach to the way zoos care for their pachyderms.
 He describes how in the last thirty five years our knowledge of what elephants need to be healthy has grown immensely, while our practical treatment of them in zoos has remained mostly unchanged. The biggest problem cited by Schobert is the lack of living space and natural terrain found in most zoo elephant habitats. Scientists now agree that elephants in the wild typically have a home range of a thousand square mile, while the minimum habitat allowed by the zoo industry is as little as 2,200 square feet. Some zoos have worked to create larger habitats, and other zoos have sent their elephants to game reserves in California and Tennessee where they can have the space they need. Schobert was dismayed at the treatment of the elephants at the National Zoo in Washington DC. Lacking room to move around has caused one elephant at the National Zoo, Toni, to suffer arthritis so bad she may have to be euthanized decades before she would have died in the wild. Schobert’s main argument is that zoos need to reevaluate their elephant programs to create healthy environments so that their animals can live healthy lives. Les Schobert spent his entire life working to care for animals and especially elephants. He was nationally recognized for his efforts to promote the humane treatment of animals in zoo's across the country. 

As a society we see the importance of maintaining the health and well being of many elements in our society. As civilization progresses new knowledge needs to be applied to the different facets of life on our planet. Zoo's are an institution that has evolved from the the earliest housing of elephants in a zoo in ancient Egypt 5200 years ago to the Romans use of elephants in bloody arena battles. Today's modern zoo's evolved from collections of animals housed in imperial zoological gardens of the 19th century. These zoo's usually caged animals to economically display animals from the far reaches of the world. 

But the world of that day didn't really have a problem caging people in tiny cages. Today zoo's are learning from that past. As societies progress conditions are seen different. It took us a long time to learn that elephants don't like being forced to fight other animals to the death. And it has taken us a lot longer to learn that they would rather roam free on hundreds or thousands of acres than be chained and caged in the middle of a metropolis. Les Schobert was influential in his work to push for more progressive treatment of elephants. Due in part to his work the National Zoo has started the Elephant Trails program, a program to improve life for elephants in the zoo as well as in the wild. Elephant Trails as well as many other programs around the world are working to ensure the health and well being of all elephants. Which is very good news for elephants

The internet grows up:

Recent history has proven many new ways the internet can be used.  In February 2011 Hany Rashwan published an article in the Ohio State University student newspaper The Lantern in which he discussed the influence of the internet in the recent revolution in Egypt.

It wasn’t long ago that the idea of an Egypt free of the dictatorial government of Hosni Mubarak would be considered crazy. And yet starting in January 2011 the people of Egypt, inspired by the Arab Spring uprising in Tunisia  gathered in Tahrir Square to demand that Mubarak step down. Rashwan’s article sought to answer the question Why now? What was the catalyst for this sudden uprising? Rashwan found the most compelling answer in a quote from Wael Ghonim a middle eastern  google executive who created a facebook group that was behind some of the protests. Ghonim said “If you want to liberate a government, give them the internet.”

 

The internet has grown up. What started as a computer science experiment by the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1950’s, has grown to be a border-less international democracy used across the globe for a variety of purposes. The internet of today provides truly worldwide access to everything from shopping for any product imaginable. And to countless hours of entertainment in every form imaginable. But most importantly to connecting people worldwide to people and ideas in ways unimaginable a couple decades ago. By making connections to neighbors both down the street and across the globe, the internet enables people unparalleled freedom to promote ideas like a government based on self determination. It isn’t surprising then that one of the first things the Egyptian government did to squash popular dissent was to shut down websites like Facebook and Twitter. While the technology for these websites started in America, the content and sharing during Egypt’s revolution was Egyptian. The internet as it stands today is the world’s most powerful democracy. Any person or group can promote their ideas within its framework. And in true democratic fashion popular ideas like self government can flourish. While less popular ideas like holocaust denial groups are allowed space, but are pushed into the margins. The internet has evolved from a government and college research project to a wild west of people attempting to monetize it, to where it stands today as a virtual world containing pieces of every facet of human life.  
In my lifetime I have seen the internet grow from a distraction for serious computer nerds to become the primary place where I do homework, talk with the people I love regardless of our location, and buy most everything except food. I am truly amazed to see that the internet need only connect the right people with the right ideas to be a huge factor in bringing positive change to our world. Hany Rashwan presents a concise and well developed article on the awesome power that can be achieved by merely providing people of the world unfettered access to communicate ideas across the globe. Rashwan's article is effective because it is a call to students of Ohio State to pay attention to the power of the internet. Our civilization is just beginning to see the internet as more than a way to share pornography and pirate music and movies. The internet of the twenty teens is starting to look more grown up. It’s use by different groups in the upcoming American presidential election makes it second in importance only to the people doing the voting. A big part of the power of the internet is in that it doesn't forget. This has been illustrated numerous times lately by the videos that have surfaced, showing candidates making unpopular statements often before they became candidates.
The Arab Spring revolutions throughout the Arab world would not have been possible without modern technology. While there have been revolutions before the recent ones, I see the key difference being that information enabled recent revolutions to be relatively peaceful. By sharing information across the country and the world, Egyptians were able to empower people to stand up for themselves without resorting to a violent civil war. This provides an awesome amount of hope for the future. A future where wars and revolutions are fought online through informing the masses. What an awesome future that can be.

So why the Adventures of Arista's Dad for my title? Well I have had many roles I have played in my life. But the role that most radically redefined my entire life was becoming a father. Before my daughter was born life was filled with seeking new random adventures most everyday. And while that led me on adventures all over the parts between The Netherlands, Alaska and Hawaii, I never really built any kind of life for myself. I was a vagabond who easily found jobs cooking or doing construction work. When I traveled, and that was often, I would curl up under a tree in  my bivy sack and sleep most anywhere. That all changed when I found myself living in Alaska and in a love affair with a certified crazy woman. I was living with this girlfriend when she started being nauseous all that  time, I prayed desperately that she had the stomach flu. But that flu turned out to be our first inkling of the little girl I have seen evolve over the last three and a half years. The truth is the idea of being parents was scary beyond words for Arista's mom and I. We were independent people who loved to party. But once that littlle girl came into our lives the nature of every facet of life changed. Life became about doing the things that would provide for our baby. The day my daughter was born I stopped living life for myself and started living for her. This self less feeling has enabled me to see toiling for hours in a tiring job as a means to an ends for taking care of Arista. The winter before her first birthday saw the start of the end for me and her mom. I found myself a single dad with a fifteen month old baby girl. I worked out babysitting and worked as a cook in a cafe. Life is not easy in Alaska, but life as a single dad was brutal. So I found myself with no better option than to punt. I shipped or sold everything we owned and caught a plane to a place I had never been before. I arrived in Eugene with a backpack, a guitar and  no idea other than to somehow build a stable, beautiful life for my daughter and I. My daughter visited my mom in Colorado for five weeks, while I stayed in a tent at the Whiteacker Hostel. I found a job at a catering company and searched for a nearby apartment. But seeing the way the world is changing I realized there isn't much of a future for me in cooking, so I enrolled in Lane Community College. After exploring a few options I am now enrolled in studying water conservation. In the course of the last year I have found my way into working full time at a restaurant close to my duplex in the suburbs. I am busier than I have ever been in my life. But I find myself feeling like a super hero every day. And why? Because I wake up wanting to be as awesome as Arista's Dad should be. She deserves a Dad who is working to provide for today and tomorrow. Through that lens I find a strength to see myself through anything. From braving fourteen hour days in a hot kitchen to intense final exams in school, I will get through anything that will be good for us. The point I see in all of it is that I spent a quarter of a century having adventures. But none of those meant anything. Since my daughter was born my adventures are much different than before. Now I am spending everyday living for something. It makes me feel a bit like a superhero at times. I am Arista's Dad. Until the next adventure...

This is my first post to this Blog. So I will start off telling a bit about who I am. Mostly I am three year old Arista's dad, but I am also eight year old Kinzley's step-dad and Kassy's fiance.

I am twenty eight years old and aside from spending time with my family I work as a Saute Cook at Ciao Pizza in Springfield Oregon. There I work nights making pasta dishes and salads. I attend Lane Community College and study Water Conservation. One day I hope to have a a grownup job saving water supplies from the effects of civilization.
I have delusions of a well rounded life outside of working, going to school and caring for my family. I do this by riding my bike as much as I can. I also love to go rock climbing. Skinner's Butte in downtown Eugene is a jewel for city and schedule bound climbers like myself.



Like many I also enjoy playing my guitar as often as I can. I love to find obscure songs to sit and play on my back porch.

This is who I find myself being at the start of my second year at Lane Community College. I continue to be amazed at the person I find myself being. I look forward to the fun things I will learn about myself in future posts. Until then...