tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111673502024-03-13T20:27:40.008-07:00Hungry HyaenaA project of artist and writer Christopher Reiger, focusing on art, conservation, and natural historyHungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.comBlogger715125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-17869039347082833342014-02-23T17:34:00.000-08:002014-02-23T17:34:21.803-08:00Striped Bass Fishing On the Chesapeake BayThis past December, when Elizabeth and I visited my parents on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Shore_of_Virginia">Eastern Shore of Virginia</a>, I got out on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay">Chesapeake Bay</a> for some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_bass">striped bass</a> fishing and sight seeing with Elizabeth, my friend, Edward, and my father. We didn't catch any stripers we could keep -- all were under the minimum regulation size -- so it was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_and_release">catch-and-release</a> trip, but being on the water was a treat, as it almost always is.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3813/12708276275_1ca948d918_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3813/12708276275_1ca948d918_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Marsh near Chesconessex Creek; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a name='more'></a><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7407/12708253005_e62a39c17d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7407/12708253005_e62a39c17d_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Rods & Reels; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3743/12708253835_86f6f92e4e_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3743/12708253835_86f6f92e4e_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Bay Island; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/12708254925_abeaf9ce4b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7454/12708254925_abeaf9ce4b_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Channel marker; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/12708437323_f042d6cfc1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/12708437323_f042d6cfc1_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Elizabeth in Mom's boots; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7429/12708439823_ce5f64552e_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7429/12708439823_ce5f64552e_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Edward & Dad; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/12708258425_962702e0be_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/12708258425_962702e0be_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fishing boat; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2852/12708443903_847575af5f_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2852/12708443903_847575af5f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Channel marker; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/12708264485_75abda1c50_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/12708264485_75abda1c50_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Edward; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5497/12708256575_371a721704_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5497/12708256575_371a721704_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hooked striped bass; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7335/12708438653_a413034439_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7335/12708438653_a413034439_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Lure; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7305/12708449793_606d6c491f_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7305/12708449793_606d6c491f_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Striped bass; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/12708270905_d5859616bd_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/12708270905_d5859616bd_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Dad measuring striped bass; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/12708273295_6bbe54b39c_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/12708273295_6bbe54b39c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Dad; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2822/12708731504_77e686d6c0_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2822/12708731504_77e686d6c0_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Tower; Chesapeake Bay; Eastern Shore of Virginia; December 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u>Photo credits:</u> © Christopher Reiger, 2013<br />
<b></b>Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-47470988685308377402014-01-30T10:03:00.000-08:002014-01-30T10:03:04.275-08:00"Dancing By the Marsh," an excerpt from "Presidio Sites"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaJxJ0caqK_MtewTYBnUCTBmOaDEmdMWvQq6vgKa-HklZ_EWDJlAoU2FJmHatKOTCAabSI_BjNLIWiX3bmzZHMJDK6jV4Pjduknbps9lWd59yM5zKGvcwwZ8Jnf9zyIVKcu0n0Q/s1600/CrissyFieldView_Presidio_SFCA_November2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaJxJ0caqK_MtewTYBnUCTBmOaDEmdMWvQq6vgKa-HklZ_EWDJlAoU2FJmHatKOTCAabSI_BjNLIWiX3bmzZHMJDK6jV4Pjduknbps9lWd59yM5zKGvcwwZ8Jnf9zyIVKcu0n0Q/s1600/CrissyFieldView_Presidio_SFCA_November2013.jpg" height="427" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />"View of Crissy Field from near "Presidio Sites" Site #4; The Presidio, San Francisco, CA; November 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
An adapted excerpt from <a href="http://senseofplacelab.com/project/nomadic-nature-in-situ-presidio-sites-event-on-dec-8-2-4/">my "Presidio Sites" project</a> is featured at <a href="http://www.humansandnature.org/">The Center For Humans & Nature</a> blog, <a href="http://www.humansandnature.org/blog/"><i>City Creatures</i></a>. Click <a href="http://www.humansandnature.org/blog/dancing-marsh">here</a> to read it.<br />
<br />
<u>Photo credit:</u> © Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-6669533467100528232014-01-14T12:41:00.000-08:002014-01-14T12:41:54.923-08:00Announcing BAASICS.4: WatershedThe next evening program produced by <a href="http://www.baasics.com/">BAASICS</a>, the non-profit I co-founded in 2010, is just under two weeks away. Please save the date and reserve your tickets (sliding scale, $0-20) soon; they're going fast!<br />
<br />
Those of you who are not in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area">San Francisco Bay Area</a> can still <a href="http://www.baasics.com/">view most BAASICS content in our online archive</a>.<br />
<br />
+++++<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorW_8kWXJpXDhGaV8SQnIJbfUWC4uyJumPkm0vtd1LKsdnQc-ZPWdMGC1S09rMQERkfyqBR6tlwk-MmFSDtGS3l_Upqam1JK7c9Jhd7ppfPLD-zn6pO7RhO1SAmO4Kf8p4MRhzQ/s1600/B4_postcard+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorW_8kWXJpXDhGaV8SQnIJbfUWC4uyJumPkm0vtd1LKsdnQc-ZPWdMGC1S09rMQERkfyqBR6tlwk-MmFSDtGS3l_Upqam1JK7c9Jhd7ppfPLD-zn6pO7RhO1SAmO4Kf8p4MRhzQ/s200/B4_postcard+copy.png" width="200" /></a></div>
BAASICS (Bay Area Art & Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Sessions) PRESENTS:<br />
<i><b><a href="http://www.baasics.com/baasics-4-watershed/">BAASICS.4: Watershed</a></b></i><br />
<br />
Saturday, January 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm (doors @ 6:30pm)<br />
<a href="http://www.odcdance.org/theater.php"><b>ODC Theater</b></a> | 3153 17th Street, SF CA 94110<br />
(Reception to follow @ <a href="http://www.rootdivision.org/"><b>Root Division</b></a> | 3175 17th Street, SF CA 94110)<br />
This event is FREE/SLIDING SCALE, but seating is limited, so <a href="http://www.odcdance.org/performance.php?param=176">reserve your tickets</a> early.<br />
<u>Event website:</u> <a href="http://www.baasics.com/baasics-4-watershed/">http://www.baasics.com/baasics-4-watershed/</a><br />
Tickets available at <a href="http://www.odcdance.org/performance.php?param=176">http://www.odcdance.org/performance.php?param=176</a><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The Bay Area is home to stately mountains and forests, major metropolitan centers, sprawling suburbs, and an impressive nexus of roads, rail lines, bridges, and tunnels, but our region is named for the estuary that provides its contours. As Will Travis, former Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/">San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission</a>, puts it, “The bay is our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower">Eiffel Tower</a>, our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Capitan">El Capitan</a>, our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben">Big Ben</a>. It is a visual icon which gives our region its identity as a place different from everywhere else.” Over 7 million of us live near the bays, rivers, and creeks that comprise the San Francisco Bay <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drainage_basin">watershed</a>, but relatively few of us interact with it on a daily basis or know much about its history or ecology.<br />
<br />
<i>BAASICS.4: Watershed</i> brings together a diverse group of artists and scientists to reflect on the San Francisco Bay Area watershed. Professor <a href="http://cee.engr.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lund/">Jay Lund</a> will highlight and explore the ramifications of the urban Bay Area’s dependence on water from distant sources; environmental artists <a href="http://www.baasics.com/baasics-4-watershed-field-trip-7-thinking-about-flux/">Daniel McCormick and Mary O’Brien</a> will discuss what they term “remedial art,” surveying some of their <a href="http://www.watershedsculpture.com/">Watershed Sculpture</a> projects; Professor <a href="http://rtc.sfsu.edu/research/in_cohen.html">Sarah Cohen</a> will introduce us to “<a href="http://www.baasics.com/baasics-4-watershed-field-trip-3-nets-stars-vomit/">sea vomit</a>” and other species as she spotlights aquatic diversity in the Bay; accompanied by a string quartet, <a href="http://www.baasics.com/baasics-4-watershed-field-trip-5-an-invocation/">Karl Cronin</a>, Music Director of the <a href="http://americanaorchestra.com/">Americana Orchestra</a>, will guide us through a poetic meditation on our relationship to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Hetchy">Hetch Hetchy Valley</a>. These participants <a href="http://www.baasics.com/presenters/">and others</a> will join BAASICS co-founders and producers Selene Foster and Christopher Reiger for a entertaining and meandering exploration of the ecology and natural history of our region’s namesake and the tributaries that flow into it.<br />
<br />
Immediately following the ODC Theater program, a reception will be held next door, at Root Division, an arts and arts education non-profit. Join us for drinks, good conversation, and networking.<br />
<br />
<u><i>BAASICS.4: Watershed</i> Participants:</u><br />
Sarah Cohen, PhD – <i>Aquatic diversity in the Bay: When, what, and why?</i><br />
Karl Cronin – <i>We were once, you and I, the same water</i><br />
<a href="http://www.thewatershedproject.org/WhoWeAre/Staff.html">Derek Hitchcock</a> – <i>Watersheds to culturesheds: How science and art merge to create the mythic storytelling of watershed health from source to sea</i><br />
Jay Lund, PhD – <i>Relying on water from other places</i><br />
Daniel McCormick & Mary O’Brien – <i>Environmental art in the Anthropocene</i><br />
<a href="http://www.prelingerlibrary.org/home/">Megan Prelinger</a> – <i>Pulling the watershed out of a box: A journey through historical evidence</i><br />
<br />
<u>Also including documentation of projects by:</u><br />
<a href="http://www.thewatershedproject.org/WhoWeAre/Staff.html">Christopher Lim</a>, Living Shoreline Program Manager for <a href="http://www.thewatershedproject.org/">The Watershed Project</a><br />
Writer <a href="http://lizzyacker.com/">Lizzy Acker</a> & artist <a href="http://petehickok.com/home.html">Pete Hickok</a>, creators of <a href="http://petehickok.com/artwork/3236390_Salt_City_Atlas_Kickstarter.html">Salt City Atlas</a><br />
<a href="http://online.sfsu.edu/katboyer/Boyer_Lab/Home.html">Dr. Katharyn Boyer</a>’s research lab at <a href="http://rtc.sfsu.edu/">The Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies</a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">ABOUT BAASICS:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">BAASICS (Bay Area Art & Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Sessions) is a San Francisco-based non-profit organization dedicated to exploring contemporary topics through the lenses of art and science. We produce free and entertaining programs that make the contemporary fine arts and sciences accessible and inspiring for a popular audience. Additionally, we aim to foment interdisciplinary exchange and a new genre of experimentation that will move beyond what one of these disciplines can achieve on its own.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">BAASICS is a charitable, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. Our programming is made possible through public support, corporate sponsorships, and funds from Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure Grant Program. <i>BAASICS.4: Watershed</i> was produced in conjunction with ODC Theater and Root Division, with support from <a href="http://bayplanningcoalition.org/">The Bay Planning Coalition</a>.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pCxkMPHHqrxclKW5r8rLMtfIN4JOFxHCJeKzT7crjTRIG9byhZ7Z-asFqMkXNOB5EnUGIAQ_iCDGTDRGCPtcCpcRPz1V2Ek32cltT8ZHtcK1tScaDQZ3ttCCDf8qCSEqMFjDFg/s1600/B4_poster_email.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pCxkMPHHqrxclKW5r8rLMtfIN4JOFxHCJeKzT7crjTRIG9byhZ7Z-asFqMkXNOB5EnUGIAQ_iCDGTDRGCPtcCpcRPz1V2Ek32cltT8ZHtcK1tScaDQZ3ttCCDf8qCSEqMFjDFg/s1600/B4_poster_email.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<u>Image credts:</u> promotional materials, © BAASICS 2014Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-90349193640063102712014-01-05T14:46:00.001-08:002014-01-05T14:50:24.658-08:00"Presidio Sites"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxL0Qgsj-mCSy6U7S1R-E0OV703GHkIHunNmratPGAqcH4rgJpVp-zCf5vc-R1eydJhM__6QX5yIcADUrPEK8vfBR-OD9nDGjBN5bQovBJmjVxdoWbygtle4y0RZyFo83rEgwBlQ/s1600/christopher_web-page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxL0Qgsj-mCSy6U7S1R-E0OV703GHkIHunNmratPGAqcH4rgJpVp-zCf5vc-R1eydJhM__6QX5yIcADUrPEK8vfBR-OD9nDGjBN5bQovBJmjVxdoWbygtle4y0RZyFo83rEgwBlQ/s1600/christopher_web-page.jpg" height="302" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laurie Halsey Brown (senseofplaceLAB)<br />
"Christopher Reiger at Quadrat Site #1; Presidio, San Francisco, CA; October 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In December 2013, I led a walking tour to three of the four sites in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_San_Francisco">the Presidio</a> that were the focus of <i><a href="http://senseofplacelab.com/skill/nomadic-nature-in-situ/">Nomadic Nature In Situ</a></i>, a collaborative art project curated by <a href="http://senseofplacelab.com/">senseofplaceLAB</a>. At each stop, I read a short reflection on some aspect of the site, and the walking tour concluded with a reception where recent photographs of mine were on view. In the course of 2014, I'll lead more of these walks as part of my “Presidio Sites” project.<br />
<br />
See photos from the December outing and read about the “Presidio Sites” project <a href="http://senseofplacelab.com/project/nomadic-nature-in-situ-presidio-sites-event-on-dec-8-2-4/">here</a>.<br />
<a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0b-wkXWL8dkiB_UWR8ysOHIlY4Pd8TIcTtP72XYe7PrWNeKRgWADY2O5E60vBd-AnsNI2UJNDMOVrNBvbfTefbzku5yKVG4ckpWjn9m1yF_nHfSC5wiDFJ70pgR-gZojLEFMwA/s1600/MontereyPineCone2_QuadratSite1_Presidio_SFCA_August2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0b-wkXWL8dkiB_UWR8ysOHIlY4Pd8TIcTtP72XYe7PrWNeKRgWADY2O5E60vBd-AnsNI2UJNDMOVrNBvbfTefbzku5yKVG4ckpWjn9m1yF_nHfSC5wiDFJ70pgR-gZojLEFMwA/s1600/MontereyPineCone2_QuadratSite1_Presidio_SFCA_August2013.jpg" height="640" width="608" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Monterey pine cone; Quadrat Site #1; Presidio, San Francisco, CA; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9XSGEMR0w8r6q-XulOpjDeuRi4ShyphenhyphengJK-ALTLOwnOqJWgA0A-36xw59KELMy5p_Wr43jYObUKRlSoTCrsTkhZuZj7qWMAU8L7SmZ30wnX6hgraLBI-U1T3JrAgdZThF9Cps4oA/s1600/TrashShot_QuadratSite4_Presidio_SFCA_October2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9XSGEMR0w8r6q-XulOpjDeuRi4ShyphenhyphengJK-ALTLOwnOqJWgA0A-36xw59KELMy5p_Wr43jYObUKRlSoTCrsTkhZuZj7qWMAU8L7SmZ30wnX6hgraLBI-U1T3JrAgdZThF9Cps4oA/s1600/TrashShot_QuadratSite4_Presidio_SFCA_October2013.jpg" height="486" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Trash collected; Quadrat Site #4; Presidio, San Francisco, CA; October 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<u>Photo credits:</u> Photo of Christopher Reiger in field, © Laurie Halsey Brown, 2013; other photos in post, © Christopher Reiger, 2013
Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-84632237002468877302014-01-04T23:34:00.000-08:002014-01-05T14:52:06.764-08:00"Project George"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/r13875572170000000077/cc/8/3/4/16834/w/1640x830-F3BRoSb8QXUv108u.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/r13875572170000000077/cc/8/3/4/16834/w/1640x830-F3BRoSb8QXUv108u.jpg" height="512" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"<i>Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii</i> (<i>memento mori</i>)"<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Archival inkjet print on bamboo paper</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">8" x 10"</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">2013</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've been swamped with various projects these last few months, and I'm very belatedly announcing the terrific project below. It officially launched in November 2013.<br />
<br />
I'm honored to have <a href="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/artwork/3345110_Christopher_Reiger.html">a recent photograph</a> featured as one of the two prints kicking off the tribute, and it's a treat to be in the good company of <a href="http://jonathanwoodwardstudio.com/">Jonathan Woodward</a>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>+++++<br />
<br />
“<a href="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/section/379947_Project_George.html">PROJECT GEORGE</a>"<br />
A project in conjunction with <a href="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/">The Endangered Species Print Project</a><br />
<br />
To mark the passing of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_George">Lonesome George</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands">Galapagos</a>' last <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinta_Island_tortoise">Pinta Island giant tortoise</a>, The Endangered Species Print Project has launched "Project George" to honor his memory. This year-long tribute to Lonesome George will involve numerous artists and new prints. ESPP will release new George prints throughout the next year, with all prints available only for the one year time frame.<br />
<br />
The project launches with artwork by two artists who are passionate about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_movement">conservation</a> and often feature <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species">endangered species</a> in their work, Jonathan Woodward and <a href="http://www.christopherreiger.com/">Christopher Reiger</a>. Interestingly enough, both artists contributed collages. Woodward's cut paper collage style has received critical acclaim; in 2011 and 2012 he was a finalist for <a href="http://www.bbc.com/">BBC</a>'s Wildlife Artist of the Year. Reiger’s print, a digital collage that was printed, aged, and photographed, breaks new ground for the artist. Reiger has already contributed two of our best loved <a href="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/section/129016.html">ESPP prints to date</a>. All proceeds from the project will be donated to the <a href="http://www.galapagos.org/about_us/about-us/">Galapagos Conservancy</a>'s <a href="http://www.galapagos.org/conservation/tortoise-restoration/">Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative</a>.<br />
<br />
To view and order prints, click <a href="http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/section/379947_Project_George.html">here</a>.Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-8753950860170274152013-10-28T15:55:00.001-07:002013-10-28T15:57:40.990-07:00"Touch Me"Last night, <a href="http://www.baasics.com/">BAASICS</a> had the pleasure of supporting our friends at <i><a href="http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/">The Berkeley Science Review</a></i> with "<a href="http://touchme.eventbrite.com/">Touch Me</a>," their terrific <a href="http://www.bayareascience.org/">Bay Area Science Festival</a> program at the <a href="http://www.browercenter.org/">David Brower Center</a>. I posted <a href="http://www.baasics.com/touch-me-postgame-report/">a summary of the event</a> over at <a href="http://www.baasics.com/category/blog-posts/">the BAASICS blog</a>. Check it out <a href="http://www.baasics.com/touch-me-postgame-report/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/TouchMe_2_hobo_zps5de1c481.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/TouchMe_2_hobo_zps5de1c481.jpg" width="488" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original "Touch Me" promotional poster</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-5813966353265539052013-10-14T11:02:00.000-07:002013-10-14T11:02:26.791-07:00Rock Dove On A Rock<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2839/9821063416_4e6e875679_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2839/9821063416_4e6e875679_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Pigeon (Rock dove); Mountain Lake; Presidio, San Francisco, CA; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Because so many people think of pigeons as "sky rats," I like to emphasis their more "proper" common name, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Dove">rock dove</a> (<i>Columba livia</i>). They're fascinating birds and, although ubiquitous in urban landscapes, shouldn't be viewed with such disgust.<br />
<br />
<u>Photo credit:</u> © Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-64824053052899535692013-10-10T11:27:00.002-07:002013-10-10T11:28:54.589-07:00A Different Kind Of Tree<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/TelephonePole_QuadratSite1_Presidio_SFCA_August2013_zpsa8a49472.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/TelephonePole_QuadratSite1_Presidio_SFCA_August2013_zpsa8a49472.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Telephone Pole; 'Presidio Sites' Quadrat Project Site #1; Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A photo from my ongoing "Presidio Sites" project, about which I'll share more in the coming months.<br />
<br />
<u>Photo credit:</u> © Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-32553088328724135272013-10-06T08:45:00.000-07:002013-10-06T08:45:25.807-07:00Sign FailDuring <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-tonto-inventory.html">my August trip</a> to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona">Arizona</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonto_National_Forest">Tonto National Forest</a>, I encountered the sign pictured below near a trailhead. I found it notable for two reasons.<br>
<br>
First, while Tonto visitors should certainly be informed of the simple precautions they can take to avoid antagonistic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear">American black bear</a> encounters, the sign seems to play up the threat posed, an approach better reserved for regions that are home to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_bear">grizzly or brown bears</a>.<br>
<br>
I also tripped over the sign's closing quip, "A Fed bear is a dead bear." Is the Forest Service threatening <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_(gay_culture)">stout, hirsute homosexual men</a> employed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States">the federal government</a>? Careless copyediting strikes again!<br>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/9731361597_9f5d8cec55_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/9731361597_9f5d8cec55_b.jpg" width="466" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forest Service sign; East Verde River; Tonto National Forest; Arizona<br />
August 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
<u>Image credit:</u> sign snapshot, Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-17939829414440731092013-10-04T06:22:00.000-07:002013-10-10T11:29:02.245-07:00Grounded Golden<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3675/10077608436_ba9b984a5e_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3675/10077608436_ba9b984a5e_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="p1">
Christopher Reiger</div>
<div class="p1">
"Golden Eagle mount; Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center; Palo Alto, CA; September 2013"</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<u>Photo credit:</u> © Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-22508693018901419912013-10-03T13:10:00.001-07:002013-10-04T06:16:35.595-07:00Knowing the Way To Your Heart<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Elizabeth-Alexander-Song-Sparrow_zps63778bdc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Elizabeth-Alexander-Song-Sparrow_zps63778bdc.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth Alexander<br />
"Song Sparrow"<br />
2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was curiously heartened when I read the below blurb in the "Field Notes" section of <a href="http://www.audubonmagazine.org/magazine-issues/september-october-2013">the September/October 2013 issue</a> of <a href="http://www.audubonmagazine.org/"><i>Audubon Magazine</i></a>.<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Silly Love Songs:</b> Singing longer doesn't always mean you get the girl.<br />
<br />
Among <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Sparrow">song sparrows</a>, the most tuneful males often win over the females -- but their vocal expertise may come at a cost. Biologists at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_University">Duke University</a> counted up songs in male song sparrows' repertoires and then tested the birds' memories. Every day for eight days the researchers hid a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealworm">mealworm</a> in one of several shallow wells, some of which had lids. The mealworms' location remained the same, so the scientists could observe how deftly the sparrows remembered where to find their treat. Over time all of the birds improved, but the males that sang the fewest songs learned the quickest, while the birds with more expansive repertoires struggled. <a href="http://www.biol.vt.edu/faculty/sewall/">Kendra Sewall</a>, now at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech">Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University</a>, explains that the difference could reflect a trade-off during mental development -- the birds develop one ability or the other. The finding also suggests that females may be able to detect a potential mate's weaknesses in his songs. Although many pick males that sing lots of songs, Sewall notes that every male in their study found a mate. It's possible, she says, that certain females are aware of the trade-off and prefer a partner with spatial smarts to pass on to their young. -- <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/incubator/2012/06/21/introducing-daisy-yuhas/">Daisy Yuhas</a></blockquote>
Maybe I was cheered by the report because I <b>a)</b> have a terrible singing voice, <b>b)</b> struggle to remember song lyrics (even simple tunes), <b>c)</b> am fond of poring over maps, and <b>d)</b> have an innately good sense of direction? Like the song sparrow test subjects, it seems I was afforded one ability and not the other.<br />
<br />
<u>Image credit:</u> Elizabeth Alexander's mixed media song sparrow artwork <a href="http://blog.artandwriting.org/2012/04/26/poems-for-your-pocket/">found online</a> at the <a href="http://blog.artandwriting.org/">Scholastic Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Blog</a>Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-1572861870716304282013-09-25T20:15:00.000-07:002013-09-25T20:16:58.477-07:00Antennae #26 Feature<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ANTENNAE26_Cover_zps58c0b08b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ANTENNAE26_Cover_zps58c0b08b.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
I'm pleased to announce that several of my paintings and drawings are featured in <a href="http://www.antennae.org.uk/ANTENNAE%20ISSUE%2026.pdf">Issue #26</a> (Autumn 2013) of <i><a href="http://www.antennae.org.uk/">Antennae: The Journal of Nature In Visual Culture</a></i>. Accompanying the images, the editors printed a statement I wrote about the featured body of work.<br />
<br />
While I'm not currently working on that series -- my attention is more focused on <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/04/when-it-all-comes-together.html">the hybrid project I described in April</a> -- I'm delighted to have my work appear in <i>Antennae</i>, a journal that, as an artist and writer preoccupied by all things "nature," I've long been a fan of.<br />
<br />
<u>Image credits:</u>: Antennae, copyright 2013<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Spread1copy_zpsccb029e0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Spread1copy_zpsccb029e0.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Spread2copy_zpse9e2d59b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Spread2copy_zpse9e2d59b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-78997240051508521352013-09-24T18:35:00.000-07:002013-10-10T11:29:20.715-07:00Photographs From Tonto National Forest, AZAs promised, I'm posting a sampling of the many photographs I took during <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-tonto-inventory.html">my August trip to Tonto National Forest</a>. If you'd like to read more about the various animal species encountered on the trip, click <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-tonto-inventory.html">here</a>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/9734578458_af58e410c0_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/9734578458_af58e410c0_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="p1">
Christopher Reiger</div>
<div class="p1">
"Barrel cactus species; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5549/9731352191_06639e4ea6_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5549/9731352191_06639e4ea6_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"View from Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3834/9731352975_7ffbafa572_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3834/9731352975_7ffbafa572_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Trussed tree; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7312/9731354729_2e2874d1cf_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7312/9731354729_2e2874d1cf_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Agave cactus species; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3805/9731356651_5df560f8b1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3805/9731356651_5df560f8b1_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Fred; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5341/9731357785_5035955910_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5341/9731357785_5035955910_b.jpg" width="433" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Rusty can; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2886/9731358081_ca8c46abca_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2886/9731358081_ca8c46abca_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Resting; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5349/9731360057_349e865d6a_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5349/9731360057_349e865d6a_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Fred holding Greater short-horned lizard; Fire Road 1170; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7429/9734596722_79737229d2_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7429/9734596722_79737229d2_b.jpg" width="628" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Snapshot; Tonto Natural Bridge State Park; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5492/9734601732_70444d8ff7_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5492/9734601732_70444d8ff7_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Lime Green Beetle; Beaver Valley Villas; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7419/9731375279_be11b058cd_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7419/9731375279_be11b058cd_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Teddy Bear cactus; Tule Canyon Trail; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3708/9731378361_bc7cf1e30c_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3708/9731378361_bc7cf1e30c_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Yellow paper wasp feeding on prickly pear fruit; Tule Canyon Trail; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7401/9734602490_48e38f5f33_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7401/9734602490_48e38f5f33_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christopher Reiger<br />
"Tule Canyon Trailhead; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u>Photo credits:</u> © Christopher Reiger, 2013<br />
<b></b>Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-61931331292423113672013-09-23T20:23:00.001-07:002013-09-23T20:26:05.136-07:00Stop That Train, I Wanna Get OffOn the heels of <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/09/navigating-flood-of-images.html">yesterday's post</a> about the staggering number of images we wade through...this.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/OutlookAdWithPhotos_CivicCenterMuniStation_SFCA_Sept2013_zps839e12bf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="488" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/OutlookAdWithPhotos_CivicCenterMuniStation_SFCA_Sept2013_zps839e12bf.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Civic Center Muni Station advertising<br />
September 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u>Photography credit:</u> Christopher Reiger, 2013<br />
<br />
<br />Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-30226066758528760282013-09-22T16:16:00.002-07:002013-09-22T19:09:05.005-07:00Navigating the Flood (Of Images)I recently visited "<a href="http://www.pier24.org/exhibition/current.html">A Sense of Place</a>," <a href="http://www.pier24.org/">Pier 24</a>'s current exhibition. It's a strong show with a broad purview that, typical of Pier 24 productions, is elegantly and thoughtfully installed. Long after I left the space, I found myself reflecting on the relationship between two of the "A Sense of Place" galleries.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kesselskramerpublishing.com/">Erik Kessels</a>' installation, "<a href="http://beautifuldecay.com/2013/08/14/a-room-filled-with-prints-of-all-of-the-images-uploaded-to-flickr-in-one-day/">24 HRS in Photos</a>," a "room filled - floor to ceiling - with printed versions of every picture uploaded to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a> during a 24-hour period," has generated some online buzz. The <a href="http://www.pier24.org/exhibition/current.html">Pier 24 press release</a> states that Kessels' provides the viewer with an opportunity "to both visually and physically experience the overwhelming number of photographs shared online." Indeed, he does.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ErikKessel3_Pier24_SFCA_Sept2013_zpsf0802651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ErikKessel3_Pier24_SFCA_Sept2013_zpsf0802651.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="p1">
Erik Kessels</div>
<div class="p1">
"24 HRS in Photos"</div>
<div class="p1">
Installation view at Pier 24</div>
<div class="p1">
2013</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I entered "24 HRS in Photos" a few minutes after leaving another room of the exhibition, one devoted to <a href="http://stephenshore.net/">Stephen Shore</a>'s "<a href="http://stephenshore.net/photography/D/index.php?page=1&menu=photographs">Uncommon Places</a>." The contrast between the spaces was jarring. The simple framing of Shore's work -- broad mats provide ample quiet space around the prints -- isolates each picture and draws the viewer in. Accordingly, I spent long minutes with each of Shore's photographs, pouring over details and "reading" the pictures like a short story. Every Main Street, bowling alley, parking lot, and road sign in Shore's photographs has a rich tale to tell.<br />
<br />
My "read" of "24 HRS in Photos" couldn't have been more different. Upon entering Kessels' installation, I didn't know where to begin. I knew I was looking at an accumulation of individual photographs, but I could take in the work only as a whole, as a swell of blues, whites, and blacks with occasional bursts of yellow or red. <a href="http://www.sfaqonline.com/2013/08/a-sense-of-place-exhibition-at-pier-24-san-francisco/">As Ariel Rosen writes</a> over at <i><a href="http://www.sfaqonline.com/">SFAQ</a></i>, Kessels' "mountain of photos" is "antithetical to any careful choosing." The installation reminds us that the vast majority of images being produced today are neither intended nor received as pictures to be pondered; they are snapped, uploaded, shared, consumed, and forgotten.<br />
<a name='more'></a><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/4_zps8d6d6c06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/4_zps8d6d6c06.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Shore<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">"U.S. 22, Union, New Jersey, April 24, 1974"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Standing at the base of Kessels' photo slope, I thought first of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly">mayflies</a>, insects best known for being short-lived and dying en masse, their bodies littering river banks and yards. Then, as I studied some of the images at my feet, I thought of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas">Native American</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midden">middens</a>; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohlone_people">Ohlone</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeryville_Shellmound">shell mounds</a> that were a part of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area">Bay Area</a> landscape for generations are often written about romantically, but they <a href="http://anthropology.net/2007/11/24/nagpra-bay-area-shellmounds/">were essentially dump sites</a>, valuable to archeologists chiefly because they provide a window into "the debris of daily life" for a 16th, 17th, or 18th century Ohlone village or camp.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ErikKessel_Pier24_SFCA_Sept2013_zps03c87e1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ErikKessel_Pier24_SFCA_Sept2013_zps03c87e1b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="p1">
Erik Kessels</div>
<div class="p1">
"24 HRS in Photos"</div>
<div class="p1">
Installation view at Pier 24</div>
<div class="p1">
2013</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
How should those of us who continue to find pictures so potent contend with <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2011/04/navigating-flood.html">such an over-abundance</a> of images (and with the consequential disregard most of us have for them)? One way is to prioritize process, distinguishing art photography from all other pictures based on the methods employed by the creator(s). The contemporary art world has generally embraced this approach. There are many art photographers who achieve critical (and sometimes commercial) success because of the novel or antique processes they employ to distinguish themselves from the mass of photographic sameness. Unfortunately, it isn't a very good way of sorting the good from the bad or the bland; a fascinating or unorthodox method is worth little if the subject matter is uninteresting.<br />
<br />
In any case, there are scads of brilliant photographs taken by amateurs today -- a good number could be found among the pictures that are included in "24 HRS in Photos," I'm sure -- most of whom are using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone">iPhones</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-and-shoot_camera">point-and-shoot digital cameras</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosumer">prosumer</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera">DSLRs</a>. As a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history">natural history</a> enthusiast, I regularly look at amateur <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_photography">wildlife photographs</a>, and it's plain that hobbyists and professionals alike are producing stunning images. But I've come to admire the lion's share of these photos on strictly technical terms. As cameras and lens have improved and become more affordable, the "wow factor" of good wildlife photography is diminished. (I know photographers who, even though they take advantage of them, bemoan the technological jumps of the last twenty years because they've so lowered the barriers to entry; no longer does a good photograph require the taker to understand the internal mechanisms of the cameras, master chemical treatments, or spend hours alone in the dark.)<br />
<br />
Perhaps <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2011/04/navigating-flood.html">we can contend with the flood</a> by prioritizing the work of those photographers who have good "batting averages," if you will. After all, one expects that the ratio of good to bad photographs produced by the amateur is significantly lower than that of the working photographer. On the other hand, this isn't entirely fair, as the professional edits and curates his or her work, only letting the better images out into the world. And even this editing process is subjective; one person's discards and deletions are another's solo show. And that's just it. Technical considerations aside, all of aesthetics and criticism is subjective. So is there no measure we can resort to? Have we no way to confront the deluge?<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ErikKessel2_Pier24_SFCA_Sept2013_zps5d7bae51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ErikKessel2_Pier24_SFCA_Sept2013_zps5d7bae51.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="p1">
Erik Kessels</div>
<div class="p1">
"24 HRS in Photos"</div>
<div class="p1">
Installation view at Pier 24</div>
<div class="p1">
2013</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In the midst of Kessels' collection, I stooped and picked up one photograph, chosen because a stroke of yellow in the picture caught my eye. By plucking this single print from the mix, holding it up, and contemplating it, I was mollified. Here was a picture, unexceptional and technically challenged though it may be, that I could appreciate. I didn't drift into it the way I do most of Shore's photos, but, nonetheless, the rest of Kessels' midden fell away. Perhaps the best way to deal with the superabundance of images, then, is to isolate them, glean what we will, and not worry so much about seeing everything?<br />
<br />
In any case, holding up the single photograph and realizing that I might write about the Kessels/Shore counterpoint, I snapped several pics for this post -- adding three more drops to the ocean.<br />
<br />
"A Sense of Place" is on view at Pier 24 through May 2014.<br />
<br />
<u>Photography credits:</u> Christopher Reiger, 2013, and Stephen Shore, 1974Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-19033720518924864182013-09-18T20:23:00.001-07:002013-09-18T20:24:39.270-07:00Snapshots From Home Ground Chapbook<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_1_zpsd8217382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_1_zpsd8217382.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Snapshots From Home Ground</u> Chapbook, 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><br /></u>
<u>Snapshots From Home Ground</u>, the limited edition <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">chapbook</a> I produced in conjunction with the <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">Aggregate Space Writer-in-Residence</a> and <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/07/featherboard-writing-series-reading.html">Featherboard Writing Series</a>, was released in early August 2013. A meditation on my rural upbringing on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Shore_of_Virginia">Eastern Shore of Virginia</a>, the book is comprised of eight vignettes and a selection of photographs taken by either me or my father.<br />
<br />
Copies are available through both <a href="http://www.aggregatespace.com/">Aggregate Space</a> and <a href="http://featherboard.wordpress.com/featherboard-writing-series-2/">Featherboard</a>. (I also plan to release <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/in-harness-at-aggregate-space.html">a free e-chapbook version</a> later this year.)<br />
<br />
Below, I've published "Good Boy," the chapbook's opening sketch, and also include a number of "snapshots" of book spreads.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_3_zpsbba98fea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_3_zpsbba98fea.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Good Boy</b><br />
<br />
The black lab wandered out of the pine grove near the chicken yard.<br />
<br />
It was mid-morning on a humid and already hot summer day, and I was helping my father with chores when I saw the dog. In the country, an unfamiliar stray is cause for concern. For an eight-year-old boy, however, the lab represented a potential playmate. Seeing me, the young dog galumphed my way with the spiritedness characteristic of his breed. I laughed as he waggled, whined, and gamboled his way around me.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I attributed the lab’s oily looking fur and its odd licking behavior to the temperature. Whatever I thought, I failed to identify a very sick animal. Rabies, in its early, prodromal stage, is a different beast. The frothing, biting monster that runs wild in our imaginations is real, but that stage, called the “furious phase,” comes later. Nonetheless, by the onset of the prodromal period, the virus has already reached the animal’s brain. My father, less interested in new playmates, recognized the dog’s symptoms and quickly relegated me to the house.<br />
<br />
I stood on the bleached brick of our air-conditioned back porch, hands pressed against the sliding glass door, and looked across the farm’s expansive backyard to my father’s parked pickup truck. Its rear gate was lowered and, some yards behind, my father stood in front of the lab. From the porch, I didn’t have a clear view of the proceedings, and I don’t recall whether my father was holding a .22 revolver or a rifle. The close range makes the handgun the better tool for the job; in my mind’s eye, that’s the weapon wielded. In spite of the insulating glass doors and the thrum of the air conditioning, I winced at the sharp crack of the gun’s discharge, and the rest is bits and pieces.<br />
<br />
I remember the greasy fur of the dog, who in death, no longer exuberant and bounding, appeared so plainly unhealthy. I remember the blood pooling a vivid scarlet in the ditch-like grooves of the truck bed. I remember my dismal mood.<br />
<br />
I cried and brooded, quietly raging at the arbitrary nature of a world in which a young animal, man’s proverbial best friend, could be infected with an untreatable and fatal virus. I displaced some of this existential angst onto my father. He’d already taught me that creation is capricious, but the sentiment didn’t sit well with me as a child. I was afraid of death and I found the tales of a naughty or nice Hereafter compelling. In the case of the lab, I imagined that he’d been a “good boy,” and I took solace in my belief that at least all good dogs go to heaven. But my father dismissed talk of afterlives as fearful pap, and, in time, despite the countering influence of my mother, I, too, would grow leery of the faithful around me.<br />
<br />
We drove the body to one of the farm’s back fields and left it on the margin for a kettle of turkey vultures to descend upon in their tilting orbits. It didn’t occur to me on that sad and sweaty morning, but those dark, bald sentinels of the sky, who visit earth to feed on carrion and carry the reconstituted energy skyward again, offered a consolation that literalist religion could not.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_2_zps64c48492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="467" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_2_zps64c48492.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_4_zpsb3e5022e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_4_zpsb3e5022e.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_5_zpsea9dc4b9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_5_zpsea9dc4b9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_6_zpsf19a1b18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="490" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_6_zpsf19a1b18.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_7_zps71812d98.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SnapshotsFromHomeGround_7_zps71812d98.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>Image credits:</u> Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-2896690016204262982013-09-12T14:38:00.002-07:002013-09-12T14:38:47.743-07:00The Sin of Being RealisticIn conjunction with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah">Jewish new year</a>, I read a litany of "<a href="http://judaism.about.com/od/judaismbasics/a/Do-Jews-Believe-In-Sin.htm">sins</a>" we Jews must repent for on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur">Yom Kippur</a>. One of them had special resonance, both personally and universally.<blockquote>
"For the sin of being 'realistic' when our tradition calls upon us to transform reality."</blockquote>
I like the formulation, even if the "realist" in me balks at what remains unaddressed. After all, while it's certainly true that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(international_relations)">realism</a> too often begets apathy and the maintenance of the status quo, it's also true that <a href="http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-idealism-and-realism/">idealism</a> sometimes begets rigid ideology and violence. Perhaps, then, tempered idealism is the best proposition, a virtue that will allow us to continue to struggle toward the horizon (and beyond)?<br />
<br />
Whatever religion, philosophy, or ethic you subscribe to (or react against), our collective human aspiration calls on us to improve the lot of the whole. Here's to our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-l91O9VxN0">keeping on keeping on</a>, together.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7445/9731361779_de06371db1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="433" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7445/9731361779_de06371db1_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>View of Little Diamond Rim; Tonto National Forest; Arizona; August 2013</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u>Photo credit:</u> Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-54753835095332379652013-09-08T08:28:00.002-07:002013-09-08T08:28:26.241-07:00Bad Ideas For "America's Best Idea"<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="text-align: left;">
"In a soul-searching, head-scratching journey of its own, the agency that manages some of the most awe-inspiring public places is scrambling to rethink and redefine itself to the growing number of Americans who do not use the parks in the way that previous — mostly white — generations did. Only about one in five visitors to a national park site is nonwhite, according to a 2011 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wyoming">University of Wyoming</a> report commissioned by <a href="http://www.nps.gov/">the Park Service</a>, and only about 1 in 10 is Hispanic — a particularly lackluster embrace by the nation’s fastest-growing demographic group.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/AboveRubyBeach2_OlympicPeninsula_Washington_April2008_zps509aa739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/AboveRubyBeach2_OlympicPeninsula_Washington_April2008_zps509aa739.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park<br>
April 2008</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
[…] But the new effort goes further, to the question of how, and how much, the parks themselves must change to attract a fundamentally different audience. Wireless access, for example — still nonexistent in much of the Park Service universe — could divide older park visitors from minorities and young people, the so-called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y">millennial generation</a>, who want to share the experience live in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media">social media</a> with their peers.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
'Boomers maybe want to get away, and millennials want to be connected; that changes how you use the space,' said Laura Swapp, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REI">REI</a>’s director of diversity and inclusion. Music events could be another potential generational dividing line — peace and quiet versus entertainment — but would also draw the demographic the Park Service is after, Ms. Swapp said."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
- from <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/kirk_johnson/index.html">Kirk Johnson</a>'s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><i>New York Times</i></a>' piece, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/national-parks-try-to-appeal-to-minorities.html?hp&_r=0">National Parks Try to Appeal to Minorities</a>"</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Here's hoping <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay-Z">Jay-Z</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Gaga">Lady Gaga</a> never perform on stages in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park">Yellowstone</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park">Yosemite</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Although I, too, would like to see more cultural and racial variety on our parks' trails, further developing the parks with WiFi towers and concert venues would be a myopic and ultimately fruitless move. Few areas of the American landscape afford us with the opportunity to "tune in" by tuning out, and the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/">National Park Service</a> should <u>not</u> fundamentally alter its mission in an effort to appeal to younger and more diverse demographics.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Instead, the NPS needs to celebrate the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_(ethic)">conservation</a> heroes of color -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majora_Carter">Majora Carter</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Jones">Van Jones</a>, for example, as well as the growing number of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American">African American</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans">Latino</a> NPS <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Park_Service_Ranger">rangers</a> -- thereby providing role models for today's youth. Most importantly, we need more programs that get urban kids into our parks, encouraging them to recognize that these tracts belong to them. It's possible that their time afield without phone calls, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit">Reddit</a> will stay with them, appreciated, even if they're less than enthusiastic about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito">mosquito</a> bites.</div><br>
<u>Photo credit:</u> Christopher Reiger, 2008Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-77934447740856511992013-08-19T14:01:00.003-07:002013-08-19T14:26:10.207-07:00A Tonto InventoryDuring the summer of 2003, I spent a week rafting on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River">Colorado River</a>. Our flotilla bounced, rolled, and cheered its way down the river's major rapids, but there was also ample time for floating on the current and letting the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon">Grand Canyon</a>'s magnificence wash over us. At night, we cooked and camped on the river's beaches. A few memories of the trip are especially clear: I recall encouraging the youngest members of our party to avoid harming the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiny_lizard">spiny lizards</a> they chased around camp; rejoicing when I encountered <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattlesnake">rattlesnakes</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion">scorpions</a> during side hikes; and, on the last night of the trip, listening to a passionate talk by one of our guides about <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56724527-78/lake-powell-river-colorado.html.csp">the Colorado's dwindling water flow</a>. Above all, though, I remember the sublime beauty of the landscape.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/GreaterShorthornedLizard2_FireRoad1170_TontoNationalForest_AZ_August2013_zps467374a1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/GreaterShorthornedLizard2_FireRoad1170_TontoNationalForest_AZ_August2013_zps467374a1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Christopher Reiger </i><br />
<i>"Greater short-horned lizard; Fire Road 1170;</i><br />
<i>Tonto National Forest, AZ; August 2013"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Until this summer, ten years after that unforgettable trip, the river week was my only experience of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_United_States">American Southwest</a>, and I've wanted to return to the region for some time. When a good friend (and fellow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history">natural history</a> nerd) called me earlier this year and suggested we carve out some time to visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona">Arizona</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonto_National_Forest">Tonto National Forest</a>, I was easily persuaded.<br />
<br />
We spent most of our weeklong visit exploring the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_desert">high desert</a> trails and fire roads of Tonto's north central tract, but we also had an opportunity to spend a little time in the National Forest's southern reach, at the edge of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoran_Desert">Sonoran Desert</a>. It was a treat to meet so many species new to me and to have intimate encounters with other animals, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk">elk</a>, that I'd previously seen in habitats <i>very</i> different from that of the high desert.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
In future posts, I plan to share more of the photos I took in Tonto, but because some <i>HH</i> readers "nerd out" on natural history and/or lists like I do, I've posted below a simple inventory of the species we saw.<br />
<br />
<u>Arizona's Tonto National Forest -- August 6-12, 2013</u><br />
* means numerous sightings<br />
<b>Boldface</b> common names denote my first sighting of a species<br />
<br />
<u>BIRDS (43 seen & positively IDed species)</u><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Woodpecker">Acorn woodpecker</a> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%27s_Hummingbird">Anna's hummingbird</a> (~3 sightings at feeder; both male and female)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band-tailed_Pigeon">Band-tailed pigeon</a></b> (2 sightings; individuals)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-chinned_Hummingbird">Black-chinned hummingbird</a></b> (1 sighting; ~2-3 females)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-headed_Grosbeak">Black-headed grosbeak</a></b> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-throated_Gray_Warbler">Black-throated grey warbler</a> (1 sighting of 1 male)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-gray_Gnatcatcher">Blue-grey gnatcatcher</a> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-tailed_Hummingbird">Broad-tailed hummingbird</a></b> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridled_Titmouse">Bridled titmouse</a></b> (1 sighting; 1 male)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactus_Wren">Cactus wren</a></b> (1 sighting; 2-3 individuals)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipping_Sparrow">Chipping sparrow</a> (2 sightings; ~3 individuals)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Cliff_Swallow">Cliff swallow</a> (2 sightings; *)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Black_Hawk">Common black hawk</a> (1 sighting; individual)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Raven">Common raven</a> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-eyed_Junco">Dark-eyed junco</a> (1 sighting; many birds)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Collared_Dove">Eurasian collared dove</a> (1)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambel%27s_Quail">Gambel's quail</a></b> (2 sightings of large coveys; also heard, but not seen)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_Woodpecker">Gila woodpecker</a></b> (1 sighting; individual)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_Woodpecker">Hairy woodpecker</a> (2 sightings; 3 in all)<br />
<b><a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hepatic_Tanager/id">Hepatic tanager</a></b> (1 sighting; 2 males)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_Oriole">Hooded oriole</a></b> (2 sightings, 1 male, 2 females in all)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_Titmouse">Juniper titmouse</a></b> (1 sighting; ~3)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lark_Sparrow">Lark sparrow</a></b> (1 sighting, many birds)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Goldfinch">Lesser goldfinch</a> (1 sighting; 2 males)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Jay">Mexican jay</a></b> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Chickadee">Mountain chickadee</a></b> (1 sighting; 2-3 individuals)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_Dove">Mourning dove</a> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Flicker">Northern flicker</a> (1 sighting; ~3)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Whitestart">Painted redstart</a></b> (2 sightings; 4 males in all)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phainopepla">Phainopepla</a></b> (1 sighting; 1 male, 1 female, and 1 juvenile)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Martin">Purple martin</a> (1 male)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_Nuthatch">Pygmy nuthatch</a></b> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_Hawk">Red-tailed hawk</a> (2 or 3 sightings; individuals)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_Towhee">Spotted towhee</a> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller%27s_Jay">Steller's jay</a> (1)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Vulture">Turkey vulture</a> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Bluebird">Western bluebird</a> (3 sightings; ~4 in all)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Kingbird">Western kingbird</a></b> (1)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Scrub_Jay">Western scrub jay</a> (3 sightings; ~4 in all)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Tanager">Western tanager</a></b> (3 sightings; both male and female)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-breasted_Nuthatch">White-breasted nuthatch</a> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-winged_Dove">White-winged dove</a> (3 sightings; ~8 individuals)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Yellow_Warbler">Yellow warbler</a> (1)<br />
<br />
<i>probable</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassin%27s_Kingbird">Cassin's kingbird</a> (1)<br />
<i>possible</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Dove">Inca</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Ground_Dove">Ground dove</a> (1)<br />
<i>either</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond%27s_Flycatcher">Hammond's</a> or <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Flycatcher/id">grey flycatcher</a> (1)<br />
<i>either</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutton%27s_Vireo">Hutton's</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_Vireo">Bell's vireo</a> (~3)<br />
<i>heard</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belted_Kingfisher">belted kingfisher</a> (1)<br />
<br />
<u>MAMMALS (6 seen & positively IDed species)</u><br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_gray_squirrel">Arizona grey squirrel</a></b> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-tailed_jackrabbit">Black-tailed jackrabbit</a></b> (1)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_cottontail">Desert cottontail</a></b> (*)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk">Elk</a> (2 sightings; 3-4 cows and 1 juvenile)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collared_peccary">Javelina</a> (collared peccary) (1)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_deer">Mule deer</a> (1 sighting; 1 doe)<br />
<br />
<i>unIDed</i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_squirrel">ground squirrel</a> species<br />
<br />
<i>heard</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote">coyotes</a> and saw tracks aplenty<br />
also found elk <u>bones</u> on several occasions<br />
<br />
<u>REPTILES (7 species)</u><br />
<b><a href="http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subpages/h-c-cerberus.html">Arizona black rattlesnake</a></b> (1 sighting; 2 snakes, 1 preparing to shed)<br />
<b><a href="http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Lizards-Subpages/h-a-uniparens.html">Desert-grassland whiptail</a></b> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_short-horned_lizard">Greater short-horned lizard</a></b> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Lizards-Subpages/h-u-ornatus.html">Ornate tree lizard</a></b> (*)<br />
<a href="http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/s.m.magister.html">Spiny lizard (S. magister sp.)</a> (2)<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_fence_lizard">Western fence lizard</a> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_earless_lizard">Greater earless lizard</a></b> (*)<br />
<br />
<u>INSECTS (4 species…that we IDed)</u><br />
<b><a href="http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/127255-Eleodes-armatus">Armored stink beetle</a></b> (*)<br />
<b><a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/546589/bgimage">Lime green beetle</a></b> (1)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derobrachus_geminatus">Palo verde beetle</a></b> (type of longhorn) (1)<br />
<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_multicaudata">Two-tailed swallowtail butterfly</a></b> (*)<br />
<br />
<u>ARACHNIDS</u><br />
<i>unIDed</i> <a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/3829">wind scorpion</a> species<br />
numerous <i>unIDed</i> spiders<br />
<i>unIDed</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones">harvestman</a> species<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ElkMetatarsus_NorthOfPaysonAZ_August2013_zpsef3581aa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ElkMetatarsus_NorthOfPaysonAZ_August2013_zpsef3581aa.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Christopher Reiger</i><br />
<i>"Elk metatarsus; Tonto National Forest, AZ; August 2013"</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>Photo credits:</u> both photos, copyright Christopher Reiger, 2013
Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-84937940211196866672013-07-28T17:03:00.002-07:002013-07-28T17:03:47.364-07:00Interview with Jaime LakatosI had the pleasure of meeting artist <a href="http://jaimelakatos.com/home.html">Jaime Lakatos</a> in <a href="http://www.aggregatespace.com/">Aggregate Space</a> last week to chat with her about "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.547697191963515.1073741827.191999664199938&type=1">Cinderscape</a>," her solo show there. I encourage readers to visit Aggregate Space while "Cinderscape" is still on view (through Saturday, August 3). It's a very strong show by an artist I expect to see a lot more from in the coming years.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/4VIfnAWBbCm2vL5ITSmjtFiH-e2OXfMJQBl9YprOsQUepLsEv0VZUtd3R-lNzhNEhL-ERj5i2pebZI-6Hd914Y_zps68e1eec7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/4VIfnAWBbCm2vL5ITSmjtFiH-e2OXfMJQBl9YprOsQUepLsEv0VZUtd3R-lNzhNEhL-ERj5i2pebZI-6Hd914Y_zps68e1eec7.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaime Lakatos<br />Installation view of "Chronic Remorse"<br />Watercolor and graphite on paper<br />14 x 18 inches<br />2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><u>Christopher Reiger:</u> Are you from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area">Bay Area</a> originally?</b><br />
<br />
<u>Jaime Lakatos:</u> I grew up in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York">New York</a>, about an hour from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City">the city</a>, on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island">Long Island</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Where on Long Island?</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Jefferson,_New_York">Port Jefferson</a>, right where the ferry goes to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport,_Connecticut">Bridgeport</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>So, you’re obviously interested in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history">natural history</a>. Where did that interest come from?</b><br />
<br />
Well, you know, going to the <a href="http://www.amnh.org/">Natural History Museum</a> in New York. That was home base. I had an internship there before I started working in museums thirteen years ago, just making all the architectural models for the new <a href="http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/biodiversity-and-environmental-halls/milstein-hall-of-ocean-life">Hall of Ocean Life</a>. Also, when I was in school at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design">RISD</a>, I did a 6-month stint with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiki_Smith">Kiki Smith</a>. My work was a lot more human body based at the time, and its gradually evolved. It was about parasites in the human body, then animals and humans, and now it’s just animals!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Works for me! And when did you land out here?</b><br />
<br />
Six or seven years ago.<br />
<br />
<b>Is your current <a href="http://www.museumca.org/">Oakland Museum</a> preparator position something you landed recently?</b><br />
<br />
No, as soon as I moved here, I started doing freelance work with them.<br />
<br />
<b>It seems like the two places you’ve worked out here, the Oakland Museum and the <a href="http://www.calacademy.org/">California Academy of Sciences</a>, would be the local meccas for a person who grew up with the American Museum of Natural History as her home base.</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, for sure.<br />
<br />
<b>So tell me a bit about this body of work, “Cinderscape.”</b><br />
<br />
Well, it’s about nature being destroyed. Being burnt up in fire is the end; nothing is going to come back from that. I wanted to portray these creatures in my own sort of evolution, where little bits of other pieces of nature are actually helping them out. There are two parts to each one, and parts that you wouldn’t think would go together -- in any way --do. It’s about little bits of live nature emerging from this apparent total destruction, and how nature will prevail no matter what we do.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/vRbHjMxDlH2i1ZoETgC7_uilVu8KHTNSX2bnWkDk-s4WBdOz8R6HoD3XEqUeAHKISDxtWi_4P9WxlEIAA4ByF4_zpsc9809490.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/vRbHjMxDlH2i1ZoETgC7_uilVu8KHTNSX2bnWkDk-s4WBdOz8R6HoD3XEqUeAHKISDxtWi_4P9WxlEIAA4ByF4_zpsc9809490.jpeg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaime Lakatos<br />"Dystopia"<br />Wood, hydrocal, resin, fabric, starlings, and graphite<br />77 x 47 x 14 inches<br />2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b>I’m a natural history geek and I like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Starling">European starlings</a>. They’re <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2008/10/morning-in-athens-square-park.html">one of my favorite species</a> because they’re obviously problematic -- they outcompete a lot of other species -- but they’re tremendously adaptable and I love the really hardy species that find a way to make it work no matter what. Plus, the story about their introduction to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Schieffelin">one man</a> who wanted to bring all the bird species mentioned in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare">Shakespeare</a>’s works to this country -- it’s just so compelling and bizarre, a truth is stranger than fiction kinda scenario -- you have to love it! So, in the sculpture “Dystopia,” did you use starlings for a particular reason?</b><br />
<br />
I picked the starling for two reasons. The first one was color.<br />
<br />
<b>They <i>are</i> pretty.</b><br />
<br />
The bird’s plumage goes with the palette that I wanted for the piece. The sheen of the burn with the graphite, and then the different greens and purples that you see in their feathers.<br />
<br />
The second reason is they’re not protected...and they’re also one of my favorite birds, and I knew that I’d be able to use them. If I wanted a piece with a hawk or something, it just wasn’t possible. Or a crow, or whatever -- you can’t use them. You’re not allowed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxidermy">taxidermy</a> them unless you have a specific license.<br />
<br />
<b>Fascinating. I didn’t realize that.</b><br />
<br />
They’re a lot of birds that, if they’re naturally occurring species in the United States, you can’t kill them for art and you can’t even pick one off the street that you find dead without risking a fine or even jail time.<br />
<br />
<b>That’s one of those laws that -- I mean, I appreciate why it’s in place -- but at the same time it confounds sense. I grew up in a rural part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia">Virginia</a> where we picked up dead things all the time, and my dad had a collecting license from the <a href="http://www.si.edu/">Smithsonian Institution</a>...</b><br />
<br />
So he could do that!<br />
<br />
<b>Yes, but even without the licenses, local folks would pick up birds like owls they found as roadkill and take them to a taxidermist to get mounted for their homes. But that was all illegal, I guess.</b><br />
<br />
All illegal.<br />
<br />
<b>So, getting back to the starlings, palette was a big part of the reason for the selection, as well as your love of starlings, and the fact that they’re not protected.</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, and they also work in a group, and the idea for this piece is that this group of starlings -- an unnatural friend to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat">bobcat</a> -- is trying to help him or her out of this burnt environment.<br />
<br />
<b>So you don’t view this bobcat as the desiccated remains of a burnt animal, but actually as something which is struggling to survive?</b><br />
<br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
<b>That’s interesting. And did you do all the taxidermy yourself?</b><br />
<br />
No, I have a friend who works with me at the Oakland Museum. I gave her the positions and then she went from there. She does it a hell of a lot faster than I do. Four months and I had just one done, so....<br />
<br />
<b>So you have done some taxidermy, then?</b><br />
<br />
Yes, I helped her with an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich">ostrich</a> at the Cal Academy...which was awful. It was like the worst Thanksgiving ever! I was sitting under this big rotting bird and -- oh, God, it smells! -- trying to sculpt legs.<br />
<br />
<b>That’s special, though!</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, it was interesting. At certain times, you know, we’d be scraping fat off the hide and it would turn into more of a sewing bee, where we were not really paying attention to the work we were doing, just chatting and everything was fine...but there is fat is flying everywhere.<br />
<br />
<b>That’s awesome. That’s kind of like a childhood dream of mine...even though the intense smells weren’t part of the fantasy.</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, well you get used to it, but the first wave is just, like, wow...okay.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I had to sculpt the legs because she couldn’t use the actual ones, so if you go see the ostrich at the Cal Academy, those legs are fake -- I made those.<br />
<br />
<b>Very cool.</b><br />
<br />
<b>The title of the largest piece in the show, which I therefore think of as the centerpiece...</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, he’s a star, “First Wave.”<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/z_INNlfIFb5U1VUobSmKtZ2jeE5MwhTO01nqRzd4u_45_veIWwk4BDGdErIMGIpMAhMtUL__48cvk970q_r1Wk_zps6403916c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/z_INNlfIFb5U1VUobSmKtZ2jeE5MwhTO01nqRzd4u_45_veIWwk4BDGdErIMGIpMAhMtUL__48cvk970q_r1Wk_zps6403916c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Installation view of "Cinderscape"<br />
Jaime Lakatos<br />
("First Wave" is seen on the left wall)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Yes, “First Wave.” So the horns on the bull -- what species is it, actually? Is it an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_eland">eland</a>?</b><br />
<br />
It’s a steer. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn">longhorn steer</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>So the horns are fire hoses and shooting out of the hoses are different species of fish. It looks like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largemouth_bass">bass</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegill">bluegill</a> and something else. Did you choose specific fish or was your choice driven by shape, more of a visual choice?</b><br />
<br />
More visual, definitely. The fish are more like -- well this piece is about procreation, with the bull representing male fertility. It’s a little sexual when you think about it, that these fish are shooting out of his horns.<br />
<br />
<b>Umhmm. Especially with the color choices. And I don’t know what you put on the fire hose...a shellac?</b><br />
<br />
That’s a resin.<br />
<br />
<b>It looks great. Without the resin, the hose would still look good, but, with it, there is something very organic, even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel">eel</a>-like about it, which heightens the sexual aspect of the piece, I think.</b><br />
<br />
So the steer is the focal point of trying to get this environment back into the shape it used to be by seeding new life. This is the first wave of the new life...<br />
<br />
<b>That’s coming out of the old?</b><br />
<br />
Yeah.<br />
<br />
<b>That’s great. The <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">chapbook I’m currently producing as part of the Aggregate Space and Featherboard Writing Series writing residency</a> deals with that a bit, life coming out of death. There’s a section about my looking at compost heaps and watching all the maggots and how fascinated I was with that as a child. There’s a lot of darkness in that, but there is also a lot of positive energy. It’s a complicated, messy relationship, but one that I’m fascinated by and that informs all of my art and writing. At any rate, when I first saw your work installed, I was psyched. It seemed fitting that my writing residency here was linked to your solo show. I feel they sync up well. Plus much of my chapbook deals with hunting and because three of the more prominent pieces in the show are shoulder or trophy mounts, well, I have all the hunting trophy associations. Was that something you were thinking about, or is it more secondary for you?</b><br />
<br />
It’s supposed to feel like a natural history collection, but with a different story. I don’t want those three animals to seem like they’re still running in the wild. It’s more like a page from an explorer’s book.<br />
<br />
<b>Gotcha. Yeah, “Dystopia” seems very different from those because it isn’t a shoulder mount. Even though it’s mounted on the wall, the birds seem alive -- or I read them as alive -- and, while I had questions about whether the bob cat was alive or not, it is not a trophy mount display. It is a narrative in progress, whereas the other works do have more of a natural history kind of feel, as if they reference an event that took place in the past.</b><br />
<br />
I didn’t want them all to be shoulder mounts because there is a bit of stagnancy with that format. “Dystopia” was the last piece I made for the show and “The Lookout” (a floor sculpture) was the next to last piece.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/UwqAQ9_JOf-vsWX09oEtGhygJkWpXWRL9CaVlmNubZoWSjzqQAHJyq8rx-zjlI-F7-0Xi982IWFOSfwcldwI34wNlhc_-r8ktENwoje6eD0akRttb2bKENYQSJM_zps48ef52eb.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/UwqAQ9_JOf-vsWX09oEtGhygJkWpXWRL9CaVlmNubZoWSjzqQAHJyq8rx-zjlI-F7-0Xi982IWFOSfwcldwI34wNlhc_-r8ktENwoje6eD0akRttb2bKENYQSJM_zps48ef52eb.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaime Lakatos<br />"The Lookout"<br />Hydrocal, fabric, and resin<br />30 x 58 x 36 inches<br />2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Yeah, so let’s talk about “The Lookout.” I’m <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2005/03/got-venom.html">a snake fanatic</a>; they’re one of my favorite animals. And this deer and snake piece is very open-ended for me. A lot of different reads are possible. Generally, I think it’s the most dystopian work in the show. I mean, they’re all dystopian, with the charred surfaces of the animals and what not, but this sculpture -- with the deer’s eyes being on the same side of the head -- has an element of mutation, a kind of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction">sci-fi</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein">Frankenstein</a> moment. Additionally, with the snakes emerging from the deer’s belly like a birth, the piece also has a rather <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology">mythic</a> quality.</b><br />
<br />
So the deer has four eyes -- two on a side -- because she is trying to find the next place to go. And the snakes, too, are fanning out to figure out where to head next. What is the next step? What is the way forward? They are the live part emerging from the burned destruction, on their way to find something better, some place that is better.<br />
<br />
<b>So, like the bobcat, you view the deer as alive and figuring out how to survive?</b><br />
<br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
<b>So even though these animals are charred and fundamentally altered, this is just their new state of being?</b><br />
<br />
Yes, and the woven area of the sculptures represents the skin that was there before, partially exposed. Not everything has been covered by the char, so there is a little glimmer of hope.<br />
<br />
<b>It seems as though some of these works, and this one, in particular, taps into a push-pull, looking forward at a possible future and hearkening back to the past, to ancient mythologies. Do you have a lot of interest in mythology?</b><br />
<br />
Sometimes, when I’m doing research on my own for a piece, I usually try to tap into the meaning of snakes, or the meaning of a steer, and I’ll think about that while I’m working. There is a nod to mythology, but it isn’t at the forefront of how I work.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/5qbc0UX_vihBq3el39J5Ro_wuxU3UzCKH_QkmmItoPcklfwjdQN7ozVVgJ1tfn6bSqkNL-P0xqGWfjbLoxWXe8_zps6837f50b.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/5qbc0UX_vihBq3el39J5Ro_wuxU3UzCKH_QkmmItoPcklfwjdQN7ozVVgJ1tfn6bSqkNL-P0xqGWfjbLoxWXe8_zps6837f50b.jpeg" width="341" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaime Lakatos<br />"There Is No Light Without Darkness"<br />Neon, fabric, hydrocal, resin, wood, and graphite<br />45 x 59 x 51 inches<br />2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>And, then there’s "There Is No Light Without Darkness," the sculpture with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon">neon</a> element. I’m going to be honest. I love the neon piece best when it -- the neon -- is turned off. I recognize it as neon, of course, but there is something very appealing about the color. I like that stark white color of the neon in contrast to the strong darks of the background and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk">elk</a> and then how it relates to the patterning on the chest of the elk. But when the neon is turned on -- I mean, I still like it because, you know, it’s neon! -- but the color doesn’t quite work for me because it’s such a potent green...</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, it’s neon. Whatever color you choose, it’s gonna be, like, BING!<br />
<br />
<b>Yeah, it does it’s own thing. We just take the ride!</b><br />
<br />
I’m glad it looks good off as well as on, actually. Neon is so delicate and I pushed the limits with the neon when bending them into antlers.<br />
<br />
<b>Is there anything else you’d like to say about the work or otherwise add?</b><br />
<br />
Honestly, it may sound a little cliche, but I like hearing what people get out of my work rather than telling them what to think.<br />
<br />
<b>One more thing; it looks like you have a bird tattoo on the back of your neck. Oh, they’re <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Crow">crows</a>. Nice. I think a lot of people who know something about birds love <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae">corvids</a>. I’m one of them, and I get excited whenever I see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Raven">ravens</a> or crows around.</b><br />
<br />
Oh, yeah, I have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulture">vultures</a> tattooed on me, crows, all sorts of birds...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl">owls</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>All good! All birds I approve of! Not that a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warbler">warbler</a> wouldn't be pretty, but they’re not exactly tattoo material. ‘I’ll take a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_(bird)">chickadee</a>, please.’ That’s another level of keepin’ it real.</b><br />
<br />Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-27217927764221402812013-07-28T13:40:00.000-07:002013-07-28T13:42:34.770-07:00Featherboard Writing Series Reading<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/HeronHillCemetery_EasternShoreVirginia_1970s_web_zps80b2ba64.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/HeronHillCemetery_EasternShoreVirginia_1970s_web_zps80b2ba64.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Reiger<br />
Heron Hill cemetery, Locustville, Virginia<br />
Circa 1975</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This coming Saturday, August 3, I will read selections from the chapbook I've produced in conjunction with the <a href="http://www.aggregatespace.com/">Aggregate Space</a> and <a href="http://featherboard.wordpress.com/events/">Featherboard Writing Series</a> <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">Writer-in-Residence Program</a>. The chapbook is a meditation on my rural upbringing; along with my text, it features photographs taken by either me or my father. A limited edition of the chapbook will be available at the reading. (I will also design and release an e-chapbook version later this year.)<br />
<br />
If you're in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area">Bay Area</a>, please consider coming to Aggregate Space for the event.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://featherboard.wordpress.com/events/"><b>FEATHERBOARD WRITING SERIES</b></a><br />
Saturday, August 3rd @ 5pm<br />
Aggregate Space Gallery<br />
801 W. Grand Ave. (enter on West St) in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland,_California">Oakland</a><br />
<u>Exhibition on view:</u> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.547697191963515.1073741827.191999664199938&type=1">CINDERSCAPE</a>: New Work by <a href="http://jaimelakatos.com/home.html">Jaime Lakatos</a><br />
<br />
<u><b>ABOUT THE READERS:</b></u><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/farnoosh-fathi"><b>FARNOOSH FATHI</b></a> was born in 1981 and raised in the suburbs of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles">Los Angeles</a>. Her first book of poems, <i><a href="http://www.canarium.org/farnoosh-fathi/">Great Guns</a></i>, was just published by <a href="http://www.canarium.org/">Canarium Books</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.beanchoi.com/"><b>CHRISTINE CHOI</b></a> passes time lollygagging in matters of the heart, navigating human-animal-machine relationships, considering video games, and dreaming in sounds. She holds an MFA from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_College_of_the_Arts">California College of the Arts</a>, and her writing has appeared in <i><a href="http://paulrevereshorse.org/">Paul Revere’s Horse</a></i>, <i><a href="http://inpossereview.com/">In Posse Review</a></i>, <i><a href="http://bangoutsf.com/">BANG OUT</a></i>, or was performed with Soundwave, <a href="http://www.nomagallerysf.com/">NOMA GALLERY</a>, POW!POW!POW! Action Art Festival, Small Press Traffic’s Poet’s Theater Extravaganza, and <a href="http://bayareapoetrymarathon.net/">Bay Area Poetry Marathon</a> at <a href="http://www.thelab.org/">The Lab</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.christopherreiger.com/"><b>CHRISTOPHER REIGER</b></a> is a writer and artist originally from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia">Virginia</a>'s rural <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delmarva_Peninsula">Delmarva Peninsula</a>. Before moving to the Bay Area, he lived and worked in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City">New York City</a> for a decade, where he graduated from the MFA program at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Visual_Arts">School of Visual Arts</a> (NYC) in 2002. He has exhibited his artwork in the United States and abroad and has contributed art criticism to a number of print and online journals. Additionally, essays and short-form pieces about art, natural history, and miscellany have been published in various books and magazines as well as on his long-running blog, <i>Hungry Hyaena</i>. In 2011, he and artist-curator Selene Foster co-founded the non-profit organization <a href="http://www.baasics.com/">BAASICS</a> (Bay Area Art & Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Sessions).<br />
<br />
<u>Image credit:</u> copyright, George ReigerHungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-65669649883385294392013-07-16T19:21:00.001-07:002015-01-10T23:28:33.796-08:00Commonplace Book Time Machine #1: Novus Ordo Seclorum<br />
One of <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">the two chapbooks</a> I initially proposed creating in conjunction with my <a href="http://www.aggregatespace.com/">Aggregate Space</a> & <a href="http://featherboard.wordpress.com/">Featherboard Writing Series</a> <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">writing residency</a> will <u>not</u> be produced. Because the residency is only five weeks long, I've decided I must devote the lion's share of the period to the more substantial of the two projects, a meditation on my childhood comprehension of death and killing. Still, rather than let the preliminary work I'd done for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book">commonplace book</a> chapbook go to waste, I thought I'd share a few of the scanned pages here, on <i>Hungry Hyaena</i>, along with some editorializing. The first of these posts follows.<br />
<br />
+++++<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/CommonplaceBook1_zps49b25670.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/CommonplaceBook1_zps49b25670.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>2-page spread from one of my commonplace books, 2000</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Just after my twenty-second birthday, I began a new commonplace book. At the time, I was living in the basement bedroom of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_City,_Manhattan">Alphabet City</a> apartment in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>, laboring five days a week at a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoHo">Soho</a> art gallery and, nights and weekends, drawing and painting in my bedroom or working on a solipsistic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire">vampire</a> novel titled, appropriately, <u>Me</u>. My income was meagre; I'd grown used to dinners of white rice (generously seasoned with soy sauce) and I socialized just one night a week (not counting too many hours spent watching recorded episodes of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Show_with_Bob_and_David">Mr. Show</a></i> with my roommates). Necessarily thrifty, then, I elected not to purchase a new journal to use for the commonplace book; instead, I picked up a journal that I'd cast aside a couple of years prior after filling its early pages with adolescent agitation.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Before I began adding new material to this book, I revisited the earlier poetry and diary-like entries…and was mortified. So mortified, apparently, that on the first spread of the "strange journal for 2000," I clarified for my future self (and, unwittingly, for future <i>Hungry Hyaena</i> readers), that the embarrassing rants and poetry that precede the entries of 2000 were written by a person in a very different place. Yet, just as my twenty-two-year-old self took stock of his eighteen- and nineteen-year-old incarnation, so, too, do I now contemplate the observations and selections of a younger man, one who may have cut his hair and removed the earrings of his late teens, but remained delerious with ambition and sexual angst.<br />
<br />
As so many of us do, I displaced my personal frustrations onto politics. At the time, I was particularly incensed by the pernicious influence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation">corporations</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.">Washington</a>. With that in mind, the pairing of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Vonnegut">Mark Vonnegut</a> quotation and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ramos">Mel Ramos</a> painting reproduction is curious. On the left page, we have Ramos' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Art">Pop Art</a> critique (or celebration) of branding and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaze#The_.22male_gaze.22_in_feminist_theory">male gaze</a>, while, on the right, we read Vonnegut's keen insight into the psychologically perilous demands of good citizenship in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy">democracy</a>. I felt strongly that citizens of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world">Western</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country">developed countries</a> needed to be more vigilant in their dealings with corporations. It wasn't <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq">Iraq</a> that I was worried about so much -- what's a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state">nation-state</a> threat when corporations are really pulling the strings, I wondered; instead, my pantheon of baddies included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil">ExxonMobil</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company">Ford</a>, and, the retail Prince of Darkness, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart">Walmart</a>. But, as Vonnegut's observation suggests, whether your enemy is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East">Middle Eastern</a> autocrat, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)">Big Brother</a>, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola">Coca-Cola</a>, the hyper-awareness and deliberation required to keep oneself both truly informed and honest is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus">Sisyphean</a>, maddening task. Devouring publications like <i><a href="http://harpers.org/">Harper's</a></i> and <i><a href="https://www.adbusters.org/">Adbusters</a></i>, I'd become, to some degree, paranoid. In the face of so much inequality and malfeasance, what could I do but seethe. I felt essentially impotent, and a malignant cynicism is reflected throughout much of the "strange journal for 2000."<br />
<br />
Perhaps this anger and gloom was the catalyst of the burned page? I don't know. Was I high, perhaps, or drunk, and attacking the notion of a "new order of the world," a swipe at the repeat failures of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia">Utopian</a> idealism? Or perhaps I was reacting against the use of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin">Latin</a> phrase on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seal_of_the_United_States">Great Seal of the United States</a>, believing, as I then did, that the great hope our country represented at its inception had evaporated, and that we citizens had betrayed our aspirations? Or maybe I was merely trying to make a beautiful, elemental mark on the page, something to stand in opposition to Ramos' S.O.S.?<br />
<br />
Today, looking back at this spread and so many others in my old commonplace books, what matters is my interpretation. What do I make of each collection of drawings, notes, clippings, and photographs? The constellation I discern reveals more about who I've become than who I was then. I'm pleased that the cynicism has waned and that I'm no longer an ideologue; I'm more interested in grey musings than I am in black-and-white positions (e.g., Walmart's influence and role in the lives of contemporary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans">Americans</a> is too complicated to condemn outright, even if I continue to react against particular company policies and dealings). Still, I wonder if the price paid for this more measured perspective is political passion?<br />
<br />
<u>Image credit:</u> Christopher Reiger, 2000Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-6982179536788787212013-07-14T12:04:00.000-07:002013-07-26T11:03:34.774-07:00Homicidal toys, dot matrix printers, and the 3D printing vanguard<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/nerd_zps68b80af5.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/nerd_zps68b80af5.jpg" height="303" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Man with dot matrix printer and computer, circa 1985</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Sometime in the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s">1980s</a>, I started taking writing seriously. Given my age (I was ten or eleven years old) and the content of my stories, I probably took it too seriously.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
An avid reader of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_fiction">horror</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy">fantasy</a> novels, I wrote tales in those genres. Some of the printed copies survived the decades and I revisited one of them recently. From "Rubber Ducky," a short story about a death-dealing bath toy:<br />
<blockquote>
"One year later, Betsy Height had her two young children with her in the car. She was taking them to the big yard sale at their local community college. She turned into the parking area and parked. She took her children down the long rows of tables. She came to a table where there were lots of children's toys. She looked and looked, but didn't fine anything.<br />
<br />
Then she saw it. It was perfect. A rubber duck.<br />
<br />
'Look, kids! Just like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie">Ernie</a>'s on <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street">Sesame Street</a></i>!'<br />
'Yayyy!'<br />
<br />
The duck grinned. He was going to like this family."</blockquote>
That's what too much <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King">Stephen King</a> will do to a ten-year-old.<br />
<br />After I'd tired of writing stories about demon-inhabited wishing wells or lonely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf">werewolf</a> children who tore apart their elementary school tormentors (hello, catharsis), I began work on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction">science fiction</a> novel. This larger undertaking called for a more committed writing schedule. On weekends and occasionally after school, I'd hunt-and-peck my way through hours of writing on my mom's computer. One of my favorite parts of the process, though, was printing what I'd written. My keyboard endeavors seemed much more substantial once the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_matrix_printing">dot matrix</a> print head had grated and pumped its way back-and-forth across the paper's surface, the printer's sprocket wheels guiding my manuscript, scroll-like, out of the machine. After tearing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_stationery">the perforated edges from the printed pages</a>, I'd carry my opus around the house, feeling entirely too self-satisfied.<br />
<br />
It's easy to deride those now primitive dot matrix printers; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEJYNtI2ul4">they even sound like dinosaurs</a>! But today's home or small business 3D printers, the <a href="http://www.makerbot.com/">Maker Bot</a> <a href="http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html">Replicators</a> and <a href="http://cubify.com/">Cubify</a> <a href="http://cubify.com/cube/index.aspx?tb_cube_learn">Cubes</a>, are, in at least one respect, similar to their dot matrix ancestors; just as the dot matrix printers were the vanguard of the home printing revolution -- their plain text fonts and awkward office party banners so soon passé -- so, too, are the 3D home printers on the market today just a taste of what is to come. A Maker Bot Replicator produces tchotchkes, tools, and prototypes that delight and sometimes astonish us, but we're generally reacting to the novelty of the technology; we have yet to see the home 3D printers produce anything truly revolutionary or captivating. Still, such things are being produced at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing#3D_printing_services">3D Printing Service Bureaus</a>, who have bigger, more expensive machines as well as the knowledge base and additional equipment to fabricate objects, tools, and parts that are already being used the world over. We're still at the advent of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing">additive manufacturing</a> revolution, and our home units are bound to improve at a good clip. Replicators and Cubes will soon seem as quaint as the dot matrix.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/DocRubberDucky_zps99d7a584.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/DocRubberDucky_zps99d7a584.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Uh-oh. Is this rubber ducky THAT rubber ducky?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Still, the home and small-scale 3D options are very exciting, especially for artists and designers who have a knack for taking unrefined technologies and producing wonderful objects and applications. My friend and 3D printing guru <a href="http://www.fabricastl.com/team/">Brian Palacios</a> co-founded <a href="http://www.fabricastl.com/">Fabricastl</a> to serve as, in his words, "a magnet for 3D printing knowledge, ideas, community, and services." This is a much-needed role since so much of the 3D printing knowledge base is dispersed. One of Fabricastl's current offerings is a series of workshops designed to, in Brian's words, "get people past why 3D printing is important, and how it works, and what makes it so cool [… so they can get] closer to the REAL disruptive potential of 3D printing: making the everyday person the creator." I'm intrigued even though I'm an artist and writer who, working almost exclusively in the realm of words and 2D images, can't think of immediate applications for <a href="http://www.christopherreiger.com/">my practice</a>. Curiosity rules the day, however; later this month, I'll be participating in Fabricastl's upcoming 3D printing workshop, "<a href="http://www.fabricastl.com/workshops/intro-to-3d-printing-workshop/">From Napkin Sketch to Printable Design: An Intro to 3D Printing</a>."<br />
<br />
If you're interested in participating yourself, visit the <a href="http://www.fabricastl.com/workshops/">Fabricastl workshop site</a> for details and to purchase tickets…then say 'hi' at the event. I'll be the guy making a bloody-billed rubber ducky sculpture. Mawhahaha!!<br />
<br />
<u>Image credits:</u> Dot matrix printer user photo ripped from <a href="http://www.globalnerdy.com/2007/06/30/that-lightswitch-entry-reminds-me-of-an-old-story/">GlobalNerdy.com</a>; Doc rubber duck, Christopher Reiger, 2013
Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-48913463213920046432013-06-30T17:26:00.001-07:002013-07-25T16:15:03.731-07:00In Harness at Aggregate Space<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Me_AggregateSpace_WestOaklandCA_June2013_zpsc728d25f.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/Me_AggregateSpace_WestOaklandCA_June2013_zpsc728d25f.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An Aggregate Space <a href="http://hyperallergic.com/73362/saying-yes-to-selfies/">"Selfie"</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Oakland,_Oakland,_California">West Oakland, CA</a>; June 2013</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm grateful to both <a href="http://www.aggregatespace.com/">Aggregate Space</a> and <a href="http://featherboard.wordpress.com/">The Featherboard Writing Series</a> for granting me time (and a desk away from my home office/studio) to focus on new writing and photograph projects. Having begun work on <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">my two e-chapbooks</a> (described in more detail <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2013/06/aggregate-space-summer-writer-in.html">here</a>), I'm even more enthusiastic about the possibilities. I spent most of today in Aggregate Space's second floor office and editing area, where I wiled away the hours ruminating on some of my early <a href="http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/2006/04/undoing-gordian-knot.html">hunting</a> experiences in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_Dove">dove</a> fields.<br />
<br />
Disappointingly, it seems unlikely that the e-chapbooks will be available by the time the residency ends in early August, but the kind folks at <a href="http://thepeoplesebook.net/">The People's E-book</a> have agreed to let me be a part of the second wave of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Beta">Beta testers</a> for <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1371597318/the-peoples-e-book">the platform</a>. Currently, I plan to produce two limited edition print (i.e., non-digital) chapbooks in partnership with Aggregate Space and <a href="http://featherboard.wordpress.com/">The Featherboard Writing Series</a>, and then I'll turn those limited editions into freely distributed e-books after the residency's end.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Image credit:</u> copyright, Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11167350.post-63128217451426128612013-06-26T12:18:00.003-07:002013-07-26T11:04:37.669-07:00Sci Foo On My Mind<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SummerSolstice_SciFoo_Googleplex_MountainViewCA_June2013_zps839e74c7.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SummerSolstice_SciFoo_Googleplex_MountainViewCA_June2013_zps839e74c7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Summer solstice moon over the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googleplex">Googleplex</a>; Mountain View, CA; June 2013</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My father-in-law is a glass-half-full kinda guy. In the midst of any conversation about science, medicine, or technology, it's not uncommon for him to proclaim, "This is an exciting time to be alive." Indeed, it is. But when I fell into bed early on Sunday morning, my head giddy with ideas from the first full day of <a href="http://www.digital-science.com/sciencefoo/">Sci Foo Camp</a>, my father-in-law's optimism seemed understated. Spend 48 hours with -- to list just a few of the approximately 250 participants -- a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_scientist">computer scientist</a> studying <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning">machine learning</a> and music, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoretical_physics">theoretical physicist</a> turning <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropic_gravity">the idea of gravity on its head</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_biology">marine biologist</a> eager to solve the mysteries of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark">whale sharks</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_epidemiology">genomic epidemiologist</a> intent on elucidating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_phylodynamics">outbreak transmission dynamics</a>, and a national security strategist currently implementing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House">White House</a>'s terrorism-related information sharing priorities and...well, you come away with much to ruminate on and a lot of notes to parse. In short, Sci Foo Camp made for an extraordinary weekend!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I'm very grateful to <a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a>, <i><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/">Nature</a></i>, <a href="http://www.digital-science.com/">Digital Science</a>, and <a href="http://oreilly.com/">O'Reilly Media</a> for providing <a href="http://www.baasics.com/">BAASICS</a> with the opportunity to participate this year. Along with artist and researcher <a href="http://sarahendren.net/about/">Sara Hendren</a>, <a href="http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/">Lighthouse</a>'s <a href="http://about.me/honor">Honor Harger</a>, and <a href="http://www.xvivo.net/">XVivo</a> founder <a href="http://michaelastrachan.com/">Michael Astrachan</a>, <a href="http://selenefoster.net/bio/">Selene</a> and I presented as part of Saturday's "Art & Science" session. Both before and after the session, we met many terrific scientists and thinkers interested in exploring the fertile, if too often "mismapped" art-science terrain.<br />
<br />Professionally speaking, then, the weekend was a great success, but the principal pleasure of Sci Foo Camp is more general; it's a marathon version of the late night bull sessions I remember fondly from my undergraduate years. Despite their usually taking place in the wee hours, those heady conversations energized and informed my college experience as much as (and perhaps more than) any classroom didactics. Similarly, my Sci Foo learning wasn't limited to the many engaging (almost without exception) sessions on Saturday and Sunday. The notes that came out of conversations had over meals or drinks, during the <a href="https://www.zombeewatch.org/">ZomBee Watch</a> walk on Saturday evening, and in the hotel lobby left me abuzz with ideas and questions, and buttressed my general optimism. I returned to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California">San Francisco</a> exhausted, but thrilled.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ZomBeeWatch1_SciFoo_Googleplex_MountainViewCA_June2013_zps02681bb7.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/ZomBeeWatch1_SciFoo_Googleplex_MountainViewCA_June2013_zps02681bb7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Captured ZomBee bagged by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomology">entomologist</a> <a href="http://biology.sfsu.edu/people/john-hafernik">John Hafernik</a>; Googleplex; Mountain View, CA: June 2013</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
During the "Art & Science" session, a theoretical physicist stressed the "fundamental importance of conversation," explaining how valuable, personally and professionally, his longtime relationship with a sculptor had been. Another participant, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_biology">molecular biologist</a> cum inventor, highlighted the different approaches to "error" and "rightness" in art and science, arguing that certain types of contemporary science could benefit from more willingness to engage ambiguity and uncertainty. I wholeheartedly agree, and because I do, I feel that Sci Foo Camp is a rare and special thing. We have so much to gain through cross-discipline interaction and, although Sci Foo is chiefly focused on science and technology, the benefit of conversations across scientific specialities was apparent time and again.<br />
<br />
Because I am a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history">natural history</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_biologist">wildlife biology</a> geek, my favorite example occurred during a session exploring how emerging technologies might aid wildlife conservation. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa">South African</a> conservation ecologist <a href="http://savethewhaleshark.tumblr.com/simonpierce">Simon Pierce</a> explained that he is unable to accurately age whale sharks by counting the cartilage rings in biopsied sharks' vertebrae (because the rings aren't added once a year, as some biologists previously believed). Unfortunately, an alternative method that involves dating deposits of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_phosphate">calcium phosphate</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrichthyes#Skeleton">cartilagionous skeleton</a> also failed, as the whale sharks' vertebral centra are too poorly calcified to provide good data. At this point in the session, planetary scientist <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/planetary-science-the-time-machine-1.11049">Scott Anderson</a> asked Pierce how much calcium they were finding in the vertebra, down to the micrometer. Fish expert and comparative biomechanics cheerleader <a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/fishguy/">Adam Summers</a>, also participating, replied with specifics. Anderson nodded and said, "Well, I focus on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars">Mars</a>, but I think we have technology that you could use to get an accurate read on the sharks." Interplanetary interdisciplinarity and the fundamental importance of conversation! Three cheers for Sci Foo!<br />
<br />
A huge thank you to all of my fellow Sci Foo Campers and, again, to O'Reilly Media for conceiving of the project, to Digital Science and <i>Nature</i> for helping make it possible, and to Google for doing a cracking good job of hosting!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SeleneWGoogleGlass_SciFoo_Googleplex_MountainViewCA_June2013_zpse5bc7191.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Hhyaena/SeleneWGoogleGlass_SciFoo_Googleplex_MountainViewCA_June2013_zpse5bc7191.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Selene tries out <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/">Google Glass</a> at the Googleplex; Mountain View, CA; June 2013</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u>Photo credits:</u> copyright, Christopher Reiger, 2013Hungry Hyaenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06354349850246750046noreply@blogger.com3