FREE
ISSUE 1
What Scares Stumpies the Most? Solve the crossword to find out! PAGE 14
Zombie Ants? Weird Creature Spotlight PAGE 2
Out of the Classroom Education
“I got to spend a summer sharing my love for the environment with the next generation.” PAGE 10
OCTOBER 2017
TABLE
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CONTENTS
BRANCHING OUT REOCCURRING ARTICLES
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Weird Creature Spotlight, Annie Stevens
SMALL TWIGS PERSONAL ESSAYS
4 Living Stars, Morgan Beatey
BUDDING MINDS POETRY & CREATIVE WRITING
5 Painted Sunsets, Hailey Smalley 5 The Universe Ballet, Theresamarie Ferrigno 6 We, the Mothers, Hailey Smalley 8 Mirror, Shourjya Majumder 9 Mno, Hailey Smalley 10 Environmental Education Outside of the Classroom, Hailey Smalley SILLY SAPS SATIRE & LAUGHS
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Spirit of Eustace B. Nifkin or One Bad Nut, Jordan Jessamy Eustace B. Nifkin Illustration, Charles Cassady Halloween Crossword, Noelle Stevens Coloring Page, Wren Wilson
Meet The Staff
Editor: Morgan Beatey Co-editor: Hailey Smalley Layout Editor: Lauren Perry Chief Financial Officer: Noelle Stevens Secretary: Jordan Jessamy
Editing Team: Annie Stevens, Shourja Majumder, Rehgan Shepardson-Machold, and Jacob Chesser Layout Team: Morgan Beatey and Lauren Perry Cover Photo: Morgan Beatey Cover Design: Joseph Gleason 2
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Weird Creature Spotlight by Annie Stevens
In the spirit of the season, in this issue we spotlight a real-world zombie. Or rather, a zombie-maker. Our star is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the parasitic perpetrator behind the phenomenon of “zombie ants.” O. unilateralis is one of several fungi in its genus that make insects their home. The host in this case is a species of tropical carpenter ants. How, and why, does the fungus zombify its victims? Like most parasites, O. unilateralis needs its host to complete its life cycle. It all starts when spores from the fungus attach themselves to the ant exoskeleton and gradually eat through it, attacking it with a variety of enzymes. From there, the spores spread throughout the ant’s inner body cavity and – here’s the interesting part! – the fungus starts to drastically change its host’s behavior. The
unfortunate host begins to have convulsions, and proceeds to completely abandon its colony and climb up the stem of a nearby plant, clamping on to a leaf with its mandibles, where its muscles will atrophy, rendering it unable to move. It remains this way until it dies. At which point, as if in some kind of B-movie horror flick, the fruiting bodies of the fungus burst through the exoskeleton of the ant
and rupture, releasing spores so that it can start the horror show all over again on another unsuspecting victim.
kozanek.com photography
Branching OUT Reoccurring Articles
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Small TWIGS Personal Essays
Living Stars
by Morgan Beatey
The world was alight with hundreds of tiny, living stars. I remember – amidst thousands of other recollections that seem more precarious and inspiring the more I think about them – asking my mother what they were, youth-molded fingers bending in the flickering interludes of light that painted the sky – only to turn tail and run when one drew too near. At the time, she had smiled at me with that gentle, knowing curve of the lips that all mothers seem to possess, that expression that I, too, desire to one-day claim as my own. Her voice, hanging within the shadows of night, had been awash with patience and calm. ‘Lightning bugs,’ she had said, understanding in her tone. ‘They won’t hurt you. Go catch one and see.’ So I did. Many of my summers were spent in a similar fashion as a child. Growing up in the southern United States where the nights were warm and the days even more so, there was no shortage of fireflies to stave my ever-growing mind and curiosity. Despite my ‘growing up’ – if you’d go so far as to call it that –, I’ve come to find that the insects are 4
no less meaningful to me today than they were when I was a child. If anything, they have become symbolic, reminding me of innocence and campfires and fun; of friends and family and my Australian cousin who’d never seen one until her trip to the USA; of late nights and early mornings and glass jars with holes poked through the lids. They remind me of fond memories and precious moments – but more than that, they remind me how the little things in life bring great meaning. When I think of the species Earth could lose in the face of climate change and environmental degradation, fireflies
are far from the top of my list. They’re not endangered, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a future possibility. If we continue down our current path, there might come a day when children don’t search for fireflies – not because they don’t want to, but because there’s none to find. A world without fireflies, a world without a sky filled with living stars, is not a world I wish to live in.
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Painted Sunsets by Hailey Smalley
They say that sunsets are painted Red, orange, pink Splashed across the sky By some deviant artist Or else a Divine Hand. But, standing on the water With a burning star disappearing before me Trailing burning red footsteps in its wake, All I can think Is not of paintings, But of the beating of my heart, Drumming against my aged ribs With rampant fervor. It beats on its own, I can’t stop it though I’ve closed myself in darkness and tried. In its blood I imagine a sun, Too beautiful to be left to human control, Too beautiful to be painted by mistake-making hands, And wild in its own right, Though it is still intimately mine.
The Universe Ballet
by Theresamarie Ferrigno
For Carmella
And when you decided to go elsewhere I pictured you out there singing, Tending to your eternal garden, Everything in a perpetual bloom. And when I’m lying in the tall grass, Admiring that great blue sky, I’m reminded of your laugh And that famous snaggletooth smile.
Let me grasp this, your magnitude. This wondrous entity you are. Because you were always something a bit more than human, more than matter, more than earth You’re at least part supernova, Or a quarter stardust interspersed. You define a celestial body It’s etched to your shape, Somewhere in the cosmos Floating through time in space.
And if I’m lucky to one day be but a speck I’ll dance along in this universe ballet I’ll find your eyes among the billions Awaiting our next embrace
Budding MINDS
Poetry and Creative Writing
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We, the Mothers by Hailey Smalley
They say we must conceive children of the Earth. As daughters of the Mother Earth and mothers of the children, They tell us that we must give life and birth A generation that breathes clean air, Builds wind farms, plants trees, And lacks the famine of their cursed forbearer. But…
How are we to conceive when we are given no voice? Chained into gold-gilded wedding bands Mouths tasting vows of no choice Swaddled in wedding gowns ‘til we’re quiet and meek 700 million¹ of us stand in resolute silence Eyes rimmed with the words we cannot speak.
1. According to Girls Not Brides, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending child marriage, there are currently 700 million women alive whom were married as children. In addition, they report that over 50% of women 20-24 years old entered their first martial union before the age of 18 in Niger, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and South Sudan. Several factors contribute to these numbers, including societal gender discrepancies and poverty.
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2. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reports that there are 76 million illiterate women around the world.
3. Malala Yousafzai is an advocate for educational opportunities for women around the world. She has been quoted as saying, “I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not. It is the story of many girls.”
How are we to conceive when 76 million² of us cannot read, And pursue the depths of philosophy, linguistics, science, Feed the hunger, stand up and lead? “It is the story of many girls,” she³ decrees, Because, for 130 million⁴ of us, Our brothers are the only ones who will ever boast degrees. How are we to conceive when we can’t choose if we do? Condoms, pills, and comprehensive sex education Only freely given to the lucky few ‘Till sex is reverted to a primeval notion of male domination And 215 million⁵ of those who grow both child and disease in their bodies Have no choice in their own propagation.
4. The World Bank states that there are currently 130 million girls not in school. This includes about 15 million girls of primary school age who will never enter a classroom. 5. A study by Jaqueline Darroch and Susheela Singh entitled “Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health” estimated that 215 million women worldwide had an unmet need for family planning in 2008. This
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How are we to conceive when we cannot own a deed, When over 75%⁶ of global land is taken from our reach, When we constantly have too many mouths to feed Because money is not ours to own And economies are shaped around laws that negate A woman’s ability to live alone?
But we cannot conceive of a new world direction When our own world order is chaos-bound And we are limited by the limits How are we to conceive when our of affection Affected onto us by our brethren fathers disregard Our very souls in their search for And in the war labeled feminism We all stand as battle-worn vetpower, wealth, and fame? erans. And from our very birth we are marred And so we shall not conceive, By the patriarchal rules that diccannot conceive tate male successors And cultural norms that imprison ‘Til we stand as equals across our Mother Earth women And we finally take leave Under the dictation of male opOf the presumptions of a misogypressors. nistic civilization And bury female illiteracy, no They say we must conceive chilfamily planning and child brides dren of the Earth Beneath a societal abnegation. To take our place and make better what we devastated They say we must give birth To a generation better than the one that we live in, One that rewrites the apocalyptic ending That accompanies a 2100 population of 12.3 billion.⁸
includes 53% of women whom wish to delay childbearing in Africa, 24% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 22% in Asia.
7. The Global Footprint Network uses data on consumption of food, fossil fuels, water, and other resources to establish each country’s “ecological footprint.” They calculate that each United States resident needs an average 6.8 hectares of land to maintain their current standard of living. In addition, if every person in the world were to use the same amount of resources as the average United States citizen, we would need 3.9 Earths.
How are we to conceive when we are already stretched paper thin, And each American consumes more Than the amount allotted⁷ to all (wo)men And our resources are dying as we continue to smother Like cancerous cells slowly bleeding dry The body that gave birth to the mothers?
6. While data is extremely limited, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that less than 25% of land in developing nations is owned by women. This can obstruct women’s ability to support themselves and their families.
8. In their study, “World Population Stabilization Unlikely This Century”, Gerland et al. establish that there is an 80% probability that the world population will reach between 9.6 and 12.3 billion in 2100.
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Mirror
by Shourjya Majumder
Darkness fades, Into a single light Encompassing a being of brilliance A lustrous smile accompanying a kind demeanor Past the surface, Going deeper, I see more. One of scornful glances from childhood. A fish out of water. Head in the clouds, stuck in a daydream Shielded from snickers and glares I see more. Eyes of desolate African plains, Yet filled with wonder and desire. Composure of a humble elephant, Heart of a lion. I see more.
A peaceful ocean, Lapping away at the sandy shore. Eroding the glimmering shells dotting the seaside. Below the jagged stone. When provoked, There are raging waves, Hungrily rising, Protecting those dear. On the outside there is silence. Inside there is the strength of nature A force not to reckon with But for now, In the crook of his gentle embrace, I see him.
Beating with the rhythm of the Earth. Blending in with the arid air. Melodies of nature intertwined with the sky, Spiraling into a blanket of stars. With each string vibrating, a beautiful tune soars, He catches it all in his palm. Effortlessly. I see more.
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Mno
by Hailey Smalley
In Swahili, the word for person is mtu. If you don’t speak the language And know it merely as ink blots on paper It looks strikingly similar to mto, river And mti, tree Despite the fact that none of these are quite alike. And then, if taken into account, That mbu means mosquito, The words themselves bleed together more A flood of letters distinguished by an imperceptible flick of the tongue, Mtu, mto, mti, mbu. Human, river, tree, mosquito. These are the things we know about Africa.
Mbu, a small word for a small insect That for millennium has shot yellow poison Into our veins and thrown societies into delirium The dreadful disease malaria. We sleep under netted temples here, Swallow pink pills with our morning eggs To keep the fever from our bodies Here the mbu is unforgiving.
Mti, tangles into tree, Acacia mostly with inch long spikes directed outwards Like arrows waiting to draw red pearls From our skin as we duck through the brush Run, play, go about our day Shoes on, they told us from the start, Because of jiggers, dust, bugs, but mostly Mti, the trees that feed on blood. Mto, makes rivers, the happy cousin of Mbu For in swamps there lives the deadly disease Feverish burial by malaria Or else there is no mto at all And dust stretches for miles, flat, Gullies carved from a season when rain fell into floods A stark remembrance of the green that comes later and later Now that we speak of climate change. And lastly there is Mtu, person, To signify each one whom calls Africa home Who braves the mbu, the mti, the mto, Wrapping themselves in bright colors That reflect the white of unbroken smiles And call through sight the joyful words Of a people who shine with the light Of an equatorial country, so close to the sun
Nyumbani is the Swahili word for home. It sounds unlike mtu against the backs of my teeth, But I know that it is there, inherent in each syllable, Mtu, each made, from mbu, mti, mto, Crafted by the place they call nyumbani. At first harsh to the eyes of an outsider Used to green lawns, concrete sidewalks, Prepackaged food, air-conditioned houses With hardwood floors and granite counters, But, if you stay here long enough to learn of Mbu, mti, mto, mtu, nyumbani, You may also learn of the small, purple flowers That grow between the brush on the hillsides Spindly vines reaching out Curling across the parched yellow grass.
They whisper through my memories of Africa Mno, exceedingly.
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Environmental Education Outside of the Classroom by Hailey Smalley
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We have all heard the same unanswerable question again and again: What kind of future are we leaving for our children? Hanging on to nearly every pro-environmental argument is the insinuation that the greatest value of a clean and fruitful planet is the next generation’s ability to prosper and continue to foster a sustainable society. It certainly is a nice sentiment, but, to be honest, when you are staring down a bus filled with ten dozen restless fifth-graders, the question of why tends to get lost in the moment. Smile intact, voiced pepped up, I step onto the bus to greet the day’s school group. “Welcome to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center,” I exclaim brightly. “How many of you have been to a Smithsonian museum before?” A smattering of kids raises their hands. “When you think of the Smithsonian, you probably think of museums, but SERC is an active research center, which means that we have real scientists doing real science every single day. Today, you get to become a junior scientist and research some of the creatures that live here on the Rhode River. Are you ready to get started?” A chorus of screams vibrates through the bus as I step back, ushering the onslaught of children towards a cluster of picnic tables. For kids from inner-city areas such as Baltimore and Washington DC, visiting a truly natural
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
area and even discussing environmental science can be a rarity. As our world continues to be plagued by a plethora of environmental issues ranging from localized issues like pollution to global phenomena like climate change, environmental education serves a correspondingly important role. Yet, the subject is often not widely explored in the traditional classroom setting due to the limitations of a strict curriculum and a lack of supplies, ranging from microscopes to outdoor space. This is where informal education comes in. Unlike formal educational opportunities which take place in a traditional classroom setting, informal education can encompass a variety of options, including, but not limited to, homeschooling, museums, and
nature centers. One such option for informal education comes in the way of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), located in Edgewater, Maryland, where I served as an Environmental Education Intern for 12 weeks this summer. Throughout my time at SERC, I earned a wealth of assorted knowledge about Chesapeake Bay history, blue crab anatomy, and pedagogical practices, but the most valuable lesson I partook in while teaching on the Rhode River was the role that informal education plays in many students’ views of the environment. In a study by Farmer et al. reviewing fourth-grade students who visited Great Smokey Mountains National Park, environmentally-oriented field trip experiences were linked to
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“In the fight for a sustainable future, this cultivation of empathy may prove to be our greatest weapon.” pro-environmental attitudes [1]. Similarly, Dettmann-Easler and Pease found that students who visited an environmental education center were more likely to foster positive attitudes towards wildlife and the environment than students who participated in a formal environmental educational experience [2]. These students were also more likely to retain these attitudes at least three months after visiting environmental education centers. As such, there’s little room to question the value of informal education in fostering environmental stewardship, but, if you need more convincing, imagine the smile of a kid as they touch sand for the first time or get the chance to pick up mud crabs and look at plankton through microscopes. And, that is exactly why informal education experiences are often more impactful than their formal counterparts. Recent studies have debunked previous pedagogical practices focused on “different learning styles” (anybody remember visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners?) and have reoriented teachers towards experience-based learning opportunities [3]. By nature, informal education provides interactive, hands-on lessons for students. In turn, by immersing students in the natural environment and the act of science,
informal education improves students’ abilities to connect broad concepts with direct applications and provides concrete examples of these larger ideas. In addition, a focus on place-based learning reinstates broad concepts into examples that hit home for students. Rather than talking about the seemingly distant danger of melting ice caps, for example, informal educational experiences may allow students to visit a marsh near their homes and observe how different levels of CO2 affect the growth of marsh grasses. This can prove beneficial to especially young students who have difficulty understanding metaphors and grasping large abstract concepts like climate change. In addition, a focus on the idea of a home ecosystem promotes empathy with nonhuman entities and allows children the opportunity to observe the direct effects their actions have upon the environment. In the fight for a sustainable future, this cultivation of empathy may prove to be our greatest weapon. Forming connections and a general respect between children and the natural environment will help ensure that the short-sightedness of our own generation is not passed down to theirs. And, it’s not a far stretch to assume that its easier for most people to form an emo-
tional attachment with a place they actually visited than something that they read about in a textbook. Five hours later, sweaty, tired, and chock-full of new facts about the Chesapeake Bay and a day’s worth of memories, the students board their bus. They are finally subdued after a busy day seining, sorting through oyster baskets, and crabbing off the dock. I smile and wave as they pull away, inbound for the concrete jungle known as Washington DC. During my time at SERC, I had to deal with screaming preschoolers, inattentive chaperones, sweltering heat, and one overenthusiastic sixth grader that peed in the woods as soon as he arrived. But, I also got to spend a summer sharing my love for the environment with the next generation. [1] James Farmer, Doug Knapp, Gregory M. Benton, “An Elementary School Environmental Education Field Trip: Long-Term Effects on Ecological and Environmental Knowledge and Attitude Development,” The Journal of Environmental Education, 2007
[2] Detra Dettmann-Easler, and James L. Pease, “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Residential Environmental Education Programs in Fostering Positive Attitudes Toward Wildlife,” The Journal of Environmental Education, 1999 [3] Sending Learning Styles Out of Style, PBS LearningMedia, Video
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So You Have Summoned the Spirit of Eustace B. Nifkin or One Bad Nut by Jordan Jessamy
Editor’s Note: We have no idea what’s going on in this article. Just…. try not to take it too seriously.
Hello, my name is exactly the same as the one located underneath the underlined title, following the word “By”, and it appears that based on that title, I am supposed to be explaining what to do now that you have summoned the spirit of… wait Eustace B. Nifkin? I swear I’m getting punk’d right now. Like you CAN’T summon him - he DOESN’T EXIST. The guy isn’t real! You can’t channel the spirit of someone who was never alive; the only reason we call the lounge in Marshall Nifkin Lounge is because we felt like it. Seriously, why would you even want to try channeling this guy anyway? No, no if you want to channel a spirit connected to this campus, I recommend the ghost of Chester the Chestnut. ‘Who is Chester the Chestnut’ you ask? Well, let’s just say Oakie was not
always the mascot. In fact, Chester the Chestnut was the original face of ESF until he suddenly disappeared during the Cold War. Not too long after, Oakie the Acorn appeared; right on time, a little convenient one might think. This secret is so well kept, the school will no longer acknowledge the existence of Chester the Chestnut, for his entire existence has vanished. However, the school can’t keep everything hidden, not from me! I’ve done my homework, and it is all connected to this very day. In fact, on the topic of homework, the reason why we get so much is so we have no time to discover Oakie’s dark past. ‘What dark past’ you ask me now? Well if you would STOP INTERRUPTING ME AND LET ME TALK IN YOUR HEAD I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO ELABORATE! Sorry I started yelling, I just got a little carried away is all, but only because of how important this dark secret I have uncovered is. The secret involving the former friendship between Oakie the
Silly SAPS
Acorn, Chester the Chestnut, and one other - the one who would cause what would eventually turn into a love triangle - Mable the Maple. You see, I believe what happened is that Oakie and Chester both had feelings for Mable, but because she was a strong, independent Angiosperm who didn’t need no nuts in her life, she chose neither of them. The evidence I found hidden on the inside of a recycled Cheerios box leads me to believe Oakie, in his rage towards being rejected, blamed Chester. Oakie wanted Chester to “disappear”. Unfortunately for the acorn, Chester seemed to have first contracted Chestnut Blight and died before anything else could happen. With that, the spot was open for Oakie to shine as the new mascot and maybe impress Mable, who had also disappeared around the same as Chester, and whom Oakie waits for everyday by the Robin Hood Oak Tree where he last saw her. Don’t believe me? Then all you need to do is summon Chester’s spirit and ask him yourself.
Satire and Laughs
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Illustration by Charles Cassady, 1984
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Across 2. In-state: $3,335 Out of State: $8,160 4. Made of porcelain, rags or straw 8. Crucible 11. At least one is out of order at ESF 12. Spooky, scary ____________ 15. Evil spell; curse 16. Día de __________ 17. Due by; always sooner than you think
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Answer:
Down 1. Found on vampires and snakes 3. Crayfish fall from the ceiling here 5. Arabic monster that consumes corpses 6. Pennywise 7. Ghost that plagues houses with loud noises or thrown objects 9. Reaper’s first name 10. Oakwood 12. Ritual used to contact the dead 13. ______ or Treat 14. Dead bodies
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SILLY SAPS OCTOBER 2016
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How Can You Contribute to
THE KNOTHOLE? • Send your articles, poems, creative writing, or art to esfknothole@gmail.com • Add photographs to the ESF GO App • Join us on Wednesdays at 6:20 in 141 Baker for meetings!
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