Sound Magazine: #3

Sound

magazine magazine

This is our Sound - Enjoy!

Cape Cod • Martha’s Vineyard • Nantucket No. 3 Fall / Winter 2013

Synergy Project tiny, little packages of goodness thought of the Calls Wild Recipes nature’s underlying principles Wampanoag Sky Fall arts fall plantings Sea of Opportunities Walking Trails hidden gems: tai chi superstitions Maps

Just a

Islander

for the

A sports injury brings you to us.

Our expertise brings you back.

Patients who need rehabilitation therapy have discovered a new path to recovery: Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy Associates of Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Here, we utilize the latest rehabilitative techniques and technologies to get you back to the highest level of performance possible. Our team of 8 licensed and dedicated therapists brings a depth of expertise related to evaluation and treatment techniques along with wellness and prevention. With the strength of this team behind you, who knows where your new life will take you.

Your source for ACKtive recovery For an appointment call 508 - 825- 8191, or visit us at nantuckethospital.org Nantucket Cottage Hospital is an affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of Partners HealthCare.

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

1

Affiliate

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment.

Sound Writers

Betsy Corsiglia lives on Martha’s Vineyard and has been a professional photographer for 25 years. She decided to pursue her life-long passion in the field of nutrition by returning to Simmons College in Boston, where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and Health Promotion, and a Certificate in Sports Nutrition and Didactic Program for Dietetics. She completed her dietetic internship through the University of Houston’s Distance Program. Trained in clinical, community, and food service settings, with an emphasis on acute care, diabetes, and renal disease, Betsy participates in outreach programs at both WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and Head Start.

Dr. Michael West is Director of Astronomy at the Maria Mitchell Association on Nantucket Island. He received his PhD in astronomy from Yale University and held positions at universities and observatories around the world before happily washing ashore on Nantucket. Most recently he lived in Chile for seven years, where he was scientific head of a major European organization that is building the world’s largest telescope there. He is a frequent user of leading telescopes around the world, including the Hubble Space Telescope, for his research.

A. Vernon Laux is a birder, butterfly enthusiast, photographer, radio commentator, columnist and author. Vern has birded extensively all over North America and has birded on all seven continents, seeing some of the most spectacular wildlife and scenery on the planet. He has written thousands of newspaper columns about birds and the natural world (appearing in the New York Times, the Cape Cod Times, the Martha’s Vineyard Times, Vineyard Gazette, and Nantucket’s Inquirer and Mirror), and published magazine articles in a variety of magazines including Birder’s World and Birding. He is the author of the book “Bird News-Vagrants And Visitors On A Peculiar Island”. Currently, Vern serves as the Resident Naturalist and Land Manager for the Linda Loring Nature Foundation on Nantucket.

Hilary Newell moved to Nantucket a little over 27 years ago, coming ‘round the Point for the first time on Mother’s Day Weekend, 1986. The cherry blossoms were swirling around downtown, and the effect was magical. She and her husband said they would give it five years, and the rest is history. Working in Bartlett’s Farm greenhouses all these years, she has learned the ins and outs of growing many types of garden plants and flowers. Island walks reveal the beauty and hidden secrets of Nantucket, and are the inspiration for her freelance writing.

Heidi Sistare lives on Martha’s Vineyard where she writes, grows vegetables, practices yoga, and borrows more library books than she can read. She has a degree in social work, and experience with non-profit management, grant writing, small business development, and community mediation. Heidi is a graduate of the creative nonfiction and multimedia storytelling program at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. It was there that she found the common thread between her interests in social justice, economic development, and creative work: storytelling. Heidi is overwhelmed by the amazing stories of the people who live on the Cape and Islands and if she could interview people all day long she would.

Justine Paradis was born and raised on Nantucket. After graduating from Nantucket High School, she took a gap year to work and travel before spending four years in the Hudson Valley, where she earned a degree in earth science with a correlate in biology from Vassar College. During her time at school, she also sailed on the tall 2 fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

ship SSV Robert C. Seamans with Sea Education Association. After graduating, she returned home, where she is producing radio, teaching, and occasionally writing about art. She can be found on her bicycle, washing dishes, or wandering in the moors with her dog. Her interests include ecology, sailing, gardens, and childhood education.

Jill A. Mooradian is currently writing a book drawing from 25 years of private practice. Her passion and gift, which she calls Synergenic healing, is oriented towards awakening consciousness and enhancing personal growth. Her writing discusses the fundamental structures that support conscious evolution of an individual at the soul level of their being. Jill is a highly sensitive intuitive with extensive training in Energy Mastery, both domestically and internationally. Her skills in the healing arts are applied to address the individual needs of her clients at the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels. Jill continues to travel globally for her own personal growth and enjoys living on Nantucket year-round.

Lonny Lippsett is the first person in two generations of his family who was not a doctor or dentist. As an undergraduate, he took all the requisite pre-medical science courses, but completed his degree in an even more arduous major: Not-Becoming-aDoctor. After earning a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University, he worked at several daily newspapers. But whenever stories with any science angle popped up, editors scanned the newsroom for a reporter who realized that some genes were stored in chromosomes, not closets, and they tapped Lippsett. Thus did he become a science journalist. He is now managing editor of Oceanus magazine at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he also teaches a class in science communications for PhD students.

Natalie Ciminero is a spacial designer, writer, event planner, private chef, and founder of Nantucket Liaison. She was an over-achiever in her youth and pursued an academic career that led her to Harvard University. Her diverse interests drove her to explore a variety of interests, and she simply refuses to “draw within the lines”.

Natalie yearned for more than traditional studies and rounded off her education by becoming certified in holistic health: she belongs to the American Society of Alternative Therapists. Social awareness, humanitarianism, and advocacy for animals are all topics that Natalie engages in and uses her talents for in order to effect positive change.

She lived in Boston and Hyannis, MA for many years and now lives on Nantucket full-time with her wife, two dogs and two very bad black cats.

Peter B. Brace is a freelance writer living on Nantucket who specializes in writing about the environmental and the natural world. He published his second book, “Nantucket: A Natural History” in June 2012. His first book, Walking Nantucket: A Walker’s Guide to Exploring Nantucket on Foot” was published in 2004. Peter also did environmental reporting for the Nantucket Beacon and, later, for the Nantucket Independent.

Siobhain Klawetter washed ashore on Nantucket when she was seven, where she developed friendships and connections that would remain with her throughout her life. She has traveled the world on a constant exploration of the human experience, with most of the last decade spent raising awareness on the issue of hunger in America.

She currently lives on Nantucket with her husband, Aaron, and their 10-year-old daughter.

Contents

16

25

16 Synergy: A Collision of Creative Thinkers

25 Calls of the Wild

32 Fall for the Arts 35

Growing from the Earth

The Promise of Colorful Days to Come

35

40 Wampanoag Sky:

Language, Loss, and the Light of Dead Stars

46 Good Health Little, Tiny Packages

of Goodness 50

32

57

40

Nature’s Underlying Principles

Remarkable Story

Hidden Gems: Talking Tai Chi

Good Energy

61 Sea of Opportunities

46

50 Maps & Directory 4 Just a thought 13 Superstitions Abounding 15 Islander Recipes 39, 48 & 49 Walking Trails 23

57

history note 60

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Advertiser Index

Hyannis Port

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Hy-Line owns and operates on-site parking lots along Ocean Street, all within walking distance of the terminal (no shuttle hassles).

When driving down Ocean Street, pull into our dock (on left) where you can unload baggage/ passengers and then you will be directed to a nearby lot.

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For Dr. and Mrs. Yue, working with Cape Cod Five on Nantucket for their mortgage made all the difference.

James and Susan Yue found the ideal summer home on Nantucket for their family. They had started with a national bank for their jumbo mortgage, but their dissatisfaction with the lack of service led them to Cape Cod Five. Our mortgage lender responded immediately to their questions and made the entire mortgage process easy. As Dr. Yue said, “Every step was a good experience. It felt like working with family and friends.” That’s the Cape Cod Five difference.

Customer Service Center: 888-225-4636 www.capecodfive.com Member FDIC Member DIF

NMLS# 401717

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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Our maps are online and smart phone user friendly. Check them out at www.sound-magazine.com

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Photo: Betsy Corsiglia

Alpaca Sales & Breeding • Farm Visits • Gift Shop

Martha’s Vineyard islandalpaca.com | 508-693-5554

Visit our Farm Store or shop online. Open Daily, Year-Round.

1 Head of the Pond Road, Oak Bluffs

508.693.5554 3 islandalpaca.com

Locally Grown Garments Sweaters & Coats Shawls • Hats • Gloves Mittens • Socks Toys •Gifts for Babies Blankets • Throws Knitting Needles Alpaca Yarn & Roving Spinning Equipment fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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For complete schedules, visit hylinecruises.com

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Traditional to Modern Fine Art Exceptional quality, distinctively different, established & emerging artists.

Established 1989 Open Year rOund Marine, Impressionism, regional, Modern, pop, abstract & Contemporary 21st CenturY artIsts: Brian Aja Peter Layne Arguimbau Scott Balfe Judith A. Brust Armond Cabrera Thomas Deininger Judy Dinnick Judy Friday Keith Gunderson Michael Harrell Richard Kemble

Paintings: 19th-21st C. Traditional to modern and contemporary in oil,watercolor, print making, mixed media and photography

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sCulptures & ObjeCts: Bronze, stone, wood sculptures and sailors valentines

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PaPer & Books: Historic Presidential letters, documents, antique maps and art books

Sandy Moran John P. Osborne Karen Petersen Pamela Pindell Lauri Robertson Edwin Rudd Jane Santini Gail Sharrets Kevin Shea Kathy Stark Thomas Torak Joshua Williams

4 India St., Nantucket, MA 508-228-8509 or email gallerynantucket@gmail.com www. galleryatfourindia.com fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

11

From the Publisher As I write this, I hear flocks of geese flying overhead, and my family in the other room yelling at the football game on TV. It’s the fall, and it’s a great time of the year. To me, hearing those geese is like getting a call from an old friend.

In this 3rd issue, the cover is an illustration that I did. The composition has been in my mind’s eye for about 25 years. I will admit that sounds of fog horns and geese flying overhead do paint some amazing visuals in my mind. Thank you to the Sound for finally providing me with the right conditions to actually manifest it. In addition to the artistic process, what has occurred to me is that this 3rd issue is all about lessons with imagination and the importance of the ability to remain Arlene O’Reilly, Publisher neutral. When imagination is used correctly, we can achieve many great things. But, when it’s used incorrectly, imagination can lead one into a state of self-generated fear.

We who produce the Sound Magazine like to do things a bit differently. We always connect back to our community on a larger scale. You will not find articles that directly speak about Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. You will find stories about receiving, superstitions, synergy, sounds, promises, collaborations, exploration, hidden gems, courage, and the understanding of lessons that Mother Nature provides. Within some of these stories, you might recognize threads of fear, destruction of culture, and war. While these topics are not the focus of our writings, we all need a reminder every once in a while that to know lightness, you must understand the darkness. To have gratitude for both will help in a multitude of ways.

My imagination has been one of my strongest attributes since I was a wee lass.

Listening and waiting for the perfect moment to act—well, it has taken me decades to learn that. If your imagination is taking you to a fear-based place, step back if you can. Look for the truth, if you care at all about the outcome. So, the next time you engage with your imagination, see where it takes you. Stay neutral long enough to get crystal clear, then go for it.

I hope our stories will inspire you to take your imagination to its highest potential, wherever you are in life.

Publisher / Editor Arlene M. O’Reilly

Copy Editors Natalie Ciminero Siobhain Klawetter Tracy Leddy

Photographers

Writers Aaron Klawetter Betsy Corsiglia Dr. Michael West E. Vernon Laux Hilary Newell Heidi Sistare Jill A. Mooradian Justine Paradis Lonny Lippsett Natalie A. Ciminero Peter B. Brace Siobhain Klawetter

Arlene O’Reilly Betsy Corsiglia Cary Hazelgrove E. Vernon Laux Greg Hinson Ken Kostel Lisa Frey Special thanks to: NASA Space Telescope Science Institute Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Graphic Designers/Illustrators Arlene O’Reilly Mary Emery

Michele Lindstedt Dr. Michael West

Multimedia Production Arlene O’Reilly Lisa Frey

Alexandra La Paglia Tihomir Ivanov

Advertising Sales ads@sound-magazine.com 508.325.7163 Laura Burnett Michele Egan Lindstedt Ieva Aldins

Design & Layout Mind’s Eye Communications, Inc.

Letters to the Publisher Greetings from Colorado! I spent a beautiful week on Nantucket at the end of September and read both No.1 and No. 2 of your magazine from cover to cover. When you live in a beautiful place, like Nantucket, it is easy to write about beautiful ideas. I like the magazine, because you cover such wide-spreading ideas.

“A Different Kind of Souvenir” by Jill Mooradian spoke to my heart. I will make copies of her thoughtful article and give it to my friends. I might even frame them.

“The Sounds of the Wild” and “Lighthouse Keepers” taught me new things.

“Storing Herbs’’ and Island Recipes are for clipping and saving. I think I will just hold onto the whole magazine.

Please keep up the great work!!! I appreciate the hard work that goes into creating a quality magazine. I look forward to seeing future issues!

Sincerely - Marika Ujvari

I have to say—I am so proud to see all of you working together in producing such a quality magazine that I can relate to (and I have lived here since before most of you were born). Along with my grandchildren, I enjoyed reading both issues - every page. Your magazines have a place in our library and inspire great conversations at the dining room table. I love the look, the artwork, the remarkable stories, and even the paper. Stellar job. Keep it coming.

12 fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

All the best - Beverly Drake

Distribution Hy-Line Cruises, Inc. Betsy Rich John Tiernman Lizza Obremski Miranda Dale Sky Wallace

Letters Your feedback is important to us and we want to hear from you.

Subscriptions Subscription rate is $28 annually and available at sound-magazine.com/subscribe. A digital interactive Sound Magazine will be also be available, rate is subject to change.

© Copyright 2013 Sound Magazine. Sound Magazine is locally owned and published by Mind’s Eye Communications, Inc. It is published three times a year. Reproduction of any part of this publication is prohibited without written permission from the publisher. Publisher disclaims all responsibility for omission, errors and unsolicited materials.

2 Windy Way, #114, Nantucket, MA 02554 508.325.7163 www.sound-magazine.com

facebook.com/sound.cape.islands.

{

just a thought

} Giving and Receiving

by Jill Mooradian

R

ecently I was reminded of an experiment a scene. I noticed that the few bills I had managed to I once did while traveling. I was in Maui, give away had been taken by native Hawaiians. As my Hawaii, and I was asked to stand outside of gift was accepted, I was thanked, and the recipient a Walmart store and give away twenty single dollar announced that he or she knew it would come back to bills as quickly as possible. The stipulation was that I me. I felt that I was witnessing a difference in cultural could give only one dollar to each person. I collected and spiritual beliefs about giving and receiving. Most my singles and headed over, thinking this should take of the non-native population rejected my gift, as if it a few minutes, and it would be fun. After ten minutes, had the power to negatively affect them—as if they having approached many people who flat-out rejected were going to incur a debt of some kind. Hands flew the dollar, I realized this was not the easy nor the fun up, indicating I should back off and accept that they assignment I had assumed it would be. Determined were not willing to take the money. Respectfully, I to accomplish my task, would move on and refocus for I recognized the need to my mission. strategize. How was I going I recognized that the social to accomplish this mission? agreement I was up against is My assignment included the general Western belief that it the directive that I pay close is better to give than to receive. attention to my experience Although it seemed to me that in the exchange. Naively I people feared the dollar because had said, “Sure, I can do they thought they would owe this!” and set off to Walmart, me, from another point of view, never considering the one could say I was “paying it unacknowledged but powerful forward.” Implied in that action social agreement many adhere Photo: © elisekurenbina. Used under license from Shutterstock is the understanding that at to that would make my task some time, from an unpredicted source, I might be the nearly impossible. recipient of a needed gift. In Maui, by sheer contrast, Now it had been twenty minutes with minimal success.

I was educated about the importance of receiving My original approach included a salutation and an graciously by the native Hawaiians: their pleasure in invitation to take the dollar from me. That approach receiving is the gift returned. didn’t work, so I began to just extend my hand and give As we approach the holiday season, the money to a person before he or she realized what I’d like to remind you of the importance was happening. I found in this way they were more likely to keep it. To my surprise, I encountered someone of being a good receiver... who recognized me from Nantucket. She shouted, Appreciating the unique gifts people “Girl, what are you doing?” and she also refused to give us every day—a beautiful smile, a help me out by taking the offered dollar. My optimism contagious laugh, a curious mind—only diminished quickly, and now I was desperate to give the inspires more giving. money away and get out of what was quickly becoming

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

13

The Black Cat: Superstitions Abounding

by Aaron Klawetter

Europe, killing a quarter of the human population. With so few cats to keep the rodents in check... well, you get the picture. Disturbing as these rumors were in the dark ages of yore, there are still some among us holding on to such malodorous feelings today.

Photo: © Dirk Ercken. Used under license from Shutterstock

H

allowe’en is my favorite holiday. I like it even more than if Christmas and Thanksgiving were rolled into one. What other day of the year are you actually sanctioned to become a superhero or pirate? Ghouls and fairies walk side-by-side with cartoon characters and princesses. And what’s more, you get rewarded for it with candy by the pillowcaseful! And why?

Because you had the courage to step outside yourself for a few hours and take a walk in fantasy.

There is, however, one denizen of All Hallows’ Eve who wears his costume year-round. No, I’m not talking about that kid who works at Hot Topic. I’m talking about my favorite symbol of Hallowe’en: the Black Cat. I hear some of you saying, “But aren’t black cats symbols of bad luck?” and “Don’t let one cross your path!”

Dear reader, don’t believe the hype. While the mystique surrounding cats—and black cats especially—is ancient, and the superstitions manifold, I say our furry friends have been victims of some nasty press. Cats have been blamed for untimely deaths due to epidemics, or for being the servants and familiars of warty old witches. They’re even thought to be the confidants of Old Hob himself.

These unfounded rumors became so prevalent during the 14th Century in Europe that it was common for Catholic priests to call for the killing of cats whenever they were sighted. This feline pogrom was so successful that it is believed to have had a hugely exacerbating influence on the perpetuation of the bubonic plague that swept across

Thankfully, not all the superstitions surrounding black cats have to do with bad luck. Many beliefs hold them in high esteem: To find a single white hair on an otherwise perfectly black cat, and pluck it out without the cat in turn scratching you, is said to be luck of an unusually good sort. A black cat in the audience on the opening night of a play portends success. At one point in England, black cats were considered such good luck for sailors that few could actually afford them.

As one of the central symbols of Hallowe’en—the greeneyed black cat with arched back and bottlebrush tail perched atop a grinning jack-o’-lantern—it seems the black cat has been imbued with all the power of bad luck and the promise of fantastical fun. Let us put aside the bad press and instead make our own stories and connections.

Consider: You might make a donation to your local shelter or feed a stray.

If you have the means, you might adopt a cat. Black cats are often the last cats left in shelters due to bad press and insensitive fashionistas. C’mon! Black goes with everything!

Stop and pet a cat if you can. There have been many studies indicating that the simple act of petting a cat can relieve both psychological and physical stress as well as lower blood pressure.

You might do any, or all, of these things at any point in the year. However, on Hallowe’en, if you should happen to be graced by the presence of ebon feline felicity, don’t forget to tip your hat. A curtsey or a courtly bow might be in order.

Whatever you do, show great respect to our Prince of All Hallows, the black cat. fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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Synergy:

A Collision of Creative Thinkers

by Lonny Lippsett

Photography by Ken Kostel

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Synergy Project was conceived in early 2012 in affiliation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT - Boston) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI - Cape Cod)

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“Face it—many people still harbor stereotypical images of scientists and artists.”

Synergy Project was an experimental program that catalyzes partnerships between artists and research scientists. With an emphasis on communication and collaboration, this project aimed to provide meaningful creative and intellectual experiences for both the general public and for participating artists and scientists. They carefully selected and matched artists and scientists to work together to formulate a shared voice. The outcome of these collaborations were shown as group exhibitions that invited the public to engage with this unique collision of art and science.

This exhibit was held at the Art & Science Gallery Museum of Science, Boston during the first half year of 2013.

facebook.com/sound.cape.islands.

fall / winter | sound-magazine.com fall / winter 2013 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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“When I was first introduced to a community of scientists,” said artist Michael MacMahon, “I had the same idea that everyone else has: They hang out in lab coats, put stuff in vials, get results, and everyone applauds. And people have the same views of artists: They just go and paint, and it’s magical, and everyone applauds.”

“B

ut it’s really a hard-fought process for scientists and artists to bring their work to completion,” MacMahon said in an interview with WCAI radio journalist Heather Goldstone in January of this year.

“You create a hypothesis, try to work at it, and sometimes you fail over and over again. Hopefully, at the end of the day, you get something out of it.”

Among the scientists MacMahon met was Whitney Bernstein, a Ph.D. student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography. She had been thinking along the same lines.

“The process that artists follow to create their artwork has a lot of parallels with the thought process scientists follow,” she said. “{Scientists} begin with an idea and then wrestle with that idea. They observe the world, try to make sense of it, interpret what they see, and come up with new insights about it. That takes a lot of creativity.”

The two found that they had been nurturing a similar crosscultural idea: What would happen if they brought together scientists and artists to immerse them in each other’s worlds and then created art works based on science? Thus was born a project they called Synergy.

Eureka moments in science and art With seed funding from the Council for the Arts at MIT and an MIT Graduate Student Life Grant, Bernstein and MacMahon put out a call in early 2012 and soon were swamped with more than 100 applications from artists. They selected eight, based not only on their talent but also on the artists’ conviction and enthusiasm about working with science and scientists.

“We chose artists who we thought could capture large and intangible ideas,” Bernstein said, recalling a class trip to

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Tahiti with a geology professor. Atop a mountain, looking at the whole island and the submerged coral reefs surrounding it, the students could visualize the entire concept of volcanic island formation. “By visualizing this one picture in place, we could see a whole process through time.”

That’s what good works of art can do, too, according to Bernstein. And that’s what she envisioned the artist/scientist pairs might create: “Something to get people excited, an access point to let people see what kinds of science are being done. Something that stimulates curiosity and conversation in those who will look at it.”

In May, 2012, the artists came to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to talk with scientists, mostly graduate students.

“We were terribly nervous that everything would blow up in our faces, and nobody would like each other,” MacMahon said. But quite the opposite occurred. The artists toured laboratories and talked with scientists and were fascinated.

Scientists and artists seem to pair up naturally.

Soon after, as MacMahon immersed himself in an MFA program, Lizzie Kripke came aboard as the project’s codirector. Kripke, who had worked as an artist-in-residence in a lab studying dynamic camouflage in cephalopods at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, said she “recognizes the huge potential for cross-illumination of the disciplines of art and science.” (She is currently enrolled in a dual degree program in neuroscience at Brown University and painting at the Rhode Island School of Design).

Then the collaborating began in earnest. Painter Laurie Kaplowitz, paired with graduate student Ellie Bors, who studies life at deep-sea vents, said, “Our initial conversations were just me trying to understand what the essence of her research was.”

Eventually Kaplowitz asked to see Bors’ lab notebooks.

The graphs, numbers, and phrases in them inspired the artist. Using a technique of layering, glazing, and collaging

Probing with sound Illustration courtesy of National Science Foundation

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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rice paper, she built mixed-media drawings using abstract imagery based on DNA samples, words, and phrases from Ellie’s notebooks, and interpretive fauna imagery created from photographs of life found at vents.

“It’s neat to be able to take what I saw as completely mundane and turn it into something that is visually appealing—in a way, like a humanization of what I do in the lab,” Bors said in an interview with science journalist Ari Daniel Shapiro. “I was a little anxious about it, because I was like, ‘Am I supposed to critique these?’ but it was kind of like getting to participate in sort of this sacred act of creating art.”

“Whenever two worlds that might not intersect, intersect, it’s a great thing,” Kaplowitz said.

Coral reef exhibit

Sea Grass exhibit

Seeing the world with new eyes Anastasia Azure, who combines weaving and metalsmithing to make jewelry and sculpture, worked with WHOI physical oceanographer Larry Pratt, who uses chaos theory to investigate the fluid dynamics of eddies, those spinning parcels of water that whirl off in your bathtub or from the Gulf Stream. Sharing an appreciation of geometric shapes, they first captured the essential motion of eddies with time-lapse photography of moving lights. Based on those images, Azure used hand-dyed fishing line woven on a traditional floor loom to create a sculpture “revealing the inner life of water’s turbulent motion and swirling beauty,” as she put it.

Karen Ristuben partnered with Sophie Chu, a chemical oceanographer, who studies how ocean acidification, caused by rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, makes it more difficult for tiny sea snails at the heart of the marine food web to maintain their delicate shells. In her sculpture, Ristuben portrayed the snails’ shell “with an analogous object made of a similar chemical structure: an eggshell,” she said. “The eggshells were soaked in vinegar to reveal what acidification does to calcium carbonate shells, thus transforming chemistry into art and rendering a vivid representation of ocean acidification to the viewer.”

In similar veins, oceanographer Jonathan Fincke, who uses sound waves to identify plankton in the sea, shared his acoustic data with Nathalie Miebach, who fashioned an amusement park-like sculpture based on them—with a roller coaster

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sound sculpture exhibit Watch the process on how these exhibits were created

sound-magazine.com

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out of the box

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(representing the Labrador Current), a carousel (symbolizing seasonal patterns in temperature and wave heights), and a ferris wheel (hinting at diurnal patterns in krill distributions).

Sound artist Marc McNulty joined in, using Fincke’s data to create a sound piece.

Marine chemist Jill McDermott’s research, which takes her down in the submersible Alvin to explore deep-sea vents, inspired a series of large oil paintings by Bryan MacFarlane that explore the beauty and mystery of that dark, alien environment from another perspective.

Oceanographer Tristan Kading gave an underwater tour of seagrass beds to artist Shawn Towne, whose media are video light and sound. Towne created his work, inspired by the sunlight filtering through the grass blades and the rhythmic movement of the grass in the currents.

Artist Joseph Ingoldsby used images of coral reefs collected by scientists Katie Shamberger, Hannah Barkley, and Alice Alpert to create a collage that captures what he called the “almost Shakespearian” story of corals “depicting the life, death, and resurrection of coral reefs in an age of extinction.”

Janine Wong, an architect, graphic designer, and book artist, collaborated with physical oceanographer Sophie Clayton and marine biologist Elizabeth Halliday. Using traditional printmaking techniques, Wong combined images of phytoplankton and poetry written by Halliday to create a hand-bound lithographic book that tells the ageless story of how marine plants bloom seasonally in the oceans. “The dialogue between other disciplines opens up your ways of thinking and seeing,” Wong said.

And that, too, was a goal of the Synergy Project, Bernstein said. “It’s not just the end products that you might see in a gallery. It’s also the process of collaboration, a creative collision of thinkers, who learn from one another.”

The Synergy Project also received support from the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE), the MIT Community Service Fund, the Brown University Creative Arts Council, the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, and Sandra Mays.

Please visit sound-magazine.com to watch videos of this collaborative process.

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Walking Trails Photos: Lisa Frey

{

Nantucket - Heaven on Island: Squam Road

By Peter Brace

F

or me, off-season hiking means the continuing exploration of an island I’ve learned—from more than 20 years of hiking it—not to writeoff as a known quantity.

Having written two books about its natural environs, Nantucket, then, should be a back-of-my-hand cinch and, well, rather boring for me by now. But it isn’t, at least not from later September through early April.

Freed from the contents and bounds of occupied second homes, nesting shorebird beach restrictions, and the crush of vehicles everywhere on island, one who walks with dogs, as I do, can safely and comfortably stretch out and thoroughly investigate the landscape via its trails and dirt roads as autumn runs into winter.

I spend more than half of my walking time out in Squam, Quidnet, Wauwinet, and Coskata because I have found this area to be the most beautiful, rural, and deserted part of the island for most of the year.

Specifically, I walk Squam Road between Wauwinet

}

and Quidnet, a 4.3-mile round trip for which I’ve figured out and tramped all sorts of variations, depending on the season and the weather.

This road oozes autumn and winter for me. As I write this in early September, the air is still warm, but leaves are crinkling into their subtle earth-tone hues of oranges, yellows, and browns, with poison ivy, Virginia creeper, and black tupelo leaves shouting out in neon reds and purples. Falling leaves reopen views west into Squam Swamp revealing birds to be identified and edible fruit, in particular, wild grapes, ripening on vines throughout September.

The road itself is a dusty, bumpy, sandy one, narrow and curvy enough at some points to permit passage of only one vehicle. It has two public ways leading down to the east shore of the island: one just before #49 next to Squam Pond and the other at the Quidnet end near #6. Trees—tupelo, sassafras, poplar and maples—crowd up to the road’s edges, along with many shrubs and the ubiquitous snarl of grape vines.

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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WALKING TRAILS

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Experience Nature!

Walking trails Family programming Photos: Lisa Frey

This is where I come to see signs of all the seasons, to smell grapes fermenting in their skins and wood smoke on the air, to feel the first chill, with wool socks on, and see flurries floating over the swamp. I love the puffy clouds of fall and winter tinged with sunset colors, and I love to come out here to watch the moon rise out of the ocean on clear nights when stars aren’t far behind.

I use the public ways as part of a loop in the winter, sometimes walking to the beach from the Squam Pond path and back onto the road using the Quidnet path or the other way around, but always taking the time to watch the ocean on a winter beach and to check the level of the pond and what’s swimming on it, drinking from it, or flying over it.

Find Wauwinet Road to start this hike. Follow it until you reach the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s redtrimmed gatehouse adjacent to a dirt parking area where you can park. Begin your adventure by walking back along Wauwinet Road and taking the first left onto Squam Road.

Our next issue will have more walking trails on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard or Cape Cod. If you have a favorite that you would like to share, please let us know. sound-magazine.com.

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Educational outreach Field trips 110 Eel Point Road Nantucket, MA 02554 508.325.0873

www.llnf.org

Sounds of the Wild Peregrine Falcon

by E. Vernon Laux

{

Fall to Winter Bird Life around “The Sounds” of Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket

}

Photo: © Sue Robinson. Used under license from Shutterstock

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sounds of the wild

} Blue Grosbeak

T

he usually delightful weather that characterizes the fall season on the Cape and Islands is occasionally interspersed with a fierce Nor’easter. This makes for the most exciting birding anywhere in the country during the months of October and November.

Typically, strong westerly winds will literally “blow” birds out to the East, the coastline. When this is followed by mild weather with little wind, it makes for exceptional birding.

For example, last fall, on the heels of Super Storm Sandy, the fields at Bartlett’s Farm on Nantucket were visited by a Eurasian plover called the Northern Lapwing. On October 30, 2012, two Northern Lapwings dropped out of the sky and were standing with some Killdeer, while just a half-hour later, another Northern Lapwing dropped into the marsh at First Encounter Beach in Eastham. Three Northern Lapwings were more than had even been seen before in Massachusetts’ long ornithological history.

Over the following two weeks some dozen Northern Lapwings were reported seen around New England. The two on Nantucket remained all winter and into the spring, joined, at one point, by another individual, making three Northern Lapwings on Nantucket the epicenter for this species in North America. The two on Nantucket stayed until April Fool’s Day when they flew off to points unknown. It was hoped that they might stay and breed on Island, but this was not to be.

An eagerly-anticipated event for birders from around the country is the Nantucket Birding Festival. Orchestrated by The

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Photo: E. Vernon Laux

Linda Loring Nature Foundation, it takes place this year from October 17 through 20. This festival is small: it’s all about discovering the beauty and birds on Nantucket during what is the absolute best time of year to visit. The numerous field trips are led by some of the top birders in the country. In the past two years the festival has turned up a Magnificent Frigatebird, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, a Townsend’s Solitaire, and the first Gray-tailed Tattler ever found in eastern North America.

The coastline, Land’s End, including all of the Outer Cape, and especially the Islands, reap the rewards of their geographic location during the fall migration. Migrating birds, moving on

northwest winds, fly to the southeast, and to the coast. When they encounter the end of land they must turn back. A land bird out over the open ocean is in trouble, as there are many larger birds that will eat it. Not to mention there is no place to land, rest, and eat, nor is there fresh water to drink. They must turn and fly against a headwind in their attempt to make it back to land.

This is why certain places like the western tip of Martha’s Vineyard, the southwest tip of Nantucket in Madaket, Cuttyhunk Island at the western tip of the Elizabeth Islands and many other such places are so good for birding in the fall. They act as “funneling points,” where birds that overshot land and got out over the ocean

Western Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher taking flight

Photos: E. Vernon Laux fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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The start of November heralds major change in the natural world, the birds’ world. congregate as they attempt to return to the west and south; they realize their mistake and head back to the mainland. Some mornings during the fall there will be literally “clouds” of birds heading back to the north and west. Witnessing this visible bird migration is an unforgettable experience.

It used to be that without fail September was the month for the best birding around the Sound.

However, over the past decade the birding in October, even in late October, has become the best time to be out in the field. Indeed the term “global warming” has been correlated with many altered arrival and departure dates of birds in our area. It has been proven that most birds are arriving earlier in the spring and staying later in the fall. Hence, birds that we used to see only in September are now passing through in October.

October is when the bulk of the sparrows, raptors, and wintering waterfowl arrive for the winter or pass by the Cape and Islands. Migrant sparrows have started to arrive, and with the clearing weather, colder temperatures, and northwest winds that prevail at this season, there should be many new arrivals on our shores. If you are inclined to feed birds, and are prepared to continue all winter long as they learn to depend on this food source, then this would be a good time to start feeding, as many birds are arriving and staking out a winter territory.

The sighting of falcons is a daily feature throughout the fall, with October being the best month with the greatest numbers passing through. Merlins and Peregrine Falcons are migrating over the region in some considerable numbers. They are likely to be encountered not only on any outing in the field but also by sharp-eyed observers going about their daily business.

Peregrine Falcons have undergone a tremendous resurgence. Whilst fifty years ago they were on the brink of being extirpated from the continental United States, the banning of DDT and a mammoth effort that involved captive breeding has resulted in an altogether rare success story. Peregrines are now a species one expects to see during the fall migration.

From now until the end of October viewing these

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most powerful and fast-flying falcons is as good as birding gets.

Peregrines are awesome to watch in the air because they have evolved along lines that assure them of the fastest flying skills in the world. They must capture the fastest, most acrobatic animals known, and do it in the air. Built for speed, they depend on their superior flying skills to capture prey that they overtake, either in direct pursuit, or in one or more powerful dives, called stoops.

Consequently, they don’t hang around in the woods but hunt open areas. They love mountains, grasslands, beaches, moorlands, deserts, and open ocean areas where they can utilize their remarkable flying abilities to capture a meal. The New England coastline, especially offshore islands, are the best places to see these spectacular birds in migration.

The Peregrine Falcons that nest in northern Canada and Greenland migrate by our area on their way south. They have absolutely no fear of flying over or migrating across open water. It is second nature to these flying machines. They bring a new meaning to the phrase, “eating on the fly”. They are often seen at sea flying along slowly, reaching down to their talons and taking a bite of whatever bird they have captured.

They are capable of catching and killing birds much larger than themselves, but generally choose small, easy–to-carry-and-eat prey when they are going to have to remain airborne.

Gales of November The start of November heralds major change in the natural world, the birds’ world. Powerful weather systems continue to increase in duration and strength accompanied by colder temperatures and decreasing day length. The signs of the rapidly-approaching winter are everywhere.

With days steadily shortening, and ambient temperatures dropping on the land and in the waters, the migration of birds has shifted and most land birds have passed. Now is the time that northerly nesting loons, grebes, sea ducks, and gulls arrive to spend the winter months off our shores.

Peregrine Falcon

Photo: Š Audrey Armyagov. Used under license from Shutterstock

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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{

calls of the wild

} Help make a difference in restoring the quality of Nantucket’s water resources by adhering to the Nantucket Board of Health fertilizer regulations. For a free copy of “Best Management Practices for Landscape Fertilizer Use on Nantucket” in English or Spanish, contact the Nantucket Land Council at nlc@nantucketlandcouncil.org or 508-228-2818.

This is their tropics, a respite from locations they have just left, where it will be a frozen, inhospitable environment until next May. A look off any favored spot at the water in the early morning will reveal long lines of ducks and scattered numbers of flying loons passing by. There are many excellent, fairly easy to access spots around the Cape and Islands from which to view large concentrations of sea ducks.

While the birding now requires a hat, gloves, and an overcoat, it is very rewarding. There are, right now, more and bigger birds, on the move than at any other time of the year. The waters surrounding us are jammed with birdlife.

Any prolonged northeast winds, such as those provided by a Nor’easter, will provide some fine pelagic birding, especially in Cape Cod Bay, along the north side of the Cape. Cape Cod’s unique shape acts as a kind of seabird trap during prolonged northeast storms.

is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit dedicated to the protection of Nantucket’s natural resources. Established in 1974, the NLC is the only environmental watchdog group on the island. We welcome donations at www.nantucketlandcouncil.org.

The art of creating outstanding experiences.

The birds get pushed up against the shoreline from Boston southward. They fly along the coast heading south, then follow the sweep of the Cape around to the east, and then turn north in Eastham and Wellfleet before reaching the tip of the Cape at Provincetown.

From here the birds round Race Point in Provincetown where they are again buffeted by unobstructed, fierce northeast winds.

They choose the path of least resistance and make their way across Cape Cod Bay, again hitting the shoreline between Boston and Plymouth and again repeating the process. Liken it to the movie Groundhog Day for seabirds in fierce storms. It makes for the best landbased pelagic birding in the world.

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Photo: Greg Hinson

Nor’easters on Cape Cod, in October, November, and December, have become famous in the birding community around North America. The biggest northeast storms trigger a response from birders continent-wide. Various viewing spots from Sandy Neck in Barnstable to Provincetown are becoming a birding destination—during the foulest weather imaginable.

Until next time, keep your eyes to the sky!

Calling all birders!

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Congratulations to our midsummer edition photo contest winner: Lori Ann Higgins!

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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growing from the earth

by Heidi Sistare

The trees are making their annual return to cayenne red, curry orange, and mango yellow. Nights are cold; apples are crisp; the stripers are plentiful; the arts are center stage.

During the month of October, The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod coordinates “Fall for the Arts,” a festival honoring the rich artistic communities found all over the Cape and on both islands. It is organized in collaboration with Cape Cod Media Group, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, and the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce.

The festival was conceived six years ago. “There’s a perception that nothing happens here after the summer,” said Kevin Howard, Executive Director of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. He added that Fall for the Arts was created with two goals in mind: “We want to promote the large number of artistic and cultural events that takes place during the fall, and we want to expand the tourist season.”

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Fall for the Arts is hosted by a diverse group of arts organizations across the Cape, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.

On Nantucket, year-round residents and visitors will celebrate the 21st year of the Nantucket Arts Festival.

The easy way to travel

“The Nantucket Arts Festival brings all of the cultural organizations together in a collaboration that represents the extensive talent that resides on-Island,” said Reggie Levine, former President of the Nantucket Arts Council.

On Martha’s Vineyard, the Creative Economy Speaker Series is hosted by Arts Martha’s Vineyard. The Columbus Day Artisans Festival is hosted by the Vineyard Artisans Festivals, and “Art*Island” is a five-day festival presented by local magazine Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas and the Harbor View Hotel.

Numerous events will be held across the Cape. Mr. Howard described “Capture the Cape”, taking place on October 12th in Orleans. It is a day of plein air painting, an event that invites visitors into the natural landscape. There, artists will pull tubes of paint to match the autumn palette of the leaves.

“There is so much local talent,” said Mr. Howard. “These festivals and arts and music events are well-attended, and there is a direct economic benefit to the communities on the Cape and Islands.”

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It is impossible to highlight each fine arts exhibition, each swell of concert sound, and each dancer’s leap that will take place during Fall for the Arts—you’ll have to just see for yourself. Events are listed at www.artsfoundation.org/fall-for-the-arts.

“Without the arts we’re like a shadow,” said Mr. Levine. “The arts help us arrive at our identity.

They help us see where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

If Fall for the Arts is any indication, where we’re going looks like a collaborative and creative place.

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www.artsnantucket.com fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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} { Nantucket’s only year-round high-speed ferry growing from the earth

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The Promise of Colorful Days to Come

by Hilary Newell

{ Planting Fall Bulbs for Spring Blooms } GROWING FROM THE EARTH:

35 fall / winter sound-magazine.com Photo: Š2013 Larisa |Loftiskaya.

Used under license from Shutterstock

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growing from the earth

Photo: © yuris. Used under license from Shutterstock

S

pring never fails to arouse the gardener in all of us, but if it weren’t for planting bulbs in the fall, spring in the garden wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful and exciting. Planting bulbs is very satisfying all on its own, but seeing them poke their heads out of the ground and watching them flower is even better.

An extended fall season is great for planting bulbs. In areas with a short autumn, it is imperative that bulbs get in the ground earlier, but I have successfully planted bulbs on Nantucket as late as December. Bulbs need time to establish roots before the ground freezes, and enough time to be dormant before sending up their flowers. One bulb catalog I read said, “When you start getting nights below 50 degrees and you feel like wearing a sweater, then it’s time to start planting your bulbs.”

Daffodils are the most foolproof bulbs to grow. Disease-resistant, deer-proof, and requiring no special care, they will satisfy on many levels. There is no special knowledge necessary beyond being aware of the basics of planting.

Spring bulbs can be planted in an area that has never been planted before, or you can weave them into an existing garden. I have a couple of garden beds that are packed with all colors and types of daffodils. When they are done blooming, the foliage continues to grow unkempt until late June. I cut it all back then and plant some long-blooming annuals or tender perennials right on top of them. There are hundreds of varieties of daffodils, and they are all very hardy on Cape Cod and the Islands.

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Planting bulbs at the right depth is necessary for good growth and survival. The rule of thumb is that the depth at the bottom of the bulb should be three or four times the height of the bulb itself. In other words, a bulb that is two inches tall should be planted six to eight inches deep. If you want to plant a large drift of daffodils or other bulbs and the garden bed is new, dig up the soil down to the depth that you want to plant and in the shape that you want. Sprinkle the bottom with bone meal, set the bulbs in the soil and cover firmly with the soil you dug up. Most bulbs can be clustered in groups of three or five.

Watering is very important at this point. A very dry fall, like the one we are having in the Sound region this year, can wreak havoc on bulb growth, so water them in, then water well about a week later, then again a week after that. With warm enough weather, that should be sufficient to get the bulbs settled, and give the roots a chance to grow.

Warm, sunny weather in March can cause daffodil foliage to begin sprouting when it seems too early.

Folks often ask if there is anything they can do about this, or if it’s a bad thing. There is nothing that can be done about early-rising foliage, and it’s not a bad thing, either. I’ve watched daffodil foliage, blooming crocuses and hyacinths get covered with snow, and they are just fine. In fact, the green poking up out of the snow is kind of pretty. The large patch planted at the end of our driveway is a welcome greeting after a long day, but I do love to cut the flowers and have them in a vase on the table.

Entering a daffodil show is a lot of fun as well. And it is not hard! Garden club experts are on hand to help you label and display your flowers before the judging begins, and to say they are enthusiastic about daffodils is an understatement. For years, friends tried to convince me to enter some flowers in the Nantucket Garden

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growing from the earth

Deer can be persistent when hungry!

To help you protect your bulb plantings, we dug up some helpful tips from local experts: Marty McGowan, of Pumpkin Pond Farm on Nantucket, and Paul F. Split, Horticulture Consultant on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

Photo: © Mark Bridger. Used under license from Shutterstock

Club’s Daffodil Show, one of the Cape and Islands’ larger flower festivals. I always claimed to be too busy at that time of year, but I tried it a few years ago, and the seven awards I received hooked me for life!

As long as the ground is not frozen, it’s not too late to plant most bulbs for spring blooms. Any effort put forth in the fall will be paid back to you in the spring. Planted with forethought and care, you can have spring bulbs blooming for nearly four months, beginning as early as February in our area. Combine early, mid- and late season daffodils with grape hyacinths (Muscari), winter aconite (Eranthus), crocus, and Siberian squill (Scilla siberica). Add in tulips, if your yard is fenced, or you are lucky enough not to have any deer pressure.

New England winters can be dreary and cold, but when the bulbs start blooming, the colors will remind you that the promise of summer is not that far away.

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HOT STUFF/REPELLENTS McGowan suggests using Repellex – a systemic animal repellent. A capsaicin product, it saves ornamental plants and bulbs, but is not advised for food products. “You take the pellet, plant it in the ground next to your plant or bulb, water it, and leave it there,” he says. The plant sucks up the pepper pellets, and it becomes an unsavory bite. He continues, “If you take a bite out of a hot pepper, you won’t take two. It’s the same idea as using cayenne or red pepper flakes, but in a form that allows the plant to absorb it before blooming. It takes about one month for the product to melt, dissolve, and be absorbed by the plant or bulb.” He recommends reapplying it in about three months (early March) to be effective. McGowan reports, “We are using it and seeing some good results.”

Deer Defeat is a natural product containing lemongrass, garlic, clove, and castor oils, along with egg solids. “It’s the combination of these natural smells that make the environment inhospitable,” says Split.

CAGES/UNDERGROUND FENCES “One other type of protection can come from a cloche of chicken wire made into a large cover for plants. The dome shaped structure is added after the plant sprouts…and will work for a small cluster of early spring flowers,” suggests Split.

You may consider protecting your bulbs from being eaten from below the soil by creating underground fences, or “purses,” as Split calls them, to encase them before planting.

Make sure the top of the cage has large enough openings for the bulbs to bloom through. Chicken wire or small wire bird feeders also can be used.

Island Recipes

Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies

by Sky Wallace, Nantucket Gluten Free Chef & Baker

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Photo: Š Marla Dawn Studio. Used under license from Shutterstock

Ingredients: 2 sticks of butter, softened 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar OR 3/4 cup agave nectar 2 eggs 1 tsp almond extract 1 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 cups gluten free baking mix or flour blend 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 3 cups gluten free oats 1 cup raisins 1 cup dried cranberries 1 cup unsweetened coconut 1 cup slivered almonds or other chopped nuts

Be cozy.

This winter, keep warm and add ambiance to your home with a gas fireplace!

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar/agave until fluffy. Add eggs and extracts and beat well. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to wet, mixing until blended. Fold in nuts, raisins, cranberries and coconut. Drop by spoonfuls on to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.

Visit our office to see the variety of fireplaces we offer.

You choose, we install, kick back and enjoy. nantucketenergy.com 508-228-6240

If you have a favorite recipe that you would like to share, please let us know.

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8b Amelia Drive, Nantucket, MA 100% locally owned and operated propane company.

NEnergy-Sound-3-13.indd 1

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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Wampanoag Sky: Star watchers

Language, Loss, and the Light of Dead Stars

by Dr. Michael West

40 fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

— Anaïs Nin

Thousands of years before the first Europeans set foot on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, the Wampanoag and Nauset people were already here. They and their neighbors—the Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pequot, Mohegan, Abenaki, Mi’kmaq— had distinct cultures, but spoke different dialects of the same Algonquian language.

They were also people with a rich knowledge and lore of the heavens. In his 1643 book, A Key Into the Language of America, Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, wrote of the indigenous people he encountered, “By occasion of their frequent lying in the Fields and Woods, they much observe the Starres, and their very children can give Names to many of them, and observe their Motions.” Josiah Cotton’s 1829 Vocabulary of the Massachusetts (or Natick) Language included an entry for astronomy, nehtuhtoonk papaume annoqsqs, which translates as ‘skill about the stars.’ To the Wampanoag, the stars were known as anâqsak, while to their cousins, the Narragansett, they were anóckqus, and the Pequots of present-day Connecticut called them ayaksak. Creation tales abounded to explain the origin of the sun, earth, moon, stars, and constellations.

But what happens when the astronomical heritage of people and their culture, gathered over the course of millions of nights, is lost?

Between 1616 and 1619, more than half the Wampanoag nation died from epidemics brought by European ships. Entire villages were wiped out in some cases. By the end of King Philip’s War, an unsuccessful native uprising against the English colonists, the Wampanoag were almost extinct, dwindling to fewer than 400 survivors in 1676. Subsequent epidemics, intermarriage, enslavement, assimilation, and prohibitions from using their native tongue and customs further decimated the Wampanoag people and their culture. Wôpanâak, their language, fell silent in the 19th century when the last living speakers died. Much of the Wampanoag knowledge of the heavens and the wisdom gleaned by observing them vanished in the process. Surf the web or pick up any book on Native American astronomy today and you’ll find information about the constellations and star lore of the Navajo, Cherokee, Pawnee, Lakota, Mi’kmaq, Inuit, and other indigenous peoples, but little about the Wampanoag sky.

Sadly, it’s a story that has been repeated many times throughout history.

“The ancient Hawaiians were astronomers,” wrote Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, Queen Lili‘uokalani, in 1897. It was the Polynesians’ legendary ability to sail across the vast Pacific Ocean by observing the stars, winds, waves, and cloud patterns that brought them to Hawaii nearly two thousand years ago. When Captain James Cook and his ships arrived on Hawaii’s shores in 1778, he was met by people with a long tradition of watching the stars. The skies guided the Hawaiians not only as they navigated the vast Pacific Ocean but also in their daily lives. Crops were planted, fish were caught, wars were fought, and religious festivals were celebrated according to the phases of the moon and the seasonal positions of the stars in the sky. Hawaiian astronomers, called kilo hōkū, or ‘star watchers,’ were among the most esteemed members of society.

Photo Opposite: Digitial Illustration by Arlene O’Reilly

Digital Illustration: Arlene O’Reilly fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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Star watchers

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Today, much of the ancient Hawaiian knowledge of the heavens has been lost, a casualty of the cultural upheaval that followed European contact. With no written language, the kanaka maoli or ‘original people’ as they called themselves, passed down their astronomical knowledge orally from generation to generation.

Although the Hawaiians had names for hundreds of stars and constellations, the nineteenth-century missionaries who first transcribed the Hawaiian language had little or no knowledge of astronomy themselves, and so they often recorded Hawaiian star names without identifying which stars they represented. More than three hundred Hawaiian star names have survived to the present, though less than half are associated with specific stars.

We all come from places with knowledge, traditions, and stories about the heavens. Our culture and inherited beliefs influence what we see in the sky, whether it’s the cold indifference of a universe governed by immutable laws or a sky sprinkled with whimsical spirits and gods.

Our ancestors looked to the skies for both religious and secular reasons. Observations of stars, planets, and constellations were used to create calendars that provided agricultural societies with valuable information for the seasonal planting and harvesting of crops, as well as to predict future events or to discern divine messages from the cosmos. Given the importance of such activities to cultural identity and even physical survival, it’s not surprising that sky watchers had prominent roles in many societies. Historical evidence from around the world attests to the importance of the ancient astronomer.

But what—if anything—can be done to preserve or recover the astronomical heritage of the world’s diverse cultures?

In 2005, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched its Astronomy and World Heritage Initiative with the goal of identifying and preserving historic astronomical sites around the world. Nearly 100 of UNESCO’s list of 900 World Heritage Sites have an astronomy connection.

New ones are still being discovered. Recent evidence, for example, suggests that the world’s oldest temple, Göbekli Tepe in southern Turkey, might have been built to honor Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.

Archaeological evidence on the Cape and Islands, some of it submerged under water, might someday shed light on the Wampanoag as stargazers.

Yet astronomical heritage takes many forms, not all of them found in buildings or in other physical artifacts.

Some of it remains in the hearts and minds of people.

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Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA

In 1980, Nainoa Thompson became the first modern Hawaiian to recreate the voyages of his ancestors by navigating a Polynesian double-hulled canoe from Hawaii to Tahiti using only the ancient techniques of celestial wayfinding. The canoe, named Hōkūle’a or ‘Star of Joy,’ used no modern instruments on its journey across 2,500 miles of open ocean. These skills had been lost for many generations in Hawaii; however, they were still used by a handful of people living on the islands and atolls of Micronesia. One of them, Mau Piailug, gladly shared this knowledge with his Hawaiian cousins.

Thompson credits Piailug with not only teaching him the lost art of navigating by the stars but also helping to “spark pride in the Hawaiian and Polynesian culture.”

Since then, the Hōkūle’a has sailed more than 150,000 miles. In May 2013, it embarked on its most ambitious journey yet, a ‘round the world voyage with stops in 28 countries over the next four years. “Now that we have relearned a knowledge that was either sleeping or almost lost – how to navigate across thousands of miles of ocean – it’s really about making sure we never lose that again,” says Hōkūle’a crewmember Ka’iulani Murphy.

Language, the essence of a culture, might offer another way to reconstruct some of the lost astronomical knowledge of the past. Today the Wampanoag language is being revived through the efforts of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, which plans to create an immersion school in Mashpee on Cape Cod that will teach the first generation of Wampanoag youth in more than a century to speak the language of their ancestors.

It’s a daunting challenge, as no defunct Native American language has yet been brought back into everyday use.

And with no surviving speakers or recordings from the past there’s uncertainty about how to even pronounce some Wôpanâak words. Nevertheless, the revival of Hebrew as a living language after centuries of disuse, and the success of Hawaiian, Maori, and other language immersion schools shows that it can be done. Tucked away among the many surviving texts written in the Wampanoag tongue or in the lexicon of words still to be uncovered may be new insights into the Wampanoag sky.

Image credit: Michael West / NASA /Space Telescope Science Institute

Photo: Digitial Illustration by Dr. Michael West fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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{

stargazing

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Dwell

it’s a beautiful thing!

Color

consultation

Nantucket Breeze

Kitchen & Bath Design

One must be cautious, however, not to over-interpret linguistic clues as evidence of scientific knowledge. For example, like many Native American languages, Wôpanâak nouns are classified as either animate or inanimate. Some have suggested that because the Wampanoag word for ‘sun’ is inanimate while the word for ‘earth’ is animate, this shows that the Wampanoag knew our planet moves around the sun long before Europeans did. But this interpretation is doubtful, as other related Algonquian languages use different animate/inanimate classifications for the earth and sun. It seems unlikely that the Wampanoag would have kept their knowledge of the earth’s motion around the sun secret from their neighbors with whom they shared common linguistic and cultural bonds. A more plausible explanation may be that differences in animate versus inanimate words among Algonquian languages are similar to gender variations of nouns among Romance languages, in the same way that ‘bed’ is masculine in French (le lit) but feminine in Spanish (la cama). Nevertheless, the hope remains that careful and objective study of Wampanoag words and their origins might reveal some astronomical connections.

“The whole history of the human race is but the twinkling of an eye in comparison with the ages of the stars,” wrote English astronomer James Jeans in his 1931 book The Stars in Their Courses. But stars, like people, all die eventually. Yet the light emitted during a star’s lifetime continues its journey through space long after its internal flame has been extinguished, illuminating the sky like a memory, flickering but not forgotten.

Window Treatments

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Whatever stage your interior project is in, we can help!

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44 fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

Like the light of stars long gone, the voices of the Wampanoag ancestors reach across time to be heard today, reflecting the sky and the world as they saw it, illuminating the past as well as the future.

DID YOU KNOW There is a Wampanoag Tribe on martha’s vineyard?

The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe is located on the western end of Martha’s Vineyard.

Photo: Digitial Illustration by Dr. Michael West fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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{

Good health

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Little, tiny packages of goodness!

by Betsy Corsiglia, MS, RDN, CSN

{

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The Nutritional Benefits of Legumes

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Photo: Š Elena Schweitzer. Used under license from Shutterstock

A

t first glance, beans, peas, and lentils are not a very glamorous food. They’re kind of humble and dulllooking, but inside each tiny, little package is something quite remarkable and worth filling your pantry with.

Legumes come in all shapes and colors. They belong to the Fabaceae or Legiminosae family with 18,000 species. The flowering and pod-bearing plants, bushes, trees, and herbs are used for grains, forage, and hearty cover crops (green manure).

There are three subfamilies with Papilionoideae being the largest, and includes the commonly-known plants such as soybeans, peanuts, kidney beans, lentils, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), alfalfa, lupine, and clover. The pod is the legume, the fruit with the specific characteristics of a single carpel divided in half by a seam that splits open when releasing mature seeds.

Legumes have graced the tables of ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Eastern civilizations. Historians speculate about the importance of beans in times of famine by claiming that beans saved the European civilization of the 10th century. Beans have long been an economical choice over expensive meat and are the dietary staple food for many cultures around the world, particularly those in developing countries.

For Native Americans, beans were a feature of their traditional fare and an integral component of the acclaimed “Three Sisters”—a trio of crops: corn, beans, and squash—exemplifying their brilliance in companion planting practices. Corn was used to support bean plants as they grew toward the sky, and low-growing squash plants were used as ground cover to keep the weeds at bay and, moreover, shade the shallow roots of the cornstalk. Above all, Native Americans understood the value of legumes for their ability to rejuvenate the soil.

Most legumes are nitrogen-fixing plants, whereby bacteria, called rhizobia, found in the root nodules of the plants, pull nitrogen from the atmosphere, then store it as well as convert it to ammonia for the plant to use during periods of growth. When the plant dies, nitrogen and organic matter are released back into the soil to improve fertility, hence, “green manure”.

The seeds of legumes are loaded with nutrients; they’re an excellent source of protein. They’re low in fat and have no cholesterol.

They offer a lean alternative to red meat and are considered an essential component of the vegetarian and vegan diets. Legumes are a good source of vitamins and minerals. One serving provides nearly half of our daily requirements of folate (400 micrograms).

Important for amino acid metabolism, DNA synthesis, and red and white blood cell production, folate is essential for preventing neural tube defects. Potassium, magnesium and iron also offer a strong contribution to the nutrient pool, while phytochemicals such as lignans and phytoesterols, deliver natural antioxidants.

Legumes have a low glycemic index (GI) and are classified as a complex carbohydrate.

Photo: © Magdalena Kucova. Used under license from Shutterstock

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Island Recipes

Pureed Red Lentil Soup with Lime Yogurt Garnish

by Marion Swaybill

Submitted Tracy Leddy, Nantucket

Ingredients:

Photo: © lsantilli. Used under license from Shutterstock

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics considers legumes as the world’s best source of fiber, whether they are fresh, frozen, dried, or canned. Fiber has long been known to maintain normal function of the digestive system; further research has also shown fiber to play an important role in the prevention of chronic diseases including: cancer, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Current dietary guidelines established by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommend 14 grams of fiber per day based on a 1,000-calorie diet. By incorporating a half-cup of Navy beans as part of a meal, you obtain 10.5 grams of fiber, while the same amount of soybeans packs a walloping 18 grams of fiber.

Several components of legumes have may be linked to lowering cholesterol levels. Studies have found a strong correlation between soy products, beans, peas, and lentils in reducing total and LDL cholesterol levels, while soy products were also associated with improving HDL levels. In other studies, an increase in daily bean consumption revealed significant trends in reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as lower triglycerides levels.

Yogurt Garnish 2 TBSP butter or olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 large carrots, chopped 3 celery ribs, chopped 2 garlic cloves, sliced thin 1 TBSP ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder (optional) 2-3 cups canned San Marzano tomatoes and juice puree from the can 2 cups (14 oz) red lentils salt (sea salt or kosher salt) 2-3 fresh limes

Directions: 1. Melt the butter (or heat the olive oil) in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook over moderate heat for approximately 5 minutes, until all vegetables are softened. Add the cumin, coriander, and chili powder. Cook for approximately 3 minutes, until fragrant.

2. Add the tomatoes and their juice.

Cook for approximately 5 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes as they cook.

An important mechanism of soluble fiber is the slowing of the digestive process. This benefits the body in two ways: it prolongs satiety by maintaining a feeling of fullness which may help in weight control.

Additionally, the delay mechanism allows for a slower absorption rate of carbohydrates, which helps to control blood sugar levels, a big bonus for diabetic patients.

3. Add the lentils along with 6-8 cups of water. Season with salt to taste.

Dietary Guidelines suggest consuming three cups of legumes per week. If you are worried about gas, take it slow. Start with just a quarter of a cup with meals, then gradually increase the portion as your system adjusts.

5. When the soup has cooked enough to work with easily, puree in small batches in a blender (or food processor).

Legumes are relatively easy to prepare and are a healthy complement to any meal. They are great for soups, pasta dishes, casseroles, and even muffins! Don’t hesitate to combine varieties; they can make a beautiful and colorful salad. Be creative, be daring. Next season, try planting a few yourself and take advantage of this incredibly wholesome food.

6. Add a few squeezes of fresh lime juice.

Visit sound-magazine.com for more local recipes!

4. Simmer over moderately low heat until the lentils are very soft and everything is well blended. This will take 30-50 minutes, depending on the size of the lentils.

7. Taste/correct for salt and seasonings.

8. Mix 1-2 cups of Greek yogurt with the zest of a lime. Serve on the side.

9. Cut the zested lime(s) into wedges and serve with the soup.

Serves 8: this is SUPER comfort food.

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Island Recipes Three Bean Medley with Cumin and Parsley/ Garlic Oil

Do you hear The Sound...

by Gina Stanley, owner, Art Cliff Diner, Vineyard Haven Martha’s Vineyard Ingredients: 2 shallots 1 medium red onion 1 15 oz can red beans 1 15 oz can garbonzo beans 1 15 oz can black beans 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley 2 cloves garlic minced 1/3 c extra virgin olive oil 2 Tablespoons Ground Cumin

19 Old South Rd. Nantucket, MA 02554 508-228-9770

Directions: 1. Combine parsley and garlic with olive oil, cover and let stand (best to combine the night before) 2. Rinse and drain beans 3. Saute shallots and red onion in 2 Tablespoon olive oil until tender 4. Add beans 5. Mix in cumin 6. Mix in olive oil, parsley, garlic mixture 7. Add salt or pepper to taste.

Serves 10 This can be a cold or warm dish!

If you have a favorite recipe that you would like to share, please let us know.

Visit sound-magazine.com

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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Learning to live by {

remarkable story

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nature’s

underlying principles

by Natalie Ciminero

{ Photo: © Anton Balazh. Used under license from Shutterstock

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NANTUCKET Green Harbor Project Biomimicry • Living Labs

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

}

“The shore is an ancient world, for as long as there has been an earth and sea there has been this place of the meeting of land and water…

Each time that I enter it, I gain some new awareness of its beauty and its deeper meanings, sensing that intricate fabric of life by which one creature is linked with another, and each with its surroundings.”

Rachel Carson author of Silent Spring

Photo: © lu-photo. Used under license from Shutterstock

A

s a coastal community, we residents of the Sound region are fortunate to revel in the natural beauties that are bestowed upon us daily: the magic of every drop of water in the rolling waves, the sun-drenched sand along the seashore, pristine landscape and endless beaches, and vast, star-filled night skies. However, we also face some of the same difficulties and challenges as do many of the world’s coastal communities: poor water quality due to development, loss of habitats and native species, and constant looming threats from the predicted impacts of climate change—coastal erosion being the most worrisome. Yet all is not certain doom and gloom; there are stewards among us whose life endeavors are to restore and enrich our delicate ecosystems through research, education, outreach, advocacy, and goodwill.

Meet the dynamic and visionary Dr. Anamarija Frankic, marine biologist extraordinaire, who has created and developed the Green Harbors Project (GHP) expressly to provide assistance to coastal communities in addressing and solving their local issues. GHP developed a whole system approach and guidelines for the first “Green Harbors” in the United States, and started a green harbor network globally. Nantucket Island was one of the first coastal communities to be so designated.

Born in the early sixties on the small island of Ugljan (it’s half the size of Nantucket) in Croatia, Dr. Frankic says, “I’ve always been emotionally tied to living on an island and all of the natural beauty that I was surrounded by, and knew that I wanted to study marine biology.” Her experience and belief that doing scientific research alone would not be sufficient to solve a number of environmental issues was rooted in her work as an ecologist at the Croatian National Park, Plitvice Lakes, in the late 1980s, where she had the opportunity to work with the late Jacque Cousteau.

In 1991 war in ex-Yugoslavia broke out in her beloved National Park, and Dr. Frankic and her family became refugees. “At the time,” she says, “I was teaching biology. I didn’t know where my husband was, and had a young son. One night, during the bombings, I had reached my

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Dr. Anamarija Frankic

time.” Six months later, with an opportunity of a lifetime ahead of her, she moved bringing her husband and son to the United States.

With the help of an American Association of University Women (AAUW) international fellowship, Dr. Frankic continued her work in the United States and abroad, and earned her doctorate from the College of William and Mary. During this time, not having forgotten home, and the atrocities of war, she extended herself and her humanity by hosting two women from concentration camps in Bosnia.

“When you know that, this could have happened to me, you feel a huge sense of responsibility. You learn and study as much as you can so that you can make a difference, and you always choose to help in the best way you can, it’s a struggle, but then you just grow into it organically and start feeling at home wherever you are,” she says.

limit and didn’t know what we were going to do. I was at a crossroads, and that’s when I got a call.”

That call was from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary in the United States: she was offered a doctoral scholarship and a way out of her war-torn country.

Dr. Frankic asked them to wait for her for six months, as she simply couldn’t imagine leaving her students in the middle of the school year. She pauses in a moment of remembrance and describes how difficult it was to leave her country, and the students she had bonded with. “The hardest part was leaving my students,” she says. “I felt guilty for leaving them and my family. It was tough, really tough for those kids.” And with tears in her eyes, she recalled how they all felt, “Nobody knew what was going to happen.”

Fully dedicated to them until the end, she showed them how to apply to graduate programs abroad and how “to have a choice to get out.” When asked if she considered herself a role model, she explained, “Each of us just have to make the best of every day, even in circumstances of war, and I did everything I could to help them, but leaving Croatia was really the hardest thing I had to do at the 52

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Dr. Frankic has made the most of the opportunities available to her throughout her academic career. In the pursuit of expanding her areas of expertise in coastal ecosystems conservation and management, she has consciously sought out and created avenues, both nationally and internationally. With her interdisciplinary work grounded in biology, ecology, limnology, and marine science, she has focused on applying science in coastal ecosystems. She has helped initiate and develop major conservation projects through the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, the UN Environment Programme, and the European Union. She also worked as a Sea Grant Fellow in the office of US Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. The vision, mission, and goals of her work are based on the integration of three key areas—teaching, service, and scholarship— in order to best practice coastal ecosystem stewardship in coastal areas around the globe.

In her words, her central premise is “that the environment sets the limits,” and therefore, “we need to learn and practice living within the requirements of the ecosystems that sustain us.” Originally Dr. Frankic created the Green Harbors Project to discover how to do this.

GHP is an integrated program of research, education, and stewardship between harbors, coasts, and coastal communities. The mission is to bring science, technology, and communities together to work on local issues and present viable solutions. She describes her work as “having a local heart and a global reach.”

“It’s my job and responsibility to teach and be a steward,” Dr. Frankic declares. She further elucidates that, while there are certainly global issues, there are also issues in our local community, and the only way to address and solve global issues is on a local level. “Our teaching and learning need to start with and in the local community, right here and now,” she insists. Striving constantly to

Dr. Anamarija Frankic with students At Wellfleet Harbor

determine the most effective way of teaching, she established the LivingLabs for students to study outside the campuses and classrooms; and as a Biomimicry Fellow, she developed and teaches the first general education requirement course that brings biomimicry to academia: “Introduction to Biomimicry”.

According to the Biomimicry Institute, biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. The core idea is that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and, most important, what lasts here on Earth. Just as the viceroy butterfly imitates the monarch, we humans are imitating the best-adapted organisms in our habitat. We are learning, for instance, how to harness energy like a leaf, grow food like a prairie, build ceramics like an abalone, create color like a peacock, compute like a cell, and run a business like a hickory forest. The conscious emulation of life’s genius is a survival strategy for the human race, a path to a sustainable future. The more our human world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this planet home that is ours, but not ours alone.

As an island, Nantucket is a perfect example of an environmental setting where sustainable practices can be learned and applied, so that vulnerable communities can adapt with nature to meet environmental challenges. It provides an amazing opportunity and experience for students, faculty, and local community to combine efforts through a unique, hands-on experience. According to Dr. Frankic, the island-based organization, ReMain Nantucket, “sought to identify what else could be contributed to the local community and was searching for a venue that would bring more education and academia to the island during the winter.” UMass Boston has a long history of being on Nantucket, and the UMass Field Station, along with the help of managing director, Sarah Oktay, PhD, “provided an excellent opportunity to work with the community year-round,” she continued.

Proposed by Dr. Frankic, and funded by ReMain Nantucket and UMass Boston, the island became the pilot site for the LivingLabs semester (from January 20 until April 20, 2013) and part of the future Nantucket Green Harbor Project.

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“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela LivingLabs are the practical, solution-driven responses to growing environmental, social, and economic changes.

They teach how to address, develop, and implement unique holistic solutions to environmental issues at a local level.

Dr. Frankic further notes the merits of a system where students are learning by doing concrete projects; faculty are teaching by doing concrete projects; local community is engaged with teaching and learning by doing concrete projects that are helping and addressing their specific issues and needs. “It’s a win, win, win situation. It just makes good sense,” she says. Every local community has issues, whether they are social, economic, or environmental, and very often, they are all connected and interrelated.

Addressing those issues together, with experts in research fields, engages students and local community in the process.

Students select the project in their specific area of interest, work as a team, learn to work and communicate as part of a group, and engage with the local community on a daily basis.

Dr. Frankic encourages students to think about solutions by not only addressing an environmental problem from a scientific and research perspective, but also by asking the question, “Do we have any type of solution in technology and science right now that is available to address the issues of the local community?” For example, “How does saltmarsh protect the coast and improve the water quality?

How do shellfish improve the water quality and bring more biodiversity in certain habitats and systems?” She urges her students to think beyond boundaries and find resources not only from current and recent science, but also from certain species and habitats that have been around for millions of years. Biomimicry was used as a teaching tool, and students weren’t only learning about nature, but also from nature.

From a small island herself, Dr. Frankic understands the nature of island living, and how delicate our Nantucket ecosystem is as a pristine environment that is more than 50% protected. At the UMass Nantucket Field Station she asked the question, “How can we maintain that conservation attitude and help certain ‘hot pockets’ that have degraded water quality?” Floating Islands was one of the natural solutions that totally engaged her students.

The students presented the question, “What if we create floating islands, with shellfish beds of native oysters and floating salt marshes, in areas that are degraded with excess nutrients, that impaired the water quality?” Floating Islands are vegetated floated platforms built from materials such as recycled plastic, coconut fiber, and synthetic fibers, used in both fresh water and marine coastal systems.

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Floating Islands have four major functions: 1) water purification, 2) habitat enhancement, 3) shoreline erosion protection, and 4) landscape enhancement. They have been successfully used for treating storm and waste-water throughout the world.

Dr. Frankic has also proposed using an innovative green concrete technology, CarbonMix, developed by Dr. Brent Constantz of Blue Planet, in the building of floating islands and testing them in LivingLabs pilot sites. Green concrete technology is based on biomimicking the coral reef construction process in which carbon dioxide and ocean water react in calcification.

The students presented their proposals directly to the local community to address the environmental issues. According to Dr. Frankic, state and local agencies gave accolades to the student presenters. Their positive feedback stated that the proposed projects were among the best they had seen. The local communities are hoping that the Nantucket semester success will continue, and that further opportunites will link different fields, such as engineering, with environmental fields.

On the subject of viability in Nantucket Harbor, “It’s not my project,” Dr. Frankic humbly insists. “It has to be locally owned. We are hoping to build collaborations in the local community, maintain our presence through the School of the Environment and the Field Station, and continue to educate our students and empower local community to be self-sustaining.” She further teaches her students the importance of commitment and collaboration, and maintains that great ideas take time for a stewardship to facilitate the practical applications. She drives the point home: “It’s a long-term commitment that requires a presence and open-mindedness in order to understand that these global issues can only be solved by solving them first on a local level.” She sees Nantucket as a unique living lab that showcases how self-sustainable a community can become through a whole-system approach. Understanding the whole system—that there is no separation in nature—is a key when thinking about restoration and adaptation.

So, what’s the lesson here? We are talking about the quality of life for all living things. If we have learned anything from this award-winning, brilliant yet humble, fiercely dedicated, yet compassionate and nostalgic woman, whose love of nature and humanity is as vast as is her expertise, it’s that, in her own words, “there are a lot of things we can learn from nature that we forget about in the industrialized world.

We are competing with each other to exist. Instead, we can

Photo: Š Novelo. Used under license from Shutterstock

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we can learn through the biomimicry approach. Shellfish species don’t like to be alone; so why restore them separately?

They collaborate and communicate to thrive together with eel grass beds and salt marshes. Humans, when working together, also thrive. How are we going to thrive?

By being healthy, wealthy, and sustainable.

Our natural resources are the driving force, and we can’t forget and continue to neglect that link. If the environment is degraded, if we don’t have clean water, air, soil, and replenishable energy, then the social and economic aspects of life are also degraded.

I am still optimistic because we do have solutions. They are around us.”

Dr. Frankic is further appreciative of all the opportunities she was fortunate to have had. “In life,” she says, “there are always experiences we have to go through in order to grow, adapt, adjust, and then learn to appreciate. Present and future generations need to be more connected and exposed to nature; we suffer from NDA (nature deficit disorder) not ADD. My classroom is outside because it helps inform and empower others to go out there and make changes.

That’s what teaching should be about.

Although, I have to admit, I often think I don’t know what I’m doing, but I also often feel that I am making a difference.”

LISALATES, Pilates Studio Nantucket Precision Strength Balance 98 Old South Rd

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Nantucket Field Station Research in Action

From her own bio: “My future work will continue to share the knowledge of the harbor: it’s depth; its history…it is to share the harbor’s beauty – what it has now, as well as the pain of lost eelgrass, salt marsh and oysters (my favorite creatures), and the joy for what can be regained. It is to let my students know I swim most days…. and how happy I am in the harbor and with them. This is my niche and area of expertise, my passion, and my obligation to continue contributing….to UMass Boston and the community at large.”

“Don’t stop dreaming, anything is possible if you try.”

Dr. Anamarija Frankic

A public/private university partnership fostering research, education, and community service.

Consider becoming a Friend of the Field Station!

www.umb.edu/nantucket Call 508-228-5268 or email us at nantucketfieldstation@umb.edu 56

fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

Try

to pick a tai chi master out of the crowd. Are you looking for an older Chinese man with a wispy beard and slippers?

Okay, yes, you might be on to something... but not on Cape Cod, not on Nantucket. And from my experience, you only get to notice a tai chi master when he or she wants you to, no matter what his or her profile.

Hidden Gems:

Talking Tai Chi with Kristofer Feeney Written by Siobhain Klawetter Photographed by Lisa Frey fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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uckily, most practitioners of tai chi ch’uan (literal translation: “Supreme Ultimate Fist” or basically “the best martial art”) love to train with others, and often in public spaces. On Nantucket, Kristofer Feeney holds class every Tuesday at 6pm at the Atheneum library—outside in the park, if weather permits. Children play and dangle from low cherry tree branches while he leads his students through their forms.

Passersby pause to watch, forgetting the hustle and bustle of town for a few moments. The infectious peacefulness of the practitioners’ concentration roots the onlookers to the sidewalk as they take in more than their eyes account for.

When I asked Kris to explain tai chi to me, he narrowed his eyes in the most gentle way and paused, gathering his knowledge into words the way a warm summer sky gathers wisps of clouds together to make rain. “It’s the north pole and the south pole, together—one pole—but circular, not in a pole shape. That’s the Yin Yang symbol you see.

Black, white, moving together, equal... opposites together, harmonious, balanced. It’s push and pull, hard and soft.”

As he spoke, he drew his arms into a soft circle, held full, yet empty. “Tai chi is movement and stillness. Physical and mental. Relaxed, yet aware. People think tai chi is just about balance...” He chuckled, mimicking someone on a tightrope for a moment. “This is true, but in more ways than one. Not only are you training your body, you are training your mind.

When you practice tai chi, you learn to find balance everywhere.”

Kris started his martial arts training with karate when still a child, and earned his black belt as a young teenager. When he was 21, he moved from Nantucket to Florida to study kung fu with Grand-master Chan Pui. When he sprained his ankle (playing a game of basketball!) and was unable to continue training for a period of time, Kris was lucky enough to be introduced to tai chi as a technique useful in rehabilitation. Witnessing first-hand the injuries that long-time kung fu students suffered and lived with, and, by contrast, how healthy and fit those who came regularly to tai chi class were, he says he never looked back. In fact, he has made it a point not to let a day go by without practicing.

Upon his return to Nantucket, Kris found that there were no tai chi classes available. Undeterred, Kris continued his practice on his own, using books as a reference and absorbing as much as he could on the subject. Others interested in learning the tai chi form naturally gathered around him, establishing what would become a very dedicated group of Island tai chi students; many are still practicing today.

It was the late Master Jou Tsung Hwa at the legendary Tai Chi Farm in upstate New York who solidified the calling for Kris. “I saw in him the real thing. He was about 80 when

If you practice tai chi correctly, you’ll have the peace of mind of a sage, the strength of a lumberjack, and the flexibility of a child.

Kristofer Feeney

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~ Ancient Chinese saying, paraphrased by Kristofer Feeney

Visit this article on our website for additional photos and video.

I first visited, but he seemed younger than 40. He proved to me that this was something I wanted to do; this is what I wanted to do with my life.”

A large part of Kris’ training has taken place in China. Granted entry to the prestigious Beijing University, he was able to study tai chi in a formalized setting and earn a degree. “This was practical, normal—I was taking it as a course!” he expounded. “To study [tai chi] in a university environment, where you have tournaments like we have for gymnastics or other sports, you train 100 times harder than Americans do, and there was real competition!

Americans don’t see tai chi as a competitive sport.” According to Kris, the positive side of that competitiveness was that he and his fellow students practiced for six to eight hours every day. Also he had to learn Mandarin Chinese or he would not have been able to pass the rigorous exams.

I wondered how our two cultures could view the same practice so differently. “In China, tai chi is very mainstream, not New Age, or cloaked in mystery, as a Westerner would see it. It’s part of their culture, their everyday life. Again, it’s just practical: opposites in balance. Our [Western] culture is not used to thinking this way.”

Although the art of tai chi still seems a bit mysterious to me, I can’t think of a single thing more practical than having one’s body—and mind—in balance.

Kris has practiced tai chi daily for the last 19 years, and currently lives on Nantucket with his wife, daughter, and son. Due to his penchant for seeking out grand-masters in the mountains of China, catch him while you can at the Nantucket Atheneum, Tuesdays at 6pm. Class is suitable for teens and older, and students practice solo forms, empty hands, and weapons, as well as partner work such as push hands, choreographed sets, and applications. The library’s calendar is the best place for class updates: www. nantucketatheneum.org

Sifu’s Pop Quiz: True

or False?

1: “Tai Chi was created by the ancient philosopher Yanni after he bathed in a subterranean pool that he stumbled into while spelunking on the Greek island Zakynthos. Tai Chi involves sensual dancing in diaphanous clothing and romantic music. It is good for health.”

2: “Tai chi is a martial art and system for self-cultivation based upon the I Ching or Book of Changes. By imitating animals and forces occurring in nature, the tai chi practitioner strives to become one with the energy of nature. The Chinese call this following the Dao or Way.” 3: “Tai chi is the art of keeping balance in a world of changing and shifting circumstances.”

4: “Tai chi is an out-dated, slow motion exercise during which practitioners delude themselves with feelings of power.”

Tai Chi Ch’uan or Walking Meditation In China, tai chi ch’uan is a martial art in the category of neijia, meaning “soft” or “internal” arts, as opposed to waijia, which are “hard” or “external” styles (such as Shaolin kung fu).

Lowered stress levels, improved circulation, and greater strength, stretching ability, and balance are all common and documented health benefits. A quote from Lao Tsu demonstrates tai chi’s effectiveness in self-defense: “In the world, nothing is softer than water, yet it is the best thing for wearing down hard things.”

The tai chi practitioner uses softness, flexibility, and changeability to overcome an aggressive, unyielding opponent. fall / winter 2013 | sound-magazine.com

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Honoring our Seafaring Heritage

sea of opportunities

with gratitude for all who risked their lives so others may live.

Painting by Rodney Charman courtesy of: Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum

around the sound HISTORY NOTE: Saving the crew of the Warren Sawyer

On the night of December 22, 1884 The three-masted schooner, loaded with cotton and scrap iron, was sailing from Boston to New Orleans when the vessel ran aground at Surfside.

A patrol from the life-saving station rescued the crew and salvaged part of the freight.

This story and many others are available on film and exhibit at the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum

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SEA OF OPPORTUNITIES

Painting by Rodney Charman Rescue of the H.P. Kirkham in January 1892, off the Rose & Crown shoal Courtesy of: Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum

by Justine Paradis

“T

he poor cabin girl has to sleep in the corner of the deck!” exclaimed Skyler Kardell. He’s a student in Andrew Bauld’s maritime studies class at Cyrus Pierce Middle School (CPS) on Nantucket. Born and raised onisland, Skyler is third mate aboard the imaginary whaling vessel, Cyrus Pierce.

The year is 1843. Skyler and his classmates signed onto the voyage at the beginning of the school year. They were assigned their roles aboard ship based on the experience they listed in their applications.

Phaedra Norris, who also grew up on Nantucket, serves as the ship’s second mate.

“We pretty much control the entire starboard,” Skyler told me.

“And we get the biggest cabins,” added Phaedra. “If you were an ordinary or ablebodied seaman, you got—I don’t even want to call them cabins! You had to share bunks.”

The program is part of the Egan Maritime Institute’s Sea of Opportunities, their new educational initiative. A collaborative effort between the three island middle schools— CPS, Nantucket Lighthouse School, and Nantucket New School—resulted in the hiring of Bauld, the program’s educational coordinator. The curriculum, developed after intensive research and community interviews, can be tailored to fit each school’s needs. “We made sure that the three schools were truly partners,” said Pauline Proch, executive director of the Egan Maritime Institute.

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Students will also debate issues such as harbor health, seal populations, beach erosion, and offshore wind energy.

Students left to right: James Holmes, Trevor Mceachern

In a society where children are limited to a daily average of 30 minutes of unstructured outdoor free play but spend around seven hours in front of a screen,* staff at the Egan Maritime Institute believe that nothing beats a hands-on experience, and they’re eager to provide the opportunity. Through field trips and classroom visitors, students will explore and connect with Nantucket careers, trades, and sciences.

Meanwhile, the CPS mock voyage will take on a five-year journey to the Pacific, where students will be faced with the decline of the whale fishery and a choice between abandoning ship to pan for gold in California’s mountain rivers, or sailing back around the Horn to home port. Along the way, sixth graders will practice knot-tying, learn the basics of rigging, and study life on board the whaling ship. Already, the students seem personally invested in the details.

“You have to do your business in a bucket,” Phaedra disclosed.

After the end of their journey, whatever form that takes, the class will learn from local tradesmen about modern maritime careers—

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such as shellfish aquaculture. Students will also debate issues such as harbor health, seal populations, beach erosion, and offshore wind energy.

Sea of Opportunities was launched this past summer upon completion of a Monomoystyle surfboat restored by Alfie Sanford, Connor Wallace, and Eric Holch. Participants, including ten students from the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club, ventured onto the water every day to explore the harbor, handle lines, and take turns manning the tiller. They also visited members of the community, making a port of call to the ranger out on Coatue (the thin, isolated stretch of land on the north side of Nantucket Harbor) and holding gams (social visits) with passing boats.

Some students on the surfboat might not otherwise have had an opportunity to get on the water. “So many parents during the summer are working two or three jobs,” said Proch.

As a parent herself, Proch doesn’t buy into the idea of homogenized textbook education.

“I think a lot of kids learn better when they’re experiencing it,” she said.

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There is certainly no textbook in Bauld’s classroom.

Instead, students might be found conducting an experiment to discover why things float, or outside tieing monkey fists. Phaedra and Skyler give the impression that, although class feels more relaxed, students learn more.

“You’re not always looking at a book. It’s more interesting, and gets you more involved,” Phaedra explained. “I like the time to breathe, and the experiments.”

So far, Bauld observed, the program also appears to be connecting generations, whether they grew up on the island or washed ashore recently. “Kids are talking to their parents,” he said. The day we spoke together, a student had brought in a bag of baleen passed down through her family since Nantucket’s whaling days.

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“It’s part of their cultural literacy. It’s their heritage, and their history,” Bauld explained.

Although Sea of Opportunities will begin with the sixth grade, it will gradually spread to the rest of the middle school and up into the high school. The Institute plans to spend three years developing the program, and then facilitate school-to-career connections between students and tradesmen. Eventually, Proch hopes to fund scholarships for students to sail on tall ships, and even take a semester at sea.

Bauld, who himself sailed on one of the tall ships through the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies undergraduate program, believes that time at sea can be powerful. “It really instills a sense of confidence in a kid,” he said. In the future, the surfboat component might be offered as a summer introduction to the school-year-based academic program.

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(clockwise from left): Gus Holch, James Holmes, Trevor Mceachern, Matias Sejersen (instructor)

Meanwhile, back on the whaling ship Cyrus Pierce, Bauld is surprised by the students’ early protests against problematic conditions on board. Their sense of “social justice,” as he put it, might lead to unrest among the crew. When I followed up on the state of the ship a few days after we had met, he thought reform was imminent. “No mutiny yet,” he said, “but soon.”

Photo above (clockwise from front): Grace Hood, Marina Caspe, Trevaun Flaherty, Saorla Cawley, Tadhg Cawley, Kenard Liburd, Maeve Cawley Photo left: (left to right) Gus Holch, Trevor Mceachern, James Holmes, Graham Kilbert (instructor), and in the foreground Coatue Ranger Jonathan Schuster. *https://www.nwf.org/Be-Out-There/Why-Be-Out-There/Health-Benefits.aspx *http://kff.org/other/event/generation-m-media-in-the-lives-of/

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Warmest Greetings of the Season and Best Wishes for Happiness in the New Year!

Specials Thanks: Laura Burnett, Tracy Leddy, Philip Scudder, Dr. Michael West, E. Vernon Laux, Jill Mooradian Lonny Lippsett, Peter B. Brace, Miranda Dale, Michele Egan Lindstedt, Lizza Obremski, Sky Wallace, Mary Emery, Stephanie Murphy, & Fritz Heidi Thank you to all our advertisers for supporting us in our flagship year.

Photo: Cary Hazelgrove

FOUNDING MEMBERS OF PUBLISHING GROUP Arlene M. O’Reilly - Nantucket Alexandra La Paglia - Nantucket Betsy Corsiglia - Martha’s Vineyard Betsy Rich - Cape Cod John Tiernman - Martha’s Vineyard Lisa Frey - Nantucket Natalie Ciminero - Nantucket Nancy Woodside - Cape Cod Siobhain Klawetter - Nantucket Tihomir Ivanov - Nantucket

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