from Ambassador
T
President Bush signs the United StatesIndia Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. With him are: Indian Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, Secretary of State Condoleezza RIce, Congressmen Thaddeus McCotter, Gary Ackerman and Joseph Crowley; Senators Richard Luga1~Bill Frist and George Allen.
his New Year will advance a new and very productive era in the relationship between India and the United States. After decades of what some call the most unfulfilled relationship of the 20th century, our two countries have launched a true strategic partnership, making 2006 the most dynamic year in the history of U.S.-India relations. The results of this partnership will benefit the American people, the Indian people and the world-and we are poised to accelerate our pace. Today, U.S.-India relations are experiencing dynamic growth and a vast breadth of interaction. We are cooperating in more areas than ever before-and I believe the pace and breadth of the relationship will contin. ue to grow. People are moving between our two countries more than ever before, supported by the commitment by our Embassy and Consulates to eliminate the visa appointments backlog for Indians. Business and trade are
David C. Mulford rising. Our scientists are charting new ways to fight disease and develop new technologies There is a real sense of optimism, of potential, that infuses our interactions. Recently, President George W Bush signed legislation on peaceful nuclear cooperation between our two nations, a step that ended India's isolation from the nuclear nonproliferation mainstream and will open up tremendous opportunities for our two countries to cooperate in civil nuclear energy, in promoting global nonproliferation, and many other areas. But more importantly, if the full opening process can be completed, it will be a great step beyond decades of mistrust and doubt that had clouded our relations. Our cooperation on civil nuclear energy is indicative of how we can work together on a complex international initiative to bring greater security to people around the world. We are also joining together to promote democracy in troubled states, to promote economic opportunity and growth for our citizens and for the world, and to seek new solutions to old energy problems, including the development of clean coal and hydrogen technologies Our cooperation in the Asia Pacific Partnership reflects our common interest to capitalize on the dynamism of the private sector to promote economic growth and energy security while ensuring effective environmental stewardship Our success in these areas will not only help India become a stronger nation and a global power, but will bring tangible benefits to its citizens, such as clean and accessible energy for this country's rapidly growing economy, new technologies for farmers, new opportunities for students and solutions to major health prob-
lems like HIV-AIDS. Today, we must look at ways to capitalize on this dynamism, energy and drive. The Boeing Corporation just delivered the first aircraft of what is India's single largest purchase ever of commercial airplanes. Major US companies like IBM and Motorola are setting up manufacturing facilities in India. And Indian companies like Infosys, Ranbaxy and Tata are confidently entering the US market. We are pioneering cooperation in space and health. Our two militaries are exploring how we can ensure greater stability in key regions and trade routes to benefit global prosperity and freedom, and fight terror. And our young people, our future, are getting closer and closer on our campuses and on the Internet. The United States and India are partners that share the most fundamental values and interests and we have much to gain by working together. Our people-to-people ties are becoming increasingly central to our overall relationship. Indian American citizens are coming into their own as a major factor in American society, business and higher education. This partnership happened for many reasons, but above all else it rests on the foundation of what our two societies have in common. We are open, democratic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious democracies that value the rule of law, freedom of expression and economic opportunity. As we mark the start of 2007, we should be truly proud of what we have accomplished But we must also recognize the potential of what still lies ahead. Working together, the United States and India can be a positive force for global stability and prosperity in the 21 st century.
*"
A LETTER FROM
THE
PUBLISHER olunteering and committing acts of charity are part of both the American and Indian cultures. Thereare many incentives-religious, cultural, persona~-for donating time, expertise, money or energy to right a wrong, help someone less fortunate and benefit the community in which we live. In this issue of SPAN we are celebrating that spirit of giving of oneself. We're also offering ideas about how to encourage more people, especially the young, to engage in volunteer activities. The reasons can range from a sense of idealism, a chance for an adventure or an opportunity to gain experience for a future career. Some universities and schools in the United States are recognizing that it is important to society to instill the value of volunteerism among their graduates, and these schools are making community service a part of coursework. Creative programs that combine volunteer work with job training or a minimum-wage stipend can combat the problems of unemployment by giving young people in underprivileged areas a sense of accomplishment and an experience of having a positive effect on their world. There are estimates that 60 percent of the American population periodically engages in volunteer work. Historians trace this habit to the necessity of communities working together as people moved West across the American continent, setting up new towns and settlements. Cowboys were a part of that history of the West. Working together, helping each other, is still a necessity for their way of life, as Daniel Miller, a USAID officer in New Delhi and a former cowboy, explains in the words and pictures of our cover story. We hope you enjoy these and other articles in SPAN and that they spur you to some new ideas that you will share with us. In this first issue of the year 2007, we have begun a new reader-requested feature, Letters to the Editor, which will also appear on the SPAN Web site. Happy New Year!
V
* Young Volunteers
By Deepanjali Kakati
• *Youth Service for National Development By Laurinda Keys Long
* More University Students are Volunteers By Martha Paluch
A Course in Real Life By Salvatore Deluca * Having a Ball in the Heartland By Michael
Morain
* Charity Meter * Consul-General Peter G. Kaestner
Answers Your Visa Questions *Going to School
BySmitaJain
What If Every Kid Had a Computer? By Joseph Jacobson
;
I
* Questions About the $100 Laptop
* Access to English The Business of Blogging
By Laurinda Keys Long
By Andrew PMadden
Meg and Jason: Blogging Their Courtship By Rebecca Mead
Socialized ComQuting By Craig Newmark * Living a Cowboy's Life By Daniel Miller Travel: Monticello: His Home Was His Heart By Megan Barnett
* 50 Years Ago By Deepanjali Kakati
An Interfaith Hero: Martin Luther King, Jr. By Eboo Patel
* Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. By Laurinda Keys Long * Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
There Comes a Time
By Elizabeth Kelleher
By Christine Dell'Amore
* Literature: Stanley Wolpert: Tracking Indian History By Deepanjali Kakali
* Coming of Age for the Indian American Community By Lisette B. Poole
* SpOrts:American Baseball Coaches Give Tips By Giriraj Agarwal
Photography: Private Eye By Beverly W
Brannan
* Lettersto the Editor * Achievers: Vincent Edwards By Ramola Talwar Badam
Visit SPAN on the Web at http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/in1 /wwwhspan.html Contact us
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Front cover: A cowboy in Montana. Photograph by Oaniel Miller. Correction: In "Building Homes and Memories Together" (November/ December 2006), SPAN misquoted Dr. Madhavi Pethe as saying her father was a gardener He was a superintendent of gardening.
Published by the Public Affairs Section, American Center,
24 KasturbaGandhiMarg, New Delhi 110001 (phone: 23316841), on behalf of the U.S. Embassy,New Delhi. Printed at Ajanta Offset & PackagingsLtd, 95-8 Wazirpur Industrial Area,Delhi 110052. The opinions expressedin this magazinedo not necessarily retlecl the views or policies ot fhe US. Government.Contains68 pages
* Articles with a star may be reprinted with permission Contact Business Manager R. Narayanaf 011-23316841 or editorspan@state.gov
Publisher: Editor-in-Chief: Editor: Urdu Editor: Hindi Editor: Copy Editor: Art Director: Deputy Art Directors: Editorial Assistant: Production/Circulation Manager: Printing Assistant: Business Manager: ResearchServices:
Larry Schwartz Corina R. Sanders Laurinda Keys Long Anjum Nairn Giriraj Agarwal Deepanjali Kakati Hemant Bhatnagar Khurshid Anwar Abbasi,Qasim Raza Shalini Khanduja Rakesh Agrawal Alok Kaushik R. Narayan The American Library, Bureauof Internalionallnlormalion Programs
Nonprofit organizations help youngsters promote social change and realize their potential through innovative programs.
Change Foundation, which is active in the fields of environmental conservation, empowerment and social consciousness. Swechha has engaged with more than 5,000 young volunteers in the past six years. "One form of volunteering is when we work for you or for your cause. The other fOlm is when volunteers are given a message and they take it forward on their own. It's a very interesting model where the target of change becomes the vehicle of change," says Jha. Among the many organizations promoting social change through youth volunteerism is the New Delhi-based Pravah. Started in 1992 by a group of young professionals, it works with students as well as teachers to build social responsibility. Its programs enable young people to understand and debate social issues. Pravah's SMILE program (Students
Students from New Delhi schools take part in a drive to clean up the Yamuna River on International Volunteers Day on December 5, 2006.
Mobilisation Initiative for Learning through Exposure) helps people aged 17 to 25 volunteer with urban and rural NGOs, address social issues through youth clubs and influence public opinion through campaigns. The program is operational in 15 colleges in ew Delhi and 22 other cities in India. Whether it is street plays to raise awareness about civic responsibilities or initiating dialogues on sexual harassment in public transport, the youngsters spread the message with creativity and enthusiasm. Each volunteer is expected to put in at least 80 hours of work in New Delhi and spend
four to six weeks outside the capital. Swechha's programs are driven forward by enthusiastic youngsters, too. "Young people just need the right platform and somebody needs to channel their energy," says Jha, who is 27. "One very important thing we do in most of our volunteeling programs is that we try to make people realize their self-worth-who am I, how am I different, what is my potential and where do I place myself in society." Self-development is a key element of volunteerism and participants are often driven by the desire to bring about positive changes in their surroundings. In the process, they learn to work in groups and to communicate. While many do it just to help the less fortunate or spread a social message, volunteering has also become a good way for students to build up their resumes,
tributed saplings throughout New Delhi and encouraged people through street plays to rejuvenate the city's green cover. The program includes an informal school, called the Pagdandi School, run by university student volunteers who teach children in slums and promote awareness about sanitation and health. Swechha's music band, Jigri, gives voice to its message of social responsibility. Jha also takes school students on four-' day exposure trips to rural areas to make them aware of the symbiotic relationship between mban and rural India. One such trip to Mussoorie in September taught Ameesh Bhatnagar of Shri Ram School the basics of rural life. Staying with the villagers and helping out with their daily chores made him "appreciate the privileges I was accustomed to and how urban society is dependent on village resources," he says. '" "Mahatma Gandhi talked about how ~ there's enough for everybody's need but not -g ~ enough for somebody's greed. For us, suc~ cess means as much as you can consume ~ and waste. But is that ideal for om planet, is U that ideal for our social institutions? That's what our programs talk about," says Jha. Pravah's rural exposure trips for urban schoolchildren help them break stereotypes and understand concepts like sustainable development and equitable distribution of resources. At times, these camps also turn into revelatory experiences for the volunteers looking after the students. Neha Buch, a volunteer at one such camp in Wardha, Maharashtra, remembers a quiet girl from New Delhi's Sanskriti School who mostly kept to herself. On the last day, Buch saw the girl making a temporary road in the learn new skills or make contacts that can village. To her surprise, she saw this girl help them in their careers. carrying a basket of cow dung, laying it on Sushant Arora, a SMILE volunteer, was the path, leveling it with her hands and then part of the team that made the short film It jumping up and down to press the dung into Matters for the 2003 campaign Operation place. Buch still hasn't forgotten the look of Ballot Box, to encourage young people to pure joy on the girl's face. "That was the first time I felt at peace .... The reason why I vote. "The film stands out as one experiwas doing what I was doing sank in. I know ence that not only allows me to boast about having made a film in the very first year of each person has a true potential. They just my graduation studies, but also gives me an need a chance to realize it," she says. edge over others in terms of the knowledge Pravah's SMILE program is divided into I gained in the process," says Arora. three stages that encourage the volunteers Swechha's programs also tap youthful to learn from each other's experiences. As energy in different ways. Last year the a first step, they meet and bond with their Monsoon Wooding program brought togeth- fellow volunteers. In the next stage, they er more than 200 young volunteers who dis- are taken out of New Delhi for three to six
Above: Pravah's student volunteers from New Delhi help villagers in Rajasthan with their daily work. Left: Volunteers from Pravah stage a street play on the right to shelter in front of a multiplex in New Delhi.
weeks where they get a chance to connect with other communities and learn about their social realities. The concluding stage is one of reflection, where the young participants share their experiences. An extension of Pravah's involvement with youth is the Bridging Universities to Societies initiative with Ashoka Innovators for the Public, based in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The initiative promotes entrepreneurship among youth and students in India. On a visit to the United States under the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program in 2005, Jha learned how voluntary organizations in America engage with young people on issues of ecology. "I learnt a lot, traveling to different
places, understanding different cultures, understanding different ways of looking at things. The IVLP program was quite an eye-opener," he says. The journey indeed is most often one of self-discovery and realization. Journalist Newly Paul from New Delhi, who went on a Pravah awareness trip to Shahbad village in Rajasthan as a college student, says, "All these years I had read of poverty, drought and illiteracy as chapters in a book. But this exposure has changed my views completely. Each of these words is now a]jve for me-associated with those hopeful faces that I saw in the village." Sweta Roy Kashyap, research fellow with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, took up voluntary
work in Bihar's Munger district with the Self Employed Women's Association, looking for "real satisfaction and an OppOltunity to work directly with people." Though she complains about the entry of people without the necessary level of commitment into this sector, Kashyap says that her experience helped her "grow and evolve as a person." Volunteering as a youngster, in fact, encourages people to dedicate their time and energy for others later on. Rashmi Sarmah, a Guwahati-based journalist, fondly recalls the time she spent working with sick animals as a volunteer with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Baroda, Gujarat, during her college years. When she landed in the United States after college and wanted to take a break from her job at a news channel, she chose to volunteer at the Signal Mountain Animal Shelter and an assisted living facility for the elderly called Manor House in Chattanooga, Tennessee. "My experience at the SPCA shelter encouraged me to go ahead with something similar there," she says. Spending time with the elderly people also helped her feel less homesick. "The most rewarding moments were when they would eagerly want to listen to stories from India and also tell me about their childhood days." ~ Please share your views on this article by writing to editorspan@state.gov
By MARTHA PALUCH
T
he number of American university students who volunteer for community service projects in the United States has risen nearly 20 percent since 2002, according to a new study. University students "represent a large and growing source of the nation's volunteers," according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency that provides grants and other support to volunteer organizations throughout the United States. The agency's latest study found that three in 10 university students, or 3.3 million people, volunteered in 2005-a gain of 600,000 students above the 2.7 million reported in 2002. On campuses and in the community, university students are participating in a range of volunteer service activities such as tutoring and mentoring children, raising funds for worthy causes and helping their fellow citizens recover from natural disasters, including hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
Communitv-based research and service learning Universities in the United States were founded with the principle of civic engagement in mind in addition to their academic missions. To continue this civic service tradition, universities have embraced new ways of engaging students, such as through community-based research and service learning Community-based research involves students in projects that address social issues. Service learning integrates community service projects with classroom learning, and students often receive academic credit for their projects. In October 2006, for the first time, six colleges and universities received the President's Students from Trinity International University, Chicago, clean up a park in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina.
Higher Education Community Service Award for encouraging and supporting noteworthy student community service projects. Three awards were for excellence in general community service and three were for Gulf Coast hurricane relief efforts.
Tutoring and menloring One honoree was California State University, Monterey Bay, which has a service-learning requirement for all undergraduates Some students serve as tutors and mentors in underperforming local schools, while others assist homeless and other marginalized people by preparing meals at the local soup kitchen, teaching at a computer lab in the neighborhood, working on neighborhood beautification and other projects. "I enjoy mentoring because it makes me feel like I'm part of the community. The kids are all really eager to participate," says All ison Stoddart,
o unleers
19, an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland "I enjoy this opportunity to be a role model for these girls during a tumultuous period in their lives," says Kristen Ward, 20, a student at Middlebury College in Vermont, talking about her experience mentoring middle school girls through a program called Sister-to-Sister, sponsored by the American Association of University Women. Tutoring and mentoring are the most popular volunteer activities on university campuses, followed by fundraising and preparing, distributing and serving food. In 2005, nearly 32 percent of university student volunteers worked at educational or youth services organizations, and 24 percent worked at religious organizations. Other students volunteered with sports and cultural groups and organizations specializing in international issues, public safety, environment and health care.
Left: Kevin Day, an engineering student at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, and his brother, Brian, fix toys for disabled kids.
Raising funds and baking cookies More universities are creating programs to help match students to volunteer opportunities and to link community work with academic programs. Some service-learning programs are entirely student-run. One example of a student-run program is National Student Partnerships. Its Web site is http//www.nspnet.orgl Started by two undergraduate students at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1998, the program operates a national network of drop-in resource centers, staffed by student volunteers from area universities. Volunteers provide on-site and referral services to low-income people. National Student Partnerships has mobilized more than 2,500 trained student volunteers in 12 cities. Religious groups engage in community service on university campuses. At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, for example, members of the Muslim Students Association tutor refugee children at a local primary school and raise funds for earthquake and famine relief. The Emory Christian Fellowship is working to help revitalize a park in downtown Atlanta and members bake cookies for the patients at the Children's Hospital of Atlanta. Another growing trend among college students is the "alternative spring break" movement, in which university students perform community service projects during their vacation week in March. Thousands of students each year build houses for low-income families, care for HIV/AIDS patients and tutor inner-city children instead of going to beach parties in Florida. Nine students from Vermont's Middlebury College Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus, traveled to Mississippi to provide Hurricane Katrina relief work in March 2006. More than 100 students from 10 universities worked together to repair 17 roofs in a heavily damaged neighborhood. Trip leader Rebecca Steinberg says, "It was an amazing experience that I know we wi II never forget." Each year, the Corporation for National and Community Service (www.nationalservice.org) provides opportunities for more than two million Americans of all ages to serve their communities through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America. The corporation estimates five million students will be engaged in volunteerism by 201 O. ~ Martha
Paluch
is a USINFO staff writer.
A COll[SB "oJIeal ite
By SALVATORE DELUCA
I
naddition to the usual cou~ses in English, microeconomics and psychology, the 2006 freshman class at Tulane University In New Orleans had a somewhat unusual requirement-community service. "The university has a very big stake in the city, and the city has a very big stake in us," says Tulane Provost Lestor A. Lefton. "Our students now have a unique opportunity to learn about leadership and public service while rebuilding one of America's great cities." Hurricane Katrina caused more than $200 million worth of damage to more than two-thirds of Tulane's campus. Winds tore shingles from roofs, and floodwaters infiltrated first floors in low-lying areas. Tulane hopes that insurance will pay for most of the repairs, but the university, the city's largest private employer, nevertheless lost $100 million or so in tuition when fall classes were canceled in 2005. As a result, some 230 faculty members were laid off, and several academic programs folded, including computer science, exercise and sport science, operations management, and civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. The school also dropped its golf, tennis, women's swimming and soccer programs, affecting about 100 athletes. By mid-January 2006, though, applications were up
19 percent over the previous year; administrators attribute the rise to increased interest in the city after the storms. The quality of applicants has not dropped off, either. "We'll accept a smaller class rather than lower our academic standards," says Mike Strecker, a Tulane spokesman. Though the new service requirement is compulsory for incoming freshmen, in 2007, sophomores, juniors, and seniors may also participate for credit. "Far and away the best part of going to Tulane is the chance to live in this city," says Adam J. Morris, a Tulane senior who grew up in the South. "None of my friends could wait to return to help the city come back to life." After the hurricane, Morris, 24, spent the fall semester of 2005 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. But he and several busloads of Vanderbilt students spent their fall break clearing brush and doing other relief work in Franklinton, Louisiana, about 110 kilometers north of New Orleans. Morris returned to Tulane for his final semester two months later and started volunteering at local schools several weeks before classes began. "One of the biggest impediments to professionals returning to the city," he says, "is the lack of schools for them to send their kids to." At least for the next few years, students fulfilling their service requirement will focus on a variety of tasks associated with the city's recovery-tutoring in schools, helping to restore houses or build new ones, taking water and soil samples for laboratory tests, developing public policy and working with not-far-profits like Habitat for Humanity. But the program is designed to evolve. "You don't want to think about just next year or the year after," Lefton says. "You want to think 10 years down the line. It's not just about the rebuilding of certain houses in the Lower Ninth Ward."~
Along with traditional balls and glitzy banquets, party planners cook up creative ways to raise funds for charity and appeal to younger donors.
ff came the hat. Then the suspenders. Then, amid giddy screams from women nearby, off came the shirt. Wearing only boots and the bulky pants from his uniform, the firefighter strutted up and down the bar's makeshift catwalk. He worked the crowd, pumping up bids in the annual Smoke and Fire Auction that raises money for a children's charity in Des Moines, Iowa's capital city. The prize: a dinner date with him. "A lot of the guys are apprehensive at first. They're shy," says Chris Fabela, one of the firefighters who put himself up for bid. He encouraged his buddies from the fire station to pmticipate, too. "The thing that really sells them is that it's going for a good cause." As always, there is no shortage of good causes. The tsunami in India, the earthquake in Pakistan and major hurricanes along the U.S. Gulf Coast pushed American philanthropy to its highest level in nearly a decade. In 2005, Americans gave more than $260 billion to charity, according to a recent report by the Giving USA Foundation, a nonprofit research group (www.aafrc.orglgusa/). The average American household annually donates about $2,000. Colossal disasters don't diminish the needs of local charities, however. Taxes in
O
Above: Firefighter Kenny Wayne Larson drums up bids at the Smoke and Fire Auction that raises money for a children's charity in Des Moines, Iowa. Above right: A group of enthusiastic bidders at the auction. the United States are considerably lower than in other Western countries, so many projects that provide social serviceshomeless shelters, children's programs, medical research labs-rely on generous financial support from pt1vate individuals. With this ongoing competition for charitable donations, fundraisers are getting creative. Along with traditional banquets and glitzy balls, charities are organizing all kinds of events to attract wealthy donorsand appeal to a younger generation of philanthropists. In a smaller city like Des Moines, home of about 200,000, the list of potential donors with deep pockets is relatively short. "The same people get the same invitations," says Melinda Toyne, owner of a party-planning business called In Any Event. To get their attention, Toyne and other creative minds help nonprofit groups cook up new ways to party. It sounds like fun, but it's not always easy. "There's always a challenge," says Connie Schmett, who lives near Des Moines but spends much of
her time in Washington, D.C., planning events for the Kennedy Center for the Petforming Atts. Since President George W. Bush appointed her to the job six years ago, she has rubbed elbows with actors Robert Redford and Paul Newman, danced with hip-hop diva Beyonce Knowles and gotten to know bad-boy rapper Kid Rock, whom she describes as "such a gentleman." Because many guests~including celebrities, dignitaries and donors~return year after year, Schmett says planners like her always ask themselves, "What are we going to do now?" The answer comes in many forms: • At a party to raise money for a zoo on Des Moines' south side, organizers filled one of the outbuildings with fog to create an unusual atmosphere. • At a fundraiser for the Des Moines Playhouse theater company before Halloween, guests arrived in elaborate costumes inspired by characters from famous movies and Broadway plays. There was Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid, complete with bleached hair, purple skin and eight tentacles slithering from the bottom of her black velvet dress. One man came dressed as Johnny Depp's title role from Edward Scissorhands, a man born with pruning shears instead of hands. There were superheroes, starlets and monsters-even a
hefty, middle-aged man in a frilly pink ballet tutu. As guests mingled inside a stately ballroom, they bid on lavish items in an auction: prime tickets for basketball and hockey games, original artwork, cases of wine, certificates for a luxury spa, a trip to ew York City and a convertible red Volkswagen Beetle. The party included a gounnet banquet styled after the classic movie Casablanca, with a menu of mixed green salad with figs and pomegranates, Moroccan-spiced chicken and squash, and cake drenched in rum for dessert. • A newspaper recently raised funds for a local charity by setting up a dunk tank in the lobby. During the lunch hour, employees paid a few bucks each for a chance to dunk their bosses in water. • Golf tournaments are a particularly popular way to hit up donors for cash. At one fundraiser to help prevent blindness, golfers played at dusk with glow-in-the-dark balls. At another tournament for a museum, groups of four paid $2,500 for a chance to compete. But no one seemed to care who won, because the course was filled with elaborate distractions~parties at each hole. Along with providing a fun experience, it's important to give donors something they can take home, says Toyne, who helped
organize the museum's golf tournament. Gifts can prompt guests to make donations long after an event finishes and remind them to return to the shindig the following year~ and maybe bring along rich friends. With that in mind, Toyne sent golfers home with extravagant gift baskets filled with bottles of wine, thick steaks of organic beef and deluxe grilling utensils. In some cases, however, fancy gift baskets just don't cut it. Donors can even be turned off by what they see as wasteful spending, and they may even choose not to return the following year. After all, there are plenty of other places to donate . Sara Terry, a real estate broker and member of one of Iowa's wealthiest families, says she and her parents get inundated with appeals from charities. "Do we get 10,000 invitations in the mail every year? Yes," she says. She goes to about a half dozen events throughout the year, but her parents, Bill and Susan Knapp, often attend two or three per month. At a banquet for the Democratic Party of Iowa a few weeks before the November elections, the Knapps' table was near the speaker's podium. At one point in the everting, former President Bill Clinton took off his tie and spontaneously decided to auction it off to help raise campaign funds for the party. Susan Knapp placed the win-
Guests at the annual Hollywood Halloween . costume party, a benefit for the Des Moines Playhouse theater company, dressed in costumes inspired by characters from Hollywood movies and Broadway plays. They bid on items including original artwork, a car and a trip to New York.
ning bid, shelling out well over $1,000. By all accounts, the banquet was a success. Some events, however, aren't so fun. "A lot of people don't know how to plan parties," Terry says. Even some of the most lavish soirees fall flat because planners don't have a sense of taste in style, music or-worst of all-food. "My morn can taste the difference between dried parsley and fresh parsley a million miles away," says Terry. She recalls a Valentine's Day party in 2005 that included a silent auction for things that nobody really wanted, including a cheap wooden box filled with a handful of plastic pens. "I went with money to give away, and that's the last thing I wanted," she says. "You
couldn't even give that stuff away." The auction, Terry says, was just part of a long evening of disappointment. "I could have thrown a better party with my eyes closed, working with a bunch of 12-yearolds," she jokes. To avoid repeating disasters, party planners and charity leaders usually meet a few days after a party, while details about the event are still fresh in people's memories. They huddle to review what worked, what didn't and to record what to do differently next year. Sometimes, annual parties need major overhauls. At other times, guests look forward to particular traditions year after year. Now in its fifth year, the fIrefighters'
Recognizing Volunteers ho are these ordinary Americans who keep getting photographed with President George W. Bush at the steps of Air Force One when he travels to their communities? Since March 2002, there have been more than 550 of them, called USA Freedom Corps Greeters. They are people like Honor Bell (left) who has established several volunteer programs in Pensacola, Florida, and is an active volunteer with the local school district. President Bush personally thanks them for their work when they greet him and he presents each with a President's Volunteer Service Award.
W
auction seems to be a smash success, drawing more people than ever. This time, each bachelor pulled in hundreds of dollars, as stories started spreading through the raucous crowd. Word got around, for example, that one of the firefighters had paid a friend to bid on him, as insurance against embarrassment. "He kind of got razzed a little," says Fabela, who was auctioned for $150. The previous year, Fabela was won by a middle-aged woman who employed him to be a "cabana boy" at a pool party she hosted for her friends. Wearing a special hat, a pair of shorts and a tank top, he served them drinks and fanned them like royalty. Another year, the wife of one of the bachelor's bosses called out the winning bid. But instead of going on a date, she had him baby-sit her kids so she and her husband could spend the rtight on the town. And once, an auction date eventually led to marriage. This year, Kenny Wayne Larson was up on stage for the fIrst time. He was a little nervous, but says most of the people at the party were friends. In the past, "I'd always made up an excuse to get out of it, but they finally talked me into it," he says. Bidding on Larson climbed to $100. Then $150. Then up to $200. Finally the auctioneer declared a winner. Larson grinned. "I got lucky," he says. "My girlfriend bought me for $250." ~ Michael
Morain is a reporter for The Des Moines Register, a newspaper in central Iowa. Please share your views on this article by writing to editorspan@ state.gov
he u.s. private sector donates to international causes at a level nearly four times the amount spent by the US government on official development assistance, according to a report by the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Prosperity. Called the Index on Global Philanthropy, the report tallies $71 billion in international donations by U,So private charities, religious organizations, universities, corporations, foundations and immigrants sending money home for the year of 2004 (the latest year available). That compares to $20 billion in government foreign aid for the same year. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranks the United States as the biggest donor of government foreign aid among developed countries in terms of total dollars given. But, in another measurement, the
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The USA Freedom Corps, operating from the White House, coordinates national service programs that provide opportunities for Americans to serve their country by sharing their time and talents with others. The programs include AmeriCorps, Citizen Corps, Peace Corps, Learn & Serve America and the Corporation for National and Community Service. I';" ,.
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organization figures each country's aid as a percentage of its gross national income, which puts the United States second-to-last-with 0.17 percent of its gross national income given as foreign aid. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute, "The tradition of private giving is considerably less developed in Europe than in the U,S," The think tank argues that Americans give abroad as they do at home-privatelyand that the Europe-based OECD underestimates the impact of that assistance. Close to half of all American adults do volunteer work, according to Independent Sector, a forum for charitable organizations. The index estimates volunteering for international projects totals 135,000 fulltime work hours per year-worth more than $4 billion, Web sites like www.volunteerabroad.com encourage the trend, All told, US private and voluntary organizations alone gave $9.7 billion to developing countries in 2004, more than did the government of Japan, the index says. "People in developing countries know these groups-American Red Cross, CARE, Catholic Relief, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, YMCA [Young Men's Christian Association]-and their foreign counterpart organizations," says Carol C, Adelman, director of Hudson Institute's Center for Global Prosperity (http://gpr.hudson.org/). According to the report, US. businesses gave $4.9 billion in 2004. Adelman refers to "philanthrocapitalists"-who bring "business techniques, accountability, transparency and results to remote villages in need."
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by foundations from 1998 to 2002. The index includes tabulations of donations by other private sectors in 2004, including religious organizations ($4.5 billion) and remitAmerican universities and col- tances by individual immigrants to leges gave more to developing coun- their home villages ($47 billion). tries in foreign scholarships ($1.7 The report's authors said this is billion) than Australia, Belgium, the first of what will become an Ireland and Switzerland each gave in annual survey that will eventually official development assistance in include data on international, private giving from Europe and other 2004, the report says. ~ The index reports that foundations parts of the world. donated $3.4 billion in 2004. The Foundation Center, a philanthropy- From USINFO, a product of the Bureau of International Inforresearch organization, reported a 100 mation Programs, U.S. Departpercent increasein internationalgiving ment of State. The Salvation Army's Olga Nunes watches Edward Pestrollo put a donation into the kettle outside a store in San Jose, California.
An We've heard it now costs less to get a U.S. visa. Is this true for all visas? Almost. The $50 issuance fee was eliminated for the vast majority of visas, including all tourist visas. The total savings for Indian travelers based on last year's visa issuances would equate to Rs. 71 crores ($16 million). To get a good deal on my air fare I must book in advance, but then I am worried that I won't get my visa in time and will lose the money I spent on the ticket. How can you help? First, you should apply for your visa early. Worldwide, approximately 97 per cent of all visas are issued within 48 hours. I believe that in India we meet or beat that worldwide average. Even more importantly in India, at the end of September 2006 the U.S. mission made a historic commitment to eliminate the six-month-Iong, non-immigrant visa appointment backlog. Our goal is to always have visa appointments available in India. We continue to work hard to improve visa services in several areas, including decreasing processing times that had been extended in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. Since tourist visas are routinely issued for 10 years' validity, and appointments are now available within two weeks, it should be easy to take advantage of the good deals on air
fares, but advance planning is crucial. I am a young man in my 20s and I want to go to the United States to visit my friends and see the sights before I start my working life here at home, just like young Americans take foreign trips after they graduate from university. But I was rejected for a visa because the officer said he wasn't sure I would come back to India. Why does the United States discriminate against people like me? The United States traditionally has been a very popular destination for immigrants, legal and otherwise. As a result, the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act included a provision, Section 214 (b), that requires that most temporary visa applicants prove to the interviewing consular officer that they have a "residence in a foreign country that they have no intention of abandoning." Since it is so hard to read someone's mind to know their intentions, vice consuls look for tangible evidence of ties, interests or obligations that could reflect the intentions of the applicant to return to India. Since people just starting their careers and adult lives have accumulated fewer ties and obligations, it is therefore harder everywhere-not just in India-for them to get visas. It is not a question of discrimination, it is just a requirement of our law that temporary visa applicants must show that they intend to Ambassador David C. Mulford (left) interacts with visa seekers at the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.
return to their home country before they can get a visa. Is it true that because my surname is the same as one of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center that there is no point in seeking a visa to the United States, where I would like to study? No, you should apply for the visa and, assuming that you are not a terrorist, there should be no problem. The only complication could be that if your name were exactly the same as a terrorist we would have to refer the case for administrative processing to show that you and the terrorist are not the same person. That process usually takes about a month. So in the worst case, there could be a delay. If you have reason to believe that your name will cause a problem, you would be well advised to give yourself at least two months between the date of your application and the date of your travel. Since you can now be issued a student visa 90 days in advance, that should be easy. Please advise where we can find the best agents to help us through the visa process, and how much we should pay? I want to be clear about one thing-you do not need a visa agent and you should not pay one paisa to anyone who tells you that they can guarantee you a visa. Every day at the visa window we see eligible applicants who are refused visas because they presented fake documents to a vice consul--on the advice of their "visa consultant" or "friends." In addition, one of the main reasons why we have had a visa appointment backlog was because touts were abusing the system by taking and then selling appointments. I realize that one reason that such "consultants" thrive in India is because the U.S. Government has not been as effective as it could be in getting useful information out to the Indian public. Consultants have entered the information vacuum and have thrived. The U.S. Embassy has reinvigorat-
Peter G. Kaestner, minister counselor for consular affairs and consul-general, arrived in New Delhi in August 2006 for his third stay in India. From 1967 to 1968 he attended Friends School and the American International School in New Delhi. Kaestner, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, graduated from Cornell University in 1976 with a BA in biology, served as a Peace Corps science teacher in Zaire and entered the Foreign Service in 1980. His first posting was to New Delhi, where he served as a vice consul from 1981 to 1982. Other assignments took Kaestner to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Colombia, Malaysia, Namibia, Guatemala, Brazil and Egypt He is fluent in five languages, including Hindi. From 1994 to 1996, he was the deputy director of the State Department's Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation. Kaestner is a well-known bird-watcher, and is ranked fourth in the world in the number of species (8,059) he has sighted. In 1989, he discovered a new species in Colombia that was named in his honor, Grallaria kaestneri ed its efforts to better inform Indians about our visa rules, regulations and procedures. It is important that Indian applicants get good information from a trusted sourcefor free. We read stories about Indians and others being mistreated when they reach the U.S. airport. What will happen to me when I land in the United States? Will they strip-search me? One of the sad realities of the news business is that good news isn't newsworthy. While there have been a few regrettable incidents over the years, you never hear about the millions of people who pass through U.S. airports without incident. Just because a car accident is reported in the press, does that mean that you would never ride in a car again? The vast majority of people who run into problems at U.S. ports of entry do so because they are breaking the law. A couple of pieces of advice: It is very important that you are always 100 percent truthful. You may not use a non-immigrant (temporary) visa to immigrate permanently to the United States. You cannot work on a tourist visa. You must be careful not to try to evade customs by bringing in contraband or by not declaring dutiable items. (The rules are written on the customs boarding documents given on arrival to every traveler.) On the question of strip-searching, that is more a question of lore than reality. Only if you are smuggling something on or in your body would there be any need to stripsearch you. Routine security searches are much like those in Indian airports, though it is sometimes required to remove your shoes. I've been identified for extra security screening several times. Even as a senior government official, I am treated just like everyone else. We do not single out any nationality or ethnic group for additional scrutiny. Again, as long as you are not doing anything illegal, there is no worry. Every day, lakhs of people fly in the United States without any problems.
When I apply for a visa, must I state what my religion is? Will I be asked tougher questions and will it Visa Application Forms take longer, depending on my religion http!/travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/forms/forms_1342.html or my surname? No, we never gather or retain inforNew Delhi mation on the religion of visa appliVisa Services cants. There is no question about relihttp!/newdelhi.usembassy.gov/visa_services.html gion on the visa application. As you Immigrant Visa Unit point out, the applicant's surname may http!/newdelhi.usembassygov/immigrantvisas.html indicate their religion. There is no difNon-Immigrant Visa Unit http!/newdelhi.usembassy.gov/nonimmigrant_visas.html ference in visa interviews depending Mumbai on the applicant's surname. There is Visa Services no provision of our visa law that http!/mumbai.usconsulate.gov/visa_services.html requires or even permits someone to Immigrant Visa Unit be refused a visa because of their relihttp!/mumbai.usconsulate.gov/immigrant_visas.html gious affiliation. Non-Immigrant Visa Unit I am a Muslim woman. Will it help http!/mumbaiusconsulate.gov/gn_url.html my chances to get a visa if I remove Calcutta my veil or head scarf? Visa Servi ces No. Visa officers are not interested in http!/calcuttausconsulategov/ how_to _apply.html religion or the applicant's particular Immigrant Visa Unit customs. For security purposes, the http!/calcutta.usconsulate.gov/iv_general_info.html identity of the applicant must be veriNon-Immigrant Visa Unit fied, and the photograph of the applihttp!/calcutta.usconsulate.gov/general_information.html cant must show his or her full face. Consular / Visa Section Contacts Since we have several female vice conhttp!/calcutta.usconsulate.gov/visa_contact.html suls, a veiled applicant can be interChennai viewed by a woman, easing somewhat Immigrant Visa Unit the issue of modesty. http!/chennai.usconsulategov/immigrant_visas.html Non-Immigrant Visa Unit If I only speak an Indian language, http!/chennai.usconsulate.gov/generaUnformation.html will the visa officer reject me? Absolutely not. Many of our visa officers in India speak indigenous Indian you have two possibilities. If you really languages. When I was a vice consul in believe that you are well established here, New Delhi in 1981-1982, I did thousands of with a bright future, and no intention of visa interviews in Hindi and Punjabi. Even living or working abroad, you could get back then, the large majority of the appli- another interview. One thing that is very important, however, is to ensure that you cants interviewed in Indian languages have new, significant, information to presreceived visas. Koi baat nahin! If I have already been rejected once, ent to the visa officer. Without new inforshould I reapply or just forget about ever mation, it is just about impossible for the officer to come to a different conclusion. visiting the United States? Assuming that the officer considered Assuming that you were rejected because you could not convince the visa everything, then your only option is to officer that you had a settled residence wait until you are better established in ~ outside the United States (Sec 214 (b)), India. That is a matter of time.
How to Applv for a U.S.Visa
Inspiring children through colorful books, movies and role models isa Heydlauff's office is no ordinary workplace: an endearing pug pup bounds over to greet me as I step inside and the colorfully painted walls are festooned with
India in 1998 with a little money, a few contacts and the dream to do something for the welfare of women and children. After a brief stint with a blidal magazine in New Delhi, Heydlauff was hired by UNICEF as a communications consultant to document success stories of UNICEF projects in government schools in Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Haryana. Her trips were to change the direction of
funding for the project, she found generous SUppOlt from the Bharti Foundation (the charitable arm of Bharti Enterprises) in 2001 for the creation of Going to School in India, a children's book featuring 25 ways of getting to school. There has been no looking back since. Today, Going to School in India has found widespread success among children and education practitioners alike: 10 minibooks have been translated into Telugu,
artwork. Hundreds of storybooks from around the world, as diverse in language as in design, line the bookshelves. Creatively designed posters, T-shirts and calendars decorate different parts of the room. Creativity and color are, in fact, catchwords for the "business" that Heydlauff is engaged in: that of encouraging underprivileged Indian children to go to school through her New Delhi-based non-profit organization, Going to School. Thirtyone-year-old Heydlauff-whose parents live in Scottsdale, Arizona-moved to
Heydlauff's life. It was during these tours, meeting children who traveled through diverse geographical and cultural terrain to attend school, that Heydlauff conceptualized Going to School, a multimedia campaign that, she says, "celebrates every child's right to go to school and participate in an inspiring education that is relevant to their lives." Her idea was to create imaginative and inspiring media that captured the real-life stories of everyday children going to school across India. Though she admits that it was initially difficult to find seed
Tamil, Oriya, Kannada and Hindi, to be given to children free of cost in government schools; 500,000 mini-books will be distributed to 45,000 primary schools in Orissa, reaching more than 5 million children. In addition to the books are nine short films--each of which recounts a day in the life of a child going to school somewhere in India-that are aired twice a day by the popular children's channels POGO and Cartoon Network and also on National Geographic. Since its founding, Going to School has received SUppOlt from a number of U.S.-based agencies,
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including the Global Fund for Children in Washington, D.C., Global Giving and Ashoka Innovators for the Public. Heydlauff firmly believes that inspiration is a key element in a child's life, and Going to School's programs, which focus on telling positive stories of children who succeed in going to school despite geographical, physical or social challenges, reflect this. "I realized there was lots of media coverage about what did not work. But what about that which did work? I believe inspiration can change the world. And, as I traveled more, I felt positive stories about education could be told in a celebratory, transcendent way that showed schools could be fun, relevant to children's lives. And that communities, organ-
colleagues traveled through the Hindispeaking belt of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, interacting with people in cities, towns and villages, to find 15 women who could be icons, encouraging girls to stay in school. Two of these Girl Stars are Madhuri Kumari, a woman who defied social convention to become a leader in her village in Uttar Pradesh; and Anita Khushwaha, a 17-year-old who became the first woman beekeeper in Bihar. Each woman succeeded in completing her schooling despite challenging circumstances, and education was a platform for them to achieve their ambitions. "Girl Stars are extraordinary tales of ordinary girls," explains Heyd-
movie and 30-part radio series will tell 50 entrepreneurial stories to underprivileged children in India, to enable them to change their lives, their commumties and thus their nation. In particular, BE! aims to empower children with skills that they can use to generate income and participate in positive community change-once they have finished school. Indeed, although Going to School communicates in color and fun, it is being seen as a powerful force for positive change in children's lives. And Going to School looks set to accomplish more in the years to come: Heydlauff hopes that BE! will be a model for all of India and around the world. Going global, perhaps, may be next on the cards for Heydlauff and Going to
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The colorful mini-book Going to School in India focuses on positive stories of children who manage to attend school despite geographical, social and physical challenges. izations and individuals could change the way children go to school, if they believe in possibilities-if they try," she says. Going to School is in its second phase with Girl Stars, a project that creates icons of everyday women and girls who have, by going to school, changed their lives and the lives of others. For the project, Heydlauff and six of her Delhi-based
lauff. "It's about what one million girls do, not one in a million. A Girl Star is a young girl or woman who is able to do what she does because she is part of a larger community where everyone has to work together to help things change; she had the courage to begin it, and the strength to take everyone with her." "Girl Stars" will be rolled out by UNICEF on TV channels and radio stations in 2007. Heydlauff and her team are looking forward to Going to School's latest and perhaps most ambitious project, Be an Entrepreneur (BE!). This 50-book, 13-part
School. Except that Heydlauff, for now, has no plans of "going home." "Every day I wake up feeling that what we have to do today is important. It may not be changing the way children see their lives every day, but on a broader scale, for a moment, it is," she says. "Inspiration comes in a second and changes the direction of your life. That is what we do, we inspire children and inspire change, as many days out of the week that we possibly can." ~ Smita Jain is an American freelance writer based in New Delhi.
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The MIT Media Lab's Plan for a $100 Laptop t the beginning of the last century, the brilliant Indian mathematician Ramanujan showed by example that great riches can come from coupling an individual's innate talent with a small tool set. In his case, it took a single volume: G.S. Carr's Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics. Using the book, the young Ramanujan taught himself math and by the time he was 19, he had already begun to do ground breaking work in number theory. Today, we can do much the same thing for children by giving them their own simple tool: a $100 laptop. It's a goal that's closer than you might think. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab is working with partners including AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), Google and News Corp. to produce such a computer. The $100 laptop will not only be something to own and feel empowered by, it will also be portable and a tool for collaboration. Students will be able to access thousands of textbooks electronically and learn how to program, one of the best ways to "learn how to learn," according to my MIT colleagues Seymour Papert and Mitch Resnick. So in addition to using readily available applications, young people might also develop software suited to their own purposes. And when students attach cameras, microphones and printers, the basic laptop will become a foundation for innovation, a tool in tune with their different interests and talents. Kids have a great advantage: They don't yet know what is supposed to be impossible. Given the right equipment, every individual has the potential for a unique contribution. But how do we get to the price point we need? One answer is volume. There are some 1.8 billion children worldwide. The $100 laptop we propose would be available only in orders of a million units. It's likely that at first only governments would order them to outfit school systems. Eventually, global corporations, large research institutions and universities could follow. But volume alone is not enough. Some technological improvements are
Left: A concept image of the $100 laptop. Cranking the handle for one minute provides 10 minutes of power for the laptop. Right: Mary Lou Jepsen (left), chief technology officer of the One Laptop Per Child organization, and Chairman Nicholas Negroponte present the prototype at the World Summit on the Information Society in Kram, Tunisia.
also required. A scaled-down microprocessor and a bare-bones operating system, most likely a version of Linux, are musts. AMD has a good start with its $185 Pc. lt's based on the company's Geode x86 chip but lacks a display, a bit of technology that's critical to this project's success. Displays are one of the most expensive components of a laptop--typically costing manufactmers about $17o--and thus, they present one of our highest hurdles. Two upand-coming technologies help the cause, however. The first is a thin, folding screen in development at MIT's Things That Think consortium. Unlike typical LCDs (liquid crystal displays), this approach uses rear-projection, and with its fold-away design, a laptop could be quite small. Best of all, a 12-inch screen of this variety could cost as little as $30. The second promising technology would allow us to keep the current laptop form and is based on lowering the cost of thin-film transistors used in LCDs. This approach uses a nascent technique called printed electronics to print transistor patterns with special semiconducting inks. There are about two dozen projects under way at startups like E Ink and Kovio (1
UPDATE
Concerns Aboullhe $100 Laptop
he $100 laptop idea started with Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder and chairman emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. He set up One Laptop per Child (www.laptop.org), a nonprofit organization, to manage the project. But the first of these laptops will probably cost $150. When larger volume is possible later, the price would likely fall. In addition to the project initially falling short of its price target, there are other concerns: • about whether the machine will be feasible over the long term in environments where there is no stable power source or broadband Internet connection; • whether children and teachers who have never seen a computer will be able to use them in a productive, educational way;
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• whether children, who are treated as second and third-class citizens in many societies, will be allowed by their communities to own and experiment with a device that adults can't have; and • whether this is really what the world's poorest children need most. The developers plan for governments to buy the devices and give them to children. Is this a good choice for countries with scarce resources? Is it a good way for donor countries to spend aid money? India, considered by the laptop's developers a natural pilot country, has opted out, as the Government feels $100 per child could be more usefully spent in other ways. "We cannot visualize a situation for decades when we can go beyond the pilot stage," Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee has been quoted as saying. "We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools." Another thing children need is enough nourishing food, especially if they are expected to hand-crank their laptops during frequent power
and distribution. But the technological path is clear. The $100 laptop is an important step toward creating tools for a sizable fraction of the earth's next innovators-our children. ~ Joseph Jacobson (jacobson@media.mit.edu) is an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab.
outages. "Small children are capable of generating between five and 10 watts for short periods of time," says Ethan Zuckerman in his extensive review of the One Laptop Per Child project (http://www.worldchangin g.c 0 m/ arc hives/004543. ht ml). "Since conventional laptops draw about six to eight watts with their screens turned on, that's a real problem for a child-powered laptop." Several observers have suggested recharging the laptop battery by foot pedal, because leg muscles have more power than arms. But even so, a major factor in children not being able to concentrate and take in information at school is poor nutrition. Burning up calories at home cranking the laptop could make the kids too energy deficient to benefit from the information they may find through it. Questions have been raised about whether there is enough evidence that children really do create computer programs or seek out educational material and interact with it spontaneously. Also, there are concerns about whether developing nations can
set up robust and reliable networks in rural areas so children can connect to each other and the world. "Mesh networking depends upon most of the links being operational whenever connectivity is needed. Are we to assume that all of the OLPC laptops will be left running, especially when the effort of battery charging is considerable?" asks Lee Felsenstein of the Fonly Institute in California, in his exhaustive "Problems with the $100 laptop." (http://fonly.typepad.com/fonlyblog/ 2005/11 /problems _with J. html) Negroponte and his colleagues have said that some of those questions are not theirs to answer. They have set themselves a high challenge and have made some remarkable strides toward achieving it: designing an educational tool that is high-tech, attractive, meant for children to use, without power, in tough environments ranging from desert sand to jungle mildew. Negroponte says the immediate future for the project is "testing, testing, testing." Express your views on this subject. Write to editorspan@state.gov
Questions from Developing Countries I I
eymour Papert, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and adviser to the One Laptop Per Chi Id project, answered Questions in a USINFO webchat about some obstacles for the device's operation in developing countries. Paper!, one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence, says, "If you think about people doing knowledge work (and knowledge work means anything to do with writing, or numbers or information), all the people in the world except children have opted to use the computer as the natural medium. "If we want to bring the children of the world into the knowledge economy, knowledge society, the computer is the only means of doing that." If I live in a country where I want to have these laptops, how do I get them? Does my government have to buy them or can each school buy them? For the moment only governments can buy them. Commercial channels to obtain the same or similar machines will be developed later...We have to make this operation as simple as possible, and so to get started we can only deal with very large orders. So the easiest way was to have governments that were willing to order a million of the machines at a time have the first priority How do you intend to sustain the use of these laptops in our schools, due to the fact that we experience erratic power supply chronically? Two responses to the problem of erratic power: â&#x20AC;˘ Very low power consumption to operate longer on the battery. â&#x20AC;˘ A human-powered generator (like wind-up radios) to supplement the battery This is a fantastic idea, but what about tech support? Surely the computers-hardware or software-might go haywire at some point. I believe in "kid power." Our education systems underestimate kids by assuming they are incompetent. An eight-year-old is capable of doing 90 percent of tech support and a 12-year-old 100 percent. And this is not exploiting the children: It is giving them a powerful learning experience. Will the $100 laptop include educational software? A deeper answer to the Question is that the software that is really educational is not software made especially for children. A Web browser is educational software
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because it lets people of any age get to information. A simple programming language like LOGOor Squeak is educational software because it enables people of any age to get the experience of mastering the computer. What is to prevent these computers from reappearing in local markets or being misused by governments and corrupt officials? Are there safeguards? We are doing our best to make computers available to all the children of the world. The machines are safeguarded in many ways against being stolen, but in the end, if the governments don't protect them, there is nothing we can do. One protection against theft is that these computers will not look like any other computer. And because they are only sold to governments, if anybody has a stolen computer it will be obvious to everybody watching. Who pays for the Intemet itself in poor countries? The computers will have local networking built into the computer so that all the computers in one town or village will talk to one another and communicate with the school, without going through the Internet. So local communication will be free. Nobody will have to pay for it. Connection to the Internet is something that is beyond our control. How closely does the OLPC concept mesh with your ideas about how children learn? Moreover, given the focus on child-centered learning, or "doing," what is the role of the classroom and the teacher in an OLPC nation? The OLPC concept meshes with the idea that children can take charge of their own learning. Making videos, communicating, creating their own programs, our children will take charge of knowledge I believe that having the individual computers-each child owns a computer and has it all the time-is the only way we can empower really learner-centered learning. The role of the teacher is to become a co-learner. Eventually, teachers, that is to say, adults with experience of learning, will join with children in learning new materials that neither of them has known in the past. And this is the best way to learn, to learn with somebody else who is already experienced. If you plan to provide laptops to the children of the world you need huge financial support. Who is the sponsor? The rich countries of the world ought to be providing laptops for every child in
the world. In any case, my vision is that a laptop computer will become so inexpensive that every country will be able to afford to give them to the children. Whom in the different governments would one contact to find out about who is getting these computers? The Ministry of Education should know. If you cannot get information there, post your e-mail and I'll try to get it for you What plan does OLPC have for recycling these $100 PCs after they break or become obsolete? We're seriously worried about the environmental issues, but we cannot solve everything at once. It is better to have computers out there in the hands of the children than to sit and worry about how to solve the disposal problem before they go there. Are children getting laptops for free or do you consider that $100 is not a lot of money and everyone can afford it? The governments who have been discussing this with OLPC have discussed it as part of a plan to give the computers free to children. The way I think about the cost of the computer is that if a $100 computer can last for five years, that's $20 a year. In a few years, we'll make a $50 computer that will last for 10 years and that's $5 per year, and every country can afford to give that free to its children. How will teachers and students be trained on using the laptop? There are tens of millions of people in the world who bought computers and learned how to use them without anybody teaching them. I have confidence in kids' ability to learn.
The Case: Blogs are the soapboxes of the Internet era, independent platforms for everything from personal diatribes to political discourse to tech-gadget reviews. But with their growing popularity, could blogs also become media platforms capable of making money? Two entrepreneurs are trying to find out.
epending on whom you talk to, Web logs, or blogs, inspire excitement, alarm or a yawn. They are the personal diaries that now litter the Web, composing a newish online medium that is simplicity itself. Most blogs consist of musings posted to idiosyncratic and amateurish Web sites. But while blogging is a favored mode of expression for blowhards of every stripe, it is
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also the basis for a new crop of editorial products with high-quality content and loyal readerships. Over the past several years, blogs have become platforms for political discourse, Hollywood gossip and insider information on subjects ranging from the latest Apple operating system to presidential election results. Several factors have contributed to the emergence of blogs. First, they can be started with very little, and very inexpensive, editorial content, yet are capable of exerting extraordinary influence. Blogging software is inex-
pensive-or often free-and easy to use. Low bandwidth requirements and Web-hosting fees keep the ongoing infrastructure costs of maintaining a blog very low. And new, easy-to-use advertising services such as Google AdSense, which frees content creators from having to deal with actual advertisers, have breathed fresh life into online media. The accessibility and ease of use of blogs have had a dual effect, a simultaneous erosion and improvement of quality. At the low end, blog platform sites like http://
www.livejournal.comJ and http://www.xanga.comJ provide an outlet for hobbyists and diarists. More serious bloggers, however, have increasingly approached their sites as they would any other sort of editorial platform, with regular publishing schedules and clear editorial missions. These bloggers tend to use more sophisticated software than do more casual bloggers. One such tool is Movable Type, made by San Franciscobased Six Apart. Movable Type is customizable and can help make a blogger's postings look professional.
All these trends are leading a number of media entrepreneurs to wonder whether blogs can generate meaningful revenues or, for that matter, offer a legitimate alternative to the business models of existing media companies. Two of those entrepreneurs are Brian Alvey and Jason McCabe Calacanis. They are the cofounders-Alvey is president and Calacanis is chairman and CEO-of Weblogs Inc., a network of 80 blogs. The pair bootstrapped Weblogs with their own funds, and barely 18 months after the network's January 1,2004, launch, they were already earning revenues. But it remains to be seen whether the business model will deliver profits.
New Medium, Old Parmers This is not the first time Calacanis and Alvey have collaborated. They attended the same high school in New York City's Brooklyn neighborhood and started their first venture, a magazine about online services called Cyber Surfer, in 1994. Two years later they launched Silicon Alley Reporter, a magazine that covered Internet startups and served as an East Coast foil to the better-known Californiabased tech tomes of the late 1990s, such as Red Herring
and the Industry Standard. Silicon Alley Reporter prospered in the days of profligate advertising budgets, and it launched additional businesses, such as an events-planning division, e-mail newsletters, a Web site and a radio show. Calacanis established himself as a familiar pundit of the East Coast tech boom. He served as CEO of the company, while Alvey, who built TV Guide's Web site in 1995 and was a member of the team that built the first BusinessWeek site later that year, was chief technology officer. When the market crashed in 2000, and other Internet-focused media companies went out of business, Calacanis retooled Silicon Alley Reporter to focus on venture capital. In 2001, he changed the name to Venture Reporter, ditched the advertising-based business model, and increased the price of the magazine, tuming it into a high-end business information offering. Venture Reporter charged up to $1,000 for research reports and from $1,000 to $5,000 for access to a proprietary database of information about venture capital investment and mergers and acquisitions activity. The makeover narrowly rescued the company from oblivion. After Venture Reporter was acquired,
first by Wicks Business Media and then by Dow Jones, Alvey, and eventually Calacanis (who stuck around until 2004), decided to move on. In early 2003, Calacanis and Alvey began to discuss new business ideas in the media sector. They'd followed the blogging exploits of two former Silicon Alley Reporter employees: Xeni Jardin, who is a contributor to the popular collaborative blog http://www. boingboing.net/, and Rafat Ali, who publishes http:// www.paidcontent.org/. a blog about emerging, new-media business models. Calacanis saw the validity of one of those models as he observed the immediacy of Jardin's and Ali's postings, the value of their information, and the loyalty of their readerships. "It wasn't hard to see that there was this new model emerging where writers are unfiltered and readers actually like it as much as, or perhaps even more than, they like magazines," he says. "And they certainly appreciate that the content is available on a more regular basis."
The Network Enect But as Calacanis and Alvey began to study the economics of blogging, they encountered a question that few bloggers
have been able to answer: how to expand. "We looked at individual blogs and couldn't figure out when or how you add employee number two. Maybe never?" explains Alvey. "We wanted to put together a blogging franchise that could actually grow." It was clear that growth couldn't happen at the level of the blog. A stand-alone blog tends to have a single author, a narrow focus and a small audience. It is thus unlikely to benefit from Google AdSense, an automated contextual-advertising program that becomes lucrative for site owners only when traffic increases to hundreds of thousands of page views per month. In a best-case scenario, a blogger with low traffic might be able to make money by finding a sponsor willing to pay a premium to reach a targeted audience. Calacanis and Alvey's solution was to assemble a large network of bloggers who together would generate a river of traffic. Stand-alone bloggers face great pressure to keep their sites fresh for audiences who expect frequent updates. With a network, if fresh content is not available at one blog, it most likely will be at a sister blog with overlapping coverage-and authors can contribute to one another's sites.
The final business plan for Weblogs called for a network of more than 300 blogs targeting niche markets in technology, media, entertainment and consumer goods. With his experience in creating content management systems, Alvey built the publishing platform from the ground up; he believed that commercially available blogging programs such as Movable Type couldn't handle such a large number of blogs and didn't offer the kinds of reporting tools that Weblogs wanted to build into its system. In early 2004, Calacanis and Alvey began to recruit writers into the network. "When we started, there weren't that many blogs out there that had reached any level of significance," says Calacanis. "For any of the ones that had, we went and talked to them and tried to see if there was a deal we could do. We made offers to buy or partner with them."
Big-Time Blogs Some of the top blogs by number of sources that link to each one Boing Boing http://www.boingboing.net 10,626 sources_
Buzznet Photocommunication htt :!Iwww.buzznet.com DeviantART http://www.deviantart.com 7,438 , Davenetics http://www.davenetics.com
But bloggers are independent spirits. Few established bloggers wanted to partner with the company or sell controlling interest in their content, Calacanis found. Nor did the bloggers, many of whom had been stung by the dotcom crash, have much interest in Weblogs equity. Engadget (http://www. engadget.com!), a Weblogs site that covers technology devices, was an exception. It is now the most popular blog in the network and ranks among the most popular on the Web. Its author, Peter Rojas, had previously written a similar blog called Gizmodo (http://www. gizmodo.com!) for a rival network, Gawker Media. [Disclosure: Rojas worked for Jason Pontin, Technology Review's editor in chief, when Pontin was editor of Red Herring.] According to Gawker founder Nick Denton, Rojas sought an equity stake in the business, but Denton was unwilling to offer one. Calacanis poached Rojas from Gawker, by offering him a new platform and an undisclosed equity stake in Weblogs. But Rojas' contract is an exception for the company, says Calacanis: "Nineteen out of 20 people we talked to rejected the idea of equity. Most just want that paycheck." As a result, almost all Weblogs bloggers are freelance contractors who are paid on a monthly basis. They make anywhere from $100 to $3,000 a month, with the average falling between $500 and $600, says Calacanis. Contract negotiations are based on a number of factors, including how often the blogger updates his or her site. The Weblogs network currently includes 80 bloggers and generates 60 million page views per month. Weblogs is the exclusive copyright holder on all the
Blogging Out Loud
content it publishes. The company is generating Blogs are becoming increasingly a steady stream of revenue from network ads, which are popular, especially among young automatically served by com- peoplewho usethem as personaldiaries panies such as Google and and opinion platforms, Tribal Fusion, and from direct Internet users, 18 and older ads, which are the result of 40 million traditional contracts with such 35 advertisers as Volvo, Equifax, Pacific Poker, Palm and 30 Subaru. According to Cala25 canis, the majority of the com20 pany's revenues come from direct ads, which command a 15 CPM rate (cost per 1,000 CL 10 impressions) of between $4 ~ « 5 and $12, whereas network ads ~ generate between $1 and $4 ~",-0 JUN/JUL MAY FEB JAN MAY CPM. The most popular blogs ~ 2002* 2003 2004 2005 2005 tend to feature a greater num- .~ · tl.\' • Read someone else's blog b er 0 f a d s purc h ase d d lrec y "" Create a blog that by advertisers. More than half i' • . 2 others can read of Weblogs' advertlsers end E . th ~ * Reading blog number not available up b uymg space on more an CL one of the network's blogs, says Calacanis, but to pique a the ads accompany the condirect advertiser's interest, a tent wherever it goes. blog's traffic must exceed one One potential pitfall of the million page views per month. reliance on automated ad proThe company openly grams is the temptation to experiments with homegrown game the system by creating ad formats, including Focus search-friendly editorial conAds, which invites users to tent referring to highly trafficked search subjects, like comment on ads, and "adverParis Hilton. Calacanis mainposts," which are ads written tains, however, that the practice in a blog format (though they of gaming search engines is are clearly labeled as ads). quickly punished by readers. Weblogs Inc. has also begun "People come to blogs not to be to embed ads in its RSS duped-to get genuine cover("really simple syndication") age," he says. And while he feeds. RSS allows content providers to disseminate the admits that blog publishers have fostered a spirit of collabinformation on their sites, including links, headlines and oration with advertisers, he summaries of stories, to an says the so-called Chinese wall between editorial and advertisRSS reader-a software proing is essential to establishing gram that aggregates the the credibility of commercial updated content from a person's favorite sites, eliminatblogs, just as it is for traditional forms of media. For this reaing the need to visit them son, Weblogs rejects the idea of indi vidually. An advertisetying compensation for a spement within an RSS feed appears as a text link, much cific blog to its ad performance; like a Google "sponsored the company wants its content link" on a Web page. With to be as genuine as possible. "If this new advertising format, our bloggers are just chasing
traffic by wntlng about Lindsay Lohan, readers won't tolerate it," Calacanis says. Though Calacanis and Alvey will not disclose revenues, Calacanis-in the collaborative spirit of blogging-has shared certain details on his own blog (calacan is. weblogsi nc .com). Weblogs generates more than $1,000 per day from Google AdSense alone and has recently surged as high as $2,000. Maintaining that average would translate to $730,000 in revenue in a year, "which is nice," Calacanis observed on his blog, "but much, much, less than we write in checks to our team every month (think 75+ bloggers and 10 full-time staff)."
No Barriers to Entrv Calacanis openly refers to his latest venture as a "blog experiment," and to be sure, it is an unproven model. In addition to competing with other networks, like Gawker Media, which currently publishes 13 blogs, Weblogs must compete with businesses using other emerging models. John Battelle, who founded Industry Standard and writes SearchBlog (http:// battellemedia.coml), a blog about the intersection of media, technology and the Internet, has launched a venture tentatively called FM Publishing that will provide independent blogs with such services as ad sales, but will not own their content. With this approach, Battelle may be able to attract high-end bloggers who want to maintain ownership of their editorial content but don't have the time and resources to figure out how to monetize their blogs. And by bringing prominent blogs together, FM Publishing could begin to enjoy some of
the same network benefits that Weblogs does. A similar venture, called BlackInc Media, was launched by former CNET Networks employees. The company helps blog publishers with ad sales and business development. "Our goal is to allow bloggers to focus on the thing that made them valuable in the first place-good editorial content," says Matt Comyns, one of BlackInc Media's founders. Another, less tangible challenge facing Weblogs is the fickle nature of Internet trends. The influence that bloggers wielded in the national debate during the 2004 presidential election suggests that the medium's cultural importance is unlikely to fade anytime soon. But that doesn't guarantee that advertisers will ultimately find sufficient value in blogs. To date, most advertising has been conducted on an experimental basis. Calacanis believes that blogs need not revolutionize media in order to be successful. "The problem is that lots of people want to make this a zero-sum game," he says. "I don't see blogs cannibalizing what Google News does or what The New York Times does. I see it as something unique. I think blogs will eventually represent 20 percent of a person's media diet." If he's right, then blog networks-and even some stand-alone blogs-may be able to carve out a comfortable existence. But in the end, a blogging company's greatest weakness may be the very thing that makes the new medium so powerful: anybody can publish a blog. ~ Andrew P. Madden is an editor with Technology Review.
Meg Hourihan and Jason Kottke at their wedding in March 2006
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bout six years ago, this reporter was advised by a friend who happened to be an Internet entrepreneur about a curious new activity that was being taken up among his circle of acquaintances. "It's called blogging," the friend said. "You should look into it." The term initially seemed to suggest something faintly indecent. Further investigation revealed the existence of a beguiling new medium, one in which the paradox of the public private life (best captured, as many things are, by Oscar Wilde, one of whose characters speaks of her diary as "simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication") was being explored anew. The result, in November of 2000, was an article for The New Yorker entitled "You've Got Blog," which
chronicled the courtship, on blog and off, of Jason Kottke, a Web designer and pioneer blogger, and Meg Hourihan, a co-founder of the company Pyra Labs, which had created Blogger, a product with which even the technologically inept could expose their inner musings to the world, should the world care to look upon them. The explosion of the blog medium in the years since-including Google's purchase of Pyra-hardIy needs retelling. But what of Meg and Jason, who, by the article's conclusion, had progressed from instant-messaging each other across half the continent (Meg lived in San Francisco, Jason in Minneapolis), through veiled flirtation on their personal Web sites, Megnut.com and Kottke.org, to a nascent offline romance (as the article ended, Jason was driving across Wyoming, en route to a new
Computing
tendency to take things pretty seriously, so if I commit to something, I try really hard to stay committed. This isn't altruism or social activism; it's just giving people a break, Pretty much all world religions tell us that one moral value is to help other people if you can. I feel that customer service, even when you get paid for it, is an expression of that value, an everyday form of compassion Also, I've learned from the open-source movement that people want to contribute to endeavors of mutual benefit. So at craigslist, we've turned over a lot of control over the site to the people who use it. We seriously listen to suggestions and actually change the site in response to them, Anyone who feels a posting on our site is wrong, for whatever reason, can flag it for removal; if enough people agree, the ad is removed automatically. A similar philosophy is embodied in the Wiki movement, particularly in Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia whose roughly two million entries are created and corrected by the site's users). We plan to turn over even more control of our site to the
Craigslist.org CEO Jim Buckmaster (left) and founder Craig Newmark outside their office in San Francisco, California.
people who use it. Mainly, we need suggestions about what to do next. Currently, we're trying to figure out how to charge the New York rental agents for apartment listings (they've suggested this as a way to improve site quality) while giving a break to the smaller agents, I feel that all this is a deep expression of democratic values. From a business point of view, of course, it makes good sense, too: it lowers our costs and improves the quality of what's on our site. Finally, it helps keep management in touch with what's real-or at
least that's what we hope. Unfortunately, in contemporary corporate culture, customer service is often an afterthought, given lip service only. This seems to be part of the general dysfunction of large organizations As a company accumulates power and money, the people who are skilled at corporate politics take control of it. Customer service never seems to be highly prized by people with those skills, Maybe it's because they lack empathy I speak with a lot of workers at many companies, and for the most part, they really want to provide good customer service. But they tell me they're often prevented from doing so because service is seen as a cost and not something
that contributes to profits. Me, maybe a lot of my motivation derives from the name of our site; I take things personally, Maybe sometime soon I can go parttime as a customer service rep, and I could use a day off, maybe a Sunday. But I plan to be doing customer service forever, No matter how hard I try, sometimes we [make mistakes]. Then we apologize and fix it. My lingering concern is that I'm missing something big, and that I need to hear about it from my team and the community, What am I missing?
*
Craig Newmark is a Weboriented software engineer, with about 25 years' experience in coding. His e-mail 10 is craig@ craigslist.org
hen we woke up, the pale purple sky glowed on the eastern horizon and the stars still sparkled, though they were fading fast as night turned to early dawn. The cook issued his breakfast holler: "Come and get it!" Soon after, the cool morning stillness was punctured by the slapping of saddle leather, the jingling of spurs, and the rhythmic beat of horses' hooves on the soft ground. Meadowlarks sang from the sagebrush, and from the cattails along the stream below the roundup camp, red-winged blackbirds were starting their morning chorus. Over the ridge, a pack of coyotes commenced their plaintive howling. The sun wasn't up yet, but the eastern Montana prairie was already coming alive as the roundup crew of cowboys rode out to begin the day's work. Getting up at 4 a.m. every morning to saddle a horse and trot off across the prairie is not everybody's idea of a good way to start the day, but for cowboys it is a part of the job they cherish. The American cowboy remains a mythic icon for millions of people around the world. Their ideas are based mostly on "westerns," TV shows and movies made in
Cowboys round up cattle on Padlock Ranch in Montana (left), Although real cowbys still herd cattle on horseback, modern vehicles are also used (below),
Right: Inside the cook tent, showing the back of the chuck wagon where the roundup cook stores his supplies. Far right: Padlock Ranch roundup camp set up with bedwagon and tent for the cowboys to sleep in and the chuck wagon and cook tent. Wagons are pulled by horses and the tents are used much like they were by cowboys 100 years ago. Hollywood about life in the Old West, when settlers established towns and set up ranches, farms and homesteads in the western part of North America during the latter half of the 19th century. The image of the cowboy was used to create one of the most successful corporate advertising campaigns ever, for Marlboro cigarettes. Levi's and Wrangler blue jeans are bought by urban consumers who have never been near a cow or horse, yet identify the clothes they wear with freedom and wide open spaces and the cowboy way of life. The cowboy may be the only profession that has inspired a writing genre, hundreds of movies and TV shows, a special type of music and a spectator sport-the rodeo. Despite all of this interest and popularity, the actual life of the working cowboy remains woefully misunderstood. There is
also a widespread, mistaken belief that real cowboys no longer exist, that all the work of raising cattle is now done with pickup trucks, motorcycles and helicopters and that horses are no longer used to work cattle. The fact is that real, working cowboys still do exist throughout the American West, they ride horses, and they use the word "cowboy" as a verb as well as a noun. For many years, I cowboyed on large cattle ranches in the state of Montana, in the western United States. I rode on
roundups, where a horse-drawn chuck wagon was still pulled out to make camp just like 100 years ago. In the winter, I fed hay to cows with a team of big, Belgian work horses pulling a sled. I also packed mules into the mountains along the Continental Divide for an outfitter who ran a "dude ranch." A number of summers were spent on a "cow camp" where I took care of 1,500 cows and their calves spread out across more than 40,500 hectares. Those cattle were worth more than $1.5
million and I was responsible for them, despite only being paid $500 a month! The work of a cowboy is regulated by the life cycle of cattle. Calving normally takes place in late winter and early spring, February through April. This is a time of many sleepless nights as cows have to be continually looked after in case they have trouble giving birth. First calf heifers (cows giving birth for the first time) require special care and are often separated from older cows so they can be observed more easily.
Left: A chuck wagon with supplies. Above: Cowboys are not embarrassed to confess that they talk to their horses. Above right: Cowboys keep a sharp watch on the herd.
Summer roundup takes place in May and June when the cows and calves are gathered. The calves are then branded, vaccinated and de-homed. Hay, to feed the cows in the winter, is cut and baled in the summer. In the fall, another roundup is undertaken to wean the calves so they can be shipped off to feedlots. Also, at this time, cows that are not pregnant are usually sold. By late November or early December, depending on snowfall, cowboys begin feeding the
cattle hay to keep them alive until spring grass appears on the plains. Early summer roundups are the best part of the annual cycle of work. When I participated in six-week-long roundups on Tullock Creek in eastern Montana in the 1980s, one of the outfits I worked for was the Padlock Ranch. There we herded cows and branded calves the old-time cowboy way, pulling out a horse-drawn chuck wagon and making cowboys sleep in tents on the prairie. With more than
The American cowboy remains a mythic icon for millions of people around the world. Their ideas are based mostly on TV shows and movies.
3,000 cows to gather, a roundup crew of 12 cowboys branded 100 to 200 calves a day. Each cowboy was provided four or five horses to ride, but had to have his own saddles and gear. During the roundup we might get a few days off when it rained, which provided an opportunity to go to town for a shower and a cold beer. The rest of the time we were out there with the cows ridin', ropin' 'n' 'rasslin', that is, "wrestling" the cattle. Cowboying can be hard, dirty, often lonely, and sometimes, dangerous work. Branding calves on a roundup is an arduous task and requires multi-tasking. You have to be able to rope calves from a horse and wrestle them to the ground for branding.
Celsius is no fun no matter how you look at it. Life in a cow camp, with no electricity or running water and the nearest neighbor 16 kilometers away, means you spend lots of time talking to YoW'horse. When I cowboy ed, wages were about $500 a month and included room and board, but "room" was a tent pitched on the prairies and "board" was chuck wagon grub: lots of meat and potatoes, beans and bacon, washed down with strong coffee. These days, the cost of a new working saddle starts at about $1,500 and it is hard to find a good pair of riding boots for less than $200. You'll never get rich cowboying, but we are getting paid to do what a lot of people pay to do on holidays spent at "dude ranches."
bluffs along the Bighorn River and stretch across ponderosa pine-covered hills to the Little Wolf Mountains in the east along the Tongue River. It is some of the best grass country in North America. In late May, the higher elevation slopes near the headwaters of Tullock Creek will be plastered with the big, bright yellow flowers of arrowleaf balsamroot and the bright blue blossoms of lupine. Wild rose bushes are in bloom along with chokecherries, wafting their fresh fragrance as you ride past. The smell of crushed sagebrush mixed with horse sweat and saddle leather is like rare incense or a cowboy cologne. Being able to see the sunrise and sunset every day and to watch the stars come out at night is another simple pleasure.
Despite adaptations over time, many items used by cowboys today, such as chaps, saddles, spurs and bits, have their origins in Mexico in the 16th century when it was under Spanish rule.
From left to right: (1) A silver bit connects to the reins, allowing the rider to direct the horse. (2) A cowboy's saddle has attached bags for carrying food and water. (3) The foot must rest in the stirrup. This cowboy is wearing boots under his jeans and chaps, or
When a cowboy messes up, his pride can be hurt by ridicule from other crew members, or worse, he can be seriously injured by a bucking horse or a kicking calf. Feeding hay all day long in the winter in a blizzard when it is minus 28 degrees
leather leggings, to protect the skin from rubbing and weather. (4) Shown here is a cowboy boot with a spur at the back, used to make the horse go faster in an emergency. (5) A bedwagon for carrying cowboys' bedrolls has a horse harness hanging on it.
There are also a lot of other benefits that come with the job that I can't put an economic value on. The country in eastern Montana where I worked on roundups is the kind cowboys dream about: wide open, rolling grasslands that rise up out of the
And any cowboy who is observant (most are) will notice unique things about the animals he works with, such as "babysitter cows" that look after a group of young calves as their mothers trail down to water a mile or more away. Only after
Horses are rounded up so cowboys can select the next day's mounts. Each cowboy alternates among four to five horses to give them a rest. those cows come back will the babysitter go down to drink. Roundups are a time to discuss with other cowboys the different ranches and how they operate, to observe the various saddles and tack and talk about their merits. There is also the quiet contentment that can come with being told by the boss that you did a good job roping, or overhearing fellow cowboys say, "He's a good hand." That's about the best compliment a cowboy could hope for. There is also the satisfaction that comes when you help out neighboring ranches, maintaining the spirit of rural ranching communities working together and those altruistic values that helped define the cowboy in American culture. This past summer, while on home leave after working in Afghanistan for two years, I visited a friend I had cawbayed with over 20 years ago on the Padlock Ranch. David Workman, the son of the cow boss who ran the roundup wagon, was in college then, studying ani-
mal science at Montana State University, but went out on roundups with me. Now, he is managing a large ranch north of Roundup, Montana. As I drove along the gravel road up Flat Willow Creek and entered the property he was managing, I noticed that the fences were new and well built and that the rangelands were in good condition; little indicators that the ranch was well-managed. As he drove me around the ranch in a pickup truck, showing me new solar powered pumps he had installed in wells to provide water to the cattle, and activities to eliminate troublesome weeds in the pastures, our conversation focused on strategies he was working on to improve the rangeland and increase economic efficiency in his operations. Ranch managers these days not only have to be able to take care of cows, but
they must be business-minded and as comfortable working with Excel spreadsheets as they are with a rope. Still, as the sun set over the prairie, what David and I talked about were the horses we had known and the cowboys we had worked with. ~ Express your views on this article. Write to editorspan@state.gov
Daniel Miller is a project development officer in India with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which he joined in 2003. He was raised on a dairy farm in Minnesota and spent many years working as a cowboy in Montana. He received a master's degree in forestry from the University of Montana. Miller has managed agriculture projects in Afghanistan and worked on livestock development in Bhutan, China, Mongolia and Nepal.
edrafted the Declaration of Independence. He served as secretary of state to George Washington and vice president to John Adams. He was president of the United States for two terms and almost doubled the country's size by negotiating the Louisiana Purchase. And he most likely fathered his slave's children. Perhaps no other person in U.S history has been studied, debated and written about more than Thomas Jefferson. Yet books alone won't give a full understanding of the man. For that, you need to visit Monticello, the 2,000-hectare plantation nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, with its hilltop architectural wonder. Jefferson inherited the land and spent most of his life building, tearing down and rebuilding his beloved home. I set out on a glorious, humidity-free June day to tour the house and its impeccably groomed grounds. I wanted to discover what life was like for Jefferson, his family, and the hundreds of slaves who kept Monticello operating from 1770 until his death in 1826. Two thousand visitors a day have the same aim. Yet in spite of the crowds, I was able to find a few secluded spots where I could imagine the vigorous activity required to run this plantation some 200 years ago. A 3D-minute tour of the house took me into some of Jefferson's most intimate spaces, including Top: An ivory chess set, circa his private book room and the bed- 1786, in the parlor of Monticello room where he died. Most days between busts of Thomas during his retirement Jefferson was Jefferson (left) and Napoleon alone, pen in hand, in an office Bonaparte. Above: A circa 1790 orrery, a device to show the dubbed his "cabinet," adjacent to movement of the then-known his bedroom. In his lifetime, he seven planets, in Jefferson's produced some 20,000 letters. In office at Monticello. 1817, he wrote to John Adams: "From sun-rise to one or two o'clock, and often from dinner to table, his early American attempt dark, I am drudging at the writing at ergonomics. table." To relieve the pressure on I imagined Jefferson taking a his aching wrist, Jefferson used a break from his correspondence by swivel chair and an armless, back- walking through the French doors less sofa straddled by his writing of his office into the exterior room
H
called the south piazza. I wandered in through the greenhouse, and the piazza was a welcome respite of solitude, complete with a visitor's chair to rest my feet. The piazza has an airy, gazebo-like feel, with windows covered by green venetian blinds instead of glass. The distant noises of children in the gardens were not enough to drown out the birds singing in the poplar tree that shades the room. Peeking through the blinds, I looked out onto the great lawn and its canvas of purple, magenta, orange, pink and white flowerbeds. Gone now
are the workbench and tools I've read that Jefferson kept here for his carpentry hobby. Jefferson's legacy is a complex one, divided between the magnitude of his achievements in public office and the tarnish of his role as a slave owner. Indeed, the heart of Monticello was its plantation community, even though the majority of those physical structures, including most of the slaves' quarters, did not survive time. At any given moment, Jefferson owned about 200 slaves, many of them children under 16. Slaves were ordered to do domes-
Above: A bust of Thomas Jefferson stands watch over the main entry hall of Monticello. Below right: Monticello sits amid the fall foliage of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
tic, agricultural or industrial tasks, all to keep the plantation completely self-sufficient year-round Unlike at other plantations during that time, many of Jefferson's slaves learned to read and write. His own views on slavery were conflicted. While he once called it an "abominable crime," he felt he was protecting his own slaves and said freeing them "is like abandoning children." Jefferson's functional design of Monticello included rows of "dependencies," working and living spaces for domestic slaves, which are still standing. The rows were built into the sides of the mountain on either side of the home, with a passageway connecting them. The recently renovated kitchen in the dependencies, and its adjoining cook's room, provide a window into the lives of domestic slaves and
their interaction with Jefferson family life in the big house. Although it is cool underground, the room includes a massive fireplace, a bake oven and a row of "stew stoves" that
suggest a sense of the heat and the What came out of that underclamor that must have come from ground kitchen was of great importhe room. Copper pots and other tance to the former president kitchen tools are scattered through- Jefferson loved food, and the years out the rustic kitchen. he spent in France as U.S. minister only broadened his culinary tastes and palate for wine. A guest at Monticello in 1824 described his dinner as "served in half Virginian, half French style, in good taste and abundance. " As I ambled down a wooded path to return to my car and the 21st century, I passed Jefferson's grave. His epitaph, which includes what he believed to be his most significant ยง' contributions, is most notable for ~ excluding any of his achievements i during his presidency He wanted to be remembered for giving us the Declaration of Independence, the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the University of Virginia. Perhaps he couldn't have imagined he'd be remembered for Monticello, too. ~
I
Megan Barnett is an associate editor with U.S. News & World
Report.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower began his second term in January 1957. Calling for unity and freedom in his inaugural address, the President declared America's "firm and fixed purpose-the building of a peace with justice in a world where moral law prevails." Two years later Eisenhower became the first US President to visit India. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was introduced during his presidency and it kick-started the legislative program that was to include the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act that outlawed all official race-based discrimination in the United States.
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What Americans and Indians were doing in 1957
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Indian cinema's seminal epic, Mother India, was released in October 1957. Produced and directed by Mehboob Khan, the billersweet story of a rural family earned India its first Academy Award nomination, in the Best Foreign Language Film category in 1958. The movie featured a stand-out performance by Nargis, embodying the moral values and customs that form the basis of traditional Indian society The character's rebellious son was played by Sunil DUll, the actress' future husband.
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Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated one of the longest dams in the world, â&#x20AC;˘ I, in Orissa on January 13, 1957. The dam and dikes together are 25.8 kilometers long. This was the first in a series of dams to harness the Mahanadi River The 745square-kilometer Hirakud Reservoir was one of the biggest built in India, with a gross capacity of more than six million acre-feet of water. Canals from the reservoir irrigated 271,950 hectares of land and the generators at the dam and a subsidiary powerhouse had an installed capacity of 232,500 KW. The Technical Cooperation Mission of the United States contributed equipment worth about $3 million to the project.
Althea Gibson, 30, became the first African American to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, in July 1957. She was honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City and an official welcome at New York City Hall. Gibson went on to win the women's singles title at the next Grand Slam event, the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills, and became the NO.1 woman player in the world. Gibson had visited India in 1955 on a State Department sponsored tour to promote tennis in Asia.
Based on Jules Verne's novel, the big-budget Hollywood extravaganza Around the World in 80 Days won five Oscars, including Best Picture. It had been nominated for eight David Niven played Phileas Fogg, an eccentric English gentleman spurred by a wager to prove he could travel around the world in 80 days. He set off from London and traveled by train, ship, elephant and balloon, accompanied by his resourceful valet, Passepartout, portrayed with great elan by Mexican comedian Cantinflas. Along the way they rescued an Indian princess, Aouda, played by a young Shirley MacLaine, from burning on the funeral pyre of her husband. Directed by Michael Anderson, the visually spectacular movie more or less invented the idea of the cameo. Stars Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Red Skelton popped up in bit parts, sometimes in disguise.
The first exhibition of American crystals engraved with designs by Asian artists, including five prominent Indians, came to India in May 1957. The "Asian Artists in Crystal" exhibit comprised 36 drawings by artists including Jamini Roy, Phani Bhusan, Gopal Ghose, Rama Maharana and K.S. Kulkarni from India. Their works were engraved on fine Steuben crystal by American craftsmen. The designs were collected by Karl Kup, curator of prints at the New York Public Library. Fashioned by hand at the Steuben Glass Company of New York, the designs were reflections of Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic thought and tradition. The exhibition visited Calcutta, New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
For a world long used to manually wound watches, it was time for a change. Hamilton Watch Company, founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, announced the launch of the world's first battery-powered watch with great fanfare on January 3, 1957. The asymmetrical shape of the "Ventura" underscored its new and innovative technology. The Ventura was first released in a 14karat yellow gold case with the option of a black or silver dial. Initially, it had a matching strap of 24-karat gold applique but it was replaced with a conventional strap a few months later.
The top-rated American TV show of the year, ' " is often referred to as the first adult Western. Adapted from a radio series, Gunsmoke conveyed the pioneering spirit of America, with some historical background in each episode. Set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, the series was an exploration of life in the community, even though it had its share of bank robberies, cattle rustlings and shoot-outs. Gunsmoke holds the record for the longest run of any scripted series with continuing characters on American prime time television. There were 635 episodes between 1955 and 1975, most of them starring Dennis Weaver (left) as the deputy and all of them featuring James Arness (right) as Sheriff Matt Dillon. Creator John Meston once joked, "If I had known it would last this long, I would never have created the darn thing."
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Martin Luther King, Jr. borrowed ideas about religious cooperation from Gandhi.
owe my American citizenship to Martin Luther King, Jr. I am the son of immigrants from India, and King played an important role in opening our nation's doors to people from allover the world. King braved dogs in Birmingham, Alabama, and bricks in Chicago so that people of all colors could take part in the American promise. I am a Muslim, and King, a deeply committed Christian, spoke eloquently about creating a society in which people from all religious backgrounds cooperate together in the service of humanity. This last area-King's involvement in interfaith work-is too often overlooked. We are accustomed to thinking of King as a hero of interracial understanding. And certainly, King did as much as any American to address what W.E.B. Du Bois called the problem of the 20th century, the color line. But the 21st century might well be defined by another equally bloody and intractable problem-the faith line. Religious identity is at the heart of conflicts ranging from Northern Ireland to South Asia, the Middle East to Central Africa.
I
Movement not just about race King was prescient about such issues. For him, the civil rights movement was not just about race, but about new relationships-between people from different backgrounds, between America
Right: Martin Luther King, Jr. removes his shoes before entering Raj Ghat during his visit to India in February 1959. Far right: King, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Coretta Scott King.
and the world, between humanity and God. King's message of interfaith solidarity could be just as relevant to our times as his message of interracial bridge-building. Of all the Western philosophers and Christian theologians that King read as a seminary student, it was the works of an Indian Hindu that made the most profound impression on him. Mohandas K. Gandhi's idea of satyagraha-literally, "truth force"-provided King a new instrument for combating social evil. Raised in a deeply religious Baptist family, King had always believed in Jesus' teachings to "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies." Gandhi's successful campaign of active pacifism in India convinced King that the Christian ethic was a powerful instrument for reform. In 1955, King had an opportunity to put this idea into action. As the leader of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, King called upon all participants to act with a spirit of kindness and an ethic of nonviolence. The African Americans of Montgomery referred to this approach as "Christian love." From Gandhi, King took not only the idea of the relevance of creative non-violence, but also the lesson that different religious
communities should cooperate in the pursuit of justice In 1959, King traveled to India to learn more about Gandhi's life and work. He discussed the philosophy of non-violence with Gandhi's companions, admired the land-reform movement of Vinoba Bhave and had an audience with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. King was deeply moved by the spirituality and religious diversity of India. In one of his first sermons in Montgomery after coming back from India, King offered the following prayer: "0 God, our gracious, heavenly Father, we call you this name. Some call thee Allah, some call you Elohim. Some call you Jehovah, some call you Brahma." That is a remarkable statement for any place and time, but for a Baptist church in a provincial Southern city in 1959, it was nothing short of radical. King often referred to the common bond between different religions. For example, in his famous sermon, "A Time to Break Silence," King stated: "The Hindu-MuslimChristian-Jewish:Buddhist belief about ulti- \ • mate reality...is that the force \' of love is the supreme unifying ••
principle of life." King was not only influenced by the philosophies of different religious traditions, but also by friendships with people from different religious backgrounds. King's best-known interfaith friendship began in Chicago, where he met Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, an Orthodox Jew from Eastern Europe who had barely escaped Hitler's death camps. In King, Heschel saw an American prophet, a kind of Moses figure leading his people to freedom. In Heschel, King found a partner in the belief that religion should unite humankind against social eviI. King's friendship with the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh inspired one of his most controversial moves, the decision to publicly oppose the Vietnam War. Thich Nhat Hanh saw a Buddha-like nature in King, saying that God was in action
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through him and the civil rights movement. In his letter nominating Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, King wrote, "He is a holy man .... His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."
An interfaith America It is Widely acknowledged that King was the central figure in eliminating legal racism in the United States. What is less well-known is the role King played in creating an interfaith America. King's movement not only helped achieve the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965, but also the Immigration Act of 1965. The new legislation allowed millions of immigrants from Asia, Africa and South America to come to the United States. His own commitment to interfaith cooperation changed the hearts and minds of Americans, weaving religious tolerance into our national fabric. While Protestants and Catholics battle on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Muslims and Jews , continue to make the Middle '. East a war zone, their diaspora communities in the United States have generally managed
His own commitment to interfaith cooperation changed the hearts and minds of Americans, weaving religious tolerance into the national fabric.
Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at a public meeting in Sapru House, New Delhi, held under the auspices of the Indian Council of World Affairs in February 1959.
to get along without dramatic or sustained violence. No modern American did more than Martin Luther King, Jr. to, in James Baldwin's words, achieve our country. Some of us owe him our citizenship, others our freedom. But all of us owe him part of our national pride. ~ Eboo Patel is executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core and an adjunct professor at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Above: The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia. Right: A statue of Mohandas K. Gandhi at the site in Atlanta.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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pera and gospel music stars sang, President George W. Bushand former PresidentBill Clinton and four children gave speeches, poets read their lines and 75 people put shovels into the ground to inaugurate a memorial to civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington's front yard-the National Mall--on November 13, 2006. President Bush said he was proud to dedicate the memorial in its "rightful place"-between monuments to Thomas Jefferson, who "declared the promise of America," and Abraham Lincoln, "who defended the promise of America." King, Bush said, "redeemed the promise of America." The new memorial, the first on the National Mall to honor an African American, is scheduled to be completed in 2008. In the summer of 1963, King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the nearby steps of the Lincoln Memorial to more than 200,000 civil rights marchers gathered on the mall. That speech is considered by many to be one of the greatest speeches in American history. It called on America to make good its promises of freedom and justice for all citizens. The memorial will feature King's words, inscribed behind
falling water and near a "stone of hope" reminiscent of a phrase in his speech in which King said he had faith that the marchers would be able to go back to the segregationist southern states and "hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope." At the time of that and other civil rights marches, African Americans were segregated from whites in schools, shopping places, restaurants and on buses. Their attempts to register to vote in the South often were met with violence. King began a long campaign of nonviolent resistanceto rectify these wrongs. In his "dream" speech, he said his people would not be satisfied "until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Less than one year from that date, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, making segregation a federal crime. After a cold and rainy November morning, the downpour stopped and 5,000 people-many women in high heels and fancy hats and men in their best suits and tieswalked determinedly through mud puddles to witness the groundbreaking. Those civil rights activists who had been close to King and are still able to travel were on hand: Andrew Young, America's first African American ambassador to the United Nations;
Congressman John Lewis, founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights era; Dorothy Height, president emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women; and Jesse Jackson, a prominent politicalleader. Television celebrity Oprah Winfrey said, "I am who I am because of the struggles of Dr. King My life is what it is because of his work." She said she remembers King's courage "with every breath" and plans to come back to visit the memorial when it is completed. A museum of African American history is also planned According to Young, Americans celebrate the words of King "not because he spoke them, but because he lived them." Young reminded the crowd that while King was engaging in a nonviolent struggle to secure rights for African Americans, his home was bombed, he was indicted for tax evasion, stabbed and jailed. President Bush praised King because he "held the nation to its own standards." He said King's dream-in which the nation rises up and lives out the true meaning of its creed, that all men are created equal-was not shattered by an assassin's bullet, but "continues to inspire millions across the world." Nelson Mandela, South Africa's
President Bush greets former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young on November 13, 2006, after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. Young is flanked by (from left) King's daughters Yolanda Denise King and Bernice Albertine King, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
anti-apartheid hero, sent a letter saying that King's movement "transcends a single nation" and praising King's legacy of standing up to tyranny "without looking for selfish gain." The memorial has been on the drawing board since President Clinton signed legislation approving it in 1996. In the days leading up to the groundbreaking, $6 million was raised from corporations and individuals, bringing the total to more than two-thirds of the $100 million needed to complete the memorial. The largest donors have been automaker General Motors Corporation, Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, the National Basketball Association and the Walt Disney Company Foundation. ~ Elizabeth Kelleher is a USINFO staff writer.
There Comes 8 Time F
red Gray is standing on the steps of the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Gray, 75, was the legal mind behind the Montgomery bus boycott, which began at the church in December 1955 after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus, galvanizing the civil rights movement. Parks died in October 2005 at age 92. Gray, though not a household name, is one of the civil rights movement's most important figures, having helped African Americans gain equal rights in voting, housing and jury service. "Fred Gray's story is that of an idealist deeply committed to the law as a way of righting wrongs and promoting justice for African Americans," law professor Jonathan Entin writes in the 2005 book Black Leadership and Ideology in the South Since the Civil War A Montgomery native, Gray was 24 and a recent graduate of Western Reserve University Law School in Ohio (now Case Western Reserve University) when he took on Parks' case. In fact, Gray had been friends with Parks, a seamstress and program director with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for nearly a year, and they'd discussed discrimination on city buses, which required African Americans to sit at the back. Gray recalled Parks' "quiet exemplification of courage, dignity and determination," adding: "I will always be humbled by the faith Mrs. Parks showed in me as a young attorney." On December 5, 1955, four days after Parks' arrest for disorderly conduct, she was found guilty and fined $14. The boycott began that day and would last just over a year; more than 40,000 Montgomery residents walked, carpooled or rode taxicabs. In February 1956, Gray filed the case that would go to the U.S Supreme Court and end segregation on Montgomery's buses. Among Gray's other pioneering legal victories
Rosa Parks (left), who was fined for violating the city of Montgomen/s laws segregating public buses, had to pay a bond to appeal her conviction in 1955. Signing the bond were E.O. Nixon (center), former state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and lawyer Fred Gray. was the 1965 case that ordered Alabama Governor George Wallace to protect protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery, and the 1975 case that arranged financial compensation for African Americans mistreated in a human syphilis experiment in Tuskegee, Alabama. Today, Gray lives in Tuskegee and is president of the city's Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center, an educational facility Gray's wife of 40 years, Bernice, died in 1997. Their two sons work at Gray's Tuskegee and Montgomery law offices, and their two daughters live in Tuskegee and Montgomery. Outside the Holt Street Baptist Church, the silver-haired Gray, wearing a charcoal suit and red tie, appeared to be in robust good health. The same couldn't be said for the church, with its broken win-
dows and sidewalks overgrown with weeds. Its congregation has moved on, and only a plaque outside identifies it as a landmark: thousands gathered here on the bus boycott's first night, when the 26year-old preacher Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke for the first time as a movement leader and proclaimed the need for nonviolent protest, famously saying, "There comes a time ..." Gray remembers the speech as "soul-stirring." Today, Gray sees that much remains to be done in civil rights. "I'll be the first to admit things in this city and this state have changed tremendousIy," Gray says, adding that overt segregation is gone But in its place is a more subtle discrimination, he says, such as lower income and poorer health care for minorities-symptoms of what he
Each February, schools and other community organizations focus on contributions that African Americans have made to the United States in science, politics, sports, social development, literature, medicine and other fields. The campaign to write African Americans' experience into history and school books was started in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a son of former slaves who earned a Phd from Harvard University He established Negro History Week in February, when the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and anti-slavery activist Frederick Douglass occur. The commemoration evolved into a month-long event. calls entrenched racism. He laments that not enough resources are invested into combating inequality "It has to start with a recognition that we still have a race problem" ~ Christine
Dell'Amore was an intern with magazine when she wrote this
Smithsonian
article.
More than 50 years ago, Rosa Parks' disobedience of an unfair law launched the Montgomery bus boycott. At her side was a young lawyer, an unsung civil rights warrior.
"I was amazed by the numbers and how moved they were. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to kill the father of this nation." hat made a young engineer in the U.S. Merchant Marine decide to change the course of his career and take up the study of Indian history? The answer lies in one of those unexpected experiences that become transformational moments. At 20, Stanley Wolpert landed in Mumbai on a sightseeing trip in February 1948, 13 days after Mohandas K. Gandhi had been
been studying it ever since," says Wolpert, professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Los Angeles. His first book on Gandhi was a fictionalized account of the assassination, Nine Hours to Rama, published in 1962. Specializing in modern India and Pakistan, Wolpert is one of the most widely-read chroniclers of subcontinental history. On a trip to New Delhi, Wolpert spoke about his recent book,
assassinated. As Wolpert stepped ashore he found himself surrounded by millions of mourners, clad in white, heading to Chowpatty Beach to witness the immersion of Gandhi's ashes. "I was amazed by the numbers and how moved they were. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to kill the father of this nation," says Wolpert. His interest was piqued as he saw thousands of people swimming after the glistening white ship bearing the urn, hoping to touch Gandhi's ashes before they were swallowed by the sea. But what really got him interested was the fact that Gandhi was killed by a man of the same faith. "I wanted to study that assassination, then Indian history, and I have
Shameful Flight, detailing the end of British colonial rule. He highlighted less well-known aspects ofIndia's freedom struggle, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt's insistence to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that India be made a free country. Wolpert thinks that "most Americans have come to more and more appreciate the importance of India, especially because whenever they need a solution to a problem like their air travel or they have to fix their machinery they usually put in a call which is answered by someone in Bangalore or Pune." Asked about any backlash against the outsourcing of jobs from America to India, he replies that there has always been resist-
ance to change. "You know the Luddites who opposed the Industrial Revolution [in England] fought very hard ... and there were some people who thought that globalization could be turned back. But I don't think that's a large percentage of the American population. I hope that people who have lost their jobs will be able to fmd new jobs so that they can lead a productive and good life." A longstanding observer of the Kashmir dispute, Wolpert says he would love to see a resolution in his lifetime. His next book is tentatively titled "India and Pakistan: Continued Conflict or Cooperation?" and Stanley Wolpert's books are available at the American Library in New Delhi, Calcutta and Chennai.
Wolpert hopes it will be published within three years. While he is enthusiastic about the opening of more access points and bus services between India and Pakistan, Wolpert says there should be "more exchange of ideas as well as goods and services, and that will gradually lead to the realization or a reminder that they are really the same people." Adding that a resolution is in the offing, Wolpert says, "I think that will happen, not this year, perhaps not next year, but I would hope before the end of this decade, if that's not too optimistic." Wolpert's 58-year association with the subcontinent has produced more than 20 books, beginning with his University
of Pennsylvania PhD dissertation on Indian freedom fighters Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. The comparative biography was published in 1962 as Tilak and Gokhale. "Every book I've tackled has initially posed uniquely formidable challenges, though I generally come to feel at home with my subject after five years. Perhaps my first scholarly work, Tilak and Gokhale seemed most difficult since it was the first," says Wolpert. His oeuvre includes critically acclaimed books on the history of India, the British Raj, confrontation in South Asia and the lallianwala Bagh massacre, as well as biographies of national figures-the controversial Nehru: A Tryst
with Destiny, Jinnah of Pakistan and ZulJi Bhutto of Pakistan. Of all his books, Wolpert told UClA Today, it is the Encyclopedia of India that is "the greatest event of my research life." About 200 experts worldwide contributed to the four-volume opus that took Wolpert five years to edit and partly write. The author of Gandhi's Passion finds the renewed interest in Gandhian principles, post Lage Raho Munnabhai, not only relevant in these times but very important. "Especially at a time when war has proved to be such a failure I think his emphasis on peace and on the importance of nonviolence must grow. And I think young people are sick and tired of
death, sick and tired of killing and fighting and realize that his message to stop the hatred is more valuable for all of us." Affirming that he sees a very promising future for U.S.India ties, Wolpert says, "I think we are both committed to values that are not only democratic but also designed to help the world become a safer place. And the friendship ... will grow stronger in the years ahead because economic ties are growing. And those ties have led to greater involvement, with more Americans coming to India and falling in love with India as I did 58 years ago." ~ Express your views on this article. Write to editorspan@state.gov
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Coming of Age for the
Indian American Com nthe northern California town of Yuba City, known to some as "little India," citizens are looking forward to a third gurdwara. In a building in Fremont, at the gateway to Silicon Valley, shuttlecocks fly over nets and sneakers squeak as badminton players bound over the courts. Meanwhile, on a U.S. aircraft carrier, halfway around the world, naval aviators practice yoga on deck. From the sizzle of the tandoori platter and the rhythmic drum beats of the bhangra dance, to hospitals, technology corporations and digital media studios, the Indian American presence has become a lively and colorful part of northern Californians' daily life. Sociologists attribute the new attitudes to the growing influence of the established Indian American community, their 20something offspring, and enterprising young couples drawn to the area by the dotcom industry. Critics argue there is much flaunting of wealth, excessive focus on achievement and ambiguous feelings about relations between both countries. On the one hand there is a residue of bitterness over the outsourcing of American jobs to India, but on the other hand there is an appreciation and desire to leam more about the community's traditions, cultures and lifestyles. The Indian American community in Northern California is estimated at 200,000. The wish to feel understood,
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and not just accepted as a curiosity, is a core need expressed by many minorities in California, including Indian Americans. In Yuba City alone they constitute almost 7 percent of the population of 36,758-the second large~t minority after the Mexican community. Indian Americans as well as immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East continue efforts to invite the mainstream into their communities and houses of worship to increase understanding. Two notable successes are badminton and yoga. Three badminton facilities started up in the San Francisco Bay Area over the past year. Some high schools are also emphasizing the sport. United Badminton Club of Fremont opened in March 2005, and was quickly followed by Smash City in Milpitas and Golden Gate Badminton Club in Menlo Park, all within a 16-kilometer radius, says Abi Bautista, program director at United Badminton Club. "I was thrilled a few months ago when I discovered this place through some friends," says Arshad Syed. "I have not played it in 30 years because there was no one to play with, nor was there a proper, professionally designed facility." Syed came to California in 1974 and eamed his MBA degree from California State University in Sonoma. Syed, in his mid-50s, says he plays badminton to stay in shape, and "for the love of the
art." He believes the growing Indian, Afghan, Pakistani and Hong Kong-Chinese communities in the area are driving the sport's appeal. Even as badminton makes inroads, yoga is more popular than ever at local gyms. Tapes are selling in grocery stores. TV channels, such as the Public Broadcasting Service, show "Sit-and-be-Fit" programs to help at-home sen-
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Arshad Syed is thrilled to find a place to play badminton again. iors maintain muscle flexibility. Last August, the Los Angeles Times, ABC television network and other media carried a story about sailors and soldiers eager to improve their stamina, flexibility and mental focus through yoga. The exercises are catching on in the military, both for the fit and the hundreds recovering from injuries. The stories were sparked by Fit Yoga, America's second largest yoga magazine, with a cir-
culation of 100,000, after it featured a photo of two naval aviators in full combat gear in the "warrior" pose aboard an aircraft carrier. "War is tragedy ... " wrote Editor-in-Chief Rita Trieger, adding that she was glad yoga has helped soldiers fmd a little solace. She says the pictures were sent to her bye-mail by a naval aviator, Lieutenant Jason Payne. Business generated by yoga and badminton is a credit to Asian Americans. Companies owned by them generated more than $326 billion in nationwide revenue in 2002 and the number of firms led by this group grew 24 percent between 1997 and 2002, according to a Census report released in May 2006. Meanwhile, in community and campus organizations young Indian Americans and other South Asian youths draw on their ethnic traditions and resourcefulness to create a vibrant subculture. Some of the Bay Area's most happening clubs host bhangra parties and events where young South Asians congregate to dance to a mix of music-rap, reggae, techno and other popular styles, including Hindi film music. Young women sporting nose rings and dupattas along with slinky club wear, and young men decked out in Abercrombie & Fitch gear move gracefully on Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on Indian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Above: Dr. Bina Erasmus (seated) and daughter Shifali at their home in Fremont. Dr. Erasmus says the younger generation can resolve its identity crisis when they realize that their Indian heritage is as important as their American identity. Below: Ameena Saeed, adjunct professor of social sciences at Chabot College, Hayward. the crowded dance floors without attracting particular attention. They are part of the party scene. "The world of the secondgeneration Indian American youth is in a process of westernization, diluting a 5,OOO-yearold civilization, culture and language," says Ameena Saeed, adjunct professor of social sciences at Chabot College, in
Hayward, California. "There is a synthesizing of cultures. But they also have to manage the contradictions of gender roles and handle their 'model minority' status in a society that is just beginning to see that everyone cannot be categorized in terms of black or white. "Among the second generation there are many who are embarrassed by the wealth of their parents. When a friend picked up her son from college in her newly acquired Jaguar, he would not speak to her for days because he said he felt badly in front of his college peers," says Saeed. "At the same time that Indian Americans are a minority that is willing to be part of the system they are also an airtight group. They depend on each other in financial networking and deals, they have major stakes in the hotel business, they are entering the diamond business." She adds that many in the second generation may not share the ambitions of their parents in the service professions. For example, Saeed, a Gujarat native, came to the United States with her husband, a university professor. Their daughter, Mariam, a student at San Francisco State University, is studying liberal arts and drama. "It is hard being bicultural," says Shifali Erasmus, studying broadcasting and public rela-
tions at San Jose State University. "In the Indian tradition, I grew up learning that I am part of a greater whole. So, to some, that creates internal conflict when one has indi vidual wants but has to think of balancing those with the needs of everyone else. At the same time I feel lucky to be part of the American experience." Erasmus is the daughter of Bina and Desmond Erasmus, a Dr. Steven C. Fong and Sheila Lad at Dr. Fong's clinic. Gujaratborn Lad is one of the growing number of Indian American women in dentistry.
Sheila Lad, born in Bilimora, Gujarat, is a registered dental assistant at Dr. Steven C. Fong's clinic. She says community work is gratifying and uplifting to the spirit. "It just makes you feel good inside. In the Indian culture it is traditional to give back; by filling the needs of others you do not focus on yourself," she says. Lad is one of the growing number of IndianAmerican women in dentistry. The American Dental Association is encouraging underrepresented communities to join the profession to reflect the growing diversity of the American population.
Nationwide the Indian Amegynecologist and a neurosurgeon who came from India in rican community's communica1967 to continue their medical tion network has expanded. In education. They settled in the last couple of years they Fremont. Their older daughter, have added five weekend television shows, including the popuSupna, is also a physician. Looking back on the past 15 lar channel TV Asia, and the years, Dr. Bina Erasmus says that recently launched Nirvana just as the community is coming Woman magazine to several of age, its younger generation established weekly newspapers. will fmd its way out of the identi- It helps them stay in touch with ty turmoil when they realize that news from India while sharing their Indian heritage is as impor- developments in other Indian tant as their American identity. communities across the United 'That would be healthy," she States. ~ says. "It will give them a sense of Lisette B. Poole is a freelance balance and an inner peace." journalist who lectures at CaliSome Indian Americans have fornia State University, East Bay. dealt with the internal collision by volunteering in public organ- Please share your views on this izations, hospitals, libraries, article by writing to editorspan@ schools and senior centers. state.gov
U,S, mmigrants Support
Economies in
Home CountriesBYELIZABETHKELLEHER oney sent home by immigrants in the United States reduces poverty in developing countries and supplements government foreign aid. The countries receiving the largest shares of money sent from the United States are India, Mexico, the Philippines, Guatemala and EI Salvador. China, Vietnam, Colombia and Brazil also receive significant amounts. According to Sumitra Chowdhury, an economic analyst at India's Embassy in Washington, in 2005 India received $32 billion in'remittances from its citizens living allover the world. There is no breakdown for how much of that came from the United States, but "the highest number of Indians abroad are in the USA," she said. Approximately 34 million foreignborn people live in the United States; they represent 12 percent of the population-the largest share since the 1920s. According to Manuel Orozco of the research group Inter-American Dialogue, 70 percent of these people send money home. Estimates of the value of such remittances vary, but even the lowest figure for 2004-$30 billion, reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis-is an amount 1.5 times larger than U.S. government foreign aid for that year The Hudson Institute estimates $47 billion a year in remittances and says its figure is higher because it includes person-to-person transfers in addition to bank and wire transfers. The Inter-American Dialogue puts the amount at $60 billion.
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Whatever the total, experts agree that remittances have surged in recent years The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that remittances from the United States more than doubled from 1994 to 2004.
The personal stories There are two types of remittances: money sent to family to meet basic needs; and collective remittances, which pool immigrants' money for larger projects in their hometowns. Working men send the largest share of the money to their families. On a sunny April afternoon at the Culmore Shopping Center in Falls Church, Virginia, the phenomenon was in evidence. Pickup trucks dropped off day laborers who live nearby, and several men went in and out of a travel agency that wires money Jose, a 28-year-old road worker, says he sends $100 to $200 to his six brothers in Guatemala when they call and ask. One difficulty, he said, is that when it rains he has no work and not much money left to send. Carlos, 33, who has been in the United States for 15 years and has a regular job in an auto body shop, wires $200 a week to Honduras to help with the expenses of his grandmother, sister and niece. Some migrants in the United States organize "hometown associations" to collect money for large projects. They hold parties at which guests donate toward the purchase of an ambulance or the building of a school. In the early 1980s in California, five hometown associations of
Hector Morales and his mother, AIJonsa, at a Popular Cash Express counter in Los Angeles, hand money to Eteldina Romero to send to Mexico. immigrants from Zacateca, Mexico, formed the Zacatecan Federation. By 2000, the group was sending $1 million a year home and had convinced municipal, state and federal governments in Mexico to match its donations, "If you go to Zacateca, you see poor communities completely converted-you see hospitals, clinics, roads and water wells," says Efrain Jimenez, vice president of the federation.
Competition from banks Jeffrey Passel, a demographer for the Pew Hispanic Center, says, "A significant share of the increase [in remittances] is due to better data," More often now, money is sent electronically by national banks and is easier to track.
Worldwide, remittance flows surged in the last decade. The International Monetary Fund's balance-of-payments data show the value of remittances to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia at near 4 percent of their gross domestic products (GDPs). The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, now allows banks to use an automated clearinghouse to transfer money to Mexico and provides marketing material advertising the program. The Federal Reserve says 11 percent of U.S, families do not have checking (current) accounts, James Maloney, chairman of Mitchell Bank, a small bank in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, says he hopes immigrants, who typically operate in a cash-only economy but who are now walking in his bank's door to transfer money, will eventually enter the "financial mainstream," ~ Elizabeth Kelleher is a USINFO staff writer.
_Coaches_ Give Tips 10 ould baseball, the national pastime of the United States, become popular in cricketcrazy India? If there is any indication from the enthusiasm of hundreds of students, amateur players and coaches who participated in baseball clinics conducted by American Major League Baseball coaches across India, this bat and ball game could gain ground, "I have learned new ways to catch the ball, I have also learned how to throw fast in the right direction," says Sarita Rani, a ninth class student at Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Dilshad Garden, New Delhi, She started learning to play baseball during this school term and participated at a clinic conducted in November by
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Coach Jeffrey Brueggemann (above right) and Coach David Palese (below) give tips to players from the Blue Birds and Red Angels teams at the U.S. Embassy baseball ground. Rajendra Negi of the Blue Birds winds up to pitch the ball (above left).
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Young Indian Players
American coaches Jeffrey Brueggemann and David Palese. The two men are among 700 high school, college and professional coaches who have been sent by New York-based Major League Baseball International to introduce and upgrade the playing of baseball in 72 countries. The aim is to internationalize the game, says Paul Archey, vice president of the organization. Working with First Pitch: The U,S.-Manipur Baseball Project, based in New York and in Imphal, Major League Baseball International also coordinated with the U.S Embassy and consulates across India to send the coaches to Imphal, Chennai, Calcutta, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Goa and Hyderabad. The coaches told young players that the ball should always be caught with both hands, If the ball is above the belly button, the hands should point upward; otherwise the hands should point downward. Brueggemann and Palese taught the players how to align their shoulders, hands and legs to throw in the right direction with maximum
power. The basics of better pitching and hitting were also covered. Brueggemann was a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins for six years and coached the Chinese national junior team. Palese is assistant baseball coach at Rochester University in New York. Their first stop was Manipur, where baseball has been played for decades. In Imphal, 25 sports clubs play the game. First Pitch was established in 2005 to upgrade the level of play, the quality of equipment and the venues. "What these people do have," says First Pitch Chairwoman Muriel Peters, "is great joy in the game and tremendous athletic ability It is this enthusiasm in such a remote corner of India that gave us the impetus to create First Pitch." In New Delhi, Ambassador David C. Mulford threw the ceremonial first pitch to start an exhibition game between two amateur teams, the Blue Birds and the Red Angels. "Baseball is to America what cricket is to India," he said, "We are delighted that we can, .. share this game with Indians. As sports enthusiasts, the Indian people may ,~one day embrace baseball as they ~ have cricket and other sports" At ~ the event, Deputy Chief of Mission ~ Geoffrey R. Pyatt presented balls ~and gloves donated by the Spring~ field, Massachusetts-based sports fÂŁ equipment manufacturer Spalding. "These baseball clinics need to be organized regularly. We have recognized that we were following wrong rules," commented Anup Kumar, chief baseball coach for the
Government of Delhi Directorate of Education, He also said, "Baseball in India cannot become popular until we can assure the children that they can grow in some way while playing baseball. We need more tournaments and recognition for the players" Kiran Dabas, a sports teacher at Indraprastha International School in Dwarka, Delhi, agrees. "The coaches helped us understand new rules as well as better methods of throwing, catching, pitching and hitting." However, Dabas says, the biggest of hurdle in the popularization baseball in India is the same obstacles that other sports face, lack of facilities and meager support, "There are no (playing) grounds," she says. "The cheapest gloves, balls and bats cost several thousands of rupees Many Indian baseball players cannot afford this kind of expenditure." Summing up his experience, Coach Brueggemann said it's true that the right infrastructure is needed and, more importantly, children need helmets and properly padded gloves so they are not injured. But he was hopeful that baseball may take root. "India is a country of more than one billion people, You do not play that many sports. Baseball is a very good option in such a scenario. The good thing about baseball is that it can be played by people of any shape or size." He also said that people who are already crazy for a game played with a bat and ball (cricket) are likely to find baseball interesting, too. ~
Noted for her sensitive and evocative photojournalism in postwar magazines, Esther Bubley is back in vogue.
stherBubley was among the bestknown photographers of her time, and for three decades blazed trails, especially for women, with her work for the government, corporations and magazines such as Life, Look and Ladies' Home Journal. Though she photographed celebrities-Albert Einstein, Marianne Moore, Charlie Parker-her talent was for ordinary life. "Put me down with people," she said, "and it's just overwhelming." Bubley's photographs of Americans in the 1940s and 1950s-sailors on liberty, bus riders, boardinghouse residents, hospital patients, teenagers at a birthday party-are so plain and yet so evocative they have long been included in museum exhibitions that try to convey something of the nation's character in those days. Her 1947 color photograph of a man in a fedora standing on a train platform in New York City, a painterly picture of long shadows and sooty red bricks, calls to mind the distracted loneliness of an Edward Hopper canvas. The movie scholar Paula Rabinowitz even theorizes that Bubley's photographs of women working in offices and factories in World War II contributed to a staple of the film noir genrethe strong-willed independent female freed from household drudgery by the war effort. Since Bubley's death from cancer at age 77 in 1998, her reputation has only grown. The Library of Congress selected Bubley's work to inaugurate a Web site, launched in February 2004, about female photojournalists (loc.gov/ rr/print). Jean Bubley, a computer systems consultant, runs a Web site highlighting her aunt's career (http://estherbubley.com/). Major exhibitions of her work were held in Pittsburgh in 2003 and in New York City in 2001, and a book, Esther Bubley: On Assignment, has been published. Born in Phillips, Wisconsin, in 1921 to Jewish immigrants-her father was from Russia, her mother from Lithuania-Bubley started making and selling photographs as a teenager. After college in Minnesota, she went
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Left: This photo, taken at a birthday party in Westport, Connecticut, for Woman's Day in 1957, "achieved incredible intimacy, " one editor said.
to Washington, D.C. and New York City seeking work as a photographer, but found none. Still, she showed her pictures to Edward Steichen, future photography curator at the Museum of Modem Art, who encouraged her (and would later exhibit her work). In 1942, she landed in the nation's capital, shooting microfilm of rare books at the ational Archives and, later, printing photographs at the Office of War Information, successor to the historical section of the Farm Security Administration, which had supported such celebrated documentary photographers as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks. In her off hours, Bubley took pictures of single working women. Her break came in 1943, when the photography office's director,
Roy Stryker, sent her on a six-week crosscountry bus trip to capture a nation at war. Her late 1940s photographs of Texas oil towns for Standard Oil (New Jersey), a project also overseen by Stryker, are postwar landmarks. Bubley was a successful freelancer and, in 1954, the first woman awarded top prize in Photography magazine's competition for international work, for a photograph of women
Bubley's 1947 color photograph of a man in a fedora standing on a train platform in New York City, a painterly picture of long shadows and sooty red bricks, calls to mind the distracted loneliness of an Edward Hopper canvas.
Right: Esther Bubley took this photograph during her trip to Agra in December 1965. She was on an assignment for Pan American World Airways, which was expanding its in ternational operations.
Below: A 1943 wartime photo made in Washington,
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in Morocco made for UNICEF. She produced a dozen photo essays between 1948 and 1960 on "How America Lives" for Ladies' Home Journal. As the magazine's editor, John G. Morris, put it in 1998, "Bubley had the ability to make people forget she was even around; her pictures achieved incredible intimacy." A private woman, Bubley, whose marriage in 1948 to Ed Locke, an assistant to Stryker, lasted barely two years, spent her later decades in New York City, making pictures of her Dalmatians and of Central Park, among other things. She did not have fancy theories about her calling. At age 31, she made an entry in a journal that caught the essence of her approach-direct, unadorned, essentially American and deceptively simple: "I am quite humble and happy to be one of those people who work because they love their work and take pride in doing it as best they can." ~ Beverly W. Brannan is a curator of photography at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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i\CHIEVERS Vincent Edwards
Animated Enterprise American producer works up a movie on Indian heritage hero ByRAMOLATALWARBADAM n American filmmaker who worked on the animated series Godzilla, Spiderman and Starship Troopers has come to breathe life into a hero from India's ancient past. Vincent Edwards brings his experience of directing American animated series to a feature he is working on with a team of Indian animators. But the identity of his Indian hero is still wrapped in mystery. All Edwards will reveal is that his main lead is as famous in India as Superman. He shifted base from Los Angeles to Bangalore with his wife and three young children to work on the film being financed by an Indian investor. "I was asked to work on this project by someone who was concerned that Indian culture would be lost in a mad, mad rush to Americanize, with the big interest in superheroes like Spiderman and Superman," he says. Edwards declines to provide any more details about the character or the expected release date. "It's an Indian heritage project that will not alienate an American, European or Canadian audience," he says. "But first we'll make sure to get the attention of the Indian audience here and the thousands of NRI families." Bollywood actors and actresses may provide the voices for characters in the film. "We are casting the voices and have identified a renowned composer to do some songs," he says, Edwards believes it is vital the project be entertaining. For a movie to succeed, he says it "needs to be about what people care
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about and are entertained by" He uses The Incredibles as an example, "It is a story about a typical American family, but they have superpowers. On one level it tells you about the American way of life, but it's an engaging story with characters you can relate to," The huge popularity of the animated movie Hanuman also triggered the idea for the India project. "There is a huge domestic appetite for well-accomplished Indian animation projects," Edwards says. "There is a need to fill that demand, to resuscitate the cultural legacy." But he has one grouse about the Indian animation industrythat it doesn't try hard enough or push animators and writers to reach their true potential. "I think the large majority of animation products created in India for the Indian market is of a poor standard. They first assume that the audience has low expectations. It is "good enough" is what you hear, says Edwards, "If what people see is a cheap model, they are shooting themselves in the foot. Nobody outside of India will ever watch it." He says Indian animators need a better understanding of the story structure, how to engage the audience and hold its interest. "The Indian animation industry does not have a very firm grasp of the story structure, of the methodology. You need to give the audience that feeling of expectation." He stresses the need for a powerful, moving storyline that keeps the audience entertained. "There is a need for content and something
will arise to fill the vacuum that exists, There are passionate and talented people here dedicated to animation as an art form," Edwards believes that as the Indian audience is exposed to Western quality standards in filmmaking, people will be more demanding, "They won't buy stuff that doesn't pass muster and filmmakers will have to provide that world class edge." As the Indian animation industry moves toward creating original content locally, Edwards says it is an exciting time to be in India, Entertainment giants such as Walt Disney have outsourced animation work to Indian companies over the past several years and studios from the United States and New Zealand have set up offices here. Cheap labor costs attract firms to India, Half-an-hour of production work for animation costs about $60,000 in India as against a steep $250,000 to $400,000 in Canada and the United States respectively, according to estimates from the Indian animation industry. "The industry here is large, relatively inexpensive and it's sawy; so this creates a climate to do massive outsourcing co-production work in India," says Edwards. "But ultimately the talent pool reaches a critical mass. Then people start thinking, 'We understand how to do this. Why don't we do it ourselves?'" He says the challenge for the Indian industry is to move from being a cheap production hub to a talent powerhouse "There are a lot of good studios
in India doing BPO [business process outsourcing] type of stUff, Right now the big challenge for India is to move from the BPO model to create its own IP [intellectual property] and its own brand. This will help it benefit from a bigger share of the pie; that's where the money is at." Edwards says he knows of other Western producers and directors who have also come to India. "Smarter studios realize there is homegrown talent but without much experience. So the challenge is how to identify an idea is a good idea, develop it, visualize it and then identify a market," he says. Edwards also enjoys being in India and observing the changes in the country during an economic boom. He says it is inspiring to see the determination with which India is attempting to scale up Propelled by growing domestic demand and exports, the Indian economy is growing at a rate of about 8 percent a year His wife and their three children-aged seven, three and oneand-a-half-are settling in to life in India. "My wife likes yoga and I like chicken tikka," he says. But sometimes seeing disparities upsets them. "This is a hard country, While there are opportunities, the poverty is daunting," says Edwards. "But when you see huge bags of books that children carry to school everyday, you know that this is the way people in poverty will be raised up." ~ Ramola Talwar Badam is a Mumbai-based
writer.
ecretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns discussed cooperation in the farm and food processing sectors during a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November and also interacted with farmers in Hyderabad.
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esh Pal Verma, professor of molecular biology at Ohio State University, in discussions with the principal, Dr. J.M. Delhekar (right), and faculty of Pravara Agricultural Science College in Loni, one of severa~ institutions in Maharashtra that he visited in midDecember to discuss how biotechnology can produce higher crop yields. He also shared methods for reducing waste and lowering costs on farms. Biotechnology can provide more rural employment and thus expand the farm economy, which is important for India's national prosperity, said Verma, shown interacting with professors (from right) Shivaji Sakhare and K.G. Pati!o
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he Uttar Pradesh government has told all movie halls in the state to show ads four times a day in which Amitabh Bachchan delivers important messages on HIV-AIDS prevention and polio vaccination. Over the next year, 86 million people are expected to see them. Bachchan has taken no fee and the initial investment by USAID has been matched 15 times over by public and private donations.