My Gaelic Name
I revised my St. Patrick’s Day post from last year and posted it at Fictionaut. A commenter there bestowed on me the Gaelic version of Elizabeth….
Memories of International Women’s Day in Nepal
Four months after I gave birth to my son in Nepal, I celebrated my very first International Women’s Day in 1988 in Gunjanagar, a village in western Chitwan District. It was also Gunjangar’s first time to organize an event for that day. I describe the scene in Sacred Threads, my ethnographic memoir-in-progress….
Song Inspires Nostalgia for Anthropology
A contemporary song reminds me of all that inspired me to become an anthropologist eons ago….
More Haiti Links
Following up on my Martin Luther King Day post, here are some more links that expose mainstream media bias and deepen historical and political understanding of Haiti:…
Lessons From Dr. King on Haiti
It’s hard enough to comprehend the scale of disaster in Haiti. What’s harder is this: to stand by and watch hate, ignorance and greed breed on human suffering like maggots….
Ama: My Greatest Teacher
Growing food this summer in northeast Oregon, I relied on all that I’ve learned over the years from books, conversations, observations, and personal experience. But I probably heard Ama’s voice more than any other….
Local Communities Promote Vultures
For International Vulture Awareness Day, I highlight some exciting community initiatives on two endangered vulture species I posted on last spring: The California Condor and White-Rumped Vulture….
Website for Ajamvari Farm
I finally finished the website for Ajamvari Farm, a family run permaculture project in Nepal that hosts volunteers. I helped develop the farm fifteen-some years ago while living in Nepal and discovered a passion for growing food that still runs strong today. The website provides information on opportunities for homestays and volunteering at the farm [...]
White-Rumped Vulture: Species of the Week
About a month ago, I wrote a post on California condors, birds that had been haunting my imagination for some time. While browsing information for that post, I learned about the plight of carrion-eaters once common in the plains of Nepal, Pakistan, and India.
I lived in the plains of Nepal for three years in the late 80s and early 90s and also traveled through India during that time. I remember seeing parakeets, egrets, mynahs, and many colorful songbirds. But even though I must have passed by them hundreds of times, I don’t remember seeing Gyps bengalensis, the White-Rumped Vulture (also referred to as the Oriential White-Backed Vulture). Nor do I remember associated species, such as G.indicus (Long-billed vulture) or G.tenuirostris (Tender-billed Vulture). And they were all probably abundant….
Happy Feet
I’ve been writing and rewriting a manuscript on Nepal for at least ten years and am ready to be done with it, but I’m not. I have to dig in and do some really hard work revising pieces that grew stale for me a long time ago. I’ve been over the same material many times [...]
