Robert Aitken on the Art and Poetry of Zen
Published on February 8, 2017
Article by Robert Aitken
Robert Aitken came to Bodhi Tree Bookstore from his native Hawaii in October 1994 to talk about his Zen practice. Aitken Roshi (the term “Roshi” literally means “old teacher” and is used in the United States to refer to a person who has been authorized as a fully independent Zen teacher) has been practicing Zen for more than 40 years and has been actively teaching for two decades. During this archived presentation, he read passages from his books Practice of Perfection [Editor’s Note: This book is now out of print], Encouraging Words and Ground We Share (written with David Steindl-Rast), and answered audience questions and comments.
Aitken Roshi’s published writings (listed at the end of the presentation) provide comprehensive information for those wishing to learn about Zen, and especially for those who would like to experience Zen meditation. His many years of practice and study are evident in his frequent use of koans (recorded sayings and actions of the great Zen masters) through which he challenges his readers to arrive at their own realization of the meaning of Zen. At the same time, he is careful to provide background information that makes these unique expressions of Zen insight accessible to the Western reader.
Aitken’s Life and American Zen’s History
Aitken Roshi was extensively trained in the Japanese Zen tradition and encouraged his students to study the art and poetry through which Zen has found expression in China and Japan. At the same time, his teaching demonstrated what might be the beginning of “American Zen.” Traditionally, Zen has been primarily a monastic practice. However, Aitken Roshi was a layperson whose students typically had careers and families of their own. In addition, he strongly emphasized the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism and was known for his work promoting world peace.
Co-founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Aitken Roshi was also a Master of the Diamond Sangha, a Zen Buddhist society he founded in 1959 with his late wife, Anne Hopkins Aitken, in Honolulu. Aitken Roshi passed away in 2010. His last book, The River of Heaven: The Haiku of Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock], was published in 2011. —Justine Amodeo
The following excerpt from Aitken Roshi’s 1994 presentation begin with his response to a question about “everyday mind,” after Aitken Roshi had read a passage from his book Encouraging Words, which defines perennial truth as “the mind of every single day of all time and in the dimension of no time.”
Addressing the Everyday Mind
Audience: What is “everyday mind?”
Robert Aitken: This is a very interesting point. We’re not speaking about the everyday mind that turns on the TV to watch a rerun of Gilligan’s Island, see? When you look at the implication of everyday, that means unchanging. In a famous koan involving two great teachers, Chao-chou asked Nan-ch’uan, “What is the Tao? What is the way? What is realization?” Nan-ch’uan said, “Ordinary mind is the Tao.” It becomes clearer that this is not the tedious mental tape that Nan-ch’uan is talking about, but rather, when you fully realize the Tao, you will find it is vast and fathomless as outer space. “How can this be discussed at the level of right and wrong?” This is the way Nan-ch’uan ends his little homily to Chao-chou. That which is always at rest and does not move, does not come or go. It is total peace. It is that which does not change, because it has no substance. Substance is always changing, you know, but this has no substance. So, that is ordinary mind. That is everyday mind, which we seek to uncover in our practice.
The Buddhist Take on Perfection
Audience: I have to say I’m somewhat troubled by the title The Practice of Perfection. What is the point of aiming for perfection?
Aitken: One does not aim for perfection. One practices it. It’s like an attorney practices law or a doctor practices medicine. But this is a very interesting point because, as you know, perfection can be a neurosis and it’s something that parents always need to struggle in regards to their children. A child might cry, “I made a blot on my letter to Grandma,” and the mother says, “It’s all right, Grandma wants to see your letter, blot and all.” “But it’s got a blot in it,” you know. [Laughs] Well, we need to work carefully with children to encourage them to do their best and as my mother used to say, “Angels can do no more.” Once when I was an apprentice teacher, I was working with students who were also working with my teacher, Yamada Roshi. And in speaking about one of the students we had in common, I said, “I feel he tends to be perfectionistic.” And Roshi said, “Well, isn’t it all right to want to be perfect?” Good point. But, in Zen it is said that the Buddha Shakyamuni is still practicing somewhere and he is only halfway there.
The perfections are lights on our path. They are modes of practice. Actually, another meaning for paramita [which means “perfect” or “perfection”] is to cross to the other shore—to the other shore of Nirvana. I chose perfection rather than “crossing to the other shore” because there is something, you say, rather absolute about that implication of the latter. We are always in process of crossing.
The Buddhist Take on Imperfection
Audience: It seems to me that the awareness of imperfection is just as important.
Aitken: Oh. [Laughs] I couldn’t agree more. But, one does not punish oneself with one’s sense of one’s imperfection. With that self-punishment, one is stymied. But, the consciousness that, “I didn’t do it very well then and I will do it better next time,” that is a kind of practice. I didn’t call it The Perfection of Practice, you see. [Laughter] OK?
The Importance of Peak Experiences
Audience: You spoke about Buddhist and Christian peak experiences. Could you speak about viewing daily experience from the context of a peak experience, and how that relates to fear?
Aitken: Yes, of course. Coming back from that peak experience, you are aware that there is no fear, even when you are afraid. And incidentally, I must say, that the Chinese ideograph which we translate as fear (referring to a passage in the Heart Sutra about having “no fear”), actually means terror—the terror we feel when we stare into the abyss. David Hume came to the end of his philosophical research and looked into the abyss and said, “Ohhh… I’m not going in there.” In effect, he said, it’s much better to come back and enjoy a good game of backgammon with my friends. It’s too bad, see? Don Quixote, at the edge of the abyss, commends himself to his god and to his mistress and spurs his horse and leaps with his full armor on into this horrible sea full of monstrous creatures, and before he knew what was happening to him, he found himself in fields beautiful beyond Elysium.
That is the conviction that the pilgrim of any religion has, that I walk through this valley of the shadow of death and it is the context of my practice—it is the mood or mode of my practice. And, I go right through. We don’t have a god to comfort us in Buddhism, so we can only go step by step with the confidence that others have gone this way before and it’s been all right.
Audience: Satoris and Kenshos and peak experiences are so temporal. How have either the masters or you or advanced students been able to hold on to enough of it to carry you?
Aitken: It’s important not to hold on to it. If these peak experiences are genuine, they are transformative. Your life is changed by them. John Wu, in a class I took from him years ago, told the story from the Book of Saints about a young priest who had a vision of the Virgin Mary. He devoted the rest of his life in his cell to painting that vision on the wall of his cell, rubbing it out and repainting it. That’s really too bad. What might have he gone on to, you know? All these peak experiences are milestones on our path. And the be-all and end-all experience for some is only the beginning for others.
What is American Zen?
Audience: Do you see Zen practice taking on an American flavor? Have you seen that happen in your experience, since Zen centers tend to be Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese?
Aitken: Well, it’s interesting to look at history. Dhyana Buddhism came from India with Bodhidharma, they say, in the sixth century. When you look at the writings attributed to Bodhidharma, you find them quite Indian in their flavor—quite philosophical, really. Even in the Platform Sutra of the sixth ancestor, you find a certain Indian flavor. But, in two more generations—that’s eight generations after Bodhidharma—you have clearly a Chinese way that has somehow married Taoism. Then when Chan came to Japan and became Zen, while it was certainly less obvious and less radical, there was nonetheless an integration with Japanese culture, particularly Shinto. Coming to this country, inevitably, there is going to be an acculturation. For example, things I’ve said tonight would never be said in Japan, I’m sure. The whole worldview that has arisen in the last 120 or so years with psychology just permeates our culture—permeates it. Christianity and Judaism permeate our culture.
I grew up as a little boy in Central Union Church in Honolulu, and I used to sit there in the sermons. I knew that the sermons were boring. I thought this was just something you did. You sat there and you entertained yourself while the sermons were going on and I used to make the minister go out of focus and come into focus. [Laughter] I would see him as a little boy, I would see him as an old man and so I would pass my time in this way. But the extraordinary thing is that when I began teaching, those words from the Bible came readily to my lips when it was pertinent to say, “Put away childish things,” or whatever. Or to say, “Love never faileth,” which was emblazoned in gold letters above the altar. Anyway, something is certainly happening in Western Buddhism, but I represent only the first generation of native teachers.
The Importance of Community
Audience: You were talking about how some states of emptiness, or something, aren’t exactly a peak experience, they’re more terrifying or almost destroying. It seems with those types of experiences that you really can’t go back and play backgammon just knowing that that’s there. You were saying that just the confidence that other people have gone before you is enough to carry you through that?
Aitken: Oh, it’s more than that. It’s the Sangha (the Buddhist community). It’s the fellowship, the kinship of people that you’re sitting with. It’s the teacher who is kidding you along, and encouraging you, and it’s the reading that you’ve done. Hakuin Zenji (the great Japanese Zen Master) said, “I felt as though I were in a profound cave frozen in primordial ice. I couldn’t move. I would hear the voices of others as though from an infinite distance.” Well, that wasn’t my experience. But I can relate to it, because I had similar experiences. Every dark night experience is different and is expressed differently. But, that dark night experience, whether it’s being frozen in this deep cave or whether it is being in a desert, where there’s not a drop of water or a blade of grass, or whatever the experience, there is an experience of unity that goes with it. Whether you’re frozen in that unity or whether you have this experience of vast emptiness—literal, horrible emptiness—there is some hint there, you see, that this can be a teacher. And you walk through. As you say, you can’t step back—well, you can, you see, but you mustn’t. [Laughter]
How to Reconcile Zen Ideas with Western Culture
Audience: One of the things I find difficult about Eastern religions, especially Zen Buddhism, is this whole idea of no goals and being humble and being process-oriented, when we live in a Western culture, which is very much oriented to tooting your own horn and being results-oriented. I like the feeling you get when you meditate, but…
Aitken: I don’t think we need to blame it on the Easterners, you see. [Laughter] It’s not an East-West dichotomy. There are plenty of viciously ambitious goal-oriented people in China. After all, the Chinese invented bureaucracy. [Laughter] Riddled with ambition, riddled with achievement orientation, corruption, the whole works. So, the Zen students who stepped aside in Chinese culture stepped out of the equivalent of our kind of ambitious society. But one thing that differs is our technology—that’s about the only difference. And our missionizing, so to speak, that comes out of perhaps a perversion of the words of Jesus. That’s part of our culture. But, we’re not that different. It’s very important that one be confident, that one be able to come forth and to express oneself. When the Dalai Lama was in Honolulu recently, he gave a few talks and I was struck by the fact that he frequently made the point that confidence and equanimity are the same thing. Now, that’s very different from charismatic confidence. The confidence that I’ve got a way that is going to bring me lots of money and I’m going to show you the same way. When I was a boy, the popular book in the drugstores was Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. It’s still in print. [Laughter]
What we need to do, for example, in breath counting (a basic meditation practice), is not to hold out the idea of reaching 10, but rather to be intimate with each point in the sequence as it comes up. Intimacy and realization are the same word in the old texts. They’re synonyms and the point has no dimension. There is eternity itself. Right there. We learned in geometry, the point has no dimension. So, we focus on that single point. And, after all, what are we attaining? We are attaining the place in the hospital where interventions fail. And that’s the end of it. That’s the attainment, really. We have to get off that timeline. Or at least incorporate the eternal in that timeline. OK?
Why Christians Find Solace in Zen Buddhism
Audience: Can you talk a little more about where your personal experience has touched common ground with Christian teachers you’ve met like David Steindl-Rast?
Aitken: Yes. When I first began working with Yamada Roshi, the teacher from whom I received transmission, he told me about the Catholics who were coming to study with him in Kamakura and how impressed he was with their earnestness and their diligence. Then, Anne Aitken and I went to Kamakura to study and we saw this for ourselves. One of the sisters, who at that time was 38, said to us, “Zen Buddhism brings me what I expected to find when I joined the Order 20 years ago and didn’t find.” There is almost a deep memory that once there was a teaching of a kind of Zazen meditation in Christianity though it was not as complete. I’ve read Christian meditation in manuals that instruct you to put your beard on your chest. Well, that’s not the way to meditate; you’ve got to keep your head up. But, the Cloud of Unknowing and The Way of the Pilgrim and such books (and certainly Meister Eckhart) are struggling to express the perennial through their own cultures and through their own words, their own languages. When Meister Eckhart says, “The eye with which I see God is the very same eye with which God sees me,” this is a very complicated way of expressing what the old Zen teachers would do with just a word or two.
So, what David and I did not try to do was to reach commonalty across cultural and sectarian lines, but rather to find the perennial common ground. This is very dangerous because what is common ground, and what we enunciate as common ground for the Buddhists, will sound a lot different from the common ground that’s expressed by Christians. So, we talked a lot. Coomaraswamy says, “All paths reach the top of the same mountain.” I don’t believe that. I think there are all kinds of mountains. Let a hundred mountains rise.
Books by Robert Aitken
The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from a Zen Buddhist Perspective (1994) [Editor’s Note: This book is now out of print]
Aitken shows how Zen practice is grounded in the Indian Mahayana Buddhist tradition, and in turn, how that tradition is expressed through Zen. The Paramitas or “Perfections” are the qualities such as giving, patience, meditation and wisdom that lead to enlightenment.
Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students (1993)
This book contains talks given by Aitken during Zen retreats and essays that demonstrate the development of his insights during the past two decades. The book conveys the flavor of Zen practice and offers skillful advice for meditators; it also includes texts that are recited as part of Zen practice.
The Ground We Share Everyday Practice, Buddhist and Christian with David Steindl-Rast (1994)
This is a remarkable weeklong dialogue in which Aitken and a leading Christian contemplative both challenge and appreciate one another’s viewpoints.
The Dragon Who Never Sleeps: Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice (1992) [Editor’s Note: This book is now out of print]
Brief verses to encourage the meditator along the path.
The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan) translation and commentary by Robert Aitken (1992)
Aitken reveals a classic Zen textbook (koan collection) for the modern reader, inviting us to enter into the spirit of the great Zen Masters and realize that “each being is infinitely precious.”
The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics (1984)
Aitken discusses the Buddhist precepts and his beliefs and insights regarding religious activism.
Taking the Path of Zen (1982)
An excellent, practical manual for beginners that includes detailed Zen meditation instructions along with general information about Zen practice. Includes Aitken’s autobiographical account of his own Zen studies.
A Zen Wave: Basho’s Haiku and Zen (1978) [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock]
This unique and enjoyable book explores the famous Haiku poetry of Basho from the standpoint of Zen, and life from the standpoint of poetry.
Other Books by Robert Aitken
The River of Heaven: The Haiku of Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki (2011) [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock]
Miniatures of a Zen Master (2008) [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock]
Vegetable Roots Discourse: Wisdom from Ming China on Life and Living with Daniel Kwok (2007) [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock]
The Morning Star: New and Selected Zen Writings (2003) [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock]
Zen Master Raven: Savings and Doings of a Wise Bird (2002) [Editor’s Note: The publisher is out of stock]
Original Dwelling Place: Zen Buddhist Essays (1996) [Editor’s Note: This book is now out of print]
Tags: aitken, art, bodhi talk, Buddhism, EDITED, from the archives, poetry, Zen
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This two-part editorial by the Insight team seeks to open a discussion between faculty, students, postdocs and the school administration about whether the school is prepared for meeting the changes in the future of PhD holders. The first part will address the current available resources and the unmet needs of the students/postdocs, and will also explore some possible solutions. The second part, to be published in the next issue of the InSight, will carry the opinions of all parties involved collected through a survey and communication, which will serve as a stepping stone towards meaningful changes that will benefit us all.
Editors’ Note, 4/11/16, 1:30 pm – The article has been modified to include corrected information regarding the BEST award application by Sackler. Previously it had stated that Sackler had applied for the BEST award and was not awarded due to lack of proper infrastructure. However, after communicating with the Dean’s office, we have learned that Sackler had applied in conjunction with other Tufts graduate schools and it is speculated the application was not funded partly due to complex administrative structure and evaluation and dissemination plans. The changes are reflected in the article.
The Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) is a degree awarded to recognize original contributions to collective human knowledge. Thus, it is no surprise that the next step after getting a PhD is to join the bastions where such knowledge is curated and cultivated, i.e., to pursue an academic career. However, given the current structure of an academic job and the nature of academic tenure, a bottleneck in academic positions have taken firm root in the last years. According to Nature, the number of postdocs have jumped by 150% between 2000 and 2012 while the number of tenured or full time faculty positions in the US has either remained stagnant or fallen. While the debate on how to improve the lives of postdocs and other non-faculty PhD holders rages on and restructuring of federal funding for scientific research is ongoing, the increasing number of PhDs leaving the traditional path and venturing into other professions is readily apparent.
Adapted from Powell 2015 Nature
Adapted from Cyransoki et al 2011 Nature
In recent years, the PhD degree has been developed as a marketable asset with a accompanied with a powerful skill set — the ability to think critically, solve problems and troubleshoot, be organized and detail-oriented. The idea that the skills required for obtaining a PhD are also recognized as required to be successful in any other profession, and is now being echoed by career counselors. While industry research positions were once spoken about in hushed voices before, these positions are now not only coveted, but other non-research jobs are also becoming more prominent in seminars and career advice panels for biomedical graduate students and postdocs.
This trend is also evident within the graduate student population here at Sackler School of Biomedical Graduate Sciences, where more than half the alumni have pursued non-academic careers. As the funding climate struggles to recover and academic positions become more scarce, the question arises of whether the existing model of career development for student and postdoctoral trainees is sufficient to ensure future success and achieving their goals. It is apparent that career development training outside of academia is required, but the support for this by the curriculum and administration at the Sackler School seems to lag behind our peer institutions, and even our colleagues on the Medford campus have access to the Tufts Career Center and the students in the Fletcher School have their own Career Services office.
Resources currently available for students at Sackler interested pursuing non-academic careers are mostly driven and organized by the students themselves. These student-led initiatives have produced a full roster of seminars and workshops focusing on such career options held nearly weekly between the Career Paths Committee of the Sackler Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Tufts Biomedical Business Club (TBBC). These groups have become increasingly active over the past few years, with their efforts growing into independent events like the Tufts New England Case Competition (TUNECC), as well as collaborations with the Tufts Postdoctoral Association and student groups in the School of Medicine. Additionally, the Tufts Mentoring Circles group has provided students peer guidance and spaces to discuss such career options among themselves. Every student initiative listed here has sought more interactions with Sackler alumni, but the information to facilitate that exchange is not readily available. Student leaders at Sackler have expended great effort to build the career resources the student body needs, but these efforts are reaching the limit of what they can achieve and will only be short term and partial solutions without additional resources and support infrastructure. Some of this could be built by students, like shared repositories for maintaining records and thus institutional memory so energy is expended solving new problems instead of rehashing old ones. The most important piece, however, cannot be done by students alone: an accurate, current database of Sackler alumni and their occupations that is accessible and searchable.
We appreciate that the Dean’s Office has recently increased its support of these student efforts, but believe that more can be done. An increased contribution to co-sponsorship from partial funding of one or two events with the GSC annually to a series of three annual workshops and career panels over the past two academic years, and the interactions between a handful of students with Sackler alumni through the new “Day in the Life” program are good starting points. However, the student body and Sackler as an institution would derive greater benefit and return on an investment in career development and advising staff, similar to those available at the Fletcher School and the Medford campus, but scaled for Sackler. It would be mutually beneficial, as it works to the advantage of a school to have an engaged student body that will recognize and appreciate the school’s support in shaping their careers as alumni. Furthermore, this infrastructure could be a common point for alumni to rely upon and connect with students and each other.
The lack of formal career development resources at Sackler has been identified by peer reviewers as an area for improvement, and puts us at a competitive disadvantage for student recruitment and securing grant funding. Prospective students actively seek graduate programs that provide career development, and among the recommendations made by the review committee for the newly-merged CMDB program were formal non-academic career training options and an expansion of extramural internships through the alumni network and faculty connections. Funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) evaluate grant applications on this aspect of graduate training as well. For example, F31 grant applications to support graduate students require descriptions of career training and development; the proposed changes will essentially strengthen the Sackler students’ applications and may increase the number of extramurally funded students, alleviating the pressure on the school. A more recent example includes the NIH Broadening Experience in Scientific Training (BEST) awards, a funding opportunity established in 2013 in response to the state of the biomedical workforce and to prepare trainees for diverse career paths that utilize their PhD training. Boston University received a BEST award in 2014 for its biomedical research programs in part because of its existing career development and support infrastructure. It should be noted that Sackler, along with other graduate schools at Tufts, had applied for the BEST award. While the reviewers had found the application to be strong in certain areas and to have “potential for high impact”, they also noted weaknesses that included “complex administrative structure and the evaluation and dissemination plans”, which could partly be responsible for the award not being funded (source – email communication with Sackler Dean’s office). These issues can be addressed with the establishment of the proposed infrastructure development and can further strengthen such grant applications in the future.
The faculty mentor plays an important role in shaping a mentee’s future career — the mentor’s support and guidance are essential for the mentee’s career development. While Sackler faculty are generally supportive of students and postdocs, it is critical for them to come forward and actively support mentees’ who choose to pursue careers outside of academia and research. The Greater Boston area is known as a hub for biotechnology research and business, with companies specializing in everything from drug development to consulting. Many recent and local alumni maintain a connection to Tufts through their faculty mentors absent a career development office at Sackler, and both students and postdocs would greatly benefit if the faculty mentors shared these connections, and offered guidance and support on leaving academia.
The current funding climate and the stagnation of academic positions, along with the burgeoning postdoc crisis, amount to conditions favorable for a paradigm shift. We cannot just keep focusing on the academic jobs traditionally held by PhDs. In order to better adapt to this changing landscape of post-doctoral work, the students, postdocs, faculty, and administration need to work together to bring about improvements to the environment at Sackler, specifically:
Developing an accessible, searchable, up-to-date database of Sackler alumni that can be used by students, postdocs and faculty looking for career advice and connections.
Faculty support in the form of guidance and connections in developing non-academic careers.
Career development support staff for students from the Tufts and Sackler administration, so as to cultivate an engaged alumni population.
Comments, suggestions, and other feedback on this editorial can be left on either the InSight blog or via this online form: Anonymous feedback form: http://goo.gl/forms/PXEfcLfgeX
A survey to collect more detailed data from the student body will be conducted by the Sackler GSC in the coming weeks.
careercareer developmentcareer pathseditorialfeaturedPhD careersresources for students
April 2016, articles, Techniques
Resources for learning how to code
Last month, I put together a small script that made the calendar from the Sackler website accessible to calendar software such as Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, and others, that a majority of people now use. This little simple bit of code solved a problem of the Sackler website that has existed for years and requires no further intervention on my part. I’ve put the source code online on GitHub for anyone who is interested in seeing how it works (https://github.com/danielsenhwong/sackler). For anyone who is interested in learning how to code or, like me, would like to develop their skills beyond the introductory undergraduate level, I’ve compiled a list of resources that may be useful.
This is in many ways the most difficult part about learning how to code. Many resources exist, but it’s difficult to know which is the most approrpiate for your current skill level. You may already be somewhat familiar with some specific coding techniques or languagees, but significant gaps may still remain in your knowledgebase. Such gaps could include understanding how to set up a coding environment on your computer, which language is most suitable for your work, or how to interface with a database instead of just reading data from a file generated by your plate reader. As biomedical scientists, our familiarity with computers and code is limited compared to more computationally-intensive fields, but not compeltely absent, and our field is rapidly becoming more computational.
Fortunately, there is a book specifically intended for biologists who are interested in developing their computing skill set: Practical Computing for Biologists, by Steven Haddock and Casey Dunn. The book introduces basic concepts of coding while also providing a thorough walkthrough of how to set up a suitable environment on your computer before moving on to practical applications of coding and tools for data analysis, including working with databases and best practices for working with graphics and generating figures for publication. The companion website for the book makes much of the example code freely available, along with some other extras, including the reference tables, which are extremely useful while you’re still learning the commands: http://practicalcomputing.org/
Tufts Technology Services (Tufts IT) also has some resources available for free to the Tufts community, including access to Lynda.com, which hosts self-paced online tutorials for a number of different topics, including coding as well as software-specific training (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.). Additional details can be found on the Tufts IT website: https://it.tufts.edu/lynda
Integrating coding into your work
It can be difficult to learn how to code if it’s siloed away as a separate skill you’re trying to learn, so one effective technique is to integrate it into your normal workflow. One example would be to use R (r-project.org) in place of Excel or Prism to perform your statistical analysis. A good book for learning how to get started is Introductory Statistics with R, by Peter Dalgaard. A PDF version of this book is available for free through the Tufts library or heavily discounted for purchase: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-0-387-79054-1
codingfeaturedresources
April 2016, articles, Community
Sackler Spotlight – Wei-sheng Chen, CMDB
As part of a new endeavor to highlight exciting and groundbreaking work done at Sackler, we are now interviewing current students about their science and themselves.
This month’s spotlight is on Wei-sheng Chen (CMDB) who earned his PhD from Sackler last year and whose dissertation work will be published in Nature Communications.
What is your research focused on?
My research focused on the role of galectins, a family of carbohydrate binding proteins, in the ocular diseases. During my Ph.D., I investigated (i) the role of galectins in modulating angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, (ii) effect of inhibiting galectin-3 and galectin-8 on corneal and choroidal neovascularization, and (iii) therapeutic opportunities of treating glaucoma.
What are some of your major findings?
My thesis project is to study the role of galectin-8 in modulating the process of lymphangiogenesis. Compared to blood vessels, lymphatic vessels were considered less important, invisible, and thus largely neglected by scientists and clinicians. Only in recent years, subsequent to the identification of lymphatic-specific markers (such as podoplanin), it is becoming increasingly clear that lymphatic vessels do not just serve as passive conduits for interstitial fluid and cells, but is actively involved in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. In addition, the role of carbohydrate recognition system in the regulation of lymphangiogenesis is poorly understood. For my thesis project, using the avascular cornea as a canvas, I demonstrated that galectin-8 is a key mediator of crosstalk among VEGF-C (vascular endothelial growth factor-C), podoplanin and integrin lymphangiogenic pathways. Also, this is the first report demonstrating that podoplanin is a key player in VEGF-C-induced lymphangiogenesis.
What short- and long-term implications does your research have in your field?
In this study, we demonstrated that in the mouse model of corneal allogeneic transplantation, galectin-8-induced lymphangiogenesis is associated with an increased rate of corneal graft rejection. In addition, in the mouse model of herpes simplex virus keratitis, corneal pathology and lymphangiogenesis are ameliorated in galectin-8 knockout mice. Targeting galectin-8 can be a potential novel therapy for corneal graft rejection and herpes simplex virus keratitis. In addition, these results have broad implications for developing novel therapeutic agents to treat numerous diseases, including, but are not limited to, lymphedema, tumor metastasis, cardiovascular diseases (myocardial infarction, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension), inflammation and immunity, obesity, glaucoma, dry eye disease, and allergic eye disease.
What initially got you interested in science in general, as well as your current field, and this project(s)?
I began my scientific career as a part-time undergrad student in a cardiovascular lab in National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. My job was to purify plasminogen from human plasma, and further process the protein enzymatically to generate different forms of anti-angiogenic angiostatins. I guess ever since then, I have been fascinated by vascular biology.
During my first year at Tufts, I was looking for a lab studying vascular biology and have done different projects related to the field. Fortunately, I joined Prof. Noorjahan Panjwani’s lab at Ophthalmology Department in 2011 to start my thesis project. During my Ph.D., I have learned a lot about the diverse functions of glycans and glycan binding proteins. In addition, I was encouraged to attend regional and international conferences and have developed great interests in pathogenesis of ocular diseases such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.
Where do you see your career heading in the short or long term?
In the short term, I would like to learn more about the interaction between blood/lymphatic vessels and immune cells such as macrophages and T cells in the setting of eye diseases and/or cancers.
In the long term, I would like to become an independent scientist focusing on vascular biology in the hope to find new therapies for ocular and cardiovascular diseases.
Anything interesting that you do outside of lab or that is science-related but not connected to your research?
I like to travel and try different cuisines. I especially like conferences that are held close to beaches. In my free time at home, I also like to watch food channel. Some of my favorite programs are “Chopped”, “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Worst Cooks in America”.
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Implicit Bias: A Conscious Discussion of Unconscious Actions
April 11, 2016 Kofi E. Gyan	Leave a comment
It is no secret that unconscious biases penetrate various realms of society; from hiring decisions (Lebowitz, 2015) to medical care (Blair, Steiner, and Havranek, 2011) and even foul calls in the NBA (Schwarz, 2007).
But what about implicit bias in our everyday lives? Does it really play a role in who we form relationships with, or the way we interact with others, or even the way we perceive a stranger?
Implicit bias refers to attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner, according to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, which publishes an annual Implicit Bias Review . Unlike explicit bias, which reflects the attitudes or beliefs that one endorses at a conscious level, implicit bias is judgment and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control.
Recent claims of overt and covert discrimination on college campuses and in policing raise the question: How does someone’s unconscious reaction to people of a different race, religion or sexuality influence their judgment and behavior? Psychologists and social scientists working within this field do not have a concise answer to explain how implicit bias manifests in everyday life, as it is hard to rule out alternative explanations.
In other words, implicit bias can and does happen, but it is complicated to prove.
“Some biases seem obviously wrong, like treating equally qualified people differently when hiring or promoting,” said Calvin Lai, director of research for Harvard’s Project Implicit. “Every day biases are hard to wrap our heads around because they’re so much more personal, and you can point to other reasons.”
Similarly, structural factors beyond your control might come into play. If most of your friends look like you, or you tend to date people of the same race as you, it could largely be just a reflection of the demographics in your community.
However, research shows that those relationships, along with the interactions and experiences that come from them, are key contributors of implicit biases. These biases begin forming at a young age and are easily reinforced into adulthood through social settings and mass media.
“When you think backwards, what you think is normal is really cultural pressure that pushes you into bias, implicit and conscious,” said sociologist Charles Gallagher, chairman of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at LaSalle University in Philadelphia.
Hanging out with friends that look like you isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if they’re nice people! However, research suggests that implicit biases and stereotypes, both positive and negative, are maintained through persistent lack of contact with others beyond your “in-group,” that is people who share certain characteristics.
The good news? We are not helpless to combat implicit bias. It can be mitigated through intervention strategies, starting with recognizing where it might exist in your life and seeking exposure to people and experiences beyond your regular circles.
Psychologists and social scientist who study implicit bias are working to gather more data with the goal of making people more aware of their unconscious decision-making and its consequences.
Harvard’s Project Implicit features a battery of “implicit association tests” where participants can measure levels of implicit bias around certain topics based on the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations.
“The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a ‘virtual laboratory’ for collecting data on the Internet.”
If you’re interested in measuring your levels of implicit bias (almost everyone displays bias in some way, according to the experts!), here are a few tests you can take:
Understanding Prejudice: Implicit Association
Test Look Different: Bias Cleanse
2015 State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review. (2015). Retrieved from; http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/my-product/2015-state-of-the-science-implicit-bias-review/
Blair, I. V., Steiner, J. F., & Havranek, E. P. (2011). Unconscious (Implicit) Bias and Health Disparities: Where Do We Go from Here? The Permanente Journal, 15(2), 71–78.
Grinberg, E. (2015). 4 ways you might display hidden bias every day – CNN.com. Retrieved from; http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/living/implicit-bias-tests-feat/
Lebowitz, S., Jul. 17, 2015, 9, 022, & 2. (2015). 3 unconscious biases that affect whether you get hired. Retrieved from; http://www.businessinsider.com/unconscious-biases-in-hiring-decisions-2015-7
Schwarz, A. (2007, May 2). Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls. The New York Times. Retrieved from; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/sports/basketball/02refs.html
April2016articlesCommunityfeaturedthoughts & opinions
April 2016, Library, Notes from the library
Notes from the Library…Measuring Research Impact: Author Metrics
April 11, 2016 Laura Pavlech	Leave a comment
At some point in your career, you will be asked to demonstrate the impact of your work. You may be asked to do this for a grant application, progress report or renewal, or on a CV for a job application, promotion, tenure or performance review. Traditionally, this has meant providing a list of publications you have authored, and perhaps the number of citations that those publications have received. Alternative methods of demonstrating research impact will be discussed in a later post.
How can I create a list of publications that I have authored?
You can do an author search in any bibliographic database, such as PubMed (see this month’s PubMed tip), Web of Science, or Scopus. It may be necessary to search more than one database to generate a complete list. Once you have run the search, you can save the results within the database (for example, send results to the My Bibliography section of My NCBI in PubMed) or export them to a citation manager.
Where can I find how many times my articles have been cited?
Several databases provide the number of times an article has been cited. Traditionally, Web of Science has been used to obtain citations counts; recently, Scopus and Google Scholar have emerged as alternatives to Web of Science. Each resource provides a different citation count because each indexes (or, in the case of Google Scholar searches) a different set of journals over a different period of time. Web of Science remains the best choice for authors with a long publishing history because Scopus indexes articles published from 1996 to the present (although older content is being added). Google Scholar is a moving target because it “generally reflects the state of the web as it is currently visible to our search robots and the majority of users” (https://scholar.google.com/intl/us/scholar/citations.html – citations). Regardless of the source that you choose, it is important to always cite that source.
How can I create a citation report in Web of Science or Scopus?
A Web of Science or Scopus citation report provides aggregate statistics for a set of search results. See the library’s ‘Measuring your Research Impact’ guide for step-by-step instructions on generating a citation report in Web of Science and Scopus.
What is the h-index?
You may have heard of, or noticed on your citation report, a metric called the h-index. The h-index is the number of papers (h) in a set of results that have received h or more citations. For example, an author with an h-index of 10 has 10 articles that have each received 10 or more citations. This metric is an attempt to measure both quantity (number of publications) and quality (number of citations). Therefore, it is considered a measure of the cumulative impact of an author’s work. For a recent discussion of the h-index and other measures of academic impact, see Anne-Wil Harzing’s ‘Reflections on the h-index’: http://www.harzing.com/publications/white-papers/reflections-on-the-h-index.
April2016careerfeaturedhow toLibrary
April 2016, arts & culture, Library, On the Shelf
Electronic Resource: Essential Science Indicators
Location: Search for ‘Essential Science Indicators’ in Databases search box on the HHSL homepage (http://hirshlibrary.tufts.edu/).
This research analysis tool, integrated with Web of Science, provides performance statistics for authors, journals and articles for 22 subject fields. Essential Science Indicators can answer questions like: who are the most-cited authors in my field; what journals publish the top papers in my field; what is the average number of citations per article in my field; or what is the minimum number of citations that my article needs to receive to be in the 10% percentile in my field?
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
Location: HHSL Leisure Reading, Sackler, 4th Floor, Fiction D652
Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and numerous other awards, this book tells the parallel, and eventually intersecting, stories of a girl in France and a boy in the German army during World War II.
April2016featuredLibraryreading
April 2016, Library, PubMed Tip of the Month
PubMed Tip of the Month: Author Search
Go to the Advanced Search Builder by clicking the ‘Advanced’ link under the PubMed search box.
Choose Author from the All Fields drop-down menu (just Author, not Author – Last, Author – Full, or any of the other options). Enter the author’s last name, followed by 1 or 2 initials with no intervening punctuation (for example: Jones EA). If you are unsure about the inclusion of the second initial, then do not include it.
If the author has a common last name, then you probably want to narrow your search by including an affiliation. To do so, choose Affiliation from the All Fields drop-down menu below the boxes where you have entered the author’s name. Enter the name and/or location of the institution with which the author is associated. Affiliation can become complicated if the author has been (or is currently) associated with multiple institutions, or the name of the institution has several possible variations. If the author has an uncommon last name, then first try searching without an affiliation.
Check the results to ensure that they authored by the person in whom you are interested.
If you have searched for your own name, then you can send the results to the My Bibliography section of My NCBI by clicking ‘Send to:’ in the top right corner of the results page.
Author Search in PubMed Advanced Search Builder
April2016how toLibraryPubmed
November 2019 contents
Humans of Tufts Boston: Léa Gaucherand, “I Fell in love with research”
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Dr. Yusuf Goran: We are proud Various Components are living in Kurdistan
The Kurdish society is a tolerant society and throughout history different nations, religious ethnics and sects have been living in Kurdistan, we will make every effort to preserve these different components in Kurdistan, Dr. Yusuf Goran, the KRG Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research said.
This statement by Dr. Yusuf Goran came during a meeting with a delegation from Erbil Bishops Council who visited the KRG Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Erbil on Thursday June 30, 2015.
Archbishop of Erbil Bashar Matti Warda, headed the delegation. During the visit the delegation, presented a proposal to the KRG Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research for opening “The Catholic University in Erbil”. The delegation clarified this university will be supported by The Bishop Council in Rome and will be a member International Federation of Catholic Universities.
The delegation also clarified the aim of opening the university, stressing “In the past many Christian families escaped to the Kurdistan Region, thus the university, in addition to embracing the fled Christian students to the Kurdistan, will be open towards students from other ethnics, and all wiling students can pursue with their studies in this university.”
The delegation emphasized that the university will not be a missionary university, but it will be a normal university like other universities in the Kurdistan region and the academic period will be five years. The delegation also affirmed that education in this proposed university will be according to the most modern standards, and the first academic year will be dedicated to the learning of English language, since the education will be in English, except for departments of languages.
“Through the opening of this university as an intellectual center, we want to deepen relations among the different components of Kurdistan region and to bridge as well as familiarize the different cultures with each other.
For his part, Dr. Yusuf Goran said: “The Christians are a vital component of our society and the KRG policy emphasizes assisting all components of the region, including the Christians, as they are from the deep-rooted components of this area. Therefore, in the past we received fled Christian students in the Kurdistan region universities, without differentiation, thus we are proud that various components are living in Kurdistan.
Regarding their proposal, Dr. Yusuf Goran said: “We are urging the opening of new universities with high rankings and high academic position. Meanwhile, new universities should bring something new in terms of academic specialization to the Kurdistan Region. We will do as much as we can to cooperate with you.”
Dr. Yusuf Goran clarified that their proposal will be sent to the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Trust-Giving for evaluation, and later within the framework of the guidelines for opening new universities a proper decision will be made.


Oakland loses other major airline: JetBlue
https://www.sahamku.me/nation/article/Virginia-becomes-38th-state-to-ratify-ERA-14978614.php
Virginia becomes 38th state to ratify ERA
By Timothy Williams
Published 3:21 pm PST, Wednesday, January 15, 2020
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia on Wednesday became the 38th state to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, a symbolic victory for those who for generations have been pushing for a constitutional guarantee of legal rights regardless of sex.
Virginia’s decision does not seal the amendment’s addition to the U.S. Constitution. A deadline for three-quarters, or 38, of the 50 states to approve the ERA expired in 1982, so the future of the measure is uncertain, and experts said the issue would likely be tied up in the courts and in the political sphere for years.
But the symbolism of the action in Virginia was significant after a struggle that had been raised, hard fought and, at times, forgotten over nearly 100 years.
“It’s just other hurdle, other level of that ceiling that’s cracked,” said Daphne Portis, 58, an ERA activist who clutched photos of female leaders — Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem — as she watched the debate among lawmakers in Richmond.
Women packed the galleries of the state Capitol as the debate unfolded, many of them wearing sashes that read, “Equal rights for women.” Some members of the House of Delegates, which for the first time in its 401-year history is led by a woman, Eileen Filler-Corn, brought their young daughters to witness the vote.
The ERA was first proposed in 1923, though Congress did not pass it until 1972. To approve the amendment, ratification was needed in 38 states by 1979; the deadline was later extended to 1982. By then, though, only 35 states had done so. For years, and especially during the 1970s, the issue was a matter of intense national debate, the topic of legislative fights and political campaigns. But it faded some as the deadline passed and the national conversation seemed to move on.
The ERA promised equal rights to women, and was aimed at improving pay equity for them, strengthening domestic violence and sexual harassment protections, and blocking discrimination against pregnant people and mothers. The bill reads, in part: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
In recent years, new efforts emerged to reignite the ERA, amid the #MeToo movement, efforts to protect abortion rights and as Democrats won control of some statehouses. Slowly, leaders pushed toward the 38-state threshold despite questions about what it would really mean for the amendment’s fate decades after the deadline.
In 2017, Nevada became the 36th state to approve the ERA, and a year later, Illinois passed it. That left Virginia, a state that failed to pass the ERA last year, considering it again this year, and with a state Legislature newly dominated by Democrats.
On Wednesday, the vote was 59-40 in the House and 28-12 in the Senate. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has said he supports the measure.
Timothy Williams is a New York Times writer.


Australian PM defends secrecy over border protection
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (R) talks to Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott (L) after a joint statement at the presidential palace in Jakarta on September 30, 2013. Abbott began a visit to Indonesia on September 30 for talks on his tough refugee policies that have sparked anger in Jakarta, as his government faced criticism over a boat sinking that left dozens dead or missing.
SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended the government's secrecy over its border protection policy Thursday after reports that boats had been turned back to Indonesia and asylum-seekers mistreated.
Under the conservative government's hardline Operation Sovereign Borders, officials refuse to discuss "operational matters".
This has meant reports that at least one boat was forcibly turned or towed back to Indonesia, and that members of the Australian navy subjected those on board to verbal and physical mistreatment, have not been addressed in detail.
The government has also refused to confirm or deny that it is planning to buy 16 hard-hulled lifeboats to ferry asylum-seekers to Indonesia, sparking claims from the Labor opposition that it is overseeing a "Stalinist"-style media blackout.
Abbott said he would rather have the boats stop arriving than provide a running commentary as "sport for public discussion".
"I'd rather be criticised for being a bit of a closed book on this issue and actually stop the boats," he told Sydney commercial radio.
"The point is not to provide sport for public discussion. The point is to stop the boats.
"I'm pleased to say it is now several weeks since we've had a boat, and the less we talk about operational details on the water, the better when it comes to stopping the boats."
His comments follow claims by an asylum-seeker to AFP on Wednesday suggesting people on a boat towed back to Indonesia, which is the major transit point for would-be refugees to Australia, had been mistreated by the Australian navy.
Yousif Ibrahim from Sudan claimed they were handcuffed and called insulting names. He said one person was beaten with shoes after their vessel was intercepted and towed for four days back towards Indonesia, arriving at Rote Island on Monday.
Defence force chief David Hurley defended the navy on Thursday, echoing comments by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday.
"Defence force personnel assigned to (border protection) are required to conduct operations in an unpredictable and demanding environment under intense scrutiny," Hurley said.
"They are trained to operate with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity and consistently demonstrate great compassion and courage, often at great risk to their own safety."
Australia's tough policies aimed at stemming the flow of asylum boats - a key plank of Abbott's successful 2013 election campaign - have irked Jakarta, which has warned that turning boats back could breach Indonesian territorial sovereignty.
Tensions between the neighbours have been strained for months after a diplomatic row erupted in November over claims Canberra tried to tap the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and ministers.
Abbott on Thursday described Australia's relationship with Indonesia as "strong" and marked by "a lot of cooperation and mutual understanding".
He said he understood Indonesia's concern for its sovereignty "but when these boats keep coming illegally to our country, that is a sovereignty issue for us".
"It's absolutely non-negotiable - these boats will stop, these boats must stop, and we will do whatever is necessary, consistent with our international obligations and ordinary decency, to stop the boats," he said.


Saint James, Saint Paul & Saint Michael Parishes (Camp Douglas, New Lisbon, Indian Creek)
How to Instruct the Ignorant and Counsel the Doubtful
Let us first take a more detailed look at the spiritual works of mercy and discover practical ways that we can live them in our lives. For this article we will examine the first two spiritual works of mercy.
Instruct the Ignorant
The first spiritual work of mercy is to “instruct the ignorant.” Jesus gave this command to His apostles when He said,
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
While initially directed towards the apostles, the obligation to "instruct the ignorant" applies to us today as much as it did in the first century. Even though the Gospel has reached every continent, many people in our world are ignorant of what Jesus actually taught. This is due to many factors, including the numerous interpretations of the Gospels. We must always sift through what we are taught in light of official Church teaching and the public teachings of the pope. When we do that, we are able to recognize a false interpretation of the Gospel and point it out to a friend or family member.
However, we must be remember that Jesus gave His “apostles” the direct mandate to “teach.” Bishops are the first catechists in their diocese and priests are cooperators with him.
After priests come deacons and after deacons come lay catechists. Most dioceses have a certification program that “certifies” a specific catechist for teaching the faith, because each catechist assists the bishop in his mission and can only teach with his permission.
While, we have a duty to evangelize our coworkers or family members, we must do so knowing that we can only take them so far. We must act like arrows, pointing to the truth, bringing these precious souls to those who can instruct them properly. When our knowledge fails, we turn to the Church for assistance.
This work of mercy must not be done lightly as the fate of a person’s soul hangs in the balance.
Counsel the Doubtful
The second spiritual work of mercy is to “counsel the doubtful.” The basic definition of “counsel” is “giving instruction or advice to direct the judgment of another.” To “counsel” in the spiritual realm refers to helping someone with a difficult spiritual decision they are about to make.
What makes this an even trickier situation is that the person receiving counsel is “doubtful.” This means that the person is “uncertain” about the outcome and questions the possibility of a resolution.
Putting it all together, to “counsel the doubtful” is to give an unsettled person wise advice concerning a spiritual decision.
What does this spiritual work of mercy look like in the real world?
Most commonly those involved with spiritual direction perform this work of mercy. In such cases, a priest, religious, deacon or even a lay person are charged with the task of leading troubled souls to spiritual solutions. It requires a very holy and devout person to sift through the muddy waters of life to give consoling words to someone in need.
However, this work of mercy is not meant to be performed only by qualified priests, but should be much more common among lay men and women. The reason being that our friends and family come to us on a regular basis for guidance in spiritual matters. Often they do not even think of talking to a priest, or are uncomfortable or embarrassed to do so. They may not even be Catholic and are struggling in the spiritual life and have no one to turn to except us.
One aid that has been helpful to the laity is the book The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living, which helps a person understand God’s action in their soul. Once a person can better understand God's movements in his/her own heart, he/she can then help someone else in need. When the spiritual situation requires a more detailed theological response, we should always have recourse to our parish priest and ask for his assistance.
“Counseling the doubtful” is an important work of mercy that is especially revealed in spiritual direction, but should also be taught to the average Catholic who seeks to bring peace of mind to a friend or family member.
Next week, we will look at "Admonishing the Sinner" and "Bearing Wrongs Patiently."
Read the Entire Series
14 Ways We Can Be Merciful During This Jubilee Year
A Little Example of Great Mercy - St. Maria Goretti
2 Powerful Examples of God's Mercy
How is God Merciful?
What is the Year of Divine Mercy & Why Do We Need It?
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Post office named for Merle Haggard in California hometown
0 0 Saturday, April 7, 2018 Edit this post
FILE - This April 10, 2012, file photo shows the late Merle Haggard, left, viewing an exhibit on the Bakersfield sound at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn. About 300 people turned out in Bakersfield, California, to celebrate the naming of a post office for Merle Haggard. He rose from poverty and prison to international fame through his songs about outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride. His hits include “Okie From Muskogee” and “Sing Me Back Home.” Norm Hamlet, who played in Haggard’s band for nearly a half-century, told the Bakersfield Californian newspaper that the singer would’ve been humbled by the honor. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
BAKERSFIELD, Calif.
About 300 people turned out in Bakersfield, California, to celebrate the naming of a post office for Merle Haggard in his hometown.
[post_ads]The late country music legend’s sister and widow were among those at a Friday ceremony near downtown honoring Haggard, who helped create the twangy “Bakersfield Sound.”
The event fell on the two-year anniversary of Haggard’s death — and what would have been his 81st birthday.
Haggard rose from poverty and prison to international fame through his songs about outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride. His hits include “Okie From Muskogee” and “Sing Me Back Home.”
Norm Hamlet, who played in Haggard’s band for nearly a half-century, told the Bakersfield Californian newspaper that the singer would’ve been humbled by the honor.
Information from: The Bakersfield Californian, http://www.bakersfield.com
Entertainment - U.S. Daily News: Post office named for Merle Haggard in California hometown
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T7V_qxV_pCg/WsmvWIjc84I/AAAAAAAAf_s/gMe9tqE6rScRImdufWq2edquHPVpmgsqACEwYBhgL/s1600/2.jpeg
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https://entertainment.dailynews.us.com/2018/04/post-office-named-for-merle-haggard-in.html


Justin Renteria
The Energy Interstate
Vauhini Vara
A national system of electricity transmission could cut power-plant emissions by 80 percent.
One cold evening in February 2008, the gusty wind in West Texas dropped to a breeze. At the time, Texas generated more electricity from wind than almost any other state did. But that evening, the wind speed fell much lower than forecasts had predicted, just as the chill had residents cranking up their heat. The people responsible for most of the state’s electrical system recognized that they risked a dangerous—or at least embarrassing—outage. Declaring an emergency, they switched off the power to several big industrial customers. After 90 minutes, backup generators kicked in, and the power was restored. A spokeswoman for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas subsequently explained, “The wind died out. That happens.”
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Well, sure, some critics agreed—but that was just the problem with relying on it. The same, more or less, was true of sunlight. Weather didn’t follow orders, and its patterns could be unpredictable. With the state planning to dramatically expand its use of wind power, one journalist wrote: “This problem is only going to get bigger for Texas.”
Eight years on, the problem is getting bigger for the United States. Last August, President Obama announced the Clean Power Plan, whereby power plants are expected to reduce their carbon-dioxide emissions by 32 percent from their 2005 level, within 15 years—a target that’s all but impossible to hit without moving from coal to cleaner energy sources. The Supreme Court has stayed Obama’s plan until lower courts can rule on several legal challenges, but energy experts assume the plan—or something like it—will eventually take effect. In the future, environmental concerns and resulting regulations may necessitate bigger reductions; Bill Gates argues that, in order to really address the global-warming crisis, emissions must fall by 100 percent before too long.
That makes the question of reliability more urgent than ever. Because wind and sunlight are fickle, utilities have used dirtier backup sources like coal and natural gas. If we want to eventually get all our energy—or a large majority of it—from renewable sources, something has to change. As Gates told the The Atlantic in November, “We need an energy miracle.” Gates is investing billions of dollars in schemes that sound like they’re out of an Isaac Asimov novel: batteries the size of swimming pools to store renewable power, technologies that use sunlight to produce liquid fuel.
The wind is usually blowing somewhere, and the sun is usually shining somewhere.
But over the past couple of years, researchers have come across another potential solution, one that seems almost too simple. The wind is usually blowing somewhere, and the sun is usually shining somewhere. If we could just connect the whole country to a special grid that would let utilities tap into those resources anytime, wouldn’t that get rid of—or at least lessen—the reliability problem?
The most recent high-profile paper making this argument was published in January by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Christopher Clack and colleagues built a model to predict the long-term costs of putting all kinds of energy into the electrical system. When they imposed a constraint on their model—it couldn’t use coal—they found that the cheapest option involved a grid of transmission lines that could carry solar and wind energy from almost any part of the country to anywhere else. Other technologies—perhaps Gates’s imagined miracle—would still be required to get rid of carbon-emitting fuels altogether, but the new grid would get us quite far, reducing emissions from power plants by up to 80 percent within 15 years.
This conclusion, Clack said, appeared to surprise some energy researchers. Sending wind or solar energy long distances inevitably involves the loss of some power during transmission, and the alternating-current, or AC, lines that connect most of the U.S. are less efficient for long-distance transmission than direct-current, or DC, lines. The paper’s hypothetical grid would use DC instead of AC. Until recently, big investments in high-voltage DC lines have been rare, in part due to the cost of the technology required at substations to make the power usable. But the model found that if you built a nationwide grid, economies of scale would emerge. In short, the benefits of having long, efficient lines outweigh the cost of power conversion. “People assumed that storage was the key or that nuclear was the key—and now I think there’s more of a recognition that you can actually get quite a long way today,” Clack said, just by changing how renewable energy moves around.
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This hypothetical grid recalls the interstate highway system championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. Back then, the U.S. was connected haphazardly with narrow roads built by state and local governments. Eisenhower predicted that cars would soon become ubiquitous, so he signed a law authorizing funds for an ambitious expansion of the nation’s highways—an approach that turned out to be prescient. Clack’s vision seems similar. So why don’t we invest in a new grid for power transmission, like Eisenhower did for car travel?
The answer reveals a lot about how the U.S. has changed since Eisenhower’s time, politically and otherwise. The creation of a grid like Clack’s would most plausibly result from federal legislation. The Department of Energy would likely be tasked with studying how the grid might be built, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with deciding where to put the lines. A bidding process would probably ensue, with developers vying to build portions of the grid, whose cost they’d expect to recoup, likely by charging utilities a fee, which the utilities would in turn pass on to their customers.
It’s not hard to see the challenges emerge, one by one, when you consider this scenario. The current Republican-led Congress has evinced little interest in big infrastructure projects. The lines might be opposed in states whose economies (and politicians) depend on coal and natural-gas companies—and even those states that support renewable power tend to favor its production within their own borders. Local utilities resist being told what to do by the federal government.
Why don’t we invest in a new grid for power transmission, like Eisenhower did for car travel?
But suppose for a minute that the government and the utilities found a way to agree that a national grid should be built. Even then, developers would face opposition from landowners who wouldn’t want their property bisected or their views obstructed by unsightly power lines. Anjan Bose, an expert in the engineering of power systems who teaches at Washington State University and has advised the Department of Energy, notes that China and India, whose government systems are oriented around central planning, are doing something like what Clack is promoting—but he sees it as impossible in the U.S. When he heard about Clack’s research, he told me, “my first reaction was ‘Good luck.’ ”
Politics and nimbyism aside, there’s another difference between the U.S. and those Asian countries: Energy demand in India and China is rising with industrialization—but the U.S. is losing factories, not gaining them, and energy demand is expected to be nearly flat for years to come. China and India need more transmission lines, but in the U.S.—where the argument for new lines is largely environmental—the case is tougher to make. Of course, meeting federal and state regulations will require utilities to use more renewable power, but people seem to be hoping that other technologies, requiring less funding from utilities and their customers, will get us there.
Some experts suggest that, given the difficulties of coming up with a national plan, jury-rigging a piecemeal system might be a better bet—old, worn-out transmission lines, including AC lines, could be upgraded, and a few strategic regional DC lines could be built. But even that would be difficult to do. Clean Line Energy Partners, a developer in Houston, has been laboring for years to build four interstate DC lines. But these projects have moved slowly—in part due to local opposition. Comparing this patchwork approach with Clack’s vision, Michael Skelly, the president of Clean Line, told me, “I think a national grid would be far better.” He feels that with the federal government’s weight behind a national plan, companies like his might encounter less local opposition—or could at least better appeal to federal authorities to help them fight it.
And so the search for a miracle continues. In Tallahassee, Florida, the manager of integrated planning for the city’s electric system, David Byrne, told me that for decades his city has relied almost entirely on natural gas. But the expected emission regulations and demand from residents recently persuaded Byrne and his colleagues to invest in renewable sources. They’re now building a solar farm, Tallahassee’s first, on the municipal airport’s land. That will produce only about 2 percent of the city’s energy, though—and Byrne expects that it could be tough to find land cheap enough to meaningfully increase that figure using sunshine alone. So Byrne is looking for wind, too. The problem is that in Florida, there just isn’t much of it. Some time ago, Tallahassee signed a memorandum of understanding with Clean Line to transmit wind power from rural Oklahoma. That line just received important support from the Department of Energy, but it still has to overcome some hurdles before Clean Line can break ground.
“The energy resources that we would like to have seem to be located in places where people really don’t live,” Byrne pointed out. As long as private, regional projects keep getting stymied—and as long as Clack’s vision for a national system remains hypothetical—that will continue to be true.
This post originally appeared on The Atlantic.
Vauhini Vara is a writer in Colorado.


Jacob Shively
"Between sovereign states there can be no last resort except war." - Hannah Arendt
War is a nearly universal human phenomenon. This course exams its causes and evolution as they emerged early in prehistory and persist today. Major topics include war’s origins and evolution; theories about the causes and nature of war; arguments for a contemporary world of “new wars;” and theories about the future of war. Along the way, the course analyzes several very different international conflicts, such as World War I, the Cold War and the recent Iraq War. Specific issues addressed amidst these major themes include war and the state; structural and psychological explanations for war; terrorism and irregular war; and the moral/ethical dimensions of war.
This undergraduate course analyzes how religious beliefs and institutions shape politics that cross borders. It draws upon an array of writings to examine major global phenomena like the religious roots of international order; religious challenges both to modern states and to recent globalization; and activism amongst global religious movements. In turn, the course concentrates on two major issues for scholars, policy-makers and citizens alike: 1) international religious extremism and violence and 2) religious influences on – and targets of – U.S. foreign policy. Examples of topics covered along the way include Evangelical activism and ideologies, religious terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The Pope! How many divisions does he have?” – Joseph Stalin
"One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests." – John Stuart Mill
Modern states protect and serve religion. They are also the secular innovations most likely to break our link with religion. Conceptually, secular human rights would not exist without the divine spark imparted to all individuals. Practically, the modern state emerged from religious fights only to ultimately marginalize religious institutions. This graduate seminar will evaluate this effort and the ways that state policies, global movements, and international orders are shaped by religion. We will first address the formation of modern states and their relationship with religion before turning to religious radicalism and extremism. The course finishes with the specific relationship of religious movements and beliefs and foreign policy. Throughout, the course treats religion as a social science variable, but it also evaluates political theology on its own terms. Students will be responsible for evaluating and presenting course readings as well as developing and writing a research paper
As a US Secretary of State once observed, America’s effort in the 1940s to “create a world out of chaos” was not unlike God’s work at the dawn of time: it created a new world order. Can we really change international politics? And what sort of world order should international actors pursue?
International Politics examines these questions. We will identify the major themes of international relations as a social science and acquire tools as citizens to understand international politics, one of the most complex and important arenas of human society.
“Critics say that America is a lie because its reality falls so far short of its ideas. They are wrong. America is not a lie; it is a disappointment. But it can be a disappointment only because it is a hope.”
- Samuel Huntington
Americans seek to change the world and remain distinct from it. They energetically export their religious views, yet they officially support secularism. Americans denounce imperialism and coercion, yet they are accused of building a global empire and wielding astounding military power. And above all these tensions, Americans exert unparalleled influence and power in a globalized, increasingly democratic world that they helped create, yet they fret about relative decline and entertain plans for retrenchment and isolation. This course seeks to analyze how Americans view and pursue their relationship with the world as well as the foundations and conduct of their foreign policy. It considers the institutions and offices, interests and political culture, and the international challenges (including security, economic and humanitarian issues) that shape American foreign policy outcomes.
In the distant lands the battle rages,
Will this bleak horror never cease?
Can we, who fought through all the ages,
Make lasting peace? —James Shotwell
This course reviews the types and applications of international law, and it evaluates international law’s political, empirical and ethical implications. Topics concentrate on the historical development of international law, including sovereignty and the law of the sea, as well as treaties, courts, human rights, trade and crime. Students will participate in discussions, analyze arguments, complete a series of quizzes and write three case studies.
“Wealth and power have come to us in appalling and perilous abundance. Their safety to us, their real value, lies in the use we make of them.” –Henry Stoddard
This graduate course evaluates the origins and analysis of foreign policy. Are foreign affairs driven by national beliefs and the weight of history? Or does foreign policy emerge from institutions, interest groups and partisan politics? Leaders, psychology, public opinion, and rational calculations are also serious possibilities. We will begin with historical studies and work through several competing approaches and theories. The course then turns to exemplary case studies, covering countries such as China, the US, Iran and Russia. Students will prepare several short assignments and outlines for course readings before completing a major research assignment.
"Modern science has thrust into man’s fallible hands unprecedented power: power in building, power in destroying." –Hugh Ferris
Have new technologies created a strategic revolution, or are they simply plugged into old policies? Leaders like George W. Bush and Barack Obama have made tough decisions about deploying new military capabilities, and they have set out key policies regarding cybersecurity and international affairs. Still, scholars talk about the “revolution in military affairs” and the power of technological change to drive politics and policy. We will first evaluate the history and theories of how technology and national security interact with one another. The latter sections of the course focus on lethal drones and the cyber environment.
“A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.” —attributed to Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist no. 10
This course immerses students in grand strategic thinking through an innovative combination of classic readings, competitive simulation, and contemporary analysis. As a topic, “grand strategy” refers to the link between a state’s goals and capabilities, and it entails historical, philosophical and systematic thought. It is how states understand and pursue their perceived interests and roles in the world. Understanding grand strategies offers an essential tool to evaluate states’ foreign policies as well as the international system. Students are first charged with the virtual fate of a nation through a collaborative, competitive online simulation. This experience involves diplomacy, planning and cooperation along with guile, spontaneity and competition. Next, as members of working groups, students will then grapple with a pressing contemporary issue, such as cybersecurity, in the context of a number of case studies, including Russia and China. The course concludes with the working groups presenting and discussing strategic proposals they have developed.
"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." -Eleanor Roosevelt
Modern international organizations are a solution. They are created and designed to address a simple problem: a world of separate states with different interests and agendas. This course will examine international organizations through readings, briefings, and simulations. Along the way, we evaluate and discuss ongoing current events as they relate to global issues. Students will start with the origins of several specific international organizations. With a particular focus on the United Nations, students then research and write position papers as well as practice extemporaneous speaking and committee procedures. In addition to an exam and smaller papers throughout the course, students will spend time in a committee simulation and, to conclude, draw together their work in a final project.
“Martin knew nothing about America, or he would have known perfectly well that if its individual citizens, to a man, are to be believed, it always IS depressed, and always IS stagnated, and always IS at an alarming crisis, and never was otherwise; though as a body they are ready to make oath upon the Evangelists at any hour of the day or night, that it is the most thriving and prosperous of all countries on the habitable globe.” –Charles Dickens
This course analyzes the frameworks and long-standing fault lines of American politics. Conventional wisdom holds that democracy in a republic requires persistent attention by citizens. It must be kept, not just established in one inspired moment. To do this, citizens need to understand the institutions of government and the dynamics of politics, and it is these that this course seeks to illuminate. By the course’s end, students should be able to identify America’s governing institutions and its essential, extra-constitutional actors. Along the way, current and perennial political dilemmas such as civil rights, judicial activism and presidential power will be analyzed. Focusing on the national level of US politics, the course also begins with America’s founding and traces major historical themes as Constitutional powers have expanded. Politics is said to be deciding “who gets what, when and how.” Just how and why power is distributed in American politics, therefore, will guide our semester.
“Without comparison, the mind does not know how to proceed.” - Alexis de Tocqueville
This course examines modern political systems. As Aristotle observed, humans may be thoroughly “political animals,” yet the modern world brought forth a unique series of innovations and revolutions that are now almost universal. No person on earth officially lives outside the sovereignty of a modern state, so our goal is to understand how those states work, how they are similar and how they differ. The course centers on a series of country case studies (NOT including the US) that begins with Britain, perhaps the first “modern,” industrialized state, and ends with more recent but influential developers. Along the way, students will practice applying the comparative method; collect and evaluate research materials as well as reflect on academic integrity and information literacy; complete three exams; and write a comparative research essay. Our goal is a stronger ability to evaluate foreign political systems and political cultures and compare those models to one another as well as our own experience.
"We have been so very powerful, and so very prosperous that even the humblest of us were degraded in the vices and follies of kings." –Edmund Burke
This graduate course surveys major topics, theories and approaches central to the academic field of International Relations (IR). It’s about the big questions, and it addresses two levels of enquiry: what is the nature of world politics and how scholars attempt to understand that phenomenon. We will focus on the historical origins of our modern international system, major theories or paradigms of IR, and major areas of interest. These substantive areas include war, foreign policy, and global governance. In these areas, scholars fiercely debate fundamental principles, conceptual models, and causal relationships because the stakes remain high, even perilous. The fates of individuals, states and the international system rest on how such issues are addressed by citizens and policy makers. Students are expected to critically engage these questions by remaining current with the assigned readings and actively participating. As a seminar, the course focuses upon student discussion with a specific concern for critically analyzing both the substance and the method of a given work. The seminar concludes with a major writing project. Our goals are to leave with 1) a more profound understanding of world affairs, 2) an ability to concisely analyze complex issues and arguments, and 3) methodological tools to evaluate and generate international relations research.