His Kingdom for a Horse: Jay Kirkpatrick, expert on fertility control, speaks to the ongoing issues regarding wild horse management in the U.S. and abroad

Posted on January 19, 2012 by maeleesun

By Mae Lee Sun

Mustangs at Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary, USA Photo: Frank Staub

 

“Wild horses are more or less able to run freely in 10 Western States.”

This statement was published in the New York Times on October 10th, 2011 in a blog entry titled ‘Wild Horses, Hard Choices’ by a guy who had spent a little time interning with the U.S. Forest Service during his school break.

The intern/blogger went on to write how he dreamed of one stallion in particular. How he felt its independence. How the horses are not fenced in. How hard the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) was working to manage their numbers ever since the horses had been granted protection through the landmark 1971 Free-roaming Wild Horse and Burros Act. How BLM administrators like Ben Noyes, in charge of HMAs (Herd Management Areas) were keen on protecting the ecosystems from being damaged by the horses presence. And, that “The bureau vigorously pursues a policy of rounding up wild horses to keep their numbers at a level that prevents them from over-grazing and hogging water.”

The gist of it is that the blogger presented shockingly inaccurate information.  So much so that nearly every reader comment following the post urged the blogger to do his diligence as they discredited him via hurling statistics and research data his way.  Some readers went so far as demanding he rewrite the story. Ironically, the blog appeared in the ‘Science’ section.

Unfortunately, the blogger is not alone.  Perpetuating the less than favorable and rather unscientific data about wild horses is “par for the course” according to Jay Kirkpatrick, one of the foremost researchers in the world on fertility control and Director of The Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Montana – the worlds’ only dedicated facility for development of wildlife contraceptives and methods of application.

The scientific and environmental reality concerning wild horses is quite a different factual picture than what the intern put forth says Kirkpatrick.

“Cattle outnumber the horses 40:1. Horses do not wreck water sources. They water and leave, while cattle stay there and really do wreck water sources.”

He’s not surprised that the blogger is simply quoting the usual party line from the BLM.  They (the BLM wild horse program) have an annual budget of nearly 70 million dollars.

“It’s a mess,” says Kirkpatrick, and it gets progressively complicated.   If it’s not environmental reasons, the next line of defense in the wild horse wars is that they eat grass meant for cattle and sheep.

 

Dr Jay Kirkpatrick, Director of The Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Montana, darting a wild mustang with PZP, an immunocontraception on Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland. Photo: courtesy of The Science and Conservation Center

“Ironically, less than three percent of the U.S.’s entire beef cattle graze public land and sheep ranching is subsidized to the tune of $123 million. We could remove every sheep and cow from public land tomorrow and the nation would not notice a thing.  So livestock vs. horses is probably an irrelevant point of contention for the larger debate if you ignore the money the taxpayer is losing. But it surfaces all the time anyway.  But more important, regardless of your orthodoxies, removal of cattle and sheep from public lands simply isn’t going to happen.  Why keep talking about it?”

To be fair to both sides, Kirkpatrick feels even if there was consensus on the myriad issues surrounding wild horses, i.e., whether they’re considered a native species in need of conservation protection or feral pest; natural vs. unnatural management schemes; allowed or not allowed on public lands; re-home or slaughter, etc., it would not have much of an impact on the much larger problem of how the current populations are managed regardless of whether we’re talking Mustangs living in HMAs in America or Brumbies roaming the outback and national parks throughout Australia.

“Even after all the cows and sheep are gone, horses would one day overpopulate the land anyway”, he says.

Management to date across many countries has failed due to methodologies that continue to amount to little more than capture and removal when populations are deemed to be too high.  Not to mention the welfare issues that abound in the process of aerial culling, round-ups and transport.  The end result leaves administrators in charge of emotionally and physically traumatized horses who are then taken to slaughter, holding facilities or in the case of the lucky few, re-homed by sanctuaries.

While many Australian wild horse rescue groups have successfully trained and re-homed hundreds of Brumbies under capture and removal schemes, Kirkpatrick states that although that is a positive undertaking, we didn’t make inroads into the cat and dog problem by creating more no-kill shelters.   The issue was successfully addressed by attacking the real problem- reproduction.

However, capture and removal (whether to rehome or slaughter) and/or aerial culling continue to reign as the primary wild horse management strategies in Australia regardless of widespread knowledge of fertility control technology that has and is being used successfully in the U.S. and other countries.

The fertility control issue itself seems to be bogged down in the disparity between some Australian Brumby rescue groups advocating for the use of the drug PZP (Porcine Zona Pellucida), which is a reversible, non-hormonal, immunocontraception, while government and privately funded organizations like the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center (IACRC) advocates for use of Gonacon.  Neither is being used currently to actively manage wild horses in Australia and Kirkpatrick isn’t convinced that the two camps, despite similar intentions, are up to date on the science, research and facts either.

The IACRC in their own newsletter ‘Feral Thoughts’ stated that they have yet to find suitable fertility control- a statement Kirkpatrick says ignores the successes with PZP all over the U.S. with urban deer, wild horses, 85 species of zoo animals world-wide, including Australia, wild bison and even 14 different populations of African Elephants in the Republic of South Africa.

 “PZP has a 24 year history of success with a large number of free-roaming wild species. Whether or not Gonacon is a better option depends on what you want to leave behind.  If you want to leave behind a population of horses in which their entire social organization and array of behaviors has been wiped out, then Gonacon is OK. If you want to leave behind a population of horses that maintain their evolutionary driven social and behavioral organization, then PZP and NOT Gonacon is the choice.

Gonacon is variably effective in a number of species, but even a small understanding of reproductive biology tells you there is a large disruption of a number of physiological events in the mammalian body when you block GNRH. When you apply Gonacon, you cut off gonadotropins, and you prevent reproductive steroid secretions from the ovary and you dramatically alter reproductive and social behaviors.  It is a good treatment for urban deer, where no one cares about disrupting behaviors, but in a species with such a complex array of social behaviors as the horse, it is contraindicated.

PZP on the other hand, is the worlds’ only non-barrier contraceptive that operates entirely outside the reproductive stream and affects nothing but fertilization.  So it depends on what you want your horse to behave like, whether you use one or the other.  Here in the U.S., the public will not tolerate alteration of fundamental behaviors and social organization in wild horses. Registration of PZP for use in horses is already in the Federal Register.”

The concerns about behavioral changes due to fertility control are particularly troubling to Kirkpatrick.   He says they imply that these wild horse populations are natural to begin with- adding another layer to the ongoing wild horse debate.

“The populations have been so manipulated, so confined and disturbed by traditional management techniques to include gather and removal, where who gets removed is decided by human beings, that one might not even argue for allowing the horses to be ‘natural’.

One only needs to look at any of the many populations that exist to understand this. But why deal with the facts?  It’s a difficult issue to begin with and thousands of fecund horses are a lot of animals.   Reality seems to be taking a back seat while the debate goes on.  Everyone has to agree upon what they are trying to preserve to begin with.”

According to Kirkpatrick, the lead agencies charged with management responsibility tend to be at best ambivalent about that mission.  In fairness he says, as their agency name implies, they were thrust into this war with virtually no wildlife management experience, i.e., the Bureau of Land Management.   He aptly points out that agencies serve multiple masters, i.e., ranchers, miners, loggers, hunters, recreationists and a general public.

The same could be said of the Australian National Parks and Wildlife- ironically coming under the umbrella of the Office of Environment and Heritage- which is the agency that manages Brumbies under directives set forth for weeds and pests.  And since clear Federal legislation for protection of wild horses doesn’t currently exist in Australia, it is up to individual states to manage themselves.

The state of New South Wales for example will be setting the agenda for the next round of management of ‘feral pests’ for 2012-2015 by the end of February.   However, the IACRC (which is funded by both government and private entities) was recently granted a five-year renewal of funding, part of which will be allocated to study the use of Gonacon in 5, standard-bred domestic mares from 2012-2014.  (Several research projects being carried out by the IACRC will not be with actual wild horse populations).

When asked by Wild Horse Journal why PZP is not being used in Australia despite the success rate and established research in wild horses in the U.S. by the Science and Conservation Center, Simon Humphries, Commercialization Manager for the IACRC,  replied that it was not because of the drug itself or that Gonacon was more effective and rather that Gonacon had become the drug of choice by default due to the fact that it was registered for use in Australia and PZP was not.   And Gonacon could be used on both mares and stallions.  Gonacon or any drug apparently has to be tested on in-country populations despite the number of years and large body of research already undertaken on wild horses in other nations like the U.S.

“It would be a difficult process to manufacture PZP and get approval in Australia since it is registered in the U.S. as a pesticide by the EPA and as a drug by the FDA.  I believe veterinarians can use it individually (in the U.S. via extracting ovarian tissue and put it into a vaccine to administer to animals) but I don’t think it can be used on a large scale. If it were registered in the U.S. it would be easier here,” says Simon Humphreys.

According to the latest update from the Science and Conservation Center however, PZP is literally only weeks away from registration/approval with the EPA, specifically for use in horses.  Where Gonacon has been approved only for use in deer, PZP has been used in authorized trials for a variety of wildlife including horses for the past 24 years as previously stated.   The Science and Conservation Center has a well established working model whereby they train personnel, not just veterinarians, from other organizations worldwide to both make the vaccine and administer it (on their own wild life populations) so they can be self-sufficient and can be used on a larger scale.

Kirkpatrick has also been working with select wild horse sanctuaries in the U.S., including one of the most prominent and well respected-Return to Freedom American Wild Horse Sanctuary.  He and RTF are concerned with maintaining viable herd structures and genetic diversity with respect to conservation and preservation, stating again that PZP allows the mares to continue to cycle and are healthier as a result.

 

Mustang mare with foal living at the Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary, US. Photo: courtesy of Return to Freedom

 

In addition to trialing Gonacon, the IACRC is also looking at the application of phage pan peptides, which will bind to cells in mares and make them nonviable.  Since mares have a finite number of them (follicles), the process will render them sterile.

This approach may be very successful, but this means sterilization, not contraception says Kirkpatrick, and raises interesting philosophical issues and differences between the respective view of wild horses in the U.S. and Australia.

“In the U.S., the wild horse is slowly but surely being recognized as a reintroduced native wildlife species, on the basis of sound science, although those with political and cultural objections to the horse simply ignore the science.  Nevertheless, if a contraceptive changes the fundamental evolutionary-driven social organization and social behaviors of the species, it is not acceptable.

 In Australia, my impression is that horses are simply non-native pests.  Thus, it seems to matter not at all what you leave behind there and that is not the case here.  Any GNRH blocker will change all that organization and behavior.  That is a major difference and one that drives the choice of contraceptives.”

The questions then become, if PZP were available in Australia, would it be used?  Are Australian wild horse researchers and the Australian Government uninformed, misinformed or simply ignoring important facts?

And after more than 35 years of gather and removals which cost the U.S. taxpayer just short of 30 million dollars a year to care for and a lack of any hard data to indicate the actual cost of wild horse management or lack thereof to the Australian taxpayer,  it is clear that wild horses are not being effectively and humanely managed by these ‘agencies’ regardless of country.  (None of the Australian governmental agencies and research organizations contacted by WHJ were able to provide up to date or accurate information as to what particular agency, if any, had obtained or is responsible for collecting data on annual financial costs to manage wild horses throughout Australia.  The IACRC however, does provide on their website a published figure of 720 million dollars annually for the social, economic and environmental damage attributed to ‘invasive animals’ in general. )

David Berman of  Australian Wild Horse Management Services in Queensland asserts that no one really knows how many Brumbies there actually are in Australia, with estimates ranging from 300,000 to one million horses, even though an official 2011 fact sheet on feral horses sent to WHJ by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities in Canberra, New South Wales, states 400,000.   Berman also asserts that using multiple methods of management, from aerial shooting, roundups, hauling horses to slaughter, and fertility control to sanctuaries, is necessary.

“Australia is different than the U.S. because the location of the wild horses can be in remote areas and we don’t know the numbers.  We have to use all our options and it is up to each state or territory to manage the numbers.  We can’t just ban shooting like in the U.S. when numbers get out of control.”

While there is a different set of bureaucratic processes and an array of departments to manage wild horses in Australia vs the U.S., it seems the complexity of the problem is largely similar.  Berman advocates essentially for a ‘by any means’ approach to the Australian wild horse situation and oddly enough will be presenting on the detrimental impact of wild horses on cattle grazing in Australia at the 2012 Society for Range Management 65th annual meeting in Spokane, Washington, at the end of January.   The main sponsor for the conference is Dow AgroScience.  Auspiciously, Berman concurrently holds a position monitoring feral animals at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, a government agency of which he made clear he is not representing at the conference.   Kirkpatrick on the other hand continues to question the logic and actions of the political and economic structures charged with the task of management.

“In the western states, where wild horses dwell, there are state BLM offices, with a politically appointed state director at the helm despite the existence of a national office overseeing wild horse management.  Each state more or less goes its own way and each state director seems to have more power than the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. A good question would be why we even have a national office?  It is not that the ideas that flow from the national office are bad; it is that they are seldom heeded.

With a backlog of 35,000 warehoused horses in the most unnatural of conditions at BLM holding facilities -horses that need veterinary care and feeding, there is no room to take in more.  And as horses out on the range continue to reproduce and do so at rates faster than before the removals due to the phenomenon of ‘compensatory reproduction’, there is a requirement for more sanctuaries.

Those horses currently at sanctuaries are faced with uncertain futures because the sanctuaries are now finding themselves in critical financial straits,” says Kirkpatrick, adding that sanctuaries tend to over-extend themselves and place far more horses on limited land than they can afford.  This is done with “a good heart and poor economic sense, ” which happened long before the Global Economic Crisis.  Some sanctuaries have to raise $350,000 a year just for feed.

Whether discussing Mustangs in America, Brumbies in Australia or wild horse populations in other nations, as the numbers go up, slaughter becomes an ever-pressing reality, calling further attention to welfare issues.

 

'Trooper', an Australian brumby captured as a foal during a government culling operation in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. He was rescued by the Hunter Valley Brumby Association shortly before his scheduled slaughter at an abattoir near Sydney. Photo: Mae Lee Sun

 

Although horse slaughter is banned in the U.S., the industry continues to thrive in Australia, Mexico, Canada, and across the European Union, Asia, South America and Africa despite overwhelming evidence that horse slaughter – from capture to killing, cannot be made humane.  Not only are randomly mixed horses dangerous to one another in transport, horses differ significantly from cattle in their skull structure and emotional/ psychological responses to stress rendering the captive bolt mechanism cruel in its application, not to mention the hundreds of pages of documentation from the U.S. governments’ own agencies of abuse and cruelty that has taken place in the processing of horses for slaughter.

Livestock slaughter is an industry that benefits from capture and removal policies as do the pet food and horse meat export industries -notwithstanding the breeding, racing, inexperienced handling and training of and apathy towards domestic horses that also support the slaughter and food industry.

Even as wild horse advocates talk of preserving rare breeds and work to achieve heritage status that resemble the Spanish horse of the 1500s, Kirkpatrick says;

“This is the stuff of breeding farms not wildlife populations. If a characteristic is important to the survival of a horse, the characteristic will survive with no help from us.”

Kirkpatrick aptly notes that in recent years fertility control has become the poster child for many wild horse advocacy groups.  The concept is simple: stop reproduction in some humane manner and over time the number of horses will decline to some acceptable level.  Fertility control has worked well for several small populations under the management authority of the National Park Service in the U.S. and other agencies, leading some opponents of the wild horse to begin embracing the approach.  A U.S. Geological Survey study showed it might save taxpayers $7.7million per year.

“Gather and removal is not logistically or financially sustainable.   Stacked against gather removals, fertility control which allows almost every mare to breed at some point in her life and has a healthier foal survival rate among treated populations in contrast to mares who are in poorer condition because of chronic pregnancies is sounder to making genetic contributions to the herd vs. those horses who are taken off the range and never bred and will never do so.”

He raises pertinent questions- might it be better to have fewer horses in healthier condition than many horses living on the edge?  What if we had one or two “National Wild Horse Ranges” in each of the ten states with wild horses, where there was no conflict with anything else?

 

'Mystic', a stallion removed from Hart Mountain, Oregon, by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, now living at Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary Photo: courtesy of Return to Freedom

“People could still go to these places and see wild horses.  This is precisely the situation in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

It is a congressionally established national wild horse range where domestic livestock are not permitted. It is difficult to get to but several thousand people still manage to get to it every year.  Twenty national wild horse ranges totaling 5000 animals would translate into an average of 250 horses per range- well beyond what is genetically viable.

 In the final analysis, the entire wild horses issue has very little to do with either the science of fertility control or wild horses themselves, at least in the U.S.  It is just a small part of a larger issue, and that is who gets to use public lands, how they will get used and who benefits the most from their use. Game animals trump wild horses because of the economic impact of hunting; logging and mining trump wild horses because of the economic impact of these activities; livestock grazing trumps wild horses, not so much because of the economic impact, but because of the political power of the ranching industry.

Wild horses have no economic value and that is why there is an issue.”

At the time of this writing, the Australian Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, is deciding whether to resume State run trials of alpine grazing of cattle in Victoria.  Burke previously ordered the cattle be removed from the region when the Victorian government could not produce any evidence that the trial was supporting claims that their presence helped abate fuel (bush fires).  Alternately, wild horse adversaries and conservationists have lobbied to remove Brumbies from the high country, stating environmental reasons.

 

We welcome your comments and encourage you to ‘share’ this story with your friends, to ‘retweet’ and to ‘like’ it on Faceboook.

Emails can be sent to mls@wildhorsejournal.com

Categories: American Mustang, Australian Brumby, Conscious horsemanship, Conservation, Horse advocacy/activism, Wild Horse Management, Wild Horse News, Wild Horse Photography/Art, Wild Horse Policy, Wild horse psychology/behavior, Wild Horse Research | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review- Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs: The Life of Velma Johnston

Posted on December 20, 2011 by maeleesun

For decades, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) in the U.S. has waged war against the Mustangs, claiming environmental reasons i.e. competition for food and water, despite evidence of the contrary.  The propaganda led to sanctioned abuses and outright slaughter of hundreds of thousands of wild horses which fed the pet food and rendering industries.

In the 1950s, along comes Velma Johnston, a young woman stricken with polio, inspired by her father and her love of horses.  Named Wild Horse Annie for her determination to see justice and protection for Mustangs, Velma follows a truck seeping blood between the slats onto the road and discovered when the truck had stopped, and she peered in:

“… a horrifying tableau of mutilated horses, some barely alive. Her eyes caught sight of a colt, or what was left of him, lying trampled, his bones crushed and coat blood-soaked. A number of horses had bloody stumps instead of legs. Others had sections of their hooves torn off and hides shredded by buckshot. A stallion stood with his head bowed, blood seeping from empty eye sockets. He had been blinded to subdue him. It was only the tight quarters that kept many of the horses upright. “ 

When asked where the horses had come from, the driver told Velma they had been run by plane out of the hills.    It was this event that inspired Velma on to help establish the landmark Wild and Free roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

Authors David Cruise and Alison Griffiths do a superb job delineating the history of the Mustang and the political and economic interests behind the BLM and ranching that usurp scientific facts.   Cruise and Griffiths provide compelling accounts of Velmas interactions with ranchers who were Mustang supporters and then there were those determined to stop her but inadvertently helped Velma make a strong case for wild horse protection.

A must read for horse lovers, wild horse advocates and anyone who believes that even one person can make a difference.

Categories: American Mustang, Conscious leadership, Conservation, Horse advocacy/activism, Wild Horse Management, Wild horse psychology/behavior, Wild Horse Research | Leave a comment

Australian Horseman Carlos Tabernaberri Invited by Native Americans to Ride Trail of Tears on Mustangs

Posted on November 10, 2011 by maeleesun

By Mae Lee Sun

Cultures from around the world, from the Mayans to the Greeks, predicted epic change taking place in 2012 that would alter life as we know it- not in an Armageddon sort of way and rather in ways that would stimulate a rising of human consciousness.  Certainly, Grandmother Margaret Behan sees it that way, especially as it relates to the welfare of both people and wild horses.

Grandmother Margaret Behan, an Arapaho/Cheyenne elder and member of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers Photo: International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

An elder of the Arapaho/Cheyenne Nation in Northern Montana and a member of the global women’s alliance known as The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, Grandmother Margaret was guided by her own vision and that of Noqah Elisi, Cherokee, a mental health professional with over 20 years experience working for Native corporations in Alaska and the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, to invite noted Australian horseman, Carlos Tabernaberri to ride the combined trails of the Cheyenne exodus from Oklahoma and the Cherokee Trail of Tears.  What is epic is that they will be doing so on rescued and gentled Mustangs provided through the combined efforts of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, renowned Native American horse trainer Rod Rondeaux, Crow, and Red Horse Nation Mustang Rescue, an Equine Assisted Therapy organization within Lifesavers which assists Native youth in developing self-esteem and Native identity through the Way of the Horse and guidance by tribal Elders.

“I believe the horse knowledge Carlos is bringing to America is for everybody. He is here to help us all remember and bring back the ancient way of the horse.  He knows about horses and doesn’t use force or a bit, which is very unusual nowadays.  As Plains people, horses were a big part of our lives.  We traveled with and see them very much as our spiritual brothers. Carlos understands that there is something special in their spirit and that they have important lessons to teach us about ourselves,” says Grandmother Margaret.

Newly rescued Australian 'Brumby' (wild horse) babies following Carlos Tabernaberri at liberty. Photo: Marty Schiel

And Grandmother should know.  She’s not only an accomplished, author, artist, playwright, poet and peacemaker; she grew up with horses from the time she was a young child. Even then she felt a responsibility to feed and care for life, fondly recalling her Paint pony that had a birthmark under his tongue.  She and her siblings rode the pony without shoes or bit and never a saddle.

“He was patient with us. He would wait while I played with my friends until it was time to go home.  He was my companion, innocent, like me as a child.”

Not so innocent however, is the dark era in American history and politics responsible for branding the Trail of Tears into the heart of Native America and its people.  It refers to a grueling, six-month, 1200-mile journey mandated by President Andrew Jackson in 1838, which forcibly removed the Cherokee from their homelands east of the Mississippi to the West. From the inception of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, thousands of Native Americans died from starvation, disease and exposure on the trek that passes through nine U.S. states, ending in present-day Oklahoma.  As an act of remembrance to the ancestors, many Native Americans will ‘Ride the Trail’.

The 2012 journey will take place in two parts.  The first part, an additional 1200 miles, will commemorate the enduring ordeal faced by the Northern Cheyenne in 1878, who, under the leadership of Chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf, fled the disgraceful conditions of the Indian Territory reservation in Oklahoma.

 

“The act was a peaceful attempt to return to their homeland in the Tongue River country of Montana. This nonviolent resistance to colonization at a time when the official policy was eradication of all Native American Society was an act of perseverance and great courage.

Even though the U.S. Government had previously promised the Cheyenne they could leave the reservation by choice, they reneged, as had unfortunately become policy, and declared the Cheyenne renegades and pursued the small band consisting mostly of women and children.  Caught and imprisoned at Fort Robinson, Nebraska they were told that they would be sent back south to Indian Territory. Deciding that they would rather die in their own land, they broke out of the heavily guarded prison and fled north. Making their way through blinding snowstorms and minus 30-degree temperatures, they were hunted by both the U.S. Army and civilians who killed all Cheyenne they came in contact with- including women and children.“        

(Adapted from the book, Holding Stone Hands: On the Trail of the Cheyenne Exodus by Alan Boye, Bison Books, 2001)

 

According to Elisi, the Cherokee and Cheyenne people share this relationship to the Trail of Tears.

“This ride from Red Clay, Tennessee to Lame Deer, Montana following in the footsteps of the Cherokee people, and the Cheyenne led by Little Wolf and Dull Knife, is a ceremony honoring the perseverance, strength, courage, and love that enable our people to survive so that we may be here today.”

When asked what he makes of the invitation to ride the Trail of Tears alongside this group of Native Americans, Tabernaberri says, “It is a huge honor.”  Having grown up around cultural conflict himself and witnessing how mistreated horses were in his native country of Argentina; he made a promise to himself to do things differently.

“Khalil Gibran said the day you are born, your work is placed in your heart.  I see both training horses with a compassionate approach and being invited to ride the Trail of Tears as part of my own spiritual journey.”

It was Tabernaberri’s gentle, compassionate approach that Elisi was drawn to, even prior to speaking to or meeting him.  Her first contact with him came during a vision quest she had after a sweat lodge ceremony ten years ago.

 

Noqah Elisi, Cherokee, says she knew about Carlos Tabernaberri prior to meeting him. Photo: Noqah Elisi

“I saw this man with a black hat and large eyes. He was both fierce and kind, I understood him to be both horse and man in one body.  He told me “you are to follow in the steps of  your grandmothers, and you will do this walk with horse; it will be a long  difficult journey but do not be afraid for you will receive much help, and my mother is going to come to you and teach you everything you need to know.”  That was a long time ago.  Then I discovered one of Carlos’s DVDs in a large box of books; watching Carlos working with Spin (a rescued Australian brumby) I saw the love and healing that was happening between man and horse, I saw what was necessary. Riding the Trail of Tears.  It came to me that this ride (for us and Carlos) is also about healing the women, and helping the children grow hopeful and strong so they can carry the human race forward in a positive way.  There are many wonderful men in this world who know how to be supportive, loving and protective so we can do that.  It’s what good men do,” says Elisi.

The way of right relationship is essential to the beliefs of Native Americans and something Elisi and Grandmother Margaret feel Tabernaberri embodies.  Elisi, who was practically born on the back of a horse (her mother rode while pregnant and was taken by her Father (Elisi’s Grandfather) from the horse into his truck where Elisi was born), says if we truly believe we are connected to all forms of life, then using pain and violence to control a horse is not in alignment with right relationship, even if it occurs amongst her own people, many of whom she says still use a bit, whips and spurs- devices Tabernaberri advocates against and trains and rides without.

Native American horse trainer Rod Rondeaux working with student to gentle mustang colt. Photo: Red Horse Nation

“The traditional values of my Grandmother taught us to walk in the world in balance and harmony; to always be aware of how you move through the world.  I ask myself how am I going behave when I leave this room?  Just because a person may sit on the back of a horse and horses are part of our culture doesn’t mean justify using pain and violence to control. People would bring my mother and Grandmother horses that were treated badly and they would take care of them, even sleeping in the barns with them and it was the only kindness that they knew. When I saw Carlos, I saw my Mother,” she says, adding that Grandmother Margaret has helped to take the meaning of this journey with the horses and Tabernaberri, to a whole other level.

Australian Horseman Carlos Tabernaberri with his rescued Brumby, 'Nankali' on his lap. Photo: Marty Schiel

Today, at age 63, Grandmother Margaret continues to ride and is not at all worried about doing so on Mustangs although Tabernaberri asserts it is his responsibility to make sure everyone is safe.  He hopes to be working with Rondeaux to gentle the Mustangs prior to the ride.  If Tabernaberri has any concerns, it is the bond he feels will be created with the Mustangs through such an undertaking, which is not out of character.  He has regularly helped rescue and gentle Brumbies, Australia’s wild horses, with the Save The Brumbies organization and has adopted one himself named ‘Nankali’, whom he has raised since she was captured at six-months of age during a government culling operation in the Northern Territory of Australia.

“I’ll be pretty attached to these horses (the Mustangs) by the end of the ride.  It will be hard to part with them.  If I could, I would bring one home (to Australia) – that would be a dream, to have a Mustang.  Although I wouldn’t expect it to happen either.”

According to Suzi Landolphi, co-founder of Red Horse Nation, Mustangs are the best horse for the journey and for the humans.

Red Horse Nation co-founder, Suzi Landolphi with Native American student gentling Mustang. Photo: Courtesy of Red Horse Nation

“Wild horses know how to survive and thrive and haven’t been weakened by us (humans), therefore they are healthier.  Humans take horses, pen them, scar them emotionally and wonder why they get sick and have behavioral issues. I won’t even get into racehorses.  Like kids, when you get back to the basics and stay connected to them, give them good food, they have a lot to teach us on how to stay strong.”

In addition to Grandmother Margaret, Elisi and Tabernaberri, Rondeaux and Landolphi, other riders and/or support persons will include Juan Villarreal, Lipan Apache, founder of Sacred Wind Earth Teachings, an outdoor awareness and wilderness education organization, Rick Berry, Scott-Irish/Cherokee, founder of Four Elements Earth Education, a nature-based education organization, and Kathleen McGary, an Equine Facilitated Learning instructor through Epona Quest.

Some of the sites they will be visiting include Red Clay, Tennessee, ceremonial cave sites, Fort Reno, Oklahoma; Turkey Springs, Punished Woman’s Fork; Sand Creek, Colorado, Fort Robinson, Nebraska; the giving hill, Noaha’-vose; Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn) and Lame Deer, Montana.  The Horses arrival, after Part I of the journey, at Lame Deer is scheduled for July 20, 2012, to join with Grandmother Margaret as she hosts the 11th gathering of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers.

Elisi and the horses after Part II,  will join with Villarreal and Sacred Wind Earth Teachings in Alice, Texas, to collectively continue their healing work with families and youth through traditional values and the Way of the Horse.  They hope to also establish this as a U.S. center from which Tabernaberri can share his knowledge and offer affordable equine training.

 

        “If we want to see changes, first of all we need to be in peace inside ourselves, and then we need to be patient with the ones that have not yet arrived in that place of peace.”       

- Grandmother Margaret Behan

 

Special thanks to Grandmother Margaret for the interview and Noqah Elisi for her suberb effort in providing WHJ with historical facts and information.

For more information, click on the highlighted links embedded throughout the story or contact us at mls@wildhorsejournal.com

Categories: American Mustang, Australian Brumby, Conscious horsemanship, Conscious leadership, Horse advocacy/activism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Little Piece of Heaven: an interview with award winning wild horse photographer Rachael Waller

Posted on November 1, 2011 by maeleesun

Photo: Riders On The Storm by Rachael Waller

In late October 2011, WHJ interviewed American fine art/equine photographer, Rachael Waller on her work with wild horses, what feeds her inspiration and what she hopes to accomplish through her craft.  She has won numerous awards; her clients include Hollywood personalities; and her images of wild horses have fetched unnamed prices by private collectors.  When not behind the camera, she spends her time caring for an assortment of rescued domestic and wild horses at her and husband, Rod Rondeaux’s, ranch in West Texas and their ranch in California.  Rod is a member of the the Crow tribe, an award winning stunt man and specialist in training mustangs, remedial and rescued horses using Native American principles.

 

We caught up with her at the end of the day, after dropping her daughter Cheyenne off at school, feeding a lot of over 30 rescued horses, mostly mustangs, from 4 months old to 26 years-old, and sharing chores on the farm with one of her two volunteers.

 

WHJ: How did you first become involved with wild horses?

RW: I’ve always photographed rescued horses and horses in need which has always been my mission.  It hasn’t been a direct focus but I did photograph the Indian lifestyle too, showing different faces of who Indians are.  I was always photographing Rod too who always worked with mustangs because most people didn’t know how to deal with them after they got them from the BLM.  Rod has a way with horses and knows how to translate from horse to human and human to horse so they could understand each other.  He can take a wild mustang and be on it by day two.  He helps me in my art because he is so quick and takes such good care of the horses. People would bring them to him to train and I would take photographs.  I’m more the nurturer and give lots of scratches.  Ron trained his first horse at age seven and would want to try different things and we’d have alot of fun doing that although I photographed my first horse about 15 years ago. His name was Isabella’s Blue Moon Jazz. He was a renegade quarterhorse.  His mother came from Mexico to Texas across the Rio Grande. At that time they would round up and confiscate loose horses and auction them off in town.  She had a brand on her but she bred with a wild stallion.  The baby was born on a blue moon, thus the name.  He had a big wild heart. The rest of his name came from a Navajo friend of mine who has since passed away.

WHJ: Is Blue still alive?

RW:  No. He died suddenly in April 2011 at age 16.  I have a picture of him that I sold which I took in 2007 when the California wild fires were raging across our backyard.  It shows the fire in the sky reflecting in Blue’s eyes.

WHJ: Do you get hired to photograph other people’s horses?

 RW: Yes, I am hired out for creating one of a kind pieces of peoples horses or lives with their horses, I am very much a documentary photographer. I’ve never photographed any kind of show horse without a client asking me to do it for them. It’s important to me to meet the horse and know the horse first before I take a picture of it.   Anytime I shoot a rescue horse and it makes a cover, I give half to the rescue group. It’s my way of giving back. The first blue ribbon I won surprised me because it was a photo of a slaughter bound horse. People have told me, who aren’t even horse people, that they are touched by my work. They buy it because they feel a connection to it. The rawest images are always the rescue horses.

Photo: Nebraska 200 Survivor by Rachael Waller

WHJ: How many horses do you and Rod have now?

RW: We have about 40 here in Texas.  We had 16 horses and a burro.  Although this year, we were in the middle of the worst drought ever and on the way home one day, after hearing about the seized horses in Marfa, I took a left turn and drove to see the West Texas 25.  All of a sudden, I doubled my herd by taking them in and 3 of the 3 Strikes horses.

WHJ: Can you explain who the West Texas 25 and the 3 Strikes horses are?

RW: The 3 strikers are horses that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) deems unadoptable because they’ve either been passed over or returned from adoption 3 times.  They (the BLM ) allowed a guy who owned the 3 Strikes Ranch in Nebraska, to take all the unwanted horses. There were over 200 of them, some were dead, others were starving or were infested with parasites before Lifesavers Wildhorse Rescue stepped in (and the Humane Society of the U.S.)  The West Texas 25 are horses that were considered estray’s (owned by no one) and apparently their papers didn’t match, they where seized by the Sheriff and Amber from RUSH.org  from the kill ben on the border of Mexico.  I was able to convince the sheriff to hand custody of them over to us although there were only 23 at the time and now 19 survivors.  They were so starved, neglected, sick and emotionally damaged that with some their organs can’t regenerate.  But we got them and that’s what counts.  It’s hard because many of us watch truckload after truckload drive through this area (Texas) every day, full of horses bound for slaughter in Mexico.  It’s not for the faint of heart to do this kind of work.  You never stop learning.  Everyday is a new day and you never know what’s going to happen.

Photo: Suncatcher by Rachael Waller

WHJ: So you’re not only doing the photography, you have to actually get out there and care for the horses. That must help you in capturing their personalities.  Do you carry a camera with you all the time?

RW: Most of the time I do. I feed first then create art.  The morning light is so pretty and when the sunlight comes over the mountain it is simply a blessing. The mountain (we call Unci Maka in Lakota means Grandmother Earth. The use of Unci when referring to the earth gives rise to a relationship that permeates with sacredness, respect and humility. It encompasses a philosophy that reflects that we are related and completely part of a spirit.) that is where the horses go first thing to get warm and then the watering hole.  I’ve watched horses come back from hell and show me who they are.  There are some who will only give it to me once and then never again.  I feel so much has happened in their life,  they’re so sensitive but they’ve also got big forgiving hearts and most will still meet you half way.  The brands on them say it all- it’s like my tatoos, it’s their life story.

WHJ: It sounds like you have your hands full.   What do you hope to accomplish through your work in the future?

RW: There needs to be something in the system where breeders have to give to a fund to help organizations that rescue horses. There needs to be awareness and people held responsible for their actions. Our wild horses are vanishing off the lands at the blink of an eye, something must be done.  No one asks who is footing the bill for all of this. It’s their dirty work we’re picking up whether a horse is wild or domestic. They are all sacred creatures who need us and much to teach us all if we listen.

Photo: 3 degrees blowing snow by Rachael Waller

WHJ: How are all the horses doing now?

RW: We call this place a little piece of heaven. We’re in the mountains of far West Texas which is a great habitat for the horses.  They have to go up and down different terrain, alot of uphills, so it’s like a workout.  We help the wild ones get used to the sound of the ranch, like bales of hay hitting the ground, the tractor, and things that would make them jump.  Some are wild and free by choice. You can see that some things just don’t go away for them.  There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t say “Wow, you’re here”, and I’m grateful.  They are just hard core, and we let them be horses and they all do great.  Even my old quarterhorse never looked better.  None of the horses have shoes and they walk over lava rocks on the hills which naturally trim their hooves.  Even the horses who had bad foot problems and who had to have special shoes, special everything,  don’t have that now.

WHJ: You have such a great sense of humor and perspective for someone who has seen so much.

RW: Indians like to laugh and we’re always making jokes.  It’s important to relieve stress and everyday we say A’Ho, which means giving thanks to the creator.  It can be tiring and wear us out because things get so crazy but I can’t think of my life in any other way than to be surrounded by angels, the horses are angels, and when I see their brands or scars I consider those battle wounds and if we can see them then they have been victorious, they are living to tell their story.  Hearing their hooves go by the house every evening is like night music.  I can’t complain at all.

To see more of Rachael Waller’s work, go to www.rachaelwallerphotography.com

Categories: American Mustang, Horse advocacy/activism, Wild Horse Photography/Art | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Wild Horse Weavings Help Navajo Elders

Posted on October 24, 2011 by maeleesun

Known throughout the world for their skill and beautiful renditions in the textile arts, Navajo or Dine weavers both traditional and contemporary, will be presenting work depicting wild horses at the 22nd annual Adopt-a-Native-Elder rug show and sale at the Snow Park Lodge,  Park City, Utah this November 11-13th.  Although more traditional weavings, including saddle blankets, had very individual, geometric designs with pictorials and storm patterns, it was the noted family of Navajo weavers, the Whitehairs who inspired the inclusion of wild horses in this year’s theme.

Even though horses had been woven into Navajo rugs in the 1930s, contemporary artists, Martin Whitehair and his wife Rena’s first horse rug had a golden mustang woven into the center- a wild stallion named Bucky belonging to his brother Wayne.  Both had been raised around horses and started weaving as the sole means to support their family.

The proceeds of the Annual Rug Sale go directly to the weavers and enables them to live and work on their land in traditional ways.  Some raise their own sheep, spin and dye their own wool, putting thousands of hours into the creation of one work. Additional donations assist in helping Native elders who cannot afford to buy their own yarn.   For more information on Adopt-A-Native-Elder and a link to the Annual Rug Sale and general rug catalogue go to www.anelder.org

Categories: American Mustang, Wild Horse Photography/Art | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE ‘WILD HORSE JOURNAL’ COMING SOON….

Posted on August 29, 2011 by maeleesun

By mid-October 2011, The Sun Spot will no longer exist.  Instead, you may follow my work in Wild Horse Journal- an online news magazine about wild horse populations around the world at www.wildhorsejournal.com

Thank you for your support and I look forward to hearing from you at Wild Horse Journal!  Mae Lee

 

Categories: Australian Brumby, Conservation, Horse advocacy/activism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vin Scully, vicariously

Posted on July 28, 2010 by maeleesun

In 1947, an old friend Howard Frederick, who was six at the time, was diagnosed with bronchial asthma. Doctors told his parents, then living off the coast of Maine, that the best remedy for the boy was to move to a hot, dry, climate.  Shortly thereafter, Howard said his family packed up their their old Hudson Terraplane and headed West, landing in southern Arizona where he could play outdoors unencumbered.  The vacant dusty lots, with scattered brush and chain-link fencing in his mid-town Tucson neighborhood sufficed for spring and summer baseball games. Whatever kid was around, was good enough to play on a team.  Two teams loosely formed becoming daily entertainment for Howard as his family hadn’t yet owned a television.  His interest in baseball grew on afternoons his father had the radio on, with Vin Scully announcing every play of the then Brooklyn Dodgers, turning Howard into a lifelong Scully/Dodgers fan.

He envisioned the game through the airwaves, through Scully’s calls of the game, such as occurred when Sandy Koufax pitched ‘the perfect game” against the Cubs in 1965, sending Scully into radio broadcasting history for his mastery in painting the essence of baseball.

“0 and 1 the count to Chris Krug.  Out on deck to pinch-hit is one of

the men we mentioned earlier as a possible, Joey Amaltifano. Here’s

the strike 1 pitch to Krug: fastball, swung on and missed, strike 2. And

you can almost taste the pressure now. Koufax lifted his cap, ran his

fingers through his black hair, then pulled the cap back down, fussing at

the bill.  Krug must feel it too as he backs out, heaves a sigh, took off

his helmet, put it back on and steps back up to the plate.

Read more »

Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

40 year-old firm finds sports is a support even in a recession

Posted on March 22, 2010 by maeleesun

PROFILE: Pro Orthopedic Devices

By Mae Lee Sun, special for Inside Tucson Business
Published on Monday, March 22, 2010

In the early 1960s, Gerry Detty’s dad had an idea. As head athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles, G.E. “Moose” Detty discovered neoprene was the perfect material to help promote healing and prevent injury.

The synthetic rubber had excellent insulating properties and helped to retain heat, which increased circulation.  Moose had his wife sew the prototypes of ankle braces, knee braces, thigh supports in a makeshift shop in their garage.

When one of the players was traded, they took their neoprene support or brace with them, leaving the door wide open for Detty to launch a business in professional orthopedics as the custom-made devices needed to be replaced. Thus was born Pro Orthopedic Devices Inc.


Gerry Detty, chief executive officer of Pro Orthopedic Devices. Patrick McArdle photo

ADVERTISEMENT

Gerry Detty has since taken the company over and succeeded his father as chief executive officer. The company has thrived in a south Tucson warehouse for nearly 40 years. For all of his contributions to the health and well-being of professional athletes from the NFL, he was awarded honorary membership into the Professional Football Athletic Trainer’s Society at the NFL Combines last month in Indianapolis.

Success and recognition for Detty and Pro Orthopedics hasn’t been easy. Especially in the past few years, says Detty, who has had to make some major changes in how he does business. Even as the top U.S. supplier of orthopedic neoprene products for professional athletes, the equine industry and retail sales.

“Our competition has been importing product for some time. We were holding out and manufacturing everything in the U.S., which is what we prided ourselves on because of quality. My product engineer, however, said if we did it right, we could create a significant savings by moving manufacturing overseas,” says Detty.

“That was about two years ago and he was right. The duty on mostly assembled products is only 4 or 5 percent compared to 18 percent for sheet goods or raw materials. To have good quality assurance, we had to install a QA Program and convince the Chinese that even if it costs us a little more, the quality of the product would remain at a high level and would equal what we were doing here. The challenge was that they (Chinese) were so used to being asked by everyone (other countries and importers) to cut corners to make things as cheaply as possible,” he said.

Apparently, Detty’s business decisions have paid off. Japan remains one of his company’s biggest markets and has been so for the past 30 years.

Alan Cohen, partner in the Philadelphia-based firm of Isdaner & Company LLC., also Detty’s business accountant for the past 30 years, attributes much of this to managing the company with an open mind and keeping the bar high.

“Pro Orthopedics was always the best at what they did. They’ve maintained their market share over the years because Gerry and his father were continually open to talking to us and getting wisdom from those around them.  We’ve been able to advise them about their options: how to structure their manufacturing Process, tax savings and banking.  It’s also due to Gerry’s leadership over the past seven or eight years that’s really helped them during these challenging times,” Cohen said.

Domestically, Pro Orthopedics continues to dominate the professional sports market by 85 percent as the number one supplier to the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, along with colleges, high schools and Olympic teams around the world. That’s a 3 percent rise from 2008 numbers.

Big 5 Sporting Goods is the company’s largest domestic retail client. Detty is working on expanding to the general public by placing products in drug stores and pharmacies. Even in a recession, Detty feels confidant things can only get better, especially when it comes to the sports industry.

“My dad always told me that during the Great Depression, no matter how hard things got, people would always be able to find a nickel to go to the movies or a dime to go to a game. Sports are an outlet during recessionary times.  Even today, softball teams are on the rise and basketball and volleyball teams are running record numbers across the country. It’s a real opportunity for us to develop new materials and designs. We’ve already got three new products we’re introducing for back, knee and ankle support,” Detty said.

“As long as I’m able to keep cash flow up, inventories reduced and forecasting needs more accurately, we should remain viable.  We’re already seeing the effects of the recession shifting so that’s encouraging,” he said.

Copyright © 2010 Inside Tucson Business

Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Flash of Lightning or a Flash in the Pan? My Relationship To The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life

Posted on January 26, 2010 by maeleesun

Published January 27, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

By Mae Lee Sun

Sunset at Piha beach, New Zealand- photo by Mae Lee Sun

Sunset at Piha beach, New Zealand- photo by Mae Lee Sun

“Find joy in doing what is good.” – H.H. Dalai Lama


 

Although Madyamika is often divided into various schools which were founded by a number of teachers, it is Nagarjuna who set forth a systematic method called ‘madyamika’ or middle way, to refer to things as they really are- avoiding falling into the extremes of existence and non-existence.  Buddhist scholar Paul Williams asserts that the Madyamikas (those who subscribe to this methodology) do not put forth the inherent existence of anything and they set out to refute the reasoning of those who believe there is.  However, it is not to infer that Madyamikas are nihilistic.  The methodology is used to understand emptiness, which allows one to cut through emotional obscurations of ego clinging and the conceptualizing activity of mind that creates dualism.

In Shantideva’s Bodhycharavatara, an understanding of the notion of emptiness is necessary for one to take and keep the bodhisattva vows.  Otherwise, we’d believe the “I” that we call ourselves is real inside of us and exists separately from everything else and subject to being affected by the aggregates (skandhas).  If that were true, we would not act from a place of purified heart.  The source of suffering and confusion will continue without being able to discriminate between the relative and the absolute (gross and subtle) nor comprehend dependent co-arising.

New Zealand Fern frond, a symbol of new life and growth- photo by Mae Lee Sun

New Zealand Fern frond, a symbol of new life and growth- photo by Mae Lee Sun

Believing in existence simply because we experience certain emotions, feelings, sensations and relationship with the world of form never gets us beyond conceptual mind- the cause of our suffering, because we grasp onto the five skandhas as real.  Consequently, if we do not practice and understand this technique offered by Madyamika, we can easily fall into wrong view, which is nihilism, not bodhicitta.  When there is no distinction from self and other phenomenon, one is able to open fully to situations of suffering.  So what then is suffering if phenomena are empty?

If we hold the view of non-existence, as if nothing is there at all, we ignore the fact that without form, there would be no emptiness and thus continue to miss the point.  Whether or not phenomena exist and are empty, suffering still occurs and the bodhisattva aspires to work toward alleviating it on the relative level because they understand the absolute nature of it and see that it can also change on that level.  Once one commits to the bodhisattva path however, one must believe that it is a practice not to be taken lightly.  The way of the bodhisattva is a process of knowing you will more than likely fail, yet you continue on with an attitude of openness, courage and compassion despite the hopelessness of situations.  The possibilities of liberation from suffering lie in the emptiness of them because you have trained in the skills enabling you to experience impermanence, no-self and even liberating the antidote as Chogyam Trunpa Rinpoche said.

Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them

Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them

Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to master them

The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it

Heart in Action- photo by Mae Lee Sun

Heart in Action- photo by Mae Lee Sun

 


With this virtuous understanding one is ready – or not- to embark on the bodhisattva path.  Our tendencies as conditioned beings is to move full steam ahead, full of emotion and self centered agendas, so efforts do need to be made to arouse, protect, maintain and intensify bodhicitta toward direct realization of emptiness.  If we do not pay attention to ego patterns, which can actually be quite valuable, and work with them through study, contemplations and meditation, obstacles arising out of ego will prevent us from understanding the teachings. Sensei Jan Chozen Bays cautioned that the worst thing that could happen is that we might actually become intoxicated with ourselves and how the world should be which she asserts is far worse than consuming alcohol or drugs. Examples of this include fixating on what makes sense to us and rejecting the rest, clinging to what we have discovered and finding others to confirm this without inquiring further, mistaking it for direct experience.

The bodhisattva vow itself is about the quality of awakened heart which is taking a great leap of faith in seeing the interconnectedness between ourselves and all other beings, etc. and transforming the path from the solution to the willingness to embrace the chaos (Hinayana to Mahayana).  We begin to realize in entering the Mahayana via taking the Bodhisattva vows, that what other choice do we have but to rely on ourselves and to ripen our practice so it becomes strong?  As we grasp this sense of emptiness so to speak, all possibilities are available for us to generate fearlessness and employ skillful means to situations of suffering.

Training our mind, we can change our way of seeing and our behavior resulting in less harm.  This is the first of the three disciplines in training the bodhisattva.  The second aspect of the path is adopting virtuous actions and the third is working for the benefit of beings, thus reaching Buddhahood- although the emphasis is not on fruition.  Within the scope of these are more exact instructions or paramitas of action (generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation and prajna) that point to particular responses that work in service to a situation in a direct way that is not based in ego.

Aitken Roshi protesting the war in Iraq on a street corner in Hawaii- photo provided by Palolo Zen Center, Oahu

Aitken Roshi protesting the war in Iraq on a street corner in Hawaii- photo provided by Palolo Zen Center, Oahu

May bodhichitta, precious and sublime,

Arise where it has not yet come to be;

And where it has arisen may it never fail

But grown and flourish ever more

- Nagarjuna


The Bodhicharyavatara is divided similarly, communicating not only the necessity and positive virtue of bodhicitta but includes the horrifying reality of suffering in general and the courage it takes to stay with it despite our own predicament.  The challenge I have consistently faced is knowing how to prevent the attitude of bodhicitta from becoming dissipated as well as fully understanding what the point is in continually putting myself in situations of suffering, i.e. there’s endless work to do in the world when it comes to addressing environmental devastation, animal welfare and human rights issues, etc.  The Buddha asserted that every being wants to be free from suffering and pain, doesn’t want to live a life of confusion and simultaneously has the potential to become enlightened without exception.  If our true mind is bodhicitta, we are capable of helping other beings beside ourselves through compassionate action and prajna once bodhicitta dawns in our mind.  The key is knowing how to work with this as Path even if it is inconvenient and our heart is bruised.

As when a flash of lightening rends the night,

And in its glare shows all the dark black clouds had hid,

Likewise rarely, through the Buddha’s power,

Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.


 

Perhaps my expectation is that the struggle will disappear.  If it does not, what resolve must I come to in order to protect and maintain bodhicitta?  In the ‘Awareness’ chapter, Shantideva speaks to one’s decision to take the vows and then considers retraction after having done so.  He says it quite harmful because of the possible karmic fall to lower states for the person taking the vow and the place it leaves those who were to be the recipients of the bodhisattvas work.   We need to be appreciative as well, of the fact that as humans, we are in the unique position to free beings from other realms.  Will we not regret this if we do not do this while we have the chance?  It is our own minds that create discord and separation.  We must be able to recognize this as such and come to realize the lack of substantiality to our fear and not give in to this empty affliction.

Fearless- photo by Mae Lee Sun

Fearless- photo by Mae Lee Sun

In one way or another, much of my life has been spent working with defiled emotions.  Sometimes, they have been indulged- especially in the realm of activism.  As a matter of course, it rarely works for the benefit of others and can often make existing problems worse.  In the sixth chapter of the Bodhicharyavatara, Patience is most important in staying on the path.  The doubt in itself then is not necessarily an obstacle, nor is the questions and feelings.  Shantideva points to anger that can arise out of the doubt as something that requires our attention and patience.  As important as this paramita is to the path, it has personally been the most challenging for me- especially in situations that are emotionally charged like witnessing another person or an animal or child being harmed.

Pain, humiliation, insults or rebukes-

We do not want them

Either for those whom we love or ourselves.

For those we do not like, it’s quite the opposite!

Acting reflexively to situations with anger creates obstacles since we are short on prajna and upaya.  The workability comes out of the patience generated through sitting when we see that there is no ‘other’ to blame.  ‘Driving all blames into one’ as Chogyam Trungpa said allows for the space in which we can transform the suffering and can see that what is happening is destructive to everyone.  A direct way to know this through the practice of tonglen- the practice of sending and taking.   Tonglen has helped me to cut klesa activity and develop patience because the exchange of sending and taking digs up our own sensitivity to suffering.  It points out our own ‘self’ centeredness and attachment.

Lobsang Gyatso asserts that grasping to self is one of the most obscuring factors that prevent the attainment of wisdom.  To safeguard against this is to vigilantly and heroically persevere in developing qualities of “other cherishing” mind, lifetime after lifetime so we eventually engage spontaneously in altruistic action.  Shantideva says, “There is nothing which familiarity does not make easier.”  As frightened as we may be in taking on all of this responsibility, it is crucial that we remain committed or we will continue wandering in samsara in ignorance and helping no one, not even ourselves.  This is not an easy task considering the fact that we have been conditioned for lifetimes to react compulsively, aggressively and contrary to compassion.  In the Greater Stages of the Path, Je Tsongkhapa says:

Attachment to self has engendered self-centeredness, and it is this, which has in a beginningless process of cyclic existence up to the present day created all forms of everything undesirable.


If this is all we know and share, it is no wonder we are unable to overcome the problems we face and discount both others and ourselves by trying to safeguard this logic.  To mention emptiness, we somehow think we won’t exist and can fall into despondency and nihilism, carried away by attacks of the skandhas.  To understand it, we cannot merely conceptualize, we must do as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, which is:

“Anyone who would like to arrive at that kind of emancipation will have to look deeply in order to penetrate the true nature of emptiness.”

Absolutely Empty- photo by Mae Lee Sun

Absolutely Empty- photo by Mae Lee Sun

 


Penetrating phenomenal reality will free us from pain since we recognize its illusory nature.  Form is empty of a single independent point of origination and, emptiness is in essence, the containment of everything, the interbeing of entire existence.  Without it, how could anything exist and not exist as is expounded in the Prajnaparamita Sutra?  If we make distinctions between good and bad elements, this and that, we stay subject to samsara, birth, old age, sickness and death and fail to see the transformative quality of the Dharma and our teachers.  Reciting the Heart Sutra with the intent of a bodhisattva, the object of “I” cannot maintain itself as separate or intrinsically existent.  Therefore, we must not be disenchanted when confusion arises on the path so these realizations can come and bodhicitta can be realized.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama states in his book Flash of Lightning, that one must practice according to individual capacity.  If we are mindful of those moments of not acting in accord with the highest good, and we approach endeavoring towards awakening with joy, then we will not be disheartened. According to Chogyam Trungpa, this sense of cheerfulness has a lot of guts:

“You maintain a sense of cheerfulness because you are on the path; you are actually doing something about yourself.  While most sentient beings have no idea what should be done with themselves, at least you have some lead on it, which is fantastic.  That joy seems to be the beginning of compassion.  This kind of cheerfulness has a lot of guts.”


The path is actually quite practical.  Many teachers have stated that if you master even one of the precepts, you’ve mastered them all.  It doesn’t mean we don’t get angry or gossip ever again.  Sensei Bays suggests that when you’ve broken them, you can do something about it- apologize, and start over again.  We can also enlist the aid of others- our friends, sangha or teacher.  For example, “I’m really trying to do this as part of my spiritual practice and I really need help from all quarters so could you help me to not gossip?”  If that approach doesn’t work, Bays says to be quiet or say the opposite- say something nice about the person.

At the same time, scholar and Buddhist teacher, Sara Harding said joy is hard to come by.  We think somehow there is some sort of final solution to end suffering.  Shantideva gives us clear instructions however on how to not only come to a greater understanding on an intellectual level, but affirms that practical actions will support virtuous progress along the path, thus freeing us to experience a flash of lightening rather than becoming a flash in the pan.

Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dharma, Social Action and Bodhicitta Beyond Buddhism

Posted on January 5, 2010 by maeleesun

January 5, 2010

By Mae Lee Sun

“When Chogyam Trungpa taught in the West, he made a distinction between Buddhism and Buddhadarma.  Preconceptions behind calling things Buddhism is about studying a philosophical system as a religion with basic principles to be learned and categorized in an understandable and intelligent way.  Trungpa emphasized this was not a complete understanding of what the Buddha taught which was ‘Buddhadarma’- awake to the truth of things as they are…

“Bodhicitta is the essence of the Dharma, everything that arises is Bodhicitta and comes from our ‘soft spot’ like anger- as a wound where we are helpless.  It’s what the human condition is and we are vulnerable to this experience.  The discipline is to be able to recognize this soft spot under the anger and we can feel our own suffering so we can see others suffering more clearly.”  -  Frank Berliner, Religious Studies Faculty, Naropa University

“The desire for enlightenment is the mind which performs the function of seeking that unsurpassed state for the sake of releasing all sentient beings from suffering.  This desire for the welfare of others is in essence a form of great compassion.” – Venerable Lobsang Gyatso, excerpt, Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Compassionate Mind of Enlightenment

 

Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand- Photo by Mae Lee Son

Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand- Photo by Mae Lee Sun

 

From the above statements, we can surmise that the word of the Buddha is promoting the notion of a spirituality that directs one toward service to all forms of life.  Embracing such an approach is obviously not a path that one would potentially embark on without good intention and seeing the value of enduring and also transforming one’s own pain and suffering in the process of bearing witness to other beings.   What it does not imply is that although no one can clearly define what it means to live the true model of the Buddha, the means to achieve this awareness of awakened heart lies beyond the societal and spiritual identification of being ‘Buddhist.’

There are many historical and contemporary spiritual warriors from non-Buddhist traditions who have been able to transcend any obscuring spiritual distinctions to access the word of the Buddha in ways that embody the Bodhisattva ideal: St Francis, Chief Joseph, Ghandi, Albert Schweitzer, Thomas Merton, Victor Frankel, Maya Angelou, Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, and countless others.  In the past, personal dialogue with other Buddhists around this universal outlook has not always been met with the openness and equanimity I expected my practitioner friends to embody.  Perhaps by now however, their views have changed.

The subject initially arose, and came to be debated, out of a passage written by Chogyam Trungpa in his book, Training the Mind:

“Theistic traditions tend to build up an individual substance of some kind, so that you can then step out and do your own version of so-called bodhisattvic actions.  But in the nontheistic Buddhist tradition, we talk in terms of having no being, no characteristics of egohood, and therefore being able to perform a much broader version of bodhisattva activity altogether.”

This is not to say that Trungpa necessarily meant this literally.  It raises an interesting question for me however, as a practitioner and person who has worked on behalf of animal welfare, the environment, for social justice and as a spiritual caregiver in the emergency room of a Level I trauma hospital. Most of these roles required an interfaith perspective as we who choose these vocations are offering our presence to people with diverse spiritual backgrounds.

It seems essential to have an understanding of and reflect on the diversity of spirituality in this context both to avoid the trap of spiritual materialism and also to ensure alternative sacred ways of knowing are honored.  Otherwise, we alienate people, especially those confronting the experience of death and dying (a major focus of work in Engaged Buddhism).

There are certainly many non-Buddhist Bodhisattvas free of ego, who have been spoken of as such by Buddhist teachers, who manifest a broad spectrum of Bodhisattva activity and who need not be discounted.  There are also many Buddhists who operate out of what Sulak Sivaraksa referred to as the “goody goody” place of ego to prove what great Buddhists they are, and do more harm as a result.  Perhaps this exploration will be too short to comprehensively explain such an understanding of Dharma, Bodhicitta and so many extraordinary traditions and lives.

At the core, what makes such an exploration challenging is the inexpressible nature of experience that comes through deep connection to spirit, and the limitation of language and conditioned mind to accurately convey that which motivates and opens the heart.

In my observation and experience, the manifestation of what I understand as Bodhicitta does take place across spiritual and religious traditions.  What is key to understanding this may best be approached by dropping the the identification as ‘Buddhist’ and looking at what His Holiness the Dalai Lama refers to as “the authentication of all religion- the realization of a ‘good heart’, a human being’s innate qualities of compassion and tolerance.”  In other words, there is no single way to the TRUTH.  There are universal values and beliefs uniquely  embodied in each tradition and the differences do not have to mean divisions or subordination.

It is more pragmatic to discuss the notion of a good heart and Bodhicitta through comparing Buddhist and non-Buddhist spiritual models of social action who engaged the world along the lines of ‘interbeing’ rather than to challenge the merits of the respective traditions themselves.  I’d like to being with reflection on two Native American warriors of peace- Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce and Eagle Cruz of the Lakota.

Eagle Cruz, a Sundancer and Pipe Holder for the Lakota, was a teacher of Native American Studies at Naropa University.  He is no longer there.  It’s been years since he left or was asked to resign. I’m not quite sure what the legal details were.   Eagle was accused of engaging in cultural genocide by a non-native student (who was married to a Native American) and some Lakota people for introducing native teachings to the non-native community at Naropa.  An important aspect of this condemnation of Eagle teaching was that some felt native culture was being appropriated by whites, resulting in the assimilation and ultimate demise of it.  The real time issues of poverty, broken treaty agreements, etc., were said to be unconsidered and even swept under the rug.  Vine Deloria Jr., a Native American professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, called this oversight ‘skimming’- the act of whites taking only the cream of Native culture and discarding the rest of Native life.  It became a very politically and legally sensitive situation for myriad reasons.

One of the main reasons is that some tribal elders in this particular case, felt that any impartation of this knowledge was a violation of sacred precepts.  Other tribal elders, according to Eagle, gave Eagle permission to present the curriculum he taught at Naropa while concurrently insisting he not reveal other teachings.  In dealing with this, he said to me at the time that ‘everything begins within- creating discrimination, introspection and finding a place where we’re willing to consider other possibilities.

According to Eagle, being a ‘spiritual’ being doesn’t exist conceptually in native culture.  There are no words to define or explain it as something separate from daily life.  To look at someone as ‘spiritual’ for engaging in prayer but not for being on the front lines of activism is to not properly value everyone’s contribution.

Eagle stated that it was easy to go through life and be ‘spiritual’ by staying in ceremony all day, and that the challenge for him as an activist was coming to terms with what we refer to in Buddhism as ‘walking the razor’s edge.’  He found himself continually having to decide whether or not to continue on with the commitments he’s made and seeing the obstacles as food to help him along the Way.  In the 1800s, Chief Joseph did this as well, continually and non-violently, even after the U.S. government banned him from the land of his ancestors.  With treaty after broken treaty with the U.S., the result was near genocide of the Nez Perce Nation.  Sulak Sivaraksa’s response to this statement, referring to Eagle, was that a Bodhisattva would confront anything and any criticism to overcome suffering in society.

“It is resting like a tiger, then when the time comes, you go out to get the prey, only non-violently.”  -  Sulak Sivaraksa

Faced with the dilemma of  having to move from the sacred land of his ancestors and the burial ground of his father or face war, Chief Joseph broke the promise he made to his father of never giving up the Wallowa Valley in order to save the Nez Perce from genocide.  What is interesting to note in this action is that native people’s relationship to land was central to both their identity and connection to ‘Great Spirit’.  To be separated from it was tantamount to the death of the their own soul because of the deep responsibility and identification they felt to it, the creatures, and the plants who inhabited it.  Yet Chief Joseph seemed to have felt a unique responsibility to both his people and whites to not allow the sacredness of place to be denigrated by  violence, even at the cost of losing it- and in spite of the extreme hardship his people would face in the process of moving to a reservation.

The sacred view which Chief Joseph held appears no different than that which Thich Nhat Hanh states in Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism:

“To be in touch with the reality of the world means to be in touch with everything that is around us in the animal, vegetal and mineral realms.  If we want to be in touch, we have to get out of our shell and look clearly and deeply at the wonders of life..and also the suffering..once we get in touch with the source of understanding and compassion, all our actions will naturally protect and enhance life..without calm and peaceful mind, our actions will only create more trouble and destruction in the world.”

The historical account of Chief Joseph’s actions are really an expression of the notion of Interbeing and I would argue, is inclusive of all 14 precepts put forth by the Order of Interbeing.  Without going into great detail, the most obvious ones include finding whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war, being open to receive other’s viewpoints, living simply and sharing resources with those in need.  The Charter of the Order of Interbeing includes four principles as the foundation of the Order which I believe Chief Joseph embodied:

  1. Non-attachment from views- to be free from dogma, prejudices and habits- Chief Joseph was familiar with and practiced both Christian and Native spirituality.
  2. Direct experimentation- direct experience of reality, not speculative philosophy as an instrument through which we experiment with truth- Chief Joseph lived as he believed and worked with Anglos according to each situation and adjusted his view where necessary.
  3. Appropriateness- a teaching, in order to bring about understanding and compassion,  must reflect the needs of people and the realities of society- Chief Joseph  gave up the land he promised to hold and was able to integrate that into native view.
  4. Skillful means- images and methods created by intelligent teachers to guide people in their efforts to practice the Way in their own particular circumstances- Chief Joseph wanted to avoid genocide and to maintain peace and did this through flight over treacherous yet well known territory, to ensure that the Nez Perce people and anglos would survive.

Chief Joseph was able to penetrate the intent while anticipating the outcome of the white man’s words, yet continued in negotiations despite the hopelessness of the situation.  One might ask “Why pursue it then?”  I can surmise from my own practice and insight, that it is not the futility or apparent success of a situation or cause that motivates the spiritual warrior.  As one of my former Naropa teachers Dale Asriel said, “It is the dawn of Bodhicitta in us, the awakened heart of clear seeing, gentleness and willingness to allow enough room for everything (wisdom, compassion, emptiness), our soft spot of wanting to make sense of confusion.

Peace activist Robert Aitken Roshi at 91 years old- photo provided by the Diamond Sangha

Peace activist Robert Aitken Roshi at 91 years old- photo provided by the Diamond Sangha

It is a greater aspiration that calls to us in life.  The pain of this process- if it becomes a source of discovery rather than despair- is what enables us to feel connected to other beings and to embrace the world as we find it.  Who could dispute the fact that Chief Joseph was willing to do this, and from the ground of Bodhicitta?

One of my all time favorite Bodhisattavas has been St. Francis of Assisi.  As a Christian monk, he was able to touch upon the essence of Bodhicitta in ways that recognizably indicate the unity of Interbeing between the natural world, self and spirit:

“Once when Francis was offered a large fish which had just been caught in Lake Piediluco, he simply looked at it, called it “brother” and then put it back in the water near the boat. And it did not swim away until Francis had given it leave and a blessing.”                                                                                                          -Bonaventure IX, 8

St. Francis worked to unite and protect all elements of the creation of the spirit.  He was connected to the wisdom aspect of the Bible, where the earth was looked upon not merely as lifeless matter, but rather alive with sensitivity to feelings of pain and suffering.  So that he could alleviate the suffering, Francis, who came from a wealthy family like Siddhartha Gautama, subscribed to a life of poverty, simplicity and meditation in serving the Spirit.

As he roamed around the countryside and taught, he did so with regard to all of creation in mind, including the lowly worm.  I imagine him to be more of a Thich Nhat Hanh kinda guy and Bodhisattva, possessing a gentleness of presence and telling stories filled with references about nature.  Many people however, during his time, thought of him as ‘God’s fool’ for his extraordinary enthusiasm in communing with the natural world of plants and animals.  There is the noteworthy Canticle of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, where Francis speaks to the notion of Interbeing:

“All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made, And first my Lord Brother Sun who brings the day: and light you give to us through him.  How beautiful he is, how radiant in all his splendor.  Of you, most high, he bears the likeness.  And praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and stars.  In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.  And praise be yours my Lord, through Sister Earth, Our Mother, who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces fruits and colored flowers and herbs.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama asserts that this type of thought in Christianity relates to recognition of Buddha-nature in everything.  If St. Francis was able to notice this in simple forms of creation, one could surmise that he was also able to dissolve the barrier between self and other, and see the quality of Interbeing from his awakened heart, like so many other Bodhisattvas were able to do.

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche wrote that:

“all creatures seek happiness; they are seeking it day and night…those birds living in bushes and also the butterflies…they are all the same- desiring happiness, not desiring suffering.”

Clearly, the aforementioned Bodhisattvas understood this and lived in ways to benefit the beings experiencing this.  Perhaps they had spiritual practices that we may not agree with or understand.  However, they clearly participated in life from a place of awakened heart.  The path that creates the opening is any one’s guess.  Nelson Mandela’s path ran the gamut- from embracing non-violent protest against apartheid to advocating guerrilla warfare, spending 27 years in prison as a result, then receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, becoming president of South Africa while continuously being surrounded by controversy yet is held in high esteem around the world.

Dr. Reginald Ray, a former teacher of mine at Naropa and spiritual director of Dharma Ocean Foundation in Crestone, Colorado, said to me on our first meeting at Naropa that sometimes Bodhisattva’s are born in hell realms so that they can better help those beings that are there.  At the time, I certainly didn’t have the clarity or compassion with which to accept his insight.  What I do have is a strong meditation practice and incredible teachers both Buddhist and non-Buddhist who constantly challenge the notion of “I”, “Me” and “Mine”.  With that, I’ve discovered that there is no ground, no security which I can grasp onto.   Every moment is ever more precious, raw and we all face them in very different ways.  On the Bodhisattva path, we are reduced to nothing.  And from there, we become very real, very human, without labels and often open, broken hearts.


Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Author Lee Gutkind comments on the Robot Recession in Japan and what’s to come in the U.S.

Posted on November 17, 2009 by maeleesun

Published November 17, 2009

The Sun Spot


On October 27, 2009 I interviewed my former creative nonfiction writing teacher, Lee Gutkind, Founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction Magazine, on his research with robots.

Lee, who is now at ASU, has a very long title behind his name: the Distinguished Writer in Residence, Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes Professor, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University.

LeeGutkind_BW_325

Gutkind’s book “Almost Human: Making Robots Think”, has just been released in paperback.  Enamored with all things robot, I asked him to comment on a recent New York Times visual article on the robot recession currently underway in Japan.  His initial response was ” It goes to show the way in which interest in robots goes far beyond technology and into public understanding, consumption and acceptance that the ‘idea’ of AI (artificial intelligence) is no longer the stuff of science fiction.”  I agreed.

LG: The robot recession in Japan is a reflection of the economic recession in Japan and isn’t impacting us in a big way since robots are more a part of life in Japan.  In the U.S., robots are seen as of  part of pop culture and they’re involved in industry and medicine but we’re not used to interacting with them daily like the Japanese.

MLS: Why do you think that’s the case since we’re so technology dependent it seems in the West?

LG: The Japanese look at robots as answers to problems in life- like who will take care of the elderly.  In the U.S. we don’t want to think about a robot taking care of us. Although if you look at it, there is a decrease in funding in certain areas of research that robot technology is getting, like with aerospace.

MLS: Do you mean with space travel and lunar landings, etc?

LG: Yes, if you look at what has been going on with NASA in the past four or five years, the idea that was taking hold was that we didn’t need manned space travel because robots could do the job because the focus was on places where man couldn’t travel like Mars.  Mars was more important with the Clinton and Bush administration but now we’re focusing on going to the moon again and not Mars so robots are becoming less significant because men have been and can be on the moon and walk around.  Do you remember the two robots are on Mars?

MLS: You mean Spirit and Opportunity?

LG: Yes..they were supposed to be there for 3 months and now they’ve been there for three years.  We couldn’t do that with humans.  In that sense, we don’t know where space exploration will go let alone robots…Although the only place robots are still finding job security is in military applications.

MLS: That seems clear with predator drones and computer guided technology. It reminds me of the movie Transformers.

LG: Robots can go around the corner and look for the enemy…and it’s really not far from Sci Fi when robots control the weapons.  In 25 years or less, robots will be fighting the wars…until robots turn against their controllers.  That’s something that is difficult to balance in whole world of science.

MLS: If they take over?

LG:  Well, sometimes research gallops ahead of scientists ability to understand and control it.  We don’t want to stop research however and turn into a police state although I don’t know of any conferences that have taken place where these issues are being discussed.

MLS: What do you make of smart homes, smart cars and phones that do just about everything for you.  I keep thinking of the old cartoon show, the Jetsons.  Would you consider those things robots, except for Rosie who was a robot?

LG: People in the robotics world say smart cars and phones are robots.  What about robo calls? Artificial voices sometimes, not all the time, allow for no human connection.  Could they become dangerous? I don’t know.  What about the robot nurses that skulk around a patients room giving them medicine or a surgeon doing a procedure from one city on a patient in another by means of robotics?  What if there is a glitch in the system?

ML: Doesn’t that speak to the difference between a robot and a machine?

LG: Robotics people make a distinction between robots and machines.  Machines don’t think.  Robotics people also have trouble establishing a distance between the robots they create and themselves because they get attached. They give their robot creations a name and sexual orientation and they treat them like they treat a pet.

MLS: It reminds me of a Star Trek Next Generation episode with Data called The Measure of A Man.  They actually have to take the issue to council to determine if Data can think and feel independently and beyond being a programmed machine or creation.

LG: Scientists do become so involved in what they do that the moral and ethical issues aren’t considered until afterward.  There aren’t science policy scholars who devote time to thinking about these issues.

MLS: Any last words?

LG:  I still have an interest in following robots although I’m currently working on a book on personalized medicine.  That should be of great interest to Arizona.

Lee Gutkind conducted most of his research on robots at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, the NASA research center in California and in the Atacama desert in Chile- the place on planet earth said to be most like Mars.

For more information on Lee Gutkind’s work go to www.leegutkind.com or www.therobotbook.com


Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bats Attract for Water Conservation Message

Posted on October 19, 2009 by maeleesun

Published October 18, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent
earthworks workshop

Participants in an earthworks workshop led by Emily Brott, of the Sonoran Institute, used ancient technologies to build a basin for rainwater capture at the Ward One Tucson City Council office.
Credit: Sonoran Institute
The late summer launch at dusk of 40,000 Mexican free-tail bats from under a Campbell Avenue bridge.
Two new water-harvesting ordinances to go into effect in January.
A group of volunteers working with landowners to repair the ecosystem in a 70,000-square-mile region of the Southwest known as Sky Island.
These three are faces of conservation science applied for Tucson’s future.
The Sky Island Alliance, for example, is working to bring water back to natural areas endangered by off-road recreation, development and inadequate agricultural practices, said Melanie Emerson, the group’s executive director.
“We’re primarily working with private landowners of large tracts in the region on simple, implementable methods,” she said. “That most definitely includes technology that has been used for millennia like one rock dams and gabions (sand-filled cages).”
The alliance melds the science of conservation biology with on-the-ground restoration done by volunteers.
Efforts to restore grasses and native vegetation have created natural habitat that attract insects, birds and mid- to larger-sized mammals and predators, which in turn Emerson said, has helped revive populations of endangered species like the Chiricahua leopard frog.
Sweat Tech

Sweat Tech hasn’t changed much since the Hohokam, but tools look different, certainly.
Credit: Sonoran Institute
Emerson said her group “connects the dots” between conservation planning and conservation action.
The City of Tucson is using the law to put conservation into action.
In January, 50 percent of the water used for landscaping commercial buildings must come from water harvesting. Currently, 40 percent of Tucson’s drinking water is being used on landscaping. Emily Brott, project manager for the Sun Corridor Legacy Program of the Sonoran Institute, described water harvesting in Tucson as a process based on the ancient engineering of the Hokoham and Anasazis, who used systems of dams, canals and terracing to ensure their crops had enough water.
“The first line of defense, if you will, is the application of earthworks,” she said. “That means going back to building berms and basins that use gravity to direct the rain where you want it to go.”
She pointed out that this methodology is cheaper than using more costly gutters and cisterns to gather water off roofs.
“If you do your calculations right, you can gather enough … to use only water harvested from monsoon season and rain to water landscaping that consists primarily of native plants,” Brott said.
Instead of watching water run through the streets — which have essentially functioned as gutters — the city is implementing curb cuts to ease flooding and accommodate landscaping in medians and sidewalk areas. As water gets redirected, it eases the buildup of oil, trash and grim that ends up in washes and overloads the ecosystem.
Additionally a second new ordinance calls on all new residential construction to have a gray water stub-out. “Your washing machine, for example, has to be plumbed to bring the water outside, if the homeowner chooses to do so,” Brott said.
Rillito River gathering

Last month, the dusk launch of 40,000 free-tail bats attracted hundreds in Tucson to the banks of the Rillito River. Hosted by the Rillito River Project, water conservation and diversity were the themes, and large, white balloons helped to depict changing water levels.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
Gray water is wastewater that can be used for irrigation of gardens and other landscaping.
Now, about those bats.
The Rillito River Project, an arts organization, has had at least four presentations to increase awareness of the vanishing rivers of the Southwest, and this September used the summer flight of the bats to draw attention to the region’s water issues.
Before the 40,000 bats took off from under the bridge that spans the Rillito for their nightly feeding of mosquitoes and other insects, local actor Sean Dupont spoke to the crowd gathered in the dry riverbed of the river’s history, offering a sort of water timeline.
“1775, when the Spanish Presidio was established in downtown Tucson, the Rillito River flowed four feet deep,” Dupont said. “There was water in the river where Saint Xavier Mission stands. “
The water table has risen and fallen during the past several hundred years, starting with how the Hohokam harvested water to grow beans, corn and squash, cholla buds and mesquite beans, Dupont said.
With the increase in Anglo settlers and agricultural development, he said, Tucson established a municipal water system in the 1900s — initially through tapping a spring and directing it through gravity feeds that eventually required pump technology to supply volume.
By the 1950s, the water table sunk from 20 feet underground to 75 feet underground.
For more information:
Sonoran Institute (520) 290-0828 www.sonoraninstitute.org
Sky Island Alliance (520) 624-7080 www.skyislandalliance.org
Rillito River Project (520) 955-3429 www.rillitoriverproject.org
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sports Drink Founder says the Secret is All in the Mix

Posted on October 9, 2009 by maeleesun

Published October 9, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
Regional Correspondent, TNAZ
Lou Lancero and Sal Tirrito

Drs. Lou Lancero and Sal Tirrito
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
When two driven medical students met, they might have foreseen becoming well respected cardiologists. But even given their shared commitment to endurance sports like competitive cycling and triathlon, for Tucson-based physicians Sal Tirrito and Lou Lancero, it was unlikely that they could have foreseen the success of what together they would create, XOOD, a sports endurance drink. But once they started, their intense competitive spirits wanted to blow any other product out of the water.
“Being in the sport (of triathlon) I’ve tried all the endurance drink products out there. As physicians, Lou and I looked at the ingredients and said we could do better. It didn’t have to be artificially neon blue or orange. We wanted to make a product that was pure and not full of empty calories,” says Tirrito, who took the lead in developing XOOD.
According to Tirrito, manufacturers, attempting to keep their costs and resale prices down, add inexpensive and largely ineffective ingredients like artificial preservatives and emulsifying agents. Even when some so-called ‘natural’ ingredients are added like stevia, sourced from a South American herb and used as a sugar substitute for its sweetness, the nutritional value is up for question.
However, including certain kinds of proteins and carbohydrates and finding the right ratio of protein to carbs was what Tirrito was shooting for in his formulation of XOOD. While supplying nutrition, Tirrito sought to make a drink that would convert efficiently to useable energy. Like any good scientist, he conducted his own experiment, followed by a field test to establish the validity of his claims.
” I went shopping at GNC and bought all the raw ingredients of what I thought would benefit athletes the most in their performance — vitamins, minerals, herbs, flavors, carbs and specific kind of proteins. For six months I tested the basic formula out on my friends who were athletes and got feedback. I started asking myself what if it also had health benefits in addition to performance?” he recalled. Tirrito then took the rough product to a nutritional chemist to refine the mix that would become XOOD.
Marcus Hille

At the Asheville, NC, half marathon in September 2009, Marcus Hille, 36, placed 6th at 1:28. He credits XOOD for his kick performances.
Credit: Marcus Hille
In his first attempts at marketing the product, Tirrito met with resistance. Manufacturers suggested he add certain chemicals, preservatives, colors and artificial sweeteners. They didn’t seem to understand why he’d want to use ingredients that were more costly than what was common in more standard energy drinks.
Tirrito found success in refining the mix when Arthur Winegrad became involved. Winegrad is a chemist and vice-president for research and development with Arizona Nutritional Supplements in Chandler. Winegrad was able to deliver the ingredients and end product Tirrito had envisioned.
“I’ve worked in this field for 13 years and with a lot of sports drink clients,” says Winegrad. “Dr Tirrito’s formula was really different. He wanted the product to be easy on the stomach, water soluble and have a specific carb-to-protein ratio along with very specific amounts of electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals per serving. Anytime you have an all natural formula, you’re going to pay more. Right down to the flavors, there’s no synthetics in XOOD which is very different from what’s on the market,” says Winegrad. If synthetics were used, it would reduce the retail cost of XOOD by one half to two thirds.
The real role Winegrad says he played was helping Tirrito get the active ingredients and amounts right. There are no FDC colors or flavors. Instead, the three different flavors that XOOD comes in — Pomegranate, Mangosteen and Green Tea with Lemon — are actually sourced from those ingredients. The subtle, pink color of the powdered mix comes from beet root and not a synthetic dye. When the final product was ready, Tirrito launched it at sporting events like marathons and triathlons, which attracted athletes like 36-year-old Marcus Hille, at six-foot eight inches tall, a competitive distance runner from Sedona.
“It is important to me as an endurance athlete to know that what I am putting into my body is going to provide me with the energy I need to sustain the intensity I desire, and that it’s also good for me with no extra junk that may be harmful in the long term. I will often slam a Green Tea XOOD before hitting the road to give me an energy boost and Pomegranate is good for long runs of up to three hours or more,” says Hille.
In addition to sponsoring both pro and amateur athletes and launching a XOOD cycling and triathlon team, Tirrito and Lancero have headed back to the labs to work on yet another new product – a readymade drink in the XOOD line geared toward the health club market.
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

This Beer is Crafted! Old World Technology, New Tastes Brewing

Posted on September 7, 2009 by maeleesun
Published September 3, 2009
Tech News Arizona
By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent
Dennis Arnold

Dennis Arnold of Barrio Brewing and Gentle Ben’s in Tucson is here “metering-in” beer through a stainless filter chamber.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
Brew master Dennis Arnold is really a chemist seeking to clone his creations.
If a craft brewer doesn’t understand the intricacies of balancing ingredients, Arnold, co-owner of Tucson’s Barrio Brewing Co., said, “You’ve got nothing.”
“Every beer style has its parameters in a dozen different objective and subjective tastes, aromas and mouth-feel observations,” he said. “The beauty about any given beer style is that you will end up with thousands of different beers crafted even when every brewer is looking at the same definition of a given style.”
Skilled brewers recognize the variables and how to counteract combinations so one’s beer is as close to a clone as possible to the last batch, Arnold said.
“Not even Budweiser can brew the exact beer every time, so they as a practice, blend 10 different batches every time to homogenize the end product,” he explained.
Arnold said he has been blending and brewing various lambics, ales, lagers and stouts since he graduated from college in the early ‘80s and visited brewpubs in San Francisco.
The craft-beer “movement,” as he called it, was on the fringe and considered a tradition of the past, relegated to the basements of European homes and monasteries.
Beer connoisseurs, though, who felt the quality of beer suffered in mass production, started to go back to the basics by either investing in or opening their own breweries, according to the Brewers Association, based in Boulder, Colo.
Julie Herz, the association’s craft beer program director, said the American palate is changing and craft brew masters have the flexibility to experiment.
“Americans now want different style beers for different occasions and not just the standard lager for everything,” she said. “If you look at what’s going on with wines, chocolate and coffee, it’s the same thing, right?”
For example, Papago Brewing Co. in Scottsdale, which sells brews made for them by Oak Creek Brewing in Sedona and Sonora Brewing Co. in Scottsdale, sells “Coconut Joe” milk stout with desserts and Hawaiian-style pizza. Old World Brewery in Phoenix crafts its own Summer Saguaro Wheat Ale, which has fresh saguaro fruit pulp added, to pair with fish, Italian food, burgers and hot dogs.
During University of Arizona Wildcat’s basketball season, Barrio Brewing offers NCAALE, an English double-strong ale with a full-bodied malt flavor.
Old World Brewery

Stainless fermentation tanks at Old World Brewery in Phoenix.
Credit: Perry Parmely, Old World Brewery
Again, it’s all in the chemistry.
Is that sudsy, golden, slightly bitter taste of your favorite ale on tap from the malt? Is it the proportion of hops and measure of bitterness? Live cultures and morphing bacteria?
Considered an old-world technology, aging beer in used, wooden barrels is the newest development, Herz said, in the craft-brewing arena because of the fermentation process that takes place in wooden barrels.
The barrels are inoculated with wild bacteria to impart additional flavors that may already be present in the wood, like the rum or chardonnay previously stored in some.
“It’s taken awhile for beer quality to get to this level, but it’s a good example of the way in which the allied trade and suppliers have adjusted to smaller, craft brewers becoming players in what’s available in varieties of beer,” Herz said.
“We don’t have any beer under wood right now,” says Barrio’s Arnold. “Barrels make a great brew, and we’d been making one we really liked from bourbon casks. But as soon as casking got popular, barrel prices have gone way up, and the good ones are tough to get now,” he adds.
And as the quality of ingredients – the main three always yeast, barley and hops — has changed through more advanced farming techniques and the addition of spices and exotic flavors, so too has the available quantity of these.
Vermont, widely known for its rich, agricultural land, has the greatest number of breweries per capita and an article in the summer 2009 edition of Local Banquet magazine reported that many of the ingredients in those beers, like barley, hops, wheat, raspberries, pumpkin and honey are now being sourced within the state by encouraging local farms to become more sustainable.
The number of U.S. breweries is the highest it’s been in 100 years. Although 56 breweries closed throughout the country last year, another 122 opened. The microbrew sector in general has grown to approximately 1,500 breweries in the U.S., generating close to $6 billion a year.
There are approximately 30 craft breweries across Arizona.
In this state, breweries have suffered a bit by the global increase in pricing and shortage of hops and barley. Electric Brewing Company, a boutique brewery in Bisbee, closed after seven years of doing business.
“Survival depends on thinking globally and drinking locally,” Arnold said.
For more information on Arizona craft breweries, brewpubs and seasonal beers:
www.seasonalbeerandfood.org
www.beertown.org
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Tri’ing Is Good For Tech & Business: pt 2

Posted on August 20, 2009 by maeleesun

Published August 20, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent

Tom Manzi

Training Bible coach, Tom Manzi, of Tubac & New Jersey, conducts an open water swim clinic for Tucson TriGirls triathlon club, at Lake Patagonia.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
Debbie Claggett, vice president and co-owner of TriSports, a superstore for triathlon equipment in South Tucson, has seen a growing number of triathletes at her retail and on-line stores.
“Our revenues have grown by over 400 percent over the last five years,” she says.
Claggett also looks at the athletes TriSports sponsors as ambassadors of her company. “They’re located all over the world, so it’s a good way to mass advertise,” she says.
Teams or clubs requesting that TriSports become their official store receive discounts. They don’t have to be Tucson-based, although based within Arizona. Triathlon clubs Claggett’s store sponsors include UA Tricats, Tucson Triathlon Club, Tucson Trigirls Club, Tri Scottsdale, Phoenix Tri Club and Pay & Take Tri Club in Flagstaff.
Additionally, one of the biggest triathlons in Arizona, Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival in Show Low, Arizona, is sponsored by the Claggetts’ non-profit company, TriSports Racing. All proceeds go to charity and TriSports donates the people power to host the event where vendors are invited to set up booths with product.
The store itself offers a variety of services like fitting cyclists to their new or existing bike, body mapping and power testing. For runners, they employ the use of treadmills and advanced software to do run strike analysis and send people home with a DVD and ‘tons of information to become a better runner’.
Swimmers have the same advantage if they take a dunk in the in-store endless pool with underwater cameras to provide stroke analysis. Classes are scheduled throughout the year for all three sports and pro athletes like Floyd Landis and Team Ouch, his cycling team, have conducted presentations at the store. They market their apparel here, as well.
Although not sponsored by TriSports, trainers have capitalized on the popularity of triathlon in Tucson, coaching triathletes who come here for the Training Bible [TB] triathlon camp, the one Ian Andes attended this year with his brother.
Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis, (seated far left) and his cycling team, Team Ouch, visited TriSports.com earlier this year to market the team products the store carries.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
The camp was started by Joe Friel, of Scottsdale, AZ, an elite level trainer and author of the Training Bible series for endurance athletes, and Adam Zucco, an elite level trainer and triathlete based in Chicago. The TB camps have generated clients for TB affiliated coaches Jim Vance and Tom Manzi, certified TB coaches, who were at the TB camp in Tucson. Vance, at age 32, races professionally in addition to coaching, making a workable income between the two.
“If you’re good enough at anything, you can find a way to make money at it,” Vance says. “However, in the sport of triathlon, there is only a very small fraction of athletes who make a real living at the sport,” he adds. “It’s a business for sure, and if you’re not winning major races, then you get very little. You have to be the biggest fish in the biggest pond you can find in order to get any sponsorships of substance,” Vance says about the competition in the field. He also notes that the sport is very expensive, so even some equipment sponsorships can be very beneficial.
According to Brian Stevens of Clif Bar and Company, triathletes like Vance make the sport “a sponsors dream.” Clif Bar, maker of the popular organic energy bars and sports nutritional products, have representatives travelling the country for sponsorship events from the company’s base, in Berkeley, California. They continue to be a key vendor and sponsor for Perimeter Bicycling Association of America events, including El Tour de Tucson and El Tour de Phoenix.
“It’s been part of our business model to channel efforts toward athletic sponsorships and field marketing,” says Clif Bar’s Stevens.
“We sponsor a ton of events and individual marketing including Tom Manzi, Chris McCormick from Australia who won Ironman Kona, Team Garmin-Slipstream in the Tour de France and American Christian Vandevelde who is on the team, and professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones. We have all different levels- it’s not just about the podium,” says Stevens.” He notes that in return for sponsorships, the athletes receive money at the elite level, and both elite and amateur athletes receive product and wear apparel with the Clif logo.
The net result of ClifBar’s efforts in creating sponsorships and new product introduction is that the company continues to experience double-digit growth even through this economy. Although he would not disclose any financials since the company is privately held, but Steven’s did say that bigger entities have offered to buy out Clif and Clif has turned them down.
Clif Bar’s reach has made it beyond the sports nutrition sector and they are now being carried in major grocery and retail chains like Target and Whole Foods. According to Stevens, the company is focused on research and development to expand their already solid product line of Clif Bars, Clif Shots, Luna Bars, Clif Blocks and Clif Kid snacks. A new recovery drink is slated for the shelves sometime before Summer’s end.
Tom Manzi, who spends his time between the New Jersey shore and Tubac, Arizona, has been sponsored by Clif for several years. Whenever he takes on a new training client, they also reap the benefits by receiving samples of Clif product. Manzi has a list of regular clients nationwide, thirty-five percent of whom are women. Client’s progress is tracked on line through the Training Bible website which has a software program in which to upload data from various training and monitoring devices. Coaches log on to post schedules and make adjustments to each athlete’s individual training plan.
Tom Manzi

Nutritional performance products like XOOD and Clif are continually tested in the field by competitive triathletes like Tom Manzi (smiling), sponsored by both companies.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
“I have a mix of first timers and people who are competitive professionals,” says Manzi. “It definitely attracts Type-A’s. The training is intense and scientific because we track everything with technology like heart rate monitors, power meters and so forth but it’s not rocket science. It’s more of an investment,” he concludes.
As the sport continues to grow, so does the demand. Raena Issacson, a runner and founder of Raena Fitness (bootcamps, running and fitness coaching) in Tucson, says she saw the need to create an affordable way for people, including triathletes, to stay fit. Like Manzi, she now coaches a range of clients, many of whom are from the triathlon community.
“I noticed a lot of beginners and that’s where my heart is,” says Issacson. “I do expect to continue to grow. There are many more people to reach out to, “she adds.
“Many of my clients are low to medium income, restaurant servers, law assistants, bankers and Raytheon employees. I limit my class size to 15-20 clients to be sure I can give my clients enough individual attention,” she adds.
Andes, who has the support but not sponsorship of G-technology, says his company benefits regardless since someone committed to triathlon will make a better employee, will have better organizational skills and if they are up to something as grueling as an Ironman, then they better able to manage their work lives, as well.
“In reality, there’s only 24 hours a day,” Andes notes. “When you’re in tri, you can’t find more so you schedule your day and make sure everything fits together efficiently. You have an exact time allotment of when to hit the pool, ride. You don’t skip a meeting with the president of the company, so you’re not going to skip a meeting with the pool or your bike,” he concludes.
Editors Note: Andes went from a six hour and forty minute half-Ironman to a five hour, seven minute half-Ironman at Vineman this year, not a full- Ironman reported in part 1 of this story.
For more information:
Trisports: www.trisports.com
AZTriClub: www.aztriclub.com
Tucson Triathlon Club: www.tucsondesertheat.org
Tucson TriGirls: www.tucsontrigirls.org
UA TriCats: www.arizonatricats.com
Tri Scottsdale: www.triscottsdale.org
Phoenix Triathlon Club: www.phoenixtriathlonclub.org
Raena Fitness: www.raenafitness.com
Training Bible Coaching: www.trainingbible.com
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tri’ing Is Good For Tech & Business pt 1 of 2

Posted on August 12, 2009 by maeleesun

Published August 11, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent
Ian Andes

VP of Sales for G-technology, Ian Andes, cut his race time down at this year’s Vineman half Ironman event, by over an hour, crediting it to the ‘toys’ and tech he’s invested in.
Credit: LA Tri Club
Twenty thousand, give or take a few dollars over the past two years. That’s only the financial investment that’s come out of the pockets of Ian Andes, Vice President of Sales for G-Technology (a Hitachi company) in Los Angeles, California.
He drove to Tucson this past spring with his brother to spend some of that cash, which every few months or so, is par for the course. He’s even lost sleep and shed nearly 20 pounds over it. Luckily, he has a supportive spouse.
We’re not talking about plunging stocks. Andes, along with a million other people, are putting their money where their body is and competing in the growing sport of triathlon. The buzz has inspired a flurry of new retail businesses, personal coaching, performance technology and a multitude of products and nutritional supplements geared toward an expanding demographic.
When Andes first became interested in triathlon, he said he had no idea what it would cost, what the entry fees were. He did not have the disposable income he has now.
He was a competitive long distance swimmer throughout his teenage years and it was that competitive drive and a desire to get back in shape, now that he’s in his early 30′s, that led to his entry into the Los Angeles, Wildflower and Vineman triathlon competitions. Andes is currently training for the inaugural 2010 IronMan St-George in Utah.
“I had the swim trunks and the goggles, no bike, and running was my weakness,” Andes recalls.
“I ran in whatever I had at the time, which was a pair of Nikes,” he says about starting out. But soon, he was spending dollars to compete.
“I went to a triathlon event sponsored by the LA Tri Club and they had a cool tent with all this gear. I saw a cool bike and got excited,” Andes remembers.
What’s the motivation for Andes?
“On my deathbed, I want to say that I did and not that I ‘should’ have tried,” he says. And he’s seen older triathletes, who are ambitious and driven. They have the disposable income to support success in the form of clothing, gadgets, nutritional supplements and private coaching.
Carol DeHasse

Tucson-based OB/GYN physician, Carol DeHasse, has “the right gear” for competing in triathlons across Arizona in the past year. “Technology matters,” she says.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun
After he started buying into the triathlon gear, Andes went from a six hour and forty minute half Ironman to a five hour seven minute full Ironman at Vineman this year.
According to Tim Yount, Sr. Vice President of marketing and communications for the USA Triathlon organization (USAT) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the national sanctioning authority for the sport, estimated revenues triathlons generate in goods and services each year is currently more than $4 billion. Yount attributes much of that to the support of clubs like the one Andes belongs to, which promote competition in more ways than one.
Andes joined the Los Angeles Tri Club for $60 and has attended numerous clinics, trainings and presentations organized by them. Members get exposed to technology and brands that they might not otherwise know about, says Andes, as many clubs sell their own gear and have product sponsorship.
“The biggest demographic is actually Gen Y and Baby Boomers,” says Yount, who takes full advantage of the social and business networking opportunities. The culture, he asserts, is conducive to growth.
“Along with a community feel of triathlon and peers who work together on what to expect when they participate, there are numerous events giving more opportunities to compete,” says Yount. “Clubs also have a number of websites that have general training and racing information and club gear,” he adds.
Debbie Clagget, vice president and co-owner of TriSports, a superstore for triathlon equipment in South Tucson, sees a braod range of competitors at the retail and on-line store she owns with her business partner and husband, Seton.
According to Clagget’s estimates, the average age of TriSports customers is 41 years old but extends into the 80′s. The majority she says, are college graduates with a yearly income level of more than $130,000. Men make up 76%. while professions run the gamut from attorney to Olympic gold medalist and the stalwart weekend warrior.
“Our revenues have grown by over 400 percent over the last five years,” says Clagget.
“We have sponsored many different entities within the sport and believe in giving back to the sport that supports us,” she adds.
Over the last year, Clagett has provided sponsorships of individuals, teams, clubs and races. And she believes that triathlons have been growing in popularity during the current economy, because people are more aware of their health. “People have a desire to improve,” she says. “But the economy is spurring the growth with people dropping gym memberships in favor of using the free outdoors,” Clagett notes. “What better to do outside than swim, run and bike?” she adds.
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Freedom is From the Tech-side Out

Posted on August 12, 2009 by maeleesun

Published August 6, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent
female inmate

Women in orange make calls on some of the most notable C-Suites in world tech.
We’ve all seen a prison movie or two. We probably haven’t escaped the last decade without being exposed to any number of the live, popular cop shows on TV. The stereotype of who commits a crime hasn’t changed much.
At worst, ‘prison’ and ‘inmate’ conjure a certain image – malcontents dressed in orange or pinstripes, living shackled behind razor wire fences. Their time is spent in idleness or repetitive labor, like making automobile license plates or picking up litter along the roadways. We often think these are their desserts. We almost always assume it’s men and that they’re from a broken home or sketchy background. Often, the depicted scenarios ring true.
At best however, time in prison can be a gateway to a dream – a dream that not only leads to freedom, but one in which, at least for many women incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Perryville, ends in a win-win scenario for all involved.
Learning marketable business-to-business skills, approximately 250 of women inmates provide telemarketing services for some of the world’s most recognizable hi-tech brands including Microsoft, NetApp and Hitachi. They are employed by Televerde, a Phoenix-based, leader in marketing intelligence that contracts with the Arizona prison system.
Craig Burbidge, Vice President of Microsoft Global Practices at Hitachi Consulting in Irvine, California, (a division of Hitachi, Ltd) heads Hitachi’s CRM and ERP campaigns with Televerde. Nearly 30 percent of the Fortune 100 comprises the Hitachi Consulting client base.
For the past several years, Hitachi Consulting, through a referral from Microsoft, uses Televerde services to create demand for Hitachi Consulting Microsoft-related business. It didn’t make economical sense, Burbidge says, to go through a lengthy hiring process for each specific call campaign since needs vary.
“It’s a numbers game,” says Burbidge.
“We need to have someone on the phone eight hours a day every day to find out where the opportunities are. Managing that internally would be challenging,” he says.
“The advantage in outsourcing to Televerde is that we’re using experts. They already know what works, what doesn’t work. It improves our ROI since they can make more calls,” notes Burbidge.
“The success of each campaign speaks volumes about the level of professionalism of the women,” Burbidge adds. He recalls that he did not find out until the middle of the second campaign with Televerde that the women who were speaking to Hitachi’s C-level clients were incarcerated.
“I can see whey there’d be a lot of benefits and reasons to promote it but they (Televerde) don’t,” Burbidge observes. “Some folks might take issue with it, mainly because television shows highlight the worst. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have gotten it either. But now I’ve had the experience of working with them and they have had a huge impact on the success of our business,” Burbidge points out.
Craig Burbidge

Craig Burbidge, Vice President of Microsoft Global Practices at Hitachi Consulting in Irvine, California has high praise for the Televerde methodology.
“In fact, we’ve even said to Televerde that unless we could keep one of the women (an inmate working for Televerde on a Hitachi campaign) as our dedicated project coordinator, we wouldn’t use them. That’s how much I could count on her to get the job done,” Burbidge adds.
While he finds it difficult to put a precise number on how much Hitachi has profited using Televerde’s approach, Burbidge is now a believer in the Televerde methodology, delivering more impact than other marketing methods Hitachi Consulting has used, such as direct mail or email blasts.
“What we’re selling is complex and expensive business solutions software and services, not widgets,” says Burbidge. “A transaction will run $250,000 up to several million dollars. We have to have weekly status calls with our team which these women are a part of. They want to hear what we’ve accomplished and that what they do matters. Due to their previous situations, they haven’t had this kind of feedback or opportunity before,” Burbidge notes.
“We’re hugely appreciative of and value what they do and it takes a certain person and level of character to do it,” Burbidge concludes.
The Metamorphosis of Rebecca Morgan
“Set the bar of excellence high and incrementally raise it from there,” is Televerde CEO Jim Hooker’s motto regarding the program. In place since 1995, the bar he is talking about leads to freedom. This ‘workforce development initiative’ has proven that by getting inmates to think about the future through learning interpersonal skills, building self confidence and being mentored by professionals, their entire lives change.
Rebecca Morgan, 34, is one stellar example of how that is so. With shoulder length brownish-black hair, parted on the side and green eyes, wearing a pink sweater and brown pin striped slacks, no one would guess that such a charming, articulate woman once “did time” at Perryville. More than three years, she tells a visitor.
Rebecca could have walked into any corporate office unnoticed except perhaps for the tattoo on her upper right arm. Still, a band of colorful ink circling a bicep is no giveaway these days to a previous life behind bars. With an air of confidence and enthusiasm, she describes the journey that led from a bad choice that landed her in prison to a dream job inside the corporate headquarters of Televerde.
“I made some poor choices,” Morgan says. “But we don’t identify with our crimes anymore and we don’t ask or talk about others crimes who are employed here. It doesn’t serve any purpose and it’s not who we are,” she adds.
“I’ll only share that I did 3 ½ years at Perryville and was released in July 2005. I started with Televerde in 2003 while still in. When I got in, I’m thinking to myself, ‘You’ve done it now. Now what are you going to do.’ It was interesting because I didn’t come from the same background that a lot of the women in here do. I had a pretty stable home and good family. My father was in the military and we had good values. So when I went in (to prison), I was going in with the idea of taking full advantage of using the time to change,” she recalls.
“It was the first time in my life I can remember where my focus was entirely on me,” Morgan says.
Rebecca Morgan

Rebecca Morgan, human resources assistant for Televerde, and a success story for the company’s B2B programs.
Morgan attributes that focus to the way that prison time is structured. Typically, there aren’t many opportunities to do much with one’s time and all daily responsibilities like getting to work, paying bills, raising kids and other obligations are taken away – there is little left to worry about. For those who want to keep busy however, Morgan feels the door at Perryville, and in particular the Televerde program, is open if someone has the desire to walk through it.
“If we could figure out the difference between people who don’t use the time well,” says Morgan, “and those who do, and bottle it, there’d be a lot of change. But you have to be ready to change yourself. Some aren’t ready to do that yet but the ones who are, look at the reasons that got them into prison and are done with it. If they really get that they don’t belong there, they do well.”
As a former inmate and now a human resources assistant for Televerde, Morgan believes that the Televerde program inspires change not just because it’s a job. Jobs exist throughout the prison system that don’t lead to such positive transformation in one’s life. The women change she asserts because the pieces previously missing from their lives are put back into place: self esteem; feeling one can actually do something constructive with life; and experiencing some small success in business activity.
“These women never thought they could get on phone and talk to high-level execs, who don’t know by the way that they’re calling from in prison,” Morgan points out.
“Interacting with people who respect and listen to you is a very empowering feeling,” she adds. Many in the Televerde program don’t have much to begin with. “But they come to these jobs and put their heart and soul into it,” Morgan says.
Taking stacks of technical documentation, Televerde’s teams learn the material, and make calls in marketing campaigns that get results.
“It sure makes them feel they’ve achieved something,” says Morgan. “You want to keep that going and that is what Televerde does. So, by taking on more responsibility you feel like a person again,” Morgan concludes.
Apparently, working for Televerde is the most coveted job on the yard. There are four different call centers with 50 to 80 seats each. The day starts early, usually at six o’clock in the morning, to service clients based on the East coast. Other shifts may begin at eight and end at five in the afternoon to service the West coast. Morgan notes that most other jobs available at the prison pay between ten and fifty cents per hour while Televerde pays minimum wage. It adds up when thirty percent of wages earned is retained for spending money with the remainder going into a retention fund the inmate gets back when they are released.
If they’ve been incarcerated for any length of time, some see upwards of $20,000. A portion is also taken out as rent to the state which lessens taxpayer dollars to fund prisons. Restitution is also deducted. Money remaining is released directly to the women’s families which, Morgan notes, is “another way to empower because it offers support to your family when you’re not there.”
“Everyone wins,” she says.
Morgan has completed an associate’s degree and is pursuing the education necessary to become an HR manager. She dreams of moving to Denver should the Televerde prison program expand to other states. Yet she’s also been able to live the American dream of having just closed on a “tiny little house on a great big piece of dirt”, the place Morgan, her 10-year-old daughter, a dog, a cat and a frog, can call their own.
“Prison is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Morgan says.
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Corporate Internships Pave the Way for San Miguel Students

Posted on July 13, 2009 by maeleesun

Biz Tucson Magazine- Summer 2009

By Mae Lee Sun

To Jared Juan, doubt is “only a temporary state of mind.”  And it was the farthest thing from Juan’s mind when he and 23 other students graduated from San Miguel High School on May 23.

“The real world seems like a daunting place,” Juan said in his speedch to fellow classmates, family, friends and others gathered to celebrate San Miguel’s second graduating class.

But Juan said he and classmates “will definitely be ready for the corporate world upon graduation” from the colleges and universities where all 24 graduates will enroll this fall.

Juan attributed their readiness to San Miguel’s Corporate Internship Program- an innovative program that requires each San Miguel student to work one day a week at entry-level jobs in professional settings around Tucson.

The money each student earns is poured back into San Miguel, on Tucson’s south side, where it covers about half the cost of each student’s $8,500 annual tuition.  Donations cover 30 percent, and parents-most of them low-income, many of whon never graduated from high school-pay the remaining 10 percent.

San Miguel High School, started in 2004, is one of 22 private Catholic high schools in the nationwide Cristo Rey network.

Photo: Mae Lee Sun Humberto Stevens of Commerce Bank of Arizona with Elizabeth Goettel, President of San Miguel High School

Humberto Stevens of Commerce Bank of Arizona with Elizabeth Goettel, President of San Miguel High School

The Corporate Internship program is Cristo Rey’s cornerstone, providing students with entry-level jobs wtih lawyers, bankers, doctors, engineers, accountants and others.

Juan worked for four years at the Tucson Citizen and will enroll at Northern Arizona University this fall.

Classmate Margarita Quinones will go to Pima Community College for two years, then transfer to Arizona State University or The University of Arizona. She interned this last year with El Rio Community Health Centers, where she helped with filing, called patients to remind them of appointments, and mailed out physician referral slips.

Because of her experience with El Rio children’s clinic, Quinones wants to become a pediatrician or a children’s dentist.

All 37 of San Miguel’s seniors graduated last year, and went onto college.  The same is true of all 24 of this year’s seniors.  “You’re going to be the leaders of the community, once you graduate from the college of your choice,” honorary speaker Jim Click told the students.  Click also was an honorary speaker at last year’s graduation, San Miguel’s first.

He also is one of the community leaders credited with starting San Miguel High School, and he is one of its top donors.

“I thought, ‘My kids had the benefit of a private, college-prep high school-they both went to Salpointe- and I thought, why shouldn’t kids on the south side have the same advantage,” Click told BizTucson.

“We’re changing lives,” he said.  “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done since I’ve been in Tucson.”

Elizabeth Goettel, president of San Miguel High School for the past three years, calls the Corporate Internship Program “a very practical way to serve our population of students who typically could not access a private, college-prepatory education and on-the-job-training.”

During the school’s first two years, it was under-enrolled, Goettel said.  “The families in the neighborhood did no necessarily have the benefit of a secondary or college education themselves,” she said.  “A cultural shift had to happen.  The word had to get out into the community.  This year, we met and exceeded our enrollment goal.”

The school’s Corporate Internship Program draws support from 65 of the city’s business and education leaders, including Commerce Bank of Arizona, Carondelet Health Network, The University of Arizona, Jim Click Automotive Team, Pima Community College, Cox Communications and ABA Architects.

San Miguel is a win-win for students, businesses and ultimately the community, said Humberto Stevens, vice president of business development at Commerce Bank.  He also serves on the board at San Miguel High School and is president of the Hipsanic Alumni Association at the UA.

“It really helps the students learn the skills necessary to be part of a team and blossom into an adult,” Stevens said.

Carlos Ibarra, 17, just finished his junior year at San Miguel while working in the administrative offices at Commerce Bank of Arizona.

“I can do everything except handle money, because of my age,” Ibarra said.  “I’m learning more about the business world and myself.  I feel I can either go on to become a teller or even to owning a bank.  It’s also helping me to narrow the options-what I want and don’t want.”

BizTucson contributing writer Jane Erikson contributed to this story

BizFACTS

San Miguel High School

  • A total of 243 students were enrolled this past school year.  The school expects an enrollment of 360 this fall.
  • Enrollment is 85 percent Hispanic; 10 percent Native American; and 5 percent African-American, Anglo and Asian.
  • The school has 18 teachers and 15 staff members.

To learn more about the Corporate Intership Program, contact program director Mark Neimeyer at (520) 294-6403, ext. 1429.

Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Profiling: Women in Technology – Susan Cordts

Posted on July 7, 2009 by maeleesun

Tech News Arizona- Published Tuesday, July 7, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent

Susan Cordts

With a background in nursing, Susan Cordts now leads a company at the cutting edge of predictive data analysis.
It’s a big leap from being a nurse. Perhaps. But nursing taught Susan Cordts that making good, informed decisions would lead to beneficial outcomes and make a difference in the lives of others. And that’s all what Adaptive Technologies, Inc. [ATi ] is about.
When she left United Regional Healthcare Systems in Texas where she went from hands-on patient care as a nurse to an administrative position as a nurse executive in 1998, Cordts moved to Phoenix and enrolled in an MBA program in marketing and finance at top ranked, Thunderbird School of Global Management. It was there that she laid the groundwork to become President and CEO of Adaptive Technologies, Inc., a privately held firm that specializes in business intelligence and predictive analytics software.
As brilliant and passionate as she is, Cordts is the first one to mention that getting to the top, or anywhere else in life, has little to do with making huge sums of money and everything to do with the love and support of others. In fact, she’s walked away from large sums of options and shared stocks because she absolutely loves what she does.
“If you were to talk to any of my friends about understanding Susan, they’d say it’s not about me. Understanding others and doing what is best for the greater benefit of all are motivating me. Some people would say ‘Yeah right’, to that, because I’m a CEO of a company, but it’s true. At the end of the day, leaving a better world behind me is so very important. It makes for a richer, more exciting life. And I didn’t get here alone.
“I had a father who always told me I could do and be anything I wanted and I believed him,” she says. “I’ve also surrounded myself with people who also believed in me and gave me that extra push. It’s not something I take for granted. I pay it forward by mentoring my colleagues and inner city kids who are trying to get to a different place in life and work on behalf of human rights to give people a hand up not a hand out.”
“Anyone who thinks they succeeded by themselves is fooling themselves,” she adds.
Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Leave a comment

Green Valley is getting even greener for retirees at La Posada

Posted on July 3, 2009 by maeleesun

By Mae Lee Sun, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, July 03, 2009

The sun, the warm weather, golf and the arts are what typically attract retirees to Southern Arizona. For those choosing to live at La Posada in Green Valley, there’s a new consideration: green living.

“The average age of our residents is in the mid-80s. They are a very politically active and environmentally conscious population,” says Tim Carmichael, director of marketing for the nonprofit continuing care retirement community for people ages 62 and up. “Most of the changes we’ve been making at La Posada have come about through our residents suggestions who are concerned about water and energy usage. So we’ve taken that on and have hired Pepper Viner Homes as the developer for the planned Park Centre Homes neighborhood which we hope to break ground on by the end of 2009.”

None of the 35 homes to be built will be owned by residents. Instead they’ll pay an “entrance fee” that on average will be about $450,000 — 70 percent of which gets returned when the resident leaves. The fee, along with additional monthly maintenance costs also provides for of having medical staff nearby.


La Posada’s 35 homes won’t be for sale, residents will instead pay a partially refundable “entrance fee.”

Advertisement

As for being green, all of the homes will be energey efficient and built with low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) in the cabinetry, paints and flooring. (VOC are carbon-based chemicals that evaporate at room temperature and can be harmful, especially from sustained exposure.)

Read more…link goes to Inside Tucson Business

Categories: Other Work by Mae Lee Sun | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment