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WHO RULES: THE ISRAEL LOBBY
OR UNCLE SAM?
The answer
at last! Uri Avnery, former Knesset member, assesses the Lobby's
power. "If the Israeli government wanted a law tomorrow
annulling the 10 Commandments, 95 U.S. Senators (at least) would
sign the bill forthwith." But, yes, in the end the dog wags
the tail.Fifty
years ago Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" blew the cobwebs
out of millions of young minds and drove a stake through the
heart of Eisenhower's America. Lenni Brenner remembers Ginsberg
in the East Village.Dr Mengele died in exile, in disguise. Dr Ishii
died rich and recognized, in his own Tokyo home. Christopher
Reed on Japanese WW2 medical tortures and how the U.S. covered
them up.CounterPunch
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After a long, well-lived life, Homer
"Gus" Roberts passed away in his sleep April 30th at
the age of 94. The proud son of a lumberjack (the term for loggers
back in 1912), Homer was a teacher, starting in a one room schoolhouse
at age 18. As an Industrial Arts teacher in suburban Detroit
in the early 1950s, he was part of a group that started Outdoor
School. As he once told me, these teachers decided to provide
something for the "gifted" kids who were bored with
the usual curriculum. It started out as a thing for the "gifted"
students, but Outdoor School quickly became a valued educational
effort open to all students in his District--and, now versions
of Outdoor School exist in most states.
These lucky students were just
a few of the youth that benefited from Homer's lifelong role
as a Naturalist. For over 50 years, Homer and his wife Dot were
instrumental in the life of YMCA Camp Mahn-go-tah-see at Loon
Lake, in the northeast part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Homer
was the Nature Director and Dot was in charge of Crafts. As Chief
Mahn-go, Homer would preside over camp ceremonies imbuing all
with the Mind, Body, Spirit values of the camp--"fair play,
self esteem, teamwork and the value of every living thing"
was the defining credo.
The Wonders
of Nature
As Nature Director, Homer took
thousands of young, urban boys out for their first ever "nature
walks." I'll never forget my first one. Homer, known as
Gus to campers, pointed out a small, chewed-up stump in the wetlands
along Loon and Mud lakes. Gus asked us, "Does anyone here
know how this happened?" Of course, we knew of beavers,
though we had never seen one. Homer found out that most of us
had no idea what a beaver looked like. One camper surmised that
they were the size of dinosaurs. So, Homer the Artist, carved
out a beaver family for display in the Nature Center; a building
he built with the help of campers.
The Artist Homer Roberts also
created a number of other dioramas for the center--eagles, turtles,
Native encampments, etc. His creativity was also on display in
the many bird books he illustrated. It was his life as an Ornithologist
and Nature Photographer that led him to co-found and serve as
president of the Detroit Audubon Society. He brought yearly groups
of Audubon bird counters to Mahn-go-tah-see. The handmade charts
of species sighted date back to the 1940s.
Steward
of Creation
It was in the 1940s that Homer
became concerned about the fate of the Kirtland's warbler (or
Jack Pine warbler). Warbler numbers had dropped off as more and
more of their nesting habitat was lost--to farming, roads, and,
ironically, to the maturing forest--as the warblers only nest
on the ground under jack pine trees that are from five to fifteen
feet in height. As jack pine trees release their seeds only during
fire and Smokey had successfully denied forests the necessary
fires, Kirtland's warblers were fast approaching extinction,
after thriving in the turn of the 20th Century fire-scarred remains
of Michigan's great white pine forests.
Homer and a number of other
conservationists started working with the Forest Service on Kirtland's
warbler habitat plans. The tiny migratory songbirds which only
were nesting in a 20-mile radius of Loon Lake by 1950, have rebounded
and are now, as their former range returns, even nesting in a
couple places in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Another successful bird recovery
project Homer was instrumental in is the American Bald eagle.
Upon gaining a ban on DDT which was interfering with eagle and
other raptors' reproduction, ornithologists worked hard on habitat
protection. By the 1970s, eagles had returned to the area, nesting
along the nearby Wild and Scenic Au Sable River. For years, Homer
volunteered to be the Naturalist at an overlook where people
could observe the eagles' nest over the river. Now, eagles make
daily fishing runs over Loon Lake.
And loons themselves have returned
to their namesake lake. Due to the camp's mile plus of undisturbed
shoreline and the efforts of lakefront homeowners to keep the
lake loon-friendly, including an artificial nesting island provided
to prevent predation from canines and floats warning folks to
keep away from the nest area in a quiet cove; loons have successfully
nested at Loon Lake for the last eighteen years. Even the beavers
have made a couple recent returns to the lake. (Loons are still
quite threatened as there are less than 400 breeding pairs in
Michigan.)
Upon retiring in 1964, Homer
and Dot purchased Harvest Hill, their beloved home adjacent to
the camp. They raised the three youngest of their six children
there and Homer soon was back teaching, as a volunteer at the
Hale, MI schools. Homer still was the Naturalist at the camp,
though by the 1980s, kid camps were in decline and the camp passed
over to the Lutherans who now run it as the Loon Lake Lutheran
Retreat Center (LLLRC). Homer adapted and gave his talks and
walks to the families now utilizing the camp/retreat center.
Two years ago, Homer and Dot moved to a retirement center in
Eugene, OR to be near their children and grandchildren.
A Dynamic
Duo
Gus and Dot were one of those
great teams. Some couples just have it. For all the outdoor work
Homer accomplished; there was Dot weaving baskets of natural
materials she'd pick up on the many Nature Walks (and tirelessly
teaching others how to do it). And, there was Dot encouraging
Homer's music (he'd played banjo and other instruments since
childhood); his nature photography (he built his own darkroom
at Harvest Hill); and his work with Audubon. Dot was also his
main collaborator on the books and nature films he produced.
When hiking, Dot would forego binoculars; preferring to "see
things the way the Indians did."
Upon hearing of Homer's passing,
my life-long friend and former Mahn-go-tah-see camper/counselor
Tim Burton wrote, "A sad day indeed for all creatures. His
nature walks were always entrancing, but Dot's way with words
indicated she's no slouch, either! If Gus connected to your head,
Dot connected to your heart."
And, what a way with words!
In the tribute the Roberts family sent out, one reads this passage;
"Homer will be remembered
by all of us for the way he lived his life, the things he taught
us, and most importantly, the things he taught us to see. From
the grandeur of the forests to the beauty of each creature that
makes up the natural world and the need to protect the environment,
he opened our hearts as well as our eyes. We will continue to
hear his voice in the songs of the birds and the whisper of the
wind in the trees."
Nature has lost a champion
- a teacher, ornithologist, photographer, illustrator, musician,
Purple Heart veteran, husband, father, grandfather and great
grandfather. But that loss is mitigated by the many he touched
who are still here, still working to protect the habitat of "all
God's creatures" as Homer "Gus" Roberts taught
us and showed us how.
NOTE: An effort is underway
to purchase some of the Loon Lake wetlands from the LLLRC and
set them aside permanently as a preserve--the Dot and Gus Roberts
Nature Preserve has a nice ring to it; don't you think?
MICHAEL DONNELLY recognizes Homer Roberts' teaching
him about Nature as the major reason he has spent his life as
a dedicated conservationist. Homer (and Dot) Roberts' contributions
to his life and those of so many others are beyond measure. He
can be reached at pahtoo@aol.com
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