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THE TIMELESSNESS OF MILLENNIAL-BASHING storytelling any more.

storytelling any more. Gone are the days when there were lords in the land who in
their hearts loved / to hear poets of mirth who could invent stories.
Even in the 14th century, writers blamed younger generations for ruining everything
William Langland, the elusive author of Piers Plowman, also believed that younger
As a millennial and a teacher of millennials, Im growing weary of think pieces blaming poets werent up to snuff. Piers Plowman is a psychedelic religious and political poem
my generation for messing everything up. of the 1370s. At one point, Langland has a personification named Free Will describe
The list of ideas, things and industries that millennials have ruined or are presently the sorry state of contemporary education. Nowadays, says Free Will, the study of
ruining is very long: cereal, department stores, the dinner date, gambling, gender grammar confuses children, and there is no one left who can make fine metered
equality, golf, lunch, marriage, movies, napkins, soap, the suit and weddings. In true poetry or readily interpret what poets made. Masters of divinity who should know
millennial fashion, compiling lists like this has already become a meme. the seven liberal arts inside and out fail in philosophy, and Free Will worries that
hasty priests will overleap the text of the mass.
A common thread in these hit pieces is the idea that millennials are lazy, shallow and
disruptive. When I think of my friends, many of whom were born in the 1980s, and my On a larger scale, people in 14th-century England began worrying that a new
undergraduate students, most of whom were born in the 1990s, I see something bureaucratic class was destroying the idea of truth itself. In his book A Crisis of Truth,
different. The millennials I know are driven and politically engaged. We came of age literary scholar Richard Firth Green argues that the centralization of the English
after the Iraq War, the Great Recession and the bank bailout three bipartisan government changed truth from a person-to-person transaction to an objective reality
political disasters. These events were formative, to an extent that those who remember located in documents.
the Vietnam War might not realize. Today we might see this shift as a natural evolution. But literary and legal records from
The idea that young people are ruining society is nothing new. I teach medieval English the time reveal the loss of social cohesion felt by everyday people. They could no
literature, which gives ample opportunity to observe how far back the urge to blame longer rely on verbal promises. These had to be checked against authoritative written
younger generations goes. documents. (Chaucer himself was part of the new bureaucracy in his roles as clerk of
the kings works and forester of North Petherton.)
The most famous medieval English author, Geoffrey Chaucer, lived and worked in
London in the 1380s. His poetry could be deeply critical of the changing times. In the In medieval England, young people were also ruining sex. Late in the 15th century,
dream vision poem The House of Fame, he depicts a massive failure to communicate, Thomas Malory compiled the Morte d'Arthur, an amalgam of stories about King
a kind of 14th-century Twitter in which truths and falsehoods circulate indiscriminately Arthur and the Round Table. In one tale, Malory complains that young lovers are too
in a whirling wicker house. The house is among other things a representation of quick to jump into bed.
medieval London, which was growing in size and political complexity at a then- But the old love was not so, he writes wistfully.
astounding rate.
If these late medieval anxieties seem ridiculous now, its only because so much human
In a different poem, Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer worries that future generations accomplishment (we flatter ourselves) lies between us and them. Can you imagine
will miscopy and mismeter his poetry because of language change. Millennials
might be bankrupting the napkin industry, but Chaucer was concerned that younger
readers would ruin language itself.
the author of Winner and Waster wagging a finger at Chaucer, who was born into
the next generation? The Middle Ages are misremembered as a dark age of torture
and religious fanaticism. But for Chaucer, Langland and their contemporaries, it was
Winner and Waster, an English alliterative poem probably composed in the 1350s, the modern future that represented catastrophe.
expresses similar anxieties. The poet complains that beardless young minstrels who
never put three words together get praised. No one appreciates old-fashioned
These 14th- and 15th-century texts hold a lesson for the 21st century. Anxieties about
kids these days are misguided, not because nothing changes, but because historical
change cannot be predicted. Chaucer envisioned a linear decay of language and
poetry stretching into the future, and Malory yearned to restore a (make-believe) past
of courtly love.
But thats not how history works. The status quo, for better or worse, is a moving target.
Whats unthinkable to one era becomes so ubiquitous its invisible in the next.
Millennial bashers are responding to real tectonic shifts in culture. But their response is
just a symptom of the changes they claim to diagnose. As millennials achieve more
representation in the workforce, in politics and in media, the world will change in ways
we cant anticipate.
By then, there will be new problems and a new generation to take the blame for them.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
HOW HUMAN NOISE RUINS PARKS FOR ANIMALS AND PEOPLE and inform management, the National Park Service has been monitoring sounds at
hundreds of sites for the past two decades.
Even in Americas most pristine wildernesses, unwanted sound is changing landscapes
**********
As transportation networks expand and urban areas grow, noise from sources such as
vehicle engines is spreading into remote places. Human-caused noise has consequences Noise is hard to quantify at large-landscape scales because it cant be measured by
for wildlife, entire ecosystems and people. It reduces the ability to hear natural sounds, satellite or other visual observations. Instead researchers have to collect acoustic
which can mean the difference between life and death for many animals, and degrade recordings over a wide area. NPS scientists on our team used acoustic measurements
the calming effect that we feel when we spend time in wild places. taken from 492 sites around the continental United States to build a sound model that
quantified the acoustic environment.
Protected areas in the United States, such as national parks and wildlife refuges,
provide places for respite and recreation, and are essential for natural resource They used algorithms to determine the relationship between sound measurements and
conservation. To understand how noise may be affecting these places, we need to dozens of geospatial features that can affect measured average sound levels.
measure all sounds and determine what fraction come from human activities. Examples include climate data, such as precipitation and wind speed; natural features,
such as topography and vegetation cover; and human features, such as air traffic and
In a recent study, our team used millions of hours of acoustic recordings and proximity to roads.
sophisticated models to measure human-caused noise in protected areas. We found
that noise pollution doubled sound energy in many U.S. protected areas, and that noise Using these relationships, we predicted how much human-caused noise is added to
was encroaching into the furthest reaches of remote areas. natural sound levels across the continental United States.
Pine siskin song as a car passes by, Rocky Mountain National Park. Recorded by Jacob To get an idea of the potential spatial extent of noise pollution effects, we summarized
Job, research associate with Colorado State University and the National Park Service, the amount of protected land experiencing human-produced noise three or 10 decibels
Author provided above natural. These increments represent a doubling and a 10-fold increase,
respectively, in sound energy, and a 50 to 90 percent reduction in the distance at
Our approach can help protected area managers enhance recreation opportunities which natural sounds can be heard. Based on a literature review, we found that these
for visitors to enjoy natural sounds and protect sensitive species. These acoustic thresholds are known to impact human experience in parks and have a range of
resources are important for our physical and emotional well-being, and are beautiful. repercussions for wildlife.
Like outstanding scenery, pristine soundscapes where people can escape the clamor of
everyday life deserve protection. **********
********** The good news is that in many cases, protected areas are quieter than surrounding
lands. However, we found that human-caused noise doubled environmental sound in
Noise is an unwanted or inappropriate sound. We focused on human sources of noise 63 percent of U.S. protected areas, and produced a tenfold or greater increase in 21
in natural environments, such as sounds from aircraft, highways or industrial sources. percent of protected areas.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, noise pollution is noise that
interferes with normal activities, such as sleeping and conversation, and disrupts or Noise depends on how a protected area is managed, where a site is located and what
diminishes our quality of life. kinds of activities take place nearby. For example, we found that protected areas
managed by local government had the most noise pollution, mainly because they were
Human-caused noise in protected areas interferes with visitors experience and alters in or near large urban centers. The main noise sources were roads, aircraft, land-use
ecological communities. For example, noise may scare away carnivores, resulting in conversion and resource extraction activities such as oil and gas production, mining and
inflated numbers of prey species such as deer. To understand noise sources in parks logging.
We were encouraged to find that wilderness areas places that are preserved in
their natural state, without roads or other development were the quietest protected
areas, with near-natural sound levels. However, we also found that 12 percent of
wilderness areas experienced noise that doubled sound energy. Wilderness areas are
managed to minimize human influence, so most noise sources come from outside their
borders.
Finally, we found that many endangered species, particularly plants and invertebrates,
experience high levels of noise pollution in their critical habitat geographic areas
that are essential for their survival. Examples include the Palos Verdes Blue butterfly,
which is found only in Los Angeles County, California, and the Franciscan manzanita, a
shrub that once was thought extinct, and is found only in the San Francisco Bay area.
Of course plants cant hear, but many species with which they interact are affected by
noise. For example, noise changes the distribution of birds, which are important
pollinators and seed dispersers. This means that noise can reduce the recruitment of
seedlings.
Noise pollution is pervasive in many protected areas, but there are ways to reduce it.
We have identified noisy areas that will quickly benefit from noise mitigation efforts,
especially in habitats that support endangered species.
Strategies to reduce noise include establishing quiet zones where visitors are
encouraged to quietly enjoy protected area surroundings, and confining noise corridors
by aligning airplane flight patterns over roads. Our work provides insights for
restoring natural acoustic environments, so that visitors can still enjoy the sounds of
birdsong and wind through the trees.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
HOW SOCCER IS CHANGING THE LIVES OF CHILD REFUGEES rendition used in a march demanding improved working conditions and higher wages
for migrant workers.
Arrivals from war-torn countries find refuge at a Georgia academy founded by an
immigrant The Fugees objects tell a slice of the particular migration story of refugee resettlement,
and hint at the years Mufleh has dedicated to the refugees in her community. Mufleh
The day after the 2016 presidential election was a stressful one in a school in arrived in the U.S. from her native country of Jordan in the mid-1990s to attend Smith
Clarkston, Georgia. The students, all refugees from war-torn regions of the world, College in Massachusetts.
arrived in tears. Some of them asked, Why do they hate us? Hoping to reassure the
students, soccer coach Luma Mufleh and the teachers held a special meeting to discuss After graduation, Mufleh moved to the suburbs of Atlanta where she opened a caf
the American political system. They explained that the American government, unlike that served ice cream, sandwiches and coffee. Though she lived and worked in the
those of the countries they came from, operated under a system of checks and balances town of Decatur, she frequented a Middle Eastern store in nearby Clarkston, where
that would review the president-elect's policies. she could find the authentic hummus and pita bread that reminded her of her home
country.
Though most middle and high school students would be familiar with this fundamentally
American value, these students are recent immigrants, a status that puts them at the But one afternoon in 2004, she took a wrong turn in Clarkston and found herself in the
center of a political firestorm. parking lot of an apartment complex where a group of young boys was playing
soccer.
The students attend the Fugees Academy, a private school funded by the Fugees
Family, a non-profit organization that Mufleh founded to support refugee children and They reminded me of home, she says. Playing without referees or coaches and with
their families in the Atlanta suburb. a beat up ball, the scene was reminiscent of the streets where Mufleh played with her
brothers and cousins. So compelled by these children, she hopped out of her car with
Months have passed since that first post-election conversation and the topic of refugees a nicer ball and convinced the boys to let her in on the game. She soon learned they
continues to make headlines. Less than 24 hours after parts of President Trumps travel were refugees from Afghanistan and Sudan, and she bonded with them over their
ban went into effect, barring some refugees from entering the country, Mufleh and shared identity as Muslim immigrants.
nine of her students traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the 2017
Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a theme of which focuses on youth, culture and migration. Throughout the next few months, she continued to play soccer with themsome of them
They presented soccer drills and spoke about their refugee experience in a story circle. barefoot and using rocks as goal markers. Later that year, she founded an official
competitive soccer team made up of refugees. They called themselves the Fugees,
They also saw on display, for the first time, items from their soccer team, including a as in refugees.
jersey, a soccer ball and a pair of cleats in the new exhibition "Many Voices, One
Nation" now on view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. But she soon realized that soccer alone could not address the many issues refugee
children face. Upon arriving in the United States, these children are frequently enrolled
The objects are located in the recently revamped and reopened second floor of the in age-appropriate classrooms without consideration of their education level. Some of
museum's west wing. The show's title evokes the sentiment of the Latin phrase e pluribus them, such as those from Syria and Iraq, have not attended school in several years due
unum, which is found on the United States seal and roughly translates to out of many, to conflict in their home countries. Others, such as those born in refugee camps in
one. Telling the centuries-long story of migration to the United States, the exhibition Ethiopia or Myanmar, the country also known as Burma, have never been to school and
begins with the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 and follows the waves of migration are illiterate even in their native languages.
through the early 2000s.
Theyre expected to do algebra when theyve never set foot in school and they dont
Some objects tell stories of cultural exchange, while others such as a Border Patrol know how to add or multiply, she remarks.
uniform, reveal the legacy of measures to control migration. The imagery of the Statue
of Liberty is prominent in the exhibition; most notably in the form of a paper mch
She began the Fugees Academy to educate students, no matter how far behind they
are. Offering classes for sixth through twelfth grade, the academy has become so
popular among the refugee community that Mufleh receives nearly three times as many
requests for enrollment as she has space and resources.
But though the Fugees Familys reach has expanded far beyond the soccer field,
theyve never neglected their roots in the sport. She and her staff coach several teams,
some of which compete in a recreational league while the others compete in an
independent school league.
Soccer is the one thing thats very familiar to them and the one thing that is normal,
she says. It reminds them of home.
In conversation in the days leading up to their demonstration at the Folklife Festival,
Mufleh said she hoped the students would share their unique stories while reminding
those who attend that they are not just refugees. They are children and adolescents,
first.
Theyre just like most kids, she notes. Yes, theyve had experiences that children
typically dont have. But they have so much to contribute to this country to make it great
and to teach us all about how grateful we are to be here.
"Many Voices, One Nation" is now on view at the National Museum of American History
in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian's 2017 Folklife Festival continues on the National
Mall July 6 through July 9, 2017.

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