TROUBLE IN EDEN

As a conservationist who has worked for two decades to restore forests, watersheds and marshes in the Klamath River Basin, I am thrilled with the efforts of Michelle Stevens and others, chronicled in the fall 2003 issue, to restore Iraq’s marshes [“Eden Again”]. But calling Saddam Hussein’s vast irrigation projects that devastated the marshes “genocide” seems a bit unfair. After all, let’s remember that we’ve done the same thing time and again across America, including destroying 98 percent of the marshes in California’s Central Valley. UC Davis agricultural scientists played an important role in THAT destruction. Would the university and the editors allow use of the term “genocide” in a story about the university’s role in the demise of Central Valley wetlands? I doubt it.

I found the article “Eden Again,” concerning the Marsh Arabs of Iraq in the fall 2003 issue of UC Davis Magazine interesting and informative. However, I did find the writing style to be rather biased with an anti-U.S. administration agenda. A few examples:

• “Stevens . . . is under no illusions that the [U.S. military action] was undertaken to . . .
• “[Sadaam’s canals] . . . were surely engineered for genocide . . .” (seems like an overly strong choice of words)
• “. . . local grassroots efforts can overcome bad [U.S.] policy”

I believe the author is entitled to her [sic] political opinions. But I was uncomfortable with how they were woven into the article as fact.

Writer Bryant Furlow responds: I share Mr. Mackaplow’s distaste for writers weaving their own opinions into non-editorial narratives. Ironically, the passages in which he perceives an author’s bias actually reflect my sincere effort to convey Michelle Stevens’ views without letting my own opinions creep into the story. My only “agenda” was to fairly and accurately depict Dr. Stevens—her efforts, experiences, views and motivations.

And on the issue of genocide: The explicit goal of marsh destruction in Iraq was the elimination of a population and culture—by definition, genocide. The Baathist campaign against the Marsh Arabs also included more overt acts of genocide than the engineered destruction of the marshes, as I briefly mentioned in the story, including forced deportations, the destruction of entire villages and mass extrajudicial killings. But I suspect that Dr. Stevens would wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Pace’s point about the lamentable loss of wetlands in California and throughout North America. Indeed, much of her career was spent studying and protecting what remains of these valuable ecosystems.

FUTURE DOCS

I enjoyed reading Mark Honbo’s article, “From Face Guards to Surgical Masks” [fall ’03 issue]. I’ve often wondered how my teammates on Coach Bob Biggs’ 1982 varsity tennis team were doing. Of the nine players on that squad, I believe six (Beau Toy, Mike Smith, Willem Van Der Werf, Van Schalin, John Lazor and myself) went on to medical school.

The 1982 team, from left to right, back row: Coach Bob Biggs, Mike Smith, Rich Nielson, Paul McMurdie, Tom Moore, Rich Bobolik, Marty Rothfels, Willem Van Der Werf, Don Yakel, Steve Clark and Beau Toy. Front row: Van Schalin, Yves Nepomuceno, Roy Iskin, John Lazor, Dave Hultman, unknown, Olaf DeRouen, Ken Weber. Coach Biggs adds that Ken Weber also went into the health sciences.

BEAST HALL

Just a quick note to say thanks for your “Aggies Remember: North Hall Memories” by Caroline Nielsen ’57 [fall ’03 issue].

I was an Aggie freshman in 1956 (there were just 200 of us women that year, as I recall). I was from Southern California and now at a “Country School” where I was going to learn all about landscaping. I got assigned to East Hall [recently converted from an infirmary to student housing]. To say I was shocked to walk into a “hospital” room was putting it mildly! My mother put on a brave front and pointed out how wonderful it would be to study lying on a bed you could crank up. She was right: My roommate, Karen Jansen and I seldom used our desks. We shared a bathroom with the next room so we actually had a suite. Large windows. Ours looked out over a huge tree-shaded lawn right to the front door of Sigma Nu house. The Coop was a short walk away, North Hall, now a boys’ dorm, next door, and only about 20 girls sharing our “hospital.” So we were called “Beast Hall.” It was still a wonderful experience, one that has lasted all my life. It so happened I met my future husband the day after Picnic Day when we were all out and about cleaning up the campus. Can you believe it, he is a Sigma Nu!

CORRECTION

In our fall issue’s “Educating Innovators,” we incorrectly identified the graduate student in cultural studies who is studying early-20th-century rodeo cowgirls. That student is Linda Sanderson.