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Grace Nichols — recording bats in the pine bush
Grace Nichols is a citizen scientist and also an activist. In this week’s podcast, the former biology teacher talks about a group she has formed to document the many species of bats that live in portions of the pine bush slated for development. “Clunk, clunk — click, click,” she describes the sounds heard on their bat detectors, the pitch too high for human ears to hear. Recorders from a local bat expert have produced sonograms of various species — each as individual as a fingerprint. Standing near the fringes of green in the midst of suburbia, said Nichols. “You become more aware of how alive the whole world is.” Nichols was instrumental in getting Albany County last year to pass a resolution to be pollinator-friendly. People have told her, “Grace cares more about insects than people.” Her response: “There are no people without insects.”
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Daughter and mother coach dragon-boat paddlers
31:33Anna Judge and Louisa Matthew realize they live in an ageist and sexist society — but, with generous spirits, they are paddling against the current. The mother-daughter duo together coach a crew of dragon boat paddlers. Matthew, the mother, is an art professor at Union College. Judge, her daughter, is a certified personal trainer who led her mother into the sport. “A dragon boat is a 40-foot long, very narrow racing boat,” explains Matthew in this week’s Enterprise podcast. “That became standardized in the 20th Century but it’s based on a thousands-year-old Chinese tradition of racing the big rivers in China.” A dragon boat has 20 paddlers, two to a seat, with a person in the stern who steers and a person in the bow signaling directions, traditionally by drumming. “It’s the national sport of China,” said Judge “so it’s quite big in Asia and has subsequently spread to Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.” It came to the United States through Canada, she said, citing the work of a doctor in British Columbia who changed prevailing medical opinion on exercise for breast-cancer survivors.
Angelica Sofia Parker and Elca Hubbard prepare for a pageant while supporting each other
27:03https://altamontenterprise.com/07242023/angelica-sofia-parker-and-elca-hubbard-prepare-pageant-while-supporting-each-other
