Category Archives: humanity

Feb20

monkey business.

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apes playfully tease each other just like humans

Joking around is a key element of human interaction — one that starts emerging in babies as young as 8 months old, before they can even speak. Now, a new study is suggesting that the human instinct to play goes further back than previously thought.

An international team of cognitive biologists and primatologists documented playful teasing in the four species of great apes: orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. They identified 18 distinct teasing behaviors, indicating that “the prerequisites for humor evolved in the human lineage at least 13 million years ago,” per a press release.

“Similar to teasing in children, ape playful teasing involves one-sided provocation, response waiting in which the teaser looks toward the target’s face directly after a teasing action, repetition, and elements of surprise,” explained lead author Isabelle Laumer.

The concept of playful primates isn’t new — Jane Goodall previously documented such behavior — but this is the first study to systematically analyze it. “We hope that our study will inspire other researchers to study playful teasing in more species in order to better understand the evolution of this multifaceted behavior,” Laumer said.

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“the very essence of playfulness is an openness to anything that may happen,

the feeling that whatever happens, it’s okay…

you’re either free to play, or you’re not.”

-john cleese

 

 

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source credits: Proceedings of the Royal Society, Laumer, Winkler, Rossano,  Cartmill

photo credit: anup shah, getty

Nov25

the holdovers.

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after seeing the trailer for this film

i really thought it was going to be a comedy

it did have its funny moments and lines

as the movie played out

 it was so much more

the trio of lead actors were brilliant

the characters

interacted

 revealed themselves

learned about each other

   personal stories emerged

in ways unexpected, tragic, and beautiful

 finding something in each other

perhaps they didn’t even know they needed

but oh, did they ever

because as their understanding

of their humanity

with all of its flaws and challenges

came to the forefront

they chose grace

each was made the better for it

and forever changed.

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“the moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad

but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.”

-alain de botton

 

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image credit: miramax films, focus features

Jul11

anxious people.

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what a funny, sweet, sad, moving book –

 a brilliant story of  the enduring power

of human connection, forgiveness, and hope.  

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“we have all of this in common, yet most of us remain strangers, we never know what we do to each other, how your life is affected by mine. perhaps we hurried past each other in a crowd today, and neither of us noticed, and the fibers of your coat brushed against mine for a single moment and then we were gone. i don’t know who you are. but when you get home this evening, when this day is over and the night takes us, allow yourself a deep breath. because we made it through this day as well. there’ll be another one along tomorrow.”

-fredrik backman (anxious people)

Jun19

on juneteenth.

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“to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”

-nelson mandela

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image credit: princeton university, african american studies

Apr22

*good planets.

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good planets are hard to find

 

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on earth day 2023

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photo credit: earthtalk

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Apr5

sow the seeds.

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The image of the child musician crying was classified as one of the most emotional photographs of modern history. This photo was taken of a 12-year-old Brazilian boy (Diego Frazzo Turkato), playing the violin at the funeral of his teacher who rescued him from the environment of poverty and crime in which he lived.

In this image, humanity speaks with the strongest voice in the world:

“Cultivate love and kindness in a child to sow the seeds of compassion. And only then you will build a great civilization, a great nation “.  – dalai lama

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credits: Photographer: Marcos Tristao

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“what wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?”

-jean-jacque rousseau

Jul23

“photography is telling stories.” – jim spillane

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attending the annual ann arbor art fair

i had great luck and the honor of meeting

photographer/human rights advocate, jim spillane.

i happened by his stall

drawn in by the beauty and subjects of his photographs

especially taken with his pictures of children

after much thought

finally decided on one

a young tibetan child

tiny hands held together in hello.

i asked jim his story

how he had come to take these stunning pictures all over the world.

once a criminal defense attorney in the gerald ford white house

representing vietnam war draft resisters seeking amnesty

he got sick, had a horrible experience

 changed his life

trained with an ansel adams associate

began traveling the world

taking photographs of people

his subject is the human condition and the connections and responsibilities we have for each other.

using his pictures as a way to create interest, open discussion, communicate, call attention to a cause

he has worked taking photographs of workers at a nepalese brick factory for many years

created a photo book of the workers

to speak out and to tell their stories with his photographs

still seeking to help those in need and to be an effective advocate for them.

he is a natural artist, storyteller, teacher, advocate, and man.

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“in recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.”

-thurgood marshall, former justice of supreme court of the united states

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link to his website: jimspillane.com

link to his book, ‘the face of bricks’: https://www.blurb.com/b/9897011-the-face-of-bricks

Jun7

be like star trek.

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cast of the original star trek series

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“star trek was an attempt to say that humanity

will reach maturity and wisdom

on the day that it begins not to just tolerate,

but take a special delight

in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.”

-gene roddenberry -star trek creator

 

image credit: nbc tv