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[quote=san_cannabis;42695367]*you approach a weathered but not old man sitting by a fire. You recognize him, but have never talked to him before. Something in his gaze tells you to sit down, and listen to his story.....*
[snip]
Great post, San Cannabis, and one I can certainly relate to. Ns has changed a lot over the years and so has the world - and we. Here's to another sixteen years!
EDIT:
Just checked and my nation turned sixteen as well on January 11th. Amazing.
San Cannabis, Forever Fields, Hipperia, and Nickelodeon 11
Hello friends, hope you are all well.
Here is this week's poll, regarding the heinous raid on The Embassy. Vote and feel free to share to others (it's an open poll, non-restricted) , this concerns every nation and region on NationStates!!✌🏾❤️✌🏾❤️✌🏾❤️
page=poll/p=169653
There were already Turf Wars dating back to 2,000 years before the current setting, perhaps either as a competitive sport or a method to settle conflicts. The first recorded Turf War occurred during a period in Inkling history with many similarities to Ancient Egypt, roughly 2,000 years before the events of Splatoon began. However, as these Turf Wars of nineteen centuries later involved the Inklings and Octarians (instead of just teams of four Inklings), it has expanded into a bigger campaign, great enough to become a historical event.
Before the Great Turf Wars, the Inklings and Octarians had "amicable relations", until the rising sea levels caused them to lash out against each other in a power struggle over the remaining land.
As time progressed, the Octarians separated themselves from the other species of the Mollusc Era. They became dissatisfied with the amount of available dry land and waged war on the Inklings, the other dominant species at the time, to gain total control of the turf.
The Octarians constructed a variety of large machines known as the Great Octoweapons and began attacking Inkling cities.
The first battles of the Great War ended in victory for the Octarian forces. The diligent Octarians easily dominated the Inklings, who were unable to wake up early enough in the morning to defend themselves.(The Inklings have long led a hedonistic style of life).
Heralded by loud explosions, the Great Octoweapons quickly stormed the Inklings' central stronghold. Victory for the Octarians seemed all but certain, but due to a plug being carelessly pulled from its socket, their hopes were dashed. Lady Luck shone down on the Inklings, and the Inklings' victory over the Octarians was most likely due to their superior number of limbs. The Inklings secured a victory in the war and forced the Octarians to retreat to underground lairs such as Octo Valley, which were constructed from the ruins of the subterranean cities built by the remnants of humanity.
The Inkling faction had a fighting force known as the Squidbeak Splatoon led by Cap'n Cuttlefish, which fought against the Octarians during the war..
i am the ambassador from gay here to talk to your founder
I still have the api key for the region but I don't have an automated software to recruit with.
Friends,
As the ambassador to Hippy Haven from Forest, I have important news to bring to you all on behalf of our Forest Keeper, Verdant Haven:
Greetings, friends and allies of Forest!
In last night's major update, beginning the 7th of March 2021, Forest's founder and longest resident, Errinundera, CTE'd. Though we are unsure of the causes, and hope that all is well for the person behind the name, this event was not entirely unexpected. For some time we have seen the signs, and were able to lay out all the steps and safeguards necessary to ensure an orderly transition to Forest being a stable region, led by our WA Delegate and our Forest Keeper. Because of the nature of Forest's democracy, this change will not significantly impact the long-term function of our government.
As we speak, the necessary Constitutional procedures are being undertaken to make this transition smoothly, and we do not anticipate any significant interruption or alteration to our status, alliances, commitments, or activities. In accordance with Forest law, long-ago written for just such an occasion, a password has been placed on the region while we complete this process. This is a temporary state of affairs, and we anticipate that within a short period of time, the necessary votes will have been completed to allow the lifting of this password, and our long-awaited transition to the next government.
We thank you for your ongoing friendship, and look forward to many years of continued growth together.
Verdant Haven
Forest Keeper of Forest
Y'all have bad hips too? My people are chilling in this region temporarily. We come in peace & in pieces as some tried teleporting here & weren't fully successful. Got to take a trip to the pawn shop with some of the jewelry we got as a result of those failed migrations though. We don't have a dog leading our nation this time around so things are looking up.
St Stephen n Critters, Simon Iff, and Hipperia
Yes,its been awhile but its here,the latest BB fun poll,vote vote vote!
^ Your Favorite Pizza Topping!
Found this and thought I'd share this diplomatic survey with allied regions on what pie is the most popular in your region?🤤🥧 page=poll/p=171720
(And if you're feeling hungry, the cafés are open here!)😋
Traditionally consisting of potatoes, onions, and any kind of chopped or minced meat such as sausage, ham or meatballs, diced and then pan fried, it is often served with a fried egg, pickled beetroot slices, sour pickled gherkin slices, capers and sometimes ketchup or brown sauce.The dish was originally made from leftovers of past meals but now it is far more common to prepare pytt i panna from prime ingredients. Frozen pytt i panna of many varieties can be bought in almost every Ultra Grandia Sebastian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish supermarket. Many variants of the dish exist, including vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Pytt i panna is often abbreviated to pytt, especially when referring to variants such as oxpytt (pytt i panna made with beef) or krögarpytt ("inn master's pytt", made with more finely diced potatoes and beef).
Biff Greta – skiljer sig främst genom att köttet smaksätts med senap.
Biff Rydberg – görs på råstekt potatis och kött av hög kvalitet. Serveras med rå äggula.
Kycklingpytt – köttet består uteslutande av tärnad kyckling.
Laxpytt – köttet ersätts av tärnad lax.
Vegetarisk pytt – köttet ersätts av tärnade rotfrukter, tofu, halloumi, svamp eller Quorn.
Trädgårdspytt – en vegetarisk pytt med tärnad potatis, tärnade rotfrukter som t.ex. morötter, rotselleri, palsternacka och lök samt kryddad med timjan och rosmarin. Den lämpar sig även som tillbehör till andra maträtter.
Krögarpytt – en finskuren/småtärnad variant av pytt, där köttet uteslutande plägar vara oxkött.
For the record, 
Nickelodeon 11 doesn't work for The Rejected Realms. He's pretending to be one. He isn't even a citizen.
San Cannabis, Experience, and Jaaaaaake
Ready for the next poll battle?
^ Pancakes Vs. Waffles Vs. French Toast Vs. Crepes!
helo mey name borat nice meetings
i am not like music liests. i am heav sugest i can sing for you
New poll from the BB !
What do you put in your Hot Dog?
^ Please Vote.
The Special Limited Summer Time Cookout fill your belly with Hotdogs Poll!
Greetings from Forest! I'd like to pass along an exciting new project that our Culture Minister, 
Terrabod, has just released called The Voice of Forest. They write: it "is a monthly bulletin that covers the life and work of a notable environmental activist. With this project, I aim to inspire you folks and nations across the NSverse to get involved with environmentalism in a way that is personal to them, as well as to celebrate those Atlantean figures who laid the groundwork of the environmental movement we champion today. It's not something that's meant to be prescriptive; I won't tell you what is important about each activist, but instead hope each reader will come away with their own perspective on the individual and the issues discussed. So, without further ado, I've published the first issue of the Voice of Forest, entitled 'The First Lady of Flowers'. It focuses on the efforts of Lady Bird Johnson to beautify urban areas in the US and conserve native flora for the enjoyment of people across the country."
If you would like to read the article, I've supplied it below, and if you would like to engage in discussion on this topic, you are welcome to talk about it here or over in Forest any time!
The Voice of Forest - Issue I | June 2021 | The First Lady of Flowers
.
(1912-2007)
Known For:
First Lady of the United States of
America (1963-1969)Second Lady of the United States
of America (1961-1963)Conservation activism
Civil rights activism
Selected Awards:
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Congressional Gold Medal
Rachel Carson Award
Numerous dedications
"Where flowers bloom, so does hope."
.
Background
A friend in Austin introduced Lady Bird to Lyndon Baines Johnson, then a 26-year-old Congressional aide, who proposed after their first date. She did not want to rush into marriage, but thanks to his persistence she accepted his proposal ten weeks later. It was Lady Bird's inheritance that funded the launch of her husband's campaign to become a Congressman; when he enlisted in the navy at the start of the Second World War, Lady Bird ran his congressional office. During the war, Lady Bird spent $17,500 of her inheritance to buy a small local radio station in Austin and later expanded to buying a television station in 1952 (in spite of her husband's objections). Lady Bird managed both of those enterprises and in doing so she became a self-made millionaire.
As Second Lady of the United States of America, she acted as a substitute for the First Lady, Jaqueline Kennedy, at a number of events which she would later say prepared her well for her time as First Lady. That time arrived sooner than Lady Bird could ever have expected - after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 she found herself looking on as her husband was sworn in as President on Air Force One. During her time in the office of First Lady, Lady Bird employed her own press secretary and chief of staff (being the first First Lady to do so). In 1964, she defied death threats during a 1,682-mile tour of the Deep South aboard a chartered train, the Lady Bird Special, to speak directly to those who opposed her husband's recent passage of the Civil Rights Act. In doing so, she became the first President's spouse to campaign independently of her husband; as a native Texan, she later said she had thought it important that someone speak to Southern voters with respect while trying to change as many minds as possible about the necessity of desegregation and the importance of ending racial discrimination.
After the death of her husband in 1973, Lady Bird continued working on a number of personal projects and managing her investments. She spoke out for women's rights at the 1977 National Women's Conference alongside notable activists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, and her environmental activism continued into her later years. Lady Bird died in 2007 at the age of 94 and was buried next to her husband at the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, Texas.
Activism
Baines Johnson, as he signs the Highway Beautification Act into
law (1965).
Lady Bird was also the driving force behind the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, a piece of legislation that aimed to replace highway billboards and junkyards with trees and wildflowers - so much so that the legislation was nicknamed "Lady Bird's Bill". As the first First Lady to lobby congress for the passage of a bill, she gained a reputation as a trailblazer who strongly believed that clean streets and a beautiful environment would make the US a better place to live. The Act brought nature back into the daily lives of millions of citizens, and Lady Bird's campaigning brought the subject of conservation to the public sphere.
Even after her time in the office of First Lady came to a close, Lady Bird continued to campaign for several beautification projects, including Town Lake in Austin (which would later be renamed in her honour), and served on the advisory board of the National Park Service. Together with actress Helen Hayes, she founded the National Wildflower Research Center near Austin, Texas, in 1982 which would later be renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Today, the wildflower centre is still dedicated to the preservation and use of native plants through research and education. It is often seen as an embodiment of Lady Bird's vision to protect and preserve the natural beauty of the US, both taking care of nature and communities while integrating the two. After founding the centre, Lady Bird would go on to write: "I'm optimistic that the world of native plants will not only survive, but will thrive for environmental and economic reasons, and for reasons of the heart."
Terrabod and The most serene republicans
As the sun sets over the massive Nation Of Orpheus mountain region and the sky turns orange, thousands of PA's all over the country blast its call to stoners.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySdu9JJBsKU
St Stephen n Critters, Simon Iff, and Hipperia
Hellos peoples..sorry for my absence but this past year has been very trying for me and my fam. I had some medical problems and ive gotten over the hump and iam doing well for now..but my dad whos 90 isnt gonna last long. Its been hard on me and my mom and ive just not been in a mood to do to much on the net with all the doom and gloom this world is now kicking out to all of us. I have had to sit back and stay focused on my family and my own heath. Iam glad to see yall
St Stephen n Critters, Makiland, Simon Iff, and Hipperia
With the new admin team setup sounds like they may be making changes/adding features to the game.
I have propose the following idea if folks wanna voice some support/input on it.
Basically a means for founderless regions like Hell to get a founder of sorts appointed, "Security Council proposal type could be targeted at a nation and a region at the same time, and would appoint the nation as Custodian of the region, giving it access to regional controls."
Many of our older residence likely remember when we went founderless in Hippiedom, this is basically a means to avoid what we went through.
Hi folks!
I'm pleased to announce the first annual Forest Interregional Writing Contest, an opportunity for writers from Forest and our embassy regions to share their creativity and battle it out for one of our region's most prestigious honours. That's right, there are some brand new interregional accolades up for grabs - the writers of the best entries submitted to the contest will be awarded the Forestian Literary Prize!
The submission period opens today and closes on the 15th of August, but don’t panic; I've created an extraordinarily useful guide that sums up everything you need to know about the contest. You can read all of the details there for yourself, including important dates, this year's theme, the rules and the members of the judging panel. Any unanswered questions can be telegrammed to me or posted on the Forest RMB. Please share this dispatch on any offsite forums or chats if they're active so as many people as possible are able to join in!
Forest Interregional Writing Contest 2021
.
Forest's Ministry of Culture is proud to present the first annual Forest Interregional Writing Contest, an opportunity for writers from Forest and its embassy regions to share their creativity and compete for one of our region's highest accolades.
This handy guide should cover everything you need to know about how the contest will play out. There's lots of important information, including the lowdown on this year's theme, the rules, the members of the judging panel and (perhaps most importantly) the prestigious prizes available. Please take the time to have a read, then maybe read it again - and then read it one more time, just to be sure - before putting your thinking cap on and letting your creative side run wild!
The Categories
Entries can be submitted under one of three categories:
Poetry | Drama | Prose |
Fiction in verse, poetry has been used for millennia to convey deep emotion and contentious ideas. | The immediate nature of works for the stage gives drama the profound ability to change hearts and minds. | Nothing allows readers to escape into another world (or re-examine their own) quite like reading a story. |
Writers will be able to submit a maximum of one entry per category, so submitting a poem, a one-act play and a short story is allowed, but submitting two poems or two short stories is not allowed. There is no expectation that writers will submit multiple entries, and doing so won't improve your chances of winning as all entries are anonymised before being assessed by the judges. Writers should be sure to submit only their best work.
This Year's Theme Is...
.
For better or for worse, we're living in an epoch defined by human impact on the world around us. With vast improvements in quality of life comes microplastics and greenhouse gases. With social media connecting us to friends across the globe comes online abuse and privacy concerns. With more people fighting for social justice than ever before comes culture wars and far-right extremism. With the longest era of peace in human history comes the threat of nuclear annihilation.
While all entries must address this theme, we expect each writer will interpret the theme in a different way. Other themes may be examined within each entry so long as the above theme is central to the work.
The Rules
With great writing comes a bunch of rules:
There's no formal word limit. Use your intuition - if it's too long, the judges won't have the time or patience to read it.
Stick to the submission limit. Your first submission under each category will be accepted, the rest will be discarded.
Don't plagiarise the work of others. People who break this rule will be immediately disqualified and may be barred from future writing contests.
Keep your writing PG-13. All entries must remain in accordance with NationStates' policy on offensive material.
Don't share your writing or identify your writing in any way until the contest is over. This is so the judges can assess your work without the risk of bias.
Submitting An Entry
The submission period will open on Thursday the 15th of July (00:00 UTC) and will close on Sunday the 15th of August (23:59 UTC) - late entries will be discarded. Submissions must be sent to me, Terrabod, by telegram. If you choose to submit multiple entries, you can send them all at once (as long as each is clearly delimited) or in separate telegrams. Be sure to include a title for each entry!
Each entry will be anonymised by me and passed on to the judges who will work together to select the best entry in each category. This process is expected to take roughly two weeks, so I hope to be able to announce the winners on Wednesday the 1st of September. The winning entries will be published in the announcement dispatch for all to enjoy. While I wish I could publish all of the entries, this isn't possible - I encourage entrants to instead publish their own entry (or entries) within a dispatch after the contest is over.
The Judges
This year's judging panel consists of not one, but three Forest Keepers who have each played an esteemed role in Forest's history.
This ex-Forest Keeper and current Foreign Minister is an experienced issue author and the creator of an incredibly well-developed national lore. | Forest Keeper by day, necromantic dark lord by night; the pirate currently occupying Forest's most senior position has dozens of published issues under his belt. | An influential figure in the General Assembly forums and a resolution writer to boot, this ex-Forest Keeper is one of our region's most respected voices. |
The Winners
The writer of the single best entry in each category will be awarded one of the following:
The Forestian Literary Prize for Poetry, awarded to the writer of the best work of poetry submitted to the contest.
The Forestian Literary Prize for Drama, awarded to the writer of the best work of drama submitted to the contest.
The Forestian Literary Prize for Prose, awarded to the writer of the best work of prose submitted to the contest.
While these prizes are awarded to an OOC player, I don't mind if winners want to also RP/worldbuild it as an IC interregional prize received by one of their citizens.
If you have any unanswered questions, feel free to telegram me or tag me in a post on the Forest RMB.
Best of luck to all entrants, and have fun writing!
.
Terrabod
Culture Minister of Forest
.
Good luck to everyone who decides to get involved, and happy writing!
Best wishes,Terrabod
Culture Minister of Forest
The Standing Peoples of Lergland would like to acknowledge our appreciation of all the Nations who have remained in + joined Hippie Haven the past few months! Lergland joined the region of Hippie Haven sometime around 2019-early 2020, and though our residency and influence ranks in the middle of Hippie Haven's stats... we are proud to be here! Our region is long-lasting and most likely impenetrable
As the sun sets over the massive Nation Of Orpheus mountain region and the sky turns orange, thousands of PA's all over the country blast its call to stoners.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ8KLdS-vqY
And here's a tribute to Arthur Lee from Sweden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axIayhXvtgE
Hi all from Forest! We've just announced the winners of our Interregional Writing Contest of 2021 in the categories of poetry and prose. Have a read if you would like; it's well worth it! I've also attached the Voice of Forest dispatch authored by our Culture Minister, Terrabod. This issue highlights the wonderful Jane Goodall and her lifelong work. Enjoy!
Forest Interregional Writing Contest 2021
- The Winners -
.
The esteemed judges of the writing contest, Verdant Haven, Chan island and Uan aa Boa, have carefully read and considered each (anonymised) entry and together have chosen a winner for each category. They considered a number of metrics, not limited to word choice, structure and originality, as well as how each writer interpreted this year's theme, "Anthropocene", within their work.
Congratulations to the winning entrants, each of whom has been awarded the Forestian Literary Prize; while these honours are awarded to the OOC players for their writing skill, I have no issues if the winners want to also RP/worldbuild it as an IC interregional prize received by one of their citizens. Furthermore, all the entrants are invited to publish their own entry (or entries) now that the contest is over for all to enjoy as unfortunately it's not possible for me to share everyone's work.
Forestian Literary Prize for Poetry
.
is awarded to
Duby
for the work
"Attachment"
Verdant Haven said... "While it exhibits no attempt at a rhyme scheme, the author definitely made some decisive word choices and wielded them effectively. The recurrent usage of specific words is done to great effect - words, rather than structure, define this piece. The message is the important thing, and everything else is in support of that message, rather than aesthetics." | Chan Island said... "I checked this one in a plagiarism software because it felt like it came straight from a Buddhist text! There's a religious chant style that nonetheless conveys the deepest insecurities of the Anthropocene's most prominent species. Rereading this palpably enhances it too, reinforcing in the reader the call to passion, care and ultimately action!" | Uan aa Boa said... "From the title and opening lines I was expecting a criticism of attachment in the spirit of Buddhism and its self-help offspring, but instead we get a celebration of weakness as essential to humanity that leads to a kind of call to arms, ending with the declaration that despite appearances the Earth is protected. Simple, yet intriguing; I’m won over." |
Forestian Literary Prize for Drama
.
is awarded to
NO AWARD GIVEN
Will anyone be able to claim this honour next year?
Forestian Literary Prize for Prose
.
is awarded to
Yahlia
for the work
"Eight Drowning Together"
Verdant Haven said... "This story captures the plight of people facing terrible circumstances in a very real way. The pent-up frustration, sorrow, and anger filtered through the narrator's limited understanding is a powerful tool, and the glimpse into the grinding of bureaucratic wheels, where even the best intentions can lead to bad results, is well-handled." | Chan Island said... "Tuvalu has sunk under the sea, as predicted by scientists studying the rising sea levels, and while New Zealand has taken in the refugees, it's clear that the conditions are less than stellar. This story paints a bleak world of climate refugees, sea walls, discrimination and hot debates on the politics of it all." | Uan aa Boa said... "Having described one futile, preventable death it builds to a climax of anger and another sudden death... and then returns to its beginning with nothing having changed. It also deftly throws in the rhetorical question of how one how one can be defined as being a Tuvaluan despite having no actual connection to the place. Masterful stuff." |
Attachment is what gives us the greatest of dread
Fearing to lose what we are attached to is the greatest of fears
We are attached to our Earth
We are afraid to lose our Earth
Attachment is what gives us the greatest of love
Fearing to lose that love is the greatest of fears
We love our Earth
We are afraid to lose that love
Those who hold no attachments feel neither love nor dread
They are not afraid to lose our Earth
They are strong but not human
All humans feel attachment
All humans fear losing that
All humans have that weakness
All humans are amazing for that
All humans try and fight to protect what we love
All humans do that out of fear
Earth is protected by attachment because of that fear
Attachment gives us the dread that motivates us
Tupuna fafine tells me stories about Tuvalu. She tells me of her childhood, of the hot days splashing around in the sparkling blue sea, of lounging on the white sand in the shade of the coconut trees, of seagull cries and waves crashing into the shore. I've never seen Tuvalu, and I never will. For the last fifteen years - for my only fifteen years - my world has been concrete and iron. I haven't seen the sea, sparking blue or otherwise. I haven't felt sand between my toes nor drank from a coconut. We have seagulls though, they paint our little concrete boxes white, which I suppose is better than the grey. We also have hot days, we only have hot days really.
Tamotu says it's ironic, ironic that they keep us in concrete.
"Concrete's made from sand," he's told me more than once. "And that's part of the problem. Entire beaches disappear overnight... people taking the sand. Of course, that didn't happen to Tuvalu. But it's like what happened to Tuvalu, the sand disappearing."
I should be thankful. Or that's what the wardens say. They get sick of the complaining, many of us complain. I don't. Tupuna fafine says I'm too young to complain.
"Keep those thoughts in that messy little head of yours!" she orders before smiling her gappy smile and winking at me.
We should be thankful. The wardens tell us of the Tuvaluans down Dunedin way where they still sometimes have winter, and of the ones "six feet Down Under." They laugh.
Miss Manaia tells us the same thing, but more quietly. "I know it's not perfect, but it's better than the alternative."
"Better than being outside the bloody fence?" Iosua growls.
Miss Manaia doesn't say anything.
Iosua likes to make himself big. He's older than me, tupuna fafine says he's nineteen, but Iosua swears he is "basically twenty-one." Iosua looks after us younger ones, he only scares the agency people, like Miss Manaia. But we, all the other kids and me, we should look after each other, he tells us, "‘cause no one else will."
Miss Manaia is the sixth agency person I can remember. Iosua scared off the three before her. The one before Miss Manaia only visited once. Iosua made her cry and she didn't come back.
They all introduce themselves the same way: "Hello, my name is Their-Name. I work for the Climate Refugee Integration Agency, and I'm going to get you all out of here."
The wardens call them CRIAs. Since Iosua scared off the last one, we call them criers.
***
I spend my days playing with the kids. There's a hopscotch court painted onto the concrete, but the numbers have all worn away. There's a netball hoop as well, but we only have a football that doesn't bounce.
Iosua often asks Miss Manaia why we only have one netball hoop, not two. "Them netball courts are meant to have two, y'know? Where's the other?"
Every time Iosua asks, Miss Manaia looks over at the hoop and frowns. "That's a good point, Iosua–"
"I'll make sure to look into it," Iosua interrupts, finishing her sentence, before kicking some gravel and walking away.
Tupuna fafine taught me how to braid my hair, so all the little girls, and some of the boys too, will sit in a line and let me braid their hair. Sometimes I weave in some of the dandelions that grow in the cracks of the concrete.
Iosua told me that I stick my tongue out when I'm braiding the girls' hair, so I work extra hard to make sure I keep it in my mouth.
I play with the kids until 3 o'clock. The cartoons come on the TV at 3. The criers make sure we have a TV. It never gets turned off. We get two channels: Channel 1 and Channel 2. The adults watch Channel 1 most of the day, Channel 1 has the news and stuff. But at 3, Channel 2 gets the cartoons, so the kids get the TV until they're over. I like to watch the cartoons as well, but not when Iosua's around, he thinks they're dumb.
The adults watch Channel 1, but they don't like it. The news makes them mad. Tupuna fafine says I shouldn't watch the news, "it's for the grown-ups." But they sometimes talk about us on the news. I like to listen to what they say about us.
There's a room with a lot of people sitting in chairs, and the people are always yelling at each other. Tamotu says that's parliament.
The Blues say that we need to go away. To Australia or America or Japan. "Japan needs more workers! And we need fewer costs!" Mrs Blue says.
Mr Red is in charge of New Zealand. He says that they're being "good Pacific citizens" by having us here. He uses the word 'duty' a lot.
When I asked Tamotu what 'duty' means, he said it's "something they have to do."
Iosua snorted at that. "Have to keep us trapped in here?"
Tamotu shrugged and continued to watch the people yell at each other.
Eventually, Mr and Mrs Green were allowed to talk. They agree with Mr Red about duty, but say he's letting us Tuvaluans down.
Iosua always growls at Miss Manaia after they talk about us on the news.
"Why do we gots to stay in here?" he asks her.
Miss Manaia puts on her glasses. She sighs and takes them off again. "Aotearoa New Zealand has taken in ten thousand Tuvaluans. Finding homes for you all is difficult, not to mention expensive."
"No one's left here though, miss, 'cept for Big Pu'a, but the wardens say he went to jail. Can't you find even one house?"
Miss Manaia pursed her lips.
Tupuna fafine shuffled over in her sandals. "Leave the poor woman be, Iosua," she smiles. "She's not the Prime Minister."
Miss Manaia looks at tupuna fafine. Her lips smiled, but her eyes didn't. "Thank you, but I'm quite alright."
The crier turned her attention back to Iosua. "Homes are hard to come by these days, ours are being threatened by the sea," she explains.
Tupuna fafine's gappy smile disappeared as her face collapsed into a frown, eyes narrowing into a glare. She shook. "So were ours!" she hissed at Miss Manaia.
The woman mumbled something about the time and seeing us all again sometime next week before she hurried out the gate, past a pair of wardens, and back to her small silver car.
I couldn't remember the last time I had seen tupuna fafine so mad. I rushed towards her, but she smiled at me, waving me away, before toddling back to the shade of our concrete box while Iosua whooped and hollered at her, a massive grin stuck to his big face.
***
I like Mr and Mrs Green from the TV, they always say good things about us Tuvaluans. That's what they call us, "Tuvaluans." Miss Manaia calls us Tuvaluans as well, so do the wardens, but the wardens spit when they say it. Even tupuna fafine calls me a Tuvaluan.
Inside the room with the TV, the flag of Tuvalu hangs on the wall. Tupuna fafine tells me that the blue is the same colour as the sea she swam in and that the nine stars represent the nine islands of Tuvalu.
"It's funny," Tamotu says. "Tuvalu means 'eight standing together,' as in the eight islands emerging from the sea, but Tuvalu had nine islands. When it was named, only eight of the islands were inhabited, but the flag has nine stars for the nine islands. People eventually moved to the ninth island, but the name, Tuvalu, wasn't changed and still means 'eight together.'"
The flag hangs on the wall and I'm told stories about the islands by tupuna fafine and Tamotu and others, but I haven't seen them, or stood on them. I wasn't even born there. I was born in these chainlink fences. They tell me my mum and dad were Tuvaluan. They lived on the islands, but they didn't die on them. Mum died in the TV room, on the floor. Tupuna fafine doesn't like to talk about it.
Tamotu knows about this too.
"We tried to get the wardens to call the criers, to call a doctor, but they didn't. Not even when your mum started screaming. Big Pu'a got mad. Big Pu'a never got mad. He was always smiling and laughing, Big Pu'a was. Never even seen him squash a fly. But Big Pu'a grabbed one of the wardens, by the neck he grabbed him. Told him that if he wanted to see his kids again he was gonna call a doctor. The warden did call a doctor when Big Pu'a let him go, but he didn't get here quick enough. Your mum died, but the doctor managed to save you!"
Tamotu had smiled at me. The smile faded. "They came for Big Pu'a the next day. They told him to go with them and he did. He didn't try and run or fight or talk his way out of it. They pushed him into a car and drove him away. Big Pu'a never came back."
My dad was taken to Australia, Tamotu thinks. "But it's like the wardens say..."
Six feet Down Under.
Like Tamotu says, I was born in the TV room. I've never seen Tuvalu and I never will. No one will ever see Tuvalu again. Tamotu says that only four of the islands are still above water, but that the yearly typhoons are washing away what's left. But they still call me Tuvaluan.
***
Sometimes I hear the wardens talking. They talk to each other a lot, but never to us. They complain a lot. We complain about the heat, about our clothes, about the food, about the dirt. They complain about different things. They talk about banks and the climate and traffic. But they most often complain about the Wall.
"Waste of time and money," one of the wardens says.
The others nod.
I asked Tamotu about the Wall. "They mean the Auckland Seawall."
Auckland's a big city, more than two million people live there, Tamotu told me a while back. Three hundred of us Tuvaluans live in our concrete boxes and chainlink fences.
"Is two million a lot more than three hundred?" I frowned.
"A lot more, yes. More than you could ever imagine."
Tamotu says they're building a wall to keep the sea out of the city, like the sea came into Tuvalu.
I don't know how they're going to do that. Tupuna fafine told me that Tuvalu had a building with three floors. Like one of our concrete boxes, but with two more levels. The government building, she said. But Tamotu said that the sea and wind have been knocking that down for years. "It's probably not even standing anymore." I don't know how the Seawall could try and stop the sea if even a building with three whole floors couldn't stop it.
Now, whenever Miss Manaia comes, tupuna fafine starts shaking. She's never done this before. I've never seen anything bother her like this.
Tupuna fafine mutters to herself about "that stupid woman" and "the empty-headed crier". We try to take tupuna fafine away from Miss Manaia when she comes now, but she refuses. "I've got to keep an eye on that one," she says. "Don't want her teaching our kids more of her nonsense."
So tupuna fafine would sit in the shade, under a blanket, glaring as Miss Manaia would talk to us all.
Iosua talks to tupuna fafine a lot. She never used to talk to him before, but they're always together now. Whenever I try to talk to Iosua or tupuna fafine now, they tell me to go play with the other kids, but I've already braided their hair and played three games of netball.
Two months after tupuna fafine first scolded Miss Manaia, the crier visited us again.
Iosua was still eating breakfast, spooning his oats from his plastic bowl into his mouth.
"I'm sick of oats," he said. Then he tipped the last of his food onto the ground.
"Iosua!" Miss Manaia exclaimed. "Why on Earth did you do that? You're lucky to have that food!"
Iosua glared at the woman. "Every day since I could remember, you's fed us oats for breakfast. I want something else."
Miss Manaia pursed her lips. She put on her glasses and then took them off again. "You have the news on your TV, yes?"
"Yeah, so what?" Iosua grumbled.
"Then you must have seen all those poor people in India, starving in their camps, millions of them. You could be like that."
"This isn't India."
"No, and you have food, you should be grateful for it!" Miss Manaia hmphed.
"How dare you!" Miss Manaia's eyes widened as we watched tupuna fafine throw off her blanket and struggle to her feet. I could hear Iosua laughing.
"Grateful?" tupuna fafine screeched. "More than seventeen years we've been pent up in this cage!"
"Mere, please."
"Do not use my name, woman!" tupuna fafine spat, shuffling nearer. "For seventeen years we've been treated like pigs, penned up in here with nothing to do all day!"
Miss Manaia wrung her hands. "The TV," she stammered. "The netball court..."
"Two channels and half a court!" tupuna fafine was face-to-face with the trembling, white-faced crier.
"You say your job is to get us all out of here? No one's left. I bet none of us ten thousand Tuvaluans have ever left these camps! Even dear, old Pu'a! Prison, not freedom! Do you believe it's your duty to keep children locked up here until they're old and wrinkled like me?!"
Miss Manaia opened her mouth.
"Be quiet when you're being spoken to, Miss Mania! If I have to hear one more word about how this torture is good for us, I'm going t–"
Tupuna fafine collapsed. Iosua stopped laughing. Miss Manaia gasped and stumbled back. People rushed forward. Tamotu yelled at the wardens to call a doctor. The wardens listened this time.
I stood there. I watched people crowd around tupuna fafine as she wheezed on the concrete ground.
A few minutes passed while I watched and a wailing sound got louder and louder. Soon, two people dressed in bright yellow rushed into the camp and knelt next to tupuna fafine. The crowd backed off. They rolled her onto her back, pressed down on her chest, blew into her mouth, they even zapped her a couple times. But when I blinked, they began packing tupuna fafine into a bag and zipped her up. The bag was lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled back to their ambulance.
"They said it was a heart attack," Tamotu told me. "They tried everything they could."
I watched Miss Manaia run back to her little car and drive away, eyes red, while Iosua swore and kicked a concrete wall.
***
A week later, a man walked through the gate in the fence. He was tall, with grey hair and a long nose.
"Hello, my name is Mr Rudd. I work for the Climate Refugee Integration Agency, and I'm going to get you all out of here."
"All who?" I asked Mr Rudd.
He looked at me, confused. "All you Tuvaluans."
Lastly, I would like to express my own personal gratitude to everyone who took part in the contest! I think I speak for both the judges and myself when I say we thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the entries and were very impressed by the wide range of thought-provoking interpretations of this year's theme.
Thank you all so much for getting involved; we hope you'll join in again for next year's contest!
.
Terrabod
Culture Minister of Forest
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The Voice of Forest - Issue III | August 2021 | She Lived Among the Apes
.
(b. 1934)
Known For:
Expert primatologist
Conservation activism
Animal welfare activism
Selected Awards:
Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
Named UN Messenger of Peace
Numerous international honours
including the French Legion of
Honour and Japan's Kyoto Prize
"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you
want to make."
.
Background
As a young woman, Goodall was interested in African animals; she was able to move to Kenya after finding work as a secretary to Dr Louis Leakey, an eminent archaeologist and palaeontologist. After Leakey obtained the approval of his co-researcher and wife, paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey, he laid out his plans to Goodall; he believed that the study of existing great apes could provide clues to the behaviour of early hominids and was looking for a chimpanzee researcher.
Leakey sent Goodall back to Britain to study primate behaviour and anatomy, and in 1960 he acquired the funds to allow Goodall to begin a research project at the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Thus, Goodall became the first of three women, later known as "The Trimates" (or "Leaky's Angels"), chosen by Leaky to study great apes (alongside Dian Fossey, who studied gorillas, and Birutė Galdikas, who studied orangutans). In 1962, Leaky sent Goodall to the University of Cambridge, where she became the eighth person to be allowed to complete a PhD there without first having obtained a BA or BSc degree. Her thesis, which was based on the first five years of her research at Gombe Stream, was completed in 1966 under the supervision of Professor Robert Hinde.
Goodall's research is well known within the scientific community for challenging two long-standing beliefs held at the time: firstly, that only humans had the capacity to construct and use tools; and secondly, that chimpanzees were exclusively herbivores/insectivores. When observing the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe Stream, she noted that some chimpanzees would stick long blades of grass into termite holes, then remove them when covered with termites, effectively "fishing" for the insects. Goodall also discovered that chimpanzees regularly hunt smaller species of primates such as colobus monkeys and share the carcass among the troop. Years of observation led Goodall to identify violence within chimpanzee communities, including the deliberate killing of other females' young by the troop's dominant females in order to maintain their place in the troop hierarchy.
Of course, one of Goodall's most significant feats is her acceptance into chimpanzee society. After many months of long-distance study, the Kasakela chimpanzee community gradually began to adjust to Goodall's presence – rather than fleeing when she was within 500 yards of the group, they allowed her to watch them from a distance of 100 yards. She began the long process of being able to recognise individual troop members and learned the basic behaviour patterns of the group. It was during this stage that Goodall started recording how members of the troop communicated with each other – both through body language and vocalisations. The fear towards her reportedly turned to curiosity, then to defiance at her intrusion. After a year, her arrival was greeted with excitement or indifference. At one watershed moment, a new member of the troop (whom she named "David") took bananas that Goodall brought from her camp and ate them; thereafter, he would accept bananas from Goodall and would sit with her as he ate them. This proved to be Goodall's entry point into the Kasakela troop – David eventually brought other members of the troop to share the bananas, and soon a trio of chimpanzees was stealing pieces of cloth from Goodall's camp! For a period of 22 months, Goodall was the lowest-ranking member of the troop. She would groom and be groomed by other members, and she would communicate with them in a rudimentary fashion by mimicking their calls and gestures.
Goodall credits the 1986 Understanding Chimpanzees conference at the Chicago Academy of Sciences with shifting her focus from chimpanzee observation to a broader interest in conservation. In recent years, Goodall has focused on her writing, which has produced several international bestsellers, a number of educational initiatives and a career as a conservationist. She received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 for her dedicated and ground-breaking research, as well as for her conservation efforts and wider activism.
Activism
Kasakela chimpanzee community. Flint was the first infant born
after Goodall arrived at Gombe Stream (c. 1960).
Regarded as a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats, Goodall has founded a number of conservation projects in Africa. These include the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo, which cares for orphans of the bushmeat trade, and the Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education project, which protects chimpanzee territory around the Gombe Stream through reforestation and the education of local communities on sustainability.
Goodall is also a committed vegetarian; she advocates the diet on the basis that it is ethical, healthy and good for the environment. She is an outspoken proponent of farm animal welfare, criticising industrial farming techniques that she believes are painful, degrading and inhumane as well as extremely harmful to the environment. Her opposition to hunting animals for sport and the use of animals for medical experimentation is also notable, although she has attracted criticism for her views of the latter from scientific experts who contend that ethical animal experimentation is a crucial part of lifesaving research.
To date, Goodall continues to work alongside several conservation and animal welfare organisations, including the Nonhuman Rights Project, Advocates for Animals and Population Matters. She was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2004, and is an honorary member of the World Future Council. In 2020, Goodall vowed to plant five million trees as part of the World Economic Forum's one trillion tree initiative and in February 2021 she, along with over 140 scientists, called on the EU Commission to ban the caging of farm animals. At present, Goodall devotes virtually all of her time to advocacy on behalf of chimpanzees and conservation of the environment, travelling nearly 300 days a year.
Kawa,
Ambassador to Hippy Haven
1 day 18 hours ago: Personal Freedom was ranked in the Top 1% of the world for Most Valuable International Artwork.
St Stephen n Critters, Hipperia, and Famm
Hello!
**sends over a basket of muffins & butter, a thermos of coffee, and Hershey's kisses**
Simon Iff, Zany Zanes, and Hipperia
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