The Eye of the Tiger
We’re all about eyes at The Behemoth (i.e., our logo). Recently, scientists have made great gains in learning about how “eye shapes of the animal world hint at differences in our lifestyles.” Predator or prey? You’ll have to click through to see. The tiger’s pupil shape actually comes as a bit of a surprise.
Telling the Story of Katrina, Ten Years Later
We probably all remember where we were when Hurricane Katrina hit. I (Andie, the editor writing this roundup) was in high school in Houston, a city that received as many as a quarter of a million of New Orleans’s evacuees, whose makeshift home was the Astrodome, our arena. (Eventually, I met many of them as they settled and filtered into our suburban school system.) Ten years later, the media is full of the stories of those affected by the hurricane and the city it left behind: some hopeful, some dark. Worth reviewing: A photographer returns to capture and compare the scenes of devastation he shot a decade ago; a science lab works to save a sinking coast and prevent further disasters; poets "try to keep it in the public consciousness"; a journalist looks at what happens when families leave impoverished areas.
Persecuted, but Not Abandoned
Internationally, what keeps victims of persecution, displacement, and violence going? Well, faith helps, apparently. Religious freedom advocate Kristen Lundquist writes:
For people of faith, the stories, practices, rituals, and communities give us the framework and language to understand ourselves and our situations. . . . During systemic conflict, we find the most effective source of resilience comes from: space to remember and celebrate their faith and heritage; platforms to vocalize what they believe; trusting relationships; creativity and authority in their own lives.
Which brings us to one more Katrina link: the Humanitarian Disaster Institute’s Jamie Aten looks at research on the link between faith and disaster resilience.
