Word: vanishings
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This largely undocumented knowledge base is humanity's lifeline to a time when people accepted nature's authority and learned through trial, error and observation. But the world's tribes are dying out or being absorbed into modern civilization. As they vanish, so does their irreplaceable knowledge...
...recent study by M.I.T. linguist Ken Hale estimates that 3,000 of the world's 6,000 languages are doomed because no children speak them. Researchers estimate that Africa alone has 1,800 languages, Indonesia 672 and New Guinea 800. If a language disappears, traditional knowledge tends to vanish with it, since individual language groups have specialized vocabularies reflecting native people's unique solutions to the challenges of food gathering, healing and dealing with the elements in their particular ecological niche. Hale estimates that only 300 languages have a secure future...
...canvas backdrop. Hochstein thinks there is a happy paradox here: "The sameness of the background emphasizes the personalities of the people." That is clear in the pictures for this week's cover story; no one who sees them will easily forget Coupon's subjects, even if their cultures vanish forever...
While the notion of a social life tends to vanish quickly, I was able to find refuge in two of my most favorite activities, singing and teaching. I joined the Harvard Glee Club my first year and have not regretted a minute of my association with the group. Rehearsals are great therapy, and traveling to Europe, Canada and other parts of the U.S. made my work much more palatable...
...nearby Rhode Island, Gregory Schmellick, 49, is also struggling to get back on his feet. Schmellick was laid off in June as vice president of Resource Conservation Systems, an installer of energy-saving equipment that saw its orders vanish when ailing utilities canceled rebate programs aimed at encouraging conservation. Schmellick now wants to change careers. But, he says, "every industry is sitting on the fence. Demands for services are not picking up. People are afraid to venture out because they don't know if another Hurricane Bob is coming through. They are hunkered down and waiting...