Memories of the Golden State
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Issue 135 December 2016/January 2017 A NEWSLETTER OF THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY Memories of the Golden State O WEN C LARK Armed with a DSLR camera, travel guitar, two Haight and Ashbury-acquired shawl- cardigans, and three of my oldest friends, I left the perpetual fog of the San Francisco Bay. Having played out the scene a thousand times in my head, I had romanticized the drive down California’s scenic Pacific Coast Highway to levels approaching cliché. But despite trading the flashy convertibles of Entourage’s Vincent Chase or Californica- tion’s Hank Moody for a grey Hyundai So- nata rental car, it still failed to disappoint. /NATURAL SELECTIONS Practically every bend on that winding road greeted me with a stunning scene of pure, rugged beauty. California’s jagged cliffs are lined with earthy hues of bright red and orange, while each inlet of the vast Pacific OWEN CLARK Ocean contains a perfectly balanced array of turquoise and green pastels that one might have found on Winslow Homer’s palette. Despite navigating hairpin turns sur- rounded by 300-foot drops under cover of by All Photos total darkness, we made it safely to Big Sur. A smokestack towers above Mono Lake. My friends liked to joke that being the ob- Though I had fallen in love with the Cal- Tuolumne Meadows area of the park. After sessive ball of neuroses that I am, I had al- ifornia coast, we had to move on to the next returning to my friends relaxing by the lake, ready lived out the entire trip through the stop on our long list. After stocking up on we were instantly rewarded by the photo lens of professional photographers on Insta- instant noodles and mac-and-cheese ahead gods, with the arrival of an actual cowboy, gram prior to leaving, and was only in for of our first foray into camping, we headed actually leading his horses to water. disappointment at the real sights. The reality out across the eerie plains of middle Califor- Keeping with the Western theme, we left was the opposite—I couldn’t shut up about nia’s desert to the iconic Yosemite National Yosemite the next morning in search of gold. how gorgeous it all was. Warming my hands Park. Having spent several hours driving Well aware that the California gold rush with a dawn-break coffee on the porch of down deserted roads, where the only sites had ended a good century ago, we thought our log cabin surrounded by towering red- of interest were dust devils and “Another we would give it a try anyway. After a quick woods; driving up-and-down the coastline Farmer for Trump” billboards, the granite stop off at the saline Mono Lake Tufta (as in search of that perfect photo; soaking up rock formations of the Yosemite Valley were pretty as it was smelly), we navigated the the previously elusive sun on the pictur- a welcome treat. As with many experiences, three miles of bumpy dirt track leading esque Pfeiffer Beach; capping off the day a departure from the beaten path yields the to the historic High Sierra ghost town of with fireside beers: everything just seemed most satisfaction. I had that feeling in mind Bodie. Blazing heat, dried-out long grass, to fall perfectly into place. Fitting on a day when I raced up 200 feet of granite rock face corrugated iron shacks, a chapel, a school, when one of my travel companions and I to capture the stunning panorama of Upper a saloon; it was something straight out of a woke up to the bizarrely coincidental news Cathedral Lake and the peaks beyond, away that we had both become uncles overnight. from the day tourist Valley crowds, in the CONTINUED TO P.2 * 1 Editorial EDITORIAL BOARD Jim Keller Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor Qiong Wang Copy Editor, Webmaster, Public Relations Manager Juliette Wipf Copy Editor, Webmaster Johannes Buheitel, Peng Kate Gao, Lisa Hang, & Aileen Marshall Copy Editors Chew-Li Soh The famous Bixby Bridge at Big Sur. Associate Editor * CONTINUED FROM P.1 Yvette Chin video game. Though saintly patience was Editorial Assistant required for the authentic ghost town shot (i.e., minus groups of dawdling tourists) it Nan Pang & Guadalupe Astorga was quite the experience. Once again our Designers departure yielded an instant photographic selections.rockefeller.edu gift. There aren’t many days where you -ex [email protected] perience awe-inspiring natural phenomena while blasting Chris Brown’s “Forever” from your car stereo, but this was one of them. As a blues guitarist, I was familiar with How- lin’ Wolf’s classic “Smokestack Lightnin,” but like many I had absolutely no idea what it meant. We had been monitoring a strange cloud throughout the day that was now tow- High Sierra ghost town Bodie. ering above the distant Mono Lake and Yo- semite, resembling the mushroom clouds of the early atomic bomb tests. As I proceeded to photograph/Snapchat away, a professional Upper Cathedral Lake, Yosemite National nature enthusiast informed me that a distant Park. forest fire had generated enough smoke to form an entire cumulus cloud (smokestack) that then created enough thermal pressure to produce lightning! Touché nature, touché. After a thrilling journey spent playing a profession guessing game through the twisty, scenic High Sierra roads and the Secret Cove, Lake Tahoe. strange casino-and-gun-shop lined small towns of Nevada, we arrived at our next seen YouTube videos of this classic, but like major destination: Lake Tahoe. The rela- many things on the trip nothing could truly tively palatial luxuries of South Lake Tahoe prepare me for the extreme multisensory were a welcome retreat from the cruel reali- experience of engaging in an adrenaline- ties of nature that we had just experienced pumping ride coupled with stunning 360 Mountain biking the Flume Trail, Lake Tahoe. (camping), and we took advantage of the degree views 8,000 feet above the banks of a flowing booze and ubiquitous live music to 200-square mile lake. try something that we hadn’t really done all Sad to leave, we departed Lake Tahoe the trip—relaxing. Stock images of Lake Tahoe next morning, down a winding mountain always show someone diving into its crystal pass that led to the golden hills of Napa Val- blue waters and this was a real bucket list ley. Navigating hectic Highway 1 back to San item for me. I managed to get a near perfect Francisco was a stark reminder that we were dive on video despite a throbbing gin and back to civilization. With my friends headed tonic-induced headache. Definitely worth it back to my homeland of England, I sat alone for those two likes on Facebook. at the airport gate, waiting for my delayed That night I stayed off the booze in -an flight, looking back over my many images of ticipation of what would be one of the big- stunning landscapes and wild animals, and gest highlights of the trip: mountain bik- dreaming of my next adventure in this vast A cowboy rides the dusty trail, ing the world famous Flume Trail. I had land. Yosemite National Park. 2 Creating Unnecessary Addictions in our Kids G UADALUPE A STO R G A When my younger brother was a child, he had a hard time following the teacher’s in- structions at school. He was not intellec- tually incapable, but a restless and viva- cious youngster. When the teachers found themselves unable to create any method to capture the interest and attention of this little creature, he was evaluated by a psychiatrist. The result was categori- cal—he was one of the unfortunate kids diagnosed with attention deficit hyperac- tivity disorder (ADHD). My mother had to choose between dealing with a lively child or having to medicate him with psychostimulants such as amphetamines. The risk behind these drugs is not only that they do not improve learning abili- ties or memory, but essentially that they cause strong addiction, psychosis, heart attacks, dysfunction of heart tissue, and even sudden death. While brain disorders affect as many as one out of every five people, over-di- agnosis boosts these numbers due to the lack of specific biological markers in the field, resulting in millions of people over- medicated with antipsychotics, psycho- stimulants, pain relievers, and tranquil- izers. Particularly alarming is the dramatic increase in antipsychotic prescriptions in children under eighteen, including infants between one and two years old. Stimulants like amphetamines are chron- ically prescribed to adults, children, and toddlers diagnosed with ADHD in order to improve their concentration capabili- ties. But, why obsess over a toddler’s con- Modified from Dr Case/ Kid Image CC centration? Do they need to be under the effect of one of the most addictive and electronic devices, video games, and TV We should ask ourselves as a society, destructive drugs to receive love and ad- shows, kids no longer struggle to create as a health care and educational com- equate boundaries as they grow up? their own entertainment, they are con- munity, whether this form of parenting is For a kid that is constantly bombard- stantly bombarded with more informa- responsible for the high levels of anxiety, ed with excessive information, duties and tion than they can assimilate, and they depression and attention deficits shown activities, focusing is not trivial. When I don’t have time to get bored. If we also by our children. How can we justify giv- was a child (and that now feels like a long consider that couples are having babies at ing psychostimulant medication, such as time ago), children had tons of free time older ages, often helped by fertility treat- Adderall or Ritalin, to toddlers? These to play and socialize with other kids, to ments, the scene looks very scary, with drugs will not increase their learning ca- struggle with their homework, to develop kids being a precious trophy that must pabilities, nor their memory capacities.