Geography - Geology News

Karen and Bill Walters

Tom and Jeanne Searight

EDITOR’S NOTE: We feature below blasts from two faculty retirees, as we did in volume 39. This time we learn the latest about the retirement years of Geographer William D. Walters, Jr., and Geologist Thomas K. Searight.

William D. Walters, Jr.

I retired following the spring semester of 2001. After retiring, my first overseas trip with wife Karen took us to England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain. For one more year I continued as editor of Material Culture, a journal that deals with the visible remnants of the past in the North American landscape.

My first major project after retirement was the online publication of the biography and World War I letters of Zella Maude Judy. I had known about Zella’s letters for many years, and arranged to have them transcribed at the Illinois State University Archives. Zella served as a nurse with the American Red Cross in Europe from 1917 to 1919; on her way to England she survived an onboard gun explosion, which killed two of her good friends, and a torpedo attack by a German submarine. In France she attended wounded soldiers, suffered a poison gas attack, and moved into Germany with the American army of occupation. In her time off, she climbed Mt. Blanc. She later returned to Europe with the American Red Cross and served in Poland during the bloody Russo-Polish war. She wrote the letters to her relatives in central Illinois, including a sister who lived in Normal. With the help of one of Zella’s grandsons, a website was established that contains both an account of her life, photographs, and the full text of the letters. Hundreds have
viewed it at <http://home.earthlink.net/~zellamaude/index.html>.

Between 2006 and 2010, we kept busy with trips and other activities. In 2006 we returned to England, spent time in London, and toured the West Country. In Illinois, I served for three years on the Historic Sites Advisory Council, which helps with the process of nominating historic structures and districts in the state for the National Register of Historic Places. I began a project to write historical material for the Wikipedia entries for dozens of central Illinois towns; the existing entries were often incomplete, inaccurate, or completely missing. Moreover, most of the existing entries lacked documentation. I also did new or revised Wikipedia entries for several people, such as notable nineteenth-century American geographer William Channing Woodbridge. In 2009 we traveled to the northern part of Ireland with a company that specializes in taking small groups to out-of-the way parts of the island. Karen was happy that she did not have to drive. The trip was so successful that we returned in 2010 to do a similar tour of southern Ireland including a delightful stay on the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.

After a malfunctioning sump pump led to a flooded basement, and almost destroyed my extensive notes on early Illinois town advertisements, I determined to make them available to a wider public. Such town advertisements are important to geographers and to students of history
because each was a locational argument as to why a particular place was destined to be important as a town. With the great help of the Department, especially Mike Sublett, these advertisements appeared as Selling Location: Early Illinois Town Advertisements 1835-1837 (Normal: Department of Geography-Geology, 2011). The book is available from the Department.
I count among my hobbies collecting books about castles and doing family history. So far I have discovered many ancestors and have helped others to link up their family trees. We continue to live in Normal and may be reached at wdwalte@aol.com.

Thomas K. Searight

Jeanne retired from the Graduate College, at Illinois State, in 1991; and I retired from Geography-Geology in 1994. After my retirement, I taught Geomorphology each spring semester for four years. At first I knew all of the students; but, by the fourth year, I did not know any of them. It was time to quit for good. One big event in the spring of 1996, while we still lived in Normal, was a trip to Switzerland by Jeanne and her sister, Shirley, to see the birthplace of their maternal grandfather. I stayed in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with Shirley’s husband who had emphysema. In 1997, I quit smoking my signature pipe. To celebrate, we did the grand circle tour of the national parks in Utah and Arizona. We took three weeks and really had a good time seeing many of the sites and features I had taught about for 30 years.

In 2000 we decided to move closer to our children before we got too old to travel. Our son lives near Boulder, Colorado; and our daughter lives in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. We ruled out Colorado for several reasons. First, Colorado was too expensive and fast paced for us. Second, the winters were too severe. Since we had lived most of our adult lives in college towns, we decided to move to Lawrence, Kansas, which is only 40 miles from Overland Park. We lived in Lawrence for four years, but found it too much of a party place, with noise and wild parties, very much unlike Normal. In 2003, we moved to Overland Park in a raging snowstorm.
We have enjoyed living here. Overland Park is much like a series of Bloomington-Normals. If you stay away from the freeways during rush hour, traffic is not too bad. We have found Kansas an interesting state both geologically and scenically, and we have made many trips both long and short. I will never lose my love for geology and now have it as an avocation rather than a vocation. We have made several trips back to Normal and have watched the many changes and upgrades to the Illinois State campus. We do wish the University of Kansas would quit stealing athletic directors from Illinois State, however.

I guess my final observation should be about the Black Hills. I grew up in South Dakota and spent many summers in the Black Hills as a child. We got to see the carving of Mt. Rushmore, almost from start to finish. I was delighted to teach field camp out there for about 20 years and relished every visit. We have both been interested in and awed by the carving of Crazy Horse, but know we will not see it finished. Since retirement, Jeanne and I have made a number of visits out there. We have found a delightful little ranch with log cabins near Hill City and have fallen in love with it. We spent three weeks out there to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary and plan to spend two weeks there this fall.

To read the actual article as it appeared in print, to see other items in Volume 40 of Glacial Deposits, or to check archived issues of Glacial Deposits, click here.

By Jodee Haack

UNICEF estimates that over two million women, most of them girls, are sexually exploited every year in the multi-billion dollar sex industry. Last summer (2011), I spent a month in the beautiful country of Thailand, leading a short-term mission trip with my husband and nine college students. Part of the focus of this trip was ministering to girls who are at risk for entering the sex industry and bringing some light into the dark place that is the Chiang Mai red light district. We spent our time in northern Thailand, a lush, green mountainous region where many of the ethnic minorities reside. Most of our time in the North was spent between Chiang Mai and Chiang Kham. Chiang Mai is the most important city in northern Thailand, with a population of nearly one million in its metropolitan area. It is also a popular destination for tourists, including those primarily concerned with the city’s sex tourism industry. Chiang Kham, a much smaller place in the North, offers little to a tourist except a place to stay while on the way to a more popular destination. After spending nearly 10 days in the girls’ boarding house, Home of Blessing in Chiang Kham, walking the streets in Chiang Mai’s red light district revealed a sharp contrast between the young girls at the home and those on the streets.

On the streets, what struck me was the emptiness in the young girls’ faces. I could not help but wonder the age of each one, as I find it difficult to guess the age of any Thai woman. “Is she a child? Are they so bold as to keep the young ones in the open, or are the youngest girls kept behind closed doors?” I asked myself. Thailand’s Health Systems Research Institute estimates
that 40 percent of those employed in the prostitution sector are under the age of 18. However, the United Nations acknowledges that it is very difficult to estimate the number of prostitutes or children involved. No matter the exact figures, the fact is, Thailand is a hotspot in the sex tourism industry. Part of its draw is the availability of girls under the age of 18; and many of the customers are those from the most developed countries in the world.

Lack of education, poverty, and social situations in which all family members are expected to contribute to the household income make the northern region of Thailand a place where young girls can easily be exploited. Most of the ethnic minorities of the country are found in the region. Hill tribes, as they are commonly called, make up a collection of ethnic peoples that have made their way to this part of Southeast Asia over many years. Each group has its own story, but they all have some things in common. They are often subsistence farmers who make their living using slash and burn farming techniques along with raising livestock. They earn far less than the average ethnic Thai person and experience a certain amount of oppression from many Thai people and the Thai government. These factors and others make the hill tribe people of Thailand easy victims of the sex trafficking industry. Human traffickers are very creative in the means that they use to take girls from their families. Most often, the family members and the victim herself may think she is going to the big city for a waitressing job or maybe a cleaning job in a hotel. In some cases the girl is sent off with the promise of future income, while, in other instances, money is given to the family at the time the child is taken. Usually, parents and other family members have no knowledge that they are sending their child into a brothel.

At Home of Blessing in Chiang Kham, Pastor Sayan Kusavadee and his wife, Siriporn, attempt to offer the families of desperate hill tribes and ethnic Thais an alternative to sending their children away to the big cities to work. Some of the problem is that families cannot afford to educate their children. Home of Blessing provides food, shelter, clothing, and education to the girls that stay there. When we were present, they had 91 girls, from the ages of 5 to 18. Many of them were from various ethnic groups including Karen and Hmong; others were ethnic Thai girls that came from very poor families.

The Kusavadees believe that by providing everything a young girl needs to thrive in her high school years families will be less inclined to see her as a liability. The idea is prevention. It is much easier, in their opinion, to keep a girl from being sold into the sex trade than to rescue her from it. I was curious how this couple, who were once both teachers, came to be responsible for the well-being of 91 young girls. The story they shared was both inspiring and saddening. The teachers were working in the South of Thailand when they felt led to return to the northern part of the country, to Chiang Kham in particular. Sayan began to notice peculiar behavior in a
side street across from their house. He saw many young men and women traveling the side street and would sometimes see an older man with a young girl. Later, he noticed the man would leave without the girl. He asked some locals about the strange occurrences. To his dismay, the locals informed him that a brothel was located down the little side street. Poverty-stricken families are often tricked or coerced into selling their girls, many times with no idea where they are actually sending them, or that they may not see them again. They went on to tell him that the brothel was a preparation work place where girls come to be trained to go on to the larger cities of Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Child prostitution is illegal in Thailand, but Sayan learned that the police are often bribed by the trafficking rings to look the other way.

After realizing this horrific scene so close to their home, the Kusavadees grieved about the situation. They wanted to help but did not know how exactly. Not long after, the opportunity came to them. The local doctor, who was a family friend, called needing their help. His patient was a girl of 13 years. She had come from the brothel and needed emergency gynecological
treatment. She had severe internal bleeding from being overworked. The doctor bought her for 5,000 baht, which is the equivalent of about $120 US dollars. He then brought her to the Kusavadees, knowing they were Christians. Sayan and Siriporn cared for the girl and then sent her to a recovery center in Bangkok that specializes in the treatment of such traumatized girls. This situation, however, brought about the ideas they needed to help young girls.

They decided to take in a few girls that were in high-risk situations. The criteria would be girls from impoverished families that could not afford secondary education. Often these would be girls from the so-called hill tribes, or minority ethnic groups. They started with just five girls of Yao ethnicity, brought them into their home, and provided for them as best they could. From this meager beginning, the Home of Blessing was born and now provides for almost a hundred girls.

During my time at the Home of Blessing, I was awestruck at the organization and responsibility instilled in these girls. They arise each morning at about 5:00 to be at morning worship at 5:30. That lasts until 6:00, when they each go to their assigned weekly chores, which include cooking, cleaning, and feeding farm animals that help provide their food. They then eat breakfast and head off to school. After school, they have some leisure time until dinner; and then they have some organized activities that include Bible study and English class. Finally, they do their homework. The girls seem to be thriving under these conditions.

For four days during our stay, we planted rice alongside the girls and staff of the Home of Blessing. Our fat, western fingers fumbled with the tender, young rice plants while the young Thai girls made quick work of the planting. Watching them play and work in the rice fields brought us great joy. These girls are so precious, and knowing that they could be working as sex slaves in one of Thailand’s big cities is sobering. What an awesome opportunity they have received. They are all continuing their studies while participating in the success of a small community. So, when we transferred cities from Chiang Kham to the fast-paced and bustling Chiang Mai, we became heavy hearted when faced with the infamous Chiang Mai red light district and so grateful that two people in northern Thailand were willing to devote their lives to help others have the opportunities that would not have been afforded them otherwise.

Human trafficking, modern-day slavery, and the sex-trade not only exist all over the world, but thrive. The irony in it all is the relationship between their growth and furthered development in places like Thailand. As Thailand has developed and become a popular tourist destination, the demand for both young and adult prostitutes has increased; and many of the customers are men from the most developed countries in the world. In fact, 25 percent of all child sex tourists worldwide are American men. Ideally, with development come more opportunities and rights for women, not exploitation and abuse. This situation begs the question: “What can we do to help?” The answer is to get informed and involved. To learn more or to get involved, check out the following organizations: American Anti-Slavery Group, Amnesty International, Free the Slaves, Stop Child Trafficking Now, or International Justice Mission. If you are interested in helping the
Home of Blessing, search for it by name online or contact me directly.

The time I spent in Thailand is one that I will never forget. However, I am most appreciative of the awareness I gained concerning the grave issue of sex trafficking and child prostitution. Knowing this problem exists is one thing. Experiencing the laughing, playing, and innocence of girls who might have had their childhood stolen under different circumstances is quite another. My Thailand trip helped me determine to be an active participant and not a sideline observer.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jodee Haack teaches Advanced Placement Human Geography and French at Bixby High School in Bixby, Oklahoma, which is just downstream on the Arkansas River from Tulsa. She earned her undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University and has been teaching since 2001. Jodee enjoys traveling in her free time and has taken nearly 100 students abroad over the years. She took a spring 2012 exchange trip to China for three weeks.

To read the actual article as it appeared in print, to see other items in Volume 40 of Glacial Deposits, or to check archived issues of Glacial Deposits, click here.

Meredith Strow

Meredith Strow, a senior in the Department of Geography-Geology, has received the Student Poster 2012 Excellence Award for her poster presentation at the November Geological Society of America meeting in Charlotte, NC in November 2012. The award is sponsored by SGD (Sedimentary Geology Division of GSA), SEPM-Society for Sedimentary Geology and Nexen of Canada.

The award is based on the results of a judging committee of SEPM and SGD officers that reviewed all of the poster presentations in the SGD – SEPM Student Research Poster Session at the Charlotte Geological Society of America meeting. The top four student presentations from the session were chosen for these awards.

Strow’s research included interpreting dated zircons from the Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin (Wyoming) in order to reconstruct paleogeography of the surrounding regions.

Tasha Dunn

Tasha Dunn, Department of Geography-Geology, was awarded a 3-year, $125,000 grant from NASA to study metamorphism in primitive meteorites. The proposal is titled “Thermal Metamorphism of the Unequilibrated CK Chondrites: Evidence for a Single CK-CV Chondrite Parent Body?” The primary goal of this project is to determine whether the CV and CK chondrites (two types of primitive meteorites) originate from the same asteroid.

To answer this question, Dr. Dunn will analyze compositions of minerals such as olivine, magnetite, and pentlandite in several CK chondrites, and will then use this data to determine how much heating each sample experienced during its formation. This will allow her to establish a metamorphic sequence for the type 3 CK chondrites. Once this is done, it will be much easier to test the single parent body hypothesis.

This is the first NASA grant awarded to the Department of Geography-Geology.

Tasha Dunn is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography-Geology and has taught at ISU since fall 2008. She completed her B.S. (2000) at Tulane University and her M.S. (2005) and Ph.D. (2008) at The University of Tennessee. Her research focuses on the study of extraterrestrial materials, from meteorites to asteroids.

Dunn is a member of the Meteoritical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Mineralogical Society of America, the Geological Society of America, and the Sigma Xi Research Society.