Unintended Consequences

Among the Lessons of Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'

    Like many others, we maintain a bird feeder in our yard, keeping it stocked during the cold-weather months as well as in the summer. The feeder draws a diverse clientele—a couple of cardinals, an occasional blue jay, mourning doves, and black birds. But, by far the largest group to show up is the house sparrows.

  These birds, despite being small, are known for their aggressive and, at times, ruthless behavior. These traits have aided them in staking out territory. Further enhancing their cause is an ability to utilize human dwellings and outbuildings for nesting purposes. They’re also known to confiscate the bird houses people have put up, even killing the young of other species that have already taken residence in those houses.

Emmett Till 'Still Remembered'

    When I was 21, I bought a Billie Holiday album. Among the songs on it was ‘Strange Fruit,’ a piece Lady Day sang in a brooding, melancholy voice. Of course, as a blues singer, that could describe a lot of her offerings on this record.

    I did not play the record too often and, when I did, I apparently did not listen too attentively. Eventually, it dawned on me that the lyric “Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees" referred to black men and women dangling from those Southern trees with ropes around their necks—the hapless victims of a lynch mob.