1940–2023 George Roth died on December 11, 2023, from a rare disease, CIPD, which is similar to ALS.   George, who had one older brother, was born in 1940 in the Bronx. In 1947, the family moved to Tucson, AZ. Tucson was a very small town at the time, but he enjoyed living in the desert. After graduating from high school in 1958, he enrolled at Reed College because of a high school science teacher he much admired. He majored in anthropology at Reed, and greatly enjoyed madrigal and other singing. After graduation, he went to the University of Chicago, where he earned an MA and met hi ..read more

“You are too old to be a refugee.” “You can’t stay in this country unless you serve four years in the military. And then when your kid is old enough, he has to serve four years too.” “If you don’t have a police report that confirms what you’re telling me, you’re going to be deported. They’ll know you’re lying. You have to have proof to stay here.” “You are a liar. You couldn’t have come this long of a way on your own. Not without a coyote. You’re telling me that you didn’t have a coyote? Then you must be a coyote yourself.” “You are a liar. You don’t look like a r*pe victim.” “The border is cl ..read more

August 9, 2016, was a good day for Phil Heasley, the CEO of a financial services company in Florida. Fishing with his crew of three off the coast of Maryland from his 68-foot luxury yacht, Kallianassa, he caught a white marlin that was six feet long and weighed 76.5 pounds. Heasley was competing in Ocean City’s annual White Marlin Open competition, the world’s largest billfishing tournament. His was one of 1,389 white marlin caught during that year’s competition, but was the only one to clear the 70-pound minimum that conferred eligibility for the prize. That meant that he got all the prize mo ..read more

Airlock1: When air enters a diesel fuel system, preventing proper combustion. Usually caused by an empty tank. Airlock2 [Zimbabwean slang]: When “gas” (alcohol) stops flowing, preventing a proper level of inebriation. Usually caused by empty pockets. Most people have heard the lie, “I don’t have money.” Indeed, some of us have told it. It is not the sort of claim one takes at face value, though. Instead, it is generally understood to mean “I don’t have money for this,” or more pointedly, “I don’t have money for you.”  In other words, when a person feigns being broke, norms concerning the ..read more

Credit: Seema Krishnakumar The Palace, as encountered from the car, alongside the highway, on the way from the small town of Sangareddy toward the metropolis of Hyderabad Facades of buildings, like faces, can wear masks. They can masquerade as something they are not. Hotel: The Palace, situated on India’s National Highway-65, between the big city of Hyderabad and the small town of Sangareddy, is both and neither of its named components. In the local parlance, a “hotel” is a place to eat, but not really a place to stay. In the south-central landscape of India, where ancient rocks are being e ..read more

In Wayanad, a densely forested district in the state of Kerala, in South India, human-animal conflict is on the rise, with frequent reports of tigers preying on cattle, bears causing havoc, and elephants damaging property. Public sentiment is increasingly hostile toward the Forest Department, accusing them of prioritizing animal protection over human welfare due to the strict enforcement of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 in the state. Incidents with leopards, tigers, and elephants have been reported in the early months of 2024. One recent situation involves a 20-year-old elephant called B ..read more

“Based on the Incredible True Story.” So begins the trailer for the film Arthur the King, starring Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Nathalie Immanuel, and Ali Suliman: a heartwarming story about a stray, scruffy dog and an endurance athlete who find each other during an epic adventure race across the Dominican Republic. The tale—told in three different books in dozens of languages—has already captured the hearts of millions. As the film’s poster relates, the power of the narrative derives from three elements: An Unexpected Encounter. An Unlikely Bond. An Unforgettable Adventure. In all, the story ..read more

As India gears up for national elections in summer 2024, the atmosphere across the country is uncharacteristically flat. There isn’t much of the usual suspense or festivity that marks the occasion, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are set to return to power in what observers declare is “almost an inevitability.” India’s democratic health, according to most indicators, has declined precipitously during his tenure. An unprecedented centralization of executive power has been achieved through the effective takeover of traditionally nonpartisan institut ..read more

In the dim light of a Monday morning in August 2018, Meng, a 33-year-old woman living near Beijing, began her day with a sense of urgency. Rising at 5:40 a.m., she navigated her morning routine with haste, quietly brushing her teeth, washing her face, and skillfully applying makeup, careful not to disturb her still-sleeping family. Her mission: to reach her neighborhood in time for the 6:15 a.m. company bus that awaited her, marking the start of another workweek. As a data analyst for a major IT company, Meng traveled from the western suburbs of Beijing to the eastern side, where the company i ..read more

Based on a combination of stories, lived experiences, and lies from my research on not-knowing in Belo, this fictive ethnographic narrative recounts a night spent in fear of an attack by dahalo (local bandits). Over the course of the night, the narrator moves between waking and sleep as they try to make sense of the bandits’ attack based on bits of unreliable information. Like many stories people told me in Belo, it does not end with a clear conclusion or moral but instead with a tapering of gossip and a return to silence, pregnant with the possibility of ambiguity. Blurring together ..read more