2018 – January

by Jane Bauer

“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi

I have a lot of mixed feelings about chickens; interestingly, I do not have mixed feelings about eggs. I think an examination of how humans relate to chickens can tell us a great deal about the ambiguousness of our morality. I know many people who will expound pedantically on the cruelties of cockfighting and then think nothing of picking up a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Humans – we’re complex like that. Continue reading Editor’s Letter →

By Brooke Gazer

Un Nuevo Amanecer is a non-profit organization that helps children with disabilities. This dedicated group receives very little government assistance and could not exist without the generous support of Huatulco’s residents and visitors. Eighty percent of its funding comes from two exuberant beach parties, held at Playa Chahue each winter. Continue reading Celebrate Two Success Stories Together →

By Marcia Chaiken, with Jan Chaiken

The question is both the beginning of a bad joke and somewhat misleading. Kosher chickens cannot cross roads. When physically capable of crossing a road, a chicken simply cannot yet be kosher. Only when it has been examined and declared whole and in good health and slaughtered by someone certified as a shochet can a chicken have a chance of being called kosher. If a chicken had crossed a road it might later become kosher, but if it was clipped by a car or even just lost a toe nail, it would called trafe or “torn” and would never be accepted by a shochet. Continue reading Why Did the Kosher Chicken Cross the Road? →

By Julie Etra

The history of the origin of domesticated chickens (Gallus domesticus) is long and interesting. They were first domesticated from a wild form called red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), a bird that still exists at least in parts of southeast Asia where it originated, and likely hybridized with the gray junglefowl (G. sonneratii) about 8,000 years ago. Research indicates possible multiple origins from distinct areas of South and Southeast Asia, southern China, Thailand, Burma, and India. Firm evidence of domesticated chickens isn’t found in China until 3600 BCE. From Smithsonian Magazine: “It is all the more surprising in light of the belief by many archaeologists that chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cockfighting. Until the advent of large-scale industrial production in the 20th century, the economic and nutritional contribution of chickens was modest.” Continue reading Origin of Chicken: Jungle Runs Afowl in the Western Hemisphere →

By Leigh Morrow

There is nothing to create a more quintessential Mexican ambiance than that early morning sound of a rooster crowing. When you live in a Canadian city most of the year, as I do, where chickens are allowed in back yard cages, but a rooster’s crowing would be considered a noise bylaw infraction, it’s definitely a different sound to my urban ears and one that instantly tells me I’m waking up far from home. Continue reading Cock-A-Doodle-Do! →

By Kary Vannice

In an age when schoolkids think that cheese comes from plants, tomatoes grow underground, and pasta comes from animals, I think it’s safe to say that while what we put in our mouths might be as close as the end of our fork, many of us are far too removed from its origin.

I grew up with blood on my hands, literally. I went hunting and fishing and, on occasion, I helped a friend’s family butcher their chickens before winter. This was a process that involved a large tree stump, two 10 penny nails, and an ax. The nails were set right in the center of the stump separated at the exact width of a chicken’s neck. It was a bloody process, and butchering, plucking and prepping a few dozen chickens took all day. It was exhausting, to say the least. But, whenever I had chicken at the Kuhrys’ house, I knew just where it came from and how it got there. Continue reading The Hidden Cost of Cheap Chicken →

By Deborah Van Hoewyk

The 2018 Festival del Sueño (Dream Festival) hosted by The Bacaanda Foundation/El Sueño Zapoteco takes place Saturday, January 27, 2018, from 5 – 10:00 pm in Guelaguetza Park (located beside Marina Park Plaza). This will be the third annual fundraiser for the Foundation, which works on education and health issues in the rural areas surrounding Bahias de Huatulco. Continue reading Fun and Games Again in 2018—All in a Good Cause! →

Dear The Eye readers,

Last year many friends responded with contributions to our appeal which created a fund that has already made a real difference. With these funds we launched a new Student-Community Outreach pilot project in Oaxaca, Mexico, with the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca (UABJO). Approximately 24 indigenous first-generation college seniors are conducting community betterment projects using our video participation methods for education and awareness raising in five towns in Oaxaca. Their projects are a model to strengthen community identity, motivation, and leadership for positive action. We’re also proud that the documentary video team we trained for the Totontepec, Oaxaca, project (2011-2016) could provide the training with our supervision. Continue reading Speaking Place Letter →