This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page 2024Crailtap recently unearthed some classic Chico Brenes and Mike Carroll footage from the golden EMB days It might just be a few lines (and some goofy B-Roll of Chico) but it still offers an intimate glimpse into the countless sessions that went down at this iconic spot The sound of those bricks will never get old nor will seeing these two (and all the other EMB OGs) skating this legendary spot in the 90's and it blows my mind to think about how much other unseen footage might be out there sitting on random hard drives And to think—both of them are still having fun on their skateboards to this day pushing along through the (empty) fountain of youth How rad is that!? If those bricks could talk...   Moments like this are always worth shining some light on tap the post above (Recording the Ride) to see what Rosenberg has been up to lately out in New York.  and all the pioneers who paved the way for us Skateboarding wouldn't be the same without their contributions Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more quality skate content. By Brian Blakely is a Writer for TransWorld SKATEboarding a doctoral student working with Auburn University’s National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) is driving sustainable asphalt innovation forward with help from the Bill and Shireen Kirk Scholarship.   which is administered by the Asphalt Institute Foundation is awarded annually to third or fourth-year undergraduate graduate or doctoral students pursuing degrees in civil engineering construction management or related programs.  “Anthony is exceptionally well-organized always prepared and very proactive,” said Adriana Vargas-Nordcbeck associate research professor at NCAT and Brenes-Calderon's advisor “He takes on every challenge with a positive attitude and has a genuine desire to produce something useful to our industry Anthony's exceptional qualifications make him highly deserving of this scholarship.”  developed an interest in civil engineering specifically asphalt pavements and materials during his undergraduate studies.   “A memorable visit to an asphalt mixing plant during a pavement design and construction course along with working in a materials lab for my graduation project solidified my passion for this field,” he said.  He earned his undergraduate degree in construction engineering from the Costa Rican Institute of Technology and his master’s degree from Auburn University where he is currently pursuing a doctorate in civil engineering with a focus on pavement and materials his commitment to continuous learning led him to earn a graduate certificate in business and data analytics from Auburn’s Harbert College of Business alongside his primary coursework.  Brenes-Calderon's research focuses on sustainable asphalt practices specifically the triple bottom line in asphalt pavement preservation techniques addressing social Focused on quantifying the benefits of pavement preservation treatments as a sustainable approach he investigates methods to extend pavement life reduce environmental impact and cut overall costs contributing to safer and more durable infrastructure.  Brenes-Calderon looks forward to seeing his research encourage widespread adoption of sustainable practices within the asphalt pavement industry.   Brenes-Calderon hopes to continue learning from mentors and sharing his knowledge to promote sustainability in the asphalt world.   “I believe that prioritizing environmental effects and optimizing economic resources without compromising performance and users’ safety is the right path for developing infrastructure that will serve the public’s welfare,” he said.    Established in 1986 through a collaboration between Auburn University and the National Asphalt Pavement Association’s Research and Education Foundation NCAT addresses the needs of maintaining America’s pavement infrastructure through practical research and development initiatives The center’s mission is to provide innovative technology development and education that advance safe durable and sustainable asphalt pavements.  For more information about NCAT and its research initiatives Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs The magazine has featured contributions from many leading international affairs experts MICHAEL BRENES is Co-Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and Lecturer in History at Yale University VAN JACKSON is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington They are the authors of The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy Michael Brenes and Van Jackson Donald Trump’s presidency has prompted commentators in and outside Washington to reflect on the direction of U.S Questions abound over how Trump will deal with China and Russia as well as India and emerging powers in the global South foreign policy is headed into a period of uncertainty even if Trump’s first term provides a stark reference point for how he might manage the United States’ role in the world in the coming years but he also represents a new one: the age of nationalism Washington’s traditional impulse to divide the world into democracies and autocracies obscures a global turn toward nationalism that began with the 2008 financial crisis and led to protectionism and shrinking growth in many parts of the world a resurgence of nationalism—particularly economic nationalism and ethnonationalism—has characterized global affairs since the mid-2010s when the world saw a rise in popularity of nationalist figures including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen in France Instead of questioning or challenging this new age of nationalism, Washington has contributed to it. In the administrations of both Trump and President Joe Biden, the United States has been preoccupied with consolidating U.S power while restraining Chinese advancements Rather than prioritizing job creation or economic growth globally Washington has deployed tariffs and export controls to weaken China’s economic power relative to the United States A global green-energy transition that addresses the roots of the climate crisis has given way to a politically contentious and fleeting bid to expand U.S Supply-chain resilience has overtaken economic interdependence as the logic of a “rising tide that lifts all boats” has been supplanted by a race to claim a greater share of a shrinking global economic pie and debt distress in the global South as related to the problems of higher-income countries the United States exacerbates the spread of nationalism abroad This new nationalist era can be discerned in the pivot to “great-power competition”—a vague phrase that frames U.S. grand strategy toward China But great-power competition forecloses on the potential of the United States to build a new internationalist age in the tradition of Roosevelt following World War II It also sustains an anachronistic status quo that no longer exists and limits the political imagination needed to generate a more peaceful A decadelong preoccupation with great-power competition has cost the United States valuable time and momentum to build a new international order in ways that limit conflicts and incentivize nations to reject Beijing’s economic and military influence To be sure, Beijing does pose threats to democracies, human rights, and cybersecurity around the world. But viewing those threats through the prism of great-power competition has led some observers to present China as an existential danger on par with the Soviet Union during the Cold War zero-sum approach toward Beijing has compounded the risks of the age of nationalism If American policymakers are to reinvigorate the United States’ role in the world and contribute to peace and stability for countries suffering from human rights abuses they must broaden their horizons and eschew this age of nationalism and unsustainable levels of sovereign debt will not be solved by strengthening U.S power to the detriment of the broader world When the United States and its allies defeated the Axis powers in 1945 American leaders realized that the old imperial order no longer served the interests of global peace The League of Nations proved feckless as the great powers turned to autarky and protectionism in the 1920s and 1930s fomenting the nationalism that drove the autocratic regimes in Germany In 1945, Roosevelt feared that when the shooting stopped the Allies would seek to protect their respective interests by turning inward In his State of the Union address that year he said that the United States must work toward “establishing an international order which will be capable of maintaining peace and realizing through the years more perfect justice between Nations.” This new order depended on multilateral institutions that enlisted U.S economic and military might on behalf of global partners that needed security and prosperity in the wake of World War II Roosevelt defined the national interest in global terms—in the preservation of a multilateral order that made the world safe for capitalism and liberal democracy Although large portions of the postcolonial world remained underdeveloped and multilateral institutions disproportionately benefited the richest nations there was space for reemerging noncommunist economies in Asia and Africa to assert their interests in the postwar order the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade eliminated trade barriers that strengthened the Japanese economy decolonizing countries organized themselves within the United Nations into a grouping they called the G-77 with an eye to challenging the West’s neglect of African and Asian nations global South nations continue to turn to the UN to achieve climate justice and hold private corporations accountable for violating labor and environmental laws When the Cold War ended the United States subordinated international institutions to the pursuit of primacy in a unipolar era there appeared to be no viable alternative to the U.S.-led liberal world order multilateral institutions became adjuncts of U.S as the United States and Europe assumed that liberal democratic ideals would flourish around the world The war on terror after 2001 further eroded internationalism with the United States using its preeminence to coerce or flatter nations into joining its military campaigns with little consideration for how Washington’s actions would damage U.S the United States offered bank bailouts and protections to consumers to stabilize U.S and China launched a massive infrastructure project to employ its workers and sustain its growth rates But most nations climbed out of the Great Recession by accumulating unsustainable levels of sovereign debt And as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank imposed terms on its borrowers that were politically unpopular the governments of developing economies turned to Beijing as the lender of choice unequal economic order—created opportunities for nationalist politics and politicians When globalization failed to pay the same dividends that it had in the 1990s demagogues blamed undocumented immigrants and the elites who presided over a corrupt Economic nationalism took hold in many countries as leaders told their populations to look for answers to global problems within their borders Figures such as Orban rose to power by lambasting the International Monetary Fund and the European Union Orban claimed that “the main threat to the future of Europe is not those who want to come here to live but our own political and intellectual elites bent on transforming Europe against the clear will of the European people.” Anti-immigration rhetoric proliferated as leaders around the world blamed immigrants for their countries’ problems Governments around the world turned to industrial policy and state-led capitalism to protect their economies from globalization—a trend that China led and the United States now follows with measures such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act. In Russia the autocratic leader Vladimir Putin has embraced an ideology of nationalist imperialism consolidating economic resources through state expansionism; Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has corroded the global norm against territorial conquest has presided over a new era of state capitalism centralizing the banking industry and exerting state control over foreign investment now look to statist China as a model to partner with and potentially emulate The age of great-power competition is an age of nation-states consolidating elite economic power through nationalist policies Trump embraced and profited from the resurrection of nationalism and great-power competition Whereas President Barack Obama downplayed great-power competition on the belief that cooperation with Beijing served the economic interests of the United States Trump’s 2017 National Security Strategy adopted an “America first” foreign policy that emphasized U.S will “compete and lead in multilateral organizations so that American interests and principles are protected.” This translated to the United States leaving organizations such as the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO which promotes international cooperation in education Trump also withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty—a Reagan-era arms control treaty with Moscow—and the Paris agreement the global pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions A fixation on great-power competition also led Trump to institute tariffs on Chinese imports valued at $200 billion launching a trade war that escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing and increased the cost of living for U.S consumers by as much as 7.1 percent in parts of the country Biden promised a pivot away from “America first,” but he ultimately succumbed to the age of nationalism he pledged “to begin reforming the habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscle of democratic alliances that have atrophied over the past few years of neglect.” But this rhetoric failed to translate into cooperation outside a framework of great-power competition To maintain the United States’ rivalry with China Biden expanded on Trump’s protectionist policies Although Biden departed from Trump in his emphasis on alliances and partnerships believed that the primary purpose of America’s economic statecraft was to constrain China’s power while maximizing the power of the United States As the historian Adam Tooze argued in the London Review of Books last November Biden sought “to ensure by any means necessary including forceful interventions in private business trade and investment decisions that China is held back and the US preserves its decisive edge.” Biden dramatically strengthened the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States which monitors and restricts foreign investment on national security grounds; expanded the number of Chinese firms blacklisted for associations with the Chinese military; preserved Trump’s initial tariffs targeting China; imposed new tariffs on Chinese semiconductor and renewable energy technology; introduced new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States; and made new tax credits available to U.S technology firms conditional on their divestment from Chinese firms high fence” approach became an economic strategy to contain China and unravel U.S.-Chinese interdependence in high-technology sectors of the global economy The nationalist turn in U.S. foreign policy under Biden empowered the very corporations that have contributed to the inequality that fuels nationalism Within Washington’s emergent nationalist framework Tesla’s business in China has benefited from tariffs on electric vehicles not only because it enjoys a dominant position in the United States’ electric vehicle market but also because its CEO has secured an exemption on European tariffs for Tesla’s Chinese-made electric vehicles (nine percent instead of 20 percent) these same tariffs have punished consumers and cut off U.S green-technology manufacturers from much-needed collaboration with Chinese firms Silicon Valley defense startups and venture capital firms have plowed tens of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence which they now seek to sell to the Pentagon Biden’s gestures toward multilateralism were a significant departure from the fervid nationalism of the first Trump administration but they fell short of genuine internationalism His efforts at alliance building reflected not the beginning of a multipolar era but an ideological contest between democracy and autocracy in a new cold war with China Although ostensibly designed to ameliorate climate change in countries bordering the Atlantic coastline the organization is ultimately an effort to constrain China’s illegal fishing industry and entice African nations away from Chinese capital The age of nationalism is a punitive one for lower-income countries since it limits opportunities for the United States to establish goodwill and allegiances with African and Asian nations targeted the BRICS nations (which constitute more than 40 percent of the world’s population) with currency tariffs Actions such as these promise to cut off the United States from global supply chains while increasing the cost of consumption for the American consumer Using coercion to preserve the primacy of the U.S trade deficit and undercuts the United States’ export sectors by raising the relative price of U.S.-made goods in foreign markets and ignoring complaints filed against it for U.S industrial policy’s various rule infractions including exorbitant tariffs and corporate subsidies to thwart China’s and India’s economic growth Biden issued a White House statement denying the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court on all matters pertaining to the Israeli government’s war in Gaza Trump is likely to reinvigorate a nationalist foreign policy His administration is primed to view the crisis in the Middle East as a civilizational conflict to be dealt with through military force rather than diplomacy Alliances in East Asia will function as useful proxies for constraining Beijing’s influence Washington will see competition with China as an existential struggle that heightens anti-immigrant sentiment at home potentially leading to hate crimes and greater violence against Asian Americans Trump will remain myopically fixated on securitizing the U.S.-Mexico border forgoing the opportunity to collaborate on issues of mutual concern such as transnational crime and climate change the United States can bring debt relief to African nations and restructure struggling economies to minimize corruption and further democratic rights Instead of allowing the BRICS to operate as a counter to the West Washington must recognize the validity of their concerns and welcome new approaches that prioritize Africa and Asian nations A stronger global South will also rein in ethnonationalism and anti-immigrant politics because resilient economies make it hard to sustain the argument that immigrants are “stealing” jobs and draining state resources It is time for the United States to move past the obsolete zero-sum logic of great-power competition Instead of squandering more resources in the counterproductive pursuit of primacy Washington should renew its commitment to strengthening economies and advancing human rights around the world The national interest does not reside in outmaneuvering China in every domain—it resides in an internationalist vision that emphasizes cooperation over competition Subscribe to Foreign Affairs to get unlimited access Already a subscriber? Sign In Roseanne McManus Andrei Kolesnikov Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum Gideon Rose Jonathan Kirshner Richard Fontaine Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay Tong Zhao Zongyuan Zoe Liu Anne Neuberger Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage * Note that when you provide your email address, the Foreign Affairs Privacy Policy and Terms of Use will apply to your newsletter subscription Published by The Council on Foreign Relations Privacy Policy Terms of Use From the publishers of  Foreign Affairs This website uses cookies to improve your experience You can opt-out of certain cookies using the cookie management page * Note that when you provide your email address, the Foreign Affairs Privacy Policy and Terms of Use will apply to your newsletter subscription Sorry, you must be using a modern browser with JavaScript enabled to view videos We use cookies and similar technologies to help personalize content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a better experience. 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For more information, please see our Privacy Policy These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website These cookies are used to track visitors across websites to display relevant advertisements Yale historian Michael Brenes argues that engaging in great-power competition with China ultimately weakens the United States both at home and abroad.  The rise of China as a global power has cast a shadow over U.S elected leaders from both major political parties have described China as a sinister threat to America’s national interests and democracy worldwide.  government has committed to a full-throated rivalry with China reminiscent of its Cold War with the Soviet Union co-director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs argues that engaging in a “great-power competition” with China is misguided and will ultimately harm U.S interests domestically and abroad.  His new book, “The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy” (Yale University Press) makes the case for taking a less aggressive approach to China would ease tensions between the two powers and achieve constructive diplomacy enhancing their ability to effectively address climate change and other pressing global challenges an international affairs scholar at Victoria University of Wellington argue that applying an antiquated Cold War dynamic to the United States’ relationship with China overlooks the bloodshed and instability that the rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union wrought globally during the 20th century.  a lecturer in history at the Jackson School and on Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences discussed the risks of taking a confrontational approach with China and the benefits of adopting a foreign policy that acknowledges the genuine threats it poses while seeking opportunities for cooperation The interview has been edited and condensed Michael Brenes: Great-power competition with China assumes that the United States is engaged in a new Cold War with China combined with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s assertive and nationalistic view of his country’s role in the world policymakers see a return to the dynamics that existed during the Cold War with the Soviet Union locked in a struggle over the future of the planet.  and its image as a democratic power to constrain China from exerting greater influence over the world while maximizing its own They see the stakes as existential.  If great-power competition with China is supposed to rejuvenate our democracy and drive our economy And I don’t think we’re more likely to see it in the future But I think great-power competition is leading us down a dark path we argue that proponents of great-power rivalry with China draw on a selective history of the Cold War They imagine the Cold War as a zero-sum struggle with the Soviet Union that ended in an unequivocal victory for the United States and its allies in 1991 That ignores the large-scale violence inherent in the Cold War and the instability it produced We argue that this oversanguine view of the Cold War underestimates the costs and risks of geopolitical rivalry to economic prosperity the quality of democracy at home and abroad Brenes: The Cold War led to the fall of communism but it also was a period in which the United States and the Soviet Union waged bloody proxy wars throughout the world The United States engaged in clandestine counterinsurgent activities that led to the overthrow of democratically elected regimes in countries like Chile and Guatemala We destabilized these countries in ways that came back to haunt us.  [T]he long process of defeating communism during the Cold War unleashed a lot of instability that continues to shape the world today the CIA backed a coup that overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh Iran’s democratically elected prime minister Backlash to the Shah’s rule culminated in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution and the Ayatollah seizing power The United States and Iran have been in tension ever since.  Trying to prevent communism from taking hold in Vietnam led to a nearly 30-year war that killed millions of Vietnamese and more than 58,000 Americans communist North Vietnam took control of the country The point is that the long process of defeating communism during the Cold War unleashed a lot of instability that continues to shape the world today This history is instructive when thinking about the future of great-power competition with China might think its actions toward China reflect its national interests now but they may backfire in unexpected ways down the road Brenes: If great-power competition with China is supposed to rejuvenate our democracy and drive our economy And I don’t think we’re more likely to see it in the future.  The anti-China rhetoric utilized by Republicans and Democrats has stoked anti-Chinese sentiments that exacerbate nativism and xenophobia which erodes the foundation of a pluralistic multiracial democracy like the United States We’ve seen an increase in anti-Chinese xenophobia We’ve also seen then the rise of hate crimes against Chinese and other Asian people in the United States as a result bad actors exploit the rivalry with China to spread baseless conspiracy theories about China’s involvement in our politics pulling us apart instead of bringing us together.  A more cooperative stance is necessary on climate change and other issues that transcend borders there are arguments that great-power competition with China creates jobs and drives innovation as we seek to maintain technological and military dominance over China Competition with China only creates jobs for a select few Americans It’s not a mass-employment program by any stretch but it also heightened racial and economic inequality.  Brenes: Another flawed reading of history is the idea that the Cold War united Americans in an existential contest against communism That ignores the rise of McCarthyism and the Red Scare — the creation of federal loyalty programs and suspicions that communists pervaded all levels of government and had infiltrated our schools Advocates for civil and women’s rights were denounced as communists.  We see hints of this sort of demonization today If a lawmaker argues against spending more on the military budget or cooperating with China on certain issues they will be accused of being pro-China or anti-American Rivalry with China is used to delegitimize counterarguments and squash dissent It stymies free speech and the free exchange of ideas as they relate to the country’s future not just in terms of U.S.-China relations but also regarding issues like climate change Brenes: China certainly poses threats to the United States and the world It violates the human rights of its Uyghur population [a Turkic-speaking ethnic group located primarily in the northwestern region of Xinjiang] It commits intellectual property theft and has been responsible for cyberattacks and unfair trade practices But I don’t think the totality of these various threats makes China an existential threat to the United States and to freedom around the world.  A better approach to China would take stock of the challenges it poses to the world but also consider that there are some crucial issues where the United States needs to work with China The most important of these is climate change where China is currently outpacing the United States in terms of the production of green technology The Biden Administration characterized this as a threat to our national interests but that is the wrong way to think about it given that climate change affects the entire world These issues demand that the international community come together and think creatively about how to solve them is rejecting great-power competition as a framework for organizing world affairs Many of these nations look to China as a benefactor of some kind through its Belt and Road Initiative and other programs and they are reluctant or unwilling to repudiate China’s influence We would be in a much better position globally and could attract the interest of the Global South if we rejected great-power competition and instead thought more carefully about what we can do to help poorer nations improve their condition and not simply frame every issue as part of a competition with China that has no end in sight.  Courtesy of Jackson School of Global Affairs the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy announced that it had accepted 22 students — 19 Yale undergraduates and three Yale graduate students — into its 2025 cohort the highest number in the program’s history The cohort represents 11 different majors at Yale and three of Yale’s graduate and professional schools: the School of Environment the School of Management and the School of Public Health “The selection process entailed a review of all applications by the Grand Strategy faculty We looked for students with stellar academic achievements a clear idea of what they want to accomplish in the program how they wish to contribute to the program and a range of intellectual and extracurricular interests that could complement other students,” said Michael Brenes Brenes told the News that faculty narrowed the applicant pool to around 50 finalists before ultimately selecting 22 students after conducting a round of short interviews Students apply for the year-long program in the fall and begin the course “Studies in Grand Strategy,” in the spring semester students conduct a research project — often requiring trips abroad — and complete the program in the fall semester “It was also a highly competitive search in terms of the quality of applications,” Brenes said “It was very difficult to narrow the cohort down to the seminar-size format that the class demands We were very pleased with the range of applicants who applied The Grand Strategy course encourages students to focus on long-term large-scale strategic challenges in statecraft aiming to deepen their understanding of global and domestic issues “Our hope is that the program provides students with the opportunity to evolve in their thinking to be introspective about their goals and interests in ways that clarify what they want to accomplish within and beyond Yale,” said Brenes “We aim to give students the space to think deeply The Grand Strategy Program was founded in 2000 by Yale professors John Lewis Gaddis Emphasizing interaction between professors and real-world practitioners the program also provides students with a comprehensive approach to leading effectively across a variety of fields “The program’s design [of] bringing together students from around the university alongside practitioners and guests with years of expertise in their fields also functions to help students better understand the opportunities and limitations involved in creating change,” said Brenes “The program does not just provide a class and hopefully an invaluable one that leaves a positive indelible mark on the students’ time at Yale.” told the News that he believes that the lessons from the program are easily applicable to a wide variety of fields and that anyone interested in taking greater control over their own lives can learn from the study of grand strategy.  vague ends by realizing the means for achieving such ends,” said Barbee told the News that he applied to the Grand Strategy Program as it had some “very direct applications” to his future plans of attending law school and working for the federal government as the program provides access to “a host of national security and foreign policy experts.” “The program [also offers a] practical counterbalance to my history-heavy course load that can sometimes feel a bit disconnected from the present day,” said Hathaway Hacker “I’m really looking forward to speaking with the program examines the relevance of grand strategy to a variety of issues including political stability human rights and technological advancement who hopes to pursue a career focusing on educational justice told the News that she applied to Grand Strategy with the intention of better informing herself about organizing social movements and fighting for social equity we have to understand how we got here,” said Poppy Stowell-Evans ’26 “Part of this includes understanding the strategy used by movements that have changed the world that created this version of society and understanding the thinkers who have influenced so many of our leaders and societal structures.” The cohort of new scholars also provided the News with advice for those hoping to apply to the program in the future told the News that members of the program all contribute a distinct passion or interest She believes that the key to succeeding is the ability to clearly articulate an individual’s interests approach the application strategically and demonstrate  how “you hope to make an impact in that area in the future with the help of Grand Strategy.” “If I hadn’t already spent years working in roles that required strategic thinking I would have approached my application by reflecting on an issue I’m passionate about today,” said Genevieve Chase ’26 a student in the Eli Whitney Program who is also a member of the new Grand Strategy cohort masters or doctoral students are eligible for the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre PhD Student Celebrating community and volunteerism at the Brazilian Consulate we hear from PhD students about how they came about to undertake a project with their supervisors at the Institute of Psychiatry In the spotlight is Francisco Brenes Castillo sharing how his work experience at a Costa Rican public hospital and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led to an interest in the mental health needs of patients with chronic health conditions I completed a placement at a Costa Rican public hospital as part of my clinical training at the University of Costa Rica I learned first-hand the unmet mental health needs of patients with chronic health conditions and the lack of evidence-based guidelines This experience sparked my interest to explore the relationship between mental and physical health and help improve evidence-based clinical practice I worked as an intern at UNESCO in 2020 to develop mental health programmes for Latin American journalists in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic I also encountered many unmet mental health needs and a lack of evidence-based guidelines I was awarded a Chevening Scholarship in 2021/2022 to pursue a MSc in Health Psychology at University College London I worked as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Costa Rica where I focused on health-psychology related topics I wanted to pursue a PhD to acquire more advanced research skills and lead future projects that may help fill in the gaps in mental health research in people with chronic health conditions My current role as a PhD student at the Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London is a significant step to meet my future goals and aspirations Funded through the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and supervised by Dr Helena Zavos and Dr Moritz Herle my PhD aims to explore the relationship between cardiovascular disease and mental health and identify intervention targets This PhD project uses mixed methods and a translational approach which will strengthen my academic skills while helping improve evidence-based clinical practice for people with cardiovascular disease I hope that my PhD project will be a catalyst for future research addressing the mental health needs of people with chronic health conditions Muscle cells contain their own circadian clocks and disrupting them with shift work can have a… The School of Life Course & Population Sciences and King’s Population Health Institute welcomed… Halting the building of new homes could help to address the dramatic decrease in the number and… Early recognition of the symptoms of breast cancer has a dramatic impact on survival rates +44 (0)20 7836 5454 It’s a popular phrase in danger of becoming cliché community building can not only introduce new friends When we first spoke with skateboard legend Chico Brenes in 2022 it became clear that he was not only a professional skater but an inspiration and a leader in his community Having had to leave his native Nicaragua when still a young boy and to build a life for himself in the United States inspired Factor Bikes to want to connect with Chico and tell his story From skating to cyclingChico turned to cycling after suffering a severe knee injury while skateboarding He found it was an amazing method of rehabilitation not only for his knee but his mind as well and I thought my skateboarding career was over,” Chico said “I did physical therapy first and then just started riding the bike and then started doing these long rides The doctor said it would be over a year before I could skate again but I was already pushing around on the board after 7 months Listening to my body to make sure I didn’t reinjure anything I think it was all because I was riding my bike at the time.” The incredible thing was not only that Chico could skate again but that he was as good if not better than he was before his accident “I think the more I told my story, the more I had skateboarders reaching out and telling me that they had gone through something like that. Even skating legend John Cardiel used cycling to be able to skate again I was blown away that a lot of people were also using cycling to recover or come back and for me it really did get me back to the level of skateboarding that I needed to be.” Though cycling has been used by all types of sports people to help them return from injury in the past, there is an unexpected, unique connection between cycling and skateboarding. Jay Gundzik understands this synergy especially well since he has long been both a cyclist and skater “There are a lot of similarities you don’t realize that cycling and skateboarding have in common I think it’s part of a holistic lifestyle that they both share there’s the mental strength that both require,” Jay said Something else that’s similar between cyclists and skateboarders is how much we love a cool paint job The special Factor x Chico Stix Capsule Collection unites our shared love of graphics The OSTRO Gravel Chico Edition absolutely pops in the sunlight and a whole collection of accessories and soft goods follow the same design language not only to tell his story Collaborating not just on the frame design but the other items that will make up the Capsule Collection Jay and Chico found a way to make even the matching skateboard design unique “One of the really cool things that Chico suggested is a full top and bottom print on the board,” Jay explained one for cruising and one for street skating We also have a special edition matching Castelli Jersey and Bib Shorts as well as a matching bidon The OSTRO Gravel Chico Edition will be available to order on our website for a limited time Revisit our first interview with Chico here © 2025 Factor Bikes. All rights reserved / Privacy Policy |Terms 2024The nostalgia is kicking hard with these signed and limited Chico Stix x 30 Years of Chocolate collab boards that Chico Brenes just dropped I have to assume it's because you're either a Chico Brenes fan or a Chocolate skateboards fan—perhaps both Let me do you a favor and mention once more that these signed planks are super limited—only 10 of each board was made!  The boards are available now in the original 90’s 7.5” shape and 9.75” retro shape on the Chico Stix site. I can't promise that they'll still be available as you read this, but you should click on over and test your luck either way.  The dude lives for fun and is constantly having a good time whether he's ripping through the city on his board or bike devouring spicy wings (peep the video above Chico Stix epitomizes everything he's about and all of his most recent drops have been absolute bangers These signed Nicaraguan Sunrise decks are no exception I don't need to remind you that he only signed 10 of each That empty space on your wall is begging you for one of these Chico Brenes takes a trip down memory lane to reminisce about some of his favorite video parts trips from yesteryear and traveling the world in Remind Insoles' latest 'Dialed In' installment He's had quite the career so far and isn't slowing down I think we can all agree that Chico’s part in LRG’s Give Me My Money Chico is an absolute classic. The song, the skating, the editing—it all takes me back to a truly special era in skateboarding That opening line alone is forever etched in my mind Not just anyone can get away with making nollie varial heels look that stylish.  And the 411VM part he's talking about was an absolute banger all the same He was literally stacking clips around the world for that part—an underrated gem if you ask me He's simply one of the smoothest to ever do it You can't fake that kind of style!  Chico continues to inspire us all with his healthy habits This dude is an absolute legend and has been supplying us with stoke for decades now He's always on the move and the fact that he can skate literally anything that you bolt some trucks and wheels to says more than enough—natural talent at its finest.  Follow him on Instagram (@chicobrenes) and get on board with his "morning radness" posts or you're a die-hard GX1000 fan and can't wait for their next hair-raising video the spots and the personalities in the City By The Bay are undeniable.  Defying easy definition and traditional classifications skateboarding can be both a sport at the Olympics and an underground subculture a way to connect with other skaters and surfaces and also a means of self-discovery through movement in space Much of skateboarding’s 21st-century appeal – embracing diverse communities creative approaches to the city’s built environment trick choice and style – come directly from San Francisco Skateboarding San Francisco explores how a local activity made global impact San Francisco has always been and remains a lodestar for skateboarders worldwide surfaces beckon play and whose lore is celebrated through the city’s characteristic concrete and evolving Below is a must watch: The words of Bryce Kanights and the editing genius of Joe Pease: San Francisco Hills Kansas State University researchers and extension specialists are collaborating on a project to address the growing issue of red meat allergies a nutrition and wellness specialist at K-State Research and Extension noted that AGS is becoming increasingly common which is triggered by consuming red meat and other mammalian products with the Lone Star Tick being the primary cause in southern Brenes conducted a survey of Kansas extension agents in late 2024 and found that many feel there is insufficient information about AGS with a demand for more educational resources Meat scientist Michael Chao is working on research to help individuals reintroduce red meat into their diets tests the reaction to various meat products This research aims to provide a better understanding of how to manage red meat consumption for those affected Entomologist Yoonseong Park added that although the Lone Star Tick is the main cause of AGS fewer than 10% of people bitten by the tick develop the allergy Sensitivity to the allergen varies among individuals with some being able to tolerate small amounts of red meat Those who suspect AGS should consult a physician as severe reactions can be life-threatening Brenes also mentioned that the extension service will conduct another survey encouraging participation from residents across Kansas’ 105 counties with financial incentives offered to respondents WAXED: GET YOUR MUSIC PRESSED ON VINYL FOR FREE and hearing these two legends of skate fantasise about the day they finally get tubed is amazing Because where else would you read a conversation between two people who just got into surfing?Amateur Surfer Magazine because the contact-stoke wafting off this interview is priceless I always kind of tried it when I would go to Nicaragua but I would only go to Nicaragua once or twice a year; I would try it out there but I was never even getting to the breaks he was getting really good at skateboarding and I was sucking at surfing still because I was only doing it when I would go to Nica over here—who used to surf Mavericks back in the day—he told me one day up at Potrero I’m going to go to Pacifica and just grab a board and a wetsuit I’m going every day to pick up a softie and a wetsuit from the shop I always seem to buy things on impulse—I’m going to probably end up getting the wrong board.’ So I grabbed the biggest board there and I was catching waves and having fun I ended up getting my own board a few months later Now I can’t believe I’m that guy in the morning If you had of told me back in the 90s when I was skating Embarcadero that I would be doing this go to the Civic Center or something and keep skating That was the lifestyle that we were living I’m having the same fun I have on my skateboard so you just want to progress and progress and progress My lady actually won’t let me; she told me to stay away from that place ‘Don’t go to Ocean Beach.’ But if you want to progress I like going to Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica because it’s seriously 10 minutes away from the house I got to know all the people over there and it’s cool I’m down to drive to Santa Cruz because it’s really amazing over there but if I could just go 10 minutes away and be stoked and everything I couldn’t imagine not living close to the water now And there’s times I’ll surf for two hours and then I’ll go skate for another two hours I couldn’t do that when I was in my twenties If you want to do this kind of stuff that we’re doing you got to take care of your body at some point I think you got a little bit of time on me The last few years I’ve been really hooked and we started in the 90s with Tim [Gavin] and a few people Imagine if we started around that time when he was going and then we went on a trip to Hawaii and I couldn’t… After that ‘I can’t learn to surf these waves,’ so I kind of just gave up I remember going to Linda Mar and not knowing anything about the tide and I would try to take off and I’d just get smoked Yesterday I was just dropping in.’ And then you start learning how to figure the tides I think the mistake that a lot of skateboarders who start surfing make is they grab a little board I can do this.’ I’m glad my friend was like have fun and then start moving down.’ And that’s what I did I grabbed a 10 footer and then I moved down to a 9’7” and then I started climbing back up to the mid-lengths but nothing… There’s been times that I think it’s almost been there There were a lot of short boarders around and I remember I dropped in and it felt like I was going to get it you would have got tubed.’ But I can’t think that fast yet I definitely have a lot of respect for the ocean I’m not going to go out there when it’s crazy big There’s been times I would do the walk of shame walked back to the car and just went to hit something else that’s mellower ‘They’re just dropping in from these waves—how hard could it be?’ But I’ll drop in from a 10-foot ramp or whatever I’ve been out there to chill and then skate and hang We were going to go right before the pandemic happened we had a trip with Maya [Brenes] and my wife and everything got cancelled and went to shit I actually got back from Nicaragua around March from a surf and skate trip that I did down there it’s just going to be a month or two.’ And next thing you know Have you been cutting out any boards to skate I see you’ve been shaping a couple of planks I’ve actually been trying to make these 60s with the rollerblader trucks and everything like that just trying all these different shapes and being able to do the tricks that I still can do that’s like when you’re a little kid and you’re first learning your first tricks on a skateboard And it all started kind of like that Big Boy board from you guys and then I got hurt and then when I started coming back and then I put soft wheels and everything like that Then I took the soft wheels off and started doing little ollies I’m doing nollie heels and the board and I started tripping You’ve been on the same board for a while now I’ll mess around with all kinds of retro 80s boards just to see what was possible and I was able to do tre flips and nollie heels and everything that’s just messing around… It all started because like you can probably do nollie heels on a two-by-four.’ I was like I’m just going to try to skate a two-by-four.’ I went to Home Depot and I picked up a two-by-four and drilled holes and everything I had to actually find big screws to fit through the two-by-four and through the trucks and everything It kind of stuck out like a monster truck a little bit you got to be so light because it was over-rotating too much and then just trying to land on that thing was kind of sketchy too a lot of the people that are on my little chat because I feel like I’m the one who introduced… Not the one that introduced but I remember going back home early 1990 to 91 and there wasn’t a single person that skated does anybody skate?’ I remember skating in front of the… Going to the little schools and skating in front of the kids doing demos and everything like that I would come the next year and I would see one person and me doing one of the first skate shops down there a lot more parks being built all through different little towns a lot of the foreigners that live there have also built their own little bowls and little stuff to skate There’s a guy from the Surf Ranch from Canada they built a full-on skate park at their resort That just helps a lot more kids get into skating and it’s just rad seeing… I feel like a lot more skaters are getting into surfing nowadays because we did this thing at Girl where we share… Where we have these little catch-up meetings with people once a week and we just share It’s a blessing that we’re still here doing what we love and then we just got to appreciate every moment Enjoy it with your loved ones and enjoy it with your friends and family To see more from the Jonah Hill Guest Editor Issue of Monster Children, pick up a copy of the mag or the limited-edition box set here.  America's Education News Source Sign up for our free newsletter and start your day with in-depth reporting on the latest topics in education Support The 74’s year-end campaign with a tax-exempt donation and invest in our future Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Community group leader Maria Brenes and school board president Kelly Gonez lead in a close race for two open spots on the Los Angeles Board of Education is against education researcher Rocío Rivas to represent school district 2 – in the Eastside neighborhoods of Los Angeles is against long-time teacher Marvin Rodríguez to represent school district 6 – covering the East San Fernando Valley particularly around pandemic setbacks and achievement gaps for Black and Latino students pro-charter advocates Brenes and Gonez will alter the priorities of the governing board for the nation’s second largest school district Brenes, executive director for Boyle Heights-based advocacy group Inner City Struggle could bring increased pressure to shift more funding to schools with the largest percentage of high-need students – compared to Rivas who supports stopping charter school growth and increased oversight to those that exist a heavy favorite among pro-charter groups and United Teachers LA had major endorsements and a fundraising advantage compared to Rodríguez — who also opposes charter school growth — despite a slim voter approval margin Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Joshua Bay is a staff reporter at The 74 We want our stories to be shared as widely as possible — for free Please view The 74's republishing terms. By This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, the Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua. Screenshot from the Arquidiócesis de Managua YouTube channel.SubscribeBrenes, who has led Nicaragua’s sole archdiocese since 2005, looked at ease during the wide-ranging conversation, despite the intense pressure exerted on the Church in recent years by the country’s dictatorial President Daniel Ortega. In the interview, Brenes — a distinctive figure with bushy white hair beneath his scarlet zucchetto — confirmed that he had submitted his resignation to Pope Francis, as requested in canon law. He noted that his resignation letter had presented no conditions for his departure, “because it seems to me that it would be bad manners to put terms to the pope.” But whether to accept the resignation may not be a simple decision for Pope Francis.  Cardinal Brenes. Pufui Pc Pifpef I via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).Share One point that the pope might consider as he weighs his response is that Brenes has received mixed reviews for his reaction to the Ortega regime’s persecution of the Church The cardinal’s lone auxiliary, Bishop Silvio Báez leaving Brenes to guide an archdiocese serving more than two million Catholics In January this year, Bishop Rolando Álvarez was released from a grueling imprisonment and also sent into exile His departure further weakened the Nicaraguan hierarchy as he is not only the Bishop of Matagalpa but also the apostolic administrator of Estelí The current state of the country’s dioceses is rather precarious: The Archdiocese of Managua is led by the 75-year-old Cardinal Brenes, who is also vice president of Nicaragua’s bishops’ conference The Diocese of Bluefields is led by the 60-year-old Bishop Francisco José Tigerino Dávila The Diocese of Estelí has been vacant since July 2021 The Diocese of Granada is led by the 62-year-old Bishop Jorge Solórzano Pérez, who is also bishops’ conference general secretary The Diocese of Jinotega is led by the 75-year-old Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez, O.F.M., who is also bishops’ conference president The Diocese of Juigalpa is led by the 59-year-old Bishop Marcial Humberto Guzmán Saballo The Diocese of León en Nicaragua is led by the 58-year-old Bishop René Sócrates Sándigo Jirón The Diocese of Matagalpa is led by the exiled 57-year-old Bishop Álvarez The Diocese of Siuna is led by the 54-year-old Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, who was arrested in December 2023 and exiled in January this year The Vatican embassy to Nicaragua, meanwhile, has been vacant since the apostolic nuncio Archbishop Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag was obliged to leave the country in March 2022 Amid the hollowing out of the hierarchy, the deportation of priests and seminarians, and the targeting of Church institutions, some Nicaraguan Catholics have accused Brenes of failing to show courageous leadership argue that his irenic approach has been motivated by a desire to avoid making a terrible situation even worse More than half of Nicaragua’s population has a favorable opinion of the cardinal, who is described as a humble figure. In 2014, he arrived in Rome for the consistory where he received the cardinal’s red hat wearing blue jeans. Bishop Rolando Álvarez, Ramírez 22 nic via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Leave a comment In his 75th birthday interview, Cardinal Brenes said he did not know when Pope Francis would accept his resignation, but if the pope did, he would happily put himself at the disposal of his successor, the fifth Archbishop of Managua The website Artículo 66 quoted an unnamed source in Nicaragua who suggested that Brenes would remain in post for at least three more years The website said that Bishop Álvarez was seen as his likely successor, despite currently living in exile. Like Álvarez, Brenes served as Bishop of Matagalpa before his appointment to Managua. Both Managua’s second and third archbishops also spent time in the Matagalpa diocese “Bishop Álvarez has earned that right,” the source told Artículo 66 “We have all witnessed what kind of priest the bishop is That doesn’t mean Cardinal Brenes will leave tomorrow What if Pope Francis decided to name Álvarez as the Archbishop of Managua tomorrow “Let us not forget that the Church is always wise,” said the priest “she measures the times and assigns the right people.” What is the Ortega regime seeking, beyond an acquiescent Church willing to overlook its human rights violations? Activists in Nicaragua believe that the crackdown on clergy is meant to pressure the Holy See into giving the government a formal say in the appointment of bishops — perhaps along the lines of the Vatican-China deal The saga of Álvarez’s imprisonment showed there are direct communications between the Vatican and the regime But the Holy See is likely to be extremely reluctant to concede what could amount to a veto over episcopal nominations The alternative to a confrontational appointment in Managua might be to do nothing for now in hopes that conditions will improve in the next few years But if the Catholic Church opts to play a waiting game, it may need considerable patience. Daniel Ortega is currently 78, while his powerful spouse, Rosario Murillo (who congratulated Brenes yesterday on his 75th birthday), is 72.  In three years, the situation could be substantially the same, or have deteriorated further, making the succession no easier than it would be today.  Editor’s note: This article was updated March 9 to note that Siuna’s Bishop Mora was arrested in December 2023 and exiled in January 2024. The Pillar is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. ReplyShareLatestNo posts Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, the Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua, marked his 75th birthday Thursday with an almost two-hour interview. Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, the Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua. Screenshot from the Arquidi\u00F3cesis de Managua YouTube channel.Subscribe now Brenes, who has led Nicaragua\u2019s sole archdiocese since 2005, looked at ease during the wide-ranging conversation, despite the intense pressure exerted on the Church in recent years by the country\u2019s dictatorial President Daniel Ortega. In the interview, Brenes \u2014 a distinctive figure with bushy white hair beneath his scarlet zucchetto \u2014 confirmed that he had submitted his resignation to Pope Francis, as requested in canon law. He noted that his resignation letter had presented no conditions for his departure, \u201Cbecause it seems to me that it would be bad manners to put terms to the pope.\u201D But whether to accept the resignation may not be a simple decision for Pope Francis.  Cardinal Brenes. Pufui Pc Pifpef I via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).Share One point that the pope might consider as he weighs his response is that Brenes has received mixed reviews for his reaction to the Ortega regime\u2019s persecution of the Church.  The cardinal\u2019s lone auxiliary, Bishop Silvio B\u00E1ez leaving Brenes to guide an archdiocese serving more than two million Catholics.  In January this year, Bishop Rolando \u00C1lvarez was released from a grueling imprisonment and also sent into exile His departure further weakened the Nicaraguan hierarchy as he is not only the Bishop of Matagalpa but also the apostolic administrator of Estel\u00ED The current state of the country\u2019s dioceses is rather precarious: The Archdiocese of Managua is led by the 75-year-old Cardinal Brenes, who is also vice president of Nicaragua\u2019s bishops\u2019 conference.  The Diocese of Bluefields is led by the 60-year-old Bishop Francisco Jos\u00E9 Tigerino D\u00E1vila The Diocese of Estel\u00ED has been vacant since July 2021.  The Diocese of Granada is led by the 62-year-old Bishop Jorge Sol\u00F3rzano P\u00E9rez, who is also bishops\u2019 conference general secretary The Diocese of Jinotega is led by the 75-year-old Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Guti\u00E9rrez, O.F.M., who is also bishops\u2019 conference president The Diocese of Juigalpa is led by the 59-year-old Bishop Marcial Humberto Guzm\u00E1n Saballo The Diocese of Le\u00F3n en Nicaragua is led by the 58-year-old Bishop Ren\u00E9 S\u00F3crates S\u00E1ndigo Jir\u00F3n The Diocese of Matagalpa is led by the exiled 57-year-old Bishop \u00C1lvarez The Diocese of Siuna is led by the 54-year-old Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, who was arrested in December 2023 and exiled in January this year The Vatican embassy to Nicaragua, meanwhile, has been vacant since the apostolic nuncio Archbishop Waldemar Stanis\u0142aw Sommertag was obliged to leave the country in March 2022 argue that his irenic approach has been motivated by a desire to avoid making a terrible situation even worse.  More than half of Nicaragua\u2019s population has a favorable opinion of the cardinal, who is described as a humble figure. In 2014, he arrived in Rome for the consistory where he received the cardinal\u2019s red hat wearing blue jeans. Bishop Rolando \u00C1lvarez, Ram\u00EDrez 22 nic via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Leave a comment In his 75th birthday interview, Cardinal Brenes said he did not know when Pope Francis would accept his resignation, but if the pope did, he would happily put himself at the disposal of his successor, the fifth Archbishop of Managua The website Art\u00EDculo 66 quoted an unnamed source in Nicaragua who suggested that Brenes would remain in post for at least three more years.  The website said that Bishop \u00C1lvarez was seen as his likely successor, despite currently living in exile. Like \u00C1lvarez, Brenes served as Bishop of Matagalpa before his appointment to Managua. Both Managua\u2019s second and third archbishops also spent time in the Matagalpa diocese \u201CBishop \u00C1lvarez has earned that right,\u201D the source told Art\u00EDculo 66 \u201CWe have all witnessed what kind of priest the bishop is That doesn\u2019t mean Cardinal Brenes will leave tomorrow What if Pope Francis decided to name \u00C1lvarez as the Archbishop of Managua tomorrow \u201CLet us not forget that the Church is always wise,\u201D said the priest \u201Cshe measures the times and assigns the right people.\u201D What is the Ortega regime seeking, beyond an acquiescent Church willing to overlook its human rights violations? Activists in Nicaragua believe that the crackdown on clergy is meant to pressure the Holy See into giving the government a formal say in the appointment of bishops \u2014 perhaps along the lines of the Vatican-China deal The saga of \u00C1lvarez\u2019s imprisonment showed there are direct communications between the Vatican and the regime in hopes that conditions will improve in the next few years.  But if the Catholic Church opts to play a waiting game, it may need considerable patience. Daniel Ortega is currently 78, while his powerful spouse, Rosario Murillo (who congratulated Brenes yesterday on his 75th birthday) the situation could be substantially the same making the succession no easier than it would be today.  Editor\u2019s note: This article was updated March 9 to note that Siuna\u2019s Bishop Mora was arrested in December 2023 and exiled in January 2024 The Pillar is a reader-supported publication consider becoming a free or paid subscriber Chico Brenes is a pro skateboarder and a keen cyclist Now cycling has saved my skateboarding.”Let’s start with the last point and work backwards “I was in Taiwan for a skateboard video shoot and had a really bad fall I thought maybe I’d never skateboard again I had the surgery and did the physiotherapy and actually came back stronger The thing that felt like it helped me the most was cycling and I really got into it “Calvin and Jay just wanted to team up with me I have my Chico Stix skateboard brand and they wanted to do a collaboration and have me design a bike The way they reach out to work with people outside of cycling to produce such authentic designs Chico will ride his Factor on an epic trip south from San Francisco to Tijuana a route that carries great meaning for him as it retraces his journey into America as a child and that of so many others It’s an issue that he wants to highlight while also contributing to the skateboard community “The ride will be on mixed surfaces and we think it will take five to seven days My friend Josh is joining me; he has previously ridden from SF to LA I have friends who are pretty gnarly riders so I’m hoping they can help me during the long-running revolutionary conflict his family arranged for him to cross into the US illegally “I took a bus all the way from Nicaragua to Tijuana expert in illegal border crossing] to get us across There was a group of people and I was the youngest I remember helicopters with search lights and I remember hiding under some bushes while a border officer got off his horse nearby to smoke I hear stories now that it costs $5-10k because it’s much more dangerous.” the situation has only become worse and the thing that has changed the most is the price the simple fact of being in a different country does not guarantee a better life The American Dream isn’t handed to you on the way in Then my grandmother bought a skateboard for me It was a cheap generic one with plastic all over it Skateboarding took me away from hanging out with the wrong people to meeting more people who skated People came from all over the world to watch people skate at that plaza There were already people there who were pro and it made you progress because you wanted to try what they were doing It had become a place where brands went to find new skaters to sponsor It had everything and all the skate parks around the world are inspired by it in some way And then cycling saved my skateboarding.“Because of skateboarding I’ve been able to travel the world meet all kinds of people and see that we’re not all the same and that’s ok we can believe in different things and still respect each other Those experiences were so important.“I still go back to Nicaragua a lot from literally no one skating to skate parks being built and people coming from all over Central America to compete including a presentation of his custom Factor and a deep dive into what the design means to him and reportage of his ride to the border.www.chicostix.com COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER Great news for the communtiy of Santa Teresa and the surrounding areas: after six years of battles the Municipal Council of Cóbano announced the paving of streets and the improvement and rehabilitation of the drainage and roadway systems between Playa del Carmen and Quebrada del Carmen With approximately 218 kilometers of road network 90% of these roads are currently made of ballast and dirt especially during the dry season when vehicle traffic generates large amounts of dust This progress is another achievement by lawyer and environmentalist Walter Brenes, who began his fight in February 2018 to secure the authorization for the repair and paving of roads in Santa Teresa Brenes filed a lawsuit against the council and made significant efforts to reach this important agreement for the region which holds considerable importance for the local tourism industry Brenes requested that the Municipality of Puntarenas and the Council of the District of Cóbano be ordered to construct a new road covering 21 kilometers of the Montezuma route including Entronque Ruta Nacional 624 and Playa Cocal del Peñón A final settlement agreement was reached between Brenes and the council Mayor of the Municipal Council of the District of Cóbano The agreement was then submitted to the Municipal Council of Puntarenas for approval Several communities will benefit from the road reconstruction The latter will now have paved access to the beach the project will include the repair of the storm drainage system the installation of vertical and horizontal signage Santa Teresa, a rapidly growing tourist destination known for its beaches and natural beauty, has long struggled with poor road conditions. This is why Wálter Brenes, a lawyer and renowned surfer, was determined to secure the paving and reconstruction of the streets in this thriving community. Volume 6 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2024.1412913 In the dynamic landscape of modern agriculture integrating technology holds immense potential to enhance efficiency and productivity for small-scale farmers This study presents a user-centric evaluation of an intelligent context-aware alert system tailored for small-scale greenhouse farming including the NASA Task Load Index and the User Experience Questionnaire to assess the system's perceived utility Our findings reveal the high perceived utility of the system among farmers Farmers participating in the assessment indicated a strong intention to utilize the system for crop monitoring the system demonstrated a moderate mental workload suggesting ease of use and potential acceptance by users Our evaluation highlighted an excellent user experience with scores ranging from very good to extremely good across all dimensions user preferences for alert mechanisms underscored the importance of adaptable notifications with voice and text alerts favored for comprehensive information dissemination Light and voice alerts were preferred during manual tasks This study highlights the significance of user-centered design in agricultural technology offering insights to enhance the usability and the adoption of alert systems in small-scale farming environments The positive reception of the system's utility and the moderate mental workload suggest that such technology can be readily adopted by farmers thereby improving monitoring and management practices in greenhouse farming The preference for adaptable alert mechanisms further emphasizes the need for flexible and context-sensitive solutions in agricultural technology focusing on user-centric design principles from the outset becomes even more crucial for ensuring that technological solutions effectively meet the needs of small-scale farmers The agricultural workforce faces significant demographic shifts characterized by an increasing proportion of aging individuals. Studies indicate a notable trend toward an older farming population, with a substantial portion of agricultural labor being carried out by individuals over the age of 50 (Satola, 2019; Akdemir et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2021) This aged workforce also suffers from low scholarship and limited technological capabilities it is imperative to develop user-friendly and accessible technological innovations that meet the evolving demands of modern agricultural practices and resonate with the unique needs and capabilities of this aging demographic This paper focuses on the usability assessment of a greenhouse context-aware alert system specifically designed for small-scale farmers The overarching objective is twofold: first to ensure that technological advancements are not only technologically sophisticated but also practical and user-friendly for individuals engaged in agricultural activities including those in small-scale farming operations; and second to address the needs of an elderly farming population with limited technological proficiency by developing solutions that are intuitive and accessible to individuals of varying levels of technological skills The evaluated greenhouse alert system forms part of an innovative smart farming platform representing a tangible step toward fulfilling these objectives Leveraging advancements in sensor technology and artificial intelligence-based decision-making the system is equipped with real-time monitoring capabilities to detect environmental changes and potential risks to crops within greenhouse settings the smart farming solution also incorporates expert knowledge provided by agronomists By delivering timely alerts and notifications using distinct delivery mechanisms the system aims to provide farmers with the information they need to make informed decisions and mitigate potential risks to crop yields and quality To gauge the system's effectiveness and suitability for small-scale farming operations, we employ a rigorous evaluation process, drawing upon established instruments such as the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ)1 and the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX).2 These standardized questionnaires enable us to assess key metrics such as perceived utility providing valuable insights into the system's usability and practicality from the perspective of end-users we delve into research conducted by other authors clearing their contributions in creating and evaluating monitoring and alert solutions for smart agriculture The enhancement of technological solutions to bolster farming activities has become increasingly vital in recent years. Leveraging emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big Data Analysis has paved the way for the creation of innovative, intelligent, and robust solutions designed specifically to solve agricultural needs (Khan et al., 2021) Literature reviews that unveil a lack of evaluation of technological solutions for smart farming As illustrated in Table 1 there is a conspicuous absence of evaluations centered on end-users raising concerns about these systems' practical applicability and effectiveness in real-world farming scenarios This gap highlights the critical need for comprehensive assessments involving end-users to ensure that innovations not only meet theoretical standards but also address the practical needs and challenges faced by the farming community some studies do address usability assessments All of these barriers are intricately linked to the user experience may be crucial for addressing these challenges and ensuring the effective adoption of agricultural technologies Prioritizing user experience from the initial stages of solution development can yield significant benefits. In a study by Novák et al. (2019) the authors introduce a series of tools that can effectively evaluate systems at various stages of development They argue that adopting a user-centric design approach for technological solutions can address many potential challenges while these tools are particularly useful for assessing systems during development they can also be valuable for evaluating developed and deployed smart farming systems Furthermore, given that previous evaluations of the alert greenhouse system have primarily concentrated on the effectiveness of the alerts delivered to farmers. This study focuses on evaluating the system from the user's perspective. This includes assessing the perceived utility, mental workload, and user experience when utilizing the alert system using some of the tools suggested by Novák et al. (2019) we present all the details of the conducted assessment on the greenhouse alert system for small-scale farmers we present the greenhouse alert system that we are evaluating we contextualize the scenario in which the proposed system can be deployed We present the system modules and functionalities we detail the evaluation methodology followed to carry out the user-centric assessment of the system These parameters are then processed in the intelligent farming solution to provide actionable insights allowing farmers to make informed decisions about resource allocation the platform can also get information from external sources related to situations that could affect the crops like weather forecasts and disease-plagues warnings from government services and in-site AI-guided disease-plagues detection Recognizing the criticality of monitoring greenhouse activities in real-time, the system is equipped with a context-aware alert subsystem (Brenes et al., 2023) This sophisticated alert mechanism ensures that farmers receive timely notifications when events occur within the greenhouse farmers gain immediate insights into the status of their crops facilitating prompt action and informed decision-making the alert system employs a variety of notification mechanisms This diverse array of devices ensures users receive real-time alerts tailored to their locations enhancing their awareness of crop conditions users can customize their notification preferences within the smart farming system This includes configuring the notification mechanisms they prefer establishing the schedule for receiving alerts and selecting the alerts they wish to trigger Such customization options empower users to seamlessly integrate the alert system into their workflows optimizing its utility and effectiveness in supporting their agricultural endeavors agronomists have contributed their expertise to identify the key variables and agronomic indicators essential for triggering alerts This collaborative effort ensures the system is finely tuned to suit farmers' unique requirements enabling even those without technical expertise to utilize it effectively farmers have the autonomy to configure their alerts within the system tailoring it to their specific needs and preferences This flexibility empowers farmers to obtain maximum benefit from using the system enhancing its utility and relevance in agricultural practices this collaborative approach extends to the customization options available to users ensuring seamless integration into their daily activities our primary focus lies in evaluating the alert delivery component of the smart farming solution and overall user experience associated with utilizing the system We present the methodology used to evaluate the greenhouse alert system We structured the evaluation of the greenhouse alert system into two distinct phases our focus was on understanding farmers' anecdotal experiences and gauging the perceived utility of the alert system we analyzed the user task load and overall user experience during system usage we delineate the methodology employed for these evaluations a weekend street market where farmers sell their products directly to consumers we voluntarily included farmers in the survey The application was done by interviewing farmers while they were attending to clients The instrument was applied on paper and was tabulated afterward for analysis The methodology for the second evaluation phase is explained in the next section Regarding the usability of the alert system we conducted a second evaluation in which we asked potential users to evaluate the system we enlisted the assistance of individuals walking throughout our university campus we prepared an evaluation setup in which we put the devices that deliver the alerts we used standardized questionnaires widely employed in the industry to evaluate usability and user experience the collected data were validated and analyzed according to the predetermined procedures specified in the questionnaires We also used the Think-Aloud protocol (van Someren, 1994) the participant had to speak and tell everything s/he was thinking and doing while the researcher took notes Two different assessments were part of this evaluation phase The first assessment was a Task Load Evaluation We used the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) instrument to execute it we collected data from the participants to analyze the cognitive charge and general workload when using the system The second assessment was a User Experience Evaluation we used the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) to collect data about the interaction of the participants with the alert system We designed a factorial experiment compounded by two factors with three levels The first factor was the alert delivery mechanism; the levels were light+sound The second factor was the user's location when the alert was received Using the use scenarios collected from the first evaluation with farmers we designed nine scenarios in which the alert system could be used These scenarios reflect potential real-life situations The scenarios ask participants to do actions such as reading a newspaper Participants were provided with materials to execute the activities requested in each scenario We introduced the smart farming solution and the greenhouse alert system to the participants at the beginning of the experiment we ask participants to complete the weighing phase of the NASA-TLX instrument We randomly selected four to five scenarios for each participant in the evaluation we asked the participant to complete the detailed actions activating the alerts and recording the times of each activity After completing the task load evaluation for the four or five scenarios we present the UEQ questionnaire to the participants and ask them to complete it we ask participants to characterize the system globally using three distinct words or phrases We executed the experiment with 22 participants where each scenario was evaluated 12 times and each alert delivery mechanism and the location were evaluated 36 times individually according to national regulations in the country where the study was conducted the involvement of a bioethics committee in the creation and execution of data collection instruments is not required in this type of study as its focus is on the interaction with technological solutions rather than on the individuals themselves signing an informed consent form for participation is regarded as not necessary all participants were provided with a detailed description of the research objectives and the handling of the collected data participation in this study was entirely voluntary We present the results from the executed evaluations in the next section This section unveils the outcomes derived from evaluating the alert system We organize the results according to the two distinct evaluation phases First evaluation participants' age distribution Figure 4 shows the distribution of the answers received from farmers regarding perceived utility and the probability of recommending the greenhouse alert system fifteen farmers stated that they perceived the alert system to have a high utility while nine said they should use it first for a clearer viewpoint Two farmers considered the system a new technological tool highlighting the relevance and current need for innovation in the productive sector two of them did not see benefits for their activities two farmers did not provide more details to this first question First evaluation scores distribution for perceived utility some farmers took a more reserved position While ten farmers stated they would use the proposed system another seven indicated that costs would determine their real possible use three farmers indicated that they would use the proposed system two farmers noted that they would not use the system because they did not see it useful for their activities Eight farmers did not provide more information for this question that they must use the solution before recommending it to other people five farmers said they would recommend the proposed system since they see it useful one farmer indicated that s/he would not recommend the system A total of six farmers did not provide details for this question We also sought feedback from farmers regarding potential improvements and suggestions for enhancing the alert system one recurring suggestion was the need for specialized training especially as we conducted our assessment with the aim of enhancing the system's usability for all users farmers expressed the desire for the system to offer technical information adapted to the specific crops being cultivated indicating a need for more detailed insights Another noteworthy suggestion pertained to the nighttime usage of the system Farmers highlighted the potential usefulness of receiving alerts about crop pest detection during nighttime They stated that visibility is limited at night and identifying crop problems becomes challenging the alert system was highly valued by farmers The results related to the second evaluation phase are described next As stated in the methodology description section we evaluated several aspects simultaneously in this evaluation phase we conduct a mental workload evaluation to measure the users' mental workload when they use the system we conducted a user experience evaluation to measure the user's interaction with the system We executed this evaluation phase with a total of 22 participants Most of the participants were under 32 years old despite having selected the participants randomly we executed the study on the university campus where potential participants are typically younger This limitation was outweighed by the possibility of using a controlled lab setting 14 males (64%) and eight females (36%) participated in this evaluation four to five distinct scenarios were randomly assigned to participants to execute the assessments We enforce a similar number of evaluations per scenario to ease the comparison of the obtained data we registered the scenarios' IDs for each participant and controlled their distribution between them each scenario was evaluated 12 times by distinct participants Figure 5 shows the randomized distribution of scenarios. The last two participants only evaluated four scenarios to keep the number of assessments per scenario at twelve. The randomization made to the scenarios assigned to the participants can be seen in the Figure 5 We applied the NASA-TLX standardized questionnaire (Hart and Staveland, 1988) for the metal workload evaluation This instrument can be used to measure the mental workload associated with the execution of a task The measurement is made based on six dimensions: mental demands The mental demands refer to the cognitive and perceptive activity required to execute a task Physical demands are associated with the physical activity needed to complete a task The temporal demands refer to the temporary pressure level perceived during task execution The performance is related to the degree of satisfaction with the achieved performance The effort corresponds to the combination of physical and mental effort required to complete a task earning the degree of performance perceived the frustration level refers to the degree of insecurity and irritation felt during the task execution We used the assigned fixed number of scenarios per participant to evaluate the system Participants had to execute the instructions detailed in the scenario We provided them with the materials to complete the distinct sub-tasks detailed in the scenarios we asked participants to fill out a form containing the six dimensions of the assessments and a scale from 1 to 20 to evaluate the mental workload of each scenario Following the instructions provided with the evaluation instrument (Hart and Staveland, 1988) we asked participants to weigh the dimensions of the NASA-TLX to determine which dimension was more relevant for them the most relevant dimension was Frustration level (mean = 4) considering the system's objective is to provide information about the alerts even when the user is doing other activities mental and temporal demands are the two most important dimensions to measure the proposed system's mental workload After the weighing and score phase, we calculated the mental workload scores. These scores were obtained by applying the formula in Equation (1) It can be seen in Figure 6 that all the average workload falls into the medium level of mental workload (500–1,000) category The text and voice mechanisms show similar mental workloads in the same location The scores between mechanisms in each location are nearly identical obtaining a difference only in the case of text-delivered alerts in the greenhouse against voice-delivered alerts in the same location the light-delivered alerts in all the locations got higher mental workload scores This can be caused by the light-delivered alerts only producing a stimulus and not providing additional information about the related problem forcing the user to search for more details about the alert light-delivered alerts generate the highest mental workload when users are away This phenomenon arises from users' challenges in receiving a light stimulus when absent Considering that the alert device also produces sound the alert remains difficult to perceive due to possible environmental noise Some participants suggested changing the device's sound and changing the color to ease the alert's recognition text and voice-delivered alerts are better for delivering information when the users are away from their houses and the greenhouse the better delivery mechanism is the voice participants pointed out that the voice mechanism is better because they can interact with the device and request more information about the problem making dealing with the related issue easier considering they could be doing manual tasks voice-delivered alerts remain better than those delivered by text despite the more comprehensive information that can be delivered in the text messages farmers would have to stop their current activities to check the messages on the device all the delivery mechanisms generate a similar mental workload when the user is at the greenhouse users are commonly occupied and focused on tasks that require their complete attention they must change their mental context to respond to them These context changes significantly increase the mental workload participants emphasized that when they are engaged in manual tasks they prefer the voice mechanism due to its interactive nature an interesting finding is related to the general mental workload level achieved If we compare all the scenarios and mechanisms it can be seen that all of them generate a medium mental workload (score between 500 and 1,000) This is important because even when some users feel a high mental workload in an individual scenario the mental workload generated by the proposed system remains medium We consider this an acceptable level of mental workload considering that it was the first time participants used the system and the proposed experiment (scenario design) and alert system were designed to be obtrusive in all contexts to guarantee user awareness of the alerts Finally, in the User Experience Evaluation, we utilized the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), which includes 26 items of semantic differentials to assess the user experience comprehensively. The UEQ questionnaire measures the interaction between the user and the system based on six dimensions: attractiveness, perspicuity, efficiency, dependability, stimulation, and novelty. As stated in Díaz-Oreiro et al. (2019) the common sample size to measure User Experience using the UEQ instrument is about 20 participants We reached the typical sample size since we had 22 participants completing the assessments it is important to consider that we must remove one of the evaluations because it presented inconsistencies in the answers we kept 21 completed answers for the analysis the evaluated alert system obtained excellent outcomes All the dimensions got values in the range of very good to extremely good with the next individual means Attractiveness = 2.119 The dimensions with lower scores were Efficiency and Dependability these dimensions got metrics in the very good range UEQ questionnaire also enables the grouping of the scales into Pragmatic Quality (Perspicuity and Dependability) and Hedonic Quality (Stimulation and Originality) the proposed alert system obtained very good results The system received a score of 1.90 for Pragmatic Quality indicating that users perceive it as highly practical and conducive to effectively achieving their goals the system scored 2.04 for Hedonic Quality and aesthetic appeal from interacting with it This suggests a positive emotional response and overall satisfaction with the user experience UEQ instrument also provides a benchmark compounded by a database with data from 452 software product evaluations (with a total of 20,190 participants in all evaluations) The benchmark classifies a product based on five categories: Excellent Regarding the proposed alert system evaluation, Figure 7 shows the scores for each dimension compared to the benchmark data achieving an Excellent score for almost all dimensions (Attractiveness In the case of the dimension Dependability the obtained score is situated in the category of Good This dimension measures how in control the user feels with the interaction our proposed alert system is an innovative proposal to inform users of the distinct situations occurring in the crop field in a disruptive way Several participants pointed out that training or explanations could be required to use the system better This suggestion matches the remarks provided by the farmers in the perceived utility evaluation User experience benchmark comparison results Finally, we asked participants to describe the proposed alert system using three words or short phrases. Figure 8 shows a word cloud containing the characteristics obtained from the participants Alert system description by the participants of the evaluation the most common characteristics obtained were usefulness The word cloud results hold significant relevance as they provide a tangible manifestation of users' perspectives on the system they encapsulate the system's desired characteristics that were pursued The word cloud not only unveils the prominent themes and concepts that users associate with the system but also serves as a valuable tool in gauging the system's effectiveness in meeting its intended goals none of the participants qualified the proposed system negatively we delve into a discussion of the findings gleaned from the system evaluations we have comprehensively evaluated a greenhouse alert system an integral component of our smart farming solution with a primary focus on gathering insights and feedback from end users User-centric evaluations play a pivotal role in ensuring the usability of technological tools particularly in scenarios where users may have limited technological skills or are older individuals we aimed to glean valuable insights into users' needs particularly among farmers who represent the end users of the greenhouse alert system under study This approach enables us to identify potential usability barriers and challenges faced by users and adapt the system accordingly to enhance user-friendliness and overall user experience Our findings highlight the effectiveness and user-friendliness of the alert system and its delivery mechanisms The results indicate a high level of acceptance among the diverse user groups considered in the evaluations emphasizing the perceived utility of the smart farming system Farmers have expressed a clear demand for innovative solutions in the agricultural sector underlining the significance of our smart farming solution in addressing their needs the mental workload evaluation revealed that the alert system maintains an acceptable cognitive burden an essential consideration for users engaged in other tasks during their daily farming activities the user experience evaluation demonstrated that user interaction with the system was excellent a critical finding considering that many users in the agriculture sector possess low technological skills and may feel apprehensive when using technology-driven solutions like the one evaluated our integrated smart farming solution has emerged as a valuable and user-friendly tool for small and medium-scale producers operating in greenhouse-controlled environments The system's acceptance among farmers and its ability to empower users to monitor and respond to crop-related challenges position it as a promising innovation in the agricultural sector and collaborate closely with agronomists to ensure its usability for all interested stakeholders The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author Writing – review & editing The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research This work was partially supported by the Research Center in Information and Communication Technologies (CITIC) and the School of Computer Science and Informatics (ECCI) at the University of Costa Rica This study forms part of the AGROALNEXT program and was supported by MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and Generalitat Valenciana (Spain) We extend our sincere gratitude to all individuals who generously participated in the evaluation of the system and contributed their valuable insights we would like to thank the farmers who graciously spared their time to attend the interviews during their busy schedules at the farmer's fair Their cooperation and feedback were integral to the success of this study We are immensely thankful for their support and collaboration The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 1. ^[1]https://www.ueq-online.org/ 2. ^[2]https://humansystems.arc.nasa.gov/groups/tlx/ Aging population and agricultural sustainability issues: case of Turkey “Designing—context-aware smart notifications system for precision agriculture,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI 2022) Favela (Cham: Springer International Publishing) Scalable technological architecture empowers small-scale smart farming solutions Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Sistemas de apoyo a la toma de decisiones que usan inteligencia 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Jose A. Brenes, am9zZWFudG9uaW8uYnJlbmVzQHVjci5hYy5jcg== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish We need to be cautious when we start discarding parts of our intellectual and political toolkit We might toss things overboard that could inform our political sensibilities today This is a response to “Legacies of Cold War Liberalism” by Michael Brenes and Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins. You can read their reply here To throw off an intellectual inheritance is no small thing. In an article in the Winter 2021 issue of Dissent Michael Brenes and Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins try to do just that They have made a strong case that it’s high time to bury Cold War liberalism I realize that for many progressives the goal is to look forward New beginnings and slaying the old are always more hopeful than recognizing indebtedness and the burdens of history But we need to be cautious when we start discarding parts of our intellectual and political toolkit Brenes and Steinmetz-Jenkins start their travels backward by going to the “liberal consensus” of the Cold War But that consensus is little more than myth a strong conservative voice was emerging in stiff opposition to liberal anticommunism That included intellectual and political figures like Whittaker Chambers (and numerous other ex-communists) Many of them rose to popularity on the heels of Republican victories in 1946 around the call of “Had enough?” (referring to regulations and price controls) Chambers was the sort of man who saw creeping socialism in any management of free-market capitalism and he articulated a faith impervious to any criticism or doubt (Lionel Trilling used Chambers as a model for the eerie character of Gifford Maxim in his classic Cold War liberal novel The Middle of the Journey.) As Arthur Schlesinger Jr “Chambers demands belief in God as the first credential” for repairing a broken America “he is surely skating near the edge of an arrogance of his own.” Or as he had already put it in The Vital Center “The thrust of the democratic faith is away from fanaticism.” But according to Brenes and Steinmetz-Jenkins Cold War liberals were “committed to defending God and country.” In fact Reinhold Niebuhr thought it sinful to place that sort of faith in any one country which explains why some liberals started Atheists for Niebuhr clubs during the heyday of the Cold War who helped to expose the conspiratorial thinking that informed McCarthy’s communist witch hunt (which other Americans were slowly starting to realize some from reading Wechsler’s exposé of McCarthy in the New York Post) Wechsler admitted to being a communist back in the 1930s (liberal communists disliked the practice of taking the Fifth under government scrutiny) But McCarthy didn’t believe Wechsler when he said he had ditched the Communist Party and was now a Cold War liberal “If I were a member of the Communist Party and I were the bright newspaper man that Mr I would not stay aboveground and say I was a member of the Communist Party I would say I deserted the Communist Party Wechsler is doing.” McCarthy was an exemplar of what the liberal historian Richard Hofstadter called the “paranoid style” of American politics When Wechsler provided examples from the Daily Worker excoriating him for a resolution he had presented that rejected communism McCarthy went full berserk: “Did you have anything to do with the passage of that resolution?” There lay the conspiratorial reasoning that would eventually cause McCarthy to fall The only thing left for Wechsler was to scratch his head and laugh recognizing a bullying buffoon when he saw one This divide between liberals and conservatives during the Cold War showed up more fully in questions about foreign policy Cold War liberals recoiled at conservative ideas about “rollback” and the call for a “preemptive war” against the Soviets or China Chambers added to these strategies a need for certitude and faith a power of faith which will provide man’s mind a reason to live and a reason to die.” Liberals would gasp at such a statement married as it was to the sort of aggressive military ideas that General MacArthur tried to practice during the Korean War Niebuhr suggested that conservatives like Chambers had a “prescience about the future which no man or nation possesses.” These words stand out to those of us who lived through the “choice” of “preventive war” carried out in Iraq in 2003 Brenes and Steinmetz-Jenkins claim that Cold War liberals “distrust the masses” and reject “populism.” But liberals don’t necessarily “distrust the masses”; we’re just not willing to entertain the idea that the “people,” as populist rhetoric would have it To quote from The Vital Center (excuse the gendered language): “The American liberal concluded by 1948 that man being neither perfect morally nor perfect intellectually There is no hope for perfection within the liberal lexicon Niebuhr was a realist and a critic of utopian thinking about a future free of conflict—a fine warning to progressives that we have hope but not blind faith in the ease with which we can achieve our goals A tragic sensibility is core to Cold War liberalism in The Vital Center: “You cannot expel conflict from society any more than you can from the human mind.” Today that means taking seriously the obstruction we’ll face from steadfast conservatives and the cult of Donald Trump We require a hard-boiled realism that can sustain political engagement—the “strong and slow boring of hard boards” that Max Weber once called politics I realize Brenes and Steinmetz-Jenkins are intent on noting the use of Cold War liberal language during the years of the War on Terror I’ll admit that I saw a bunch of sloppy analogies thrown around during the aughts by so-called liberal hawks Al Qaeda is not the Soviet Union; flying planes into buildings to kill civilians was not the grinding and bureaucratic concentration camp of Hitler’s regime; Islamic fundamentalism did not have the draw that communism did for many Americans especially during the 1940s others explicit—were designed to give weight to a liberal commitment to George W which was developed by neoconservatives who believed in unilateral wars of choice Yet I am unwilling to accept the authors’ allegation that “Cold War liberalism is now a zombie ideology.” Here they miss the richness of this political tradition Liberal intellectuals practiced care in attending to differences and conflicts The authors conflate Bush and Obama’s foreign policies while recognizing Obama’s indebtedness to Niebuhr’s thought (it’s hard to imagine that Bush read anything to inform his decision-making) Obama’s method was “lead from behind,” as his critics called it He never got America into a preemptive war and he remained a critic of unilateralism and “America First” rhetoric but his curiosity and tragic sensibility informed his view of America in the world liberals have warned us not to ditch a necessary sense of humility as we engage in politics “I’ve felt that one should hold some part of oneself in reserve never be completely sure of being right.” Schlesinger contrasted the “certitude” of totalitarianism with the “fallibility” of democracy These are the virtues of liberalism: irony These are not such bad guideposts for a liberal left today Kevin Mattson serves on the editorial board of Dissent and is author of We’re Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock By failing to assemble a coalitional politics that went beyond the ideology and logic of security Cold War liberals became unwitting participants in liberalism’s decline The idea behind the Laffer curve is a great satire of the hardworking self-image of the American managerial class Buckley’s seldom-acknowledged fluency in Spanish shaped his worldview—including his admiration for dictators from Spain to Chile and beyond Please consider donating to Dissent. Your contribution will ensure that we continue to publish articles like this one. Donate $10, $50, or $500; we are grateful for gifts of all sizes to Editha Brenes Sanchez and Rafael Angel Moya Villavicencio of Grecia but his actions were humble and showed otherwise compassionate friend and a dedicated employee but he was immensely proud of becoming a United States Citizen Guiselle Nuñez Perez; Marielos Àngeles Moya and her husband González Araya; Ana Felicia Moya Brenes and her husband Joel Angulo Monge; Bernardo Moya Brenes and his wife Ligia Herrera Rodríguez; Carmen Moya Brenes and her husband Martin Quesada Rodríguez; Marjorie Moya Brenes and her husband Sánchez; and Carlos Manuel Moya Brenes and his wife Laura Arrieta Araya; and an abundance of nieces and nephews whom he loved very much He is preceded in death by his parents; grandparents; and niece Katherine González Moya.          Cremation arrangements were handled through Broussard’s Crematorium A celebration of life service will be held at a later date Memorial contributions may be made in Fernando’s name to the National Brain Tumor Society, 55 Chapel Street, Suite 200, Newton, Massachusetts 02458; Kids Saving the Rainforest, 3790 El Camino Real #206, Palo Alto, California 94306; or to Shoes That Fit by visiting www.shoesthatfit.org/donate and website in this browser for the next time I comment He brought great joy to his wife and friends you've been a tremendous support to Fernando during his illness our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family I thought about Fernando just yesterday remembering when he became a US citizen It was a very special moment for both of you. He will be greatly missed and may he Rest In Peace Fernando was a very humble man and a hard worker It was such a joy to worship with you and Fernando at C.C.C Bonnie you have our sincere condolences you will be in our thoughts and prayers I am so saddened over the loss of Fernando I pray that God comforts you in the way that only He can Continued prayers for you and Fernanda's Family Fernando was our friend and we will miss him He was always a gentleman and put everyone he met at ease Rest in peace and know you were loved very much Please know we will look after your sweet wife Bonnie Beaumont - McFaddin Ave. Beaumont - Major Dr. Nederland ©Broussard's Mortuary 2017-2025 Built By Americom Marketing Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama “In watching the flow of events over the past decade or so it is hard to avoid the feeling that something fundamental has happened in world history.” These were the seminal opening words of Francis Fukuyama’s article “The End of History?” published in the summer 1989 edition of The National Interest then a policy planner at the State Department yet provocative thesis: humanity was on the precipice of a “post-historical world.” Rather than preparing for war or for disorder at the mercy of communism’s coming demise the world should prepare for a permanent end to imperial and ideological conflict was liberal democracy: a Pax Liberalismus spurred by American global supremacy with Vietnamese children burned by American napalm bombs with disappeared people in Augusto Pinochet’s Chile with military support for brutal regimes in Central America and the Middle East Fukuyama was present at the creation of history’s future. “All I can say is, if people can’t take a joke ,” he would later say about the impact of his essay But he took it seriously enough to turn his article into a 1992 book and teaching positions at George Mason University where he is currently a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies that a deregulated state trusting in market imperatives no longer serves the public good It is now thirty years since the publication of The End of History and the Last Man One might say again that “something fundamental has happened in world history.” Yet if there were reasons to be optimistic about democracy in 1989 fears about the demise of liberal democracy are rampant—in Europe and in the United States as much as anywhere else as white nationalism and necropolitics animates the U.S as over one million Americans have died from the Covid-19 virus and as climate change has wreaked unmitigated irreversible damage to world stability—not to mention mass incarceration operating as the primary solution to unemployment and poverty—what ambitions demarcate our era what paradigm will determine our new order is to mount a “defense of classical liberalism.” He’s looking backward The right and the left have distorted liberalism while the left took refuge in identity politics that destroyed “modes of discourse” that stimulate free thinking the liberalism of the post-Cold War moment is waning It turns out that Fukuyama doesn’t like what history’s end has wrought Liberalism has been corrupted by bad actors on all sides who have lost faith in its tenets: free speech Rampant consumerism has atomized public interactions and suffocated civic life both individual and communal” can restore faith in the promise liberalism seemed to offer three decades ago to the principles of liberalism that made it an emancipating philosophy nearly a half-century ago Fukuyama was not the first to predict the end of history—far from it Fukuyama is most enamored with the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in many ways the subject of The End of History and the Last Man Fukuyama sought to marry Immanuel Kant’s vision of humankind’s “perfectibility” with Hegel’s theory of historical dialectics in arguing for liberal democracy as a verifiable endpoint to centuries of war and conflict Fukuyama’s more contemporary antecedents included Daniel Bell whose 1960 book The End of Ideology argued that the defeat of fascism and the illegitimacy of communism meant that “the old nineteenth-century ideologies and intellectual debates have become exhausted.” Fukuyama is often called a neoconservative but he is first and foremost an anti-materialist independent power; they shape human destiny without attachment to politics or economics—to political economy People operate on a quotidian level based on their intellectual frameworks for understanding events but ideas and culture determine human history Fukuyama’s follow-up to The End of History was Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity He argued that shared trust among individuals allows collaborations between capital and labor that foster close-knit and communities that can reconcile the contradictions between capitalism and democracy in daily life we saw world-shaking events: the 9/11 terrorist attacks Fukuyama weathered the storms by writing a series of ambitious books that tackled arcane Among his best is The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay two-volume world history that focused on the development of modern states on the transition between monarchical and democratic regimes He then moved back into contemporary politics with the 2018 publication of Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment Fukuyama argued that a “desire for recognition” determines the health of the individual and the state; that institutions of democratic governance can decay and die if deprived of universal predetermined liberal values; that current obsessions with “identity politics”—whether determined by race or sexual orientation—inhibit the cultural and social pluralism that tolerates differences (and differing opinions) and safeguards political order Fukuyama is now included among a cadre of centrists who’ve built careers advocating for a liberalism that avoids “extremes”—always evolving—on the left and the right since 2016. But unlike those making a career out of easy posturing against “illiberalism” and “populism,” Fukuyama actually cares about ideas and Foucault—the leading lights of leftist even willing to take on neoconservative and centrist ideologues—as he did in his book America at the Crossroads which critiqued the 2003 Iraq War from the right He is someone who surprises readers with transient moments of contrarianism In his current defense of classical liberalism It may have started from a good place—“its premises were often correct” according to Fukuyama—but it created an “irrational” reaction against government where “economic efficiency” overrode “all other social values.” Fukuyama’s takedown of neoliberalism makes the book an interesting read for a moment but it becomes hollow and deflating as the criticism gets lost in his attachment to “economic individualism” as the locus of liberalism All we get then is the realization that neoliberalism went off the rails because its foundations were “historically contingent.” Attention neoliberals: beware of history is performative—gesturing toward democracy but never moving us toward equality through the help of a redistributive welfare state was a solipsism that protected individual interest at the expense of universal rights Fukuyama draws a crooked line to the dangers of identity politics Postmodern political theory has spilled too much ink on misguided attacks against liberalism for its inattentiveness to racial inequalities; for those who feel that “liberalism is more procedural than substantive”; that it prohibits radical reforms; and that it is the handmaiden of a neoliberal era that has reinforced the status quo these critiques have “a number of true observations,” but they get carried to “unsupportable extremes.” These extremes become attacks on rationality on the scientific method for not affirming the concerns of specific groups Liberalism’s critics have created a “cognitive crisis,” as identity politics have strayed from the “premise of universal human equality.” echo chambers of false information that affirm selective versions of reality This leads Fukuyama to make some useful points about “mistaking words for actual power,” a good lesson for all liberals and their critics “Progressives and white nationalists come together in valuing raw feeling and emotion over cold empirical analysis,” we are told The only hope is to return liberalism to its general principles: tolerance, good governance and federalism, freedom of speech, individual rights, and yes, moderation. Our decades of liberalism have produced a lack of appreciation for it among its beneficiaries. We have instead become “complacent” and are now able to castigate liberalism without fear of the consequences to liberalism’s long-term health we have ended up where Fukuyama feared we would be in 1989 with the “prospect of centuries of boredom” materializing in less than half a century Fukuyama writes that he is not concerned with policy; his book is about the principles of liberalism because it prevents him from wrestling with the contradictions of classical liberalism classical liberalism’s embrace of individual and property rights after the Glorious and American Revolutions meant liberals saw no problem with slavery with women treated not just as second-class citizens Classical liberalism collapsed in the twentieth century because abolitionists and labor unions pointed out these contradictions which made free-market ideology the lingering feature of classical liberalism In rejecting the notion that illiberalism is produced from liberalism Fukuyama ignores how the two are concurrent—how liberalism can tolerate inequality to the point that it will undo its principles There also is a great deal more to be said about liberalism and the “liberal world order.” Missing from Fukuyama’s book is any substantive discussion of United States foreign policy and Afghanistan as either “failed states” or “struggling developing states,” but he chooses to ignore how the fall of communism engendered U.S imperial adventurism that led to failed projects of nation-building How did liberalism allow for the expansion of exorbitant military power—even if Fukuyama wants to argue liberalism did not create it—to the point that it curtailed the rights of peoples at home and abroad that gave license for interventionism without restraint; that deprived Iraqis and Somalians of another fundamental principle of liberalism: the right to live Liberalism and its Discontents ultimately offers readers a worldview that rejects progress in favor of revanchism. Fukuyama turns out not to be the neoconservative he is often labeled, but a conservative akin to Edmund Burke someone who would prefer a lasting plutocracy over a liberalism that might temporarily destabilize society so that more individuals obtained political rights Whereas the neoconservative project is premised on global disruption—what is more disorderly that forcing democratic governance through the barrel of a gun?—Fukuyama’s project is anti-modern He wants a liberalism without liberals—since the current ones apparently don’t uphold what he defends: a liberalism that would entail “equal individual rights Fukuyama seems upset that most of the left has not settled for invoking “individual rights and freedom” as the way to tackle the crises of 2022 This makes Fukuyama’s defense of liberal democracy in the twenty-first century even more curious given that Fukuyama does not seem to like modern democracy—movements for racial and gender justice get short thrift—or modern liberalism—which believes in universal rights and the progress of humankind to the benefit of the most marginalized in society about embracing “tolerance” for liberal ideas but writing a book that discredits liberalism and left-wing political projects working to create universal acceptance for Americans within identitarian categories: a legal means to end employment discrimination against LGBTQ Americans breaking down barriers to citizenship and legal rights for immigrants or efforts to roll back state restrictions that prevent Blacks from voting small “d” democrat (the primary audience of his book) does not support tolerance and individual rights it is hard to see how classical liberals could rectify societal ills today—even if those ills were exclusively the fault of individuals Biden’s liberalism cannot compete with obstructionists like Joe Manchin or Republican Party reactionaries who stoke Americans’ fears Given the existential crises we confront as a globe we should receive Fukuyama’s classical liberalism as would a congregation of Southern Evangelicals forced to sit through a defense of polytheism: with a mixture of confusion “Classical liberalism” is practically moot in our era It is a liberalism without the power to create change Liberalism and its Discontents can be read as an inadvertent indictment of the past thirty years of history and what we have done to make sense of it Fukuyama would prefer that capital not be rapacious that people not be selfish political beings that we chasten the impulse to confirm our preconceived biases given how the events after the Cold War were interpreted in ways that led us to this moment Fukuyama’s argument relies on world history to rewrite his own to correct the history he failed to foresee in 1989 whether in the hands of historians or former government officials is ultimately a reactionary and artificial effort to attribute order to complexity Unable to arrange history in a triumphalist narrative Fukuyama asks us to forget the present to preserve the past In a media environment that tolerates tail-chasing The Baffler is a rare publication willing to shake the pundit class free of their own worst impulses But running a charitable organization of this magnitude requires serious dough and subscriptions only cover a fraction of our costs we rely on the good will of generous readers like you So if you like the article you just read—or hate it so you can ridicule us online for years to come—please consider making a one-time donation to The Baffler Michael Brenes teaches history at Yale University. He is the author of For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy. You can follow him on Twitter here Bucket Hat / $30 We've been keeping an eye on the evolution of his Chico Stix brand and all the crazy shapes he's been skating and it's all impressively baffling.  This new line he posted for his birthday is nothing short of miraculous A five trick line flowing through SF's Union Square The comments are filled with everyone from Eric Koston to Jamie Thomas to Gino Iannucci wishing Chico a Happy Birthday Take a walk down memory lane with Chico's Love Child part Don't miss another headline from TransWorld SKATEboarding! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of skateboarding By Blair Alley is the Content Director for TransWorld SKATEboarding While persecution against the Church in Nicaragua continues unabated, a debate has cropped up among clergy in the country about the controversial, anonymous letter, reportedly written by seminarians, which accuses Managua Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of fostering a culture of silence in the country’s seminary about ongoing religious persecution. also claimed that the Nicaraguan dictatorship has infiltrated seminaries to report to the government the most politically active priests and seminarians Cardinal Brenes has been frequently criticized in Nicaragua by Catholics who believe the cardinal has been unduly cordial toward the Nicaraguan regime which sentenced Bishop Rolando Álvarez to 26 years in prison and has exiled around 20 priests and seminarians—while two other priests remain in prison But the March letter has amplified that criticism and created an unexpected uproar against Brenes among clerics — especially after the cardinal’s own auxiliary bishop But why is Brenes accused of having sympathies for a dictatorship that has persecuted the Church in Nicaragua for years Share The letter was purportedly written by two current and one former seminarian at the Seminario La Purísima a major seminary administered by the Archdiocese of Managua including a claim that the seminary has an unbalanced culture of traditionalism and an aversion to the witness or teachings of Pope Francis But the most striking charge is the claim that seminary administrators have forced a culture of silence about the persecution of the Church by the Nicaraguan regime “The seminary is currently the most disappointing and mediocre place to be in Managua We have been forced for some time now to absolute silence: talking about the reality of the country in class and in prayer is forbidden,” the letter’s authors claimed “When Monsignor Silvio Baez was exiled [in 2018] When they began to take civil society leaders prisoner we were not allowed to say a single prayer in any of the many liturgies of the hours that we do.”  he was mentioned very few times in the Eucharist,” the letter added The authors charged that despite a culture of silence in the seminary there are “seminarians sympathetic to the Sandinista Front who report our activities” to political authorities — seeming to allege that seminary administrators had failed to address the presence of government informants in the seminary The seminarians’ criticism of Cardinal Brenes was sharp as so many sweet-talking seminarians love to call him has never once expressed himself about the reality of the country and the Church “Hopefully the episcopal conference — hopefully Cardinal Brenes — will see that what our Church is experiencing is their responsibility the harder the blows will be,” the authors wrote Letters from anonymous seminarians do not usually make much of a splash in the life of the Church the letter from La Purisima spread like a wildfire in Nicaragua Independent media outlets in Nicaragua typically refrain from criticizing the Church in the country — because it is often perceived as a uniquely powerful opponent of the country’s regime But the letter was reported on in the country It was also widely shared on social media—including by the exiled Bishop Silvio Báez who has refrained from publicly criticizing Brenes The Archdiocese of Managua has not made any official statements and did not respond to requests for comment a diocesan official in Managua tweeted that it was “It’s odd that this news outlet publishes speculation from people in incognito Things are more serious than a digital war Nicaraguan priests who spoke with The Pillar said some parts of the letter were not reasonable — like the notion that a Nicaraguan seminary would be a hotspot of traditionalism They pointed out that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is almost non-existent in the country and that most Nicaraguan bishops are relatively liturgically liberal including both Brenes and the imprisoned bishop of Matagalpa “Some of these claims in the letter simply contradict common sense so it’s hard to form an opinion,” an exiled priest told The Pillar Brenes is well-known to be a close ally and advisor of Pope Francis —  hardly the kind of bishop who might be accused of leading a traditionalist revolution in Central America But Nicaraguan priests said the letter was right about a culture of silence reigning in the seminary on persecution and right about the presence of pro-Ortega seminarians denouncing other seminarians to government authorities and has happened before,” one exiled priest told The Pillar “There have always been people who infiltrate into the Church who pretend to be faithful Christians but are the eyes and ears of the government They tell them who is in favor of the opposition or supports Bishop Rolando And then those seminarians are threatened.”  “I know of seminarians who have left the seminary because of these threats This is common in Nicaragua,” the priest added has frequently been accused of silence in the face of Nicaraguan persecution and at times accused of collaboration with the Nicaraguan dictatorship typically say that he has aimed to defuse tension when possible and to preserve liberty for the Church But after Bishop Rolando Álvarez was sentenced in February to decades in prison — and with Pope Francis himself denouncing the Ortega regime — Brenes’ silence has become more acutely criticized by Churchmen in Nicaragua — with some Church leaders saying the cardinal lacks the courage to confront the regime “I think the letter has merit,” a foreign priest and long-time missionary in Nicaragua “The Church has two faces in Nicaragua: that of Bishop Álvarez capable of convoking Catholics around a prophetic dimension and that of the Nicaraguan bishops’ conference and especially the Cardinal [Brenes],” said the priest who requested anonymity because of concern about retribution from the regime “I shared a parish with Brenes before he became a bishop I’ve been in many meetings with him and I know him very well too shy to denounce persecution,” the priest said “He also has a lot to be grateful for from the government and they want to use him—and he allows them to and he doesn’t show any solidarity towards his brother bishop,” the priest added But the priest said that many clerics in Nicaragua believe Brenes can be pushed into speaking out on behalf of Álvarez “I think it’s important to unmask the Cardinal so he’s braver and stronger in his role as leader of the Church in Nicaragua,” the priest said Questions about the cardinal’s independence are not new In 2017 he was criticized for blessing the pro-government candidate running to become mayor of Manaugua — and for doing so after the legal window for campaigning had ended political campaigns must end three days before the election) then-candidate to the mayorship of Managua for the government party He has also been criticized for choosing public supporters of the Nicaraguan dictatorship in his inner circle even while the bishops mediated a standoff between Ortega and his political opponents in 2018 The head of Breness’ security detail was until 2020 also an outspoken supporter of the Ortega regime Local activists said the security official was with Brenes constantly while the Church mediated the national dialogue in Nicaragua local media reported that an official photographer of Ortega’s — with close and regular access to the Nicaraguan president — had been hired by the Archdiocese of Managua to photograph the cardinal The move drew criticism in some Church circles especially once it became clear that government officials knew the cardinal’s schedule in detail usually days before it was made public or other Church officials knew it when the regime moved to ban social media in Nicaragua — prompting major outrage from democracy activists — Brenes was criticized for taking questions after Mass from regime-affiliated media even while he knew his answers would be used for propaganda while Brenes was head of the country’s bishops’ conference he prompted another controversy when he said the conference had no opinion on the arrest of an outspoken local journalist In the same year, Brenes prohibited political protests in the churches in Managua 28 demonstration at the city’s cathedral in support of auxiliary bishop Silvio Báez who had been threatened by government supporters local Catholics chanted “freedom!” inside the cathedral they put crosses in front of the altar to remember those killed by the government amid widespread protests But just weeks after the cardinal prohibited protests,images surfaced of Fr celebrating a Mass with an image of Fidel Castro on the altar and the flag of the FSLN It emerged that on the feast of Christ the King Castro had dedicated his homily to praising the Cuban and Nicaraguan regimes Even more controversial was Brenes’ role in the exile of his auxiliary bishop who had served for 10 years under Brenes as auxiliary bishop the most outspoken Nicaraguan bishop during the 2018 protests — putting him squarely in the crosshairs of the regime The bishop received numerous death threats in 2018 and the government publicly called for him to leave the country Pope Francis asked Báez to leave the country for Rome This decision of abandoning Nicaragua is a responsibility of the Holy Father,” Báez said at the time But priests and activists in Nicaragua told The Pillar they believe Brenes urged the pope to see Báez leave the country and Brenes does not have the sort of leadership to preside over the Church in times of crisis,” Israel González it was said that the pope had asked Báez to remain in Rome—something that Báez denied “The pope did not call me [to Rome] for a particular mission. He just asked me not to be in Nicaragua for a while. I’ve lived this year in many communities of my religious family, the Discalced Carmelites, I’ve been in Ireland, in Peru, in Spain, in Italy, and now in Miami,” he said in an interview Nicaraguan media report that since his exile Báez has become an outcast in the bishops’ conference — a move some priests attribute to Brenes “In the messages and statements they sent out, they don’t even add his name (...) they do not include them in the meetings, not even when they do them via Zoom,” La Prensa reported Leave a comment As the Church has faced persecution in the last year Brenes has again faced charges of both timidity and government collaboration According to La Prensa the cardinal has pressured the current president of the country’s bishops’ conference to stay silent in response to the deportation of priests and the incarceration of Álvarez have told local media that Brenes approved a plan hatched by Fr to transfer to rural parishes eight priests who have been outspoken opponents of the Ortega administration While some claim that Valle was acting to protect the priests, others note that the priests has been seen taking part in pro-government ceremonies local media reported that he refused pro-democracy protestors access to his parish even while they faced attacks from paramilitary forces Another local media outlet, Divergentes reported in February that Cardinal Brenes directed Managua’s priests to obey police orders prohibiting Lenten and Holy Week processions even while clerics in other parts of the country have defied prohibition orders when the Nicaraguan dictatorship announced in March it had formally suspended diplomatic relations with the Vatican Brenes again refused to condemn or criticize the move “These are terms I don’t know about; some say breaking of relations, others say suspension. These are matters of law and of state, so I don’t want to get in any trouble,” the cardinal said. At the same time, some Nicaraguan activists have claimed that Brenes has directed exiled priests not to speak with the media, even while they are abroad, lest they lose their faculties for ministry. “I can confirm that priests who have been critical of Ortega and gone into exile, have been told by Brenes not to talk to the media or they won’t be given the letter that accredits them as priests ordained in Nicaragua,” Israel González told The Pillar. One exiled priest from the Archdiocese of Managua confirmed to The Pillar that he had been directed not to speak with the media. Brenes will turn 75 in 2024, but his controversial place in Nicaraguan Church affairs seems likely to continue. Indeed, the matter of his successor is unclear — traditionally, the bishop of Matagalpa is appointed to succeed the Archbishop of Managua, as did Brenes himself. But the current bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, is in prison. The auxiliary of Managua, meanwhile, is exiled in Miami. Under those circumstances, it seems unlikely the cardinal’s resignation will be accepted anytime soon. But as long as he remains in office, at least some Nicaraguan churchmen will ask if the cardinal is fairly serving his people — and his tension mounts, the next round of critics are not likely to be only anonymous seminarians. If he collaborates with this evil regime he is no friend of Christ and the Church. That he says nothing about his brother bishop imprisoned for “odium de fidei” (hatred of the Church) my thought would be that His Eminence at least kissed Bishop Rolando before his conviction. ReplyShare1 reply5 more comments...LatestNo posts An anonymous letter has made waves in Nicaragua, after it accused the country\u2019s cardinal of being too close to the country\u2019s dictator, President Daniel Ortega. While persecution against the Church in Nicaragua continues unabated, a debate has cropped up among clergy in the country about the controversial, anonymous letter, reportedly written by seminarians, which accuses Managua Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of fostering a culture of silence in the country\u2019s seminary about ongoing religious persecution. which sentenced Bishop Rolando \u00C1lvarez to 26 years in prison and has exiled around 20 priests and seminarians\u2014while two other priests remain in prison and created an unexpected uproar against Brenes among clerics \u2014 especially after the cardinal\u2019s own auxiliary bishop Share The letter was purportedly written by two current and one former seminarian at the Seminario La Pur\u00EDsima But the most striking charge is the claim that seminary administrators have forced a culture of silence about the persecution of the Church by the Nicaraguan regime.  \u201CThe seminary is currently the most disappointing and mediocre place to be in Managua and in prayer is forbidden,\u201D the letter\u2019s authors claimed \u201CWhen Monsignor Silvio Baez was exiled [in 2018] we were not allowed to say a single prayer in any of the many liturgies of the hours that we do.\u201D  he was mentioned very few times in the Eucharist,\u201D the letter added there are \u201Cseminarians sympathetic to the Sandinista Front who report our activities\u201D to political authorities \u2014 seeming to allege that seminary administrators had failed to address the presence of government informants in the seminary The seminarians\u2019 criticism of Cardinal Brenes was sharp.  or about Bishop Rolando,\u201D the letter said \u201CHopefully the episcopal conference \u2014 hopefully Cardinal Brenes \u2014 will see that what our Church is experiencing is their responsibility the harder the blows will be,\u201D the authors wrote the letter from La Purisima spread like a wildfire in Nicaragua.  Independent media outlets in Nicaragua typically refrain from criticizing the Church in the country \u2014 because it is often perceived as a uniquely powerful opponent of the country\u2019s regime It was also widely shared on social media\u2014including by the exiled Bishop Silvio B\u00E1ez \u201CIt\u2019s odd that this news outlet publishes speculation from people in incognito Nicaraguan priests who spoke with The Pillar said some parts of the letter were not reasonable \u2014 like the notion that a Nicaraguan seminary would be a hotspot of traditionalism.  \u201CSome of these claims in the letter simply contradict common sense so it\u2019s hard to form an opinion,\u201D an exiled priest told The Pillar Brenes is well-known to be a close ally and advisor of Pope Francis \u2014  hardly the kind of bishop who might be accused of leading a traditionalist revolution in Central America \u201CThis climate of silence is everywhere and has happened before,\u201D one exiled priest told The Pillar \u201CThere have always been people who infiltrate into the Church And then those seminarians are threatened.\u201D  \u201CI know of seminarians who have left the seminary because of these threats This is common in Nicaragua,\u201D the priest added But after Bishop Rolando \u00C1lvarez was sentenced in February to decades in prison \u2014 and with Pope Francis himself denouncing the Ortega regime \u2014 Brenes\u2019 silence has become more acutely criticized by Churchmen in Nicaragua \u2014 with some Church leaders saying the cardinal lacks the courage to confront the regime.  \u201CI think the letter has merit,\u201D a foreign priest and long-time missionary in Nicaragua \u201CThe Church has two faces in Nicaragua: that of Bishop \u00C1lvarez and that of the Nicaraguan bishops\u2019 conference and especially the Cardinal [Brenes],\u201D said the priest \u201CI shared a parish with Brenes before he became a bishop I\u2019ve been in many meetings with him and I know him very well too shy to denounce persecution,\u201D the priest said.  \u201CHe also has a lot to be grateful for from the government and they want to use him\u2014and he allows them to That\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t say anything and he doesn\u2019t show any solidarity towards his brother bishop,\u201D the priest added But the priest said that many clerics in Nicaragua believe Brenes can be pushed into speaking out on behalf of \u00C1lvarez \u201CI think it\u2019s important to unmask the Cardinal so he\u2019s braver and stronger in his role as leader of the Church in Nicaragua,\u201D the priest said Subscribe now Questions about the cardinal\u2019s independence are not new.  In 2017 he was criticized for blessing the pro-government candidate running to become mayor of Manaugua \u2014 and for doing so after the legal window for campaigning had ended The head of Breness\u2019 security detail was until 2020 also an outspoken supporter of the Ortega regime local media reported that an official photographer of Ortega\u2019s \u2014 with close and regular access to the Nicaraguan president \u2014 had been hired by the Archdiocese of Managua to photograph the cardinal.  especially once it became clear that government officials knew the cardinal\u2019s schedule in detail usually days before it was made public or other Church officials knew it.  when the regime moved to ban social media in Nicaragua \u2014 prompting major outrage from democracy activists \u2014 Brenes was criticized for taking questions after Mass from regime-affiliated media while Brenes was head of the country\u2019s bishops\u2019 conference In the same year, Brenes prohibited political protests in the churches in Managua 28 demonstration at the city\u2019s cathedral in support of auxiliary bishop Silvio B\u00E1ez who had been threatened by government supporters.  local Catholics chanted \u201Cfreedom!\u201D inside the cathedral Castro had dedicated his homily to praising the Cuban and Nicaraguan regimes.  Even more controversial was Brenes\u2019 role in the exile of his auxiliary bishop the most outspoken Nicaraguan bishop during the 2018 protests \u2014 putting him squarely in the crosshairs of the regime The bishop received numerous death threats in 2018 and the government publicly called for him to leave the country.  Pope Francis asked B\u00E1ez to leave the country for Rome \u201CI did not request to leave the country This decision of abandoning Nicaragua is a responsibility of the Holy Father,\u201D B\u00E1ez said at the time But priests and activists in Nicaragua told The Pillar they believe Brenes urged the pope to see B\u00E1ez leave the country.  \u201CBrenes wanted to get rid of Bishop B\u00E1ez and Brenes does not have the sort of leadership to preside over the Church in times of crisis,\u201D Israel Gonz\u00E1lez it was said that the pope had asked B\u00E1ez to remain in Rome\u2014something that B\u00E1ez denied.  \u201CThe pope did not call me [to Rome] for a particular mission. He just asked me not to be in Nicaragua for a while. I\u2019ve lived this year in many communities of my religious family, the Discalced Carmelites, I\u2019ve been in Ireland, in Peru, in Spain, in Italy, and now in Miami,\u201D he said in an interview B\u00E1ez has become an outcast in the bishops\u2019 conference \u2014 a move some priests attribute to Brenes.  \u201CIn the messages and statements they sent out, they don\u2019t even add his name (...) they do not include them in the meetings, not even when they do them via Zoom,\u201D La Prensa reported Leave a comment According to La Prensa the cardinal has pressured the current president of the country\u2019s bishops\u2019 conference to stay silent in response to the deportation of priests and the incarceration of \u00C1lvarez where \u00C1lvarez was apostolic administrator While some claim that Valle was acting to protect the priests, others note that the priests has been seen taking part in pro-government ceremonies Another local media outlet, Divergentes reported in February that Cardinal Brenes directed Managua\u2019s priests to obey police orders prohibiting Lenten and Holy Week processions Brenes again refused to condemn or criticize the move.  \u201CThese are terms I don\u2019t know about; some say breaking of relations, others say suspension. These are matters of law and of state, so I don\u2019t want to get in any trouble,\u201D the cardinal said some Nicaraguan activists have claimed that Brenes has directed exiled priests not to speak with the media lest they lose their faculties for ministry \u201CI can confirm that priests who have been critical of Ortega and gone into exile have been told by Brenes not to talk to the media or they won\u2019t be given the letter that accredits them as priests ordained in Nicaragua,\u201D Israel Gonz\u00E1lez told The Pillar One exiled priest from the Archdiocese of Managua confirmed to The Pillar that he had been directed not to speak with the media but his controversial place in Nicaraguan Church affairs seems likely to continue the matter of his successor is unclear \u2014 traditionally the bishop of Matagalpa is appointed to succeed the Archbishop of Managua it seems unlikely the cardinal\u2019s resignation will be accepted anytime soon at least some Nicaraguan churchmen will ask if the cardinal is fairly serving his people \u2014 and his tension mounts the next round of critics are not likely to be only anonymous seminarians Factor Bikes has presented us with its colourful new collaboration with professional skateboarder Chico Brenes showcasing a limited edition Ostro Gravel Chico Edition which might strike you as an odd one at first draws inspiration from Brenes' passion for both sports and his life story Sometimes, seeing the collaborations that big bike brands release (we featured the DJ Spoony x Ribble recently, and this Festka + Ondrash & Kasparek last year) "The connection to Factor came about really organically through Factor Bikes Chief Operating Officer Calvin Chan and his offspring," Brenes says They reached out to me because they liked what I was doing Calvin sent me some videos of his kids skateboarding in Taiwan and I couldn’t believe how good they are."  The bike the British brand and the pro skateboarder have created together will not be collecting dust on a wall it's actually going to take Brenes on a trip south from San Francisco as it's a reversal of his journey into America as a child how cycling and skateboarding even go together at all It turns out quite a lot of skateboarders enjoy both sports - take I was kinda surprised that I enjoyed it so much," says Brenes I want to be able to skate for as long as I can Brenes discovered cycling after a really bad fall which left the then-38-year-old thinking he'd never pick up the skateboard again The thing that helped him the most in recovery was cycling There is one sentence on the bike that concisely summarises why cycling means a lot to Brenes: "Skateboarding saved my life Of course, we've seen skateboarding and cycling design merge before, perhaps most recently with the Rapha + Palace collection which drove everyone to a frenzy the Factor and Brenes collab's narrative is a little deeper homage to Brenes' life journey from being born amid the Nicaraguan civil war to emigrating to the US and finding skateboarding The visual design of the collaboration integrates elements from the worlds of cycling and skating; the lettering is crafted from circles and semicircles symbolising the wheels of both a bicycle and a skateboard and you can also spot iconic landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and nods to Brenes' Nicaraguan heritage The colour palette takes cues from the turquoise-browed motmot All of this adorns Factor's flagship gravel bike, the Ostro Gravel, which is designed to combine the light weight and handling of the Ostro VAM road bike with 45mm tyre clearance Introduced to the brand's lineup in 2022 the Ostro Gravel is an aero-optimised gravel machine with a geometry that's slightly more relaxed than that of the Ostro VAM the size 56 Ostro Gravel has 15mm more stack and 10mm longer reach than a similarly sized Ostro VAM Its head angle is also a degree slacker at 72.3 degrees You also get aero-friendly tube shapes and an integrated one-piece bar and stem combo The Chico Edition Ostro Gravel frameset retails for $5,499 (£4,300) and full builds start at $7,499 (£5,900) with a SRAM Force groupset and power meter These prices are the same as you would pay for the standard Ostro Gravel; there's no extra for the finish If neither the Chico Edition nor the stock black and white colourways do it for you Factor did recently announce it's expanded the offerings in its 'PRISMA STUDIO+' in-house custom paint facility The Chico collection extends beyond the bike into a capsule collection Let us know what you think of this collaboration, the bike, and the rest of it – and make sure to check out our other Bike at Bedtime features please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free The revenue from adverts helps to fund our site then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99 Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist road.cc's audience Report an advert on road.cc Privacy policy Subscribe All material © Farrelly Atkinson (F-At) Limited, Unit 7b Green Park Station BA11JB. Tel 01225 588855. © 2008–present unless otherwise stated. Terms and conditions of use Game Recap: Men's Soccer | 11/2/2022 5:12:00 PM | Mike Sheridan Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here but I remember thinking the Iraq War would be the first Many came to the Washington Monument in D.C. on March 15, 2003 to protest the war, which would start five days later (Wikimedia Commons) I was 22 years old when the United States invaded Iraq when I watched the war move from an abstract possibility to a slow-moving and did not yet know what the war would do to me or didn’t live through it—including many of my students—it is hard to convey the bizarre a feeling that made me question the rationality of my world Islamophobia invigorated our foreign and domestic policies and I was disturbed that the Bush administration could curtail democracy at home in the name of “freedom” abroad with impunity I started reading the New York Times daily—I soon added the Wall Street Journal politics and the history of American foreign policy the angrier I became that the Iraq War was going to I am living through the making of the Iraq War as history I’m seeing how historical memory is codified how the creation of public memory works against the preservation of my own My formative political experience is subjected to retrospective analysis Southern, Iraq (Apr. 2, 2003) — U.S. Army Sgt. Mark Phiffer stands guard duty near a burning oil well in the Rumaylah Oil Fields in Southern Iraq. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Arlo K. Abrahamson. (Wikimedia Commons) These “revisionist” narratives are an expected reaction to the clear-cut normative interpretation of the war I remember: the Iraq War was destined for failure Time and distance—and new archival materials—are doing their jobs detached reexamination of the war that we were due: Mistakes were made but the best intentions for Iraq and the United States went into the prosecution of the war and debate (instead of groupthink) could have prevented catastrophic outcomes if only the United States invaded Iraq differently A 2007 protest sign in opposition to the growing cost of the U.S.’s occupation of Iraq (Wikimedia Commons) while I remain afraid that the ways I remembered the war are slipping away My version of the Iraq War defined my intellectual path Historians must have empathy for their actors but right now I have too much for my 22-year-old self—and for those whose lives were shaped by the war in more profound ways than I was An indelible image and moment. Have two words or a banner better expressed the tragedy of a war? “Mission Accomplished” banner that greeted President Bush when he came aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 (Wikimedia Commons) their way out of thinking about the repercussions of the war Historians will revise our premises through history We will use history to understand our present ourselves—as historians and citizens of a global empire Here is the power of the historian’s craft When the field of history is left uncrowded by historians with full-time employment historical actors—with self-serving intentions—who wish to exculpate and justify their actions will fill the vacuum Will the historical memory of the Iraq War be created by those wishing to elide the past to flatten contestable moments to serve an inexorable conclusion our narratives of the past will be determined by those looking to force history’s salience on a particular version of the present who exclude interpretations of history beyond its “lessons.”  While I lack confidence in the future of the profession I will always have faith in the power of my discipline to shape the human condition I just wish I had more colleagues to share that faith with I would like to receive emails from CONTINGENT and that historians should be paid for their work Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News what seems like bad news can turn out to be a blessing in disguise That’s what Costa Rican biologist and conservationist Esteban Brenes-Mora discovered when he was called upon in 2013 to help solve a mystery: why tapirs were being hit by cars and trucks on a stretch of the Pan-American Highway that runs between two national parks in the country’s highland region in Malaysia at the time working on tapir and tiger conservation returned home to get to the bottom of the problem – and to find a way to protect Central America’s largest and most distinctive mammal from fast-moving vehicles lay in the very success of Costa Rica’s efforts to restore and conserve its forests and biodiversity a species that had been reduced to near-extinction in the area bisected by the highway was actually becoming abundant “I did an analysis of the landscape and understood that it was not that tapirs were being pushed onto the road but that the forests in the area where they were being hit had actually recovered and The rebound of Costa Rica’s forests and the species that rely on them is the best possible news for one long-time tapir fan: Global Environmental Facility CEO Carlos Manuel Rodríguez It was policies he pioneered during his three terms as Minister of Environment and Energy that helped halt rapid deforestation and set nature on the path to recovery included paying farmers to preserve ecosystems establishing new protected areas and biological corridors “As we sought to measure the impact of our policy changes on the landscape in the early 2000s we asked ourselves if the restoration of the forest was leading to a recovery in wildlife as well we set up camera traps and trained rangers and guides in biodiversity monitoring techniques,” Rodríguez said We discovered that a mix of more – and more effective – conservation and restoration actions combined with a fall in hunting and poaching as ecotourism became the main source of jobs for Costa Rica That the GEF CEO is so fond of tapirs that he collects tiny wooden models of the animals may seem surprising given that an attack by an enraged female left him injured and lost in the wilds of Costa Rica’s Corcovado National Park back in 2006 Solitary, nocturnal, and weighing in at 300-500 pounds, this relative of the rhino and horse is the largest neotropical land mammal Its most unique – and useful – feature is its prehensile nose which it can use to pluck leaves from trees Female tapirs outweigh males, have long gestation periods are very protective of their offspring whose coats have patterns similar to watermelons Tapirs may be dependent on forests, but forests are equally dependent on tapirs, which are such important dispersers of seeds that they are known as the “gardeners of the forest.” Like the African forest elephant in the Congo Basin tapirs help maintain the complex interrelationships between species in the ecosystems they inhabit.  “You have 500 pounds of herbivore with a really inefficient digestion,” Brenes-Mora said “Picture these beautiful animals walking around the forest eating around 50 pounds a day of vegetation As they push their massive bodies through the foliage they clear spaces that allow saplings to grow.” These tapir trails are also regularly used by other animals including large carnivores: perfectly illustrating the role of a keystone species on the ecosystem Tapirs are held sacred by many Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia and Mesoamerica and are linked so closely in popular imagination in the countries they inhabit that it is the tapir, not the jaguar, that Belize anointed as its national animal.  There are four distinct species: the Baird’s tapir which ranges from Mexico to Colombia; the lowland tapir found across diverse ecosystems in South America; the mountain tapir which loves the cold heights of the Andes; and the Malayan tapir in South East Asia Today’s tapirs are remarkably similar to those that roamed the earth 35 million years ago. That is not the case for their numbers. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says populations of all four species are in decline. Its Red List ranks the lowland tapir as “vulnerable” and the other three as “endangered.” According to the IUCN, there are just 2,500 mature Malayan tapirs left in the wild, while experts peg the Baird’s tapir population at 4,500. The mountain or Andean tapir, the smallest of the species, numbers roughly 2,500 There are no clear population estimates for the lowland tapir these unique animals have faced a host of direct and indirect threats to their survival Hunting in countries where it is not outlawed and habitat encroachment and fragmentation caused by deforestation According to Brenes-Mora and his fellow specialists the fall in numbers isn’t just bad for the tapir depend entirely on tapirs to spread its seeds the tapir sowed the seeds for a career in conservation “I became obsessed with them when I was 5 years old I had an album of animals of the world and in it there was a picture of a tiger attacking a tapir When he grew up, that obsession led him to start a small tapir-focused NGO called Nai Conservation that has now evolved into the Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation. Although he has moved on to Re:wild he remains a board member – and his desire to save the tapir remains as strong as ever “I will never forget what brought me where I am right now Brenes-Mora’s work has certainly benefited the species he loves To address the issue of tapir-vehicle conflicts that brought him back to Costa Rica in 2013 he and his colleagues erected signs on stretches of road where tapirs commonly crossed and worked with local communities to raise awareness The result: road kills in the area have fallen by 70 percent in the past five years which Brenes-Mora attributes directly to the creation of an economy that stopped rewarding destructive practices such as logging and beef rearing and started incentivizing ecotourism and the preservation of nature By making green activities financially attractive the Costa Rican government was able to ensure its human population bought into the new shape of the economy Community buy-in has also been hugely effective in addressing a more recent tapir-human conflict: crop theft by the hefty animals After his success reducing tapir road deaths in the highlands Brenes-Mora and the Nai Conservation team was called upon in 2018 to find a way to stop the animals raiding farmers’ fields These incursions were both new and startling particularly in an area where tapirs had all but vanished The Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation joined forces with the Baird Tapir Survival Alliance and Re:wild to find ways to ease the tension They worked closely with farmers to highlight the important services tapirs provide the planet and such as erecting electric fencing to stop the hungry marauders “And now there is a community who's completely passionate about tapirs and coexist with them,” said Brenes-Mora “Despite the fact that they live with a species that can destroy a whole cucumber plantation in one night local farmers celebrate the tapir – now their crops are protected.” While it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much Costa Rican tapir populations have grown Brenes-Mora pegs the current number at around 1,500 – significantly higher than before Costa Rica embraced conservation He also believes there is a good chance of reversing the downward trend in other nations if conservationists work together and governments choose the right policies In 2017, Brenes-Mora and a group of Baird’s tapir specialists attending the IUCN/SSC Tapir Specialist Group’s Seventh International Tapir Symposium decided to create the Baird's Tapir Survival Alliance which works across borders to fundraise and develop conservation actions Their aim is to implement local action in a regional collaborative model to achieve global impact They have changed so little in millions of years Their genetics are so viable that even though their populations have been drastically reduced hopes that tapirs in other countries will soon be less affected by deforestation and other threats that are driving down their numbers this special species has taught us some very important lessons that we need to prioritize elsewhere as well,” he said “This is important not only in individual countries but across regions and in decisions about international resources for conservation and biodiversity across the GEF partnership.” Subscribe to our distribution list to receive the GEF Newsletter Sign up © 2025 Global Environment Facility, All Rights Reserved.  |   Legal producers needed gregarious characters to capture audience attention and draw them in to the game Few players hammed it up for the cameras more successfully than Humberto Brenes The outgoing Costa Rican found a natural fit as the centerpiece of many a televised poker moment garish tropical wear and clever use of card protectors made him a fan favorite Brenes frequently employed a small shark to guard his station at the table moving it forward to figuratively gobble up the chips he would take from opponents "I'm saving it for the big tournament." The shark was notably missing from his side as he made a run into the money in the $1,100 PokerStars National Championship still sleeping," Brenes confided after he busted in 110th for $1,920 It also helped Brenes' celebrity that he could play a little Brenes rode a famously tight playing style to considerable tournament success He has lapped his Central and South American compatriots many times over in that regard — next best is Argentinian Ivan Luca with just a little over $4 million Brenes has also collected two World Series of Poker bracelets he has slowed down considerably in recent years He booked his first cash of 2017 with aforementioned cash here at PokerStars Championship Panama and that's no accident he devotes most of his time these days to interests off the felt Brenes owns a cafe called El Tostador that he proudly boasts has 27 locations in Costa Rica He and his family also operate a large import/export business centered around shipping nuts and fruit Brenes' son Jose — who graciously helped translate for this piece — recently graduated from college and Brenes' focus at the moment is preparing his heirs to run the family's interests That's been a four-year project for Brenes one that has taken him away from the felt more than he'd like He still finds time to play the occasional home game with friends but trips to play events have been few and far between PokerStars Championship Panama represented a rare chance to fire in an event an hour away from home and he'll work every day," he said with a laugh What Brenes sees when he sits down at the felt here in Panama is a reflection of years of poker's growth in Central America Brenes pointed at the likes of poker legend Erik Seidel — whom Brenes once defeated for a $500,000 win 2002 — competing here along with dozens of players from the region as a sign of how far things have come When asked about his role in helping foster the growth of poker in the area Brenes deflected responsibility from himself and praised the efforts of PokerStars so a lot of Central Americans can see themselves succeeding on PokerStars," Brenes said "PokerStars made a lot of contributions developing Central American and South American players augmented by Brenes' natural charisma allowed his Q score in the poker world to be commensurate with his on-the-felt success Most of his opponents still recognize him immediately and have asked where the famed shark is at He hopes those players will see more of him in the coming years as he begins to turn more business interests over to his children "I'll never retire," he said I'll have all day to play poker." Brenes' infectious love for the game hasn't diminished at all he'd like his final business in Costa Rica to be "Shark Poker Room," a special club for retired people complete with a nursing staff where the retirees can battle each other on the felt all day long Brenes believes it helps keep a person's mind sharp in old age Brenes has one more goal he'd like to accomplish in poker before he fades into the sunset He plans to take a break from the business grind and play a solid WSOP schedule this year in hopes of accomplishing one goal He wasn't as visible as usual at PokerStars Championship Panama But if he wants to capture that third bracelet expect his reliable sidekick to make a return the one who comes out to play when it matters most + Get the Texas Hold'em Poker Cheat Sheet - FREE PokerNews.com is the world’s leading poker website visitors will find a daily dose of articles with the latest poker news Disclaimer: any promotions presented on this page were correct and available at the time of writing We encourage all users to check the promotion displayed matches the most current promotion available by clicking through to the operator welcome page Please read the terms and conditions carefully before you accept any promotional welcome offer modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.