Monumental Constructions: Statues, Identity, and Gabrielle Roy’s “L’arbre”

Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans garnered significant attention for his book In the Shadow of Statues (2018), observing that many Confederate monuments were erected to buttress Jim Crow laws and serve as a warning to those who supported the civil rights movement. Likewise, there are a number of monuments in Québec that serve a particular political or religious purpose, seeking to reinforce a pure laine ideology. In this article, I explore the parallels between the literal and figurative construction and deconstruction of monuments that have fortified invented ideas on identity in francophone North America. Further, Gabrielle Roy’s short story “L’arbre,” which describes a “living monument,” tells the story of a racialized past in North America and unveils the falsities that have been preserved through the construction of statues that perpetuate racial myth. “L’arbre” examines the natural, unconstructed monument of the Live Oak: a tree that witnessed and holds the visible scars of the many terrible realities that took place in its shadows. I use Roy’s short story to show how she sought to deconstruct a whitewashed history of the post-Civil War American South and suggest that her broader corpus rejects determinism wholesale.

Birch-naïve, oak-allergic subjects’ response to birch pollen in an environmental chamber

BACKGROUND: Oak and birch pollens are known to have strong cross-reactivity. It is unknown how robust this cross-reactivity is in subjects without natural exposure to pollen of both trees. We aimed to assess in an Allergen Challenge Chamber (ACC), the symptomatic responsiveness to birch pollen in subjects allergic to and naturally exposed to Virginia Live Oak (VLO) pollen and SPT-sensitive but not naturally exposed to birch pollen. METHODS: Subjects underwent SPT and blood draw for ssIgE to oak and birch antigens. Residential historical data were obtained. Subjects were exposed to birch pollen (3,500 ±700 gr/m ) in 2 consecutive 3-hour challenges. Symptoms were recorded at baseline and 30-minute intervals. RESULTS: Twenty-four subjects, 12 males, age 20-58 yrs, completed the study. Sixteen subjects (66.7%) responded with high total symptom scores (TSS) ≥10 of max 21. Twelve subjects (50%) had ssIgE ≥0.70 kU/L to oak. Subjects with a Class II ssIgE to oak pollen had a significantly higher max TSS than those without. Fifteen subjects without natural exposure to birch pollen responded with TSS equivalent to 9 with previous natural exposure. Those without natural birch exposure also responded similarly to subjects in birch endemic areas reported in the literature. CONCLUSION: Subjects allergic to oak pollen residing in South Texas, responded to birch pollen in an ACC with symptoms comparable to both those with previous exposure and also those residing in endemic areas and reported by other researchers. This robust response of cross-reactivity in oak-allergic subjects, without prior endemic exposure, suggests that a cross-reactive intervention could be efficacious.

High quality, phased genomes of Phytophthora ramorum clonal lineages NA1 and EU1

Phytophthora ramorum is the causal agent of sudden oak death in West Coast forests and currently two clonal lineages, NA1 and EU1, cause epidemics in Oregon forests. Here, we report on two high-quality genomes of individuals belonging to the NA1 and EU1 clonal lineages respectively, using PacBio long-read sequencing. The NA1 strain Pr102, originally isolated from coast live oak in California, is the current reference genome and was previously sequenced independently using either Sanger (P. ramorum v1) or PacBio (P. ramorum v2) technology. The EU1 strain PR-15-019 was obtained from tanoak in Oregon. These new genomes have a total size of 57.5 Mb, with a contig N50 length of ~3.5-3.6 Mb and encode ~15,300 predicted protein-coding genes. Genomes were assembled into 27 and 28 scaffolds with 95% BUSCO scores and are considerably improved relative to the current JGI reference genome with 2,575 or the PacBio genomes with 1,512 scaffolds. These high-quality genomes provide a valuable resource for studying the genetics, evolution, and adaptation of these two clonal lineages.

“Green Life Matters”: Place and the Politics of Environmental and Commemorative Justice

This article analyzes newspaper discourse in Richmond, Virginia surrounding the placement of a statue to Maggie Lena Walker, the first Black woman bank president in the United States, and the proposed removal of a live oak tree to make way for the installation of the Walker statue in the city’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, once known as the “Harlem of the South.” While at first glance, the heated debate surrounding the live oak tree’s proposed removal might conjure a familiar racial divide between white environmentalists and Black community members, this article suggests that the debate in the majority Black city instead captured a broader tension within Black communities torn between advocating for commemorative and environmental justice.

From Whitman to Hugo: An interview with Brian Selznick

‘Walt Whitman loved words’. So begins Barbara Kerley’s and Brian Selznick’s Walt Whitman: Words for America (2004), a biography of the American poet for young readers that has been recognized as a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book. Kerley and Selznick trace the poet from his beginnings as a printer’s apprentice to his volunteer work as a nurse during the American Civil War; and from the young Walt poring over the pages of Arabian Nights and Ivanhoe to his own creative output being interpreted as the voice of his nation. Like all of Selznick’s books, Walt Whitman is illustrated with precise, evocative drawings for all ages. The New York Times bestselling author and illustrator returns to the poet with his latest, Live Oak, with Moss (2019). Among Selznick’s many other popular books for children are The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) and Wonderstruck (2011) (covers available at https://www.thebrianselznick.com/books.htm). These two works have now been adapted into award-winning films by Martin Scorsese (2011) and Todd Haynes (2017), respectively.

Reproduction and Control of the Invasive Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer, Euwallacea nr. fornicatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), in Three Species of Hardwoods: Effective Sanitation Through Felling and Chipping

The invasive ambrosia beetle polyphagous shot hole borer is one member of the cryptic species, Euwallacea nr. fornicatus (Eichhoff), and poses a great ecological and environmental threat to ornamental and native hardwood trees and agriculturally important tree crops in southern California, United States. We monitored the emergence of polyphagous shot hole borer adults from chipped and unchipped cut logs of infested boxelder, Acer negundo L. (Sapindales: Sapindaceae), California sycamore, Platanus racemosa Nutt. (Proteales: Platanaceae), coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia Née (Fagales: Fagaceae), and red willow, Salix laevigata Bebb (Malpighiales: Salicaceae), every week for 4 to 5 mo. No polyphagous shot hole borer adults emerged from chipped or unchipped coast live oak logs, suggesting this species is not a preferred reproductive host. However, following chipping, a small number of polyphagous shot hole borer adults emerged from boxelder (up to 7 wk) and from California sycamore and red willow (both up to 9 wk). A significantly greater number of polyphagous shot hole borer adults emerged from unchipped logs of boxelder (up to 14 wk) and California sycamore and red willow (both up to 5 mo). Chipping of boxelder, California sycamore, and red willow by using common commercially available chippers reduced polyphagous shot hole borer emergence by over 97%. Emerged polyphagous shot hole borer adults were strongly female-biased, regardless of host. Chipping treatments were highly effective, but for the complete elimination of polyphagous shot hole borer from woody material, other sanitation measures such as solarization in conjunction with chipping are recommended. Environmental and ecological impact of polyphagous shot hole borer is reviewed and discussed.