Word: wheeler
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...This policy assumes that CRLS students don't have families that need them sometimes," said student school committee member Rebecca Wheeler. "I've had to stay home four times already this year--twice to take care of my younger brother when he was sick. Under this policy, if I'm absent again I would have to go before a committee to plead my case to keep my academic credit...
...Wheeler, the lost bird was a herald of humanity's continuing plunder of the seas. Having devastated the cod population, Atlantic fishing boats are exhausting the haddock, herring and flounder. "How do you make people see that we are strip-mining the oceans?" Wheeler, once a commercial fisherman himself, asks, his voice edged with puzzlement. "I find myself depressed. Our relationship with the planet is terribly flawed...
...Wheeler decided to use the story of the great auk to dramatize what was happening. A former U.S. Navy deep-sea diver and a veteran kayaker, he set out on a solo 1,500-mile kayak trip from Newfoundland to Buzzards Bay, Mass., following the seasonal migration route of the great auk--as much a feat for a man with a paddle as for a bird that could not fly. He hoped the attention the perilous journey would receive would send a clear message: "What we did to the auk, we are now doing to other species...
...four months he fought head winds and towering swells, sometimes discovering that after hours of struggle, he had not moved an inch, and always knowing that capsizing in the 45[degree]F water would mean "starting to die within minutes." By landing triumphantly in Buzzards Bay, Wheeler brought the great auk back from extinction, at least in the human imagination. PBS featured his trip on its Nova science show; a recounting of the voyage by professional storyteller Jay O'Callahan continues to delight and move thousands of listeners each year; schoolchildren from Nova Scotia to Fiji retrace Wheeler's journey...
...Wheeler is working on a curriculum package for middle schoolers to help instill respect for marine life. When feeling discouraged, he remembers the first day on his voyage, when he had 40 miles to paddle through rough seas before nightfall. "I felt the ocean was testing my sincerity." Having passed that trial, Wheeler can't let the ocean down...