All posts by maiersj

The Critter Getter

Environment, Snapshots

For those of you who don’t know me very well I want to let you in on a little secret, I’m kind of a nerd.  OK, maybe a little more than kind of a nerd.  I have always loved biology, especially those creepy-crawly things that normally terrify others.  Here in south Texas there are plenty of little misunderstood creatures all over our dig site.  Usually, people’s first response to something like a tarantula in their excavation hole is to smash it with a shovel.  I would hate to see any harm come to them out of misplaced fear and ignorance, so I have tasked myself as the resident “Critter Getter.”

My "Marshmallow" Toad
My “Marshmallow” Toad

Since I have been here I have liberated countless spiders, including dozens of tarantulas and a few brown recluses (I usually don’t tell anyone about the brown recluses for fear of dangerous freakouts).  I’ve also freed a few snakes, dug out a fire ant hives, and shooed away a bevy of other bugs from the clothing of my fellow excavators.  I usually don’t have the free time to photo-document every beautiful bug or splendid snake that I find, but occasionally I’m allowed to geek out about geckos and capture some caterpillars.  So if you will, come with me on a Tour-de-Nerd of some of the local creatures that inhabit Sacred Heart Burial Park.  I will spare you the spiders and scorpions, and only show some of my lesser seen friends.  I ensure you that none of them can hurt you, at least not via the internet.

The Silver Serpent
The Silver Serpent

Day four was the day of toads.  We were able to save about seven of these adorable little marshmallows, and move them into a safer section of the cemetery.

Day six contained the widest array of critters.  We freed a couple small silver snakes.  These snakes were so small that even Erica managed to find them charming (Get it?  Snake-Charming?).  I also happened upon a patch of small caterpillars.  This little beauty will later metamorphose into a pipevined swallowtail butterfly.  Ryan also managed to help me capture a tiny whiptail lizard, which was no small feat considering how fast they are and how tired we were.

I hope you never change, caterpillar.
I hope you never change, caterpillar.

My favorite find happened yesterday.  This lovely lady is the larval stage female from the family Phenogodidae, better known as a glow worm.  In this stage of their life, the females are predators of other insects like centipedes and ants.  Best of all, they are bioluminescent, meaning they glow at night!

Green lizard looking at the camera out of a yellow glove
Tiny Whiptail Lizard

I don’t expect everyone to care about my little pals in the same way that I do, but I do hope that they might make a little effort to understand them.  It is not unreasonable to fear spiders and snakes (in fact it is often wise), but here in South Texas we are invading their homes.  They likely fear us more than we do them.  Next time you find one of these tiny buggers, admire it instead of reaching for the shovel.  You might be surprised at how truly amazing they actually are. ~Justin

Orange and black caterpillar
The Glorious Glowworm

Justin

Dirty Work

Environment, Human Rights, Migrant Death, Reflections

There is something gratifying about a hard day’s work to which coming home dirty, sweaty, and exhausted are all obvious signs.  Our field work in Falfurrias always results in us being coated in sand and mud, drenched in sweat, and shambling back to our hotel beds physically drained for a few hours sleep (and I mean the word “few” quite literally).  The typical day has me rising by 5 AM to do field work until about 1pm.  That is usually followed by a myriad of small tasks including paperwork, debriefing meetings, and the occasional blog post, which consumes the remainder of my evening until about midnight when I collapse from exhaustion.

What I just described is a typical day.  Today was NOT a typical day.  The beginning of the day started as usual until we received a call from the local police chief around noon.  The chief, Benny Martinez, informed us that a body had been found on a local ranch and asked us to assist in the recovery.  So the entire UIndy crew, Dr. Baker and I piled into Chief’s truck and drove several miles to the gate of the ranch.  The rancher, border patrol, and a representative from the local funeral home met us at the gate and escorted us across a web of ever-winding and ever-narrowing dirt roads to what I assumed was our site.  It was not.  Our site was still several hundred yards away through thorns and sand.

Uindy team members in the brush talking to Border PatrolThe rest of the recovery was gruesome, so I’ll spare you the details.  What is important to know is that this person perished in pursuit of a better life.   As the “Recovery Expert” for our team, I have been on many forensic recoveries, and as a recovery this one was not particularly different.  What stuck with me this time were the stories along the way.

The chief and the deputy sheriff have been on five recoveries in six days, and they only expect them to happen more frequently as the temperatures increase (as a reference it has averaged between 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit).  Often times they are attempting to respond to distress calls but due to extreme weather, distance, and lack of man power end up requiring the assistance of the funeral home.  They told us how the coyotes leading the border crossers (often women and children) would pace them at a mile every fifteen minutes through this baking heat, and if the crossers could not keep up they would be left behind.  The officials we talked to all echoed similar stories of kidnappings, extortions, and rapes at the hands of the coyotes.  While these accounts are incredibly disturbing and hard to stomach, they represent the harsh reality facing those attempting to cross the border and must be addressed.

UIndy team standing in the brush with orange flags dispersedPeople often tell us how important our work is, but sometimes it is hard for me to see.  The work we do is completely reactive, in that by the time we are involved someone has already died.  To quote another forensic anthropologist, “We stand on the shoulders of giants.”  What we do is but a small piece of a very large puzzle.  We do not stand alone, nor could we.  We could not function without the great people of Falfurrias like Chief Benny Martinez, Deputy Sheriff Leonel Munoz, and the countless others who serve this wonderful county.

Uindy team smiling with a border patrol and authority persons

~Justin

Southern Hospitality

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death, Reflections

Metal grave marker reading "Unknown Female Remains"

What I do is not very glamorous.  I specialize in forensic anthropology, in short I deal with dead things (specifically bones).  When I tell people that I specialize in forensics, I am usually greeted with a disgusted “Why?”  Occasionally, people are intrigued.  In Falfurrias, the community has been nothing but appreciative.

I don’t know what I was expecting the first time we travelled to Falfurrias.  Initially I thought we would be faced with hostility.  Immigration and border issues are a hot-button issue.  Border concerns are incredibly politically volatile and polarizing.  I was certain that our human rights work would not be well received or at the very least misunderstood.  I could not have been further from the truth.  Instead of fear and animosity, the community has truly embraced our work.  I never could have anticipated the reverence given by this far-away community that I now love as my own.

The people of Falfurrias never asked for death at their doorstep.  They are merely the victims of circumstance.  The community had no means of dealing with a tragedy of this magnitude.  Our work, however slight it may be, helps to ameliorate this crisis.  While what we do is no quick-fix, we offer whatever assistance we can.  Our work is not a solution- it is but a bandage on a very deep wound.  Hopefully, more exposure will bring more assistance and discourse to help solve this problem.

We could not do this work alone.  In fact, we are tourists in this problem.  We are here for a few weeks a year to lend whatever assistance we can.  We stand shoulder to shoulder with a force of amazing individuals; the people of Falfurrias, the professors and students of Baylor and Texas State, and the local police and border patrols.  They face these issues every day, and should be recognized as the true heroes for this cause.

Justin