Restoring ecosystems in the'Big Apple' is topic of forestry school talk

Marc Matsil, chief of the Natural Resources Group of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, will be the next speaker in the School of Forestry's semester-long Distinguished Lecturer lunchtime series titled "The Restoration Agenda: Focus on Plants."

Matsil's talk, titled "Managing Ecosystems in the Big Apple: The Politics and Science of Funding, Acquisition, Restoration and Monitoring," will take place on Wednesday, March 3, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in Bowers Auditorium at Sage Hall, 205 Prospect St. The public is invited, and participants may bring a brown-bag lunch for the discussion following the talk. For registration information, call 432-3335 or e-mail aimlee.laderman@yale.edu.

Upon graduation from Columbia University, Matsil joined the National Park Service, where he conducted wetland and meadow restoration projects as well as wildlife and vegetation surveys for the Alaska National Parks, Mount Rainier and Mesa Verde. In 1986, he became the assistant to Henry J. Stern, the New York City Parks Commissioner, and two years later was named the agency's top employee.

As chief of the Natural Resources Group (NRG), Matsil's job includes protecting the city's ecosystems, cleaning up old landfills, making sure public works projects do not run roughshod over the environment, fighting the effects of oil spills and winning lawsuits against polluters -- more than $60 million over the last decade, according to a recent report in The New York Times. He has also spearheaded the Parks Department's acquisition of 2,000 acres of wetlands and woodlands on the fringes of the city.

The "Restoration Agenda" lecture series is co-sponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration and the New Haven Land Trust, with additional support from the Watershed Fund of the Regional Water Authority and Roots Inc.

Professor to give update on current events in Indonesia

Arief Budiman, a professor of Indonesian at the University of Melbourne, Australia, will discuss "The Latest Political Developments in Indonesia" on Thursday, March 4, at noon in Rm. 203 of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

Budiman is a prominent critic of the regime of former Indonesian president Soeharto, who resigned in the midst of the political turmoil that followed his country's economic collapse two years ago. Budiman, who is head of the Indonesian Program at the Melbourne Institute for Asian Languages and Societies, is also a commentator on Indonesian cultural, literary and political issues.

Budiman's visit is sponsored by the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

Writer will talk about her book detailing clash of cultures

Anne Fadiman, an award-winning reporter who also is editor of The American Scholar, will deliver the Robert Penn Warren Lecture on Thursday, March 4, at 5 p.m. in the Beaumont Room of the Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. In her lecture, titled "Cultural Competence? Immigrant Patients, American Doctors," Fadiman will discuss the emotional and intellectual journey she took while writing the book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures." During the second half of her talk, she will focus on some of the conclusions she has drawn about how American physicians might care more humanely and effectively for patients from other cultures. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Program for Humanities in Medicine.

In "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down," Fadiman tells of the encounters of a young Hmong girl and her family with American doctors in Merced, California, when the girl has a series of seizures, and of the cultural misunderstandings that followed as both family members and doctors tried to do what they believed would help the child. David McClintick, author of "Indecent Exposure," characterized the work by saying, "Anne Fadiman is a virtuoso. Her reporting is deeply revelatory, her writing is elegant, and her story is gripping. 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down' is an unforgettable work of nonfiction literature."

Fadiman has written articles and essays for Harper's, Civilization, Life, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. She has received a John S. Knight Fellowship in Journalism and a National Magazine Award for Reporting.

Former Indian official to talk about politics in his country

"Contemporary Politics in India" is the title of a talk being given on Friday, March 5, by Vidya Charan Shukla, a former member of the Indian Parliament. His talk, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in Rm. 202 of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The event is sponsored by the South Asian Studies Committee.

Shukla is a veteran of the Indian political scene of the last half century. He was a member of Parliament 1957-96, except for a brief interval. He became a member of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Cabinet in 1966, and held positions in the government's offices of parliamentary affairs, home, defense, planning, and information and broadcasting. He became a Cabinet minister in several areas, including external affairs in 1980. His interests include external relations, administrative reforms, environmental conservation and parliamentary affairs.

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