CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Born of an alcoholic father and an emotionally disturbed mother on April 16, 1889 in London, England, Charlie Chaplin became one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. A few years after his birth, his entertainer parents, Charles, Sr. and Hannah Harriet Hill, separated. Their mother was unable to support Charlie and his half-brother, Sydney, on her own, so she was forced to put them to work at a tender age.

At age five, Chaplin therefore started acting in a local music hall. In 1912, while touring America, a film producer asked him to appear in a moving picture. Two years later, he got his first big-screen role in the film Making a Living. In the same year, in the movie Kid Auto Races at Venice, Chaplin’s funny world-famous alter-ego, “The Little Tramp,” was born. From then on, Chaplin starred in, directed, and produced films that permanently changed the filmmaking industry.

In 1918, during the height of World War I, Americans tagged Chaplin as a communist, notwithstanding his obvious support for America's war efforts. They criticized his political views and questioned his decision to not serve in England's Armed Forces-a decision that was borne out of ill health. Moreover, his film Monsieur Verdoux (1947) angered many American politicians because of its strong anti-war message. The American public also became annoyed at the fact that, despite all of his years in America, Chaplin never expressed a desire to become an American citizen.

So when he returned to America from London in 1952 with his wife, Oona O’Neil and their children, American authorities denied his re-entry and labeled him an undesirable alien. This hurt Chaplin, who then resolved never to return. Not wanting to leave a cent of their property in the country they felt mistreated by, Oona later returned to America to dispose of their million-dollar properties.

After 20 peaceful years in Switzerland, Chaplin finally agreed to return to America to receive an award before a grateful crowd of American admirers. He was also knighted by the Queen of England for his contribution to the film arts in 1975.

Charlie Chaplin died on Christmas Day in 1977, leaving a legacy that lives on today. Few artists of his day, or since, have been able to make the world both laugh and cry, as could "The Little Tramp".

THE WONDER GRASS

A natural engineering miracle, vetiver grass grows as a single plant with a thick tangle of roots that grows up to 13 feet underground. This allows it to hold topsoil in place, which prevents the environmental problem of soil erosion. It also absorbs harmful elements in the soil and confines its growth to a small area, which limits ground pollution and water contamination.

In 1986 the Vetiver Network was formed to promote the grass as a cheap, effective aid to agricultural projects in less developed countries. Although founder and chairman Richard Grimshaw observed that vetiver has not really been given much attention and recognition, it has spread to over 100 countries in the last 15 years. For instance, vetiver was recently used to support the 101-mile railway banks that wind through the dense Madagascar forest.

The banks, or land that lies on both sides of the railroad tracks, was eroding quickly. As a consequence, the railroad, which serves as the only means of transportation for more than a hundred thousand rural farmers, was in danger of collapsing. Together with local leaders, the railroad company succeeded in convincing farmers residing along the track to grow vetiver on its slopes. Today, more than 600 farmers have planted an estimated three million vetiver seedlings along the railroad track, along with rice and fruit trees between the rows of vetiver. Although these efforts have served to stabilize the railroad, the usefulness of the grass is still not common knowledge throughout the rest of the world.

Unlike other grasses, vetiver does not compete for space with native plants. Because its roots grow straight down, it remains where it is planted. When individual vetiver plants are grown closely together in bunches, or hedges, only water can pass between the stalks of the grass. Along with this characteristic, vetiver is inexpensive, adaptable to many soil types, and resistant to pests and diseases. Vetiver is a true "wonder grass".

HORSES

The relationship between humans and horses dates back to the time when humans were just beginning to form communities. Initially, humans hunted horses for food, but not long after, they started taming and riding them. The tribes that possessed horses were better able to utilize the resources of the land, trade with distant tribes, and wage war with less mobile neighbors. This enabled the communities to grow larger, gain material wealth, and prosper with larger households. Over the next thousand years, horses became one of the most important foundations of early human civilization.

The ancestors of the modern horse evolved in North America. They populated other parts of the world by crossing the land bridges that connected North America to Europe and Asia during the Ice Age. About 15,000 years ago, horses vanished from North and South America in a wave of extinctions that occurred near the end of the Pleistocene Era. They were not seen in the Americas again until 1494, when Italian explorer Christopher Columbus transported them on ships from Spain on his second voyage to the New World.

Throughout the Middle Ages, between the 5th and 15th centuries AD, and even until modern times, the horse played a key role in expanding trade and exploring new lands. Additionally, horses labored in the areas of agriculture, factory producation, and other manual trades. Aside from these activities, humans also used horses for recreation. Recreational activities such as horseracing, hunting, and polo date back to ancient times. The Iliad, an epic poem by Homer, contains accounts of chariot racing at the time of the Trojan War, which was fought in the early 12th or late 13th century BC.

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300 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92183

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