ANCIENT HORSES: ORIGINS OF AN IDEA

by Janet A. Ginsburg

There it was, buried in the Metro section of the morning paper: one short paragraph announcing the first West Nile crow fatality in the Chicago area for 2006. 'Tis the season and reports are trickling in: Positive mosquito pools in Missouri. Dead birds in Ontario. A sick horse in Idaho. A 27-year-old man hospitalized in central California (no need to worry, though, at least according to the news report…).

A few years ago, West Nile was headline. It was news that hit home, almost literally, when an exquisitely handsome crow fell from of the sky one day, landing face-down in some nearby grass. I happened to be working on a West Nile story for National Geographic television and actually needed crow footage, so it was strangely fortuitous. My afternoon spent on “Golf Course Safari,” tooling around the suburban wilds in a golf-cart-cum-Land-Rover, had been a bust. The dozens of crows that had taken up seasonal residence in years past to dine on the grubby bounty of manicured greens had vanished. There wasn’t a caw to be heard....
________________________________________

To read the full article on how the clues came together for The Mystery of the Ancient Horses, go to the archives page at germtales.com

germtales is now a website. In addition to posts on subjects ranging from The Mystery of the Ancient Horses to Mind Germs, there are book reviews, interviews, news headline links and an extensive, eclectic sources page.

Thanks for your interest!

best,

Janet

Technorati Tags:
germtales, Janet A. Ginsburg, ancient horses, West Nile,Janet Ginsburg