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1. Identify a topic to study or research.

2. State the ambiguity or contradiction about the topic and gather information.

3. Clarify the ambiguous or contradictory issues to extract the theme and gather more information, if necessary.

4. Summarize understandings and generate insights about the topic.

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Video

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Feb. 22, 2012&#151; -- Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy so frightened maternity doctors with the color of his skin -- "as Blue as Lake Louise" -- that he was rushed just hours after his birth in 1975 to University of Kentucky Medical Center.

As a transfusion was being readied, the baby's grandmother suggested to doctors that he looked like the "blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek." Relatives described the boy's great-grandmother Luna Fugate as "blue all over," and "the bluest woman I ever saw."

In an unusual story that involves both genetics and geography, an entire family from isolated Appalachia was tinged blue. Their ancestral line began six generations earlier with a French orphan, Martin Fugate, who settled in Eastern Kentucky.

Doctors don't see much of the rare blood disorder today, because mountain people have dispersed and the family gene pool is much more diverse.

But the Fugates' story still offers a window into a medical mystery that was solved through modern genetics and the sleuth-like energy of Dr. Madison Cawein III, a hematologist at the University of Kentucky's Lexington Medical Clinic.

Cawein died in 1985, but his family charts and blood samples led to a sharper understanding of the recessive diseases that only surface if both parents carry a defective gene.

The most detailed account, "Blue People of Troublesome Creek," was published in 1982 by the University of Indiana's Cathy Trost, who described Benjy's skin as "almost purple."

The Fugate progeny had a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia, which was passed down through a recessive gene and blossomed through intermarriage.

"It's a fascinating story," said Dr. Ayalew Tefferi, a hematologist from Minnesota's Mayo Clinic. "It also exemplifies the intersection between disease and society, and the danger of misinformation and stigmatization."

Methemoglobinemia is a blood disorder in which an abnormal amount of methemoglobin -- a form of hemoglobin -- is produced, according to the National Institutes for Health. Hemoglobin is responsible for distributing oxygen to the body and without oxygen, the heart, brain and muscles can die.

In methemoglobinemia, the hemoglobin is unable to carry oxygen and it also makes it difficult for unaffected hemoglobin to release oxygen effectively to body tissues. Patients' lips are purple, the skin looks blue and the blood is "chocolate colored" because it is not oxygenated, according to Tefferi.

"You almost never see a patient with it today," he said. "It's a disease that one learns about in medical school and it is infrequent enough to be on every exam in hematology."

The disorder can be inherited, as was the case with the Fugate family, or caused by exposure to certain drugs and chemicals such as anesthetic drugs like benzocaine and xylocaine. The carcinogen benzene and nitrites used as meat additives can also be culprits, as well as certain antibiotics, including dapsone and chloroquine.

The genetic form of methemoglobinemia is caused by one of several genetic defects, according to Tefferi. The Fugates probably had a deficiency in the enzyme called cytochrome-b5 methemoglobin reductase, which is responsible for recessive congenital methemoglobinemia.

Normally, people have less than about 1 percent of methemoglobin, a type of hemoglobin that is altered by being oxidized so is useless in carrying oxygen in the blood. When those levels rise to greater than 20 percent, heart abnormalities and seizures and even death can occur.

But at levels of between 10 and 20 percent a person can develop blue skin without any other symptoms. Most of blue Fugates never suffered any health effects and lived into their 80s and 90s.

"If you are between 1 percent and 10 percent, no one knows you have an abnormal level and this might be the case in a lot of unsuspecting patients," he said.

Many other recessive gene diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, Tay Sachs and cystic fibrosis can be lethal, he said.

"If I carry a bad recessive gene with a rare abnormality and married, the child probably wouldn't be sick, because it's very rare to meet another person with the [same] bad gene and the most frequent cause therefore is in-breeding," Tefferi said.

Such was the case with the Fugates.

Martin Fugate came to Troublesome Creek from France in 1820 and family folklore says he was blue. He married Elizabeth Smith, who also carried the recessive gene. Of their seven children, four were reported to be blue.

There were no railroads and few roads outside the region, so the community remained small and isolated. The Fugates married other Fugate cousins and families who lived nearby, with names like Combs, Smith, Ritchie and Stacy.

Benjy's father, Alva Stacy showed Trost his family tree and remarked, "If you'll notice -- I'm kin to myself," according to Trost.

One of Martin and Elizabeth Fugate's blue boys, Zachariah, married his mother's sister. One of their sons, Levy, married a Ritchie girl and had eight children, one of them Luna. Luna married John E. Stacy and they had 13 children.

Benjy descended from the Stacy line.

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Fugates of Kentucky: Skin Bluer than Lake Louise

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Genetics and in-breeding played a role in the Blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek in Kentucky.

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The Appalachian region is filled with incredible tall tales and mysteries, many of which are more grounded in fancy exaggeration than historic fact; however, one story that has been well documented is the existence of a peculiar mountain people whose skin color was blue.

Known as the "Blue Fugates", the eastern-Kentucky family was said to have retained a genetic trait that led to a disease which made their skin color blue.

Born in France and orphaned as a child, Martin Fugate arrived in the Appalachian Mountains near Hazard, Kentucky, in the early 1800s.

Soon, the French-born Appalachian settler fell in love with a woman named Elizabeth Smith and in no time, a family was formed in the hills of Kentucky.

Unbeknownst to Martin, however, his red headed bride was a carrier of a rare genetic disease known as hereditary methemoglobinemia ... don't worry, we'll just call this disease "met-H" hereafter.

In 1832 the first known descendant of the family was born blue skin. With a limited selection for potential spouses, the family's descendants continued to intermarry inside the isolated mountain region.

A 1998 Dear Cecil article states, "The Fugate family tree is a tangled mess of cousins marrying cousins - blue people started popping up frequently thereafter. A half dozen or so were on the scene by the 1890s, and one case was reported as recently as 1975. They were quite a sight. One woman is said to have had lips the color of a bruise."

According to a report posted by Indiana University, descendants of the couple were being born with blue skin some six generations later.

In 1982, Cathy Trost published an article detailing the 1975-birth of Benjamin Stacy, the final "blue person" to be born in Kentucky.

"Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjy Stacy's skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to a medical clinic in Lexington. Two days of tests produced no explanation for skin the color of a bruised plum.

"A transfusion was being prepared when Benjy's grandmother spoke up. 'Have you ever heard of the blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek?' she asked the doctors.

"My grandmother Luna on my dad's side was a blue Fugate. It was real bad in her,' Alva Stacy, the boy's father, explained. 'The doctors finally came to the conclusion that Benjy's color was due to blood inherited from generations back.'

"Benjy lost his blue tint within a few weeks, and now he is about as normal looking a seven-year-old boy as you could hope to find. His lips and fingernails still turn a shade of purple-blue when he gets cold or angry a quirk that so intrigued medical students after Benjy's birth that they would crowd around the baby and try to make him cry. 'Benjy was a pretty big item in the hospital,' his mother says with a grin.

"Dark blue lips and fingernails are the only traces of Martin Fugate's legacy left in the boy; that, and the recessive gene that has shaded many of the Fugates and their kin blue for the past 162 years."

Around the 1960s, nurse Ruth Pendergrass and hematologist Madison Cawein III, began studying the family's condition and treating them with methylene blue, which eased their symptoms and reduced the blue coloring of their skin.

He eventually published his research in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1964.

As travel became easier in the 20th century, and families spread out over wider areas and the prevalence of the recessive gene in the local population reduced, and with it the probability of inheriting the disease.

Benjamin Stacy, born in 1975, is the last known descendant of the Fugates to have been born exhibiting the characteristic blue color of the disease, and lost his blue skin tone as he grew older.

It has been speculated that some other American sufferers of inherited met-H may also have had Fugate ancestors, but searches for direct links have so far proved inconclusive.

Like articles like this? Then you will love Appalachian Magazine's Ghost Stories & Haint Tales: A Collection of Memories & Commentaries a Collection of Memories and Commentaries from the Mountains of Appalachia! Click here to check out the book on Amazon!

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The "Blue People" of the Appalachian Mountains

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The Appalachian region is filled with incredible tall tales and mysteries, many of which are more grounded in fancy exaggeration than historic fact; however, one story that has been well documented is the existence of a peculiar mountain people whose skin color was blue.

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A (Healthy) Blue Baby

"Have you ever heard of the Fugates of Troublesome Creek?"

This simple question by a knowing grandmother solved a riddle for a little boy born blue.

When little Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy was born in a small hospital near Hazard, Kentucky, he was the picture of health. He was also very, very blue. So blue, in fact, that his skin was the deep purple color of a plum. His doctors were alarmed by the sight and immediately sent him by ambulance to a hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.

Little Benjamin was subjected to an exhaustive schedule of tests in an attempt to explain the startling blue color. While he did not appear to be in any distress, doctors began to set up a blood transfusion for the tiny baby. That was when his grandmother stepped in, asking the doctors if they've heard of the Fugates of Troublesome Creek. The boy's father, Alva Stacy, then explained that his paternal grandmother Luna was also blue-and apparently was quite healthy in life.

Benjy's blue color started to fade a bit over the next few weeks, and as he grew, the only remaining traces of blue coloration were in his lips and nails (the color was particularly noticeable when he became cold). The doctors came to the conclusion that Benjy had inherited a rare gene found in the Appalachians-a gene that turned entire generations of one family blue.

Martin Fugate: The First Blue Man in Kentucky

In 1820, French orphan Martin Fugate and his wife Elizabeth Smith moved onto the banks of Troublesome Creek, a beautiful area in Appalachian Kentucky. There is no official record documenting that Martin was actually blue, but he and his wife both carried a recessive gene that gave their son Zachariah Fugate a startling blue color. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children-four of them were blue. Since the gene causing their blue coloration is recessive, the family had a 25% chance of having a blue child with each pregnancy if Martin and Elizabeth were carriers. If Martin was blue, the odds would have increased to 50% for each child as Martin would have carried two copies of the recessive gene.

Inbreeding was a common occurrence in the rural and isolated Appalachian region. Fugate descendants married other Fugate descendants, concentrating the "blue gene" over generations. The gene found in the Fugate family is from a line of French Huguenots, whose descendants settled in Kentucky, Ireland, and Finland.

Luna Fugate, little Benjy's great-grandmother, was one of the bluest Fugates known to the Appalachian region. Luna was described as being blue all over, with lips the color of a dark bruise. Despite her alien-like color, she was entirely healthy and had 13 children in her 84-year span of life.

What Caused the Blue Skin Color?

The Short Answer

The blue skin was caused by a diaphorase deficiency that led to methemoglobinemia, a rare condition that causes elevated levels of methemoglobin, the form of hemoglobin that cannot bind to oxygen.

The Scientific Explanation

Scientists were quite intrigued as to the cause of the blue skin (cyanosis) in the Fugate family. In the 1960s, a young hematologist named Madison Cawein traveled to the region with an aim to cure the blue people of their skin color. The doctor hiked through the Appalachian hills, on a mission to find the famous blue people of Kentucky. He finally found a couple-Patrick and Rachel Ritchie-who was willing to participate in his study.

Dr. Cawein started by ruling out any heart or lung condition that could cause the blue tint. He then suspected methemoglobinemia.
Normal Hemoglobin Function
Hemoglobin is the protein in the red blood cells that carries oxygen to other cells throughout the body. Each hemoglobin molecule is bound to four iron ions that, in turn, bind to four oxygen molecules. This process is called oxidation and converts the iron ions from their reduced form (Fe ²⁺) to their oxidized form (Fe ³⁺). This is also what gives blood their red color.
What Happens When Hemoglobin Is Damaged?
When hemoglobin is damaged by oxidation, the iron ions remain in their oxidized state and are unable to bind to oxygen. Normally, people have no more than 2% methemoglobin in their blood, thanks to the enzyme diaphorase-more specifically, methemoglobin reductase-that converts methemoglobin back into hemoglobin. However, in certain cases (e.g. enzyme deficiencies, inherited disorders, or exposure to toxins), methemoglobin may continue to build up over time, leading to methemoglobinemia.
What Are the Symptoms of Methemoglobinemia?
Elevated levels aren't usually detrimental-even at 10-20% methemoglobin, when signs of slightly blue skin may be noticed. The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. At 30%, nausea, difficulty breathing, and an elevated heart rate start to appear. At 55%, people may feel extremely lethargic and go in and out of consciousness. Levels at or above 70% are considered life-threatening and are accompanied by erratic heartbeats and circulatory problems.
Absence of Diaphorase Leads to the Build Up of Methemoglobin
The Ritchies had none of the symptoms of methemoglobinemia-nothing but their discolored skin. Working off of Dr. E. M. Scott's study of similar cases in Alaskan Eskimos and Indians-in which he found decreased levels of the enzyme diaphorase, the enzyme responsible for converting methemoglobin back to hemoglobin-Dr. Cawein performed enzyme assays on additional blood samples from other blue family members. To his amazement, he also found decreased diaphorase. The riddle was solved. This meant that methemoglobin accumulated overtime, making the skin bluer and bluer.

Dr. Cawein published his research in Archives of Internal Medicine in 1964, documenting the study of this family and their congenital methemoglobinemia that was caused by a hereditary diaphorase deficiency.

Who Was Dr. Cawein?

Madison Cawein was a purposeful hematologist at the University of Kentucky's Lexington Medical Center. In addition to determining the cause of the Fugate family's medical mystery, he contributed to the early research that lay the foundation for the use of L-dopa in treating Parkinson's disease.

An Ironic Cure for Blue Skin

To convert the blue methemoglobin back into red hemoglobin, Dr. Cawein suggested the use of a dye called methylene blue. Ironically, this blue dye could change the blue color of the affected blood into a normal red color. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is another method of treating the condition.

Of course, it was a tad difficult to convince the blue people of Kentucky that a blue dye would cure the condition. Nevertheless, Patrick and Rachel volunteered to try the treatment.

A simple injection of the dye caused a stunning color change. Within minutes, Patrick changed from blue to pink. This, however, was a temporary fix. The dye couldn't fix their enzyme deficiency, so Dr. Cawein left the people with a supply of methylene blue pills to be taken on a continual basis.

How Does the Methylene Blue Treatment Work?

The dye, in its reduced form, is colorless and water-soluble. When added to the blood, it acts as an electron donor, reducing the iron in the blood from Fe ³⁺ to Fe ²⁺ and turning blue as a result. Since it is water-soluble, it is excreted through the urine, which is why some of the older mountain people thought the blue color of their skin was literally "pouring" out of them.

As coal trains and other modern highway connectors began connecting Troublesome Creek with the rest of the nation, people began leaving the area. The gene is no longer concentrated, and the chance of intermingling between two gene carriers is remote. Still, the possibility does exist-as the parents of little Benjy Stacy proved.

Did You Know?

Argyria, a condition caused by ingesting excess amounts of silver, can also cause the skin to appear blue to purple-gray.

What Became of Benjamin Stacy?

The little boy born blue has grown up. He attended Eastern Kentucky University, married, and lives a perfectly typical life in Fairbanks, Alaska. Other than an occasional worried comment from unknowing friends about the color of his lips or fingernails, there is little outward sign of the methemoglobinemia.

Types of Congenital Methemoglobinemia

There are several types of congenital methemoglobinemia varying in severity of symptoms. In this case, a deficiency in NADH cytochrome b5 reductase (methemoglobin reductase), a diaphorase caused members of the Fugate family to have blue skin.

Type I: This type is limited to the red blood cells and causes a blue color.

Type II: The enzyme is deficient in all tissues, and devastating systemic effects are seen-mental retardation, a small head size, and other central nervous system problems are severe. The child will also present with a blue color.

Type III: The entire blood cell system is affected, including platelets, white blood cells, and red blood cells. Fortunately, this variant does not cause any medical problems (other than a blue skin color).

Type IV: This type only affects the red blood cells and causes a chronic blue color. No other medical problems are associated with Type IV.

The majority of methemoglobinemia cases are caused by an acquired problem (e.g. the person was exposed to oxidizing drugs, toxins, or chemicals). In the case of acquired methemoglobinemia, the patient must be monitored for low blood oxygen levels and anemia since the amount of circulating normal hemoglobin may be reduced to extremely low levels.

Questions & Answers

How factual is the novel "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek"? For example, did people actually hunt the blue people in the 1930's? I know it's possible given our historical intolerance of genetic differences, but I like to hope that at least this cruelty was fiction.

"The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" is a work of fiction, and uses the general knowledge of the Fugate family as a base for a story of a woman who is set apart from the general community in the Appalachians. Most of the story is fictitious, including the hunting scenario. Many works of literature stray far from historical facts to generate an interesting story.

When did the last blue person live?

There are people who have methemoglobinemia currently. The last member of the Fugate family to inherit the trait causing methemoglobinemia in the Appalachian mountains was Benjy Stacy, who was born in 1975. The inherited trait in this region is much less common and unlikely to be seen as the community is not as isolated as it once was.

Did anyone in Mary Well's family have the blue skin trait and possibly pass it onto her which caused Martin to have blue skin?

The official family pedigree chart shows Martin Fugate (son of Benjamin Fugate and Hannah) as an individual with blue skin. The chart shows Mary Wells to be a carrier of the gene, and she was married to Martin Fugate. Mary did not display the blue skin phenotype since she only had one copy of the gene. It is unknown if anyone in Mary's family had both copies of the recessive gene. The only documented family in the area showing the blue skin phenotype due to methemoglobinemia was the Fugate family. The Smith family later intermarried the Fugate family and also carried the genes for methemoglobinemia.

There are several "Martin Fugates" in the family line, as the family pedigree starts with Josias Fugate, who married Mary Martin. Neither one of these individuals was blue. They have one documented son, named Martin, who married a woman named Sarah. Martin (the first) and Sarah were not blue, either.

Martin and Sarah have two documented children, Martin (the second) and William. Martin (the second) had blue skin and William did not. Martin the second is the first one in the family to have the phenotype. Martin the second married Mary Wells. They had three children, Hanna (likely heterozygote), James (did not carry the gene), and Zachariah (heterozygote).

At this point, Zachariah married Mary Smith, who was also a heterozygous carrier. Their son Lorenzo had both copies of the gene and had blue skin. Lorenzo married the granddaughter of Martin and Mary Wells. Zachariah and Mary Smith's other son John Fugate also displayed blue skin. After this generation, the Fugate, Smith, Ritchie, and Sevens family lines become entangled as there were several cousin marriages, increasing the number of people born with blue skin.

I recall family members from earlier generations who used to talk of 'blue babies.' Is this what they could be referring to? Most of my family is in the Johnston County, NC, area but we have family sprinkled from here to the Appalachia by way of Trail of Tears descendants.

It is impossible to tell if they were referring to the isolated Fugate family in the Appalachian mountains, or if they were referring to babies who were experiencing cyanosis due to heart defects at birth. As heart defects are a fairly common condition and were not as easily treated a century ago, some "blue babies" were really suffering from a lack of oxygen due to congenital cardiac problems. The Fugate family's methemoglobinemia was isolated to their family, but it is possible your family heard tales of the "blue people in Kentucky" and shared the stories of this family.

Is this the basis of the nursery rhyme "Little Boy Blue Come Blow Your Horn?"

This genetic condition is not the source of the nursery rhyme. The earliest reference to the Little Boy Blue nursery rhyme is in Shakespeare's King Lear play, which originally read:

"Sleepest or wakest thou, jolly shepherd?

Thy sheepe be in the corne;

And for one blast of thy minikin mouth

Thy sheepe shall take no harme"

At that time, there was no reference to the color blue. It is likely the blue was added in reference to the supposed color of the clothing the boy was wearing, not the color of his skin.

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Blue People of Kentucky: Why the Fugate Family Had Blue Skin

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"Have you ever heard of the Fugates of Troublesome Creek?" This simple question by a knowing grandmother solved a riddle for a little boy born blue. When little Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy was born in a small hospital near Hazard, Kentucky, he was the picture of health. He was also very, very blue.

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The Micronesian island of Pingelap bursts with color. White beaches gleam beneath the bluest of skies. Tropical fish in every shade fill the aquamarine lagoon and birds in vivid hues fly among lush green palms. Surrounding it all lies an azure sea stretching toward the horizon. But a surprising number of the people who live there see only a kaleidoscope of black, white, and shades of gray.

An unusually high number of Pingelapese are completely colorblind, a condition called achromatopsia. This rare disorder afflicts one in every 30,000 people in most parts of the world, or roughly .00003 percent of the population. But as many as 10 percent of the people on this tiny Pacific island live with it. They see no color, are extremely sensitive to light, and generally have poor vision. "It's easy to recognize them," says Belgian photographer Sanne de Wilde. "They blink and squint constantly."

De Wilde spent a month in Pingelap and the neighboring island of Pohnpei to get a better sense of how the Pingelapese see the world. The result is the incredible new book Island of the Colorblind. "I wanted to look through their eyes and make the viewer also reconsider and reinvestigate color," de Wilde says. "What does it mean to not have color in your life? What is the value of color if it's just a word without meaning?"

The book borrows its title from neurologist Oliver Sacks's 1996 tome, which made the island famous. He attributes the prevalence of achromatopsia to a typhoon in the late 18th century that killed all but a few people. The king survived, and because he carried the gene that causes the disorder, so do many of those descended from him. Today, locals call the condition " maskun," which means "not-see."

De Wilde learned about Pingelap two years ago, and decided to make the 10,000-mile journey from her home in Amsterdam, boarding three commercial flights and a four-seater plane to get there.

More than 200 people inhabit the atoll, which covers less than a square mile. It features one street, an elementary school, and two churches. Everyone lives in homes thatched with palm fronds or covered with tin, and they earn a living fishing and harvesting fruit. Those with achromatopsia get by as best they can, but sunglasses, tinted lenses, and other necessities are in short supply.

De Wilde spent several days on the island, getting to know people and exploring the stunning landscape. She spent the rest of her time meeting Pingelapese expats on Pohnpei, an island about 170 miles away. All told, she photographed around 40 people.

Her striking images imagines how the world looks to those with achromatopsia. She shot in black-and-white and in infrared, creating eerie colors and explosions of light. After returning home to Amsterdam, De Wilde asked people with achromatopsia to add a little color to some of her black-and-white prints. The colors they chose were surprisingly accurate, and the resulting images remarkably realistic. "We live in a world where there's a lot of pressure for people to see the same, and to perceive the world the same way," De Wilde says. "You see how hard they try to paint things right."

Rather than present cliched images of a tropical island, De Wilde offers a poetic rumination on color and light. She finds paradise in a kaleidoscope of white and black and all those shades of gray.

Island of the Colorblind was released by Hannibal Publishers and Kehrer Verlag in June.

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Explore a Tropical Paradise Through the Eyes of the Colorblind

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The Micronesian island of Pingelap bursts with color. White beaches gleam beneath the bluest of skies. Tropical fish in every shade fill the aquamarine lagoon and birds in vivid hues fly among lush green palms. Surrounding it all lies an azure sea stretching toward the horizon.

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Pingelap Atoll, a Micronesian island in the South Pacific, sometimes goes by its other name, the Island of the Colorblind. That's the moniker Oliver Sacks assigned the island in his 1996 book that explored the human brain. Pingelap piqued the interest of Sacks and many other scientists because of its strange genetic circumstance. According to legend, a devastating typhoon in 1775 caused a population bottleneck. One of the survivors, the ruler, carried a rare gene for an extreme type of color blindness. Eventually, he passed the gene to the island's later generations.

Today roughly 10 percent of the island's people are still believed to have the gene for the condition, known as complete achromatopsia, a rate significantly higher than the one-in-30,000 occurrence elsewhere in the world. But 10 percent is also high enough that the concept of color-and who can see it-has acquired new meaning among people in Pingelap.

Belgian photographer Sanne De Wilde has used the island and the concept of color blindness to inspire a series of images on genetics. During a visit to Pingelap in 2015, she created photos showing the world as a color-blind person might see it. Some are complete black-and-white images. But several achromatopes claimed they could see slight variations of some colors, like red or blue. So she used infrared photo settings and lenses on her camera to distort and mute certain colors. Then, in a stroke of artistry, she invited some of the sufferers to paint over some of the images with watercolors to reflect how they saw the world.

The challenge of vision impairment, of course, is that it's hard to understand something the eye has never seen. What is orange to a person who only knows black and white? "Color is just a word to those who cannot see it," De Wilde observed. Once back from the island, she created in her Amsterdam studio an installation as a form of reverse osmosis, to simulate color blindness. Visitors were invited to paint using colors that never seem to appear. And then later, to their surprise and bewilderment, they were confronted with their blindly colorful artwork.

"What I'm really trying to do is to invite people to a new way of seeing and interacting with the world," says De Wilde. Her other projects, about albinism and dwarfism, occupy the same overlap of genetics, geography, and social stigma. But there's something primal about vision, the eyes as the body's first ambassadors to the world. A project about color becomes a project about perspective, and how two people's are never quite the same.

Sanne De Wilde's book, The Island of the Colorblind, is available for purchase from joint publishers Uitgeverij Kanibaal and Kehrer Verlag.

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On Island of the Colorblind, Paradise Has a Different Hue

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Pingelap Atoll, a Micronesian island in the South Pacific, sometimes goes by its other name, the Island of the Colorblind. That's the moniker Oliver Sacks assigned the island in his 1996 book that explored the human brain. Pingelap piqued the interest of Sacks and many other scientists because of its strange genetic circumstance.

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In a potato field near the Netherlands' border with Belgium, Dutch farmer Jacob van den Borne is seated in the cabin of an immense harvester before an instrument panel worthy of the starship Enterprise.

From his perch 10 feet above the ground, he's monitoring two drones-a driverless tractor roaming the fields and a quadcopter in the air-that provide detailed readings on soil chemistry, water content, nutrients, and growth, measuring the progress of every plant down to the individual potato. Van den Borne's production numbers testify to the power of this "precision farming," as it's known. The global average yield of potatoes per acre is about nine tons. Van den Borne's fields reliably produce more than 20.

That copious output is made all the more remarkable by the other side of the balance sheet: inputs. Almost two decades ago, the Dutch made a national commitment to sustainable agriculture under the rallying cry "Twice as much food using half as many resources." Since 2000, van den Borne and many of his fellow farmers have reduced dependence on water for key crops by as much as 90 percent. They've almost completely eliminated the use of chemical pesticides on plants in greenhouses, and since 2009 Dutch poultry and livestock producers have cut their use of antibiotics by as much as 60 percent.

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In a potato field near the Netherlands' border with Belgium, Dutch farmer Jacob van den Borne is seated in the cabin of an immense harvester before an instrument panel worthy of the starship Enterprise.

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Hacking Tomatoes at the World's Greenest Greenhouse

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https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.129/22d.937.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EW-10-03-17-The-Tiny-Country-that-Feeds-the-World.mp3

The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country with more than 1,300 inhabitants per square mile. It lacks almost every resource one associates with large-scale agriculture. Nevertheless, it is the number two exporter of food in the world, second only to the United States, which is almost 300 times bigger. The Dutch lead the world in exporting tomatoes, potatoes and onions and produce many other crops as well.

The Netherlands has achieved this status with a commitment to sustainable agriculture made nearly 20 years ago based on the principle "Twice as much food using half as many resources."

Dutch farmers have reduced dependence on water for key crops by as much as 90%. They've almost completely eliminated the use of chemical pesticides in greenhouses, and have greatly reduced the use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock.

Over the past 30 years, the Dutch tomato industry has become the world leader in yield, producing more tomatoes per square mile than anywhere else. It is among the world leaders in yield in many other crops as well. Some high-tech potato farms in the Netherlands produce more than twice as much crop per acre as the global average yield.

Enormous greenhouses stretch across the Dutch landscape, with LED lighting operating throughout the night and permitting 24-hour cultivation under precisely climate-controlled conditions. Some of these greenhouse complexes cover 175 acres.

The Netherland is a tiny country faced with many challenges such as the inexorable flow of water into the land. But it is a country that has long used engineering to deal with adversity and the Dutch approach to growing food provides an impressive example for the rest of the world.
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This Tiny Country Feeds the World
Photo, posted July 11, 2009, courtesy of Dorine Ruter via Flickr.

'The Tiny Country That Feeds The World' from Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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The Tiny Country That Feeds The World | Earth Wise

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The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country with more than 1,300 inhabitants per square mile. It lacks almost every resource one associates with large-scale agriculture. Nevertheless, it is the number two exporter of food in the world, second only to the United States, which is almost 300 times bigger.

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America's Basketball Heaven

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- A town of just over 20,000 people, Kinston is your typical eastern North Carolina town - with one big exception.

Over the last 50 years, seven basketball players from Kinston High School have gone on to be drafted in the NBA or make a NBA roster. That means a player who makes a varsity team at Kinston has roughly a one percent chance of making it to the NBA.

Seven players from Lenoir County have been drafted by NBA teams.

Cedric Maxwell attended UNC-Charlotte, leading the basketball team to the a NCAA Final Four. He was drafted 12th overall by the Boston Celtics in 1977. In 1983, Mitchell Wiggins was drafted 23rd overall by the Indiana Pacers after a college career that took him to both Clemson and Florida State.

Charles Shackleford played college basketball at North Carolina State University and was drafted 32nd overall by the New Jersey Nets in 1988. Jerry Stackhouse played college ball for the University of North Carolina and was drafted third overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1995.

Herbert Hill played college basketball at Providence and was drafted 55th overall by the Utah Jazz in 2007. More recently, Reggie Bullock went to UNC and was drafted 25th overall by the L.A. Clippers. In June, Brandon Ingram was drafted second overall by the L.A. Lakers after one year at Duke.

Tony Dawson, another product of the Kinston pipeline, was not drafted but did play in the NBA.

"It is incredible the size of the town, but yet you think about those players that have been there and what they've accomplished. It's phenomenal," said UNC basketball coach Roy Williams. "It's a pretty impressive list of just the players who have gone and played in the ACC and kept going. But there's a lot of college coaches that need to make a stop in Kinston every opportunity they get."

With players like Stackhouse and Bullock, Kinston has been kind to the Tar Heels.

"If I hear there's a player in Kinston, I am going to go there quicker than I would go to New York City," Williams said.

"It's called tradition," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "A lot of times people think of tradition with a school or whatever, but the Kinston community has a tradition of loving the game and producing real good basketball players."

Where it starts

Many major metropolitan areas have not produced the level of basketball talent that Kinston has produced over the last few decades, which leads to the question: How does a small town produce such players?

"Basketball is God here in Kinston," said Bryan Hanks, the editor of the Kinston Free Press who has covered Kinston's basketball team since 2002.

"It's amazing. I have lived all over the state of North Carolina and I have never seen what happens here in Kinston and Lenoir County ... I think it's just the way people grow up here. The parks and rec department that is in Kinston and Lenoir County is amazing. You have had strong leadership for 60 or 70 years."

Many basketball careers begin at the Holloway Recreation Center on North Myrtle Avenue in Kinston.

"Holloway is a place where all the kids in Kinston come. I don't care where you're living in Lenoir County, you come here to learn how to play basketball," said Skeet Davis, a retired teacher and coach.

Davis said kids of all abilities show up at Holloway. New players come to learn the basics. Experienced players come to refine their skills.

"If you lose, that's where you end up. See, they done lost. They've got to wait now for their turn ... No fouls are called unless you draw blood. You know, I've had to break up some fights every now and then, but no fouls are called. This is how you learn how to play," Davis said.

The parks and recreation department gets some credit for the success Kinston High School's basketball program has seen, according to current basketball coach Perry Tyndall and former coach Wells Gulledge.

"Our parks and rec department has been fantastic, and you've got so many leaders in our community that run these centers and have them open. It gives kids a chance to go play," Tyndall said. "If the doors are unlocked there will be somebody in the gym playing basketball."

Gulledge, who now coaches at Arendell Parrott Academy, agrees.

"There are many gyms open in this area, probably four or five at all times, and I think as a young kid, if you have somewhere to go and work on your craft then kids really get excited about the game," he said. "The recreation department is a vital lifeline for us here. IT just keeps so many kids off the streets."

Small town, high hopes

The rafters of Kinston High School's gymnasium houses many banners. The trophy case is home to many trophies.

The more recent banners are 2-A state championships. But there was a time when Kinston was a 4-A school, competing with the largest schools in the state. The population in Kinston has been declining though.

"Kinston was one time declared the tobacco capital of the world back in the 50s and 60s, and we all know what happened to tobacco. With all of that gone away, basketball has remained," said Hanks. "It's just the lifeblood of Kinston. Basketball is what people live for here ... especially with the economic situation being what it is, and it's on the rebound here in Kinston, but there have been several decades of the economy not being the greatest it could be."

The median household income in Kinston in 2013 was $29,179. The median income for the state of North Carolina was $45,906.

"There's not a whole lot to do here in Kinston. This is a cheap game. All you need is a ball, two or three people, and you can have a game going on," Davis said. "Basketball is the king of Kinston - just like tobacco and cotton used to be. Now we've got basketball. We're raising basketball players."

Kinston has had its share of crime over the years as it has dealt with the economy, but basketball has helped keep kids out of trouble.

"Our parks and rec department has been an extremely huge vessel to keep kids, give them something to do to help them stay out of trouble and keep them occupied," Tyndall said.

As kids grow up in Kinston, they're able to look at what the players before them accomplished in the same small town.

"You can see the kids light up and you can see them go out there and pick up the pace a little bit if Reggie or Jerry walks in the gym," Gulledge said.

"They may not know those guys, but they know, 'Hey, he played at Kinston,'" Tyndall said, pointing at Brandon Ingram as the latest example. "That's what makes this place so special. There is always somebody who keeps the dream alive for the kids."

Each generation of Kinston basketball players has had at least one high-level player to look up to.

"You get the list of one out of so many hundred thousand make it. I think Kinston has changed the ratio a little bit when it comes to that," Gulledge said. "You've got your ratio for the United States, and then you have your ratio for Kinston, N.C., which is a little bit different."

The love of basketball Kinston has is obvious to those outside of the town too. When a game is being played at Kinston High School, the gym is full, the atmosphere is rich and it leaves an impression on anyone attending - including college basketball coaches.

"It's not the basketball team of Kinston High School. It's Kinston's basketball team," Roy Williams said.

The town of Kinston and Kinston High School would likely agree.
Bryan Hanks of the Kinston Free Press contributed to this report.

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A town of just over 20,000 people, Kinston is your typical eastern North Carolina town - with one big exception. Over the last 50 years, seven basketball players from Kinston High School have gone on to be drafted in the NBA or make a NBA roster.

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Basketball Players Born In Kinston (NC), United States - RealGM

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Basketball Players Born In Kinston (NC), United States - RealGM

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1. Describe something or something that happened.

2. Say the main idea about the topic, or what is unique or unusual about it.

3. Read and gather information to explain the confusion.

4. Tell what you know now (share a new idea) or could do with the information (create a new product).

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Las Coloradas, Mexico

Hidden away on the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is a magical place full of color. These stunning cotton-candy pink lakes filled with salt are called Las Coloradas.

Las Coloradas means "the colored" in Spanish. It's the name of a tiny Mexican fishing village with a population of 1000. Nearby, a series of brightly colored pink lakes cover the landscape on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

The region is part of the Río Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, a protected wetlands area home to animals like flamingos, crocodiles, sea turtles, jaguars, and all kinds of sea birds. The reserve covers some 150,000 acres.

I rented a car and drove up from Playa del Carmen with my wife Anna to check out the biosphere reserve, but it's these strange pink lakes that really steal the show!

Mayan Salt Production

Fishing isn't the only industry here, salt is big business in Las Coloradas. It has been for thousands of years, when the ancient Maya (you know, the people who built Chichen Itza and other Mayan Ruins) used this area to produce highly valuable salt. How do they do it?

Salty ocean water from the mangroves nearby floods onto hard flat salt plains, creating shallow lagoons. The sun then slowly evaporates this water, leaving fresh sea salt behind.

Salt was extremely important to the Maya for both nutritional needs as well as food preservation. It was mined here in the northern Yucatan then shipped by canoe to other parts of the Mayan empire.

Why Are The Lakes Pink?

While this "solar salt" production process is a natural one, the large pink lakes of Las Coloradas we see today were constructed by a company who produces salt on a much larger scale (500,000 tons per year).

The vibrant pink color of these lakes is due to red-colored algae, plankton, and brine shrimp that thrive in the salty environment. As the water evaporates, these organisms become more concentrated, glimmering pink in the bright Mexican sunlight.

Want to hear a cool fact? The reason flamingos are pink is because they eat these pink creatures. Normally their feathers are white, however, they change color after eating this stuff!
You can often find pink flamingos hanging out in the pink lakes.
Getting To Las Coloradas

The amazing pink lakes of Las Coloradas are located off the beaten track a bit. Getting here requires a 3-hour drive from Cancun or Playa del Carmen - 2 hours from Valladolid.

So you can do it as a very long day trip, or even better, spend 2 days in the area as there's plenty to do.

Rental Car

Discover Cars searches all the big car rental companies and finds the best price. This is probably the easiest way to rent a car in Mexico.

By Bus

There is a local bus from Cancun to Rio Lagartos, but because of different stops/changes, the trip can take 7 hours. Renting a car like we did is much easier!

Most travelers stay in the nearby town of Rio Lagartos 30 minutes away from Las Coloradas. Popular mangrove and Flamingo boat tours are based in Rio Lagartos, which usually stop at the pink lakes too.

The pink water is incredibly salty, so while safe to get in, it can sting a bit - especially if you have cuts. However, it's more for the photo op than anything else because the lakes are only about a foot deep!

Beautiful Mexican Beaches

The road to Las Coloradas stretches along the coastline, with a few places to turn off and explore the white-sand beaches, dunes, and brilliant turquoise water.

The beach is a favorite stop for sea turtles, so be careful where you step! The turtles bury their eggs on the beach at night.

Where To Stay Near Las Coloradas

If you want to spend the night near Las Coloradas, there are hotels in Rio Lagartos, about 30 minutes away by car. There's no real accommodation at the lakes themselves.

Best Accommodation In Rio Lagartos

Road tripping up to Las Coloradas is a wonderful way to spend a sunny day in Mexico. The pink lakes show off their best colors in the sunshine. Remember to pack plenty of water & sunscreen too.

Some of the roads are very narrow, so watch out for the large trucks making deliveries from the salt factory. They can hog the whole road. ★

Watch Video: Pink Lakes Of Las Coloradas

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Las Coloradas Pink Lakes - Mexico on YouTube)
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READ MORE MEXICO TRAVEL TIPS

I hope you enjoyed my guide on the pink lakes in Mexico! Hopefully you found it useful. Here are a few more wanderlust-inducing articles that I recommend you read next:
Have you ever seen pink lakes like this before? Any favorite spots in Mexico? Drop me a message in the comments below!

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The Unbelievable Pink Lakes Of Las Coloradas In Mexico

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Las Coloradas, Mexico Hidden away on the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is a magical place full of color. These stunning cotton-candy pink lakes filled with salt are called Las Coloradas. Las Coloradas means "the colored" in Spanish. It's the name of a tiny Mexican fishing village with a population of 1000.

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Mexico's coastal lagoon is so pink, it's like Elle Woods created it in a dream.

Pink waters and white sand meet off the coast of Las Coloradas, a small fishing community on the Yucatán Peninsula. This rosy beach is part of the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, which protects nearly 150,000 acres of beaches, forests and dunes.

While the pink-hued estuary may seem like the product of a magic spell, the reason for its coloring is actually quite ordinary. The lagoon gets its unique color from tiny marine microorganisms that contain beta carotene - a reddish orange pigment.

This is not the only body of water on Earth to trade up for that coveted pink hue. Koyashskoye Salt Lake in Crimea alternates between pink and red because of its high concentration of microscopic algae and brine shrimp. Several lakes in Australia are pink for the same reason. But of all the pink paradises, Las Coloradas might be the prettiest.

Las Coloradas has miles of pristine, empty beaches, making it an ideal private getaway. One look at the breathtaking pictures below and you'll be planning a rosy road trip in no time.

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Here's Why Mexico's Sparkling Lagoon Is Pink

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Mexico's coastal lagoon is so pink, it's like Elle Woods created it in a dream. Pink waters and white sand meet off the coast of Las Coloradas, a small fishing community on the Yucatán Peninsula. This rosy beach is part of the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, which protects nearly 150,000 acres of beaches, forests and dunes.

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Have You Seen The Pink Water Of Mexico? Visiting Las Coloradas

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The Netherlands Exports More Tomatoes than any other Country

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📎 Basketball Players Born In Kinston (NC), United States - RealGM
 
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 Island of the Colorblind 

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📎 Explore a Tropical Paradise Through the Eyes of the Colorblind
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 The Netherlands Exports More Tomatoes than any other Country

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 The Pink Beaches of Mexico 

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The Netherlands Exports More Tomatoes than any other Country

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