a little red hen: Muffy Moose, New Film Star

Click on this photo...it's Muffy Moose, outspoken, 83 year old, new film personality from Kansas. She does her debut star turn in FLOCK OF DODOS, a rollicking documentary that entertains while it informs.

Last weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the Margaret Mead Film Festival, an annual event that travels around the country, is of particular interest to documentary film buffs-- 35 full-length and short films from around the world.

Click here to see a bit of the film plus an ABC-TV interview with Muffy's son, Randy Olson. An evolutionary ecologist, Randy (a/k/a Dr. Olson) changed careers to become a filmmaker. An affable guy, he poses the question, "Who are the dodos...the evolutionists or the followers of intelligent design?" The answer may surprise you. Following the film, Muffy appeared with a panel of sciemce writers and educators--and Randy. One important point raised: science needs to be integrated into other academic disciplines. Will it happen?

How scary to learn that 50 per cent of Americans do not believe in evolution! Even scarier to be introduced to the engine behind intelligent design-- very large sums of money from the Discovery Institute, an ultra-conservative think tank in Seattle. Back to Muffy Moose, a concerned grandmother like me who wants real science to be taught in schools and colleges.

FLOCK OF DODOS has screenings coming up around the country. Someone you know could arrange a showing in a local high school or university. Oh yes, let's not be smug, New Yorkers. I heard some unsettling statistics from a panelist about teachers' knowledge and acceptance of evolution theory in our neighborhoods.

Muffy Moose and her son Randy have created a gift to my granddaughter Zoe's future in the classroom. I'm looking forward to a blog by Muffy; she seemed interested.

[More information on the creationist sensibility behind ID and the manufacture of the "controversy," in Chris Mooney's article, "Inferior Design" from 2005.]

February 2010