South Park Research Articles

Beyond Ecophilia: Edgar Allan Poe and the American Tradition of Ecohorror

On October 23, 2013, South Park aired what seemed a classic ecohorror tale. “Emo” plants, fed up with humanity's insensitivity, begin infecting Goth and Vamp kids and turning them “emo”, that is, suicidally depressed and melodramatically self-destructive.1 The kids have a secret weapon, however. They have summoned “the creator of all that is dark, the godfather of death and despair” to save his “children.” In the climactic scene, after an elderly gardener has tied the kids to chairs in a greenhouse full of emos, Edgar Allan Poe's ghost floats down from the roof and settles next to a massive potted plant. Turning to face the kids, he huffs in irritation: Okay I'm here posers … What do you want me to do? Goth/Vamp Kids: Shoot it [the large plant]! Poe: Really? Shoot a plant? … [Poe pulls out a pistol, shoots the “plant leader,” pauses, nothing happens, looks at the kids, shrugs.] Poe: Wait a minute. What is this? [pulls a tag from the pot] This says it was bought at Lowe's Home and Garden for $29.95. Old Gardener: Lowe's Home and Garden? Goth Kid: Hey, these are just plants. Old Gardener: No, they talk to me. Poe: No, they're just like ficus plants in vibrating pots.

Controls on groundwater flow in a semiarid folded and faulted intermountain basin

AbstractThe major processes controlling groundwater flow in intermountain basins are poorly understood, particularly in basins underlain by folded and faulted bedrock and under regionally realistic hydrogeologic heterogeneity. To explore the role of hydrogeologic heterogeneity and poorly constrained mountain hydrologic conditions on regional groundwater flow in contracted intermountain basins, a series of 3‐D numerical groundwater flow models were developed using the South Park basin, Colorado, USA as a proxy. The models were used to identify the relative importance of different recharge processes to major aquifers, to estimate typical groundwater circulation depths, and to explore hydrogeologic communication between mountain and valley hydrogeologic landscapes. Modeling results show that mountain landscapes develop topographically controlled and predominantly local‐scale to intermediate‐scale flow systems. Permeability heterogeneity of the fold and fault belt and decreased topographic roughness led to permeability controlled flow systems in the valley. The structural position of major aquifers in the valley fold and fault belt was found to control the relative importance of different recharge mechanisms. Alternative mountain recharge model scenarios showed that higher mountain recharge rates led to higher mountain water table elevations and increasingly prominent local flow systems, primarily resulting in increased seepage within the mountain landscape and nonlinear increases in mountain block recharge to the valley. Valley aquifers were found to be relatively insensitive to changing mountain water tables, particularly in structurally isolated aquifers inside the fold and fault belt.

Without Parents or Pedigree: Neo-Victorian Adaptation as Disavowal or Critique

It has become a truism that contemporary multi-season TV dramas are inheritors of the methods and aims of Victorian serial fiction, or, as the New York Times editorial page put it in 2006, that if “Charles Dickens were alive today, he would watch The Wire, unless, that is, he was already writing for it.” While not absolutely denying the validity of such assertions, this essay reconsiders them. Sergei Eisenstein’s 1949 essay “Dickens, Griffith, and the Film Today," now a locus classicus for thinking about the links between nineteenth-century fiction and twentieth- and twenty-first-century cinematic media, first formulated a model that has remained influential for considering Victorian fiction, and especially Dickens’s novels, as offering a “pedigree” and parentage for filmic media. But through a reading of several test cases of contemporary neo-Victorian adaptation, broadly construed—including Dickensian references in The Wire, South Park’s animated Great Expectations adaptation episode, and references to George Eliot in Kazuo Ishiguru’s novel Never Let Me Go—this essay questions and complicates Eisenstein’s paradigm of the Victorian novel as parent to contemporary media.

Of Lice and Men

Lice have annoyed hominids for millions of years, since long before Pediculushumanusbranched,onceormultiple times, into its capitisand corporis ecotypes. Although head louse infestations receive a particularly bad reputation frommedia andmothers, this condition in reality is morepesky thanpestilent.Head licecarrynegligible riskofdisease transmission and therefore have minimal morbidity. Popular media, however, portray head lice as an affliction of the unclean anduncouth. Televisionoftendepicts pediculosis as a disgrace invitedby lapsedpersonal hygiene and fully deserving of society’s scorn. For example, in an episode of The Office (American version, episode 9.10), the protagonist, Pam, conceals that she contracted head lice from her3-year-olddaughter.Anensuingoutbreakofheadlice inherofficefinds blamedeflectedontoaninnocentcharacterwhoissuspectbecauseofpast hygienic transgressions.Athirdcharacter,whenaskedtorefrain fromvilifying her louse-ridden coworkers, declares, “I have not yet begun to shame,” thus capturing the stigma engendered by themedia. An episode of South Park (episode 11.3) also addresses the stigma of pediculosis, but ends, as usual, with a quasi-lesson for viewers. Like The Office, this episode is a whodunit, seeking to identify which character introduced head lice into the classroom. At the episode’s conclusion, all discover that every child is infested with head lice, a more appropriatecharacterizationof theegaliteet fraterniteofpediculosisamong school-aged children. These showsperpetuate thenotion thatpediculosis is shameful and promulgateahostofmisinformation.Thecommunicablenatureofhead lice is exaggerated in both episodes, seen when an Office character dons a Hazmat suit to protect himself from contagion and South Park’s children pummel their infested classmate with soap. Although viewers may not take the comedic portrayal of head lice seriously,myths about head lice appear on “fact-based” shows, too. For example, on the forensic crime series, CSI (episode 9.3), investigators presumethat anunidentifiedcorpse is thatof ahomelessmanpartlybecause of lice found throughout his hair. Television also perpetuates myths about treating head lice. For example,usingmayonnaisetocurehead lice inTheOffice,whileperhapsnot harmful, is an ineffective remedy. Pam’s admission that shewas “up all night disinfecting every sheet, towel, toy, item of clothing, in the entire house”encouragessanitationmeasuresfarbeyondrecommendedactions. In contrast to television’s frequentportrayal ofhead lice as a scourge of theGreatUnwashed,many children’s books are correct and informative. A search of current children’s literature finds many picture books designed to educate children and families about head lice and to dispel its stigma. Similar attempts by broadcast media to correct false beliefs about this condition could mollify popular sentiments toward this benign and nearly universal condition.

Critical Ecotourism Factors Applicable to National Parks: A Visitor Perspective

South Africa boasts 21 national parks managed by South African National Parks (SANParks), which is the leading conservation organization and also the largest provider of ecotourism experiences in South Africa. Because SANParks depends heavily on tourist spending, it is important to successfully develop and manage its tourism products and services. A key aspect of the successful development and management of ecotourism products is to have an understanding of how tourists perceive ecotourism. An insight to tourists' perceptions will assist in developing ecotourism guidelines, which will minimize negative impacts and at the same time add value to the tourist experience. The aim of this article is to determine critical ecotourism factors (CEFs) applicable to national parks from a visitor's perspective. A web survey was conducted via the SANParks' website. A factor analysis was performed and six factors were extracted. The factors include product development, local community involvement, environmentally friendly practices, food and activities, ethical behavior, and policies. It was the first time research of this nature had been conducted in South Africa. The results adhere to ecotourism characteristics. Key findings include: the high value respondents place on ethics and the importance of educational programs, staff training, visitor management, and environmentally friendly practices.

Click Culture: The Perils and Possibilities of Family Guy and Convergence-Era Television

Recent media scholarship has devoted considerable attention to the progressive role that controversial, satirical humor can play in American public discourse. Programs such as South Park, The Simpsons, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have been the subjects of numerous academic studies and have received considerable popular acclaim. This article considers the case of Family Guy, a show often discursively associated with the pro-social satire of the aforementioned programs but rarely the subject of close critical consideration. Through a combination of textual and industrial analyses, the article contextualizes Family Guy's use of highly fractured narratives and remarkably incendiary representations of marginalized identity groups in its comedy. These tendencies combine, we argue, to limit Family Guy's potential for productive satire while attempting to maximize its appeal to commercially desirable young male viewers. Conceptualizing the impact of the American television industry's efforts to reassert the medium's centrality in the contemporary era of media convergence, we offer the descriptor “click culture” as a means of understanding the aesthetic and industrial discourses of Family Guy, as well as those of similarly structured programs.

A Comparison of the South African and United States Models of Natural Areas Management

In May-June of 2013 we visited several South African parks and reserves to learn about wildlife and natural areas management in that country. We focused our visit on parks and reserves that are of moderate size (5,000–100,00 ha), comprised of grassland/savanna habitats, located within agrarian landscapes, and enclosed with boundary fences, characteristics similar to several parks and reserves in the Northern Great Plains region of the United States. In this paper we compare the South African model of natural areas management to the United States model. We observed that South African parks and reserves with the aforementioned characteristics are more likely to (1) reintroduce and conserve small, nonviable wildlife populations, (2) reintroduce and conserve top-level predators, (3) have more intensive management of wildlife, (4) manage in partnership across multiple landowners, (5) engage local communities, (6) be self-funding, and (7) restrict visitor movement. The South African model is arguably more effective in conserving biodiversity as measured by conservation of apex predators and natural processes. The differences between the countries appear to be driven in large part by socioeconomic factors. Knowledge of natural areas management in other countries may lead to more innovative and creative models that could benefit biodiversity conservation.

Kruger National Park: tourism development and issues around the management of large numbers of tourists

Tourism can provide financial incentives for conservation but a successful tourism strategy must ensure opportunities for high-quality visitor experiences. The Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa's flagship park, receives 1.4 million visitors annually. The park offers a wildlife experience that ranks among the best in the world. Most visitors want to view wildlife (especially the Big Five) and do this in self-drive safari style. Political pressure on KNP to provide benefits and opportunities for neighbouring communities, to be more accessible to the local population and to attract larger numbers of visitors can threaten the park's tourist capacity and sustainability. The existing tourism management philosophy, tourism developments and the mechanisms to manage the tourist carrying capacity in KNP are discussed. Day-visitor numbers have increased and congestion of tourist traffic over weekends and certain public holidays has intensified in the southern part of KNP with concomitant impacts on the wildlife-viewing experience. The mechanisms used by KNP management to prevent overcrowding have not been successful in the southern part and the social carrying capacity in this area has already been reached. Future tourist developments and management strategies should take cognisance of this and development in the Marula-South area must be contained.

(Pre)oblikovanje humora u Saut Parku kroz pominjanje književnosti

The paper examines the complex relationship between a lauded American animated sitcom South Park on the one side, and literature, especially satire, on the other side. Upon asserting the bond between literature and popular culture, numerous references presented in the show are pointed out, namely the stance the authors take on literature and the act of reading, the types and subtypes of humor exhibited, and topicality. Finally, using the writing of Mikhail Bakhtin, South Park itself is treated as literature as its type of humor is a continuation of an age-old literary tradition of laughter. The conclusion asserts this as it is revealed that South Park owes much of its popularity to the literary aspect of the humor exhibited in the show.

The Portrayal of White Anxiety in South Park’s “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson”

Humor lends itself as a convenient tool to address sensitive issues such as race. Since 1997, the TV series South Park with its brash satire and rampant irony has been a prime example of how such issues are negotiated in American popular culture. However, the utilization of highly rhetorical devices such as satire or irony has divided scholars on whether the series promotes or stifles social discourse on race and ethnicity. In this article, I examine the episode “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” (2007), focusing on how white feelings of anxiety are portrayed in this episode that is permeated by racial tension. The particular representation wavers between a social critique of the state of race relations in the United States and a portrayal of white anxiety as hindering open discourse on the topic. Ultimately, the article demonstrates that the scenes containing elements of white anxiety are portrayed in such a way as to critique the current dysfunctional state of race relations in the United States, urging viewers to critically consider issues of race rather than to inhibit such discourse.

Межкорейские отношения и политика региональных держав

Missile launches and nuclear tests by DPRK in 2013 undermined inter-Korean cooperation and regional stability. The primary purpose of these activities was to strengthen legitimacy of Kim Jong Un’s administration. South Korean president Park Geun-Hye’s trustpolitik policy focused on improving mutual understanding and developing step-by-step inter-Korean cooperation. Regional powers jointly opposed North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, but failed to elaborate common understanding on policies to promote security in the Korean peninsula as well as on prospects for the unification of Korea.

Determinants of Spending at two South African Marine National Parks

Determinants of Spending at two South African Marine National Parks Despite the rapidly growing number of nature-loving visitors, there is nevertheless stiff competition between nature-based attractions, especially the national parks. However, although many studies of spending behaviour have been done in other tourism fields, using a variety of methods, research on determinants of spending at national parks is sparse. This study identifies determinants of spending at two popular marine parks in South Africa, the Tsitsikamma National Park and the Wilderness National Park. Especially relevant is that the study used multiple methods to identify the determinants and associated tourist preference variables.

O marginaliach (i nie tylko) Tadeusza Różewicza

Tadeusz Rozewicz moved from Gliwice to Wroclaw in 1968. He lived near South Park for many years and he regularly met there with the author of this article. They talked about many different things and current events, and especially about Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, i.e. more specifically about his service in the tsarist army, the battle that took place near the Stokhid in June 1916 in which he was severely wounded as well as about the causes of his suicide in September 1939. In 2003 Rozewicz moved to a house on Promien Street, which is located in a remote area of the city. When he was moving to the new place he came across Witkacy’s 1919 treatise titled Nowe formy w malarstwie i wynikające stad nieporozumienia [New Forms in Painting and the Misunderstandings Arising Therefrom], which he had bought in October 1945 at a street stall in Warsaw. After a careful reading of the treatise (as evidenced by numerous underlines in the text), he decided to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. The quotes that are presented in the article show that Rozewicz paid particular attention to Witkacy’s main philosophical concepts (“metaphysical anxiety”) and statements about the end of metaphysics in the 20th century. Many notes and annotations in the margins, some of which are cited in the present article, are evidence of Witkacy’s critical reading of Leon Chwistek’s “Wielośc rzeczywistości w sztuce” i inne szkice literackie [The Multiplicity of Realities in Art and Other Literary Sketches]. In 1975 Anna Micinska published, based on a manuscript that had been discovered, the sociocultural study Niemyte dusze [Unwashed Souls] which Witkacy wrote in 1936 but which he did not manage to publish. Rozewicz regarded this study as one of Witkacy’s most interesting works because it showed a whole different side of the artist – a citizen who was concerned about the condition of Polish society and the Polish state.

Ethnic humor in multiethnic America

When wielded by the white majority, ethnic humor can be used to ridicule and demean marginalized groups. In the hands of ethnic minorities themselves, ethnic humor can work as a site of community building and resistance. In nearly all cases, however, ethnic humor can serve as a window through which to examine the complexities of American race relations. In Ethnic Humor in Multiethnic America, David Gillota explores the ways in which contemporary comic works both reflect and participate in national conversations about race and ethnicity. Gillota investigates the manner in which various humorists respond to multiculturalism and the increasing diversity of the American population. Rather than looking at one or two ethnic groups at a time-as is common scholarly practice-the book focuses on the interplay between humorists from different ethnic communities. While some comic texts project a fantasy world in which diverse ethnic characters coexist in a rarely disputed harmony, others genuinely engage with the complexities and contradictions of multiethnic America. The first chapter focuses on African American comedy with a discussion of such humorists as Paul Mooney and Chris Rock, who tend to reinforce a black/white vision of American race relations. This approach is contrasted to the comedy of Dave Chappelle, who looks beyond black and white and uses his humor to place blackness within a much wider multiethnic context. Chapter 2 concentrates primarily on the Jewish humorists Sarah Silverman, Larry David, and Sacha Baron Cohen-three artists who use their personas to explore the peculiar position of contemporary Jews who exist in a middle space between white and other. In chapter 3, Gillota discusses different humorous constructions of whiteness, from a detailed analysis of South Park to Blue Collar Comedy and the blog Stuff White People Like. Chapter 4 is focused on the manner in which animated children's film and the network situation comedy often project simplified and harmonious visions of diversity. In contrast, chapter 5 considers how many recent works, such as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and the Showtime series Weeds, engage with diversity in more complex and productive ways.

Prudence and Racial Humor: Troubling Epithets

Prudence is an essential virtue in a contemporary racial culture marked by the contingencies and the paradoxical in/stability of race and racism. Recurring controversies surrounding racial epithets exemplify this clash between deeply entrenched racial meanings on one hand and shifting conventions on the other. I argue in this essay that racial humor presents a valuable site for understanding and practicing prudential reasoning and performance. Analyzing three episodes from popular texts—The Boondocks, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and South Park—I illustrate the way racial humor resists prescriptive reasoning and creates possibilities for audiences to practice prudence.

Science Communication: Narratively Speaking

In the News story by J. Cohen “Great presenters: lighting up the auditorium” (special section on Communication in Science, 4 October, p. [78][1]), Bonnie Bassler includes in her rules of presentation, “Tell stories.” As a scientist turned filmmaker who specializes in making content meaningful and memorable, I could not agree more. But how? The power of storytelling rests in the specifics, so to answer this question, let me tell you a story. In the fall of 2013, I was recruited to give a makeover to the plenary panel discussion for the 2013 meeting of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF). The organizer told me that she wanted me to do my “story thing.” Within two days, the other two presenters and I were embroiled in an e-mail battle—neither of them wanted to change their standard presentations. So I quit. But then they reconsidered, kindly assuring me that they had given enough successful presentations in their careers and could afford one debacle. ![Figure][1] CREDIT: AAAS By shifting from e-mail to telephone meetings, we immediately found common ground, which grew into friendship. Acting as a stage director, I asked them—the actors—to present their material to me, and I then began shaping the new structure and focus. We changed the title from “Responding to Sea Level Rise” to “Sea Level Rise: New, Certain, and Everywhere.” We then set about crafting three “stories” around these keywords by rearranging the content to create better narrative structure. We took material that began as a list of facts (in the style of And, And, And), and we molded it into stories using the universal narrative template: And, But, Therefore (ABT) ([ 1 ][2]). Once the “But” and “Therefore” are added [a technique lifted from “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker ([ 1 ][2])], the format takes a shape that conveys tension and resolution—the crucial elements of a great story. For example, we streamlined the facts supporting new sea level rise into the premise: “Sea level was relatively stable for 8000 years AND coastal communities were built on the assumption of stability, BUT over the past 150 years the level has been rising. THEREFORE, a new approach to coastline management is needed.” To further engage our audience, we asked scientists in advance to contribute thoughts and photographs in ABT style through the CERF Web site ([ 2 ][3]), and we incorporated their submissions into the presentation. A month later, our plenary panel packed the 1000-seat ballroom at CERF and received rave reviews (watch the video at ). My fellow presenters and I learned a lot from this. First, it is possible for an old dog to teach old dogs new tricks. Second, you get back what you invest; we had four lengthy conference calls and two rehearsals before the event. None of us had ever devoted this much effort to a presentation. Third, everyone can and should incorporate narrative structure to their science communication endeavors. Scientists must overcome the problem of “storyphobia.” Recent research shows that narrative structure enhances brain activity ([ 3 ][4]). We have created a world that is awash in information, the meaning of which could be lost if we don't work to process it through narrative structure. It is essential for today's world of rapid communication and must become second nature to scientists to ensure effective communication. 1. [↵][5]Randy Olson Great Challenges Day at TEDMED 2013 ([www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERB7ITvabA4][6]). 2. [↵][7]CERF 2013, Sea Level Rise—New, Certain, and Everywhere ([www.sgmeet.com/cerf2013/responding\_to\_sea_level.asp][8]). 3. [↵][9]1. U. Hasson 2. et al ., Projections 2, 1 (2008). [OpenUrl][10] [1]: pending:yes [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [6]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERB7ITvabA4 [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [8]: http://www.sgmeet.com/cerf2013/responding_to_sea_level.asp [9]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [10]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DProjections%26rft.volume%253D2%26rft.spage%253D1%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx

Large freshwater plesiosaurian from the Cretaceous (Aptian) of Australia

Benson, R.B.J., Fitzgerald, E.M.G., Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P., 2013. Large freshwater plesiosaurian from the Cretaceous (Aptian) of Australia. Alcheringa 37, 1–6. ISSN 0311-5518We report a large plesiosaurian tooth from the freshwater early–middle Aptian (Early Cretaceous) Eumeralla Formation of Victoria, Australia. This, combined with records of smaller plesiosaurian teeth with an alternative morphology, provides evidence for a multitaxic freshwater plesiosaurian assemblage. Dental and body size differences suggest ecological partitioning of sympatric freshwater plesiosaurians analogous to that in modern freshwater odontocete cetaceans. The evolutionarily plastic body plan of Plesiosauria may have facilitated niche differentiation and helped them to exclude ichthyosaurs from freshwater environments during the Mesozoic. However, confirmation of this hypothesis requires the discovery of more complete remains.Roger B.J. Benson [roger.benson@earth.ox.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK; Erich M.G. Fitzgerald [efitzgerald@museum.vic.gov.au], Thomas H. Rich [trich@museum.vic.gov.au], Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia; Thomas H. Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich [pat.rich@monash.edu], School of Geosciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Received 30.10.2012; revised 27.1.2013; accepted 31.1.2013.

A Flowmap–geographic information systems approach to determine community neighbourhood park proximity in Cape Town

Within the context of territorial justice, geographical research has been focusing increasingly on service delivery (more specifically urban parks) in an effort to determine who benefits and why. Parks benefit people by providing a sustainable community and a higher quality of life. Apartheid planning left a legacy of inequality in park delivery, and even existing South African park literature dates back to the apartheid era, providing only limited scope, without any thorough analysis of community neighbourhood park (CNP) proximity to residents. Consequently, this paper provides a spatial analytical overview of the distribution of CNPs in the City of Cape Town (CoCT) by mapping CNP availability per socio-economic area, and determining CNP proximity alone and with certain capacity constraints. The most important literature pertaining to the application of geographic information systems to determine park proximity is also outlined. Results indicate that environmental injustice exists even today; although all income groups suffer in certain areas with poor CNP proximity, it remains the poorest in low-income suburbs where some people walk or travel further than the maximum acceptable distance of 15 minutes to a CNP. Finally, suggestions are made to the City Parks Department to improve CNP delivery and distribution in the CoCT.

Online appendix 1:Vegetation change (1988–2010) in Camdeboo National Park (South Africa), using fixed-point photo monitoring: The role of herbivory and climate

Fixed-point photo monitoring supplemented by animal census data and climate monitoring potential has never been explored as a long-term monitoring tool for studying vegetation change in the arid and semi-arid national parks of South Africa. The long-term (1988–2010), fixed-point monitoring dataset developed for the Camdeboo National Park, therefore, provides an important opportunity to do this. Using a quantitative estimate of the change in vegetation and growth form cover in 1152 fixed-point photographs, as well as series of step-point vegetation surveys at each photo monitoring site, this study documented the extent of vegetation change in the park in response to key climate drivers, such as rainfall, as well as land use drivers such as herbivory by indigenous ungulates. We demonstrated the varied response of vegetation cover within three main growth forms (grasses, dwarf shrubs [< 1 m] and tall shrubs [> 1 m]) in three different vegetation units and landforms (slopes, plains, rivers) within the Camdeboo National Park since 1988. Sites within Albany Thicket and Dwarf Shrublands showed the least change in vegetation cover, whilst Azonal vegetation and Grassy Dwarf Shrublands were more dynamic. Abiotic factors such as drought and flooding, total annual rainfall and rainfall seasonality appeared to have the greatest influence on growth form cover as assessed from the fixed-point photographs. Herbivory appeared not to have had a noticeable impact on the vegetation of the Camdeboo National Park as far as could be determined from the rather coarse approach used in this analysis and herbivore densities remained relatively low over the study duration.Conservation implications: We provided an historical assessment of the pattern of vegetation and climatic trends that can help evaluate many of South African National Parks’ biodiversity monitoring programmes, especially relating to habitat change. It will help arid parks in assessing the trajectories of vegetation in response to herbivory, climate and management interventions.

Cowards, Critics, and Catholics

Throughout its history South Park has had a contentious relationship with Catholicism, frequently using Catholic doctrine, rituals, and popular practices as a foil for humor. This article examines the way that a Catholic parachurch organization, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, has criticized South Park and its creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as cowardly and not the satirical mavericks they are frequently portrayed as in popular media. Using the sociologies of religion, humor, and culture, this article demonstrates that this conflict reflects deeper conflicts over the limits of free speech, the place of Catholics in American culture, and the importance of humor in criticizing and controlling religious traditions in the United States.