My Girl Marg

I know what you’re thinking…we just learned about her, I know he’s not writing about her.  False, I am.  I can’t help it; I am captivated with Margie Falanruw.  I think one of the things that really sold me the most on Margie was when Dr. Perkins told the story about how on one of the last few trips, the roughly sixty year old Margie took off her sandals and scaled a tree (to get a coconut or banana or some other hanging fruit/object). Not only is that impressive for a spider monkey, but is even more so for an elderly woman who would have seemingly been perceived as being a little past her prime.

Anyhow, outside of my unusual fascination with Margie Falanruw, she also happens to be a tremendous part of and quite an important player within Yap’s history, and thus is my justification for writing about her this week. Between the work she has done with the Yap Institute of Natural Science, her humanitarian efforts across the island, along with the far-reaching environmental contributions of her many books and studies which range from her “Study Plan: Ecology and Ethnobiology of the Fruitbats of Yap” to “The Ethnoichthyology of Yap,” Margie Falanruw has really been a cornerstone figure in Yap’s late development into its modern day state. One of the most impressive things from this list of Margie’s successes in my opinion is the Yap Institute of Natural Science. She basically build it from the ground up and even started it in an old bus. In Kenneth Brower’s “A Song for Satawal,” he quotes Margie Falanruw in describing the Yap Institute of Natural Science as she says it is “A small local nonprofit organization dedicated to the idea of maintaining indigenous integrity through wise sustainable use of local resources, and the search for a valid ethno-ecological lifestyle in the Yap Islands ecosystem.” It’s hard for me to envision a more well-intentioned organization or one that could do as much to help influence Yap’s lifestyle toward the environment.

In conclusion, I do not think there would be any dispute to the statement that Margie Falanruw has not only been a notable benefactor through her role more or less as an activist for the environment in Yap, but also just in as much as she has contributed on a personal level (i.e. even including things like the help she has offered to past JBIP groups from Queens). It’s safe to say that I am more than looking forward to working with her upon our arrival to the FSM!