Dear Sun Spots: Great job. Love your column. Can you tell me where Russ Murley, the weatherman on Channel 8, has gone? All of a sudden, he isn’t there anymore. – No Name, Weld.

Answer: According to WMTW-TV, after 10 years with the station, Russ Murley has moved on to pursue a career in finance, which will allow him to spend more time with his family. You will continue to hear Murley’s forecasts on several local radio stations.

WMTW’s new chief meteorologist, Tom Chisholm, is now on evenings and Matt Zidle, recently joining the station from WGME, is on during the morning.

Chisholm grew up in New England where he says he learned to appreciate the four seasons. His experiences growing up in the land of nor’easters, thunderstorms and hurricanes led to his love of forecasting. He graduated from Lyndon State College in Vermont with a degree in atmospheric sciences. Chisholm began his career as the chief meteorologist at WPRI-TV in Providence. His also has been a staff meteorologist at WHDH-TV in Boston, as well as chief meteorologist in San Jose, Calif.; Savannah, Ga.; and Fort Myers, Fla. He also has worked at the Weather Channel as an on-camera meteorologist. Chisholm returned to New England in 2003 when he worked at WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., the sister station of WMTW.

Zidle joined WMTW in December. A Lewiston native, he says that forecasting the weather in your hometown is “a dream come true.” Zidle worked in the Portland area for almost six years before joining WMTW. Before that, he was chief meteorologist at WLTX in Columbia, S.C., and also worked at WSI, a company that provides weather graphics to television stations. Matt holds a bachelor of science degree in atmospheric science from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Dear Sun Spots: I am a professor of anthropology at Bates College and am writing in reference to the request for information about a blood test for “nationality” from the Jan. 1, 2005, Sun Spots column. If the writer is referring to nationality or national identity – whether the person is American or Canadian, Greek or Italian, Japanese or Chinese – there is no such blood test, since a person’s nationality is socially constructed not biologically determined. It is created over a person’s lifetime in a historical or cultural process and has nothing to do with blood, genetics or anything biological at all. If I grow up being told I am American and if I feel American or believe I am American and if other people accept me as American, then I am American.

If the writer is referring to what Americans often call “race” – i.e. whether a person is African-American, white, Asian or Native American – the situation is more complicated, but the answer is the same. There is no blood test to determine a person’s race. “Races” are cultural, not biological, categories.

I would be happy to talk with the person who submitted the initial inquiry about this interesting and important issue. I can be reached at (207) 786-6081, fax me at (207) 786-6123 or e-mail me at [email protected]. – Loring M. Danforth, Lewiston.

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