Wow, it’s been nearly a month since I last posted. So much going on, can’t pick just one, two or three. But there is something I’d like to share, it’s MAKERS. “MAKERS: Women Who Make America” (a production of Storyville Films) is just one part of the story. That’s the complete title of a new mini-series that will premiere on PBS stations February 26.
“MAKERS: Women Who Make America” is a 3-hour overview of the women’s movement in America, it’s key players, and pivital moments from the 1950s to the present day. One can debate who did what, when, where and the impact. For example who really blew the whistle that forced Anita Hill that forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to reopen the confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas in 1991? Giving total credit to the women in Congress makes for a consistent narrative of women, politics, and power, but the messenger was NPR’s Nina Totenberg. The coverage of the hearing won NPR a George Foster Peabody Award. Anita Hill wrote a book and went back into academia. And Clarence Thomas is Justice for life on the U.S. Supreme Court.
There are great stories told, but 3 hours is insufficient to explore sex, race, class, from so many women’s perspectives and experiences from the last 5 decades. But where MAKERS loses time in broadcast, it more than makes up for with the MAKERS website featuring testimonials from many American “maker” women. The MAKERS website (www.makers.com) is a collaboration between AOL and PBS. Commercial and public media can peacefully coexist, and it makes for a wonderful partnership. The site aims to be the largest video collection of women’s stories. They are contemporary stories even though some of the women featured have joined the ancestors. Thank goodness they didn’t go silently into the night.
Friday, March 1 at 2 PM ET (11 AM PT) I’ll be hosting a social screening of the first hour of the documentary “Makers: Women Who Make America” with two makers:
Barbara Smith is a feminist writer, critic, teacher, and author who co-founded Kitchen Table Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher of women of color. Have you read This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (a KP classic). Even used, it’s selling for $92 on Amazon. Barbara Smith is currently serving her second term as a member of the Albany Common Council.
Amy Richards is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation. She’s written several books including Manifesta, Grassroots and Opting In. She’s also written for major publications including the New York Times, Bitch, The Chicago Tribune, and also has her own “Ask Amy” column on Feminist.com.
SPIKE LEE’S NEXT REQUIEM
After visiting New Orleans for the first time in 2007, I bought my own DVD copy of “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts,” Spike Lee’s HBO documentary about the slow emergency and recovery response to the Katrina tragedy. The documentary was one of the few voices at the time placing the (correct) blame of the devastation to New Orleans by flood on the breaching of the levees. Lee vowed to return for a follow-up (read sequel), but it looks like this story is taking another turn.
Today, Spike Lee and his film crew were spotted by Times-Picayune reporter Matthew Hinton at today’s BP protest in Jackson Square.
See the Times-Picayune gallery of the protest here. This one’s weirdly interesting. Oh dear, another Tea Party moment here
PRESIDENT’S WEEKLY
Vice President Joe Biden will lay the ceremonial wreath at Arlington National Cemetery tomorrow, while President Barack Obama lays a wreath at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, IL outside Chicago. The First Family is spending Memorial Day weekend in the Chi-House. The President recorded his Memorial Day message for the Weekly Address. Transcript here.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND IN D.C.
We’ve gotten used to the motorcycles riding up and down the streets. The annual ride has become a Memorial Day fixture. In fact, the Rolling Thunder riders follow traffic rules better than the locals. The organization was formed by Vietnam veterans to bring full accountability for POWs and MIAs.
Memorial Day is a good time for the locals to enjoy their city. Restaurants, cafes, and hot spots aren’t packed. The traffic’s light and there’s more on-street parking.
WETA (PBS) hosts their annual Memorial Day Concert on the U.S. Capitol lawn tonight. Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna host the annual tribute to America’s military personnel.
This is the live feed from BP of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. They’ve restarted the “top kill” process of shooting heavy drilling mud into the hole to essentially “plug it up.” The video source and ticker is from PBS’s Newshour. The live feed was ordered by the U.S. Government. What a treat for insomniacs.
A couple of soundbytes are really disturbing to me: Gulf of Mexico oil spill the worst in U.S. history.
Not worst in the world? You mean to say there are others that are worst? Update: Yes! And in the Gulf of Mexico. Go here. Here’s a convenient time line from the New York Times.
Dispersants have never been used in this volume before.
When and how many times before? And how much?
Gustavo Dudamel’s October 8 inaugural gala concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall (seriously folks) will be featured on PBS’s Great Performances tonight at 8 PM (EST). Check local listings.
For those of you who’ve kept up with eclectique|916, I attended a rehearsal of the Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in April. Dudamel started his musical career with the youth orchestra or its parent group, the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela aka “The System.” He became the orchestra’s conductor at the age of 18 in 1999.
Dudamel’s LA Philaharmonic concert also has a Deutsche Grammophon DVD deal. A release of the performance is scheduled for November. Tonight’s program includes Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major (“Titan”) and the world premiere of that latest work by Pulitzer Prize-winning music composer John Adams, City Noir.
It’s always curious to me how we bark at one another across the global relations table, yet embrace each other’s finest artistic talents — well sometimes. It’s a little easier when the music has no words or images that convey messages.
Honestly, I’m not phased by the music. I just enjoy watching “The Dude” work the baton. Fuego y Musica.
As promised (to myself), I completed a clip to promote my documentary foodie project “The Church Lady Cake Diaries.” Let me set this up. This clip features Johari Rashad. By day she’s a federal government employee (not appointed) and professional development trainer. On Saturdays she attends the Capitol Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church where she’s an active member. I’ve been chomping on Johari’s pound cakes for years. In the clip, she’s making a batch to take to her friends in New Orleans during Mardi Gras (I went with her). It was Johari’s first trip back to the crescent city since before Katrina. It was my first trip to NOLA ever! There’s more to the story. But press play.
Two weeks ago, I had my first day doing lunch prep in my church kitchen, All Souls Unitarian. I came away with red finger tips after julienning (is that a word?) fresh red bell peppers all morning. I’m like my aunts on my father’s side; I don’t do crowd cooking so well, but I can manage dinner for 4. Perhaps I’ll learn something from the “kitchen ministry.” Afterall, if I’m going to do the Church Lady Cake project, better practice what I preach.
BTW I did bake a coconut cake from scratch last month. Haven’t made a layer cake in years. I found the cake recipe on the Epicurious recipe site. It’s the Shubox Cafe of Cedar Grove, NJ coconut layer cake. The liquids are Coco Lopez cream of coconut (your pina colada ingredient) and buttermilk. I don’t use the traditional egg white icing; I use a buttercream. Unsweetened crushed pineapple in the center. It was yum!
NYC SCHOOLS RESTRICT STUDENT RUN BAKE SALES – Are cupcakes the new crack?
The “wellness” policy is in the name of what’s best for “the children” and addressing childhood obesity. Personally, I’ve never seen anyone pig out at a bake sale especially when the goods are home baked from scratch — that should always be the criteria IMO. Piggies at the convenience store? Yes. At fast food joints? Yes. At family picnics and Thanksgiving? Yes. Yes.
The NYC Board of Education issued a 3-page memo in June outlining the new policy. Basically, there’s only one student bake sale per month and not during school hours. The exceptions are parent groups and PTAs, only if baked goods are sold after the lunch hour. There’s a cultural piece in this that is triggering a negative reaction to the policy. There’s probably a business piece, i.e. who’s getting the contracts to be a preferred vendor. I’ve said, putting down people’s food is like talking about their momma. Will bake sales become a Libertarian cause? The New York Times editors were sweet on eclectique916’s comment [“Editors’ Selections“] #61 to their article:
eclectique916
DC
October 3rd, 200910:34 am
It’s highly probable that students will buy less if they pay $2 – $3 for a cupcake at a fundraiser bakesale, than buy more and pay less for convenience foods (at the sports games after school for example) which are the real culprits for childhood obesity in addition to lack of exercise and parental supervision over food available at home. We had bake sales. Our parents and other family members made cakes and cookies for special occasions such as holidays and birthdays. We were rationed servings. Guess what? I’m not over weight, and I don’t suffer from diabetes or high blood pressure. In other words, I had loving, caring and wise adults around me.
Food stuff is a delicate balance.
Byron Hurt and I are due for a chat about his new doc project SOUL FOOD JUNKIES. It’s about the good, the bad, the ugly, and tasty bits of those BBQ ribs, greens, beans, chicken, mac and cheese, comfort foods known in the urban African American community as “soul food.” Soul Food’s grand mother is southern cooking. I guess the soul is a reincarnation from the great migrations. For some people, soul food is all they eat, all they know. Byron seems to want these folks to step away from the table for a second and assess the damage. I sent Byron the CHURCH LADY CAKE clip after seeing his SOUL FOOD JUNKIES clip. It’ll be an interesting conversation. Byron is accepting donations to complete SOUL FOOD JUNKIES. Visit his website www.bhurt.com for more information.
Bryant Terry’s VEGAN SOUL KITCHEN: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African American Cuisine
You’ll see Bryant in Byron’s clip. But during my little window of opportunity at the end of summer when I had time to cook, I checked out a few recipes in Bryant’s cookbook at the recommendation of public health nutritionist and vegan Tracye McQuirter of byanygreensnecessary. Bryant definitely appeals to my need for flavor. I’ve tried other vegetarian and vegan recipes and left the table feeling okay, healthy but not satisfied. Bryant knows the value of appealing to all the senses. Any chef who isn’t afraid of cayenne pepper is a chef after my own heart. Each recipe comes with a recommended soundtrack. So far I’m sold on his Red Beans and Brown Rice with Red Wine-Simmered Seiten. The soundtrack for this dish is “Beans and Cornbread” by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five. I didn’t have that in my stash, so I turned on Queen Ida’s Zydeco. Bryant Terry is a star in the organic food justice orbit. He’s based in Oakland, CA.
AU REVOIR GOURMET MAGAZINE Conde Nast puts GOURMET MAGAZINE on the chopping block or board
I was shocked! Or should I be? Being that I’m a home cook, GOURMET was the magazine I turned to as an aspirational resource. I may have made 3 recipes from the magazine – and I had a subscription. Not all of their recipes quite hit the mark especially for the novice cook. I always had to work with them a bit. But the photos and the articles were phenomenal.
GOURMET and several other magazines including COOKIE and two bridal magazines were discontinued as a result of an assessment by the McKinsey consulting firm hired by Conde Nast to evaluate the financial health of the corporation and its publications.
Granted, in the early days GOURMET’s writers and readers were privileged foodies. The magazine was founded before the US entered World War II. If these foodies couldn’t get the food at home; they were willing to get it abroad. Good food and flavors were best experienced in their native land.
I noticed in the last couple of years GOURMET focusing on what regular folk in these destinations ate on a daily basis or for special holidays — there was street food (last issue) and comfort food. I remember an issue dedciated to food featured on comedy and dramatic TV shows. It included a recipe for Alice’s “Pork cheeops N Apple Sauze” (“The Brady Bunch”). I still have that issue. Road food was added to the mix and the 10 minute gourmet.
Editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl took the magazine in a direction that made all food and the people who make it special and phenomenal. She’s cleaned out her office and is on a book tour for the cookbook Gourmet Today. Reichl appears to be finishing out the season with the GOURMET brand. She plans to write a book about her experiences. I’m sure it’ll be well received by today’s foodies. Her new 10-part television series “Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth” will premiere this month on PBS stations. “Diary of a Foodie” was GOURMET’s first television venture.Sunday, I bought the recent copy of GOURMET (October). November will be the last issue (updated info.). Today I browsed the same food magazine rack at Borders. GOURMET was nowhere to be found. Perhaps there will be life after “good living” for GOURMET in the digital world.