Our oven mended we were able to enjoy our South Dakota fare.
I used this recipe for my kuchen, and used fresh apples rather than canned peaches. The recipe calls for use of a springform pan, so I dug mine out and followed the directions to "spread dough with hands over the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of prepared springform pan". There was not enough dough to go up the sides, so I only covered the bottom. I think I could have accomplished the same result with a regular cake pan, or even better still, my indespensible cast-iron skillet. The dough was quite dense, but nevertheless formed a rather thin layer, so I was surprised that it did take 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven to cook, just as the instructions said. This warm dessert was most welcome on chilly fall evening. It is more cookie like than cake like and best eaten immediately. I tried microwaving some of the leftover for lunch today. Rather unsatisfying.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
South Dakota & North Dakota - November 2, 1889
Although November and December represent only 1/6 of the year, we are left with 1/3 of the states still to celebrate! I normally do not write about two states in the same post, but since North and South Dakota became states on the same date from the same territory, since they are states that I have on my "yet to visit list", I decided to make an exception. James, however, has been to South Dakota.
South Dakota's state fossil is the Triceratops - my favorite dinosaur!
Since I have so much reading to do before the end of the year, I worked on it during the long hiatus between California day and Nevada day. I attempted to read a young-adult novel about South Dakota, A Year Without Rain by D. Anne Love, figuring, since it was short, it would help me keep up, but I didn't get very far before I put it down and started looking for something else. It seemed that most of the action actually took place in Georgia, rather than South Dakota. Fortunately, this NPR story clued me in to The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber. Set in the Badlands in 1917 (the "year without rain") readers learn about the especially harsh life the homesteaders faced that year. The DuPrees, one of very few "Negro" families to homestead, watch as their crops wither, their animals die and, their well runs dry. Meanwhile Rachel's memories of her previous life as a cook in a Chicago boardinghouse, and before that as a girl in Louisiana are jogged. Rachel faces her own prejudices against the "agency Indians", and begins to question her husband's loyalty to the land, and desiring a better life for her four daughters than an arranged marriage, she makes a difficult decision. Weisgarber describes some extremely cruel life experiences for these homesteaders, nevertheless, I couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous of Rachel's life - a hermit...with benefits.
As always, any mention of a library gets special recognition in my blog. In the case of Rachel DuPree the library passage couldn't have been more dear to the Hayes-Bohanan hearts. In a one-page passage Weisgarber manages to weave coffee, geography and libraries all into the narrative. "Every morning, Samuel, the delivery boy brought two five-pound sacks of dark beans to the kitchen door. Those beans...had traveled all they way from South America. I tried to picture South America from my geography lessons, but I couldn't place it...I took the streetcar and went to the free library. There I rounded up my courage and asked the white man behind the counter if he could tell me where South America was...He stopped at a table where there was a big globe of the world..."
The title The Plague of Doves (my North Dakota choice) piqued my interest because my daughter's name (Paloma) is Spanish for dove. It turns out that the "doves" to which the title refers, however, "were surely the passenger pigeons of truth and legend". Louise Erdrich's story has many narrators, which I sometimes could not keep straight, and the story jumped around in time, which also sometimes confused me. There were some "magic realism" moments that reminded me of some of the Latin American literature I've read. The narrators included members of the Ojibwe tribe, anglos, and those of mixed blood, giving the reader a sense of the variety of experiences. Ultimately, I was able to sort out the story and there is some resolution at the end.
There was one mention of a college library from the narrator named Evelina Harp who claimed to spend most of her time there.
Dances with Wolves (a rather long film!)
At just under four hours long, this one took us three nights to watch. We had seen it before, probably 20 years ago, but had forgotten most of it. Kevin Costner plays Lieutenant John Dunbar (a.k.a. Dances with Wolves - his Sioux name). When Dunbar is sent to a fort the Dakota territory during the Civil War he finds the post abandoned. He eventually befriends the Sioux tribe living nearby, and discovers that there is a young "white" woman, called Stands with a Fist, (played by Mary McDonnell) living with them. Through her, he is able to communicate with his neighbors.
This movie had me thinking a lot about the concept of "the other" and how the government and the media manipulate the way people feel about others. In the case of this movie, we are made to feel sympathy for the Sioux tribe, and as James points out, as anglos we found ourselves in the postion of rooting for the Sioux and against the U.S. governement. It is only recently that I have heard the word "genocide" applied to the elimination the Native Americans during the 19th century, but it is accurate. The idea of "the other" in the film was evident in two interesting ways: one was that we felt no empathy for the U.S. soldiers - they were portrayed as bullying, illiterate idiots who didn't know enough to bring paper with them to wipe their asses; the second "other" we saw in the film was the Pawnee tribe who were only seen as violent. Whereas the Sioux were portayed more multi-dimensionally, anglos and Pawnees are seen as evil. We see the Sioux mourn their loved ones, making love, and watch as the women cry as their warriors take leave. While we can assume the whites and the Pawnees expressed some of these same emotions, they are absent from the film.
I did like the film, it gave me a lot to think about, the scenery was beautiful, and that Kevin Costner sure isn't hard to look at.
Jesus Camp
Becky Fischer is a children's pastor who runs an evangelical camp for kids in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. This documentary follows Pastor Becky as she works to create a Christian Army of children, some as young as six years old. She does not deny that she is "indoctrinating" the children, rather she defends it by saying that our "enemies" (other religions) are doing the same. She is trying to save America from itself. Footage from inside the camp shows dozens of children driven to tears when confronted with their own sins. I was especilly disturbed by the discussion of abortion with children so young. The film follows a few of the children closely. Levi, a 12-year old boy, is being groomed for the ministry by the adults around him. He is clearly charismatic. The film also goes to Colorado Springs to visit Ted Haggard's "mega-church". This film came out in 2006, just before allegations that Haggard had paid a male prostitute for sex. The allegations proved to be true, which make his comments in the film against homosexuality all the more troubling.
North Dakota "short"
Evidently, I have a lot of company among those who have not yet been to North Dakota. Back in the 1990s Michael Moore (of Roger & Me fame, see my Michigan post) had a television show called TV Nation. In which he explored some quirky things. In one segment he questions why North Dakota is the least visited state in the country. Watch this YouTube video to find out. I am surprised that there are not more people going to visit Rugby, North Dakota, which has the honor of being the geographical center of the country. I will definitely be going!
I imagine the Bauernmomlett (Farmer's Omlet), our North Dakota meal made with potatoes and bacon, was never intended to be made with "fake-in", but in deference to our vegetarian daughter we made the substitution. It was pretty good, and simple to make, and our oven, which has been malfunctioning regularly of late, behaved long enough for me to put the broiler on in order to cook the top of the omelet. If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, I recommend buying one immediately. They are essential for making fluffy, non-burnt omelets. I cook the omlet, covered, on low heat for about 7 minutes, until it is mostly set, then put it under the broiler for one to two minutes. Perfect every time. We also enjoyed nice cold glasses of milk - the North Dakota state beverage!
Unfortunately, because of the aforementioned oven malfunction we have to defer our South Dakota food choice until tomorrow, when, hopefully we will have it fixed. We will be preparing kuchen - the official South Dakota state dessert. We will write a supplemental post, and James will write about his trip to South Dakota as well. He is among the ranks of the many who have not been to North Dakota. We can't wait to become some of the few!
An interesting article about North Dakota agriculture from the New York Times: North Dakota cattle get a new home. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/us/13cows.html
North Dakota's press release on the occasion of its 121st birthday!
Since I have so much reading to do before the end of the year, I worked on it during the long hiatus between California day and Nevada day. I attempted to read a young-adult novel about South Dakota, A Year Without Rain by D. Anne Love, figuring, since it was short, it would help me keep up, but I didn't get very far before I put it down and started looking for something else. It seemed that most of the action actually took place in Georgia, rather than South Dakota. Fortunately, this NPR story clued me in to The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber. Set in the Badlands in 1917 (the "year without rain") readers learn about the especially harsh life the homesteaders faced that year. The DuPrees, one of very few "Negro" families to homestead, watch as their crops wither, their animals die and, their well runs dry. Meanwhile Rachel's memories of her previous life as a cook in a Chicago boardinghouse, and before that as a girl in Louisiana are jogged. Rachel faces her own prejudices against the "agency Indians", and begins to question her husband's loyalty to the land, and desiring a better life for her four daughters than an arranged marriage, she makes a difficult decision. Weisgarber describes some extremely cruel life experiences for these homesteaders, nevertheless, I couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous of Rachel's life - a hermit...with benefits.
As always, any mention of a library gets special recognition in my blog. In the case of Rachel DuPree the library passage couldn't have been more dear to the Hayes-Bohanan hearts. In a one-page passage Weisgarber manages to weave coffee, geography and libraries all into the narrative. "Every morning, Samuel, the delivery boy brought two five-pound sacks of dark beans to the kitchen door. Those beans...had traveled all they way from South America. I tried to picture South America from my geography lessons, but I couldn't place it...I took the streetcar and went to the free library. There I rounded up my courage and asked the white man behind the counter if he could tell me where South America was...He stopped at a table where there was a big globe of the world..."
The title The Plague of Doves (my North Dakota choice) piqued my interest because my daughter's name (Paloma) is Spanish for dove. It turns out that the "doves" to which the title refers, however, "were surely the passenger pigeons of truth and legend". Louise Erdrich's story has many narrators, which I sometimes could not keep straight, and the story jumped around in time, which also sometimes confused me. There were some "magic realism" moments that reminded me of some of the Latin American literature I've read. The narrators included members of the Ojibwe tribe, anglos, and those of mixed blood, giving the reader a sense of the variety of experiences. Ultimately, I was able to sort out the story and there is some resolution at the end.
There was one mention of a college library from the narrator named Evelina Harp who claimed to spend most of her time there.
Dances with Wolves (a rather long film!)
At just under four hours long, this one took us three nights to watch. We had seen it before, probably 20 years ago, but had forgotten most of it. Kevin Costner plays Lieutenant John Dunbar (a.k.a. Dances with Wolves - his Sioux name). When Dunbar is sent to a fort the Dakota territory during the Civil War he finds the post abandoned. He eventually befriends the Sioux tribe living nearby, and discovers that there is a young "white" woman, called Stands with a Fist, (played by Mary McDonnell) living with them. Through her, he is able to communicate with his neighbors.
This movie had me thinking a lot about the concept of "the other" and how the government and the media manipulate the way people feel about others. In the case of this movie, we are made to feel sympathy for the Sioux tribe, and as James points out, as anglos we found ourselves in the postion of rooting for the Sioux and against the U.S. governement. It is only recently that I have heard the word "genocide" applied to the elimination the Native Americans during the 19th century, but it is accurate. The idea of "the other" in the film was evident in two interesting ways: one was that we felt no empathy for the U.S. soldiers - they were portrayed as bullying, illiterate idiots who didn't know enough to bring paper with them to wipe their asses; the second "other" we saw in the film was the Pawnee tribe who were only seen as violent. Whereas the Sioux were portayed more multi-dimensionally, anglos and Pawnees are seen as evil. We see the Sioux mourn their loved ones, making love, and watch as the women cry as their warriors take leave. While we can assume the whites and the Pawnees expressed some of these same emotions, they are absent from the film.
I did like the film, it gave me a lot to think about, the scenery was beautiful, and that Kevin Costner sure isn't hard to look at.
Jesus Camp
Becky Fischer is a children's pastor who runs an evangelical camp for kids in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. This documentary follows Pastor Becky as she works to create a Christian Army of children, some as young as six years old. She does not deny that she is "indoctrinating" the children, rather she defends it by saying that our "enemies" (other religions) are doing the same. She is trying to save America from itself. Footage from inside the camp shows dozens of children driven to tears when confronted with their own sins. I was especilly disturbed by the discussion of abortion with children so young. The film follows a few of the children closely. Levi, a 12-year old boy, is being groomed for the ministry by the adults around him. He is clearly charismatic. The film also goes to Colorado Springs to visit Ted Haggard's "mega-church". This film came out in 2006, just before allegations that Haggard had paid a male prostitute for sex. The allegations proved to be true, which make his comments in the film against homosexuality all the more troubling.
North Dakota "short"
Evidently, I have a lot of company among those who have not yet been to North Dakota. Back in the 1990s Michael Moore (of Roger & Me fame, see my Michigan post) had a television show called TV Nation. In which he explored some quirky things. In one segment he questions why North Dakota is the least visited state in the country. Watch this YouTube video to find out. I am surprised that there are not more people going to visit Rugby, North Dakota, which has the honor of being the geographical center of the country. I will definitely be going!
I imagine the Bauernmomlett (Farmer's Omlet), our North Dakota meal made with potatoes and bacon, was never intended to be made with "fake-in", but in deference to our vegetarian daughter we made the substitution. It was pretty good, and simple to make, and our oven, which has been malfunctioning regularly of late, behaved long enough for me to put the broiler on in order to cook the top of the omelet. If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, I recommend buying one immediately. They are essential for making fluffy, non-burnt omelets. I cook the omlet, covered, on low heat for about 7 minutes, until it is mostly set, then put it under the broiler for one to two minutes. Perfect every time. We also enjoyed nice cold glasses of milk - the North Dakota state beverage!
Unfortunately, because of the aforementioned oven malfunction we have to defer our South Dakota food choice until tomorrow, when, hopefully we will have it fixed. We will be preparing kuchen - the official South Dakota state dessert. We will write a supplemental post, and James will write about his trip to South Dakota as well. He is among the ranks of the many who have not been to North Dakota. We can't wait to become some of the few!
An interesting article about North Dakota agriculture from the New York Times: North Dakota cattle get a new home. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/us/13cows.html
North Dakota's press release on the occasion of its 121st birthday!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Nevada - October 21, 1864
James and I drove to Las Vegas in the spring of 1993. We stayed one night and got to eat the the casino buffets pretty cheaply, and I won $5 in the quarter slot machine. We left after that. There would be more to say about the trip if I weren't trying to stick with writing only about positive experiences. (I used my "winnings" to do laundry). We made one other trip to Nevada during the 1990s while we were traveling around the Northwest. We made a quick trip across the California/Nevada border to pick up an additional county for our county map project http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/COUNTIES/County.htm
21: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students who Took Vegas for Millions
I expect that to a gambler, professional or amatuer, this book would read like a fairy tale. I found it to be rather disturbing, however engrossing. The display of greed on both the part of the casinos, and the students, was what I found most troubling. How much is enough? When does winning money become more important than relationships? If casinos don't want gamblers to count cards why do they keep running games that can be beat in that manner? And why do they throw people out who have figured out how to beat the system if they haven't broken any laws?
The story followed Kevin, a member of an MIT blackjack team that traveled regularly to Las Vegas to count cards. The perspective of the story was decidedly male, although there were two women on the team. Kevin had two girlfriends, one for each side of his double life. Both were really made out to be accessories. His MIT girlfriend was described as someone who would be good to bring to Thanksgiving dinner with his family, whereas his LA Rams cheerleader girlfriend only ever met up with him in Vegas.
I was struck by the sheer genius of the students, which clashed with some typical adolescent mentalities. Although, given how dag-gone smart they were you'd think they would have caught on the the fact that their gambling days were over when the frequent casino bannings turned violent, but no, they still kept trying, thinking perhaps it was just a coincidence.
Of course any mention of librarians, especially sterotypes, must be given air time here: "Kevin didn't need to glance down the table at Cylan to see that he...was infused with good humor...he looked five years too young to know anything about card counting...He certainly didn't look like an advertising executive with developing marital troubles. And his wife...could have passed for a dowdy college librarian."
I think the book can be summed up with this comment from April, a dancer at the Crazy Horse 2 Strip Club: "Don't be naive. Nobody wins in Las Vegas. Kevin Lewis knows that better than anyone."
Pay It Forward
Most movies about Nevada are about Las Vegas, and Pay It Forward is no exception. What is different is that the movie doesn't focus on the glitz at all. The "Strip" is tangential to the story - it is simply the place where one of the characters, Arlene McKinney (played by Helen Hunt), works her two jobs supporting her son Trevor (Haley Joel Osment). At the behest of his teacher, Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey), Trevor attempts to make the world a better place by doing favors for three people, and asking that they, in turn, each do favors for three other people. The Pay-It-Forward experiment eventually takes on a life of its own, even as Trevor believes that it was a failure. This movie has terrific acting, a great plot, and is totally engaging, and has a good message without being too sappy. We even got our 13-year-old daughter to watch the whole thing. She said it was "pretty good". She doesn't readily admit that anything we suggest is any good, so this is high praise.
Since so much of what we ever hear about Nevada focuses on Las Vegas I wanted to find a recipe that would celebrate the more "western" aspect of the state. Nevada magazine provided this piece about chuck wagon cooking in dutch ovens. My daughter and I decided to try to make the doughnuts. The dough was easy to make, and otherwise the instructions seemed pretty simple. Unfortunately, I did not have a good way to test the temperature of the oil, which clearly was way too hot. The doughnuts became very crispy on the outside within about 10 seconds of being dipped in the oil, but remained gooey inside. We also managed to set off our smoke detectors. In a strange twist though, Paloma reported liking them anyway. James and I threw ours away.
21: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students who Took Vegas for Millions
I expect that to a gambler, professional or amatuer, this book would read like a fairy tale. I found it to be rather disturbing, however engrossing. The display of greed on both the part of the casinos, and the students, was what I found most troubling. How much is enough? When does winning money become more important than relationships? If casinos don't want gamblers to count cards why do they keep running games that can be beat in that manner? And why do they throw people out who have figured out how to beat the system if they haven't broken any laws?
The story followed Kevin, a member of an MIT blackjack team that traveled regularly to Las Vegas to count cards. The perspective of the story was decidedly male, although there were two women on the team. Kevin had two girlfriends, one for each side of his double life. Both were really made out to be accessories. His MIT girlfriend was described as someone who would be good to bring to Thanksgiving dinner with his family, whereas his LA Rams cheerleader girlfriend only ever met up with him in Vegas.
I was struck by the sheer genius of the students, which clashed with some typical adolescent mentalities. Although, given how dag-gone smart they were you'd think they would have caught on the the fact that their gambling days were over when the frequent casino bannings turned violent, but no, they still kept trying, thinking perhaps it was just a coincidence.
Of course any mention of librarians, especially sterotypes, must be given air time here: "Kevin didn't need to glance down the table at Cylan to see that he...was infused with good humor...he looked five years too young to know anything about card counting...He certainly didn't look like an advertising executive with developing marital troubles. And his wife...could have passed for a dowdy college librarian."
I think the book can be summed up with this comment from April, a dancer at the Crazy Horse 2 Strip Club: "Don't be naive. Nobody wins in Las Vegas. Kevin Lewis knows that better than anyone."
Pay It Forward
Most movies about Nevada are about Las Vegas, and Pay It Forward is no exception. What is different is that the movie doesn't focus on the glitz at all. The "Strip" is tangential to the story - it is simply the place where one of the characters, Arlene McKinney (played by Helen Hunt), works her two jobs supporting her son Trevor (Haley Joel Osment). At the behest of his teacher, Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey), Trevor attempts to make the world a better place by doing favors for three people, and asking that they, in turn, each do favors for three other people. The Pay-It-Forward experiment eventually takes on a life of its own, even as Trevor believes that it was a failure. This movie has terrific acting, a great plot, and is totally engaging, and has a good message without being too sappy. We even got our 13-year-old daughter to watch the whole thing. She said it was "pretty good". She doesn't readily admit that anything we suggest is any good, so this is high praise.
Since so much of what we ever hear about Nevada focuses on Las Vegas I wanted to find a recipe that would celebrate the more "western" aspect of the state. Nevada magazine provided this piece about chuck wagon cooking in dutch ovens. My daughter and I decided to try to make the doughnuts. The dough was easy to make, and otherwise the instructions seemed pretty simple. Unfortunately, I did not have a good way to test the temperature of the oil, which clearly was way too hot. The doughnuts became very crispy on the outside within about 10 seconds of being dipped in the oil, but remained gooey inside. We also managed to set off our smoke detectors. In a strange twist though, Paloma reported liking them anyway. James and I threw ours away.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Geography of The Garden
I have not been in California for more than 15 years, but I had the good fortune of criss-crossing it a few times, as described briefly on my County Map Project page for California.
California - September 9, 1850
My first memories of California are tied to my first memory of flying on a plane. The year was 1971. Iwas seven years old. My mother, sister, brother and I all flew to San Francisco to visit my grandparents, who had recently moved to Petaluma, California after their retirement. I have since realized that I must have flown on one of the original 747 "Jumbo Jets" during that trip, which started flying commercially in 1970. This was back when flying was a true "event" - people were excited to be going on a plane. Since that time I have lost count of the number of flights I've been on. Somewhere in the triple digits. Flying is no longer an event. There is no excitement - just something to be endured.
As a librarian, I really get a kick out of reading books about books. In Allegra Goodman's novel, The Cookbook Collector I got insight into the world of the rare book trade, as well an intimate look into the psyche of a collector. In an almost other worldly parallel plot line, I found out all kinds of things I didn't know that I didn't know about Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
The Cookbook Collector is possibly the first novel I've read in which the events of 9/11 play a pivital role. I may have read other books which had the tragedy as a background to some other events, but in Goodman's book, the main characters are directly effected. It was especially jarring to read about the memorial services of two victims, major players in a "dot com" start-up company, and the callous way that the company then uses the government's new emphasis on security to roll out a new product on the same day.
Much of the action in this book takes place in Yorick's used bookstore, which tangentially leads to two mentions of libraries:
"He might of considered donating some of the acquisions to deserving libraries, but he preferred to play the open market...More than once at auctions, he broke librarians hearts, only to flip his purchases to other private dealers."
"...she was becoming a researcher, tracing gorgeous threads, preparing a catalogue raisonne of the McClintock Collection, corresponding with scholars and librarians at the Schlesinger and the Huntington, and at universities around the world." I must admit that this makes it look like librarians are not scholars, so I was a bit miffed about the way it was worded.
The Garden
This documentary relates the story of the South Central Farmers, who cultivated a community garden in the aftermath of the riots following the trial of the police officers who took part in the Rodney King beating in 1992. The land was bought by LA county from the wealthy landowner, but sold back (15 years later?) to the same person for the same $5 million dollars they paid for it. Following the sale, the Farmers received a notice of eviction, unless they raised $16 milliion to purchase the land. However, even after they raised the entire amount, the owner refused to sell. This movie brought up issues of classism, racism, and ultimately, loyalties. It was especially disheartening to me to see some of the people opposed to selling the farm to the farmers questioning the farmers integrities by suggesting that selling the food they grew was not an appropriate use of the land, as if (poor) people who didn't till the land themselves didn't deserve to eat good food. And more disheartening still: the farmers responded to this by telling those who had more than 3 plots of land that they could no longer cultivate all of their sections. This new "inside rule" tore into the Farmer's community in a way that outside forces never could.
For more on the South Central Farmers see http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/
For more information about the movie see http://www.thegardenmovie.com/
And for a related story see this from National Public Radio
California - It's all about the wine!
We jumped the gun on our California "meal" a bit, and celebrated on September 6, Labor Day, so that we could enjoy the company of some friends. We did not look into planning a menu so much as we planned the wine list. James couldn't resisit a bottle of Line 39 wine which included a map of California on the label. The name of the wine refers to the line of latitude where the grades are grown. We also enjoyed some Madria Sangria which I served with apple slices in my new Sangria pitcher, purchased from the Hostpial Thrift Store on Nantucket. We drank the wine and nibbled on chips. I thank my friends Brendan and Amelia for providing the homemade guacamole dip, and Lisa and Rob for the homemade salsa. Yum. We also had cedar-smoked salmon, and a gigantic "zuccanoe"stuffed with rice and veggies. The women sat around eating the chips and dip, and drinking the wine while the men, in the true California-Sensitive-New-Age-Guy tradition prepared everything else.
...and one more thing
I found this article from the New York Times regarding the State Rock (serpentine) truly disturbing. Are people really willing to go to the mat for getting rid of the state rock designation because the contains some harmful minerals? Do they understand that the rock won't go away by changing the designation?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/us/14rock.html
As a librarian, I really get a kick out of reading books about books. In Allegra Goodman's novel, The Cookbook Collector I got insight into the world of the rare book trade, as well an intimate look into the psyche of a collector. In an almost other worldly parallel plot line, I found out all kinds of things I didn't know that I didn't know about Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
The Cookbook Collector is possibly the first novel I've read in which the events of 9/11 play a pivital role. I may have read other books which had the tragedy as a background to some other events, but in Goodman's book, the main characters are directly effected. It was especially jarring to read about the memorial services of two victims, major players in a "dot com" start-up company, and the callous way that the company then uses the government's new emphasis on security to roll out a new product on the same day.
Much of the action in this book takes place in Yorick's used bookstore, which tangentially leads to two mentions of libraries:
"He might of considered donating some of the acquisions to deserving libraries, but he preferred to play the open market...More than once at auctions, he broke librarians hearts, only to flip his purchases to other private dealers."
"...she was becoming a researcher, tracing gorgeous threads, preparing a catalogue raisonne of the McClintock Collection, corresponding with scholars and librarians at the Schlesinger and the Huntington, and at universities around the world." I must admit that this makes it look like librarians are not scholars, so I was a bit miffed about the way it was worded.
The Garden
This documentary relates the story of the South Central Farmers, who cultivated a community garden in the aftermath of the riots following the trial of the police officers who took part in the Rodney King beating in 1992. The land was bought by LA county from the wealthy landowner, but sold back (15 years later?) to the same person for the same $5 million dollars they paid for it. Following the sale, the Farmers received a notice of eviction, unless they raised $16 milliion to purchase the land. However, even after they raised the entire amount, the owner refused to sell. This movie brought up issues of classism, racism, and ultimately, loyalties. It was especially disheartening to me to see some of the people opposed to selling the farm to the farmers questioning the farmers integrities by suggesting that selling the food they grew was not an appropriate use of the land, as if (poor) people who didn't till the land themselves didn't deserve to eat good food. And more disheartening still: the farmers responded to this by telling those who had more than 3 plots of land that they could no longer cultivate all of their sections. This new "inside rule" tore into the Farmer's community in a way that outside forces never could.
For more on the South Central Farmers see http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/
For more information about the movie see http://www.thegardenmovie.com/
And for a related story see this from National Public Radio
California - It's all about the wine!
We jumped the gun on our California "meal" a bit, and celebrated on September 6, Labor Day, so that we could enjoy the company of some friends. We did not look into planning a menu so much as we planned the wine list. James couldn't resisit a bottle of Line 39 wine which included a map of California on the label. The name of the wine refers to the line of latitude where the grades are grown. We also enjoyed some Madria Sangria which I served with apple slices in my new Sangria pitcher, purchased from the Hostpial Thrift Store on Nantucket. We drank the wine and nibbled on chips. I thank my friends Brendan and Amelia for providing the homemade guacamole dip, and Lisa and Rob for the homemade salsa. Yum. We also had cedar-smoked salmon, and a gigantic "zuccanoe"stuffed with rice and veggies. The women sat around eating the chips and dip, and drinking the wine while the men, in the true California-Sensitive-New-Age-Guy tradition prepared everything else.
...and one more thing
I found this article from the New York Times regarding the State Rock (serpentine) truly disturbing. Are people really willing to go to the mat for getting rid of the state rock designation because the contains some harmful minerals? Do they understand that the rock won't go away by changing the designation?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/us/14rock.html
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
New York supplement: More on No Impact Man
Pam wrote about the film No Impact Man as part of the original post on New York Day. James wrote about the film from a geographer's perspective for the Wiley GeoDiscoveries blog.
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