It has been a VERY long time since I have had a guest over for dinner at my home. Something like three years.
It makes me sad to think about it. I love to cook and take care of friends. Making cocktails and munchies, finding the perfect playlist, and preparing a special meal. Laughter and good times. I'd grill veggies, create a mini fiesta of tacos and burritos, shrimp with couscous, and all sorts of things. I miss entertaining and hosting terribly. Sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and talking until midnight.
But life has been extremely complicated. And the longer the break from entertaining, the more distant the idea, the messier the house got. The messier the house, the more daunting the idea of cleaning. It became a terrible cycle that needed to be broken. And there's a little bit of shame and embarrassment thrown in there too.
Life throws things at you sometimes that you can't handle with the grace and strength you thought you had. But it's okay. Because I think in losing part of myself, I found another part I did not know existed. The part who is patient, and kinder, and more strategic. I became more appreciative of friends who have stuck by me, and who have been kind and patient.
And now I'm letting go of things that keep me down. Letting go of some of the fears that kept me from my friends and family. Not caring about things that used to make me cry. I started by cleaning. One room. Then another. Then, to get me over the hump, I just did it. I invited a good and understanding friend over for dinner. And with a little help from hubby, made the house presentable.
Homemade tortilla chips and mango salsa. Margaritas. Vegetarian burritos and braised brussel sprouts. Good conversation. All the things that make me happy. I'm so glad I got here.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Better Than Popcorn
Yesterday afternoon, I came home with a plan: to veg in front of my television and watch movies until I fall asleep. But first, I had to take on dinner.
As I was preparing the meal, I was daunted by the very large bag of kale I bought from BJs earlier in the week. What on earth was I going to do with all this kale? I had already chopped some up into tomato sauce for pasta and hubby even included some in the crock pot for turkey earlier in the week. However, there was still a lot of kale.
Then it hit me. Instead of popcorn for my veg night, I could make kale chips! I made kale chips before and enjoyed them immensely.
I tore the leaves off their woody stems; sprinkled it with olive oil, salt and pepper; and rubbed the leaves until they were fully covered. Then I baked it at 300 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until they became light and crispy (but not brown). Finally, the thing that made this batch special...I sprinkled the finished product with nutritional yeast, an ingredient I had bought for a single recipe over the December holidays.
Voila! This was perfection! If you have ever craved popcorn for movie watching, please try this. You will NOT be disappointed. The chips are so light and crisp they melt in your mouth. The bitter green taster gives way to an earthy flavor. Then, the nutritional yeast adds a creamy, nutty, almost cheesiness to each delectable bite. Oh my goodness, why did I wait so long to make these?!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A new beginning
The last time I posted to this blog was just over two years ago. I was in the middle of an extremely rough patch in my life, to say the least. My husband and I were both unemployed and I was just beginning a new position.
The two years following have been full of obstacles, hardship, joys, pain, and learning opportunities--too many to outline in any blog. The rough patch is still ironing itself out, but my mind is beginning to refocus.
I need to write. I realize I need to write in order to be happy. Being confined to only write about certain things has left a lump in my throat that needs to be cleared. So this post is titled "a new beginning " because I feel like I need to start over and almost erase the previous posts. But I won't. I need to write to be whole. So today, I will start writing.
The two years following have been full of obstacles, hardship, joys, pain, and learning opportunities--too many to outline in any blog. The rough patch is still ironing itself out, but my mind is beginning to refocus.
I need to write. I realize I need to write in order to be happy. Being confined to only write about certain things has left a lump in my throat that needs to be cleared. So this post is titled "a new beginning " because I feel like I need to start over and almost erase the previous posts. But I won't. I need to write to be whole. So today, I will start writing.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
How the Right Wing Uses Liberal Guilt to Defeat the Left
Again? Have we learned nothing?
First James O’Keefe went after ACORN. Even though the video used to defund the organization was later determined to be a fraud, liberals buckled under the pressure. The Congressional vote, even under Democratic control, voted to ban ACORN from receiving federal funding. The right wing plan worked and ACORN went out of business across the country.
Earlier, Laila Rose had begun her “undercover investigations” of an even more popular brand: Planned Parenthood. These edited clips, along with false and misleading information about abortion rates for women of color are being used in an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. The right-wing controlled House of Representatives wasted no time in voting to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding as one of their first acts of 2011.
Now Mr. O’Keefe is back. This time, posing as a Muslim donor to National Public Radio (NPR) recording the director of fundraising making disparaging remarks about conservatives and the Tea Party. In this case, a fundraiser, not a reporter was forced to resign for making a biased statement. Shortly thereafter NPR’s chief executive also resigned. No doubt, NPR will be next on the budget chopping block. Oh, wait, it was already defunded by the House along with Planned Parenthood.
And for some reason, the general public has not noticed this organized effort to attack and dismantle popular and vital programs that benefit our communities. Shame on the media for not making these connections for us and shame on progressives for cowering in response. Lawmakers are eating it up as an opportunity to finally get rid of these things they hate so much.
Enough is enough.
How is it that one afternoon a perfectly competent employee can be doing good work and the next moment he or she is thrown into turmoil, and unemployment. Why are progressives so caught up in their liberal guilt that they cannot just admit to a mistake and move on without allowing for the destruction of a perfectly good organization?
Fortunately, Planned Parenthood is fighting back. If you haven’t seen the pink bus "Truth Tour", you really should take a look. They are following the lying anti-choice zealots around the country with their truth bus, debunking lies and spreading the word about Planned Parenthood’s important work.
I hope that NPR does not fall victim to these attacks and fights back too. It is time for progressives to release themselves from the liberal guilt that allows them to agree to the punishments of the right wing because of deceptions and mistakes. And it is time for us to say “hell no!” to our members of Congress if they dare defund these vital community programs.
First James O’Keefe went after ACORN. Even though the video used to defund the organization was later determined to be a fraud, liberals buckled under the pressure. The Congressional vote, even under Democratic control, voted to ban ACORN from receiving federal funding. The right wing plan worked and ACORN went out of business across the country.
Earlier, Laila Rose had begun her “undercover investigations” of an even more popular brand: Planned Parenthood. These edited clips, along with false and misleading information about abortion rates for women of color are being used in an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. The right-wing controlled House of Representatives wasted no time in voting to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding as one of their first acts of 2011.
Now Mr. O’Keefe is back. This time, posing as a Muslim donor to National Public Radio (NPR) recording the director of fundraising making disparaging remarks about conservatives and the Tea Party. In this case, a fundraiser, not a reporter was forced to resign for making a biased statement. Shortly thereafter NPR’s chief executive also resigned. No doubt, NPR will be next on the budget chopping block. Oh, wait, it was already defunded by the House along with Planned Parenthood.
And for some reason, the general public has not noticed this organized effort to attack and dismantle popular and vital programs that benefit our communities. Shame on the media for not making these connections for us and shame on progressives for cowering in response. Lawmakers are eating it up as an opportunity to finally get rid of these things they hate so much.
Enough is enough.
How is it that one afternoon a perfectly competent employee can be doing good work and the next moment he or she is thrown into turmoil, and unemployment. Why are progressives so caught up in their liberal guilt that they cannot just admit to a mistake and move on without allowing for the destruction of a perfectly good organization?
Fortunately, Planned Parenthood is fighting back. If you haven’t seen the pink bus "Truth Tour", you really should take a look. They are following the lying anti-choice zealots around the country with their truth bus, debunking lies and spreading the word about Planned Parenthood’s important work.
I hope that NPR does not fall victim to these attacks and fights back too. It is time for progressives to release themselves from the liberal guilt that allows them to agree to the punishments of the right wing because of deceptions and mistakes. And it is time for us to say “hell no!” to our members of Congress if they dare defund these vital community programs.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Unions Will Save the American Middle Class
The battle of public relations is waged in the media. Whoever gets the public to buy their version of the story wins. This is where corporations have the edge. They have enough money and power to distort reality and convince even the people they will harm with their goals that their story is real.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the union battle being waged in Wisconsin. Corporations are using soaring state budget deficits to eliminate worker rights. They have quietly set the stage by getting the politicians they elected to blame “powerful unions” for budget deficits, deflecting their own role in the problem.
A brief history:
The industrial revolution in the United States brought much wealth. However, the wealth was not shared. There was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Workers were poor. There were no laws protecting workers from unsafe conditions or unreasonable work hours. The average work day was 12 hours. There was no minimum wage or child labor laws. Most manufacturing plants then, looked like today’s sweatshops.
We can thank the collective bargaining of unions for our minimum wage, 8-hour work days, child labor laws, emergency exits and other job safety requirements. We can thank them for sick days, vacation days and holidays. These, and many other policies built America’s middle class. They enabled workers to earn enough money to actually take vacations and build the tourism industry. Workers could actually afford to buy the products they were making, propelling America’s economy, and the world economy.
At its peak in 1970, union membership across the country was greater than 25 percent. According to the AFLCIO, overall union membership is less than half that, at 12 percent. American union membership in the private sector has in recent years fallen under 9% — levels not seen since 1932. Hardly at levels harmful to the U.S. economy as conservative pundits would have us believe. Yet unions remain under attack.
Wisconsin is the beginning:
With all that is going on in Wisconsin, as workers fight to protect their collective bargaining rights, you will witness the media siege, No doubt, this weekend, you will find an article in your local paper supposedly showing you the dark side of the teachers union, or perhaps another union. The television news programs will comment on how the unions must negotiate away some of their benefits in order to save states from financial disaster.
No doubt, unions will need to take less and pay more for their health benefits and pensions. However, do not mistake the need for this negotiation with the desire of some to end the union’s right to collectively negotiate in this process.
In the end, who will benefit the most from the loss of collective bargaining? Taxpayers will not benefit. State workers will still have contracts and benefits. Even in Wisconsin, Governor Walker’s plan will only save $137 million out of the state’s $3.7 billion deficit. Hardly a dent.
Our fears over budget deficits are being manipulated by powerful people who have been working for decades to rid themselves of unions so they can make bigger profits. In the end, an elimination of collective bargaining in Wisconsin would be a model for other states, and Congress, to give even more power and wealth to corporations over workers. Even as corporate profits soar higher and the wage gap increases, the American public will be convinced that unions are the problem.
Unions are not the problem. Unions and the workers in their ranks, will sacrifice in Wisconsin. They will preserve collective bargaining rights. And when history is written about this time, they will be credited with saving America’s middle class.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the union battle being waged in Wisconsin. Corporations are using soaring state budget deficits to eliminate worker rights. They have quietly set the stage by getting the politicians they elected to blame “powerful unions” for budget deficits, deflecting their own role in the problem.
A brief history:
The industrial revolution in the United States brought much wealth. However, the wealth was not shared. There was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Workers were poor. There were no laws protecting workers from unsafe conditions or unreasonable work hours. The average work day was 12 hours. There was no minimum wage or child labor laws. Most manufacturing plants then, looked like today’s sweatshops.
We can thank the collective bargaining of unions for our minimum wage, 8-hour work days, child labor laws, emergency exits and other job safety requirements. We can thank them for sick days, vacation days and holidays. These, and many other policies built America’s middle class. They enabled workers to earn enough money to actually take vacations and build the tourism industry. Workers could actually afford to buy the products they were making, propelling America’s economy, and the world economy.
At its peak in 1970, union membership across the country was greater than 25 percent. According to the AFLCIO, overall union membership is less than half that, at 12 percent. American union membership in the private sector has in recent years fallen under 9% — levels not seen since 1932. Hardly at levels harmful to the U.S. economy as conservative pundits would have us believe. Yet unions remain under attack.
Wisconsin is the beginning:
With all that is going on in Wisconsin, as workers fight to protect their collective bargaining rights, you will witness the media siege, No doubt, this weekend, you will find an article in your local paper supposedly showing you the dark side of the teachers union, or perhaps another union. The television news programs will comment on how the unions must negotiate away some of their benefits in order to save states from financial disaster.
No doubt, unions will need to take less and pay more for their health benefits and pensions. However, do not mistake the need for this negotiation with the desire of some to end the union’s right to collectively negotiate in this process.
In the end, who will benefit the most from the loss of collective bargaining? Taxpayers will not benefit. State workers will still have contracts and benefits. Even in Wisconsin, Governor Walker’s plan will only save $137 million out of the state’s $3.7 billion deficit. Hardly a dent.
Our fears over budget deficits are being manipulated by powerful people who have been working for decades to rid themselves of unions so they can make bigger profits. In the end, an elimination of collective bargaining in Wisconsin would be a model for other states, and Congress, to give even more power and wealth to corporations over workers. Even as corporate profits soar higher and the wage gap increases, the American public will be convinced that unions are the problem.
Unions are not the problem. Unions and the workers in their ranks, will sacrifice in Wisconsin. They will preserve collective bargaining rights. And when history is written about this time, they will be credited with saving America’s middle class.
Monday, February 14, 2011
How Will You Celebrate Valentines Day?
What was surprising to me was that when I did finally have a boyfriend on this day, I did not care anymore. I did not want a card or a gift. I became suddenly aware of the Hallmark sales pitch, the diamond commercials and the social pressures I spent most of my life avoiding.
Today, I think about this day in a different light. I have been married for 14 years last month. I married a Christian. This is a little surprising because I was raised Jewish. But religion had absolutely nothing to do with our decision to get married or the marriage ceremony. We went to City Hall together to get our marriage license. We hired a Justice of the Peace out of the phone book to perform our small ceremony at a local restaurant surrounded by immediate family and a few friends. Religion never played into it at all.
So when I read about Saint Valentine on wikipedia in honor of the day, I was intrigued to learn that the origin and identity of this saint of the Catholic Church is unclear. It may refer to a group of people who helped Christians in the Roman Empire when it was illegal to do so. Some of them even married Christians (gasp). Here is just a small clip from the entry.
The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493); alongside the woodcut portrait of Valentine, the text states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime.
How appropriate that today we celebrate such martyrs during the height of the battle for marriage equality for same sex couples. The very church that celebrates the righteous acts of those who stood for love in the face of oppression has turned its back on love and has fought against legal equality outside of the church.
There was a time when I would not have been able to marry my husband in any church or synagogue. There was a time when no church would have married a couple of different races. But here in the United States, we have come to hold love and human dignity above such trite bigotry. We have advanced human rights.
If religion had nothing to do with my ability to marry, then why are religious leaders so opposed to legal marriage for same sex couples? No church, synagogue, mosque or temple can be forced to recognize or collaborate in civil marriage. If they could separate law from religion this would not be an issue. Alas, many people are not able to separate them. And for this reason, millions of people are being denied the same rights and responsibilities I have been honored to share with my husband.
But many within the religious community to recognize the sanctity of same sex unions in the eyes of their god. They have boldly led where the rest of us will one day follow. To name just a small handful...
Rev. J. Brad Benson, an episcopal Priest in Bath, NY who married his partner Carl Johengen with the blessing of Rochester Bishop Prince Singh, retired Bishop Jack McKelvey, and Maine Bishop Stephen Lane.
The Reverends Dawn Sangrey and Kay Greenleaf were charged for illegally marrying same sex couples in New Paltz, NY in 2004.
The Reverend Sam Trumbore of Albany, NY who marries same sex couples and was part of the lawsuit against New York State’s discriminatory marriage laws that were unfortunately upheld by the Court of Appeals.
All the clergy who are part of Clergy United for Marriage.
So today, on Valentines Day, I would like to celebrate the lives of those who are breaking this barrier and taking a lead in restoring equality and human rights to same sex couples.
Celebrate with me by contacting your elected representatives on the state and federal level, wherever you live. If you live in new York State, start here.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
What you can do for the people of Egypt
Sometimes world events can be overwhelming. In recent years I have watched democratic uprisings in Tibet, Burma, Iran and most recently in Tunisia and Egypt. And this is only a handful of the many world events where oppressed people have risen through despair to fight for their freedom and for justice. Without the help of an army or weapons millions have united to amplify their voices, to fight for their right to speak freely, worship freely, work freely and love freely. Their voices raised so their oppressors and the world would hear their pain and act.
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| Tianamen Square 1989 |
Here in the United States, where we take for granted most of what others live without every day, watch the twenty-four hour news cycle in awe as people just like us face tear gas, water cannons, guns and worse. We can feel helpless, living our lives thousands of miles away.
We are not helpless. Get over the distance and realize this: we are all part of the revolution. There are millions of smaller actions we can, and do take very day to help those who struggle and fight for freedom and justice. Many, you are already doing. Some, would take little effort. They all make a difference.
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| An Egyptian mother hugged her child as she watched thousands of Egyptian protesters gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo. 2011 |
Be a witness. This is something we all do in our own way. The simple act of watching CNN and witnessing the heartbreaking, terrible acts against protestors is our own act of solidarity. We must witness oppression, no matter how painful it is to watch. Name it. Call it oppression and injustice. Watch the twitter feeds and live stream video if you can. It is a simple act of consciousness raising. You are witnessing history in the making. Remember it.
Raise awareness. This is another act that can be simple. It can be done by retweeting, forwarding an email or asking others if they are watching. Talk to others about it. You may be surprised at how many people you know have NO IDEA this is going on.
Those are easy, right? Well, if you are hankering for a little more of a challenge...
Learn more. So you have watched the news and you are following things on the internet, now what? There are some great web sites that are updating regularly here and here. I find that news programs and many web sites rarely give the historical context to really understand a conflict halfway around the world. After all, this is a very different culture and history from that of the United States. Find other sites. Not every source is reputable or balanced.
Want to do something with more impact?
Support organizations that fight for freedom. Amnesty International and the Council for a Community of Democracies. also, USAID does a great deal of work to improve democracy worldwide.
Contact your elected representatives. Find out who your elected officials are and contact them to let them know you want U.S. action to support freedom and democracy.
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Voice your solidarity by writing a letter to your local newspaper (most allow you to submit them via email or online now). Thank them for their news coverage, specifically say you support the movement and ask them to cover more. These stories quickly fade due to lack of interest. Your letters will keep the story in the news and keep the movement going.
Join solidarity demonstrations. People all over the U.S. are taking to the streets in peaceful solidarity to our sisters and brothers across the world. Simple web searches can find them. For twitter users, #Jan25 is a good hash tag to follow for Egypt and there is a decent web site with a list of some of them.
Martin Luther King Jr. said “The arc of history bends toward freedom.” We must be on the right side of history when it comes to these challenges. Even actions that seem small build movements and create change. Be the change you seek.
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