tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13209587413283270482024-03-13T21:40:32.405-07:00Light GreenCatfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.comBlogger549125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-55954490200557260142015-06-28T11:28:00.001-07:002015-06-28T11:28:41.985-07:00Becoming a Meal Prep Master<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you know those people who show up to the lunchroom at work and always have something that looks and smells delicious? Something that, when they microwave it, fills the kitchen with enticing aromas?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you ever wondered how you can become one of those people? How they find the time?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The answer: meal planning and prep.</span><br />
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<a href="https://books.google.com/books/content?id=K9ea3Ebv7LkC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE73wRcwPJjDc3-8P73aAZEG923DeITJwkKhIGoapThNHFn9KoV_LVML6t7Uwecv9Dl-3uqjTA5ebT08VwdOozQsqBwU0q07-u-y8IJd70_u2Ox4lxTofhvvd0GmFD98BA_8vPpMw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://books.google.com/books/content?id=K9ea3Ebv7LkC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE73wRcwPJjDc3-8P73aAZEG923DeITJwkKhIGoapThNHFn9KoV_LVML6t7Uwecv9Dl-3uqjTA5ebT08VwdOozQsqBwU0q07-u-y8IJd70_u2Ox4lxTofhvvd0GmFD98BA_8vPpMw" width="212" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I used to bring a Lean Cuisine meal to work EVERY DAY. When I got home, I would eat something like scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, or a quesadilla. I didn't really like vegetables or know how to prepare them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I read Michael Pollan's <i>In Defense of Food</i>, however, I radically changed almost everything about my diet. I stopped eating most highly-processed foods (anything with ingredients I couldn't pronounce or weren't food) and upped my calories from plant foods. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The truth is, however, this type of eating takes a lot more planning than the old way. Whether you're interested in meal prepping to save time, money, the environment, or your health, here are a few of the ways that I've found to make meal planning and prepping easier.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get to know yourself as a cook.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you've never done much cooking, that doesn't mean you can't change the way you eat to include more home-cooked foods. It just means you might need to experiment for awhile. Some people don't really like cooking, and so they'd rather sacrifice one whole day a week (or a month, if they are really organized!) to cooking. I love cooking and so I don't mind doing some cooking mid-week. I also like to buy a lot of fresh produce or use things from the garden, so that means that I go shopping every week (usually twice - one "big shopping" on Sunday, and one mid-week). Think about how much time you want to spend shopping and cooking. If you have a partner or roommate who likes chores that you don't, you might be able to trade some of them for food. I once had a roommate who did all the cleaning if I did all the shopping and cooking for both of us - perfect arrangement.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I use this meal planning pad from<br />Knock Knock for my planning<br />(then I use the back of last week's<br /> sheet for a shopping list).</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Start with a plan.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every Sunday, I sit down with my week's calendar and grab a few cookbooks, plus my Kindle so I can Pinterest. I plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every day, plus two snacks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm one of those people who doesn't mind repeating foods I like, so I'll usually have the same thing for breakfast for a whole week (lately I've been digging a variation on these <a href="http://backtoherroots.com/2012/08/13/herbed-egg-turkey-and-goat-cheese-cups/" target="_blank">goat cheese, turkey and egg cups</a>), and I have a routine for snacks: green smoothie in the morning, a piece of fruit and some almonds or a homemade granola bar for afternoon snack. I make the green smoothies each morning, because I don't like them more than a day old. However, I prep all of the fruits and veggies on Sundays, cutting them up and freezing them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For lunch, I have three go-tos:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Mason jar salads (or other types of salad, like <a href="http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/blueberry-feta-bulgur-salad-mint-dressing" target="_blank">this bulgur blueberry mint salad</a> I ate three days last week). Mason jar salads are great for prepping on the weekend and then popping in your lunch box, because they don't get soggy. <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-pack-the-perfect-salad-in-a-jar-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-192174" target="_blank">This article</a> tells you the basics of how to prep them, and there are a bazillion variations on Pinterest. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Homemade soups, stews, or chilis: These are more of a winter fave, when I want something warm. I usually cook these on Sunday, then portion out into individual containers for the week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Dinner leftovers: I often cook one dinner on Sunday, eat it for dinner Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, then have the leftovers for lunch on Wednesday and cook a new dinner Wednesday night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're planning for kids, Kristin Howerton has awesome ideas for how you can set up a situation for them to <a href="http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2014/08/how-to-get-kids-to-pack-their-own.html" target="_blank">make their own lunches</a>. My friends who have smaller kids who can't yet make their own foods, put on their plans lines for their own lunches and snacks, and those for their kiddos. More detailed planning templates for whole families can be found a quick Google away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On your plan, jot down any notes that are going to impact your time during the week. For example: last week I was planning to make chicken on Thursday night, but I had a work event in the early evening and knew I wouldn't have any energy when I got home. I put on my plan that I needed to make the marinade on Wednesday night, then put the chicken in the marinade before I went to work in the morning Thursday. When I got home, I just had to dump the chicken into the pan and bake it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Shop smart:</b><br />Once you have a plan for all of your meals, go through your plan and write out your shopping list. Then here's the trick: only buy stuff on the list. I can't tell you the number of times I wanted to eat something bad for me, but couldn't because there was nothing in the house. If you need to, you might want to make some rules for yourself -- I tend to live by Pollan's food rules: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, the hardest part is not shopping on the weekend, it's the desire for bad stuff during the week when I'm driving around for work. Diet Coke, get thee behind me!! This is the main reason I always have my snacks planned out, so I try not to be hungry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're going to meal prep, you can't get around the fact that you need A LOT of containers. Some of my favorites:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mason jars</i>: They're not just for hipsters! Mason jars are excellent for salads, as I noted above, and for smoothies, soups, or anything somewhat liquidy. The lids go on super-tight, so they aren't easy to spill.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-1806179-LunchBlox-Salad-Kit/dp/B0078K3ZPM/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1435514909&sr=1-1&keywords=lunch+blox+salad" target="_blank"><i>Lunch Blox:</i> </a> I prefer glass containers for foods that I'm going to heat up, but for salads and snacks, Rubbermaid Lunch Blox are awesome. I have a couple of the salad Blox, and they are also great for what I call "snack bento": you can put a bunch of different small snack items, like some tomatoes, carrot sticks, a few Nut Thins, and some hummus all together, and they don't mix with each other because of the divisions in the Blox.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Small containers and spice jars:</i> It's good to have lots of tiny containers -- I use these more than any others, because they help you keep a handle on portions. When you use up a spice, save the jar (wash it thoroughly or the spice flavor will linger), and it can be added as another small container.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Gallon zip bags: </i>While I try not to use many items that aren't reusable, gallon zipper bags are the best for freezing fruit, soups, cooked grains, etc. This is because they can be stacked flat in the freezer, saving space. Depending upon what was inside them, they can be washed and reused before recycling.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use the whole kitchen.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're one of those people who doesn't want to cook more than once a week, make use of the entire kitchen. When you plan, make sure you have one thing you can cook on the stovetop, one for the crockpot, one for the oven, and maybe one for the grill or toaster oven (I cook whole meals in the toaster oven, especially in the summer when I don't want to turn on the real oven). This is especially helpful when you're planning not just for one or two people, but a whole family, where you'll need multiple dinner entrees.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meal planning and prep can be a shift in thinking about eating, which many of us tend to do on the fly, or turn to convenience foods. However, it also makes life more delicious -- I like to turn up the music when I'm cooking, and it's always wonderful to wake up in the morning knowing that I don't have to think about what to pack in my lunch kit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have any great tips for meal prepping?</span><br />
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<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-43736031369639771142015-06-12T17:07:00.002-07:002015-06-12T17:07:43.440-07:00Dear Spokane: A Letter To My Hometown About Being Thrust Into the Spotlight of American Race Relations<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today hurts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spokane, WA is a small city that prides itself on being a "great place to raise a family." The kind of place that's rarely in the news. So when Twitter and Facebook blew up today with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/rachel-dolezal-naacp-president-accused-of-lying-about-her-race.html?_r=0" target="_blank">news that Rachel Dolezal, the president of Spokane's NAACP chapter has been presenting herself as black, when she is actually white</a>, a lot of you probably wanted to turn off the internet for a few days. Within hours (minutes, maybe) derisive memes and Twitter hashtags popped up. At least <a href="http://jezebel.com/i-have-questions-about-that-white-lady-who-maybe-preten-1710807777" target="_blank">one commentator</a> pulled out the classic "Is Spokane so white that...?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've seen a lot of folks in my hometown on social media just pretending the scandal hasn't happened, and others asking that people not rush to judgment, or why the media isn't focusing on some positive news about our city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we don't turn away, though, this could be a real moment to open our minds and better understand the real racial crisis happening in our country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twelve years ago this month, I moved from Spokane to <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-region-is-now-the-most-diverse-in-the-U-S-3384174.php" target="_blank">one of the most diverse cities in America.</a> I was pretty dumb about diversity at that time. Not maliciously so. I was just ignorant, from growing up in a place where all of the faces I saw were white. I was constantly afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing when the topic of race came up. Over time, working in an organization that is dedicated to social justice, I began to build my consciousness of the world beyond the one in which I'd been raised.<br /><br />I see this same fear in some of my friends on social media today. If we talk about race, will we say something stupid? Will we make things worse? We feel that way because one of the ways that white culture maintains its privileged status is to train white children that even talking about race is racist, thus erasing the existence of our fellow citizens who are not white.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talking has to begin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can be harmful talk if we don't do it with care, however. But it can also move all of us forward. Below are a few principles that have helped me open myself to conversations about race (these ideas are specifically directed at my white friends; as a white person I don't have any right to speak to other communities about what they should do):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Be an active listener. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">White people need to listen to black people in this moment. We need to hear the real pain that Rachel Dolezal's actions have caused. If you want some places to start, you can try <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/06/12/the-damage-rachel-dolezal-has-done/" target="_blank">Jonathan Capeheart's piece, </a> or this <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/newsdesk/rachel-dolezal-mitzi-miller-naacp-20150612" target="_blank">interview with Mitzi Miller.</a> But sitting back and being quiet doesn't mean ignoring the story. We have to seek out and listen to voices of the black community throughout the country, including in Spokane.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Acknowledge white privilege.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Living in a place like Spokane, where the overwhelming number of people are white, it is easy not to feel privileged. Particularly since it's a working class town, the idea of "privilege" seems hard to fathom. However, even (or especially) in a predominantly white area, whiteness confers privilege - privilege like seeing oneself represented in the media in a positive way, seeing your own history in history books, not being singled out by the police time and time again. Rachel Dolezal has white privilege in that at any time, she could have chosen to be perceived as white, functionally erasing the experiences of those who don't have that choice. And as a prominent civic voice for the black community, she stole the opportunity for others to speak their truths. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) Learn more about race in this country.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a town like Spokane (and any town, really) it's easy to go through your entire school career without ever really understanding much about the history of discrimination in our country, or the experiences and stories of people who aren't like us. We think we aren't "racist" because we haven't said or done anything that seems discriminatory. However, racism is deeply rooted in every system in our country, including housing, medical care, education, politics. With the internet, there are plenty of places to learn more. (mic.com's <a href="http://mic.com/identities" target="_blank">Identities page</a> is just one). There are some great books out there too. It's a classic, but it's a classic for a reason: Beverly Tatum's <i>Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria</i> is a good primer on how racial identity develops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) Talk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard to talk about these things. In fact, as I've been writing this, I've wondered if I should stop typing; I've had a thousand doubts about what friends might think of these words. We're afraid of being judged. As I said before, it's hard to talk about race because the perpetuation of the system of racial privilege depends upon us remaining quiet. It depends upon us saying "race doesn't matter" or "race had nothing to do with it." Confronted with a story like Rachel Dolezal's, in which we absolutely can't say that, the temptation is to say: "Let's just wait until it's out of the spotlight." Find people you feel comfortable with to begin the conversation. Find people who will call you out if you say something that might be a micro-aggression, who will learn with you as you find answers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until we talk about race and racism, our silence equals consent to a system that marginalizes our fellow humans. Ending that consent is worth a little embarrassment or fumbling as we begin to grow our understanding.</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-22189976612939614742015-05-30T10:34:00.003-07:002015-05-30T10:35:28.819-07:00I'm Awesome! (or what I learned from being laid off)<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pZdaPvWgGmk/VWn0ocHUVII/AAAAAAAAEW4/8CJzSwfBbTw/s1600/life%2Bhc%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pZdaPvWgGmk/VWn0ocHUVII/AAAAAAAAEW4/8CJzSwfBbTw/s320/life%2Bhc%2Bpic.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You might have noticed an extreme dearth of posting this spring. Let me just say, I wasn't </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">feeling much like doing anything except eating burritos and watching TV, largely because my workplace was going through a round of lay-offs - and waiting to hear if you're going to be laid off is worse than actually being laid off, it turns out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When they told me that my "role had been eliminated" I felt a surge of relief at finally knowing what was next for me. I know a lot of people don't feel that way when they hear those words, and that's OK too. I'm in the camp of: feel what you feel and don't feel guilty about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Except I did kind of feel guilty about it, because I FELT GREAT. Other people didn't, and I felt really weird whenever someone asked me (in concerned, parental tones) how I was doing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I feel great," I'd say.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then they'd look at me like I was their brave little toaster, just trying to make others feel better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm no brave toaster. I just feel like this happened at the right time for me, and brought into focus a few life lessons that had been floating around in my brain but hadn't coalesced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Life Lesson #1: I'm awesome. (and you are too).</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a little bit of a joke in my family that false modesty (or any modesty) is not really my jam. I'm pretty honest about my flaws (loudness, clumsiness, a caffeine addiction, overuse of parentheses), but I believe in being just as honest about my strengths. Even so, it's really easy, when you've been working someplace for awhile, to forget your strengths, and focus on how what you're doing isn't good enough. I was working in a place where the culture was hyper-critical, and so I often questioned my gut. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm fortunate to work in a field where good people are <i>always</i> needed (I completely get that this is not most people's experience of being laid off), and so being on the job market was like a booster shot of positivity. People WANTED what I had to offer. They thought I was great. They told me I was great, repeatedly. It reminded me that all of us should get to feel this way, because each of us is doing our best with our strengths. It doesn't mean that constructive criticism isn't necessary, but as a manager and educator, when I've leaned into people's strengths, things always turn out better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Life Lesson #2: Your values are critical to your happiness</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the past year, I'd begun to feel a disconnect between my values and what I was doing. I work primarily with low-income communities and families, and I believe deeply in the autonomy and strength of these communities. I believe that to do this work well, I must try to be anti-colonialist, anti-patriarchal, and anti-racist. This is hard, and I often fail. But I was feeling as though more and more often I was swimming upstream in trying to do community work in a way that honored people's lives and experiences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was at a conference when the presenter said something like: "Who you are at work isn't necessarily who you are in your anti-colonialist, anti-patriarchal work." I began to realize that I was being asked to work in ways that I felt weren't aligned to my values, and that the work I was doing outside of my actual job was more aligned to my beliefs. In looking for my next role, I was committed to finding an organization that firmly believed in the power of communities, not as an afterthought, but as a foundational principle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Life Lesson #3: Burritos make anything bearable.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Life Lesson #4: Save money!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As soon as I knew being laid off was a possibility, I started saving more scrilla than I ever had before. Feeling like I have enough money to save was a bit of a new experience for me, but I learned that I can put a lot more away than I thought. If you haven't always had money, finances can seem like a big mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a blanket covered in question marks. It's meant to be that way -- our financial system thrives in a world where many of us don't understand what our money can do, so we don't make the most of it and threaten the privilege of those who do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still have a lot to learn about finances, but this situation has increased my commitment to do so - and it's less boring than I thought it was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Life Lesson #3: Have faith</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't talk much about religion or faith, but I do believe that if we listen to the universe, our path becomes clear. Of course, getting laid off is a shout from the universe. "Get out of here!" the universe said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The signs of what was to come next were a little more subtle, but no less there. A particular conversation happened at a particular time, certain people appeared to take this journey with me. The next adventure is about to begin, and of course I'm a little nervous. It feels like I'll be where I'm supposed to be, though, to learn the next set of life lessons.</span><br />
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<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-78319032826109815862015-05-18T16:49:00.003-07:002015-05-18T16:49:35.993-07:00Recipe: Cocoa Power Protein Donuts (Gluten-free and Vegan)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have this rule about donuts:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I refuse to buy a donut for myself. If I opened that door, it would never close again, because I love the fluffy little sugar monsters. Not for me, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Doughnut" target="_blank">bacon donuts and the donuts covered in cereal.</a> Give me a plain glazed or dense old-fashionedd cake donut any day. Per the rule, I will only eat such donuts if they are provided by someone else.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFzOokCTX-c/VVp5K68-aqI/AAAAAAAAESs/GW99TuO-lds/s1600/IMG_20150518_160848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFzOokCTX-c/VVp5K68-aqI/AAAAAAAAESs/GW99TuO-lds/s200/IMG_20150518_160848.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was going to take a picture<br />
of this donut. Then I ate<br />
most of it.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, <i>power donuts</i> have won a place in my diet. These are yummy little snacks baked in a donut pan and filled with good things like chia seeds and oats. Flavored with maple syrup and cinnamon, they aren't super-sweet, but they are tasty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The regular recipe I use -- from the <i>Oh She Glows</i> cookbook -- isn't exactly a kids' dream, though, and while I've been staying with my family, I wanted to create a protein donut that my nephew might like as a snack. I combined my favorite flavors -- peanut butter, banana, and chocolate -- to make a donut that is still filling and crammed with goodness, but a bit more kid-friendly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And of course, I like them too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few notes:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dhh5_JzGPmI/VVp5LYnEpmI/AAAAAAAAES0/k8V4zBLjkYg/s1600/IMG_20150518_153458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dhh5_JzGPmI/VVp5LYnEpmI/AAAAAAAAES0/k8V4zBLjkYg/s320/IMG_20150518_153458.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's what the oat flour will look like.</td></tr>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The recipe calls for rolled oats, which are naturally gluten-free. Some brands may have some cross contamination from processing, so if you're avoiding gluten, make sure that you get one labeled gluten-free. Bob's Red Mill has a brand that is readily available. In fact, I usually buy it, although I'm not watching gluten, because it's so easy to find.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this recipe, you're going to process those rolled oats into flour. It's really cool to be able to say, hey, I made this flour myself. If you don't have a food processor or strong blender, you can just purchase oat flour instead. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're vegan, either be sure that you have vegan chocolate chips or skip them altogether.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This recipe uses a donut pan, which is about $13 at Target. It's been a great investment - I use mine every week.</span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cocoa Power Protein Donuts</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingredients:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 c. rolled oats</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/4 c. chia seeds (or, for funsies, 1/8 c. chia seeds and 1/8 c. raw millet, which adds more crunch)</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tbsp. cocoa powder</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1.5 tsp. cinnamon</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 banana</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tbsp. peanut butter</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 tsp. vanilla</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tbsp. maple syrup</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/4 c. almond or other non-dairy milk, plus more as needed</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mini-chocolate chips</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Step 1: </b>Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees, and grease the donut pan.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/247de030822d4a39cdadd520f4fa2571/hayden-flour-mill-604ds032414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/247de030822d4a39cdadd520f4fa2571/hayden-flour-mill-604ds032414.jpg" height="173" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy is a hot miller.<br />Just like you!<br />Photo: dailyfinance.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Step 2: </b>Put the oats in the food processor and process until they are the consistency of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">flour. You just made flour! You're like a miller, or something!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Step 3: </b>In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, stirring with a fork to ensure that the chia seeds are integrated throughout and any lumps of baking soda are broken up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Step 4: </b>In another bowl, mash the banana. Mix this with the peanut butter, then add the other wet ingredients and whisk together until incorporated.<br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R4PP8zTpWx4/VVp5LWTLKII/AAAAAAAAESw/-y2QaebYZAY/s1600/IMG_20150518_152204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R4PP8zTpWx4/VVp5LWTLKII/AAAAAAAAESw/-y2QaebYZAY/s320/IMG_20150518_152204.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donut pan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Step 5: </b>Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir. The consistency should be close to that of creamy peanut butter. If it's not, add small amounts of the non-dairy milk, stirring after each addition, until that consistency is reached.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Step 6: </b>Put about a teaspoon of the chocolate chips in each well of the donut pan, spreading them out so that they are evenly distributed around each ring. Spoon the dough into each well of the pan, smoothing it out on top.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">Step 7: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">Bake for 23 minutes. When you pull them out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note: Want to make a version that's just chocolate peanut-butter, with no banana? Increase the amounts of both cocoa and peanut butter to 1/4 cup, and keep the rest of the recipe the same. You will definitely need a little extra almond milk.</span></div>
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Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-83814059019880565972015-05-12T13:58:00.002-07:002015-05-12T13:58:34.792-07:00Part of Your Wholesome Breakfast<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thefeedingdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/capn-crunch-balanced-breakfast-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://thefeedingdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/capn-crunch-balanced-breakfast-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember when this was the iconic "healthy" breakfast?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo: thefeedingdoctor.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Breakfast. </span><br />
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The most important meal of the day, they always say.</span><br />
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For me, it's also the most challenging meal of the day. I'm one of those folks up who wakes up feeling both hungry and like I don't want to eat. </span><br />
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And of all the meals, breakfast seems to be the one that's been most colonized by the food-industrial complex (unless you count public school lunches -- but that's a whole other post).</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lifeintheusa.com/food/images/cereal2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.lifeintheusa.com/food/images/cereal2.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Breakfast food aisle. Healthy?<br />Photo: lifeintheusa.com</span></td></tr>
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Pop-tarts, cereal, cereal bars, yogurt in squeezable tubes, pre-made egg sandwiches... it's all incredibly processed. Whenever I walk down the center aisles of the grocery store. which I do only to buy select items on my list, I'm astounded by the variety of foodstuffs available to start your day that are basically just sugar and chemicals (and expensive!)</span><br />
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But I get that it is much more convenient to pop a waffle in the toaster than to actually make something -- and I'm definitely the type of person who likes to sleep in until the last possible second. </span><br />
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I've developed a list of foods that I know will make a satisfying breakfast, that I will actually want to eat, and which are convenient and quick to prepare. Usually I go through phases where I'll eat one of these things every day until I get tired of it, then switch to something else on the list.</span><br />
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<b>Avocado and Hummus Toast</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess avocado toast is a thing now? I mean, I've seen it on the menu at actual restaurants, which is a little odd because it involves just smashing avocado onto toast. I usually use a slice of Ezekiel toast, mash a quarter of an avocado on it, add hummus, and then sprinkle with black pepper. Healthy fats, fiber, and protein - what more could you want?</span><br />
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<b>Chia "Donuts"</b></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1-fUenLNlcQ/VVJoflHgLRI/AAAAAAAAERQ/0Nqiy-l1POY/s1600/IMG_20150512_102322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1-fUenLNlcQ/VVJoflHgLRI/AAAAAAAAERQ/0Nqiy-l1POY/s320/IMG_20150512_102322.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chia donuts with some mini-chocolate chips. Recipe to come!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are my latest go-to breakfast. I discovered <a href="http://www.blenderbabes.com/high-protein-recipes/vegan-gluten-free-chia-doughnuts-coconut-whipped-cream-recipe/#.VVJiR_lViko" target="_blank">the recipe</a> in my trusty <i>Oh She Glows</i> cookbook; they are vegan and gluten-free, made with homemade oat flour and chia seeds to fill you up. In the book, they are made with a lemon coconut cream glaze, but I skip this, and instead toast them and put a little peanut butter on them. I also substitute raw millet for half the chia seeds, because I like the crunch of the millet. I'll make a batch on Sundays, and then keep them refrigerated for the rest of the week.</span><br />
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I call them "donuts" in quotation marks, because, even though they are cooked in a doughnut pan, they aren't really something that a kid would crave. However, I've adapted the recipe to be more kid-friendly, and I'll be sharing the recipe for Cocoa Protein Power Donuts later this week!</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K0Aqx_xng3A/VVJofR6efjI/AAAAAAAAERM/yhtRiPfW9kg/s1600/IMG_20150511_072600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K0Aqx_xng3A/VVJofR6efjI/AAAAAAAAERM/yhtRiPfW9kg/s320/IMG_20150511_072600.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another benefit of making your own egg sandwich -<br />perfectly runny yolks.</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Egg sandwiches</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For years, egg sandwiches were a staple of my diet. I eat them less often now, as I've cut back on both dairy and eggs. However, they will always be a favorite. I prefer to make my own, rather than buying frozen, because I can choose eggs and meat that are free(er) of bad stuff. I like to use Applegate Farms turkey sausage.</span><br />
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How to cook your own egg patty? Crack an egg into a mug, then scramble it with a fork. Microwave for 38-40 seconds. Then flip the egg over in the mug, and microwave for another 30 seconds. Use a fork to get the egg out -- you'll have a round patty just the right size for an English muffin.</span><br />
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<b>Overnight Oats</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've shared recipes for <a href="http://lt-green.blogspot.com/2014/09/recipe-overnight-oats-2-ways.html" target="_blank">overnight oats </a>before, but if you haven't tried them, I definitely recommend them. These are a great make-ahead, take-to-work breakfast, and the internet teems with recipes for chilled oatmeal, so no matter your flavor preference, you'll find something to suit it.</span><br />
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<b>Good Food Made Simple Breakfast Burritos</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.goodfoodmadesimple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/burrito-turkey-sausage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/3xhqqgjc-PewcEZojNRhcQKlGcm2kxAOyeg_OYMoMSAY_DltnTZbWPUogPF34s5jqU2p-E_u-NwySiJkj-fTGzLOQOdHgcmFVvC1-pWMQuep9jkLkrtkLK8Kk486YPHGjA6LXI2EaO_Fcko" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.goodfoodmadesimple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/burrito-turkey-sausage.jpg" height="127" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite wanting to start the day with something I've cooked myself, there are days when I just can't make it happen. Particularly when I know I'm going to be gone for most of the day on the weekend, I like to pick up some of these breakfast burritos that I can nuke and eat quickly or take in the car. I've tried lots of different burritos in the natural foods frozen section, and many of them sacrifice taste to the health gods. I've found my favorite in the Good Food Made Simple brand. They are free from chemical preservatives, artificial flavors, sugar substitutes, etc. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dPNJ7jzCLtE/VVJofcA4n4I/AAAAAAAAERY/xmuWhxQHnOQ/s1600/IMG_20141019_090225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dPNJ7jzCLtE/VVJofcA4n4I/AAAAAAAAERY/xmuWhxQHnOQ/s320/IMG_20141019_090225.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Breakfast in Spain - traditional Sevillana breakfast.<br />Now that's how we should do breakfast!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's what I've been digging lately:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/t/54398e71e4b075d4727ce59e/1413058162703/concept-art-for-marvels-daredevil-tv-series?format=750w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/t/54398e71e4b075d4727ce59e/1413058162703/concept-art-for-marvels-daredevil-tv-series?format=750w" height="320" width="209" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo credit: Marvel.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Marvel</i> on TV</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Marvel's Daredevil</i> and <i>Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D</i></b></span><br />
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I've wondered for a long time why Charlie Cox isn't a big star -- he's handsome, British, and a great actor (if you haven't seen <i>Stardust, </i>go watch it now - unless you hate fun.). Hopefully he'll get all the attention he deserves now that he's in the very hot Netflix property, <i>Marvel's Daredevil </i>(I'm going to drop the Marvel now, mkay?). This is basically the super-hero show I've always wanted: it has heft - thanks to great writing, themes of sin and redemption, and the acting chops of Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, and Vondie Curtis-Hall -- plus amazing fight choreography and a film noir vibe. I'm hoping that Netflix's upcoming Marvel-collab <i>AKA Jessica Jones</i> does for another fave, Krysten Ritter, what <i>Daredevil </i>has done for Cox: given a little-known actor the part they deserve. (And if you think all of that sounds a lot like <i>Batman</i>, The Mary Sue did <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/daredevil-v-batman-v-superman-dawn-of-angst/" target="_blank">a great article</a> on how <i>Daredevil</i> earns its angst.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you're one of those who dropped <i>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D </i>in its first season, it's definitely worth catching up now. With the introduction of Marvel's Inhuman mythology </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(yeah, wikipedia is essential for me in catch up with Marvel mythology since I'm not a big fan of superhero comics) </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">S.H.I.E.L.D </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has added rich new dimentions</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Basically - Inhumans are powered people. In the first year, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">S.H.I.E.L.D </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stayed away from putting powered people front and center, because it was about how humans deal in a world where there are superheroes. However, they've been able to introduce the Inhumans - and make some major characters Inhumans -- without sacrificing the humanity. Plus, who doesn't love Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen, the actors who play the beating heart of the show?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been pretty impressed with the expansion of the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" (that's what you're supposed to call it). It gives me hope that if anyone ever does buckle down and adapt Stephen King's <i>The Dark Tower</i> into a group of films and TV properties, it will go OK. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Seriously, what's with my use of parentheticals today?)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ex_Machina_FF_Poster2-570x782.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ex_Machina_FF_Poster2-570x782.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Concept poster by Franco Francavilla</span></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ex Machina</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there's one thing we should learn from comics and sci-fi, it's that creating conscious robots is NOT a good idea... or is it? In the new movie <i>Ex Machina, </i>artificial intelligence comes in the form of a robot with the face of Alicia Vikander and the body of the inside of a vacuum -- she clicks and whirs as she moves. The movie centers around the young man who is testing whether Ava is actually conscious, and her mad scientist creator, played brilliantly by Oscar Isaac with a super-cool beard. With only four characters, <i>Ex Machina</i> is an antidote to the current cinema's preoccupation with over-long, over-stuffed science fiction. As true fans know, the best sci-fi asks us to interrogate our current society to help us determine what kind of future we want to live in.</span><br />
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<a href="http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/180180/_original/1420841299/1035x1035-Kintsugi_Cover_HR.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/180180/_original/1420841299/1035x1035-Kintsugi_Cover_HR.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Kintsugi, </i>Death Cab For Cutie</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know this girl who went to college with the members of Death Cab, and because indie music kids of the 90's were fiercely territorial, I've always thought of Death Cab as <i>her</i> band. Hence, it took me a long time to actually start listening to them. Like 17 years. <i>Kintsugi</i> is the perfect album for the moment we're living in right now. It's all about the existential angst of living in a world where </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">experience is mediated through technology. (Apparently, along with parentheses, I'm really into angst right now). I'm particularly fond of "Little Wanderer," a song with beautiful metaphors about being the one who stays home and gets those digital pictures while a loved one is traveling. I also love "Binary Sea," the album's last song, which takes the existential angst to its logical conclusion, asking if we ever existed if there's no record of us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hozier with George Ezra, </i>Warehouse Live, Houston TX</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was lucky enough to get tickets to Hozier's first Houston show, which he played at a fairly small club ballroom venue. George Ezra opened two weeks before his SNL appearance and before his song "Budapest" was on the radio constantly. Despite the annoyances of seeing an artist on a high from a hit single (lots of teen girls, way too many people watching the whole thing through their phones. See: <i>Kintsugi</i> for commentary on our need for mediated experience), it was a fantastic show. Hozier had a surprisingly delightful persona, given the (yes!) angst of many of his songs. He seemed genuinely happy that the show was going well, and his mostly-female band was excellent. I do find his fame somewhat odd, given his allusion-heavy album which references the abuses of the Irish-Catholic church, 50's rock and roll, and Plato's Cave, but I'm glad that his popularity gave me the chance to see him in person. </span><br />
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Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-36147215454524888832015-04-21T08:19:00.001-07:002015-04-21T08:19:57.766-07:00Racist Schools Without Racists? Research Says No.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently I was at a workshop with many adults who work in schools. Several high school kids who went to school in the district were also participating as assistant facilitators. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We completed a "continuum" activity. You've probably done one of these before. One side of the room is labeled strongly disagree and the other is labeled strongly agree. The facilitator posts statements, and you move to the side of the room (or the middle) depending upon whether you agree or disagree with the statement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the statements was: "Our school system is racist, classist, sexist, heterosexist and xenophobic." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I moved over to the strongly agree side, along with one other adult (not coincidentally, she worked with kids who've been removed from traditional school settings due to behavior.) Almost all the kids moved to strongly agree as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This left most of the adults on the disagree side.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the students said to the group: "We're the kids. We're the ones living it and that's how we see it."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the adults didn't <i>see themselves</i> as racist, classist, sexist... and so they didn't see the system they were part of as being those things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Research tells us that the kids are right. Most folks in education know that <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/school-to-prison-pipeline-fact-sheet/" target="_blank">Black boys are 3 times more likely to be suspended than White boys</a>, but fewer know that the disparity is even greater for Black girls -- <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/13/384005652/study-black-girls-are-being-pushed-out-of-school" target="_blank">they are SIX times more likely to be suspended.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even well-meaning adults often believe that these facts are due to something in the children -- that because they are poor, or hungry, or living with trauma they act out more, hence they are suspended more often. These people don't believe the situation is right, but they also don't see themselves in the equation (or if they do, they see themselves as benign helpers.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New research, however, shows us that it's not the kids. It's how we <i>see</i> the kids. (The research is new, but I think it will result in a big DUH from a lot of people). <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/17/black-students-troublemakers_n_7078634.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education" target="_blank">The study</a> published in <i>Psychological Science</i>, showed that teachers rated hypothetical students' behavior as more troubling if the imaginary kid had a typically Black name versus a typically White name. The behaviors were exactly the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This echoes similar research related to grading,<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/choosing-a-successful-name-for-your-baby-2012-1#job-recruiters-are-17-more-likely-to-download-resumes-with-white-sounding-names-than-those-with-black-sounding-names-5" target="_blank"> professional experiences,</a> etc. And we can see links to today's current climate of police brutality toward Black men; it suggests that unconscious bias causes us to view behavior by Black people as more serious and dangerous than that of White people, despite evidence to the contrary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, this is a big DUH to a lot of people, including those kids I met at the workshop who are living with that bias every day. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mathybeagle.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/racism-text-straight.png?w=500" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://mathybeagle.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/racism-text-straight.png?w=500" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: mathybeagle.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are no easy answers, but I think that we owe it to these kids to start admitting that the system is biased and that we are contributing to it. Our current cultural norms make it taboo to admit that we have biases of any kind. Calling out others' biases is similarly taboo. I've been lucky to work in a place where we are able to talk openly about race, racism, classism ... anything you can put an -ism on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It can feel hurtful and shameful when we admit that we aren't the people we think we are. The kids have already seen behind the curtain, though. And they are ready for us to come out.</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-72565799100780797172015-04-17T20:28:00.000-07:002015-04-17T20:28:16.137-07:00The Rain. The Frogs. And me.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're having weather. We-interrupt-your-regularly-scheduled-broadcast, flood-warning weather. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Texas. That's pretty common. Once you've lived here for a few years, a flood warning barely pricks your ears.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it's spring, and the drip-drip-drop got all the frogs singing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sitting in my living room, the frog songs drowned out the thunder and lightning that was such big news that my mother in Washington state texted me that I needed to be careful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No really. Mating frogs will drown out thunder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went out on my covered porch thinking that I would just stand and listen for awhile. Then, I got sight of a frog sitting out in the middle of the pavement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I barefooted it out to the middle of the street, watching this little creature sitting there breathing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I made my way back to the house, I realized where I was. I live on a half-acre in an urban oasis, a haven for baby doves and color-changing lizards and bees and hawks. The empty lot that's part of the property I rent shimmered in the night light, as a temporary pond formed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I waded out into the field, sinking up to my ankles in mud. As I did, the water - two or three inches deep at least -- shivered and braided away from me. Frogs. Hopping away at my approach, cutting patterns into the water with their wakes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stopped to watch them, and was startled into laughter by a huge BURRRRRP just a few feet away. I looked to see one of the frogs, air pocket under its chin ballooned out, preparing for its song.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a few minutes, soaked by the rain, I waded back to the house.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isn't it magic, when a lawn turns into a pond, when the air is full of singing, and the night gives way to laughter?</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-50568573331582653902015-04-13T10:27:00.000-07:002015-04-13T10:27:27.891-07:00SPRING!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-9265529274353805912015-04-08T10:49:00.000-07:002015-04-08T10:49:40.243-07:00It's Complicated: Standardized Testing And Equity<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lately, there have been a lot - A LOT -- of thoughts about standardized testing in my Facebook and Twitter feeds. I get a couple of education briefing emails daily, and they are also chock-full of talk about testing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the talk is dichotomized: Tests = good. Tests = bad. I reject the notion that I have to be unequivocally for or against standardized testing. As an education advocate and teacher coach, I believe that intellectual complexity, while not part of the American political discourse, should be something that we strive for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This means that if we are to find the best path for our kids, we have to be able to hold complicated ideas in our minds (as someone who is most familiar with people in education reform, I find that most of them actually do hold these sort of nuanced positions, but are mischaracterized by the opposing side, and I'm sure it goes the opposite way as well.)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can believe that testing, as currently practiced, is biased WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY believing that right now, it is an important tool for equity.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you look into the <a href="http://crackingthelearningcode.com/bonus1.html" target="_blank">history of intelligence testing</a>, you will find that it is deeply linked to the eugenics movement, to attempts at sorting people into those who deserve power and those who don't. We know that many standardized tests are biased - I recently read an SAT question in which the test taker was asked to edit a passage about skiing, which was really challenging if you couldn't picture what was happening in the passage. I mean, how many of us have the means or opportunity to go skiing regularly? Standardized test questions are often raced and classed to focus on background knowledge that is more commonly held by White, middle class kids (or even upper middle class - per the skiing example).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, such tests are currently an important tool for uncovering the faults in our education system. In the state of Texas, where I work, the tests are minimum standards tests, which means that they test a fairly basic set of reading and math skills. If most kids are not passing them, it means that we are not doing our basic job as educators, and if there are gaps by race, class, language status, that means that we are failing children based upon those factors. Do the tests need to be improved? Yes. But do they give us important information about the continued racism and classism in our school systems? Yes.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can believe that poverty needs to be addressed in our society WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY believing in the abilities of all children to succeed in school.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most specious arguments leveled against ed reformers is that they don't take poverty into account when asserting that children from low-income neighborhoods can be successful. Anti-reformers charge that until poverty is solved and children are food secure, have medical care, etc. we can't expect kids to do well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is just false. I know it is because I've been in the classrooms where kids from low-income families are excelling (I estimate that I've been in several hundred classrooms by this point in my career). These classrooms are taught by a range of teachers - new in the profession, years in the profession. Traditionally trained and alternatively certified. They have been in schools that have huge numbers of resources, and schools that have very few. The common denominator is that they believe their kids can do it - more than that, that they believe students from low-income communities are uniquely positioned to be the leaders of tomorrow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of these teachers who are leading kids to excel would love it if a range of social supports were put in place for their students. In particular, in my community, mental health care is the hardest to find. However, this doesn't stop these teachers from finding ways to reach their students, to communicate care, and to teach rigorous curriculum. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can see the negatives of a "testing culture" WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY recognizing that people create the culture, not tests.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People, it's real that teachers and kids are feeling way too much pressure around testing. As a teacher coach, I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to help teachers navigate relationships with administrators who want to see test prep, test prep, and more test prep. These administrators are feeling pressure from <i>their</i> bosses. Through all of this, I coach teachers to find a way to do what is best for kids, which is to teach a rich, rigorous curriculum that goes way beyond test strategies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Often, teachers who are committed to this idea find themselves practicing what Martin Luther King, Jr. defined as <a href="http://thepossibilitypractice.com/martin-luther-king-jr-on-creative-maladjustment/" target="_blank">creative maladjustment.</a> This means that they find ways to do what they know is right for kids, while doing it in ways that, honestly, keep them out of trouble in this testing culture. They do this because they believe in kids and families, and they know that keeping their jobs is the best way to be there for those kids and families.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's these classrooms where kids excel, not the ones where kids are just learning testing strategies. Anyone who argues that "the test made me do it" in regard to teaching a low-rigor curriculum is just wrong. It's <i>how</i> we approach the tests in our schools that results in the crazy culture, not the tests (but since tests can't talk back, they make good scapegoats.)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can believe in the power and wisdom of parents.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not going to qualify that one. We need to listen to parents, and not all parents have the same interests. Unfortunately, the parents who are heard most often are not people of color or people from low-income communities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While many White, upper middle class parents talk about opting their kiddos out of standardized assessments (which I totally understand), we have to realize that being able to make that choice comes from a place of privilege. If you can opt your child out of an exam, you aren't counting on a scholarship or a magnet school acceptance that results from a test score. You aren't worried that one act of opting out could hurt your child's entire future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the parents I work with want their kids to do well in exams because they know that these are door openers for their kiddos. Is it fair that so much rides on these tests? No. But it does. Parents want us in the education field to do better for their children, and that includes helping them to excel on these types of standardized tests.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a teacher, I hated testing. I won't lie about that. My students did well AND I taught them a curriculum that involved social studies simulations of the Oregon Trail, class-written plays, writing digital books, reading Narnia books. You might say: hey, you must have had a ton of resources. Nope. When I started teaching I had a case of phonics readers from the 70's and a box full of dittos and silverfish that my predecessor left behind. I created almost everything we had, or slowly acquired it over time (this was before Donors Choose allowed teachers to easily get donations). My students were almost all English language learners and many came in several years behind -- most of the classrooms I currently coach have similar demographics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would have loved it if I didn't have to worry about a standardized test, that my students didn't have to sit for days, bubbling in answer books with their No. 2 pencils. However, I knew that it was critical both to their futures and to my ability to gauge whether I was doing right by them. When their parents showed up at the classroom door, asking: "Did she pass?" I had to be able to say yes. And if the answer wasn't yes, I had to tell them what I was going to do to change my practice and help their kiddo succeed in order to go to the next grade prepared.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until we find a better way of determining whether we are doing right by kids in our schools, such tests are going to be necessary. I'm worried that current anti-testing movements are going to turn back the clock to a time when we pretended that everything was OK in our schools. Yet, I still want to find that better way. It's complicated</span>.Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-79043481251740363982015-02-16T15:18:00.001-08:002015-02-17T16:42:07.439-08:00This is What a Feminist Looks Like<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On how we can elevate the pop dialogue about feminism</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lately, there's been a pattern repeatedly taking place in the pop-o-sphere. A reporter asks a woman (usually a young actress) if she's a feminist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If she says, "Yes, unequivocally," there's some cheering from the feminist camp and some grumbling from others about how she probably hates men (or if she says more than that, she could be subjected to online terror like name-calling, threats, and <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=doxxing" target="_blank">doxxing</a>). And a lot of people will comment on how she looks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If she says something like, "Well, I believe in equal rights but I don't think I'd consider myself a feminist because, you know, I like men," then a bunch of people<a href="http://gawker.com/kaley-cuoco-im-not-a-feminist-and-i-love-feeling-like-1676352429" target="_blank"> shout at her</a> that believing in equal rights <i>makes</i> her a feminist and isn't she ignorant. And a lot of people will comment on how she looks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes men are asked if they're feminists, and a lot of the time they're all: "Yeah, my mom/girlfriend/wife/sister is a really strong woman." Then everyone goes, <i>aww, that's so sweet.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm glad that the word "feminism" is getting play in the popular dialogue, but now that it's having a moment, it's time to elevate the conversation. The types of dialogue described above help no one. At least, no women. Whether women do or do not claim feminism, they face ridicule or worse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how can we shift the conversation in a more productive direction?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) <b>Avoid reductionism</b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hellogiggles.hellogiggles.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/18/Screen-Shot-2014-12-18-at-11.28.37-AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://hellogiggles.hellogiggles.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/18/Screen-Shot-2014-12-18-at-11.28.37-AM.jpg" height="186" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Gina Rodriguez was asked if she was a feminist <br />and said no, this was the reply. <br />I love how open-minded Gina is,<br />but wonder if we're making <br />being a "feminist" too simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo credit: <a href="http://hellogiggles.com/jane-virgin-gina-rodriguez-feminist" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've noticed a trend of people claiming that feminism just means "equal rights" for women, so if you believe in equal rights, you're a feminist. While that is one way the dictionary defines feminism, for most feminists, the movement goes beyond equal rights. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's imagine that we woke up tomorrow and the ERA had passed, and women and men were completely equal under the law. Also, in this magical night, women's paychecks became equal to men's, and all laws that privileged men were taken off the books. Would feminism become unnecessary?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would argue no, because the cultural patriarchy would still be intact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we pass laws so that rapists are prosecuted fully, will that mean we're free from rape culture? If women are given equal rights within the military, will we stop killing women and children in other countries? If men and women are completely equal in marriage, but our lesbian sisters can't marry in all fifty states, are we truly equal?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Besides the fact that feminism is about more than just equal rights (although it's definitely about that), there are lots of different brands of feminism... as many as there are women. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So let's stop trying to convince women who don't identify as feminists that they are "really" feminists by getting them to accept a reductionist definition of a diverse and complicated movement. Instead, let's engage others in a dialogue about what the systems of patriarchy really are, how they are intertwined in all aspects of our society, and how we can work together to dismantle them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) <b>Don't make it about dudes</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look, as a straight feminist woman, does my heart go pitter-pat when I see a favorite male celebrity wearing a feminist-themed t-shirt? Sure. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sourcefed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/feminism-hiddleston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://sourcefed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/feminism-hiddleston.jpg" height="320" width="195" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you think, "I'm attempting to<br />dismantle patriarchy" would fit<br />on a shirt?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.elleuk.com/fashion/celebrity-style/feminism-t-shirt-tom-hiddleston-benedict-cumberbatch-emma-watson#image=3" target="_blank">Photo credit: Elle UK</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, feminism isn't about guys. The fact that we make it about the benefits guys will reap from dismantling patriarchy is just evidence of how our society defaults to men's voices, even when we're talking about lady stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, while it's great that campaigns like<a href="http://www.heforshe.org/" target="_blank"> #heforshe</a><i> </i>point out that patriarchy hurts men as well as women, we need to make it OK to argue that <i>even if it didn't</i>, we should still dismantle it. We need to argue that it's right and moral to consider women's rights without reference to men's feelings, desires, or needs. You know, because women are people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, I love it that lots of men consider themselves feminists. I believe that men can be feminists, which is in itself sort of controversial among feminists. Yet it has to be the prerogative of <i>women</i> to confer this status on men. Just as, as a White person, it is not my right to name myself an ally to people of color, or as a straight person, to call myself an LGBT ally; men should let women confer allyship to the feminist movement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of men saying, "I'm a feminist," how about: "I'm trying to be anti-patriarchal." I know it's not as cool on a T-shirt. But it will elevate women's voices and acknowledge that men benefit from the privileges of patriarchy whether they want to or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another way that men can be allies: make the internet safe for <i>all</i> of us to talk about feminism. Call out your brothers who doxx, threaten, and bully women online. Refuse to be silent when other men joke about rape, call for women's submission to men, or when women are called ugly and fat (or beautiful and elegant) in conversations about issues.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) <b>Make it inclusive</b></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://40.media.tumblr.com/c56802dbc6fd27e34c396c5d1f3e5619/tumblr_nigop713tb1qkfpu0o1_500.jpg" height="254" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo credit:<a href="http://sjwiki.org/images/a/a8/If_your_feminism_isn%27t.jpg" target="_blank"> here </a>(if you know the original illustrator,<br />please let me know so I can credit!)</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></b>
<a href="http://40.media.tumblr.com/c56802dbc6fd27e34c396c5d1f3e5619/tumblr_nigop713tb1qkfpu0o1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe that the patriarchy is deeply embedded in a system that is White supremacist, hetero-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">normative, and oppressive to well... do you have all day? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet feminism often refuses to hear the voices of women of color, trans women, religious women, etc. A woman shouldn't have to feel like her feminist sisters will criticize her if she decides to wear hijab. Trans women shouldn't be barred from feminist spaces. And no woman should have to choose between her family's culture and her own equality. When we make feminism only about White, upper middle class women's lived experiences, we reinforce the patriarchy, rather than taking it down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I recognize</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>that these three things are not easy. Yet I believe they are worth doing, so that we can take advantage of the resurgence of discussion about women's rights. If we don't do these things, I fear that the moment will pass, and we will be in the same place we were before the word "feminism" began popping up all over the internet.</span><br />
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<b><br /></b>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-52374673572069258362015-01-11T10:25:00.000-08:002015-01-11T10:25:51.071-08:00The Holiday Letter You Didn't Get From Me<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear Friends and Family,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello! And happy holidays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I know that Christmas is long passed, and you may have received a card from me with no personal message written on it. Not even a signature. Or maybe you thought you'd get a card, but then I got side-tracked and never made that second trip to the post office. Feel free to call me names.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you were remembering the clever little missives of the past, just know that I didn't manage to get myself together in time to do that this year. To those of you who did, you earned your humble brags just by having the foresight to write your Christmas letter (I actually like these Christmas letters, although that seems to be an unpopular sentiment. But keep them coming!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And if you didn't get a Christmas card out this year, no sweat. Your great-aunt is probably silently judging you (or not-so-silently judging you, or not-so-silently comparing you to your cousin Eileen - <i>Did you see Eileen's Christmas letter? She has four kids and an organic hand soap business and SHE managed to send a letter... (dramatic pause).</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2014 brought me travel and adventure! To recap:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_xIqpJB4RyQ/VLK3tHrs1wI/AAAAAAAAD6k/qkQCkxyu2U8/s1600/Bham.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_xIqpJB4RyQ/VLK3tHrs1wI/AAAAAAAAD6k/qkQCkxyu2U8/s1600/Bham.JPG" height="320" width="276" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flight map of the South on the day we were trying<br />to get to Birmingham. I'm not sure what that little plane<br />was trying to do, because there was<br />nowhere to land.</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winter 2014</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The year started off with a trip to Nashville, TN: Music City! Of course, I had originally been attempting to go to Birmingham, AL, but due to a freak storm we were re-routed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have never been to Nashville, I can recommend the airport, where you can while away the hours in such pursuits as sitting, listening to country music stars give pre-recorded messages about how great Nashville is, and talking to the pleasant Southwest staff members about which cast members from the show <i>Nashville</i> they have seen in the airport.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may never want to leave the airport, but if you do, the airport area has many fine hotels where you can attempt to get some dinner from the single waitress on staff. Get up early to get back to the airport to return home, never having reached your final destination.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCx7aRYEZ8Y/VLK5jednJOI/AAAAAAAAD64/xpd6rUz5zHE/s1600/free!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCx7aRYEZ8Y/VLK5jednJOI/AAAAAAAAD64/xpd6rUz5zHE/s1600/free!.jpg" height="190" width="320" /></span></a><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spring 2014</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As spring rolled in, I was excited to find a special offer in my mail, that you can see at right. It really is amazing all the wonderful things that you can get these days, if you just pay attention to the coupons in your weekly mail. Personally, I enjoy redeeming free cremations as often as possible. You never know know when you'll need one!</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kv1bWQ0VD28/VLK5pJW_NiI/AAAAAAAAD7A/No3HItvPKkc/s1600/roller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kv1bWQ0VD28/VLK5pJW_NiI/AAAAAAAAD7A/No3HItvPKkc/s1600/roller.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summer 2014</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ah summer! There's nothing like a Houston summer, when the air coats your skin like a hot wet blanket has been wrapped around you, tighter and tighter until you think that you might need to redeem a free cremation any minute. When the weather is so delightfully warm that your thighs stick together every time you walk down the street, it's the perfect opportunity to explore the activities that summer brings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My friend Melanie and I decided that we would try the wooden roller coaster at Kemah Boardwalk, little realizing that people in their thirties are perhaps not the target audience for a contraption made of match sticks which tosses you back and forth at high speeds. While we had a great time, we also came out looking like car crash victims due to the gigantic bruises we acquired. I'm not sure if there's a ride at the boardwalk that involves sitting and drinking wine, but if there is, next time we'll try that.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W51lMHDKFEU/VLK-O60mFSI/AAAAAAAAD7c/r6D67XKwqsE/s1600/sidewalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W51lMHDKFEU/VLK-O60mFSI/AAAAAAAAD7c/r6D67XKwqsE/s1600/sidewalk.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo tip: When taking pictures of<br />sidewalks, make sure that your shadow<br />is not in the picture. You'll treasure<br />these sidewalk pictures for years to come.</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fall 2014</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fall brought the trip of a lifetime, as my Mom and I visited our ancestral homeland of Spain! We enjoyed the fine cuisine, such a chicken stew surrounded by French fries, chicken on a bed of French fries, and French fries with hot sauce. And ham. We also enjoyed the many cobblestone and tiled streets and alleys, which my mother urged me to document in photos as often as possible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's nothing like foreign travel to test the mother daughter bond, but luckily we passed with flying colors. So... to all of you who asked, "You're spending <i>how long</i> with your mother?" I can tell you that it was amazing. As long as I agreed to get to the train station an hour or more before every leg of the trip, nothing could come between us!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope that you had as wonderful of a 2014 as I. As for 2015, I give you the words of Warren Zevon:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Don't let us get sick</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't let us get old</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't let us get stupid, all right?</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just make us be brave,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make us play nice,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And let us be together tonight."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love, your friend</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catfish</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-85018413763520041472014-11-26T08:33:00.001-08:002014-11-26T08:33:14.876-08:00What Are Police For? And Other Questions Of Justice and Protest<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://citadel.sjfc.edu/students/scm03254/e-port/Graphics/small_com_helpers(7).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://citadel.sjfc.edu/students/scm03254/e-port/Graphics/small_com_helpers(7).jpg" height="141" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It would be lovely if it were true...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you happen to be four or five years old (target audience for this blog) I can predict at least one thing you will do in school this year: you will learn about "community helpers." You will learn how firefighters save kittens, how doctors give scary shots that keep you healthy, and how police officers can help you if get lost.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Community helper." Sounds quaint, doesn't it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's consider police officers. Without the context of knowing what most police officers <i>actually </i>do , if I was to imagine someone who has the job of "helping" to ensure community safety, I would imagine someone who deeply knows the people of the community, investigates situations that would cause breaches in safety of community members (such as unlighted areas, abandoned houses, etc.), and works with other community leaders (clergy, doctors, teachers) to address threats to the community's well-being. These community safety helpers would understand the context of the community and the history of its residents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe there was a time when some of these things happened, when beat cops walked the streets and whistled happy tunes. I know that there are many amazing programs going on throughout America to bring back community policing, support the mental health needs of communities through police actions, and more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's time to face facts, though. These types of programs are not the norm. North America is in crisis today, and part of the reason is that we have military forces trained on our citizens.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I imagine (hope) if you're living in the United States, you're familiar with the situation in Ferguson, MO. A young Black man got into an altercation with a police officer and was shot to death. The details are clouded in controversy, but what we do know is that the young man, Michael Brown, was unarmed. Despite conflicting witness testimonies that should have signaled the need for a trial to suss out the truth of the situation, and despite the very low burden of proof when it comes to indictment, the officer was not charged by a grand jury.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given that grand juries almost <i>always</i> return an indictment, the message was clear: if a Black man is killed by the cops, he probably deserved it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The many, <i>many</i> internet comments I have read over the past few days have confirmed that lots of Americans believe that defying the police means that you asked for your own death.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the same time as this has been going on, protests have ignited in Mexico over the disappearance of 43 students who were taken into police custody and then reportedly handed over to a criminal syndicate and killed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I sit back and listen, I can hear the blustering objections. How could the convoluted tale of the death of Mike Brown be compared to the obvious sins committed by the Mexican police?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And to that, I answer: what are police for, if not to ensure the safety of the community? to help the community, as our little ones learn during their social studies time?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead, our police have become a military force, set to enforce systems that do not serve the community. As income inequality grows, I expect this will only get worse. And this will put the men and women who join police forces because they actually <i>do</i> want to help the community in the tenuous position of protecting systems that are not serving the best interests of middle- and lower-income people of any race, but particularly people of color.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Americans are deeply divided in how we think about the police.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I've gone through jury selection, they have asked us, "do you believe someone is more likely to tell the truth just because they are in law enforcement?" Having been raised with a healthy skepticism of authority, this question has seemed odd to me. Yet the last few days have brought home the number of people, mostly White, who unequivocally believe that police accounts of events are true (even when, in the case of Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, they contradict the physical evidence of the case, and, you know, basic math.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the flip side, many Black Americans <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/us/after-ferguson-announcement-a-racial-divide-remains-over-views-of-justice.html" target="_blank">mistrust police forces</a> and the courts. Which is hardly surprising, when you think about the numbers of Black men who are incarcerated compared to Whites; when you think about stop-and-frisk policies and racial profiling in traffic stops; drug laws that provide greater penalties for drugs that are used more often in Black communities than White;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> school police who begin ticketing Black and Latin@ youth at greater rates, putting them in contact with the justice system at an early age ... the list goes on and on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again I ask, what are police for? What is a justice system that protects injustice?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm a pacifist. In fact, I'm such an extreme pacifist, that I don't watch sports because I believe they contribute to a culture of war. I don't believe in violent revolution. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet I understand the impulse that drives the violence we've seen over the past few days. When faced with a system that is patently tyrannical - when the police force can kill an unarmed citizen and then be protected from even a serious inquiry into whether it was appropriate force, and your city is filled with paramilitary forces, then what do you do? What do you do with that much rage when all promises for uncovering the truth and for safety are broken, when the state clearly communicates that you are not worth justice?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you believe that we must come together in order to invert systems of power in our country, as I do, and you believe that these actions must be non-violent, one thing you can do is look over the list of <a href="http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/resources/nonviolent/methods.php" target="_blank">198 non-violent methods of protest and persuasion</a> that fill the armory of peaceful protest. Ask yourself, which of these am I uniquely positioned to do? Non-violent action is not just about street protests. It consists of writing (like this blog), art, symbolic acts, theater and film, consumer actions, non-cooperation ... well, there are 198 (and that list was created before social media, so there are definitely more things you could do). If you disagree with what is happening in our country, if you want a justice system that is fair for all Americans, then do what you can to subvert the current paradigm. You can be like my friend Jamar, who is sharing petitions on Facebook to influence Congress to require body cams for police officers. Or my friend Ceci, who is using art to comment on the situation in Mexico. Or Dhathri, who is urging others to participate in Black Friday boycotts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But what we can't do is ignore the opportunity presented to us to ask for the police force and justice system we need, so we don't have to explain to our pre-schoolers that we were wrong when we told them about those community helpers.</span><br />
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<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-2828327929251161252014-11-02T07:34:00.000-08:002014-11-02T07:34:04.780-08:00Favorite Vegan Resources (for non-vegans too!)Lately, I've been looking for some new cooking challenges. I feel like I've cooked a chicken every way possible, and because I don't eat mammals, this cuts back on my potential cooking explorations. There are only so many things you can put an egg on before you've exhausted the list.<br />
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I've also cut way back on dairy products. Aside from the splash of milk in my morning coffee, I'm eating dairy only once or twice a week.<br />
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Which brings me to vegan cooking.<br />
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<i>Eww, </i>you might be thinking. <i>Isn't that a bunch of twigs and leaves in a bowl?</i><br />
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Luckily, vegan cooking has come a long way. Even better, there are now lots of resources for vegan recipes that are also made from whole foods. I don't know about you, but a lot of vegans I've known have eaten as much processed crap as carnivores. As whole foods become more popular and readily available, vegan recipes are popping up more often to use them (and it's easier to find recipes without soy products, which I try to avoid because a) gross; and b) there are questions about how healthy they are for women).<br />
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(And I don't have to tell you that diets high in plant foods are way better for the Earth. Activism on a plate).<br />
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Recently, about 2/3 of my diet has been vegan. This means new techniques to learn and new cooking questions to answer, such as: how do you make foods full of vegetables not turn out mushy? And: how many ways can you actually use a cashew to mimic a dairy product?<br />
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Along the way, I've found some favorite resources that anyone, even carnivores, can enjoy:<br />
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<a href="http://cdn.ohsheglows.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ohsheglowscookbookNYT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.ohsheglows.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ohsheglowscookbookNYT.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a><a href="http://ohsheglows.com/" target="_blank">Oh She Glows </a>(cookbook and blog)<br />
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My mom bought me the cookbook for my birthday, and when she handed it to me, she said, "I don't mean you have to become one." Vegan, she meant. She just thought that the recipes here looked healthy and delicious. And boy, was she right. Every single recipe I've tried has been great - easy, interesting, and filled with wholesome things. Many of the recipes are gluten-free as well as vegan, meaning that they have all kinds of fun alternative grains. I've cooked fewer things from the blog than the cookbook, but author Angela Liddon has filled it with variations on some of her popular recipes, including lots of yummy-looking desserts.<br />
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<a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/uploads/TSKC-cover-for-sidebar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://smittenkitchen.com/uploads/TSKC-cover-for-sidebar.jpg" /></a><a href="https://craftycooknook.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/count-your-pennies-slow-cooker-black-bean-ragout-with-cumin-crema-and-garlicky-toasts/" target="_blank">Smitten Kitchen</a> (cookbook and blog)<br />
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This is not a vegan or even vegetarian site, but author Deb Perelman was once a vegetarian and she continues to elevate humble vegetables into delicious and creative meals and sides - her website has both vegan and vegetarian categories in the index. Simply the recipe for slow cooker black bean ragout would make it one of the most highly used resources in my kitchen. (The recipe is from the cookbook and you can also find it <a href="https://craftycooknook.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/count-your-pennies-slow-cooker-black-bean-ragout-with-cumin-crema-and-garlicky-toasts/" target="_blank">here)</a>. I make the black bean ragout every few weeks, doling it out into zip-locs and freezing portions for use in any recipe that calls for black beans. Canned black beans seem positively blah in comparison.<br />
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Pinterest<br />
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Pinterest is a home cook's best friend. Not only can I peruse the recipes for hours on end, but it allows me to keep my recipes organized. Every week when I make my weekly meal plan, I get out my favorite cookbooks and my Kindle with Pinterest open on it -- I often find that I'll plan a whole week of meals just from Pinterest. It makes it easy to find recipes for any kind of special diet, and it can lead you to great blogs that you never would have discovered otherwise. (My veggie/vegan board is <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/catfishcatlin/veggievegan/" target="_blank">here)</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5063/5680829545_96116a692e_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5063/5680829545_96116a692e_z.jpg" height="210" width="320" /></a><a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/uploads/TSKC-cover-for-sidebar.jpg" target="_blank">The Post-Punk Kitchen</a> (blog, and author Isa Chandra Moskowitz has also written some cookbooks and made videos and done all kinds of fun stuff).<br />
<br />Have you ever had a cookbook where everything you make from it is always a success? That's how I feel about the recipes I've made from the Post-Punk Kitchen. Ancho lentil tacos (see here)? The bomb. Brussels sprouts fried rice? To die for. Red lentil Thai chili? So warm and delicious. I admit, I haven't gotten as deep into the playlist on this site because I keep coming back to these awesome favorites. Isa loves to play with interesting flavors and the spices, and lots of her recipes are beloved by non-vegetarians as well. I'm pretty excited to try the stout shepherd's pie with a potato biscuit topping...<br />
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These are the resources that have gotten me started in this new cooking adventure. Any others I should know about?<br />
<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-58810670012022723282014-09-07T16:11:00.002-07:002014-09-07T16:12:02.643-07:00Recipe: Overnight Oats, 2 Ways<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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I think I've mentioned before, I'm a super-cool urban hipster who is always up on the latest trends.</div>
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Oh, wait, what was that? You're snickering at me?</div>
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OK, fine. If you don't believe me, check out this lunch I recently packed for myself:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why, yes, that IS a green smoothie in my lunch.</td></tr>
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See, that's THREE Mason jars in one lunch. Other hipsters tip their waxed moustaches at me (yes, I spelled it the French way!) when they see that.<br />
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One trend that I've been enjoying recently is the <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/samimain/overnight-oats-recipes-to-restore-your-faith-in-breakfast#194tnkd" target="_blank">rise of overnight oats.</a> This is oatmeal that you don't have to cook; it's vegan-friendly (I'm not a vegan or even a vegetarian, but sometimes I play one on TV) and it tastes delicious ... if you are someone who likes things that are the consistency of rice pudding. I say this, because there's a large segment of the population that doesn't like pudding-type things with chunky bits. However, if you LOVE rice pudding or other types of chunky pudding (tapioca, bread), then you will like this a lot.</div>
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There are a lot of overnight oats recipes out there, from simple to complex. The basic principles are these: You put 1 part oats to 1 part liquid (I like almond milk) and an optional 1/3 part chia seeds in a container and put it in the fridge overnight. The oats and chia seeds soak up the liquid, and become a kind of pudding.<br />
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PUDDING FOR BREAKFAST!! And it's pudding that's ready the moment you wake up!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Make it in a funky jar for extra street cred - <br />
if the street is in Portland and is lined with artisan barrel makers <br />
and food trucks selling Korean-Finnish fusion food (kimchi herring - yum!). </td></tr>
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In experimenting with overnight oats, I've come up with two variations that are my favorites. </div>
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The first is Cherry Vanilla Almond. I am a huge fan of dried cherries, particularly of the sour variety.</div>
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The second variation I've dubbed "Funky Monkey." The first time I ever had a smoothie, it was at a little shop in Santa Barbara, and the drink I had was called the Funky Monkey - peanut butter, chocolate, and banana (hence the monkey). I've named my concoction after this perfect combination of elements.</div>
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Here are the easy-peasy recipes.</div>
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<b>Cherry Vanilla Almond Overnight Oats</b></div>
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<i>Ingredients (per serving)</i></div>
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<i>1/3 cup rolled or steel-cut oats (steel-cut make a chewier texture)</i></div>
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<i>1/3 cup vanilla almond milk</i></div>
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<i>about 1/8 cup chia seeds</i></div>
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<i>1/3-1/2 banana, mashed (optional)</i></div>
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<i>a dash of cinnamon</i></div>
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<i>a handful of dried sour cherries</i></div>
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Mix all the ingredients in a container (or Mason jar!), making sure to incorporate the banana well. Cover and put in the refrigerator overnight.</div>
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When you take it out of the refrigerator, it will look pretty firm and the chia seeds may be resting on top. Add a splash of the almond milk and stir. Garnish with your favorite fresh berries or sliced almonds (blueberries are especially delicious).</div>
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<b>Funky Monkey Overnight Oats</b></div>
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<i>1-2 tablespoons peanut butter (I find 1.5 to be the sweet spot)</i></div>
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<i>1 tablespoon cocoa powder</i></div>
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<i>1/3-1/2 banana, mashed</i></div>
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<i>1/3 cup vanilla almond milk</i></div>
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<i>1/3 cup rolled or steel-cut oats</i></div>
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<i>1/8ish cup chia seeds</i></div>
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<i>a squirt of honey or other sweetener, if you want (I don't like very sweet things, so I often omit this, but the pudding isn't very sweet without it - especially if you're making this for a kid, I would add it, at least until you have them hooked)</i></div>
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Whisk together the peanut butter, cocoa, banana, and almond milk until well incorporated. Then mix in the other ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Splash with almond milk and stir to serve. </div>
Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-7305737628510156172014-08-18T16:11:00.000-07:002014-08-18T16:11:11.060-07:00Funeral Blues for Ferguson, Missouri<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #3c3a35; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,</span><br style="color: #3c3a35; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="color: #3c3a35; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Silence the pianos ..."</span></i></span><div>
<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> W.H. Auden</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/08/140714_POL_Ferg.png.CROP.original-original.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/08/140714_POL_Ferg.png.CROP.original-original.png" height="228" width="320" /></span></a><span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">These words keep running through my head as news rolls in about Ferguson, MO. It feels like everything should just STOP and pay attention to what's happening. I read the news, Twitter, so choked up that I can hardly breathe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But the world just keeps <i>going</i>. At least, it does for White America. I see a sharp division between my White and Black friends in how much headspace this story is getting. I'm not talking about everyone, but let's be really real for a second: I've seen more Facebook coverage of the ice-bucket challenge than the fact that real tyranny is happening not just in Ferguson, but throughout the U.S. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">And I've been thinking a lot about two little guys I know, just on the cusp of teenagerhood. They are best friends. They love Minecraft, rap music, and have secret crushes on girls. I'll call them H and J. H is White. J is Black.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">They are going to do a lot of dumb stuff over the next few years. That's what you do when you're a teenaged boy. It's the result of a partly-developed frontal lobe, a growing body, and more freedom.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But the results of those dumb teenaged choices could be harrowingly different. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">J is more likely to be stopped for things like walking and driving than his friend H.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">When he is, he is more likely to be subjected to unconstitutional searches.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">If, during these searches, he resists, he is more likely to have force used against him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">J is more likely to be arrested, and if he is, to be convicted, and sentenced more harshly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The list goes on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">And it can all start with just ... walking down the street.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://payload153.cargocollective.com/1/0/128/5361910/man9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://payload153.cargocollective.com/1/0/128/5361910/man9.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Memphis, 1968</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I've seen a lot of articles like "10 (or 12 or 8) things White people can do about Ferguson." I don't have any good advice. But what I know we have to stop doing? We have to stop acting as if there is ANY justification for killing a young unarmed Black or Brown boy in the street. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Not his clothes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Not his past crimes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Not Facebook photos of that boy doing dumb, teenaged stuff.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Not holding something in his hand, be it a cell phone or Skittles.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Not talking back to authority figures.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3a35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">When we try to argue about whether that boy was a good boy, or a troublemaker, or a scholar, or a criminal, what we are really saying is this: Black lives only matter to us if they conform to some standard that we White folks have set up.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A boy is dead. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not just one boy... but many.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many more are in prison.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's mourn that, and that turn our eyes to the justice that is the only thing that will bring peace.</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-48121660850050218202014-08-13T13:27:00.000-07:002014-08-13T13:27:28.594-07:00Re-post: 5 Things You Shouldn't Say About Mental Illness<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I wanted to re-post this piece that I wrote a little while ago because, in the wake of Robin Williams's death, many people on the internet have been openly expressing prejudice and hate against those with mental illnesses. This has been in somewhat subtle ways, such as posting articles that provide religious reasons why suicide is not OK, to blatant hatred toward Williams's daughter on Twitter.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I am very lucky, in that I have never considered suicide. I have always been able to get out of bed, and go to work, and complete necessary tasks, even in the worst days of anxiety and depression. Yet that's just LUCK. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Below, I've written about 5 things you shouldn't say to/about people with mental illnesses. But beyond that, before you post or re-post something on Facebook or Twitter, before you say something to your friends at work, think to yourself: if the person reading this was in the darkest time of their life, if my colleague standing across from me has a mental illness, would my words show grace? Or would they increase the depth of despair that person is feeling? And if the answer is the second thing - DON'T share, DON'T speak. Please don't use the privilege of being mentally healthy to keep others down.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Here's the article:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm one of the <a href="http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=about_mental_illness" target="_blank">57 million Americans</a> who will experience a mental health challenge this year. I know that I will, because I have a chronic anxiety disorder and have dealt with bouts of depression since I was a child. I've been treated for my anxiety with an anti-depressant for about 15 years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm telling you this because I'm one of the lucky ones. My company is understanding. My family is understanding. I am helped by a very small dose of medication with no side effects for me, and I have been more successful at life than I could ever have imagined when I was pulled over on the side of the road crying for no reason all those years ago. I feel a responsibility to declare the fact of my illness because so many people suffer silently, afraid that they won't be accepted or will lose their jobs. Many people with mental illness wait as long as 10 years before getting treatment - for reasons that include the stigma of being thought "crazy."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I once heard mental illness described as a "hidden disability," and I believe that all of us have to help to "un-hide" it. This means that we have to be careful with our words so that we are not perpetuating harmful stereotypes or casting out <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-race" target="_blank">microaggressions </a> that subtly belittle others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to name some of the things that I've heard people say that are hurtful to those of us who have mental illnesses, so that we can start to strike these kinds of statements from our speech, and create a world where people feel free from stigma if they take advantage of the treatment that's now made more available by the new insurance rules.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5 Things You Shouldn't Say to Someone With a Mental Illness</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why doesn't she just get treatment?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've heard this said about people who are struggling in their work or lives because of mental illness, and it's often said with a great deal of judgment, and often said to others who have gotten treatment for their mental health challenges. First off - you don't know that this person isn't being treated. Finding the right treatment for mental illness can be difficult. Doctors often have to try several varieties before something works. And second - the illness itself can keep someone from getting treatment. For example, I have an anxiety disorder, which means that when untreated, I experience paralyzing anxiety about new situations. I couldn't overcome the anxiety of getting treatment until the need became greater than the fear. That took awhile. And finally, the stigma of being thought "crazy" can keep people from facing their illness. Or they may have their own stereotypes of mental illness, and not realize that they don't have to hear voices to be in need of help. It absolutely breaks my heart every time I hear of someone who is struggling but won't see someone; they need our love and understanding, not our judgment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you tried ... (insert: yoga, meditation, therapy, getting a pet, etc.)? That always makes me feel better.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mental illness is different than a lot of health problems, because the symptoms are often extreme versions of things everyone experiences. We all have anxiety sometimes - it was necessary to keep us alive in the evolutionary environment. But just because you've experienced anxiety, it doesn't mean that you can treat mine. For example, when I'm untreated, I have a crippling fear of <i>talking on the phone.</i> I have literally felt that I would die if I called a pizza place or a store to ask their hours. Even with treatment, I have been known to write out what I'm going to say on the phone. That's an extreme kind of anxiety, and it belittles my experience when you suggest that you know what will fix it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you tried ... (insert those same things) instead of drugs?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does anyone ever say to someone with the flu, "Have you tried meditation to get rid of that virus?" We don't (most of us, anyway) just say a prayer when someone is having a heart attack. We give the person aspirin and call 911. But for some reason, we think it's OK to suggest to people with mental illnesses that they shouldn't need medication. It's seen as a sign of weakness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most people dealing with mental illness are incredibly strong people. They are going through terrible suffering, and still managing to live their lives, take care of their children, do their jobs. Why would we then suggest they should not have something that will improve their suffering?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You have to just face your fears.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned, my fears are completely irrational. For example, I have very little anxiety about: spiders, public speaking, snakes, the dark, and most other things that are considered rational fears. But those things that make me anxious provoke a strongly physical reaction, almost a paralysis. I literally could not face my fears because I couldn't move. I've had students with selective mutism (a kind of anxiety disorder) who wouldn't speak in class, and who were harassed by teachers (even special ed teachers) and other students, urging them to talk. These kids can't just face their fears and start talking. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a point where you can be helped by exposure to things that scare you, but it's usually not something that can just be done through force of will. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You're just sensitive/special/extra caring/sad/nervous, etc.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being depressed is not like being sad. Having an anxiety disorder is not like being nervous. Both have physical symptoms (like joint pain, lethargy, sleeplessness or over-sleeping...). This isn't something that's all in your mind. It's all over your body. And even when symptoms are primarily mental, this doesn't mean that someone is just being dramatic or overly-emotional. Depression can be triggered by things that are supposed to make you sad, like the death of a loved one or pet. Doctors can diagnose when someone is having emotional reactions that are proportional to events, and those that aren't.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just a few of the things people say that bug me. I hope that by having some open conversation, we can begin to de-stigmatize living with mental illness and come to accept it as we would any other health challenge.</span><br />
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Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-49318470064950061692014-08-03T14:49:00.001-07:002014-08-03T14:49:21.607-07:00Resurrecting SAID<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new school year is almost upon us. This year, I think it's time to start a revolution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to resurrect <i>said.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jtGLVhHT3uE/Tq1gSj2jmuI/AAAAAAAADu8/5tpP4Npvsb8/s1600/said+is+dead+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jtGLVhHT3uE/Tq1gSj2jmuI/AAAAAAAADu8/5tpP4Npvsb8/s1600/said+is+dead+6.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See that ghost rising from the grave?<br />That's Said. We're bringing him back.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In classrooms all over America, teachers create posters, decorated with gravestones, memorializing the word <i>said.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Said is dead," they say, and urge kiddos to use other words as dialogue tags. Writing teachers plan lessons dedicated to the idea that "good writers use more interesting words than <i>said </i>to let us know how characters are speaking." They have funerals for <i>said</i> and ban the word from their classrooms.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is that this is wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Said is dead </i>has become such conventional wisdom that teachers actually get upset when I've tried to suggest otherwise. Google "<i>said is dead</i>" and you'll get hundreds of hits for posters, lesson plans, and charts you can use in your classroom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a long time I figured that this was a battle that wasn't worth fighting. Teachers I respect and admire tell their students that <i>said is dead. </i> As someone who writes teacher trainings, I've found that this constantly crops up in lessons, but it's hardly the biggest fish to fry when it comes to writing instruction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning I was scrolling through Pinterest and saw an example poster that a teacher might use in class, listing other words that could be used instead of <i>said.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Great poster!" was written in the comments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was filled with a white-hot rage. I decided it was time to speak out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Case For <i>Said</i></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>Contemporary authors rarely use dialogue tags other than <i>said </i>or <i>asked.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's OK if you don't believe me. Go to your bookshelf and open to random pages in some of your favorite books. Likely, you will see that almost all of the dialogue tags are <i>said</i> or <i>asked</i> (or variants thereof). I just did so, and opened up <i>To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Atonement, </i>and <i>Faithful Place, </i>by Tana French. Out of thirty or so dialogue tags, two were anything other than "said" or "asked". One was "boomed" and the other was "called."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qyx8I3zInpc/U96gV-jbQfI/AAAAAAAADzQ/YTMy5snkniE/s1600/Silly.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qyx8I3zInpc/U96gV-jbQfI/AAAAAAAADzQ/YTMy5snkniE/s1600/Silly.gif" height="122" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See. This sounds silly.<br />None of these are necessary.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is this so?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The purpose of dialogue tags is to let readers know who is speaking when the situation might be ambiguous. In these cases, <i>So-and-so said</i> is all that's required. Our brains usually register the name of the character, but don't linger on the word <i>said.</i> Many teachers tell students that we shouldn't use <i>said</i> because it's boring, but it's not boring because our brain doesn't really notice it. It's more like punctuation. If periods and commas aren't boring, neither is <i>said.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we use other dialogue tags, we create sort of a hitch in the smooth reading that we want our readers to be doing. By telling students not to use <i>said</i>, we're forcing them to conform to rules that actually make them sound like amateur hacks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Case Against <i>Exclaimed, Snuffled, Chortled, Screamed</i></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The secondary purpose of dialogue tags is to tell readers <i>how</i> the words are being said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ha-ha! </i>you might be thinking. <i>That's when we use our other, interesting dialogue tags!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i><br /><i></i>
Yes, true.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a caveat here. These should only be used if the way the character is saying the words <i>contradicts</i> the emphasis or meaning the reader would infer. Otherwise, most "interesting" dialogue tags are redundant or silly. Let's look at some examples.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Let her go," he <u>commanded</u>.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Commanded</i> is redundant, because "Let her go" is already a command.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>It's my birthday!" Grace <u>exclaimed.</u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, redundant. The exclamation point implies exclaiming.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It was all part of my plan," he <u>snickered.</u></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can you really "snicker" words? Go ahead. Try it. This just sounds silly. To snicker means to "give a half-suppressed laugh." You can't snicker words. Likewise, you cannot sneer, laugh, or chuckle words.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>You stole my baby," she <u>whispered.</u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, here's a case where you might actually use this dialogue tag. If someone's baby was stolen, you might infer that she would be wailing or screaming or crying. But she's whispering. This provides a more complete picture of what's happening in the scene, and the dialogue tag is necessary because most of us wouldn't imagine her speaking in that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XnMrM0bL_-c/U96gYxgQPNI/AAAAAAAADzY/KeTG6geVMLU/s1600/Dialogue+Tags.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XnMrM0bL_-c/U96gYxgQPNI/AAAAAAAADzY/KeTG6geVMLU/s1600/Dialogue+Tags.gif" height="82" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Double whammy! Using a redundant dialogue tag<br /><i>with</i> a redundant adverb.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What we should teach instead:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If <i>said</i> isn't dead, what do we teach kids about dialogue instead? I think we should be teaching them three considerations: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) When you write dialogue, choose meaningful words that tell the reader something important. Choose punctuation carefully as well. If you choose your words and punctuation carefully, the reader should be able to hear how the character is speaking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Use a dialogue tag to show the reader who is speaking. It's only necessary if the reader might be confused about who is speaking. Use <i>said</i> almost exclusively.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) If the character is speaking in a way that is unexpected, then you might use a tag other than <i>said.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why this matters:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This might seem like something trivial to blog about at length. However, there are a few reasons why I think this is important:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, and most importantly, we should strive to teach children things that are correct and true. It doesn't matter that funerals for the word <i>said</i> are fun, if we're encouraging students to write in ways that are not skillful. (Trust me, there are lots of overused words that deserve funerals.) Truth matters. It's easy to forget that in teaching, but we should all be vigilant that our kids are learning things that are critical and truthful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, we undermine our credibility when we teach students things that are obviously untrue. Any child who reads a lot is going to realize that "good writers" use the word <i>said</i> all the time. I did by the time I was in high school. When I asked my teachers about it, they fumbled for answers and couldn't explain. I didn't see them as trustworthy anymore, and so I didn't accept feedback on my writing from them that might have actually been valid.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Third, teaching kids not to use <i>said</i> is indicative of a larger problem with writing instruction in general: we tell kids that we are teaching them what "good writers" do, but we are actually teaching them what "good writing students" do. We default to conventional wisdom about writing because we're not writing or reading enough ourselves. To be good writing teachers, <i>we</i> have to truly understand what real authors do. <i>We</i> have to read, write, and think if we want our students to do so. We can't just look on the internet for cute lessons, or follow a curriculum that gives "rules" for writing that are based on conventional wisdom. If <i>we</i> write, we'll help our students to be better writers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last, we just don't want this to happen:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was a kid, I was a zealous reader. I mean, I read a ton. I loved old-fashioned books like <i>The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, </i>and <i>Little House on the Prairie. </i>Apparently, I would read anything with "little" in the title. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, my teachers taught me that <i>said was dead</i>, and I tried to find other, clever dialogue tags in the books I was reading. One day, I found an unusual one that I knew was going to make my teacher proud. I added it to my writing and showed my mom my homework. She blanched.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"What's wrong?" I said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Honey, you just can't say that."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Why not? It was in the book I was reading."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Honey, we don't use the word <i>ejaculate</i> to mean <i>exclaim</i> anymore. It means something else now."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lesson learned.</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-6560353784278892142014-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:002014-07-28T09:11:20.112-07:00To All the Fandoms I've Loved Before...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lookhuman.com/render/product/0808/0808551089335220/2102blk-w484h484z1-37659-im-not-a-fangirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.lookhuman.com/render/product/0808/0808551089335220/2102blk-w484h484z1-37659-im-not-a-fangirl.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you're a proud feminist fanwoman,<br />
you can buy this at<a href="http://www.lookhuman.com/design/37659-im-not-a-fangirl" target="_blank"> lookhuman.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was about seven, I held an established and respected place in the playground hierarchy: I was the only girl who played <i>Star Wars</i> every day at recess. This meant that I always got to be Princess Leia, no matter the occasional girlish interloper who got tired of whatever girls do and decided to play with us for one or two days. She could be my handmaiden.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playing <i>Star Wars </i>was a demanding pastime. You had to remember where you hid your stick that looked like a blaster so you could come back to it from one recess to another. You had to weave your way around other kids who didn't know the monkey bars were the Millenium Falcon. If you were the only girl who was Princess Leia, you had to transfer your burgeoning geek girl crush from the kid who was Luke to the kid who was Han because (spoiler alert from 1983) Luke was your <i>brother. </i>You also had to wear Princess Leia buns to school sometimes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being a fan is not easy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tor.com/images/stories/blogs/14_07/nathan-fillion-captain-kirk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.tor.com/images/stories/blogs/14_07/nathan-fillion-captain-kirk.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Nathan Fillion, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and this was <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/07/nathan-fillion-captain-kirk-comic-con-william-shatner" target="_blank">huge news</a> in the geekoverse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past weekend was <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/cci" target="_blank">Comic-Con</a>, the four days when every geek's heart beats in San Diego. For those four summer days, the city that's always 75 degrees and sunny becomes the capitol of all fandoms. Hobbits mix with Avengers, and Avengers hug it out with Westerosi. Westerosi give the appreciative head nod to Whovians. Nathan Fillion dresses like Captain Kirk.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>
For non-fans (one might call them Muggles, mundanes, etc.) this all sounds as indecipherable and pointless as the NFL draft does to me. Google "psychology of fandom" and you get a whole mess of articles about fandom as coping mechanism, fandom as outlet for personality type, and on and on. For fans of genre entertainment (that's what all that Comic-Con stuff is), I think there's an alternate explanation: we're narrative junkies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Very rarely does someone become a rabid fan of something one-off. If they do, they often clamor for more. (Visit the Twitter profile of Rainbow Rowell, author of the near-perfect <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eleanor-Childrens-Awards-Young-Adult/dp/1250012570" target="_blank"><i>Eleanor and Park</i> </a>and you'll see how many people want a sequel, even though it's the ending that makes the book so amazing. You know, according to me.) Ongoing entertainments (comics/book series/TV/multiple movies) provoke our deepest fan-love. We become fans of expansive universes with multiple ongoing narrative threads, histories only-hinted-at, minor characters who have their own back stories and favorite breakfast cereals. And because of this expansiveness, there's always more to explore.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-06/14/22/enhanced/webdr06/enhanced-6991-1402799223-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-06/14/22/enhanced/webdr06/enhanced-6991-1402799223-1.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Supernatural </i>fans have a reputation for being able to make</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mlew15/definitive-proof-that-the-supernatural-fandom-ha-h0se" target="_blank">any conversation</a> on the internet about <i>Supernatural.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's actually pretty impressive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Critics of genre fictions call this escapism. There can certainly be an element of that. As a fan, I'm pretty fan-lite. I may pin a few <i>Doctor Who</i>-related jokes on Pinterest, but that's about the extent of my extra-curricular fannishness. However, there are plenty of fans who write fan-fiction and go to conventions and talk on forums about their fandoms and <a href="http://www.hypable.com/2011/11/04/the-sorting-hat-supernatural-edition/" target="_blank">sort <i>Supernatural</i> characters into Hogwarts houses.</a> They continue the narratives, analyze them, build their own corners of the stories. Escapism? Yes. But no more so than calling radio shows to talk about sports teams or visiting all the Major League baseball stadiums in a summer (something friends of mine did), which is considered mainstream.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many say that escapism is all there is to genre fandom. Consider the following quote from Steven Petite at the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-petite/literary-fiction-vs-genre-fiction_b_4859609.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post:</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">"The main reason for a person to read Genre Fiction is for </span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">entertainment</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px;">, for a riveting story, an escape from reality. Literary Fiction separates itself from Genre because it is not about escaping from reality, instead, it provides a means to better understand the world and delivers real emotional responses."</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Petite states that one is not better than the other, just different. However, saying that literary fictions provoke "real" emotional responses implies something ... that our emotional responses to our genre stories are not real. Anyone who has watched <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> or <i>Doctor Who</i> knows that there are real emotional responses to be had in these stories. Just because the world of <i>Buffy</i> has vampires in it, doesn't mean that it's not also our world, and that it can't help us navigate the world around us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's what narrative does. Our <a href="http://bigthink.com/think-tank/your-storytelling-brain" target="_blank">brains are hard-wired</a> to make sense of the world in stories, and the narratives we love most help us figure out how to be in the world. From <i>Buffy</i> we learn what it means to be a woman with power, and what it means to accept and choose that power. From <i>Who</i> we learn that no matter who we are, we have a responsibility to make our own story great by helping to make the world better. From <i>Supernatural</i> we learn what it means to strive to be a man and fall short, and then keep striving. At least, those are the things I learned. Because each of these stories has its own universe, fans will pull universes of meaning from them. Stories are meant to be our teachers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But even after all that, I still don't get the <i>Sherlock</i> fandom.</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-55930191990603055652014-07-23T16:43:00.000-07:002014-07-23T16:43:05.446-07:00I'm sorry... was I standing in the way of your privilege?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other day I was at Spec's, which is this giant liquor store we have in Texas. It's more than just a liquor store - it's your one-stop-shop for entertaining. Do you need (for some reason) Kahlua, a single-malt scotch of the finest quality, a prickly pear, a frozen pizza, and a roasted duck? And you want to pay discount prices? Then Spec's is the place. (Seriously. It's a miracle.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can imagine, such a fantastical magic land is usually packed, particularly on the weekends. On this Friday afternoon in question, several folks, including myself, were patiently waiting at the check out. It's one of those places where they have one line that feeds into all of the check out stands. As we were waiting, a man walked up to one of the customer service employees (they have lots of knowledgeable folks to assist you in picking out whatever you need; they are real experts. Did I mention that this place is amazing?).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The man had a bottle of champagne in his hand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Is there a way I can just pay for this one bottle?" he asked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meaning, <i>without standing in line like all of these people.</i></span><br />
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This stuck out to me because<a href="https://medium.com/get-bullish/when-life-hacking-is-really-white-privilege-a5e5f4e9132f" target="_blank"> not too long ago read an article about such a situation at the post offic</a>e, discussing how in these situations White men are acting on their White male privilege without even thinking about it. In that article, though, the man who tried to cut to the front of the line at the post office was denied and sent to his rightful place in line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the liquor store, however, the employee tried to put off the man for a moment, but the man continued to press, and so he was ushered to another check out that had just opened, passing by the women and people of color who had been waiting in line (there were no other White men in line). None of us said anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a nutshell, this is White male privilege at work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whoa, whoa, whoa, you might be thinking. You are reading <i>way</i> too much into this situation. After all, the guy was probably busy. Maybe he was late for something.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, of course. Maybe we were all busy and late for something, but we waited in line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's play out the situation if it was a little different. What if I, a White woman, had been the one asking. After all, I only had five things in my basket, and several people in front of me were buying cases of liquor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First off, women are socialized <i>not</i> to ask for favors that inconvenience others - so it's pretty unlikely that I would do so. In fact, if there was some <i>urgent, urgent </i>reason I couldn't wait (I don't know, like an alien invasion?) I think it's more likely that I would actually leave the store without buying something than actually believe I should go to the front of the line. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I do know what happened one time recently when I was the airport, in the security line, and I heard the announcement that my flight was boarding. I was nearly at the front of the line, and I asked the woman in front of me if I could bypass her, as my flight was boarding. I received a hate-filled look from another woman. She <i>did</i> let me go ahead in line (after all, women are also socialized to say yes, even when it inconveniences us), but when it turned out we were on the same flight, she gave me the <i>bitch, you are out of line</i> look - the one that women use to regulate other women who aren't following norms. To this day, I still feel sort of guilty that I even asked for this favor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That's your problem, </i>you might be thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, I can't know what it feels like to be a person of color, and so I don't want to speak to as if I could. But I will say, I think most of us know that if the man at the liquor store had been Black, it's a lot less likely that he would have gotten his own lane opened for him. That doesn't mean that Black men don't have male privilege, but intersectionality makes it complicated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems like when it comes to privilege, a lot of the "advice" out there is for those who don't have privilege to be more like the dominant culture. For women, it's about how they can be more like dudes. Men are successful because they're confident, says <i>T<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/04/the-confidence-gap/359815/" target="_blank">he Atlantic.</a> </i>Women can learn to take more risks and be more confident. "Lean in" and ask for more, says Sheryl Sandberg. And when it comes to White privilege, many seem to believe that the answer is in teaching children of color in "successful schools" to be facsimiles of some weird version of WASP life, wearing polo shirts with khakis and sitting up perfectly straight with their hands folded and unmoving.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, what if the answer isn't leaning in? What if we need to look in the mirror, and when our privilege is hurting others, try to lean <i>out</i> a little bit? Not just teaching girls to take risks but also teaching boys to be more nurturing and considerate of others? Teaching White children about their privilege and at the same time affirming the value of cultures other than European, making schools places where success doesn't mean "White and male."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To do that, we need to change the big systems of society of course. My whole career is dedicated to that. But I also believe that when it comes to ending oppression we have to sweat the small stuff, the moments in line at the store, the tiny words we use that put people down, the eye rolls that tell others they aren't doing life right. We're definitely going to get it wrong a lot of the time, miss opportunities, make mistakes. I do it all the time when it comes to my own privilege. But when we're not even willing to consider that our small actions actually do have weight to those with whom we have to stand in those lines, then all the governmental change or policy papers in the world won't make a difference.</span><br />
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<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-57493871707785402242014-07-20T15:14:00.002-07:002014-07-20T15:14:46.240-07:00More Blogging!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgGUXXlGmjQ/U8w2xc7pOsI/AAAAAAAADDs/FJG0bdkrZ7A/s1600/1560541_756929880987273_2067806835_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgGUXXlGmjQ/U8w2xc7pOsI/AAAAAAAADDs/FJG0bdkrZ7A/s1600/1560541_756929880987273_2067806835_n.jpg" height="186" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why, hello there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Actually, I didn't go anywhere. I've been here in Houston all summer, working at my organization's summer teacher training institute. Because I worked 12-hour days for much of the summer (and had a blast doing it), I decided to take some time off from blogging. And to be completely honest, dear reader, I felt like I needed to figure out the place blogging has in my life right now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turns out, I was constantly thinking of blog posts as I was going about my day-to-day of training amazing young teachers. You should probably be glad you were spared the World-Cup-themed rant about how sports mania contributes to a culture of war. But I found that I have a lot that I still want to say. I'm still not 100% sure how often I'll be blogging (more on that below) but I'm not giving it up or anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought to get back in the groove, I'd update you on this year's theme: the year of MORE. I had three things I wanted to focus on:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) eating MORE whole foods</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) spending MORE time outside</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) fitting in MORE time to write </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how did those things fit into my crazy summer schedule?</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) More Whole Foods</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ADfW4C5zq3o/U8w3blqiRQI/AAAAAAAADD4/CRXBM23K7Tk/s1600/IMG_20140717_084500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ADfW4C5zq3o/U8w3blqiRQI/AAAAAAAADD4/CRXBM23K7Tk/s1600/IMG_20140717_084500.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I made these in my garden.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I gave myself a lot of grace when it came to cooking this summer, but I had two main commitments. I cooked on the weekend so that I could bring my own lunches to the institute, and I made a green smoothie every day. The lunches weren't always whole foods - I made burritos and Thai peanut chicken over rice - but at least it was home cooking and I could choose ingredients that were low in salt and preservatives and didn't have high fructose corn syrup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of people asked me throughout the summer how I had so much energy, given those 12-hour work days. I owe that to drinking a cup of kale or spinach every day in the form of a smoothie. I don't think it's magic or anything, but having a green smoothie just kept me going throughout the day. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RE4GjDO52yA/U8w3bqL9KgI/AAAAAAAADD8/aarqN00_y8Y/s1600/IMG_20140407_203821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RE4GjDO52yA/U8w3bqL9KgI/AAAAAAAADD8/aarqN00_y8Y/s1600/IMG_20140407_203821.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spontaneous day trip to the beach!</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) More Outside Time</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, I'll be completely frank here: I don't like to spend time outside in the summer in Houston. When I lived up north, we stayed inside much of the winter. That's how I treat summer in Houston. Really, I don't even try to go outside. There are giant mosquitoes! Flying cockroaches! Alligators! (I've never seen an alligator <i>in</i> Houston, but there are <i>definitely</i> signs by the bayou telling you to watch out for them.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I <i>have</i> managed to keep a slightly successful garden going. I say "slightly" because by most standards, it would be pretty pathetic, but it's been my most successful foray into green-thumbing it. I've gotten some tiny tomatoes and jalapenos, and my basil plant is going nuts. It's the first time I've kept a garden this long with ALL the plants surviving. I call that a win. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gaiS1M7v7ak/U8w8gbdQbDI/AAAAAAAADEc/q1J3emwb3Lg/s1600/IMG_20140720_170002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gaiS1M7v7ak/U8w8gbdQbDI/AAAAAAAADEc/q1J3emwb3Lg/s1600/IMG_20140720_170002.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) More Writing Time</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've actually managed to make this a priority. I thought about what held me back from writing as much as I want to, and I found that I'm tired of the computer at the end of the day. I decided to start writing by hand, and on the weekend type up what I created. This has worked like a charm, and has allowed me to sustain my creativity through sketching, making notes, and otherwise being the stationery nerd that I am at heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, this is not a great solution when it comes to blogging. (Blog by mail anyone?). I'll continue to think through my relationship to my computer and what that will mean for writing.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's coming up?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You want to know more about how I've fit more leafy greens into my diet, right? Especially since I break my mother's heart by not eating a salad every day with dinner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also planning posts on fangirling, a summer pop-culture round up, and some thoughts on White privilege at the liquor store.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm glad to be back!</span><br />
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<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-75433668889819057642014-05-12T15:54:00.002-07:002014-05-12T15:54:44.150-07:00A Little Hiatus<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey there -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you may have noticed, there's been a lag in my posting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not leaving you forever!<br /><br />I'm just taking a little hiatus while I prep for and work at my organization's summer teacher training program. I'll be back in mid- or late July.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until then, stay green, my friends.</span>Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-36881395802011652072014-03-20T18:31:00.000-07:002014-03-20T18:31:14.635-07:00Recipe: Shamrock Shimmy Smoothie<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1xJ5CUsE71U/UyuKwbZH6bI/AAAAAAAAC94/1xZyve76HJ4/s1600/smoothie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1xJ5CUsE71U/UyuKwbZH6bI/AAAAAAAAC94/1xZyve76HJ4/s1600/smoothie.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mid-morning snack attack at work!<br />Shamrock shimmy smoothie!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm always ahead of the trends.<br /><br />Exhibit A: Before most people had heard of Nirvana, I had already decided I didn't like them. <i>Billy Joel,</i> people. That's where it's at.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exhibit B: Prior to "boho chic" being a major trend, I was sporting hippie threads that I dug out of the drama closet at summer camp.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exhibit C: Prior to knitting becoming a trend, I taught myself knitting from a kit called "I Taught Myself Knitting!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Hmm... I'm beginning to realize I may not be as cool as I thought...)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One trend that I just haven't been able to get behind, though, is KALE. Seriously. Why would I want a salad that's made out of wadded up paper towels? My nightmare is being forced to eat a kale quinoa salad at a pop-up restaurant while watching <i>Girls</i> and listening to EDM. I imagine that in ten years, people are going to wake up and be all: <i>why did I eat that? And why did we think that stuff was cool?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even more baffling to me: putting KALE in a smoothie. A smoothie is supposed to be a bait-and-switch so that you can drink milkshakes and feel healthy about it. Peanut butter, banana, Hershey's. <i>That's</i> a smoothie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you sense that I'm about to eat my words?</span><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MXZg5yvixFE/UsipEfxV4qI/AAAAAAAAC64/tEEXI74_MfM/s1600/yearofmore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MXZg5yvixFE/UsipEfxV4qI/AAAAAAAAC64/tEEXI74_MfM/s1600/yearofmore.jpg" height="186" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still don't want a kale salad or a big plate of kale or a kale cupcake. My mom got me the <i>Oh She Glows</i> cookbook for my birthday, though, and it has several recipes for green smoothies in it. <i><a href="http://ohsheglows.com/" target="_blank">Oh She Glows </a></i>is a blog of vegan, whole foods recipes (when you Google it, the first search that comes up is "Oh She Glows kale salad"). The blog and the cookbook are great because lot of vegan recipes are heavy on soy products and processed fake-meat-like foods, which I try to avoid, particularly because it's the "Year of More" and that means <i>more whole foods</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For some reason, I thought I'd give green smoothies a try after every blogger in the world had already decided they were God's gifts to moms who give their kids cute nicknames on the internet. Guess what? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reader, I loved it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So let's come around to the recipe, shall we?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few days after this revelation, I was cruising on that great recipe-box-in-the-cloud, Pinterest, and there was a recipe for "healthy Shamrock shake - with mint!" I have never had a Shamrock shake, but that sounded pretty good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For some reason, I pictured "mint" as being, you know ... <i>mint.</i> Like leaves, and stuff. I always forget that a lot of people don't eat natural things. The recipe was made with milk (I'm cutting way back on dairy), chocolate chips (didn't have those), and peppermint extract. Since I have a bunch of mint growing in my garden, I decided that I could make a "Shamrock" smoothie that would actually be healthy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is the recipe my first stab at making my own green smoothie. I think it is SO delicious. At least to me, and I'm the one drinking it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few notes:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've made it with both baby kale and baby spinach, but if you're making it for kids and you want them to forget there are greens involved, I'd go with the spinach.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I used honey in this recipe, but if you want it to be completely vegan, then substitute a plant-based sweetener.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not a cute color.</span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Shamrock Shimmy Smoothie</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingredients</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 c. non-dairy milk (I like hemp milk)</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3/4-1 c. baby kale or baby spinach, de-stemmed and torn</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 banana, sliced and frozen</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6-10 fresh mint leaves</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tsp. honey</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step 1) put everything in a blender and blend it and drink it. </span></div>
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Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-89001951185814832802014-02-26T16:13:00.004-08:002014-02-26T16:13:52.353-08:00Pop Culture Round-Up: Sick in Bed Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow! It's been awhile. I can't really blame anything...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Well, I was sick for a week. During which time I watched <i>all the TV.</i> Not only did I clear my DVR, I enjoyed entire seasons of some shows, which are now being added to said DVR. I also watched a bunch of rom-coms, which I only watch when I'm sick. However, I wouldn't particularly recommend any of them. (OK, I thought <i>Austenland</i> was pretty cute.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what did I watch?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.mallofamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lindt-truffles.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.mallofamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lindt-truffles.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gimme some TV that<br />goes down easy!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Arrow, </b>The CW</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the past few months, I'd slowly been catching up with <i>Arrow </i>(The CW's pretty-person reboot of DC Comics' <i>Green Arrow). </i>However, while sick I binge-watched the end of Season 1 and caught up with Season 2. Yes, it follows the CW's formula: people who all look sort of alike and yet are better actors than you expect, enacting adventurous yet preposterous tales. I like the CW formula, however. It's sort of a less-witty play on the Joss Whedon formula. No one will ever accuse <i>Arrow</i> of being anything but candy, but it's the Lindt truffles, rather than the Whitman's sampler, of teen TV.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Americans</b>, FX</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year I DVRed <i>The Americans</i> but never watched it. In preparation for Season 2 (which begins tonight!), the first season was released free for Amazon Prime members. <i>The Americans</i> might be compared to FX/AMC/HBO shows that are about tough people doing tough things, but frankly I don't feel like I'm giving up my feminism to watch it (I'm looking at you, <i>Mad Men.)</i> The show centers on two Russian spies embedded in suburban DC, who pretend to be a clean-cut American family. Keri Russell and Margo Martindale play a couple of TV's biggest badasses, and all the women on the show (even the woman who is seduced into a sham marriage by one of the spies) are more complex than on your average television show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plus, it brilliantly evokes the early 80's, and that feeling that the world was balanced on the head of a nuclear pin. I remember how frightening it was too be a kid at that time, how central the USSR was to the news, how many of us worried that the world could end tomorrow. <i>The Americans</i> capitalizes on that paranoia brilliantly, and it's suspenseful even though we know the world didn't end.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>True Detective, </b>HBO</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.melty.fr/article-1925419-ajust_930-f1385555877/rust-cohle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://media.melty.fr/article-1925419-ajust_930-f1385555877/rust-cohle.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that's haggard!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was that about feminism? Oh, hey Emily Nussbaum from <i>The New Yorker,</i> calling out <i>True Detective</i> for its thin female characters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't thought in depth about whether I agree with Emily (maybe she's right; but it's also a story told in the voices of White, Southern men in a rural area - so, this criticism seems more like criticism of the POV choice... whatever). I just know that I am absolutely mesmerized by this show. It is, in many ways, about what it means to truly live one's philosophy, even if that philosophy is brutal and nihilistic. Shot beautifully, with a stunning, haggard central performance by Matthew McConaughey, it's one of the best things I've seen all year.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/new-promo-hbo-looking-jonathan-groff-browsing-through-online-dating-service.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/new-promo-hbo-looking-jonathan-groff-browsing-through-online-dating-service.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See. Cute as a bug in a backpack.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Looking, </b>HBO</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of folks have called <i>Looking</i> the gay <i>Girls. </i>It's totally not. I hate <i>Girls. </i>I want to punch all the characters. I gave up on it at the beginning of Season 3. I might end up watching it (although I resisted all through my illness) because it totally sucks you in, but I'll feel guilty about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Looking</i> is not like that. <i>Looking </i>makes me want to hug all the characters, even that poopy-pants Augustin. It is, quite simply, the most romantic show on TV right now. Yes, it's a kind of romance that will make the Fox News crowd uncomfortable (one whole episode centers around whether the main character can get over his shame of being a bottom), but it's romance all the same. Jonathan Groff, as usual, is too cute for words. If only he got to sing!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of Fox News and feminism...</span></b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/tv/2013-10-08/7ca3b3da-0e89-49b4-9cd4-3b0d3869eb94_2048_TheMindyProject.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/tv/2013-10-08/7ca3b3da-0e89-49b4-9cd4-3b0d3869eb94_2048_TheMindyProject.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll continue to watch <i>The Mindy Project</i><br />as an act of resistance.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is it just me, or is Fox totally undermining the ideals of Fox News? (The answer is YES). Although they have the same parent company (21st Century Fox), Fox has been quietly filling its prime-time slate with shows featuring strong, diverse female characters. In particular, their programming features women of color prominently: on <i>Sleepy Hollow, The Mindy Project, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The New Girl (</i>no, I don't mean Jess), <i>Glee, </i>and <i>Enlisted.</i> The White female characters often come from diverse income backgrounds, ranging from <i>Bones</i> (tough crime-fighting anthropologist who grew up in the foster system) to <i>Raising Hope </i>(the family matriarch is a house cleaner who is a well-rounded, strong female character and has one of the best marriages on TV). While Fox News is consistently making statements that undercut women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community, their sister company is doing something much more powerful: telling stories that portray people from these backgrounds as agents of their own fates. I know that Fox is just trying to make a profit, but it makes me happy that they are participating in the unraveling of the prejudice that Fox News tries to sell.</span><br />
<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1320958741328327048.post-64960551118102066742014-01-30T16:27:00.002-08:002014-01-30T16:27:43.486-08:00Recipe: Thai-inspired Coconut Curry Soup<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VY1NJQQ-RkI/UuroDuU-hnI/AAAAAAAAC9E/f2S7r6YqKdE/s1600/soup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VY1NJQQ-RkI/UuroDuU-hnI/AAAAAAAAC9E/f2S7r6YqKdE/s1600/soup.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The soup at the end of the story.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday, I hopped on a plane with seven co-workers, heading to Birmingham, AL for a conference. As we began our descent into Bham, the pilot announced that the airport was closed due to ice and snow. We would be able to land as soon as they cleared the runways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were diverted to Nashville, where we spent the day waiting for updates about those runways. As we sat in the airport, much of the South was plunged into a state of emergency, with people abandoning their cars on the side of the road, kids sheltering at school overnight, and people sleeping in Publix. Houston's strategy under even a threat of ice is to close the schools and a lot of businesses pre-emptively, People make fun of us for it, but as a Northerner who now lives in Texas, even a wee bit of ice is no joke in the South. There are no plows, no sand trucks, no studded tires. It's best to keep as many people off the roads as possible. The fact that some cities didn't is partly why there was such a problem on Tuesday.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnvGH_yE7AE/Uurn9VrKBWI/AAAAAAAAC80/IUrfPhOUum8/s1600/airport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnvGH_yE7AE/Uurn9VrKBWI/AAAAAAAAC80/IUrfPhOUum8/s1600/airport.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here we are - we made it home!<br />(That's me, second from right)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were pretty lucky in that we were safe and warm in the airport, and by evening our flight was finally canceled. Nashville was chilly but there was no severe ice or snow, and the airline gave us a discount on a hotel. With Birmingham airport remaining closed, we turned around and headed home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What does this have to do with food?</i> you might ask.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://clobot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ponyo.jpg?w=300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://clobot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ponyo.jpg?w=300" height="213" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm like Ponyo when I see a bowl of noodles.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, two days in an airport leaves one feeling kind of funky. On the way home, I began thinking about what I could cook up that would be warm, comforting, and healthful. Of course, I landed on the idea of chicken soup... but not just any chicken soup. Since making </span><a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/01/chicken-pho/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">chicken pho</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from Smitten Kitchen last week, I'm sort of obsessed with warm, slurpy bowls of noodly goodness (well, truth be told, </span><a href="http://www.lt-green.blogspot.com/2012/05/recipe-bun-ga-nuong-rice-vermicelli.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">I'm always kind of obsessed</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> with </span><a href="http://lt-green.blogspot.com/2010/05/meatless-monday-crack-ramen.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">this</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, as any fan of Miyazaki should be).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I learned some new techniques from the chicken pho - namely, how to make a good chicken broth - so I decided to use those to make <i>tom ka gai</i>, which is a Thai version of chicken soup. On the way home, from the airport I stopped at the store for ingredients, and by that evening I was slurping away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tom Ka Gai (Coconut Curry Soup)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-koc5-qGAavM/UuroC9PIyqI/AAAAAAAAC88/E_hxfnXQnwQ/s1600/broth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-koc5-qGAavM/UuroC9PIyqI/AAAAAAAAC88/E_hxfnXQnwQ/s1600/broth.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the broth:</span></u><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 1" x 1/2" pieces of ginger, peeled</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Thai chilies, halved and seeded</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 lime, quartered</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 onion, peeled and quartered</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4-6 bone in, skin on chicken thighs or drumsticks</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Add all ingredients to a soup pot and add 6 cups of water, or just enough to cover. Bring to a boil, and lower heat to simmer. Simmer 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from the pot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remove the chicken meat from the bone and set aside. Return the bones and skin to the pot and continue simmering for 20-30 minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remove the broth from heat, and strain, discarding all the solids.</span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the broth is simmering, prep:</span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 red pepper, sliced thin</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 shallot, sliced thin</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 package of dried wild mushrooms. Pour boiling water over them to cover and let sit for 20 minutes, then slice thin (you could also use sliced fresh mushrooms)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 package of thick rice noodles (pad thai noodles or rice sticks) - prepare according package directions</span></i><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To finish the soup:</span></u><br />
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Return the broth to heat, and whisk in:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 cans of coconut milk or lite coconut milk</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 tbsp. Thai red curry paste</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 tbsp fish sauce (if you can't find fish sauce, add a tsp. of salt)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a squeeze of Sriracha (Thai hot sauce - optional)</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 tbsp. brown sugar</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the juice of 1-2 limes</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pinch of black pepper</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let simmer for 5-10 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Add the chicken, red pepper, mushrooms, and shallots and continue to simmer until the chicken and veg are heated through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To serve:</span></u><br />
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Put some of the noodles in a deep bowl, and ladle the soup over them. To garnish, add chopped cilantro, basil, scallions, and a wedge or two of lime.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note:</span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have left overs, refrigerate the noodles and the soup separately so the noodles don't break down in the liquid. The coconut milk may separate somewhat in the fridge, but just heat it up and give it a stir!</span><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />Catfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685961297588341671noreply@blogger.com0