Studs Terkel

Last Friday Pulitzer-prize winning oral historian Studs Terkel passed on at the age of 96. I discovered Studs while watching the April 4, 2006 episode of The Daily Show where he appeared to promote his newest book. So drawn was I to his feisty and spirited discussion with Jon Stewart that I looked him up. 

I was fascinated by his knack for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary no matter whether he was interviewing the waitress in the local diner or an acclaimed celebrity personality. Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Eat, Pray, Love, speaks about spirituality and and the Buddhist notion that God exists in you AS you. Studs, in his own endearing style, had a way of connecting with the deity in the every day person, exposing the goodness, honoring it, and celebrating it.

Reading his oral histories, or in my case listening to the audiobook edition, is an exercise in optimism and hope that bolsters even the most depressed mood. Studs’ average “Joes” (yes, Joe the Plumber, Bob the Builder, Jane the Hair Stylist, etc) each contribute something good or accomplish an honorable goal, somewhere along the way despite their own hardships or failings. I remember finishing his books and smiling with renewed faith that life’s struggles, though they may challenge us, are not in vain, and that each of us has something constructive and positive to give.

You can read more about Studs in the NY Times obituary and this article “He Gave Voice to Many, Among Them Himself” written as a tribute to him a few days after his death. 

And you can see the video of the appearance on The Daily Show that led down this path of discovery.

Alan Greenspan is on Capital Hill as I write, testifying before the House Oversight Committee. I’ve been following the story on the NY Times Web site, which they’ve been updating frequently. A half hour ago, their story quoted Greenspan as labeling our current predicament a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami.”

I feel so comforted. Thanks, Al.

And then I started thinking more…it’s bad enough Al is up there predicting high unemployment rates. “Given the financial damage to date, I cannot see how we can avoid a significant rise in layoffs and unemployment,” says he.

We know where that always leads – housing foreclosures, bankruptcies, under and uninsured unhealthy people, homelessness, undereducated, undernourished children, etc. The repercussions seem endless. And, don’t forget, the now shriveled retirement accounts. Even if you did all the right things with your investments, you’re likely looking at having to work much longer than you anticipated, and your so-screwed if you’re already on a fixed income.

Then I thought about the people Tom Brokaw calls “The Greatest Generation.” How must this generation feel now? They were born into the Great Depression, and they may very well end their lives in another. How sad.

I guess that’s why Al called it a “once-in-a-century” credit tsnami. For The Greasted Generation, it’s already twice-in-a-lifetime.

Tribute to Peace in Unification Park, Imjingak

Last Sunday, those of us who traveled to South Korea reported out to our congregation on our trip. We were sent there on a mission to teach vacation bible school in English to 180+ children at a sister church in Seoul. After the 5-day program, we had a week to explore the city and travel to Jeju Island, the “Hawaii” of South Korea.

For this session, each of us was asked to talk about about what was most memorable about the trip and why. We were asked to think of the trip in terms of a journey or process of growth and/or exploration. 

Here were my thoughts. 

My journey actually began on August 3, 1980 when I and 25-30 other teenagers boarded a bus that took us from Pennsylvania to JFK airport to catch British Airways flight 177 to London Heathrow. We were part of a cultural exchange program sponsored by Rotary International.

My ultimate destination was a small town called Ramsbottom nestled in a valley just outside of Manchester in the north of England. During my 3-week visit, I stayed at the home of the president of the local Rotary Club experiencing life as he and his family lived it.

Tribute to Peace in Unification Park, Imjingak

 

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I had a rather sheltered childhood, learning about world cultures mostly through books – the kind without pictures. I was fascinated at how my English family was different and still the same as my family in so many ways. For me it was an eye-opening, life-changing experience that set me on a path of travel, discovery, and cultural exchange that has been a constant in my life ever since.

I’ve been very blessed. My journey has taken me throughout western Europe and Iceland and through the shanty towns in South Africa and Zambia and the farming villages of China. I’ve toured the fetid canals of Bangkok and the hillside tribe villages of northern Thailand where the main mode of transportation is the elephant. I even spent one New Year’s Eve in the tiny shack-like home of a family who lives in the mountainous region north of Tokyo, Japan.

Our recent trip to Seoul is yet another leg on what has become a life-long journey. What is most memorable to me about that trip are the same things that caught my attention 28 years ago in England — the ways in which we are the same despite the differences in our languages, customs, lifestyles, dress, foods.

 

Tribute to Peace, Unification Park, Imjingak

Through my own experiences, I have come to believe that the path to world peace lies somewhere in cultural exchange and our willingness to step out of our own comfort zone to experience life through a different filter. Every time I’ve done that I’ve discovered that no matter what part of the world we live, the things that unite us far outnumber the things that make us different. 

I also believe that it is particularly important for our children and our youth to understand and experience this for themselves. It is my hope, maybe my dream, that by walking for a day, a week or two weeks in step with others from a different part of the world that they can gain the knowledge, compassion and empathy that it takes to make this world a safer, more peaceful place. 

Call me crazy, call me idealistic, call me naive if that suits you, but only AFTER you’ve told me what you’ve done lately to make the world a more peaceful place.

Friends in Seoul

Leopard on the Wall

 Ok, admit it. I know you missed me Labor Day weekend. But, I was busy painting this sleeping leopard on the wall of Devon and Taylor’s bedroom. 

It was definitely my most ambitious painting project, ever. My previous foray into painting with acrylics was 15 years ago with a classic Mickey on the wall of one of my bathrooms…a considerably simpler adventure with only 4 colors and no shading. But you know what I say, no guts, no glory!

I admit, I didn’t draw it freehand. I projected a photo on the wall to trace the shape and the relative sizes and locations of some of the spots. But the shading is all mine, well as good as I could get it. 

It took me about 27 hours over the 3-day weekend. And the 8-year olds took turns helping with the tree bark.

Phew!

 

 

Ian August, 2008

It’s official. Ian has a provisional driver’s license. He passed his road test about an hour ago. I haven’t heard the details yet, because, of course, he’s not home.

The tables are already turned. He called to let me know he passed and immediately proceeded to ask me if I was planning to “go out” tonight. I wasn’t sure what he was asking at first. He had to explain that if I’m not planning to use the car, then he wants to borrow it. Figures! I need to be very busy from now on. Don’t be surprised when I call to see if you’d like to get together.

OR, if someone would like to donate to Ian’s car and insurance fund, I’m sure he’ll be very grateful. Any disused car with trillions of miles will do…it just needs to pass inspection.

Happy Birthday, Ian

After 10 hours of sorting and uploading, the bulk of my photos from my trip to Seoul are up on my smugmug page. I didn’t have time to edit much or add a lot of description, but you can get a view of our experience. The coolest photos, in my opinion, are the ones I snatched of the women who dive for fish and shellfish without scuba equipment. They are known as Haenyeo or Mermaids of Jeju. They train themselves to dive up to 20 meters below the surface without the use of any breathing apparatus. 

Sadly, they are an aging lot. I believe the average age of the remaining Haenyeo is 60+ years. Not enough young women are interested in taking up the dangerous profession. It takes guts to fend off sharks and subject your body to such demanding activity. 

The ladies I encountered on the way back to my hotel were a lively wizened crew. They chatted spiritedly among themselves as a photographer was setting up his gear. Although I couldn’t understand the language, I could tell they are a closely knit community. The tone and pace of their repartee reminded me of the Ya-Ya Sisters.

P.S. The reason these photos are so special to me is that I don’t believe the Haenyeo are a normal part of the tourist experience. I got up at 5:15 am one morning hoping to catch the sunrise on Jungmun beach near the Lotte Hotel. I was 20 minutes too late for that but right on time for the divers.

So here in South Korea, you can eat just about everything with kimchi. Or, rather, kimchi is served with and in just about everything. I had kimchi dumplings for lunch today. Take your basic steamed dumpling and put kimchi in it and, voila! Kimchi dumplings. You get kimchi pancakes, kimchi in your noodle soup, kimchi eggs, kimchi casserole, roasted kimchi, boiled kimchi, cold kimchi, hot kimchi…you name it, it’s got kimchi. Although, I must confess that I have not had any kimchi cake or ice cream or candy…although I’m wondering now how a high quality 70% bittersweet chocolate would balance the spiciness of high quality kimchi in a chocolate truffle….hmmm, maybe something to try at home?

Wow. We’ve been eating so well here in Seoul. Traditional Korean cuisine is fast becoming my favorite of all time. The breadth and depth of the dishes is astonishing. Plus, I don’t think Koreans let any edible flora go to waste.

Tonight’s dinner was at a traditional Korean restaurant where everything, at least all the flora, served at the restaurant is produced ORGANICALLY within an hour’s drive of Seoul on a farm owned by the restauranteers. The menu included exotic delicasies such as cockscomb, bellflower, chickweed, violet, whitlow grass, shepherd’s purse, mulberry tree shoot, lily root, dandelion, common sow thistle, azalea, and hyssop.

I took notes and pictures, which I’ll post when I have better high speed access. For now, let me assure you that it was a fabulous meal, not in just the cuisine, but the presentation as well. We sat on the floor at low pine tables. All the food was served on custom hand made pottery which was stunningly beautiful. The walls were papered with traditional Korean paper which includes real flowers. The setting was rustic. We traversed a rutted dirt road, passing by lush vegetable plants loaded with eggplant, zucchini, onion, squash, etc.

Ahhhh…I was in epiciurean heaven…I think I’ll go to bed now and dream of kimchi.

The endless feast goes on and on and on…this time in Seoul, South Korea. We arrived late Friday, July 25 and for 2 days felt totally jet-lagged. But did that stop us from eating? NO WAY!

Our hosts as Seshin Methodist Church have been nothing but generous and gracious. They began feeding us the minute we arrived from the airport. You can see the photos of the Welcome UVUC signs made from gummy bears purchased from none-other-than Costco. We felt right at home.

Our first dinner on Saturday night was at a sushi/korean/italian buffet bar…all you can eat sushi…say what??? Feast it was, and feast we did. The uni was great as was the octopus, squid and sea snails.

Our second dinner was at a traditional Korean restaurant where, as you can see in the photos, we sat on mats at low tables and were served a myriad of traditional dishes. You’ve got your acorn jelly, your seaweed, your re-hydrated shrimp, radishes, mushrooms, jelly fish, octopus, squid, tofu, barbecued pork and beef, and not to mention the kimchis- cabbage kimchi, white kimchi, whole radish kimchi, diced radish kimchi, cucumber kimchi…you can kimchi just about any vegetable as it turns out.

Dr. Kim was our gracious host. He made sure we went back to our apartment with bellies full enough to sleep off the jet lag.

I just saw a spectacular performance of King Lear at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Does it get better than Daniel Davis’ masterful interpretation of the foolish, mad, tragic king? WOW! It’s as if he transforms and transports himself literally and physically into character. Although I’m no expert, I have seen more than my share of Shakespearean acting that I’ve thought was good or at least good enough to give myself over to the moment and enjoy the presentation. But this performance was mind blowingly great. Daniel Davis’s Lear makes Denzel Washington’s Caesar look like high school…he really was THAT good!

It takes guts to put yourself out there on stage like that…my kind of actor!

Well, being home was only short-lived. I flew to Dallas yesterday morning but was delayed and delayed and delayed. We pushed away from the gate at 6:45am on time, but that was the only thing that went smoothly. After taxiing toward the runway, we waited and waited only to find out that an on-board generator wasn’t working properly. We taxiied back to a gate and waited on the plane for maintenance to bring out a wiring diagram to see if they could isolate the problem…comforting, eh?

Then the pilot tells us that air traffic control in Newark experienced a radar outage. So, even with the generator restored, we had to wait an hour for a slot to take off. So much for being on time for that business meeting!

Just to make us feel great, as we’re still sitting on the same plane at a gate, the pilot tells us that the 8 am flight just took off. Now THAT’S torture! What was he thinking?

All in all I arrived in Dallas 3.5 hours behind schedule. Need I spell out that yesterday was a very long day?

But I’m happy to say I’m back in New Jersey once again. The return flight tonight left Dallas Fort Worth 10 minutes EARLY…will wonders NEVER cease??

Seems like I’ve been on the road a lot in the past 6 weeks. Last week, it was Dallas. This week it was Baltimore. It feels good to be home again…facing all these homeowner chores. I still have over 5 cubic yards of mulch waiting to be hauled around my driveway. One of my air conditioning units doesn’t seem to be cooling things down as much as it should, but then I need to change the air filter AFTER I have a few minutes to go buy a new filter. Then there are my projects and my baking…a never ending to-do list. Plus, with the weather being so nice, I want to get out on the golf course and see Shakespeare in the Park and take more photographs and get started on a new book I just bought…so many things, so little time.

Just when you start to relax, something happens to remind you of the fragility of life. I just arrived home from a business trip in Dallas to news that Tim Russert suffered but did not survive a severe heart attack. He was a mere 58 years old.  

Of course, I didn’t know Tim Russert apart from his TV persona. I’m not sure I even “liked” that persona…he seemed something of a bulldog on Meet the Press. But as someone who is a fan of lively debate, I certainly appreciate and admire his guts. And, certainly, Tim Russert seemed to be one of the few journalists who remained unafraid to ask the “tough” questions. As someone who wonders whatever happened to investigative political reporting in the past 8 years, I truly admire that. I think his absense will leave a gaping void.

Do you like The Beatles? If so watch Across the Universe. My friends have been talking about it since it appeared in theatres. But, with my head down as usual, I plodded on day to day without taking too much notice…until last weekend.

What a creative breath of fresh air is this movie! Julie Taymor reveals her brilliant creativity as the film’s director and co-writer. I had to watch it a second time and watch the special features DVD before I began to more fully appreciate the multi-dimensional metaphors.

The movie takes many of the most familiar Beatles songs and recasts them to tell a tale of the sixties and early seventies from a slightly different perspective.  It’s the music that hit me first. I’m still singing. I sat in an all-day meeting at work yesterday with All You Need Is Love playing and replaying in my head.

Then I began to see the interpretation and how that is so brilliantly brought to life on screen. Not your run-of-the-mill Hollywood production. Check it out when you get a chance.

I’m writing this from my mobile phone to try things out. Bare with me, I’m paving new pathways in my brain.

Here are my favorite nieces singing Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf in Spanish. Muy bien, excellente, ninas!

Just read the NY Times article about The Dark Knight. Looks great…I can’t wait to see it.

I was surfing around the NY Times Web site on Thursday and came across Mark Bittman’s blog post about vanilla pudding. Mark Bittman writes The Minimalist column for the Times and creates these hilarious videos on how to cook really basic, yet very delicious dishes. Check out this week’s video on octopus and last week’s Mr. Tomato-Face.

Back to the pudding, I happen to LOVE pudding usually the chocolate variety however. So the headline about vanilla pudding caught my eye. Read on, however, through the post to the comments and note the discussion about cornstarch. 

I felt compelled to weigh in on that discussion on two fronts, the pudding and the cornstarch.  I think all this jibber-jabber about cornstarch being so, so processed is much ado about nothing. I agree with the person who said that the problem is not the cornstarch, it’s the way we process it. I’ve read Michael Pollen’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, too, and totally agree that we should do whatever we can to support the concept of local sustainable farming. Yes! We need to be mindful. But let’s get a grip.

I normally make chocolate pudding which has been a huge hit with my friends and family. It’s astonishingly simple to make and is the perfect comfort food for whatever is ailing you.

I adapted this recipe from Saveur. It appeared many years ago now and was called Chocolate La Taza.

1 c milk (in whatever fat content suits your conscience and tastebuds)
2 oz bittersweet (not unsweetened or milk) chocolate (I usually use Ghiardelli or Scharfenberger)
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
vanilla

Bring 3/4 c milk and chocolate to a boil. Stir to make sure chocolate is melted. Shake together remaining 1/4 c milk and cornstarch until the lumps are gone. Whisk into the hot chocolate mixture and simmer for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Add vanilla to taste. (The higher the quality of vanilla, the better the epicurean delight.)

Let cool to room temperature and serve with whipped cream (but this is completely optional.) Usually, I can’t wait until it’s cooled to room temperature.

This recipe has nursed a friend through breast cancer and another through a kidney donation operation. Another friend request this in lieu of traditional holiday and birthday gifts.

Yes, folks! Open That Bottle Night has come around again. We actually missed the “declared” holiday because our illustrious host had to make an unplanned sojourn to St. Louis, persevering through the snow storm. But we’ve rescheduled and it’s happening this Saturday. So stay tuned, I’ll fill you in.

Note the quote in my most recent post about how cooking reveals the personality beneath the chef’s hat or behind the apron whichever kitchen-wear you prefer. Then, consider the most recent offering from Mark Bittman aka The Minimalist and NY Times food writer. In this episode of Minimalist TV he makes a roasted tomato soup using canned tomatoes…ok, you say, what’s so unusual about that? Well, check out the video, he’s cooking with Mr. Tomato Face! He even feed him a spoonful of the delicious-looking soup at the end.

 Hilarious!! Very entertaining!