What Makes Turnips Good...

...Bacon. Okay, so is there really anything that bacon doesn't make better?

I get a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box from Tierra Miguel Farm in Northern San Diego County and the winter veggies are not among my usual produce purchases...daikon, turnips, beets, cabbage...you get the idea. I had some delicious cabbage, turnip greens and carrots last week, but I have to admit I was a bit mystified about what to do with the turnips. A quick google search brought up several recipes suggesting a little crumbled bacon mashed into boiled turnips. Needless to say, I just ate four large turnips for dinner and wished there had been more.

Bacon is magical.

Now what to do with the daikon?

Boyfriends--what to get for your girlfriends on Valentines Day

Just a silly post about what you can get your loved one for V-Day if you are someone who has a girlfriend who hopes you'll do something, but you have no idea what that's going to be.

Under $20

I love my girlfriend: her beauty touches everything
by Louis Cannizzaro

I've read this book more than once at Vroman's and at Skylight Books, and each time I end up ducking into the stacks to wipe my eyes. It's so incredibly sweet, and it's only $15.95! (Available online and at many independent bookstores.)

Mid-Range

Support Blue Platypus! What girl does not love a cute shirt? My good friends at Blue Platypus have a great sale going on right now. All their clothes are 100% made in the USA. Check it out.

For the big spender

Be a Gold, Gold Doubloons, or Platinum sponsor of Jill Sobule's next record and get your significant other's name into a song! (This of course requires that you S.O. likes Jill Sobule, but who doesn't?!) I'm a just a Polished Rock sponsor myself...

Not the only one who cares about sexual exploitation

I received an email from the Marijuana Policy Project the other day inviting me to an upcoming fund raiser at the Playboy Mansion. I wrote them an email saying that while I support their work to decriminalize marijuana, I was leaving their mailing list and would no longer be supporting their organization because of the affiliation with Playboy.

I got a reply email from a woman who works at the MPP saying that she understood that Playboy wasn't "everyone's cup of tea" but that important leaders like Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter had sat for interviews with Playboy...and MPP had a lot of success raising money at the event in past years. Wow. I found it fascinating that she would assume that telling me MLK did an interview for the magazine was going to make me feel better about the event. And if that wasn't her intent, why say it at all? Why not just stick with the dismissive "cup of tea?"

I forwarded the response to a like-minded friend who said, "Sometimes I think we are the only two people in the entire world who think that sexual exploitation is wrong."

That comment has stuck with me--I know it's not true, but I feel that way a lot myself. I work at a non-profit. I have friends who are against war, racism, injustice and yet I feel like when it comes to issues of sexual exploitation/degradation/assault, there isn't the same level of outrage. I hear excuses and acceptance far more than I would expect to among my friends and acquaintances. I know sometimes people's silence comes from being uncomfortable with the topic, but I think it's more than that...

Anyway, I'm on a mission now, to find the people who, as Jackson Katz would put it, want to stop men's violence against women.

Below is a music video from my first find. Thank you Mr. J. Medeiros.

"It’s not illegal to use raping as a cash crop / As long as it says she’s 18 on your laptop.” (See all lyrics here)






I am Constance

MLK fought for justice and equality for everyone

And we need to keep fighting.



As many of you know, I have done research about the unequal distribution of supermarkets in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities. Recently, the biggest news in LA on this front concerns the UK supermarket giant, Tesco. Tesco has promised to build in under-served communities and was welcomed with open arms by elected officials and communities who hoped that perhaps a non-American company could overcome a history of redlining.

But the new Fresh & Easy markets have started to open...in all the same neighborhoods that other major retailers have opened before. The company is now saying the South LA store is 3-5 years out. The company is opening hundreds of new stores, perhaps more than a thousand by the time 3-5 years have passed, and they might have that one store open by then?

So I've been asked, "Isn't it better to get a store in 3-5 years than to not get one at all?" It's one of those questions that requires me to take a deep breath and pause for a minute to keep from answering emotionally. Even now, it's hard for me to articulate why I find that question so offensive. But it seems a fitting think to think about on MLK Day. Where are we as a country that we still think that a group of people who have been systematically discriminated against for decades should sit by and wait patiently for crumbs?

See Her Tears

Seriously? If the media keeps covering the election like this I might start to look past Hillary Clinton's arrogance and think that maybe I should vote for her. Geez.


***************
Update:

I should have known Jon Stewart would have an opinion about this. See it on the Huffington Post. The part with Guiliani is the best.

Willie Nelson

I just checked out Willie Nelson's forthcoming album, Moment of Forever, and the preview clips on Amazon made me a little teary. I'm sad that he's getting older, but still inspired that he continues to write and adapt songs so beautifully. (Video of his cover of Gravedigger here)

I grew up listening to Willie Nelson's music (No road trip went by without my parents playing every single Willie tape they had) and have come to love and appreciate it more than I ever thought I would. And even beyond his music, I respect him as an advocate for family farms and a peace activist.

This latest album is no Countryman, which was fun, if a bit nostalgic for youth (check it out if you haven't...reggae versions of classic country songs...seriously). Instead, it seems like an album put together by someone who has lived a remarkable life and is making his peace with it all.

In a review of the new album, a SF Gate reporter asks 73 year old Willie if he works to improve his craft, and per usual, his response made me smile:

"No," he says, thinking over the question. "I don't think so. I work on my health and that reflects on my craft. That's not the only reason I work on my craft, I do it for my health also. That's selfish and staying alive at the same time. At the same time, I'm also healthy enough to do 250 days a year, which is not bad. So is Paul over there, and he's older than I am."

Iowa

I'm so happy that Edwards and Obama took the top spots in Iowa! I was really hoping Edwards would pull it out, but I could support Obama if it looks like that is the way the wind is blowing...