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Comfort for the Sick; or Potato Soup for the Soul

victoria  —  January 23, 2009 — 3 Comments

I’m not sure what happened to the January thaw, though we may be getting it now. I will say that being under the weather when the weather involves single digits and windchill factors is no fun at all. I am on the mend now despite the fog horn cough and still feeling like standing up long enough to do the dishes is enough exercise for the day. It has given me time to ponder what constitutes comfort food for me. Given the dearth of groceries and the fact that everyone was sick over the course of the week and therefore grocery shopping wasn’t happening so much, what I was craving and what I was actually cooking and eating weren’t entirely in sync.

I have long established that when I am sick, I tend to want gruel. I know that sounds terribly Dickensian but it’s absolutely true. Though if by gruel you mean watery gray ick with chunks in, we are probably not talking about the same think. What I really want to eat might more appropriately be called porridge. For lunch this week I had polenta made with milk so it is kind of like corn pudding with a little butter and salt and later in the week steel cut oats made an appearance, also made with milk to the same effect but I added some cinnamon and a little raw sugar. I also really craved eggdrop soup which my faithful and dear husband supplied via China Dragon. The proprietress swears by hot and sour soup which Keifel said made him feel better but when it was my turn, not so much. I find it bitter rather than sour and it had something oddly textured in it which did not appeal. When you can’t actually taste anything, texture is pretty important.

The thing I really wanted was my mom’s potato soup, which has, of this I am certain, Herculean healing powers. It is a fairly simple milky broth with herbs and a little butter, onions and potato chunks cooked until the edges are soft and sloughing off to thicken the soup. Sometimes she adds some cheese to make it a little richer, but really the peasanty version is the real deal and what I would prefer when I am on the couch under three layers of blankets and shivering. When I was little (and sick all the damn time), I don’t really remember much about what Mom or Dad made. I do remember orange sherbet or lime if the store had it and lots of Gatorade, because that was before the days of Pedialyte and its ilk. I also remember chicken noodle soup, but I think it might have been Campbell’s. The potato soup doesn’t enter my memory bank until later. College maybe? When I had my wisdom teeth out. Another thing I am also certain of is that Mom’s potato soup also has the power to make even the deep ache of heartbreak lessen, if even for a brief moment or two. I think I may have lived on potato soup for a week or two during at least two of my most trying times. There really isn’t a recipe so much as a talk through:

Mom’s Potato Soup, as I recall:

1 pound floury potatoes
1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced pole to pole or julienned
About a tablespoon of butter
1 quart of liquid, about half milk and half chicken stock or water
Fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Handful of grated cheese, Parm or Gruyere being the better choices (optional, of course)

Peel and slice the potatoes about 1/4″ thick, cutting the bigger slices in half if necessary. Set aside in a bowl of cold water, while you do everything else. In a soup pot that will hold about 2 quarts, melt the butter over medium heat until foamy. When the foam subsides, add the sliced onions and saute until softened and translucent. You really want to cook them just about as done as you want them here as they won’t soften much after you add the liquid.

Once the onions are to your liking, add the liquid (milk and broth) and the drained potatoes, the thyme and about a teaspoon of salt. Cook until the potatoes are soft and the edges have started to round off. You can make a choice here to leave as is or take out about a third of the soup and puree in a blender to add back as a further thickening agent or you can hit it a couple times with a stick blender (which is safer and less messy–if you are using a blender remember to take the little cup out of the lid and loosely hold a towel over the hole while you puree the soup portion. This will keep you from scalding and painting yourself with exploding potato soup. Trust me.) When you are happy with the body of the soup, taste for seasoning and add more salt and the pepper as you desire. If you are going to add the cheese, take the soup off the heat and add a small amount at a time, stirring until it melts before adding more. If you add the cheese it is very important that you do not allow the soup to boil. Serve immediately.

I can almost guarantee that you will never be served this soup in a four star restaurant, but sometimes that just isn’t what I’m looking for.

3 responses to Comfort for the Sick; or Potato Soup for the Soul

  1. Cold winds are blowin’, and I’m gonna try your potato soup recipe. I like taters, and I like soup … and love a hearty pot o’ slow-stewed “stuff” when it’s cold outside!

    Hope all’s well with you and yours!

  2. potato soup sounds delicious…..gonna try this soon. right away i’m gonna get the ingredients from and try it.

  3. Thanks for sharing the mom’s potato soup recipe. It really reminds me of something happened in the good old days. It feels so tranquil and calm.

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Friday, 15 March 2013

Juergen Teller: Woo! 23 January 2013 - 17 March 2013

Juergen Teller: Woo!
23 January 2013 - 17 March 2013
Free entry

Considered one of the most important photographers of his generation, Juergen Teller is one of a few artists who has been able to operate successfully both in the art world and the world of commercial photography. This exhibition will provide a seamless journey through his landmark fashion and commercial photography from the 90s, presenting classic images of celebrities such as Lily Cole, Kurt Cobain and Vivienne Westwood, as well as more recent landscapes and family portraits.

Teller entered the London photography scene through the music industry taking photographs for record covers, it was Teller’s photograph of Sinéad O’Connor for her single Nothing Compares 2 You that marked an important moment in his career. Teller’s photographs first appeared in fashion magazines in the late 80s, and included portraits of Kate Moss when she was just fifteen years old. Teller’s images could be described as the antithesis of conventional fashion photography seen perhaps most markedly in his campaigns for Marc Jacobs.

Picture and Words introduces a series from his controversial weekly column in the magazine of Die Zeit which often provoked outcry amongst readers, and the exhibition will feature many of the letters of complaint that the magazine received. Irene im Wald and Keys to the House are Teller’s most recent bodies of work, revealing the photographer’s more personal world in his hometown in Germany and family home in Suffolk.

Teller’s provocative interventions in celebrity portraiture subvert the conventional relationship of the artist and model. Whatever the setting, all his subjects collaborate in a way that allows for the most surprising poses and emotional intensity. Driven by a desire to tell a story in every picture he takes, Teller has shaped his own distinct and instantly recognisable style which combines humour, self-mockery and an emotional honesty.

A selection of Teller's books and tear sheets from his editorial and advertising work will be on show in the Fox Reading Room.

With thanks to the Juergen Teller Exhibitions Supporters Group: Lehmann Maupin, Shane Akeroyd, Derek & Christine Wilson, The Edwin Fox Foundation, and others who wish to remain anonymous.

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Gm Hoping Customers Like Smaller Portions For `86

September 15, 1985|By Jim Mateja, Auto writer.

Would you really rather have a Buick if it`s a foot shorter and 400 to 500 pounds lighter?

Buick will get the answer when the 1986 Riviera and LeSabre models appear in showrooms Nov. 14. That`s the same day that Oldsmobile and Cadillac learn whether their Riviera cousins--the Toronado and Eldorado--and the Oldsmobile 88--its LeSabre relation--are palatable in smaller form.

At GM for 1986, the front-wheel-drive Riviera, Toronado, Eldorado and Seville are restyled and smaller. The LeSabre and 88 are smaller and also converted to front-wheel drive. The compact Pontiac Grand Am, Olds Calais and Buick Somerset N-bodies each add a four-door-sedan model.

Each GM division offers one model with a new antiskid braking system: the Buick Electra, the Pontiac 6000 STE, the Cadillac DeVille and Fleetwood, the Olds 98, and the Chevrolet Corvette.

With antiskid braking, computer controls sense wheel speed and traction. When wheel-slip is detected during braking, the system acts to prevent wheel lock, assuring that the driver retains steering control.

As required by law, all the cars have a high-mounted rear brake light.

Still to come is a Corvette convertible in January and a fastback Pontiac Fiero GT in March. Gone are the Riviera convertible at Buick and the V-6 and V-8 diesel engines in cars throughout the GM lines. Kept are the full-size, rear-drive Buick Estate, Olds Custom Cruiser and Chevrolet Caprice station wagons.

Here`s a brief rundown on what`s new at GM for 1986:

Buick--The two-door Riviera coupe`s length is 19 inches shorter at 187.2 inches, wheelbase 6 inches shorter at 108 inches. Curb weight is down by 500 pounds to 3,309.

The LeSabre two-door coupe or four-door sedan is 22 inches shorter at 196.2, wheelbase 5.1 inches shorter at 110.8. Curb weight drops 400 pounds--to 3,130 for the coupe, 3,170 for the sedan.

Standard in the Riviera is Buick`s 3.8-liter V-6 teamed with a 4-speed automatic transmission. The 3.8 has been converted from multiport fuel injection (MFI) to sequential port fuel injection (SFI), which means more precise fuel control and increased engine response at low speed.

After two years of testing, Buick finally will offer its touch-sensitive graphic control center in the Riviera. With it, motorists touch the cathode- ray-tube screen on the dashboard to control such things as heating and cooling and the radio.

Standard engine in LeSabre is a 3-liter MFI V-6; the 3.8 V-6 is optional; a four-speed automatic is teamed with either. LeSabre features power brakes and steering; steel-belted, radial-ply, all-season blackwall tires; air conditioning; side window defoggers; and tinted glass.

Oldsmobile--Offering an all-new car lets you test some new ideas. Toronado features two-sided galvanized steel in all inner and outer body panels, which Olds says should prevent rust-through for at least 10 years. Also, all door outer panels, fenders and hood are zincrometal, and the exhaust is stainless steel.

Toronado, built on the same 108-inch wheelbase as Riviera and Eldorado, is fractionally longer at 187.9 inches. The 3.8-liter V-6 and four-speed automatic is standard; its fuel economy is estimated by the government at 19 miles per gallon city, 30 m.p.g. highway.

The new front-wheel-drive Olds 88 was shortened to a 110.8-inch wheelbase and 196 inches overall. A 3-liter, fuel-injected V-6, teamed with a four-speed automatic, is standard. The fuel economy estimate is 18 m.p.g. city, 26 m.p.g. highway. The claim for acceleration from 0 to 60 miles an hour is 14.5 seconds. The 3.8-liter V-6 is optional; it has a rating of 19 m.p.g. city, 30 m.p.g. highway.

Standard features in the 88 are air conditioning, side window defoggers, tinted windows, automatic transmission with overdrive, digital clock, and AM- FM stereo with dual speakers, to name a few.

Olds adds a top-of-the-line Grande in the 98 line, GT and ES performance models in the compact Calais and midsize Ciera lines, a GT in the subcompact Firenza series, and FE3 sport suspension in all front-wheel-drive cars.

Chevrolet--The subcompact Nova, built with Toyota, adds a four-door hatchback, and the mini Sprint, imported from Suzuki of Japan, adds a four-door sedan. Nova, Sprint and the subcompact Spectrum imported from Isuzu of Japan will be marketed nationwide in `86, not just in selected areas as in the past.

Corvette adds aluminum cylinder heads on the 5.7-liter V-8 to save 40 pounds and bring the car`s curb weight below 3,000 pounds for the first time in 20 years. A new antitheft system uses a pellet-embedded and electric-coded ignition key to delay thieves by immobilizing a system, such as the fuel pump, for two minutes.

The full-size, rear-drive Caprice adds a Classic Brougham luxury sedan to attract former LeSabre-Olds 88 buyers who still want a big, rear-drive car. The Impala name, first used in the Bel Air series in 1958, is dropped.


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Price Of S. Africa`s Martial Law Still Unclear

September 16, 1985|By Ray Moseley, Chicago Tribune.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Eight weeks after President P.W. Botha proclaimed a limited state of emergency to try to smash black unrest, the government claims this Draconian process is finally working. Others disagree.

Thousands of people have been detained and 200 killed since the emergency took effect July 21. But police and army units still are squaring off daily with angry blacks and mixed-race ``coloreds.``

Law and Order Minister Louis le Grange said unrest is being brought under control, but that there are no immediate plans to lift the emergency edict. The last emergency, in 1960, lasted five months.

Black Sash, a women`s anti-apartheid organization that normally knows what is going on in the townships, said reliable information is difficult to obtain because entry to townships is restricted.

``But the situation doesn`t seem to be quieting down,`` said Sheena Duncan, president of Black Sash.

Franz Auerbach, a white educator who works in Soweto, outside Johannesburg, said the emergency is not working there. He said there are daily incidents of stone throwing at police vehicles, buses and private cars, school and consumer boycotts and looting of beer trucks and other delivery vehicles

Max Coleman, a member of the Detainees` Parents Support Committee, which monitors police detention, said, ``I believe the government wants to climb out of the state of emergency, which has not abated the violence.``

The emergency applies in 36 of 300 magisterial districts, two-thirds of them in the volatile eastern region of Cape Province and the remaining third in the Johannesburg area.

Since the emergency was proclaimed, violence has spread to Natal Province and to the Cape Town area.

In August, 163 people died in township unrest, more than any month since the troubles began in September, 1984. No breakdown is available on the numbers killed by troops and police and the numbers killed in clashes between rival blacks. Three whites have been killed.

In troubled areas outside the emergency zones, Coleman said, police are in effect carrying out a state of emergency by arresting people under longstanding security laws. He and other sources believe the government is reluctant to extend the emergency to those areas, such as Cape Town, because of the negative impact this would have abroad.

The police announced Friday that 3,227 people have been detained since the emergency began, and 1,988 have been freed, leaving 1,239 in jail.

Under emergency laws, police have virtually unlimited powers and are immune from prosecution for any abuses unless it can be shown they acted in bad faith, something difficult to prove in law.

Attorney Geoff Budlender said this provison of law says, in effect, ``We predict we`ll act illegally.`` Budlender is with the Legal Resources Center, a civil liberties group.

The laws also give authorities power to censor news of what is happening in the townships and news of police conduct. These powers have not been invoked, but journalists have been arrested for going into townships without permits, which are difficult to obtain.

The Detainees` Parents Support Committee said police are using their powers primarily to try to smash black civic associations and student groups. The civic associations were set up in response to government creation of black community councils, whose authority many blacks refuse to accept.

They sought action on black complaints about rising rentals, lack of sewage facilities and the rising cost of public transport.

Most civic associations are affiliated with the United Democratic Front, an umbrella group of 600 organizations that seek racial reform.

Coleman said more than half of the front`s leaders have been arrested and the rest are in hiding. He said the front`s structures are no longer operating.

The Detainees` Parents Support Committee said 70 percent of people detained had links to the front. It said more than 50 percent of the detainees are under 25, and probably more than 25 percent are under 18.

The government has banned the Council of South African Students, a black organization affiliated with the front, which was instrumental in organizing school boycotts.

The council, formed in 1979, was an outgrowth of riots that swept the country in 1976. It tried to pressure authorities to improve the quality of black education and end abuses in schools

Its membership was believed to number in the hundreds of thousands. Most of its officers are in detention or in hiding.

Debate continues over whether the council ``restrained or promoted violence,`` Coleman said. ``The ban may test that.

``Maybe there were hotheads`` in the council, he said, ``but overall it was a highly disciplined organization.``

He said other targets of police arrests have been rank-and-file black union members, black clergymen and women. Only about a dozen whites have been arrested.


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Teen protester

October 14, 2007|By ERIN CUNNINGHAM

Editor's note: What are your best memories from your senior year of high school? Was it prom? Making the basketball team? Did you get your driver's license that year? This school year, The Herald-Mail will talk with seniors from each public high school in Washington County about the memories they are making. Each month through their graduation, the eight students will talk about the moments that are making their senior year special.

HAGERSTOWN - It might not be a popular opinion.

But North Hagerstown High School senior Meagan Graff says she is against a new advisement period that takes students away from academics.

She recently helped organize a protest, but she said that fizzled because students feared they would be punished for voicing their opinions.

Meagan, 16, has spoken to the school's principal, Valerie Novak, about the new requirement, and said some changes might be made.

All of the school's students spend 25 minutes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the advisement class, which Novak said is a time for students to form a relationship with an adviser. That connection to a caring adult can help students be more successful, she said.

"The fact is, we sit around and basically waste a half-hour," Meagan said.

The students are divided into groups with one adviser, and she said the students participate in games and get to know their classmates.

Novak said those activities only occurred during four meetings, and more recently students learned about time management.

Meagan said her group discussed its feelings about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Another activity involved cutting out a paper fish and putting her name on it with no explanation for what they were doing, she said.

"I feel like this is really elementary," Meagan said. "And that this group is supposed to be some sort of recess."

The straight-A student says she takes her schoolwork seriously and plans to work for NASA after she obtains a master's degree in aerospace engineering. Meagan also is involved in marching band, wind ensemble, flute choir, youth group and dance.

Meagan said she was selected from a number of senior leaders at her school to talk with Novak about their concerns about advisement.

"There was a lot of negative feedback," Meagan said.

That negative feedback led to a petition being circulated through the school, and a protest that Meagan helped plan. She said that about 200 students committed to participating by boycotting the advisement, but were afraid they would be punished. Only about 10 students showed up, and the protest was called off.

"When you do anything new, you often get some resistance," Novak said. "But after things gel, and you start to see progress, things start humming along."

Meagan said this is the first time she has taken a stand on an issue in which she believed. It was time, though, because this is important - it's her senior year, and she wants it to be a productive one, she said.

"There were a lot of kids who said the sit-in was a stupid idea," Meagan said. "Well, it may seem dumb to you, but (advisement is) a half-hour that I'd rather spend in study hall."

She said that a possible solution discussed by Novak was reducing the amount of time spent in advisement to once a week.

"I'd be happy with once a week," Meagan said. "I'd be even happier if we didn't have it at all."

She said that the new small learning communities formed at North Hagerstown High School have made no difference. She knew four of the students in her advisement class before the school year began, and those are the students she talks to in that class, Meagan said.

Students are supposed to have a close relationship with their advisement teacher and be able to talk to him or her about their concerns. Meagan said that is not realistic.

"I don't think anyone will talk to a teacher about issues," she said.

Another concern for Meagan is that her advisement class is not in an ideal location.

"We have no classroom," she said. "We sit in a stairwell."

She said the 15 students in her advisement group are crammed in the stairs at her school, and constantly are interrupted by students who need to use those stairs.

Meagan said she is optimistic about a survey that will be distributed to students this month. It will give students a chance to offer their opinions about the new advisement period, just as Meagan had a chance to tell Novak what she thought.

"I'm happy that she asked my opinion," Meagan said of that discussion. "But I don't think it had to get to this point."

The Herald-Mail Articles


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Permissions Options : For Staff – M-Plus Responsive Matrimony Script

Our Matrimonial Software Script has a great ADMIN PANEL and you can create STAFF LOGIN to allow your staff access MINIMUM Features.

We have now enhanced this option with a great permissions feature :

You can set permissions for each STAFF user – enable or disable the menus you wish to show them !

Added to this, is the STAFF Login report, which will show up the IP, Time Log of each STAFF.

Cheers !

March 2018 : Matrimony Software Script updated

We keep fine tuning our product and one such major update was to the Mobile responsive homepage design of . Users felt – it had a western feel to it and we have taken the feedback and updated the color scheme of the default template.

The registration page is the core of any matrimony website and we have further beautified it with a good looking background.

Will post more updates soon !

Christian Matrimony Script – How is it Different ?

Frequently We get queries to differentiate the features of our Matrimony Software for HINDU Religion and Christianity. We will list out the features of CHRISTIAN Matrimony package :

1. Religion will be renamed as : DENOMINATION

2. Caste will be renamed as : COMMUNITY

3. HOROSCOPE and Socio Religious Attributes will be removed

4. Look and Feel of the site will be altered accordingly. i.e The Theme will be totally western based.

Cheers !

Matri4Web : Feb 2018 Updates

The Fully mobile responsive matrimony software has been accepted with tremendous from day one ! We are continuously fine tuning the software to make the user experience enhancing and error Free.

Few stuff our geeks are working on ….

Integration of INSTAMOJO Payment Gateway

INSTAMOJO is an exciting new payment gateway and it works like a charm !  INSTAMOJO is fully compatible with Matri4Web. You can Signup for an acocunt here –

View Profile Page

Member profile pages are the key to any matrimony website and we have enhanced the  UI of the same

More Big updates are on the way…

Cheers !


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Victor Posner Tax Tangle Is Only One Of Tycoon's Tribulations

May 9, 1988|By Catherine Hinman of The Sentinel Staff

The Internal Revenue Service last year succeeded in distracting Florida's most richly compensated businessman from business as usual.

Victor Posner got caught evading federal taxes.

The judge's sentence for his uncontested criminal offense has become as controversial as the Miami Beach millionaire's pay. In February, U.S. District Judge Eugene Spellman sentenced Posner, 69, to five years on probation rather than a prison term of up to 40 years.

Spellman ordered Posner to pay $4 million in back taxes and penalties, contribute $3 million to help the homeless and work 5,000 hours in community service. In April, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida challenged the legality of the sentence, saying it suggested that ''the rich can trade money for liberty while the poor cannot.''

Posner has said he will donate the $3 million regardless of the outcome.

''He's committed to this project, even if it means going to jail,'' Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin said recently. McLaughlin is president of Barry University, a private Catholic college in Miami that is overseeing Posner's homeless project. ''I think that says something to the world about this man.''

Posner has played the occasional philanthropist, donating $1.5 million to Barry University and $200,000 to the late Ronnie DeSillers for a liver transplant.

Nonetheless, when he donated 22 acres to Miami Christian College, the federal government charged him with evading more than $1.2 million in federal taxes by inflating the value of the land. Posner pleaded no contest in September.

At the office, Posner has faced other tests. Sharon Steel Corp. and Evans Products Co., which are subsidiaries of his holding company, DWG Corp., are in bankruptcy proceedings. In 1986, DWG reported a loss of $8.6 million. Although that improved this year to an $18.2 million profit, shareholders have taken steps to restrict the tycoon's annual pay.

He is a man, acquaintances say, totally engrossed by the business world. Perhaps some of his energy is about to be diverted. Sister McLaughlin said she thinks Posner's financial acumen could be a power for charity.

''My hope is the tapping of his genius will find ways to multiply the $3 million into $300 million,'' she told The Orlando Sentinel this spring.

Orlando Sentinel Articles
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Builders Want Monroe Park

May 17, 1988|By Rick Tonyan of The Sentinel Staff

DEBARY — Six developers may be competing with Volusia County to buy the popular Lake Monroe Park, Florida Power and Light Co. executives said Monday.

The electric company has hired private property appraisers to make a second estimate of the value of the 40-acre park on the northern shore of the lake. Once that appraisal is made, the company will start negotiating with prospective buyers, said Charles Carrington, division real estate manager for the company.

''We've been in negotiations with no one yet,'' he said.

A sister corporation of the power company has expressed interest in buying the land and developing a condominium complex on it. At least five other companies, most of them development businesses, also have expressed varying degrees of interest, Carrington said.

County negotiators for a month have wanted to open talks with the company in hope of getting the park into public hands. The county leased the popular park for 21 years, but the lease expired in March and the park was closed.

Members of the county's Land Acquisition Committee, a group that advises the county council on buying park land, has made a offer of $980,000 for the land. The money is to come from a $20 million bond issue the county uses to finance park land acquisitions.

Bob Frost, an assistant county attorney who is on the negotiating team, said the earlier power company appraisal of the land showed that its value is close to $1 million. ''Our first offer is in the ballpark,'' he said. ''We're just waiting now to see what develops.''

If the deal goes through, the county will need almost $13,000 more to operate the park this year, a county finance department study shows.

Knowing that the lease was due to expire, county budget planners set aside slightly more than $26,000 to operate the park from last Oct. 1, when this budget year began, until March.

The county would have to staff and maintain the park from the time of its purchase until the next budget year begins. That will take a total of $39,000 for the year, the financial projection shows.

County finance department administrators say the $13,000 difference could be made up through a loan from the county's contingency fund. Fees for renting camp space and other money from the park then could be used next year to pay back the loan.

Orlando Sentinel Articles
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Nuggets beat ailing Magic 101-74 as Jameer Nelson joins injured list

11:55 p.m. EST, April 22, 2012|

By Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel

DENVER — It was obvious that the Orlando Magic would have trouble against the Denver Nuggets well before JaVale McGee turned Sunday night’s game into his own personal dunking exhibition.

Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Earl Clark could not play because of injuries, and the night before, the Magic suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss in Salt Lake City. Then, less than two minutes into Sunday's game, Jameer Nelson went down with what a team spokesman called a left-calf contusion.

But did anyone expect this much trouble? The Nuggets took control in the third quarter and cruised to an easy 101-74 win. The Magic wilted for the first time since the night of April 13, when it was announced publicly that Howard had a herniated disk in his lower back.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with running out of gas,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said, clearly disgusted. “Four times a guy [McGee] is gonna to start up to set up a pick and back-cut for a lob? That’s absurd. We ran out of focus. We ran out of competitiveness. That’s what we ran out of.’’

The Nuggets outscored the Magic 29-18 in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was worse.

“We didn’t do our defensive assignments,” Orlando wing Jason Richardson said. “We didn’t have energy. We didn’t do anything how we’ve been playing the last five or six games. You could blame it on whatever it was, but we just didn’t play like we should.”

Magic power forward Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting.

But without Nelson, one of the team's most reliable scorers, the Magic shot just 37.3 percent from the field.

Nelson sustained his injury when he fought through a pick. He did not return to the game.

“No timetable on it,” said Nelson, who doesn’t think the injury is serious. “We’ll just take it day by day and continue to treat it and try to get back out there as soon as possible.”

Ish Smith and Chris Duhon split the point-guard duties in Nelson's absence.

Smith scored six points, dished out two assists and turned the ball over twice.

Duhon finished with three points, three assists and no turnovers.

Orlando already has clinched a playoff spot, and its magic number to clinch the sixth seed is one.

The Magic only need a victory Wednesday against the atrocious Charlotte Bobcats at Amway Center or a road win Thursday against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Magic still would secure the sixth seed if they lose their remaining two games but the New York Knicks lose one of their two remaining games.

The sixth seed will face the Indiana Pacers in the first round.

But the Magic’s playoff run will be short if the team cannot improve its awful defense.

The Nuggets made 56.4 percent of their shots, the eighth time in 10 games without Howard that the Magic allowed an opponent to sink at least half of its shots.

“Yeah, 50 percent and 100 points,” Van Gundy said. “Mark it down. With Charlotte, you can mark it down: 100 points, 50 percent. Every game.”

On Saturday night, the injury-depleted Magic lost to the Utah Jazz 117-107 in overtime as Glen Davis played 45-plus minutes, Anderson played almost 42 minutes and Richardson played almost 40 minutes.

The Magic (36-28) expected their already thin roster to wear down as Sunday's game progressed.

It did.

Denver (36-28) gained momentum after halftime, shooting 65.0 percent during the third period.

Andre Miller, who has bedeviled the Magic for years, threw perfectly placed alley-oop passes to McGee for dunks on two consecutive Nuggets possessions, putting Denver ahead 71-60.

“It was a lot of fun,” McGee said.

Five Nuggets players scored in double figures, including McGee, who took advantage of Orlando's thin front line to score 17 points, most of them on dazzling dunks. Point guard Ty Lawson added 13 points and 10 assists.

How do the Magic improve their defense?

“I don’t know,” Nelson said. “I don’t know. We all say the same thing, but we all have to just figure it out and come up with a solution because we can’t win in the playoffs giving up 56 percent to teams.”

Orlando Sentinel Articles
Please note the green-lined linked article text has been applied commercially without any involvement from our newsroom editors, reporters or any other editorial staff.


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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

Hello faithful few, how are things going? For the love of me I can not get focused on this statement of mine. Every time I put pen to paper I get stumped. I really really feel stumped. Its like I know what I want to say but it just doesn't come out the way I want to say it. I try to approach it from a standpoint of I am telling my audience(you guys) a story but like I said in my last couple of posts I don't want to get to off course by story telling or running off into an incoherent tangent. You know what I mean? Hopefully this is just a mini writers block that I am going through.

I am leaving tomorrow evening for Charlotte and maybe on my train ride there I will put something down and get it to you guys next week sometime. That's all I have for you guys this week.

Until next week sometime, namaste and stay strong...

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Hello faithful few. I have hit a slight rut when it comes to my artist statement. I know where I want to go with it but not exactly how I want to deliver it. I am def going to work on it in the next few days and hopefully I will have it for you guys early next week. Thats all I have for you guys this week. I know its short this week but thats all I got.

Until sometime next week, namaste and stay strong...

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Focus Man...

Hey there faithful few, how are things? Things are quite well with me. I have been working kind of a weird schedule the past week so I really haven't had the chance to do much to my painting. Fret not blogosphere! I am working on it today and I do have some time to work on it at the beginning of next week so I am pretty stoked about that. I am trying this new technique that I am excited about as well. I also have been taking mental notes and doing a little brainstorming about my artist statement. I really need to work on that as well.

I want my statement to really reflect the direction that my work is starting to take so when I start applying to schools my statement and my portfolio are cohesive. MFA programs are all about creating and showing that you can maintain a "cohesive" body of work. I have to make sure that I am effectively representing my work in my statement. When it comes to talking about my work to people it quite easy to get passionate about it. Sometimes its real easy to go off on a tangent when writing about something that you are presenting when not in your audiences presence.

In the coming weeks I will begin to post rough drafts for you guys to check out. Maybe I will get some great feedback! That's all I have for you guys this week.

Until sometime next week, namaste and stay strong...

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Hello faithful few! How are things going with you guys? Can you believe that it is actually already May? I mean where is the year going.

Well as promised, this week I have pictures for you guys of the project that I am working on now. I have a full-on and two details. I hopefully will have more pictures for you guys next week.

Untitled - detail 1

Untitled - detail 2

Until some time next week, namaste and stay strong...


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dinsdag 24 maart 2009

In the ‘Audax Textiel Museum Tilburg’ is until June 14th, 2009, staged a modest but revealing exhibition on the state of the art of knitting: Knitted Worlds, A Call to Arms. This exhibition by Suzan Rüssler, curator of the same museum marks the threshold of a revaluation of this handicraft, which is in the last decades associated with a rather dull and old fashioned craft, only carried out as pastime by a few not the most fashioned old ladies. As if it had lost all its fashionable vigor what it had had earlier in the seventies of the bygone century.
Knitting had lost its appealing attraction and didn’t feed the imagination of artists or designers any more. Only in social fieldwork and certain feministic groups sometimes, knitting still played a role as a symbol of alliance and solidarity.
In this exhibition, not everything touches the right string, but it marks a shift. As a means of expression, linking in with its rich history and connotations, knitting has it all. It was only recent, when I was at the symposium The Curators in Witte De With (Rotterdam), where I helped out Ann Demeester, director of De Appel (Amsterdam), to cut the thread of her knitting-work, so she could change color and relaxed continue her needle-work while listening to the interview with Seth Siegelaub.So is it or isn’t it a women’s thing? Of course it has a rich history in the arts and crafts movement of the sixties and seventies, where it was eagerly used just because of its connected with social politics and feminism. But it still puts up artistic questions when mixed with actual topics like conservation and sustainability again, which are in the centre of our todays attention. Artists always have had a keen eye for these kind of lines, which like a ‘file rouge’ runs through time. It is a fact that there are even knitting interventions in urban public spaces, like fore instance in last year’s ZXZW festival in Tilburg. Knitting as an act of intervention! I am happily awaiting the New Gorilla Girls, who will pick-up this act of resistance to the bright and shiny male driven art world of the shiny naked steels of Jeff Koons and bling bling armored pieces by Damien Hirsts. These beautiful balaclava’s (Avata's) would come in quite handy and change any act of violence in a smooth and artistic intervention of feminine power. This modest exhibition in Tilburg, reveals this new potent possibility of the gentle power and concentrated attention of this barely by artist and designers forgotten craft: Knitting-it into a New World. We can use some change..., can't we? But don't let it come a Brave New World, like it already is far to much. And what is in the drawers of the table up above, is for you, yourself to discover. It explains the downfall of the 'plastic surgery' after too much of ER and VR of our photo shopped realities and tellies. A man again, this doctor 'Mad-lock'.

letterpress: works shown on the exhibition by Jimini Hignett; Gift for Dr. Matlock and Chrystl Rijkeboer; Avatar Martine/Roël/Anouska.

woensdag 18 maart 2009

The artist Rachel Koolen (1979, Rotterdam) continues her ongoing artistic research of the history of the Dutch Social Security System appearance and imagery, in building a large scale installation throughout the exhibition space of Artis Den Bosch. She succeeded in transforming this space in collaboration with the German architect and colleague Andreas Müller.

In the exhibition space of Artis Den Bosch 'Technocratic Openness, Free Aggression', Rachel Koolen creates an special intervention which uses photography, video and display strategies to enroll and endorse a personal comment on the bureaucratic phenomenon’s of the Dutch social service institution. The Institution which is mend to give support to people on the raffle’s of Dutch Society. Being an artist, depending on income support, Koolen has also endured to participate and play part in this nowadays bureaucracy service system.

The artist focuses on the “Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen” as the central location and the focused subject in her work. In “Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen” are to day the so called ‘labour squares’; the located offices where the registration desks of unemployed workers is integrated with the execution of the supervision services, as well as that of the support projects and the regular contact meetings with clients are held. Services to secure rules and arrangements which lead the unemployed workers to new jobs.

These places, with their present structures which they derived from nowadays trade and service industries, adopted a fancy business-like character. High lighting, transparent and mirrored glass walls, open service desk aria’s and picture rich marketing and publicity campaigns’ supports the clients vision of immediate admission to these support services.

Koolen as an artist, examined and investigated the development and history of how the Dutch Social Security service system presented itself through the sixties, seventies and eighties and exposes the sources on which they based their present policies.

In an enclosed network of connections she exposes these layers, deconstructs and shows how these changes in presentation evokes a changes in the appearance of the bureaucracy itself, still forcing up even higher levels of control on their clients in a smooth and bright surrounding. In this transformation in which bureaucracy gave itself a pimped outlook, not everything looks likes what it is. In an even subtle artistic play Rachel Koolen brings to surface that what gently threatens to submerge.

Artis Den Bosch is open to visitors Thursday till Sunday, 1 pm till 5 pm.
The exhibition Technocratic Openness, Free Aggression closes on 26th of April 2009.
http://www.artisdenbosch.nl/ (Shown pictures are taken at the exhibition)


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Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Image Is Erotic. But Is It Art?

Courtesy Louis K. Meisel Gallery
“Devil Doll” by Mel Ramos. A small career survey of Mr. Ramos’s work continues through Jan. 31 at Louis K. Meisel Gallery in SoHo.

Over the years, I had seen the work of Mel Ramos mostly in auctions and always found his illustrations and paintings rather campy, naughty but, in a endearing way, not really offensive to women. In my opinion, he was just trying to enhance the power that women can have in society with their femininity over men, kind of the same way Helmut Newton portrayed women as superwomen in his photography work.I found this article interesting because now I realized how, he paved the way for superstars artist like Thomas Ruff and Richard Prince to be so bold while, portraying some of their sexually charged work.Please read article below from the NY times written by  KEN JOHNSON

Published: January 20, 2009

WALKING out of a Mel Ramos exhibition the other day, my companion remarked on how benignly amusing his paintings now seemed. Back in the 1970s, when she was a younger, more fiery feminist, his works infuriated her.
. A small career survey of Mr. Ramos’s work continues through Jan. 31 at Louis K. Meisel Gallery in SoHo.

Times have changed, although Mr. Ramos evidently has not, judging from a small (19 pieces) career survey at Louis K. Meisel Gallery in SoHo that includes paintings from the early ’60s to the present, as well as luminous painted cast-resin sculptural versions of some of his classic images.

Mr. Ramos is still painting naked, pneumatic women emerging “Birth of Venus”-like from candy-bar wrappers and banana peels, riding oversize cigars like horses and otherwise toying with the lubricious responses of his viewers. What is different is that a 50-year history of ever more sexually provocative imagery in art and popular culture at large makes Mr. Ramos’s paintings now seem comparatively innocent and even wholesome.

Although he seems to be continually hovering just outside the club door, the serious art world’s velvet ropes have never been let down for him.

Mr. Ramos always painted on the teasing edge between acceptable and unacceptable taste. In the early ’60s he made Pop-style paintings of Amazonian comic-book heroines like Wonder Woman and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Thickly painted in vivid colors within sharp contour lines, statuesque women in scanty costumes appear in posterlike compositions with their names spelled out in big, graphically charged letters. In the current exhibition, Cave Girl poses in a white fur-trimmed leather one-piece suit in front of the monumental letters of her name, which look as though they were carved from stone.

Unlike the women in Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings, Mr. Ramos’s sirens were not just enlarged, slightly modified copies of comic-book images. His innovation was to model their bodies on those of real women — movie stars like Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe or anonymous magazine models. So despite their nonrealistic comic style, Mr. Ramos’s women had an erotic presence that comic-book women of the day never had.

Playboy had recently become an object of mainstream popularity, a nudie magazine with literary content that smart men and women could peruse without embarrassment. As if rising to the challenge, Mr. Ramos soon began painting photorealistic pictures juxtaposing Playmate-like nudes and brand-name commodities against blank or nearly blank backgrounds. In a highly condensed form they embodied the Playboy ethos: the smartly produced blend of intellectual sophistication, discerning consumerism and fun-loving hedonism.

Mr. Ramos essentially plateaued at that point. He became a famous yet second-tier Pop Artist, and he continued to recycle the same basic formula over the ensuing decades, even up to the present. But as feminism rose in the 1970s, his reputation declined. While his advocates may have argued that his paintings satirized the use of sex in advertising, he made a certain image of heterosexual male fantasy far too explicit.

An artist like Tom Wesselmann could get away with repeatedly using the female nude by flattening, fragmenting and otherwise abstracting the figure and thereby making it a conceptually loaded sign rather than a pornographic image. But Mr. Ramos kept the figure intact and sexually desirable, and as such his work was too close to a kind of soft-core illustration for the serious art world’s taste.

In the 1980s, a decade in which feminist theory more powerfully influenced art-world thinking if not popular marketing, the chances of Mr. Ramos’s being seen as anything but an outmoded sexist Neanderthal were nil. If any bodies were going to be sexually objectified, they would be those of men — see Mapplethorpe, R. — or, if those of women, they would appear drained of life, as in David Salle’s paintings. (Eric Fischl’s cinematic, psychologically charged paintings of domestic sex scenes in the ’80s were exceptional for their Freudian candor.) Then, around 1990, there came a change, which you might have thought would have cast Mr. Ramos in a more sympathetic light.

In 1991 Jeff Koons exhibited “Made in Heaven,” his series of sculptures and big photographs representing himself and the Italian porn star and politician known as Cicciolina, then his wife, having sex. In 1992 Madonna released “Sex,” a lavish book of photographs in which she acted out stylishly fetishistic sex scenarios.

In the early ’90s Lisa Yuskavage’s erotic fantasy pictures of nubile half-naked young women made their debut, and not long after that John Currin moved from painting yearbookish images of anonymous girls to painting outrageously goofy pictures of women with ridiculously oversize breasts.

So-called pornographic imagery is ubiquitous in art today. Hilary Harkness’s lesbian S&M narratives, drawn and painted with old-masterly refinement; the photographer Thomas Ruff’s pixelated pornographic imagery, downloaded from the Internet; Mr. Currin’s own recent X-rated paintings. A recent exhibition of montages by Richard Prince featured much-enlarged images of naked women from trashy vintage pornography and fragments of de Kooning paintings and drawings of women.

The fault line running through all this involves the question of the “proper” use of sexual imagery in art. Do we ever allow it as an end in itself, or must it always be redeemed by some aesthetic, social, moral or ironic purpose? Can pornography be high art? Indian and Japanese artists raised it to that level in pre-modern times; literature is loaded with great erotica, from the Marquis de Sade to “The Story of O.”

On the other hand, whether because of aesthetic convictions, prudery or politics, the modern art worlds of Europe and America have not appreciated the idea of art made for sexual arousal. But why should that be any less worthy an aim than, say, trying to inspire religious feelings? Mr. Ramos may not be the answer to the contemporary sex-in-art question, but he surely b

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

INSTRUMENTS OF EMPIRE- Amy Stein & Brian Ulrich -1/28/2010 @ Caption Gallery

© Amy Stein

© Brian Ulrich

Not missing this show and neither should you!

Two of my favorite photographers and friends whose work, I really admire and inspire me the most. Both being educators, there is a lot to see and learn from.

See you tomorrow!

Instruments of Empire
Photographs by Amy Stein and Brian Ulrich

Caption Gallery

55 Washington Street, No. 802
Brooklyn, NY 11201
January 28-March 25, 2010
Opening Reception:
Thursday, January 28
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Amy Stein is represented by ClampArt
Brian Ulrich is represented by Julie Saul Gallery

Press release for the ones who don't know about his two stars here:

Instruments of Empire: Photographs by Amy Stein and Brian Ulrich
January 28 – March 25, 2010
Opening Reception Thursday, January 28, 6:30-8:30
Caption Gallery is pleased to announce a dual exhibition of photographs by Amy Stein and Brian
Ulrich. The exhibition links two powerful photographic series, Ulrich’s recent “Dark Stores,” and
“Stranded,” here presented for the first time.
“Dark Stores” examines the all-too-familiar landscape of global brands and big-box retail in the
context of a market economy in crisis. His work is a form of visual sociology, providing a portrait of
empty spaces, darkened outlets, and, by implication, people left out when the boom recedes.

Amy Stein’s “Stranded” offers us a vision of people at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
Metaphorically, the images stand in for the people we don’t see in Ulrich’s photographs. In the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Stein had the idea to take portraits of motorists she saw stranded
by the roadside. The series became, in her words, “a meditation on the despondence of the
American psyche stuck in an unfamiliar space between distress and relief.”
The powerful, dystopic visions of Stein and Ulrich expose the transformation of human beings into
consumers, with little power or agency. They recall Napoleon’s dictum: “In the eyes of the empire
builders, men are not men but instruments.”
Amy Stein is a photographer and teacher based in New York City. She has been exhibited nationally
and internationally and her work is featured in many private and public collections. In 2006 she won
the Saatchi Gallery/Guardian Prize for her “Domesticated” series, which was released as a book in
2008. In 2007, she was named one of the top fifteen emerging photographers in the world by
American Photo magazine.

Brian Ulrich lives and works in Chicago. His first monograph, Copia, was published in 2006 by
Aperture as part of the MP3: Midwest Photographers Project. In 2007 Ulrich was named one of the
year’s 30 Emerging Photographers by Photo District News and a critic’s pick by Richard Woodward
for ARTnews magazine. He was recently awarded a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Fellowship. Both he and Stein are members of Piece of Cake, a European-based group of photo
artists who collaborate on projects, discussions, publications and other initiatives.
Caption is dedicated to promoting photography as a narrative art, in an exhibition format that brings
together word and text. The gallery showcases leading artists whose projects bridge the gap
between art and editorial photography, as well as emerging visual storytellers. It is located
contiguous to Generation, a communications firm that works with not-for-profit, cultural and
cause-related institutions.

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Thursday, 31 October 2013

Album review: PREFAB SPROUT - Crimson/Red

Highlights: The Best Jewel Thief In The World, The List Of Impossible Things, The Songs Of Danny Galway, The Old Magician

First Paul McCartney, and now it’s Prefab Sprout. If you think about it (not that you should), it might make some weird sense. As far as I can/could see it, and I’ve never paid too much attention, the ‘fab’ element in Paddy McAloon’s band was seriously downplayed even at the time when they were cult-prone underachievers putting substance into Spandau Ballet’s slick, soulless mush. They were good, competent and they were clearly ‘into art’, but I don’t know – even in my most hopeless 10cc days I always preferred “Silly Love” to “I’m Not In Love”.

And yet it’s indeed love that I feel for this album. God knows how it came about, but isn’t this McAloon’s best, most consistent collection of songs ever? Steve McQueen and all? With strong hooks and gutsy melodies? With an undercurrent, apprehensive feeling that this might, well you know – might be that all-important last outing?

Crimson/Red is a modest triumph from start to finish. It opens with “The Best Jewel Thief In The World”, 80s pop at its finest, instantly memorable and what they used to call ‘sophisticated’. The production is immaculate. The chorus is pure bliss, special kudos for squeezing the word ‘asshole’ in there. Sounds lovely. My main concern had been that the ballads would induce sleep rather than delight, but I personally found stuff like “The List Of Impossible Things” and “The Dreamer” beautiful and engaging to the extent where I actually felt an urge to re-listen to Prefab Sprout’s entire back catalogue. As for those potential hit singles for a different time, universe and age, the unforgettable and anthemic “The Songs Of Danny Galway” is a personal favourite.

The songs are lovingly bound by the same sound, vibe and more or less the same quality. It's all either crimson or red. Like I said, McAloon’s songwriting is at its absolute best, and I would ridiculously compare Crimson/Red to Pete Astor’s recent Songbox. Which, incidentally, had Pete’s greatest songs on it. Same irrelevant but adorable late-career bloom can be witnessed here. Crimson/Red won’t top any of those end-of-year lists, but it doesn’t even need to. It exists in its own universe. In its own time and age.

Monday, 28 October 2013

Lou Reed (1942-2013)

Jesus - no. Some things just don't add up. This is the single worst thing you could learn on a Sunday night... Rest in peace, Lou Reed.

Sunday, 27 October 2013

SONG OF THE WEEK #121: Angry Samoans - "They Saved Hitler's Cock"

Most hardcore punk albums get annoying or just plain boring after a while - not Back From Samoa (1982) though. Throughout its absurdly brief 18 minutes it says it all. Or maybe it says nothing, who cares. "They Saved Hitler's Cock" is immortal. Those lyrics.

Friday, 25 October 2013

Album review: PAUL McCARTNEY - New

Highlights: Alligator, Queenie Eye, New

It really does my head in, and I can almost forgive the ridiculous album title (because it should already be Recent, and it will soon be Old), the oddly spelled ‘N’ (more like Mew), the general tastelessness of the neon-lit cover and even the fact that the album is so shamelessly front-loaded. This generosity is easily explained: Paul McCartney can still write a pop tune. Not just a catchy pop tune of general variety, but one the modern radio wouldn’t spew out like a piece of old, hardened gum. No, not like “Paperback Writer”. Not that. But then again – what would “Paperback Writer” mean to the modern radio?

Let’s get this straight. Compared to Chaos And Creation In The Backyard and even Memory Almost Full, McCartney’s latest doesn’t sound particularly inspired. None of the new songs are bad; McCartney is still McCartney – even when his songwriting lacks that vital spark, he can still string together a few good chords to make it sound reasonable and intelligent. Catchy, too.

The first side seems to know what it's doing. The opening “Save Us” is a pretty routine McCartney melody (I mean that in a good way) set to contemporary production (not necessarily a great decision), but take nothing away from what comes next. “Alligator” is an instant Paul McCartney classic – which goes to show that there’s nothing clever vocal hooks and a few melodic twists won’t do. “On My Way To Work” is no “We Can Work It Out”, but it’s a good late-period Paul McCartney number. No imagination of, say, “Mrs. Bellamy” (Christ how great that one sounds right now), but we shall take what we can. Like I will take “Queenie Eye”, which is insanely infectious. Like I will take the bouncy, Beatlesque (yeah I know) title track, not least because of those vocal harmonies. Sadly, most of what follows is largely a miss. Sweet and serviceable, but still a miss. Stuff like "Appreciate" and "Hosanna" is just bland. And while I can enjoy the anthemic “Everybody Out There” (good guitar work on that one), the rest rolls by in an anemic fashion. Pardon the intended pun, but the closing "Road" is long and not very winding; in fact, I’d rather he replaced it with the half-baked, but lovely piano melody of the last bonus track, “Scared”.

Still, it’s like Dylan once said: Paul McCartney thinks in melodies. Everything that comes out of his mouth is essentially coated in tunes and catchy chord progressions. And for all its numerous flaws, that still holds true for New. I mean, could the modern-day Pete Townshend write a pop song? Could Mick Jagger? Could Ray Davies? Well, maybe Ray Davies, but I very much doubt it would sound quite this effortless. Still, side two is there looking at me with its washed-out, half-blind eye. Hence the seven.

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Album review: of MONTREAL - Lousy With Sylvianbriar

Highlights: all of them

Your mother hung herself in the National Theater
When she was four months pregnant with your sister
Who would have been thirteen years old today
Does that make you feel any less alone in the world?

There’s no question that Kevin Barnes’ mind is one of the most exciting things on Earth. However, these opening lines from “Colossus”, sung in a disarmingly pretty and deeply melodic way, are the sound of an exciting mind going completely off.

Gaudy cover, nonsensical titles, lyrics from a ‘Depressed & Deranged Anonymous’ cocktail party – that’s of Montreal’s new album. Easily, easily – their richest, most rewarding and engrossing ever.

Essentially, this is Kevin Barnes riding a time-machine - even if I still hesitate to compare it to the band’s first few albums: Lousy With Sylvianbriar is so much more than a bunch of nicely derivative melodies low on guts and imagination. These melodies are timeless from the off (those heavenly verses of “Amphibian Days”); what is more, they are all densely soaked with that lush, all-over-the-map spirit of the band’s post-2004 period. Consider last year’s Paralytic Stalks as a decent enough reference point; but take away wild psychedelic excesses, take away Prince, and leave that swirling, kaleidoscopic pop music running you over like a giant, inflatable, multicoloured bulldozer.

Lyrically, it’s tortured and entertaining. Often both. Believe me, there are enough lines here that will make you go ‘no?’, ‘clever!’, ‘huh?!?’ – particularly if you are new to the wonderful and frightening world of Kevin Barnes. Musically, it’s what Hell would sound like if Hell allowed pop music. Let’s just take “She Ain’t Speaking Now”. A brief 7-second instrumental blast gives you the infectious taste of the chorus; then comes the elegantly folksy verse that would on its own make any song great; then the colourful chorus growing in size until the moment it flies off the cliff with a sliding vocal hook; then the intense middle-eight that keeps piling up the energy; then the brilliant chorus again…  This is too good. There are tracks that are just downbeat (the musically gorgeous and lyrically sinister “Obsidian Currents”) and there are tracks that remain pumped-up and supercharged all the way through (“Hegira Migr” is pure glam-rock), but mostly there's stuff like "Belle Glade Missionaries” where right in the middle of Barnes’ delicious rage you get the loveliest moment on the whole album – the ‘female Henry Miller” moment.

Listening to Lousy With Sylvianbriar is a lot like standing in the sweetest, warmest torrential rain that just wouldn't stop. And you are umbrella-less and tragically naive - quite possibly, just like Kevin Barnes. Lousy With Sylvianbriar is a triumph. Quite simply, this album has it all.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

SONG OF THE WEEK #120: Morrissey - "Speedway"

Call him a wanker, a twat, a narcissistic bore, but you can't deny Morrissey. He stole this whole fucking week. There were moments where his memoir's anticipation/aftermath threatened to overshadow such silly issues as England vs. Poland and the US shutdown. Still, he won in the end. And rightfully so. I loved the Penguin Classics takeover (he is an artist, so he can do whatever he wants - though don't let Miley Cyrus read too much into that) and I'm currently loving the book. "My childhood is streets upon streets upon streets upon streets..." You just knew it would be good, didn't you? Also, let's put an end to the tiresome 'but he's been shit since the Smiths' breakup' rumour. Nonsense.Vauxhall and I is a classic and every bit as good as The Queen is Dead. And while we're at it, "Speedway" is the greatest song the man has ever sung.

Friday, 18 October 2013

Album review: BILL CALLAHAN - Dream River

Highlights: The Sing, Javelin Unlanding, Small Plane, Winter Road

If you want to get into the technical aspect of it, let’s put it like this: were I to rate this album on a track-by-track basis, nothing would change. What is more, were I to rate these songs individually, I would give each of them the exact same rating of ‘bloody good, great if you’re in the mood’. Which is just another way of saying that Dream River is almost clinically consistent and homogeneous. Clearly the sound of an artist who has long found his creative niche and feels relaxed and confident exploring it.

‘Exploring’, however, is a wrong word.

More like naturally inhabiting it. Bill Callahan’s newest is the usual: slow, pleasingly meandering melodies wrapped in wistful atmosphere and Bill’s cozy baritone. The sound is warm, just like the washed out colours on this album's cover. Instrumentally, there are no big revelations: Bill's guitar and economical, affecting orchestration. Dream River sounds so effortless, it’s like he isn’t even trying. Songs seamlessly blend into each other like faces of old best friends, creating a really engaging experience. Nothing stands out, so I just typed the first three tracks as highlights (because they come first and also because they are really good; besides, the chorus of “Javelin Unlanding” is distinguishable for its near-upbeat nature) – as well as the sleepy, violin-driven beaut of “Winter Road” (because it comes last, but also because … well, you know).

Dream River is both a mood piece and a rather compelling collection of songs. The songs are not particularly memorable or ear-catching, but they are also addictive in a very understated, October-like way. Bill Callahan isn’t doing anything remarkable here (and has he ever?), but equally – I almost can’t imagine a better album from the man. It doesn’t even matter whether you like this album or not – Dream River is good. It’s beyond tastes and opinions, by this point it’s almost a physical fact. Likewise, my predictable rating is just as immaterial.

Thursday, 17 October 2013

Album review: ROY HARPER - Man and Myth

Highlights: The Enemy, Time Is Temporary, January Man, Heaven Is Here

You learn as you go along. Previously to this album, my exposure to Roy Harper (who is righteous, according to Luke Haines’ Twitter) had been limited to the leading vocal on Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar” (anything but a popular view, but I’ve always loved the song) and, ironically, that song title from Led Zeppelin’s third LP. “Hats Off To Roy Harper”. Well, judging by this album as well as the acclaimed, hurriedly-listened-to Stormcock – hats off indeed.

I’ll admit that these days the idea of a lengthy track seems rather scary. Right away I think of something plodding and pretentious. And admittedly Roy Harper’s track list for Man and Myth looked alarming. One song in particular, “Heaven Is Here”, is longer than 15 minutes. And in folk music, you pretty much have to be Dylan in his prime to pull that off.

But the very first song, “The Enemy”, tells you that you are in good hands. The guitar sounds masterful, just as that first hookline. The song never sounds monotonous, Roy is always there to spice things up a bit with a witty guitar line or a rockier section. Next up is “Time Is Temporary”, which opens like a classic ballad off an early Leonard Cohen album. This song as well as “The Stranger” have that slightly dark, autumnal vibe of “Master Song”. Never a bad thing. “Cloud Cuckooland” opens non-typically, with a saxophone, and I just love the anthemic diversity that was probably needed at this point. The centrepiece is of course “Heaven Is Here”, and let's get this straight: there isn't one part in it that sounds remotely expendable. Even the instrumental passages, with orchestration or with Roy gently fingerpicking the acoustic guitar, sound compelling and flow into the singing sections with convincing ease.

Granted, Roy’s voice has gotten more fragile with years, but that never really bothered me. Some notes might be eluded, but he sounds completely in charge all the way through. His guitar playing is great, his songwriting is arguably as strong as ever. In a word – the whole thing is masterful. If I have to thank Joanna Newsom for that, I will. But mostly let's be grateful to Roy Harper himself for keeping it up and, in the process, recording one of the best albums of 2013.

Sunday, 13 October 2013

SONG OF THE WEEK #119: Grant McLennan - "The Dark Side Of Town"

Odd that it took me 118 songs to do this; "The Dark Side Of Town", off Grant's second solo album (Fireboy, 1992). What is there to say? Arguably it's the most beautiful song by one of the world's greatest songwriters. I'm in tears.

Friday, 11 October 2013

Album review: JOHNNY FLYNN - Country Mile

Highlights: After Eliot, The Lady Is Risen, Einstein’s Idea, Bottom Of The Sea Blues

Like I’ve mentioned a hundred times already, if after listening to Johnny Flynn’s 2008 debut A Larum you still want to hear Laura Marling or, Heaven forbid, … & … (I hope not), you should take a really hard look at yourself. Somewhere along the way you may have taken a wrong turn.

A Larum was that rare case when ‘timeless’ and ‘contemporary folk’ could actually coexist in one sentence. Which is why it was really sad to see Johnny screw all that whimsical, misty-eyed brilliance in favour of the rather generic and big-sounding Been Listening in 2010. That was a huge letdown. Even that beautifully frayed, romantic-eccentric voice was hopelessly buried in the misguided attempt at losing identity.

A deep sigh of relief here: Johnny Flynn of A Larum is back. I can forgive him the slightly weaker songs, I can forgive him a couple of misfires: the main thing is that we’re back to that poetic, lost-busker-with-an-edge vibe that made him so good 5 years ago. And the drop in songwriting is in fact not too significant. True, the title track has so far failed to engage me (it’s okay – if not quite there), but a song like “The Lady Is Risen” is an absolute knockout. It would have been brilliant as a simple, swiftly fingerpicked folk tale, but that swirling organ just brings it to a whole new level. All through Country Mile, Johnny does them catchy and playful (“Fol-de-rol”)  and pleasantly meandering (“Einstein’s Idea” could easily go on for another 6 minutes without me uttering one complaint). The man just feels so comfortable; and sounds that, too.

So thankfully – Johnny Flynn is back to his poetic, romantic, whimsical best. Country Mile is the true follow-up to A Larum. And the way he breaks into that fluent section towards the end of “Bottom Of The Sea Blues”? Amazing. If you are still, inexplicably, stuck with Laura Marling or, Heaven forbid, … & … (I hope not), please reconsider. And do get a copy of Johnny Flynn’s new album. It’s really bloody good.

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Album review: JULIE FEENEY - Clocks

Highlights: Dear John, Moment, Worry

Pop music!

It’s not often that you get a chance to review a really good pure pop album. Over the past two years I’ve tried and failed on too many occasions. Some time ago I started writing about Norah Jones’ latest, but got bored halfway through. It was a decent enough little album, but not nearly as good as a few others released in that particular week. Then there is of course Lana Del Rey. Born To Die? “Video Games” remains a great song, the title track is half-good, the rest is about as interesting as colourless nail polish. Style doesn’t equal edge. And I’m not even mentioning things like The 20/20 Experience. Not even if my rave review would let me get a share of Timberlake’s royalties. Bad is bad.

And with Julie Feeney’s Clocks – I almost gave up 14 minutes into the album. It’s not enough that her covers are becoming less and less sexy (no, honestly – 13 Songs was terrific), there’s also a handful of songs that sound unforgivably bland. “Julia”, “If I Lose You Tonight” – lovely orchestration or not, these songs go on for more than 4 minutes.

However, three or four tracks aside, there are enough sparkling pop moments scattered throughout Clocks to keep me intrigued. One of the biggest is of course the opening single “Dear John”. The chord progressions are so obvious I don’t even know whether it’s okay to mention the source. I will – because more contemporary musicians should be encouraged to spice their mush with Pachelbel’s genius. “Dear John” is of course Canon in D Major, and it works. I think it would take some serious effort to screw it, and if you played that damned Vitamin C song for me right now – I would probably cry. Elsewhere, “Worry” is my bet for the album’s best song. A perfect three-minute pop song, it has vocal hooks you could imagine on some of those classic Kate Bush albums. I don’t think I’m physically capable of a better compliment.

I actually only learned about Julie Feeney’s existence two months ago, when I was in Dublin Concert Hall waiting for the performance of Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space. Portraits of Julie were everywhere, apparently she is one of Ireland’s biggest pop stars at the moment. Good for them: Ireland could do a lot worse (just think of two underage nitwits jumping all over the place). There is a certain lack of substance on Clocks, but all the same: this is orchestrated pop with an edge. Coming from Galway, one of the world’s loveliest places.

Sunday, 6 October 2013

SONG OF THE WEEK #118: The Verlaines - "Death And The Maiden"

Do you like Paul Verlaine? Never been a huge fan of their regular albums, but "Death And The Maiden" (1983) is one of New Zealand's finest ever singles. I'm not sure what that deranged, circus-like middle section is doing there, but it all adds up I guess. The chorus is... well, if you close your eyes while listening to it, you might actually see a dozen flying nuns sweeping past you. That chorus is insanely good.

Friday, 4 October 2013

EP review: PIXIES - EP1

Best song: Another Toe

As you would expect, there is no difference between a Frank Black record and a record by post-Kim Deal Pixies. Having listened to EP1, the original band’s trimmed comeback, I have to say I actually don’t have a problem with that.

And even if I did – the chorus of “Bagboy”, Pixies’ new single released earlier this year, features such preposterously Kim Deal-esque vocals that even a rabid fan would mistake for the real thing. Speaking of “Bagboy”, it was a promising enough single, subversively catchy and sliced through by a classic Pixies guitar line. If anyone had any doubts, this 15-minute, 4-song EP delivers on that promise.

It opens with the non-threatening and surprisingly mellow “Andro Queen” whose delightful melody is not quite commercial pop and not quite underground. The usual, then. “Another Toe In The Ocean” is Black at his catchiest and thus an instant power-pop classic. Trompe Le Monde level material, just more polished. “Indie Cindy” alternates rough, spoken-word verses (“you put cock in the cocktail”) with a sweet, sweet chorus that so comfortably borders on fey and even twee. The guitars sound punchy, assertive, but that becomes a bit of a problem on the closing track, “What Goes Boom”. This is the EP’s only relative misstep. The actual tune is all right, but I certainly don’t need the metallic sheen of Motörhead-styled riffage on a Pixies record.

However, that one mistake doesn’t spoil the overall impression – particularly if you attach “Bagboy” as track number 5. All is in place, including Spanish singing. Unquestionably EP1 is the sound of mature Pixies. And if that beats the purpose, I don’t care. The music is great. Just please tell the whining fans ‘here’s Doolittle and there’s the door’.

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Album review: MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Rewind The Film

Highlights: This Sullen Welsh Heart, 4 Lonely Roads, As Holy As The Soil (That Buries Your Skin), 30 Year War

If there’s such a thing as a proper Manic Street Preachers fan, that’s not me. Richey Edwards was (is that a ‘was’?) an intriguing individual, but I don’t see him as a personal hero. I do enjoy an odd Nicky Wire interview, but most of his lyrics are wasted on me or else leave me cold. There’s no question that The Holy Bible is a great LP and I do think 2009’s Journal For Plague Lovers was a remarkable comeback, but the ugly truth is that if my iPod had space for just one Manics-associated album, it would have to be James Dean Bradfield’s The Great Western from 2006.

The Great Western. How in God’s name can an intelligent pop classic like that be so underrated? Big melodies, big hooks – every second makes you feel that Bradfield was no longer restrained by Wire’s lyrics (no offence there) and must have experienced much-needed liberation writing and playing all that.

The good news is that Rewind The Film seems to inhabit a similar world.

The album has been described as the band's most personal statement. True: political concepts barely appear in any of these songs (other than the closing “30 Year War”), which is a nicer change than many could imagine. It’s a very tuneful, beautifully crafted collection of anthems and ballads that often coexist in one song. “This Sullen Welsh Heart” is worthy of any Manic Street Preachers classic. It may seem too soft, but it has the sort of powerful, articulate melody Bradfield does so well on a good day. The sweet, short, Cate Le Bon-sung “4 Lonely Roads” is another understated triumph. As is the solemn, slow-burning title track. Only the rather lengthy instrumental “Manorbier” should have remained an outtake.

Few songs here scream ‘greatest hits’ at you, but my overall feeling is that it’s a very satisfying late-period album by this Welsh band. They don’t want to set the world on fire, not anymore, they just want to release a few great albums. I don’t know what a proper Manic Street Preacher fan would say to that, but count me in. Also, a solo follow-up from Bradfield would be nice.


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The news is by your side.

Pope sparks row with Turkey by calling Armenian massacre genocide

Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were killed and that this amounted to genocide.

At an Armenian rite Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the 100th anniversary of the mass killings, Francis became the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to publicly pronounce the word “genocide” to describe them.

Some European and South American countries use the term to describe the killings, but the United States and some others, keen to maintain good relations with an important ally, avoid doing so.

Turkey was swift to protest. “The pope’s statements, which are far from historical and judicial facts, cannot be accepted,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on his Twitter account.

“Religious offices are not places to incite hatred and revenge with baseless accusations,” he said.

The foreign ministry called its ambassador to the Holy See back to Ankara, and summoned the Vatican’s ambassador, saying Francis’ remarks had caused a “problem of trust” in diplomatic relations.

Pope John Paul II and Armenian Apostolic Church Supreme Patriarch Kerekin II called the massacre “the first genocide of the 20th century” in 2001, but that was in a joint written statement.

Francis, who has disregarded many aspects of protocol since becoming pope two years ago, uttered the phrase during a private meeting at the Vatican with an Armenian delegation in 2013, prompting a strong protest from Ankara.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had already publicly described the killings as genocide before he was elected leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics in 2013.

In November, the Argentine-born pontiff made an official visit to Turkey as part of his efforts to strengthen relations with moderate Muslim states.

At the start of the commemorative Mass, the pope described the “senseless slaughter” of 100 years ago as “the first genocide of the 20th century” and noted it was followed by Nazism and Stalinism.

“It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honor their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!” he said.

Francis’s comments were also published by Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s office on Sunday.

“We are deeply grateful to His Holiness Pope Francis for the idea of this unprecedented liturgy … which symbolizes our solidarity with the people of the Christian world,” Sarksyan said in a speech at a Vatican dinner on Saturday evening.

The pope said genocide continues today against Christians “who, on account of their faith in Christ or their ethnic origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to death – decapitated, crucified, burned alive – or forced to leave their homeland.”

Islamic State insurgents have persecuted Shi’ite Muslims, Christians and others who do not share their ultra-radical brand of Sunni Islam as they carved a self-declared caliphate out of swathes of Syria and Iraq, which share borders with Turkey.

Francis also urged reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Caucasus mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The appeal came in a letter handed out during a meeting after the Mass to Sarksyan and the three most important Armenian church leaders present.

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Supporting sustainable economic development
and direct trade in Guatemala

The Farmers of San Miguel Escobar

The coffee cooperative we first started working with. We support them in everything entailed in coffee sales and export, as well as product development and financial and technological support. Today this cooperative includes over 2 dozen coffee farmers and an annual coffee production of about 15,000 lbs of coffee, grown on the slopes of the Volcán de Agua volcano.

  • andres-resized

    Andrés Lopez has been in the coffee cooperative for a little over a year. Last year he produced 150 pounds of coffee and is hoping to export 500 pounds this year plus sell 100 pounds in the local market. He joined the cooperative with 6 cuerdas (2 acres) of coffee. Through the small business loan program, he has purchased 2 more cuerdas adjacent to his field, bringing him to a total of just under 3 acres of land. He apprenticed as a coffee tour guide for almost a year, and since the beginning of 2012, he has been managing his own coffee tour business within As Green As It Gets.

    He has been elected to the co-op board of directors, and now helps out with business issues like santitary licensing.

    His wife, Elma Catalina, has also joined the AGAIG family. She makes lunches for work teams and roasts coffee for her clients.

    Andrés has 7 children, Juan David, Carlos Andrés, Luis Fernando, Mynor, Renee, Miriam Angélica, Melvin Alexander, and Cindi Lucretia. All of his kids work alongside Andrés in the coffee business. Carlos Andrés, now 21 years old, is getting ready to launch his own coffee business just like his father.

  • Alberto and Family-resized

    Alberto Hernández is the fastest growing producer in the As Green As It Gets cooperative. Before joining the team, he had only one eighth of an acre of coffee to support his family. He had to work as a waiter to make ends meet. As Green As It Gets brokered two separate loans for the coffee cooperative for the purchase of land. Through these loans, Alberto purchased 1 1/4 acres over two years. His new coffee isn’t in production yet, but when his plants are mature, he will have increased his production by a factor of ten. Alberto is thinking ahead to provide for his family of eight. He’s already built a large drying patio next to his house and recently purchased a pulpero - a bicycle-powered machine that removes the coffee fruit from the bean. This purchase was made possible through an small business loan from an As Green As It Gets supporter.

  • aura-resized

    Aura Marina Gomez Perez de Roldan has lived in Ciudad Vieja her whole life, as have many generations of her family before her. She's a hard worker who persevered to finish the 6th grade, which is four more years than the average for her demographic. As a child Aura worked on coffee harvests for her uncle, becoming experienced enough to be able to harvest 150 pounds of coffee a day. Aura is the proud mother of four children: Joel Alejandro, Natalie Lordes, Aura Regina and Maria Guadelupe. She and her husband, Joel, live in a two-room concrete block house loaned to them by Aura's mother. They have just a spigot as their source of water, and must go next-door to a relative's house for bathroom facilities.

    Aura hopes that her foray into the world of coffee will help her create the life she desires for her family. Though new to coffee, she will soon have her first quarter of an acre in production, and over the next few years will acheive more than a full acre of production. She's raising only Bourbon coffee, an heirloom Ethiopian variety.

  • danielle-resized

    Daniel González is father to nine children. Daniel and his wife, Maria, support their family primarily off a small plot of Bourbon coffee.

    Though his children range in age from eight to 22, every member of the family has their own business. His youngest daughters sell vegetables each day. His wife, Maria, and older daughters sell tamales and traditional Guatemalan fare each evening in front of their home. His two sons run a small barbershop on the family's property. Even the youngest boys collect seeds from local trees and sell them to As Green As It Gets for reforestation programs. Through earnings from his coffee business, Daniel has been able to improve his family's living conditions from a cornstalk home with dirt floors to a concrete block house. He has also installed a flush toilet, shower and handsink. Recently, Daniel's family built a new fence and installed a double gate to protect their property.

  • eduardo-resized

    Eduardo Hernández has been a member of the cooperative for three years. When he joined he had five cuerdas (nearly 3 acres) of land, only two of which were planted with coffee. Since then he has added one cuerda of land for a total of six cuerdas (3 acres), and has planted coffee on all of them. Last year he exported 150 lbs of coffee.

    Eduardo has been living in Ciudad Vieja his whole life. Though he is new to coffee, he has many years of experience working in agriculture. His family has expanded in unexpected ways. About a decade ago he found a newborn baby in a box on his street, the umbilical cord still attached. He and his wife named him Moises and made him a member of the family, and have been proud parents ever since.

  • Felix and family-resized

    Félix Porón was the very first farmer to join As Green As It Gets. With money he earned from coffee sales, he has built his family a two-room concrete house with electricity, running water and a flush toilet. In his five harvest seasons with As Green As It Gets, he has managed to purchase and plant approximately five additional acres of coffee through small business loans and his own profits. He has also built his own coffee drying patio, three concrete fermentation tanks, and coffee warehouse. His daughter's education is also funded by his coffee business.

    Félix lives in the town of San Miguel Dueñas with his wife, Marta, his daughter, Evelyn, and his son Erich.

  • Filiberto Coffee Farmer

    Filiberto Salazar is the best known of all the farmers in the As Green As It Gets community. For years, he has been inviting people into his home to share breakfast with his family before taking a two hour hike up the volcano to his land. There he recounts the story of how he was virtually held hostage for two years during the civil war.

    The civil war now behind him, Filiberto is working hard to support his large family. Their home is made of cornstalks and tin, held together with barbed wire and love. Two years ago, Filiberto planted 1800 coffee plants, primarily on his own land, but also on a small quarter-acre plot made available through As Green As It Gets. One year ago, he planted an additional acre purchased under the same program. He has also increased his coffee production through a creative contract of renting and tending productive coffee land from owners who are unable to farm any longer.

  • fredy-family-resized

    Fredy González farms a mix of Bourbon and Caturra coffee a half hour walk from his home in San Miguel Escobar. He has had a tough time supporting his nine children, but they have all pitched in to help. Each of his children above the age of 10 now works or runs their own small business.

    Fredy and his wife Telma have taken advantage of development programs in the area. Thanks to two programs, Common Hope and ConstruCasa, he has three buildings on his property; one made of concrete, one made of concrete fiberboard, and one made of cornstalks. Fredy has recently paid off his ConstruCasa home loan through earnings from his coffee business.

    Fredy has donated a little bit of his scarce space at home to the As Green As It Gets cooperative. He houses the trilladora machin, which removes papery coffee husks, and gives tours of the entire coffee process several times a month.

  • froelan

    Froelan Minas is an agricultural worker from San Miguel Escobar. He has one and a half cuerdas (1/2 acre) of land planted to Arabica coffee; 85% of the Bourbon variety and 15% Caturra. His land is just over a mile above sea level, on the side of Volcán Agua. He has been working with coffee for four years. Froelan has dedicated his whole life to agriculture. In addition to coffee, he cultivates corn, beans and flowers. But Froelan is also a family man. He and his wife, Aura, have five children: Marvin, Sandra, Selvin, Juan and Evelin.

  • gabrielGabriel Minas has spent his whole life in the fields culivating corn, beans and flowers. He has been working with coffee for the last five years, and two years ago planted one and a half cuerdas (1/2 acre) of his own land to coffee. All of his coffee plants are of the Bourbon Arabica variety. Gabriel's land is more than a mile up the slopes of Volcán Agua, so he and his father share a horse to help carry produce down to the village of San Miguel Escobar, where Gabriel lives with his family.

    Gabriel and his wife, Maria, have three children: Merbelin, Blanca Lydia and Danilo.

  • Gregorio

    Gregorio Gomez Morales has lived in San Miguel Escobar his whole life. He recently joined the coffee co-op as a way to supplement his carpentry business. He is looking forward to making use of the 10 cuerdas (3 1/3 acres) of coffee that he planted a few years ago. Last year, he had a small first harvest and is ready for a heavier harvest this year, now that his coffee plants are more developed. His entire plot is planted with the Bourbon variety of Arabica coffee. Gregorio and his wife, Maria del Carmen Reyes, are the proud father of three sons and two daughters.

    He started out in life as a farmer, helping his father grow corn and beans. Later, he decided to study to become a carpenter, a skill which he has been developing for the past 30 years. He is now teaching his children and nephews to do the same. However, business is unpredictable and so Gregorio is glad to be entering the world of coffee. He’s glad to have made friends with other coffee farmers and hopes to learn more about coffee processing and improve the harvest quantity and quality each year.

  • lesbia-copy

    Lesbia Cecilia Camargo has been a member of the cooperative for less than a year. She has not yet had the opportunity to purchase her own land, but she received a small business loan to purchase coffee fruit from her neighbors. In that manner she was able to export coffee for the first time in 2011, and exported one full 150-pound sack of green coffee. Though new to the cooperative, she was recently voted onto the board of directors, and is one of two women who help guide decisions made by the cooperative.

  • Martha-resized

    Marta Salazar Zuleta owns one cuerda of land (1/3 acre) about an hour and half hike from town. She holds land adjacent to that of her brothers, which allows them to work together farming their coffee. Marta's own coffee is not yet in production so she has planted herbs with her coffee, such as mint, lemongrass, peppermint and citrus trees, from which she makes and sells artisanal teas. She is the mother of two children and, following her husband’s accident as a lineworker for the electric company, Marta has become the principle breadwinner for the family.

  • Mercedes-resized

    Mercedes Perez is a pure campesino de cafe, with two cuerdas (2/3 acre) of land planted entirely to coffee on the slopes of Volcán Agua. His plants are four years old and are all shaded by gravilea trees. Mercedes and his wife, Angela, live in the village of San Miguel Escobar. They have three children: Silvia Patricia, Lilian and Lidia.

  • miguel-copy

    Miguel González stays young walking 30 to 90 minutes up hill to his small plots of land scattered around the slopes of the volcano. He was born into a family of 12 brothers and sisters, and has had 12 children of his own, all of whom pitch into processing coffee.

    Miguel has been a small businessman all his life. For their honeymoon, he and his wife started a small chicken operation, saving enough money to buy two chickens. Through careful planning and management, they have grown the business to as many as 500 chickens. He now uses dried coffee husks as bedding for the chickens before returning the husks and chicken manure to his coffee fields. Pictured right is Miguel on land he recently purchased to enlarge his coffee plantation. The purchase was made possible through a small business loan from an As Green As It Gets supporter.

  • timoteo-copy

    Timoteo Minas has five cuerdas (1 2/3 acres) of land on the side of Volcán Agua. He has planted primarily Bourbon, the heirloom variety of Arabica coffee. He works the fields primarily on his own, with the help of his horse, Coyote, to haul compost up the volcano, and to bring coffee fruit back down.

    When not working in the fields, Timoteo works as a bricklayer. Recently he has been using his skills to supervise construction at the recreation space he is donating to the San Miguel Escobar community with fellow farmer, Filiberto. Timoteo lives with his wife and six children in a concrete home he built with his own hands, practically a brick at a time.

  • Virgilia-resized

    Virgilia López joined the cooperative less than a year ago. She received an inheritance from her parents of one cuerda (1/3 acre) of land, and has been training in coffee processing under her father-in-law, who is a cooperative member. In 2011, she exported her first full 150-pound sack of green coffee. She was also recently voted onto the board of directors, and serves as one of two women leaders on the cooperative's decision-making body.


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Alex's Outlook

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

The Bush Drop

Quinnipiac: Kerry 51-42.

CNN/Gallup/USAToday: Kerry 51-46.

Newsweek: Kerry 48-46.

Should we care, given that Kerry pretty much clinched the nomination yesterday? No. Kerry's had a media bonanza with his primary victories. He has at most a few million dollars. Bush has over $100 million. Voters are aware of Kerry's Vietnam medals; they aren't aware that he's the biggest shill for special interests in the entire Senate, that he voted to slash defense spending in the 90's, that he is more liberal than Ted Kennedy himself. Kerry's numbers are ephemeral.

That said, a good part of the drop is Bush's own fault. His fiscal gluttony over the last three years will land us a $600 billion deficit once the Afghan/Iraqi appropriations bills are factored in. His Hispanic amnesty program was nakedly political, and dead on arrival in Congress. His callow submission to Republican congressional appropriators has alienated moderate deficit hawks. There's no question that Bush has demolished his, and the GOP's, reputation for fiscal discipline, and he hasn't appeased anyone who likes big government: the Democrats will always simply drag the spending debate further to the left, as they have now. The deficit is a major issue for independents (I think second behind national security), and Bush forfeited it. As long as he calls for spending restraint and anti-spending legislation without vetoing any bloated Congressional appropriations bills, he will only damage himself further. If he were serious about restraining the growth of government (up 30 percent in his first term), he would have already used the anti-spending tool available to him: the veto pen.

I never thought Republicans would get a scintilla of political gain by spending like French socialists on anything besides national security, and it would be sad if GWB had to forfeit a second term to learn that fact. I still think he will win a second term, but by pirouetting to the left he has made his defeat somewhat more likely.

It was somewhat heartening to see that, deep in the recesses of Bush's 11-pound, $2.4 trillion budget, he has called for the elimination of 63 programs and cutting the budgets of another 65, including the politically sensitive EPA and Agriculture Department. The deficit explosion has forced the GOP to choose, and it's choosing spending cuts - albeit token ones - over tax increases. Bush has a ways to go yet, but it's a modestly good first step in the direction of fiscal responsibility.

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Just Before Bedtime

I don't know about you, but I pretty well know my nightly routine back the front. It's not something I really think about. I have a routine I could walk through in my sleep. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if I was asleep some of the time. And if I leave anything out I can't seem to settle until I go do that omitted action.

How about you? In your journal describe or list your bedtime routine. Describe why you do each of these things. Some will be obvious, but not all. Explain yourself as if describing to a stranger why this action is important to you. Do you have a regular routine? Why not? Write about your ideal nightly routine, especially if you don't really like your routine now.

I hope you enjoy this journal writing prompt. Please leave any comments in the section below.

Photo used with permission from stock.xchng

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