15 March 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: CARE
One of the organizations I’ll be donating a portion of all sales to is CARE. Their tagline is “Defending Dignity, Fighting Poverty”, and much like the Chicago Abortion Fund, they don’t just use a bunch of experts to figure out what people need and what people need to do to improve their lives, they talk to the people whose lives need improving and then they work with them to get them the resources, and the training, and the contacts they need to improve their own lives. It’s not just about teaching a woman to fish, but setting her up to be a fisherwoman.
I’ve been donating money to CARE for years and a few years ago even designed a custom bag for CARE. The sales weren’t as high as I would have hoped, but the experience working with several women at the local CARE office was a great experience and truly helped me become a better designer and a better business person and I was happy to create several bags and donate them for various fundraisers and to thank many donors at the organization.
The last time I did much with the organization was when the flooding overtook the country of Haiti. The people still haven’t bounced back, but one could say that they still haven’t bounced back from the slave trade and rum production of 150 years ago. It’s a country that has not a lot of turmoil and want. But that didn’t prevent CARE from being on the ground providing emergency support and long-term support. And this is what I adore most about the organization. They’re embedded all over the world, within a wide variety of cultures, and they operate the best way that the culture can permit them to operate. Whether it is providing education to the children of prostitutes, or water-cleaning kits to families, or training on how to turn animal dung into safe and free cooking fuel, they’re doing it. They’re great at using what is available and helping people become self-sufficient.
And that’s what I love that any donation I make to the organization has the ability to do, to help people become self-sufficient. Being able to accept temporary charity is one thing, but making it possible so people don’t need it for long and so that they’re in a position where they can help others follow in their footsteps is what will eventually help end poverty, all while helping people maintain their dignity. For without dignity, we are shells of ourselves. Everyone has the right to dignity. CARE recognizes that and works toward that. And I adore them all for doing so.
02 March 12
Back of Beyond
I’m reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’m relatively unimpressed with it. It’s a fairly quick read, despite the heft, but that could be because my mind glazes over with the details of Swedish financial subterfuge. I’m 3/4 of the way done with the book. Well into the part where it is supposed to “get good”, and I’m not feeling it. But at least I can say I’ve read it once I’m done. The only books I’ve put down and not finished are ones that either angered me so intensely I felt it better for my health that I not finish (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee), or they bored me so intensely I felt stupid for not liking them (anything by Judith Butler).
However one phrase that keeps getting mentioned that I’ve grown to love and I wonder if it is a literal translation of a Swedish phrase, or the translators closest version of a hard to translate Swedish phrase. Either way, it works so well that I may adopt it for the occasional time I need to use it.
A character moves to a very tiny town very far from his usual life, and he keeps referring to this very out-of-the-way burg by saying it is in “back of beyond”. I like it.
Comment [1]
10 February 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: Chicago Abortion Fund
One of the organizations that I’ll be raising funds for this year is the Chicago Abortion Fund.
In 2004 there was something called the March for Women’s Lives. It was an amazing experience and was the true beginning of my business. I started making bags with a portion of the funds being donated to organizations that funded reproductive rights of all varieties. It was an eye-opening and heart-opening experience. After the march ended and my donations were no longer being sent to raise scholarships for women to go to the march, I decided to look for a local organization to donate funds to.
I’d heard about the Chicago Abortion Fund and tried to contact it to determine how best to make a donation. My letter was never answered so I assumed the organization had died out and began donating to Planned Parenthood and other national reproductive rights organizations.
Because the world works in glorious ways, many months after the march a friend invited me to come join her at a fundraiser and launch party for CAF. Within a minute of walking in the door I met Gaylon Alcaraz (the new Executive Director at the time, she’s still there going strong) and I was invigorated. Gaylon is a force to be reckoned with, which is an important trait for someone who works in such a dangerous profession. But she’s fearless and she encourages that fearlessness.
So I was delighted and thrilled to see the focus of the organization change from being just a place that would raise funds for women to have abortions who couldn’t afford them. But an organization who would do that while teaching women how to prevent future pregnancy, how to care for themselves mentally, physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually. I’ve been lucky to meet a few women who have been helped by the organization and their stories continue to make me cry. CAF is not the heartless “baby-killing” organization that the anti-choice organizations would like you to believe it is. It is an organization that supports and cares for the women who need their services in whatever way they need.
In whatever way they need. Gaylon and her team don’t go up to any woman and tell her what she needs to do. They ask her what she needs and then they provide and guide her through the steps to get there. And then, once they’ve gotten there, once they are stable and healthy and safe, Gaylon and her team are able to convince many of these women who have received funds and services to reach out to other women who are just like them and offer that same support.
And it is this step that so many direct-action non-profits are missing. And it is the step that is going to not only save this organization for a long time to come, but it is the step that is going to save an exponential number of women who go on to then save an exponential number of women. She’s teaching them to fish, to use a biblical analogy. And oh how they fish.
Comment [1]
08 February 12
Things I learned while making Kimchi Chigae
1. It is pronounced chee-gay, not chih-guy.
2. Kimchi juice is a great liquid for deglazing a pan.
3. People either love kimchi, hate it because they’ve tried and and don’t like it, or are afraid of it because it is weird. There are too many people who need to get over “weird”. Seriously. A peanut-butter and jelly sandwich is completely bonkers to a huge part of the world. Weird is relative.
4. This soup is totally perfect for: a) folks who are catching or getting over a cold; b) folks who are drunk
5. I know a lot more people who won’t eat shellfish or pork than I realized.
6. This soup is awesome and needs to be made frequently during this time of year.
Comment [1]
31 January 12
How to Make Bacon
Making Bacon is so very, very much easier than you could possibly imagine. It takes a long time, this is true. This is not immediate gratification food, however good things are often very worth the wait. However, while you will be waiting anxiously, you won’t have to actually do that much work.
This is not a recipe, that can be gotten by reading a book or a website, but this is a breakdown of the necessary steps to show how easy it is to encourage you to do this yourself.
1. But a good quality pork belly. We purchased ours from Butcher & Larder. The pig came from Slagel Farms. This is more expensive than going to Jewel and buying pre-packaged bacon wrapped in plastic. But you’re doing this because the cost is worth the better taste payoff. Trust me!
2. Purchase pink curing Salt. We purchased ours from The Spice House. One ounce will be enough for 25 pounds of meat, so you don’t need much at all.
3. Mix your pink curing salt, sugar, and regular kosher or sea salt together. Measure this by weight. Add in flavorings. We used 1/4 cup maple syrup for 3 pounds of pork belly. Rosemary, thyme, citrus, anything could taste good.
4. Rub this seasoning/curing mix all over your pork. Put it in a very large plastic bag. Place this plastic bag in a cake pan or other item that will let it lie flat and catch any drips if you spring a leak.
5. Flip the bag over every 12 hours for 6-9 days. As the cure does its magic, it will make the meat firmer and firmer. Once it is firm, you’re ready to smoke.
6. Set up a smallish amount of coals in a tray with some hard wood chips, shavings, chunks, etc. We used apple from our very own backyard apple tree that we pruned and let season for a year. The were about 1” in diameter and 12” long. It doesn’t take much to create smoke. Light your coals, get the smoke going and set this to one side of your grill.
7. Place your meat over an area where it is not in direct heat. Stick a thermometer in it that is safe for leaving in the meat. Watch your meat and pull it when its internal temperature is 150˚F. You want to keep the temperature in your grill at 180˚F and 200˚F. This means you’ll have to peek in frequently and adjust the flue, and/or occasionally raise the lid to reduce the heat. It may even be a good idea to wait until the heat lowers to the desired range before you put your meat in.
8. Check your meat every 15-30 minutes to check for temperature fluctuations and add coals as needed.
9. If after 3 hours of smoking you don’t have the correct internal temperature, take it off the grill and put it in your oven at 200˚F until it is done.
10. Let it cool to touch. Remove the skin. Slice off a piece. Fry it gently over medium heat.
11. Eat. Shed tears of joy because it is the best bacon you’ve ever had.
So this isn’t easy. Bacon is a sometimes food and a sometimes project. But it is well worth the wait, the patience, and the time involved to get what you get.
Comment [2]
18 January 12
Paula Deen, Classism, Sizeism, and Diabetes
Paula Deen is diabetic. The occasionally rumored story has since come out as fact and she’s teemed up with a major pharmaceutical company who creates medication to help patients with diabetes manage their condition. There are many points I’ve seen expressed online in regard to this news.
One thing I’ve heard many times and by several people I didn’t expect to hear it from is, “Paula Deen got diabetes because she cooks horribly and is fat.”
We don’t know her medical history. As far as I know, we’ve not seen her medical report, and unless you’re a doctor with a specialization in diabetes, I probably wouldn’t listen to what you have to say about it anyway. But here is what I know about size and diabetes. Being overweight can make it harder to manage your condition, but becoming overweight will not make you get Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a medical condition that has some times to genetic markers. It is incredibly possible that there are environmental factors that increase your chances of getting diabetes, but I don’t know what they all are and I can be sure the folks saying Paula got diabetes because she cooks with butter aren’t either. I can also be sure that while many of Paula’s recipes are not those a dietician would tell a patient with diabetes to eat on a regular basis. I suspect that most doctors would tell their patient they could eat Piggy Pudding in moderation as part of an otherwise balanced diet.
However, while cruising through Twitter tonight I came across two tweets side-by-side each other which solidified and explained the discomfort I felt. One was from an acquaintance I’ll keep anonymous who said “Paula deserves diabetes for giving every one of her fans diabetes.” [WHOA! Really? Someone deserves diabetes?]
The next tweet was from a local foodie acquaintance who said “The Joe Beef Double Down can’t be a real thing. Bacon, mayo, cheese btwn 2 battered & deep fried foie gras slices, drizzled with maple syrup.”
Now it is possible that because Joe Beef is not battling a public outing as a diabetes patient, he wasn’t criticized for even suggesting such a thing, let alone serving it as his restaurant and possibly publicizing it in his new cookbook that lotsa foodies are all agog over online. Or is something else at stake?
I mean, many of the famous foodie folks and they’re a touch on the overweight side. Emeril Lagasse? fat. Mario Batali? fat. Ina Garten? fat. Alton Brown isn’t fat, but he’s lost weight and he’s had heart trouble. Emeril Lagasse damned near creating Food Network single-handedly with his Bam! and his “more can’t hurt” philosophy. Each one of Mario Batali’s sausages are 30% fat, same as Paula’s. Ina Garten doesn’t shy away from butter use.
But none of them sound Southern. None of them were on welfare as single parents with children. The other guys are a bit snobby for most of the folks living in the diabetes belt. Paula’s not. She’s comforting. She sounds like yer mom, or somebody’s mom. She laughs, she has fun, she uses a lot of butter. But she also creates recipes like this one for White Bean Chili which sound pretty danged tasty and healthy. (And it has been online for more than 2 years, if you’re going to go all “of course she put up healthy recipes now!”)
Every cook on Food Network Television has made a ton of unhealthy dishes and made them look great and appetizing. But Paula’s son joked about how she ate “deep-fried butter” so a fan created a recipe for it and came on the show to help her make it for a special episode. And foodies freaked out. Since then, Paula has become the queen of food that is really, really bad for you, the Queen of Deep-Fried Butter.
But is it her food we dislike so much? Is it her tendency to take tons of “bad for you food” and make it on our TV? If so, then why aren’t we up in arms about Mario Batali’s Mozzarela Carozza? Is it because we know what “deep fried butter” is, but Mario’s recipe sounds fancy. Know what it is? 1/2 pound of fresh cheese put between 2 slices of Wonder bread and pan-fried in butter. Or is it because Mario didn’t have to get famous by becoming a joke of himself? Is it because we couldn’t dare to take Paula seriously as a cook, so she took the road to success that let her raise her kids and pay her bills, and turned herself into a joke at her own expense?
I find it hard to believe that if Mario Batali told the world he was diabetic that the reaction would be the same. No one would say he was a fat cow who deserved diabetes because he gave others diabetes. But Paula, being female, Southern, and of a different “class” (even though she’s rich now, she’s still no Ina Garten, right?) she’s treated differently. I think all of these factors weigh into the public approach to her diagnosis.
I’m glad she’s talking about it publicly 3 years after she found out. I am glad she had time to deal privately with this. I’m glad that she is finally talking about. Because I’m hopeful that others will hear her symptoms, they’ll see themselves in her, and they’ll get treatment of their own illness. They may even end up taking the same medicine she does to regulate their illness, just like she does. And in the end, more people are likely to get treatment, to begin getting well (or at least better, because no one gets over diabetes), to begin understanding their bodies better. If this public announcement had happened right after she found out, I’m not sure she’d have the ability to be the voice of her people now. I think we should be proud of her now. Reading her brief letter to her fans about facing diabetes head-on is nice. But I disobeyed my general rule of not reading comments and read some of hers on this post. The commiseration of people who see themselves reflected in her is uplifting and fulfilling. And that is what Paula’s message has always been for those who watched her show and saw their mother in her smile.
Comment [1]
12 January 12
2012 Nonprofit Selection: Women in Media & News
One of the 7 nonprofit organizations that I’ll be donating a portion of the sales of each bag to is Women In Media & News: WIMN.
This organization was founded by Jenn Pozner, who I’m fortunate to call a friend (for full disclosure-sake). And it has 2 main focuses that I support whole-heartedly.
First, it serves as a resource to connect journalists and other media outlets with women who are experts in their given field. If you are writing an article about Engineering Curricula you could contact WIMN and ask for women sources to contact for your piece.
Second, it critiques coverage of women by the media, while providing training opportunities and educational (and hilarious) seminars to encourage people to engage in their own critique of media coverage.
Jenn also wrote Reality Bites Back a book that focuses on how reality television portrays gender, race, class and more. I joke that Jenn watches The Bachelor so I don’t have to, but it’s true. I have a few reality shows that I like (Project Runway and Project Accessory), which I like because it focuses on the quality of what is created instead of the weight of the people creating it. However, even I had to admit that there have been many instances of some pretty intolerant comments, the challenges are focused on selling things, and my gawd y’all the product placements are getting cray-zay!
In general, I feel like Jenn, and the other people she has writing for the website and who help with the overall message of the organization, holds media accountable. It also provides a place where people who are interested in understanding the dynamics and the behind-the-scenes decisions of journalists and media outlets can turn.
And did I mention she’s funny? Cause feminism isn’t about sapping the enjoyment out of life, but making it a better place for more enjoyment to happen. And WIMN is helping to do that.
08 January 12
The Well-Appointed Pouch
Photo taken by Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk
I’m very, very grateful to the The Letter Writers Alliance for teaming up with me last year to create a series of bags to truly fit their members’ needs. And I’m also grateful to Ana of The Well-Appointed Desk for taking a photograph and writing a description of everything she manages to jam in her pouch. I’m pretty great at fitting 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag, but I’m impressed by all this. Thanks, Ana!
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