a little red hen

Occupy Portland: UNSUBSCRIBE

The headline Occupy Protestors Do Some Damage shocked us.  Just across the river in our family's neighborhood--not downtown.  It was an Oregonian story buried on the second page of the Metro of Tuesday's Oregonian.  According to news reports, the people who did the window-breaking and related damage (a 15 year old boy among them) were not representative of an Occupy group.  The "official (?)" group was on a nighttime march intended to protest police brutality in Oakland, California. From the news report:

"At one point, protesters began fighting among themselves, arguing about how to proceed. Some demonstrators advocated keeping the protest peaceful and others disagreed." 

As I wrote here a few days ago,  Occupy Portland seems unfocused in its publicized interest in stopping housing foreclosures.  Others have questioned consequences of the dominant "whatever" attitude, the resistance to organizational structure or any form of leadership.

On the first page of the same Metro section, columnist Steve Duin described attending a Sunday meeting of the official (?) Occupy group.   One of them acknowledges that many were:

"...happy to see the Park occupation end. We'd lost control.  Totally.  By the end, we had 75 to 80 percent homeless there."

Duin echoes what I wrote here five days ago on the need for focus and positive actions on substantive issues:  

"...[they] must remain engaged in the housing and health care debates, link arms with the interfaith commmunity and remind Portlanders that the symbol of free speech has evolved from a speakers' corner..."

His column must have been delivered to the paper before Monday night's outbreak.  I look forward to a follow-up column.  Perhaps he can decode the twisty rationale at Occupy Oregon, titled  "Police Respond Violently to Anti-Police Brutality March."

A non-violent movement must find a way to distance itself from any kind of violence.  It must also look at its own behavior.  If its anti-police-violence statements and marches attract out of control actors, then is this an appropriate use of its time and energy when there are on the ground issues that need attention?

And so I unsubscribe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OCCUPY supports homeowners, sometimes singing

Every few days Portland Occupier sends a message.  It is always a reading challenge with its absence of paragraphing in the email form.   Here in a more readable way is "Saving the Home of Angelah Hill," [photo by Paul] about an employed, registered nurse who has run an adult care home in Portland, Oregon for over 10 years.

In 2008, her income dropped "through no fault of her own," and her home has been in and out of foreclosure since then according to this report.  While I struggled to put the pieces together, it was not hard to appreciate the post's description of racist practices by banks.  In this case it was Wells Fargo.

What I expected to read was not there:  what Occupy Portland plans to do to support Ms. Hill.  In other cities, the Occupy groups have been pro-active. Detroit, the 18th worst city for foreclosures in the U.S. (down from its #1 spot in 2008) has more than 70,000 unoccupied homes.  This week, according to Think Progress, with efforts from Moratorium Now, Occupy Detroit and Homes Before Banks, a family won back their home;  the bank accepted the family's revised offer to buy back their home.

 On the Rachel Maddow Show tonight an earlier effort in October 2011, was featured about a group known as  Oranizing for Occupation brought along women and men, black and white, to sing "Listen Auctioneer" in a Brooklyn foreclosure court.  Some were arrested.  Only one of four foreclosures took place that day.

 

Again last week, in a detailed post from the Village Voice via Occupy Las Vegas, (please do not ask me to explain) more song by many more advocacy organizations (and their supporters sang in a Brooklyn, New York  courthouse-- "driving the police crazy." Among the recently organized supporters Housing is a Human Right and  Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE).

Many thanks to the blog, The Faculty Lounge, for the words to "Listen Auctioneer."  Let's learn them, Portland:

Mrs. Auctioneer, all the people here

we're asking you to hold off the sales right now.

We're going to survive but we don't know how.

A complete rendition below, music with words, from Organizing for Occupation, New York City residents from the "activist, academic, religious, homeless, arts, and progressive legal communities who have come together to respond to the housing crisis."

 

 

Joe Vithayathil & Happy Cup Coffee meet on Fox News

It is late afternoon, Wednesday, February One, in my world.  Many happenings in the past two days.  To begin:  a little red hen got a new outfit.

To make the changes, I used the re-design service at TypePad, thanks Melanie. The next blogging year (#6 begins in March) features fixed width margins, an enlarged hen and chicks, part of the loaf of bread hen has made--with no help from the neighborhood cat, dog, pig.  And so much more RED.  With a serious line failure in my building, I had no way to make an "announcement."  Thanks to the universe, Ellen of Cinderellen's Corner happened by, noticed, liked it.  Approval from Cape Cod, excellent.

We awakened too early yesterday.  That was Tuesday.  Why, we wondered, then remembered it was a BIG day for our liquid of choice,  HAPPY CUP COFFEE.  Joe V. from the local Fox TV News was coming to visit at the roaster.  An early morning guy, Joe Vithayathil did six segments of  "Joe on the Go."  We were impressed with his 5 a.m. energy and enthusiam.  Listen to one segment HERE and watch the roaster spin.

KABUM is the name of the Ugandan coffee beans he's holding.   Last month the company came to Happy Cup because they wanted to make the connection with another organization like theirs, one working to improve the lives of  the less fortunate in the world.  There's an impressive story at the Kabum website:  sending the majority of profits back to the individual grower, who gets bonuses for a quality product and micro-loans to buy their own land and  equipment.

 After asking about the art, music, theatre programs for people with disabilities at  Full Life, the twelve year old organization behind Happy Cup,  Joe V. stayed to meet several clients as they assembled the new Happy Cup Valentine Gift box (now with Portland's own Moonstruck chocolate).  The name of the client who packs the coffee is stamped on each bag. 

Flash TV and a radio program  are other activities women and men enjoy at Full Life.   There's an impressive Drum Circle led by one of those talented musicians attracted from elsewhere to Portland's lively creative life.  Clients and staff enjoyed Joe V's  interest and look forward to a return visit to see more of all that goes on at Full Life

 

Chinese New Year greetings: John Fu & Warren Buffett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning's email brought a dramatic, red, Chinese New Year greeting from John Fu in Copenhagen.  He was a college student when we met in Xian, China eleven years ago.  Determined to get his next degree in the English-speaking world (he was a proficient translator in 2000),  he got his MBA in Denmark where he now lives and works as a business consultant.  We had hilarious experiences with Chinese government officials he helped me to interview in Xian.  I wanted to know how they were dealing with garbage issues. Did they have a problem?  Mayo, as they say in Chinese.

As we sat in a cab on our way to Xian officialdom,  John asked what was in my backpack.  Unzipping the green bag, I pulled out the world's smallest kitchen composter and a red knit worm to explain my kitchen composting mission.  "Oh, so this is your religion," was his insightful reply.*

Dedicated capitalist that he is, John will surely be delighted to be headlined with Warren Buffett performing at a charity fund-raiser.  If you can read Mandarin, let me know how the translation works.  When I went to YouTube for the embed code, I found such ugly, racist comments!  Opened another window on why the U.S. is in deep stuff politically and socially.  Of course, you already knew everything about that from at weeks of the Republican side-show that dominates every TV news program. 

But I digress.  Busha Full of Grace raised my consciousness about the Year of the Dragon.  Currently this spunky, knitting Grandma is nanny to a Chinese family. To expand her knowledge of the celebration, her search led to the ten important facts she posted.   "No sitting in a bedroom" knocked me out;  Number 10, "Songbirds are Good," was more expected.

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*To honor my "religion," John Fu had a chop mark made  with "compost"  in Mandarin.    For "This Dirt Museum: The Ladies' Room," my 2001 installation, I  enlarged the image,  added the word in Spanish. It had a prominent spot in the show and still hangs in our apartment.  Shown here with a few of the 150 red worm interpretations I knit for the exhibition.  [You too can have a chop; order here.]

Though amused by the idea that my intense practice of transforming  kitchen green waste into a useful, earth-enhancing amendment might be considered highly spiritual, perhaps a "religion," John's response has grown on me.

When we moved to our retirement community, a woman in the mail room invited me to join the Green Team.  What a vintage designation my NYC self thought.  Not that at all I discovered.

 We now live in Portland, Oregon, sustainability-intense city where you never forget your reusable grocery bag.  [See latest "Portlandia" episode.]  Once again we kitchen compost.  I am very involved in encouraging neighbors to do likewise.  No longer do red wigglers in our living room transform the stuff, but the intention is the same.

 

Happy Cup, bread, politics: Little red hen's peripatetic days

Rye breads recently made where I neglected to label recipe source.  They were very good.  One on right is 1968 New York Times Sourdough via Craig Claiborne.

And what better to go with a slice of homemade bread than my newest political button.  Yes, 17% is the stunning percentage of women in Congress.  A special election in the quirky district where we live is about to (fingers crossed) give Democrat Suzanne Bonamici a seat in the House of Representatives.  She will replace an unsuitable man I wrote about at length HERE.

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MOM MARKETING,  is a pro bono effort on behalf of HAPPY CUP ; it is my very own "start-up" for 2012.  Timmy Straw, composer and musician, who works at the other wonderful Portland bookstore, Daedalus, in the Northwest, was the first person I tried the idea on.

She listened to my pitch (we are already acquainted).

Three years ago our daughter Rachel (at right) had the idea to open a coffee shop to provide more jobs and more social outlets for her clients with disabilities.  Full Life Coffee Shop quickly attracted other programs who bring their clients on outings to socialize--and drink coffee.

In late 2011, through a circumstance that could only occur in Portland, Rachel had an opportunity to develop a coffee roast.  Happy Cup joined the lively java scene overtaking  America (end of pitch).

Tee-shirt and  mug have been added.  Of course, proud parents tell the Happy Cup story, distribute this small, informative brochure.

As part of  Mom Marketing I give the listener  a sample package of coffee.  Next month:  Happy Cup debuts at Whole Foods in Portland.

 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day... Black History Month to follow

How would all Americans be thoughtful about Martin Luther King today?  The major story to appear in connection with this commemoration was not positive.  Headline from Atlanta's City Guide:

Historic Church Martin Luther King,

Jr.'s Neighborhood Facing Foreclosure

The church, Higher Groud Empowerment Center, a center of Atlanta's Vine City community for more than 100 years, faced foreclosure by your favorite neighbor and mine--a big bank.

A last minute protest by Occupy Atlanta seems to have halted the move for the moment.  According to the Huffington Post Occupy this action follows a recent wave of anti-foreclosure campaigns that use occupy movements to delay home foreclosures.

Where are we with "the dream" King described?  How many teachers of color will talk about it.  And white teachers like Ernie Brill in Massachusetts who heard the speech in 1963.  Last week, because the day itself is a closed school day, he asked students to analyze a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks written the day after King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.

Should it be a holiday?  Holidays around notable American leaders have been commodified, becoming shoppers' specials.  This leads young African Americans like 29 year-old Shukree Hassan Tilghman in 2010 to call for an end to Black History Month:

"But we are talking about who belongs in the pantheon of black heroes, and who doesn’t. And that’s the real problem. We should seize this opportunity to retire Black History Month, which has become an empty ritual of idol-worship that retards real historical progress."

 

Tilghman has made a film, "More than a Month," through ITVS and the National Black Programming Consortium.  Thanks to the University of Oregon's Journalism School the film will be shown in Portland on the evening of February 14 at the Turnbull Center. If you are in Portland, Oregon, please join me to see it.  Or take five minutes to watch this clip.

Seeing the filmmaker's last name, I recall there is a Tilghman Island on the eastern shore of Maryland, where  Frederick Douglass and Harriet Ross Tubman fled from  slavery.  Jamie Stiehm,  writing in the New York Times recently, noted its singularity  "... in no part of the state was slavery as brutal as the Eastern Shore."  Could Shukree Hassan Tilghman be a descendent of slaves once held on Tilghman Island?

The Oregonian reported on a release this very day of a report card by a coalition of seven groups representing Oregon's communities of color.  They evaluated  the state legislature's effectiveness in 2011 year in moving bills to improve racial equity.   The Partnership for Safety and Justice in Portland is a member of the coalition.

"The grades are not good....some of the most crucial [possible] solutions were overlooked....Top priorities failed."

 To use Martin Luther King Day for this significant effort is a fine model that might be emulated by other municipalities.

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                                            UPDATE... 65,000 PETITIONS made a big bank back down. 

January 17 was the day the Atlanta church was saved through efforts of Rebuild the Dream's call for petitions.   Find out more about the American Dream Movement HERE.  Signing petitions does matter.

Loving To Read Obituary Pages

Where did the attraction begin?  In the 1950s and 60s, I worked in public relations in New York City.  Oh, there were so many, many daily papers that I had to read.  Mornings it was the Herald Tribune and the New York Times (image here from last week).

Not the tabloids, the ones whose big, bold headlines I'd see in the hands of subway riders and on newsstands. There was the Daily Mirror, deceased,  the Daily News, still flaunting its increasingly regressive conservatism.  In the afternoon, more that are history:  World Telegram & Sun, the Journal-American.

It was never a job requirement to read obits:  I just liked to read about the lives of others, see images of them from another era.  Ultimately, that curiosity led me to become a psychotherapist in midlife.  (I'll also be interested in your family's photos from the past.)

Reading about the deceased in the Times has continued.  Every now and then there's someone I knew or can connect to through people in my own past.  John Updike, whom I met briefly in a Harvard dorm when he came to borrow a tux from my then-boyfriend Christopher "Kit" Lasch.  I also have a letter* with Lasch's sketch of him; they were college roommates.  Most of the notable people from my era were men.  Rarely do I find a woman's obit except for a few, like my friend Barbara Seaman, who made significant contributions to women's lives with her first book, "The Case against the Pill."

Like Updike in the photo here, all of us smoked cigarettes (to be specific).  Somewhere in my stuff is a photo from 1954, my junior year at Oberlin.  I wear a short-sleeve gray cashmere sweater bought on sale in St. Louis where my family lived then.  In my hand, purposely, is a cigarette.  Updike died of lung cancer--Lasch and Seaman of other forms.  Did I stop early enough in 1968 when I was thirty-three?  Hoping so.

Back to my reading of obits--continued the NYTimes habit as we moved around.  Left NYC in 1968, continued to read the Times in Oberlin (faculty wife this time), and in Baltimore where we landed next.  Also read the ones in the Baltimore Sun once I had a sense of who was who in the community. Back to New York in 1995, still flipping to those back pages in the Times.

What about Portland, Oregon?  We've been permanently for over two-plus years. Why not read these too, all about everyday women and men.  Oddly, these are more satisfying. Years ago, I said to Ron, "Amazing reading obits in The New York Times could make you believe that women never die."  Surely among all those forgotten ball-players, forgotten Hollywood bit players, there could be a woman or two.  Rarely.

Women are a larger presence in the Oregonian.  I learn details of  their lives as working women in the Northwest.  Often there are photos of them both young and old like Ruth S. McDonald here who died at 89 last September.  Most are homemakers.  But there's more to learn here about Ruth's working life.  She was born in 1920, on a farm near Madison, Nebraska, town of about 3,000, whose largest employer is Tyson Fresh Meats.

She moved to Omaha, was working in the Blackstone Hotel as a waitress when she met her Army husband.  They moved to Vancouver, Washington, and both worked at the Kaiser Shipyard.  She had two sons, grandchild, great grandchildren.  Returned to waitressing at sometime in the 20th century, retired from Ye Olde Towne Crier when she was 70!

"She was a true professional who took pride in her work."  Donations suggested to  Sisters of the Road Cafe known for its programs of community-driven solutions to poverty and homelessness, and Bradley Angle, center for domestic violence survivors.  First time I'd seen organizations like these in the obits.  Think Ruth and I would have had some important conversations about tikkun olam (healing the world) if we had met.

*My letters from Lasch went to an archive at the University of Rochester.  To write this post, I saw the link for the first time and cannot figure out where and if the letters are there.   Have to ask my son, Nick, who is behind the curious small world story of how they landed there.  Another time will write about how little personal information Lasch seems to have made public as I noticed in a review of recent biography.

Knit elephant & sheep photo have something in common?

They give me a jump to posting again.  The yarn in the elephant's body came from Foster Sheep Farm in upstate New York--Schuylerville.  The sheep pictured here too.

Its maker, Carole Foster, brought it to the Columbia Greenmarket near where we lived on the upper west side of Manhattan.  She had a unique way of demonstrating how to spin which is captured on the link back in wintry 2009 in the City.  I'd admired a hat she'd knit from worsted Greenspun from her own natural colored flock.  Purchase the purple/gray yarn and she gave me her hand written recipe.  Something in it proved elusive, so....

This Danger Crafts pattern for an elephant seemed a good way to use it otherwise.  Easy to follow the thoroughly color-illustrated instructions.  Except for the end:  putting pieces together always a major challenge.

I'm trying to use yarn in my stash, of which there is far too much. With vintage black buttons for eyes, it's ready to mail for Roxie's fifth birthday next week.  Today Carole's newsletter arrived and the odd sheep view came from I know not where--in today's email.  That's my story and here is unnamed as yet doll from the rear also.

 

Roxie herself saw the elephant the other day on Skype.  She is reluctant to appear this way; her father says there is something confusing about the appearance of people she knows on a screen.

I hope the knit doll makes as big a hit as the chocolate-covered strawberries sent for our son's birthday earlier in the month.  Now those were a big hit, it's reported.  Everyone else seems to be about Edible Arrangements except me!  And I only found them by chance; was about to do something ordinary like flowers.  Great gift for the difficult-to-gift--like my over thirty son who loves fruit as well as chocolate.   Do you agree the baskets are kind of funky, like cartoons of the actual thing--fruit as interpreted by Disney?

Foster Sheep Farm is part of the 3 Bags Full Campaign in  Saratoga County, New York.  It is a land trust and advocate for smart growth, working to preserve a range of things important to hold dear--trails, small woodland parks.  Knitters and fiber artists are working to raise $15,00 to conserve the farm for future generations.  Great idea, makes me wonder if there are similar projects in other states.

INFORMATIONAL UPDATE FROM NYC..............

 January 5 (the brithday approaches) and Roxie has named elephant:  Snorty.

 

Katrina vanden Heuvel shares upbeat vision in PDX

How many references for a blog title?  Am I talking to self here or just me and Marianna at Hattie's Web?  Photo from couple of years ago when we met, walked over to the Pearl Cafe. 

"Upbeat vision" is such a delicious idea that featuring the words makes me giddy.  Outlandish and in-denial position these days?  Some of us grandmothers of young children ponder this often--Marianna and I among them.  We both are readers of The Nation Magazine, that not-glossy, picture-free, skinny lefty rag that delights or infuriates us.  So much for those claiming we only talk to ourselves in agreement.

As Marianna floats along on a Nation Cruise--an adventure almost unimaginable on my calendar--I question why that is any "more" or "better" than my going to a Nation fundraiser the last day of November.  It is not. Note to self:  watch that judgmental stuff.  Marianna and I were children in complex families where financial and personality issues loomed large.  We emerged with  with deep concerns on sorting out who we were/are and the lives of others.

In my own family of origin social justice was a keynote.  One of the reasons Hattie and I are  friends via blogging and real time is our penchant to sign petitions for causes (here's one today), march with signs in public, let others know what we support whenever possible.  We understand how lucky we are to have emerged from our darkish childhoods into adult lives to where we are today.

Though The Nation has been around for a long time, sometimes seems the place where aging leftists go to complain, Katrina vanden Heuvel as Editor reminds me how many young activists and thinkers are visible these days.  Marianna is a particular fan of Chris Hays of MSNBC; my own is Rachel Maddow at the same network.  It's also good to consider how my own "silent generation" has contributed some good to the present times.   My contemporary, Victor Navasky, my contemporary, had the foresight to bring Katrina into The Nation.

About the fundraiser.  We knew no one there, not a surprise.  We're always struck how the left has not discovered that the cause might be better served by a bit of reaching out.  Are we too uncomfortable with ourselves, fearful that the person we don't know might have politics a tad lefter than ours or a cause we do not care about?  We had a good time after Ron snagged a woman walking by who seemed to have an open demeanor.  As a result, had our best laugh of the evening.  Originally from New York, she and her spouse who soon came along, spoke about their early days in the City as adjunct faculty for a "third-rate university." 

Where? "That's where our son is an Associate Professor, lucky guy!"  I replied with enthusiasm. See, you just never know how small a world we live in.  Not very experienced with fund-raisers, it was curious to me that the evening was so very low key.  After Katrina gave her talk about the importance of readers increasing their support, people went up to speak with her.  I took photos.  

Shortly after, there was a book-reading at Powells' where Katrina spoke about her latest, The Change I Believe In: Fighting for progress in the age of Obama.  Poor woman, she had only a moment to eat, then had to be upfront again--with a far larger and livelier audience.  The place was packed; Ron and I split up to find seats.

Mine was next to a friendly woman my age who said she wished there was someone who'd go on a Nation Cruise with her.  She'd enjoyed the trip a few years ago.  On the other side was a man whose father had been a Wobblie!

Generally though the audience was younger than those at the fund-raiser.  Why didn't I get up and shout, "Folks, The Nation needs your subscriptions!"  That's one of the points Katrina made, and one electronic readers dodge around. By the way, I never have a link to Amazon, that book-destroyer.

She stays on message: we need to be as pragmatic and clear-eyed about Obama as he is about us....it's important for movements to keep working with the president, and pushing him when needed--criticizing, engaging, and supporting when called for.  As with Plan B and the fear of teen pregnancy.

It's invigorating to be the choir preached too--don't care what anyone says.  Katrina delighted the crowd.  Just before the very, very long line for book-signing, I slipped her another one of those immodest proposals.  Suggested that The Nation initiate Teach-Ins around the country about Occupy.  Oh, not those Nation reader groups listed in the back of the magazine.  The woman next to me, like others, have said she had to quit one because one person came to dominate with his opinions.  We had that in Baltimore too.

Could there be a better design:  Potlucks for the left?  We do need something that gets us to come together in real time, to do the hard work that Marianna and I talk about--for our grandchildren's futures.

HAPPY CUP...new, remarkable coffee roast in Portland

You're thinking, "Why would an old lady blogger be touting a new coffee roast?"  Tea, maybe, but...

And I'm answering, "HAPPY CUP is special."  

It's the latest idea from our daughter's FULL LIFE, now in its 12th year providing s a employment opportunities and a range of creative activities for people with disabilities. 

Midspring Rachel Bloom, CEO of Full Life, had an urge to  start a Flower Farm.  Before we knew it, some lovely person in the community near her business offered an odd lot--one that would not work for other development.

Full Life Flower Farm sprung into being.  Provided joyful work and outdoor space for her clients.  And  glorious blossoms.  Around the same time, HAPPY CUP was perking around in the development stage.

Rachel talks about the flowers and the coffee on this video from the website.

 

Full Life from Lifted Visuals on Vimeo.

More details on this local, sustainable business (we are in Portland, Oregon, where sustainability is the most-often repeated word) in a recent Business Journal article.

Today, an email with the latest from Scott, Rachel's spouse, very involved with Happy Cup:

As a social enterprise- Happy Cup will donate 100% of net profits to organizations that create programming for individuals with disabilities.

  Of course, we're very proud and drinking delicious coffee.  Happy Cup can be ordered online in Dark Roast, Full Potential (Expresso), Papua New Guinea, and El Salvador--even has its own cup and tee-shirt.  Just in time for the holidays there's also a Gift Box.

Happy Cup is a socially conscious product in providing excellent ethically traded coffee that is also roasted, packaged and delivered by individuals with disabilities.   Full Life has found another way to create jobs for underserved members of our community.  Government funding for programs like Full Life are being slashed in the Oregon state budget.  Full Life Flower Farm and Happy Cup underwite the lost funding for programs that provide a more meaningful life for "people with potential."

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There are those who believe that Ron and I have many irons in the proverbial fire--knit, spin, weave, etcetera.  We are in awe that both our children have taken the model so much further. 

Last week our son, Nick Bloom, remembered to tell us, in a kind of offhand way during a Skype visit, about his latest book, American Tourism:  Constructing a National Tradition. 

This one, co-edited with  J. Mark Souther of the Center for Public History at Cleveland State University, features 35 illustrated articles from a  group of public historians, travel writers about places transformed into tourist destinations.