How Not To Drown In A Glass OF Water by Angie Cruz

I read in a review that the Spanish word desahogar translates “to un-drown” and that is roughly the equivalent of venting, or getting it of your chest, which is what Cara Romero does when an interviewer with an employment assistance program in New York asks her to say something about herself. The story, told in Cara’s frank, unfiltered, and sometimes hilarious voice, quickly expands like the bellows of an accordion to release chords of friendship, community and, occasionally, lust, that provides a counter balance to the financial stresses, discrimination and personal divisions faced by Cara, her family and friends in their rapidly gentrifying Washington Heights neighborhood. The structure of the novel is built around 12 interview sessions designed to assess Cara’s job readiness and eligibility for continued unemployment benefits. She fills each meeting with stories of her life’s challenges, including her arrival in New York from the Dominican Republic 26 years earlier fleeing her murderous husband, her struggle to support her son and siblings, and the sudden loss of her steady factory job to an overseas facility. She punctuates her anecdotes with clear-eyed observations about contradictions and injustices in the country where she has spent most of her adult life, even as she studies to become a U.S. citizen. She clearly tells us that the country she has adopted is not welcoming her with welcome arms, but she is staying anyway.

Ticket to Paradise (2023)

Even as romantic comedies go, this is not a good movie. First it seems to have gotten to 1990 and come to a halt--it is dated in almost every aspect of the story line, and while it could be nostalgic, it mostly isn't. Then there is the irritating part that occurs in the story, where, in this case, the divorced couple takes an awful lot of bickering and putting each other down needlessly before they start to work together for a common goal--I almost stopped watching it even though I was on a transpacific flight and had a lot of time to kill. There are two things that save this--the first is that all the main players are good, and they transcend the story line. Then there the setting--wow, is it beautiful. The movie says Bali, but the actual place is the Gold Coast of Australia, just south of Brisbane, and should encourage people to think about traveling there to see it in person. The story is that a divorced couple's daughter graduates from college (although it is confusing because they keep talking about her promising law career) and takes a post graduation trip with her room mate to Bali, where she meets the man of her dreams, and decides to give up her future in the U.S. to live with him and his family on their seaweed farm and the parents aim to stop them.

Yonder by Jabari Asim

Wow, I loved this book. The cover of the version that I read has a reproduction of Jacob Lawrence's Harriet Tubman Series #4--I did not know this, but he did 31 paintings in this series, celebrating the woman who guided so many slaves northward to freedom. The book is set in 1852 on a Southern plantation called Placid Hall (which is the antithesis of what it is to live there). It explores the intertwined lives of four enslaved people: William, Cato, Margaret and Pandora. The beauty of this is that there is no grey in this book. The slaves are known as the Stolen and they measure the passing of the years by harvests rather than ticks of a clock. The chapters alternate between the points of view of each character, allowing readers to hear their voices and understand their thoughts, hopes and fears. It renders them human as they navigate the abuse at the hand of their owner, Randolph “Cannonball” Greene, known as a Thief. There is a lot of territory covered in this. It explores the emotional and psychological acrobatics the Stolen must go through to transcend the many layers of their subjugation: First as human cargo, then as property — purchased, traded and discarded. The characters often wrestle with loving deeply, struggling to fight the feelings of attachment, fearing that if those emotions are revealed, they will be exploited and then forcibly extinguished. Some of them come to believe that human connection is futile because at any moment those alliances can be severed. Amid the bleakness, though, there is resilience, tenderness and community among the Stolen, a thread of spirituality and an upholding of traditions. Then finally, the journey northward. There is humanity, cruelty, avarice, and joy to the found in this.

Rhubarb Jam

We do not have an established rhubarb patch, but we know someone who just bought a place this spring that does, and who gave us an armload of it. This is the thing that I think reminds me the most of spring, this and asparagus, and I am hoping it will carry me through to the next spring! Ingredients ▢1 lb 10 oz (750g) Rhubarb stalks ▢1 Tbs Orange Zest from about 1 large orange ▢1/3 C (70g) Orange Juice fresh squeezed, from about 1 large orange ▢1 3/4 C (400g) Cane Sugar ▢1/2 Vanilla Bean optional but recommended For this recipe use three 1/2 pint mason jars with screw top lids. Wash and rise the jars and lids in hot soapy water, or wash in the dish washer. Set aside to dry. Find a large heavy bottom nonreactive sauce pan (like stainless steel) or use a Dutch oven to make the jam, at least 4 quarts (3.8L), larger if you have the capacity. You want a heavy bottom so the jam doesn't burn and the pot large enough so that the fruit is at least 2 1/2 - 3 inches (7.6 cm) below the rim of the pot. Wash the rhubarb stalks to rid it of any dirt or debris. Trim the ends and discard. Cut the rhubarb stalks to 1/2 - 1" (1.7 cm - 2.54 cm) pieces. If there are thick pieces, cut the rhubarb through the center lengthwise so that all the pieces are of about equal size. You should have about 5 1/2 C (685g) once the rhubarb is cut. Set aside. If using the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and set aside, reserving the pod. To Make the Jam: To the heavy sauce pan or Dutch oven add the rhubarb, orange juice, zest, sugar and vanilla bean pod (empty of its seeds). Stir, coating the rhubarb - use your longest handle wooden spoon. On medium high heat, bring the mixture to a simmer. The sugar will start to melt and the rhubarb will begin breaking down. Once simmering, increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring as needed (often) to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot. Rotate the pan if needed to avoid burner hot spots. The mixture will boil vigorously at first, but as it cooks down, it will boil more slowly. You'll notice foam starting to form on the surface. Skim this off and discard (don't worry about getting all of it, just do the best you can). Continue cooking, stirring and adjusting the heat a bit as needed to avoid sputter and spattering, while keeping it bubbling. Use the spoon to mash the rhubarb to help break it down. Meanwhile, fill the sink with a very shallow pool of water. Cook until a temperature of between 220-222F (104-105C) is reached. This will take about 18-20 minutes (see note* if you don't have a thermometer). Remove from heat and dip the bottom of the pot in the shallow pool of water to stop the cooking process. Stir in the vanilla beans. Set a timer for 10 minutes and allow the mixture to cool slightly, stirring occassionally to help cool. You'll notice the jam start to thicken. Fish out the vanilla pod and discard or place it in one of the jars where it will continue to flavor the jam. Transfer jam to clean jars leaving about a 1/2" (1.3cm) head space so the jam has room to expand as it freezes. Lid and allow to cool to room temperature. Chill in the fridge overnight where it will thicken further and set, then transfer to the freezer. How to Store the Jam: Jam can be enjoyed after chilling in the fridge for an hour or two. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for six + months. Do not store at room temperature as this jam is not shelf stable.

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

This book is on a list of "15 Books You Should Read Now" that the New York Times put out recently, maybe their version of a summer reading list that doesn't include what might be considered beach reads. This is an antiracist book, one that demonstrates subtle shifts in attitudes and deeply held beliefs when what you have been taught to believe is contradicted by your life experience, causing a shift in your world view. It is a book with both text and subtext. The text is this: the story opens on Apple Island, named because of the trees once planted there by the first settlers: a runaway slave, Benjamin Honey, and his Irish wife, Patience. A hundred years later, their descendants get by on scraps of food and tobacco from the mainland. The governor of Maine resolves to evict them from their inherited land, apparently for the sake of “humanity and public health”. The outcome is just what you would expect. The subtext is more subtle. Midway in the story that spans more than a century, we meet a white racist missionary teacher, Matthew Diamond, who wants to teach Latin and Shakespeare to the island’s racially diverse residents. His views are changed by what he experiences there in a nuanced and believable way. The reader is left with a lot to think about as well as a well told tale

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, New Zealand

This is the best art museum on the south island, and of all the museums we went to on our recent trip to New Zealand, it is the one that has the most contemporary art. Some things were so recent that the paint was barely dry! The building itself is as contemporary as the art--it has a glass dominated fascade that curves much like the Avon River, which flows through Christchurch, containing 9 galleries. It is a work of art itself. The Māori name, Te Puna o Waiwhetū, relates to the life-giving properties of the artesian spring on which the Gallery is built and the museum's role in contributing to the cultural wellbeing of the community--the no defunct university campus across the street has several spaces that have been repurposed for artists to create and show their work.

The emphasis on New Zealand, with its mixed Maori and European heritage, is very clear and interesting to behold. All signs are in both Maori and English--it reminded me of Canada, where roughly 20% of the nation is French-speaking, but throughout all signs are bilingual. About 18% of New Zealanders identify as Maori, and many do not speak Maori as a first language, but it is a way to keep Maori alive, as well as celebrated. This was a great introduction to art in New Zealand as well as a lesson on how to embrace a diverse heritage in a former colony.

In This Place by Amanda Gorman

There’s a poem in this place— in the footfalls in the halls in the quiet beat of the seats. It is here, at the curtain of day, where America writes a lyric you must whisper to say. There’s a poem in this place— in the heavy grace, the lined face of this noble building, collections burned and reborn twice. There’s a poem in Boston’s Copley Square where protest chants tear through the air like sheets of rain, where love of the many swallows hatred of the few. There’s a poem in Charlottesville where tiki torches string a ring of flame tight round the wrist of night where men so white they gleam blue— seem like statues where men heap that long wax burning ever higher where Heather Heyer blooms forever in a meadow of resistance. There’s a poem in the great sleeping giant of Lake Michigan, defiantly raising its big blue head to Milwaukee and Chicago— a poem begun long ago, blazed into frozen soil, strutting upward and aglow. There’s a poem in Florida, in East Texas where streets swell into a nexus of rivers, cows afloat like mottled buoys in the brown, where courage is now so common that 23-year-old Jesus Contreras rescues people from floodwaters. There’s a poem in Los Angeles yawning wide as the Pacific tide where a single mother swelters in a windowless classroom, teaching black and brown students in Watts to spell out their thoughts so her daughter might write this poem for you. There's a lyric in California where thousands of students march for blocks, undocumented and unafraid; where my friend Rosa finds the power to blossom in deadlock, her spirit the bedrock of her community. She knows hope is like a stubborn ship gripping a dock, a truth: that you can’t stop a dreamer or knock down a dream. How could this not be her city su nación our country our America, our American lyric to write— a poem by the people, the poor, the Protestant, the Muslim, the Jew, the native, the immigrant, the black, the brown, the blind, the brave, the undocumented and undeterred, the woman, the man, the nonbinary, the white, the trans, the ally to all of the above and more? Tyrants fear the poet. Now that we know it we can’t blow it. We owe it to show it not slow it although it hurts to sew it when the world skirts below it. Hope— we must bestow it like a wick in the poet so it can grow, lit, bringing with it stories to rewrite— the story of a Texas city depleted but not defeated a history written that need not be repeated a nation composed but not yet completed. There’s a poem in this place— a poem in America a poet in every American who rewrites this nation, who tells a story worthy of being told on this minnow of an earth to breathe hope into a palimpsest of time— a poet in every American who sees that our poem penned doesn’t mean our poem’s end. There’s a place where this poem dwells— it is here, it is now, in the yellow song of dawn’s bell where we write an American lyric we are just beginning to tell.

Street Corn and Bacon Pizza

We, like thousands of others, got a pizza oven during the pandemic and my spouse went about perfecting his pizza dough game. We have settled on a 48-72 hour dough that has such good flavor and texture that while we get pizza out, it has become consistently disappointing. The very best pizza outside our house is equivalent to the worst of what we make at home. This pizza topping combo was the hands down winner amongst the adults at our last pizza dinner at home. It is simple and so so good! 1 pizza dough 4 slices bacon 1 ear fresh sweet corn on the cob, husked 1 jalapeno, sliced into rings, seeds removed or not, your choice About 1/4 of a medium red onion, sliced with the grain 1/3 cup mayonnaise 1/3 cup full fat Greek yogurt or sour cream 4 ounces crumbled cotija cheese (This Mexican cheese is very similar to feta only without the brine) 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 fresh lime, to squeeze over pizza after it is baked Cilantro, to top pizza after it is baked Flour and corn meal to prepare crust Use the pizza dough you are going to use, and prep it as you would. Cut up the bacon and cook until almost done. Leave heat on medium high and add whole corn cob to skillet and cook for about five minutes, turning to brown all sides. Remove to paper towels. Once cool enough to handle, cut corn from cob and place corn in a small bowl. Set aside. Add jalapeno and onion and cook until no longer raw but not quite cooked, about 1-2 minutes. Remove to a bowl. In a small bowl mix yogurt or sour cream with mayonnaise and set aside. Spread ½ cup of the mayonnaise mixture onto the dough, going to within a half inch from the edge. Place the remaining mixture into a squeeze bottle to squeeze over the top of the baked pizza. If you do not have a squeeze bottle, cut the tip off of a sandwich bag, fill with mixture and use that in place of the bottle. Top the sauce with half of the bacon, corn, jalapeno, onion and all of the garlic. Then top with all of the cotija cheese and finish with the remaining bacon, corn, jalapeno and onion. Sprinkle chili powder over of the whole pizza then slide onto the pizza stone. Cook as usual, until the crust starts leoparding. Remove. Squeeze lime juice over the pizza as well as sprinkling with cilantro. Drizzle with the mayonnaise mixture and serve.

Flight Paths by Rebecca Heisman

I saw the author speak as a key note speaker at the San Diego Bird Festival right before this book was published, and she is a great speaker, one who should be considered for a variety of different events, because the story of bird migration and resiliency is one that could fit a lot of different professions. I think while it is billed as great for avid birders, in some ways it is more amazing for people who know almost nothing about birds. The modern technology for tracking migratory birds can sound like something out of science fiction—for example, analyzing the hydrogen isotopes of a single feather from a bird can indicate the breeding range of that particular species. Weather data can show their migration patterns on radar, and minuscule devices can be implanted under feathers, using the movement of the sun to determine their location. Earlier techniques, on the other hand, bordered on the mystical: moon-watching parties, for example, where ornithologists would spend hours with a telescope, waiting for a bird to fly across the full moon. The author creates a skillful and accessible narrative about how we research and understand bird migration, from the first birds ever to be banded to current methodologies. As the author shows, community science, where people who track birds as a hobby contribute essential data, is more important than ever in the current era of dramatic climate change. I hope this gets more people than ever downloading eBird and adding to the body of living knowledge about birds!

The Streets of Christchurch, New Zealand

Happy Canada Day! The three countries besides the United States the British colonized that were largely unpopulated when they arrived are all worth visiting, and are populated by very nice people, much nicer and friendlier than my own country (especially if you consider I am a native of one and a visitor in the others).

Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island, and unlike Queenstown, it is largely flat and not a mix of residential and commercial. We stayed in a late 19th century house that is now a bed and breakfast and right across the street from the art museum. The old houses in the neighborhood have not been engulfed by high rises or businesses.

There is a lot of public art on the streets, and I recommend walking everywhere.