Sol Maria

Supruli Georgian Choir at the Golden Festival in Brooklyn

2012-01-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

Sol's Aunt Molly's son Desmond on Halloween

2011-11-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Desmond was a horsey for Halloween. I remember going trick or treating with Sol Maria at Mesa Houses with Lisi.

Molly Reads to Desmond

2011-09-07T16:33:00.000-07:00

Molly is Sol's aunt, but really more like a sister. We wish Sol could see Desmond, who is a beautiful little boy and who LOVES books.
Dezh's uncle Peter gave him Tolan's old puppy robot.
Desmond calls all four legged creatures "moos". This is his visit to the Farm Animal Sanctuary in Willow, right across the valley from our house.

In the Days when Sol Maria had a Father

2011-05-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

Going through my old photos I find many of Ezra and Sol so happy together. It is hard to believe that they cannot see each other now. Why is that? Is it fair to either of them? Who determines what Solmaria does or doesn't do? Who determines whom she sees?

Gioconda Belli on Grit TV

2011-04-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

Many years ago Gioconda Belli was interviewed for Bomb Magazine by Kenia Halleck, Sol Maria's mother. This is a recent interview conducted by Laura Flanders on Grit TV on the occasion of the publication of Belli's new book.

From a Grandmother with a similar problem

2011-04-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Pat Hanson

I am an Invisible Grandparent. I have two grandchildren that, I have been kept from seeing. Writing letters helped heal the hole in my heart that not being able to grandparent caused. In the last three years I have written dozens, in hopes that someday, these children who are part of my gene pool will read them. I have also written others I have no intention of ever sending in order to free myself of negative energy and work toward forgiveness of both myself and others.

http://invisiblegrandparent.com/

Easter time

2011-04-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

When we lived in San Diego, Easter time was a big deal for Molly and Sol. They both received Easter baskets from the Easter bunny and later we made hot crossed buns.

2011-04-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here's Molly's partner Shaw with one of Tovey's rabbits. I always think of Solmaria and her rabbit when Easter rolls around. I wonder where she is and I hope she is having a joyful springtime!

Happy Birthday, Sol Maria

2011-02-14T10:30:00.001-08:00

Ezra's Concert in Kingston, New York

2011-01-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

This reminds me of Sol's playing!

2010-12-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

I saw this delightful piece the other night on NBC news. I watched it with tears in my eyes. It so brought back the lovely music which Solmaria used to play. It made me recall the many evenings sitting around their apartment while Ezra tried to coax Sol to practice. (And the way that Kenia would try to seduce her to watch telenovelas instead!)
Either Ezra or I would drive Sol to her various violin teachers. I recall taking my father Fred along and seeing him cry while listening to the lovely music she could make. She had a natural talent and a passion for the music. I recall once after particularly strenuous urging by Ezra to begin her practice I saw tears in Sol's eyes. I asked her if Ezra's emphatic urging had made her cry. She shook her head and burst out: "No, DeeDee. it's Mozart! the music is so beautiful it makes me cry!"

When Kenia tried to take Sol to Spain to meet her lover, Ezra and I had already registered Sol for a lovely music camp for young girls that summer that friends of mine ran. Instead of going there Sol stayed in Wellesley and Kenia went to Spain for her tryst.

I just hope that Sol hasn't stopped playing where ever she is.

This is the camp she missed out on: Village Harmony

Ezra and Fritzi

2010-11-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

Sol Maria's father, Ezra with his aunt, Fritzi, a nurse in the Bay Area.

El Pais de las Mujeres-- Gioconda Belli

2010-10-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

Nicaraguan Children Discuss Global Warming and Hunger

2010-10-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Arturo Zamora was the coordinator of this project. I met him in 1984 where he was director of the Midinra Communications (at the Agrarian Reform Program of Jaime Wheelock.) I hope that Sol Maria connects with projects such as this ecological video project!

Azar and Dezh

2010-10-01T08:03:00.000-07:00

Azar is Shawheen's mother and she has a lovely way with babies. She visited when Desmond was one month old in August.

Sol's new cousin, Desmond Zaal Hazrati

2010-07-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

School Lunches

2010-05-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is an article from The Indypendent, the NY based newspaper. It made me recall all the wonderful lunches that Ezra made for Sol when she was going into school in San Diego. He kept a great garden so Sol could have fresh vegetables. He would get up early and clean, cut and chop carrots, sprouts and other healthy food and carefully prepare her lunch bag.

This article spells out just how terrible most school lunches are.

DeeDee

JAMIE OLIVER'S FOOD REVOLUTION

You’ve never seen a school lunch like this one, made with hydroponic vegetables and free-range chicken by a brash British superchef. Not that the elementary schoolchildren care. Most sing-song “Pizza!” when given a choice between the gourmet grub and the reheated factory-made frozen pizza. At the end of the lunch period, a mound of chicken sits untouched, and even more is dumped into the trash after a few wary nibbles.

That much we do know from watching Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” reality TV series now airing on ABC. But we’re not supposed to know that Jamie is substituting high-end foodstuffs that normally grace three-star restaurants for the cheap, institutional fare dished out in public schools like West Virginia’s Central City Elementary School, the setting for the first two episodes.

At the end of one episode, we hear Rhonda McCoy, director of food services for the local county, tell Jamie that he’s over budget and did not meet the fat content and calorie guidelines, but she’s going to let him continue with the “revolution” as long as he addresses these issues. What is not revealed is that the “meal cost at Central City Elementary during television production more than doubled with ABC Productions paying the excess expense,” according to a document obtained by AlterNet from the West Virginia Department of Education.

Jamie landed on America’s shores with the self-anointed mission to remake our eating habits for the better. Ground zero is Huntington, West Virginia. In an opening montage we are told the city of 50,000 “was recently named the unhealthiest city in America … where nearly half of the adults are considered obese” as we see lardy folk shuffle through the frame.

While Jamie’s efforts touch on many problems of school food — from overuse of processed foods to lack of funding to French fries being considered a vegetable — the “Food Revolution” is a failure because the entertainment narrative is unable to deal with complexities or systemic issues. Instead, all problems are reduced to individual stories and choices. The series may sprinkle some facts and hot-button issues into the mix, but what keeps the viewer hungering for more is the personal dramas, conflicts and weepy moments that are the staples of reality TV.

Because Jamie is packaged as a one-man whirlwind, tangling with “lunch lady Alice” while “Stirn’ things oop,” there is no mention of the existing, deep-rooted movement for local, healthy food from the farm to the market to the table, as well as schools. It’s also more fun and shocking to “slag off” a poor school district in Appalachia for serving pizza and flavored milk for breakfast than to examine how West Virginia has imposed some of the strictest school nutritional standards in the nation. But that’s entertainment.

The reality behind “Food Revolution” is that after the first two months of the new meals, children were overwhelmingly unhappy with the food, milk consumption plummeted and many students dropped out of the school lunch program, which one school official called “staggering.” On top of that food costs were way over budget, the school district was saddled with other unmanageable expenses, and Jamie’s failure to meet nutritional guidelines had school officials worried they would lose federal funding and the state department of education would intervene.

In short, the “Food Revolution” has flunked out. At Central City Elementary, where Jamie burst in with loads of fanfare, expense and energy, the school has reintroduced the regular school menu and flavored milk because the “Food Revolution” meals were so unpopular. In what looks like a face-saving gesture, Jamie’s menu remains as a lunchtime option, but given the negative student response, don’t be surprised if it’s quietly phased out by next school year. (You can see both menushere.)

Ultimately, Jamie picked the wrong target. Dr. Carole Harris, who along with Dr. Drew Bradlyn evaluated student responses at Central City Elementary to the “Food Revolution” program, says factors such as sedentary lifestyles, fast-food consumption, family meal patterns and junk-food advertising aimed at children are “a much bigger problem than food served in schools.”

Jan Poppendieck, author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, agrees that individual schools and districts are not the root of the problem. She says children who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) “are more likely to eat healthy food” than kids who don’t. Participating children are more likely to consume “low or nonfat milk, fruits, vegetables and less likely to consume desserts, snack foods, juice drinks and carbonated soda at lunch” than students who do not eat the federally subsidized lunches.

Still, there is an opportunity here. About 31.3 million schoolchildren a day participate in the NSLP, which served 5.2 billion meals in 2009 (62.5 percent of the participants qualified for free or near-free meals). Many school systems are doing what they can, but school lunches are a sorry affair, as Ed Bruske of the Slow Cook blog chronicled in one school. Using fresh, local foodstuff to remake school meals based on the most nutritious fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains could dramatically improve our society’s eating habits, health, and agricultural and food system.

To his credit, Jamie bases his menu on these foods, but it drove students away. It shows the fatal flaw in his plan. By replacing French fries with broccoli you can’t expect to change the whole school lunch system. Students are not being given a choice between a mediocre lunch and fresh, organic cuisine. It’s between a mediocre lunch and junk food. No one behind the show wants to confront this reality because ABC, Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest (one of the producers) all profit handsomely from the processed and junk-food industry either through advertising — more than $15 billion in 2008 from just 15 food companies — or in the case of Oliver, endorsements.

If Jamie and Co. wanted to make a real difference they should go after the fast-food industry and abominations like the KFC “Double Down,” a breadless sandwich composed of two fried chicken cutlets piled with bacon, cheese and “Colonel’s Sauce.” Then again, a recent issue of the Jamie Magazine reportedly features a “wholesome” school meal of “tuna Waldorf pita with hot vanilla milk, an oaty biscuit, and a banana” that has 643 more calories and 23 grams more fat (pdf) than a Double Down.

To source, cook and get children to eat fresh, healthy local food we would need to double school food funding, get schoolchildren involved in growing and cooking their own food, ban junk-food advertising, slap a health tax on fast food, shift agribusiness subsidies to small, community-controlled farms, provide proper health care and nutrition education, and promote social and cultural changes in how American families exercise and approach, prepare and eat food. Then most children (and adults) would probably make healthy choices. But this would require a real revolution, not one manufactured for television.

Fat Mountain

The mantra of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” is choice. But America’s ever-expanding waistline is caused by systemic issues: widespread poverty, sedentary lifestyles, junk-food advertising, a lack of health care, corporate control of the food system, the prevalence of cheap fast food, food designed to be addictive, and subsidies and policies that make meats and sugars cheaper than whole fruits and vegetables.

These factors make choice more of a construct. Many people opt for flavor-intense, highly processed, calorie-dense food because it’s cheaper, easier and more fulfilling than cooking healthy foods from scratch. And there’s no one helping to educate them and help modify their behaviors and habits because there is much more profit in the huge diet industry and obesity-related diseases than in prevention.

Jamie does try to tackle this problem by opening up a kitchen in Huntington with free cooking classes. Being reality TV, however, it’s also used as a ploy to roll out the Edwards family — presumably the tubbiest folks in town — by trying to teach them healthy cooking. The “Food Revolution” found a family desperate enough for help and covetous enough of fame that they allow Jamie to pile into a mound their gruesome diet of pizza, bacon, pancakes, burgers, corndogs, eggs, fruit pies, brownies, cheese, biscuits, chips, fries, donuts and chicken nuggets.

The show unleashes a deluge of crushed emotions, culture and families sluicing through fat river with the high point being the golden-brown grease pyramid the parents and four kids consume weekly, spawning a 12-year-old child who weighs 350 pounds. It’s a warmed-over intervention narrative: set-up, confrontation, confession, breakdown and makeover. Take marginal people, make them feel shitty about themselves, offer redemption and serve it up to millions of viewers.

Seated before the summit of fat, Jamie admonishes Stacie, the mom, “This stuff goes through you and your family’s body every week. And I need you to know that this is going to kill your childrens early [sic].” As plaintive guitar music cues up, Jamie asks, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m just feeling really sad and depressed right now,” a tearful Stacie responds. “I want my kids to succeed in life and this isn’t going to get them there. … But I’m killing them. … Seeing that food scares me, to think that I’m opening my kids to a world of failure.”

The scenes with another morbidly obese teenager, Brittany, are just cynical. A student at Huntington High School, she reveals in the third episode that doctors have told her she has “spots” on her liver and has perhaps seven years to live. The show tugs your heartstrings as she breaks down repeatedly, citing Jamie as her last, best hope. Never mind his luscious cuisine is the last thing she needs. If Jamie really wanted to help, he could part with a smidgen of his $60 million fortune that he has amassed while building an Oprah-like media empire and pay for intensive counseling, behavioral modification, gastric bypass surgery and follow-up care, which is probably the only way to save Brittany’s life.

Interestingly, the “Food Revolution” replicates another ABC show dealing with food, health and fitness — the 2006 “Shaq’s Big Challenge.” What these shows and the whole makeover genre do, argue scholars Laurie Ouellette and James Hay, is remake social welfare within a “market logic that values entrepreneurialism, mass customization and profit accumulation” so that “people who are floundering can and must be taught to develop and maximize their capacities for normalcy, happiness, material stability, and success rather than rely on a public ’safety net.’”

‘Breakfast Pizza’

The manipulation of the Edwards family, Brittany and viewers’ emotions might be forgiven if the show was really going to change our food system, but it is not. The school food system does need a complete overhaul, but many school districts are trying to make the best of a bad situation, which Jamie never acknowledges. Given severe funding constraints and conflicting guidelines, there is an economic and nutritional logic to serving pizza and flavored milk for breakfast, as we see Central City Elementary do in the very first episode.

Richard J. Goff, the executive director of West Virginia’s Office of Child Nutrition, says, “The pizza is not pizza like you’d purchase from a Wal-Mart or Kroger, it’s made with low-fat cheese and a whole wheat crust.”

Dr. Harris, co-director of West Virginia University’s Health Research Center, says, “The standard school foods they show are far healthier than they appear. The French fries are baked, not fried. The pizza and other breads are typically made with whole grain products. But these are not necessarily highlighted to students.”

That the school serves breakfast in the first place is an example of West Virginia’s efforts to raise the standards. Goff says it “is the first state in the nation to have a breakfast program mandate that breakfast must be offered to children in all schools.” He also points out that in 2008 the state enacted “the most progressive nutrition standards in the nation,” which were drawn up by the Institute of Medicine. West Virginia has also removed soda sales during the school day, except for two counties out of 55 that allow it in high schools. Goff adds there are no outside vendors and “we do not permit a la carte sales.”

Author Jan Poppendieck explains that a la carte food “undermines the nutritional integrity of school meals.” She says kids “can pick at the parts of school lunch they feel like eating and then fill up with pastries. They have on their tray a meal that has been planned to meet nutrition standards, but then they can buy candy, and research shows that they do. Children who were in school without a la carte options ate more of the official lunch.”

So even though these kids are eating “breakfast pizza” with “luminous pink” milk, it’s probably more nutritious than what they would eat otherwise, assuming their parents were even able to feed them breakfast. The median household income in the city of Huntington is about 55 percent of the U.S. average. We never learn that a phenomenal 86 percent (pdf) of the children at Central City Elementary qualify for free or near-free meals because of widespread poverty.

These schools are being blamed for being on the end of a broken-down system. Jamie never says a word about McDonald’s, junk-food advertising aimed at children, or how the corporate control of food is squeezing out the very small, local producers he claims to value so much. Perhaps it’s because he pockets nearly $2 million a year shilling for Sainsbury’s, one of the largest grocers in the United Kingdom. One critic blasts Jamie for pushing “ready-made foods” while “there is little evidence of his stardust” at Sainsbury’s, chock full of “hundreds of lines of salty, sugary, fatty foods.”

Customers or Students?

Another reason Central City Elementary uses processed foods is budgeting issues. The federal government reimburses schools a paltry $2.68 for lunches and $1.46 for breakfasts (pdf) for children who qualify as long as the food meets specific guidelines. Goff, of the Office of Child Nutrition, says in Cabell County, where the elementary school is located, “they are cooking from scratch 50 percent of the time.” He adds that “50 percent of the cost to produce a meal is in the form of labor. It’s kind of hard to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables. You pay a premium for those.”

Poppendieck says after school districts pay for labor, equipment, administration, transport, storage and other expenses, it leaves them with “somewhere between 85 cents and a dollar” for the actual ingredients for lunches. For breakfast, even assuming a generous ratio for purchasing ingredients, Central City has perhaps 60 cents to buy the food for a government-approved, reimbursable meal. Try buying breakfast for 60 cents; it won’t even get you a Snickers bar.

The way the school food program is structured, the federal government only reimburses schools for what they actually serve. Goff says in West Virginia, “Participation in our program drives funding. … You have to prepare foods and menus that children are going to eat or you’re defeating the purpose.” Boosting student participation increases food budgets in two ways: it lowers the costs of meals by creating greater economies of scale, and more meals sold mean a higher percentage of money can go toward purchasing food ingredients because labor, equipment and administration are mostly fixed costs.

This leads school systems to try to maximize revenue by catering to children’s tastes formed by the fast-food industry, which is why there are so many burgers, chicken nuggets, fries and pizza on the menu. Poppendieck says because schools are in the “situation of selling food to children rather than having it as a regular part of the day,” they treat students as “customers,” driving “the menu toward what appeals to kids.”

As one solution, she proposes making school lunches free for all students. Another would be to increase the reimbursement rate. The Child Nutrition Act currently before the Senate would increase amount of funding by an “extra 6 cents per meal per student for schools that meet new, stricter nutrition guidelines.” That’s right, a whole 6 cents. Poppendieck says this could backfire because “raising the standards without increasing the amount of resources may drive schools out of the program.”

As it turns out, Jamie’s “Food Revolution” is not so different from normal school fare. A complete breakdown of the first three weeks of his lunch meals included Beef Stew, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Sloppy Joes, Beef Goulash, Beef Stroganoff, Double Thick Cheesy Pizza and Beefy Nachos. So much for healthy eating.

Food Fit for Pets
Then there are liability issues. If a child is sickened by food cooked in the school, the school district is legally responsible. But by reheating factory-made food, the school can push the liability “upstream,” making the processor liable for any illnesses. School food service directors tell Poppendieck they “feel that meat has become more dangerous, and they’re not sure if the schools have the equipment or controls to properly cook the meats.” This is backed up by a series of articles in USA Today that found fast-food companies “are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens” than the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the feds have kept school officials in the dark about specific food product warnings and failed to shut down contaminated plants; and in the last decade the USDA spent $145 million for “spent-hen meat” for school lunches that is normally used for pet food and compost.

There is another liability issue. School meals must meet two sets of standards to be reimbursable. One, they must provide a minimum amount of proteins, minerals, vitamins and calories. Two, meals must contain a maximum of 30 percent of calories from fat and 10 percent from saturated fat. (The first set of standards was established during WWII when there was a fear of shortages; the second was put in place during the ’80s when fat-phobia came into fashion.) This creates an incentive for schools to purchase processed foods from government-approved manufacturers because the companies are the ones held liable if the foods don’t meet nutritional standards.

Poppendieck says this bureaucratic maze “creates a difficult situation … where technical and legal compliance are counter to intent. Food service directors all over the country have told me they were taken to task by their state administrators for being a few calories short, and even hit with financial penalties.” She says this is another reason why schools “end up opting for less healthy requirements.”

Drink Your Flavored Milk

Flavored milk stands out as one of those less healthy requirements. Jamie Oliver directs much of his ire toward the chocolate milk and the pink milk, which he repeatedly claims has more sugar than soda. Sounds appalling. Except, Goff says, “That’s not true that flavored milk has more sugar than soft drinks.” He says, “On average, an eight-ounce serving of low-fat chocolate milk contains about four teaspoons of added sugar, while an equivalent amount of soft drink contains seven teaspoons.” Goff adds that a cup of milk does contain almost three more teaspoons of naturally occurring sugar in the form of lactose.

It is disingenuous not to acknowledge nearly half the sugar in milk is lactose. The real scandal is how Jamie’s zero-tolerance policy for flavored milk caused a huge drop in milk consumption. For the two months before the Food Revolution program was introduced, milk consumption at Central City Elementary was 632 units a day. For two months after, it plunged to 472 units a day.

Goff says, “I was upset the most with the flavored milk consumption. The reason they advocate it is it increases the consumption of milk and get the vitamins and nutrients they need. … When students stop drinking milk that’s a great cause of concern. I don’t believe the sugar content is a great cause of concern.” Nonetheless, adds Goff, if there are concerns about children receiving too much sugar from flavored milk, the state can work with processors to lower the amount of sugar.

In what may surprise some, Jan Poppendieck is no absolutist when it comes to flavored milk either. She brings up another important factor, “eating habits.” Fond of chocolate milk as a child, she says “I don’t have all the negative connotations when I see chocolate milk. I would encourage kids to try low-fat unflavored milk, but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to ban chocolate milk from my cafeteria.” She laughs after making this comment, saying it may haunt her for years to come.

There’s also another complexity behind the spread of flavored milk: those dueling nutrition guidelines and lack of funds. If a school district finds a meal has too much fat, it can raise the calorie count to lower the proportion of fat. “The quickest, least expensive fix … is to add sugar,” writes Poppendieck. “Sweetened, flavored milks have become a staple of the cafeteria, and desserts are making a comeback. An additional serving of vegetables, the element in which American diets are most glaringly deficient, would usually fill the calorie gap, but it is beyond the financial reach of most schools.”

Jamie Flunks Out

Turns out that even with an unlimited budget, Jamie was unable to design a menu that provided a minimum number of calories while not exceeding the fat limits. A nutritional analysis of the first three weeks of meals (15 lunches) at Central City Elementary conducted by the West Virginia Board of Education flunked him on both counts. A whopping 80 percent of his lunches exceeded either the total fat or saturated fat allowance, and most of the time both, and 40 percent of his lunches provided too few calories. Although to be fair this may unfortunately be the norm across the country. According to author Jill Richardson, only 6 to 7 percent of schools actually meet all the government’s nutrition standards in their lunches.

On top of that, according to the survey conducted by Dr. Harris and Dr. Bradlyn, “77 percent of the students indicated they were ‘very unhappy’ with the new foods served at school.” During the first two months, the lunch participation rate dropped from 75 percent to 66 percent among surveyed students, and milk drinking evaporated by 25 percent.

Dr. Bradlyn said at least in the short term, “the Food Revolution program did have an impact: it was not what you wanted to see. You wanted to see kids drinking milk and eating a nutritious meal.” Dr. Harris added that as Cabell County “rolled the program out they have seen declines [in participation] in other schools. We don’t know if that’s a short-term decline … But one could say it’s not a great thing.”

Even more troubling, according to Dr. Harris, some teachers who participated in the survey commented “that students were not getting enough to eat.” In numerous scenes in the “Food Revolution” kids who kept trying to eat Jamie’s meals are shown spitting out food or dumping nearly full lunch trays into the bin.

Goff called the declines “staggering.” He expressed concern because “improved test scores, decreased tardies, fewer behavioral problems and improved classroom participation … are all byproducts of increased participation in the school meal program.”

A document from the West Virginia Department of Education indicates Jamie’s escapades put Cabell County’s entire lunch program at risk. It stated: “Noncompliance with meal pattern and nutrient standard requirements may result in a recovery of federal funds.” In plain English, the county could lose a large amount of funding because of the failure to meet the standards.

While Jamie did raise $80,000 to pay for trainers to teach cooks in all of Cabell County’s 28 schools to produce the new menus, a document from the county outlined many other expenses that have not been detailed on the show. Meal preparation required more cooks to the tune of $66,000 a year; each school needed new equipment ranging from $20 containers to $2,945 commercial-grade food processors; the county was paying more for fresher items, such as cooked chicken at an additional 10 cents a serving; schools that rolled over to the new program were unable to use “donated food” from the USDA, valued at $522,974.68 last year, with officials bluntly noting, “The program cannot afford to lose this amount”; and the county was losing purchasing power because it was having difficulty getting the fresh ingredients through the buying cooperative it shares with eight other counties.

In a perverse way, Jamie Oliver has highlighted many of the shortcomings of the U.S. food system. But it was like taking a wrecking ball to a termite-infested house to show the rot inside at the cost of smashing the structure. That he failed to meet the nutritional guidelines, went way over budget and put the school district at risk of losing federal funding is bad enough. The fact that so many children stopped drinking milk, dropped out of the program and appeared to be eating less food, strongly suggests they were worse off under his program. As Cabell County has sidelined his menu it’s more evidence that the “Food Revolution” collapsed at the barricades.

That said, school food could be improved tremendously. But it’s a comment on how bad the broader food system and culture is when studies show kids who participate in the school lunch program are eating healthier food than they would otherwise. One teacher who blogs about school lunches points out that “Lunchables” — a package of highly processed crackers, meat and cheese and candy — have become “standard fare in many lunchboxes across the country.”

Who knows how many kids in Cabell County who dropped out of the lunch program after being turned off by Jamie’s food turned to junk food like Lunchables or even worse options, such as the kids in my high school who would make a meal out of French fries, fruit pies and ice cream.

Some will try to find the silver lining by saying at least Jamie is raising the flawed school food program as a national concern. This is true, but he’s so far done it in a way that gives little understanding of the complexity of the issue. By the time Jamie Oliver has moved on to his million-dollar next project, if he hasn’t already, the teachers, students, parents, farmers, administrators and community activists fighting for a completely new school food system will still be on the ground, doing the hard work. Perhaps Jamie should have focused on how they have been struggling for years on a grassroots Food Revolution, rather than hogging the limelight.

Arun Gupta is a founding editor of The Indypendent newspaper. He is writing a book on the decline of American empire for Haymarket Books.

For more of Arun Gupta’s food-related coverage, read “Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction”from the July 24, 2009 issue of The Indypendent.

Old Friends

2010-03-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

I was at the Left Forum last weekend and ran into Carlos Briggs and his son Gabriel. Carlos and Clara are working on a book about a rabies epidemic in the indigenous region near Surinam in Venezuela. It is caused by bat bites.

Gabriel is living in Brooklyn and has worked as an architect. One of his projects was making a public art project in a vacant lot there. He turned it into a miniature golfcourse for the neighborhood.

From the Daily News:

Move over, Bethpage Black; make room for Bushwick green.

A vacant, garbage-covered lot in Bushwick has been transformed into a miniature golf course - the Putting Lot - for the summer. The volunteer-run course was designed by Brooklyn artists using only recycled materials. "When the recession started, there were a lot of construction projects that just stopped in Bushwick," said Gabriel Fries-Briggs, 23, who dreamed up the unique course.

"All of a sudden, vacant lots became much more apparent around here. We wanted to turn one of them into a community space." Fries-Briggs teamed up with his former college roommate and fellow Bushwick resident Rachel Himmelfarb, 23, to get the project off the ground. The two searched dozens of empty lots in the neighborhood before settling on a parking lot-turned-dumping ground at 12 Wyckoff Ave.

The duo and 20 volunteers worked ten hours a day for four straight days to clear the lot. "Trash was everywhere," said Fries-Briggs. "We unearthed whole toilets. We unearthed a lot of car parts ...wheels, axles and bumpers. We even found a bag of golf balls."

Construction of the nine-hole course took over a month. Each hole was designed by a separate artist with their own take on urban sustainability. Recycled street signs, wildflowers, gutters and even a vintage video game are used as obstacles along the course. The third hole has a water hazard made from an old kiddie pool and more than 100 plastic water bottles. The seventh hole is made entirely from recycled bedroom furniture.

Even the snack bar was constructed using discarded shipping pallets from a warehouse around the corner. "They were so happy to get rid of them they actually drove them over in their forklift," said Himmelfarb. "That's the point, though. We're really trying to reuse things that were going to get thrown away."

More than 200 visitors have made their way to The Putting Lot on the weekends since it opened June 6. Along with a steady flow of Brooklynites, vacationers from as far as Sweden and Turkey have swung by for a quick nine. The Putting Lot will remain open Wednesdays through Sundays until Sept. 6. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids.Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/06/26/2009-06-26_a_lot_o_green_fun_in_minigolf_vacant_bushwick_lot_becomes_course_made_of_recycle.html#ixzz0j1y5lwbk

It was a shock to see Gabriel, who was a boy when he used to come to dinner at Ezra and Kenia's. He was near Sol's age and Kenia would sometimes tease Sol that he was her boyfriend. I remember being quite uncomfortable with the way she would say things like that-- and I know Sol was uncomfortable also. It was a shock to see that Gabe is now a man. It makes me long to see what Solmaria looks like- to see how she has matured.

We all miss Solmaria so much. She was really like a sister to Molly. Their age difference wasn't that great and sometimes they would play together in lovely games. Now Molly is going to have a baby.

Last night Molly spoke on the phone for a long time to her "other sister", Erin. They went on, chattering away, laughing about what it was like being pregnant, what sorts of clothes fit or don't, about gaining weight or not, about the baby moving and kicking. I thought how sad that Molly doesn't have Solmaria to speak with about these things and how sad that Sol can't grow and learn from Molly's experiences. I thought about how important family sharing of experiences are. I resent deeply that Sol has left our family. She was my first grandchild and the loss of her will always haunt me. I hope she thinks of the good times we used to have-- the friends we made and the joys we had together.

Sol Maria's Birthday

2010-02-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is Sol Maria's birthday. Whenever I see a valentine heart I think of her. I miss her terribly and hope someday to see her.

Certain icons always trigger my longing to see her. Another image is rabbits. She was so crazy about rabbits. I dearly wish she could see the delightful baby rabbits that Tovey and Madalyn have!

In this picture they are only a day and a half old. Their eyes aren't open and their little ears are all folded up. They look more like baby rats! But they are soooooo soft. Like the softest silk!

Ezra's Group Supruli Sings at the Golden Festival

2010-01-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

Ernesto Cardenal y los niños

2010-01-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

Video de Arturo Zamora Cortés:
ANOCHE CELBERAMOS LOS 85 AÑOS DE ERNESTO CARDENAL
EL LEYO POEMAS ESCRITOS POR LOS NIÑOS Y NIÑAS CON CANCER
ESTOY SUBIENDO VARIOS VIDEOS INCLUYENDO ESTE, COMO MUESTRA DEL EVENTO
ENVIASELO A LOS POETAS QUE QUIEREN A ERNESTO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBYR6y0u1Pk

Sol's cousin Peter makes a music video for Christmas

2009-12-03T22:14:00.001-08:00

Mercedes Sosa, Who Sang of Argentina’s Turmoil, Dies at 74

2009-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

By LARRY ROHTER
Published: October 5, 2009
Mercedes Sosa, the Argentine folk singer whose politically charged repertory, sung in a powerful, earthy and impassioned alto voice, led her to be known throughout Latin America as “the voice of the voiceless,” died early Sunday in Buenos Aires. She was 74.

La Gaceta, via Reuters
In an undated photograph, Mercedes Sosa, the internationally known Argentine folk singer.
Related
Ms. Sosa at Concert in 1988 (youtube.com)
Ms. Sosa Sings Como la Cigarra (youtube.com)
More Videos of Ms. Sosa (youtube.com)
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Luciano Thieberger/Diarios Y Noticias
Mourners at her coffin in Buenos Aires on Sunday.
Ms. Sosa had been admitted to a hospital in the Argentine capital two weeks ago, suffering from kidney disease and with liver and lung problems. Her death was announced on her Web site and by her son, Fabián Matus, who said: “Mercedes Sosa has lived her 74 years to the fullest. She did practically everything that she wanted to do.”

In a career that spanned 60 years, Ms. Sosa became revered as both a victim of and a commentator on the political and social turmoil that afflicted her country and the rest of the continent. She was one of the pioneers of the “Nueva Canción” or “New Song” movement, a style of socially conscious music drawing on folk elements that first flowered in the 1960s, and enjoyed her biggest commercial success and political influence interpreting songs from that genre, like Violeta Parra’s “Gracias a La Vida” and Horacio Guarany’s “If the Singer Is Silenced.”

“Mercedes Sosa is synonymous with struggle, resistance and freedom,” the newspaper Clarín, Argentina’s leading daily, stated in an online tribute to the singer that will also be part of a special section to be published on Monday. “Traditional and modern, rural and worldly, rough and sophisticated, she was nothing more and nothing less than the most important Argentine singer in history.”

Haydée Mercedes Sosa was born in Tucumán, in northwestern Argentina, on July 9, 1935, the daughter of a day laborer and a washerwoman, and grew up in poverty. One of her grandfathers was a French immigrant, while the other was a Quechua-speaking Indian, and that mestizo background extended to her music, which drew upon and mixed both the Andean and the European song traditions.

Ms. Sosa’s career began at the age of 15 when, singing a song called “I’m Sad” under a pseudonym, she won an amateur hour competition on a local radio station. It was not until 1962, however that she recorded her first full-length album. Over the next decade, Ms. Sosa, also known as La Negra because of her dark hair and Indian features, became more and more popular throughout South America, thanks both to her resonant, expressive voice and to her reliance on songs that commented on the problems and issues of the day.

But after the military seized power in Argentina in 1976 and installed a murderous dictatorship, Ms. Sosa, who was publicly identified with parties of the left, began having political problems and found many of her songs banned from the radio. She complained of being harassed, followed and threatened by police, military and paramilitary forces, and after she was arrested in 1979 and released following international protests, she went into exile, first in Spain and then in France.

She was able to go back to Argentina in 1982, as the hold of the Armed Forces was weakening. But Ms. Sosa’s musical tastes had broadened during her years in exile, and after her return she became an early advocate of and mother figure for a new generation of singer-songwriters whose roots were more in rock ’n’ roll and international pop than traditional or folk music. She quickly added songs by future stars like Charly García and Fito Páez to her repertory, giving their careers and music both credibility and an important commercial boost. She continued to champion emerging young talent until her death.

Ms. Sosa was married to a musician, Manuel Óscar Matus, for eight years, and later lived with Pocho Mazzitelli, who was also her manager, until his death in 1978. Fabián Matus is her only child.

As her international renown expanded, Ms. Sosa seized on opportunities to collaborate with performers outside of Latin America, like Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Andrea Bocelli, Nana Mouskouri and Joan Baez. After touring with Ms. Sosa in Europe in the late 1980s, Ms Baez described her as “monumental in stature, a brilliant singer with tremendous charisma who is both a voice and a persona.”

“I have never seen anything like her,” Ms. Baez added. “As far as performers go, she is simply the best.”

This year, Ms. Sosa released a two-CD set called “Cantora,” or “Singer,” that featured her in duets with more than a dozen Latin American and Spanish singer-songwriters, some of them young enough to be her grandchildren. The roster of participants is a who’s who of contemporary Latin American pop, including Shakira, Julieta Venegas, Caetano Veloso, Joan Manuel Serrat, Joaquín Sabina, Gustavo Cerati, Jorge Drexler and Calle 13. An accompanying DVD has also been released, but hopes for a tour had to be abandoned because of Ms. Sosa’s declining health.

“Cantora” has been nominated for three 2009 Latin Grammy Awards, including best album and best folk recording. Ms. Sosa, who recorded more than 70 albums and CDs, won the Latin Grammy for best folk recording three times, in 2000, 2003 and 2006, and has from the start been considered a favorite to win again at this year’s ceremony, which is to be held in Las Vegas in November.

In recognition of her status as “the nation’s most beloved voice,” as Clarín put it, on Sunday afternoon Ms. Sosa’s body was lying in state at the Argentine Congress building in Buenos Aires. According to Argentine press reports, her body is to be cremated on Monday in a private ceremony.

Outside the Congress building on Sunday, long lines of fans, ranging from artists who admired and copied her to the ordinary people who flocked to her concerts, waited to pay their last respects. “Thank you Negra, for your singing and your struggle,” read the placard one man held aloft.

**********************

Kenia used to play CDs of this wonderful singer. I wonder if Sol and Kenia still listen to this sort of progressive music. I fear that their conservative ideology from the Domino Pizza guy who runs the Ave Maria school will take this amazing woman from their lives. How sad.

What do they think of the contras who were funded by the Domino creep? Do they now love Ronald Reagan?
At least Mercedes Sosa knew a bit about the world and the treachery of billionaires.

Bread and Puppet Circus 2009

2009-10-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

When Sol Maria was young she was in the Bread and Puppet Circus and played her violin for a sideshow. This is a side show from 2009 in which Margo Bloch plays her violin. It's about a student initiative in her school to try to get styrofoam trays and cups eliminated from the school cafeteria. The kids collected $10,000 to buy dishes and a dishwasher to replace the toxic products, but the school officials are in cahoots with the incinerator company and don't want to change. This is the side show that Nadine Bloch, Margo Bloch, Iolanthe Boneham Brooks and Helen Finagar produced.

Here is the opening of the circus, 2009!

Nicaraguan History

2009-08-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

I wonder what Sol is learning about Nicaraguan history?

The Weaving Porch

2009-07-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Xena, Molly and Io made this rug.
Every year we have a big get together in the summer. Sol Maria was present at several of these parties. For our annual 4th of July party this year, Molly and I set up a loom for the guests to weave. It took Molly two days to warp it, but it was a great experience for all!
This is Iolanthe's rug:
This is Molly's rug:
Tolan started weaving after everyone left Willow.
Tolan kept weaving deep into the night. This is his rug:

Sol's Grandfather Plays Schubert

2009-06-27T18:03:00.001-07:00

Playing chamber music at the Sheerar Museum, Stillwater, Oklahoma
The Sheerar Museum and the St. Cecilia Federated Music Club began a series of Cool Classics chamber music concerts on Friday.

Sol's grandfather loves chamber music and played in many groups when Ezra, Sol's father was a boy. Sol played violin very well for many years, starting when she was about four. She had a great natural talent.

June 17 passed

2009-06-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

No word from Sol Maria on Ezra's birthday. And Father's Day coming up.

Gioconda Belli: EL DISCURSO DE OBAMA

2009-06-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sol's mother, Kenia Halleck, once did an interview with Gioconda Belli for Bomb Magazine.
This is a recent article by Belli about Obama
Por Gioconda Belli

Tras siglos de iniquidad, ¿es posible comenzar de nuevo? ¿Puede la historia hacer borrón y cuenta nueva? Por mucho que uno quisiera creerlo, la experiencia nos habla de lo lento que cicatrizan los agravios en la piel de los pueblos. En los pueblos oprimidos, traicionados, casi que se viene al mundo genéticamente modificado para ser desconfiado y no creer en promesas. Si algún día, superada esa tendencia, se vuelve a creer, y reincide la desilusión, es difícil recuperar ya la fe y el optimismo. El que se quema con leche, no sólo la cuajada sopla, como decimos nosotros; el que se quema con leche, ve una vaca y llora, como dicen en Argentina. A pesar de esto hay que reconocer que la esperanza es testaruda. La humanidad ha creído en los cambios una y otra vez. Ha sido la convicción en su propia capacidad de transformar y transformarse la que la ha hecho remontar enormes tragedias. “Rellenamos el cráter de las bombas/Y de nuevo cantamos/Y de nuevo sembramos/ porque jamás la vida se declara vencida”, dice un poema anónimo vietnamita. Y es que la vida no florece en la desconfianza; se estanca. Es innegable que las trincheras cumplen una función, pero no se puede vivir eternamente atrincherado. Por mucho miedo que produzca la idea de dejar el refugio, uno tiene que atreverse a salir a la hora del cese al fuego y mirar de frente las oportunidades.

El discurso del presidente Barack Obama en la Universidad del Cairo el 4 de Junio, me hizo preguntarme si la humanidad no estará en este momento de la historia frente a una de esas raras oportunidades que merecen, no sólo el beneficio de la duda, sino el respaldo decidido de un impulso que potencie la voluntad de este presidente en particular de corregir el rumbo equivocado de décadas de historia.

Entre todos los presidentes norteamericanos de los últimos tiempos, Barack Obama sobresale, no sólo por el color de su piel, sino por su experiencia de vida. Este hombre no sólo ha experimentado en carne propia la discriminación racial; sino que también sabe cómo es y qué significa vivir en el Tercer Mundo. Hasta su discurso en El Cairo, muchos como yo hemos estado observándolo cauta y calladamente, antes de decidirnos a afirmar categóricamente un juicio positivo. Después de esa intervención, sin embargo, a mí al menos no me quedan dudas de que Obama está apostando a dar un golpe de timón serio en la política exterior norteamericana. Es obvio que un discurso es un discurso, pero también es cierto que la manera en que fue pronunciado y el contexto de éste, lo convierten, según mi opinión, es una suerte de manifiesto de la administración Obama, no sólo sobre el Medio Oriente, sino sobre los principios que él aspira imprimir a la relación de Estados Unidos con el resto del mundo. Que lo logre o no depende tanto de sus enemigos internos –por el momento en minoría en el Congreso y el Senado-, como de sus interlocutores internacionales.

Quiero resaltar aquí algunos aspectos de su contenido y señalar por qué afirmo que es un giro de timón a tener en cuenta, pues como sucede en muchos discursos, éste está lleno de claves que al buen entendedor no pueden pasarle desapercibidos, en cuanto que, viniendo de un presidente norteamericano, muchas de estas afirmaciones denotan un cambio sustantivo de enfoque y actitud vis a vis el Tercer Mundo. A continuación indico primero el contexto y transcribo las citas que me parecieron importantes.

Al inicio, tras referirse a los siglos de tensiones por las guerras religiosas entre Occidente y el Islam dice: “luego las tensiones se alimentaron del colonialismo que le negó derechos y oportunidades a muchos Musulmanes y de la Guerra Fría donde los países de mayoría Musulmana fueron muy a menudo tratados como peones sin ninguna consideración para con sus propias aspiraciones.”

Sobre Estados Unidos: “Así como los Musulmanes no caben en crudos estereotipos, Estados Unidos no es el crudo estereotipo de un imperio velando sólo por sus propios intereses. Los Estados Unidos han sido una de las mayores fuentes de progreso que el mundo ha conocido. Nacimos de una revolución contra un imperio…”

Sobre la interdependencia entre las naciones: Dada nuestra mutua dependencia, cualquier orden mundial que eleve una nación o grupo de gente por encima de otro, fracasará inevitablemente. Así que sea lo que sea que pensemos del pasado, no debemos ser prisioneros de éste. Debemos abordar nuestros problemas como socios; el progreso debe de ser compartido.

Sobre Irak: Citó a Thomas Jefferson, que dijo: “Espero que con nuestra poder, crezca nuestra sabiduría de manera que aprendamos que nuestro poder será mayor en la medida en que menos lo usemos” Y añadió: “Hoy América tiene una doble responsabilidad: ayudar a Irak a forjarse un mejor futuro y dejarle Irak a los Iraquíes.”

Reiteró la colaboración con Israel, pero añadió: “Por otro lado, es innegable que el pueblo Palestino –Musulmán y Cristiano- ha sufrido en la búsqueda de una Patria. Por más de sesenta años han soportado el dolor de la dislocación. Muchos esperan en campos de refugiados en la Ribera Oeste, Gaza y tierras aledañas por la vida de paz y seguridad que nunca han podido vivir. Soportan las diarias humillaciones –pequeñas y grandes- que resultan de la ocupación. De manera que no quepa la menor duda: la situación del pueblo Palestino es intolerable. América no dará la espalda a las legítimas aspiraciones de dignidad, oportunidad y un estado propio del pueblo Palestino….la resolución es que las aspiraciones de ambas partes sean realizadas a través de dos estados, en los cuales Israelitas y Palestinos puedan vivir en paz y seguridad.

Sobre los armamentos nucleares: “Hemos llegado a un momento decisivo….Entiendo las protestas de quienes argumentan que unos pueblos tienen armas nucleares y otros no. Ninguna nación por sí sola tendría que poder elegir qué otra nación pueda o no poseer armas nucleares. Por eso es que reafirmo el compromiso de América de lograr un mundo donde ninguna nación posea armas nucleares.”

Sobre la democracia: “Déjenme decirlo claramente: Ninguna sistema de gobierno puede o debe ser impuesto a una nación por otra nación. Esto no resta de mi compromiso con los países donde el gobierno refleja la voluntad popular. Cada nación da vida a sus principios a su manera, en base a sus propias tradiciones. América no quiere presumir de saber qué es lo mejor para todos… Pero tengo la profunda convicción de que los pueblos quieren ciertas cosas: quieren la libertad de expresarse y opinar sobre la manera en que desean ser gobernados, quieren tener confianza en que se respeten las leyes y se administre la justicia de igual manera para todos, quieren un gobierno transparente que no robe lo que le pertenece al pueblo, quieren tener la libertad de elegir. Estas no son sólo ideas Americanas, son derechos humanos y por eso es que nosotros los apoyaremos en cualquier parte…. Hay quienes invocan la democracia sólo cuando están fuera del poder; una vez que llegan al poder son implacables en suprimir los derechos de los demás. No importa donde se asiente, el gobierno del pueblo exige un estándar a quienes ostentan el poder: deben mantener su poder por consenso, no coerción; deben respetar el derecho de las minorías y participar con espíritu de tolerancia y compromiso, deben colocar el interés popular y el funcionamiento legítimo del proceso político por encima de sus propios partidos. Sin estos ingredientes, las elecciones por sí mismas no hacen la verdadera democracia”

Para terminar, entre otras cosas dijo: “Todos nosotros compartimos el mundo por un breve instante en el tiempo. El asunto es si escogemos ese tiempo para permanecer concentrados en lo que nos separa, o si nos comprometemos en el esfuerzo –en el esfuerzo sostenido- de encontrar coincidencias y de concentrarnos en el futuro que aspiramos para nuestros hijos y en el respeto a la dignidad de todos los seres humanos.”

En lo que tengo de vida, jamás había oído yo a un Presidente norteamericano dejar de lado la arrogancia de esta manera; admitir no sólo las secuelas del colonialismo, sino la instrumentalización que tanto EEUU, como la URSS hicieron de los países árabes y del África. Me pareció significativo que exaltara el hecho de que los EEUU hubiesen surgido de la rebelión contra un imperio y más significativo me pareció la manera reiterada en que rechazó la idea de que una nación se coloque por encima de las demás, que decida quién tiene armas nucleares o no, o que imponga a otros su sistema de gobierno. Irak debe dejarse a los iraquíes, dijo, al tiempo que lamentó la permanencia de EEUU en Afganistán. Su apoyo y claridad en cuanto al asunto Palestino fue meridiana; reconoció el sufrimiento del pueblo Palestino, llamó ocupación a la ocupación, pidió el cese de los asentamientos y el reconocimiento del derecho del pueblo Palestino a su propio estado y cuando se refirió a la violencia, lo hizo condenando su uso por ambos lados en iguales términos. En cuanto a las referencias a la democracia, creo que fue hábil al señalar que las aspiraciones de libertad, estado de derecho, transparencia y demás, no son valores norteamericanos, sino derechos humanos de todos los pueblos.

Su llamado hacia el final, de buscar coincidencias, hace eco de sus palabras iniciales donde pidió la oportunidad de un nuevo comienzo, basado en el respeto e interés mutuo, que ponga fin a la desconfianza y discordia predominante.

Es evidente que este discurso sienta ciertos predicados novedosos que no se limitan a las relaciones de EEUU con el mundo árabe, sino que lo trascienden y presentan la visión de un estadista que desea un rol donde el poder de su país pueda convertirse en un factor de progreso y de conciliación dentro del nuevo contexto global.

Como decía yo al principio, ciertamente es difícil superar las desconfianzas. El recelo y hostilidad contra Estados Unidos no es un invento gratuito. Está fundamentado por innumerables abusos de poder y violaciones de ese país a los derechos de los pueblos. Pero, como ciudadanos de este mundo, no del de nuestros padres o nuestros abuelos, tenemos la obligación de considerar las lecciones de la historia que muestran cómo individuos excepcionales pueden lograr lo aparentemente imposible, así en el mal, como en el bien.

El Presidente Obama tiene cuatro, lo más ocho años de plazo para demostrar que el espíritu que se lee en este discurso puede dar frutos. El mundo que ha sufrido a los Estados Unidos tiene dos caminos: el rechazo a sus palabras para seguir en las trincheras, o la aceptación de este reto no para bajar la guardia, sino para subirle la parada a la agenda del Presidente Obama proponiendo cambios concretos, proyectos comunes concretos que lo comprometan y alteren la tradición agresiva de la diplomacia del norte de manera duradera. Más allá del “respeto” –exigencia que en Nicaragua recientemente sólo esconde la necesidad de un partido de afianzarse impunemente en el poder en menoscabo de la democracia- una nueva visión de su propio rol por parte de Estados Unidos podría significar un mundo más justo, más limpio, más equitativo y humano para todos. Como dijo Lenin: “Hay que soñar”, y atreverse a la esperanza, añadiría yo.

Mothers' Day

2009-05-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

I remember one Mothers' Day in San Diego. Ezra, Kenia and Sol were living in the Mesa housing complex. Kenia was sleeping late and Sol and I woke up early while the dew was still on the grass and ran from garden to garden around the housing complex picking a big bouquet of flowers for Kenia. It had batchelor buttons, poppies, nasturtians, lilys, delphiniums and many other flowers. We put it on the table so that when Kenia woke up she would see it.and of course next to the flowers was Sol's dear bunny.

Ezra and I had been to the nursery in Mission Hills and bought Kenia a beautiful rose bush. It was a yellowish rose with red edges. One of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Roses aren't my favorite flower, but this one was truly lovely. Ezra planted it and over the years it gave many lovely roses-- almost all summer long.

When I went back to visit many years later, I was surprised to see that the rose bush was still there! Looking as beautiful as ever, though no one had pruned it and it certainly didn't have the mulches and compost that Ezra had lavaished on it.

I wonder how Sol is and think of her every day.

This is a Mothers' Day memory and an appreciation of the lovely "mothering" which Ezra gave Sol. No mother could have tended to her needs with as much patience, dedication and love as Ezra. It is such a tragedy that he cannot see Sol. It is a deep sadness for all of us. It is also a tragedy that Sol obviously has been fed lies and distortions about Ezra. That is the only explanation for the cruelty with which she has treated him. When she graduated from college she only thanks her mother and her grandmother Violeta. Sol has forgotten all the mornings that Ezra woke early to make her lunch and drive her to school, all the hours he spent growing her healthy food and flowers. I don't know what Kenia could be telling Sol about Ezra, but no one would ever doubt or question the total dedication and love that Ezra gave to Sol. All of Kenia's friends are unanimous in appreciating Ezra's amazing committment as a father and are in total wonderment that Kenia and Sol have so cruelly wounded him. I don't know if this has something to do with the way that Kenia was treated by her own father? It is a mystery.

Sol's Old Friend, Adrien

2009-04-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

When Sol was living at Mesa houses she was friends with Adrian who is Colin and Eloise's son.
Here is his picture taken with Eloise's mom.

Sol's Graduation

2009-04-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sol Maria Halleck Plays Bach, 2002

2008-11-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

This was filmed in 2002, before Sol's parents were divorced. Sol's mother was in Spain with her new friend at the time of this concert, so her grandmother from Nicaragua was there. You can see Sol go up to her grandmother Violetta right after the concert. At the time she had already become quite hostile to both myself and her father, a continuing tragedy for us and all her US family and friends.

Portrait of Ezra Last Summer

2008-11-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Magical Eucalyptus Groves of UCSD

2008-11-24T12:27:00.001-08:00

This "net" is by Robert Irwin, and is one of the art installations of the "Stuart Collection" at UCSD.

Sol and I would often walk through these trees, sloshing through the detritus of the fallen leaves and flowers-- an exercise in olfactory pleasure as the aromas of the eucalyptus oils wafted up as we walked. Once I saw a huge flock of Monarch butterflies resting in the grove on their way to Mexico. Once the university took down dozens of the trees to make way for a new building and the students placed crosses on each stump.
I wonder if Sol remembers the campus and the many groves and arroyos that we often walked through.I wonder if she remembers the cool, cleansing smell of those magical trees.

In another part of the grove were two talking and singing trees made by Terry Allen. Sort of a radio station. Allen would send tapes to be broadcast over speakers in the trees. The texture of their trunks was a metal version of the scales of the Eucalyptus trees themselves.

By the library, the Stuart Collection had a snake mosaic twining around a desert garden by Alexis Smith. They had just put it in around the time Sol and her family left, so the garden hadn't really grown that much. But Sol liked the mosaic and the benches where one could sit and get a view of the campus and the library.

Ezra's Concert

2008-11-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

Concert Part I

Concert and Feast Part II
Program Notes by Ezra Halleck: Living in their small country bordered on the west by the Black Sea and in the north and south
by the Caucasus Mountains, the Georgians are one of the world's ancient peoples. Their culture virtually revolves around music. Georgian polyphonic folk song is one of the most remarkable musical forms in the world, counting Igor Stravinsky among its admirers.

Although Georgia has recently been in the news due to its strategic importance to the world's two largest military powers, few people are acquainted with its distinct culture. The Georgian language is related to no other in the world and has its own unique alphabet. The Georgians have managed to preserve their extraordinary ancient vocal tradition, which is believed to predate Christianity. There has been a growing appreciation of Georgian singing in the West and several groups sing this music regionally.

This benefit performance is an opportunity to hear some of these regional Georgian singing groups. On the program are The Kartuli Ensemble, a choir from the Mid-Hudson Valley and 3 trios: The Other Georgia (Boston), Dzmoba (Philadelphia) and Brevalo (Williamstown, MA). Rounding out the program are soloist Aurelia Shrenker and two choirs from Princeton University:
Dedebi (a women's group) and Gaumarjos (a men's group).

Sol and Shulea and Jane Castle

2008-10-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Priest and the Poet

2008-09-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

Sol’s mother did an interview with Gioconda Belli, Nicaraguan poet, in Bomb Magazine.

Belli is quoted in a recent article by Gumuio Dagon on the occasion of the imprisonment in Nicaragua of Ernesto Cardenal, priest and founder of Solintiname Christian Community:

Gioconda Belli,… emblema de la cultura nicaraguense y Sandinista militante, ha escrito: “Lo que fue una caracteristic unica del FSLN, la direccion colectiva dejo de existir en los 90. Se impuso la actitud vengativa y dura, la misma que esta ahora dandose rienda suelta de una manera tan obcecada que ya no es solo un peligro para los sujetos contra las que se enfila, sino para el pais en su conjunto.” Y concluye: “El Sr, Ordega y su esposa tendran que dares cuenta que estan creando una narrativa de odio y confrontacion muy peligrosa para la estabilida de nuestro pais. En esa narrativa destructive en que estan empeñados, se quedaran solos, aislaran a Nicaragua y dividiran un pais que solo unido puede salir adelante. Harian bien en no olvidar aquel proverbio que dice: Siembra vientos y cosecharas tempestades.”

From the Guardian (UK)
Artists and intellectuals have accused Nicaragua's Sandinista government of betraying its revolutionary heritage by waging a vendetta against a revered poet.

Ernesto Cardenal, an 83-year-old cultural figurehead, faces jail after clashing with President Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader who was once a darling of the left.

More than 60 Latin American writers and cultural luminaries, including many who used to champion the Sandinistas, denounced the move as illegal and another sign that the revolution had curdled.

In a joint letter they said Cardenal, a former culture minister and Catholic priest who helped popularise the movement in the 1980s, was the most recent victim of systematic persecution in the impoverished Central American country.

Recent Pictures of Ezra

2008-09-18T20:44:00.001-07:00

Ezra with all his brothers and sisters at Molly's wedding.

Georgian Sing at Molly's Wedding

2008-08-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

Sol's father, Ezra, is part of a Georgian singing group. They performed at Molly's wedding in Willow on August 9, 2008. This video was made by Ezra's aunt Fritzi, using her small still camera.

Sol Graduates

2008-08-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Sol Maria graduated from Ave Maria University in Nicaragua this year. On the web page she thanked her mother and her mother's sisters. But she didn't mention her dear aunts nor her cousin Jose Ivan, and she didn't mention her father. The Pizza-man Delivers His Dream Town and Dream School
By Frank Cocozzelli
Thomas Monaghan wants to transform our society. Part of how he is going about it, as I reported in the last installment of this series that, the Dominos Pizza King is using his vast wealth to try to transform the basis of American Jurisprudence from the principles of the Enlightenment to one based upon an ultra-Orthodox Catholic vision of natural law principles.
Investing in Higher Education
Give Tom Monaghan credit: he puts his money where his mouth is. He fully understands that there are not enough American Catholics who share his ultra-orthodox vision for the Church. As a result, he is mow using his wealth in an effort to transform American Catholicism. And while the Thomas More Law Center is his vehicle for putting forth his vision of justice, Monaghan is also actively creating both a community and training ground designed to churn out future leaders who would ultimately implement a court system based upon Magisterium rather than Value Pluralism.
To that end, he is investing heavily in education. In Michigan he is heavily funding in Catholic grade, intermediary and high school education. His foundation of socially conservative Catholic millionaires, Legatus, is similarly investing in the cultivation of a pre-Vatican II generation of leaders. As the Wall Street Journal observed:

Over the years, Mr. Monaghan has indulged in his share of vanity projects--such as purchasing the Detroit Tigers. But he also consistently gave to the church. Well, not directly. Rather than simply supporting existing institutions, he has made a habit of starting his own. He began with two Catholic elementary schools in the Ann Arbor area in the late '90s, and he thinks these schools are very effective at getting people to heaven. "You give kids the faith and they'll keep it for life." But "the problem is you can only build so many grade schools and you're out of money." On the other hand, he continues, "if I can train a principal I can impact a whole school. I can do that at a university. I can train thousands of school administrators, thousands of catechism teachers, provide thousands of vocations to the priesthood and religious life." (i)
Along with his right-hand man Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, (ii) Monaghan not only slanders secular educational institutions, but also mainstream and progressive Catholic institutions, calling them "...places where the fullness of Catholic truth is joyfully and vigorously taught, defended, and proclaimed. The present crisis is at its core a crisis of Catholic Truth." The National Catholic Reporter noted, "Ave Maria's right-wing orientation has drawn its share of criticism from more liberal Catholic quarters. Jesuit Fr. Robert Drinan, for instance, writing in NCR May 7, (1999) accused Ave Maria of a "holier than thou" attitude toward other Catholic law schools."(iii)

The Ave Maria Educational System
The Ave Maria University system is set up to provide both a liberal arts undergraduate program as well as a school of law. The university's emphasis is not merely upon education, but one that views it through an ultra-orthodox perspective.

The university maintains departments of history, biology and chemistry, theology, philosophy and "politics," which describes part of its curriculum as "Courses in the field of American government serve to test the theoretical underpinnings of political philosophy..."

Ave Maria's School of Law had its curriculum drafted with significant input from US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Other Catholic Right jurists who have either advised the school or have taught courses there include Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and the former Solicitor General, Robert H. Bork. And as the National Catholic Reporter further noted:

Ave Maria is expected to fit into the militantly religious category as well. Funded to the tune of $50 million by Domino's Pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan, Ave Maria will clearly have a more conservative religious orientation than any existing Catholic law school in the nation. Its board members include such noted Catholic conservatives as Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput; Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio, founder of Ignatius Press; and Fr. Michael Scanlan, president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Two of the most conservative members of Notre Dame University's law school are also on the Ave Maria board: Gerald V. Bradley and Charles E. Rice.(iv)
As if the faculty's track record as well as the school's own stated aims do not point to a more theocratic view of the world, the presence of Opus Dei should. Dianne DiNicola of the the Opus Dei Awareness Network has told the American Baptist Press she receives reports of Opus Dei recruitment at Ave Maria University and potentially in the town.

The Ave Maria Community
Monaghan's dream town will be one of 11,000 residential units surrounding the Ave Maria University complex. At the center will be a towering oratory, very similar to the placement of cathedrals in medieval Europe.

According to the Wall Street Journal "Set to open in the fall of 2007, Ave Maria Town will be unincorporated and governed by county officials...Mr. Monaghan announced in 2004 that "you won't be able to buy a Playboy or Hustler magazine in Ave Maria Town. We're going to control the cable television that comes in the area. There is not going to be any pornographic television in Ave Maria Town. If you go to the drug store and you want to buy the pill or the condoms or contraception, you won't be able to get that in Ave Maria Town."

But this raises serious constitutional issues. As Howard Simon, the Executive Director for the Florida ACLU observed on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show, the issue is not that Monaghan wants to create a community where like-minded ultra-orthodox Catholics want to live together, but governmental control:

If he wants to build a town and encourage like minded people to come and live there, that's fine. We get into problems where he tries to exercise governmental authority. That's the issue. It's not-Tucker, you've to make a distinction between just encouraging like minded people to come and live in the same place with a town organized on religious principles, in which the religious group is given governmental authority. It's that latter that is the problem.
And as Simon properly pointed out:

This is not Catholicism-this is not a story about Catholicism. It's a story about any religious group trying to exercise governmental power.
And what happens when one religious group exercises controls over healthcare issues is extremely important in a democracy. The Florida ACLU's Director of Communications, Brandon Hensler further elaborated:

There are no constitutional issues with like-minded people living together and there are many examples where it works - Hasidic Jewish communities in upstate New York, Mormans in Utah, and Amish and Mennonites in the Midwest are just a few examples.
The central issues that may cause grave concern are not the trivial aspects such as what video games can be rented, magazines sold or other superficial problems.

However, we can already foresee potential problems with a medical clinic that is open to the public, and run based on religious principles. What happens if someone is rushed there in an emergency - will they honor living wills and advance directives? What about rape victims? Will they be offered Emergency Contraception, or at minimal given information on a place to go? These are serious questions that need to be answered... questions that people in the community need to be asking of their elected leaders.

We don't think religious groups should be making medical decisions for the people of Ave Maria, or any other town; that should be relegated as a doctor/patient decision for what is in the best interest of the patient.

And while Monaghan recent public statements give the impression that he has backed off from such restrictions, he may be speaking with forked-tongue. Again, as the Wall Street Journal reports:

The ACLU threatened a lawsuit, and Mr. Monaghan backed down. He tells me he consulted his lawyers and realized "that some of the things I'm talking about we may not be able to prevent. We never ever intended to break the law." (But Mr. Monaghan seems to tailor his message to his audience. In June, he told a Catholic gathering in Denver that "our plan is that no adult material will appear on the town's cable system and the pharmacy will not sell contraceptives.") (v)
And among those who would have to live by Monaghan's zoning restrictions would not just be Agnostics, Atheists, Protestants and Jews but many mainstream Catholics who choose not live by every single Vatican proclamation. This possibility has even rankled other Christian denominations as well as the many American Catholics who choose to live as much by their conscience as by Magisterium. Then there would be the question of what would happen if the Ave Maria community would get control of the local Collier County government. Would Mr. Monaghan then try to impose ultra-orthodox Catholic morality upon its citizens too?

Trouble in Paradise
But there are signs of problems arising from Monaghan's single-minded determination. Criticism is even arising within the ranks of teachers and students who initially believed in Ave Maria University's reason for being. Miscalculations and mistakes have even resulted in the return $259,000 in federal money that was originally earmarked for student aid for the Michigan campus was improperly diverted to the Naples, Florida campus. There are also accusations that university employees at the Michigan campus
are not treated with dignity. The Wall Street journal has reported that Monaghan has thwarted attempts by university employees to unionize.(vi) Such opposition to the rights of organized labor demonstrates a significant amount of religious hypocrisy:

The battles between Mr. Monaghan and the Ave Maria faculties have become vitriolic. Some have even tried to unionize. When I ask if he sees a contradiction in trying to block such a move, even though unionization is supported by the Catholic Church, he says, "I think that [the church] hierarchy doesn't know as much about those things as they do about their theology.
For a man who constantly preaches against so-called "cafeteria" liberal Catholics who do don't readily accept every Magisterium pronouncement, this is a clear case of "do as I say, not as I do." It is nothing more than picking and choosing on a much grander scale-smorgasbord Catholicism.

Monaghan founded Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan in March 1998. However discord began to set in when Monaghan became more and more enamored with his Ave Maria University in Florida. He had most of the staff and faculty moved to Florida, with the Ypsilanti campus to be phased out once the class of 2007 graduates.. As one disgruntled teacher told the New York Times:

Many Detroit-area Catholics said they gave up jobs and teaching posts elsewhere to work at the schools, with some faculty members moving from hundreds of miles away because, as a former Ave Maria College biology professor, Andrew J. Messaros, recalled, they were committed to promoting a faithful version of core Catholic teachings.
''I bought into the whole vision lock, stock and barrel,'' Professor Messaros said. He added that he took a $16,000 pay cut from a tenure-track position at the West Virginia University School of Medicine to teach at Ave Maria in mid-2003.(vii)

And as several parents of students enrolled in the Michigan campus complained:

Mrs. Bower, whose son Paul was a junior at Ave Maria College when the move to Florida began to accelerate, said she became concerned that the Michigan campus was being deserted. She grew more anxious in 2004 when word got out that school administrators in Florida had tried to have most of the books at the Michigan campus's library shipped to Naples.
''I thought, 'Wait! There are still students there. They can't just take all the stuff,' '' said Mrs. Bower, who created a Web site -- aveparents.com -- to help keep the Michigan campus intact.

Another parent -- Edward N. Peters, who taught canon law in a theology program now based at Ave Maria University -- threatened to sue if the campus was dismantled.
''It has become clear that Tom Monaghan regards Ave Maria not as a kind of public trust but rather as his personal domain which he can effectively treat however he wants,'' Professor Peters, whose son attended the college, wrote in a June 2004 letter to the college board. He added that since Mr. Monaghan shifted his attention to Florida, he had cut support for several of his Michigan projects, including a weekly Catholic newspaper and a new convent. ''Ironically, the very legacy that was being built up with Monaghan's help is now being torn down at his will,'' Professor Peters wrote. ''It is a tragic and scandalous waste of the human and financial resources given by God.'' (viii)

**

Such complaints raise issues about Monaghan. Is it sloppiness, an autocratic nature or just the price of whimsy? Perhaps it is a combination of all those factors. In any event his actions seem to indicate a belief that some people are expendable. Here is a powerful man who ignores Catholic teachings on economic justice when it is convenient for him. And it seems that it is those expendable ones who must always follow Magisterium to the letter of the law, not the powerful.

To paraphrase Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B., Tom Monaghan is trying to get the state to legislate what he cannot get his own co-religionists to accept. And as the vast majority of Americans known, from mainstream conservatives to the most progressive of the Left, the proper role of American government is not to serve as the enforcer of any religion's doctrines, but to allow its tenants to be freely practiced.

Apparently, Mr. Monaghan does not see it that way.

Sol's aunt Molly's Marriage Blessing

2008-07-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

No, it's not the wedding. It was a little ceremony at our annual party-- Molly and her husband to be, Shawheen, were presented with a poem from Janine Vega, local poet. The wedding is August 9. We are hoping that Sol Maria (and her mother, if she wants to come) can be there!

Fathers' Day

2008-06-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Another Fathers' Day passes and no word from Sol Maria.
Is she alive?
We think about her every day and miss her terribly.

Visit by Sol's other Grandmother

2008-04-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Kenia's mother Violeta visited San Diego many times. This was taken on a trip to one of the regional parks in San Diego. When Kenia broke up with Ezra, Violeta supported Kenia and was very hostile to Ezra. I think she always wanted Kenia to come back to Nicaragua.

Birthdays!

2008-04-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

One birthday when she was in the 6th grade I rented a limo to come to her school and pick up the birthday party.The limo took the girls to Corvettes.
This is a later birthday--I think perhaps her 12th birthday.

Sol at Palm Springs Mountain

2008-04-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

Ezra loves cross country skiing. Sometimes we would take the cable car up the mountain at Palm Springs and cross country ski on top.

Sol was in Bread and Puppet

2008-01-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

Sol Maria came with us to Glover, Vermont and became a part of the Bread and Puppet theater troupe.

Ezra (Sol's father) on the day after Christmas

2007-12-27T21:03:00.001-08:00

The family got together at Mohonk and I took this picture of Ezra.

Sol's Mother's Day Card and Apology

2007-12-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

A note from Sol. I forget what she is apologiizng for, but I have always treasured this note. It's actually in 3-D. The little hearts at the bottom are on paper springs and jump out when you open the card. Unfortunately the internet is stil in 2D.

Devil's Cauldron

2007-09-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

This was a trip to Devil's Cauldron, a hike that Nona Rowat told us about. It ends up in an amazing rocky pool, a deep round hole cut in the surrounding rock.

Sunset above Black's Beach

2007-09-01T21:47:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we would go over to the lookout above Black's Beach to watch the sunset.

Johnny Rocket's

2007-09-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I would take Sol to Johnny Rocket's in Delmar, where the waitresses sang 60s songs.

Sol Maria

2007-08-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ezra and Kenia's Wedding

2007-08-29T08:20:00.001-07:00

Sol and Her Violin

2007-08-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

SOL MARIA'S DAD UP IN VERMONT

2007-08-17T21:30:00.001-07:00

Cousins and Sisters

2007-05-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is Sol Maria and Ezra on their first trip to New York. On the left is Cyrus Harmon and his sister Allyson. On the right is Molly. Molly has a half sister and four half brothers, but Sol Maria has been really like a sister to her.Sol and Molly are giggling in one of the many condos which I rented while teaching at UCSD. Sol, Emma and Allyson, three cousins, loved to play dress up.Allyson and Emma Drosten Brooks are the daughters of my sister Fritzi, and half sisters to Cyrus. They visited San Diego and had a great time with many games and then a trip to Baja. Notice that bunny is playing also.

Sol and Her Dad in the Rose Garden

2007-05-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Ezra and Sol used to walk in the Balboa Park Rose Garden after her youth orchestra rehearsals.

Sol Maria's Awards

2007-05-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Sol Maria's room in La Jolla was always papered with certificates of her various awards.

Bunny Comes to Willow

2007-03-12T23:10:00.001-07:00

Molly had many old fashioned dresses. This one is from the American Girl catalog and it just fit Sol Maria. I think it belongs to Kirsten, the Swedish American Doll. Sol Maria and Molly had great fun playing dress up, and of course Bunny did too. And when Shulea and Jane Castle came over to Willow we had a party with pink lemonade and a cookout. Jane is a cinematographer who shot Shulea's film, Freshkill. Sol Maria flew back to San Diego. She has all of her essentials: Bunny, a tennis racket and her violin. I wonder if she still plays violin?

Sol Maria and Bunny and Andrea

2007-03-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

Sol and Andrea went to a beach on Bainbridge.Sol Maria took part in Andrea's wedding. This the first house Andrea lived in on Bainbridge Island.

Bunny and Sol Maria at Mesa at UCSD

2007-03-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

These flowers were for Mother's Day. Sol and I and Bunny went for a long walk around the gardens at Mesa and picked flowers from each garden, making a very nice bouquet for Kenia. Then we had tea with breakfast.
Bunny at the zoo. Sol Maria is making a nice bed for Bunny while Bunny waits patiently. Bunny went to an Easter pot luck at Mesa.

Crossing the Country

2007-03-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sol Maria traveled with me across the country. Here we are in Arizona at a roadside attraction. If you look closely you can see that Bunny is there.We stayed in a cement tee-pee/motel on Route 66. Bunny even camped out with us.We went to Montezuma's castle. So did Bunny. But it was actually a little sad to be there. The cliff house was in a beautiful quiet valley/oasis in the midst of the desert. There were willow trees and more birds than tourists. Sol and I were both moved by thinking about the communities of native people who used to live there. Tears rolled down Sol's cheeks.

Bunny and Sol Maria

2007-03-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

This blog is a record of the travels of Bunny and Sol Maria Halleck.
This is Sol Maria, dressed as a bunny for a party at her day care center at the Mesa Apartments at UCSD. Sol Maria is my grand daughter. She was born in 1985 in Managua, Nicaragua.
This is bunny. He was bought at a Ralph's Super Market in 1991. He was on sale for Easter.Sol Maria took Bunny everywhere she went. Here she is on a Merry-Go-Round with her Aunt Molly, who is more like a sister. Neither Molly nor Sol have any full siblings, so they are almost like sisters.Sometimes Sol and Bunny crossed the border. This time it was with Lisi, Sol's friend.