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When Swine flu forced Seal and Heidi Klum to cancel their annual trip to Mexico to renew their vows they decided to mark the occasion at home instead.
The couple – who are expecting a baby this fall – gathered with 75 of their nearest and dearest at a friend's Malibu home this weekend to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary. According to guests, the party had a "white trash" theme.
The pregnant Project Runway host wore her hair in cornrows and puffed on a fake cigarette while the groom had a mullet and an American flag leather jacket. The vow renewal ceremony was officiated by an Elvis look-a-like. Click here to see the pics!
Says a source, "After the ceremony, and as the sun set, Seal took care of Heidi and helped her put on black leather jacket so she would stay warm. Even with cornrows, Heidi looked stunning. Everyone was laughing and having good time."
Guests – including Matthew Perry and Debra Messing – also got in on the fun, arriving in cut-off jean shorts and leopard print spandex. Also in attendance were kids Leni, 5, Johan, 3, and Henry, 2.
What do you think of Seal & Heidi's "white trash" vow renewal?
Via US & INO
Photo: PR Photos
Seal & Heidi's "white trash" vow renewal
Carolyn Robertsonposted: May 11, 2009, 8:00 am
in: Celebrities
When Swine flu forced Seal and Heidi Klum to cancel their annual trip to Mexico to renew their vows they decided to mark the occasion at home instead.
33 Responses to Seal & Heidi's "white trash" vow renewal
Just sounds like they were having fun. Congrats to them on their anniversary and on expecting baby number 3?
If they renew their vows every year, why not have some fun with it? I love them both – congrats to them!
Well, a pregnant bride and a back-yard wedding (slightly rushed, due to the last minute change in travel plans) seems to shout "White trash wedding" to me – but Heidi is entirely too stunning to ever look white-trash. Maybe if she'd worn a hoopskirt that popped up in front because of her belly. And teased her hair into something really large – she looks too elegant in cornrows. Seal in a mullet, however, was disturbing.
What a great idea. I simply love these two together they seem so happy and in love
I love Heidi and Seal, but that "theme" is at best distasteful, and at worst, offensive. Just because someone wears a mullet, or an American flag bomber jacket, wears their hair in cornrows, or wears cut-off shorts, does not make them "white trash." Neither does a last-minute wedding, whether or not the bride is pregnant. Those things are not my personal style, but I would never label somebody else "trash" because of it. When will we stop laughing at things that are hurtful to people? In any event, I wish them the best as they continue to grow their family.
How many weddings can your friends get excited about? Sounds fun but a bit narcissistic after a while.
I think that is the funniest thing! the only thing missing was having an old mobile home pulled into her backyard! HAHAHAHA they could have got married on a crickety old porch out in front of it! Had a keg in a trash can! LMAO!
ORJ, you obviously don't know how to take a joke, and, by your reaction, you must've had a white trash wedding or a mullet. Its intended as funny, its not ditasteful or deffensive. Mullet = white trash. No way around that! So maybe lighten up a little a learn to take a joke.
Although, I do think tht heidi didn't look white trash. Her corn rows just looked like she took a trip to an island for a vacation or something.
As for the whole thing… do they really need to renew their vows EVERY year? Why don't they donate that money?
Anyway, it looks like they're having fun and that's all that matters. At least they're not getting a divorce like the rest of hollywood!
I think its great! I think its wonderful that two people are so in love they want to celebrate it every year! Congrats to them both and their fortunate children!
Maybe next year they'll do a "black trash" theme for symmetry.
Perhaps I also am missing a sense of humor, but white trash jokes are only so funny, particularly when the wealthy "pretend" to be poor and trashy. Imagine making fun of another culture is such an outlandish way. You'd immediately be labeled insensitive at best, or racist/bigoted at worst.
I agree with ORJ, this is very distasteful. Its not my style to wear that kind of stuff either but i would never make fun of what someone has to wear. Most of te time, people who live in a trailer or are considered "White trash" to their standards are the ones who cant afford to even have a wedding of their own, let alone one every year. if your going to have a theme, have one that is actually a theme, not something that shows that you are a distasteful snob.
Oh lets go have a wedding with a "Theme" that makes fun of people… real good example for your children. next up for them is a birthday party for one of the kids with a homeless person theme… dont forget your shopping cart and cans… ignorant, pathetic snobs
"Just because someone wears a mullet, or an American flag bomber jacket, wears their hair in cornrows, or wears cut-off shorts, does not make them "white trash.""
Umm…LOL…by definition, yes. Yes it does.
Sounds like they were having fun. Impersonating another culture isn't offensive unless the culture is, by definition, offensive, which you are implying if you are offended by this. I have a friend (American) who had a Chinese themed wedding. Is this offensive? Only if Chinese people are offensive. A white trash wedding is offensive only if white trash people are offensive. If you were offended, I'd say YOU'RE the one with the problem.
Amber your an idiot, If your Friend ( who was American) went and changed the shape of her eyes or acted like she was shorter or any other typical stereo type of a chinese person, then yes this would be offensive to a chinese person as well, but if she went and was wearing a komono or had her hair up in a chinese hair do, then this would not be offensive, there is a line that if it is crossed would make it offensive and they did that with the "white trash wedding". "White trash is not a culture and there is a Chinese Culture. So dont try to stick up for them with stupid examples.
Thank you Derrik; I was just about to say the same thing; something is not right when we suggest that "white trash" is actually a culture akin to Chinese or Chinese-American culture. I also agree with Seg: it's strange to base the theme of such a positive life experience–like vow renewals–on making fun of others. This was particularly disturbing to me because both Heidi and Seal seem like such positive people. Finally, I had a thought about the event and expressed it. I did not, however, feel the need to tear anybody else down. I am unsure why SS felt the need to insult me just for having a contrary opinion. The point is to have an intellectual exchange; not to insult people for seeing the world differently.
I am not a person with a mullet or corn rows, but it does seem offensive. If Brad Pitt and Angelina had a vow renewal and themed it "Hood Rats" and wore gold teeth, track suits, served fried chicken and watermelon, and put rented rims as decoration on everything that moved people would freak the heck out! I just don't understand why it is socially acceptable to make fun of white people. It should be unacceptable for all people. I was disappointed in them.
Hey people, you forget this is their private wedding. And it's their money, they can do what they want with it. If renewing their vows every year makes them happy, why can't they do that? Everyone's goal in life is to be happy- it's not like every year they go burn cash in an incinerator.
The word white trash may be kinda harsh, but if you people are all saying you've never laughed at a slightly racist joke or stereotype then you are all lying to yourselves.
They are an interracial couple, and as someone who is also in a interracial marriage, you tend to laugh and poke fun at stereotypes way easier because you know they are all dumb and don't matter anyway.
Seriously, people need to get off their high horse and let people appreciate life as they will.
I agree with ORJ and I am not white or poor. But, to each their own. It seems that they were very happy, so I am happy for them.
I think the idea that someone would actually have a White Trash themed anniversary party is HILARIOUS! Seriously, you guys need to relax, obviously it was an impromptu thing as they had planned on going to Mexico & way to just have a party & celebrate. Maybe I'm biased but for several years in a row friends & I would have a "White Trash" New Years bash and try to out do eachother. The party got bigger every year because if it! So what that Seal put on a mullet? Are you really knocking them for not spending $28K on a gown for Heidi she'd only wear once because their celebrity status allows them to? Congrats to them on a happy marriage and a new baby.
I totally agree with JB (#17). Sad, but had a white couple or even inter-racial made fun of another minority I could just imagine the fallout. Say they both dressed like gays and had a gay themed wedding. The uproar coming out of WestHo would be deafening.
That was soooo funny I looked at the pics at http://www.popsugar.com/3137871 I love pic # 6 with the guy sitting on the bench in his boxer with his robe open and binoclars lol or pic #8 that has the lady in curler…lol oh and don't forget the flamingo lights
It's exceptionally tasteless. They could have called it an 80s wedding and done the same style.
People with too much money.
I dont care if there interracial or not, its wrong and there a**holes. personally to me, most celebrities, not all but most, are the most stupid, trashiest people around. you have money so go make fun of people because im white and my husbands black. it doesnt matter if she freaking half puerto rican and half irish or what and if he was half monkey half chinese. get over thinking your better than other people when there actually the trashy ones, and iheartcornrows, youre an idiot. also, if someone made fun of a black wedding or a gay wedding there would be shootings in the ghetto or slaps going round in california, get over yourselves.
I think its funny, and nonoffensive, I agree totally with person 18. Its private that got public. You can't say you never do anything private that is rude or harsh. But that's my opinion and to each their own.
A. it was funny
B. it was in poor taste, as it was meant to be
C. they had fun
D. They shouldn't be making fun of anyone
E. The people they were making fun of, don't really get that the joke, they are typically of lower intelligence. And I'm not making this statement out of prejudice, I live in the midwest. Trust me, when I see a white girl with corn rows, she's typically a huge drug addict and has a black boyfriend who only likes her because she's white, and will do anything to prove to anyone that she's better than them because her boyfriend is black. This is all based on my own observations, what I have personally witnessed. When I see a guy with a mullet, it's because he really thinks it's cool, and if you think a mullet is cool, then you've obviously never paid much attention to the world at large, and if that's the case, then you probably aren't too intelligent.
Tusnelda: you are stereotyping and racist. I don't think you can make comments about anyone else's comments, period.
I think it's only as offensive as the people they were basing the theme on make it. If you fall into that catergory and it offends you, then it's offensive to you. If it does not offend you, then it's not offensive. Too often people act on what they think offends someone rather than letting them stand up for themselves.
The term "white trash" refers to an attitude, not a living condition. I teach at a school where a lot of the kids live in trailer parks and farms. Some of the kids have the "WT" attitude and some don't. Your actions are what classify you as "white trash", not where you live. That being said – sterotypes have some truth to them. Otherwise, where would they come from? Heidi and Seal were probably poking fun at the stereotype, not a specific group.
Oh for heaven's sake, stop calling people "idiots" just because they don't agree with you. I agree with the last poster – it's all in the attitude. It's trashy to call people idiots based on one comment…
I'm more concerned with Heidi's scalp – a white girl like that is likely to get a sunburn from those cornrows…
hahaaha, really who cares it was a theme party. if they all dressed up in poodle skirts no one would care I think that would be so fun to have many different themed renewal…
It's was soooooo fun
This couple is so in love that they wonder how to show it.
If you have any white trash funny pictures – send them over to TurboWhiteTrash
First and foremost stupid crackra monkeys, the confederate flag has symbolized and always will symbolize what it
has always and will always stand for=HATRED, SEGREGATION, INEQUALITY, SUPERIORITY..all these words were the dna and blood of the Southern life probably well in this day. The south houses both races white and black and you never and have never seen a black person carrying a confederate flag around promting southern culture as a white person did and does. .


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That Infernal Racket: Sound, Anxiety, and the IBM Computer in AMC's Mad Men
[Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Folks Not Caught Up with Season 7, Episode 5!]
In one of the more memorable – and squirm-inducing – scenes of this season of AMC's Mad Men, brilliant but eccentric copywriter Michael Ginsberg (Ben Feldman) presents his colleague, agency copy chief Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) with his own severed nipple, placed carefully in a gift box. Ginsberg explains to the understandably horrified Peggy that the gift is both a token of his affection and a means of relieving pressure caused by the arrival of Sterling, Cooper & Partners' (SC&P) newest acquisition: a humming, room-sized IBM System/360 mainframe computer. Explaining his enmity for the machine and his increasingly erratic behavior, Ginsberg tells Peggy that the "waves of data" emanating from the computer were filling him up, and that the only solution was to "remove the pressure" by slicing off his "valve."
The arrival of the IBM 360 in the idealized 1960s office space inhabited by Mad Men is obviously an unsettling presence – and not only for Ginsberg. Since its debut in Episode 4, commentators (e.g. WaPo's Andrea Peterson, Slate's Seth Stevenson) have meditated on the heavy-handed symbolism surrounding the machine – both in terms of its historical significance and its implications for plot and character development. Typically cued through noise (or lack thereof), it is worth reflecting upon the role of sound in establishing the computer as a source of disruption. Between the pounding and screeching of installation and the drone of the completed machine's air conditioner and tape reels, the sonic motifs accompanying the computer underline tensions between (and roiling within) SC&P staffers grappling with the incipient digital age. Likewise, the infernal racket produced by the installation and operation of the IBM 360 adds an important dimension to the tensions resulting from its presence, which can be read as allegories for the complexities and contradictions of our relationship with technology.
The tone of the conflict is set even before we meet the IBM 360 toward the end of Episode 4: The Monolith – a reference to Kubrick's 1968 classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (Slate's Forrest Wickman ably discusses the references). Like the unnerving silence used with such great effect in that film, the absence of sound frames our first encounter with the computer – or at least its promise. Early in the episode, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), newly rehabilitated from his forced exile from the agency, arrives one morning at SC&P to find the office deserted. The ghostly sequence is clearly meant to symbolize Draper's detachment from the firm. But as the episode progresses and tensions mount over the possibility that the IBM 360 will render jobs obsolete, the desolate office suggests a more ominous meaning – a once lively space muted by cold, impersonal automation.
In following scenes, successive stages of mainframe installation are marked by convergences of conflict and cacophony. First, there is the din of the creative team as they evacuate their beloved lounge – now earmarked as computer space – and during which a distraught Ginsberg projects his indignation onto art director Stan Rizzo, who appears more accepting. "They're trying to erase us!" Ginsberg exclaims bitterly. Later, Draper lounges on his office couch as a clop clopping of hammers outside signifies tangible change. As if this weren't enough of a distraction, two men in the corridor begin to chat loudly over the noise. Going out to investigate, Draper strikes up a conversation with one of the men, Lloyd Hawley, installation supervisor and founder of a small technology company competing with IBM. "Who's winning?" Draper asks innocently, "who's replacing more people?" Clearly irritated by Draper's tone, Harry Crane – SC&P media director and the computer's lead cheerleader – offers Draper a condescending apology for the loss of his "lunchroom," assures him the change was "not symbolic." "No, it's quite literal," Draper retorts. Unabated, the pounding and screeching of construction work emphasizes his point.
For the remainder of the episode, the raucous noise of construction acts as a leitmotif underscoring tensions between characters – between Peggy and Lou Avery (Draper's priggish replacement at creative director), and between Draper and the interloper Lloyd. Finally, the end of construction is punctuated by a return to silence, as Peggy arrives one morning to see workers glide mainframe components noiselessly into the office.
With this emphasis on technology as a source of symbolic, physical, and sonic disruption, Matthew Weiner and the creators of Mad Men draw upon a rich literary tradition. A relevant example contemporaneous with the show's "present," is literary critic Leo Marx's 1964 text The Machine in the Garden, which examines the complicated relationships between a "pastoral ideal" and technological progress within American literature and popular imagination. Marx's analysis reveals that sound is often used to convey the disruptive presence of technology within the bucolic landscape of the American continent. In Hawthorne's Sleepy Hollow for example, it is the interrupting shriek of a locomotive whistle that breaks the author's harmonious reverie: "Now tension replaces repose: the noise arouses a sense of dislocation, conflict, and anxiety" (15). In the decidedly un-pastoral modern office space, the noise of the computer installation nevertheless signifies a momentous social change and irrevocable loss. Picking out these tensions has always been one of the show's strengths – whether it is the computer, Draper's double identity, or the quiet endurance of women to the misogyny of midcentury work and domestic life.
Change, however, has significant consequences for Ginsberg, the young copywriter and Holocaust survivor who, as CBS's Jessica Firger observes, has been deteriorating psychologically for some time. The proximity of the IBM 360, and the incessant drone of its mind-controlling waves eventually puts him over the edge. As Draper and Peggy enter the office early in Episode 5, Ginsberg glowers into the room housing the IBM 360. "Stop humming, you're not happy!" he explodes. As Peggy attempts to soothe her colleague, our perspective shifts to look out at them from inside the glass-encased computer room. From here, the mainframe's ambient noise muffles Peggy's words, suggesting isolation between human and non-human. This play of speech and silence reoccurs later in the episode as Ginsberg, working alone on a Saturday with tissues wedged in his ears, spies Lou Avery and SC&P partner Jim Cutler inside the computer room, their voices made inaudible by the droning computer in a delicious homage to 2001 (see Vulture's amusing gif). But the noise is clearly affecting Ginsberg. "It's that hum at the office! It's getting to me!" he tells Peggy later that evening. He even claims the computer has affected his sexuality.
Ginsberg's noise complaints would have resonated in 1969 New York. In November of that year, the New York Times ran a feature on the city's nerve-shattering noise pollution, calling it a "slow agent of death." In addition to the myriad construction projects, subways, car horns, jet planes, and standing machinery populating the city soundscape, office workers found scant respite indoors where phones, air conditioners, "computers and typewriters and tabulators" whirred, whined, and clacked throughout the day. The article went on to report that scientists studying the impact of prolonged noise exposure on the human body had concluded a variety of ill effects on the heart and nervous system. Though no connection was made between computers and sexuality (as Ginsberg claimed), the article reported that laboratory rats under prolonged noise exposure had indeed "turned homosexual," an opinion that underlined deterministic associations between sexuality, psychological disorder, and external stimuli.
As SO! editor Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman has argued, noise in midcentury New York also signified a sonic-racial politics, in which the mainstream "listening ear" recoiled at the "noise" created by Black and Puerto Rican others. In terms of Mad Men's computer however, it is technology, economic anxiety, and mental illness, rather than ethnicity that frames sonic disruption. The basis of these tensions are similar however, and various interactions with SC&P's IBM 360 demonstrate, as Stoever-Ackerman writes in SO!, "the ways in which Americans have been disciplined to consider some sounds as natural, normal, and desirable, while deeming alternate ways of listening and sounding as aberrant [and] dangerous." Though similar, the conflict with technology on Mad Men does not suggest a clear us/them, or us/"it" binary. The banging of construction may be at first antagonistic, but it's finite – eventually the computer is normalized within the SC&P office space to the extent that Peggy chides Ginsberg's exasperation in Episode 5 by insisting "it's just a computer!" Ginsberg's reaction is more complex however, implicating a contradictory relationship with technology: once fully installed, has the droning computer become "natural, normal, and desirable" despite previous ambivalence? Is the keen awareness and anxiety towards technology symbolized through Ginsberg (albeit in a extreme form) suggested as the "aberrant" listening practice, or could it be Peggy's apparent acceptance?
Like most cultural texts set in the past, it is possible to read Mad Men allegorically, as suggesting a certain ordering of meaning and values. From the perspective of those who have long since domesticated computers, the controversies and tropes activated by SC&P's IBM 360 might strike us as familiar, even quaint. As the sociologist Bruno Latour has argued however, we would be wise to consider how technology exerts a kind of social agency that structures and impacts our daily lives. As historical symbolism, the sounds and noises of the IBM 360 on Mad Men should remind us that technological progress is not teleological, but a struggle over meaning in which anxieties (about jobs, mind-control, surveillance, subjectivity, etc.) may be variously accommodated, suppressed, or dismissed as irrational.
Featured image: An IBM 360 Mainframe. Borrowed from Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0
Andrew J. Salvati is a Media Studies Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University. His interests include the history of television and media technologies, theory and philosophy of history, and representations of history in media contexts. Additional interests include play, authenticity, the sublime, and the absurd. Andrew has co-authored a book chapter with colleague Jonathan Bullinger titled "Selective Authenticity and the Playable Past" in the recent edited volume Playing With the Past (2013), and has written a recent blog post for Play the Past titled "The Play of History."
REWIND!…If you liked this post, you may also dig:
"DIY Histories: Podcasting the Past" -Andrew J. Salvati
"The Noise of SB 1070: Or Do I Sound Illegal to You?"– Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman
"DIANE… The Personal Voice Recorder in Twin Peaks" -Tom McEnaney
Fear of a Black (In The) Suburb
Editor's Note: This month Sounding Out! is thrilled to bring you a collection of posts that will change the way you hear cities. The Sounds of the City series will prompt readers to think through ideas about urban space and sound. Are cities as noisy as we think they are? Why are cities described as "loud"? Who makes these decisions about nomenclature and why?
We kicked things off two weeks ago with my critical reading of sound in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, a play about African Americans in Chicago that still rings/stings true today. Guest writer Linda O' Keeffe took readers last week on a soundwalk of Smithfield Square in Dublin, Ireland and specifically of the Smithfield Horse Fair, in order to illustrate how urban renewal disrupts city soundscapes and how sound reclaims those spaces. Next week CFP winner Lilian Radovac will share with us a photoessay on the sound installation Megaphóne in Montreal.
Today's post comes from regular writer Regina Bradley whose post reminds us of the recent verdict of the Michael Dunn case, the "loud music case" when he shot 17-year-old Jordan Davis at a gas station. She discusses the dichotomy of urban and suburban in the context of sound (noisy versus quiet) and hip hop.
Edited on Feb 17, 2014 at 9:35 am EST: the first published version of this post did not acknowledge Nina Sun Eidsheim as the coiner of the phrase "sonic blackness." We have added a reference in the post to recognize the work Eidsheim has done in theorizing this concept.–Managing Editor Liana M. Silva-Ford
In a recent Chase credit card commercial a white woman pulls up to a gas station and pumps gas into her minivan while blasting loud music. Her windows rattle and the toys of her children vibrate to the beat. After pumping gas, the woman hops into her car, puts on a pair of shades, and bounces to the beat like a "cool mom." In the context of the commercial, the white suburban mother is not threatening. The commercial reminds me that Jordan Davis' life ended at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. His loud hip hop music was not cool; in fact, he and the music are perceived to be threatening.
The woman in the Chase commercial borrows what is instantly recognizable as sonic black (masculine) cool. Nina Sun Eidsheim, in her article "Marian Anderson and 'Sonic Blackness' in American Opera", theorizes sonic blackness as the racialization of sounds that listeners perceive to be coming from a black body. Borrowing from her concept, I extend sonic blackness as the sound that are perceived as black that enter spaces where physical blackness could be readily refused. Of particular interest for this essay is the connection between black mobility, urban space, and sound. I focus particularly on hip hop as a mobile form of sonic blackness whose origins are based in the city. Hip hop reinforces conceptualizations of contemporary blackness as urban. In this context, sonic blackness collapses the absolute binaries in which blacks are frequently forced to exist, i.e. urban and rural, working class and middle class, silence and noise. Yet when it is situated in hip hop, sonic blackness can also be considered a disruption of suburbia, a dominant trope of white privilege at the end of the 20th century. Using examples from the contemporary cartoon show The Boondocks, I posit that the show's use of hip hop underscores how the white suburban soundscape is constructed in contrast to black urban sounds.
America's popular imagination portrays the suburbs as white, middle class, and quiet. Constructions of the suburbs in recent history have not strayed far from the idealistic neighborhoods of the 1950s and 1960s portrayed in shows like Leave It to Beaver. Take for example the inclusion of gated communities as the upper echelon of suburbs and white privilege seen in The Real Housewives of Orange County (which opens with the viewer 'walking through' opened gates into the Orange County community). I'd like to emphasize the connection between whiteness and quiet, as privilege in these types of spaces is present but often not visible or audible. Suburbs are the result of urban industrialism, anxiety of close association with an increasing minority community, and the need to sustain a romantic ideal of the American dream. A suburb's physical parameter is a middle-class manifestation of manicured lawns, gates, and homeowner associations. At the level of sound, the suburbs' class privilege is represented as the hum of lawn mowers, chirping birds, and screeching breaks of school buses. As Steve Macek points out in Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right, And The Moral Panic Over The City, suburban sensibilities cling to an idealistic notion of a physically and sonically constructed white ambivalence to racial and class anxieties associated with cities. Any dysfunction associated with whiteness is quietly tucked away from public view.
White suburbia sustains its desirability because it is a physically and sonically segregated space. Yet white suburbia is also the site of black Americans' most recent migratory efforts. In ways that northern cities signified opportunity for blacks in the early 20th century, the ideals of racial progress and class in the late 20th century have shifted to U.S. suburbs. Thoughts of the middle class in the black imagination amplify the suburb as a utopic space because of its initial lack of access. The suburb becomes the mountaintop of racial access and privilege.
Consider the premise for Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry examines in the play the high stakes of home ownership in a 'good neighborhood.' The Lee family leaves the Southside for the opportunity at a better life and more space for their growing family. As Liana Silva-Ford pointed in her discussion of A Raisin in the Sun two weeks ago, the Lee family's decision to move into the Clybourn Park neighborhood disrupts the suburb as a space of white privilege and annotates the cusp of the emerging Civil Rights Movement. Additionally, visual demonstrations of black protest that reach suburban areas are annotated by sonic markers of struggle i.e. the sound of attacking guard dogs, police officers screaming at protestors, spraying fire hoses, and screams and moans of black bodies under attack. The audio-visual representation of the struggle of integration collapses the notions of white suburbia as a site of 'perfect peace.' The above referenced sonic markers also destabilize classifications of black trauma as restricted to urban spaces like the inner city, which is believed to embody blacks' realities.
Where Hansberry's interrogation of space and access in Raisin in the Sun is an initial foray into constructions of white privilege vis-à-vis suburban communities, Aaron McGruder's 21st century suburban space of The Boondocks pivots on the romanticized ideas of blacks in middle class spaces derived from the 1950s and 1960s. The show introduces viewers to patriarch Robert (Grandad Freeman) and his two grandsons, Huey and Riley Freeman, who have left the south side of Chicago for the white suburb of Woodcrest. McGruder incorporates sonic markers of race and class that collapse suburbs as white only spaces. Aside from lighthearted lounge music style piano riffs during dialogues that indicate whiteness, McGruder incorporates sonic elements of hip hop that interrupt white suburbia. Elements of sonic registers of hip hop, like heavy bass kicks and songs like "Booty Butt Cheeks" or "Thuggin' Love," disrupt the quiet of the Woodcrest community.
The clash of hip hop's loudness with Woodcrest's quiet demeanor is best demonstrated in the episodes "The Story of Thugnificent" and "The Block is Hot." In "The Story of Thugnificent," rapper Thugnificent decides to move to Woodcrest. His presence is heard before it is seen, a caravan of cars with bass systems playing "Booty Butt Cheeks" before he actually appears on screen. Thugnificent's arrival is striking as he introduces hip hop as a literal and sonically disruptive element of black working class cultural expression. The disruption is celebrated, however, because of Thugnificent's allure as a rapper. He gets a pass that Grandad Freeman questions because he sees Thugnificient as a threat to what he perceives to be as a delicate existence of his blackness in a white community.
Grandad Freeman's vehement opposition to embrace "the homie" Thugnificent destabilizes notions of policing as a one-sided scare tactic by whites. Yet to repel Thugnificent's physical and sonic presence, Grandad resorts to hip hop and records a diss record that demands Thugnificent to leave Woodcrest. The diss record parodies the sonic notes of a rap battle: Grandad starts the track with ramblings of "yeah" and "uh." Where these terms are used in a rap battle to try to "catch the beat," Grandad's use of these words is an offset attempt to try to find something to say. The result of Grandad and Thugnificent's rap battle on wax is a rise in physical violence against senior citizens in Woodcrest. The awkwardness of Grandad's diss track parallels not only a generational dismissal of hip hop as an outlet of protest but the sonic awkwardness of hip hop being the voice of protest for a suburban space.
In the episode "Block is Hot," a nod to rapper Lil Wayne's same titled track (although he nor the song are mentioned anywhere in the show), Huey Freeman blasts rap group Public Enemy's pro-black and anti-police brutality anthem "Fight the Power" to remind his neighborhood he is a black nationalist. He is also dressed in a black hoodie and black timberland boots. Huey is undeniably hip hop in a privileged white space. Huey's physical apparel, a nod to the Black Panther party and the hip hop fashion affinity for wearing the color black is amplified by "Fight the Power." Huey's posturing can also be read as a homage to Radio Raheem from Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing because like Radio Raheem, Huey lugs around a large boombox to play "Fight the Power." Particularly striking is the overlap of the urban hip hop masculinity Raheem signifies with Huey's own hip hop posturing in Woodcrest. While Raheem remains in the 'hood, Huey doubly signifies hip hop's migration from the city into suburban areas as well as his own migration to Woodcrest from Chicago. Huey uses hip hop as a site of social-political resistance and as a way to remain attached to his urban roots. Blasting "Fight the Power" shows how Huey remains conscious of white privilege in Woodcrest. He recognizes the need to identify black agency – even if it is only emphasized through sound – while reflecting on the "new" suburb as a racially ambiguous space.
The most jarring use of sound to reflect on the racial politics of the new suburb is the shooting of Uncle Ruckus by police officers. The ricochet of the bullets can be heard against cars and other inanimate objects but the bullets miss their target, Ruckus. The gun shots mark an interruption of the suburban soundscape. Gun shots, sonic signifiers of power, death, and trauma, are also markers of black violence as an urban phenomenon. However, negotiations of power shift to speak to reclamation of white privilege in sonic and physical spaces . The gun shots inflicted upon black bodies in suburban spaces could also be read as a subversion of gun shots heard in hip hop. While the sound of a firing gun in the hip hop imagination is expected and acceptable, gun shots in white suburbia are disruptive and displaced because they contest its appearance as a quiet and respectable space. Further, the sonic significance of the bullets riddling everything around Ruckus is the messiness of the hit-or-miss surveillance of black bodies, particularly black men, as necessary in privileged white spaces.
The policing of black bodies in suburban spaces, especially over the past two years, begs the question of how suburban soundscapes serve as backdrops of 21st century racial anxieties and whiteness. The centrality of sound in the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, Jordan Davis, and Jonathan Ferrell,– i.e. 911 tapes and banging on house doors – is critical in identifying race and space. Sonic markers of racial anxiety in their deaths devastatingly reemphasize the connection of race and sound in white privilege spaces. For example, Davis' killer Michael Dunn stated to his girlfriend that he "hate[d] that thug music." Unlike the suburban mom in the Chase commercial, Dunn is threatened by the sonic blackness and hypermasculinity associated with loud [hip hop] music. The negative connotations of hip hop as "thug music" and Davis' mere presence as a young black man trigger a devastating response to the disruption of white privileged space.
As I work through my visceral response to Michael Dunn's not guilty verdict for the actual slaughter of Jordan Davis, I think about the frivolity of the suburban mom in the Chase commercial and her enjoyment of loud music. The overlap of her whiteness, gender, and status as a suburbanite protect her from any inclinations of being a menace. She uses loud music as a sense of liberation – a premise for the Chase Freedom card being promoted in the commercial. Unlike Chase's suburban mom, Jordan Davis' use of loud music is not freeing – it contextualizes him in a rigid space of hypermasculinity and pathology that is all too often associated with hip hop culture. As I discuss previously, the traumas associated with black bodies that cannot be literally articulated take place in nonliteral spaces like sound. Utilizing sound is particularly useful in situating blackness in privileged white spaces like suburbs that displace their agency and significance because of racial anxieties associated with space and class.
Regina Bradley recently completed her PhD at Florida State University in African American Literature. Her dissertation is titled "Race to Post: White Hegemonic Capitalism and Black Empowerment in 21st Century Black Popular Culture and Literature." She is a regular writer for Sounding Out!
Featured image: "Dead End in the Burbs" by Flickr user Vox Efx, CC BY 2.0
REWIND!…If you liked this post, you may also dig:
"Death Wish Mixtape: Sounding Trayvon Martin's Death"-Regina Bradley
"From Illegitimate to Illmatic: On Tiger Mothers, Ethnoburbs, and Playing the Violin While Dreaming of Nas"-Christie Zwahlen
"Sound Off! // Comment Klatsch #7: #RachelJeantel asks: Are you Listening?"
Sound at ASA 2013
Although this year's American Studies Association conference location is not as warm and sunny as last year's (can we have all November conferences in warm, sunny places, please?), Washington DC has a lot to offer this year's conference attendees. The title for this year's annual meeting, which takes place from November 21 to November 24, 2013, is "Beyond the Logic of Debt, Toward an Ethics of Collective Dissent." The focus on debt in all of its dimensions couldn't be more timely, considering that the conference comes on the heels of a government shutdown that the United States is still getting over, in addition to formal and informal conversations about recovery. In this sense, Washington DC seems an ideal setting for the topic: it's the center of many of these national conversations about debt.
It is no surprise then that, according to the co-chairs of this year's programming committee, Roderick Ferguson, Lisa Lowe and Jodi Melamed, many of the panels chosen for this year's ASA revolve around keywords such as "debt, obligation, ethics, collectivity, and dissent." The focus on such topics may explain why there are less panels and papers that fall under Sound Studies. The connection between debt and sound may not be immediately apparent for some, which may either keep panels or papers that focus on sound out of the conversation. It may also be the case that the overall topic may not immediately resonate for those who work on or write about sound matters. Sound Studies is still staking its claim, loud and clear. For example, bright and early at 8:00 am on Thursday, November 21st, there's the Sonic Lives of Debt panel, which looks at how debt is represented in music and sound in general. Another highlight from Thursday is one of two American Studies Journal panels, titled Chocolate Spaceship: Gender Politics and Afro-Futurism in Funk, with papers on Patti Labelle, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Roger Troutman.
For artists and scholars of Sound Studies, the conference theme summons Jacques Attali's famed text, Noise: The Political Economy of Music. His theoretical arguments about music as an audible mirror of capitalism, a structured representation of noise, and a means of understanding "debt" through sound, serve as an academic companion to this year's lineup of panels and papers that address sound. Some sound-related panels complicate ideas of "dissent" and "debt." Sonic Ledgers of Dissent (Saturday, 4:00-5:45 pm), chaired by Deborah R. Vargas, focuses on dissent addresses not only the State (FBI), but also gay rapper Caushun, racial musical miscegenation, and Black/Brown alliances in Los Angeles.
However, it's not just a matter of the connection of the theme with sound. Last year, SO! Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman pointed out in her ASA 2012 conference round-up that there were less sound studies panels than other years, and suggested that this turn may indicate that the field is entering a moment of reflection. Stoever-Ackerman rightfully argues that academic presentations related to Sound Studies are moving beyond making the presence of the field known and moving toward engaging with sound on a deeper, more complicated level. Consider how some of the panels listed below may not be precisely about sound studies, but include a sound-oriented approach. The panel Debts of Spirit and Substance includes a paper that looks at songs of protest: Glenda Goodman's "Unsung Songs of the 'Swinish Multitude': Transnational Tunes of Eighteenth-Century Political Protest." Another example is Sunday's Latinas/os Onscreen and On/Off Air: Rethinking Contemporary Media Audiences and Discourses panel, which includes a presentation by Dolores Inés Casillas titled "Lost in Translation: The Politics of Spanish-language Radio Ratings." It is encouraging to see how cultural critiques also include sound as a way to analyze and understand cultural phenomena.
The ASA Sound Studies Caucus is bringing it this year with three panels that carry the caucus's stamp of approval. The three panels (two on Friday and one on Saturday) address questions of listening, recording, and memory. The Friday panel at 2:30, chaired by Nicole Hodges Persley, is titled Sampling Phonographies: Sonic Memory and the Long History of Sampling and stars two SO! contributors: Gustavus Stadler ("Charles Chesnutt, Sonic Memory, and Racial Terror") and Meghan Drury ("Across Time and Space: Hearing Sun Ra's Egypt"). Each of the papers on this panel discuss the intimate relationship between music's ritual of sampling and racial memory. That 2:30 presentation is immediately followed by Musical Debts: Appropriations, Reparations, or New Traditions?, chaired by Barry Shank. Shank participated in this year's cross-blog (and only!) virtual IASPM-US Conference panel on popular music and Sound Studies, Sonic Borders Virtual Panel. Musical Debts explores how music trespasses across racialized, global boundaries for capitalist gains. On Saturday, you can catch the last of the SSC panels, on listening and community: Connected Listening: Re-imagining Community Through Sound. Chaired by Michelle Habell-Pallan, the papers in that panel delve into the role of listening for communities of color.
If you can't make any of the sound studies panels, make sure to check out the ASA Sound Studies Caucus+Journal of Popular Music Studies Happy Hour Meet and Greet on Friday, November 22, 2013. We're big fans of the work going on at JPMS, and we're thrilled to see them partner up with the Sound Studies Caucus. The Caucus's co-conveners, Roshanak Kheshti, Deb Vargas, SO!'s own Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman and D. Ines Casillas, welcome colleagues equally steeped in topic of sound to help build this important caucus. From the get go, this Caucus has set out to not only bring scholars together under the umbrella of sound but to also push ideas of gender, race, and sexuality as integral components of Sound Studies. Sadly, the editorial crew of SO! will not be present for this year's SSC Happy Hour, but be sure to swing by and meet some of our guest writers who will be at Glen's Garden Market from 5:30 to 7:00 pm!
Lastly, if you are not presenting at ASA, not attending the conference, or simply want to check in on the action, take a glance at the official Twitter hashtag #2013ASA . Hopefully we'll get to meet you at the next ASA meeting: Los Angeles, 2014!
Please comment to let SO! know what you think–both before and after ASA 2013. If we somehow missed you or your panel in this round up, please let our Managing Editor know!: email@example.com
This post was co-authored. Liana M. Silva-Ford is co-founder and Managing Editor of Sounding Out!. Dolores Inés Casillas is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara this fall. She writes and teaches on Latino media, language politics, and sound practices.
Featured photo: "Stormy Salute" by Flickr user Joey Gannon, CC BY-SA 2.0
Jump to THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
Jump to FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2013
Jump to SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2013
Jump to SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2013
THURSDAY, November 21, 2013
8:00 am – 9:45 am
004. Debts of Spirit and Substance
Washington Hilton, C – Cardozo (T)
CHAIR: Elisa Tamarkin, University of California, Berkeley (CA)
James Deutsch, Smithsonian Institution (DC)
In Debt to The Poor of New York: Dion Boucicault and the Panics of 1837/1857
Gino Conti, University of Southern California (CA)
Oh, I feel, I feel, I feel: Moravians, Wasted Labor, and the Afterlives of Enthusiasm
Glenda Goodman, University of Southern California (CA)
Unsung Songs of the "Swinish Multitude": Transnational Tunes of Eighteenth-Century Political Protest
Tanja Aho, State University of New York, Buffalo (NY)
Wives and/as Debt: Women's Lived Dissent in the Eighteenth Century
COMMENT: Elisa Tamarkin, University of California, Berkeley (CA)
007. Sonic Lives of Debt
Washington Hilton, F1 – Fairchild West (T)
CHAIR: Alexandra Theresa Vazquez, Princeton University (NJ)
Ray Allen, City University of New York, Brooklyn College (NY)
Holy Ground: Woody Guthrie's Unsung Lyrics
Elliott H. Powell, New York University (NY)
Sampling among the Margins: Hip Hop, Indian Film Music, and the Sonic Life of Debt
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, University of California, Berkeley (CA)
Sound Nation Empire: Emory Cook's "Sounds of Our Times"
Mark Krasovic, Rutgers University, Newark (NJ)
Steve Reich's "Come Out" and the Sound of Evidence in the Long Hot Summers
COMMENT: Alexandra Theresa Vazquez, Princeton University (NJ)
014. Televising Multiculturalism and its Discontents
Washington Hilton, Georgetown East (C)
CHAIR: Sharon M. Leon, George Mason University (VA)
Allison McCracken, DePaul University (IL)
Blind Auditions and Vocal Politics: Enacting and Exposing Vocal Essentialism on NBC's The Voice
Janani Subramanian, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis (IN)
Mindy Kaling and Television Multiculturalism
Gregory Zinman, Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
Nam June Paik and the Aesthetics of Interventionist Media
COMMENT: Sharon M. Leon, George Mason University (VA)
10:00 am – 11:45 am
019. Nineteenth-Century Public Lecturing, New Media, and Technologies of Orality
Washington Hilton, D – Du Pont (T)
CHAIR: Thomas Augst, New York University (NY)
Carolyn Eastman, Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)
Speechless: America's First Celebrity Orator and the Origins of Nineteenth-Century Platform Culture
Granville Ganter, Saint John's University (NY)
Anne Laura Clarke, Lecturer on History, 1822–1835
Tom F. Wright, University of Sussex (United Kingdom)
How Silence Spoke for Lucy Parsons
COMMENT: Thomas Augst, New York University (NY)
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
048. Song, Screen, Stomach: Cultural Debt and Transnational Italian Americanism
Washington Hilton, D – Du Pont (T)
CHAIR: Grace Hale, University of Virginia (VA)
Joseph Sciorra, City University of New York, Queens College (NY)
"Core 'ngrato," a Wop Song: Mediated Renderings and Diasporic Musings
Benjamin Cawthra, California State University, Fullerton (CA)
Under the Volcano: Gordon Parks, the Bergman-Rossellini Romance, and Postwar U.S.-Italian Relations
John Gennari, University of Vermont (VT)
The Knife and the Bread, the Brutal and the Sacred: Family Trauma and Retaliatory Gastronomy in Louise DeSalvo'sCrazy in the Kitchen
COMMENT: Grace Hale, University of Virginia (VA)
050. American Studies Journal: Chocolate Spaceship: Gender Politics and Afro-Futurism in Funk
Washington Hilton, F1 – Fairchild West (T)
CHAIR: Randal Maurice Jelks, University of Kansas (KS)
Tammy Kernodle, Miami University of Ohio (OH)
Deconstructing the Groove: Meshell Ndegeocello and the Politics of Funk in Post–Civil Rights America
Francesca T. Royster, DePaul University (IL)
Labelle: Funk, Afrofuturism, Feminism and the Politics of Flight and Fight
Scot Brown, University of California, Los Angeles (CA)
Roger Troutman and Blues Afrofuturism
COMMENT: Randal Maurice Jelks, University of Kansas (KS)
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
077. Transpacific Dissent
Washington Hilton, Monroe (C)
CHAIR: Yu-Fang Cho, Miami University of Ohio (OH)
Chris Suh, Stanford University (CA)
Beyond the Logic of International Indemnity: How an American-educated Korean Became an Anti-American Leader
Fritz Schenker, University of Wisconsin, Madison (WI)
Imperial Producers: Filipino Jazz Musicians in 1920s Colonial Asia
Elizabeth Son, Northwestern University (IL)
Monuments of Dissent: Transpacific Memorializations of Sexual Slavery and Social Justice Struggles
Jennifer Sun Kwak, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MI)
Spam, Sex Work, and U.S. Militarism: Consumption and Conscriptions of Empire in Nora Okja Keller's Fox Girl
COMMENT: Yu-Fang Cho, Miami University of Ohio (OH)
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
144. Caucus – Sound Studies: Sampling Phonographies: Sonic Memory and the Long History of Sampling
Washington Hilton, Columbia Hall 9 (T)
CHAIR: Nicole Hodges Persley, University of Kansas (KS)
Gustavus Stadler, Haverford College in Pennsylvania (PA)
Charles Chesnutt, Sonic Memory, and Racial Terror
Alexander William Corey, University of Colorado, Boulder (CO)
Collaborative Sampling: The John Coltrane Quartet's Favorite Thing
Meghan Drury, George Washington University (DC)
Across Time and Space: Hearing Sun Ra's Egypt
Jack Hamilton, Harvard University (MA)
Making Beats, Making Wakes: Loss, Memory, and Style in the Music of RZA and DJ Premier
COMMENT: Nicole Hodges Persley, University of Kansas (KS)
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
160. Caucus – Sound Studies: Musical Debts: Appropriations, Reparations, or New Traditions?
Washington Hilton, Columbia Hall 9 (T)
CHAIR: Barry Shank, Ohio State University, Columbus (OH)
Kirstie Dorr, University of California, San Diego (CA)
Sumanth Gopinath, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
Roshanak Kheshti, University of California, San Diego (CA)
COMMENT: Jonathan Sterne, McGill University (Canada)
8:00 am – 9:45 am
180. Caucus – Early America Matters: Commons Democracy
Washington Hilton, F1 – Fairchild West (T)
CHAIR: Dana Nelson, Vanderbilt University (TN)
Joanna Brooks, San Diego State University (CA)
Why We Left: Archives of Common Memory, Martial Power, and Peasant-Class Anglo-American Communities
Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, Northeastern University (MA)
Performative Commons in the Atlantic World
Melissah Pawlikowski, Ohio State University, Columbus (OH)
Endeavors for The Common Good: The Communitarian Foundation of Frontier Republicanism and the Populist Push West
COMMENT: Dana Nelson, Vanderbilt University (TN)
181. Repudiating Debt Across the Americas: Latinidades, Embodied Performance, and the Archive as Site of Contestation
Washington Hilton, F2 – Fairchild East (T)
CHAIR: Ernesto Javier Martínez, University of Oregon (OR)
Magdalena Barrera, San Jose State University (CA)
Refusing Pedagogical Debts: Mexican Women in the Verbal and Visual Archives of Americanization
Laura G. Gutiérrez, University of Arizona (AZ)
Sell Your Love Steep: Prostitution, Indebtedness, and other Transnational Transactions in Rumbera Iconography
Marisol Negron, University of Massachusetts, Boston (MA)
Tributo a "El Cantante": The Making and Unmaking of Héctor LaVoe's Abjection
Micaela Díaz-Sánchez, Mount Holyoke College (MA)
From the Page to the Stage and Screen: Queer Chicana Cultural Production, Spectatorship, and Community
COMMENT: Ernesto Javier Martínez, University of Oregon (OR)
193. American Studies Journal: Groove Theory: Funk, Feminism, and Afro-Beat
Washington Hilton, Monroe (C)
CHAIR: Deborah Whaley, University of Iowa (IA)
Nikki A. Greene, Wellesley College (MA)
Don't Call Her No Tramp: The Feminist Funk Power of Betty Davis and Renée Stout
Tony Bolden, University of Kansas (KS)
Groove Theory: A Vamp on the Epistemology of Funk
Alex Stewart, University of Vermont (VT)
Funky Drummer: Fela Kuti, James Brown, and the Invention of Afrobeat
COMMENT: Deborah Whaley, University of Iowa (IA)
12:00 pm – 1:45 pm
222. ASA Artist in Residence Ricardo Dominguez: Disturbance Research Lab: Digital Disobedience (Practicum)
Washington Hilton, International Ballroom West (C)
2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
246. ASA Women's Committee: Critical Conjunctures of Debt: Women of Color, Healthcare Disparities, and Advocacy
Washington Hilton, Jefferson West (C)
CHAIR: Alondra Nelson, Columbia University (NY)
Shirley Tang, University of Massachusetts, Boston (MA)
Invisible Debt: Digitizing and Voicing The Health Disparities and Experiences of Asian American Women
Jacki Rand, University of Iowa (IA)
Native Dissent and Debts of Imperialism: Choctaw Women, Violence, and Health Disparity in the Southeast
Koritha Mitchell, Ohio State University, Columbus (OH)
Pay Yourself First and Pay it Forward: The Black Girls RUN! Project
COMMENT: Alondra Nelson, Columbia University (NY)
4:00 pm – 5:45 pm
258. Caucus – Sound Studies: Connected Listening: Re-imagining Community Through Sound
Washington Hilton, Columbia Hall 9 (T)
CHAIR: Michelle Habell-Pallan, University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
Jessica Schwartz, Columbia University (NY)
No Longer Can I Stay, It's True: The Politics of Hearing Harmony in Marshallese "Free Association" Diaspora
Kevin Fellezs, Columbia University (NY)
You Listen But Don't Ask Question: Listening for the Sounds of Hawaiian-ness
Eric Porter, University of California, Santa Cruz (CA)
Bill Dixon's Voice
COMMENT: Michelle Habell-Pallan, University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
263. Sonic Ledgers of Dissent
Washington Hilton, Jefferson West (C)
CHAIR: Deborah R. Vargas, University of California, Riverside (CA)
Andreana Clay, San Francisco State University (CA)
Searching for Caushun: Homo Thuggery and the Search for Queer Black Masculinity
Gaye Theresa Johnson, University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)
The Future has a Past: Spatial Entitlement, Race, and Cultural Expression in Black and Brown Los Angeles, 1940–Present
Sherrie Tucker, University of Kansas (KS)
Following the State on the Dance Floor of the Nation: The FBI at the Hollywood Canteen
Shana Redmond, University of Southern California (CA)
All Around the World, Same Song: The Trials of Black Musical Genre and Racial Solidarity in the Twentieth Century
COMMENT: Herman Gray, University of California, Santa Cruz (CA)
8:00 am – 9:45 am
288. Folklorization on the National Mall: Representations of Culture through the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Washington Hilton, Georgetown West (C)
CHAIR: William S. Walker, State University of New York, College at Oneonta (NY)
Virginia Myhaver, Boston University (MA)
Institutionalizing the Folk: Emergent Neo-Liberalism and the Mixed Legacy of the Bicentennial Folklife Festival
Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg, Emory University (GA)
Participation on Folklore's Terms: Sacred Harp Singing at the 1970 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife
Olivia Cadaval, Smithsonian Institution (DC)
Negotiating Cultural Representations through the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Diana Baird N'Diaye, Smithsonian Institution (DC)
Curating Crucial Conversations about Twenty-first-Century African American Diversity at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
COMMENT: William S. Walker, State University of New York, College at Oneonta (NY)
10:00 am – 11:45 am
300. Latinas/os Onscreen and On/Off Air: Rethinking Contemporary Media Audiences and Discourses
Washington Hilton, D – Du Pont (T)
CHAIR: Mari Castañeda, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MA)
Jillian Báez, City University of New York, College of Staten Island (NY)
Losing Weight, Balancing, and Aging: Intergenerational Readings of the Mediated Latina Body
Dolores Inés Casillas, University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)
Lost in Translation: The Politics of Spanish-language Radio Ratings
María Elena Cepeda, Williams College (MA)
Latinidad as Transnational Marketing Construct and Performative Category: Latina/o Youth Interpret Los Tigres del Norte and Calle 13's "América"
Hannah Noel, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MI)
Imagining NPR's National Publics: Latinas/os and Neoliberal Models of Social Regulation
COMMENT: Mari Castañeda, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MA)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A new face on Protestantism: Twin Cities synods make diversity a priority
April 25, 2011 at 5:48 am in Grand Forks Herald
For the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America — and other Protestant churches — more churches with different backgrounds and races are needed. But getting diverse people into the same church is often not that easy. Minnesota has the largest number of ELCA members of any state, with close to 800,000 baptized members. Nationwide, the ELCA has nearly 4.5 million members. Only about 3 percent are people of color.
Continue Reading


text:
I was working all weekend in Manhattan so couldn't indulge in my favourite pastime of brunch. A friend once derided the whole American weekend brunch phenomenon and the queuing it induces declaring, "It's eggs. You crazy people are queuing for eggs."
The older I get the less I like queuing and the more I'm in NYC the more I 'get' that the enjoyment of the city comes from being in the right place at the right time. Soho on the weekends – not fun; weekday afternoons – really rather pleasant. 3pm Bryant Park Café seated at a table and serenely enjoying the view – divine; at 6pm surrounded by businessmen shouting into their iPhones as they pose and posture – get me out of there.
And anyway, brunch doesn't solely have to exist on the weekend. Brunch on the weekend is for people who work 9-5 weekdays. They have no other choice. I'm a freelancer God damn it. I (in theory) can have brunch any time I want. I mean, if that's not what freelancing is about, then what is??? I knew in Williamsburg, Brooklyn they served brunch all day so got myself onto the L train quick.
The Rabbithole, named after Alice in Wonderland, has a long, dark corridor you wander down that teleports you out of normal life. With a garden courtyard outback, the dining room has mismatched chairs, wooden floorboards, fresh flowers resting against exposed, red brickwork and antiqued, smoky Venetian mirrors dotted around the place. The space feels intimate and private, yet with crowds raucousness can also occur. It's a place to bunk off and enjoy life. The magic of the place is it melds to what you want from it. How many places do you know that can do that?
Trying to explain the American brunch phenomenon to me, owner and baker Lawrence Elliot said, "New Yorkers work hard all week. They need a day off. It's a contrived event, an excuse to celebrate, to release." I asked why his place serves brunch until 5pm and he replied it's in response to the location. "Williamsburg has a different lifestyle. It's full of freelancers who wake up late and want breakfast at lunchtime." Or late afternoon.
Saying Williamsburg has a high density of artists is like saying humans need air to breathe. 'Almost' everyone in the neighborhood is a creative of varying degree and everybody working at The Rabbithole plays a musical instrument of some sort. Elliot told me the feeling here in the neighbourhood is super casual, that it's about winding down, being a bit reclusive. "For those with a different orientation to life, when you don't want to be in the middle of everything. That you can get away from Manhattan but still be surrounded by energy."
So there I was at 5pm on a Monday reading Sunday's New York Times contemplating the brunch menu. The Saturday edition of the paper I can easily skip but the Sunday edition, I just love. It takes me at least four hours to read cover to cover (and that's me pushing myself at a stretch).
I ordered the Stuffed French Toast (homemade brioche with strawberry mascarpone). Put the word homemade in front of me and I'm anybody's! And a Kir Royale. Traveling so much I firmly believe it's always cocktail hour somewhere in the world. I sipped the Kir, which perfectly played brut with sweet, and dug into one of the most gratifying fried breads of my life.
Elliot came up with the recipe when there wasn't much to eat in his house so pulled out some brioche from the freezer and some mascarpone and made the dish first for his wife. "It's about simple things. Balance. And going beyond average." There are only so many ways you can serve pancakes, French Toast or eggs so places that serve these dishes with a quirk on the side, I adore.
There's the argument that food critics should only eat five bites of a certain food, as past that the enjoyment factor doesn't increase. And in the five bites they should be able to encapsulate the experience to their readers. Sometimes, yes. Agreed. But other times with certain comfort foods, the pleasure only increases as each forkful of food goes into the mouth. French Toast is one of those food items. Whether it's the crust of the brioche or the soft, fluffy middle, the enjoyment only builds as you progress.
'Flightless Bird' by American Mouth was playing (which will forever be known as the song Edward and Bella dance to in the final scene of Twilight) when Elliot brought me a traditional scone with blueberries and icing to try. Now I know you're supposed to eat mindfully, but all I remember was being on the phone to American Airlines trying to rebook my twice cancelled flight to Paris when I suddenly looked down and the plate was empty. The scone was so good it disappeared down the rabbit hole just a little too quickly.
Staff at The Rabbithole weren't just attentive, they actually seemed to care. A rarity in any service industry these days. I've lived in Tokyo too long so it's best not to get me started on a rant about the dismal American service culture, but oh how I do want to rant. Okay, I'll recount just one experience in an unnamed department store. The shop assistant tells the customer the shoe she likes doesn't come in her size. The customer then asks if the shoe comes in a different colour to which the shop assistant replies with a heap of attitude and in the most surliest voice ever, "Well you didn't ask me if it came in a different colour." Customer service? Hardly.
At most restaurants, it's not the food you go back to per se, but what the experience conjures up in you. Having my Sunday morning early Monday evening meant I could focus on timelessness not time. I could indulge in delicious, sweet things while luxuriating in the newspaper's words. And I didn't have to queue hours for the privilege. Oh, and I had already believed six impossible things before breakfast.


text:
Soccer Box Score
Bluefield vs.
Asbury (2-3)
Date: Sep 05, 2009 Attendance: 337
Play-by-Play Summary
|[00:00] Tracy Muncy at goalie for BLUE.
|[00:00] Melanie Dickson at goalie for ASBURY.
|Start of 1st period [00:00].
|Foul on ASBURY.
|[02:34] Corner kick by ASBURY Miranda Wiley.
|Foul on BLUE.
|[04:31] GOAL by ASBURY Aly Crawford (FIRST GOAL).
|Asbury 1, Bluefield 0
|*Shot in box, slipping past goalie.
|[09:42] Shot by ASBURY Ashley Amburgy, SAVE Tracy Muncy.
|Foul on ASBURY.
|[10:33] Offside against BLUE.
|[10:51] Yellow card on BLUE Julie Percy.
|[11:04] Shot by ASBURY Jessica Batey, SAVE Tracy Muncy.
|[12:58] Corner kick by ASBURY Jess Young.
|[12:58] Corner kick by ASBURY Jess Young.
|[14:32] BLUE substitution: Breanne Vencill for Morgan Schack.
|Foul on ASBURY.
|[17:32] GOAL by ASBURY Rebecca Batey.
|Asbury 2, Bluefield 0
|*Turnover at midfield, solo to goal.
|[19:16] ASBURY substitution: Marilyn Campbell for Jessica Hubach.
|[20:33] Shot by ASBURY Jess Young WIDE.
|Foul on BLUE.
|[24:23] ASBURY substitution: Lilly Armstrong for Emily Lawson.
|[25:41] ASBURY substitution: Bethany Russell for Rebecca Batey.
|[29:54] GOAL by ASBURY Ashley Amburgy.
|Asbury 3, Bluefield 0
|*Changed foot for control, upper portion of goal.
|[31:08] Shot by BLUE Rebekah Dunham, SAVE Melanie Dickson.
|[32:00] ASBURY substitution: Jenna Parisi for Jessica Batey.
|[33:20] Shot by BLUE Brittaney Manning, SAVE Melanie Dickson.
|[34:44] ASBURY substitution: Erin Sieberkrob for Kara Selle.
|[35:19] Shot by BLUE Kristyn Large WIDE.
|[36:09] Shot by BLUE Brittaney Manning WIDE.
|[39:02] Shot by ASBURY Jess Young HIGH.
|[39:54] BLUE substitution: Nikki Stegich for Julie Percy.
|[41:43] Shot by ASBURY Miranda Wiley WIDE.
|[42:43] Offside against ASBURY.
|Foul on ASBURY.
|[44:32] Shot by BLUE Paige Morrison HIGH.
|End of period [45:00].
|Start of 2nd period [45:00].
|[45:21] Shot by ASBURY Rebecca Batey, SAVE Tracy Muncy.
|[46:36] Offside against ASBURY.
|[48:46] Offside against ASBURY.
|[51:00] Shot by ASBURY Aly Crawford, SAVE Tracy Muncy.
|[53:24] Shot by ASBURY Ashley Amburgy, SAVE Tracy Muncy.
|[54:36] GOAL by ASBURY Rebecca Batey.
|Asbury 4, Bluefield 0
|*Batey free and clear from midfield, finished in close.
|[57:09] GOAL by ASBURY Miranda Wiley.
|Asbury 5, Bluefield 0
|*Cleared space in box, put away in upper left.
|[57:09] Allison Smith at goalie for ASBURY.
|[58:30] ASBURY substitution: Heather Mabbitt for Jess Young.
|[58:30] ASBURY substitution: Marilyn Campbell for Jessica Hubach.
|[58:30] BLUE substitution: Brittaney Manning for Nina Cundiff.
|[60:14] ASBURY substitution: Erin Sieberkrob for Ashley Amburgy.
|[60:14] ASBURY substitution: Molly Phillips for Emily Lawson.
|[62:21] BLUE substitution: Lauren Johnson for Katie Warren.
|[62:21] BLUE substitution: Breanne Vencill for Heather Wells.
|[64:08] Shot by ASBURY Jessica Batey WIDE.
|[65:38] Shot by BLUE Brittaney Manning HIGH.
|[66:53] ASBURY substitution: Rebecca Batey for Jessica Batey.
|[66:53] ASBURY substitution: MaryLynn Williams for Aly Crawford.
|[66:53] ASBURY substitution: Ashley Amburgy for Miranda Wiley.
|[66:53] BLUE substitution: Rebekah Dunham for Julie Percy.
|[69:29] ASBURY substitution: Jess Young for Heather Mabbitt.
|[71:03] ASBURY substitution: Emily Lawson for Molly Phillips.
|[71:03] ASBURY substitution: Jessica Hubach for Marilyn Campbell.
|[71:03] BLUE substitution: Nina Cundiff for Morgan Schack.
|Foul on ASBURY.
|[73:21] BLUE substitution: Heather Wells for Kelby Dove.
|[74:41] Corner kick by ASBURY Jess Young.
|[75:35] ASBURY substitution: Miranda Wiley for Kara Selle.
|[75:35] BLUE substitution: Paige Morrison for Brittaney Manning.
|Foul on ASBURY.
|[77:33] GOAL by ASBURY Bethany Russell, Assist by Jess Young.
|Asbury 6, Bluefield 0
|*Young to Russell, put away in lower left corner.
|[77:33] ASBURY substitution: Amy Dyer for Erin Sieberkrob.
|[78:41] Yellow card on BLUE Kristina Johnston.
|[78:50] Offside against ASBURY.
|[81:23] Shot by ASBURY Rebecca Batey, SAVE Tracy Muncy.
|[83:10] GOAL by BLUE Katie Warren, Assist by Brittaney Manning.
|Asbury 6, Bluefield 1
|[84:27] Shot by ASBURY Bethany Russell WIDE.
|[85:07] Corner kick by ASBURY Jess Young.
|Foul on BLUE.
|[87:17] Shot by BLUE Breanne Vencill, SAVE Allison Smith.
|[87:32] Shot by BLUE Katie Warren, SAVE Allison Smith.
|[89:33] Corner kick by ASBURY MaryLynn Williams.
|End of period [90:00].


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4:14 pm
Mon July 7, 2014
East TN Employers Demanding More STEM Skills
If you're interested in doing sales in East Tennessee, there are still plenty of opportunities. At the same time, it wouldn't hurt to brush up on your science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.
A Brookings Institute analysis of Knoxville job openings during the first quarter of 2013 finds those jobs classified in the "sales or related profession" field are still the most common. However, a full 33 percent of the 2153 job ads demanded some STEM skills.
The report also shows the need for an advanced education. Nearly a quarter (23.5%) of the job ads were searching for candidates with STEM skills and at least a bachelor's degree.
While sales jobs were the most common among the ads analyzed, jobs requesting candidates in the fields of forestry, farming, fishing and law were the least common.


text: We are back! I have the privilege of presenting to you guys on behalf of the Gaming Mutation team, the TF2 Item Generator V2.0. The TF2 Item Cheat will create a special loophole just for your TF2 account. The tf2 item hack will also have more updates from now on! The beta version of this free TF2 item program has been completely revamped into a more sexy version! Just kidding… We have create a more user friendly interface with a ton of more features. Please visit Gaming Mutation for virus scans and other hacks/cheats for other games. Instructions: 1) Download program from Gaming Mutation website 2) Open the software and refer back to the video 3) Generate it and you are done! Notice: In order to run our program you must have Visual C++ Redistributable Packages installed. Download is at the official Microsoft website. Credits: Music is from NoCopyrightSounds! Check them out for the latest remixes.


text:
ZIMBABWE does not have a constitutional vacuum and President Mugabe will announce election dates at the appropriate time, with or without a new Constitution. Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba said the departure of the President for the Far East for his traditional annual leave would not in any way affect the meeting of Principals to discuss the impasse on the draft Constitution.
There had been reports in some sections of the media that President Mugabe had defied a recent Zanu-PF Annual National People's Conference resolution in which he was mandated to announce election dates should there be no new draft Constitution by Christmas.
"Even if the President was in the country, there was no requirement that the principals should meet before Christmas. Whether or not there is progress, it has nothing to do with the President being in the country or not and has nothing to do with the President calling for elections," Mr Charamba said.
He said the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces reserves the right to proclaim election dates premised on the current Constitution since the country had no constitutional vacuum.
This comes as the Cabinet Committee tasked to break the impasse on constitution-making yesterday resolved to refer outstanding matters to the principals after finding common ground on only two of the 30 contentious issues.
Although Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said the committee had made a breakthrough, sources who attended yesterday's meeting said "nothing concrete" came out.
Said Minister Matinenga: "We met and made progress on a lot of issues, but some of them are still outstanding.
"The problem is we have to make a lot of consultations and some of the people who need to be consulted are still on holiday."
Minister Matinenga refused to reveal the issues the seven-member committee had agreed on.
"It is our hope that in two weeks' time consultations will be complete and we may know the way forward."
However, sources in the committee said they had agreed on only two issues and that the principals would determine the way forward.
"We met and as usual there is nothing concrete to talk about because those outstanding issues are still in place.
"In fact, we sought of agreed on two issues and we have resolved to put everything in the hands of the principals who will guide us on what to do. I cannot give you the two issues because the matter is still delicate," said the source.
Another source said there was no political will among some members of the committee.
"It seems some of the people are not committed to see this thing through because they do not want elections to take place early.
"We now do not know when the next meeting is because we have agreed to meet again after reporting to the principals and getting the way forward," said the source.
The committee, chaired by Minister Matinenga, comprises Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Regional Integration and International Co-operation Minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Copac co-chairpersons Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana (Zanu-PF), Mr Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T) and Mr Edward Mkhosi (MDC).
Cde Mangwana confirmed yesterday's meeting.
"We have met but for the outcome of the meeting talk to the spokesperson (Minister Matinenga)," said Cde Mangwana.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Mwonzora said: "We did meet and we did work. For anything, talk to (Minister) Matinenga."
MDC could not be reached for comment.
With the 30 contentious issues raised during the Second All Stakeholders' Conference in place, it has become clear that Copac will not produce a refined draft constitution any time soon.
Political analysts said the stalemate might give leeway for President Mugabe to proclaim dates for elections using the current Constitution.
Zanu-PF resolved at its 13th Annual National Peoples Conference in Gweru this month that the constitution-making process should be completed by Christmas, failing which President Mugabe would in terms of the law, dissolve Parliament and proclaim dates for harmonised elections using the current Constitution.
Contentious issues from the Second All Stakeholders' Conference, include devolution, dual citizenship, legislature, executive powers, Land Commission, security sector and judiciary.
Delegates at the Second All Stakeholders' Conference rejected devolution and dual citizenship while the MDC formations are pushing for the inclusion of the two issues.
The parties have not agreed on the executive powers, whether executive authority should be vested in the President only or in the President and Cabinet.
There is also no agreement on whether or not the President should seek approval of Parliament when declaring war.
There is also no agreement on the security sector, especially on whether the new supreme law should provide for the appointment of the minister responsible for the police service.
Another area of dispute is the judiciary with the parties not disagreeing on whether or not Zimbabwe should have a separate Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court should transfer itself into a Constitutional Court when there are constitutional issues to deal with.
There are differences on the legislature as to whether or not the Clerk of Parliament should preside over election of the Speaker of Parliament or the President of the Senate.
Other areas of contention were the Land Commission and the Attorney-General's Office.
There are also disagreements on whether provincial councils should be called devolved or decentralised and how a successor would be chosen in case of incapacitation of the President.
The Constitution-making process that was expected to take about 18 months has taken over three years because of bickering among the political parties.
The MDC formations endorsed the draft in its entirety, but Zanu-PF proposed amendments that were taken to the second all stakeholders conference.
The revolutionary party argued that the draft had deviated from people's views gathered during the outreach programme.
Zanu-PF has openly declared that it would not support a draft constitution that does not defend, protect and preserve the values of the liberation struggle.
MDC formations have mainly been basing their preferences on "international best practices", while Zanu-PF used the outreach national statistical report that outlines the views of the people.


text:
This the story of a dream coming true. Not the dream of one person, but of millions of schoolchildren. It is a dream born of the nightmare of algebra, the perplexity of geometry, the despair of calculus. It is the dream of the end of maths.
Maths is the most feared of all school lessons. The subject makes many people feel inadequate and often instills a dislike of logical reasoning that persists beyond any logical end. It is true that for some the subject is a pleasure. But for most, future scientists included, it is a pain.
But now this classroom torture is about to come to an end. Remember the fuss about pocket calculators, children and arithmetic? That row, and its inevitable conclusion (victory for calculators and children, not conservatives), will be as nothing compared to what pocket computers are going to do to the subject.
Mathematicians are just ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.


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text:
Maximum impact
Filed under: The RSA
Often an issue engages us because over a short period of time it has come up from different angles in different contexts. For me themost recent example concerns the way the RSA describes social impact. The issue cropped up at a recent Trustee meeting in relation to different views about how we should judge the success for RSA projects. For some Trustees the most important thing is impact on the ground, others would like to see evidence that we are influencing policy makers and breaking through more consistently into the national media.
Then, on Friday, we had an internal meeting involving senior managers where there was discussion of a paper proposing the development of single corporate framework for assessing impact. Finally, on Saturday in Todmorden I saw a great example of the RSA making an impact – in this case supporting a fantastic initiative which has built great social capital in town – but also one which it is quite hard to capture as a conventional output.
So I feel these questions need further thought and having such great readers – who are generally enthusiastic about the RSA – I thought that over the next few days I might share some of my thought processes with you.
Last year the RSA Trustees agreed to launch a new strapline: twenty first century enlightenment. The feeling was that this worked at several levels. It combines a reference to our eighteenth century enlightenment origins with a commitment to be relevant in the century ahead. It refers to our mission to open up new ideas to the world. But the strap line also referred to a more substantive conversation about the Society's modern mission which had been taking place among Trustees and in other RSA forums.
Twenty first century enlightenment means different things to different people, but I gave my personal take on it in my 2010 annual lecture. In essence this was an argument of three parts:
1) For the world to meet major challenges and to flourish in the 21st century we need a step change in human capability, including significant changes in the ways we think and behave: in short we need citizens who are more engaged, more resourceful and more inclined to be pro-social.
2) If we seek to enhance human capability we need to understand what drives human behaviour. From disciplines as varied as neuroscience, behavioural economics, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary psychology new, more complex and more nuanced accounts of human nature are emerging to challenge the formerly dominant myth of homo economicus.
3) Putting together the challenges generated by the modern world with new thinking about human behaviour provides an opportunity to reconsider the way we have come to interpret some of the founding ideas of the post enlightenment era; namely autonomy, universalism and humanism.
As I say, this is just my take but it helps to explain why measuring impact is a tricky problem. The relationship between our mission and what we do is reasonably clear, the difficulty comes when we move from what we do (output) to what we want to achieve (outcome).
The thirty five million on-line views of RSA events proves we are making ideas interesting and accessible to a mass audience. But apart from the many positive comments on YouTube and other places how do we know that those ideas are having an impact beyond entertainment? And should we more ambitious about using the events programme to surface new issues in ways which really have an impact on public discourse?
Our projects in areas ranging from design and education to social networks and behaviour change all relate to questions of human capability. We can point to good publications, rising media profile and concrete real world impacts such as our Whole Person Recovery work in Sussex or the achievements of our Academies, but if we wanted to aim for a more profound long-lasting influence and change what would it be and in what areas would we focus?
As my day in Todmorden vividly showed, our investment in supporting Fellows' activities is starting to pay off in an ever growing level of Fellowship activity (as another example, last week saw over 150 people attend a Profit with Purpose network meeting here in London). But can we aspire to all these disparate initiatives coalescing into the RSA Fellowship making a substantial contribution to civil society?
In focussing on outcomes rather than more easily measured outputs there is a danger that the discussion becomes rather abstract and speculative. But I also think that part of the RSA being a truly innovative organisation could be that we try to judge ourselves by distinctive criteria, developing new metrics and making new kinds of arguments about impact. One possibility, for example, might be that we use the forthcoming Fellowship survey to ask some deeper questions about how being a Fellow changes people's sense of social efficacy and responsibility. Social network analysis (an area in which the RSA is now seen to be a leading practitioner) might also enable us to see how our work ripples out beyond our immediate stakeholder groups.
I hope to return to these issues later in the week and – as always – I'll be interested to see of readers have their own perspectives.
It's incredible, it's edible, it's Todmorden
Filed under: Public policy, The RSA
I am writing this on the way back from a fantastic day in Todmorden, the home of Incredible Edible Todmorden. I can't say catching the last train back to London from the bleak badlands of Stockport is my idea of a good Saturday night but the journey was certainly worth it.
I'm sure many of my readers will know about IET. It is a fantastic project based on the simple idea of local people growing food. The driving force behind the project is Pamela Warhurst. She told me the idea occurred to her and her friends after she heard a lecture by Professor Tim Lang, so there was a nice symmetry when my trip ended with me introducing Tim at a packed meeting in Todmorden's wonderfully preserved Hippodrome Theatre.
Before the event I had been shown round the IET green route which included Pam's original private rose garden, which is now a tiny public garden full of vegetables and herbs. My guide Estelle then showed me the raised beds planted by the canal, the places where standard issue municipal prickly bushes had been replaced with edible plants, and the health centre which has a border of strawberry plants maintained by a GP who used to grow strawberries in Poland as well as a raised bed planted with medicinal plants. Most of this has been done without asking for permission (or only asking for it after the planting) and all of it by volunteers.
The project is now having impacts across the town. Small businesses are being created including a soap maker who uses IET herbs. All the town's schools are involved, especially the high school where a BTEC in agriculture is proving very popular and where a local sustainable fish farming social business in being developed. And in case IET sounds like it is one of those worthy but achingly middle class green initiatives, its ideas are also being implemented by a local social housing provider.
It is hardly surprising that visitors from all over the world are flocking to Todmorden to learn more about IET. Today, people from twenty existing or putative schemes like IET gathered to share ideas, discuss experiences and develop collaboration.
For me the project packed extra impact for two reasons. The first is that RSA Fellows have played an important role in developing supporting and publicising IET. I met some fantastic Fellows during the day, the kind of people who give the Society a good name whenever they mention their association. The second is that the project fits so well with the idea that we need to close the social aspiration gap (the gap between the future people say they want and the one we are likely to build unless we are willing to change some of the ways we think and act). I have said that closing the gap means encouraging people to be 'more engaged, more resourceful and more pro-social'. By getting people to think about food and the impact of our food choices, in encouraging people to grow and cook their own food, and in mobilising volunteers from all sectors of the community IET as well as demonstrable building civic capacity IET is a microcosm of the new ways of living we need.
So, it's ten to ten and we've only just left Stoke on Trent but, for once, I'm not complaining.


text:
Xylitol: Products sweetened with Xylitol are toxic to dogs
By Gary Bogue
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 6:48 am in dogs, Xylitol.
Shaggy dog. Photo by Flickr user foxypar4 used under a Creative Commons License
I just received this important news release from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York. If you have a dog, please read it and pay very close attention what it says. Your dog will appreciate it. /Gary
No Sugar Coating: Products Sweetened With Xylitol Are Toxic To Dogs
ASPCA warns that the number of xylitol-related cases is increasing – sugar-free chewing gums, candies, baked goods among products
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals today reminded animal lovers and pet parents that xylitol, a sweetener found in certain sugar-free chewing gums, candies, baked goods, toothpaste, and other products can potentially cause serious and even life-threatening problems for pets.
Photo by Flickr user exfordy used under a Creative Commons License
Last year, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) in Urbana, Ill. managed approximately 2,690 cases of accidental xylitol ingestion. This is a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of cases involving xylitol-containing products from just three years ago, and 30 times as many cases from 2004, when the Center managed less than 100 incidents of xylitol ingestion.
"One explanation as to the increase in the number of pets accidentally exposed to xylitol may simply be an increase in availability," says Mindy Bough, Vice President of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. "Xylitol seems to be becoming more popular in food products because it is a useful sugar substitute for diabetics and has been shown to decrease the development of cavities in humans."
The products that contain xylitol are most commonly sugar-free chewing gums and candies, but the sweetener can also be found in mints, baked goods, vitamins, toothpaste, and xylitol powder, which is used as an alternative to conventional table sugar.
According to Dr. Eric Dunayer, Senior Toxicologist at the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, dogs ingesting items sweetened with xylitol could develop a fairly sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, loss of coordination and seizures. "These signs can develop quite rapidly, at times less than 30 minutes after ingestion of the product. Therefore, it is crucial that pet owners seek veterinary treatment immediately." Dr. Dunayer also states that there appears to be a strong link between xylitol ingestions and the development of liver failure in dogs.
While it was previously thought that only large concentrations of xylitol could result in problems, this no longer appears to be the case. "We seem to be learning new information with each subsequent case we manage," says Dr. Dunayer. "Our concern used to be mainly with products that contain xylitol as one of the first ingredients. However, we have begun to see problems developing from ingestions of products with lesser amounts of this sweetener."
Dr. Dunayer also says that with smaller concentrations of xylitol, the onset of clinical signs could be delayed as much as 12 hours after ingestion. "Therefore, it is important to remember that even if your pet does not develop signs right away, it does not mean that problems won't develop later on."
The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center strongly urges pet owners to be especially diligent in keeping candy, gum, or other foods containing xylitol out of the reach of pets. As with any potentially toxic substance, should accidental exposures occur, it is important to contact your local veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435 for immediate assistance.
For more information, please visit http://www.aspca.org/apcc
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]


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The Palms Hotel, Torquay
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537 Babbacombe Road
The Palms Hotel overview
Situated on a hill just a few hundred yards from beach, shops and the harbour, The Palms is a perfect small hotel for a family holiday. Comfortable rooms and very friendly hosts, with a discount for children under 12. Toys, books, colouring books and DVD's for the kids, just in case of a rainy day! Baby packs with travel cot and bedding, high chair and baby monitor. Lots of restaurants close ... by, but if you prefer to stay in a simple evening snack can be prepared.
Be the first to review this place and earn extra points!
Family facilities:
- Bottle warming
- Family rooms
- Play area / games
Additional features:
- Bar
- Breakfast
- Free parking
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text:
I am gearing up for my first year of high school baasketball and I have no idea what to expect. I will be playing on the freshman team, JV team, and hopefully a little bit of varsity. If anyone has any tips or suggestions for me, or just has some input for the topic, I would really appreciate it!
Well I'm going into 8th grade and I made my 7th grade team and was the best player. You really want to keep practicing, hustle, be a team player, and what coaches love to see if players have DEFENSE. Don't be a ballhog, take good shots, Dive for loose balls, listen to the coach. Do things that will coach will like. If your hoping to play college ball you have to be outstanding out on the court. Also have someone video tape your games and send it to whatever college.
im only going into 8th but i can tell you some tips from my expierance this year for playing on my first AAU team. SHow your coach that you are willing to do all the little things. Dive for loose balls, shoot 70% or 80% on freethrows, crash boards, play D, things like that. And dont get down and upset of your playing time isnt increasing even if your are working harder than some players. Use it as motivation. Even if you think the player starting ahead isnt as good of you, just know that there is someway he is better becuz he starting. Use this to push yourself. If you are willing to work harder then anyone else, your high school career and beyond will be great. Just remeber this quote:
Hard work beats talent, when talent doesnt work hard
Thanks guys! I really like that quote also.


text:
Brownie Crinkles Recipe
4 14
Throw together these delightful morsels in a snap by adding two ingredients to Teresa's Brownie Mix. The crinkle-topped cookies are crunchy outside and chewy inside.
- 4 cups Fudge Brownie Mix
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a large bowl, combine the brownie mix, eggs and vanilla; mix well.
- Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until the tops are cracked. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: about 3 dozen.
Originally published as Brownie Crinkles in Quick Cooking July/August 2002, p19
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Reviewed Mar. 29, 2015
"Tasty and easy."
Reviewed Dec. 30, 2014
"I just used boxed brownie mix and coated them in powdered sugar before baking. EXCELLENT!!"
Reviewed Dec. 15, 2011
"If you need a good brownie mix: www.abiteofthesweetlife.com - love this brownie crinkle recipe. Thank you for making chocolate so simple."
Reviewed Jul. 19, 2011
"
These are the quickest cookies i think i have ever made and have been a favorite at every event i have taken them to. Ladies, any standard box brownie mix will work on these. I actually measured the bag contents.Trick to these is to be sure and bake them on parchment paper or you will never get them off the sheet as a presentable cookie :)
"
Reviewed Apr. 19, 2011
"The recipe for the Fudge Brownie Mix can be found here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Brownie-Mix-2I made just enough mix for these cookies by using 1/4 of the amounts of the ingredients in the Fudge Brownie Mix recipe"


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|Mars Fishcare is passionate about fishkeeping, and about supporting the fishkeeping hobby. Mars Fishcare has been a pioneer in the aquatics industry for more than 50 years, researching and developing quality products to help people create and enjoy their aquariums and ponds.
Mars Fishcare is committed to making a difference to our planet and its people by providing innovative, scientifically proven fishkeeping solutions.