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[Update, April 15] While we took our opening comment in the Herald-Leader at face value in the piece below, the editor in question, John Carroll, actually intended it as a rueful preface to a serious examination of his paper's lapses in civil rights coverage. We apologize for the initial lack of context.
[Original story]
"It has come to the editor's attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Call it the ultimate umbrella apology, issued by the Lexington, KY, paper in 2004 (the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964). While it might be tempting to mock the paper for its understatement, it certainly isn't the only outlet that managed to botch and then apologize for its coverage of race, wealth, and (in)equality. Yes, we in the media can have blind spots—often huge ones—when it comes to social change. To help identify them, we set out to have a national conversation about what we're missing these days, and how media must adapt to cover an America that constantly reinvents itself.
Race, class, immigration, and social mobility were the issues we used to frame our discussion, conducted in January. Using the online conversation tool Branch, we virtually convened 18 members of the media and asked them to weigh in. (To find out who's who in this conversation, click here.)
As context, this is both the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th of Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington. Many people don't know the March's full name: "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." We chose to address both economic issues and race/immigration, highlighting the current fault lines in our country and mediaverse. Among them:
We're in a period of accelerated change in the media industry. Big institutions are sharing audiences with scrappy upstarts and citizen journalists. How do you hold the media accountable when virtually anyone who chooses can have at least a small audience? And are there different standards for big or long-standing institutions versus new or smaller ones?
How do we make sense of race, immigration, and class when all of the issues intersect, but none is identical? What are key social changes we should be examining right now? What is the historical context in which we embed today's narratives? And how can we plan future coverage?
The 2012 election provides an additional layer of context for these conversations. Three numbers—the 1 percent, the 99 percent, and the 47 percent—were used in different ways to define how income, wealth, and taxation shape our society. The original Occupy Wall Street protests occurred from September through November 2011, but protests in municipalities such as Oakland ran well through the spring, as presidential candidates accelerated their trot through the Swing States. By the time Mitt Romney's surreptitiously taped remarks about the 47 percent hit airwaves in September 2012, many Americans had heard a garbled debate about wealth that delivered more soundbites than facts. Governor Romney stated, "[T]here are 47 percent who are with [President Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. . . . These are people who pay no income tax." For the record, two-thirds of the 47 percent work, with most of that subgroup paying payroll taxes. Many are retired. And not all, certainly, are Democrats. In fact, the Tea Party Twittersphere went curiously silent after the 47-percent remarks, perhaps indicating that the normally voluble cohort had little good to say.
If you dig deeper into the 1-percent-and-99-percent paradigm, that too has flaws. It's not until the 1 percent of the 1 percent (i.e., the .01 percent) that the income graph really shoots up. The average American income is about $51,000. The 1-percent's average income is $717,000. And the 1-percent-of-the-1-percent's average income is $27 million. The discrepancies only increase if you compare wealth versus income. The issue also plays out in politics, since the 1-percent-of-the-1-percent are disproportionately represented among major donors. Overall, the divide between rich and poor is growing, social mobility is decreasing, and the average length of unemployment today is twice as long as it was during the last recession.
Turning to race and immigration, we can only take snapshots of a country in rapid evolution. Late last year, the US Census Bureau released a prediction that the country would become "majority-minority" in 2043, earlier than previous estimates. In 2012, the nation was 63 percent non-Hispanic white, 17 percent Hispanic (of any race or combination of races), 13 percent non-Hispanic black, about 5 percent Asian-American, and about 1 percent Native American, plus some 2 percent who list themselves as multiracial. By 2060, the census predicts that the US will be 43 percent non-Hispanic white, 31 percent Hispanic (of any race), 15 percent non-Hispanic black, about 8 percent Asian-American, about 5 percent multiracial, and about 1 percent Native American.
As we put this issue of CJR to bed, the president and Congress were jockeying for position on immigration reform. What seemed even a year ago like an issue to be avoided has new momentum. The GOP, after winning only 27 percent of the Hispanic vote in the presidential race (substantially worse than during the G. W. Bush years) is looking for new ways to prove its relevance to immigrants and demographics that care deeply about immigration. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has come out early and strongly for immigration reform, perhaps presaging a 2016 presidential run.
In other news, some African-American civil rights advocates have stepped up second-term criticism of the president. On Meet the Press in January, NAACP chief Benjamin Jealous said, "Right now, when you look at joblessness in this country—the country is pretty much back to where it was when this president started. White people are doing a bit better. Black folks are doing a full point worse." Books like Pulitzer winner Eugene Robinson's Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, dig into whether a post-integration world has proven even less hospitable to a majority of African-Americans than the racially segregated but income-integrated communities that existed before the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968. Asian-American populations continue to grow in aggregate but also gain power within ethnic groups, be they Korean Americans in Los Angeles, Hmong in Wisconsin, or Chinese immigrants in New York. Native Americans continue to wrestle not only with issues like income and health, but also tribal sovereignty, the unique and contested space between tribal governments and federal authority.
As America becomes more diverse and complex, ethnically and economically, those of us who care about the news are still asking: What should we cover and how can we do it better? Perhaps as long as we ask that question, we can hold out hope that, working collectively, we will succeed.
Who gets taken care of when disaster strikes?
Farai Chideya Let's talk about the distribution of resources when it comes to helping those in need. I remember covering Katrina, walking through the flooded streets, talking to survivors, and traveling by helicopter with Lt. General Honoré, who took military command of New Orleans. The very fact that a US city had to go under military command shocked me. More recently, Sandy struck. [A New York Times] article about forgotten people in the Rockaways launches my first question: How well do we cover crises, or even chronic problems, fairly across regions, taking into account issues like race and income? On the one hand, the Times did an admirable job on this story. On the other, it took reporters, as well as responders, quite a while to focus on these forgotten people.
Many factors affect inequality of coverage. In New York after Sandy, there were gas shortages and transportation problems that made it harder to cover certain areas than others. A lot of the local micro-blogs that normally do good work on community issues were shut down because either they had no power or the people were picking up their own lives.
June Cross There are folks in Long Island, out in Coney Island, who still don't have power. In part, this is the Manhattan-centric nature of New York media. But also, Katrina devastated an entire city, and these outer areas in New York have historically been ignored. Likewise, Long Branch and areas of New Jersey. The media is capricious; the story moves slowly. Unless there is a paper of journos as impacted as those who worked at The Times-Picayune in NOLA after Katrina, who are dedicated to following the minute developments of the stories unfolding in tedious tandem, it is difficult to hold the public's attention. If you have no Internet, it is extremely difficult to communicate with the outside world. But Occupy Sandy has been doing an amazing job. The Occupy Sandy [information and volunteer coordination] hub does a better job than MSM.
Richard Prince Journalists should live in different parts of the circulation area, not just in the usual places that attract people of the journalists' social class.
June Cross This would be where citizen journalists could work with professional journalists.
David Beard It is incumbent on us to find ways that allow us to pursue hard news with characteristic vigor. Those ways could include special digital/print sections, linkage to events, or ngo partnerships to fund some science, conflict, investigative, arts reporting. In covering local news, we can be more creative in partnering with local bloggers, universities, and other media than we have been.
Jeff Yang I feel disgusted to even be saying this, but I think that the way that disasters are covered in the media—and ultimately, how they play out in larger society—often comes down to the colors of the corpses.
I personally heard uttered that Sandy was "white people's Katrina," which defined the context of both disasters: Sandy was discussed as an issue of decaying infrastructure and overwhelmed or underestimated civic planning. New York is a place where a lot of powerful white people live, and they were inconvenienced by Sandy. Their interests drove a disproportionate amount of the narrative.
Katrina [coverage], meanwhile, often seemed to focus on the victims as members of a savage underclass, speculating on the corruption or poor leadership of local black officials, the ignorance or willful resistance to authority of black residents, and false reports of violence. There was the infamous incident in which Caucasian flood victims were portrayed in one photo caption as "finding" supplies, while a black person was described in another as "looting" supplies.
As a consequence, I think there was broad overlooking of suffering during the early coverage of Sandy, as people debated solutions and causes—for example, the massive fires at Breezy Point weren't covered for hours. Thorough discussion of the antecedents of Katrina, and efforts to prevent future catastrophes, had to wait on days/weeks of disaster/poverty porn.
The only solution to this kind of coverage bias is diversity in establishment media, combined with a very different approach to partnerships between such media and citizen journalists/bloggers. It strikes me that in times of crisis, the news establishment [will] end up serving as a curatorial and factchecking filter for crowdsourced reporting, with its own reporting coming after the fact—in the window usually reserved for "news analysis."
Raju Narisetti The expectation that a New York Times or a Wall Street Journal or Washington Post can really be comprehensive—and, to borrow from the NYT, provide all the news that is fit to print—is a false expectation in 2013, given the state of our industry, the proliferation of content sources, the growing promiscuity of once-loyal readers. Especially when it comes to covering large-scale events such as Sandy. There is a disconnect between what we think big media should do and what it can. The good news is that platforms and services such as Twitter are bringing news serendipity, immediacy, and breadth back into our lives and as a result, even if former traditional sources don't provide it, the scale of what we know is actually much better today than it was in the heydays of dominant media brands.
Farai Chideya I agree with what you say overall, Raju, but TV news divisions are not currently in the red. I think things really started to go bad in broadcast when acquiring companies began to expect entertainment-level profits from news.
Raju Narisetti Between YouTube, Now This News, HuffPostLive, and WSJLive, and you name it, technology has enabled a lot more replacements for big-media TV outlets. So I remain sanguine and hopeful, even if television news has to make entertainment-like profits.
Farai Chideya What Sandy news coverage stood out?
Latoya Peterson I scanned my social networks to figure out where people were and what was happening. Hours before I saw news coverage of how bad the flooding was, an acquaintance posted a picture of her abandoned apartment, with her toilet submerged. I watched friends in New York post pics on Instagram. And I waited for people to sign on to see if they were safe. I only read news reports about the aftermath—to get an idea of the broader scope, what happened in the Rockaways, what was going on with the trains. I loved the NYT [tick-tock on bringing the subways back into service]. But what stands out to me the most is that I looked to social networks for breaking news and major outlets for context.
Deanna Zandt I can't help but bring in how powerless the Internet really was in the wake of Sandy. When I went out canvassing the first weekend after the storm, the number of people that we met who didn't know there was an Occupy or other community relief center within walking distance of their houses was stunning (due to lack of power in general, let alone connectivity). . . and then I'd come home and find a bunch of my nerdfolk online setting up websites where people could "help" one another. It was incredibly frustrating.
I'd made fun of things like low-power FM for a lot of years, until that weekend. CB radios and more "old" tech could be employed in incredibly powerful ways.
Coverage of class and social mobility
Farai Chideya According to a study published in The Economist, "Parental income is a better predictor of a child's future in America than in much of Europe, implying that social mobility is less powerful. Different groups of Americans have different levels of opportunity. Those born to the middle class have about an equal chance of moving up or down the income ladder, according to the Economic Mobility Project. But those born to black middle-class families are much more likely than their white counterparts to fall in rank. The children of the rich and poor, meanwhile, are less mobile than the middle class's. More than 40 percent of those Americans born in the bottom quintile remain stuck there as adults."
Vivek Wadhwa Sadly, social mobility is an issue in America and most places in the world. But for all of America's flaws, it is the most open and inclusive society on this planet.
Groups that help each other can rise. It starts with Mom and Dad encouraging and motivating children, and with communities coming together—people who have achieved success helping others behind them.
Farai Chideya There is a collapsing of the American middle class—not across the board, and not unfixable, but hysteresis (long-term unemployment) changes families and communities, [and] has public-health effects, too.
Vivek Wadhwa Wait till you learn what lies ahead—in this decade. We've watched the emergence of exponential companies like Facebook and Google. Billions were impacted, but only a few became wealthy. Now multiply this by 1,000 and look beyond social media—in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence, computing, synthetic biology, 3D printing, medicine, and nanomaterials. We are going to transform entire industries, such as manufacturing. And we have the chance to solve humanity's grand challenges and eliminate poverty and hunger and create unlimited energy, improve health, and so on. We can figure out how to share this new prosperity, or we can create more Zuckerbergs. It is up to us. I am optimistic we will share.
Farai Chideya Where we put research dollars to solve medical and public-health problems will have a big impact on that. Cancer-research dollars have been flat in the public sector for years, despite some big advances in genomics and treatment. I still believe, with all the private innovators around, that government plays a key role in research.
Vivek Wadhwa Government funding for basic research is important and needed. But in this exponential era, entrepreneurs can do what only governments and big research labs could before—solve big problems.
Farai Chideya I'm a huge fan of public-private partnerships. Part of the reason for the sharp decline in African-American employment was our reliance on public-sector jobs. They need to create alliances with industry.
Until the civil rights movement, black communities were far more income-mixed. Segregation caused clusterings of black families who created some amazing communities, like two my family come from—Westmoreland County, VA (farmers), and Turner Station, MD (urban mixed-income black community, with both wealthy and poor).
Vivek Wadhwa Farai, as long as the black community looks to others to help it—in whatever form—it won't get ahead. It has to unite and help itself.
Why does every discussion of uplifting the African-American community have to begin with government jobs or industry partnerships? Why not begin with new entrepreneurial ventures and mentorship?
Farai Chideya Black folks, in my experience, are very entrepreneurial. At one point in the past decade, black women had the highest rate of starting new businesses. But many don't scale easily (say, daycare operator), or fail, in part due to lack of experience and/or undercapitalization.
There are businesses that feed people, and then there are businesses that build wealth for employees and investors. The barriers to access certain private jobs and private capital will require new solutions. But we should not abandon the public sector. I am no fan of the way government works. I have said to several congresspeople, "I can't imagine going to a job every day where half of people want you to fail."
June Cross The press has missed the calcification of social mobility. In New York, nannies and home-healthcare services are predominantly West Indian or African immigrants. They work for minimum wage, often without overtime, and until Obamacare kicks in next year, many won't have access to healthcare themselves. (And in the nine states that refuse to expand Medicaid, there will be even more.) American society is becoming stratified in ways that summon images of India. The lack of access to a decent education has made it more and more difficult for black American children in public schools to rise above their station.
Latoya Peterson Conversations about social mobility fascinate me, because they happen in two separate spheres: the economics section, where the decline of solid middle-class jobs is documented, and the personal-interest (style) section, which illustrates the broader structural workings of poverty. I'd love to see the two converge a bit more. A [December] Washington Post piece [about Pennsylvania teenager Tabitha Rouzzo] frustrated me: The article was a voyeuristic view of poverty, with questionable items presented with no further comment or investigation. The reporter followed Tabitha's story well, but ignored the rest of the family—and most people aren't in poverty alone.
When Tabitha's sister decides to stop going to school, there is no further investigation or understanding. Was she being bullied? Was she depressed? Did she, like so many others, [get] worn down by feeling like a failure each day? I feel like the relative level of privilege in the press corps leads us to miss some key aspects to stories about social mobility—links to mental health, addiction, or collapsing social systems are often under-explored. Does it make sense to have a welfare policy that discourages people from working? Does it make sense to allow a minimum wage that is not a living wage? The framework is vital.
I've loved the reporting on the mounting [financial] pressure on Americans, particularly the crowdsourced stories on Tumblr. Yahoo did a project called Down But Not Out, putting faces and stories to the long-term unemployed, then expanding to looking at mortgages and student loans.
A clear theme is emerging: Americans bought into the Dream (home ownerships and college educations) without realizing how the reality of those dreams has changed. In combination with a competitive, machine-aided, global workforce, Americans have lost ground and found themselves unable to catch a break—much less a bootstrap. And I think we are only seeing the beginning of the stories.
Carmen Wong Ulrich Social mobility is tied to access to education—affordable, non-crippling-debt college education. Granted, we need even better high-school graduation rates and grades from black/Latino kids, too, but once these kids get into college, the dropout rates are higher for poor minorities, and rates of "bad" student loan debt (read: private loans) are too high. I'd love more education for minority students on how to manage the college system/process, personally and culturally, as well as how to pay for it in a smarter way. While mentoring and working with Latino and black students going into college for the past 15-plus years, the lack of clear, informed strategies to get that degree is frightening. I get the question, "Is this degree worth it?" Hell yes. [But the process] needs to be directed, treated like what it is: an investment, and a business/economic/life strategy.
To Vivek's point about entrepreneurism, keep in mind that many of us have/had no financial safety net or support, should a business fail, and education is key to economic growth in a less risky way. When there's no net, you're more likely to not swing so high.
Farai Chideya How are we supposed to describe class stratification in a country that claims not to have class?
I loved the recent piece by [Salon staff writer] Mary Beth Williams, "On not being middle class in New York City" [which appeared on her personal Tumblr]: "a classically tunnel-visioned New York Times feature about what it means to be middle class in Manhattan. The Times would have you believe that to live in the Apple, you're going to need about $235K a year. . . . [W]hen the Times runs a feature like that, it treats the millions of New Yorkers who are somehow getting by and raising families and living with basic human dignity like they're invisible. That pisses me off."
Carmen Wong Ulrich Silly of us not to realize that "class" exists, but its definition depends greatly on who's doing the talking, and what about. How someone speaks could have you deem them of a lower "class" even if he/she is a self-made millionaire. Professionally, some deem those with no college degree (or even no grad degree) as of a lesser "class." However, there is a real discussion about the ability of Americans to maintain a solid middle class and what middle means. Does that mean home ownership? Two cars and cellphones? How much money you make, or what you do with it?
Monica Guzman I'll echo Mary Beth Williams and say that tone deafness with regard to class—writing about people in a certain place in a certain situation in a way that seems out of touch to those people—is a problem. But it's a tricky problem. Who else, after all, is talking about class? It's one of those burdens media must carry, figuring out how to talk about something there's really no language for, no agreed-upon codes, and little consensus across regions. They're bound to get hammered when they try. But at least we try. Class is a force in American culture. The denial of class, too, is a particular feature of American self-perception, where it exists.
Maybe it's one of the many areas in journalism where we have to take risks—where, for the sake of informing the public, we have to pick words and phrases and concepts, do our darnedest to make sure they reflect reality, and put them to the ultimate test—publication. If we're off, we're off, and rather than shy away from it, we should own the conversation about why, and how to make future coverage better.
Coverage of race and immigration in America
Farai Chideya If we were to write the mea culpa of race coverage for 2050, what would it be? What are we missing now? And how do we deal with what we missed before?
Raju Narisetti In hindsight, we might be apologizing for treating race through a white/nonwhite prism, long after America became much more multicultural, and race reporting ought to have become as much about covering "white" issues, and not just in relation to nonwhite "minorities."
Vivek Wadhwa By 2050, we will be color-blind or not exist as a race. Humanity will evolve to the point that we create an abundance of food, water, energy, knowledge—all the things we fight for and that divide society. Along the way, we will have much more time to think—and to evolve. I have little doubt that if we don't blow ourselves up in the next decade or two, we will achieve our potential as a race.
Raju Narisetti I love Vivek for many reasons—he is at once aspirational and idealistic. And sometimes unrealistic. As in a race-blind 2050.
Maria Ebrahamji Our "In America" section on CNN.com focuses on these issues, through the lens of identity. Sometimes we as journalists think too much about the facts and not enough about providing context to our viewer/reader. I recall that a lot of the news reporting after the last census focused on who we are as Americans (our racial makeup, economic diversity, etc.). I am more fascinated by the idea of how we are living and why we live that way.
Eric Deggans I write a lot about how race and prejudice play out in media. But I was still shocked during an interview with Shirley Sherrod—yes, that "Breitbarted" Shirley Sherrod [who was bullied into resigning from a government job after racial comments she made were taken out of context]—when she told me a high school near her home in Georgia still has segregated proms. Far as the nation has come on racial issues, especially in big cities, there is a still a lot of prejudice and ignorance out there. I have a feeling future news outlets will be apologizing for allowing the level of racial animus toward nonwhite people which still appears on Fox News Channel, the Drudge Report, The Daily Caller, and many areas of conservative media.
Tristan Ahtone When it comes to reporting in Indian Country, one of the biggest issues I see is reporters' inability or lack of interest in getting to know communities on a level deeper than can be found through statistics. Crime, casinos, and cultural revitalization are all important topics, but reporters could be digging deeper. Spend time with the communities you want to report on. Native communities are traditionally closed off to outsiders, and in gaining a community's trust, you'll be able to get to stories that are truly underreported and important to the people you cover.
Jeff Yang I've been deeply intrigued by the implications of multiracialism on race. We're rapidly entering a period in our national history where race and ethnicity no longer fit the boxes we've conventionally assigned them to (if they ever really did, as more than clumsy shorthand). Our first black president is also our first multiracial president, and our first Third Culture Kid president [since he grew up outside his parents' culture]. The president has consciously claimed black identity (and told the story of that process), but he has also at varying times claimed Pacific identity, from his upbringing in Hawaii; Desi identity, from his close friendships with South-Asian Americans and perhaps his years in Indonesia, though that doesn't entirely factor; and white, lower-middle-class descent. What's interesting is that none of these are actually contradictory to his personal narrative. And we're seeing more and more people for whom that is true. Are we finally seeing, not an erasure of race, but a divorcing of racial identity from racial origin/phenotype?
Raquel Cepeda In 2050, we'll be casting a wide net when apologizing to Latino/Latina-Americans for sticking to archaic black-white paradigms when reporting race. In fact, we won't have enough rope left on earth to create a net wide enough. We'll probably still not know who exactly we are talking about, since the largest news networks won't be able to stop cramming us into checkboxes. Perhaps we'll apologize for not recognizing the class, biological, and phenotypical diversity that exists within this group.
By 2050, Latinos, born liminal by definition (mixed-race, regardless of phenotype), will have become so used to negotiating being in racial limbo (by American standards/constructs), that we'll likely take over the media. This person will be a woman and my descendant, and her name will be Arianita Huffinguez. Seriously, though, we need to deconstruct race, in order for it not to "matter" anymore—but that takes time and effort and work and inclusion.
Latoya Peterson I'm with Jeff—the very way we identify race and racial boundaries is changing before our eyes. All the racial constructs are flawed—they are our attempts to make our complicated histories fit somewhere. But reality continually changes—and our understanding of that reality and our identity changes as well. So I would not be surprised to see news outlets in 2050 finally being forced to tackle many of these questions head-on, as the idea of a "neutral" white default erodes. And this will be good—in many ways, increased racial awareness will force people to confront their own internalized biases about what "black" consumers, "Latino" consumers, "Asian" consumers want, and instead remember that each set has dozens of factions.
I think news consumers in 2050 will be amazed at how little voices of color participated in national conversations, and how limited the perspectives truly were. And I would expect strong, passionate conversations on national identity, as all the different Americas have to converge at some point.
Jeff Yang Raquel, the racialization of Hispanics (defying the whole "Hispanics can be of any race" line) is already happening. Multicultural MONITOR's demo question bank, like the Census, asks about Hispanic ethnicity first and then for a racial identification (white, black, Asian, Native American, other). The percentage of respondents to the survey who declare themselves Hispanic and do not claim any (other) race is significant—over 20 percent—and rising.
Raquel Cepeda Jeff, from my own reporting on the subject and personal background, I have found that the racial line is left blank in many cases (or, alternatively, I've known people who have checked every racial box), because Latino immigrants and their children are looking at the question [through] a different lens than we do here in the States.
June Cross [Looking back from 2050,] we will have missed the nuances of race and ethnicity. When I get together with my Latino friends, they talk about how different their individual cultures are: Mexican, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Colombian, and Guatemalan [cultures] not only have different holidays and use the same word to connote different things; they also speak Spanish in different accents. The cities that receive immigrants are creating a melting pot of Latin America that I haven't seen reported at all in mainstream press. Ditto for the immigrant flow from Africa and the West Indies. Further, in the press's binary paradigm, undocumented immigrants are rarely Russian, Eastern European, Canadian, Irish—even though their ranks also fill immigration detention centers.
Eric Deggans Race is covered as an event rather than an ongoing concern. We hear regularly about the Dow Jones Average, the activities of City Hall, the latest action by Congress. But we don't often hear about race, outside of special stories—developed over weeks, months, sometimes years—that drop into the news mix, have a brief impact, and then are gone. Small wonder, then, it is so hard to talk about race in a measured way outside of media. We are so used to talking about race in crisis, any mention of the issue in a news story leads to assumptions that there must be a crisis at hand.
Maria Ebrahamji It's possible to create new ways of tackling diversity. For me, that began in my friend's apartment in Chicago in 2006. We wanted to combine our creative energies and our passion for writing into a project through which we could inspire others and illuminate the diversity found in the American Muslim community. The result of that brainstorm was I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim, a collection of 40 essays by 40 American-born Muslim women under 40. The process of collecting contributors (and their essays) for the book was not much of a departure from the work I do at CNN—identify, research, and cultivate guests and talent who have great stories to tell. However, this time it was not me (or my network) telling their stories; we were creating a platform for these women to speak for themselves.
America is already diverse, and a diversity of thought comes with that. No longer does the average citizen need journalists (or anyone, really) to tell their stories. Whether through instantly published videos or in 140 characters, we all have the ability to message and share our thoughts—instantly.
Jeff Yang I [like] how NPR's Tell Me More covers race and ethnicity, not just because I'm a fan of Michel Martin (and an occasional contributor to the program). TMM neither hides/diminishes its focus on race and cultural difference, nor does it exceptionalize it. They cover these issues as if they're relevant to everyone and should be accessible to everyone, as opposed to simply inside baseball for POCs [people of color]. Given that this happens to be the truth, it's sad that this stands out as "refreshing." Why is it that stories about the economy invariably center on [white people] unless they're explicitly about the "multicultural economy"? I've literally never seen a story about "the middle class" that showcases the story of an African-American, Hispanic, or Asian-American middle-class household. Tell Me More flips that script; it covers these topics from an alternate-world default where people of color make up a majority or plurality of the population—the world we'll all be living in in about two decades.
Eric Deggans Future news outlets will be amazed at how all the groups of cultures we define as nonwhite Hispanics are marginalized in today's media. Although their votes were a big reason Obama stayed in the White House, we only saw questions about Hispanics related to immigration, and during one debate here in Florida, NBC only brought out a Latino anchor from Spanish-language Telemundo to ask immigration questions before he left the stage again. Given that this group will soon dominate the youth demographic so many media outlets court, it seems particularly short-sighted, even in a completely economic context.
Raquel Cepeda Eric, totally agree. Although, because of the biological diversity that exists within, say, any one immediate Hispanic/Latino family, the term "nonwhite Hispanics" is mostly misleading. Hoping the census revisits those questions in 2020 and beyond.
Carmen Wong Ulrich Thank you, Raquel. Though we're fewer in number, Afro-Latinos tend to fall through the Mexican (majority) and African-American cracks and/or we ride both lines, or simply reject one. I land on way too many sides (see: my name), but I'll leave you with this question I never thought I'd hear, and from my own, half-European (read: blond with blue eyes) daughter (six), after a regular visit to her first cousins (black twin girls) in Prince George's County, MD: "Mooooom! Why can't I be BLACK!" Amazing times.
June Cross I run into this too, Carmen. I have Jewish nieces and nephews who are white—and they love to show off their black auntie. Who'da thunk? We in New York often ignore or, worse, disparage the 49 percent of the country that voted GOP. I often use The Dallas Morning News as a touchstone to that quarter. On the morning after Obama's inauguration, they published a cross section of religious leaders responding to the president's second inaugural address.
Robert Hernandez We actually may be "post-race" by 2050, but we still will write mea culpas on things like homosexuality coverage. Immigration seems like something we'll always debate, blaming actual "aliens" for taking our jobs. I think we'll also write a mea culpa about science—global warming, questioning evolution and such.
Baratunde Thurston The equivalent of magazine covers will ask, "What Happened to All the White People?" and it will be an in-depth multipart report on how whites willingly and involuntarily gave up power over the previous 100 years. Parts of this piece will focus on backlash, resentment, and failure, and it will highlight mass incarceration and persistent segregation as examples of this. But the piece will close on a more hopeful tone, pointing to the efforts of groups like La Raza and NAACP to help counsel White America through this difficult transition. We will ultimately say that young people connected by technology and global culture helped salvage and reinvigorate the American Dream. The piece will get a Pulitzer. My granddaughter will be the author.
June Cross I had a convo with an older white man last night. He was amazed by the "five different colors" in Obama's family. I thought he meant the shade of magenta, blue, gray—but no: He meant the colors within Obama's family. "I never thought I would see such a thing in a presidential family," he marveled. Not that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson didn't have Technicolor families; but Caucasians still question. I am not as sanguine as the rest of you that all the problems of the world will be solved by 2050.
Baratunde Thurston National Intelligence Council does a report on the world in 2030, and some of the charts go out to 2050. We're all going to be singing, "Brown & Yellow, Brown & Yellow, Brown & Yellow!"
Farai Chideya Part of the task is to reward reporters or reporting that can bridge cultures. [Vietnamese-American] journalist and fiction writer Andrew Lam does that well. What have you seen that does things well of late?
Raju Narisetti Washington Post's The Root, despite lack of commercial success or scale, still continues to do a good job of covering major stories through the prism of race.
Raquel Cepeda From a Latino-American perspective, I've seen/read sprinkles of great reporting on race/ethnicity in The Christian Science Monitor. WSJ has published some slamming pieces. When CNN aired "Latino In America," they published interesting online content. . . . I don't know if there is one site that really investigates the Latino/Latina-American demo well, like, say, Root.com does.
Doug Mitchell I'm giving a talk to an all-white group of alt-newspaper people tomorrow. I want to ask them about the word diversity. I'm wondering if it's time to redefine it or change it? And I would argue that 2050 is here.
Farai Chideya Here's the thing: We can and will change terms like diversity, but the issue is not the terminology.
Doug Mitchell You're right. [And] the NewU Entrepreneur Fellowship through UNITY Journalists and the Ford Foundation has me thinking on how to get more of journalists of color to become the employer, not just the employee.
Tristan Ahtone Ownership is a huge problem. I think some problems can be solved when we have a diverse newsroom, able to push management to say what is important, and why.
Farai Chideya Money, power, ownership, and leadership—all will factor into how the journalism of 2050 covers race, diversity, wealth, and class. Given the tremendous changes our field has gone through in the past 40 years, mid-21st-century media is bound to be very different from today. But we humans being who we are—curious, inquisitive, and sometimes fearful—there's bound to be an ongoing debate about some of the same issues we're puzzling through today.


text:
WebMemo #3251 on Energy and Environment
May 12, 2011
May 12, 2011 | WebMemo on Energy and Environment
In his fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget request, President Obama proposed to end subsidies for oil companies by eliminating tax breaks, including accelerated depreciation options. A growing number of policymakers have echoed that call.
Though the President's anti-subsidy rhetoric is on track, there are several fundamental problems with the Administration's crusade. The President overreaches on what truly is a subsidy for oil and ignores the fact that the government does far more to hurt oil production than help it. He singles out the oil industry, which already faces a higher marginal tax rate at 41 percent compared to 26 percent for the rest of businesses in Standard & Poor's 500.
The President attacks oil subsidies while continuing to push for subsidies for renewable fuels, electric vehicles, wind, solar, clean coal, and even natural gas. According to the Congressional Research Service, President Obama's tax hikes on the oil and gas industry proposed in his FY 2012 budget would increase the price of oil and gas for American consumers.[1] A much better policy for taxpayers and consumers would be to define subsidies accurately and then remove all energy subsidies. Any repeal of tax breaks should be offset with a broad tax cut to avoid any net tax increase.
Oil Subsidies That Should Be Removed
First, let's take a look at oil subsidies that are obvious and unnecessary. Congress should eliminate the following subsidies:
Applied research of any kind—not just oil research and development—is better left to the private sector. The private sector should not be subsidized because of market conditions, as happens with the so-called safety-net tax credits that kick in if the price of oil falls below a certain level.
Broadly Available Tax Provisions Are Not Oil Subsidies
In many cases, what the President and anti-oil crusaders label an oil subsidy is neither a subsidy nor a tax treatment specific to the oil and gas industry. These are broad tax policies that apply to many industries. When the Administration takes aim at these provisions specifically in the oil and gas industry, it is essentially a targeted tax hike. These provisions include:
Immediate Expensing Should Be Complete and Permanent
Another non-subsidy target of the Administration is oil companies' ability to expense capital costs in the year of the purchases.
Immediate expensing allows companies to deduct the cost of capital purchases at the time they occur rather than deducting that cost over many years based on cumbersome depreciation schedules. Expensing is the proper treatment of capital expenditures. Depreciation raises the cost of capital and discourages companies from hiring new workers and increasing wages for existing employees. Immediate expensing for all new plant and equipment costs—for any industry or type of equipment—would allow newer equipment to come online faster, which would improve energy efficiency and overall economic efficiency.
Even President Obama has championed temporary 100 percent expensing for qualified capital because it lowers the cost of investment.[2] Congress should make immediate expensing permanently available for all business investments.
All companies, including oil and gas companies, should be able to expense their full capital costs immediately. Until that critical change in the tax code is made for all businesses, Congress should retain all provisions that move the tax code in the direction of expensing.
Special Tax Treatments That Deserve a Second Look
Special tax treatment can serve the same purpose as a subsidy by uniquely favoring the oil and gas industry. There are cases where this type of treatment should be considered carefully:
End Real Oil Subsidies, but Don't Gratuitously Punish Companies
Ending all energy subsidies, including those for oil and gas, would be good for American taxpayers and consumers. However, Congress should not punish the oil and gas industry with targeted tax hikes, nor should it reward other parts of the energy industry favored by the Administration.
Immediate expensing is not a subsidy; it is good policy that can encourage new investments and benefit all businesses. There are, however, special treatments that should end. Congress should repeal passive loss limitation exemptions and enhanced oil recovery and marginal well production tax credits. Congress should then use any resulting revenue to reduce tax rates and eliminate DOE spending for fossil fuel research.
Finally, Congress and the Administration should also remove the regulatory shackles that hinder additional drilling for oil and gas onshore and offshore—work that is vital to ensure access to abundant, affordable energy for American families and businesses.
Nicolas D. Loris is a Policy Analyst and Curtis S. Dubay is a Senior Analyst in Tax Policy in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
Show references in this report
[1]Robert Pirog, "Oil and Natural Gas Industry Tax Issues in the FY2012 Budget Proposal," Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, March 3, 2011, at http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/R41669.pdf (May 13, 2011).
[2]Press release, "Obama Administration Releases Report Outlining Benefits of Expensing Proposal in Encouraging Business Expansion, Hiring Now," The White House, October 29, 2010, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/10/29/obama-administration-releases-report-outlining-benefits-expensing-propos (May 12, 2011).

subset: commoncrawl


text:
What BLM, Communities, and the Public Need to Know for Successful Negotiations Involving Public Lands and Resources
Full PDF version
The Collaboration and Dispute Resolution Program has published the following guide, a companion to the Collaborative Stakeholder Engagement and ADR Field Guide, to provide further information on the negotiation process as well as strategies for getting to negotiated agreements on natural resources issues in the BLM. Using steps and strategies specifically designed for natural resources negotiations, the Bureau and stakeholders can resolve disputes and acheive agreements that are more creative, sustainable, and satisfactory to the parties than those imposed through the conventional methods of conflict resolution. Addressing conflict through negotiation often can improve relationships and resolve issues associated with protests, appelas, and litigation.
The full version of this document is available here. For further information, please contact us.


text:
Pascoe, Cox, Dehlin record milestones
MARQUETTE – More than 40 racers attended two nights of racing at the Marquette BMX track last week.
On June 11, riders dealt with fog as Jaedan Pascoe picked up his 10th novice win to move up to intermediate class, which Ernest Goodwin also advanced into. Ethan Larson and Noah LaJoie were pit bike winners.
Thursday, Jordan Cox picked up his first win in the 13 Novice class, while Stella Dehlin, 3, won a class of striders held for the first time. LaJoie was again a pit bike winner and was joined by Lucas Basal and Lizzie Niemi.
Here are results from each night:
June 11 – 26-30 Cruiser: Alex Niemi, Michele Basal, Lizzie Niemi; 5-under Novice: Connor Fierstine, Bjorn Anderson, Ella Clement; 8 Novice: Samuel Dehlin, Lucas Swetich, Lily Swetich; 9 Novice: Spencer Harvala, Amiya Trombley, Elliot Mason; 12 Novice: Jaedan Pascoe, Devin Pascoe, Jordan Cox; 6 Intermediate: Luke Menard, Ernest Goodwin, Ava Stern; 8 Intermediate: Matthew Johnson, Lucas Basal, Brooklyn Blanck; 9 Intermediate: Dawson Lawry, Dustin Lohfink, Tyler Bell; 10 Intermediate: Max Churack, Wyatt Clement, Thomas Lohfink; 15 Intermediate: Alex Niemi, Zachary Hallinen, Jenna Keller; 41 & Over Intermediate: Michael Noble, Emma Niemi, David Niemi; 11 Expert: Noah LaJoie, Michael Johnson, Andrew Niemi.
Thursday- 3 Strider: Stella Dehlin, Ella Nottle, Sterling Marshall; 14 Cruiser: Alex Niemi, Noah LaJoie, Andrew Niemi; 5 Novice: Bjorn Anderson, Cade Kruhark, Ella Clament; 8 Novice: Lucas Swetich, Samuel Dehlin, Bodhi White; 9 Novice: Amiya Trombley, Lizzie Niemi, Lauryn Martin; 11 Novice: Devin Pascoe, Gary Lawton, Seth Marshall; 13 Novice: Jordan Cox, Nicole Keller, Michaela Johnson; 8 Intermediate: Lucas Basal, Chase Waters, Alexander Curry; 9 Intermediate: Dawson Lawry, Dustin Lohfink, Tyler Bell; 11 Intermediate: Andrew Niemi, Max Churack, Thomas Lohfink; 15 Intermediate: Sage Pletka, Alex Niemi, Kenny Davis; 41-over Intermediate: Michael Noble, Emma Niemi, David Niemi; 13 Expert: Skylar Fortin, Noah LaJoie, Jaedan Pascoe.


text:
Fagus crenata
Fagus crenata, known as the Japanese beech, Siebold's beech, or buna, is a deciduous tree of the beech family Fagaceae. It is native to Japan where it is widespread and often one of the dominant trees of Japan's deciduous forests.[1] It is found from the Oshima Peninsula in Hokkaidō south to the Ōsumi Peninsula in Kyūshū. In north-east Honshū it grows in large stands from sea level up to 1400 metres but in the south-west of its range it is restricted to mountainous areas and occurs in small, isolated populations. It grows in well-drained, loamy or sandy soils.
It reaches 35 metres in height. The crown is rounded and the bark is smooth and grey. The simple leaves are arranged alternately along the branch. They are broadest towards the base and have 7 to 11 pairs of veins. The nut has a short thick stalk, 15 mm long. There are flattened green whiskers at the base of the husk of the nut. The flowers are wind-pollinated. The young leaves and seeds are edible.
- ^ Okaura, T; K Harada (2002). "Phylogeographical structure revealed by chloroplast DNA variation in Japanese Beech (Fagus crenata Blume)". Heredity (Nature Publishing Group) 88: 322–329. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800048. http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v88/n4/pdf/6800048a.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
- Evans, Erv (2000-2003) Fagus crenata, NC State University. Accessed 26/06/07.
- Johnson, Owen & More, David (2006) Collins Tree Guide, HarperCollins, London
- Plants for a Future (2004) Fagus crenata. Accessed 26/06/07.
|Wikispecies has information related to: Fagus crenata
|This tree-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.


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Topic: Newbie Question About Peels (Read 8602 times)
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Registered User
Posts: 2
I Love Pizza!
Newbie Question About Peels
January 28, 2005, 12:20:27 AM »
Hi, I already own a peel but it's pretty lame. It's a little dinky affair that came prepackaged with my pizza stone and it isn't big enough to handle the pizzas I want to make. I'd like to buy a new one but I'm afraid I don't know much about them so I have a few questions:
1.) Why are all the big peels made of metal?
2.) Does the metal cling to the dough? It seems like it would, and I know you're supposed to dust your peel first (and I do), but it just seems like a cold piece of sheet metal would be about the grippiest thing you could put your pizza on... short of a thick shag carpet.
3.) My current peel is made of an annoyingly soft wood (so soft you can literally scar it deeply with your fingernail) are all wooden peels like this?
4.) I have the idea that a wooden peel, made of a firm hard wood, would be great for pizzas. Would that kind of peel be good?
5.) The pizzas I make tend to be 16" or up, what size peel should I be looking for?
Anyone care to help me?
Posts: 2300
Age: 53
Location: Richmond, VA
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #1 on:
January 28, 2005, 07:37:19 AM »
I have the same question!
Supporting Member
Posts: 726
Age: 45
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Earth
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #2 on:
January 28, 2005, 09:24:56 AM »
I can only speak to question #5, as I too make 16" pizzas (I'd ideally make 18" pizzas, but my oven can only accomodate 16".) I have a 16" x 17" peel, and I'm starting to wish I had a slightly larger one. I think 18" x 18" would be ideal. The reason I say this is that I miss having some extra space; as it is, my pizzas tend to droop over either edge because of the tight conformity with the pizza diameter I'm trying to achieve.
Registered User
Posts: 1113
Location: Tampa, FL
Life's Short. Get Wood Fired Up!
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #3 on:
January 28, 2005, 09:47:20 AM »
There's a joke lying somewhere around the wood question. A blind man interviews for a job in a Canadian logging operation as a wood grader...All I can think about is the punch line involving loblolly pine #5.
Seriously, cheap wood warps easily so that's why bigger peels are metal. If you use Italian grease (corn meal) metal is no more sticky than wood.
Pizza Raquel is Simply Everything Youd Want.
Supporting Member
Posts: 726
Age: 45
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Earth
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #4 on:
January 28, 2005, 10:17:24 AM »
The only problem with the Italian grease (corn meal) idea is that it's a pain to have to keep cleaning it out of your oven. I used to use corn meal for quite some time, and then got tired of having little corn meal ball bearings flying around all over the place. Now I just use flour, and I'm much happier.
Registered User
Posts: 98
Location: Orange County
I Love Pizza!
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #5 on:
January 29, 2005, 12:56:52 AM »
I bought mine on Ebay..$5.95. I use a pizza screen to bake a 16" on. Then I have my pizza stone sitting on the counter so when the pie is done I just lift it out with the peel. If the pizza is sticking to the pizza screen I just slide the peel under the screen and slide it out onto the pizza stone that I use to let the pizza cool a little and cut on it...easy Check out ebay..some pretty cheap peels there.
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Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #6 on:
February 01, 2005, 11:42:22 AM »
I have both a wood peel and a metal peel and if I had to pick only one to use in a home environment, I would pick the wooden one.
Metal peels were originally designed to remove pizzas from the oven, primarily by professional pizza operators. The blades of the metal peels are very thin--much thinner than wooden peels--and much easier to slide under a baked pizza.
It is also easier to dress a pizza on a wooden peel, without the risk of sticking. Some pizza operators will use a metal peel to insert and remove pizzas from the oven, but usually this is for small pizzas, such as Neapolitan style pizzas which can be dressed on a work surface and then dragged onto the metal peel by hand to be then peeled into the oven. Using a dusting agent such as corn meal or flour might work on a metal peel, but you will have to use more than on a wooden peel, and you also increase the likelihood of a buildup of baked cornmeal in the oven that has to be cleaned from time to time.
As for the size of peel to use, the blade (the part of the peel on which a dressed pizza sits) should have dimensions sufficient to hold the largest size pizza you plan to make. If you use a pizza stone, it should also be able to accommodate that size. Otherwise, using tiles that will do so, or using a pizza screen are other options. I have found that I can use my wooden peel with any of those alternatives to remove a baked pizza from the oven. I use the metal peel only because I have one available to use. If you can afford to have both, that is a good way to go. There are many good sources of both types.
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Posts: 20
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Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #7 on:
February 10, 2005, 03:44:25 AM »
I think there are two school:
Build your pizza on a floured work surface, and slide you steel peel underneath, or build your pizza directly on a wooden peel. I've seen pizzaioli in Naples build three pizzas an a huge wood peel at one time, and slide all three into the oven. Very cool.
Mostly you see table preparation and a metal peel in Italian restaurants.
Either way, you need a steel peel to turn (if you have a brick oven) and remove you pizza. I have found
to be good and reliable.
Personally, I don't like using cornmeal. It isn't traditional, and gives a distinctive browned cornmeal flavor and texture -- which you might not like. Try using just enough flour to keep your pizza from sticking. Or, try Semolina.
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Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #8 on:
February 10, 2005, 10:30:30 AM »
From what I have read and seen of Italian pizzas on TV, the pizzas are small with few toppings. So, it is fairly easy to either slide a metal peel under the pizza after it is dressed (often on a smooth marble or granite surface) or to drag the dressed pizza onto the metal peel. I wouldn't try that on a metal peel with a big pizza.
I once saw Emeril on TV dress a large pizza directly on a counter surface. He loaded it with several toppings. As I watched, I wondered how in God's name he was going to get the dressed pizza onto a peel. I saw him tug at the edges of the pizza as he pondered what he should do, and he had a puzzled look on his face as he undoubtedly discovered what a mistake he had made. I never saw how he got the pizza onto the peel since the program broke for a commercial. After the commercial, Emeril suggested to the audience that one should build the pizza on a peel not on a work surface. I don't recall that I ever did see how the pizza made it off of the work surface. I have always been amused by Emeril's pizza making. He constantly makes errors and his doughs are laughable (e.g., grossly under-kneaded dough) to anyone who regularly makes pizzas at home. Fortunately, he has a large staff that works behind the scenes during commercial breaks to correct many of his errors.
I, too, have found instawares to be a good source of pizza accessories. They offer one of the widest selections and some of the best prices. However, I don't know if I have had a single order go through without a hitch (missing items, damaged items, out of stock items, etc.). But they are good at correcting things once you call them, and you have to be patient.
Last Edit: February 21, 2005, 09:21:09 AM by Pete-zza
Registered User
Posts: 82
Location: Hillsboro,OR
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #9 on:
February 20, 2005, 10:42:40 PM »
Use a wood peel only. Flour it . Make your pizza on the peel. after you are done preparing the pizza, pull the dough on the handle end up and blow underneath it to get an air pocket in the middle of the pie. The pie will slide on the stone with one effortlessly.
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Posts: 47
I Love Pizza!
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #10 on:
February 21, 2005, 04:27:25 PM »
For what it is worth, here is the peel I use...
It is really the only peel I have used so I can't compare it to a regular peel with flour/ corn meal, but it does work very well. The working surface is only 14" x 14" though
Gary Casper
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #11 on:
February 26, 2005, 10:23:44 AM »
Super Peel is the only way to go. Even if you think you are pretty good with the jerk and slide thing, I would bet that there are times when it just doesn't go all that well. The Super Peel works perfectly everytime. How do I know? My daughter and I invented it.
The Super Peel is featured in the Equipment Corner of the current issue of Cook's Illustrated Magazine and will be shown on America's Test Kitchen in the 2006 season. Last week we night we received a call from Emerils.com. This seems to be finally taking off, and I wish to thank all those who have purchased a Super Peel over the last several years. It has been one long haul!
Gary & Jennifer Casper
EXOProducts, Inc.
Registered User
Posts: 1113
Location: Tampa, FL
Life's Short. Get Wood Fired Up!
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #12 on:
February 26, 2005, 10:31:26 AM »
Nice looking invention. Do they come in bigger sizes than 14"? I typically make a 15" - 16" pie.
Pizza Raquel is Simply Everything Youd Want.
Gary Casper
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #13 on:
February 26, 2005, 10:51:20 AM »
They do not come in larger sizes at the moment, but I have made custom Super Peels up to 24" wide in the past (I can send you a pic). Someday again, perhaps.................... But right now I am smelling the smoke of a wildfire coming in my direction, and I am on the run, big time. I started it, though!! So, I just cannot take on any extra tasks right now.
Option - the standard 14" wide Super Peel is expandable in width, by the simple addition of a wider sheet of thin cardboard or other similar material underneath the belt. This easily carries the minor load overhanging the cloth and board, and the pizza will slide just fine. I haven't pushed it, but 1/2" to 1" on either side is fine. Result is a 14" X up to 16" pizza. I will at some time proably offer a simple expansion kit that will include a wider belt.
Want to give it a try, we are offering a price reduction during Cook's Illustrated run.
Supporting Member
Posts: 227
I Love Pizza!
Re: Newbie Question About Peels
Reply #14 on:
March 01, 2005, 12:39:06 PM »
I agree with most posters that a wood peel is probably best for preparing and transferring a dressed pizza to the oven. However, you are also correct that it is very hard, if not impossible, to find a wooden peel that exceeds 16", which makes it unusable for folks like us that prefer making larger size pies.
I have a peel that is 17" and it is steel. Initially, I struggled a bit with transfering 16" pizzas from the peel to the oven, with sticking being the major problem. Since that time, however, I have mastered the technique and no longer consider it a problem. And best of all, my new technique uses LESS flour/cornmeal than I was using before. I will say, also, that I have not yet tried Addicted's "air pocket" technique, but it sounds like that is the best way to go by far.
If you are reluctant to try addicted's technique or would prefer to try a more "traditional" technique here is what I do:
1.) Sprinkle flour around a metal peel so that the majority of it is covered in flour. Then, tip the peel sideways at about a 45 degree angle and "tap" the peel on your work table. This will serve to spread the flour evenly across the peel and, at the same time, remove all the excess flour off the peel. This step has been invaluable for me, as it significantly reduces the amount of flour on the peel and, at the same time, it better insures that the the entire peel is coated (there are no "gaps" on the peel where potential sticking could occur). After executing this "tapping" technique, you will find that 70% of the flour that you initially sprinkled on the peel is now sitting on your work surface and not on your peel.
2.) I then take a very, very small amount of corn meal and sprinkle it on the peel, over the flour. There is not a need for a significant amount of corn meal with this technique, as the flour will do most of the work. The corn meal is simply an extra safeguard against sticking.
3.) After spreading the dough on your work surface, simply pick it up and transfer it to your peel. ONCE IT IS ON THE PEEL DO NOT TRY TO SPREAD IT ANYMORE.
4.) Give the peel a little wiggle and you should notice that the spread dough moves around the peel freely.
5.) Dress the pizza and then transfer to your oven/stone
This technique has worked great for me and, as I said earlier, uses minimal amounts of flour/cornmeal.
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recently, a good friend of mine moved back home, and is now a celiac. i feel ashamed to attempt a pizza that won't build body and crumb, is there any ways to do this?
Hey Dood,Here's a few pics from some of the pies I made using your recipe and a BlackStone oven. Next ones will have better (some) corniche, for I was definitely at the beginning of the GF dough-forming learning curve. Taste was much better than I ever expected. Three days in the refrigerator with the Ischia SD starter did the trick. My gluten-free pizza eating friend brought all the leftovers home with him. Take care!Jim
Jim - wow, great looking pizzas. Can you or Dood linky me the recipe please?!
Dorkmeat,Usual Blackstone process is 20 minute warm-up at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, launch temp at around 850-875ºF and then full blast for baking. I idle it between bakes with about 1/4 throttle. I have the chauflector installed as well as the washers under the stone. Space between the steel stone dish and the bottom of the opening is around 1/2". My motor is a heavy duty, AC one that I had hanging around from my HastyBake grille and rotation is opposite of the one that comes stock with the Blackstone. I do move the pizza around a bit on the stone as I try to get some leoparding and sometimes dome it a bit if necessary. I'll take pics of the crumb next bake. It's really hard 'cause as soon as they come out of the oven, someone grabs the pan, cuts the pieces and starts passing them out. I just need to do a "lab session" some afternoon with just me, the pizzas and the camera. I must repeat that the taste from a sourdough GF pizza is VERY close to a traditional pizza. There are other sourdough cultures that are even more "tangy" than the Ischia and I plan to experiment with a few of those too. It's just a PITA, to get them activated with GF flour. Hope this helps and take care!Jim
Whereas my regular Ischia sourdough starter takes 3-4 hours after feeding to be fully activated and ready to use, the GF version needs 6-8 hours after feeding to be fully activated and ready to use.
If I'm reading you correctly, are you simply asking how to make a good gluten-free pizza? If so, google is your friend There are tons of websites with a variety of recipes, and you can take your pick of which ones you like. I personally have had pretty good luck with this one:http://cymry-pa.blogspot.ca/2011/01/new-year-new-kitchen-adventures.html
After trying nearly every G-F flour I could and growing the usual sourdo.com italian cultures for the past year I have settled on King Arthur G-F flour.
I did try Bob's Red mill g-f and it was so so. Several have recommended KA. I will try that next. Do you par-bake the crust in the oven first or do you slide it right into the Blackstone? If you do, the dough is quite sticky - what do you dust your peel with? Thanks Mark


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- Approximately 37.5" from shoulder.
- 95% Rayon, 5% Spandex. Machine wash. Imported.
Read more… Read less…


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Here's how RW members rated this race in the past (169 votes).
In short: Prilent First Event in the UK and We dunn ItIn full: prilent,fab,Nice Runners speciale the two saw me at London 50K was so nice,Plenty Waterstops and Marshalls,T Shirt and Medal.But No Certificute those was mention on Runners World?WELL DONEDate of review: March 14, 2010
In short: A good start for the Kilomathon conceptIn full: A lovely day for the run, the furthest I have ever run. I basically enjoyed myself, got a PB and felt strong through to the finish. A bit of a wait at the start, but with 5500 I kinda expected that... Also not sure that the "greens" started in the right place?....but those are very minor "gripes"..Good stuffDate of review: March 14, 2010
In short: a good distance to run and well organised on the dayIn full: A big thanks to everyone who came out to support this race and all the marshalls. The start was well organised, and at the end there was a generous goodie bag (or though is it just me who thought that the small t shirts were enormous!) Results up quickly which is always appreciated, thanks.On the downside there could have been more toilets at the beginning.I think this is a good distance to run, but would have appreciated some more hills to make it a more interesting course - its dead flat!Date of review: March 14, 2010
In short: What a great way to spend a Sunday morning - a really good course, well organised, friendly, good weather and a great medal. What more could one ask for?In full: Great preparation for London and a great race. Can't understand why it has taken so long for someone to come up with the Kilomathon idea. Judging by today's event I think it is here to stay. I will certainly be looking to do other events at this distance. With a field of just under 6,000 runners I think it was well organised, well marshalled and just about right. There will always never be enough toilets at the start, but I think the organisers did a great job getting everyone to the start line and under way by 9am. If this new distance does take off though I think that a new larger venue will be needed as it could quite easily double in numbers by next year and continue to attract support from runners eager to try it. I am proud to say I was one of the first! Well done to everyone for making today run so smoothly. Thank you.Date of review: March 14, 2010
In short: Boring route, but a unique race distanceIn full: Very well organised and marshalled apart from the start, we were kept hanging around in a field with no shelter for too long, 50 mins from puttig kit on the baggage trucks to start - just as well it did'nt rain!The route was nice and flat with only a few bridges to go over but it was dulll dull dull.Good medal and long sleeve shirt in the goody bag. I would run it again but not for the scenery!Date of review: March 14, 2010
In short: Fast course, really well organised. The Kilomathon series has a bright future!In full: If all the future Kilomathon's are as well run as this one was from my perspective near the front, then it will go far. The distance is challenging but not a killer by a long stretch so is ideal for half-marathoner's who don't want to step up too much further. The mostly flat course helps also. An extra water station wouldn't go amiss as a minor quibble about today. Looking forward to trying 26.2km again!Date of review: March 14, 2010
In short: Great flat course, welcoming to all runnersIn full: Positives - Good distance for marathon training, friendly atmosphere, flat and fast (except for the wind), good range of water, sports drinks and gels. Great medal!Negatives - lack of toilets at the start for such a large attendance, stood around in the pens for a long time before we started. The tickets for the shuttle buses sold out weeks before the event, more need putting on for next year.Thanks a great day over allDate of review: March 14, 2010
In short: Amazing challenge for someone who has not dared to move past a half marathon!In full: The start could have been a little better organised - I ended up in the wrong starting section!! It was a wonderful challenge as I have never ventured past the half marathon comfort. Now maybe I could go another step further to a full marathon!! The course was relatively flat, totally flat if you live in an area like mine! The locals came out and gave support which was really wonderful. I was running for Roy Castle's Lung Cancer Organisation and one lady thanked me for running for them. This brought a tear to my eye as I was running this on Mothers Day because I have recently lost my mum to Lung Cancer, this was my first Mother's Day without her and I wanted to honour her in a different way. SO that lady made my day.Finish line was a bit sad because the spectators could not really get to you to cheer, but the ones that did were great.The water stations were well staffed and all lovely and welcoming. Thanks to the you cadets for also giving their support. Wonderful race that I will do again and again I hope.Date of review: March 14, 2010
In short: Great day, well supported around course, excellent marshalling, tad tight through woods but on the whole v good.Date of review: March 14, 2010
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Spokesperson Victoria Nuland released a statement on the Istanbul Meetings on August 25, 2011. Spokesperson Nuland said:
"Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns led the U.S. delegation to the August 25 Libya Contact Group meeting in Istanbul, where representatives from 28 countries, the UN, EU, NATO, AU, OIC, Arab League and GCC came together to demonstrate the international community's firm commitment to supporting the Libyan people at this truly historic time. Today's meeting was characterized by an upbeat spirit and recognition of what our combined efforts have helped to achieve. Meeting participants recognized the considerable work that lies ahead, but reaffirmed the international community's resolve to enhanced coordination during this transitional period. Delegations underscored the urgent financial needs of the TNC and called for an expedited process to unfreeze Libyan assets. Arab participants also previewed the Arab League's seating of the TNC expected at the August 27 Arab League gathering. Participants, including the TNC delegation, emphasized the need for reconciliation, respect for human rights, and justice, not retribution. There was also a collective affirmation of the need for Libya's transition to be Libyan-led, with close coordination between the TNC and international partners. Participants looked forward to the high-level meeting in Paris next week.
"On the margins of the Contact Group meeting, Deputy Secretary Burns also met today with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu and Under Secretary Sinirioglu to continue our close collaboration on a wide range of bilateral and regional issues."
Mohanad in the Palestinian Territories writes:
That the task was difficult for all the States participating in the arrest of ((Gaddafi)) and his son Saif al-Islam and that the Libyan people thank the United States and NATO and all the Arab countries that were supportive of this difficult task thanks Thanks America I love America


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Type Queen - Private Bath
Floor Two
Occupancy Two
Description Room 15 is an employee favorite. It's a quiet, mid-size queen room that resides in the back of the house. It's a sun-filled room that features two windows overlooking the neighboring property. It features the largest private bathroom in the house. The private bathroom has a bathtub with a stand-in shower.
Room 15 is painted a clean white and is fitted with rustic furnishings, seaside inspired bedding, pillow top mattresses, plenty of pillows, Cable TV, AC, coffee provisions, and Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries.
Roll-away cots are available for additional guests/occupancy in select rooms.
Rate [November - April] $129
Rate [May - October] $179 Weekdays - $309 (Weekends- 2 night minimum)
Please contact us at (732) 449-5327 or firstname.lastname@example.com for rate details, including discounted group rates.


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Adam Driver Gossip
Adam Driver gossip, latest news, photos, and video.
The Silence trailer is not silent
Whenever Martin Scorsese directs a movie, it's a foregone conclusion that it will be considered an Oscar contender. And so here we have the first trailer for his latest film, Silence, starring Andrew Garfield Full Story
Sake Gut
Noam Galai/ D Dipasupil/ Raymond Hall/ Getty Images
Girls Season 5 Episode 8 recap Empathy, revulsion. Empathy, revulsion. It's such a perfectly balanced equation—you can't have Hannah or Marnie or even Jessa or Shoshanna without both in equal measure. Empathy, revulsion. Just when I'm feeling one, I cycle rapidly toward the other – more in this episode than in any for at least a season. Full Story
Star Wars in Seoul
Chung Sung-Jun/ Getty Images
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and JJ Abrams were in Seoul today promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Um, you guys, we are just a week away. A WEEK AWAY. I'm not sure Sarah is going to sleep this weekend. I like that this is the Star Wars A Team going out for the new generation. Full Story
Meet Adam Driver's mysterious Star Wars villain…or anti-hero?
Disney's in-house fan convention, D23, is this weekend, and not coincidentally, Adam Driver in costume as New New Star Wars bad guy Kylo Ren is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. This is the best look yet that we've gotten of Driver, who, except for showing off his lightsaber in the trailer, has largely been left out of the marketing for Episode VII to date. Full Story
New New Star Wars takes Comic Con by storm(trooper)
Kevin Winter/ Albert L. Ortega/ Michael Buckner/ Jesse Grant/ Getty Images
On Friday at Comic-Con, JJ Abrams took the stage along with LucasFilm chief Kathleen Kennedy and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and proceeded to blow the doors off the place. As promised, they did not show new footage, not exactly. Instead Abrams had a sizzle reel that had 6,500 hundred nerds weeping and screaming. Full Story
The Force is awake, and it's strong
Today is the Star Wars Celebration fan event in Anaheim, California—basically a Comic-Con Hall H presentation without Hall H—and JJ Abrams and the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (or however that title officially goes) debuted a second teaser trailer. The movie doesn't come out till Christmas, so we have plenty of time for full-blown plot-revealing trailers, but there's a lot of new footage and information to digest. Full Story
The Roadkill
The latest Sony leaked emails exposed the manipulative nature of the Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin relationship and gave us some insight into the Angelina Jolie playbook. There were others though who were caught in the crossfire. Sarah has already addressed the Jobs mess – click here Full Story
Don't forget about Timothy Olyphant
Wenn, FameFlynet, Uri Schanker/ Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images
I posted photos today of Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson Old School in the site intro today and someone yelled at me for not mentioning Timothy Olyphant. Fair enough. Timothy Olyphant was also at the US Open this weekend. And we should be seeing him at TIFF for This Is Where I Leave You. Everyone I know who's seen it so far says it's terrific. Full Story
Adam Driver… quiver?
This last season of Girls was the best yet, right? Partway through, Duana started talking about how Adam Driver was working for her. That she was starting to feel some things about him. And even though I agreed with her about the quality of the show, I couldn't see it. I couldn't go there. Full Story
This Is Where I Leave You
Who is going to go see This Is Where I Leave You with me? It's kind of hard to know who to take. I mean, this is not The Hunger Games where the companion had to be carefully thought through and it's not Pitch Perfect where basically, seeing the movie with me became the prize because I was so delighted with the whole enterprise that I squealed and giggled and chortled and basically it was like those YouTube clips where laughing babies make you laugh. Full Story
Darth Adam
I've been trying to tune out the maelstrom of rumor, assumption and speculation surrounding the new Star Wars movies. You think the run up to a Marvel movie is a mess? Star Wars is way, way worse. Thus the Zone of Willful Ignorance, because there's only so much that I can stand. There have to be limits! Do you hear me? LIMITS! But since Episode VII is scheduled to go into production in April, JJ Abrams is buckling down and getting serious about casting this space-bitch, which means, after all the rumors and bullsh*t, there is finally some actual Star Wars news: Adam Driver is signing on to play the villain. Full Story


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Postgame: New England
The Columbus Dispatch - July 20, 2013 10:59 PM
There's not a whole lot to write about the Crew's 2-0 loss to New England in part because there weren't many players around to say much.
After playing the Revolution to a scoreless draw through the first 90 minutes, the Crew allowed two stoppage-time goals while dropping to sole possession of eighth place. In 10 home games this season, the Crew is now 3-4-3 and has dropped 18 of a possible 30 points from those matches.
When the Crew locker room opened, it was essentially a ghost town. With some players on pre-assigned autograph duty, it fell to players like rookie midfielder Wil Trapp to explain the latest defeat.
"It's kind of hard to swallow," he said. "Any time you give up two late goals like that in a game we were in the whole time, it's disappointing. We had a bunch of chances that we need to finish, myself included."
Added Ben Speas: "That was a great crowd. We would like nothing else but to get them three points. To come out of here with none, that's not good enough."
Injury update
Forward Aaron Schoenfeld left the game in the 36th minute when he landed awkwardly after colliding with Jose Goncalves near the Crew's goal. Schoenfeld was sent directly into the locker room and announced as having suffered a right shoulder dislocation.
Further information will be disclosed Monday, a team spokesperson said.
I wrote in today's paper that the Crew might use the new formation it debuted against Portland because head coach Robert Warzycha wanted to increase the team's scoring. Against the Revolution, the Crew opened with what looked like a diamond in the midfield with designated player Federico Higuain as the attacking tip and Trapp as the defending one.
"We were creating a lot of chances but we didn't score the goals," Warzycha said. "Obviously we had quality chances when we played in the previous formation, but I think we didn't allow the other teams to create as many chances as they used to. I don't think they created too much until they scored the goal."
In the formation, Schoenfeld was on the left wing and Dominic Oduro was on the right. As the tallest attacking player on the roster, Schoenfeld's size and skills set him up to be a target forward, and he has mostly been used there in his career. Asking him to play on the wing took him out of his comfort zone, and he struggled with a number of touches as he tried to maneuver his way into the area.
"We tried to go with Dominic right and Schoenfeld on the left and (Higuain) and two center midfielders going forward as possible," Warzycha said. "We generated some offense and got some corner kicks and free kicks around the box."
The Crew finished with 19 attempts on goal, 10 of which came in the second half. Three of the team's seven corner kicks were in the first half.
At the half, the Crew seemed to switch back to a 4-4-2 of sorts, although there appeared to be no forwards for periods of play. Most notable was a cross from Oduro into the box that was met by absolutely no one.
"Obviously we have to feel it," Warzycha said when asked how to get more players in the box. " The players that are wide, one has to cross it and the other two have to be in the box. That's how we fix it. They should be in the box. A perfect chance from Dominic Oduro when he passed it across the goal line. If Ben would have been in front of the defender like he's supposed to be, probably he would score a goal. That's what we need from the guys: read it, feel it and then be in the places where you're supposed to be."
"I think even when we switched midgame to the 4-4-2 it was fine," Trapp said. "Everyone is pretty comfortable in both systems. It's a set piece. Those are individual moments we have to win. The most frustrating thing was they weren't goals where they broke us down. It was just little lapses in concentration. Those are the most frustrating ones to give up."
After losing Schoenfeld to injury in the 36th minute, the Crew made no further substitutions until the 85th minute when Ryan Finley replaced Bernardo Anor. Four minutes later, Ethan Finlay replaced Dominic Oduro.
Warzycha was asked about waiting so long to make changes. New England, after playing Wednesday at Colorado, made all three substitutions between the 58th and 82nd minutes.
Here's what Warzycha said: "I think you have Dominic Oduro who scored eight goals and is the best scorer for us. It's tough to take him off the field. Probably if I took him off the field you would ask me why I took him off the field. Ryan Finley was scoring the goals in reserve (games), but it's tough to take off the guy who is scoring goals for you. The same for Bernardo Anor, who scored last game. It's tough to take him off the field.
"You take them off the field when you are tired and hope to generate more offense with some fresh legs. That's why we waited until the end."


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U.S. Men, Argentina Prepare for 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Exhibition
B.J. Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. (May 25, 2008) - In preparation for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Exhibition for Volleyball on May 27, the U.S. Men's National Team played Argentina in an informal scrimmage on Saturday at Crawford Hall at UC Irvine. The U.S. Men won the scrimmage 3-1.
U.S. Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon started Sean Rooney (Wheaton, Ill.) and Riley Salmon (League City, Texas) at outside hitter, Ryan Millar (Palmdale, Calif.) and David Lee (Alpine, Calif.) at middle blocker, Brandon Taliaferro (San Clemente, Calif.) at setter, Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Hawai'i) at opposite and Rich Lambourne (Tustin, Calif.) at libero.
Other players who saw action were opposite Gabe Gardner (San Clemente, Calif.), setter Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, Calif.), outside hitter Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.) and middle blocker Delano Thomas (Sacramento, Calif.).
The U.S. Men's Team will play its official exhibition match against Argentina on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center (for tickets, call 949-824-5000). The match will be shown on MSNBC on June 1 at noon Eastern Time (9 a.m. PT). Following that match, Argentina's men's team will go from Irvine to Japan where it will compete at the FIVB Olympic Qualification Tournament on May 31-June 8 in Tokyo.
Japan and Argentina will be joined by Algeria and Italy as well as Australia, Korea, Iran and Thailand, the four best-ranked teams at the Asian Continental Championship. The round-robin event doubles as the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
The winner of the tournament plus the best Asian team (even if the winner is Asian) will qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
No. Name (Position, Age, Height, Weight)
1 Javier Filardi (OH, 28, 6-3, 194)
3 Diego Stepanenko (MB, 23, 6-8, 198)
4 Lucas Ocampo (OH, 22, 6-5, 218)
6 Santiago Orduna (S, 24, 6-0, 159)
7 Gustavo Porporatto (MB, 27, 6-3, 200)
8 Leandro Concina (OH, 23, 6-5, 207)
9 Lucas Chavez (Opp., 26, 6-7, 194)
10 Pablo Peralta (MB, 28, 6-8, 220)
12 Martin Meana (L, 26, 6-2, 183)
15 Luciano De Cecco (S, 20, 6-4, 185)
16 Martin Hernandez (Opp., 23, 6-7, 176) 1
7 Rodrigo Quiroga (OH, 29, 6-4, 185)
GERMANY QUALIFIES FOR BEIJING: Germany's men's volleyball team beat Spain on Sunday to earn an Olympic berth in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The team coached by Stelian Moculescu finished the tournament, which also included Spain and Chinese Taipei, unbeaten.
Germany has not appeared in the Olympic men's volleyball tournament since 1972, when East Germany won the silver medal and West Germany placed 11th.
Three Olympic vacancies for the men's tournament in Beijing are still available. One will be assigned in Espinho, Portugal on May 30-June 1 (Indonesia, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico), while the winner and the best Asian team in the Tokyo tournament will receive the last Olympic tickets.
Men's Volleyball Teams Qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games
1. China (host country)
2. Brazil (1st World Cup)
3. Russia (2nd World Cup)
4. Bulgaria (3rd World Cup)
5. Egypt (Africa zone qualifier)
6. COQT - Asia
7. Serbia (Europe zone qualifier)
8. USA (NORCECA zone qualifier)
9. Venezuela (South America zone qualifier)
10. Germany (1st World Olympic Qualification in Germany)
11. WOQT - Japan
12. WOQT - Portugal
WORLD LEAGUE: Tickets for the FIVB World League matches in Hoffman Estates, Ill. (June 20-21 vs. Bulgaria), Green Bay, Wis. (June 27-28 vs. Finland) and Bloomington, Ill. (July 11-12 vs. Spain) are now on sale.
To purchase tickets, go to the USA Volleyball World League site at http://www.usavolleyball.org/national/08WL.asp.


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Bicycle Friendly America℠
The League's Bicycle Friendly America program provides a roadmap, hands-on assistance and recognition for states, communities, universities and businesses. The BFA℠ program is a tool for states, communities, business and universities to make bicycling a real transportation and recreation option for all people.
A Bicycle Friendly Community, Business, or University welcomes bicyclists by providing safe accommodations for bicycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation. A bicycle-friendly place makes bicycling safe, comfortable, and convenient for people of all ages and abilities.
The BFA program is more than an assessment
- It's a study into the DNA making bicycling safe and more comfortable for all people
- It's the combined knowledge of hundreds of engineers, government officials and bicycle advocates.
- It's a toolkit of projects, policies, programs and plans designed to make biking better.
- It's a roadmap for improving conditions for bicycling and the direct assistance to make it happen.
Each year, the League assesses all 50 states. Communities, businesses, and universities are assessed through a voluntary application process. All applicants get customized feedback on their application and access to technical assistance. And if you're not quite there yet, we're here to help you. And once you've made the ranks of a Bicycle Friendly Community℠, Bicycle Friendly Business℠ or Bicycle Friendly University℠, the BFA program helps you get to the next level. Read our annual round up of the Bicycle Friendly America program below:
Much more than an awards program, the BFA program is making biking better for cyclists across the country.
- Sets standards for what constitutes a real bicycling culture and environment
- Affects decisions on how communities, businesses, universities and states grow
- Inspires action, involvement and coordination among people that want to improve conditions for bicyclists
- Guides progress by acting as a roadmap for what communities, businesses, universities and states should do next
- Rewards persistence as people respond to feedback, make changes and come back again and again to get recognition.
- Raises expectations as to what really is expected and involved in making a great place for bicycling
Get Involved:
Become a subscriber
Stay updated with the League's biweekly E-news
Become a Member
Join us in making biking better across the country.
why join »
BFA Brochure
BFA Guide
BFA Blueprint
Click on a state in the map below to see the Bicycle Friendly State ranking, and a summary list of Bicycle Friendly Communities, Businesses, and Universities within the state.
Who's Involved?
Members include:
» Jennifer Toole, Toole Design Group
» Julia Diana, City of San Antonio
» Natalie Cappucio Britt, Palmetto Conservation Foundation
» Jeff Olson, Alta Planning+Design
» Robert Ping, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
» Tim Potter, Michigan State University
» Jim Sebastian, DC Office of Transportation Planning
» Sarah Strunk, Active Living By Design
» Zoe Kircos, Bikes Belong Coalition
» Alan Turnbull, National Park Service
» Andy Williamson, International Mountain Bike Association
» Ariadne Delon Scott, Stanford University
» Robbie Webber, Bike Walk Madison
» Carl Sundstrom, Pedestrian & Bicycle Information Center
» Ed Barsotti, League of Illinois Bicyclists
» Rob Sadowsky, Bicycle Transportation Alliance
» Eleanor McMahon, Share the Road Cycling Coalition, Canada
» Tom Huber, Toole Design Group
The BFC program provides guidance to make your distinct vision for a bikeable community a reality.
Where does your state rank? Learn more about our annual ranking by clicking here.
Through our Bicycle Friendly Business program, employers are recognized for their efforts to encourage a more bicycle friendly atmosphere.
The Bicycle Friendly University program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bicycle-friendly campus for students, staff and visitors.


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The Rudolf specimen. Lovely and original, the surfaces are near perfect. Light golden toning completes the picture.
Q. David Bowers: The following narrative, with minor editing, is from my "Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia" (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc., 1993).
Coinage Context
The year 1846 was an average one in the annals of circulation strike silver dollar production.
The Assay Commission found that Philadelphia Mint silver (of all denominations, as a class) coined this year was .9013 fine, significantly above the statutory .900 (but still within the legal variation of .897 to .903), a very rare situation (see also 1846-O).
During the first six months of 1847, deposits of silver at all the mints amounted to $8,906,544.21, a greater amount than in any other entire year, with the exception of 1843. (The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1848, Boston, James Munroe & Co., 1847, pp. 114-115.)
Numismatic Information
Circulated grades: In circulated grades the 1846 is one of the more available silver dollars of the 1840s, as its high mintage would indicate.
Mint State grades: Echoing the situation of 1843, the 1846 dollar is common in worn grades but is rare in Mint State, and is exceedingly rare in grades of MS-64 or higher. In 1982, Bruce Amspacher suggested that a really nice Uncirculated coin turned up at the rate of one coin every five to 10 years. (Article, "Liberty Seated Dollars," in the Monthly Summary, Coin Dealer Newsletter, July-August, 1982.)
Circulation strikes:
1-6. Normal Date: Breen-5435. At least six minor obverse varieties are known, all having slightly different positional relationships to the base of Liberty and denticles. Some have repunching at 18.
Circulation strike mintage: 110,600; Delivery figures by month: June: 73,000; July: 28,000; November: 9,600.
Estimated quantity melted: Unknown
Characteristics of striking: Usually very well struck and very pleasing in appearance.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: None
The 1846 dollar, plentiful in worn grades, is seldom seen in Mint State.
Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection - Bowers & Merena 4/1997:2212 - Heritage 3/2014:10465, $11,162.50
"Colonel" E.H.R. Green - Green Estate - Partnership of Eric P. Newman & B.G. Johnson (St. Louis Stamp & Coin Co.) - Eric P. Newman, who paid $10.00 - Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society - Heritage 11/2013:33516, $105,750


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'Put a clamp on it'
To the editor:
We understand that the city and the schools need money to operate, but where does it end? Those of us on fixed incomes are having a hard enough time as it is keeping up our property without having the double whammy news we received this week. Come on – put a clamp on it. By the way, we pay taxes over $900 a year and would love to have someone offer us $85,000 for our one-story bungalow.
Francis Paterson
Joan Paterson
Fort Dodge