May Day festival!

Every year we go to the May Day parade and festival. Here is a slide show from last year. Somos agua/we are water is this year's theme.
First there is a parade, then the ceremony in Powderhorn Park:

Each year, a 200-person pageant re-tells the story of that year's parade, with children and adult dancers, puppeteers, a live orchestra and four giant serene puppets who represent the Prairie, Sky, River, and Woods.
It culminates in the Tree of Life Ceremony: to the steady beating of drums, a resplendent red Sun Flotilla paddles the Sun from across the lake to the shore where the Tree of Life sleeps, waiting to be reawakened.

After the ceremony, there is a party in the park, with music, food, and good vibes. I recharge my spiritual batteries for the coming year.

Elm pollen allergies and urban landscapes

Tonight we will go to an annual dinner held on the 34st floor of a building downtown. From the terrace of the party room, we will be able to see the amazing number of trees that are part of the Twin Cities' urban forest. On my street are some lovely elm trees, the ones that have not succumbed to Dutch Elm disease, and those replanted after diseased trees were cut down. Their tiny leaves right now are a brilliant yellow-green, and I welcome this moment when the trees are beginning to leaf out. But I also realized a few years ago that I now have hay fever for the first time in my life. I noticed that my symptoms being when the day the elms began to shed their pollen; it's easy to tell when this begins as the trees drop their small reddish flowers and a sticky layer begins to coat my car windshield. I Googled Elm Pollen and discovered something very interesting: the pattern of urban tree plantings in the U.S. has changed in such a way that we are now exposed to much more pollen than we used to be, and the number of allergies has risen. Why? both male and female trees used to be planted, but after the massive die-offs from Dutch Elm Disease, cities starting planting mostly male (clone) trees because the female trees shed "litter." However, the most efficient organism for removing the pollen from the air is the female tree; our noses and mucous membranes imitate the sticky female elm flowers, and become pollen traps. As the levels of air-borne pollen have risen due to these landscaping choices, allergies and their severity in urban areas in the U.S. have been on the rise. Thomas Leo Ogren has a book with Ten Speed Press called Allergy-Free Gardening that apparently explains this history.
I think I have to learn how to use a neti pot.

Paisley Currah talk

I went off to hear a talk by Paisley Currah, an academic and activist who is visiting to talk about recent legal changes in New York for transgender people. He is co-editor of the book Transgender Rights, and Executive Director of CLAGS, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. The talk concerns work that has occurred through the Transgender Law Center.
Here's the description of the event:

For decades, New York City denied the requests to change the gender designation on the birth certificates of transgender people. At most, the city would issue birth certificates with the gender marker left blank to transgender people who could prove they had had "convertive" surgery. The explicitly stated rationale for this policy was "the public interest for protection against fraud." In 2005, the city convened a committee of transgender rights advocates, transgender health specialists, and establishment surgeons to recommend changes to the policy. The new policy removes the surgery requirement, and allows for an M or F to appear on re-issued birth certificates. The new standard, however, replaces concerns about "fraud" with tests to ensure the gender change is permanent. This paper examines the very different narratives at work in the process of transgender rights advocates, medical authorities, and officials negotiating legal gender definition in an era of heightened scrutiny of individuals' bodies and histories.

UPDATE: OK, so I wrote the talk down in the wrong spot in my calendar, and it was last week. Feh. But I can put these books on here's my summer reading list!

Safe, legal, accessible for all

Mexico City's legislature has voted to legalize abortion in the first trimester. La Jornada reports on the story, and the BBC provides this information:

There are an estimated 200,000 illegal abortions in Mexico each year.

Of women who opt for illegal procedures, at least 1,500 women die during botched operations performed in unhygienic backstreet clinics.

Many victims of rape are denied access to legal abortion, a Human Rights Watch report said last year.

This story, "Illegal abortions 'killing South American women'" gives the wider context for Latin America. Septic abortions kill or maim tens of thousands of women every year in Latin America. Last year's report by the World Health Organization tells how lack of access to contraception affects the health of millions of women world-wide.

Some models for academic blogs and journals

I want to start a blog to support the activities of a group of faculty and graduate students who came together for two workshops in our department this semester. I'm looking for models that are dynamic and easy to maintain.
One that I will look at more closely is an on-line journal called FLOWTV, hosted by UT Austin. Their latest issue looks fascinating: it is trilingual (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) and is a special issue on Latin American Media. It looks as if it will be very interesting in relation to my current project on how writers and intellectuals in Mexico are using the web. Check it out!

A different model is the one I've found at the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center (IHRC) because it is a great resource. Their collection of working papers provides context for discussions of immigration headed by Donna Gabaccia. Although it is hard to find from their links list, the blog is called Contemporary Perpectives on Immigration. It's a great venue for posting short essays, but I notice that they do not have comments enabled, so there isn't a way to respond, unless you take part in their workshops or symposia. I plan to contact the Director of the Center, Donna Gabaccia, to ask her about how they are developing this model, hosted on the U's UThink Blog site (powered by Movable Type).

And just for fun, here's a link to another multilingual journal on-line, from Bordeaux in France: Lusotopie; it also has material on migration and media.

Art in Bloom

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is holding its annual Art in Bloom event. There will be parties Thursday and Friday evening.

José Ovejero

José Ovejero

Céu

Maria do Céu interpretando Malemolência,


NPR interview featuring her version of Bob Marley's Concrete Jungle, and a review of her CD. She performed this song Tuesday night at The Dakota, with an incredibly talented group of musicians. It was her birthday.

A film from Mozambique

The Walker Art Center is a co-sponsor of Global Lens 2007, a series of films produced by the Global Film Initiative. The Walker provides a site for the showing of films that would not have been made without the support of the Initiative, and that certainly might otherwise never be outside the festival circuit. This interview with Dean Otto talks about its fourth season.

Today I joined some friends at noon to see a film from Mozambique called Another Man's Garden (O jardim do outro homem). The title comes from a saying: "educating a girl is like cultivating another man's garden." It is the first feature-length film to be made in Mozambique in many years; the National Cinema Institute founded by Samora Machel in 1975 immediately after independence burned in 1991, one of the many losses that country has suffered from its fifteen years of war. The film dramatizes the enormous obstacles a bright high school girl from a poor family faces in her quest pass a biology text so she can go to University, and become a doctor: an iron burn on her shirt means she might not be allowed through the school gates; she doesn't have money to replace it--will she steal? her boyfriend doesn't support her studying; her biology teacher tries to blackmail her into exchanging sex for a grade on her exam. She persists through hard work, spunk, and luck; finally, it takes the combined forces of her grandmother, her best friend and her best friend's aunt to keep her from "falling into one of the holes." We don't know at the end of the film if Sofia will reach her goal. Afterwards, one friend was dismissive of the film for some aspects that seem crude to our (jaded) eyes, but another friend and I saw our daughters and their (our) dreams in Sofia.

Here is a link to TravelBlogs' Mozambique section where one can see pictures and read stories told by travelers.

I found this blog entry about the film's premiere in Maputo at Green Chick Diaries. Reading more of Jen's entries, I learned about Women's Day in Mozambique, but also about a horrific event, the legacy of the years of war the country endured: poorly stored munitions exploded because of heat, killing and wounding hundreds, including many children. As is so often the case in situations like these, it is likely that corruption and neglect were an important factor.

I left a comment on Jen's blog to let her know that she has a reader who is grateful for her pictures and stories about Maputo and Mozambique.

In flight

It's Friday the 13th! I have no new picture of my black cat. But here are some vicarious travel links:
Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Pleaides, or the Seven Sisters in their gorgeous cloud of astrodust.
Gracias a Birdchick's blog, this link to a video of clouds of starlings, like a living fireworks display.

I'm dreaming of travel. But where to go? I am following Ana and Jose on their tour of the National Parks of Utah and Colorado: their photos are stunning! I would love to do a trip like this with my family. Maybe next year? I will return to San Francisco for sure. Photographer Manuel Guerzoni posts his daily picture of San Francisco here. I must be back in Minneapolis in August, because My pronto pup reminds us that there are only 131 days until the MN State Fair!

This summer I hope to spend some time in Amsterdam. I've been through the airport at least two dozen times, but I've never had the chance to stop and see the city.This NYTimes article is giving me a headstart on how to make that trip fun but not too outrageously expensive. On my itinerary is the Van Gogh museum. Before it was built, there was a last tour of his work around the US, and I saw it when I was maybe 10 or 12. I said then that I was going to visit the museum some day.

Lucinda Williams

I adore Lucinda Williams and her music, and after three years of trying, I finally was able to get tickets to her show tonight at the State Theater. Her band was hot, hot, hot, and she was in great form, mixing up new songs from her latest release "West" with some well-loved selections from her middle albums. At the end of her show, she covered a great delta blues number, "killing floor" and the Bobby Gentry ballad Ode to Billie Jo
Here's a promo video from West, with the song "All you alright?"

"you took my joy, I want it back"

World Without Tears is one of my favorites, although she didn't play it tonight.

She did "over time" and it gave me goosebumps

this was the last song of the show, dedicated to Paul Westerberg.

Here are the lyrics to my favorite song (so far) off the new album "west"-the song is "Unsuffer me" and she introduced it as a spiritual song:
Artist/Band: Williams Lucinda
Lyrics for Song: Unsuffer Me
Lyrics for Album: West
Unlock my love
and set me free
come fill me up
with ecstasy

surround my heartbeat
with your fingertips
unbound my feet
untie my wrists

come in to my world
of loneliness
and wickedness
and bitterness
Unlock my love

Unsuffer me
Take away the pain
Unbruise unbloody
Wash away the stain
Anoint my head
With your sweet kiss
My joy is dead
I long for bliss

I long for knowledge
Whisper in my ear
Undo my logic, undo my fear
Unsuffer me

Unlock my love
And set me free
come fill me up
with ecstasy
unsuffer me
Take away the pain
Unbruise unbloody
Wash away the stain

surround my heartbeat
with your fingertips
unbound my feet
untie my wrists

come in to my world
of loneliness
and wickedness
and bitterness
Anoint my head
With your sweet kiss
My joy is dead
I long for bliss

I long for knowledge
Whisper in my ear
Undo my logic, undo my fear
Unsuffer me

Anti-racist activism by white folks

Last night, my daughter and I watched the news together (something we rarely do because I mostly hate the network news). We saw the Rutgers womens' basketball team players stand up and speak eloquently and with great dignity about the hurtful nature of the kinds of remarks that Don Imus and people like him make as a way of profiting from racism and sexism (and other kinds of ugliness). Their coach Vivian Stringer about what it means when young people grow up in a culture that accepts this kind of racist and sexist language as OK, as "just a joke."
My daughter and I had a conversation about this story--it was a good "teachable moment." I had to explain to her why "nappy-headed" was a racist insult, but she already knew about the word "ho" (tells us what is going around on the playground).
This underscored for me the necessity for white folks like me to be active and not passive in anti-racist work, something that is really hard to do, and doesn't always get a great reception from people we'd like to work with as allies, but something that we have to do anyway. Reading Professor Zero and Hah! as well as Changeseeker (who write about this situation) is very instructive. I highly recommend reading The Unapologetic Mexican's series "la lente blanca"/the white lens" for some amazing insight into this whole thing.

I don't write on this blog much about these issues, because I'm trying to limit the time I spend here, but I've been thinking about this a lot, and I think I have to start coming out of my blog shell, where some things feel safe to blog about and some things don't.
White people have to do the hard work of unlearning racism, too. One of the premises of This Bridge Called My Back was that people of color and feminists get tired of having to explain racism and sesim over and over again to people with (unrecognized) privilege of some kind, only to hear some form of denial ("but I'M not racist!" "but what about when women are mean to men?") At the same time, there is some justifiable anger when a white person talking about racism get attention that other folks talking about racism don't: "why do you only listen when a white man says it? Haven't I been telling you this for ages?" Both of these things are real. Sometimes the hardest part about being an ally to any kind of struggle is being listening to anger and trying not to take it personally, even when it takes a personal form. It IS hard.
So I'm going to see Tim Wise, a white anti-racism activist, who will be speaking on campus (probably about this) this Friday about his new book White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son. , because I want to see how a white anti-racist man stands up and speaks out. Here are some links to some of his articles, courtesy of Eric Stoller. I want to see who is in the audience, and what their responses are as much as I want to hear what he has to say.

Climate change research

UPDATE: new links to articles!
Blas is quoted in this article from a Spanish newspaper, explaining the research he and his groups are doing in Spain, taking samples of water and the sediments at the bottoms of seven lakes in order to understand climate change. In the article (in Spanish) he explains how this type of geological research (limnology) is used to map climate changes in the past 40,000 years (paleoclimatology). To understand some of the things that might happen with rapid climate change today, scientists are mapping climate change over very long periods to see what happened when there were sudden climate changes in the past, without human influence. This information can help us understand better what will happen with the climate changes we are undergoing now, with the crucial difference that the current situation is created by human activity. This article gives an excellent summary of the project, involving collaboration between Spanish scientists and scientists here in Minnesota. Here is another article with an interview about the work of his group in Lake Enol.

This picture is from an excursion to core a lake (take a sample of the sediment by sending down a log tube from a floating platform) in Rapa Nui (Easter Island). If I had time today, would translate, but I have to finish a project this morning!

Keith Ellison represents my family!

I am so glad to have Keith Ellison as my representative! Here's the scoop. Even if the kids in a school are all doing well, if one group is not, the whole school is threatened.

Parents received a notice that Ellison will be visiting our school tomorrow.
"... is an inner city school whose kids, as Principal, Ray Aponte says: "come to school every day, feel safe, and they learn a little more each day." The school scores high in the 28-30 "categories" used by NCLB, but have fallen short in 1 - a small group of special education kids whose math scores are "lacking" by NCLB standards.

Principal Aponte goes on to say, "Value-added assessments (like their backgrounds and living situations) need to be in place" (when NCLB standards weigh in) - and they clearly aren't. "Not everybody comes into the stream at the same point...we take these kids from where they enter," Aponte added. NCLB doesn't take any of those things into consideration.

Jefferson has consistently had high scores and then often "fails" to show marked improvement, whereas schools who "enter the stream" at much, much lower levels can show a good deal more improvement (because they've come from so much lower baselines) and therefore "score higher" by NCLB standards.

Here's the press release:

Congressman to Visit "Model" Middle School Threatened by "No Child Left Behind" Rigid Regulations

Minneapolis - Congressman Keith Ellison will visit with faculty, students and parents at Jefferson Community School in Minneapolis on Tuesday, April 10th from 11 a.m. to noon as part of his review of how the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) federal legislation is impacting 5th Congressional District schools.

The "No Child Left Behind" legislation is up for Congressional reauthorization this year and has been touted by the Bush Administration as its flagship educational program of accountability.

"This legislation makes for a great sound bite, and looks good on paper, but from the start it has been not been funded at the levels promised, and its rigid rules of accountability hurt model schools such as Jefferson," Congressman Ellison said.

"Jefferson Community School is a school we are proud of for all its accomplishments. Even by NCLB markers Jefferson excels in all areas - but one. The whole school is threatened with funding penalties because of one subgroup set of test scores. In this case No Child Left Behind threatens to "Leave A Whole School Behind," and that is just plain wrong." Ellison said.

The school is a pre-K through 8th grade school of 500+ students in the heart of a very vibrant community. It is a wonderful case in point of the diversity of our communities with a student population that is 50% Hispanic, 32% African American, 3% Native American, 4% Asian American, and 11% Caucasian. Jefferson offers all grade school children before-school Spanish instruction. It also provides District-wide programs for children with disabilities.

"I'm all for accountability, but when federal regulations threaten a model school, then it is the regulations and not the school that need to be graded again," Ellison stated.

"I look forward to listening and learning from the kids, teachers and parents about their school, and I intend to take their personal stories back to Congress and make their voices heard when No Child Left Behind comes up for reauthorization," Ellison concluded.

The neighborhood Easter egg hunt

I've been lucky enough to be included in the Easter potluck that has been going on in Prospect park for the last thirty years. Even though we haven't lived in the neighborhood for twelve years, I get a kick out of the whole ritual. Everyone brings eggs to hide in the park, and food and drink to share. The size of the group fluctuates, but there are always about 20-30 kids.
I think we had a few hundred eggs to hide this year.

The tower in the park is called the Witch's Hat. We were lucky that it warmed up to about 32 degrees today.

Some of the eggs get hidden above bunny height. The bigger kids actually re-hide the eggs for the little ones.

Booty!

The hiders help the seekers sort their eggs, kind of like Halloween candy.

So you think you can dance (equine version)

This magnificent mare performed a freestyle dressage and left the commentators speechless. My horse friends shared this with me. There is something thrilling about a partnership between a person and an animal in which it is clear that the animal takes pleasure and pride.

The film Bamako opens the MSP International Film Festival

Minnesota Film Arts is the group that runs the University Film Society and the Oak Street Cinema. They also produce the Minneapolis/St Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) held every April. This year's festival opens with a film from Mali called Bamako. that I can't wait to see. Here's the trailer

Here is AO Scott's capsule review from the NYTimes:

REVIEW SUMMARY
I have never seen a film quite like “Bamako,” Abderrahmane Sissako’s seething, complicated and disarmingly beautiful investigation of Africa’s social, economic and human crises. It is a work of cool intelligence and profound anger, a long, dense, argument that is also a haunting visual poem. Mr. Sissako, a Malian director whose previous films include “Life on Earth” and “Waiting for Happiness,” does not try to engage the pity of the audience through sad stories or terrible images. Rather, he tackles the central question of the film — have the ostensible good intentions of the West, in particular the World Bank and similar institutions, contributed to the impoverishment and demoralization of the continent? — calmly and systematically, though with evident passion. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times

The film's website gives more information on the director and his vision, and on the film's political context. If you click on the French version of the site, you can see that it is being screened all over France, quite often with discussions.
I wish I could find a video clip of Youssou N'Dour's song "Bamako" but I don't have time right now.

KFAI: Radio without boundaries

When I moved to Minnesota from Berkeley in 1988, one of the things I was afraid I would miss the most was my local community radio station, KPFA. I was so thrilled to discover the Twin Cities counterpart, KFAI, a radio station that has stuck with its mission of being a station by the people and for the people, supported by its listeners. It's where I can listen to the blues, cajun and zydeco music, music from Africa, programs in other languages, spoken word, jazz, folk music from around the world, the wildest new music of every genre, or hear a broadcast of Democracy Now! at noon (which my "public" radio station is too conservative and chicken-shit to broadcast). I have several of their mugs from their pledge drives. Here's what they say on their updated web page:
KFAI Mission Statement KFAI is a volunteer-based community radio station that exists to broadcast information, arts and entertainment programming for an audience of diverse racial, social and economic backgrounds. By providing a voice for people ignored or misrepresented by mainstream media, KFAI increases understanding between peoples and communities, while fostering the values of democracy and social justice.
You can listen live, or check out their archives at their home page. One of my favorite shows is African Rhythms with Salif Keita and Charlie Sugnet.

Spring rivers rising

The other day, we were in Northfield and noticed how high the water in the river was running because of our recent rains. Now I read that the Rio Ebro is rising, but that Zaragoza has just missed a flood. Here is the Basilica del Pilar and the Ebro river.

Eshleman and Vallejo

Clayton Eshleman read from his work today at the bookstore Magers and Quinn. His reading was sponsored by RainTaxi, a fabulous quarterly review of books published locally. RainTaxi hosts an annual Book Fest, a great event. Earlier in the day, Eshleman gave a talk on his translations of the poetry of Vallejo. This text on "Intensidad y altura" (in fascicle) is an example of his process that he shared with us today.
This evening he read some of his translations from The Complete Poetry of Cesar Vallejo: A Bilingual Edition, which has just been published by the University of California Press, as well as his own poetry. The event warmed my heart on an evening when snow is falling once again.

The Stone Arch Bridge

Here's a picture from a stroll by the Mississippi last weekend. If you want to see some truly spectacular pictures of the same area, wander on over to Minneapolis Daily Photo.