Thinking about Cuba, again.

The Economist posts some links to articles it has published about Fidel Castro since 1959 here.
Reinaldo Arenas is remembered here in "Seres extravagantes". Javier Bardem talks to Charlie Rose about his interpretation in the film "Before Night Falls."

Oh, they still make teachers sign that loyalty oath in California. I remember when we were told that if we didn't sign it we wouldn't get paid.

Fresh Irish Thighs

Pictures of the kitchen in Zaragoza

Blas and Loren have finally been able to remodel the kitchen in their home in Zaragoza. ≈ The whole apartment is spacious by Spanish standards, but the kitchen is narrow. Previously, we had been making do with the somewhat shabby fixtures, little counter or storage space, and some makeshift cabinetry. Without changing too much, they were able to make it much more functional and also quite pretty! The hot water heater is now enclosed, the microwave is built in and there are drawers. I have been told there is now a little dishwasher, although I can't quite figure out where. There is an extra set of shelves on top for those things that don't get used every day, the counter is easier to clean.It looks as if the fishbowl has been moved to the kitchen as well! The window opens onto a small balcony where we can stand and overlook Conde de Aranda. The cooktop is new and easier to clean and use, and the hood is quite an imrovement over the last one. Here is Blas trying it out.

Derrick Ashong explains

A lot of us loved Derrick Ashong's response to a reporter that was posted on YouTube. He grew up in Ghana and is a naturalised U.S. citizen. Here is a talk he gave last year. I am happy to have found this video he has made as a response to all the attention and comments.

Veto override on MN Transit bill-sign of change?

I get lots of email from organizations I support, and I often hit the delete button pretty fast. But this message from Transit for Livable Communities really got my attention: the MN Legislature managed to override Gov. Pawlenty's veto, after years of being stymied by his hardline "no new taxes, no matter what" policy. As the Star Tribune article said, "None of Pawlenty's 36 previous vetoes had been overturned, including two before on transportation proposals."

Even after the darn bridge fell into the river, even though gas prices have gone through the roof, he refused to back a very modest gas tax increase for transit needs. But finally the House democrats were able to round up enough Republican support for a well-conceived transit plan. The Senate had a veto-proof vote, but we were still one vote shy in the House. The public pressure in response to Pawlenty's veto was huge. I think that this support for the DFL agenda is not just due to the very hard work of local grassroots organizations and politicians, although that is surely the case; it is also an effect of this election year's mobilization of energy. At the state level as well as the national level, a lot of people really want change.
Here's the message

Thanks to your faxes, calls, and emails, the Minnesota state legislature just voted to override Governor Pawlenty’s veto of the transportation bill !


This bill secures a dedicated source of funding for a transit system that will help Minnesotans reach their destinations safely and conveniently.


"This is a historic step forward for transit in Minnesota," says Lea Schuster, Executive Director of Transit for Livable Communities. "Our legislators needed to take decisive action, and they ultimately did what was best for Minnesota."

The transportation bill includes a 1/4 cent region-wide sales tax dedicated solely toward transit. This will generate approximately $117 million per year for transit needs across Minnesota. Ultimately, transit needs an estimated $235 million per year to fully leverage federal matching funds that currently go to other states, but this bill is a good step forward, notes Schuster.

Transit funding in the transportation bill will go toward the following:

* Construction of eight new dedicated transitways (i.e. light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit)
* Doubling bus ridership by 2020
* Creating better transit facilities and new park & ride capacity
* Providing revenue to local governments for bicycle and pedestrian projects
* Expanding transit in Greater Minnesota

This could not have happened without your efforts! Thank you for making this a reality!

Best,

Transit for Livable Communities

The Obama Jukebox

No, I'm not including the Crush on Obama song.
"Yes, we can" song plus statements after.
corrido
gospel
tango
reggaeton
One voice remix
soca
reggae
Stevie Wonder
La bamba
the kids representin'
and just for fun
Broadway satire
This one is going around (Nezua, Rent Party, others)
"Sí, se puede cambiar"

The Audacity of Hope, from the Mad Law Professor

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Patricia Williams, writing in The Nation

Dream No. 5: Britney Spears is still speaking in tongues, but after Super Bowl Tuesday, we are all able to understand her. She says that were she not a celebrity, not rich, not really-really talented and not white, she'd be doing hard time as a drug offender--and that the average federal sentence for drug felonies is around five years. She points out that the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, inching toward the rate at which Stalin threw people into the gulag. She points out that around a quarter of the more than 2 million people in the correctional system are there for drug offenses and that nearly 75 percent of those are black or brown. She says that in California, where she lives, twenty-one prisons were built from 1984 to 1996, but only one new university. She admits that she is a very sick person. She says that there are a lot of sick citizens like her, a lot of depressed, addicted, overwrought, less-than-rational decision-makers, but that they shouldn't be jailed. She expostulates that it costs billions a year to incarcerate drug offenders. She thinks we should spend more of that money on mental healthcare. Because these words flow from Britney while she is wearing a pink wig, a Dooney & Bourke Metallic Mambo handbag and little else, the whole country listens with unusual attentiveness. And lo, there is a roar of political pressure to re-examine the legalization and medicalization of addictive drug use, to rethink determinate sentencing, to stop arresting minorities in numbers disproportionate to the number of passes given Lindsay Lohan, as well as to start a forced re-education camp for the parents of child stars.

Nezua has something to say about hope as well.

and my hat's off to Hillary for these words, even if John Edwards did say them first.

RadioLab

I can't remember now where I first read about this great show, RadioLab on New York Public Radio. It's a science show that is really about being curious, and about story-telling It uses sound in a wonderful way. "Each hour is like a little movie for your ear" it says in the show's FAQ.

I am now listening to older shows by podcast on ITunes. So far I've listened to an amazing show about Zoos and animals. There's the story about the man who first built a gorilla habitat that was not a sterile concrete box, and what happened when the gorillas first set foot in their new home; the story about the man who stuttered so badly as a child, but could talk fluently to his pet animals when he sat in the closet with them in the dark. He ended up going to Central America and working to create a jaguar preserve in Belize.

The next show I want to listen to is about laughter. "Laughter: we all do it. But why?" Do animals laugh?

Is Laughter just a Human Thing?

Aristotle thinks that laughter is what separates us from the beasts. That a baby does not have a SOUL, until the moment it laughs for the first time. Historian Barry Sanders, author of Sudden Glory, says that according to Aristotle, this moment of "human ensouling" is supposed to happen when a baby is 40 days old. We follow radio producer Amanda Aronczyk as she tests this theory on her newborn baby.

Yearning for spring

By request

Mood elevators

The last two weeks have been non-stop, a coincidence of papers to grade, fellowship letters to write, yearly student evaluations to complete, 68 files to read for a selection committee, job candidates to woo, a symposium I co-convened to host, appointments with graduate students to miss and reschedule, snow to shovel, and, from time to time, eating and sleeping. I have other things I want to do. I want to reread Reinaldo Arenas' memoir Antes que anochezca, set up a blog for a group project, work on an article I've been trying to finish for way too long, clean my house. It would also be nice to take a walk somewhere, but the cold has been punishing. If I'm not careful I can find my self sliding into a gray mood. That's why I have some of the links under Inspiration in my blogroll. Two that aren't on there, but that I check daily are CuteOverload and I can has cheezburguer. For teh cute.

Hilarity ensues

I have just discovered a site called Improv Everywhere!
A mission, a group of agents, and hilarity ensues. Some of these remind me of our Becket Fest.
Check it out:
"Look Up More"
"Cell Phone Symphony"
"No Shirts"
"Slow-Mo Home Depot"
"Synchronized Swimming"
and, without a doubt, my favorite:
"Frozen Grand Central"

The loudest purr

I have ever heard!

Campaign notes

Here are just a few of the more interesting discussions in blogs that I have found on what is currently happening in the presidential race, now that Obama has come out ahead in more primaries:

Derrick Ashong, who turns out to be an extremely smart and progressive musician (and part of the group Soulfege) is interviewed by a rather rude reporter about why he supports Obama. The reporter keeps cutting him off and pushing him for specifics, Derrick answers every question with a smile and a well-informed analysis. By the end of the conversation, the two are shaking hands.
UPDATE: Derrick responds to the enormous attention his interview got on YouTube.

MN Blue helps us understand what happened on Super Tuesday in a small town in the Iron Range of MN, an area one could call "middle America" in its mix of socially conservative economically liberal voters, influenced as much by personal relationships as by issues.

Al Giordano, publisher on Latin America from Narco News, blogs on the presidential race at The Field. Here's a post on foreign coverage of the race. The world is very invested in the outcome of our election, which will have a huge impact on the economy, the war, and the direction of environmental policies, among other issues.

Citizen Orange (via Nezua) analyzes the candidates from the perspective of analysts on both sides of immigration reform issues, both pro and con.

PZ Myers at Pharyngula is critical of the religiosity of Obama's speeches, but explains why he'll vote for him anyway.

The awesome Pam Spaulding helps us understand why the mainstream media pundits have it all wrong about what's happening in the race.

At Slaves of Academe, we find the usual beautiful writing and deep thinking about the politics of race and gender in the campaigns.

And what about John McCain? These two videos about the cost of the Iraq war and McCain's unwavering support of it remind us what is at stake in a Democratic victory in November:

Best chocolate cake EVAR

This is the best chocolate cake. We make it for every birthday and our guests fight over it. We have to make two. My mother used to sell cupcakes made with this recipe in her restaurant. It's easy enough to make so that even I can make it. When you add the boiling water at the end, it makes the batter look funny, but don't worry, it comes out rich and moist. The frosting is also great, but you can use whatever kind of frosting you like best.
Note to bakers in Spain: I have no idea what they call cake flour or confectioners sugar, but try to find the equivalent. I'm sure it exists.


Colorado Cache Chocolate Fudge Cake
Preheat over to 375 degrees

3 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup butter
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

Melt the chocolate (best in a double boiler) and let cool. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together. Beat butter until soft. Add brown sugar and eggs, and beat until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and add cooled chocolate. Stir in dry ingredients, alternating with sour cream, beating well with a wooden spoon. Stir in boiling water. Pour into greased and floured 9" pans. Bake 25 minutes or until tests done (toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). Cool on baking rack.

Chocolate Butter Frosting

fills and frosts 2 8"-9" layers or a 13"x 9" cake

1/3 cup soft butter, room temperature
2 oz. unsalted unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
about 2T milk.

Mix thoroughly the butter and cooled chocolate. Blend in sugar. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until frosting is smooth and spreadable.

For mocha butter: blend in 1 1/2 t. powdered instant coffee with sugar.

For cocoa butter: substitute 1/3 cup cocoa for the chocolate (never tried this one)

Woot!

Wow! a quarter of a million people showed up at caucuses last night in Minnesota. The prediction in the MN Daily was "Seventy thousand Minnesotans are expected to turn out for the DFL caucuses and 50,000 for the Republican caucuses." But in fact, it was more like around 200,000 DFLers and about 60,000 Republicans, according to MPR. Let's look at that number again: estimate 70,00o, actual turnout, over 200,000. This is in a state with a population about about four and a half million overall. The estimate is that 1 in 10 eligible voters came out, stood in lines, and cast a vote. One can be distrustful of politics as usual, but this is not business as usual! For the blow-by-blow national analysis of the whole shebang, Al Giordano at The Field (publisher of Narco News bulletin from Latin America) is both entertaining and accurate in his analysis.

As I was driving home from work yesterday, on my way to my precinct caucus, I could hear folks calling in to the public radio station about the lines, traffic, people leaving their cars by the side of the road to walk the rest of the way so their votes would be counted. The turnout of students on campus was HUGE. Both Clinton and Obama made visits to the Twin Cities over the weekend, and the viral ads had their effect, but the big story everywhere today is how people in every single county, not just the metro area, and of many different backgrounds spoke about being inspired to show up and vote by Obama's candidacy. In fact, David Brauer tells a great story about one of the Obama after parties, with some gentle mockery, but recognition that the "hopemongers" are not sitting at home:

So here's the lasting image from Barack Obama's Minnesota victory party: you stumble into Trocadero's, a downtown Minneapolis nightspot nearly as snazzy as the Illinois senator, and you notice very few people on what is usually a dance floor. The delirious masses, as it turns out, are all crammed on stage, backs turned, gazing up reverently at the big screen, swaying and singing to will.i.am's viral "Yes We Can" video.

In my precinct, the vote was 4 to 1 Obama, but then my precinct has the highest percentage of registered Democrats in the state, and tends to run very progressive candidates (Rep. Keith Ellison, state Rep. Hornstein, State Sen Scott Dibble). One important effect of greater voter turnout for the presidential race is that it spills over to the other candidates. We have an important Senate race going on. If DFL turnout at a CAUCUS (not even a primary) is almost 4 times higher than expected, in a state that usually has high turnout, then this will definitely have an effect on who the party endorses in more than one race. In fact, the undecided super-delegates, elected officials who have not yet endorsed anybody, are starting to say things like Tim Walz:

First-term congressman Tim Walz today endorsed Barack Obama's presidential bid.
In a release, Walz later said "Last night at the Democratic caucuses, the voters of southern Minnesota overwhelmingly supported Senator Barack Obama and his hopeful vision for positive change. As a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will honor their decision and support Senator Obama."

Whether Obama wins the nomination or not, we are done with the DNC catering to white men's supposed centrist views as the strategy for electoral success. Done.

Note to self: Mingus!

The Late Night Music Club is one of my favorite features over at one of that extremely useful political blog,Crooks and Liars. I go to C & L because the wonderful John Amato started posting video and audio of political stuff, in part as a way to keep the record straight. If someone claimed they'd never said something, he just pulled out the tape from the archive and posted it. C & L has gone on to become more than an archive, and I find it a great source of information. It has also attracted some great blogging partners, including Howie Klein, a DJ, record producer and label founder who was hugely active in the Bay Area scene in the late seventies and eighties when I was living there. He continues to work as a free speech/anti-censorship at his own blog Down with Tyranny! (which I'm not linking too now because something on it keeps freezing my browser).
Anyway, Howie tells stories of the musicians he's known, and last night, as an antidote to all the political ruckus, he posted a wonderful clip of Charles Mingus, one of my very favorite musicians ever. I need to acquire more Mingus music for my Ipod.

Caucus!

The caucuses in MN are part of "Super Tuesday" and I plan to attend the DFL (Democratic Farm-Labor) caucus in my precinct. I'm sure I'll see some of my neighbors there; in fact, I'm sure it will be packed. Because I am a certified nerd, I have been doing my homework on the positions of the Obama and Clinton at the site On the issues. It has extensive documentation of candidate statements and positions on the issues that the site has selected. Local races, not just national ones, are covered.

Naturally, I have also been looking at blogs, news sites, and YouTube mashup videos to dig up more info. Heh Heh.

wikimindmap

I stumbled across a tool called wikimindmap. I can search any version of wikipedia (by language) for a topic, and then display it along with all of its hyperlinks in this spidery kind of shape. If you click on one of the links, it moves it to the center (that is, it takes you to that topic, just as it would if you clicked on the link in the text of the wikipedia article). What this allows one to do is view a topic and its links only, in a non-linear, non-article format; I suppose one might like it as a form of skimming.

It's also a reminder that our interface is quite often a text that looks like the page of a book, but that the hypertext is a web of links, not a linear path from beginning to end. I don't know if I'll actually use this tool, but it's fun to play with. What I really should explore is one of the mindmapping tools, like Mind42 that are out there, many for free.

trip to Ireland: a note

By aggressively enforcing a steep tax on plastic bags, Ireland has almost eliminated their use. People use cloth bags, and it's not a big deal. but it took an aggressive Minister for the Environment who threatened to tax paper bags as well.
By the way, who speaks Irish ? The kids.

"Sweded": the new/old fan-film

I browse fimoculous* because Rex Sorgat collects all the year's end lists, and let's me know what latest pop culture trends are a-happenin'. This bit caught my eye: Michel Gondry (a director I like) has "sweded" the trailer of his new film Be Kind, Rewind, starring Jack Black and Mos Def. The idea is that that when two video stores clerks find that all their VHS tapes have accidentally been erased, they decide to remake the films. The lo-fi (low-tech, not quite DIY) results prove to be a hit with the customers.

But what is "sweded", you wonder? It's a word Jack Black's character uses to explain to his impatient customers why have to wait for the movies: they were "custom-made, Sweded" or, made in Sweden ("it's a far away and expensive country"). As part of the promotion for the movie, but also because Gondry's having fun with his fans, the website for the movie explains how to "swede" and posts YouTube clips. Now if you type sweded into YouTube you come up with the enthusiastic homemade versions of favorite movies that fans are posting as "sweded" versions ("hey, you mean we've been sweding since last year? sweet!"). The word "craptastic" is often used in association with these fan-made mash-ups, but in a good way.
This sweded LOTR features a great Gandalf voice and a few sly Harry Potter touches.


And now, because of following all the links about sweding, I found another fun pop culture blogger, this time in Ireland, at Monscooch.



*"What is this? A fimoculous is a micro-organism that consumes its own waste for sustenance. Fimoculli are therefore a self-perpetuating ecology. A mono-parasite, a homo-symbiosis, Fimoculous.com devours the filth expunged on the mediascape. (Oh, and it aggregates my life.)"