Nancy Morejón reads her poem "Mujer negra"

In this brief documentary film, Nancy Morejón reads one of her most famous poems.

Nancy Morejón, (Cuba: 1944--)


Mujer negra Todavía huelo la espuma del mar que me hicieron atravesar.
La noche, no puedo recordarla.
Ni el mismo océano podría recordarla.
Pero no olvido el primer alcatraz que divisé.
Altas, las nubes, como inocentes testigos presenciales.
Acaso no he olvidado ni mi costa perdida, ni mi lengua ancestral
Me dejaron aquí y aquí he vivido.
Y porque trabajé como una bestia,
aquí volví a nacer.
A cuanta epopeya mandinga intenté recurrir.
                        Me rebelé.
Su Merced me compró en una plaza.
Bordé la casaca de su Merced y un hijo macho le parí.
Mi hijo no tuvo nombre.
Y su Merced murió a manos de un impecable lord inglés.
                        Anduve.
Esta es la tierra donde padecí bocabajos y azotes.
Bogué a lo largo de todos sus ríos.
Bajo su sol sembré, recolecté y las cosechas no comí.
Por casa tuve un barracón.
Yo misma traje piedras para edificarlo,
pero canté al natural compás de los pájaros nacionales.
                        Me sublevé.
En esta tierra toqué la sangre húmeda
y los huesos podridos de muchos otros,
traídos a ella, o no, igual que yo.
Ya nunca más imaginé el camin a Guinea.
¿Era a Guinea? ¿A Benín? ¿Era a
Madagascar? ¿O a Cabo Verde?
Trabajé mucho más.
Fundé mejor mi canto milenario y mi esperanza.
Aquí construí mi mundo.
                        Me fui al monte.
Mi real independencia fue el palenque
y cabalgué entre las tropas de Maceo.
Sólo un siglo más tarde,
junto a mis descendientes,
desde una azul montaña.
                        Bajé de la Sierra
Para acabar con capitales y usureros,
con generales y burgueses.
Ahora soy: sólo hoy tenemos y creamos.
Nada nos es ajeno.
Nuestra la tierra.
Nuestros el mar y el cielo.
Nuestras la magia y la quimera.
Iguales míos, aquí los veo bailar
alrededor del árbol que plantamos para el comunismo.
Su pródiga madera ya resuena.

[1979, English translation here]

"I dialetti italiani"

Last night I saw a wonderful film, Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire) by the Taviani brothers. Awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival, this movie presents a staging of Julius Caesar in an Italian maximum security prison, with the prisoners as actors. All the players are "real" prisoners, the location is real, the event is real, but this is not a documentary. It is unclear how much is scripted and how much is improvised. There are many wonderful things about this film, from the amazing score, to the faces and bodies of the men who are putting themselves "on stage" and acting for the film.

One aspect of the film that I really wish I could have understood better  was the fact that all the men are told from the beginning to act using their own way of speaking Italian: whether they are from Rome, Naples, the country or the city, etc, they spoke their lines in their "own language." Some of these might be accents, or dialects, or even distinct regional languages (there is considerable debate about these categories).  I could hear some of the differences, but I know that a native Italian could probably read those accents like a  map of geography and class.


This comedian, Enrico Brignano, gives some exaggerated examples of regional accents and dialects as a kind of tour from north to south. I can understand standard Italian, but I can only catch a word or two in what he's saying. The audience seems to think he's doing a great job!

 Here are some native speaker examples,  of various regions/cities from the media:


This got me thinking also about the many Italian-American accents, some of which are identified with cities or neighborhoods. My mother's family lived in Connecticut, but the extended family lived in New York City. I need to ask her what neighborhood they lived in because I don't remember (I THINK it was somewhere in Brooklyn, but I'm not sure). But I do know that they were from Naples and a small town in Calabria, so their Italian was southern Italian, and their Italian accents in English were probably very specific to the neighborhood where they lived because they were surrounded by people from their region.


Even though I grew up completely separated from the rest of my mother's family and did not grow up with other second-generation Italians, it has been interesting discovering how much of that culture was passed on through my mother without me realizing it, including some gestures and body language.

The body language in the film was also extraordinarily expressive.

The following videos were favorably rated by commenters as accurate:



This is an old favorite. A Neapolitan shows us a complete range of gestures.

"The Video Guatemala's President Doesn't Want You To See"--and a little about why.

After twenty days, the dramatic trial in Guatemala of former dictator General Efraín Ríos Montt,  has been suspended. We will see if this effort to derail the legal process is successful, but twenty days of extraordinary testimony by victims, survivors, witnesses, forensic experts, and journalists with film footage of interviews with the perpetrators and with Ríos Montt himself, have given a new, international and national public forum for evidence of the events. For details of the trial itself, see the series of posts "Genocide on Trial" here at NISGUA (an international solidarity organization); they provide day-by-day summaries of the trial and coverage of events in Guatemala around the proceedings. Guatemala's Attorney General, Claudia Paz y Paz, in unlikely to let the attempts to derail justice stand without her vigorous opposition, but events in Guatemala are always accompanied by the cloud of fear that comes from decades of savage state repression.

Ríos Montt attended the infamous U.S. School of the Americas, in the early 50s, and played a minor role in the U.S.-sponsored coup against Jacobo Arbenz, a watershed event in the history of U.S. sponsorship of terrorism in Latin America  The goal of that coup was to undo the land reforms Arbenz was implementing, including expropriations of uncultivated land by United Fruit Company. United Fruit drove the project Operation "PBSuccess",  the means the CIA used to orchestrate the coup, both in terms of propaganda and military action, with the authorization of U.S presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Nicaraguan dictator Somoza and Dominican dictator Trujillo played roles in the coup as well, just to remind us that because U.S. support for dictators did not start with the Cold War. But, I digress.

If you want to know more about the historical context for these events, I recommend reading historian Greg Grandin's book Empire's Workshop:Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Empire (Metropolitan 2005).

For a more dramatic presentation of interviews with participants in the coup as well as a multitude of other historical actors, it is well worth watching this part of he 3-part documentary film directed by Allan Francovich,  "The Houses are Full of Smoke".  (see the other parts all here), presents the events as told by participants in the coup. It's 60 minutes, but watch it!




During the 36 years of the ensuing civil war in Guatemala , the military controlled the government, but internal struggles over power led to a series of coups as factions fought for power. Ríos Montt seized power himself by military coup in 1982, and implemented a scorched-earth campaign of murder, torture and terror in the Guatemalan highlands against the Maya-speaking peoples, including the Ixil, (as well as against any political opposition). He was kicked out by a different group of military For years, his responsibility in orchestrating these crimes have been well-documented, but he has had immunity from prosecution due to holding office. Now, with his prosecutorial immunity lapsed, and society and the justice system in Guatemala attempting to assert the rule of law, he is facing his accusers in court for the first time.

Current president Otto Pérez Molina was a participant in the Ixil campaigns, but was later a part of a sector in the military that wanted to end a conflict that and has been accused of complicity in a series of other crimes including murders of opposition leaders, including Everardo Bamaca The attempt to annul the trial is being seen as an attempt to prevent future prosecutions.

The text that follows this video is the description and transcript of the video provided by Democracy Now!

The Video Guatemala's President Doesn't Want You To See

Published on Apr 19, 2013

Watch the full interview with reporter Allan Nairn talking about his 1982 interview with Guatemala's new president, Otto Pérez Molina, on Democracy Now! at http://owl.li/kesMR. In 1982, Nairn interviewed a Guatemalan general nicknamed "Tito" on camera during the height of the indigenous massacres. It turns out the man was actually Otto Pérez Molina, the current president of Guatemala. We air the original interview footage and speak to Nairn about the U.S. role backing the Guatemalan dictatorship. Nairn was scheduled to testify this week in the genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt.

Nairn flew to Guatemala for the Ríos Montt trial after he was called to testify. But at the last minute, Nairn was kept off the stand "in order," he was told, "to avoid a confrontation" with the president -- General Pérez Molina -- and for fear that if he took the stand, military elements might respond with violence. "They knew that I could implicate Pérez Molina further, because I had met him in the highlands during the massacres when he was operating under a code name, and I interviewed soldiers under his commands who described how under orders they executed and tortured civilians," Nairn says.

AMY GOODMAN: This is a huge charge. I mean, right now, it's an historic trial when it's 25 years after a past president is now being charged. Let's go to a clip of Otto Pérez Molina, the current president of Guatemala, but this is 1982 in the heartland area of Quiché in northwest Guatemala, northwest of Guatemala City. In this video clip, Otto Pérez Molina is seen reading from political literature found on one of the bodies. This is your interview with him.

MAYOR OTTO PÉREZ MOLINA: [translated] "The poor artisan fights alongside the worker. The poor peasant fights alongside the worker. The wealth is produced by us, the poor. The army takes the poor peasants. Together, we have an invincible force. All the families are with the guerrilla, the guerrilla army of the poor, toward final victory forever." These are the different fronts that they have.

ALLAN NAIRN: [translated] So here they are saying that the army killed some people.

MAYOR OTTO PÉREZ MOLINA: [translated] Exactly.

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Check out our vast news archive and stream live 8-9am ET at http://www.democracynow.org.

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Music for Saturday: The Magnetic Fields

Stephin Merrit has the most gorgeous voice.

"With whom to dance"

"Andrew in drag"

Here is Stephin Merrit, performing "Andrew in Drag" in The Guardian's studio.  So dry!

Dearly beloved, we recognize New Zealand

New Zealand lawmakers vote to make same-sex marriage legal,  77 to 44.  And then they sing this beautiful love song.

 The song is "Pokarekare Ana" and is in the Maori language.

I wish my cat wanted a kitten as much as this dog does

Melissa McCarthy FTW

April 11 Snow Day

Prince - sometimes it snows in april

I heard some thunder this morning. Thundersnow! I just like saying the word.

The year I got my very first car, I was invited to give a talk at UofM Morris in April. I think it was April 8. I remember the date because I drove up there, very proud of myself for my first driving trip out of town, and spent the night with a former graduate student who was now a professor there. When I woke up, it had snowed. I was completely surprised. It was still snowing when I set out, blithely, for the Twin Cities, because I had to teach later that day. My first inkling that this was serious weather that I could hardly see in front of me as I crept along the country road. Then, on the freeway, I crawled passed one big rig after another, in the ditch. Finally I pulled into a gas station and called the department to let them know I would not make it back in time for class; we were in the throes of an April blizzard.
A blizzard in April! Who knew there could be such a thing? Certainly not this San Francisco transplant. I made it home safely, but I had learned  that there can be a blizzard in April in Minnesota. I also learned that you never take a trip, in any month, without looking at the weather forecast.

Axis of evil

What a horrible legacy. Tariq Ali on Democracy Now:


Billy Bragg, "Between the Wars"

I was a miner, I was a docker 
I was a railway man between the wars 
I raised a family in times of austerity 
With sweat at the foundry between the wars
I paid the union and as times got harder 
I looked to the government to help the working man  
But they brought prosperity down at the armoury 
We're arming for peace, me boys between the wars
I kept the faith and I kept voting  
Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand 
For theirs is a land with a wall around it 
And mine is a faith in my fellow man
Theirs is a land of hope and glory  
Mine is the green field and the factory floor 
Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers 
And mine is the peace we knew between the wars
Call up the craftsmen, bring me the draftsmen 
Build me a path from cradle to grave  
And I'll give my consent to any government  
That does not deny a man a living wage
Go find the young men never to fight again  
Bring up the banners from the days gone by 
Sweet moderation, heart of this nation  
Desert us not, we are between the wars
"Stand down, Margaret" The English Beat


said i see no joy
I see only sorrow
 I see no chance of your bright new tomorrow

So stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down down down down down
Down down down down down

I say stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down down down down down
Down down down down down

Stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down Margaret

I say stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down down down down down
Down down down down down
Down down down down down
Down down down down down
Down down down down down

[instrumental]

You tell me how can it work in this all white law
What a short sharp lesson,
What a third world war

I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get the chance
Just to sit with my children in a holiday jam
Our lives seem petty in your gcld grey hands
Would you give a second thought
Would you ever give a damn, I doubt it
Stand down Margaret -
Everybody shout it
Stand down Margaret!

[instrumental]

Work, white law
Shell shock
World war
War, war, war, war, war
War, war, war, war, war
War, war, war, war, war
War, war, war, war, war
War, war, war, war, war

Stand down please

Stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down Margaret

I say stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down Margaret

Stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down Margaret

I say stand down Margaret
Stand down please
Stand down Margaret

"Nooooo TV party toniiiiiiiiiiite"

No cable, so I will NOT be watching Game of Thrones OR Mad Men tonight. Have fun, y'all.

Jimmy Carter shows it's never too late to change. Happy Easter!

Losing my religion for equality…by Jimmy Carter

(via The Women's Press)

25 January

Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.
I HAVE been a practicing Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.
This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths. Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women’s equal rights across the world for centuries.
At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.
The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met.
In some Islamic nations, women are restricted in their movements, punished for permitting the exposure of an arm or ankle, deprived of education, prohibited from driving a car or competing with men for a job. If a woman is raped, she is often most severely punished as the guilty party in the crime.
The same discriminatory thinking lies behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why there are still so few women in office in the West. The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day. It is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us. The evidence shows that investing in women and girls delivers major benefits for society. An educated woman has healthier children. She is more likely to send them to school. She earns more and invests what she earns in her family.
It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and outdated attitudes and practices - as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom.
I understand, however, why many political leaders can be reluctant about stepping into this minefield. Religion, and tradition, are powerful and sensitive areas to challenge. But my fellow Elders and I, who come from many faiths and backgrounds, no longer need to worry about winning votes or avoiding controversy - and we are deeply committed to challenging injustice wherever we see it.
The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. We have decided to draw particular attention to the responsibility of religious and traditional leaders in ensuring equality and human rights and have recently published a statement that declares: “The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable.”
We are calling on all leaders to challenge and change the harmful teachings and practices, no matter how ingrained, which justify discrimination against women. We ask, in particular, that leaders of all religions have the courage to acknowledge and emphasise the positive messages of dignity and equality that all the world’s major faiths share.
The carefully selected verses found in the Holy Scriptures to justify the superiority of men owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths. Similar biblical excerpts could be found to support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence to oppressive rulers.
I am also familiar with vivid descriptions in the same Scriptures in which women are revered as pre-eminent leaders. During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn’t until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted Holy Scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy.
The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.
OBSERVER
Jimmy Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.
Copyright © 2013 Fairfax Media

"I read the f***ing books!!!

Rage of the book nerd!

Vitamix in the house!

I'm so excited! I bought a reconditioned Vitamix from the company website, and it arrived today. It's not the latest fancy model with pre-sets, but the motor and container are the same. I was thinking about a juicer, but I like the idea of just throwing in the beets and carrots and getting the whole thing, not just the juice.

Now I get to have fun exploring the wonderful world of youtube videos: raw foodies, green smoothies evangelists, vitamix preachers, and raw food advocates. A few bodybuilder bros.

One motivation for using a Vitamix is to make almond milk as a base for smoothies or substitute for dairy, and not have to recycle containers. I have not done a cost comparison, but I imagine it ends up being cheaper as well, if you shop carefully for the almonds. You can use almonds with or without  skins. Soaking is said to make the almonds more digestible. You don't have to strain your almond milk if you don't want to, but if you do, the left-over pulp can be added to other recipes. I am lazy, so I'm going to start out without straining. You can flavor almond milk with a little vanilla, or with a few dates, as in this video. Finally, you can freeze what you don't use right away.


I have a bag of beets in my fridge left over from my CSA, and I want to make ginger/beet/apple/carrot smoothies. I should make a movie!
More vitamix propaganda!

Sunday morning round-up

via my Twitter feed:

Los argentinos nos vamos todos al infierno después de esto maril.in/hjlu (+3 millones de visitas)
— Marilín Gonzalo (@marilink) March 24, 2013

This is the essence of hip hop.Straight outta Goma, Congo.@beatmakinglab @pbsds cho cho cho youtube.com/beatmakinglab
— Robert Nolan (@robert_nolan) March 22, 2013

Geoffrey Chaucer @LeVostreGC did retweet "Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie" and it has been storifyied.

@levostregc You've been quoted in my #Storify story "Bye by Englisshe Jakke of Dover" sfy.co/r3Ry
— uoLallɘN (@NellaLou) March 24, 2013

Music for the equinox

Vernal equinox on Wednesday. It is a good time to think about "verditias"
Here is some  music by Hildegard of Bingen, from the recording "Voice of the Blood", 1995, by the musical ensemble Sequentia, as part of their cycle of her complete works. The landscape filmed in the first sequence is north of Copenhagen. If you have Netflix, watch the wonderful film Vision by director Margarethe von Trotta, with the luminous Barbara Sukowa.

That voice, that voice.

Today I discovered musician Scott Walker (born Jan 9th, 1943, as Noel Scott Engel), while reading a post on the comprehensive Bowie blog, Pushing Ahead of the Dame. Although clearly the post assumed that readers would be informed of how enormously important Scott Walker is to David Bowie (who says he idolized him since he was a kid), I had absolutely no clue. Investigating today, I discovered that I recognized his voice from the mid-sixties pop hits he had as a member of the group The Walker Brothers.

The three Americans (not brothers or named Walker) got together in LA, where Scott had been performing as a session bass player since the age of 15. They started out with rock and roll: in his clip, John is the taller one on guitar, and Scott is playing bass (oh my god, those dancers!)


The went to London to make their fortune, and quite soon hit a sweet spot with Dusty Springfield's producer. Their fame would come from a wall-of-sound pop style that featured Scott's baritone and John's tenor harmonies. The production included use of reverb and and echo chamber that pumped up the melodrama. Hits included songs by the major songwriting teams of the day: Bacharach/David, Goffin/King, Leiber/Stoller, and a wide range of others. Scott seems to have chosen a lot of the material. Good-looking, with those awkward haircuts, they attracted the feverish screaming crowds of fans who couldn't see their pop idols on YouTube. This video is lip-synched, but you get the picture.



Sudden Walkermania suited the other two members, but it was a poor fit for Scott, psychologically. The band broke up.  He was only 26 when he was given a show on the BBC in 1969. (Can you believe that the BBC erased the tapes?) He released his original material from that show on the solo album Scott 4, but it failed to chart at all, and his label was furious. From '69 to the mid-'70s, he would put out a series of solo albums,  returning to covering the work of other songwriters, especially Jacques Brel (in English).  His musical choices were not in tune with the times, although he could have worked the pop ballad vein like Tom Jones, and he withdrew, labeled a recluse. Today he looks back on those years as a period of "bad faith" and lost creativity. Some fans today are still angry that he turned his back on the style they loved. This song shows a desire to experiment with arrangements:

The Walker Brothers briefly reunited for money, and put out a last record together, Nite Lights, in 1975. They had the unexpected freedom to do what they wanted, so they put out a record with three separate sets of songs, one by each member of the band. Scott's group of songs presaged what would his musical direction. become his musical direction.   He also had begun to suffer from terrifying stage fright .

He would become a cult favorite of musicians, film-makers, but turned down many opportunities to record. The record Climate of Hunter (1984) is still recognizably a group of songs, but his later records could better be considered the work of an avant-garde composer.

From the album Tilt (1995), this song refers obliquely to the murder of Pasolini.

This live performance of the song "Rosary" from the album Tilt, on Jools Holland's show, seems to me to be extraordinarily brave. He is completely committed to the music, and once the song is over, he seems to want the floor to open up and swallow him.

This interview  (part of bonus material from a documentary made about him) fills in some of the story of the later years, when a kind of mythology about Scott the Recluse circulated.


Recluse, or just private?  He didn't stop making music or participating in projects with others, but his own albums have come at longer intervals, one a decade, more or less, and are relentlessly avant-garde, challenging: Tilt (1995),  Drift (2006), and Bish Bosch just last December 2012.  Cerebral and visceral. They'd love him at the Walker Art Center's performance series, but he hasn't toured for over 30 years. He's 70 years old, and living his life.

The documentary 30 Century Man is in my Netflix queue. Here is the trailer:

"Good Night" The Roches

 From the album, Will You Be My Friend? by The Roches, 1994. One of the best children's records ever made.

"Once upon a time there was a very friendly princess who was captured by a big, grumpy, invisible wizard.
He locked her in the tippy top of his tower and late at night when she was very tired, getting ready to fall asleep on her bed of stones, she would look out the window, up into the sky, and twiddle her thumbs and sing a song that she just made up. She didn't know why. it was just about a feeling that she had. And it sounded something like this...

I love you from far away
like I love the moon
You are the brightest star in my cartoon
Someday I'll find you whoever you are
I know youpre out there (but where?)
You couldn't be far.

Now this princess got very very smart after years of thinking in the tower and it began to dawn on her that perhaps the invisible wizard wasn't even there! So, she approached the gigantic door that kept her locked into the tower and she OPENED it!
Then tiptoed carefully down the stairs to the bottom where, lo and behold! she walked into a clearing in the woods and she was free! And, you'll never believe it, but there was an entire village of forest animals, and people dancing and singing. They had been waiting for her, all these years! They sang together...

I love you from far away
like I love the moon
You are the brightest star in my cartoon
Someday I'll find you whoever you are
I know you're out there (but where?)
You couldn't be far

Well, that's the end of the story. I'm getting kind of tired. I think I'll go to sleep now. Goodnight!"

Daikon

Went hunting for daikon recipes, found new food blogs!
First of all, after seeing Spirited Away, the Radish Spirit is the what I see when I hear the word daikon. (thank you, Tumblr This is how I fangirl )

I have received two very large daikon in my winter CSA. They are long, white radishes that I have eaten in Japanese dishes.. But I wasn't sure how to eat so much daikon, so I looked up some recipes. I learned that it can be used like turnips or carrots when roasting a chicken, added to stir-fries or stews.. It can also be eaten raw, and is often grated. But I wanted to know how prepare it as a lightly pickled side dish, as I had eaten it in Japanese restaurants.

This recipe is one of many I found, from the wonderful blog called Cook Tells A Story, of Sonoko Sakai. I plan to try many more of her recipes!

Daikon and Carrot Salad Asazuke

For my salads, I use half of a big radish for 4 -6 servings.  Daikon by the way is full of vitamin C.   

RECIPE: 

1 lbs daikon (look for one that is unblemished and firm), peeled

1 large carrot, peeled

1 tbls salt 

1-2 Tbls sugar

2 tbls rice vinegar

1 tbls yuzu or lemon juice

Garnish:  1 tsp roasted white sesame seeds

Julienne the peeled daikon and carrots into 2 inch pieces. 

Rub the julienned vegetables with salt.  Massage the vegetables for a a minute or two until they become limp.  Drain the brine.  

Combine the sugar and vinegar, and mix well until dissolved.  Sprinkle the vinegar mixture and yuzu or lemon juice onto the vegetables, mix to combine, and chill.  Let the Namasu rest for 1 hour and up to overnight.  

Before serving, sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds.

Best eaten within 2-3 days. 

Here's a Chinese version I found on the site Serious Eats, from a member called CJ McD in the answers to "what to do with daikon?"

Overnight Chinese Daikon Radish Pickles
INGREDIENTS 
1 1/2 cups chopped daikon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, toss daikon with salt. Cover, and refrigerate until 1 to 2 tablespoons of water is released, about 30 minutes.
Drain and rinse daikon, removing as much salt as possible. Pat dry with a paper towel, and return to bowl. Stir in rice vinegar, black pepper and, if desired, sesame oil. Cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

A more ambitious recipe, which will involve a trip to United Noodles to get some of the ingredients, is the traditional Chinese New Year dim sum,  luo bo gao, or daikon cake.

Thom Browne Women's Autumn 2013 collection

Michelle Obama wore a gorgeous Thom Browne ensemble at the Inauguration, although not quite so Queen of Hearts-meets-David Byrne's big suit!

Carnival in Zaragoza

I love this wonderful video Loren took with his iPhone of one of the groups in five-day celebration of Carnaval in Zaragoza. This group is in the Plaza del Pilar (that is the Basilica behind them):

In Aragón, in the five days leading up to Lent, there are celebrations of Carnaval. On the Thursday before Ash Wednesday (this year it was Feb 7), or "jueves lardero," there was a public distribution of sausages (longaniza). Saturday was for grown-ups, Sunday was for kids. There was music, partying, and a parade, sponsored by the city: "el reino de Don Carnal" before the arrival of "Doña Cuaresma." A costume contest for individuals and groups brought out lots of creativity; here's a photoset from Flickr.