Come on over, visit a while and subscribe!

Slavery? What slavery?

Lord Jesus, stop this man or get me out of this state! Yes, Bumbling Bob is back in the news.  Not satisfied with cutting educational funding while declaring universal pre-k is not essential, now Bob thinks this is a dandy time to declare Confederate History Month. 

Slavery?  What Slavery?  Smiling Bob felt slavery wasn’t “significant enough” to merit his mention.  Please Lord, send one of Jesse James’ or Tiger Woods’ chicks after him.   His tenure as governor can’t end soon enough! 

Did I mention he re-opened 20-some thruway rest areas , a week after gutting education & social programs?  

 Yes, school districts must slash their budgets, cancel alternative programs for at-risk teens, pregnant mothers, and gifted students,  and start firing teachers, staff, and support personnel. 

But, by George, when Americans are out there recreating on Virginia’s highways they won’t have to worry about soiling themselves en route to the next Tea Party rally.  

Not since George “Shrub” Bush became president has an elected official’s image illicited such an immediate negative reaction in me.   Not to mention the emotional wretching his actions provoke.

It seems he has a myriad smug expressions to accompany his incomprehensible actions.

Click here for full story on npr.org:  Governor Clueless is at it again….

For where your treasure is, there also will be your heart....

Dear Honorable Legislators and Senators,

 I am writing to you because I am concerned about the enormous shortfalls in our state budget, and the huge impact this will have in every school district throughout Virginia. 

 I ‘m a mother of a 6 year old who attends elementary school in Virginia Beach, VA.    Shortfalls in Virginia Beach’s education budget will directly impact my son and his peers. 

 I’m also a highly qualified, highly educated, special education pre-school teacher in the City of Norfolk.   Our superintendent, who just announced his retirement, has made it clear that with a $40 million budget shortfall, which we are facing for the 2010-2011 fiscal year the situation is grave.  I believe it is dire. 

 Our district will be forced to enlarge classes, offer fewer alternative and specialty programs, fewer opportunities for enrichment, and reduce the technical and instructional support provided to our schools. 

 As a teacher, though highly qualified and rewarded with tenure, I have seen my pay freeze at a level that has caused my family hardship. I have had difficulty paying for basic needs, as well as any enriching opportunities I have wanted to offer to my son.  

 I am saddened and angered that I do not have a ready response for my child as to why his talented, educated, experienced and highly motivated mother is not able to enjoy a higher level of monetary success and professional respect. 

 In our country, success and respect often go hand in hand, along with money.  I want my son to know and believe that our society will reward hard work, education, and perseverance.   He knows I worked for eight long years to earn my first degree, a BA, and then went on to earn two more advanced degrees, the most recent while I was pregnant with him and on a fellowship. 

 I want him to see that all my hard work has paid off for both of us, and to be encouraged to continue applying himself, his talents, and aptitudes toward his own education and his own success. 

 Matthew 6:21 reminds us: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” I hope and pray that you will vote for measures that make it clear that both the heart and treasure of our state is invested in education, from pre-k to grade 12 and beyond. 

When it comes to education, the question is: do we pay now, or pay later?  Do we fund education fully and wisely now? Or do we fund more prisons and bare-bones social programs later?  Do we pay highly qualified teachers what they deserve now? Or do we push them into other lucrative positions, only to have to pay more for the problems caused by teacher shortages, lack of morale, and qualifications?  Please consider my words as a mother and a teacher when you face our state’s budget. 

 Thank you, Maura Alia Badji, ECSE, MFA, MS Ed.

Grocery store brands

I like the challenge of saving the most money while getting the best food for my small family.

However, there are two things I won’t stint on: good dark chocolate and fine spices. The right spices and marinades can dress up economical meals, enriching flavor and enhancing texture.  I consider it a double win if I can find reasonably priced fine spices and herbs. 

Awaken Savor’s fine spice and herb blends offer exotic and enticing tastes from around the world at prices that don’t break your budget. 

One of my favorite Awaken Savor blends is Ras el Hanout , a rosy-hued rub which includes saffron stigma, mild paprika, cumin, ginger, coriander seed, cassia, turmeric, fennel seed, allspice, green cardamom seed, whole dill seed, galangal, nutmeg, rosebud powder, bay leaves, caraway seed, cayenne pepper, clove, mace, cubeb pepper, brown cardamom, lavender flowers, and orris root.

Its subtle yet intense aroma, which reminded me of the Chicken Tikka Masala I had enjoyed for years at my favorite restaurant in Seattle, Cedars on Brooklyn, compelled me to prepare a home-cooked version. 

I also prepared chicken breasts, marinated in olive oil and pomegranate-infused wine vinegar with a pinch of salt (a habit I haven’t totally dropped), and then grilled  for a quick lunch with steamed jasmine rice and greens.

Za’atar is a peppery, smoky traditional Middle Eastern blend of thyme, oregano, basil, savory, whole dry marjoram, ground sumac berries, sesame seeds, orange peel, and hyssop.  

Za’atar is something of an aquired taste.  However, I enjoyed Awaken Savor’s version much more than  Penzey’s Fine Spices blend, which I used a few years ago and found to be a little bitter. 

I whipped up a simple olive oil and lemon juice based marinade with a pinch of salt and chopped chives.  There was enough to divide for use on grilled tilapia filets one day and baked chicken breasts the next.  The blend has a multi-layered flavor which enhanced both the poultry and fish.

I approached Texas Tear Dropper meat rub with some trepidation. A fiery blend of chipotle, cayenne, aleppo, chiles, black peppercorns, wasabi, and mustard, I had been warned it was HOT. However, after marinading a London Broil in the rub with red wine vinegar and a little olive oil and grilling it to medium rare, I found the spice-infused meat extremely flavorful with just the right amount of heat.  It also has a strong and delicious aroma.

All Awaken Savor blends are salt free; I added a small amount of salt to two of the marinades I prepared, but you can easily do without.  They are all natural and each product comes with a recipe card that includes the origin of the blend.

Awaken Savor products are available at www.awakensavor.com, and at many fine food stores.  (This article originally appeared 06/13/2009 on Eat.Drink.Memory: satisfying the craving for good food, drink, culture & travel, where I’m a Contributing Writer.)

I’m taking a break from making calls (over 100 made tonight & counting!) to reflect on some of the memories I’ve collected while working for Barack’s Campaign for Change. I’m thinking about the many people I’ve met and the voices I’ve heard.

The first time I, went canvassing for Barack the somewhat disheartening day ended on a high note. After knocking on 10 pages worth of doors in an economically depressed area of Virginia Beach, and being met with hostility, suspicion, indifference, and many empty homes, my partner and I were greeted by an entire extended family who came outside to thank us for the work we were doing to change the world.

The man on our list was a young Black soldier who was visiting his parents’ home with his wife and two daughters. He came to the door in a Barack T-shirt and stepped outside to speak to us; his mother, father, uncle, wife and two daughters followed. As he updated his address (he had recently been transferred to Northern Virginia) and signed up to volunteer, his father and wife spoke about the campaign and the hope they felt.

His pre-teen daughter said she wanted to vote too. As three generations of this family stood around us, I noticed that we were all smiling ear to ear, just beaming at each other. “It’s a new day!”, his father said as we took turns shaking hands round the circle and said goodbye.

The first night I made calls to voters in my state, after 25 calls that yielded little but wrong numbers and one screaming McCain supporter, I happened on a 93 year old Black woman who had voted early, she said, “because of my age”. She wanted to talk and her quavering voice conveyed the emotion she felt. “I have waited so long for this, for this day! I have waited so long to see this happen, wouldn’t nothing keep me away.”

Tonight, as I made calls to voters in Virginia and Nevada, a 73 year old White woman stopped me mid-sentence to say “Don’t you worry, I voted this morning and I voted for Obama!”.

As I canvassed near my neighborhood on Sunday, a young White man with sandy-colored hair in cornrows, a naked torso covered in what looked like home-made tattoos, and a big smile asked for an Obama lawn sign and poster. As he meticulously taped the poster to his mailbox he explained that he couldn’t vote, but he wanted to help get the word out. “Barack’s gonna change everything up! He’s gonna change this world. ” (Apparently, as an ex-convict, he had lost his right to vote.)

Down the street from that enthusiastic young man, my canvassing partner and I met an 85 year old Black woman and her 35 year old son, both of whom were voting for the first time. “I’ve lived a long time…” the woman said as she opened her hands for a lawn sign. “Never thought I’d see this day…” Her son asked for some stickers.

As I canvassed or made calls, I was struck by the simmering excitement and cautiously hopeful enthusiasm of Barack Obama’s supporters. I understood, because I felt those emotions myself. This is the first time I have felt truly connected to the political process and the first time I have become actively involved beyond voting and giving a small donation.

I’m a single mother of a young son and a teacher; my time and my budget are tight. Yet, somehow I managed to scrape up extra time and extra money for Barack Obama’s campaign. I have waited so long for this and together we all will change everything up. For the first time I unabashedly believe–we can change this world.

Yes we can,

Maura Alia Badji

Virginia Beach, Virginia

November 4, 2008

Obama Nation is a hodge-podge of bogus and deceptive “research”, the same old reconstituted lies people have used to attack Barack Obama for years. The book is chockful of factual errors on a wide range of subjects from the year of the Obama’s wedding to African citizenship laws.

I have watched and listened with growing incredulity while the media has treated Jerome Corsi, a known promoter of crackpot manifestoes and easily disproven deceptions, as a serious scholar. The media has willingly swallowed the claims of Corsi and his publisher that his latest “hit” is the culmination of real research. Instead of being given free publicity, Corsi needs to be confronted with his manipulations of reality and his use of questionable sources.

This is the same man who wrote books alleging that George Bush is trying to dissolve our borders with Mexico and Canada, that oil is inexhaustible, and that the government caused the Twin Towers to fall on 9/11. This latest regurgitated hatchet job is no more credible than any of Corsi’s other kooky theories.

As if his published record didn’t say enough about his lack of credibility, it is well-known that Corsi is so bigoted that even other right-wing hatchet men can’t stomach him. The slime commandos pushing Swift Boat smears in 2004 kicked Corsi off their publicity tour due to his history of public religious intolerance and bigotry.

Truly, Obama Nation deserves to be remaindered to the slush pile of history’s regrettable footnotes.

Yes, you there, sitting at your desk ducking the pop-up ads for wrinkle cream, driving down the highway past billboard after billboard, sitting in the subway, watching TV, waiting at the doctor’s office as advertising blip after advertising blip enters your brain.

A steady stream of media messages tell all of us, but especially women, that we are not good enough, lovely enough, smart enough, desirable enough, cool enough, and that the only answer is to buy, buy, buy.  Unfortunately, if the relentless messages of the marketing masters are to be believed, we can never buy enough product to ever get it just right.

It is just those kinds of messages that the creators of the You Are Beautiful sticker project hope to counteract, armed with nothing more than a simple phrase in black text on a silver sticker.  Actually hundreds of thousands of stickers. The goal of their project is to “spread the message to as many individuals, in as many places as possible, simply reminding them of their beauty.”

Since the project begin, they have printed over 500,000 stickers and given them away free.  You can contact them here to get your own stickers and help spread the word.  Alternatively, a pdf download is available for those who want to print their own batch.  They also encourage one and all to create their own You Are Beautiful art and art installations, then send photos to be posted on the project website where examples from around the world are archived.

Just imagine, one day as you are sitting in traffic you glance up at a street sign to see the unexpected rectangular addition that tells you: You Are Beautiful.  And you are.

~MoxieBee,  www.moxiebee.wordpress.com

My great friend Kristen emphatically recommended Karen Kingston’s book, CLEAR YOUR CLUTTER WITH FENG SHUI (Broadway, 1999) after she could stand her own clutter no longer. Kristen and I are both teachers and writers with young children, so we have similar forms of clutter: the flotsam & jetsam teaching/writing types collect plus brightly colored childhood related dreck. She claims this book has started to get her home, and by extension, her life, in order. As she explained the author’s assertion that clutter clearing is one of the most powerful, transformative aspects of Feng Shui, I surveyed the increasingly baroque piles of clutter in my home.Oh, how have I sunk to this low estate?, I wondered.I’ve not yet purchased said book, but just the thought of embarking on a clutter-clearing program that could energize my life got me instantly juiced.

Kristin read me a few choice excerpts from the book over the phone one morning as I procrastinated about sorting my mail. Apparently, Ms. Kingston uses the principles of Feng Shui to banish clutter, clear space and bring about a new sense of balance. She gets your Bagua in order. Yes, my friend, your Bagua , from the Chinese pa kua, literally “eight symbols”.

A bagua map is a tool used in some forms of Feng Shui to map a house, a room or even a desk to see how the different sections correspond to different aspects in life, such as fame/reputation, family/ancestors/health, love/marriage, children/creativity, helpful people/travel, career, knowledge/cultivation, and wealth/prosperity.

The bagua map is intended to find areas lacking good chi, (the circulating ethereal substance or life energy that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things) and to show where there are negative or missing spaces that need rectifying.It seems that if you solve your chi issues in your environment it can carry over into the corresponding areas of your life. Get your Bagua in order; get your life in order. Don’t mess with the Bagua—that’s all I’m sayin’, till I actually read the book myself.

According to Ms. Kingston, dealing with clutter is one of the most important aspects of using feng shui. Clutter, which derives from the Middle English word clotter—to coagulate—tends to accumulate when energy stagnates, and vice versa. Kingston’s approach to feng shui is that you can sort out your life by sorting out your stuff.

Jazzed and enthused with the possibility of clearing an energy path in my life, I recently actually collected and purposefully disposed of three garbage bags full of mail and other assorted junk. I have a long way to go before I achieve spatial nirvana, but it’s a start. Wish me luck.