On the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Tuesday, January 22, was the 40^th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision ensuring the rights of women to have safe and legal abortions. It should be a time to celebrate but the issue is far from settled. Even after all this time, both pro-choice advocates and anti-abortionists demonstrated support for their views. As we speak, bills are being proposed in Congress and in 26 state legislatures to strongly limit access to both abortion and many forms of birth control.

Yes, 40 years later, instead of the abortion issue being settled, the tone of debate has become more polarized and angry. One bill being sponsored by Congressman Paul Ryan and co-sponsored by 16 other Congresspeople is the Sanctity of Human Life Act. This bill would give full rights of personhood to a human embryo and define life as beginning with fertilization. This could effectively outlaw most forms of birth control. With a huge rise of unplanned pregnancies, back alley abortions would become common just as they were before effective birth control existed and abortion was legal. Yes, the war on women continues. We may have won some battles with the re-election of Claire McCaskill (v. the infamous Todd Akin of the “legitimate rape” statement) but there will be more to come. Be prepared to exert pressure on your representatives to vote against any of these bills that come their way. Isn’t it ironic that the party of small government wants to expand their role into micromanaging the family planning that should be the private purview of each family.

As America debates the role of government in taking care of the most vulnerable among us, there has been a movement to severely limit our national responsibility to the poor. Among those who are already here, more and more people are having difficulty feeding their families. Here in Evanston, Illinois, the Greater Chicago Food Depository www.chicagofoodbank.org  and Interfaith Action of Evanston www.interfaithactionofevasnton.org  have partnered to bring a monthly free produce truck here after Evanston was identified as having 15% of people food insecure (not knowing where their next meal was coming from). In December, 2012, on the first delivery, hoping to get the word out to 100 people, 335 people came to get free fruits and vegetables. I helped to check people in and they just kept coming. We don’t have the political will to feed the people who are already here, but some of us want to force poor and working class people to have more children anyway. Middle class and upper class people have always been able to obtain birth control and abortions even when it was completely illegal but as Cong. Barney Frank said years ago, “The right to life begins with conception and ends at birth.”

 

So Happy Anniversary Roe v. Wade. Now we have to make sure that this right isn't taken away.

 

 

 

 

"Les Miserables" Revisited

Since reading Les Misérables in a read-along with my www.Goodreads.com friends, I have been looking forward to seeing the movie and so yesterday, my friend Linda and I went to see it. After studying the book, it was difficult to avoid noticing all the parts that were left out of the movie. It’s not unusual to have that reaction after reading the book first, but this time, I decided to focus instead on some of the less important characters. Surprisingly, I found my attention drawn to the Thénardiers, a family with few redeeming qualities. The inn keepers are ruthless and exploitative and besides that, have makeup designed to make them appear physically ugly. Eponine their daughter is unsurprisingly needy. As I asked myself what makes this family so repulsive, I realized almost immediately that it was desperation. Then as now, desperate people are driven to do desperate things. The poverty that caused Jean Valjean to steal a loaf of bread and then spend 19 years in prison and that caused Javert to become a super-cop also informed the behavior of the Thénardiers.

When I volunteered at the Hospitality Center, a place that provides welcoming faces, hot coffee, job counseling, and computer help to the homeless in Evanston, Illinois, I realized that while we’ve certainly come a long way since 1815, conditions of poverty are still here. We have some structures to help the people who become poverty stricken, but not nearly enough. Homeless Shelters close in the early morning and send the people out into the cold most of them with no place to go. The Hospitality Center is run by Interfaith Action of Evanston which has many programs to serve the homeless, low income, and food insecure in Evanston. Volunteers are always needed. If you live in the area and would like to lend a hand, check out their website at www.interfaithactionofevanston.org. I’m sure you can find something to do to fill as many hours as you’re willing to contribute. I like to hope that we have made some progress since the France of 1815 in our attitudes toward and treatment of poverty. The programs of Interfaith Action give me some hope that that is true.

As I watched the people checking in at the Hospitality Center, I observed that had I met them elsewhere, for the most part, I would not have identified them as homeless. The homeless are our neighbors and do not look different from us. Although most people came and went with a graciousness I can’t imagine having in that circumstance, one woman left angry, cursing, and yelling. I don’t know why, but I can imagine. How many of us would share her anger as we returned to the cold. I can only hope that their situations don’t worsen and actually get better as America decides in the coming year what kind of society we want to be.

Celebrate! We Survived the First Fiscal Cliff of 2013. A Recipe for What?

Happy New Year everybody! At the close of 2012, the world didn’t end per: modern misinterpretations of the Mayan Calendar. We didn’t drown as we careened over the “fiscal cliff” either. I don’t know about any of you, but I wish the news media would declare a moratorium on the use of all incendiary phrases to describe phenomena and events in our political realm, especially since we’re going to have to go over a lot more of them together in the year ahead regardless of what we call them.

What do you envision at the mention of “going over a fiscal cliff”? I visualize a free fall from a height like the Grand Canyon resulting inevitably in mass death. The emotions that this image evokes make rational national discussion difficult if not impossible to have. Added to the already emotionally charged tenor of national debate, I feel that we already went over the rhetorical cliff a long time ago.

While we’re at it, who coined the phrase “job creators”? I think of the many professional athletes and show business personalities whose incomes are in the millions who employ no one. What jobs are they creating? This phrase may sound catchy to some Republicans, but I wish that in the new year 2013, they would stop using it just to show some good faith. After all, we’re all Americans and we have to figure this budget thing out together.

On a personal note, I have to say that 2012 was a pretty good year for me and my family and I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, fulfilling 2013. To start the year on a positive note, we invited some friends to celebrate New Year’s Day. Here is an easy recipe that I made.              

 

                   Feta Cheese/Spinach Rolls

 

For the dough, I usually cheat by using crescent rolls or something equivalent. I use 3 packages to make about 36 rolls. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to make a thin crust.

Filling
1 8 oz package frozen chopped spinach
8 oz feta cheese
2 eggs
garlic powder and oregano to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Grease a cookie sheet and then sprinkle flour over it to avoid sticking. Mix the filling ingredients together in a medium size mixing bowl to make the filling.

Roll the dough out thin and cut them into squares. On each square put a ½ tsp of the filling mix and then roll into a pastry. Bake for 11 to 14 minutes until the dough is golden.

 

 

 

Time Travel - A Recipe For Community

In Travel As a Political Act, Rick Steeves terms travel political. Intrigued, I read his book and understood what he meant. As we travel to other countries and observe other cultures, we can learn other ways of dealing with social issues and resolving political problems. Sometimes, it makes us clamor for the United States to change, but more often, it can make us appreciate what we have here.

If travel can be a political act, just think about time travel. In Now & Then by Jacqueline Sheehan, she explores how time travel affects two main characters, Anna and Joey – New Englanders from 2010 – as they are unwittingly transported to 1844 Ireland, the year before the Potato Famine started. They must be careful not to mention telephones, e-mail, laptops, television, flush toilets and many other devices not yet invented in 1844 lest they appear suspicious. As it is, many of the locals suspect them of being British spies. As Anna suffers a degree of malnutrition eating a steady diet of potatoes, she reflects on how much more cohesive their communities are than the one she’s been thrust from. There for just a few weeks, she has already developed relationships with many more people than she has in Boston. When she thanks her hostess for taking care of her after she is rescued from a supposed ship wreck, in surprise she replies, “That is what friends do for each other.”

While I wouldn’t want to be transported to 1844 Ireland for all the potatoes in the Emerald Isle, there may be something to be learned from that society. Are we ignoring each other for the sake of being “plugged in”? Have you been on the subway or in a room where everyone is ignoring one another while texting or talking on their smart phones? Will future generations forget how to have conversations? This is something to mull over as we spend the holidays with family and friends and reading Jacqueline Sheehan’s novel.

Since this is a time of year when we do try to connect, you may be going to some parties. If you’re looking for a dish to pass, here’s an easy one to make. It serves a lot of people and preparation time is about 15 minutes. It is good served hot or cold.

                               Couscous and Vegetable Salad with Orange and Garlic

1 ½ cups couscous

½ cup raisins
1 tsp turmeric
2 cups boiling water
2/3 cup sliced almonds
2 cups garbanzo beans
3 scallions thinly sliced
2 medium tomatoes

1/3 cup lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 Tablespoon minced basil 
2 tsp dried grated orange rind
½ tsp salt
pepper to taste

Place couscous in boiling water. Stir and remove from heat. Add the raisins and turmeric and stir again. Cover and let sit for about 5 minutes.

Stir in almonds, garbanzos, scallions, and tomatoes.

Combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and orange rind. Blend. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes.

Add the dressing to the couscous and vegetables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knives and Forks Don't Kill People. People Kill People.

I often say that my husband is a walking argument for gun control legislation. In Chicago in the mid 1960’s, he and a couple of his friends were attacked by a much larger group of boys while walking home from a high school football game. The larger group had brass knuckles and knocked out three of his teeth. This remains a horrible memory of his teenage years that he remarks on every time we pass the scene of the crime. Nevertheless, he’s around to relive it because none of the boys who attacked him had guns.

Gun proponents often say that guns don’t kill people. People kill people. To some degree, this is true. Yet how many of the 26 people including those 20 young children would still be alive in Newton, Connecticut if Adam Lanza had charged into Sandy Hook School with a knife, brass knuckles, or a bow and arrow? Perhaps he would have managed to kill or seriously wound one or two people before being subdued, but in all likelihood, the others would not have been harmed.

Gun proponents say that we have to make mental health services more accessible and that's the root of the problem. To some extent, I agree, but I don’t think that’s the whole answer. Even if everyone who needed counseling and/or medication and/or other community support were to receive all the needed help, someone would fall through the cracks. Someone receiving help who wasn’t yet stable or someone who needed but didn’t seek help could still do what Adam Lanza did. Even with an almost perfect mental health system, occasionally people would fly under the radar.

Adam Lanza killed with guns that were legally registered to one of his parents. Now it’s come out in the New York Times that he and his mother regularly visited a shooting gallery both alone and together. People will ask how she could have missed what was right before her eyes, but that is often the case. It’s much easier to see other people’s problems more clearly than our own. To make sure that such shortsightedness doesn’t result in more carnage, we have to  make it more difficult for many civilians to have guns. By the way, do hunters kill deer with submachine guns? I am realistic enough to know that gun ownership will always remain sacred to some Americans, but we have to be able to agree on some reasonable restrictions. Maybe it is treating the symptoms of our violence-oriented society, but until we can turn that around, we need to treat the symptoms. I hope we do it soon before we're all mourning for more victims yet again.

Fearing Mexico and A Big Enchilada Recipe

Many Americans are afraid of Mexico or at any rate, the Mexicans who have emigrated to the United States. That’s probably why agreeing on a reasonable policy concerning the 11 to 12 million undocumented people living among us has been so intractable. Are they really alien (a la E.T.) or are they our friends, neighbors, and co-workers? And do some persist in calling them “illegal aliens” in an attempt to visualize them as the former?

These issues are explored fully in i put the fear of méxico in ‘em the play that premiered at the Chicago Dramatists Theatre presented by Teatro Vista. Taking place in a back alley of Tiajuana, the play, written by Matthew Paul Olmos, has two couples, one white American and one Mexican confronting each other about these issues. Do we look past and through each other as if the other is not even there? Does the Mexican couple really need to hold the American couple up at gunpoint to get their attention? How do we react when our children reach out to the Other in friendship or in dating? Is a real relationship possible with all the factors that rear up to divide us? Teatro Vista dramatized the dilemmas quite effectively forcing us to examine our true feelings about them. i put the fear of méxico in ‘em is  no longer playing, but hopefully it will arrive at a theatre in your city or get revived in Chicago. Therefore, I won’t reveal the ending. You should see it and contemplate it for yourselves.

In the meantime, don’t be afraid to try this recipe for low-fat enchilada casserole. At least we can enjoy learning each other’s foods although this recipe seems like an American adaptation. Once we know each others’ cuisine, it’s impossible to feel alienated from each other. The preparation time is about 20 minutes and it serves four to six people.

                                                Low Fat Enchilada Casserole

 2 14 oz. Cans of Black or Red Beans with most of liquid drained

½ cup chopped onions
chili powder, ground cumin, ground pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup water
cooking oil
non-stick covering or margarine or butter
11.5 oz jar taco sauce
6 corn tortillas
1 ¼ cup shredded 2% sharp cheddar or Mexican cheese
2 green onions finely chopped, shredded lettuce chopped fine, tomatoes, and fat free sour cream for garnish.

Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit. Grease a casserole dish or spray with nonstick covering.
Heat cooking oil in a skillet. Add the onions, garlic, and other spices and cook for about five minutes. Add water and beans and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.

Lightly cover bottom of 9” by 13” casserole dish with half of taco sauce. Place three corn tortillas in bottom of pan cutting tortillas to fit. Spread half of bean/onion mixture over it. Sprinkle half of cheese. Repeat the layers.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Garnish with green onions and other toppings. 

"Les Miserables" and the Fiscal Cliff

When my Goodreads.com friend Tien invited me to participate in a read-along of Les Miserables, the idea piqued my interest. The idea was for all participants in the read-along to read sections of the book on the same two week schedule so that we could each discuss it on our blogs and read each others’ posts. I looked forward to reading what people throughout the world had to say.

There is a lot more to the book than Jean Valjean's going to prison for stealing a loaf of bread and a lot of really great songs (as there are in the play and movie.) I read Les Miserables while I was campaigning for Pres. Obama and now even after the election, many issues discussed in Les Miserables remain hot topics. The most salient issue for me was the right wing attack on America's frayed social safety net. I found Les Miserables grappling with many of these issues. For example, “the fiscal cliff” debate which rages in Washington is essentially about how we as a society are going to treat people in need. Are we going to arrest people like Jean Valjean for stealing a loaf of bread and then forever hold it against them? Although Jean Valjean leads an exemplary life after serving a 19 year prison sentence, society and he himself forever view him as unworthy. The circumstances which drove him to commit his crime are never taken into consideration. Even Marius and Cosette are repulsed when they hear about his past. Their attitudes didn’t endear these characters to me, but is it much different from the treatment afforded ex-convicts today? The whole message of the book is that we can redeem ourselves from past mistakes by living perfect lives, but without community support or recognition, it is a nearly impossible undertaking. Les Miserables  reminded me that public attitudes about the causes of poverty remain unchanged. Written in a manner that is very different from how novels are today - A lot of prose waxing philosophic about a variety of topics as Victor Hugo digresses from the story - made it difficult at times to continue with it. Nevertheless, I’m glad that I did.

For many, the reading of Les Miserables would spoil their appetite. For others, it may make them hungrier. For the latter, here’s a recipe I used shortly after Thanksgiving. It’s good served with a loaf of French bread ( in keeping with the spirit of the story).  Prep time is about 20 minutes.

                                                                   Turkey Casserole

Leftover turkey cut into julienne slices
Broccoli cut in pieces
Mushrooms sliced
1 can of cream of chicken soup
garlic, onion powder, pepper, basil to taste
a Tbsp of dry sherry
olive oil
Italian flavored breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Heat a skillet with the olive oil and sauté the mushroom slices. 
Place the turkey in a casserole dish. Place the broccoli over the layer of turkey. Add the mushroom slices. Spread the cream of chicken soup over it all. Add the seasoning and sherry. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top.
Bake for about 40 minutes.