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jojaqualityheadcanons · 3 years

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SDV's 1.5 update contains content that plays into racist, colonialist, and imperialist myths and beliefs.

Disclaimer: I loved SDV (which is a given, considering I have an SDV sideblog lol?), and I'm not writing this post to get people to boycott the game or stop liking it or whatever. I just want people to understand why this content is harmful, how it might be affecting your biases and beliefs, and think of how they can engage with this media without exacerbating the harm that it does. I'm Filipino, and I don't speak for all POC or all brown people, but I felt deeply hurt and betrayed by the content update. Please keep that in mind before you interact with this post. Explanation under the cut because of 1.5 spoilers (obviously) and because this got long.

(I will block people who clown on this post. Keep your opinions to yourself unless you also have firsthand experience with the issues I describe.)

Background

I was already wary of the 1.5 content update because of how the previews featured ~tropical~ and ~exotic~ stuff, but I decided to give it a shot because maybe I was being too hasty with my judgment.

I wasn't. I made a new save to play with the 1.5 content update, and at first, I was having a great time! The new special orders made gameplay more exciting and varied! I could finally get rid of the nursery from my house without mods! The remixed junimo bundles made me change my usual game strategy. And then, I finally unlocked Ginger Island.

It seemed cool at first, but I had a sinking feeling growing in the pit of my stomach as I kept playing. It got to the point that I started nursing a stomach ache and lots of anger that took me days to shake off. I know SDV has never been a shining example of racial/ethnic diversity and sensitivity (I mean... there's a reason why mods like Diverse Stardew Valley and a bunch of other diversity mods exist lol). But while the lack of diversity in the pre-1.5 content is more of a missed opportunity, the 1.5 content is just... actively harmful and hurtful, imo. Here's a breakdown of the issues with the setting and the characters:

The Setting

Ginger Island, along with the Fern Islands in general, is a tropical island that is clearly based on islands in the Pacific. Its features include fertile soil and an abundance of natural, foragable resources. And for some unknown reason, it has no native human population.

Many islands in the world are uninhabited by humans, and there's always a good reason why. The island's environment may be too hostile, it could be too small to sustain human life, it could be sacred or otherwise culturally unacceptable to live there, or some disaster may have occurred to wipe out the local population or cause them to flee. Some uninhabited islands are nature reserves or privately owned. The point is that if an island is habitable, people are bound to call it home.

Writing Ginger Island as an uninhabited "tropical paradise" feels like a copout. It's as if the game is saying, "don't worry, you're not colonizing this land because no one really lives here! You're not stealing this land or anything because it's up for grabs and is just waiting for the right person to come along to develop it and turn it into a resort for other people who don't live here!" But that claim rings hollow when there are so many signs of civilization there, such as literal computers and ancient structures. And the canon reason for the existence of these things is that dwarves, non-human creatures, lived there once. I just think it's ridiculous and harmful that the game completely ignores and erases the existence of the people who lived and still live in the places that Ginger Island is based on and goes even further to use non-human creatures as stand-ins. I don’t think I have to explain why this isn’t good, considering that people of color have been compared to animals and treated like animals to dehumanize us and justify our oppression for ages.

To really hammer in my point about whitewashing and erasure, all the human labor on the island is done by a flock of parrots that you pay with golden walnuts (i. e., resources that you get for free from the island they live on). There's even an anthropomorphized bird who's a shopkeep! I get that creating a whole cast of human NPCs to fill a town would have been way too much work for a content update, but CA didn't need to use a bunch of animals as stand-ins for non-white human characters. There’s a troubling trend of creators prioritizing animal characters over characters of color, and CA plays right into it. He seriously chose to create more anthro characters instead of adding characters of color to the game in a setting that in real life has populations that are primarily made up of brown people. The game includes brown people's land and cultures, but it draws the line at brown people themselves.

The erasure of brown people and the portrayal of our lands as wild and untamed have been used to sanitize the narrative of colonialism for centuries. Pretending that our lands were wild tropical paradises that were ripe for the taking is pretending that colonizing forces didn't use violent, dehumanizing means to subjugate or wipe out countless peoples and cultures in order to make these lands available. Ginger Island's erasure of brown people just perpetuates this colonialist myth, and the context in which it does so disgusts me: the farmer, who already runs a successful farm that was inherited from their grandfather, goes off to a tropical island they have no personal connection to and uses its natural resources to expand their business further. They also open up a resort on the island for the enjoyment of other privileged people from their homeland, and going there is treated as a luxury. This is a classic colonizer narrative, and I cannot believe the game forces players to colonize an island in order to win.

The Characters

I'm honestly amazed that the amount of feedback about the lack of diversity in SDV didn't prompt CA to create characters of color. I'm amazed that he chose the setting he did and still didn't bother to create any characters of color. The fact that all three of the new human characters who live on this tropical island are white makes me go a little apeshit, to be honest! I hate all three of them for a variety of reasons, so I'll go over them one by one:

Birdie

My reasons for not liking Birdie are primarily related to misogyny (lady spent literal decades in isolation on this island moping over her dead husband?) and ageism (if you tell her to live her own life, she tells you that she's too old to???). Sooo they're not really related to the rest of my discussion here, and I won't get into them further. Moving on!

Professor Snail

White historians, archaeologists, and paleontologists have been stealing and plundering artifacts, relics, and fossils from colonized lands for centuries. These white scientists would send their “discoveries” back to their homelands with little regard for the people they stole from. I’ll acknowledge that Professor Snail doesn’t bring the bones and fossils off the island, so his character isn’t as awful as it could be, but he still canonically has this line:

I really just don’t understand why it was necessary to make this character white when making him a character of color could have easily prevented the uncomfortable real-world implications of a white man coming to a foreign land to plunder fossils without asking anybody for permission. If he he’d been created as someone who traced his ancestry to Ginger Island and wanted to study the island’s biological history, his character could have been so sympathetic and even admirable to me! But his character as it is just makes me think of this meme:

Here are some links for further reading about colonialism in paleontology and other social sciences: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Leo

I had a hard time figuring out how to write about this character because the way CA wrote him is arguably one of the most racist parts of SDV. So many aspects of his character left me speechless and appalled because I cannot believe people are still writing shit like this in the 2020s.

I’ll start off with his storyline: this white child gets stranded on an island and is raised by animals. When the farmer meets him, he speaks in broken English to show how “wild” he is:

As the farmer continues to interact with him, he begins to speak more “proper” English:

Wow... he’s becoming more “civilized” because of the farmer’s influence!

As his story progresses, he reveals that he’s lonely because he doesn’t fit in among the other birds. Eventually, he leaves behind his non-human family and assimilates into a primarily white, Western-coded society because that’s supposedly where he belongs.

This whole storyline is made possible by the problems with the setting that I mentioned earlier. Leo wouldn’t feel so lonely and out of place if there were people on the island. He wouldn’t be depicted as wild and animal-like if he had an adoptive family made up of humans instead of parrots. But because CA chose not to have native human characters on this island, Leo can only be around other people if he leaves his home and family behind. As a result, Leo’s story has very uncomfortable parallels with how colonizers have historically separated indigenous children from their families and cultures and forced them to assimilate into the dominant colonizer culture because they considered indigenous cultures to be savage and barbaric (1) (2).

Leo’s whole narrative unintentionally implies that a good life in a good community can only be had in civilized white Western societies. I’m honestly having trouble with further explaining why Leo’s whole character makes me feel so gross, so just read up on the White Man’s Burden, The Jungle Book and other works by Rudyard Kipling (1) (2) (3) (4) (5, PDF download link), and even Tarzan (1) (2).

Leo’s character is also used to further whitewash non-white cultures:

Poi is a Polynesian dish. Mango sticky rice, which is also a recipe that Leo teaches you in-game, is a Thai dish. In the letter, Leo says that the dish is from his home and enjoyed by his non-human family. Considering that he probably learned these recipes on Ginger Island, and that the only “people” who could have taught him this recipe are literal animals, including these recipes in the game in this way just reinforces the equation of brown people to animals. I’m not Polynesian or Thai, but I know that if CA had included a Filipino recipe in the game and not only had it taught to players by a white character, but also passed off as something from the white character’s culture, I’d be angry. I’ll repeat myself: The game features brown people's food and cultures, but it draws the line at brown people themselves.

I don’t think there’s any way to tweak or edit Leo’s character to fix the issues I described. No matter how we change things, he’s still an orphan raised by animals coded as indigenous people, and he assimilates into the dominant white Western culture. The only way to address these issues is to completely redo his character and even the setting of Ginger Island. Here are some options that I’ve thought of:

Leo is related to someone in the Valley and stays with them for part of the year.

Leo lives with his human family and community on Ginger Island.

Leo’s parents are specifically from Stardew Valley/Pelican Town and he wants to visit in order to reconnect with his heritage.

This list isn’t comprehensive, but it does show that there are so many alternatives to having yet another Mowgli story in Stardew Valley.

Conclusion

I don’t think that CA had bad intentions when he made this content, but the fact is that he did create this content. I’m not calling him a bad person. However, he does have a lot of racist, imperialist, and colonialist biases that he has yet to unlearn. Considering the setting and subject matter of the new 1.5 content, he really should have hired some sensitivity readers to avoid creating harmful content. The man’s sold over ten million copies of his game, and he certainly has the resources to put together a sensitivity team.

I can’t look at Stardew Valley the same way I did before 1.5, but I’m not going to condemn the game as a whole. I might play the game again someday, but I absolutely won’t be going back to Ginger Island. If you’ve enjoyed the Ginger Island content, then good for you! Please just keep all that I’ve written here in mind and accept that that content hurts some people like me.

If you’re a content creator, I urge you to get sensitivity readers if you’re featuring cultures that you’re not a part of to avoid making the same mistakes that I’ve discussed here. Creating from a place of understanding and respect can only make your work better and more accessible to a wider audience, especially to the people whose culture you’re borrowing.

#stardew valley #sdv #sdv leo #sdv birdie #sdv professor snail #racism cw #imperialism #colonialism #blabbering #ids for images are in alt text btw!

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lukkerichardson-blog · 3 years

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Identity and Representation within ethnic minorities

Introduction:

Throughout this rich media essay I will be looking into the identity and representation of minority groups in TV and film. My case study will be “Get Out” which was written and directed by Jordan Peele.”Get Out” was a cultural landmark in cinema as it was one of the first horror films to feature a predominantly black cast and be written and directed by a black man. It also won several awards and received critical acclaim. The identity and representation of ethnic minorities has been an ever changing and evolving debate ever since the beginning of cinema. Directors like Jordan peele have strived to make change within the paradigm in regards to the way ethnic minorities are portrayed. This is evident in his 2017 film “Get Out” when the main character Chris Washington played by (Daniel kaluuya) Meets his white girlfriend (Rose armitage) played by (Allison Williams)’s family in suburban America and things get strange when Daniel kaluuyas character Chris finds out that his girlfriend Rose and her family have been secretly plotting to detain him and switch bodies with him because they believe that the black body is more superior to theirs. Jordan Peele wrote the story this was as a result of a belief that some people hold that white people are superior to black people. It is a reverse of eugenics, as in the film the grandfather (Gordon Greene) played by (John Wilmot) tells a story that Jesse Owens beat him in the 1936 olympics and therefore believes that black people are superior Jordan peele wrote the story like this so that it would show black people being the “superior” race which is a far cry to what most of history has been about.

Representation

“Get Out” is an interesting case study as it is a predominantly black cast, not only in terms of the writer and director Jordan Peele, but even the story is about black struggle and the objectification of black culture and identity, Jordan Peele tackles issues around the subject of racism. Since get out release audiences have seen a wider range of diversity both behind and infant of the camera. More black led projects have been headed; for example Peeles second directorial debut “US” and HBO’s “lovecraft, country” maybe these new releases have demonstrated that Hollywood is becoming more diverse and accepting of change. Representation within the genre of horror has improved dramatically. The TV and film industry has always been under fire because alot of people feel that the industry is not diverse enough, it has always casted white people in the industry instead of non white actors for years. You can see this in ever single aspect of production from the cast to the crew, you can also see it in the nominations for awards, and who wins them predominantly. Which is why “Get Out” was such a huge breath of fresh air. Although the representation of the black community has gotten better the path that has had to be taken there has been hard. Minority groups have been shown in a horrific way for hundreds of years. You can date it back hundreds of years to even when they were doing plays with packed out audiences using white actors to dress up in blackface to mock black people. They were painted with comically large mouths with huge red lips and large noses. They would even prance around the stage and intentionally use these characters to be the dumb stupid ones for comedic effect, in this time it was completely socially acceptable to do these things and was the norm. In Peter pan ( 1953 ) there is a part in the film with native Americans who are portrayed as villains and have skin that was very bright and red and are actually called “Red Skins”. The reason for this Is because Hollywood was controlled

by white people and all writers and directors of films at the time were all white, who were extremely proud of their country and thought that native Americans were villains. A genre that was popular at the time was westerns, which always featured white cowboys as heroes and native Americans as villains, even though the fact is, is that white people took over America from native Americans and slaughtered and stole from them. They were even portrayed as the villains up until extremely recently, in Twilight (2008) all the werwolves are portrayed as indigenous people and were all portrayed as uneducated.

Also another problem with representation within the film industry was the award ceremonies. In the nomination process it is still to this day mostly white actors and creatives that get nominated for awards. It even can be seen as recently as 2015 and 2016, where there was huge unrest and a big conversation was started on industry racism and systematic oppression. For 2 years straight every single actor that was nominated for best lead and supporting role were white. Take note that the last time something like this had happened was in 1998, so this did raise the question. Are we going back to old racist ways? Twitter exploded and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was trending for days. Because of this scandal alot of the worlds most famous actors and creatives boycotted the ceremony Spike lee took to instagram to announce that he and his wife could not attend because they “Cannot support it” Jada pinkest smith and will smith both said that they would not attend until the issue was resolved. But even when the most recent 2020 Oscar nominations were announced there was a huge backlash because yet again there was a huge obvious hole in the nominations, all best supporting actress role nominations were white. Alot of people believed that Lupita Nyong’os role in US, yet another Jordan Peele classic was definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination. However alot of the public and industry workers feel like she was robbed of this because of systematic oppression. Thankfully films with black cast and crew members have been gaining the attention and success they deserve. Black Panther (2018) now holds the record for highest grossing solo superhero film so far. In 2013 the first ever African American won best adapted screen play for 12 years a slave, his name was John Ridley. The best film 2019 was the “Green Book” which protagonist was mahershala Ali. Also in 2019 “Blackkklansman” won best adapted screenplay which was directed by Spike Lee who many people believe has been snubbed many times within the awards ceremony.

Identity

By now audiences know that Get out is more than your average horror film. Jordan Peele has expressed that Get Out portrays how racism feels to a black man. I agree with this and I also feel that Get Out portrays the complexities of racial identity. Get Out shows us that we still have a long road ahead when it comes to understanding each other. In Get Out all the black characters that’s bodies have been stolen go to a place called the sunken place where they float in an endless void, where the body is paralysed but the mind is completely conscious I think that this may be what Jordan Peele is talking about when he talks about what it feels like to be apart of a minority group. Maybe this is him trying to convey that black voices are not heard in Hollywood or in any walk of life at all, and that the void is like being black because it feels like there is nothing you can do. I also think that the sunken place would resonate with the black community as if you forget the hypnosis and body swapping, it is realistically a metaphor for how your identity can be lost

because people will solely judge you on race, it is also like you are being controlled and governed by someone who doesn’t really have your best interests at heart, and there isn’t anything you can do about it. Jordan Peele is half black and half white he explained in a 2012 interview that "Being of mixed background, we liken it to walking on a tightrope at different points in our lives. At certain points, it seems like we’re between two worlds, or we’re a part of two worlds, or we question where our world is.”

I also think another issue that we have today with identity when it comes to minority groups is, white washing. White washing is when an original source material, comic, book, film, tv show or any form of media is altered to cast a white character in place of one that is from a minority group. This is very harmful to culture and to basic morals in general as it snubs ethnic minorities of roles that resonate with them in place of a white person so that it can appeal to a more western society. whitewashing goes back to the early 1920’s which was a time where society was far less developed as it was today. There was hardly any equality in the 1920’s between races in America, or any part of the world for that matter. For example in 1915 a film was released called “The Birth of a Nation” directed by D.W Griffith, which by some was well regarded because of the technical cinematography. However he used white actors in black face to portray historical actions of the Klu Klux Klan. Because of this the film is widely recognised to be racist and is greatly criticised. Even up until today there have been so many film adaptations of other original source material from different cultures and created by minority groups that have been capitalised on by Hollywood to appeal to a wider audience, therefore being whitewashed. For example a Japanese Manga titled Death Note was adapted into an animation. Both the animation and the manga features an all asian cast. Hollywood noticed that this was an extremely popular anime series and therefore began production of their own live action version. This version replaced all Japanese characters with all white American ones. Compares to the original source material which is critically acclaimed this live adaptation was universally disliked. Some might say that this is because they have no idea of the source material and don’t understand it because they don’t resonate with it, maybe what makes these intellectual properties so good is because of the culture and the art style behind them. The whole of death note is extremely rooted in asian culture which is why the American version didn’t work. Another quick example of recent times is Johnny Depp in “The Lone Ranger”. He was cast as “Tonto” who is a native american character, obviously Johnny Depp is white. In annihilation Natalie portman and Jeniffer Jason Leigh play characters who in the novel are respectively asian and native american descent.

Finally I would say the history of cinema has been extremely controversial and the issue of diversity has been one if the biggest problems throughout. The lack of ethnic minorities in cinema is astonoshing at times, especially in the early days of cinema. Also the portrayal of minorities when they are casted in media is also extremely unfair, one sided and biased towards a racist agenda. Until this issue has been resolved we will not see minorities being depicted clearly and truthfully in any such forms of media. The small amount of minority directors, screen writers, and all other parts of the creative industry has caused an extremely unbalanced work place where white people will benefit, even if the character they are playing is not white. However even though we have seen an improvement in terms of this issue in some spaces. There still seems to be a lack of representation of non white creatives in the industry and award ceremonies.

Bibliography

Low, E. and Jackson, A., 2020. Black Representation In Hollywood: Is The Industry Finally Listening? - Variety. [online] Variety.com. Available at: <https://variety.com/2020/biz/ features/black-representation-hollywood-inclusion-diversity-entertainment-1234693219/>.

Bakare, L., 2020. Get Out: The Film That Dares To Reveal The Horror Of Liberal Racism In America. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/ feb/28/get-out-box-office-jordan-peele>.

Variety.com. 2020. Jordan Peele: How 'Get Out' Tackles Systemic Racism As Horror - Variety. [online] Available at: <https://variety.com/2017/film/news/jordan-peele-get-out- systemic-racism-1202604824/>.

Robinson, T., 2020. Get Out Review: A Ruthlessly Smart Racial Send-Up That's Also Terrifying. [online] The Verge. Available at: <https://www.theverge.com/ 2017/2/24/14724404/jordan-peele-get-out-movie-review-race-horror-film>.

Moore, S., 2020. The Oscars Mix-Up Matters Because This Night Was Always About Racial Bias | Suzanne Moore. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https:// www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/27/oscars-mix-up-matters-racial-bias>.

Hiatt, B. and Hiatt, B., 2020. The All-American Nightmares Of Jordan Peele. [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: <https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/director- jordan-peele-new-movie-cover-story-782743/>.

Cara, M., 2020. ‘Get Out’ Shows How Being Defined By Your Race Puts Your Own Identity At Risk. [online] Bustle. Available at: <https://www.bustle.com/p/get-out-shows-how-being- defined-by-your-race-puts-your-own-identity-at-risk-41121> [Accessed 18 August 2020].

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ahistoricalramblings · 4 years

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Understanding Transitional Justice

October 13, 2020

Last week Tim brought up my podcasting post at the beginning of class. He actually wanted to talk about transitional justice more than he wanted to talk about podcasting, something I was definitely okay with. Since then, I cannot stop thinking about it. A fair warning: this is absurdly long, like way too long, but I’m obsessed with these questions and have been struggling to cut myself off. In all honesty I wanted this to be about 1000 words longer. Transitional justice is one of those topics that has so many unanswerable questions that you fall down a rabbit hole all the time.

For those reading who aren’t in the class, Tim had asked my opinion on the comments of a French public historian at a conference in 2017 in Bogotá, Columbia. This man had said that following WWII France chose to consign the actions of the Germans and the collaborators to oblivion. They chose to let these issues rest for a couple decades and pick them back up when the wounds had scabbed over. I should be clear, the Frenchman is not the only person to hold this belief, not by a long shot. Individuals, often individuals in power, in every country facing questions of transitional justice have advocated for some form of forgetting.

This view of transitional justice is outdated and it ignores so much of what transitional justice is.

Transitional justice is not about criminal justice. Or at least, not entirely. It can certainly be about holding perpetrators accountable for crimes through the legal system; but often that is largely impossible. Here are some examples: in Chile, the former dictator was still head of the military and had threatened attack if anyone was tried; in Rwanda, the number of perpetrators was so large that it overwhelmed the prison system; in South Africa, there was a controversial Amnesty for Truth law that gave perpetrators amnesty if they testified in court. In cases like Argentina, Germany, and Peru successful trials have brought down the very heads of the institutions that committed the crimes but have largely left low-ranking individuals alone. Legal justice is only a small portion of the larger discussion on transitional justice.

So, what else is there? Well first I’m going to plug my podcast because who would I be if I didn’t? Listen here to hear me talk about an amazing memorial in Paine, Chile.

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs), the creation of memorials and museums, and reparations are three of the biggest forms of non-legal transitional justice. TRCs are government funded commissions that use oral history and traditional research methods to uncover what happened. They create the state narrative and become the beacon for government work.

Memorials and museums can be both private and public and can serve the state or serve the people. If you’re interested in this (which I imagine some of you might be) I have a good deal of knowledge on this part of transitional justice particularly in (can you guess?) Chile and also the former USSR, Germany, and Argentina.

Finally, we have reparations. We might imagine reparations to be cheques handed out once or monthly or yearly to victims or victims’ families. And reparations can be cheques given to individuals, but they can also be sustained investment into infrastructure. This is particularly important when talking about traditionally underserved communities – for example the Mapuche in Chile or, oh would you look at that, Indigenous communities in Canada. This can be controversial because it brings up questions of who you consult about infrastructure changes, how you prioritize issues, and how you split funding (didn’t I tell you, there are tons of unanswerable questions in this field).

Each of these three methods do not involve the legal system. Instead, they work to rebuild the social fabric of a country in the wake of devastation. They provide truth, memory, and restoration and they provide justice. We just need to reframe what justice means.

When we think of transitional justice as criminal justice, we imagine the black and white world of a judicial verdict. We imagine that transitional justice will solve everything and make the world whole again. It won’t. It can’t. It never will. Massive human rights violations are irreversible, they tear through lives and communities, social structures and societal ideals. Instead, transitional justice is about holding systems accountable and reforming them; it’s not about the individual who committed the crime, but rather about the system that allowed, accepted, or authorized the crime.

I really got lost on a tangent there but now you know a little more about what transitional justice looks like on the ground.

Back to the Frenchman. His argument centres on the idea that talking about recent crimes only serves to re-traumatize victims. He’s not wrong in this idea but his solution is too encompassing. Instead of silence as a national policy, transitional justice allows for silence as a personal choice. All TRCs and trials are self-selected meaning the victim choses to tell their story. This isn’t a perfect solution, but it allows the victim the dignity of choice and the ability to put their own needs first.

France is a unique case. They could say, “well it’s time to forget what the Germans did to us” (this ignores the roles of collaborators, but it still works). France as a country could project all of the crime onto an ‘other’, who were truly an other because they left. Again, we’re ignoring collaborators. Almost no other country has this option. In Rwanda, when the civil war and genocide subsided, no one left. The same can be said for South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Peru, Canada and the list could go on forever. So, we need transitional justice to mediate the relationship between the victims and perpetrators as they co-exist in a single society.

The 1990 National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report in Chile explains the need for transitional justice quite well. In the introduction, they wrote “although the truth cannot really in itself dispense justice, it does put an end to many a continued injustice – it does not bring the dead back to life, but it brings them out from silence: for the families of the ‘disappeared,’ the truth about their fate would mean, at last, the end to an anguishing, endless search.” (The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, “Introduction,” 14.)

I hope my ramblings on transitional justice have been informative. It’s not perfect, it’s not black and white, but it’s necessary. There is no healing in silence for society, that is an individual choice. Society is not allowed that privilege as the systems that allowed the violence must be held accountable for that violence.

Next week is undecided. Let me know if you have any suggestions for what I write about.

Until then, stay savvy.

#transitional justice #Digital Public History #HIS9808 #history

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berlysbandcamp · 4 years

Audio

Years in the making, Wátina is infused with contemporary influences, yet firmly rooted in the rich musical traditions of the Garifuna culture. Belizean icon, Andy Palacio, leads an all-star, multi-generational lineup to deliver a monumental tribute to the Garifuna of yesterday and tomorrow. The tale of Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective traces its roots to the early 1980s, when a teenage Palacio traveled from his home in the Central American country of Belize to Nicaragua to serve in a literacy campaign. Palacio is Garifuna, a unique culture based on the Caribbean coast of Central America that blends elements of West African and Native Caribbean heritage. Andy was told that Nicaragua's local Garifuna traditions and language were all but extinct. He was en route via boat to the Nicaraguan village of Orinoco to begin his first literacy assignment, when a storm forced a change of direction, leading to a surprise encounter that had a lasting impact on Palacio's music, career, and life mission. The legacy of this life-changing meeting lives on in the music of Wátina, a stunning new album featuring an all-star, multigenerational lineup of Garifuna musicians from Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Garifuna people originated when two large ships, filled with a delivery of West african slaves, sunk off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635. Half of the Africans survived and intermingled with the indigenous Caribs of the region, creating a new hybrid culture. Fiercely independent, the Garifuna community resisted European colonization, and were forcibly exiled to the Caribbean coast of Central America. Some were segregated and held onto their traditions and language, while others were forced to homogenize with the local predominant culture. To avoid his own mid-lagoon shipwreck, Palacio's boat captain decided to take a detour to a nearby village until the storm passed. He said to Palacio, "There is a Garifuna man in this village. You should talk in your language and see how he reacts." When the eighteen year-old Palacio greeted the old man, Mr. López, in the Garifuna tongue, the elder replied in complete disbelief, "Are you telling the truth?" "I told him, 'Yes, my uncle; I am Garifuna just like you,'" explains Palacio. "He embraced me and would not let go. He could not believe a man so young could speak Garifuna, having imagined the language would perish with him." "From that day I realized that what was happening in Nicaragua, the disappearance of Garifuna culture, foreshadowed what was going to happen in Belize less than a generation down the road," recalls Palacio. "I decided to follow my passion and focus more on performing Garifuna music as a way to keep the traditions alive long into the future." At first, Palacio became a local star of Punta rock, an upbeat Garifuna dance music infused with synthetic beats and keyboards. The Punta rock movement of the '90s was in keeping with trends established by successful world music artists such as zouk pioneers Kassav who blended the latest studio technology with their traditional music. But that was not to be Palacio's ultimate musical course. "Under the direction of my producer Ivan Duran, I made a 180 degree turn," exclaims Palacio, in his lilting, Caribbean-inflected English. "And I am so happy now to take a completely human experience onto the stage as opposed to where I saw myself heading in the mid '90s with samplers, sequencers, and instrumental backing tracks. I look back and I cringe. I don't feel a need to be devoid of technology, I do not want to become a slave to it." Belizean producer and musician Ivan Duran has spent the last ten years seeking out and recording what he calls "the soulful side of Garifuna music." He says, "We're not doing the strictly danceable material of Punta rock, where the lyrics are basically 'Shake up your waist and dance!' The fascinating thing you will notice about the styles we are doing is that the beauty is in the simplicity. Garifuna songs may only have two lines, and if you transcribe them, you still do not get the full meaning. But a good Garifuna song is like a photograph. It captures a moment in time; a split second of someone's life." Each track on Wátina is based on a traditional Garifuna rhythm and all of the lyrics are in the Garifuna tongue—a unique and endangered language whose root is Arawak influenced by Carib, French, and, possibly, West African languages. In 2001, UNESCO declared the Garifuna language, music, and dance Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As an official within Belize's Ministry of Culture at that time, Andy Palacio played a role in securing that proclamation. Today, Palacio is one of those rare musicians with one foot in the world of cultural diplomacy and another foot on the performance stage. His new album brings together his dual passion for the safeguarding of culture and making modern music tied to Garifuna roots.

#central america #carribeans #garifuna #folk

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chibivesicle · 5 years

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Golden Kamuy chapter 196. Get Ogata to a Russian hospital! And Ariko is becoming more interesting . . .

After the few weeks of break, chapter 196 is back. As many fans have been waiting for some Ogata related plot, Noda finally delivers again. There is also more cultural education in this chapter with the Nivkh people making various clothing items out of fish skins and some fishy desserts. There also seems to be more to Ariko as shown through his meeting with Kikuta.

The chapter starts off with Asirpa and Sugimoto out and about with Shiraishi doing some cultural education and some fine hat purchasing. I like how even though this is no longer Kiro’s cultural tour of Karafuto/Sakhalin, Asirpa is starting to fill in that role as she observes and connects the commonalities between the different groups of indigenous peoples. Wilk may not have been the best father but she definitely has his curiosity and intelligence for understanding those around her and the commonalities of the various groups.

They return to the house that they are staying in and their hosts give them some treats. Shiraishi and Sugimoto are immediately game to try them since they are the boys of the foodie trio. Interestingly, we don’t get Asirpa’s opinion on this . .. instead Koito has a tie to the dish. It is the name of the dish in Nivkh, “mos”, which is almost the same as the phrase his Satsuma-ben speaking father says, “mosu”. I think this entire trip has clearly been incredibly stressful for Koito.

It is clear that he is feeling insecure and homesick and this food makes him think of his father, whom he is so desperately trying to impress and make proud with his leadership skills. it is rare to see that soft and nostalgic smile on his character . . .

Koito also looks overjoyed at Tsukishima’s statement that Koito’s father will be proud of him at the “success” of their mission to rescue Asirpa as well as Tsurumi. But seeing the fact that they haven’t gotten Asirpa back to Tsurumi, Koito really shouldn’t be that happy since they still have to deal with Sugimoto (who has already told Asirpa that he’s not going along with them). Koito is elated at Tsukishima’s compliment, Koito feels the need to feed Tsukishima so he too can enjoy the treat! Koito is blushing as he tries to slide the dessert into Tsukishima’s mouth and. . . .

it face plants on poor Tsukishima. Ah Koito your heart is in the right place but next time cut off a piece and spoon feed him. Please. I know he’s a tough guy, but it would save him from the awkwardness. Tsukishima is likely regretting making that statement now that he has the food stuck on his face. . . as all the youngsters say these days, Tsuki is mood. . . .

But the tenor of their sweets enjoying levity takes a turn for the worse and the Nivkh woman is making an herbal salve but explains it is not enough to help with Ogata’s wound. Ogata is no longer sweating but his cheek is clearly swollen and bruised from the removal of the poisoned eyeball. Sugimoto is taking Ogata’s wound very seriously, as he’s going to make sure that Ogata does not die for the sake of Asirpa’s purity/innocence.

Also, could someone please get Ogata some chapstick or moisturizer for his lips? Some of the bruising could be from the brute force of Sugimoto holding Ogata’s head in place as he was passed out, but the roundness to me indicates infection. I have a feeling Sugimoto wasn’t keen enough to cauterize Ogata’s wound after removing the eyeball.

This then leads to Sugimoto taking the leadership role in the group again going against Koito’s wishes. He wants a doctor to look at Ogata and Koito is against this idea, but Sugimoto knows how obviously Koito cares about Tsukishima that he uses that as an excuse to get him to relent.

But at the end of the day, Koito won’t argue about getting help for Tsukishima, as his pouty face also shows a sweat drop where he’s likely upset but worried about Tsukishima. Koito is trying to maintain a command that he never truly had - I wonder if he in part knows he’s not leading the way he wants b/c he doesn’t seem to be fighting Sugimoto like they did earlier. . .

Sugimoto’s plan is to use his newly purchased Nivkh hat to blend in with the locals and he goes to the doctor with Enonoka, her grandfather and the Nivkh man from the eyeball ass river demon story. Sugimoto is hanging back and as he doesn’t want the Russian doctor to realize he’s in the country illegally. I had previously assumed that Tsukishima’s group entered the border legally since we know that Tsurumi tipped off the Russian border guards to Kiro’s movements, but apparently not. Perhaps that would have raised too many flags at the border that either central would notice or the Russian border guards notice? Why did you send them illegally Tsurumi? What is your game plan?

Either way, the Russian doctor says he’s unable to help due to being full or too many patients etc. First, Sugimoto is willing to bribe the doctor with Koito’s money which is all kinds of complicated. This chapter is really giving me some things to think about in regards to Sugimoto - I shall come back to them in the future. . . .

The look of shock and horror on Sugimoto’s face is striking, his pupils are dilated so small in shock, and the dark shadow over his eyes indicates his almost panic with a sweat drop! It is very interesting this chapter that not once, or twice but three times his eyes are either shaded completely black or covered by his military cap. As @goldenkamuyhunting has already pointed out, eyes shaded black don’t imply dark or mean intent from a character - it means that something about them is hidden or unclear. Noda is keeping the reader from knowing how Sugimoto feels about this - what is clear is he is fighting some sort of internal battle to do what he thinks is “the right thing”. I’ve begun to wonder if in this instance this is Sugimoto’s attempt to stay calm and keep his feelings hidden about the matter and just go through the motions.

The doctor’s response forces him to “reveal” himself and we see his face clearly now and those stress lines under his eyes are intense! Suigmoto is not taking “No” for an answer and threatens the doctor with his rifle at gunpoint.

Ok, I get that you are desperate Sugimoto, but must you always resort to bullying and the threat of violence to get people to cooperate with you in tight situations? And this all for Asirpa? Do you think Asirpa wants you pointing a gun at a man to save Ogata? Oh the irony.

Thankfully, the doctor checks out Tsukishima, who is recovering nicely and is able to act as their translator. Unfortunately for them, he immediately realizes that Ogata is in rough shape, his aid as a visiting doctor isn’t enough and he stares very intensely at Ogata for a bit before he tells them that he needs to go to a hospital for sterile treatment facilities. Sounds like Ogata is gonna get the eye socket drained of all of the pus and likely cauterized too and some additional surgery on his face. Tsukishima tells him that their mission to rescue Asirpa is complete and they will return without making a fuss. Tsukishima’s expression is very interesting as he translates his almost rhetorical question if they want to save Ogata or not. The doctor insists on getting him treatment and asks them if they want to save him (as he is likely assuming Ogata is one of their team members potentially based on his statement) and Koito is against this. He gets overridden by Sugimoto who is all for “whatever it takes” to “save” Ogata. Koito is immediately upset by this reply by Sugimoto.

Sugimoto’s expression is super intense here, his eyes are llght, and he’s got unstable looking screen tones behind/around him. He says he’s got too much to ask Ogata to let him die just yet. Koito doesn’t respond but has a sweat drop indicating he’s likely torn on this issues. The doctor then adds in via Tsukishima’s translation that they don’t want his help to go to waste if he reports them to the Russian authorities.

So off to the hospital they go. It appears that the doctor is tying Ogata to the dogsled here and Asirpa is in front of Sugimoto on the sled. Shiraishi and Koito are there as well. Everyone is wearing non-Japanese looking hats so that they can blend in better. Though Koito’s tanned complexion . . . a northerner with that skin tone . . . . let’s hope no one really notices Koito’s glowing tan.

Koito seems to be under the indication that he thinks Sugimoto will expect or is anticipating that Ogata will be a changed man b/c he saved him. I wonder how much of a liar Koito thinks Ogata is? Sugimoto has lied many more times than Ogata and for the most part Ogata really sucks at it. So why the idea that Ogata has been lying to everyone the entire time? That he’s a scammer and a wildcat but only on the basis of the rumors. Ogata’s behavior for the most part does not indicate deception, generally a statement of an obvious fact in a less than ideal way perhaps. . . .

Sugimoto of course falls back on the idea that he’s doing this to “save” Asirpa but not Ogata. A few things that are interesting are 1.) Asirpa’s blank but forward look. For Sugimoto doing this for her seems quite disengaged. 2.) Shiraishi has stress lines under his left eye and he has more of a look of surprise at Koito’s statement. Does Shiraishi suspect that there might be more to Ogata than Koito is assuming about him? He has traveled with him a long way with Kiro and Asirpa. . . he may think he saw some sort of change in Ogata. or maybe Shiraishi understands Ogata a bit more?

The chapter then ends with Sugimoto saying he’s saving Asirpa. And the final panel shows Ogata on the sled smirking.

So Ogata is likely conscious at this point and has been listening to everyone. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

I’m going to jump back to Kikuta and Ariko in the middle of the chapter still at Noboribetsu. A quick conversation between Usami and Nikaido back a the onsen recovering. Then Usami panics about Tsurumi coming there soon. Again, it is clear that Tsurumi is no longer code breaking and on the move again in Hokkaido. So we will likely see Tsurumi soon.

They then state that Ariko has gone missing and likely died on the mountain. Instead, he’s at his kotan and Kikuta comes to find him. It looks like the woman from the previous chapter is his mother (thanks for noting the matching eyebrows lulapinn!) and she’s got a decent sized tattoo indicating she is of some significance in the kotan. She looks a bit nervous as Kikuta comes and she calls Ariko by his Ainu name Ipopte.

He’s not stressed and clearly expecting Kikuta to show up. As Kikuta enters, the woman still looks nervous but Ariko seems chill.

There is a skin being stretched to dry on the floor. Already many people have noticed that none of these kanji match the two that are known to be on Toni, rain and death.

So this is a fake skin. Before encountering Toni at the hot spring Ariko had no idea what the skin looked like. So he had to see Toni’s for a reference to make the fake one. Ariko explains that he had to skin the body on the spot since it would be hard to carry the body down the mountain. This is valid as Sugimoto has done this frequently. Kikuta is a greedy man and inquires about what happened to his gun, since he likes to have a trophy from those he beats in battle. Ariko is ready for this question and instead gives him his bandanna/scarf instead. This action makes it look like Ariko tried really hard to retrieve something for Kikuta and not look too suspicious. I do find it interesting he doesn’t quite make eye contact when he hands the scarf over but as a subordinate that would be pretty normal. A good way to also hide if he’s lying.

Clearly a bit twisted, like the rest of the 27th, Kikuta puts on the scarf instead. There are a few potential outcomes here; 1.) Toni is dead and Ariko used his body to supply the fake. 2.) Toni is alive and Ariko rescued him and then used him to model his fake skin.

It is far to early to figure out who Ariko is working with and how he is tied to the skins. He could be working with Hijikata, but right now I don’t think so, it is clear he never knew what a tattoo looked and he had to be told by his mother. She has a large tattoo indicating she carries some weight in the kotan. Was she married to one of the murdered men or one of the Ainu leaders involved in the gold? Is he the son of one of the murdered men or someone who was against using the gold?

Is Ariko working with another faction working to hide the gold? Does he have an opinion like Asirpa’s uncle who believes the gold should be left alone? Could he be a part of the partisan faction that Kiro was in with Wilk? Likely not, since they were a tight knit group and I still can’t get over his more Japanese mannerisms and body language. Is he a spy for central, like Tsukishima accused Ogata of being in Yubari? The fact he’s been kept away from the rest of the 27th and they didn’t know he was Ainu is suspicious. Does Tsurumi know he’s related to one of the dead Ainu? Is Tsurumi afraid of him going out for revenge?

Whatever the case - even though he’s a partner to Kikuta, he just deceived him with a skin that Tsurumi already has a copy of. Or did he supply this to Kikuta for him to take a fall when he gets it to Tsurumi? It was unclear that Tsurumi knew that one of the copies was Toni Anji’s he may not know who it matched to . . . we don’t know of Sugimoto told him which ones were which but I’m sure Tsurumi made him explain them.

No matter what, we will have to see how Ariko’s role unfolds in this. . .

There are two more things that I want to touch on in this chapter. The first is in regards to Asirpa.

Many of us have been discussing that since Asirpa shot Ogata, she and Sugimoto have not really talked much. They also tried to do the eyes on the bare bum joke on Shiraishi, but it felt empty. Asirpa knows the code and she hasn’t told Sugimoto that she thinks she knows it. She almost killed Ogata and she watched Kiroranke who was as almost an uncle to her die from his fight with Tanigaki, Tsukishima and Koito. Ever since she shot Ogata she’s been a bit off. She’s likely in shock and no one is talking to her about what happened. Instead, Sugimoto is thinking he can fix it by making sure Ogata doesn’t die yet. Then he can question him and potentially kill him later.

@goldenkamuyhunting and I have been discussing Asirpa’s reaction for some time. Please compare our analyses! We always write them separately and then read each others only when done.

Currently, I believe that Asirpa has started on the path to become like Ogata. He didn’t start out as someone who could kill someone by pushing all of his feelings deep down, but that is his coping mechanism. He tried to get her to kill him so that he could win his own argument with himself and also get her to recognize what she was being trained for by her father.

Noda frequently refers back to previous things in this manga to make a connection. So first let’s look at the panel when Sugimoto says that they need to get Ogata to a doctor but at no risk to themselves here. Asirpa is sitting right next to Sugimoto. She does not reply and instead her text is “ . . .”

Her eyes don’t have their normal sparkle either. There is still some but it is reduced. She is also looking off at something distant or staring at nothing in particular. Her face body language really immediately reminded me of this panel: Ogata in the tankoban version of chapter 103. We already saw Asirpa like this on the ice when she collapsed and Sugimoto cut the eye out.

But that bottom panel of Ogata, The face angle, the fact that they both have their hands on their lap staring off into the distance. He doesn’t respond to what is happening, he stares off trying to push things away or ignore them. Ogata doesn’t feel the result of his actions.

You may be thinking that I’ve staring too much at Asirpa’s eyes and connecting her to Ogata but here is what she looked like earlier in the chapter. Asirpa is out with Sugimoto and Shiraishi and her eyes look much more normal as she’s learning about fish skin applications of the Nivkh people.

And to put this in perspective it isn’t that this panel is one where her head is larger than in the panel where she’s distant. These were screen capped at the same magnification so the eyes are equivalent. In the one where Sugimoto says they need to get Ogata medical help her eyes are closed a bit more and she’s focused on looking somewhere - with less sparkle in her eyes. Noda chose to make her look like that.

So what does this mean? Asirpa is on the path to begin to try to push her emotions and feelings back down. Just like she had to an extent before meeting Sugimoto. Her uncle told him how she was happier spending time with him and opening up here. She was able to spend time in the mountains and be like she once was with her father and Retar. Recall that when the two of them met, she had predominantly been in the mountains and every time Kiro tried to visit her, she was always “hiding’ in the mountains.

Further evidence of Asirpa burying things so deep to avoid facing them is in regards to the code itself. She only realized the pain associated with it after Sofia gave her the nudge to get her to pull it back up. And she was very upset when she realized it. One must be very distressed to bring a hand up to one’s face and she does this here as she’s sweating and her eyes begin to look teary.

Asirpa is shocked she forget this important secret from her father.

But even more she knows why she “forgot” it.

Wilk telling her the code, lead him departing for the gold plot. She then lost Retar. She is in the forefront of the bottom right panel shaded against the snow and ice. Alone. As she cries she admits the truth, she tried so hard to not think about it that she almost pushed it out of her mind. Asirpa’s coping mechanism is clearly similar to Ogata’s - bury that shit down and keep it down no matter the cost. The problem that cost is their own mental health.

There are many more parallels between their characters;

1.) use a distance weapon. 2) wear white cloaks 3.) observant of their surroundings 4.) respect hard work 5.) terrible fathers 6.) absent mothers 7.) loving grandmas 8.) outcasts and many other things . . .

I hypothesize that in the next little bit of the manga, Asirpa is going to remain distant and try to push things away. She is likely in shock from all events, and the last time this happened to her, she pushed things into the back of her mind. Her lack of dialogue with Sugimoto really shows that she’s likely back to trying to cope by not dealing with things. On top of that, Sugimoto essentially sold her out to Tsurumi, so she can’t quite trust things either. The worst part is Sugimoto is so bent of saving Ogata, he’s ignoring her role in all of this. They need to talk about this, but it doesn’t look like it is happening soon. She has the same distant look on the dogsled on their way to the hospital. The goal hopefully is that she will not go down the Ogata path . . . but someone needs to recognize that she is in pain and she needs to be validated.

I think the other person who could be there for Asirpa is Shiraishi, but he’s likely also hurting just as much as she is with Kiro’s death. There are three very lonely and isolated people in the group currently; Asirpa, Shiraishi and Ogata.

So last back to the smirking cat Ogata.

At the end of the chapter Ogata when from a slight frown to a smirk - what does this mean?

First off, Ogata must be awake and somewhat aware of his situation. He’s getting moved to a hospital where he’s likely going to have an unpleasant time with this eye socket getting cleaned out and cauterized. What could cause him to change expression? It is the doctor who is leaning over Ogata, tying him onto the dogsled. Likely the doctor has said something to him . .. he’s leaning right over him. What could he have said? Is he speaking to him in Russian or Japanese? The doctor barely even sees Ogata before insisting on having him moved to the hospital.

So now it is time for some crazy spitballing theories.

1.) I believe Ogata may know some Russian. Why? Ogata teamed up with Kiro. @goldenkamuyhunting has wondered if they teamed up before the start of the story as how could Ogata have pulled himself out of the stream with his injuries? I think that the person who pulled Ogata out was Kiro. He was trying to track down Asirpa to find her - Ogata found her and Kiro was likely right on her tail. But why would Ogata know Russian? The entire time on Karafuto/Sakhalin Ogata has to rely on Kiro for the logistics and there is a huge power imbalance. It is clear at the Karafuto fox farm that Kiro did not reveal his full plan to Ogata but he had to have shared some information with him to convince him to join Kiro. Ogata is a super cautious guy - he wouldn’t get into a situation without some sort of fall back. He would have to be prepared for something to happen and he’d get trapped in Russia without Kiro’s help (which has totally happened). Knowing Russian would be one part of that.

Before Ogata and Vasily’s sniper battle he states that they will have to get the answer from them as to why they were attacked. Ogata already knows that they were attacked likely b/c of Kiro’s partisan past. Kiro looks a little concerned here and Asirpa looks curious.

How could Ogata get the answers directly from them? By speaking to them - is he hoping Vasily knows enough Japanese that he’d be able to talk to him? Hard to tell. The vol 17 tankoban gives more information about the results of the sniper battle. Ogata was unable to land a lethal blow on Vasily, but there is no way he’s talking with Ogata. But Ogata can still ask him questions - and if that is the case they would likely have to be in Russian.

2.) Ogata is partially a member of the partisans. When Ogata decides he wants Asirpa to give him the code it was an instance of him deciding he wanted her acceptance and trust and not his role with Kiro and Sofia. This doesn’t mean that before he had his emotional melt down that he was anti-partisan. Instead, he’s panicking b/c he knows Sugimoto and Tanigaki are nearby. Ogata’s emotional needs surpassed his logicstical needs with Asirpa. I’ve already talked about this at length, the point is, Ogata being a partisan or sympathizer is not out of the question.

If Ogata was accepted by the partisans what would this mean? He’d have access to their network - he seemed to know about Kiro before Hijikata revealed that Wilk had a collaborator who is also a partisan hiding in the Ainu in Hokkaido. But if Ogata and Kiro are already working they know that.

When Hijikata shows up at Edogai’s house, and Sugimoto gets ready to fight him, Ogata and Kiro both glance at each other. There is even a little nod between them. Ogata’s nod is obvious as he frowns but Kiro’s is super subtle.

When Inkarmat tries to get the group riled up on the beach, Ogata points his rifle at her ready to shoot as he knows she’s linked to Tsurumi. But Kiro begins to de-escalate the situation and by time Ogata is shown again, his rifle is at ease but still out.

I believe how Ogata defers to Kiro before Karafuto indicates that he has been working with him for some time and that the cat alliance formed early, likely before the first chapter of the manga.

By the time they are on Karafuto/Sakhalin they are still working together. For example, when they found Gansoku, they were out gathering information. They left Shiraishi and Asirpa to get some tea at the Russian tea house/cafe.

So perhaps they are gathering information - or are they making contact with other partisans? Is Ogata accepted by them through Kiro’s endorsement? Is Ogata relying on Kiro to do all the Russian translation? If Ogata were to align himself with the partisans maybe not for their cause per se but their network would they accept a guy who can only speak Japanese? Likely not - the partisans are comprised of many of the different local ethnic groups and Russians. Therefore, their de facto language of operation has to be Russian - not everyone is as linguistically skilled as Wilk and Kiro and even Sofia (recall she knows French being an elite). It is unclear who else Kiro is in touch with during their journey and if Ogata knows them as well.

The unnamed Russian doctor could be a partisan or sympathizer, if he either remembers him or recognizes him, he is an ally for Ogata. My personal joke is when he leans over him he says something like “greetings comrade” or something indicating their ties.

This then comes back to one of the panels that I am stuck on. Kiro is explaining the history of Wilk’s village to Asirpa at the now fox farm. Ogata is shaded completely in the dark and is the backdrop of how Japan and Russia kept changing the dynamics of this region.

This strongly links Ogata to this and that he has some role or tie to all of in this. @goldenkamuyhunting and I have both wondered if Ogata is mixed race. Still unclear how that would be the case, but everyone always comments on how pale he is - and he is outside a fair bit so it seems to indicate that Ogata doesn’t tan as dark as others.

The partisans have a lot of mixed race members - could this be a tie in? It is hard to tell since his father is definitely Japanese, it would have to be in relation to his mother - we know his grandparents represent the losing samurai side during the Meiji revolution - was his grandfather up in Hokkaido and a part of the brief Republic of Ezo? He could have met an Ainu woman then and brought his mother back then? Twitter user Sei Kobiyama had a tweet recently about how Japanese men saw Ainu women as beautiful and exotic and were sexually assaulted for generations.

But this is still a bit of a reach for a theory. Plus if that were the case grandma Ogata is an amazing mom for raising his mother . . . unless she was the child they couldn’t have and she was very precious to her so even if she wasn’t genetically her daughter she was still her daughter. Ogata really does seem to have a feeling that he owes a debt to his grandma in my opinion.

The major question still for most of the Japanese characters is why Ogata teamed up with Kiro? He never reveals much of himself to anyone, we only know his backstory through his memory of his encounter with his father in 103 and his role in Yuusaku’s death in 164-165. The reader knows this information but none of the characters know (except for Tsurumi in regards to Hanazawa’s murder and likely Yuusaku’s to an extent). It is clear that his mother was an attractive woman, that would explain why she was sent out to work as a geisha. Everyone seems to think Ogata isn’t the type of person to do that.

Tanigaki throughout the series has always doubted Ogata in his interaction with the Ainu even though he has never harmed any of them in all of their tight situations. But here he is - the chose to work with Kiroranke. Whatever his level of dedication to the partisan cause is or was, there was at least something there . . . more than Tanigaki.

3.) The last reason I think Ogata may be smirking is a much more simple thing. The doctor may have said something to him and Ogata has a game plan. He could request asylum from the Russians once he’s in the hospital. He could explain that he deserted the Japanese army and to escape this was his only option. This would keep him separate from the rest of the group and the would be unable to take him back if he got the local government involved. It could go down like this, he requests asylum and the rest are forced to return to Hokkaido without him. Or it gets worse for the others - he gets protection and the rest of them get detained by the Russian authorities for illegally crossing the border and now he’s in a potential position of power. He could even say that they were pursuing him and that is how he got injured as a result. That would be a total dick move, but really he’s in a cornered position.

4.) The last potential explanation is that Ogata is a spy. I’m less thrilled with this idea since he’s a terrible liar and I can’t seem him tying himself to an imperial government Japanese or Russian. But I don’t want to rule that out. It seems too fishy to me that Tsukishima called Ogata out as being a spy for central - obviously on Tsurumi’s orders/information.

Well that is all I have for you guys right now. This turned out to be a lot longer than i expected.

#golden kamuy #gk meta #asirpa #sugimoto saichi #ogata hyakunosuke #tsukishima hajime #koito otonoshin #ariko rikimatsu #warrant officer kikuta #Shiraishi Yoshitake

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richincolor · 5 years

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Poetry Favorites

I cannot remember a time when I didn't love words. Poets use words efficiently and effectively and quite often evoke strong emotions, so poetry has also always appealed to me. I tend to seek out anthologies, novels in verse, and even books with poetry sort of sprinkled throughout. Here are a few of my favorites.

Anthologies:

No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay Write Bloody Publishing

Summary: Following the success of her breakout poem, “B,” Sarah Kay releases her debut collection of poetry featuring work from the first decade of her career. No Matter the Wreckage presents readers with new and beloved work that showcases Kay’s knack for celebrating family, love, travel, history, and unlikely love affairs between inanimate objects (“Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire”), among other curious topics. Both fresh and wise, Kay’s poetry allows readers to join in on her journey of discovering herself and the world around her. It’s an honest and powerful collection.

Voices in the Air by Naomi Shihab Nye Greenwillow Books

Acclaimed and award-winning poet, teacher, and National Book Award finalist Naomi Shihab Nye’s uncommon and unforgettable voice offers readers peace, humor, inspiration, and solace. This volume of almost one hundred original poems is a stunning and engaging tribute to the diverse voices past and present that comfort us, compel us, lead us, and give us hope.

Voices in the Air is a collection of almost one hundred original poems written by the award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye in honor of the artists, writers, poets, historical figures, ordinary people, and diverse luminaries from past and present who have inspired her. Full of words of encouragement, solace, and hope, this collection offers a message of peace and empathy.

Voices in the Air celebrates the inspirational people who strengthen and motivate us to create, to open our hearts, and to live rewarding and graceful lives. With short informational bios about the influential figures behind each poem, and a transcendent introduction by the poet, this is a collection to cherish, read again and again, and share with others. Includes an index.

Dreaming in Indian by Lisa Charleyboy & Mary Beth Leatherdale (Not solely poetry, but containing some poetry) Annick Press

A powerful and visually stunning anthology from some of the most groundbreaking Native artists working in North America today.

Truly universal in its themes, “Dreaming In Indian” will shatter commonly held stereotypes and challenge readers to rethink their own place in the world. Divided into four sections, ‘Roots, ‘ ‘Battles, ‘ ‘Medicines, ‘ and ‘Dreamcatchers, ‘ this book offers readers a unique insight into a community often misunderstood and misrepresented by the mainstream media.

Emerging and established Native artists, including acclaimed author Joseph Boyden, renowned visual artist Bunky Echo Hawk, and stand-up comedian Ryan McMahon, contribute thoughtful and heartfelt pieces on their experiences growing up Indigenous, expressing them through such mediums as art, food, the written word, sport, dance, and fashion. Renowned chef Aaron Bear Robe, for example, explains how he introduces restaurant customers to his culture by reinventing traditional dishes. And in a dramatic photo spread, model Ashley Callingbull and photographer Thosh Collins reappropriate the trend of wearing ‘Native’ clothing.

Whether addressing the effects of residential schools, calling out bullies through personal manifestos, or simply citing hopes for the future, “Dreaming In Indian” refuses to shy away from difficult topics. Insightful, thought-provoking, and beautifully honest, this book will to appeal to young adult readers. An innovative and captivating design enhances each contribution and makes for a truly unique reading experience.

See also their other two collections: Urban Tribes & #NotYourPrincess

Novels in Verse

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo HarperTeen [Audrey’s Review]

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman Nancy Paulsen Books [My Review]

Summary: Padma Venkatraman’s inspiring story of a young girl’s struggle to regain her passion and find a new peace is told lyrically through verse that captures the beauty and mystery of India and the ancient Bharatanatyam dance form. This is a stunning novel about spiritual awakening, the power of art, and above all, the courage and resilience of the human spirit.

Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

Summary: A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE

Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.

And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.

Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero Cinco Puntos [My Review]

Summary: Gabi Hernandez chronicles her last year in high school in her diary: college applications, Cindy’s pregnancy, Sebastian’s coming out, the cute boys, her father’s meth habit, and the food she craves. And best of all, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

July 24

My mother named me Gabriella, after my grandmother who, coincidentally, didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was unmarried, and therefore living in sin. My mom has told me the story many, many, MANY, times of how, when she confessed to my grandmother that she was pregnant with me, her mother beat her. BEAT HER! She was twenty-five. That story is the basis of my sexual education and has reiterated why it’s important to wait until you’re married to give it up. So now, every time I go out with a guy, my mom says, “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.” Eyes open, legs closed. That’s as far as the birds and the bees talk has gone. And I don’t mind it. I don’t necessarily agree with that whole wait until you’re married crap, though. I mean, this is America and the 21st century; not Mexico one hundred years ago. But, of course, I can’t tell my mom that because she will think I’m bad. Or worse: trying to be White.

Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott Henry Holt and Co. [My Review]

Sam has the rules of slackerhood down: Don’t be late to class. Don’t ever look the teacher in the eye. Develop your blank stare. Since his mom left, he has become an expert in the art of slacking, especially since no one at his new school gets his intense passion for the music of the Pacific Northwest—Nirvana, Hole, Sleater-Kinney. Then his English teacher begins a slam poetry unit and Sam gets paired up with the daunting, scarred, clearly-a-gang-member Luis, who happens to sit next to him in every one of his classes. Slacking is no longer an option—Luis will destroy him. Told in Sam’s raw voice and interspersed with vivid poems, Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott is a stunning debut novel about differences, friendship, loss, and the power of words.

Shame the Stars by Guadalupe García McCall Tu Books [My Review] [Interview with Guadalupe García McCall]

Summary: Eighteen-year-old Joaquín del Toro’s future looks bright. With his older brother in the priesthood, he’s set to inherit his family’s Texas ranch. He’s in love with Dulceña—and she’s in love with him. But it’s 1915, and trouble has been brewing along the US-Mexico border. On one side, the Mexican Revolution is taking hold; on the other, Texas Rangers fight Tejano insurgents, and ordinary citizens are caught in the middle.

As tensions grow, Joaquín is torn away from Dulceña, whose father’s critical reporting on the Rangers in the local newspaper has driven a wedge between their families. Joaquín’s own father insists that the Rangers are their friends, and refuses to take sides in the conflict. But when their family ranch becomes a target, Joaquín must decide how he will stand up for what’s right.

Shame the Stars is a rich re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet set in Texas during the explosive years of Mexico’s revolution. Filled with period detail, captivating romance, and political intrigue, it brings Shakespeare’s classic to life in an entirely new way.

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson Bloomsbury [My Review]

Summary: Jade believes she must get out of her neighborhood if she’s ever going to succeed. Her mother says she has to take every opportunity. She has. She accepted a scholarship to a mostly-white private school and even Saturday morning test prep opportunities. But some opportunities feel more demeaning than helpful. Like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for “at-risk” girls. Except really, it’s for black girls. From “bad” neighborhoods.

But Jade doesn’t need support. And just because her mentor is black doesn’t mean she understands Jade. And maybe there are some things Jade could show these successful women about the real world and finding ways to make a real difference.

Friendships, race, privilege, identity—this compelling and thoughtful story explores the issues young women face.

If you want even more great titles, check out our Poetry Month posts from the past.

Poetry Month (2018)

Pieces of Poetry (2017)

Poetry Link Round Up (2016)

Novels in Verse (2014)

Piles of Poetry (2013)

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revlyncox · 5 years

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This Freedom Commands

This sermon was presented to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, February 24, 2019, by the Rev. Lyn Cox.

Unitarian Universalists often try to explain ourselves through history. Sometimes we say that we are a religion of deeds, not creeds, and so it falls to us to explain what kinds of deeds we’re talking about that demonstrate the power and possibility of our faith. We tell the stories of prophetic people of all genders who, as it says in the the UUA bylaws about the sources of our tradition, “challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.” We remember poets, activists, scientists, healers, and teachers who worked toward liberation, who dedicated their lives to justice and compassion. These are the examples we give about the heritage we claim and the values we are trying to equip ourselves to demonstrate in these times.

When it comes to Black History in Unitarian Universalism, there are omissions and incomplete stories. Since 1785, when Gloster Dalton helped found a Universalist congregation in Gloucester, MA, there have been Black Universalists and Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists in America. Yet the numbers of Black UU’s have not been and are not representative of the American population at large, and some of that trend was by design from white Universalist or Unitarian leaders who failed to support Black UUs. On the other hand, there are stories of Black UU’s that we don’t hear about. In our living tradition, we hold so much promise in our aspirations toward justice. In our history, there are mistakes as well as achievements from which we can learn.

I’m going to attempt to be clear in this sermon about what I mean when I say “we.” There is a “we” that includes all Unitarian Universalists--Black and white and Indigenous and People of Color--all of us who share a living religious tradition that has attempted to move toward justice and has sometimes failed, a living tradition with life left in it, a living tradition that carries hope and possibility for being some of the people who bend the arc toward justice. And sometimes there is a “we” that focuses on the work that is particular to white people, such as our responsibility to un-learn the ignorance that comes with privilege, ignorance about the experiences and contributions of People of Color. The “we” of Unitarian Universalism and of this congregation does not mean white people alone. But among those of us who are white, we have a lot of catching up to do in our education. I believe we can worship together, and still realize that love, justice, heritage, and this living tradition will ask different things of different people.

In the reading we heard earlier (“The Black Hole in the White UU Psyche,” from UU World Magazine, Fall 2017), the Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed writes that “we have embraced a false narrative about who we are.” This false narrative is harmful. Black UU’s miss opportunities to celebrate UU ancestors who share their heritage and experience. All of us are operating with an incomplete understanding of our tradition. We cannot completely undo this damage in one sermon, or in one Black History Month series. One thing we can do is continue to study with curiosity and humility.

We delved into history a bit last November, in a worship service about Deeds That Beckon. Catherine Boyle added another piece to our understanding in her sermon last month about everyday heroes like Dr. Errold Collymore. We’ll learn more about what we can do next to dismantle white supremacy when the Racial Justice Task Force leads worship in two weeks.

White supremacy has hidden part of our history from many of us in several ways. Racism has often pushed Black UU’s and UU’s of Color to the margins of our movement, redirecting resources and denominational attention away from life-saving ministries that blessed the world, and could have done more with support. There are stories of ministries and projects that never reached their full potential, histories of what could have been, and positive stories with unsung successes.

Furthermore, the perfectionism that is tangled up with white supremacy culture is another contributor to the problem of history that is told incompletely. When those of us who are white notice the absence of stories about Black Unitarian Universalist forbearers, and when we notice that our congregations do not match declarations of justice with lived diversity, we white UU’s might feel shame or confusion, and that might lead us to remain silent rather than do more research. We might be reluctant to talk about the histories we do know of Black Unitarian Universalists because we would have to talk about the racism that white UU’s demonstrated in those stories.

White supremacy is one of the dynamics in the story of the Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown, whose poetry I quoted last week. He started a Unitarian congregation in Jamaica in 1908. In 1912, he was the first Black man to be ordained as a Unitarian minister. He founded the Harlem Community Church in New York City in 1921. The American Unitarian Association was ambivalent toward this ministry, and removed Rev. Brown’s fellowship in 1929. But he kept going. The Harlem Community Church was sustained for thirty-five years, and though the membership was never large, it was an important center for debate, especially among the community of immigrants from Jamaica. Rev. Brown does not show up near the top of the list of famous Unitarian Universalists, and when his name does come up, the whole story about how badly he was treated by the leadership of the American Unitarian Association does not always get mentioned. Perhaps in the mistaken belief that only large congregations are important, we fail to give proper credit for the lives that were transformed and the organizing that was done and the words that comforted and inspired people in the Harlem Community Church.

Supporting Rev. Brown and his ministry was a missed opportunity for the American Unitarian Association in the 1920s and 1930s. We can also remember that a strong Humanist Unitarian faith inspired him, that there was something about a theology of unity and human potential that sustained Rev. Brown and his congregation in their spiritual life and in their activism. We learn from this story that a little support goes a long way, that our faith movement does not have a consistently positive history of anti-oppression, and still that there is liberating potential in the theologies of our tradition that shines through it all.

There are some other ways that white supremacy has gotten in the way of knowing our UU history. Implicit racism de-emphasized the stories of Black Unitarian Universalists, mistakenly giving credit to white people for some of their achievements, and dismissing other achievements as being unimportant. It is only recently that books and resources about UU history have begun to correct these obstacles to the whole truth.

Fannie Barrier Williams is an example of a Unitarian Universalist whose achievements have been overlooked. We heard some of her story earlier in the service, and I mentioned her in a sermon last fall. There was a textbook for Unitarian history published in 1952 called “Freedom Moves West: A History of the Western Unitarian Conference, 1852-1952.” New textbooks for seminarians didn’t come along all that often in those days, and so this was THE source material for a generation of UU ministers. The author failed to give credit to Fannie Barrier Williams for co-founding the Frederick Douglass Center, an integrated social settlement affiliated with All Souls Church in Chicago. Instead, the textbook focused on Williams’ white co-founder, Rev. Celia Parker Woolley. The “freedom” that was the subject of study was less concerned with things like the freedom to receive treatment at a hospital, the freedom to receive an education, and the freedom from being lynched, all issues that Williams worked on.

Freedom is a value we share, yet there are cultural lenses to the meaning of freedom that are important for us to examine, in history and in our congregation today. Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed, in the article that was excerpted earlier, reflected:

There was cultural dissonance between a people who, having political rights, prized “intellectual freedom” in their struggle with orthodoxy and those for whom the struggles for basic freedoms—political and spiritual freedom—were paramount.

When different cultural perspectives are taken into account in the definition of freedom, it becomes more clear that freedom is not an individual project, freedom is a collective project. Having the latitude to consider personal experience and new interpretations of sacred text when discerning an authentic spiritual path, that is one kind of freedom. Yet to exercise that freedom, there must also be freedom to participate in civic life, freedom from fear of harassment and violence, freedom to assemble and to organize. These freedoms are established and protected when people act in solidarity, when we are willing to put aside personal convenience for the sake of our siblings in spirit. None of us is free until all of us are free.

Fannie Barrier Williams, once she learned that her education and middle class privilege opened doors for her that were not open to other African American women, made it her business to open more doors to other people. Egbert Ethelred Brown, once he had achieved a seminary education and leadership in the community, made it his business to see that those who believed in freedom for the whole community had a place to gather and organize, even when that was expensive and risky for his family.

The Congregational Commitment we repeat at the beginning of worship comes through the individualistic, intellectual side of UU heritage in its framing of freedom. We pledge ourselves “to the right of each to believe as mind, heart, and conscience dictate; to accept the responsibilities this freedom commands; and to implement our belief in the essential worth and dignity of every human being.”

With an understanding of freedom that includes all of UU history, including the parts that have been obscured by white supremacy, we can reinterpret this pledge. In order to create a world where none can be compelled against mind, heart, and conscience; we need collective liberation of access to safety, health, justice, political empowerment, and respect. Freedom of belief is built on fundamental, embodied freedoms. In this context, the responsibilities this freedom commands includes the responsibility to work as co-conspirators of liberation, to put our comfort and convenience on the line until we and all of our beloved neighbors are free.

In our study of UU history, it is important to go back and find the stories about collective, concrete efforts toward freedom, because these stories have not always been valued or even told correctly. We study the past, in part, to learn from the mistakes that our denomination has made. The whole story of our heritage matters, because the struggle continues, and we need the wisdom of the ancestors who have already encountered the challenges that come with the responsibilities that freedom commands.

Our faith movement is now faced with and opportunity to know better and to do better. We have opportunities to learn how to have brave conversations about race. We have opportunities to support ministries that center the needs of UU’s of color. We have opportunities to re-frame our understanding of core values such as freedom and spiritual practice in ways that are anti-oppressive, inclusive, and authentic to the whole truth of our living tradition.

Mark Morrison-Reed writes, “We have fallen short and will again, and when we do we need to pause and pray and ask, ‘What does love demand of me?’” Indeed, it is not only freedom, but also love that commands us to continue the work of dismantling white supremacy.

As we create new chapters of history, let us practice determination, curiosity, and humility. Let us not shy away from learning from our mistakes, nor from celebrating success in all of its forms. May we be so lucky as to have the chance to dedicate our lives and our shared community to a greater purpose, one that is rooted in justice and love.

So be it. Blessed be. Amen.

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wineanddinosaur · 3 years

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EOD Drinks With Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery

In this special episode of “End Of Day Drinks,” VinePair’s editorial team is joined by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery. Oliver is a man who wears many fancy hats, but the past year has seen him stuck inside like the rest of us. This, he explains, led to the launch of the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling.

Oliver tells us how 2020 events sparked a realization that being Black and “seen” isn’t as good as actively bringing others into the fold. He sees formal education as the key to long-term careers for BIPOC in beer and spirits.

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Or Check out the conversation here

Cat Wolinski: Hello, and welcome to VinePair’s “End of Day Drinks” Podcast. I am Cat Wolinski, VinePair’s senior editor, and I’m joined today by VinePair’s editorial team including Joanna Sciarrino, Katie Brown and Emma Cranston, and Elgin Nelson. Our guest today is Garrett Oliver, who many of us know as the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery. He’s also the author of “The Brewmaster’s Table,” editor in chief of “The Oxford Companion to Beer,” a James Beard award winner, and lots of other things. Garrett, welcome to the show.

Garrett Oliver: Thanks for having me.

C: I really appreciate you calling in today. I know it’s not as fun as having you in the office over some beers or some cocktails, which I think you also tend to enjoy.

O: Hopefully pretty soon. I’m fully juiced up with Moderna. I’m so happy to actually see people again.

C: I am very excited for everybody who’s getting their shots, so congratulations! There are a lot of things that we would like to hear from you about today, from the Michael J. Jackson Foundation, the Museum of Food and Drink exhibition, and the Brooklyn Brewery, of course. The new beers, the continuing growth abroad, including in Chile. Now, what I really like to start with is: What does a day in the life of Garrett Oliver look like? How has your role as the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery changed over the course of the last year through the pandemic?

O: Well, I would say that thankfully, I have not been ill at all. I haven’t even had a common cold. Outside of that, my wife might have been more radically changed, I would say, than most people, because my normal year would have included about 10 countries and meeting thousands of people. It’s certainly bizarre to go from that to being stuck inside your own house. I was actually traveling so much that, even though I didn’t really complain about it, I actually wanted to spend more time at home. Watch out for what you wish for, because I got a lot more of it than I was bargaining for. I tried to, as everyone has, make the best of it, but it’s been a bizarre year.

C: Yeah, I was going to say I can’t imagine how a globe-trotting, dinner-party-hosting man of mystery like yourself has been operating in these circumstances. I know one of the big things that you were able to accomplish this year was launching the Michael J. Jackson Foundation, and you recently announced the first five award recipients. I would love to hear more about the foundation, how you created it, and how these scholarships will honor the legacy of your good friend.

O: Oh, well, thanks for that. I didn’t lose 10 pounds, I didn’t learn French or read the great book if I ever had the time. In the wake of the social movement that we saw last summer, these were plans that I already had. But with the globe-trotting part, came a difficulty in focusing on a task this large. It’s a strange thing. It gave me the opportunity to actually focus on the founding of the foundation. Now, what the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling does is actually pretty simple. We provide funding. Let me go back, I will say we award scholarship awards for technical education in brewing and distilling. I was just being interviewed about this today by some folks from Brazil, and they were asking about what the American brewing industry looks like. Even though various racial groups that are not of European extraction are nearly half the country, they make up only a couple of percent altogether of people working in brewhouses and distilling houses. There are lots of historical reasons for this. People tend to think that this is because African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, and indigenous people are not really into craft beer, which is not true. This was something that people made up. Not true at all, number one. Number two, there are a number of reasons why this has happened. Many of us in the industry have actually participated in the perpetuation of this situation, even without intending to. I think what we’re doing with the foundation is simply moving one toggle. One of the barriers is that you need to either have experience, or you need to get an education, a technical education, if you want to work and have a future in brewing or distilling. Education is very expensive. It is worthwhile but very expensive. African-Americans, for example, have 10 percent of the family assets of European Americans in the United States. I want to repeat that. Ten percent. People find that difficult to believe but it’s true. I’m not talking about income. I’m talking about money that you might put your hands on to pay for something. Ten percent. So when you have a course that costs $10,000, $16,000, this becomes a nearly insurmountable barrier for the vast majority of people of color in the United States. You will also hear this barrier of wanting somebody with two or three years of experience. Well, where are you going to get those? If there’s nobody there, then nobody can have two to three years of experience. If you can’t afford the education, you can’t get there. This means perpetuating the situation essentially forever, so we’re looking to break that cycle.

C: Yes, and you’ve awarded some really interesting and inspiring individuals who you can talk more about, if you like.

O: They’re inspiring and amazing people. We are expecting that in future years, we’ll get to a point where we are going to be able to take people who don’t even have a foot in the door of the brewing industry or the distilling industry and bring them in at this early stage. We’re starting with people who have a foot in the door. Maybe they’re even doing well, but they don’t have a technical background that will give them a career. It’s similar to working in a kitchen. You can become a good cook in a kitchen being taught by the chef, by rote. If nobody ever took you through all the backgrounds of things and how to make all the foundational sauces, it is going to be hard for you to advance and become a great all-around chef. It’s possible to be a great cook without actually having the training to be a great chef. Now, it’s not the only way that you can become a great chef, professional training, but it is one path. It is the professional training path that we are facilitating for people.

Joanna Sciarrino: Hi, Garrett, this is Joanna. I was wondering what the process was like in finding these recipients?

O: First, we put it out, and we did it entirely over social media. They went out in two rounds, so when people got in touch with us, then they were let through a gate to a place where they could upload all sorts of stuff. We tried to lower the barriers so it wasn’t a complicated thing to do. People could upload videos that would then go into a file for us. We have nine board members. We actually spent hours and hours reviewing every one of 100 or so applicants that came in. It came down to about 14 finalists and we interviewed all of them. Then, there were just many hours of discussion before we arrived at five individuals. It’s also important, I think, to note that I hope I’m going to be able to live up to and we will be able to live up to this as an ambition. If people did not get this particular scholarship at this time, we don’t view that as the end of the process of trying to work with them. As I was saying, there are many paths. There are other scholarships. There are people we know who are offering internships. There are all sorts of things that are going on, and what we’re looking to do is to use the access and connections that we have to help out anybody who comes in front of us and is serious. Even if someone did not win the scholarship, that does not mean they won’t hear from me next week with three other opportunities that are not directly through the MJF. I regard the work that’s visible as being the 20 percent of the iceberg above the water in the cliché, and the 80 percent is below the water. The 80 percent is actually the bulk of the work which is not the part that people are donating money for, which is paying for technical education, but it’s at least as important. We have already, well before this, gotten people jobs where they have been offered equity as brewers in new breweries. That is at least as important as what we’re visibly doing.

C: Yeah, it seems there are more of these internship opportunities. We had Beer Kulture working with several organizations. We had Tiesha Cooke and the Bronx Brewery on the show recently with these technically focused training opportunities, which is certainly a barrier. It makes sense to me, too, coming from the Brooklyn Brewery, as a much larger organization and one that is focused on future thinking in terms of quality control and learning those basics. The rules that you can’t break and then the ones that you can, in order to become successful in these fields.

O: Yeah, and there are a lot of people who came up as I did the old-fashioned way. Some people start as the dishwasher or they are behind the bar or they get an opportunity to work in the brewhouse. They show some aptitude and work their way up but possibly when the time comes and someone says, “OK, I would like you to change the recipe so that it’s much more bitter, the color goes this way, and it’s slightly less sweet.” That person may or may not know what to do, because they’ve been taught how to brew, sure, but they haven’t been taught the underlying science. One way or another, you need to fill all that in if you’re actually going to have a career rather than a job. Jobs are great, but we are hoping to help people build careers, and the people to whom we’ve given these scholarship awards, we expect to see them in positions of influence where they are going to be able to hire other people. Eventually, I hope, we will see tasting rooms and taprooms that actually look like America. Because right now, we all know that they don’t. As I’ve said to many people, “OK, imagine this. If you are a person of European extraction, suppose you love natural wine and you’re really into it, or you love cocktails, craft beer, but every time you wanted to have these things in a public setting, everybody in there was Black. You were the only white person in the whole place, every time. How would that be for you?” If the answer to that is, “Oh, that would be fine,” one, you’re probably lying and two, you’re a bizarre person. No, it’s not normal. It doesn’t look normal, it doesn’t feel normal. That’s the world that people of color live in this country and in this business. When we walk in, we’re often the only one in the room, and it’s bizarre.

C: I am heavily nodding my head, but you can’t see me. Yes, that does sound super uncomfortable.

O: Yeah, when you reverse it, people say, “Ohhh.”

C: Exactly, then you notice.

O: Yes, you notice. If you’re white, you never noticed that there was only one Black person in the room. You’re there with your friends. You’re doing what you’re doing. Why would you notice that? It is the truth of what goes on, especially at the higher end of food and drink and whatever else in the United States. It’s not that people aren’t interested, it’s not that they don’t have the money, in many cases, to at least afford a beer in these places. It’s partially that there is this vibe being given off that you’re not welcome in here. Part of that vibe is not actually hiring anybody or having people in the business who might bring their friends and relatives to your business and spread the love of what’s supposed to be going on in the world of drinks.

C: I totally agree. It’s something I found really interesting with some of the biggest leaders around racial equity and equality in beer over the last year. We heard this with Marcus Baskerville from Weathered Souls around the “Black is Beautiful” campaign. You didn’t know you’d end up an activist. You start looking into your own experience and then realizing you have this role or job where you didn’t face that much adversity personally. Then, you realize there are so many reasons behind you being the only one there in that room. Is it accurate to say that you had a similar feeling around the time you launched the Michael J. Jackson Foundation?

O: Absolutely. I have to say that to a certain extent when people would talk about intersectionality, I didn’t really understand what it meant when I read the word, but I didn’t really understand a lot of parts of what it truly meant in real life. Look, there were times when I was poor, where they came and turned the lights and gas off. I mean, poor poor. But by and large, for most of my life, I grew up fairly middle class. Yes, I had teachers say and do racist things to me, but I grew up in the ‘60s. We powered our way through a lot of situations.

C: Wow. Did you grow up in New York?

O: Yes, I grew up in Queens, New York. Growing up, I had parents who really drove home the importance of education. I saw many people who were every bit as smart if not smarter than me, who had wonderful families that got shoved to the wayside by the tremendous drag forces of this society trying to put you down. Just because I managed to claw my way here is not in some way indicative. It’s like people saying “Oh, well, things have changed, Obama has been president for eight years.” Well, look around. That has not done anything for the average person walking up and down the street. It was awesome, but it hasn’t fundamentally changed people’s lives. I came to realize that representation was not simply being there and being visible. It’s great to be visible, but that does not mean that we’ve done anything for anybody.

C: You can still be doing very much and inspiring people. Obviously, you accomplished many things in your 27 or so years at the Brooklyn Brewery, but yes, it’s also looking at how you can bring more people in.

O: You get to a point where you have political and social capital of some sort. I watched, over the past year or so, people who have a voice out there, like Tom Colicchio, whom I’ve known for 25 years, speaking out on social issues. I would say to myself, “Well, if I have a platform and people are going to listen, then what are you going to do with it beyond being able to get yourself into reservations in places that are tough to get into?” The fact that the chef will take your phone call is awesome, but are you actually using that only for yourself, or are you going to do something for somebody? It became important to me over this last year that whatever position I might have achieved becomes meaningful beyond me. Michael Jackson, who we’re talking about — obviously, your listeners will know that we are not talking about the pop star. A lot of people don’t really realize at that point, years on from his prime, what a massive figure he was in food and drink in the 20th century. Craft beer as we know it worldwide almost certainly would not exist without his writings. He sold about 15 million books in 20 languages. Nobody came anywhere close to him. I don’t know whether the old wine writers of the day like Hugh Johnson ever sold that many books, but I doubt that they were that influential, but they were big names in their day. Michael was very distinctly and noticeably anti-racist, and he did things about it. Sometimes it shocked people, including in 1991 or 1992 when he almost single-handedly put me on a panel of six people to choose the Champion Beer of Britain. You had a bunch of people sitting there in that room in London, a room where no Black people had ever been, and you had a young Black guy from Queens. “Who is this guy and why should he be here to choose champion beer of Britain?” At the time, Michael was basically a deity. He would say, “Garrett is the guy.” It was things like that, the wind in my sail, that helped me get to where I am now. The American ideal of the self-made man is a truly corrosive and ugly thing. It is not true, it’s a lie. It’s always a lie. I think that we should be relying on one another because we have to.

Katie Brown: Garrett, this is Katie. I have a question that relates to this. I was wondering what you think that breweries and beer drinkers can do to follow in those footsteps and be anti-racist. This past year, there’s been a lot of beer collaborations and there have been ways to donate. What do you think are the most helpful ways and the best things that people are doing to help?

O: Well, I don’t know who it was that said it, somebody a lot smarter than me, but they were talking in this case about Black people. You can apply it to whatever group you want to try to bring some benefits to. What they said is, “OK, whatever it is that you’re doing, you feel like you’re doing, if Black people can’t use it to get a job, eat it, drink it, spend it, or live in it, then the person for whom you were doing this work is you.” When you think about that, you understand that things are not tangible. For example, the notion of “Oh, I became president, I did this. I did that.” Yes, I went to a couple of marches, too. I’m not saying people shouldn’t go to marches, but don’t fool yourself into believing that is direct action if nobody can do anything with it. Then, you are not bringing the benefit that you thought you were. When I went to approach this, I said what would be actually effective? What would actually change somebody’s life? What would actually put them in a position of power within this industry where they could affect change? The MJF has turned out to be very streamlined in its focus, and we are not at all saying that this is the only path. There are 20 different paths. We’re just choosing one because to say we’re going to do everything is, one, a function of the ego because you’re not going to save the world. You’re not going to do everything for everybody. Why don’t you just try to do one thing as well as you can? That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to mostly do this one thing as well as we can, and we think that it will make some difference. Then, you will have 20, 30, 50, or 100 other organizations who will make some difference, and together we’ll all get something done.

Elgin Nelson: Hi Garrett, this is Elgin. This is a perfect segue to what I wanted to touch on, which is mainly about the Museum of Food and Drink. For our listeners that are familiar, the museum uses exhibits to change the way people think about food and drink. I know the museum holds exhibits that highlight African-Americans in culinary, brewing, and distilling. Much to that effect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture that serves the same way with the Museum of Food and Drink. Can you speak on your experience and your role with that?

O: Well, it’s certainly been exciting preparing for that exhibit, which is called African American: Setting the Nation’s Table. We were just about to open that exhibit at the top of Central Park on Fifth Avenue and that’s when the pandemic struck. We had just about finished the exhibit when the pandemic prevented us from having our opening gala and then, of course, from opening the exhibition at all. Now, what the exhibition is about is the largely untold history of African-Americans and American food. People tend to think that, “OK, the African-American contribution to the American food world is in soul food and barbecue,” which is absolutely true. What people don’t know is that even haute cuisine was brought into the United States, practiced, taught, promulgated, and developed entirely by Black people. If people have this idea like, “Oh, some dude must have come over from France in 1790,” no, there was no French dude. It was James Hemings, who when he arrived back — still enslaved to Thomas Jefferson after Thomas Jefferson’s stint in Paris as our ambassador — he had been put through all the major kitchens of Paris and came back as by far the most accomplished chef in the United States. Then, he started to pass that down, and then it moved up through the hotel systems, which is where haute cuisine comes from in the United States, including the Grand Hotel, which basically had an all-Black staff. That input is something that came to us entirely through African-Americans, and we have been cut out of the story that we actually told. The same is true in brewing, where African- Americans did almost all the brewing in the United States up through the Civil War. Who do you think was actually brewing the beer? Every single African society in the South, East, or West, traditionally, is centered around brewing. Brewing is central to all African societies. Yet beer is seen as European. We have a partial history told in so many things. This is actually not only an inspirational but fascinating history, because people have been told that they were not part of and their families, were not part of something that they were, in fact, integral to. The Museum of Food and Drink did a great job telling the story of Chinese food in America, which is totally fascinating. That story was also tied up in racism, politics, etc. A lot of people had never heard of the Chinese Exclusion Act until they came to an exhibit that was ostensibly about Chinese food in America. Then, they were reading about how we ended up having Chinese food as a major American food to the extent that it is the most popular type of restaurant in the United States. People will look at it, and say, “Well, wait a minute, that’s interesting, how did that happen?” Somehow, Asians disappeared personally from this scene. You go back to the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s when you can start to hear about great chefs, and you don’t know any Chinese people. Almost nobody does. They became the top propagators in that type of restaurant in the United States, and nobody ever heard of them. That’s what America does. It wipes out a lot of people’s histories. Part of one of the many things the Museum of Food and Drink is doing is telling people the truth. That truth — which is often fun, interesting, sometimes disturbing, but always enlightening — about their food.

Emma Cranston: Hey, this is Emma. I just want to circle way back really quick and ask one last question for the listeners at home. Especially for those looking to learn about beer and brewing through the internships or programs you’ve discussed. I’m curious about how they can study up at home or outside of a brewery. I read that you’re the editor-in-chief of “The Oxford Companion to Beer,” so how can people harness that text, whether they’re beginners or pros at home? What role does the text play for both those who are essentially self-taught, as well as those who may be training to be cicerones? Also, how do you feel that text influences the larger beer world?

O: Well, thanks for the question. I’m certainly gratified by my first book, “The Brewmaster’s Table,” which came out in 2003. That book is still in print and sells more than it did 10 years ago. I think that speaks to the development of craft beer in the United States and people’s interest in it. The fact that what we used to call the gas station beer list, where they have had a few of the major brands, which you would see in top restaurants, is no longer the beer list you’re going to see. It may not be as developed as it should be, but you’re going to see some good stuff on almost every restaurant list which you didn’t use to see. Both of those books, “The Brewmaster’s Table” and “The Oxford Companion to Beer” are widely used, which is great. There are a number of other great books that are out there. We’re reading Randy Mosher’s “Tasting Beer” and a number of other ones. Cicerone is doing a great job of basic education all the way to advance education for people, especially those who are going to be on the serving side of the equation of beer, which is, frankly, where the rubber meets the road. Having young people in the restaurant and sommeliers as well, understanding the world of beer. I think these days people tend to think that a sommelier is a wine waiter. That’s not a sommelier. An actual sommelier is not a wine waiter. The sommelier is somebody who’s supposed to curate your experience of drink. That includes beer, wine, and cocktails. Real sommeliers like Roger Dagorn, who was at Chanterelle in those major years. Eric Asimov and I went there once about 15, 20 years ago, and Roger took us through the most amazing tasting of sakes. At the time, I didn’t really know anything about sake. I drank sake, but he was taking us through sweet, dark, and aged sakes. He knew all about these, plus he could talk his way around beer and knew his way around a cocktail. That’s a sommelier. You don’t see those as much as we used to. Juliette Pope was another one when she was at Gramercy Tavern. A real sommelier. I think that these books are helpful when it comes to building that culture back into the drinks culture. There are so many online resources as well. We’re just learning the basics at home. The great thing about beer is that, frankly, your entry level is about as easy as it possibly could be. You can have a good article, go to Whole Foods, spend $20, and get yourself a good beginning education in four, five, or six different beers, and understand style. The great thing about that is if you understand a little bit about beer, what it tastes like, what the various types are, and how you might want to do stuff with them and with food, your life will become slightly better every day for the rest of your life.

C: Oh, so true!

O: Isn’t that the best you can possibly do? There are many things in your life that are going to make things a little bit better everyday. You discover jazz, and your life becomes a little bit better every day for the rest of your life because now you discover jazz, whereas maybe a few weeks ago, you’d never really listen to jazz. Things are better. That is the critical thing that we’re able to do is learn something brand new. When I discovered fermented fish sauce and I really discovered how to use it at home and cooking, it changed my life.

K: It is such a game changer.

C: Oh, my gosh. All very true words.

O: Beer is the secret sauce.

C: Beer is a secret sauce to all things. That’s a really great way to end our conversation. Thank you, Garrett, so much for sharing these pearls of wisdom. I hope — and I know that the rest of the team hopes — that we can share a beer with you sometime in person soon.

O: Absolutely. Thanks for all the great work you guys are doing at VinePair. I’m reading your articles and stuff online all the time. It’s great to see people out there doing the work, because Lord knows, we need it.

C: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of “EOD Drinks.” If you’ve enjoyed this program, please leave us a rating or a review wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps other people discover the show. And tell your friends. We want as many people as possible listening to this amazing program.

And now for the credits. “End of Day Drinks” is recorded live in New York City at VinePair’s headquarters. And it is produced, edited, and engineered by VinePair tastings director, yes, he wears a lot of hats, Keith Beavers. I also want to give a special thanks to VinePair’s co-founder, Josh Malin, to the executive editor Joanna Sciarrino, to our senior editor, Cat Wolinski, senior staff writer Tim McKirdy, and our associate editor Katie Brown. And a special shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, VinePair’s art director who designed the sick logo for this program. The music for “End of Day Drinks” was produced, written, and recorded by Darby Cici. I’m VinePair co-founder Adam Teeter, and we’ll see you next week. Thanks a lot.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article EOD Drinks With Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-garrett-oliver-brooklyn-brewery/

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johnboothus · 3 years

Text

EOD Drinks With Garrett Oliver Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery

Listen online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or Check out the conversation here

Garrett Oliver: Thanks for having me.

C: I really appreciate you calling in today. I know it’s not as fun as having you in the office over some beers or some cocktails, which I think you also tend to enjoy.

O: Hopefully pretty soon. I’m fully juiced up with Moderna. I’m so happy to actually see people again.

C: Yes, and you’ve awarded some really interesting and inspiring individuals who you can talk more about, if you like.

Joanna Sciarrino: Hi, Garrett, this is Joanna. I was wondering what the process was like in finding these recipients?

C: I am heavily nodding my head, but you can’t see me. Yes, that does sound super uncomfortable.

O: Yeah, when you reverse it, people say, “Ohhh.”

C: Exactly, then you notice.

C: Wow. Did you grow up in New York?

C: Oh, so true!

K: It is such a game changer.

C: Oh, my gosh. All very true words.

O: Beer is the secret sauce.

C: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article EOD Drinks With Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/eod-drinks-garrett-oliver-brooklyn-brewery/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/eod-drinks-with-garrett-oliver-brewmaster-at-brooklyn-brewery

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mrsrcbinscn · 3 years

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Franny’s NPC Music Pals

Alternatively: McKala rudely writes a novel about Daniel Maitland and everyone else just gets bullet points.

Obvs she’s got a million but these are her main NPC music buddies that will be referenced in game.

Daniel “Dan” Maitland (June 14, 1980)

FC: Martin Sensmeier

Born in Alaska, moved to Payne Lake, Georgia when he and Franny were in middle school

Alaska Native, Tlingit and Koyukon Athabascan

Beginning of his contact with Franny

Daniel has been Franny’s best friend since middle school. They were an inseparable trio with the late Molly Vaughn, who was Franny’s best friend since Kindergarten. The three of them got matching tattoos when they were twenty. It’s bluebonnets because of the song Cowboy Take Me Away

Daniel and Franny got a second matching tattoo the year Daniel was inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame and they were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame -- it’s matching banjos on their wrists

His dad always liked country music so he got into it a little as a kid, but mostly listened to rock in the early 90s, got real into grunge, but in late high school he rediscovered country and bluegrass music

He and Franny played in a rock band in their last two years of high school but they were both getting really into country and bluegrass together at this time so they’d get together and jam

Acquiring a love for country/folk music

Daniel has said in interviews that, “Unlike Franny, my music taste wasn’t very diverse until I was in high school. I was a product of the 80s and 90s, you know, rock n roll, grunge, Franny and I were even part of a rock band with some classmates. I got a car and could drive us around. Franny usually commandeered the cassette player. She really opened my ears to influences outside of rock music.”

On how a Nirvana fanboy grew up to study bluegrass music academically and become a bluegrass musician; “It was really our senior year of high school that I fell head over heels for country and bluegrass music. He isn’t always considered country, but I discovered the music of John Denver in the late nineties. After his death, Franny and I went to a record store and purchased one of his Best Of compilation albums because all we really knew [...] Country Roads, the obvious. We sat on my bedroom floor, I had my guitar, Franny had her thrift store mandolin, we played with that album and came up with harmonies until my sister bangs on my door at almost midnight to tell us to shut up. I found a cassette tape we recorded from that day actually, I still have it. We have a lot of recordings of our early- I don’t even want to call it work, we were just playing around. That night sent me down the rabbit hole.”

He hasn’t just ditched rock music though, he’s a guitarist and backup singer in a female-fronted alt-rock band Venus and The Flytraps.

He has a prolific career as a songwriter, a successful career as a solo artist, he and Franny Robinson form an americana-bluegrass duo called Dara & Danny, and he’s one of the members of a kind of “supergroup” of musicians living in Appalachia called Pardon My Banjo. Daniel used to play mandolin in a band called NDN Cowboys- a country-folk band made up of all Native Americans, but he left the band on friendly terms in 2010, the year after Dara & Danny was formed.

Daniel went to East Tennessee State University to pursue a degree in Country, Bluegrass, and Old Time Music, the only place in the world to offer such a degree.

Personal Life

Daniel was born in Juneau, Alaska, to a Koyukon-Athabascan mother and a Tlingit and white father. His paternal grandfather is of English, Croatian, and Czech descent. Daniel maintains a home in his native Alaska, and in Kentucky, his primary residence. Shortly after his birth, he, his father, and his siblings moved to the Hoonah–Angoon Census Area where they lived in various communities with friends and relatives of his father, primarily Hoonah and Pelican, while his mother worked as a civil engineer in England and sent money home. He didn’t live with his mother until, in 1991, she got a job opportunity with the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the family relocated to the town of Payne Lake in Clayton County.

“Payne Lake’s this little nowhere town sandwiched between Jonesboro and Lovejoy, in the rural part of Clayton County,” Maitland explained in an interview. “You’re driving south from Jonesboro, you blink and you passed through Bonanza and Payne Layne, then you’re in Lovejoy.”

Daniel became a classmate of Franny Sor Robinson at Lovejoy Middle School and Lovejoy High School. “She’s been my best friend for 30 years,” Maitland said in a 2021 interview. “It’s been a gift to know her for long. We’ve been through marriages, kids, all of the good and bad in life together. It’s great to have somebody besides your family and partner to lean on and to knock some sense into you when you need it. Apart from my family, the only non-negotiable people in my life are Franny and, uh, Madalaine, my oldest kids’ mom. I’ve always just had a better time being one or two token guys in a friend group of mostly women.”

In 2009, he and Robinson formed the duo Dara & Danny together after having regularly collaborated since the start of their music careers.

Twice divorced, his divorces were the inspiration behind Dara & Danny’s “The Divorce Album”, a critically acclaimed and fan-beloved album about divorce and the lead up and aftermath. Daniel wrote most of the lyrics and Franny wrote the music to go with Dan’s lyrics, which was unusual because she usually writes most of the lyrics. In addition to his divorces, Daniel’s had several rocky serious relationships that have served as song inspiration.

In 2003, Daniel married Madalaine Snow, daughter of English banjo-player John Mitchell and North Carolina Cherokee and Lumbee Native American activist, sociologist, poet, and musician Atsila Snow in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They had two children together, son Larkin Maitland Snow (b. 2003), and daughter Kalia Maitland Snow (b. 2004). They divorced in 2006 but they’ve remained friends.

Snow’s children and older step-children from her current relationship occasionally visit Kentucky with Maitland’s children. “They’re my kids’ siblings. They’re welcome in my home anytime for a trip to the mountains with or without my kids.” Maitland has said in an Instagram live with Kalia, where he was teaching other dads how to do their daughters’ hair. “Her brother -- okay, for the sake of clarity I’m going to say just once stepbrother and stepsister, but those aren’t words we really use in our family. Her brother and sister literally call me like ‘hey, Dan, can my friends and I come crash at your place some weekend this month? We want to go hiking and white water rafting somewhere different’ and I’m like ‘great, any vegans or food allergies I need to know about for dinner?’ If you are my kids’ family, you are my family too. I stay at Maddy and Eric’s house when I have a show within an hour and a half drive to hangout with them and Larkin and Kalia. Eric and I have gone on fishing weekends together. We’re very fortunate that our divorce was a very mutual, natural conclusion to that part of our relationship, and that we’ve gotten to maintain a wonderful friendship. I feel like our marriage ending made my family grow, not shrink. And I hope all of Larkin and Kalia’s siblings through Maddy and Eric feel welcome in my family. Like a weird bonus uncle.”

Larkin and Kalia mainly lived in Swain County, North Carolina, with their mother and attended New Kituwah Academy, a private Cherokee-language-immersion K-6 school. In 2019, Kalia moved to Cumberland, Kentucky to live with Daniel so she could graduate from high school there and get Kentucky tuition at University of Kentucky.

In 2006, Daniel began dating Canadian actress and Mohawk indigenous rights activist Gina Taylor, but they split in 2009. They have one daughter together, Ariadne Maitland (b. 2007). Daniel is on good terms with Gina, and Ariadne lives primarily in Kentucky with him.

He briefly dated Oscar-nominated actress Amanda Dunham in 2009.

He married Australian journalist Sasha Teller in 2010. They divorced in 2014 and had two children together, boy girl twins Jack and Maxie (b. 2011). In 2018, he sued her for primary custody, citing Teller withholding his right to see the twins. He won primary physical and joint legal custody of Jack and Maxie, and was court-ordered to have the twins spend Christmas and three weeks in the summer with Sasha in Australia.

In 2019, his son Larkin came out as pansexual and two-spirit. Dan retweeted their tweets that clarified their pronouns are “he/xe/they” and that “I don’t dislike the terms nephew, son, grandson, but do not call me a man.” He has been supportive of his son’s identity, appearing at North Carolina and Kentucky pride events with them, his daughter, and their mother.

In February 2016, Daniel began dating American artist, poet, writer, and singer-songwriter Whitney Sullivan (born April 8, 1991). Her mother is from the Zuni tribe and she grew up on the Zuni reservation with her siblings, mother, and her father, whose ancestry comes from the Lummi, Ute, and Omaha tribes, and one Irish great-grandfather, hence the last name.

On her friend’s current girlfriend, Franny Sor Robinson has said, “If Daniel don’t marry her, I might have to.”

............

Serghei Adamescu (November 24, 1982)

FC: Andrei Tiberiu Maria

Romanian-born sound engineer that Franny regularly words with

Met when he was studying at Pride U when she was getting her Masters’ there and they #vibed

He’s a dope guy

Not much to say about him other than he’s damn good at his job

Lora Lopez (November 1, 1978)

FC: Sandra Hinojosa

Mexican-American singer and songwriter she went to NYU with

Franny’s collaborated with with and written songs for her

She stared in one of her music videos as the love interest and they got to makeout half-naked which Franny described as “fun as hell”

Lora makes music in English and Spanish

Padraig Chen (May 10, 1987)

FC: Lewis Tan

Irish-Chinese alt-rock singer and musician

Met through her Scottish Seoul Hanoi’d bandmate Max Cho

They’ve written together a few times

Mostly just jam and vibe together

He sends her a lot of his demos for her opinion

#&&...hc

0 notes

aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

Sean Connery and Michael Caine are Godlike in The Man Who Would Be King

https://ift.tt/3elTTC8

“I’ll stand one day before the Queen, not kneel, mind you, but stand like an equal, and she’ll say ‘I’d like you to accept the Order of the Garter as a mark of my esteem, cousin,’” Sean Connery’s ex-British soldier Daniel Dravot proclaims in the 1975 period adventure film, The Man Who Would Be King. And with those words, and the epic death scene which followed, Connery completed the saga of a long-germinating work from one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors. John Huston was Hollywood royalty. His father, Walter, was an acting icon, and his offspring have all gone on to distinguish themselves as part of the Huston Dynasty.

Connery was of course no stranger to acting royalty himself. Eventually knighted in 2000, he also got to play King Agamemnon in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits in 1981, King Richard the Lionheart in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), and King Arthur in First Knight (1995). James Bond was only a small part of Connery’s cinematic output. The Oscar-winning screen legend wasn’t always a suave, debonair, tuxedoed aficionado of the shaken martini.

He was already distancing himself from the immensely popular 007 role by the time he made Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. He wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty for parts, and he reveled in playing the occasional antihero and other less sympathetic roles.

Thus Connery got the chance to play a not-so-bright, morally flawed but timeless character in the 1975 film The Man Who Would Be King. He also fulfilled a lifelong dream for a Hollywood legend, and turned a myth into reality.

Huston had loved Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King” since he was a child, according to the book The Hustons, by Lawrence Grobel. Kipling was 22 in 1888, when he wrote the short story, and had been shot at while exploring the setting. Huston’s adaptation was a dream project which had morphed into the purgatory of lost film masterpieces, like Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon, Alejandro Jodorowski’s Dune, or Orson Welles’ Heart of Darkness. Francis Ford Coppola wound up adapting the Joseph Conrad novel with a post-Vietnam War mentality. His Apocalypse Now is about a good man corrupted by absolute power. Huston took the lessons of the unpopular war in the opposite direction. The Man Who Would Be King is about bad men who are held accountable to the indigenous people they conquer.

The Man Who Would Be King is about power, greed and the manifest destiny of entitled Europeans. It lampoons the superiority of British colonialism. In a “Making of” documentary about the film, Huston says he found the “ideal” actors to capture his subversive intent. This movie was the only time Connery played with his lifelong friend Michael Caine, besides A Bridge Too Far, which had too many bridges and a platoon of stars between them. The pair met at a cast party for the first show Connery acted in, a touring company’s production of South Pacific in 1954. On July 9 of that year, Huston told Allied Artists’ Harold Mirish he wanted his next film to be the first and only on-screen pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.

Huston originally had The Man Who Would Be King slated as his next production after he finished Moby Dick (1956). He planned to begin principal photography in India between November 1955 and January 1956 and was negotiating to film in the Todd-AO process. Huston had worked with Bogart on the very first film he directed, The Maltese Falcon in 1941, and the pair continued a string of successful and innovative films together. Though working fairly steadily, Bogart was battling esophageal cancer and ultimately succumbed to it on Jan. 14, 1957. Huston discussed the film with Gable while filming The Misfits, but the actor known as “The King of Hollywood” then also died in 1960.

Richard Burton was set to play the role against Peter O’Toole, and Huston kept start dates ready from January 1966 to January 1967, waiting for the opportunity, but the year passed and it never came. The film almost reunited Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting’s Robert Redford and Paul Newman, who told Huston the film deserved English actors, and suggested Connery and Caine specifically.

Caine immediately jumped at the role just because his part had been written for Bogart. He’d chosen his stage name after seeing Bogart fidget with his ball-bearings as Commander Queeg in The Caine Mutiny. As for Connery, the Scottish actor captures the essence of Gable’s screen persona in the film. They both bring an amused cynicism toward their roles. Both actors furrow their brows and project a sensual gravitas.

You can imagine hearing Connery say, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” with a different accent but the same delivery as Gable’s in Gone with the Wind. Granted, it would probably be coming out of the mouth of Saturday Night Live’s Darrel Hammond as a bemused answer to Alex Trebek, but it rings true. Whether he liked it or not, Connery’s turn as Bond made him as recognizable in the public’s mind as Gable.

On screen, Caine and Connery interact easily and naturally, nailing the parts with their distinct charisma. Danny and Peachy laugh at their disasters, because there’s really nothing else to do, and they make it infectious. They really are the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid of imperialist Great Britain. Caine’s Peachy Carnahan could have been a great-great-grandparent to his Jack Carter in Get Garter; Connery’s Daniel Dravot could imaginably give sage advice to his third-generation thief grandson Matthew Broderick in Family Business (1989), or even lead a son like Indiana Jones across unexplored ancient treasures.

Together, Connery and Caine are a powerhouse. One of the great cinema pairings. They bring authentic accents, real-life camaraderie, and regional humor to the roles. Caine also bought his wife, Shakira, who plays Roxanne, the Kafiristan wife of Connery’s Daniel Dravot in the film. Christopher Plummer played Rudyard Kipling, a correspondent for “The Northern Star” newspaper, and a Freemason, a central point in the film and its symbolism.

Huston wrote the new screenplay with his long-time secretary Gladys Hill. Shooting on the final version took place in Morocco, which traded rough terrain for rampant corruption as the producers had to bribe their way through much of the filming. The locations and local extras were important to Huston to evoke the British Raj period of the movie.

The director wanted Connery and Caine to brave the “mass of mountains and peaks and glaciers” Kipling described in his story. Huston exposed Bogart to the cruel elements of location filming in The Treasure of Sierra Madre and The African Queen, and had discussed parachuting the two Hollywood icons into the Himalayas during the initial production, according to The Hustons. The two British stars faced equal peril. For the climax of the completed version, Huston let Connery plummet hundreds of feet from a rope bridge suspended over a vast valley.

In the film, two former British Army sergeants, now clumsy gunrunners and incompetent conmen, traverse the Khyber Pass to find the isolated area of Kafiristan, located in the Hindu Kush mountains northeast of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. This is where the descendants of Alexander the Great live. The Greek emperor had conquered Afghanistan and married a Kafir princess named Roxanne, according to Kipling’s story.

Peachy and Danny plan to become the first Europeans since the ancient Greeks to penetrate the region and “loot it six ways from Sunday.” They admit this to Kipling shortly after robbing him and returning his stolen item back to him.

“In any place where they fight, a man who knows how to drill men can always be a king,” Connery’s Danny explains to Plummer’s Kipling. “We shall go to those parts and say to any king we find: ‘Do you want to vanquish your foes?’ And we will show him how to drill men, for that we know better than anything else. Then we will subvert that king and seize his throne and establish a dynasty.”

With this, Connery’s character captures the eternal dilemma of that region. No external power has ever permanently dominated Afghanistan. Britain lost control in 1919, which the country celebrates as the year of its independence. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and continues its costly occupation with no end in sight. Kafiristan, which is now called Nuristan, is home to 15 ethnic groups speaking five different languages. No one man can be king. No single government can rule. Even O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia had to admit that. Connery’s authority, however, has a much deeper voice, and the conviction of a faithful pilgrim.

Peachy and Danny believe they can find a kingdom not yet touched by civilization which they can take over easily with their weapons, knowledge and contemporary expertise. “When we’re done with you, you’ll be able to stand up and slaughter your enemies like civilized men,” they tell their trainees. Huston allows the audience to enjoy the two soldiers of misfortune, in spite of their self-ascribed superiority and blatantly racist attitudes. When their translator asks whether to woo local high priests with claims of their divinity, Peachy says to tell them they are “not gods, [but] Englishmen. The next best thing.”

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Danny is nonplussed by how easy the locals are exploited. Connery lets him indulge his moral superiority, tossing harsh judgements on native customs like offering daughters and sons up to guests for sex. When he takes an arrow in the chest and keeps on fighting, he readily assumes his mantle as the son of Alexander the Great. Connery sells that assumption realistically and believably. Peachy assumes the huge rubies in the temple are good to go.

Caine’s Peachy Carnahan remains a Cockney through and through. Connery’s Dravot gives in to temptation almost athletically. When he finds himself worshiped as a deity, he is happy to believe it. The scene where he convinces himself is hysterical, and performed completely organically. Connery is completely surprised by himself, and Caine literally falls over laughing as he does an internal pratfall. It is as much an acting free-for-all as it is a ballet of physical comedy. The gag is the same as C3P0 telling the Ewoks he’s a deity in Return of the Jedi, which happened to be shot on the same Panaflex camera as The Man Who Would Be King.

In a highly competitive Oscar race–which included One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Barry Lyndon, and Jaws—The Man Who Would Be King was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Writing, Best Costume Design, and Best Editing. Connery was also the lead performance in the Oscar-nominated film The Wind and The Lion that same year.

The Man Who Would Be King is an adventure film, and Connery and Caine make it a wild ride with perilous curves and a harrowing but hollow finish. Like so many of Huston’s movies, their scheme doesn’t turn out the way it’s planned, but the plot finds strength in the weakness of powerful characters. By the end of the movie, all these two characters have is each other, and even that promises to be fleeting. The performances endure though. It’s acting royalty. It’s like they were destined to do it, preordained.

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ebenvt · 4 years

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Protein Functionality, the Bind Index and the Early History of Meat Extenders in America

Eben van Tonder 10 April 2020

Introduction

In the meat industry in most parts of the world, it is customary to use non-meat ingredients in meat products, especially in comminuted sausages and lunch loaves. I know that here in Southern Africa, the indigenous tribes have been using ground peanuts (and presumably other groundnuts) as meat extenders for millennia before any European settler arrived here.

I can only imagine that this must have been the case with primitive people around the world wherever there was a shortage of meat.

Who popularised this in the West is a question that intrigued me. Off the bat, as one can imagine, these non-meat ingredients were probably introduced in countries where food scarcity was common or in times when food shortages forced humans to “stretch” the little meat they could get their hands on, such as during times of war. In this article we briefly introduce the functionality of meat protein and ask if we can identify such a movement with the inclusion of meat extenders or replacers to pure meat in America during one of the major wars they were involved in. The two prime candidates must surely be the two world wars and especially the second when huge food shortages were experienced in America and around the world.

The Functionality of Meat Proteins

The first question is if meat protein on its own is not sufficient to bind comminuted meat in sausages and lunch loaves. Can a stable emulsion be formed without the use of non-meat additives such as soya isolates and concentrates and the use of different stratches either as emulsifiers or stabilisers? This includes the use of bulking agents such as rusk, which is in reality a meat extender. This is a level of detail that I was hoping to get into a bit later in a subsequent article, but it explains my point, namely that meat proteins on their own, they have the ability to bind meat extremely well, depending on the muscle and the animal species.

Generally speaking, you will see from what follows that beef meat protein in general provides the best bind and pork, less so due to the higher fat percentage which interferes in binding, especially in emulsions.

There is a major difference between the functionality of different muscle groups in pork and even between different animals. The sausage producer is interested in how these different proteins bind. We therefore present the concept of a “bind constant” (functionality coefficient) that was developed to measure this and a “least-cost formulation” (linear programming) computer program to manipulate the model and minimize cost.

The man who pioneered the large-scale use of these technologies is Robert L. Saffle, during his tenure at the University of Georgia. He did not invent any of the techniques, but was the one man responsible for propagating its use. He also standardized their use, documented their workability and educated and encouraged processors to use it.

He was very successful at this and largely due to his work, meat processors throughout the world recognize the word “bind” as having the basic meaning of the capability of meat to bind the sausage together. The value is referred to as the “bind constant,” “bind value” or “bind index.”

Proximate Analysis and Functional Indices of Various Meat Materials

What follows is a compilation of all meats tested by Saffle and his co-workers, in particular John A. Carpenter at the University of Georgia. It gives the proximate analyses and average measured bind/colour indices. I included the bind index values in the first column because I wanted to show them in descending order and I separated it for different species.

Compiled by J. Carpenter, R. Saffle, H. Ockerman, Anderson & Bell and slightly modified by myself.

When you look at pork, the highest bind value is from the shoulder muscle. The blade is from the lower shoulder.

Blade Bone source: https://www.turnerandgeorge.co.uk/pork-blade.html

History of Meat Binding

Labudde and Lanier (1955) put a date to the recognition of when differences in binding quality between different meat cuts were recognised when they say, “It was well recognized by the 1950s that certain kinds of meats bound the comminuted sausage more tightly together than other kinds of meats.” I wonder what my friends in Germany would say about this statement. I believe it was recognised probably hundreds of years before the 1950s.

They accurately report on early classification of meat binding ability. “Cuts of meat were classified into gross categories, such as good binders (bull meat, cow meat), poor binders (hearts, cheeks, fat meat) and fillers (lips, tripe, stomachs)” They are correct when they state that “sufficient lean meat of good “bind” was known to be needed to make the meat paste hold together during cooking and to develop a minimum acceptable level of firmness at the end.” (Labudde and Lanier, 1995) This is my main thesis! The question is how and when did this change?

Dr. Francois Mellett, who was trained in Germany (did his doctorate in German) and who trained German butchers in the Master program, tells me they don’t work with startches in sausage making in Germany. At least, not when he studied there. Another German Master Butcher, Gero Lutge tells me that his dad, who was also a master butcher, used no extenders and that it is not very common in Germany. It was actually these two comments that set me on this journey to unravel what is going on. The German, and I assume, Central, North and East European traditions all concur on this point in stark contrast to the rest of the world where it became the norm to use stabilizers and emulsifiers (extenders) in sausage production.

The matter becomes wonderfully complex because it addresses matters like affordability and the quality of raw material, but what a journey!

There is a personal preference that creeps in here. I am personally not thrilled with non-meat additives to the meat I eat. Using meat replacers and additives is something I do as a meat producer, but I am not happy about it and I try, wherever possible, to rely on equipment and its proper handling together with a thorough understanding of meat to drive our innovations and not, in the first place, reach for the handbook of non-meat extenders and substitutes. This is a grave mistake.

This is another personal reason for this study. I want to be very clear in my mind on what is the best way to use equipment to allow the meat itself to do the bulk of the work.

I am a severe asthma sufferer. A specialist asked me one day if I religiously use the best medication to keep the condition under control to which I responded in the affirmative. To my surprise, he was not happy with that answer. Any chemical you put in your body, no matter how serious a condition you are trying to manage, is always a bad thing. He encouraged me to continually try and develop an alternative, more natural way of managing the condition. He even suggested that I try to reduce my reliance on medication. He suggested that I should determine when I can control the symptoms without medication and when I can no longer do that and I must rely more heavily on medication. Over the years, I have headed his advice to great benefit.

Most of the additives we are talking to in the meat are natural products themselves, which is why it is allowed, but the principle remains the same.

Before anything became “industrial”, it was first used in the home and meat and meat production is a prime example.

-> Home use of Binders

As every major industry we have today, it all started in the home. The following Q & A appeared in an American newspaper in 1950. Mrs GRH wrote in with a question about her meat loaf that is not sticking together.

Reference: Courier Post (Camden, New Jersey), Thu, Aug, 17, 1950

The advice from the chef is that Mrs. Mrs GRH either did not use a binder or used too little of it. The binders they suggest she should have used are thick white sauce, bread crumbs with a liquid, cooked rice and/or mashed potatoes. They suggested “good old fashion kneading.” Lean meat, 2 pounds, is suggested and add 4 tablespoons of flour, 1½ cups of milk and 1 cup of soft bread crumbs or mashed potatoes. They suggest two kinds of ground meat for flavour (beef and pork). As we have learned, beef added to the pork would also enhance the binding. Dice and fry ¼ pound of mildly salted pork till it is crisp and light brown, and add it for flavour, as show-pieces and mouth feel. The celery, onions and other seasoning is cooked in the salt pork dropping to develop the flavour.

This “home-level-technology” of binders, how long has this been part of the human cultural and technological matrix? One will have to survey its prevalence in cookbooks since the time of the writing of the first one. I had a look at references in the “First American Cookbook” published in 1796 by Amelia Simmons.

Several interesting things catch your eye as you work through this historical document. For starters, there are no sausages. Second, the use of binders is used widely, especially grated bread, butter and eggs. In her stew pie she uses a shoulder of veal, slices of raw salted pork and half a pound of butter. It’s not our focus here but note the common use of veal. I find the same in German cookbooks of this time. Her turkey stuffing calls for grated wheat loaf, butter, finely chopped salted pork and eggs. For meatballs she uses veal, grated bread, salted pork.

-> Meat Binders for Industry (presumably for sausages)

The article below testifies to the use of binders in making hamburgers

Battle Creek Enquirer (Battle Creek, Michigan), Fri, Jan 30, 1948

I am not sure exactly what the advertisement above is saying. Is the Ground Beef Chuck the binder? In which case they are advertising the use of a cheaper meat cut (chuck) to use for hamburger patties, which is better than using other binders (non-meat). Either way, it shows the “hot topic” during World War II when severe food shortages impacted the world at large, including America. More about this later. (I assume Binders is not the surname of the well-known meat processor of this time, R. Binder Co., because as far as I can see he always spelled his name, when used in this way, with an apostrophe “s”. It could have been a typing error when the newspaper did the typesetting 🙂 )

-> List of Newspaper References with the word “meat binder”

The Second World War was from 1939 to 1945. Severe food shortages occurred during the war, but especially towards the end.

From 1946

Reference: Marysville Journal Tribune Mon, Aug 26, 1946.

To ease the shortage of bread, they recommended housewives to substitute bread with potatoes. This includes potatoes as binder.

Reference: The Record Thu, Jul 11, 1946

From 1944

Reference: The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune, Thu, Dec 7, 1944

From 1943 (two months before the start of the War)

The term “Meat Extenders” was used synonymously with “Binder”.

Reference: Chattanooga, Daily, Times, Fri, Jun 25, 1943

Pre-1943 references to Binders

Reference: Abbeville Progress, Sat, Feb 10, 1940

There are several pre-1943 references to meat binders, but all of them refer to butchers’ twine. The one I give above is the least clear, but it is easy to see how the reference is not to binders as we are discussing here.

From 1974

By the 1970s, meat binders were being discussed as part of the American meat landscape. The article below is a good case in point.

Reference: Fort Worth Star Telegram, Thu, Aug, 22, 1974

The Crucial Year of 1943

The watershed year for the introduction of meat binders and extenders into the USA seems to have been 1943. Here is an article from that year when a group of women belonged to the Matoy Home Demonstration Club. These clubs (also known as homemaker clubs, home bureaus or home advisory groups) were a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service, which had the goal of teaching farm women in rural America better methods for getting their work done. This meeting, crucially during the war, was probably arranged to introduce ways to deal with wartime food shortages.

Reference: Durant Weekly News (Durant, Oklahoma), Fri, Jul 23, 1943

Other clubs received training on meat substitutes and extenders during the same time. Interesting – the fact that meat extenders and substitutes were used in the same sentence.

Reference: Duran, Weekly News, Fri, Jul 23, 1943

They held yet another club where Miss Pearl Winterveld was doing the demonstrations during this time.

Reference: Durant Weekly News, Fri, Jul 23, 1943

Another club where Miss Pearl was doing her magic reported on their training.

Reference: Durant Weekly News, Fri, Jul_23, 1943

Another two clubs reported demonstrations for meat extenders and meat substitutes in the same publication. This is remarkable! The photo below, courtesy of the Cornell University Library – shows a meat canning demonstration at a meeting of the Akron Home Economics Club on December 19, 1916.

Meat canning demonstration at a meeting of the Akron Home Economics Club on December 19, 1916 from the Cornell University Library.

The Alexander City Outlook from Alabama reported in 1944 several demonstrations along the same line as listed above at Home Demonstration Clubs. The Dadaville Record, also from Alabama, reported similarly on demonstrations of meat extenders and meat replacers in that same year at various club meetings.

By 1946 American soldiers started to return from Europe and clubs continued to spread the “gospel of meat extenders and meat replacers”. In Alabama, the Wetumka Herald of 31 October 1846 reported along exactly the same as in 1943, 1944 and 1945 that demonstrations through the clubs were held at 6 locations.

What were these meat extenders and binders?

An article from 27 March 1943 gives us the detail of what was being demonstrated to the American housewife following that same year.

Reference: The Salt Lake Tribune Sat, Mar 27, 1943

The author emphasises the fact that knowledge is required to use these meat extenders. He mentions that meat extenders were, at the time of writing, already a household name in America. Still, I suspect that it did not extend much further back then, the beginning of the war, and it could not have been generally true if one takes into account the enormous effort that it took to spread the gospel of meat extenders following 1943.

Anyone wondering if the meat extenders included some magical products such as was developed by Carl Lindegren with his wife Gertrude Lindegren and reported on by the same newspaper in August of the same year when he boldly claimed that through yeast cell technology, they were able to produce “synthetic meat” – if you are expecting this, you are mistaken. The meat extenders that was introduced to America was exactly what we still use today. The key was vegetable sources of protein which included legumes, nuts, cereals, vegetables, and wheat. Soya was identified as having the highest protein value. To the housewife this gave them the option to use dried beans and peas, cooked rice, macaroni and other cooked pastes, nuts and nut butters, fresh or canned peas, corn or lima beans, potatoes, wheat flours, bread and crackers.

If the housewife used extenders with incomplete proteins, it was widely suggested in several newspaper reports to add to the diet elements with essential amino acids. They suggest that they add eggs and milk products to their diet (which are binders in their own right).

Reference: The Morning News Wed, Feb 17, 1943

The drive for meat extenders was directly related to the food shortages as a result of the war. Brands such as Kellog’s All Bran which is a household name to this day, were marketed as meat extenders.

Reference: Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Fri Mar 16, 1945

Summary

The evangelists of meat extenders and replacers in the USA, from 1943 onwards, were the US Department of Agriculture through their program of Home Demonstration Clubs. It is then because of the war that meat extenders are commonplace in a large part of the world, including South Africa. I remember a story told by a South African meat master in his own right, Roy Oliver, whose memories goes back to the 1960s, that academics from meat science institutes in the USA regularly visited South Africa and encouraged industry to use meat binders, extenders and emulsifiers on an industrial scale. They would send him various starches and soya products to work with and call him weekly to check on his progress, particularly taking note of the inclusion of these various emulsifiers and stabilisers. He had to test this in meat emulsions made in the bowl cutter.

This in and off itself is an important historical clue as I suspect that South Africa was easier to access for many of these academics from the USA because of our historical close relationship with one country in the region I suspect was initially responsible for using serials, grains etc. in meat emulsions, namely Russia.

This sets up the subject of our next article!

References

Foegeding, A. A.. 1988. Gelation In Meat Batters. Paper presented at a conference.

Labudde, R. A., Lanier, T.. 1995. Protein Functionality and Development. American Meat Science Association.

Simmons, A.. 1796. The first American Cookbook. Dover Publications. New York.

Abbeville Progress, Sat, Feb 10, 1940

Battle Creek Enquirer (Battle Creek, Michigan), Fri, Jan 30, 1948

The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune, Thu, Dec 7, 1944

Chattanooga, Daily, Times, Fri, Jun 25, 1943

Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Fri Mar 16, 1945

Courier Post (Camden, New Jersey), Thu, Aug, 17, 1950

Durant Weekly News (Durant, Oklahoma), Fri, Jul 23, 1943

Fort Worth Star Telegram, Thu, Aug, 22, 1974

Marysville Journal Tribune Mon, Aug 26, 1946.

The Morning News Wed, Feb 17, 1943

The Record Thu, Jul 11, 1946

The Salt Lake Tribune Sat, Mar 27, 1943

http://www.fao.org/3/x6556e/x6556e07.htm

Protein Functionality, the Bind Index and the Early History of Meat Extenders in America Protein Functionality, the Bind Index and the Early History of Meat Extenders in America Eben van Tonder…

#Bind Index #Meat Emulsifiers #meat emulsion #Meat Extenders #Protein Functionality

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thegrandimago · 4 years

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Stereotypes and myths about race abound, but this does not make them true. Often, these are not even expressed by overt racists.

For many well-intentioned people, experience and cultural history has steered them towards views that aren't supported by human genetics. For example: the assumption that East Asian students are inherently better at maths, black people have natural rhythm, or Jews are good with money. Many of us know someone who thinks along these lines.

Dr Adam Rutherford, a geneticist and BBC presenter, says "Racism is being expressed in public more openly today than at any time I can recall, and it's our duty to contest it with facts."

Here's how to debunk five racist myths with science and facts.

MYTH 1: The DNA of white and black people is completely different

The primary pigment in human skin is melanin. It's used to protect us from the sun.

It absorbs the sun's ultra violet rays before they can destroy folate, one of the body's key vitamins.

Many genes are involved in the biochemical pathways that result in melanin production. Natural variation within these genes is the root cause of the spectrum of skin tones that humans have.

So, the biggest genetic difference within the human race is between white people and black people, right? Wrong.

Firstly, all humans share almost all the same DNA - a fact that betrays all of our recent origins from Africa.

Secondly, there is more genetic diversity on the continent of Africa than in the rest of the world put together.

Two people from different tribes in Southern Africa will be more genetically different from each other than a Sri Lankan, a Māori and a Russian.

We might categorise people as white, black or brown, but these visual variations don't accurately reflect the genetic differences - or rather similarities - between us.

MYTH 2: There is such a thing as 'racial purity'

We think of certain areas, lands or peoples as being isolated - either physically or culturally - and these boundaries as being insurmountable.

But this is neither what history, nor genetics, tell us. In fact, no nation is static.

"People have moved around the world throughout history, and had sex whenever and wherever they could," says Dr Rutherford.

Sometimes these are big moves in short times.

More often, people are largely static over a few generations - and that can feel like a geographical and cultural anchor.

"Nevertheless, every Nazi has Jewish ancestors" says Dr Rutherford, "Every white supremacist has Middle Eastern ancestors. Every racist has African, Indian, East Asian ancestors, as well as everyone else."

"Racial purity is pure fantasy. For humans, there are no pure bloods. Only mongrels enriched by the blood of multitudes," he says.

MYTH 3: 'Germany for the Germans', 'Turkey for the Turks' (and other variations)

Some people experience a lot of angst about migrants and refugees coming to their country, a phenomenon that has been experienced in many places around the world of late.

Among recent examples, the shooting rampage last month that started in a shisha bar in Hanau, Germany, was motivated by a far-right doctrine to expel or murder immigrants.

Those on the far right have long expressed anger in the form of epithets: "Germany for the Germans", "France for the French", "Turkey for the Turks" and "Italy for Italians" have all been used as anti-immigration phrases by far-right groups.

"Go back to where you came from" is an offensive phrase that resonates all over the world.

In truth, countries like Germany, France, Turkey and Italy have had immigration throughout their history. In fact, just about everywhere has.

The British Isles, for instance, have become home to migrants since they separated from the continent around 7,500 years ago.

Before the French took over in 1066, that part of the world had been invaded by Vikings, Angles, Saxons, Huns, and dozens of other smaller tribes and clans.

And even before that, the Romans ruled, which in their turn came from all over the intercontinental empire, which reached as far as sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Earlier still, around 4,500 years ago Britain was populated primarily by farmers, who had migrated from Europe across what was continuous terrain between the Netherlands and East Anglia.

On the basis of DNA evidence, we think they may have been olive skinned, with dark hair and brown eyes.

And before them there were hunter-gatherers, who had even darker skin.

So, when political parties or even racists say: "France for the French", or "Italy for the Italians" and talk about "indigenous" people... who do they actually mean?

MYTH 4: A genealogy test can prove someone is 100% white