RESISTANCE AND APPROPRIATION

You might not surmise from today's blog entry title the revolution being referred to is going to encompass of all things 'Fashion.'  But if just think about your own wardrobe and what you choose to wear you may intentionally/unintentionally be conveying specific messages. What do the clothes you wear say about you? This apparel identity encompasses a myriad of movements including gender, class and politics...  

It's Fashion Week on campus this week initiated by the UWL's Gender Studies
program. And it is the intentional fashion messages speaker Dr. Tanisha C. Ford would kick off the week with Fashioning to Movement: Resistance and Appropriation From Black Power to #Black Lives Matter.  Dr. Ford is the author of Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style and the Global Politics of Soul.

Dr. Brown's lecture began with a recap of the Black Lives Matter movement and social media's role with images of hoodies, jeans, people dressed casually, not in church going clothes and video clip commentaries of activist participants associating their memories to what they were wearing. ie Standing 4 hours in pink wedge tennis shoes in memoriam of  Michael Brown's 4 hours lying on a Ferguson street unattended... Or  

The uniforms we associated with movements changed purposefully such as shedding the pearls and church clothes in the '63 March to Washington with the donning of overalls, the link to the past, the garb of sharecroppers. The textile of denim has a long history of laborers and yes, slavery.

Hair was also part of the 'look'. The straight hairstyle of the white majority being replaced with more natural hairstyles of being close cropped/ afros. Black hairstyle wigs became part of the 60's wardrobe. 

The images of  Black Panthers are engrained with their sleek black leather coats and the beret, a global tie to Fidel's Cuban uniform. The uniformity of black dresses/ pants. Yes, a role identity attire of women wearing pants, not just men.


In the 70's African prints became part of the fashion scene as African Americans proudly wore traditional head dresses and caftans . And the dashiki became en vogue. But the question arises is it so cool for whites to be embracing this black fashion statement?

And then t-shirts started being worn with political messages. 

The big question remains as to who is appropriated to wear these messages...

One thing we can agree on is the truth of these words on a t-shirt: "This Ain't yo mama's Civil Rights Movement."

CONFESSION TIME

Okay I have a confession to make. I have been two timing you.  Seriously it's nothing I have done before... Some of you may have heard that line before/ at least denial that there's someone/ something else. Recently I have developed a new addiction and you, my 'early' readers are being jilted. Yes, my blog entries are in second place some mornings.

During a past visit to Little Rock when I was staying with one of my Little Rock buddies when we regrouped in the evenings in front of the Lifetime Christmas movie marathon, she would sit with her I-pad and do Magic Jigsaw Puzzles, an app on FaceBook. It interested me and I decided to add the app to my cell phone too. Each day of the month a new free puzzle is added.  The final picture is unknown until you finish the puzzle.

Lightning flashed as correct piece
is placed

I must like that unknown and also the reward when you place a puzzle piece in the correct place it flashes as it sticks into place. Now how rewarding is that? Instant gratification. 

Once you complete a puzzle you are rewarded coins which you can use to purchase more puzzles. Being a saver, I have yet to spend any of my coins so I have no clue how to do it / any other functions really. Some friends give me coins on occasion but I have yet to figure out how to reciprocate. Maybe one of you will fill me in???  You can also win extra coins by watching ads/get sucked into playing other games. Ssh don't tell the game people but I usually get up and go do something while those ads play and I haven't succumbed 'yet' to those other games...

You can also choose the difficulty of how many puzzle pieces you'd like for the puzzle. The choices increase starting with 35 and doubles. Presently I am satisfied with the challenge of 280 piece puzzles. You are rewarded completion points accordingly to difficulty.

One day there was an article on FB of how people tackle puzzles. Filling in the borders first is my preferred method of madness. Although sometimes obvious colors draw me towards them and I can be distracted easily.

Okay. I had better download some pics for this entry so I can finish this puzzle. I'll post the final product upon completion. The beauty of continuing whenever, is there are no lost pieces. Wink, wink.  Careful you too can become addicted. Limit one in the morning. Maybe 2/day. 

WARNING: Besides addiction, my little finger  tends to stick  out as pieces are placed and becomes cramped. It must be from holding those cups of tea with the pinky out, right? LOL.

If you want to see the finished puzzle, check below. 

FOTO FRIDAY: STRAW HATS EVERYWHERE

This FOTO FRIDAY will always serve as the photos that didn't get taken because I wouldn't have the 2 photos below had I looked left instead of right on this week's fall ride. Over to my right side before the tight curve Natureman was concentrating on the road when I shrieked,  "Did you see that?" "What ?" "There were hundreds of straw hats." Natureman turned the car around and there  a small inconspicuous sign was sitting on the small drive's corner which read Vegetable Auction today. 

We pulled in and there on the building's pavement were people's purchases grouped together with boxes and boxes of beautiful vegetables.  

On the crowded grounds four different auctioneers were sitting up in their little offices on truck beds calling for the various used farm implements for sale surrounded by Amish men of all ages. Not a woman in the crowd. A sea of straw hats, white/blue shirts, black pants and jackets but I had to restrain myself from taking photos as photography is considered a no no in their community. 

P.S. Natureman later told me women were selling food inside the building but this was obviously a man's world. Talk about being a minority in more ways than one.

Have you ever been somewhere where you couldn't take photos? Did you sneak one? 

Did you see last week's Halloween Happiness ? I have added the latest addition of Chad's Coon Valley Hay Bale creation. Take a look. I'm still awaiting photos from you of some great Halloween decorations you've seen/created. 

LEGACY CAN BE MUCH MORE THAN MONETARY

Doctors exist who go beyond the call of duty to their patients,
 colleagues, medical students and research.  Sometimes they are even recognized for their life contributions to their profession as was the case for our friend Dr. Martin (Marty) J. Smith, recipient of  Gundersen's 14th Annual Recognition Award. 

Martin J. Smith, M.D. 2017 Foundation Leadership recipient

Marty's life  parallels my Dad's life in a couple areas. First both hail from Brooklyn and still have that distinctive accent. They also served as Naval officers. These men studied sciences and left the East coast to pursue their careers and medical research goals in the Midwest. Although my Dad didn't stay in the Midwest, Marty did...

Patient care was Marty's number one priority yet he knew the importance of medical research and set up a laboratory in '66 upon joining LaCrosse's Gundersen Clinic in Internal Medicine and Hematology. He became instrumental in the academic growth of the institution and became its director in '75 and remained in this position until his retirement in '99.  This Hematology Lab was the hospital's foundation for world class research and clinical trials for Oncology/ Hematology, Microbiology and Rheumatology Labs.

Marty spoke proudly about the formation of both the Research Committee, guided by physicians who were familiar with the how, what and why and the Human Investigation Committee which received input from laymen/ the patients receiving that care. Both are still in place today.

Throughout the years he was a well publisher researcher, received certification in Internal Medicine and Hematology in addition to Clinical Pathology and Immunopathology and helped establish the Summer Research Fellowship Program. His legacy also includes his training of healthcare professions from UW- La Crosse and Western Wisconsin Technical College. Even in retirement his continuous philanthropic contributions help support the work of the Gundersen Medical Foundation. 

It was wonderful hearing about Marty's career before I knew him and being able to celebrate this special evening, witnessing him receiving the Founders bronze sculpture award of Helga and Adolf Gundersen. 

               Congratulations Marty! 

SQUASHED & PEPPER SPRAYED...

What's one to do when trying to outsmart the first frost and need to pick all the peppers and squash?

Well, when you have a lot, you start processing. I broiled all the poblanos and half of the peppers, cutting the remaining peppers up and freezing almost everything. 
(I need to mention I lose one of my fridge vegetable bins to Natureman's pickle bucket.)

2017 squash crop

The squash stay in the garage.
I know, a heck of a lot of squash.
Natureman still thinks he's growing for a family instead of 2 people and as he says he's ready for crop failure. No kidding. So don't be shy if you'd like some!

I never even had half of the vegetables we grow here as a kid so I head to my laptop recipe file on vegetables when it's dinner planning time.

The following recipe's a new one that received two thumbs up in the End of the Rainbow Valley last week and will definitely reappear for other fall dinners. It received a wow factor both in appearance and yummy taste with a mixture of mildly hot, yet sweet.

*Asterisks mean my substitution/variation , we're very flexible... 

Ingredients:
2 poblano peppers
1 lg red bell pepper
3/4 c thinly sliced yellow onion
2 T olive oil
1 3/4 lbs kabocha pumpkin /Kuri squash* seeded, peeled and cut  into 1/3-in. thick wedges
2 lg Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 1/4 lb.), peeled & thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T all-purpose flour
2 t dried oregano /Cuban oregano*
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground red pepper
Cooking spray
1 (12-oz.) can evaporated low-fat milk
2 oz queso fresco/ goat cheese*, crumbled 

STEP 1 
Preheat broiler.

STEP 2 
(* Pre done and frozen so I thawed on paper towels patted dry.)

Line baking sheet with 2 sheets of foil topping with poblano and  green peppers.
 Place on top oven rack, turning at 6 min and broiling another 6  min. until blackened.
 Loosely wrap broiled peppers in foil and allow to cool.
Work on foil to seed and de-skin peppers.
 Transfer peppers to cutting board to cut into 1/2 strips.

STEP 3

Preheat oven to 400.

STEP 4

In large bowl combine onion, oil, pumpkin, potato, and garlic.
Sprinkle with flour.
Add oregano, cumin, salt and pepper and toss.
Place 1/3 of mixture in 9X13 baking dish and spray with olive* cooking spray.
Sprinkle with 1/3 pepper strips.
Repeat process twice with squash mixture, peppers and spray.
Pour milk over vegetables.
 Coat top layer with cooking spray. 
Cover with foil
Bake at 400°F for 45 min. 
Uncover and sprinkle with cheese. 
Bake additional 10 min/until potatoes, pumpkin/squash're tender. 

Feast your eyes upon the finished product.

Pumpkin Poblano Casserole/ Squash* Poblano Casserole  

CELEBRATING THE LIFE of A ONE OF A KIND ACTIVIST

If you had walked into Winona's Wesley Methodist Church this past Saturday mid afternoon you might have wondered what group was congregating with the sign up interest sheets in the foyer. Flanking the doorway were  basketfuls of apples labelled with the names like Sweet Tango. Haralson, Honey Crisp... there for the taking.

By 2 pm sanctuary seating was pretty filled considering the extra rows of folding chairs set up behind the pews. Coming from the altar area flowed poetry with sing along political folk music and heartfelt words sprinkled with tears, delivered by family and long time friends for a very unique area resident, Joe Morse.  

You see more than our Upper Mississippi River communities lost a long time activist  to cancer  September 28th.  Born to an educated Mother who stressed the importance of education and a father who taught science and shared his love of Nature with their 7 children on their apple orchard, Joe grew up with not only a work ethic but an understanding, appreciation and responsibility to the environment and to humankind.

Joe was committed to environmental justice, racial and gender equality and education. When asked to list programs he had helped organize there were dozens. An incomplete list was on the entire last page of the program.  Joe was an organizer and he was good at what he did as most of his endeavors were successful.  He knew the importance of rotating facilitators and not having just one leader.  They weren't just worker bees as everybody had a chance and responsibility to lead and be heard. Those working for equality were mirrored by the group working for it.

In the 60's Joe was one of the first people down in Meridian, Mississippi after the 3 civil rights workers disappeared. He ended up staying 3 years afterwards working towards registering the Black community to vote and other projects.

After the South,  Joe moved to Boston and continued using his white male privilege this time to address men's violence against women. He was instrumental in creating a curriculum for men who batter women which is still used today nationwide. He brought this back with him to this area some 30 plus years ago. My Natureman met Joe back then and they worked on this curriculum in our area together. 

More recently the two worked together on CAP X20 20 to try to keep the unnecessary giant powerline from being built through the Upper Mississippi Region in addition to banning sandmining used in Fracking, both detrimental to wildlife and communities along the mighty Mississippi. 

Throughout the years Joe was arrested more than most people for protesting. He felt all of us needed to be involved in correcting injustices. We can't all be a Joe Morse in tackling numerous projects at a time but the truth is we all can choose 'one' to create change. It's our responsibility to leave this world better than we found it... May we all continue the work others have started and work yet to be done. 

Below is the music we sang during Joe Morse's Celebration of Life... Enjoy and by all means sing along. Joe loved and lived this music and also 3 pet projects of Joe's that would love to be recipients on your donating list this year...

Woke Up this Morning with my Mind Stayed on Freedom

Step by Step

You've Got A Friend

Forever Young

We Shall Overcome


APPRECIATED DONATIONS TO:

Women's Resource Center
100 Latsch St
Winona, MN 55987

Beyond Tough Guise
P.O. Box 243
Winona MN 55987

Landstewardship
POBox 130
Lewiston MN 55952

MUSIC OF DIFFERENT DECADES

Music has always played an important part of my life but never has its diversity been more obvious than this past week...

Exercising to popular  pop and country tunes in my Jazzercise class on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday interspersed with  ancient ritual holiday melodies for the Jewish holidays due to 3 days of services, political folk music and music of the 60's-70's at a celebration of life on Saturday, finishing the week on Sunday with 50's music from the matinee performance of Guys and Dolls followed by our return car trip with Wisconsin Public Radio's Simply Folk. 

I thought I'd share a sampling of links so you too could start off your week with some wonderful tunes... Enjoy.


Molly Tuttle on Simply Folk whose became the first woman to win a prestigious IBMA award  Guitar Player of the year. Here's a sample from her album Rise.

Tuttle That's Good Enough

Despacitio

Dylan's Forever Young

Guys and Dolls Sit Down You're rocking the Boat

Carole King's You've Got a Friend

FOTO FRIDAY: HALLOWEEN HAPPINESS

FOTO FRIDAY this week is illustrating the creativity a holiday inspires. 

Take a look at Halloween country decorating Did you see something new and creative?
Do share. 

It's amazing what a round bale of hay can turn into for Halloween. Those bones are an old birch. No, that's not a misprint.

















Here's Chad's latest Hay Bale Halloween creation in Coon Valley. Aren't they the best? 

Daughter Lori spotted this family enjoying the nice weather. Perhaps they took the dieting a bit too far this past summer.

Hope you took time to look at the photos folks shared last week of generational photos...REJUVENATION

TBT: FRENCH CHAMPAGNE

 For my Provence birthday dinner after an afternoon with lavender and as if receiving a colorful scarf in Les Baux wasn't enough, Jim treated us to French bubbly to toast for the yummy birthday dinner.  

Add in an exceptional view of the lavender fields ...

Followed by the French apple torte with the birthday candle and a round of Happy Birthday from those dining on the patio,


 the sky put on its own show... 

It was a wonderful ending to a very French birthday.

Next year will be pretty tough to beat this birthday in France, don't you think?

* Here is wikipedia's definition of champagne that I never knew.

Champagne (French: [ʃɑ̃.paɲ]) is a sparkling wine and type of alcoholic drink produced from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France following rules that demand, among other things, secondary fermentation of the wine in the bottle to create carbonation, specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from specific parcels in the Champagne appellation and specific pressing regimes unique to the region.[1] It contains the drug alcohol (also known formally as ethanol), and is used recreationally. Some use the term Champagne as a generic term for sparkling wine,[2][3] but in many countries, it is illegal to label any product Champagne unless it both comes from the Champagne region and is produced under the rules of the appellation.[4]


Vineyards in the Champagne region of France
The primary grapes used in the production of Champagne are black Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier but also white Chardonnay. Champagne appellation law allows only grapes grown according to appellation rules in specifically designated plots within the appellation to be used in the production of champagne.

Champagne became associated with royalty in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The leading manufacturers made efforts to associate their Champagnes with nobility and royalty through advertising and packaging, which led to popularity among the emerging middle class.[4]

D'STILLING...

What made Sault extra special is that we were here on my birthday!

For a gardener/ non gardener the purple lavender fields are quite a sight  dotting the landscape.

The summer had been unusually warm for Europe and France was no exception, especially southern France which normally is warmer than the northern part of the country. It does cool down in the evenings but this was our first stay without central air/ at least a fan. Besides comfort this also meant the lavender which normally would have been at its peak was a little farther along.

After a lovely lunch overlooking the Valley below, we investigated where the closest lavender field would be. The information center provided us with instructions of one specifically open for tourists. It was a good kilometer away and apparently not a big enough fare for the neighboring town's taxi to take us. So with a sketchy map in hand we decided to walk and it was HOT. Thank heavens for our water bottles! 

We did get to see the countryside close up 

 Fields were dry but there was still lavender that hadn't been harvested.

And the aroma of lavender in the air increased the closer we got to our destination AP, a distillery, Aroma Plants. 

We knew we were heading the right way.

 We had some time to peruse their gift shop before the next tour and I discovered one of the workers filling these lavender potpourri bags. A definite no brainer vs the essential oils which could spill. A dozen came home with me.

There was also a little cafe with organic ice cream and juices with  lavender flavored of course!

The tour was really interesting as we learned about the distillation process. 

The essential oil floats to the top and is siphoned off.

It's understandable why these oils are so costly. It takes a lot of plant and labor to create the essential oil.

AP grows other herbs too but lavender is their main crop.

The walk back uphill actually went a lot quicker with us savoring the shady stretches and knowing a cold shower was awaiting back at the hotel!

My birthday's not over...TBC