Feeds:
Posts
Comments

A New Biography of Harry Belafonte

November 8, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Charles Gorry/AP/File.
Entertainer Harry Belafonte in Washington during a 1958 youth march for integration. A confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., Belafont mediated disagreements between King and the John F. Kennedy administration. He also refereed conflicts between King and young Black Power activists.

At the Christian Science Monitor, Barbara Spindel recently reviewed a new Harry Belafonte biography, Daylight Come. It’s reminding me how much my family admired Belafonte, to the point that my father took us to see the star in Island in the Sun — which turned out to be unsuitable for kids. we were hustled out after a character in the film was strangled!

But we always loved Belafonte’s music and kept an eye on his multifaceted career. I once got his signature on a petition opposing a road on Fire Island, where pretty much everyone preferred the absence of cars.

Here’s Spindel’s book review.

“Actor and singer Harry Belafonte was one of the biggest celebrities of his time: His 1956 album, ‘Calypso,’ held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard pop albums chart for 31 weeks, and his iconic version of the Jamaican work song “Day-O” is recognized the world over. But an admiring new biography of the star demonstrates that Belafonte was more passionate about the work he was performing away from the spotlight – from bankrolling the Civil Rights Movement to brokering talks between Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedys.

“Daylight Come, by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, captures the epic sweep of its subject’s long life. Belafonte, born in Harlem in 1927 to Caribbean immigrants, had a difficult childhood. His father, a cook on United Fruit Co. ships, was in and out of his life. Meanwhile, his mother frequently sent young Harry and his brother to her native Jamaica to stay with her mother or in a series of boarding houses while she worked as a domestic in New York City.

“Belafonte, who struggled academically, dropped out of school in the ninth grade. He worked menial jobs until 1944, when he was old enough to enlist in the U.S. Navy. He was stationed stateside through the end of World War II, loading military ships bound for the Pacific.

“The armed forces were racially segregated then, and Jelly-Schapiro notes that Belafonte’s time among Black seamen ‘supplied him, as a high school dropout who became a proud autodidact, with his essential political education.’ …

“Back in New York after being discharged, Belafonte was given a ticket to see a play at the American Negro Theatre. Enthralled, he began volunteering there as a stagehand, and eventually, the handsome and charismatic young man was asked to read for parts. He soon met another 19-year-old aspiring actor, Sidney Poitier, whom Belafonte called his ‘first friend.’ Both were hungry to see plays but short on funds, so, as Jelly-Schapiro reports, they would purchase a single ticket, with Poitier attending the first act and then, during intermission, summarizing the action for Belafonte, who would swap places with him to see the second. …

“He was cast in a theater role that required him to sing, and people noticed that he could carry a tune. By 1949, he had married his first wife, Marguerite, and they were expecting a child. In need of steady income, he landed a regular nightclub gig in Manhattan. His successful club engagements led to a record contract.

“He started out singing folk music but found his sound with the runaway hit album ‘Calypso.’ … During the 1950s, Belafonte also won groundbreaking roles in films, including Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun. Considering his wide appeal to white audiences, Belafonte opined in his 2011 memoir that he was ‘Black, but … not too black.’

“Belafonte met King in 1956, when the young minister traveled to New York seeking support for the mass boycott of segregated buses then underway in Montgomery, Alabama. The two men became friends, and in the coming years, Belafonte worked closely with King in addition to donating generously to civil rights causes. … He refereed conflicts within the movement as well, as the young activists who would go on to embrace Black Power grew impatient with King’s leadership. In addition, Belafonte corralled famous friends including Marlon Brando and Paul Newman to march for civil rights.

“Daylight Come succeeds in elucidating Belafonte’s cultural significance. … Late-night host Johnny Carson turned The Tonight Show over to Belafonte for an extraordinary week in February 1968. … While hosting the show, Belafonte – then married to his second wife, Julie Robinson, who was white – aired ‘home videos of his interracial family waterskiing on vacation in Las Vegas,’ Jelly-Schapiro writes. To convey how meaningful this was, the author reports that around the same time, a brouhaha erupted over a television special featuring a duet between Belafonte and British singer Petula Clark: A corporate sponsor protested because the white Clark had touched Belafonte’s arm during the performance. …

“His deeply felt work as an activist comes through clearly. … A 1996 profile of Belafonte by writer Henry Louis Gates Jr. noted that the singer ‘was radical before it was chic and remained so long after it wasn’t.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here. No paywall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

When You Can’t Avoid the Bears

November 7, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Poolbearlife via Instagram.
As communities on the outskirts of Los Angeles grow, nearby bears getting ready to hibernate are finding human food has more of the calories they need for bulking up than acorns.

I once had a close encounter with a black bear in an area of empty vacation chalets near Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire. From that one experience, I’ve concluded that black bears have as little interest in getting close to a human as I have in getting close to them.

But in California, the call of a discarded pizza may be just too tempting.

Nick Visser reports at the Guardian, “Every year, as summer draws to a close and fall begins, California’s bears get hungry. Black bears have long roamed the state, hunting for acorns, ants and pine nuts by the bucketload to pack on calories before hibernation. But increasingly, for every berry and root, there’s an even greater temptation: our trash and the detritus of human existence.

“That dynamic is playing out in perhaps a surprising place: Los Angeles. As communities on the outskirts of the metropolis grow, bears are butting up against humanity, drawn to residents’ pools, their chicken coops, their fruit trees and trashcans.

“ ‘Black bears are incredibly adaptable, versatile omnivores,’ said Wilson Sherman, a PhD student at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies human-wildlife interaction. ‘They can eat everything we can eat.’

“Human-bear interactions have increased since the 1990s, Sherman said, which makes sense as communities expand and the state is now home to some 50,000 to 70,000 black bears. A few hundred of those live in the Angeles national forest, just north of the city and its millions of hungry households.

“Brian Gordon and his partner moved to the state’s bear capital – Monrovia, California – four years ago. Their house is the last before the Angeles national forest begins, and as they were buying the home, a family of bears wandered through the back garden. …

“Now, the pair regularly share their pool with a family of bears and document their exploits on an Instagram account called PoolBearLife. Videos show bear cubs with their snouts bubbling in the water, climbing – and falling from – trees and causing adorable, young bear mayhem. …

“ ‘I actually thought people get eaten by bears a lot,’ Gordon said. ‘But after we bought the house, we had bears walking through. That’s really all they’re doing.’ …

“Gordon and his partner live amongst the bears, but they’re also vocal advocates for doing so safely. Trashcans are kept clean, temptations are removed and, despite the filming, they give the bears their space. … Bears don’t even stop to sniff the trash cans and will just pass through the backyard like it’s an extension of the forest nearby, the couple said.

“In a perfect world, Sherman said, human dominated landscapes that buttress the natural world would take steps to minimize bear contact. That means making neighborhoods as unattractive to bears as possible. … It’s not that human food tastes better, it’s just much more calorie dense and therefore easier for bears to pack on the pounds. In fact, bears that live or forage near human environments tend to reproduce more often and at higher rates, likely due to the availability of our food. …

“The other major factor is climate crisis. Warmer summers can alter the availability of natural food and force bears to expand their ranges. Major wildfires like the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires were also linked to a lack in natural food sources, prompting the bears near Los Angeles to search in neighborhoods instead.

“Alex Heeran, a research scientist at the California department of fish and wildlife who studies the human dimensions of wildlife encounters, said human and bear interactions generally peak every year in late summer and early fall. September is often a really active month as black bears finish up their pre-hibernation hungry period, known as hyperphagia. …

“It’s also a time when humans are out in force around Labor Day for the year’s final picnics and camping excursions. Fish and wildlife officials will often get reports of bears creating a nuisance and occasionally damaging fences, getting into sheds and making a mess as they look for calories. [Sometimes] conflict can escalate, which can result in a bear being euthanized or relocated. It’s rare and wildlife officials try and prevent situations from escalating to that point, but it happens.

“Earlier this year, the city of Monrovia erupted in fury after a mother bear known as ‘Blondie’ was euthanized. Officials had determined she had swiped at local residents twice, causing minor injuries. She had two cubs at the time. They are now being raised in captivity until they can hopefully be released back into the wild. …

” ‘The city was not a part of that conversation or decision,’ Becky Shevlin, the mayor of the city, which is peppered with monuments to black bears, told the Los Angeles Times in March. ‘We were absolutely devastated, especially when you think about her having the two little cubs.’ “

More at the Guardian, here. No paywall. Cute pictures. Consider subscribing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Ballet Performances Defying Bombs

November 6, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Johanna-Maria Fritz for the New York Times.
“When I went to the Balanchine Trust,” said Alexei Ratmansky in Ukraine, ” I asked for a ballet that didn’t have a huge cast, not too long. And it had to be uplifting. And of course, no Russian music.”

I never tire of articles about the brave Ukrainian people and how they continue to “carry on” in wartime. They keep daily activities as normal as possible. People help people.

Today’s story is from Marina Harss at the New York Times.

“The eminent ballet choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has been a vocal supporter of the Ukrainian cause since the Russian invasion in 2022. …

“Both he and his wife, Tatiana, spent the early years of their careers in Kyiv, dancing for the national ballet company at the Kyiv Opera House, and both have family in and around the city. But until this August, neither had been back since the war began.

“Ratmansky, who is artist in residence at New York City Ballet, and who was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow for five years, has often wanted to go to Kyiv, he said in a recent video interview from their hotel in central Kyiv. It never felt like the right time. But their desire to work with the dancers of the national ballet company won out over fear.

“The Ratmanskys’ arrival coincided with one of the worst periods of the war, a time of constant attacks on the capital that sent them and others scurrying to bomb shelters multiple times a day. ‘It is difficult in every sense,’ Tatiana said, ‘mental, physical.’ …

“The immediate reason for their return was to stage a work by the great 20th-century choreographer George Balanchine, whose ballets are in the repertory of top companies around the world. Now the National Ballet of Ukraine, too, will have a Balanchine ballet, ‘Donizetti Variations,‘ a lighthearted work packed with witty steps danced at high velocity.

“ ‘It’s exhausting and really difficult,’ the dancer Mykyta Sukhorukov said in an interview, ‘but he understands that the theater needs this kind of repertory.’

“Conditions at the company, as in the rest of the city, are hard. The troupe is down to 95 dancers from 176 before the war. Many have left to dance abroad. Twice-yearly the male dancers must sign papers exempting them from military service. These days performances are often interrupted by alarms warning of incoming fire.

“On those occasions the performers, crew and audience — kept to no more than 600 in a theater with capacity for 1,300 — head to a shelter underground. But during the day dancers often stay put during alarms. ‘Otherwise,’ Sukhorukov said, ‘we’d have to live in the shelter.’

“A few days before the Sept. 10 premiere of ‘Donizetti,’ the Ratmanskys sat down for a WhatsApp interview from their hotel. The interview was interrupted twice by sirens. Distant explosions were audible. …

Marina Harss
“How did you get to Kyiv?

Alexei Ratmansky
“There is a train from Vienna to Kyiv. Actually, it’s just two cars attached to another train. But in Vienna, the train never arrived, so we took a different train to Budapest and then got on the car going to Kyiv. There was this big group of Ukrainians running from one track to the other, up and down the stairs with their suitcases.

Harss
“What did it feel like to realize you were finally in Ukraine again?

Alexei
“You feel at home — there’s an ease to it, you understand it. But then you realize: this is not a fairy tale. It’s real. People are dying every day. We hear explosions around us. …

Tatiana Ratmansky
“One night we tried to go to the shelter each time we received an alert. You get up, dress, go to the shelter, come back, undress, go to bed, and then do it all over again, many times a night. So we stopped doing it.

“But when it’s quiet for too long, it’s also scary, because you feel like the Russians must be preparing something. It’s like the myth of the Minotaur. Every night, it has to take someone. Except it’s real. In the morning you hear the news: 2 people killed, 17 people killed, 38. It’s like that every night and every day.

Harss
“What is the feeling in the city? How does it look?

Alexei
“Beautiful, I have to say. There are people in the streets. The cafes, restaurants, and stores are open. The arts are flourishing. Everyone is so caring, so alive, so warm. People are taking care of each other.

Harss
“What is the atmosphere at the theater?

Alexei
“Everyone does their job. There is a feeling of normalcy. For example: In addition to setting Balanchine’s ‘Donizetti Variations,’ I’ve been teaching morning ballet class every day. After that first sleepless night, when we kept going back and forth to the shelter — I don’t think anyone in Kyiv slept that night — I had a class to teach at 10 a.m. I came in, not sure what I would find. Would anyone be there? But when I got there the whole class was there, waiting. They greeted us, smiling. That made me cry.

“Some of them live across the river; the metro doesn’t run, or they close the bridges. One of the pianists told me she has to travel two hours to get to the theater on time. And there she is, every day, on time. No matter what happened the night before, the next morning people go and do their job, quietly.”

More at the Times, here. Since my four months working with Ukrainians after the Russian invasion, I’ve been struck by the sense of unity among them. This week I can understand how comforting that can feel. Even when groups of people in a country have very different needs and wishes, if there’s a threatening outside force, they can at least unite to reject it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Giotto’s St. Francis Restored

November 5, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: AP video: Isaia Montelione.
A masterpiece by Italian Renaissance master Giotto has been unveiled in Florence after a four-year restoration. The restored frescoes, depicting the life of Saint Francis, offer experts fresh insights into Giotto’s revolutionary techniques.

I was 14 and in a new school. I was learning new things. I hadn’t known anything about Italy in the 1300s or the paintings called frescoes. My parents were into modern art, but now I developed a fondest for Giotto. Which is why I’m sharing a story about the restoration of Giotto’s St Francis mural.

Francesco Sportelli writes at AP, “A cycle of frescoes by Italian 14th-century master Giotto, depicting key moments in the life of St. Francis of Assisi, has been unveiled after a four-year restoration. The newly vibrant ‘Stories of St. Francis’ were shown to the public last week in the Basilica of Santa Croce. …

“Giotto, who died in Florence in 1337, is considered by many to be the greatest Italian painter of his time and is considered the father of European painting. His artistic innovations informed the Renaissance style that developed after he died.

“Painted between 1317-1325 and adorning a side chapel in the basilica, the St. Francis frescoes have regained their richness following the restoration and offer new insights into Giotto’s revolutionary techniques and style, restorers said.

“Emanuela Daffra, superintendent of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, said the restoration removed layers of film and subsequent additions to the frescoes that had obscured Giotto’s original vision and now show his ‘profound capacity for expression.’

“ ‘Today, we can clearly interpret the gazes,’ of the various figures in the scenes, she said. ‘He knew how to orchestrate them within spaces that emphasized the meaning of the scenes,’ with a high degree of detail.

“The frescoes had been covered by several layers of lime whitewash that had been applied in the 18th century, a common fate for frescoes considered outdated at the time. In 1851, while preparations were underway for a new decoration of the chapel, some of the whitewash was removed, but the process also damaged the works. The frescoes underwent further interventions in the 1950s, before the latest restoration began in 2022. …

“During the project, restorers used an innovative no-touch device for ground-penetrating radar analysis of the works, thermal imaging cameras and a laser scanner, used to create a 3D model of the chapel. …

“The frescoes cover some 180 square meters (nearly 2,000 square feet) within the Bardi Chapel, to the right of the central altar, and recount seven key episodes in the life of Francis. …

“The Bardi family – among the wealthiest and most powerful bankers in Europe – acquired the patronage of the chapel and commissioned Giotto to paint its frescoes.

“Today, that tradition of patronage has evolved into a collective effort to fund the restoration. Some 250 private donors contributed 700,000 euros [~$787,000] toward the total restoration cost of 1.3 million euros [~1,460,000], according to the Opera di Santa Croce, the organization that cares for and manages the basilica.”

More at AP, here. No firewall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Pre-Inca Tomb in Pristine Condition

November 4, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Andina / Editora Perú.
A staircase leads into the central chamber of the newly discovered Chimú tomb near Trujillo, Peru.

Proving that there are always more discoveries to be made on Planet Earth, archaeologists in Peru are starting to talk about a pre-Inca mausoleum unearthed in mint condition.

Meilan Solly writes at the Smithsonian, “Some 600 years ago, members of the pre-Inca Chimú civilization buried more than three dozen people in a mausoleum near modern-day Trujillo, Peru. The dead were interred alongside a rich array of grave goods, including metal weapons, copper and gold artifacts, ornate jewelry, and colorful textiles — suggesting that they were high-status individuals, perhaps even royalty.

“The mausoleum remained largely intact until this year, when excavations uncovered its entrance beneath layers of sand, soil and stone at Chan Chan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was once the Chimú capital. The tomb dates to during or just before the Inca conquest of the region in the mid-15th century, making its survival, untouched by colonial and contemporary looters alike, even more impressive.

“As lead archaeologist Jorge Meneses tells BBC News, the find marks ‘the first time that Peruvian archaeologists have been able to come across an almost intact [funerary] platform, with unaltered contents.’ …

“Previously, ‘what was known about elite burials in Chimú society came from looted platforms, private collections and museum holdings,’ Meneses tells El País’ Renzo Gómez Vega. ‘There was no scientific data on the individuals and their corresponding artifacts and associations.’

“The Chimú thrived in what is now northern Peru between roughly 900 and 1470. The civilization was the ‘first true engineering society in the New World,’ devising a network of irrigation canals that enabled its people to thrive in a desert valley, hydraulic engineer Charles Ortloff told Smithsonian magazine’s Bruce Hathaway in 2009.

“Chimú kings lived in walled palaces, with each ruler building a new royal compound upon their accession. Many of Chan Chan’s surviving palaces feature funerary platforms where rulers were laid to rest with members of their retinue.

“The newly discovered mausoleum is located in Chan Chan’s Utzh An complex. A staircase leads down into the tomb’s central chamber, which measures roughly 4 feet wide and 16 feet deep, according to the state-run Andina news agency. Inside this main room, archaeologists identified the remains of a single individual whose skull bore traces of a red pigment, possibly cinnabar, a crystalline form of mercury sulfide.

“Some of the skeleton’s bones are missing, leading the researchers to posit that the remains were later moved or reburied. This was a common practice among Andean societies at the time. …

“Two rooms flank the central chamber on either side. One was virtually empty, while the other held roughly 20 sets of human remains, as well as miscellaneous artifacts. Archaeologists found an additional 17 skeletons while excavating the funerary platform, bringing the total number of people buried there to at least 38.

“Much about the tomb remains unknown, from the individuals’ ages and genders to the circumstances of their deaths. …

“Gabriel Prieto, an anthropologist at the University of Florida who wasn’t involved in the research, tells the Times that the find is ‘the discovery of the decade in terms of it’s the very first time that, as archaeologists, we are able to see an elite Chimú burial.’ Researchers hope that the undisturbed tomb will shed light on Chimú funerary practices and social hierarchies at a time of great upheaval.

“The discovery also underscores how much of the Chimú capital remains unexplored. To date, archaeologists have excavated ‘no more than 7 percent of Chan Chan’s total area,’ Meneses tells El País. ‘Evidently, the citadel has much more to tell.’ ”

More at the Smithsonian, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Alas, the Village Bistro!

November 3, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Ed Alcock/Guardian.
Customers in the Au Bon Accueil restaurant in Saint-Martin-sur-Ouanne. Once central to rural life, France’s cafe-bistros are closing.

How can ordinary people fight back against major economic trends? In today’s Guardian article, French villages are fighting to preserve their ionic bistros.

Kim Willsher reports from Saint-Martin-sur-Ouanne in France, “It is just past noon on a midweek day, and already every table at Au Bon Accueil cafe-bistro in the northern Burgundy village of Saint-Martin-sur-Ouanne is taken. The three-course lunch menu today – including a choice of a hefty chunk of steak with chips or a meaty lasagne – is just [$20], but villagers are not only here for the food.

“After an eight-month closure, the bistro, previously called Café de la Gare, recently reopened – and locals want it to stay that way.

“ ‘It’s so important to have a cafe-bistro in a village like this. We couldn’t let it stay closed,’ said Nadia Letellier, the new manager. …

“Hervé Chapuis, a farmer and the village mayor, is part of the local council team that saved Saint-Martin’s last public-facing business since the boulangerie across the road closed eight years ago. … ‘Our aim is to keep this kind of business open to support the social fabric. It’s part of village life and people missed it. Now, village life has returned to its proper rhythm.’

“France’s celebrated cafe-bistros are in trouble. In 1900 there were an estimated 500,000 such establishments; by the 1960s more than half had closed. Today, only about 30,000-40,000 remain. …

“Alain Fontaine, who runs Le Mesturet bistro near Paris’s stock exchange, and who is president of France’s Association of Bistros and Cafes, says the closures leave rural communities deserted and villagers, especially elderly people, isolated. …

“Fontaine said, ‘Villages are being left like deserts with no shops, no businesses, nothing. In losing our local bistros, cafes and restaurants, we are losing part of the French life balance.’ …

“The number of people living in rural areas has declined over the last half a century, television and devices encourage more people to spend their evenings at home, and the average French person now drinks about 80 liters of alcohol a year compared with 200 liters in the 1960s.

“Finding people willing to run bars, cafes or bistros is also a problem, says Fontaine, who is campaigning for the government to submit the establishments to Unesco for intangible cultural heritage listing, arguing this recognition would encourage more people to consider taking them on. …

“Solène Joucla, whose family have run the historic Le Grand Café at Camplong, in the Hérault near Montpellier, since 1898, faced having to let it close or give up her job as a high-school English teacher when her father, Pierre, retired. Instead, she and her sister, Katell, set up an association to run it.

“ ‘We closed for three years after Covid, which was a difficult period, and opened in September last year. We wanted to find someone to take it over and run it, but it’s a small village of 220 people and it was complicated. Now we run [it] with volunteers,’ Joucla said.”

More at the Guardian, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Rooftop Veggies in Berlin

November 2, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Christoph Große.
Berlin’s Felix Thomas REWE supermarket with its rooftop farm.

Recognizing how wasteful humans can be in modern times, I find it encouraging that so many urban farms are sprouting up on small pieces of land or otherwise empty roofs. An article in the Guardian notes that it is no longer unusual to find urban vegetables blooming in community plots, families’ backyards, or on a commercial scale on rooftops.

Hannah Docter-Loeb writes, “Walking into the Felix Thomas REWE supermarket in Lankwitz, Berlin, customers are immediately presented with a choice of greens: romaine, rocket, iceberg. But last month, a new option joined the selection: Lankwitz loose-leaf lettuce. A combination of head lettuce, romaine lettuce, Lollo Rosso, and dark green easy leaf lettuce, its yellow packaging makes it stand out in a row of green. … Unlike its neighboring lettuces, which come from regional farms or all the way from Italy, these greens were grown just a few meters away – or rather, a few meters up. ‘Frisch Vom REWE Dach’ or ‘Fresh from the REWE roof,’ the bags read.

“Rooftop farms are nothing new: in cities such as Paris, Hong Kong, Copenhagen and New York, similar farms supply food to adjacent food retailers or even restaurants. This model has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation (and its associated costs), minimize the urban heat effect, make use of dead space and perhaps even improve the relationship between buyers and their food. …

“REWE provides the space, location, and distribution channels to sell, and ECF designed and manages the greenhouse. The Lankwitz lettuce has become a selling point of sorts: store manager Felix Thomas says one customer traveled more than 50km [~31 miles] just to get their hands on a bag. And the integration of the farm into REWE’s market and corresponding supply chain is novel, says ECF CEO and founder Nicolas Leschke. …

“The greenhouse is heated through the waste heat of cooling aggregates downstairs, and rainwater is the primary source of water for the greenhouse and plant production. Some of the greenhouse is also powered by sustainable energy – primarily solar.

“The operation is meant to be year-round. The farm makes use of hydroponic technologies: the lettuce varieties are grown with very little soil. The whole growing process takes a little over three weeks. Once cut, the greens go straight downstairs to be packaged and sold, both on site and in other stores in the city and region.

” ‘We don’t even have an extra truck on the road that usually is necessary to transport the goods from the producer to the central distribution,’ Leschke said.

“Prajal Pradhan, an associate professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who recently published a study on urban agriculture in Europe [says] ‘This is a way to go forward, because you can provide fresh vegetables to urban consumers on site.’ However, he stresses, it should not be an alternative to having a personal or community rooftop garden. He says urban agriculture should be inclusive and find ways to include the whole community, a sentiment echoed by study co-author Stepan Svintsov, a remote sensing expert based in Berlin.

“ ‘Getting people together from a dense city and sharing agricultural knowledge among them helps bring the community together,’ Svintsov said. REWE currently offers tours to see the facility from outside, but no one can enter the production rooms.

“There is a large potential for rooftop farms and the like in Europe. Pradhan, Svintsov and their colleagues’ review looks at the biophysical viability for urban agriculture in European cities: seeing how urban rooftop and ground-based areas are well suited for cultivating vegetables. They found that urban agriculture in European cities could produce up to … 28% of the continent’s vegetable demand.”

More at the Guardian, here. No firewall, but please consider a donation or subscription to this outstanding publication.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Immigrants Map NYC in Needlework

November 1, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Andrés Altamirano.
“The Collective Map of Paths” is needlework created by immigrant women in New York City.

A needlework cartography project that some of the textile makers call ‘un mapa extraño (‘a weird map’) uses emotional parameters rather than a birds’ eye approach to mapping migration journeys. The inventive results are one more reason to love the richness that immigration has brought to our land. (Always recognizing that the original in habitants may have a different view of all us immigrants.)

Amalia Uribe Guardiola writes at Hyperallergic, “For the past two years, I have been working with two immigrant-led costureros: circles of women from all over Latin America that gather to create textiles together. Located in different community centers in Northwestern Queens in New York City, these spaces have become a safe haven for many undocumented, working-class immigrants. …

“The first group, BordeAndo, was founded in 2018 as a community engagement initiative of the Queens Museum, though it soon grew beyond the institution to become an independent collective. Its name plays with multiple meanings in Spanish: bordar (to embroider), borde (border or frontier), and the suffix –ando, which evokes movement or walking. Most of its members come from the Ecuadorian highlands (la Sierra), though others are from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Mexico. They range in age from 30 to 83 and have lived in the United States for between 10 and 50 years.

“Las Comadres Bordadoras was founded in 2021 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic by two Mexican immigrants, who sought to bring women out of isolation and foster a mutual support network. Their name, also difficult to translate, gestures toward camaraderie and kinship. The comadre refers specifically to women who are, in their words, ‘a midpoint between friend and family.’ The comadres come from Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina; range in age from 35 to 75; and have lived in the United States for between two and 30 years. They mostly embroider Mexican cloth napkins, but all forms of needlework are welcome. …

“Last year, BordeAndo and Las Comadres Bordadoras were the protagonists of ‘Thread of Voice / Un hilo de voz‘ at the Queens Museum. The exhibition, which I curated, featured Andrés Altamirano’s photographs of the costurero members along with film by documentarian Eleonora Privitera. …

“I see these costureros as living archives — as sites where craft traditions converge, and concrete embodied and material practices connect geographies of affect and displacement, like a woman knitting a stitch learned by her grandmother back home or another embroidering a napkin for the altar of a dead loved one whose grave she cannot visit because of her migratory status. “Text” and “textile” share an etymological root — the Latin verb texere — that reveals both that texts are woven and textiles written. In this sense, textiles are texts that we have forgotten how to read. …

“Based on the premise that mapmaking should not be a practice exclusive to traditional ‘expert’ cartographers, I invited the women of the costureros to make a collective map of their migration paths. ‘Where to begin? What to draw?’ many asked at first, reluctant to make the first stitches when faced with the blank surface. I proposed not drawing a croquis of the bird’s-eye view of either northwestern Queens or their home countries because it would prescribe their drawings. … Drawing a map freehand invites the women to express with their own hands and dimensions geographical and emotional landmarks, rooted in their own experiences and in dialogue with one another.

“Collectively, we chose three spatial parameters for the textile project: there’ — homeland, point of origin — stitched on the edges of the fabric; ‘path’ — journey, trail — stitched on the middle; and ‘here’ — destination, arrival point — stitched in the center. The map has been worked on in public libraries, community centers, the Queens Museum, and the homes of over 10 women. It is still in progress, moving between costureros. I consider it a countercartography because it does not abide by the dominant parameters of mapmaking — scale, legend, orientation, grid — but is rather dictated by the subjectivities and hands of its immigrant Latin American makers. It, too, is also an archive, a growing document of the transnational memory of its makers, ever changing, ever growing.”

More at Hyperallergic, here. No firewall but membership is solicited. The article was part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2025 Craft Archive Fellows, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Growing the Biggest Pumpkin

October 31, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Melanie Stetson Freeman/CSM Staff.
Volunteers struggle to lift a giant pumpkin off the straps that were used to hoist it up for weighing.

Gotta love people with unusual ambitions. An ambition to grow the largest pumpkin at an agricultural fair, for example.

Cameron Pugh writes at the Christian Science Monitor about great pumpkins for the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts — and the people who love (but stress out over) growing them.

“They eat their caretakers out of house and home. They cost thousands of dollars to raise, draining paychecks. They require near constant babysitting, and sometimes prompt a rush home from work to contend with emergencies.

“ ‘There’s a lot of stress involved,’ says Henry Swenson. ‘Like, a lot of nights where you’re not sleeping, and where you’re thinking about it, you’re having dreams about it.’ Mr. Swenson, if it isn’t clear, is talking about growing giant pumpkins.

“Nevertheless, Mr. Swenson and many other competitive pumpkin growers keep coming back year after year, vying for ever heavier weights. They pour their all into the hobby, driven, like competitive runners, to top their personal bests. Mr. Swenson’s heaviest pumpkin, at 1,349 pounds, weighed more than a concert grand piano. But the weightiest of these gargantuans approach 3,000 pounds – about the size of a sedan.

“This is the most competitive time of year for New England’s hobbyists, who describe their pumpkins almost like parents describe a newborn. (Some even get names.) Every fall, regional growers lug their pumpkins – often via some combination of truck, trailer, and forklift – to Topsfield. …

“Their hues range from ivory to verdant green to classic sunset orange. (In competitive circles, green pumpkins typically get categorized as squash.) Most are bloblike, not quite resembling the more shapely kind found in grocery stores. …

“Among the most respected and seasoned growers here is Woody Lancaster, who has cultivated giant pumpkins for over 30 years. … Mr. Lancaster has always been a gardener, going back to his days growing up on a farm in rural Ohio. But his appreciation for giant pumpkins began here in Topsfield. He lives around the corner from the fair, and his son fell in love with the giant gourds there during grade school. The pair began growing them, starting with a variety that hits about 150 pounds. The hobby stuck.

“ ‘He got interested in other things, and I stuck with the pumpkins,’ Mr. Lancaster says. …

“The practice reaches back to at least 1979, when a Canadian man named Howard Dill patented the seeds for the Atlantic Giant. Virtually every giant pumpkin, known scientifically as Cucurbita maxima, grown today descends from Mr. Dill’s seeds. These days, competitive growers crossbreed the biggest parents to grow even bigger children, trading some seeds for free and selling others at prices surpassing $1,000.

“The plants – ‘big babies,’ as Mr. Lancaster calls them – require near-constant upkeep. They can grow up to 70 pounds per day and consume more than 100 gallons of water daily.

“Growers pollinate their plants by hand, replacing insect pollinators. (You want to breed your pumpkins with the biggest you can find, ‘not some small squash from the neighbor,’ Mr. Lancaster says.)

“They prune relentlessly to manage growth, prevent rot, and direct as much energy as possible to the fruit, and they diligently repel rodents. One of Mr. Lancaster’s pumpkins sits covered by an umbrella and a tarp – protection from the sun and the cold, respectively. …

“ There’s friendship and camaraderie to go around in the pumpkin-growing world, even across generations. … Nonhobbyists, too, get joy from giant pumpkins. That’s part of what keeps Tom Keenan growing year after year.

“ ‘It’s a happy thing. So, for example, when you drive it here on the back of a trailer, people are blowing their horns,’ he says. ‘You stop at a rest area, [and] there are people all around taking pictures.’ …

“Mr. Lancaster, who plans on retiring from pumpkin growing this year, is favored to win big. (His pumpkin broke the lifting equipment when he tried to move it from his yard.) It’s a boon for him, whose goal this year was to ‘go out with a big pumpkin.’

“And go out with a big pumpkin he does. Mr. Lancaster’s pumpkin weighs in at 2,598 pounds – short of the world record, but breaking the records for the Topsfield Fair and Massachusetts.”

More at the Monitor, here. No paywall. Pretty funny photos. Do any of you gardeners grow for competition?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Pay-What-You-Can Day

October 30, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Kendra Nordin Beato/Christian Science Monitor.
Biplaw Rai, co-founder of Comfort Kitchen in Boston, is participating this year in Pay What You Can day.

A small, thoughtful book called The Serviceberry (from Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer) offers a vision of a non-capitalistic “gift economy” similar to the traditional sharing mindset of indigenous tribes. Although reducing the hoarding of capitalism is a rather large order, the author gives many small examples of how people are sharing anyway — and experiencing the resulting satisfaction.

Today we have an article at the Christian Science Monitor by Kendra Nordin Beato and Whitney Eulich showing that some owners of high-end restaurants are also finding happiness in generosity. Hopeful customers do have to get in line early, though.

“Eva Olvera Mendieta was first in line,” the reporters write. “She had risen before dawn, traveled two hours via bus and metro, and by 8 a.m. was bundled up outside the front door of Masala y Maíz, a restaurant in Mexico City. There, she waited four more hours for a chance to try the restaurant’s renowned mix of Mexican, Indian, and East African flavors.

“Ms. Olvera Mendieta, who earns a modest income from making and selling face creams, typically could not afford to eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant like this one, where average prices hover around $25 a plate. But on Paga Lo Que Puedas (Pay What You Can) day, a growing, global hospitality initiative first started at this restaurant, financial barriers to a high-end meal are lowered. …

“ ‘It was marvelous! I took photos of everything,’ Ms. Olvera Mendieta raved on her way out after paying 500 pesos (about $30) for two small plates and a dessert. …

“Masala y Maíz, co-founded by chefs Norma Listman and Saqib Keval in 2017, has been hosting such pay-what-you-can events since 2020, when many people were struggling to make ends meet and many restaurants were closing [because of Covid]. They wanted to open their doors and offer the same professional hospitality and farm-fresh menu to anyone who came in.

“ ‘When we opened Masala y Maíz, we wanted it to be super community-based,’ says Mr. Keval. While hosting an event that could fail to cover its operating costs might seem like a high-risk move, it has had the opposite effect. The restaurant has never lost money on a Pay What You Can day, says Mr. Keval. …

“Through pay-what-you-can models, restaurateurs with a civic passion are finding creative ways to preserve both their pride in culinary artistry and care for their staff and community. Some offer pop-up events and meals with discounted prices, while others are more extreme. Modern Times in Minneapolis removed prices from its menu after unrest from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and shootings this year roiled the city.

“Ms. Listman and Mr. Keval saw an opportunity to grow their own model. … ‘What unites all these restaurants that signed up,’ Mr. Keval says, is that they all believe ‘restaurants should be a tool for building and supporting community.’

“One first-timer is Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester, a Boston neighborhood. Situated in a renovated, historic streetcar station, the high-end restaurant that opened in 2023 specializes in flavors and ingredients from the African diaspora, spanning Asia to the Americas.

“Colorful prayer flags and string lights lined the outdoor patio where co-founder Biplaw Rai welcomed the event’s first guests and handed out a survey to capture their thoughts.

“ ‘We want our food, our service, to be approachable by people from all walks of life. We understand that dining out is a luxury, not everyone can afford to do it,’ says Mr. Rai. He hopes to learn which pricing model interests guests and whether they would be willing to pay more so that other guests could afford a meal out. “ ‘My ultimate goal would be, if today works really well for all parties involved, we want to do this on a regular basis.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Iceland Starts to Rethink Whaling

October 29, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Steffen Trumpf/picture-alliance/dpa/AP/File.
The whaling ships Hvalur 9 and Hvalur 8 in port, August 2019, in Reykjavík. Gradually, Icelanders have been rethinking whether they want to be part of the violent whaling hunt.

Deep, ingrained national behaviors can change. Take, for example, the acceptance of whaling among Icelanders. Will the big whaling countries’ populations be next?

Mark Sappenfield writes for the Christian Science Monitor, “For more than 40 years, Kristján Loftsson has fought a battle that most outside Iceland want him to lose. This week, he might have gotten his toughest foe yet: Iceland itself.

“Mr. Loftsson owns Hvalur hf., Iceland’s lone whaling company, and for much of the past few decades, its greatest success has been survival. Through moratoriums, protests, sabotage, and even the collapse of the market for Icelandic whale meat, Mr. Loftsson has endured. Iceland remains one of three nations with commercial whaling, along with Norway and Japan.

“[In September], however, Iceland’s ruling coalition proposed a potential revision of whaling laws that could lead to a ban. It comes at the end of a summer with a significant sprinkling of drama. Workers at Hvalur controversially played the national anthem as they butchered one whale, and the Icelandic coast guard dramatically raided an anti-whaling vessel at sea.

“It points to a nation hanging in the balance.

In 2003, 75% of Icelanders supported whaling. This year, 33% do, with 41% against and 26% neutral or indifferent.

“The ambivalence shows the uncertain prospects for the legislative efforts to ban whaling. But it also shows that the tides of public opinion in Iceland are changing. This summer’s pitched battles for public opinion were only the beginning.

“Sitting in a Reykjavík café, Mr. Loftsson does not give the appearance of a man against the world. He chats easily about growing up in the company his father founded. By age 13, he was a mess boy, cleaning the floors. Two years later, he was a deckhand, climbing into the crow’s nest. …

“He notes that fin whales are not endangered in the North Atlantic, and he dismisses scientific findings that show whales to be highly intelligent, social animals. ‘It’s just something they make up,’ he says, speaking of the opposition.

“For years, Mr. Loftsson’s greatest ally has arguably been Iceland’s sense of independence. The nation has never been afraid to go its own way, and for many Icelanders, whaling has been a token of that defiance. …

“But for others, the playing of the national anthem amid cries of ‘Áfram Ísland’ (‘Forward, Iceland!’) went too far. …

“The broader shifts in support for whaling have been coming for years. Videos of whale kills made public in 2023 shocked many Icelanders – showing the brutality of the hunt, which can involve multiple explosive harpoons, sometimes over an hour or more.

“ ‘Everyone could see how horrible the hunting is,’ says Valgerður Árnadóttir, co-founder of Hvalavinir, an Icelandic organization that seeks to protect whales. ‘It is impossible to hunt in a humane way.’

“Shannon Mann’s hope was to stop this year’s hunt altogether. She was on the ship Bandero this July as part of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation’s worldwide efforts to stop whaling. Instead, she ended up being detained and deported.

“For several weeks of cat and mouse, the Bandero tried to find either of Hvalur’s two ships to interfere with the hunt, but the Icelandic coast guard helped keep their whereabouts secret.

“At last, running low on supplies, the Bandero tracked one Hvalur ship into Iceland’s territorial waters. Mr. Loftsson claims the Bandero tried to sink the Hvalur vessel by ramming it. Ms. Mann disagrees, saying the Bandero never came within two nautical miles. ‘No one was ever at risk. We’re not out to hurt anyone.’

“Within hours, the Icelandic coast guard had helicoptered a team onto a boat in the area and boarded the Bandero. The ship remains in Iceland, docked in the fishing town of Akranes north of Reykjavík, where Nick Bohnet has taken over and is trying to persuade Icelandic authorities to let the Bandero leave. “

More at the Monitor, here. No paywall, but please consider subscribing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

A New Side to Brazil’s Favelas

October 28, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Alan Lima/Guardian.
Maria Cristiane de Sales says, “The doors that aren’t open to us in the rest of the city, we open for ourselves here.” She launched her Rio de Janeiro burger restaurant inside a complex of 16 favelas, home to 140,000 people.

I was reading the other day that Brazil President Lula’s triumph when a far-right candidate was expected to win had a lot to do with social media and organizing on the street. Ordinary people are starting to feel their power.

Today’s article on a different kind of awakening in Brazil’s notorious favelas shows that many people are taking the need for change into their own hands.

Tiago Rogero wrote for the Guardian. “Even at the age of nine, Maria Cristina de Sales knew exactly when to ask her mother’s colleagues at the slaughterhouse for a piece of the pig they were butchering: when they got close to the pork leg, her favorite part.

“When she grew up, Sales followed the path of many others from Brazil’s deprived north-east and moved south in search of better work opportunities. She arrived in Rio de Janeiro and, unable to afford a home in tourist-heavy south zone, moved to a favela further north.

“She crossed the city every day to work as a receptionist and secretary, but only really found her footing 15 years later when she and her husband opened a burger restaurant, inside the favela.

“ ‘The doors that aren’t open to us in the rest of the city, we open for ourselves here,’ said Sales, 39, inside her restaurant in Maré, a favela complex that emerged in the 1940s in a vast mangrove area, settled by workers who could not afford to live in – or had been evicted by the state from – the wealthier parts of the city.

“What usually dominates the headlines about Maré, a complex of 16 favelas home to 140,000 people, are problems such as poverty, armed drug traffickers and bloody police operations, but Sales’s restaurant has joined an effort to change that perception.

“From 1 October, local bars and restaurants will take part in a month-long competitive food trail made up entirely of Maré establishments, hoping to attract visitors from across the city who are often afraid to visit a favela.

“ ‘We face prejudice simply for saying that we live in a favela, but there are a lot of good things here,’ she said.

“Were it not for the surrounding alleys so narrow that sometimes only one person can pass at a time, the tangled web of electrical wires crowding the utility poles and the occasional young man riding a motorcycle with a rifle, Sales’s restaurant could be anywhere else in the city – a family-friendly, air-conditioned burger joint. The superhero-themed decor was a request by Sales’s sons, and includes a life-size Spider-Man.

“Her entry for the food trail will be, of course, a pork leg. … One sweet-and-slightly-spicy element of the dish – a pineapple jam with chili and ginger – she learned to make at Casa das Mulheres da Maré, a centre set up by a local NGO, Redes da Maré, to support women and which organizes the food trail, called Comida de Favela, or Favela Food.

“ ‘When we improve the quality of life of a woman in Maré, we’re improving the whole community,’ said Mariana Aleixo, 38, the centre’s coordinator, herself a chef who was born and raised in Maré and has worked in the kitchens of Rio’s luxury hotels,. … The food trail is now in its fourth edition – the first was held in 2015 – and is one of four finalists in the Best Culinary Festival in Latin America category at the 2026 World Culinary Awards.. …

“The 16 restaurants – selected from more than 150 applicants, most of them Black-owned – receive management and marketing training. … ‘Gastronomy is the biggest economic sector in the community,’ said Aleixo. … She had approached sponsors of other food festivals across the city and had never succeeded in securing their support. ‘I believe it’s because of prejudice against favelas,’ she said.

“Although the aim is for visitors to experience the favela from a ‘perspective other than violence,’ Aleixo acknowledges that some may witness something that the thousands of people who live there have to contend with: the occasional presence of armed drug traffickers. Police generally do not patrol favelas unless carrying out operations. …

“Favela Food’s social media pages often advertise shuttle vans to bring visitors from other parts of the city and take them back again – another aim is to encourage the circulation of people and money between the complex’s own favelas.

“While Sales’s burger restaurant is in the Parque União favela, the snack bar run by Beatriz Santos Antônio, 39, is in the Nova Holanda favela, a 15-minute walk away.

“Born in another city in Rio de Janeiro state, Antônio arrived in Maré 16 years ago because she could not afford to live elsewhere. She and her children went through periods of hunger, but neighbors helped them, and she drew on cooking skills learned from her mother to start selling cassava fritters. …

“ ‘Today it’s a story of happiness and of being able to encourage other women to start their own businesses too. There is also a lot of happiness in the favela.’ ”

More at the Guardian, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Ancient Fresco Opens to Public

October 27, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: AP/Andrew Medichini.
A section of the restored 49-foot wall mosaic from the Painted City site, discovered in the late 1990s in Rome.

I’m not sure if you have to be a closet archaeologist to appreciate the beauty of tiny pieces of frescoe from long ago, but most of us are drawn to a mystery. And pictures like the ones in today’s story remind us that people who lived in ancient times may not have had cellphones, but they weren’t stupid or unskilled.

Nicole Winfield wrote at the Associated Press last month, “Authorities on Tuesday unveiled what is believed to be the largest fresco and mosaic complex of ancient Rome, a first century A.D. depiction of a maritime city in what became the largest bath complex in the world.

“Mayor Roberto Gualtieri presented the recently restored ‘Painted City’ fresco and ‘Great Mosaic’ that were discovered in an underground gallery during excavations in the 1990s of the Baths of Trajan on the Oppio hill near the Colosseum.

“The works are opening to the public for the first time, initially in small groups of 15 and during a trial period of weekend access starting this month. The aim is to determine how the delicate works respond to increased humidity and climactic impacts before allowing more general access.

“Gualtieri said the fresco, which features images of a walled port city from a birds-eye view perspective, was the largest wall fresco of its kind from ancient Rome and as such needs to be open to the public. …

“Rome’s cultural superintendent, Claudio Parisi Presicce, said the grandeur of the port city as depicted in the fresco, with buildings, a theater and temple, public piazzas and towers, was particularly well conserved. The restoration work included techniques to preserve and improve visibility, remove surface deposits and consolidate the grouting to keep the decorated surfaces intact. …

“The mosaic, for its part, measures some [49 feet] high and features intricately decorated columns and architectural elements and figures over four different levels. The top levels are up-close images with people that are almost like theatrical scenes, while at the bottom are views of the [unknown] port city’s layout from above.

“The Baths of Trajan, which were dedicated by Emperor Trajan in 109 A.D., extended over [15 acres] and were at the time the largest bath complex in the world.”

More at AP, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Former North Korean Meets K-Pop

October 26, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: Radio Free Asia.
Cho Mi-young watches a live broadcast of KBS Music Bank at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul, Oct. 16, 2026.

In North Korea, the internationally popular South Korean music called K-Pop is illegal and the ban is strictly enforced. But as the Guardian wrote in 2024, “Despite such harsh measures, the influence of South Korean culture, including recent television shows, appears unstoppable, according to a recent North Korean defector.

“ ‘The speed of South Korean culture influencing North Korea is seriously fast. Young people follow and copy South Korean culture, and they really love anything South Korean,’ a woman in her early 20s who defected from North Korea told reporters at a briefing in Seoul.’ “

This month, Kim Jisu wrote for Radio Free Asia about another defector’s reaction to seeing a K-Pop show in person for the first time.

“A white tiger entered the courtyard outside the National Museum in Seoul. He mugged for the camera and darted up the steps. At the top were the six members of BOYNEXTDOOR, wearing quasi-traditional outfits that mixed elements of hanbok with modern formal wear and a tinge of ‘bad boy’ biker gear.

“As they danced in unison and sang the opening lines of their hit single ‘Animal,’ the crowd went wild.

“Sitting in the audience was Cho Mi-young – born in Chongjin, North Korea – who arrived with her family in the South in 2004. …

“Cho is in the audience at an episode of KBS Music Bank, a Friday night K-pop showcase program with all the latest acts. It has been the start of the K-pop weekend for most of its 28-year runtime. Surprisingly, it’s her first time ever seeing a live K-pop performance in person after 22 years in the South.

“Tickets to studio tapings of KBS Music Bank are hard to come by. Fans either have to know someone, know someone who knows someone, or enter the ticket lottery. The episode she’s watching on Oct. 16 is special — it’s a live broadcast and the biggest boy bands, girl bands, and boy-girl bands are plying their craft on an outdoor stage on the grounds of the National Museum of Korea, which the show’s special intro vignette called the ‘beating heart of Korean culture.’ …

“ ‘I’ve seen it a lot on TV, but today is the first time I’ve seen it with my own eyes,’ Cho told Radio Free Asia. ‘Seeing such beautiful and handsome people dancing and singing right in front of me, moving like that, is absolutely mesmerizing.’

“Cho is no stranger to music, or to the stage. In North Korea she had been a vocalist for a state-run provincial arts troupe. After settling in the South, Cho was a fixture in Seoul’s burgeoning musical theater scene and she toured as an accordion player. She later transitioned into broadcasting. …

“But today, she’s just a fangirl in a sea of other diehards, most of whom are screaming the names of the idols on stage.

“On the night of her first live K-pop concert, Cho reminisced about how she first encountered South Korean music in North Korea. At the time, she didn’t have access to what most would describe as K-pop today; instead she took in a lot of trot – a unique South Korean genre that mixes Western foxtrot dance rhythms with pentatonic minor scale melodies. Most young South Koreans consider trot to be music their grandparents like. …

“Today’s performances on the Music Bank stage were a far cry from her own back in North Korea. For one, everyone on stage just seems happy to be there, she said.

“ ‘When I performed in North Korea, I was always stiff,’ she said. ‘When we were on stage, we performed with the mindset of conveying the Party’s voice, so I don’t think I ever had the thought that we were actually enjoying our own music.’

“Several more musical acts came and went and then the undistorted electric guitar of indie rock band Jannabi’s Kim Do-hyung echoed through the air as vocalist Choi Jung-hoon sang the first few lyrics of ‘Thoughts on an Autumn Night.’ … The song struck a chord with Cho. Performed by just one singer and one guitarist it was a bit of a shift from the rest of the evening’s heavily choreographed bangers.

” ‘The lyrical melody seems to have a bit of North Korean sensibility to it.’ …

“When it was all over, Cho talked about her experience on the show, but it wasn’t only the dazzle of the K-pop acts that caught her eye. She was also amazed by the devoted fans, who sang along with every lyric from memory and chanted in pre-arranged cheers in unison. She thought back to how strange that seemed when she first arrived. …

“The best performance of the evening, according to Cho, was by a co-ed group called AllDay Project. She thought they looked cool in their all-black outfits, some in furs, others in biker leather – almost like warriors.

“But as an artist, Cho’s thoughts naturally turned to the massive effort that must have gone on behind the scenes. The meticulous choreography alone must take many months of practice, she said. …

“She said, ‘In terms of the sheer volume of training, it might be difficult to see a significant difference between the North and South.’

“But she noted that the payoff in the South is individual success, unlike the North, where it would merely advance the goals of the state.”

More at the Radio Free Asia, here. No paywall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Acrobats vs Stalled Traffic

October 25, 2026 by suzannesmom

Photo: AP Photo/Brian Inganga.
Street acrobats entertain motorists stuck in the notorious traffic of Nairobi, Kenya, last August.

Where career options are few and far between, people make a living however they can. Consider the traffic-jam acrobats of Nairobi.

Nicholas Komu and Moses Ndung’u report at the Associated Press (AP), “As the light turns red at a busy intersection in the Kenyan capital, a young man costumed in leopard print emerges into the street to perform somersaults. He is joined by five others, dressed similarly, as they execute a combination of acrobatic stunts.

“One of them, juggling woven hats, breaks away and approaches the drivers of vehicles that have come to a halt. He’s hoping for generous tips as he presents his hat to driver after driver while his mates continue their routine. The group breaks away as soon as the traffic lights turn green.

“Nairobi’s street acrobats first began appearing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have since become normalized at traffic stops in and around the city, with acrobats taking advantage of gridlocks to perform in exchange for cash tips. It is how they earn a living.

“Mohammed Nyale, 22, said he started doing acrobatics hoping for a life-changing occupation.

“ ‘I have always loved acrobatics since I started performing at 15 years old,’ he said.

“He and others in his group left their homes on the Kenyan coast with dreams of on-stage careers and sold-out theaters, but they have so far settled for the streets, performing their stunts for motorists in Nairobi’s never-ending traffic.

“Nyale’s group gathers in the early mornings in an abandoned field in Nairobi’s impoverished neighborhood of Kawangware to rehearse their routines. Next, they move into the streets as traffic starts to build up during the morning rush hour. …

“They usually perform until noon, taking turns to collect tips from motorists. The amounts given tend to be small, usually no more than 50 shillings (about 40 U.S. cents). Because many Kenyans keep money in mobile wallets, the acrobats also hand out slips of paper with their phone numbers to which tips can be sent.

“On a good day they might each earn roughly $6, enough to look after their basic needs, though on some days they make more.

“That is equal to the daily wage of most casual laborers in construction or agriculture in a country where unemployment is widespread. …

“Some motorists see the acrobats as a nuisance. Others welcome the distraction.

“ ‘They are a source of entertainment here on the road. They entertain us and we feel good,’ said Geoffrey Kioi, a Nairobi entrepreneur who regularly gives tips to the acrobats. ‘They are young people. They need to hustle.’ ”

More at AP, here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Older Posts »