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Cure Your Ham in the Bell Tower

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 7, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Altitude.
At Saint-Pierre Cathedral in France, winds from the surrounding plateaus create an ideal environment for curing ham in the bell tower. 

I’ve read about decommissioned churches being repurposed for affordable housing or art centers, but today’s story is the first I’ve seen about providing an important service for pig farmers.

Emily Monaco writes at Atlas Obscura, “In Saint-Flour, a town in the Auvergne region of central France, the highest cathedral in Europe perches at 892 meters (nearly 3,000 feet) above sea level. Saint-Pierre sits at the confluence of the dry winds blowing across the surrounding plateaus, making it, surprisingly, the ideal place to age local hams to perfection.

“This church-aged charcuterie was the brainchild of Philippe Boyer, who became rector of Saint-Pierre in 2011. Soon thereafter, he encountered his first challenge: The 600-year-old cathedral was in need of some TLC, specifically for its 19th-century choir organ. Repairs would cost several thousand euros, money no one had. …

“Boyer was undeterred. ‘I said to myself, “Why not make a product in the spirit of the great medieval abbeys, who made their own food, which they sold to survive, to live?” ‘ he says. ‘In this case, it’s not for us to live, but to give new life to heritage.’

“Boyer began by adding beehives to the cathedral roof, and, following the success of the resulting honey, he turned his attention to one of the region’s star products: Jambon d’Auvergne, a ham boasting a protected status similar to Champagne or Roquefort.

Typically aged in drying rooms for eight to 12 months, these hams, Boyer figured, could easily be aged instead in the cathedral’s breezy north tower.

“He mentioned the idea to a reporter from local newspaper La Montagne, and the article caught the attention of farm cooperative Altitude. ‘We thought the idea was pretty original, pretty iconoclastic,’ recalls Altitude communications manager Thierry Bousseau, noting that the group also thought the project would be the ideal way of promoting the work of their farmers and salaisonniers, experts in the art of curing and aging charcuterie like sausages and hams.

“A host of bureaucratic hurdles loomed, including authorizations from French health services and the certifying board granting the hams IGP (Indication Geographique Protégée) status. And of course, the architecte des bâtiments de France, a civil servant devoted to the protection of state-owned buildings, had to be consulted. ‘He gave his OK,’ says Bousseau, and so, in June 2022, Bishop Didier Noblot officially invoked the protection of Saint Antoine, patron of charcutiers, in blessing the first hams.

“Today, hams produced by one of Altitude’s 30 farms are first aged in the cooperative’s aging rooms. Only the best are selected for sale to the Association des Amis de la Cathédrale, whose volunteers meet weekly to replenish the supply, carrying each ten-kilo (around 22 pounds) ham up the 150-odd steps of the spiral staircase to the tower. Here, they’re swaddled in bags and suspended from hooks just beneath the 19th-century bells. About 50 hams hang here at any given time, dry-aged for at least two months under the watchful eye of Patrice Boulard, a member of the Association and an expert salaisonnier with Altitude. The environment, he says, makes for a superlative ham. …

“But after just a few months, the project hit a snag. The new architecte des bâtiments de France noticed grease stains on the floor below the hams, and, Boyer recalls, ‘he started to panic.’ The stains were easily explained by the fact that the bells are greased every six months, but, fueled perhaps by the memory of Notre-Dame’s 2019 conflagration, the architect dubbed the hams a fire hazard. ‘Hams don’t catch fire, just like that,’ protests Boyer. But the group was nevertheless forced through yet another series of bureaucratic hoops. Six months after adopting new protocols, things seemed to have settled, Bousseau recalls. ‘And then in October 2023, we got a letter.’

“By this point, Boyer had been transferred to nearby Aurillac, so it was the new vicar, Jean-Paul Rolland, who received the news: The changes had been deemed insufficient, and effective immediately, the hams had to be removed.

“But Rolland took advantage of the bureaucratic tangle in forming his response. ‘He decided that the diocese, as the renter of the space, was not responsible for what happened in the cathedral,’ says Bousseau. ‘He got the message across that basically, the hams weren’t going anywhere.’

“These days, the status of the project is ‘a bit convoluted,’ admits Bousseau. ‘Officially, aging the hams is illegal, but the reality is that they’re still there.’ And despite their novelty, they’ve become beloved among locals. ‘Saint-Florins have appropriated them,’ he says, ‘as though they had always been.’ …

“According to Bousseau, ‘There’s a contradiction regarding the announcements made by the state. “We can’t finance our heritage.” And then we, at the local level, find solutions, and there’s a civil servant putting a wrench in the works.’ …

“In late October, the Minister of Culture voiced her official support of the hams.”

Wondering what blogger and farmer Deb has to say about all this.

More at AtlasObscura, here.

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A Playground to Control Floods

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 6, 2025| 7 Comments »

Photo: Inside Climate News.
Children play with a water fountain at a park in flood-prone Hoboken, New Jersey. The playground doubles as storage for stormwater runoff.

Yay for humans who come up with ingenious ways to mitigate the effects of climate change! Here’a a clever idea from Hoboken, New Jersey.

Victoria St Martin reports at Inside Climate News (via the Guardian), “For a city that is almost small enough to fit inside Manhattan’s Central Park just a few miles away, a lot of history has played out within the narrow borders of Hoboken, New Jersey.

“It was the site of the first organized baseball game in 1846, home of one of the US’s first breweries in the 17th century and the place where Oreo cookies were first sold in 1912. And, as any Hobokenite will tell you, the Mile Square City, as it is called, is also known for something else.

“ ‘Everything floods up here,’ Maren Schmitt, 38, said with a nervous chuckle on a Tuesday afternoon as she watched her two boys climb at a city playground.

“Nearly four-fifths of the land area in Hoboken – which sits on the western banks of the Hudson River – rests on a flood plain. And its intense susceptibility to flooding has probably never been more apparent than it was during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when 500m gallons of storm surge flooded the city.

“But now … Hoboken officials have put in place a series of measures designed to mitigate the destructive effects of storms that are driven by climate change, including one innovation that the city hopes may become known as another Hoboken first.

“Located at the corner of 12th and Madison streets, one of Hoboken’s newest playgrounds, known as ResilienCity Park, [is] doubling as a storage area for roughly 2m gallons of stormwater runoff. …

“The park, which sits on five acres barely a mile and a half from the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan, features swing sets, slides, a basketball court and an athletic field – and, underneath it all, a below-ground tank capable of holding hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater that city officials say would have otherwise spilled on to the streets or streamed into the basements of Hoboken homes and businesses.

“Building climate-resilient – or climate-smart – playgrounds is part of a growing movement among municipalities and environmental advocacy groups in the US. … The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit conservation group, estimates it has helped fund the construction of more than 300 such play spaces in communities around the country, including Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles. …

“Some spaces, like those in Hoboken, utilize an underground tank, porous artificial turf and scuppers or openings on a basketball court to store excess stormwater. Others increase resilience with newly planted trees that can absorb carbon dioxide and airborne pollutants; once they mature, those trees also provide shade cover that can reduce the heat island effect of urban areas, a problem intensified by the traditional black asphalt playgrounds commonplace generations ago. …

“ ‘Every geography is going to have slightly different stressors,’ [Daniella Hirschfeld, an assistant professor at Utah State University who studies environmental planning] said. ‘Hoboken is a place that used to be an island. And the amount of water that it needs to store is very different than where I am here in Utah. But ultimately, you know, places can perform both as a safe haven for stormwater and, hypothetically, can even be a safe haven for fire, which is another threat that we’re facing.’

“Caleb Stratton, Hoboken’s chief resilience officer, recalls how city officials asked him to lead the rebuilding and recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. The park, one of four planned resiliency sites in the city, was primarily paid for with infrastructure replacement grants, including roughly $10m from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Stratton said a key element of the park’s design was its multipronged approach to flood mitigation.

“ ‘It’s a park, stormwater pumping station, the whole thing,’ Stratton said during an interview at the park while a cluster of summer campers squealed on a playset nearby. ‘This is all the strategies mixed up into one.’ …

“In addition to the underground stormwater detention tank, which holds 1m gallons of water, Stratton said above-ground infrastructure including rain gardens could hold a million more. An above-ground pump can also send water back into the Hudson.

“ ‘What we’re doing is creating places for the water to go so that we can manage it and keep it off the streets, keep it out of people’s buildings, and get prepared for the uncertain future, which we’re kind of experiencing in real time.’ …

” ‘They need more like this, for sure, so the kids can get outside,’ said Tyrik Davis, 26, a resident of nearby Fairview, New Jersey, who was visiting the park with his children, Naylani, six, and Tyrik Jr, three. ‘Especially this generation. There’s no more kids at the parks. They’re all inside with their phones.’ ”

More at the Guardian, here. No paywall.

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Italian Police Foil Art Thieves

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2025| 3 Comments »

Photo: Roberto Salomone/The Guardian.
Italy’s Carabinieri cultural heritage protection squad at work. The force recently uncovered a clandestine dig in the middle of Naples.

Every morning on the social network Mastodon, German archaeologist Nina Willburger (@ninawillburger) posts a beautiful, or at least curious, artifact from a dig. The history of archaeology suggests that not all of them were unearthed in legal ways, but they are in museums.

Nowadays there are strict laws around digging. Which is why Italy needs its cultural heritage protection squad.

At the Guardian, Angela Giuffrida wrote about the team’s latest success.

“Looking towards the semicircular apse with a frescoed image of a partially identifiable Christ on a throne staring back at them, the archaeologists crouching in the small space deep beneath a residential building in Naples were left speechless. They were amid the remains of an 11th-century church.

“The archaeologists, however, could not take the credit: the historic jewel, which had just been seized by police, was dug up by tombaroli, or tomb-raiders, illicit gangs who for decades have been plundering Italian cultural sites, in turn fueling the global market for stolen art and antiquities.

“Investigators believe the group’s leader was a local entrepreneur, currently under investigation, who owns two apartments in the building above. His cellar was turned into a well-organized excavation site, from where the tomb-raiders dug a warren of tunnels leading them about 8 metres [~26 feet] down into ancient Naples, where they unearthed medieval art. …

“But impressive though their workmanship was – they even installed concrete pillars to prevent the structure from collapsing – officers from the Naples unit of Italy’s Carabinieri cultural heritage protection squad unmasked the gang and confiscated the church after a covert investigation.

“The force also recovered 10,000 fragments of Roman and medieval pottery from the alleged gangmasters’ homes and 453 intact artifacts, including vases, terracotta lamps and coins. …

“The gangs commonly work by marking out clandestine excavation spots close to known archaeological sites, which in the Campania region surrounding Naples can include Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum or areas where there were Roman settlements. So uncovering a clandestine dig in the middle of the city took the specialist squad by surprise.

“ ‘When you think of Pompeii, for example, you know a dig can lead to a wealthy domus where prestigious objects can be found,’ says Massimo Esposito, the chief of the squad’s unit in Naples. ‘But it’s rare to find one in the heart of Naples.’

“The group’s alleged leader is believed to have had an inkling that there might be something beneath his home when construction works nearby on the city’s metro were interrupted and the site cordoned off after a small part of the remains of another, albeit less historically interesting, church emerged.

“The group worked for several months, carrying out their noisiest activity during the day, but not loud enough to attract complaints from the building’s residents. Little did the gang know that their comings and goings were being observed by Esposito’s team, with the squad staking out the building and wiretapping its alleged leader’s phone. Suspicions were especially aroused after seeing him carrying boxes filled with materials. …

“The Carabinieri’s cultural heritage protection squad was established in 1969 with the task of protecting Italy’s priceless cultural assets. Since then, more than 3m stolen artworks and relics have been retrieved, including those that ended up on display in some of the world’s biggest museums, such as the Getty in Los Angeles.

“Art and relics thieves in Campania especially thrived in the 1980s, taking advantage of a devastating earthquake at the beginning of that decade to ransack churches of paintings. The long-lost La Desposizione, a 2-metre high masterpiece painted by Angelo Solimena in 1664 depicting the crucifixion, was recently returned to Campania only after it was spotted on display in a museum in the Marche region. …

“Esposito met the Guardian in his unit’s office located in Castel Sant’Elmo, a medieval fortress overlooking Naples. He was surrounded by relics … including a wine amphora and a house-shaped sarcophagus believed to have contained the remains of a child, and various other funerary objects dating back to the fourth century AD. The artifacts are usually kept there pending the conclusion of judicial cases, before being either returned to their origin or entrusted to museums. …

“Data in recent years indicates a gradual decrease in crimes against cultural heritage. Laws for crimes against cultural heritage have been tightened, and work intensified to return stolen assets from abroad. … Use of social media, especially over the past decade, has also made it easier for the squad to identify thieves. A trove of funerary treasures, believed to have belonged to Etruscan princesses and illegally excavated from an underground tomb in Umbria, was retrieved in November after police came across a photo of the bungling thieves posing on Facebook as they attempted to sell it online.

“ ‘Despite the risk, there is sometimes this egotistical element: they want to boast about the beautiful items they’ve found,’ says Esposito.”

Check out the treasures at the Guardian, here. No paywall. Donations are important to the Guardian‘s journalism.

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A Hot Dance Scene in Brazil

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 4, 2025| 1 Comment »

Photo: María Magdalena Arréllaga.
“People dance into the wee hours,” writes the New York Times. “For many young Brazilians, the charme scene has become a symbol of Black identity and culture unique to Rio’s working-class areas.”

I’m always grateful when the mainstream media digs into an aspect of another culture, something I know nothing about. Today we learn of a vibrant scene that has thrilled thousands of people since the 1970s. And what did I know about it before? Nothing.

Ana Ionova writes at the New York Times, “Trucks, buses and cars rumbled overhead, drowning out Marcus Azevedo’s voice. In the distance, sirens blared and exhaust pipes backfired. From under a highway overpass, Mr. Azevedo, a dance teacher, shouted over the noise, ‘Five, six, seven, eight!’

“He hit play on his phone, and the first song started blasting from a pair of crackling speakers. Six rows of dancers began shuffling, twisting and popping their hips in unison. The playlist? All R&B classics. …

“The dance routine wouldn’t have been out of place in New York City or Atlanta or Los Angeles. But we were on the decaying fringes of Rio de Janeiro, a metropolis better known for samba. And this dance is called charme, a style born here in the 1970s as an ode to American soul, funk and, later, R&B.

“This spot, in the working-class suburb of Madureira, has become a temple for lovers of charme over the decades. By day, it’s where many hone their moves. Once mastered, the steps are flaunted at nighttime parties known as ‘baile charme.’

“ ‘This is a magical place,’ said Mr. Azevedo, 46, who began dancing charme — Portuguese for charm — when he was 11 and now leads a dance company focused on the style. ‘There is something spiritual, an energy that can only be found here.’

“But the old-school R&B tracks shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking that this is a nostalgic crowd yearning for a throwback. This hotbed of charme is attracting an increasingly younger crop of dancers, who are keeping the scene alive — and transforming it in surprising ways.

“On a recent muggy Saturday morning, a few dozen people — from restless children and lanky teenagers to men and women in their 50s and 60s — flocked to the shady overpass. They were there for a class led by Mr. Azevedo and three other instructors, all part of a program meant to introduce charme to more people.

“A small group practiced steps before class started. ‘It’s not hard — a little step here, a little step there,’ said Juliana Bittencourt, 30, an administrative assistant, showing a fellow student how it’s done. ‘Charme is medicine, it has the power to cure anything.’

“Geovana Cruz, 20, a bank teller who had come from São Paulo by bus that morning, excitedly stepped into the front row of dancers.

“ ‘It’s addictive,’ said Ms. Cruz, who comes nearly every week and whose charme dance routines on TikTok draw thousands of likes. …

“ ‘Charme is not just music,’ said Larissa Rodrigues Martins, 25, a schoolteacher. ‘It’s a place where we share and learn from each other — not just about steps, but also about life.’ …

“The birth of charme is rooted in the influx of Black music and culture from the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. At a time when Rio’s far-flung, impoverished outskirts offered young people few sources of pride or identity, the rhythm and style of American artists like James Brown and Stevie Wonder emerged as an inspiration.

“One night in 1980, a D.J. named Corello was working at a club and decided to mix in some Marvin Gaye. ‘Now it’s time for a little charme, slow your body down,’ he called out. The term stuck and came to define the homegrown urban dance movement.

“After many Black social clubs went out of business in the 1990s, charme lovers moved the party to the nearby Madureira overpass, where they could dance undisturbed. …

“The movements that define the dance are at once familiar to urban street dancers yet uniquely ‘Carioca,’ as anyone or anything from Rio de Janeiro is known. The swings carry a hint of bossa nova’s sway; the two-steps have a distinct samba flavor; and the bold hip bounces channel Brazilian funk. …

“For many younger people, the charme scene under the overpass has increasingly become a symbol of Black identity and culture that is unique to Rio’s working-class neighborhoods.

“ ‘This is our ancestry,’ Ms. Martins said. ‘The previous generation showed us this space where we can express ourselves.’

“During the nighttime partying, older revelers mostly hung back. They swayed, stepped and turned with more subtle, sensual movements. ‘We learn from the new kids, and they learn from us,’ said Bruno Oliveira, 44, a clothes salesman wearing a bejeweled cap. ‘It’s love, it’s peace.’ ”

More at the Times, here. Great pictures, especially the videos.

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Making Cymbals in Massachusetts

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 3, 2025| 6 Comments »

Photo: Robin Lubbock/WBUR.
Cymbalsmith Peter Nelson works on a cymbal on a lathe at the Zildjian cymbal factory in Norwell, Massachusetts.

My brother has a book coming out about long-lived companies in the US. It’s not uncommon for businesses in Europe to keep reinventing themselves over centuries, but it is here. So that was one reason I was drawn to a report from WBUR radio about a cymbal maker in Massachusetts that has been turning out high-quality instruments for 400 years and counting. It’s called Avedis Zildjian Co. 

Andrea Shea has the story: “From symphonies to rock music, marching bands and advertising jingles — we hear Zildjian cymbals everywhere. Drummers across the globe know that name because it’s emblazoned on every gleaming disc. What’s less known is the Zildjian family has been making their famous cymbals — with a secret process — for more than 400 years. Of course, not all of those years were in Massachusetts.

“Since the 1970s, the Avedis Zildjian Co. has operated under the radar in Norwell, Massachusetts. We jumped at the chance to get inside the world’s oldest cymbal manufacturer.

“Even in Massachusetts many people have no idea an industrial factory outside of Boston designs, casts, blasts, rolls, hammers, buffs and tests at least a million Zildjian cymbals each year.

“ ‘There’s a lot of mystique and a lot of history at this facility,’ said Joe Mitchell, the company’s director of operations, as we walked past loud, hulking machinery. He’s one of the few privy to a Zildjian process that’s been shrouded in mystery since the height of the Ottoman Empire. It begins in a room that’s off-limits to the public.

“ ‘Behind this door is where we have our foundry,’ Mitchell explained. “This is where we melt our metal and where we pour our castings.’ …

“He leaned over a bin filled with chunky, rough-hewn metal discs. Even in their nascent state, Mitchell said the castings possess the secret to Zildjian’s sound. He struck one lightly to release an enchanting, reverberant ring.

“The company’s proprietary alloy was alchemized 13 generations ago in Constantinople (now Istanbul) by Debbie Zildjian’s ancestor, Avedis I. He was trying to make gold, she said, but he ended up concocting a combination of copper and tin. ‘The mixing of those metals produced a very loud, resonant, beautiful sound,’ she said.

“Debbie explained that in 1618 the Ottoman sultan summoned Avedis to the Topkapi Palace to make cymbals for elite military bands. The metalsmith’s work pleased the ruler, who gave him permission to found his own business in 1623. The sultan also bestowed Avedis the family name ‘Zildjian,’ which actually means cymbal maker. …

“Zildjian became synonymous with cymbals after her grandfather Avedis III, an ethnic Armenian, emigrated to the U.S. in 1909. Two decades later he re-located the family’s cymbal business from Turkey to Quincy, Massachusetts, with his uncle.

“At the time jazz was exploding, so Avedis III travelled to New York City so he could develop new sounds with pioneers, including Gene Krupa. ‘Not only was he a fabulous drummer,’ Debbie said, ‘he was also very flamboyant in his style.’ This made Krupa an ideal ambassador for Zildjian.

“The company really took off with a little help from the Beatles’ 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. ‘Everybody wanted to become a musician,’ Debbie said, ‘and it was in a matter of months that we were totally backordered because Ringo was a huge celebrity.’ …

“In 1973, Zildjian moved to a state-of-the-art factory in Norwell.  Debbie said her father Armand, who was then running the company, loved music. …

“Armand, who started working in Zildjian’s melt room when he was 14, eventually brought Debbie and her sister Craigie inside to teach them the secret process. The family business had always been passed down to the eldest male, but Debbie and Craigie were their father’s heirs.

“ ‘For us, it was very natural on the inside, but the music industry had a hard time accepting women in the business,’ Debbie said. ‘The players were all men, manufacturing was done mostly by men, the salespeople were all men.’

“Craigie became CEO in 1999. Now she’s president and executive chair of the board of trustees. Debbie gravitated to manufacturing and oversees Zildjian’s proprietary alloy process taught to her by her father.

“Over the decades, drummers across all genres have embraced Zildjian cymbals – from Lars Ulrich of Metallica to Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.

” ‘I normally play about six cymbals plus hi-hats,’ she said, ‘They are the sound I’ve been playing my whole life because most jazz drummers play Zildjian cymbals.’

“Carrington founded and directs Berklee College of Music’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice in Boston. She’s also a Zildjian artist, which means she exclusively endorses and plays the company’s cymbals. Carrington said they’ve helped forge her musical identity since she was 10 years old. …

“Carrington’s drum kit is like a painter’s palette. The sound of each cymbal guides her to the next stroke. She’s visited the Zildjian factory many times and still marvels at what they do. ‘I don’t know the secret sauce,’ she said, ‘but to make a piece of metal sound so pretty — and become this beautiful instrument that’s a part of every kind of music that you hear — is pretty remarkable.’ ”

More at WBUR, here. Aren’t the kinds of work people get into for a career endlessly fascinating? Whokid ever imagines they will grow up to be a cymbal maker?

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A Different Kind of Bookshop

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 2, 2025| 1 Comment »

Photo: Paul Singer/GBH News.
Ellie Paris-Miranda inside her new bookshop in downtown Brockton, Massachusetts. This shop aims to build social networks as well as sell books.

I am thinking of a friend in Manhattan, a writer who loves books. Currently in her 90s, she passed through a difficult year with her husband’s illness. After he died, she didn’t feel like doing anything. She stayed home. She turned down overtures from friends.

Then one day, she tells me, she decided to go outside and walk a few blocks on Broadway. She had heard that there was a new independent bookstore. When she walked in and felt the literary atmosphere there, she began to cry. “These are my people,” she said.

That’s just one example of what a bookstore can mean to someone.

Paul Singer reports at GBH radio about other kinds of meaning a new bookstore intends to provide: “On a chilly Sunday afternoon in Brockton, Mayor Robert Sullivan sat in a cozy corner of a new bookstore on Main Street and read a bilingual children’s book to a couple dozen patrons and staff.

“The mayor had arrived to celebrate the opening of the Dr. Ellie Paris Social Bookstore and Ice Cream Cafe, a new storefront shop intended to encourage literacy and social networking particularly among Brockton’s large immigrant population.

“The book he read, Tiagu and Vovo, is written in English and Cape Verdean Creole and tells the story of an immigrant family learning the new language. 

“Ellie Paris-Miranda, the owner of the shop and an immigrant from Cape Verde herself, said having the mayor reading this book symbolizes why she wanted to open a bookstore.

“ ‘I really want to foster literacy, education, and upward economic mobility through giving communities access to not only books, but also a network,’ she said. …

“In her other job, Paris-Miranda is a tenure-track assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Wheaton College in Norton.

” ‘There’s this positive correlation between building successful business with the quality of the network, the relationships that you have that can be used as a financial resource,’ she said. ‘Especially for low income people, starting businesses and women who often don’t have all the resources needed.’

“The shop is just a few blocks from city hall and the courthouse, so she hopes her neighborhood customers will rub elbows and get to know city leaders over a sandwich or an ice cream cone.

“True to her own roots, Paris-Miranda’s shop shelves prominently feature books about financial planning and business strategy, as well as books in a variety of languages. She also refers to her customers as clients. …

“ ‘My “clients” are like long-term relationships I am building,’ she said.

“Eventually, Paris-Miranda said, she plans to teach English classes at the shop, as well as other programming on entrepreneurship and personal finance.

“The new bookstore is riding a wave of new interest in local bookshops, said Beth Ineson, executive director of the New England Independent Booksellers Association.

“ ‘We’ve had such a boom in eastern New England since basically 2020 for bookstores opening,’ Ineson said. … ‘We’ve had as many new stores join my organization in the past four years as the previous ten combined.’ …

“Part of the reason for this boom, Ineson said, is that the pandemic left many storefronts vacant, making commercial real estate more affordable. But another part of it is the need for community.

“ ‘It is really on everybody’s mind now how these stores can become places for community and for intellectual engagement,’ she said. …

“In Brockton, the Ellie Paris Social Bookstore replaces an empty storefront with the sound of chatter and a smoothie blender.

“Matt Stanton, a lifelong Brockton resident and member of the city’s Beautification Committee, said he hopes the new bookstore can be an engine for downtown revitalization.

“ ‘To me, this could be a catalyst to just, you know, really bring the downtown back,’ he said. ‘There’s a couple shops right up the street. If somebody comes in here, they walk up to the store in the next block. And it’s just great.’ ”

More at GBH radio, here.

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Kenyan Kids Meet Classical Music

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 1, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Malin Fezehai for the Washington Post.
Steve Otieno (described below) rehearsing with the Ghetto Classics orchestra in Kenya.

Charitable work is complicated. It is not always possible to do the good for people that you intend. But if you are making a meaningful difference in some lives, that may be enough.

In Kenya, an orchestra called Ghetto Classics aims to help poor children achieve something fine and eventually move away from the dangers of their extreme poverty.

Katharine Houreld writes at the Washington Post about both the successes and failures of the orchestra.

“The violin’s quaver steadied and swelled through the gloomy concrete staircase, escaped through the wire mesh and soared over the packed-dirt playground before dissipating in the acrid smoke drifting in from the smoldering dump site next door.

“It was the last day of class before Ghetto Classics broke up for Christmas, and 14-year-old Steve Otieno was practicing his Christmas carols for his final performance of 2024. Undeterred by the demolition of his home last month, the floods that devastated his neighborhood in Nairobi this year, or the eye-watering stink of burning plastic all around him, he stroked the strings to coax forth each note of ‘Joy to the World.’

“ ‘Music makes me feel calm when I’m stressed,’ he said shyly. ‘Some people have drugs. For me, it is music.’

“Steve is one of thousands of children from the poorest neighborhoods of the Kenyan capital who have been introduced to classical music by Ghetto Classics. The organization was set up in 2008 by Elizabeth Njoroge, a classically trained singer who studied pharmacology at her parents’ urging but longed to return to music. A chance encounter with a priest trying to fund a basketball court at a Catholic school in the Nairobi slum of Korogocho inspired her to raise money for the first class of musicians there. …

“Now Ghetto Classics provides lessons to about 1,000 students, who feed three orchestras, a choir and a dance group. Njoroge raises funds to support its expanding programs.

“Ghetto Classics works in schools and community centers in Nairobi and Mombasa, but its headquarters is in the St. John compound in Korogocho, where a church, school and community all share space. A tarmacked basketball court and a dirt field for soccer are enclosed by a sagging chain-link fence and scraggly trees; on one side of the compound, the children have planted a garden to try to filter out the choking smoke.

“Ghetto Classics has performed for former president Barack Obama, first lady Jill Biden and Pope Francis. Alumni are studying in the United States, Britain and Poland.

They include one determined pianist who learned to play by watching videos and repeating the motions on a piece of cardboard on which he’d drawn keys.

“The lessons provide a refugee for students suffering from hunger, domestic violence and crime, said violin instructor David Otieno, who is not related to Steve. He joined the program a decade ago as a student; now he’s one of 45 graduates working as paid instructors.

“The tall, dreadlocked 29-year-old credits Ghetto Classics with saving him from the neighborhood gangs. He witnessed his first homicide when he was still in primary school, and as he grew up, the gangs sucked in friend after friend. His teachers became so worried he’d be killed, he said, that they collected money to move his mother and six siblings to a safer neighborhood where he could continue his music.

“Back then, he said, the group shared 10 violins among 30 students. Now he has his own instrument. Once shy and fearful, he has played in Poland, in the United States and at State House, the Kenyan president’s home in Nairobi.

“ ‘The violin gives you a voice,’ he said. ‘It makes you talk to people you’d never otherwise talk to.’ His students filed into the compound bumping fists.

“Thousands of kids enroll in Ghetto Classics, but most fall away. The discipline is demanding. … About a dozen young musicians who spoke to the Washington Post said their parents had never seen them perform. Some were single parents too busy working, some weren’t interested and some were actively opposed. …

“When opera singer David Mwenje started with Ghetto Classics, his father was skeptical, he said, but he came to see him perform and was won over — a bittersweet memory to which Mwenje clings now that his father has died.

“Mwenje sang for six years, including for Pope Francis at the Vatican, before turning professional in 2021. His first audition landed him the role of Okoth — a messenger who must tell a village medicine man that his daughter has taken up with foreign missionaries — in Nyanga: Runaway Grandmother with Baraka Opera Kenya at the Kenya National Theatre. It was the first ray of hope in years darkened by his father’s death and the covid pandemic that shuttered his school, he said.

“ ‘Through this opera, I could control all my pain,’ he said. ‘I also love to sing “Bring Him Home,” from Les Misérables, because the song reminds me of my dad and I feel like I’m pleading with God to bring him home.’ ”

More at the Post, here.

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Saving Water in California

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 28, 2025| 3 Comments »

Photo: Jenna Garrett/The Guardian.
Eric Haas in his backyard in Oakland, California. The California professor had a rainwater and greywater capture system installed at his highly efficient urban home to conserve water. 

I like reading about people who are handy at fixing or making things. Probably because I’m not. Other than sewing on a button or baking cookies, I don’t do much in the do-it-yourself line, but I know some of you do, and I’d love to hear about it.

Today’s article is part of a Guardian series on people who figure out ways to limit their impact on the environment. Sometimes that means working with companies specializing in sustainable building practices. Eric Haas told his story to Victoria Namkung.

“I joined the Peace Corps after college in 1985,” Haas explains, “and was a math and science teacher in Buchanan, Liberia. There, I started to realize that large parts of the world don’t live with all the energy consumption and materialism that we do in the US.

“I started seeing people’s innovative ways of keeping their houses warm or cool and how they would get their water. I had to carry my own water at times and be very conscious where it came from. These experiences started cementing this idea that life could take into account the environment you lived in.

Relatively simple ideas could make a huge difference in the comfort and quality of your house. You adapt and your lifestyle can adapt. …

“When our family settled in Oakland, California, in 2007, part of the decision in buying a house was whether it was somewhere I could finally focus on water conservation and other low-carbon-footprint projects like installing solar panels, insulation and high-efficiency appliances.

“I hired Dig Cooperative Inc, a local contractor known for pioneering water-conservation systems across the greater Bay Area, to install a rainwater and greywater collection system at our home. I have about 4,000 gallons of water I can collect, which translates to about 7inches of rain coming off the roof. Filtered rainwater is used to fill the toilets and washing machine and water most of our plants. It can also be saved on site for emergency use in case of a fire or an earthquake.

“The greywater system takes our ‘used’ shower, bathroom sink and washing machine water and diverts it to the backyard to water our vegetable gardens and six fruit trees. …

“During 2024, the typical household in our area used an average of 124 gallons of water a day. We used an average of 39 gallons of water a day, less than a third.

“It wasn’t hard and the whole project took about a week. Rain barrels needed to be purchased and set up and the ground had to be leveled. I have a relatively small and simple house and connecting the rainwater and greywater system into the existing plumbing just took a day or two.

“The whole project cost about $15,000. We still have a water bill because the shower, sink and dishwasher water use regular city water, but it’s a fraction of what it used to be. … Compared to the average water user, I save about $220 a year on my water bill. So, my rainwater and greywater systems do more for my local environment than they do for my wallet.

“Since moving to Oakland, I’ve noticed a lot of climate-related changes. Before, nobody had air-conditioning, and I never even thought about it. Now it’s almost a necessity on select days. When I first put in the system, there was enough rain periodically in California’s dry season to fill up the tanks enough that I never had to go back to city water for the first several years. Now it only lasts for about 10 months. The dry season is so dry and when we’ve got extra rain in the rainy season my tanks overflow and drain into the sewer because they’re full.

“We have to approach our water use differently in California. … Our overuse of water now impacts our quality of life. We have water-restriction days where they ask you not to use as much water, including not flushing our toilets every time, and we’re encouraged not to have a lawn. … You can still have a really nice garden. We have a hot tub, we have a regular shower, but because those things are connected into this larger system, we have a much smaller impact.

“I feel like I’m doing something real and concrete, and every time I hear the greywater pump go on or when I hear the pump from our rainwater system go on to fill up the washing machine or  toilet, that’s water that I’m not taking from the system and that matters.

“Every time it rains, I love to go out and look at the gutters and see how much it’s pouring into the system. It brings me joy to interact with the natural environment in this small way in my urban house.”

More at the Guardian, here. My DIY climate hack is a Guardian series about everyday people across the US using their own ingenuity to tackle the climate crisis in their neighborhoods, homes and backyards.

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Wildflowers May Rescue Farmers

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 27, 2025| 5 Comments »

Photo: Lee Tesdell.
Behind farmer Lee Tesdell in the photo are rolled-up strips of prairie sod containing native plants that help improve his land’s resistance to climate change. 

There are so many things we have taken for granted in our natural world. Consider weeds. We might have noticed that various flying things liked their blossoms, but we didn’t like them.

That is, until we started noticing that we wouldn’t have much food if those flying things didn’t pollinate plants.

Now some farmers who used to kill weeds are bringing them back. As Rachel Cramer reports at the Guardian, strips of native plants (weeds) on as little as 10% of farmland can reduce soil erosion by up to 95%.

“Between two corn fields in central Iowa,” she writes, “Lee Tesdell walks through a corridor of native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Crickets trill as dickcissels, small brown birds with yellow chests, pop out of the dewy ground cover. …

“This is a prairie strip. Ranging from 10-40 metres (30-120ft) in width, these bands of native perennials are placed strategically in a row-crop field, often in areas with low yields and high runoff. Tesdell has three on his farm.

“He points out several native plants – big bluestem, wild quinine, milkweed, common evening primrose – that came from a 70-species seed mix he planted here six years ago. These prairie plants help improve the soil while also protecting his more fertile fields from bursts of heavy rain and severe storms, which are becoming more frequent.

“ ‘To a conventional farmer, this looks like a weed patch with a few pretty flowers in it, and I admit it looks odd in the corn and soy landscape in central Iowa,’ … he said. ‘I’m trying to be more climate-change resilient on my farm.’ …

“Prairie strips also help reduce nutrient pollution, store excess carbon underground and provide critical habitat for pollinators and grassland birds. Thanks to federal funding through the USDA’s conservation reserve program, they’ve taken off in recent years.

“But the idea started two decades ago with Iowa State University researchers and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge managers. Lisa Schulte Moore, a landscape ecologist and co-director of the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University, who was integral to the research, knows that large patches of restored and reconstructed prairie are vital, especially for wildlife, but she argues that integrating small amounts of native habitat back into the two dominant ecosystems – corn and soya beans – can make a big difference. …

“In north-central Missouri, farmer Doug Doughty has been adding and expanding conservation practices, like no-till, for decades. He also has a few hundred acres of prairie enrolled in the USDA’s conservation reserve program. This past winter, he added prairie strips, as part of a plan to tackle nutrient pollution. High levels of nitrates and phosphorus can wreak havoc on aquatic habitats and the economies that depend on them. There are also health risks for people. Nitrates in drinking water have been associated with methaemoglobinaemia or ‘blue baby syndrome,’ and cancer. …

“During an outreach event in the Iowa Great Lakes region, Matt Helmers uses a rainfall simulator to demonstrate runoff and erosion with different conservation practices. He’s one of the prairie strips researchers and director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University. …

“During a big rain storm, each prairie strip in a field acts like a ‘mini speed-bump,’ said Helmers. A thick wall of stems and leaves slows down surface water, which reduces soil erosion and gives the ground more time to soak up water. Below ground, long roots anchor layers of soil while absorbing excess water, along with nitrates and phosphorus.

“Farmer Eric Hoien says he first heard about the conservation practice a decade ago, right around the time he was becoming more concerned about water issues in Iowa. But the final push to add 24 acres of prairie strips came from something Hoien saw in an plane above the Gulf of Mexico.

“ ‘I looked down and for what was probably 20 minutes, it was just like the biggest brown mud puddle I’d ever seen. And so I knew that, that stuff they say about the dead zone, from 30,000 ft, was real,’ Hoien said. …

“Hoien says prairie strips offer other benefits close to home. Neighbors often tell him they appreciate the wildflowers and hearing the ‘cackle’ of pheasants. He also enjoys hunting in the prairie strips and spotting insects he’s never seen before.

“The strips are hugely beneficial for pollinator populations, which have been dropping around the world. Researchers point to a combination of habitat loss, pesticide exposure, parasites and diseases, along with warmer temperatures and more severe weather events due to climate change.

“ ‘If we can help them have a place to live and something to eat, they can be better equipped to cope with those kinds of stress that they’re inevitably going to encounter in their environments,’ says Amy Toth, who is also part of the prairie strips research team and an entomology professor at Iowa State University. Research shows both the diversity of pollinator species and overall numbers are higher in prairie strips compared to field edges without native plants.

“And strips of native plants aren’t just good for pollinators. Researchers, including Schulte Moore, found a nearly threefold higher density of grassland birds on fields with prairie strips. She says that grassland birds have declined more than any other avian group in North America since 1970. …

“Schulte Moore says a group of forward-thinking, innovative farmers and partnerships with non-profits, foundations, universities and agencies in the midwest have helped prairie strips gain traction, but then a ‘monumental shift’ happened with the 2018 Farm Act, when prairie strips became an official practice in the federal conservation reserve program.” More here.

Pray that these federal conservation programs are not already slashed.

And for more on the prairie’s vast potential, read about Buffalo Commons, a movement launched by my husband’s classmate and his wife in the 1980s, here.

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Improving the Airport’s Soundscape

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2025| 3 Comments »

Photo: Nashville Airport.
Singer Songwriter Joe West is the “house band” for the Nashville International Airport. He’s the son of Sarge and Shirley West, the first and only African American Country and Western Duo.

Remember when going to the airport was fun and even exciting? It’s sad that all the protective measures needed now have made the experience excruciatingly tiresome. Nowadays when I think of wanting to visit someone by plane, I hesitate.

Among the attributes of airports that today’s travelers object to is noise, and today’s story is about how some airports are making an effort to change that unpleasantness.

Dee-Ann Durbin has the story at the Associated Press.

“Background music,” she writes, “is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help lighten travelers’ moods.

“London’s Heathrow Airport built a stage to showcase emerging British performers for the first time this summer. The program was so successful the airport hopes to bring it back in 2025. Nashville International Airport has five stages that host more than 800 performances per year, from country musicians to jazz combos. In the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana International Airport greets passengers with live merengue music.

“Tiffany Idiart and her two nieces were delighted to hear musicians during a recent layover at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

“ ‘I like it. There’s a lot of people here and they can all hear it,’ said Grace Idiart, 9. ‘If their flight got delayed or something like that, they could have had a hard day. And so the music could have made them feel better.’

“Airports are also carefully curating their recorded playlists. Detroit Metro Airport plays Motown hits in a tunnel connecting its terminals. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas has a playlist of local artists compiled by an area radio station. Singapore’s Changi Airport commissioned a special piano accompaniment for its giant digital waterfall.

“Music isn’t a new phenomenon in airport terminals. Brian Eno’s ‘Music for Airports,’ an album released in 1978, helped define the ambient music genre. It’s minimalist and designed to calm.

“But Barry McPhillips, the head of international creative for Mood Media, which provides music for airports and other public spaces, said technology is enabling background music to be less generic and more tailored to specific places or times of day.

“Mood Media – formerly known as Muzak – develops playlists to appeal to business travelers or families depending on who’s in the airport at any given time. It might program calmer music in the security line but something more energizing in the duty-free store. …

“There’s a science to Mood Music’s decisions on volume, tempo, even whether to play a song in a major key versus a minor one, he added. ..

“At the same time, many airports are going low-tech, hiring local musicians to serenade travelers and give them a sense of the place they’re passing through.

“Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports have more than 100 live performances each year. Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport began a live music program five years ago and now has two stages featuring local artists.

“Tami Kuiken, the manager of airport music in Seattle, said the Seattle-Tacoma airport launched its live music program about a decade ago after a city commissioner heard live music at the airport in Austin, Texas.

“ ‘The idea was like, “Man, why doesn’t Seattle have music? We’re a music city too,’ Kuiken said. …

“It decided to try live musicians for a 12-week trial. It was so successful that the airport now features live musicians daily and is building new performance spaces.

“ ‘People’s anxiety levels are very high when they’re traveling,’ Kuiken said. ‘The feedback that we started getting was that once they got through the checkpoint and they were greeted with music, all of a sudden their anxiety and stress levels dropped.’ …

“When Colorado Springs Airport announced a live music program in March, more than 150 musicians applied. It now hosts two two-hour performances each week.

“David James, a singer and guitarist who plays at Seattle’s airport about once a week, said waking up in time for a daytime gig took some adjustment. But he’s gained new fans from all over the world.

“ ‘I get really sweet responses from people all the time, saying, “That was so soothing to be able to just sit and listen to [music],” ‘ James said. …

“Country stars like Blake Shelton and Keith Urban have come through Nashville’s airport and interacted with local musicians, said Stacey Nickens, the airport’s vice president of corporate communications and marketing. Shelton even gave one his guitar.

“Otto Stuparitz, a musicologist and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam who has studied airport music, said airports should think carefully about their selections. Music that’s meant to be actively listened to – like live music or catchy pop songs – can be very distracting in an already chaotic environment, he said. He has noticed some airports – especially in Europe – turning off piped melodies altogether. …

” ‘A well-crafted audio strategy is one that people aren’t particularly cognizant of,’ he said. ‘They just know they’re having a good time and that it’s appropriate.’ ”

I think that watching musicians playing live would create a more relaxing ambiance for me than canned recordings by whatever Musak calls itself now. How about you?

More at AP, here.

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From Food Desert to Vegan Wonderland

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 25, 2025| 5 Comments »

Photo: SÜPRMARKT.
SÜPRMARKT is the reason a district in Los Angeles went from a food desert to a vegan oasis.

What a difference healthful eating can make! We all know someone who became healthier after changing diet. Unfortunately, communities that grocery chains have abandoned have almost no access to fresh fruits and vegetables or other healthful, nourishing food. In a “food desert,” people may live off fast food or whatever the local gas station or convenience store has on offer.

Nabou Ramu recently wrote at the Guardian about the difference that a vegan market made in what had been a Los Angeles food desert.

“The plate is her canvas,” writes Namu about a Los Angeles resident. “Imani Cohen never wants her dish to look too brown nor too starchy. She gravitates toward foods bright with luminous colors such as greens, purples and orange, during her weekly Saturday visits to the farmer’s market – a ritual she’s kept for herself and family as a way to be intentional [about food]. …

“Growing up in south central Los Angeles a lot of exotic vegetable ingredients Cohen’s mother loved to cook with were not always readily available in the neighborhood. …

“It’s why in 2020 her longtime homegirl, Olympia Auset, started a pop-up, SÜPRMARKT, in front of artist and educator Ben Caldwell’s storefront, KAOS in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park neighborhood to combat the existing food desert that dehydrates south central Angelenos. In July 2024, SÜPRMARKT upgraded into a brick and mortar oasis and became the first vegan grocery store in south central Los Angeles.

“Auset was disappointed that there were only three grocery stores within Crenshaw’s six-mile radius. She started SÜPRMARKT because she hated that residents had to travel miles into Manhattan beach, Marina Del Rey or Westchester to hunt for high value produce.

“ ‘It’s out of our way,’ said Auset, 33, who studied public relations and sociology at Howard University.

“Places such as Simply Wholesome, a Black-owned whole food store, has been a staple on Slauson Avenue and Overhill Drive but are more of an earth pharmacy and health restaurant. …

“SÜPRMARKT is accessibly located … inside a 1,908 sq ft free-standing home. Upon arrival, patrons are greeted by a patio with ample seating. Inside resembles ‘a cozy residential house.’ …

“The market offers a well-stocked selection of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, including perfectly ripe mangoes, onions, yams, chard and dairy. Their open kitchen allows one to eat clean foods from their menu such as the signature ‘Everyday People’ salad, cornbread, cabbage and vegan gumbo. Customers are also able to purchase items using funds through government- and community-assistance programs.

“Gaining access to vegan processed foods for SÜPRMARKT was difficult for Auset, who said she faced racism and discrimination. One distributor laughed in Auset’s face questioning, ‘vegan ice cream on Slauson?’ Then denying her service citing the neighborhood ‘unsafe.’

“ ‘I have had people do a lot of really weird things when we were going through our permit process,’ Auset said.

“She wants to raise awareness of these problems to make access smoother for people who are attempting to make a healthier oasis in the communities needed most.

“Nearly one in five Angelenos – or roughly 2 million people – are food insecure … defined by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy life. …

“Residents in the four neighborhoods along the Crenshaw district – West Adams, Windsor Hills-View Park and Baldwin Hills – are more than likely to eat fast food and get food from liquor stores or [convenience stores] due to the lack of access to fresh ingredients in the area, according to a study done by students at the University of Southern California.

“ ‘I focus on food injustice and food access because I feel like it’s one thing that we have the ability to solve,’ said Auset.

“However, Cohen suggests that the locals’ inner priorities define what food they have to eat in their hood. As the ‘Hood Healer’ she pushes people in the neighborhood she grew up in to eat with the same self-love she does, and put their health first.

“Diets are ‘impacting our productivity,’ she said. ‘We are functioning under high stress. Let’s start working on changing our diets.’

“She points to the Crenshaw Farmers Market, operated by Food Access LA, that serves a large swath of south central Los Angeles. The market features regional farmers, food and artisan vendors who bring a diverse selection of local produce as well as sprouts, breads, nuts, baked goods and delicious prepared food. …

“The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw farmers market exists at the Crenshaw Mall bringing sustainable food systems that benefit low-to-moderate income residents of Los Angeles and supporting California’s small- and mid-sized farms and local small businesses, their website says.

“ ‘These markets are not well supported,’ said Cohen, who began a social media movement on Instagram ‘Farmers Market Saturday’ where she promotes and connects people to the farm-to-table experience and connect locals with Black farmers. …

“For Auset, quality food is about one thing – keeping people alive.

“ ‘Statistics are not just numbers, they’re actual people. I don’t want to go to my friend’s funeral when we’re 40,’ she said.”

More at the Guardian, here.

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The Genius of the Gullah Geechee

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 24, 2025| 6 Comments »

Photo: North Carolina office of state archaeology.
A rice gate, seen here in 1986. At Eagles Island, North Carolina, in the late 1700s, the enslaved Gullah Geechee people began creating ingenious rice fields. 

If the people described in this archaeological report used brilliant rice-growing techniques while enslaved, imagine what they might have done if they had been free! But, alas, slavery destroys lives of the enslaved and their descendants for generations, as Pat Conroy documented in The Water is Wide, his memoir about teaching.

In an in-depth article at the Guardian, Adria R Walker writes about recent archaeological discoveries concerning the Gullah Geechee people of the American South.

“As a former deputy state underwater archaeologist, Mark Wilde-Ramsing can’t help but look down. While rowing around North Carolina’s Eagles Island, at the tip of the Gullah Geechee corridor, he noticed signs of human-made structures, visible at low tide. Though he’d retired, he was still active in the field and knew his former agency hadn’t recorded the structures – which meant he had come across something previously undocumented. …

“Wilde-Ramsing knew the area had once been full of rice fields. His neighbor, Joni ‘Osku’ Backstrom, was an assistant professor in the department of environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington whose specialty was shallow-water sonar, and he had the skills and technology to explore the area. Using a sonar device, the duo detected 45 wooden structures in the river, and the remote sensing tool allowed Backstrom and Wilde-Ramsing to acoustically map the canal beds. …

“Spanning 2,000 acres (809 hectares) of the northern end of Eagles Island, the 45 irrigation devices were developed by enslaved people, who would later come to be known as the Gullah Geechee. The devices were used to control water flow for the rice fields in conjunction with earthen dams and levees, Wilde-Ramsing said.

Their existence provides further evidence of the engineering and technological skills that Gullah Geechee people used for rice cultivation, beginning in the late 1700s at the latest.

“Backstrom and Wilde-Ramsing documented their findings in a study published earlier [in 2024]. ‘The use of the island for this endeavor prior to the Civil War, in large part rested on the shoulders of transplanted and enslaved Africans and their descendant Gullah Geechee tradition,’ the study reads.

“The team’s discoveries, which came after two years of research in and around Eagles Island, have helped further shed light on the ingenious, skilled work of the Gullah Geechee people. Though Gullah Geechee people have been studied for centuries, Backstrom and Wilde-Ramsing’s research is the first to focus on their irrigation systems. The research couldn’t come soon enough: Eagles Island is environmentally vulnerable, both because of climate change and ongoing development. The duo registered their sites with the state, making development more difficult as a means to ensure the protection of cultural artifacts.

“ ‘The whole area was originally swamp. It was cleared mostly in the post-colonial, early 1800s period for tidal rice cultivation because that area was freshwater,’ Wilde-Ramsing said. ‘They were able to actually use, regulate, introduce the water and drain it with the tides.’ …

“The work the Gullah Geechee people did would have been exhaustive. Wilde-Ramsing says it required removing the cypress forests, then building dams and levees. Growing rice necessitated the use of water, so they created long wooden boxes, or ‘trunks,’ with gates on either side, that allowed them to let the water in by opening the gates. …

“The enslaved populations throughout the Gullah Geechee corridor – which spans the coasts of North Carolina to upper Florida – were isolated in such a way that they developed and maintained a culture different from that of most plantations.

“ ‘[They were] from coastal regions of west Africa, an area that had similar environs to those along the southern Atlantic seaboard centering on Georgia and the Carolinas, where rice agriculture was a mainstay of the economy,’ the study reads. …

” ‘I didn’t quite realize the role that rice played. It rivaled cotton during the 1840s and 50s,’ Backstrom said. ‘It was all over Europe and the US and it was all run by African Americans. A lot of it was developed based on their skills. I’m just happy that it’s coming to light and they’re getting their – I won’t say new – but recognition that this was an amazing thing, amazing work.’

“Even though Wilde-Ramsing and Backstrom’s discovery likely won’t permanently stop either development or climate change, not least because the island is owned by multiple private entities, the existence of historic, cultural artifacts can ensure that the Gullah Geechee structures are at least documented instead of simply being razed and forgotten.

“The researchers have been in communication with East Carolina University’s maritime program, and the school plans to send a contingent to the site to study some of the characteristic types. People from the school will be able to work on noting the various structures, trying to figure out how they operated and taking samples. Backstrom said that they’ve also been in contact with researchers at George Mason University in Fairfax county, Virginia, including a professor who had ancestors [from the area].

“In terms of further discovery, a mix of approaches best suits the complicated terrain. ‘We’re thinking about using drone imagery,’ Backstrom said. ‘We have some preliminary drone footage, which gives us access to these areas at dead low tide, areas that we had a lot of difficulty with, even with a very small vessel.’ The area is remote, full of tight nooks and crannies. It’s ‘particularly challenging because of the tides and the timing,’ he said. The different combinations of drone imagery and sonar mean the researchers aren’t limited by turbidity in the water.

“Backstrom hopes to go to west Africa, specifically to Senegal or the Senegambia region, where many Gullah Geechee people were from, to learn about the history of rice farming, including the roles women and children played. Children, for instance, tasted the water to ensure too much saltwater wasn’t being let in, and women helped in the actual cultivation of the rice, using skills from their home countries that were passed down throughout generations.”

More at the Guardian, here. No firewall. Donations help save reliable news.

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Sculptor Maya Lin in Massachusetts

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2025| 4 Comments »

Photo: David L. Ryan/Globe Staff.
Maya Lin’s landscape artwork in Kendall Square in Cambridge. It’s an “undulating wave field” in front of the Volpe Transportation building on Binney Street.

For most of us, sculptor Mia Lin first came to our attention when she was chosen to create the Vietnam war memorial in Washington, DC. The solemn listing of the names of the dead on black granite was a brilliant idea, endlessly moving.

Until now Lin had never created landscape art in Massachusetts, so people were surprised to learn that in fact she had had an impressive earthwork in busy Cambridge since 2023.

Scott Kirsner writes at the Boston Globe, “What if someone spent $1.3 million on a work of art, installed it in one of the busiest parts of Cambridge, and forgot to tell anyone?

“That’s effectively what happened with a piece called ‘The Sound We Travel At,’ by the New York City artist Maya Lin. She is best known for works like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala. …

“But she also makes works of landscape art … and that’s what was created in Kendall in 2023. You can find it on Binney Street as you head toward Boston, to the left of a new 13-story building that houses the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, a research center run by the US Department of Transportation. Sandwiched between a row of trees and lampposts is a series of 11 grass-covered, wave-like mounds of earth.

“Apropos of the Volpe Center’s work … the artwork outside is a physical representation of the Doppler effect. You know: the phenomenon of a sound, like a train’s horn, changing in pitch as it races past you. Some of the rippling mounds in Lin’s work represent sound waves that are approaching the viewer, and some of them represent sound waves that are receding from the viewer. Visitors are invited to walk atop, or even sit on, the work.

“There’s so much construction work in Kendall Square right now that I only noticed the artwork in November 2023, when I was visiting the Volpe Center to write a piece. … A year later, I noticed that there’s still no sign, and it doesn’t appear on the website of either the Volpe Center or the Maya Lin Studio. I couldn’t find a single museum curator or former curator in town who knew about it. …

“The artwork is part of a 14-acre site that MIT’s real estate management arm acquired from the federal government in 2017, and is redeveloping to include housing, retail, office space, parks, and a new community center. Part of that deal involved MIT building a newer home for the Volpe Center, and any time a new federal building goes up, half of one percent of the building’s cost goes to art. (That’s even true when MIT is footing the construction bill, as it was in this case.)

“Paul Ha, the director of MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, helped make the connection to Lin for the project. He was one of the few people in the local art world I could find that was aware of its existence. Ha had worked with Lin on a major exhibit when he was running the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. …

“Aprile Gallant of the Smith College Museum of Art says, ‘I do believe this is Lin’s first landscape piece in Massachusetts, so it is a milestone.’ That museum hosted a major exhibit of Lin’s works in 2022, when a library that she’d designed opened on campus. …

“Did ‘The Sound We Travel At’ fall through the cracks, in a neighborhood peppered with cranes and construction fencing, and tech and biotech workers who go from garages to offices perhaps two or three days a week?

“ ‘We felt that way,’ says James Ewart, manager of the Maya Lin Studio.

“But according to the government’s General Services Administration, by the time spring rolls around, a sign will finally be installed next to the artwork.”

More on the Maya Lin project at the Globe, here.

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The Arts and the Hurricane

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 22, 2025| 16 Comments »

Photo: Kyle Mellott via Heather Divoky.
Catastrophic flooding swallowed up buildings of Asheville’s River Arts District. Despite ongoing floods and fires in the US, government disaster relief is facing big cuts.

My childhood friend Ursula, an artist in Asheville, North Carolina, lost much of her own and her late father’s artwork to Hurricane Helene last year. As I consider the Hyperallergic article below, I can’t help thinking that in addition to individuals who helped victims (like blogger Deb), government disaster relief (like FEMA, now on the chopping block), was indispensable.

Rhea Nayyar wrote, “Southeastern states are reeling from catastrophic loss and damages after Hurricane Helene tore a deadly path of devastation from Florida’s Big Bend region up through inland Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. In the mountains of western North Carolina, the city of Asheville was particularly hard hit by flooding … obliterating the cherished River Arts District (RAD) — a creative hub home to studios, galleries, community spaces, and other artist-run small businesses.

“ ‘Two-thirds of the district has been destroyed,’ said Jeffrey Burroughs, president of the River Arts District Artists Association, in an interview with Hyperallergic. Hosting over 350 local artists and craftspeople, the RAD complex comprises 27 buildings that span just over a mile of the eastern riverside. The southernmost string of buildings along Foundy Street, including the enormous Marquee warehouse which was once a bustling marketplace for artisans and antique dealers, are ‘gone,’ according to Burroughs. …

“ ‘Marquee is rubble, the nearby winery has washed away … It’s completely apocalyptic,’ Burroughs said. He recalled overseeing artwork, art supplies, and cans of beer being carried off by the [water] itself, saying that it was like ‘watching the spirit of Asheville being washed away.’

“A little further north at Pink Dog Creative on Depot Street, Asheville artist Heather Divoky, a marketing co-chair for RAD, told Hyperallergic … ‘This will absolutely reshape RAD — we’re going to be forever changed,’ Divoky said. ‘We’re all in complete shock right now. I don’t know how many of us can come back.’

“Down the street, Trackside Studios reported that flood waters reached the ceiling of the first floor where about 40 of the 60 studio artists maintain their practice. Co-owners Julie Bell and Michael Campbell were out of state during the storm, and have since become a communications switchboard as they have reliable internet access and power. Bell noted to Hyperallergic that Trackside Studios had recently completed a months-long renovation prior to the storm to restore the building’s historic appearance. …

“ ‘It’s so dangerous to clean up after these types of disasters because the mud is full of debris, mold spores, sharp objects, and dead fish. It’s neither safe nor sanitary,’ she said. …

“Miles east of RAD, artist, tax expert, and Hyperallergic contributor Hannah Cole reported that her studio along the Swannanoa River tributary had been entirely upheaved by floodwaters.

“ ‘The building is totaled,’ Cole told Hyperallergic, noting that 20 years worth of artwork and supplies were ‘effectively put in a blender for hours’ in a mixture of water, mud, heavy furniture and tools, and other debris carried in by the river.

“ ‘Some level of flooding is normal during big storms, but this has never happened before,’ Cole continued, adding that when she paid a risky visit to the studios after Helene, the water lines were up to the ceiling.

“Ruby Lopez Harper, executive director of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+), which imparts safeguarding advice for natural disasters and offers emergency relief and preparedness grants to artists across the United States, told Hyperallergic that ‘recovery is going to take years.’

“ ‘We tell artists to store their things in waterproof bins and other such protective measures … None of that is going to help when your home is underwater,’ she said, explaining that no one had predicted this. …

“But on the ground, both Burroughs and Cole expressed that it’s impossible to even think so far ahead while they and their loved ones are still focused on securing potable water. However, Burroughs and the other RAD board members are conceptualizing an action plan to get stipends for artist relief, recovery funds for RAD, and a clean-up effort to remove the dangers and debris onsite.

“ ‘My husband and I moved here in 2020 after I was suffering from long COVID,’ Burroughs said. ‘There is nothing like this area, this community, anywhere else in the country. We will come back stronger.’ ”

More at Hyperallergic, here.

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A Cop Decides to “Do Something”

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 21, 2025| 8 Comments »

Photo: Shefali Rafiq.
Students celebrate a classmate’s birthday at an informal school, or pathshala, set up by police officer Than Singh (center), in a Delhi, India.

Today’s story is about one compassionate person in India who wanted to make a difference in children’s lives. Shefali Rafiq and Saqib Mugloo wrote the photo essay for the Christian Science Monitor.

“It wasn’t until Than Singh came along that learning became a favorite pastime for the children who typically roam Delhi’s streets begging, rifling through garbage, or engaging in petty crimes.

“In 2015, the Delhi police officer started a pathshala, or place of learning, where he teaches 80 students a day in a temple set up near the Red Fort. ‘It was heartbreaking to see children scavenging for plastic bottles in the trash,’ he recalls. ‘That’s when I decided to do something.’

“More than half of India’s children are malnourished, and about 30% of those ages 6 to 18 do not attend school. Mr. Singh, who grew up poor in northwestern Rajasthan state, is determined to change these statistics. ‘My dream is to see every underprivileged child in school,’ he says with a broad, charming smile, adding that he is confident that, with God’s help, he will make it happen.

“He starts his day early, patrolling the busy lanes of Old Delhi, the capital’s historic heart, as part of his duties. But every day after work, he holds classes at his pathshala, where students eagerly await him. Among them are Ajay Ahirwar and Neelu Ahirwar (no relation).

“Ajay says he aspires to become a high-ranking officer in the government so that he can improve the conditions of his family and those living like him. Neelu is fond of her teacher and the pathshala. ‘I would rather be here, even on holidays, than at home,’ says the young girl, who aspires to become an officer in the Indian Police Service.

“Initially, only four children attended Mr. Singh’s pathshala. He contributed money from his salary to buy books, notebooks, pencils, and schoolbags. Nine years down the line, he has now taught hundreds of children.

“ ‘Beyond basic lessons, I try to instill manners and discipline in these students,’ Mr. Singh says. ‘Even if they come to this school just for a meal, I’ll be happy because, seeing others, they may also want to study.’

“Mr. Singh organizes extracurricular activities, too, including cricket. For those children who do attend school in the city, he celebrates good exam results at his pathshala. ‘I just want these children to stay away from all the bad influences they’re vulnerable to,’ he says, referring to the crimes that affect Delhi.

“ ‘Our aim in the world is to spread goodness and happiness.’ ”

More at the Monitor, here. Wonderful photos. No firewall.

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