Another finished blocking project...

I loved every minute of knitting this intricate Diamond Fantasy shawl, made from Shaefer Andrea silk yarn in the Emily Dickinson colorway. It will look beautiful on its future owner, a delicately-built woman who will look lovely in this color. Can't wait to see her wearing it!

Public and Private Acts

Last year I learned how important the farm bill was to the way this nation approaches the way we eat. Recently, I've been moved by various requests to have an organic vegetable garden on the White House Lawn. And now, I'm learning how important it is to work for a reasonable Secretary of Agriculture. We need to make food a national issue, not just a personal one.

But the way this nation thinks about food and the way we eat is at some level private. And it is easy to get overwhelmed and start believing that our personal choices make very little difference. Our personal decisions will not solve all the world's problems. We are going to need the large-scale governmental decisions--symbolic as well as real--to truly make a more sustainable society.

And yet... CONTINUED HERE

Here is the beautifully simple Forest Canopy shawl, knit in Schaefer Anne. The colorway: Julia Child. I'm such a sucker for the Memorable Women series...

I knit this shawl during academic conferences--and will wear it to the next one!

Cashmere Cowl

In my quest to finally get some of those not-quite-finished projects out of my project pile, I finally sewed in the ends of this luscious cowl, knit following the Pasmina Cowl pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts using Jade Sapphire's 2-ply Mongolian Cashmere in the Lilac colorway:



Although it looks kind of silly with my sweatshirt, I can't take this amazingly-soft knitwear off!

November is for Completion...?

For the last two Novembers, I have participated in NaKniSweMo--a challenge to knit an entire sweater in a single month. In 2007, I knitted a castle sweater for my son. In 2008, I knit a wild entrelac sweater for me. This year, I've dedicated my knitting month to finishing some of the myriad projects I have in the works, many of which are moments from completion.

I have two sweaters that just need buttons and blocking. I have three completed shawls that only need blocking. (Two of them I finished up this month after having them on needles for ages.) I have a balaclava which I will be gifting in mid-December, a pair of gloves missing the fingers on one hand, a beautiful lace scarf about three quarters finished, another scarf which just needs a serious block, and a colorwork cardigan I would love to knit on again now that a chill is in the air.

Well, and yes, I did cast on a simple new project on Election Night: a baby cable stole I plan to wear to the Inauguration.



Right now I can't stop working on it to put the shawls on wires. And I can't put the electric mattress cover on the bed until I've got them finished, since I can't stick pins into it.

Should I knit now and freeze tonight, or waste twenty minutes of my precious knitting time in order to block one of these babies?

Evening Knitting

I was planning to sit down after my son went to sleep and write a long cogent analysis of the world...

but...



I'm going to bind off the final row of my "conference" shawl. Details--and blocking!--tomorrow.

Tonight, my son and I are attending the opening reception for Cranial Vault, an art installation in our local community center about my friend Tom's challenging experiences over the last decade. As the exhibit advertising states, "Using commissioned artwork, medical images, found sound, and collectibles, the exhibit reflects one man’s journey from a middle-of-the-night grand mal seizure through cancer treatment and brain surgery to a survivor’s new normal. Part curiosity shop, part medical illustration, and part memoir, the exhibit serves as an experiential travelogue of a trip, nine years and continuing."

As part of the celebration of this amazing exhibit, the curators are inviting viewers to participate by filling in their own phrenology map.

Here is mine:



You can check out my son's head over at his blog.

I met Tom and his wife and daughter at a party held by mutual friends. Our two families hit it off--and by the end of a long but casual conversation, they invited us to what they said might seem kind of weird: a brain surgery anniversary.

I almost fell off my chair. "You're kidding! I celebrate the anniversaries of my brain surgery, too!"

I think they might have thought I was teasing or making fun of Tom--but I was completely serious. (You can read my whole story at that link.)

Although my experience was intense, I was very lucky to have a non-cancerous tumor which did not threaten my life. Although I have some side effects from the tumor and surgery, my status is completely stable and I am now healthy.

Tom continues to face new symptoms, new doctors, and new treatments all the time. There are new dangers and fears as well. But as he says, "It doesn't make sense to me to approach any of this with pity or a lack of joy. There are a lot of ways all of us can approach fear and uncertainty. Humor is one of them. I wouldn't choose it any other way."

Saying Goodbye

David leaves early tomorrow morning for 5 or 6 days in order to attend a conference. Son and I thought about going with him--it is a conference filled with interesting people, and it is in an especially interesting place this year--but at the last minute decided to stay home. Right now, I am already imagining the loneliness that will quickly set in.

Son and I have created a full calendar to keep us busy until David's return. We have exciting adventures planned, special meals thought out, and meetings with friends scheduled.

But tonight, we say our goodbyes. After a special meal of roasted chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts, and mushroom risotto, we'll watch David pack his bags while we play word games or sing family songs. We'll finish our family bedtime read--then tuck in our son, turn out our lights, and light a candle. Sweet dreams.

Being Radical, Being Traditional

...

When David and I decided to have a child together, we both were politicized in a new way: an intensely personal and traditional way. The experience of raising a child made me more aware of the importance of taking one's ethics deeply into one's day-to-day life choices. I had a home birth, breastfed my son for three and a half years, and chose to unschool/homeschool him.

The funny thing for me was realizing that what I defined as radical parenting was exactly what our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had done. What I began to realize is that contemporary culture had taken away experiences that had naturally belonged to women--often in the name of convenience and modernity. These moments which had previously belonged to real people (and to their friends and communities) were now too often controlled by corporate medicine. It seemed like a radical act just to remember our past and learn lessons from our grandmothers.

In 2005, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival featured the theme of Food Culture USA. Suddenly, it became clear to me that those traditional-radical decisions I made regarding parenting had their parallels in all aspects of my life. I had been assuming that those decisions were entirely private, but it now became clear to me that these radical traditions were my personal source of power in the public world.

I had long since absorbed from my hobby-farmer grandmother that dietary fiber is at the heart of moral fiber. Now at the booths on the National Mall, I was realizing how many other people had learned this same lesson and played out its truth way beyond where my own mind had taken me.


CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL POST

Shh...

At the Green Festival, I attended a workshop with with Max Simon about meditation. I really liked his style: quiet and focussed, yet not too "spiritual" in his discussion.

I am obsessed with trying to figure myself out, trying to make ethical sense of my daily life, and trying to come to terms with the role of Judaism in my life. But I immediately feel excluded as soon as someone starts using the rhetoric of spirituality. Sometimes I can recognize religious people's talk of a "still, small voice" as pretty much the same thing I mean when I talk about an inner dialectic.

Dialectic basically just means thinking about ideas by having deep conversations with other people, with other intellects. Moments of tension and contradiction arise--but respectful open conversation allows both people to arrive at a place of higher thinking, of better thought, than they could have achieved alone. Great minds do not think alike; they create harmonies which make complex music.

Inner dialectic is just my shorthand way of referring to interior thoughts brought to the logical mind. Sitting down to examine one's emotional reactions, one's assumptions, or one's feelings can so easily stir up one's fierce judgmental side. I'm often quite ashamed of what I find rattling around my subconscious, and I often try to deny it or block it out entirely. But that negative chastising is not the goal here at all. Coming to those thoughts with acceptance and then playing them off against one's ethical commitments, one's goals, and one's sense of logic can allow us to understand more fully how and why we act. Playing these two kinds of ideas off each other can allow us to polish our logical functioning and see more fully into our ethics beliefs, allowing us to grow profoundly.

That inner dialectic happens for me when I sit down with the express intent of examining my life, my self. It happens quite often when I sit down to write--which is why writing is both my career and a big part of my personal daily practice aside from my work. I've kept a diary since I was about four years old--sometimes listing nothing more than what I ate for lunch (which seemed to matter a lot during first grade and has again now that I've started gardening, "eating local," and following food blogs). Sometimes I wrote about what got said in Quaker meeting, or about relationships with friends and lovers. Sometimes I wrote about politics or even knitting. Hey--you pretty much know what I write about if you follow this blog regularly.

* * *

Well, I certainly used this personal dialectic to veer away completely from what Max Simon was talking about...

Although meditation has some of the same goals as what I am calling "the inner dialectic," I suppose, it really confronts that idea of accepting one's interior thoughts without judgment. Ideas come and go as one sits quietly. Even without the deliberate analysis that the inner dialectic requires, Simon and other meditation experts argue that the quiet self-focus happens and one learns to pay attention in a much deeper way.

I was moved by what he said in his opening and I looked forward to the coming hour. Then he announced that we would walk into the center of the busy festival, all plop down and close our ideas, and do a "public display of meditation."

My first thought was about to think about how important the idea of knitting in public (or KIP'ing) is for many knitters. I've knit in public since I was a little girl and had grandmothers and great aunts who knit and crocheted and quilted in public, so it has always seemed quite normal and natural to me.

The idea of meditating in public, though--well that seemed not only embarrassing but impossible. "Isn't meditation pretty much defined by silence?" I thought to myself.

My second thought, even less charitable, was that this was a huge gimmick that Simon was using to advertise his wares.

But--I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. I followed the other participants out of the room into the public arena, feeling incredibly uneasy as we walked deliberately and silently in a long single-file line. Walking in that line, I felt like I was part of a spectacle.

On cue, we sat down on the floor and in a few seconds closed our eyes.

And I was instantly calm and unaware of specific noise. (Being hard of hearing helps me at these times, I assume. Closing my eyes always makes a lot of sound go away.) My breath was slow and my mind much quieter than I could have predicted. Let me make it clear that I mean my mind was quieter than I expected just for the limited amount of time I meditated--even if I had been in a quiet spot.

What fascinated me most was how intimately familiar it all felt.

I already know this quiet, focussed feeling.

It is the way I feel when I knit in silence. In fact, when I first closed my eyes, the first thought that popped across my awareness was knitting in my hands, rows of garter, knit stitch after slow knit stitch.

And now, as I feel intellectually that I should wrap up this post with some great word of wisdom, my yarn is calling to me, asking that I come to it instead--and breathe deeply, with acceptance, awareness, and calm.

Puppet Clown

Chilling

My family had a lovely time on Saturday at the DC Green Festival. We walked around the enormous exhibit hall and tasted fair-trade chocolate, admired gorgeous handmade gifts and clothing, contemplated buying solar-powered LED holiday lights to hang in our sukkah, and enjoyed vegan soul food for lunch. We also talked to installers about fixing our ancient rope-and-pulley windows, met community leaders from a variety of organizations, and took in a few interesting lectures.





Our 9yo son had a wonderful time hanging out at the teen booth. He took a class on bike maintenance, made a shopping bag out of a used t-shirt, and learned how to yo-yo. He also learned how to play the nose harp. (Don't ask...)

As always, crowds this large leave me exhausted and ornery. Crowds this big focusing on buying and selling stuff--no matter how responsible that stuff might be--leave me even more overwhelmed.

* * *

Given the purchase-oriented nature of much of the fair, I was not expecting to be as motivated to work on changing the efficiency of our house as I have been since we returned from the festival.

For a long time we've been thinking about replacing our 1970 refrigerator. Unfortunately, it appears that today's refrigerators are all much larger--and a larger fridge will not fit in the spot. We've been trying for a while to grapple with the fact that when our fridge eventually dies, we'll have to rip out the upper cabinets and the pantry on that wall just to fit a new one in.

Often we wonder how much electricity our current fridge uses. While old refrigerators are notoriously inefficient, ours is so small compared to newer models that we've wondered if it might not be quite so awful after all. So I bought a Kill-a-Wattand plugged the fridge in last night. I'll let you know how our tests go!

One replacement option we've considered is a hyper-efficient Sunfrost fridge-only model. We do have a chest freezer downstairs to supplement. But would we go crazy having to go downstairs just for ice cream?

As I keep asking myself that question, I realize that worrying about this kind of small inconvenience is ridiculous. Our grandparents and great-grandparents grew up without much in the way of the stuff we now consider absolutely essential. That doesn't mean we should get that particular fridge at all--just that I need to be a bit more aware of the sense of entitlement and expectation with which I approach my life.

* * *

Tomorrow: a post about some non-product-oriented experiences at the Green Festival.

Obama the Riveter?

Yes, I promise this is the last Obama post for a little while:

This and other very funny pictures found here.

We had a lovely power-free Shabbat evening (violated only to take these pictures at the end)...



playing games with a necklace chain making shapes for others to guess...



and drinking Chicagos--a drink of brandy, triple sec (replaced here with homemade kumquat liqueur), bitters, and champagne:



I'm afraid I had enough Chicago in me that by the end I started being very, very sacrilegious and singing "Barack Obama" instead of "Baruch atah..."

Rebirth

I am still trying to come back down to earth after Obama's victory Tuesday evening.

Here are two of my favorite post-election quotes:


"I'm at a christening. It's my christening as a born-again American."
--Norman Lear


"We've crossed over to a better place and a more hopeful time. Not simply because of one man, but because we were prescient enough to have recognized ourselves and the true nature of America reflected in that one man. From there, we set about the task of freeing ourselves from the darkness of this decade and the skulking shadows that have for too long haunted us. In this respect, all of us -- all races -- are a little more free at last. After all these years, we've finally arrived at moment when America feels like it's supposed to feel. This January 20th, all of America will be stepping through those doors with President and Mrs. Obama as the dark ride of the last eight years reaches its long-overdue conclusion -- a conclusion more joyful and overwhelming than I think any of us fully anticipated prior to 11 p.m. eastern time Tuesday night -- when we pushed beyond a crucial threshold on our way to a more perfect union."
--Bob Cesca

Earning the Letter

Today over at the Green Phone Booth, I picture a very special honorary guest with whom we will gladly share our phone booth. Come visit!

An American Diary

12:40, Tuesday afternoon

Just returned from the polls, wearing my "I Voted" sticker. I've never had this kind of faith in a presidential candidate before--even when I was my son's innocent age watching as my own proud mother pulled the curtain to cast her vote for Jimmy Carter. In my adulthood, I have happily voted for Dukakis, for Clinton, for Gore, for Kerry. But I could not imagine that any of them could live up to what I wanted in a leader.

Today it is different. I don't know what people felt when they pulled the ballot for FDR, for Kennedy. Like I do today? I'm thinking about what MLK called "the fierce urgency of now." Now it is our responsibility, our time. "We are the ones we have been waiting for!"


2:40pm, Tuesday afternoon

I am weeping. How can a 40-something-year-old woman be so emotional in the face of possibility? "In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope."


4:40pm, Tuesday afternoon

Son is taking a late-afternoon nap in preparation for a late evening watching the returns. I think about my 9yo boy and the fear he has faced this year as he came into awareness of climate change, of peak energy, of bits of the financial crisis. I want this time ahead of us to be filled not just with whatever difficulties we must face but also with the hope, the caring, the sense of duty that Obama inspires in Americans. "These are our hands; What are we gonna build with them?"

Leading the Way

I finished Sharon Astyk's Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Frontwith a feeling not only of hope, but also with a feeling of radical responsibility. What I love best about Astyk's book is the author's unshakable commitment to her inner ethical compass. Usually, I am very resistant to authors telling me to do what they think is right for the world. But Astyk combines belief in universal morals (like truly committing our lives to taking care of elderly parents and children, connecting with our communities, and helping strangers in need) with acceptance and respect for diversity. Instead of feeling like she is preaching at me, I feel like she is inspiring me to try to live up to my ideals and attempt to be my highest self.

For the full review, check out my post over at The Blogging Bookworm.

Caring

I keep crying happy tears when looking at these wonderful Obama family pictures. This is what I need in the White House! Fundamentally, I trust that anyone who protects, respects, loves, and enjoys his family this much will do the same for this nation.

And don't miss these great romantic moments--and these--between the Barack and Michelle!

Natural Born

The US Constitution requires that all presidents be natural born citizens of this country. Candidates born as citizens of another country then naturalized can serve in all but this highest of government roles.

But what is a "natural born citizen"? It is not defined by the Constitution at all.

Interestingly, people have questioned both Obama's status and McCain's status.

* * *

Obama was born in Hawaii according to his campaign and the birth certificate they published on his website.

Some have suggested, based on what most people see as extremely problematic evidence, that he was in fact born in Kenya. In order to question Obama's qualification, you have to accept this argument. (I am not telling you to believe it at all in real life--I certainly don't--but just play along with me for a minute.)

Very few people believe one actually has to be born on US soil to be "natural born"--since you are born a citizen if one of your parents is a US citizen, as Obama's mother was. But the complication in this case is that the law at the time required the parent to reside for 5 years after the age of 14 within the US--and Obama's mother was only 18yo and therefore had not resided anywhere for 5 years after the age of 18. Surely this is not what the founders of the Constitution were fighting against....

The law was later changed and made retroactive so Obama would in fact be covered anyway, even if he was born in Kenya.

But if you really want to get nit-picky (which can be an enjoyable intellectual activity at times), you could argue that it is impossible to be a natural born citizen if you've already been alive for a few years. A natural rebirth?

* * *

McCain's case is pretty similar. He was by all accounts born in the Panama Canal in 1936. At the time of his birth, birth in the Canal Zone did not lead to US citizenship. Although his parents were both US citizens, if you believe that "natural born" means you have to be born on the soil of the country, then McCain would not qualify.

But he's safe--right?--since a law passed when he was a year old retroactively made him a citizen. But, oops, just like in the case of a Kenyan-born Obama, McCain's situation would require a rebirth....

All of this is pretty crazy, as Senator Lindsey Graham says(who I never ever agree with in any other case): It would be incomprehensible to him if the son of a military officer was born in a military station and could therefore not run for president. Just as crazy as being penalized for having an underage mother.

* * *

When I was talking about this absolutely inconsequential quagmire of a game with David, our 9yo son explained the he in fact knew exactly what "natural born" means.

"I could be president!" He realized. "I was born at home, and you didn't have drugs or anything, right? I was natural born!"

Shakespeare's Macbeth would approve.

Smaller Footsteps

Yes We Can!

That would be "Oui, on peut!" in Cajun country:




And here's a fantastic call from the Latin American community to "Respondele a Obama":




It seems that all cultures are responding to the powerful message of Obama:

Didn't you know O'bama was Irish?

Check out the psychedelic Barack OBollywood!

And even white southerner males make a showing in this phenomenal radio ad by the absolutely incomparable Ralph Stanley.

Obamartini

The election night drink of choice: a gin martini garnished with one cool cucumber (a cornichon or gherkin--pickled or not depending on your own condition).

Making Change Happen

As we approach Election Day, I've been thinking a lot about real superheros from our political history. One name which keeps resonating with me during these times of economic crisis is Eleanor Roosevelt. This month, she would have celebrated her 124th birthday.




CONTINUED HERE...

A Little Doom with Your Morning Tea?

Now that a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" has hit, "those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief," says Alan Greenspan.

"We've reached a situation of sheer panic," says Nouriel Roubini in a Bloomberg article. Roubini is a leading economist who predicted the current financial crisis in 2006. "There will be massive dumping of assets" and "hundreds of hedge funds are going to go bust." Roubini continues, "Don't be surprised if policy makers need to close down markets for a week or two in coming days. " He goes further: "Things will get much worse before they get better. I fear the worst is ahead of us." (UPDATE 9AM: It has started happening.)

Brilliant thinker Nassim Nicholas Taleb suggested on PBS's NewsHour that we might be entering the "most difficult period since--not since the Great Depression; since the American Revolution. He continues, "I hope I'm wrong. I wake up every morning--actually, I don't wake up every morning now. I've started to wake up at night the last couple of weeks hoping that I'm wrong, begging to be wrong. I think that we may be experiencing something that is vastly worse than we think it is." (Video here.)

Time for another cup. Make it a strong one.

Separated at Birth?

James Taylor

Michael Pollan

Living in Booths

Laura Ingallstein from Little House in the Shtetl joins me this week in the Green Phone Booth to cook a meal made entirely from stuff my family grew in our backyard. We also talk about the meanings and practice of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

This mission requires me to transform my green superhero cape into an apron. It also requires the Green Phone Booth to become a sukkah. Luckily, this is not a difficult prestidigitation since the Jewish holiday of Sukkot is also called the Festival of Booths.


Ma Ingallstein Preparing the Evening Meal in the Family's Green Booth
(Who would have thought that Jews have been pioneers for millenia?)

CONTINUED HERE...

We had a lovely and interesting lunch today, served on our bento trays. We made miso soup with a vegetable-peelings stock (mostly tomatoes and apples) and added some julienned broccoli stems, pea shoots, and scallions. The snow peas are just steamed and the mushrooms are sauteed with mirin and sesame oil then sprinkled with chives. There are also some pickled radish shreds. The entree is asian rice with smoked sardines and soy sauce. For dessert we had some canned rambutans sprinkled with a few black sesame seeds. (Son and I use Singapore Math which constantly has word problems about rambutans, so we had to try them. They are very similar to lychees.)

Delicious--and the meal made us feel very special. I love the peace of eating a late lunch on the weekend!

"McCain Loses Hastily Convened Fourth Presidential Debate With Lifesize Cardboard Obama"

reads the title of this masterful blog post. Thanks to TPM for the great catch!

* * *

And don't miss the real Obama with what sometimes looks like a Lifesize Cardboard McCain. If somehow Obama does not win the presidency, he has real potential as a comedian!

Rubbernecking the Economy

What is it about a wreck that requires us all to look?

I always watch the crash of the Dow, the rising numbers of foreclosures, the increase in unemployment, the horribly nasty implosion of McPain, even the paths of hurricanes toward our homes, with great despair...



yes...

but, strangely enough, also with a secret shameful hope for the worst. There is some vicarious pleasure in watching a disaster unfold. Even during the collapse of the Twin Towers and during Katrina, I was shocked to realize that some part of me was almost wanting these events to be stunning and awesome and terrible.

What is it in me that craves this kind of display? Sometimes I wonder if at root these awful feelings is the same thing that makes so many people want to believe in an all-powerful god. We want something more powerful than we are, something that can destroy the world, something strong enough to clear the slate and make us start anew.

Yikes.

To Everything, There is a Season

...and it is now our turn.



This is a photo of a victory garden in front of San Francisco's City Hall, taken in 1943.

Sound like an outdated idea? Think again. Slow Food has created it anew.

Food security in this time of economic fragility is becoming an increasingly important issue. It is time now to take the Victory Garden beyond the SF City Hall--to our own yards, and also to the White House.

Did you see Michael Pollan's marvelous and detailed article in the New York Times?

Here is some of what he said:

When Eleanor Roosevelt did something similar in 1943, she helped start a Victory Garden movement that ended up making a substantial contribution to feeding the nation in wartime.... By the end of the war, more than 20 million home gardens were supplying 40 percent of the produce consumed in America.

The president should throw his support behind a new Victory Garden movement, this one seeking “victory” over three critical challenges we face today: high food prices, poor diets and a sedentary population. Eating from this, the shortest food chain of all, offers anyone with a patch of land a way to reduce their fossil-fuel consumption and help fight climate change. (We should offer grants to cities to build allotment gardens for people without access to land.)

Just as important, Victory Gardens offer a way to enlist Americans, in body as well as mind, in the work of feeding themselves and changing the food system — something more ennobling, surely, than merely asking them to shop a little differently.

...As deeply as Americans feel about their lawns, the agrarian ideal runs deeper still, and making this particular plot of American land productive, especially if the First Family gets out there and pulls weeds now and again, will provide an image even more stirring than that of a pretty lawn: the image of stewardship of the land, of self-reliance and of making the most of local sunlight to feed one’s family and community. The fact that surplus produce from the South Lawn Victory Garden (and there will be literally tons of it) will be offered to regional food banks will make its own eloquent statement.

* * *

I love this photo-shopped pic of Pollan, courtesy of Kitchen Gardeners International:

The City that Care Forgot

I just returned from a long weekend in New Orleans where I was attending my favorite annual conference. I spent much of my time there going to sessions where scholars presented their preliminary works, touring the exhibit of academic books, and spending time with old friends from graduate school and new friends from all over the country.

I did get out to explore New Orleans a bit. I have not been to the city since right before Katrina hit and I was stunned at how much even the touristy areas are still suffering from that hurricane and others:



My father and brother, also academic historians, attend this same conference. Every year is a family reunion. This time we got together for an absolutely delicious meal at one of my favorite restaurants. Delicious. If you are ever in New Orleans, try it for brunch. (Go on a gorgeously sunny day and sit in the courtyard.)



Walking back from the restaurant to the conference hotel, I stopped in at the French Quarter's local yarn shop:



In this store, you can never forget where you are. I love going in shops that sell locally-dyed fiber or the yarns of local spinners, giving them a real sense of place. While the Quarter Stitch has mostly national commercial yarns, the whole store nevertheless embodies the spirit of New Orleans--the magic of Mardi Gras, the glitz of colors and textures and shine. Lots of fun, even for this Plain Jane.

* * *

My annual southern history conference has been held in New Orleans very regularly since the 1930s. Every time I come to the city for this meeting, I feel saturated by the ghosts of the past all around me and moved by the immediate relevance of history in our present lives. This year seemed especially resonant with these thoughts. There were sessions on the destruction and the rebuilding of New Orleans, conversations about race and politics and poverty, songs about anger and despair.

There were also talks about glimpses of that well-handled, smooth-hewn stone of hope--the one we are all searching for.

A Place to Change (Clothes)

Knits faster than a speeding Metro train!

Strong enough to write her dissertation while breastfeeding!

More melancholy than your average endangered species!

and

Able to prepare a complete meal from her tiny backyard garden!

She's a recycler!
She's a composter!
She's the Green Raven!

* * *

Thanks to the inspiration of three wonderful women, I have entered the Green Phone Booth and discovered my inner superhero. Enjoy our community blog where the Bulk, Olive S. Oyl, the masked Green Bean, and my own alter ego the Green Raven don capes and plan how we can save world.

Our introduction is up now and we'll start posting daily on October 20th. You can put us on speed dial right away!

* * *

When you take a turn in your own phone booth and morph into your personal superhero self, who do you become? And what are your special superhero talents?

A Time of Renewal

For Jews around the world, Yom Kippur falls at the end of a month of contemplating our sins during the year and then apologizing to each other, to ourselves, and (at least metaphorically) to God.

This is the time of year when I put down all the guilt I have about all the mistakes I make in my life. My load is light. I walk into a new year, unburdened by my past and facing the new year full of fresh potential. I'm always amazed at how strong I feel during these moments. My needs seem small. My ability to do for others is magnified.

This year, I think of JFK's famous line:

Ask not what your country can do for you--
Ask what you can do for your country."
--John F. Kennedy, 1961

* * *

In the first debate when Jim Lehrer asked the presidential candidates what they would have to give up in the face of economic crisis and the costly rescue plan, both candidates shied away from any real answer. Obama said something might have to be delayed. McCain said there were some cuts we could make that we should make anyway.

Neither candidate seemed to have the nerve to address the actual belt-tightening Americans are having to do--and the increases in that belt-tightening that are ahead of us.

Both candidates failed to understand that the call to sacrifice--if it is worded correctly--can signify both great strength as a leader and great respect for the citizens of the country.

We often think of America as a country of people who absolutely cannot accept a call for sacrifice. As Cheney crystallized, "The American way of life is non-negotiable!"

Perhaps there is some truth in this. Although he did not word it elegantly, sacrifice is exactly what Biden stated when he asked those with more than they need to be patriotic ...time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut." The Republicans and many Americans just seemed to laugh off these comments as yet another Biden gaffe.

But sacrifice and responsibility are words with deep resonance for almost all Americans.

Sacrifice for the greater good is at the core of Christianity, the religion of the majority of US citizens. Judaism does not orient itself around the concept of sacrifice, but both responsibility for the community and the healing of the world are central ideas to the faith. Almost all world religions teach some kind of similar lesson. And even for those of us who do not feel personally called by God to religion, we have grown up with the golden rule--and the heroic models of a generation who sacrificed during the Great Depression and the WWII era in order to give more to their country and their communities.

A member of that "greatest generation"spoke up during the town hall debate. She asked (via email): "Since World War II, we have never been asked to sacrifice anything to help our country, except the blood of our heroic men and women. As president, what sacrifices -- sacrifices will you ask every American to make to help restore the American dream and to get out of the economic morass that we're now in?"

McCain answered that he would "ask the American people to understand that there are some programs that we may have to eliminate,"mostly those that are not working anyway.

But Obama, finally, started channeling JFK. Here is his answer:

You know, a lot of you remember the tragedy of 9/11 and where you were on that day and, you know, how all of the country was ready to come together and make enormous changes to make us not only safer, but to make us a better country and a more unified country.

And President Bush did some smart things at the outset, but one of the opportunities that was missed was, when he spoke to the American people, he said, "Go out and shop."

That wasn't the kind of call to service that I think the American people were looking for.

And so it's important to understand that the -- I think the American people are hungry for the kind of leadership that is going to tackle these problems not just in government, but outside of government.

Obama did not stop there.

And let's take the example of energy, which we already spoke about. There is going to be the need for each and every one of us to start thinking about how we use energy.

I believe in the need for increased oil production. We're going to have to explore new ways to get more oil, and that includes offshore drilling. It includes telling the oil companies, that currently have 68 million acres that they're not using, that either you use them or you lose them.

We're going to have to develop clean coal technology and safe ways to store nuclear energy.

But each and every one of us can start thinking about how can we save energy in our homes, in our buildings. And one of the things I want to do is make sure that we're providing incentives so that you can buy a fuel efficient car that's made right here in the United States of America, not in Japan or South Korea, making sure that you are able to weatherize your home or make your business more fuel efficient.

And that's going to require effort from each and every one of us.

I have my doubts about drilling and so-called clean coal and the like--but he's saying something here in a very public forum that is seldom expressed these days. Although he's talked a bit about conservation in his written materials and in his campaign stops on the response to the developing energy crisis. I am thrilled to see him do at least a bit of Carter-"put-on-a-sweater"-channeling here.

Obama was not finished.

I think the young people of America are especially interested in how they can serve, and that's one of the reasons why I'm interested in doubling the Peace Corps, making sure that we are creating a volunteer corps all across this country that can be involved in their community, involved in military service, so that military families and our troops are not the only ones bearing the burden of renewing America.

That's something that all of us have to be involved with and that requires some leadership from Washington.

Hear, hear!

Who is Holding this Handbasket?

Sometimes I wonder how long the entire nation--no, our entire world--can be held underwater, all waiting for that moment when we can finally gasp for breath again.

I know I'm inherently a worrier, inherently one who assumes the worst, one inherently prone to depression (the clinical kind, not the financial kind).

But this time, it is not just me.

The economy is collapsing in ways that could be tremendously more relevant than the hit our 401ks may have just taken. (For more information about what I'm referring to, check out Sharon Astyk's amazing new book, Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front.Review coming soon.)

The frustration and anger that the American people are experiencing is making their partisan politics be voiced in derision and hatred, and it is starting to seem really dangerous. I want so much to believe that this kind of talk is just people's anxieties speaking--and that it will go nowhere else. But honestly--I don't have that faith.

It is this kind of talk about hating other people, about killing other people because of their politics, that can lead to Nazism and the like.

And I don't know what to do other than ...

...deal with the real-life SPEWING OF SEWAGE from our basement drain....

Now here's that kind of immediate tangible crisis that I can deal with in my life, if I absolutely must be tested. Let's stick to that. Do you hear me?!

MOM knows best

MOTHERS OPPOSING McCAIN

Happy New Year!

What?!

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

--proposal by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson

I had qualms before, but this is outrageous. Terrifying.

Shocking

Have you read the amazing, prescient, dense book by Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine? In it she argues that policies that would never be passed during times of calm are often implemented right after natural disasters, wars, or massive economic upheaval.

The author gives abundant details of how unwanted changes can be pushed through fin the immediate aftermath of crises--from the privatization of New Orleans' public schools after Hurricane Katrina to the seizure of wrecked fishing villages by resort developers after the Asian tsunami. She surveys privatization in Chile under Pinochet, post-apartheid South Africa, post-Solidarity Poland, Russia under Yeltsin, China after the Tiananmen Square protests, reconstruction of Iraq after the U.S. invasion, and Israel after 9/11.

Whether the crises are real or invented, plotting leaders use these moments of chaos to their advantage. They adopt programs that would never be democratically accepted by the people. Military coups, violence and force, wars, induced hyperinflation, terrorism, preemptive war, climate disasters all have been cards played by rulers in order for drastic economic policies to be imposed. Nearly always, they are developed in secrecy and implemented too rapidly for citizens to respond.

The result of these non-democratic interventions is vastly increased inequality. Those with wealth and power benefit from the transformations as their corporations reap the assets. It is those at the bottom and in the middle who are asked to forfeit their freedoms and their livelihoods.

As one reviewer said, "This is the new New Economy: the looting of the public sector through the now tried-and-true methods of disaster capitalism." It is through the policies established in the wake of crises that federal money and authority gets handed to private corporations such as Halliburton and Blackwater, and individual rights and freedoms get muffled and shunted aside.

* * *

Where are we now, with investment banks lying dead around all the empty foreclosed homes and shuttered small businesses?

On the one hand, the motivations of disaster capitalists to move toward a world of uber-capitalism seem to have failed--and failed dramatically. We've seen how dangerous privitization can be in the face of extreme deregulation and lack of oversight.

On the other hand, we are at a moment that much of America is in shock by the loss of their homes, their retirements, their children's college funds, their jobs, and their health care plans--their inability to pay their credit card debt and their student loans--as well as the shock they experience every time they buy groceries or gas. Congress is told that we may be a couple of days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system. Democratic senators Schumer and Dodd suggested that what Secretary Paulson told them was too frightening to repeat, what sounds far worse than the Great Depression. Executives suggest that the crisis will lead to "riots in the streets" or a bloodbath, that it is "a beast of biblical proportions." Newspaper reports suggest that we were 500 trades away from Armageddon. Bloggers suggest this is a fiscal Katrina. The international press is suggesting that the United States itself might default.

Is this not a shock itself?

Could this shock allow the "quick and clean" bill the Paulson wants to pass immediately without discussion?

(Just a thought for some budding politician: oppose this bill now because it may be the next Iraq, and a statement against it could set you up as the next Obama. UPDATE: Someone agrees with me!)

Perhaps the bail-out plan is the only way to answer this crisis. I am no economist.

But every little bit of me resists when those in power tell us to turn off our critical thinking and stop questioning things. They know what is right, they say. They'll take care of us. Don't worry. Be happy. (The fundamentals are strong, right?)

Well, I am worried.

I'm concerned that even relatively conservative commentators are suggesting that capitalism is changed forever. I don't feel comfortable that the industry could control the markets to allow people to bet only that things are going up and not manage their risk with shorts. I feel uneasy that individual Americans, people already struggling to pay their bills and help other suffering people in their communities, are being asked to bail out millionaire corporations. I am disturbed that we are being asked to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the already-enormous national debt.

Maybe this plan is the right answer. I have no idea.

But I know it is wrong to be shocked into doing something without thinking, to be told by our leaders that the truth is too scary for us to hear, to have it suggested that we should contemplate what supports monster corporations rather than what is good for all Americans--including the poor.

Today, Son is off to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with some friends. Although Scottish Day was last weekend, he decided to wear his kilt:



Although there is lots of fantastic food available there, he packed himself a snack in my new bento box.

On the bottom is some homemade pizza with fresh tomatoes, shallots, and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. On the top is fresh spinach leaves, almonds, and dried cherries, along with a few ABC cookies from Trader Joe's.



Isn't the box perfect for a knitter/spinner?



(Ha! Two hole posts where I have not mentioned He- and She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named!)

Potato, Patahto...

Which wild-and-crazy republican vice presidential candidate was it who corrected a student's spelling of "potato" with "potatoe"?

* * *

We harvested our pathetic little crop of new potatoes:





Although we only got a few potatoes and almost all were tiny, it seemed like utter magic to turn the crate over and discover these gleaming gems!


Next year: sweet potatoes.

Believing

"The reason I'm calm is I have confidence in the American people."
--Barack Obama

Wish I did.

"Fundamentally" Republican?

This is not a political blog (although it may have looked like one lately)--but as a professional historian, I could not let this comparison pass:

"The economy is fundamentally sound."
-- President Herbert Hoover, 1931

"The fundamentals of the economy are strong."
-- Presidential Candidate John McCain, 2008

Are we going from Hooverville to McCainville?

Both brought to you by the party that is wrecking America.

Crossing Party Lines

Has everybody seen this one? It definitely put my political anxiety in a better place!

Turning Off:

My parents--two born-and-bread white southerners--morphed into liberals during the Civil Rights Movement. They raised me to value equality and justice. They raised me to believe that to whom much is given, much is required. They raised me to be a left-wing Democrat.

* * *

For all the elections of my voting life, I've said that I might move to Canada if the party I was not supporting (ie, the Republicans) won the election.

Ok, Ok: I know Canada doesn't want to make new citizens of disaffected American voters just on a whim.

Well, I pretty much knew I wasn't even going to try, too. The United States is my home and I honestly cannot imagine just throwing in the towel out of anger that democracy isn't going my way at the moment. That is not what DEMOCRACY is even about. But the idea of turning my back on the whole country sometimes got me through some difficult moments.

* * *

Dukakis, the Democratic candidate when I was in college, lost the presidential election--to my absolute surprise. I was living in a lefty neighborhood in Massachusetts and could not imagine anyone voting for George H.W. Bush.

I did not actually move after the election, of course, and I survived those four years in the United States. I got involved in pacifist organizations and the feminist movement and the queer movement--and my anger turned into motivation for change even if it had to take place outside national politics.

I lived in a lovely lefty-hippie neighborhood in North Carolina when Harvey Gantt ran against *Jesse Helms in 1990. I did not know a single person who supported Helms--and absolutely could not imagine anyone actually voting for Helms. Gantt was smart and progressive and clearly a leader on a path the state should take.

Again, I was wrong. And hey, I did leave North Carolina (albeit for different reasons).

* * *

I didn't move after George W. Bush was appointed president, or even after the second fiasco four years later.

Nevertheless, I have never fully accepted that Bush is actually my president.

(I know that statement will rule out my chances to ever run for office...as if they were not already ruined by my dangerously evil pacifist commitments or my belief in non-chromosome-defined love.)

* * *

I said after McCain was chosen in the Republican primary that even if Obama did not win this election, I could honestly say I would not leave the country and would acknowledge that the guy was actually my president. I mean, I disagree with him an awful lot of the time, but hey...he's not Bush.

But...but...

Well, I guess things have changed.

As I said to my partner David last night, the neo-Con flat-world globalism is troubling. But the paleo-Con flat earth beliefs of right-wing evangelicals are far more disturbing to me.

Palin is a radical conservative of the evangelical stripe.

I have enough trouble dealing with Obama when he starts talking about his beliefs. I honestly don't like the idea that people who feel their religious beliefs are relevant to presidency could become our leaders. I don't like the idea that any core political decisions, from who we define as "enemies" to issues of abortion rights or creationism in the schools, might be made within the framework of an individual's individual beliefs. The lens I want my leaders to look through when making decisions that affect all of us is the lens of humanism: what is best for the people of this country and world, not what the politician says God wants him or her to do.

God gets used an awful lot to justify evil--too often for me to trust God language in politics. Maybe too much for me to trust God language in other places, too.

* * *

I think I've changed my mind. Maybe I will move to Canada.

* * *

I haven't slept enough in nights. I felt like this during the end of both of the previous elections. Is it normal to feel so ill about something as...intangible(?) ...as who wins the presidential election?

I think I need to turn off the radio, turn off the internet, just to preserve my own sanity. I won't be posting for a few days as I take this Luddite holiday.


*When creating the link for Gantt, I discovered that one of Helm's advisors in that awful race-baiting Senate campaign is now, frighteningly, McCain's chief campaign adviser. (Check out the horrifying ideas presented in that last link.)

The Ones I Breathe

Emma's Revolution won't let me forget the raw intensity I felt after 9/11. This song is about memory, about sadness, about justice.


If I Give Your Name

Mi esposa, my wife, worked on the 80th floor
The company had hired illegals before
She got the job by word of mouth
That's the way in the north when you're from the south

They say 3,000 but the counting's not done
Mi esposa está muerta
Three thousand and one


Chorus:
I have no papers, I have no rights
All my days end in sleepless nights
Missing you, silently
If I give your name
Will they come after me?


Mi hermano, my brother, the elevator man
A doctor in our country but you take what you can
I saw the photos in Union Square
But I could not leave his picture there

They say 3,000 but that's not true
Mi hermano no volverá
Three thousand and two


Chorus


Mi hija, my daughter, went in early that day
She had always been that way
Her daughter asks, "Where did she go?"
How to tell her, I don't know

They say 3,000 but that can't be
Perdí a mi hija
Three thousand and three


Chorus


Mi padre, my father, I have no words
I tried to find you when I heard
They gave some ashes to families
But I'll only have the ones I breathe

They say 3,000 there's so many more
Desaparecidos
Three thousand and four


Chorus


Mi esposa, my wife. Will they come after me?
Mi hermano, my brother. Will they come after me?
Mi hija, my daughter. Will they come after me?
Mi padre, my father. If I give your name,
Will they come after me?



--Sandy O & Pat Humphries



(The lyrics are powerful--and so is the music. Go have a listen!)

Congrats to my 9yo son for winning first place in the contest over at Vegan Lunch Box!

Head over to his blog and leave him an encouraging comment. After all, blogging is part of homeschool English this year...

The Power of Community

Last night as I watched the Republican National Convention, I was expecting the Republicans to blast Obama. The Democrats were certainly not easy on McCain. Attacking the opponent is what the campaigns of both the Democrats and the Republicans do, after all.

I assumed they would say that Obama's experience as a community organizer was not preparation to be president. Personally, I disagree. Obama directed an organization that helped community members set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization. Insuring that the citizens of the country receive education, work skills, and affordable decent housing are core responsibilities of our national leadership. However, I can understand how and why the Republicans could arrive at a different opinion.

I was stunned, however, to hear the speakers mock the entire concept of community organizing. Rudy Giuliani spluttered out to a wildly cheering crowd: "He [Obama] worked as a community organizer. What? He worked — I said — I said, OK, OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume."

Do the Republicans not know what community organizing means?

Community activism is absolutely at the core of participatory democracy. Its goal is to have all members of the community become empowered leaders able to address whatever issues the community faces--massive layoffs and unemployment, lack of public transportation in the face of the high price of gas and cars, foreclosures on homes, the existence of hunger and malnutrition in the face the rising costs of food, high rates of teen pregnancy, rising school drop-out rates and students not being able to afford college, lack of health care, the presence of fear and violence, poverty.

The goal of an organizer is to help the community learn how to respond to its own needs rather than have the government have to shoulder the responsibility. (You'd think the Republicans would support community organizing in greater numbers than Democrats would, wouldn't you?)

Did you know that Obama's community activism took place within the context of a faith-based organization? Wasn't it the Republicans who pushed for faith-based initiatives to restore all the services the government was no longer providing?

I can think of nothing better for the start of one's resume--for a Democratic or a Republican--than spending three years as a community organizer, learning about the real issues real people face. It seems far, far more relevant than being a soldier, no matter how much bravery or responsibility being a soldier might show.

Community organizers learn every day the power of community members to become their own leaders. Rather than political executives doing that job for them, real people act for themselves and learn to change the world. Sometimes community organizers have to give up their own veto in order to do what the entire community thinks is right. Organizers know that their role is to inspire, facilitate, and guide the regular citizens of this country to take the reigns of power and lead America to a better place.


* * *

UPDATE:

Um...McCain just canceled his own scheduled community service for today...

Also: check out this marvelous post about community organizers.

Tinking

Son and I have been struggling with the start of school.

For the last few years, we've been "unschooling" in a heavy way--not following workbooks or parent-made plans. That does not mean he doesn't do and learn a great deal, or that I have nothing to do with what he studies and how he learns things. Unschooling means constantly putting books in his path and opportunities in his way.

For years, Son has been exploring math concepts in a fairly advanced way--but often he is stopped by his inability to do basic math facts with ease. He's never really learned his multiplication tables or even memorized those pesky addition facts. Because he has to think them out each time, it makes doing complex problems difficult. Even when he gets the complex idea down right away, he often can't get the answer right without it taking forever.

This year, we've decided that we want to use a math workbook and even rote drill in order to help him brush up on those underpinnings.

Needless to say, given a very intense child with perfectionist issues, he's often frustrated.

So am I.

This morning, Son had a meltdown over what I thought would be a very easy math exercise. After he erupted in tears (and before I lost my temper at his over-reaction), David and I asked him to do something that would help him regroup--hug his stuffed animal upstairs, do yoga, get a drink, or whatever.

He went to his bedroom.

I picked up my knitting, a Diamond Fantasy lace shawl (designed by Sivia Harding) knit with silk laceweight yarn. The pattern requires just enough concentration that it helps me really refocus and relax. If it were any easier, I would continue to stew in my own misery while making the stitches. (In fact, the first Diamond Fantasy I knit helped me through clinical depression.)

Somehow, rather than knitting new stitches, I took to heart my son's need to backtrack and set things anew. I found myself TINKing (KNITing spelled backwards to indicate one is undoing stitches one by one). I undid about 30 stitches before I realized it. When I saw what I was doing, I immediately smiled and was (mostly) back to a place of patience. The magic of knitting.



Son is currently sitting with David going over the same kinds of math problems. Neither of them is in tears yet...