The Blog

Silvia Usuriaga: New Indigenous Reserve Aims To Save A Fading Culture

2012-02-23T12:24:21Z

A bright, cloudless day. A remote village in the heart of a vast Amazon wilderness. The head of his tribe moved to tears -- tears of joy, pride and gratitude.

It was February 4th, 2012, and Romero Ríos Ushiñahua, leader of his people and one of the last members of the Maijuna tribe was witnessing a ceremony to declare the nearly 1-million acre Maijuna Reserve.

I was privileged to be on hand that day, and to see history in the making.

The Maijuna Reserve declaration was the culmination of years of efforts by the Maijuna People, in conjunction with conservationists and the government of Loreto, Peru.

This heroic conservation success happened because the Maijuna People made it happen. They recognized the unbreakable bond between their ancient culture and their natural environment - and acted to preserve both.

Romero Ríos Ushiñahua and the remaining 200 adult members of the Maijuna People approached the group I work for, Nature and Culture International, in a bid to protect their ancestral land.

The result--an astounding new protected area that is 22% bigger than Yosemite National Park--is one of a growing catalog of South American indigenous reserves that aim to conserve the environment, as well as cultural identity.

For many of these native groups, the stakes are extremely high.

While in more industrial parts of the globe, we have the luxury (and, to some extent the misfortune) of living "apart" from "the environment, " native subsistence dwellers of the Amazon Basin make no such imaginary distinction.

A healthy ecosystem is essential to all of our livelihoods, but for indigenous groups, many of whom have suffered slave-like treatment at the hands of (in historical succession) missionaries, robber barons, loggers, miners, industrial farmers and drug gangs, protecting their environment means saving themselves from utter obliteration.

Consider, for example, the story of Amadeo García.

Amadeo lives on the upper reaches of the Tigre River in the northern tip of the Peruvian Amazon, only 150 miles from the new Maijuna Reserve. He speaks the Taushiro language, a tongue that no one else in the world can understand.

You see, Amadeo is the last member of his tribe.

His story epitomizes the tragedy of Amazon indigenous peoples.

For thousands of years Amadeo's people inhabited the forests between the Tigre and Corrientes Rivers. The arrival of loggers was the last of a succession of misfortunes for the Taushiro, who suffered terrible exploitation with the arrival of each new economic boom. Their villages were converted to timber camps and their people conscripted and scattered.

And while the Taushiro still count as one of the 28 remaining indigenous groups in Peru's massive Loreto province (which is nearly the size of California), when Amadeo is gone, so too will go millennia of cultural knowledge, of ancestral wisdom, and of beautiful stories.

The Taushiro will have been extinguished.

But this will not be the fate of another of Loreto's remaining tribes: The Maijuna.

They have developed a long-term conservation plan with Nature and Culture International - making a strong commitment to protecting their forest home, now and in the future. They have taken the first steps toward recovering and preserving their ancient culture, along with the incredible biodiversity of their native lands.

The Maijuna have gone from lamenting their historic decline to enthusiastically controlling their own future.

It is a hopeful sign.

Laura Prudom: 'American Idol' Recap: 14 Members Of The Top 24 Are Revealed (Very Slowly)

2012-02-23T06:53:25Z

Another week, another wholly unnecessary, post-audition audition episode of "American Idol," because the judges are apparently unqualified to accurately measure talent until they've heard a contestant sing at least eight times in four different venues. Everything that was revealed in this episode could've been covered in a five minute montage, but the producers have a two-hour timeslot and they're determined to make you sit through every monotonous minute, gosh darn it!

Since I am not nearly as sadistic as the creators of "American Idol," all you really need to know is included in the handy list of survivors and lucky escapees below. I suggest you save your DVR space and just drop in for the last five minutes of the Feb. 23 episode, when the show will roll out its annual "Ridiculous Dancing Montage" that will remind you of the Top 24 in one manageable, filler-free chunk.

The first 14 contestants to make it to the live rounds were:

Jen Hirsch -- The winery worker we first met in Galveston, who was one of many to wow the crowd with a bluesy rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" in Hollywood.
Creighton Fraker -- Jen's fellow group member, the "starving artist" from New York. His quirky tone won't be everyone's cup of tea, but he's certainly been a standout of the audition rounds.
Joshua Ledet -- A soulful crooner who was basically a non-entity during the initial auditions, but quickly differentiated himself from the masses during Hollywood Week.
Haley Johnson -- This peppy blonde is one of many with a strong voice, but not really enough personality to separate her from the crowd this season. Great belter, though.
Elise Testone -- She nailed "It's A Man's World" for her final performance, and her husky tone and sweet runs should help her progress to the Top 12.
Reed Grimm -- Though he's not a member of the Fantastic Four, he's certainly pulled off several super performances; especially his a cappella-turned-drum performance of "Georgia."
Erika Van Pelt -- One of the strongest female voices in the competition, with a tone eerily reminiscent of Pink, the mobile DJ was an easy yes -- though the judges did say that she didn't do as well as they'd hoped throughout Hollywood and Vegas.
Chelsea Sorrell -- The first of several indistinguishable country crooners; from what I recall, Chelsea was a solid enough singer, but likely to be canon fodder in the live rounds since she hasn't been all that memorable thus far.
Baylie Brown -- Another country girl, with the added cachet of having had far more screen-time than Chelsea, due to the fact that she first auditioned back in Season 6, which is apparently super impressive. She mangled Rascal Flatts' "Here Comes Goodbye" in her final audition, but in spite of that, the judges gave her a pass.
Heejun Han -- Best known for his deadpan zingers and rivalry with Richie "The Cowboy" Law (who was thankfully sent home), long-suffering Heejun has always been one of J.Lo's favorites and acquitted himself beautifully in his final song. His hilarious response to Ryan Seacrest's "What are you sweating?" ("Mostly water") was possibly the high point of the episode. Yes, it was one of those nights.
Jessica Sanchez -- I don't remember this sweet 16-year-old at all, but her final performance of "The Prayer" was beautifully controlled and had a sweet, natural purity that literally gave me chills. She wants to succeed so that she can support her family since they're broke from supporting her musical ambitions. No pressure.
Phillip Phillips -- This season's Casey Abrams, which is only a good thing if you liked last season's Casey Abrams. He's graveled and seems to have a great grasp of who he wants to be as an artist, but I predict he'll be even more divisive than Creighton.

Colton Dixon -- The reluctant brother who hijacked his sister's audition after the judges bullied him into performing. He's still far too affected for me, but he's unique and confident. Plus, he's white, male and can play and instrument, so he'll probably win. He tried to make up for stealing his sister's thunder by dedicating his final song to her, but things got awkward again when she told him to ask the judges to put her through next year. Yeah, that sibling rivalry isn't going away any time soon.

Brielle Von Hugel -- Teen diva with a suffocating stage mom. She performed a mid-tempo version of "Killing Me Softly" for her final audition, which was interesting. I think she thinks she's better than she actually is, not sure she'll make the Top 12.

And, in an attempt to fabricate drama from a completely pedestrian episode, the show ended on a "cliffhanger" with proud daddy Adam Brock left in limbo until the next episode -- though I can't fathom him being sent home, especially after his rousing performance of "Georgia" in Hollywood.

We mostly lost a few faceless nobodies who hadn't been given any exposure during the audition rounds, and I didn't even catch their names, but there were a couple of surprises. The consistently fantastic Lauren Gray was eliminated, despite her commercial-skewing, Kelly Clarkson-meets-Adele sound. She had great range and a lot of personality, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was brought back as a wildcard (or are we not doing that this year?) but it's somewhat baffling that she was let go in the first place. And despite the catchy name, Neco Starr was also sent home, which made more sense since his last performance sounded nasal and whiny.

On Feb. 23, the 10 remaining members of the Top 24 will be revealed, and thankfully, next week, we can finally get on with the actual singing competition. Were you surprised by any of the judges' decisions?

"American Idol" airs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST on Fox. Next week, "Idol" will also air on Tuesday (2/28) at 8 p.m. as the semifinalist boys perform.

David Casarett, M.D.: Grief Beyond Belief

2012-02-22T23:27:28Z

There are few experiences that are as lonely and isolating as facing the death of a loved one. That sense of loss makes the world around us seem different -- strange and foreign in ways that are difficult to see and impossible to explain to others. The very experience of loss rearranges how we think of ourselves and who we are, and yet the world around us continues as if nothing had happened.

We feel different. In fact, we are different. The loss of someone we love changes us irrevocably.

And it feels like the world should stop and acknowledge that loss. But of course it doesn't. People go to work and school, current events unfold, and email continues to pour in. It can feel like no one else notices, or cares.

That's bad enough, but what Rebecca Hensler discovered after the death of her son in 2009 was much worse. As Kimberly Winston reports in the USA Today, some of the support that Hensler received was worse than no support at all.

Friends and colleagues reassured her that her son was in a better place, for instance. They told her that her son's death was all part of God's plan. And they said they could see her son as an angel.

However well-meaning, those expressions of support did little to relieve Hensler's grief. In fact, they probably caused more harm than help, because Hensler doesn't believe in God. And she had little patience for talk of "God's plan" and angels. She just wanted her son back.
But Hensler found out that she wasn't alone. Last year she started a Facebook page Grief Beyond Belief that quickly struck a chord with non-believers around the world. That page has become a place where people struggling with loss can support each other in ways that don't offer what can be perceived all too easily as false reassurance.

How many people are there like Rebecca Hensler? I'm not sure, but surveys consistently indicate that there are at least 12,000,000 people in the U.S. alone who identify themselves as atheists. More significantly, perhaps, many of these surveys point out that even more -- as many as 30 million -- don't call themselves atheists but neither do they believe in God or a higher power.

For these people -- and I count myself among them -- how is talk of angels and heaven going to lessen the pain that they're feeling? As Hensler and her thousands of Facebook followers will point out, it won't. At best that language is irrelevant. It's just another brick in the isolating wall of grief.

At its worst, though, that talk of heaven and angels can be hurtful. Indeed, some of the most powerful posts tell the story of friends and colleagues and even family members whose goal is less supportive than evangelical. To say to someone, for instance, that their parent's death was attributable to their lack of faith seems impossible to defend.

As a hospice physician, these stories are enough to make me hesitant to raise the question of religion with my patients. Indeed, that territory seems treacherous, and full of hidden hazards. I always want to support my patients and their families in whatever beliefs they have, but I'm afraid to say the wrong thing.

Putting those anxieties aside, though, I do ask my patients about their religious beliefs. For me, though, it's not so much a discussion of religion per se, but a chance for them to put boundaries around their beliefs. It's a chance for them to tell me, if they feel comfortable doing so, that they don't believe in God. More broadly, it's a chance for them to tell me and the other members of the hospice team how we can support them, and what is off limits. In fact, several patients have told me that they don't want to hear anyone talk to them about how their death was part of a larger plan. They just didn't want to hear it from us. So we made sure they didn't.

That can be especially important when a family encompasses a range of religious beliefs. For instance, I took care of an older woman recently who was a confirmed atheist, as was her eldest daughter. But her two sons weren't, and one of them was a Baptist minister who insisted on praying with -- and for -- his mother and the rest of the family.

Fortunately our hospice chaplains are adept at reading these sorts of situations. They have to be, since they provide spiritual support to people with a wide range of beliefs. In that case they were able to broker a compromise that preserved family harmony, but which protected our patient from prayers that she was finding increasingly distracting and intrusive.

It's our chaplains, too, who have helped me to be more comfortable in talking about religion with atheists and believers alike. They're remarkably flexible in adapting to the needs of our patients, whoever they are and whatever they believe. A Baptist who needs to pray? Fine. A Buddhist who needs a clear mind to meditate? OK. For our chaplains, as strange as it may sound, atheism is just another set of beliefs that deserve our respect and support. Just as much respect, in fact, as we give to Baptists or Buddhists. And that's an attitude that I hope Rebecca Hensler's efforts will promote.

Rog Walker: A Boy

2012-02-22T22:48:59Z

Many would agree that a child deserves to see the entire world and to know that he or she can be anything that they want to be. This is what we are taught in elementary school, and yet, the primary options are always limited. Doctor, lawyer, fireman, etc. As we grow and mature, these ideas become so embedded in our minds that we don't pursue life out of a vast understanding of the world's options, but rather out of what is deemed "successful" or "respectable."

On my journey, I never realized I was lost (at least not until I actually found myself). I was fortunate enough to discover a truth that remains hidden from most people for their entire lives. My identity and purpose exist in something present in this world, something that may not have been presented to me by my parents, teachers, or peers. I can be spiritually and practically fulfilled living from inward choice rather than a societal determination of success.

Don't buy the hype and don't sell it either. There is an entire world out there and it is up to you to connect with it and decide for yourself what works for you.

Don't buy the hype..
A Boy: A Speaking Pixels Photo Story
Experience the original spread: http://speakingpixels.com/boy

Holly Cara Price: Dion DiMucci in Conversation With Steven Van Zandt at the 92nd Street Y

2012-02-22T22:31:17Z

Just imagine you're sitting in your own living room and it's nice and cozy and quiet, and across from you in two comfy chairs are Dion DiMucci and Steven Van Zandt talking, for 90 minutes, about Dion's long and amazing career. That's what it felt like last Sunday night at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, as Van Zandt engaged DiMucci in conversation about everything from the songs that excited him on the radio as a child, to the time that Jerry Lieber called him "the best white blues singer he had ever heard." This remarkable evening was part of the 92Y's lecture series and is yet another reason why, if you have some spare cash lying around, you should put it into an envelope and send it their way. It bears mentioning also that there is no better person to interview a bonafide legend like Dion; no one who is more erudite and savvy on the history of rock and roll and all its many iterations than Steven Van Zandt, who for years has hosted the weekly radio show Little Steven's Underground Garage -- as well as helming two channels on SiriusXM, Outlaw Country and Underground Garage.

Van Zandt began the evening with an introduction to Dion, who, he said, created the Italian-American New York/New Jersey attitude. "And where would Rock & Roll be without that?" he asked, grinning. The two first met when Steven, a hired hand with the Dovells at the time, came to Vegas on the oldies circuit, where Dion was playing in 1973. The theatre manager took Van Zandt on a tour and they came upon Dion noodling around on the guitar, by himself, playing a Robert Johnson tune. Thus began a long friendship.

DiMucci grew up in the Bronx, where he first heard Hank Williams and thrilled to country music and blues, as well as doo wop. Talking about those early days, the excitement in his voice last night was palpable -- as fresh as if it were just yesterday he first heard those songs. Dion, as so many others, tried to imitate what he heard on the radio, and music became a lifeline to get out of the neighborhood. "A lot of guys didn't make it out of the neighborhood," he said. "But I found music and it was a bit of salvation for me."

In 1957 he got together with three neighborhood friends to form Dion and the Belmonts. Dion still remembers the exact moment they first did "I Wonder Why" (their first hit) in his house; how great it sounded; the four-part harmonies. For a few years they had a steady string of hits and Dion was the first rock and roll artist signed to Columbia Records. They landed a place on the Winter Dance Party tour with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Holly, at the time, was just 22 years old and on top of the world -- tremendously successful in the brand new genre of rock and roll music.

Dion was very nearly one of the passengers on the small plane that crashed with Buddy Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper aboard from Clear Lake, Iowa in February 1959. They had to share the cost of chartering the plane and when DiMucci (aged 19 at the time) found that his share was $36, he opted out. That was the exact amount his parents paid for rent every month. He just could not spend that kind of money on a plane flight, even one that cut down many hours of traveling icy roads in a bus to a two-hour airplane ride. The rest, of course, is history. No one survived the crash.

This and other amazing stories poured out of Dion on Sunday, he calls himself quite accurately the "Forrest Gump" of rock and roll. The conversation was punctuated every so often by a verse or two or three from either one of his own songs or a song beloved by him. He left the Belmonts as he wasn't interested in the direction they were going, left Columbia Records, went into a folk-rock period, hung out in the Village with denizens like John Sebastian, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. There was a very dark time, with drugs, that his wife was instrumental in bringing him through to the other side. There was "Abraham, Martin and John" in 1968.

Over the years, many people -- including John Hammond in 1961 -- told Dion he had a "flair" for the blues and should pursue recording in this genre. But t wasn't until years later that he took their advice. His new album, out this week, is Tank Full of Blues. "When I found music -- it was like a handle to life to me," he told the rapt audience at 92Y. The evening ended with Dion performing a song from the new album called "Holly Brown" accompanied by Van Zandt on guitar.

Jennifer Boyd-Einstein and Paula Mangin: Punk'd

2012-02-22T22:28:38Z

At 71 years old, Vivienne Westwood is a badass. The original Punk.

Her first collection to hit the catwalk was "Pirates" in 1981; crazy to think she was already 40 when she made her debut on the international fashion stage. She had been an integral part of the punk scene in London with boyfriend/collaborator Malcolm McLaren, who managed the Sex Pistols. Now she was part of the fashion scene. Forever.

She's a rebel that has always done things her own way, but backs it up by creating iconic pieces that stand the test of time. There's a reason why museum exhibitions showcase her work. If the MET features the Kardashian line in a 2030 exhibit, you best believe hidden cameras will be rolling for the resurrection of Punk'd. Or I'll barf in my Anglomania bag.

One of my first eBay purchases was a pair of her Pirate Boots, which she has reissued and can be found here. I cried when I opened the box. They go with nothing and everything. I also just scored these Vivienne Westwood crazy sack boots here; I can't wait to rescue them from the cobbler, where they are awaiting rubber reinforced soles. Maybe the big bags on my feet will detract from the big bags under my eyes.

I idolize her. Years ago, when I took the hardest class of my life, CDFP (cut/drape/flat/pattern) at the San Francisco Academy of Art, we all had to choose a dress-form with which to display our finished assignments. Of course I chose Vivienne Westwood. She would recoil at the crap I hung and draped on that dress form, most of it resembling punk by accident due to the the slashes and liberal use of safety pins. Bad sewing is not cool.

Her Fall 2012 collection, which just debuted during London Fashion Week, was a study in why I love her: the asymmetric jackets and hems, the pinstripes, the nipped-in waists, the t-shirts and plaids. Below are drawings of some of my favorite looks, while the complete collection is here:

So while trends and designers come and go, Vivienne Westwood is here to stay. As the Sex Pistols sang, "God save the Queen."...Amen.

All illustrations by Paula.

Franca Sozzani: Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton

2012-02-22T21:23:16Z

The exhibition for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, illustrates a long period in the history of England through the portraits of young Elizabeth realized by Cecil Beaton from the '30s to the '60s.

Everything had started years earlier, when Elizabeth, Queen Consort of King George VI, appointed Cecil Beaton to take portraits of the family and the very young princesses, as Cecil Beaton recalled in his diaries. Besides the pictures, letters, notes and invitations illustrate the long-lasting friendships, which bonded the queen to her favorite photographer. Also, her Coronation Day was entirely depicted by Cecil Beaton.

Elizabeth, the youngest queen since the era of Queen Victoria, is fascinating and truly beautiful. The portraits and the various phases of the ceremony are stunning and make us live again those moments, when three million people gathered between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. The portraits are glamorous, featuring the queen holding the scepter and wearing the crown and the ermine cloak -- unique shots that, viewed all together, represent the country's history of costume, besides that of a nation.

Prince Charles was born in 1948, followed by his other brothers and sisters. Queen Elizabeth is portrayed like any other mother, contrasting with the regality and pomp of Coronation Day pictures. Also on show is the official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery, where the queen is wearing the austere admiral's boat cloak with gold buttons -- simple and still modern today, as if time had not passed.

Over the years, Cecil Beaton took more than 500 photographs for the National Portrait Gallery, with family life moments and official events alternating through the years. From the point of view of fashion, the queen wears many ensembles with a regal style and simplicity. Pictured as a young princess she is wearing an embroidered dress with an ample floral skirt and a double-strand pearl necklace. After her engagement, she is donning a simpler dress, and her pearls again, which will remain a regular feature in her life; and as the queen, wearing the cloak of the Sovereign of the Order of the Garter.

It's a must-see exhibition for its historical significance, for the powerfulness of the queen's figure, her attitude, her poses, her smiles and her inimitable gaze, as well as for the importance of Cecil Beaton as a photographer. Like a story illustrated by pictures that unveil a long history of queens and princesses, castles in the countryside, joys and wars, dream-like gowns and more ordinary kilts and headscarves -- the history of a woman, the history of the queen.

Clay Farris Naff: Speeding Tickets For Embryos? As Personhood Bills Proliferate, Could Be

2012-02-22T21:00:10Z

Remember the "Defense of Marriage" ballot measures?

Ah, those were simpler, more innocent days. Back then, the religious right contented itself with trying to scare up backwoods voters with church-basement videos about the "Gay Rights Agenda" and gay recruiters in high schools. It all seems so Bush-league now. The dark forces of Old-Time Religion have moved on to a more sophisticated campaign.

"We need to get back to the respect for life that we used to have in this country that's been lost," Virginia pol Robert Marshall tells CNN. Respect for life, eh? Perhaps he was thinking of Virginia's 1928 anti-lynching statute, put in place nearly 50 years after white mobs began the habit of dragging black men to a public square, torturing and then hanging them. Not that the law was often enforced, but you can see how it would show a due respect for life.

In any event, Marshall is the proud sponsor of a bill that would give fetuses the same rights as "other persons" from the moment of fertilization. The implications may be mind-boggling, but the GOP-dominated House of Delegates sent it sailing through nonetheless. If the Virginia Senate follows suit, life in the Old Dominion state will never be the same.

In future elections, will pregnant women vote twice? Once for themselves and once for their embryos? And if a pregnant lady is pulled over for speeding, will the cop have to ticket junior along with mom? After all, the bill states that "unborn child at every stage of development [shall have] all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this Commonwealth."

But let's not descend into silly conjecture. After all, the real implications of this bill and its companion piece mandating pre-abortion vaginal probes are outrageous enough. To enact into law the religious dogma that a person springs into life at conception is to do violence to women, medicine, science, religion and a rational civilization.

If doctors are legally bound on pain of possible murder charges to consider a fetus at any stage the equal of its mother, then a number of women will die horrible and unnecessary deaths. Pregnancy is dangerous. Our evolutionary history (rather than any alleged misdeed by Eve) has made human pregnancy the most dangerous of all. In places where modern medicine is unavailable, women have a one-in-16 chance of dying in childbirth. Doctors sure as hell don't need fanatical lawmakers tying their hands as they try to treat women with life-threatening pregnancies.

Of course, if the religious zealots were right -- if there really were two fully realized people in one body from the moment of conception -- it would be a different matter. But they are wrong. Deep down, they must know this, for they rely on selective quotations from the Bible and then hitch them to selected trimmings from science.

You've probably seen this snippet, usually with an attribution to God: ""Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee." It's presented as a biblical argument for personhood from conception. Just one problem: the whole quotation clearly shows that God is talking not about babies in general but about one Jeremiah, whom He has specially selected to be a prophet.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

What's more, it's not God talking directly, it's Jeremiah recalling what God supposedly told him. (Much as God supposedly told GWB to invade Iraq.) In some places in the Bible, breathing seems to be the criterion of life, and elsewhere "quickening" -- that is, the noticeable movement of the fetus in the mother's belly. It's not my purpose to rehash that whole argument here, but only to point out that pro-lifers aren't above giving Scripture the same treatment they inflict on evolutionists: distortion through selective quotation.

Now, as for science: Pro-lifers, some of them with medical degrees, will tell you science shows that a person forms at the moment a human sperm fertilizes a human egg. "As soon as he is conceived, a man is a man," testified the late Dr. Jerome Lejeune before the state Tennessee legislature. Such pronouncements are bunk, and happily you don't need a medical degree or scientific training to see it for yourself.

The claim that "life begins at conception" trades on a linguistic shell game. It is trivially true that a new and unique genome is formed at conception. A genome, however, cannot possibly be mistaken for a person. To prove this, pluck a hair from your head. You are now holding a unique genome in your hands. But, you will doubtless agree, it is not a person. Otherwise, bald men would be goners.

The switcheroo takes place when pro-lifers use "life begins at conception" to refer to a person, as in the LeJeune quotation above. To see that this is complete nonsense, just click here. You'll find yourself at National Geographic's recent feature on twins. "Identical" twins, it notes, are not really identical. And however similar they may appear, they are certainly not the same person! At the moment of conception, there is not a scrap of science that can tell whether one, two or no persons will result.

So, we're back to religion and politics. In that vein, will someone please remind Rep. Marshall and his band of pro-life, probe-happy fanatics: E pluribus unum does not mean "One dogma to rule them all and in the darkness bind them."

Carrie White: Vicious Circles

2012-02-22T20:39:26Z

I meet my beautiful friend, Bird, at Peet's coffee in the posh Ventura Boulevard valley area.
We have our lattes and oatmeal with dried blueberries and hop into her car and onto the freeway. Bird is driving because I always get lost when I go downtown, especially near Chinatown and Alvaro Street, even though I am a native Angeleno. I just don't frequent downtown, except for a Staple Center event, or a MOCA exhibit, or dinner at Bottega Louie near FIDM.

We are off to her service commitment that she's been trying to get me to know about for ages. "You are gonna love this place," Bird tells me. I smile and think about our friendship for over 25 years. I'm so proud of her.

We park and Bird reaches in the back and grabs her bag that contains a portable coffee pot for our group. She gets out to put money in the meter. I stay in my seat and examine the huge glass windows that make the bottom floor of this big building. The room is filled with seated people.

"That's not where we go," Bird says. "We're upstairs."

She leads the way. We pass a few clean-cut but tough looking hombres smoking on the sidewalk. They nod to us. "How ya' doing today?" Bird says. We enter.

"How long has this place been going on?" I ask. I can immediately sense a purposeful operation as we walk in. I see hourly schedules posted on walls, from drug and alcohol counseling to anger management, job training and placement to legal services.

"About twenty years," Bird answers. "They have a restaurant and a bakery over there, where the kids can work. We'll have lunch after; the food is amazing!" Bird points to the far side of the building. "Jobs not Jails, that's the motto here."

All I had heard about Homeboy Industries was they sold chips and salsa to markets and the money helped kids in gangs. "This is the largest intervention community for gang-recovery," Bird says. "Father Boyle speaks about 200 times a year to law enforcers, university students, educators, and social workers."

I see a sign over another door: Tattoo Removal. I had noticed this place was filled with people who had more ink on them than I had seen at a lifetime of rock concerts. "Hard to get a job with F*^k You tattooed across your forehead," Bird says. "Tattoos are removed for free. It's especially good to get rid of the different gang related signs... everyone works side by side. Its a gang-free zone here."

Bird is greeted by everyone as we walk up the stairs. She knows their names and asks about their families.

"Every Monday, there's a table downstairs with new candles lit for the ones that were lost over the weekend," Bird whispers to me. "This place is the real deal. These are hardcore lives from generations of vicious gangs."

I feel my heart flinch.

"Its also a vicious circle," I say. "And it sure takes a lot more love...to love the unlovable."

"Father Boyle quotes Mother Teresa," Bird says. "'The problem is, we forgot we belong to each other.'"

The group gathers so anyone can share and be heard in a safe environment. I realize, I thought I had come to share with them -- parolees, others on probation, and a few that just want to have fellowship -- but it is me who has been inspired by their examples, by Homeboy Industries example.

"Look! Father Boyle's here today," Bird says excited.

She introduces me to him. He is a pleasant but serious man in a denim blue shirt with the Homeboys Industries logo silk screened on the pocket, beige trousers, and a well groomed white beard to match his hair. He signs his book to me, Tattoos on the Heart, and dashes off.

I hand my merchandise and credit card to a tall, thin man about 20 years old, who is being taught how to work the credit card machine by another. He has ink everywhere I can see on his skin, including red lips on his neck, and when he closes his eyes for a minute, his lids read, one word on each in script: The End.

"Oh," I say, tearing away from my mental vision of him lying in a casket with his eyes closed. "Well, great! Now that you're here, those words can mean the end... of a day, or the end... of a problem."

Carrie White and Bird.

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Xaque Gruber: 25 Years After Anna, Sally Kirkland Reflects on the Oscar Race for Best Actress

2012-02-22T20:25:29Z

This year's Academy Awards reunites Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) with Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) for the third time in the Best Performance By An Actress in a Leading Role category. The first time they faced off for Oscar was 1988. The prize went to Cher in Moonstruck, but the Golden Globes earlier that year bypassed the superstars (Streep, Close, Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway) to honor a lesser known independent film veteran, Sally Kirkland, with Best Drama Actress for Anna. In Kirkland, a star was born -- in her forties. Kirkland's Anna, a faded Czech star stumbling into Manhattan striving for a new beginning, is just as stunning 25 years later.

Appropriately, she also collected one of the first Lead Actress Independent Spirit Awards for the role the L.A. Times called "one of the five best performances by an actress in the 1980s."

Without the machinery of big studio dollars, expensive publicists, or even tapes being sent out to voters (not allowed by the Academy at that time), Kirkland's award show glory was the result of her own tireless campaign launch. With very little capital, Kirkland and friends spread the word, grassroots-style, to garner attention for the little seen indie.

Sally Kirkland Career Film Clips:

Sally Kirkland Sizzle Video from Jill Jucarone on Vimeo.

XG: How did the Anna campaign begin?

SK: When I first read the script by Agnieszka Holland, I thought whoever plays this role has a shot at the Oscar. It was just intuition. In the earlier days when we didn't have any publicity, I called friends including Andy Warhol (Kirkland's first director in 1964's 13 Most Beautiful Women) who put me on his TV show. Joan Rivers did too. At Cannes, I ran into Rex Reed in an elevator and begged him to see it. e did, and he lent me this quote "Sally Kirkland devours Anna like a raw steak and emerges a major star." Then Norman Mailer gave me a quote. We had pooled enough money for a black and white ad trade campaign. Dale Olson, Shirley MacLaine's publicist, encouraged me to go for the L.A. Film Critics Awards. So I wrote them all letters, and said this is a tiny little film but I hope you'll see it, and I ended up tying with Holly Hunter (Broadcast News) for that. Then we screened it for the Hollywood Foreign Press and their response was extraordinary. At the Oscars, there were all these movie stars emerging from their limos, and then there was me. I felt like Cinderella. The greatest part was the feeling to be in the same Oscar category of these women that I was a huge fan of -- Meryl, Glenn, Holly Hunter and Cher, who I used to rollerskate with in the '70s.

ABC Commercial for the 1988 Oscars Best Actress race:

XG: How did actors' respond to your homemade Oscar campaign?

SK: Gena Rowlands said, "I voted for you, Sally, but I have to confess something, I never saw the film, but I wanted you to win so much because of that campaign."

XG: As an Academy voter, give me your thoughts on this year's Best Actress category. Let's start with Rooney Mara in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

SK: Her physical strength, scene after scene, getting beaten up, the nudity -- very courageous. Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady in a word -- magnificent. In the first five minutes, you see this old woman shopping for groceries. I whispered to the person next to me, "Who is that?" I'm pretty good at knowing actors, and I quite literally had no idea it was Meryl.

XG: Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn.

SK: It's not easy to take that on much less capture the essence of this icon. I couldn't believe it was Michelle Williams, this little tiny flower of a woman -- she was wonderful -- vulnerable. And Glenn Close was outstanding. She did Albert Nobbs so well on Broadway and it was a real tribute to her abilities becoming that gentle but strong, androgynous being. Very touching.

XG: Viola Davis in The Help.

SK: She moved me to tears. I had a black nurse growing up, Louise, who taught me about God, and everything. I was closer to her than anyone. To see Viola play this character that, to me, was Louise, was heart breaking. This is one of the strongest years ever for the Best Actress category.

XG: Do you think your 1987 grassroots Oscar campaign could happen in today's world?

SK: Yes, my friend Melissa Leo from Frozen River is a testament to that. If you're in independent films, and worked hard for years, and you don't happen to be part of the mega-billion dollar system, and you've got the chutzpah to stand up and say this is who I am, it takes all the humanity out of Hollywood not to appreciate that.

Sally Kirkland & Polina Porizkova in Anna:

Liz Kozak: A Mom's Oscar Cheat Sheet

2012-02-22T20:02:10Z

When I was pregnant, the single best, most specific piece of advice I received was this:

"Go to the movies a lot now, because once you have a baby, paying a babysitter when you can rent the same thing at home in a few months isn't worth it."

I wish I'd listened.

I wish I could call up every single person who told me, "Sleep while you can!" and inform them that their advice was terrible.

I wish I had used all that nap time to go to the movies, because I miss it a whole lot.

Now the Oscars are almost here, and if you also have a new baby, then you most likely haven't seen any or most of the nominated films, either. Allow me to do my best to break down the Best Picture contenders for you... to the best of my limited ability.

War Horse:
Steven Spielberg made it, right? It must be epic/heartwarming/tragic/expensive. I am wary of horse movies and of horse folk. I really hope that my daughter isn't one of those horse-riding gals like Lindsay on The Bachelor. Now THAT'S something I DO watch!

Hugo:
What kind of a person would leave their kid at home to go see a kids' movie?

The Artist:
The first movie I tell people I would absolutely go see if I could!!! Actually, that's a lie. I did go to the movies once since the baby was born, and I chose The Muppets. So I guess I answered my own question.

Midnight in Paris:
On-Demanded at the highest recommendation of my father-in-law. So charming! So quirky! Actually, all I remember was that Rachel McAdams rocked a lot of shirtdresses, and then I fell asleep. There are now four shirtdresses in my madewell.com shopping cart that I will never buy.

Moneyball:
We rented this one too, and it lost me in the first 10 minutes. There was way more math than in Angels in the Outfield. It does have Brad Pitt, but something happened between Kalifornia and last week. Have you realized he's almost 50? How old does that make you feel? Old enough to be someone's mother! And the kid from Superbad will now instead be referred to forever as "The Oscar nominated kid from Superbad."

Tree of Life:
I do know it also has Brad Pitt. Perhaps with a crew cut. I do not know what it's about. But I bet it would make me cry.

The Help:
Here we go! We're all familiar with this one! If you're reading this column, there is a 70 percent chance that you're in a book club, and if so, there is an 98 percent chance that The Help was one of the books you read. This one was actually designed in a science lab to punch vulnerable moms in the solar plexus. I'm going to search Etsy for a cross stitch that says, "You is smart. You is kind. You is important." to hang in the nursery.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close:
I don't personally know one single person who's seen this, which makes it my cinematic equivalent of Rizzoli & Isles.

The Descendants:
I heard it's funny, but it's super sad. I guess this movie should be called "The Full Length Mirror in My Hallway," because that's what I feel when I gaze upon myself these days. Who would want to put themselves through that for two sustained hours? Someone who wants to eat Milk Duds in the dark, that's who.

Happy Oscar Weekend!
What films are you rooting for?

Rion Sabean: 'Men-Ups': How I Got The Idea For My Gender-Bending Photo Series (PHOTOS)

2012-02-22T19:26:00Z

At the beginning "Men-Ups" was a very vague idea I had that I wanted to be, at its core, the mixing of gender stereotypes, which, at that point, was something I hadn't made a stab at but really wanted to attempt. One day it just struck me that I would use the simple poses of classic pin-up imagery, which are very culturally recognizable, especially in terms of their immediate association with the guise of femininity, but pair them with males who were dressed masculinely or playing the part of the recognizably masculine.

From there I began to construct "characters" for each image, all of which included poses that I knew I wanted the models to try. My main goal for the series was to suggest to the viewer something familiar, but with a twist that could both allure and confound. Through the draw of the photographs and the jarring nature of the unfamiliar, I hope to have the viewer question their responses and why they feel the reaction that they do, and to associate those feelings with an understanding of societal brainwashing. Mainly, I want my audience to ask two things: why is it considered sexy for a woman to pose in such ways, and why isn't it sexy for a man to do the same?

Gender isn't naturally born as society implies. It isn't black-and-white. It isn't feminine-vs.-masculine. Humans can't be so rigidly defined, because those definitions are built on baseless, antiquated implications. I believe that thinking and asking questions (whether they can be fully answered or not) builds a freer, open-minded approach to life that can only allow for an unadulterated understanding to the complexity of human beings.

For more from Rion Sabean, visit his website.

PHOTOS:

Lisa Mirza Grotts: Hat Etiquette

2012-02-22T19:23:05Z

Photo credits: ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Have you noticed how often men wear their hats indoors? This is a breach of etiquette that some men don't seem to know about. And it's always surprising to me how many people do not remove their baseball caps when the National Anthem is sung. Hats are worn less now, but at the turn of the twentieth century, most adults wore hats whenever they left the house. Then, men tipped their hats to others as a gesture of politeness, though this is considered old-fashioned today.

JFK changed everything by making it stylish to go hatless (he was the first president not to wear a brimmed hat for outdoor presidential occasions) though baseball caps, trucker caps, bicycle caps, ski caps, Panama hats, and porkpie hats are popular these days. Whatever kind of hat is worn, there are still rules about when to take your hat off. The rules are fewer today (it's okay to wear a hat in the presence of a woman, for example), but not knowing when to take your hat off can make you appear rude, unsophisticated or both. Here are the basic rules of hat etiquette:

Hat Etiquette for Men

• Removing your hat is considered to be a gesture of respect for certain occasions and in certain places. Keeping your hat on during these occasions and in these places (see below) is a gesture of disrespect.

• All hats, including baseball caps and knit caps, should be removed when the wearer is indoors, including in private homes and restaurants, however informal, except for public places such as lobbies, corridors, and elevators.

• Hats should be removed during the singing of the National Anthem, the passing of the American flag and funeral processions, and during formal outdoor occasions such as weddings and dedications.

• After removing your hat, hold it so that the inside of the hat is toward you and not visible to others.

• Some people believe that it's bad luck to put a hat on a bed, so when you take your hat off in someone's home, look for a hat rack or some other place to put it.

Hat Etiquette for Women

• If you're wearing what is traditionally thought of as a man's hat, such as a baseball cap or a Panama hat, you should follow all the rules for men, above.

• Hats traditionally thought of as "women's hats," with ribbons, bows, feathers, flowers, or other ornamentation, or in delicate colors and materials, including the small hats worn on the front of the head and known as fascinators, may be kept on indoors for all occasions, except when you're wearing a large hat at the movies, the theater, or any other kind of performance event. In this case, remove it and place it on your lap so that people behind you can see the stage.

Lisa Mirza Grotts is a recognized etiquette expert, an on-air contributor, and the author of A Traveler's Passport to Etiquette. She is a former director of protocol for the city and county of San Francisco and the founder and CEO of The AML Group (www.AMLGroup.com), certified etiquette and protocol consultants. Her clients range from Stanford Hospital to Cornell University and Levi Strauss. She has been quoted by Condé Nast Traveler, InStyle magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. To learn more about Lisa, follow her on www.Twitter.com/LisaGrotts

Crane.tv: Gold Stars for Town Hall Hotel from Artist, Corinne Felgate (VIDEO)

2012-02-22T19:06:34Z

Corinne Felgate's unusual artwork is permeated by humor and social commentary, realized in the form of sculpture or installation. Having originally studied linguistics, Felgate has stated that sculpture and the use of objects is a language unto itself, providing an elegant medium with which to express her ideas.

In 2010 she produced a piece called 'Man, I Feel Like A Woman (The Uniform Project),' which entailed giving away all her clothes and replacing them with ten identically cut dresses, in different fabrics. This 'perfect dress,' designed by Felgate herself, is now all she wears. Other past artwork has included 'Big Wig,' a very large top hat; 'Exponential Growth,' a chair made from human hair; 'Bad Boy Boogie Woogie,' glitter replicas of the work of Mondrian and 'Go Getter,' a shoe made out of puppy fur.

Crane.tv met up with Felgate to talk about one of her latest works, 'Über-achiever.' The piece consists of a vortex of 100,000 gold stars framed to look like a doorway. It was commissioned by Arts Admin for Bethnal Green's Town Hall Hotel & Apartments. Arts Admin has worked with Town Hall Hotel since 2009, selecting several emerging, often local, artists each year to produce pieces of art for the hotel's interior. The initiative reflects the burgeoning arts scene in East London and links the luxury hotel to its creative surroundings.

Text by Angelica Pursley for Crane.tv

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Jerry Zezima: There's No Business Like Shoe Business

2012-02-22T18:55:07Z

If the shoe fits, wear it. Then wear the other one because otherwise you would have to hop around on one foot and you'd end up spraining an ankle. That's why I was reluctant to hop to it recently when my wife, Sue, a world-class bargain hunter, took me out to buy shoes.

"We're going to the Bass outlet," she told me.

"That's my favorite ale!" I exclaimed.

"We're not going drinking," Sue said.

"Then you mean we're going fishing?" I asked.

Sue rolled her eyes. "We're going shoe shopping," she said.

If you were to make a list of my least favorite things to do, shoe shopping would rank right up there with spraining an ankle and making a list of my least favorite things to do.

My aversion to footwear goes back to when I was a teenager and worked in a clothing store. I liked almost every aspect of the job, especially putting goofy notes in shirt pockets and joking around with the tailors. But I hated waiting on customers who wanted to buy shoes. It didn't help that I could seldom find their size. And if I did, I'd forget to take out the paper balls that were stuffed inside the shoes.

I don't think I ever sold a pair. After much sole-searching, I decided to pursue a different career path.

To me, shoes are things you put on your feet to prevent frostbite in the winter and athlete's foot in the summer, although if I didn't wear them, it would be a boon to the gas mask industry.

Most of the time, I wear sneakers. And even they have become annoying to shop for because you have to decide whether you want walking shoes, running shoes, hiking shoes... practically everything except what sneakers are supposed to be: relaxing shoes.

Sue, on the other hand (or, rather, the other foot), loves shoes. She'll never rival Imelda Marcos, but she has a lot more than I do.

Currently, I have three pairs, including the black dress shoes I bought last year for the wedding of my younger daughter, who would have killed me if I'd shown up wearing sneakers.

Sue's mission in taking me shoe shopping was to replace the clodhoppers that had served as my black casual pair for the past five or six years. She also wanted to return the nice brown pair she bought for me last year (but which I had never worn) because they were identical to the brown pair I had been wearing since I got the black clodhoppers.

I perused the store's brown shoes and saw a pair I liked. I looked at the price tag. It said: $140. I had the same reaction I'd have if I took a whiff of my own shoes: I almost fainted.

"They're on sale," Sue pointed out.

Indeed, the price had been slashed to $25. Same with the black casuals I liked, which had been priced at $110. I tried on both pairs, initially forgetting, of course, to take out the paper balls. The shoes fit like gloves.

"Maybe I should wear them on my hands," I said to Sue. She rolled her eyes again and led me to the checkout counter, where she not only returned my brown shoes but produced coupons that helped make this the deal of the century: two pairs of shoes, originally totaling $250, for $1.45.

That's right: One dollar and 45 cents!

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It didn't.

"Not a bad deal," Sue, Queen of the Bargain Hunters, said as we walked out.

"Now that," I replied, "is what I call getting a shopping excursion off on the right foot."

Stamford Advocate columnist Jerry Zezima is the author of "Leave It to Boomer." Visit his blog at www.jerryzezima.blogspot.com. Email: JerryZ111@optonline.net