From Politico.com

Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.

Read the rest on Politico.

Perhaps we need more comedians in politics. Since Lenny Bruce, quite a few comedians have schooled themselves on speaking truth to power. Think of Bill Hicks (the most astute in my opinion) or George Carlin or even the late night guys. A couple of days ago, Bill O’Reilley tried unsuccessfully to recruit Jon Stewart to run as his presidential running mate. Stewart declined, of course, citing “a boxful” of damaging photos in his attic that would keep him from working at the Post Office.

Maybe he ought to rethink this. [Read more →]

by Jack Moffitt

Hello Brownsville!

Carrots are now showing up regularly at the Market. The seed doesn’t want to germinate when it is hot, and they grow a little slower than some of the other crops that are now old hat, this time of year.

In a country where the pursuit of cheap food is king, the Imperator carrot is the one most of us grow up eating. It gains weight well, so it appeals to the farmer, as he usually sells by the pound. The Imperator stores like a phonebook, so the grocers like them, as well. Processors have found they can carve “baby” carrots out of them, so yet another faction drives the Imperator sales. [Read more →]

by Gene Novogrodsky

Black street,
Puddles, pooled
Shine white-yellow
In stilled darkness ….

The rain.

Rain of violent departures.
Rain of dark love.
Rain of shut doors.

Knives drip blood.
Lovers stand, look away.
Sealed to passersby.

Intellectual theft by Stan

Flash: Satirists detecting a trend.

by Jack Moffitt

Greetings locavores!

How about some cauliflower! Last weekend we had the pleasure of setting up shop next to Dave and Nancy of DNR Maters and More, after they harvested a big trailerload of cauliflower. Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of seeing some beautiful cauliflower under production at Acacia Farms (Bud and Suzanne). That’s a sign, right there, my friend – this week we talk cauliflower!

It is a pretty good theory that we are eating cauliflower today, because the Europeans ate it and grew it. The English were reported to have been importing seed from Cyprus by 1600. [Read more →]

from Gene’s Notebook

…in corners, on benches, through busted doors and windows, ripped siding, the man finds rest, dozing, heavy belly heaving, maybe one eye open …and yesterday, sitting on a guardrail, he was shampooing his wild grey hair and wild grey beard, shampooing without rinse water ….

…in the foggy dawn, two cars pull into the parking lot across from the elderly care facility; two women get out, lock their doors and begin to walk to the rear door of the facility, past two swollen dumpsters, those stained plastic gloves, bunched adult diapers, and ring the rear-door buzzer, ready to enter, the residents still asleep, hall lights on, quiet start …. [Read more →]

The New York Times has an interesting device that runs the video and tracks the text of a speech side by side. It’s a good way to watch / read an oration. Here is the President’s speech.

-stan

Intellectual theft by Stan

Austin’s Ben Sargent hits it on the head again. To my mind, corporations should have NO free speech rights, nor should they be recognized as a “person.” Now this would include non-profits and unions, the poor person’s corporations. What we should have as a legal standard is something akin to the idea that brought the civil rights movement to success: One man, one vote. In the case of corporations [Read more →]

THE BALLET FOLKLÓRICO UT-PAN AMERICAN
CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO
Alegria 2010
A 40th Anniversary
Exclusive Premiere Dinner and a Show
February 4, 2010
$50 per person
Dinner at 6 p.m. š Performance at 7:30 p.m.
UTPA Fine Arts Court Yard and Auditorium
Edinburg, TX
R.S.V.P. 956/632-3589, Dora Brown, IBC Senior Vice President, Committee Chair
Make checks payable to
Ballet Folklórico UTPA

Recognizing Great Value in the Arts of the Rio Grande Valley

From Gene’s Notebook

The construction foreman tells me that he is supervising the clearing of a lot
that will be rented to store the heavy machinery that will work on Brownsville’s
drainage and sewage systems.

He says, almost spitting with anger, “It’s Obama’s stimulus.”

I tell him, “We’re 320 million people. We’re in it together. I like the
stimulus. We need more of it, not less.”

He’s unimpressed, but not unimpressed enough to return his paycheck.

Eugene “Gene” Novogrodsky
January 26, 2009

From Gene’s Notebook

Haiti in print.
Haiti on TV.
Fighting for water and Meals Ready to Eat from hovering helicopters.

No light in the east.
Only fog.
I’m in McDonald’s.
I unwrap the newspaper I brought from home, fold the plastic and put it in my pocket: soon to recycling. [Read more →]

from Gene’s Notebook

…and I stop to ask the house painter’s wife if her husband needs a helper. I’m looking for a job for a friend.

She says that he might.

She tells me to leave my phone number.

I have a pen but no paper. [Read more →]

by Jack Moffitt

2010 State of the Foodshed Address

My fellow locavores. One year ago, the Brownsville Farmers Market was in its infancy. A dedicated Board of our fellow citizens were admiring the first fruits of over a year of planning. All involved were busy implementing the many improvements which unfolded over the next year.

Prior to this Market, the small agricultural producers of the County had no suitable venue at which to sell their crops. Crops were planted on the hope that a buyer could be found before harvest, and often the crop was relegated to livestock uses or even composted. [Read more →]

from Chris Maley

Intellectual theft by Stan

And why not? Isn’t the only way to understand America today is as a dream?

But even dreams have to be financed, we have always found, and so it is that the planners of the International Builders Show in Las Vegas this year will not have their dream home quite finished by show time. From Builder Magazine, this story:

The New American Home 2010 sits three-quarters finished in an enviable Las Vegas infill community, the victim of a construction financing crisis that’s affecting builders nationwide.

The rest of the story.

-Stan

by Gene Novogrodsky

A round-faced cook,
Short, hair in a net,
Smiles and puts two bowls
Of sopa de arroz on the counter,
Where the late-teen waiter
Removes them for serving ….
He’s careful.
The bowls brim -
White rice in yellow-white stock ….

by Gene Novogrodsky

She leans against her black 1979 eight-cylinder pickup.
She crosses her jeans, leans further back.
Strength in the stilled motor.
Strength at the top of the crossed jeans.
She lights a cigarette, still leaning.
She inhales.
She’ll drags down the cigarette,
And then walks to the driver’s side,
Gets in and ignites the big-animal growling engine,
And powers up the street,
Legs uncrossed, power transferred ….

from the Narciso

The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center presents
Barbara Renaud Gonzalez reading from
Golondrina, Why Did You Leave Me?
225 E. Stenger, San Benito, Texas
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Donation $5.00

[Read more →]

From ArtsRGV

From ArtsRGV

From ArtsRGV

North San Juan Park
509 E. Earling Rd.
San Juan, TX 78589

(Behind the North San Juan Community Center/WIC)

Saturday, January 16, 2010
9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

All Vegetables are Organically Grown! [Read more →]