Healthy Glow: Healthy Eating, La Mode & Ramblings
My American Culture: Black Folks Don’t Have Eating Disorders? PBS Web Series Challenges This Myth
There are many myths and misconceptions about Black American Culture. I won’t even begin to name them, since they are mostly outlandish and offensive.
“Curvy. Thick. Brick house. Bootylicious. Voluptuous. Phat. These are some of the words commonly used to describe black women’s bodies, but rarely do we hear about black folks’ complicated relationship with food. While our community suffers from alarming obesity rates (as do most Americans), most people incorrectly assume black folks don’t have eating disorders.The problem? Eating disorders are typically seen in a few ways: anorexia and bulimia. Rarely do we see emotional eating and chronic overeating as a disorder. We write off those who engage in such behaviors as lazy and undisciplined, but in order to help our community to tackle our food issues, perhaps when need to start looking at our views toward food a little differently.” text via Clutch Magazine
My American Culture: My Now Ex-Boss, Hillary Clinton Named Most Powerful Women in American History.
To get chills and feel inadequate about where you are in your life, read the whole thing on the website if you’d like:
I thought that Newsweek did a pretty bang up job of my now ex-Boss and the U.S. most powerful Diplomat (I, however, am on the bottom of the U.S. diplomatic corps and I am working my way on up!) Read on….
“And now, as of this week, Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes something she has not been in two decades: a private citizen. A mind-boggling thought, really, rich in amusingly prosaic implications. Will she drive a car? Is she going to pop up at the Safeway (you’re supposed to bring your own bags now, Madame Secretary!) or be found standing in line at the Friendship Heights multiplex? She’ll still have Secret Service protection, and she has more than enough money to send other people out on a CVS run. But even so, she is now, for the first time in a very, very long time, just one of us.
The images amuse because, of course, she’s not just one of us. She’s been the most famous and admired woman in America for 20 years. A December Gallup poll had her as the most admired woman in the world, and No. 2 on the list (Michelle Obama) wasn’t remotely close. Not everyone is in on this love-fest, as we well know, by a long shot. But even the seething hatred has, over the years, embroidered her legend—debates about Clinton have somehow always ended up really being about us as a nation, who we are and who we want to be, in such a way that even those who dislike her are implicitly acknowledging that, yes, she is the touchstone.
She’s the most important woman in America. More: she is almost certainly the most important woman in all of our political history. Already, even if this retirement proves to be permanent, which few people think it will be. No? Well, who, then? Who has been first lady, senator, secretary of state? No other woman, that’s for sure. Not many men have held as many high-profile jobs and performed them as well.
And on top of the jobs themselves—in a way, far harder than the jobs themselves—was having to be that barrier breaker, having to be The Woman; the little daughter of a starchy Republican drapery-peddler who would cash in her Goldwater chips and whom fate would eventually select to embody liberation and insolence and cultural transformation, transformation that millions of Americans embraced but that a different set of millions found ruinous, repulsive; having to carry all that on her shoulders, year after year after year, watching people call her all kinds of names and accuse her of all manner of treachery (up to and including criminal behavior and sympathy with terrorists), all that on top of just the normal run-of-the-mill sexism, and knowing that she had to stay above it all and smile, smile, smile, and never take the bait? An impossible job. Who else has had to do all that?” Hillary Clinton Exits Politics: Her Enduring Legacy, Newsweek
(via newsweek)
The 9/11 Memorial will provide a live webcast of the New York City ceremony marking the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Join us in remembering and paying tribute at 911memorial.org. The live webcast will begin at 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, September 11, 2012.
Never forget.
One of my favorite experiences of being overseas is celebrating American Holidays, like 4th of July. Some of my favorite experiences involved representing the USG!
American Independence Day Congolese Style
In Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo 4th of July Celebration at the Ambassador’s residence. The receiving line. From left to right: the Ambassador, his wife the DCM and Sgt. Weitz.
American Independence Day Congolese Style
After our official duties are over, celebrating the success of the 4th of July event at the Ambassador’s residence in Kinshasa.
American Independence Day Singapore Style
At the American Embassy Celebration in Singapore while the Marines salute the flag.
American Independence Day Singapore Style
U.S. Ambassador giving the welcome to the distinguished guests in Singapore.
America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality. ~Adlai Stevenson
- $47 million Obama raised in the second quarter of 2011 source
» That’s a new record - but kind of a specific one. Obama now hold the record for second-quarter financing in the year before an election. He made way more money than any of the GOP presidential hopefuls, getting donations from over 550,000 people. That’s a lot of people. Granted, this doesn’t mean that he’s automatically guaranteed victory, but it’s definitely a strong sign that much of his base is sticking by him in 2012.
Yesterday, I realized that I had missed one of my favorite NPR shows, Fresh Air. I was especially interested in the topics featured on the show because one of the interviews featured included biographer Sally H. Jacobs. Jacobs. Jacobs just recently released a book entitled, The Other Barack: The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father. The book takes a in-depth look at who Barack Obama Sr. (President Obama’s father) was really like and the legacy he left behind.
The Other Barack
By Sally H. Jacobs
Hardcover, 336 pages
PublicAffairs
List Price: $27.99
Yes, the book is controversial, especially when she states to the NPR interviewer that “that the president’s father grew up in an extremely strict household. His father, Onyango, who later changed his name to Hussein, regularly beat his wives and children with a four-pronged whip. He also forced his children to recite long lists of memorized facts before their meals.”
What surprised me the most was that when NPR asked Jacobs if President Obama would be President today if he had his father in his life, she stated,
“If Obama the president had [Barack Obama Sr.] as a father, I think it’s fair to say that he wouldn’t be the president.” - Biographer Sally H. Jacobs
Yesterday, in a news conference, President Obama lambasted Congress for their inability to come to a resolution on important decisions for the United States, most importantly the debt ceiling deadline. President Obama said Congress needs to act more like his daughters, Sasha and Malia, and get their homework done.
According to ABC News:
“You know, Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time,” Obama said while protesting how long it has taken Congress to work out a deal on raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
“Malia is 13, Sasha’s 10,” Obama said, as a reporter could be heard saying, “impressive.”
“It is impressive,” Obama said of his daughters. “They don’t wait until the night before. They’re not pulling all-nighters. They’re 13 and 10.”
Being compared to young children? Not a good look. Good thing President Obama doesn’t know any graduate students, most of them are kings and queens of procrastination!
My American Culture: “No More of the R-Word”
I would like to sincerely dedicate this holiday to the men and women of the service. Thank you for giving your lives and time to the military.
Read this interesting story about Memorial Day’s New, Younger Generation.
Today is more than just a day off.
DC finally has its own beer! DC Brau is Washington D.C.’s first production brewery in almost 60 years! Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock, two D.C. residents founded DC Brau. Last year they quit their day jobs and in March started the brewery on Bladensburg Road in Northeast. It is the first brewery in the District since 1956. The 6,700 square foot brewery includes six fermenters. It can turn out about 500 gallons of their three brews every two weeks. D.C. Brau is served in some 75 pubs and bars across the city. Several grocery store shipments sold out in hours. Visit there website here. DC Brau Website
My American Culture: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama sip Guinness on Monday at a pub as they visit Moneygall village in rural County Offaly, Ireland, where his great-great-great grandfather Falmouth Kearney hailed from. Obama landed in Ireland on earlier Monday for a visit celebrating his ancestral roots, kicking off a four-nation European tour. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
Why is he drinking the biggest pint?
(via nationaljournal)
![My American Culture: What’s in a Name?
Apparently, a lot of confusion. Metro thinks it’s to time to simplify long, hyphenated stations such as tongue-tiers like U-St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo. The transit agency will review and tweak its naming policy this week, and riders may have a say in the process. Have any suggestions?
[Washington Examiner]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llnj8fIUnC1qfnxm4o1_500.jpg)
My American Culture: What’s in a Name?
Apparently, a lot of confusion. Metro thinks it’s to time to simplify long, hyphenated stations such as tongue-tiers like U-St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo. The transit agency will review and tweak its naming policy this week, and riders may have a say in the process. Have any suggestions?
(via dchillin)
My American Culture/For Your Entertainment: Illinois Minority Leader Quotes Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” On State Senate Floor
While debating at the Illinois Senate yesterday Republican senate minority leader Christine Radogno shares some financial advice from Wu-Tang Clan’s in regards to the state budget issues. In doing so, she spelled out the acronym of “C.R.E.A.M.”
Growing up my mom was a busy lady. She was pursuing her master’s degree in social work, working, taking care of three kids, staying fly, taking care of the home, and taking care of my dad. She was and still is a wonderful cook, however sometimes during our childhood she needed to prepare quick easy meals. One meal that my siblings and I loved was Chef Boyardee’s meat ravoli. We loved that canned saucy mess. We would take great pleasure in opening the can, shaking the contents out, microwaving the ravoli, and covering it in shredded cheese. Oh, times were so simple then.
Last night on NPR’s evening show, All Things Considered, they did a piece on my favorite Americana Italian cook.
“Unlike the friendly but fictional food faces of Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, Chef Boyardee — that jovial, mustachioed Italian chef — is real. Ettore “Hector” Boiardi (that’s how the family really spells it) founded the company with his brothers in 1928, after the family immigrated to America from Italy.”
Recently, Anna Boiardi, neice of the Chef released a new book, Delicious Memories, which shares family recipesm cookbook and her family history. Listen to the full story here.
Meaty, saucy, Americana.
Texas seems likely to pass a new law allowing concealed weapons to be carried on all university campuses. This is, of course, contentious.
(via theeconomist)
