Vegan Polenta-Tomato-Spinach Towers

This summer, I have totally changed my view about veganism. It was originally my idea of a straightjacket. Now, I don't see it that way at all. Even if I don't adopt it on a permanent basis (that might be more extreme than I want to be right how), I think it might actually be my ticket to longevity (Dr. Katz agrees.).

Two events have effected my recent interest in a vegan diet. First, I plowed through Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, so I am highly uninclined to eat animal products. Secondly, I'm so proud of myself for lowering my bad cholesterol by 17 points in six months with some serious dietary changes that I've been reading up about the vegan diet for that reason as well--many experts believe that a vegan diet will cause your cholesterol numbers to take a drastic plunge.

The way I do things is that I take in a ton of information and then try to make it my own. In this domain, this means that I've been inventing vegan recipes. My first invention just passed a serious test by pleasing the picky palate of my French husband!

Give it a try, and let me know what you think. It would probably be best if you view it--as I do--as a starting point. For instance, I created it with fresh, organic spinach. Since some of the sauces were left over, I made it on the second day with organic broccoli raab from our CSA, Red Wagon Organic Farms-- it was a huge hit two days in a row! This is meant to be served as a main dish (it has ample protein and fiber), but if you modify it into a side dish, I'd love to see your comments on that. And an added bonus: you can put the polenta, marinated sun-dries (if you DIY), and light sauce together to day before. On the second day I made this (with leftovers on both), it probably took me 20 minutes or less from saucepan to table. With a kitchen kibbitzer, you could easily serve this to guests.

Serves 4

For the polenta:

2 c water

1 c cornmeal (polenta), uncooked

1 T olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1/4 t salt (sea salt would be nice)

few turns of black pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine water, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to boil over high heat. Whisk in cornmeal, stirring or whisking continually, reduce heat and simmer, stirring, for 8-10 minutes until mixture thickens but is still spreadable. Brush a 7-9” pan (or 9” pie pan) with oil and pour in mixture. Optional: Sprinkle with chopped tarragon, or oregano and) chill in ‘fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

For the marinated sun-dried tomatoes: (buy ‘em already marinated, or marinate (rehydrated, if nec) yourself:

1/4 c sun-dried tomatoes, julienned

1/8 c olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1/4 t Italian spices

Marinate the tomato pieces in the oil, garlic, and spices for 30-minutes or overnight.

For the spinach (or other greens that you like; chard should work, maybe borage? collard greens, mustard greens, kale?)

Steam:

6 oz fresh baby spinach

in microwave for 3 minutes. Before serving, chop into smaller pieces with kitchen scissors.

Light sauce:

In blender or food processor:

1/3 pkg silken tofu

1 T sun-dried tomatoes

1/3 c Pasta Sauce of choice (I used Safeway Select Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce)

Blend until smooth.

Finishing the polenta:

Heat 1 T canola oil in medium saute pan on medium-high heat.

Remove polenta from refrigerator and cut into squares of about 3” square.

Fry squares in the pan until browned (about 5-8 minutes per side, maybe up to 10 mins).

_______________________________

Plating directions:

On each plate, place a square of polenta. Spoon about 1/8 of the chopped spinach (thin layer) on top of polenta. Add 4-8 pieces of the marinated tomato julienne slices. Spoon about 1/8 c of the light sauce on top of that. Drizzle the dark tomato sauce around the plate and criss-cross over the top of the polenta tower. Top with a sprig of oregano or whatever you have on hand. Cut up a few leaves of fresh basil and sprinkle over all.

Yum!

Thoughts on the passing of my big brother

I grew up as the middle child of five and over the years, I have come to realize how each of us grew up in a totally different version of the family. This has a lot of implications in any family, and mine is no different. The implications seem to be multiplied now that there has been a death in the family. Our oldest brother passed away a few days ago.

First our brother appeared to have mastered the role of the big brother-- he claimed to have ridden us around as infants in the basket of his bike; he taught me to play 'catch' across the broad avenue that our house faced; he was the slap-hands champion, and we foolishly thought we could beat him though we never did. Even before our mother died at a relatively young age, our brother, being a lot older than any of his younger sisters (11 years ahead of the oldest, 21 years ahead of the youngest), took on a not surprising parental role, on top of the big brother one he had seemed to relish. One-by-one, we took the train to visit him, his wife, and their children several hours away in Ohio. These visits served as the vacations our parents had never been able to afford, and we looked forward to them with zeal. He and his wife played even more of a parental role for us as time went on. We loved them dearly.

But, as in so many families (at least, according to my unofficial survey of friends), a rift developed--for good reason, we experienced a profound betrayal. Those on one side of the rift knew they were being true to their feelings, and those on the other, well, they knew about the betrayal. It doesn't matter, exactly, what it was, except that we were definitely betrayed by our brother (no one claimed it was vice-versa).

Fast-forward several years to our brother's diminishing health over the past year. We have moved from rancor and bitterness, silence to acceptance and, yes, to love, and everywhere in between, no two sisters in the same spot on that treacherous continuum. As we grapple with how to respond and how to remain true to our own feelings of the moment, I am reminded of a funeral I attended, which I will now relate.

It was the funeral of a friend's mother. My friend was one who, everyone could see, had been stuck in anger and bitterness for many years. She had taken responsibility for caring for her mother in the waning years, and she made daily hour-long trips to visit her mother in the nearest big city where she lived, with assistance, in the Jewish Home for the Aged. Her only sibling came into town for the funeral when their mother died. It was obvious that there was no lack of ill-will between brother and sister (both of whom were, I'd say, well into their 60s and had clearly not spoken for years). Near the end of the service, after the rabbi had finished with her formalities---the eulogy pieced together from memories shared by brother and sister, Hebrew prayers, perhaps a poem---and progressed to the point where anyone who wishes is invited to speak. I am pretty sure my friend opted out, but the brother stepped forward I will never forgot what happened next.

First, he expressed regret at how, having done his best, he wasn't sure it had been good enough for everyone in the family. But he wished to move on. You could not tell whether he had been angry with his now-deceased mother or with his sister, or both, or whether they had designated him persona non-grata. He said he had spent all the time he was going to spend on resentment, that it had already been too long, and, to speed the process, he had written notes of all these resentments that could embitter a person and that had worked their evil magic on him over the years. Somewhat to the surprise of all in attendance (friends of the sister; none of us had known their mother personally), he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of paper strips, each one about 2" x 6". Then, he read off the word or phrase written on each sheet as he tossed it into the grave, on top of the pine box, traditional at Jewish burials, which contained the body of his recently (by Jewish tradition, also, very recently) deceased mother. I can't say I recall the phrases, but I felt that, if we had polled the mourners in attendance, we could've put them together amongst ourselves without too much difficulty.

My silent hope was that this would actually work for the brother, that he could cast his resentments into the ground on top of the casket and move on. But now, thinking about my own brother, I seriously wonder about that.

Balance the Budget -- if you dare

Mark Udall, one of our ostensibly DEM senators, recently sent me his periodic newsletter which attempts to cow-tow to the wishy-washy undecideds in my wanna-be-RED state of Colorado. You can tell he was not speaking to me because he was pitching his work on a so-called budget-balancing amendment while our state sucks $$$ from K-12 education, higher education, and workers of all kinds (is Wisconsin just the beginning?).

Anyway, I told him this:

If you really cared about fiscal reform, you would've tried harder to block the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the top 1-2% of this nation's wealthy. Because of your weak efforts when push came to shove about two months ago, your newsletter seems disingenuous, at best. The real solution--one that really is For The People you represent--would include more of the following:

Stop defense overspending, tax people fairly, bring troops home, stop the madness of glorifying** the use of minority youth in our crazy foreign wars, and THEN see how easy it is to balance the budget.

Before you attack me for maligning the military (which I didn't), by 'madness' I mean: waving the flag at sporting events, having lines of uniformed people at those events, at music concerts, while simultaneously repeating 'brave men and women.' Yes, they ARE brave; but if this were really the Land of Opportunity, is "foreign-soil, life-threatening military career" the opportunity these people would be choosing?

Senator, PLEASE take steps to provide equal opportunity for all and then let's see what happens--I assure you, the budget will be balanced. Perfectly.

Retained Asset Accounts: Gibberish for Highway Robbery?

In a recent NPR story , we heard the voice of a father entitled to death benefits because his son was killed in the line of duty in Iraq or Afganistan. The man complained about the so-called “retained asset accounts” held by insurance companies instead of distributing the proceeds earned by the ultimate sacrifice of their loved ones in wartime.

The father noted the obvious: that insurance companies profiting from war dead is downright disgusting. The feeble rationalization from the insurance company was that this practice, which provided a checkbook to the beneficiaries, constituted “a convenient service at a time of emotional duress, and gives grieving families one less issue to deal with.” Hunh?? One less issue -- like, uh, a huge pile of cash? -- this was going to ease their emotional distress?? Until checks were written to deplete the account, the insurance company could invest the proceeds of this hard-earned (jeesh!) government benefit and make some dough.

Why is it OK for massive profit-taking in all the many realms in which it occurs? This obscene practice suggests that anything that can be quantified can be profitized, and that this is OK. Watch out! When you join the ranks of the unemployed in Colorado, please be advised that your meagre benefits would be reduced for fees charged against the major bank credit card that will be issued to provide your benefits---in a manner similar to the War Dead Insurance scam described in the NPR story. If you want the benefits, you not be given a choice to receive a lump-sum payment; and you'll have to withdraw the money through your bank after they deduct a fee if you wanted to use the money to, say, pay your (probably overdue) mortgage payment. Deducting the fee from all the unemployed throughout the State of Colorado undoubtedly provided a rather hefty sum to the bank, along with the use of the money of those who drew against it over time, in effect, reducing the amount of unemployment benefits available to help you off-set your lack of a paycheck.

And the disgust at our over-amped capitalism doesn’t really stop there. Why should someone profit from the fact that your home is freezing cold in winter? That your neighbor is unemployed? That you want to watch your TV? That your grandmother has been stricken with cancer?

If you think these questions are thoughtful, perhaps you should rethink your willingness to work for what you deserve.

Summertime Mexican-Influenced Shrimp Salad

If you're thinking about visiting sunny Mexico this winter, but in the meantime want to experience a taste of Sonora, why don't you try this fresh, citrus-y shrimp salad (while we can still find them, uh, BP...)?

Serving suggestions for accompaniments follow this easy-to-prepare recipe.

Summertime Mexican-Influenced Shrimp Salad

For two:

About a dozen large shrimp, cooked, peeled and cut in half
1/3 c black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 red pepper, seeds and veins removed, diced
1/2 avocado, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 1/2 T cilantro, chopped
4 small, pickled red peppers (from grocery store olive / antipasti bar or 1 week in refrigerator, any red pepper, with 1-1-1 water, sugar, vinegar quick-pickle)

Mix in a serving bowl and add:

1-2 T olive oil
juice from 1/2 lime

Serve over fresh greens, or not. Serve with lime wedges.

Addition Serving Suggestions

Brown rice, lightly olive-oiled
Grilled zuchini, onions, leeks, and mushrooms
French (Mexican??) bread with softened brie

A well-chilled, crisp white wine, like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc

Use The Three Ts to Beat Back the Lobbyists

Initially, I was dismayed by the full-page ad in today’s (Boulder Daily Camera, 3/09/10) newspaper, paid for by the Oil-and-Gas Lobby, throwing around tired ultra-conservative conclusions like 'don't raise taxes during a recession' and sneakily signed with a tag-line that includes the hot-button buzz-words like “America” and “People” instead of “Profits,” “Greed,” “International,” and “Thugs” which would be a lot closer to their truth. But now I see how we can fight for ourselves. I call my plan “The Three T’s”. Now I’m going to tell you why we should care and what we can do.

This ad is part of an expensive advance campaign funded by the Oil and Gas Industry to fend off a tax that they believe is going to be proposed (I haven't heard about it yet, but they obviously are in the know on this) that would diminish the already exorbitant profits of an industry that knows no bounds. We don’t know much about the tax, but we’ve already seen 'ordinary citizens' (i.e., actors who look like ordinary people on TV telling us how reducing oil industry profits ‘during a recession’ is the ultimate bad idea.

Hm. Join me in rethinking this notion. Critical thinking and an informed society is what makes our democracy thrive. What to do? I urge you to apply the Three Ts -- TiVo, Turn the Page, and Talk it Up.

1) TiVo through these misleading spin-mongering ads as soon as you see them as you watch TV. These ads are not designed to help you in any way. Your interests do NOT align with those of the Oil Industry. They should pay their own taxes. Encourage your legislators to impose taxes that cannot be passed on to us. We don’t ask the Oil Industry to pay OUR taxes. Why should we pay THEIRS?

2) Turn the Page when you see a full-page ad from the Oil and Gas Industry (even it is signed, dishonestly, using a phrase that includes touchy-feely words like “People” or “America”) don’t be fooled again. Can YOU afford a full-page ad in the Camera? Do you think ours is the only newspaper in which a full-page ad was placed by these weasels? What's more, do you think the industry’s grunts are paying for those expensive ads? Wake up. The massive profits from YOUR fuel bills and gas pump expenditures are paying for these misleading ads.

3) Talk it Up. Talk to your friends and family and urge them not to fall for these ploys. If we can enrich the Marketplace of Ideas, we still have a chance against Big Business, which includes the oil-and-gas magnates like those who paid for this ad in our (and countless other) local newspapers.

Together, we can prevent this kind of corruption and compromise of our democracy: just implement the Three T’s: TiVo, Turn the Page, and Talk it Up.

Time for Fall: Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin (or Squash) Soup

We've been enjoying this delicious soup for decades, so I thought it was time to share. You can use pumpkin or any orange squash such as acorn or maybe even butternut. This year, I used organic pumpkin from our CSA. The pumpkin was the brightest orange I have ever seen. We saved some of the seeds, so perhaps we will be growing some of our own next season!

Enjoy the soup, serve it to friends, smile, and be sure to let us know about your creative variations!


Indian-Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Servings: 8–10

For soup:
3 cups pumpkin or similar squash
2 cups Veggie stock (or water) [depending on desired

consistency]
1 cup orange juice
2 T olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed (or 1 tsp pre-minced garlic)
6 oz sliced mushrooms
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger (or ¾ tsp ground ginger)
¼ tsp dry mustard
½–1 tsp salt

For serving:
2-3 Tbsp toasted, sliced almonds
¼ c plain yoghurt
a few dashes of cayenne

Preparation
Cut squash in half or quarters as needed to bake. Bake face down in 375-degree oven on oiled tray or in an inch of water ‘til done (about 30–40 minutes). Cool and scoop out insides to gather 3 cups of squash or pumpkin. Blend squash with (some or all of) water or stock and puree until smooth and at desired thickness. Combine squash, stock and juice in soup pot.

In a skillet, heat oil. Sautee onions and garlic until onions are very soft. Add mushrooms, cover and cook 10 minutes more. Add sauté pan contents to soup pot. Heat together very gently, stirring as needed to prevent sticking on bottom of pot. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

To serve:
Pour soup into bowl or mug. Top with a couple shakes of cayenne, a dollop of yoghurt, and about 1/4 teaspoon of toasted almonds.

Serve with crusty bread, salad, and your favorite cheese or sliced avocado.

Yummy!

You can see Russia from my kitchen: Beet Borscht Recipe

In my vocational and volunteer travels, I tutored Olga in English when she first came to the US many, many years ago. She was delightful and taught me so much about what it means to start a new life in a new country; we became good friends, for which I remain grateful. Here's my version of her version of that Russian favorite, the refreshing cold beet soup known as borscht.

With all the fresh beets available for locavores, this recipe should come in pretty handy. If you're someone who doesn't think they care for beets, I recommend you give this borscht recipe a try before you give up on such a healthy, colorful veggie.

Are you the type that likes to experiment and come up with improvements? Perhaps this brings back an alter heym memory or two? Your comments are most welcome!

****
Beet Borscht
Russian Cafe Version - With thanks to Olga
Servings: ~6-8

For broth:
3 bunches beets
10 c cold water to cover
1 t salt
1 T sugar
2 T vinegar (balsamic is good)

For topping (everything is optional except the dill and sour cream (for which you can,
however, substitute yoghurt):
¼ cucumber, diced
3 boiled eggs
½-1 c sour cream
2 green onions, diced small
1 sprig fresh dill
radishes chopped or cut into roses
boiled potatoes, quartered or diced

Prepare broth
Scrub beets well (do not peel), remove leaves (reserve for use in another recipe). Cover with water and bring to boil. Simmer about an hour until tender, adding water if necessary.

Remove beets from pot with slotted spoon. Rub off outer skin (discard) and grate beets, reserving liquid.

Bring liquid back to boil, then add grated beets, salt, sugar, vinegar. Boil 2 minutes more, then remove from heat. Chill well.

Assembly
In each bowl, place your choice of boiled potatoes, cucumber, beets; on top, add dollop of sour cream or yoghurt, chopped egg, dill, radish, green onion.

Serve very cold.

Enjoy!

Raw Beet Salad with Solterra Spicy Peach Jam

Here's a recipe for my (soon-to-be) famous Raw Beet Salad with Solterra Spicy Peach Jam.

This refreshing summer salad has it all: crunch, sweetness, tartness, and plenty of nutritious ingredients. Its secret ingredient is Solterra's organic Spicy Peach Jam. Depending on the type of beets you choose, it will have glorious color, too. I have used yellow beets, red beets (nice compliment to the optional fruit, and can bring back memories of those brilliant Summer Olympics in China!), and an amazing red-and-white striped beet that I recently picked up at our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Red Wagon Farms.

Enjoy! If you have ideas for improvement, be sure to let me know.
******
Ingredients per serving:

1 handful of your favorite fresh salad greens
1 small raw beet, cut into quarters and sliced to 1/8"
1 T chevre (goat cheese) or feta
1/2 T Solterra's Spicy Peach Jam
1/4 ripe peach or nectarine, sliced (optional)
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 t balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Arrange greens on salad plate
Add sliced beets into center of greens
Place fruit around and between beets
Dot beets and fruit with jam
Sprinkle cheese over beets and fruit
Drizzle olive oil over all
Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar

Serve, toss, and enjoy!

Makeshift Murder: Page Fifty-Six Redux

The start of a crime novel, following these instructions from a Facebook friend:

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence AS YOUR STATUS. AND POST these instructions in a comment to this status.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST book....


Working in a crime lab might not seem like a dream job to others, but for Shönbrun--dubbed 'Schön' by his younger sister Malva when she was first learning to talk-- that's exactly what it was. Since adolescence, which was but a blur now, Schön had spent his free time devouring crime novels--except when he was watching the crime dramas on TV or in the movie theatres. Now, at last, he'd savor the opportunity to put his vicarious experience to the test. He was working at the morgue.

Schön and Malva had lost their mother when he was only five years old and she was a little over two years old (Much later would they learn what had cut her life short so prematurely.). He and his sister had been raised by their father, a well-intentioned but rather fatalist, German-American shopkeeper who never felt quite right in his own skin. In those years, his father believed that a nation's lifestyle, history, technology, culture, art, and literature could change, but there was no chance that the gestures could be altered--like the hand gestures that accompanied his speech, whether he was aware of it or not; and it was those gestures that would drive Schön more than any of the other elements his father valued so much and tried so hard to provide for the two children before post-war disillusionment, ever more serious alcoholism, impending mental and physical collapse, brought him almost to the point of self-destruction. What this meant to Schön would become clearer only later.

Schön's boss Jon Hartley definitely ran a tight operation. Though he was several layers down from the top, he'd been in charge at the city's Morgue since the beginning of time--or so it seemed to all who worked there. A grey-haired, tight-lipped, deliberate, just-the-facts-m'am kind of guy, there was something troubling about the boss. Something portentous that could bubble up at any moment, sinister and unexpected. As with Roger Williams' charming little metaphor about the commonwealth as a ship,there was also a sinister subtext, namely, that a ship has a captain and a captain's orders are to be obeyed. But what if the orders ran you into the rocks??

Nonetheless, when Schön asked Jon if he'd break him in, he got the expected answer: Jon hesitated, then nodded slowly. After about an hour, Schön felt like he knew what he needed to do. The next night, with an air of quiet confidence, Schön soon convinced a colleague who offered to show him the ropes that he knew his way around in the lab. He was definitely 'in' the morgue now.

A fresh corpse had just arrived. Awaiting the autopsy crew, they followed the time-tested, cross-disciplinary instructions: "Cover and chill overnight."


References, p. 56, sentence 5:
Plastic Fantastic (2008). S. E. Reich
The Wordy Shipmates (2008) Sarah Vowel
A Game of Thrones (1997) George R.R. Martin
A cookbook of unknown origin.
A potentially boring computational linguistics text.

WTF - Don't Ask - Don't Tell and the US Constitution

I'm trying to understand this 'Don't Ask - Don't Tell' thing. As we all know, often the best way to explain a concept is to provide a good example or two:

So, let's substitute 'Jewish' (like me) or 'Christian' (like many of you) for 'gay'. If you just are Jewish/Christian, but you don't say you're Jewish/Christian, you can serve in the military to your heart's content. Of course, if you actually practice your religion (i.e., attend religious services, go to a Seder, sing in church, attend Midnight Mass, show up at a revival tent, light Chanukah candles...), then you're OUT of the military on your (Jewish/Christian) ass.

How can this policy possibly be OK for gay? Much less legal under the equal protection clause of our Constitution that guarantees equal protection of the laws for all????

Thoughts?

Why We Don’t Have to Choose Between Big Business and Big Government

Back when the GOP was running things around this country, we heard a lot about reducing the size of Big Government and 'letting business handle what business was good at.' With the stranglehold they held on the three branches of our government, the neocons turned business loose.

Frankly, we can all see now that ‘business’ wasn’t so good at running things, except perhaps running them amuck. In fact, the truth is that it isn’t a choice between ‘Big Business’ and ‘Big Government’ at all. It’s all about qualities that make programs work, whether they are run under a management team that is public or private: solving today’s dilemmas is going to take honest, smart leaders with vision and integrity, regardless of their political party or proclivity for either of these divisive monikers.

For another example of labels that seem to drive opinions, we hear pretty much the same old chorus of the now-marginalized GOP decrying the current administration’s efforts to put the government back in charge. These kvetchers like to throw around those intentionally loaded (but scary and empty) phrases—like ‘socialized medicine’—instead of participating in the dialog about how to fix our broken health care system. When over 60% of US personal bankruptcies are caused by health care costs gone wild (up over 50% from six years ago, it’s time to join in the discussion and stop whining about what you don’t like. C’mon, give up on those unsavory swiftboat-y tactics that preempt meaningful dialog and that just aren’t workin’ anymore. In today’s world—where you experience the failures of past administrations in your life and in your checkbook on a daily basis—these questionable tactics won’t hold water.

I suggest we all put our heads together and drop ineffective and fallacious ‘either-or’ arguments so we can actually solve the tough problems that we face.

Twitter -- Getting in on the conversation

Twitter: How to get more targeted followers

After using Twitter fairly seriously for a while now, I feel like I’ve been on an absolute roller-coaster ride. How I wish I had chronicled my ups and downs along the way! First—like so many people—I thought tweets were utter stupidity. Teeny blasts of partial news. In fact, Twitter reminded me of that short story I read in high school (don’t ask when that was!) that had a title something like “Pfft!” The story was a sardonic description of depleted future literature of which Reader’s Digest’s abridged novels were but the tip of the iceberg. Rather, the prophetic author (sorry, if you can find it, puh-lease pass it along!) forecasted the shortening of everything, including news, into shorter and shorter sound bites, until all that remained would be a single, all-inclusive, barely pronounceable syllable! Okay, we’re not there yet, but we’re close. Read on...

Twitter is a humongous conversation whose ‘bits’ and ‘bytes’ are limited to 140 characters and to people who sign up and create a Twitter profile. Unlike face-to-face conversations, or phone conversations, you can ‘cheat’ by including links and conventional abbreviations. What’s more, you can reference prior conversations using a whole other set of Twitter conventions (explained quite well by blogger Deanna Zandt who clearly knows more about it than I do). And the most important piece is two-fold: (1) You can be ‘following’ the conversations of others, and (2) ‘followers’ are those who have chosen to follow your conversation. You can use Twitter as a replacement for email or IM, but I haven’t seen that Twitter is an improvement on those tools—yet. That’s Twitter in a nutshell!

So what about the question: what good is Twitter? My current guess is that Twitter has potential, and that we have to figure out what it is and how to unlock that potential for ourselves. You’ll read a ton about how to gain ‘followers’, those Twitter participants who read what you have to say. I would say that indiscriminately adding followers is probably a waste of your time and theirs. The only people who benefit from nonselective followers would be the marketing spammers -- you just started using gmail to avoid those people; why would you want them to triple-team you on Twitter? You wouldn’t. Enuff said. Well, almost enough. I did experiment with some of the applications that work like a bad chain letter and offer you followers by the thousands in a matter of days. I probably got about 20 followers from the chain before it went dead, which took 1–2 days. And, by and large, the followers were not going to be interested in anything I had to say or sell. They were just interested in selling me the kind of stuff that is spammed all over Yahoo if you are looking for ‘work at home’ or if you’re interested in earning $3,000 per month without doing any work.

So how do you get and become targeted followers? I think you leverage the search space of and around Twitter by taking two important steps:

        First: Develop a profile that says something about you--showing what you can add to the conversation--answering the question “Why should someone be your follower?”; and

        Second: Converse (okay, ‘tweet’) about topics that interest you or that are part of your brand--what you can offer to the conversation.

Once I started searching the topics I was interested in, and directing my conversational bits to things I cared about, I saw my followers steadily increase--and I, too, began to follow some kindred spirits based on the same principles. As I added important pieces about myself to my profile, I also saw followers increase; but by then, I was more involved in the conversation and less concerned about who was following or how many (but more on that later).

Last piece of advice. Take these four simple steps:
    1. Sign up on Twitter
    2. Lurk for a week or two
    3. Massage your profile
    4. See how you feel

As you can see, I’ve changed my mind about Twitter (for) now; but if you, too, are wondering whether Twitter is a ‘good’ thing or a useless time-suck, perhaps these tips will give you some new ways to think about the phenomenon and decide whether you want to try it out.

If it isn’t your thing, you can always click delete and move on to the next social medium. One thing is certain: Twitter won’t be the last of those!

The First Amendment -- More than the right to say what people want to hear

While I understand that the remarks made by University of Colorado Ethnic Studies Professor Ward Churchill were seen as offensive by so many people -- My god, on September 12, 2001, this guy had the audacity to refer to the World Trade Center's victims of 9/11 as 'little Eichmanns' -- no one should doubt that the remarks were protected speech under the 1st Amendment, the foundation of our liberty in this country. Yet, soon after the remarks came to light, then-governor Bill Owens called for the tenured professor's ouster from the University. This was wrong: our Constitution does not prohibit you from saying things that upset (or, as in this case, disgust) governments, governors, or ordinary people.

Then the outspoken governor was criticized by advisers (and others) who actually knew about the U.S. Constitution. The next thing we knew, Churchill was under investigation by an academic panel at the University. Then, they threw him out.

How can we justify what happened to the award-winning professor as anything but a witch hunt?? Facts: (1) Churchill says what he says in the press; (2) Churchill's remarks garner widespread negative attention for the unpopular (to say the least) opinion expressed therein; and (3) the University decides to take a look at his work. Unless the University investigates the scholarship of every tenured professor, this is, by definition, a witch hunt!

Not that long ago, the University honored Morris Judd as an apology for ransacking his career during the hateful and dangerous McCarthy era when that (then) promising philosophy professor refused to take the bogus loyalty oath. How quickly we forget!

What a poor job of history education we do here in this country. And what a poor job we do of teaching the magnificent brilliance of our Constitution as the foundation of our civil liberties.

Churchill is now pursuing court action against the University. A Denver jury will decide the case soon. I hope the jury finds in favor of Churchill.

Recession Recipe - Sock Soup

Need to make room in your sock drawer? Want to stretch those recession grocery dollars? Here's a recipe that might help you bag both those 'birds' with one stone!

This notorious recipe has been bandied about in my family since those tough times we now call The Great Depression. No family member around today has actually imbibed. Why don't you dig out your soup pot and tell the tale?

Disclaimer: try at your own risk!

Depression 'Sock' Soup

1 medium onion
3-4 chopped cloves of fresh garlic
2-3 pairs of old socks (laundered, of course!)
8 cups water

Toss first 3 ingredients into a soup pot. Add water. Bring to low boil over medium heat. Simmer 'til done. Discard socks. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour into ramekins (that's all they had back then. Ramekins for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; filled with sock soup).

Up next: shoe-leather steak sandwiches!

Don't let GOP Senator Gregg's doubletalk fool you

How do you get from $250,000 / year income to 'poor small business owner who can't afford to create any more jobs' in 25 words or less? Ask Senator Gregg, the GOP whiner who thinks NPR is a socialist network. In his NPR interview yesterday, he responded to his interviewer's question about President Obama's tax increases for the wealthy with some pretty sketchy reasoning.

When queried about the fact that these might be just the people who can/should pay more for the ultimate good of the country's recovery, Gregg mangled his logic into something like: Yes, but these are the people who, most likely, run small businesses; so they are the ones who create the jobs (do YOU work for a small business? ? ) and, from there, it was a quick sprint to the loss of jobs and the lack of new jobs. Well, folks, if your income is $250,000, that is AFTER expenses, including salaries. I don't think small business owners create new jobs with their salaries; they do that with their capital. If they're really in the business.

What was he thinking? And how was he thinking we wouldn't question it? That we'd be joining his side as soon as we made the link to Joe the Plumber? That one didn't work then, and it ain't workin' now.