Category Archives: Thought of the Day

January 22, 2014

Retarded, Gay and Fat

By ritalovestowrite

Reblogging this gem from Texana’s Kitchen.
Texana’s Kitchen

Christine Gough's avatarTexana's Kitchen

Several years ago, when my boys were in the 10-14 age range, I fought a long battle with them over “retarded”. Everything and everyone was, apparently, retarded.  My Human Resource Director hat got on my head, and they had to hear about how hurtful it was to say those things, and what if you had a little brother or sister that was challenged and you heard someone saying that…yada yada yada. Finally they quit with the retarded.

At 12-16, everything and everyone in their lives was gay.  And I don’t mean happy.

“Shut up—you’re gay!”

“That’s soooooo gay….”

“Man, you’re such a fag……..”

So, months of redirection and constant reminders ensued.  That it was hurtful, that there really are people who are gay, and that they are lovely people with actual feelings and that by using their nature as an insult, you are being hurtful.  So they finally stopped with…

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January 22, 2014

Lead Belly 1.21.14 Thought of the Day

By ritalovestowrite

“We all in the same boat brother. You rock it too far to the right you fall in the waddah, rock it too far to the left you fall in the same waddah, and it’s just as wet on both sides.” — Huddie Ledbetter

Lead Belly singing and playing the 12 string. (Image courtesy: the Lead Belly Foundation)

Lead Belly singing and playing the 12 string. (Image courtesy: the Lead Belly Foundation)

Huddie William Ledbetter was born on this day on the Jeter Plantation, Louisiana in 1889. Today is the 125th anniversary of his birth.

He was the only child born to sharecroppers Wesley and Sally Ledbetter. When he was five his family moved to Leigh, Texas.  His uncle Terrell gave him his first instrument, an accordion, shortly afterward. Ledbetter went on to master “the piano, harp, mandolin and harmonica but he is best remembered for his 12 string guitar.” [The Real Story of Huddie Leadbetter 1889 – 1949] He stopped attending school after 8th grade and left his father’s farm by the time he was 20. He went on the road to play music (when he could get the gigs) and work as a day laborer. It was said that he could pick 1000 pounds of cotton in a day. He also worked on the railroad lining tracks.

Lead Belly with Josh White and others. (Image courtesy: the Lead Belly Foundation.)

Lead Belly with Josh White and others. (Image courtesy: the Lead Belly Foundation.)

But Ledbetter was short-tempered. He once said: “ “When I play, the women would come around to listen and their men would get angry.” In 1918, he fought and killed a man in Dallas and was sentenced to thirty years  [ Lead Belly Foundation]

After serving seven years of hard labor he wrote a song asking Texas Governor Pat Neff for a pardon. 

“Please, Governor Neff, Be good ‘n’ kind
Have mercy on my great long time…
I don’t see to save my soul
If I don’t get a pardon, try me on a parole…
If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me
I’d wake up in the mornin’ and I’d set you free”
       [The Real Story of Huddie Leadbetter 1889 – 1949]

Neff took his word for it and released him, and Ledbetter left Texas for Louisiana. By 1930 he was back in prison, this time in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, in Angola for attempted homicide. There he was interviewed by John and Alan Lomax

 The Lomaxes had discovered that Southern prisons were among the best places to collect work songs, ballads and spirituals and Leadbelly, as he now called himself, was a particular find…Over the next few days the Lomaxes recorded hundreds of songs. When they returned in the summer of 1934 for more recordings Leadbelly told them of his pardon in Texas. As Alan Lomax tells it, “We agreed to make a record of his petition on the other side of one of his favorite ballads, ‘Goodnight Irene’. I took the record to Governor Allen on July 1. On August 1 Leadbelly got his pardon….” [Ibid]

He moved north with the Lomaxes and began to perform in the folk community where his talents earned him the title “the King of the Twelve-String Guitar”.

Leadbelly recorded for a variety of labels, including Folkways and he performed tirelessly. Over the next 9 years his fame and success continued to increase until he fell ill while on a European Tour. Tests revealed that he suffered from lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and he died on December 6, 1949. [Ibid]

He wrote over 500 songs in the following genres:

  • children’s songs
  • field songs
  • ballads
  • square dance songs
  • prison songs
  • folk songs
  • blues

 Some of his most famous songs include:

  • Good Night, Irene
  • Midnight Special
  • Cotton Fields
  • Boll Weevil
  • Kisses Sweeter than Wine
  • Rock Island Line

His name was changed several times through out his life, but he preferred Lead Belly.

Lead Belly's guitar, "Stella". (Image courtesy the Lead Belly Foundation)

Lead Belly’s guitar, “Stella”. (Image courtesy the Lead Belly Foundation)

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January 21, 2014

Muffin Monday: Mango Muffins

By ritalovestowrite
Final product -- Mango Muffins

Final product — Mango Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 2/3 cups White Whole Wheat Flour

5 teaspoons of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon of Salt

1 cup Agrave Syrup (or 1 cup Honey)

1/3 cup  Vegetable Oil

1 cup cold Milk

1 Egg

1 1/2 cup of mashed Mango

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (400 if using Honey). Prep 24 medium muffin cups by spraying with baking spray.

2. Mash Mangos and set aside.

Mashing the Mango

Mashing the Mango. I used frozen Mango Chunks that I let thaw in the refrigerator. 

3. In a large bowl combine the Flour, Baking Powder and Salt.

4. In a smaller bowl combine the Agrave Syrup (or Honey), Oil, Milk and Egg

5. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and combine until moistened.

6. Add the Mango.

Mixing in the Mango

Mixing in the Mango

7. Divide batter evenly into the muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes (18 if you are using Honey). Muffins are done when they turn golden brown and pass the toothpick test.

IMG_6921

These almost remind me of pineapple upside down cake, but with out the super sweet shot of brown sugar. They are moist but not gooey. Hope you like them.

 

1 Comment | posted in Thought of the Day

January 20, 2014

Secondary Character Sunday: Olaf, the Snowman (Frozen)

By ritalovestowrite

Thanks to my wonderful daughter, Maggie, today’s Secondary Character profile is only a day late. She gets all the credit for this one, as I have been too busy cooking up graphic design concepts for the 2014 season of one of my favorite npo’s the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory. So here’s the fabulous Maggie with her take on Frozen and Olaf (thanks Maggie!!!)

Image courtesy Disney

Image courtesy Disney

WHO: Olaf

FROM: Disney’s Frozen

BY: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Shane Morris

PRODUCED: 2013

Image courtesy Disney

Image courtesy Disney

PROS:  He is eternally optimistic, sees the good in everybody. Olaf is loyal, he tries hard to protect others and doesn’t judge. He is afraid of very few things

CONS: He’s also clueless (he doesn’t know that he can melt.) He is too ready to trust.

MOST SHINING MOMENT: Taking care of Anna in the castle

Olaf character sketches. (Image courtesy Disney)

Olaf character sketches. (Image courtesy Disney)

LEAST SHINING MOMENT: His song (we disagree on this. Although I haven’t seen the movie, one of my voice students, Hope, played his song for me and I thought it was adorable.)

Why Maggie suggested Olaf: He a character you could easily discount, but the story would be the lesser for it.
We see though him an outward expression of who Elsa could be. That’s something we don’t get from Elsa because she is Anna’s foil.

Image Courtesy Disney

Image Courtesy Disney

2 Comments | posted in Thought of the Day

January 15, 2014

Ray Bolger 1.15.13 Thought of the Day

By ritalovestowrite

“How lonely it is going to be now on the Yellow Brick Road.” — Ray Bolger

Image courtesy Wikipedia

Image courtesy Wikipedia

Ray Bolger was born on January 10th, 1904 near Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Today marks the anniversary of his death, at 83, in 1987.

Bolger, born Raymond Wallace Bulcao, was a song and dance man who won hearts on  stage, in films and on TV. He is most famous for his role as the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz.

He started out in Vaudeville as one half of “Sanford & Bolger”. The duo became the top Vaudeville dance act in the country in the 1920’s. Here’s a clip of Ray doing a soft shoe number from Washington Square…

In 1926 he was discovered by show biz player and talent scout Gus Edwards. Edwards

… hired him for the Broadway show A Merry World. Numerous Broadway roles followed including the lead in the Rodgers and Hart 1936 classic On Your Toes. The strength of that performance earned him a movie contract from MGM. [findagrave.com]

Bolger played himself in 1936’s The Great Ziegfeld. He followed that with a movie a year for MGM (Rosalie in 1937 and Sweethearts in 1938). He was cast as the Tin Man for Oz, but when he realized that the character’s movements would be impaired by the “metal” costume Bolger convinced the producer to let me switch to the Scarecrow.

Image courtesy MGM

Image courtesy MGM

The Wizard of Oz was the last movie on his MGM contract (they opted not to re-sign him),  though Bolger did come back to make the 1946 The Harvey Girls (again with Judy Garland).  Bolger went over to RKO before heading back to Broadway. In 1948 he starred in Where’s Charley and won a Tony for “Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.”

On the small screen he had his own variety show (The Ray Bolger Show)  and his own sit com (Where’s Raymond) along with a slew of guest and recurring roles on top rated network shows.

Image courtesy IMDb.

Image courtesy IMDb.

In all he starred in 14 Broadway shows and 18 major motion pictures in a career spanning over six decades.

He died of bladder cancer five days after his 83rd birthday. Bolger was the last surviving main cast member of the Wizard of Oz.

Image courtesy MGM

Image courtesy MGM

If you are a Wizard of Oz fan you might like Wendy’s Wizard of Oz page (There you’ll find cast bios, photos, a full script and lots more.)

Also if  you are a Wizard of OZ collector   you might want to  check out the collectionary  at  http://thecollectionary.com/club/wizard-of-oz

Wizard of Oz

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January 13, 2014

John Singer Sargent 1.12.14 thought of the day

By ritalovestowrite

“Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend.” — John Singer Sargent

Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)

Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)  1883-1884

John Singer Sargent was born on this day in Florence, Italy in 1856. Today is the 158th anniversary of his birth.

Instead of bio, I thought I’d just give you a a mini gallery of his work today. A picture is worth a 1,000 words…

John Singer Sargent A Bedouin Arab

A Bedouin Arab

John Singer Sargent A Capriote

A Capriote

Sargent's painting of Mrs Charles E Inches

Sargent’s painting of Mrs Charles E Inches

Violet Sargent

Violet Sargent

 

If you like Sargent and live near Boston  you should check out the central libraries Sargent Hall (Click Here for a link).

2 Comments | posted in Thought of the Day

January 11, 2014

Secondary Character Saturday : Sue (from Veep)

By ritalovestowrite
Image courtesy HBO

Image courtesy HBO

WHO: Sue Wilson

FROM: Veep

BY: Rupert Gregson-Williams & Christopher Willis, created byArmando Iannucci

PRODUCED: Premiered 2012

PROS: As the third most important person in the world (personal assistant to the Vice President of the United States) Sue is organized and  in charge. She keeps V.P. Selena Meyer’s office running as smoothly as possible  (considering the incompetence that surrounds her.) She keeps her  icy cool when others melt into hysterics. She absolutely dominates every one who walks into the office (except maybe Selena, and even with the VP you get the feeling that Sue has her number.)

CONS: She’s not the nicest person in the world… but if you want nice you can just slowly back over to the desk to the right and talk to Gary. Sue is busy.

BEST SHINING MOMENT: Pretty much anytime she’s on screen your eyes gravitate to her desk.

Here’s a little taste of the Sue attitude that makes her such a joy to watch:

WHY I CHOSE SUE:

While Selena is star of the show (and the office) Sue is the one with the real power. Things HAPPEN to Selena, Sue makes things happen. She organizes and orchestrates the maelstrom of incoming chaos.

I’m loving that this show has three strong female characters, btw (the third is the VP’s Chief of Staff Amy).

In an interview with Ebony Magazine Sufe Bradshaw (who plays Sue so brilliantly in the show) explained her character’s importance to the chemistry of the show…

I think in all great comedies there has got to be these different prototypes. There’s always like the straight man. And then the ingénue and then the one that it centers around. That’s the genius of the writers, they wrote all of our characters like that. So they wrote Sue to be the straighter, more grounded one, who, looking at the rest of her office mates freaking out and losing their mind [doesn’t really fret]. In order for our comedy to be grounded it needed to have a character like Sue who can sort of observe the absurdities. So I think that’s why the character is written the way she is. She brings a little grounding to their otherwise normally chaotic lives.

Sue on Veep

I don’t have a sense of humor, and neither should you.

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January 10, 2014

Joan Baez 1.9.13 Thought of the Day

By ritalovestowrite

Joan+Baez+5505300

“I generally like to get to the point. — Joan Baez

Joan Baez was born on this day in Staten Island, New York in 1941. She is 72 years old. She is the middle of a trio of girls born to Albert and “Big Joan”  Baez.

Joan’s father worked for UNESCO and the family moved through out the US, Europe and the Middle East through out her childhood.

Her first instrument was the ukulele, one she borrowed from her father. She started out playing rhythm and blues, but switched to folk after attending a Pete Seeger concert with her aunt when she was 13. She began singing around Boston and put together a self-produced album, Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square, with some friends. A year later she was invited to perform at the  Newport Folk Festival where she sang two songs.

In 1960 she released her first album. (Self Titled). She has put out an additional 33 solo albums in the interceding have century plus.

Here’s her iconic Diamonds and Rust (1975)…

 

Joan_Baez_2012

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January 8, 2014

More Muffins for this week — Cirtus Blueberry

By ritalovestowrite

On yesterday’s blog I posted the about the exciting blueberry bake-off where I tried out two recipes and served them up after dinner. Pumpkin Blueberry edged out Citrus Blueberry in the competition, but the Citrus variety was also darn tasty.

Here’s the promised beauty shot of the Pumpkin Blueberry Muffin…

IMG_6839She’s a beaut, isn’t she? And as several people commented… you just can’t go wrong with pumpkin.

Poor Citrus paled slightly in comparison. Not only did I use the smaller of my new muffin cups to bake the C/B’s in but they just didn’t pack the emotional punch of wintery warmth the pumpkin muffins. The citrus says SUMMER, while the pumpkin says winter/fall. And as the temperature here is languishing around 9 degrees outside a cold weather muffin is going to win. Period.

IMG_6836

The competitors side by side.

If I had baked the Citrus Blueberry on a warmer day I have no doubt they would have placed better. The zing of orange/lemon and the brightness of the blueberry really works in this muffin.

Citrus Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS

1 1/3 cups White Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cups uncooked Oat Meal

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/4 cup Agave Syrup

1 Egg

3/4 cup Skim Milk

1 1/2 teaspoon Orange Extract

1/3 cup melted Butter

1/2 cup fresh Blueberries

2 tablespoons dried ground Lemon Peel

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare 10 medium muffin cups with baking spray.

2. In a large bowl mix the Flour, Oat Meal, Baking Powder and Sea Salt.

3. In a smaller bowl stir together the Agave Syrup, Egg, Milk, Orange Extract and melted Butter.

4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

5. Add the Blueberries.

6. Divide evenly into the 10 muffin cups. Top with the dried Lemon Peel.

IMG_6832

7. Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven when muffins pass the toothpick test.

8. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes and enjoy.

IMG_6834

The baked Citrus Blueberry muffins

Frankly I thought of the two recipes the Pumpkin Blueberry muffins would have come out on the denser/doughier side — because I put considerably more batter into each muffin cup — but I was mistaken. These little citrus fellows come in on moister/doughier side of the muffin spectrum — something to consider if one is planning to send them to far away friends.  Other than that they were quite nice. I’ll revisit this recipe again in the Spring.

IMG_6842

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