New Music: Shark Speed

A great new-ish band from Utah, Shark Speed. I really like their sound, but am especially liking King of the World. Check them out!

Kiva & Collected Consciousness

As one of my 2010 ‘Mighty Goals’, I've joined Kiva.org as part of my commitment to the developing world. I am sharing this because if you are interested, I am asking you to join my efforts.

I've long been a fan of Kiva. For those of you who aren't familiar with Kiva, it's a grassroots project that allows someone like me to make (real-time) micro-loans directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world via the internet. We are talking about small loans, not donations, to people (who in many cases) wouldn't qualify for loans otherwise. Whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq -  as they repay the loan, I get my money back. And, the best part is that they are then left with a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Kiva is a reputable organization that has had great coverage in the media -- they were featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, on CNBC’s Business Nation, Good Morning America and on the BBC, in Fortune Magazine and the New York Times, plus many more! They’ve been growing in terms of loan volume and staff as well, and landed the honor of being on the TIME list, “50 Best Websites in 2009″. So it seems that they’ve gained a lot of traction in the microlending world.

How does it work?
You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.


The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsible.

Why join me?
There were nearly 500 visits to Collected Consciousness last month - a statistic that continues to amaze me. I thought to myself that it would be great to figure out a way for my friends and family to affect change as a group - me + you. I'm convinced of the power of small amounts of capital to make a big difference, and I believe in the power of individuals - both on the lending and receiving ends.


Therefore, I’ve set up Collected Consciousness as a Kiva Lending Team and seeded our group with $100 in loans. If you have even $25 you can participate. Once you're a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva "count" towards our team's impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you - but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team's collective portfolio, so our team's overall impact will grow! My loan of $100, combined with loans of $25 from other individuals can significantly impact lives and prospects.

In honor of my aid trip this past year to Bolivia, I chose the Navidad Group as my first recipient. The group was 95% completed with their loan request when I joined, and the very next day their loan was completed (by another group)! I will now receive payback and reviews of their growing business via email. It feels 'right' to actually do something about poverty. Using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping someone who is willing to help themselves.

Let's see what we can do together - I don't think $1,000 in loans from us as a group is an impossible first goal.

To participate:

1. Sign up for a Kiva account. If you already have a Kiva account, log in.

2. Join the Collected Consciousness Lending Team

3. Lend.


Join me in making it count.

Book Review: The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones

Alice Sebold

After all the hype surrounding this book, I was a bit disappointed by the end. It was an interesting take on death – a perspective I really grew to love – but the overall story, one of love, loss and letting go, was a bit underdeveloped for my tastes.

The book’s narrator is a 14 yr old girl who was raped and murdered in a cornfield near her home. She ascends to heaven and from there watches how her death affected those around her. 


Her father, who suspects the killer's identity, goes crazy with grief over the loss of his first-born, and his inability to do anything about it.

Her mother, who never wanted children, withdraws from her family and into an affair.


Susie's sister, Lindsey, fears the kids at school will forever define her by Susie's death, and her little brother, Buckley, struggles to understand the meaning of death.

The book has a strong first half as she commentates from heaven on how her death affects those she loves. The second half turns more into a ghost story when she revisits Earth.

My favorite lesson learned was the idea that heaven for her was always considered “my” heaven, as in everyone’s heaven is different based upon our own loves, comforts, and desires. I like this idea; it seems to make sense.

Overall, I was underwhelmed. I have not seen the movie yet, but the only person I know who has reports that it is “weird”.

"...Holly and I could be scanning Earth, alighting on one scene or another for a second or two, looking for the unexpected in the most mundane moment. and a soul would run by a living being, touch them softly on the shoulder or cheek, and continue on its way to heaven. The dead are never exactly seem by th eliving, by many people seem acutely aware of something changed around them. They speak of a chill in the air. The mates of the deceased wake from dreams and see a figure standing at the end of their bed, or in a doorway, or boarding, phantomlike, a city bus. On my way out of Earth, I touched a girl named Ruth..."p. 36

"I did begin to wonder what the word heaven meant. I thought, if this were heaven, truly heaven,, it would be where my grandparents lived. Where my father's father, my favorite of them all, would lift me up and dance with me. I would feel only joy and have no memory, no cornfield and no grave." p. 120

"It's one of my secret pleasures, she admitted. After all these years I still love to watch the souls that float and spin in masses, all of them clamoring at once inside the air. I don't see anything, I said that first time. Watch closely, she said, and hush. But I felt them before I saw them, small warm sparks along my arms. Then there they were, fireflies lighting up and expanding in howls and swirls as they abandoned human flesh. Like snowflakes, Franny said, none of them the same and yet each one, from where we stand, exactly like the one before." p. 155

"Almost everyone in heaven has someone on Earth they watch, a loved one, a friend, or even a stranger who was once kind, who offered warm food or a bright smile when one of us had needed it. And when I wasn't watching I could hear the others talking to those they loved on Earth: just as fruitlessly as me, I'm afraid. A one-sided cajoling and coaching of the young, a one-way loving and desiring of their mates, a single-sided card that could never be signed." p. 246


"She no longer looked haunted, as she had in high school, but still, if you looked closely at her eyes you could see the skittery rabbit energy that often made people nervous. She had an expression of someone who was constantly on the lookout for something or someone that hadn't yet arrived. Her whole body seemed to slant forward in inquiry, and though she had been told at the bar where she worked that she had beautiful hair or beautiful hands.....people never said anything about her eyes." p. 249



"I realized how much I wished I could be where my mother was. His love for my mother wasn't about looking back and loving something that would never change. It was about loving my mother for everything -- for her brokenness and her fleeing, for her being there right then in that moment before the sun rose...." p. 280


"She's been great, he said, a rock. A spongelike rock, but a rock......and I watched as my parents kissed. They kept their eyes open as they did, and my mother was the one to cry first, the tears dropping down onto my father's cheeks until he wept too." p.282

Beetroot Risotto

Aussies and their beetroot! I have never eaten so much beet in my life, as I did the years I lived here. It's just not as much a part of 'our' diet at home as it seems to be here. I grew a love for them especially beetroot dip.

I ran across this recipe that I recently tested out on my friends, Jay & Helen, and it received 3 thumbs up! Whether homegrown beets (Mom, now you have something to cook w/ all the beets I planted!) or beets from the supermarket, hope you give this one a try. Super good!



Beetroot Risotto

2 Beetroot (about 450 gram) (I bought a can from the grocery store)
1 liter vegetable stock
2 Tbsp Butter
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 cup arborio rice (I used simple brown rice)
70 g parmesan, grated
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
olive oil to drizzle
green salad to serve, optional

Wearing latex gloves, peel beetroot with a small, sharp knife, then grate into a bowl. Place vegetable stock in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Heat butter in a large, heavy based saucepan over a medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until onion is soft, then add beetroot and stir for 1 minute. Add rice and stir for a further minute until grains are well coated and glossy. Add 1 cup of stock and simmer, stirring, until absorbed. Repeat until all the stock has been absorbed and ric e is al dente and coated in a creamy sauce. Fold parmesan through risotto. Remove risotto from heat, spoon into 4 warmed serving bowls and scatter with parsley. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with green salad if desired. Serves 4.

Do you eat it? The age old question...

This currently stands as the best news I've received all day: a whole minute!! Here's to shamelessly eating dropped food forever more.

Jamked, India

In 2006, I studied in India at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project. For a summer, I lived and worked in a small, remote village observing and learning about health practices dictated by the community vs. a doctor, as is usually the case. It was one of those experiences that changed the course of my life, identifying and solidifying what type of work I was meant to be doing. It was and still is an absolutely amazing place, run by committed people with incredible results. It's simply one of those places you never forget.

 I am not surprised that National Geographic published an article recently about the place. Have a read here. Below are some pictures that a very talented friend of mine took while I was there -- many arguably better than the National Geographic photos!

Enjoy.

New Music: Elle King

The great soulful voice of Elle King is quite Amy Winehouse-esque. I'm really enjoying her this morning but especially like this one.

New Music: Mumford & Sons

Really enjoying this new band from the UK. Have a listen to them here. and check out this really great song and video!

My Path through 2009...

My 12 yr old friend loves his new Mac computer so much that he made me this video as my going away present from Ampilatwatja. Hope you like!

Storyboarding my 2009 from Stephanie Holcombe on Vimeo.

Fantastic Recipe

So much better than rice pudding!

Baked Couscous Pudding with Raisins
Serves 6

1/2 c couscous
1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 c whole milk (I used soy)
1 1/4 c  heavy cream
1/3 c raisins
pinch of salt (I omitted)
freshly ground nutmeg (I used cinnamon and cloves)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place the couscous, sugar and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cream, raisins and salt. Return to boil and then transfer to the casserole dish. Grate plenty of nutmeg over the surface. Bake for 35 minutes, uncovered, until the pudding is thick and creamy underneath its golden skin. It is at its bets about 15 minutes out of the oven and it is still good cold, although it firms up as it cools.

A Quick Glance @ 2009

Greens and those sorts of things.

We eat funny things in the South, this is true. Some might gawk (indeed, most do!) at the thought of eating the world's ugliest bottom feeding fish, the catfish, but we eat it all the time. In fact, Mississippi is the world's #1 exporter of this heinous little creature. This, of course, means that someone, somewhere also enjoys this fish!;...I just haven't met them yet. We also eat squirrel and boudin and crawfish and hushpuppies. The list could go on of my native foods, but one thing is for sure: nothing defines the South quite like collard greens and black eyed peas. Yum, Yum...come and get you some!

It is a unique thing that we have in the South, that being our cuisine on New Years Day. Every good Southerner knows what they'll eat on this day: collard greens, black eyed peas, cornbread and iced tea, plus a little hog jowl for those not-so-faint at heart. "Ain't nothing quite like it no where." It is a funny yet sacred held truth of ritual, tradition, and custom where I come from. It stands for good luck, prosperity, a little kookiness and a whole lot of good eatin'.

Like clockwork, early every New Years morn, my dad (or more likely, my uncle!) pulls out the 'ole cast iron pot, blows off the dust and turns the stove on low. It requires a whole day of cooking for the big family meal on this day. The key to greens, or so I've been led to believe my whole life, is to let them simmer ever so slowly - the longer the better. You can literally cook them all day. I met an old negro farmer one summer at the Farmer's Market who confirmed: "there ain't no otha way to cook 'em!", he told me. That was all I need to believe.

For hours and hours they cook, taking over the whole house with their distinctive smell. A bit fresh, a bit tangy, a whole lot of muskiness, an overall deep, rich smell. To the pot, one usually adds bacon grease or unidentifiable pieces of pork (a la ham bones) for 'simmerin. Even to this pseudo-vegetarian, I can confirm it makes all the difference! We even add a penny to the pot as part of our family lore. Alongside the greens is a equal sized pot of black-eyed peas. The two pots just steadily bubbling away for most of the day. Southern cookin' at its finest!

Greens are an acquired taste.Dousing them with hot pepper vinegar is not uncommon, and quite frankly, part of our ritual. I love it when the green tinted juices of the collards mix nicely with the black eyed peas forming the perfect mixture to sop up with cornbread. If the cornbread is made just right, it's crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside -- perfect juice soaking material! It is an art, or so I like to consider it, to make cornbread to perfection. As many times as I've been schooled on the how to's of warming a cast iron skillet and mixing the right cornmeal w/ the right this and the right that, I still am useless. My mother claims she can make it in her sleep as many times as she's made it in her married life. Is that what a Southern lady is supposed to aim for, I ask?



To complete this meal is usually several strips of fried hog jowl, which literally is the back part of the jaw on a pig. The big meaty part that I used to grab on my own Bella & Porkchop when I told them how stinkin' cute they were ended up sliced and fried the following New Year. It tastes like chicken (just kidding.) -- no, it tastes like pork, like bacon w/ a thick rind. It's pretty good...if you're into that kind of thing.

So, that's it. Fill up your plate, gather all 'round the big family table and talk about how good everything tastes. That's what it takes to start the year off right in the Deep South. If you're lucky enough to get the penny w/ your serving of greens, it means the southern stars are shinin' bright on you and you'll have an extra special year.

Happy New Year, y'all!
      

                                        _____________________________________

I obviously gave alot of thought to this meal this year. Where in the hell did it come from?, I wondered. I figured it was a mishmash of African American tradition adapted by southern whites that could probably be traced back through the Civil War and, most likely, the Great Depression.



I went online to see what I could learn and found many reasons:

There are also stories that American slaves stayed up on December 31, 1862 waiting for the bill that President Abraham Lincoln signed - the Emancipation Proclamation – to go into effect. They celebrated with what they had – black eyed peas, greens, and fat back.

This fits nicely with the fact that peas and greens and parts of pigs are all part of what was left to slaves -- that which the masters didn't want to eat.

Some stories say the black-eyed peas became the South's salvation after Union troops destroyed other crops.

Others trace the peas themselves to Africa and speculate they made it here during the slave trade. Yet, Jewish people were eating black-eyed peas for good luck in their New Year's celebrations about 2,500 years ago.

And, finally, most traditions hold that the black-eyed peas represent coins and collards can represent cash signifying a prosperous year if consumed on New Years day.


In the end, I discovered no one really knows, and from my experience, no one really cares. Collard greens in Mississippi is like Lobster in Maine. Doesn't matter how they got there, they're good and that's all that matters.My conclusion is this: creative and smart and with a great sense of taste the enslaved people made some great dishes from what was rejected. That along with the fact that black eyed peas store well and collard greens are a seasonal green (Dec/Jan) in the South, it makes sense it is the perfect New Years meal representing times long gone.

Like a true Southern lady (!), I planted my own 'greens patch this year before leaving for Australia. Beautiful and green and up in perfect time!

(...this is my collards corner. Along with turnip and mustard on the other end, I had the winter greens covered!)