Wicked Boring

I haven't posted much strictly to Dreamwidth, and that was several years ago (when Dreamwidth started).

But, like many of my friends, the change to LiveJournal's T&C has been enough to shunt me to Dreamwidth permanently and lead to the deletion of my LJ content.

That content will be deleted at the end of next week.

Ciao. Ta. G'bye

The American Society of Newspaper Editors today sent this email to its members:


Statement on First Amendment from American Society of News Editors

ASNE stands ready to defend
First Amendment rights, strong democracy

Columbia, Mo. (Nov. 9, 2016) - After this long, tortuous election season, Americans went to the polls Tuesday to exercise their right to vote, perhaps the ultimate expression of free speech in the United States. However, throughout this campaign, Americans have seen extraordinary assaults on their First Amendment rights to free speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. These assaults have come from many political spectrums and walks of life. At some universities, students expressed outrage at the practice of chalking, writing messages on campus sidewalks, when those messages were in support of a specific candidate. At a religious-based campus, a university official censored a student who wrote a column in opposition to GOP nominee Donald Trump. It has been suggested that some political candidates' rhetoric amounts to hate speech and, thus, should be censored. We have heard instances of Americans being targeted because they practice a specific religion. We have also heard proposals to weaken the nation's libel laws to make it easier for individuals to sue the press. Elected officials, as well as candidates, have tried to control their messages by refusing to talk to journalists, attacking journalists personally and sometimes harassing journalists' sources. And on it goes.

The American Society of News Editors, representing newsroom leaders across the country, believes that the First Amendment and the freedoms that it protects are fundamental underpinnings of our democracy. We know that attacking the press is a well-worn tradition in our country's politics. We also know that our Constitutional rights to a free and independent press, to speak freely and to practice the religion of one's choice have served as a beacon to the rest of the world for centuries. In many countries, one can still be jailed for political beliefs, and journalists are persecuted for reporting on sitting governments and corruption. As America introduces the 45th president, ASNE stands ready to fight vigorously for all the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment so that democracy, however messy it may be, thrives for generations to come.


###


About the American Society of News Editors

The American Society of News Editors is dedicated to the leadership of American journalism. It is committed to fostering the public discourse essential to democracy; helping editors maintain the highest standards of quality, improve their craft and better serve their communities; and preserving and promoting core journalistic values while embracing and exploring change. Learn more at asne.org, or follow us on Twitter @NewsEditors.

So, if the monsters do wake up because of the shouting and try to crash the party, suddenly everybody forgets their animosity?

But some remember.

In 1990, the World Science Fiction Convention was in Den Haag (The Hague), Netherlands, and a lot of my friends (and Mike and I) didn't go to it. International travel was more difficult (I'd never been outside of North America, then, nor did I have a passport yet) and took a larger wodge of our financial resources. Our friend Leslie Turek had been nominated for a Hugo Award that year (which she won...yay, Leslie!), and our friends the Olsons decided we needed to have a party during the Hugo Ceremony to cheer Leslie on, since she couldn't go either.

There was, of course, no streaming of the ceremony. No Instagram. No Facebook. No World Wide Web. Some of us were on the NSFNet or Bitnet, but most people today would not recognized those, with their text-only interfaces. And there were no portables to take into the Ceremony for blogging. Instead, we had to wait for a phone call from Leslie's acceptor (I don't remember who). So the best thing to do was nibble on Dutch food whilst we waited. It was tastier and more nutritious than fingernails.

My aunt, Margaret [Shannon] Snoeren, married a Dutch man (you might be able to tell that from the last name) she met while serving in the Peace Corps in Nigeria in the 1960s. Marge is a pretty great cook, and she developed a collection of Dutch recipes over the years. So, when Priscilla Olson said the theme was "Dutch/Indonesian Rijsttafel (Rice Table)," in honor of the first Dutch Worldcon, I called Aunt Marge.

The recipe she gave me that day was a major hit. Moreover, it is a recipe Mike and I have made dozens of times, because we love it. (Thank you, Aunt Marge!!!) This is an Indonesian-styled Satay recipe, probably as modified by the Indonesian immigrants in the Netherlands. The marinade is important for the meat (which is beef or pork), and the peanut sauce that accompanies it is the best, most interesting variant I've ever had. It is zippy and not, as so many are from the Thai or other traditions, overly sweet. We *do* serve it with a Thai cucumber "sauce" or salad, because we love the stuff. Sometimes, we make it as a main course for ourselves, add the cucumber salad, make up some rice, and call it supper. Yum.

( Marge’s Indonesian Dutch Satay with Pindasaus )

Since we cook sometimes for a soup kitchen, we cook for them like we cook for ourselves or our friends: same food; same ingredients. We've made a lot of interesting dishes for them in the past, and Mike suggested we do this for our contribution this Saturday.

"We'll have to make enough for us to save some out for ourselves," I said, after drooling while re-reading the recipe.

"Of course we will," said Mike.

We'll probably triple or quadruple the recipes. :-)

Eleven years ago, we started a count-down to the World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. A week before the convention started, we were putting together displays, laughing, packing many, many boxes, laughing, eating take-out together at the NESFA clubhouse, laughing...

It was exhausting, but rewarding. We were building something special for fandom, and our ego-boo was in seeing it all laid out and running. Not running perfectly...but hell, we didn't do this professionally, we had to do it on the cheap, we did it in our spare time. We wanted it to be perfect, but we settled for 90-95%, most of the time. That was damned good.

Today, there is a group of people who are starting their own week-long count-down to the World Science Fiction Convention. This one is in Spokane, Washington. Their convention has been fraught with difficulties. Many of their people are not laughing. They're not even grinning.

They are still trying to build something special for fandom. They're often not getting much satisfaction. In fact, some are sitting around right now, wishing they were somewhere else, dealing with something else. Perhaps at a villa in Tuscany...perhaps in Port-aux-Français (since that's as far away as one can get from the Spokane Convention Center and still be on land) in the Kerguelen Islands (also known as the Desolation Islands - you can get to the irony of that on your own).

Perhaps any Worldcon that lost its co-chair two weeks after winning the right to host the convention would be taxed. Certainly, it was a devastating blow. This Worldcon has also borne the brunt of attacks on fandom's prized Hugo Awards and, as a result, some of the most difficult and disruptive public scrutiny ever for the convention.

I'm not going to point fingers at anyone here. Not one person. I'm attending the convention and taking part in its program, but none of my sweat has gone into making this year's "fannish family reunion." (Yes, I'll listen when my friends need a shoulder...no, that's not the same thing as sweat equity.)

What I will say is this: If you are going to the convention, say something nice to the people you meet with a "committee" or "staff" or "volunteer/gopher" ribbon. You don't need to compliment them on things. Just say something nice. Or maybe something that will make them laugh. Or smile at them and say nothing at all. (This last works particularly well when you don't much like them.)

For those of us who have slogged this slog, sometimes a smile from someone is better than a paycheck. Hell, it *IS* the paycheck.

I'm not going to completely duplicate this recipe here...instead, I'll just pop the link in here, and you can look at it at your leisure. The picture on that site of a sweetroll is about 17" across.

There are two filled (almond and apricot) in the oven right now.

This is the original "Chex Mix" recipe. It is not what you will find today, and we called it "Scrabble" growing up. Can't tell you, 57+ years on, if it was called "Scrabble" because of some joint marketing effort between Ralston Purina and Parker Brothers...or if it started as a snack mix created by someone else...or if the family just ate a lot of it whilst playing the eponymous game (and trying to beat my maternal grandfather, Lewis R. Shannon,* who used to include names of archaic farm implements and other things). We ate a lot of it, later, playing pinochle. Many, many games of pinochle. ( Here is additional background and the very yummy recipe. )

In October of 1988, William C. Geisler, a 54-year-old Korean War naval veteran, manager at Sears, Roebuck and Company, father, grandfather, and husband, succumbed to Lou Gherig's Disease, or ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). He was my father, of course.

Dad did not live to see my wedding. He never met most of his grandchildren. The Internet didn't really exist when he was alive. There were no cell phones, nor iPods, nor...well, half of the tech in my car. When Dad took his last breath, Ronald Reagan was still the president of the United States, and the Soviet Union still existed.

When Dad found out he had ALS, the first thing he told us kids was, "It is almost never hereditary." He wanted us to know we didn't share his death sentence. My dad wasn't always the best person - lord knows he had his failings - but he didn't want us to face the sort of end he knew he would have. And he did have it. ALS is an ugly, brutal, horrifying end. It leaves the mind alive as it strips the body of strength, volition, and dignity.

How would my Dad feel about the ALS ice bucket challenge?

He'd laugh his ass off. He would crow that so many famous people are involved with this silliness so that they can draw attention to a killer people have ignored for too long. If he were still alive, he'd be right there with the ice brigade.

So, to those who say "it's all political," tough toenails. I mean, really, I do not care a whit what you say. If you haven't lost someone you love to ALS, your opinion about this absolutely does not matter to me.

Does every person "challenged" have to sit still and have ice water dumped on them? No. Am I absolutely delighted with the publicity this is all giving to ALS research and the amount of money being raised by the ALS Association? You bet your sweet bippy I am.

And bravo to all of the challengers, including former US President George W. Bush...and the lovely Laura Bush, of course.

According to the ALS Association, the ice bucket challenge has raised $31.5 million as of today. Excellent work.

Today was our day to cook for the "soup kitchen" down in Waltham, and Mike said our jambalaya was requested. (They requested either the jambalaya or the grape leaves...) This is the recipe we created about a dozen years ago:

Deb and Mike's
"No, we're not Cajun,
but we do have leftovers" Jambalaya
( Apologies for not putting it behind a cut originally! )

We had to start this recipe several weeks ago. Actually, we could have started it Monday last, but life got in the way. This recipe is a dish by Moroccan cooking guru Paula Wolfert of chicken, preserved lemon, olives, fennel, and a melange of improbable spices. The ingredients came together to form an amazing dish that can only be described as "unctuous."

First, ( preserve a mess o’Meyer lemons. )

Once you have preserved lemons in the fridge, you can make:

( Paula Wolfert’s Chicken with Preserved Lemon, Olives, and Fennel )