July 31, 2013

Pictures from the Good Jobs for All Rallies in KC

There were rallies across the nation Monday and Tuesday, in solidarity with fast food workers asking merely for a decent, living wage for their families. We had events here in KC. These first images are from the Communities Creating Opportunities Facebook page. Communities Creating Opportunities is a local branch of the PICO network (People Improving Communities through Organizing).




This young man is working two jobs at minimum wage, and still struggling to take care of his family.


We had a number of people from faith communities at both rallies; this is Rev. C.T. Vivian


Representative Emanuel Cleaver addressed the rally Monday.


These images are from the Stand Up KC facebook page.







I was at the Tuesday rally in Gilham Park. We heard from union leaders (UAW and SEIU), people from the faith community and fast food workers sharing their own stories. One young man, who had been working in fast food for 10 years talked of his problems keeping food on the table; sometimes he had to go to his father's house for food. He has painful, broken molars that he cannot afford to have fixed.

Our local firefighters provided the food for the rally, showing solidarity with fellow workers trying to organize unions.

July 26, 2013

Templeton Rye Whiskey

Yesterday, I found a bottle of Templeton Rye Whiskey on my local supermarket's shelf (Missouri is one of the states where supermarkets are allowed to sell liquor.). I really had to try this stuff, since a co-worker at my old company was from Templeton, Iowa and told tales of Templeton Rye.

It all started back in Prohibition and Great Depression days. Nobody was making money legitimately, so some local farmers began converting some of their grain into whiskey. The fun part of this, according to my friend, was that the whole town was in on the gag, and covered for each other when the 'revenuers' came round. They didn't see any sin in making whiskey and they took some pride in their product, which soon became known as "the good stuff," as opposed to most of the rotgut available during Prohibition.

Templeton Rye was supposed to be Al Capone's favorite whiskey, the whiskey he drank and served to his guests. Supposedly, he even had bottles of the 'good stuff' smuggled into prison.

Anyway, the good people of Templeton kept making their whiskey, even after the end of Prohibition because people loved it. According to my friend, they resisted getting a license and making it legal, because it had a 'forbidden fruit' mystique when it was illegal. Finally, they gave in and licensed the recipe to a distillery in Indiana. The stuff that's available today is supposed to be made from the original, Prohibition-era recipe!

Templeton Rye does have its own website, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel, where you can find out more of the history behind it and get some good cocktail recipes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my dears, I have a bit of a headache!

July 23, 2013

Sepideh: Letters to Einstein

A young Iranian girl dares, yes dares, to pursue her dreams of becoming an astronaut, even with an uncle who says he will kill her "if she does anything wrong."

There are thousands of young people around the world with dreams like this, and most will see those dreams dashed by war, poverty, and lack of education.

July 20, 2013

44 Years ago today, a man called Armstrong walked upon the moon