home on the range, and the range is racist

I've taken a brief hiatus from DC to head home to California, where I've been on the campaign trail with Mom for exactly two weeks.

From the (seemingly) Democratic and diversity-loving stronghold of northern CA, I've had an interesting time observing the intersection of fear and politics. For those of you who didn't know, my home is in Yolo County, which is a largely rural county in the Central Valley. While Sacramento, our neighbor to the east, is both the state capitol as well as the most diverse city in the nation, it turns out that it is also home to the same breed and caliber of unabashed racists as we've seen over the course of this oh-so-long campaign in other states. A few of my favorite selections below:

Tina Graham, Dickenson County, Virginia:

"I never really thought about whether or not that I was racist, or however you want to put it," said Tina Graham. She fears Obama would focus on African-Americans at the expense of poor white people like herself. "It's just the fact that I think that he will represent them, and what they want, and what they need. ... They're his people, they're his race." (NPR.org)

Gayle Quinnell, Lakewood, Minnesota:

"I don't trust Obama. I have read about him. He's an Arab." (AP, Reuters, CNN, where has this not been?)

And of course, my favorite:

Plantation Descendant "Obama Monkey" friend in Johnstown, Pennsylvania:




I must say that John McCain was admirable in immediately "repudiating" (everyone's fave word these days) these distasteful and uneducated remarks by his backwoods supporters. But, that doesn't mean that the average white voter doesn't scare the crap out of me.

So, what's going on here, you ask? What does my home state of northern California have to do with a county in western Virginia that has a total population about half the size of where I went to undergrad? Or a Minnesota township that's basically Canada?

Well, holy shock to my system, Sacramento is just as racist as Obama Monkey Man from Scarytown, PA.

The Grand Ole Party of our neighbor to the east, the capitol city of the 7th or 8th largest economy in the world, is publishing this sort of horrifically bigoted drivel on its website, Sacramentorepublicans.org.

(Sacramentorepublicans.org)



(Sacramentorepublicans.org)

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME. I apologize for yelling, but seriously. Seriously?

The leader of the racism wolfpack, Craig MacGlashan (husband of Sacto County District 4 Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan, no less) initially didn't give, but later retracted his ignoramus statements, saying:

"At first, I did not realize how offensive the material was, and in the rush to move past it, I didn't take it seriously enough." (Sacramento Bee)

The offending "campaign materials" have been taken down, proper apologizing and falling over oneself to make things right, and firing of the volunteer responsible have all happened in rapid succession. But this B.S. makes the Palin mind tricks of free associating "Obama" and "terrorist" in the same sentence seem tame by comparison. If this level of gross insanity, misinformation and idiocy exists in my own backyard, Lord help us all.



< /end angryblog >

I will drink the Obama kool-aid

WHAT IF

Obama wins Iowa.
Clinton wins New Hampsz.
Edwards wins South Carolinuh.

OMGZ the primaries are as crazy as NCAA football!

end of an era

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Dear student account holder:

Our records indicate that you either graduated more than six months ago or are not currently enrolled in fall 2007 or spring 2008 classes. As a result, access to your email.usc.edu and UNIX Student Computing Facility (SCF) accounts will be disabled on the evening of Wednesday, December 19, 2007. Access to USC central services, including myUSC Portal and Virtual Private
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because I'm a good soldier of Troy

November 29, 2007

The Honorable Antonio R. Villaraigosa
Mayor
City of Los Angeles City Hall
200 North Spring Street, Room 303
Los Angeles, California 90012
Fax: (213) 847-0680

Dear Mr. Mayor,

I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude for your support of the University of Southern California remaining a tenant of the Memorial Coliseum.

As a recent graduate of USC I was very upset to hear that the Coliseum Commission might not renew our lease and allow us to make very necessary renovations to the building. As I understand it, the school is offering $100 million to make upgrades to return the Coliseum to world-class status. I also think that allowing USC more say in our now 80-year residency at the venue is not too much to ask. The contributions that USC has made and will continue to make to the area and the city as a whole far outweigh any notions of an elusive NFL stadium.

I am a Trojan, my mother is a Trojan and I hope someday my grandkids will be Trojans too. The Coliseum lease is not only important to us in the practical sense of having a place to hold events, but also in terms of our historical presence at the stadium. Trojan traditions are extremely important to us. We are grounded in this storied 127-year history, and this gives us the strength and passion to excel at what we do. I recently returned to campus for homecoming celebrations, as many of us alums do, and I cannot fathom the loss of community that would occur if our home games were moved to the Rose Bowl.

I was saddened to read Commissioner Bill Chadwick’s comments in the LA Times this morning. He said, "I think it would be great if they played at the Rose Bowl for two years. At the end of that two years, the leverage we would have in negotiations would be spectacular." This Marie Antoinette attitude does not reflect a spirit of friendship or even compromise. I truly hope that your positive influence may change the opinion of the Coliseum Commission members so that my school and the venue that we know and love may return to the bargaining table to reach a fair and fruitful agreement.

I know that you went to UCLA, but fight on, sir!

Sincerely,



Meilee M. Wong
Class of ‘07

pie. pie. pie. pie. pie. pie.

When I went home for T-giving last week, naturally my mother freaked out that we didn't have enough dessert to bring to Auntie Ellen's annual gathering.

So for some reason, my sister started blasting Alicia Keys (as I found out later) at 8 a.m. and I had nothing better to do than get up and bake up a storm! What did I choose? PIE.

I don't particularly believe that "baking is an exact science" (sorry Alton), so I poked around online to find general proportions for things and went to town. My first pie adventure: Pumpkin Pie.

First, I set about making crust. I "cut" a stick of (cold) butter into some flour and baking powder (I tossed in some salt because I thought it needed it) with my fingertips, until I got that "coarse cornmeal" that everyone talks about. Moistened it up with one egg, and froze my dough ball for about 1/2 hr.

I carefully sprinkled my work surface (which happens to be my parents' large glass cutting board) with flour, and plopped my dough ball in the center. I carefully floured my rolling pin, and rolled out from the center, going around in a circle until I had a somewhat pie-shaped, 1/4 inch thick round of pie crust dough. Excited about my accomplishment, I lifted up one edge of the pie crust to fold it over for easy transfer to my glass pie dish. Crumble. I bristled at my crust. No matter. I pushed the rips back together, retrieved a large plastic pancake spatula and attempted to lift up the edge again. Crumble crumble. Undeterred, I worked my spatula around the entire 360º outer edge of my crust. EVENT OF MASSIVE CRUMBLE. Little bits of pie dough were molded to the board, and my crust was in a shambles.

Result: FAIL

Lesson: Freeze dough ball longer.

While my hastily re-formed dough ball was re-freezing, I set about making my pie filling. One can of pumpkin puree, check. (Thank you, Barefoot Contessa, for erasing my shame.) One egg, check. Brown sugar, check. Nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, check. Condensed milk...condensed milk...uh oh.

Result: SUBSTITUTE COCONUT MILK.

Lesson: Coconut Pumpkin Pie?

I whisked everything together until I got the consistency of a melted milkshake. Then I covered with saran wrap and returned the whole thing to the fridge so as to allow my dough to finish freezing.

In the meantime, my father had decided that we needed to bake an apple pie "because that's what The People want." If by "The People" he means some kind of Wong Proletariat...no matter. Anyway, during the pumpkin madness I had sent him to the store for reinforcements so by the time I'd whisked my pumpkin to soupy happiness, we were off and running on the apples.

Peeling done with a vegetable peeler, coring done with one of those semi-useless "apple cutters" that look like sinister covered-wagon spokes, last minute corrections to remove seeds and cores done with a paring knife. (Thanks Dad.) I tossed the apples with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and let them rest. Simple!

Time for crust #2. The apple pie recipe called for twice as much flour, the same amount of butter/baking powder, and one egg. I threw in a dash of salt because I thought it needed it. The difference here? Spooning one tablespoonful of ice water in at a time, slowly, until the dough came together. I liked this better than the first crust...I didn't have to rely on my one egg for all my moisture, I could tailor it to what I needed. And I ended up with a larger quantity of crust in the end. Enough so I could cookie-cutter a duck for my final project...

Bored with waiting for the dough to freeze, I poked around in cabinets until I found...Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder. I wonder what this would taste like in pumpkin pie...so, I retrieved my pumpkin filling and whisked in a couple tablespoons. No visible color change, but what about the taste?

Once the dough balls had re-frozen, my pies came together like the last 5 pieces of a massive puzzle. Pre-baking the pumpkin pie crust using dried beans to keep its shape, I poured in my filling. For the apple, I rolled out half the dough, poured in the apples, and rolled out the other half on top. Cutting vents and trimming excess dough. With a little extra, I cut out a duck and plopped it on top of my pumpkin pie.

An hour and a little bit later, this is what we got:

Coconut Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Homemade Apple Pie

Well, how did I do? Well, in competition with three other pies (all store-bought) of pecan, mincemeat and plain pumpkin, there was one slice of my apple left and two slices of my pumpkin at the end of the night. Not bad for my first foray into pie-making.

Things to remember:

• Chocolate makes pumpkin filling taste burnt, even if it's not.
• A half tablespoon of nutmeg is far too much, no matter what the recipe says.
• Fuji apples are much sweeter than Granny Smith. Add lemon juice or other appropriate acid.
  
• No one understands ducks. Avoid.

Other than that, I think this was a fantastic learning experience. All I gotta say is, watch out for Baker Wong at Christmas!

squirrelly republicans

Soo...I visited my old office yesterday, and apparently the second floor of Cannon just recruited its latest member:

Supposedly, Issa's office put out nuts for it. Don't squirrels have rabies?