Love this!

Just really appreciated this set of posters advertising an art exhibit in Dakar.  Nice, storng graphic statement.  Love the blue-black-white print.  Nice going, Dakar!

Things that make me happy

Because you just can't help but smile, when you round the corner, and see Big Ben....
on a clear blue sky London day...

...or after a stupendous evening.

Smart & Sushi

Best Cocktail of My Entire Life

In between my Tuesday late afternoon meeting and meeting the fam for Indian dinner, I stopped by the exquisite Brown's Hotel in Mayfair for a cocktail.  Best mixology I've ever encountered! - see below photo of the counter along the bar of potions and mists to make these tasty chic and tres cher cocktails.

In anticipation of a lovely dinner ahead, I enjoyed The Indian Touch, a sparkler composed of fresh mottled raspberries with gomme syrup and cardamom seed infused Brockman's gin topped with fine French champagne. ($25- ahem)

I can't say I've ever had a memorable cocktail before.  This totally qualifies!  The bartender took good care of me - I think because at the crowded bar, I was the one who was savoring every sip, every moment.

Most Pink. Bakerloo Line, London

Can you find La Nouvelle Observatrice?

Most Awesome Kid on the Planet. Southbank, London

More London photos to be posted in due course....

Yum Foods

Southeast Asian ShopHouse Kitchen

Dupont Circle

Brown rice bowl, with spicy tofu, Chinese broccoli, red and green curry sauce (specialty of the indecisive), pickled vegetables, toasted rice powder, and fresh cilantro and watercress.

Totally yum!

Hotel St. Regis, New York City

This week I had a work event at the Hotel St. Regis in New York.  This was the kind of event where super-wealthy (and super-generous, and super-committed - I do respect these guys) 1% bankers come to do good with their money.  It's not all bad -  despite my snarky edge. I'm psyched that they will give their time to hear a young woman activist from Pakistan talk about her organization - Aware Girls, founded when she was just 16 - that empowers the body, money, and voice of girls aged 12 to 29.  Go Gulali!  And if it inspires our uber-wealthy friends to open their minds and their wallets, while steak tartare with quail eggs is passed about, all the better.  I call that win-win - pass the prosecco!






But I captured this signage on the marble hallway wall:

<

Versailles

LouisXI

Library

>

Rambouillet

Matignon

Fontainebleau

Restrooms 

Coat Check

...and can't help but gag.  So pretentious. So contrived. So bizarre.  Are we in XVIIeme siecle France or 21st century New York?  Get a grip.  I love to get my fancy on. And you know I'm a francophile (the good parts). I enjoy my swank as much as the next girl, but this is not my kind of luxe.  Non merci. 

I [HEART] my new Orla Kiely bag!

My big Xmas present this year - my long, longed-for Orla Kiely bag.  Sometimes stuff does bring happiness.

Everything's gonna be alright.

Sometimes the most difficult time being a mom is when saying everything is going to be ok, and there is nothing to worry about, when you're not so sure yourself.  The brave face, coupled with the whispered assurances, and the air of confidence - at times, it's all such a front.

So tonight, as I cuddled and coddled at bedtime, and quieted worries about strong winds and metro doors shutting a millisecond too soon, I was preoccupied with the scope and cost of some structural work that I will need to do on my house.  And not all that sure that the wind wouldn't in fact huff and puff and blow the house down.



  

December 31, 2011

Great Falls, VA

December has included a lot of bubbly.

#OccupyDC - Action

Today there was some OccupyDC action.  Some planned protests of both the sleepers (those who love in tents) and other Occupy activists intended to disrupt Washington.

Today's demonstration was about 100 or so protesters marching down K Street NW, and blocking the intersection at 14th.  This is a block from my work, so I could see and hear it from the windows, and at some point walked over to observe and take some pictures.

Streets were blocked with heavy metal newspaper boxes, trashcans and chairs, and the Occupiers stood in the boxed intersection in the pouring rain chanting.  Police had all four sides cordoned off with police cars, horses and ultimately a wall of police facing off.  It was pretty non-confrontational - protesters chanted and sometimes taunted, police watched them stone-faced and sometimes took the bait.  There were easily an equal number of protesters and police, and an even greater number of spectators taking pictures with their phones.  But you can't block traffic forever, and eventually police began clearing media and bystanders to sidewalks, and then told protesters to also clear the street or face removal.

At this point, as I understand, police rode a bunch of horses slowly into the center, scattering a good number of protesters who did not enjoy facing off against a large imposing animal.  Soon enough the protesters played their role and lay down in the street.  And the police played theirs, giving them warnings, and then began removals and arrests, as protesters again played their part resisting arrest in acts of civil disobedience.   I checked Twitter a few times - #OccupyDC - to see how the scene was described, and I was a bit disappointed to see the tweets, while overall accurate, seem more sensational than what I had witnessed,

I'm quite proud of my city in the handling of OccupyDC.  There hasn't been evictions of the tent cities.  McPherson Square park (and Freedom Square a few blocks away) have codes of conduct posted by the protesters, including how to interact with police and respect the park.  Likewise, park police have posted signs of what is and is not allowed (generators must be cordoned off, for example).  DC's mayor and  Council has expressed support - as long as health and public safety are not threatened.  So far there has not been pepper spray, raids or helicopters as in Oakland and Atlanta.

The methods are a bit fringe-y for me, and the messengers far too scraggly to be effective.  But the principles of the movement speak to me - even with my iPhone and Starbucks and desk job.  Long live Occupy!

Occupy DC

I am an avowed sympathizer of the Occupy movement.  Some people question it's coherence and challenge its lack of clear objectives.  Fair enough criticism, but I'm quite clear about it.  The income gap between  rich and poor is widening, and the super rich are becoming richer by orders of magnitude, while the middle class stagnate and fall behind  Foreclosures, upside-down mortgages, and student debt prohibit decent hard-working people from getting ahead, but these ills were in many ways created by the large financial institutions that are reaping record profit, with the managers of said institutions rewarded with massive bonuses.  And all the while, fiscal policy is structured to save, if not reward, these structures.  That is the 1%, and the rest is the 99%.  The tail is wagging the dog.

The Occupy DC site is in McPherson Square in view of the White House, and about 3 blocks from my office.  Over the last month, I've made it a point to use the Metro exit that allows me to walk past and through the tent city.  I've enjoyed watching it grow and take shape.  It now consists of about one hundred tents - residential sites - pretty much right next to each other in the center and southwest of the square.  The northwest section has grown to become a community hub, complete with medical tent, kitchen, community library, media tent (with solar panels and generator) and message boards.  The south end of the square seems to be loosely organized around social and community affairs - frisbee playing, spontaneous (or not) musical performances, and a meeting area.  Urban planners could not have done better - and this Washington Post article makes some interesting organizing and planning observations around that.

Who says they're not organized?  Check this out!

DAILY SCHEDULE
11:00 [Scribble unclear] Outreach 102
12:00 pm Political education discussion
12:30 p.m Announcements
2pm De-escalation training
5:00pm Newcomer orientation
5pm Roots of the Crisis Workshop
6:00pm General Assembly
8:00pm Committee Meetings

NEEDS
juice
cooking oil
PLATES
Water
Round table for library
Sleeping bags
Tents
Giant coffeepot

This photo shows the library about 2 weeks ago, back when the request was out for a round table.  I passed by again today, and I wish I got a picture.  The library tent is gorgeous, complete with a round table, about four to six chairs, and at least four bookshelves brimming with over 800 books.

Other organic and spontaneous community innovations have taken root.  There is  a "Human Mic," where when announcements are made.  A person says "Mic," and three to six people around him (or her) echo "Mic" and the announcements proceed from there - a natural human amplification of sound.

And while I haven't fully figured out the kitchen, here's a WaPo article about cooking 3 meals a day every day for 100 to 200 protesters with volunteer labor, and donated foodstuffs.  There's also a steady supply of donated prepared foods - burgers from Five Guys (it's not clear whether the store donated or a citizen sympathizer bought and donated), day-old pastries from the Starbucks across the street, and Cherry Garcia ice cream served by Ben and Jerry themselves earlier this week.

This year, we witnessed an Arab Spring, in which long-standing, firmly entrenched and protected government structures were toppled from a more or less spontaneous uprising of civil society.  No one would have bet on it a month earlier.

I have no idea was the Occupy movement will bring.  I am disheartened, disappointed, and disillusioned by heavy-handed confrontations by police on Occupy protests in Oakland and Atlanta.  The Occupy message and the objectives are not concise; and discredited because those messages are expressed by a relatively disparate group of fringe progressives.  Winter is coming.  Attention wanes or gets diverted by Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber,  and Joe Paterno.  Yet still I remain impressed with Occupy DC's stamina, growth, and organic organization.  Thus far, there has been minimal police intervention and confrontation in DC.  I'm pleased for both the protesters and the police.  Occupy movements in other cities continue to form and grow.  They just may be another American Revolution ahead of us.

Fall Tabletop

First Day of School

Birthday

Marine Biology - Sunset (amazing light)

Marine Biology

 

yourpet