It is no secret that my undergrad degree is in French (with a focus on language and literature). However, my graduate degree is where people get really confused. It was NOT a language program. It was a bi-lingual program so I had classes that were taught in French and English, that focused on French History, Society and Culture since the revolution. It was good times. Since then, I’ve been lucky that, in most of my jobs, I have been able to use my understanding of how societies and cultures work, and my language stuff. For instance, currently I manage a bunch of websites for giant global corporation X. About 50% of the work I do is managing stuff for Canada. As a result, I get to use my language skills when working with the French Canadian sites and working with the French Canadian people.

Anyway, when I was in undergrad I was thinking I wanted to get a Ph.D., and at the time I thought it would be in French language or something related, at which point, I would need to learn two languages. So, I did a study abroad in Italy because I would need a second Euro/Latin language if that is what I was going to do. Of course, in Italy, I just spent all my time with a bunch of Brazilians. Good memories.

Despite my use of French at work, I don’t use it as much as I’d like. So, I finally went through iTunes, and found some news and culture podcasts I can listen to when I’m on the go. Good deal. The only other issue is that, my Italian is dormant. I do not use it at all. So, I joined LiveMocha. I am debating though. I love Brazilians, and I love Portuguese (the language part I didn’t realize until I was well out of undergrad). Also, I work with tons of Brazilians. So I am trying to determine if it makes more sense to let Italian just fizzle and disappear and try to start learning Portuguese or if I should stick with Italian. I do not feel like trying to work on two languages at once.

Yay! First recipe of the year. I have been craving curry stuff like crazy. Yesterday I made some yummy fries with the two potatoes I had left. I decided to make some more today, but with a curry dipping sauce.

Curry Dipping Sauce

Here are the ingredients (you can make more just keep the same ratios):

• 1/4 mayonnaise (I used homeade, will explain below/give recipe)
• 2 tbs ketchup (I used organic because High Fructose Corn Syrup has always given me a stomach ache)
• 2 tbs curry powder (or more if you like)

Place all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and whisk together.  That’s it.  So simply and so yummy.  It even passed the 2 year old taste test.

Now on to the homeade mayo.  I hate mayonnaise.  I have since I was a kid.  Same with Miracle Whip.  My husband like Miracle Whip though, so we had some in the house.  I opened the jar, smelled it and thought I was going to be ill, so I decided I needed to make a small batch of mayo.  I like this better, because I can keep it as plain as I want to, making it a better base for the sauce.

Homeade Mayo Base Recipe

(again, you can make more just keep the ratios)

• 1 egg yolk
• 1.5 tbs apple cider vinegar (I love Braggs)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1tbs hot water

Whisk the egg yold, salt and vinegar until it is very light and very thick.  Continue whisking and add half of the olive oil slowly.  Whisk for about a minute then add the hot water.  Whisk for another 2 minute and add the rest of the olive oil and continue to whisk until your arm feels like it is going to fall off or if you are using an electric mixer until it is nice, thick and light.

That’s it.  As mentioned above, I used it for fries.  I also had chicken fingers that I dipped in it.  I bet a Quorn and Gryere cutlet would love having this slabbed all over it… and it would be good on caluiflower or on a burger of some type… maybe with some tripical fruit like… a grilled chicken sandwich with mango and curry sauce.  Maybe make a chunky mango salsa, with chili pepper, cilantro, salt and pepper tossed with some lime juice on top of a grilled chicken breast one a whole wheat bun slathered with the curry.  Mmmm… that sounds yummy actually.

Anyway, enjoy!

I didn’t stay up until midnight. I was falling asleep from 10:30 and ended up in bed at 11:45 and I think I fell asleep right away. That is ok. I woke up and it is 27F outside and 2009.

Here is to a new year full of discovery and good fortune. I only know a little bit of what 2009 has in store for me but the little bit i know I am excited about. I am also looking forward to the surprises, the learning and the growth.

I don’t remember what I said my hopes were for this year last year. I am sure it was something about it being good, having personal growth and learning as that is what I hope for every year.

I definitely had growth, and I have done a lot of learning. I was finally able to figure out what I want to do and take the steps I can take to try to get that in to motion. It took a lot of falling down to get there, but if it all works out, it will have been totally worth it.

We moved, and that wasn’t expected. But, I came to a big conclusion. I need to live somewhere that is not car dependent. It changes the way people and families interact, the type of outings people do etc. Plus, I can’t ride my bike, walk or rollerblade places so I do not get enough exercise enough at all… and that hurts. So, I want to eventually make it out to someplace that is bike friendly again (because as much fun as walking was in New York, I missed biking safely), and that has public transportation and big parks (and also sits within an hour or two of the ocean and mountains… preferably closer).

There is the growing family thing. There are never really words for that. But, again, this is something to look forward to next year.

I feel like after 9 years with Justin we are at another growth apex. It is always nice and unexpected when those happen. I found the photo album from when we first started being a couple (I am not sure how to phrase this at all), and we both look so young. It didn’t feel like we had been together very long until I looked at those photos. I am looking forward to what next year will bring.

Tristan did a lot of growing this year too, but that is to be expected when one goes from year 1 to year 2. I am very happy that he is a part of my life. I get to experience lots of new emotions because he is around and I hope I am cultivating his personality (and I say cultivate because he has a very distinct personality), in such a way that he becomes the amazing person I know he can. Only time will tell though.

Basically, it seems like 2008 was really a transitional year when I look back on it. A bunch of things were put in to motion, but I won’t know the outcome until next year. So that means 2009 is the year of hopes and dreams. I’m not allowed to think about it too much though, or I stress myself out.

My life is beautiful because every day is a wonderful experience.  I can’t stand still spiritually or intellectually.  Every day I want to feel as if I had more to give than the day before.

-Jet Magazine Word of the Week November 2, 1967

There have been so many posts and news stories about Eartha Kitt all over the place since her death that have said so much. So, I am writing this really for my own benefit so I can bookmark the info below. I would like to say that the thing that I always loved about Eartha Kitt was how fun she was to watch. She always brought so much energy to everything she did and she genuinely seemed like she was enjoying herself while she was performing.

Here are a few performances:

C’est si bon

I Want to be Evil

I went through and found a bunch of articles about Eartha on Google Books, until they accused me of being a virus and blocked my access.  There were so many short paragraphs through the decades about scholarship funds and outreach projects she was a part of. She was an interesting lady for sure. The articles below are some of the interesting longer ones.

• Eartha Kitt Still Sassy at 80 - Jet: January 29, 2007
• Eartha Kitt at Sixty Something - Ebony: October1993
• Hollywood Beauties Rab About Sensual Sides of Black Dudes - Jet: July 11, 1974 (cover story)
• Eartha Kitt Says Africans Must See Other Than “Soul” - Jet: November 11, 1971 (follow up article)
• Eartha Kitt’s Angry White House Outburst Stuns Lady Bird - Jet: February 1, 1968
• Seldom Seen Side of Eartha Kitt - Jet, November 25, 1965
• Eartha Kitt Tells Why Her Marriage Has Broken Up Jet: October 10, 1963
• Is Eartha Kitt A Victim of Reverse Racism? - Jet: June 27, 1963 (cover story)
• Eartha Kitt Tells How to Hold Your Husband - Jet: July 26, 1962
• Eartha Kitt Unveils New Stage Review - Jet: August 27, 1959
• What Women Singers Think of Each Other - Feb 24, 1955 (Cover Story)
• Why Eartha Kitt had to be Hypnotized - Jet: December 2, 1954
• Why Eartha Kitt Lives Without Love - Jet: May 1954 (Cover Story)

I love digital archives. I am glad that this information exists in a medium where it can be accessed so easily. For serious. RIP Eartha. You will be missed.

I love Google News. It is actually an addiction I think. On all of my computers (except for my work one), it is set as my homepage. I have been following what is happening in Guinea through the English and French Press, and today decided to try and dig a little deeper with the coup talk and all.

I tried to get to a news site from Guinea and was unable to connect. However, there is a cached version (on google of course) from Dec 23, 2008 03:59:19 GMT so I can’t help but wonder if that is just me. I also can’t get the Government site to load either. The last cache of that was from Dec 16, 2008 09:52:24 GMT. Anyway, I am still searching for a news site from Guinea that has updates. Maybe the best I will do is AllAfrica. This whole situation is interesting to watch, and this little internet blind spot is something I want to overcome. It is like a repeat of what happened before, only with new technology to keep people more up to date.

During the search I found a cool video. TheInstitut National de L’audiovisuel(an amazing site btw) has a video called Guinée : un an après (Guinea: one year later) that aired on FR3 - 04/04/1985. I won’t get too into my thoughts on the slant of the video but I will say my favorite part of the video is when the reporter asks “For the Guineans, is it important to have good knowledge of French?” It just seems so out of place when they are talking about trying to rebuild their country/culture after 26 years of dictatorship for the rest of the video.

I just came across and article from Tuesday in 24|7 about Nollywood titled Strife and poverty fail to stem $700m Nigerian film industry. They interviewed Peace Aniyam-Fiberesima (google says it is Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima), a Nigerien producer for the article. I love her quotes!

Quote 1

Digital technology has helped us a lot, developing the quality, and the equipment. We’ve been able to show that we can drive an industry by just shooting on a digital camera and editing on a laptop.

Quote 2

…Many of the international festivals do not accept films other than celluloid. We are moving to the digital age and the world is at an economic crunch; how many people who want to make films and express their creativity can afford to wait forever to get huge amount of funding to their projects.

Yes! I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again: If there is a market that would be great for an online film festival that could have global reach, this is it. Anyway back to work & reading the news. I just didn’t want to lose these quotes.

I enjoy how separated we are from the past.  We always think we are doing something new and out there.  We are convinced that time passing = progress, and never look or discuss evidence to the contrary.  As a teenager, I loved old and foreign films.   When Bravo used to show them uncut, I would record them on VHS tapes and watch them over and over again.  When Criterion came out with DVDs, I had my own nice mini collection.  One of the films I always heard about and really wanted to see was M.  When I finally saw it, I was shocked.  The news had made it seem like perversion, kidnapping and murder were all modern phenomenons that were out of control… yet, here in 1931 was a film that was basically the image of dispair that was being projected on the news every night at 11 pm.  As a teenager, that was pretty eye opening for me.

Fast forward to now…  I did a post on Ebony/Jet putting their archives online over at Black Web 2.0.  The ability to archive and search with Google as the tool is something I think is monumental, and I am so happy that more and more archive databases are being put online and searchable like this.  Anyway, since they were added, I have spent some time going through the Jet archives from the 50s so far.  Can I just say we are still having the same discussions.   There were tons of articles on sexuality, including homosexuality.  Issues with cover stories relating to black men with white women, age and love, mixed twins (two different fathers) etc.  It leads me to believe that these are just human discussions.  I think we will continue to have them indefinitely, the only thing that will change is the medium… and the medium makes it more dynamic and open (at least that seems to be the trend so far).

I have been super busy and super tired, so I haven’t been updating here.  I have been keeping up with my twitter account though.  It is just so easy to update.  I’ve also been keeping up with my BlackWeb 2.0 posts.  So I haven’t completely disappeared.

I think movng was a good choice for us.  We are happier up here in Cary than we were in Charlotte, for sure… but I am almost positive NC is not a permanent destination.

I was super happy way back when Barack Obama got elected.  My thought was, when the older black people tell the babies they can be whatever they want when they grow up, even the President of the USA, they won’t have a little twinge of “am I lying to this child?”.

I think that is basically it.  Things have been pretty boring overall, but… I probably should stop neglectig yee old website lol.

Ok, I have been doing a lot of thinking on this as I was asked what I would miss the most about Charlotte, now that we are moving away.  I still haven’t come up with anything.  It has been over a week.  Though I was happy to leave NYC when we did, there are so many things that I miss.  There were always things to do for free and for cheap.  You could just walk and find new things, check out new shops… lots of artsy stuff, and great food for all incomes.  However, the cost of living was crazy… or so I thought.  I mean, it was but… I had a really great studio in Chelsea with a sleep loft that was big enough for a queen bed, two dressers, a night stand, a chair and a television.  It also had a really big storage loft and a pretty nice amount of space below the loft as well, all for $1300/month.  Ok, that’s a lot compared to what we can get a nice two bedroom for in Charlotte in an apartment community with a ton of amenities.  However, in Charlotte, we need a car.

So, if I take in to account the cost of having a car (monthly payment, insurance, gas, maintenance) minus the cost of getting a metropass, we can take off at least $400.  That brings rent down to $900.  Ok, but the place wasn’t big enough for me, husband, baby and two dogs… really it’s just the baby.  We lived there with the two dogs without a problem.

So then, we can go out to Jersey.  The last year we were in the NYC area, we lived in Jersey City.  I know, yuck.  But we had a 2 bedroom apartment that was half of a walkup building with a nice size living room, fair sized bedrooms and a whirlpool tub.  It had just been remodelled…. and that was only $1050.  We didn’t need a car initially but we did eventually (what with me being pregnant and all).  But if we had managed to stay in a state of not needing a car (I mean lots of people there didn’t have cars), and we take out the extra money for Jersey Insurance, we would be spending a lot less overall me thinks.

Ah well.  I hated Jersey City.  LOL.   I still don’t want to go back to NYC either.  Live and learn.  I am looking forward to Raleigh though I still have a few other ideal places I’d like to live.