Out of the Lunchbox

Ed Bruske has long been an advocate for "slow food," and decided to step into the world of school lunch production to observe how food is prepared. He spent a week in the kitchen at H.D. Cooke Elementary School in Washington D.C., and wrote a six-part follow-up about what he observed. It's a great read! 

The Wooden Floor at REDCAT

I've said it before and I'll say it again: you should come to this awesome event!

I'll be at both performances if you're looking for a familiar face. :)

The Wooden Floor promises a rare experience as three of the nation’s most interesting experimental choreographers create new work in partnership with 73 low income youth.

About the Dances

Although sentimental it is not, do expect to be moved by Nami Yamamoto’s Flying With My Shooting Stars as she strikes with searing, compassionate images. Yamamoto invites puppeteer Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith and the enigmatic puppet Tony to collaborate in the dance. It’s a revealing combination of uncanny depth and warmth with silences that speak loudly.

Mark Haim revives his first commission for The Wooden Floor, titled Los Angelitos. Intricate and galvanizing, in Los Angelitos dancers write their names with their heads as they communicate in another language. They bond through adversity with gentle touches that last.

Melanie Rios Glaser presents a world premiere in which she deconstructs and re-assembles the nuances in the lives of these fascinating teenagers teasing out how pop culture has influenced their talk, their walk and their song.

About the Choreographers

Mark Haim is a Fulbright Senior Specialist and has choreographed over 90 dances since he graduated from the Juilliard School in 1983, including works for Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballett Frankfurt, the Limón Dance Company, and the Joffrey Ballet.

Nami Yamamoto graduated from New York University in 1993 with a MA in Dance Education and since then, her work has been presented internationally, including most recently in Ukraine. She is proud to be a 2006 Creative Capital Grantee and serves as an artistic advisory member of Danspace Project.

Melanie Ríos Glaser, Artistic and Executive Director for The Wooden Floor, received her BFA from the Juilliard School in 1994. She was named a Kennedy Center Fellow in 1998 and a Fulbright Scholar during 2003-2004 for her work in dance improvisation. Her work has been performed in Mexico and Central America , France, Colombia, Brazil, Philadelphia New York and elsewhere.

Two nights only

January 15 & 16, 2010 at 8:30pm

Roy and Edna Disney / Cal Arts Theater

in Walt Disney Concert Hall complex

631 W. 2nd Street,

Los Angeles, CA 90012

General Admission $20, Students $10

Tickets are available online at

http://www.redcat.org/event/wooden-floor

Getting In Sync

I've never really made New Year's resolutions. I attempted to a couple of times in junior high and high school - purely out of cultural obligation - creating a list of goals like getting eight hours of sleep every night, drinking the standard eight cups of water a day, etc. They didn't really have anything to do with my personal growth and true aspirations I had for the year. So I gave them up and haven't really tried to make resolutions again, until now.

2009 was a fast, difficult year, as was 2008. I was reminiscing with my brother over the holidays about high school. I can't believe that this year marks five years since my high school graduation. And yet, so much has had happened in that span that I can't believe it's only been five - it seems more like ten! My life during those years has been a blur in every possible way, and frankly it doesn't feel good.

Reaching 2010, I feel like I'm coming out of the past few years with a hangover. I am worn out, nursing a spiritual headache, and uncertain of where things are going. I don't really want to rant on about the specifics of what caused this and what led to that, nor do I want to lay out a revolutionary plan for how I'm going to turn my life around. I want to let it go - and figure it out one step at a time. 

All my life, I've dreamed of how much better my life would have been if I could just go back in time and fix this or that, while also becoming obsessed with planning out the future. I don't want to do either of those things anymore; I miss out on the present - that which will be my past to regret or accept, and my future that won't get any better if I keep failing to take advantage of the good that is now.

So this year, I'm making resolutions. Not a concrete list of rules and measurements, but goals for my personal growth that I'd be proud to look back on in 2011. Even if life remains a blur whizzing by at the speed of light, I think that building and strengthening roots, with Jesus Christ as my guide, can keep me grounded in who I am and hope to be.

So here I go:

• Learn more about Jesus Christ, on both a personal and academic level. I have had a hard time calling myself a Christian and identifying with the Christian community. Who am I, in this strange religious identity? I want to stare into the face of Jesus, and know him.
• Keep on cooking! When I became a vegetarian, I began learning how to prepare my own food, falling in love with the entire process of knowing where my food comes from, trying out new ingredients, and making food that is healthy for me and the environment - and amazingly delicious! I love how food brings people together, and provides an opportunity to be so hands on in justice and environmental issues.
• Pursue health. I'm worn out and busy, busy, busy. My body takes the heat every day, as evidenced by the many times I was sick last year, and my mind and spirit degrade along with it. I want to be better in tune with the needs of my body, and make the extra effort to address them. I neglect this often - partially because I am young and don't see the consequences yet. But I don't want them all to come crashing down on me someday. I need to build that stronger physical foundation now, for the future and the day-to-day.
• Still the pendulum swing between my extroversion and introversion. I worry about whether I'm reaching out to people enough and not letting myself hide from them, while also feeling overburdened by constantly being around people. I don't have a clear picture of what it means to experience restful solitude. I think I would benefit from just taking a chill-pill and doing what feels natural. Do I need to say "no" to this get-together? Do I need to share this struggle with another person? What brings me joy? What tears me down? Again, it's all about getting in sync with my needs.
• Simply - take it one step at a time, finding strength and joy in the truth that God is by my side. 

My Favorite Movies of the Year

Yes, it is that time! As everyone else is dolling out their top ten lists of albums, books, films, culinary masterpieces, undiscovered gems of the region, etc., I now throw my hat into the ring with my nine favorite movies of the year. The number nine is arbitrary (though the listed order is not) - these are simply the films from this past year that I think are absolutely worth your attention. Even I can't see every movie ever made (I try my best!), and so there are some movies that I completely missed and some movies that were decent but I couldn't quite bring myself to add with the following. Here's hoping for a better year for film in 2010!

1. Herb and Dorothy

This documentary was a source of sweet inspiration to me. Its heroes are a postal worker and a librarian who managed to build one of the most important collections of contemporary art in history with their very modest means. It is a reminder that a passion for art can be cultivated by anyone, unlimited by status or economic background.

2. That Evening Sun

An elderly man who has had enough of the nursing home life returns to his house in rural Tennessee, only to discover that it is now occupied by a family determined to make it their own. One might guess what will happen: a battle of wits until compassion smoothes over and brings the two parties together in a magical human moment. Not in this tale. It is dark and tense, demonstrating the conflict that occurs when the pursuit of ones deepest aspirations clashes with that of another person, and the emotional destruction that can occur because of the inability to let go of what is already gone.

3. A Serious Man

"The Uncertainty Principle. It proves that we can't ever really know... what's going on. So it shouldn't bother you. Not being able to figure anything out. Although you will be responsible for this on the midterm." So speaks the hero of the new Coen Brothers' film, Professor Larry Gopnik, a physics professor in the midwest who eats his own words as he indeed tries to figure it all out as blow after ridiculous blow impales his life. Not even we of the religious bent are exempt from the confusion of uncertainty, as demonstrated by Larry's religious traditions as they fail, if not make it harder, to spell things out.

4. Everlasting Moments

This was one of my early favorites of the year, and is a lovely story, set in early 19th century Sweden, of a mother who escapes from the harshness of her life into the creative world of photography. The images you discover with her are beautiful, and the film provides an interesting history of photography in its early days. What I found most touching, however, was the very human conflict the mother experiences in deciding whether to choose her individual freedom or stay with her family despite the abuse and tragedy that occurs.

5. Avatar

I assume that, unless you live in a hole, you've heard about this film. Believe the hype - it's one of the best films of the year for its stunning beauty, great story-telling, and some more than subtle comments on the way we view our natural resources and those that may seem "different."

6. Bright Star

"Bright Star" was a big surprise for me, as my reaction to it was probably the most personal of any of the other films described here. The film is based on the letters written between poet John Keats and his love Fanny Brawne before he died at the young age of 25. Not my usual fare, I was drawn to it for two reasons, the first being its interesting  look at the psychology of attachment and the inability these two people have to be separated from each other without severe emotional reactions. The more personal reason I was drawn to this film is my own inability to believe in this kind of love. I am a rational person that would tend to dismiss a relationship like the one in this story as overly emotional, immature and unrealistic. But rather than being turned off by this film, I found it to be a good slap in the face - that maybe I am the one refusing to be realistic and should give more credit to the power of love. As Keast says in the film, "There is a holiness to the heart's affections."

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox

I was disappointed by director Wes Anderson's last film, "The Darjeeling Limited," and thus was dearly hoping to have him back in full stride for this animated adventure. Sure enough, this film brought back the witty humor, visual excellence and brilliant characters that made me fall in love with his work years ago.

8. Adventureland

Recent college grad James Brennan enters the real world, which obviously entails having all of his plans fall apart and eventually settling for a crappy job at the local amusement park. But there he meets the beautiful Em and a host of quirky characters that make for the best summer of his life. It's sweet and fun, but is also surprisingly poignant in its intimate portrayal of young love. It's been said that the film thrives on capturing "ordinary moments," and it is that realism that takes it above the normal "quirky-comedy" fare.

9. The Windmill Movie

Filmmaker Richard Rogers's greatest challenge was trying to make a documentary about his own life. He died of cancer before he was able to finish t - over twenty years after starting the project. Richard's partner asked one of his students and long-time friends to help her dig through the boxes upon boxes of footage he left behind, trying to piece together the story Richard could never tell. The resulting film shares a landscape of sumptuous images he captured during his life, but the story that is told is really about his insecurity and the tormenting question of whether or not his life's work had any real meaning or value - that most human of internal conflicts.

It Takes a City to Save a Farm

I wanted to share this truly inspiring story with you all. If only we all felt the same communal responsibility and pure love towards those that provide us with our food...

It takes a city to save a farm: How the Bay Area food and farming community helped Soul Food Farm recover from a devastating fire