I started this blog years ago, in response to my son's Declaration of Vegetarianism. It was just to post recipes/essays/music/pictures. In its new incarnation, it will be an odd conglomeration of political recipes, delicious essays, and links to home-cooked music.
Sunday, and I made my JT some tamales, but I’m missing
our boys, Max and Sky, as moms do (something fierce), wishing I could fix them
dinner and spend the evening with them. Get teased, talk politics,
consider the weather. Try to force them to eat seconds.What we do.
But they are far away, as is the way with 21st
century 20-somethings, for them, that is as it should be. They are happily embedded
in London and California, far from their New Mexico first-home.So we spoke on the phone this weekend. Their voices good to hear, the stories of their weeks the most important news on the planet.
Then I went to the market and got them both some Hatch green chiles, some Chimayo red chiles, some Masa
Harina, some dried corn husks, some New Mexico, which I’m packaging up to mail
tomorrow.The sweet young man at the grocery checkout was Somebody’s Son. As he was swiping in the 9th
can of green chile – he said, “Yeah! Send ‘em some Hatch!”
Max
As I cooked up my own batch of tamales, the
kitchen steamed up with a warm fragrance: corn and
chile. Some ancient variant on that fine smell must have been well known to the mommas and their sons that made this place home through time, hundreds of years of warm good corn smells gracing
the cave kitchens up on the Mesas that are scattered across the Rio Grand Valley, then the pueblos, then the Spanish settlements, finally finding their way to the steam in my kitchen today. I’m sending that sweet fragrance to
London, a mom-conduit across seas and centuries. And on to the high granite mountains, the Sierra Nevada. To let the boys cook their way home for a meal, get transported though the steam.
Music to cook Tamales by: Miles Away, by Brent Berry, he's one of the best Taos hums.
Green chili
Veg or chicken tamales:
One Recipe makes 10, I find 1 small can of hot Hatch chili
works fine for 10. (It was an important discovery for me to realize that I wasn't required to make 50.)
Soak 10 corn husks for 20-30 minutes in warm water to soften.
Cut 10 little strips like ribbons for tying them off.
Masa:
Beat together: with an electric mixer if you've got one, a whisk or spoon if not:
¼ cup solid vegetable shortening with
Add in dry and wet ingredients, alternating by ½ cups:
- 1.5 cups water (or chicken broth
from cooking chicken)
- 1.5 cups masa harina + ½ teaspoon
salt + 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
Filling, Chicken
version:
Place 2 chicken breasts in a 2 cups water with salt and
pepper, bring to a boil, thensimmer for
15 minutes til cooked through (center to 165 degrees F).
Let chicken cool, and shred with a fork or your fingers.
Heat shredded chicken in a little oil, along with spices of
your choice:
Red pepper, black pepper, chopped garlic, salt, Mexican
oregano, juniper, cumin.
Fill each tamales with:
1.5 tablespoon shredded chicken (if some is left over, good for a
chicken salad later)
+ ~teaspoon of
green chili – fresh roasted and chopped or can/jar
___________________________________
Filling, Veg Mushroom corn option:
Cook ¾ cup chopped fresh mushrooms and a little corn (cut
off a cobb or frozen) in a little butter with a few cloves of garlic and oregano (~1 Tbl per
tamale)
+ 1 Tbl grated jack cheese per tamale
+ ~ teaspoon of green chili,– fresh roasted and chopped or can/jar
Assembly:
Smear heaping Tbl (about 1½ Tbl total) masa near the center
of a water-soaked corn husk, about ¼- ½ inch thick.
Place 1-2 Tbl total filling of choice in the center of the
masa
Use the husk to wrap up the masa around the filling, and
fold the tamale closed; try to get masa to surround the filling, but it isn’t
essential. The pointed part of the corn husk is folded up to make the bottom,
sides folded in.Tie of the top with a
little ribbon of corn husk.
I wrote a song and created a music
video about the Gila (pronounced “Hee La”) River: Gila Remembers. Just finished
last night.
Me being
verbose-me, I wanted to explain my feelings about this little Gila Remembers
song.It has 3 parts.
First, just
the river.She is utterly beautiful. She
doesn’t need us to be so. Her water is the heart of the complex ecosystem that
thrives around her, a rich thread of life that evolved to live in harmony with
her, her rhythms and cycles.
The second
part is about the Native peoples whose ancestors lived along the Gila’s banks
before the Spanish, the Mexicans, and then the United States invaded their
homelands.Through attending the Gila River
Festival, JT and I took a hike guided by a DinéForest Ranger,
and the Fort Sill Apache tribal historian, Michael Darrow. I did not know the
history of the Fort Sill Apache at all before that walk. It was the story of a strong
people who fearlessly defended their way of life and homeland. They were attacked by the Spanish, the Mexicans, and then United States. Michael made a "humph" sound when he was asked by a woman in our group if it
was true Apache women could be warriors. The essence of his reply was that the people did what
needed to be done. Men and women: warriors, hunters. Men and women: minding the
kids, tending dinner… Michael was very gentle with the plants around us.He knew them so well, and could often say
their names in many ways: Genus species, Apache name, common name, human use, each
like an old friend. Walking with him for day opened my eyes to a dimension of the forest that usually was hidden from me.
After the
Chiracahua Apache finally surrendered in 1886, they were taken from their
homeland, shipped to prisons, first in Florida, then to Alabama, finally to Oklahoma, and they were all kept as prisoners
of war, for 27 years. 27 years!? Their children were taken from their families. How did I not know their story? It is a story
that should be remembered. American history 101 should honor Native peoples stories, the stories of people of color, immigrants stories, as we are all woven together in this nation. The human costs of the very violent, often heartbreaking, parts of our history should be understood so we can better understand their consequences and stand up now for peace and compassion. Here is a fine telling of a
bit of the Apache story, worth a listen:
Perhaps
through recognizing wrongs of the past we can learn to better recognize when justice
is calling out to us now, in our own moment. This moment. So remember Lozen, her
humanity, her dignity. But also think of the courage of the water protectors at
Standing Rock – they helped us all to remember that water is life, that the
Earth is our home. Some of these brave people are facing trials and time in prison. So,
today, remember Red Fawn Fallis, and Rattler (Michael Markus). Its Red Dawn's time in court. Hope and pray that her
trial is fair.
Finally,
the third part is about Aldo Leopold. He was a foundational thinker in terms of
our modern understanding of ecology. My esteemed friend Jimmy Killingsworth
encouraged me to read Aldo’s Sand County Almanac. So I did, and learned, among
other things, about Aldo’s land ethic. Beautiful ideas! Much of what I grew up
believing about the environment and land management, ideas I had just accepted as given, were notions first articulated by Aldo. He had the capacity to learn from
the lands he lived in, and animals he lived among, as well as from great
thinkers that came before him. He folded this all together with a great clarity
into poetic and practical guidance for agriculture and land management, and for
stewardship of the Earth. He spent much time in New Mexico, and we have the
Aldo Leopold wilderness and the Gila wilderness as a physical part of his
legacy; these are places one can contemplate his land ethic, revealed.
Also, if you're here, you likely know I’m not a native person, but I love Native American music. I attended and loved witnessing some Montana pow-wows growing up, this followed
by many decades of happy listening to Singing Wire on the radio, living near Pueblo people and hearing their music, Robert Mirabal concerts, all shaped my
musical sensibility. (I’m thinking that this is likely obvious.) So this song
was influenced by a mishmash of Native musical traditions, but also founded
in my own family’s folk music traditions, and my sister Dorothy's wonderful singing, and a bit of the Irish (though I'm not a bit of Irish, either, in my heritage, just my music). The beautiful deep frame drum sound in the song was the voice of a Taos pueblo drum. This song was created with a very sincere hope to honor the river and her history, and I hope I've not inadvertently offended
anyone. Respect for long history of the Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache in Gila River country made it seem impossible for me to write this song without singing them into it, so there they are. Their ancestors lived in harmony with the Gila and her mountains for generations, and some survived the unimaginable when they were forcibly taken away from their home; and their strength should be honored and their loss remembered. In the autumn of 2016, Fort Sill Apache dancers came to Silver City and danced the their Mountain Spirit dance in their homeland for the first time in 130 years. They welcomed the Gila River Festival folks to attend. It was wonderful! Their dance was mysterious, ancient, beautiful, and playful at times. After they danced, they invited everybody to join in for some social dancing. Giant circles, DRUMS!, spinning lines of people linking arms, facing forward, backward, forward, backward, a happy human geometry around a bonfire under the stars. James and I were back and did this again in 2017. Hoping for a 2018 repeat!
I also
particularly want to thank: Lisa Carman, who enables me to write songs, and
tolerates my singing very well; Sky Korber, for that fiddle, who frees me up to
make music with his kindness and his cover; Peter Oviatt for his amazing banjo,
his water music; and Ron Chee for allowing me to include his beautiful paintings
in the video; Ron is a native artist, though not Apache, still they to particularly to echo some of the history. I love his work, deeply appreciate his letting me include it.
_____________________
It’s a critical time to be thinking and
learning about the Gila, the NM legislature is in session, and there are two
bills that could impact the future of the river being considered this month (Funds for non-diversion Gila River
projects (HB127 and SB72)). 2019 is looming, an important year as New
Mexico has a deadline for finalizing a plan regarding whether federal funding
will be sought for diversions of the Gila River, or alternatively for water
conservation and restoration projects. Our farmers could have more opportunities to implement state of the art techniques in water conservation. I would like our beautiful state of New Mexico state to lead something powerful good rather that always being 49th or 50th. With water conservation, we have a head start, with our amazing Acequia system, shared by communities and flowing to our crops, and Albuquerque's incredible reductions in water use since the 1990s as inspiration. Lets build on this! The upper Gila could remain a wild river, with all of the ecological
diversity that fosters.
The
issues are complex, and important in our state. Look up into our mountains;
there is so little snow, it's January. Worried? I am. It’s our responsibility as
citizens to think about the best way to go forward together, but the issues are complex.
You can
read more in the links I included below. Also, I shared a link to the Gila
Conservation Coalition, a great resource. They host an amazing festival in
Silver City each year, a long weekend end of September, I highly recommend it
if you want to learn the history, walk with people who know the botany and the
birds, and get into some wild and beautiful country that will refresh your
spirit.
Some rough approximation of the melody, I'm not very good at this. I play it in open D.
The song was written though 2017, finished most of the recording at Palace Sudio, Santa Fe, Dec. 2017. (c) Bette Korber, Dec. 2017.
I had an old op-ed piece submitted
to the New Mexican on public education and science standards. It was printed today, Jan 8, 2017, several months after it was submitted. Better late than never. I was happy, if
surprised, to see it:
Take 2: Here is the next one I
wrote, submitted to (but not accepted by) my favorite newspaper, the High Country
News.This piece moves on to subsequent education
issues related to End of Course (EoC) testing content. I attended the Legislative EoC discussion to speak up for immunizations as part of Health class
EoC testing. As it turned out, carving up US history was the main issue of the
day. Unlike the science standards, we the people did not win the EoC testing battle. But I
have some links included in the article, if you’re moved to write a letter to
NM PED, welcome into the fray.
At the EoC hearing I was graced by good
fortune. I got to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with luminous and luminary
educators, Esther Kovari and Margo Batha. They just can’t help themselves, one
learns by their proximity.So it was a
good day to learn, listen, and march on.
bette
_________________________
Putting the Public back into the New Mexico Public
Education Department
by Dr. Bette Korber
Dr. Korber works the fields of evolutionary
biology and vaccine design
The New Mexico Public Education
Department (NMPED) recently made a series of disturbing proposals towards limiting
the scope of ideas and knowledge that public education would provide to the children
of New Mexico. Their modus operandi has
been the omission of important educational content, ostensibly to simplify the
curriculum requirements. The nature of the omissions, however, seems politically
motivated, all the more so because
their decision-making process is secretive and opaque. This needs to change.
NMPED initially tampered with science
standards. Rather than joining 18 other states in adopting rigorously developed
national science standards, they modified these standards by striking wording
on evolution, the age of the Earth, and human impact on climate change. As
their nefarious intent became public, a wave of outrage swept New Mexico. A hearing
was held on October 16th. Hundreds gathered from across the state. 250
signed up to speak, although only 94 got their allotted 3 minutes before the
day was through. People were reasoned and eloquent; clearly many hours had been
spent finely honing each of those brief, impassioned talks. Every single
speaker opposed NMPED’s corruption of the national science standards. Soon
after, a second meeting was convened at the State Capitol by the bi-partisan Legislative
Education Study Committee. No one from NMPED bothered to attend. A series of
experts spoke, public comment was accepted, and New Mexicans again spoke in resounding
unity for good science education. Under great public pressure, NMPED finally conceded,
and adopted the complete unadulterated national science standards. Viva New Mexico!
Unfortunately, this was not the end
of the NMPED’s shenanigans. They next unveiled blueprints for statewide End-of-Course
testing. New Mexicans were becoming familiar with a new verb: blacklining. It is not yet in
Merriam-Webster, but as far as I can tell from usage, it means to literally draw
a black line through an important truth, resulting in depriving students of an
idea that would make their lives richer and help them become stronger, more
thoughtful citizens. Topics blacklined in US history included dropping atomic
bombs in Japan, Roe v. Wade, and Rosa Parks. Heath
blacklining included Immunizations,nutrition, and a healthy
diet.
So the Legislative Education Study
Committee held another meeting at the Capitol, on Nov. 16th, with End-of-Course
testing blueprints on the agenda. Again, they invited and questioned experts,
and provided an opportunity for public input. Over 60 citizens attended. When
asked if they were there because that had issues with the blueprints, every
single hand in the chamber shot up.
The Education Study Committee
members were eloquent, and as a body they were not pleased with the PED’s blacklining.Particularly eloquent was G. Andres Romero,
Representative from Bernalillo County (D), himself a teacher; his vigilance
brought this issue into wider public discussion. And also, Senator Patricia
Roybal Caballera (D). She spoke with the kind of quiet power that rivets, summoning
both tears and strength. She spoke of the people who had died and suffered
prison during the civil rights movement, who changed our country for the better
by their sacrifice, who created that part of our shared history through their
courage, and who created the legacy through which this history can and must be
taught. She spoke about how the blacklines were through her ownhistory.
One brave soul from the NMPED
attended, Matt Montaño. To his credit, he came knowing he would be facing stiff
opposition. He defended their process, explaining that a wide net was cast to
solicit teacher input. But ultimately only 5 teachers led the revision of the
US history blueprints, and how they were selected remained unclear. All were highly qualified teachers, but
all 5 hailed from conservative Republican counties south of Albuquerque, and as
far as one could tell, guessing from names and photos, all were white. The rich
diversity of our state was not represented.Mr. Montaño was asked if there were no qualified teachers of color, or teachers
from Albuquerque, Taos, Santa Fe, or Los Alamos, who could have been part of
the team? He didn’t have an answer. Back in November, Mr. Montaño said the
blueprints could still be changed; however, as of this writing (Jan. 8, 2018), the
heavy black lines remain in place:
There is something seriously wrong
with the way the NMPED conducts business. They are paid by the taxpayers to
provide a crucial public service, we entrust them with our children’s education;
what could be more important? Their process regarding changes which influence
curriculum should be transparent and open. Instead they work behind closed
doors promoting what appears to be a political and corporate agenda. The Public
Education Secretary designate, Christopher Ruszkowski, appointed by Republican Governor
Susana Martinez, has been conspicuously absent from all three public discussion
forums/hearings on curriculum that I’ve attended. He and the NMPED claim to
have consulted many (anonymous) stakeholders on their first misguided attempt
to impose their own science standards; what they came up with was so bad it
became a national embarrassment for New Mexico.If appropriate professionals were indeed consulted on science standards,
there was no public documentation of their credentials, perspectives, or
potential conflicts-of-interest.
The upside of these events is that
people of New Mexico have been amazing and relentless in defense of education, although
our story is still unfolding. Rosa Parks is a great inspiration for not only
women of color, but for all of us; she is part of our shared heritage. Some of
her strength and dignity accompanied each New Mexican to the microphone as they
straightened their shoulders, and spoke out in defense of the gift of knowledge
we owe to our children.Our democracy depends
on us getting this right. 2018 is here, a year for voting in change, for
remembering who we are.
If anyone wants to write to
the PED, here is where to do it: http://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/contact-us/
