CategoryFood

Privilege and Oppression

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preached at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland, October 10, 2010 There are moments in life that in retrospect seem ridiculous. One such was the time I became immobilized trying to buy a candy bar. I was twenty and a vegan. I had spent the night out dancing in Columbus. I lived in Granville, an easy hour’s drive from the dance club. On the way back to our dorm my friend and I...

Being a Descendant, Becoming an Ancestor

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as preached at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, October 23, 2022 Listen more often to things than to beings,‘tis the Ancestor’s breathwhen the fire’s voice is heard,‘tis the Ancestor’s breathin the voice of the waters. The words come from the Senegalese poet Birago Diop. The music is from Ysaye Barnwell. She is the renowned singer and former member of the well-known a cappella...

Mas Comtal

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Last weekend, Sadé and I went wine tasting at a vineyard called Mas Comtal in Penedes. I have been to a couple of different wine tastings before. When I was in Spain about 9 years ago when I visited to a big corporate cava producer. It was fairly unimpressive. It felt like a commercial venture–wine Disneyland. And when I was in France in the summer of 2019, I went to a couple of small...

Sitges

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We are Sitges. We got here last week and we’ll be here for another eleven days or so. We are using it as a homebase while I write and we take a variety of day trips around Catalonia. Sitges is one of those places that’s been described as “the crown jewel of the Mediterranean.” It is a beautiful beach town about 40 minutes South of the center of Barcelona by train (the train leaves every 15...

Perugia

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I spent last weekend visiting my friend from graduate school Zach Nowak. Zach’s now the Director of the Umbra Institute and invited me to come stay with him. I had never been to Italy before and the combination of seeing an old friend and free housing seemed like a great idea. Zach’s an Italian citizen but he’s originally from Rochester, New York and has a deep love for, and deep knowledge of...

Out and About in Manchester

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While I was in Manchester I was pretty focused on my research and didn’t get to explore the city as much as I would have liked. Several nights, I ate simple meals of jacket (i.e. baked) potatoes in the studio apartment I was renting and either worked on FotoFest or prepared for the further archival research. That didn’t mean that I stayed in the entire time. I also consistently ate lunch out, so...

Libraries and Restaurants in Oxford

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Friday was my final day in Oxford. And so, consummate foodie and lover of books that I am, I thought I would offer a few comments about libraries and restaurants in Oxford. I spent most of my time working in Harris Manchester College’s Tate Library. The college started life as an institution to train Unitarian ministers and the library is literally crammed with ephemera celebrating past...

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