In Praise of Jell-O-Salad

I’ve been researching Jell-O-salads for the past few days in preparation for a church auction event Eliza and I are helping to organize. The theme is “Wisconsin Winterfest.”

So we’ve got brats, squeaky fresh Wisconsin cheese curds (and cheese-head hats) and…you guessed it – Jell-O-salad. You see no Wisconsin social event, especially not a church event, can be authentic and complete without at least one or two Jell-O-salads. Don’t ask me why – thems just the rules.

I volunteered to take care of this crucial part of the festivities, but having only memories of Jell-O-salads past to guide me, I called my parents. They have strong views on what makes a particularly good salad, as do many of my old Wisconsin friends on Facebook – all of whom were quick to email me their favorite recipes.

Other friends, less well disposed toward salads-salads, wrote back with witty comments like, “Do you mean Lutheran Church-Basement Salad?”

To which my answer was simple – “YES!”

This one was my favorite as a child, and I was allowed eat wiggly helping after helping because it was a “salad” after all (it does have carrots in it!):
Carrot-Pineapple Jell-O

1 small can crushed pineapple
1 c. carrots, grated
1/4 tsp. salt
1 small package lemon Jell-O
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. sugar

Drain the pineapple and add enough water to the juice to make 1 1/2 cups. Heat to
boiling. Add Jell-O and stir until dissolved. Stir in sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Chill until
slightly thickened. Add pineapple and grated carrots. Chill until firm.

These salads are definitely not very nutritious, nor are they vegetarian-friendly – and I’m not even sure if I will still care for the carrot/pineapple/orange Jell-O salad I so adored as a child – but I am excited to find out.

It’s all about tradition, you see. For me, nothing says, “home” quite like a folding table heavily laden with rich cheesy casseroles and Jell-O-salads, dishes most often named (on handwritten index cards next to the dish) after their inventor, someone’s mom, grandma or great-grandma.

Even in the toughest of times, the bright colors of Jell-O (often set in fanciful molds; turkeys, footballs, Santas) conjured immediate festivity no matter how tight the budget and made those old canned fruits and vegetables not only edible, but scrumptious.

Laughter, paper plates, orange soda, lazy summer afternoons and seasonal sweatshirts accompany my memories of Jell-O-salad. My memories of Jell-O-salad are suffused with the feeling that everything is going to be just fine – and with the childlike feeling of being safe and loved.

Until I started looking through these old recipes I had no idea…I had forgotten.
And so, here I stand, a proud and protective Jell-O-apologist ready to lift a wobbling green spoonful in gratitude and solidarity with the Midwestern picnics and potlucks of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

What are your food traditions? What are the tastes and smells that transport you across miles and decades? What is your Jell-O-salad? As always, I welcome your stories, and in this case – your recipes.

Bon appetite!

September was a big month in this country. The nation was flooded, it seemed, by venomous shouting matches at town hall meetings about health care reform. So when our Representative Lois Capps held a town hall meeting here in Santa Barbara, I was one of a good number of local clergy who turned up and scattered ourselves through the hall to help keep things as civil as possible. Fortunately there turned out to be little need of us, as the meeting (mostly) went smoothly. I was, however, shocked back to reality when someone handed me a flyer as I was leaving. On the flyer was a picture of a Nazi concentration camp with President Obama’s face superimposed on it. Oh, what crazy days these are!

Soon after that I found myself on a plane to Washington D.C. where I was part of a clergy delegation lobbying Congress (especially the Senate) in support of sweeping reform of our nation’s workers rights laws. We visited with Members and staff of both Houses, and by the time we were done we had managed to personally cover a big chunk of our California Congressional Delegation. My feet still hurt just thinking about it – Capitol Hill is a big place and everything seems to be made of the most unyielding marble – but I digress…

The highlight of the trip was our visit with Rep. Lois Capps. While we were on the Hill focusing primarily on worker’s rights, it proved impossible to separate that discussion from other critical issues, especially healthcare reform. We had a very good conversation with Rep. Capps and we encouraged her not only to continue supporting these key reforms, but to step up and lead on them wherever possible. I gave her the hundreds of postcards that my congregation filled out at our Labor Day service, and she was excited to see so many personal notes. Being a Santa Barbaran herself, she recognized quite a few of the names and made sure that I would take back her greetings as well as assurance of her ongoing support.

After that I flew back to Santa Barbara to celebrate our annual InGathering at church, and then flew right back to the East Coast, to Pittsburg, for the fall meeting of the Interfaith Worker Justice Board of Trustees. Our meeting was designed to coincide with President Obama’s visit, and I hoped against hope that I might be able to meet him in person, but it was not to be. We did, however, get to see Hilda Solis, the Secretary of Labor, Sen. Arlen Specter and Caroline Kennedy, among others, and we did get to see the President speak in person, which was quite an experience.

I was also interviewed, along with Ted Smukler, the Director of Public Policy for Interfaith Worker Justice, by a Pittsburg radio station about the connection between faith and justice work. It was a fun experience, but a little nerve-wracking to speak live to a radio audience without the ability to edit myself in the moment...

All that said, I am glad September is over and life can return to normal (more or less)!

USSB Clean/Green Initiative on FOX News

Yesterday I got a call from a T.V. news reporter who had read the story about our Clean/Green Fund project in the Daily Sound. She came right over to do interview me and Geoff Green from the Fund for Santa Barbara (our collaborator on this project). When we were done with the interviews the reporter wanted to go up on the roof to get some shots of the panels, but when she saw how high the ladder was, her fear of heights took over. I was already up there, however, so she passed the rest of the equipment up to me, told me how to use it step by step from below - and then I shot the rooftop footage myself!

I have to say that never in a thousand years did I expect to contribute camera work to the evening news! :)

Anyway, see below for the finished product. To the right of the text is a link to the video newscast:

http://www.myfox11.com/global/story.asp?S=11202875

Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara Goes Solar!!

Soooo nice to finally be done with this phase of the project! The panels are up - collecting the sunlight and doing their thing, generating about 30% of our power. The next step will be when we replace the roof of one of our buildings in the next three or four years - and cover it with solar panels. We figure we can fit about fifty more panels on that stretch or roof, and if we do - our whole campus should be more or less carbon neutral!

But one step, and one capital campaign at a time...

Here is a link to an article in our local Daily Sound about our project and the ways we are trying to encourage other congregations to begin projects of their own.

http://www.thedailysound.com/092209solarchurch

Red to Blue = Green

I finally did it. I turned my 14mpg Ford Explorer into a zero-emission electric scooter that costs less to run than my refrigerator!

It wasn't as easy as it sounds though. My old truck has served me well, carrying my camping gear, kids, dogs and other much-loved cargo across the country and back without uttering the least complaint. Whether bouncing up old logging roads in the Cascades or to the perfect Rocky Mountain trail head, my Explorer (and her trusty 4WD) has always been loyal. There are a lot of memories bound up in that car.

But living in Santa Barbara, there aren't that many logging roads to climb and not that many times when the ability to kick it into 4WD means the difference between making it or not.

It is always sunny here, and mostly dry. I live right downtown and rarely need to go anywhere more than a few miles away. So what do I need an SUV for? ---- Not enough.

So when I heard that the good people at Zoom Motors here in SB had opened an electric scooter business I was curious - and some internet research and a test drive were all the convincing I needed. And so (after passing the unexpectedly difficult motorcycle test at the good ole' DMV) I have now, as if by magic, transformed my faithful old truck into the perfect vehicle for my life in Santa Barbara. My scooter is quick, powerful and fun - and did I mention that it costs less to run than my refrigerator?

Anyway, if this sounds like a commercial, perhaps it is - or at least a testimonial. The fact is that it was not easy to make this leap, but now that I've done it I feel great. It feels good to have what I need, and nothing more - to use the energy I need, and nothing more. Or at least to take a big step in that direction.

And when the time comes that I need to move or haul something - or climb up a mountain on some beaten up old track - maybe we can trade vehicles for a couple days!

The scooter is a Zapino, made by Zap! You can check them out here:
http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-scooters/zapino-electric-scooter

New Worker Rights Blog

“Working In These Times“ is dedicated to providing independent and incisive coverage of the labor movement and the struggles of workers to obtain safe, healthy and just workplaces.

As newspapers have declined, so has labor journalism. Workers—those now protected by unions, those lacking a union at work and those seeking to reform their unions—are increasingly absent in media. This is especially true for the most vulnerable workers, particularly those who are undocumented and easily exploited. The stories of these and other workers are not being told. The dearth of labor coverage in print media is reflected online, where original reporting on labor and workers’ rights issues is scarce.

Supported by a generous grant from the Public Welfare Foundation, “Working In These Times“ seeks to reverse the decline of labor journalism by making original news about workers’ struggles freely accessible to Internet readers, many of whom are perhaps less familiar with America’s history of workers’ rights struggles.

Check it out here:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/

Or by clicking the link on the right side of this page.

Enjoy!

Is Your Kid Addicted to Online Gaming?

My kids love computer and video games. No, you don't understand - they really LOVE them. At least one of them loves them so much that at times it seems his entire life is built around them - reading about them, buying them, making sure his computer is up to the challenge technologically - and of course playing them. For hours, days, weeks at a time. There is no other way to describe it than an addiction.

I have tried many different strategies, and none have worked so far. Of course I keep trying, but sometimes it seems that whatever I can say or do pales in comparison to whatever is going on in that virtual world, which is so much more exciting (and also much simpler) than the everyday world it competes with.

The Center for Media and Child Health, a project of the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends that children spend no more than 1-2 hours a day in front of a screen, yet young people today spend more time engaged in media activity than in any other activity except sleep. Check out their website (if you are a dork like me you will especially like the research section) for more information. This website should be a primary resource for parents everywhere.

http://www.cmch.tv/mentors_parents/messaging.asp

Another excellent resource is a new electronic book by my young friend Matthew Andreas. Matthew is seventeen years old, and has fought his way out of his own addiction to the ultra-popular online game, World of Warcraft. Now he has written a guide to help other players and parents find their way our of digital addiction too. If your household is anything like mine - I suggest you check it out.

http://www.wowquit.com/About-Wowquit.html