Tag Archives: butt juice

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NMAAHC


NMAAHC
Marian Anderson Collection Donated to the
National Museum of African American
History and Culture
Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Marian Anderson Ensemble
Gift of Ginette DePreist in memory of James DePreist. Photo by Hugh Talman, Smithsonian Institution.
Dear Charter Members and Friends,           
The orange-and-black velvet ensemble Marian Anderson (1897-1993) wore during her Easter Sunday performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 has entered the museum’s collection of the Smithsonians’ National Museum of African American History and Culture.In honor of the 75th anniversary of that historic concert — one seen by more than 75,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial — the museum will put the classic skirt and blouse on display at the entrance to its gallery in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. It will be on view from Tuesday, April 8, until September 2014. April 9 is the 75th anniversary of the concert.

The concert attire is part of a collection donated to the museum by Ginette DePreist, the widow of the celebrated conductor James DePreist (1936-2013) who was Anderson’s nephew.

By the time Anderson gave that Lincoln Memorial performance, she had established a stellar reputation in Europe. But despite her successes abroad, racial discrimination in the United States continued to create obstacles in her career. Howard University wanted to host Anderson for a concert engagement in Washington, D.C., and approached the Daughters of the American Revolution about using Constitution Hall. DAR had a policy that barred the use of the hall by African American performers, and Howard had made similar requests in the past without success. Once again, the DAR denied the concert planners’ request. DAR’s refusal to let Anderson perform at Constitution Hall became a national story when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned her membership in the organization: “You had the opportunity to lead in an enlightened way, and it seems to me that your organization has failed.” In response, Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes arranged for Anderson to give a public concert on the steps of the Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson

Music artist

Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. Learn More

Sincerely,

Edison R. Wato, Jr.
Membership Program Manager

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ClearWaterProject: Building a movement for clean water & cultural survival

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“Without clean water, we cannot survive,” Emergildo Criollo told me recently. See How We Work

You may have heard of Emergildo. An indigenous leader of the Cofan Nation in Ecuador’s northern Amazon, he has been a relentless advocate for his people, speaking out about oil giant Chevron’s toxic legacy in his territory. But today, even as he continues the fight to hold Chevron accountable, Emergildo isn’t waiting for a cleanup that seems always on the horizon.

Emergildo is taking matters into his own hands, helping to bring clean water to thousands of indigenous people who have suffered without for decades. And today, I want to ask you to support Emergildo, and the other indigenous leaders who are part of an effort that Amazon Watch is deeply proud to support:

It’s called The ClearWater Project.

ClearWater

Established in late 2011 by long-time Amazon Watch campaigner Mitch Anderson, ClearWater was a response to Emergildo’s clarion call for clean water, where access to this basic necessity can be a matter of life and death.

ClearWater began with a big goal: provide safe, sustainable access to clean water for every indigenous family in the region, whose ancestral waterways have been poisoned by oil production and ensuing industrialization.

In just two years, ClearWater has installed more than 500 family-sized rainwater harvesting and filtration systems that serve thousands of people in communities who have long suffered an epidemic of cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses that numerous health studies in the region blame on a lack of access to safe sources of water for drinking, bathing, and cooking.

And our efforts have been able to make this impact because from the beginning, ClearWater has been a collaborative partnership between the five indigenous nationalities here – the Cofan, Siona, Secoya, Kichwa, and Waorani – and international supporters, such as water engineers, humanitarians, activists, philanthropists, and people like you.

ClearWater believes in collaborative, integrative, community-led solutions, where someone like Emergildo is coordinating amongst the different indigenous nationalities to install new water systems, local youth are using GPS to map their biological and cultural resources, and frontline leaders are learning new media techniques to broadcast their concerns to the world.

Clean water, health, and dignity. From this foundation, Emergildo and the indigenous people of Ecuador’s northern Amazon, are building a movement for rainforest protection and cultural survival.

I’m proud that Amazon Watch is a founding partner in this project, and I hope you’ll join us too.

In solidarity,

Han Shan
Han Shan
Amazon Watch Advisory Board Member

P.S. Explore ClearWater’s impact by navigating around this cutting-edge interactive map designed by another Amazon Watch family member, Gregor MacLennan, now Digital Democracy’s Program Director.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Vote with Your Fork, Chem Free Pesticides & Acid Ocean … it’s now 2016


Vote with Your Fork

vote with your fork

Feel that crackle?

Okay, okay. Stand still. Right here in front of me. Close your eyes. Extend your arms out. You feel that? That light crackle across your fingertips?

Change is in the air.

American agriculture is not sustainable. Our food is overloaded with pesticides, growth agents and all the trappings of modern chemical warfare. As a result, the produce we put on our plates … is lacking. We don’t taste the robust flavors in the juices bursting from our salad tomatoes. We cannot grasp the complex fullness of authentic, fresh herbs over rich potatoes for a multilayered flavor the way we would experience in less agriculturally destroyed countries.
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1st posted in 2014

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You Put WHAT in My Ice Cream??


You Put WHAT in My Ice Cream??

 

by Justin Gammill
After all of the research that has gone into the food articles I’ve been writing, I have to admit that there are more things on my “List of Stuff to Never Put in my Mouth” than there has ever been. Razor blades, small woodland creatures, marbles, and burning embers are now joined by anything from McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, or Arby’s. Admittedly, that’s probably a good thing, but one such item that got added to the list recently really hurt.

 

See, out there in the food universe, there is a fun little ingredient called Castoreum. A seemingly innocent enough looking word since there is no questionable “-izine” at the end of it. “Hey can you pass the Castoreum?” sounds perfectly normal. Well, take it from me, you don’t want to pass the Castoreum, you want to throw it out the nearest window … possibly after lighting it on fire.

Castoreum is literally a secretion from the anal glands of a mature North American beaver. For the sake of conversation, we’ll just go ahead and call it Beaver Butt Juice, because that makes me giggle. I wish I was making this up, because the idea of putting beaver butt juice on anything other than a beaver recliner or beaver toilet paper is pretty disgusting. Unfortunately it’s a common ingredient whose most common use is for vanilla flavoring. Normally you’d expect people to try to prevent the anal secretions from a beaver from getting into your food, but not in this case. Beaver butt juice is FDA approved, and is listed as “natural flavoring” on most food labels. I can respect that, “natural flavoring” sounds better than “exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American Beaver”. But wait, my beloved Blue Bell has “Natural flavoring” listed in its ingredients … Have I been Beaver Butt Juiced? I’ll never know!

Well, It’s official Blue Bell Ice Cream, you’ve broken my heart…

I guess I shouldn’t single you out Blue Bell, you might not be the only one. Those crazy creamers Ben and Jerry might use it. Those silly Danish-sounding guys over at Häagen-Dazs might use it. Heck, even the weirdo’s over at Breyers might be slinging beaver butt juice around like Columbian drug lords. But I thought we had something special Blue Bell. You were always there in my childhood; at birthdays, holidays, school functions, everything. You covered my brownie. You accompanied my cake. You cooled me on hot days. Only for me to discover that after all these years you may have been beaver butt juiced up.

This is one of those rare chances in life where I will take the synthetic man-made alternative, Vanillin in this case, over the “All Natural” approach. Even with this being said, I guarantee you that there is some hippy out there that will read this and say “Wow, I’m only eating Blue Bell now because it’s all natural”. Have at it, buddy, the Vegans and I will pass. Well, the vegan is going to pass no matter what unless it’s soy ice cream; because heaven forbid we torture the poor cows by milking them. I don’t know if the beavers enjoy being “juiced”, I haven’t heard back from their press agent, but the vegans usually don’t think anything is good. Ever. And I’m pretty sure they hate puppies, freedom, and roller coasters too.

Random Side Note: Next time you think you hate your job, at that very moment there is a guy squeezing juice out of a beaver’s butt so that your ice cream is extra vanilla-y. All the sudden being the head cashier at the Dollar Store isn’t so bad…

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more from Writer Justin Gammill … “natural flavorings”


Remember the Beaver Butt Juice? Don’t Shoot the Messenger… Again.

Writer Justin Gammill recently spilled the beans (not the vanilla kind) on where some of your “natural flavorings” for say, vanilla ice cream, may come from. This is round two of the findings and let’s just say, you may be surprised to know what may be included in your favorite Easter treats.

for complete article …click on graphicbeever-sac-400x400