Amado Draws Toronto

Banana Times 5

The World Weary

I love this picture of our nephew Caleb and I from 2002. It's understandable that I look a little world weary, but Caleb? He was only 6 at the time.

Nana Mouskouri Comes to Town

Yes, that Nana Mouskouri.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Easter morning, 2009

Good Friday

Today would be the perfect day to share the shade with a few migrant farmworkers, drinking tequila and eating barbacoa, and singing the old rancheras about love lost and found.

All of us are too far from our homes.

Amado - 5 minutes ago.

This kid is increasingly hard to take a good picture of. He must take after his mother in that regard. :-)

The Passover Song

Were it our mouths were filled with a singing like the sea,

And our tongues awash with song, as waves-countless,

And our lips to lauding, as the skies are wide,

And our eyes illumined like the sun and the moon,

And our hands spread-out like the eagles of heaven,

And our feet as fleet as fawns,

Still, we would not suffice in thanking You, Lord God-of-us...

(From a forthcoming translation of the Haggadah by Nathan Englander. See his touching reflection on his work here. For those who don't know, the Haggadah is the book from which the story of Exodus is retold in Jewish households, read aloud at the Passover dinners.)

Heart transplant drama unfolds in Toronto

The emotional ordeal of two families in hospital with seriously ill infants captivated a city on Tuesday night, as the parents of one baby withdrew her life support so that her heart could be donated to the other baby in need.

The first try at the transplant wasn't a success. But both babies are still alive, so doctors are waiting for a chance to try again. Read the whole story here:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1475021

Mami Wata - African Mermaids

An intriguing art show at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/arts/design/03wata.html

Canadian Prime Minister Misses the G20 Group Photo

Stephen Harper missed the traditional photo shoot for the G20 leaders in London today. According to several news reports, the Canadian Prime Minister was in the bathroom and nobody noticed.

Everyone Loves Goats

I had a goat roti at Island Foods the other day, so of course I'm still thinking a lot about it. And wouldn't you know it, The New York Times coincidentally has announced that eating goat is sort of like a new fad. Here are the money quotes:

When New York magazine proclaimed eating goat a “trendlet” last summer, one reader wrote on the magazine’s Web site, “Here are white people again!!!! Acting like they invented goat meat.”

[Me: Turns out goat is the world's most popular meat, which I find hard to believe.]

I’d liked the flavor of the meat, equidistant as it was from lamb and beef. But when my teeth wrangled a particularly tough piece of meat that was shield-shaped and curved and slightly rubbery, I had the distinct impression that I had bitten into the cup of a tiny bra.

[Me: Mmmm]

I was thinking of picking up another goat roti soon, but then I saw this blog post about Cesar Chavez and now I feel compelled to become a vegetarian myself (minus grapes too, of course).