Last night, Ed, Sheila and I were having a lovely dinner outside on the water at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art after a “tasting” event that I’d give mixed reviews..or, even, a pan (so to speak).

It was the third of  four gourmet “tastings”   sponsored by the national law firm Eckert Seamans, which has an office in Boston.  

 In June, Ed and Sheila had enjoyed a tasting given by Ana Sortun, owner of Cambridge restaurants  Oleana and Sofra,  who, the ICA says,  is one of the country’s “best creative fusion practitioners.” Combining farm-fresh, organic ingredients from Siena farms, and eastern Mediterranean spice blends, Sortun prepared wonderful samples that, Sheila said, “you could die for.”

I’d been to a tasting the previous week, which featured cocktails and commentary by   “Drink”  bartender John Gertsen, (who could write a PhD thesis on the history of the martini) and canapes from Barbara Lynch Gruppo, with Colin Lynch. Both are new establishments founded by restaurateur Barbara Lynch.

Last week’s  tasting  featured Deirdre Heeking and Caleb Barber,  the author and chef, respectively, who own and run  Pane e Salute in Woodstock, Vermont, which the ICA billed as  “a stylish, classic Italian tavern, inspired by and celebrating the regional variations of Italy. Using local ingredients, they present surprising, marvelous, and essential dishes full of the spirit of Italy and the bounty of each season.”

•  The first sampling was dandellion greens with olive oil and lemon juice.
• The second sampling was dandellion greens with oil, garlic, and something that made the greens taste  less tart.
•  The third sample was dandellion greens with olive oil, and topped with pancetta.
• The fourth was… you guessed it: dandellion greens–this time  with cheese, tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, and white wine, which Caleb cooked as he spoke rapturously about Italian meals designed to lengthen life and  olive groves in the town where he and his wife had often stayed.

I liked the romantic, if  “overbaked”, passages  Deirdre read from the owners’ new book.  Ed was taken with the discussion and enjoyed the food.  Sheila and I  agreed that the price of both the greens and admission,  for members, was right (free). We  liked the  bread, but thought  that the samples all  looked like overcooked spinach and tasted like…um… kale.

Although the handout suggested serving sample #4 as a main course, Sheila said: “Maybe it would be better to  serve it in small batches, along with other things.”  I asked, “Why would you serve it at all?”

 After Deirdre described two luscious-sounding wines that we never got to taste,  we decided to skip the question period and head for the cafe.

Sheila loved her “naan of the day” (an Indian bread served with spiced beef ), Ed his  sandwich (roast turkey with lettuce, tomato, avocad0, mustard aoli and cheese )  and I my Arctic char salad, with lettuce, tomato cumber salad  (each $9.oo before the 10% member discount).

 We were happily watching the sun set over the water,  a tall ship making its way across the harbor, and party cruisers against the beautifully lit Boston skyline when Ed, who had so enjoyed the samples (hey–or should I say “hay”– he loves kale) suddenly remembered that he’s allergic to dandelions–as he found once out the hard way when drinking dandellion tea .   (It can cause diahrrea).  At that point, we hit the rest rooms (just in case),  then  headed home.

None of us had any adverse reactions.  We do wonder at Heekin and Barber’s choice of samples…which were not the greatest promo for what is probably a wonderful restaurant. 

But we’re  looking forward to next week’s tasting with John McClellan, proprietor of  Boston’s award-winning L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre–both of which, the ICA Web site says,  feature  regional ingredients combined with the culinary traditions of France. 

c. Anita M. Harris

More on dandelion greens:

 I checked the Web and found the following , which I’ve lifted from http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art9837.asp: because I wasn’t able to find the info at the US Department of Agriculture Web site.

 According to the U.S. Dept of Agriculture, dandelions are more nutritious than broccoli and spinach, contain more cancer-fighting beta-carotene than carrots, and are a rich source of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, thiamine, riboflavin, lecithin, and dietary fiber.

Dandelions cleanse the bloodstream, liver and increase the production of bile. A natural diuretic they  reduce serum cholesterol and uric acid. They help functioning of the kidneys, pancreas, spleen and stomach, and can be  useful for abscesses, anemia, boils, breast tumors, cirrhosis of the liver, fluid retention, hepatitis, jaundice, age spots and rheumatism.

Dandelion flowers are an excellent source of lecithin, a nutrient that elevates the brain’s acetylcholine, a substance that helps maintain brain function and may play a role in slowing or even stopping the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Lecithin also helps the body maintain good liver function, so it is no surprise that dandelion is widely recommended by herbalists and naturopathic physicians for liver detoxification.

Native Americans used it to treat kidney disease, indigestion, and heartburn; traditional Arabian medicine prescribed it to treat liver disease; and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses dandelion in combination with other medicines to treat hepatitis and upper respiratory tract infections, including bronchitis and pneumonia

However (my ital) dandelion may cause allergy to certain people. People who are allergic to chamomile, yarrow or other related plants should use dandelion with caution. If you are taking lithium, insulin, anti-coagulation, anti-diuretic or blood-sugar controlling agents, consult with your doctor,  first.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Commmunications Group of Cambridge, MA, as is www.harriscomblog.wordpress.com.

I recently had the good fortune to attend two unusual and exciting networking events.

The  first,  sponsored by New England Women in Energy & the Environment (NEWIEE),  featured  Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Sudeen Kelly.  

The second, at Seltzer Design, featured Senior Designer Annie Smidt  of Seltzer and  Rachel Hayes, Vice President of the Wellesley Hills Group branding firm, both of whom focused on what Seltzer calls “Brandparenting.”

                                                                               *

At WIEE  on April 28,  founder and executive director Judy Chang introduced  Kelly, who, to everyone’s surprise, said that instead of speaking about energy, she would talk about women–basing her remarks on Why Women Should Rule the World,  the 2008 book by former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers.

While  one might have hoped that things would have changed by the time Bill Clinton entered office, given what we now know about him, it’s hardly shocking to learn that Myers ran into sexist treatment –nor did Kelly have much new to report on  male/female leadership styles.

Still,  in closing,  Kelly made a refreshing suggestion: rather than “network” to achieve a purpose,  she said, we should “just talk.”  Which we did–often, quite openly.

While most women waxed enthusiastic about their rapidly growing field, one senior consultant confessed that she  was tired of  her work;  a government worker was frustrated with the state’s environmental bureaucracy;   another said that she had given copies of Myers’ book to members of her husband’s family who complained to her that Hillary (Clinton) is “shrill.” 

Hoping for equally frank comments from Kelly, I asked her about her impressions of the Obama administration; she diplomatically pointed out that her commission does not make policy, but that, the Obama team does, at least,  listen.

                                                              *

At a breakfast session (held May 8 in Seltzer’s downtown office at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am ) ,  we participants were invited to introduce ourselves–including one way in which we nurture  that does not include tending to children or plants.  This was a first for me–at a business meeting.

An administrative assistant said she works with hospice patients; a lawyer gives time to nonprofits;  another had taken up painting. I mentioned my clients, my artistic spirit and my upcoming photo show (more on that, soon).

Smidt showed  photos of herself, growing up, to outline the phases of  brand development–and what’s required for care and feeding as a  company grows.

Hayes defined “brand” as “the sum of activities that cause people to kmow your name, articulate what you do, and  have the impression that because of interactions they want to hire you”. 

She described the results of a Wellesley Hills study showing the elements most often used by potential clients in choosing professonional service firms. (Referrals, presentation and the Web site were the top three; more at http://www.raintoday.com).

My favorite line was a quote  Hayes borrowed from St. Francis Assisi, via James Carville:  “Go Forth and teach the gospel–speak, if necessary.”

After the meeting, Seltzer emailed a followup note thanking the participants for attending–and included a notice about my upcoming photography exhibit.

Because the people at both meetings were open and supportive, I came away feeling  enlightened,  energized and enthusiastic about bringing nurturing and community spirit to  my own marketing and client work–and wondering if (hoping that) inspirational new ways of doing business can prevail–despite the economic downturn.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

Anita Harris is the author of Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity.

Ann Carlson and Cow

On a  recent visit to the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA,   I was amused at seeing a toddler sitting on a bench as he watched, with rapt attention, a huge wall-to-wall video of a naked middle-aged woman who was wearing a transparent raincoat partially filled with dollar bills, in a large, hay-filled stall. The woman seemed  to be trying to get the attention of a disinterested cow who did nothing for 8 minutes but chew its cud.  The toddler and the 10 or twelve adults sitting on a long bench opposite the video wall seemed fascinated. My friend Sheila and I were vaguely amused, but on the whole, thought the cow had it right.

Carlson/Strom: New Performance Video is composed of four room-sized video installations–the first major museum presentation of the collaborative work of choreographer and performer Ann Carlson and video instalation artist Mary Ellen Strom.

In what a DeCordova writeup describes as “elegant, sharply executed and humorous”, the artists present recent performance videos that serve as “critical re-evaluations of cultural and historical narratives”  fusing visually spectacular video and the medium’s legacy as a tool for social change. One video– footage of real lawyers mugging it up in front of an elevator,  is relatively funny.

Others, focused on “the moving body within a range of “lasndscapes:” the physical western vista, the economic terrain of late-capitalist America–Guatemalan workers on a beach, seemed sad, even tragic.

No doubt the  artists  are breaking artistic barriers, making important statements in order to get us think about society and our relationships to it. The videos are beautifully done–and maybe I’m being unfair, but I wonder whether, given the reality of life today,  Carlson and Strong might be telling us more about their own removed attitudes than than eliciting new understanding on our part.

The installation, curated by Dina Deitsch, is worth seeing, but Sheila and I  were more taken with”Face to Face, “ presented as a challenge “to our conventional understanding of portraiture by asking us to reevaluate the complexity of the genre and, by extension, representation itself.”

Face-to-Face/ Lebowitz-Young Dyptich

In a diptych, photgraphers  Dick Lebowitz and Tom Young show, in one photo,  three women on a beach; in the other, the photographer who is taking the picture. ” In another photo, “Karl Baden violates the singular ‘I’ by fragmenting his own body. Multiple mouths and eyese suggest that the human subject is a composite rather than a finite whole.”

I agree with curatorial fellow Nina Bozicnik that the images bring up questions of identity, portraiture and representation. But, meaningful as they may be,  most of the photos are actually fun/interesting/pleasing  to look at.

We had a harder time with Tabitha Ververs’ “Narrative Bodies, “ which includes sixty (!)  paintings and sculptures highlighting  ” the artist’s feminist engagement with tradition and myth.

“Knives carved out of bone become the surface on which female perpetrators of violence throughout history are incised using the scrimshaw techniques.”

Work from a  more recent series of meticulous acryllic paintings on canvas challenges  gender roles by depicting women with tails,  “human” creatures with four legs and male and female anatomy, a mermaid with a split tail and the like.

Another series, exploring the relationship of humans to the sea, is painted on shells in an ancient and intricate Japanese tradition.

Vevers’ pale blues, pinks, peaches, and gold prolific are  lovely but the exhibit, curated by Nick Capasso,  is,  ultimately, disturbing–and no doubt, meant to be.

Sheila and I were most  impressed by a retrospective of the work of the late  Boston University  art professor Harold “Red” Tovish, (1921-2008), curated by Bozicnik.

Tovish self portrait-drawing

We especially liked a display of six bronze sculptures showing the artist’s face and head in a range styles including cubism, surrealism and  what the DeCordova describes as “contemporary biomorphic abstraction.”

Our only disappointment was that by late Sunday afternoon,  the cafe had closed so we were too late to sip  peach iced tea on the deCordova’s lovely terrace.

But  the  provocative art, gardens, outdoor sculptures and view on this early spring day were well worth the trip.

The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is located at 51 Sandy Pond Rd
Lincoln, MA 01773 781/259-8355. All four exhibits will be up through May 17.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, www.harriscom.com.

Was surprised last night  when  two Pulitzer-prize-winning journalists locked horns on WGBH-TV’s  Greater Boston.

In a heated discussion of the New York Times’ threat to shutter the Boston Globe if employment concessions aren’t made,  former  Globe Columnist Eileen McNamara, who now teaches at Brandeis, charged that the Times is only out to save itself and doesn’t care about Boston or the Globe. She and host Emily Rooney criticized the Times for a lack of “transparency,” in threatening  to shut down the paper just a week after some 50 reporters were required to take buyouts or risk being laid off. McNamara called for an investigation into how Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. could have  so mishandled the papers’  strategies and finances.

Alex Jones, the former New York Times reporter who now directs Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, said that Sulzberger has long been seeking ways to keep his papers on sound financial footing and pointed out that the Times and Globe are just two  of many papers threatened by  huge operating losses.  With countless subscribers migrating to “free” news on the Internet and advertisers cutting back in the current financial crisis, several papers have already declared bankruptcy.

I agree with Jones  that there’s no point in focusing on the New York Times as the bad guy in all of this;   the Globe is crucial to the Boston and New England communities, which must find ways to keep the paper alive.

The Boston Foundation  has put together a blue ribbon panel to seek with solutions–which might include a takeover of the Globe  by a consortium of nonprofits until the Globe’s economic situation improves.

The Globe reported this morning that both employees and management will be taking cuts in pay and security, and that 20 bloggers, organized by Paul Levy, president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, simultaneously published a post asking readers to submit suggestions on how the Globe can improve its financial position.

(Levy’s blog is at runningahospital.blogspot.com).

I’ve joined the rally in a separate post.

I hope a solution is imminent  because good journalism provides crucial lifeblood to any community. As the so-called “fourth estate,” it serves as a watchdog on government, allows citizens to communicate with one another, and helps organize the thoughts, lives and livehoods of individuals and institution in a democracy.  Broadcast and Internet media certainly contribute to this–but, by and large, it’s  print reporters to do the heavy lifting.

AMH

Anita M. Harris is an award-winning former journalist who has founded a weekly alternative newspaper,  written for Newsday, produced documentaries for WRFM Radio and co-produced more than 100 live panel programs for the MacNeil/Lehrer Report (now the Newshour) of National Public television. She has taught journalism at Harvard andYale Universities and at Simmons College.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

A lovely, eclectic show called “Float”  at the Clark Gallery,  145 Lincoln Road, Lincoln, MA, exhibits works on nautical themes by 24 artists.

Pieces range from a model wooden ship, c. 1900 by an unattributed  artist  to  Wendy Jean Hyde’s video installation showing a polar bear swimming back  and forth on a large plasma screen.

A few of my other  favorites included:

Rebecca Kincaid’s  oil, fabric & mixed media painting “Winter Sailor,” Chris Armstrong’s  oil on alumninum  “Whiteout,”

and Patricia Burleson’s Springmelt 6,. It’s an 18″x24″x18″  “boat” composed of wire, lace, bones, shredded tire, vine buttons, found metal and wood including saw blad, barbed wire, springs, strainers, whisk, scissors, sticks spoon and found objects including purse, balls, harmonic, baseball glove, clothes, pins nail clippers and fan.

I was impressed by Rob Napier’s tiny model ships, and  by Jerry Beck’s “The Dreams of Small fish (from his Secret Art of Loon Park, Oaracle Series).

My friend Mark H. noticed the playful spelling of “oaracle,”which makes sense because the work is a floor-to-ceiling=sized  oar (136x15x3″). Its shaft is a 3” clear acryllic tube filled with dried, shellacked fish and mushrooms.

It’s a fun show; I wish I could write up every piece but you can see them at the gallery through April 30 or view more photos online.

AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of  the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

Much enjoyed the Concord Art Association’s New England Impressions III,”  the Unique Print,  March 21-May3, 2009.”

Peik Larson, Red Tree

The show,  presented on two floors in  the CAA’s lovely colonial home at 37 Lexington Road in Concord Center,   is a colorful collection of monotypes, monoprints and experimental prints composed of  fabrics, hand quilting, stamping, sandpaper, and pastel, on wood, metal, ink and paper, and combinations of the above. In the words of curator Dorothy Thompson,   the show is one in a series celebrating New England artists and printers “trying something new, breaking the rules.”

All of the works–with photos of each work and a video of the opening reception available at www.concordart.com, were stunning. My  favorites included:

Inner Courtyard

Roz Karal Ablo’s Interior Courtyard--a dramatic collage and pastel work in vibrant blues, mauves, with a little red and green thrown in. It seemed to embody the splitting of space into time, a la Duchamp, a rushing, perhaps, through what might be a structural, village courtyard composed of buildings, streets and sky– or, perhaps, an inner personal one.

Randy Garber, Cognitive Dissonance

Randy Garber’s elegant Cognitive Dissonance, composed  composed of hard and soft grand spit bite etching, wood cut transfer, monoprint on piano player scrolls.

Pastel colors, different on each side of the scrolls, are printed with abstract shapes, hands, gears, heads and other forms. The scrolls, though still,  seem to undulate, mesmorizing the viewer as s/he comes to realize that words, presented in reverse order, actually make some sense. Appear may love where ing tell no there’s.

Michael Mazur, Rocks and Water

Debra Olin, Gliki's Flight

Jeanne Williamson, Orange Construction

Jan Arabas, Bird Flu.

From its title, “Oppression and Pleasure,” I expected  the Pierre Menard Gallery’s current show of works by the feminist writer and artist Kate Millett to be  heavy-duty, in-your-face and  angry but was pleased to find,  for the most part, colorful, simple brush-strokes that looked like Japanese characters, one to a painting.  Perhaps I am slow, but it  took me awhile  to realize that each was a representation of female genitalia  or other body parts.

Kate Millett artwork

I didn’t agree with one observer who found the work overly aggressive; to me,  the paintings seemed lighthearted and whimsical–despite my interpretation of the title’s message that women’s sexuality can lead to both misery and  joy.

I did wonder, however, if the two huge black and white close-up photographs of female sex organs (from which even the staunchest of men looked away)  had been placed just over the food table to cut down on the demand for wine and chips.

The show, at 10 Arrow Street,  in Cambridge, will be up through April 12.
AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, of Cambridge, MA.

In his 3-05-09 post “Probe the Past to Protect the Future,”  Washington DC business-advocate- returned-investigative journalist Andrew Kreig says that the idea that the country should look forward without addressing the wrongs of the recent past is  “nonsense”.

He writes: As always,  justice starts by a review of the evidence. ‘Sunshine is the best disinfectant,’ Supreme Court Justice Louis Bandeis famously said. But pest control is useful too.  Either way, strong measures are required to build public confidence for legitimate initiatives on such complex questions as which companies are “too big to fail,” and which ones should pay the price for their terrible decisions.”

The media are unlikely provide much insight,  he implies.

Their income stream is increasingly dependent on affiliated businesses and not on serving subscribers. The major TV networks,  for instance, make virtually nothing form direct customer billings via cable and satellite, although many in the public naively assume that they’re being served via a “marketplace of ideas.”

In fact, traditional and new media alike depend heavily on the goodwill of government officials, plus advertising. The financial reports of the Washington Post, for instance, show that since 2007, it has been making more than ten times its revenue from its education industry affiliates as from its Post subscriptions,  new media are more entrepreneurial and increasingly broader-based in consumer appeal, many of their roots are in fairly recent federal Internet research and privatization policy–and many of their futures are highly dependent on favorable regulation, merger approval and stimulus spending.

Kreig calls for transparency in the Obama Administration’s decisionmaking process and for vigorous public pressure to ensure that current Congressional investigations into allegations of Bush Administration wrong-doing are not just for show.

I’m not anxious to delve back into the murky recent past and don’t relish the possibility of investigations, indictments, or imprisonments. Bytemperament, like Obama,  I’d rather move forward and let it all go.  But as George Santayana said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  I do think it’s important to find out why things went so wrong in hopes that we never have to go through times like those–or these–again.

AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.