For most of its previous incarnations, I have not been an Idol fan. I suspect it had to do with time issues (I was in school) and time conflicts (it seemed that I remember either Buffy or Gilmore Girls were consistently on the same days) and problems with a then contraption we now look back in time as, “the VCR recorder.” It sounds odd just to think about that as a piece of technological history.

Last year, since I needed some entertainment relief and a break from seriousness and work, I decided to give it a try. I turned Idol on, and was blown away by so many of the singers, ironically none of which was David Cook. Some of them, David Archeleta, Jason Castro, Brooke Whitted and a few others, were so spiritually “high” when they sang that it would touch the soul of anyone who felt the light and joy of this type of singing, which has nothing to do with genre. Other singers who are in this category include Andrea Boccelli, Josh Groban, and Julio Iglesis and Gloria Estefan.

Last night I watched Idol, and these auditions are interesting because they are done without music. What you hear is the voice and energy and talent of each contestant, and in some cases we become witness to the extremes of trying to get chosen by using cheesy gimmicks (or skimpy bikinis), begging, or just sheer talent and potential, the latter two of which are what reflects the respect that a contestant has for themselves and the process. It isn’t to say the “other” can’t be entertaining, but considering the goal of the program in terms of finding that American Idol talent, who they are is a factor of representing the branding of the show.

The last contestant was truly an inspiration to anyone, not only in terms of talent but in terms of being able to reach for the stars when for him, they were a concept and not something he could physically see. Blind pianist Scott MacIntyre, out of all the contestants, took my breath away, and it was his voice and his soul that touched me. I’ll be looking forward to listening to him in the future, and I will also be looking forward to tonight’s program.

Photo from the Sushi Index

My dad is gone, and I miss him.  WGN in Chicago was his favorite radio station, and as corny as it sounds, having that station on reminds me of him and it’s almost like I can see him in his diningroom, eating lunch and listening to whomever was on.  So that’s how I started to listen to WGN.  When we had the great flood on Montrose, my favorite WBEZ station provided a dearth of information about an area I needed to go to that week.  So that’s how I ended up on ‘GN. 

This morning I’m making my breakfast when Phil Vettel was a guest with Spike O’Dell.  They were talking about sushi.  Oh no, I thought as I waited to hear the latest round of misinformation propagated by the fact that it has become as popular as salsa and ubiquitous in our diets, at least in major urban areas.  Then I heard it, “maki sushi isn’t authentic.”  Now THAT caught my attention, because my grandmother who never make pseudo Japanese food or any modified versions of it, made some great maki sushi, and she was from ‘the old country.’  Maki sushi has been present at New Year’s Day celebrations, which is a big deal for people of Japanese ancestry and a real kicker when you are out celebrating New Year’s Eve too long. 

Sushi referrs to “vinegared rice.”  I grew up with many types of sushi, including some that were served from a bowl as their ingredients were mixed in and you used a rice scoop to put them on your plate.  There were also molded sushi’s which usually meant a form of sashimi (raw fish) would be placed on top, or in some cases a picked fish. 

My mother also used to make maki sushi.  We grew up on “futomaki” sushi, which is a complex and time consuming as well as tedious sushi to make because of all the ingredients.  The photo above is from The Sushi Index, which has great photos and excellent information.  She would also make a tamagomaki, where instead of using nori (seaweed sheets) she would use an extraordinarily thin piece of scrambled eggs that were slightly seasoned.  She even had a special squarish pan for the task.  I’ve never seen anyone else do that and unfortunately I was too young to catch the finer aspects of how she was able to achieve this.

At some point Phil Vettel clarified his maki comment, saying that the maki with cream cheese and avocados, etc. are not traditional sushi.  Okay, THAT I can say is definitely correct.  I do have to admit I like California Maki because of the avocados, but my favorite all time maki is the Futo-Maki, which is a traditional Japanese Maki and in Chicago, there are few restaurants except for one that makes an excellent one.  On that note, I am going to figure out an order for lunch!

As we all know, the success of any recycling program is dependant upon the quality and amount of participants.  When I say quality, I am speaking of those who do not just look at the bins as another trash can for food waste and non-recyclable items.  Last year, one of my friends who lives near Midway Airport had no idea what I was talking about when I redirected his trash to the appropriate bag I ha d for the bins.  Being in the 47th Ward, our Alderman had signed us all up for the pilot program, for which I thank him for.

When I talk to people about the level of participation in their buildings, it can vary.  When the program first began, I noticed that our can quickly filled up.  We have four seperate units on the property, one being a coach house.  The building next to us has four seperate units in apartments that are subdivided, although from the outside it just appears to be a single family home. 

What I find interesting, and great, is that in the building I live in there are so many recyclers.  Soon after the program began the bin would be filled by the first week.  We asked for a second bin.  The last few months it has been almost a race to get down to the bin right after a pick up, so we could bring recyclables that are piling up in the kitchen downstairs.  We now have 3 bins, and as I went to throw out some glass bottles, I noticed that they were all about 95% filled despite a recent pickup.  Interestingly our four unit neighbors use one bin sufficiently and another neighbor who is in a single family home uses two of them. 

Conversely, I’ve noticed the quantity of other types of trash from our building to be down. This is a good thing!

Just when it seemed like the media had forgotten about the incredibly racist, hateful mocking acts of the Spanish Olympic Basketball Team, now another similar photo has appeared in the UK’s Telegraph, showing the Spanish Olympic Tennis team doing the same type of racist mocking. Yes folks, just when a person might have been willing to give them a pass for such immature and denigrating behavior.

To put this in perspective, think about how you would feel if you had a loved one who was missing an arm or leg, either as a war veteran, illness or accident. Now imagine a bunch of idiots mocking and making fun of your loved ones because they weren’t normal in their eyes. Pretty poor? Tasteless? Mean? Damn right, MEAN to the Core.

For anyone unfamiliar as to how this plays out in rubbing poison into old wounds for the older generations of Asian Americans in the USA, this was but one of many racist gestures heaped upon Americans of Asian descent. Asian Americans have dealt with exclusion legalized by our government, since the early 1920’s when they were prevented from becoming citizens, from owning land, forced into segregated schools, and other injustices. This was besides the lynching, murders and other crimes of racism committed against them. The second part of the 1900’s, which wasn’t all that long ago, didn’t play out too well either until we moved closer to 2000. Asian Americans who were born here lost their life savings and were forcibly evicted from their homes and detained in deserts for years; among men murdered just for being Asian was Vincent Chin, by racist drunks in Detroit.

I asked a friend of mine if she watched Ugly Betty.  She said she tried to but she couldn’t stand how mean people were to her.  Yes, in the beginning they were mean.  They were cruel.  They wanted to make Betty leave, to get rid of her, not because she wasn’t a good worker, but because she wasn’t one of the pretty people.  The beauty of Ugly Betty is that she is still here, she’s valued even more by her boss, and she’s obviously NOT going away unless it is on her terms.  Ugly Betty has the personal power from doing what is right for her and knowing not to let the “pretty people” tear her down. 

I love Ugly Betty because for once, we don’t have a token Latina on the show.  We have ensemble characters, many of them Latinos, including Freddy Rodriguez, a Chicago boy.  We have Vanessa Williams in a key role, and we have Alec Mapa as Suzuki St. Pierre.  You have to love that character!!!  We’ve also seen Lucy Liu, and I hope the show features more Asian American actors and actresses in the upcoming seasons.

And most of all, I love Ugly Betty because the Suarez girls know how to find love.  I love the character of Hilda, who despite her own personal hardships and struggles, is willing and open to finding love even in situations that seem the riskiest in that she can get badly hurt.  The Hilda character has an open, loving heart and I love that she wants to experience love when the opportunity arises, and that she encourages Betty to do the same.

I love that Betty, for all her mismatched, clashing clothes, hair issues, and dorkiness, seems to be the only female character that consistently has had love relationships.  It is the inner, not the outer part of Betty that we has to be what now has two guys battling for her attention and her heart.  Who can’t love a girl who loves others so much that her male friends find her irresistible!

Recycling Blue Bin, originally uploaded by chicamarya.

I live in the 47th Ward, which is Alderman Schulter’s Ward.  Last year he was one of several Aldermen who signed up for the City of Chicago’s Blue Bin Recycling Program, as an alternative to the Blue Bags, which we all know was a disaster of sorts.  Last summer we had the arrival of “the Blue Bin.”  It quickly filled up and much to our unpleasant surprise we found out that the pickups were not weekly.   I contacted Schulter’s office and they said I could request a second bin, and our landlord concurred that we needed this.  Flash forward to Spring of 2008 and I could easily say that we could use a 3rd bin and remove one of the regular trash cans.  My kitchen and back porch have turned into a repository for recyclables, and when we find out that the two blue bins have been emptied, it’s a rush for everyone in the building to get their accumulated items into the bins before they fill up again. 

Our garbage cans, not coincidentally, seem only partially used, a far cry from being filled to capacity before.   Participation, however, is not as enthusiastic for every building.  Usually by the time we have pickups, most cans can be seen with lids slightly adjar as they are all filled to capacity.  Then there are buildings, like two four unit rentals on our street, that have one bin and never any sign of overflow.  This is in sharp contrast to our neighbor who has two bins for his family.  One of my friends lives in a six flat and only her landlord and she use the one bin. 

Last year a friend of mine was over and wondered why I had so much non food “trash” in my kitchen.  He was ready to toss food garbage but stopped to ask, ‘which bag?’ because it there was clearly a theme (paper, glass, etc.) in each bag.  My friend, a southwest sider, said no one down in his area recycles anything.  How sad.  With the adoption of Blue Bins throughout the city, I would hope that this would change.  The bins are visible, and not using them will make as much of a statement as using them will.  Their presence and visibility can only help make the concept of recycling more omnipresent, and provide virtually no excuse for not participating. 

Damen Brown Line 4-26-2008, originally uploaded by chicamarya.

More progress! This was taken Saturday, 4-26-2008. You can see the new girders against the backdrop of the old, rusty things. The rusty ones have a lot of history and age, but I have to say that all that rust also doesn’t make me feel like it’s got the greatest structural integrity to last far into the future.  It’s been interesting to watch the construction crew and the heavy equipment they use to hoist girders and to enable the crews to work.  While I’m not a fan of delayed train rides, it’s almost reassuring to hear the announcements that “crews are working on the tracks” or other similiar ones, as I am among many CTA Brown Line Riders who look forward to the reopening of the Damen Station, since it will cut down on some of the commuting disruption.

Whole Foods. Just say the name and it seems to be a lightening rod for many people. I know people who shop there yet are incensed at the high prices. Others shop there feeling that at least “they” take care of their employees. Others shop there because they believe that it is the socially concious thing to do. Others because they are upwardly mobile, can afford the prices and like the quality of food there, versus, say, Jewel or Costco. I shop there because I have no choice (major autoimmune and dietary issues)

At the risk of sounding like a geezer and a fossil, I can actually say that I shopped at Whole Foods when they first entered the Chicago market, and when they still had a soul. Okay, okay, maybe that’s not all THAT long ago, but for anyone who started shopping there in the past few years, their shopping experience has not had the ‘history’ that mine has had. My mom was the one who first dragged me into Whole Foods, mostly because of their large bulk area when they opened on North Avenue. My mom used to shop at Rainbow Foods, a tiny hole in the wall grocer where bulk was king. My mom also shopped at grocery coops, did Reiki and Polarity Therapy, made her own herbal tinctures and all kinds of amazing things way back in the 1980s.

When I was working on my first graduate degree, our management class team did Whole Foods as our chosen company to profile. As amazing as it sounds, our professor hadn’t even heard of them. Considering the company’s anti union stance, and the topic of our class, you would almost think they would have been loathe to meet with us. My main contact back then was the Regional Vice President, who actually had come over from the Fresh Fields merger. The company had just gone public, so the impact of that hadn’t even trickled into the organization yet. That was good. I am purposedly leaving the names of those we met with out.

Our meeting was interesting, fun and most of all shocking in that we were not used to senior management being so forthcoming, open and easy going. In addition to the Regional Vice President, we met with the then Regional President. Because I really disliked having to wear a suit to do our B School presentations, I asked them if we could borrow the WF aprons, which at that time were a kelly green. The response? ABSOLUTELY!! Followed by, “Do you want caps to go with that, too??”

Fast forward many, many years. I’m in the second part of my program, which is an MSIMC degree. I’m taking an integrated public relations class, and I chose to revisit Whole Foods from a public relations standpoint. When I say public relations, I’m talking about the professional levels that integrate a strategic marketing plan, messaging maps, etc. and not “publicity” or the irresponsible attention getting that some companies and people engage in. A part of my analysis required media monitoring. Oh what an interesting task that was.

In today’s world we monitor not only print magazines, newspapers, and books but online everything. I was also fortunate enough to speak with the public relations firm that handled one of their regional accounts (not in the Midwest). And of course, I interviewed management here in Chicago. I can tell you that going “public” and being tied into what happens to corporations when they become publically held (versus retaining private ownership) clearly has had its impact. The easy, casual, and more relaxed mannerisms of management as I knew them before were no where to be seen. When I posed the same question about aprons (and in this case it would have only been one, mine!) I was told, “Absolutely not.”

Coincidently I have a friend who worked in the store I shopped at, so I also got plenty of inside information. I would have had more but they fired some of the guys I used to like to chat with. Apparently they were a little too positive about the idea of a union. And, as if a gift from the store itself were bestowed upon me, they had a major issue that hit the news, which was almost a text book case of how a company should not handle bad press.

Growth affects organizations in many ways. Just as the types of relationships we bring into our personal lives affects us, the types of relationships that organizations bring inside also has an impact. When a company goes public, they are no longer the ‘owners’ of their company. The stockholders now own their company. This will sound kind of way out there for anyone who can’t get beyond 3rd dimensional concepts, but the energy of the stockholders also influences and impacts a company. You can see this in Whole Foods. Ironically, if you are in Austin, where they are headquartered, their redone theatrical store goes beyond that. It’s shopping as theater there, which provides entertainment and “showtime fun” for shoppers, but it’s a nightmare for anyone with energetic sensitivities. Friends I know there have simply stopped shopping there. Ironically the solution to their bad energy is also right there in Austin – there’s a person who does business clearings to help clean up majorly bad energy so companies can get back on track again. This person would be their spiritual director, but are they ready for this type of direction?

Whole Foods bans plastic bags
Because I shop at Whole Foods, I knew this day was coming. While WFM is making a statement about the excess proliferation of plastic bags, I have to say that of ALL the stores ditching plastic bags, the last one I would have liked to see do this is Whole Foods.

For one, I shop there, and I take public transportation. This means that on the days it is raining, I opt for plastic. Usually I bring my own bags, but there are times were I go there after an appointment, upon deciding to move my schedule around, and I am bagless. Believe me, if it is raining, I want plastic. Whole Foods has always used a higher quality plastic bag. What does this mean? It means it is easy to reuse, to fold up and to stuff in your messenger bag, briefcase, or purse, and because it was of a higher quality, I never had to worry about the bottoms opening up and having my groceries spatted all over between one of two bus stops (now that my Brown Line Station is closed). Do I reuse Jewel plastic bags??? Hardly. I try, but they are cheesy and small, don’t hold much and often when I carry very heavy items, they need doubling, which hardly saves usage.

Where I can walk to a store, I usually use a Zucca bag (reusable tote on wheels in a steel frame that doubles as a seat in a moment of fatigue). When I don’t have the bag, or my own reusable plastic bags, I do need a bag and one with handles. When I use the self check out, I see a lot of people who also bring bags, knapsacks, etc. Those who are aware of over consumption often are careful not to perpetrate it. Then there are those who are unconscious about it…

It is this group, those who are unconcious about their over consumption that need to be reached. It is this group and those who have a general disregard for the world we live in who often toss their plastic bags out onto the street, so that they can either become post-its on the bottom of people’s cars, tree ornaments or artificial urban tumbleweed. It is this group that uses as many plastic bags as possible because they have no awareness, or they don’t care to think about the long range implications. After all, if you do think about it, you might have to think about what the other things one does and eats is doing, to themselves, their loved ones and our home here on this planet

I just received an email forwarding an article from yesterday’s New York Times, Sticker Shock in the Organic Aisles.  My hip, socially aware and spiritually concious cool cousin from LA sent me this, with the comment, “Nooooooooooooooo. or hellooooooooooo.  Are they just waking up to this NOW??”  Apparently many have still been sleeping. 

Due to medical issues, I have no choice but to shop organic.  In the early 80’s I shopped at Coops and at the many independent natural foods stores that used to be in Chicago.  As Fresh Fields developed stores here, my then favorite store, the independently owned Foodworks, began to have problems competing.   A large part of that was due to so many people being curious about Fresh Fields.  We shopped at both places, which meant that our food dollars were now being split between two stores and less on mail order items.  Then Whole Foods entered the market, and our beloved Foodworks store on Diversey and Sheffield could not compete against two giants.  Barb and her husband closed the store. 

By now I developed a rare autoimmune condition (genetic) that requires me to be fastidious about doing organic foods.  Add to that yet another autoimmune condition and many allergies, and now I’m not an organic shopper only by choice but by necessity.  During this time Whole Foods basically gobbled up Fresh Fields, leaving a giant of stores to compete against what was left of the independent natural and health food stores in Chicago.  Slowly, or quickly depending on your perspective, they withered and closed up, leaving Chicago with only one choice.  Even the previous competitor Wild Oats was no where to be seen in the city. 

A competitor seemed to arrive years ago, called Sunflower.  Their choice of locations and bad timing made it impossible for me to get there and shop there.  By the time I heard about it, the CTA had begun announcing station closures on the Brown Line.  I can assure you that if you haul your groceries on public transportation in the summer, you really don’t want to wait in the blazing heat for 30-45 minutes while your produce cooks and your other perishables perish, so the train is the way to go.  Last year Sunflower closed. 

So here we are in Chicago, with Whole Foods really being the only game in town for those of us who have extremely special dietary needs.  The store does a good job of serving those needs, and for those of us who get deathly ill from conventional food “food preservatives,” Whole Foods is the place to shop.  Fortunately, Jewel Foods also has expanded their product mix to include more natural and organic foods, but the product mix and choice is really a function of what store you shop at.  For example, the Jewel on north Clark street in Andersonville is where my uncle shops.  When I was there yesterday, I was amazed at what a small selection of organics they had.  I commented to the friend of mine whom I was with that the Lincoln Avenue store had four times the dry goods and more than three times the selection of produce. 

All that being said, what about prices??? HIGH, UNFREAKINGBELIEVABLY HIGH.  In fact, at times Jewel is higher than Whole Foods (the volume a store does obviously has an effect on the prices they can get from distributors).  How long has this been going on??? For years, yes, YEARS!!  Two years ago I saw my organic and naturally raised food bill double.  Since a full year ago, I’ve seen this bill double again.  So please, NY Times, don’t tell us our food bill has gone sky high.  This is majorly old news for us.