Saturday Morning Walkers - October 28, 2007

Hi everyone!

We had a short but lovely walk Saturday morning along the Aquarius Trail before heading over to a very special breakfast at the Huckleberry in Louisville. We were delighted to have Terri's friend, Hopeton, join Christie, Barb, Mary, Jan, Andrea and me. I was the "guest of honor" at this particular breakfast celebrating the Grillo Center Labyrinth. You "knocked my socks off" with a gift of a lovingly created collage displaying memorabilia featuring the Grillo Health Information Center, the Labyrinth and most of all our friendship. I wish you all could have been there to celebrate with us.

Book Report:
Terri is reading Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. I read this several years ago and just found it so fascinating.

From Publishers Weekly
The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of "word-of-mouth epidemics" triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. (Paul Revere, for example, was a Maven and a Connector). Gladwell's applications of his "tipping point" concept to current phenomena--such as the drop in violent crime in New York, the rebirth of Hush Puppies suede shoes as a suburban mall favorite, teenage suicide patterns and the efficiency of small work units--may arouse controversy. For example, many parents may be alarmed at his advice on drugs: since teenagers' experimentation with drugs, including cocaine, seldom leads to hardcore use, he contends, "We have to stop fighting this kind of experimentation. We have to accept it and even embrace it." While it offers a smorgasbord of intriguing snippets summarizing research on topics such as conversational patterns, infants' crib talk, judging other people's character, cheating habits in schoolchildren, memory sharing among families or couples, and the dehumanizing effects of prisons, this volume betrays its roots as a series of articles for the New Yorker, where Gladwell is a staff writer: his trendy material feels bloated and insubstantial in book form.

Andrea read Ann Patchett's new novel, Run. Patchett wrote one of my favorite novels, Bel Canto and a wonderful memoir, Truth and Beauty. I can't wait to read this one!

From Publishers Weekly
SignatureReviewed by Andrew O'HaganNovelists can no longer take it as an insult when people say their novels are like good television, because the finest American television is better written than most novels. Ann Patchett's new one has the texture, the pace and the fairy tale elegance of a half dozen novels she might have read and loved growing up, but the magic and the finesse of Run is really much closer to that of Six Feet Under or ER or The Sopranos, and that is good news for everybody, not least her readers.Bernadette and Bernard Doyle were a Boston couple who wanted to have a big lively family. They had one boy, Sullivan, and then adopted two black kids, Teddy and Tip. Mr. Doyle is a former mayor of Boston and he continues his interest in politics, hoping his boys will shape up one day for elected office, though none of them seems especially keen. Bernadette dies when the adopted kids are just four, and much of the book offers a placid requiem to her memory in particular and to the force of motherhood in lives generally. An old statue from Bernadette's side of the family seems to convey miracles, and there will be more than one before this gracious book is done. One night, during a heavy snowfall, Teddy and Tip accompany their father to a lecture given by Jessie Jackson at the Kennedy Centre. Tip is preoccupied with studying fish, so he feels more than a little coerced by his father. After the lecture they get into an argument and Tip walks backwards in the road. A car appears out of nowhere and so does a woman called Tennessee, who pushes Tip out of the car's path and is herself struck. Thus, a woman is taken to hospital and her daughter, Kenya, is left in the company of the Doyles. Relationships begin both to emerge and unravel, disclosing secrets, hopes, fears. Run is a novel with timeless concerns at its heart—class and belonging, parenthood and love—and if it wears that heart on its sleeve, then it does so with confidence. And so it should: the book is lovely to read and is satisfyingly bold in its attempt to say something patient and true about family. Patchett knows how to wear big human concerns very lightly, and that is a continuing bonus for those who found a great deal to admire in her previous work, especially the ultra-lauded Bel Canto. Yet one should not mistake that lightness for anything cosmetic: Run is a book that sets out inventively to contend with the temper of our times, and by the end we feel we really know the Doyle family in all its intensity and with all its surprises

I read, for the first time, the classic Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. I suspect many of you read this years ago in school. It is definitely worth a re-read. Although this book was written in the 1940's in South Africa, it is certainly relevant today. It really is a moving story about love of country and family.

Book Description
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."
The most famous and important novel in South Africa's history, and an immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948, Alan Paton's impassioned novel about a black man's country under white man's law is a work of searing beauty. The eminent literary critic Lewis Gannett wrote, "We have had many novels from statesmen and reformers, almost all bad; many novels from poets, almost all thin. In Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country the statesman, the poet and the novelist meet in a unique harmony."

Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man

Website of the Week: http://www.spreadthesharing.com/StoriesofSharing/ - share your stories around food and support a worthy cause

Podcast of the Week: http://www.twit.tv/mc - a fun podcast and site all about junk food!

Vocabulary Word of the Week - Maven
From Wikipedia: A maven (also mavin or mayvin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass his or her knowledge on to others.


History
The word comes from the Yiddish meyvn and Hebrew mevin (מבֿין), with the same meaning, which in turn derives from the Hebrew binah, meaning understanding. It was first recorded in English around 1952, and popularized in the 1960s by a series of commercials for [Vita Herring] created by Martin Solow, featuring "The Beloved Herring Maven." The “Beloved Herring Maven “ ran in radio ads from 1964-1968, and was then brought back in 1983 with Allan Swift, the original voice of the Maven, is preparing for his dramatic return [1]. Many sites credit Vita with popularizing the word Maven. An example of print advertisement including the Maven: 1965 Hadassah News Let. Apr. 30 (advt.) Get Vita at your favorite supermarket, grocery or delicatessen. Tell them the beloved Maven sent you. It won’t save you any money: but you’ll get the best herring.
Since the 1980s it has become more common since William Safire adapted it to describe himself ("the language maven"). The word is mainly confined to American English, but had not yet appeared with the publication of the 1976 edition of Webster's Third New International Dictionary.
In network theory and sociology, a maven is someone who has a disproportionate influence on other members of the network. The role of mavens in propagating knowledge and preferences has been established in various domains, from politics to social trends.
Usage
Malcolm Gladwell used it in his book The Tipping Point (Little Brown, 2000) to describe those who are intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends. The popularity of the work of Safire and Gladwell has made the word particularly widely used in their particular contexts. Gladwell also suggests that mavens may act most effectively when in collaboration with connectors - i.e.: those people who have wide network of casual acquaintances by whom they are trusted, often a network that crosses many social boundaries and groups. Connectors can thus easily and widely distribute the advice or insight of a maven.
In The Tipping Point, Gladwell described a "maven trap" as a method of obtaining information from mavens. In the book he gave the example of the toll-free telephone number on the back of a bar of Ivory soap, which one could call with questions or comments about the product. Gladwell's opinion is that only those who are passionate or knowledgeable about soap would bother to call and that this is a method by which the company could inexpensively glean valuable information about their market.
In The Human Fabric (Aviri, 2004), Bijoy Goswami uses the term to describe one of three core energies in people, organizations and society.
Some have identified the maven not just as a Jewish word, but as a Jewish concept. One site on Jewish language states, "A maven is an expert, and it's something that every Jew thinks he is on every subject that exists." [1] [unreliable source?] Jewish radio talk show host Barry Farber would often say, "I am the world's foremost expert on my own opinion". This highlights the fact that a maven being self-appointed, following his advice is an act of faith.
In the computerized version of the game Scrabble, the computer player is named Maven.
The term is used heavily in stock market related spam emails.[citation needed]
Cooking and Dining Report:

Not much cooking going on here until today - I made Giada de Laurentiis' Braciole - a stuffed and rolled flank steak - which I've posted before but just in case you missed it...... http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25307,00.html.

I do have a fun Halloween treat which I found in the Daily Camera this week and plan to make with Lauren and Evan, the little girls I take care of in Longmont.

Spider Cookies - makes 6 treats
(12) 3" chocolate cookies
(12) cherry or strawberry licorice twists
1 can chocolate frosting
12 red hot candies

Frost the tops of 6 of the cookies
Split the licorice twists lengthwise and then cut in half, so that you end up with 48 legs. Place 4 legs on each side of each cookie so that they are sticking out when you cover with the remaining cookies.
Frost the top of each cookie sandwich.
Place 2 red hot candies for eyes poking out one end.

A great new specialty food shop has opened in Boulder - it is called Oliv You & Me. It opened just a couple of weeks ago at 2043 Broadway between Pearl and Spruce, next door to Design Within Reach. It is locally owned by two sisters and is getting ready to launch a website called www.olivym.com. The shop is lovely and welcoming, with a few tables to sit down and enjoy a cup of espresso and a sweet treat. There are olive oils, vinegars, and other wonderful delicacies to try and bring home. The owners are Jody Spence and Patti Scott and along with their families have a created a wonderful addition to Boulder's shopping scene. Do check it out soon. As soon as their website is launched, even those of you from out-of-town will be able to enjoy these treats.

That's all for now - we'll be heading to New York in just a few days for Libby and David's wedding. We're so looking forward to finally meeting Cora and David Potter, David's parents. We get to have a nice quiet dinner with them on Thursday. My post will probably be late next week but should be chocked full of buzz about New York and the wedding..

Have a great week,
Love,
Susan