Smooth Jazz and Rough Politics

Kenny G, a smooth jazz saxophonist, caused some conflict when he visited a pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong last week. Kenny G. is hugely popular in China and his song "Going Home" has actually become an anthem that is played to signal that it is time to, well, go home.  Sometimes the song even plays on a loop around closing time until people get the idea and leave.
On a recent tour of China Kenny G. tweeted a photo of himself at a pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong.

www.dailymail.co.uk

According to The Guardian

Within hours of his tweet, the Chinese foreign ministry had issued a frosty condemnation of his display of solidarity. "Kenny G's musical works are widely popular in China, but China's position on the illegal Occupy Central activities in Hong Kong is very clear," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing, according to Reuters. "We hope that foreign governments and individuals speak and act cautiously and not support the Occupy Central and other illegal activities in any form," she added.

 Kenny G immediately took to Twitter to defend himself. Over a series of tweets throughout the day he stated:

I was not trying to defy government orders with my last post. I was in Hong Kong as a stop on my way to perform at Mission Hills and happened to walk by the protest area as I was walking around Honk Kong as a tourist. Some fans took my picture. It's unfair that I am being used by anyone to say that I am showing support for the demonstrators. I am not supporting the demonstrators. I don't really know anything about the situation and my impromptu visit to the site was just part of an innocent walk around Hong Kong. I love Hong Kong and always come here to perform when I'm asked to. I love China and love coming here to perform for over 25 years. I only wanted to share my wish for peace for Hong Kong and for all of China as I feel close to and care about China very much.

Me think the man doth protest too much but he clearly wants to protect his image in China which continues to be his biggest market worldwide. 

A Bug's Life

Entomaphagy: the consumption of insects. Not so appetizing? Megan Miller weighs in:

What if eating insects could help solve world hunger? According to a report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in May 2013, incorporating insects as part of our diet could not only help solve the global food crisis but provide other environmental and economic benefits. The human population is continuing to grow and the current estimate is that the population will be at 9 billion by the year 2050. That's a lot of mouths to feed! In fact, to provide enough food for 9 billion people we would need to nearly double the world's food production.

Unfortunately, our current food production system is not sustainable and far from efficient, especially when it comes to meat. Livestock production accounts for 70% of agricultural land use globally and it is also responsible for 18% of our green house gas emissions. Raising edible insects as part of our food source is far more efficient and far more sustainable. Insects could be fed using organic waste, would require far less land and would produce considerably less methane, ammonia, waste (urine and manure), and other forms of pollution. The FAO estimates that if we globally incorporate insects in to our diets we could reduce green house gas emissions by 18%.

ohfortheloveofscience.com

Insects have a high feed conversion efficiency which is partly due to the fact that they’re cold blooded and do not require a lot of additional food that they burn off as energy. Crickets in particular are a great example of this high feed conversion. Crickets need half as much feed as pigs and chickens, 4 times less feed than sheep, and 12 times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein!

Speaking of protein, let's talk a bit about nutrition. Nutritional values vary amongst different kinds of insects but many edible insects are very high in protein, essential fatty acids, fibre, iron, zinc and other minerals and micro nutrients. The FAO points out that more consumption of edible insects worldwide could help improve food and nutritional security as well as prevent many diseases that are products of malnutrition.

www.npr.org

Insects are part of the diets of about 2 billion people worldwide and the reason we don’t eat them in most of the Western world is largely cultural. There is the issue of the "ick factor." In the United States we think of bugs as dirty, as pests, and culturally as part of the diet of more “primitive” people. Now eating insects doesn’t necessarily mean picking bugs out of your garden and chowing down. There would have to be FDA regulations since many insects can carry disease and those not raised for food could also be exposed to pesticides. Megan Miller also points out that insects do not need to be eaten whole. The emerging trend of cricket flour is a way to get the benefits without as much of the "ick factor." Some companies are beginning to incorporate insects in to protein bars and view this as a way to ease people in to eating insects. As Gabi Lewis, co-chief executive officer of Exo, puts it "sushi did it with the California roll, an easy, introductory vehicle to ease people into the idea of raw fish. That's how we view this protein bar. It's the gateway bug."

Besides efficiency, sustainability, and nutritional benefits, the U.N. report emphasizes another benefit of eating bugs: it could lower the average cost of food globally by 33%.  That number is nothing to turn up your nose at, especially when considering a future with 9 billion humans on the planet. Just some food for thought.

photograph by Julian Woods for Bloomberg Businessweek

The Passing of a Fashion Icon

Renowned fashion designer Oscar de La Renta died this Monday at age 82.  Besides dressing countless stars on the red carpet, Oscar de La Renta designed outfits for several first ladies including Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. According to The Daily Beast :

 "Oscar de La Renta's name is practically synonymous with "First Lady" fashion- his obituaries identify him as someone who "dressed" president's wives. But more than dress Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush ("fashion is non-political and non-partisan," he once said), de la Renta shaped, changed, and altered our ideas of what the First Lady of the United States should - and could- wear... he cultivated a sort of 'first lady' style that has dominated for decades: tasteful, impeccably made, and above all pretty."

Here are some of photos and articles commemorating his influence on the Washington catwalk.

Jackie Kennedy

www.susannavaris.com

Nancy Reagan

             

Hillary Clinton at the the Second Inaugural Ball for her husband

www.huffingtonpost.

Laura Bush and Cindy McCain both in Oscar de La Renta at the 2008 Republican National Convention

In the New York Times the article "Never Mind the Parade, What Did They Wear?" discusses the anticipation for Laura Bush wearing Oscar de La Renta as her second inaugural gown.

The Bush's were such big fans of the designer that they introduced "Oscar de la Renta: Five Decades of Style" at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas this summer.

Another New York Times article mentions the debate over Ann Romney's dress at the Republican National Convention. 

"The choice of what to wear on the convention stage was apparently the subject of much behind-the-scenes wrangling between Mrs. Romney and some of her husband's advisors... she told reporters that she was surprised to learn the political team thought it should weigh in on her fashion choices... In the end the de la Renta outfit won."

style.time.com

 A big fuss was made when Michelle Obama finally wore Oscar de la Renta. To the fashion world it seemed a slight to the designer that Michelle Obama did not wear Oscar de la Renta during her first five and a half years in the white house and, in fact, there were some snarky comments made on Mr. de la Renta's part on the subject. When Michelle wore a de la Renta dress to the cocktail party after the White House Fashion Education Workshop it made a statement. The New York Times says that "for the last seven years, the first lady's clothing has been the subject of intense scrutiny, which she has leveraged pretty effectively. She wore the de la Renta dress at the public event, in front of most of the United States fashion world. There's no way she wasn't aware of the messaging potential of the moment."

Fighting Balrogs and Bullying

www.stonewall.org.uk

 Stonewall is a gay rights advocacy group and their Education for All campaign "helps tackle homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools." Recent research for Stonewall has found that 55% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual pupils have experienced direct bullying in Britain's schools. 86% of teachers surveyed in secondary schools have witnessed homophobic bullying against students, 36% of teachers reported that they had heard homophobic language used by other staff members, and only 17% said that they have received any guidance in how to deal with homophobic bullying among students.

The ever awesome Sir Ian McKellen has been touring schools in the U.K. on behalf of Stonewall, of which he is co-founder. He recently visited Chew Valley School to congratulate them on their Equalities Team and their work against bullying.  The school reported:

"In a series of mesmerizing addresses and question and answer sessions he talked movingly about his own personal history in the context of changing attitudes and legislation in relation to gay rights. Whilst celebrating the undoubted progress he has witnessed in his own life-time he urged Chew Valley students to continue to be a beacon for civilized attitudes and behavior."

McKellen also provided an important warning to students of what would happen if they did not do their school work. Listen to the man!

Style That Offends More Than Just The Eyes

Retail stores are constantly turning out new products in attempts to meet demand and stay ahead in a highly competitive industry.  Unfortunately, such rapid design and manufacturing of products means that not all of the items are screened thoroughly and some of the final merchandise is in very poor taste.  When I say “in poor taste” I do not mean that these items are in last seasons styles, are ugly, are cheaply made, or might be considered immodest.  I mean that I find these products to be outright offensive. Luckily so do thousands of other people across the Internet. Outcry on social media can quickly call attention to a brand’s insensitivity.

According to Yahoo “Social media certainly plays a part in raising awareness for a brand’s ethical and social responsibility. Consumers understand their power to call things out more than ever before… All it takes is one unhappy customer to trumpet these types of social injustices… we’re living in an age of instant media… which means that brands need to be more self-aware.”

One of the main items in question in the Yahoo article was a "punk rock ring for men" released by Sears. What made it punk rock? It had a swastika on it.

www.washingtontimes.com

The immediate backlash across Twitter and Facebook following the release of an offensive product can cause a company to pull it as quickly as possible and often leads to a public apology.  This consequence, while not severe, could damage a retailer’s public image and so will hopefully encourage more careful thought about the message sent by their products. 

There have been quite a few interesting shirts sold (and discontinued) over the past several years. Let’s take a look!

Check out this headline: Urban Outfitters apologizes for its blood-red-stained Kent State sweatshirt

Another tasteful release from that company, their “Eat Less” t-shirt. 

nypost.com

We have a couple lovely selections marketed towards young girls that completely devalue their intelligence.
Here's one from the Children's Place which reads "My Best Subjects: Shopping, Music, Dancing, Math." Each item is checked off except for math and below it is printed "Well, nobody's perfect"

nymag.com

And another from JC Penny that says "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me."

nypost.com

I believe that these companies should be free to print whatever they want per The First Amendment.  Consumers are also free not to buy these products and to speak out against them and I fully encourage them to exercise that right.

Race in Shondaland

ABC Television's Thursday prime time slots are filled by “Grey’s Anatomy,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” and “Scandal.” What do these shows all have in common besides high ratings? Shonda Rhimes.

Rhimes is the executive producer of “How to Get Away with Murder” and the creator of “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” All three of these shows have female leads. Two of these leads are African American.  Before the premiere of “Scandal” in 2012, the last network drama to have a black female lead was “Get Christie Love!” which ran from 1974-1975. An article in The New Yorker states that in “Scandal,” the main character “Olivia Pope’s ethnicity is a non-issue; the show never refers to it. This places ‘Scandal’ in contrast to ‘The Good Wife,’ another network procedural, but one that is set in an Obama-haunted Chicago, and quite explicit about racial politics, as well as about institutional racism and white guilt.”

www.foxnews.com

Shonda Rhimes graces the cover of this month's issue of The Hollywood Reporter.  In the interview with Rhimes in that issue it becomes clear that she doesn’t want to focus on race in her personal career any more than she does in her television shows.

            “Shonda Rhimes read a draft announcement for an event where she was set to appear. It called her ‘the most powerful black female showrunner in Hollywood.’ She crossed out ‘female’ and ‘black’ and sent it back… ‘They wouldn’t say that someone is the most powerful white male showrunner in Hollywood… I find race and gender to be terribly important; they’re terribly important to who I am. But there’s something about the need for everybody else to spend time talking about it… that pisses me off.”

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 Kerry Washington, the star of "Scandal," has a different approach to the topic of race. In an interview with The Guardian Washington says:

“I don’t believe in post-racial. It’s like saying we should live in a post-gender world. But I love being a woman! I am interested in living in a post-sexist world and feel the same about race. I don’t want to live in a post-race world because being black is really exciting… it’s who I am… I’m interested in living in a post-racist world, where being African American doesn’t dictate limitations on what I can do, but I don’t want to live post-race. Our differences are so fascinating and wonderful. We don’t want to all be the same. Who wants that?”

Now that I have ignored Ms. Rhimes' desires and focused on the topic of race in her work, I'm going to step back and take a little look at Shondaland (the name of Rhimes' television empire) by the numbers. The season premieres of "Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder" dominated all other non-sports television in the ratings on Thursday night.  "Scandal" drew 11.9 million viewers and "How to Get Away with Murder" debuted to 14 million viewers. Race may still be a hot topic and racism an ever present issue, but Shonda Rhimes' television shows have proven that good character development, exciting story lines, and excellent acting are more important to a show's success than the gender and color of its star.

Gender Issues in the Ceremonial First Pitch

blogs.voanews.com

A 1996 article from The Atlantic examines how doing something "like a girl" has become synonymous with doing it badly.  More specifically the article looks at baseball and what "throwing like a girl" means. Bill and Hillary Clinton both threw the first pitch in different baseball games on April 4th of 1996. Newspapers got a kick out of comparing the throws of the president and the first lady. 

The article in The Atlantic comes to the conclusion that "the crucial factor is not that males and females are put together differently but that they typically spend their early years in different ways. Little boys often learn to throw without noticing that they are throwing. Little girls are more rarely in environments that encourage them in the same way." The article also states that skills such as sports are easier to learn when younger and that anyone, male or female, will have a harder time learning them later in life. So this idea of girls throwing badly "is not gender, it's acculturation."

www.politico.com

One question that came to mind as I read this article was "what would the response have been if Hillary Clinton had not thrown like a girl?" A first lady had never before thrown the first pitch at a baseball game. Hillary Clinton was already symbolically breaking established gender norms within the political world.  The behavior of political leaders is so closely scrutinized by the American public and the media that I cannot help but wonder if the Clintons were advised before the game on how exactly they should pitch. Throwing a pitch aggressively, as her husband did, could have affected Hillary Clinton's public image more negatively than throwing badly. Hillary Clinton's pitch has mostly faded from people's memories. Besides, there are other celebrities to make fun of as shown in the Time's list of the ten worst first pitches.