An Ode to my Baby Brother

Who is that dashing young man who looks like he belongs in a JC Penney ad? That, ladies and gentlemen, is my fabulous little brother.

He may or may not need a little cheering up today, and I want him to know how much I love him, so I feel that public humiliation via blog post is the appropriate course of action.

Baby Bro is one talented fellow. He plays the viola with a passion that you can see, hear, and feel. You know those people who become part of the instrument when they play? The people who exude a sound that says more than written words? Yeah, he's one of them. Plus he dabbles in violin, piano, oboe, and guitar, and every once in a while tries his hand at arrangement. He’s also president of his chapter of Modern Music Masters, an honor society for musicians.

But don’t confuse him with a dork who only knows what the music teacher hands him. Homeboy took my love for “Jude Love and a Semester Abroad” and ran with, developing into something of a music junkie. He collects records (yeah, real records) new and old, goes to concerts more often than I can count, and knows the perfect song or artist for any mood.

The kid is also a fantastic writer, wielding both the pen and the keyboard to craft words into art. Like any good angsty teen, he writes emo poetry deeper than his chocolate brown eyes, but he can also make an essay about the Teapot Dome Scandal more exciting that Mission: Impossible III.

So he’s good at the artsy subjects, right? Of course. He excels at English and rocks the socks off of Social Studies. He writes for the school paper and he’s currently obsessing over Model UN. Cool, for sure. A boy after my own heart.

And that’s where it ends, right? Artsy people don’t excel at math and science, right? WRONG. He kicks butt in every class. Calculus? No problem. Double duty with AP Chem and AP Physics? Didn’t even break a sweat. Okay, so he knows how to study. He can memorize and apply all of those rules that have always eluded me. I guess if you try hard enough, most people can.

But why stop there? Why only be a science geek in the classroom when you can do it in competition too? So he’s been on the Science Olympiad team for years, making things bubble and fly and multiply for the judges. It’s actually kind of exciting, if you’re into that. You know what else is exciting? Taking summer classes at the Dolan DNA Center (Watson and Crick, anyone?) just for fun. Or then hopping across Cold Spring Harbor and spending a summer doing research trying to find the genetic roots of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. And then compiling your data and presenting it. And then competing at the International Science and Engineering Fair.

So anything academic he touches turns to gold. Fine. Some people are like that. But those people have no friends because they are socially awkward and tape their glasses and wear pocket protectors. Alas, my brother is as charismatic as they come. If he’s not out playing manhunt, he’s having a movie night, or he’s cooking with his absolutely adorable girlfriend.

So he must be conceited. With all of that going on in his life, he must be too busy thinking about how awesome he is to care about anything else. And yet, somehow he finds a way. Yes, he does act like a 17 year old boy, usually every morning between the hours of 6 and 7 am, as can be confirmed by our mother. But when he’s not doing that, he’s politically active, sticking his nose in the business of practically every cause. He’s environmentally conscious, gathering up the waste paper that his school doesn’t recycle and doing it for them. And he knows more about global goings on than your average Political Science student.

And, as evidenced by the above photo, he’s not ugly.

Is there anything this kid doesn’t do? Yeah, he’s not so hot when it comes to gym class. Le sigh, I guess you can’t have everything.

The moral of the story is that I absolutely love my brother. He never ceases to amaze me. People always tell me that he looks up to me. What I don’t think he realizes is that I often look up to him. It’s hard being related to someone so perfect, and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone alerted the authorities if they heard us fighting. But I don’t think I would change it for anything. My brother is my role model, my best friend, and my partner in crime. And I just want him to know.

Love Your Body, Ladies!

Today is the National Organization for Women's 12th Annual Love Your Body Day!  According to NOW's website, "Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts -- lips, legs, breasts -- airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. TV shows tell women and teenage girls that cosmetic surgery is good for self-esteem. Is it any wonder that 80% of U.S. women are dissatisfied with their appearance?"

I usually hate my body.  I hate my nose; I think it's too bulbous.  My shoulders are too wide.  My arms are too flabby.  My boobs are too big.   My tummy sticks out too much.  I have love handles.  I have stretch marks.  My thighs more than touch.  I'm too hairy.  I hate my body.  Why?  Because someone told me that big noses, wide shoulders, flabby arms, shirts that don't fit, paunches, spare tires, uneven skin tone, thick thighs, and body hair aren't pretty.

But today, I love my body.  Today I choose to believe the random strangers, the ex boyfriends, and my best friend's sister-in-law's best friend: the people who told me that I am beautiful.  Because when it comes down to it, I am.  I love me and it doesn't matter that Ralph Lauren doesn't.

I admit that I'm about to go put on pants that make me look thinner, a black shirt that hides my bulge, tall red heels, and a fair amount of makeup.  But I understand why, and I know that with or without all of that I love me, I am proud of me, and I love my body!

So, ladies, take some time to love your body today.  And gentlemen, tell a girl in your life that you think she's beautiful.  It makes all the difference.

Don't Invite Any Zombies to a Celebration of Diwali

It's Diwali! For those of you who aren't familiar with that, Diwali is a festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists around the world. Of course, what Diwali actually celebrates differs depending on who you ask, but here's my shot at a quick and dirty Hindu Diwali story:

Once upon a time there was a king, and he had three queens. When he was ready to retire, he wanted to give the throne to his son Ram, but one of the queens really wanted her son to become king, so she redeemed a boon that the king owed her and forced him to banish Ram for 14 years. Her son wasn't too happy about that and wanted Ram to be king, but Ram wanted to obey his father. So Ram, his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshman set off into the woods. While they were there, the evil Ravan came and kidnapped Sita and took her to his kingdom in Lanka. Ram and Lakshman went and saved her, and by that time their banishment was over and they made their way back to their kingdom. The people were overjoyed and, because it was a new moon, they lit a rows of lamps to guide them home through the darkness.

So, what does this festival of lights mean? Well, we still light lamps representative of the ones that led the way to Ram's coronation, but to me it's more about symbolic light, best represented in my favorite Sanskrit mantra:


Om asato ma sad gamaya, tamso ma jyotir gamaya, mrityorma mritam gamaya.
Lead us from falsehood to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.

Diwali is a time to think about the past year and the next one, and to be with family, and eat good food. For me, it's always been a relatively quite holiday, one we've always celebrated at home without a great deal of hooplah. But the decorations and singing of songs and exchange of sweets always has a special place in my heart.

Diwali is also a time when I stop to think about what it means to me to be of Indian descent. Being devoted to interfaith plurality, my own interpretation of Hinduism is always on my mind, developing and changing with my own spiritual needs. But being Indian isn't something I think about a lot. Sometimes I forget that I'm not one of the Caucasian majority. But Diwali's rich culture makes me appreciate it, even if it's not something I actively advertise.

As an American of Indian descent and a Hindu, I must say that I really appreciated President Obama's recognition of Diwali this year. It is true that Diwali was celebrated in the White House under our last president, but he never attended the ceremony. This year, Obama actually lit a lamp himself under the watchful eye of a Hindu priest, and also released an official Diwali greeting, asking Americans to "join together across denominations, religions, and cultures to make habit of empathy and reach out to those most in need, to share the blessings we enjoy, and advance the cause of peace in all corners of our world," a true Diwali-esque sentiment if I've ever heard one.

Home Grown

We've really been trying to get out and pick some fresh fruits, and we finally got around to it! Unfortunately, Richard couldn't get away from the office, but last week Katie, Aaron and I ventured out East in the search of some YUMMY.

We actually intended to go apple picking, and while the apple season does extend into October, it seems that we missed the boat on that one. We wound up a place that had all kind of different fruit trees. Their deal was that you pay a ten dollar deposit to go into the orchard with a bag, and then pick to your heart's content. Fruit is one dollar per pound. If you pick less than ten pounds, you're SOL; if you pick more, you pay the difference.

We had an amazing time going up and down the rows, exploring the trees. It was mostly peaches, although we did encounter a few other fruits. It was so much fun climbing and picking and skipping around. We retrieved nine or so pounds of peaches, plus a few apples and nectarines, and the lady threw in a few more to round us out at just over ten pounds, which seems like an incredible deal to me.

We left there on the search for a farm that advertised garlic. We found it, and soon realized that the garlic was actually a one weekend festival, but we were still able to take this lovely picture:

We were on the lookout for goat cheese. Katie insisted that there was a roadside stand that boasted great goat cheese, but we never found it. Instead, we fell upon Pindar wineries. I expected it to be on the pricey side, but their tasting was actually very reasonable. For $4 you are able to select up to five wines, and for $5 you get a package of Carr Table Water Crackers and cheese. Since we couldn't find the cheese stand, Katie asked for a sun-dried tomato basil goat cheese to accompany our wine, and it was a very excellent choice.  The cheese and crackers were delicious, and trying all of the different wines was a lot of wine.  We even got coupons for a free tasting at Duck Walk, another vineyard in the area.

It really was an incredible day.  I tend to forget that I live in such an amazing place, and it's good to be reminded that I need to appreciate it and take advantage of it.

Yuppie in Training

With a sore throat and a bag full of freshly picked peaches, I had two missions Tuesday night: make a soup and a peach crumble.

I fully succeeded in both, all while making myself and my roomies the happiest little AmeriCorps!

I, logically, started off with the soup. I recipe called for more veggie stock than I had, so I improvised and split the difference with water and champagne. With the combination of the bubbly and the wine that the recipe called for, it came out tasty pretty wine-y, which Richard and I both liked, but putting in the right amount of stock and switching out the Riesling I used for a red or a dryer white are both experiments I plan to try.

I found that the pepper I used season it kind of sank to the bottom, so some spoonfuls for really popping while others weren’t. I don’t know what to do about that, but if you have some pepper secrets, please share!

I would’ve liked to have broiled the bread and cheese right on the soup, but we don’t have good bowls, so I toasted up some baguette with a blend of mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan.

The recipe said that the soup keeps really well, and  the bowl I had for lunch yesterday certainly was delicious.

After dinner, I got started with out peaches. I didn’t want to do a traditional peach cobbler because I wanted a crumble more than a crust. I’m pretty certain I made the right decision because I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews thus far.

I was really afraid that our wonky oven was totally going to ruin it by burning some parts and leaving others uncooked, but it came out as close to perfect as I could hope for.  The edges are all crispy and caramelized, the crumble is light and well-spiced, and the peaches are juicy and delicious!

While I am very proud of my two wonderful creations, I am fairly certain that my favorite part of the night is that I did it all in a little dress with a cocktail in hand.  I was one happy domestic goddess!

Cloudy With a Chance of Fresh Produce

This morning Christine, the Director of Family Services, called me to let me know that she had brought in a bag of fruits and veggies that were free for the taking, and of course I immediately ran down the stairs to battle it out with Beth and Richard over who would get the parsnips and apples. The selection was really beautiful, made even more so, I'm sure, by the simple fact that it was all locally grown, and I'm crazy about that right now.

I settled for this gorgeous pair of pears:

I call them Lucy and Fred.

Just a few hours later, Christine called again to let me know that the soup kitchen by us had a large abundance of veggies that they wanted us to help take off of their hands. So Aaron and I went over and ended up with a big basket of yellow and green zucchinis, and a bag of tomatoes and eggplants.

They don’t have names, but I am so super excited for zucchini fries and eggplant parm!

Side note, it is also raining walnuts at the office, but I don’t know if they are really edible. They just make crazy thunking noises when they fall to the ground every time the wind blows, which, right now, is just about always.

It's like a violent game of dodge ball out there!

Hello, Sunshine!

I was feeling just a smidge under the weather this morning, but I have a lot of goals for today, and I knew I needed to be energized.

So I made myself a cup of Traditional Medicinals Organic Lemon Echinacea Throat Coat Herbal Tea, turned "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti on repeat, and sat down to browse my Google Reader.

I took half an hour to just set myself up for the day, and it definitely did the trick. I'm ready to tackle that pile of sticky notes!

World Habitat Day!

It's World Habitat Day!

Advocacy isn't really something this affiliate focuses strongly on (which is something I hope to change) so we don't have a special event planned for today, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take a moment to think about it.

Habitat for Humanity is an amazing organization that has built more than 300,000 houses world-wide in its 33 years. It's an organization that I love and hope to support throughout my life.

One of my goals for this year is to learn as much as I can about HFH, and I thought today was a perfect opportunity to do some research on international affiliates. I've discovered that while we at Suffolk tend to focus on our income cap, many international affiliates are focused on their income minimum. Dan, our executive director, was telling me that when he went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic the affiliate didn't have an income cap. With practically everyone living in substandard housing the affiliate was essentially looking for anyone who had land to build on and could afford the mortgage, including their board president.

I also found that HFH is becoming more and more involved with the concept of microfinancing, an idea that I am very much in love with. Habitat works with microfinance institutions (MFIs) in a few different ways, including outsourcing credit service so that partner families' loans are managed by these institutions, thereby helping both the family and the MFI. They also have a program called Building in Stages, where homes are built one stage at a time with a small loan that needs to be paid off each time in order to start the next stage.

Of course, I love my experiences with Habitat Suffolk and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be serving the community that I have called my home for virtually my entire life, but learning about the larger vision of Habitat International always makes me energized.

You don't have to love Habitat as much as I do, but I hope you'll take the time to consider supporting the HFH mission.

It's Not a Fight. It's a Good Old War.

Back in May, my brother and I went with some friends to a Straylight Run concert. Sadly, Straylight Run minus Michelle was pretty underwhelming, but, in my opinion, one of the opening bands, Good Old War, completely stole the show.

I can't find a good description of their style anywhere online, but if you ask me, I'd say Good Old War sounds like your favorite book and a tall glass of lemonade on the porch with just the right amount of sunshine and a faint breeze. Their guitar, keys, and drums, plus the occasional accordion and synth, are the perfect complement to their lush three part harmonies. The folky rock sound was made to be sung along to, and gives me exactly what I'm looking for during a long drive, when I'm getting ready for a night out, or when I'm breaking out the frying pan.

Since seeing them in May, I'd been looking forward to the concert they were playing tonight on Long Island. Due to a series of events, some more unfortunate than others, I ended up not going. But I did spend a good portion of my day rocking out to their album, Only Way to Be Alone, and I'd like to share the love:

"Just Another Day" by Good Old War

From a Mess to the Masses

I have declared today a Good Music Day.  I mean, every day should, of course, be a good music day, but today I will actively ensure that it is indeed.

With an early start, a few planned expeditions, a dinner adventure with the roomies, our first Executive Board Meeting, and then the drive home to pack for my rainy weekend in Syracuse for Homecoming... I need it!

So, here is my gift to you: Phoenix, a fabulous French band.  They've been around for a while but have only just made their way to my ears, which is lamentable because they are just so good!

Lisztomania/Think less but see it grow/Like a riot, like a riot, Oh !/
I'm not easily offended/It's not hard to let it go/From a mess to the masses

"Lisztomania" always has me rocking out, be it in my car, in the living room, or at my desk at the office.  It hasn't failed as a pick-me-up.

Phoenix is on their way up.  They performed on SNL, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Letterman, and Conan.  Their song "1901" is in the new commercial for the 2010 Cadillac SRX and in the trailer for New York, I Love You, the Americanish version of Paris, je t'aime.

Plus, the album name, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is just plain kickass.

Enjoy!