A thoughtful Thanksgiving with new friends.

I was not able to fly home for Thanksgiving this year. It was just too darn expensive.

I missed seeing my family, but I was very fortunate to spend Thanksgiving at Gin Ferrara and David Pepper's home. (You might recognize Gin because she is the executive director of Wide Angle Youth Media.)


The menu consisted of: turkey, Italian sausage stuffing, sweet potatoes, asparagus, squash, homemade rolls, a heavenly version of a cranberry sauce that was to-die-for, pecan pie tarts, creamy squash bars, and Berger cookies. It was perfect! I even got to watch part of a French werewolf movie and all of the most-fantastic Interstella 5555!!

I (heart) asparagus!

I think asparagus should be in season year-round and paired with everything. Aside from it's beautiful color and playful, pointed tips, asparagus tastes fabulous with very little effort!!


Soak 2 lbs of asparagus in ice-cold water.


Nip the ends.


Lay out on a baking sheet.


Toss with a good olive oil, coating each stalk evenly.


Sprinkle with Kosher salt and black pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Yummy crunchy goodness!!

One hot potato . . .

My duty for Thanksgiving was to prepare the vegetables.

I love to cook. And, vegetables are actually something that I generally don't do a lot of--not from a fresh source, at least. So, I welcomed the challenge.

I chose a Thanksgiving standard (sweet potatoes), and something a little out of season (asparagus). But, the colors and taste were fantastic!


We'll start with the sweet potatoes, recipe courtesy of Sunny Anderson. (I'll sink my teeth into any vegetable containing a large amount of brown sugar and marshmallows.) Oh, and see that tiny knife off in the distance? When chopping up sweet potatoes, make sure to have a good knife on hand, or prepare to do battle with the potatoes. Most of my cooking knives are in Austin, TX. This makes for difficult times when cooking in Baltimore, MD.


Ingredients.
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups of brown sugar
1.5 cups of water
2.5 pounds of sweet potatoes
1 lemon, sliced and seeded
3 cups of marshmallows (I used the whole bag!)


Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir in brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then lower and simmer while stirring until reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes.

Peel potatoes and cut lengthwise, then again making long quarters. Cut these into 1-inch pieces. Place in a separate large pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes. (Potatoes should give a bit when poked with a fork.)

Drain the potatoes and arrange in a single layer, buttered 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Pour the syrup over the potatoes, making sure it covers the potatoes.


Place lemon slices on top and bake for 35 minutes, spooning syrup over potatoes twice during that time. Potatoes are done when they are tender to the fork.


Remove the lemon slices and top with marshmallows. Place back in the oven at 400 degrees until the marshmallows puff up and turn brown--just about 10 more minutes.

ENJOY!!

Flashback: April 1997

My first painting show, Home is Where The Art is, in the Flood Gallery at The University of Texas at Austin. Each wall was a different room in a house--in this image, I am standing in the living room. Very sculptural paintings, used a lot of plexiglass and GAC. The bed was my favorite. You can't see it here. But, it was made out of four 3 x 4 foot canvases, and contained a comforter woven out of an older painting.

I love you, Sarah Canright!

Fun days.

Guest artist Natalie Tranelli woos my YMF students . . .

On Wednesday night, I welcomed a guest artist and photographer to facilitate our Youth Media Festival class . . .

Natalie Tranelli is one of my MICA MACA classmates. She is from Pittsburgh (like Andy Warhol). She taught the students how to use a Gigapan camera to shoot large-scale panoramic self-portraits.

They also wrote a poem about where they are from to accompany the photo, using a Where I'm From poetry prompt.

The students had a great time! We will hang the images and poems as banners for the Who Are you? Youth Media Festival.

Look for my student's self-portraits here soon!

Below is my version of the Where I'm From poem.




Where I'm From by Lindsey Bailey

I am from taco stands, Whole Foods, and pot-smoking hippies. From liberal people, record stores, color-filled excitement.

I am from the big sky country, beautiful sunrises: pink and orange. From quiet, coyote-filled pastures. Horses and cows, alpaca and ostrich.

I am from goats and chickens as pets and barking pit bulls. I am from Day of The Dead and tailgate parties, from Ricki Annette and Thomas Charles, Irish-Sicilian roots.

I am from loud voices and opinionated demeanor, sense of humor and want to dance. From “the early bird gets the worm” and Santa Claus is coming . . . From cowboy boots and trailer parks. Put on a nice dress for mass.

I am from first communion and daisies in a bucket. From what in the hell are you talking about? Just be good, give back.

I'm from Austin, Texas and sunflowers as high as church steeples. From Barbeque and hamburgers that still moo. From recycling, Smart cars, Frisbee golf, and Segways.

From the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Longhorns, and who else matters? I am from playing with Barbies, Smurfs, and My Little Pony with my sister, Kerry while escaping my parents’ divorce.

I am from never having to wish for something I needed and being thankful for every minute of it.

Wisconsin for Christmas!

I'm going to Wisconsin to see Doug for Christmas! Hooray!

Medford is the best place to spend Christmas! Sleigh rides. Snow-shoeing. Hot toddies.

And, the Klingbeil's: I can't wait to see Sandy, Emma, and Ivy!

Yay snow!!

Chicken Boxes/Half & Half.

Because Quindell and I are collaborating on our project, I decided to buy him lunch/dinner. We had chicken boxes from Lexington Market. Fried chicken and thick-cut fries with half lemonade/half iced-tea to drink.

A taste of Baltimore . . . And, it is good.

(Props to Americorps, Frankie.)

Make Media Make a Difference.

Hey there, see that button over there? Yeah, that's the one, to your right on the blog . . .

It's a donation button for Wide Angle Youth Media. And, we need your help to keep doing what we're doing . . .

Wide Angle Youth Media is a 501c3 non-profit that provides Baltimore youth with opportunities to tell their own stories using video technology, public speaking, and critical thinking skills. Through after school programs, community events, our annual Who Are You? Youth Media Festival, and our youth-run television show, Wide Angle strives to make media make a difference.

The money we receive is used for equipment, snacks, transportation, and the rest of our necessities. We thank you for your generosity and hope that you will support this worthy cause.

Collaboration with Quindell.

My student Quindell and I are collaborating. And it's fantastic!

Creative conversation and call & response strategy led to an experiment . . .

I gave him three words to respond to with music: repetition, drum beats, and weird. He wrote the music and presented it to me. I had to make an artwork in response . . .

After listening to his music for 2 days in the studio, the visuals in my head resembled the following. Now, we are taking our creation a step further and collaborating on a stop-motion animation of the work.

Exciting? Absolutely!!! Can't wait to show it off!!

Sam Eats Chicken.

Wide Angle Needs Headphone Heroes!

In a dramatic turn of events, Wide Angle has found ourselves without a single working pair of
headphones for our studio! Without headphones, we can't record audio properly, and all our videos will be silent! While this could be interesting, we think you would prefer to hear our awesome soundtracks,
probing interviews, and new dramatic scenes as intended . . .

Please help us hear again by making a donation of a pair of external (not ear bud) headphones - contact us at info@wideanglemedia.org, or call 443-759-6700 to let us know you're coming by.

You can make a donation to our Headphone Heroes fund through our Paypal account: http://bit.ly/WAheadphone

All donations will be acknowledged and are much appreciated!

Can you say Gigipan?

On Monday of last week, I went with Natalie to shoot some images in East Baltimore. She was using a Gigipan. This is the most amazing little thing--robot, really. It captures giant panoramic images, vertical or horizontal. You aim the robot, and set the start place and finish place of your subject. Hit start and it does all the rest: capturing between 100 and however-many images that it later stitches together to create the panorama. Quite amazing to witness. Can't wait until she brings them to Wide Angle on November 18th and December 2nd for my students to play with!!