OOJ: edible revolutionary war diorama

this student masterpiece is his representation of the revolutionary war.

he was a little fuzzy on what's exactly going on here, but he says that

marshmallow in the upper right corner is benjamin franklin.

OOJ: Gangnam Style

tears pricked at my allergy-parched eyes as i drove home from work today. the reason: for the first time in my life, i was hearing an asian language pop song on mainstream US radio. it was similar to the moment i first saw a little white kid wearing an ichiro mariners jersey in seattle- after having grown up w/ppl telling me that asians were nerds/boring/unathletic/etc., here was a sign of recognition by mainstream society that, yes, asians can be cool. bruce lee, while undisputedly universally cool, is not exactly current. think about it: how many asian celebrities can most ppl name? and by "name", i mean actually state his/her name- not, "well, there's that asian guy on Lost." 

now we have Psy- a megastar rapper from south korea who logged in hours as a student at the berklee college of music and boston univ. Psy's "Gangnam Style" is "sweeping the nation", according to the perpetually tanned ryan seacrest . when ryan seacrest uses that phrase to describe your song, you know you've gotten your 15 minutes of fame (and a possible future slot on B-list celebrity reality shows). Psy even made an appearance at the VMAs, the freakin' epicenter of american pop culture- when else have we ever heard anyone speaking an asian language from the stage of the VMAs??? 

as Psy makes the rounds of american talk shows, i'm a little worried that he is nothing more than a momentary pet of the fickle american media, an exotic creature from overseas who does a funny dance and makes ppl laugh. when the media tires of him, he'll go back to being a superstar in south korea. but for now, while there's a korean pop song (which really sounds no different than any LMFAO track) in the rotation on an abq radio station, i'll feel like there's something on the airwaves that represents me. 

listen for yourselves:
"Gangnam Style" by Psy

Song of the Day: Lianne La Havas, "Is Your Love Big Enough?"

it's been months since i've heard something that grabbed at my insides, but here is young (23) British songwriter/guitar player Lianne La Havas, who's playing with Alicia Keys at the London iTunes festival. oh to be young + gorgeous + talented + noticed. 

"Is Your Love Big Enough?"
"Age"

i hate listening to white people talk about cultural competency

today i gritted my teeth through a mandatory "New Mexico Cultural and Linguistic Competency" training. while i'm all for ppl not acting stupid towards other ppl, i hate how theoretical and depersonalized these trainings are. we are told that racism happens (*gasp*), but we aren't asked to consider how we ourselves commit racist and oppressive acts against others. i put my time to good use though: i punched out a few sheets of paper stencils and used the scraps to create this lovely piece of art.

OOJ: Uh, is that a milk jug on the highway?

found this smack in the middle of the villanueva exit ramp off I-25S.

i'm dying to know the story of how it got there. 40 minutes later it was gone.

Hatch Chile Festival

this past wkend, we made the 3 hr drive south to Hatch, NM, home of the beloved Hatch green chile pepper. we watched with mouths open as trucks carrying chile worshippers from TX, AZ, and CA lined up to buy sack after giant sack of chile peppers, their truckbeds lined with open coolers waiting to receive roasted chile goodness. Hatch residents claim their tastebuds can tell a Hatch green chile apart from other (lesser) green chiles, that it has a different flavor from other peppers. i don't know enough about peppers to confirm this, but i know i've never seen so many ppl drive from so far to stock up on one specific food. 

chile ristras- decorative clusters of peppers found hanging outside doors of homes throughout NM