2020 #16: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (Nosrat)

 

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you loved the Netflix show, think of this as all the entertainment of that and twice the learning. I freely admit to referring to the author as "St. Samin of my Kitchen" and this book is my Kitchen bible. If you are a person who thinks they can't cook, read this book. But really read it--absorb it, take notes. Then PRACTICE. Eventually you will understand that those four elements: salt, fat, acid, heat are TRULY the keys to not just decent cooking, but great cooking. This book gave me a lot of confidence to go "off book" and start improvising more. A few of her recipes are now staples, like the Borani Esfanaj (Persian Spinach Yogurt), which takes me back to my childhood growing up in Los Angeles and frequenting Persian food restaurants with my dad. Also--that recipe alone is worth its weight in gold for this tip: placing cooked spinach on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet to prevent overcooking and discoloration (see p. 372). I've only just begun to try the actual recipes (the first half of the book is a how-to guide to cooking), but I can also highly recommend the Glazed Five-Spice Chicken (338-9), which is well-worth the overnight marinade.

Nosrat's writing style is welcoming and humorous--Wendy MacNaughton's illustrations keep things light and whimsical but still informative. Nosrat is self-effacing in recounting tales of her own learning and even if you think you don't LIKE to cook--spend some time with this book. You may change your mind.

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2020 #15: Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? (Tatum)

 

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is one that I will return to time and time again as a reference, but it is also just an outstanding read to understand race and how it operates in society. Dr. Tatum makes statistics resonate with profound impact in how those statistics translate to our daily lives and interactions. The revised edition with the extensive prologue is well worth reading. The different sections of the book explore not only definitions and statistics, but most importantly--contexts. Anyone who teaches (Kindergarten through college) should read this book. The sections on identity development and formation are absolutely key to creating an anti-racist context for teaching.

I found Chapter 10, "Embracing a Cross-Racial Dialogue" to be particularly potent. I've been struggling with how to negotiate the fear of fellow White people that I encounter regularly in many of the anti-racism initiatives in which I participate. Dr. Tatum suggested to a White woman who feared "anger and disdain from people of color" and thus kept silent: "that she needs to fight for herself, not for people of color." (332) This is key. Approval should not be the motivation for the work. Dr. Tatum makes clear that social justice is for ALL of us, not just for people of color. I also appreciated that she addresses the idea--one that I've heard MANY times--that somehow younger people have an "easier" time talking about racism. It is not EASIER. It may be, if anything, a sense of urgency that compels them to be more vocal.

There is so much nuance here as well--the section on multiracial identities is particularly helpful in really understanding the multiple levels in which race can operate within a person's identity. Dr. Tatum's work challenges White people to seek out and recognize the lived experience of people of color and to expand our social networks beyond our shared racial identities. Of all the books I've read this year, I think this is the one that is the most comprehensive (not that one can actually be completely comprehensive...) and is a must read for parents, teachers, and ANYONE who wants to have a better understanding of our social circumstances.

2020 #14: Oh She Glows Everyday (Liddon)

 

Oh She Glows Every Day: Simply Satisfying Plant-Based Recipes to Keep You Glowing from the Inside Out by Angela Liddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Between this one and Liddon's first book, The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out, it is this one I reach for more often. Having given a basic primer of pantry ingredients and techniques in the first one, she basically cuts to the chase and gets right to the recipes. The book has a more modern feel to it -- probably the lack of orange and green on the cover and the more elegant font. The cutesy titles persist, but I will tell you that the Green-Orange Creamsicle Smoothie does actually taste like a Creamsicle. My favorite recipe here is the Curried Chickpea Salad, which I could basically eat every day (and frankly, you'll skip the more boring chickpea salad in her first book once you try it). The Best Marinated Lentils are actually pretty spectacular and quite miraculously are single-handedly responsible for making me enjoy lentils. I was not that excited about the "Go-To Gazpacho". The Cast-Iron Tofu is very good, but a bit tedious to prepare. The Oh Em Gee Burgers were a lot of work without the return on investment that I would expect--stick with the burger recipe in the first book. The Comforting Red Lentil and Chickpea Curry is a showstopper and I recommend using the lentil-walnut filling for her "Green Taco Wraps" in actual tortillas, rather than lettuce leafs. I'm not much of a dessert person, so I haven't explored that section.

Overall the book is really useful and a lot of the recipes can be de-veganized (e.g. real cheese) if so desired. I think that smoothies take up too many pages because once you have an inspiration, you can really just improvise a smoothie, but that's a small complaint.

2020 #13: The Oh She Glows Cookbook (Liddon)

 

The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out by Angela Liddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you had told me a few years ago that I'd ever own a vegan cookbook, I might have laughed. It isn't that I have anything against veganism, but I am a fairly committed omnivore. But my best friend had been exploring moving increasingly toward a plant-based diet, so she got me this book for Christmas. As someone who actually does READ cookbooks, I feel confident in reviewing it here. Liddon has a very approachable, non-preachy style. She gives an overview to different types of oils, flours, and nuts, etc as well as techniques. I could do without some of the cutesy names for the recipes, but Liddon is also fairly self-aware of her tone: "I'm sure it sounds cliché coming from a vegan..." she tells us when she tells us how excited she is about the "Salads" section. The recipes are divided into sections: breakfast; smoothies, juice & tea; appetizers; salads; soup; entrées; sides; power snacks; desserts; and homemade staples. Very useful is the "basic cooking chart" which gives basic cooking times for lentils, quinoa and the like. The food photography is quite nice, and there are photos of Liddon and her husband peppered throughout the book. She does, in fact, seem to glow.

Of the recipes, strong standouts (that I tried) are: Healing rooibos tea, Sweet potato & Black bean enchiladas with avocado-cilantro "cream" sauce (scare quotes mine); Crowd-pleasing Tex Mex casserole, Our Favorite Veggie Burger. The Lentil Walnut loaf that some folks claim is "better than traditional meat loaf" is well...not better or worse, but definitely different. I felt it could have had better flavor, and I think I'd make the lentils in curry next time. I prefer more of the recipes in Oh She Glows Every Day: Simply Satisfying Plant-Based Recipes to Keep You Glowing from the Inside Out, Liddon's second book, but this is a solid cookbook for anyone looking to get into plant-based cookbook.

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2020 #12 A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal (Macintyre)

 

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you aren't a lover of tales of espionage (fictional or not), or if you don't have a vested interest in the historical figure of Kim Philby, this might be a slow read. I wound up with a copy of this book as a duplicate Christmas gift for someone else, and I decided to give it a go. It definitely picks up speed, but the first half of the book takes a (very) deep look at the intricate "good-ol-boy" networks of Great Britain's intelligence agencies and introduces us to the suave and sneaky Kim Philby and the very intelligent, but eventually-duped Nicholas Elliott. The book toggles between a story about relationships and a run-down of espionage systems and tactics.

If it weren't for the extensive notes at the end of the book it would be hard to believe that it is all true. Ben Macintyre's narrative is detailed, well-researched, and compelling. It becomes increasingly hard to believe that Philby was allowed to betray his country for so long, but more to the point--he had so many people charmed by his je ne sais quoi that they conveniently overlooked not just his espionage, but his abhorrent behavior as a human being.

It is a cautionary tale now -- networks such as these are not a thing of the past. Politics and intelligence agencies still run on nepotism. It is all to easy to characterize these as "Cold War" stories and fail to see the resonance in our present time. The suspense aspect grows exponentially as the book comes to a close, and it is an artful exploration of psychological manipulation and human frailty.

2020 #11: The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead)

 

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am really glad I read literally NOTHING about this book beforehand--no summaries, no reviews. As a friend said in her review, there are reminiscences of Gabriel García Márquez. In the event that someone doesn't know the main fictional point of the book, I won't post a "spoiler" here, but suffice it to say---I found it a tremendously effective device.

Now that I've read several reviews, I'm astonished at the amount of "I couldn't relate to the protagonist" comments and the like. I can't "relate" to the protagonist either--that's because I'm white. That doesn't mean I can't engage with her. I found that Cora's relative stoic demeanor helped ground the realism of the novel---when your life is a series of traumas (on a repeated loop, it would seem), you redefine "normal" so as to cope.

There are so many layers of tragedy in this book, but the one that Whitehead reveals near the end was personally very gut-wrenching. It tells us that a loss of faith (broadly interpreted) can shape our existence and understanding forever. This is a book full of lessons -- both historical and modern. If you read it just as a "story", I'd suggest that you are missing out.

2020 #10: Saha: A Chef's Journey through Lebanon and Syria (Greg & Lucy Malouf)

 

Saha: A Chef's Journey Through Lebanon and Syria [Middle Eastern Cookbook, 150 Recipes] by Greg Malouf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Part coffee table book, part travel journal, part cookbook, Saha: A Chef's Journey Through Lebanon and Syria Middle Eastern Cookbook, 150 Recipes is truly a wonderful volume to own. Matt Harvey's photography transports us to Syria and Lebanon, something valued even more so in this travel-restricted time. The rich prose that accompanies the recipes is by Lucy--she recounts their meetings with Arak makers, pine nut growers, peasant bread-bakers, ice cream makers, and more. All of this against a backdrop of smells, images, and sounds that she describes with great beauty, but not romanticized hyperbole. There are good days and then there are the harder days--tales with which anyone who has traveled for an extended period of time will empathize. There are a few slight editorial issues--a misspelling here or there, a word defined after it has already appeared several times--but these are minor. The book is a compelling journey---not just of a "a chef" as the subtitle implies--but also of Lucy. We experience much of it through her eyes, ears, and taste.

Then there are the recipes. I tried the "Swiss Chard with Crisp Fried Onion and Tahini Sauce", "Zucchini and Mint Fritters", "Lebanese Nut Rice" and "Monk's Salad with Garlicky Dressing." Tomorrow I step up my game and make my first kibbeh! And not just any kibbeh: "Zghorta-style kibbeh patties stuffed with cinnamon and pine nut butter." I'm slightly terrified, which is why I am writing this review NOW. At the end of the day, I figure I love all the ingredients in the recipe so if my kibbeh lacks a certain je ne sais quoi, hopefully it will still taste good.

It is worth noting that reading through the recipes will likely make your mouth water. The combinations of flavors seem to bring Lucy's prose to life and you feel lucky to have this touchstone to their travels. Now, if you don't have access to good spice stores, you might feel a bit frustrated. It would seem Chef Malouf is not a fan of substitutes---that's not to say he's dogmatic in his recipes, but what is missing is a "resources" section. You aren't likely to find "pistachio halawa" (for example) or even orange blossom water in your standard American supermarket. Sometimes the harder-to-find (in the US) ingredients are marked "optional" so you can feel ok about making your Lebanese Lemonade Sorbet without Turkish apple tea. But I honestly don't know where to find katalfi pastry or even ground sumac -- that is not to say I won't try! There are also several recipes where you have to make a recipe on another page FIRST. There are times where this is appropriate, but others where if you haven't planned ahead, you will find you do not have time to make two recipes for the price of one.

Overall, however, this is definitely not a cookbook you would ever want in a "Kindle" version. It is a package: the sights and sounds of the the restaurants, shops, landscapes are nestled in between the beautiful recipes. The pages provide beautifully designed backdrops that recall the gorgeous Islamic mosaics and designs that graced their travels. It is an experience. Lucy leaves the reader with the image that helps us understand what is truly important about reading and sharing in this book and its food:

"One by one, people got to their feet and I saw a young man behind me brush a tear from his eye as, old and young, men and women, Muslim and Christian, they started to sing Lebanon's national anthem. And for a few precious moments it was as if the whole of Lebanon was united in one voice."

2020 #9: So You Want To Talk About Race (Ijeoma Oluo)

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Because if you believe in justice and equality you believe in it all the time, for all people. You believe in it for newborn babies, you believe it in for single mothers, you believe in it for kids on the street, you believe in justice and equality for people you like and people you don't. You believe in it for people who don't say please. (204)

This is just one of many "mic drop" moments from Ijeoma Oluo in a book that is a terrific "primer" on racial dialogue (or sometimes, monologue--therein lies part of the problem). Oluo tackles the most common complaints and the stickiest topics: privilege, intersectionality, police brutality, affirmative action, school-to-prison pipeline, the "N" word, cultural appropriation, microaggressions, and more. If you know that person who says they aren't racist but also feels fragile when it comes to confronting these issues, this is probably a great book for them to read.

Oluo remains accessible, but not neutral. She speaks truth to power with patience. It takes courage to look at so many injustices and try to invoke them as "teachable moments" in the hope of creating understanding and action. To be sure, this isn't just about how to talk to that difficult relative or neighbor, but it is an important look at some of our most common failings that drive and create injustices--in our schools, in our communities, and in our homes.

But this isn't just a prescriptive book for white people. It is for everyone. Her chapter on the model minority myth does a really good job of explaining racism against Asian Americans, including (but not limited to), rendering a good chunk of "Asian" peoples as invisible (e.g. Pacific Islanders, Southeast Asians):

While every racial minority in the US in subject to harmful stereotyping, the model minority myth becomes hard to combat when it is not seen as harmful because the people most harmed by it are also made invisible by it. (194)

Occasionally Ijeoma peppers her prose with little bits of humor. When she writes about her mother and says "I am forever a bratty teenager in her presence" that reaches across to many adult daughters and their mothers. But for the most part, the talk is direct and very clear. She uses metaphors for understanding, but never lets them veer off topic. For white people---she lets us know we are racist. Full stop. Men in a patriarchy are sexist. Able-bodied people are ableist. "You can sometimes be all of these things at once," she reminds us. (217).

Oluo calls us to examine all our identities and ALL our moments: "...in reality we are both the culmination of those countless moments, and each moment individually in time." (217). If you find yourself reading this review and thinking "but, but, but" or rolling your eyes, please DO read this book. I think it will help you talk to yourself about race--and that is the first conversation that needs to happen before any others.

2020 #8: Tutoring Second Language Writers (eds. Bruce/Rafoth)

Tutoring Second Language Writers by Shanti Bruce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This anthology, edited by the same team as ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors is an excellent collection of essays--all of which have use for anyone who teaches L2 learners. There is a strong leaning toward incorporation of diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in various essays that consider the complexity of "competency", multiple frameworks, and "accommodationist" principles (Carol Severino, 2006). Some of the offerings are short, but potent, such as Jose L. Reyes Medina's "Some Things I Did to Help Myself Learn to Write." Others, like Rebecca Babcock's "Examining Practice: Designing a Research Study" and case studies in Puerto Rico, as well as working with specific identities (such as Jocelyn Amevuvor's "Building A Cultural Bridge Between Ghana and the United States in the Writing Center") have more striking relevance in the writing center context. Those who are new to the concept of multi-faceted identity and how that informs a student's experience will appreciate Ben Rafoth's "Second Language Writers, Writing Centers, and Reflection," which, taking its cue from Harris and Silva (1993), recognizes the "diversity of concerns" of the L2 student. Likewise, Michelle Cox outlines the different facets of identity: those which we are born with, those we inherit, those we create, and those constructed for us as key to understanding how to address the multiple challenges of teaching a non-monolithic group of students who are nevertheless categorized as "ESL" (see her essay "Identity Construction, Second Language Writers, and the Writing Center."

As a teacher, the set of the essays that make up the fourth part ("Academic Expectations") was most useful. Valerie Balester reinforces the idea that understanding multiple identities is key to providing an equitable and inclusive experience for L2 students: "In truth, no single approach works, and applying a single approach to all L2 writers/speakers regardless of their needs, desires, or learning preferences, simply because we assume learning English grammar means learning English rhetoric, would constitute Othering." (200-- See Balester, "Tutoring Against Othering: Reading and Writing Critically"). Beyond philosophical considerations, Balester also provides helpful and concrete ways to use meaning to discuss local (lower-order) concerns in a student's writing. While Jennifer Craig's essay "Unfamiliar Territory: Tutors Working with Second Language Writers on Disciplinary Writing" addresses working with students outside one's own discipline, it is very helpful in understanding the challenges of building a general language proficiency and a disciplinary lexicon at the same time--not to mention writing conventions, tone, and style. Primyupa W. Praphan and Guiboke Seong's "Helping Second Language Writers Become Self-Editors" reconsiders "error correction" and its role in the tutoring experience. The authors also help clarify distinctions such as pragmatic errors vs. grammatical errors and recommend a set of strategies for before, during, and after a tutoring session. These principles are easily applied (and should be) to anyone who is assessing/reading L2 learners' writing. This last essay is particularly important as there are several alarming examples (throughout the book) of instructor/professor commentary on student papers that is ego-maniacal, counter-productive, and glaringly unhelpful in its Othering or complete cultural incompetency. In the context of the book the authors see the Writing Center as a place that mitigates this ignorance/bias on the part of the instructors, but teachers would do well to curb these practices at the outset.


Cross-posted at Musical Miscellaneous Mayhem

2020 #7: Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking

Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook by Toni Tipton-Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To categorize this solely as a cookbook would not even come close to capturing this work of art. It is an exquisitely-written history that intertwines a wealth of research, nostalgia (in the best way), and a "larger vision of African American culinary history" (311) that both embraces and expands beyond soul food and the standard narrative. Toni Tipton-Martin says:

And I have tried to end dependency on the labels "Southern" and "soul," and on the assumptions that limit my ancestors' contributions to mindlessly working the fields where the food was grown, stirring the pot where the food was cooked, and passively serving food in the homes of the master class. (13)

There is no clichéd history here. Instead, Tipton-Martin crafts a story of urban enclaves in Los Angeles, Louisiana kitchens, Civil War plantations, West African villages, "African botanical heritage" (15), segregated black towns in Kansas...all of it, she says, to "help you see some of the ways dishes and styles have evolved over time, spurring your imagination, broadening your perception of the black culinary experience." (17) She picks up the unfinished work of Arthur (Arturo) Schomburg, the Afro-Puerto Rican historian who started an outline that would celebrate "black cooking as an expression of black achievement." (14)

Tipton-Martin sees all the moving parts of history--the shifting narratives, the untold stories, and the hegemonic stereotypes (e.g. Aunt Jemima). I have not yet read her The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, but that is absolutely going on the list of must reads. Jubilee is fully deserving of its awards on merit of the narrative alone, but then there are the recipes...

For the uninitiated (like myself), there are some surprises in store. Despite two lengthier trips to New Orleans, I learned that "'Barbecue shrimp' is just the name Louisiana Creole cooks assigned to shrimp braised in wine, beer, or a garlic-butter sauce." My Italian grandma would have recognized the recipe as what she called "scampi" with...Worcestershire sauce. There are several wonderful meat recipes I haven't tried yet, but I've dug into some of the veggie ones. The "Braised Summer Squash with Onions" pairs rosemary, bacon drippings, and patience for probably the only summer squash I've ever actually enjoyed. The "Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad with Curried Dressing" might make you rethink your dislike of raw vegetables (do make this one ahead, however, unless you like very sweet mayonnaise--the sugar needs time to dissolve and draw out the flavor from the veggies). There are "classics" too, including an absolutely terrific "Country-Style Potato Salad" that will be my "go-to" recipe henceforth. Split into sections on appetizers, beverages, breads, soups & salads, sides & vegetables, main dishes, and desserts, it is hard not to keep this book on the kitchen counter everyday.

What is also very striking is how Tipton-Martin steps back (unlike so many other cookbook authors), and amplifies ancestral voices, colleagues' voices, and steps back in just to put in her own twist here and there. The photos by Jerrelle Guy and Eric Harrison are stunning. The food and its history take center stage.

And back to the barbecue shrimp-meets-scampi. As with many of the sentences she writes, Tipton-Martin packs in a lot of punch that reminds those of us who are not part of the African diaspora why we need to read the book:

When I tied all these diasporic practices together, I observed a culinary IQ that is both African and American, the very definition of fusion cooking. You might think this intelligence is not all that different when compared to other world cuisines. And you would be right. But the idea that African Americans shared these qualities with the rest of society has been ignored for far too long. (italics mine) (15)

And as much as there are common threads, there is also a "distinct African American canon" (14) that celebrates the creative force of hard truths, ingenious spirit, and culinary artistry that is the tapestry of African American food.

2020 #6 The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander)

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is frustrating, in some sense, that so many people, myself included, are so late to reading and understanding the ramifications of this book, which was first published in 2010, with a revised edition in 2012.

Alexander clearly establishes that the legal system (from arrest to incarceration to post-incarceration) is not just a failure, but has both solidified and intensified a deeply entrenched racial caste system in the U.S. She explains the hows and the whys of the workings of this system with thorough evidence from legislation, court documents, prison studies, and news sources. She calls out the war on drugs, apathy, colorblindness, performativity, black exceptionalism--and this is one of the reasons it is such a valuable read. She ties it all together to show how the three distinct phases of mass incarceration: 1) the roundup, 2) formal control and 3) post-prison "invisible" punishment forms an undercaste of predominantly black and brown people who "because of the drug war, are denied basic rights and privileges of American citizenship and are permanently relegated to inferior status" (187).

The book has moments where a tighter editorial hand would have helped the fluidity of the information, but at the same time, the repetition of information help drives home the fact that Alexander's points are not siloed into "criminal justice reform" but need to be part and parcel of understanding race in America. I know that "essential reading" has become almost a cliché, but I do think this one really stands out because of the way it looks so deeply into how racism is truly institutionalized. This is not the story of one person. It is a story of systems, ideologies, and ultimately a societal mechanism that supports racism as an intrinsic element of this country's existence.

2020 #5 The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway)

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, I've finally read my first Hemingway. It probably won't be my last, despite my three-star rating. I wanted to like this enough to give it five stars--it is clever in places, and I'm generally ok with the "iceberg theory" and concision in writing.

I just had a difficult time connecting to any of the characters enough to care. Paired with the fact that bullfighting interests me not a whit, there wasn't a lot here to keep me interested. People drinking, talking about drinking, having sex, not having sex, fighting, not fighting...it also bothered me that the only female character was "liberated" (by 1920s standards) yet seemed to have very little else to do other than find a man de jour (or semaine). That this novel is semi-autobiographical does not help matters.

There are moments of very wry humor that I enjoyed, although parsing it from the anti-semitism was difficult. I did some background reading on the debate over the anti-semitic characterization of Robert Cohn. Jeremy Kaye, in the Spring 2006 issue of the The Hemingway Review suggests a re-imagining and re-reading of Cohn's character. That it dialogues with Hemingway's ideas of masculinity is certain. I'm just not sure I care for Hemingway's ideas of masculinity, or femininity, while we are at it. Sure, I get that gender fluidity was not a mainstay for most authors in the 1920s, but Hemingway's characterizations seem to reinforce the binary with such starkness that I found it difficult to engage.

I'm sure there will be those that read this and disagree heartily with my review. As I said, I haven't given up on Hemingway, and I'll probably turn to Old Man and the Sea next.

2020 #4 Learning Across Cultures (Eds. Mikk/Steglitz)

Learning Across Cultures Locally and Globally by Barbara Kappler Mikk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this book is geared toward international and study-abroad programs, there are many essays within that will be helpful for anyone who teaches international students. There are places where the prose could have been curtailed and occasionally the boos seems like a thinly veiled advertisement for NAFSA (Association of International Educators--and the publisher of the book).

Depending on the needs of the reader, mileage will vary in terms of the relevance of each chapter. Jeremy Geller's "Terminology and Intersections" is a good primer for those new to the concept of interculturalism. Geller's parsing of "international" vs. "global" is a useful mindset for considering approaches to curriculum and pedagogy. Shanton Chang and Catherine Gomes offer valuable insights in their contribution, "International Student Identity and the Digital Environment." In addition to an overarching application of "mobile" and "interesecting" identities, the authors make several sound recommendations for how best to approach integration and use of digital platforms with a student cohort. This particular essay has immediate relevance to our current situation in 2020. Most importantly, the authors remind us that a student's self-identification in terms of culture (broadly defined) is central, and that even seemingly innocuous terms like "international student" can mean something different to the student than those who use the terms most frequently. Katherine Punteney introduces the concept of "intercultural competence" and continues some of the threads implied in the previous essay. As with the Shang/Gomes essay, Punteney's "Social Psychology in Intercultural Contexts" offers strategies and recommendations, notably four "essential strategies for creating safe and inclusive learning environments" (based upon Marcia Baxter Magolda's work).

While Yuliya Kartoshkina's "Neuroscience Behind Intercultural Learning" is interesting, it does seem to be a bit of an outlier in the collection. She takes a pro-learning styles approach and advocates for an understanding of neuroplasticity as an educational goal. Also valuable is the note that people with a shared culture often display shared neurological patterns.

Tara Harvey's "Design and Pedagogy for Transformative Intercultural Learning" is one of the more robust essays of the book, both in its clear delineation of best practices, as well as a 7-step adaptation of Dee Fink's backward course design principles. This would be a valuable essay to share with anyone involved in a curricular review process, and would offer a clear-cut and specific approach to "reverse engineering" (or backward design) for instructors, rather than just a general philosophy of considering "learning outcomes when constructing your syllabus". Barbara Kappler Mikk and Thorunn Bjarnadottir's "Intercultural Facilitation" is likewise a very useful offering for teachers. There are also helpful ideas about facilitation that could be implemented by students themselves in discussion-based classes and seminars.

"Mindful Reflection in Intercultural Learning" by Linda Gross and Michael Goh presents a few helpful models, specifically IDEO/Tim Brown's "T-shaped" competencies model, and Ash and Clayton's 2009 DEAL model for critical reflection. The former needed a bit more contextualizing, particularly in terms of distinguishing between disciplines and systems. The essay, however, provides a meaningful prelude to the work of James Lucas and Scott Blair that follows. In "Learning Outcomes and Assessment" the authors clearly differentiate between assessment and evaluation--something that is often overlooked in higher education. The subtext here is that if "grading" is assessment, it deserves to be inextricably tied to learning outcomes but should also be done in such a way that the feedback is geared toward continuous improvement in the student. What the authors don't say, but is implied, is that instructors should consider their own ability to give *timely* feedback when considering what is assessed in a course. There's a clear intention to align Bloom's taxonomy levels in learning outcomes, assignments, types of evaluation, and types of assessments.

Lucas and Blair echo the work of the others in describing the features of a global (rather than "international") focus, and perhaps the most salient is that the global:

conceptualizes culture from multiple perspectives and layers, with culture becoming more than race or nationality and involving a knowledge of self, one's place in greater society, and the biases, privileges, and implications of that place. (208)

As a whole, the collection admirably keeps this larger understanding of culture as a thread throughout the essays and has a transparent agenda in that regard. Most of the readings are accessible to those who are not entrenched in pedagogical theory, and each essay offers extensive bibliographies. The Appendix condenses the "take-aways" from each chapter, which is helpful for future reference and potentially for sharing out the information in a concise way across faculties and other cohorts who might find it useful.

2020 #3: Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2) - Adeyemi

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, I am disappointed that I am disappointed. 404 pages of the "Children of the Gods" not learning from their mistakes. And perhaps that is the point? Maybe we are all doomed to be victims of our own hatred?

I would have liked this second book in the Legacy of Orïsha to dig into the time of discovery that evidently took place after the climactic ending of Book 1. I wanted to know more about tîtáns, the Maji, the Iyika, reapers, burners, tiders, etc... Adeyemi deftly invited us in with the first book, giving us three characters whom we might really care about. In Book 2, however, she doesn't really follow up on the loose ends of the mythology, introduces characters who seem a bit "after-the-fact" (e.g. Nehanda), and seems to have a plot structure comprised of battles and little else. Again--I get that the war is tireless, but it doesn't necessarily make a convincing narrative for a book. I love that the characters are all flawed (that's a generous description in some cases), but there seems to be so little growth. They all make shades of the same mistakes. Over and over and over again.

But I haven't walked away regretting this reading experience. Adeyemi's gift for description and characterization has not faltered here. While I found myself frustrated with the same conflicts bouncing back and forth between the three main characters, I am still invested. I want to know where they are headed. I want to be invited back to the world of purples and golds. But I hope that the third book will let me stay awhile before the fighting begins. There's more to say about what lies behind the strife. There's more to tell us about what will be lost before we actually lose it. These are stories of truth-telling and testament, but they are still stories that have invited us to translate the lessons of a different world into our own. I'm not asking for a redemptive ending, but I hope Book 3 will help us dig in and invest a bit more into that different world so that the universality of the themes are illuminated even more clearly.

My review of Book 1 Children of Blood and Bone

2020 #2: Revelation (Makah Island Mysteries, Bk. 1) - Drayer

Revelation: Makah Island Mysteries Book One by Amy Drayer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was enjoyable from start to finish. I love Jo as the flawed protagonist because she's real. Within this mystery, Drayer weaves in a potent commentary about the importance of place, community, and the choices we make. The characters are vivid and multi-dimensional, full of individual mysteries both large and small. The Pacific Northwest is more than a backdrop here --the landscape comes alive with every plot point and narrative detail. This is no clichéd good vs. bad mystery novel, but instead a complex tapestry of characters and environments.

2020 #1: Art On My Mind (bell hooks)

Art on My Mind: Visual Politics by bell hooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"To transgress, I must move past boundaries..." ('Being the Subject of Art, 133). This is what bell hooks does in this 1995 collection of essays that is part historical survey, part critique, part manifesto. Artists (and artworks by) Alison Saar, Carrie Mae Weems, Emma Amos, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lorna Simpson, and others are interviewed and interrogated in the best sense of the word. hooks amplifies intersectionality and lays bare the importance of "constructive critical interrogation" and how essential it is to creating a more authentic understanding. One can, in hooks's mind, celebrate contributions without having to offer wholesale acceptance, especially if there is an absence of understanding of one own's hegemonic role (her basic criticism of Robert Farris Thompson, for example). In essays like 'In our Glory: Photography and Black Life' she digs past both aesthetic and political dichotomies of "good" and "bad". She acknowledges that cultural critique is connected to capitalism and other societal structures:

Certainly a distinction must be made between having access to art and being willing to engage the visual on an experiential level--to be moved and touched be art. Many of us see art every day without allowing it to be anything more than decorative. The way art moves in the marketplace also changes our relationship to it. Often individuals who collect art spend more time engaged with issues of market value rather than experiencing the visual. ('Critical Genealogies: Writing Black Art', 108)

Roughly at the center of the collection is hooks's most personal (in some ways) essay, 'Women Artists: The Creative Process'. It is this short essay where we learn most about hooks as an artist and writer, and where some of her boldest statements appear:

Women have yet to create the context, both politically and socially, where our understanding of the politics of difference not only transforms our individual lives (and we have yet to really speak about those transformations) but also alters how we work with others in public, in institutions, in galleries, etc. For example: When will white female art historians and cultural critics who structure their careers focusing on work by women and men of color share how this cultural practice changes who they are in the world in a way that extends beyond the making of individual professional success? (131).

It is a more than fair question. And when we consider that this collection is from a quarter of a century ago, it is telling that I find these questions still very relevant--at least in my field of music history/musicology. I can't speak to the situation in art history, but I'd venture that not much has changed.

The only drawback of the book is that the reproduction of the artwork is not very good, and in some cases, the lack of color undermines some of hooks's most biting and salient points. The book warrants a new edition with color plates, but in lieu of that, the Internet does come to the rescue in most cases. It is worthwhile to take the time to look up the works featured in the book--some of them can be found on Phillips contemporary art and auction site, others on the artists's personal website (such as Carrie Mae Weems's personal website). Others, like Emma Amos's The Overseer, seem inaccessible. But hooks's prose throws many of these works into high relief through description and critique. But look for them---seek them out. Do the work. The rewards will be there.

This was an important book for me to read, especially because so many of its lessons are directly applicable to music history. It asked me to look at my own "wokeness" and wonder if I have ever been, as Emma Amos put it, "the white critic [who] feels safe focusing on the blackness and otherness of the artist instead of learning to look at the art" ('Straighten up and fly right: Talking Art with Emma Amos,' 188). How much has identity politics shaped by own understanding of music? Am I working against silence and erasure? I'm not sure. But I do know that spending time with these essays has helped me consider the boundaries that I have yet to transgress.

2019 #14: The Medium is the Massage (McLuhan/Fiore)

The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is difficult to remember that this book was first published in 1967, as the message of the "massage" is as relevant today as it was then. The use of images to make its point should not detract from the prose, even though it is minimal. McLuhan's "allatonceness" and "global village" take on new resonance in the Internet age. Where it diverges is in thinking we privilege acoustic space--I don't believe that is true. I think we are still largely beholden to the visual, and when in 1967 McLuhan writes:

At the high speeds of electric communication, purely visual means of apprehending the world are no longer possible; they are just too slow to be relevant or effective.

we know that he could not have foreseen social media. But as many have noted, much of what McLuhan says holds up in our age.

This edition is wonderful and beautifully produced, from the Shepard Fairey cover (probably the most apt choice), to the self-referential New Yorker cartoon on the last page. It is both a (brief) history of media, and a harbinger of the future. Quentin Fiore's contributions are stunning, particularly in retrospect, and seem far less counter-culture now than they did in the 1960s. The use of visual images, creative typesetting, and lack of regular pagination help drive home McLuhan's point in this "inventory of effects." We get pulled into the "electrically-configured whirl" no less now than we did then, even if the medium has changed. One wonders if we aren't still "march[ing] backwards into the future." Media continue to be "extensions of some human faculty"--and in that, we see both the frailty and fecundity of our ideas.

2019 #13: La Belle Sauvage (Pullman) - The Book of Dust #1

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The last time I "devoured" a book this fast (one day) it was Pullman's The Golden Compass. This first installment of the The Book of Dust trilogy is a remarkable prequel! It digs into Lyra's world anew, through the eyes of Malcolm, a stunningly well-written character. Pullman has such a gift for writing characters who are children, and this book is no exception. If I have to be critical, I'd say there are a few twists and turns that seemed a bit superfluous (and that is an intended pun given the major event that runs through the book), although they will resonate more for those who have read the His Dark Materials trilogy. There are a few characters of whom we only get a glimpse that I hope return in The Secret Commonwealth, which was just published last October.

There are some very intense and violent scenes, so while some would classify this as YA, I think it would need some debriefing with younger teens. Aside from that, however, I could not be happier to once again venture into this world of daemons, choices, and parallelisms. Truly a stunning book.