Memorable Moment: Fisherman in Lullwater Pond

Rapidly peddling on one side of the two-seat boat, the fisherman was in constant motion - casting his rod, reeling it back then moving on to a new location in quick succession. Lullwater Pond, part of the watercourse in Prospect Park's 585 acres of urban green space, wasn't very crowded on the last official weekend of summer; the fisherman only had to share the waters with the occasional tour boat leaving from the Audubon Boat House. However, he still didn't seem to be having much luck in his search for the pond's elusive fish. Peddling over to the dock opposite the Boat House, he explained that earlier in the day he had caught a 4-pound, large mouth bass that was over a foot long, but added that he threw it back because of the park's catch-and-release policy. After hearing admiration from the observers on the dock, the fisherman seemed to gain back his confidence and cast again - only to have his line land squarely in the branches of a low-hanging tree.

ROUND-UP - Voters in Rwanda break records

Rwanda made headlines around the world this month when it became the first country to elect a majority of women to parliament. In an election last week, 56% of seats went to women.

The countries with the most women in government after Rwanda, as of 2006, were Sweden and Costa Rica. Now Cuba has moved to third place. The United States ranks low on the list with only about 16% women in elected government, roughly the same as across Africa as a whole.

Analysts say that Rwandan women were motivated to become more politically active after the genocide there in 1993. They are also slightly in the majority in the general population, since more men than women were killed in the genocide.

It also helped that Rwanda had a law guaranteeing that 24 seats will go to women. The parties also put their own rules into place that ensured women would be at the top of the ballot.


The New York Times' coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/world/19nations.html?em

An African perspective:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809230203.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809220145.html

From a feminist site:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/011189.html

MINI-PROFILE - Between Oxford and Singapore

Hannah Lin only has one year to spend in New York City, so she wants to make the most of it. “I think I should develop a serious drug habit,” she jokes. Raised in Singapore, where drug traffickers are hanged, and educated at Oxford, she feels she’s run up a deficit in seediness.

Hannah is in the city for a year of grad school, and when she finishes, she’ll return to a six-year contract at a major paper in Singapore. Later in life, she’d like to work as a foreign correspondent, maybe in Beijing.

Bubbly and quick to make friends, Hannah admits that she is not only nomadic but thrives on the process of adjustment. Still, she says that her fluency in various cultures and languages hasn’t eclipsed her sense of origin. She used to dread returning to Singapore, a place of “no flux.” But now she looks forward to it: “It's braver to come back than to leave. You can find adventure anywhere if you look for it."

Link Roundup: Weird Foods- which ones have you tried?

While in Mongolia, I had the pleasure of trying their national drink Ayrag. Made of fermented mare's milk, Ayrag is considered to be the Mongolian beer. I considered it to be most bizarre beverage I have ever tasted in my life. You know when milk goes bad? Yes, very similar to that. 

There are plenty more strange foods out there. Haggis is popular in Great Britain, but the thought of various intestines boiled for three hours in a sheep's stomach may not appeal to everyone. 

Head cheese, tete de veau and beef tartare are all served at restaurants, but who actually orders them? At a business lunch? Or on a date? 

Please share the weird foods you have tried so far. For inspiration, here is a list of popular but odd dishes worldwide. Perhaps you will be tempted to try something new during your next vacation. 

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Yeah papa

HARLEM, September 23 -

This guy broke into my apartment a few weeks ago when my roommates and I were in bed. My roommate heard him come in through the kitchen window, and she kicked him out. As he stumbled out the front door in a crack-induced haze, I could hear him say "make sure you close that window, mama."

The break-in was bad, but why does everyone call everyone 'mama' here? I don't get it - maybe because I'm Canadian, I guess. I always thought that mama was something people called their girlfriends in special circumstances...that's what happens in music and on TV (e.g. 'hey mama'). But even the huge old man who works at the bodega calls me mama, in a fatherly way, in fact. And more disturbingly, my other roommate's boyfriend calls her 'ma,' but only when he thinks he's in trouble.

Urbandictionary.com lists this as the seventh definition of the word 'mama':

"referring to a close friend that you care about and trust; i.e. Hey mama, how was ur weekend?"

But that definition only gets 13 thumbs up and 14 down.

Anyway, I'm warming up to it. I guess people here are just strange like that. I heard my super call the Verizon serviceman 'baby' the other day.

Mini Profile: A Yin, Capturing Mongolian Culture

With an upcoming exhibition at New York's Rubin Museum of Art, A Yin can reflect upon a tumultuous life. Born to a poor herder's family in inner Mongolia, A Yin dropped out of middle school due to his family's difficult financial situation. He continued his education at home. Eventually he attended the University of Inner Mongolia and graduated with a degree in Mongolian Language. During this time he taught himself photography and became a freelance photographer. His work displayed incredible talent, garnering worldwide acclaim. In 2007 he won the National Geographic Allroads Award.

His black and white film format provides a snapshot into Mongolian life, which is changing rapidly. Economic development is threatening the traditional nomadic lifestyle. Horses used to define Mongolian culture. Nowadays cars and motorcycles are phasing them out of the traditional herder upbringing. A Yin's photography is trying to capture the last bit of Mongolian culture before it changes even more in light of globalization. 

A Yin's photography will be showing at the Rubin Museum of Art beginning October 30, 2008.

Profile: “Between Love and Madness Lies Secret Obsession”

For Dianna Wilson her work is somewhat of a secret obsession. Few understand the tedious minutia of the fragrance industry.  But for this fragrance designer, Fonts to frames to ribbons to boxes to bottles to packaging, this all encompassing creative process frequently begins with a flippant word or abstract concept.

 

“Voyeurism kept coming up in meetings,” Wilson explained of Calvin Klein’s newly launched Secret Obsession.  “And at first, they wanted Angelina Jolie as a spokesperson,” she said. 

Wilson began her career almost a decade ago.  Packing a huge rolling suitcase, the very dainty Wilson relocated to New York in her early twenties.  She is now an exclusive launch fragrance designer –working on the birth and delivery of new scents.  Secret Obsession, her latest child, just celebrated its sweet 16 of sorts through an elaborate debut at Macy’s Herald Square location this week.  Although Angelina was unable to grace the fragrance’s cover, a revealing Eva Mendez, a close second, was shown in accordance with the original vision of voyeurism. 

http://www.secretobsessioncalvinklein.com/