State of Isolation

JWise Moments

Why are so many people choosing the state of Arizona as their next home? Most don’t know before arrival that they are actually moving to a state of Isolation. At first, they will assume that the neighbors have kept their distance out of consideration, allowing the newcomers to settle in. After a short time, most people will then make an effort to introduce themselves to the neighbors – if and when they are lucky enough to catch them during the 14.9 seconds their garage door is open. A year or more will pass before the transplants realize that no one wants to say hi and that this is a normal part of living here.

I don’t understand this mentality, though. I am at a loss as to why anyone would want to be so isolated. I question myself weekly, at times daily, why I am still living here. Anywhere else I go, people are friendly and ready to strike up a conversation, well, except for Las Vegas, that is. Come to think of it, I’ve not had many a conversation in Death Valley either. Maybe this is an issue of living in a desert.

With our near-barren landscape, we adopt a barren community mentality where just as cacti are spread apart and silent so then too will be the human inhabitants. Of course, this isn’t a rule but a fairly accurate generalization.

Wide swaths of the Valley of the Sun live under a cloak of silent transparency. Behind the gated entries lie our stealthier citizenry. These Arizonans can be spotted at dusk while visiting various establishments, still brandishing their invisibility-inducing dark glasses and human contact-repelling cell phones that, in combination, build an impenetrable fortress allowing for maximum anonymity. As quickly as they dart into the reality of space-time that is viewable by mere mortals, they are just as quickly gone and well-protected and hidden from prying eyes in their gated villas.

Clandestinely, the middle class who have yet to perfect their covert skills of movement without being seen are but amateurs at times forgetting to close their garage door or remove sunglasses at dusk, lose their cell phones, and, worst of all – live in homes on open streets where anyone might drive or walk right up and intrude.

As for the poor, hah, no skills whatsoever! They will answer questions from lost travelers, and ask how you are doing at dinner; heck, they have been witnessed to say good morning to strangers. I suppose ignorance goes with being poor, for if these unassuming, less fortunate amongst us had an ounce of sense, they would don the darkest glasses and, at a minimum, give the rest of us a talk-to-the-hand wave and quickly flicker out of existence into the vastness of the lonely desert.

We live here in Phoenix as moles. We have crawled into our little holes, and no one sees us, and we don’t even bother to come out at night. Our freeways are empty at 9:00 p.m. Monday or Saturday as the minimal nightlife and people venturing out of their caves is nearly an unknown quantity here.

Something is broken here: the heat, the sun, maybe the glare reflecting off half a million swimming pools causes some type of flare which is bouncing off what remains of the ozone layer, and evil waves are washing our brains, making us insipid, non-communicative shells of human beings who must escape the malevolent force which silences us to our neighbors.

Does a city require snow, blizzards, rain, hail, wind, tornadoes, earthquakes, or hurricanes for people to come together, befriend one another, and act like neighbors sharing in the culturing of a spirit to make the place they live in a happy, friendly, open, and caring community? Or are we dried up and shriveled inside from the heat that bears down on us two-legged raisins?

Wrong Reality

JWise Photo of the Day

This poor wasp wandered into our living space when he should have stayed in his -- outside.

This poor wasp traded his outdoor reality for our indoor environment, crossing the threshold of where his existence was more secure. The buzzing and neurotic flittering about estranged me from my own space, which required removing this guy posthaste. Must be the Buddhist in me, not that I’m Buddhist, but I never fail to feel a pang of guilt killing something, be it ants or this wasp.

U.S. TV News are a Crime

JWise Moments

Having not watched television news for about two weeks following 9/11 besides the occasional silent news being shown in various restaurants, I was aghast at what I had seen over the past week on TV.

We still do not have television reception here at home by choice, so I have peeked in on other folk’s televisions to see what has been transpiring in New Orleans. Last Tuesday was the first look, and what I saw was the New Orleans black population running amok. Ten minutes was enough, and I moved on. Various conversations led me to realize that other people felt that only the blacks were looting, and the news had confirmed this for them. Curiously, I asked Caroline to phone her mother in Germany; in the German media, it was shown that both blacks and whites were looting – interesting.

By Friday, my curiosity was getting to me, so I made arrangements to visit someone to watch what a majority of Americans were seeing. On the way, I turned around, thinking that seeing the despair would lend nothing positive to my day. On Saturday, I could hold out no longer, and upon visiting a friend, I tuned in to Fox News and was shocked and astounded. Not by the images of the destruction of New Orleans but by manipulation from the media.

Fox News was playing melodramatic music, taking the news out of “news” and presenting a performance piece meant to wrench emotional reactions from its audience. Piecing together heroic and tragic pictures juxtaposed against dramatic music smacks of propaganda trying to manipulate a population of viewers into having particular “programmed” emotional responses. This must serve some purpose that the ‘powers that be’ within the corporate organization have found to be effective in attracting viewers; for me, I was repulsed.

Consider the definition of propaganda, quoted from Wikipedia, “Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation aimed at serving an agenda.” In this instance, the agenda is to reshape the views of the audience from that of betrayal through negligence from elected leaders into recognition that heroes are working to save the less fortunate, of soldiers and law enforcement taking a tearful-eyed victim on their shoulder, or a lonely boy hugging a trusted dog, all the while longing music kicks at the human reflex to feel sympathy – a radical manipulation if you ask me.

Next, from Wikipedia, regarding the purpose of propaganda, “The aim of propaganda is to influence people’s opinions actively, rather than to merely communicate the facts about something.” Excuse me, but the “news” is supposed to be about facts; even in this age of Fox News and the obvious slant to a conservative agenda, these people have an obligation to present the news as facts, with the audience deciding the meaning of those facts for themselves, instead what we have is music placed against heart-wrenching imagery causing viewers to reflect from an emotional stance instead of a purely logical one.

Hoping this was an aberration, I quickly turned off the sound and went about our visit with this friend. On Sunday, though, I found myself at my mother’s house, where my family was watching the events unfolding in New Orleans. The TV was tuned to MSNBC, and within minutes of our arrival, the “news” was being presented to the Coldplay song “The Scientist” with “moving” images from the disaster. This is beyond the pale; Americans are being manipulated by stupidity and yet continue to tune into this drivel.

When Hitler commissioned Leni Riefenstahl to present the images of heroism to a dramatic soundtrack and called the film “Triumph of the Will,” we denounced the movie as propaganda, thoroughly condemning the usage of such blatant manipulation. Today, our news organizations are free to use the same tactics against the citizenry of the United States so long as it builds patriotism and takes our collective mind off transgressions and weaknesses displayed by our government.

This is such obvious corporate protection of the images and feelings that the population might otherwise have of the government, and in exchange, the government throws tax breaks, shelters, and laws that benefit the wealthy who own and control these corporations so that a status quo allows both to thrive at the expense of us the less privileged middle-class majority of citizens who are all victims of our own stupidity to continuously be manipulated by such ugly propaganda.

Clara and Chauncey

JWise Photo of the Day

Clara the Great Dane and Chauncey Smith

This is Clara the Great Dane, along with Chauncey Smith. Tonight was spent with the Smiths, friends we have known for nearly ten years. Chauncey is the youngest of the family, Korey is in the middle, and Kristoffer is the oldest. Clara here is probably the most demanding of attention, and when she throws her weight around, she easily commands it. With her paws on Darrell’s shoulders, she is a good half-foot taller than him. Her tail is a weapon that whips hard enough to leave welts. You get the idea that she is one really big dog, and she is so likable.

Pani Puri

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Getting ready to dip a stuffed puri into the pani

This evening, we had dinner with Carolyn, the backpacker. Carolyn is currently on contract working with Caroline. With nothing going on this Labor Day weekend, we took some time to have a bite to eat and to talk about travel. For dinner, I prepared a dish popular on the beaches of Bombay – Pani puri. Pani Puri is part of the chaat family of foods and is also known as Golgappa and Foochka in other parts of India. This extraordinarily tasty food is a rarity in America; I was taught by Jay Patel how to make this particular version:

RECIPE:

Soak overnight 1 ½ cup Kala chana (available in Indian grocery stores, or use dried garbanzo beans – chickpeas)

Soak overnight 1 ½ cup moong bean (a.k.a. mung bean)

Early in the day, prepare the pani as follows:

5 bunches of mint

5 bunches of cilantro (you need equal amounts of mint and cilantro)

3-6 jalapenos

1 ½ tsp amchur powder (mango powder – available in Indian grocery stores)

3 tsp black salt (available in Indian grocery stores)

1 ½ tsp cumin seed

1 ½ tsp fennel seed

2 tsp salt

2-3 limes

8 – 10 cups of cold water

Tomato Relish:

2 Tomatoes

½ bunch of chopped cilantro

½ finely chopped red onion

Puri:

2 – 50 count bags of puris (available in Indian grocery stores)

Thoroughly rinse mint and cilantro and chop off stems.

You will have to mix the following in batches, as blenders are not large enough to mix all of this in one go. Place a handful of mint and a handful of cilantro in the blender. Add half the jalapenos, which should be chopped, leaving the seeds and veins intact. Add amchur powder, black salt, cumin seed, fennel seed, salt, juice from one lime, and enough water to almost fill the blender.

Blend varying between pulse and high until all ingredients are pureed, about a minute and a half.

Filter the contents of the blender through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, saving the contents of the sieve, which you will need to place back into the blender.

With the materials you just filtered back in the blender, add more mint and cilantro to nearly fill the blender; it’s ok to press these down into the blender and add the juice of another lime; you may add a third lime for a fruitier flavor, add the rest of the jalapeno, and add more water, to again nearly fill the blender, and pulse and mix on high again until thoroughly blended about one and a half minutes. As before, filter the contents, saving the very green water in the bowl, and place the material from the sieve back into the blender.

Repeat until you have used all of your cilantro and mint and the entire 8 cups of water. The green water you have created should have a sharp bite to it with a snap of tanginess. Do not worry too much about the spiciness, as it blends with the finished meal and seems to taper off as it chills. Place this green water (pani) into a sealable container and refrigerate.

Later in the day, about 1 hour before eating, it is time to prepare the rest of the ingredients. Rinse Kala chana, place in a pressure cooker, and cover with water; you should have approximately five times more water than Kala chana but please be aware of the manufacturer’s instructions. Cook the Kala chana for 11 minutes on high pressure, do a quick release, and set it to the side.

While the above is cooking, you can prepare the moong bean. Rinse the soaked beans and place them in 3qt. saucepan. Cover with water and boil until beans are just soft and starting to split. You must be careful here, as moong beans will dissolve if cooked too long. When beans are soft yet a bit firm, remove from heat, drain, and put to the side.

Peel six medium potatoes and chop them into small pieces, about ½ inch squares or smaller. In a medium saucepan, cover potatoes and bring to a boil; cook until soft, remove from heat, drain, and place in a bowl to the side.

Make the relish now. Finely chop tomato, cilantro, and onion, mix thoroughly, and place in the refrigerator.

In a wok or large pan, place 3 tbsp oil; I use grapeseed oil. Heat on high and add 2 tsp cumin seed. Heat until cumin starts to pop and sizzle, add Kala chana and moong bean, and turn the heat down to medium-high. Add 1 to 2 tsp of salt to taste. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Bring everything to the table, pour the pani into individual bowls, and get ready for the tricky part. This dish is finger food and is a bit messy. First, take one of the puri in hand and tap on one side to poke a hole about half the size of the puri itself. One side of the puri should be thinner than the other, and after poking holes in a few, you should get the hang of this task.

With puri in hand, grab a pinch of the Kala chana/moong bean mixture and place it into the puri; fill to about half full. Add a potato or two, leaving enough room for a small pinch of the tomato relish. Now dip the filled puri into the bowl of pani, allowing the fluid to fill the rest of the nooks and crannies in the puri, and pop the entire thing in your mouth. If the dipping doesn’t work right away, spooning the pani into the puri is another option.

Mariachi Juvenil

JWise Photo of the Day

A local Mariachi band

This is Mariachi Juvenil Mexicanisimo from Phoenix, Arizona; they were playing in celebration of the remodeling of a local Food City grocery store. The guys not only play great, but they sing wonderfully, too and are good at handling a bit of dancing while they play. The trumpet player on the right was quick to hand me a card; contact Carlos Estrada at 602-465-8015 or 602-299-0495 for Spanish speakers.

It was a nice touch having live music in one of the grocery stores we visit, they should do this every weekend.