Australia

One of the great pleasures of the movies is seeing what a purposeful filmmaker can do with an old genre or story by attempting to remake it in her or his own image. Such was the case with Baz Luhrman’s last film, 2001’s Moulin Rouge, his hyperkinetic reinvention of the movie musical. Now, in Australia, he takes on the historical film with similarly ambitious and innovative designs, though somewhat less successful results.

All the classic elements of a good old-fashioned yarn are in place here, and for much of the film’s first half, the results are engaging enough to deliver just that: an Australian western cross-bred with romantic-comedy adventure ( Red River meets The African Queen). But as the proper English lady melts into the arms of the free-spirit adventurer, the romance turns poignant and Out of Africa comes calling, never to quite go away. Australia has the virtue of not trying to gloss over its plot clichés, stereotyped characters, or obvious borrowings from other films—rather, it embraces them and has fun with them en route to a serious change in tone at midpoint. The image of Australia as untamed and rowdy is played up for all it’s worth in the opening scenes, and the clever meeting between Lady Ashley and Drover occurs during a bar fight that could have been staged by John Ford. But there are more serious intentions underlying the roughhouse, and the film’s second half becomes a grim historical drama centered around the horrific destruction of Darwin by the Japanese a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The attack on Darwin is well staged, if a bit scant on detail, but the film gets bogged down in the standard ploy of positioning lovers against a backdrop of impending doom, which constantly threatens to tear them apart. And so the enjoyable, old-fashioned movie romanticism of part I gives way to the overwrought, will-they-or-won’t-they-survive melodrama of part II.

What rescues Australia from its derivative nature and gives it a more unique identity is the space it creates for Aboriginal culture and magic. The two halves of the film are ingeniously organized around the point-of-view of Australia’s Aboriginal population, represented by King George and his grandson, Nullah, a ten-year-old of mixed race under Lady Ashley‘s protection. Their viewpoints are so closely associated with Australia’s wild landscape from the outset that it’s as if the land itself—pictured in stunning views of lush vegetation, sunset-painted rock formations, and shimmering spans of desert—is watching the white settlers’ futile attempts to tame an environment whose spiritual dimension lies, untamable, beyond their comprehension.  In an almost supernatural way, King George observes nearly everything that happens from his own special—and sometimes, it seems, invisible—vantage point.  Complementing his grandfather’s vision, Nullah provides the movie’s voice. His sometimes song-like narration offers not only wry commentary on the whites he lives with but introduces a second historical theme, the tragic history of the “Lost Generations,” mixed-race children stolen from their families and trained to be servants in European households. The film’s outward events of adventure, romance, and war are molded around the core of this previously hidden story, and Lady Ashley’s ascent to true heroine status comes with her brave defiance of the racist practice.

Shores of the Tundra Heart of the Beckoning 12-inch

Shores of the Tundra’s 12-inch is an impressive artifact before you even drop the needle. It’s a single-sided release, with the epic “Heart of the Reckoning” cut so that it plays from the label to the edge, with a stylized daisy pattern silk-screened onto the back. While they lay some claim to the Doom Metal genre, this long-form piece is too meditative, stately and elegiac to fit simply into any one genre. Raw oscillator drones drift in and out, rubbing against spare piano melodies, only to be interrupted by thrashing guitars and screamed vocals. Even the passages driven by metal’s trademark jackhammer kick drums are celebratory rather than doomy. Subtle noises and reverberated distortion bubble along in the background, and even the crackle and pop of the vinyl feels like it’s integral to the music. Originally recorded in several distinct pieces and then stitched together on the computer, the band has learned to play it start-to-finish live, in a version that extends to a solid half-hour. This record is not for everyone, but I completely dig it. And when the ending fades out into subtle bass tones, it ends on a lock groove–one I listened to for 10 minutes the first time through. This record is a trip, and it’s also a very limited edition, so snap it up–if you hate it, wait six months and it will be going for $50 on eBay.

Cop Eater/Murder of Crows Split 7-inch

Murder of Crows and Cop Eater are hardcore bands out of Madison, Wisconsin. In my rock genre ignorance, I don’t know what “Hardcore” means in this context–Murder of Crows, on the surface, sounds a lot like a cross between Melvins and Metallica, and can thrash out sludge and speed metal riffs with the best of them. Cop Eater is frantic musical mayhem; they deliver short, savage songs with sandpapered, incoherent vocals. The first song “Whiskey Mommah” seems to to start out with the lyric “I’m Eating Obama!” but I know that can’t be right. At any rate if this sort of music is your thing, I would guess that this 7-inch is crucial. For anyone after a sweet melody or delicate finger-style guitar, it should come with a warning label.

Black Market Fetus In Defense Split 7-inch

Black Market Fetus plays in a similar style to Cop Eater, but they’re less chaotic in their thrashing, though it’s a subtle distinction. If there’s any sense in using the phrase “subtle distinction” when discussing this sort of music. Listening to these records back-to-back, would it actually be possible to say “I love Black Market Fetus, but Cop Eater really gets on my tits?” For me, I feel out of my depth trying to draw distinctions between bands that both sound like getting beat up by riot cops while tripping, and I mean that in the best way possible. In Defense continues in a similar vein but they sound like they grew up listening to the Ramones and the Clash along with Megadeth and Metallica. And that gives an old school punk fan like me something more definite to hang on to; consequently the In Defense side is my favorite amongst the four bands represented here on 7-inch splits.

What these records represent is something much more than just music to consume. They’re unique artifacts, they’re snapshots of an aggressively anti-commercial scene, they’re a modern expression of a tradition of needles wiggling in grooves that goes back to Edison reciting “Mary had a little lamb.” Even if you hate their music, your world is a better place for them being around.

In addition to feeling less guilty because my purchases had some self-improving qualities, I also get to feel a little virtuous about saving money. Do the math. A movie costs my boyfriend and me $14 dollars and lasts less than 2 hours. A new paperback book costs about the same, and can provide a good 12 hours or more of entertainment, for each of us. AND if I can find a good used copy, I can double the value.

So, whether you’re trying to while away the cold winter months here in Iowa (please no record ice or snow this year) or are looking for just the right Christmas gifts for friends and family, consider all of your book buying options.

Used Book Stores

You’ll have to indulge me for a moment, but I really don’t think any shopping experience quite matches the feeling I get from browsing aimlessly through a used book store, especially one with floor to ceiling shelves and unexpected nooks and crannies. Make the building a turn of the century house, like Iowa City’s Haunted Bookshop and I’m a goner. I know I’m an English major and a writer, but I’m pretty sure others can relate.

Local used books stores you can explore, include:

The Haunted Bookshop
520 E. Washington St.
Features 25,000 used, rare, out of print and antiquarian titles and two resident cats. Look for their section of $1 hardcovers and $.50 paperbacks. They donate all the proceeds from these books to Iowa City’s Local Foods Connection, which helps needy families obtain fresh food from local farmers.

Murphy-Brookfield Books
219 N. Gilbert St.
Specializes in scholarly used books in the Liberal Arts.

Northside Book Market
203 N. Linn St.
Includes a music shop, Real Records. Ask how you can help them contribute to the local homeless shelter.

The Book Shop
608 S. Dubuque St.
Boast more than 350,000 titles, free want-list maintenance and book-finding service.

Online Shopping

Of course, maybe you’ll want to forgo this unique atmosphere and shop in the comfort of your own home. Don’t worry; you’re not the only one. According to a recent Nielsen report, over 875 million consumers have shopped online (up 40 percent in two years) and books are one of the most popular online purchases.

Sites like Half.com, Amazon.com and Powells.com feature quality used books from wholesale dealers and ordinary folks like you and me.

Note to students: If you’re blindly buying all of your textbooks at the University bookstore without looking for cheaper copies online, maybe you deserve to eat Ramen noodles for every meal. Just look up the ISBNs to make sure you’re getting the right edition. These sites are also a great way to get some return on your investment at the end of the semester.

Online Swapping

No matter how much of a bibliophile you are, we all have that shelf of books that just didn’t do us right. That we hold no emotional tie to because they didn’t touch us the way our favorite books can. That we bought as pure escapist fiction and have no intention of rereading.

Might I suggest a little site called Paperbackswap.com? This is my favorite personal find of the year. It’s literally a resource readers can use to swap hardcover and paperback books with each other. You simply sign in, post at least 10 books you’re willing to swap and you’re all set.

As the homepage explains, “Every time you mail a book to another member, you can request one for yourself from over 2.5 million.” There are no fees involved, and the only related expense is the postage you pay when someone requests a book on your list. The site has sophisticated searching and wish list capabilities and is always adding more user-friendly options to the mix, such as the ability to purchase preprinted postage for any books you send.

Mail a book. Get a book. Any book you request is yours to keep, share or swap. No late fees. No processing charges. No hidden charges. Every time you mail a book to another member, you can request one for yourself from over 2.5 million.

According to the club’s summer press release, “over 2 million books have been swapped successfully through the U.S. mail with an average of over 35,000 book swaps each week.” Given the site upgrades and recent good press (I heard about it on NPR), I’m sure these numbers are climbing. They’ve also included the sister sites SwapaCD.com and SwapaDVD.com for those looking to change up their electronic library.

Speaking of Electronic Libraries . . .

While they certainly tarnish some of the romance of reading, Kindle electronic readers are nifty gadgets for frequent travelers. No longer do you have to lug two book around in your carry-on (the one you’re in the middle of and a back up in case you finish the first).

Your flight delayed indefinitely? No problem. Simply take out your Kindle, purchase and download a book or popular U.S. newspaper instantly with your wireless connection (just like an iPod), and start reading. In the beginning, the Kindle library was a little sparse, but they’re adding new books every day and now have more than 190,000 titles.

Like most new media players, the Kindle itself is a bit of an investment (currently selling for $359 on Amazon.com). However, my friend who’s on the road nearly 100 days a year for work swears by hers. It’s lighter and thinner than a paperback and has a high-resolution screen that she insists is easier on the eyes than real paper.

Economy of scale is the real appeal of this device. With space for over 200 titles at a time, the Kindle could reduce most of my personal library to a memory card! And just think how many trees would have been spared if I’d acquired all of my books electronically to begin with. Maybe it doesn’t have the satisfying weight, smell or kinesthetic pleasure of turning pages in a nicely bound hardcover, but I’ll admit it does eliminate clutter. This may be the wave of the future, but I think I’ll stay stuck in the past on this score.

Area Public Libraries

Now if you’re looking for yourself and don’t have a compulsive need to underline text or make notes in the margin, public libraries are a convenient way to find free reading material. Area libraries also have a wide variety of audiobooks for those long trips home to see family over the holidays.

What’s more, these audiobooks are downloadable and will play on most laptops and some MP3 players. (Some library software used is NOT currently compatible with any Apple devices.) Most audiobooks have a limited shelf life and “expire” when your typical check-out period ends. However, some can be burned to CD for your convenience.

To get a new audiobook without even leaving the house, all you have to do is visit a library’s website (www.icpl.org and www.crlibrary.org for two examples), download the free software and type in the number on your library card. While audiobooks don’t provide the ultimate book lover’s experience, they certainly serve a purpose, just like any other form of storytelling.

And storytelling is one way I hope to combat this year’s cold Iowa winter. As I write this, we’ve yet to get a heavy snow and I haven’t even had to scrape ice off my windshield. I guess this calm before the storm has me fearing for the worst. For the last couple months, I’ve been collecting a stack of to-be-read books at little to no cost. So when that first blizzard hits, I can curl up on the couch with a good book and my favorite blanket or three. Whether you’re planning on doing the same or looking for some thoughtful Christmas gifts, I wish you luck!

The porch, located between St. Mary’s Catholic Church and the United Methodist Church on Jefferson street, is a seasonal safe haven for homeless men.

“This summer is the most we’ve seen. There were probably 10 to 12 people out there,” said Father Jeff, who has lived in the parish house for four years now.

The men who sleep on the porch fit no common mold. (Only men are allowed out of respect for Catholicism’s anti-fornication beliefs.) One man spends his summers in Iowa City but winters in Acapulco. One man was a painter by trade and from Tennessee, but he couldn’t find work in his area. He was still paying the bills on his house back home. He pitched a tent out back.

Some of the porch sleepers came to Iowa City to help flood recovery efforts and couldn’t afford housing. Then there was also the occasional troublemaker.

Father Jeff said that they really aren’t sure what to do with the porch but they recognize the need for it.

“It’s a matter of how much can we help and what’s the right way,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to say you can’t stay here and then preach the gospel in the morning.”

Some men who slept there moved out of the Shelter House because they are drinkers. The Shelter House in Iowa City does not provide a bed for intoxicated people.

“We try to accommodate people until there is conflict,” Father Jeff said.

If the police are called, then everybody has to leave the porch for a while. It doesn’t happen very often but when it does, it’s usually at 2 a.m. and nobody is sure who is at fault. One year they had some drunk try to beat up an air conditioner. There was nobody on the porch for a month.

The fathers don’t really police the porch, but occasionally someone will point out a particular person who is causing trouble and they address it. They do ask that no one smoke on the porch, but the burn holes tell the story.

The fathers put up a new sign that reads “No smoking. Please remove items from porch when you leave or they will be taken to the dumpster.”

“We are afraid that someday the house will burn down.” Father Jeff said.

People come here because they assume it’s a safe place. Father Jeff said he is more likely to get asked for money down on the Ped Mall than at the porch. People just need a place to go. The open porch provides some protection from the elements, but this time of year guys will sometimes ask for a warm blanket. Father Jeff occasionally goes shopping for bargains on blankets.

St. Mary’s, who owns the parish house where the porch is located, is one of the largest contributors to the services for the homeless in Iowa City. Five percent of the church’s collection plate goes to the Peace and Justice Commission, which supports local, national and global concerns including the homeless overflow fund. St. Mary’s provides support for the Shelter House, the Salvation Army and Johnson County’s Crisis Center.

Father Jeff has had an opportunity to get to know some of the guys who have stayed at the porch.

“Usually, you’ll see them for a month or two and then they’ll disappear for a while,” he said. “Sometimes they come back.”

Sometimes the regulars get tired of dealing with the troublemakers that are passing through.

In the summer, people slept all over the place, in the driveway, on the grass by the driveway and in the stairwell by the church. Guys used to keep their blankets in the stairwell. The fathers pitched in and bought a container for the blankets. They placed the container out back, but that didn’t prevent things from getting stolen.

They closed the stairwell off because they had a problem of people defecating there. Some were pretty particular about what spot they slept in and would wake a guy up in the middle of the night because he was sleeping in his spot. Some come to the porch late at night reeking of alcohol. And some would stay up with beer, smoking cigarettes and talking loudly, making it harder for others to sleep.

Now, naturally the presence of distant-by-land relatives lent something to my feelings of holiday nostalgia. But the perplexed look in my uncle’s furrowed brow begged me to explain further.

“Well, you know, since I don’t eat meat and all,” began my attempt, “I basically eat raw vegetables and dinner rolls at Christmas.”

That seemed to solve the initial confusion, and I have to say that I myself was surprised that these non-traditional foods reminded me of holiday meals. But it’s a fact: My Christmas dinners back home in Omaha were comprised of cut veggies, mashed potatoes sans gravy, some potato chips and, if I’m lucky, potato dumplings with untainted ribbons of sauerkraut.

For all the vegetarian-haters reading this, please let me clear the air. I do not hate nor judge my fellow humans who choose to be omnivores. My status as a vegetarian started in April 1998 when I had a crush on a boy whose ideas I admired, and one of those ideas happened to include not eating meat. I fell for the meat-production-is-bad-for-humans rationale and the I-love-animals logic. Meat is also more expensive and harder on the planet. Plus, my friends are doing it! I figured I was making my junior year history teacher proud; the basis of my newfound vegetarianism had all three essential impetuses when studying human culture: political, economic, and social.

Ten years later, I’m learning just what kind of social impact my vegetarianism has had on my life. Avoiding meat was easy. I thought it was nasty to begin with. Biting into what I imagined were a chicken’s tendons made me want to vomit as a kid, and my mom always used so much ground beef in spaghetti sauce that there was more meat than marinara. The boy, the migrant workers and the environment were more like public excuses for my behavior rather than ethical reasons. Before I officially became a vegetarian, my favorite meal was a bread sandwich. (Replace the two slices of bologna with two slices of bread and forget the condiments.)

I didn’t have to fight temptation because I was never tempted. I did bond with others who didn’t eat meat, getting and giving advice about adapting to the lifestyle, learning vegetarians aren’t alone in this world. Socially and culturally, vegetarianism has led me to a community whose members are typically white, post-punk neo-hippie leftists who dream of traveling abroad and worship other cultures for their otherness. My vegetarianism gave me that community, but it also took one away.

The Dumpling Incident

The little Catholic parish on 22nd and “U” streets that I belonged to while growing up has staked its claim to Internet fame in South Omaha’s Wikipedia entry. (It feels as if my childhood there has now been validated.) The parish is third on the list of Catholic churches that the entry uses as evidence of the area’s cultural diversity, the Czech diaspora being the ethnic group it served.

The cultural diversity of South Omaha—and the once-autonomous town’s very existence—owes everything to meatpacking and the industry that now dominates U.S. agriculture. The Omaha stockyards are within walking distance from the house I grew up in. Established in the 1880s, they closed the year I left for college, 1999, and their stench permeated the air I breathed.

“I smell death in the air,” I would say.

Did Donna Reed ever consider vegetarianism growing up in Denison, Iowa? Did any immigrants rounded up in the Postville or Marshalltown raids swear meat off in resentment? Doubtful. It takes a special impetus to make the vegetarian lifestyle worth sustaining—if your people are doing it, then you’re doing it.

Family documents tell how my great-great grandfather was born in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, immigrated to the United States when he was nine years old, and worked in the packing house sometime after he graduated Eighth Grade. My aunts and uncles have hosted Czech exchange students, my cousin is moving to the Czech Republic in January, and all the granddaughters between the ages of five and 22 sang a Czech hymn at my grandfather’s funeral this past October.

Four generations in my family attended the grade school run by the parish.  My grandma and grandpa had 10 kids, all of whom went there, and half of them stayed in South Omaha, had three to seven kids of their own, and sent most of us to Assumption, too. I was the second of the fourth generation to graduate from Eighth Grade there. The parish was the cornerstone of my Czech existence.

Each spring we gathered as a family to bake kolaches for our parish’s Czech festival, and each Christmas we’d gather to bake Czech braided bread, houska (picture challah with red and green cherries drifting on a zigzag glaze). Holiday meals also featured a traditional Czech dish, one that made my taste buds whorl around: dumplings and kraut.

One year not too long after I moved to Iowa City for school, I found myself back in Omaha for Christmas dinner, moving in the line from youngest to oldest of the 40-some grandkids and looking anxiously over the rows of baking dishes and patient desserts, always looking forward to the carb-erific comfort of dumplings swimming in sauerkraut.

According to my grandma’s recipe, potato dumplings are made with mashed or instant potatoes, a “large handful of farina,” some extra flour, and an egg to keep it all together. The ingredients are blended and rolled into a long strip, which is then cut into one-inch pieces. Boil those pieces for about 10 minutes and then let them stew in a slow cooker so they soak in the sauerkraut’s vitamin bath. The dumplings’ skins come out shiny, juicy and chewy, and they were the food I looked forward to most at every big family gathering.

I used to go back for seconds of just dumplings, and I once ate 20 dumplings in one night. (I tried to tell myself they were smaller portions than usual.) When I sat down to take my first bite of that Christmas dinner—the first bite, of course, was a bite of a dumpling—my excitement instantly turned to unintended mastication as I spat the dumpling out. This year, they were basted in turkey juice.

To any omnivore I’m sure that sounds delightful—to me, it was traumatic. I can’t remember if the tears flowed right away or if I ran into the other room first. I generally have a policy of not crying in public, and I know I shut down and couldn’t answer the few aunts and uncles who asked “What’s wrong?”

I don’t think I said a thing to anyone the rest of the time I was there, or if I did, I doubt it amounted to more than muffled grunts and downtrodden affirmations signaling I was still present. It was sudden shock and instant depression. I didn’t belong to the family anymore. My ethnic existence was now in question.

Not Complete Without the Meat

Innovation in cooking and food preparation is a blessed thing. Cooking becomes less burdensome and more fun, new ingredients add a splash to the palate, and monotonous dishes experience resurrection. I imagine the act of adding cooked animal flesh or byproduct to a communal dish was originally thought of as a new kick, and a celebration of affluence and ability. Why live like turnip-eating peasants when tonight we can have our kill in each bit of our meal?

Well, I happen to like turnips, but I somehow doubt I would have had much of them if I ate meat. I firmly believe that cooking vegetables without the meat yields more complex flavors—superior flavor, even. Meat and its stewing juices treat vegetables like immigrants to the dish, assimilating them until they have little identity of their own. Meat treats vegetables like the enemy, dividing and conquering them so that they cannot create the flavor bonds necessary to succeed in combat.

Turkey juice cannot simply be brushed aside. Turkey juice must be taken seriously. I am accustomed to bacon in the green beans, sausage in the wild rice, and gelatin in the marshmallow fluff. These are all expected disappointments. It’s kind of like asking Santa for a pony and getting a toy horse instead.

“But at least you can pretend to ride it!” I imagine a hopeful parent telling the disappointed child. At holiday meals catering only to omnivores, at least vegetarians can pretend to be happy.

Food Is Love

Last Thanksgiving was the first holiday where I experienced being full. My boyfriend and I went down to celebrate with his family in Fort Madison, Iowa (his first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian—I had to warn him about the sausage in the rice). Over 40 members of his extended clan came to feast—potluck style—at his uncle’s marina along the Mississippi. We brought some dishes, too: a broccoli casserole with melted gruyere, and a tofurky with the accompanying roasted veggies, basted with herbed olive oil.

While waiting for all parties to arrive, at long last I was feeling an excitement unknown since the Dumpling Incident—the holiday meal would again sate my soul. By all means am I a utilitarian vegetarian when it comes to a large group. I ask no special favors and never have, but last year I took my appetite into my own, oven-mitt-wearing hands.

It helped to have someone I cared about share my excitement, however; otherwise I’m not sure I would have gone through the effort. For some reason, fasting on Thanksgiving seems less socially isolating than having an entire tofurky to one’s lonesome.

Potlucks serve as a conduit for communal experiences; one shares a story through sharing the dish they made. “This recipe came from aunt Lucy,” or “My mom made this for us every year before she passed away,” one might hear, and the food’s history will be documented in one’s memory. That recipe ensures the family line a place of love and honor in the community. They won’t be forgotten; they’ll continue to exist when they’re gone.

When it comes to my hometown, I am gone for more than 360 days of the year. The unintentional fasting on Thanksgiving and Christmas now seem like a big part of why going back always felt dreadful. For 10 years, I thought the distance I experienced at holiday meals came from having nothing to say. But last year with our tofurky and broccoli casserole, I had plenty to say: ooooooooh, this food is sooo good!!

Being stuffed after the plentiful vegetarian harvest had its drawbacks. However, I can’t say I prefer previous experiences either. Never again will I be satisfied with a baby-carrots-and-potato-chip Christmas. I think this year, my boyfriend and I will be packing the dog, the cat, the presents, and the turnips and the tempeh.

“I learned how to make this tempeh chorizo after having it at a restaurant and wanting it everyday…” I’ll say. “It goes really well with this vegan gravy my friend made for me once…”

You need to relax. You can choose from countless methods of relaxation out there, from massage to happy hour, but yoga is the whole package. It can help calm things down, even if you think you’re about to lose your mind. After all, yoga literally means “union,” as in the union of mind and body, so your mind can’t run too far away. When your to-do list is looking intimidating this December, try yoga to add a little more relaxation in your life. It invigorates the body, focuses the mind and leaves you feeling alive, yet mellow.

The physical practice of yoga is a good way “to become freer and more at ease with ourselves so we can live in greater harmony in the world,” according to Nancy Footner. Footner is an Iyengar yoga teacher at Friendship Yoga, located on Gilbert Court in Iowa City.

Iyengar is a style of yoga characterized by slower movements and strong attention to the form of poses. Other styles are more powerful and faster, such as Asthanga. But there are some types of yoga that focus on flowing between poses, chanting in certain poses, Western fitness culture, or even yoga done in rooms more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

“There are so many styles out there,” Marcie Evans said. “Everyone can find a style for them.”

Evans is a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher, and owns Serenity Yoga & Pilates Studio on the east side of Iowa City. She feels that anyone starting a yoga practice should really focus on finding the right style of yoga for them, and then finding the right certified, qualified instructor.

Evans highly recommends working with an instructor as you begin your yoga practice. If you can’t afford to spring for a private session with an instructor, attend an introductory class (or maybe ask Santa for a nice gift).

Having a teacher instruct you through the poses can help prevent injury and show you how to properly get in and out of poses so you get the maximum benefit. An instructor can also prepare you for your own personal practice if you don’t dig the classroom scene.

Footner is also a big advocate of instructor’s guidance. As a teacher of Iyengar, she is very focused on the individual needs of her students and helping them get the most out of their practice.

“We start by disciplining the body, but what we’re really after is disciplining the mind,” she said. The physical practice of yoga challenges the body and gets rid of those schedules and to-do lists that drive stress. “Your mind becomes clear of all of that chatter, so you can face the challenges with a little more equanimity.”

But yes, the holidays often leave time at a premium and stress still high. Need a quick fix? Try what the yogis call pranayama, or breath control. Focusing on your breathing is an important component of yoga that fights stress by shutting off that fight or flight stress response in the body and turns on the more relaxed part of your nervous system, according to Evans. This simple transition can lower blood pressure and heart rate and release muscle tension. Breathing is one of the reasons why yoga is so good at relieving stress.

“Yoga gives you something to focus on,” Marcie Evans said. She noted that yoga is especially good for more active individuals. “They need to focus on breathing. They need to focus on a pose to get into that relaxed state. It gives them something to get to that point where they can relax.”

Try and take a little time for yourself this holiday season and fight that nagging stress with a little yoga. Or if you just can’t squeeze it in at all, you can always save it for one of those pesky New Year’s resolutions.

Take 5

Got five minutes? Whether you are at the office, making dinner, or whatever, take a break for a little stress-free me-time. Marcie Evans, owner of the Serenity Yoga & Pilates Studio, gives a quick guide for de-stressing off the yoga mat.

1) Sit on the edge of a chair with your back straight and hands on your knees avoiding tension in the shoulders. Try a smooth, controlled three-part breath: first breathe into your stomach, then middle chest and upper chest. Exhale in the opposite order (upper chest, middle chest, stomach). Keep it going for a minute or two.

2) Moving with your breath, try a simple side-bend. While inhaling, raise your right arm up toward the ceiling. On the exhale, try to lift your ribcage away from the pelvis into get a gentle side stretch. Release your arm and repeat on the left side. Note: your abdominal muscles should be engaged and the spine shouldn’t be bending much at all! Repeat, alternating sides, for five breaths on each side.

3) Try a little seated cat and cow pose. Place your hands on your knees again, face forward and move slowly with your breath. While inhaling move into a seated cow pose: open your chest (move your shoulders back and your chest out), and gaze up toward the ceiling without putting pressure on your neck. Move into a seated cat pose on the exhale: tuck your tailbone under your body, bring your navel to your spine, round your back and gaze gently toward the floor. Repeat for five to 10 breaths.

Take energy for example. Depending on the resource you consult, food production takes anywhere from a sixth to a quarter of the energy we use in the country. Most of that goes toward meat production. Here in Iowa, a vast majority of what we grow is used not to feed people, but to feed livestock. The rest is not food either, but fuel (and an inefficient form of it at that), following a concept that brilliant author Raj Patel calls “the preposterous notion that we should grow food in order to set it on fire.”

Then there is the small matter of the oil we eat. Michael Pollan’s research led to the conclusion that a happy meal from a McDonald’s drive-thru consumes two-and-a-half gallons of oil from start to finish. Remember, billions and billions served. Nourishing our families is more important than fueling our cars, and the two processes should not be conducted in identical manners.

I so admire the President-Elect’s call to sacrifice, especially since his predecessor asked it of none but our soldiers and their families (not the rest of us). Also, his plans to repair our standing in the world after President Bush squandered its goodwill are to be commended. Because energy and health are near the top of his agenda, and we live in a world where a billion people are starving and a billion more are, perversely, overweight and undernourished, we can set about making an impact with simple ways. Some have recommended, as a small step, asking people to consider going without meat one day a week.

It’s not that hard. Cereal for breakfast, a big salad for lunch and a pasta or rice dish for supper. Nothing you might not have on any ordinary day. In return you save money, your health and the environment. Meanwhile 14 percent of the energy used on meat production can be used to help feed the world, or better yet to help teach the world to feed itself. No real hardship for you or me–big benefit for others.

Now of course there would be cries of people saying, “I don’t want the government telling me what to eat.”  Well, very sorry to break the news to you, but they already do, and none of it is good for you. America’s agricultural policy (all we have in lieu of a cohesive food policy), is designed around a quantity-trumps-quality, get-big-or-get-out mentality that forces all of us, especially on the lower economic rungs (big surprise), to eat pounds of empty calories, which in turn has led directly to America’s epidemics of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and stroke.

Speaking of health care, why not have some? For decades, our system has gone farther and farther down the road of treating, rather than preventing, disease. It’s almost as if no one had ever said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This is very simple economics here: you lower health care costs by having fewer sick people. You have fewer sick people by preventing that which is preventable, which according to most doctors is roughly two-thirds of all the heart disease, diabetes and cancer we currently suffer from. And it all goes back to what we eat.

Here then, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Roots of Change Fund and Slow Food USA, is a simple 12-point plan to guide our new food policy. You can sign onto it at www.FoodDeclaration.org

The Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture:

We, the undersigned, believe that a healthy food system is necessary to meet the urgent challenges of our time. Behind us stands a half-century of industrial food production, underwritten by cheap fossil fuels, abundant land and water resources, and a drive to maximize the global harvest of cheap calories. Ahead lie rising energy and food costs, a changing climate, declining water supplies, a growing population, and the paradox of widespread hunger and obesity.

These realities call for a radically different approach to food and agriculture. We believe that the food system must be reorganized on a foundation of health: for our communities, for people, for animals and for the natural world. The quality of food, and not just its quantity, ought to guide our agriculture. The ways we grow, distribute, and prepare food should celebrate our various cultures and our shared humanity, providing not only sustenance, but justice, beauty and pleasure.

Governments have a duty to protect people from malnutrition, unsafe food, and exploitation, and to protect the land and water on which we depend from degradation. Individuals, producers, and organizations have a duty to create regional systems that can provide healthy food for their communities. We all have a duty to respect and honor the laborers of the land without whom we could not survive. The changes we call for here have begun, but the time has come to accelerate the transformation of our food and agriculture and make its benefits available to all.

We believe that the following 12 principles should frame food and agriculture policy, to ensure that it will contribute to the health and wealth of the nation and the world. A healthy food and agriculture policy:

1. Forms the foundation of secure and prosperous societies, healthy communities and healthy people.
2. Provides access to affordable, nutritious food to everyone.
3. Prevents the exploitation of farmers, workers and natural resources; the domination of genomes and markets; and the cruel treatment of animals, by any nation, corporation or individual.
4. Upholds the dignity, safety and quality of life for all who work to feed us.
5. Commits resources to teach children the skills and knowledge essential to food production, preparation, nutrition and enjoyment.
6. Protects the finite resources of productive soils, fresh water and biological diversity.
7. Strives to remove fossil fuel from every link in the food chain and replace it with renewable resources and energy.
8. Originates from a biological rather than an industrial framework.
9. Fosters diversity in all its relevant forms: diversity of domestic and wild species; diversity of foods, flavors and traditions; diversity of ownership.
10. Requires a national dialog concerning technologies used in production, and allows regions to adopt their own respective guidelines on such matters.
11. Enforces transparency so that citizens know how their food is produced, where it comes from and what it contains.
12. Promotes economic structures and supports programs to nurture the development of just and sustainable regional farm and food networks.

Our pursuit of healthy food and agriculture unites us as people and as communities, across geographic boundaries, and social and economic lines. We pledge our votes, our purchases, our creativity, and our energies to this urgent cause.

The Mill’s new free concert series, the Tuesday Night Social Club, has already established itself as a gift that keeps on giving, and December is no exception. A kind of live-music counterpart to the Thursday night Dance Party at the Picador, the Mill does a nice job presenting local and national talent at no cost to you. This month’s offerings lean toward the local side, with a major emphasis on guitars. Densely layered, mathy and precise, destroyed and sloppy, left-handed: however you like your guitar, you can find it here this month. Garage-rockers The Black Slacks and local rock almost-legends Petit Mal start things off on the December 2. On the 9th it’s Dimas Lemus, whose shoegazing fuzz-rock and female vocals remind me of the band Drugstore with more oomph. They’re playing with Golden Megaload, which is two of the three former Puritanicals, known for tight guitar-rock and occasional shirtlessness. On December 16, local hard-rockers with a sensitive side Birth Rites will play with one of Ed Borstein’s bands, The Brown Note. Amazingly, Olivia Rose Muzzy, the KRUI disc jockey who is also on this bill, will play some not-electric string instruments (double bass!) through a loop pedal. Exciting not only for being not a guitarist, but for filling the massive chamber pop void left by the departure of Skursula.

The last Tuesday Night Social Club of 2008 marks the return of The Blacks, a San Fransisco/New York rock and roll three-piece who nearly stole the show from Cursive when they opened for them here in April. You dig minimal sounds? One of their three members plays tambourine, leaving only guitar and drums to lay the foundation for a surprisingly massive and dirty sound. Lead vocalist and guitarist Louisa Black channels Karen O via Lydia Lunch, and can belt out covers by everyone from Romeo Void to Amy Winehouse. JDK Blacker, said tambourinist, will spit on you, steal your beer, and then pour it on you, so be warned. Following this Tuesday night show, they will also be playing New Year’s Eve at the Picador. One of these two sets—if you can’t make both—is an absolute must-see this month.

One of the best, and nicest, bands in the Iowa City rock scene is Mannix!, who are rocking a CD release show on December 12 at the Mill. They are playing with Caw Caw!, who are on the local label Slanty Shanty, and The Slats. The Slats are from Minneapolis and are just plain awesome: big riffs, zany lyrics, super-tight arrangements with just the right amount of slop.

If all of this rock isn’t your cup of tea, two quieter shows will feature some incredible songwriting talents. On December 5, Denison Witmer will play the cozy basements of Public Space ONE along with local singer and artist Caleb Engstrom. Also on this bill are Jeremy Messersmith from Minneapolis, and Jeff Hanson, who is on the Kill Rock Stars record label, which is known for having great songwriters. You might remember a dude named Elliott Smith.

And, finally, speaking of big names, you don’t need me to tell you one thing about the wonderful and talented Pieta Brown. She was supposed to play at the Mill some time back, but was called away for duty as the opening act for Ani Difranco’s tour. Pieta will be celebrating the release of her latest CD, and with Haley Bonar also on the bill I can imagine these tickets going fast.

See you in the New Year!

The answer is six, according to Quantum of Solace, which is at least faithful to Ian Fleming in its recipe for 007’s preferred martini (three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, and a half measure of Kina Lillet—much preferable to tasteless vodka bruised with dry vermouth). He manfully drinks those cocktails to dull his grief for Vesper, the woman he lost at the end of Casino Royale.

Quantum opens with a scene that carries on the action of Casino: Bond is speeding through the Italian countryside with Mr. White, who is part of a secret evil organization, in the trunk of his Aston Martin. But White promptly escapes from his interrogation with the help of a mole in MI6. The movie is intent on showing how compromised our post-Cold-War world is. There is no pure good; all organizations and regimes in the movie contain good and wicked elements. The real bad guy has the significant name of Greene, who is in bed with both the British and the American government. Greene runs an environmental agency that is sneakily creating a drought in order to sell water for an exorbitant sum. He’s a fitting bad guy for an age when BP advertises itself as “Beyond Petroleum.”

The critics have, on the whole, been down on Quantum of Solace. (Admittedly, the title, taken from one of Fleming’s short stories, is awful. I guess the name of the secret organization is Quantum; still, why not A Half-Jigger of Solace?) The general complaint about Quantum of Solace is that it doesn’t have an iota of wit or a modicum of sex, which are the gin and vodka of most Bond films. He never says, “Bond, James Bond,” or “shaken not stirred”; the most thrilling of all action-movie music doesn’t play until the credits; the beauties don’t have names like Pussy Galore or Plenty O’Toole; and, worst of all, there are no gadgets.

I love Pussy Galore and ejector seats as much as the next critic. Still, I enjoyed Quantum quite thoroughly. True, it’s not as good as Daniel Craig’s debut in Casino Royale, which shocked and mesmerized us with the story of Bond before he was Bond. When asked in that movie if he preferred his martini shaken or stirred, he growled, “Does it look like I give a damn?” There’s nothing as finely etched as that in Quantum. So, what makes it an enjoyable addition to the most popular movie series ever? For that matter, what makes it a Bond flick?

Well, it’s shot in some beautiful locations and has two lovely women who are also competent actresses. Though some of the action scenes are a bit confusing to watch, there’s a nice sequence that takes place as Tosca is being performed on an Austrian shore, and also a thrilling, old-fashioned airplane fight. More importantly, the movie maintains a crucial element of the Bond myth: he is ruthless on the surface but a good-guy underneath. Bond is possessed by the desire to avenge the death of Vesper, but the movie ends with his refraining from killing the man who corrupted his beloved. He is chastised throughout by MI6 for killing too many people, even though, like a good old cowboy, he never kills anyone who isn’t a bad guy and hasn’t attacked him first. The movie is keen to point out that while the big wigs chastise Bond, they simultaneously are excusing their complicity with evil organizations: “If we don’t do business with bad guys, there would be no one to do business with.”

In short, though the movie isn’t top-notch entertainment (and beyond Dr. No and Casino Royale, how many are?), it’s competent and even interesting in a mild way. The director is Marc Forster, who made Monster’s Ball and The Kite Runner; and one of the writers is Paul Haggis, the writer who adapted Million Dollar Baby and directed Crash. Finally, I’m one of those who thinks it’s indisputable that Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery, for those two alone have possessed that martini-alchemy of suavity and cruelty that sends shivers through men and women, though usually for different reasons.

“There are hands that give love and affection while there are hands that steal the soul and take away life. What is so startling to us is that one hand is capable of both.” — Hani Zo’roub, artist, born in Rafah, Gaza in 1976

“The role of art is not just an aesthetic one. It should also be responsible for shedding light on societal issues that are circulated in the shadows by the public.” — Shadi Hreim, artist, born in Salfit in 1977

There is a woman. There are many women.

Who is this woman? Can we understand this woman?

She hunches in the spot-lit corner of a room — defeated, but dignified.

She bends her head, haloed and golden, like a Byzantine icon. Like Mary. She is contemplative.

She punches the air with an oversized fist, her abstracted body heavy against the fiery red and orange backdrop. She is in pain. She is angry.

Fear. Rage. Shame. Sadness. More clearly than any textbook diagnosis, the 15 prints in the exhibition “‘No’: Palestinian Artists Confront Violence Against Women” expose the myriad and conflicting emotions felt by abused women.

The show will be on display December 4-5 in the Board Room on the second floor of the University Capitol Centre (Old Capital Mall). It was curated by University of Iowa international studies major Julia Baily, a 33-year-old who spent the better part of the past two years in Palestine working with Open Workshop for Culture and Arts (OWCA), an organization that aims to incorporate art in the day-to-day life of Palestinians.

Together with the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, a Palestinian group that works to change old laws for the benefit of women, OWCA invited artists to confront the problem of gendered violence through a 2005 workshop in Ramallah, Palestine. For her senior project, Bailey brought a selection of these works to Iowa City. She has also arranged programming, including a video discussion with some of the artists, for the first weekend in December. The discussion coincides with other events celebrating the 60th anniversary of the United Nation’s adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Drawing on the historical tradition of prints as a protest medium, their sense of outrage and personal experience with victims of gendered violence, the Palestinian artists whose work is included in this exhibition have created a powerful group of prints that has toured Palestine extensively and sparked dialogue about an issue that is too often covered up.

Violence against women is a problem that spans continents, cultures and the passage of time. It’s not a pleasant or easy problem to discuss. Even more difficult to talk about is the specific type of violence that these Palestinian artists were responding to: “honor killings.” A complicated cultural tradition that is often mistaken to be a solely Muslim practice, an honor killing occurs when a female is killed by a member of her own a family.

The motivation for this crime is a perceived dishonor brought upon the family by the actions of the daughter. Many offenses are tied to issues of assimilation into Western culture. The daughter may have become pregnant outside of marriage, rejected an arranged marriage, or fallen in love with the wrong man. Whatever the cause, honor killings are performed in many cultures and countries around the world, including Palestine. The punishment for these egregious murders is typically just a few weeks or months in prison, if anything.

“Domestic violence, or gendered violence, happens throughout the entire world,” Bailey said. “It’s something that happens here in Iowa, it happens in Iowa City, and it happens in Palestine. Honor killings are just one form of this violence.”

To even attempt to understand honor killings, one must try to understand a societal structure far removed from daily Western life. In this patriarchal, familial system, “the woman’s function in society was to preserve honor and tradition,” Bailey said.

One way to try to understand is to think of the role women have traditionally played in war.

“Unfortunately, women have always been and still are used in war,” Bailey said. “One side will rape the women of the other side when they attack the villages. And when this happens, they are specifically attacking the honor of those they are fighting. The women’s body represents the honor of the society.”

The Palestinian artists were very aware of the strong power of tradition and its connection to honor killings. Artist, writer and OWCA co-founder Mazen Sa’adeh is quoted in the exhibition label text: “We were very brave to talk about the issue. The society here respects tradition, and so they feel that they must respect honor killing. This enforces the shame that is placed on the family of the girl who falls in love or becomes pregnant outside of the family system. It is a sickness of the society. A sickness that I believe will be cured.”

While the Palestinian artists didn’t create these prints with Iowans or even Americans as the intended viewing audience, Bailey said she feels these works offer a rare opportunity for Iowans to see another side of Palestinian society, one that is not often addressed in the media and politics.

“This art offers to us a truth that is stronger and more vivid than knowledge gained through books and newsprint,” she said. “It is a composite expression of the women’s lives that inspired the artists. Here, through the exhibition the artists and the stories they tell are related to as human beings outside of their labels as Palestinians, as Muslim, as Christian, as male or as female. It is in this way that art provides true clarity.”

Though Bailey said this was not done for a particular reason, it seems fitting that the individual prints in the exhibit do not have titles. Seen separately, they attract the eye; but seen together, they create an undeniable and clear message. The wood block print medium helps create this unification with its distinctive aesthetic — broad color swatches, a nearly palpable texture, and visceral lines. The result is a gripping final product with a clear purpose.

Many women. One woman.

She crouches; her faceless, blocky figure bends with uncomfortable grace. Maroon color shadows her body, dots the surrounding space. Above her: a white sun with maroon spatters hangs in a somber black sky. Beneath her: the ground, also black, swirls, its vegetation arcing in violent lines toward her midsection.

This woman is alone. She feels pain. Rage. Shame. Sadness. But — the background turns abruptly to a white rectangle around her figure, like an open door or window onto her plight. Like a community open to discussion. The woman — she has hope.

Palestinian art feature sidebars

Sidebar:

Art Exhibition
What: “No”: Palestinian Artists Confront Violence Against Women
When: Dec. 4-5
Where: Board Room, second floor, University Capitol Centre (Old Capitol Mall)
Admission: Free
More information: The exhibition, which is sponsored by UI Middle East & Muslim World Studies program, Iowa Women Initiating Social Change, the Women’s Resource and Action Center, UI International Programs, The Framer’s Intent, and Dick Blick Iowa City, is accompanied by a series of events on Dec. 4 and 5. Featured events include:

• Introduction to the exhibit by curator Julia Bailey, Dec. 4, 6:30pm. Live music by Marisa Handler, a Jewish American woman in the UI Writers Workshop, to follow. Handler will also speak about her activism in Israel and read from her book, Loyal to the Sky, the winner of a 2008 Nautilus Gold Award for world-changing books.
• Videoconference with several of the artists in the show, Dec. 5, noon.
• Round-table discussion, Dec. 5, 2-3:30pm, Participants include: UI Geography Professor Rex Honey, whose studies in political geography focus on how people use space and place to gain control over their lives; a representative from the UI Center for Human Rights; Angela Gadzik of Iowa Women Initiating Social Change; and Kenda Stewart, a UI Ph.D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology who has worked with the Mossawa Center, an advocacy center for Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel, and done research on the cultural political implications of women’s soccer in Israel.
• Rachel Marie-Crane Williams, a UI professor of art education, will speak about the social responsibility of art. Date and time TBD.

For more information on programming, email Julia Bailey at julia-bailey@uiowa.edu.

Information on December events celebrating human rights:

Colloquium
What: “The Challenge of Universal Rights: Realizing Dignity and Justice for All”
When: Dec. 5-7
Where: Various locations. For a full schedule of events, visit http://international.uiowa.edu/centers/human-rights/, or call 319-335-3900 or email uichr@uiowa.edu for more information.
Admission: Free

It’s been 60 years since the United Nations recognized that the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” by adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In celebration of this anniversary, The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, International Programs, American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Iowa United Nations Association, and the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council are presenting this free, public colloquium. Special nod to justice-oriented students: an hour of credit is up for grabs if you participate. Just log on to ISIS to register.

Featured free, public events include:

• A keynote address by former Iowa Congressman James Leach, Dec. 6, 10 a.m. Old Capitol Museum Senate Chamber.
• Panel discussions throughout the weekend with artists, leading civil rights and law experts, and members of The University of Iowa community
• A musical performance by UI School of Music vocal professor Katherine Eberle, Dec. 6, 7 p.m. Senate Chamber.

Art Exhibition
What: Eye Witness: Daniel Heyman’s Portraits of Iraqi Torture Victims
When: Through Jan. 4
Where: Hanson Family Humanities Gallery, Old Capitol Museum, University of Iowa Pentacrest
Admission: Free
More Information: Call 319-335-1727 or go online to www.uiowa.edu/uima.

Many artists have documented their beliefs about human rights abuses in Iraq. Painter and printmaker Daniel Heyman got to go one step further when he was invited by a team of lawyers to travel to the Middle East and witness interviews with former Iraqi detainees.

Drawing on his first-hand experiences, Heyman created portraits of more than 25 released prisoners of all ages, occupations and backgrounds. A selection of these works is on view through January 4 in the exhibition “Eye Witness: Daniel Heyman’s Portraits of Iraqi Torture Victims,” the first show from the UI Museum of Art (UIMA) since the flood.

In his spare, expressionistic prints and watercolors, Heyman has filled the space surrounding his subjects’ figure with direct transcription of his or her words.

“You look at the picture of the person in the hood, and you hate torture, but you don’t think of that person,” he said. “It’s hard to think that this person is someone who may have been taken from his family in the middle of the night. The story of who they are is not there.”

Surrounding free, public events include:

• Artist’s talk, Dec. 4, 4pm, Old Capitol Museum Senate Chamber.
• Panel discussion on KSUI’s “Know the Score LIVE!” Dec. 5, 5-7pm, Old Capitol Museum Senate Chamber. Reception to follow. Participants include: Artist Daniel Heyman, Joshua Casteel, a UI playwrights Workshop and the Nonfiction Writing Program student and the author of Letters From Abu Ghraib (2008); UI Professor Paul Kramer, author of The Blood of Governments: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines (2006); and Kristin Antin, community builder for the Center for Victims of Torture.