Audrey Gale Campbell

Fall- Riamede Farm

2011-10-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

September 2011

2011-09-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Pre-Fall

2011-09-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

Chinatown/Little Italy

2011-07-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

7/24/2011- First Day of Gay Marriage in NY

2011-07-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

Great Barrington, MA

2011-07-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

New York Spring!

2011-04-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

Save NPR and PBS!!!

2011-02-20T22:46:00.001-08:00

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-congress-dont-pull-the-plug-on-npr-and-pbs

Tell Congress: Don't pull the plug on NPR and PBS!

Targeting: The U.S. Senate and The U.S. House of Representatives

Snowy New York

2011-01-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

Texas Book Festival

2010-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Beautiful weather, a record-breaking 224 authors, and miles of great reading could all be found at the festival this year. Despite recent changes to state capitol security and all the scaffolding and renovations around the dome, I thought the festival went off flawlessly. I was lucky enough to get a media pass that allowed me to roam around and get close to authors who otherwise probably would have shooed me away...

Times magazine food columnist, Amanda Hesser, spoke about how she got started and her work on a new cookbook.

H.W. Brands (left) and James McGrath Morris were two of the authors who have recently published books on early 19th and 20th century business magnates. I recommend Morris' book, Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print and Power.

West Texas Trip

2010-10-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Rally to Restore Sanity

2010-09-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Brilliant.

http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-16-2010/rally-to-restore-sanity

www.keepfearalive.com
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/359382/september-16-2010/march-to-keep-fear-alive

Texas Book Festival Schedule

2010-09-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

The book festival has posted the 2010 schedule online. Events will be held in and around the state capitol. http://www.texasbookfestival.org/Calendar.php Below are a few that standout to me...

Saturday
The Lone Star Tent- Conversations with Crokite- with Walter Crokite's friend and oral historian, Don Carleton, 10:00-10:45

Capitol Extension Room E2.028- Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation- with Simon LeVay, 10:30-11:15

Paramount Theater- Austin City Limits: 35 Years in Photographs - with ACL photographer Scott Newton, 11:15-12:00

C-SPAN/Book TV Tent- The Blanton Museum of Art and TBF present: Age of Titans- with H.W. Brands, James McGrath Morries and T.J. Stiles, 12:15-1:15

The Sanctuary at First United Methodist Church- Awkward Family Photos, 1:30-2:15

Captiol Extension Room E2.030- The Hammersteins: A Musical Theater Family- with Oscar Andrew Hammerstein III, 2:30-3:15

Sunday
C-SPAN/Book TV Tent- Literature on the Lam: Famous Fugitives- with Malcom Beith, Jonathen Eig, Hampton Sides and James Swanson, 11:00-12:00

Captiol Extension E2.028- I Don't Care About Your Band: What I Learned From Indie Rockers and Other Guys I've Dated- with Julie Klausner, 12:00-12:45
(I don't know much about the author, but it's a pretty clever title.)

The Sanctuary at First United Methodist Church- S.C. Gwynne- on his book Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, The Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, 2:15-3:00

Captiol Extension E2.012- Remembering LBJ‘s War On Poverty- with oral historian Michael L. Gillette, 3:30-4:15

Farmer's Market

2010-09-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

Galveston, TX

2010-09-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

Texas Book Festival

2010-09-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Since the spring, I've been working for Clay Smith, the literary director of the Texas Book Festival. I primarily read the books that will be featured in the festival and write reviews about them. (The best job I could ever ask for.) My reviews have been posted online and below are a handful of links to some of them. The festival is October 16 & 17 at the state capitol in Austin, TX.

For more information, visit www.texasbookfestival.org

A few of my favorites...

Hampton Sides- “Hellhound on His Trail; The Stalking of Martin Luther King Jr.”
http://texasbookfestival.org/Author_Page.php?aid=3986

S.C. Gwynne- “Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History”
http://texasbookfestival.org/Author_Page.php?aid=739

Rebecca Skloot- “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”
http://texasbookfestival.org/Author_Page.php?aid=3987

James McGrath Morris- “Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print and Power”
http://texasbookfestival.org/Author_Page.php?aid=742

Andrew Porter- “The Theory of Light and Matter”
http://texasbookfestival.org/Author_Page.php?aid=743

Larry Butler, Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

2010-04-28T13:56:00.001-07:00

Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

2010-04-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Larry Butler, Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

2010-04-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Carol Ann Sayle, Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

2010-04-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

I recently completed a profile about Boggy Creek, a beautiful East Austin urban farm run by Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle. Over the next few weeks I'll be working on a photo story about the farm and the twice-weekly farmers market that they host on the modest acreage Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9-1 pm.

By Audrey Campbell
April 13, 2010

Strolling around the modest acreage of Boggy Creek Farm is like taking a tour of the Garden of Eden. Lavender irises, crimson corn poppies and wild climbing rose vines all reach out toward visitors, delicately brushing against the arms and legs of passersby. A variety of white and speckled hens mill around the yard as a colorful rooster keeps watch over the coop and sunshine spreads dappled light onto the ground where it skims over lush fig trees and historic oaks.

The farm seems dreamlike, as if everything in and around it grows naturally and effortlessly, but the paradise atmosphere is an illusion stealthily kept up by Carol Ann Sayle and her husband Larry Butler.

“It’s kind of an artificial landscape that we’ve created,” Carol Ann explains one early Friday morning as she moves down a row of plants, vigorously cutting the heads off lettuces. “None of this stuff grows here naturally. We work hard to make everything grow and we’re always battling the Texas weather.”

Happily situated only a few miles east of downtown Austin, the Boggy Creek Farm produces more than 100 different types off foods each year including sweet corn, tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, shallots and spinach.

“This area used to be the spinach capital of Texas due to the fertile soil,” Carol Ann notes, gathering up a tub-full of lettuce heads and marching off toward the storage cooler.

She must work quickly because, even in the spring, it becomes too hot to harvest crops after noon and she needs to gather enough produce for the next day’s farmer’s market. The couple opens their gates to eager customers on the prowl for fresh, organic foods each Wednesday and Saturday morning. Food enthusiasts and families flock to the farm to partake of fresh produce and locally produced milk and cheeses. Patrons also leisurely wander around the five acres of fields behind the farmhouse, pointing out fruits and vegetables to small children as they walk between endless rows of greenery, strawberries and snap dragons.

“Its a beautiful place, but it takes a lot of work to keep it looking so nice,” laughs Tom Butler, Larry’s son who helps out part-time at the farm.

As her graying blonde hair gently sweeps over her face with each small breeze, Carol Ann describes her daily routine, emphasizing that work on the farm is never done.

“On Tuesdays and Fridays I usually harvest for about four or five hours, then I spend the rest of my time during the week doing field work, planting, or office work. There’s always something to do.”

Carol Ann is a picture of health even in her early sixties. She is tall, slender and tanned from hard work under the Texas sun. She wears no makeup, but her light blue eyes shine brightly as she talks about her work and her collaboration with her husband.

“We both did different things before we began farming,” she explains, as she washes out buckets that will soon hold bouquets of freshly cut snap dragons. “I was a painter and I painted a lot of Texas scenery and animals, and Larry worked in real estate and construction. Larry grew up on a farm, so he’s the real brains behind the whole thing, but we both always liked being outside. We just love the miracle of growing things.”

Though Boggy Creek has become an Austin institution known for its wonderful selection and friendly service, Carol Ann and Larry didn’t always have the support they now do.

“Everyone thought we were crazy for starting this farm,” Carol Ann recalls. “Our family thought we were crazy because, when we began in 1992, farms were going bankrupt left and right.”

Their children helped them start the farm, sowing seeds for future plants. Tracy Geyer, Carol Ann’s daughter, is now a dental hygienist living in Austin and staying busy with her own growing family. Geyer says she has always recognized her mother’s love for farming.

“They do love it and it is very hard work, it keeps them very, very busy,” Tracy says. “I really think it keeps them very healthy, so they’ll be around for a long time. Everything they eat is directly from the ground and it’s just so alive. Everything they eat is just totally nourishing their bodies.”

When they began the farm, the couple knew the Austin area and the growing demand for locally-grown organic foods. They managed to succeed, working doggedly to provide for their own tables as well as others in the community. As she wanders through tall rows of soft pink, orange, yellow and red snap dragons, Carol Ann says that she and Larry now live almost completely off what is produced in their own backyard.

“We don’t buy any produce, we just subsist off what the farm provides and we eat what is in season.”

Organic bison or lamb is usually on the dinner table, accompanied by a fresh salad straight from the fields and pears or figs plucked from the trees in the yard. The couples also raises chickens, feeding them organic grain and treating the hens like extended members of the family. The chickens are never killed, but only used to produce beautiful cream and coffee-colored eggs that will be sold at the market. The hens live in peaceful coexistence with each other, doing their share of the farm chores by roaming the fields in search of insects or worms.

The sun slowly rises higher over the horizon as Carol Ann diligently sorts through the snap dragons, picking those that will look best in bouquets. She notices that Tootie-J-Tootums, one of her favorite hens, is waddling up the dirt row to investigate her work.

“Good morning, Tootie, have you come to help us,” Carol Ann coos cheerfully and the black hen responds with a timid warble. “Chickens have between twenty and thirty different vocalizations,” she notes.

The chickens are an important subject to both Carol Ann and Larry because they are constantly battling legislation that would require they put identification bracelets on all the livestock. The couple are active members of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and they speak out openly against the National Animal Identification System which requires many farmers to tag their animals so that the government can keep track of them.

“They call it the ‘national flock’, but really it’s all to get rid of us because they want to control the food supply and give all the money to corporations,” Carol Ann says heatedly.

The identification system is put in place in order to more efficiently track any health risks or disease outbreaks that could originate from livestock, but many small farmers say that it is just an excuse to dominate them and take away their business.

“Carol Ann fights legislation that tries to put us out of business,” says Larry, furrowing his brow and gazing out from the back porch to his thriving fields. “We’re losing our rights and freedoms and young folks don’t realize it but this change is all to the detriment of people and the good of huge corporate businesses.”

For now, the couple and others who have an invested interest in the cause have succeeded in keeping their livestock their own, warding off what they view as unnecessary governmental interference.

“We fight valiantly to keep it the way it was and FARFA promotes the small farm,” Larry says.

Larry and Carol Ann have little free time in between attending to business on the farm or playing host at the twice-weekly market, but they both agree that the this life suits them perfectly. Though Carol Ann still enjoys painting, she rarely gets much time for it now. Instead, she says she regards her picturesque acreage and her breathtaking flowers as her art, her own real life painting. After working various jobs over the years, Larry says he has finally come back to his true calling and he would never trade his love of the land.

“This is my life, my passion, my labor of love,” explains Larry. “Farming is all about solving problems and that’s what we do. It’s a good life, a very useful life.”

Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

2010-04-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

The Highball, Austin TX

2010-04-13T22:17:00.001-07:00

Egg Donor Earns Money Helping Others

2010-04-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

By Audrey Campbell
March 2010
**The subject's name has been changed in order to ensure confidentiality.

A few stands of shiny blonde hair fell across her forehead as she sat in Starbucks sipping a steaming coffee, recalling her weekend; running the Austin marathon, getting a post-marathon pedicure and taking her Yorkshire terrier to the vet. A typical young career woman living and working in Austin, Jane is also an egg donor.

Two years ago, she was 27, working and attending college while also attempting to pay off school loans. In need of money and with encouragement from a friend, Jane contacted the Texas Fertility Clinic to find out about donating her eggs to couples trying to have a baby.

“Originally, it was very much financially driven,” Jane explained. “I needed to pay off school loans and a friend of mine worked for a gynecologist and said I should look into it.”

Jane is now 29 and going through her third cycle as an egg donor, but she is certainly not the first to look to her ovaries in order to pay the bills. In fact, more and more young women are considering egg donation in hopes of making money.

In the past year, there has been much discussion regarding the link between a worsening economy and a growing number of women willing to donate. According to a 2006 study (the most recent data available) at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 15,500 donated eggs are transferred to infertile women each year.

“I definitely have seen an increase [in donors], especially with the initial screenings,” said Billie Christopher, a nurse at the Texas Fertility Clinic. “That paperwork comes through a lot more often and there has been a more diverse crowd since the economy dropped.”

Even so, Christopher said that most of those applications do not make it through the clinic’s donor screening process which entails a physical screening, a psychological evaluation, and testing for genetic disorders and infectious diseases.

But a select few donors do go on to be listed in the clinic’s donor database and Megan is one of them. So far Jane has been chosen three times, never knowing who the recipient parents are or even whether or not the procedure will be successful.

“You just get paid for completion,” she said, noting that the Texas Fertility Clinic pays each donor a standard amount of $5,000 upon completion of a cycle. “They do tell you how many eggs they took out, but they can’t tell you whether it was successful or not. Because this is completely anonymous, you’re basically giving up your rights if it does become successful, but I always hope it’s successful, just for the parents sake.”

Though the success of the treatment cannot be guaranteed, prospective parents put down large amounts of money with the hope of becoming pregnant. Christopher said each cycle costs the recipients between $23,000-$25,000. With the time, money and emotional energy wrapped up in the process, Christopher emphasized how important it is that donors are 100 percent sure they want to go through with the procedure.

“What a lot of people don’t know is how much time goes into it for the donors,” Christopher said. “They need to know that it’s not going to be a one-office-appointment type deal. It’s a lengthy process where we expect you take medications on your own at home and come in and know its a long process.”

Dr. Andrew La Barbera, scientific director for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said though the stimulation and egg retrieval process does have inherent risks, the risks are minor and have never prevented former donors from getting pregnant if they choose to have a baby down the line.

“They can still get pregnant, but obviously for all women fertility decreases with age, so as a woman gets older, then her chances of conceiving do decline,” La Barbera explained.

La Barbera said egg donors are usually in their twenties and at the height of their fertility. Therefore the success rate of egg donation tends to be very high. About 70 percent of the assisted pregnancies succeed due to the fertility of the donor, he said.

“Egg donors are at the peak of their fertility, their eggs are very high quality,” La Barbera explained. “So when you combine the high quality eggs with the IVF [In Vitro Fertlization] procedure, you tend to get high success.”

Jane recalled her experiences which began with the screening process and also required her to submit a handful of photos of herself from infancy to the age of about 15. With those photos, recipient parents can get an idea of what their prospective child might look like. Donors must also stick to a strict regimen of medication and hormone injections throughout the main portion of their cycle.

“You have to be able to give yourself shots,” Jane said. “You only have to take about two or three weeks of shots and right now I’m on my first week. Then, after the third week you start the donating process.”

A handful of lifestyle restrictions accompany a donor during her cycle and they include abstaining from drug use and smoking. The clinic also strongly advises donors to abstain from sex while taking the medications and hormones.

“They tell you not to have sex because there’s the concern that you could have a whole litter of babies when you’re eggs are growing like that,” Jane explained.

According to the Texas Fertility Clinic’s web site, the egg retrieval procedure is as follows: An anesthesiologist provides light IV sedation, while a physician performs the retrieval by passing a thin needle under ultrasound guidance through the vaginal wall into your ovary and aspirating the fluid containing the egg from each follicle. The procedure takes no more than 20-30 minutes, after which the donor rests for about 30 minutes to an hour.

“The first time it was painful, but that was because I had gotten sick from the anesthesia and I threw up,” Jane said.

The second time she donated, Jane asked for an anti-nausea medication and said that she experienced no further pain during the surgery. But nausea hasn’t been the only obstacle Jane has dealt with. During her second cycle, she got back together with an ex-boyfriend who had strong feelings about the procedure.

“When I told him, he was not happy, not happy whatsoever,” she said. “It was exactly what I had anticipated from other people and that’s why I didn’t want to say anything. He felt like I was basically going to have a baby out there somewhere.”

Since then, Jane has kept her decision to donate a secret from many of those closest to her.

“I haven’t told my family actually, they don’t know,” she said. “Really just a few close friends know and I have told a few people that I thought should consider [donating]. I just don’t know that [my parents] would understand.”

But Jane says she has never regretted her decisions. Though she became involved in egg donation for monetary motives, she now feels strongly about helping parents who desperately desire a child of their own.

“Originally it was to pay off loans,” she said. “But when I got picked, it became something different. You really were helping someone have a baby. The compensation is great, but knowing you’re helping someone is really great.”

In a period where jobs are scarce and the prospect of $5,000 is undeniably alluring, Jane provided advice for women considering donating their eggs.

“I think if you do your research and read up on everything, I would say go for it. It’s a safe and easy process,” she said. “It’s just so reassuring for me to go into [the clinic] and see couples that so obviously want to have babies, and know I’m there because I want to help someone have one.”

Trae

2010-04-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

Peacock Park, Austin TX

2010-04-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

Horse at Bear Creek Ranch

2010-04-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

A Different Way To Eat Local Foods

2009-12-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

Published by the Daily Texan on December 4, 2009

Food lovers have long been looking forward to Saturday because it marks the beginning of Austin’s Eat Local Week, a winter fundraiser sponsored by Edible Austin magazine.

Residents can choose from a number of events that encourage exploration of the city’s local food resources and raise money for Urban Roots, a youth development program that uses sustainable agriculture to transform the lives of teenagers.

Two such enthusiasts are Lucas Brower and Jesse Kamm, recent transplants to the area from Los Angeles as well as the brains and muscle behind Home Grow Micro Farms, a new local venture that delivers pre-planted, organic vegetable-growing boxes to homes and businesses.

After recieving a master’s degree in environmental science from Stanford University, Brower developed the business after being inspired by a friend’s luscious rooftop garden in California.

“That’s kind of what kicked off the whole idea of looking for a way to grow food densely — as much food as possible, in as small of an area as possible, with as little maintenance as possible,” Brower said.

The couple lives in a quiet neighborhood in East Austin, and their backyard displays the results of hard work and regular attention. Leafy collard greens, broccoli, arugula, cauliflower and herbs sprout from large boxes, providing a colorful display and an abundance of healthy cooking ingredients.

“I think most people, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world, have gotten out of touch with local, seasonal foods,” Brower said. “The average food item travels [more than] 1,500 miles to get to the store, so there’s a ton of energy involved and a ton of waste.”

The boxes are a unique hybrid of hydroponic and traditional gardening. Each box is equipped with a reservoir into which the plants can drop their roots, allowing them to stay uniformly moist.

The potting soil, which Brower personally makes with the help of some special secret ingredients, is covered with plastic, protecting it from the threat of weather shock or being riddled with pests.

“I basically wanted to develop a service that made it easy for people who either don’t have the time to maintain their own garden, don’t have the knowledge or [don’t have] the space,” he said. “We developed this service so that people who live in condos can grow plants on their balconies or decks.”

As he developed his food service, Brower had to keep the unpredictable Texas weather in mind.

“I did plenty of research before I got here, but we would have days that were 100 degrees, and then the next day would be 50 degrees, and then it would rain 4 inches,” he said.

In order to ensure that the plants maintain their high-productivity reputation, Brower begins the potting at his home, waiting for the plants to become about 6 inches tall before delivering them to clients and personally hooking up a watering system.

“We wanted to kind of take some of the waiting out of the gardening process also,” Brower said.

A sensor within the reservoir reads how much water the plant drinks and then monitors the amount of water provided.

“So, if the plant drinks one-fourth of an inch of water out of the reservoir, the drip line will drip in just enough water to fill it back up to the same level,” Brower said. “The kind of elegant thing about the self-watering system is that the plants only receive the exact amount of water that they consume. Very little water is lost to evaporation.”

Though they are fairly new to the city, Brower and Kamm already declared a love for many things Austin, including the market at Boggy Creek Farm, daily hikes along Lady Bird Lake and the occasional dip at Barton Springs.

The two are as creative a couple as can be. Brower heads the Home Grow Micro Farms business, Kamm is a women’s clothing designer and both work hard at raising their young son, Julian. Fresh-faced and innovative, the couple epitomizes modernity and the idea of a bright future, especially the future of food technology.

“We’re just trying to live in a really simple manner and share the good stuff and enjoy our time here on this earth,” Kamm said.

Austin's Famed Orchestra Conductor Discusses Inspiration, Music Choices

2009-11-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

Published by the Daily Texan Newspaper on November 23, 2009

Light bounced off dozens of brass and wooden instruments as members of the Austin Symphony Orchestra rehearsed Cary Ratcliff’s “Ode to Common Things” onstage at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts last week.

Maestro Peter Bay guided the musicians through various stanzas with fluid movements, his back to a vast and empty auditorium.

“The reason I’m a conductor now is because I saw one on television when I was nine years old,” Bay explained. “It was Leonard Bernstein, and I was so taken by what he was doing and how excited he seemed to be about the music and standing in front of the orchestra, that I thought, ‘That’s really what I want to do.’”

Since childhood, Bay worked his way up through the music ranks, singing in a boys’ choir, joining his high school band and receiving a degree in music education from the University of Maryland.

“I got a degree in music ed. because I thought I would never make a career conducting an orchestra,” Bay said. “It’s too hard; it’s too competitive. At least if I got my degree, I could teach band at a high school.”

Nevertheless, Bay went on to receive a master’s degree in conducting from The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and was admitted to the Aspen Music Festival and School, which boasts a very selective conducting class, admitting only five students each summer.

“I always liked music, so why not make a career of it?” he said.

Bay took notes about the ways other conductors would fix aspects of the music and work with the musicians. He also emphasized the importance of the emotion attached to a piece.

“The emotion that is in Mozart’s music might be different than the emotion that might be in Tchaikovsky’s music,” Bay explained.

In January 1998, Bay was appointed music director and conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Throughout his time with the symphony, Bay has experienced more than one strange event.

“When we played at The [Nancy Lee and Perry R.] Bass Concert Hall, I had heard a rumor that some bats lived somewhere up in the rafters,” he recalled. “In the middle of a concert, I saw a bat flying around at the back of the stage and then, all of a sudden, it flew out above the orchestra, landed in someone’s lap and I heard this huge shriek. It really caught this woman by surprise.”

The conductor said he has also withstood fire alarms, power outages and the occasional loss of his baton after inadvertently hitting it on his music stand and watching it fly off into the audience.

Despite those incidents, Bay’s enthusiasm for his work has never diminished. In preparation for a concert, he studies endless sheets of music, learning the composer’s intent and discovering how the piece should sound.

“Long before I see the orchestra, before the first rehearsal, I have to spend sometimes days, sometimes weeks, oftentimes months, learning the music,” he said.

Orchestra members meet with Bay five times before a performance, rehearsing about two and a half hours each night.
The orchestra hosts eight concerts each year and all of the music is chosen by Bay.

“If you like the music that you hear, I’ll take the credit. If you don’t like it, I’ll take the blame,” he said.

Bay will be conducting the orchestra alongside the Conspirare Symphonic Choir Nov. 20-21 as they perform pieces from Ratcliff’s “Ode To Common Things” and Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Afterward, they will begin rehearsing for the Dec. 8 holiday production of Handel’s “Messiah.”

Though he said it would be impossible for him to pick a favorite composer or piece of music, Bay remained steadfast in regard to his main inspiration: Leonard Bernstein.

“He was an extraordinary musician,” Bay said. “I don’t know of another person who was so passionate about music, who could speak well about it, who could write it. He conducted every orchestra around the world. He wrote poetry, he wrote books. He was really a true genius.”

Author Hosts Backyard Congregational Services

2009-11-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

Published by the Daily Texan Newspaper on October 12, 2009

Talking with Robin Chotzinoff reestablishes faith in the age-old saying that people can accomplish anything if they set their minds to it.

The author and mother of two is the epitome of hard work and hospitality. While in the throes of writing her first novel, Chotzinoff finds time for weekly Meals on Wheels, bike rides with her husband, regular contributions to Bicycling Magazine and playing hostess for the Firepit Minyan, a Jewish congregational service held in her backyard.
Once a month, a small group of Jewish people comes together in Chotzinoff’s home, which sits in a quiet, shady neighborhood of South Austin. Participants gather to celebrate the Sabbath with a study of the Torah and dinner. Members of all ages gather in Chotzinoff’s backyard around a small bonfire to study and discuss Jewish and non-Jewish texts.

“We try to spend as much time repairing the world as we spend doing rituals,” Chotzinoff said.

Held on Friday nights, the gathering welcomes both Jews and non-Jews alike, drawing in interested parties from all over the city. Chotzinoff said a significant number of people who attend the minyan are Jewish but have never really liked the religion. She also emphasized that those who are simply curious are always welcome to join.

“Life is too short to go to church just because you’re supposed to be going to church,” she said.

The Web site for the Firepit Minyan describes the service as “participatory, open-minded, somewhat Reconstructionist, fairly short and heavy on music.”

Growing up in New York City, Chotzinoff was raised in a predominantly atheistic environment, though her father and grandparents were Jewish. It wasn’t until she met her husband and the two began soul searching that Chotzinoff became interested in rediscovering her Jewish faith.

“We discovered we had a common interest in something neither one of us thought we cared about,” Chotzinoff said.

The couple has since worked to develop a kind of Judaism that fits them. Chotzinoff pulls from different aspects of the faith and combines them in a way that allows her to be herself. She sends her daughter to Hebrew school because she said it’s important to learn the origins and practices of Judaism.

“Judaism has always valued learning a lot, and you’re supposed to work hard at it,” she said.

But Chotzinoff said she does not translate the Torah literally. Instead, she values her ability to interpret her faith individually while also recognizing the importance of developing a religious community.

“One of the nice things about a religious community is that you always have people to come and help you with anything,” she said.

To commemorate the Sabbath, Chotzinoff often performs traditional rituals such as baking challah bread, but she stops short of Orthodox when it comes to refusing to work or drive.

“On Shabbat, I pretend I don’t know where my cell phone is,” she said. “I try and stay away from those things that make me feel I’m just schlepping and working and anxious. On Shabbat, you can just let everything go and just be.”

Police With Needles

2009-11-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

Published by the Daily Texan Newspaper on April 1, 2009

After prolonged discussion and with a 21-10 vote, the state Senate passed a measure Monday allowing police to establish sobriety checkpoints throughout Texas. The vote was announced shortly before a City Hall public forum took place the same evening, during which a large audience gathered to grill Police Chief Art Acevedo about his controversial plan to train police officers to draw blood from suspected drunken drivers.

Together, the two events signal how serious state lawmakers are about cracking down on drunken driving, as much as police-mandated blood tests seem like a direct violation of our individual rights.

Throughout Monday’s public forum, Acevedo tried to explain the importance of a blood sample in confirming a suspect’s blood-alchohol level. Blood samples are the most damning evidence when presented in court, and they allow for justice to be served for victims of drunken drivers and their families.

“The next time we need evidence and have a lawful court order and the hospital says no, what do I tell the victim [of a drunken-driving collision]?”Acevedo asked.

Though the proposal seems to be a clear violation of our constitutional rights, we would want to see that every possible step was taken to ensure the punishment of an irresponsible driver were we in the position of an individual who had just lost a parent, sibling or friend in a drunken-driving accident.

But justice is not that simple. Acevedo explained that hospitals want to keep their employees out of the mix due to their own time constraints and the legal risks involved in wrongly declaring a suspect drunk. Without the help of hospital employees, and because the city cannot afford to hire its own phlebotomists to take the suspect’s blood, it seems the Austin Police Department thinks that training police officers to take blood is the only recourse left.

Proponents of these measures say it will cut down on drunken-driving injuries and fatalities, while opponents argue that it is a clear violation of our rights and, that if blood-alchohol testing is mandatory, there arises a frightening question of where lawmakers will draw the line. How much legal oversight becomes too much government interference?

Another pressing question involves the actual act of taking someone’s blood. We can’t imagine anyone who would feel comfortable with a police officer, especially one who is probably already somewhat irritated, taking his or her blood.
Nevertheless, the idea that a potentially drunk and discourteous driver would quietly submit to a blood-alcohol test seems ridiculous. Instead, this proposal only spells out a recipe for disaster.

Texas lawmakers have long been trying to develop ways to combat the growing number of drunken driving-related injuries and fatalities. Finding a way to appease everyone seems impossible, yet allowing circumstances to remain the same is unacceptable. But this proposed measure is far too extreme, and the unforeseen benefits do not outweigh the costs.

Generation P

2009-11-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

Published by the Daily Texan Newspaper on March 26, 2009

The pivotal Supreme Court decisions of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations concerned free speech and equal rights. But as Internet technology becomes more refined and calls for drug tests and federal involvement in personal choice increase (i.e., government regulation of marriage), it is beginning to appear that our generation will be defined by the landmark rulings handed down regarding a citizen’s right to privacy: a right not guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

A March 23 New York Times article discussed a Supreme Court case that will be the setting for the next debate on privacy. After traveling through the nation’s court system for the past six years, Savana Redding’s case will finally be heard by the Supreme Court on April 21.

Redding was an eighth grader in Arizona when she was forced to strip in front of school officials who suspected her of harboring prescription-strength ibuprofen pills on her body. Redding described the strip search, conducted by two female employees, as “methodical and humiliating.” Not only did the officials require Redding to take off all her clothes, but they demanded that she pull out her bra and underwear so that they could search the entirety of her nude body. Redding had to endure what would have been an excrutiatingly embarrassing experience for any 13-year-old girl, and the school official’s suspicions were proven false. Redding didn’t have any pills.

Officials ordered the strip search when they found ibuprofen pills on one of her friends. The friend blamed Redding, and the school’s assistant principle, Kerry Wilson, ordered that Redding be searched.

Clearly, the officials involved overreacted to the situation by taking drastic action without first questioning Redding, calling her parents or trying to verify the allegations against her (allegations based on the testimony of a 13-year-old at risk of getting in trouble, no less).
Though the right to privacy has played a significant role in historic cases like Roe v. Wade, Redding’s case is different because it calls into question the authority given to school officials working to enforce zero-tolerance policies on school campuses.

Courts have handed down dissenting opinions on Redding’s case. Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, representing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Fransisco, declared the case an unreasonable search and ruled that the school officials had violated the Fourth Amendment’s ban on such measures.

Wardlaw stated that the nude search represented an invasion of Redding’s constitutional rights and “a violation of any known principle of human dignity.”

Judge Michael Daly Hawkins described the search as “a close call” but decided that the search was not unreasonable given that the school officials were acting “in good faith” and were trying to protect other students.

The Supreme Court’s decision will likely set strict guidelines on the constitutional authority afforded to school officials and the rights provided to those subjected to scrutiny. For the sake of the individual rights of minors and adults alike, we hope the outcome puts dignity above doubt.

Dancer Tiptoes Into Ballet Role

2009-11-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

Published in the Daily Texan Newspaper on October 15, 2009

A pile of pink pointe shoes lie on the floor next to Jaime Lynn Witts as she stretches in preparation for a rehearsal.

In a black and green leotard, a white tutu and soft pink tights, she and fellow company member Christopher Swaim effortlessly glide across a studio floor to Tchaikovsky’s celebrated “Snow Pas De Deux.”

Witts, who has been a member of the Ballet Austin company for the past six seasons, will be dancing the role of the Snow Queen in the company’s production of “The Nutcracker” this Christmas.

“This is my third year to dance as the Snow Queen,” Witts said. “It’s fun though, it’s really challenging and I like it.”

Witts and her fellow Ballet Austin performers are used to challenges by now, attending daily morning warm-up classes that begin with exercises at the barre and move on to floor work. Dancers, sporting classic chignons, are dressed in an assortment of tights, leotards and workout wear as they take instruction on improving posture and movement.

“At the company level, it’s really about refining the smaller points of your technique,” Witts explained.

After a difficult class, the group splits up — first taking a break to rebandage blistered toes with the help of sports tape, then pairing off to use the rest of the day rehearsing for upcoming roles. Witts spends half of her time rehearsing and half teaching classes for the ballet’s academy.

“Teaching, for me, definitely provides a different perspective on things,” she said. “I just kind of got thrown into it, but I really enjoy it, especially the younger students. Teaching them how to do something for the very first time is really interesting.”

The academy classes, housed in Ballet Austin’s rehearsal space downtown, offer programs for aspiring students ages three and up. Ballet Austin’s Butler Community School also hosts a wide variety of dance and fitness courses throughout the year including pilates, yoga, tap and conditioning. The classes are open to anyone interested, regardless of previous dance experience.

Originally from Bucks County, Penn., Witts moved to Austin when she was 18 to attend a summer program for Ballet Austin trainees. She said that she has adapted well to the city and the company, praising her fellow members and instructors.

“That’s probably one of the best things about this company, it’s a really supportive environment,” she said. “Though we’re a small company, one of the reasons we have the ability to do something like ‘Swan Lake’ is because everyone is very structured and goal-oriented.”

Company manager Eugene Alvarez said Witts’ progress during her time with the company has been exciting to follow.

“Jaime has been in the company for a while now and she’s been great to work with,” he said. “Her artistic growth has been great to watch.”

Witts said that she especially likes performing with Ballet Austin because it provides her the opportunity to experience both classical and contemporary works.

“I like doing more contemporary things and especially new work,” she said. “I like the creative process a lot.”

One of her favorite performances was “Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project,” choreographed by the company’s artistic director Stephen Mills.

“Everyone went through a lot of education, it was a really in-depth process,” Witts explained. “It was something really meaningful.”

The company performs five main productions throughout the season, and in March they will begin working with finalists from the New American Talent dance competition. The competition, created by Mills, allows all major professional dance publications and choreographers to submit work in hopes of reaching one of three finalist positions. The finalists then come and work with the company members for two weeks to teach them the pieces. After the company performances, audiences will vote for the competition’s winning choreographer.

“One of Mr. Mills’ major goals for Ballet Austin is to integrate choreographic interests,” Alvarez said.

Between rehearsing and teaching, Witts seldom has much free time outside of the studio, but said she uses weekends to relax, run errands and spend time with her fiance, company member Frank Shott. Still, Witts doesn’t seem to mind the grueling schedule. Instead, she says that pushing herself in preparation for a performance is what she finds most rewarding.

“That’s what I love most about this job, performing.”

Austinites Record Reminisces of the Armadillo

2009-11-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

Published in the Daily Texan Newspaper on September 17, 2009

In a small recording studio crowded with soundboards, microphones, a computer and a few chairs, Jim Franklin reminisced about the first poster he ever designed for a concert at the Armadillo World Headquarters.

“I drew a realistic armadillo that has just come across a matchbook full of joints, and it’s puffing on one,” Franklin said.

The artist is one of more than 100 locals who have volunteered to tell their stories about the historic music venue for KUT’s Armadillo Oral History Project. KUT’s project officially began in August when the radio station started airing advertisements encouraging anyone with memories of the Armadillo to contact them and set up a time to have their accounts recorded and preserved.

Owned by Eddie Wilson and housed in an old concert hall, the Armadillo became a famous hangout for live-music enthusiasts. From 1970 to 1980, it hosted countless musicians including Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, Fats Domino and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

“Austin’s reputation as the ‘Live Music Capital of the World’ goes all the way back to the Armadillo World Headquarters,” said Ann Leifeste, a UT graduate and project volunteer. “It gave a lot of bands their start. So many musicians owe a great deal to the Armadillo.”

Leifeste has been working closely with KUT’s Nick Marcotte and David Brown to spread the word about the project. The group has begun diligently recording the memories of patrons, former staff members, musicians and anyone else who wants to preserve their accounts of the Armadillo.

“Instead of us attempting to rebuild history, the project provides the chance to actually talk to the people who were involved,” Brown said. “Oral history is very personal. We’re getting incredible stories, and we’re getting a feel of what Austin was like and how the city was shaped by this.”

Over the next few months, Brown said the station will continue soliciting interviews.When the project is completed, the recordings will be stored in the UT American History Center where they will be available to students, faculty and the public.

“A project like this becomes a labor of love,” he said. “We are operating on a shoestring budget, but thankfully people have come forward and volunteered to help.”

Leifeste and Marcotte have been working as the two principal interviewers for the project thus far. Leifeste, a radio-television-film graduate who attended UT in the late ‘60s, emphasized the importance of the time period and the events that occurred throughout the Armadillo’s 10-year lifespan.

“So much was going on as far as the upheaval of our society,” Leifeste said. “There were the Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy assassinations, Vietnam, Kent State, the moon landing — all this incredible upheaval, and music was where we all came together.”

The venue eventually closed because of financial troubles, and much of its memorabilia is now on display at the Threadgill’s south location, right next door to where the Armadillo World Headquarters once stood. Though the Armadillo’s reign was short-lived, Brown claims it will always be an Austin icon.

“There has never been anything like it before,” he said. “God knows there will never be anything like it again.”

Waiting on Equality

2009-11-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

*Published by the Daily Texan Newspaper on November 7, 2008

Salary discrimination in the workplace continues to be an issue for working women, even at our university. Recently, a 22-member UT task force reported that female faculty are earning an average of $9,000 less per year than their male co-workers. According to the report, the women are full-time professors who are not being presented with the same promotional opportunities or work environment that their male counterparts tend to receive.

Adding to the epidemic of gendered treatment in the workplace, an additional survey conducted for the report found that more than 14 percent of female faculty members said they had been subjected to sexual harassment. An article in the Austin American-Statesman quoted President William Powers saying that the University “must be committed to policies, programs and leadership built on fairness, equity and equal opportunity” to compete for and retain top faculty members to combat the findings.

Though the studies have been completed and the promises of progress have been made, we have to wonder if the wage gap will ever be closed. UT’s situation brings to mind the case of Lilly Ledbetter, who was paid 40 percent less than her male co-workers during her 19-year tenure at a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama and wasn’t aware of the salary discrepancy until someone told her about it in confidence. (Employees of the plant were forbidden by a contract clause from discussing their salaries.) Ledbetter brought her case to court and won $3.8 million in damages, but Goodyear appealed the decision, and the case eventually went to the Supreme Court, where Ledbetter’s victory was overturned on a technicality.

When it comes to women, equal pay and our school, these studies have helped pull the wool from our eyes, revealing that salary discrimination is still a significant problem. Even a university that talks the talk of gender equality can’t seem to walk the walk. The big picture is equally discouraging. Since John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act 45 years ago, women’s wages against a man’s dollar have increased from 59 cents to 78 cents — that’s 0.4 cents per year.

UT needs to take a more active role in promoting worthy women on campus, recruiting talented women to work in tenure-track positions and paying them fighting wages to do so. Ledbetter may have fallen through the cracks of an archaic and gendered system due to a technicality, but UT’s women — faculty and students alike — should not see the same fate.

Compensate the Wrongly Convicted

2009-11-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

*Published in the Daily Texan Newspaper on April 27, 2009

A bill that seeks to award more compensation to people who have been wrongly imprisoned passed through the Texas House on Friday with an overwhelmingly favorable vote. House Bill 1736, authored by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, proposes an increase in the lump-sum payment given to citizens who have been wrongly convicted of crimes.

Passage of the bill would mean that those exonerated from their criminal sentences would receive $80,000 for each year they had been incarcerated. Anchia told the Austin American-Statesman that the bill’s goal is “about trying to achieve some semblance of justice” for those who have been wrongfully convicted and spent their life behind bars undeservingly.

The bill, named the Tim Cole Act, works to help people who have been released from prison and are trying to get their lives back in order. Timothy Cole died in prison before his name and reputation could be cleared in conjunction with the 1985 rape case involving another student at Texas Tech University.

In hopes of facilitating a smooth transition from jail back into society, the proposal would also provide monthly annuity payments over the course of the individuals’ life, based on the amount of time they had to serve. It would also make recipients eligible for health insurance. Best of all, the bill awards recipients 120 hours of tuition funds for courses at a community college or state university, allowing them the chance to work toward a degree and a career. The added stipulations of the bill ensure that the wrongfully accused is provided every opportunity to set their life back on track.
The Innocence Project, an activist group supporting the bill, states that the largest contributing factor of wrongful criminal convictions throughout the U.S. is eyewitness misidentification — a mistaken testimony on the part of witnesses’ claims.

The mistaken testimony of eyewitnesses accounts for more than 75 percent of convictions that are later overturned using DNA testing and proof of innocence, according to the project. The Innocence Project also argues that DNA testing is not an option in 90-95 percent of criminal cases, and therefore, the court system relies on other kinds of subjective evidence that cannot be scientifically proven or conducted, such as eyewitness testimony.

With the support of DNA testing, 38 people, the most nationwide, have been exonerated in Texas. The state has paid roughly $9 million to 46 people who proved to have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. This money could be better spent elsewhere had our court systems not been so quick to sentence without proper evidence.

DNA testing is worth the time and expense to prevent the wrongful incarceration of innocent men and women and the damage to their reputations, their families and their lives. The Texas court system has become too reliant on faulty evidence. The state must improve its legal system, so as to put an end to the shameful and unacceptable practice of mistakenly convicting Texas residents.

Informed Consent Bill Unwarranted

2009-11-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

*Published by the Daily Texan Newspaper on November 13, 2008
**This piece won a Gold Circle Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Since the Supreme Court guaranteed American women the right to choose abortion in the landmark ruling Roe v. Wade in 1973, anti-abortion politicians, organizations and community leaders have furiously campaigned to overturn the decision. The most recent attempt, submitted in a proposal at the Capitol early this week, was made by state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio. The state congressmen have sponsored a bill that would mandate a new type of informed consent for women seeking abortions. If the bill passes, doctors will be required to perform ultrasounds on all women seeking abortions. On top of the mandatory ultrasound, doctors will also be forced to provide women with images of the fetus, a description of its dimensions and the sound of its heartbeat.

Informed consent is a legal condition by which individuals can be said to have given consent based on a strong appreciation and understanding of the facts, implications and possible future consequences of their actions. Currently, most informed-consent laws require that patients be given factual information by the abortion provider about a day in advance of the procedure. Doctors inform a woman about her legal rights, alternatives to abortion (i.e., adoption), available public and private assistance and medical facts before the abortion is performed. As of yet, no law requires a woman to be subjected to images with the intent of making the procedure increasingly emotional.

The proposed bill is both discriminatory and insulting to women. Not only does the bill play off the stereotype that women are ultrasensitive beings who will immediately back out of their decision to terminate a pregnancy when presented with the live traits of a fetus, but it also blatantly disregards any extenuating circumstances surrounding a patient’s pregnancy to further anti-abortion policies. In this case, instead of fulfilling their primary, purely medical function, ultrasounds work as a political tool for laying guilt on women.

According to LifeCare, a pregnancy help center that counsels women on alternatives to abortion, after seeing images provided by ultrasounds, 80 percent of the women chose not to have an abortion.

What anti-abortion politicians and organizations like LifeCare choose to glaze over is a woman’s living situation outside the clinic — how she became pregnant, if she has a job, whether she is married or in a stable relationship or whether she can afford to support a child. Each of these issues factors into a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy — a decision that should be made without the damnation or political influence of others.

In a research study released in 2007, the nonprofit group Child Trends reported that Texas had the fifth-highest teen-pregnancy rate and the highest teen birth rate in the U.S. With 62 births per 1,000 female teenagers ages 15 to 19 it is clear that the state of Texas is putting more effort into condemning abortions than trying to prevent them with proper sex education programs in our schools.

All interested parties can agree that prevention must go hand in hand with education. Not only must we inform pregnant women of all ages about their rights to choice and privacy, we must also respect the decisions they make without forcing them to undergo unnecessary emotional trauma.

Audrey Gale Campbell

Fall- Riamede Farm

September 2011

Pre-Fall

Chinatown/Little Italy

7/24/2011- First Day of Gay Marriage in NY

Great Barrington, MA

New York Spring!

Save NPR and PBS!!!

Tell Congress: Don't pull the plug on NPR and PBS!

*Snowy New York*

Texas Book Festival

West Texas Trip

Rally to Restore Sanity

Texas Book Festival Schedule

Farmer's Market

Galveston, TX

Texas Book Festival

Larry Butler, Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

Larry Butler, Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

Carol Ann Sayle, Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

Boggy Creek Farm, Austin, TX

The Highball, Austin TX

Egg Donor Earns Money Helping Others

Trae

Peacock Park, Austin TX

Horse at Bear Creek Ranch

A Different Way To Eat Local Foods

Austin's Famed Orchestra Conductor Discusses Inspiration, Music Choices

Author Hosts Backyard Congregational Services

Police With Needles

Generation P

Dancer Tiptoes Into Ballet Role

Austinites Record Reminisces of the Armadillo

Waiting on Equality

Compensate the Wrongly Convicted

Informed Consent Bill Unwarranted

Snowy New York