but this story just made my day. hundreds of high school students in northern virginia have joined hundreds of thousands of people across the country in protesting pending legislation that would crack down on those in the US illegally. the legislation passed by the House makes it a felony to be in the US illegally and makes it a crime “to offer aid ” to those who are in the US illegally. according to the New York Times, offenders, “who might include priests, nurses or social workers,” could face up to five years in prison for aiding persons in the country illegally.

anyway, back to the good news: immigrants and their supporters aren’t taking this lying down. i’m particularly happy to see high school kids so engaged in taking a stand. it isn’t surprising though, considering that many teenage children of immigrants stand to lose the most from this legislation: their families. many teens are US citizens whose parents are in the country illegally. the Post article quotes one of these teens, Ephram Lopez, who is worried that the new law will take his mother away from him and his two little brothers. talk about “family values,” huh? let’s just rip apart thousands of loving families across the country, why don’t we?

it breaks my heart that these young americans are displaying such respect and love for their country when the government is showing so much disrespect for their families. one of the young protesters even made me cry when he was quoted as saying “People have forgotten the meaning of America.” (you know, it’s really not hip for bleeding heart liberals like myself to be as sentimentally patriotic as i am.) indeed, in my personal experience it seems as if first generation US citizens are often the most law-abiding, patriotic, good citizens that our country has to offer. just another in a long list of contributions that undocumented immigrants have made (and continue to make) to our country.

due to popular demand the national gallery of art has extended performances of le ballet mecanique through may 14th. i highly recommend getting down to see/hear it before then.

this is the first all-mechanical version of composer George Antheil’s score. the technology did not exist during Antheil’s lifetime to perform the piece as originally intended. now, for the first time, it is being performed daily at the east wing by 16 MIDI-compatible grand player pianos, three xylophones, four bass drums, some kind of gong, a siren, bells, and three “airplane propellors,” all controlled by MIDI, using robotics built by the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots.

performances are at 1:00 and 4:00 weekdays and 1:00 saturdays and sundays on the mezzanine of the east wing of the national gallery of art. the piece is only ten minutes long, but leave enough time to see the rest of the dada exhibit. the exhibit ends may 14th and will be on display at MOMA in new york from june 8th through september 11th. however, i don’t know if the ballet mecanique will accompany the exhibit to new york.

full article

Linda Schade and the Takoma Park-based TrueVoteMD have really done an amazing job on this issue. they even persuaded Ehrlich to reverse himself and support paper ballots. the power of collective action at its finest.

my personal favorite dish to please both vegans and omnivores is vegan lasagne. it carries a seal of approval from many omnivores. in honor of National Invite a Vegan to Dinner Month, i shall generously share the recipe with you all after the jump…

keep in mind that i made up the “recipe” myself, and i’m really not into measurements and following instructions when i cook, so you’ll have to use a little of your own discretion on some of the details:

jen’s totally awesome vegan lasagne

ingredients:
9 oven ready lasagne noodles
one package veganrella
one package garlic onion firm tofu
one small onion
2-3 jars of pasta sauce
basil
oregano
salt
tahini or nutritional yeast (optional)
fillings such as mushrooms, spinach, italian style veggie “ground round”

directions:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. make ricotta style filling by blending the following in a food processor: tofu, onion, salt, spices, and optional tahini or nutritional yeast. blend until it has the consistency of ricotta and put aside. use food processor or cheese grater to grate veganrella and put aside.

construct lasagne by pouring a thin layer of sauce into a 9×13 pan. place three noodles on top so that they are not touching. follow with layer of tofu ricotta, layer of fillings, layer of sauce. then again, noodles/tofu ricotta/fillings/sauce. on the last layer, place the three remaining noodles, cover with a thin layer of sauce (you want to make sure that the sauce is deep enough to cover all the noodles, so that they’ll cook), and top with grated veganrella. cover and bake for 30-45 minutes, then remove cover and bake 15 more minutes or until veganrella is melted and the lasagne looks delicious. freeze any leftovers for an easy worknight meal.

since that pretty much exhausts my cooking skills, i generally end up going out rather than cooking. i can vouch for 5 of the 6 “local hot spots for vegan eats” recommended in the companion piece. Asylum, Java Green, Sticky Fingers, Sunflower, and Vegetable Garden are all the bees knees. i’ve never been to Great Sage. i’ve been meaning to go, but it’s so far out in the ‘burbs that labeling it “local” is debatable.

i’d add that in addition to their great weekend brunch, Asylum in Adams Morgan is one of the few places to get vegan “bar food” in DC. during the week they have a happy hour from 5 until 8. if i remember correctly, they have yuengling and several other beers for $3 a pint and soft veggie tacos for .75 each. Food for Thought at the Black Cat is another great spot for vegan bar food. and of course, Amsterdam Falafel (also in Adams Morgan) is the vegan’s alternative to the jumbo slice after last call.

while we are on the subject, an update on Vegetate — Vegetate has obtained temporary licenses for beer and wine for each weekend in March and is offering a wine pairing each Friday and Saturday evening. they hope to do this each month as they continue to seek a permanent license.

i’ve been waiting for this show for months. strike anywhere is a kick ass punk band. this is not a bunch of kids who decided if they make enough noise, no one will care if they suck. these guys are amazing musicians. the singer thomas, who looks like a punk fraggle, provides awesome vocals, inspiring lyrics, and a lot of springy jumping. most importantly, they put on an amazing live show. you will not believe the energy thomas whips up from the crowd. i will definitely be there.

show starts at 9:30. With Honor and A Global Threat are opening, neither of which i’ve heard of before.

i think Vegetate is a great addition to DC. it was ridiculous that DC had no upscale vegetarian restaurant in town before Vegetate opened. unfortunately, under the first chef, the food and service had been uneven. i hope these changes mean that the food and service at Vegetate will be consistently excellent. i’d love to see Vegetate become a world class vegetarian restaurant on par with my favorite restaurant Millennium in San Francisco.

now if they can only get their liquor license straightened out. how you can help, after the jump…

in addition to having potential as an excellent vegetarian restaurant, i think that Vegetate has a lot of potential as a low key dj lounge. the space is really tranquil and attractive, and Vegetate would be a great place to relax, listen to a dj, and have a nice cocktail. if only they had their liquor license. owners Jennifer and Dominic Redd (a/k/a DJ Dredd) have been locked in a battle with the Shiloh Baptist Church for months over the issue. apparently, the problem is that DC law mandates that no liquor license can be issued for an establishment within 400 feet of a school, and Vegetate does not meet that requirement.

as DCist reported earlier in the week, Jennifer and DJ Dredd are asking the community to email Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and let him know that you want him to support Vegetate by introducing legislation to amend title 25-314 of the D.C. Code, which prohibits issuing liquor licenses within 400 feet of a school.

DCist has done a great job of reporting on Vegetate’s struggle, so i won’t repeat the arguments and issues here. i’ll just say that it is pretty obvious that the DC law in question was not meant to keep a upscale, low key restaurant from helping to anchor the revitalization of a rundown neighborhood. there aren’t going to be loud, violent drunks hanging around outside of Vegetate during school hours (or any hours) victimizing the poor school children. although there may well be loud, violent drunks hanging around outside the abandoned houses owned by Shiloh Baptist. which would you rather have near your child’s school?

if you aren’t familiar with Street Sense, i really recommend checking it out.

Street Sense is an all-volunteer local newspaper, with news articles, features, poems and editorials by homeless and formerly homeless men and women, anti-poverty advocates, and others. if you work downtown, you’ve probably seen the vendors selling the latest issue on busy corners.

being a sucker for the first amendment, i always make an effort to accept and read any kind of non-commercial literature when offered to me on the street. i admit my expectations are very low — i view this habit more as an homage to the first amendment than a valuable source of information. so when i first forked over a dollar for Street Sense i was really surprised to find that it is a great little newspaper. they cover local news on social justice issues that you don’t hear much about from other media, and they have compelling editorials and personal interest features. there is even some really good poetry in it, and i’m not a big poetry fan. i highly recommend it.

i only wish i ran into a vendor more regularly — it’s been months. which is why i ended up checking out their website and finding the Ian MacKaye interview. even though i linked to their website, please don’t just read Street Sense online. the vendors are homeless men and women for whom selling the paper is a good economic opportunity. plus, if you are like me and get most of your news online, it’s nice to have that face-to-face connection with your media pusher. many times the vendor has written a piece in the latest issue and is eager to draw your attention to it. it’s a treat to take a break from the computer and interact with a friendly vendor who cares a lot about the product and who may have helped create it.

luckily for you all, you can enjoy some good literature and food without the jet lag. tonight at 8pm at GWU author sarah vowell will read from and discuss her book, “assassination vacation.” i haven’t read the book yet, but my next door office neighbor raves about it. in any event, tonight’s reading should be much more engaging than your typical author reading, considering ms. vowell’s experience as a radio commentator and teen superhero (she was the voice of the daughter violet in “the incredibles”).

stop by nearby java green for some great vegan food before the reading, and it’ll be just like you are here in san francisco!

technorati tags: dc sarah vowell vegan

i particularly enjoyed the “extreme porkover.”

technorati tags: takoma park funny hippies