(Community Matters)

Steven and I love the new dining/drinking complex located at the Austonian launched by Jeff Trigger and Chef David Bull – Congress (their very upscale dining room), Congress Bar (manned by mixologist Adam Bryan, formerly of Eastside Showroom) and Second (a casual, high energy restaurant with outside seating for 120+).  Food in their Congress dining room brings to four in Austin I’d give a Michelin – joining Fonda San Miguel, Uchi & Hudsons on the Bend. [updated to include Uchi, duh]

We dined at Congress as guests of Jeff’s and were blown away. The two without-peer courses: 1) Chef Bull’s escolar (medallions of white fish wrapped in chicken skin on a bed of chopped brussel sprouts with bacon & chicken ju) and 2) the white lobster bisque (w/ a fresno tomato jam & a lobster ricotta fritter). Cindy Lo & Scott Francis dined on the side of us and agree about the bisque.

Other exceptional courses included: 3) Beef tartare w/ fried oysters, black truffle & parmesan, 4) confit leg of rabbit in a provencal sauce on a tomato speck crust with basil, 5) rack of lamb with salsify, cardamom yogurt and candied orange, and 6) hamachi (Steven’s – I didn’t taste I was so engrossed in the lobster). John Tofflemire took exquisite care of us and paired our courses well. Dave Shaw (a partner in the complex) launched our tour of the three spaces which Jeff guided. And, we met June Rodil, their beverage manager/sommelier who I’m calling on for a second go at Italian wine tastings.

Thrilled, thrilled, thrilled that these restaurants and bars are here – can’t wait to try the pizza at Seconds & book the patio for an event.

(Community Matters) Gus Dexheimer’s bat mitzvah project – the Pillow Project – raising money for marriage equality. On line auction of pillows; live auction Sunday in Austin 3 – 5.

(Community Matters) produced by Nathan Bernier of KUT

Vodpod videos no longer available.

KUT’s story

(Community Matters) We can be better . . .

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(Community Matters) The Entrepreneurs Foundation’s/Austin Ventures HelpHaiti one-year report

Greetings on the one year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. Today we remember the over 200k Haitians who died and 1.5 million left homeless. Through your generosity, we raised over $1.5 million to help them. Your money has been well invested.

On Monday night I attended an event hosted by Fonkoze, where they were joined by representatives from Partners in Health and Concern Worldwide, celebrating the extraordinary spirit of Haitians and the good work accomplished since the earthquake.

Despite sometimes contrary media coverage, especially these three agencies (our major partners in Haiti) have accomplished much with our and others’ contributions. On Monday night I was reminded that these agencies have a competitive advantage in serving displaced Haitians – overwhelmingly their employees are Haitians and these agencies were operating in Haiti for at least 14 years prior to the earthquake. Continue reading →

(Community Matters)

CONTRARIAN – Slate “Press Box” columnist Jack Shafer, “In Defense of Inflamed Rhetoric: The awesome stupidity of the calls to tamp down political speech in the wake of the Giffords shooting”: “For as long as I’ve been alive, crosshairs and bull’s-eyes have been an accepted part of the graphical lexicon when it comes to political debates. Such ‘inflammatory’ words as targeting, attacking, destroying, blasting, crushing, burying, knee-capping, and others have similarly guided political thought and action. Not once have the use of these images or words tempted me or anybody else I know to kill. … Any call to cool ‘inflammatory’ speech is a call to police all speech, and I can’t think of anybody in government, politics, business, or the press that I would trust with that power.” http://slate.me/e8by02

(Community Matters) I like the idea of our friend Dr. Albert Cantara

Time for a news tracker like Politifact to begin tracking hate speech of political, religious, and other public figures. Call it “Politihate” and have the same meter to measure how out of bounds the statement is.

(Community Matters) My reading list almost always lengthens as a result of hosting a dinner party. From last night, the prioritized addition: The Emperor of Maladies: a Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. It came up as we were discussing the unsustainable growth of healthcare costs and historical inflection points – especially citing Thomas Malthus, Paul Erhlic and Atul Gawande.

Comfort Mexican food with Isabel & Dave Welland, Kip Keller, Christie Horne & Kevin Lalande, Diane Land & Steve Adler & of course my husband. Regrettably missing Suzanne & David Booth (hope our buddy Chandler feels better quickly).

(Community Matters) Yesterday, I resisted posting about Rep Giffords’ shooting and the consequences of rhetoric which may have contributed to the tragedy. Disappointed – but not surprised – to read the defensive chorus from the right charging “politicizing” as the topic has been raised. I think Nancy Pelosi crafted a generous and productive statement:

“I have concerns about some of the language that is being used … I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric … was very frightening and it created a climate in which … violence took place … I wish that we would all … curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made, understanding that some of … the ears that it is falling are not as balanced as the person making the statement might assume.’

Speaker Pelosi, in September 2009

I like our friend, Dr. Albert Cantara’s idea, a PolitiHate meter

(Community Mattters) Andy Tobias makes good points on what we’re not hearing in today’s rhetoric

(Community Matters) from the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld’s (her last Advocate column as she moves to Equality Matters)

Posted on Advocate.com January 06, 2011 01:44:31 PM

View From Washington

For the last four years I have been proud to be part of a team at The Advocate that helped document an unimaginably historic time in the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality – what a younger generation refers to as “queer rights” even as the term tweaks the ears of an older generation of activists.

From covering the opening salvo in the primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Iowa to relocating to Washington, D.C., to become part of the White House press corps, I have witnessed what has felt to me like a coming-of-age story in a movement for the basic dignity and humanity of a people.
Continue reading →

(Community Matters) I came upon this posting on Facebook and had to stop and think:

Let me get this straight. We the people bail out Goldman Sachs so that they can deal from the bottom of the deck and give Facebook shares to their cronies while circumventing public market rules. Where was that pitchfork again??