Must See Movie: Farmageddon

What are your rights as a consumer when choosing where your food comes from? What is happening to the rights of the farmer? If you are interested in sustainable, organic framing, your health and the rights of consumers and producers, check this out. Add this documentary to your Library's collection.
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Farmageddon Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

Do you remember?

Where you were on 9/11? When I woke up this morning my first thought wasn't that it was September 11. I actually didn't remember the date until I turned on the television and someone was talking about that day. I can remember that day so clearly, where I was, what I was doing. I was married to my first husband, my son was just 8 years old and I was getting him ready for school when I turned on Good Morning America. A plane had just flown into one of the World Trade Centers and Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson were talking about it, wondering if it was an accident. And while they were speaking and the cameras were on the first tower burning you could see another plane on the horizon. When the plane disappeared into the 2nd tower I will never forget the disbelief in Diane Sawyer's voice as it hit the tower. At that point I got scared. I sent my kid to school which was across the street from our house thinking that might be the safest place for him. I wasn't scheduled to teach that day and I don't think I moved from the sofa for the next 8 hours.

I remember the evening of September 11 I sent my husband to fill my car with gas, I don't know if it was a flight response but I wanted my car fueled up and ready to go. I also went to yoga class that evening, and I remember lying on the floor and the utter quiet, not just in the yoga studio, but in the City. No airplanes. And living within a few miles of O'hare Airport, the world's busiest, that was eerie.

Over the days that followed I rarely took my eyes off the tv. On the Today show one morning I watched a man play an answering machine message that his wife left while she was trapped in the towers. Her name was Melissa Harrington-Hughes and she was from San Francisco. She was my age and had been in the same sorority as me. Knowing she was trapped, she called her husband to tell him she loved him. He was in Manhattan during the days that followed holding out hope that she was alive. She wasn't. I know that message has haunted those of us who heard it ever since. It also made me think, "If I was dying and could say goodbye to someone I love, who would I call?". I realized it wasn't my husband. We had a rocky marriage, had been married less than 2 years and it just wasn't working. We separated within 2 weeks of September 11.

So now it's 8 years later. How time flies....September 11 doesn't make the cover of newspapers on a daily basis anymore, it's rarely on my mind. But I will be watching the documentary by Chicago filmmakers tonight on the History Channel, 102 Minutes That Changed America. I've heard some of the audio clips and it was like reliving it all over again. I hope they don't play Melissa's tape, I don't know if I can listen to it again.

Secret World of Haute Couture

So after working in my garden last night for a few hours I headed inside as it started to rain and channel surfed while sipping a pina colada my husband made me. I came across a documentary on PBS that had me riveted. Secret World of Haute Couture is a behind the scenes look at the design houses of legend like Chanel, Dior and Christian Lacroix. Filmmaker Margy Kinmonth takes the viewer from Los Angeles and New York to Paris to interview legendary designers as well as the wealthy clients who purchase couture. The women of this exclusive shopping "club" are fascinating if a bit frightening, women with names like Bloomingdale (yes the store) and Guinness (yes the beer) who don't hesitate to drop a hundred thousand dollars on a dress. These women collect couture like others collect art and have little patience for celebrities who appear in the front row just to be seen. This little seen world was absolutely fascinating and while I don't aspire to collect couture I appreciate the glimpse into the land where Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson played.
For more information check out the BBC link at http://www.bbcprograms.com/pbs/catalog/Secret%20World%20of%20Haute%20Couture/hautecouturemain.html

Sicko

I just finished watching Michael Moore's controversial documentary about the US health care system Sicko. The film received a 20 minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007 and for good reason. It's everything a documentary should be. At times I was laughing hysterically (sexy Hillary), crying (families denied medical treatments) and pissed off (patients who can't pay their hospital bills getting forced into cabs and dropped off at homeless shelters). Is everything in the documentary absolute? I doubt it. Is is appalling, shocking, upsetting and just sad that anything in this film is accurate? Absolutely. At times I was so angry at what I was watching that I wanted to grab my family and my passport and move to France or England. But then I also wanted to pick up the phone and call every Senator in my state and find out who is in the pockets of the insurance companies.
Watch it. Get angry. Try and protect yourself and your family from the health care system. Before I went to bed last night I made sure my life insurance policies were in order and fell asleep thankful I do have insurance with a respected PPO (fingers crossed).
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/dvd/