calle ocho

Little Havana (Spanish: La Pequeña Habana) is a neighborhood within the City of Miami, Florida, United States. Home to many Cuban immigrant residents, Little Havana is named after Havana, the capital and largest city in Cuba. The approximate boundaries are the Miami River (north), SW 11th Street (south), SW 22nd Avenue (west) and I-95 (east). The term “Cuban exile” refers to the many Cubans who have sought alternative political or economic conditions outside the island, dating back to the Ten Years’ War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century. In modern times, the term refers to the large exodus of Cubans to the United States since the 1959 Cuban Revolution and in particular the wave of Cuban American refugees to the U.S. during the years 1960 and 1980.

More than one million Cubans of all social classes have left the island to the United States, and to Spain, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, and other countries; however, until 1980 most exiles from Cuba were of the Upper or Middle classes, predominantly white. Because leaving requires exit permit and substantial amount of money relative to low incomes, most Cubans can never leave Cuban soil.

Little Havana is noted as a center of social, cultural, and political activity in Miami. Its festivals, including Carnival Miami, Cultural Fridays, the Three Kings Parade and others, are televised to millions of people every year on different continents. It is also known for its landmarks, including Calle Ocho (S.W. 8th Street), and its Walkway of the Stars (for famous artists and Latin personalities, including Celia Cruz, Willy Chirino, and Gloria Estefan), the Cuban Memorial Boulevard, Plaza de la Cubanidad, Domino Park, the Tower Theater, Jose Marti Park, the Firestone/Walgreens Building, St. John Bosco Catholic Church, Municipio de Santiago de Cuba and others. It is undoubtedly the best known neighborhood for Cuban exiles in the world. The name “Little Havana” emerged in the 1960s as the concentration of Cubans in the area grew sharply. Little Havana is the name affixed to a sprawling neighborhood lying immediately west of downtown Miami. It stretches west from the Miami River for several miles. This sobriquet was applied to the Shenandoah and Riverside neighborhoods in the 1960s, following the beginnings of a vast influx of Cuban refugees there. Little Havana is famous as the cultural and political capital of Cuban Americans, and the neighborhood is a center of the Cuban exile community. Little Havana is characterized by a robust street life, excellent restaurants, cultural activities, mom and pop enterprises, political passion, and great warmth amongst its residents.

The Little Havana Merchants Association is an organization of local businesses that promotes responsible growth in the neighborhood. The group provides an online guide to local dining, shops, galleries, nightlife, and cultural events.

portrait of a brown pelican

Photos taken at sunset on Stock Island in the Florida Keys.

The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is 106–137 cm (42–54 in) in length, weighs from 2.75 to 5.5 kg (6-12 lb) and has a wingspan from 1.83 to 2.5 m (6 to 8.2 ft). The Brown Pelican occurs on coasts in the Americas from Washington and Virginia south to northern Peru and the mouth of the Amazon River, as well as the island of Saut d’Eau in Trinidad and Tobago. Some immature birds may stray to inland freshwater lakes. After nesting, North American birds move in flocks further north along the coasts, returning to warmer waters for winter. Their young are hatched in broods of about 3, and eat around 150 lbs. of fish in the 8-10 month period they are cared for.

This bird is distinguished from the American White Pelican by its brown body and its habit of diving for fish from the air, as opposed to co-operative fishing from the surface. It eats mainly fish and amphibians as well as crustaceans. Groups of Brown Pelicans often travel in single file, flying low over the water’s surface.

Pesticides like DDT and dieldrin threatened the Brown Pelican’s future in the southeast United States and California in the early 1970s. Pesticides also threatened the pelican population in Florida in this period. A research group from the University of Tampa headed by Dr. Ralph Schreiber conducted research in the Tampa Bay/St Petersburg area and found that DDT caused the pelican eggshells to be too thin and incapable of supporting the embryo to maturity. As a result of this research, DDT usage was eliminated in Florida, followed by the rest of the US. Along with the American White Pelican, the Brown Pelican is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Millions of barrels of crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused by the explosion in April 2010 of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico may drift ashore and threaten the subspecies of the Brown Pelican that lives in Louisiana.

April Howard Designs

a compilation of portrait sessions for April’s application for Harper’s Bazaar … for all her beautiful leatherwork. She is a graduate of NYC’s FIT and SF’s Academy of Art.

monica

There are amazing people who walk this earth with such forceful, jubilant energy and spirit, that when you brush shoulders with one of them you can feel the wind. On a new years eve dance floor some time ago I brushed shoulders with someone like that. She is a strong steamroller housed in a beautiful body. Nothing, it seems, can stop her in her tracks or deter her from her goals.

I, myself, am not easily swayed or intimidated from large obstacles. But I know, that if this woman was headed in the same direction after the same thing I wanted, I would think twice before reaching for it. A force to be reckoned with …
The kind of force you want to cheer on and ask to meet you for cocktails after work.

Happy Birthday Monica. May the year ahead hold all the answers or at least inspire a whole new round of questions.
You inspire me and remind me to read this Rumi quote in the hard times . . .

“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” -Rumi

spring ourobouros

….just when you thought you couldn’t be amazed anymore. Along comes the headliner, “Blossoms! At! Night!!”

spring lambs

I’m working on a newspaper article about organic, farmstead sheep cheese. Here are a few of my favorite shots …

Therbsday: Herb Pull-Aparts

A pretty, as well as tasty, bread

Ingredients: 1 c. rye flour, 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 2 pckgs dry yeast, 2 tblsp sugar, 1/2 c. minced onion, 12 oz light beer at room temperature, 2 tblsp. sesame seeds, 2 tblsp. caraway seeds, 1 tblsp. poppy seeds, 1 oz swiss or gruyere cheese, shredded

Instructions: Combine all dry ingredients with onion in a food processor or by hand. Add beer in a thin stream for 20 seconds and begin processing the dough until a moist, sticky ball forms. Add flour to dough as needed.
Rinse a large bowl with water, do not dry. Transfer dough into the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Set aside until dough triples in volume, about 2-3 hours depending on rooms temperature. Turn dough onto generously floured surface and cut into 3 equal pieces. Cut each piece into five more pieces, so you have a total of 15 pieces. With floured hands, shape each piece into a smooth ball.
Sprinkle 1 tblsp of sesame seeds evenly in the center of a large baking sheet. Place 1 ball in the center of the bake sheet. Place 5 balls of dough barely touching the first ball, in a circle around the center. With wet hands, moisten 3 balls coat both sides generously with remaining sesame seeds. Dip next 3 balls in caraway seeds and the final 3 in poppy seeds. Arrange these 9 balls in an outer ring around the other 6 balls. Cover the dough with a dry towel and set aside for 90 minutes until dough doubles.
Bake in the oven, on the lowest rack, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese before sliding into the oven. To serve, pull the bread apart.

Caraway

Caraway (Carum carvi) also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin, is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa.

Medicinally caraway has a long history of use. It is mostly used as a decoction (tea) (tisane), either from the fruits or from fresh or dried foliage. A tea the “seeds” is used as a remedy for colic, loss of appetite and digestive disorders. An infusion of fruits and foliage is used as a vermifuge (to dispel intestinal worms).

The plant is similar in appearance to a carrot plant. The roots may be cooked as a root vegetable like parsnips or carrots.

The fruits, usually used whole, have a pungent, anise-like flavor and aroma that comes from essential oils, mostly carvone and limonene.

The plant prefers warm, sunny locations and well-drained soil rich in organic matter.


The etymology of caraway is complex and poorly understood. English usage of the term caraway dates back to at least 1440.

baa baa baby sheep

sweet soul in the dew drop light of the morn

A kinder, more genuine soul never existed.
We’re going on 17 years of friendship, and it just gets better and better.

Supperclub Bondage Dinner: Sexplorations with Monika

Sexploration with Monika is a sex-positive feminist radio show… about love, sexuality, gender, safer sex, play, connection, and *all* the pathways to pleasure.
Fridays 8-10p PST FCCFreeRadio.com 107.3fm in SF
Podcasts of the show available, here.

Viva la Pleasurevolution!!!