Hail and well met my friends. Welcome to another edition of the Depression Kitchen where I try my best to feed a family of four on $100 a week employing my collection of old cookbooks dating as far back as 1916, and of course Grandma Kettle, a bona fide child of the Great Depression.
During Mother's Day weekend I found little on sale. I did find a bottle limoncello and splurged on that. Pa made me a spice cake with cream cheese frosting. We pulled out a whole grain loaf and sliced it, we had some soft cheese, a small jar of really good pate, a few cooked shrimp and a plate of sliced melon. I was in heaven. That and some fresh flowers and nice cards and overall it was a pretty nice day. I hope all of the mothers out there had nice days too. I hope all of you men out there did something nice for your mothers.
This week I fought my own small battle for transparency and the rule of law. I don't think I may have changed any minds, but it had to be done. Let me tell you the story.So come on in, have some coffee, maybe some lunch, while I get what happened off my chest. Be warned, I have linked to VERY GRAPHIC IMAGES!
First the back drop. As you know I am nobody, truly. Just a high school teacher who sometimes moonlights as a community college professor. I live in the middle of CA in a very rural little town of maybe 30K people. For my PoliSci class at this little college I require students to write 10, 2 page articles about political events in the news. It gives them practice in written communication, media consumption, and defending their own arguments. I have about 35 kids in that class.
I had let the papers pile up, partly because grades were due at the high school, partly because I had not even looked at my doctoral work for a couple of weeks and needed to spend some quality time with it. Anyway, I finally got down to reading these little gems, about 100 of them, and I had about twenty that embraced torture. I came away disgusted, and angry. Check out this quote from one paper:
"Waterboarding is a complete joke. It's not like we're making the terrorist say stuff in front of a camera and then cutting their heads off. Waterboarding is simply simulated drowning. It's a harsh interrogation technique, nothing more. Now I know everyone says well waterboarding doesn't work and your making the United States look like a bunch of animals who torture innocent people. My response to that is that waterboarding may not work on everyone immediately but eventually they'll crack just like anyone else would. As far as the people being innocent, in some cases that may be true but we both know not everyone at Gitmo is. I'm so sick and tired of people saying detainees at Gitmo have all these rights. They're terrorists for Christ's sake, not the German Army."
I have several like this, some are even worse. After the first few I actually sat down and cried. I have failed as a teacher. I have failed as a progressive. I may have even failed as a human, if my own students embrace torture. What would Socrates have done? Woah, lets have an appetizer, it may calm my nerves.
Layered Nacho Dip
1 can of refrieds
1 cup soy crumbles
1 diced tomato
4 diced green onions
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbs taco seasoning
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup guacomole (optional)
Mix taco seasoning into the soy crumbles and heat in the microwave. Spread beans onto the bottom of an ovenprof dish. Top with soy crumbles and place in a 400 oven for 15 minutes. Spread with cheese and heat for another 10 minutes. Pull out and spread with remaining ingredients in whatever order you like. Serve with warm chips. Top with jalepenos if you care to. Sometimes this is a nice quick dinner with fruit.
OK, better now. Since I had, what seemed to me, so many torture apologists I had to do something. Last week as the students came into class I was in my usual spot behind the computer. I always start class by using the overhead projector to look at the latest political cartoons. This time however, the image they say on the screen when I turned on the projector was completely different. These are some of the images I showed them:
http://images.google.com/...
I blew them up nice and big. I forced them to discuss each one. One student had condemned Britain for investigating us for torture, and told me we didn't need any allies in his paper. So I asked why we had declared war on Germany when they had not attacked us. Some bright person pointed out that we needed to help our allies. I then asked if any of them had grandparents who had seen any fighting in Europe. Some of them had. I asked why the American General in Germany forced the villagers to walk through the camps and look at all of the bodies. Another student said that it was because the Germans needed to know what had been done in their name.
Here, we obviously need some comfort. Lets have something warm and creamy. This recipe comes from a Good Houskeeping 1942 article. It was touted as way to get picky eaters to have some dairy, and also a way to go meatless.
Cheese Custard with Chives
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk plus 1/2 cup water
1 cup day old bread cubed
3 large eggs, well beaten
1 tbs chives
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp hot red pepper
1 1/4 cups grated Cheddar cheese
Boiling water
Combine milk-water mixture and bread in a medium bowl; set aside 5 minutes. Generously grease 6 ramekins and place in a shallow roasting pan. Beat together everything else but cheese. Fold in the cheese and divide among the custard cups. Place roasting pan in a 325 oven, fill the pan with boiling water to about 1/2 way up the sides of the cups. Bake about an hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. This is yummy with a salad or maybe some fruit.
After the concentration camps I turned their attention to the American south. I showed them these pictures here
http://images.google.com/...
I discussed how the Germans agreed with the Halocaust because they were just Jews, and how white southerners agreed with lynchings because they were just "niggers." I congratulated those who embraced torture for finally finding a group they could fit in with.
This recipe from Colliers 1932 would also be good for a cold summer dinner.
Green Bean and Egg Salad
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil and vinegar dressing ( I interpret this as my favorit Italian)
1 green onion ( I use red) finely chopped
2 hard cooked eggs
Boil the beans with the salt until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and combine with the dressing and refrigerate. Add sliced egg just before serving, salt and pepper to taste.
After the discussion of concentration camps and black lynchings, the next thing I showed them was this.
http://www.unhchr.ch/...
With specific attention to article 13. A young lady in the back of the room was surprised. "But, it says we can't hurt them at all" she said in a very shocked voice. This was news to her, and to others in that room I have to believe. Where do you think I went from here?
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...
and
http://www.pbs.org/...
We then had a discussion about who led the Nuremberg Trials. The role the United States played, and why both some Germans and Japanese were hanged.
The next place to turn their attention to was today.
http://images.google.com/...
This is why I have provided links, not pictures. I discussed our current status as torturers. I went into details that you are probably already familiar with. I emphasized how we agreed to torture children in front of their parents to get them to talk. Nobody could claim I had lied, or misrepresented the truth, because the pictures and memoes are available for anyone to see. I then asked why, if they felt that our country was in such grave danger that we needed to break laws both domestic and international, why on Earth were they sitting in my classroom and not in the military this very second?
Finally, I told them to apologize to their grandparents for me, because I had failed them. They had risked their lives, some had lost their lives, to protect the innocent, to promote the respect of ALL humanity. Now their grandchildren are embracing what they had fought against. I told them I was ashamed, that I had failed to teach them simple respect for law and human life. I am so sorry. OMG
Whew, get a grip Ma. I'll have another cup of coffee and maybe something sweet. This comforting 1943 favorite helps soothe the soul.
Maple Custard Pie
4 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup maple syrup (think about the possible substitutions here)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp shortening
1 pastry crust
Beat eggs until frothy. Gradually beat in milk, syrup, and salt. Spread shortening in a thin layer over the bottom of the pastry lined pie plate. Pour custard in the shell and bake 40-45 minutes in a 350 oven. Cool on a wire rack then refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
I don't know if I did the right thing. Several students got up and walked out. One girl actually cried. I had to do something, I had to point out reality, what we had done.
It is going to take an enire generation to get over torture if we get it all out in the open now. We should acknowledge what we have done, prosecute those responsible from top to bottom, and reaffirm our pledge to never torure again. That is going to be hard to do. I am afraid that it will not happen, and the wounds will fester. It kind of reminds me of the Soviet Union after the show trials. Everyone will be stuck in a cycle of waiting.
Thank you for reading, for letting me get this albatross from around my neck. May you win your own little battles, and even if you don't please know that I fight beside you. Good luck.
Update
Thank you for my first time on the rec list. We should all be thinking about this.