Cafe Fanny Closing

It is a sad day; the end of a love story for our Berkeley community.  Cafe Fanny, co-owned by Jim Maser, Operating Manager and Alice Waters, Chez Panisse is closing.  From their press release:  Twenty-­eight years ago Café Fanny was conceived in the spirit of Marcel Pagnol’s trilogy -­ a love story involving the whole community, centered around a little standup café.

So it is with a heavy heart that we are closing Café Fanny today after 28 memorable years.

The photos are from this morning.

Cuban Children

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  I will spare you several hundred and just make a few comments.  

 The revolution was very much about racial equality and economic parity.  Today the black, hispanic and white cultures are entwined.  They proudly call themselves mulatto.  

In addition to guaranteeing food, shelter & medicine to every person, all children go to school.  The billboard announces that "In Cuba 100% of children are in school"  The population is both literate and educated. Buildings will crumble but all children are offered arts, music, dance and sports education and as much college & professional training as they seek.

 Embodying the egalitarian ethic students wear uniforms from nursery through high school. 

 

 Baseball is their national sport.  They start practicing very young with a stick if no bat is available.

 There is a very large population of dogs in Cuba.  They nap in the streets and people just drive around them. 

 Che Guevara has been elevated to national sainthood & hero.  He is revered.  Castro, very interestingly, deflects all the adoration and focus to Che.

The children may grow up to want more economic, social & political freedoms but the current system has produced children that are educated, healthy and happy. 

 Their infant mortality rate is far below that of the US.  Their life expectancy is higher than ours.

Cuba has an oversupply of trained & experience doctors.  Many of them are sent to poorer countries to work & build good will.

Cuban Animals

 In 2007, as a photojournalist, I spent two months roaming all over Cuba.  These are a few of my favorite animal images from my trip.

Cuba is a fascinating country.  Because I explored  off the beaten path I was the first American many people had met.  They assumed I was French or Canadian.  They love American citizens as much as they hate our government!   

It seems everything wrong in Cuba is right in the US and everything wrong in the US is right in Cuba.   

 In Cuba everyone is allocated food for their bellies, a roof over their head, medical care and as much education as they desire.  Even the smallest & most remote village or mountain outpost have good schools and medical facilities.  Cubans are voracious readers.  They have 100% literacy!  

 But they do not have economic or political freedom.  Nor do they have freedom of speech, assembly or the press.  Private business is outlawed!!!!!!   But aesthetic creativity: artists, dancers & musicians are fully supported.  

Doctors, lawyers and teachers make the same wage as factory workers and street sweepers.  The only people making good money are those who make tips serving the tourist trade, the tightly regulated & heavily taxed taxi drivers, innkeepers & small family restaurants. 

  In the 1990s Russia cut off Cuba economically. Tourism was the fastest way to avoid complete economic ruin.  But there was no service industry to cater to tourists.

 Castro very reluctantly licensed private bed & breakfast places, private taxi cabs and maximum 16 seat restaurants inside private homes.  And he heavily regulates and taxes them.   

 Still those Cubans made much more money in tips than the State pays it's citizens.  Many a doctor, lawyer or teacher wanted to become a taxi driver but could not.  Because the state trained the person for their profession the state controls where they work!   

 Prostitution was outlawed after the Revolution in 1959.  But in order to draw the big tourist bucks Castro learned he had to make prostitutes available.  They too are highly regulated & taxed. 

  There is almost no crime within Cuban society.  However tourists with money, cameras, phones and such have become the target of thieves.

 Cubans are environmentally conscious; they value & respect their natural resources. They preserve and protect large areas of land, plants and animals.  I'll post some the vegetation photos next.

People with mental health problems are cared for in first rate facilities.  The plentiful, trained, professional staff provide programs that keep them active and integrated into the community.

If I were in charge of the world I'd have a hybrid of the two economic, political and social systems. 

Gray & Furry Red

We are getting much needed rain here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I was thankful I had my waterproof, stylish & comfy Blondo boots and Stoic rain jacket.  My tucked in, go-to jeggings, HUE, in gray.   The furry red nook, made by my dear friend Ethel, added both pizzaz & warmth.  

I love when functionality and beautiful design come together.  

Below: The Territory Ahead red lambswool & angora sweater was thrifted from Sola Lucy.  The silver balls necklace I bought in the 1990s.  The "love" pendant is from The Breast Cancer store.  

 Favorite fingerless, cashmere, Boho black gloves with red thread buttons: Molly b.

Thank you Target for the gray felt fedora.

My Oscar Night Tribute to the Movies

I turned my attention back to more frivolous and fun matters after 10 days buried in 2011 bookkeeping. The tax preparation is complete & FAXed to the CPA.  Except for a meeting next Thursday to review the numbers, the bulk of my work is done for 2011.  What a relief!!!!!!!!

I grew up in LA, in the 1950s. Our parents owned a business in Hollywood and would park my brother and I in the movie theatre on Saturdays while they worked. We first watched the serial, a short chapter film, ending with a cliff- hanger, to be continued next week. Film series included Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, Billy the Kid and Buck Rogers. Captain Marvel, Rocketman, Perils of the Darkest Jungle, King of the Carnival & Blazing the Overland Trail. The short movie serial was followed by a cartoon, then Movietone newsreels then the main feature.  One of our favorite theaters was the glamourous, popular & famous Grauman's Chinese Theater, coveted for Hollywood studio premiers. I was one of those fans who flocked to these events to see the celebrities arrive and walk up the red carpet into the theatre.  Rich in movie tradition, with its cement handprints & footprints in the forecourt, the Chinese Theatre immortalizes the brightest stars.  

Tonight, while watching the Oscars I reflected on those days and my style.  I moved to Berkeley in 1960 to go to the University of California, CAL Berkeley. Berkeley is true to it's stereotype, a place for serious intellectual endeavors; and does not embrace glamour.  I arrived with bleached blond bouffant hair & immediately died it brown and wore it straight down to match the norm. But I continued to love glamour.  I embraced the "back to nature girl" look in the 60s while a student & women's liberation stance, working in academia in the early 70s.  But as soon as I began working in the real world I embraced my love for glamour; I learned that being pretty & stylish was the perfect complement to being smart, serous, competent & successful. I dressed up. People often asked me where I was visiting from!!  You can take the girl out of Hollywood but you cannot take Hollywood out of the girl. So here I am wearing my red furry tribute to Hollywood glamour, handmade for me by my dear & talented friend, Ethel.