Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

As you know, I’m not very political, but I have to admit that the promise of a new administration has gotten me more engaged than usual. Here’s a Super Tuesday song from The Mountain Goats.

Speaking of intolerance, when is the last time you listened to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech? I’ll help. Press play.

Now is the time. It is still the time.

Andy Carvin, a fellow Boston blogger gone south, is now working at NPR. Yesterday, he got a chance to meet Michael Moore and has posted video of his NPR interview. I think my Indie Film Meetup friends will be particularly happy to see this.

After his recent controversial appearance on CNN, it was nice to see him in a place that felt safe to him. I’m glad Andy left the bit in at the very where they are talking about Cat Stevens/Harold and Maude. It’s nice to see him interacting more informally.

You can read more about Michael Moore at NPR on Andy’s blog.

I went and saw Black Gold tonight. I’m feeling a bit tired and lazy, so I’ll copy-paste the description from the web site:

Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price. Against the backdrop of Tadesse’s journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.

This is a really important film. I feel like I won’t ever just wander into a grocery store and buy coffee produced by a massive corporation. I’ll do my research and make sure I’m not contributing to the fleecing of poor farmers in Africa. If you choose to buy your coffee from a company that is buy directly from roasters who have bought directly to farmers, then you won’t get that 6-fold markup that is so typical of most coffees you find in the store. For a list of where to buy this coffee locally, nationally, and online, check out:

Where to buy Free Trade Certified Coffee

A quick list of local chains: Caribou, Dunkin Donuts, Harris Teeter, Peet’s, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and (this is a surprise) Starbuck’s! But not all the products at these stores are Fair Trade Certified. Read the labels.

For those of you who’ve been long-time readers, you will remember my strong interest in a situation that went down outside Memphis a few years ago. A boy named Zach came out on MySpace, which prompted his parents to send him to Love in Action, a program which attempted to make their son straight, i.e. an "ex-gay". At that time, I became friends with a wonderful activist and actor named Peterson Toscano. He is an ex-ex-gay who spent time in that program himself and who now tours the world performing one-man shows which educate people about issues of sexuality, especially as they relate to what is called "reparative therapy". That euphemism means "repairing" what is felt to be "broken" sexuality. It means making it possible for gay people to live straight lives. In short, this is a stupid idea that isn’t even possible. If you want to learn more, peruse the archives on the topic here and elsewhere.

On Thursday (3/15), Peterson will be on the Montel Williams Show. The topic will be Reparative Therapy. Check out listings in your area. I’ll be setting my TiVo.