Red hot!

"Red Hot," 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 lb. Canson cold press paper

Red is a "hot" color, a "warm" color for artists...but not when you grow up in New Mexico.

There, every fall, ristras of drying red chile peppers hang from vigas, from doorways and other places...some functional, all decorative.

If you think I've misspelled any words in that sentence, you simply no comprende.

Why?

First, "chile" is a variant of "chil" from the Nahuatl Axtec dealect. The conquering Spanish added an "e," the correct Hispanic spelling. English speakers, gringos, changed it to an "i." 

That word  most often refers to a mismash of beans, meat, no telling what, that is the state dish of Texas. It's a common menu item in many states, including Oklahoma, but...regardless of the degree of heat, it's basically bland, and  not real "chile." 

While some form of "chili" powder is a basic ingredient of such "Mexican"  food, it is not New Mexican food. Most of that food, regardless of degree of heat, including the so-called "Tex-Mex" food essentially is bland and tastes the same, no matter the fancy titled restaurant, including Oklahoma. 

The reason I know is I grew up in New Mexico, and looked this stuff up. New Mexicans consume more chile per capita than any other group in the United States. 

Now, as to ristras, strings of drying chiles.  The word was first recorded in 1895-1900, from the Spanish, meaning literally, "strings," from  old Spanish riestra, rieste, from Latin restis “rope, cord.”

You don't see many ristras here in Oklahoma. I tried bringing one home once, hanging it by a lamp. Soon I smelled something. The chiles were rotting in the humidity, rather than drying. That's why they're such a powerful image to me, hanging on an adobe wall in the dry New Mexican sunshine. 

By the way, you haven't tasted hot, until you've had a meal in New Mexico doused with real red, or green, chile, if you don't ask for milder. Red hot.

Thus today's watercolor, for In Your Eye Studio and Gallery's "Red" themed show in February.

Twittering star and former student

@clarkclass #clarkclass

Speaker to my Twitter for Journalists class today was Sheri Guyse, @MyJRNY, marketing director for Good Egg Dining, and so much more. We watched Good Egg's video, and referred to Sheri's Blog, Really Most Sincerely, ahead of time.

"This class  so transcends twitter, it's about life" 

The class got the ultimate compliment, in my book, from one student after Sheri left today. he said "This class so transcends twitter, it's about life." 
So what did she talk about? Her journey, personally and professionally. About the booming cultural life in Oklahoma City. About travel. About food. About music. About the avant garde way Good Egg uses twitter and social media to open new restaurants and in daily operation, advertising, PR and marketing.
In our debriefing after she left, several students mentioned how much she inspired them with her off the cuff remarks, honesty and advice about twitter and more. I am so fortunate to have so many great former students.
You can see some of the students tweets during her comments at @okieprof, search #clarkclass.
Here are some student comments during our debriefing, notes take by Lacey Rhodes.

    •    Be a good person, and keep the content clean.
    •    There is nothing at all that you cannot do.
    •    Keep your relationship statuses offline.
    •    “Fear is this weird thing that our brain does that serves absolutely no purpose.”
    •    Use twitter to tell a story
    •    Both speakers we’ve had said to be a good speaker and always keep learning.
    •    Be curious about things outside the box.
    •    Create a personal relationship with your customers or the people who follow you, follow them!
    •    Don’t wait around for the job to be posted but sometimes create your own!
    •    Don’t stay in the digital; there is life happening too.
    •    There is no such thing as a work-life balance because your work is your life. Have a passion for your work.
    •    She would only hire a friend or an intern that she knew on twitter. Align yourself with people that will help you strategically.
    •    It’s not all strategic but sometimes it happens accidentally.
    •    Take advantage of all the classes you can take while you are in school.
    •    Be well-rounded. It really helps you in this field. You can do journalism, advertising and all of it.
    •    Be inquisitive and ask for help when you need it.
    •    Don’t settle for being average.
    •    “Twitter is a drug of choice”
    •    “Live in the flow and then people will fall into your stream."
    •    She created her own position so she has full control of her job now.
    •    She encouraged us to do anything we want. Failure isn’t bad for you. It is a step towards success.
    •    If there is something you don’t like, then don’t do it. If you really hate your job then quit. Move on to something better.
    •    Fear is a weird trick our brain tries to play, we need to ignore fear because it is useless.
    •    Her attention span is dwindling because of social media.

My favorite quotes:

• "Take the classes you want to take."
• "Fear serves no purpose."
• "The holy gospel of social media is that you have to always want to learn."
• "Read fiction. The storytelling will help you."

What a "mess" at sea

It takes a lot of food and space to feed the crew of the USS Abe Lincoln, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You read the stats of the amount of food in earlier posts. Here are some photos to go with them.

Loading Poptarts and more in San Diego

More groceries

Some of the day's milk supply

Part of one of the kitchens

Ditto

The salad bar in wardroom three for the officers...the fresh fruit is available 24 hours a day

Part of the buffet in the officers' third wardroom

and more...

And if you're there before 7 am, the cooks will fry you eggs or make omelettes, etc.

Wardroom 3--where we ate everyday. Two others were closed because the airwing was gone.

One of the mess areas where the enlisted sailors eat.

Does that whet your appetite? We had lobster one evening---no wonder the crew likes Tiger cruises...special food for special guests. Let's see, that means almost 4,000 lobsters that day. Mmmm.

Oh, the most important area of the wardroom, to me at least:

Coffee keeps the Navy afloat, says my uncle Mike, a WWII and Korean War combat Navy veteran.

 And that's what's brewing in my coffee pot, today.

Next, sleeping quarters, sick bay, shaft alley, and the wide wake of the Abe Lincoln, plus a surprise or two.