ICE OUT

Artistic Dilemma

~ MaryG ~ 24 Comments

I decided to try painting something to submit to an “Art for Democracy” contest being run by my church. It’s open to professional artists throughout New England and there are cash prizes, so I’m not getting my hopes up. I’m thinking of it as an “artistic prompt” (like the daily writing prompt here on WordPress).

Here’s the actual prompt:

Art is a powerful tool for social change. Unbound by age, culture or social location, it sparks the imagination and promotes meaningful dialogue. With the goal of encouraging civic engagement, artists across New England are invited to submit works on the theme of protecting and strengthening American democracy. Artworks should express the goals of promoting unity and the common good, which underscores the American ideals that all voices are important and that our strength lies in welcoming diverse perspectives. Our goal is to spur productive dialogue; showcase the work of New England artists; and celebrate democracy.

Like many people, I was inspired by the people of Minneapolis who bravely stood up to ICE in the frigid cold to try to protect their community, even after Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were assassinated. There was one viral photo by an unidentified photographer that really struck me. A woman went outside in her bathrobe and slippers to join a crowd of others documenting ICE actions in their neighborhood:

So I decided to paint that.

Here’s where I’m at with the painting now. I still need to paint the faces, pants, shoes, phones, etc. in the crowd.

So here’s the dilemma: Should I perhaps leave the two Police/ICE agents as unpainted line drawings? Do you think it might be effective like that? From my perspective, they are unwanted invaders in this community. Maybe the contrast with the good people of Minneapolis would be greater if I leave them unpainted. Ghosts in the Machine, so to speak. OR should I paint them monochromatic in shades of grey? What do you think? Which would make a better painting?

Minnesota Hot Dish

~ MaryG ~ 20 Comments

A couple weeks ago, I was trying to figure out what to make for a family birthday dinner. I decided that I wanted to try making a “Minnesota Hot Dish” in honor of the brave people of Minneapolis who stood up to ICE in the coldest weather imaginable for weeks on end. I have never been to Minnesota, but I was intrigued by their hot dish recipes that Tim Walz, Amy Klobuchar and others were always talking about during the last election cycle.

Being a typical East Coast liberal, I went straight to The New York Times to find a recipe and this one sounded good: Tater Tot Casserole. Everyone liked it. There were no leftovers. I forgot to take a picture, but it looked identical to the photo in the recipe.

As some of the recipe commenters noted, the point of a Minnesota Hot Dish is to make something delicious, filling and easy. (That’s why a can of condensed soup is a typical ingredient.) Commenters said that only the NYT could find a way to make it hard. BUT it really wasn’t that hard. In the NYT version, you basically make your own condensed soup, which took a bit of doing, but I really liked that it didn’t come out too salty. It tasted very good. (I didn’t add any of the optional salt listed because I used 4-5 of those little beef bouillon granulated packets for the base and I was already worried they would make it too salty.)

For dessert, my husband requested a double layer chocolate cake. And, since it’s the Year of the Knee, I felt bad for him and decided to make one from scratch. Again, I went to the NYT and attempted the richest, most chocolaty, most decadent birthday cake imaginable. This, I would NOT make again. Too hard! And waaaay too much butter. There are five sticks of butter in this thing (two in the cake and three in the frosting), plus tons of cacao and melted dark chocolate. I mean, it was very good, but it was a lot.

Birthday cake for my two Aquarians ♒️

Here’s the recipe, in case you are a true chocoholic. And yes, I did serve it with vanilla ice cream, because what is even the point if you skip the ice cream?