Historic Inauguration Pictures

Picture source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

African teff taking root in Midwest

By MARCIA VANDERLIP of the Tribune’s staff
Published Wednesday, January 14, 2009
You can learn a lot about a person’s culture by exploring her pantry.

I didn’t know anything about teff, for example, until my Eritrean friend Akbaret Hailu Hagos invited me into her pantry last week to see the 10-pound bag of teff flour. She goes through the teff pretty quickly because it is used in the family's daily bread, injera. She buys the big bags online, to save a little. “It's hard to find here,” she said, adding that it is more expensive than all-purpose flour.

Last week, after spending some time sampling Akbaret's delicious native food — including the spongy, pancake-like injera made with teff — I wondered why teff is so, well, foreign to this country. Farmers here grow lots of corn, wheat and sorghum, but not so much teff. This is puzzling because the tiny grain is high in protein, nutrient-rich and it is gluten-free. It's also drought-resistant and, by some accounts, can be grown just about anywhere.

In East Africa, teff is the staple grain, ground into flour to make the injera, which is shared at daily meals in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

I couldn't find a Missouri farmer who grew teff for food. The closest I came to Missouri was Kansas. Edgar Hicks, a grain-marketing consultant in Omaha, Neb., told me about a handful of farmers in Nicodemus, Kan., who are growing teff, thanks to a USDA Conservation Innovation grant received a year ago, administered by Solomon Valley Resource Conservation and Development Area in Kansas.

This year, the farmers used a grass drill to plant 40 acres of the tiny seed in May, June and July. The May crop grew well in warm, dry weather. The later crops failed to mature because of unusually wet weather late in the season. “It's a learning process,” said Teresa Webb, program assistant at Solomon Valley. “People need to know that food does not magically appear in the grocery store. It's a process that is sometimes not easy.”

Still, teff is growing in Kansas, and it looks promising as an “alternative” rotation crop, a way to supplement farmers' income. “We wanted to sell it to ethnic markets” and health markets, Webb explained, “for people with celiac” disease who are allergic to gluten, “and people from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea who want their native grain.”

When Hicks first imagined the market for teff in Kansas, he envisioned “an ecomomic development tool” for these particular Kansas farmers, descendents of African slaves. “Originally, my intention was to grow teff like they do in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is hand-grown and labor intensive.

We wanted to create something with a value-added feel,” he said. Hicks wanted to see “the farmer, the grower and the buyer all coming together. People could come to this community, get to know the culture, learn how people are sharing, how they eat. I think we need to get back to the way people used to eat — sharing a meal in a communal way.”

He thinks the Ethopians and Eritreans have something to teach us about sharing crops and meals. He also thinks there is demand for teff as a food crop, but communities and farmers will need to be educated about how to use it and grow it. By the way, the grain is currently grown for flour in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Idaho. Farmers in other states, like Ohio and Tennessee, are planting the sturdy teff grass as forage food for horses and cattle.

Meanwhile, out in Western Kansas, Solomon Valley has been getting lots of calls from California, Texas, Maine and even Europe. People want to know where to get teff seed to process into flour, Webb said.

Back in Columbia, I picked up a 24-ounce bag in the gluten-free section at Clover’s Natural Market for just less than $7. (I later found the small bags in the health food aisles at Hy-Vee and Gerbes. Also, if you don’t mind buying on Amazon.com, you can purchase from Barry Farms, a 1-pound bag for $3 or a 5-pound bag for $14.20.)

I mixed up my package of flour with some yeast and water and let it sit, covered, for a day. The next day, my husband poured the all-teff flour batter into a crepe pan and made mini injera, which looked more like a cross between a tortilla and a crepe, only it was deep brown in color, smelled of cocoa and had a robust, nutty flavor. Teff pancakes might not appeal to everyone. I liken it to drinking stout or a hearty microbrew as opposed to a thinner lager.

We lined a wide plate with our injera tortillas and ladled on some Spanish pot roast to share with a friend who is allergic to wheat. Our American adaptation was pretty good, though it did not come close to the soft, delicate injera made by Akbaret. We ate it with our hands, in solidarity and communion with Eritreans. Try it some time. The kids will love it. This kid did.

Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2009/Jan/20090114Food002.asp

Rev. Joseph Lowery Inaugural Benediction

"...Lord, ... we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around ---- when yellow will be mellow ---- when the red man can get ahead, ---- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!..."

Picture source: www.washingtoninformer.com

Business Start-ups Important to Job Creation

Business Start-ups Important to Job Creation, Study Finds

Start-up companies are a major contributor to job creation, even in the midst of significant economic downturns, a new U.S. Census Bureau study funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation finds.

The first of three issue briefs to be released this year highlighting data from Business Dynamic Statistics (12 pages, PDF), the report, Jobs Created From Business Startups in the United States (4 pages, PDF), found that while business start-ups declined slightly during most cyclical downturns, start-ups remained robust even in the most severe recession over the sample period.

According to BDS data, private sector business start-ups accounted for approximately 3 percent of overall employment per year from 1980 to 2005. While a small fraction of overall employment, it was a large percentage compared to the average annual net employment growth of about 1.8 percent over the same period. According to the report, the pattern suggests that if jobs from start-ups were excluded, the rate of U.S. net employment growth would be negative over the sample period.

The report also found that firms with fewer than five employees account for roughly 20 percent of new jobs in any given year, while substantially larger start-up firms — those with 250 to 499 employees — account for approximately 1.3 percent of employment in their size class.

"Job growth is essential for our economy to rebound, and this study shows that new firms have historically been an important source of new jobs in the United States," said Kauffman Foundation vice president of research and policy Robert E. Litan. "Our research into the early years of business formation consistently shows how vital new firms are to our economy, and this data should give policy makers and budding entrepreneurs alike great hope for how we can solve our current crisis — create and grow jobs through entrepreneurship."

“Kauffman Foundation-Funded U.S. Census Bureau Data Highlight Importance of Business Startups to Job Creation in the U.S..” Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Press Release 1/14/09.

Source: Philanthropy News Digest

Teza in Addis

A Negod-gwad and Pandora Film production, Teza, was premiered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on January 3rd, 2008.

Approximately, 1,260 people came to the opening day, which is full capacity at the National Theater. Among the attendee were many African Union dignitaries and other diplomats.

The movie will be showing at the National Theater for a month.

The movie so far has won more than ten awards in different international film festivals. Some of the awards include:

Venice Film Festival:
- Special Jury Prize
- Osella - Best Screenplay
- SIGNIS Award - Special Mention
- For Peace and the Richness of Diversity Award
- Leoncino d'oro Award 2008 (Agiscuola)
- Cinema for UNICEF commendation


Carthage/Tunisia Film Festival: (African Carthage Film Festival):
- Golden Tanit – Best Film Award for its "modesty and genius."
- Best Music
- Best Cinematography
- Best Scenario
- Best Image
- Best Editing
- Best Supporting Actor (Abeye Tedla).

Amiens/France International Film Festival France:
- Golden Unicorn
- Best Feature Film

Venezuela:
- Amazonia Award Films

Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece:
- The Human Value’s Award

Dubai International Film Festival:
- Best Composer


The stars of the movie include Aaron Arefe, Abeye Tedla, Takelech Beyene, Teje Tesfahun, Nebiyu Baye, Mengistu Zelalem, Wuhib Bayu, Zenahbezu, Asrate Abrha, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, and Veronika Avraham.

According to Alissa Simon, the movie is set during the repressive regime of Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. "Teza unfolds through the eyes of a German-educated intellectual who returns to his homeland full of idealism after the deposition of King Haile Selassie. Haile Gerima rewards the viewer's with a potent sense of Ethiopian history and culture.

Picture: (L-R) Guest, Author Yasmina Khadra, co-director of the Toronto Film Festival Cameron Bailey, musician Harry Belafonte, director Deepa Mehta and director Haile Gerima onstage during the Cultural Bridge Panel discussion on day three of The 5th Annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on December 13, 2008 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images.)