Poultry perspective
By: Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton

Local vs. Imported Food

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

Both of my parents grew up in farming families. They grew up with organic free range animals and crops because there was no alternative. While, neither of them became farmers many of their relatives stayed on the family farms and eventually became large scale farmers as technology evolved. One uncle founded a large dairy and others were successful growing row crops for frozen food or cotton and soybeans. Several of my cousins are farmers but most left the farm for college and careers outside of agriculture.

The cousins that took new paths were able to do that because their families could afford it and they were not needed as labor on the farms. Modern equipment has eased the amount of grueling work required on our farms making it easier to produce more food. Food production is the goal of these large scale farmers. They are business men and women who use computers, radio frequency indicators (RFID), global positioning systems (GPS), wireless internet, cell phones as well as chemical fertilizers. They also use manure from theirs or other local farmers' animals for their pastures and gardens. These people are as profitable as they can be so that they can support their families and continue to produce food for those of us living in town who find our food at the grocery store or farmers market.

While I buy locally grown produce when it is available, I am delighted to have a wider variety of frozen and canned products grown in other parts of the country available all year. I want to continue to buy U. S. grown food and am avoiding imported products that compete with U. S. crops. Lately I've found more imported fish and less U.S. grown or caught. Check out the fresh fruit labels and you'll find more than bananas imported. As a result of well intended regulation and negative pressure from various groups, farmers are losing their incentive. I wonder how long before we start to see the same phenomenon in poultry, pork and beef. It may be much sooner than you think.

June 01, 2010

Chef’s Table
By: Michael Formichella

Pig roasts -- finger lickin' good

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

Need to feed a ton of hungry guests? Have a lot of time to kill? There's something wonderful about the look, smell and flavors of a perfectly roasted pig. This primeval ritual produces some of the best, most exquisite flavors of moist meat. The lacquered crackle has a distinct crunch to melt in your mouth morsels melded with hints of juicy fat. There's nothing quite like it!

Now there are many ways to do this, several of which I have personally used. While living in the Hawaiian Islands we (the hotel) dug a pit and did it the traditional Hawaiian method with palm leaves, hot rocks and coals then buried. I've used the large black steel drum like cookers on a spit, with various types of woods to impart distinctive flavor and a large rotating bakery deck oven. All methods gave a great result.

I would be remiss if I didn't discuss the pre-cooking preparation. One of my favorites is cracked, butcher-ground course black pepper and chopped fresh garlic blended with lots of citrus and fresh herbs. Right before cooking add a healthy handful of sea salt and rub it all over and inside the carcass. These preparations done a day before the actual roast gives the meat such a great flavor.

I was at a pig roast last week. Both pigs were roasted for about twelve hours at a very low level of heat. What a treat! Truly the highlight of the day was that one of the pigs had been prepared Italian style, commonly known as Porchetta, originating from central Italy around Rome. The animal was fully deboned and layered with a stuffing of meat, fat, and skin, rolled and tied on a spit and roasted. Porchetta is usually also salted with a blend or paste of ground fresh garlic, fennel, rosemary and fresh herbs.

Have you ever eaten Porchetta? I highly recommend it! We want to know your best roast pig story. Share with us your favorite recipes for rubs, sauces or special blends! Pigging out is great fun. If you haven't tried it, you should make a point of trying it out for yourself.

Working Safely
By: Steve Sayer

Food defense: are you ready?

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
Later this year the USDA will issue another food defense survey to determine how many meat and poultry establishments have voluntary food defense programs in place and whether or not to make them mandatory.

A preceding survey taken in late 2009 evinced that roughly 60 percent of USDA inspected establishments had voluntary food defense programs up and running. If the impending survey determines that less than 90 percent of meat and poultry establishments have a voluntary food defense program in place, then the USDA will begin the rulemaking process to make food defense programs mandatory.

Actually, there is a regulatory arm of USDA that already requires a written and verifiable food defense program; the livestock and seed commodity procurement branch or better known as the national school lunch program. This mandatory and progressive food defense precondition may prove to be a harbinger of things to come for all meat and poultry establishments.

The Agricultural Marketing Service procures various products for school lunch and other domestic food nutrition programs. Since 2004/2005, AMS has required all contractors and subcontractors to have a written food defense plan that provides for the security of each plant's production processes, their storage and transportation of pre-production raw materials and post-production finished products.

Each plant's food defense program is audited ensure the following areas are in compliance:

1. Food defense management
2. Interior and exterior security of production and storage facilities
3. Slaughter and processing, including raw materials
4. Shipping and receiving
5. Controlled access to production and storage areas
6. Storage
7. Water and ice supply
8. Mail handling
9. Transportation, shipping and receiving

USDA has continued to take the initiative towards food defense by informing and educating industry and the general public through nation-wide workshops, plant defense checklists, model security plans, transportation guidelines and the askFSIS Web site.

Establishments that already have a voluntary food defense program up and running have taken the pro-active approach towards protecting their businesses, employees, products and ultimate welfare of their customers.

What's your position regarding food defense?

Moderation is a great word

Jack Lalanne, for those of you that might not know of him, is one of the original exercise promoters who swam ocean and harbors, lifted weights, and is a pioneering nutritional expert as well as a business entrepreneur.

In 1951, Jack had a local TV show in San Francisco back when TV was broadcasted in only black and white. In 1959 his show went nationwide with his co-star German Sheppard “Happy,” his faithful sidekick, as an organ played way way high and then way way low whenever Jack inhaled and exhaled following an exercise.

Born in 1914, Jack was the son of French immigrants. As a child, Jack was addicted to junk food, had temper outbursts and was a rabble-rouser on the streets of San Francisco. When he was a teenager he heard on the radio the advantages of exercising and nutrition. That message was so appealing that the little rascal began focusing his life on nutrition and exercising.

Jack began running, swimming and lifting weights that eventually led to one of the first franchise health spas that were named after him, which ultimately became known today as Bally’s. He designed weight-lifting equipment, whose engineering designs are still in use today. Early on he encouraged women to lift weights even though it was alleged at the time that they would wind up looking like today’s California Governor.

Some of Jacks exploits were second to none; at age 40 Jack swam the entire span of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater mind you, with 140 pounds of equipment. At age 42 and then again at 60 he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s wharf while handcuffed. To celebrate the United States Bicentennial in 1976, he swam the Long Beach Harbor, handcuffed and shackled, as he towed 13 boats that represented the original 13 colonies with 76 people hanging on for dear life inside the boats.

Again handcuffed and shackled, he swam 1 1/2 miles towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queens Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary. Why 70 people on 70 boats? He was just celebrating his 70th birthday. One day in 2002, he and Johnny Grant met in Hollywood as he was awarded a star on Hollywood boulevard.

There were two aphorisms by Jack that always stuck with me over the years. When talking about the allure of eating something that isn’t good for you he once remarked. “... Is it really worth those 5 seconds of chewing and tasting just prior to swallowing?” His most classical statement was when he was being interviewed on a morning talk show claiming, “I can’t die, it’ll hurt my image.”

The other night I viewed a 21st century version of an exercise show, broadcasted on HD TV called “The Big Losers.” If you haven’t seen or heard about the show, it highlights overweight people, obese would be a better description, with competing 2-person teams doing some really unusual sporting events.

The teams battle to win against each other based on the amount of pounds/percentage each team collectively loses in a given time span. My overriding reaction was that of empathy laced with appreciation of what they were attempting to accomplish, which resulted with me walking in front of my bathroom mirror looking sideways after the show ended.

There was certainly was no happy tails wagging from the Cox cable during the show; rather, it’s a cheerless reflection of how overweight Americans have become. A recent survey taken by the National Health and Nutrition Examination showed that 61% of us are overweight; of those, 35% were moderately overweight with a whopping 26% being classified as being obese. The general culprit of this expanding medical problem is that we’re simply transferring too many calories from our own hands into our own mouths compounded by not exercising or own bodies enough.

We all have unique bodies that depend for the most part on the genes we inherent from our parents. These overriding gene tendencies awards some of us to be overweight, resulting with hips shaped in the likes of a pear, bowed legs like cowboys, and front teeth like David Letterman.

The luckier ones have genes that affords us fit, slim and thin bodies, size 4 dresses for life, natural muscle tone, and a hasty metabolism allowing for three-course dinners followed by mud pies with all the condiments.

The majority of us who were blessed with good health, but don’t have a body that would appear on the cover of People magazine, should count the given blessings. We were all created in the image of nature, which is perfect, with special gifts and talents that are second to nobody.

It’s comforting to know that there are others like Jack who promote good health habits and diets and remind us that we alone hold the power of choice to improve and maintain our health. Its people like Jack who we should try to emulate, in moderation that is, while encouraging our impressionable game-video-kids as well.

Today at 94, Jack still lifts iron and swims every day. In 2007 when interviewed on national TV he stated that he’s planning on celebrating his 95th birthday by swimming from California to Santa Catalina Island, which is only about 22 miles.

No one is a loser. We’re all stars and winners with the right attitude that we alone choose to take. If I could tell Jack just a thing or two as he nears the one-century mark of his life I’d say:

“Monsieur Jack, it’s OK to pass on one day, your image will always be synonymous with an evergreen. Thanks for your inspiration of fortitude, as I’ve decided to pick up my pace a bit during my walks to Soka University, but, I’m still going to unchain myself now and then and savor over five seconds each luscious bite of my jumbo size Resses’s dark chocolate peanut butter cup … when nobody’s looking.”

Steve Sayer
ALNews Columnist

Singing In Union the Ancient Songs of Spring
By Steve Sayer

When the early signs of spring begin revealing its myriad faces, it seems that everything is magically restored and renewed with a relentless domino effect without end. Deciduous trees play catch-up to the evergreens; perennial flowers of every possible color start their blossoming, and baby fronds from a variety of ferns and palms begin their unraveling as they shoot up towards acres and acres of sky.

Spotted ladybugs can be seen stretching out their delicate wings while balancing on a four-leaf clover, as the hasty bluebird is in full song while gathering straw for her innate nest. Seemingly terrain cursed caterpillars begin spinning their cocoon’s, soon metamorphosing into colorful and autonomous butterflies. Rainbow hued hummingbirds rocket around, powered by the flowers sweet nectar. Even spiders, some with perfectly shaped red hourglasses, joins the burgeoning parade as they trampoline high in the sky on their translucent webs of silk.

What a miraculous time it is each spring when earth’s collective flora and fauna wake up and break away in union from the clutches of long and cold winters. A rather obscure Greek mythology tale holds the bragging rights to the first recorded account of the marvels of spring and summer including the genesis of fall and cold winters.

This very old anecdote is worth telling for the first time or revisiting once again because of its unique and personal appeal to each and every one of us.

A young and beautiful Goddess named Persephone lived in Greece. Her mother, Demeter, was the Earth Goddess who was responsible for making trees and plants grow and multiply. Among other things, Demeter taught mankind the secret of cultivating, sowing, and harvesting of grains and fruits for their sustenance.

This ancient tale begins with Persephone playing and singing songs of spring alone in a bountiful field of flowers when the earth suddenly opens up with a thunder. Out of the ground came a chariot led by a pair of dark and intimidating horses. In the chariot and holding the reins was Hades, the feared Lord of the Underworld. He kidnapped the striking Persephone and took her to the Underworld to be his wife.

However, before the earth closed up behind them, Persephone’s belt accidentally fell to the earth. When Persephone didn’t come home, her mother searched frantically for her. As the months slowly passed, Demeter grew so miserable and sad that she forgot to make the entire plant life on earth grow. The warm green and abundant earth turned colorless, bleak and cold. As legend has it earth’s first fall and winter then came to pass.

One day a shepherd boy brought to Demeter her daughter’s belt that he’d found on a field near an opening to the Underworld. Demeter accurately surmised what had happened. She went straight to Zeus, the King of the Gods, and told him that if he didn’t order Hades to free Persephone, the earth would remain lifeless without end.

Zeus agreed and told Hades he must free Persephone. Demeter went to the Underworld to retrieve her daughter but quickly discovered that something dreadful had happened. Persephone had eaten a few pomegranate seeds, (a common fertility symbol among the ancients), while in the Underworld. According to law, if one consumed pomegranate seeds, including a Goddess, they could never leave the Underworld.

With Persephone still locked in the Underworld, Demeter refused to make anything grow as her misery never subsided. In light of this, the Gods made a deal with the Devil; for every pomegranate seed Persephone had eaten, she would have to spend the equivalent of one month every year for eternity with Hades.

Demeter agreed to this and Persephone returned to earth with her mother as Demeter’s happiness returned once again. The earth then flourished with a cornucopia of grains and fruit bearing forth to the relief and joy of all mankind. But because of the overriding curse of eating pomegranate seeds, Persephone to this day leaves her mother 4 months of the year causing the chills and darkness of winter to return once again.

As the miracles of this spring are flying, singing and budding all around us, we can be certain that Demeter and Persephone are together once again, singing in union the ancient songs of spring.

Steve Sayer
ALNews Columnist

Anyone who has driven north or south bound on Highway 133 has seen it. That brightly colored oversized orange sphere east of the highway aptly named, The Great Park Balloon.

This French designed and manufactured helium balloon is permanently tethered to the ground, giving passengers a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. Though the balloon is only allowed to float 500 feet in the wild blue yonder, the experience has attracted thousands of thrill-seekers.

Now let’s imagine for a moment that you’re back in Paris France around 1899. With the breeze at your back, you maneuver the world’s first homespun hydrogen dirigible with the aid of a 3 ½ horsepower motor, equipped with a propeller and a steering rudder to the infamous Ratatouille’s 5-Star café for some brunch in downtown Paris.

While casting silent shadows onto the streets and rooftops of Paris below, you begin your descent by discarding 10-pound sand bags below; where hopefully no horse carriages or people are standing and staring. You politely bellow down to the nearest Monsieur or Mademoiselle on the cobblestone streets, to grab hold of your trailing rope and tie-up your air-borne basket to the nearest gas-lamp post.

After carefully scrutinizing the charming menu, that was retrieved by lowering and raising a taut rope attached to a straw-woven basket, you and your darling place an order to the well-rounded Master Chef, while bobbling ten-feet off the ground, marking histories first fly-thru restaurant;

“Oui Monsieur, Bonjour, Oui Monsieur, Oh … Oui… two orders of your eggs-benedicts, one sunny-side up, the other sunny side down with lightly toasted wheat bread with butter and marmalade jelly, minus the crust, and … a bottle of your vintage 1877 Domaine de la Grange Chardonnay on ice, with two of your exquisite long-neck crystal glasses and some additional napkins.” “Oh and Monsieur, please, … please, will you send up a bottle of artesian water for my precious little four-legged Sabrina, she’s currently panting signally that she is a tad thirsty from the dry summer breeze.”

Sounds too Jules Verne or romantic to be true? Well its not.

Meet the dashing and debonair Alberto Santos-Dumont, a wealthy scion of a Brazilian coffee plantation grower, whose turn-of-the-century feats in the skies over Paris made him one of the most popular figures on both sides of the Atlantic.

Alberto would sashay his latest prototype dirigible high above the winding Seine, sail along the shores of the Mediterranean, skim over the towers of Norte Dame and glide in swirling figure eights around the Eiffel Tower. Intent on building magnificent flying dirigibles for everyone, Alberto had envisioned that the friendly skies of world would one day unite with the ground, oceans and rivers as a viable means for commuting.

Being the toast of the civilized world, Alberto dined in fashion with some of Europe’s reigning King’s and Queens, including such international dignitaries as, the Rothschild’s, H. G. Wells, Thomas Edison, and Teddy Boy Roosevelt.

Alberto’s dirigible prototypes eventually evolved into a heavy-than-air aeroplane. The Brazilian’s first successful flight of 37 feet in his incredible flying machine had been preceded by Orville Wright’s 12-second flight by almost three years. The Wright Brothers had been so secretive of their initial flights, that the over-anxious French press erroneously placed a victory wreath around Alberto’s neck as the man who conquered the air.

The celebration of Alberto’s aeroplane feat however, went plunging down like the Hindenburg, when news about Orville Wright’s powered-piloted flight at the wind-swept beaches of Kitty Hawk North Carolina finally made its way to France.

I plan on taking my family to the former El Toro Marine airfield and take the vertical thrill ride on the beautiful, beautiful balloon minus our Chihuahuas; as they’re not allowed onboard as per balloon committee regulations. However, we’ll carefully pack a straw-woven basket fully equipped with some fresh homemade French croissants, a jar of marmalade jelly, plastic cups, plenty of napkins, and a bottle of cooled Perrier water.

When the le grand balloon orange extends itself up, up, and away to its 500-foot limit, we’ll pop open our Perrier and offer a 21-century toast to the memory and feats of Alberto Santos-Dumont, while pretending of course that we’re hitched to a gas-lamp post high over the rooftops of Paris, just north of the 405 and 5 freeway interchange.

Steve Sayer
ALNews Columnist

Working Safely
By: Steve Sayer

Principle 1 of an injury/illness plan - The Buck Stops Here


(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
Harry Truman, who became commander-in-chief following the death of Franklin Roosevelt, had a sign on his desk for White House visitors to see. It read, "The Buck Stops Here."

It's fitting that we bring into focus Truman's renowned dictum as we appraise the first of eight principles of an injury/illness prevention program (IIPP). Principle 1 is all about having a dogmatic commitment from the president of your company concerning OSHA safety. The same brand of pledge that she/he made towards the 1996 Mega Reg. If this commitment isn't made and not consistently supported, then your communal effort to eradicate injuries/illnesses to manageable levels shall be quixotic.

With the fervor of Geronimo on horseback amid the insistence of Rommel in his tank, a mission statement from your president proffering her/his inveterate commitment to a safe, healthy workplace must be communicated to everyone. Truman relied on qualified, knowledgeable cabinet members and military generals to get his messages across that ended WW II. So must your president. Delegating responsibility to qualified plant management and supervisors who've been trained and educated in OSHA safety is a must.

With responsibility comes accountability. Principle I includes selecting the right people with the right stuff to be your safety coordinators/safety officers. They must be educated in OSHA safety with the objective to creating and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment.

There's an abundance of OSHA seminars across these United States where you can begin the education process for your OSHA team. Devote yourselves to OSHA safety like you do each day towards quality control. Your collective efforts towards reducing injuries and illnesses will then begin to be realized.

Like HACCP, form an OSHA committee that meets and discusses events that have transpired since your last meeting. Create quorum, record minutes, and file your records for future references.

IIPP Coordinator

ü Sets safety policies. Provides leadership/information updates. Liaises with governmental and workers compensation agencies. Assures records are maintained. Determines needs for authoritative safety references while procuring and distributing them. Coordinates loss control activities. Critiques program evaluations.

Safety Managers

ü Inspects and appraises workplace hazards. Works with management/IIPP coordinator to develop methodologies for abating workplace hazards. Validates hazards were abated. Investigates accidents. Reviews accident reports/corrective actions. Assures corrective actions were taken. Implements recognition programs for employees who exhibit commendable safety performances.

By launching your OSHA program with an IIPP that has been erected on a bedrock foundation of educated, knowledgeable people, you're well on your way down the yellow brick road to stopping your tsunami of bucks to insurance companies.

As these 8 principles continue to unfold, you'll perceive that an IIPP is as indigenous to HACCP as the boomerang is to the quintessential Australian weapon. Epiphanies?

Principle 2 of an IIPP - Its all about your people


(With last weeks principle 1 being realized by:

An unwavering commitment from the President of your company to providing a safe/healthy workplace for employees;
A qualified IIPP Coordinator being selected;
Safety Officers being trained/educated in OSHA Safety;
A Safety Committee being organized that establishes quorum, recorded minutes and reports on OSHA events since past meetings.
Now it's time to take one small step to principle 2 and one giant leap towards achieving a safe and healthy working environment at your company. Principle 2 is hands-down my most precious of the 8 principles of an IIPP. It's the gold-standard principle that I see missing in action in many food plants. Principle 2 is all about your people in relation to company training, recognition and disciplinary policies.

Discipline is a form of teaching. OSHA policies promote safety awareness. The objective is to simply eliminate and minimize employee risks. When your hire people, you -- the employer -- hold the inherent responsibility to educate your employees and let them know what is expected of them. Likewise, each employee should be held accountable for their actions beyond their first day of employment.

In our industry it's an established norm that science-based HACCP programs are supported by a melting pot of SSOP, prerequisite, SPS and GMP programs. But what foundation do these programs rely on? It's your people. Not just your production people, but those in sanitation, shipping/receiving and maintenance who prepare and ship the products, clean the facility and apply maintenance to the equipment.

If your people are the foundation for your company's ultimate success, then a well-designed hiring and training protocol needs to be in place and working as intended. This is principle 2. It's what you do or don't do with your people from day 1 and beyond. Educating workers promotes self-worth; self-worth amplifies individual morale that naturally manifests itself into improved productivity and longevity with employers. Training is educating employees on how to perform their jobs properly, efficiently and safely.

Principle 2 also encourages the IIPP coordinator and safety managers with providing guidelines for corporate recognition programs for exemplary safety performances. Recognition may be gift certificates, letters of accommodation and/or an employee of the month awards. I've seen owners of companies hold meetings and draw out of their bumper caps random winners of TV's, stereos and DVD players whenever thirty consecutive working days without a reportable injury or illness has been achieved. This type of interaction really helps to boost and maintain high employee morale.

Yes, I'm cognizant it's a long way up hamburger hill, but once you've arrived and look down from the summit, you'll love the vista from atop. Comments?

Principle 3 of injury and illness prevention – stop communication breakdowns


(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
Ahhh, communiqué!

With the conviction of Noah on the necessity of flood control, a two-way communica­tion channel between manage­ment and employees concerning safety and health issues is critical to an injury free and productive workplace.

The rudiments of principle 3 are primed and fine-tuned to stopping the communication breakdowns between management and employees. You don't need to possess the keen communication skills of Zig Ziglar or the judicious organizational talents of Lee Iacocca to get your messages across. By following principle 3, your communication breakdowns will plunge downwards like the Zeppelin Hindenburg of 1937.

New employee orientation – A new employee orientation must include a review of the injury and illness protection program (IIPP) including discussions of company safety policies and proce­dures that employees are expected to follow. A code of safe practices describing unique hazards of each job must be included. Orientations should exhibit company values while concomitantly providing the tools needed to succeed.

Well-planned orientations will help employees get up to speed while reducing costs associated with learning their jobs. It's important that employees learn early on what is expected of them. That is; the safety goals of your company.

Bridging language barriers - Hablas Espanola? Taler du Dansk? Parlez-Vous Francais? Your OSHA training must be in a language that your employees can understand. You don't have to turn your workplace into Ratatouilles 5-star café; use translators.

Meetings - Documented meetings with employees should be scheduled with safety openly discussed. I've always encouraged meetings being held prior to employee's first break while they're still fresh and impressionable.

Written materials - Post bi-lingual safety announcements on high foot-traffic bulletin boards. Questions should be directed towards supervisors.

Employee suggestions - Employees should be encouraged to inform supervisors of any workplace hazards and potential hazards, including hazardous work practices. A system should be designed for anonymous suggestions by depositing suggestions into a mailbox. Employees should never be reprimanded for report­ing hazards and unsafe work prac­tices. Supervisors and safety managers must investi­gate and document each reported hazard, unsafe work prac­tice, including safety suggestions.

When an enforcement investigative analysis officer (EIAO) appears at your establishment to perform a food safety assessment (FSA), you'll be asked to proffer a profusion of documentation. The same applies if OSHA spontaneously materializes at your doorsill. The safety committee needs to ensure that all safety related activities are well-documented for any needed future references.

Send me your ideas via your ergonomically engineered keyboard and tailless mouse vis-à-vis principle 3.

Steve Sayer
ALnews Columnist
Columnist/Blogger for meatingplace.com

As most of us already know, or will eventually acknowledge, that love in general can easily get twisted around and quite complicated. The same can be said about Valentine’s Day, which is only fitting being that Valentine’s Day involves people, their courtships, and choices made or not made.

For centuries there’s existed a two member all-star tag team, one a mere mortal, the other an immortal, who’ve joined forces with co-starring roles involving Valentine’s Day. They compliment each other in the likes of eggs and bacon, pancakes and syrup, or cookie’s and milk.

Both are legends of their own individual era and merit. You can’t have one without the other. Just try to imagine Romeo without his Juliet, Sleeping Beauty without her Prince Charming, John Smith without his Pocahontas, or Cleopatra without her Marc Anthony.

One is a god of love representing both Roman and Greek mythology of which Plato once penned as being the oldest of all the gods. All of the others idols in the likes of Zeus, Nemesis and Narcissus had their 15-minutes of fame and then faded away.

But this ancient Roman romantic ringleader, Cupid, has enjoyed everlasting appeal since Renaissance artists of the15th Century depicted him on canvas as a flying overweight baby with cherub cheeks and white angel wings, which always appeared to be too small. Sometimes he was painted blindfolded, sometimes not, but he always had his arsenal of a bow and arrow in hand ready to score. Think of a fat bumblebee with an attached doll head equipped with puny wings while being outfitted like Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, minus the bright and tight green spandex suit.

The other is a venerated 3rd century martyred priest, reverently known today as St. Valentine who, according to one of several legends, defied a Roman Emperor named Claudius II who had issued a decree eliminating marriages of his soldiers. St. Valentine acting with principles, values, and divine intent was sentenced to death when caught performing clandestine marriages. After being thrown into jail, he falls in love with a jailer’s daughter. Prior to his death, he composes the world’s first known Valentine missive when he signs off with, “From your Valentine.”

Like some of boxing history’s most famous one-two knockout punchers in the likes of Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey, Cupid jabs at the heart, while Valentine simultaneously infiltrates and works the spirit. This dynamic duo’s one-two punch casts a potent spell over unexpected victims with their poignant arrows and tender words. Legend has it that Cupid’s arrows could penetrate any Knights armor, while Valentine’s words would sway even the most stubborn of mules.

After the sitting ducks are struck, there’s a marked increase in the sales of two-door cars, teeth whiteners, breath mints, dental floss, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, nose and ear hair trimmers, orange crush sodas, red roses, gym memberships, wax candles, high and low heeled shoes, star gazing and bicycles for two.

Conversely there is a marked decrease of four-door cars, meals at McDonalds, bank accounts, disposable income, (including pocket change), shopping for clothes at Wal-Mart and K-Mart, and the consumption of garlic.

Everyday surroundings are abruptly transformed as well; Reds are redder, pinks pinker, clouds resemble cotton candy, sunsets are abruptly noticed, driver’s becomes door openers, gas prices don’t mean a thing, dreams turn from black, white and mute, to high definition plasma and surround sound. Winter becomes summer, bird songs become rhythmic, and cold winds become warm zephyr breezes.

But leave it to us mortals to distort and skew things by bad choices, oversized egos and thoughtless stingy acts. Hearts become broken by harsh words that are spoken. The late ex-Beatle George Harrison summed it up some thirty-years ago nice and concise by penning and singing;

“Isn’t it a pity, now isn’t it a shame, how we break each others hearts, and cause each other pain, and because of all our tears, our eyes can’t hope to see, the beauty that surrounds us, … now isn’t it a pity?”

Cupid and St. Valentine, or the Cupid of Valentine, set the pace and had it right for all of us ages and ages ago. Money and mascara can’t buy true love. It’s what’s in one’s heart and soul that matters the most

Steve Sayer
ALNews Columnist

A recent poll conducted by General Nutrition Centers, Quicken, showed that more than 50% of Americans vow to appreciate their loved ones and to spend more time with family and friends in 2010 as their Number #1 New Years Resolution of choice.

Other popular resolutions were losing weight, getting out of debt, stop smoking cancer sticks and cease drinking. Do you set New Year Resoutions every year? How many of us really keep our resoultions throughout the year?

Recent research proves what most of us already know: that the vast majority of us will not keep those resolutions that we so desperately want to realize. While 52% of all of the participants in a resolution study believed that they would accomplish their goals, only 12% actually achieved them. Interestingly, men achieved their goal 22% more often when they set small, measurable goals (lose a pound a week, rather than a vague "lose weight"). Women succeeded 10% more often when they made their goals public and enlisted help from friends.

The beginning of a New Year makes us reflect down south, back to what we’ve accomplished and not accomplished. It also encourages us to face north; to the future and things we would hope for our loved ones as well as close friends and ourselves.

Its no wonder that the tradition of New Years Resoutions has its taproots in Roman mythology Janus (or Ianus; meaning "archway") a mythical king of early Rome who was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year.
He is most often depicted as having two faces or heads, facing in opposite directions. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new.

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their foes and would also exchange gifts before the beginning of each year.
The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus became more common New Year's gifts.

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus Christ. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23, although they themselves had no written calendar.

Actually late March is a logical choice for the beginning of a new year. It’s time of year that spring begins and new crops are planted. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical or agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.

I don’t know about you, but I have some of the top resolutions already in the bag. I don’t indulge in smoking, chew skoal or drink alcohol, though I suppose I could still lose a couple of pounds here and maybe even there. However, I am guilty year around with not offering enough sacred tree branches, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus to both friends and foes alike. I’m going to cease looking back, become more charitable, and beat the 78% odds already bet against me and bag that one too in 2010.
How about you?

Steve Sayer
ALNews Columnist

Curious George

Mark Twain, the venerable, perennial and multifaceted iconoclastic, once exclaimed; “A man who does not read good books… has no advantage over a man who cannot!”

Reading is one of the most important things that the majority of people, regardless of the age at hand, don’t do enough of. Reading stimulates the thought process, expands and enlightens ones awareness and is a definite harbinger of stimulating epiphanies.

I’ll never forget what Winston Churchill, a fanatical reader himself, had once proclaimed about the importance of reading; “You are … what you read.” Whether the books subject matter is Nancy Drew, Farenheight 451, Moby Dick, War and Peace, King Arthur’s Court, or just The Cat In the Hat Comes Back; reading indelibly enriches ones imagination, vocabulary as well as enhancing one’s writing skills that will be needed and called upon time and again during ones entire life.

While the history of literacy goes back several thousand years to the development of writing, what constitutes literacy has changed throughout times past. At one time a literate person was defined as one who could sign his/her name. At other times literacy was measured only by the ability to read and write Latin; regardless of a person’s ability to read and write in his or her own vernacular. Even earlier, literacy was a trade secret of professional scribes, with many monarchies maintaining a cadre of this profession, as was the case for Imperial Aramic, who imported people from lands where a completely alien language was spoken and written.

Although the present-day concepts of literacy have much to do with the 15th century invention of the movable type printing press, it wasn’t until the industrial revolution of the mid-19th century that paper and books became affordable to all classes of industrialized society. Until then, only a small percentage of the population was literate as only wealthy individuals and institutions could afford the prohibitively expensive materials. Even today, the dearth of cheap paper and books is a barrier to universal literacy in some less-industrialized nations.

Reading can be described as a shared act, in which the reader’s exclusive imagination goes halfway to meet the authors; the reader visualizes the books subject matter as its being read and participates in the making of the characters and rounding them out.

High Definition or HD originated in books; not on a 60-inch flat screen plasma TV. The effort of bringing something vivid out of the neutral array of black font is quite different, and in my own experience, far better than passive submission to the bright icons and pixels of television, which tend to burn out the tender wiring of the viewers imagination because they allow no re-working.

You are what you read rings true with many of the world’s great historical figures who’ve contributed over the centuries to the arts, sciences and to society as a whole. Take Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18 months of schooling, but he was largely self-educated and an avid reader his entire life with an insatiable appetite to learn.

Lincoln’s readings and early influences came in the likes of William Shakespeare, David Hume, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Browning, Alexander Pope and the King James Version of today’s perennial Number #1 best-seller … The Bible. These collective writings popped up in his many speeches during his historical campaign for the Presidency, as well as his writings, declarations and addresses as Commander-In-Chief.

With no modern day inquisition or monarchy to threaten the livelihood of the general population, and with free library cards available to anyone who is willing, there really is no excuse to not go to a library or a bookstore and pick out a subject matter that is most appealing.

Set time restrictions to the amount of TV time for your kids, including those mesmerizing X-Boxes, Wii and Sony Playstations; you’ll be doing your impressionable young one’s a life-size, life-long favor. Who knows maybe a 21st century version of a Twain, Lincoln, Einstein, Austen, London, Edison, Thatcher, Churchill, Bradbury, Parker, Hemmingway or a Pasteur may be in the making on the next page of your four year-olds Curious George book.

Steve Sayer
ALNews Columnist
Aliso Viejo