Cityview | Central Iowa's Independent Weekly

Thanks for nothing

Native American perspectives on Thanksgiving

For most of the United States, Thanksgiving is a day during which that most popular of contemporary sins — gluttony — is celebrated with gusto and gravy.

Americans eat, watch football and stop stuffing the stuffing into their gullets in just enough time to hit the Christmas shopping season starting line.

But for many Americans, those descended from the first Americans, in fact, Thursday is a day that marks centuries and generations of betrayal and horror.

“It’s a difficult time for many of our people,” says Jeanne Marie Brightfire Stophlet, a Shawnee Cherokee. “We came in friendship and caring, and we suffered from that friendship and caring.”

In a phone interview, Brightfire Stophlet, chairwoman of the North American Indian Council of Greater Cincinnati, says celebrating “Thanksgiving” — a term she doesn’t use — is a slight to millions of Native Americans.

“Some people feel like it’s a reminder of what we lost,” says Connie Louise Smith, the publisher-owner of The Lakota Country Times in Martin, S.D., and an Oglala Lakota... Read More>>

Gibbons moves, Stillians bashes Kauffman, Phil Hill dies

guy who has too much time on his hands writes: “So I’m reading Business Insurance and read an article where Congressman King skipped his son’s wedding so he could be in DC to vote against the health-care bill.

“Now, there’s a guy with REAL family values.”

Skinny ‘s own subscription to Business Insurance has lapsed. ...Read More>>

Christmastime is here. Be a good cheer? Or bah hum bug?

If you’ve ever had that guilty feeling about liking or disliking Christmas music — good or bad — you’re not alone. It’s a past we’ve all shared, filled with the sounds of Andy Williams, Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, or heaven forbid, Elmo & Patsy and Mannheim Steamroller.

Just to prove it, I polled a few local music industry folks about their five favorite and least favorite seasonal songs. The response was so overwhelming that we couldn’t include them all here. Go online to www.dmcityview.com to read additional comments from Matt Sepanic, Thunderbird Kingsley, Scott Stilwell, Frank Strong, Rob Lumbard, Serena James, Dale Stark, Austin Semerad and Roxi Copland.

Romancing the stove — Jasmine Bowl

y paternal grandfather, a failed restaurateur, scoffed at conventional trappings of romantic dining like candlelight, linen, violins and roses. “Romance,” he said, “is the stuff that takes you where you’ve never been.” Grandfather would consider Jasmine Bowl an epic romance on many levels.

The restaurant was created at the happy coincidence of two real life romances. Nigerian-born chef Mark Lijadu met his Thailand-born wife Suppatra when both were studying at the Iowa Culinary Institute in Ankeny. Suppatra wanted to own a bakery, and Mark wanted to own a restaurant like his family had in Nigeria. Meanwhile Tom Mauer fell in love with a Minnesotan and put Florene’s up for sale. To move the real estate in a slow market, Mauer agreed to sell his bakery recipes, an extraordinary collection gathered during his romantic and worldly education, including stints in three different Michelin three star restaurants in France. So, Jasmine Bowl is now an old fashioned bakery that also serves the best short order breakfasts in town, several southeast Asian specialties and a few choice items from Mexican, Moroccan, West African and Japanese cuisines. You’d have to travel far and wide to find that anywhere else. Read More>>”