New York City Girls fight Obesity with Organic Farming

Hola Everyone!

If you are interested in changing what your kids eat and stopping the high rates of obesity in the next generation, I highly recommend checking out this great kid-friendly documentary ""What's on Your Plate?"

The film's synopsis (from Whatsonyourplate.org):

"WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE? is a witty and provocative documentary produced and directed by award-winning Catherine Gund about kids and food politics.

Filmed over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old multi-racial city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates."

These girls are making a difference in their hometown by bringing organic food and CSA's to their local NYC neighborhood. The film is also available through instant streaming on netflix.

African-Americans and Hispanics have the highest instances of diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity in the US. We can change that by teaching our children how to avoid the snares of the big food companies. Eating well will protect them from the sicknesses that have affected our generation. I wish I had known as much as these two girls when I was younger. I would have avoided serious blood sugar problems today.

Enjoy the flick! And take care of your kids!

Love,
Mami Mozart

Related articles

• (10/2010) DVD Review: What's On Your Plate? (basilandspice.com)

Free Music Relaxation Album

Hello Everyone,

As we get ready to take a break for Christmas, I thought I would share one of the projects I worked on this semester. It is a relaxation album specifically for mothers and children, but it also is very relaxing for just about anyone.

There is a free download of the entire album here:

http://www.easyeartraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/RelaxationPlayer/

• Angels Take FlightThe flowing rhythms and melodies of the marimba embrace you and your child in a warm auditory embrace. Fluid melodies, repeating, enclosed within circles of luscious synthesized chords, send you into a heavenly realm of sweet slumber.
• Eva Sleeps TonightThe simple melody of the lullaby, sparse and innocent, conjures up feelings and emotions associated with sleep and childhood. Single notes play together like children.
• Before the DawnSoothing arpeggios and orchestral strains greet your ears with pleasing chords and a melody that wanders and wavers. Sounds of nature bring up images of a more innocent time, before the hustle and bustle of daily life eclipsed peaceful rest. Close your weary eyes and journey into the quiet land of slumber.
• Mermaid SongSimplicity of melody and song, plaintive and sweet, calms the mind through joyous song. Slow and sparse, flute and harp create an imaginary dreamland welcoming even the most stressed of minds. Focus on each single note and allow your pains and sorrows to float away.
• Brown NoiseWhile in the womb, your child enjoyed the constant beating of your heart, the rush of fluid around her ears, and the muffled voices from the world outside. This always active environment is recreated through the sounds of simple "brown" noise, which soothes and calms both mother and child.

I hope you enjoy this early gift for your ears for the holidays!

Smiles,
Mami Mozart

Dream Act

Image via WikipediaThe long-awaited Dream Act is up today in Congress. And it will undoubtedly fail.

The Republicans, with their anti-Latino sentiments and outright racial hatred, will now block the measure that will give students who were brought here as children (without a choice by parents) and have no criminal record with intents to join the military or go to college a pathway to citizenship. At least half a million students will see their dreams fail again and be forced to work in the slave fields of America, as under-the-table employees at restaurants, and yes, as the proverbial maid, because Democrats AND Republicans are acting like slavemasters.

Yes, Democrats, too. Why did the Democrats (and Mr. Obama) wait until there was CERTAIN FAILURE before bringing this up? There is always talk about immigration reform, but in the end, this country is not ready to accept its diverse culture. Half the country is still stuck in the pre-Civil War days, wishing they could simply pluck any brown-skinned person off the street and claim them as chattel or simply put a bullet through their head. Don't believe me? Ask Arizona.

By the way, the Republicans cannot whine about cost when they just passed a tax cut for the uber-rich that will COST our country over $700 billion.

It's not about money, folks. It's about culture and fear and about the puppetmasters who pull our strings.

Do you really think there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats? No. Congress is controlled by money and lobbyists. And the president America elected to enact change has enacted nothing but compromise that keeps corporations in power in our country.

What separates us from China is free speech. Free speech lets us rant and rave and pat ourselves on the back for being so revolutionary while our controlling slavemasters in Washington smile at us stupid children content to play with daddy's car keys (never realizing that we will never, NEVER drive the actual car).

Democracy and capitalism in America has failed, folks:

• Our children go to substandard schools rife with violence and metal detectors.
• Our children consume "food" laced with chemicals and poisons.
• Our children breathe air rife with toxins.
• Our system promotes the continued cycle of poverty.
• Our health care system overcharges America into bankruptcy, and insurance companies line their pockets.
• Free market is a joke as multibillion corporations slowly consolidate the world's food supplies and energy.
• We fight wars over oil and energy, not principle.
• American democracy has been reduced to a bunch of talking points on Media Mogul's propaganda networks.
• Pharmaceutical companies create illnesses and then kill hundreds of thousands a year with the side effects of their "cures".

What can we do to stop this demise of the world's most innovative political experiment? Is it too late for the US. of A?

We need to break down the two party system. We need to limit terms in Congress, drastically. We need to limit spending allowed on political campaigns and stop the lobbyists from further destroying our country.

We need to Vote with our DOLLARS and our common sense.

I don't know where the men and women are in our country that can enact this change. I am guessing they are too busy right now trying to raise families, pay the bills, and avoid foreclosure. I am guessing that the real Americans are not sitting prime and preened in the White House and in Congress. I am guessing the real Americans are out there slaving away, trying to put some food on the table and maybe avoid incurring any more credit debt.

The only thing I can do is vote with my money. And pray. A lot.

So find out who pulls the strings in Washington. I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, Anarchist, or whatever. Find out who is running the show, and then boycott them.

You don't need all that junk that corporations think you do. You don't need to vote for who they say you do. You don't have to subjugate your children to the disgusting culture propagated by media and the supercenters of America.

A great man once said, "It's not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Folks, America needs you. Now. We can't wait for another election and another bozo (Republican or Democrat) running the country. We can't wait for the meatheads elected (new and old) in Congress to give a crap about us. They don't. They are puppets, no matter how revolutionary they say they are. Once they get in there, it will be the same old thing (just ask the poor excuse for politicians in the Democratic party).

God bless America before it is too late.

Mami Mozart

Related articles

• On the Eve of the DREAM Act Vote, Rallies and Vigils Across the Country (immigration.change.org)
• White House Makes Final Push On DREAM Act (huffingtonpost.com)
• W.H. makes last appeal for DREAM Act (politico.com)
• DREAM Act clarifies immigration debate (sfgate.com)
• Mysa.com: Hutchison vote on DREAM Act has ramifications for potential re-election (mysanantonio.com)
• PASS The Dream Act ...do it for Gaby (ynative77.wordpress.com)