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Culture & Media
Persistence of Vision: The Autry Museum's 'La Raza' Photo Exhibition
A photographic exhibit reveals long-unseen images of the Chicano community at a time of political upheaval and demands for civil rights.
1970 Chicano Moratorium March (Luis C. Garza/Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA)
After 47 years, the old black-and-white news photograph can still shock: A helmeted Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy points a teargas gun toward a small unarmed group crowded in the doorway of the Silver Dollar Café, a tavern on Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. It's a local pub, next door to a wig shop, with an outer wall advertising itself as a swinging destination with a collage of cartoon martini glasses, musical notes and topless women. But that afternoon in 1970, it was just someplace to grab a beer for journalist Ruben Salazar before heading back to the office.
He'd spent the day covering the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War, which ended with deputies breaking up the demonstration and clashing with protesters. But Salazar, 42, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and news director at the Spanish-language station KMEX-TV, never made it out of the Silver Dollar. Moments after the photograph was taken by Raul Ruiz of the underground La Raza newspaper, the deputy blindly fired a teargas canister into the bar, striking Salazar in the head and killing him instantly.
That picture is now at the center of LA RAZA, a photographic exhibition at Los Angeles' Autry Museum of the American West that was culled from an archive of 25,000 images created for the publication between 1967 and 1977. During those years, La Raza evolved from a small tabloid newspaper into a slicker magazine, but the mission never wavered: representing the Chicano community at a time of political upheaval and demands for civil rights.
The exhibition, which runs through February 10, 2019, shares La Raza's photographic collection for the first time with the public. It is now part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, the Getty's countywide exploration of Latin American and Latino art, where the recently unearthed photographs offer an essential document of a movement too often overlooked.
"The purpose of the newspaper-magazine was that of an organizing tool, first and foremost," says Luis Garza, who was then a young photographer on the all-volunteer staff, and co-curates the Autry show. "There was little representation whatsoever of the Chicano community … within the body politic of Los Angeles. Decisions were being made affecting our community that we had no voice in."
Many of the images at the Autry depict a community newly engaged with the political moment, filling city streets in protest and carrying signs that confronted issues of immigration, cultural identity, civil rights and foreign wars that remain relevant a half-century later. In one picture, protesters march past the stately Times building in downtown L.A., with one sign reading, "Stop Nixon's racist deportation raids."
Other photographs document marches through rural California, beneath banners for the United Farm Workers and the slogan "Be Brown & Be Proud." Teenagers take to the streets in pictures from a series of walkouts and "blowouts" at several L.A. high school campuses named for presidents Wilson, Jefferson, Garfield, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Also at the Autry: A row of large blowups of police officers on rooftops and bridges, watching with binoculars, cameras and rifles as the demonstrations unfolded. La Raza was there to report on a community speaking out and under siege.
There were consequences for the mostly young staff. One prominent photograph at the Autry captures a little girl in braids, yelling into the lens while holding a stack of La Raza newspapers with an alarming headline: "La Raza Raided — Editor, Staff Imprisoned." Another picture shows La Raza photographer Ruth Robinson being handcuffed along with a Brown Beret activist.
"They got arrested all the time," says Amy Scott, chief curator at the Autry and co-curator of LA RAZA. "For them, activism and photography were not two separate things. The photographs were a way of making these arguments and putting them out there."
The mission was not simply to document the era's homegrown political uprising, but to capture something of the culture asserting itself as "a much more complex and dynamic community than had ever been portrayed in the mainstream media," adds Scott.
La Raza began life in the basement of an Episcopalian church in Lincoln Heights, debuting September 4, 1967, as a modest eight-page publication. By the time it had grown to more than 60 pages, its focus had expanded beyond local issues to concerns about Vietnam, indigenous land rights, immigration and Latin America. Mainstream media in the late 1960s was dependably conservative and "gave no coverage to our community whatsoever except to depict us in a negative light," says Garza.
Police in front of Lincoln High School, 1970. (La Raza/Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA)
The photographers at La Raza provided their own cameras and 35mm film, while editors struggled to keep the no-budget operation afloat. "We tried at first to be bi-monthly, then it became monthly, then it became whenever you had the funds to print," recalls Garza, a University of California, Los Angeles student at the time. "It could be weeks, months or even a year before the next issue came out."
The paper's most dramatic moment of recognition came with the Moratorium March and the death of Salazar. After working as a foreign correspondent in Vietnam, the Times reporter returned to Los Angeles to find a vibrant subject in the growing Chicano movement. He was often critical of police — and was one of four fatalities on a violent day of deputies clashing with protesters. Pictures at the Autry show police clearing streets with batons and shotguns, and of squad cars with shattered windshields.
After Salazar's body was carried out of the Silver Dollar, the L.A. Sheriff's Department denied any role in his death, even suggesting that snipers were responsible. It was La Raza's photographs of the shooting, also published in the Times, that revealed the truth. Some suspected Salazar had been targeted for assassination. Whether through malice or utter incompetence, the incident was a bleak example of law enforcement's posture within East L.A. The deputy who fired into the bar was never charged.
In 2012, Garza and others began an effort to go through the La Raza photographs, which had been largely unseen and stored in multiple three-ring binders by one of the founding editors. Images had to be identified and cataloged, a process Garza describes as "photo-forensics." The archive was placed at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and with a grant from the Getty, the pictures were digitized, culminating with the Autry exhibition.
"I view it as karma and the blessings of the gods," Garza says of the successful effort to bring the pictures back into circulation after four decades in storage.
"The reaction from everyone is very positive, it's very emotional," adds Garza, who went on from La Raza to documentary work for KABC-TV. "For the first time we're getting recognition of who we are, what we accomplished and what we attempted. It isn't just about our community as Chicanos. It is about Los Angeles. It is about this country as a whole."
LA RAZA, Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles; through Feb. 10, 2019. theautry.org
Culture & Media
Labor Party: A New Play Examines Birth Tourism
Playwright Boni B. Alvarez dramatizes the experience of six Filipinas temporarily inhabiting a one-bedroom flat near Los Angeles' well-to-do Hancock Park neighborhood.
America Adjacent
Skylight Theatre, 1816½ N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; Mon., March 4, 11, 18, 8 p.m.; through March 24. SkylightTix.
Birth tourism in the United States is a flourishing business. Each year thousands of women from foreign nations pay big bucks to birth their babies on U.S. soil, insuring that their children (courtesy of our Fourteenth Amendment) will become U.S. citizens. The women's travel and stays are often facilitated by illegal for-profit intermediaries that promote their services in their clients' local newspapers. The very wealthy pay for royal treatment and get it. Those with fewer means (none are poor) may instead find themselves housed with other expectant mothers in cramped apartments, their comings and goings monitored and restricted.
In America Adjacent, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera at the Skylight Theatre, Filipino-American playwright Boni B. Alvarez dramatizes the experience of six such Filipinas temporarily inhabiting a one-bedroom flat adjacent to Los Angeles' well-to-do Hancock Park neighborhood. Overseen by a curt and condescending administrator (Hazel Lozano), they bicker away their days while waiting to go into labor. Those who have already given birth linger onsite just long enough for their child's documentation to arrive before they fly back home.
Each has her own story. Roshelyn (Angela T. Baesa), more emotionally mature than the others, is a teacher of English. Paz (Toni Katano) is a socialite with attitude. Aimee (Sandy Velasco) is marked by her sunny disposition and an unusual blend of heated carnality and religious devotion. Divina (Arianne Villareal), the victim of her uncle's sexual abuse, is resentful, deeply confused and defensive; when the others protest the wrong done to her, she's still singing her predator's praises.
Most of the narrative is driven by events surrounding Janelle May (Evie Abat) and Sampaguita (Samantha Valdellon). The mistress of a wealthy married man, Janelle May, suffering a postpartum disorientation, wants little to do with her new baby; breaking house rules, she sneaks out to rendezvous with a Mexican-American man that she fancies will be part of her future. Like Janelle, Sampaguita, young and recently arrived, refuses to stay inside but instead takes clandestine strolls through Hollywood to soak up the sights. It is primarily through her eyes that the women's disappointment is chronicled and the playwright's message — the thorny paradox that is the American Dream and its impact on people's lives — is sounded.
* * *
Part of the playwright's intent is to raise our awareness of the Filipino community and give it visibility on the American stage. And in our observation of his characters, their likes and dislikes, their dreams for the future and their strong Catholic faith, he succeeds.
But while America Adjacent may be on track as a group portrait and cultural beacon, it misses the mark as a cogent drama. Some of the story threads are under-developed, even as the more prominent ones are too steeped in melodrama. The interaction among the characters often consists of petty squabbling (degenerating at one point into hair-pulling) and other scenes come across as too obviously aimed at our edification, while at the same time failing to propel the narrative forward (Paz refuses to eat a traditionally American birthday cake because it's unlike the ones she's accustomed to).
Some of these shortcomings might have been camouflaged with strong performances. Instead, they're compounded by an uneven ensemble. Lozano (smartly outfitted by costumer Mylette Nora) is effective as the brisk, uncaring administrator, while Baesa depicts the household's most sensible, nurturing member with surety and warmth. But Valdellon, though she has affecting moments, is often over the top. And Abat delivers a blueprint of the jaded Janelle rather than the rounded portrayal that might have us feel her pain.
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Culture & Media
Steven Soderbergh's Basketball Diary Is No Slam Dunk
The iPhone-shot High Flying Bird comes across as less a feature film and more like a pilot for a TV series. (Think The West Wing meets Ballers.)
Steven Soderbergh has always been a cinematic disruptor. His debut film, sex, lies, and videotape, is largely credited with revolutionizing the independent film movement of the 1990s while also signaling the emergence of a singular new talent. Instead of taking the easy way up, his prodigious career has seen him bounce between heading mass market pulp (Oceans 11 and its sequels and Magic Mike) to borderline masterpieces (Traffic and Erin Brockovich) to failed experimental fare (Full Frontal, which was the first feature with major stars shot mostly on digital camcorders.). His latest film, High Flying Bird, falls into the latter category.
The film starts with a sports agent, Ray Burke (André Holland), and his client, Erick Scott (Melvin Gregg), who is the NBA's first-round draft pick, at a moment when the two men are struggling to deal with a league lockout. Before Scott can collect his first paycheck or dish out a dime, he is caught up in the politics of the game — or as youth coach Spence (Bill Duke) says, "The game on top of the game." As a result, Burke comes up with a scheme to upend the system, an ingenious attempt both to gain some control and swat the impasse away like an ill-advised cross-court pass.
Soderbergh is attempting to invent a game on top of the game cinematically here, as well. His film is about basketball with very little basketball in it, and was shot entirely on an iPhone. The filmmaker supposedly finished the rough cut three hours after principal photography wrapped – after shooting for only three weeks. The results are like those of a good three-point shooter: successful about 40 percent of the time.
Tarell Alvin McCraney (a producer/story writer on Moonlight) dishes out dialogue that, for the most part, is street smart (a few lines should be whistled for pretentiousness, though.) The acting is great, with everyone managing to deliver stereotypical roles that aren't typical. Standouts include Duke, who brings soul and depth to his gruff hardwood Yoda, and Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), who plays Sam, a young but ambitiously crafty assistant. But despite the great players, High Flying Bird fails to secure the win.
Shooting on an iPhone is an experiment that here, unlike 2015's Tangerine, does nothing to enhance or underscore the material. In fact, there are a few glaring shots that simply come across as though they were shot on, well, a phone. Lastly, the film dishes out both backstory and future plot points that are impossible to play out in the film's 90-minute runtime, such as a secret package and the past death of a promising star. Nothing here is ultimately powerful enough to sustain a feature (although there is a hint of profundity with an allusion to the indentured servitude of NBA players and the garbage time appearance of both Dr. Harry Edwards and his seminal 1969 book, The Revolt of the Black Athlete).
These are two of a handful of loose ends that are never tied up. As a result, High Flying Bird comes across as less a feature film and more like a pilot for a TV series. (Think The West Wing meets Ballers.)
Soderbergh should be commended for trying to invigorate the game because you can't score without taking shots. Unfortunately, his latest attempt rims out instead of being a cinematic slam dunk.
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Culture & Media
Filmmaker Adam McKay Talks About Dick Cheney and the Imperial Presidency
"Our democracy at its root is about the throne," says the creator of Vice. "But what Cheney tried to do was bring the power back to one person on that throne."
Vice President Dick Cheney quickly faded into the background after leaving the Bush White House in 2009. But while many may not remember the ins and outs of Cheney's record, the recent film Vice argues that he was one of the most powerful and influential architects of the current world, and that Cheney intensified the emergencies facing America today.
Capital & Main reporter David Sirota spoke with Vice screenwriter and director Adam McKay, who had taken on the project after winning an Academy Award for screenwriting on his previous movie, The Big Short.
Vice has been nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture — but has also generated its share of controversy. McKay discusses some of the criticism of the film here, along with the twists and turns of the life of Cheney, who rose to become arguably the most potent vice president in American history. The following interview excerpt has been edited for concision and clarity.
David Sirota: Do you believe that we are today living in the world that Dick Cheney created?
Adam McKay: Without a doubt, yeah. Trump is a force of charisma, but not in a good way. He's perfect for the 24-hour news cycle — no one knows how to dominate it better than him.
But the actual structural changes that happen to our government, to regulations, to the way we view democracy, to the way the American people interact with government … those changes happened under the hand [of] a grand master of bureaucratic knowledge, Dick Cheney. You look at the Middle East. You look into visions that were widened. I'd definitely go to that period and I say at the center of it, expanding executive power, was Dick Cheney.
There's a scene in the movie where a young Cheney is depicted as not all that partisan — it almost made it seem like him choosing a job with a Democratic or Republican lawmaker was completely random. Is that true to life?
It's not that far off. Cheney's dad was an FDR Democrat. [Dick Cheney] had no interest in politics at all through high school…The first time he really started getting any taste for feet-on-the-floor politics was when he was getting [his] master's up in the University of Wisconsin. He did intern for a Republican, handed out buttons and stuff. We interviewed some people from his early days. He was not an ideologically driven guy.
What he knew was that when he went to D.C. he needed a rocket ship. He needed to get something going. Lynne wasn't entirely happy about him taking this fellowship. She wanted him to get a Ph.D. and become a professor. That was what she always pictured that they would do. So he had to get something going quick when he got to D.C. because he wasn't making any money. And if you wanna get something going quick in the late '60s in Washington, D.C., Donald Rumsfeld was your guy.
What do you think radicalized Dick Cheney and made him such an ideologue?
The first radicalization was just the environment he kind of came of age in, which was the Nixon White House and the Ford White House, which were all about executive power — the imperial presidency. And then his conversation about the unitary executive theory with a young [Antonin] Scalia, who was a lawyer in the Justice Department.
Everything that I found with Cheney goes back to the unitary executive theory. You look at his minority opinion that he wrote on the Iran-Contra affair with David Addington. They actually have several lines in it where they say the president has monarchical-like powers.
The radicalization of Cheney, to me, is two steps. Number one is the political environment he grew up in, [and then] introduction to the unitary executive — [which] was weaponized by 9/11. Especially when he said, "Give me all the unfiltered intelligence." A lot of Washington insiders said, "Anyone who would do that — [it] would drive them crazy." One guy described it as like "listening to Led Zeppelin full volume, 24 hours a day."
So I think he was already an extreme right-winger who then came into collision course with this very traumatic event, 9/11.
Your movie depicts Cheney as motivated by the acquisition of power — but do you believe he had specific policy goals beyond that?
As far as policy goals go, war is the key to being able to use these sorts of unparalleled powers. Some legal scholars would call [these] insane powers. So I always felt like Cheney was putting together these pieces of power to expand his own power … which I do believe made him a power addict … His wife's desire for power, and by extension, America's desire for power, which did fit neatly with the neocons.
But I also think invading Iraq did two things. It activated the unitary executive theory — [if] writings from the DOJ [Department of Justice] that came about at that time were filled with references to the unitary executive theory.
And yes, the oil too, was a part of it. Cheney also is an oil guy. He grew up in an oil state, Wyoming That was his whole life. All his friends are oil guys. I always look at Cheney as a right-hand man, and I think that he serves power: Sometimes that power is oil barons, other times that power is a presidency — the notion of a powerful presidency.
So I think Iraq was sort of a mishmash of ideas. I think it was unitary executive and I think it was definitely oil, and I think it was most of all expansion of executive power and a show of force to the world.
What are the most significant and lasting parts of Cheney's legacy?
I would just say in general, those eight years of Bush and Cheney were so dispiriting that they made a lot of people kind of give up on government. And the fact that we can't fix something that really can be improved pretty easily and pretty quickly, like the opioid epidemic or like gun safety laws. Those are things that 30, 40 years ago we would've had bills passed on the issue. We would've seen fewer deaths within a year, within two years. Even the assault weapon ban, you saw deaths go down after that…
Then, obviously, the Middle East is just a wreck. Our friend, Adam Davidson, had a friend of his, a journalist, go to Iraq recently and come back and just say, "It's awful. It's completely undone." And obviously, with what happened in Syria, ISIS, all that kind of stuff. Those are the clear, kind of bad effects of Cheney and I would say the rise of this particular form of the Republican Party.
Much of your film resurrects events that have been forgotten in the American psyche, because we have this tendency to venerate leaders the moment they leave office. It's as if presidents and their administrations suddenly get immunity from retrospective scrutiny. Why do you think that is?
I feel a lot of this goes back to the pardoning of Nixon. That's a bad, bad thing. I think he should've done some time. I think it's important to not imbue these leaders with king-like mystical properties. Do you remember Jerry Lewis saying, "We should never criticize the president"?
I think we just like the idea of powerful people. We like the idea of a king. We like the idea of these celebrities that get treated like kings. Why did the Bushes keep getting elected to office? Why did the Kennedys keep getting elected to office after several of them did pretty terrible things? We just like that idea. We like the idea that some people's blood is more special than ours. I don't know why. It's really deranged…
Our democracy at its root is about the throne. What they tried to do with the Constitution, the original people that wrote it, was break up the power so you don't have one crazy guy sitting in the throne. But what Cheney tried to do was bring the power back to one person on that throne…
I guess my answer is democracy is still really new, and clearly it's not going well right now. And I think we're going to have to have a whole moment where we look at it and fix a bunch of stuff because parts of it aren't working too well.
Many people say Donald Trump's administration is the worst in American history. After doing a movie on Cheney and the Bush administration, do you agree?
Everyone wants things to be ranked and compared to each other. The real answer is that there is a safe that was filled with diamonds that represent our democracy and checks and balances. They couldn't get a goon like Donald Trump to go in and crack the safe because he doesn't even read books. Like he's not an educated guy.
So they had to go get an expert like Dick Cheney to go in there. Dick Cheney went in, he cracked the safe, he took all the jewels out of the safe, he exited the store, he left the front door wide open. Then after an hour some stray dogs wandered into the store and started crapping all over the place and peeing everywhere. And then when the owner went in, one of the dogs bit him and he said, "These dogs are the worst."
That, to me, is Cheney versus Trump. Yeah. Cheney cracked the safe, Trump is the strange bizarre dude who wandered in (and) took a crap in the store…The police arrest the street guy because look, he took a crap. He's in the store. Meanwhile, Cheney is across town giving W. Bush one diamond while he takes the other 99 and W. Bush is delighted with the one diamond.
Culture & Media
Even Paradise Has Walls in This Topical Drama
Laura Maria Censabella's play focuses on the difficulties of young women whose career aspirations are thwarted by cultural expectations.
Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.; through February 17. (323) 960-7724 or www.Plays411/Paradise. Running time: Two hours with one intermission.
Paradise, by Laura Maria Censabella, has a lot going for it. Drawn from the playwright's experience as an artist-in-residence in the New York City school system, it builds around the relationship between Yasmeen (Medalion Rahimi), a 17-year-old Yemeni-American student, and her biology instructor, Dr. Royston (Jeff Marlow), who supports and encourages her new-found passion for learning and experiment. A West Coast premiere directed by Vicangelo Bulluck at the Odyssey Theatre, the play features multidimensional characters, fluid dialogue and meaty conflicts involving culture, science and religion, but a one-note portrayal by Rahimi under Bulluck's lax direction sabotages what might have been an intriguing production.
Marlow, in a topnotch performance, plays a once well-respected scientist who's been barred from his profession for making threats to a colleague, and now teaches adolescents in the Bronx. After Yasmeen fails a test, she comes to his classroom to plead for an opportunity to make it up. At first Royston refuses, but the more he talks to the girl, the more he realizes how bright she is, and that her failure on the exam may have explicable roots. Soon he learns that Yasmeen has an interesting idea for an experiment involving adolescents and their emotions, a field of inquiry that relates to Royston's former research. The two begin to work together with twin goals: Royston's redemption among his scientific peers and Yasmeen's securing of a scholarship to Columbia University.
Though he tries to be respectful, Royston more than once offends Yasmeen by commenting on her headscarf and what he perceives as Islam's restrictions on women — and she hits back with observations about the violence against women in American society and other sexist norms. Despite these differences, a bond develops between them until, not unpredictably, Yasmeen's family sets up an arranged marriage for her that would surely torpedo her dreams. An observant Muslim, loyal to her family, she's desperately torn. How this conflict plays out — not straightforwardly but with several challenging complications — is the relatable dynamic that drives the drama to an ironic, compelling catharsis.
* * *
One of the play's commendable features is that it provides a platform for dialogue about the Quran and Islamic beliefs and traditions. There are a few moments where this registers as too teacherly (reasonably educated audience members will be apprised of much of this information already), but on the whole Censabella avoids being didactic because her characters hold our attention. For example, Royston, a hardcore nonbeliever, is a refugee from the Bible Belt; he's chilly and sardonic when we meet him, but his personality becomes more involving as his checkered backstory is revealed.
The play's main focus remains the difficulties of young women (regardless of their backgrounds) whose career aspirations are thwarted by cultural expectations, who are expected to sacrifice themselves for the good of their families. Into this vital issue Censabella successfully weaves additional dramatic conflicts — tensions spurred by ego and ambition.
Marlow inhabits his role completely, and his work is all the more impressive because Rahimi (whose program bio indicates limited stage experience) is so disturbingly limited. Instead of aspiring to the complex, exceptional young woman the playwright has conjured, she reduces Yasmeen to a gushing wide-eyed teenager, whose ability to process scientific discourse seems questionable at best. All the complexities of Rahimi's character disappear behind this shallow façade. Sadly, the production suffers.
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Culture & Media
Philanthropic Sector Leader Aaron Dorfman Joins Capital & Main Board of Directors
Dorfman is a nationally respected leader in the field of philanthropy, with deep connections to foundations across the country, and has a long background in community organizing.
Aaron Dorfman, president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), has joined the board of directors of Capital & Main, a nonprofit investigative news publication.
Dorfman is a nationally respected leader in the field of philanthropy, with deep connections to foundations across the country, and has a long and impressive background in community organizing. He has led NCRP for 11 years, building the organization into an influential advocate for increased philanthropic investment in long-term social change. NCRP defines itself as a "research and advocacy organization that works to ensure that America's grantmakers and wealthy donors are responsive to the needs of those with the least wealth, opportunity and power."
Danny Feingold, publisher of Capital & Main, described Dorfman as "a passionate champion of philanthropy that truly moves the needle on the biggest challenges facing the nation."
Dorfman brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Capital & Main's board, along with a keen understanding of the critical role of investigative journalism in exposing the misuse of power. A thoughtful critic, he frequently speaks and writes about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in philanthropy, the benefits of funding advocacy and community organizing, and the need for greater accountability and transparency in the philanthropic sector.
Before joining NCRP in 2007, Dorfman served for 15 years as a community organizer with two national organizing networks, spearheading grassroots campaigns on a variety of issues. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Carleton College, a master's degree in philanthropic studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and serves on the board of The Center for Popular Democracy.
Dorfman joins University of Southern California professor Manuel Pastor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Sanberg, alternative energy business leader Cole Frates, former L.A. Times business editor Rick Wartzman, author/journalist Erin Aubry Kaplan, American Prospect executive editor Harold Meyerson and author/journalist Alissa Quart, among others, on the Capital & Main board. The publication's advisory board includes former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Vice President Joe Biden's former chief economist Jared Bernstein and author Barbara Ehrenreich, among others.
Capital & Main is an award-winning publication that reports on the most pressing economic, environmental and social issues of our time. Winner of the 2016 Online Journalist of the Year prize from the Southern California Journalism Awards and a 2017 Best in the West award, Capital & Main has had stories co-published in more than 30 media outlets, from The Atlantic, Time, Reuters, The Guardian and Fast Company to The American Prospect, Grist, Slate and the Daily Beast.
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Culture & Media
Stage Review: Workers Drown in Blood, Sweat and Beers
Sweat 's unflinching mission is to lay out the slow strangulation of the American Dream.
Most of the action in Lynn Nottage's 2015 social drama takes place in a Reading, Pennsylvania bar that serves as the home away from home for local factory hands. Sweat opens, portentously enough, during the 2008 financial meltdown — Wall Street's equivalent of the hollowing out of blue collar jobs that occurred eight years earlier, thanks to NAFTA and its progeny. Red and yellow stock market quotations scroll across the bar's industrial-gothic walls as news of the crisis ricochets around the Mark Taper Forum. (Projections by Yee Eun Nam; scenic design by Christopher Barreca; sound by Paul James Prendergast.)
Two young men, Jason and Chris (Will Hochman and Grantham Coleman, respectively) meet with a parole officer (Kevin T. Carroll) after their release from prison. The revenants are little more than shadows from a more prosperous past that holds the secret to the crime that sent them behind bars. And yet our interest really doesn't rest with their felony, which we're only reminded of whenever designer Anne Militello's lights go down cold and low, and other characters begin frowning at the two. The play's true dynamic is the fraying, metaphoric friendship between mill workers Tracey (Mary Mara) and Cynthia (Portia). The middle-age women, mothers to Jason and Chris, and die-hard union members, have both applied for a single management position in their factory. When Portia, who is black, receives the promotion, white Tracey and others in the bar turn against her.
Toggling between boozy 2000 and penitent 2008, the story's issues play out like a series of grievances: The betrayal that African-American characters feel toward both the company and a union that has kept them at arm's length; the hurt that the dope-addled Brucie (John Earl Jelks) has inflicted on his wife, Cynthia; the resentment that bartender Stan (Michael O'Keefe) harbors against a company that threw him out after nearly 30 years because of a shop-floor accident. These wounds all become exacerbated — and the bar, a toxic debate forum — when the company radically downsizes and makes crippling demands of the union.
Sweat's strength lies in its unflinching mission to lay out the slow strangulation of the American Dream, as that dream was imagined by different parts of the country's post-war working class — from self-entitled whites to stifled minorities to aspiring Latino immigrants. Under Lisa Peterson's broad direction at the Taper, the play's latent weaknesses become vividly apparent — the reduction of the ensemble's personalities to colorful "types," the lack of onstage villains and the fact that the pivotal Cynthia never seems in any kind of emotional conflict with her erstwhile factory buddies. (They're pissed off at her, but she never really bites back at them, despite her announced desire to better herself.) The actors get loud enough but, with the exception of Portia, lack ensemble chemistry; a few actors even seemed to have difficulty pronouncing the word "ain't."
Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Wed.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m.; thru Oct. 7. (213) 628-2772.
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Culture & Media
'Skeleton Crew' Is a Play With a Moral Spine
Set in a Detroit automobile outfitting plant, Dominique Morisseau's drama grabs you from the start with its focus on blue-collar men and women, and their struggle for dignity and self-respect.
Working-class men and women of color are rarely front and center in today's media and, likewise, are presented all too occasionally on the American stage. So it's buoying to see that trend bucked in playwright Dominique Morisseau's percipient and well-crafted drama, Skeleton Crew. The play is the final installment in her Detroit Project Trilogy; the first, Paradise Blue, is set in the 1940s amidst displacement caused by urban renewal and gentrification, while the second, Detroit '67, transpires on the eve of the 1967 Detroit riots sparked by a police action.
Directed by Patricia McGregor at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse, Skeleton Crew is a play with a moral spine. It takes place in 2008, when the shrinking U.S. auto industry is being further downsized. Morisseau's engaging quartet of characters — Faye (Caroline Stefanie Clay), Dez (Armari Cheatom), Shanita (Kelly McCreary) and Reggie (DB Woodside) – are employed at an automobile outfitting plant. Faye, Dez and Shanita are workers on the line while Reggie (who has a wife and kids, and has pulled himself together after a troubled youth) is their supervisor.
The first three customarily mingle in their break room (designer Rachel Myers' impressively cluttered, dingy and detailed set), trading the sort of familiar barbs and genuine concern for each other common among longtime co-workers. They also face off on philosophy: Upper-middle-aged Faye and the younger, pregnant Shanita take pride in their labor, while Dez, though a good worker, is a malcontent scornful of management and firm in the belief that everyone needs to watch out for himself. He's a thorn in Reggie's side, for while Reggie wants to be supportive of his workers, he must act at the behest of higher management. For his part, Dez resents Reggie's authority, and a palpable unease exists between them.
Besides this male matchup, we're made privy to Dez's attraction to Shanita, who mostly turns away his advances, but every now and then displays a hint of interest. Most poignant is Reggie's regard and affection for the lesbian Faye, which has roots in his boyhood when she loved, and lived, with his now-deceased mom.
These people's various predicaments intensify when rumors spread of the plant's shutdown — a disaster for all, but a particular calamity for the already near-broke Faye who, one year short of retirement, would lose her pension. The crisis forces each of these people to make a choice.
A sound piece of social realism, Skeleton Crew grabs you from the start in its focus on blue-collar men and women, and their struggle against odds for dignity and self-respect. Morisseau not only furnishes these characters a platform for their travails, she endows them with strong values, big hearts and the opportunity to choose between right and wrong.
Unfortunately, the performance I attended did not soar. Many exchanges lacked a fresh edge. The actors certainly had their characters down, but too often they appeared to be coasting on technique. (This seemed particularly true of Clay, who performed the role to great accolades in Washington, DC in 2017, also under McGregor's direction). Additionally, some of the stage movement was not entirely fluid; in confrontations, actors sometimes would just stand and face each other in an artificial way. And Cheatom's interpretation of Dez struck me as a bit overly churlish and depressive: I needed more glimpses of the intelligence and edge that would secretly attract the strong, self-directed Shanita.
The most compelling moments belong to Woodside, well-cast as a man trying his best in difficult circumstances to do the right thing.
Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood Village; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 & 8 p.m. Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; through July 8. (310) 208-5454 or www.geffenplayhouse.org
Culture & Media
The Power of the Poster
Carol Wells, the founder of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles, talks to Capital & Main about the enduring power of political art.
Carol Wells remembers the exact moment she discovered her calling. An art historian at the time, she was on a trip to Nicaragua with her friend David Kunzle, a UCLA art history professor, who was collecting political posters to add to his burgeoning collection. While staying with friends, Wells watched a neighbor's 8-year-old son approach a poster on the wall, stare at it intently, and then start to silently mouth the words. Wells was struck by how engaged the boy was. "In that moment I became obsessed with collecting posters."
Now over 40 years later, Wells is the founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. Wells has amassed approximately 90,000 posters, building one of the largest collections of its kind in the world. The Center shares its collection with the public in part through curated exhibits. This year the CSPG has produced Feminae: Typographic Voices of Women by Women and its latest is To Protect & Serve? Five Decades of Posters Protesting Police Violence, running through July 15 at the Mercado La Paloma in downtown Los Angeles.
Since that encounter in Nicaragua in 1981, Wells' obsession with collecting posters hasn't waned. In CSPG's nondescript West L.A. office space, Wells pulls out poster after poster, lecturing passionately on the backstory and cultural impact of each, including one that superimposes text from a New York Times interview with a shocking image of the My Lai massacre ("Q: And babies? A: And babies."). Recently, she managed to sit down with C&M to discuss her passion.
Capital & Main: So, you were an art history professor, you happen to see a kid on a trip, and suddenly your life was changed forever?
Carol Wells: Yeah, I'm in Nicaragua alone in the living room with this kid. He's looking around, and all of a sudden, he sees the poster. It was pretty big, bright green, a thick outlines of a woman holding a big basket of coffee beans. And the text in Spanish said, "In constructing the new country, we are becoming the new woman." I see him walk over to the poster and I'm watching him mouth the words. It was a pretty sophisticated concept, so I doubt he figured it out. But I literally had this epiphany: "Oh my God. That's how posters work." You're going about your daily life, and all of a sudden something breaks through the bubble, and it grabs your attention. It's the graphic, it's the color, it's the combination, and it pulls you out of your head and into that poster and it makes you ask a question. "Why is this here? What is this about? What does this mean?" And every time you ask a question, you're a different person than you were before you asked the question.
How many posters do you get a year?
We get between two to five thousand a year donated from all over the world. The bulk of our collection is [from] 1945 and later.
I assume technology has probably hurt the art form, but has it helped get the messages out?
Most people think that, and it's actually not true. Since the internet age started, there's actually a poster renaissance of works on paper. Because you can't walk with your computer monitor in a demonstration. You can't plant your monitor on your lawn.
And you can't put a laptop on the wall…
Exactly. You want to hear a really great story? Truthdig.org published a cartoon [made by] a political cartoonist named Mr. Fish. It was during the Arab spring, and he had superimposed Che Guevara with the stylized beard and King Tut's face, but it had Che's beret. And it [was titled], "Walk like an Egyptian." So, it was a reference to the music, but [it was also] a reference to what was going on the streets of Cairo. I sent it out as our poster of the week to 9,000 people. The very next day, somebody took a photograph on the street of Cairo, with somebody holding a piece of paper with that image on it. A poster can literally go around the world and people will print it out.
What struck me in viewing your exhibits is how many of these posters could still be used today, not only artistically but also, sadly, in the timeliness of their messages.
We had this fabulous poster by Yolanda Lopez, a Bay Area artist, which she first did in 1978. It depicts a young man in Aztec garb pointing a finger like Uncle Sam saying, "Who's the illegal alien, PILGRIM?" And it's a great poster, it's simple, not too many words, funny, provocative. So, we had an exhibit at UCLA in the mid '90s and there were 4 or 5 high school students standing around this poster saying, "Wow, you've got posters up to the minute." And I went over to them and I said, "Look at the date. This is before you were born."
Is that one of your goals with the exhibitions? To show the evergreen nature of this work?
Absolutely. I mean that's why we did the police abuse exhibition now. It basically goes back five decades. It's 50 years of posters protesting police abuse. Mainly in the United States, but also internationally.
What's the goal for CSPG?
Well the aim right now is really to digitize the collection and get it online. We have 10% of the collection digitized. But the mission is to collect and to document, because stories get lost. All the exhibitions, they're showing massacres, they're showing genocide, they're showing police abuse, they're showing all of these horrible things. And people often ask me, "How can you look at this stuff all day long?" I said, "Because the poster artists are optimists. They believe people can change if they have the information."
Yes, that's the reason why they're doing it, right?
That's why they're doing it, and that's why I'm doing this, because I believe that people can change if they knew the truth.
And what happens 20, 50 years from now?
Well, my goal is to stay independent, because the other option is to become part of the university. Universities, for all the fabulous things that they do, they also censor. We did an exhibition at USC in 1992 on the 500 years since Columbus, and how the legacy of racism and exploitation and genocide continues. And one of the board of trustees was Italian and took [the exhibit] as an affront to Columbus. It really wasn't about Columbus, it was about colonialism. And he ordered it down.
Do you have a favorite poster?
I'm always amazed at the creativity and vision of artists. Every week I'll say, "Oh my God, how do they think of that?" But it's always still going to be the poster I saw that kid trying to figure out. It has to be my favorite one because that one changed my life.
What makes a perfect poster?
The right balance between aesthetics and message. If you only rely on the corporate press, the New York Times and L.A. Times, for your information, you're not going to get the side from the street, from the movement, from the activists. The posters are primary historical documents that are recording the issues that were at the time, and the passions that were at the time, and the divisions that were at the time. You're not going to get it anyplace else.
Copyright Capital & Main
Culture & Media
Blindfolds: Iranian Hostage Drama Offers Few Surprises
One of the play's weaknesses is the surfeit of soap-operatic family exchanges that spill into melodramatic shouting matches.
On November 4, 1979, several hundred Iranians, mostly students, stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took 60-odd hostages — 52 of whom were held captive for 444 days. It was a humiliating event for the U.S. government and, in general, a wake-up call for Americans heretofore unaware of the antipathy of many Iranians towards the United States.
Against the wishes of the Carter administration, a mother of one of the hostages, Barbara Timm, flew to Tehran to see her son. Hostage, by Michelle Kholos Brooks, re-imagines the exchange that took place among Barbara (Tracie Lockwood), her captive son Kevin (Zachary Grant) and two of his captors: Tehran Mary (Vaneh Assadourian), a media spokeswoman for her cause and Ebrahim (Satiar Pourvasei), a rifle-wielding guard swift to anger. The drama, some of which takes place in Barbara's mind, shifts between the embassy, where a handcuffed, blindfolded and barefoot Kevin has been doing his best to survive, and Barbara's Wisconsin living room, where she struggles to cope with both a controlling ex-husband and an angry mob outside her home. The latter has gathered to protest a public statement she made critical of the failed rescue attempt to free the hostages — a statement interpreted by "patriots" as her having taken the side of the revolutionaries.
As the drama progresses, scenarios begin to overlap; Kevin, always on Barbara's mind, is physically present onstage as she disputes with her former spouse about the latter's parental responsibility — or lack of it — and whether or not he betrayed her when they were teens, salaciously spreading the word about their intimacy. An argument also ensues between Richard and Barbara's current husband, Ken (Jack Clinton), who accompanied Barbara to Iran and has open-heartedly raised Kevin as his own.
Directed by Elina de Santos, Hostage aims to explain and garner sympathy for both sides, but it offers few surprises or depth. One of its weaknesses is the surfeit of soap-operatic family exchanges that filter attention away from more vital dramatic themes: how far a mother is prepared to go to protect her child and the distance its pivotal character, a Midwestern matron and a Republican, will ideologically travel before the play's catharsis (the dynamic most interesting to us). While these threads, as well as the propensity for intolerance of people on both sides of the cultural divide, are clearly most central, they get obscured for long stretches by melodramatic shouting matches between Kevin's two fathers or the past marital problems of Barbara and Ken.
Grant turns in a well-grounded performance as the palpably fearful Kevin, drilled in compliance and anxious for his mother to understand how precipitous his situation is. But other performances on opening weekend were less persuasive. Lockwood, usually an excellent actor, did not seem entirely comfortable as the maternal lioness the playwright aims to conjure. One problem is the script, which calls for her to assertively challenge Kevin's captors' motives and beliefs — a device for getting us to understand where they are coming from. Some of these confrontations appear as the artifices they are. None of the other actors were able to get past the polemical nature of their roles, either. One hopes they will evolve.
Designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz's no-frills set features an American flag splayed across the back wall — albeit behind a scrim, an apt reference to the covert power wielded (this time not so successfully) by our government.
Skylight Theatre, 1816½ Vermont Avenue, Los Feliz; Fri.-Sat. & Mon., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through June 24; (213) 761-7061 or (866) 811-4111.
Copyright Capital & Main
Culture & Media
Actress Speaks Out Against Lunch Shaming in School Cafeterias
When a student doesn't have enough money for lunch, cafeteria staff in many school districts take away the child's tray of hot food and hand the student a brown paper bag containing a cold cheese sandwich and a small milk.
Actress Debrianna Mansini (Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad) is a passionate advocate for ending hunger in America, specifically through ending the practice of "lunch shaming" in schools. She will speak about it during The Meatball Chronicles, her solo show that opens June 2 at the Broadwater as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. She and chef Hunter Long Fox, of the Hollywood restaurant Hunter & Charlie's, will host a celebrity luncheon to raise money to assist poor families who cannot afford the price of a school lunch. Mansini spoke to Capital & Main by phone.
Capital & Main: What exactly is lunch shaming?
Debrianna Mansini: Lunch shaming happens when a child's family owes money to the school lunch program, and a cafeteria worker has to refuse to serve the child a hot lunch. (I don't want to disparage cafeteria workers. A lot of them don't want to do it — they're required to.)
I read about it in the New York Times and it just horrified me. Shaming kids about food and poverty? This will this affect them their whole lives.
How does lunch shaming usually work? Are children ever denied food altogether?
When a student doesn't have enough money for lunch, cafeteria staff in many districts take away the child's tray of hot food and hand the student a brown paper bag containing a cold cheese sandwich and a small milk. Some schools take away their lunch entirely. Sometimes the child gets a stamp on their hand. It's kind of akin to having a scarlet letter.
How widespread is the problem?
An alarming number of American youngsters still can't afford a $2.35 lunch. In 2016, 18 percent of kids were living in poverty, according to the Children's Defense Fund. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the figure is 21 percent. The poverty rates are highest among minorities.
Yet anti-shaming legislation has been passed in New Mexico and California, has it not?
In April of 2017 New Mexico's [Governor] Susana Martinez signed the Hunger-Free Students' Bill of Rights, which directs schools to work with parents to pay their debts or sign up for federal meal assistance. And it puts an end to practices meant to embarrass children.
In October 2017, [California] Governor [Jerry] Brown signed SB 250. authored by state Senator Robert Hertzberg. It ensures that children will not denied a full lunch because of their parents' debt.
Does that mean parents no longer have to pay?
The law specifically says that districts are not required to give parents a pass on not paying indefinitely. Instead it requires that districts do all they can to enroll families in the federally subsidized school lunch program and also to notify families – not bill collectors — of unpaid balances as soon as they are 10 days behind.
Is there a group or individuals spearheading a national campaign to abolish it?
NM Appleseed is a non-partisan nonprofit with a mission to create systemic change for the poor and underserved. The organization helped pass the bill in New Mexico and has since been in contact with 32 other states about passing legislation. On the federal level, Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham is carrying a bill in the House and Senator Tom Udall is carrying a version in the Senate.
Besides legislation, what are some of the ways groups and individuals are helping to deal with childhood hunger and lunch shaming?
The Community Eligibility Program, set up by the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] in 2010, has become a lifesaver. It gives free lunches to every student in a school where at least 40 percent of the families are extremely poor and automatically qualify for government aid. Another solution is the federal free meal program. But not every struggling family meets the income requirements, and those that do may have language barriers or fears over immigration status or fail to file the paperwork.
Rob Solomon, chief executive of GoFundMe, said it had about 30 active campaigns to raise money for meal debt. One man started Feed the Future Forward, which hosts crawfish boils and golf tournaments to raise money. It has wiped out more than $30,000 in food bills so far.
What's the connection between your show and the cause?
The Meatball Chronicles is a love story centered around the power of food and family. When I heard about lunch shaming, I thought this is something I can actually speak about through my show, which is about our relationship with food. The piece is stand-alone, but I use the time before the audience to raise people's awareness.
I believe food can heal not just our bodies but our souls. And what better way to bring all that together but through theater?
Copyright Capital & Main
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text:
1. Re: Custom Login Modulejulien1 Jan 18, 2006 4:11 PM (in response to Casey Boyd)
what's your goal with replacing the model login module ?
2. Re: Custom Login ModuleCasey Boyd Jan 18, 2006 4:17 PM (in response to Casey Boyd)
To use Active Directory instead of Database authentication...
I can not change the AD schema....thats were the custom comes in...
Is this possible?
3. Re: Custom Login ModuleDoug Schnelzer Jan 19, 2006 7:46 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
I have setup Active Directory authentication for a client using JBoss Portal. We used the LDAP Login Module that is packaged with the JBoss AS. There are directions in the LDAP Login Module source file for connecting to Active Directory. We replicated usernames from Active Directory to the JBoss Portal tables, which is required so that JBoss Portal can manage roles, permissions, and preferences. You can either set up replication from Active Directory to the JBoss Portal schema or you can extend the LDAP login module to automatically create a JBoss Portal user if they don?t already exist in the JBoss Portal schema.
I wouldn?t recommend replacing the JBoss Portal Login Module. Instead you can stack the LDAP (configured for AD) login module in front of the JBoss Portal login module.
4. Re: Custom Login ModuleCasey Boyd Jan 19, 2006 8:36 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
I used org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapLoginModule as a example....
Created my own class....changed login-config.xml to point to my new class...
Connected to Active Directory, authenticated user, got the Portal Role from a attribute on the user. Everything works....
But, after the user is authenticated in my class....I get a "HTTP Status 403 -Access to the requested resource has been denied" page when a user tries to log in...
Now, if a understand what you are saying, after the user is authenticated in my class, I need to check to see if user is in database, then if not, create user in database....I am fine with that...
What I really dont understand is how to tell the portal frame work that this user has been authenticated. How does org.jboss.portal.core.security.jaas.ModelLoginModule get the user authenticated in the portal frame work?
Kinda new to all this....sorry....
5. Re: Custom Login ModuleDoug Schnelzer Jan 19, 2006 10:48 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
I can tell you what I think is happening, but Julian will have to chime in to verify.
Your authentication via AD (Active Directory) is handling authentication, but during the Portal Server invocation (see jboss-service.xml, portal stack) the user is retrieved from the database using their username (line 83 in org.jboss.portal.core.aspects.server.UserInterceptor ? src 2.2.0). Since you don?t have the user in the JBoss Portal schema, then this is failing and you are probably throwing an error ?Cannot fetch user=???? in the log. Adapting the User Login module to use LDAP seems like a decent size task.
My recommendation would be to use the UserModule in your LDAP login module to check if the user exists
if (module == null) { module = (UserModule)new InitialContext().lookup("java:portal/UserModule"); } // Lookup User user = module.findUserByUserName(userName);
If not, then create the user
User createUser(String name, String password, String realEmail) throws IllegalArgumentException, ModuleException;
Then in your login config make sure you are stacking the JBoss Portal Login module after your LDAP login module. You should mark the LDAP login module with the flag=?requisite?. This will force the login to fail if the AD authentication fails.
This is generally the approach I had it working for another client.
Let me know how it goes.
6. Re: Custom Login Modulejulien1 Jan 19, 2006 11:07 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
correct Doug
the best way would be to implement a create user option on ModelLoginModule based on username/password stacking defined by jaas.
7. Re: Custom Login ModuleCasey Boyd Jan 19, 2006 12:59 PM (in response to Casey Boyd)
Thanks guys....got it to work...here is what I did...
1) Wrote my own AD Login Module extending UsernamePasswordLoginModule
2) Overwrote getUserPassword (returns empty string), validatePassword (Authenticates user against LDAP, if user not in database...do not log user in....so...user must be created in database before loggin in), getRoleSets (This adds the user role that was found in LDAP AND YOU MUST HAVE A "AUTHENTICATED" ROLE AS WELL...this is what I missed previously)
3) User is authenticated....
Works great....
8. Re: Custom Login Moduledarren hartford Jan 26, 2006 10:56 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
Based on the information provided above, and to save other people many hours of re-creating what other people have figured out, here is a no-warranty class to help people get started (forgive the length):
package org.jboss.portal.core.security.jaas; /* LGPL blah blah blah */ /* @author dhartford */ import java.util.HashSet; import java.util.Map; import javax.naming.InitialContext; import javax.naming.NamingException; import org.jboss.portal.core.model.NoSuchUserException; import org.jboss.portal.core.model.User; import org.jboss.portal.core.modules.RoleModule; import org.jboss.portal.core.modules.UserModule; import javax.security.auth.Subject; import javax.security.auth.callback.CallbackHandler; import javax.transaction.TransactionManager; import org.jboss.portal.common.transaction.Transactions; public class ExtModelLoginModule extends org.jboss.portal.core.security.jaas.ModelLoginModule { protected String roleModuleJNDIName; public void initialize(Subject subject, CallbackHandler callbackHandler, Map sharedState, Map options) { super.initialize(subject, callbackHandler, sharedState, options); // roleModuleJNDIName = (String)options.get("roleModuleJNDIName"); roleModuleJNDIName = "java:/portal/RoleModule"; // Some info log.trace("roleModuleJNDIName = " + roleModuleJNDIName); } @Override protected String getUsersPassword() { //not used return ""; } private RoleModule roleModule; protected RoleModule getRoleModule() throws NamingException { if (roleModule == null) { roleModule = (RoleModule)new InitialContext().lookup(roleModuleJNDIName); } return roleModule; } @Override protected boolean validatePassword(String arg0, String arg1) { //boolean superpass = super.validatePassword(arg0, arg0); try { TransactionManager tm = (TransactionManager)new InitialContext().lookup("java:/TransactionManager"); Transactions.required(tm, new Transactions.Runnable() { public Object run() throws Exception { try { UserModule module = getUserModule(); User user = module.findUserByUserName(getUsername()); System.out.println("found user o.k."); return "ok"; } catch (NoSuchUserException e) { System.out.println("NoSuchUser exception, trying to create user"); //assume username is also e-mail address User newuser = getUserModule().createUser(getUsername(),"NONE",getUsername()); System.out.println("trying to add auth role"); System.out.println(getRoleModule().findRoles()); newuser.getRoles().add(getRoleModule().findRoleByName("User")); System.out.println("user set: " + newuser.getUserName() + ": " + newuser.getRoles()); return "ok"; } } }); } catch (Exception e1) { // TODO Auto-generated catch block e1.printStackTrace(); } //force valid return for now return true; } }
In your login-config.xml, replace ModelLoginModule with this class name (ExtModelLoginModule) and make sure you have your LDAP-login-module defined in front of it and have the 'useFirstPass' option enabled.
Note that this does NOT help with the requirement that the LDAP login have an 'AUTHENTICATED' user...probably need to have a re-look to see if that should be a valid requirement in the Portal. ( I still have a problem with this in my environment).
Hope this saves someone else a lot of hours of pain and feel free to modify for your needs (and contribute back if you feel like it), it took me a while to figure it out. I left the sysout's to help people just starting to use the class to understand what is going on. NOTE: This is a work-around until a better solution is in place for the Portal.
9. Re: Custom Login Modulejulien1 Jan 26, 2006 11:14 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
we will put it in cvs and create a wiki entry for this.
many thanks
10. Re: Custom Login ModuleScott Dawson Feb 17, 2006 9:48 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
Did D. Hartford's code get added in CVS (or the wiki)? I've looked but I don't see it.
11. Re: Custom Login Modulejulien1 Feb 17, 2006 9:58 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
we are waiting from another novell person to give us a refactored version of user module and role module that we will put in cvs.
12. Re: Custom Login Modulerincewind23 Feb 19, 2006 1:05 PM (in response to Casey Boyd)
I'm just working on getting this into the CVS checkout I've got (currently I have it in a separate war) then I'll sent it to Julien for approval.
13. Re: Custom Login ModuleMatt Zukowski May 25, 2006 10:56 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
Has this been incorporated into the portal code? If so, which version? 2.2 or 2.4? I notice the Wiki has been updated, but the instructions listed there don't seem to apply for 2.2...
14. Re: Custom Login ModuleDaniel Wasser Jun 1, 2006 8:02 AM (in response to Casey Boyd)
Do I really have to override the validatePassword method and duplicate all my users into the portal db?
We are using an identity provider which is not able to
provide all features needed by the usermodule.
Is there a way to use only the jaas authentication without the usermodule?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Are you still reading? o.k. here it goes...
-- Throughout these last two years, I found out that I will be living with a few different Auto Immune Diseases. I am on a thyroid replacement medication and a gluten free diet because of them. Now that enough time has gone by since I started my diet, I feel so much better. It's not an easy diet. If you are gluten free, you know this. But if you are gluten free due to allergy or intolerance of gluten, you know how much better it feels to be living gluten free. It's SO worth it!
-- I found out more recently that I have type 2 diabetes. It's not bad to the point where I need insulin, but I currently do need medication and have chosen to restrict my daily carb and sugar intake to almost nothing as a way to try to improve my status. I truly believe this will help!
-- And finally, I found out even more recently that my Immune System is attacking my own skin. "It" has a name, but to avoid any of you googling "it" and becoming horrified, I'll keep the name of "it" to myself. Why is this happening to me? We have no idea. We know it's not from the above. That's all. Which means lots of more tests for me. I have been on medication since Dec. 1st and the appointment I wrote of Monday was to see if it was working, or if I would have to begin strong Immunosuppressant drugs, as well. Which could/would be awful! My doctor said, in strange Dr. analogy talk, "It's chipping away at it now. If you go on the Cellcept or Cyclosporine, it will hammer at it, if you go on the Methotrexate, it will be like taking a sledge hammer to it. With stronger meds, comes much worse side effects. It's up to you." Me, "Chipping away is fine." :)
-- The good news, chipping away at it is working, maybe not as fast as the other options, but it's working and I am tolerating the medication just fine with few side effects. That might not always be the case, I'll revisit my need to change that every 30 days at a new appointment. Today, I take comfort in knowing that none of the things I have are contagious. I can continue hugging on my loves a little more than they like. I can continue to make my handmades and can continue to share them with others.
-- The bad news -- None of these things are curable. Do I get upset and angry that I am 30 and have these things - yes! I want so badly to feel good and be healthy. Am I struggling with my vanity - Yes!! Most of my body is covered with marks, which are healing as scars and it stinks! Am I scared that I might get them on my face - YES, terrified!! Could it be SO much worse -- yes, yes, yes!!!
-- I have a husband and three children and family and friends and a cat that love me. Who see me looking at my hands with worry and know just how to help me. I know that my attitude, whether good or bad will have a major impact on ALL of them. So I know I need to stay positive. I believe that despite everything, I love my life! I believe that prayer is powerful! I believe that continuing to share this creative journal for myself will help me stay positive, focus on what's beautiful, will keep me learning and growing as a creative person, will help me heal, and might inspire others like me! I believe that I needed to share these things today and I believe that everything will be o.k.
-- If any of you can relate and/or are dealing with Auto Immune disease please feel free to comment if you feel comfortable or email me at firstname.lastname@example.com I'd love to chat, learn from your own situation, offer support, or exchange yummy gluten free recipes!
-- My blog is not taking a big personal turn. I promise! Please keep following!! :) Your support, encouragement, and positive energy keeps me creating and blogging! I've got big plans for 2012!!
If you made it through all that. Thank you!! I feel a weight lifting and am so excited to get sewing today! I promise to have something new to share tomorrow!
Much love, Maureen


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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Berry Crumble
As I mentioned in my last post, I've finally made a Facebook page for Chocolate Shavings. If you want to receive regular updates about the site, new recipes and photos, please join here! I've always loved a couple spoonfuls of warm fruit crumble topped with a scoop or two of vanilla bean ice cream. It's a pick-me-up for anytime of the year. I just came back from a month in a half trip to Europe - a blissful time in London working at the BBC and a relaxing couple weeks at my parents house in Paris spending time with family and friends. After a long time being away from my Montreal home, the one thing I always look forward to is coming back to my kitchen. Coming back as jet-lagged as ever - for some reason, the more I travel, the less my body seems to react properly to time change - I decided that making a gold old rustic berry crumble was the best way to get a sense of my Parisian self in my Montreal kitchen and make the hours before 7AM seem reasonably alive.
Crumbles really are one of my favourite ways to enjoy seasonal fruit. The light crumble topping is the perfect addition to ripe and plump berries at this time of year and the dessert really comes together in a matter of minutes. I always tend to add little sugar to crumbles because ripe fruit really doesn't need that much else to shine.
Berry Crumble
Serves 4
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 1/2 stick of very cold butter
1/2 cup of sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups of blackberries and raspberries
2 tablespoons of sugar
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch pieces. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter pieces and, using your fingers, turn the mixture into small lumps of dough.
In a separate bowl, add the 2 tablespoons of sugar to the fruit and lightly toss to coat. Divide the fruit between 4 ramekins and top with equal portions of crumble topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Serve warm, preferably with some vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
20 comments:
- marla {family fresh cooking} said...
Wow, what a trip! A month and a half in Europe sounds wonderful. Hope this crumble helped you acclimate back to home. Looks great!
- June 20, 2010 at 8:43 AM
Aren't crumbles some of the easiest and best desserts ever? Yours looks lovely!
- June 20, 2010 at 9:12 AM
- lostpastremembered said...
I think everyone wishes for a month and a half in Europe... and your parents live in Paris... wonderful!
Love the crumble..simple and good with all the beautiful fruit in the markets!
- June 20, 2010 at 10:02 AM
- Jennifurla said...
Simple ande delicious, great pics
- June 20, 2010 at 10:13 AM
- Dana said...
Your crumble looks great! I'm really digging the combination of mint and berries lately, maybe I'll have to try your crumble with a little bit of mint in it. The mint just brings the berries to a whole other level.
- June 20, 2010 at 11:39 AM
- Adventures in Domestic Cooking said...
What a wonderful dessert!!=)
- June 20, 2010 at 1:52 PM
- MaryBeth said...
So simple and delish....
- June 20, 2010 at 4:28 PM
- Jessica @ How Sweet said...
A month and a half in Europe? How incredible!
- June 20, 2010 at 6:05 PM
- Taz said...
yum, I love crumbles. I'm always fascinated by the different ways people make the toppings, everyone seems to do it differently!
- June 20, 2010 at 6:16 PM
- christelle is flabbergasting said...
I absolutely love crumbles : so easy to make and so goood ! I do know a crumble Queen (she does amazing crumbles of everything)... but I'll definitely try yours! Looks so yummy!
- June 20, 2010 at 10:32 PM
- Patricia Scarpin said...
Jen, I'm crazy for crumbles - and since winter has officially started here in Brazil, I'll be making many of them from now on. Love your recipe and the styling - beautiful!
- June 21, 2010 at 7:44 AM
- Taylor said...
Crumbles are my favorite this time of year too...especially with a big scoop of ice cream! Yours looks delicious!
- June 21, 2010 at 8:38 AM
So jealous of your travels! I'm hoping to get away next year to either Europe or Asia. This crumble is beautiful in its simplicity and a perfect summer treat!
- June 21, 2010 at 11:35 PM
- Amy of Sing For Your Supper said...
Welcome back! Hope you had a lovely trip- I'm so jealous! :-) This looks just delicious!!
- June 23, 2010 at 5:59 PM
- Trissa said...
Welcome back! It is fantastic to get back to your own kitchen after a holiday isn't it? I was gone for three weeks this year and I was itching to get back as well. As always, such an inspired and lovely dessert.
- June 27, 2010 at 8:58 AM
- The Urban Baker said...
i love those vessels! the colors are so great in your food, in your accessories, in your lighting. inspiring!!
- July 8, 2010 at 1:44 PM
Yum, yum...berry crumble looks delicious :).
One question: where could I buy a pot/frying pan like yours? It'so lovey...:) Thank you.
Greetings from Europe ;)
- July 9, 2010 at 4:46 PM
- Chocolate Shavings said...
Annie: This one is from Whole Foods
- July 11, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Hi! My name is Lilia, I live in Buenos Aires! I adore your blog! I have a question: How many grams is a stick of butter? Since our sticks in Argentina are 100 grams or 200 grams, I would like to know the equivalence. Thank you! My mail is email@example.com
- September 8, 2011 at 12:56 PM
- Chocolate Shavings said...
Lilia: 1 stick of butter is equivalent to 1/2 cup of 125 ml. Hope that helps and let me know when you try the crumble!
- September 9, 2011 at 10:35 AM


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I would love to see cities building up instead of sprawling out. Mr. Y and I talk about how Springfield, which is about 10-12 miles across, shouldn't be more than 5 across. We have a few multi-story buildings downtown but for the most part it's a city of strip malls and subdivisions. It is a waste of land and as the city sprawls, it becomes a waste of time trying to cross town and a waste of our resources as we burn more gas to get there. I live about 7 miles from my job and it takes me a minimum of 20 minutes to get there in light traffic. During rush hour, it's at least 30 minutes. Ugh.
...all said and done, we've probably made better use of the land.
Don't believe everything you think.
The more I know, the less I know.
Would this positively effect Orthodoxy and the spread of Orthodoxy in the United States?
Ok, I was wanting the opinions of the people on the forum about this subject, and is something I'm very interested in... Replacing suburbs and eliminating them in favor of more urban areas and rural communities/farms.Does anyone think that the "American Dream" is actually a Christian idea, or is it simply a messed up interpretation of things?I'm speaking of not only the American dream, but the "Protestant Work Ethic" and how people are supposed to prosper and the more money/stuff they have, the more Christian they are.I'm also tlaking about the ecological issue caused by the American Dream... Sprawl destroys a lot of land and also lacks the feeling of community. Our country is more divided than ever before, and lacks any sense of multiculturalism. We think the segregation of decades ago is horrible, yet we segregate ourselves in our neighborhoods, and are appalled when someone of a different race/nationality moves in down the street.Is that really a good way to live? Shouldn't we, not only as Christians, but also as Americans take measures to eliminate that and move towards better communities and more close-knit neighborhoods as seen in Europe?Would this positively effect Orthodoxy and the spread of Orthodoxy in the United States?
The first photo looks like Lego-land!I have two bothers. The older one lives in classic suburbia, the younger one lives in an old urban section of Sydney, and I live in a rural area, and the contrasts between our different ways of life is quite stark, and even stereotyped. The older brother's family are golfers, the younger one's are theatre-goers and part of the cafe-culture, and I'm in the horsey set and self-sufficiency set. It's amazing how our different environments have influenced us and pushed us into stereotypes! While I could see myself slipping into an urban lifestyle like my younger brother, we are both repulsed by our older brother's suburban existence. It just seems an artificial, phoney, "plastic-fantastic" world. The contrast is probably well symbolized by the backyard, chlorinated, filtered swimming pool of suburbia, which replaces the raging surf of Sydney's urban beaches and the waterfall and creek fed rock swimming holes of the Moutains where I live.
and how people are supposed to prosper and the more money/stuff they have, the more Christian they are.
I definitely think that making our communities more 'communal', if you will, and environmentally conscious, can only serve to enhance the spritual health of people who live in them. Certainly, communities brought closer together respecting people and the environment more would make better 'soil' for the Christian word to be sewn in. Then again, Orthodoxy itself must struggle to bring about these conditions. It's a difficult task. Of course, Orthodox Christianity would not be the only faith that would do better under such conditions.
Also, Asteriktos, I was thinking it would have a positive impact because the Orthodox churches would be in the urban areas, and would be as visible as the other Christian churches around the city. The same amount of people would see it, and there would be more interaction between Orthodox and non-Orthodox, especially in neighborhoods. Today, we barely leave our homes and barely visit our neighbors.
American dream does not contradict Christianity and, in particular Orthodox can pursue it.
I'm also talking about the ecological issue caused by the American Dream... Sprawl destroys a lot of land and also lacks the feeling of community. Our country is more divided than ever before,
I'm not even sure what the "American Dream" is.
Neither do Americans. I'm not sure any such thing actually exists outside of political speeches.
If the American dream is to fight harder to get to where you can provide better, get out of debt and succeed at that provision-then no I don not think it goes against Christianity. It implies hard work, and dedication, two traits necessary in our faith journey.
If the American dream is to get 'stuff' and more 'stuff, pure materialism then no. There is a lot of that in the evangelical church.
we live in an area that is rural enough so that we can still buy land and live on it sustaining ourselves, or we can live in our version of the 'projects', art flats, or condo's. It's not nearly what any of those areas in your pictures show, but it's heading there. I can't stand sprawl, and I can't stand metropolitan areas-to each his own on that matter. We all have different ideas of the ideal place to live and raise children after all.
Oh, it most certainly exists, it just requires hard-work and ambition...so it's very rarely seen in this day and age.
Unless one is an immigrant from India, Pakistan, or any other country with a tech-heavy educational system. These folks (as I see in Pittsburgh) come here and prove the 'Dream' all the time. ALL our ancestors did as well with their willingness to ...work (oh my!).
It's amazing how we can be at each other's throats over nearly every topic that comes up then so whole-heartedly agree on something (generally economics)
LOL! Probably Symbolic Logic is equally appreciated, but my cocktail hour has arrived and I'll shortly be too handicapped to debate.
-Today, many urban areas are seen as violent and unsafe. This is true for a large portion of our urban areas. However studies have shown that crimes in urban areas are often linked to the poverty and unemployment that is prevalent in them. Rarely are the problems present because it is simply a city.-Cities often portrayed as very violent, unsafe places. Suburbs as the safe haven.-However suburbs in the sense of modern sprawl have contributed to the crime in the inner cities.With white flight, those in poverty were left in inner cities, and the inner cities become centers for poverty and eventually crime.-Suburbs thus became the centers for education, health, quality of living, etc…-With the resurgence of many urban areas, there has been increasing competition between many urban and suburban areas.-We now have an urban problem in place. With the removal of wealth and jobs from the city. Crime and poverty are even more of a problem in cities. The poor that cannot afford homes are put into subsidized public housing that is substandard and concentrates the poverty and crime.-Crime rises, poverty increases, new generations enter into poverty and are still unable to escape. Many look for alternatives and distractions, gangs become popular for the youth.-Now that cities are more spread out, less money is available for individual neighborhoods. Money thus goes to neighborhoods with the most political push and monetary value. Poor neighborhoods continue to deteriorate.-During the 20th century, cities met a steep decline in population as well as general quality.-This helped to fuel the already existing image of the city as a dangerous and dirty place.-Thus people continued to stay away from cities, packing the suburbs.-Gradually, as the 21st century came into sight, people began seeing suburbs as a failure of their original goal to be the American Dream.-With new technologies and industries, cities became cleaner and better places to live in.-This has contributed to a recent rise in people moving back into the cities, which is expected to be the trend of the next century.-Because we are at a crossroads in a transition between suburban and urban, we have an opportunity.-With the re-entry of wealth into the cities, poor neighborhoods again have a chance to improve.-No single solution to solving urban poverty-However, moving back into the city, and supporting educational systems there and bringing jobs back into the city can help everyone.-Stop blaming the victim, it's not their fault. They have been kept in their situation through society, not by their own choices and faults.-We need to eliminate housing projects, and instead spread out the poorer among the middle and upper class neighborhoods around the city.--The poor will have the political and monetary leverage needed for improvements--They will have more opportunity for advancement --They will be provided better schooling than currently offered-Not only should we help the poor because we try to be good people, but…-We also benefit, through a stronger economy, stronger cities, and stronger neighborhoods. Community is built and crime is kept to a minimum.-With crime lower, education and health up, and a more concentrated city, we save money on many levels, and very few people are left behind permanently.-We can finally make strides towards ending income segregation, but also racial segregation. While individual racism has decreased, institutional racism is still prevalent, but with more immediately available jobs to a multi-racial group in a smaller area, this could be improved.
Very good point. Your first photograph showed a large development with a swimming pool for every other house. When I grew up, we had a neighbourhood swimming pool, owned by and paid for by about a hundred of us. It became a wonderful gathering place for the whole neighbourhood. We had a playground there, picnic tables, basketball, tether ball, and checkers tables. It was our own little private park, and anyone was welcome. We had a $1 lifeguard fee for guests, but everything else was free. It wasn't city land; it was neighbourhood land. It was ours.When each person has their own pool, where's the community? How are we to gather with friends? The pool is no longer ours but mine alone. I set the rules. I decide who uses it. I can keep those kids out if I decide I don't like them.Hmm. Selfishness, nothing more.
Not sure I totally agree with this. As an example, a community, through taxes, may pay for buses. If I buy my own car, shouldn't I have the right to decide the "rules" of use? Also, just because I live near someone doesn't make them my friend. I will and do gather with my friends, but they are not necessarily my neighbors.On a side note, I'd rather swim at home in the privacy of my own pool (if I had one) than parade around in a swimsuit for all to see! In my case, I feel like I'm being more charitable hiding!
Guess I was responding more to your last 2 paragraphs. There are other reasons besides selfishness that are behind someone's decision to, in this case, install his own pool.
I do agree that community pools/parks/whatever are wonderful for getting people together--we all need to learn how to live with others . . . and not just those we like. However, I find people are more open and generous when they can decide what to spend their own hard-earned money on. The community benefits then, too.
Then there are the broken homes and people moving often for their jobs--it's hard to have community when there is no consistency in who lives around you.
I live around good people I like--we get along and do things (check mail, babysit, etc.) for each other. I live in a small town, so the atmosphere is probably different from a large city.
"The Protestant Work Ethic" is about as nebulous as "The American Dream."
Which is about as nebulous as this post... Could you please explain what you mean?
QuoteAmerican dream does not contradict Christianity and, in particular Orthodox can pursue it.How does it not contradict Orthodoxy when it's primary forces are greed, self centeredness, lack of care for god's creation, lack of community, suspicion and prejudice against other people (especially outside of your neighborhood/area), isolation (not the healthy kind like monasticism), etc...
We also need to get away from the attitude of buying a new house once yours is full of stuff or too big for your family. We need to stay in our homes and if we have room, simply add onto them. It would be nice for architects if we could focus much more on renovations instead of new construction. (unless the new construction is infill)
I think I'm pretty aware of history and how our society has developed. I can't blame America for developing the way it has, while it may have seemed like the most logical response in most situations, that still didn't make it right.The American Dream became that belief that everyone deserves a house, and should have one. (that is, a single-family dwelling detached from other units) Then as our society developed, to that dream was added the "right" to own a car, a tv, a computer, and all kinds of other stuff... I think eventually we reached a point where we believed our homes were soley (whether it was conscious or not) to fit all our stuff in. Whenever you had more stuff than your house could hold, logic said to buy a new and bigger house.Of course, I think this discussion in this thread took place before the housing market crashed and the economy started dropping. Now we see that not everyone should be able to own a house. Not because they don't deserve it, but because it may indeed be harmful for them. (especially financially)We also need to get away from the attitude of buying a new house once yours is full of stuff or too big for your family. We need to stay in our homes and if we have room, simply add onto them. It would be nice for architects if we could focus much more on renovations instead of new construction. (unless the new construction is infill)Families used to occupy homes for generations, now we are lucky to occupy the same house for a full decade.Homes are for living, not for filling with stuff. We need to treat our homes well, build them to last, build them so they are as beautiful as they can be, and make sure that generations after us can live in them and even expand them.But also, we need to build more than just homes, and we also need to keep from isolating the homes from the rest of the world.
If there is any one doctrine which encapsulates the American Dream, it seems to me to be that which Thomas Jefferson penned into the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness."Others have followed him adding to this idea, each in their own context. Such as Abraham Lincoln saying, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Or Martin Luther King saying, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."Pres. Theodore Roosevelt thought completing the Panama Canel seemed to be a part of the American Dream when he said before Congress, ""No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this continent is as of such consequence to the American people."Some think National Healthcare qualifies as part of the American Dream.You can insert about any idea and find it somehow qualifies as part or in whole the American Dream, IMO.
The American dream is about personal responsibility and initiative. It is not only Christian, it is Orthodox.The irony is Orthodoxy touts free will, but usually allies itself with political autocracy.
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Our Fitness Blog
Five Factors that Could Decrease Your Workout Energy
Everyone has those days when they just do not feel like getting out of bed; however, if you begin to notice that these types of days are becoming more regular, it may be time to look at your routine and try to figure out what may be causing this. It can be easy to try and pass some of it off as aging as we get older. However, there are many factors that can affect your workout energy. Here we will look at a few of these factors to help you discover if any of them could be draining your workout energy.
There are many medications that are widely used that list fatigue as a side effect, such as diuretics, antihistamines, blood pressure medications, steroids and even some antibiotics. You could easily be affecting your workout energy by simply taking your everyday prescriptions and not even know it. If you do believe that your medication could be affecting your energy level, you should ask your doctor for a different type of medication. (Note: never switch your medicine without first consulting your doctor!)
Hydration plays an important role in our workouts. It takes days or longer to get the body correctly rehydrated once you reach a dehydration state. So, you need to make sure you are staying hydrated before, during and after your workout. You should drink plenty of water throughout the day just to be sure that you are staying hydrated. You should also consume 12-16 oz of water with every meal and snack you eat throughout the day as well!
Recovery time
Your body needs to have some down time to totally recover from your workout. It can be different for everyone, and we may notice that as we get older it may take us longer to recover from our workouts. The best thing to do is to listen to your body and make sure that you are getting enough sleep at night because this is the perfect time for our bodies to recover. If your body does not feel fully recovered, it is best to take another day off or perform some low impact exercises until you feel back to normal.
Improper breathing
Many of us do not know the proper way to breathe as we exercise, and it can have adverse effects on our fitness routines. If you do not breathe or breathe in fast, shallow breathes you can end up hurting yourself. Your muscles need oxygen, so be sure to breath in through your nose and out your mouth. Don't take lots of short breaths or this may lead to hyperventilation. Correct breathing regulates your heart rate as well, which directly impacts your workout!
Eating habits
Most of us aware that what we eat affects our energy levels. We need to keep our blood sugar stable in order to keep our energy levels from dropping. Therefore, we need to eat small meals every 3 hours throughout the day that contain lean protein, carbohydrates and dietary fat. There's a myriad of ways to combine these 3 macronutrients correctly! Remember, alcohol has a major factor as well in our ability to perform. Even one drink will affect the next morning's workout, so be very mindful of limiting adult beverages if you want to see real results.
There are many different factors that can affect our energy levels. Be honest with yourself and manipulate these variables to get the best results possible.