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Secular morality
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Secular morality is morality that is derived from non-religious sources or considerations.
Theists usually believe that God is the author of morality, and that actions are only good or bad to the extent that God makes them so. A typical atheist rebuttal involves a reference to the Euthyphro dilemma: morality based on the absolute say-so of a supreme being seems to be no less arbitrary than the relativistic morality that theists decry.
This leaves open the question: how should unbelievers behave? Where does our understanding of morality ultimately come from? How do we know that our standards are correct in a meaningful and universal sense?
- 1 Rational standards
- 2 Good without God
- 3 Social order
- 4 Biological basis for morality
- 5 Comparison with religious morality
- 6 See also
- 7 External links
Rational standards[edit]
Although there is no such thing as unanimous agreement on complex philosophical issues, if we approach the question from a humanistic, scientific stand point, atheists ought to agree that there should be rational standards for arriving at moral conclusions. Like science and mathematics, useful systems of morality derive from some basic axioms, or recognized assumptions.
A few possible axioms in morality are:
- Every person has their own feelings and desires, and they are more or less similar since they are based on the same brain chemistry.
- When I look inward to my own desires, I fundamentally desire to pursue happiness and avoid pain and suffering.
- Other people have these same basic desires, and these desires are valuable to them.
- With all else being equal, it is better for people to be happy than not be happy.
- Conflicts arise mainly because people's desire to be happy and avoid suffering conflict with each other. The goal of secular morality is to resolve those conflicts in the best possible way for all concerned.
A few natural consequences of these axioms:
- All else being equal, it is wrong to needlessly inflict suffering on people.
- Except for the case of self-preservation, with all else being equal, it is best to avoid killing other people (on the assumption that they don't want to be killed).
- Actions such as slavery and rape are wrong because they excessively limit people's happiness and freedom of action.
The rationale for secular morality can also be understood via the following observations:
- On the whole, humans desire the following: avoidance of death and suffering, and the achievement of happiness.
- Most humans realize that these desires are easiest achieved in an environment where the infliction of death and suffering are prohibited and the pursuit of happiness is permitted.
- Most humans also realize that the mores/laws that prevent their neighbors from harming them also prohibit them from harming their neighbors.
- Thus, within the framework of this understanding lies the foundation of secular morality.
Good without God[edit]
It is often argued that in a godless world, we would not have any basis for morality. Morality is principles with the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior or character. However, for many others, religion is the problem. Their rejection of religion, far from being motivated for escaping moral accountability as some claim, reflexes a conviction that its only through abandoning certain wide-spread religious ideas that progress towards a truly just, consistent morality is possible.
What do we use as a basis for morality? We know it is not power, the one with the gun might have means to impose their wishes, but this tells us nothing about their principles. we know it is not majority preference, if the spectacle of human sacrifices is the preferred entertainment of the majority, this does not make human sacrifice right. We know it is not tradition, the fact that a practice may have endured for many generations tells us nothing about its virtue. Although what is written in law may actually reflect what a society may deem right or wrong, we know law does not determine morality. Laws can be unjust. When asking this question, it can be useful to consider how we go about accessing moral problems.
- Society 1 - Children are branded witches and blamed for famines and floods. They are ostracized by their parents, starved, tortured, and killed. What can we say about this? Well, we know that these disasters are not due to magic but natural processes. So even before having to consider the moral dimension, we can reject this behavior outright as resulting from a false view of how nature works. What makes it a moral matter is what kind of harm it involves. For things that cause no harm, moral condemnation simply is not appropriate. For example, homosexuality is often misidentified as a moral issue, but gay relationships involve no intrinsic harm any more than mixed ones. Indeed, when classing harmless things as immoral results in persecution, we have reason to condemn the misclassification. Are the parents in this society morally blameworthy if they are genuinely ignorant of their wrongdoing? We do not call well-fed cats who kill mice, or small children who draws with crayon on expensive wall paper immoral, because we do not attribute to them the capacity to grasp reasons for not doing so. People who harm children as witches may have their capacity for reason undermined by false teachings and so be less blameworthy than knowing abusers. In a very important sense, moral responsibility can be said to operate within limits of education. This is why education, especially in science, is crucial to moral progress. Among other things, it helps eliminate our vulnerability to superstition-based abuse. Knowing better leaves us no excuse for not doing better. Once the justification for harmful practices is shown to be false, there is literally no reason for it to continue. This first scenario is about dehumanization, when the witch-finder convinces a parent that her child is evil (even demonic). This is a potent way of eroding empathy - an adaptive pro-social trait (lacking in psychopaths) which keeps us sensitive to others' suffering. During WWII, Jews were seen as vermin by their persecutors. Some paint the non-religious as degenerate or hell-fodder. Dehumanizing people is a known method for diminishing compassion and the guilt felt when abusing them. We learn much from history and the present-day about the horrors it can enable.
- Society 2 - The single lawmaker tells everyone "All who harm you will be punished, but you won't be punished for harming others." Persons A and B harm each other simultaneously, each quoting the first part of the law, demanding the other's punishment. The other quotes the second part, demanding immunity from punishment. According to the law, A and B must be both punished AND immune from punishment. This is the kind of absurdity that results from egocentric system where only one's own suffering, desires, etc. matter. If suffering is bad in principle then claiming it is wrong for others to hurt you while you hurt others would be appealing to the same notion of justice that requires you to recognize your own wrong-doing. This is not only why this reduces suffering, it is also rationally consistent to have basic prohibitions against causing needless harm to other humans, and by extension other life forms that we know have the capacity to experience suffering. Besides, part of morality's essence is adopting a plural view, recognizing our impact on others and adjusting our conduct in response. Of course sometimes causing harm is rationally premised. For example, we risk painful medical procedures if there is a compensating benefit to our health. And sometimes we have sufficient justification to harm others when acting in self-defense or to prevent greater suffering.
- Society 3 - Only males are allowed to learn to read and write. Is this just? Well, we know there is no valid basis for making literacy dependent on gender. We know the real reason institutions and individuals who restricted basic education throughout history is to keep others subservient. As noted earlier, more education decreases vulnerability to abuse. Forbidding female literacy is itself a mark of bad education and the unjust exercise of authority. But what if most of the women agreed with this rule, is it then acceptable? If an eight-year-old consents to an adult's sexual advances, are the advances acceptable? Of course not. This is why we do not only talk about consent, but capacity for informed consent. People kept purposely uneducated can reasonably be said to have diminished capacity for informed consent. The rule is oppressive in its construction, even if the women agree with it. Indeed, when people who have been made subservient participate in their own oppression, this is normally cause for greater concern, not less. Those who defend their abusers are the most comprehensively enslaved.
- Society 4 - ALL criminals are executed. Assessing this law, we can see it's flawed, but not only because disproportionate punishment is unjust. Under this rule those who commit minor crime (sch as littering) having nothing to lose but all to gain by killing witnesses (even suspecting witnesses). Murder can't increase the consequences for them. They can only inflate the chances of evading execution. In this way, execution for all crime actually encourages minor crimes to escalate. This gives us a reason to tailor punishment in the severity of the offense, especially in the case of serious crime. For example, while rape is a horrific form of abuse, punishing murder more severely will tend to deter rapists from also killing their victims. As before with indiscriminate execution, the rapist loses nothing, but might gain, by also committing murder.
- Society 5 - The leader declares that smiling on a Tuesday is immoral. This causes no identifiable harm, so there are no valid grounds for declaring it immoral. Nor can it be made immoral by making it a law and then saying it is immoral to break the law. If this was how our morality works any arbitrary behavior can be made immoral. We do not base morality on revelation based on authority. That would render us merely obedient. Moral behavior is doing what is right, not what we are told (unless what we are told is also right). This is why when asking "why is X immoral", appealing to scripture or a divine figure gets us nowhere. There must be valid independent reasons to define what is moral, right or wrong, good or bad. If intuition tells us what is immoral, we may ask what triggers the intuition? There must be valid reasons. Once we are dealing with valid reasons we're having a conversation that has no need to refer to scripture or authority (divine or otherwise). Valid reasons are available to us all.
- Society 6 - Feeding someone chocolate and making green paint are prohibited. The people of this society have a genetic intolerance to chocolate that causes them agonizing death. They also live in a remote island where green paint can only be made with a rare substance needed for a life-saving medicine. Differing biology or practical circumstances can explain why some populations live by different rules. Also, different cultures may deal effectively with the same issue despite different approaches. However, this does not commit us to saying that cultures are equally valid. Because some cultural differences are justified does not mean that all cultural differences are justified (as noted earlier, branding children as witches is categorically wrong and is to be rejected as the result of bad education, not 'respected as a cultural truth'). The fact that some cultures have cruel practices does not mean morality is therefore arbitrary and all opinions are equal. It simply reflects the fact that, just as moral development takes time to develop in the individual, it also takes time to develop in societies, with different societies developing at different rates. Some societies still believe in magic. Some have largely outgrown their belief in magic but not animal cruelty, racism, sexism, or homophobia. Some societies have largely outgrown all of these and are focused on advances in other areas effecting the well-being of the planet.
Reviewing these scenarios, it should be noted there is nothing arbitrary about the arguments given for improving education, graduating criminal punishment, prohibiting needless harm, and recognizing relevant difference. It is through such measures, as well as cultivating attitudes of cooperation and compromise (despite competing interests), that we are able to coexist with minimal suffering.
The worry that, without religion or god, we've no basis from which to discuss morality is without foundation. Plain empathy can trigger natural help responses to others' distress and create natural aversion to causing others harm. Likewise, the experience of living alongside others is a simple feedback about how our actions affect each other and how we might have to adjust our conduct in response. The human brain contains "mirror neurons" which mimic the activity of other parts of the brain or of other brains. This provides a biological foundation for empathy: individuals with mirror neurons, including humans and other primates, can actually feel what others feel. (Source: Thomas S. May, "Terms of Empathy: Your Pain in My Pain——If You Play Fair Game," Brain Work 16 (May—June 2006): 3)
The two prerequisites for reliable moral assessment are 1) reason and 2) accurate and relevant information. Sound reasoning won't lead to valid assessments if we are operating under flawed information, nor with sound information if our reasoning is flawed. Without sound reasoning and information, we can't determine how the universe works, how different life forms suffer or flourish, where responsibility lies, or the short- and long-term consequences of actions on an inter-personal or global scale. These are considerations on which moral judgments depends.
Some often declare morality the territory of religion. However, moral development is actually something to which the scientific approach contributes far more--and far more reliably--due to its emphasis on reason, logic, and evidence (the tools that help us discern what is true or false), without which one cannot even formulate a valid argument. To make informed moral choices, and therefore moral progress, religion needs science, but science does not need religion.
Indeed, findings in neurological science are pulling back the curtain in religious moral thought. In a revealing study by Nicholas Eply (Eply, N. et al 2009, "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 106), Christian volunteers were asked to report their own views, the views of their deity, and the views of others on a range of controversial issues (such as legal euthanasia) while having their brain activity scanned. Results show that thinking about divine views activated the same brain regions as thinking about their own views, indicating that when believing themselves to be consulting the divine moral compass, theists may instead be doing what the rest of us do--searching their own conscience. This idea is further supported by the findings that manipulating the subject's beliefs consistently influence their views about divine beliefs. As Eply put it, "Intuiting God's beliefs... may serve as an echo chamber to validate and justify one's own beliefs."
Some claim that without Gods, we are just animals. We are animals, but animals uniquely capable of appreciating reasons to do some things and not others, capable of rationally assessing the consequences and justifications of our actions and beliefs. Whereas certain religions traditionally use moral language to divide, control, and frighten people to obedience, there is a more appropriate and principled function for morality: to ease the challenges of coexistence. In a world of finite resources, each of us with different interests and desires, societies in which individuals coordinate different talents and develop effective ways to promote flourishing and harmonious living and minimizing conflict and needless suffering, will tend to be happier, more peaceful, and more productive than those who don't. Because we live in a continuously changing world with new kinds of moral problems being generated all the time, there is much harmful ignorance yet to overcome, and therefore there is an ongoing need to develop and redefine our moral understanding.
Our collective moral progress depends upon the extent to which we are able and -crucially- willing to examine our behavior and most cherished beliefs and then share our moral insights through education so that future generations can avoid repeating our harmful and foolish mistakes.
Good without Religion[edit]
Religions repeatably share that their faith system offers excellent moral standards. Christianity and other monotheistic religions often say that morality derives from their religion, and this is the only basis for morality. Imagine someone said to you that English provided the only basis for grammar. After you overcame your shock, you would respond that English is certainly not the only language with a grammar. You would add that grammar is not limited to language understood broadly as rules for combination and transformation, many phenomena have a grammar, from sports to baking. Nor is grammar the sole or essential component of language: language also includes sound systems, vocabularies, genres, and styles of speech. And you would remind the speaker that grammar does not depend on human language at all: some nonhuman species, including chimps and parrots, can produce grammatical—that is, orderly and rule-comforming—short sentences. Ultimately, you would want to explain that English does not "provide a basis" for grammar at all but rather represents one particular instance of grammar. English grammar is definitely not the only grammar in the world and even more definitely not the "real" grammar.
What religion does for morality and for society in general is move the authority, the responsibility, for rules and institutions out of human hands and then attributes the whole system to a nonhuman and superhuman source.
A non-naturalist intuitionist account[edit]
Atheism is often confused to be synonymous with naturalism, whether it be metaphysical, meta-ethical, or metaphilosophical. An atheist is entitled to the belief, especially if with warrant, that moral terms and properties are not reducible to natural ones. Moore's Open Question Argument is often cited as the basis for this notion.
Typical to moral non-naturalists is the view of ethical intuitionism. Ethical intuitionsts' are often subject to being misunderstood. The contention is not that intuitive moral propositions are the only true moral propositions. Rather, intuitionists contend that intuitions are the foundation of and the sufficient account for the existence of moral belief.
The crux is that intuitive propositions are at least prima facie justified. Prima facie justified beliefs are self-evident beliefs presumed to be true in the absence of strong enough evidence to warrant discarding the fundamental belief. In other words, they are foundational yet defeasible. Much of epistemology relies on foundationalism, and the notion of prima facie justified beliefs to escape the epistemic problem of an infinite regress.
The ethical intuitionist view is similar to foundationalism in epistemology. For any argument to have persuasion power, people must be operating on notions they take to be axiomatic (first principles). Considering this, the claim that it is unsound to assume moral axioms yet it's valid to assume the axioms of classical logic seems rather silly. The analogy works within the context of coherentism as well. For any coherentist epistemology, a coherentist meta-ethics follows from the same reasoning.
One of the leading proponents of ethical intuitionism in the 21st century is the atheist philosopher Michael Huemer. The most important aspect of his position is his epistemological theory of Phenominal Conservatism (PC). PC contends that it is reasonable to assume things are as they appear when lacking positive grounds for doubting these appearances. When weighing PC in your mind, it is important to know that other than perceptual appearances, we have introspective and memory-related appearances, as well as intellectual appearances. An example of a intellectual appearance is when you are evaluating q, you see that it follows from the truth of p. Whether you see that this inference is valid is something you see with your intellect, not with your senses.
PC goes as follows:
- If it seems to S' as if p, then, in the absence of defeaters, S thereby has at least a limited degree of justification for believing that p.
Seeming to S as if p is not the same state as S believing that p. PC would grant all beliefs on the spot otherwise. Secondly, PC does not say "if it seems to S that p, then necessarily p," nor does it say "if S believes p, then S is prima facie justified believing p", although that is consistent with general conservative epistemology. Lastly, S does not have at least prima facie justification for believing p simply because S believes that it appears to him that p; the fact that it seems to S that p grants S at least prima facie justification. This means that in a world where no conscious beings exist, the principle would still hold true.
There exists the notion that any position that denies PC is a self-defeating position. When weighing an idea in your mind, one usually considers an argument for it. However, the ball does not get rolling unless S knows a priori what distinguishes between what is arbitrary and what is meaningful (in the epistemic sense). Consider the following:
- (1) 2 = 7
- (2) Therefore, Kant was a woman
The premise for this argument does not appear true to any honest intellectual. There is no need to explain why the premise itself is arbitrary or why it does not entail the conclusion. It simply seems to be the case on an intellectual level. No one accepts that which appears false.
The phenemology of the matter is that fundamental beliefs are adopted because they seem true to us. An axiom, for example, may sometimes require analysis for it's truth to become apparent, but for the most part they seem true prima facie.
Intuitions are otherwise known as initial intellectual appearances. An example of a moral intuition would be "suffering is bad," while "the US should not have bombed Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945," is not a moral intuition; it depends on inference from other beliefs such as "killing innocents is wrong," or things of similar nature.
There exists the notion that the appearance of intuitions are illusory and they are really beliefs derived from subconscious inference. This position fails to explain not only the origin of moral belief, but the apparent conflict between intuitions and ethical theories meant to be held antecedent to all cases.
- (1) A runaway trolley is heading for a fork in the track. If it takes the left fork, it will collide with and kill five people; if it takes the right fork, it will collide with and kill one person. None of the people can be moved out of the way in time. There is a switch that determines which fork the trolley takes. It is presently set to send the trolley to the left. You can flip the switch, sending the trolley to the right instead. Do you flip the switch?
- (2) A doctor in a hospital has five patients who need organ transplants; otherwise, they will die. They all need different organs. He also has one healthy patient, in for a routine checkup, who happens to be compatible with the five. Should the doctor kill the healthy patient and distribute his organs to the other five?
The intuitive answer for most people to (1) is yes. The intuitive answer for most people to (2) is no. Some philosophers are consequentialists, which means they contend that that the proper answer is yes to both scenarios. This makes clear that one's moral intuitions are not dependent upon what one may believe about morality. Intuitions being (for the most part) separate from belief makes it a useful tool in discerning between competing moral beliefs and ethical theories.
Social order[edit]
Society is a construct that has arisen out of the need to enforce "good" behavior.
Game theory[edit]
Game theory is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with interactions between agents, with gains and losses, loosely called "games". To the extent that these mathematical models match reality, they can provide a mathematical underpinning for "moral" behavior, independent of the decrees of any god.
One interesting result of game theory is that the optimal strategy for a given player depends on whether the "game" is a one-time interaction or part of a longer series.
For example, assume that player A agrees to buy an object, say a book, from player B. Since A and B live in different cities, so A agrees to send a check for $50 to B, and B agrees to send the book to A.
At first glance, it would seem that A's optimal strategy is not to send a check: that way, if B sends him a book, he will have received the book for free; if B doesn't send him the book, he hasn't lost anything. Whereas if he sends B the check and B doesn't send A the book, A has lost $50. By a similar reasoning, B's best strategy is not to send the book, and hope that A sends him a check. If both A and B reason this way, they neither gain nor lose anything. (All moderately advanced societies have laws and law enforcement systems to prevent or reduce this type of thing.)
If, on the other hand, this is a repeating situation -- say, if A regularly shops at B's book store -- then the optimal strategy changes: the players remember the times in the past when they were cheated, and can anticipate that if they cheat this time, the other player will remember it next time. In this case, the optimal strategy is for both to play by the rules each time: A gains a book each time (and loses $50), and B gains $50 each time (and loses a book).
Biological basis for morality[edit]
One school of thought offers the notion that our genetic predisposition to survive as individuals has gradually shifted toward a desire to survive (and thrive) as a species. Our increased intelligence and understanding allows us to expand on simpler versions of social order that we witness in less-intelligent animals. In addition to utilizing our intelligence to analyze the outcomes of actions to determine the best outcome from a practical view, we are also empathetic beings who organize into complex social structures that range from simple families to nations, and beyond.
This claim that morality is a natural result of our intelligence and empathy is hardly new. The following quote from Charles Darwin expresses this concept clearly:
"Any animal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts, the parental and filial affections being here included, would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as soon as its intellectual powers had become as well developed, or nearly as well developed, as in man."
- — Charles Darwin
Evolutionary psychology[edit]
[These sections are not completed. Authors are encouraged to fill in more details.]
Christian stereotyping[edit]
- "Another thing is why in the world would an atheist be moral? I understand there can be moral atheists and I do have a few atheist friends that I'm trying to work on. But why in the world would you be a moral atheist? You see, there is no point in it. If you don't believe in life after death is a thing, then as long as you are not going to jail, there is no point in being a moral atheist.[1]"
Unfortunately Christian stereotyping sometimes influences impressionable atheists and they assume that because they are atheists they can't be moral or can't be very moral. Youngsters whose characters have not fully developed yet are most vulnerable to negative stereotyping of this type. Liberal Christians rarely or never do this but Christian fundamentalists stereotype atheists far too often. One particularly nasty technique that Christian evangelists sometimes use is deliberately provoking atheists or perhaps others they want to convert into doing something wrong/many wrong things. Then they say something like, "There! See how bad you are! You need Jesus!" If conversion attempts are successful probably the wrong things the person did/was provoked into doing before conversion will be regularly used to make that person feel guilty and inferior so the leaders of the group can keep the sinner under control. One last detail, many religions drive fundamentalists to commit atrocities to innocents with unshakable self-righteousness; It is doubtful that being moral means doing what someone else/something tells you is "the only right thing" baselessly without analyzing it with any common sense or reason whatsoever.
If you are a teen[edit]
If you are a teen don't let Christians convince you that you aren't moral. You can be better than they are. You won't set out to damage the confidence other people have and convince them that they can't be moral. You know that's seriously wrong. You won't imagine Jesus wants you to damage other peoples' confidence that they can be moral.
Comparison with religious morality[edit]
- "I'd say only atheists can have meaningful moral opinions. "Because god said it is a sin" is not a meaningful opinion. Religion takes the meaning out of morality. When religious people are thoughtfully moral, it is usually in spite of their religious belief, not because of it.[2]"
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
- Humanist morality Atheism wiki on Humanist morality.
- Web page of an secular ethicist.
- "Ethical Intuitionism" by Michael Huemer proposes a foundation for secular morality.
- The Open Question Argument against ethical naturalism.


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The highest-ranking enlisted person at Naval Submarine Base New London, Conn., is retiring after an investigation into allegations that he drank for several hours at a club on the base and got into an altercation with his wife at a local bar.
The Navy's investigation resulted in no charges being brought against Command Master Chief Thomas Vatter and local police were never involved. But the base commander wrote Vatter a potentially career-ending letter and ordered a review of the way alcohol is served on base.
Vatter, however, said the investigation did not compromise his ability to serve in a leadership role. He said Wednesday that he was not relieved for misconduct, but instead chose to retire.
"My decision to retire was a personal decision," he said.
Capt. Marc W. Denno, the base commander, said the incident did not set a good example for junior sailors.
"That's probably why Command Master Chief Vatter decided it was in the best interest of everyone that he retire," he said. "We dealt with this quickly, at the appropriate level, and the effect was minimized."
According to a heavily redacted copy of the investigation, obtained by The Day through the Freedom of Information Act, Vatter drank seven or eight beers at a poker night May 18 at the Chief Petty Officers Club on the base. He and his wife then took a cab to the Wicked Pissa, the Gales Ferry bar formerly known as Legends Rock Bar.
While the names in the report were blanked out, witnesses told investigators that Vatter and his wife got into an argument and the couple began yelling and swearing at each other.
There are conflicting accounts about what happened next. One person said Vatter pushed his wife to the floor. Some witnesses said she swung at him and fell. Others who were there said they didn't see Vatter push her, and he contends that he did not.
Vatter walked home while his wife got a ride. The couple live in Gales Ferry, less than two miles from the bar.
A retired senior chief who was at the bar reported the incident. Investigators noted that he had alcohol incidents in his own past. Case workers with the Family Advocacy Program at the base found no evidence of spousal abuse.
The base command launched an inquiry in June to further review the facts and to determine whether alcohol was being served appropriately on the base.
In July, Vatter was accused of behaving inappropriately after drinking in another incident, this time on the base.
There are four venues that serve alcohol on the base: the Golf Pro Shop, the CPO club, the Officers Club and Reunions Pub. Denno said the servers followed proper protocols and met all training requirements. No changes were made.
But the inquiry did lead to an investigation into whether Vatter's actions at the bar in May violated the articles on "assault and disorderly conduct, drunkenness" in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military's criminal code.
Vatter waived his rights and submitted a written statement: "Given how loud the bar was, I had to yell pretty loudly and forcefully to be heard so it's possible that someone could have seen us and thought we were yelling at each other," he wrote. "I was also probably swearing, saying things to the effect of, 'Let's get the (expletive redacted) out of here,' or '(expletive redacted) you.' I may have also put my hands up to try to stop (name redacted) punch but I'm not sure. I know that I didn't push (name redacted)."
On a scale of one to 10, where one is sober and 10 is passed-out drunk, Vatter, in the statement, rated his level of intoxication at between five and six. He said he has never had an alcohol-related incident or been accused of assault or domestic violence before.
A chief who was among several people assigned to the base who were interviewed by investigators recalled another argument at a poker night at the CPO club in February.
"It's embarrassing and we (chief petty officers) have told him so," the chief told investigators.
Vatter acknowledged that incident to investigators. Their findings regarding the July incident were redacted, but Vatter said he did not view it as alcohol-related.
Vatter said Wednesday that he was evaluated at the clinic on the base and was not found to have any substance abuse issues and that he and his wife are fine. They've spoken with counselors and made changes in their social life, he added.
"There was really nothing to resolve," Vatter said.
Denno said he wrote Vatter a "non-punitive letter of caution." Such a letter would not be included in Vatter's permanent record.
Denno said he didn't think Vatter would have been selected for another command master chief position after the letter. He said this was the only time he had written such a letter as the base commander.
"Your reputation is everything, and as you get higher in any organization, your reputation becomes more well known," he said Tuesday, later adding that the letter was "punishment enough" for a command master chief.
Vatter, 45, became the Sub Base command's senior enlisted advisor on July 5, 2011. He was expected to serve in that role for another year but submitted his retirement papers in August.
He joined the Navy in 1985 and served as chief of the boat on the USS Louisville, USS Virginia and USS Hartford. He was the command master chief of Submarine Development Squadron Twelve in 2006, where he was responsible for six submarine crews.
A retirement ceremony is planned for later this month. Vatter will use leave time and will retire officially in February.
After an interim replacement, Command Master Chief Jeremy D. Gladu succeeded Vatter.


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Valerie over at Begin with 'Craft' has compiled a nifty list of historic Georgia newspapers whose images have been digitized and placed online. All of the sites she mentions are for-pay, but this list will help you compare what's online and where so that you can determine which subscriptions you might need to purchase in order to access these wonderful resources.
If you're old school and would rather use the microfilm, the University of Georgia initiated a Georgia Newspaper Project several years ago, wherein they attempted to track down and microfilm extant copies of all known historic Georgia newspapers. To search the online catalogue of the collection, you will need to know the city where the newspaper was published. As far as I know, the University of Georgia is the only repository holding the entire microfilmed collection, although other libraries and research repositories should have microfilmed copies of historic newspapers which were published in or near their locality.
Begin with 'Craft' is an excellent guide to online resources for those researching in Georgia. Valerie's posts are well-written, concise, and informative, and I highly recommend her work for those who need that extra helping hand to find their Peach State ancestors.


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I have recently had the privilege of sorting through the loose estate records for Macon County, as held by the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, for an indexing project sponsored by the North Carolina Genealogical Society. Along the way, I've found several interesting items on my own family that I hope to share here over the coming months with other area researchers.
One of my more recent finds was located in the file folder for James M. Peek. According to Elizabeth Peek Crutchfield in the article "David Peek", James was the son of David Peek and Mary Henderson.1 They had the following children, including James:
- Eda Peek, born about 1880 [sic] in Laurens Co., SC, married John Jackson Ammons
- Phoebe Peek, born about 1804 in Laurens County, married James Holland
- William M. Peek, born 12 January 1809 in Laurens County, married Polly Avaline Mull
- James Peek, born before 1820 in Laurens County, "[…] with wife unknown. He migrated to Alabama."
- Ruth Peek, born in 1815 in Laurens County, married Milton Moss
- Judy Elizabeth Peek, born in 1819 in Laurens County, married Milton McCoy
- Jane Caroline Peek, born 10 February 1820 in Macon Co., NC, married Andrew Madison Bryson
- Mary "Polly" Peek, born in 1821 in Macon County, married Martin McCoy
- Louisa, born in 1822 in Macon County, never married
- David Lee Peek, born in 1828, married Jane Moss
I am descended from Phereby/Phoebe Peek and James Holland through their son Anthony.
Like most other articles in publications of this nature, sources for the information contained in the article are listed at the end, although no ties are made between individual items and the sources themselves. Mrs. Crutchfield's sources were listed as: Courthouse records of Pittsylvania, Buncombe and Macon Counties, census records, church minutes, cemetery markes, family Bibles, History of Hart County (Georgia) by Baker, The Franklin Press, papers and personal knowledge. It is obvious from the article that she spent quite a bit of time in both researching this family, and in writing the article. Because of this, I had previously spent little time working on the Peek family except to gather records as I come across them, in the hopes that one day I would have the time to sit down and verify the information contained in this article.
While working my way through the loose estates for Macon County, however, I came across a file folder containing papers related to the settling of the estate of James M. "Peak". In 1866, James' brother, William M. "Peake", the administrator of this estate, petitioned the court to sell land belonging to the estate to pay James' debts, to cover the costs of administration of the estate, and to benefit the heirs.2 The petition gives the heirs of this estate in two places. The first one reads:
[…] that said land upon
his death descended upon his brothers and
sisters and their issue as follows Wm M. Peake
(Admr) D. L. Peak Edy Ammons wife of John
Ammons Phereby Holland wife of
James Holland William Moss David Moss
John Moss James Moss Henry Moss Thomas
Moss & Alexander Moss heirs at law of Ruth
Moss wife of Milton Moss the heirs at law of
Elizabeth Ammons wife of Thomas Ammons
whose names are unknown Judy McCoy
wife of Milton McCoy, Mary McCoy wife
of Martin McCoy, Jane Bryson wife of
Andrew Bryson Louise Peak Viney Pruitt
wife of Smith Pruitt & Minerva Davis wife
of Ephraim Davis
The second instance of the heirs reads:
May it please
your worships to cause a subpeona [sic] with a copy
of this petition to be issued against Wm M Peake
(admr) D L Peake Louisa Peake John Ammons
and Edy his wife James Holland and Phoeby
his wife Milton Moss father and guardian of
William Moss David Moss John Moss James
Moss Henry Moss Thomas Moss & Alexander
Moss Thomas Ammons father and guardian
of the heirs at law of Elizabeth Ammons which
heirs are not known by name Milton McCoy
and Judy his wife Martin McCoy and
Mary his wife Andrew Bryson and Jane his
wife Smith Pruett and Viney his wife and Ephraim
Davis and Minerva his wife
These two mentions of James' siblings differ from Mrs. Crutchfield's article in that there are several additional sisters listed, namely Elizabeth Peek, the wife of Thomas Ammons, who was deceased at the time of this petition (inferred by the inclusion of her unknown heirs); Viney Peek, the wife of Smith Pruett; and Minerva Peek, the wife of Ephraim Davis.
This petition was likely also recorded in the official court records. If the land was located in Macon County, then when it was sold, it should have been recorded there. The question then is did Mrs. Crutchfield find this petition and simply discount it, or was it overlooked in her search for records on this family?
Unfortunately, short of corresponding directly with the author, there's no way of knowing. This record does emphasize several points, the most important being: that one should verify derivative sources, no matter how well-written or thoroughly researched; and that one should at least attempt to search through records for an ancestor's siblings.
I've placed the verification of this petition on my to-do list for the Peek/Peak family. In particular, I would like to run down the three "new" sisters to learn where they lived, who their children were, and so forth, and I would love to see what documentation Mrs. Crutchfield used to assemble this family. But that is a task for another day…
* * * * *
1. Elizabeth Peek Crutchfield, "David Peek", The Heritage of Macon County, North Carolina, Jesse Sutton (Winston-Salem, NC: Macon County Historical Society and Hunter Publishing Company, 1987), 387.
2. Petition for sale of land, 1866, Folder: James M. Peake, 1867: images 2116 – 2119, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC; Record of Macon County Estates, 1831 – 1920, Volume: Allison McKiney through James M. Peak, North Carolina State Archives micropublication G.061.2317267/Reel 008.


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Sal ' ad [sal-uh d]: 1. A plate of wimpy greens, topped with a dry carrot stick, a cold cucumber slice, and tasteless non-fat dressing. Guaranteed to leave you hypoglycemic an hour later. 2. A plate of pure fat and carbs on lettuce, considerably worse for you than a burrito supremo.
This is why I hate trying to order a salad. Too often they are either bad for you or just plain bad. Check these out:
Panera Bread
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad:
560 calories, 34 grams of fat, 1,270 mg sodium
Tomato and Mozzarella Salad (a nice, light summer choice, no?):
890 calories, 47 grams of fat, 1,660 mg sodium
Corner Bakery
Harvest Salad (sounds natural enough) with Balsamic Vinaigrette:
1,100 calories, 81 gm of fat, 2,260 mg of sodium
How about this from the popular Baja Fresh here in SoCal:
Chipotle Glazed Charbroiled Chicken Salad:
590 calories, 22 grams of fat, and 1,110 mg of sodium
So what's a girl to do? Fear not, dear readers, FoodBlogga is actually a Hero: a normal girl with superhuman salad making abilities -- to save humanity (Notice: an NBC series featuring myself creating salads to save people's lives while living an otherwise normal life as a food writer is currently in development. All rights are reserved.)
Here are my secret weapons:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables packed with vitamins and evil-fighting antioxidants.
- Vitamin, calcium, and fiber-rich whole grains contain complex carbohydrates, keeping you satiated longer.
- Lean protein helps build and maintain muscle. It's digested more slowly than carbs, keeping your blood sugar levels steady and your belly full.
- Fat-fighting fiber is known to aid both digestion and weight loss.
- "Good" fats in avocados, olive oil, and nuts are high in monounsaturated fat, which can lower your LDL or "bad" cholesterol.
Since a hero's work is never done, look for a weekly installment of these satisfying super salads. Currently, I have 8 episodes ready to air, then I'll have to see if NBC picks me up for a second season.
Asian Noodle Salad with Tofu and Mango
Makes 4 servings
Print recipe only here.
2 teaspoons sesame oil
12 ounces tofu, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and julienned**
4 celery stalks, julienned
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and julienned
4 green onions, thinly sliced into long strips
2 small mangoes, thinly sliced into strips
8 ounces rice or soba noodles
2 tablespoons dry roasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 minced jalapeno chili, or to taste (the more the seeds, the hotter the flavor)
1-2 tablespoons fresh mint, thinly sliced, for garnish
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm 2 teaspoons sesame oil. Once hot, add tofu and saute until browned and crispy, about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.
Meanwhile, place all other salad ingredients (except noodles and peanuts) in a medium bowl and toss gently. Set aside.
To make the dressing, in a small saucepan over low heat, whisk together sugar, vinegar, and salt until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat, and whisk in remaining ingredients. Set aside.
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain, and add to the bowl of vegetables. Add cooked tofu and dressing, and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and sliced mint. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
**I use an OXO Julienne peeler which makes this a breeze. If you don't have one, then just slice all the ingredients very thinly or use a mandolin.
You might also like:
Bulgur Salad with Chickpeas, Cranberries, and Toasted Almonds
Warm Bulgur Salad with Beets, Fennel, and Oranges
String Beans and Tofu with Thai Peanut Butter Sauce
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Eww: A Rad Feminist Reads About Johns and Their "Pain", Provides Witty Commentary
In my long look into the sex business, I came across many primary sources on what exactly it is like to be a porn star, a prostitute, or a stripper. I felt connected to the experiences of the women I read. I felt that what they did was so normal and wrongly stigmatized. I could see myself doing what they did, hating doing what they did, and most of all, hating the people that asked them to do it. Part of letting go of my zealous relationship with the Madonna/Whore dichotomy was to stop looking at sex workers as whores, manipulative she-witches, and weak downtrodden sex objects.
What I discovered, however, from reading the first hand account of Johns was anything but empathy. I am a serial monogamist. When the inclination to stray is strong enough, I cash in my chips, break the poor guy's (and one woman's) heart, and engage in sowing my oats without being a lying sack-of-shit cheater. The thought that fucking random people would be fun is not something that I have never entertained. However, I have never understood the point of being self-destructive and letting my libido do the driving, so I do not understand the actual action of cheating.
Perhaps I am a rare and horrible imitation of humanity, but the objectification of a sexual partner does not turn my crank either. Paying someone to mimic an intimate action, which should be a gesture of mutual respect and affection, never occurred to me. I'm not a fucking kind of gal. My bullshit detector runs smoothly. I am not some pathetic slob that invents romance and respect where there is none. Chances are that if you shop for a sexual partner with all the emotion of shopping for a television set, you're not getting the best deal.
So I do not sympathize with the two primary motivations for buying sex: (1) I'm too good for monogamy and (2) sex is all about me, me, ME!
Morality in hand, I delved into Letters From Johns, a blog that features the sexploits of random johns, most of which are men. My knee jerk reaction was a feeling of intense sorrow for all of humanity. As I nit-picked through the various misogynistic woe-is-me confessions , I was struck with the thought, "okay, your intense angst is nice, but what about the other side of the equation — isn't it quite ridiculous to do all of this introspection without once thinking about the humanity of the woman you just bought?"
Well, one sympathetic John was nice enough to make sure that the Chinese woman he purchased was not trafficked. After, of course, he climaxed. Orgasm before morals, you know:
I like Asian girls (have since I was a teen). I like their skin, their soft features, their hair. I ordered one over in the middle of the day a month ago. I was very horny, and only wanted a little talk before sex, but after fucking her, cumming on her face and helping her clean up, it's always a good time to get to know someone with the remaining part of the hour. She was straight off the boat. With Human Trafficking being the boogie man of the 21st century, I wanted to find out how she came to NYC and this line of work.
Retroactive concern does not work. I am guessing that a guy that will fuck a potential sex slave before he determines whether or not he is raping her is not very nice. The half-assed interest in her personhood does not fool me.
I also really liked the guy who was "Faithful in Every Other Sense of the Word" and very good at authoring horribly ironic titles. His reason for buying sex was not the simplification of an entire culture to attractive things to look at while fucking (see above), but because his wife had the audacity to ask for sexual satisfaction in bed:
I'm happily married, but my wife and I don't have sex nearly as often as we used to before our daughter was born, and unfortunately, it's starting to wear on me. Not only that, but when we do end up having sex, I have to do all the work, get her all worked up and then get to humpin' at her command. It's fine and everything, but sometimes it's nice to have someone focus on me, and my sexual needs and wants, for a change.
You mean like porn, right? Where the other half of the equation is nothing but a place to sheath your uncontrollable prick and tell you how much they love it when you ask them to do demeaning things with no regard for their pleasure. Oh yeah, exactly like that:
The last time I went, I got to have sex with an older (then me, she was about 38. I'm 31) Russian lady, who still occupies a warm place in my heart because she looked me in the eyes as I climaxed and genuinely seemed to be interested in my pleasure. That's what turns me on.
I am guessing that she was faking that interest. Probably because you paid her to, genius. I am also guessing that your wife would be more interested in your pleasure if you were more interested in hers. Reciprocity: it's hot. Random John B wants all the pleasure without the work. I also find it unspeakably pathetic that he is bored with his wife and has affected such a world-weary tone at the tender age of 31.
I also found the woe-is-me letters, from Johns that want our sympathy so badly:
The answer that I have [for seeking prostitutes], and that many others in this website have also provided, is rejection. Rejection, and its close associate, the loneliness that comes after it, leads many of us to believe that we are fundamentally unloveable. And for us, the prospect of trading some of our money for the affection and the satisfaction that an escort, or a masseuse, or a prostitute (you name it) can provide is not just about sex–it's more about safety, the feeling that all you have to do to keep this girl by your side is treat her right and pay her promptly.
My guess if that if you have to pay someone to fake liking you that you are generally unlikable. That is probably not anyone's fault but your own, probably because you really do not care if you are raping a trafficked woman:
My latest experience was with an escort called A. She came from the same South American country I did, a tall, dark-haired girl with a great body. She says she's in town to "learn English," which I doubted, but who cares? For an hour and fifteen minutes, I had someone listen to me wholeheartedly, rub my back, provide me with the ersatz-girlfriend that I crave for but feel that I am unable to attract, and then at the end of it all she even asked for my phone number.
"You will call me again, right?" she asks.
I would like to say that I won't. But my hour with A. felt like water washing my wounds, easing the pain of my brutal loneliness, helping me feel accepted and valued again, a feeling that I haven't felt in many, many months.
Some people say that love is priceless. Well, to those people I say, for two-hundred and seventy Canadian dollars, something quite like it is there for the taking. At least until the hour is done.
If you are such a sorry human being that you equate "something quite like love" to raping a sex slave, then you probably belong in jail or the ninth circle of hell. I am also guessing that people that find nothing more sublime that sticking their dick in a woman/object/rape victim because they are "lonely" should probably remain lonely far far away from me and the rest of civilization. The best word I can use to describe someone that only feel goods about himself because he just raped/fucked a potential trafficked sex worker is criminal. Perhaps that's why nobody wants you, even though you describe yourself as "obedient, fundamentally good man in his 20s".
Those gems came from just the first page. The blog is packed of pages and pages of people justifying the objectification of female, and a few male, prostitutes. The harder they try to make their reasons sound plausible, the sillier and more pathetic they sound. Nothing is more unspeakably disgusting than someone that avoids responsibility for their actions with appeals to their humanity while avoiding the topic of a sex worker's humanity.
If it really needed saying after that long post here it is: I am absolutely and fundamentally against prostitution. I commiserate and have nothing but empathy for those women that choose to make a living doing something so potentially dangerous. However this feeling does not extend to the other end of the equation: the Johns that profit off of the exploitation, objectification, and rape of sex workers.
The aforementioned blog does nothing to foster the sympathy for Johns. Our rage should know no limits for those who excuse death, rape, and misery with hollow excuses.
Posted on May 20, 2008, in Female Impersonator, Feminism, Prostitution, Rape. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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At Brilliant Publications we champion the importance of modern foreign languages in the classroom and are convinced that primary school is the ideal time to introduce children to MFL. We have a wide range of books, CD, flashcards and other resources to support the teaching of French from the foundation stage right up to GCSE.
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Monday, June 7
Cherry and Blackberry Clafoutis, Pits Not Included
Clafoutis. You've eaten one. You've probably baked one. You've definitely heard of one. But can you define one? What is a clafoutis?
It's not quite a cake or a custard or a flan or a pudding. It has been called lots of names, including "a baked fruit dessert," "a baked custard with fruit," "a crustless pie," "a fruit-fill flan," and my personal favorite, "a sweet frittata." Purists called it a flognarde, but that lacks the panache of clafoutis (pronounced cla- foo-tee).
Clotilde Dusouslier, the charming Parisian food blogger, calls clafoutis "the epitome of the French grandmotherly dessert: unpretentious, easy to make, and blissfully comforting."
Call it what you will, especially if you're high school French is a little rusty. Just be sure to make one.
With its eggy base, I place clafoutis in the realm of custard rather than cake. This prized Limousin dessert is traditionally made with cherries though gets along equally well with fruits such as pears, apples, and berries of all sizes and colors.
Although clafoutis can be enjoyed year-round, they're particularly partial to spring time when luscious fruits such as apricots, cherries, and strawberries are at their peak.
A trip to the local farmers' market inspired my recipe for Cherry and Blackberry Clafoutis (as did my friends and co-bloggers Nicole Weston of the always freshly baked Baking Bites and Garrett McCord of the engagingly written Vanilla Garlic.)
Rather than vy for attention, the sweet cherries and tart blackberries complement each other, while the almond extract infuses the custard with a rich, smooth flavor. You could top the clafoutis with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of creme fraiche, but I wouldn't. Its most comfortable with a simple snowy white cap of confectioners' sugar.
A note about using cherries in clafoutis: Purists claim that cherry clafoutis should be made with whole cherries, pits included, which impart a nutty almond flavor. I'm assuming those purists have not spent the fortune on Invisalgn that I have spent to get their perfectly straight smile. So I removed the pits (along with the risk of a chipped tooth) and added almond extract instead.
To pit a cherry, you can use a cherry pitter. Or you can do it the old-fashioned way, like I do: Place the cherry on a cutting board. Place the flat side of a wide knife on the cherry and press gently until it splits. Open the cherry and remove the pit.
Cherry and Blackberry Clafoutis
Makes 6 servings
Print recipe only here.
This recipe is adapted from two originals: Blackberry Clafoutis by Nicole Weston of Baking Bites AND Cherry Calfoutis by Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic (Posted on Simply Recipes).
1 cup fresh sweet cherries, pitted
2/3-3/4 cup fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
3 eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons Amaretto OR 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch or 10-inch round baking dish with butter, or coat well with cooking spray. Toss in the cherries, blackberries, and slivered almonds.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth.
3. Add milk, Amaretto (or almond extract, if using), and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool, dust the clafoutis with confectioners' sugar. Serve.
You might also like these springtime fruit desserts from Food Blogga:
Strawberry Cardamom Cake
Strawberry-Rhubarb Sponge Pudding
Almond Panna Cotta with Glazed Cherries
Fresh Apricot and Cherry Cobbler with Buttermilk Biscuit Crust
Here are more delicious clafoutis recipes you might enjoy:
Strawberry Clafoutis recipe from Seriously Good
Plum Clafoutis recipe from Taste Buddies
Apricot Clafoutis recipe from La Recette du Jour
Raspberry Clafoutis recipe from Feeding Maybelle's Mom
Red Grape and Fennel Seed Clafoutis recipe from Make Life Sweeter
27 comments:
- Jessica @ How Sweet said...
I am craving some cherries, but the only bag I tried to buy was $13. I almost had a heart attack. Hopefully I can find some cheaper ones this week!
- June 7, 2010 at 10:28 AM
- Rosa's Yummy Yums said...
That clafoutis looks heavenly! What a perfect combination!
- June 7, 2010 at 10:38 AM
- Finla said...
We still have to wait for cherry season till jully and hen i am sure gonna make them, looks really delish.
- June 7, 2010 at 11:14 AM
- Joanne said...
The only thing I like better than eating clafouti is SAYING clafouti. Three times fast.
This looks excellent!
- June 7, 2010 at 11:15 AM
- RamblingTart said...
Ohhh, yum, yum, yum, Susan! I was just craving clafoutis yesterday and with your blog post today, I think it's a sign. :-) Hope you had a splendid weekend!
- June 7, 2010 at 11:16 AM
I'd like to know how eat a clafoutis with pits in it. Nevermind your teeth, how do you spit out the pits?
- June 7, 2010 at 11:17 AM
- Maria said...
Thanks for leaving the pits out:) Looks fantastic!
- June 7, 2010 at 11:38 AM
- Peter M said...
A fine combo of stone fruits, both is season this time of year. If you forget a pit or two...just label as "extra fiber". :)
- June 7, 2010 at 12:08 PM
- Abby said...
I got a bag of cherries last week in my CSA, but C. and I ate them plain! Guess I'll have to get some more to make this lovely dessert.
- June 7, 2010 at 1:38 PM
- Magic of Spice said...
Looks absolutely wonderful!
- June 7, 2010 at 2:47 PM
- The Italian Dish said...
Oh, I love cherry clafoutis and I totally agree you don't need to leave the pits in. Just add some almond extract, like you did. Who wants to spit out pits? I have this cherry pitter and it's amazing: http://tinyurl.com/279epbx It makes pitting cherries so much faster!
- June 7, 2010 at 3:32 PM
- Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...
I have been into making savoury clafoutis lately but the combination of cherry and blackberries has me rethinking.
- June 7, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Sadly, I've never made... nor eaten... clafoutis. I think it might be time to fix that. This looks amazing!
- June 7, 2010 at 4:55 PM
- Susan from Food Blogga said...
jessica-Yikes! That's high. I paid a lot last week-- $8 per pound. This week I found them at a different farmers' markets for $7 for three pints. Good luck!
happycook-Cherries are worth waiting for!
unplanned-They do look pretty at a brunch.
joanne-I agree! :)
ramblingtart-It's definitely a sign! Start baking! ;)
anonymous- I don't know! Not very gracefully, I'm sure! ;)
maria-You're welcome!
peter-Ha! I like that.
abby-That is the risk one runs with fresh cherries in the house. ;)
magicspice-Thank you!
elaine-Thanks for the pitter link!
val-And I'd like to try a savory one. So we'll have to switch!
michelle-It's never too late!
- June 7, 2010 at 6:37 PM
- Andrea Meyers said...
That looks so good! I do love cherry season. We planted two cherry trees in our back yard, but they are still young and haven't fruited yet. Hopefully in a year or two.
- June 8, 2010 at 4:52 AM
- Tasty Eats At Home said...
I wish cherries were more local for us! We're lucky to get them at the grocery, and then it's hit-or-miss as to whether they're delicious or just okay. When they're delicious, though, it's heaven, and I proclaim them as my favorite fruit. (of course, I do this every spring/summer when all of the best fruits ripen - yesterday I proclaimed peaches were my favorite, and two weeks ago, blackberries...I'm kinda fickle that way) Anyway, I think it's high time to make a clafoutis! My dad is a big cherry fan, so maybe this would be a perfect ending to a Father's Day meal.
- June 8, 2010 at 5:55 AM
- Kevin said...
I made a strawberry clafouti on Sunday - ang also quoted Clothilde when I wrote it up.
- June 8, 2010 at 7:49 AM
- Meredith said...
Hey, Susan...how long did you cook your clafouti? In the recipe as posted it says "cook for minutes." I know I can get the info elsewhere but thought I'd like to find out how long you baked yours. Thanks!
- June 8, 2010 at 10:41 AM
- Ruchi M said...
You have a gorgeous blog and I recently chanced upon it! I am definitely going to be following it!
Do visit my blog when you have a chance - though I am pretty new in the blogosphere - http://ruchisimplyfood.blogspot.com
- June 8, 2010 at 10:51 AM
- Livin Local said...
Simply beautiful! Think I'll go ahead and give this a go with the cherries my son picked Sunday.
Last year I tried my first clafoutis with peaches. Waaaaaaay too sweet, but loved the idea. Perhaps with the cherries the sweet / tart balance will be right.
- June 9, 2010 at 7:09 AM
- The Teacher Cooks said...
There are lots of cherries out there now so I must try this clafoutis since I have never made or had one. It looks delicious.
- June 9, 2010 at 9:13 AM
Wow! This looks wonderful. And with so little flour in it it looks like it would convert easily to being gluten free without much thought (I am not much of a gluten free baker).
This is getting bookmarked!
- June 10, 2010 at 8:06 PM
- T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types said...
Oh, wow! I've been anticipating blackberries from the farm in just a couple of weeks - and I was just thinking the other day, "What about a blackberry clafoutis?"
- June 11, 2010 at 3:26 AM
- Susan from Food Blogga said...
andrea-Cherry trees? Ooh, I just got a tiny pang of jealousy. Hope they're fruitful! (OK, I couldn't resist.) ;)
tastyeats-Oh, yes! Surrprise him for Father's Day. My mom just made one for my dad a couple of days ago and he loved it. PS- I know what you mean. I fall in loved every year.
kevin- Great minds? ;)
meredith- Whoops! I added it couple of days ago. 40-50 minutes. Thanks!
ruchi-Thank you for your kind words. I will!
livinlocal-This one wasn't too sweet for my taste. Maybe it was the fruit. Let me know if you like it beter.
theteachercooks-Well, you've got to make one then. Seems everyone on the blogosphere is on a clafoutis kick!
beyondricenadtofu-I haven't made a GF version, but it seems like it work well. Good luck!
TW-Yay! Perfect timing then. Enjoy!
- June 11, 2010 at 4:36 AM
- Kasey said...
What a great pair! I've made clafoutis in the past, but never with blackberries--love the look and sound of this, especially now that the farmer's markets are overflowing with cherries.
- June 15, 2010 at 9:44 PM
- Soma said...
This looks so beautiful that it wants me grab that plate right now. Bookmarked. I will have to make this before summer disappears.
- June 16, 2010 at 3:16 PM
- Soma said...
Made the claufotis with bing cherries and apricots. what a fabulous recipe. Thanks Susan.
- July 12, 2010 at 7:25 PM


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There's been a tug of war between aesthetically pleasing and safe when it comes to American embassies around the world.
Many embassies have been slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago, "We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen."
But the choice between gardens and gates isn't just academic for diplomats — it can affect the way they work. Many diplomats found that the isolation, distance from city centers and lack of accessibility of many embassies complicated their job.
In the past few months, several articles in the American Foreign Service Association's journal have been devoted to "fortress embassies" and the effort to improve design.
"After World War II we were facing a world that was emerging out of a war and [we] wanted to use modern architecture as a way to convey our values, and a spirit of openness, optimism, democracy, and so we thought of architecture as a tool," Susan Johnson, a veteran diplomat and president of the association, tells All Things Considered's Audie Cornish.
However, with cost always a consideration and safety always a priority, there was a shift to the more prisonlike embassies that have drawn criticism of late. Now, that's changing, with help from a State Department initiative — Design Excellence — that includes a promotional video describing art, design and architecture as diplomatic languages.
"I think what we're aiming to do now is find a balance that combines security and beauty, and use technology and innovation to do it," Johnson says. "If we're going to do it, let's make that building say something positive about America."
You can hear more of this conversation on Tuesday's All Things Considered.
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
And I'm Audie Cornish.
Beauty versus security. There's been a tug-of-war between these ideals when it comes to American embassies around the world, especially after the attacks on embassies and consulates in the Middle East last year. There's even an initiative led by the State Department.
CORNISH: This is from a promotional video for the effort dubbed design excellence. It came about after many embassies were slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago: We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen. But the choice between gardens and gates isn't just academic for diplomats. It can affect the way they work. Susan Johnson knows that. She's a veteran American diplomat and president of the American Foreign Service Association. Susan Johnson, welcome to the program.
SUSAN JOHNSON: Thank you so much, Audie. It's a pleasure to be here.
CORNISH: So in the past couple of months, there's been articles, several articles in your association's journal that have been devoted to this subject of fortress embassies. Start by describing an embassy or a diplomatic mission that really epitomizes fortress design.
JOHNSON: Well, imagine something that looks like a prison, even a maximum-security prison, where it's located, you know, sort of far out of town and out of the regular pattern of traffic, high perimeter walls, big sort of lights that come on at night, barbed wire here and there, and a very prison-like, box-like structure that has no particular character, lots of small windows.
CORNISH: What's it like working in a building like that inside?
JOHNSON: Well, it's certainly not as pleasant, and it's not as convenient. And I think what many diplomats have found over the years is that the isolation, the distance, the lack of accessibility has complicated their job.
CORNISH: So what would be an ideal space? I mean, what's an embassy that really has the right balance?
JOHNSON: I think the little clip that you played earlier - and it sort of contrasted beauty versus security. I think what we're aiming to do now is find a balance so that we can have the security that our embassies need abroad, unfortunately, but not sacrifice beauty, location or just the convenience and the friendliness to the mission of diplomacy.
CORNISH: So tell us about an embassy out there now or on the way that actually embodies this shift towards design excellence as the State Department is calling it.
JOHNSON: The embassy in Beijing is very open. It really integrates kind of a modern Western architectural techniques and the sense of China. It's got reflecting pools, kind of broad sweeps and a sense of openness and lightness, even though it's large. Our embassy in London is truly sort of spectacular. It, too, it's sort of taller and boxy-like, but it's got a sort of remarkably creative use of what I guess is glass. It has water around it, somewhat reminiscent of a moat, but in a way, that's very much more like a pool and kind of fits in with the architecture.
CORNISH: A friendly moat.
JOHNSON: A very friendly moat.
JOHNSON: So if you can kind of imagine something that might have looked like a fortress but much more sort of softened and open by instead of being heavy and dark.
CORNISH: So what actually makes those two embassies just as secure?
JOHNSON: Well, I think it's the material used. They're still considerable setback from the street or from, you know, where trucks could be parked and blown up, but it's much more green and understated, and the barriers are less evident. Instead of perimeter walls, you've got, you know, bollards, trees, bushes, moats, use of water, so a mix of things that takes away the perimeter wall. And then the actual buildings, instead of being just concrete boxes, are a product of, you know, major architects or architectural design firms where they use modern materials that are just as strong and withstand, you know, explosion and bullets and so forth and so on just as well or better as concrete.
CORNISH: Now, of course, the Foreign Service Journal also published a piece from a diplomatic security agent this month, and he argues that this trade-off between security and how buildings look isn't a big deal. And that's, you know, what's more important are the ideals conveyed abroad by the U.S., not necessarily kind of how diplomats are feeling about the compound.
JOHNSON: Well, I think we have gone back and forth in sort of the history of our embassy building. When we first started as a young nation, we didn't have funds to build our own buildings. We'd least, or we bought buildings that were downtown, that were accessible to the government, that, you know, maybe were former mansions or belonged to banks or businesses. And so they were very integrated and didn't really stand out sharply as something foreign or different or even as targets.
After World War II, we were facing, you know, a world that was emerging out of a war and wanted to use architecture, modern architecture as a way to convey our values and a spirit of openness, optimism, democracy. And so we thought of architecture as a tool as part of the representational work of diplomacy, because embassies have to fulfill two functions. They have to be secure workplaces. No one is disputing that. But they also have to represent our country and its values.
CORNISH: But is that a little naive given the reach, say, of American pop culture. I mean, isn't the latest blockbuster movie from Hollywood doing a lot more for our image abroad at some point than, you know, whether or not the gate outside is nine feet versus 12 feet?
JOHNSON: Well, I think the problem is mitigating. Your image is made up of many different things. And certainly with globalization and with all the different technology, people have access to lots of aspects of American culture. But if your embassy looks like a fortress or a prison, you are conveying something that may be even runs counter to the popcorn or whatever. And you're also setting yourself up as more of a potential target or seen as something that is distant and detached from the country that you're in.
And so in countries where there's a segment of the population that for whatever reason is hostile to the United States, the image that we portray makes their job easier to convey that we're occupiers or that we're controlling the internal politics of that country. So these are all subtleties, and I don't want to exaggerate them. But, you know, pop culture is one thing. Our embassy is the official face of America.
CORNISH: Susan, thank you for coming in.
JOHNSON: Well, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
CORNISH: Susan Johnson is president of the American Foreign Service Association and a longtime diplomat. She served in embassies all over the world, including in Bosnia, Iraq and Russia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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