Saturday Short Subjects: How New Haven Voted Last Tuesday

The candidate we supported in the 2013 mayoral race in New Haven was not elected last week. Justin Elicker fought a good fight, was gracious in defeat, and thanked all of his supporters for their efforts on his behalf. 

The winner, Toni Harp, had the backing of the Democratic Party, including public endorsements from the governor and CT’s US Congressional delegation. Yet the race was far closer than many had imagined it would be. Toni Harp received 11,363 votes to Justin Elicker’s 9,425 votes — a difference of less than 1000 votes [Thanks to Helen Bennett of the New Haven Register for sharing the official results.]

The weather was perfect on Election Day —  blue skies, seasonal temperatures. Yet, the next mayor was chosen by just over 29% of New Haven’s voters. That’s correct. According to Bennett’s figures, a mere 21,120 of the 72,278 eligible to participate in the election chose to vote in this year’s mayor’s race. 

What a shame.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: Love at First Bite

Think you don’t like beets? Try my Golden Beet Salad, and I just bet it will be love at first bite.

I had roasted and marinated the beets in advance. [Read more here.] With the beets in the fridge, last Monday’s Meatless Monday dinner was a snap! A few simple steps later, and I had this beautiful dish.

• I warmed the beets slightly in the microwave.
• I prepared a generous portion of my favorite salad greens and put them in a bowl.
• I diced some red onion and sprinkled it on top.
• I added the warm beets.
• I crumbled some goat cheese over the beets, melting the cheese slightly. [Feta works, too, but it is saltier.]
• I drizzled a little extra balsamic vinaigrette over the salad.
• [Normally I add some dried cranberries, but I forgot them this time.] 

There you go! Serve with some thick slices of a hearty bread, and you have a meal!

Happy Monday! 

Have a great week. Eat well. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Saturday Short Subjects: Get Out and Vote

For many of us this coming Tuesday, November 5, is a very important day — Election Day. In my city of New Haven, Connecticut, we are voting to elect a new mayor for the first time in 20 years!

How the citizens of New Haven vote will have a dramatic impact on the city’s future. Will they vote the party as usual, or will they vote for change? It may well turn out to be a scenario in which every single vote counts. I know I will be at the polls first thing in the morning, and I will be devoting Tuesday to helping my candidate. 

Most of us have had the right to vote since we hit the age of 18. For that we owe the hard work of those brave individuals who fought long and hard to win this right for all Americans. 

Only white, male property owners were eligible to vote in the first presidential election in 1789 (6% of the population). 

The 15th Amendment passed in 1870 declared that the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." In reality, it took the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to preventing southern states from any longer finding ways to disenfranchise black voters.

The Women’s Suffrage Movement began in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, but it took until August, 1920 to pass the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. For photos of the gutsy women whose protests and arrests made the amendment’s passage possible, visit the archives of the Library of Congress. Just think, this happened less than 100 years ago!

Naturalized citizens have to study and pass a test in order to earn the right to vote. Here are the 100 questions on which the citizenship test draws. Did you know all these answers? 

Have a nice weekend. And, don’t forget to vote on Tuesday.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).