Overview: Potatoes are a meal staple all over the world. The starchy vegetable is one of the most versatile, there are hundreds of ways to prepare and enjoy them.
9 potatoes after being dug up
Seed Starting: Started from seed potatoes from either pieces or whole small potatoes. One potato seed can yield as many as 10 potatoes. Potatoes need full sun and loose soil.
Growing Advice: cut up seed potatoes and let them dry out, this helps prevent rot. The bigger the plot or pot the better, more room can mean more potatoes under the right circumstances.
Harvesting: the potatoes will sprout a plant with vines and flowers, when these vines start to die that’s when the potatoes are at their most mature and are ready to be dug up.
Recipe
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Wash potatoes and slice into ⅛” thin slices. Slice onion as thin as possible.
Layer potatoes and onions in little stacks. Place stacks upright in a greased casserole 2.5qt to 3qt dish.
Melt butter & flour in a saucepan and cook 2-3 minutes. Add seasonings and milk. Whisk over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in cheeses until melted.
Spoon cheese sauce over potatoes. Cover with foil (sprayed with cooking spray) and bake 60 minutes.
Remove foil and bake an additional 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned and potatoes are cooked. Cool 15 minutes before serving.
Overview: Garlic is one of the most versatile and popular spices in the world. Strong in flavor, smell, and health benefits, garlic can be added to many dishes as a main or supporting flavor.
Recently-harvested garlic
Seed Starting: Garlic is grown from cloves. It takes 8-9 months for cloves to become new garlic heads. Garlic is one of the few foods planted in the fall in New England. It is harvested in late spring/early summer.
Growing Advice: Plant each clove tip up and 3 to 5 inches deep. It helps to insulate garlic over winter with a layer of mulch (shredded leaves, straw, etc.). . You can plant garlic from sprouted garlic, just add it to soil. Although garlic only has one life cycle after picked, simply replant a clove or two from each harvested head, to restart the process.
Harvesting: Harvest your garlic when the lower leaves of your plant turn brown. Don’t rinse dirt from garlic with water: shake it off to preserve the papery protection.
Recipe for Garlic Confit
Remove garlic cloves from head and peel
Put in ceramic or any oven safe container.
Separate cloves and cover completely with olive oil.
Add any additional herbs to your liking (rosemary, basil, peppercorns, lemon, etc.) and bake in the oven at 300 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Use as a spread, add to butter, or any of your recipes there are hundreds of uses!
Save the oil and now you have garlic infused olive oil!
Since you cooked the garlic and the oil make sure to refrigerate for keeping!
Overview: When starting from seed, there are two categories that beans can be grouped into: pole beans and bush beans. Both types are almost identical, but pole beans will climb once the plants progress in growth, and will need some form of support to grow on. Bush beans will require less maintenance in this way, but pole beans will typically produce a larger quantity of beans to harvest.
Burgundy beans (bush type)
Scarlet runner beans (pole type)
Seed Starting: Beans typically grow best when planted directly outdoors. Because they generate their own nitrogen for use in the soil, they will not need supplemental compost or fertilizer unless your soil quality is particularly poor. Sow bush beans 1 inch deep and 2 inches apart in rows that are around a foot and a half apart. Sow pole beans the same way, but be sure to set up stakes for support around them prior to planting seeds (source).
Growing, Harvest, and Special Advice: If you continue to plant beans year after year, they will benefit from crop rotation (that is, planting them in a different bed or patch of soil the next year) to prevent diseases. Beans should be watered often, about 2 inches of water per square foot of soil weekly. It is also best recommended to water on sunny days to prevent moldering of plants. Once pole beans reach the top of their supports, you can pinch off the extra stems to encourage the plant to put more energy into growing bean pods instead of getting taller. They should also be harvested in the morning when their sugar content is at its highest – the more you harvest, the more will grow!
Recipe
Easy Garlic Green Beans (original recipe can be found here):
1 pound of trimmed green beans, washed, drained, and halved crosswise
Bring 3 cups of water in a large pot to boil over medium high heat. Stir in the salt.
Add the beans and cook for 7 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to cook evenly.
Remove from the heat. Drain the beans through a strainer over a bowl. Reserve ½ cup of the bean cooked water for later use.
Put the same pot back on the stove. Turn on the heat to medium high.
Add the vegetable oil and garlic, stirring with a wooden spoon for 1 minute, until the garlic start to get a little crispy and light brown.
Add the beans, the reserved ½ cup bean cooked water, soy sauce, and onion.
Cook for about 5 to 6 minutes, occasionally turning and flipping with the wooden spoon, until the soy sauce mixture boils down and the beans turn savory and tender. Remove from the heat and stir in sesame oil.
Transfer to a serving bowl or plate and serve with rice. The leftovers can be refrigerated up to 1 week.
Overview: Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is one of the most well-known and versatile herbs out there. They are also very hardy and easy to grow for even the most novice gardeners.
Flat-leaf parsley (source: PublicDomainPictures)
Seed Starting: To sow parsley indoors, such as in a small pot to keep in your garden window, sow seeds ½ inch deep. If planting outdoors, sow seeds 1 ¼ inch deep and about 3 inches apart from one another (source).
Growing, Harvest, and Special Advice: Parsley will thrive in deep pots or beds, and will do well in heavily composted soil. Plants should be in partial shade. If planted outside, parsley will do well with companion plants of carrots, chives, onions, or tomatoes. Planting parsley around asparagus plants will repel asparagus beetles.
Recipe for Tabbouleh
Tabbouleh is a refreshing Mediterranean side dish that can be eaten with hummus and pita bread. Original recipe can be found here.
To start, combine cooked and cooled bulgur wheat (1/2 cup uncooked) finely chopped cucumber and tomatoes (1 cup each) in a bowl. Pulse parsley (around 3 medium sized bunches) in a food processor until finely chopped. Add parsley to your bowl with bulgur, tomatoes, and cucumber. You can also add fresh mint (one medium bunch) to the food processor with your parsley if you wish. To make the dressing, combine fresh minced scallion (1/3 cup), EVOO (1/3 cup), salt (1 tsp), lemon juice (1/4 cup), and a couple chopped garlic cloves. Mix everything together and serve chilled. Tabbouleh will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Overview:Tomatoes are a fruit (yes a fruit–although commonly referred to as a vegetable) These fruit are sweet and acidic used all over the world
Heirloom tomatoes
Seed Starting: Tomatoes need lots of sunlight or growing lights. Start in damp seed starting mix, 2-3 seeds per pot, and ¼ inches deep. Start tomatoes about 8 weeks before your last frost date. This is right around Merrimack’s spring break. . Space your tomatoes 2 or more feet apart.
Growing Advice: Tomatoes need full sun and lots of moisture. If the soil is dry an inch down, offer them a good soak. Tomatoes are subject to blight, a fungal disease, so keep leaves off of the ground and water at the base of the plant (rather than spraying the leaves). Tomatoes often do well with a fence or equivalent to let the vines climb rather than droop or touch the ground
Recipe for Homemade Tomato Sauce
Start with 8-10 medium to large tomatoes (this will be a smaller batch of sauce) or 14 or more to make a larger batch. (Tomatoes on the vine or Roma tomatoes work best for me!)
Slice an “X” on the bottom of your tomatoes and bring them to a boil in a large pot.
When the skin of the tomato becomes loose or is coming off completely remove from boiling water and place in a bowl of ice water.
Remove all the skin and stem parts (the white parts) from tomatoes and crush. Crushing by hand is the original and best way but if you prefer you can use a potato masher or equivalent to break down the tomatoes!
When all the tomatoes are crushed to your preference (you can crush them or even blend them to pure liquid consistency or leave some chunks of tomatoes for texture) put back in pot and return to a simmer.
Add 4-6 cloves of garlic, a hefty sprinkle of salt and pepper, a 1/2 cup of olive oil (or to your liking), Italian seasonings of your liking (basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, etc.), and minced onion (or a whole onion with the ends cut off, also marked with an “X” on both ends, not enough to cut through the whole onion, and remove from sauce when soft or if layers begin to peel)
Simmer until all ingredients are combined and sauce thickens in consistency (if desired some prefer a thin sauce and you can just combine ingredients and use sauce as desired!)
For Gravy you can add meat to your sauce; sausage, meatballs, beef cubes, etc. (pre-cooked)
Growing up, I dreamed of being a nurse. I was (& still am) inspired by their ability to make a difference in people’s lives everyday. As you can see, that career path was not in the cards for me. So, how could I make my “dream” a reality in the communication field? I have realized that I have the ability to make the world a better place through effective communication. It doesn’t seem like much but effectively communicating healthcare literacy, cultural competency and language barriers can build a patient provider relationship. According to Haran Ratna, author of The Importance of Effective Communication in Healthcare Practice, “Without it [communication], the quality of healthcare would be impaired.” Ethical communication in healthcare aids transparency and supports the patients’ goals to care.
The global pandemic has brought prominence to health communications and has led healthcare organizations to rapidly expand. We have seen improvements in clinical services, manufacturing prescription drugs, medical equipment, and telehealth.These outcomes make healthcare providers more accessible, approachable, and can create stronger relationships with their patients.
Like any other industry, it is important for healthcare to continue to keep up with the latest trends. The overall use of technology within healthcare is great but it’s also important to build positive relationships with patients through social engagement specifically through social media (SM) platforms. SM has become a new dimension of healthcare allowing the public, patients and healthcare professionals to become actively involved in their communities.
@Massgeneral engages their followers (42.6k) through uplifting and informative content. Posting photos of nurses, helpful hints, and hospital news allow for their audience to find comfort in making connections to the organization on a more personal level. Understanding healthcare is not easy for the average person. MGH has created a podcast to their profile providing a space that is informative and educational.
@Danafarber is a little more reserved with their Instagram profile compared to MGH. Dana-Farber focuses deeply on emotional support, providing their followers (27.4k) with quotes from survivors, friends and family members that have felt appreciated and respected through their journeys. This type of approach allows for an inclusive online support system.
@Bostonchildrenshas a high level of community interaction. Content consists of photos of patients that are light hearted and community oriented. It is pretty evident that no one wants to see images of sick children- BCH provides their patients and followers (59.1k) hope and commitment to service through involvement. I admire that their posts are cheerful rather than providing hard facts or statistics.
I am the first person to argue that SM has negative effects on society but utilizing platforms like Instagram for the greater good reminds me how important it is to be able to communicate to people in all different ways. Is SM going to cure cancer? No, probably not. However, making small connections on social networks help open new opportunities for providers and their patients. With the right intentions of social media platforms through medical communications, we can continue to see impactful change within the future of our healthcare system.
When talking about professional athletes or people of the like, you usually have to take things with a grain of salt when talking about media. These people are celebrities in their own right and are constantly under a spotlight that most normal people aren’t and a prime example of this is just how much they are on or in the presence of camera’s. One of the more ethical topics in the National Hockey League has been the story of former San Jose Sharks winger, Evander Kane. Kane certainly has all the skill in the world, but he has found himself in boat loads of trouble dating back to last year.
SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 29: Evander Kane #9 of the San Jose Sharks prepares to face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP Center on February 29, 2020 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images)
The most recent drama Kane has found himself in is with wife, Anna Kane. The couple are amidst a crazy divorce battle that keeps getting crazier and crazier. The whole ethical case we’re going to get into started once Evander won sole custody of their 1-year-old daughter, Kensington. (New York Post, Lemoncelli) This sent Anna on a spiral of questionable media ethics decisions that we’ll now get into.
After the custody decision was made in Evander’s favor, Anna took to Instagram and started posting some really revealing things about her soon to be ex-husband. The first thing she did was post a private video of Evander pointing a “loaded gun” at her. This is obviously a terrible look for Evander and should never happen, but he defended himself by saying it was a “photo shoot”, which apparently worked based upon the fact that the courts think and still think that Anna has untreated mental health issues. (New York Post, Lemoncelli) To me, I think releasing the video to a private court room is really necessary here, but releasing a private video (no matter how bad) to the public is unethical. You have to think of all parties when you deal with social media, especially when young children are involved in any way. Now the Kane’s child has a video of her father pointing a gun around, which I’m sure she doesn’t want to grow up with. At the end of the day what both Evander and Anna Kane did in this instance I believe is very wrong and you can tell that the relationship has spiraled to a point of no return for the couple.
THE 2019 ESPYS PRESENTED BY CAPITAL ONE – The world’s best athletes and biggest stars will join host Tracy Morgan for “The 2019 ESPYS presented by Capital One.” The star-studded evening celebrates the best moments from the year in sports and will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on WEDNESDAY, JULY 10 (8:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (Image Group LA via Getty Images)
EVANDER KANE, ANNA KANE
This past July was also an interesting media ethics
development. Since Anna has been so upset about the entire legal proceedings
and really upset about her relationship with Evander, she took to social media
once again. She first accused Kane of cheating, that their home was being
seized by the bank and then said that he was betting on NHL games including ones
he was playing in. Evander denied all of the claims and the NHL even did an
investigation, but “could not substantiate any of the allegations. What does
this say about Anna? Was she trying to take advantage of what was already known
of her husband to make him appear in a worse light? Or was she trying to get
the truth out there and since he is a professional athlete it is harder to “get
them canceled”. Since the NHL did a full investigation and found nothing to be
true about what she said, on top of the fact that the court had concerns about
her mental stability, I think that Kane – even though he has plenty of flaws –
is more in the right here than Anna. Going to social media and spreading
misinformation is not the way to go and both Evander and Anna should look at
themselves in the mirror after this entire process is over.
The digital age moves at breathtaking speed, and how it transformed the way people communicate in Vietnam is no different. As digital technologies have become entwined in the way people connect and relate to one another, Vietnam, like the rest of Southeast Asia, is undergoing radical social transformations. Fast expanding digital infiltration and mobile technology adoption mean that people are increasingly performing significant parts of their everyday lives online. The rise of the internet and the different media platforms have become increasingly important in how the public gathers information as well as form opinions on day-to-day life as well as political opinions. In June of 2021, the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) rolled out a set of guidelines under the name 874/QĐ-BTTTT This new code will function as Vietnam’s national social media guidelines, encouraging users to share positive content about the country. Certain restrictions apply to social media users and companies, with social media providers in Vietnam being required to follow local laws and regulations when it comes to removing different content from different respective platforms. While not a definitive legal binding regulation, the guideline raises ethical concerns on free speech and the conflict of interest between government agencies and the different platforms as well as its users. Was this guideline a solution to combat the rise of defamation, fake accounts, spam, and trolls on the internet in the country or is it another way for the Vietnamese government to keep a check on its citizen’s digital movement?
Trinh Ho, Vietnam New and Old.
Vietnam is a rapidly growing country, both from its GDP and population as well as its digital media consumption. A report from Stasia, Vietnam has around 72 million active users on different social media which is around a 74% penetration rate. Vietnam is a large market for Facebook with 74 million active users and generates over $1 Billion Dollars in revenue. Late in November of last year, Reuters reported the Vietnamese government’s demand for Facebook to censor more of their platforms in the country. Vietnam is not new to censorship and regulation of speech on any type of media and for social media platforms that are run by private entities, Vietnam is approaching uncharted territories in its “struggle” for power over its citizens as the population grows younger and “smarter”. Vietnam threatened to ban the platform if it fails to increase its censorship of content coming out of Vietnam. To not lose out on the large revenue that can be generated from the country, Facebook has seemingly given into the Vietnamese government demands as data from its transparency report, shows that Facebook removed nearly 3000 posts from June of 2020 to January of 2021. While Facebook community standards guideline states “The goal of our Community Standards is to create a place for expression and give people a voice. The Facebook company wants people to be able to talk openly about the issues that matter to them, even if some may disagree or find them objectionable.” giving into a government agency seems like Facebook is failing to uphold its mission to give everyone a voice. The battle for free speech between social media platforms and governmental agencies is not a new topic and Vietnam remains under scrutiny on how they are imposing restrictions on media but we have to put Facebook’s ethical stance on the issue under question as the platform seemingly prioritizes profit over the wellbeing and freedom of expressions of its users.
Young people surf the Internet on their phones in Tao Dan Park in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by Shutterstock/Anh Huy.
In our day and age with the many factors that are affecting the socioeconomic landscape of different countries and societies, whether it’s false information, malicious intent, financial decisions, or government agencies’ influence, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for social media platforms to remain neutral platforms for everyone to voice their opinions. While a private entity and can change its policies as they see fit, giant social media providers such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. have the influence and the responsibility to be a space where everyone can have a voice without judgment or influence. This move by Facebook and the Vietnamese government can affect and hinder how the Vietnamese public voices their opinions and view the integrity of the firm. For me, it’s not new that the Vietnamese government wants to track and control what we say but it is confusing to see a private entity that is Facebook to give in to the government’s demand. As for me and many of my peers, social media will remain a big part of our personal and professional lives, but after the guideline and Facebook’s action, there will be a lot of ambiguity in what I can and can’t do on social media that can affect me.
Reality television can be problematic to watch as it allows viewers to make assumptions about people that they only really know from edited pieces the show decides to air of them. This can lead to false perceptions of who a person really is and lead to negative criticisms of a person where it may not be warranted.
Selling Sunsets Star Davina Patratz has been highly criticized as being the “villain” of the show in season 3. The show tends to highlight the negative things that she says and does and rarely, shows her as a good person. She is often seen on the show causing drama and conflict among the real estate agents and not listening to the viewpoints of others.
In the season 3 finale she is shown starting an argument with another employee, Chriselle about her divorce and whose fault it really was. This has led to her being hated and getting a lot of backlash online, but is all this hate really justified or is this a product of the producers creating a character for her?
In an interview with Vulture she states that, “I can also tell you with certainty that you don’t know my entire personality. You don’t see very much of me — you only see maybe 10 percent of me. When you don’t see any other part, then your perception is only what you see: You think that person equals something negative, but whatever was shown was pretty harsh. That’s what you identify that person with, but that is not the entire person.”
She claims that the show manipulates the footage in order to make her come off as a lot ruder than she really is. She explains how you only see a portion of who she is and never get a complete idea of who she really is as a person, because of the way the producers edit the footage. She explains in another interview with RadioTimes that when talking about an argument she had on the show with one of the agency’s bosses, Jason, “‘There’s a lot of joking around and fun that we’re having as well,” she told us. “And I don’t know if you necessarily see that, especially from my character on the show. You know, I’m not a one-dimensional person, nobody is, and you really cannot define anyone based on the show, right?”’.
With that being said, are producers at fault for airing these clips, or is it the fault of the agents for saying what they said on the show? I think that this ethical issue becomes tricky when you look deeply into it. The allure of watching reality tv is seeing the arguments between castmates, so obviously this is what the producers are going to want to air, even if it makes the people look bad. However, I think that sometimes the producers can go overboard with their editing when portraying characters. Although they are using footage of what the star is actually saying in the moment, they are using it to put a negative spin on the character and often do not include parts of the conversation where the individual is coming off a lot nicer.
I believe the main ethical issue here and what is difficult to put blame on is how the producers are able to create a false persona of a character, rather than the character being able to create their own persona. No matter how many positive things you say or do during filming, the producers are only going to air what they think is going to give them views, and typically that is not characters being nice to each other, but rather the huge arguments. Working together and spending so much time together outside of work, friends are bound to get into arguments, but the way that reality tv spins these arguments to create a persona for a person is ethically wrong and should not be allowed.
CNN’s Brian Stelter (Chief Media Correspondent) reports on Chris Cuomo’s suspension
The sexual
misconduct allegations against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo have been covered by
national news outlets from early 2021 through his eventual resignation
in August of this year. Since those allegations surfaced, Chris Cuomo and
CNN agreed that he would not be able to objectively report on the subject,
since it was involving his family. CNN confirmed this in a statement
made by the network in May 2021 saying “Chris has not been involved in
CNN’s extensive coverage of the allegations against Governor Cuomo — on air or
behind the scenes… In part because, as he has said on his show, he could never
be objective.” It was recently learned, however, that Chris Cuomo had been
using his position at CNN to advise
his brother’s legal team for his defense.
In 2020, Chris Cuomo often had his brother (then Governor), Andrew Cuomo on his show Cuomo Prime Time.
The documents that were released on Monday (Nov. 29, 2021), were not the first sign of a potentially unethical connection between the brothers, though. In May, when CNN released the above statement about Chris Cuomo’s involvement in the network’s reporting, CNN was made aware that C. Cuomo had participated in strategy calls to help his brother. At the time, CNN called it “inappropriate” and C. Cuomo was told to stop doing so.
Evidently, that did not happen.
It was learned this week that Chris Cuomo continued to use his power as a journalist to gain information from sources and other journalists about details involving his brother’s case. In depicting the information within the documents, Oliver Darcy and Brian Stelter wrote,
“The documents released by New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday included text messages and transcripts of interviews with investigators who led the probe into allegations against the governor. The cache of documents included text messages between Chris Cuomo and Melissa DeRosa, a then-top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, that suggested he was instrumental in working to craft a defense against a flood of sexual misconduct allegations. The text messages also revealed that Chris Cuomo sought to use his connections in the press to help prepare the then-governor’s team as accusers started to make their stories public”(Darcy, Stelter, 2021).
Chris Cuomo spoke about his suspension on his SiriusXM show saying, “It hurts to even say it. It’s embarrassing, but I understand it…the last thing I ever wanted to do was compromise any of my colleagues and do anything but help.”
According
to the Society of Professional
Journalists Code of Ethics, Cuomo’s action will have challenged a few
subsections within the “Act Independently” category of the guidelines. It is evident
that in acting to aid his brother, he neglected to avoid a conflict of interest,
avoid practices that compromised his integrity, and above all, made his primary
obligation to his brother (who at one point was a government representative)
over public interest.
It is not unreasonable to think that anyone would feel pressured to help a family member when their occupation privies them to potentially helpful information. However, as the press is often considered a fourth pillar of government, it is the primary duty of a journalist to understand the power of their position and either maintain objectivity, or completely remove oneself from the equation when it is not possible. Chris Cuomo was given the chance to remove himself with integrity, but failed to do so.
