MLK Symposium

“America is at it’s best when times are the worst,” actor Louis Gossett, Jr. told the audience, referring to the aftermath of 9/11 and Katrina. “But when it’s done, we go home and close the doors. We have to learn to keep the doors open in our hearts and minds.”

“It’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day every day, 24/7, for the rest of time.”The Button, her dad, and I were in the second row at Hill Auditorium this morning for the opening lecture of the University’s 22nd Annual MLK Symposium. Though calling it a “lecture” was a bit of a stretch. On stepping up to the lectern, Mr. Gossett admitted that he hadn’t brought a speech or any notes. “If I don’t know what to say by now…” he said, shrugging.

And at first, it was a bit like watching your dad ramble off track during the toast at your sister’s wedding. The award-winning actor was all over the map. But he ultimately found his path.Mr. Gossett told the audience of about 1,000 people about growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s and 1950s, when the strong matriarchal influence–starting with his great-grandmother –provided the “connective tissue” that passed on values and strength to the children.

He also explained how he and other children benefited from being taught by educators fleeing the Black List in New York City, as well as sharing classes with the children of those men and women. Today, Mr. Gossett said, many of those children have grown up to be leaders in society. How did you do it? he asked. “We learned it’s a sin not to dream,” a friend explained.

Clearly wishing to underscore the parallel to Dr. King’s most inspiring speech, this brought Mr. Gossett to his main point. “Teaching in the home is not happening!” he exclaimed. “Where do our young men learn that it’s okay to have babies with different women, or to ‘cap’ someone?” he asked, “they don’t pick that up all by themselves!”

“Grandmothers. Family. Men. They all should be teaching a values system in the home,” he said. “We need to take responsibility for our own.” And we need to be teaching our children that it’s a sin not to dream.Mr. Gossett closed his talk with the Prayer of St. Francis for peace (view clip). “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace…that where there are shadows, I may bring light.”

“Martin Luther King had a dream, and we must keep the dream alive,” Mr. Gossett concluded. “and remember, it is more than Dr. Martin Luther King’s day, or Black History month. It’s a 365 day, 24/7 job!”

The Cheese Whisperer

“You’ve got to let the milk tell you what it wants,” we were told. “When making cheese, you can’t speed it up, and you can’t slow it down.”

That’s what cheese expert Simone Jenkins explained to the twelve folks participating in the “Introduction to Cheese” class at Morgan & York on a recent cold Tuesday night. Only Simone wasn’t exactly whispering. Actually, she was talking rather loudly and animatedly in an adorable Australian accent. So imagine the Cheese Whisperer meets the Crocodile Hunter, and you'll have a better picture.
Morgan & York specializes in “farmhouse,” or “artisan,” cheeses and Simone was looking to spread the gospel. To start, we learned that the three most important elements in cheese making are the land, the animals, and the craft. I was intrigued by the animals. “Where are all the goats that produce the goat cheese we eat?” I asked, perplexed. We see cows everywhere, but it’s not like you drive down the road and see herds of goats that often. Simone explained that it doesn’t take many goats to produce the cheese, and that goat farming tends to occur more in the west. And the east part of the country is known for sheeps’s milk cheese.

We also spent quite a bit of time discussing the craft, particularly how cheese is made in the farmhouse (farmer makes the cheese from milk from his own cows) and cooperative (cheesemaker makes the product from milk delivered by farmers) traditions. But, it’s always the slightly gross stuff that’s most intriguing. For instance, “How do you know if it’s good mold or bad mold on the cheese?” a fellow student asked. Simone explained that molds in the green, blue, and slightly mauve shades are okay to eat, while pink and orange are bad. And, she added “if you see mold in the shape of a fingerprint, that’s bad news.” No kidding.
Basic background covered, we turned to the twelve little samples of cheese Simone had laid out for each of us. We started with fairly mild, soft cheeses and progressed until closing the evening with some fairly stinky (but yummy) examples of the cheesemakers’ craft. The fresh ricotta ($8/lb) from S Serra Cheese in Clinton Township was revelatory– sweet and buttery, it didn’t taste anything like the stuff I bought at the grocery the last time I made lasagna. The Jasper Hill Cabot Cheddar ($30/lb) had a wonderfully layered, full flavor. And we learned about that little crystally, crunchiness you sometimes encounter in such cheeses. I happen to like that texture, but I’ve never been sure if it’s in fact considered a good thing. It turns out that those little crunchies are crystallized amino acids, and they're an indication that the cheese has been aged for at least a year.

My favorite cheese of the evening was a Tomme de Savoie ($18/lb). It’s “semi-firm” which means new enough to still be slightly soft, but not quite as gooey as a brie. This cheese had the most fantastic mouthfeel! It was like biting into the perfect summer cantaloupe, only the flavors that sprang into your mouth were nutty, buttery, and earthy.

We wrapped up with the Colston Bassett Stilton ($28/lb) and the Roquefort Carles ($36/lb). Blue cheeses like these are created when the wheels of cheese are pierced with needles to allow the mold to grow inside. With the Roquefort, the mold is introduced from old rye bread. Simone told us that Monsieur Carles is the only cheese producer in France who still actually uses bread loaves to introduce the mold to his cheese, rather than a commercially produced, powdered mold product. I liked the Stilton well enough, easily imagining it gracing the top of a lovely strip steak. But, with apologies to M. Carles, the Roquefort was honestly just a bit too strong for my taste.

Speaking of mold, have you ever wondered if you’re supposed to eat the moldy rind on the outside of the cheese? According to Simone, in the cities of France they’d be quite distressed if you ate the rind. But for the most part, it’s okay. Particularly with soft cheeses like brie. With the harder cheeses, Simone pointed out that you really “get the taste of the farm” in the rind. To me, that sounds suspiciously like a euphemism for “tastes like cow poop.” So I’ll just take the Cheese Whisperer’s word for it.

For more information about farmhouse cheeses go to the American Cheese Society. Or contact Simone Jenkins, the Cheese Whisperer, directly at simone@morganandyork.com.

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