Wiser With Age

Category: Videos

  • LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: Standing Rock Elder and Water Protector

    LaDonna Brave Bull Allard was a Standing Rock Sioux elder who spent most of her life educating people about the history of the land and protecting the sacred sites of her people in North Dakota. In 2016, she co-founded the Sacred Stone Camp on Standing Rock Sioux land to resist the building of the Dakota Access pipeline. The resistance to the pipeline, which would put the Missouri River (the water source for the reservation) at risk, attracted thousands from around the world. This week, we learned that LaDonna passed away at the age of 64 from cancer. We leave you with these excerpts of our interview with her last year. We will always remember her courage and undying determination to protect land and water, which she called, “life.”

    “When you destroy a water of the community, you destroy a community. When you destroy life, you destroy everything…We cannot do that. We must stand up to protect the water.”

  • The significance of celebrating Juneteenth

    The significance of celebrating Juneteenth

    Bob Johnson, founding director of Juneteenth Atlanta, one of the largest Juneteenth celebrations in the U.S., discusses the significance of remembering the anniversary of June 19, 1865 – the day the last enslaved Africans and African Americans in the U.S. became free.

    “Juneteenth is a commemoration of all of those people who fought against slavery. Who fought to abolish slavery,” he says.

    Johnson started his annual three-day parade and music festival in 2012, and he says it’s more relevant than ever.

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Bob Johnson at Juneteenth Atlanta 2015.

    “Events like this have to sustain. They have to be available to future generations so that we can put as many pieces of this puzzle together as possible. Knowing the contributions that you have made as a people is important to your esteem, your confidence, and your well-being.”

    He says his event includes floats of inspirational black leaders of the U.S., as well as the kings and queens of Africa – so that the youth, especially, leave with more pride – and hope.

    “Freedom is important, says Johnson. “To be able to be part of your community is important. To be able to have dignity is important.”

  • Grandma Lan’s Vietnamese Thanksgiving Quail

    Grandma Lan’s Vietnamese Thanksgiving Quail


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.

    Last year, in a special Thanksgiving collaboration with I Am An Immigrant, Cooking with Granny traveled to California to tell the refugee immigrant story behind Grandma Lan’s crispy Vietnamese quail. It’s baked, fried, and flambeed — and served with a side of her famous fish sauce. Under Communist rule in Vietnam, Grandma Lan thrived as an underground fish sauce dealer in the black market so much so that she came to be known as “Madam Fish Sauce.â€

    Watch Grandma Lan’s food story here.

    What Thanksgiving traditions does your family savor?

  • Cooking With Granny: Grandma Louisa’s Trinidadian hot sauce

    Cooking With Granny: Grandma Louisa’s Trinidadian hot sauce


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Trinidadian Grandma Louisa making hot sauce while Caroline wears goggles to protect her from the pepper’s heat!

    Grandma Louisa’s hot sauce is pure fire. And I like to say, if you need protective gear to cook, then count me in. It must be extraordinary. And it is. This hot sauce contains 135 (!!!) Scotch bonnets, four types of peppers, exotic fruits like pickled mangoes and gooseberries, and some other weird little ingredients that I never saw coming. And to bring this special hot sauce from Trinidad and Tobago to Caribbean, Brooklyn, Grandma Louisa had to undergo a whole lot of hardships that life threw her way. Watch this episode, and learn something delicious from Granny!

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.Caroline Shin is a multimedia journalist based in NYC. Recently, she launched “Cooking With Granny†– a Web series in which grandmas teach how to cook traditional dishes from their cultures while simultaneously sharing their funny, sad and surprising experiences with immigration and multiculturalism in a world that’s very different from today’s. Shin was previously a video editor at New York Magazine and holds an M.A. from Columbia Journalism School.

  • Cooking With Granny: Grandma Lumen’s Filipino purple yam pudding

    Cooking With Granny: Grandma Lumen’s Filipino purple yam pudding


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Filipino Grandma Lumen

    Grandma Lumen left the Philippines to become a public school teacher in the Bronx for more than 15 years. But she never forgot the family recipe for her favorite Filipino dessert, ube halaya, or purple yam pudding. This woman is just one fantastic person whose poise and influence shine at the Philippine Consulate where it seemed like just about everyone knew her.

    So sit back and enjoy this episode! Also, as you watch this video, if you have any questions for Grandma Lumen, let us know!

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.Caroline Shin is a multimedia journalist based in NYC. Recently, she launched “Cooking With Granny†– a Web series in which grandmas teach how to cook traditional dishes from their cultures while simultaneously sharing their funny, sad and surprising experiences with immigration and multiculturalism in a world that’s very different from today’s. Shin was previously a video editor at New York Magazine and holds an M.A. from Columbia Journalism School.