WakingSleep
11-15-2007, 02:51 PM
Here are two excerpts from chapter 9 of a book I am currently reading; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/) by Barbara Kingsolver:
"Most of us, male or female, work at full-time jobs that seem organized around a presumption that some wifely person is at home picking up the slack-filling in the gap between school and workday's end, doing errands only possible during business hours, meeting the expectation that we are hungry when we get home-but in fact June Cleaver has left the premises. Her income was needed to cover the mortgage and health insurance. Didn't the workplace organizers notice? In fact that gal Friday is us, both moms and dads running on overdrive, smashing the caretaking duties into small spaces between job and carpool and bedtime. Eating preprocessed or fast food can look like salvation in the short run, until we start loosing what real mealtimes give to a family: civility, economy, and health. A lot of us are wishing for a way back home, to the place where care-and-feeding isn't zookeeper's duty but something happier and more creative."
and...
"Households that have lost the soul of cooking from their routines may not know what they are missing: the song of a stir-fry sizzle, the small talk of clinking measuring spoons, the yeasty scent of rising dough, the painting of flavors onto a pizza before it slides into the oven. The choreography of many people working in one kitchen is, by itself, a certain definition of family, after people have made their separate ways home to be together. The nurturing arts are more than just icing on the cake, insofar as they influence survival. We have dealt today's kids the statistical hand of a shorter life expectancy than their parents, which would be us, the ones taking care of them. Our thrown-away food culture is the sole reason. By taking the faster drive, what did we save?"
Now, I don't believe that the shift from a locally based food culture to a prepackaged, preprepared, chemical/hormone-laden, genetically-modified, petroleum-based food culture is the sole reason for the cultural ills we are facing today (and I don't believe Ms. Kingsolver believes this, either, based upon other points she brings up throughout the book) but it is certainly an important ingredient in the soup. Also, I don't think the after-effects of this transition (most of which has occurred within my lifetime) are only going to start to show up in kids today, but with my generation as well. The health problems that are prevalent with people my age (I'm 32) is rather alarming.
We have forgotten how to be critical of the status-quo and business-as-usual. Those who are find themselves doing so are met with often times hostile retort (believe me, I know.) Now is not the time to hide our heads in the sand and blindly barrel forward. It is not up to the experts from future generations to figure out these answers. It is up to us, at the very least, to begin paving the way. The eschaton of our history is approaching, and it's time for new ideas.
It can be done... of this I am certain. Keep breathing, keep dreaming, pay attention, take nothing for granted, and stay positive.
"Most of us, male or female, work at full-time jobs that seem organized around a presumption that some wifely person is at home picking up the slack-filling in the gap between school and workday's end, doing errands only possible during business hours, meeting the expectation that we are hungry when we get home-but in fact June Cleaver has left the premises. Her income was needed to cover the mortgage and health insurance. Didn't the workplace organizers notice? In fact that gal Friday is us, both moms and dads running on overdrive, smashing the caretaking duties into small spaces between job and carpool and bedtime. Eating preprocessed or fast food can look like salvation in the short run, until we start loosing what real mealtimes give to a family: civility, economy, and health. A lot of us are wishing for a way back home, to the place where care-and-feeding isn't zookeeper's duty but something happier and more creative."
and...
"Households that have lost the soul of cooking from their routines may not know what they are missing: the song of a stir-fry sizzle, the small talk of clinking measuring spoons, the yeasty scent of rising dough, the painting of flavors onto a pizza before it slides into the oven. The choreography of many people working in one kitchen is, by itself, a certain definition of family, after people have made their separate ways home to be together. The nurturing arts are more than just icing on the cake, insofar as they influence survival. We have dealt today's kids the statistical hand of a shorter life expectancy than their parents, which would be us, the ones taking care of them. Our thrown-away food culture is the sole reason. By taking the faster drive, what did we save?"
Now, I don't believe that the shift from a locally based food culture to a prepackaged, preprepared, chemical/hormone-laden, genetically-modified, petroleum-based food culture is the sole reason for the cultural ills we are facing today (and I don't believe Ms. Kingsolver believes this, either, based upon other points she brings up throughout the book) but it is certainly an important ingredient in the soup. Also, I don't think the after-effects of this transition (most of which has occurred within my lifetime) are only going to start to show up in kids today, but with my generation as well. The health problems that are prevalent with people my age (I'm 32) is rather alarming.
We have forgotten how to be critical of the status-quo and business-as-usual. Those who are find themselves doing so are met with often times hostile retort (believe me, I know.) Now is not the time to hide our heads in the sand and blindly barrel forward. It is not up to the experts from future generations to figure out these answers. It is up to us, at the very least, to begin paving the way. The eschaton of our history is approaching, and it's time for new ideas.
It can be done... of this I am certain. Keep breathing, keep dreaming, pay attention, take nothing for granted, and stay positive.