gourmet guilt

I got to go shopping at the Asian market recently, so for the past week we have been eating Japanese food every night. We've had yudofu, tonjiru, stir-fired lotus root with steamed edamame, pan-seared tuna with noodles, gomoku takikomi gohan, and even omurice!

I really enjoyed every meal, but each night as I prepared the rice, I couldn't help but think of the rice shortage going on all over the world.

Rice is the foundation of so many different cultures' diets. How will they do without? We can't just say "Let them eat cake."

I have four different kinds of rice in my cupboard.

I like rice, but I would stop eating it if I thought it would fix the problem.

Some scientists are starting to talk about algae and jellyfish becoming the most plentiful food sources in the world. Once we eat all of that, what's next?

Soylent Green, anyone?

disconnected

I think everyone should have to go without plumbing once in a while. And household appliances, too. Just for a few days.

And camping doesn't count. It has to be in your own house. When you're camping, it's so removed from your everyday existence that it's hard to take insights and lessons home with you.

We've been doing renovations again.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've had a stove. The fridge is on the patio. We just got a new toilet upstairs yesterday.

It gave me great anxiety to go without running water for a day. It was a hardship to have to go downstairs in the middle of the night to pee. Having all my dishes and canned goods on the living room floor is a pain in the ass.

When I have my house back in order it will feel like such a luxury. It will be a luxury. I forget regularly how much luxury I live with on a daily basis. It's good to remember that I can actually live without a dish washer, or a toaster. It's good to have to think about how much water or electricity are necessary for survival.

The majority of the people on this planet are aware of how much clean water they've used in a day, and how much work they need to do in order to eat, and where their poop goes.

Most of us North Americans act as if we believe that water and electricity magically flow out of the walls, that our homes generate their own heat, and that when we flush the toilet our waste disappears into thin air.

I have been reminded that it's just not true.

I love Noam Chomsky

and you should read this.

female troubles

Today I was all set to write a whiny post about how I can't register for the courses I want next semester, until I read Campaign 2000's 2007 Alberta Report Card.

There's no way I can complain about my college education in light of the fact that approx. 21 percent of Albertans earn less that $12 an hour, and that two thirds of them are women.

I want to know how many of them are single moms.

bunny trail: Want a truly surreal experience? Try channel surfing back and forth between a CBC documentary on human trafficking and the movie 'Hitch'. That's how I spent Sunday night. We live in a strange and perverse world.

the emperor's new bracelet

Last week I got my first rubber cause-supporting bracelet. It's for ending family violence.

It doesn't really count, though, because I didn't even pay for it. All I did was show up at the grand opening for some women's housing.

That's why these bracelets kind of bug me.

I understand that they work really well to make people who do work to support a cause feel good about themselves, and that they are positive peer pressure, but they are also a fashion trend, and a little too easy to come by if you ask me.

Anyone can pay ten bucks at some boutique in the mall and proceed to walk around with a little rubber bracelet in their favorite colour, saying "look, I'm a good person. I support a worthy cause."

Will they even remember what that cause is later, without having to read it off the bracelet?

I don't think I'm going to wear mine. It's way too big for my wrist and gets in my way. I can feel good knowing that I support all kinds of good causes as a donor, volunteer and employee without any bracelets.

Gather

Harvest season is like a time-machine to me.

As I gather in the fruit, vegetables and herbs that spring up around my home, with or without my help, I feel like I'm moving in step with generations upon generations of women who have gone through the same motions each year.

It feels mystical and significant.

It also makes me think about community.

There is always more than I can use myself, and so the obvious thing to do is share.

Yesterday one of Matt's coworkers sent out an open invitation to pick sour cherries from the trees in his back yard. As we picked we chatted with his wife, sharing recipe ideas. The evening was a blessing to all of us in many ways. Now I'll share my pies and jams, sauces and breads with others through the fall and winter.

Harvest is not just about food.

Imagine if we shared our surplus of other things.

sometimes I hate people

I woke up angry this morning.

Angry at selfish middle class people who say "not in my back yard."

It's bad enough to wake up to news of how many car bombs exploded last night and which politician was indicted yesterday, but when, in the midst of all this crap that's going on in the world, I hear about some community group crying out against organizations who are trying to help people simply because of their own unscrutinized, knee-jerk fear (and perhaps concern for their property value), well, that's the last straw.

(big breath here)

I am referring to the neighbourhoods of Sunalta and Scarboro in Calgary who are in an uproar over the half-way house the John Howard Society would like to build there.

Everyone praises the John Howard Society for the work they do, but no one wants them down the street. The idea of giving ex-cons a second chance, grace, forgiveness, rehabilitation, is lovely as long as they don't have to participate.

Why can't they give the JHS a little credit? They've been doing this kind of thing for a long time. They have results and studies and research backing them up. They want to do this right and make it a success. They're not going to thoughtlessly put children's lives at risk. It is not in their best interests to do a crappy job and let a bunch of child molesters loose on local schools.

If it was their brother just getting out of jail and needing a hand to reintegrate into the community, they would be singing a different tune. Then it would be "our callous society is filled with prejudice. No one will let the past be the past. If he can't get a job and start a new life, he's in danger of re offending."

No one has any empathy.

No one can step outside their little bubble of personal experience to look around and see other people's lives going on, other people needing their help, other people being affected by them.

Instead of pressuring city hall to keep all the down-trodden and disenfranchised corralled in a ghetto to protect the rest of us, each one of us, 'the privileged', needs to take responsibility for our role in a society where so much suffering and crime exists, and help to find solutions.

I get tired of people telling me "it's so wonderful that you help people with your job. Keep up the good work!"

I bite my tongue to keep from saying "why don't you shut up and help me?"