Records Department

10/31/11

most of all

via Dave via Tom Robbins' Still Life with Woodpecker:

Yes, and I love the trite mythos of the outlaw. I love the self-conscious romanticism of the outlaw. I love the black wardrobe of the outlaw. I love the fey smile of the outlaw. I love the tequila of the outlaw and the beans of the outlaw. I love the way respectable men sneer and say 'outlaw.' I love the way young women palpitate and say 'outlaw.' The outlaw boat sails against the flow, and I love it. Outlaws toilet where badgers toilet, and I love it. All outlaws are photogenic, and I love that. 'When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free': that's a graffito seen in Anacortes, and I love that. There are outlaw maps that lead to outlaw treasures, and I love those maps especially. Unwilling to wait for mankind to improve, the outlaw lives as if that day were here, and I love that most of all.

10/27/11

P.S. screen printing is awesome.

LA Green Festival

THIS WEEKEND LA Green Festival

October 29-30 at the LA Convention Center: Line up of speakers & events around 'green living,' whatever that is! [sustainable economy, ecological balance, social justice, I guess.] Amy Goodman will be there and I love her.

The SF Green Festival is on November 12-13 at the SF Concourse Exhibition Center.

10/26/11

Salon on Wednesday

SALON Convergence in Diversity

November 30, 6:15PM at the David Brower Center in Downtown Berkeley

Rooted and Rising, hosted by the Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative: a dialogue and 'solutions salon' on Convergence in Diversity: how to turn the food movement into a force for social transformation. RSVP here. It's free, let's go!

The prompt: There are many different groups working to address food issues. How can we bring this diversity of groups together to be effective and successful in our common endeavors?

10/23/11

I love

I LOVE

Farm and Garden 2011 from Weston on Vimeo.

Farm cats, fresh fruit pies, fork and spade, field flowers, felcos, friends.

10/21/11

Outside Boutiques

VIDEO CLIP via kitchenkwento.com

Interviewed by Adobo Nation, featuring Miss Aileen (I miss you!) at the Farm & Garden. Hits and connects: health, culture, and economy as related to sustainable food systems.

Some related thoughts:

Granola, quinoa, amaranth.

Kale, arugula, chard.

Bread, butter, milk.

All things Whole Foods, organic, local, fair trade, and fancy.

Deep down inside, I can't relate.

All things unfamiliar and irrelevant.

Granola, sweet. Quinoa, kwinoh-ah. Amaranth..

Kale, so green. Arugula, bitter. Chard, cooks mushy.

Bread, keep it in the freezer. Butter, all fat. Milk, soy.

Why is the face of whole, organic, local, and fair trade food represented only by particular 'hippy food' ingredients like kale? And why are quality and healthy foods displayed as boutique, luxury goods? It's not like buying a Lexus over a Honda, luxury over economy. The cheaper economy car can work well, whereas the cheaper basket of strawberries laced with methyl iodide cannot. Buying quality food is more like buying a running car over a broken car. In my cynical way, I think the image of quality food has been hi-jacked (intentionally or not) by fancy marketing teams and fancy neighborhoods. They use light green earthy colors matched with birch wood panels and endearing chalked letters on blackboard. I love it and hate it. They package and commoditize the shit out of quality food to make it something more than it is. The cute storefront, the style, the fresh and amazing gourmet product - love it. The feel-good rhetoric, like I'm supposed to get a pat on the back for going into a natural foods store and purchasing chocolate that isn't produced with cacao picked by the hands of desperate mothers. Hate it.

Quality food, healthy lifestyles, and sustainable cultures should not be tied up in boutique stores situated on cute San Francisco street corners. Obesity, heart disease, and economic instability will never be saved by the boutique alone. Or by kale and quinoa alone. The face and representation of quality food and culture need to be multi-faceted and produced by an array of cultures and communities to address the suffering of lifestyle-related diseases by our parents, siblings, children, and friends. Okay?