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shadowkatWatching Carousel in the background - forgot what a dark musical that is. The darkest of the Rodgers and Hammerstein oeuvre. It's about a Carousel barker who falls in love with a lovely gal in New England. He gets killed and goes to heaven. And is sent back to help his daughter whose in trouble. But before that happens, he has to tell his story to the star keeper in heaven who is responsible sending him back. In the story, we learn that he was abusive to his pregnant wife, stole, and didn't really work. He comes back to help his daughter who was hurt much like he was and could go down his path. It's a disturbing musical...on a lot of levels, that I hadn't noticed before. I'm willing to bet that one out of three women have either experienced physical or emotional abuse from a boyfriend or father or husband or male boss/teacher etc. Two of my great-grandmothers - one on my father's side, and one on my mother's were beaten to death by their husbands (my great-grandfathers). At least two aunts were either emotionally or physically abused by theirs. And I've heard the excuses. They are all the same. Usually out of anger. Or their own fathers were like this. Or lack of control. I think it's about power mostly...and having none, so they struck out. But it does not excuse it.
Our media gives us mixed messages...as if we ourselves can't quite decide. Is it okay to use violence to resolve our problems? Is it ever okay? And if not, why do we feel compelled or satisfied when we see it resolved in this manner either in a video game or tv show or a film?
Also watched Life on tv this weekend...it's reassuring in that it shows violence exists in nature as well. Perhaps the desire to resolve issues with violence is in the DNA. It is deeply embedded in our genetic code. Animals kill, fight, and chase each other and other animals. Insects do as well. Nature is extraordinarily violent, yet beautiful in its violence, there's a grace to it that is difficult to describe. It reminds me of watching the Jerome Robbins dances from West Side Story, yet here we see the grace of the cheetah landing on the ostrich or the lizard grabbing a pray mantis with its tongue or a pair of birds doing a mating dance of joy across a pond.
Then there's the battle of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution - a British Reality Series that has been brought to the US. I remember the hubbub in the UK when he did it over there. Basically he's tackling the school lunch program - an issue that ex-PResident Clinton has attempted to change as well. So Oliver is not the first to attempt to change it. Not by a long shot. The on-going battle to change how American's eat has been going on for five years now. People are anything if not stubborn. Particularly about their eating habits. It took a nightmarish stay in an inner city emergency room to change mine. So I'm in no place to judge. Oliver makes it sound easy - but what he and Clinton did not realize is something I knew ages ago. Which is - it's about money. I ate horribly when I was unemployed because the food that cost the least - was processed, pre-packaged foods. Things like hot dogs, hot dog buns, KFC fried chicken, corn on the cob, crackers and peanut butter, popcorn, hamburger meat, pasta,
and bread. These are easy to make and cheap. If I ate out? I'd grab the dollar meal at McDonald's or from a vendor - which was a hotdog or a hamburger. Salad's cost $6-10.
On the reality series - they make the same point, the superintendent of the school and the woman in charge of the school lunch program tell Oliver that while his food looks great and the kids clearly like it, it is much more expensive than the processed foods they've been getting at a discount from their providers. They can't afford to buy and maintain fresh food in bulk and on a daily basis. Also they have to deal with the USDA which provides them with funding for the lunch program. USDA is the United States Department of Agriculture - whose first priority is not school kids, but agricultural companies and farmers. So yes, you have to have two breads at lunch - because that makes the wheat farmers happy, and meat - because that makes the cattle ranchers happy, and so on. My grandfather who had been a cattle rancher and trucker hated the USDA and the farm subsidies, he said it benefitted the wrong people and was corrupt. He hated big government. Used to have fights with my own father over the topic. He wasn't completely wrong about that. But I suspect it is more complicated than that. At any rate the USDA was originally set up to help farmers and eventually became about distribution of food. Here's a link for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture
So while Oliver has the right idea, he is fighting a difficult battle. Plus unlike England,
fighting this in the US is sort of akin to well going to England, Germany, France, Netherlands, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and Canada and convincing all of them to change their eating habits. I remember discussing with Europeans vacations to the US, this is before the internet, so it may not be the case anymore (at least I hope not). The conversation goes like this:
European: I'm going to the US for two weeks.
ME: cool, where?
European: We're planning on seeing all the big sites.
ME: Okay, which ones?
European: well, we're starting in NyC, then we are going to the Grand Canyon, then to Disney World, and finally to see Hollywood.
Me: Uh, are you flying everywhere?
European: No, we're driving.
ME: you realize that NYC and Hollywood are opposite sides of the country, right?
European: Of course - we've mapped it out, it'll just take maybe two -five days driving time, we'll stop by the Grand Canyon on the way and maybe see Yellowstone National Park.
Me: Uh...(I'm usually speechless at this point and have decided not to ask how they plan on fitting Disney World into the itenary)
The Grand Canyon - just so you know? Is about the size of Wales, all of Wales. The US is a huge country. I haven't seen all of it and I've traveled through quite a bit. It takes two days just to drive from NYC to South Carolina - and that's considered a short distance. And they are small states on the same coast. Plus every State has it's own laws and guidelines.
At any rate, to say Oliver's plan is ambitious is an understatement. NYC is having its own long-running and absurdly amusing battles on the topic. The latest? The NYC School Board admist much protesting banned home bake sales at school. PTA sponsored bake sales not during school hours were okay, but student run bake sales using home baked goods were banned. Nor were home-baked items allowed in the classroom. You could however bring pre-approved processed items such as salt free/low fat Fritos and low-fat/diet Pop Tarts. Meanwhile, they had managed to finally ban sodas from schools, but are struggling to get Snapple out the vending machines.
I'm not joking. This is real. The other fight is the ban on salt in restaurants. Table salt is permitted, but restaurants are no longer being permitted to use salt in preparing food.
Sigh. People bewilder me. Apparently mother nature did not deem it fit to give everyone common sense. And particularly not those of us who decide to become politicians.
Our media gives us mixed messages...as if we ourselves can't quite decide. Is it okay to use violence to resolve our problems? Is it ever okay? And if not, why do we feel compelled or satisfied when we see it resolved in this manner either in a video game or tv show or a film?
Also watched Life on tv this weekend...it's reassuring in that it shows violence exists in nature as well. Perhaps the desire to resolve issues with violence is in the DNA. It is deeply embedded in our genetic code. Animals kill, fight, and chase each other and other animals. Insects do as well. Nature is extraordinarily violent, yet beautiful in its violence, there's a grace to it that is difficult to describe. It reminds me of watching the Jerome Robbins dances from West Side Story, yet here we see the grace of the cheetah landing on the ostrich or the lizard grabbing a pray mantis with its tongue or a pair of birds doing a mating dance of joy across a pond.
Then there's the battle of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution - a British Reality Series that has been brought to the US. I remember the hubbub in the UK when he did it over there. Basically he's tackling the school lunch program - an issue that ex-PResident Clinton has attempted to change as well. So Oliver is not the first to attempt to change it. Not by a long shot. The on-going battle to change how American's eat has been going on for five years now. People are anything if not stubborn. Particularly about their eating habits. It took a nightmarish stay in an inner city emergency room to change mine. So I'm in no place to judge. Oliver makes it sound easy - but what he and Clinton did not realize is something I knew ages ago. Which is - it's about money. I ate horribly when I was unemployed because the food that cost the least - was processed, pre-packaged foods. Things like hot dogs, hot dog buns, KFC fried chicken, corn on the cob, crackers and peanut butter, popcorn, hamburger meat, pasta,
and bread. These are easy to make and cheap. If I ate out? I'd grab the dollar meal at McDonald's or from a vendor - which was a hotdog or a hamburger. Salad's cost $6-10.
On the reality series - they make the same point, the superintendent of the school and the woman in charge of the school lunch program tell Oliver that while his food looks great and the kids clearly like it, it is much more expensive than the processed foods they've been getting at a discount from their providers. They can't afford to buy and maintain fresh food in bulk and on a daily basis. Also they have to deal with the USDA which provides them with funding for the lunch program. USDA is the United States Department of Agriculture - whose first priority is not school kids, but agricultural companies and farmers. So yes, you have to have two breads at lunch - because that makes the wheat farmers happy, and meat - because that makes the cattle ranchers happy, and so on. My grandfather who had been a cattle rancher and trucker hated the USDA and the farm subsidies, he said it benefitted the wrong people and was corrupt. He hated big government. Used to have fights with my own father over the topic. He wasn't completely wrong about that. But I suspect it is more complicated than that. At any rate the USDA was originally set up to help farmers and eventually became about distribution of food. Here's a link for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture
So while Oliver has the right idea, he is fighting a difficult battle. Plus unlike England,
fighting this in the US is sort of akin to well going to England, Germany, France, Netherlands, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and Canada and convincing all of them to change their eating habits. I remember discussing with Europeans vacations to the US, this is before the internet, so it may not be the case anymore (at least I hope not). The conversation goes like this:
European: I'm going to the US for two weeks.
ME: cool, where?
European: We're planning on seeing all the big sites.
ME: Okay, which ones?
European: well, we're starting in NyC, then we are going to the Grand Canyon, then to Disney World, and finally to see Hollywood.
Me: Uh, are you flying everywhere?
European: No, we're driving.
ME: you realize that NYC and Hollywood are opposite sides of the country, right?
European: Of course - we've mapped it out, it'll just take maybe two -five days driving time, we'll stop by the Grand Canyon on the way and maybe see Yellowstone National Park.
Me: Uh...(I'm usually speechless at this point and have decided not to ask how they plan on fitting Disney World into the itenary)
The Grand Canyon - just so you know? Is about the size of Wales, all of Wales. The US is a huge country. I haven't seen all of it and I've traveled through quite a bit. It takes two days just to drive from NYC to South Carolina - and that's considered a short distance. And they are small states on the same coast. Plus every State has it's own laws and guidelines.
At any rate, to say Oliver's plan is ambitious is an understatement. NYC is having its own long-running and absurdly amusing battles on the topic. The latest? The NYC School Board admist much protesting banned home bake sales at school. PTA sponsored bake sales not during school hours were okay, but student run bake sales using home baked goods were banned. Nor were home-baked items allowed in the classroom. You could however bring pre-approved processed items such as salt free/low fat Fritos and low-fat/diet Pop Tarts. Meanwhile, they had managed to finally ban sodas from schools, but are struggling to get Snapple out the vending machines.
I'm not joking. This is real. The other fight is the ban on salt in restaurants. Table salt is permitted, but restaurants are no longer being permitted to use salt in preparing food.
Sigh. People bewilder me. Apparently mother nature did not deem it fit to give everyone common sense. And particularly not those of us who decide to become politicians.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-28 09:26 pm (UTC)Now Belgium is pretty urban, but even then we have a lot of small farms. I guess climate and soil wise we're pretty well off. Add to that a government that actually interferes a lot and well... farmers still complain about how they don't get enough money for their food, while consumers complain about how they have to pay too much*g* And both sides demand for the government to do something about it.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-28 11:39 pm (UTC)The middle states don't. They are farm states but their crops are for fuel (corn =ethanol) and food for livestock and cattle.
In Pennsylvania - which does have local farms but a high rate of unemployment, the farmers markets are pricey, fruit isn't that fresh, and the poverty level in some areas is astonishing. For many children - school is where they get their meals.
They don't get anything at home. And anything preferable to nothing.
People rely on fast food and cheap processed foods.
Each state in the US is different, with completely different needs and guidelines. Trying to tackle the US problem is a bit like Jamie Oliver tackling all of Europe. It's fascinating to watch...but it is ambitious in scope.