Because it's never too cold for a MILKSHAKE

A short cold front brought in low-30-degree weather to greet me on my bike ride into work this morning, but not even that chill can take away my constant desire for milkshakes. And since it will be 80 again on Saturday, I want to start preparing. For inspiration and direction for a great homemade shake, check here:

http://www.culinate.com/columns/bacon/milkshakes

Systemic Failures of Late

I haven't done a good job of putting my thoughts into writing lately, but I did want to share a little of what's been going on in my head. Luckily, I found a blog entry that does a great job of focusing on some of the topics I have been really concerned about, and the interconnectedness of them all. The author breaks into the "left-wing/right-wing" talk that makes me uncomfortable because it allows people on both sides to shirk responsibility--when really we all are responsible for the current state of things--but the message, that something is broken and it has to do with the anti-intellectualism strategies of many people currently in positions of power and how this feeds American antipathy, really resonates with me--and I hope it will with you as well. So just ignore any of the polarizing language. Please.

Take a look:
http://civileats.com/2009/10/22/on-american-politics-the-food-crisis-and-broken-windows/#more-5362

And for proof that the American food system is broken, read this often-referenced post:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/
"...a 2,000-calorie diet would cost just $3.52 a day if it consisted of junk food, compared with $36.32 a day for a diet of low-energy dense foods."

The Obsolescence of Ownership

Shane Claiborne spoke of the requirement of “sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us” as one of the requirements to live as a Christian in the book School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of the New Monasticism, the first book my roommates and I are reading together. This deals with general worldly compassion as much as it does Christian faith, so please continue reading, everyone. In a few places, Claiborne really struck me with a profound and, quite frankly, commonsensical argument regarding sharing:

· “The more I’ve gotten to know rich folks, the more I am convinced that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that rich Christians do not know the poor.”

· “It is much more comfortable to de-personalize the poor so that we do not feel responsible for the catastrophic human failure that someone is on the street while people have spare bedrooms in their homes.”

· “Redistribution is not a prescription for community. Redistribution is a description of what happens when people fall in love with each other across class lines.”

All of this makes complete sense to me. When we truly understand the hardships people face on a daily basis, and when it connects effectively with our human understanding, we move beyond giving out of the goodness of our hearts or out of charity, because it is natural, organic, to share with a friend. For many people, the “poor” have moved beyond reality and into the realm of the hypothetical; re-personification of those hypotheticals can be powerful. I heard this in a child’s observation today during the Migrant Sunday worship service at Southside Presbyterian Church. When the pastor was discussing the suffering of migrants as they wander the desert, one of the boys spoke up and said something that really touched me because of the sincere concern as well as the true empathy it illustrated: “And if they are walking for a long time, they might be walking during their Birthday, and miss their Birthday.” For any child, this would be the height of injustice, and that recognition and awareness indicates compelling levels of affinity. Whether it is the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill…the marginalized societies of our world are best armed with their humanity, and when this ammunition is discovered by those with abundance, needs can no longer be ignored and healing efforts to comfort those societies become the instinctive reaction.

I want to make the argument, however, that it is not this disconnect that truly causes us to close our hearts to the abandoned people that make up most of this world, to search for more when we have more than enough, leaving millions with less. Maybe the real argument is against our understanding of ownership, that we think that because we have worked, and because we have received money in return for that work, and because we buy something with that money, that thing belongs to us and thus cannot belong to anyone else. When you think about it, doesn’t it just seem so arbitrary—that something should belong to you and not to someone else by virtue of an economic system? And how small, to think that anything can ever belong to anybody, that anything can be owned. What would that even mean, to be owned, to belong exclusively to something? It is oversimplification, and it runs our world, and it brings so much sorrow to those that illogically do not have the same amount of resources—and very rarely because they do not work as hard. Does creation enable ownership, does purchasing enable ownership, does claim enable ownership? And why? If there is enough of something in the world—which is true of food at the very least—what prevents it from going to those in need? How does that make sense? Why do we set so much stock in something that randomly benefits some and leaves others destitute? If you are one that follows the Bible, think about how manna would play a role in this. The only thing you owned was what you could actually use in one day. The rest was meaningless. Can that understanding be relevant for us now? Why or why not? Do we own something if we do not put it to use?

If not for an irrational and tightly held concept of ownership, would there be a need for discussions about sharing? I would say no. Can we all examine our perception of ownership—even just think about it, really consider if it makes sense to you. If it does, that’s fine. If it doesn’t, why not reexamine some of the things you own and see if anything could be effectively and beneficially redistributed. If I sound self-righteous, please know I wrote this as much for myself as for anyone.

Also, Claiborne’s actual message really was compelling, so let me know if you want to hear more about it. I’ll close with something Claiborne quotes in the chapter: “When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.”

As I am only two chapters in, I cannot attest to the quality of the whole book, but here it is: http://www.amazon.com/School-Conversion-Monasticism-Resources-Discipleship/dp/1597520551/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255332324&sr=8-1

Commuity Food Security Assessment

Here's an activity I found while sifting through some curriculum resources. I thought it would be fun for you all to examine food security issues in your own area; also a good way to introduce the concept of Food Security. This is from the Atlanta Community Food Bank web site (hence the mention of the MARTA): http://acfb.org/projects/hunger_101/curricula/

Assess your own communities’ food security by asking these questions:

Assessing Your Community’s Food Security: Determining the level of Food Security in one’s own community is a first step toward developing a Hunger-free community. Here is a partial list of the type of questions that need to be answered:

Access to Food: Access to healthy, safe and affordable food is an essential component of Food Security. Are there supermarkets within walking distance? Does a MARTA bus stop in front of the neighborhood supermarket? What percentage of local residents must rely on public transportation to either get to the store or to carry purchases home? Do local stores have a high rate of shopping cart loss due to shoppers’ need to carry groceries home? How does this affect the price of food in the store? What is the quality and freshness of products? Do local supermarkets employ local residents? Do residents rely on mom and pop and /or convenience stores for groceries? What is the selection and price of food at these stores? Do local stores accept Food Stamps/EBT/WIC vouchers? How does the quality, variety of price of groceries compare to other food vendors in the metro area?

Hunger and Nutrition: Hunger is hard to measure. Proxies are often used instead. For example, what is the area’s median household income? What percent of children in local schools receive free or reduced price breakfast and lunch? What percent of elderly persons receive subsidized Meals on Wheels? What percentage of income do residents pay for rent? How many people receive groceries from local food pantries? Is there a local community kitchen? How many local people receive Food Stamps? WIC? What is the rate of low birth weight babies in the community? Does the community’s hospital track rates of diet-related illnesses and diseases?

Resources: Take a look at existing resources. Are there community gardens? If not, is there vacant land available to turn into garden plots? Do Senior Centers serve breakfast and lunch to their guests? Are there any food cooperatives or buying clubs? Do local grocery stores and restaurants donate nonmarketed food to Food Banks or food pantry programs? What anti-hunger organizations operate in the community? Do local schools promote the free meal program to parents and students? Is there an organization that serves as a Summer Meal site for children?

Local Agriculture: Communities need a sustainable food supply to be Food Secure over time. What is the state of local farming? Have a high percentage of farmers in the state gone out of business lately? Has there been farmland loss? What is the median age of farmers? Are young people attracted to farming/agriculture as a career? Do high schools, technical colleges and universities provide agriculture classes, majors or training? What foods are grown regionally? Do residents support local farmers?

Policies: Government policies at all levels impact a community’s Food Security. Locally, how do land use, transportation needs, community development and environmental policies act as barriers or offer opportunities to enhance a community’s Food Security? Statewide, what kind of support does the Department of Education give to school meal programs? What is the state’s policy on access to Food Stamps for young families, legal immigrants and the elderly? Nationally, how do representatives in Congress or Senators vote on issues, which affect agriculture and hunger? Do they understand the level of Food Security in their districts?

How does your community stack up? Is this surprising to you at all?

Marketplace

The last few Thursdays, I have been helping Audra and Sara with the Santa Cruz Farmers' Market affiliated with the Community Food Bank (it is one of three that we run). Our stand at the market sells food grown in our garden as well as consigned food-- we sell vegetables grown by local farmers that do not produce enough to have their own stand, and we give the farmers most of the profit. Farmers receive 50-100 percent of the profit when you buy at a Farmers' Market, as opposed to the 20 percent farmers receive for food sold at a grocery store. Last Thursday I entertained children attending the market by helping them grow lettuce heads-- we drew faces on solo cups and planted lettuce inside, the idea being that the lettuce would grow out of the top and look like hair. This week our stand was next to the musicians, and Audra and I sang along to a few of the old hippie songs they were playing (both of these I hope illustrate the kind of community building we try to encourage). The market is on the west side of town, providing more access to nutritional options for shoppers in that neighborhood. We also accept WIC dollars, making it more feasible for low-income shoppers. I am always overjoyed to be a part of this experience, enough to put up with lugging out heavy tents every week and getting filthy because of the dust that covers every surface out here in Tucson. It is precisely because when I'm there, I feel very much a part of community. I adamantly believe it is the best place to spend a Thursday evening, especially as the air is getting cooler (80s!) and the sun sinks earlier.

When I found the following article, I was having trouble placing my disagreement. Take a minute to read it:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/are-farmers-markets-that-good-for-us/?scp=7&sq=farmer&st=cse

Of course, there is the obvious answer: I disagree because I am involved in a Farmers' Market and would like to believe my efforts are not futile. It came to me today, though, that the weakness of this argument is that I think we would all much prefer to dispute with another human being than a corporate food machine. I think we can count on getting more accountability from a local farmer than from a corporation, armed with expensive lawyers and lobbyists. And who ever said dispute is a bad thing? Maybe it allows for greater competition, thus decreasing prices. Wouldn't the Farmers' Market be the Blog of the food world, contributing to the Marketplace of Ideas (new ideas of food origination, new kinds of food) while breaking down the barriers of expensive capital needed to support larger economic undertakings (traditional news sources in the communication realm, supermarkets in the food realm)? Maybe that metaphor is a bit of a reach. I just wanted to defend the idea of the Farmers' Market based on my own experience, and I invite you all to try one out for yourselves and leave a comment letting me know what you think-- does McWilliams have it right? Are there benefits and drawbacks of the Farmers' Market model?

Nuestra Tierra

After working in the on-site Classroom garden at the Food Bank for the last few days, I took some great pictures to share with you. Enjoy!

I am working in the Community Food Resource Center, which targets long-term food insecurity by teaching and enabling residents to grow their own food. To this end, the Food Bank has created the Nuestra Tierra classroom garden to show people how to efficiently grow vegetables.

Vegetables such as the eggplant, okra and squash pictured above are also sold at the Food Bank-sponsored Farmer's Market on Thursday nights. My co-worker Audra helps local small farmers consign their veggies at the market to supplement what we can grow. In this way, the Food Bank helps residents grow what they need and sell what they don't.

Staff at the Food Bank support local growers with tons of different workshops to help get a garden started.

With the Home Garden program, the Food Bank really facilitates growing throughout the community. A family that meets a few stipulations can get free seeds, compost and even sprouts of vegetables that can be transplanted into their own garden. We start growing these in our greenhouse, and people can come by and get them when they are ready for transplanting.

Lately, I have been watering plants, taking care of chickens, digging beds and doing renovations to the greenhouse. Take a look at the Food Bank's web site for more information-- the Community Food Resource Center is doing really great things!

What can you grow in rock?

“What can you grow in rock?” Carlos asked his teacher, Mr. Perales, kicking around the dust and stones that make up the soil of the winding garden behind his school. Today was my first day at my job with the Community Food Bank, and my supervisor, Amanda, brought me along to a meeting at a local high school. I get really excited when teachers understand that students are capable of understanding complex concepts and put forth high expectations for comprehension and application of these concepts, so this meeting was really inspiring to me. To have the opportunity to support such forward-thinking educators generates such a powerful feeling of triumph for me.

Mr. Perales had big plans for his sophomore and senior students for the year, based on a grant he had recently received, and wanted to talk to Amanda about possible lines of intersection. The course would begin with an examination of social inequalities, specifically on the impact the current food system has had in creating such inequalities. America’s obsession with specialization has produced an environment in which about 2% of our population grows the food eaten by the rest of the 98%, which has resulted in a vast number of families facing food insecurity. Can you imagine being the head of a household and not being able to properly feed your children? What manifold psychological and emotional implications that must have.

Here are the problems, now what are we going to do about it? That will be Mr. Perales’ approach to this class. Armed with an overview of anthropological research methods, students will be tasked with investigating the sustainability of their own neighborhoods. How many gardens are there? How many people are dealing with hunger? The students would then develop a student-driven plan of action to address the needs discovered within their communities. This is where the food bank would come into play, because Mr. Perales wanted to bring in experts to show students what could be done in their own neighborhoods. He had plans for his students to visit farms around town, take composting workshops, and gain an understanding for what can be grown in rock, and how it could be accomplished. This information would be used to develop their own school garden, with the intended eventual result of a neighborhood seed bank, providing for the community the resources to meet nutrition needs locally.

Beyond the paper curriculum, however, Mr. Perales espoused his further-flung desires to make his students marketable by helping them to become not just builders, but rebuilders; not just landscapers, but garden designers. Through his dynamic course structure, he wanted to have his students examine how working class folks fit into the environmental movement, in turn building up knowledge and skills in gardening and green energy in preparation for entering a work force increasingly in need of such expertise. He envisioned a kind of Green certification program, something that his students could present when applying for Green jobs to show an understanding of the theory and practical abilities that would make them invaluable to the field of employment.

In the desert, a planter has a lot to consider to make a garden successful. Water catchments, sunken plots to retain the little water that comes in, composting for supplementary soil better fitting a garden than the dust that covers the ground, plants that can survive the various conditions that can differ even by placement within the garden… all of these a planter must study up on, take advice from other farmers about, and put into action. Just as the seemingly impossible task of growing food in the desert can be made feasible with the necessary commitment and willingness to learn, so can the daunting task of resolving hunger issues in the United States be confronted through appropriate action.

By assisting in the Community Food Bank’s school gardening program, I feel like I have the opportunity to open the eyes of so many students to the realities of food insecurity in their own neighborhoods and make them aware of the myriad ways they can help create a sustainable, beneficial solution to hunger. Mr. Perales is planting seeds of thought, of consideration for the reasons why social inequalities exist. He is sharing with his students information about community efforts to confront these problems, helping students find the most effective programs for helping the community just like a planter would choose the crops with the best chance of surviving the local conditions. A planter might then build a compost pit and add to it daily, creating a sustainable source of nutrient-rich soil to add to the garden to ensure continued success. In the same way, Mr. Perales is giving his students environmental skills to cultivate continued momentum in the Green direction.

Things can be grown in the desert if we put in the work to discover effective, sustainable methods. We can work to eradicate social injustice in the same way.

No longer going lightly

I wanted to take a minute to explain the significance of the name of this Blog.

Holly Golightly is the main character in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, memorably played by Audrey Hepburn in 1961. This is one of my favorite movies. Holly lived a frivolous life full of parties and excess, always chasing happiness and fooling most people that she was content. At the end of the movie, sad and lonely, she realizes that the two things that truly make her happy and loved are her pet cat and her best friend, Paul.

The last two years in Boston I was lost. Working at a job that was not spiritually fulfilling, I spent money I did not have and tried to become more like the people around me; happiness was elusive. By moving to Tucson and becoming a part of the PC-USA Young Adult Volunteer program, I am claiming as my own the things that truly make me joyous-- God, a community of faith, a lifestyle driven by social and environmental consciousness, and work targeted at educating children in an engaging and well-rounded way.

Extravagance rarely feeds our souls. This year I will be stripping away the extravagance and holding onto what I know is fulfilling to me.

Also, the Desert Holly is a flower found in the Sonoran desert, where Tucson is located:

Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime

Hiking through the rocks that sometimes serve as a riverbed through a remote canyon, the abandoned socks, shoes, backpacks and empty bottles that I passed all represented to me a person in pain. Each belonged to a person struggling through rugged terrain in hopes of reaching the U.S. in safety. Along with coordinators and other volunteers, I hiked into the desert to drop six gallons of water along a path commonly walked by migrants. I fell in love with the desert, and am so grateful to have encountered its scenery—green, and spattered with flowers, no two the same color—but I came prepared and stayed for only a few hours. My sunburnt shoulders attest to the dangers of even a day trip. Thinking about those who make the journey through the harsh Sonoran desert to escape the problems at home, it is hard to imagine just this gallon of water will offer any relief—but I hope it does.

Sitting around with coordinators of No More Deaths the night before, I heard stories about families making this journey and facing the frightening decision of leaving a brother behind because he had blisters on his feet and could not continue along the exodus. In my mind, each article left behind symbolized a cousin or friend that was exhausted from heat and lack of water, dying alone and despondent in the desert that is at once both magnificent and fierce.

One story I heard was about a family who had left behind a brother named Jesus. Upon reaching their destination, family sent word back that Jesus could not walk any farther and had been left by a body of water. Volunteers went looking for him and dropped water jugs as usual, but did not find Jesus. A few weeks later, a man came into camp holding one of the jugs that had been deposited during the search. He had been ready to give up, he couldn't go on, when he found the water jug. What an inspiration-- the volunteers had failed in rescuing Jesus, but were able to help this man instead.

We hiked out a little more than half a mile to visit a migrant shrine. Flanking a small rock cutout were nearly 50 lamenated Saints cards, each with a prayer on the back. Rosaries and candles hung or rested nearby as well. I shivered, thinking of those who had become like shadow people, moving through the night in desperate search of deliverance, holding onto the faith that God is with them even then. My prayers have never been as profound as those that must have gone up to the heavens from this spot.

I am not very knowledgeable about the contentious issues and challenges surrounding immigration into the United States. I have no founding on which to base an opinion on right or wrong regarding the tactics for dealing with Latin Americans attempting to enter the country through the border south of my new home; but I do know that my heart and my faith lead me to believe that I am charged with easing pain in the world whenever I see it.

In all the heated back and forth among protestors or congress members about what is the correct course of action along the border, what gets lost is the suffering of the immigrant found dead by the side of the road near a ranch. While talking heads have hypothetical conversations, real people die in droves. As I continue my self-education on border issues, there may come a day when I come down on one side of the fence or the other. It is important to keep in mind that I am privileged to deal in the abstract when it comes to this question. For many men, women and children, the reality is death, and I think that all too often is forgotten.

We are all called to be good Samaritans, regardless of our judgments of one another.

For those of you interested in learning more about No More Deaths

Please visit www.normoredeaths.org.

From the web site: A morally intolerable situation inspired a remarkable humanitarian movement inSouthern Arizona in the spring of 2004. Driven by economic inequality, thwarted by ill-conceived US border policy, and ignorant of the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert, more than 2,000 men, women, and children have died trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States since 1998. Most of the deaths occurred in the brutal heat of the summer months. With another summer of inevitable deaths looming, diverse faith-based and social activist groups—along with concerned individuals—felt compelled to act to stem the death tide and attempt to save at least some lives. The result was the converging of hundreds of volunteers—local, regional and national—who came together to work for one common goal: No Más Muertes: No More Deaths.