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?