Generally, with the pollen count of a spring potpourri, expect to be sneezing your ass off. Or your head. Opposite and equal reactions being what they are.
I've got a lot of stuff on my brain this morning, so I'm going to type like a madman.
First, the continuing saga of the Duke U. men's lacrosse team. Just when it seems like we're all beginning to understand--even the people in places of privilege--that women (and the poor, and, well, pick your "Other") are people and deserve respect, along comes a scandal that simply beggars the imagination.
On to better news (though you might still be able to hear my teeth grinding). D and I bought a "half share" in Shadowbrook Farms, a local organic grower. You'd think that in Nebraska, there'd be a ton of these kinds of places. And you'd be thinking wrong. Not that I don't love you for it, you understand. It's still early, but they had some greenhouse greens: mixed salad greens, all the spinach you could care to handle (in our case, half a pound), and a half pound of arugula. Dinner last night was garlic and a peeled, squeezed tomato sauteed in a pat of butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil. To this I added some garlic/gorgonzola raviolis and then the arugula. Tender, mild baby arugula. It was a good dinner.
It's easy to think of places like organic farms as "eco." I ran across an article in Orion magazine about he ecology not only of cities but slums. Horrifiying, but something that needs to be thought about--and engaged. Makes me feel way beyond spoiled to be sitting in my comfy chair typing on my PowerBook. There's another article--one that's reserved for paying and/or print readers (so look for it at bookstores near you)--that's about the biology and psychology of why it might actually take a village to raise a child based on the social wiring of humans as great apes and why the nuclear family is a bad, bad idea. I'm not sure I'm with the researcher every step of the way, but the position--that we need extended groups of adults to raise healthy offspring--is intriguing.
I've got to get back to my own research now. Up next, Kate Rigby's article on ecopoeisis: "Earth, World, Text: On the (Im)Possibility of Poeisis." Colon in title, check. Wacky, unnecessary parentheses, check. But it's good stuff, though it makes me feel like I need to brush up on my Heidegger. Ach.
