Wednesday, November 26, 2003
gotta get this off my chest
i've been working down in the produce department this week, because it's all-hand's-on-deck in the days before thanksgiving.
grocery stores sell enough in just these three days to make this entire week the biggest of the year.
as a result, the amateurs and professional chefs alike come crawling out of the woodwork, march ark-like two-by-two into
our store, and thus you could get a full year's worth of produce training in one day if such things mattered to you.
so, after 9 years of working these holiday weeks, i bring you:
Barth's Favorite Questions Asked In the Produce Aisle the Week before Thanksgiving:
10. What's the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?
9. What's the best potato to use for mashed potatoes?
8. What's the difference between organic and conventional?
6. Has the USDA degraded the organic standards since creating the NOP?
5. I'm making a cherry and satsuma reduction for use with a spiral-cut ham. Should I use the gold or the red shallots?
4. Should I use fresh peppermint or fresh spearmint in my mojitos?
3. Do you have celery?
2. How late are you open on Thursday?
...and, no lie....
1. I've never bought garlic before. (Holding up a scallion). Is this garlic?
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
college of the damned, part 2
ok. it's my busiest week of the year. can't talk long. but allen finally came through for me on the name of the
freaky school. also, below is a link to the freaky school's web site. there's more, but it will have to wait until i come
back from WI next week.
Hostlery of the Free Tyro
happy thanksgiving, all you magnificent freaks!
barth as prince
link
Saturday, November 22, 2003
boy. when CNN headlines read like Onion headlines, to quote the good doctor, you know the Weird have turned Pro:
and luckily we have CNN on the scene, asking the tough questions:
"HEMMER: How do they know that -- the donkey aspect of this attack?
"ARRAF: For several reasons. One is they actually found the cart and the donkey nearby, sadly, just near this
hotel. That donkey was in relatively bad shape. Shell-shocked and singed."
expect a cruise-missile attack on all iraqi donkey farms tomorrow at dawn...
Thursday, November 20, 2003
this might be helpful:
from there jump over to very funny writer j. robert lennon's website and read the symposium on his work.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
college of the damned
so this really, really, REALLY weird thing just happened to me.
ok. so. i was in a research hole last week, right? you know the kind. you're stuck half-way through an early draft of a story,
and you can't get out until you claw yourself out in a library or interview someone who knows their shit or you finally go
visit the city where you've set your masterpiece. google won't save you. you gotta dig.
i've been in the third category for a while now. i have this tarot story that has a rag-tag new age university in it, and
until now i've pieced it together from a therapy center i used to visit in my early twenties and various drum-circles, shyster
shamanic dreamquest workshops and wiccan retreat centers in the outskirts of madison when i lived there. really, when you've
seen one of these places, you've seen, well, one too many. but what i needed was to see something less diffuse, well-intentioned,
and something a bit more cult-like with a dash of crowley about it.
ask and ye shall receive.
anyway i have this friend i work with who goes to the university of minnesota and he was telling me about this place down
in that part of town that has a pretty sinister reputation among students in the know. according to my friend allen (not alan
but allen), it has bopped around for over a century in the east bank/nordeast part of minneapolis (which i used to refer to
as "st paul" – but then, as kristin can attest, i used to think that anywhere in the twin cities where i didn't
live was called st paul). apparently, in the mid-1800's, this school was originally a catholic mission that worked with the
natives in the wilds of minneapolis. then, after a big push of immigrants from back east, it became a women's trade school,
one of the first in minnesota, then as the area became a boom town of weirdness, it dropped the religious affiliation and
began a slow descent into murky branches of "education" including phrenology (!), reading peoples auras, and the
like. and i guess it's still around. it became this whole thing on the U campus a few years ago, i guess, to take classes
at this place, but i'd never heard of it before.
so anyway, i worked with allen today, so i finally pin him down to give me the contact info for this school. he doesn't remember
the name of it, but he says he can get it for me (and believe me, after he tells me everything that i've just told you, i'm
rabid for it). so i forcibly compel allen to punch out and call his roommate's cell, but his roommate is in class and can't
talk, and besides, we learn, he doesn't know the name of the place either. allen browbeats his roommate until he asks another
guy ("tigh" or "tye") in the same class who took a workshop there on "indian magic", and he
gets the phone number from tigh, but not the name. gah! well, at least i have the number. so i decide, what the hell, i'll
just call. so i dial the number and i get this hold message that is like an answering machine for salvador dali on mushrooms
(i've called back several times, and i still can't tell what the dude is saying…."a powerful reflection of milk toast"
or "a powerful confection to riposte" - i dunno) and with what is either bagpipes or french horn music and women
singing in power-drill falsettos in the background. after a few seconds of this, a woman answers, totally exasperated, "yes?
yes? can i help you?"
i play dumb. "i'm sorry. maybe i have the wrong number…?" going up at the end of the sentence? like that? cueing
her to tell me who i've called?
but she just repeats the number back to me. doh.
i try again. "hmmm…i was trying to reach the wedge co-op," i tell her, giving her the name of my store. "is
this the wedge?"
but i'm a stupid product of a previous era of technology. the woman has the drop on me. "YOU'RE calling me from the wedge
co-op." caller ID! curses! she's totally on to me now, and for whatever reason, she is FREAKING OUT. "who is this?
who is this? who are you?"
i'm back pedaling like mad and i don't even know why. "look, it was an innocent mistake. i just wanted to know the name
of your business, so i called -"
"so you LIED? why would you lie? what possible reason?" she starts flying into this rage that all my stammering
of the word "ma'am" won't put an end to. "we run a perfectly legitimate business here!" she says. "are
you a reporter? are you calling about the disappearance? we don't have time for this! we don't have the resources for this!"
well well well…..i am ALL over this…the "disappearance"??? reporters?? "ma'am, i just wanted the name of your
business! i'm interested in taking a class!"
but she hangs up on me and i'm just staring at allen like i got hit with a board. and allen says, "i tooooold you this
was what you're looking for!"
like i said, i called back a bunch of times (from home and the wedge), but now all i get is the bizarre hold music from another
world and then the answering machine tone.
so do any of you minnesotans or former gophers know the school i'm talking about here? anybody got a name for me? email me.
i've got a call into allen's roommate's friend to get some more dirt on this place, but he's not calling me back right this
very minute, which really pisses me off. so someone, please help me out! i'm looking for a miracle!
link
enter the
meatrix...take the red pill....
yeah, it's a hokey presentation but watch it if you have a few minutes (and i know you do if you're reading this). all
the info is dead-on, flat-out accurate, and it gets the point across without showing the real horror on these
farms, which is too horrible to behold (i know. i've beheld them).
this isn't an anti-meat message from me. i'm a dedicated carnivore. but i'm lucky enough to shop (and work) at a grocery
where the conscientious meat buyers actually visit the farms from whom they buy, examine the animal pens, interview the farmers
about their practices, etc. if you buy meat meat from a corporate grocery, it's almost a fix that you're getting factory farm
product.
that is all. now. count the happy sheep, and...go back...to sleep...
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
power-drunk produce-boy
i attended my first meeting as a member of the governor's organic advisory task force (OATF) yesterday. i was pretty nervous.
most of the time i approach such invitations not as the true honor they are (i'll freak out if do that!) but as an opportunity
to hang out with people who have the same interests i do.
but this was totally different. the OATF is a collection of the business and policy heads of MN's organic industry, flanked
by the commissioner of the MDA (minnestoa department of ag), various USDA and MDA officials, lawyers, professors. same interests,
sure, but these were freakin Grown Ups, man.
and then there's me - a doofus SF writer whose day-job shoved him ass-backwards into a position of advising the governor on
public farm policy. talk about speculative fiction.
as you might guess, it wasn't nearly as bad as i make it out to be. i went assuming that i would just watch, learn, and open
my mouth some time late in 2005. but the fact is, the OATF has put a priority on making it easier for grocery stores to become
certified organic in minnesota. and, well, my store was the first in minnesota to accomplish this so i simply couldn't hang
back. one thing leads to another and pretty soon, i'm bullshitting and brainstorming with the more tenured members of the
board. and the ideas were really flowing: hotlines and education for organic famers, handlers, and retailers. more aggressive
networking to get organic farmers hooked up with interested buyers (farmers are notoriously bad at marketing themselves).
organic food for school lunches. it was similar to talking smack with folks at the store about organic issues, BSing and going
"wouldn't it be great if....?" only now, i was surrounded by people who could make these things happen.
the OATF doesn't have any power per se. it's just an advisory board. and it's important for me to remember that MN has a service-cutting
governor right now, so we could conjure a billion swell ideas, and the money might not be there.
still. it was so cool to take part in a discussion with governmental and business leaders whose stated purpose is to create
a positive business environment for small, organic farms and the families who put their economic asses on the line for our
meals.
that's such a high for me that i can barely put it in words.
link
Sunday, November 16, 2003
how it works
wife and boy sleep 10-11 hours a night. i sleep only 7. that's 3-4 hours of book time lately for me and my writing companion,
the cat. that means, for the record (are we being recorded??), that the cat and i finished typing out another chapter
of the tarot/mississippi headwaters/dumpster diver book today.
link
Saturday, November 15, 2003
express yourself.
one more thing about
the repetition in zine tables of contents, and then i want to get back to oohing and aahing over my kid, charting the demise of the bush administration, and arching
my eyebrow at weird food news.
i want to draw a distinction that i failed to define in my original post. while i threw Polyphony and Strange Horizons
into the stew, really, they have different economic goals from zines and shouldn't be compared. Polyphony has to
have familiar, popular names in its TOC in order to sell the publication. since it's run as a non-profit, this is less true
of Strange Horizons but they do have economic realities to consider. by that same token, they can't afford to appear repetitious,
either, but familiarity and popularity sell product. and that's just the way it is.
but zines are another economic matter. sure, when you set-up your first TOC, you include all your friends or yourself
(as in Rabid Transit #1). it's a promotional, perhaps. but after that, the question becomes "what are you in this for?" it
ain't money, obviously. if you simply break even, then you're doing your job. so what is it? why publish a zine? are you just
self-promoting, or trying to turn people on to your own peculiar tastes? do you have your own peculiar tastes? are
you following suit because everybody's publishing zines? that's okay. you can. and should! but you still have to decide why
you do this in order to create a TOC that reflects you.
gavin grant challenged a room full of people at wiscon two years ago (i was not there, but i felt the tremor in the force)
to start their own zines, and i credit his speech with sparking the current zine trend. but if we get ten new zines in
the next year, and they include the same writers being milled in the current zine-scene, or worse, mere repetitions of what
Polyphony and Strange Horizons are developing, then i don't think zines will really be fulfilling their potential function,
as alan deniro might call it, as "The R & D Department" of the genre. zines should be R&Ding new names for the
small presses (not the other way around), and the small presses should be R&Ding these writers for bigger markets.
so consider my comments as an afterthought to gavin's exhortation to start your own zine. yes, do it! join the pagemaker
revolution! but make it part of your game to find writers, voices, styles, fictions, whatevah, that no one else has found
yet. be aware of what other zines and the small presses are filling their TOCs with, and load your pages with something
else.
Friday, November 14, 2003
cavendish-obsessed hoardes
what fruit will we hold up to our ears and say "hello" into? how will slapstick comedians fall down?
once upon a time, these hills ran yellow with their mighty numbers! will you mourn, when the noble
banana has been hunted to extinction?
his highness speaks
I can't wait no more, no
Let's have a baby
What are we livin' 4? Tell me
Let's make love, let's make love
So long have I gazed into your eyes
Wonderin' what they'd look like on a newborn child
I cannot lie when my hand
is on your thighs
I'm thinking, isn't it a miracle that life comes from inside.
So long I have listened 2 your voice
Wonderin'
what it would sound like coming from a girl or a boy
Isn't it funny that when U're truly in love
How just the thought
of such things can bring U so much joy?
And I can't wait no more, oh no
Let's have a baby
Oh girl, come and shut the door, go on, shut it
Let's make love
U
wanna make love?
I'm leaving it up 2 U
I'll do what U want 2 do
But U got 2 understand
U're my woman and I'm your man
I can't
even go 4 a ride
Believe me, honey, I've tried
Without thinking about a little baby
A baby sittin' right by my side
And
if anybody in the whole wide world
Ever thought that they could do that 4 me
They are one mistaken girl
Cuz baby,
U got me, U got me open, yes U do
And we're doing just fine
If U really love me, baby
If U can find the time
I can't wait no more
Let's have a baby
Don't U wanna?
What are we livin' 4? Tell me, tell me
Let's have a baby
Come
on, come on and shut the door, girl
U know what I wanna do
Let's.. let's make love
© 1996 Emancipation Music - ASCAP
link
Thursday, November 13, 2003
back to the US steel tariffs. there's no overstating how important this issue is. it's running to the core of what the
bush administration believes economically and how they secured power after losing the popular vote. the results of what bush
decides to do in the face of the WTO ruling will ripple forward to 2004 and beyond. from CNN:
They endeared the Republican president to traditionally Democratic steelworkers in states such as Pennsylvania,
Ohio and West Virginia. Exacerbated by a slumping economy, however, the tariffs have angered owners and employees of small
manufacturing companies who comprise part of the president's GOP base in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They contend the
tariffs have driven up steel prices and forced small manufacturing businesses to close.
Collectively, all those states rank high on Bush's must-have list, accounting for almost one-third of
the 270 electoral votes he needs to win back the White House.
it's hard to figure what bush thinks he'll get out of this maneuver. my guess is that, last year when he announced the
tariffs, he believed his cure-all tax cuts would have off-set any economic hardships caused by the steel tariffs. but the
economy is still in the tank. and now it looks like the tariffs might be responsible for impeding job growth, to say nothing
of what impact the looming EU sanctions against US agriculture will have.
bush rolled to power on big biz, and that means touting the free-trade mantra or drowning. these tariffs might wind up
being the equivalent to bush sr's tax hike after the "read my lips no new taxes" pledge: a hypocritical maneuver that undermines
his whole presidency.
my guess is he'll back off now and hope that US big business forgets that he ever betrayed the free-trade doctrine.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
the postage-stamp frontier
sometimes i feel like this new-weird/interstitial/ratbastard/whatevah movement is like that land rush in oklahoma, when
the US opened the last frontier and a thousand dudes on horses gallopped into the "wild" to stake their claim on the last
piece of unclaimed land in the continental US.
out here in the shrunken frontier (where plenty of writers have explored before, mind you - the voyageurs and fur traders
of our lil anology), we're all keenly aware of our fellow claimsmen's pursuits. i pick up a small zine or chapbook, or even
examine an online publication and the same several names (mine included) are getting mentioned, published, and generally buzzed
about, over and over and over again, until it's practically all one name: barthandersonjaylakemichaeljasperjenreesealandenironickmamatastimprattetcetcetc.
this frontier ought to be a realm of expansiveness, where we open the terrain to anyone who wants to rush in. instead,
it's getting a little claustrophobic.
scanning over Flytrap's stories, which i read in order, i felt grateful to see names not usually placed in the current,
small publications boom. VERY VERY cool to read styles that i hadn't seen in other stretches of our frontier. jen larsen,
gabriel edson, and susan groppi, to be specific. the rest of the TOC is sort of the usual suspects (see above), a table
of contents that might have been polyphony, the ratbastards first chapbook, intracities, and the first couple issues
of Say...
don't get me wrong. Flytrap is a cut above. It's a beautiful zine, and i applaud the distinct ear that
pratt and shaw have for the rhythms of prose and poetry appearing here (the jen larsen story in particular had the hook of
a genre piece but a poetic grace that really knocked me back in my chair). but i would exhort them, and all other DIY
zine editors out there who might be putting together a table of contents to be debuted in the next year, to cast your net
wider. a LOT wider. much as i would like you to accept my story when i send it to you, consider publishing the writer whom
your readers (i.e., your fellow writers) haven't read yet. jay lake is not going to sell your zine. neither is the word "ratbastard."
indeed, forget about "selling" altogether. you're publishing a zine, not a Harper-Collins anthology. dare to create a
TOC that answers (d) none of the above.
for my money, the frontier, the interstitial frontier, won't necessarily be defined by names we now recognize. it might
be hewn by editors capable of seeking out writers who now stand apart from these familiar tables of contents, writers who
either don't know how dynamic and exciting this zine movement is, and need a bit of coaxing into submitting, or whose voices
might be getting drowned out in the din of self-promotion on message boards and at convention dealer tables.
so click down to the Flytrap link below and buy it. read it, then give your copy to a writer who might actually consider
submitting to one of the new small pubs due out in the next year. let's fan out and be generous, inviting, expansive, and
turn this zine movement into a potlach of eclectic voices.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
"WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Striking a blow against President Bush and the U.S. steel industry, an appellate panel of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) ruled Monday that U.S. tariffs on imported steel are illegal."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4204968.html
even tim blair of fox friggin news reported last year that bush's steel tariffs were a bad idea. for every vote bush gains
in west virginia or pennsylvania, he'll shed two in michigan and indiana. and while that texas-cowboy swagger might have worked
against european "chocolate makers" before the iraq invasion, it won't wash when the EU looks like the pure free
trader.
the problem that bush is not digesting is that tariffs pit steel producers against manufacturers. a rally here in the twin
cities got split down the middle and downright ugly between ford plant workers and steel union guys from up in the iron range
(northern minnesota where huge deposits of ore sit). and while my own political hero, the late paul wellstone, advocated steel
tariffs on behalf of da iron range (cut him some slack, it was an election year), i don't think he would have supported tariffs
in the face of EU retalliation against US agriculture.
and that's what's about to happen. wonder how gee dubya will fair in the midwest next election if EU says they don't want
our stinky (genetically modified) wheat and corn any ol' way.
link
a breakthrough day
a) isaiah finally let me feed him a bottle. this sounds far simpler that it really was. after days and days of the kid
refusing anything to do with cold plastic (who can blame him?), he took to it with greed and emptied two 4 oz bottle in rapid
succession (drinks like daddy used to!). there was a moment of gagging, sputtering, wincing-papa-guilt, more sputtering, and
then the Big Glug.
b) dave and rachel, the patron saints of me, loaned us a car while ours is, well, practically dead (makes it sound like
a zombie). being carless with a kid sucks with a capital K. thanks, d undt r!
c) my comp copies of
Flytrap arrived. stylish, nice photos, clean lay out, an eclectic reviews section. can't wait to feast on the meat.
Sunday, November 9, 2003
land of the "free"
be very careful what you choose to sing to your new baby.
when isaiah was first born, he had a couple rough nights where he needed us (as in, me) to walk him about in order to
get him back to sleep. i'm lucky though. i discovered early that isaiah really likes my voice, and lisa confirms this, saying
that he recognizes my voice from before birth. during the ratbastard reading at wiscon last year, she said the baby kicked
through alan's and kristin's readings, then went quiet when daddy read. how cool is that?
well, whether lisa's fetus fantasy is real or not, isaiah definitely calms down and smiles like crazy when i sing to
him. which is a high, since i'm not a singer, and i've never had anyone fall in love with my singing with such total
abandon the way iko does. so to lure the kid out of these midnight crying jags, i started mining
all the songs i knew by heart. beatles were particularly good, especially lennon's songs, since he stays within a range that
i can handle, and most of them are very fairy tale and lullaby-like ("altogether now" and "yellow submarine" were hits on
the iko chart, though "oh darling," a mccartnety tune, is one of isaiah's faves). by the way, comrade parents, motown has
released a line of kids board-books with old motown lyrics printed in them. it's really amazing how well those old love songs
translate into songs for your beloved baby.
well, one night, isaiah was having a really really hard time - he was a touch collicky, which is short-hand for "screaming
his bloody brains out" - and he ran me through my whole repertoire. nothing worked. all my beatles were exhausted. so
were the B-52's. bob marley. devo (isaiah and i like "are we not men?"). "white rabbit" by jefferson airplane. everything.
finally, in desperation, i made my fatal error.
it was almost dawn ok? i was like an extra in "night of the living dead" shambling back and forth in my apartment. so
i did it. i had to. i hauled out the last song that i knew by heart: "the star spangled banner." sure, i regret poisoning
his baby mind with a war story. but look, because of the long, open vowels and me laughing at the absolute absurdity of this
scene - me in my boxers singing the national anthem to a baby in the pit of night - isaiah stopped crying. and he started
smiling. so i sang it again. it totally distracted him! and (here's the key truth) his eyes would pool lovingly like they
did for his mom but never had for me. so i sang it a third time. then, a fourth pass through. soon he and i were both laughing
almost hysterically, especially at the part where i sing "land of the freeeeaks!" and hit the octave shift in a manic falsetto.
yes yes. very cute indeed. but it's been three months now and i'm still singing the stinking national anthem!
i swear, i'm going to be hauled away and thrown in a halfway house where i'll rock myself to sleep sing it over and over!
stop? stop?? stop you say? you must not be a dad, if you say such a ridiculous thing. i have no "choice". there's
no "free will" at play here. he laughs! that's all there is to it. i'm a helpless imbecile when he laughs at my jokes,
even the ones i repeat daily, for weeks on end, and so i will continue singing that stupid, unsingable song (whose lyrics contain
the WORST run-on sentence in english) until i finally bore the poor kid to death. maybe that will be tomorrow or maybe
he'll be eighteen. whatever. cue the band. everyone!
"oh-oh say...can...you...seeeeee?"
this pic was taken right at "banner yet wave." look at this face and tell me you wouldn't sing whatever freaking song
this damn baby wanted you to sing...
.
Saturday, November 8, 2003
nobody asked , but...
it's too hard to pronounce, and it defies an easy explanation.
coincidentally, this is exactly what i used to tell my parents when they asked what i'd been *up* to till 3 AM.
thengyouthengyouthengyouthengyouveddymuch!!! i'm outa here. the strippers are up next...
Friday, November 7, 2003
a nickname is born
at lisa's 5 month mark, i had this dream where i was watching an autopsey being conducted on reese witherspoon. dead reese
witherspoon was on a gurney in a big, tiled room with an indoor swimming pool nearby. the doctor (or maybe it was me) took
a box-cutter and cut reese witherspoon from her chin down to her crotch. as soon as the skin divided, this wet, brown shit-covered
thing emerged - kind of like an internal organ spilling out of poor, disemboweled reese witherspoon. this shit-covered thing
flopped out of reese witherspoon, and i backed away from the gurney because the shit-thing was enormous and terrifying and
it was MOVING. it flopped toward me and lifted its head and when it looked at me with big, brown eyes, i realized it was a
gigantic, shit-covered seal.
the shit-seal came shimmying toward me in that undulating seal-movement, very fast, brown eyes on me at all times, and though
i tried to put the swimming pool between me and it, the shit-seal could swim and kept coming after me.
there's no climax to this dream. i think i spent the rest of it dodging that damn shit-seal.
it's one of those dreams where you wake up shaking your head and going, "gad! must my subconscious be so damn OBVIOUS??"
it was a clear-cut example of the archetypal, impending daddyhood-anxiety dream, after all.
the funny part: we still refer to isaiah as "our lil shit-seal."
link
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
did the governor really read my application?
i just got a call from the MN department of agriculture, and i've been appointed to the governor's Organic Advisory Task Force,
representing the organic retail sector. how bout dat? i threw my hat in the ring this spring and never heard back, so i figured
they'd blown me off.
and last friday, the wedge found out that the utne reader nominated our co-op newsletter for the 2003 "best of the indie
press" award. with circulation to 10K members, i guess we sort of qualify as a "press." but quite a surprise
to us.
ok. that's my last post of the day. i promise.
link
it's fair trade tuesday!
for some better information on fair trade issues than i usually offer on this blog, check out:
www.radiocancun.org/
this site is dedicated to spreading info about the WTO ministerial, which was held in cancun this past september. for the
first time at this WTO meeting, the protests weren't solely in the streets outside. in cancun, the "G-77" (the 77
so-called "developing" countries who belong to WTO) stood up to the US and the EU to resist being steam-rolling
by these far-bigger economies. there's some great information here, particularly about fair trade groups trying to get a seat
at the WTO table. also, for more entertaining listening, check out the general of WTO defending his group and sound files
of nobel peace prize winner rigobertu menchu addressing WTO.
if you're a REAL wonk for this stuff, check out "major issues from cancun" at
www.tradeobservatory.org
to read statement papers like "WTO Decision Making: A Broken Promise" and papers on "dumping" in world
ag markets, which the G-77 delegates threw in the faces of their US/EU counterparts in the WTO.
link
fair trade and WFC
i got a copy of "cooperative grocer" in the mail today, where i have an article on the domestic fair trade program
i'm spearheading at the wedge co-op. i'm not sure i'm going to get paid for this article, since it's basically a reprint from
the wedge newsletter, but it feels great to contribute to the co-op world with ways for smaller co-ops to market their product.
basically, LOTS of co-ops conduct fair trade with local farmers, but don't call it that. and they should! fair trade is a
hot buzz word right now. seems like a great opportunity for co-ops to help customers understand that the same issues bankrupting
coffee farmers internationally are bankrupting family farms right outside one's own city. a superb way to funnel the money
to the folks who need it.
i'll post a link here once "co-op grocer" updates their website.
speaking of fair trade, this weekend i got to meet abel fernandez the general manager of CONACADO, *the* cocoa cooperative
in the dominican republic. his english was great so it was very interesting to hear a dominican cooperator's take on free
versus fair trade, the story of how his group basically saved the cocoa market for small farmers in his country, and to generally
get a dose of "co-ops got to stick together" cheerleading. he was very aware of the US grocery co-ops' role in promoting
fair trade in the this country. a deeply energizing presentation.
in other news, it's great to hear about kristin livdahl's experiences at WFC. check out her post at
http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/177/1502.html?1067928530
you can jump from there to barzak's blog and his world fantasy con musings, as well.
link
we'll go 14-2 now!
re the vikings' loss to green bay this past weekend: i now have scientific proof that my son's purple and gold onesie is an
enchanted football talisman: the vikes are 6-0 when he wears the magic onesie at kick-off and 0-2 when he doesn't.
accordingly, i've ebay-ed a supply of purple and gold onesie's through his first year.
link
