meatmachine.info

Division 3

2007-11-22T02:47:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting in the Chico train station, for the 3:50am southbound to San Jose. In the company of 3 other passengers-to-be, sleeping peacefully on the indoor benches.

I packed my bag 3 times this morning. The first time I packed it with everything I wanted to bring with me to San Jose. The contents of the bag reflected what I wanted to do when I got there. The bag was too heavy though, so I unpacked the contents onto my bed.

The second time I packed my bag it was with everything I needed to bring to San Jose. A laundry list of assignment I needed to complete while away from school determined which notebooks and which textbooks to bring with me. The bag was still too heavy, literally and figuratively.

The third time I packed my bag only with what I believed I might actually use. The contents were reduced to those items I honestly thought my time in San Jose would necessitate. Laptop, notebook, sketchbook, book of poetry, two textbooks, a change of clothes, and a camera.

My bag is a box, more tangible than most. The final contents represent my intentions and aspirations, and they define my options and actions.

I am having trouble staying awake as I wait for the train to come, my eyes close on their own, and I long for a montage cut-scene to transport me to next week. Hopefully the train will get here soon.

Division 2

2007-11-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

I've been making mixes again, some for me and some for friends. I think it serves as a good example of making boxes, and also it is fun.

When I start making a mix, I have an idea of what I want it to feel like even though I can't and won't ever touch it. I have an idea of the message it carries, though it won't ever be overtly stated. I know what it sounds like, but I can't lure the sound of it from my throat. I know the vicinity of the box, but I don't know exactly where it is or if what's inside is alive or dead.First thing I do is to name them.

Normally I'll work on several mixes at the same time. Building them at the same time lets me compare and contrast, cull them when they grow to similar, and in another way hone in on their boxes. Listening to music, certain tracks or artists will grab my attention and find themselves added to a mix. Others will inspire the creation of new mixes or the nixing of the old.

A song is picked to go into a mix if it matches up with the criteria of the mix, if it lies within the box. And yet, a mix is defined by it's songs, they connect as dots to outline the box. So which comes first, the mix or the idea of the mix?

And also, they are fun.

Division 1

2007-11-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

I think something very important happened last night.

Lindsey dropped by the bike shop a few hours before closing and we talked about getting together later in the evening with other kids and instruments. Five hours later I was walking with my guitar around my neck and Ryan hefting his upright bass beside me. We cut a zig-zagging path through the frat district of Chico and made our way downtown. Converging with Lindsey and her fiddle in an empty web-design office above a bar, we tried to make noises.

Before Ryan and I had set out from his house with our instruments, he mentioned some ideas for improving our chances of making actual music, particularly how essential it was that the three of us actually listen. Because we each come from what we would consider very different musical places, it might be difficult to identify a common ground. If we didn't, he warned, it would be the three of us playing three different things, just in the same place at the same time. Real listening, as opposed to merely projecting, would facilitate a treatise of taste.

A few hours later, after much noise and a bit of cooperation, we called it quits for the evening. On the streets below us the bar patrons and police were just beginning their early morning dance. Our trio hadn't simultaneously erupted into an aural experience remarkable and new, but progress had been made toward something musical.

Ryan and I debriefed the situation once we had our instruments back at his apartment. Whenever I've played along with Lindsey on fiddle before, I've found myself lost. My abilitiy to follow melody, rhythm, or mood seems to take a nose-dive as the bow makes it's way across those four taut strings. Lindsey plays a lot of traditional Irish folk music, and it may be with this style that I have such trouble.

Listening to her play, considering my difficulty with playing or even listening along, and understanding the style of music with which I am comfortable playing, finds me in a box. I'm not able to satisfactorily define the perimeter of this analytical division, but I can tell when something lies within, or as with Lindsey's traditional fiddle skills, outside of my box.

Thinking of experiences as divided and grouped by boxes can imbue the experiences with a different significance or cast them under a new light. Right now I believe very strongly in the importance of turning ideas into things. Be it music, text, art, or sounds traveling from our mouths to our friends' ears. Immaterial ideas afloat without context aren't enough, though they're certainly aplenty. If all we have is our ideas with no manifestation to show for it, they are but data without value.

These boxes are really easy to make, to give them form and to see them surround experience, to watch as fields of data become valuable information encompassed by classification and context. These boxes verb nouns.

Synergy Emergency

2007-11-09T18:08:00.000-08:00

Wildfires and oil spills. Anybody else get the feeling these problems just might solve each other?

1-800 911

2007-11-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Naomi Klein (author of Shock Doctrine) recently wrote up a brief article which is available HERE, courtesy of AlterNet.

In the article, Klein addresses the growing presence of privately operated emergency response services that cater only to those who can afford them. One such example is HelpJet, which offers it customers a "first class experience" as it shuttles them from an emergency (something like Katrina or SoCal wildfires) to a five star hotel in some far-away jet setting locale. Other companies offer services that range from the fire fighting offered by Firebreak to the "full spectrum" services soon to be offered by our friends at Blackwater USA.

While the operation of private prohibitively expensive emergency services doesn't necessarily harm the state provided emergency services that are offered to all, it still creates a two-tiered system that offers superior protection to those who can afford it, while those who can't are left with state-operated services that are often the victim of severe budgetary cuts.

In some cases, the privatization of services even usurps state provided services. For example, many on the ground in Iraq have said it would be impossible to continue operating there if not for private security like Blackwater USA.

Privatization of these kinds of life-or-death services takes us in a direction that brings both profit margins and the value of human lives into the same decision making processes. As with any other privately operated corporation, these emergency service companies' ultimate bottom line will be one of financial gain, and not necessarily the value of human lives.

Klein ends her article,

The same pay-to-be-saved logic governs this entire new sector of country club disaster management. There is, of course, another principle that could guide our collective responses in a disaster-prone world: the simple conviction that every life is of equal value.

For anyone out there who still believes in that wild idea, the time has urgently arrived to protect the principle.

Video Blitz

2007-10-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

In the future food will come in pills, email will come in the newspaper, and flash video players will get elected to public office. May I submit these fine candidates:

One Got Fat (1963)
Want to see children dressed up as monkeys riding bikes? Want to see them brutally run down by cagers one by one in what can only be described as "Saw On Wheels"? Of course you do. (from ZPG)

Journey to the Moon (2005)
Apparently a home recording by William Kentridge. Makes me feel like the least productive person ever. If you like it, check out this other highly Kentridge-influenced animation: Deterioration. (thanks Jon)

Shock Doctrine Short Film (2007)
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a book by Naomi Klein, from the book's website:

In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.

Klein sent a copy of The Shock Doctrine to Alfonso Cuarón (director of Children of Men) expecting maybe a quote to print in the jacket of her book. What she got instead was a short film directed by both Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón. Animation and stock footage are combined slickly to deliver a powerful introduction to Klein's book. (Thanks Ryan)

And I Play Music?

2007-10-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a song, it's called These Days.

Here's are the lyrics:

There are holes, in my sheets, they don't stop me from sleeping.
There are holes, in my teeth, they don't stop me from speaking.
No they don't, no they don't.
So I do, so I do, so I do.

There are days when I, will play along.
There are ways that I, will do you wrong.
Through my words and through my work,
try to affect a reduction of harm.

And I've been feeling out of body these days.
And I've been feeling out of my mind these days.
I've been feeling awful out of body these days.
And I've been going out of my mind.

Based on what we know of particles that go
in straight line trajectories they'ill bend around the heavy things
but really there's uncertainty the same kind for you and me
and I can't trust, in anything,
and I can't say, anything.

I'm trying to learn, how to think,
and I'm trying to learn, how to speak.
Neurons fire concordantly,
like flames onboard a ship sinking into the sea.

And I've been feeling out of body these days.
And I've been going out of my mind these days.
And I've been feeling awfully out of body these days.
And I said I've been going awfully out of my mind these days. these days

Based on what we know of particles that go
in straight line trajectories they'ill bend around the heavy things
but really there's uncertainty the same kind for you and me
and I can't say anything.

If you like:

2007-10-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

moving images with sound.

I read about a movie today called The Tracey Fragments. You ought to watch the trailer right now.

There are a lot of things about The Tracey Fragments that get me very excited. There are a few of those things that I can fairly describe with words.

First off (and why I heard about this film in the first place) the director Bruce McDonald is fully embracing creative commons licensing. Nearly 20 Gb of video, audio, and Final Cut Project files are downloadable as torrents on the film's official site, under the heading "Re-Fragmented". Everything shot during the four week's of the film's shooting, the script, and the original soundtrack by Broken Social Scene are available under a BY NC SA license.

McDonald explains:

“The Tracey Fragments is a film that fully embraces experimentation and teamwork. I wanted to find out if that experience exists on the Internet and give others the chance to experiment and play with some beautifully shot footage of a world class actress in a free form environment. I hope people make their own feature films, short films, rock videos, trailers, experimental films and personal manifestos out of The Tracey Fragments.”

Don't like the way the editor paced the film? Fix it. Want to make a trailer that will highlight the portions you think are most appealing? Do it. Want to see the guts of the project splayed out on your monitor? Get to it. Read more about how this film is made of pure futurethought over on the CC Blog.

The Tracey Fragments has it's US premier next Tuesday in LA. By then I will have all of the aforementioned files on my computer, but nothing can stop me from paying to see this movie.

The Darjeeling Limited? I'll be stealing that off of the tubes, thanks. Saw IV? Yeah, um, pass.

Brkfst

2007-10-23T01:24:00.000-07:00

Jon Huck is a photographer. He is from in and/or around LA. He has an awesome series of photos pairing portraits of over 100 people with their breakfast. He also has a series of photos of couples that was written up in LA Weekly. You should check it out.

Now I want to photograph all my meals.

Explor'd

2007-10-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

I went into the basement of the bike shop today, and I returned much more heavily laden, my psyche weighed down by terrors unknown to the world of sunlight and sweeping.

You can't get to the basement unless you open the door. It's a trap door, and indeed it threatens entrapment. Built of dry splitting floorboards and bent black nails, it seems to be held together by cobwebs alone. Maybe fear also. Standing on the trapdoor when it is closed is not highly recommended if you weigh more that 120lbs. Looking at the trapdoor the wrong way while someone else stands on it is also dangerous. Once upwardly swung open, the door hangs by a single hook. The screw attaching this hook to the door hangs on by a few brave threads, promising eventual and catastrophic failure.

Below the ~~deathdoor~~ trapdoor a staircase leads into the subterrain. There is a lightswitch which activates no effective illumination, but merely a humming buzzing and flickering pair of bulbs that are most likely filled with nothing but spider eggs.

You enter a dark room. To the North there are the skeletons of ancient English 3-Speeds hanging from hooks in the ceiling. To the East there are boxes of components ranging from vintage 1971 Campagnolo brakes to the drum brakes off of a VW bus. To the West there is a passageway leading to certain doom.

I am glad I can still be frightened by the imaginary and the harmless.

Link Roll

2007-10-20T00:23:00.000-07:00

I'd be reticent and recalcitrant in my blogging duties if I didn't take the time to share the goods I've discovered on these the internets.

First off, some bicycle related posting.

Wheels of Fortune
Grist illustrates the virtuous cycle of financical effects resulting from increased cycling.

Healthier planet, healthier people
No Impact Man correlates with the (ought to be obvious) statistical connection between increased cycling and improved health.

Educate
Some knowledge gets dropped on the Cranked Magazine blog.

And some links that make me angry in the good way.

Fourth Wave Feminism and Real Men
There was a wickedly heated discussion of gender power imbalances in my Anthropology class on Thursday. I wish I could've had them all read this post from the We Are All Giant Nuclear Fireball Party blog.

Atheists and Anger
Greta Christina gets angry, I get angry, were it to be that we were all angered.

Enjoi.

Math and Homoeroticism.

2007-10-19T23:24:00.001-07:00

Thank heavens for the internet, and all the advancements in human communication it brings with it.

I Can Has Writer Block.

2007-10-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

Haha, just like the meme! Anyway, I've been busy eating words instead of shitting them out on the internet.

For my classes, I need to chow down on:

Savage Dreams: A Journey Into the Hidden Wars of the American West by Rebecca Solnit
Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales
Personal Identity as edited by John Perry.

For myself I should indulge in the conclusion of:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert Pirsig
The User Illusion by Tor Nørretranders
Deep Economy by Bill McKibbon
Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawkens, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra
The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn
Labyrinths of Reason by William Poundstone
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Plan B 2.0 by Lester R. Brown
Guerilla Gardening: a Manifesto by David Tracey
American Power by Noam Chomsky.

For my own health I should re-evaluate my appetite. There are only so many hours in the day and of them so few spent awake enough to actively read. A good threshold may be when the books I am trying to read outweigh my head.

I feel like I am for the first time reaching and perhaps even exceeding my thresholds of ability, in terms of how much crap I can get done on time. I'm a vigorous second year student with a healthy mind and body, but this doesn't mean my capacity for new information, creative endeavors, work, and socializing is boundless. Taking on loads of brain-itchingly interesting books and watching myself fail to competently juggle them along with the required (and thankfully interesting) readings for my classes is like sticking out my internal tongue to probe the inside edges of my headspace. Of what do they taste?

Again, Of Listing

2007-10-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

This time in reverse chronological order.

Tonight I've found another comic artist with whom into love I shall fall. May we all fall for Lucy Knisley. She makes me feel like I can draw, in the good way and not the bad way. Le Sigh.

I watched the first 9/10ths of A Bridge Too Far. Who wasn't in that movie? Sheesh. I didn't get to see the last half hour, but I'm pretty sure I know how it ends.

For dinner; olive batard from Tin Roof bakery (a little stale but still a treat), a tomato sliced and salted, fried polenta, and the last of my extra ginger brew.

I did an illustration for Ryan's article in the latest issue of the print version of Synthesis. I might get paid for it, but I'm not sure of the licensing status. As the illustrator, I ordain it must be given to the creative commons! Enjoy. (Also, in said article, I have assumed the moniker of one Jon Goldstein, again. Thanks buddy!)

I've written two new songs. Both are up on my archive.org page in very rough form. Here are links to the .mp3s of 'Hi, Hi' and 'Identify 1'. I need some constructive criticisms, kthnxbai.

Statistics

2007-10-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

I've been sitting in front of my computer for an average of three hours a day this week, this is down from the previous week, and the week before that. This is a good trend.

I've read three hundred and forty-five pages this week of which one hundred and nineteen were written by Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins, one hundred ten were written by Ervin Lazlo, sixty-two were written by Valerie L Kuletz, and fifty-four were written by Bill McKibben.

Only four days this week have I drawn in my "Every Day" sketchbook, and in those drawing there were thirteen robots. That's ≈1.86 robots a day. This week I have drawn zero pages for my new comic, in which there are two characters, of whom only one is a robot.

I my last pay period I worked for almost twenty hours at a rate of eight dollars an hour and earning in total one hundred fifty-six dolalrs, from which sixteen dollars and eighty-seven cents was withdrawn for Federal Withholding, Social Security, Medicare, and California Disability.

I have eaten nearly four pounds of apples this week.

I have ridden my bike only twenty to twenty-five mils this week.

I have broken zero guitar strings this week, but not for lack of trying.

Meet Pullins

2007-10-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

I've started working as a bicycle mechanic again, it's brought me nothing but health.

The shop I wrench at, Pullins Cyclery, is one of eight in a 10 block area of downtown Chico. It's not a big shop, it's not a high volume shop, and I wouldn't call it a boutique. The bikes we sell most of are in the low to mid price range, and our stock of shiny new parts is normally a bit shorter than what some may expect. However, the shop has been doing well for over 90 years, winning "Best Bike Shop in Chico" every year for the past 13.

The current owner (whose workbench I commandeer) bought the store from old man Pullins himself in the seventies. Steve's a good boss, a solid mechanic, an Irish music enthusiast, and a long-haul citizen of Chico. He runs an honest shop plans to keep it that way.

The shop is relatively clean, meaning it's about as clean as a century old bike shop with hard wood floors can be, which is by most standards relatively filthy. There are more than three shop cats, I think, and they chew on birds out back and flirt with customers up front. The space is quite small is reflected in our standing inventory, density of the mechanic's area, and the sharing of roles sales/service/bartender.

I was made so much more aware of all of this by a very busy thread over on the Bike Pirates community livejournal. Relating some god awful and some really inspiring bike shop experiences, this thread made me quite glad to work in a shop I can respect so much. We may not be able to serve every need, and we may not be able to compete on a price-matching level with internet mail-order, but gotdamn if this isn't the kind of bike shop I would open if I were so inclined.

Powers!

2007-09-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

What personal experiences have I had with social power? Well, I'd like to think of myself as being very socially powerful, just about as powerful as the next guy.

The phrase “just one person” normally represents a disheartened attitude, shared amongst those who feel that as individuals they lack the power to manifest significant or meaningful changes in the world around them. I believe this negative attitude is the result of a culture that focuses it's attention more on the desires of the individual than those of the collective. It's true that there may be no politicians or bureaucrats running for election that represent my values and opinions exactly, and it's true that by voting for candidate A or B I am not voting for someone who will truly represent me, but I don't think this makes my vote worthless. Instead, one needs to consider their values and desires and how those may be shared and thus amplified by forming affinity groups.

Another example of my massive social powers; I am a vegetarian. By not eating meat and by eating fewer animal products I hope to reduce the demand for such products, and hopefully reduce their production. I believe such a change greatly lessens my impact upon the environment, reduces my responsibility for the suffering of other creatures, and encourages a lifestyle that is more considerate of my own health. Now, my dietary choices by themselves aren't going to bring the massive livestock industry crashing down, but that doesn't make them insignificant.

The smallest of my social powers here is probably that of my money. The money I would otherwise be spending on meat and animal products represents the most minuscule fraction of the industry's income. The CEOs and financial accountants were most likely not shaking in their boots upon my deceleration of vegetarianism. Some of my more potent powers include my ability to be a model for others. If I can live a life according to certain principles and be just as happy as (or even more so than) others, then I am setting an example of a goal that is easily attainable. Such modeling sets the stage for others to act with their own social power. At the same time it is an act that challenges social norms. Simply by being concerned about the impact of the food I eat I am shifting away from the standard operating procedures. Advertisers tells us that meat is a material, not an animal. McDonalds tell us that large hamburgers equate to machismo. The USDA (under lobbyist influence) tells us that milk is the best source of calcium. Making your own decisions based on your own research and understanding terrifies all of them.

My powers extend into the garden as well. Along with other members of G.R.U.B. I plant vegetables and other palatable plants on land donated to our organization by members of the local community. We grow organically and redistribute the harvest amongst community members and ourselves. By directly connecting myself to the source of my food, I have discovered another social power. I am no longer as dependent on others (in so many different ways) to sustain myself. I have discovered the taste of autonomy, and it is much like the taste of tomatoes, radishes, broccoli, beets, basil, butternut squash, chard, kale, peppers, potatoes, and green beans.

The gardening group is composed entirely of volunteers and is a non-profit organization always open to those who want to help, learn to grow, or just get their hands dirty. If I can share my experience with others and allow them to find such social powers within themselves, then I really am a social force. If just one can influence another, and they in turn can influence more, the social power is amplified and enriched. What can begin as the vision, values, or hope of one person can grow into a movement that unites communities and fills bellies, or it can falter and collapse into nothing. I guess it all depends on how you look at the idea of “just on person”.

Read.

2007-09-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

Two recent articles from the Grist blog:

Article the first: an essay by Mike Tidwell entitled "Forget the light bulbs: Part II ", which draws a comparison between the current environmental crises and the civil rights movement, in terms of the value of both voluntary personal change and radical and wide sweeping changes in legislation.

The problem is we've somehow forgotten how it's done. Martin Luther King famously and repeatedly asked, "Why should we wait one more day for our freedom? Why?" King resisted public pleas to go slow; to let voluntary measures work; to understand that some people just can't change very quickly. No, King said, America must have a new set of laws that address the great moral urgency of now!

So why -- with Arctic ice vanishing, and hurricanes getting bigger, and sea levels rising -- why are we still politely urging Americans to change a few light bulbs and voluntarily spend a little more for a hybrid car? What breakdown in ethical thinking prevents us from insisting that all serious conversations on this topic focus on demanding governmental standards that allow only 50 mpg cars into the marketplace? In other words, given the great ecological, economic, and moral implications of global warming, why should we wait one more day for clean, efficient energy? Why? (More...)

The second article is a comparative piece by Jon Rynn entitled "Is this an emergency?". In it he compares the massive and ultimately essential actions undertaken by the US Federal government upon our entrance in to World War 2, and the large scale changes that must be enacted to save some vestige of the natural environment.

Can you imagine a U.S. president summoning the car companies into the Oval Office, forging an agreement to stop making automobiles for five years, and instead convincing them to pump out high-speed rail, light rail, trolley rail, and buses? Can you imagine construction companies agreeing to not put up any more single-family houses, but instead putting up Platinum LEED near-zero-emissions apartment buildings and commercial buildings, each with geothermal exchange systems for heating and cooling and solar roofs for electricity? What if road construction companies agreed not to pave any more space, and instead built the rails for the new rail systems? And what if the coal companies and nuclear energy companies agreed to work with GE and others to put up only wind power and solar thermal farms? What about ADM and ConAgra agreeing to help the agricultural sector eliminate the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and factory farming? (More...)

Up the Coox

2007-09-19T20:15:00.002-07:00

There's a great post over at I'm sick of your insane demands that deals with issues of cooking and masculinity.

A hypothesis: Cooking is seen as emasculating unless it's a) something done as a favor to the woman who usually does the cooking, in which case it can be manly as long as it's done infrequently and poorly; or b) something performed and described as a sport. (more...)

In the same disappointing way that cooking has escaped the male gender norm of being "the provider", it seems that the development of actual responsibility has fled the scene of college students "living on their own". Pride is taken in toast and ramen, and it's "strangely cool", "hella weird", and generally confounding to my classmates when I offhandedly mention ingredients

"Mozzarella? Why do you need mozzarella? Isn't that cheese?"
"Well yes, I need it for some lasagna I'm making, it's also good with tomatoes and basil and olive oil."
"Damn, you cook? My mom likes oil"
"Yeah, I guess me and your mom both like to eat foods."

I've noticed a norm amongst first, second, and even third year college students to completely shirk the process of learning to cook for as long as possible. I pounced on the opportunity like a tiger starved for meat; it was only about a week into my freshman year of cafeteria food that I began to ache for a proper kitchen. Being a vegetarian certainly accelerated the process. I'll leave it to the suckers to survive on saltines and redbull.

Home Grown Meeeeeat

2007-09-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

I've been playing guitar again, despite all odds. Two songs have been written, and one of them recorded. I'll post them both once collaborations have completed. I can feel more music coming on. I want to return to the way of superfunmixes and dirty shows. I feel like this is within my reach, and also, my arms are long and skinny. I don't really like to be brief, but concision is as concision does.

Hop Along!

2007-09-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

*edited 9/13/07*

Gosh, where are my internet manners? Both of the following videos come from the pile of internet richness that is If You Make It. Lots of other great videos there too, some Paul Baribeau, some Ghost Mice, some Kickball, some Wildebeest, and tons more. If you want an audio-video taste of some of the best punx/alt-folk/pop-punk off the Left Coast, this site is for you. Three cheers for the long tail effect!

I found these two but moments ago, it'd be a damn shame not to share. Frances Quinlan of Hop Along Queen Ansleis melts my face off with her voice. Gotdamn.

First up, Bruno is Orange

Followed by Workers

Bless these internets, for they have revealed thine bounty.

Dirty Fingernails

2007-09-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I rode over to GRUB garden #5 tonight to do a little evening weeding; much easier to work in the setting sun. I pulled weeds for maybe two hours as the shadows around me crept across the yard, the yearning shade. Pulling sprouts of grass while listening to Yo La Tengo's The Sounds of The Sounds of Science is a nice thing to do. Cool damp soil, sitting in the shade, collecting worms, soil caked onto my shoes. The broccoli is coming in nicely, and there are ladybugs abound to combat the aphids. I wrote in the GRUB log about what I did and how the garden was looking, beginning with "Dear Dirt Diary..." That's my little land.

I cut my hair tonight, but it sounds more dramatic if I say I cut off all my hair. I did have a lot, and now I have very little. I've heard it makes me "look five years younger" and is "hell of cool". Neato. I attempted the shaved head + "beard" + "mustache" as my brother recommended, but it didn't really work. Clean shaven all around, that's the ticket. Maybe someone will hire me now that I don't look like a damn California hippie anymore. I'll admit I'm not sure why, but I really do like being able to see the shape of my skull. Maybe it's because that's where my brain is, that's the shape of thinking, that's where all my heat escapes, that's where a car would kill me, that's where I smacked into a table when I was a little boy, that's where my hair was.

A shower washed off all the dirt and all the hair.

Logos

2007-09-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a little bit of drawing I did for GRUB.

&

Sugar and Dirt

2007-09-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

I want to write about the satisfaction of gardening. Not that I've experience any vast quantities of said pleasures, but today I witnessed the possibility.

Tending soil, pulling weeds, learning the flora, today was my first day working with GRUB. A local volunteer organization focused on organically Growing Resourcefully [and] Uniting Bellies. Driven by dedication and donation GRUB has already started six gardens, most of them in the backyards of generous community members. More gardens are planned, and there is already a long list of people who want to volunteer their time, land, or other resources. Eventually, the food grown will be distributed amongst those who donated, and other community members who subscribe (as with a CSA).

I'm excited to use my bike to deliver hay and trowels and vegetables. I'm excited to dig trenches and to arrange rows of broccoli and okra. I'm excited to be amongst people who work towards a solution.

My last post wasn't very constructive, and again I find myself torn. On one hand I can look at something like that Vogue article and say "well, they're doing it all wrong! There are much more effective actions they could promote, such as vegetarianism or having fewer children or giving up your car or seizing control of a government that sells out it's own population!" I can get really frustrated. If it's not part of my solution, then it looks like part of the problem.

But on the other hand, at least Vogue is talking about it. It may be under the pretext of advertisements and fashion, but neither of those are indelibly stained as evil. If progress is to be made I don't actually believe it must begin with violent revolution or industrial collapse. If the right changes are going to be made they must be committed by populations, not groups, not individuals. It may take longer and the path may be paved with the sellouts of green consumerism, but it's still pointing in the right direction.

But. But. But.
When you talk about the destruction of ecosystems, or the planning of hundreds of new coal plants, or mountain top removal mining, or the inbreeding of the USDA and big agriculture, or the radioactive "national sacrifice" areas of the midwest, or the spread of indomitable GMO crops, or the constantly widening gap between the the rich and the poor, or the fact that my children will live in the world we're all building today, who can afford to wait?

Stop it. Stop. Stop now.

2007-09-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

"Vogue [has] published a list of the top 30 ways to stay ahead in the sustainable style stakes."

Really? Really? Let's take a look-see.

Spa: Chill out and forget your worries about the planet at an Irish spa which uses 100 per cent eco products and goes to great lengths to minimize its impact on the environment. www.monart.ie

Buy things you don't need, but first make sure you fly to a different country to do it. If not for the carbon emissions of your flight, what else would you atone for alongside other eco-relaxers? Have another facial, the green avocado is shipped in fresh from Mexico!

Weekend Away: Take a holiday away from the hustle and bustle and pollution of the city. You'll find yourself as close to nature as possible, sleeping in a canopy bed, eating by candlelight and even collecting your own farm eggs. Choose your retreat from among farms in Hampshire, Somerset, Cornwall and Wiltshire. Prices start at £195. For more information visit www.featherdown.co.uk

Again with the travel. Perfect your pastoral patronage at any one of these finely manicured meccas of the mother Earth. Nothing says "I'm of the 95% of the population that has nothing to do with the agriculture that feeds us all!" like finding the idea of collecting eggs novel. Maybe they'll let you pet a cow! Don't confuse this with a real way of life though, it's only a holiday!

Chocolate: Give yourself a treat while helping others — not something which can be done too often — with Montezuma's latest ranges of chocolate, sourced from Papua New Guinea and Peru. The company enforces the highest ethical and horticultural standards, so you can pig out with a clear conscience. www.montezumas.co.uk

Helping others - apparently it's maybe hard to do. Consuming chocolate made from cocoa grown half a world away, now that's easy! Also my conscience has been cleared? Thank you very much!

Gimmicks: If you thought you couldn't get greener than gardening, think again. Decorate your garden with recycled planters made from old tyres (£50) or a bird box with a roof planted with seeds (£30). www.henand hammock.co.uk

Hey look, something that maybe the eco-readers of Vogue could make on their own! They might even look around and find other ways to reuse... oh wait, it's just a fucking gimmick.

Shop: He was divine as Mr Darcy, and now actor Colin Firth has turned his hand to eco-retail, with the help of his wife, Livia, her brother, Nicola Giuggioli and entrepreneur Ivo Coulson. With the view that it's 'practically immoral not to care about the planet at this time', Eco aims to be on hand with advice to help people live a more sustainable lifestyle. Eco is at 213 Chiswick High Road, London W4. www.eco-age.com

If you can't find the time to educate yourself about what prefixes like eco- and enviro- mean, or to understand what makes a practice or product sustainable, or how to not be a dick to the rest of the world, you can pay this company to figure it out for you! Enforcement of new responsible lifestyle not included.