foodstamp virgin

I had my first experience with foodstamps (EBT) yesterday. I got my card a few days ago. Apart from the three hours of wait time, it was remarkably easy to get approved: “Do you have any income?” No. “Are you on Unemployment?” No. “Do you support any other members of your household?” No. “Ok, wait in the lobby and someone will call your name and give you your Oregon Trail card.” Thanks. $177.00 a month, from the government.

The hardest part was the walk up to the grocery store. I don’t consider myself a prideful person but I felt like I was too good for this. I felt like a thief or a con man – getting this free food with no work prospects on the horizon. I didn’t think I would ever need this assistance. It’s been about six months since I last had a job. And I’ve been looking, diligently. But I still feel like state services aren’t meant for educated, affluent people like me. I expected the cashier to give me dirty looks when I told her I was going to use “E.B.T.” She didn’t. I think this kind of thing is happening a lot these days.

Barcinski & Jeanjean

Wowee-zowee!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

In high school, I think I read about one-third of the way through Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees before I put it down in disgust. I was just getting to the part where the protagonist, a single mother, and her young daughter hop into their Volkswagen Beetle, with all their worldly possessions and head out across the Arizona desert – in search of new beginnings… BARF! I don’t know if that is exactly how the story went – I tried to block it from my mind – but my 16 year old brain couldn’t handle all that ra-ra-feminist sentimentality. (I doubt my older, more mature brain could handle it now, either.) I wrote off Barbara Kingsolver from that day forward, vowing never to waste time with another one of her books.

It is for that reason alone, actually, that I put off reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, her newest non-fiction title – despite all the good press it was receiving and my interest in the subject of local food. Imagine my surprise when I unwrapped this book as a gift in my Christmas stocking. Against all my personal aversions – I was then obligated to give it a read.

This novel is about Mrs. Kingsolver and her family’s decision to eat only food grown within 100 hundred miles of their home for one entire year. No potato chips. No frozen pizzas. Not even cans of tomato soup. Only food grown by them or their local Appalachian friends.

The result of this decision for the family is a lot of cooking, a lot of farming and a lot of trail by fire. All of that is wonderfully captured by Mrs. Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She shows her family’s struggles and their victories in a way that is honest to the difficulties of the endeavor but encouraging in a way that makes this lifestyle seem accessible for anyone. And, thankfully,  she does that without getting preachy or self-righteous, a common flaw in books like this. Furthermore, the stories present facts and resources that make for an educated and empowered reader. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in local food or anyone who wants to pass this along to the uninitiated.

Bravo Barbara, I’m a convert.

Nadav Kander

This photo is by Nadav Kander. His work is beautiful. Full of space, narrative and quiet energy.

summer sneakers

This is what I hope to be wearing on my feet, summer ‘09. A customized pair of the Nike Zoom T-5 iD Boot. But who knows how I’ll feel when the time comes around. I may be broke and such a festive pair of slippers may not seem right if the economy is still in a decline.

beckoning new directions for design

The article – Design Loves a Depression from the NY Times – was very interesting and is the first I’ve seen, in a major publication, to suggest that a paradigm shift is about to occur in the design world. It’s a good shift, too. We need a serious change in thinking. Our current system is built on a foundation of unrealistic consumption and misplaced values. Our nation and our world are entering an era of reigning in excesses and the design world needs to adapt to this new way of living.

And it’s not like we didn’t see it coming. The effect of the current economic situation on designers is not unlike the situation with global warming. Some prescient thinkers were, for a long time, calling designers to take stock of what they were putting out into the world and to “make” better. But no one listened, no one felt they had to. Now as disaster is breathing down our necks, designers will be scrambling to make a case for their existence. Fortunately, as with global warming, it’s not to late to turn the tide for the better.

Designers, if they are willing, can alter their thinking and be part of the change rather than victims of it. We can contribute to building a more humble and selfless design culture. We can create goods and provide services that add to the quality of all human life rather than take from it. And we can start simply, by making local, making well, and making meaningfully.

new visions of India

I’ve come across two (relatively) new stories in recent months that have definitively redefined the way I view India. Like many westerners I used to have a vision of the country that was steeped in the romantic imagery brought to us by English colonialism. I was similar in a lot of ways to the characters of Wes Anderson’s Darjeeling Limited who comically viewed India as a place to go for enlightenment; a place of mystery, magic and a peaceful – even spiritual – bliss. And even after learning, over the last few years, of the terrible poverty, social injustice and class disparity of India, I still held onto a false view of the country and of it’s people as bunch of saronged pacifists, meditating a path through their suffering. But after reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and viewing the new film Slumdog Millionaire it will be a long time before I entertain those notions again.

These two stories, both written by Indians, (Slumdog was based on a novel called Q and A by Vikas Swarup) show a grittier, more violent side of India. They offer a disturbingly honest depiction of contemporary India, replete with call centers, outsourcing and murder. And what is even more compelling, these stories are evidence of a country that is coming into its own. Long considered a nation to watch in the economic arena, India has shown an immense sense of cultural self-awareness with these two offerings. India is growing up. It’s telling us who it is, not the other way around.

Let the Right One In

I saw this movie a few nights ago and it was excellent. It’s a Swedish vampire movie about a loner adolescent boy that befriends a young vampire.  It’s a vampire movie in the traditional sense, with the requisite blood-sucking, fangs, nightime feeding, etc. – but don’t take that at first read. It’s a more complex film than that. This is one of the rare few movies that can be scary, funny, charming, horrifying, sweet, haunting and beautiful all at the same time. This isn’t a genre movie, this is an art film.

“You don’t understand. Johnny Fontane never gets that movie.”

This is brilliant from Kropserkel. “Same effect without the mess!”

Love Lockdown

I CANNOT stop listening to this. And the video is even better. Not all the songs I’ve heard from this album are great but Love Lockdown certainly is. Kanye West is this generation’s Quincy Jones.

Love Lockdown video

Note: This video has half-dressed sexy ladies in it, so if that kind of thing bothers you don’t click the link.