My Dilemma as an Omnivore

The summer has proven to be somewhat frenetic. Yet in the hurriedness I found time to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. First off, it is very well written and lived up to The New York Times decal on the front declaring it as one of the top 10 books of the year, which is what initially captured my eye as it sat on the book store shelf.

What it has done – to date – is instilled a new sense of gratitude for the food I do eat, as well as a new consciousness about where the food I eat comes from. Naturally, this past Wednesday morning I decided to explore the local farmer’s market. All the farmers stalls proclaimed the word “organic” and the two egg sellers had “happy” chickens. Why do you call your chickens happy I asked. They have a barn and access to an outdoor yard they can go to if they want he said – groan.

The trip did yield a couple of large beets, a dozen eggs from “happy” chickens, a pound of wax beans, and a handful of basil. Last nights dinner was raw beet salad with scrambled eggs. Tonight the beans will make it to the table with basil pesto…and some sausage from some very unhappy pigs that I bought at the big box supermarket.

www.michaelpollan.com
www.polyfacefarms.com

White Essay

Wrote an essay for HUMN 311, [...] The Body as Site and Sight. I don’t know what grade I have on it yet, but here it is. Feel free to offer comments as re-reading it now a week after handing it in, I am finding areas I could improve.

White: Guilty by Association

(I removed the essay because I felt it was here long enough)

Catharsis

During my class yesterday a fellow student was asking a question related to what makes something art or not art. It’s a good question and one that I still struggle with myself. My own feeling is that on occasion I am faced with something where my immediate response is, “That’s not Art.” However, and more often than not, I end up changing my mind about the work, as it obviously made me question what Art is or is not. Yet, sometimes something presented as Art and invokes the thought, “That’s not Art,” stays in the folder labeled “Not Art.” Usually because it fails to engage me. That said, I believe that the same work could be Art for someone else. Either way, it’s more complicated than it first appears, I think.

Anyway, back to the class. Another student thought she would help her fellow student and try to explain how it works for her (designating something as Art or Not Art) and said …”that you’re still at that place where it is Art or Not Art.”  (emphasis mine) What The …?

There that was cathartic.

A Thought on Simulacra

I have heard a few times recently how we (our society) are engaging in practices that are not real. I have even contributed to such discussions by agreeing, but I have been re-thinking this.

For example, during the last course I took titled, Modernist Visions: Form and Utopian Narratives, (not the one I am currently enrolled in), we discussed the image by Guy Debord, Couple stretched out on a sofa, Watches television (1968). Invoking Baudrillard’s theories about Simulacra we noted how the couple is dressed in yachting clothes and watching a program about boating on the television set, yet they are sitting on a sofa – not actually sailing or boating themselves. What we discussed was that the couple’s experience of boating is simulated, or fake, in-authentic. As viewers of the work by Debord, we could also say that we have a simulated experience of watching the couple, watch the television program of boating.

If Baudrillard’s Simulacra implies that there is no such thing as reality, then what is it?

In giving this some thought, I would argue that the couple is indeed having a real experience of sitting on a sofa and watching television, and engaging with Debord, as photographer, directing their movements on the set in the studio. Can we really say that their experience is simulated?

Apologies

Apologies are tricky things. In order for them to mean anything you really have to mean it. Then you can’t talk about it any longer, listing your reasons (excuses) for having committed the wrong in the first place because that would indicate that you did not, in fact, consider your apology to be truly heartfelt. Hence, this post is ending without further explanation….sigh…