Breaking through the Usual Political Rhetoric

Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU

Barrack Obama took an incident, that could have been potentially damaging to his presidential campaign, and turned it into a brilliant opportunity to rise above the usual political rhetoric. I was taken with the open truth of his words about the direct personal realities of racial problems in this country. He did not agree with the incendiary remarks by his pastor Rev. Wright, and yet he did not simply write him off. He revealed that the reality of family, church, community and life is much more complicated than a dismissal or a denial offered in a television sound bite.

His credibility set out, as a person of mixed race, he was able to acknowledge and articulate the "dinner time" comments and realities of both whites and blacks. Peeling back the rhetoric of politics as usual he was able to deliver a message of a higher calling to commonalities that join us and not to the differences that may divide us. He is thoughtful, intelligent, insightful and I am impressed.

An Alaskan View

Simpson, Sherry. "I want to ride in the bus Chris died in." February7 - February 13, 2002 / Vol. 11, Ed.6 . http://208.109.242.142/archives/archives/documentb965.html

Simpson brings the Alaskan point of view to the Chris McCandless story. The vividly descriptive essay of her journey with her friends to the bus, by snow mobile in early spring, is written from a local view point with an Alaskan sensibility. The comments by her friends and her own opinions that McCandless was just a fool, is evident. However, I couldn't help but see that, she too, was affected by Chris McCandless's story and the resulting romantic myth of self discovery in the wilderness of Alaska. After all, she made the trip to the bus, went through every written detail in the bus and wrote an extensive essay about it. For just a fool, Chris McCandless's life and death was on her mind for quite awhile.

Alaska House Bill 230 -Plastic Bag fee, Marine Debris and Litter Fund

This bill to enact a plastic bag fee has been in the legislature since March 30, 2007. Sponsored by Representatives Doll and Kerttula of Juneau, it is simple and succinct, and probably makes too much sense to a converted ex plastic bag user like myself. When i inquired by email as to the status of the the bill and why it had been withdraw twice, the relply I recieved is s follows:

HB 230 did not receive the reception we would have liked in House State Affairs committee, the Senate companion bill, SB 118, was passed out of Senate Labor & Commerce committee yesterday, April 2, and has been referred on to the Senate Resources committee. The bill was amended in committee to have a graduated tax assessment of 5 cents the first year, 10 cents the second year, and finally 15 cents the third year.
Unfortunately, there is little time remaining in the session for the bill to get through enough committees to get to a final vote of either legislative body, but we will likely be looking at the prospects of getting an early start on it next session.

The hearing in House State Affairs committee on HB 230 was cancelled because there were efforts underway to amend the bill in such a way that it would not be able to accomplish its purpose. It was felt that it would be best to send the bill through the Senate committees where it would retain its original form and purpose.

The gradual increase in fee price does not make sense and seems like political manuevering to not make the wave too big. If we are going to make a statement about consumer behavior, waste and litter then we should make a statement and not a half hearted whisper.

I hope Doll and Kerttula stick to their guns and not cave to political pressure to maintain the status quo.

Sympathy for Apathy

Gourevitch, Phillip and Morris, Errol. “Annals of War, Exposure, The Woman behind the camera at Abu Ghraib.” The New Yorker 24 March 2008. 2 April 2008 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/24/080324fa_gourevitch?printable=true
The essay, “Annals of War, Exposure, The Woman behind the camera at Abu Ghraib,” tells the other side of the story of the military scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Providing detailed physical descriptions of Abu Ghraib prison and the circumstances that would precede Harman’s tour of duty there, the story is told through a soldiers view. It contains quotes from many other soldiers that show the extremities of the situation they were thrust into and their reactions to it. Using many of her own words to explain her experience at Abu Ghraib prison, the essay goes in depth to detail her background, motivations and reasoning for the photographs and tries to bring understanding to the reasons behind “beauty queen smile and thumbs up” pose in the horrible incriminating photos that would end in a dishonorable discharge and prison time.
The authors then comment on the issue of the photographs themselves and what they could mean or not mean and their insignificance in that the pictures “no value as a symbol.” The essay concludes with a critique and an analysis of the photo of Gilligan, a prisoner who was photographed: a “hooded man, in his blanket poncho, barefoot atop his box, arms outstretched, wires trailing from his fingers.”
The essay does manage to evoke some sympathy for Sabrina Harman in telling her story. However, any credibility to a claim for sympathy is dismissed when, with detached apathy and indifference to the reality of the photograph, they choose to critique and analyze the photograph as art.

Bemoaning the Color Line

Frere-Jones, Sasha. “A Paler Shade of White – How indie rock lost its soul.” The New Yorker 28 February 2008, 28 February 2008 <http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/10/22/071022crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=2>
Sasha Frere-Jones, a staff writer and pop-music critic in 2004 for The New Yorker, laments the loss of “soul” in indie rock music in this article and writes from a music insider’s view or at least an indie rock fan’s view. He paints detailed a picture of what an indie concert he attended and named many popular bands and their musicians to open and it was all lost on me. It was not until quite a bit later in the article that I found what indie rock music was. I gained more perspective on his point of what he meant by “A Paler Shade of White” as he detailed rock and roll’s history of white people appropriating black people’s music. He goes on to describe how the political correctness of modern culture has changed the attitude of appropriating the black man’s music, citing that when rappers were to become popular, very few white musicians were willing to emulate the black rappers because of that view of co-optation. He further bemoans the loss in indie rock music of substance regarding musical style, voicing and lyrics. This he attributes to social progress of the black musician who has now risen to equal footing with white musicians. The appropriating of the blues, jazz and soul music by whites generated a dynamic mixing in the creation of rock and roll. His view is political correctness has now drawn a definite line to make the whites’ whiter, the blacks’ blacker and mixing the two a risk and a lost to the vitality of music today.

"Selling in Minnesota"- Picking Up Clothes in Wal-Mart

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Selling in Minnesota.” Nickel and Dimed, On (not) getting by in America. New York: Owl Books Henry Holt and Co, 2002.

“Selling in Minnesota, ” another adventure into trying to get by on welfare wages, exposes the deep housing crisis that many people face working in low wage jobs and the vicious cycle that has easily trapped many in the paycheck to paycheck survival mode.

Barbara Ehrenreich makes the transition from a Wal-Mart doubter to a believer and back to a doubter again. She explores the mindset required to work in the unskilled labor market and what it takes to stick to it. Part of working for Wal-Mart or any job that you don’t love is the mind games one plays or the created motivations one makes up to stay there. Ehrenreich brings an insider view into the job culture of Wal-Mart and how the corporate culture and atmosphere seems to be a more enticing place to work than the other options out there.

She also delves deeply into the emotional cost in this world. The little friendships and human connections that come at any level seem more fragile in the high job turnover environment of the low wage job world. For in situations of stress it is in the connections to people that one is sustained and is encouraged by to endure. Her vivid picture of the life of barely making ends meet show more than the facts and numbers of the poor.

The pieces of reality of the experience come through the description of own her transformation in mindset and personality. The stresses of constant worry about a place to live, the fear for ones safety and the drudgery of the work combine to change people. Ehrenreich sees her regression to a slyer meaner person in survival mode and notes this could have been her real life if her father “hadn’t managed to climb out of the mines.”

The reader is taken into her confidence as Ehrenreich writes in a very readable personal style. She brings you along on a ‘smell the mold’ and a ‘nitty gritty in your face’ kind of ride of what it’s like surviving in a low wage welfare world and gives you a real feel of what it’s like being at the bottom trying to stay afloat.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Serving in Florida.” Nickel and Dimed, On (not) getting by in America. New York: Owl Books Henry Holt and Co, 2002.

A widely published columnist, essayist and author of twenty books, Ehrenreich’s interest in political activism takes her into the world of the unskilled working class woman. In this book she documents her experience of trying to survive on the low wage jobs available.

Working as a waitress in Key West, Florida, she documents the transformation of her former affluent mindset and attitudes. The difficulties of trying to find affordable housing combined with the hard physical work of waitressing for low wage quickly changes her persona from an observing scientist to a woman trying to survive.

She shows the constant conflict of the need for the job and the “wage slave” resentment of the workers through her insight of the logic of the smoke break, where “work is what you do for others (and) smoking is what you do for yourself.” She details that the little acts of autonomy waitresses have, that shows up in the “covert distribution of fats” in extra butter or whipped cream, is not only a poke at the establishment but is also a part of the psychological motivation that help one cope with the job. It becomes the expression of humanity in the service to others.

She writes of the human connections and conflicts in this new reality and how this base level of survival alters her view of what is important and how brave or trusting one can afford to be. Her storytelling is engaging and as a former waitress myself and soon to be back out on the job hunting track as well, I found many of her insights and feelings right on the mark.

Every time I walk into the grocery store lugging my assorted collection of shopping bags I am hopeful. Upon entry I anxiously scan to see if others shoppers are carrying a collection of bags as well. So far, since the beginning of the new year, it’s been a futile search. I know there must be others out there who bring their own bags but I just haven’t seen them.

When I made my new years’ resolution to bring my own shopping bags, it took me almost a year to make good on that resolution. I could never remember to take my shopping bags with me to the store. It would hit me when I was checking out. This would happen many more times until I figured out that I should put my bags in the car. Then when I got to the store it would take me several more times before I would remember to take them with me when I got out of the car. And then, after I had actually used them and brought groceries home in them, it would take me several more times to remember to put them back in the car again. The short story is free plastic bags are a hard habit to break, and no one helps you to remember to bring your shopping bags.

Plastic bag use is unconscious. No one thinks twice about taking a shopping bag to the store to bring the things that they’ve purchased home. The stores automatically provide shoppers with free bags that advertise their store. Some stores even insist on bagging your purchase, so they know you have indeed, purchased the item. A free bag with purchase is a right for every consumer. It is a deeply ingrained habit in America’s consumer culture and is a modern convenience that is completely taken for granted.

Plastic grocery checkout bags are probably used on average for about fifteen minutes at the most, and then they are thrown out. At least at my experience that’s how long it takes me to get home from the grocery store. According to an article on WorldWatch Institute’s website, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags a year, and only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.

Plastic bag use is one of the most wasteful, hazardous, environmentally expensive and totally correctable habits modern humans have, and in reaction, cities like San Francisco last year have resorted to a plastic bag ban and other countries like Ireland charge a plas tax of twenty cents per bag used.

I think we should be creative and start a new holiday tradition. In February, one automatically thinks of Valentines, in March its shamrocks and in April it should be shopping bags. On Earth Day April 22, we should all bring our reusable shopping bags to the store. If everyone, for one day, brought their own shopping bags just think how many plastic bags would not be used and not dumped in the land fill, or not become liter in our forest and streets and not be a threat to our wildlife. It would be a lot of bags. It could catch on and people might remember. Earth Day April 22nd – BYOB, bring your own bag.

Thank you for Shopping

The essay by Jeffrey Goldberg, "Selling Wal-Mart, Can the company co-opt liberals?" tells the story of big business public relations spin. The fictional story that Chris Buckley tells in the movie "Thank you for Smoking" is the real life story of Wal-Mart and the real Leslie Dach who is the executive vice president for Wal-Mart corporate affairs and government relations office.

Goldberg writes an in depth report about how Wal-Mart is trying to "scrub its muddied image" by hiring a people with "ethical ambidexterity" such as Leslie Dach, who has had professional as well as personal association with environmentalism and democratic causes. His investigation and visit to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas give you a very good picture of the immense economic muscle that Wal-Mart wields and the ominous corporate culture that dominates it.

Regardless of the PR spin anyone could put on this liaison between an environmentally conscious democratic public relations man and Wal-Mart, it is always about money in the end. Morality has nothing to do with it.


Goldberg, Jeffrey. “Selling Wal-Mart –Can the company co-opt liberals?” The New Yorker 2 April 2007, 28 February 2008 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/02/070402fa_fact_goldberg

"Why I Write" by Joan Didion

Didion, Joan. "Why I Write." The Writer on Her Work. Ed. Janet Sternberg. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1980. 17-25.

In the essay, "Why I Write" by Joan Didion, she explains her writing as a coping mechanism and professes that the lack of the ability to grasp the abstract is a handicap. I was put off her smug attitude that the pictures in her head "tells you how to arrange the words and the arrangement of the words tells you...what's going on in the picture." But with a closer read, setting aside my own fears on writing and my ineptitude with grammar, I realized what she was trying to get at was her connection to and comprehension of the world. For her, it is the lyrical sound of words as they flow and the sensory perceptions of the world around her that reflect and flow back to create meaning. Perhaps it is the only way someone who plays grammar by ear can do it. From my abstract artist perspective, it has given me insight into the mind of a writer and the words they write.

Garrison Keillor distracted by moral rhetoric

I am a great fan of Garrison Keillor and have often listened to "A Prairie Home Companion" with pure delight at his wit and self deprecating pronouncements about Catholics and Minnesotans. I can relate coming from a Catholic family, educated in a Catholic school and living in Alaska. But I was a bit confused as to his point in his essay till the very end."We're failing our kids"(No Child Left Behind has plenty of flaws, but throwing it out because it's a Republican plan is morally disgusting.)p1-2.(www.Salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/01/30/education/print.html)

I think he gets distracted by his rhetoric and reduces this complex issue to a sound bite of Republican versus Democrat. He makes alot of assumptions, pronounces moral judgements and ends with a prayer to St. Michael. It must have been a bad day.

Virtual Beef Tallow...yum!

"Why the fries taste so good? by Eric Schlosser was a very interesting read.
This essay is an in-depth look at the American icon of fast food, the McDonald French fry and the incredible story of J.R. Simplot’s rise from eighth grade drop-out to multibillionaire powerhouse and the technology, science and social circumstances that got the potato to grow in the Idaho desert and become the mega rock star of the food world.

The story of J.R. Simplot is an amazing tale and the epitome of the whole American dream idea of dogged determinism, innovation and unlimited resources to exploit. You have to admire a man who has accomplished that much. It is those types of people who move in the entrepreneurial spirit that are the innovators of progress. But within the same thoughts of awe and admiration, I wonder when it is enough? It seems by the consumer culture we live in today the answer is “it’s never enough,” economic growth or profit or fries, we just can’t get enough.

I ‘m not really surprised by the revelations of the flavor industry. I think science can break anything down into its component parts and all be labeled as a volatile chemicals, but has certainly brought a new light to the way I read and interpret ingredients.


The science and conveniences of modern life has eliminated much of the “doing” of life. You no longer have to slave over a hot stove to get a tasty meal. It’s great in this fast paced life to have fast meals. But I think that in losing the physical act of making things for yourself; you lose a connection, a satisfaction or accomplishment and perhaps maybe the reason why you do what you do. Why do we eat McDonald’s fries? because they taste good.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 111-113.

What are you eating?

It is difficult to “go to the matt” with Pollan’s essay Unhappy Meals when it confirms a lot of my general beliefs about food, science and western culture.

He begins his essay by taking apart many of the assumptions we currently have about food and all the studies, statistics and science that we accept as truth. Just because its science, it doesn’t mean it is true and he illustrates this point repeatedly from citing the conflicting conclusions by the prominent organizations of The Institute of Medicine and Harvard, to the flawed data used in the federally financed Women’s Health Initiative and to science itself. He points out that “scientific reductionism is an undeniably powerful tool (that) can mislead” and especially when taken out of context in complex organisms such as the human. Most things are often more than the sum of their parts and the simplified parts and pieces science of nutritionism has very limited value in meaning without context.

It is pretty clear that the western technological advances of man have far exceeded his physical and mental ability to evolve and keep up. We have solved the problem of feeding ourselves and now we can’t stop. Food is more than sustenance, it has become entertainment, a hobby, a TV network show (The Food Channel), an obsession. We have excelled at producing and extracting food, but haven’t physically evolved to handle it. With diabetics in my family the analogy by a nutrition expert, that “we’re in the middle of a “national experiment in mainlining glucose” “was a striking mental image for me. Diabetics need to stay away from sugar, so in order to enhance flavor, many sugar-free products compensate by increasing the fat content. Fat, by the way, gets turned into sugar in the body. But it said sugar-free.

Western culture in American has no historical food culture to fall back on. It’s too young a country; there are no rules or boundaries, everything is bigger and better and there is more of it. That is the mindset, that’s what we were built on and what people from other countries come here for. The traditional American meals ; bacon, eggs and potatoes for breakfast, hamburgers and fries for lunch and meatloaf and mash potatoes for dinner were meals for the working farmer family. We no longer physically work for our food, but it is our tradition to eat like we do. We need to make some new traditions.

I think Michael Pollan has some very fine rules of thumb about food and eating at the end of his essay, but they are still someone else’s rules. It has made me think even more about what I chose to eat and what I chose to believe. But ultimately in the end, after all this rhetoric, it is down to the individual, because really it’s up to you what you put in your mouth.

Pollan, Michael. "Unhappy Meals." The New York Times nytimes.com 28 January 2007. 11 January 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html.

Learning how to rant and rave

UAA English 214 - Persuasive Writing - Little did I know that this would mean going public on the second day of class.