The punishments of being top predator.

(BTW….if you get reading & think, “this is crazy, she’s just picking on a company that’s helping us all to live, you should know that SIX European countries have banned Monsanto GMO corn. SIX. Yet our govt still lets us eat it here. You gotta wonder about priorities.)

“So the facts are as follows: We eat corn and corn derivatives that have been genetically modified, which has been banned for being unsafe in other countries — the FDA has not done independent testing on the health effects of at least three types of corn that we are eating, and have instead taken Monsanto’s word for the fact that they are safe. Monsanto resisted releasing their data to independent researchers — environmental groups had to sue to get it. Once it was released and analyzed by one group of scientists, they wrote a dense study in a non-peer reviewed journal and found statistically significant amounts of organ failure in the rats in Monsanto’s own study. Consumers often have no way of knowing clearly if they are eating genetically modified food.”

What a wonderful time we live in. I swear, humans are the total opposite of the hive mind. The more of them get together, the stupider they become. Give us a big, fecund globe & we breed like flies, gnawing thru everything in our path like a cloud of schizophrenic locusts. Then we use technology to squash predators, weather, & sickness, so nature can no longer level our numbers. Finally, when we need a way to feed all those people, we twank the genes of corn at the genetic level, a new achievement for the science of humans, & the result is – die anyway of toxins our bodies never evolved to handle.

I can hear nature now…she’s laughing a silky, knowing, sardonic snicker.

The other day I was having a conversation with someone about conspiracy theories, & how the problem is, there is a continuum, & on that line, some conspiracies are totally believable & very likely to be true, others are just crazy, but there’s this vast area in the middle that could be true. Many humans in power seem to be motivated by ego, greed, avarice. We are all so jaded because every day, we hear of yet more instances in which some person or persons goes after what they want no matter who it hurts. The wall street & banking crash would be an easy example here. Knowing that people can be utterly callous & malevolently apathetic pigs, how can you look at any nefarious plan & call it too extreme to be considered?

This Monsanto organ failure from corn thing is a classic example of the disconnect we’ve all somehow worked into our realities. If I invited you over for dinner & fed you something that was a little bit poisoned, how would you respond? Would you call the cops? Would you go on facebook & everywhere & tell people I’m insane & not to eat my food? Would you get treated & send me a medical bill? Or would you say, eh, what are you gonna do…can that really be true?….she wouldn’t do that…sure I’m a little tired but I feel mostly fine….

The idea that a seed company with worldwide reach could create a food-like substance designed to turn maximum possible profits while keeping people just fed enough is too huge to grasp. It’s unreal. You think, how could that happen? Surely if that were true the government would step in. Here’s a thought – I think they already have. Let’s think about it. The problem is, as with so many of our current ills, everything is so intertwined. If you get rid of GMO corn, crop yields will go way down, which means less high fructose corn syrup & feed for industrial meat lots. That’s certainly healthier, but then how will the cash poor lower classes get their calories? Right now they get most of them thru corn syrup. And how will the farmers get by if they grow less corn? They only make it now because of govt subsidies. The govt, out govt (they tell us) knows full well that corn syrup causes health problems. Yet instead of sitting on Monsanto – this GMO corn organ failure thing is only one of their many sins – the govt gives farmers subsidies to grow the stuff! Then they all go to washington & dick around about how to fix the health care crisis. This is so broke, I don’t even know where to start to fix it.

I eat meat, not a lot but some. This latest news has made me realize that all, not just most, of the meat I eat from now on will need to be organically grown. The why? Industrially raised livestock are fed corn. Hm. Do you think that’s GMO corn? You betcha. And as we’ve learned from eating big fish, toxins get concentrated as you go up the food chain. I don’t really want a concentrated load of Monsanto goodness when I eat a hamburger.

Here’s a good article about avoiding GMO food. And here’s a page where you can get a non-GMO shopping guide. Remember that even organic food can include GMO ingredients. It only has to be 95% organic to get the label. So check for 100% organic or quiz the company.

Lost boys.

Lately I’ve been doing some volunteering at my son’s school. Every Tuesday I take a group of 7 4th graders out to “find urban nature.” It’s interesting in its own way. However, I always come home feeling like I’ve conveyed very little. An hour out of the school day & they spend 1/4 of it getting to the lunchroom to meet then back to class, 1/4 of it listening to the head of the program attempt to teach by the Socratic method, which really means some kids raise their hands, waving wildly, while most of the rest sit, doodling & bored, & 1/2 the time supposedly listening to me (or one of the other volunteer moms).

My group has 4 girls & 3 boys. I had heard tell that boys were different & boy, howdy, let me tell you it ain’t no lie. When I ask the girls to look at their plants & speculate on what the roots are for, they actually bend their little heads & fasten their eyeballs on the plants. The boys don’t hear me ask the question because they are too busy throwing clumps of wet leaves at each other.

In my little group is a boy who is testing. Me, his teachers, the other kids’ willingness to follow – everything. I liken this boy to a 10-month-old border collie puppy. He’s mostly friendly, plenty smart, with lots of energy, & if you don’t find him something to do, he’ll find ways to entertain himself. Shredding the sofa, for instance. I’ve done 3 of these sessions now & I’ve gotten hip to his ways. As soon as we pass thru the doors, he immediately veers off from the group. Apparently he’s hoping to vanish on the school grounds. Or off them. First I tell the other boys they must stay with the group. This is to avert their quick defection to his camp. I went thru this in week 1. Then I herd  him back with mild pats on the back. This is repeated time & again. He loves pillbugs. Quick as you can think it, he’ll be off from the group & turning over rocks in search of a new “Fred,” which is what he names every pillbug. This must be shut down AT ONCE, or one of the other boys will sense a slackness in the leash & also immediately leave the group to invert rocks. I reached a low point last week when my own son listened to this boy instead of to me. (This caused me to have my first “perils of bad companions” talks with my son after school that day.) I was standing there asking them to listen (the girls were already listening) & they were just riffing on their own boy silliness. On a side note, why can’t boys ever hold still?

Now, with Reid, I can apply all sorts of psychological warfare. I can tell him, for instance, that if he doesn’t behave in a certain way, then I might not use any hot water at all in his next bath. Or that his lunch the next day might consist entirely of dried apricots. Ah, how I do love the screams of protest. You parents out there know exactly what I mean. There is something truly delicious in the immediate capitulation of your small adolescent wannabe when faced with treats withheld, in the begging insistence of your bratty child they they WILL behave, just PLEASE can they have a cookie in their lunch the next day? With this boy, tho, I couldn’t get a handle. Hmm, I thought, what will work on this little beast? He’s rather street smart & as one of the other moms pointed out, he’s just as likely to respond by flipping me the the bird & telling me to fuck off. Charming behavior in a 9 year old, but emasculating for me. So last week, I put my arm around his shoulder & said I REALLY needed him to cooperate with me, that while I’d be leaving in half a hour,  he’s with his teacher for the next 7 months, & if I had to tell her about his attitude, I was betting she could find ways to make his life hard. He got a rather thoughtful look in his eyes & mostly behaved the rest of the session.

And this week, as with every week since the nature program started, I’ve spent a bit of time pondering this kid & his situation. He seems quite smart, seems bored, & lord knows he’s mentally alert. Comes up with all sorts of clever things. And he’s not an evil kid. Any of you who have been around kids know what I mean; there are kids out there who seem to be creatures from the dark side from the get go. But this boy is somewhat charming & not particularly bad, he’s just floating around in any random direction because there is no compass in his world. I have asked around & found out he lives down the street with his mom & some other quantity of younger kids. He had to have a neighbor bring him to open house night. He might have a learning disability or he might qualify for the advanced learning program, but both those things require some parent involvement which doesn’t seem there for him. It’s like watching a slow moving train wreck. He could go far. He could go too far. It’s like he’s in the woods, ambling back & forth between the path to an interesting & fulfilling life, & the path to juvie. Further on the woods will thicken & it’ll be harder for him to find the other path. It’s such a waste, you know. That’s what I think when I see kids like this. About all I could to do was call the local chapter of Big Brothers & get an application. I’ll see if his teacher can pass it on during the parent/teacher conferences upcoming at Thanksgiving break. I can’t think of anything else.

People used to live more in small communities. And in that situation, people knew each other, & they weren’t hesitant to enforce the local rules & mores. That dynamic can be bad, such as when a small town hates gays or blacks, but there were definite benefits, too. Used to be, a kid who was kind of on his own might have relatives or a mentor to go to. But in the case of this boy & many kids like him, you don’t even know your neighbors. And if your parents are not even really there, you are on your own.

It’s worth understanding that the space between good parenting & child abuse is a vast field with lots of hidey holes. As long as a kid doesn’t come to school with an eyeball hanging out or fingers missing, he’s considered fine. Teachers might see clear signs of bad parenting, but unless it’s extremely obvious, they can’t do much at all. In previous times, various community busybodies or relatives might have stepped into this legal gap, but these avenues are now for the most part closed.

It’s a sad thing.

Apple Jacks & Michael Pollan

We’re just back from a week of camp food. By that I mean we started the week eating apples & bananas & other such fine fare, but by day 2, Reid had joined the gang around the nightly fire to make s’mores & immolate marshmallows. Also on day 3 he spotted the box of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal our campmates had bought for their daughter. (They made sure everyone knew it was a special, vacation, once a year treat.) Halfway thru the trip I finally folded &, on a supply run into town, bought a box of Apple Jacks. Reid was pleased, & I was smugly happy. I had loved Apple Jacks as a kid. Well, it’s changed. Of course. Fluffier, not so crunchy. Boring. But the box made for great reading.

Apple Jacks is not good for you. We’re all clear on that, right? I mean, it’s not a healthy food. The first ingredient on the list is sugar. Apples are 7th on the list. Yet Kellogg’s puts all this great copy on the side of the box, entreating kids to get out & exercise, that kind of thing, as if they can get the flip side of guilt by association. Maybe if we talk about healthy things on the box, the contents of the box actually become more healthy. I don’t know, maybe it works by suggestion, like a placebo. But anyway, the best part was when it challenged kids to find out how many sit-ups they could do during commercial breaks while they’re watching TV!!! Not if you’re watching TV, WHEN!

Part of me is thinking, why am I writing this inane entry? Most of the people I know are educated & aware enough to mostly avoid this kind of marketing abracadabra. But all I have to do is think back to those sunny mornings in camp, Reid gazing with longing at the bright red Lucky Charms box & begging me for just a little bit. I’m a parent now. I may be thoughtful & jaded, but Reid is exactly the customer P. T. Barnum was thinking of when he coined the phrase, “a fool born every minute & two to take him.” And Kellogg’s doesn’t think this is inane. They spend millions a year marketing to kids. Kids who are increasingly distant from the real source of food; gardens, chickens laying eggs… We always need to be aware & thoughtful about our food choices. After all, what is more intimate than eating? You put something in your mouth & it becomes your very flesh.

See Michael Pollan, the excellent author & researcher, speak on our current diet here: Michael Pollan speaking on Omnivore’s Delimma

Here’s a new product that was also advertised on the box. Edible straws. Would this work? Seems like it would get squishy & slimy. Bleah…

And here’s a recipe for your apple jacks. It makes my teeth ache to even picture this.