What could be subversive about a vegetable garden? Simple leaves, roots, fruits and seed doing as they were created to do in your backyard before you What could be subversive about a vegetable garden? Simple leaves, roots, fruits and seed doing as they were created to do in your backyard before you bring them into your kitchen--how could this wholesome exchange of energy unsettle an established institution?
Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a muse's song, reveals with vivid beauty and piercing truth what has been hiding in plain sight.
It calls for the citizens of the United States to collectively compose an epic hero and finally recognize the abuse of mealtime, food culture, food animals and animal husbandry, agricultural biodiversity, small farms, local economies, and planet earth and its inhabitants for the sake of a convenient daily life and the siren song of "efficiency".
But is not the lifestyle of modern America bloated with abnormality? Either out of ignorance or apathy we filed for divorce from the land that sustains our breath and claimed independence from the communities that shelter us. We forgot that nourishing a patch of green for one's own nourishment is an activity for survival, political or no.
We are the hero, but our heroism is not in transcending our human scale to slaughter a juggernaut. It's precisely in submitting to the bounds of our humanity....more
This is a story, sometimes a boy's, sometimes an old man's, and sometimes others', of heartbreaking destruction: from the firebombing of Dresden, to aThis is a story, sometimes a boy's, sometimes an old man's, and sometimes others', of heartbreaking destruction: from the firebombing of Dresden, to a slow dissolution of love, to the devastation visited upon the World Trade Center in New York City.
At the end, however, a vulnerable and beautiful situation has been assembled....more
This book is worth reading for the character of the Pirate, his five dogs trailing behind him, alone. When you read it, however, you must keep in mindThis book is worth reading for the character of the Pirate, his five dogs trailing behind him, alone. When you read it, however, you must keep in mind to stretch out the 'o' vowel in the word 'dogs' so that it sounds a little more like 'doags', but only slightly so. Try it:
'What good dogs you must be to have seen a vision!'...more
'Pilgrim' will require a second reading before I can write anything cogent about it. Speaking nebulously, however, this book is a luscious waterfall t'Pilgrim' will require a second reading before I can write anything cogent about it. Speaking nebulously, however, this book is a luscious waterfall to both gather scattered conclusions and smash them to pieces again. File under: nature, theology, things you think about during lone walks in the outdoors....more
There's a good feeling you get when you read a book that accurately criticizes something that needs it. If you've ever felt like watching TV was a wasThere's a good feeling you get when you read a book that accurately criticizes something that needs it. If you've ever felt like watching TV was a waste of time, this book will impart such a feeling.
Not to mention, providing an arsenal of reasons why TV is a general waste of time.
Why, just two days ago my 3rd grade students asked me why the 4th graders at our school always get to watch videos in class and we don't.
With Postman's support in my back pocket I explained that TV was nothing more than entertainment. While there may be a great deal of programs on TV from which something might be learned, TV makes it appear as though all learning is or should be fun, when in reality a true education is wrought through critical thinking and some honest hard work. TV demands neither of these, and those who become accustomed to it exhibit similar behaviors when either TV or education (or perhaps anything else displayed on the telly-bunkum-box as just entertainment) becomes less than pleasing: switching off.
Entertainment is one thing, and that's fine. But education, news, politics, courts, science, and religion are another. TV, by its natures, rolls everything into show-business, and culture follows suit.
If reading books was ever important to you, read this book....more
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