tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92074136257989299652024-03-06T00:09:48.606-08:00A Life Organicthe personal is political ecologicalJessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-33424410539812998372012-12-09T11:19:00.002-08:002012-12-09T11:19:38.282-08:00BLOG MOVED:<h2>
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Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-34416358247678014502012-12-05T09:27:00.001-08:002012-12-05T09:27:24.230-08:00The Invitation<i>I don't often repost full length pieces of other's writing, but I was riffling through my old cards the other day- and this poem my grandmother shared a few years back struck me and spoke to my current thoughts on life in an age where 'what you do' is thought to be equivalent to 'who you are.'</i><br />
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<b>The Invitation</b><br />
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It doesn't interest me<br />
what you do for a living.<br />
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I want to know what you ache for,<br />
and if you dare to dream<br />
of meeting your heart's longing.<br />
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It doesn't interest me how old you are.<br />
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I want to know you will risk<br />
looking lik a fool for love,<br />
for your dreams,<br />
for the adventure of being alive.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>It doesn't interest me what planets<br />
are squaring your moon.<br />
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I want to know if you have touched<br />
the center of your own sorrow,<br />
of you have been opened<br />
by life's betrayals<br />
or have become shriveled and closed<br />
from fear of further pain!<br />
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I want to know you can sit with pain,<br />
mine or your own,<br />
without moving to hide it<br />
or fade it or fix it.<br />
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I want to know if you can be with joy,<br />
mine or your own,<br />
if you can dance with wildness<br />
and let the ecstasy fill you<br />
to the tips of your fingers and toes<br />
without cautioning us<br />
to be careful, be realistic,<br />
or to remember the limitations<br />
of being human.<br />
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It doesn't interest me if the story<br />
you're telling me is true.<br />
I want to know<br />
if you can disappoint another<br />
to be true to yourself...<br />
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal<br />
and not betray your own soul.<br />
<br />
I want to know if you can be faithful<br />
and therefore be trustworthy.<br />
I want to know you cans see beauty<br />
even it is not pretty every day,<br />
and if you can source your life<br />
from God's presence.<br />
<br />
I want to know<br />
if you can live with failure,<br />
yours and mine,<br />
and still stand on the edge of a lake<br />
and shout to the silver of the full moon,<br />
YES!<br />
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It doesn't interest me to know<br />
where you live<br />
or how much money you have.<br />
<br />
I want to know if you can get up<br />
after the night of grief and despair,<br />
weary and bruised to be bone<br />
and do what needs to be done for the children.<br />
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It doesn't interest me who you are<br />
or how you came to be here.<br />
<br />
I want to know if you will stand<br />
in the center of the Fire with me<br />
and not shrink back.<br />
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It doesn't interest me where or what<br />
or with whom you have studied.<br />
I want to know what sustains you<br />
from the inside when all else falls away.<br />
<br />
I want to know<br />
if you can be alone<br />
with yourself,<br />
and if you truly like<br />
the company you keep<br />
in the empty moments.<br />
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-- Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Native American Elder<br />
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<br />Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-31379351540372434772012-11-07T11:48:00.002-08:002012-11-07T11:49:54.180-08:00Soil and Food, Post Election<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 24px;">On this day, November seventh, 2012, we know who our president and political leaders will be in America for the next four years. We know that we will have the same cast of characters that we've had since the last election two years ago plus and minus a few faces and we know that Californians' barely declined to endorse a proposition that would label GMO foods. What does this mean for soil and food?</span><br />
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<img alt="Symphony of Soil, Soil and the Election" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2296" data-mce-src="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/states.png" height="216" src="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/states.png" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: inherit; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: auto; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.625em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 97.5%; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; width: auto;" title="Election_map_US" width="350" />Though I am happy with the results of the national election, we will be carefully watching congresses' ability to make positive change in the fate of our food system. Will they begin to pay attention to the growing call for a healthy, more localized food supply? While there are some who may be inclined to be negative about this prospect, we have some reason to hope.</div>
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At a recent screening of Symphony of the Soil in Tokyo, inquisitive citizens asked me what I thought of the Obama administrations' agricultural policies. My answer to them mimics my feelings today.</div>
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We live in a nation where monied interests have caught hold of the political system. Though they have not yet figured out how to rule the game in it's entirety, they do enough to damage the functioning of the machine. To this end we live in the only industrialized nation that hasn't labeled GMOs and where the food system is so opaque it's hard for even those of us who study it full time to make heads or tails of it. We have soil loss, nitrogen pollution of our streams and rivers, farm workers who get paid nothing and are poisoned by the chemicals we spray on our food. Birds that sit in cages too small for them to turn around, and cows that have never seen the light of day. A nation that has lost touch of where food comes from and what real food is, and a food system that wants to keep it that way.</div>
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But for all of the darkness and suffering in our food system, this election today reaffirms some small signs of hope.</div>
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The Obama family has planted an organic garden on the White House lawn, and encouraged the nations' families to do the same. Michelle Obama has traveled the country encouraging school kids to eat more healthily and avoid processed foods in order to avert diabetes and obesity. Kathleen Merigan is the assistant Secretary of Agriculture and has presided over a marked increased in USDA attention to organic and local food- including the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food campaign. There's a cost-share program in the Farm Bill that helps farmers pay the price of transition to organic and government funding for beginner farmers and ranchers. In California, the majority of citizens have now heard the phrase 'GMO'. And though Prop 37 was outspent 5 to 1 by corporate interests who want to keep the veil of secrecy over the industrial food supply- we, the consumers, almost won.</div>
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Our office received an email from the Prop 37 organizers this morning that said it perfectly, 'we may have lost the skirmish, but we will win the war'. That's the way we here feel about the election. We didn't get everything that we wanted out of this election, but the nation's direction, given Newtons' first law of motion, will continue to propel us towards a more just, fair, clean, and soil friendly food system if we just keep pushing away.</div>
<a href="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/learn-more/blog/" target="_blank">Link to Original Post</a>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-16410639342810978352012-10-12T22:58:00.004-07:002012-10-12T23:00:26.039-07:00Why I want you to Vote Yes on Prop 37<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">For all of you who remain undecided on <b>PROP 37</b> on this years' California ballot. <u>May I strongly encourage you to support it.</u> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">I could go on about my personal feelings about GMOs and the harm they <i>may</i> do, but that's not what Prop 37 is about. Simply put, Prop 37 will allow us to know what is in our food. Period. It's not anti-GMO, it is pro-consumer. It is pro-knowledge. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">Please talk to your neighbors and your friends about it. Find out how it's one of the biggest grass roots efforts on the Ballot for years. I myself was one of the thousands of un-paid volunteers who stood on corners and gathered signatures for it. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">Ignore the adds on TV paid for by the 34 million dollars donated to the anti-Prop 37 campaign by the likes of MONSANTO, DUEPONT, and DOW CHEMICAL. They are only meant to confuse the issue. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">This is a citizen effort, where all government regulation and common sense have failed us. We are THE ONLY industrialized nation that hasn't labeled GMOs. It will not cost the government nor the people of California anything, and it will cost companies very little to actually change their labeling. It's just ink. The only entities that will loose from Prop 37 passing are the companies that sell GMO seeds, the companies that sell pesticides, and the companies that profit from the undemocratic industrial food system and have no interest in change.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">What we as the public seek to gain is: knowledge about our food supply and the ability to track how it will effect us and our children. We currently have no way to know what the long term effects of GMOs are- because we don't know where they are. Also: if California passes Prop 37, it is likely the entire US will label GMOs. This is why companies are campaigning so hard against it. Our small window for affecting great change on the nation's food supply is Prop 37. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">Lastly, if Monsanto et. al. are so proud of their GMOs, why wouldn't they want them labeled so people can go out and find them?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">Enough said. Please stand with me, send an email or a text to everyone you know, and collectively, let's <b>VOTE YES ON PROP 37.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px;">For promotional materials like bumper stickers, <a href="http://www.four51.com/UI/Customer.aspx?autologonid=aa0b6daf-96f9-41fc-9dc5-d66a9007cd8a">go here</a>.</span></div>
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Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-66160956905945366992012-09-26T15:07:00.000-07:002012-09-26T15:07:21.277-07:00We are such things as dreams are made on<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZIPQOZviFIR9ChMv9oHPxPnj3ZdfYMKFsLJcKKo4aZhV8xWIdgI0Nf53G13ok2oC3xS3Jt9_I8Z2YT9o2R52tXBIeTe27wpGing7RcLNK7GU6PAud5THqKNMpIcN4hyVkjd2K_RQXbY/s1600/_MG_6582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZIPQOZviFIR9ChMv9oHPxPnj3ZdfYMKFsLJcKKo4aZhV8xWIdgI0Nf53G13ok2oC3xS3Jt9_I8Z2YT9o2R52tXBIeTe27wpGing7RcLNK7GU6PAud5THqKNMpIcN4hyVkjd2K_RQXbY/s640/_MG_6582.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-11003077418704194972012-08-02T16:37:00.002-07:002012-08-02T16:37:39.951-07:00The Biggest ThingI had the realization the other day, that I never wanted to be one of those women where the biggest thing they had in their life was getting married. Darned if I didn't damn myself to fate.<br />
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The biggest thing I have in my life today is that I'm getting married. My feminista identity is being rocked to the core.<br />
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Least ways it's going to be an awesome wedding.Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-28549457593610490782012-08-02T16:33:00.001-07:002012-08-02T16:33:29.661-07:00Canning NerdsJust steamed through another Barbara Kingsolver tome. When I told my girlfriends at a recent dinner that I was finally reading 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle'- one retorted that I could have written it. As if! (Though I did glow a bit from the compliment on lifestyle.)<br />
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I remembered her comment in particular when I got to this quote last night.<br />
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<i>"Some moment of every summer finds me all out of canning jars. So I go to town and stand in line at the hardware store carrying one or two boxes of canning jars and lids, renewing my membership in a secret society. Elderly women and some men, too, will smile their approval or ask outright, 'What are you canning?' These folks must see me as an anomaly of my generation, an earnest holdout, while the younger clientele see me as a primordial nerdhead, if they even notice. I suppose I'm both. If I even notice."</i><br />
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Barbara Kingsolver! If you and I weren't twins in some life past- I don't know what. I'm pretty sure though, that I qualify for a bigger primordial nerdhead because you're definitely old enough to be my mom.Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-42261796091916567532012-07-26T10:22:00.001-07:002012-07-26T10:22:21.828-07:00Symphony of the Soil: Drought Warnings: Missing the POint<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
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<i>I'm writing for a blog on the <a href="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/learn-more/blog/" target="_blank">Symphony of the Soi</a>l (the film I helped produce) website. Here's one of my latest posts... </i></div>
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For the last ten days all eyes have been on the US corn belt, which has been experiencing a massive drought. Now, don't get me wrong, drought is a big deal, it absolutely effects agricultural livelihoods and waterways, not to mention crops and animals that depend on water. This being said, the commentary that's been raging on about drought bringing higher food prices like today's piece in <a data-mce-href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/25/drought-higher-food-prices?INTCMP=SRCH" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/25/drought-higher-food-prices?INTCMP=SRCH" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, misses the point.</div>
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Will some types of food prices be affected? Yes. This drought will push up the price of chicken, pork, and beef- animals who, when industrially grown, are primarily fed on corn, the principle victim of the drought. The drought will also push up the price of corn oil and corn syrup, which, when chemically re-configured, are found in most processed food.</div>
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<img alt="Corn_Symphony of the Soil" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2090" data-mce-src="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Corn.jpg" height="525" src="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Corn.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: inherit; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: auto; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.625em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 97.5%; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; width: auto;" title="Corn" width="700" /></div>
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This is where commentators are failing to take the next step in their analysis. Which types of food prices are going to be affected by this drought? Animal products and processed foods.</div>
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The newspapers act as if Americans won't be able to feed themselves without hamburger, sodas (rich in corn-syrup), and a bag of Cheetos. In times of crisis, the talk of the obesity scare and worries about diabetes go straight out the window.</div>
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Crisis like these are a one of the few times that we as a society have the chance to re-evaluate our nations' agricultural priorities. What if The Guardian stopped shouting about the growing food crisis and started promoting alternatives? How about heading down to your local farmers' market- which, for the most part won't have been affected by the drought, and buying some carrots- which are probably better for animal health, your health, and the planet in the long run anyway.</div>
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-by <em style="color: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625;">Jessy Beckett</em></div>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-21383833821163210492012-06-10T10:23:00.000-07:002012-07-26T10:25:15.379-07:00Farm Bill 2012: Remembering the Soil<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
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<img alt="A picture of a tractor over the text: 2012 Farm Bill" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1995" data-mce-src="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FarmBill.jpg" height="266" src="http://www.symphonyofthesoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/FarmBill.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: inherit; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: auto; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.625em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 97.5%; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; width: auto;" title="Farm Bill 2012" width="436" />Every five years congress debates and reauthorizes a piece of legislation known as the Farm Bill. More aptly nicknamed the Farm and Food Bill by many food activists, this legislation pays for everything from food stamps, to conservation programs, to agricultural research priorities. Originally authorized during the Dust Bowl, and pushed by <a data-mce-href="http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/about/century/hugh.html" href="http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/about/century/hugh.html" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Hugh Hammond Bennett</a>- the man who started the <a data-mce-href="http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/home" href="http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/home" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Soil Conservation Service</a> (known in its present form is known as the NRCS)- the Farm Bill was enacted to serve two primary purposes. First, to support farms across the country in times of economic depression, so that farmers wouldn't starve when prices hit bottom and, secondly (and most important to our cause) to mandate that farmers who received government aid enacted simple soil conservation techniques that would prevent the likes of the dust bowl from happening again.</div>
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While we as a nation have clung mightily to the concept of supporting farmers in times of need- we have forgotten Bennett's impetus that saving our soil should be a national priority. Congress has since unlinked the direct payment (commodity-crop subsidy) program from the necessity to conserve the soil- thereby allowing egregious soil mismanagement by farmers who are simultaneously being subsidized by tax payer dollars.</div>
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Instead of a hand in glove approach, soil conservation practices have since the mid 80's been encouraged through the <a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_Reserve_Program" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_Reserve_Program" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)</a>- which pays farmers to put marginal land out of production, and gives grants to growers to plant hedgerows, wildlife corridors, and beneficiary insect habitat.</div>
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This year, everything is set to change. As congress is trying to slim down anything that could be construed as wasteful fat off of the national budget, the direct payment program is on the chopping block- backed by an odd mix of environmentalists and large corn-belt farmers. Good Food movement activists who have, for decades, tried to eliminate the subsidies to the nations largest (and primarily conventional) farms are thrilled the direct payment program looks to be going the way of the Dodo.</div>
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However- there's a back door to this years farm bill that will continue the system of subsidizing large conventional farming operations with an increased reckless abandon in terms of conservation. The farm bill that Senate Agricultural Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow has put forth- axes the direct payment plan in favor of a crop insurance subsidy for farmers called the <a data-mce-href="http://deltafarmpress.com/government/agriculture-risk-coverage-arc-program-overview" href="http://deltafarmpress.com/government/agriculture-risk-coverage-arc-program-overview" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program</a>. In an open letter from a litany of <a data-mce-href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/06/food-leaders-the-farm-bill-props-up-the-wrong-people/258089/" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/06/food-leaders-the-farm-bill-props-up-the-wrong-people/258089/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Food Leaders</a> to congress this week, some of the nation's leading food and farming advocates came together to daylight the bait and switch technique that will serve the same large conventional farming interests as every other farm bill of the past several decades. They write that <em style="color: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625;">the proposed $9 billion-a-year crop insurance program comes with minimal societal obligations. Growers collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premium subsidies should at least be required to take simple measures to protect wetlands, grassland and soil. Instead, the unlimited subsidies will encourage growers to plow up fragile areas and intensify fencerow-to-fencerow cultivation of environmentally sensitive land, erasing decades of conservation gains.</em></div>
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We agree with them that, <em style="color: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625;">It doesn't have to be this way. </em>Any type of subsidy program- whether direct payment or through the form of the back door Agricultural Risk Coverage program needs to mandate soil conservation practices. We need to keep in mind that we are blessed with great soil in this country- and we need to respect that it is the basis of our very productive agricultural system. The internet news and commentary site <a data-mce-href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77035.html" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77035.html" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Politico</a> reported that <em style="color: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625;">There is strong pressure...for Congress to reverse a 1996 law and again require farmers to comply with soil conservation rules or lose the premium subsidies so important to insuring their crop revenues. Stabenow said she has added “sod busting” protections for native prairie grasslands but would oppose any amendment to establish a broader link between crop insurance assistance and the soil conservation rules.</em></div>
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This is an appeal to Ms Stabenow and the rest of congress. Heed Hugh Hammond Bennett's almost century old warning that <strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.625;">“Too many people have lost sight of the fact that productive soil is essential to the production of food”</strong> and include stringent soil conservation practices in the design of the ARC program. We disagree with the shift from one type of subsidies to another- but if you are to follow through with subsidizing the crop insurance of famers- please remember the soil!</div>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-74424813198135881812012-06-07T11:39:00.003-07:002012-06-07T12:27:42.509-07:00KUSP Reports: Land Trusts Partner with Farmers to Conserve Agricultural LandInterviewed for the local radio station about land trusts leasing land to farmers.<br />
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<a href="http://blogs.kusp.org/environment/2012/05/31/local-land-trusts-partner-with-farmers-to-conserve-agricultural-land/" target="_blank">KUSP Reports: Environment » Blog Archive » Land Trusts Partner with Farmers to Conserve Agricultural Land</a><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.kusp.org/environment/2012/06/06/making-open-space-leases-work-for-farmers/">KUSP Reports: Environment » Blog Archive » Making Open Space Leases Work for Farmers</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNctOgbVw41iGqbhr4ZB8BYLSGlzsPTrO8md6GA4aceeaOpE8YQUZo-8otjTzxnPHHCaccXb-Kv8WsBE3bboVK0zTsmtRHf9geQ0jSSxnr3cM2v00FSiETPvKs-FLd2sok94UZ7wEy2Y/s1600/Bluehousefarm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSNctOgbVw41iGqbhr4ZB8BYLSGlzsPTrO8md6GA4aceeaOpE8YQUZo-8otjTzxnPHHCaccXb-Kv8WsBE3bboVK0zTsmtRHf9geQ0jSSxnr3cM2v00FSiETPvKs-FLd2sok94UZ7wEy2Y/s400/Bluehousefarm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://dogwoodorganicfarm.com/about/">Dogwood Farm</a> on Peninsula Open Space Trust Land</div>
<br />Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-60728396548657447392012-06-07T11:30:00.002-07:002012-06-07T11:31:03.492-07:00Live Real Farm Bill VideoMy sister Hillary and I recently worked with Live Real- a national youth food and farming organization- to produce this video.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mui3_dEHHEY" width="560"></iframe>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-16279690777754094922012-05-02T20:00:00.000-07:002012-05-08T19:41:14.109-07:00The Feminist Bride: The Dress Take 3Given that my first two stabs at dress shopping were not successful- and stressful to boot- I did not go out of my way to schedule any more dress shopping adventures. I was discouraged by a perceived lack of options. Vintage stuff didn't fit me, retail dresses were expensive and probably made out of crap from China. I was ready to throw in the towel.<br />
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My third dress shopping experience was therefore an accident.<br />
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I was having breakfast with my aunt and my cousin in Oakland. My aunt commented that she had recently located my grandmother's wedding dress and asked if I wanted to give it a go. I, rather sheepishly, replied I was game to try anything at this point.<br />
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Minutes later she re-appeared, silk dress from 1950s in hand. My grandmother was a practical bride. She wore a short dress, not even white- but a silvery grey color, so that she could wear it again. Of course, as all brides with similar objectives, she never did- and thus it ended up in the dress-up box of my childhood. The next person to wear it was a much younger version of yours-truly, sometime in the late eighties, roughly forty years later. Many times my aunt has told the story of how she salvaged the dress one afternoon after I had spent the day wearing it in my manzanita treehouse.<br />
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Although she might have saved it from further disrepair that day, the dress was in pretty bad shape. The lace along the neck was torn in many places, the hem had become undone and was beginning to fray, and there were a myriad of stains covering every major piece of the skirt and bodice. Even if it had fit me it would have needed almost total reconstruction.<br />
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What happens next was predictable- given the findings of earlier dress shopping trips. Remember how no dress manufactured before 1960 fit? Same deal. I managed to get my arms and shoulders into the dress, and, delicately, the rest of my body smoshed into it. Seams busting- my aunt and I looked on in her full length mirror. If I had breathed, the dress would have clearly lost its stitching. <i>Fail. </i>I said. My aunt chirped something about it having been a long-shot anyway. We both laughed.<br />
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After she had assisted me in smooshing myself back out of the family heirloom, she hung it up, and as we were returning to the breakfast table, she had another inspiration.<br />
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Jessy- she buzzed- what about <i><a href="http://www.whiteelephantsale.org/">The White Elephant Sale</a></i>? To which, like any non East Bay native- I replied, <i>the what?</i> The White Elephant Sale she said- it's the Bay Area's largest garage-sale, it's happening today and I have some things to donate.<br />
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For those of you who don't know- The White Elephant sale is a huge fundraiser put on by the Oakland Museum Women's Board, a bunch of bad-ass chicks who are in their 60's. It's been put on for decades to support the Oakland Museum. They throw a month long, super organized garage sale in a building larger than the size of your average Costco. It takes a staff of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of people come every year. This year it grossed 1.8 million. Impressive.<br />
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An hour later we were in the building. First impression: slightly overwhelming for any second hand goods enthusiast. My aunt and cousin made a bee line for the women's apparel section, breezing past inquisitive volunteers- they clearly new exactly where the rack of wedding dresses was located.<br />
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The first dress I saw was just about the most heavenly piece of fabric and string I've come across. I delicately removed it from the end of the rack, along with a couple of other dresses for good measure and entered the large communal fitting room with my cousin and aunt.<br />
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Amongst 15 gawking women of all shapes and sizes, all in various states of undress, I began to try on the wedding dresses. Saving the best for last. One was too small by a mile, one made me look like the dreaded cupcake, and another made me look like an 18th century bride- way too many buttons. The heavenly piece came last.<br />
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When I put it on, all the chatter in the communal dressing room fell silent. A few women gasped. One matronly looking woman in her 60s in nothing but her bra and panties whispered- <i> you have to buy that.</i> Others nodded their heads in agreement. Everyone was moved. The choice was made. Me, my aunt, my cousin, and 15 half naked strangers were sure that this was<i> the one</i>.<br />
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I left Oakland with a silk and satin hand made wedding dress from who knows when, with embellishments of satin roses, that fits me perfectly. I left Oakland with a wedding dress in a recycled plastic shopping bag, having donated just over a hundred dollars to a cause that I feel good about. I left Oakland with a wedding dress that I'll wear proudly and look great in- values still in tact.<br />
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<br />Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-56053798510057551442012-04-03T16:04:00.000-07:002012-04-03T16:24:51.133-07:00The Feminist Bride: The Dress Take 2The second stab at dress shopping came later the same day, in a very different location in San Francisco. Having exhausted seemingly all vintage possibilities in the Haight- we took a different approach and headed to China Town.<br />
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Designer Dresses. Discount store.<br />
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Now- I don't know about you- but I had NO idea how expensive wedding dresses are retail. The average price of a bridal gown must hover around a grand, while designer dresses retail for something between 8-12K. Yes. You read that correct.<br />
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Perhaps it's just my spend thrift ways- but a price tag of that nature makes me a little queazy. Or, more literally, as my partner put it, it brings the thought to mind that you could buy a pretty nice Toyota Truck for that price.<br />
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So- enter the supposedly discount store.<br />
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Ann and I arrive in the late afternoon and are given small tags to put at the top of the dresses we like. And we begin to walk among the rungs of dresses, each more beautiful than the next. We are surrounded by creamy silk and lace chiffon. I try not to read the price tags as we choose the dresses. I don't want to discourage myself before I start. Once we get a stack of 10, I slip into the dressing room. The attendant follows me, as, I am told, these dresses are so precious a professional needs to be physically in the room at all times to help me in and out of them. I gulp.<br />
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The first few fit, and, though none of them is <i>the dress</i>, I am relieved that we have found a store that finally carries my size. (The thought that I won't have to walk down the isle in a paper bag takes a great weight off my shoulders.)<br />
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I try on a Dior. A Dolce and Gabana. An Oscar De La Renta. I feel like I am at the Oscars. Each dress more beautiful than the last. The lighting in the room is great. There is a big mirror and a wooden stage to stand on. Ann is having a blast, talking up the attendants, and snapping pictures. The last dress that I try on is a Monique Lhuillier, and I can tell from the moment that she zips me into it, that I'm in trouble.<br />
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I step out of the dressing room and look at myself. This may be the most beautiful dress I have ever seen, I think to myself. Ann gasps- the type of audible sound that can only mean one thing- w<i>hoa. You're actually getting married... </i>She and I exchange glances and we both know this dress is gorgeous, it fits me perfectly, and, it just might be <i>the one.</i><br />
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After a couple of turns around the wooden stage, I head back into the dressing room with the knowledge that I really want this dress. I don't even know how much it's going to cost at this point, but as soon as I see the price tag, I break out into a cold sweat. The dress is 2,500 dollars. American. Cash. It is at this point that I begin to panic.<br />
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As I get dressed in my street clothes, the attendant is chatty and confident. She knows that this dress originally retailed for 8,000, and that someone will buy it within the week if it's not me. As I sweat and tell her I need to think about it, she sweetly writes down the name of the designer and the dress, as well as the size. She knows that I'll google it when I leave the store and realize I'll never find the same dress at a better price. She has the keys to the dress that I'm dreaming of, and she doesn't pressure me to buy it, even though she knows I want it.<br />
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I practically run from the store, with Ann chasing after me.<br />
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Over vegan chinese food we talk about why I couldn't just lay down the cash. She relays the information that the American wedding industry has already imprinted in my brain- <i>it's your one special day- you should have exactly what you want.</i> The words are already haunting me. <i>But,</i> says the more rational, grounded, eco-feminista part of my brain, <i>for $2,500 you could feed an entire village in Africa, forgive, much less purchase all of the inputs for your farm for a year... </i>I am clearly struggling. <i>Plus, </i>I say, <i>I'm sure that dress was made in a sweat shop in China, and it's not even organic material! </i>I continue to stew.<i> </i>Ann, like the good friend she is, supports me in my struggle, <i>Whatever you feel good about Jess,</i> she says over her vegan miso soup.<br />
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I thought about that dress for a solid three days. I googled it, I couldn't find it, I agonized over whether I should just call back and put it on my credit card. I got a cold, which I largely attribute to stress and lack of REM cycles over the dress. I consulted my mom, who said it wasn't worth it, my step mom, who said it might be worth it, and half a dozen other females who told me to go for it. But in the end, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just couldn't stand behind the decision to drop that type of money on a dress I would only wear for one day. In the end, the American wedding industry's line about my <i>one special day</i> couldn't withstand the test of my ethos. And the deep down understanding that I needed to find a dress that I feel good about, a dress that fits in line with my values.<br />
<br />Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-12479812465212460152012-03-09T14:31:00.002-08:002012-04-10T17:48:33.293-07:00The Feminist Bride: The Dress Take 1When my bridesmaid Ann found out she was coming out west to California for a week on business, she called and told me she had 10 hours to spend with me- and the first thing she suggested was that we go dress shopping. And so the first foray into the bridal dress extravaganza began.<br />
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As I had deemed that I wanted a '20s themed wedding, she suggested that I look up vintage stores in San Francisco. "<i>We'll hit up the Haight" </i>said her excited text message. I began by making a roster of vintage stores in the Haight district of San Francisco, and, using my adept project management skills, called each one to see if they carried old wedding dresses. Most did not, but there were a few that replied in the affirmative.<br />
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On the day we had scheduled to go to the city, we woke up early, not wanting to get behind the clock. On our drive up we fantasized about the perfect dress- I spoke about wanting to flatter my curves, we decided longer was better, and I specified that I wanted something made out of 'real' material- nothing petroleum based (although now, looking back at that stipulation, I suppose anything made before the '40s wouldn't be...) Regardless, we were excited.<br />
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We parked, found the first vintage store on my list- and entered. A couple of hipsters dressed to the nines in steam-punk apparel acknowledged our presence as we entered. We went straight to the back- where the white dresses in cellophane were prominently hung.<br />
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While picking dresses out to try on- I began to have a sinking suspicion that most of them would be too small.<br />
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Now let me explain something- I'm not a small girl. I would, as my mother describes me, fit into the category of 'healthy' or more appropriately 'filled-out'. I rock a C cup, an 8 pant size, and big shoes for my 5'6'' frame. I eat what I want and I exercise well over the federal recommended weekly average. I have thick bikers thighs, and, for the most part, I really love and feel comfortable in my body.<br />
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That love and comfort however, could not overcome the reality- that try as I might- I did not fit into a single dress on Haight street. Ann and I went to several stores, and at every turn it was the same- she and I would slip, with a half a dozen dresses in hand, into the small dressing booths, and inevitably one of two things would happen a) I wouldn't be able to get the dress over my swimmers' shoulders or b) I would get the dress on, spend several minutes pushing my breasts around, trying to find a position where I could breath and then- upon realizing that the dress looked nothing short of hideous on my frame, it would take a lot of heaving and careful squiggling to get it off. On two occasions- I'm not kidding here- I panicked because I thought I was stuck-destined to gasp the last of my breaths engulfed in satin and lace.<br />
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By noon I felt pretty dejected- as if I were the largest bride ever to grace the planet. (My more rational sensibilities of course later disproved this when I came to). It was if any dress made before 1960 was made for a small child wearing a corset. (And upon reflection upon the change in marrying age and expected fashions- perhaps this is more true than not). At any rate, this first half of this dress buying adventure was a complete flop. I had made my mind up that my spend thrift fantasy of a beautiful and unique bridal dress was just that- a fantasy. To get serious I decided I need to march headstrong into one of those places I fear most- an actual bridal shop.<br />
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Stay tuned for The Dress Take 2.<br />
<br />Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-45990578404545449282012-02-17T10:45:00.000-08:002012-04-03T16:25:15.124-07:00The Feminist Bride: HairMy normal beef with Hair isn't nearly enough to write a full length musical about- but since my engagement began, I've written enough mental songs about it to score an entire symphony.<br />
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Generally, I wear my 'do short. Pixie or bob, small bangs- close enough to my scalp to fit snugly under my signature beret and bike helmet combo. I've even rocked a spike look before- during a period my younger sister dubbed my 'lesbian phase'. Basically, I've gotten hair cuts that serve the purpose of being low-maintainance, fun, and passable on the professional scale.<br />
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I never thought that I would sacrifice my usual practical mix of form and function for a one day event. Until I became engaged. My hair was, I kid you not, the third thing I thought about after he said yes. The vain bride inside me vowed to not cut it until the wedding- in the hopes that I'd be able to make something out of it come the big day.<br />
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And- were my own vanity not bad enough- my initial thought of beginning the hopeless quest for long hair in 10 months- has been reinforced by almost every woman in my life, not to mention all of the wedding advertisements.<br />
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Have you ever googled 'wedding hair'? Do it, just for curiosity's sake. It's 80% Rapunzel fairy princess down to your waste B.S., 15% over-sprayed curly up-dos and, for good measure, 5% short hair styles- which generally include some cheese-ball butterfly barrette as a finishing touch. It's like the editors of the wedding sites- got to the bottom of the page and said to themselves- <i>what if women aren't planning on growing their hair out for 5 years before they get married?- </i>so they threw in the last 5% for good measure.<br />
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A friend of mine commented last night that she noticed my hair was getting longer (which was polite because I'm beginning to look like a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aishia.jpg">Lhasa Apso</a>. My once short hair now covers my entire face- an army of bobby pins won't keep it back.) She was wondering if I was growing it out for the wedding- and asked, if so- why- as she knows I like it better short. <br />
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My answer was straight out of a bridal catalogue. I mumbled something about the one day where all the focus is all on me, about how the pictures will last forever, about how longer hair is more romantic. She looked on quizzically- a witness to the obvious alien that has invaded my mind. <i>Oh</i>, she said, sympathetically. <i>Whatever makes you happy.</i><br />
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And as I walked away I awoke slightly from my wedding stupor- <i>right, happy.</i> I thought. This is all supposed to make me happy.<br />
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Have I booked an appointment with my hair dresser? Not yet. I'm still doing battle with the alien within. Stay tuned to see if I can overcome the odds and have hair that makes me happy. Updates on final hair choices anon.Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-62153418600939133642012-02-08T21:55:00.000-08:002012-04-03T16:25:29.061-07:00The Feminist Bride: OnlineMy internet has taken on a life of its own.<br />
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At my first search of 'engagement rings', it was over. I should have know that it would trigger an onslaught of well thought out advertisements perfectly aimed at my heart's desire.<br />
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Rings. Dresses. Wedding Labels. Invitations. Caterers in my area- the list goes on.<br />
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I couldn't turn on my computer without an overwhelmingly accurate bombardment of advertising. Before I could even suggest that I might want to learn about shops in my area, they had lists for me.<br />
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Having recently checked my google advertising profile, I now know that they know that I am a white, 28 year old female in the Bay Area, California. They must also know now that I am 'engaged' and looking for a 'wedding dress'. My search terms are like pitching giant advertising softballs.<br />
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Gone were the days when I could google in peace- now every picture that pops up has some beaming long haired female swooning in the arms of a good looking man. All the couples are white. All of the couple are heterosexual. Most of them are on a beach or in a forest.<br />
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I can only imagine what it must feel like to be a queer person in society hoping to tie the not. Thankfully on that end, Prop 8 was reversed in California yesterday. A small glimmer of hope for people who look and feel differently than the couples dancing across the sidebars of my screen- unless of course, they turn on the internet- search for anything close to 'wedding' and are instantly profiled.<br />
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<br /></div>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-74244965200474124842012-01-27T13:37:00.000-08:002012-02-08T21:54:23.707-08:00The Feminist Bride: The RingI am not a Gollumn- but it when it came to thinking about a ring, I became just as bad as any of the creatures in Lord of the Rings. It was an instant case of <i>my precious.</i><br />
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When I decided to ask my boyfriend to marry me, I did what any man would have done- I went out and got a ring. I found one that fit within my ethical framework. It hand crafted by a local craftsperson from metals I could stand behind. It was beautiful, practical, symbolic, and it wasn't going to cost us our first born child. I did what I would have wanted someone to do for me- at least that's what I thought.<br />
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Once I my proposal was accepted, I did what any bride to be would have done- I began to tell people about our engagement. I told everyone I could think of that we were engaged, and there first question was always- <i>can I see the ring?</i><br />
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Now- if you recall, I proposed. I got him the ring. So every time I was confronted with the question- can I see your ring- I had the same obvious answer- I don't have one. For the first week I felt fine about my bare naked ring finger. I was a feminist- and I was standing up for female proposers everywhere- why did I need a ring?, I thought.<br />
But as Christmas started to loom, and the onslaught of holiday family pressure mounted- I began to panic.<br />
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Questions like <i>What will the relatives think? </i>and <i>Will they judge my new fiance because he didn't get me a ring?</i> began to ring in my ears. And so, with a week to spare before Christmas eve, my partner (probably sensitive to my distress) handed me his mother's sweet-16 ring, which, mind you, had a very small, but noticeable diamond. In giving me this ring, it was not a gesture of- this ring is going to be your wedding ring, it was more of a- wear this and see if you like it- or a- I had this in a drawer and thought you might want to wear it type of gesture.<br />
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And- I was grateful. I slipped the slightly too large ring with the slightly too small diamond onto my finger. Relief was noticeable. So was the fact that the ring was too big. So, in order to beef up the amount of metal on my finger, and to keep his mothers ring from slipping from my slender fingers, I added my grandmother's gold wedding band for good measure. With a sweet sixteen ring from the 60s and a wedding band from another wedding on my ring finger, I marched into the Christmas cocktail parties.<br />
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However, my input subsitutionism only made matters worse. I was stuck explaining the small diamond and the wedding band from another wedding (as if a small diamond or a grandmother's wedding band were something to be ashamed of). And, to make matters worse, people who hadn't seen me, assumed I was already married, as I was double banded. At every turn I was confronted with the social expectation of what I should have on my finger- and from experience, De Beers has done an excellent job of convincing every American, that if you don't have a big new diamond on your finger- your engagement should be questioned.<br />
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After enough comments and enough cocktail parties, even I began to question myself. Thoughts like- <i>I should just go out and buy myself a diamond-</i> began to appear in my head. By the end of the holidays, I was compulsively googling diamond rings and trying to figure out how I could justify the purchase of such a rock to the ethical part of my brain.<br />
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Come the New Year, I was so exhausted by the whole ring diamond thought train, I was ready to give up. When a thought occurred to me. Why don't I just ask my new fiance to get me a ring?<br />
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Honestly, since I was the one who proposed, I thought I wouldn't get a ring until we were married. I mean, the guy doesn't ever get a ring until the wedding. However, when I proposed I clearly had NO idea of how deep the cultural expectations of engagement rings are in this country.<br />
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When I finally told my fiance that I couldn't take it anymore, and asked if he could buy me a ring- he laughed. I think he jokingly said something like <i>you were such a feminist, so hardcore, and now look at you</i> before hugging me and saying of course. My dry reply was probably something like <i>being a feminist means be able to determine when you want to acquiesce to cultural norms. </i><br />
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So he got me a ring. We went back to the house of the ring maker who made his ring, and now I have a matching band, made out of the same piece of metal- and when I slipped it on, I knew I had made the right choice.<br />
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<br />Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-82401839059416735312012-01-25T14:04:00.000-08:002012-02-08T22:08:18.434-08:00The Feminist Bride: A bride to beIn the two months following my proposal, I have learned enough about the American wedding phenomenon to last me two lifetimes. With luck, this is the first, last, and only time I'll need to be a bride-to-be.<br />
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For those of you who haven't had the good fortune to become a bride in training, the psychology runs deep. Social training begins at a young age. The expectation of the proposal, the engagement, the ring, the dress etc, are all set before the story begins. Indeed, now that I'm a bride-to-be, I'm swimming in the expectations I've created and been coerced into over a lifetime.<br />
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Alongside many latent psuedo-protestant christian values (to be discussed later), my mind has been taken over by a deadly trilogy of societal norms. It is a lethal cocktail of one part Disney heroines, one part Martha Stewart, and one part 1950s Betty Crocker house wife fantasy.<br />
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Since becoming a bride-to-be, I have begun to dream of dresses that look like badly iced cupcakes, a million and one ways to gussy up ball jars, and the inescapable wedding registry gift: a brightly colored Kitchen-Aid mixer.<br />
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Since when did I want to wear something that was so ruffly I feel like I'm swimming in a pool of whipped cream? Or turn a thousand ball jars into a wedding alter? Or acquire a kitchen implement that is so heavy no one in gods name wants to pull it out of the closet?<br />
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Answer: Since the American wedding industry crept into my head and stole my brain. Out with my well formulated counter-cultural values- in with the dreams of an American girl so steeped in the wedding phenomenon she has forgotten who she really is.<br />
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Stay tuned for more adventures of <a href="http://alifeorganic.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Feminist%20Bride">The Feminist Bride</a> and the search for a meaningful wedding.Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-19793386674332556452012-01-16T20:44:00.000-08:002012-02-08T22:04:20.272-08:00The Feminist Bride: EngagementI'm a 28 year old white, upper-middle class American female, trained by Walt Disney and Cosmo and Seventeen Magazine. Since I have been able to understand what a wedding was, I have fantasized about how the man would propose. Where it would happen, how he would kneel, how I would act surprised but shyly confident beneath my blush. As a feminist I suppose I should be embarrassed about these confessions, but when it comes down to it, fantasies of this type are common. I am not at all different than any other woman I know. I don't know another woman my age who hasn't envisioned how her engagement would transpire. Ready to say yes or shake her head in reply.<br />
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Before I decided that I was ready to marry I hadn't the slightest idea of how deep my pre-conceptions of engagement were. It was not until I decided I was ready to wed that I discovered how thoroughly my expectations (and everyone else around me) were already imbedded in my American cultural soul.<br />
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Six weeks ago I flipped my socio-cultural norms on their head. I kneeled down on a beach in California, and asked my boyfriend for his hand in marriage. </div>
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Since that day I have come to understand that engagement is actually the last bastion of cultural misogyny.</div>
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A personal example: How many women in your life do you know who asked their partners to marry them?<br />
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Lesbians aside, your answer should be apparent. We are few.<br />
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And why- is it that it's difficult to be the one who asks? Is it that we are too weak or indecisive to execute? Is it because we don't know his ring size? No. No. and No. The only reason we as women allow ourselves to continue the gender biased process of a traditional engagement is because society hasn't let this last stand go.<br />
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True discrimination happens when something is so ingrained in society that no one notices it. Indeed, I myself hadn't realized I too expected the man to propose until when cleaning the house a few years ago, my boyfriend approached me (then on a ladder 8 ft in the air, in my filthiest clothes, hair full of cobwebs) with a small blue velvet ring box. My mind immediately jumped to <i>Oh No! Not Here! He can't propose to me like this! </i>It was at that moment I realized my assumptions. I had never stopped to consider that I might be the one to pop the question.<br />
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Similarly, it occurred to very few of our friends that in our case, my proposal was the perfect and most logical way for this to transpire. He had already told everyone he was ready to marry- he was just waiting for me. So when I became ready- I had to reevaluate my position on engagement. It didn't make much sense for me to tell him that I was ready, and for him subsequently to propose- where's the mystery, the magic, and the surprise in that?<br />
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So I set to planning. I created my fantasy of a proposal. There was a beach, a sunset, a hand crafted ring from a local artisan. And in the end, my proposal was accepted, and heartily I might add. It didn't faze him in the least that I had been the one to ask. I'm adding the comfortability with flipped gender norms to the many reasons I'm grateful for my groom to be.<br />
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And to all you ladies out there- here's an encouragement: Proposing was one of the most empowering actions I've ever taken. And, as a bonus, I got to create the proposal that I had always dreamed of.Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-21589484527914051892011-11-21T22:10:00.000-08:002011-11-21T23:13:03.471-08:00They Pepper Sprayed MY Students!In case you haven't turned on a radio or television or the internet in 3 days: peacefully protesting students at UC Davis were dispassionately pepper sprayed at close range. It was video taped by phone and the video went viral. (It may be one of the most watched videos of the year on you-tube.) The event is a media disaster for UC Davis linking it as never before to police brutality and the squelching of free speech on campus.<br />
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Here is Ellie, a sophomore in the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems major, who, together with former students of mine, was pepper-sprayed last Friday. Their action speaks to the power of the type emancipatory education that is being taught in SAFS. Civil engagement is one of the learning outcomes planned into the major, if this isn't civil engagement... I don't know what is!? <br />
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Here are some photos taken by my friend, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/kim.chrisj">Chris J Kim</a> of the student General Assembly today where Chancellor Katehi attempted to make amends- unsuccessfully- with students. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hzL7-mzF1eHHuYxpJ89nDlSZhgAvJBFJJEl5vP8jLrNydY0CBy8L3UT5op7r-xqvToG0T19pZORlGz7jiveR0uDy34gtLTuBhTQDgWo29l-eGWnz-z1lzSVYEfpaejQYxkMHA-3uUQM/s1600/CCH-Photo+Davis+11%253A21%253A11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hzL7-mzF1eHHuYxpJ89nDlSZhgAvJBFJJEl5vP8jLrNydY0CBy8L3UT5op7r-xqvToG0T19pZORlGz7jiveR0uDy34gtLTuBhTQDgWo29l-eGWnz-z1lzSVYEfpaejQYxkMHA-3uUQM/s640/CCH-Photo+Davis+11%253A21%253A11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgft7UH1wLwAwxBd7cRvDOPhA6Z4wtNJL7no5xc2RlFy_aLuBTTO_QuP2lLGMg_QEtULQFIevIaWeiZMv2oy7U8SMMzpKkjXum-QFSThgxByWGX7TfMozcKEk_ylwhQTvavPvw5Au41PY8/s1600/Cop_Constitution_Chris+J+Kim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgft7UH1wLwAwxBd7cRvDOPhA6Z4wtNJL7no5xc2RlFy_aLuBTTO_QuP2lLGMg_QEtULQFIevIaWeiZMv2oy7U8SMMzpKkjXum-QFSThgxByWGX7TfMozcKEk_ylwhQTvavPvw5Au41PY8/s640/Cop_Constitution_Chris+J+Kim.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aoHg-SZcmPW_K4MS56QJ__YCb6jUuKA87VsZqK0ArlzxFFbrEZ7sLe2L5ZY2MuI_QrOheDLCR7wbRFa65KkCwCcoaVNTGezsnXCSU4HmIGM_R-IaceBj64Y8lqGwW4xfdiks14VDQAk/s1600/The+world+is+horrified.+Chris+J.+Kim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aoHg-SZcmPW_K4MS56QJ__YCb6jUuKA87VsZqK0ArlzxFFbrEZ7sLe2L5ZY2MuI_QrOheDLCR7wbRFa65KkCwCcoaVNTGezsnXCSU4HmIGM_R-IaceBj64Y8lqGwW4xfdiks14VDQAk/s640/The+world+is+horrified.+Chris+J.+Kim.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-r39Qj2ORa7JG3PnzXCOTXZOaey5kaJV8SX9yaAZXlGwI6Xanj81btshw4d7wKODx0H5BHQHgq6AwS7u0DwW2B61X4H4o7rDDWvbvbA-ha0Ncl6GccnXbWQjfXnKOOCKAb8S2O5TA3E/s1600/Education+Debt_Chris+J+Kim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-r39Qj2ORa7JG3PnzXCOTXZOaey5kaJV8SX9yaAZXlGwI6Xanj81btshw4d7wKODx0H5BHQHgq6AwS7u0DwW2B61X4H4o7rDDWvbvbA-ha0Ncl6GccnXbWQjfXnKOOCKAb8S2O5TA3E/s640/Education+Debt_Chris+J+Kim.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_0S_TebPeM-E-9pnGmL0mHtFfqtbuHfeFc4RxuKz0pXGNcOjnroZvWDr9mlzvlBc0JcMmTWaTCYuPmS6oPmFmnl0NdYIj4Y7ynYiEaVEttrLQLSnBiyoKWoEpHubFF65jKB8pfFCCJA/s1600/Katehi_Chris+J+Kim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_0S_TebPeM-E-9pnGmL0mHtFfqtbuHfeFc4RxuKz0pXGNcOjnroZvWDr9mlzvlBc0JcMmTWaTCYuPmS6oPmFmnl0NdYIj4Y7ynYiEaVEttrLQLSnBiyoKWoEpHubFF65jKB8pfFCCJA/s640/Katehi_Chris+J+Kim.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chancellor Katehi</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZiEBuHg1oqCzmbm5pxMr_TZJdk7oO5S3dVoQvip18TnSzVuQKVm0gjrizHX3nhyQXrcf4wApFPmAYifs1TE0nsq2w4INfWsfzMGOtgPK2oXd8QPjX2UmQ8-F1q0WHapaKqUO5bdAr-BE/s1600/UC+Davis+General+Assembly+11.21.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZiEBuHg1oqCzmbm5pxMr_TZJdk7oO5S3dVoQvip18TnSzVuQKVm0gjrizHX3nhyQXrcf4wApFPmAYifs1TE0nsq2w4INfWsfzMGOtgPK2oXd8QPjX2UmQ8-F1q0WHapaKqUO5bdAr-BE/s640/UC+Davis+General+Assembly+11.21.11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monday 11.21.11 General Assembly, UC Davis by Michele Tobias</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-44960733181505787672011-11-08T09:15:00.000-08:002011-11-08T09:15:10.843-08:00Occupy is everywhereIt seems to me these days, that Occupy is everywhere. Scribbles on hats worn backwards by skater teenagers in town, small snippets popping up in Obama's economic speeches, special editions on the nightly news.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In every city that I have visited over the past week- Occupy is there.</div><br />
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In Santa Cruz, the Occupiers have erected a 20' dome to keep out the rain. This is not burning man: this is is Occupy- and what would have seemed unlikely a month back-- a geodesic structure inhabited by anarchists, retired peace activists, and homeless folks alike plopping itself down in the middle of the front entrance to the county Courthouse-- is now common day.<br />
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In Davis- the most benign suburban valley town-- a whole encampment has sprung up in the park that usually houses the Farmers Market, behind a sign that reads 'All Together Everywhere'. A perfect, seemingly non-political, kum-ba-ya Davis version of Occupy. <br />
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Our friends in Oakland were at the protests that shut down the Port. They had great stories of blockading banks, marching thousands strong down the main streets of Oakland, of banding together against hostile hummer drivers.<br />
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Occupy exists both in the concrete- the visible, and in the ethereal- through tales like these. In conversation it comes up often. A close friend's 19 year old daughter, I was told, vacated the studio she's been subletting in San Francisco and moved into Occupy San Francisco- as if that was a place to move into. My friend mused first as she spoke about it- proud of her kids' choice to be politically engaged- then she mentioned that it seems, rather coincidently, that all of her house hold sleeping bags have gone missing.<br />
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So it is. The movement many of us have been waiting for has finally arrived. People are talking about it, the message is clear-<br />
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Join Us-<br />
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Occupy is Everywhere.Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-41779353484443072492011-10-31T16:48:00.000-07:002011-10-31T16:49:43.452-07:00Little Capitalist Pig<i>But no-one told me. My culture, as I understand it, values independence above all things- in part to ensure a mobile labor force, grease for the machine of a capitalist economy. Our fairy tale commands: Little Pig, go out and seek your fortune! So I did. </i><br />
<div><i>- p 14, High Tide in Tuscon, Barbara K.</i></div><div><i><br />
</i></div><div>Barbara, it seems that you've hit the nail on the head of my generational issue. As I wrote about in <i><a href="http://alifeorganic.blogspot.com/2011/01/community-development-101.html">Community Development 101</a> </i>my generation has inhaled the idea of movement as a right of passage. Uprooted from family, from home, from an environment where you know the streets, trees and shrubs out of habit and not study, we've chosen to blow where the wind takes us. On to wherever the next, better, sexier, more profitable job takes us. City life of the far-off land has been glamorized to the point that no rural town has a chance to keep its' youth. Before they can realize the difference between reality-TV and advertisements, they are already sold.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I was too. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Go Little Pig! I breathed in.<br />
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I exhaled the hot breath of a teenager, dying to yank my fifth generation roots out of the fertile soils of coastal California.<br />
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When my father yelled at my 18 year old self- <i>Your great-great-great grand parents moved to California to get an education!</i> I yelled back-<i> So what?! I'm moving to New York.</i></div><div><br />
</div><div>And I did. </div><div><br />
</div>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-74984216358491139322011-10-31T16:34:00.000-07:002011-10-31T16:51:07.634-07:00A conversation with Barbara KI'm reading for the first time <i><a href="http://www.kingsolver.com/books/high-tide-in-tucson.html">High Tide in Tuscon</a> </i>by <a href="http://www.kingsolver.com/bibliography/">Barbara Kingsolver</a>. I can't believe I haven't read this before. So much of her analysis, her prose, resonates with what I think and feel and believe.<br />
<br />
In honor of that creative inspiration and the brain synapses firing off around my skull, I'm going to do a bit of back and forth with Barbara K (and not Barbara Kummer- for those of you who know my grandmother).<br />
<br />
Check out the ongoing conversation on the sidebar link- <i>Conversations with Barbara K. </i>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-10736608417994025932011-10-25T12:45:00.000-07:002011-10-31T16:13:43.010-07:00Freewheelin' Again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the reason's I appreciate the <a href="http://www.freewheelinfarm.com/Harvest_Party.html">Freewheelin' Art Show</a> is because it gives me a fabulous excuse to make art. Funny prints, heart warming prints. And better even than the reason to make art- it give me the opportunity to share art with friends. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfpvPCn6RkjXqqXr3H416a99oN5UEmpDVU2Ltz3Ar6t-XWxLXmQW4QXmGELf7RKDGVRk9qkT0zAMh49trsBbDjKKqwmIZbFDuYCcPVmpsdMc26AaKz4aoJHsAc5VsFRTbYEbKEYHjzOLA/s1600/DSC_0036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfpvPCn6RkjXqqXr3H416a99oN5UEmpDVU2Ltz3Ar6t-XWxLXmQW4QXmGELf7RKDGVRk9qkT0zAMh49trsBbDjKKqwmIZbFDuYCcPVmpsdMc26AaKz4aoJHsAc5VsFRTbYEbKEYHjzOLA/s400/DSC_0036.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5Rda67Rk-m0vZBlFfYaBHiJD99GYBv8Zj2DWb_9e_Qmxkrtwsgwml8tzWRk3r6xd4eCGP8KeMWMejbCanSogVC47pbPZ3qnzaOKFQA2gRLBo2TqwypdULVSUCvCAC_NkSUYYcgFx-aw/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5Rda67Rk-m0vZBlFfYaBHiJD99GYBv8Zj2DWb_9e_Qmxkrtwsgwml8tzWRk3r6xd4eCGP8KeMWMejbCanSogVC47pbPZ3qnzaOKFQA2gRLBo2TqwypdULVSUCvCAC_NkSUYYcgFx-aw/s400/DSC_0044.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4PyDEvL8Brp-LrtDiqLuQNFnJpmEJv4rQ0GY9uArBKfCXyNFQSrK_OHWdcPJqj2Etz6f2D4YQASFUdupn4r-3ssslmPy1nfRUwcphzpqRyqtf0pK43crawJJYGzDErAGbhD_B1MsOoc/s1600/DSC_0084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4PyDEvL8Brp-LrtDiqLuQNFnJpmEJv4rQ0GY9uArBKfCXyNFQSrK_OHWdcPJqj2Etz6f2D4YQASFUdupn4r-3ssslmPy1nfRUwcphzpqRyqtf0pK43crawJJYGzDErAGbhD_B1MsOoc/s400/DSC_0084.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9207413625798929965.post-7291432035752670852011-10-25T12:28:00.000-07:002011-10-25T12:28:44.086-07:00Occupy Santa Cruz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally made it down to <a href="http://occupysantacruz.org/">Occupy Santa Cruz</a>. They've got an incredible system and set up. Committees, an internal food system, a complete media team. Props to the body itself for the organizing. They were showing <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/">V is for Vendetta</a> in conjunction with the <a href="http://www.guerilladrivein.org/">Guerilla Drive In</a>- not exactly the type of revolution that perhaps Occupy is going for (ie: violent)- but a good reminder, on multiple levels of what can happen when people come together to de-colonize their minds.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJABXiZhyphenhyphenoH97SS2LnJyyeuQUzaZiHeehfS6MbhyphenhyphenIibGcFXR4JUaVRtrZISyGrWurP9itOGdXC5jYIW2MW8fw3v_vQdQkqDTnnl5dl_6sJBn1GkUfyDDeIyp4yqCgNNxvgAybZdhb8NhA/s1600/DSC_0024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJABXiZhyphenhyphenoH97SS2LnJyyeuQUzaZiHeehfS6MbhyphenhyphenIibGcFXR4JUaVRtrZISyGrWurP9itOGdXC5jYIW2MW8fw3v_vQdQkqDTnnl5dl_6sJBn1GkUfyDDeIyp4yqCgNNxvgAybZdhb8NhA/s400/DSC_0024.jpg" width="267" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIvbcHX-uUeW83vFXkH01XuzXnH3fZ-_QOrG0kPJqVyqqSLoXo3wCqTDlxH59tVnjxr7ZejTaEpypwCrsJaGuZhRp_5pqNjuakcX585THMiJ0uSsvPMAaAFkqSVOqzoMP6zU9njJ7pwW4/s1600/DSC_0015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIvbcHX-uUeW83vFXkH01XuzXnH3fZ-_QOrG0kPJqVyqqSLoXo3wCqTDlxH59tVnjxr7ZejTaEpypwCrsJaGuZhRp_5pqNjuakcX585THMiJ0uSsvPMAaAFkqSVOqzoMP6zU9njJ7pwW4/s400/DSC_0015.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4poPBG144fllxLmxzurvY-sUytp4X25GVrjuTY_Yp4z2kbV-N0MH5KPC6y3kXXbXOtruaSAS5TcR0fKxsHJDutr8TIHtlYDMRG_m6XOyWKjOP7NgRxEQ23riOOS9dP-isvUTf0p6c_t0/s1600/DSC_0026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4poPBG144fllxLmxzurvY-sUytp4X25GVrjuTY_Yp4z2kbV-N0MH5KPC6y3kXXbXOtruaSAS5TcR0fKxsHJDutr8TIHtlYDMRG_m6XOyWKjOP7NgRxEQ23riOOS9dP-isvUTf0p6c_t0/s400/DSC_0026.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Jessy Becketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07103439499326785741noreply@blogger.com0