Finding it all in the neighborhood: My first dilemma now that we've moved into the new apt!

I read the Omnivores Dilemma about a year and a half ago. I thought it was a really interesting account of the way food policies have shaped eating in the US..in ways that most people don’t realize or consider. Since then I’ve tried to buy most of our produce from local sources (farmers market, co op grocery stores etc). I also buy local free-range eggs, and free-range meat/seafood when possible.

Now that we’ve moved to a new apt, I’m faced with a little bit of a dilemma. There is a Trader Joe’s visible from our living room window, plus several Middle Eastern bakeries, at least 2 Yemeni restaurants, a Lebanese restaurant and several specialty grocery stores. I love supporting local businesses (OK, TJ’s is not a local business..but everything else on the list definitely counts!), but supporting nearby stores/restaurants does not necessarily mean I’m buying local goods.

The Middle Eastern bakeries and grocery stores are definitely shipping products internationally, which kind of defeats the purpose of using produce and food items that are both healthy and eco-friendly. If you buy fruit from your area, it doesn’t take nearly as much gas/oil etc to transport it to the store or market. So buying specialty dates also means overlooking the fact that they’ve been shipped @ great environmental cost half-way around the world.

I don’t think I’m ready to pull a Barbara Kingsolver (re Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) but I wish I could resolve this dilemma. I’d settle for partially resolving the dilemma. Or finding some type of compromise! Or just not feeling bad either way!

Keith Olbermann has it right..he just jumped on the Cynthia Davis bandwagon a few years late

Keith Olbermann declared Rep. Cynthia Davis “Worst Person in the World” during his show several nights ago.

I don’t watch Olbermann on a regular basis, but I think he’s generally pretty funny and on point.

When I saw he had talked about Cynthia Davis, I knew I had to track down the clip.

Seems that the esteemed MO legislator recently spoke against funding free meals for low-income children in Missouri.

Her rationale?
“Hunger can be a positive motivator.”

So apparently, she believes that young low-income children need more motivation? Perhaps if they miss a few meals they’ll be motivated enough to break child-labor laws, secure employment, and help lift their struggling families out of poverty!

One of http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-berg/missouri-child-hunger-den_b_219606.html commented on her stance, by noting that Davis is ‘ironically, one of Missouri's leading pro-life activists.’

As someone who lived and worked in Missouri, there’s really nothing ironic about the situation.

Rep. Davis represents the worst type of politician. She’s uninformed, bombastic, and incredibly narrow minded.

The problem is not that she’s anti-choice. The problem is that she uses rhetoric and fear mongering to legislate her point of view.

She claims that abortion is murder, yet refuses to fund programs that would teach comprehensive sexual education in the schools (thus preventing unintentional pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion).

She has made statements about sex education that are blatantly false (no one is suggesting we teach condom usage in kindergarten lady!), and has compared health educators from Planned Parenthood and other organization to sexual deviants and child molesters.

The children of St. Charles, MO would be better served if she spent her time funding free meals and providing for their education, instead of shaming low-income families and advocating for the rights of fetuses.

And even more pictures!

This is our bedroom (please ignore the bags of clothing off to the side)!










The bathroom. It's very blue..and if any of you visit, you'll have to share. But we're OK with that!










And bedroom #2! It's cozy, but hey..we now have a 2nd bedroom! Big improvement over having a screen to separate the bedroom from the living room/kitchen/bathroom/entry.









Oh and that? That's our skylight. It makes things bright and happy!

As requested.. some more pics of the new apt!

My parents were really nice and came up today from PA to help clean the new apt.

Little S (young sibling, sister, and first initial S too) even helped by swiffering all of the floors.

We also moved all of the clothing, almost all of the food and some assorted items into the new space. B and I hired movers for the furniture, but we didn't want to leave everything for tomorrow.

I'm pretty much ready for bed (it's 9:25 pm) after all of the cleaning, and furniture buying (IKEA needs to hire more staff) but I received a request for more pictures..so here they are!


<--This is a view of the living room from the front door










Here's the kitchen again-->
(the bakers rack will go in that weird space)

Why schools are failing children.. I have evidence!

I debated about posting this here.
I really did.

I’ll take you through my thought process.

“Ooh, an email.”
“Ooh, a rather frightening email”
“This explains so much about our school system”
“I should share this. It’s funny and sad. Mostly sad”
“Hm, email is kind of a private forum”
“Not really though. I think email is actually known to be kind of public”
“Hm. I should make it really anonymous though”“It might be bad since it is from work”
“I think it will be ok. I’ll make it very vague”
“Done”

That all went through my head.
Really.

So here’s the deal. I’m posting a line from an email I received this morning.
I’m not going to tell you who sent it to me for obvious reasons.
I will just say that I am currently working for a large gov’t organization in NYC.
The person who sent this is ostensibly in charge of educating young minds.
Also, I would like to point out that typos happen.
This is not a typo.
When in doubt, spell-check EVERYTHING before you hit send.

Enough said.

The email snippet:

Have a great week-end. I here the possibility of SUN.

My immediate mental response?
Oy vey.