How do we relate to one another?

Addendum 4 hours later:
I feel like this is still not getting at the question(s) swirling around in my mind.  Though I can't really put my finger on it.  Things are better at Occupy now, set meal times and just generally trying to get everyone at camp plugged in, regardless of where they live while they're not there seems to be going well.  Also set meal times and closing down the kitchen in between those times is keeping things under control.  Hopefully we'll all start to relate to each other better as well.


My mind is awash with ideas, this is sure to be incoherent.

A city is a place where a lot of people of different backgrounds live together.  We all have to share this space.  We will interact with each other, but why and where and how are defined by the choices we make.  In a ridiculous example, I could, in the city of Detroit, choose never to share a meal with a black person.  I could choose to never smile at someone who does not speak English in the same way that I do.  I would like to say that I have already shared many meals with my black coworkers and smiled at lots of people in my neighborhood who are originally from Mexico and so speak with an accent, but these are extreme examples.

The more subtle come up all the time.  Do I assume the twitchy guy sitting at the bus stop is on drugs or has some sort of disease of the nervous system?  Depending on that assumption to I act differently when he yells out "Hey sister!"  Do I assume the former if he is black and the latter if he is white?  if his coat is dirty?  if he has all his teeth?  if it is a woman rather than a man?

This has come up most recently at the Occupy Detroit site for me.  A lot of people have been coming there for food.  There's a controversy because many people are getting meals who are not necessarily participating in the camp in other ways.  Some are also getting multiple helpings.  Many of these people are perceived as "homeless" (we really don't know where they usually sleep, and as a group that is spending its night in tents in a park I'm not sure we should judge).  Some have acted out in ways that have made folks think they are drunk or on drugs.  When I am serving food I have certainly been thinking things like "Oh, I bet that guy is homeless" and have noticed I think this most often about black guys.  Then there was a white guy working with me in the food tent who said that he had been homeless for awhile, and I realized that as seen as he had told me that, I started thinking "Oh, I bet that guy is homeless" about more of the white people coming up.

And do I treat the people that I think are homeless differently than the other people coming up for food.  When I am in a good mood and things are going well, I don't really think so, when I am in a good customer service mode I am nice to everyone.  When I was cold and my feet were getting wet through my socks and some folks by the fire were getting belligerent and I needed to go home soon and the next shift was no where in site?  I was short with everyone, but definitely more so with the people I thought were homeless and therefore taking advantage of the camp.  I realized it and caught myself, but still it was not a good moment.

How do we deal with this?  How do we change the way we make assumptions and how we treat people?  I don't know, but I suspect it means we just need to be aware of when we are making those assumptions and try to correct for it.  Thoughts?

October Unprocessed Challenge

I heard about the October Unprocessed Challenge and decided to try it out.  I encourage you to as well!  The idea is to spend the whole month eating all "unprocessed" food.  For purposes of the challenge the definition is Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients. You can look for a longer discussion of that with the link back there.

I'll try to post extra recipes and food focused posts throughout the month of October.

New Years Resolution Entry

I fell as if it is fitting to start out the new blog and the new year at the same time. While most of the first bit of content in this blog will be my impending trip to Nicaragua, it will eventually focus more on agrarian and cycling pursuits. It is primarily a personal blog though so below are my resolutions for the coming year:

1. Update new blog at least once a week
2. Fill up my farm's CSA
3. Better fulfill my role as a Walla Walla Democrats PCO
4. Do my bike tour to Oregon Country Fair in July, and plan at least one other over night bike trip.
5. Build better storage for potatoes and winter squash.
6. Learn how to better use my dried flowers.
7. Practice piano at least 1 hour a week
8. Learn more bike maintenance and get the tools to make it happen.