Am I my (Iranian) brother's keeper?

I do apologize for the delay in writing this post, and appreciate everyone's patience.  Hopefully no one interpreted the delay to mean I would have anything particularly insightful to say here...

I generally liked the book.  It was recommended to me by a friend of mine along with several others about Iran.  I selected this one as it seemed most appropriate for this forum (in content, readability, length---yes this is a swipe at you, Karl).  I didn't find it particularly well written, but that almost made it more endearing as it seemed more likely to actually have been written by the Zarah we get to know in the text.

My scattered thoughts:

1.  Zarah as paper hero

I enjoyed the honesty with which Zarah confronts her own inability to live up to the hero she'd hoped she was or would be.  As she is first brought to prison she romanticizes the strength with which she will maintain her composure, her clear head, her ideals and loyalties.  She quickly learns how shallow her resolve truly was, and returns to this idea throughout the book.  I of course couldn't help wonder how I would fare in such a situation, and how quickly I would forsake those same things.  Her experience is far beyond anything I have endured of course and I do not wish to trivialize it.  Yet even she "was not yet as Job".  I am left feeling less secure in my own "core" beliefs and values and also more in awe of those who have endured much and yet remained true.  And of course grateful that I have not yet had to find out the true strength of my convictions.

2.  Impact of suffering

This is in part a follow-on to #1.  Zarah writes about suffering:

"It's OK if you already have character and wisdom and courage, but if you don't, suffering won't build such things in your heart and soul.  It will consume what little courage you have, and then you are left with nothing."

It was interesting how quickly Zarah turned from dreams of escape and freedom to dreams of revenge and violence.  I don't think this is just suffering---she was subjected to massive mental stress designed to "break her"---but suffering is certainly part of it.  But the point of course is that suffering need not be ennobling.  It is merely a "refiner's fire" that brings true substance to the surface.  Is it an accident that when Zarah was alone she had nowhere to turn but her pain and her deranged friend in the cell above?  Zarah throughout the book espouses a view of the world that is basically "humanist"---no God, just "be nice to everyone".  Had she a relationship with God would it have helped sustain her in her trials?  

3.  Am I my (Iranian) brother's keeper?

The most difficult part of the book for me was to envision these events occuring today while I lounged about my comfortable house reading.  Obviously there is suffering in the world, but there is something particularly troubling about suffering directly caused by men to other men.  Some suffering "will always be with us"---that is the nature of this life.  But this suffering need not be.    

At one point in the book Zarah loses her blindfold while out in the hall and gets a brief glimpse at the size of the prison.  She describes it as a "city within a city"---hundreds of doors leading to hundreds of cells populated by hundreds of people like Zarah.  What obligation do I have to those people?  Obviously there is a political dimension here:  Bush saying that "freedom is God's gift to mankind" came to mind as I read.  Do we as citizens have an obligation to direct our government to fight against the injustices perpetrated within other countries?  As one who strives to generally separate my own morality from public policy this is not an easy question.

But the political dimension was secondary.  Most primary I was left with a sense of alternating guilt/selfishness and helplessness.  I wonder how naive I must be that I find this book troubling when I know its content to be representative of what occurs in so many parts of the world.  Will I not one day have to answer when asked what I did for those like Zarah?

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Mid-march and I'm mad

I'm sure Alvin is reveling in March Madness, despite BYU's early exit. Are there other college basketball fans among us? I'm at best a passive consumer of the NCAA tournament, prefering to focus on preseason baseball (18 days until opening day! hot dog!)

Anyway, I saw this news article on an Irani journalist who killed himself (or was killed? who knows) inside Evin prison recently. It reminded me that we're middle of the month and no discussion of our book. I know Jesse's been very busy (how did that deal with the contractor work out, BTW?), so I'm willing to cut a little slack. But I'm still really interested in having the discussion; I liked My Life as a Traitor a lot, and I'm interested in people's thoughts.

So anyway, since we haven't had a "meeting" yet in March, and since East of Eden is, you know, LONG... I propose we just push the April discussion of East of Eden to May, and shove everyone back a month. Everyone okay with that?

April 2009: East of Eden

Being now a resident of California, and having spent a little touring/camping/driving time in Monterey and the Salinas Valley, I've decided it's time for me to revisit John Steinbeck. So I've decided upon "East of Eden" for our April book. Yes, I know it's long. Sorry. Deal with it.

Team of Rivals

First, since it is still February, let me say that the first few pages of John Barleycorn were great. With such a short book, I should have been able to make it through the whole thing, but the previous posts with regards to the book persuaded me that it wasn't necessary. However, I enjoyed the first few anecdotes, and it led to a couple of fun games I like to play.

The "At Least I'm Not" Game is always good to try when you're having a bad day. Whatever other faults I may have, it's nice to read something like Barleycorn and say, "Well, at least I'm not a drunk." And believe me, if I hadn't been born a Mormon, I'm quite sure I'd be a binge drinker. This leads me to other hypothetical, what-if games where I try to imagine what kind of drunk I would be, the angry drunk, the happy, outgoing drunk, etc. Some days I think I know all about what it's like to be drunk, like I know what it's like to be pregnant, but other days I realize that no matter how many books I read, I'll never have a clue about either one. Thank goodness.

So in all that time I wasn't reading John Barleycorn, I was listening to Team of Rivals. If you haven't heard it about yet, it's the recent book about Lincoln's political savvy, which has been not so sublty pushed to be an analogy for what President Obama is trying to do. Because of the desired connections between Lincoln and Obama, I am hoping to stir up some conversation on this blog about the two and about our President's first few days in office. Regardless of your views on Obama, the book is enjoyable, and I left with an increased admiration and gratitude for Mr. Abraham.

I've always had a perception of Lincoln as a good and wise President. This book only confirmed that. The angle of Team of Rivals was that Lincoln was also a political genius, very smart in the way he handled people with big egos without offending them, yet always leading and not letting these powerful men take control. In regards to his political savvy, I believe Obama is every bit as savvy as Lincoln was. Of course, Obama's political machinations (at least the ones that I am privy to) are often through the media, whereas the moves made by Lincoln were more personal, but still, I think those comparisons are reasonable.

The big difference was that Lincoln was a humble, honest, thoroughly good person that also happened to be quite politically savvy. Obama may or may not possess all of these great human characteristics, but they are not the ones that are the most outwardly visible or that first come to mind. Maybe in 200 years a historian will have insight into how honest and humble he was. Personally, I see Obama much like I see a lot of the 'popular' people I've known, very likeable but a bit condescending.

As for Obama's cabinet, he has certainly tried to put together a "Team of Rivals", with varying degrees of success. It should be noted that even Lincoln made some shortsighted appointments that he had to change in his first term.

Both presidents have/had big problems to deal with, which had been brewing for a long time but that came to a head as soon as they were in office. Lincoln did not have a lot of personal war experience, though that was the main charge that was thrown upon him as president. He had a better innate sense of war strategy than many of his generals, but he didn't do a particularly good job of choosing generals at the beginning of the war. Obama doesn't have a lot of economic experience, and I worry that he may be listening to the wrong economic advisors. I just hope we don't have to suffer through Civil War level losses before Obama finds his Ulysses S. Grant. And I hope Obama's goal really is to preserve the Union, not just to use a good crisis to push his agenda. We'll see.

Blast from the Past

I tracked down my pictures from freshman year. There were a few more than these, but they were mostly just me with a certain brunette girl who shall here remain nameless, and I didn't think anybody needed memories of that sort.

So, I hope you enjoy; I've listed the people in the pictures (when I knew them) below.




Homecoming Dance:
Back Row: Dave T, Jennifer, Beth, Dave W., Dave's Friend & Date
Next Row: Peter, Kristi, Sara, Chris F.
Next Row: Cat, Jared, Jared's date, Amy, Bob, Sara
Front Row: Alvin, Brian, Mary, Doug

Christmas Dance:
Back Row: Ryan, Doug, Karl
Next Row: Andrea, Alvin, Jeanette, Jesse, Jessica (?), Chris G., Sara, Wendy Ann, Kim (?), Kristi, Wendy
Next Row: Maggie, Jamie, Jeny Mindy, Cat, Heidi
Front Row: Laura, Avalie, Mark, Jen, Becky

Christmas Dance (Men Only):
Bob Alvin, Paul, Jake, Doug, Mark, Jesse, Ron, Dan, Karl, Ryan, Chris G.

Planting the Tree:
Dane, Scott, Karl, Alvin, Nathan, Peter, Jake, Paul

Thanksgiving Star Wars Marathon (back when there were only three):
Brian, Dave T., James, Peter, Doug, Dan's arms and legs, Aaron's eye.
Not pictured, but attended (I think): Dave W., Dane, Peter A., Byron, Jeremy, Jesse, Scottie, Alvin

Muscle Tee Power Pyramid:
Top: Ron
Middle: Jesse, Scottie
Bottom: James, Peter, Alvin

Playground Gladiators (Women Only):
Misty Allred, Kim Monte, Libby Farnsworth, Angela Hellwig, Laura Rawlings, Maggie Nakata, Laura Kimball, Laura Sneddon

Playground Gladiators (detail):
Laura never would have gotten by if she hadn't threatened Jesse never to kiss him again. I'm sure their five kids are particularly glad he let her by.

Playgroud Gladiators:
Laura R., Jesse, Angela, Misty, Me, Eric, Kim, Maggie, Cory, Alvin, Laura S., Libby, Bob, Laura K.

John Barleycorn - It's Not MY Fault

To start: while I found the story itself interesting, I found the writing surprisingly tedious. Surprising because London's adventure writing (White Fang, Sea Wolf, To Build a Fire, etc.) is so riveting. I think the tediousness came largely as a result of him saying the same things over and over: not just the language ("purple passages," "nicely jingled," "chesty men," "white noise"), but the experiences themselves were repetitive. Perhaps that was part of the point; certainly he tried to point out in the section about his time on the sealer that all his travels ended in saloons, and he missed the bigger set of experiences. But literary ploy or not, it made for a fairly boring book (from a writing/narrative perspective).

Now for the philosophy: my biggest problem with London's perspective on the question of alcoholism is his complete lack of ownership over his own choices. Again and again, he makes the point that his alcoholism was inevitable. Anywhere he wanted to go, he simply HAD to drink. It was just the way. How unfair! Someone should do something about that. Utter rubbish.

In a way, he is like the anti-Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, the one who never comes to the understanding that true manhood lies in accepting responsibility for one's own actions. Interestingly, I remember being shocked at how much drinking Tom did in that book initially; but it tapered off as he began to accept responsibility for his decisions. Here, London never comes to that conclusion. He's like a child crying that it's not his fault he's a drunk; it's society's.

Consider the following passage: "heaven forefend me from the most of the average run of male humans who are not good fellows -- the ones cold of heart and cold of head who don't smoke, drink, nor swear, nor do much of anything else that is brave, and resentful, and stinging, because in their feeble fibers there has never been the stir and prod of life to well over its boundaries and be devilish and daring. One doesn't meet these in saloons, nor rallying to lost causes, nor flaming on the adventure-paths, nor loving as God's own made lovers. They are too busy keeping their feet dry, conserving their heart-beats, and making unlovely life-successes of theier spirit-mediocrity."

Now I'm a bit stung by this, perhaps, and perhaps that puts me in an uncharitable mood. But I would say that these are the great men; the ones who, despite the lure and temptation of the carnal life, resist for the good of themselves, their families, and their communities. They are men, and London is a child.

Consider further his accounts of public mayhem that he and his friends brought about while drunk. Never is it their fault; it's all due to John Barleycorn. And furthermore, never is there a word for those whose property had been destroyed. The Japanese restaurant owners whose establishment was destroyed by drunken Americans. No sign of regret or remorse on their behalf; only that London himself didn't get to see more of the wild Japanese town. The town that the "fire brigade" destroyed; never a thought, never a word. Just "how scary! I almost went into a whiskey-induced coma on the train! How unfair the world is to me!"

So I pity London (or at least his persona in this novel); not for his drunkenness, but for his utter inability to recognize the first and only lesson of manhood: responsibility. I think I quoted Lars and the Real Girl in an earlier post, but there's a great exchange that relates to this. Lars asks his older brother when he knew he was a man. This makes his brother evidently uncomfortable, but eventually he answers: "Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts... Like, you know, like, you don't jerk people around, you know, and you don't cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, you know, and you admit when you're wrong, or you try to, anyways. That's all I can think of, you know - it sound like it's easy and for some reason it's not." When I think of "good fellows," it's men like these; they are the ones that I want to be around. Not the immature, whining, drunken man-childs that London so admires.

March book

While I feel a bit sheepish selecting a book when I haven't been as active lately, I'm not one to argue with Peter's randomization algorithm.  The next book is "My Life as a Traitor" by Zarah Ghahramani.  The amazon link is below:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Traitor-Iranian-Memoir/dp/0374531641/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233585189&sr=8-1

I have not yet read it (which is why I'm selecting it) and it may have some graphic (but accurate) violence.  Read the reviews and if you decide it not worth your time, well, feel free to pass.

What do you do with a Drunken Sailor

This is the first book clubber that I listened to instead of read. I'm glad I did, because the librivox reader was so terrible that I had to go back over and over chapters that reading I would have glossed over.

My Friend John Barleycorn

I agree that alcohol takes down social inhibitions, and can understand the camaraderie in drink. I imagine football games and Christmas Parties would have poorer attendance if there weren't any beer. The smell of most alcohol nauseates me personally, and while I find drunk people amusing for moments, I dislike spending very much time with people when they drink, not because I'm uncomfortable being a non-drinker, but because I prefer being with sober people.

Prohibition

I don't know how honest London was, but I think I agree with prohibition in the US. I think agency is a sacred thing, but I don't think alcohol should be legal. I know that when president Hinckley mentioned the repealing of the amendment he wasn't referring to prohibition, but to following our leaders. However, President Grant called Prohibition “the greatest financial and moral blessing that has ever come to humanity"; when the church ignored his council and voted to repeal the amendment, he said that some members who sang “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” seemed to add the words, “provided he keeps his mouth shut politically." I think this has implications today on other issues.

I believe that we should strive to make illegal things that the Lord has forbidden. While I find London's approach (summed up crudely: votes for women--they'll fix us right sober) a weak and infeasible approach, and while I think some of the results of prohibition were terrible, I believe in government with laws and consequences. I know, there are eternal consequences for disobeying the commandments, but it doesn't seem incongruous to me to have similar, but more universally enforceable laws on earth.

Great listen. For the next while, I'll have the Librivox reader's "John Barleycorn" ringing in my ears.

"Get Drunk," in elders quorum today

• Bob, I appreciated your comments. It brought to my mind memories of watching colleagues getting themselves humiliatingly drunk, of a classmate stepping in and saving me from having to decline an alcoholic beverage by simply saying, "No, Glenn doesn't drink," of tasting some apple cider that my wife's ancient grandmother had left on the porch more than a bit too long.

• why this book

⁃ When I returned from Utah this past Christmas, I found that one of my friends had slipped into the depths and pains of alcoholism. He has been fighting depression and addiction to cigarettes for a while too, so his situation fits unfortunately well with this Reuters report .
⁃ I want so much to help him, offering myself as a lifeline to call whenever he gets a bad craving. But despite my desire and willingness to be there for him and my attempts at empathy, he knows that I just don't understand and there's only so much I can do. But he also knows that I really care, and that no matter what, even if he continues to fail, I will truly and always care.
⁃ A day or two after finding out about my friend's new vice, I stumbled across this book as I was searching Librivox.org for a new audiobook to listen to. And while I still don't understand what it fells like to be drunk and to lose my inhibitions (a different friend in vet school said that was his favorite part of alcohol), I believe I understand a little better how someone could find himself in the company of John Barleycorn.

• a little bit of insight into what drives people to alcohol

⁃ I wonder how many other chapters, besides the ones about the "white logic" were written while "jingled"
⁃ this book highlights the power of peer pressure, and how so many people drink, or at least start out drinking because of social expectation, not because it "tastes great" or is "less filling." Jack London claims to drink not because he craves it, but just because it's there: "John Barleycorn is with me because in all the unwitting days of my youth John Barleycorn was accessible, calling to me and inviting me on every corner and on every street between the corners." I think that is a lame excuse. It was accessible to everone else during his time, I would assume, yet not everyone else became blinded by the white logic.

• He says that he could quit whenever he wants, that he is a social drinker and that he is not one that is physiologically addicted to alcohol.

⁃ "On this long, five-months' voyage, I found that among all my bodily pneeds not the slightest shred of a bodily need for alcohol existed. But this I did find: my need was mental and social. When I thought of alcohol, the connotation was fellowship. When I thought of fellowship, the connotation was alcohol. Fellowship and alcohol were Siamese twins. They always occurred linked together."
⁃ I think he is telling us the truth, but he is not telling himself the truth. In other words, he has convinced himself that he is the master of John Barleycorn and he is telling us honestly what he himself believes. But in reality he has gained a great dependence on alcohol. He even says that he cannot enjoy life without it. "I should not care to revisit all these fair places of the world except in the fashion I visited them before. GLASS IN HAND!"

• what are your thoughts about prohibition?

⁃ "The way to stop drinking is to stop it. The way China stopped the general use of opium was by stopping the cultivation and importation of opium. The philosophers, priests, and doctors of China could have preached themselves breathless against opium for a thousand years, and the use of opium, so long as opium was ever accessible and obtainable, therefore the vote for women's sufferage."

• In elders quorum today, the instructor read a poem entitled "Get Drunk" that talked about being passionate about like. And while I agree that it can be refreshing, and even empowering to drink deeply from any number of good things (work, music, literature, nature), one doesn't want to drink so much that one becomes a workaholic, or any other kind of -aholic. It seems evident that Jack London had an intense personality. He didn't do anything in a small way; consider how he drank and how he threw himself into his studies.

• One last thing, the Church has its own 12-step program that it has modeled off of AA and other addiction recovery programs. I went with my friend to a class and learned quite a bit. During step 3 we talked about agency. My thought during that discussion was how Satan does whatever he can from keeping us from turning our will over to Heavenly Father. By getting us addicted to any of a number of things, he takes away ones ability to choose, thereby preventing the individual from yielding his/her heart to God. My friend is continuing to attend the Church's addition recovery class and is making progress. I have thought that I might benefit from continuing to attend the class also. A family member of mine that went through this program said that she learned so much about the atonement from it. In a way, any repeated sin might be considered addiction.
  

Bob on Barleycorn

I just finished reading Jack London's autobiographical alcoholic memoir entitled "John Barleycorn". Although I've never indulged in the adventures of alcohol I found myself rather enjoying London's perspective and his style of writing. His memoir took me to the forbidden world of alcohol that I will never truly know, with all of its hearty laughter, depressions, self-justifications, poisoned states of mind, chesty man behaviors, and hail fellows well met. Surprisingly, I felt I could superficially relate...or at least I allowed myself to get into his mind.

I have observed the brotherhood of John Barleycorn in those with whom I have worked. I have witnessed the uniting power of the drink and the business accomplished under its auspices. Unlike Jack London, my current boss has loved the taste that bitter brew since he was a five year old stealing sips from his fathers glass. He proudly boasts of sneaking tall cans of beer out of the ranch supply house with a wink and a nod from the grisly ranch hands who welcomed the boys into the world of men. He now considers himself a connoisseur of lagers, whiskeys and ales. The darker and thicker the beer, the better he tells me. I have discovered that when I attend the infrequent happy-hour with co-workers that my abstinence and utter refusal to drink actually becomes endearing to those that have already tossed back a few. My non-judgemental fascination with the varieties and complexities of the various spirits and my incessant questions about them also amuse them. This always leads to jovial feigned attempts to get me to just try it out. They will often rejoice when I finish off bottle of Henry Weinhard's Rootbeer and order me up another as if I were a part of the true order of the drinking fraternity, yet I know I am a fraud and hypocrite as I am so unwilling to pledge. I'm sure I have emasculated myself in their eyes by not returning the favor of purchasing them a drink in turn.

My own life changing experience with ingesting an alcoholic beverage was when I was five our six years old. My father was remodeling a man's home in which every flat surface was cluttered and covered with beer bottles. My father explained that the man was hopelessly lost in the lies and warm embrace of John Barleycorn. My brother Carl and I began to clown around with the empty bottles doing our best impressions of drunkards. As I held one bottle over my tilted-back head pretending to guzzle it down, a couple ounces of beer that remained in the bottled seared right down my gullet. The taste was horrible and I vomited it out immediately. A green garden hose was connected the hose spigot on the front porch of the house which I used to repeatedly fill my stomach with water and spewed it up again to exorcise that demon rum from my belly. At the moment I swore to never have another drink and that is one commitment I am honored to still be keeping.

Another day, while still a young boy working on a construction site with my father and uncle, we were invited to Buster's Bar & Grill by a group of suppliers and subcontractors. My father and I were the only ones not to drink from brown long-necked bottles. As the men drank, they become extremely jolly and rather funny. I was amused and caught up in the raucous behavior, but very much aware of the effects of alcohol leading them to this happy state. The waitresses were provocatively dressed in tight fitting white t-shirts and bottom revealing denim mini-skirts. I remember one of them sat on my uncle's lap and they flirted away. I was self-righteously disgusted while at the same time secretly and prepubescently intrigued.

One final personal faith-promoting anecdote. During my construction management internship in Las Vegas there was an All-Hands Meeting held in the construction trailer every other Friday afternoon at three. The area manager brought a couple cases of beer and they were joyously passed around to quench the thirst on those sweltering hot summer afternoons. There were two or three of us Mormon party-poopers that were forced to endure the chesty men's abuses because of our teetotalism. To make it worse, no water was available for us to drink, so we sat through the meeting with parched mouths as the men around us become loose and foul. In a moment of clarity and inspiration I made my own plans for the next meeting. I would bring my own delicious beverage...oh that sweet nectar of the gods...Rootbeer. Unabashedly I plopped down a 24-pack of A&W Rootbeer on the center table and to my complete astonishment almost everybody ignored the case of beer and took to my rootbeers like vultures to carrion. As I left the meeting many thanked me for providing an alternative beverage and I noticed that the case of beer was largely untouched. Prior to my graduation from the BYU CM program, a recently returned intern from the same company related that the rootbeer had become a tradition for the Friday All-Hands Meeting. Sweet sweet triumph over John Barleycorn!

Back to the book...

London was extremely honest with himself in his memoir and it has led me down a path of deep introspection. I've been taken to the darker corners of my soul and it is actually helping me realign my priorities and to rediscover my standing before God. As far as the brotherhood that Jack could only find arm in arm with John Barleycorn, I have found a much deeper bond with the brethren I serve and serve with in building up God's kingdom.

PVS Book Club, 2009

Well everyone, welcome to the New Year (and a New World, if your part of the breathless Obamadoration; not that there's anything wrong with that).

I'm enjoying John Barleycorn at the moment; should finish by the weekend. Alvin and Glenn have now each chosen two books; of the original PVS book club contributors, that leaves Karl, Jesse, Paul, and me to choose in the second round. If there are other PVS readers who'd like to choose a book, let me know (either by email or through the comments) and I'll slot you in.

I don't know when everyone will be ready to discuss John Barleycorn; I would propose we try to get back to the once a month schedule, and hence have Glenn post his thoughts around the beginning of February. Also, due to the occasional lateness of book selection last time around, I'd recommend that the book be announced for the following month no later than one month in advance. So, once I flip my random coin, whoever the chosen one is for next month will have until Feb 1 to select a book.

So, here goes the randomization algorithm...

And the order of selection is Jesse (March), me (April), Paul (May), Karl (June). If that's a problem for anyone, let me know.

Oh, and I'm just remembering that a couple of people wanted to invite spouses to participate in the symposium. I think anyone who wants to should feel free to invite their spouse; you can send an invitation by clicking on "Sign In" -> Settings -> Permissions -> Add Authors.

Introducing Calvin Barnes

Calvin Daniel Barnes was born Dec 16.  Boy #5!  Laura is doing as well as a mother of 5 boys under 8 can do.

While I'm posting pictures I thought some of you might enjoy the picture below that I found while cleaning out a box the other day (we're finally unpacking in our new house).  Good times (the picture, not the unpacking).

anyone up for an interesting read?

Since no one has spoken up in regards to Alvin's suggestion about the book club, I will step forward and invite you to step inside the head of an alcoholic.
I am currently listening to John Barleycorn by Jack London. It is an autobiography, following London's life from one drink to the next. I will report my thoughts on the book, as well as my reason for starting the book, after I finish it. You can download the audiobook version here or the ebook here.
Some other audiobooks I've listened to recently (road trip to Utah and back): The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Lone Star Ranger.

Can you help remember everyone in this picture?

Standing Left to Right:  Dane Willis, Ryan Larsen, Girl from Alaska?, Linda's roommate, Linda Fifield, Mark Alexander, Catherine Duke, Robert Mortensen

Siting Left to Right: Laura Kimball, Alvin Van Orden, Jeanette Baker

Just going through old photos and found this one, but I'm having a mental block on a couple of the names.

Seasons Greetings

It's been a fun year for Angela and I. I can't say that much is new with us. But perhaps with the current economy, no news is good news. We're still in San Jose. I'm still working as a patent attorney. We're still lucky enough to have our money sitting in a savings account while we try to decide when the right moment to buy a house will be.

We had more fun than I can possibly describe being a part of Thomas' first full year of life. So much fun that we decided to have another kid next year. Surprisingly, Thomas had less of an impact on our adventures than we thought he would. We took him to Germany, Utah, and on an Alaskan cruise. We took him hiking, camping, and to the beach on many occasions. He's such a good kid and we love being able to share all these new things with him.

As always, if you want to be more bored to death about our lives, feel free to visit our blog at http://karlandangela.reeshome.org. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

P.S. We're in Utah for the holidays. Anyone else in town and interested in a get-together?

Food, glorious food

Sorry to comment on the book after Alvin achieved closure, but we've had a busy month.  I finished a while ago but haven't sat down at a computer for a bit.  I've just responded to selected questions.I liked the first two parts of the book, but as I read more and more I found myself, as Peter, with a slight case of indigestion with the tone and the author's personal cameos. I think a movie substitute for the book would be http://www.kingcorn.net/
(1) What is your 'perfect meal'?
 I'm not really interested in food that much, but I think there are three kinds of food: Food that makes you sick, food that fills you up, and food that is exquisite. Food that is exquisite usually costs a lot, with the exception of chocolate chip cookies (which by the way, have been perfected: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/dessert_chocchip.shtml  Most of the food I eat just fills me up, and that's just fine, because there are other things I'd rather do than eat.
(3)Is processed food bad at all? If so, at what point?
 I agree there's too much corn in our diet—the imbalance that comes from eating out of a box or a can, etc. is upsetting.
(4) Can we feed the country without the use of large amounts of fossil fuel? If we don't come up with another energy source or if the population of the world out grows our ability to produce food, will we eventually have mass starvation?
I believe President Benson when he quotes: "For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if every man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment" (D&C 104:17-18).   I also love the miracles of abundance in the New Testament.

Were you instilled with a greater desire to eat locally? If so, what motivates you and how are you going to do it?
I listened to an interview with Barbara Kingsolver (Poisonwood Bible) about eating locally just because she was opposed to the petroleum it took to grow and ship food to her. I would love to eat locally, but I would have to have a lot more land in Las Vegas to make that happen.
(7) What did you think of Pollan's version of 'grace'? What do you think is the inherent benefit of actually saying grace (assuming that our food isn't really cursed and won't make us sick if we don't bless it)? Should we really just be much more grateful in our meal prayers for the bounty of the earth and think about where the food comes from? 
I felt very much this way at Thanksgiving—I made it myself since Kristene was in hospital. I picked the apples and made the apple pie myself, and I imagine the amount of labor that went into generating all the food consumed on that single day, as well as the abundance that Our Father has given us. I've been thinking about how disconnected we are from the earth. I think there is a real benefit to being more directly involved with the production of one's dinner from the soil up. Not that I don't like my desk job.
The book, like most food I eat, didn't change my life.  Still, it's a dish I wouldn't have tried had Alvin not recommended it, and I enjoyed it.

The Next Book

Before I wrap up the discussion on The Omnivore's Dilemma, I want to encourage someone to choose the next book for the book club. If we were sticking with the old rotation, it would be Jesse's turn, but I'm sure whoever volunteers first could have the job. Peter, are you going to publish a new schedule? I need some direction in my reading. I have enjoyed the book discussion so far and really want to see it continue.

My thoughts on Peter and Glenn's posts:
Peter, I'm sorry you disliked my book choice once again and for similar reasons. While I hadn't read the book beforehand to recognize the similarity, I'll try for a completely new genre next time. As for your whole wheat, sugar and preservatives diet, my 1 and a half year old, Henry, would agree with that, as he would eat Life cereal for all three meals if he could. Though we consume a lot of milk and cheese in our house, which I suppose comes from corn fed cows. I'm suspicious of your claim that we could immediately go off of petro-chemicals, but it would certainly be interesting to try.

Glenn, for some reason I didn't realize you were such an expert in this field. The book made me feel, or at least tried to, like I hadn't sufficiently lived if I'd never killed my own meal, so since you have slayed chickens with your own hands, I admire you. Your thought about animals hiding pain was insightful. Your comment about "Eating's not a bad way to get to know a place." made me think of the black beans and eggs I had for every breakfast and dinner for 2 years in Guatemala. I remember asking an 80+ year old member what his perfect meal was, and he said if he could have anything it would be black beans and eggs. Our culture and, more importantly, us as parents, are imprinting on our kids desires that will stick with them all their lives.

Alvin stole the title for my posting

I meant to add to the food discussion sooner, but the ox was in the mire, and then after I got the ox out of the mire it was a little dirty and took several hours to clean up. I did however listen to about half of The Red Badge of Courage while working on those projects that needed my attention. Like Alvin I listened to The Omnivore's Dilemma, so there may be a slight disconnect between what I heard and what I remember.

In addition to Alvin's questions, I will add a few questions/thoughts of my own.

Discussion Questions:
(1) What is your 'perfect meal'?
Homemade soup and bread, along with a nice green salad (preferably from the garden). Soup and bread are my comfort foods.

(2) What rights do you think animals deserve?
Veterinary Ethics was a required class at UC Davis (as it probably is at all US schools of veterinary medicine), and this topic was discussed. It is such a big question, that it would need to be answered in a space that even google may not be able to accomodate (doubt it). In veterinary medicine we try to balance the animals' right/needs with that of the humans' (owner/consumer/veterinarian/veterinary technician/etc.). I agree with Peter that we are wise stewards.

(3) [I]s processed food bad at all? If so, at what point?
I believe that processed food isn't bad so much as it is less nutritious. It becomes bad when melamine is added to it, or it becomes tainted with C. botulinum toxin, or Hg. The poison is in the dose.

(4) Can we feed the country without the use of large amounts of fossil fuel? If we don't come up with another energy source or if the population of the world out grows our ability to produce food, will we eventually have mass starvation?
In one of my undergrad classes, I was taught that US agriculture is the only part of the US economy that has a positive trade balance. That may or may not be true (help me out here guys), but the positive trade balance has been decreasing. Is this because we are exporting less food or importing more (probably the latter). I don't think it is the energy supply alone that will determine whether or not there is mass starvation. I think there needs to be better management of resources (what to plant, what gets used, what it gets used for).

(5) Were you instilled with a greater desire to eat locally? If so, what motivates you and how are you going to do it?
I enjoy going to the local farmers market. I don't feel like I can afford to exclusively eat local, but if I were made aware of a Poly-Face type farm here, which was competitely priced, I think I would go for it.

(6) Are those of you that are for more government regulation in the financial market, are you for additional regulations in the food market? Did the regulation of the organic market help or hurt the organic food industry?
I don't like the idea of price fixing, but I agree with Peter that health standards are important. Upton Sinclair inadvertently helped out with that.

(7) What did you think of Pollan's version of 'grace'? What do you think is the inherent benefit of actually saying grace (assuming that our food isn't really cursed and won't make us sick if we don't bless it)?
I don't remember Pollan'ts verson of "grace." As a kid I used to worry about the food not being good if it wasn't blessed. Now I see meal-time prayers being an opportunity to be thankful for abundance and good healthy food, though I do believe that if I pray for added energy, or that my body will be better able to use the food, God will hear and answer my prayer.

(8) Has reading this book changed the way you will eat?
Not in and of itself, but it has given strength to ideas I already had about food: eating less processed foods, being more thankful for the food that I have, slow down and enjoy what I eat.

Now, thoughts that I took the time to stop and list as I listened to the book:

A) Rats, the other omnivore, can't vomit, therefore it's dilemma is even greater.

B) The human is not at the top of the food chain, the marketing firm is.

C) There is something very satisfying about eating a meal from food grown yourself or even meals cooked from scratch.

D) I wonder how the individuals and businesses that were interviewed feel about the book after having read it. I wonder if there are/were any regrets or gripes with the author.

E) The author quoted someone who said that if an animal is suffering, we will recognize it. This is not necessarily true, especially in prey species which may hide pain and illness to make themselves less likely targets for predators. What can we translate from that understanding to humans? There are definitely people who hide their suffering (physical and emotional).

F) The author suggested that if animal processing became transparent, most people would become vegetarians. This implies to me that most individuals who work in meat processing plants are vegetarians. Perhaps they thought about becoming vegetarians after the first day or two of work, but the repetitiveness of their job probably dulled their senses to the nature of what they do and they overcame their distaste.
Some of you may remember that I worked at the BYU Meat Lab during my first semester at BYU. Though I did not become a vegetarian, I did develop a temporary aversion to hot dogs, not because of what is in them or any cruelty or morbidness in the processing of them (which there wasn't), but simply because after handling thousands of cold wet frankfurters each day, I wanted a bit of a respite.

I might also add, that during vet school, I did a poultry medicine rotation which included a trip to a lab that used chickens in their research. I slaughtered dozens of chickens, which was difficult the first couple of times, but became disturbingly easy quite quickly. It was never as difficult to euthanize sick pets, probably because I wasn't killing them with my hands as I was with the chickens.

G) "Eating's not a bad way to get to know a place." I don't remember the context of that quote in the book, but food is a great way to learn about different cultures.

I enjoyed the book, especially the technical and historical aspect of corn/agriculture/fertilizer/processing/etc., but not so much the author's story about being a farm hand or Rambo or Julia Child. The efficiency of Poly-Face farm was pretty cool.

Thanks for the book, Alvin. It was delicious.

Congratulations to those of you who actually read all the way through this post.

Choice and Accountability in What We Eat

Caveat emptor: I haven't finished the book, but it's looking increasingly unlikely that I'll find the time to polish off the last 100 pages before Christmas, so I'm going to write my thoughts on what I have read.

Overall Impression: I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the book. There were a lot of things I found aggravating, not the least is Michael Pollan's writing, which grates on my "self-importance" nerve, much the same way Tracy Kidder's did. Except moreso. I felt like when the author was able to get out of the way of the story he was telling, it was pretty good, but overall I found the writing distracting.

I also didn't like the tone. Pollan's shifting back and forth between science, philosophy and narrative is exactly the sort of thing I should love, but instead I found it extremely aggravating. Perhaps part of it is my own bias against soft-thinkers like Pollan (he teaches journalism) trying to attack issues of science, philosophy and ethics. But there are other people I think do it well (see, for instance, William Saletan's Human Nature blog on Slate). No, the thing that bugged me about Pollan (I think) was that he didn't seem interested in the science and philosophy in and of themselves, but only as a method for advancing his own opinions. Rather than determining opinions from facts and logic, this seems like an attempt to justify an opinion with convenient truths.

And finally, I didn't like the logic. His arguments that an "industrialized food system" are causing environmental disaster, obesity and starvation, and the overall degradation of America were largely unpersuasive to me, primarily because I feel he stacked the deck (those "meals" that form the structural narrative are total straw men) and left out significant details. But above all, I was annoyed by the complete lack of culpability he places on individual consumers; he seems to be saying it's essentially impossible for food consumers to eat healthy, short of a sort of poly-face act of rejection. I mean, he vilifies petro-chemicals and billionaire farmers and the federal government, and says that because they create the product of course we're going to eat it. And the way to combat it, rather than through individual acts of improvement, is through societal transformation. I don't know, it all just seems hare-brained to me.

So to summarize, I didn't like what he said, why he said it, or how he said it. But I still think it was a useful book, if not an enjoyable one (for me)

Uses I found in the book: I started reading ingredient labels. And I was surprised at how few of the things I eat actually do contain identifiable corn products. Not my bread, not my cereal, not my pasta, not my crackers. Pretty much the only labeled food product I eat regularly that I could find corn products in were my granola bars (in this case, it was that devilish HFCS). But besides finding "not corn" in a lot things, it was interesting to see to what degree the things I each are processed foods. A lot of what we as a family buy and eat is whole grain wheat, sugar and preservatives.

I also really liked the poly-face farm. I'm a pastoralist at heart, and the conservativism I believe in is very much a rural, pastoral conservativism. I like Wendell Berry, even though I think he's quite a bit too radical. I feel like much of what's wrong socially and politically in our country would go away if we returned in significant ways to the sort of balanced agrarian/industrial/educational society Joseph Smith envisioned establishing in Missouri (although my pastoralism is probably more due to J.R.R. Tolkien than Joseph Smith). I also like the application of soil science that Pollan so admires Joel Salatin for. While I think Pollan's off the reservation in his ecstatic descriptions of the beauty of the symbiosis of Salatin's farm, I do find the evident efficiency remarkably wonderful.

Discussion Questions:
(1) What is your 'perfect meal'? Thanksgiving dinner comes pretty close. Lots of vegetables and starches, some fruit and bread, a little meat and some pie. Just about perfect.

(2) What rights do you think animals deserve? I think we have a responsibility to be good stewards to the earth, including animals. I don't know that animals have rights, of themselves, but I do think God will hold us responsible for the degree of kindness and care we give to His creation.

(3) [I]s processed food bad at all? If so, at what point? I don't know that there's some threshold. I think "badness" comes through imbalance, rather than processing. I don't tend to eat processed foods, not because they're processed, but because the balance of nutrients in them is unappealing to me.

(4) Can we feed the country without the use of large amounts of fossil fuel? If we don't come up with another energy source or if the population of the world out grows our ability to produce food, will we eventually have mass starvation?When energy costs increased so dramatically last year, there was a global food crisis. Much of the world is starving, or barely subsisting, if news accounts can be believed. I think we could immediately move to a food system that didn't depend on petro-chemicals. I think food in the US would become much more expensive, but it wouldn't dramatically effect food prices in the areas of the world that are on the subsistence end of the spectrum. And I think the result would be that people would eat less meat and less sugar, more vegetables and whole grains; some people would suffer but the population would generally be healthier. However, I wouldn't advocate doing this by fiat, or government imposition. It doesn't seem the cost (in terms of loss of standard of living families would realize as a result of paying more for food, as well as those who simply couldn't afford the new regime and so would need to be supported by the whole of society) justifies it to me.

(5) Were you instilled with a greater desire to eat locally? If so, what motivates you and how are you going to do it? No. Although I was interested that Poly-face can generate competitively priced food. The most I can say I will do is look into the real cost (rather than my assumed cost) of local produce and dairy.

(6) Are those of you that are for more government regulation in the financial market, are you for additional regulations in the food market? Did the regulation of the organic market help or hurt the organic food industry?I think there should be health standards, as far as toxins, etc. I think the "irradiation" solution Pollan decries isn't a terrible one, but I think there may be better solutions that are only marginally more expensive.

(7) What did you think of Pollan's version of 'grace'? What do you think is the inherent benefit of actually saying grace (assuming that our food isn't really cursed and won't make us sick if we don't bless it)? Should we really just be much more grateful in our meal prayers for the bounty of the earth and think about where the food comes from?I guess I could see an increase of gratitude as a result of moving away from processed foods. That's an interesting thought.

(8) Has reading this book changed the way you will eat? Not really. I feel I eat fairly healthily. As I said, I did start looking reading food labels, but beyond that I doubt I will change much. I'll still go to McDonald's occasionally, and I will not start foraging for mushrooms.

Food Glorious Food

Note: As usual, I only listened to the book, so please excuse any misspellings and misquotations of the book and its subjects.

An Overview
Overall, I was very pleased with the book in that it helped me to think about my food, not something I do enough of. It was both informative, and it delved into philosophy and politics, which I hope will make for interesting topics of discussion. The author, at times, spent too much time telling his own story and espousing his own personal views. Still, in general, I thought it was well written, well thought out, and I hope you all found it worth your time. Of course, books that directly mention Decatur, IL (my birthplace) tend to get good reviews from me.


My Thanksgiving Dilemma
I found that I don't typically struggle to much with the question, "What should I eat?" I generally eat whatever's available, much like I did in my Merrill Hall days. My wife is a fine cook, but really, I am not a picky eater. If you have seen Ratatouille, I am like the main rat's family. It's more important to me to fill my tummy quickly than to fill it with quality. My biggest concern at Thanksgiving wasn't the quality of the turkey (you can always smother it in mashed potatoes and gravy if it's not ideal). My dilemma was simply how I was going to fit all of the wide variety of foods on my plate.

Thus, I didn't find the cooking show part of the book very interesting. I often find the heavily descriptive language of menus to be more appetizing than the actual food, which only leads to disappointment. So while all of the description of his hunted and gathered food was nice, my tendency was to think it wasn't worth the work, or the ink.

Discussion Questions: Am I alone? Are there closet chefs out there? What is your 'perfect meal'?

Life as a Speciesist
My favorite part of the hunting/gathering section was the discussion of the morality of eating meat. I though for a bit that he was going to advocate that we all become vegans, at which point I would have not trusted anything he said in the entire book. I thought Pollan did an excellent job of explaining the vegetarian point of view and building a philosophical argument against it.

Still, there is the problem of animal rights. I don't think that every animal needs/wants to roam freely or that only animals that live on a Polyface farm type of environment are happy or have a good life. My human ancestors didn't live in such a crowded environment as I do here in DC, and sitting in a chair in front of a computer isn't what I evolved to do, yet I still consider myself happy. That being said, I see no reason that animals should be raised in circumstances that makes them go crazy or express suicidal or masochistic tendencies. I'm happy that the chickens in CA are getting bigger cages, but I would never legislate a Polyface farm type environment. I still believe in efficiency and cheap food.
Discussion Question: What rights do you think animals deserve?

Corn Derivatives
Before I read this book I remember pondering how my Twizzlers (a road trip essential) were invented and what made them edible and plastic, for example, inedible. Now I know licorice is basically just corn. I enjoyed learning how corn is broken down to it's most basic form and reformed into processed products. It really is amazing the technological and scientific knowledge that makes red licorice possible. Throughout the book I was consistently in awe of both the complexity of nature and the complexity of man made food processes.

Discussion Questions: Are food derivatives as dangerous to the physical health of the world as mortgage derivatives have been deadly to the financial health of the world? Our world economy functions based on specialization and dividing jobs into parts. Similarly, most of our food includes parts of so many things. How can one realistically maintain the 'big picture'? Or is processing food really what is supposed to happen? I mean, as he was cooking his own meal, Michael Pollan talks about cooking the meat in two ways and how cooking is about breaking down what we find in nature and creating something better with it. That's why we're successful as humans. So is processed food bad at all? If so, at what point?

Oil and the Industrial Food Chain
Michael Pollan repeatedly brings up the oil and carbon resources that are used to ship our food around, using this as a hammer to bang on the industrialization of the food industry. Fossil fuels are clearly a non-renewable resource, and I am not trying to make this an environmental discussion. Quite the opposite. One day soon (before the oil runs out or the planet is destroyed), I believe humans will discover a new, renewable energy source to supply the global food chain (i.e. garbage, as in Back to the Future). I think oil is only temporary, and it's discussion belongs in another book, not here. The discussion of how many fossil fuel calories it took to bring me my dinner may be interesting, but I didn't think it contributed much to the discussion of the quality of my food. Imagine a world in which we didn't have fossil fuel energy. Most of us would probably be farmers because we wouldn't be able to produce as much food as we currently do.

Discussion Question: Can we feed the country without the use of large amounts of fossil fuel? If we don't come up with another energy source or if the population of the world out grows our ability to produce food, will we eventually have mass starvation?

Eating Local
The bigger question is perhaps should we eat local food and at what cost. Personally, I think it makes sense to trade things, and it doesn't bother me that my bananas traveled half way around the world in the last 24 hours. However, I can't get the Word of Wisdom out of my head where it says to eat fruit while it is in season. I don't even know what season is banana season.

Discussion Question: Were you instilled with a greater desire to eat locally? If so, what motivates you and how are you going to do it?

The Organic Food Bubble
This topic really belongs more as a comment on Jesse and Karl's posts, but I'm trying to break the record for the longest post here. Did you catch the snippet where the organic farmer got caught up in the organic bubble? I mean, there are always bubbles in a free market economy, right? We all agree that the bad government regulations made things worse, but better regulations (whether that be more or less) will not keep us from avoiding another bubble. Aren't bubbles good?

Goverment Subsidies and Regulations
I felt like Pollan gave conflicting messages about the typical farmer. At first, the poor modern farmer was underpaid and couldn't make a living, but later in the book, he said the farmers didn't have to work more than 50 days a year and most weren't very intelligent.

Pollan is clearly against the government subsidizing of corn, making it cheaper than the true cost to produce it, especially when you factor in the environmental costs. I certainly don't like the idea of the government skewing the true market value of anything. Yet at the same time, I don't know what the correct alternative is.

Discussion Questions: Without government subsidies, would we have enough farmers in the US to produce the food to feed ourselves? Is it a national security issue? Without the subsidizing of corn, what would that do to food prices?

Then there is the government regulations that Polyface farm was so upset about.

Discussion Questions: Are those of you that are for more government regulation in the financial market, are you for additional regulations in the food market? Did the regulation of the organic market help or hurt the organic food industry?

Wisdom of Food Traditions
I liked the small section where he said that often food traditions have inherent nutritional wisdom in them, "like the Asian practice of fermenting soy and serving it with rice, turn out to render these plant species much more nutritious than they otherwise would be." This reminds me of how religious 'traditions' have so much inherent value. Relevant to this book, I thought of how we are encouraged to eat together, but I think all of the commandments have much more value than we may currently understand.

Discussion Questions: What did you think of Pollan's version of 'grace'? What do you think is the inherent benefit of actually saying grace (assuming that our food isn't really cursed and won't make us sick if we don't bless it)? Should we really just be much more grateful in our meal prayers for the bounty of the earth and think about where the food comes from?

Thinking about my food
This book didn't stop me from overindulging at Thanksgiving, but it did make me feel more guilty about it afterwards (when I finished the book and really started thinking about it). In the effort to think more about my food (and my food does deserve more thought than I've given it), I have given up sweets from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. I'm only a couple of days into this endeavor, and I'm already suffering from withdrawal.

Discussion Question: Has reading this book changed the way you will eat?