Off hiatus

Wow. It has been a good long time since I have posted anything on this profile. What happened, you ask? Life happened, as it so often does, and I just kinda went with it, took a break from hardcore writing, and just lived for awhile. Hopefully this break will have given my writing a little more depth. I will, in the next few weeks, be trying to post a little more, and at the same time morph this blog into something a little closer to the person I have become in the... Jesus, has it really been three years already? Guess I have my work cut out for me!

The Age of Spoil

I just finished this book called "Oryx and Crake," by Margaret Atwood. It's sort of a post-apocalyptic/utopian novel. It opens on the only speaker, a man who calls himself Snowman, and his interaction with these Child-People he calls Crakers, named so after their apparent creator; whom, as we find out later, was a friend of Snowman's. Snowman lives in a tree and is always seemingly worried for his survival-- from the elements, wild animals, and starvation. As the book progresses, the current timeline is interspersed with visions from Snowman's past life, before he called himself Snowman. Before he was the only person left. Snowman gets hungry, gets drunk, fights off odd animal/animal mixes (pigoons, rakunks, that sort of thing), and interacts briefly with the Crakers as some sort of priest/diety mix. As he continues in his daily, survival-based existence, he recounts memories of Jimmy's life. His prior self, the pre-apocalypse person. So that's how that goes.

Anyhow, we learn that Crake was a childhood friend, his only real friend throughout his whole life. Even as a child, Crake was a hyper-intelligent, un-emotional being. Interested in mankind mostly as a study, and obsessed with idealism. He has no interest in sex, or jokes. He isn't cynical, it's just his way. He has interest only in thinking. He wants to fix the world, but not to save it. He wants to fix it, scientifically. Even in his own world, the world of Crake and Jimmy as teens, all diseases have been cured. The breakouts, Crake learns, are secret strains of disease contained within random samples of pills people pop to prolong life, or maybe just the illusion of youth. Skin supplements, and the like. Or sexual-ability enhancements. They exist so that the drug companies can continue to make profits, and the few people who discover this surreptitiously disappear.

As the lives of these two boys become the lives of men, they fall apart. Jimmy is a 'words person,' not a 'numbers person,' and Crake gets a job for one of the drug companies, researching, while Jimmy is stuck in a job copy-writing another company's advertisements. When they hook back up again, Crake is the biggest fish in the biggest pond, working on a project so secret that even his investors don't hold any information on it. He wants Jimmy to write the advertisements. His project is the Crakers, though he doesn't call them that himself. He has developed a new pill, BlyssPluss, which protects against all sexually-transmitted diseases, makes people super fucking horny, prolongs youth, and has one unadvertised function: instant sterility. The Crakers are the new children. After the entire world is sterile, they will buy these new children. The new people, humanity successfully erased from their neurons. Crake says he is studying immortality.

"...there were two major initiatives going forward. The first-- the BlyssPluss Pill-- was prophylactic in nature, and the logic behind it was simple: eliminate the external causes of death and you were halfway there.

"External causes?" said Jimmy.

"War, which is to say misplaced sexual energy, which we consider to be a larger factor than the economic, racial, and religious causes often cited. Contagious diseases, especially sexually transmitted ones. Overpopulation, leading-- as we've seen in spades-- to environmental degradation and poor nutrition." [Crake speaking]

Jimmy said it sounded like a tall order: so much had been tried in those areas, so much had failed. Crake smiled. "If at first you don't succeed, read the instructions," he said.

"Meaning?"

"The proper study of Mankind is Man."

"Meaning?"

"You've got to work with what's on the table." " p.345

Anyhow, that is his project, as Jimmy understands it. Sterilization, followed by eventual replacement of the original human species with Crakers. Crakers, we learn, have no sex drive. They mate as they go in heat, which happens every several years, at a rate which Crake determined necessary for proper species re-creation. They eat only vegetation, grazing, in fact, like animals, and their excrement is properly, and naturally recycled-- they eat it. It's gross. The piss of the men serves to ward off wild animals, and the pee in a circle surrounding their camp every morning. Crake thought they would need some special job since the women have child-bearing down pat. They are perfectly harmonized with their environment, and therefore will never build shelters. With nothing to pass down, there will be no heredity disputes, or fights over materials. They lack imagination, and jokes. The language centers in their brains are suited only for direct communication. They are the perfect animal. An interesting, yet useless, fact is that they still dream. Apparently Crake was unable to ever erase dreams, though he hated them. He said every subject went insane. They are incapable of conceiving of a god, though they are also designed not to care about things like that. They accept everything Snowman tells them about Crake, because apparently they do require some vague notion of their existence. Lastly, they keel over at 30. Just drop dead. They don't ever ask questions about death. But it happens naturally and automatically at that particular birthday, before old age comes to plague them.

""At first," said Crake, "we had to alter ordinary human embryos, which we got from-- never mind where we got them from. But these people are sui generis. They're reproducing themselves, now."

"They look more than seven years old," said Jimmy.

Crake explained about the rapid-growth factors he'd incorporated. "Also," he said, "they're programmed to drop dead at age thirty-- suddenly, without getting sick. No old age, none of those anxieties. They'll just keel over. Not that they know it; none of them has died yet."

"I thought you were working on immortality."

"Immortality," said Crake, "is a concept. If you take 'mortality' as being, not death, but the foreknowledge of it and the fear of it, then 'immortality' is the absence of such fear. Babies are immortal. Edit out the fear, and you'll be..."

"Sounds like Applied Rhetoric 101," said Jimmy.

"What?"

"Never mind. Martha Graham stuff."

"Oh. Right."

Anyhow, as the book culminates, we learn that Crake's plan wasn't sterilization after all. Jimmy advertises for them for an unspecifed period of time-- perhaps a few months, maybe a couple years, and then all of a sudden, a plague breaks out all over the world simultaneously. It erupts from the people everywhere who had been popping Crake's pills, but from there it spreads throughout everyone, transmitted in the air as well as the water. Jimmy is the only one sealed in with the Crakens, Crake had charged him earlier to take care of them if he is gone. Crake makes it back to the compound, but Jimmy shoots him. The three of them, Crake, Jimmy, and Oryx (though she is not relevant to this discussion), are the only humans who are immune to this disease that wipes out all mankind, though Crake slits Oryx's throat just before Jimmy shoots him. I have now officially ruined all of the surprises of the book, but the more exciting part, to me anyways, is always the writing and the details, so I hope you won't mind.

But, like I said, it intrigues me. Not merely the utopian concepts of the book. Not just questioning Crake's theories, though that is also somewhat interesting. What got to me, cuz I just finished this book, was that second quote I wrote in up there. The thing Crake says about immortality being the absence of the fear of death. That concept isn't all that hard, but it made me think.

Prior to reading that, I had sort of a theory of the ending of childhood. That one ceases to be a mere infant and becomes a human being, kinda leaving the age of innocence at the moment they realize that their parents are falliable. I read something somewhere once to that effect, one of the characters asks another whether they can remember that moment, and it stuck with me because I can. It was when I was 4, and I remember it clearly. But the above quote changed that. What if the end of innocence is, in fact, the moment one fears death? Both theories coincide with a sort of Blake-ian idea of innocence. Of his books of poetry, The Age of Innocence, and The Age of Experience, the innocent one is the more violent. On the surface there are saccharine pictures of lambs and flowers, but the chimney sweep poem is tragic, they all are. And anyone who has been around children knows that they aren't saccharine. Without fear of death, they have no fear of gore. They're bloodthirsty little fuckers. I think fairytales pretty effectively prove that. The original fairytales, not the "child-proof" versions we have today. The Brothers Grimm sort of shit.

What do you think? I can recall fearing death, as well, when I was about 5, and though I do have a very clear memory of the first moment I was scared shitless of it, I don't specifically recall the seeds being planted. I do know, however, that they were planted in sunday school. I think religious kids fear death earlier. At my church, at least, they put the fear of hell into us in order to scare us into "accepting Jesus into our hearts."

That's my question. Whether this interests you enough to respond is up to you. I know all the explanation of the book was unnecessary to the actual question, but I like to explain where my ideas pop up from. I like to put them into context.

How to Enjoy Summer Food... Without Compromising Your Ideals

Summer, just like any other season, has it's own challenges to present to the green crowd. There's the everlasting debate between taking your yearly road-trip and obeying the smog warning signs, the pungent reminder of pollution when you dip your toes in the river, and, as always, the BBQ. Social eating abounds in the summer, and it can certainly be a challenge to those trying to go vegetarian or vegan for the environment. While there may not be any turkey dinners to pick your way around, there is the 4th of July, and many delightful parties and BBQs, for which no official holiday was ever necessary.

With the summer heat steadily squelching down my good judgement, nostalgia seems to inch itself closer and closer to taking over all the solid food choices I make throughout the rest of the year. For so many years, summer was all about icecream cones, hot dogs at the baseball game, strip steak straight off the grill... well, you get the picture. The memories of summer have a power unlike that of any other season, the power to tempt you abandon your striving towards veganism and just eat that icecream... *embarrassed cough*...I mean, c'mon! It's only for a couple weeks, really, and it's wicked hot outside!

Since my unconscious seems to always plot against me when faced with tasty treats under the glaring sun, I decided to get a jump on it this year, and ready my foodalicious battle plan before my friends kicked me out from in front of the fan and my brain went back to mush. So, with my nostalgia meals beating a steady tattoo against my skull, I set off for the grocery store to look for crave-worthy vegan BBQ staples.

These days, even conventional chain grocery stores are rife with environmentally-friendly, vegan summer possibilities... not to mention air-conditioning! Fruity popsicles are always a winner, and those awesome tofutti cuties are a soy alternative that even your carnivorous friends will enjoy. I recommend the chocolate ones, myself. On a recent trip to whole foods, I also discovered several freezer cases full of regular soy icecream for those of you who enjoy the traditional bowl and spoon. There is even a chocolate peanut butter fudge option (made with coconut milk!) that is to die for.

Since avoiding calorie-tastic desserts has become quite second-nature to me, my real challenge is to keep myself on the vegan train at the ever-popular summer BBQ. Therefore, finding alternatives for the temptingest BBQ treats was the first item on my battle plan. The easiest option I've always found, politeness-wise, is to simply organize the BBQ yourself, and have it at your home. You never know what others are going to think if they invite you to a BBQ and you wind up bringing your own food. It can get awkward, trust me.

I figured this vegan BBQ party needed a test-run before I gave it the OK, so I set about the usual preparations: writing a menu, a grocery list, and, most importantly, inviting friends. Now, if you're a burger and hot dog fan, things are pretty easy nowadays. There are quite a few different soy and garden burger options out there; it just takes a bit of experimentation with brands and toppings to find the right combination for you. As far as soy dogs go, my favorite are actually Trader Joe's Italian Sausage-less Sausage. The spices add a little bit more of a 'normal' look to the sausage, so they don't give the impression of being made of play dough, like some soy products sometimes do. However, tofurky dogs, Smart Dogs, and Yves' Meatless Jumbo Dogs are always sure to please. Personally, I just picked up a couple packages of Sausage-less Sausage, a few portobello mushrooms for grilled mushroom burgers, and called it that.

Potato salad is an American BBQ staple, and it doesn't have to be eliminated. I made some Vegan Potato Salad, which ended up going over quite well, if I do say so myself.

The last thing to go on the grill was my trusty grill wok. Slice up some onions and peppers into that baby (organic, naturally!), and you're good to go. The grilled vegetables give the array on the table a bit more of a gourmet feel, and it will indicate to those who cringe at the words "tofu dog" the impression that they're about to enjoy something a little bit more exciting than just a regular burnt flesh popsicle... and you don't have to feel like you're deceiving them. After all, they really are going to enjoy them!

Even if you aren't normally a vegetarian or a vegan, a vegan BBQ can be a fun experiment. There are many myths about veganism being difficult, unhealthy, or even just plain gross, and it can be fun expel those myths with friends and beer over that time honored summer staple: the grill.

So go ahead carnivores, have a Green BBQ. It won't kill ya, and it might even make you feel just that much better about zooming past all those smog warning signs on your way to cool down by the river.

Eating Local is the New Organic

Summer is finally here, and what better way to get out and enjoy this spectacular weather than with a little outdoor grocery shopping? 

This is my custom bookstore; take a look around!