RESPONSE-ABILITY, and the Chunk of Energy of the Moonth*

There should be a disclaimer (or caveat--or whatever word maintains that I am not ashamed of what I saw, but simply desiring to point to the source of some of my actions).......and the disclaimer should say that I like to pack a lot into one sentence. Breathe. And also that i have a penchant for puns. A Punchance you could say, but you probably wouldn't.

I like picking words apart**-- see this post's title, for example. Those first six syllables are a good meaning: our duty to engage critically with questions like why are we on the planet, how did we get here, how long will we be here, how are we supposed to Be here, why is there pain, why is there joy, love, anger, lies, disintegration, exhiliration, subtle and obvious cues of forces swirling around and within and between us... These are questions whose answers are lived irresponsibly.*** Our passivity may still be an answer or reaction of sorts, but it is trivial... Can't you see that we are compelled by an ability to RESPOND to these questions and not--i don't know--become despondent? Whether or not we recognize it, our chunks of energy have relationships with other chunks of energy, but sometimes they just jostle and disintegrate and become trivial and other times they can draw upon our ability to carry through with promises of I don't know, exploring the great mystery of life or feeling and changing and participating (flavor and biophilia and satisfying work and a sister's hug and bright, bright spring sun). Maybe we're not compelled, maybe "offered" is a better word. The response du jour is all too monotonous i feel, all too easy, and all too oppressive of our abilities! Tra la la. Now, on to the second part of the title.

So, the first ever Chunk of Energy of this lunar cycle, which began on march 21st is [drum roll please dududududududududdddd]...reann, for thoughtfully participating in this nook of the blogosphere with her assuring comments and conversation fodder.

I am attaching a book review that I wrote on the "grub" book (mentioned below in the "so last season" post) in case anyone's interested. It's also kind of like i'm in elementary school and the screen is the new refrigerator and the "publish post" button is the new magnet and all of you are walking through my parent's kitchen and some of you turn your head because the words catch your eye and some rifle through the pages and some come to eat what's inside...

*Let us not forget that month is from moon and so isn't it strange that we don't schedule our time according to waxes and wanes? It's misleading/irresponsible/indicative of a certain organization of time to use that word when the months aren't aligned with the lunar cycle.
**in the same way i like knowing who has touched my cabbage
***Notice my use of the passive tense. If I were to describe a subject, I might say "those who live thick." This is borrowed from Henry David Thoreau's words near the end of the "Solitude" chapter of "Walden." He wrote: We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another.

diy and plu

Runner's world is talking about homemade Chunks of Energy on
one of their forums. Check it out if you'd like to Do It Yourself.

Why, might you ask, are we directing you to recipes for a product that we're trying to sell? Chunks of Energy are an alternative to overly-packaged and processed protein bars and snack foods that have weird artificial matter in them. They are an alternative to rather expensive trail mix. They are an alternative to fast food when you don't have time to cook a filling meal but do have time to grab some chunks of energy and a piece of fruit. We aren't really selling Chunks of Energy as much as we are providing a choice in an industrial market.

Alternatives always have alternatives though, and if you have time to cook a meal, or if you can make healthy snacks at home, then go for it! When you don't have time, or when you want to spend your time doing other things, Chunks of Energy are in a bulk aisle of a health food store near you.

potato chips and peanut butter

Johanna D. Wilson of the Sun News wrote about Chunks of Energy on Myrtle Beach Online . Check out if you have 40 seconds. Preview: the first line is true! I will soon have video testimonials attesting to this. I'll keep you posted...

Her page is titled "Back Roads" and it looks like she's successfully meandering by the not-so-obvious sites where community happens.

In the meantime-- I'm glad you like them Johanna, if you read this!

So last season...

In the most recent lecture of my “Global Perspectives of Food” course, my prof touched on the Great Labeling Debate. How do we read “organic,” “local,” “fair-trade,” and “unionized” as meaningful terms? Organic food methods used to stand in contrast to industrial production. Now, there is an “organic industry” which relies on monocultures and nationwide transportation to add “value” to food. That term—organic industry—is a sort of oxymoron, when “organic” means part of a living system, and “industry” is defined by mechanistically aiming to eliminate any variation, preference, or creativity. Is something really organic if it’s exploiting workers, enabling out-of-season produce, and breeding complacency with our food supply? Agribusiness is oppressive, plain and simple, as it capitalizes on this stamp of approval from the USDA. The answer? Some say that “local is the new organic.” That is certainly the catch phrase in Portland, Oregon. Check out this article from a few years back, and a review of it . The Organic Consumers Assocation has another interesting take on the debate.

Some recommend eating grub. Anna Lappé and Bryant Terry say 1. grub is healthy local sustainable food for all 2. grub is food that supports community, justice, and sustainability 3. grub should be universal” I agree. Down with these meaningless “brand names” of how food is grown, and up with genuine relationships with the energies that are engaged to bring food to the table. Food doctrines are as dangerous as any other single-variable principle. This dogmatic approach is taken with labels for food like fair-trade, unionized, local, and organic as well as labels for food-eater like vegetarian, vegan, raw foodist, and freegan…these identities are meaningful in choice contexts, but they don’t help to satisfy our appetite for ethical, delicious, affordable, and accessible nourishment.

The quiet revolution, say Lappé and Terry, has begun. One example of whole-system activist is a local (to me in Montreal) holistic nutritionist named Jae Steele. Check out her recipe-story-advice-filled blog to find out about the joys of whole foods. She is quite the resource for everything from how to fast to how to knit a sweater—fast. Another example of a local-organic-practical initiative is a business called Delicious Organics in South Florida. I found out about them because they offer the raw cacao and goji berry Chunks of Energy—as well as 4000 other products—for delivery in South Florida. They have everything from produce and grocery staples to pet food and goat. It is a pretty cool model of innovative thinking. The learn pages of their website is chock full of information too—recipes, bios on produce, articles about food and well-being. Check out these chunks of energy, and let me know what quiet revolutions are taking place in your homes and hometowns.

Mother Earth says…

… “Live on Less and Love It.” I came across this article and am impressed with the author’s 75 ways to spend less and be happier. His tips cover a lot: food, home-care, transportation, purchases, education, entertainment, and travel. I posted the Mother Earth News link in the “Neighbors of Sorts” list to the right.

Practicing Ideals

Ideally, I will present you with bite-size chunks of energy as well as longer reflections. Hold me to my commitment to this balance, please.

Here is a short story of my day so far, which I am sharing because it is an example of many chunks of energy and Chunks of Energy. I woke up early to attend a qi gong course (my third one ever), and got there an hour early by accident. The wonderful thing that happened was a conversation with a man who makes breakfast and lunch in the lobby of the building where my course is, and that was chunk of energy number one. I gathered more chunks of energy during my course, and cleared my mind before a getting-to-know-one-another meeting of local movers and shakers who are working toward greening our small neighborhood of Duluth Avenue in Montreal. Lots of good intentions and fodder came of that meeting—chunks of energy number three. I came home midday and broke my fast on raw cacao and goji berry Chunks of Energy. They are the newest flavor, and they are powering my day in such a good way. May they energize you, too.

The Incredible Bulk

Chunks of Energy are a great idea. Great ideas are simply creative fodder—nothing more, nothing less. They synergize and scatter about in brain-space until they are expressed in some way, shape, or form. The union of unfettered idealism with realizable practicality is necessary for fodder to be fertilized, cultivated, and harvested. Chunks of Energy are offspring of this partnership of ideals and reality. The ideal is that good food should be good for taste buds, tree buds, greenbacks, backpacking, packing light, and treading lightly. The reality is that we practice this ideal with integrity: the contents are honest, and the form of offering the product is true to the wisdom that “one needs chaos in the soul to give birth to a dancing star” (thanks for that, Nietzsche). The chaos is the struggle of wanting to do good by what we have, and the dancing star is the practical and joyful application of that struggle.

Dancing Star offers Chunks of Energy in bulk food bins because that way of buying food is an enjoyable practice in conscientious consumption. It is practical because of the price—or lack thereof—that reflects the true cost of the product itself, instead of being tainted with labels, packaging, and making a hierarchy of shelf space. It is enjoyable because a kitchen filled with jars of beans, grains, nuts, and seeds is quite pleasing to the eye. Ten pounds of Chunks of Energy come preserved in one (potentially-reusable, and definitely recyclable) cardboard box and one plastic bag. Picture ten pounds worth of energy bars or granola bars, which weigh in at an ounce or two each. That is a lot of stuff to throw away!

I keep Chunks of Energy in a mason jar in my refrigerator and they are always fresh and grabable. When I get to the end of the jar, I use the crumbles on top of toast spread with tahini. Delicious. I have the distinct advantage of nearly unlimited Chunks of Energy from my dad, so I don’t buy them in a store. For the bulk goods that I do purchase, I bring the jars or bottles that I store them in with me to the shop for refilling. If your bulk-food provider doesn’t allow you to tare your container, why don't you suggest doing so? Some states don’t allow that practice because of germ-spreading potential, but you could probably reuse the plastic bags that you use to transport goods from store to jar.

How satisfying to have no more or no less of what we need. Enough is enough! Best wishes officiating the marriage of reality and ideals.