Handcrafted

Not so long ago, “untouched by human hands” was a source of pride and a selling point. No low-class laborer had touched and possibly corrupted your product. New technology and machines were glamorous, shiny marvels, heralding a better life .

“Handcrafted” has now made a comeback. Like “bespoke”, it signifies that one is wealthy enough to rise above the common. A handcrafted candle or sweater or any artisan artifact is just SO much better than mindless cookie cutter productions .

Of course, the two currents intermix. Lately food service workers are required to wear latex gloves. There is still glamor in acquiring a machine like a cleaning robot ahead of everyone else. And we truly take for granted that most stuff is NOT touched by human hands, even though it may be the result of sweatshop conditions in distant lands .

Both viewpoints have their virtues, depending on time and place. Machine products are often elegant, functional, and inexpensive. Handcrafted articles contain a human element of thoughtful construction, a touch of true artisanship. We appreciate the basic abundance even though we may sometimes highly value the unique .

Like the rest of our lives, complicated but basically a very good change to human culture .

Listener

I’ve never been an alpha male. I have stubborn firm beliefs and ideas, but both my size and temperament have caused me to keep them inbound. I’ll contribute when appropriate, rarely try to force a viewpoint down anyone’s throat. Before going very far, I’ve always found it very useful to listen with concentration. That habit makes it surprisingly easy to get along with almost anyone. 

Our natural tendency in this media-driven culture is “I talk, therefore I am”. Listening becomes a mere mental intake breath, unconscious and oblivious, as we formulate what we must say next. So it pleasantly surprises anyone when you actually pay attention to what they are saying and let yourself respond to that .

Such an apparently passive conversational style is often regarded as wimpy acceptance, like the apocryphal 98 pound weakling having sand kicked on him by the big bully in the comic books of my youth. I rather find it a useful sieve. Without automatic deep engagement (with me trying to be the ringmaster), I can quietly decide if continuing interaction is worth it, and if so how I want to proceed.

I often learn quite a lot, and people remain friendly. Nevertheless, I remain internally certain of most of what I have learned and absorbed. It’s almost impossible to rock my core beliefs. I just don’t care to argue. I suspect most others – bullies included – are just as adamant..

Of course, in this blog format, nobody talks back !

Sausage

I’ve taken to habitually cooking a pot of spaghetti every month. Then I doctor some tomato sauce and add hot Italian sausage and onions. I hear the gasps .

In this age of internet prudes,”ultra processed foods” are the quick road to death. Sausage hovers near the top of the list, although with a bit of guilt lots of people continue to consume lots of hot dogs and cold cuts. Actually, what I use is no more processed than unfrozen hamburger – raw pork bits with spices. Not claiming it’s a health food but …

Sausage, of course, is famous as a metaphor. Turning nasty parts that nobody wants of a dead animal into a formless chunky mix of whatever stuffed into cleaned intestines. The results – cured or merely cooked – became staples of the diet. In days before refrigeration, a very useful way to store meat. Back then, of course, no internet fanatics .

Language use extended to describing it as the same methodology by which legislation in a democracy is passed. “Sausage making” is uglier than “log rolling” and both terms are left out of elementary simple civics texts. But for better or worse pretty much true .

Me? I’m already too old to worry about consequences. I savor each food I like as a marvelous gift. I’m even willing to chew it slowly and be very thankful for the flavor.

I do turn off the internet when doing so .

Wild Rodents

For the last few weeks, as I walked down the driveway to retrieve the paper and bring in the trash can, I’ve noticed a scene from an old Disney cartoon playing on the front lawn. Grouped in the shade of our large Japanese red maple tree, a gathering of local cute wildlife. Three chipmunks, two squirrels, a small rabbit for all the world appearing to enjoy a quiet tea party .

As they see me, they scatter, each in their own ways. Chipmunks scurry into nearby underbrush, squirrels scramble chasing each other up the tree trunk, the rabbit more sedately hops to the far end of the yard. Kind of neat .

Squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are not much of a problem around here, even if they eat a few flowers. Most of us would certainly rather enjoy them than find a snake, mosquitoes, or raccoon. A lot better than a rat pack. Not quite as astonishing as a brilliantly colored bird .

That any wildlife survives and even thrives in crowded suburbs constantly amazes me. I’m grateful of course, and happily use each sighting as a point of current contemplation. It’s important to not treat such miracles as a boring commonplace. I’m quite happy to share the planet, (at least with the ones I like, most of the time. Mea culpa) .

Our environment is a much better place with a certain diversity of life forms. Probably a little less machine ubiquity .

Socialists

The conventional political world is terrified that “socialists” have won some recent American elections. It might be useful to understand that these economic and political labels belong to a bygone ignorant age. 

Before 1850, when most of these terms came into vogue, the conceptual environment of the modern world was just beginning. Chemistry, physics, biology, geology, psychology, electricity, all were in chaotic transition from classical imagining to modern theory and experimentation .

Labels are useful. An eye is not a hand. Stopping at labels is, however, medieval. The eye is functionally and inherently different than the hand, but related in infinitely complicated ways. A politician who stops at a label like “socialism” without going into complications is a lot like a physician who claims he doesn’t believe in all those newfangled ideas about cells, germs, hormones, evolution, and genetics .

We need to understand the uselessness of political name-calling, where puerile unique identification is the be-all and end-all of knowledge. “Socialism” means almost nothing, beyond a system that believes that wider wealth distribution is important to civilization. Details are not provided – but the details are what’s important .

In culture and politics, in civilization and human society in general, we are still at the stage of medieval physicians. We recognize problems but are clueless as to how, why, and what to do .

If we survive the current crises, our descendants will doubtless look back on our ignorance with the same stunned amusement as we do those Venetian doctors warding off plague with beaked masks .

For all I know, computer technology may actually prove helpful in our awakening .

Omnivore

We had friends over for an afternoon lunch. As often happens when people in their late ’70s gather, talk tended to center on ailments and medical attention. Lately an awful lot of medical discussion – and not just for the aged – relates to diet .

When I grew up in the ’50s, there was much less concern. We ate anything we could afford. Our parents, having lived through depression and war, were grateful for simply having enough to eat. So maybe there was a little too much meat, and not much worry about new snack foods except cost. 

Now – oh how different. Diet is life for so many. How they begin the day, what they must include, what they must avoid. Not only the obvious like salt and fat, but hidden issues like pesticides, GMOs, hormones, bacteria and a host of issues concerning invisible components like vitamins and fiber .

I’m slave to my upbringing, and still tend to think I can eat most anything in moderation. Humans are omnivores, after all. Our ancestors ate anything they could find when they had to. Additives, like high salt content, have been around since ancient times, and massively present not long ago. “Fresh” during most of the year in winter was a fairy tale until the late 1900s .

We talk and dream and think that at least by controlling our food we can control our health.

But. omnivores are tough creatures, well-equipped by evolution to handle almost anything. 

We should always remember that .