Books I've Sampled February 2016--Mostly on Audible

I forgot to mention in my blog on breakfast buffet of books the fire I build to set the scene:  a candle I light in the center of the fireplace.

And now....the books I've read, at least in part, so far this month, February 2016:

A Working Theory of Love by Scott Hutchins, who was at Bookshop West Portal last night in conversation with Elizabeth McKenzie, reading from and talking about The Portable Veblen.  I'm waiting for her book in paperback, but I bought his and listened to the first hour or so early this morning.  (Such a fascinating idea that it's his father's diaries that are being fed into the computer!)

Celine Dion's Let's Talk about Love by Carl Wilson, all of which I've listened to at least once on Audible, anxious to mark favorite passages in the book-in-print, which is the expanded Let's Talk about Love:  Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste.   This book is totally engaging, like Nick Horny's More Baths, Less Talking, which mentioned it and motivated me to read it.

Everything I've Never Told You by Celeste Ng--Only parts, and I can't even tell you which parts!  I have it only on Audible.

Frog Music by Emma Donoghue--very little--only on Audible

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante--I've listened to most of this on Audible, and I have the book, but I haven't fallen in love with it.  I hear I'm missing something wonderful.

Power Wars:  Inside Obama's Post-9/11 Presidency  by Charlie Savage  I've listened to this very little, on Audible, but now I'm going to make an effort to pay closer attention so this list has more meaning by the end of the month.

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem  I've really read this--first on Audible and then in the print version a friend (Maxine Einhorn) gave me for my 70th birthday.  But here's a thought I'd like to share:  Gloria Steinem reads only the preface.  Debora Winger reads the rest of the book.  I think this is because Gloria Steinem's voice is old at 80 something (I was thinking 70-something until I looked it up; she was born 1934!), and Debra Winger's a young thing at only 60.  (She was born 1955.)  This is something that's affecting me as I recount "How South Pacific Changed My Life.)

No Good Men among the Living:  America, the Taliban, and the War through an Afghan's Eyes by Anand Gopal.  I've listened to this and I have it in print, I think, but I need to give it more attention.

70 Things to Do When You Turn 70  I'm reading this with my eyes--one or two every morning as part of the breakfast buffet of books.  So far the best one is Marshall P. Duke's "Sometimes 70 Is Just 70."   I'll write more about this book (and others) at the end of the month.

My Breakfast Buffet of Books--and What I've Read So Far This Month

I always begin the day with a two-hour breakfast buffet of books, which includes a breakfast tray (tea and orange juice) and an assortment of books and newspaper articles.

Today I read another couple of essays in 70 Things to Do after 70, most of which doesn't resonate with me but does cause me to respect and admire the people who are writing.  Today I read "RVing:  Living Your Travel Dreams" by Jaimie Hall Bruzenak (and thought about friends I have who do what she's recommending) and "Taking Charge of Your Health at 70" by ruth Heidrich.

The newspaper articles included one about Mosed Omar, a US citizen who was stranded in Yemen for 13 months, when he was trying to get his thirteen-year-old daughter back to the US and was tricked into signing a confession he didn't even understand.  Apparently this as happened to people in Yemen enough that there are 9 civil rights organizations asking the United Nations to look ito the unfair confiscation of passports.  (Bob Egelko reported)

The Center for Justice and Accountability, which I think I first visited in its SF offices when I was writing a report for a class on my 2004 sabbatical, has made headway into getting some El Salvadoran killers to Spain:  Ellacuria is among the victims (one of six Jesuit priests),  and Montano is among those being extradited.  Among the interesting tidbits is that one torturer from Haiti went to Florida and won the lottery, so his case was more than just symbolic.  He paid $58,000 to some of his victims!

I continue to ponder the case of Ryan Chamberlain, who has been in custody since June 2013 for the "dark web" activities, possession of bomb-makings and a pistol with the serial number erased.

Israel is having a "cyberbattle" against the pro-Palestinian boycott of Israeli goods.

Trevor Noah has replaced Jon Stewart on thee Daily Show.  (This isn't news but a reminder to myself.  I don't watch TV because my breakfast buffet of books takes all my time!)

To keep this blog post short, I'll write another on the books I've read so far this month.

Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next is Quite a Tour!

A friend and I saw Michael Moore's most recent documentary Where to Invade Next yesterday at our neighborhood theatre (CineArts at the Empire, West Portal), and we really wanted to get something close to a transcript of the whole thing--something not available.

But while it's still fresh in my mind, I do want to jot down at least the itinerary of the cultural invasions (invasions for the purpose of appropriating cultural tidbits, not imposing them).

Italy--for paid vacation time  (He made the point that there was no federal law in the USA assuring Americans of paid vacations, but he left the erroneous notion that there weren't any in the USA.)

France for the incredible school lunches, served on plates at a table that's set for the children.  (Never mind that Michael Moore--like the French--is totally clueless when it comes to the harm of their meat-heavy diet, requiring the livestock that we now know is unsustainable as well as tortured; let me not be a killjoy.)

Norway--for prisons that are rehabilitating rather than punitive  Even murderers have access to a great place to stay and sharp knives in the kitchen, where they help prepare meals.  Also acknowledged Norway's "compassionate" way of responding to the crime committed by a man who killed more than 68 people, many of them children, in 2011.  (They sing "We Are the World" for their prisoners' orientation.)

Germany for health care, asking for and respectfully using workers' ideas as well as their teaching about the crimes of the Nazi error so that all generations will guard against any such holocaust in the future

Tunisia for family planning clinics and giving women control over their own bodies by providing abortions, condoms, and other means of preventing births.  A female leader of the 2011 "occupation"/revolution is interviewed.

Iceland for the place that women have and for their prosecuting and sending to prison (not Norway's) the bankers  responsible for the crash of 2008.    Why does he say that the first democratically-elected female was Iceland's in the mid-1970's?  That's not true, is it?  I remember a comment back in the days when wars were raging in Israel, India, and the Falklands (?), and someone quipped, "Women would bring peace if they were heads of state.  Just look at Golde Meir, Indira Gandhi, and Margaret Thatcher."  But checking further, this is what I find: Vigdis Finnbogadottir was the first woman in the world to be elected President in a national election.  So I need to review what I thought I understood abot those others.  Is Prime Minister different from President?  How did other women come into office as heads of state?


Slovenia for free tuition to college and for demonstrations that rid the government of those who tried to start charging.

Portugal for de-criminalizing drug use.


There's a lot more to be said about this documentary (entertaining but often misleading and bringing up more questions than it answers), but for now I just want to remember the content of the film.

Find New Friends

I need to write, and it's disappointing when no one wants to read.

When I was with Dana in Chicago, she asked me about trying to get my writing published, and I said, "Even my close friends don't want to read what I write.  I gave them something that had been published in an anthology, and I pretty much presented it as a plea.  Would they do me the favor of reading it?  One friend took a year to get around to it.  Another friend never did."

"I was afraid that would be how my friends would treat me if I had any," Dana said.

Then she added, "People who aren't your friends would treat you better."

Now, reading the thirty-five-page guide to submissions for Modern Love, which came out in its latest form around Thanksgiving of last year, I see that the editor, the one who reads the 100+ submissions that come in every month, is advising writers to follow the advice of his friend and former writing teachers Ron Carlson:  "If your friends don't like your writing, find new friends."

Is There a Vegan Meal-on-Wheels?/Saint Anthony

After learning how unsustainable an animal-based diet is, I started wondering whether there were any organizations like Meals on Wheels or Saint Anthony that served only plant-based meals.

Here are some of the things I've Googled:

plant-based meals for the poor
plant-based meals for the hungry
vegan meals for the poor/hungry

I keep seeing someone lamenting becoming vegan and always feeling hungry.

I see the 22-day vegan challenge (the one, I think, that Beyonce went on) and even a 21-day vegan challenge in case that extra day was a killer.

I also Googled plant-based meals for food drives.

It seems like a no-brainer, but it really hadn't occurred to me before.  Meals without meat and dairy would be healthier for those eating them and for the planet.

But are there any such public services?

My question was posed here:  http://www.vegsource.com/jo/qa/qahungry.htm

VEGFAM is one.  Hare Krishna Food for Life is another.

Livestock Emissions--an Open Letter to John Diaz

Dear John Diaz,

I read your column today with interest, but I continue to be mystified as to why, with all the talk of emissions, no one talks about livestock.

At the COP 21  as far as I know only Arnold Schwarzenegger brought up the importance of eating less meat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35038053/arnold-schwarzenegger-stop-eating-meat-and-save-the-planet

I also heard that vegetarians--much gentler on the environment than meat-eaters--had a hard time finding food they could eat at the COP 21.

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/12/03/cop21-vegetarians_n_8706150.html

I read the op-ed piece by Georgeanne Brennan praising French  "civilization" in terms of its cuisine, and even though I am a Francophile myself, I thought that those wonderful chefs she was praising could have done a lot better at the COP 21.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Delicious-French-way-of-life-stands-up-to-hateful-6777942.php

What happened to the United Nations report on the bad effects of livestock?

Of course, I understand that politics and lobbying enter in to all of this, as do die-hard habits and other cultural considerations, but I still marvel at the absence of animal agriculture  in the discussion by official bodies purporting to care about global depletion and pollution! 

You can call me an abolitionist vegan if you like, but I see a connection between slavery and promotion of meat consumption.  (If animal agriculture isn't mentioned as a major environmental problem, to me that constitutes  promotion of it!)  Slavery was a very important part of the culture of the South, and their livelihood depended upon it.  It was their whole way of life! 

But there are also moral imperatives, and saving the planet may be one of those!

Tina Martin

Connecting the Dots between Diet and Global Depletion

When I thought I was hosting the SuperBowl 50 gathering at my home, I told friends they didn't need to bring anything.  I'd make a chili, dips,and cake, and it could all be meat-free because I'd just seen Cowspiracy, showing how livestock is the number one cause of global depletion.

They opted to have the gathering somewhere else.  Since I was traveling on BART, someone else brought the chili, and it was vegan and delicious.

But her husband felt the need to "taunt" me with a photograph of steaks.  I'm not sure whether it was to repel me or tempt me, but I figured it gave me license to show him the article of Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking out at the COP21 in Paris:  "Eat less meat."

Why was he the only one who brought up the topic at all?

Anyway, both before and after that  I've written in response to a couple of journalists:

From: Tina Martin [mailto:tina_martin@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2016 8:23 AM
To: Kauffman, Jonathan
Subject: The Perennial

Dear Mr. Kauffman,

I read your article about the Perennial Restaurant with great interest.  It seems incredible that a restaurant serving meat could say it's for zero waste.  Even grass-fed livestock  are unsustainable.

Hasn't this brought up any debate or comments?

An admiring reader,

Tina Martin 

I really appreciated his prompt and thoughtful response:

From: Kauffman, Jonathan [mailto:jkauffman@sfchronicle.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 9:22 AM
To: Tina Martin
Subject: RE: The Perennial

Hi, Tina —

Thanks for your email! You know, Anthony and Karen think about that a lot. I think their goal is not necessarily eliminating waste, but to reduce their carbon emissions. The ranching practices that Stemple Creek Ranch, their beef supplier, supports may actually turn the land into a carbon sink. (You can read more specifics about it: http://www.theperennialsf.com/projects-1/)

I’d certainly agree that avoiding meat altogether is the most environmentally beneficial stance — and I don’t think Karen or Anthony would disagree — but they’re also trying to make this a successful restaurant rather than purely an ideological one, and for that I think they have decided to serve meat.

Jonathan

--------

Jonathan Kauffman

Staff writer, San Francisco Chronicle

E: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com

P: 415.777.7631

T: @jonkauffman

I thanked him and got his help in locating the article praising the chefs of Paris--shortly after they'd failed to offer enough vegetarian fare at the COP 21 so that vegans and vegetarians had the startling experience of having to go hungry in a country known for its cuisine.