Thankfulness

It is easy to be bitter as a cook. You get screwed all the time, you work for insulting wages, and there is always plenty to gripe about as you sit and gab with friends over a can of PBR. We kitchen workers begin to get a chip on our shoulders after years of faithful service in a field with relatively low job security. However, once in a while you think back to a memory where you really learned something valuable. You may have suffered miserably for years in a windowless room with people you didn’t like, but that one lesson you learned made it all possible for you to get where you were going.

As a general update I have been doing more catering type events and also landed a prestigious second job at Mac’s Pizza Pub in my home neighborhood of Clifton. Hells yeah. Pizza by the slice or the pie and we also do sandwiches, fried pickles, and burgers. It is tight my friends and comes with an after-shift drink, which is whatever keg they are trying to get rid of at the time. This month it happens to be Cold Snap by Sam Adams.

A response to "Eat the Rich" by P.J. O'Rourke

A Response to “Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics” by P.J. O’Rourke

Just finished reading the book “Eat the Rich”.  I found it a fascinating read. Concurrently I was reading another book on economic theory (sort of. It’s called “Junkyard Planet” and describes the economy of waste) so I guess I have money on the mind. I have a couple critiques of his whimsical review of global economics but on the whole the book was delightful and enlightening on several key subjects. The book’s ultimate aim is to explore how wealth and poverty are created around the world in different countries. Explored are: Communism in China, Cuba, and Russia, free-market capitalism in the on the floor of the N.Y.S.E, Albania (!) and Hong Kong, and Socialism in Sweden and Tanzania. The author side-steps a few major impediments to wealth and prosperity in the interest of brevity and light-heartedness. I’m thinking here mainly of wars and the role they play in global economics, but the politics and economics of war would probably fit nicely into the book’s theory that free-markets create prosperity (albeit at the expense of lives). This book serves to give a broad understanding of economic systems around the globe and doubles as a travel narrative, in which the author relays his experiences and at times poignant observations of the locales he visits. He is at times a bit too flippant and cute, but it is obvious that this was intended to be an enjoyable read and it is (He was being employed by “Rolling Stone” magazine to do his research). I read the majority of the book in two and a half days, with lots of coffee. Most of his travelling was done in the late nineties (read pre-9-ll) and certainly there are some new developments that have surfaced such as the E.U., which would certainly make for some interesting additional chapters, yet the book remains relevant. I was interested in the book because of the shocking title and also the same slogan made an appearance at a semi-permanent installation at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, Ohio (where I live at the time of writing this). Also I believe I found the book for close to free (so, applying economic theory, demand for this book must be low?) With no index or end notes, it can hardly be considered a scholarly book, yet the information contained in it should nevertheless probably be assigned reading for many ECON 101 classes.

The underlying theme that money is pretty much a shell game is subtlety inherent in the text. The book concludes that Real wealth, however, is created by hard work and diligence within a system that encourages such; a notion perhaps lost on those of us who were raised in the eighties and nineties, where it seems that wealth comes from some small planet in the Betelgeuse System bestowed on those who are deemed worthy by some alien intelligence. As someone who has eluded wealth to this point (well, real wealth), I must admit I have been weary of the wealthy at times, though I come from a background that exemplifies the rites (and rights) of the upper-middle class, that is, upward mobility through talent, skill, and hard work. Free-market capitalism is touted (in this book) as the solution to society’s ills. I’m tempted to start shopping for Porsches.  And yet, as someone who has lived the life (albeit briefly) of an environmental activist, I wonder what the long-term effects of free-market capitalism will be on future generations. Hong Kong is spotlit as a system of unfettered economic growth, prior to annexation to mainland China, (which O’Rourke was physically present for in 1997). The Hong Kong system was an English experiment in Lasseiz Faire that was undeniably successful. No safeguards or social safety nets (a’ la Sweden) meant “get out there and get money, Ya’ll!” But what happens when there are no more forests to cut; no more gold to mine, no more fresh water, no more clean air, and the oceans are polluted with fallout from Fukushima-style disasters? How does free-market capitalism fare us then? Will we need a new book by someone like P.J. O’Rourke, telling us the only way to make a buck these days is declare war on the next county over? And pat us in the back and say, “it’s ok, this is how we get by…” ?

Time travel is interesting. Monarchies were en vogue for so long that the printing press was invented. Then colonialism,  the rise of independent nation states, the United States of America, World Cup 2014. And here we are now, democracy spreading itself languidly around the globe, amid the clatter and clink of ammunition shells. I think it will all end badly, and I don’t have an answer. But I feel that O’Rourke’s book is a good lead up to where we stand now, and if you need motivation to join the capitalist money-grab, by all means pick up this book. Better yet, first read “End Game” by Derrik Jensen which describes the multi-generational approach to get to where we really want to be as a society of humans that live on a small blue planet in the Milky Way galaxy. In the meantime, get off of the X-Box and start enterprising, young capitalist... and you know you are one.

"The Beautiful and the Damned" Siddartha Deb (2011) Faber & Faber


-review below

I like this book. It attempts to gain perspective on emerging trends in Indian culture (primarily pieced together from ethnographic interviews)
India has l;long been a culture dominated by sharp divides between the have-nots and the ruling classes. In the 21st Century however, there is a lot of turbulence in this dynamic  due to globalization and the influence of capitalism.
The book can be tedious at times if you don't have an academic or personal connection to the work. My favorite part thus far (I haven't read the whole book yet), is the chapter called 'The Girl from F&B: Women in the Big City'.
"F&B" is Food and Beverages, a term for an industry in India that many there consider a good career. Here we meet Esther, an Indian woman struggling to be successful in the world of "F&B"; hotel lounges, upscale restaurants, and the like. As someone who works in F&B, it is fascinating to read about Esther's life.
She majored in bio-chemistry in college and earned a Master's degree in botany, yet she was thankful for her position as a a server in F&B- a job that pays her 13,000 Rupees a month.
A brief paragraph from the text here:
     Esther's part in such wealth was a very tiny one, something like the role of a serving maid at a great imperial palace. One of history's unrecorded unremembered millions, a barbarian in Rome. Yet Delhi as an Imperial city was also a post-modern, millennial city where Esther traversed different layers of history every day on her way to work.
The book paints a picture of India through various interviews with citizens from different social/economic strata of its culture, leaving few stones unturned. (Lacking is any reference to youth culture, aside from those of the dismal lower working classes) Deb often adds merit to his data making astute observations that bring us back to a Western perspective.
This book is plain and simple good anthropology. Deb's India often looks a bit like U.S. culture (despite the apparent differences) and I think this is intentional.
If you are looking for an interesting read that is open to B->C->A reading, or have a specific interest in India and its culture, than give this book a try. It is thoroughly sleek, modern, and well-written (though perhaps a bit dry for some readers)
Is Debs trying to draw a conclusion from all his observations? I'm not certain, as I haven't finished the book. But this much I know: Debs sees an India that is evolving in strange fits before him, and he sees himself as a journalist (or even tourist) amidst this landscape- camera, notebook, and pen in hand, recording it to share with the world-at-large... Perhaps so we may draw our own conclusions.

New post coming soon. Lots of garden pics to post from Walnut St. in Over-The-Rhine, Cinti., OH and the new Washington Park.

RIP MCA

Here is one Beastie Boys memory for ya'll

sitting in a parking lot for a grocery store in Grants Pass, Oregon in an 86 Camry that I was very proud of. Circa 2004 late winter/spring, listening to "Message to the 5 Burroughs" at full blast, trying to listen to what had been "going on" in the NYC Hip-Hop arena while I had been bumming around organic farms for three years and off the grid. Going through things with my girlfriend at the time, trying to make life decisions, etc. Thanks MCA, you guys kept it fun.

Via @TransWorldSKATE

On a side note its 1AM and some neighbors are having a party a few houses down. The rain is falling steadily outside my window, and I have some szechuan food and apple cider before me. I love living in Clifton because people are allowed to make noise late at night and people don't call the cops. Its a freedom thing. I don't partake in the parties, but at the same time they don't annoy me that much and I'm glad that its okay to let loose on the week-ends here.