Summer!
Friday, July 8, 2011
any old summer day
Summer!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Hunger Fast Day 6
Blogging about fasting should be called flogging.
Day 6 was a very hungry day too hungry to write. Going to bed hungry must be one of the loneliest, saddest feeling one can have. And yet, I have a nice bed and food to come in the morning, how much more devastating without that possibility. My fasting has become somewhat of an ordeal. I find myself thinking about the end, which will be after today, day 7.
This morning I read in the NYT about why GE and other corporations don't pay taxes. See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/opinion/05nocera.html?hp
Called "Who could blame GE?" It's the tax code and the demand of shareholders for the largest profits. Why don't shareholders demand that a company they invest in pay a fair share of the tax burden? Greed. I'll invest in you if you can be greedier than me.
I don't know what I've learned through this fast but I have kept my mind on food and hunger for the week. Mostly I've found gratitude. I'm inspired by a friend who is donating "eating out" money for this month to the food bank. I'm so looking forward to the vegetable garden this summer and contributing to the food bank through my own adjustment of eating priorities. I'm inspired by the Hunger Fast facebook page that people are writing on; everyone contributing some small or large action to wake up to the problem of hunger.
Well, that's Day 6 and happy to be in Day 7.
Day 6 was a very hungry day too hungry to write. Going to bed hungry must be one of the loneliest, saddest feeling one can have. And yet, I have a nice bed and food to come in the morning, how much more devastating without that possibility. My fasting has become somewhat of an ordeal. I find myself thinking about the end, which will be after today, day 7.
This morning I read in the NYT about why GE and other corporations don't pay taxes. See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/opinion/05nocera.html?hp
Called "Who could blame GE?" It's the tax code and the demand of shareholders for the largest profits. Why don't shareholders demand that a company they invest in pay a fair share of the tax burden? Greed. I'll invest in you if you can be greedier than me.
I don't know what I've learned through this fast but I have kept my mind on food and hunger for the week. Mostly I've found gratitude. I'm inspired by a friend who is donating "eating out" money for this month to the food bank. I'm so looking forward to the vegetable garden this summer and contributing to the food bank through my own adjustment of eating priorities. I'm inspired by the Hunger Fast facebook page that people are writing on; everyone contributing some small or large action to wake up to the problem of hunger.
Well, that's Day 6 and happy to be in Day 7.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Hunger Fast Day 4
Today is day 4 in my no third meal fast to raise awareness of the draconian cuts to hunger programs by Congress. And to raise my awareness of hunger.
I spent the day in Over the Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati with some of my students. We heard from the homeless and discussed poverty, gentrification and educational inequities. We walked around the friendly neighborhood and worked on cleaning up a few areas. Something like 300 abandoned buildings.
We bought lunch on a food stamp allotment at the wonderful Findlay Market - such beautiful food, had to pass it by. I ate a gorgeous big tangerine and a bag of carrots.
In the afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the Freestore warehouse where over a million pounds of food are stored for shelters, food pantries and other outlets. Assembly line - we put together hundreds of packets of "weekend" food for children on the school lunch programs to take home for the weekend (a very food insecure time for the kids). A good percentage of this vital food comes through the federal government...but for how long? Our guide at the warehouse explained that in September they were packing 2500 of these weekend meals for the 13 county area, but now it is 4000 meals EACH WEEK.
The meals themselves would have made Mark Bittman cry or perhaps yell. Mostly sugared foods and canned meats. All I could do while packing was think "May THIS child be happy" "May THIS child be happy"....each bag.
I'm noticing how seriously I take my own hunger. And how many reasons I have for eating: distraction, pleasure, substitution, fear, boredom, entertainment. Nothing wrong with all of that but just noticing, when hunger arises how automatic my response is, then just sitting with that little bit of discomfort and thinking about the kids.
I spent the day in Over the Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati with some of my students. We heard from the homeless and discussed poverty, gentrification and educational inequities. We walked around the friendly neighborhood and worked on cleaning up a few areas. Something like 300 abandoned buildings.
We bought lunch on a food stamp allotment at the wonderful Findlay Market - such beautiful food, had to pass it by. I ate a gorgeous big tangerine and a bag of carrots.
In the afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the Freestore warehouse where over a million pounds of food are stored for shelters, food pantries and other outlets. Assembly line - we put together hundreds of packets of "weekend" food for children on the school lunch programs to take home for the weekend (a very food insecure time for the kids). A good percentage of this vital food comes through the federal government...but for how long? Our guide at the warehouse explained that in September they were packing 2500 of these weekend meals for the 13 county area, but now it is 4000 meals EACH WEEK.
The meals themselves would have made Mark Bittman cry or perhaps yell. Mostly sugared foods and canned meats. All I could do while packing was think "May THIS child be happy" "May THIS child be happy"....each bag.
I'm noticing how seriously I take my own hunger. And how many reasons I have for eating: distraction, pleasure, substitution, fear, boredom, entertainment. Nothing wrong with all of that but just noticing, when hunger arises how automatic my response is, then just sitting with that little bit of discomfort and thinking about the kids.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Day 2 Fast
Called a "third meal fast" as I'm not eating after my lunch meal. I'm trying to pay attention to hunger and thoughts of food (constant, not just during the fast!)...that little bit of panic and little bit of sad and little bit of desperate feeling all together. Then I think of children who have this feeling.
Today Chris forwarded this great post on Huffpo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-affleck/map-the-meal-gap-its-time_b_842873.html
And you can go to Map the Gap to see how hunger is affecting the whole country - this data released today: http://feedingamerica.org/our-network/the-studies/map-the-gap.aspx
Drinking licorice tea...unbelievably delicious.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Why I'm fasting
This morning I read Mark Bittman's editorial in the NYT (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/why-were-fasting/?hp). I love Mark Bittman and so glad he's moved into editorial columns - he's challenging us about food. He, along with good folks including Jim Wallis, Women Thrive Worldwide (www.womenthrive.org) and many others, are fasting to "call attention to Congressional budget proposals that would make huge cuts in programs for the poor and hungry." Basically it's an outrage. GE, with 14 billion in profits this year, will not pay ONE PENNY in taxes. But Congress is targeting cuts at programs that have compassion in them. That's the only way I can think to describe their criteria when it means programs like WIC, foodstamps, international food and health aid.
For some reason, I said yes, I can do this too. Why fast? I'm not so naive to think that fasting is going to change minds in Congress - no light seems to be able to enter there. I'm fasting to wake myself up to what is happening right here right now. What does it feel like to be hungry? What if I brought my mind back to hunger over and over for one week, feeling it, thinking about it? I'm fasting to join with others who are willing to think about this for one week. I'm fasting to focus on this one situation, to stay with it, not glide over it as I can do so easily on line, get the gist of it and move on. I won't move on from this one this week.
I went to hungerfast.org and signed up. I am not going on a complete fast. I am skipping just one meal each day. I will be not eating after my lunch meal each day for a week. Not too radical, not too bad. Its hardly the commitment others are making.
It is now 5:00pm on day one and I am very hungry. Hunger makes me antsy and all I can think about is what is right there in my cabinets to eat. This is my privilege, I can eat anytime I want to. Meanwhile 50 million people in the US are hungry right now, 17 million of them children.
I am ambivalent about blogging about this. It feels private and I don't want to make a trip out of it. Yet I do want to raise awareness about hunger, mostly my own awareness. This is one way that I can do that.
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