What am I?

So I got a damn job and let me tell you I ain’t all that happy about it. I found out yesterday. About 2 hours before Walmart closed (yes, they close here – not the 24 hour gig they got up north) which is where I ran to buy my work pants. Let’s just say it’s where the big girls shop and I ain’t all too happy about that either. I was writing about how I ended up at this job when I got bored with it and decided to rant about the last few days. The new gig starts today at 3. I’m ever so NOT happy about it but that story is for another day.

Let’s see, hmmm… I’ve been reading this book “Everything I want to do is Illegal” by Joel Salatin which has really been making my head spin. Farm policy, what a mess.. I thought I was a libertarian for a few days. The author presents things so logically, so passionately that you can’t help but find yourself taking his point of view on for yourself, but the last few chapters (I’m on like chapter 24 for now - I’m finally nearing the end, thank Joel’s god!) he’s been on this anti-pro-choice pro- god kick that is really irritating me. The whole fucking book is really interesting (as nutty as he can be) and highlights the profoundly ridiculous legislation on farming policy not to mention how fucked up the USDA is but his penchant for the Lincoln-Douglas debate style has him leaning on one radical example after another to prove his point. In hind sight, I realized it’s easy to use the periphery the skew the view but it’s the totality of the situation that OUGHT to be considered but I digress. While I’ll concede to wanting less government I can’t say what the fuck I am. But I thought I might be a libertarian for a few days there, I really thought I might be; he was making so much sense; it seemed logical to jump to some radical conclusions. Not that he is a libertarian, I don’t know what the fuck he is, but I just thought maybe I was leaning in that direction. Sleep deprivation has its way with you sometimes; it made for a few interesting conversations on facebook so there you go. The libertarian bullshit aside, I became more committed to our food ideas but somehow ended up buying a rib-eye and some bakers at Walmart last night. Poverty and convenience has its way with you too.

We both knew better but 2 gut aches and 1 flavorless meal later we were reminded about how important it is to know where your food source is, how it is cared for and where/how it is processed. Despite some fucking dumb-ass article I read about New Orleans being the most “local” in its food (WHAT A FUCKING JOKE – with Sysco calling the shots in a majority of the restaurants, shit like Chinese crawfish, and hit restaurants like Stella sourcing nothing but the shrimp from the area – GIVE ME A BREAK) sourcing clean and local is a real struggle we’ve been having here. The New Orlineans have good propaganda though, I’ll give them that.

Anyway, we’ve really been having a hard time sourcing but we keep trying. Yesterday’s effort landed us at a “butcher” that was smack dab in the middle of a ghetto convenient store that sold more Mad Dog 20/20 than anyone should (it was kind of prettily displayed in all its colorful glory right alongside the pickled hogs feet and car oil). There was actually a sizeable meat counter tucked in the back corner right behind a Crispy Crunch fried chicken chain and they had decent prices but all of the meat was frozen and clearly poorly handled. My favorite family value pack included pickled parts and 2 gallons of fruit punch among the other offerings – hilarious and sad all in one. It was frightening. Boy do I miss our Clancy’s meat market. We really took for granted our nice little local food scene. J had a good blog title idea yesterday: My Blog, A Tale of Two Cities. ‘Cuz folks, I’m here to tell you Minneapolis and New Orleans could not be more different.


What else? Well, our new friend/neighbor is a closeted gay man with a real (and by real I mean HUGE) penchant for the drink. Now, don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with that in my book unless your life starts interfering with my life but it also turns out he’s a raging racist. How one persecuted minority group can talk such hate about another is beyond me but I’ve really had it with his use of “darkies.” If he keeps this up I might just have to steal all his booze and show up on his door step with every person of color I know just to making him palpably nervous. Jesus Christ, he’s been living in Chicago for the last 17 years didn’t he acclimate at all?

Other highlights of my week include: hanging out with my homeless friend who was gonna play me ‘cuz he thought I was some tourist from New York, being asked out for drinks by an old man who was so drunk he could barely keep his eyes open (note: he was wearing overalls, was missing most of his teeth, and had those icky white chalky spiddles in the corner of his mouth.), an entire day of non-adventure while trying to “make something happen,” mysteriously losing the first job offer that was made to me, making shitty-ass ravioli and making a proclamation to attach everything I own to the walls because it isn’t gonna fit anywhere else.

When I first wrote this it was 3 am. I was wide awake and dreading tomorrow (today) with every ounce of my being ‘cuz I am for damn sure not happy about where things are headed. I have a Walmart steak in my gut, I share a wall with a racist and while not a libertarian I am not one step further in defining who I really am and how I’m gonna live the life I want to be living. But I guess, starting today, I am a server and a 36 year old one at that.