Filed under: college, garden, last green valley | Tags: Bennington College, Farmers Market, politics, racism, sexism, gardens, parenting, peas, sun, broccoli, deer, green thumb, class, invasive species, sibling rivalry, patents, grass, border patrol, hardiness, perennials, mock orange, weather, bolting, hemlock, houseplants, poison ivy, the logical song, supertramp
Soundtrack includes The Logical Song by Supertramp.
Every time I plant something I learn why I should not have planted it. Sometimes I do not have the resources or skills to successfully grow it. Other times I have been informed that certain species or garden techniques go against some sort of moral decree. Below I have outlined some of the major problems.
POLITICAL ISSUES
With roses, one must decide between disease or brevity, class or caste.
I have been indoctrinated into believing in invasive species, and, until recently, have never thought to consider opposing views.
I do not support sexism. or racism. or excessive rivalry between siblings.
I don’t want to support plant patenting.
Is it better to keep off the grass or to rethink grass?
PRACTICAL ISSUES
I am unable to grow anything that absolutely needs full sun, because I do not have it.
A borderless garden, for one previously explained reason.
Any plant requiring warm, tropical temperatures.
I do not have the money for many desired perennials.
I am constantly wondering whether the plants that I do feel are worth purchasing are not impostors.
Local farmers’ markets are now convenient. The nearest is a five minute drive after work and opens when I am released.
PERSONAL ISSUES
The weather never cooporates and my leafy greens have difficulty germinating. Those that germinate bolt.
The west plot of the garden has been left undisturbed in order to protect a hemlock in the final years of its demise.
Houseplants can not be expected to survive in my parents’ care.
I have become entirely too familiar with certain species.
The Bennington curriculum!
Filed under: college | Tags: liberal, Hampshire College, Walter Benn Michaels, Diversity, wealth, racism, sexism, homophobia, conservative, Mount Holyoke College
I found this article in The Climax, Hampshire College’s “only news source.” I haven’t thought much about it yet, but it’s something I ought to think about.
More and more relevant information with lots of numbers from sources I know nothing about.
Walter Benn Michaels came up with the idea for his book The Trouble with Diversity when he gave a lecture to a seemingly very diverse group of a few hundred Harvard students. They “were extremely proud of their diversity,”he said, but “were completely indifferent to the one way in which they were not diverse, which is to say they all came overwhelmingly from the top 5 to 10 percent of American wealth.”
The central problem of contemporary progressive politics, according to Michaels, is that anti-racism, anti-sexism, and anti-discrimination in general have become the fundamental measures of social justice. This has happened, he said, “in a moment when actually the greatest problem in American society is not racism and it’s not sexism. The greatest problem in American society is the increasing gap between the rich and the poor.” (more…)
