‘food grows where water flows’

yesterday i slept the whole day, save for a somnambulist drive to the airport for leanne and an equally sleepy laundry experience. it hardly felt like san francisco because it was so hot. i had to draw the curtains and keep out the day anyway, which fit the mood of being one of those non-days. but today, the wind has whipped a milky layer of fog between my city and the sun and it feels good to be back.

there’s a highway in the middle of the central valley that cuts from 99 to 5 and takes you through “wasco — a nice place to live”. highway 46. i love highway 46. it’s one of those two-lanes where people speed faster than they do on the 5, even though the road is reguarly bisected by other roads, and trucks themselves pass other trucks at eighty. but on some stretches, there is no vehicle in sight, and i rolled down my window and turned up evanescence and felt like a teenager. ‘wasco — a nice place to live’ grows roses, and passing by rose-studded fields, the air was full of perfume. i tried not to think of the pesticides collecting in the bowl of the central valley – no sign of organics in sight – while i marvelled at the massive agriculture that we must ship everywhere in the world. ‘food grows where water flows’ – but there is hardly water in sight. how do our resources keep up?

leanne clued me in to the ‘desert demonstration gardens‘ in las vegas, which i got to visit on my way out on friday. it was definitely a neat little plot of land, showing how to grow gardens with varying levels of low resources, low water. it’s amazing what grows natively in the desert, though you wouldn’t think so driving down the freeway. the joshua trees don’t seem to start till the mojave desert, but i think it would be pretty cool to have a backyard full of joshua trees. that is, if i could take the heat anymore. the demonstration gardens were very sweet, though, and quite an interesting contrast at that, just a few scant blocks from venice, paris, new york, and the rest of what doesn’t exactly grow natively in the desert.

it was definitely odd to be in los vegas on september 11. money grown out of dust – and evaporated into thin air – by the what? billions? oases of trashy opulence – in the middle of the desert. most people living in the middle of the desert live with little resource, or so i guess, not having been to most major deserts in the world; not so in the middle of nevada. and i right there, making my living – one way or another – along with it. another contrast i don’t know what to do with. at least i try to recognize the contradiction, respect the resources we have, enjoy the local organic foods (thanks to jessica prentice for last saturday night in san francisco), value most the people who try to understand the sources of pain and attack, and respect the great diversity in the world. and in fact, uwe and i went to new york new york on september 11, and i do definitely recommend zumanity. no better place to respect diversity, and a fresh contrast to the rest of the silicone lapdance of the strip.

postscript

i had played johnny cash on my way down the 5 sunday. i didn’t find out he had died on friday until crossing the bay bridge later that night (well, standing on the bay bridge together with the pacbell park traffic). one more ‘voice of the common man’ – gone. or is it?