a bookclub rebuttal....

ok, so this is my response to my bookclub's discussion from last evening....about b.kingsolver's book...small wonder

Last evening i appreciated the brisk discussion about so many topics.....including our digression into evolution, the desirability of living closer to the earth, and the stepping a second time into the same stream.....and as usually happens....the things i could have said/should have said did not come to me until after i was home and the moment had long passed.....but there are thoughts worth adding late rather than never.....that in some ways tie together many of the themes we batted back and forth.....we talked intensely about how we are maturing earlier, growing taller than our ancestors and living long enough to stymie our families with our fantastical revisionist memories as we dwindle into senility......all these realities are a result of a global food market.....our ability to buy, both by personal wealth and availability of foodstuffs that cannot be grown in our 50 mile circle enables us to even out the nutritional deficits that often accompany local dining options....those who live in the arid southwest get to buy milk and cheese to supply calcium not found adequately in the local food supply.....those from the north get to buy citrus and kiwi for vitamin C....a classic example of the complete failure of local foodsupply is in china, where an entire region has selenium-poor soil, and the cancer rate to match the lack of this necessary anti-oxidant. We live longer with better teeth and fewer life-threatening infections because we can and do dine globally. And while i appreciate the Kingsolver desire to live closer to the seasons and to their land.....i want it noted that this was something that they could not have done in Tuscon.....and might not have been able to do in Danville, unless they were willing to milk their own goats as local bovine dairies are as rare as hen's teeth in these parts. As for me, I intend to enjoy Florida tangerines, and Chilean red grapes, and Brie with Australian Chardonnay until I, too, dwindle into senility.

Ah well, thanks for humoring me with this post-bookclub installment.