EmptyHighway

I haven't posted in a while because I've been too busy. I haven't posted in a while because I didn't feel the need too. But, it is really like this. I haven't posted in a while, because I've been too busy and didn't bother to take the time to reflect enough.

It's been over a year since I've been married to Tracie. Things are still wonderful, although we don't see each other enough. We work too much, and then on my days off. I'm too tired and haven't the imagination to do anything I've been dreaming about while working.

Like a few months ago I met Tracie and our friend Holly, after they had visited the MoMa. I had just got off work and didn't really want to see the show being tired and all. But on the way out of my building, perhaps it was back in September?...on the way out of the building someone handed me a card with reasons why you should ask more questions about September 11th, 2001.

It presented all kinds of interesting and scary facts about potential conspiracy theories about how the attacks on the World Trade center and the subsequent destruction, didn't fit into the official story.

Last week, on my Sunday, Monday I found a video online and re-hashed those ideas of conspiracy. Except this time. I see it. It doesn't make sense. I've looked at hours of footage and heard hours of testimony and it appears those building were leveled by explosives. Not the airplanes that flew into them.

So, what does this mean if I believe this? I means I'm frightened. I'm mad. It means I have been living in darkness and hiding from the truth. Which, I guess I have, because every since the attacks, I haven't spent too much time reading the news. I mean back in 2003 I did, but once idiot "won" then election in 2004 again. I pulled out. It seemed hopeless. And now it does again.

But I love life. I love my wife and I try and have fun at my job. It's just this thing that happened in 2001 has always been in the back of my mind. Like an itch. Bothering me. Making me think that something has gone awry.

So what can we do to change this? I need your help.

Posted by wayne at 07:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A few weeks ago I found out about a Scholarship that would: pay room, board fees, and transportation to Washington D.C. to participate in a "Conference of Leaders" organized by Share Our Strength. Like many things, I got my essay in on the last day, just in the nick of time.

A few days ago, I got an email confirming that I was one of 20 culinary students from across the nation selected as a finalist to attend the conference, and assist in service for their "Hurricane Relief Taste Event" on October 17th, 2005. As always I feel lucky. Lucky to have the opportunity to write on such an interesting topic, lucky enough to be able to email in my essay, lucky enough to be considered good enough to attend, and lucky enough to have the support and help that I've had at pursuing my interest in cooking and food. And more than anything it will be great to be able to have a hand in raising money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, of which to date I was only able to give $75, and was feeling pretty down.

In addition I'll get to meet great leaders and chefs from around the country. Alice Waters of Chez Panisse is one of the featured speakers, a well known chef, writer and philanthropist who works hard to spread the news on organic and locally grown foods, and there is a laundry list of chefs from around the country that will participate in the conference and the benefit as well. It's a great opportunity to find out all the different ways and ideas that chefs are becoming leaders in their community.

I am thankful to all of my family and friends and sent them an email of thanks for all the support. But I wanted to thank a few people publicly for there undying interest in food and willingness to give all they can in guiding my interest in however they can.

Tracie, my love has been there from day one and her faith in me and my crazy ideas has been unwavering. My parents and close family, well you all know who you are and how you've helped me along the way. Thanks!

On the professional food front, I owe my most current debts to the amazing Chef Julie Farias and Laurent Saillard of iCi Restaurant in Ft. Greene - Brooklyn, NY, for their commitment to local and organic foods and love of food. I met Julie at a Share Our Strength, Taste of The Nation Event, hence it's funny how things come back around and are tied together. Thanks to Chef Josie Smith-Malove of Veliis for believing in me enough to get me to serve as her assistant at Taste of the Nation Brooklyn, and all the other crazy things she has taught me. Then there are the many Chefs and Students of the FCI that continue to amaze and inspire me. Thanks everyone!

Here is the question that was posed for the contest entries and the brief answer I came up with.

What is a chef's role in the community?

Vibrant and great communities come to fruition through the persistent labors of ordinary people sharing resources, conversations, experiences, pleasures and challenges. Leaders emerge over time based on their contributions. I believe that the primary role of chefs in their community is sharing experiences and knowledge and leading by example in ways that will inspire sustainable and positive growth through food and education about food.

Every decision a chef makes about the success and health of their business and menu can either enhance or detract from their community's growth. Chefs must always work to invest and strengthen their communities, by choosing to hire locally whenever possible, offer a living wage and benefits, provide a safe and healthy workplace, and work to inspire and encourage others to succeed and pursue their dreams.

Chefs can help enhance their communities by buying local goods and services whenever possible and establishing partnerships with local producers and farmers. When they buy locally they are making an investment in the local economy. When the community frequents establishments that rely on locally sourced goods it creates a demand for locally owned business establishments. Buying locally then becomes sustainable in that it creates a cycle of interdependence among the farmers, chefs and consumers that can enhance and strengthen the community.

Whenever possible, chefs can reinforce their investment by educating their customers and neighbors about why they serve locally produced foods and how it benefits the community. For example, buying locally brings fresher foods to their customers' tables. It also reduces the negative impacts on the environment caused by long and costly transportation of non-locally produced foods. In turn, when chefs establish relationships with proprietors and come to know the stories behind the food and share these stories, it expands and unites the community.

Chefs are the impetus for educating and inspiring people to care about the food they buy and eat. When chefs express interest and passion for locally produced food, they are sparking the fires of curiosity for local children and families. When a chef highlights the menu's local sources or appears down at the local market to perform a demonstration or give a talk on the local foods in use, the community will come to value investment in local resources and invest as much themselves to help shape their community in a more positive way. In turn, the members of the community are actively shaping and changing their attitudes towards consumption, politics and other aspects of community life. A chef's role in the community, to care and know as much as possible about the food he or she serves, becomes a foundation for positive change within the community.

Posted by wayne at 04:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

After watching all four of the debates (available over at C-SPAN if you haven't seen them) for this year's presidential election, presented by the Commision on Presidential Debates (Please watch this video on the how the debates are coordinated from Bill Moyers program, NOW: VIDEO.), I still felt I had little perspective on what kind of leaders they'll make for the next four years. Besides the facts I already have gleaned about both of them from their past years of service (which you can read about over at vote smart or the whitehouse.gov, if you are interested John Kerry or George Bush) and the press coverage of the past few years.

While I am not an "undecided" in this years election (perhaps some of you are) I am always striving to understand both sides of the issue and where each candidate truly stands on their beliefs, personal history and potential role as the foremost world leader for the next 4 years (and perhaps you are too). I think, as evidenced by the last 12 years of presidential history (that which I was most lucidly paying attention to having been born in 1974), we've seen that the President very much shapes the directions this country and other world leaders turn, hence we have a responsibility as citizens and voters to investigate which of these candidates should hold the position.

I ask you to please watch this program from Frontline (a PBS Television Program), which I believe presents a very fair and non-partisan view of the candidates. With all the seemingly stilted press coverage, and carefully manicured candidate propaganda, I think this helps clear through the mud and get down to who these candidates really are, not just in terms of character, but in terms of experience and their political beliefs. None of us can predict what either of them will do for certain over the next four years, but we can weight the options well and cast our vote with confidence that we believe and have some degree of trust in our choice.

The program is called, "The Choice 2004", and it is viewable on the web if you have a high speed internet connection, or if you have a group of friends that you can gather (hopefully a bi-partisan group) before the election, get them all to chip in and buy the tape or dvd and watch this. It's very good, and backed with other evidence found on non-partisan websites and in your local libraries, surely you'll have enough to make a sound choice for America.

Thanks for listening and I hope to hear from all of you soon.

-wayne

Posted by wayne at 09:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

As I sat at the bus stop, I came to the realization that I was waiting. This doesn’t sound like a large realization when put so simply, but it was almost profound to me, I was sitting, and waiting, nothing else. I was not reading a book. I wasn’t contemplating what I would do next, or where I was going. I wasn’t mentally trying to organize my day into a series of well fitting and efficient motions. I was just waiting.

As I sat at the bus stop, I came to the realization that I was waiting. This doesn’t sound like a large realization when put so simply, but it was almost profound to me, I was sitting, and waiting, nothing else. I was not reading a book. I wasn’t contemplating what I would do next, or where I was going. I wasn’t mentally trying to organize my day into a series of well fitting and efficient motions. I was just waiting.

Waiting without doing anything else. When I see people in an office break room or a convenience store getting agitated over how long it took their frozen processed, mass-produced meal to cook I begin to see one of the flaws in our society. We question what kind of person gets out of their car and kills someone in an act of fury that we deem road rage. When a minute and a half to cook a meal is irritating, road rage begins to make sense.

We are a society that lives by moments. Quick snippets of time that are so tightly compact and minute that we can no longer look at the big picture. There have been many expressions in the past about living in the moment, well we do, and it has given us ulcers. Then again there are also so many expressions that deal with slowing down to enjoy life. Still, we would have to make time in our schedules for such things.

Is it really as Dennis Leery (comics, the philosophers of the modern age)says; that happiness is a cookie, or an orgasm? Short lived moments of sporadic time. If this is what happiness lies in, where lies reality? Where is the big picture? Can we see it? Do we even want to see it? Everything has been condensed… our schedules, our days, our meals, and even our minds. We try to look at our mass of neuroses and identify singular points or causes in our live. Are we looking at Seurat’s "Sunday Afternoon" with a magnifying glass?

We have dissected our time and our lives into such fine points, are we still able to truly see them as a whole? We rush around, not seeing the world or even each other for their true selves, and we show no sign of slowing. People are taking yoga to slow down, they take spinning classes and join gyms to keep in shape. Even our recreation, relaxation, and physical health have now been divided and sterilized. It is as if we no longer live on the planet Earth, or in any natural form. We only seem to now exists in sterile, well organized environments fashioned to suit us, leaving little to nothing to chance. Even when we “commute with nature” most of us take our packs full of “home” and conveniences. Bottled water, Camel Packs, weatherproof expandable tents mad of god knows what, portable Coleman stove, insect repellant, biodegradable toilet paper, energy bars…

Fate does not play a roll in our society, or how we want to see our society. Instead we attempt to control our environment, if not separate ourselves from it all together. This is the new human condition, the one that may plague our society for the rest of time… and then my bus arived.

Posted by tony at 03:43 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack