Valley Futures

In the United States of Empire, early fall is traditionally a lousy time to see a good movie. The blockbuster-action-thriller days of summer have come and gone, and Hollywood is keeping its Oscar-worthy stuff close to its chest until the holidays. So when something remotely interesting lands in theaters, it’s worth noting.

“District 9” is such a film.

Director Neil Blomkamp’s edgy and provocative virgin effort, supported by New Zealand film titan Peter “Lord of The Rings” Jackson’s Wing Nut films, is a fascinating if flawed piece of movie-making.

Here’s a brief description of the plot – think “Blair Witch Project” meets “Aliens” meets “Borat” – which will make the film sound outlandishly silly. Trust me – it is much better than it sounds.

Flash back to 1990. A gigantic starship lands outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the strange creatures on board – seven-foot-tall click-articulating humanoids covered by crustacean-like armor – are greeted with enthusiastic anticipation by an interested multi-racial human population.

More than two decades later, however, as the film opens in serious mockumentary fashion , the aliens have long worn out their welcome, and the entire crustacean population has been forced into a militarized “refugee camp” called “district nine,” a place of poverty and squalor, and are about to be evicted by a munitions corporation bearing the symbolically sinister name Multi-National United. The lead guy on this eviction project is the unfortunately-named Wikus van der Merwe, a hapless and slightly goofy government agent who mugs for the faux doc camera with grinning alacrity, even as he confronts the desperate “prawns” (the pejorative name given to the aliens by the South African population) scrambling to survive outside their run-down shacks in the dirty neighborhoods of District 9. “We just need you to sign the necessary paperwork,” he amiably asks them, before they go bye bye.

As you can imagine, things soon go horribly wrong. First, a group of Nigerians, led by a charismatic but paralyzed warlord figure named Mumbo, engage in black market trade with the “prawns,” and give the government agents a run for their money. Even more strangely, Wikus is mistakenly splashed with an alien liquid biotech potion, and gradually starts transmogrifying into a “prawn” himself, which ruins his surprise birthday party, not to mention his marriage.

Rather than give away the bulk of the story, I will simply say that I found “District 9” strangely compelling. It begins as a mockumentary, complete with well-coiffed sharply-accented liberal intellectuals yammering on about “interspecies relations” and the like, interspersed with CGI-inspired special effects of the spaceship hovering over the city like a giant insect. Quickly, though, the film sheds its pretensions and turns into a tightly-edited, whipsaw-violent thriller, and ends as an inter-species “buddy” film (That’s all I’ll say about the plot here.)

Some critics have dismissed the film as either too escapist or too racist, but they miss the point. Blomkamp wants us to think about what anthropologists like to call “The Other,” and the images of life in District 9’s “refugee camp” appear disturbingly familiar. In a neat trick, though, he cuts through all preconceived racial stereotypes by showing us how all South Africans, regardless of race, have demonized the aliens and relegated them to third-class status, even though it is clear that their technology and culture is, in many ways, far more advanced.

Moviegoers interested in escapist action will have more than enough to keep them satisfied, but viewers looking for a little more intellectual meat will find some gristle upon which to chew after seeing this film, one of the most unique of the late summer season.

Tags: Arts and Media by Rob Williams
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Where does what we eat come from?

This seems like it ought to be an easy question to answer.

Not so, in this day and age, according to a new documentary film called Food, Inc.

“The way we eat has changed more in the past 50 years than in the last 10,000 years,” explains the film’s introduction, “but the image we see is still the image of agrarian America.”

Beyond the pretty but misleading pictures put forth by the corporate brand managers from Tyson, Smithfield, Cargill, ADM and Perdue– good-looking farmers, happy animals, clean and green landscapes– is a disturbing and largely untold story about the nature of the United States’ 21st century industrial factory food system. Director Robert Kenner has served up one of the most vital and provocative new documentaries of this year. In Food, Inc, he assembles an all-star cast – Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser, Omnivore’s Dilemma author Michael Pollan (hero to localvores everywhere), and a variety of farm folks who are doing the hard work at ground zero of our modern “farming” system.

Uniformity, conformity, and cheapness are the 3 words that define our early 21st century food system, according to Schlosser.

And wheat, corn, and soybeans, Pollan tells us, are the three commodity crops that drive the 21st century U.S. farming system, producing food that is high in unhealthy fats and high fructose corn syrup, but very cheap at the pump, cash-wise, for the consumer.

But let’s not call it farming, oh no. To call it “farming” is to make a mockery of the term.

It is an industry.

Like any other factory, the goal of our 21st century industrial food system is simple: mass production to maximize profit at the cheapest consumer price per unit as possible, while externalizing all other social values – humane treatment of animals, equity for workers and farmers, and the health of both the land and the human body. “Our food is coming from enormous assembly lines,” Pollan observes, “and both the animals and the workers are being abused.”

Food Inc. is full of fascinating facts – “the modern American supermarket has on average 47,000 products” – as well as Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser’s trademark well-researched wit and wisdom.

Pollan’s assessment of corn as the uber-element of your typical 21st century American’s diet, for example, is as fascinating as it is disturbing. “Cows are not evolutionarily designed to eat corn,” Pollan wryly observes. “The only reason we feed cows corn is because corn is really cheap, and it make cows fat quickly.” Lots of American cows. Millions, in fact. And, oh, by the way – only 13 slaughterhouses, according to Schlosser, process the majority of beef in the United States. Can you say “Let us render Mad Cow”?

And a high corn diet – think “fructose” and then check the ingredients in just about any packaged supermarket item – makes American people fat, too, as well as exposing them to E Coli and other pathogens that lead to national health scares, illness, and death. But the factory system has a “solution” – cleanse processed meat with ammonia to try and kill the E Coli. Um, genius.

And, as Schlosser explains, the USDA and other federal agencies, charged with looking out for Americans’ food safety, have become little more than “captive regulators,” run by individuals from the very industries these agencies are supposed to be watch dogging. “We put our faith in the government to protect us,” observes one tearful mother, who lost a son to a food outbreak and has since become a dedicated citizen activist working to pass Kevin’s Law, calling on the USDA to shut down meat factories who continually produce contaminated meat. “And the very agencies charged with doing so don’t help us.”

There are heroes in this film, too – notably farmer Joel Salatin of Virginia’s Polyface Farms, who runs a grass-fed farm operation that has become quite well-known in agricultural and foodie circles, thanks to Pollan’s writing and Salatin’s own combination of outspokenness and smarts, as a farmer, a businessman, an author and a citizen.

“Our system has been built on faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper, and we have allowed ourselves to become so disconnected and ignorant about something so important as the food we eat,” Salatin says while processing chickens in a tent on his farm. “The FDA tried to shut our open-air operation down because they claimed it was unsanitary. What is that about?”

Point(s) taken.

So what’s a concerned American citizen to do? Grow your own food as you can. Buy local whenever possible. Get to know your food, and the farmer who produced it. Invest your money locally as often as you can. Educate yourself about your food choices. And throw yourself into the fight for a more humane food system.

For we are, quite literally, what we eat.

Tags: Agriculture, Arts and Media, Business, Energy by Rob Williams
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The Big Picture Theater, Valley Futures Network, the Bluehouse Group, ACME’s Vermont chapter, and Vermont Commons news journal are co-sponsoring a Thursday, July 16 screening of this film at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Picture Theater. Tickets are $7.00 each / $20 for a family of three or more.

Every so often, a movie lands on our cultural landscape with quiet, concussive force – shattering stereotypes, pushing us in unexpected emotional directions, and changing the way we think and feel about this collective project called “reality.”

The Way We Get By is such a film.

Directed by newcomer Aron Gaudet, produced by Gita Pullapilly, and honored with the Special Jury Prize at the South by Southwest film festival last spring, The Way We Get By is easily the most moving film I have seen this year, and indeed, one of the most powerful documentaries I’ve experienced in a long time.

And it is an experience.

Gaudet’s movie revolves around the lives of three elderly “troop greeters” – men and women who have established a network of volunteers who show up at Maine’s Bangor International Airport at all hours of the day or night. The “troop greeters” have one simple purpose. They come to the airport to meet U.S. troops on their way in and out of the United States to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other overseas destinations – administering handshakes, hugs, well wishes, and handing out mobile phones for soldiers to make free calls to loved ones. Because of its strategic location and weather patterns, the Bangor Airport sees more U.S. troops passing through its terminal than any other in the United States. The “troop greeters” even keep a running tally of the number of planes and individual troops who have come through since the U.S. government began prosecuting the “global war on terror” in 2001.

As The Way We Get By unfolds, we meet and get to know our three “troop greeters” in very personal ways. 87-year-old Bill Knight is a World War II veteran battling cancer and drowning in debt – his commitment as a “troop greeter” stems from a deep understanding of what a personal greetings means to a soldier departing or arriving from combat. Joan Gaudet, age 75, has raised eight children (including her son Aron, the film’s director) and endured three knee operations. Now, living alone in an empty nest, she struggles to overcome her fear of going out in the dark to greet the soldiers, and must come to terms with saying good-bye to her 30-year-old daughter Amy, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot who has been deployed to Iraq. 74-year-old Jerry Mundy, meanwhile, grapples with the tragic death of his son and emerging heart issues, while faithfully making regular journeys to the airport with his dog, Mr. Flannigan, to “put a smile on each soldier’s face,” as he says.

The film’s genius lies in the way in which Gaudet orchestrates a quiet build-up of emotions, as well as the deftness with which the film touches on a wide range of themes without making any overt judgments: U.S. military policy and service, patriotism, aging, mortality, family, civic responsibility, and volunteerism all blend together in a subtle but remarkably powerful way. And the film raised deeper questions about the U.S.’s role in the 21st century world at a time when American citizens are feeling so much economic pain. For me, it was not a stretch to draw parallels between the lives of our three main volunteer heroes, and the story of the United States itself, at a time when the world’s richest and most powerful nation is at a significant crossroads.

Whatever your politics, or age, or gender – see this film. It will touch you in a way few films do.

And remember, as the film reminds us:

Sometimes all it takes is a handshake to change a life.

Every so often, a movie lands on our cultural landscape with quiet, concussive force – shattering stereotypes, pushing us in unexpected emotional directions, and changing the way we think and feel about this collective project called “reality.”

The Way We Get By is such a film.

Directed by newcomer Aron Gaudet, produced by Gita Pullapilly, and honored with the Special Jury Prize at the South by Southwest film festival last spring, The Way We Get By is easily the most moving film I have seen this year, and indeed, one of the most powerful documentaries I’ve experienced in a long time.

And it is an experience.

Gaudet’s movie revolves around the lives of three elderly “troop greeters” – men and women who have established a network of volunteers who show up at Maine’s Bangor International Airport at all hours of the day or night. The “troop greeters” have one simple purpose. They come to the airport to meet U.S. troops on their way in and out of the United States to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other overseas destinations – administering handshakes, hugs, well wishes, and handing out mobile phones for soldiers to make free calls to loved ones. Because of its strategic location and weather patterns, the Bangor Airport sees more U.S. troops passing through its terminal than any other in the United States. The “troop greeters” even keep a running tally of the number of planes and individual troops who have come through since the U.S. government began prosecuting the “global war on terror” in 2001.

As The Way We Get By unfolds, we meet and get to know our three “troop greeters” in very personal ways. 87-year-old Bill Knight is a World War II veteran battling cancer and drowning in debt – his commitment as a “troop greeter” stems from a deep understanding of what a personal greetings means to a soldier departing or arriving from combat. Joan Gaudet, age 75, has raised eight children (including her son Aron, the film’s director) and endured three knee operations. Now, living alone in an empty nest, she struggles to overcome her fear of going out in the dark to greet the soldiers, and must come to terms with saying good-bye to her 30-year-old daughter Amy, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot who has been deployed to Iraq. 74-year-old Jerry Mundy, meanwhile, grapples with the tragic death of his son and emerging heart issues, while faithfully making regular journeys to the airport with his dog, Mr. Flannigan, to “put a smile on each soldier’s face,” as he says.

The film’s genius lies in the way in which Gaudet orchestrates a quiet build-up of emotions, as well as the deftness with which the film touches on a wide range of themes without making any overt judgments: U.S. military policy and service, patriotism, aging, mortality, family, civic responsibility, and volunteerism all blend together in a subtle but remarkably powerful way. And the film raised deeper questions about the U.S.’s role in the 21st century world at a time when American citizens are feeling so much economic pain. For me, it was not a stretch to draw parallels between the lives of our three main volunteer heroes, and the story of the United States itself, at a time when the world’s richest and most powerful nation is at a significant crossroads.

Whatever your politics, or age, or gender – see this film. It will touch you in a way few films do.

And remember, as the film reminds us:

Sometimes all it takes is a handshake to change a life.

Tags: Arts and Media by Rob Williams
No Comments »

Late May.

Must be summer time, or close to it, here in Vermont.

Unchain the season of the mindless action movie blockbuster!

And what better way to usher it in than with “X Men”?

Here’s what some of our local REEL REVIEW consultants had to say about the latest X-Men film:

“The film is not going to prime the pump for date night,” notes Jed Kalkstein, “but X Men can’t be beat for a night with the lads.”

“X Men’s predictable cycle of heart-pumping action scenes made it feel like an interval workout from a seated position,” explains Terry Kellogg.

Translation? Two thumbs up.

And yes, Aussie uber man Hugh Jackman is back as James Logan/Wolverine, in the latest installment of the lavish and hugely profitable cartoon franchise.

How did James Logan become the tortured spike-sporting keen smelling anti-hero we know and love? The film purports to answer this question,

Gone are all of Wolverine’s mutant sidekicks from the first films. Instead, the focus of the story is Logan almost exclusively – we see Wolverine grow up in a culture of endless war, recruited by a mysterious character named Stryker to join an elite government killing team staffed by bad-ass dudes with special powers. We also meet Wolverine’s brother Victor/Saber Tooth, played by a menacing but surprisingly engaging Liev Schreiber, who gets all o the film’s few toss-away one liners. “You never call, you never write,” he says to his long lost brother just before they mix it up.

Back up a minute: After six years of retirement as a Rocky Mountain lumberjack (by day) bedding a bodacious schoolteacher (by night), Logan is dragged back into the fray by Stryker, complete with dog tags stamped “Wolverine,” as “weapon X,” tricked out with a bonded ademantium-reinforced skeleton. The excruciatingly painful process goes awry, but Logan is saved by the kindness of an old farming couple. (Once again, farmers save the day.)

From here, things get much more exciting, if confusing, and I’ll save the twists and turns for you, dear viewer, to discover. Suffice to say, this is a big, sprawling messy film – rough around the edges. The action scenes are sloppily shot, the narrative arc shoddily constructed, the special effects poorly assembled, the acting compellingly mediocre. Very few funny one liners, either – a staple of summer action blockbusters. And I really missed Patrick Stewart (wait until the very end) and Ian McKellan – their absence left a void that no one really filled here.

Worse, maybe, is the complete absence of any of the interesting ethical questions – how does any society handle individuals who differ from the rest of us? – that made the other X Men films marginally relevant to real life. Passing trash talk about “preemption” and “our country needs you” rhetoric doesn’t even ring, let alone ring true. And watching Logan and his bad boy broher tear down the neighborhood is fun, but grows old after a while.

The X Men franchise has had a good run – but it will take learning from this film’s shortcomings to revitalize the genre if and when they make the next one.

Most likely when.

Tags: Arts and Media by Rob Williams
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From the Twitterverse – some 140 character summaries of the Round Barn “Tweet Up” held last night. Thanks to Candace Page at the Burlington Free Press for her coverage, as well.

Signgal@roundbarnfarm Fantastic tweetup! I expected hors d oeuvres, you fed us dinner! With table linens and $1 ginger ales. Thank U!!!22 minutes ago from web

SigngalMet the @bobbin Mama’s at @roundbarnfarm last night, too.They sew, they craft, they make shopping bags out of t-shirts. Terrific!12 minutes ago from web

likebeer@roundbarnfarm If you think you can help with our wedding you can DM or email me what you have in mind, maybe you can cut me a deal?11 minutes ago from Tweetie in reply to roundbarnfarm

SigngalJesse, aka @chelseagreen, gave us the lowdown on how to us Twitter at the @roundbarnfarm Tweetup.He’s a good person to follow. #VT #BTV4 minutes ago from web

http://twitpic.com/63850 – crowd watching demo by @thebobbin (fabric recyling)about 10 hours ago from TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/637r5 – #VT Tweetup agenda… (food, IMO, better draw than ’social media’)about 10 hours ago from TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/637jy – Back from the #VT tweetup at Round Barn. The food line (I got there late)about 10 hours ago from TwitPic

Just got home from Round Barn Tweetup. My belly is full of great local food and my mind is inspired-one of my favorite combinations. Janiipeterson

tweeting up at the Round Barn in Waitsfield with other localvore tweeters. great local food, great music, wonderful peeps priruda

tweeting up at the Round Barn in Waitsfield with other localvore tweeters. great local food, great music, wonderful peeps feedmenow

http://twitpic.com/62sqp – nice turnout for the vt localvore tweetup – music, food, prizes & lots of tweeting the 2 story round barn … innkeepers

Here we are at the great Vermont locavore tweetup. The round barn farm is gorgeous! chelseagreen

Great Tweetup last night hosted by @roundbarnfarm!! Food was awesome! Thanks! Met some terrific folks and thought the format was inspired!
vtpcwizard Thu 28 May 06:26 via web

@roundbarnfarm So who ARE the hunky guys in your avatar? They ain’t you owners. ‘Fess up, please. We all want to know.

follownathan@roundbarnfarm – the tweetup was a smash! worked out perfectly for me and my journey! I look forward to staying in touch! I love #VTabout 7 hours ago from TweetDeck

edwardshepardrt: @hellosmalldog Thank you to @roundbarnfarm for an awesome gathering! Classiest tweetup ever. (I was there, it truly was fun!)about 8 hours ago from web

hellosmalldogThank you to @roundbarnfarm for an awesome gathering! Classiest tweetup ever. Also great to meet other #VT people & businesses!about 8 hours ago from web

north100RT @VermontCanoe: @roundbarnfarm We’re here. Serious food on the table from local farms & restaurants. Good live trio. Life is good. & yummyabout 8 hours ago from TweetDeck

JambutterThree cheers for Charlie (@roundbarnfarm), @hellosmalldog, @chelseagreen and @americanfbread for a great night at #VT tweetup. Great time!about 8 hours ago from Power Twitter

sryusenThanks 2 @roundbarnfarm for the amazing evening, @hellosmalldog for the fab goodies and 2 all for making me feel lucky to love where I live.about 9 hours ago from TweetDe

VTFlame@roundbarnfarm thanks so much for hosting – great to see old and new friends tooabout 9 hours ago from web in reply to roundbarnfarm

GrunbergHausVTMany thanks to @roundbarnfarm for an outstanding tweetup tonight. Very generous of you to share your beautiful facility.about 9 hours ago from web

north100Big thanks to @roundbarnfarm & all the folks who put together a great Vermont Localvore Tweetup event & to @cocodowley for the ride!about 9 hours ago from TweetDeck

SustainableComm@roundbarnfarm Thank you!!about 9 hours ago from web in reply to roundbarnfarm

DeepDishCreates@feedmenow Great chatting with you @roundbarnfarm Tweetup! Keep an eye out for: http://www.bakonvodka.com/about 9 hours ago from TweetDeck

likebeer@roundbarnfarm Had an amazing time at the Locavore Tweetup thanks for hosting it, met some very interesting Tweeps.about 9 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to roundbarnfarm

LifelineReaderthanks to the staff @hellosmalldog for providing computers for the tweetup @roundbarnfarm AND for answering my questions about my new I-Mac!about 9 hours ago from web

LifelineReaderJust met some real nice people at @roundbarnfarm localvore tweetup. @VermontCanoe @cocodowley @north100 and many other great tweeple.about 9 hours ago from web

Fiestavus@vtherbandsalad good to catch up with you guys at the @roundbarnfarm tweet-up, let’s do dinner SOONabout 10 hours ago from TwitterGadget

FiestavusThanks 2 @roundbarnfarm for the gr8 tweet-up, good to see the local tweeps #vt http://trunc.it/ac2babout 10 hours ago from TwitterGadget

north100The Vermont Localvore Tweetup @roundbarnfarm was just wonderful! Gorgeous setting, incredible food, & awesome ppl that make VT so special!about 10 hours ago from web

DeepDishCreates@vtexchange Great chatting with you on the way out the door @roundbarnfarm Tweetup! Next one: http://twtvite.com/d4ixbrabout 10 hours ago from TweetDeck

happyhollowvt@roundbarnfarm Thanks for a fun evening! Just joining the twitter world and learned lots. I missed the yak sausage, though, bummer!about 10 hours ago from web in reply to roundbarnfarm

callmelou@roundbarnfarm Had a wonderful time at tonight’s locavore tweetup! Thanks so much for hosting.about 10 hours ago from twhirl in reply to roundbarnfarm

amykirschnerhttp://twitpic.com/638lk – Lilacs still in bloom @roundbarnfarm in Waitsfield. GREAT localvore tweetup tonight!about 10 hours ago from TwitPic

VTExchangehttp://twitpic.com/638h2 – A foggy night @roundbarnfarm for localvore tweetupabout 10 hours ago from TwitPic

DeepDishCreates@roundbarnfarm GREAT Locavore Tweetup tonight – you’ve raised the bar for tweetups – thanks!about 10 hours ago from TweetDeck

VTExchangehttp://twitpic.com/638au – Great localvore tweetup @roundbarnfarm tonight. The agenda…about 10 hours ago from TwitPic

innkeepershttp://twitpic.com/634ev – just got to see the grounds @roundbarnfarm from the secret top of their silo… very cool #paiiabout 11 hours ago from TwitPic

MadmotionIs sorry to miss the @roundbarnfarm Tweet Up.about 11 hours ago from web

follownathanAt the @roundbarnfarm tweetup in #vt wearing dark flannel and black @TOMS shoes – 1st one to find me gets a free drink on me!about 12 hours ago from web

thisisjaceWishing I was able to make the Tweetup @roundbarnfarm, tonight. I’m at the next one, def!about 12 hours ago from web

mstonervt@roundbarnfarm Just landed SFO, thinking of Tweetup. Have a great time!about 12 hours ago from txt

AndreaLearned@roundbarnfarm, great tweetup! w/@monkeyhousemama @sryusen@kilgoreleslie. Who knew #vt has so many tweeters?about 12 hours ago from web

jkvt@roundbarnfarm any photos from the TweetUp for those of us still stuck at work?about 12 hours ago from web in reply to roundbarnfarm

augustfirstat Localvore Tweetup @roundbarnfarm. Great meal of fiddleheads, misty knoll chicken… Nice to see faces behind tweets! #btvabout 13 hours ago from web

laurzRT @theshorehaminn: Feeling quite sad about missing the big tweetup @roundbarnfarm. Can almost hear the fun from here. (Me too)about 13 hours ago from UberTwitter

JaneLindholmAt the TweetUp @roundbarnfarm in Warren. What a place! And as a Twitter neophyte (still), quite an event!about 13 hours ago from web

theshorehaminnFeeling quite sad about missing the big tweetup @roundbarnfarm. Can almost hear the fun from here.about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck

thebobbin@roundbarnfarm for the Tweet up. It’s so cool to meet the peeps behind the tweets!about 13 hours ago from Tweetie

BirdDivaKickin’ it at localvore tweetup @roundbarnfarm WOW!

hellosmalldog@roundbarnfarm tweetup! http://yfrog.com/0xt7ujabout 14 hours ago from Tweetie

VermontCanoe@roundbarnfarm We’re here. Serious food on the table from local farms and restaurants. Good live trio. Life is good..and yummy.about 14 hours ago from web in reply to roundbarnfarm

e_to_the_m@roundbarnfarm Good luck with the tweet-up tonight. Wish I could be there.about 14 hours ago from Tweetie in reply to roundbarnfarm

jacksonlatka@roundbarnfarm Wish I could be there. Sounds great!about 14 hours ago from web in reply to roundbarnfarm

innkeepershttp://twitpic.com/62pcf – just checked into Joslin room @roundbarnfarm – beautiful! check out the bath! about to check out their great …about 14 hours ago from TwitPic

swichi293Headed to the waitsfield #tweetup @roundbarnfarm #btvabout 15 hours ago from Tweetie

DeepDishCreatesHeading out to the Locavore Tweetup @roundbarnfarm. http://bit.ly/7p6hNabout 15 hours ago from TweetDeck

VoicesVTWhat does a healthy watershed mean 4 good food? Tell me 2nite @roundbarnfarm Tweetup! http://bit.ly/7p6hN #vtabout 17 hours ago from TwitterBerry

augustfirstHappily heading to the Valley tonight to meet up with locatweeetavores! @roundbarnfarm pingg.com http://bit.ly/169z03about 17 hours ago from bit.ly

Signgal@roundbarnfarm Fantastic tweetup! I expected hors d oeuvres, you fed us dinner! With table linens and $1 ginger ales. Thank U!!!22 minutes ago from web

SigngalMet the @bobbin Mama’s at @roundbarnfarm last night, too.They sew, they craft, they make shopping bags out of t-shirts. Terrific!12 minutes ago from web

likebeer@roundbarnfarm If you think you can help with our wedding you can DM or email me what you have in mind, maybe you can cut me a deal?11 minutes ago from Tweetie in reply to roundbarnfarm

SigngalJesse, aka @chelseagreen, gave us the lowdown on how to us Twitter at the @roundbarnfarm Tweetup.He’s a good person to follow. #VT #BTV4 minutes ago from web

Tags: Agriculture, Arts and Media, Business by Rob Williams
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Thanks to Bruce Jones for eleven years of wonderful acoustic music at the Valley Players Theater. Here’s a short video/audio snapshot of the Saturday, May 16, 2009 performance – Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem.

Another wonderful musical event in Mad River!

Tags: Arts and Media by Rob Williams
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Got Twitter? – Round Barn Chef Charlie Menard Hosts the Very First “Tweet Up” in Mad River Valley’s History

Ashton’s doing it.

Oprah’s doing it.

Britney’s doing it.

And more and more Vermonters are doing it.

The “it” in question is “Twitter,” of course, a new, popular and free Web 2.0 micro-blogging application that allows its users to build networks of “followers” who email each other 140 character messages about a whole range of topics of their choosing, ranging from the now-cliched “I had pancakes for breakfast – yum!” variety to breaking news about swine flu (“Hamthrax,” in one Twitter-led joke) and the latest local and national events (Seven Days journalist Shay Totten “tweeted” the entire legislative gay marriage hearing a few months ago, allowing his followers easy access to up-to-the-minute debates as they unfolded).

Critics are quick to call Twitter an epistemological train wreck, the latest example of a culture that has lost its mind to simplistic and silly trivialities. But Twitter users will tell you that the application is simply another fun and creative way to communicate, something the human animal never tires of doing.

One devoted Twitter user is Round Barn chef Charlie Menard (http://twitter.com/roundbarnfarm), who has organized the Mad River Valley’s very first “Tweet Up,” a fun foodie-driven event organized entirely through Twitter, to be held at the Round Barn on Wednesday, May 27 from 5-8 p.m.

“My interest in Twitter at first was pure curiosity,” explains Menard. “Once I started to find people with similar interests and to follow their tweets, I began to realize the power of community building that Twitter and social networking in general has.”

A “tweet” is simply a 140 character message send through Twitter. Popular “tweets” are “re-tweeted” by other Twitter users in their networks, amplifying the power of the message – in some cases, exponentially.

But of what value is Twitter to a Vermont chef?

“The Food community on Twitter is fantastic in general, and the Vermont “foody” presence is really amazing,” Menard explains. “You can get all sorts of news by following foodies—restaurant reviews, what a chef has just prepared for tonight’s special, what produce is coming out of gardens across the state, and of course the latest minute-by-minute news from events like the James Beard Awards.”

So what exactly is the purpose of a “Tweet Up”?

“The Tweet up is a mixer of sorts, an opportunity for our community to build and strengthen ties to our online neighbors, and a chance to meet the Tweeps behind the Tweets,” says Menard. “I know that there are some people that believe the future of Vermont is in its food. If we’re going to achieve that potential, we need to be a competitive presence in people’s lives and we also need to find a way to keep our young people in Vermont. I am truly inspired by the online community and I think that embracing the possibilities it offers will help us move forward.”

Find out more about Twitter at www.twitter.com.

Tags: Agriculture, Arts and Media, Business by Rob Williams
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“We suffer from a fiscal cancer,” explains U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. “It is growing within us. And if we do not treat it, it will have catastrophic consequences for our country.”

So begins I.O.U.S.A. – one of the most disturbing documentaries of the past year.

 

The film spotlights our nation’s mounting fiscal crisis – providing both a contemporary lens and historical context for understanding how today’s “debt-driven society” emerged, and what we might do to resolve one of the most intractable difficulties of our time.

“The facts aren’t liberal or conservative,” as one of the film’s observers, explains, “The facts aren’t Democrat or Republican.”

This is an issue that affects us all.

Begin with a question: how high is the federal debt?

Millions?

Billions?

Try 8.7 trillion dollars.

Just how much money is that?

One way to wrap your mind around the enormity of this number is to compare it with the United States’ GDP.

The federal debt, as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), is 64%.

Put another way, the U.S. government is now borrowing 22 cents of every dollar it spends.

The film’s heroes are Americans working tirelessly to educate the country’s citizens about the nature of the crisis: the Concord Coalition, a think tank focusing on the fiscal crisis, concerned young people, politicians like Paul Tsongas, Ross Perot and Ron Paul (no mention of Ralph Nader, oddly). The villains? Gutless government officials seem to bear the brunt of the film’s quiet outrage.

I.O.U.S.A. suggests that the 21st century United States faces four serious deficits at this particular moment.

1. A Budget Deficit

In 1789, the national debt was $70 million dollars – 40% of the federal budget. The Founders worked quickly, the film suggests, to pay this down. A series of wars – Civil, Great, World War II – brought cycles of financial hardship to the federal government. During the last thirty years, the U.S. government has seen more than 30 annual budget deficits, and only five surpluses. But it was the Reagan years, oddly enough, given the “Morning in America- Government is Bad” rhetoric, that saw the federal budget deficit skyrocket, with a moment of sanity during the Clinton/Bob Rubin “go go” 1990s.

2. A Savings Deficit

This section opens with the brilliant “Saturday Night Live” skit mocking “saved money” (Steve Martin at his best – “Shouldn’t I buy stuff before I have the money”?) and focuses on Americans’ propensity to spend cash they don’t have. Citizens’ savings rate is the lowest it has been in decades, a result of our “live for today, easy credit, consumption-oriented” attitude. Is this a result of personal choice? The film suggests that a variety of forces are at play here: the collapse of a “sound money” supply and the Federal Reserve’s tendency to encourage enthusiastic paper money printing and debt-driven spending in the name of fighting inflation. The film channels Texas republican and maverick Ron Paul here, the champion of a strict/hard money policy, taking on Alan “irrational exuberance” Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, in Congressional hearings.

3. A Balance of Payment/Trade Deficit

The U.S. is dead last among all nations if the world in terms of a “trade deficit.” Which is to say – the United States is buying more than we are selling, with foreign creditors carrying much of our borrowed debt. China, the country (along with Saudi Arabia and Israel) with whom the U.S. has a special relationship, is the second largest holder of U.S. T-Bills, and makes all of our stuff in their factories, saving us the trouble of doing little more than buying their manufactured goods. Need I say more?

4. A Leadership Deficit

So – we owe roughly $70,000 per American family in debt, according to Seymour Hersh’s “National Debt Clock.” And, while the deficit doubled on Mr. Bush’s watch (such as it was), it is too easy to blame one party or another for a systemic and long-term problem that has a variety of roots: see the very heart of our national banking system, for example, and our own personal predilections.

As this crisis’ “toxic mix” deepens – entering 2009, we’re staring a $10 trillion federal debt in the face – what can we do?

As individuals, we can pay down our own personal debts, stop spending money we don’t have, SAVE money (huh?), do more with less, explore local currencies, support local and employee-owned businesses, and explore other financial alternatives to the current status quo, including living within our means. Easier said than done, of course.

At the national level? Full disclosure: I’m a secessionist who believes that the U.S. Empire is too deeply broken to fix. The Roman Empire fell, the film suggests, for three reasons: moral decay, imperial overstretch, and domestic financial collapse. No easy answers here, especially because elite lending classes (read: the rich and powerful) have figured out how to game the system to their best advantage, leaving the rest of us poor slobs holding the “debt bag” and wondering: what the heck is going on?

I.O.U.S.A. helps to answer this very important question.

Tags: Arts and Media, Land Bank, Local Currency by Rob Williams
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In director Stephen Daldry’s film “The Reader,” a fifteen-year-old boy named Michael Berg (David Kross) growing up in post-WW II Germany finds himself in lust with an attractive if mysterious thirty-six-year old woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslett, in an Oscar winning performance).

By day, Berg is a high school student and Schmitz a tram conductress. By evening, the two are lovers who strike up an unusual relationship, one in which Michael finds himself reading the classics – D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Anton Chekov’s The Lady With The Little Dog, Homer’s The Odyssey – to Hanna, who loves to be read to. “Let’s change the order, kid,” she says early on. “First you read to me, and then we make love.” Literature and lust define their secretive relationship, with the occasional bicycle ride into the summer countryside, paid for by Berg’s sale of his stamp collection.

But there is much more to this story.

The film is told as a series of flashbacks, of sorts.

We see an older Michael Berg, six years down the road, in law school at Heidelberg, in which he attends the trial of six former Auschwitz guards who allowed Jewish women in the camp to burn to death. One of the guards turns out to be Hanna, and Berg discovers that she is illiterate, and had the prisoners read to her. She is scapegoated for the crimes of the guards, and, accepting her fate, is sentenced to life in prison, while Berg refuses to visit her, ashamed of their past together.

As an adult, Berg (played by Ralph Fiennes) marries, has a daughter, but remains emotionally distant. He discovers the books he read to Hannah in his youth, and dictates their contents into a tape recorder, sending the tapes to Hanna in prison, who uses them to teach herself how to read. Intense, yes. And the film’s climax, which I won’t reveal here, is even more so.

Neither of the two main characters is all that likeable in this film, and the second half of the story unfolds too quickly for the viewer to feel any sense of sympathy for the situations our two protagonist find themselves in. But Winslett is solid in this story of truth, reconciliation, and justice, and Fiennes more than holds his own. And, while not a film for the faint of heart, “The Reader,” like “Lives of Others” and other historically contextualized films that explore the boundaries of human relationships under extreme conditions, is worth the time.

Tags: Arts and Media by Rob Williams
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For several months, our 16-year-old neighbor Dan O’Shaughnessy has been crafting a magnificent 500 tap sugaring operation in the woods on and adjacent to our little 3 acree homestead property – historically, a rich area full of maples ripe for tapping. Two weeks ago, the sugaring began in earnest, and Dan has already collected more than 2,000 gallons of sap, boiling off the excess for more than fifty gallons of the sweet stuff.

It is a wonderful success story – Dan is a focused and hard-working young dude with a vision, he’s had plenty of support from a whole extended family and community here in Mad River, and even the Harwood Union High School up the road a few miles is giving him some academic credit for his work after school out in the land.
In a praiseworthy article, the New York Post just celebrated our local sugarmakers, in a recent article about "Sugaring," profiling both Dave and Paul Hartshorn and Dan’s operations. It’s sugaring time! Here’s a quick 6 minute look at Dan’s whole operation…

Tags: Agriculture, Arts and Media, Business by Rob Williams
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