tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4163876234969175446.post8267982653635423809..comments2024-03-22T10:56:23.359+02:00Comments on Land and People: Having it both waysRami Zuraykhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14644937988631864952noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4163876234969175446.post-61652475619165089522007-08-31T20:27:00.000+03:002007-08-31T20:27:00.000+03:00Re: howish az-zaitun - Only us second -generation,...Re: howish az-zaitun - Only us second -generation, Veblenian American cousins are interested in harvesting olives. Here in America I gain food snob points when I talk about the family olive groves. I wish I could go to the village this fall to help with the harvest - for my own pleasure, not because of the snob value - but it would indeed grant me major foodie/eco points if I worked the olive harvest on my family land. But my aunt informs me that "nobody harvests any more, that's why we have Syrians and Sri Lanki."<BR/><BR/>Did I mention in these comments that my late father used to gather olives from trees in urban California? Nobody wants the olives - the trees are "ornamental" and some people even spray them in the spring with a chemical that inhibits fruit-bearing. My father would go around and collect bags full of free olives - foraging we call it in Berkeley.<BR/><BR/>Trouble is, his curing methods were eccentric and not all that tasty. Plus he was stubborn and wouldn't listen to the suggestions of even the most experienced of his relatives. Oh well.<BR/><BR/>In any case, I do admire his thriftiness and I well understand that his family considered such behavior beneath him. He was the first to get a graduate degree and he preferred to do things to keep in touch with his peasant childhood, even if this embarrassed his Lebanese relations. I am sure he would have objected if you described his behavior as Veblenian - he didn't forage olives to prove that he was prosperous or high status. But the behavior reflects that he was so far removed from being a peasant that he needed to do such things to stay in touch with a self and a world now swallowed by modern life.Leila Abu-Sabahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14161833022292457787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4163876234969175446.post-14742836459835137592007-08-31T20:19:00.000+03:002007-08-31T20:19:00.000+03:00Sex, drugs and immigration - mainstream Americans ...Sex, drugs and immigration - mainstream Americans are schizophrenic on these topics. (See our Senatorial scandal in the airport bathroom for instance). Our society issues such stern prohibitions against sexual experimentation, drug consumption, and immigration, and yet all three activities are integral parts of daily life from the top of society to the bottom. Nobody consumes more illegal drugs than Wall Street financial workers who vote Republican. The so-called "red states" (conservative, religious) have the highest teen pregnancy and divorce rates. And of course without illegal immigrants we could not afford to eat in restaurants, buy houses, go to work (illegals care for our children) or do hundreds of other things - besides eat.<BR/><BR/>No, Americans are just insane on the subject of immigration. Dumb, dumb and dumb.Leila Abu-Sabahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14161833022292457787noreply@blogger.com