"And the river grew higher and wider/deeper and darker as I was closing in"
I just finished reading a post on The Vegan Dessert (a recent start-up by my friend JT at Amherst that, I can only assume, was inspired by The Canals) about the dangers of bio-fuel. Apparently, rising gas prices are driving up demand for ethanol-based fuel, which is driving up the price of corn, which will eventually kill starving children in Ethiopia.
But the two problems here - filling the gas tanks of SUVs and filling the stomachs of the poor - can be achieved through one simple measure: develop a new bio-fuel that uses hungry humans as the source. This elegant solution increases the supply of fuel while decreasing the demand for food.
This proposal even goes a step further, and provides for the well-being of corn. (Full disclosure: the poet laureate of The Canals is Jacob "Cobb Salad" Schutz, who may in some way be affiliated with corn on the cob.) It seems like these plants are the ones really getting the short end of the stalk at this point - trust me, they'd rather end up cooked on a grill than as sludge in a tank.
Sometimes the best solution is literally the one right under your nose.
I couldn't find any good corn songs, but here's some great music I heard this week that I probably wouldn't have gotten around to writing about:
Miracle Fortress - Next Train
Bill Callahan - From The Rivers To The Oceans
Chris Bell - You And Your Sister
The Alternate Routes - The Black And The White
-danny
But the two problems here - filling the gas tanks of SUVs and filling the stomachs of the poor - can be achieved through one simple measure: develop a new bio-fuel that uses hungry humans as the source. This elegant solution increases the supply of fuel while decreasing the demand for food.
This proposal even goes a step further, and provides for the well-being of corn. (Full disclosure: the poet laureate of The Canals is Jacob "Cobb Salad" Schutz, who may in some way be affiliated with corn on the cob.) It seems like these plants are the ones really getting the short end of the stalk at this point - trust me, they'd rather end up cooked on a grill than as sludge in a tank.
Sometimes the best solution is literally the one right under your nose.
I couldn't find any good corn songs, but here's some great music I heard this week that I probably wouldn't have gotten around to writing about:
Miracle Fortress - Next Train
Bill Callahan - From The Rivers To The Oceans
Chris Bell - You And Your Sister
The Alternate Routes - The Black And The White
-danny
5 comments:
Though the Cobb Salad has no corn in it, I often do commercials for the corn industry (Geico=Gecko type thing). Good people. Thank you to Danny for highlighting this oft forgotten kernel of American business.
You can all claim your allegiance to the corn industry, but how many of you have ever picked a real ear of corn, scrambled your way through a corn stock maze or lived in a state that devotes over 6.7 million acres to corn production? I urge you to visit www.MNcorn.org for more information on Minnesota's devotion to this gratifying grain.
As an aside, no wonder Cobb comments all the time, he's the recipient of many a Canal shout out. If only the rest of us Canals fans could be so lucky...
Being the poet laureate has its perks. That being said, it is by no means a permanent position. We encourage any and all to apply for the position (although Cobb will be hard to take down).
Remember, The Canals is a democracy - Benjy and I have equal say.
Katie- I'm from Ohio... we have a field of ten-foot tall concrete ears of corn outside the department of agriculture. Beat that.
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