I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s becoming increasingly less safe to eat industrial meat in this culture.

The Topps Meat Co. on Saturday expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties to include 21.7 million pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria that sickened more than a dozen people in eight states.

The recall of products distributed to retail grocery stores and food service institutions in the United States was a drastic increase from the 332,000 pounds recalled Tuesday.

Though, it’s increasingly less safe to eat industrial anything….

A division of Dole Food Co said on Monday it was recalling some bagged salads sold in the United States and Canada because a sample at a Canadian grocery store was found to contain E. coli.

Dole Fresh Vegetables said it has not received any reports that anyone has become sick from eating the products. The recall covers “Dole Hearts Delight” salads sold with a “best if used by” date of September 19.

The 4th Annual Southwest Native American Film Festival will be held in Flagstaff, Arizona at the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Coconino Center for the Arts, October 5–6, 2007.

The film festival is a unique showcase of contemporary Native American video, film, and animation made by Indigenous filmmakers from throughout the Southwest. The fall festival this fall will also offer professional development opportunities through workshops for Indigenous filmmakers and youth.

The festival, presented in partnership by Indigenous Action Media, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff Cultural Partners, Tacoho Productions, Native Movement and Outta Your Backpack Media, the festival seeks to provide an opportunity for audiences of all ages to further their understanding of Indigenous cultures today.

Screenings will be held at the Museum of Northern Arizona in the Branigar Hall and the Coconino Center for the Arts. Weekend festival passes that include admission to receptions with filmmakers can be purchased in advance for $18 ($14 for students) and general and student admission fees will be collected at the door. Passes can be purchased at Winter Sun Trading Co. the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Coconino Center for the Arts. Call 928/779-2300 for additional information or visit these festival partner websites for a schedule of events at www.indigenousaction.org, www.musnaz.org, and www.culturalpartners.org.

Date: October 6th 2007 (Saturday)
Location: Coconino Center for the Arts 300 N. Fort Valley Road in Flagstaff, AZ Schedule:
9:30 – 9:00 a.m. check-In
10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. workshop
Cost: $10 per person ($5 for students, free for Indigenous youth) Payable in advance or at the door.

Artist, musician, and friend of mine, Chris, painted me something based off a list I gave him of my favorite colors, words, images, and ideas. From that list, his process for determining which words he’ll use from the list is a pretty simple one. He read the list several times and focused on the words that appealed to him as an individual and as an artist. This is what those of us who study language mean when we speak of the impossibility of an author being absent from any piece of rhetoric, whether it be an essay, a poem, a news report, a song, or, even a painting.

Anyway, the words he drew out from my list are: the moon, ancient, sleeping (I love sleeping), and mountains. He also used my favorite colors, which I just labeled “earth tones, with purple in moderation.” The original sketch had a monkeywrench looming in the background, but Chris decided it would detract from the rest of the work (but it’s still there in spirit…in the title).

When I first saw it, I really liked it, though wasn’t sure if it resembled me. Then I thought about a line, one that I either heard, read, or wrote myself—I don’t remember, but it still sums up what is important to me—“we are just as much a part of our environment as our environment is a part of us.”

The sleeping figure, though I can’t grow a magnificent beard like that (and great beards should always be described as magnificent, I think), caught me off guard because even though I love sleeping, I don’t think such an illustration is very complimentary. But I think it captures how I feel right now. I feel in between destinations.

I just finished grad school and, during that chaotic time, I was thinking that a PhD. would be my obvious next step, but now I’m having second thoughts. I’m not sure I could sit though more lectures, thinking, reading, writing, and theorizing about the state of the world. I know it’s messed up and I’m tired of thinking and talking about it. I’m beginning to see my niche and I’m not sure more education will enhance that or not. Now that I’m not taking classes, I’m simply teaching them, I already realize and value the time I have to dedicate to myself and activist causes.

I’ve been talking to people and I’ve got some projects and collaborations on the horizon and I have realized that that is what I love. The column I write, the workshops I give for the MARS Project, the environmental work that I do….these are the things that are important to me and these are the things that I love. All I need to do is figure out a way to translate that passion and those activities to a living wage. I’m not saying a PhD. is out, it’s just that I’m not sure that’s what I want to do immediately…and this is for many reasons.

Activists, radicals, deep ecologists, writers, anarchists…all of us…are eventually confronted with having to negotiate the tension between ideology and a paycheck. It’s rough that the same system you seek to change is the same system that you are dependent on to live. I need a job that will fulfill both, but I know it’s ultimately up to me. If I work from 8 until 5 or 6 every day, that leaves 4 or 5 hours a day that I can use for my own projects. Maybe this is why I haven’t even thought of dating anybody during the last year. Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated. I know I’m not the only one that faces these issues.

Here is a little garden booty. This is most of what we’ve got a regular supply of. The egg-plant is thrown in the mix every now and then. So is an onion, when we need one. These habeneros are like little A-bombs, their so hot.

I’ve also been hanging out with these guys, who have been munching on this parsley for the past week. They’re chubbier every day. I’m glad someone is eating the parsley.