People ask me: Why do you write about food, and eating and drinking? Why don’t you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way others do?
They ask it accusingly, as if I were somehow gross, unfaithful to the honor of my craft.
The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry.
But there is more than that. It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it … and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied … and it is all one.
I managed to avoid the crime news, which is always horrific. Okay, I mostly avoided it. The three boys under 10 who are being charged with kidnapping and rape1 is getting to me. That poor little girl!
Actually, these guys seem to be suing everybody but the dogcatcher down there in Riverdale.
What does Ms. Bruce’s gender have to do with how she’ll perform as a city council member? Nothing, of course Ir’s been brought up because a couple of sore losers just won’t let go. Asshats!
But she won’t deliver until somewhere around April 1, 2009! 22 months of pregnancy. Dumbo never mentioned that little fact.
In metro Atlanta, profile of those in need during the holidays has changed4
It isn’t just during the holidays, either. Food banks across the country are seeing more and more working people who need help. They’re having to reduce the amount of food given to each person or family because the demand has outpaced the supply so much.
I can’t say that I’m surprised. I know too many people who are just barely scraping by, and it isn’t because they’re irresponsible. It’s just how the American economy is, and something needs to change very quickly.
