"Besides, I like chemicals!"
My landlady's boyfriend ("Harold") said this as I walked away from him down the street.
A local grocery chain sold out to Whole Foods this month and it's been a really big deal in our neighborhood because the chain store has a HUGE section of Latin American and Caribbean foods that you really can't find anywhere else. Also, of course because of WF's symbolism in the process of gentrification. There was a flyer in our mailboxes this morning that said "Whose Foods?" that Harold was commenting upon.
He was talking about how expensive WF could be, and I'd said noncommittally, "Oh, you know they carry a lot of expensive items, but you can shop there inexpensively too." When he countered with "Besides, I like chemicals. No really... Chemicals are way better for you than biology. That's something environmentalists always forget; biology can kill you. Microbes cause more deaths than chemicals 100 to 1!"
It's interesting to me... the more I think about things the more they tend to become closer together; lines get fuzzier and I see lots of connections. I love the idea of this guy and the clarity of his delineations; of a camp supporting the biological and the chemical, especially in light of this very difficult neighborhood dispute all about the inter-connected issues of empowerment, identity, community and access. Go Biology! Go!
