Black Friday Blues

I saw a disturbing photo today. I'm sure it's quite accurate. So, what makes it disturbing? Well, in spite of the quiet uprising that is happening all over the country, people are still choosing to spend their money at Wal Mart. This...is disturbing.

My friend, Jen, explained the Wal Mart phenomenon a few days ago. She was telling another one of our friends why one should not give their money to Wal Mart. (Forgive me, Jen, for paraphrasing. I will not be quite so eloquent.)

Think of Wal Mart as a microcosm...a world unto itself. 

Wal Mart makes life so easy, doesn't it? I mean, it is truly one-stop shopping! YAY!

You can get your banking done, grab a bite to eat at McDonald's or Subway, have your nails done at the salon, grocery shop, purchase electronics or home goods. If you need an oil change, they've got that. Yup! 

So, you have your average Wal Mart employee. Two-thirds are either senior citizens, college students, or second income providers. I'd also argue that they are minorities. Employees have to cover 33% of their insurance costs, according to that same site (the story is from 2004 so my apologies), higher than most corporations. In addition, Wal Mart actually encourages their employees to file for social welfare benefits, because, you know--they don't actually pay a living wage. Want some more astoundingly-sad data? Read this.

Now, when you make a shitty wage, what do you have to do? You have to spend wisely so what's the first place you think of when you think "low-budget"? Wal Mart, of course! So after taxes, SSI, and insurance, you take your 48% of your income and give 24% of it right back to Wal Mart. Isn't that convenient? 

You're left with 24% of your income to take care of yourself and/or your family. 

Is that so bad? Since Wal Mart rarely employs anyone full-time (hey!), what it means is, you have $273 a month to take care of business. 

[By the way, I don't endorse anything I link to; I'm merely supporting my findings.]

THAT SUCKS. 

I would argue, too, that if you walk through a Wal Mart, it's downright depressing. Women with too many mouths to feed, meandering down the frozen foods aisle to provide their families with way too many preservatives. 

Ever heard of meat glue? Thrombin coagulants are regularly used at Wal Mart. It's a neat-o way of taking scrap beef (all FDA-approved, so no worries!) and mixing it with transglutaminase to create a solid piece of meat, which is then sold as "top dollar cuts at bottom dollar prices"! What a fantastic idea, right? 

Sure, if you're a miser. But see, they don't have to include transglutaminase in their ingredients list. Have you ever tried to cook a Wal Mart steak? I have. Many months ago, before I made the conscious decision to stop giving them my money, I found a ribeye at Wal Mart that was a steal! I brought it home and gave it the treatment. What this means is, on a hot grill, no more than 4 minutes per side. But...it didn't look cooked. I mean, it still had this really blood-red appearance that made me check the internal temperature. Yup, about 135 degrees, F. So, I pulled it from the grill and plated it. I cut into it and well...it cut weird. It was as if the grain was gone. Then I tasted it. And it was horrible. It tasted like salt. And no matter how long I masticated that meat, it never broke down the way a steak is supposed to break down!

I suspected meat glue immediately, and I was right. Look, I can't prove it directly but I'm a Texan and we know beef. And frankly, I don't want glue in my meat. 

The whole point is, when will we stop deceiving ourselves by giving our money to companies that aim to deceive us? 

Wal Mart: Low Prices. Live Better?

I fear I could go on too long about this. Let's wrap this up now before it gets out of hand. I  leave you with a snippet of lyrics from the Dave Matthews Band's Too Much:

I told God, I'm coming 
To your country 
I'm going to eat up your cities, 
Your homes, you know. 
I've got a stomach full. It's not 
A chip on my shoulder. 
I've got this growl in my tummy 
And I'm gonna stop it today. 

I eat too much.
I drink too much. 
I want too much. 
Too much. 

See you soon,

~Beth

Why Giving Up and Failing Are the Same Thing

So, yesterday, I went to the Po'Boy Festival in New Orleans, LA. It was fantastic. I ate a pate and pickled vegetables po'boy (needed salt and pepper) and one of the most delicious garlic shrimp po'boys I'd ever crammed into my mouth. It was sunny and the mood was decidedly upbeat. I was with friends that I love and we got to discussing why I stayed in my previous relationship. And I said just what I said in my first post: I'd rather fail than give up. 

But I got to thinking as I said it that it's really the same thing. My friends helped me realize this. I mean, don't you fail when you give up? Do you give up when you fail? Of course, at some point, I must've said "I give up on trying to make this work". 

What I really meant all along is that I am not one who gives up easily. I am tenacious about relationships. I believe they are hard work. I feel you must put effort into them. And when someone fucks up, you have to forgive (there is a line, of course, but everyone deserves a second chance for the most part). I am also a romantic when it comes to love. I believe in the great love story. I want the love story to have a happy ending. So, I will try and try (and sometimes, I'm the only one doing so) because I feel when you quit someone, you'd better be damned sure that's what you really want. When I leave, I'm not coming back. You get the idea.

It usually has to get pretty bad before I stop caring. 

I stayed because I cared. When I stopped caring, I ended it. Now to tie that up in a neat little package with a quote...

See you soon,

~Beth

Where Are We Going, and Why am I in This Handbasket?

Liberals. Conservatives. Republicans. Democrats. Po-tay-toes. Po-tah-toes.

Labels. Even Blogger offers them. 

For many years, I called myself a liberal. For a little over a decade, I labeled myself an agnostic. I said I was a Democrat. In fact, I've done a lot of thinking about labels and the roles we play throughout our lives. 

For instance, I kept seeing my life playing out in roles:

Baby, child, teenager, young adult, wife, mother, grandmother, dead.

And I kept thinking about the amount of time spent in each role. You know, we spend a good three to four years as a baby, about ten more as a child, another seven as teenagers, young adulthood sticks around for a bit, and then...

Well, we all just seem to be in such a hurry after that. Why is that? "Wife, mother, grandmother" can actually happen within a span of 15 years or so! What's the rush?

But really, I'm digressing. Let's get back to the labels.

Religion:

At some point, I let the agnostic bit go. It was overused in my circles. I found Humanism (another label!) which seemed a lot less "prove it to me" than agnosticism. Humanism was more laissez-faire. As humans, we have to accept the fallibility of man. I could not deny my Jewish ancestors, though, and now define myself as a Humanist Jew. My culpability is limited. I am free from finding fault or blame with the universe. Rather than attributing goodness (or badness) to God (any god), I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of human beings. It belongs there. 

Politics:

For so long, I was politically-charged. I loved to debate politics and express my point of view. I adored getting my parents riled up about liberalism and conservatism (they're both decidedly conservative). But then, I got tired of being brushed off. Once you declare your "liberal" or "Democrat" label aloud, a good percentage of the population stops listening to you. To that percentage, you're not just wrong, you're a whack-job. And it's not a lie to say that I'm a conservative liberal. I like the juxtaposition, Number One, and Number Two, I am quite conservative on many subjects. How does a liberal say that they want to limit the power of our government without saying they're conservative? Wouldn't that be a conservative government? 

Potatoes:

Okay, I'm only kidding.

But, what is it with these labels? Why do we seek to be labeled? Is it, indeed, to define ourselves? Is it necessary in order to communicate with one another? Do we do it so that we can get everyone on the same page with regard to understanding each other? If you ascribe to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, then yes, that's it. He was right. 

That's old-school, Folks!


And there's nothing wrong with it. 


When you find yourself communicating with someone for the first time, it seems a lot less about who you are than what you are. 


I've really tried to get away from labels. But people need them from you. They need to define you; they need you to define yourself. We love neat little packages tied up with string. We are all little boxes that we present to one another. If you're looking for a job, dating, parenting, making new friends, burying a loved one...


You're making boxes. 





See you soon,
~Beth

Good Men Doing Nothing

Edmund Burke wrote, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Many years later, this has been paraphrased as "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". I rather like the misquote. It's straight and to the point. This is exactly what I hope you'll find in this blog.

Let's be frank. Blogging has been around for well over a decade, and blogs are prolific. Does the world need another viewpoint? Better yet, could there be a finite number of viewpoints? After all, They say there are only seven original plots (we know better, but that's what They say). For years, politics has been about two sides. "The Truth" only has three. So, are there a finite number of viewpoints?

Maybe so.

But here's mine anyway.



Let me introduce myself. I am known as Beth, but my given name is Elizabeth Lubel. Sure, google me if you think it's necessary. There's some stuff out there. I turned 40 this year. I live outside of New Orleans right now, southeast of it. I miss it a lot. I'm a former teacher, a current private chef, and a future...yeah, that's good. I'm a future. I'm divorced with zero children, and I quite like it that way. There are enough children to look after in this world right now. I can barely keep up with them. I'm decidedly single. Almost two months ago, I broke up with a someone who has not quite learned how to treat people. Or animals. I've struggled to find the reason why I spent over three years with this man. I think that struggle has led me to a conclusion:

I would rather fail than give up.

The culmination of the aforementioned synopsis has led me to create this blog. It's my third one. By finding this blog, you can count on a couple of things from me. 

1. Statements of strong opinions, using strong language 
2. Entries about food and dining
3. Stories that need to be told
4. Ideas about our world

What you won't find in this blog:

1. Man-bashing
2. Pro-Feminism or Man-bashing as a result of pro-feminism
3. One-sided politics (unless it just has to be said)
4. Spelling errors

So, should you choose to revisit this page, please know that I aim to entertain, but as always, I am me. I am a future. 


See you soon,
~Beth