In Defense of Food, and our Health

In Defense of Food, and our Health
Article for the Dunnville Free Press
by John Taylor, 2 December, 2016


The DREAM “Raising Awareness” series held its November meeting at the Minga Restaurant, featuring the documentary, "In Defense of Food," by Michael Pollan. The meeting was emceed by youth DREAM team members Vicky Rafter, 15 years old, and Alex Hyne, 14 years old. 

In the film, Pollan, who is famous for his books on agriculture and diet, tells how after decades of researching what we should eat, he has simplified and encapsulated the implications into only seven words, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." He points out that we make about 200 food decisions each day, all influenced by advertising claims and counter claims. Bad choices are leading to poor health, chronic diseases and an epidemic of obesity. Most do not realise that really healthful food does not come from factories. It is to be found in produce aisles and farmer's markets. Their benefits are not advertised, but they are the best for our bodies.

As a society, we are in thrall to a corrupt ideology that Pollan calls "nutritionism," a quasi-science that makes technical advances into ways to increase profit while worsening our diet. For example, the invention of roller milling separated bran from the germ in wheat, which makes the flour for white bread. Worse, sugar went from a rare treat to a cheap commodity put into virtually every factory product. As a result, our intake of sugar now is 1000 times greater. Sixty percent of what we eat is processed food. 

The results are unnerving. Studies of the Hadza tribe in Africa, who still have a traditional diet, found that the "useless" bulk in their food, which passes through our digestive system, actually feeds the beneficial bacteria that protect our health. Studies comparing the Hadza to African Americans, whose genome is closest to the Hadza in Chicago, found that by simply adding bulk, that is, following Pollan's seven word prescription instead of the factory produced, "edible food-like substances" we call food, cured them of the chronic ills in only two weeks. 

The discussion after the film was led by Kevin Hamilton, the young farmer who runs Shared Harvest Farm, whose organic produce is featured in the Minga Restaurant. He explained how a commitment of 25 dollars a week brings in a bushel full of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables throughout the growing season, which is most of the year. I myself have subscribed to this program for years, and I can attest that it regularly challenges you to cook in ways that I never would have in any other way.

Kevin Hamilton reports that the fund goals for the new farmer's market are almost complete, and that construction will begin by spring.

Vicky Rafter, 15 years old, and Alex Hyne, 14 years old, Dream Team members, introduce the evening's program.

Marie Taylor deposits a ticket for an item in the Penny Sale.

Penny Sale Items

Kevin Hamilton and Kornelius Neudorf discussing local farming issues

DDHS presents: "WW1: The Boys Come Home"

The Dunnville District Heritage Association finished off its popular Great War commemoration series on November 23rd at Grandview Lodge auditorium. The presentation began  with this quote, "When war begins, nobody wins." Indeed, for Dunnville, as everywhere else, there were great losses a century ago in that great but not so good war. It was a contest where the side who lost the least was declared the winner. Entitled "WW1: The Boys Come Home," the slide show was written by DDHA researcher, Judy, and read by April Cormaci. The period covered the last year of the war, starting where the previous presentation in the series had left off, just after the battles of Passchendaele and Vimy Ridge. The Canadian army helped end the war with a series of successful but costly offensives that persuaded the Germans that continuing to fight was pointless. As well, the talk covered the return of Canadian troops from Europe and the elevation of the Canadian military to the seventh strongest in the world.

The bittersweet story of Arthur Currie was also recounted, a man who went from a small time businessman in Vancouver to probably the best general of the war. The shameful treatment of Currie by his own government is both tragic and shameful.

There was a local angle too. The history focused on the fortunes of local soldier James Morley Bennet, who survived the war, died in 1956 and is buried in Dunnville's Riverside Cemetery. The war, sanguinary as it was, was overshadowed by an epidemic of influenza that killed far more than the hostilities. On the bright side, Dunnville seems to have largely escaped the contagion.
Unfortunately, the return home after the armistice was slow and frustrating, partly because German submarines had sunk most of the troop carriers, but mostly because of the order of their leaving. Higher ups had decided upon what accountants call a LIFO approach, last in, first out. The freshest troops got to return home first, while veterans who had suffered most were left to stew in isolated camps in Europe.

Canada was profoundly changed by this war, summed up by the slogan that moved many in WWI, "King and Empire," whereas the byword of the second world war was, "King and Country."
Upcoming presentations by the DDHS are, Welland Canal: Memorial to Fallen Workers
on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, and Selkirk Heritage Day, on Monday, February 20, 2017

April Cormaci reads Judy's research report.

Official Poster for the DDHS presentation

Mementos on display included a lighter made from a round fired in anger during that war.

Lunacy, Serious and Non-serious, essay posted 30 November, 2004

Lunacy, Serious and Non-serious

originally written 30 November, 2004
At the time, my two kids were 10 (Silvie) and 5 (Tomaso)


I must be getting quite a reputation in this town and not as the author of the "Open Secret." It is hard to miss us coming. Each time I walk down the street with the kids lately they insist upon playing this stupid "ghost" hiding game; it was amusing for a while but now they play so frequently that it has become an annoyance. They will trail behind me hiding behind my back and every time I turn around to find them, they rush to keep behind my back, unseen. I pretend to be perplexed.

"I have lost them, where are they? Hmm," I say as if to myself, "what became of those kids? I can hear their laughter but every time I turn around to find out who it is, all I see is a blur. What is going on here?"

Strangers looking on cannot help but smile. Sometimes, when I reach around my back quickly enough and grab at the air, I catch hold of one of their coats. That became the biggest thrill of all, since they love to shed the coat and disappear behind my back, leaving me wondering how I got a hold of a ghost kid's coat. After practising so long both Silvie and Thomas have become adept at rushing out of view but since their tactic is to walk in a row with little Thomas the third in line, the five year old ends up doing the hardest running to keep out of view. I have to watch myself as it can turn into a game of crack the whip; I especially have to be careful as I come near walls, poles and parking meters, lest one of my ghostly companions is done an injury.



Let us go on to more serious lunacy. Rufus T. Firefly rose to the presidency of Fredonia through the pressure of a wealthy female admirer. Unless they installed him as president she refused to tender a loan to keep its bankrupt treasury afloat. Once inaugurated, Firefly immediately declared war on a neighbouring country because of an imagined slight from its ambassador who also happened to be his rival for that woman's affections. So it was that Firefly led his nation into war for a personal whim. Not so far fetched, considering that Kaiser Wilhelm II's childish inferiority complex prompted the naval arms race that brought on the First World War and Hitler pushed his war to get it over with while he was still young and vigorous.

The only unbelievable aspect of this story is that in the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup, President Rufus T. Firefly of Fredonia fought actual battles in the front lines. Real politicians and members of the elite never get their hands dirty like that, they stand back and let the ignorant Hoi Polloi fight and die. But otherwise, this farce is an accurate appraisal of how war comes about even today. Towards the end of the Master's stay in California, someone asked Him about war (we do not have the specific question, only the answer) and this is what He said,

"A great war and commotion shall inevitably take place in the world. Things will come to such a pass that the generality of mankind will rise against the statesmen of the world and say, `You sit in your palaces in perfect comfort; you eat and drink sumptuously; you sleep blissfully; you eat delicious food and relax in gardens with beautiful views. But for the sake of your name and worldly fame, you throw us, your subjects, into war, shed our blood and tear our bodies to pieces. But no thorn ever pricks your hands and not for a moment do you leave your rest and comfort.'" (Mahmud, 344)

We cannot allow a few cheats to take away our democratic rights. The general strike in Kiev over the past week reflects the increasing desire on the part of the masses to be free of petty tyrants and their arbitrary measures. Observers have noticed that the majority in these demonstrations are youth, many of whom were not yet born when the Berlin Wall fell.

How long will it be before we can be sure that justice will come before privilege? How can we be certain of true security? What system will assure that dependable leaders will rise to the top, rather than the Lucas T. Fireflies of the world? One thing I believe ever more firmly as I get older is that there can never be an adequate answer to the old Roman question, "Who will guard the guardians?" As long as individuals rule over law, as long as anyone is allowed to take a position of absolute power, nobody can act in time to check the abuse, corruption and loss of trust. Rule of law may seem slow and clumsy but demonstrations and protest movements are even slower and clumsier. We must ever bear in mind that progress comes from agreement, not strife and conflict.

In this vein, one of the most hopeful signs of progress in the political realm occurred during the last election in the United States. In the face of the bitter contention and disunity of that election, the Philosopher's Cafe movement held an "anti-demonstration," a mass walk in the streets of New York during the Republican Party's Convention, led by philosophers rather than politicos. This was not a demonstration because instead of taking a stand for or against anything or anyone the order of the day was to ask this simple question: "What makes a good politician?" As they walked, participants tried to answer that question in an atmosphere of civility and sincere enquiry.

And indeed, what better question could you ask before a vote? If you haven't asked yourself that, what good is your vote in the first place? If those who are elected have not asked that question sincerely, why are they serving? What are they serving? How, for gosh sakes, are they going to do their job? To me, `Abdu'l-Baha anticipated the Philosopher Cafe March's question, "What makes a good politician?" when He was visiting Pleasanton, California. On this occasion He made the following comments upon the presidential election current at the time.

"The president must be a man who does not insistently seek the presidency. He should be a person free from all thoughts of name and rank; rather, he should say, `I am unworthy and incapable of this position and cannot bear this great burden.' Such persons deserve the presidency. If the object is to promote the public good, then the president must be a well-wisher of all and not a self-seeking person. If the object, however, is to promote personal interests, then such a position will be injurious to humanity and not beneficial to the public." (Mahmud, 327)

The Master describes here a surprised person with an unwanted, unwonted duty thrust upon her, not one who has spent years on the campaign trail to qualify for the job. Whatever tests and trials distinguished this leader from others have still not prepared her to slip smoothly into her commission. Indeed the very inner condition or spiritual state that qualifies her seems also at the same time to make her emotionally unprepared for it. It is like seeing your own eyeball, or trying to find someone hiding behind your back.

Such an elected leader must have a deep humility rather like that of the Master Himself, Who always attributed His success and confirmations to the power of Baha'u'llah and His Covenant, and to nothing else. Perhaps more difficult, the electorate must have an almost impossibly high level of discernment in order to elevate only those with the right stuff, stuff that the elected themselves cannot observe in themselves. The only way that such great powers of perception on the part of so many people could come about would be if backbiting were completely eliminated, if the waves of gossip were stilled.

I do not suppose that complete elimination of cruel tongues and personal interplay would be impossible. If you want to see a film about the evils of gossip, especially among young girls, go and see "Bad Girls," in a video store near you. This film is just as if someone had given a Baha'i an assignment in film making school to write a story with backbiting as the real enemy of humanity, not violence, not the usual suspects, just gossip. It is not a superhero story at all, but having seen it I wonder how a superhero would fight the gossip and backbiting so clearly seen in this film.

A superhero would be helpless to stop it because backbiting, like my kids' "ghost" game, goes on between individuals, in private and behind your back, by definition. But one thing you may notice as you watch the movie is this: the enemy is never named. Non-Baha'is are like the Inuit in the ever warmer Arctic, forced to deal with species that could never exist there before; they do not even have a name for it. At least we Baha'is have a set of names for the enemy: gossip, backbiting, calumny.

What election could allow such an attitude and sense of self to come to the attention of the electorate? One possibility might be for each of us to think about it for a while, then try to hold forth on question, "What makes a good leader?" "What kind of person do we need to represent us?" Having expressed my own answer, I then might see among those others trying to answer that question someone worthy of consideration. But the problem is that words are not sufficient; words are cheap. This is a quality that comes in the sum of his or her whole life. This is a huge challenge. An entirely different set of rituals, or indeed an absence of rituals, might be needed in order for the electorate to ask and answer such questions before an election.

A recent Reader's Digest recorded an interview with Donald Trump. Judging by what he says, this is clearly an intelligent man with integrity and great competence as a super-landlord and developer. His argument defending why he worked out his reputation as "The Trump," as the consummate self-aggrandiser, touches upon the very question that voters have to deal with before an election. Trump's unapologetic apology is this: in the present business climate you have no choice but to toot your own horn; if you want to succeed there is no choice, you have to be self confident to the point of arrogance. Only the most egotistical bombast can carry across the noisy void and if you are competent you have to tell everybody that you are the best because nobody is going to come over and uphold your cause for you. It has to be you, and you first, in promoting your cause. Trump's problem is hardly unique to this age. This is the human condition. It was a feverish concern twenty centuries ago. It will be a vexed issue twenty centuries from now.

Ours is a philosophical failure that results from neglecting to ask the right questions, from imagining ourselves too "busy" to think about what most matters in life, who we really are and Who God is. Plato makes this point in the Sophist,

Stranger: "When a person supposes that he knows, and does not know, this appears to be the great source of all errors of the intellect."

Theaetetus: "True."

Stranger: "And this, if I am not mistaken, is the kind of ignorance which specially earns the title of stupidity."

Theaetetus: "True."

Stranger: "What name, then, shall be given to the sort of instruction which gets rid of this?"

Theaetetus: "The instruction which you mean, Stranger, is, I should imagine, not the teaching of handicraft arts, but what, thanks to us, has been termed education in this part of the world." 

(Plato, Collected Dialogues, p. 972)


Not having asked the right questions we allow ourselves to think we know, which leads to unworthy, stupid, lunatic attitudes. Only when we more secure in asking the deeper questions, when we are used to trying and failing to answer them will we be ready to find good questioners to put in the most perplexing positions of all, those that must ask on our behalf: "What are we to do next?"

Is the Baha'i Commonwealth a form of Responsible Government, or vice versa?

As I write, Americans are sweating blood as Donald Trump introduces his cabinet appointees to the world. Who is this fellow he chose? Could be anybody. 

When de Tocqueville analysed the American system, he noted that the presidency was in effect an elected king, but whose all but unlimited powers were weak and counter-balanced by meagre, decentralised executive means. It was true, too, at the time. Since then his means and power has greatly increased.

Canadians developed our greatest political invention during the 19th Century, responsible government (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsible_government). William Lyon MacKenzie (a one time rebel leader who relented and became a founding father of Canada, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mackenzie-william-lyon/) and others worked out responsible government in close contact with the flaws of the American system, whose many other virtues they also knew intimately. Responsible government became the core of the Westminster parliamentary system, adopted by England, Australia, and others.

One feature of RG is that the leader is chosen by a party, like the U.S. President, but both PM and party are wholly responsible to parliament, which in turn responds to the will of the people, to the monarch, and ultimately to God. A motion of non-confidence brings it all down, and the PM must reform or call a new election. The Prime Minister's cabinet consists only of elected members of parliament from the same party. As a result, after an election we feel curious, not fearful or surprised, to find out which ministers the PM chose out of other elected parliamentarians.

Baha'i Administration removes parties, but in effect the secretary or chair of the spiritual assembly is close in role to the Prime Minister under responsible government. No power outside the institution, but a surprising amount of executive discretion. At times, in public relations, the secretary of the NSA is even referred to as the "secretary general" of the Baha'is of that nation. The UHJ has a rotating chair, whose function is kept purely internal and confidential -- like the rotating presidency of Switzerland. At the local level, the chair is the one whose job is similar to the Prime Minister. He or she is a public figurehead kept in check and responsible to the Assembly as an institution. The role of the chair is crucial and much more demanding than most beginners in the study of the Administrative Order usually realise. 

Unlike responsible government, though, the Baha'i institutions are responsible to God, first and foremost. But it is still, I think, a form of responsible government, as described above. If I am right, this would be suitable to our collective coming of age, the era that the Guardian called the "age of responsibility."

Pauline Johnson, a Poetess Between Two Worlds

Pauline Johnson, a Poetess Between Two Worlds

article by John Taylor for the Dunnville Free Press


On October 26th, the Dunnville and District Heritage Association held its monthly meeting on Pauline Johnson, "a poetess between two worlds." The speaker was Kari Hill, a history scholar at McMaster University and volunteer summer tour guide at Chiefswood Museum in Ohsweken. This museum is a restoration of the family home of Pauline Johnson as it looked in the 1880's. Ms. Hill, as a native speaker of the Cayuga language, gave a unique perspective on the origins of this groundbreaking poet, celebrity and performer. Ms Hill emphasised the positive aspects of Pauline Johnson's life and contributions, as well as her culture and place in Canadian and Native history.  

Pauline Johnson's "two worlds" came from the union of her parents. Her tie to the Six Nations Confederacy came through her father, George H.M. Johnson (1816-1884), a chief and polyglot speaker of six languages who worked as a translator among the several native languages spoken at the time by the Six Nations. Pauline Johnson's mother was Emily Howell (1824-1898) of Bristol, England, a member of the Quaker Faith and long time anti-slavery activist. They fell in love at first sight and married after a five year engagement, despite opposition from their families. George built their house as an architectural symbol of the union between the native and the English cultures. Its two entrances were intended to say that both cultural worlds are compatible and harmonious.  

Pauline grew up with her canoe named "Wildcat", which she took out on excursions alone in nature for as long as three days. The poems of Pauline Johnson are thus inspired by the same river that runs through Dunnville, the Grand. Johnson became a columnist for newspapers, and later travelled the world with her one woman show, travelling alone in a time when an unescorted woman tourist, much less a performer, was an oddity. Pauline's show may have taken advantage of stereotypes about Indians, Hill explained, but she put her own twist on them and used the chance to bridge cultural gaps. 

Johnson's performances inspired a recent play and one woman show about Pauline Johnson, featuring Mohawk/Irish actor Sherie Maracle, which, appropriately, was performed at Chiefswood this past summer. For more information, go to http://www.paddlesong.org/ 

Kari Hill

Kari Hill with chart explaining the nature of the Six Nations political union

April Cormaci, President of the DDHA, speaks with Kari Hill before the talk.

Denise Miller and Kari Hill, guides at Chiefswood National Historic Site, pose outside the museum. Photo Credit: Natalie Paddon, Brant News

  

DREAM Kicks Off A Season of Activism

On October 14th at the Minga Restaurant, the DREAM youth group started its raising awareness series with the Michael Moore film, “Where to Invade Next,” followed by discussion led by a member of the DREAM team, in this case, Sarah Taylor (age 17). Sarah spoke of the DREAM goal of setting an example of social concern for other youth, and of an idea in the film that all it takes to tear down a wall is an idea – Moore's wall was the Berlin Wall, whose fall he and a friend witnessed. In the movie, Moore describes how he travelled Europe, searching for good ideas and policies to bring back home to the United States. This was because he has been criticized in his filmography for loudly crying about problems and ignoring their solutions. I asked Silvie Taylor (age 22) what she thought of the film. She said,

"In the movie, I liked that the kids (in Finland) got a better education through less homework, less school and more creative time. There was also an interview with the world's first female president (Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was elected in August of 1980), which set the bar for more female presidents. And it was sad to see how cruel the U.S. prison guards were to Black prisoners, especially compared to the Norwegian prison system that focused on rehabilitation, not revenge."

The movie also showed Moore's visit to Portugal, where drug use has been legalized. Instead of chaos, this policy, combined with treatment and reintegrating of addicts into society, has had great success. For more information on this non-isolationist approach to eliminating drug abuse, see the book, "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, by Johann Hari, at http://chasingthescream.com/

Moore also interviews police officers in Portugal, who ask him for a chance to send a message to law enforcement officers in America about the death penalty: "Killing people in the name of the law is an affront to human dignity," they declare. 

After the movie, DREAM organizer Reza Kazemi spoke about the advantages of watching a documentary like this together. The magic of collective awareness shared together is different from what it would be if we watched the same film at home. Like Moore's film, the present emphasis of DREAM is positive. They wrote: "This year’s DREAM raising Awareness series looks at solutions and possibilities for creating positive change. Rather than only looking at a problem, the focus is to look at the solutions community can offer."

The next in the series will take place on on November 18th, in support of the Dunnville Farmers’ Market. The movie will be Michael Pollan's documentary, “In Defense of Food,” meant to debunk the daily media barrage of conflicting claims about nutrition. DREAM is also sponsoring an application of the lessons of eating food, rather than factory produced junk food, on Feb. 24th, with a “A Culinary Night that Heals”.  Grade 8 students of Dunnville will cook up gourmet food that is healing, both for our bodies and the planet.

By John Taylor

Sarah Taylor, Laurence, Caleb Noon in discussion period after the film.

Reza Kazemi