I recently read the The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. He writes about what would happen to the planet if humans vanished (he offers rapture, disease and other scenarios for the disappearance). For example, he details how long the island of Manhattan would take to return to wilderness, how long it would take for tamed rivers to un-dam themselves and recreate wetlands, and how long beachfront properties would last.

The chapter that I can’t stop thinking about has to do with plastics. It is unknown how long plastic takes to return to the earth in a natural form. I cringe when I see “disposable” items made from plastic. Plastic is not disposable. It never, ever goes away. Not even “biodegradable” plastic, it just breaks down into smaller pieces.

I’ve been ruminating that not-recycling plastic is not only environmentally disastrous, but poor foresight. Plastic is essentially a nonrenewable and super useful resource. I envision a future of high-paid trash pickers unearthing old landfills in search of long-buried recyclable plastics.

Additionally: Your Stuff: It Isn't Grown, It Must Be Mined

. . . ultimately, one day our industrial economy will be made up entirely of recycled and biologically grown material. That day, however, may be a long way off. How do we get there, and what is the world of mining like today? How rapidly are we depleting the minerals we have, and how do we get to sustainable mining?

To maintain our standard of living, each person in the United States requires over 48,000 pounds of minerals each year:

* 12,428 lb. of stone
* 9,632 lb. of sand and gravel
* 940 lb. of cement
* 276 lb. of clays
* 400 lb. of salt
* 302 lb. phosphate rock
* 639 lb. of nonmetals
* 425 lb. of iron ore
* 77 lb. of bauxite (aluminum)
* 17 lb. of copper
* 11 lb. of lead
* 10 lb. of zinc
* 6 lb. of manganese
* .0285 T oz. gold
* 29 lb. of other metals

Plus:

* 7,667 lb. petroleum
* 7,589 lb. coal
* 6,866 natural gas
* 1/3 lb. uranium

It is the day before the day before Christmas, and I just finished shopping for presents. I wound up last-minute desperation shopping today at Borders to purchase a CD for my father and a book for my brother. The excursion was intended to be short and pain-free.

Dad wants new Alicia Keys CD, daughter purchases CD. Brother will like Steven Colbert's I am America, sister plunks down $23 for it hardcover. It's not about me, it's about what they will like. Everyone will be happy. I remain energetic, spirited and ready to bake oatmeal cranberry (I don't know Karate, I know Craisin) cookies with my cat, Steve.

However, at this point I still haven't found gifts for my brother's longtime lady-friend and my mother's boyfriend. In an uninspired amateur consumer move, I decide to check out the store next door: Bad Crap & Beyond. It seems this big box store exists solely for bridal registries and for people to buy home items that appear thoughtful when they have no idea what said people actually might like.

Depressing--As Seen on TV! I embody self-loathing. I bought my mother's boyfriend battery powered massage slippers. I lost my mind in a whirlwind of scented socks and electric candles. I can return them tomorrow, but that would require going back to the store. My brother's girlfriend? She is getting a real candle. Yup, so lame.

I made the cookies, but all I could think about are the stupid slippers and thoughtless candle. Shame! At this point it is either those awful presents or gift cards. I can only hope that they give me equally awful presents to assuage my guilt.

Don't be an Energy Hog.


Wikipedia: says he is a villainous character who wastes energy in the home.

Just ran across another resource saving hero who lives on the West Coast.

My pride and joy!

I was happily shocked to receive a postcard from the city announcing my block as a pilot area for automated curbside recycling and trash collection. If the pilot is successful, deemed feasible and wholly enacted, Cleveland would be on par with cities like San Francisco and Portland when it comes to being recycle-y.

Below is a preview of how the system will work. Currently, my roommate and I recycle by delivering plastics, cardboard, paper and metals to recycling dumpsters in our area. This initiative should make the process more convenient and hopefully encourage others to recycle too. My only reservation is that I will become spoiled by the pilot program, only to have it taken away.

RTA rocks. As does Cleveland.

On Sunday I went on a plant identification walk at Edgewater Park with Josh and Jocelyn of Plant Ally Herbs. Josh and Jocelyn sell tinctures, oils, teas and other plant-based apothecary at the farmer’s market on Professor Avenue across from Lucky’s Café in Tremont. While they advised the group not to eat things growing at Edgewater, many of the plants they identified are edible and/or medicinal when they’re found in untainted soil.

Josh and Jocelyn explained how to identify certain families of plants, look-alike plants, edible plants, medicinal plants and invasive plants.

Revisions suggested by Josh on 10/9/07:

Jenita!  here, sorry it took so long!
Here are the little adjustments that would
probably be good.- Chicory is cultivated both
for "coffee substitute" and just as a
straight-up vegetable.

- Bittersweet Nightshade: It's about the last
3-400 years, and justfor Europeans.  Indigenous
cultures in the U.S. have been cultivating
potatoes for ages, and probably tomatoes and
other stuff too, though I
don't really know.

- Evening Primrose is also a delicious edible
plant (haven't tried it yet; but next time I'm
out of cleveland and one crosses my path...!)

- I wouldn't touch the burdock description at
all, but, just as a note-- it's all edible
(some parts more than others, esp. young
leaves/stem, budding flower heads, and, in
particular, the roots).I've eaten burdock root,
but not that I've picked myself.

Edible Plants

Oxalis/Sorrell

This is one of the few edible plants I already knew of. I used to munch on it when I was a kid; we called it sour weed because of its lemony flavor.

Mustard

I did have a little taste of this tangy plant--delicious!

Dandelion & Chicory

Both Dandelion and Chicory are in the Asteraceae (or composite) family of plants. According to the tour guides, this is the most common and varied family of flower in North America and includes daisies and sunflowers. Chicory is sometimes cultivated for its root, which is dried and ground as a coffee substitute or additive. Dandelions are edible: greens, roots and flowers. We looked at the similarities between dandelion and chicory flowers and I learned that each petal of a dandelion is actually a complete flower.

Lamb's Quarter

The entire Lamb's Quarter plant is edible. The seeds can be ground into a flour and the roots and leaves can be eaten. The plant is high in calcium, similar to nettles. This plant is also called pigweed and is in the Chenopodium (which means "goose foot" family of plants.

Chenopodium Leaf

Quinoa, Amaranth and Beets are also in the Chenopodium family.

Thistle


Thistles are related to artichokes. They have poky bracts around the flower head. If you can conquer the spikes, the thistle is edible.

Grapevine


I've only eaten grape leaves after they have been stuffed with rice, but it is nice to consider the simplest form.

Queen Anne's Lace/Wild Carrot

Queen Anne's Lace is a biennial plant; the first year it produces an edible root, and the second year it flowers. Garden variety carrots will revert back to Queen Anne's Lace if left to their own devices. The roots of QAL are edible and are paler and more fibrous than a garden carrot. The flower of the plant is an umble compound, which gives it a "fireworks" appearance. It is in the same family as parsley, fennel and dill and looks quite similar to Poison Hemlock. The difference? The Queen has tiny hairs on the stem.

Mulberry

Mulberries are edible, but what I found most interesting is that one mulberry plant can have 2 or 3 completely different shaped leaves.

Poisonous Plants
Bittersweet Nightshade

According to J&J, it is only within the last one hundred years that humans have been commonly eating nightshade fruits, including peppers, tomatoes and eggplants. Some nightshade plants are very poisonous and effect the central nervous system.

Purple Vetch



Purple vetch is in the pea family and can have a similar appearance to clover. Purple Vetch is poisonous, but Clover is edible and can be used to make tea. Clover has smaller petals.

Comparing Clover to Purple Vetch



Pokeweed

I think I may finally understand the expression "happy as a pig in a poke". The mature Pokeweed plant is poisonous. The poison is stored in the roots and travels into the entire plant as it grows. Some eat the young shoots and compare the flavor to asparagus. It also makes sense of the song, Poke Salad Annie.

Medicinal Plants
Boneset

Boneset is a misnomer as the plant shouldn't be used to help repair broken bones. Boneset is used to break fevers and got its name from an outbreak of Break-Bone Fever. It is used in a tea or a tincture.

Plantain



Plantain or Plantego is used as a spit poultice to draw out infection. It is both an analgesic and an antiseptic. Jocelyn explained that it can be chewed and then place topically on a scratch or a bee sting.

Evening Primrose



Evening Primrose is used to balance female hormones. It can be made into a tincture, oil or tea using the leaves, roots and stems. The plant is also an astringent and a sedative.

Evening Primrose Buds



Cottonwood Tree



The Cottonwood Tree is related to the Willow Tree and its bark and leaves are analgesic, astringent and diuretic. It is known as an "aspirin" plant and an be used as an anti-inflammatory. When Cottonwood buds are boiled in oil, it is known as the burn salve, "Balm of Gilead".

Myrtle/Periwinkle



Mrytle should not be ingested, but it can be used topically as a capillary constrictor. You can pack a nosebleed with the leaves to stay the flow of blood.

Industrious Plants

Cattails

The Native Americans used the leaves for basket weaving and the tops for torches. Plant Ally Herbs says that the top can be boiled and eaten like corn.

Teasel



Teasel looks similar to Thistle. The plant is so named because it was used to tease wool as it was combed out in the refining process.

Burdock Toss



The Burdock's burrs can be thrown effectively at your friends and enemies. If it lands in someone's hair, it may have to be cut out dramatically with scissors.

Pretty to Look At

Frostweed/Fleabane

On Saturday I went to half of Brian Swimme’s talk at River’s Edge in Rocky River. Swimme is a mathematical cosmologist.

Thinking about:

• Matter and spirit as synonyms
• To be sane in our culture is to be considered insane
• “We need to lean toward the conflict and not isolate ourselves with self-righteousness and blame.”
• Also a lot of talk about the universe expanding, the generosity of the sun and the interconnectedness of, well, everything.
  

I went to Nonprofit Organizations and Management class last night.

Thinking about:

• My professor referred to us as Idealogues. I looked it up: One given to fanciful ideas or theories; a theorist; a spectator.
  
• “The 1947 Studebaker was a well-engineered automobile, but the company did not adapt to its environment”. Ford stayed, Studebaker did not.
  

I went to economics class tonight.

Thinking about:

• Nothing is on sale if you don’t need it.
• An average person works 2,000 hours a year.

Not thinking about:

• Opportunity costs
• Demand curves
• Graphing maximum social benefit
  

Unrelated/elated knowledge:

• I have been wrapping my mind around the City Wheels car sharing program, and I am interested in tool sharing programs, but I had no idea an "art sharing program" exists at Oberlin College. Brilliant!
  

Ten days in California.

Day 1:
6 am Rapid to the airport. I drank coffee, browsed a pile of magazines and intermittently slept, drooled and woke with a neck cramp. Hybrid car rental fiasco (expired licenses and an attendant who played dumb for us-thank you) and then brief beach excursion on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica; palm trees and pastel stucco baked in the sun. We were obvious tourists on the beach in our street clothes. Surprised by actual waves and got wetter than I intended--tried to remember the last time I was at the ocean--left with sand scoured toes.

Later on, crazies at Venice Beach: smooth jazz bicycle rider, chair drummer, a choir of droning singers, face-painted teens; the homeless seem softer here than in Cleveland. We had dinner at Fig Tree's Cafe.

Day 2:

First, out for coffee; then, two jazz dance classes at The Edge separated by a lunch date with Chris at Cafe Audrey. Dinner at Leonor's Mexican Vegetarian Restaurant in Studio City. Then on to the Frolic Room and another bar for some drinks: a brandy side car and then a glass of Chardonnay.

Day 3:

Coffee, Ralph's for picnic supplies (oranges, avocados, tomatoes, pita, hummus, apricots) then Malibu Beach for sun, waves and thieving seagulls. The view from my towel was peppered by surfers on one side and gulls, cranes and storks on the other.

Day 4.

Hit the road for Yosemite National Park. Drove through the Mojave Desert. Tunes. Silence. The air was dry and when we stopped for gas the desert surprised me with its silence. Pink bathroom with handwritten signs reminding me to conserve electricity and water and turn out the light thank you very much.

We arrived at Tuolmne Meadows in time to start a 5.8 mile hike to our campsite at Glen Aulin. We were amateur, but plucky. The last mile was lit by crappy flashlights. I arrived cranky, my hiking companion was kind.

Day 5

Woke up in a chilly tent and percolated coffee slowly to drink on sun-warmed rocks as we looked at picket pins. On the hike back to Tuolomne Meadows to camp for the night, I dangled feet in a stream. Dipped in-too cold- briefly. We celebrated our daylight arrival with porter and noodles. I kept thinking of Gary Snyder poems.

Day 6

We de-constructed the campsite and drove to other side of Yosemite for a system-shocking mass of tourists and buses and taco stands. Walked a mile to Mirror Lake. There was no lake. California is in a drought. Left for San Francisco, but spent the night in Oakley. Wandered and debated over dinner and then settled on Asian fusion at Silk Road. We toasted to "vacillation as a means of adventure". Met a couple of Amtrak workers at the Fat Lady's Bar.



Day 7

Hangover from tequila, lemon drop, beer, wine train-wreck inspired by the Amtrak employees. In to San Francisco after a slow start of juevos rancheros and search for decent coffee. Perused the Mission (great murals). Dinner in the Tenderloin (Pho) and then an art gallery opening. Drinks and a little dancing at Levende.

Day 8

9am class at the Yoga Tree, a good reminder to tend my personal garden as I wondered how my vegetables were growing back in Cleveland. I missed my cat. We searched for perfect Mexican food. Buena Vista Park, Haight and Golden Gate Park meander. Cyclists! Fisherman's Wharf then bookstore to finally read some Gary Snyder.




Day 9

Twelve-hour ride down Highway 1. Breathtaking views. I kept thinking, "this is America?". Felt small and recognized and reconciled my generally land-locked life. Late arrival to Los Angeles for Chris chat and sleep.

Day 10

We volunteered to be bumped from a flight as a means to finance future travel. Four hours of reading, lolling, handstands, downward dogs and way too much airport food (purchased with an airline voucher). It was raining in Los Angeles when we left. I joked and said that LA was crying because we were leaving. I was ready to go home.

I bought four magazines today in preparation for plane travel to and from California: Yoga, Utne Reader, Mother Earth News and Tricycle. I feel both guilty and excited about my purchases. I am a former (recovering?) magazine addict.

I used to be ridiculously obsessed with magazines and my subscriptions included, but were not always limited to: Utne Reader, US News & World Reports, Time, Newsweek, Knitting, Mother Jones, National Geographic, The Smithsonian, Dance, Contact Quarterly and Jane (before it became stupid)—plus a slew of literary, art and design magazines and random zines I would buy intermittently.

Managing to avoid a career in journalism, I have regulated my appetite for mags. I now allow myself the pleasure only at airports and beaches; compartmentalizing my desire. Since I live in a land-locked state and no longer go on tour frequently, my magazine consumption has truly been restricted.

My thoughts are salivatory and my fingertips anticipate flipping those glossy rags, but a rule is a rule and I’m making myself wait until I get to the gate.

Cleveland comedian, and good friend, Micheal Ivy had a week-long gig MC-ing at Pickwick and Frolic in August. I met Ivy when he was a chef, and I was a server, at Parker's New American Bistro. In between making sorbet, chocolate souffles and apple tarts, he would scribble in this tattered notebook he kept at his station. In between spacing out and getting yelled at by the executive chef, he would make fantastic deserts.

At the time, I was a full-time modern dancer and he had dreams of becoming a comedian. So, we'd talk about the difficulties and rewards of a "career" in the performing arts.

He left Parker's to pursue his goals. He started with some contests at the Bassa Vita Lounge, helped to create aone productions, performed at comdedy nights at Rockstar and submitted videos on TBS's comedy website. He has been paying his dues and networking for at least three years. Needless to say I am thrilled for him and impressed by the way he has helped to grow the local comedy scene.

Thanks for the laughs!

I saw this sign on a telephone pole near my house. I suppose it is effective because I went home and Googled Ron Paul.

Garden Update:

Sugar Snap Peas

Bib Lettuce

Broccoli

Carrots

More signs of optimism:


"We spend millions of dollars on health studies, and a huge amount of our time, money, and mental effort on eating right and getting exercise. Yet what really kills us is cars: motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged six to thirty-three. . . . We crash our metal boxes into each other and into walls. . . we ignore the death strips that are our roads and highways. If we rejected cars, we would have to walk, and our exercise problem would be over."

-Jennifer Michael Hecht, The Happiness Myth

Signs of life in Tremont:

Human invention is a “sign” of hope and optimism, or at least that people do not totally regret life.

-Jennifer Michael Hecht, The Happiness Myth

On Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of kayaking (with boyfriend and his canoeing co-workers) the Upper Cuyahoga River. The seven miles downstream on the river to the Camp Hi Livery was placid, and I was reminded how good green smells and how sonorous springtime should be; we were accompanied by bird song, dragonfly buzz and bull-frog blats as we paddled/floated along.

Today, I was in Cleveland walking between Ohio City and Tremont, lamenting the cement-shored-up Cuyahoga of my neighborhood; disbelieving it is even connected to the river I kayaked just a couple of days ago. Walking over the Abbey Avenue Bridge, I stopped to smell the tree blossoms along the hillside leading to the tracks along Train Avenue. I jumped when I saw a pair of eyes looking back at me. At first, I assumed it was just someone hanging out in the trees (for a variety of reasons, none of which I cared to analyze), but I soon realized that they were not human eyes. It was a large doe.

My first reaction was sadness. I was sad for the deer, and her kin, who are eking out an existence along the narrow strip of post-industrial green between the river and the train tracks. My second, and longer-lasting reaction, was hopefulness. The reason I stopped to smell, was the same reason the deer was there. Nature abhors a vacuum. Could the space left by departed industry be slowly filling with good growing things?

I looked into this peaceful animal’s eyes. Despite the drone of traffic, I was transported to the past and potential of our Cuyahoga—the verdant growth, the bird song, the hillside sloping down to the river. She stared at me for about 30 seconds before she turned and went in the other direction.

I went to the Twilight Hike in the Natural Flats and the Shrinking Cities exhibit at SPACES Gallery, but today was the first time I viscerally understood the potential for a “shrinking city” to embrace compactness and to truly become something different. A deer on Abbey Avenue, I had no idea.

I took this picture at the University Circle Rapid Station. The fine print at the bottom reads: "GRAFFITI IS A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE A PUBLIC NUISANCE AND MUST BE ABATED PER PUBLIC CODE 3101"

The weird thing about the sign is that I couldn't read the print until I took a picture of it with my camera and then zoomed in on it. I wasn't sure if the sign (tacked to a bulletin board) was a joke put up by graffiti artists or part of a guerilla campaign cooked up by the city to deter graffiti artists.

The graffiti is one of the few aesthetically pleasing sights on the red line from Tower City to University Circle. Personally, I'd like the city to focus on cleaning up the piles of tires, refrigerators, and blue toxic waste barrels and leave the aerosol artists alone for now.

I took a walk around Tremont yesterday and wandered into a new gallery on Professor Avenue. The gallery space was, until recently, some sort of drapery or upholstery store.

The Paul Duda Gallery opened for the first time during Friday's Art Walk. Paul is not new to the gallery scene and has had a gallery in Brecksville for almost twenty years. The gallery on Professor is a wide-open, uncluttered space and Paul said that he'd be willing to share the space with groups who need a reception or meeting space.

I talked with Paul about his photography; his photos look almost like paintings, they are printed on canvas and mounted like paintings. Many of his photographs are of Cleveland's cityscapes and landscapes.


My favorite (on the right) is a photograph Paul took on this year's snowy Valentine's Day at Edgewater Park. I can't afford the original, but Paul sells nice looking prints for $35.

Paul is no stranger to the neighborhood; he has lived in Tremont for six years. He has some ideas for how the gallery owners could work together, including having unified business hours. Paul's idea is that people will travel from afar to the neighborhood to visit the galleries, if they were all open for business--making it worth the trip.

I went to two community meetings tonight; both had to do with my involvement in a new middle-school, after-school arts program that will begin this fall at Mound Elementary School in Slavic Village. The program, The Slavic Village Players, is simple: an after-school arts program, one afternoon a week for 12 weeks each semester. Each semester culminates in a performance for family, friends and the community.

The first meeting was at the Carnegie West Library in Ohio City for Neighborhood Connections, a program of the Cleveland Foundation. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the nuts and bolts of collecting the grant money awarded to us by the program, but the most interesting part of the meeting happened during the introductions. Each organization present introduced the name of their program, the neighborhood it will serve and the goals of the program. This meeting is one of many that Neighborhood Connections is having around Cleveland, yet I was amazed at the number and the creativity of the grassroots community programming represented.

There were many, many organizations who received funding for urban community gardens; I counted about ten groups at this meeting alone. I also learned about the Ben Franklin Community Garden in Old Brooklyn, which is a five acre garden that provides food for area hunger centers.

Community groups were also awarded funding to plant trees, to create walking groups and to provide arts and youth programs. Neighborhood Connections also funded a program that provides strollers to mothers who cannot afford them, a program to provide school supplies and book bags to indigent children and a program to fund a new African Dance group at Tri-C Metro. I left the meeting feeling fortunate to have shared a room with such a committed and motivated group of community-minded individuals.

The second meeting was at Slavic Village Development. The meeting was with Cleveland Public Art and ParkWorks to talk about the public art project pending for Cleveland's first rails-to-trails project on the Morgana Run Trail.

The Morgana Run Trail runs from East 49^th and I-77 to the Mill Creek Falls off of Fleet Avenue. This trail connects Slavic Village to both the Garfield Reservation as well as the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail.

Architect Christopher Diehl, the new director of the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, part of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State, unveiled his visions for public art projects along the trail, an appropriate combination of urban-space and green-space. He spoke about not wanting to “add something, but to find something already there (along the trail) and charge it with more meaning and emphasis”.

Diehl's ideas include creating a pixelated mural on a long industrial building; converting a house adjacent to the trail head into a work of public art to be seen from I-77; and painting convenience stores and an abandoned building to mark the route when the trail converges with city streets for a couple of blocks.

His preliminary images were thought-provoking and left plenty of space for community involvement—that’s where The Slavic Village Players come in. We are looking for community arts projects in which the students could participate. The Morgana Run Trail is near Mound Elementary and being involved in this project could be an ideal fit for our program.

I received this poem in the mail on Friday from my best friend from college. I love getting real mail from a real friend.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

-Mary Oliver

I planted broccoli, tomato, basil, brussels sprouts and cayenne peppers in the middle of March. I knocked over a couple of the tomato pots pre-sprout and my cat knocked over some of the basil. Despite being knocked around a bit, some of the seeds have achieved sprout status.

This morning I pried apart wooden pallets and this afternoon, with help, reassembled them into a raised vegetable garden bed.

Last week I checked out the Girl Culture photography exhibit at the Gallery in Trinity Commons. I recommend the exhibit to anyone who has the time to check it out, but I confess that I left Trinity feeling a little disturbed.

The photographs were selected from some of Lauren Greenfield's books and are photo-journalistic in style. Greenfield collected images of females at fat camps, at inpatient eating disorder clinics, at charm schools, playing dress-up, backstage at strip clubs and other uncomfortable and disordered female situations.

Had I looked at just one or two of the photographs, my reaction would have been, "well, it is too bad for those poor women and boy don't they have problems." However, the pervasiveness of society's unreasonable expectations for women is undeniable when the photos are viewed as a group and I admit my place on that neurotic continuum even though I try to rise above it.

Girl Culture is at the Gallery at Trinity Commons until April 28, 2007.
Exhibit Hours:
Tuesday: 10-6 Friday: 10-6
Wednesday: 1-8 Saturday: 10-3
Thursday: 10-6 Sunday: 10-3
Closed Monday