Martin Espada, "The Florida Citrus Growers Association Responds to a Proposed Law Requiring Handwashing Facilities in the Fields"
Hi everyone --
I'm wrapping up my last week in school before winter break, poking my head out from underneath a pile of grading. I have two things to share that I went over with my classes. They're important–they speak to the power of government, something taken too easily for granted:
- "A Texas politician wants to provide emergency services to constituents who don’t have them. Will they let him?" – this blew me away; I'm still relatively new to the area and learning about it. 15 minutes from where I live is an unincorporated part of Ector County, West Odessa, where anywhere from 32,000-50,000 people live without city government. Emergency services are sparse, sidewalks and streetlights and zoning and good roads are all rare. Water is a big issue: if you want water, you typically have to get a company to drill you a well. There's trash everywhere, too. I don't think I need to tell you why I am trying to memorize this article word-for-word.
- City government, for all its faults, opens up some incredible possibilities. This short documentary is a few years old, but it shows how effective a UBI program can be. A little cash goes a long way in areas where no real attention has been given.
Martin Espada, "The Florida Citrus Growers Association Responds to a Proposed Law Requiring Handwashing Facilities in the Fields"
I have been thinking lately about how we survive and thrive in our own little dreamworlds. I don't call them fantasies, because our dreamworlds can carry plenty of pain. Somehow, we live in them and stay clueless about how reality works until we crash into it. Even then, that's only a clue. Some of the most ignorant people I know recreated their dreamworlds brick-by-brick after self-caused catastrophe. I call them ignorant because they never cared about how much harm they did to others.
It cannot be lost on you, dear reader, that many of the rich and powerful live in dreamworlds dominated by paranoia. Someone is always after their stuff, they feel. Sometimes that is all they feel. You can imagine members of, say, the Florida Citrus Growers Association saying to their workers' faces that "[a]n orange, / squeezed on the hands, / is an adequate substitute / for soap and water." It is infuriating to imagine, but it can be imagined. We know bosses are obsessed with destroying the very idea labor can have power.
The Florida Citrus Growers Association Responds to a Proposed Law Requiring Handwashing Facilities in the Fields Martin Espada An orange, squeezed on the hands, is an adequate substitute for soap and water
Also, cruel dismissals of others' needs abound. I've known people who said that those who fought cancer were selfish and kids with disabilities were spoiled. These are shocking statements, but when you consider our collective commitment to either healthcare or services for those with special needs, you realize there's a lot of unstated dehumanization.
All living in a dreamworld requires is a little detachment. It doesn't have to involve a radically unempathetic act; it can thrive from a search for truth with no specific context. That might make all of us who like to analyze and ponder a teeny bit uncomfortable. I want the richness of things to sing, but many have engaged in that pursuit to create a weird mysticism which stifles the cries of others. "An orange, / squeezed on the hands" – I should say I imagine, here, a ritual gone wrong. Orange pulp everywhere with no discernible purpose. You soil your hands whereas soap and water would clean. But there's a catch: little rituals we use to accept the unacceptable are plentiful. We really do offer thoughts and prayers to victims of gun violence so we can keep selling firearms. I can imagine a squeezed orange as part of some ritual that makes horrific labor conditions palatable to those who could change them.
Oranges are magnificent fruit. I can't remember when I refused a glass of orange juice. A number of viruses are dead because of the Vitamin C they hold. When I peel an orange, the scent is heavenly, the anticipated taste luscious. I feel like the particular cruelty of the owners of the citrus groves lies in a dreamworld which denies what oranges are. They're not soap and water; they're almost not of this world; you would want to give all the soap and water and good conditions to your laborers so this amazing fruit could be harvested properly, with due reverence.