(Originally posted 12/23/13.)
In the past, I’ve seen many print ads that use the word “aromatherapy.” They seemed to me only to be selling fragrances, and I didn’t see the point of using that word.
Light endorses the Bach Flower Remedies. I’m skeptical.
Beginning when I got out of jail, I resolved to shower every day and chose to use Suave Coconut Body Wash. I liked the smell, and it seemed to me to have something African about it. I kept using it until about six months ago, when I decided I could no longer afford it, and began using what the mission gave me instead.
A few days ago, I ran out of body wash, and instead of getting more from the shelter, got out a small bottle of the Suave that I had saved for other purposes. As soon as I took off the cap and caught a whiff of coconut, my spirits lifted. This has happened again every day since. I think now to make a way to afford more when this runs out.
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“Although quinoa has asserted its position as the golden girl of whole grains, there is another grain that deserves a chance in the spotlight: millet.”
This is all about disparities of wealth.
On the one hand, despite my love of bread and breadmaking, I do sometimes show signs of gluten intolerance (sprue). However, I’m not about to endorse the current politically correct fad of rejecting all gluten-containing products.
I know about millet from having maintained a bird feeder for many years. I knew it was a staple in some places, but not that “it feeds a third of the world’s population.” I have no doubt that it’s delicious.
At the library I came across the book Spelt healthy! : quality whole food cooking and baking with spelt. I’m not averse to learning more about spelt as a possible alternative to wheat. But — spelt, quinoa, millet — I don’t know how important any of these fad foods can be so long as they remain out of reach, in price and availability, for poor folk like me.
The Wikipedia article on quinoa makes an interesting point: its recently-acquired glamor among affluent city-dwellers threatens to price it out of reach of the rural poor who have grown and eaten it forever.
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CELEBRITIES, GO HOME!
From Thanksgiving through Christmas, a steady stream of celebrities come to visit the mission, supposedly to serve us meals and give out clothes. (The clothes typically actually go to the non-homeless “Programmers” rather than us truly homeless “Overnighters.” The mission’s web site misleads folk into thinking the latter include the former. I explain the terms here.) Every one of these events impresses me as a big headache, given the hoops we overnighters must jump through to accommodate the VIPs. They seem to be much more about them than us; media ops. I guess I can’t complain too much, since they no doubt bring large cash donations with them. But not all that’s done for the homeless is done for the homeless.
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