Sunday, February 26, 2012

Oafs of Office?

If someone arrested your friends and stole food from you and your community - all in your name - you'd probably want to know about it. In fact, you'd probably take action to correct things and see that it doesn't happen again... I know I would.

And yet this is precisely what seems to have unfolded during the August 3rd, 2011 raid on the Rawesome Foods private club in Venice and what appears to be continually happening around the country while We the People remain asleep and ignorant to (or unwilling to face) the corruption run amock in government agencies still claiming to be working for our best interests.

But what if you could give substance to that sick feeling you've only ever carried quietly inside - the one that tells you something really is wrong with this picture, that something foul or dirty or sinister is at work? What if the people you thought were just 'crazy conspiracy theorists' were actually the truth-tellers? What if you could definitively prove certain members of the government weren't really serving the People? What if you could demonstrate with concrete evidence that certain government agents closest to the investigation and subsequent arrests of your friends were never authorized - not by you, nor anyone - to investigate in the first place? What if those folks claiming to conduct their duties on behalf of the People had goofed and missed an important step somewhere, and you - a concerned citizen - could see their too hastily assumed authority now unraveling?

And what if you were beginning at last to understand that even you had - in your silent, unquestioning consent - somehow helped those perceived authorities to falsely accuse your friends, harrass and intimidate your entire community and ultimately force your neighbors into giving up their businesses or declaring bankruptcy? What if you decided no longer to wear the cloak of a victim?

Monday, February 6, 2012

Raw En Route

Never, never travel.

That was some of the first, not medical, but friendly, advice I received after becoming diabetic, and it haunted me for some time. The diabetic acquaintance advising me at the time was merely communicating the strife he'd encountered after running out of supplies while overseas, but his story certainly made an impression. It may have had the opposite effect on me than he had intended, however (many things do), in that I became determined to travel the very next year, largely just to prove to myself that it wasn't such a big deal. As expected, once in Europe, I indeed had a wonderful time visiting my friend, and I've thought very little of that friendly "don't travel" warning since.

With Squeak & Velveteen at Providence Farms in Edmond, OK.
Photo used with permission of Providence Farms.
That is, until I started eating Raw foods and heard it again.

The suggestion was presented in a slightly different context this time and made, particularly, in reference to the convenience and accessibility of the high quality, nourishing foods made available through my membership with the Rawesome private food club in Venice, California. "You'll never want to live anywhere else," my friend told me.

At the time, he was right. Living (and even visiting for long) anywhere else just didn't seem practical if I wanted to be sure I got the nutrient-dense foods I desired. So for a few months, all was well in my contained little world. No drama and no pending travel would upset my cozy, comfy Raw food routine... And then came the government raid in August last year that forced the Rawesome club to close indefinitely. Suddenly, I wasn't sure where to go or what to do.

Grateful as I had been (and will be again when Rawesome re-opens) to have so many wonderful, nurturing products available all under one roof, the event ultimately forced Raw devotees like me to be more flexible, creative and pro-active in how we obtain the enzyme-rich foods we need. And I was happy to rediscover my curious, scouting initiative, but there was still a monster crouching in my closet: My trip home for the holidays this year would be my first visit home since making the decided switch to a mostly Raw diet, and I was terrified to go.