Requiem for “The Suburbs”: Arcade Fire’s newest record

Upon the turn of the 21st century, we have come to know our isolation well. Our self-imposed solitude renders us politically and spiritually inert, but rather than take steps to heal our emotional and existential wounds, we have chosen to revel in them. We consume the affected martyrdom of our purported idols and spit it back in mocking defiance. We forget that “emo” was once derived from emotion, and that in our buying and selling of personal pain, or the cynical approximation of it, we feel nothing.[1]

They seem wild but they are so tame / they seem wild but they are so tame / they’re moving towards you with their colors all the same / they want to own you but they don’t know what game they’re playing —“Rococo”

Pop songs are the horoscopes of the modern age. Before I offend the hard-core astrologist or the seasoned rock musician (or even more likely, rock critic) alike, allow me to elaborate: both adhere to a formula, as demonstrated by its practitioners: songs of a few minutes, readings based on a few numbers, a few paragraphs or lyrics, chord progressions that rarely err from Western sensibilities of harmony, rhythms that center around the 4/4 time signature. Oh, there are exceptions, or those who push against the boundary of form — say the Frank Zappas, or the Animal Collectives of the world — one could even argue that Rob Brezney is pushing the envelope with his syndicated “Free Will” suggesting that his readings of the stars are subject to choice — yet such deviations of form only rarely permeate the mainstream, and even when they do, never fully transcend it. Their pushing against the boundaries almost reinforces them. Thus The Doors “Light My Fire” was a sprawling seven minutes that was trimmed in half for the radio edit — the same radio edit that is played on the stations today. No deviation of form transcends its strictest limits.

in the face of great odds

Does it seem ungrateful to say that i leave because i cannot find what i want? Or is there something less malicious about this statement; that our hearts yearning, our somatic desires send us searching, wondering until we collect what we think are all the missing pieces of our lives, or they are revealed to be dead-ends, illusions bereft of possibility?

The search for love continues even in the face of great odds. —bell hooks

Isn’t everything we’re doing in life a way to be loved a little more? —”Before Sunrise”

Mano Farm + Kickstarter = Food Justice

Dear friends, family members, academic allies, and occasional enemies,

Mano Farm, the organic farm I’ve been involved in creating over the past year is undertaking a $10,000, 60-day fundraising drive in support of our Community Supported Agriculture program and food justice. We’re doing this through Kickstarter — a relatively new web site that facilitates grassroots fundraising for arts and community projects. Follow this link to our page, which also includes a short video about the farm: http://kck.st/dee7KU

Food justice is a pretty broad term so I’ll recapitulate some basics: because the wealth of most societies is distributed unevenly, those with smaller food budgets rely on cheaper food sources, frequently sacrificing fresh fruits and vegetables due to price. Food justice movements seek to alleviate this through the redistribution of nutritious food sources. Healthy food means healthy people, and this equation acts as preventative medicine for many, circumventing expensive health complications later in life. Because our farm has been growing more food than ever, we want to offer low-income families and invididuals free shares through our CSA (a weekly box of vegetables that includes a share of what the farm is growing in a given season). Here’s where you come in.

$10,000 is a number that might be ambitious to some or small to others. We’re hoping for some generous individuals to make a few sizable donations from that will help us reach our goal. Note that Kickstarter works in an all-or-nothing manner: unless we reach 10,000 dollars of pledged donations, we get nothing.  We have offered a number of incentives to those who pledge funds — farm merchandise, some of our arts and crafts, a workshop on the farm, and a farm-cooked dinner. Check out http://kck.st/dee7KU for details.

Please distribute this email far and wide, and if there is any way that you can help us get the word out, via your own network of friends, the media, etc., that would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

with gratitude and respect,

quin

Mano Farm notebooks: They won’t gopher your vegetables for long.

These entries document my stewardship of Mano Farm — a one acre plot land in Ojai, California — with two friends: David Klein and Justin Huhn. Previous entries: Part 1; Part II.

Three weeks ago Steve and Olivia traveled to New Orleans and I was left to watch Gozo Farm, where I spent 10 days running irrigation lines, watering starts, harvesting vegetables and killing gophers across about 12 acres of land. The gophers in particular have me thinking about the role that death plays in agricultural societies.

“There are 10 sets of traps in these fields Quin,” Steve told me before I left. “I want you to set each one of them every day.” The irony is that only two years after I filmed an impromptu conversation of Steve and me discussing domestication, now I have willingly stepped into the role of  “domesticator.”