Stream of Thought

Is it just me, or has national politics all of a sudden become boring?

We all know that Obama will be the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party and the McCain his counterpart for the Republicans, but it seems that all the intrigue, back stabbing and nail biting has disappeared since my girl Hillary, “oh what a world,” Clinton was so soundly washed out of the race like the Wicked Witch in the Land of Oz. Of course she may be back as a contender for VP, but I actually think my town’s local dog catcher would stand a better chance of getting it. I’m not joking; I haven’t seen a stray dog in this town for years. Plus I think it would be a bad idea anyway. Meanwhile, we are left with 2 guys taking petty snipes at each other. The war hero who looks like he may have served under Roosevelt, Teddy not Franklin and the wunderkind who is (hck)… my age. Where did I go wrong in life? Yes it looks like it’s going to be one of those woe is me posts. I’m feeling it.

Anyway, politics really wasn’t what was on my mind. It was to be an introduction for something else. I had actually intended to write about tomatoes and salmonella and the spinach from last year and the beef that was sold from cows that just seemed to drop dead as opposed to ones that were slaughtered. I was going to go into my thoughts that people should be more concerned about buying food stuff grown locally. That way the consumer could establish, develop or maintain a closer relationship with the seller/grower. As a buyer you would have a greater input in the produce that is grown and sold because both buyers and sellers would be more aware of the others needs. Transportation costs would be reduced as some foods would no longer need to be shipped across country to markets far away from they are grown. Think globally buy locally as they say when they are pitching for money on PBS.

Having lived most of my life in New Jersey, the Garden State, I am fully aware of the produce that is grown locally and the Chicanos who migrate every summer from where ever to help with the growing and the harvesting. It’s a big industry here and yet I buy strawberries that are grown in California and frozen peas and other stuff that travel from who knows where because of the convenience of the supermarket and maybe the price. Although, I don’t really take much notice of the price, I figure I have to eat regardless of the cost.


Plus if where you live is like where I live, much of the farmland is disappearing. 20 years ago you take a short drive out in South Jersey, hit somebody’s farm and pick some apples or something else and pay an almost nominal fee for what you got. At least that’s what my father used to do on his way home from where he used to work at the Salem nuclear plant. He was a strange man. I think I hated him at the time, now I think I miss him. Hmmh. Anyway, now this part of the state is being overrun by corporate parks, strip malls and over-priced residential developments that nobody can buy any more. But now I don’t even want to write about that. I just want to wallow about getting old and being a wage slave and not really accomplishing shit.

I remember when I went for a doctor’s appointment, I may have written this before but I’m still traumatized by it so here it is again. The doctor, who was female, and about 10 or 15 years younger than me started rolling my testicles in her hand even though I had told her that I already knew how to check for tumors. I remember thinking at the time, “little girl, just cause you know I’ve seen a few men before, don’t think I can’t rise to the occasion.” But I didn’t. Instead she made me feel real old and sexless. And that’s what I feel today, old and sexless while others my age are out there changing the world.

There is a great line that Lily Tomlin said in one of her shows, “I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.”

I should have been more specific.