What you might pick up at Madison’s Farmers Market

At the market this morning (while fulfilling my foraging duties for L’Etoile) friends and farmers answered my call for advice on how to embark on a “worthwhile” endeavor this year. I was told yesterday that this was my “last chance” (see post below) to do anything remarkable. Bereft of ideas that would be worthy of labels such as “great” and “worthwhile,” I turned to those around me for suggestions on what direction I should follow. [Nota bene, the farmers at the Saturday Market are always more than willing to talk and lest you think they have little to contribute to lofty discussions, let me just say that Dane County has the most degree-laden agricultural community in the nation, a fact which, though not dispositive of loftiness, certainly speaks to a willingness to engage in speculative discussions of this nature.]

Here are some reactions:

“Read a book!” [Okay, I did take this to be a bit of an insult: I have a year to reach for great heights. I should read a book?]

“Write a book!” [Better. I had, not too many years ago, begun work on a novel. Don’t we all have author pretensions at some point in our lives? After months of agony and miniscule progress I switched to short stories. I do enjoy writing short stories, but maybe I should contemplate a novel again? Is one year enough for one’s first (and necessarily ‘great’ or else it doesn’t count) novel?]

“Join a few book clubs!” [I belong to two. How "great" is that though? In any case, I am a poor team player – if I don’t like the book, I just read the first and last chapters.]

“Do you have a TV?” nc: yes… “Unplug it.” [Yes, okay, and then what?]

“Learn a language!” [Whatever my other deficiencies, knowing too few languages is not one of them. Though I suppose if I learned Greek or something reasonably esoteric, I might be proud of myself. I don’t think it would mean beans to my mother though. Still, I am only in part pandering to her directive.]

“Start a salon.” Now, this peaked my interest. It sounds pretentious and not at all something my mother would rally behind, but still, it is intriguing. nc: How do you start a salon? “First, get a subscription to UTNE Magazine.” nc: Salon thoughts are put aside for a while. A digression follows:

UTNE and the European Dream

During blogger dinner on Thursday, one of the attendees asked me: “Do you like living in America?” To my knowledge, I have never complained about living here. Indeed, I CHOSE to live here. Most of my family, including my sister and father, still live in Poland. I do not. Moreover, I did not come here for political or economic reasons. I came because I wanted to attend the university here. I stayed for personal reasons.

However, there are aspects of life that I find personally excruciatingly difficult to adjust to. I have mentioned these in the course of blogging, but to fully understand my ambivalence (and I have to immediately underscore this: ambivalence means exactly that. It does not mean disfavor or antipathy. It means ambivalence and mine is founded on certain premises that I understand are part of the American reality), one could look to an article recently appearing in UTNE. It’s the best thing I’ve read in recent times that pieces together the fragments of my own personal ambivalence and my frequent longing to find or recreate here what I think lies at the core of my own European experience. Read it here if you wish, or at least consider the excerpts posted below.

The author, Jeremy Rifkin, wonders if one can still speak of the “American Dream” and if most living here still subscribe to its premises. Further into the article he juxtaposes it to the emerging “European Dream.” [If you read the article to its conclusion, you will understand that the mere existence of the European Dream does not guarantee its future success. Its potency lies in its core elements and the author is quick to point out that the European personality, unlike the riddled-with-optimism American archetype, has perhaps too many depressingly pessimistic strains to allow for sustained commitment to something that is difficult to attain (a dream by definition is a dream, an aspiration – not by any means a reality).]

Rifkin writes this about what makes Americans and Europeans so different in their life's aspirations (I added emphases):

“That difference is reflected in the American and European Dreams, which at their core are about two diametrically opposed ideas about freedom and security. For Americans, freedom has long been associated with autonomy. An autonomous person is not dependent on others or vulnerable to circumstances beyond his or her control. To be autonomous one needs to be propertied. The more wealth one amasses, the more independent one is in the world. One is free by becoming self-reliant and an island unto oneself. With wealth comes exclusivity, and with exclusivity comes security.

The new European Dream is based on different assumptions about what constitutes freedom and security. For Europeans, freedom is found not in autonomy but in embeddedness. To be free is to have access to many interdependent relationships. The more communities one has access to, the more options one has for living a full and meaningful life. It is inclusivity that brings security -- belonging, not belongings.

The American Dream emphasizes economic growth, personal wealth, and independence. The new European Dream focuses more on sustainable development, quality of life, and interdependence. The American Dream pays homage to the work ethic. The European Dream is more attuned to leisure and "deep play." The American Dream is inseparable from the country's religious heritage and deep spiritual faith. The European Dream is secular to the core. … The American Dream is wedded to love of country and patriotism. The European Dream is more cosmopolitan and less territorial.

Americans are more willing to employ military force to protect what we perceive to be our vital self-interests. Europeans are more reluctant to use military force and instead favor diplomacy, economic assistance, and aid to avert conflict and favor peacekeeping operations to maintain order. Americans tend to think locally while Europeans' loyalties are more divided and stretch from the local to the global.”


How does this affect quality of life?

“When it comes to wealth distribution -- a crucial measure of a country's ability to deliver on the promise of prosperity -- the United States ranks 24th among the industrial nations. All 18 of the most developed European countries have less income inequality between rich and poor. There are now more poor people living in America than in the 16 European nations for which data are available…

Europeans often remark that Americans "live to work," while Europeans "work to live." The average paid vacation time in Europe is now six weeks a year. By contrast, Americans, on average, receive only two weeks. Most Americans would also be shocked to learn that the average commute to work in Europe is less than 19 minutes. When one considers what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life, Europe is beginning to surpass America.”

And let me just make a quick reference to the emerging European Constitution. Does it not give you hope? Again, from the perspective of a person living here, the answer is no. Rifkin writes:

“Much of that 265-page document probably would not be acceptable to most Americans. Although many passages are cribbed largely from our own Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, there are other ideas and notions that are so alien to the contemporary American psyche that they might be considered with suspicion or even thought of as somewhat bizarre.

To begin with, there is not a single reference to God and only a veiled reference to Europe's "religious inheritance." Strange, on a continent where great cathedrals grace the central plazas of most cities and small churches and chapels appear around every corner. Many Europeans no longer believe in God. While 82 percent of Americans say that God is very important to them, less than 20 percent of Europeans express similar religious convictions. God is not the only consideration to be given short shift. There is only one reference to private property tucked deep inside the document, and barely a passing mention of free markets and trade.

Just as striking is what the constitution does emphasize. The EU objectives include a clear commitment to "sustainable development . . . based on balanced economic growth," a "social market economy," and "protection and improvement of the quality of the environment." The constitution would also "promote peace . . . combat social exclusion and discrimination . . . promote social justice and protection, equality between men and women, solidarity between generations, and protection of children's rights."

The constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights goes far beyond our own Bill of Rights and subsequent constitutional amendments. For example, it promises everyone preventive health care, daily and weekly rest periods, an annual period of paid leave, maternity and parental leave, social and housing assistance, and environmental protection.

The EU Constitution is something new in human history. Though it is not as eloquent as the French and U.S. constitutions, it is the first governing document of its kind to expand the human franchise to the level of global consciousness. The language throughout the draft constitution speaks of universalism, making it clear that its focus is not a people, or a territory, or a nation, but rather the human race and the planet we inhabit."

Okay, if I reprint anything more, I’ll probably expose myself to copyright infringement.
Still, the short answer is that my formative years were spent in a climate where personal autonomy was not at the top of the heap of human values.

Was this post about the Farmers Market? Indeed, yes. Just a few photos now to offset the large amount of text. If you read this far, you must be having a really slow day! Thank you, though. In so far as this blog ever gets personal, it did so today.