Thinking about CA

Life is speeding ahead and there is so much to write about. Before I move on I want to record some thoughts from our trip West.

1. We really like spending time as a family. We all have friends and activities and home and we like those too. It just really struck me how we enjoy each other. Unfortunately I think that kind of family dynamic is increasingly rare. Not sure why . . .

2. Seeing the HUGE agricultural operations and the people working as migrant labor made me tremendously sad. We drove by acres and acres and acres of brussel sprouts. How many brussel sprouts really get eaten in this country? There were fields of artichokes and truly endless fields of black plastic rows for strawberry production. We saw the portable bathrooms that get trucked to the field so workers can use them and wash to prevent E. coli outbreaks. I thought about how much money and how many resources it takes to bring those strawberries to WI. I thought about how good WI strawberries taste. I thought about how unfair it is that people work for so little money, fear for their families, can't use public services . . . I am sad that so much food gets thrown away every day and that the children in this country will die younger than their parents because they eat strawberry flavored things made in China and have no idea how to grow a strawberry.

We saw the Dole and DelMonte compounds--acres of buildings and greenhouses, all behind gates and hidden from view.

Is it just that people don't know? Or is it that they don't care?

I can't quite articulate why these fields bothered me so much. They seem inhuman.

3. Whales (including dolphins) should never be kept in captivity. Do some reading. Think hard about this and then tell others. We met a woman who has dedicated her adult life to this. She shared a lot of information, made her opinions clear and also asked us to form our own opinions. My ideas about conservation and preservation have changed.

Back to our regularly scheduled life . . .