i am america

Over the years, I have been made to feel confused, guilty, stupid and sad about my disenchantment with this country. In an attempt to cure myself of these feelings, here is where I spill a couple of the reasons.

I. Cities and Sidewalks
As Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, said recently: "when you construct a good sidewalk, you are constructing democracy...We are designing cities for cars, cars, cars, cars. Not for people. Cars are a very recent invention. The 20th century was a horrible detour in the evolution of the human habitat. We were building much more for cars' mobility than children's happiness."
I cannot overstate my indignance at the existence of places that literally cannot be reached without four wheels and an engine. It turns us into little islands--I cannot walk to the major shopping center less than a half mile from my home because it is bisected by a major interstate, with only a four lane highway crossing it. STuck.

II. Food, Or Lack Thereof
The state of the market here in America is deplorable. I'm talking super-, not stock.

And it all began with private interests interfering in a governmental attempt to interfere with the foods Americans eat. When a link was found between the consumption of animal products and poor health, an attempt was made to make Americans cut back on them--until, that is, private interests intervened and revised the rhetoric to point out individual nutrients as harmful or beneficial instead of whole foods. Thus, according to Michael Pollan, began the age of nutritionism.
Now the vast majority of the population cannot cook, shops in the middle of the grocery store for foods that last longer than seems possible, and, oh yeah, is really fat.
I long for a place with a culinary heritage. I suppose the cultural mixing pot that we are ( a good thing) makes that unrealistic, but I cringe when I think that Americans look to the latest studies to determine what they buy and what they eat. Newsflash, people! That is never going to work. Something really deep in the American psyche is going to have to change. Fruits and vegetables have such a bad rap here, with young people, males, and baby boomers. I feel like vomiting when I hear people deride a diet filled with them.
Example, upon expressing distaste for the Fast Food Burger, a response I got: "You're not one of those organic people, are you?" Honestly, I don't know what that means.

more to come, i'm sure...