A Response to Kyle Madsen’s "A Response to Michael Pollan”

Hello Kyle. I am very glad that you took the time to read my article. However, you seem to have missed a key point. At the beginning of my piece I said, “And even in the face of this derision I decide I am going to bother, there arises the whole vexed question of getting it right. Is eating local or walking to work really going to reduce my carbon footprint?” I then concluded, “If determining the carbon footprint of food is really this complicated… I’ll just buy the imported chops at Costco, at least until the experts get their footprints sorted out.” With these lines I was stating that calculating our carbon footprint is complicated and can be very inaccurate. These complications may dissuade or prevent people from taking the time and effort to reduce their carbon footprint. As a solution I recommend people garden in order to benefit the environment and themselves.

 In your response you said, “I would have liked him to discuss how we as consumers could buy more fuel-efficient cars, avoid plastic packaging, drink tap water, and buy products from green industries.” If I were to do this Kyle I would go against my entire argument. You wish me to be the scientist calculating the carbon footprints that I referred to in my piece. I am the confused consumer like you, not the scientist. My mission was to simplify the process for my readers and therefore I recommend that they garden. Also, you referred to gardening as, “hours of backbreaking labor.” I find this very interesting. Gardening is something my 75-year-old grandmother does for fun. I suggest that you put down your iPad and garden. From the sound of it not only will you be helping the environment but you will also be fighting the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

Live Long and Prosper,

Michael “Faux” Pollan

A Summary of "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight"

Clifford Geertz and his wife visit a Balinese village where they are, “invisible men.” The village ignored them and refused to acknowledge their presence. One day the couple joined the village in running from police after a cockfight and hid out in a local couples’ home. After this event the couple received acceptance from the entire village. The Balinese were tickled by the foreigners running from the police and everyone in the village wanted to hear the Americans’ story. Through this acceptance Geertz was able to start learning about how important cockfights were with Balinese culture. Balinese men have a, “deep psychological identification” with their cocks and the, “double entendre is deliberate.” The Balinese men spend enormous amounts of time with their cocks, feeding them, grooming them, or, “just gazing at them with a mixture of rapt admiration and dreamy self-absorption.” Animal-like behavior is considered repulsive and babies are not allowed to crawl. In the cockfights this,”animality” and men meet and battle in a, “bloody drama of hatred, cruelty, violence, and death.” Geertz then shifts his essay to the rules and standard practices of cockfights. Cockfights are held in a ring and begin late in the afternoon and usually 10 fights comprise a program called a, “sehet.” The rules of cockfighting are written on palm-leaf manuscripts and have been passed down over the generations. Handlers tend to the cocks during the fight and will even resuscitate the bird. The umpire has absolute authority and Geertz never witnesses any villager complain or question an umpire’s judgment. Betting is also a very large part of the cockfights and can get very complicated. Geertz learns that the village always supports the local cock just as an American town supports the local football team. The cockfight embodies the culture, social networks, and rituals of Balinese life.