Steve Michel's Journal of Lateral Modernism********************** Vol. VIII No.10 Oct. 2007
Napkin sketches: an interior architect's view of spatial sociology.
by Steve Michel
my Notes about farming
A while ago I was watching a TV news show covering farming in Ontario;I was shown the carefully crafted public relation campaigns of the Ontario Pork producers associations, then I think of the subject of the changes underway in a increasingly monopolistic agricultural industry. The show presented a human face to the activities of Pork production. Afterall people though still work in these factory operations. The news segment was devoted to presenting the case for these operations. Were the people presented as a human shield to hide a system designed to serve corporate strategies of vertical integration? It seemed behind these smoke and mirrors sleigh of hand is an industry trying to legitimize and in some cases truly ‘improve’ their image by adopting the green strategies they had shunned for so many years. Some will say efficency in production for a larger demand for organic foods is the aim and motive. Sure, but it is benevolent corporate dictatorship green washed but quietly eliminating choice by wiping out locally owned farming. Some of the greening efforts are genuine and driven by people concerned with protecting their children and the environment. An image of environmental responsibilty is shown to the public -green washing- is the term used to describe these PR campaigns. But ‘farms’ (actually factories now) are coveted by multi-nationals eager to make these farms dependent on their patented pesticides and genetically modified seeds. Meanwhile in developing countries like India, the GMO seeds for pest resistant strains put farmers into debt and drive them out of business forcing many to sell their lands to large monopolistic outfits..go figure.
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Taxi cabs: New York Style transit
by Steve Michel
Yellow cab taxis are the ubiquitous sight of New York City’s urban landscape. They are the back-ups to one of the worlds largest public transit system, all thousands miles of air-conditioned subway and bus lines. When push comes to shove in the mad rush of rush hours appointments and new York minute schedules, it is the TAXI who comes thru in the fog of a morning raining downpour with nothing more than quick eye and a briskly raised hand and ‘hey! Taxi!’ at the top one’s voice. What makes NYC’s taxis so special other than the common yellow paint job is the way they become part of New Yorkers vernacular lifestyle. They have become a lifestyle choice of necessity for transporting countless urbanites who have freed themselves from the yoke and burden of parking space worries, traffic stress and parking meter tickets and mechanical mayhem and other car worries. Taxis are an easy five-dollar ride from the nuisance of time wasted in traffic, finding parking and paying tickets. After all, the successful are driven: Millionaires, playwrights, designers, not to mention office workers, retirees and many others of all ilk and schedules, travel the city from the quick subway exits to a waiting taxi cab with nary a mis-step in one fluid flow. TV syndicated shows like Seinfeld have shown viewers an aspect of NewYork lifestyle into which taxis are firmly integrated. Taxi rides are a shared, common and frequent part of anyones day: to a show, a movie date and/or a three am back seat necking session. The taxi drivers themselves are anectdotes onto themselves: bizarre and no two alike. In other cities it is different: taxi cab rides are the exception but in NYC it is the rule, mode and modus of urban transit filling the gap in hurried trips to appointments in tandem with public transit taken at a more routine pace. L.A. vaunts itself of having strict anti-smog laws but it is New Yorkers who abide, unknowingly maybe, by a solution to gridlock and smog-laden skylines.SM05
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