20. sally
Sally: Hello, fellow sacramentians. Welcome to Sally’s Corner. I have
assembled a few locals to talk about their everyday life in the
sacramento valley. So. Let me ask you all for your occupation. First
off, J.J. You were raised in the junk business.
J. J.: I wasn’t raised in the junk business. My father sold used
cars. He did use to say though, that it’s in junk that you make the
money. I think about it when I walk around the house and it bothers me.
René: I used to work at a cinema where we only showed junk from
Hollywood. Now, I work at one showing alternative films but it’s
closing because of cultural disinterest. Before that I did political
work, and had to stop because I found out who my real enemies were.
Kim: I started by putting my money into genetic tomatoes, and wound
up in the satellite business. Can you draw a parallel?
Don: I belong to the Moron Church and it says that we are to be
responsible for the decline of civilization. The faster we get there,
the better for everybody. That’s why I started my own real estate
agency. I manage properties.
Chad: I used to be a social worker but it didn’t pay enough. Now I
belong to a union and work forty hours a week as a truck driver to
support my sick wife.
Sally: So why did you go on strike and let all those tomatoes rot?
Chad: That’s right, always blame us first. It’s time for some of the
money to tickle down. We’re not going to bring tomatoes to get canned
only for someone in Chicago to get all the profit.
Sheila: I am an artist. I never liked the triple down effect. I
prefer it to be spread across. It might be boring for some but at
least it’s fair. Plus we need to be more sensitive to mother nature.
Look at this dress. It saved over 200 gallons of water. It’s 100
percent recycled. I made it myself.
Don: I have nothing against sensitive artists as long as they pay the
rent.
René: Look who’s talking. Mr. End of the World himself? Yes, I am
frustrated. It’s hard to pay the rent on minimum wage. You and your
kind are hitler’s willing helpers and I have no sympathy.
Sally: Getting back to the tomato. Nightshade? Or helpful vegetable
product? Can we even call it a vegetable?
William: To think I went to war and lost two of my fingers because of
the tomato. That proves its importance.
Sheila: Wow! You went to war for the tomato?
William: Among other things.
Sheila: Well, I eat one a day and have been feeling better than James
Brown. Know your foodstuffs, is what I say, and I believe it’s a fruit.
Kim: I would say, know your limits. I was not well liked in the
farming community. Our company’s tomato sold well. It had a shelf
life of three weeks, but it was not long before pollination stopped
and butterflies were dying.
Sheila: You killed butterflies! That’s exactly the type of machismo
that is being slowly destroyed in western societies by the various
women’s movements. So I guess the tomato works wonderfully as a
metaphor for evolution.
René I think a yam would be better. Where are you coming from, sister,
if I can call you that? Nothing is being destroyed here. They are
just interested in new toys. Just you watch. They always come up with
some sort of clause in their bill of rights to keep their power.
Sally: Do you think the truck drivers committed a terrorist act?
Kim: What terror is, is all the regulations imposed on free trade. We
are trying to make it easier for goods and services to respond to
market demands. We should be able to operate our factories
accordingly. What we need are laws against organized labor.
Chad: You forgot one major commodity. People. They work in the
factory or drive the trucks, and it may come as a surprise to you,
but most of us have a life outside of the work place.
Kim: I know your type. You are either with us or against us. And I
didn’t say that first.
René: Wait a minute. What is terror in the first place? Assimilating
the vile characteristics of the people that suppress you, so you can
walk down the streets without fear. I think that’s terror. Excuse me.
J. J.: I shot up my father’s house trying to defend myself against
Burger Queen, Megahard, Delta Realty and MTV. I felt constantly
terrorized. What else could I do? I was living in denial. I am mad as
hell and I am not going to take it anymore.
Chad: I can understand your rage.
Sally: Okay. Back to the tomato. The tomato as metaphor. What planet
are we living on? One that feeds or one that starves?
Kim: Starves.That’s why our firm is developing new and more powerful
genetically-manipulated tomatoes as quickly as possible. The chain is
broken, so let’s just get on with it.
Chad: It’s obviously a starving planet. It’s all we can do, just to
keep food on the table. And now we have to worry about the water we
drink and the air we breathe. The price of everything has gone up,
but the conditions stay the same.
Don: It’s just your kind that we need in our church. Have you ever
been visited by young men on bicycles in dark-colored suits? It’s a
starving planet. And I am doing my best to keep it that way.
René: I like your honesty. Starving is my vote, case in point.
J. J.: Do you really want to know my opinion? I think it’s both. It
gives and we take. I guess that’s how I feel about most things. Maybe
that’s why I feel so bad all the time.
Sheila: So long as I can breathe, it’s a feeding planet. People
should only buy what’s in season, from their local farmer’s market. I
recycle. You can tell that I’m an optimist.
Don: Boy, you sound like one of those freak liberals to me. Nothing
is going to get better, and our church makes a point of that. That’s
why we stock up. We’re just waiting for the rapture. Just like that
city in Iran. Bam! It will happen. Then we can take over because
we’ll be the ones who survived.
Kim: I like what you’re saying. I am going to co-opt some of these
elements for policy making. It’s always a good way to avert
instability in the market.
Chad: Yeah. Give it a new face, but the insides still are rotten.
Sally: Let’s think about that during our commercial break. When we
come back, I’ll be asking my guests if they think positive
reinforcement in the form of beeps at a checkout counter has made us
into happy consumers?
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