Check it out, Y’all…

The Sons and Brothers, a country/bluegrass band of local valley pride, are joined on stage by the president! This is especially cool, since I have also had the honor of playing and singing with these guys. I am now officially only 2 degrees of separation from President Obama. Nice.

Enjoy!

I’ve come to enjoy reading and hearing from Michael Pollan over the last few years. When I first started reading his books (I started with Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education) I had no idea who he was, and it didn’t seem like he was quite on the radar yet… but that was soon to change. In the last year or so I have heard him interviewed on NPR, having fun as a contestant on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and as a guest on various podcasts I listen to. He has a winsome way about him, and I enjoy listening to him discuss the things he is passionate about as much I enjoy reading his books. Last summer I read A Place of My Own, as one of my therapeutic diversions from busy camp life. I may write more about these books at some point.

Currently, I am reading one of his latest books, In Defense of Food. I figured this would be a challenging and encouraging book related to a journey Amanda and I are already on towards ‘real’ food, local food, home grow food (we are starting our vegetable garden this year!), and a simpler, more natural expression and understanding of healthy eating/living (spiritually, mentally, and physically). But, I wasn’t expecting quite the historical expose and focus related to “nutritionism.” This, in fact, is the whole point of the book, and I find it fascinating.

The whole discussion Pollan is having in this regard is remarkably parallel to many of the discussions we are having about faith in the context of the emergence from modernity. To say that emergence is happening across all disciplines and areas of our lives is not news. So it is no surprise that there would be emerging new/old ways of thinking regarding food, just as there are in religion, philosophy, education, etc… What is compelling to me are some of the strong resonances I see between what Pollan is saying modernity has done to how we think about food, and what others have been suggesting modernity has done to how we think about faith.

So when I finish the book, and write about it here, that’s what I’ll want to discuss. Meanwhile, if this has piqued your interest, you might want to check out Michael Pollan, if you haven’t already.

One other note of interest…

The book that really put Pollan on the map was The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I have never read fully, but intend to soon (I lost my copy, but have since acquired a new one). And now there is a new edition of that book for young readers, which I think is pretty cool. I have also discovered a young readers edition for Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea.

Enjoy!