Pointer of the Day

Then, of course, there are migrant workers, who live an average of 49 years — sacrificing almost three decades compared to “normal” lifespan to bring us the endless bags of veggies and fruits we demand to keep our middle-class bodies all healthy and stuff. Parasite, meet host. I swear, the next snotty yuppie who has the guff to go on and on in my presence about how “those people” (i.e. people who have the gall to earn less than $50,000 a year) Eat Soooo Much Junk is gonna get a fair trade banana stuck in hir ear. Which sie will have to go to an emergency room to remove, and thanks to down-triaging will have to sit there in the waiting room with a banana in hir ear for five hours while everyone else points and laughs. Especially migrant workers’ kids.

What Does Health Care Reform Really Mean to American Fatasses? Part 2: Working Us To Death « fat fu (via amberlrhea)

So originally this just made me laugh—the only part I saw via Tumblr was “the next snotty yuppie…is gonna get a fair trade banana stuck in hir ear.” But then I went back in and read the whole thing (which is mostly about health care, actually, and is an interesting rant for other reasons) and realized the whole paragraph is worth citing—because it’s not only funny, it’s righteously pissed off. A 49-year lifespan?

Once again, your semi-humorous reminder that it’s not just the pesticides on your food you should be thinking about.

A Small Victory for Food Workers

Chalk up another one for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the Florida-based community organization that has been trying for decades to improve the grim lot of migrant tomato pickers, most of whom toil for less than minimum wage. This week, ARAMARK, the giant corporation that supplies food to universities, hospitals, stadiums, and other institutions around the world, announced an agreement with the coalition that gives workers 1.5 cents more per pound for the produce they pick.

Good news for farmworkers and a great site to bookmark to keep up with such issues: The Politics of the Plate. They do a better job than we ever will.