There are grapes in my refrigerator. They're very good grapes, and they're already
paid for, so I'm going to eat them no matter what. The question then lies in the
next bunch of sweet green globes to tempt me at my neighborhood grocery. I felt
very virtuous, in that pseudo-righteous eating-healthy way, that I bought several
kinds of fruit last time we went shopping. The part I tend to forget, until
reminded by someone like NPR, is that grapes are
picked by migrant workers. In this case they are migrant workers working in the
Coachella Valley of central California. It's a beautiful, fecund place to drive
through, as we did just a few weeks ago en route to Sacramento, but apparently one
with housing for grape-pickers that is crappy even by migrant worker standards.
Which is to say, nonexistent -- you just stake out a bedroll next to the car you
rode in on. In defense of the area, there are dedicated groups there working to
make a difference and provide decent housing, but they can serve only a tiny
fraction of the hordes or workers needed for the grape harvest.
As I
see it, I have a few choices on how to react. 1) Boycott grapes. Clearly, my tiny
buying power won't make enough difference to matter, but if enough people join me,
we can hurt the grape growers. Trouble is, grape growers = employers. Hurt them
enough and there will be no agricultural jobs in which case migrant workers could
stay in their homes but would starve there. 2) Keep buying grapes. This helps keep
workers emplyed but leaves them in the same unsatisfactory situation. 3) Buy
grapes but also donate to one of the several causes working on migrants' housing
and education for their children. This may be the best I can do; the only problem
is that it turns so easily into 4). Buy grapes, promise myself to donate and never
get around to actually cutting a check. I'm already behind on donating and
rejoining my usual groups, so this is a real problem for me. I suppose liberal
applications of self-discipline would help....
In
rowing news, I'm back. Over my burn-out, I am back to training hard and
ready to race .... just in time for the most unpleasant time of year to train, the
summer. Sigh. But in my next regatta, I will be racing in not only lightwieght
singles, but also in a double with She-Hulk (Hardcore can't make the next two
races) and maybe even a quad. So I'm training, I'm motivated, and I'm there. Just
still a little slower than I'd like.