Quitting my TV news career has come with many benefits but perhaps none as important as how it has affected my ability to parent. My relationship with the Producer would have consisted of about an hour in the morning (stressed about what I’d cover that day) and an hour at night (still stressed about what went wrong with my report that day). I’ve started “Hold On to Your Kids” by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté and I highly recommend it. They describe the era since World War II as one where peers have taken over the role of parenting, calling it “peer orientation”. They write, “Orientation, the drive to get one’s bearings and become acquainted with one’s surroundings, is a fundamental human instinct and need. Disorientation is one of the least bearable of all psychological experiences. Attachment and orientation are inextricably intertwined. Humans and other creatures automatically orient themselves by seeking cues from those to whom they are attached.” This has also got me thinking about my pressing question about why so many journalists prefer group think over curiosity. Are we adults also suffering from “peer orientation”?
Carla the chicken joined us for spaghetti dinner and I was shocked by how much she liked it. I looked it up and apparently spaghetti is a chicken favorite. Carla is technically not allowed at the dinner table so don’t tell Lynn. 🤫
Trump’s executive order protecting glyphosate (which RFK Jr supports) is such a perfect example of how the American political system works, and one of the main reasons I became a farmer. Bayer (which acquired Monsanto in 2018) is getting sued into oblivion over claims glyphosate causes cancer, to the extent they’re paying out billions in losses and facing the real possibility of going bankrupt. Then all of a sudden, states like Georgia pass laws protecting glyphosate manufacturers from liability and the President passes a similar executive order in the name of national defense. Is this timing a coincidence? The big corporations in this country have direct influence on politicians in a way the average American can never compete - that is, unless we leave their system. We must go direct with farmers who use the kind of methods we want for our dinner. Even if we ban glyphosate, there are plenty of worse (yes, hard to believe!) chemicals waiting to take its place. There is no way out ...
