DISCO DAYS AND BOOGIE NIGHTS

September 10. 2011. 7:30 PM

I share the stage with Maestro Steven Reineke and the Modesto Symphony Orchestra for one night only. Get your groove on to your favorite hits from the Seventies at this beautiful outdoor venue. Please visit the Modesto Symphony website for ticket information and details.

CONTROVERSY!: GMO FOODS

One can hardly turn on the television lately without hearing some discussion about GMO - Genetically Modified Organisms. The current buzz tends to be about labeling foods that come from genetically modified crops. Currently, large quantities of commodity crops grown in this country are genetically modified. That's mostly corn, soy and wheat. And just to clarify, the corn, soy and wheat that are grown as commodities are not neccessarily the corn, soy and wheat you eat when eating those actual food items. Commodity crops are grown largely for processing and for feed for animals that will eventually become food. There is a huge amount of resistance, primarily from commodity selling corporations, to label GMO foods. The argument seems to be that it will be too difficult to do but I suspect that consumers will avoid things they know to be genetically modified and that is what the food industry fears. 

Whatever their reasons, I thought it might be good to discuss it here. Recently, the New York Times ran an Op/Ed piece by Scientist Nina Fedoroff arguing that the best way to deal with the global increase for food is to alllow for more GMOs to be grown. A counter argument was presented by Anna Lappe here. I found both articles informative but felt, to the average Joe, that both pieces were potentially a little confusing if there was no understanding of how agriculture works in this country. 

I am not a farmer and so cannot speak to any of this first hand so if there are any farmers out there reading this, I'd love your two cents. The crux of the issue in my mind is the growing of mono-culture crops. For a great example of how this works in the U.S., I recommend the documentary King Corn which follows two amateur farmers through a growing season. In short, farmers are paid by the US government to grow certain crops (primarily the aforementioned commodity crops) and ONLY those crops. Well this can create issues. Remember all that stuff in your history books about how too much cotton growing screwed up the land in the American South? In order for soil to survive, crops are meant to be rotated and diversified. By growing certain plants in proximity to others, it gives the land a break and also attracts a variety of pests. This is good. What? Aren't pests bad? Yes, in theory. But the pests that are drawn to tomatoes are different than the pests drawn to corn and different still from the ones drawn to strawberries. With diversified crops, a farm cannot be inundated with only one kind of bug or fungus or rodent some of which may even eat each other and help control populations. When hundreds of acres of only soybeans are grown, it becomes necessary to spray huge quantities of pesticide to kill the pests that have no other natural predators present. And huge amounts of pesticide aren't only bad for the land and the water, they might even kill the crops. Genetic modification was first used by a company called Monsanto so that their corn crops would be resistent to the pesticide RoundUp (also manufactured by Monsanto). Farmers were paid by the US government to grow Monsanto's GMO corn and the farmers paid Monsanto for huge amounts of RoundUp. Then the commodity corn was purchased by a huge corporation or another and manufactured into millions of dollars worth of processed food or meat. Sounding a little unsavory? A little "inside"? A little like the farmer might be getting screwed and the corporations might be making a lot of money and you might be subsidizing them with your tax dollars? You're not too far off base. (For much more information on this subject, please research The US Farm Bill. I also recommend the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.)

So what's the solution if you don't want to eat GMO foods? However one feels about the political aspect of these things (and I encourage you to read more about these things. I recommend Mark Bittman's Blog HIGHLY), the issue to me seems to come down to bio-diversity. I had the priviledge of hearing farmer Cheryl Rogowski speak a few years ago. She was awarded the MacArthur "genius" award in 2004, the first farmer to ever garner that title. She spoke at length about how the diversity of her farm was what kept it healthy. As always, I recommend taking a visit to an actual, working, sustainable, non-commodity farm or just taking a visit to your local farmers market. The less processed food you eat, the less you support giant corporations, the less you support the idea of genetically modified food, the less you have to worry. Buy your food from the "little guy" and know exactly where it came from. 

We vote with our wallets when it comes to food. If you have the means, buy local as much as possible and support the concept of sustainable farming.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Move your body!

Move it or lose it. No addage better applies to the human body. Your body wants to move and in the summer, there are a million ways to enjoy what it's built to do. Go for a walk, play volly ball on the beach, ride your bike, take a hike, swim in the pool, run through the sprinklers, play Duck Duck Goose with the kids. Get outside and move while the weather supports it. That AC inside will feel fabulous after a little sweating outdoors. Your body will thank you.

Funny Girl

I'm having a BLAST rehearsing for Funny Girl at the lovely Gretna Theatre in Mt. Gretna, PA. This is summer stock so it's a VERY short run. Don't miss it. We open July 21st and run through July 31, only two weekends. Visit www.gretnatheatre.com for ticket information, show times and details. I hope to see you here!

Up next, Funny Girl!

I'll be running [title of show] in Palo Alto until June 26th and then immediately begin rehearsals for Funny Girl at the Gretna Theater. Who knows what TV star might play Fanny Brice on Broadway so come see me do it summer stock! Visit the Gretna Theatre website here for ticket details. ONLY 10 PERFORMANCES!! Don't miss it!!