Thursday, January 27, 2011

the staple diets

despite all that news about
the food prices and the freight
costs and all that talk by the government
about nutrition north and
all that news anyways

from what i see and from the people that
need it the most, it hasn't made a dent
the most cheapest food still available
is not really nutritious and you can't really
expect elders and unilingual residents
to order and what are the chances of getting a
VISA or Mastercard and who do they call?

i mean, the more i think about it
when the people that we claim to respect the most
are elders and the most we want to help are
inuit and the majority of this territory are
these people, this program is designed for
rich or richer folks to have an easier life
not for those not so well off, like a lot of inuit

and didn't they say it was to save some money?
for who? harper? leona? eva? me, tommy?
the post office? northern?

these things never work for the people that need
it the most, which are people that live in this community
and the other 25 or so that are scattered up here
and those people are not the teachers, bureaucrats
nurses or administrators or the people that can order and
have Mastercards or VISA's

you know, people still go shopping at northern
or the co-op or whatever grocery store and they still
sell expensive shit and the cheapest are the not so
healthy foods.

for food to be healthy, i think it has to be fresh
unless they are willing to send food from california
the next day or costa rican banana's the day next
but that would be too healthy for inuit, right?
canned food this and canned food that is the cheapest form of
veggies around here, so our meaning for healthy food
has to be redefined and refined

if i were the all powerful leader like leona and eva and harper is,
i would:
lower the gas prices for hunters only with snowmobiles and boats
not to your car or your truck
i would lower the prices of ammunition and not require a license
if you show me a frost bitten cheek or a weather beaten face
i would subsidize hunting implements such as ropes
wood for your qamutik, sleeping bags, and of course tea
would be free it you show me a map of your hunting grounds
i would lower the prices of naphtha only if you can prove you are
going hunting and you got the trust of your community
i would fund community freezers and pay hunters to
bring in their catch to the freezer
i would pay a hunter to be a mentor to a 14 year old boy
i would lower the prices of threads and needles
and fur and provide caribou and seal skins at cheap prices
for seamstresses and i would take 14 year old girls
put them in a room with their female elders and take their make-ups away
and put patterns and ulu's in their hands and they would get paid for it
and don't you think snowmobiles and boats and outboards are
way too expensive? who can afford them?

if i were that all powerful leader, educated people would have
maximum wages because uneducated people already have maximum wages by default
its just equality right?
as an all powerful leader who has all that money to play around with
i would increase the power of HTO's and those women's auxiliary groups
because they are the ones that actually really care for inuit and
the culture that we are so desperate to save, they are living it
when was the last time a government saved a language?
when was the last time a government cared for people?
when was the last time a government hunted for my parents or yours?
when was the last time a government paid for your food with good intentions?
when was the last time a government actually helped people for the better?

now

when was the last time a hunter provided for you? today and even yesterday
when was the last time a seamstress sewed you an amauti? today and even yesterday
when was the last time a hunter died trying to provide food? pretty recent, i bet
when was the last time a mother kept a culture going by drying skins? today and even yesterday
when was the last time a mother saved you money by cooking seal? today and even yesterday
when was the last time a father showed you animal tracks? today and even yesterday

which bring staple diets?
government or a hunter or a seamstress?

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