Living with the Land
wellness updates from me, our house plants, and the future
PlantingĀ :
DJ Freedem started an Underground Plant Trade (link) āwhere Black people come to collect their reparation plantsā.
Living :
In January of this year I went to Epcot for a day while visiting Orlando. Disney World is an odd place to be in as an adult with no children, not because the attractions are necessarily boring or not designed for a person my age, but because every employee at the park works so incredibly hard to uphold the illusion of happiness and fantasy for visitors. There is no trash on the ground, everyone smiles, and all employees point with two fingers instead of one when providing directions. When waiting in line for either the bathroom or our sushi order at the Japan Pavilion, I instinctively count the Black people present at Disney World like I would when Iām at a work event, an art opening, or a private college campus. Someone walks over dressed in all white to pick up a tissue off the ground. Suddenly theyāre gone.Ā
Aerial view of E.P.C.O.T urban center by George Rester & Herbert Ryman - source (link)
Prior to becoming a theme park, Epcot was Walt Disneyās experimental concept for a utopian city of the future. An acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, it intended to highlight the latest technologies of American industry and corporations. The cityās 20,000 residents would live in identical housing units in the outer rim of the city. Working in industry, shopping, or theme park services, no one could retire, own land, or vote. One could only guess why the city was never actualized after Disneyās death in 1966. Would I be able to count the Black people in a city that doesnāt grant land ownership and voting rights to its residents? Does it even matter when districts across the country in 2020 struggle with voter suppression against black people, and land ownership is deterred everywhere through systems like redlining, the prison system, and general income inequality?Ā
Diagram for city layout from E.P.C.O.T, 1966 (source)
The essence of the original Epcot city lives on in the present day Disney World theme parks, namely through what is now the Epcot Center and Magic Kingdom. The strangest attraction by far at the Epcot Center is a slow-moving boat ride called Living with Land, where riders are guided through a slavery omitting, human history of agriculture. The second half of the ride showcases a Living Laboratory where food is grown on Disney property to be displayed, harvested, and served across all park restaurants. A very odd take on the the farm to tableĀ concept :Ā
Pepper plants in "Verti-Gro" columns from Living with the Land . Wikipedia
Listening :
Album : Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia
From artistās bio:
āAfro/Indigenous/Colombian/Canadian/punk/folklorist/traditionalist/transgressive/diva/angel. There are so many layers to Canadian-Colombian singer Lido Pimientaās identity that you might get lost in them. But if you did, youād be missing the pointā.
