Frankly, I’m a little ashamed to have my first post be all human-interest-y, without a single hypodermic penis in sight. Still, I can’t resist highlighting this ludicrous NYT article about couples who bicker over sustainability. NYT human interest stories always end up making you hate everyone in it, and this is no exception.
Mr. Fleming, who says he became committed to Ms. Cobb “before her high-priestess phase,” describes their conflicts as good-natured — mostly.
But he refuses to go out to eat sushi with her anymore, he said, because he cannot stand to hear her quiz the waiters.
“None of it is sustainable or local,” he said, “and I am not eating cod or rockfish.”
That’s so sad. The guy lives in Santa Barbara CA and he can’t find tasty seafood to eat? (Also, cod and rockfish are not necessarily sustainable.) I’m no fan of preachiness, but what surprised me about this article was how trivial all the disagreements were. He can’t stand to have his girlfriend ask where the seafood comes from? Another woman’s sister can’t be bothered to recycle cardboard? Someone’s mother won’t eat off reusable plates? This isn’t exactly selling all of one’s possessions and living off the grid in a van down by the river.
But maybe that’s just my delicate ladybrain talking, since according to the article:
Women, Ms. Birkhahn said, often see men as not paying sufficient attention to the home. Men, for their part, “really want to make a large impact and aren’t interested in a small impact,” she said.
How can men make manly large impacts? The NYT doesn’t say, but somehow I doubt that the people in this article spend all day writing their representatives and hand-feeding injured sharks. Perhaps the only kind of conservation that really sells is the dinosaur-riding ass-kicking kind.
Awesome! I also think that, in a way, you did end up talking about hypodermic penises, but just not in the way you had meant.
I thought the part about men wanting to make large impacts vs. women’s small impacts, with no support or explanation was a little weird too.
The whole article is as you said, silly. It’s pretty obvious the couples mentioned have control issues to work out in general; the ‘green’ disputes are just a symptom.
First of all, Miriam, welcome to Deep Sea News.
Secondly, though this article is a little silly, it CAN be really frustrating to spend lots of time with someone who has different dietary values than you. I’ve dated a couple of vegetarians and the issue has come up a lot. I’ve had to spend a lot of energy finding restaurants where we could both find something enjoyable to eat, and I always felt like I was being judged for eating a burger.
In fairness, I, too, find that sushi restaurants are minefields when it comes to knowing if anything at all is sustainable (and, honestly, it’s not likely to be local). This is why I rarely eat sushi these days (sadly).
However, finding sustainable seafood or other kinds of groumandry in Santa Barbara is about as easy as combing your hair. With that one little detail, much of this article was upended for me. Sure, there’s an obnoxious yogaEXTREME! culture here, but to rag on it or its practitioners (and your own partner?!) for their commitment to sustainability in dietary choices in a place where to do so takes absolutely no effort at all? Pffft.
Then again, if this dude isn’t going to be competing with me to get to the farmer’s market as early as possible to get the local sustainable ridgeback shrimp, thank god. It’s a race every saturday!
SeaFood Watch is the real threat to the sanctity of Marriage! Ban heterogastronomial relationships!
welcome to your first DSN post. promise that your next one will actually talk about a “hypodermic penis” (or something like that).
and here I thought you were going to tell us that Kevin and Dr. M. were on the rocks over sashimi selections…