My World: Where are the flowers gone?

[Jerome Marot]

There is an international movement called "guerilla gardening". Of course, Munich being an extremely well controlled city, we don't really have guerilla but the city council agreed on some alternative gardening activities. I found the place interesting and tried to document the passing of seasons. Unfortunately, I have only been able to be there 4 times, in May, August, December and January. Further, El Niño played a bit with the seasons this year, so this is what came out of the project. Today: May.

Mai1


Mai2


May3
​

 

[Jerome Marot]

May4


May5


May6
​

 

[Asher Kelman]

These pictures remind me of the post-World War II "Allotments' found in most U.K. Cities, towns and villages in an attempt to provide fresh vegetables to its war-ravaged citizenry. It was, then, a normal part of life tending to the family allotment, which was a measured of segment of a vacant piece of land, often cleared from bombing damage or just abandoned lots. In the USA, as part of the civilian war effort, so that produce could be exported, citizens were challenged to grow their own! So there were "Victory Gardens" on every available lot,space between buildings and even roof tops, producing the same tonnage of produce as all commercial growers lumped together!

May4​

So it's nostalgic to see such small gardening projects in cities again. Here in LA we even have place where food is grown on the roadside for anyone to benefit, albeit with the unknown risks of runoff from roadside toxins.

I like the idea and it should be encouraged and, to my mind, all school kids should be participating!

Mai2​

Flowers and foodstuffs with little more than sunshine, water and seeds!

.........O.K. Bulbs and tubers too!

?​

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

I like the idea and it should be encouraged and, to my mind, all school kids should be participating!

Some schools have their own pedagogic garden for the education of children.

?​

You may have noticed the hives in the picture titled "May 2".

 

[Jerome Marot]

And now the pictures taken in August:

August1


August2


August3
​

 

[Jerome Marot]

August4


August5


August6
​

 

[Jerome Marot]

December, same place.

December1


December2


December3
​

 

[Jerome Marot]

December4


December5


December6
​

 

[Asher Kelman]

August4


August5


August6
​

Jerome,

What a change in 3 months. The power of husbandry, water and sunlight!

What is interesting to me is that, for all out potentially easy access to fresh produce, we have an obesity epidemic as major sections of our country eats too much starch and fat! Here, fresh produce in the farmers markets are 1/5 th of the price in the supermarkets, but the folk nearby, mostly Hispanic do not have the custom of I using this much in their diet!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

What is interesting to me is that, for all out potentially easy access to fresh produce, we have an obesity epidemic as major sections of our country eats too much starch and fat! Here, fresh produce in the farmers markets are 1/5 th of the price in the supermarkets, but the folk nearby, mostly Hispanic do not have the custom of I using this much in their diet!

I have no idea why the folk nearby you suffer excess weight, but maybe they do not use the farmer markets. That should be easy to check: are the people on these markets less or just as overweight as the general population?

 

[Asher Kelman]

I have no idea why the folk nearby you suffer excess weight, but maybe they do not use the farmer markets. That should be easy to check: are the people on these markets less or just as overweight as the general population?

That's a nice challenge, Jerome. W'ell have to find out!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

Here an interesting study about the effect of moving a local farmers market in Flint, USA, and the effects on local inhabitants:

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2016/02/17/feeding.a.city.with.better.food.sources

 

[Jerome Marot]

January, same garden.

January1


January2


January3​

 

[Jerome Marot]

January4


January5


January6
​

 

[Jerome Marot]

And the reason for the title of this thread:

Flowers​

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Jerome,

Here an interesting study about the effect of moving a local farmers market in Flint, USA, and the effects on local inhabitants:

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2016/02/17/feeding.a.city.with.better.food.sources

Very interesting.

Thanks for the link.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

And the reason for the title of this thread:

Flowers​

Jerome,

Of course, that again refers to the Pete Seeger antiwar song popularized by so many performers including the Kingston Trie and remarkably by Joan Baez with her signature vibrato rendering, "Where have all the flowers gone?"

But that was decades ago! Still, even after all this time, few can match the voice of Marlene Dietrich in her rendering in German, "Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind?"!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

Of course, that again refers to the song popularized by Joan Baez with her signature vibrato rendering, "Where have all the flowers gone?"

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago

Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago

Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone to young men, every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago

Where have all the young men gone?
They are all in uniform
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone?
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago

Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls picked them every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Or, as you later inserted into your post, in German by Marlene Dietrich: "Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind?" and in French by Dalida: Que sont devenues les fleurs? (and, actually, Marlene Dietrich sung in French as well as English)

 

[Asher Kelman]

Forgive me for digressing to violence and war. But that title is riveting!

That time, Jerome, in the 60's and the peace movement, there was a mix of brilliance, drugs, sex and superficiality. The decorations often shadowed the bugle-calls in the words of the Ginsberg's, Dylans and Segers!

Still, the songs aroused the conscience, feelings and revulsion of the American public to the Viet Nam war. Commandante Che Guevara became a hero.

​

Today all we have are these songs and, as art-archeological symbology, the peace sign, fusing the anti-nuclear movement, riots, mass marches and violence to one decorative logo for temporary forehead tattoos and and T-shirts.

The sentiment against war is based on different sentiments. Today it's about not wasting treasure and stirring up hornets nests than wasting lives! Morality is hardly part of the equation today.

.....and if there is outrage, it's selective.

Selective rage!

If a Palestinian attacker in Jerusalem gets shot or a Jewish child in Tel Aviv gets knifed then heaven its outraged! We have fashionable victims who are sacrosanct. However, in Darfur, Congo Barundi and Chechnia, massacres don't arouse our repugnance and protests. There are no marches for the Kurds bombed daily by the Turks or the Yemeni Houtha by the Saudis.

Just as when Tito's iron rule exploded Yugoslavia to warring tribes, so we detonated a firestorm of pent-up ethnic hatreds suppressed by the dictators of Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Now myriads of wounded migrants are seen as marauders of Christian Europe. Despite Merkel's generosity, Europe cannot philosophically digest the spiritual challenge.



Reflecting on "the flowers" as lessons we could have learned, I see now that once the petals fall, there's only a distant memory in monochrome.

Jerome, you gardens remind me of feeding folk in times of war and paucity. When we are not growing flowers perhaps we're not even asking the questions anymore? Everything just arrives at the supermarket!

Are we built to forget the horror of war so we can send new generations with garlands and cheering crowds ant railway stations and docks as out "brave men" depart for honor, glory and freedom!

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

But that was decades ago! Still, even after all this time, few can match the voice of Marlene Dietrich in her rendering in German, "Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind?"!

Thanks you so for that link - just wondrous!

Wann wird man je verstehen?

Perhaps the greatest question of all time.

We had a chance to learn after the Korean war. But we didn't.

We had a chance to learn after the Viet Nam war. But we didn't.

And, not to minimize the direct horror there to our troops in country, but the "shadow" of that war in the U.S. almost destroyed the nation.​

Then there was Iraq 1. And then Iraq 2.

And then Afghanistan. And then . . .

Wann wird man je verstehen?

I think I'll listen now to "Lili Marleen".

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Jerome Marot]

Unfortunately, today's news in Germany is about the mob setting fire to asylum-seekers' homes. Where are all the flowers gone?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Unfortunately, today's news in Germany is about the mob setting fire to asylum-seekers' homes. Where are all the flowers gone?

Jerome,

Germany is the only "AXIS" power that really attempted to digest the truth of their war's morality. Austria still thinks it was "Invaded", so do the Baltic States. But the truth is that the philosophies that generated the Nazi war machine, was not uniquely German, it was the result of teaching "Deicide" and "Crucial Suffering" that led to these evil layers of crowd attraction in German national movements. Truth is that the sentiments in the UK, France, Austria, Poland the Baltics and Russia we pretty well much the same. "Jews were after money, manipulative, dishonest and vermin to be wary of like a disease." I know because I grew up in the UK and visited France regularly and there was not any occasion, except in Bordeaux this past year, that I have never heard an antisemetic remark.

The truth is that in World War II, Jews in Hungary, Austria and the Baltic States were victimized, separated and even massacred well before any Germans invaded. The ease of killing Jews was that they already were, (despite the spread of the British and French ideas of the "Rights of Man" through Napoleons conquests and perhaps even enraged by the latter), was that Jews were foreign matter of suspect worth all over Europe.

After the war, only Germany fully addressed racial hatred. However, xenophobia is a potent political weapon. In times of unemployment threat, it is an easy way to recruit support for a candidate and they are able to offer a basic and simple primordial goal, clean out the vermin amongst us! Today this vocal venom is directed against Turks and Muslims. But there are enough noble minds in Germany to direct and guide the population to welcome the displaced muslims as fellow humans and potential partners in prosperity.

France has always felt both righteous and the victim of the war. So there was never the German need to fully address their own prejudices. Right now, as whole, the French are very fair and tolerant and want each community to feel safe. However with jails packed with impoverished folk, they are easy prey to radicalization. Also the Ghettoization of Islamic areas in Paris allows the recruiters efficiencies in their work.

England has better digested its racial minorities. I was amazed by the totally perfect identity of headscarved-muslim women and turbaned-Sikhs and so many different Africans and West Indian and Asian citizens with the U.K. as their only home. I saw a considerable respect from Anglo Saxon appearing Brits to these immigrant families. This was a pleasant surprise.

However, back to Germany, it is on the top of my list for praise in trying to continuously address xenophobia. It is when a Merkel shows generosity and people personally come out to welcome the immigrants that we see what noble human spirit has risen from the ashes of a vanquished nation.
Sure there's a lot to do. Today I read of neighbors cheering when a migrants housing complex caught fire. However, those are the voices of the few that ensure that the noble majority in Germany will wake up to uphold its commitment to humanity, "Never Again!".

Respect of foreign cultures in not natural. It must be taught. As long as we realized that teaching is needed to continually bring us above the apes, then we can succeed in respecting one another.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Jerome,

Germany is the only "AXIS" power that really attempted to digest the truth of their war's morality. Austria still thinks it was "Invaded", so do the Baltic States. But the truth is that the philosophies that generated the Nazi war machine, was not uniquely German, it was the result of teaching "Deicide" and "Crucial Suffering" that led to these evil layers of crowd attraction in German national movements. Truth is that the sentiments in the UK, France, Austria, Poland the Baltics and Russia we pretty well much the same. "Jews were after money, manipulative, dishonest and vermin to be wary of like a disease." I know because I grew up in the UK and visited France regularly and there was not any occasion, except in Bordeaux this past year, that I have never heard an antisemetic remark.

The truth is that in World War II, Jews in Hungary, Austria and the Baltic States were victimized, separated and even massacred well before any Germans invaded. The ease of killing Jews was that they already were, (despite the spread of the British and French ideas of the "Rights of Man" through Napoleons conquests and perhaps even enraged by the latter), was that Jews were foreign matter of suspect worth all over Europe.

After the war, only Germany fully addressed racial hatred. However, xenophobia is a potent political weapon. In times of unemployment threat, it is an easy way to recruit support for a candidate and they are able to offer a basic and simple primordial goal, clean out the vermin amongst us! Today this vocal venom is directed against Turks and Muslims. But there are enough noble minds in Germany to direct and guide the population to welcome the displaced muslims as fellow humans and potential partners in prosperity.

France has always felt both righteous and the victim of the war. So there was never the German need to fully address their own prejudices. Right now, as whole, the French are very fair and tolerant and want each community to feel safe. However with jails packed with impoverished folk, they are easy prey to radicalization. Also the Ghettoization of Islamic areas in Paris allows the recruiters efficiencies in their work.

England has better digested its racial minorities. I was amazed by the totally perfect identity of headscarved-muslim women and turbaned-Sikhs and so many different Africans and West Indian and Asian citizens with the U.K. as their only home. I saw a considerable respect from Anglo Saxon appearing Brits to these immigrant families. This was a pleasant surprise.

However, back to Germany, it is on the top of my list for praise in trying to continuously address xenophobia. It is when a Merkel shows generosity and people personally come out to welcome the immigrants that we see what noble human spirit has risen from the ashes of a vanquished nation.
Sure there's a lot to do. Today I read of neighbors cheering when a migrants housing complex caught fire. However, those are the voices of the few that ensure that the noble majority in Germany will wake up to uphold its commitment to humanity, "Never Again!".

Respect of foreign cultures in not natural. It must be taught. As long as we realized that teaching is needed to continually bring us above the apes, then we can succeed in respecting one another.

A very nice essay. Thanks.

Jamais encore!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Jerome Marot]

Germany is the only "AXIS" power that really attempted to digest the truth of their war's morality.

The events I referred to are happening in the part of former east Germany which did not have access to west Germany TV. East Germany always pretended that they were the victims of Nazism.

There is also an important aspect. That part of Germany has high unemployment. People tend to be less ready to share when they feel there is already not enough for them.

...which makes me cite the following animated gif I found on the Internet:

 

[Asher Kelman]

The events I referred to are happening in the part of former east Germany which did not have access to west Germany TV. East Germany always pretended that they were the victims of Nazism.

There is also an important aspect. That part of Germany has high unemployment. People tend to be less ready to share when they feel there is already not enough for them.

...which makes me cite the following animated gif I found on the Internet:

This is so brilliant! Reminds me of the Republicans in the USA who blame the Democrats for any lack the society has!

Asher