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Thursday 28 November 2013

Beer: street wisdom (a story about the Pilgrims)


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One Stop Darker (Berkeley): photo by efo, 9 November 2013


Hey man, have you ever wondered why you were not told in school that the Pilgrims invented beer in order to drive the Indians crazy?




Beer (Beer Bottle Crossing, Idaho): photo by efo, 17 November 2013

I once heard of a man who gave beer to a pig, but I have never heard of a pig who gave beer to a man.
 



Good Kids (Oakland): photo by efo, 12 October 2013

And winter's coming on now, man. 




Refinery complex (Emeryville, California): photo by efo, 9 November 2010

I don't know how anybody out here is going to stand it.




Help (Alameda Point, Alameda, California): photo by efo, 24 February 2013

That night we returned againe a ship board with resolution the next morning to settle on some of those places. So in the morning, after we had called on God for direction, we came to this resolution, to go presently ashore again, and to take a better view of two places which we thought most fitting for us; for we could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our Beere...

-- William Bradford, on the decision of the colonists aboard the Mayflower to drop anchor at Plymouth Bay in the first week of December, 1620

4 comments:

ACravan said...

I think you and efo should make a book together. The collaborations are terrific and, to my sensibilities, profound. On a lighter note than this, I quickly consulted the Wikipedia beer entry, which is quite good -- well organized, informative, succinct. I didn't find anything in there about pigs giving beer to men (although I have no doubt they would do so if they had opposable thumbs, etc.; you;ll recall what Churchill said about pigs), but it did raise my spirits to rediscover some of the history and lore. I did some work about a year ago for a local "microbrewery" in Philly called Yards, who make excellent beers and ales. Getting to know the owners and staff, I was given a full brewery tour, which was great and shown the used up grain, which they donate to local pigs, who apparently like Yards feed a lot. Unfortunately, I know where this story goes and that the animals are probably not being raised as pets. Curtis

TC said...

Curtis,

Sometimes I suspect that he sees this place in much the same way I do. And if he does, I fear for him. But I do love his deadpan sense of humour. Nobody else that I know of is taking pictures of this place that feel so honest.

The words here are from the street, where logic takes on a life of its own and history is remade in the moment.

About pigs, oy. I've been looking into the "pig production" business, for a while now. And oh -- you don't want to know.

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

speaking of or rather not speaking of meat production, spouse and self had a 'turkey-less roast' from trader joe's for dinner today - it was pretty good, as are several of their quasi-meat products

vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras) said...

re pigs giving beer to men--I think Orwell has the last say on this matter.