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“The world we live in—this dominion of Northern Europeans—is the way it is because of Solanum tuberosum. If you ask me, it’s ironic that our ancestors were able to avoid poisoning themselves on the plants, and yet rose to poison the whole world with themselves.”
Judging from our last fifteen flights, I can tell you that poverty is not a popular conversation choice in first class. Or any class. In any plane. Going anywhere. Which is really handy for the people on the plane, I guess.
white isn’t just a color. And maybe that’s the problem for them. White is a passport. It’s a ticket. The world is a white amusement park and your white skin buys you into it. A woman in economy argued with me about this once. She said, “I’ve heard this idea and it makes me uncomfortable.” “It probably should,” I said.
Accidental fruit. Accidental fruit that makes more fruit. Accidental seeds. More marvelous than the kill rate of Roundup. Fact: It will rain enough for these plants to grow. Fact: No one needs to do anything to help these plants thrive. Fact: Sometimes accidental seeds are stronger because no one gives a shit about them. Fact: The crop from a volunteer plant tastes just as good.
“Potatoes are one thing. People are another. You can’t abandon people and think they’re going to be fine. People need things. Probably love most of all.”
Until today, he’d never talked about the farm. Now, when he closes his eyes, he can see the logo from the family business. A potato plant. Leaves up top, potatoes down below. All those stems and roots joining the two—like veins and arteries. His father always said that families were the same. Everything was connected, everything worked in synchronicity. Gottfried got to see the sun and he got to flower. His kids were harvested from shallow soil. His grandkids, accidental plants for the most part, would eventually mature and one day they, too, would rise up from the dirt, their brittle roots
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Almost every one of the living takes this for granted. Taking things for granted is the privilege of existence. The living don’t even think about it, same as boys aren’t scared to go missing at the mall. Same as her white cousins can drive over the speed limit across state lines to New Jersey. Same as her grandfather didn’t think twice about selling the family farm.
The robins told him a thousand times that he was on the wrong path, but people on the wrong path don’t often listen to reason. Usually, they only listen to themselves.
