Volume II, Number 18 September 4, 2014 Jessica Childs ......book, Kombucha! The Amazing Probiotic Tea That Cleanses, Heals, Energizes, and Detoxifies, co-authored with husband, Eric,

Volume II, Number 18 September 4, 2014

O F F I C I A L N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E P A R K S L O P E F O O D C O O P

Established1973

By Taigi Smith

When Jessica Childs isn’tbusy fermenting probi-

otic teas for her growing com-pany, Kombucha Brooklyn,this busy mom, who studiedat the Natural Gourmet Insti-tute in NYC, fills her timepacking lunches for her three-year-old son, Ryder. As sum-mer ends and fall begins,many parents start thinkingof ways to fill their kids’ lunchbags. I turned to Jessica, whoholds a degree in molecularbiology, to provide a few tipson packing the perfect lunchfor a picky preschooler. Ryderattends a home-based coop-erative pre-school in Brook-lyn and like many Coopmoms, Jessica will be packinglunches for her little one thismonth.

“Foods that don’t requireheating or refrigeration,” willbe in Ryder’s lunch bag thisyear, says Jessica. “I’ll make ayogurt and barley mix. I’llbuy sheep yogurt and mix itwith strawberries, barley and maple syrup. It’s veryyummy, and I ’m a firmbeliever that berries are verygood for you even thoughthey’re expensive.”

Peter Wohlsen, who buysyogurt for the Coop, says hedefinitely sees an uptick inyogurt sales during the fallmonths. “Sales of yogurttubes and baby yogurts, likeStonyfield, definitely pick up.

The Coop sales go up 25%starting Labor Day acrossthe board,” says Wohlsen.“I’m not sure if it’s becauseeveryone comes home fromvacation or because the kidsgo back to school.” Wohlsenrecommends Siggy’s yogurtfor parents concerned withsugar intake. “The Siggy’syogurt tubes have a lot lesssugar in them…and they’re asmaller, local company,”added Wohlsen.

“Timing is everything when it comes to feeding

the under-five set.”

As a maker of kombucha,fermented foods play a bigrole in the Childs’ householdand homemade sauerkrauthas become a lunchtime sta-

ple. “We’re big fermenters.I’ll put carrots and kale in thesauerkraut to ferment,” saysChilds whose degree in mol-ecular biology has made hersomewhat of an expert on allthings fermented. Her latestbook, Kombucha! The AmazingProbiot ic Tea That Cleanses,Heals, Energizes, and Detoxifies,co-authored with husband,Eric, provides 50 recipes thatfeature the fermented tea asa main ingredient.

“It sells insanely well,”says Peter Wohlsen, whoalso buys kombucha for thePSFC. “I think it’s a fad,” hesays while adding thatanother brand of kombuchais one of the top sellingitems in the PSFC.

Getting kids to eat healthyisn’t easy sometimes. This

By Allison Pennell

There is a man somewherein Bay Ridge who is con-

vinced that composting hispotato skins, carrot peelsand eggshells will be bad forthe environment and disas-trous to his street cred.

Fellow Bay Ridge residentArlene Kriv is a fan of thecity’s new pilot curbsidecomposting program for100,000 households through-out the outer boroughs. Shewas thrilled to trade her over-flowing backyard bin for thecity-provided one, and she’shappily made the switch tousing the city bin exclusivelynow for both food and gar-den waste.

Her neighbors, though?Not so much. “I suspect

many old-timers in Bay Ridgearen’t using their bins. Myneighbor, who grew up in BayRidge, calls it commie-post-ing,” Kriv, a PSFC member,reports wryly. “I recently sawhim sweeping leaves into atrash bag and I mentionedthat he could compost yardwaste. But he thinks that yardwaste is important in land-fills because it helps breakdown other materials. I likehim and want to maintainpeaceful relations so I didn’tchallenge him on this one.”

And if you’re waiting forsome input from the Coop,Sherry Showell runs theCoop’s 75-strong compostingsquad. “I’m a block out of thepilot area but I would love to

C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2

Jessica Childs, Founder of KB Kombucha.

PHO

TO B

Y L

ISA

CO

HEN

Next General Meeting on September 30The General Meeting of the Park Slope Food Coop is held on thelast Tuesday of each month. The September General Meetingwill be on Tuesday, September 30, at 7:00 p.m. at MS 51, 350Fifth Ave., between Fourth and Fifth Sts. Enter on Fourth St. cul-de-sac. The Fourth St. entrance is handicap-accessible.

The agenda is in this Gazette, on the Coop website atwww.foodcoop.com and available as a flier in the entryway ofthe Coop. For more information about the GM and about Coopgovernance, please see the center of this issue.

C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 4

PHO

TO B

Y K

EVIN

RY

AN

IN THIS ISSUELet the Sun Shine On...and Energize Your Road . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Coop Hours, Return Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Coop Calendar, Governance Information,

Mission Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Community Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Welcome, Exciting Workslot Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Jessica Childs: Mother,Kombucha-Maker,School Lunch Master

NYC’s New CompostingCollection Pilot Program

The makings of compost.

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 1

2 � September 4, 2014 Park Slope Food Coop, Brooklyn, NY

Read the Gazette while you’re standing on line OR online at www.foodcoop.com

writer knows first hand. Mythree-year-old makes it herbusiness to spit out vegeta-bles almost as soon as theytouch her tongue. No matterhow hard I try, she just won’teat them until I entice herewith something naughty, likea strip of bacon or a fewcheddar bunnies. Thankfully,she loves healthy snacksfrom the bulk aisles and ourlunches consist of seaweedsnacks, salmon or organicchicken sausage with brownrice, a Stonyfield yogurt cupand a box of juice. Savannahalso loves items from thebulk aisle like sesamesnacks, pistachios andalmonds. Some preschoolsforbid nut items due to foodallergies, so parents shouldcheck their own preschoolsfor restricted items.

And I’m sure I’m not alonein my quest to find the per-

fect toddler-friendly veg-etable recipe. “Veggies are ahard sell,” says Jessica whopauses and then adds,“when they (kids) have achoice. Sweet veggies areusually easier—corn, car-rots, beets, sweet potato.Chop up deep greens andscramble them with eggs.Purée greens in the blenderwith eggs to make greenFrench toast and call itsomething like ogre toast,”says Jessica, who has figuredout a way to get Ryder to eathis veggies. “Put out thethings they may not gravi-tate towards first, when theyare ravenous. I always putout the veggies first beforepresenting the grains/pro-tein. He’ll always eat greensif they’re cooked in a flavor-ful way. We’ll braise greensin stock or put a little applecider vinegar and a littlehoney in there,” and if allelse fails, says Jessica, “Dis-tract them. Read them a

story while you’re puttingfood in their mouth.”

As far as lunch goes, Jessi-ca’s advice is pretty straight-forward. If your child won’teat vegetables at home, hedarn sure won’t eat them at

lunch when you’re not look-ing. “I put down foods thatare going to be accepted atthe right time. In a lunch sit-uation, when a kid has achoice, he’s gonna put thethings aside that he leastwants. My son will not eatthe vegetables at lunch. I’mnot gonna put kale in hislunch bag unless it’s kalechips,” says Childs, whoinsists that timing is every-thing when it comes feedingthe under-five set. “If thereare certain things that areacceptable at some timesbut not at others, keep themout of their visual plane,”says Childs. “Don’t let thekids see the things that youdon’t want them to eat.” Inthat case, it’s time for me toput away the cheddar bun-nies, sesame snacks and theforbidden…Annie’s maca-roni and cheese…gasp!

Instead of macaroni andcheese, Jessica, a fan ofalternative grain pastas, rec-

ommends “nice fluffy scram-bled eggs and rice pasta.”Other parents interviewedfor this article suggestedfruit leathers, peanut butter,crackers, sliced avocadoesand edamame for lunch.Dahlia Thompson, mom to athree-year-old daughter andten-week-old son, says herdaughter is “generally picky,but it’s very hard to predictwhat she’ll like—sometimesshe’ll surprise us and refusethe plain pizza in favor of themeatball pizza, or refuse thehamburger and French friesand eat only the pickles!” ForDahlia, whose daughterattends Luria academy,lunch stays basically thesame. “Luckily our daughteris happy to eat the samething every day, so we arecontent not to rock the boat.Our only concern is to tryand make the lunch wellrounded—not too many

carbs, not too much dairy.Peanut butter and jelly, amozzarella stick, and fruit—in the summer, usually apeach or plum, fall/winter anapple or pear and some-times also some hummusand grape tomatoes.”

In the end, Childs’ adviceis simple. “Kids will eat whenthey are hungry. I see someparents start worrying thattheir kid hasn’t eaten enoughdinner, for instance, so theygrab the nearest junk itemthat they know the kid will

scarf down. Next thing youknow, you have a kid thatonly eats boxed mac andcheese. I say prepare deli-cious fresh food and let themeat when they are hungry.”

Recipes courtesy of Jessica Childs,co-owner of Kombucha Brooklyn

Recipes:

Berry Grain Yogurt

• 1⁄2 cup plain, whole milk yogurt (Sheep milk worksgreat!) • 1⁄2 cup quartered straw-berries or other bite-sizeberry • 3 Tbsp. cold, cooked wholegrain (barley and speltberries work great!) • Touch of pure maple syrup

Put berries, yogurt and grainin a sweet little bowl. Stir tocombine well. Add justenough maple syrup to makeit barely sweet. A little goes along way! Don’t blow yourtaste buds out on those over-ly sweetened flavored vari-eties of yogurt. Even yourorganic varieties that aremade for kids are overloadedwith unnecessary sugar.

Very Veggie Sauerkraut—perfect for kids who maybe garlic-averse

• 1⁄2 head of green cabbage,rinsed in cold water and shredded • 3 carrots, rinsed in coldwater and shredded (peelon) • 5 leaves of lacinato kale, rinsed in cold water,shredded • Salt • Quart-sized mason jarwith lid

The shredding can be doneby thinly slicing with a sharpblade. Put raw, shredded veg-etables in a large bowl. Tossto combine well. Add enoughsalt to make it perfect to eatas a cold, raw salad. Then adda little bit more salt to makeit noticeably over-salted, butstill edible. Make sure to mixwell throughout the saltingprocess to ensure even saltcoverage. Cover the bowl andlet stand for 30 minutes.Remove cover. You shouldnotice the veggies are verywet now. Continue to bringthe moisture out of the veggies by squeezing themwith your clean hands overand over again. It’s a greatforearm workout! Do this for about five minutes andthe veggies should haveexpressed a good amount ofliquid. Add a small amount of

the veggie mixture to the jarand use your fist or a woodenspoon to push it down into thejar as tight as you can. Repeatadding and pressing until thejar is 4⁄5 full. If there is more liq-uid from the bowl that you cantop it off with, do. Ideally, all ofthe veggies are submergedbelow the level of the liquid.Put the lid on loosely and let itstand in a corner on yourcounter, out of sunlight for twoto three weeks.

DAILY—use a fork orwooden spoon to push downthe veggies. Do this step evenif the veggies are still sub-merged to disturb the surfaceof the liquid and deter moldgrowth. The liquid will get alittle bubbly and translucent,but this is not moldy. Moldvery specifically grows abovethe surface of the liquid andhas a dry, fuzzy appearance.Taste your kraut regularly, it’ssafe to eat throughout theprocess. When you deem itready, when it has reached agood acidity level for yourtaste, put it in the fridge toslow down the fermentationprocess.

You can ferment all sortsof veggies this way but stayaway from delicate items likespinach, which will just turnto mush. Throw some fruitchunks into the jar for a livelyand delicious ferment! Serveit on a typical sandwich tosqueeze in some yummyveggies. Serve it as a sideor a snack—Another funthing to do is put some ona rice cake, cover it with afew slices of cheese and putit under a broiler just tomelt the cheese. ■

Peanut butter. Siggi’s yogurt.

YoKids yogurt tubes.

Kale chips.

The bulk aisle has lots of ready-made snacks.

Fruit leather.

Seaweed snacks.

KB Kombucha.

Jessica ChildsC O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1

PHO

TOS

BY L

ISA

CO

HEN

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 2

Park Slope Food Coop, Brooklyn, NY September 4, 2014 � 3


By Hayley Gorenberghile we don’t have acount of how many Coop

solar enthusiasts there areamong us, certainly PSFCmembers helped catapultsun-powered Solar Roadwaysinto becoming the most pop-ular campaign ever onIndiegogo.

Solar Roadways, Inc., acompany that seeks to replacepetroleum-based asphalt withheavy-duty hexagonal glasspanels embedded with photo-voltaic cells, garnered$850,000 in small businessinnovation federal researchgrants from the Department ofTransportation, followed by aviral Indiegogo crowdfundingdrive last spring that drewmore than 15 million viewsand attention from Star Trekveteran and prolific tweeterGeorge Takei. The campaignultimately attracted $2.2 mil-lion from supporters—morethan double its original goal.

Solar Roadways, foundedby Idaho couple Scott andJulie Brusaw in 2006, envi-sions replacing the nation’sroads with LED-lit panels thathave the central feature ofgenerating renewable energy.Collaterally, they could beelectronically reconfigured to

give up-to-the-minute trafficinformation, heated frombelow to reduce roadway icingand snow build-up, and wouldeliminate the vulnerabilityinherent in above-groundenergy cables.

The endeavor has been afinalist in the EE Times Annu-al Creativity in ElectronicsAwards’ “Best Enabler Awardfor Green Engineering” cate-gory and “Most PromisingRenewable Energy Award” cat-egory; won a $50,000 GeneralElectric Ecoimagination Com-

munity Award in 2010; andwas a finalist for the 2013World Technology Award.

Solar Roadways has itsdoubters and detractors.Cleantechnica examineswhether solar roadways are“too good to be true.”

Among the critiques it hastackled are whether glass pan-els can withstand heavy trucktraffic (the Brusaws claim eachpanel can withstand 250,000pounds of pressure) andquestions about the utility ofreplacing roadways in over-cast or shady environmentswith expensive solar panels.

Equities.com asks “whereare they going to find actualcustomers who would ratherspend vast sums of money onredoing their parking lotsrather than putting cheaper,more-efficient solar arrays ontheir roofs.”

Matt Kleiman, the Coop’sinformation technologycoordinator in charge ofweb development, f indsSolar Roadways intriguing.Kleiman, with an engineer-ing degree from Northeast-ern University that focusedon digital electronics, sug-gests the solar roadwaysproject brings together acollection of new technolo-

gies for a product that“wouldn’t have been possi-ble” a few years ago. Hepoints out , for example,that “ i f LEDs weren’taround, i t would requiretoo much energy to light apiece of roadway, so they’dbe wasting energy.” And hesurmised that re lat ivelyrecent improvements insolar technology createdmore efficient technologiesto help support solar road-ways’ effectiveness.

Kleiman particularly likes

the potential for usingembedded technology to tracktraffic. He’s a fan of Google’straffic applications that helpguide travelers to the best dri-ving routes, and points outthat with “smart” roadways“you could very easily gain alot of data about how manycars are going and how fast.”He acknowledged that datamining processes often raiseconcerns, nevertheless, he feltpositive about the possibilityof “essentially networking theground that we drive upon,generating huge amounts ofdata about the way peopledrive, how fast people are dri-ving, traffic patterns…maybeyou could tell when there’s anaccident.” He concluded, “Likeall of these new technologies,

there’s a bit of give and take.”Meanwhile, the Brusaws

plow forward. In the process,they’ve developed a trove offascinating online answers tofrequently asked questions.

After educating readersthat their heavy-duty glass is,indeed, stronger than asphalt(“bulletproof and bomb(blast) resistant glass is madewith laminated temperedglass”), they explain repairs to110-pound modules that com-municate wirelessly. “Forinstance, ‘I-95 mile marker114.3 northbound lane, thirdpanel in, panel numberA013C419 not responding.’ …A single operator could load agood panel into his/her truckand respond to the scene. Thepanel could be swapped out

and reprogrammed in a fewminutes. The damaged panelwould then be returned to arepair center. Think of howthis compares to pot holerepair!” Solar Roadwaysclaims its panels will last atleast two decades. “Solar cellsare the limiting factor: theycan continue to work up to 30years but they’re at the end oftheir life cycle by then.”

Solar Roadways envisionsreplacing the nation’s roadswith LED-lit panels that

generate renewable energy.

With the Indiegogo funds,the Brusaws say they plan tomove beyond their own part-nership and enthusiastic vol-unteers, to engage “a team ofengineers to help us makesome final adjustments in ourpanels and streamline theproduction process to bringcosts down and allow us toproduce them more quickly.”They will also “start buildingmachinery for assembly” oftheir panels. “You wouldn’tbelieve how many solar cellswe broke while assembling108 prototype panels!”

Those panels make up theonly currently installed pro-ject, a parking lot in Sagle,Idaho. They plan that begin-ning next spring, their home-town of Sandpoint, Idaho, willsport the first public projects,including sidewalks, airporttarmac, the welcome centerparking lot, city sidewalks and“the parking lot of our localanimal shelter.” The Brusawssay they are in touch with atesting track near St. Paul,Minnesota, where they areconsidering installing 500 feetof Roadway to test with 18-wheelers, which would givethem data on the sound ofhigh-speed traffic on a road-way (as well as testing dura-bility, one would presume).

Staving off what they call“the misconception…that weneed to pay for projects,” theBrusaws claim “a very long listof potential customers wait-

ing for our panels to be readyfor purchase.”

Their web site covers powerdistribution extensively. SolarRoadways proposes to replaceoverhead and undergroundlines currently running alongroads nationwide with a“cable corridor” that wouldoffer power, phone and inter-net companies convenientaccess to cables where “noone can dig into them, icecan’t bring them down, fallentrees or tree branches won’tbring them down, and vehi-cles can’t hit the poles sup-porting them.”

In addition to the enthusi-asm they report from corpo-rate contacts, the Brusawspoint out that current energysystems “provide power from acentral location and send itout via transmission lines overlong distance, which leads tosubstantial loss” and “createsecurity risks…as they can betaken out by hackers, targetedby terrorists, etc.” In contrast,“A decentralized system suchas ours offers much moresecurity. Much of the power isused near the power source—i.e., driveways power homes,parking lots power businesses,etc. Excess power produced byour system can feed surround-ing neighborhoods. This helpswith security: suppose a ter-rorist detonates a bomb in themiddle of a Solar Road andblows the road completely inhalf. Since both sides of thenow damaged road still pro-duce electricity, no one losespower. The decentralizedpower grid offers much need-ed national security. Since dri-veways, sidewalks, patios andparking lots supply power tohomes and businesses, lessenergy needs to be transport-ed over long distances, result-ing is less loss. It also meanssmaller cables are required,saving materials and thereforecosts. In our system, the poweris produced right at the pointof use.” ■

For more info on Solar Roadways,visit www.solarroadways.com.

Let the Sun Shine On… And Energize Your Road

Scott Brusaw, founder of Solar Roadways.

PHO

TO B

Y M

ARK

DIX

ON

ILLU

STRA

TIO

NS

BY C

ATH

Y W

ASS

YLE

NKO

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 3



be able to compost some ofthe items I can’t do in ourbackyard like corn husks andbones.” The PSFC’s scraps—some 30,000+ gallons peryear per Showell’s guessti-mate—go to seven local gar-dens and parks including theBrooklyn Botanical Gardenand community gardens inRed Hook and Park Slope.

Showell agrees that curb-side composting is the onlyway you can compost all thewaste in the city but hopesthat it won’t come at the costof local composting, whichties communities togetherand benefits neighborhoodgardening. Her other concernis that in order to accomplishcitywide composting, NYCwill end up trucking most ofthe organics to places farafield of the city.

Addressing Showell’s con-cerns, the New York CityDepartment of SanitationComposting operation has afacility in Staten Island thathandles not just food wastebut a range of compostablematerials, which are beingused by city agencies andnonprofits for urban garden-ing, soil mitigation and otherimprovement projects. Therewill be other industrial scalefacilities utilized upstate andout of state and it’s not yetknown how much would betrucked away.

According to statisticsprovided by the New YorkCity Department of Sanita-tion, organic waste accountsfor close to a third of totalresidential waste in NYC.Separating out yard waste,food scraps, compostablepaper (napkins, paper plates,etc.) will reportedly save mil-lions in landfill disposalcosts, reduce pests by stor-ing food waste in handy-dandy rodent-resistant bins,and turn all that stinkygarbage into compost to beused for fertilizing gardens,parks and street trees.

What’s not to like?“I hate the compost pilot

program! HATE it!!!” e-mailedmy upstate neighbor and ParkSlope Food Cooperating resi-dent of Third Street, Karen

Wenderoff. I don’t have longto wait for an answer to why.Though reportedly religiousabout recycling, Wenderoffcan’t get past the moldering,smelly grossness of keepingfood scraps in a container inher kitchen. The last timeshe tried it, she says sheopened the city-providedcontainer only to find it fullof mold and that was theend of that.

Longtime Coop memberGersh Kuntzman wouldn’tnecessarily be opposed totrying out the new receptacle

thingy himself but his build-ing doesn’t have them andhe too has a lot of concernsabout how a citywide pro-

gram will be administered—i.e. “unvetted, underfundedand, as a result, never reallyuseful. CitiBike!” And “thehorrific new stench that hasbecome Park Slope’s versionof LA’s smog, hovering overthe entire block on pickupdays.” Heh. Kuntzman asks if

sanitation workers will gettraining for rotting vegetativematter disposal, who willhose down the receptacles,what about the big buildingslike his who aren’t interestedand the landlords who don’twant to bother?

Oy. I don’t know, Gersh. Idon’t know!

NYC officials say organicwaste accounts for close to a

third of total residential wastein the five boroughs.

In another area apartmentbuilding, Coop memberEmily Douglas is enthusias-tically pro-curbside com-posting and greatly relievedshe was able to convince herneighbors to give it a try. Thegratitude may be running sohigh because in her PCC(pre-curbside composting)days, Douglas used to haulher frozen compost on thesubway to Union Square’sfarmers market two to threedays a week. And once sheforgot it on the train. Uh ohand PU. “Curbside is, obvi-ously, a hundred times easi-er,” Douglas relates. Evenfood that goes bad doesn’tgo wasted, Douglas’s house-hold produces very littletrash now, it’s so much betterfor the environment, and thecity can make money off of it.

For buildings larger thannine units, Douglas says theDepartment of Sanitationhas a formal applicationprocess and even sends arepresentative out to do asite visit and special training.“Our DOS representative wasvery enthusiastic and help-

ful,” says Douglas, “and theDepartment was responsivethroughout. It felt like theyreally want the program tosucceed. I would encourageany Coop-ers in the pilot

area who are in large build-ings to request bins.”

Haley Rogers, a staff ana-lyst with the Department ofSanitation’s Bureau ofWaste Prevention, Reuseand Recycling has alreadylikely heard every kind offeedback by this point andsays that generally theresponse has been positive,especially once their initialreservations are addressed.

When asked for the great-est hits of pros and cons asreported by program partici-pants, Rogers reported:

• Residents love the stur-dy construction of the binsprovided by Sanitation,which have wheels, handlesand latches and otherrodent-resistant features.

• Many residents expresstheir pleasure and gratitudethat New York City is offering

a program like this, oftenusing the word “finally.”

• During the warmermonths, odors and/or mag-gots can sometimes be foundin discarded food scraps—whether those scraps areplaced in a separate organicwaste bin, or with trash inblack bags (which is the tradi-tional method of discardingfood scraps where curbsidecomposting is not available).Regular garbage was left at thecurb overnight in far moreaccessible bags for pests.

• We remind residentsthat this is the same materialthey are already handlingand discarding of. Now theyjust have a different bin toput it in.

While the program is stillin the pilot phase, the DOSis testing different optionsand tweaking the programbased on feedback. Theyhave started allowing resi-dents to line the outer binwith a regular clear plasticbag rather than a com-postable one and are alsotrying out different collec-tion schedules and outreachstrategies. The findings willbe presented to the CityCouncil in October 2015,which will decide if the pro-gram goes citywide.

How to Deal WithMaggots And Flies(source: NYC Dept ofSanitation)

Bluch. Maggots are fly larvae and occur when flieslay eggs on organic waste.Sorry to say, these eggs areoften already present on ourfood waste.

• You can discourage fliesfrom laying their eggs in andaround your bin by reducingodors and reducing access tofood waste.

• Flies are attracted toprotein, like meat and bones.Try waiting until the nightbefore collection to placethese items in the bin. Ifspace permits, wrap andstore them in your freezer forthe time being.

• Certain scents will repelflies, such as camphor, euca-lyptus, mint or bay leaves.Try hanging some bruisedleaves of these herbs inclusters, or apply dabs ofherbal oil to the outside ofyour bin.

• Line the outer rim ofyour bin with salt or spraywith vinegar to keep fliesfrom entering. You can alsosprinkle rock salt or gardenlime inside the bin.

• If you get flies or mag-gots in your bin, cover mag-gots with salt or vinegar toget rid of them. ■

CompostingC O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1

NYC compost bucket.

Coop member Arlene Krivcomposts in Bay Ridge.

Sherry Showell runs thePSFC’s composting squad.

Gersh Kuntzman raises practical considerations aboutNYC’s Compost Project.

PHO

TOS

BY K

EVN

RY

AN

ILLU

STRA

TIO

N B

Y R

OD

MO

RRIS

ON

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 4



Rest in peace, JeremyThaler... you will bedeeply missed.

Once Again Nut Butter wasfounded by husband and wifecouple, Jeremy Thaler andConnie Potter. Almost as longas Jeremy Thaler couldremember, he had a deepsense and dedication to thespirit of community. Specifi-cally, Jeremy’s obsession withworker-owned cooperatives,organic and sustainablefarming, providing healthyfood choices, and the natureof working are the core valueson which Once Again NutButter was built. Jeremy’sconcept of community wasmultifaceted. He believedthat people should be paidfair wages for their work, andthat people must work incommunity and together-ness. His belief in together-ness extended to employees,commodities providers(farmers, bee keepers, inter-national commodities suppli-ers, etc.), and our local,national and internationalcommunities.

Jeremy grew up in Spokane,Washington. His career beganduring the 60s when heworked as a foreclosure spe-cialist in the State of Califor-nia. He didn’t like the positionbecause of the conflict itcaused with his values and thehardships foreclosure created

for people. He left his positionand headed north. He becameinvolved with the first newwave coop in California. ThenJeremy moved to Wisconsinand became involved with thecoops there, which is where hemet his wife, Connie Potter.Jeremy had extended family inthe Rochester, NY area, soConnie and he moved toRochester.

After moving to Rochester,they started a whole-wheatbakery where Jeremy boughta barrel roaster to use for gra-nola making. Jeremy andConnie’s obsession for coopscontinued to grow, and in1972 they decided to start aworker cooperative businessnaming it Clear Eye Distribu-tion. The company distrib-uted to the coops in the NewEngland States. In additionto Clear Eye Distribution,Jeremy, Connie and about adozen others also started afood coop, which eventuallyclosed and reopened asAbundance Food Coop.

The bakery became lesssatisfying for Jeremy’s high-energy style. A friend of hisgot him thinking when heasked him “You have a bar-rel roaster, why don’t youuse it to make peanut but-ter?” To Jeremy, that sound-ed like a really neat idea.Jeremy’s next purchaseswere f irst a meat grinder

and then a spice grinderand his peanut butter inge-nuity began! In 1976, withthe investment of $125 for aroaster and $600 for agr inder, Once Again NutButter was born.

Connie and Jeremy want-ed to leave the City ofRochester, so they pur-chased some land outside ofNunda, NY, and built ahome. They built their homeas a peanut butter factorywith loading docks and man-ufacturing, productionoccurred in their basement.In 1980 production outgrewtheir home’s capacity sothey purchased a former silkfactory in the Village ofNunda, NY.

In the beginning, OnceAgain Nut Butter only pro-duced peanut butter avail-able in 35 lb. pails. The pailscame from a nearby dough-nut shop that would throwthem away. In love and carefor the environment, Jeremyand Connie recycled themfor use in their new peanutbutter making endeavor.Through the coop, Clear EyeDistribution, the peanutbutter was dispersed. Short-ly after producing peanutbutter, Once Again intro-duced cashew butter andthen almond butter.

In 1972 Jeremy becameinterested in organic farm-

ing. He met a farmer in Liv-ingston County, NY, who wasgrowing organically. In 1977,Once Again had grownenough to incorporate. In1990, they began using theword “organic”—after theybecame OCIA certified.

Jeremy Thaler was a per-

son of action, committingpersonal time and energyinto making the world a bet-ter place. He had personallyinvested his time in startingeconomic development pro-jects such as investing in asewing coop in Nicaragua.He made Once Again NutButter a company for con-sumers to feel good aboutsupporting. ■

Crossword Puzzle

two: Abbr.Puzzle author: David Levinson Wilk. For answers, see page .

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35

36 37 38 39 40 41 42

43 44 45 46

47 48 49 50 51 52 53

54 55 56

57 58 59 60 61 62

63 64 65

66 67 68

69 70 71

Across1. Senior ____ Tour4. [Nothing but net]9. “That’s something!”14. Start of many church names15. Brunch time, perhaps16. To ____ phrase17. What’s seen at a recently destroyedbakery?19. Pitched well20. Turner on screen21. Pulitzer-winning biographer ____ Bird22. Cybill’s role on “Moonlighting”23. “You can’t teach ____ dog ...”25. Wilson of Wilson Philips27. Numbers yet to be crunched30. Sign painter’s aid33. Texas city named for a Ukraine city35. “Just playin’ with ya!”36. Words before and after “what”39. Reason why the alimony check neverarrived?42. Family nickname43. Tax time VIPs45. The Cars singer Ric47. Excited50. Deli order54. Last name in skin care56. “Goosebumps” series author57. Wasted59. Busy airport62. “____ Small World”63. Milk: Prefix64. Impale computer whizzes?66. Electronic monitor site67. Nonsensical68. Unsafe?69. Months in Madrid70. Craps and pool table surfaces71. Geog. high points

Down1. Wood the “Mona Lisa” is painted on2. South America’s French ____3. “You ____ free to move about thecabin”4. Philharmonic sect.5. 10,080 minutes6. Ancient Andean7. 2012 NHL Hall of Fame inductee Joe____8. “____ Pinafore”9. Gas station figure10. Harry who came through Ellis Islandin 191411. Prevail in a raffle that’s offering houseattachments?12. “That’s ____ haven’t heard!”13. Dwyane of the NBA18. He’s found in books22. TV star with a Mandinka warriorhaircut24. Miami-____ County26. Words that follow “cool” or “quiet”28. Lone Star State nickname29. Inclined31. “Rocky ____”32. Mormon Church inits.34. The Kings of the NBA, on scoreboards36. “Nasty!”37. Big hairy one38. Security devices that get installed inthe middle of spring?40. The Wildcats of the NCAA41. A century in Washington: Abbr.44. Where Starbucks was founded46. Suri Cruise’s mom48. List for a new hire49. Japanese vegetable51. Soap alternative52. Ajar53. Wild things55. French wine region57. Exploding cigar sound58. Actress Diane60. Russia’s ____ Mountains61. Hunched (over)64. Alternative to .jpg65. Mike Ditka and Ozzie Newsome, for

By Suzanne Meadows

We stock ‘’Once Again Nut Butter,’’ and one of the founders, a familyfriend I grew up with, has since passed. Here’s his tribute found on

Facebook www.facebook.com/OnceAgainNutButter?“

M E M B E R S U B M I S S I O N

The Story Behind ‘Once Again Nut Butter’

Puzzle author: David Levinson Wilk. For answers, see page 15.

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 5

McKibben is a guiding spiritbehind the fossil fuel divest-ment movement. His RollingStone article invites everyonewho cares about our planetand its climate to show up inNew York on September 21 forthe People’s Climate March.

What does this have to dowith the Park Slope FoodCoop? Everything.

Climate change threatenseverything we as a Coop careabout: a sustainable environ-ment; healthy communities; afresh, diverse, affordable and

nutritious food supply. ThePeople’s Climate March, likethe Coop, seeks to unite peo-ple of all backgrounds to pre-serve and protect life on earth.

But why march now? First ofall, because we are in an accel-erating crisis. Climate change isengulfing us now, not in somedistant future. The Intergovern-mental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) reported in Maythat the melting of the WestAntarctica ice sheet appears tobe unstoppable, and that weshould expect sea levels to rise

by a meter by 2100. The second reason for call-

ing a march in September isthat United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki Moon hascalled government and otherleaders to a World ClimateSummit world leaders tomeet in New York on Septem-ber 23. The People’s ClimateMarch is timed to put pres-sure on these leaders to takemeaningful action. The morepeople who show up on Sep-tember 21, the more reasonfor governments to listen.

Like the Coop, the People’sClimate March is a participa-tory event, challenging all ofus to play an active role. Hun-dreds of organizations havealready endorsed the march;you can see these groups list-ed on the Climate March website. It’s a breathtakingly var-ied gathering of environmen-tal, community, labor, andreligious organizations thatall recognize climate changeas an issue that can’t wait.

Like the Coop, the People’sClimate March is connectingthe dots rather than viewing cli-mate change in isolation. It’sputting to rest the old fallacythat environmentalism is a jobkiller. Labor unions were a vitalpresence at a kickoff event onJuly 31 in Times Square: therewere unions representing elec-trical workers, nurses, janitors,food workers, teachers, trans-port workers, hospital workers.“As a father, I recognize the needto act,” said International Broth-erhood of Electrical Workers(IBEW) leader ChristopherErickson. He also recognizes thepotential for green jobs for hismembers building and runningrenewable energy facilities.

The People’s Climate Marchinsists that social justice mustbe a key element of any move-ment to fix our climate crisis.“Climate change affects every-

body, but not all the effects areevenly felt,” Eddie Bautista ofthe New York City Environ-mental Justice Alliance toldthe crowd, noting that thatlow-income people bore thebrunt of Hurricane Katrina andSuperstorm Sandy.

Of course environmentalgroups are part of the coalition,including the Sierra Club, rep-resenting 2.4 million members,and the Natural ResourcesDefense Council. Also partici-pating: numerous affiliates of350.org, a group that is spear-heading efforts to convince col-lege and retirement funds todivest themselves of any fossilfuel stocks. The number 350refers to the need to decreasecarbon dioxide concentrationin the atmosphere to 350 partsper million. The current level is400 parts per million.

Planning for the marchdrew nearly 200 artists to theBrooklyn Museum on July 31for a “Sporatorium” designedto germinate seeds of creativ-ity for the march and beyond.Artists and musicians envi-sion a Seachange Flotilla tofloat down the Hudson fromTroy and circumnavigateManhattan; a “Honeybeelu-jah” of singing, swarming bee-keepers; and a platoon ofscientists in white coatsmarching to the slogan, “Outof the labs, into the streets.”

September 21 should be aglorious day of protest. ButThe People’s Climate Marchwants to be more than amoment. It plans to build amovement.

As Coop members, I believethat we’re already part of thismovement, but I also believethat we need to act in as manyways as possible. I hope everyCoop member will try to par-ticipate in the march. Go tothe People’s Climate Marchwebsite. Volunteer. Organize.Create. Bring everyone youknow on September 21. Helpgive the zeitgeist a really deci-sive shove. ■

www.peoplesclimate.org/march/

Note: At the time of writing themarch’s route has yet to be deter-mined pending negotiations withthe NYPD. Check the People’s Cli-mate March website for updatedinformation.

Another version of this articleappeared on the “Notes from aSmall Planet” blog of the publica-tion Jewish Currents.



By Mimi Bluestone

“Sometimes you can grab the zeitgeist by the scruff of the neck and shake it a little.” Thosewords come from “A Call to Arms: An Invitation to Demand Action on Climate Change,” an

article by author and climate activist Bill McKibben that appeared in Rolling Stone in May.


People’s Climate March in NYC: Coming Up September 21

who will administer Universal Type Server 4 for Macintosh. This is a workslot, not a paid

position. We have seven workstations using UTS, and we are also using Adobe CC and Quark

8. Currently workstations are using OS 10.7.5, but we have plans to update shortly to OS

10.8. Updating, maintenance and testing of UTS to work with current versions of OS plus

Adobe CC and Quark 8 are required. The Coop

currently uses the UTS extensis font server

to produce a bi-weekly newsletter and

internal documents. Hours are as

needed, for FTOP credit.

Contact: [email protected].

Font Server Administrator

The Food Justice contingent meet-up and rally will START AT 11 A.M. and meet at the assigned side street west of Central Park West

(check www.peoplesclimate.org for exact location). Wear your Park Slope Food Coop T-shirt, bring a hat, sun block, lots of water,

and pots and pans if you want to be part of a huge percussion group. Bring the kids for this historic and perfectly safe march (permitted by the NYPD).

We will have gorgeous displays, signs, speakers and entertainment at the pre-march Food Justice rally

Contact [email protected] for more info and to offer to help out.

.

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 6



“The BDS movement emanates froma call for justice put out by the Pales-tinian people themselves. It is a Pales-tinian-led, international non-violentmovement that seeks to force theIsraeli government to comply withinternational law in respect to itstreatment of the Palestinian people.’’

I have supported this movementbecause it exerts pressure withoutviolence on the State of Israel to cre-ate lasting peace for the citizens ofIsrael and Palestine, peace whichmost citizens crave. I have witnessedthe systematic violence against andhumiliation of Palestinian men,women and children by members ofthe Israeli security forces. Theirhumiliation and pain is all too famil-iar to us South Africans.

In South Africa, we could nothave achieved our democracy withoutthe help of people around the world,who through the use of non-violentmeans, such as boycotts and divest-ment, encouraged their governmentsand other corporate actors to reversedecades-long support for theApartheid regime. My consciencecompels me to stand with the Pales-tinians as they seek to use the sametactics of non-violence to further theirefforts to end the oppression associat-ed with the Israeli Occupation.”

The BDS campaign hasthree goals, all non-violent andin accordance with interna-tional law: an end to the occu-pation of Arab lands occupiedby Israel since 1967; full equali-ty for Arab-Palestinian citizensof Israel; and the right of Pales-tinian refugees displaced orexpelled during conflict in theregion to return to their homesand properties as stipulated inUN Resolution 194.

Now in the aftermath of theongoing atrocities perpetratedby Israel against Gaza, we seemore endorsement of the BDSgoals, including this one orga-nized by Rachel Giora, profes-sor of Linguistics at Tel AvivUniversity:

The [over 80] signatories to this[July] statement, all academics atIsraeli universities, wish it to beknown that they utterly deplore theaggressive military strategy beingdeployed by the Israeli government.The slaughter of large numbers ofwholly innocent people is placing yetmore barriers of blood in the way ofthe negotiated agreement which is theonly alternative to the occupationand endless oppression of the Pales-tinian people. Israel must agree to animmediate cease-fire, and start nego-tiating in good faith for the end of theoccupation and settlements, througha just peace agreement.

On Saturday evening,August 16, many thousands ofdemonstrators gathered for apro-peace rally in Tel Avivunder the slogan, “Changingdirection: toward peace, awayfrom war.”

As reported in The New YorkTimes, August 15, in a letter tothe Israeli ambassador to theNetherlands, Henk Zanolireturned his medal as one ofthe Righteous Among theNations. Here’s what he said:It is with great sorrow that I amherewith returning the medal Ireceived as an honour and atoken of appreciation from theState of Israel for the effortsand risks taken by my motherand her family in saving thelife of a Jewish boy during the

German occupation of TheNetherlands. . . Against thisbackground it is particularlyshocking and tragic that today,four generations on, our familyis faced with the murder of ourkin in Gaza. Murder carried outby the State of Israel.

In a blatantly hypocriticalstatement, the government ofIsrael implausibly calls its mili-tary “the most moral in theworld.” Israel’s specious claimsgo with every bomb: terroristsand/or rockets were hiding inevery school/hospital/farm/home, Hamas was using Pales-tinians as “human shields”—justifying the many hundredsof children killed and maimedby Israel in the last few weeks.These self-serving claims comefrom Israel and its apologistsalone, and are not verified. Thepreeminent Israeli humanrights group, B’Tselem, contra-dicts these claims, stating that“Airstrikes on homes were cen-tral to Israel’s military policyfrom the start of its latest oper-ation in Gaza” and the Israelieffort to avoid responsibility “isa faulty premise, both legallyand morally.”

We owe it to ourselves, ourcommunities and the world tospeak out for justice, peaceand equal rights, and to workto combat racism, anti-Semi-tism, colonialism and oppres-sion. We can help by refusingto buy SodaStream products,produced in occupied Pales-tine on illegally confiscatedPalestinian land. Then we candemand that the Coop nolonger carry these products. ■

Looking to help new coops form in Brooklynwhile getting a tax deduction?

Support the Fund for New Coops—a project of the Park Slope Food Coop.The Fund for New Coops will make low-interestloans to start-up coops that use the full-memberlabor model like ours. Loans will be extended to qualified start-ups to address problems andmaximize the chances that start-ups will flourish.

How can you donate?• Use the scannable Fund for New Coops donation cards

available on the shopping floor

• Donate directly from the Coop’s website, foodcoop.com. Follow the link forthe Fund for New Coops and select the DONATE button

• Mail a check—made out to the Fund for New Food Coops—to: FJC, 520 Eighth Ave., 20th Flr., New York, NY 10018

Help nascent coops that want to use our model: Contribute today!

VALET BIKE PARKING IS HERE ON SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS!

Every Saturday,April 5–November 22,

1:00–5:15 p.m.and

Every Sunday,April 6–November 23,

3:30–7:45 p.m.Coop members can leave their bikes with

our valet parking service, which is like a coat check for bikes. Working members will

check in and watch your bike for you.

Just drop off your bike, stroller, scooter orpersonal cart, do your shopping or your shift,

and hop back on. No locks, no worries, no theft. Service operates rain or shine.

Look for us in front of the yellow wall.

Note: no bike check-in on Saturdays after 5 p.m. or Sundays after 7:30 p.m.

Valet bicycle parking at the Coopis brought to you by the PSFC

Shop & Cycle Committee.

By Thomas Cox

In April of this year Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote a succinct descrip-tion of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement:


Archbishop Desmond Tutu and BDS

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 7



This Issue Prepared By:Coordinating Editors: Stephanie Golden

Erik Lewis

Editor (development): Wally KonradTom Moore

Reporters: Hayley GorenbergAllison PennellTaigi Smith

Art Director (development): Mike Miranda

Illustrator: Rod MorrisonCathy Wassylenko

Photographers: Lisa CohenKevin Ryan

Thumbnails: Kristin Lilley

Photoshop: Adam Segal

Preproduction: Susan Louie

Art Director (production): Phan Nguyen

Desktop Publishing: Kevin CashmanMaxwell TaylorHeloisa Zero

Editor (production): Nancy Rosenberg

Advertising: Eric Bishop

Puzzle Master: David Levinson Wilk

Final Proofreader: Lisa Schorr

Index: Len Neufeld

COOP HOURS

Office Hours:Monday through Thursday

8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.Friday & Saturday

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Shopping Hours:

Monday through Friday8:00 a.m. to 10:00* p.m.

Saturday6:00 a.m. to 10:00* p.m.

Sunday6:00 a.m. to 7:30* p.m.

*Shoppers must be on a checkout line 15 minutes after closing time.

Childcare Hours:Monday through Sunday

8:00 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.Telephone:

718-622-0560Web address:

www.foodcoop.com

The Linewaiters’ Gazette is published biweekly by the Park SlopeFood Coop, Inc., 782 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York 11215.

Opinions expressed here may be solely the views of the writer. TheGazette will not knowingly publish articles that are racist, sexist or oth-erwise discriminatory.

The Gazette welcomes Coop-related articles and letters from members.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINESAll submissions must include author’s name and phone number andconform to the following guidelines. Editors will reject letters andarticles that are illegible or too long. Submission deadlines appearin the Coop Calendar opposite.

Letters: Maximum 500 words. All letters will be printed if theyconform to the guidelines above. The Anonymity and Fairnesspolicies appear on the letters page in most issues.

Voluntary Articles: Maximum 750 words. Editors will reject articlesthat are essentially just advertisements for member businesses andservices.

Committee Reports: Maximum 1,000 words.

Editor-Writer Guidelines: Except for letters to the editor, whichare published without editing but are subject to the Gazette letterspolicy regarding length, anonymity, respect and fairness, allsubmissions to the Linewaiters' Gazette will be reviewed and, ifnecessary, edited by the editor. In their review, editors are guid-ed by the Gazette's Fairness and Anonymity policies as well asstandard editorial practices of grammatical review, separation offact from opinion, attribution of factual statements, and rudi-mentary fact checking. Writers are responsible for the factualcontent of their stories. Editors must make a reasonable effort tocontact and communicate with writers regarding any proposededitorial changes. Writers must make a reasonable effort torespond to and be available to editors to confer about their arti-cles. If there is no response after a reasonable effort to contactthe writer, an editor, at her or his discretion, may make editorialchanges to a submission without conferring with the writer.

Submissions on Paper: Typed or very legibly handwritten andplaced in the wallpocket labeled "Editor" on the second floor at thebase of the ramp.

Digital Submissions: We welcome digital submissions. The e-mail address for submissions is [email protected] disks in the wallpocket described above. Receipt of your sub-missions will be acknowledged on the deadline day.

Classified & Display Ads: Ads may only be placed by and on behalfof Coop members. Classified ads are prepaid at $15 per insertion,business card ads at $30. (Ads in the “Merchandise–Non-commercial”category are free.) All ads must be written on a submission form(available in a wallpocket on the first floor near the elevator). Classi-fied ads may be up to 315 characters and spaces. Display ads mustbe camera-ready and business card size (2"x3.5").

Printed by: Tri-Star Offset, Maspeth, NY.

Friday, September 19, 8:00 p.m.

www.facebook.com/ProspectConcerts

53 Prospect Park West [at 2nd Street] • $10 • 8pm [doors open at 7:45]Performers are Park Slope Food Coop members and receive Coop workslot credit.

Booking: Bev Grant, 718-788-3741

Potently intelligent, pensively psychedelic, vocalist Stephanie Rooker draws her influences as deeply from conscious hip-hop as from jazz, soul, and funk. She delivers songs of personal and societal empowerment with a voice that is at once evocative and healing. Guitarist Ben Tyree wields virtuosic ability, eclectic tastes, and the power to move people—either with a buoyant groove to get audiences out of their seats or with emotional depth to touch a listener’s soul.

Park Slope local singer and guitarist Mamie Minch sounds something

like a well-fleshed-out 78-rpm record. She’s known around town for her Piedmont-style fingerpick-ing chops, her big deep voice and

her self-penned antique-sounding songs. She’s played music all over the world and Brooklyn, with all kinds of

excellent people, including Dayna Kurtz, the Roulette Sisters, Jimbo Mathis and CW Stoneking.

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 8



Our Governing Structure From our inception in 1973 to the present, the openmonthly General Meetings have been at the center of theCoop’s decision-making process. Since the Coop incor-porated in 1977, we have been legally required to have aBoard of Directors. The Coop continued the tradition ofGeneral Meetings by requiring the Board to have openmeetings and to receive the advice of the members atGeneral Meetings. The Board of Directors, which isrequired to act legally and responsibly, has approvedalmost every General Meeting decision at the end ofevery General Meeting. Board members are elected atthe Annual Meeting in June. Copies of the Coop’s bylawsare available at the Coop Community Corner and atevery General Meeting.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 30, 7:00 p.m.The General Meeting is held on the last Tuesday of eachmonth.

Location MS 51, 350 Fifth Ave., between Fourth and Fifth Sts.Enter on Fourth St. cul-de-sac. Fourth St. entrance ishandicap-accessible.

How to Place an Item on the AgendaIf you have something you’d like discussed at a GeneralMeeting, please complete a submission form for theAgenda Committee. Forms are available in the rack nearthe Coop Community Corner bulletin board and atGeneral Meetings. Instructions and helpful informationon how to submit an item appear on the submissionform. The Agenda Committee meets on the first Tuesdayof each month to plan the agenda for the GM held on thelast Tuesday of the month. If you have a question, pleasecall Ann Herpel at the coop.

Meeting FormatWarm Up (7:00 p.m.) • Meet the Coordinators • Enjoy some Coop snacks • Submit Open Forum items • Explore meeting literatureOpen Forum (7:15 p.m.) Open Forum is a time formembers to bring brief items to the General Meeting. Ifan item is more than brief, it can be submitted to theAgenda Committee as an item for a future GM.Reports (7:30 p.m.) • Financial Report • Coordinators’Report • Committee ReportsAgenda (8:00 p.m.) The agenda is posted at the CoopCommunity Corner and may also appear elsewhere inthis issue.Wrap Up (9:30-9:45) (unless there is a vote to extendthe meeting) • Meeting evaluation • Board of Directorsvote • Announcements, etc.

A l l A b o u t t h eG e n e r a l M e e t i n g

Park Slope Food CoopMission Statement

The Park Slope Food Coop is a mem-ber-owned and operated food store—analternative to commercial profit-orientedbusiness. As members, we contribute ourlabor: working together builds trustthrough cooperation and teamwork andenables us to keep prices as low as possi-ble within the context of our values andprinciples. Only members may shop, andwe share responsibilities and benefitsequally. We strive to be a responsible andethical employer and neighbor. We are abuying agent for our members and not aselling agent for any industry. We are a partof and support the cooperative movement.We offer a diversity of products with anemphasis on organic, minimally pro-cessed and healthful foods. We seek toavoid products that depend on theexploitation of others. We support non-toxic, sustainable agriculture. We respectthe environment. We strive to reduce theimpact of our lifestyles on the world weshare with other species and future genera-tions. We prefer to buy from local, earth-friendly producers. We recycle. We try tolead by example, educating ourselves andothers about health and nutrition, coopera-tion and the environment. We are com-mitted to diversity and equality. Weoppose discrimination in any form. Westrive to make the Coop welcoming andaccessible to all and to respect the opin-ions, needs and concerns of every member.

Attend a GMand Receive Work Credit

Since the Coop’s inception in 1973, the GeneralMeeting has been our decision-making body. At theGeneral Meeting (GM) members gather to makedecisions and set Coop policy. The General-Meeting-for-workslot-credit program was created to increaseparticipation in the Coop’s decision-making process.

Following is an outline of the program. For full details, seethe instruction sheets by the sign-up board.

• Advance Sign-up required:To be eligible for workslot credit, you must add your

name to the sign-up sheet in the elevator lobby. The sign-ups sheet is available all month long, except for the day ofthe meeting when you have until 5 p.m. to sign up. On theday of the meeting, the sign-up sheet is kept in theMembership Office.

Some restrictions to this program do apply. Please seebelow for details.

• Two GM attendance credits per year:Each member may take advantage of the GM-for-

workslot-credit program two times per calendar year.

• Certain Squads not eligible:Eligible: Shopping, Receiving/Stocking, Food

Processing, Office, Maintenance, Inventory, Construction,and FTOP committees. (Some Committees are omittedbecause covering absent members is too difficult.)

• Attend the entire GM:In order to earn workslot credit you must be present

for the entire meeting.

• Signing in at the Meeting: After the meeting the Chair will provide the Workslot

Credit Attendance Sheet.

• Being Absent from the GM:It is possible to cancel without penalty. We do ask that

you remove your name if you know cannot attend. Pleasedo not call the Membership Office with GM cancellations.

C O O P CA L E N D A RNew Member Orientations

Attending an Orientation is the first step towardCoop membership. Pre-registration is required forall of the three weekly New Member Orientations. To pre-register, visit foodcoop.com or contact theMembership Office. Visit in person or call 718-622-0560 during office hours.

Have questions about Orientation? Please visitwww.foodcoop.com and look at the “Join the Coop”page for answers to frequently asked questions.

The Coop on the Internetwww.foodcoop.com

The Coop on Cable TVInside the Park Slope Food CoopFRIDAYS 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Channels: 56 (Time-Warner), 69 (CableVision), 84 (RCN), 44 (Verizon),and live streaming on the Web: www.bricartsmedia.org/community-media/bcat-tv-network.

General Meeting InfoTUE, SEPTEMBER 30GENERAL MEETING: 7:00 p.m.

TUE, OCTOBER 7AGENDA SUBMISSIONS: 8:00 p.m.

Submissions will be considered for the September 30

General Meeting.

Gazette DeadlinesLETTERS & VOLUNTARY ARTICLES:

Sept. 18 issue: 12:00 p.m., Mon, September 8Oct. 2 issue: 12:00 p.m., Mon, September 22

CLASSIFIED ADS DEADLINE:Sept. 18 issue: 7:00 p.m., Wed, September 10

Oct. 2 issue: 7:00 p.m., Wed, September 24

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 9



Why would the U.S. be sokeen in signing an agree-ment with Colombia, giventhat it accounted for only1.6% of U.S. trade in 2013?U.S. firms have been jump-ing on the trade agreementbandwagon because in thepursuit of growing their mar-kets, small developing coun-tries have been signing tradeagreements with each other.This means that the U.S.slowly lost its hold in theseemerging markets. To stopthis trend in its tracks, theU.S. began signing tradeagreements to guaranteepreferential treatment totheir products, even if theywould not be cheaper for theconsumers of these lesswealthy nations.

And they have succeededin bringing countries to thenegotiating table under thepretense of creating a “levelplaying field” for trading—the ultimate opportunity toenter the highly covetedU.S. market . But thesecountries have paid a largeprice for it, sacrificing thelivelihood of their farmers.As if to say that these small

farmers had no right to theirway of life—that they, out ofall sectors of society, had topay for an inequitable dealwhich they never had a sayin it . To put it more con-cretely, while the U.S. hasincreased its agriculturalexports to Colombia,Colombia would stand tolose a net amount of $63million in the medium term,with some vague and mini-mal promises to gain $550mil l ion each year in thelong term, according to theU.S. Research Service.

This scenario, where theU.S. is forcefully gainingpreferential access to themarkets in emerging coun-tries, leveraging access totheir natural resources, andexporting expensive prod-ucts, sounds a lot like whatthe British tried to do withits American colonies, andit reeks of economic imperi-alism. But this can stop,f i rst ly by making theprocess of signing interna-t ional t rade agreementsmore transparent. Second-ly, by making it a force ofpositive change by using

the U.S.’s economic lever-age to inf luence a coun-tr ies ’ behavior. Eventhough the potato growersare still in a massive disad-vantage with their U.S.counterparts, the Americanand Colombian govern-ments worked together tomake an action plan to pro-tect labor unions and work-er’s rights in Colombia aspart of the trade agreement.These trade agreementsshould be used to pushother governments to ame-liorate the welfare of theirpeople, not worsen it. ■

Sources: www. th ena t i on . c om/a r t i c l e /174589/horrific-costs-us-colombia-trade-agreement#

www.cnbc.com/id/101024125#

www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/sep/19/colombia-free-trade

www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34470.pdf

www.ourfuture.org/20130826/big-columbia-strike-hilites-free-trade-fail

ARE YOU A BROOKLYN-BASED

FILMMAKER? Would you like toscreen your work at the Coop?

Then submit your film for possible inclusion in the Coop’s Friday Film Night Screening Series.

If you’re a Coop member you’ll receive one FTOPcredit for screening and offering a Q+A with yourfilm. If you’re not a member, it’s still a chance tospread the word about your work and build your fanbase by screening for a local audience.

We accept documentary and fiction, both featuresand shorts (we program shorts as a group).

Please e-mail Faye Lederman for details [email protected] or mail your DVD to:

Faye Lederman, 2000 Linwood Ave, #9EFort Lee, NJ 07024

Please e-mail Gabriel Rhodes for details at

[email protected].

By Maria Victoria Castillo

A lmost a year ago, potato growers in Colombia went out to thestreets to protest the rapid decline of their livelihoods. Colom-

bian farmers have been badly hit ever since 2012, when the Colom-bia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement went into effect. It is no wonder whygiven that they had to compete with subsidized American agricultur-al products and because the terms of the FTA were the result ofinequitable negotiations.


Colombia Trade Problems with the U.S.What Is That? How Do I Use It?

Ask Me QuestionsAbout Coop Foods

Every Monday, 12 to 2:45 p.m.You can join in any time during a

question-and-answer session on the shopping floor.

Look for tour leaders in produce aisle.

Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy

Center in Cochabamba, Bolivia, has been a leader in the analysis and global outreach for environmental struggles in Latin America for the last 25 years. Speaking immediately before the historic People’s Climate March on Sunday, Sept. 21 (meeting at Columbus Circle), Jim will discuss the ways in which we can speak about and join the global movement for sane climate treaties that can slow down and help us adapt to the coming climate crisis. Jim has dozens of examples of victories of the climate movement and has an optimistic yet realistic view of what is possible. He is engaging, direct and humorous. His optimism and clarity will bring you to your feet to cheer and to march.

Thursday, September 18, 7 p.m. Kolot Chayeinu, 1012 Eighth Ave. (10/11 Sts.), Brooklyn

Contact: [email protected]

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 10



Stephanie Rooker & Ben Tyree;Mamie MinchPotently intelligent, pensively psy-chedelic, vocalist Stephanie Rookerdraws her influences as deeply fromconscious hip-hop as from jazz,

soul, and funk. She delivers songs of personal and societalempowerment with a voice that is at once evocative andhealing. Guitarist Ben Tyree wields virtuosic ability, eclectictastes, and the power to move people—either with a buoy-ant groove to get audiences out of their seats or with emo-tional depth to touch a listener’s soul. Park Slope localsinger and guitarist Mamie Minch sounds something like awell-fleshed-out 78-rpm record. She’s known around townfor her Piedmont-style fingerpicking chops, her big deepvoice and her self-penned antique-sounding songs. She’splayed music all over the world and Brooklyn, with all kindsof excellent people, including Dayna Kurtz, the RouletteSisters, Jimbo Mathis and CW Stoneking. Concert takes place at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West(at 2nd St.), $10, doors open at 7:45. Prospect Concerts is a monthly musicalfundraising partnership of the Coop and the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture.

Food Drive to Benefit CHIPS Soup Kitchen

CHIPS Soup Kitchen, located at 4th Avenue and Sackett Street, is the recipient ofmuch of our edible but unsaleable perishable food. They also need donations ofnonperishable foods. This food will go to CHIPS to help them feed people in theneighborhood who are in need of a nutritious meal. Consider contributing nonperish-able foods and commercially packaged foods; canned fish; canned fruits and veg-etables; pasta sauce; pasta; pre-packaged rice; pre-packaged beans; canned beans;canned soups; Parmalat milk; dry milk; peanut butter; cooking oil; or boxed raisins.Give donations to the collection table outside the Coop.

PSFC SEP General MeetingItems will be taken up in the order given. Times in parenthesesare suggestions. More information on each item may be avail-able on the entrance table at the meeting. We ask members toplease read the materials available between 7 and 7:15 p.m.

Meeting location: MS 51, 350 Fifth Ave., between Fourth and Fifth Sts. Enter on Fourth St. cul-de-sac. Fourth St. entrance is handicap-accessible.

I. Member Arrival and Meeting Warm-Up

II. Open Forum

III. Coordinator and Committee Reports

IV. Meeting Agenda

Item 1: Annual Hearing Officers Committee Election (20 minutes)Election: One current committee member will stand for re-election. Hearing Officerswork on an FTOP basis when needed and serve three-year terms.

—submitted by the Hearing Officer Committee

Item 2: Proposed Cancellation of December 2014 General Meeting (10 minutes)Proposal: Proposal to cancel the December 2014 General Meeting.

—submitted by General Coordinators

Item 3: Formation of an International Trade Education Squad (30 minutes)Proposal: Formation of an International Trade Education Squad to keep membersinformed about how they affect our ability to maintain our values and realize the goalsof the Park Slope Food Coop. —submitted by Susan Metz

Item 4: Study of Member Characteristics Pertinent to Retirement Policy (30 minutes)Proposal: The General Meeting shall authorize and supervise implementation of ademographic study of Coop members, relevant to work shift policy, retirement, disabili-ty, and related issues. —submitted by David Laibman

V. Board of Directors Meeting

VI. Wrap-Up. Includes member sign-in for workslot credit.For information on how to place an item on the Agenda, please see the center pages ofthe Linewaiters’ Gazette. The Agenda Committee minutes and the status of pendingagenda items are available in the Coop office.

sep 19fri 8 pm

sep 27-28sat-sun 9 am–7 pm

sep 30tue 7 pm

The Food Coop’s second-floor meeting room

will be unavailable for Coop events through lateSeptember, due to officerenovations on that floor.

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 11



NO MOREROBERT’S RULESOF ORDER AT GM’S

TO THE EDITOR,I felt very disappointed by

the tabling of the discussionof Eden Foods at the July 29General Meeting and dis-mayed by the way that deci-sion was made. I had notattended a GM before. I leftthe meeting with the strongsense that Robert’s Rules ofOrder has got to go. I meanno disrespect to the peoplewho have spent their timeand energy on the GM com-mittees and who chair themeetings. But when themotion was made to tablethe agenda item, was second-ed, and then voted on with-out discussion, I thought:Robert’s Rules exists to shutdown conversation, notenable it. A comparison ofDemocratic Rules of Orderwith Robert’s Rules says that“Members with a greaterknowledge of [Robert’s] rulescan use it for personal advan-tage” (see www.democrati-crules.com/compare.html). Icertainly felt that was thecase. The chair did notexplain the rules for first-time attendees, nor did sheseem to understand the rulesherself. The meeting seemedchaotic and at timesunfriendly—several peoplespoke more than once, with atone of exasperation and anedge of ridicule for the spon-sor of the agenda item, whohad not shown up. I had beeneager to attend to hear how

other members view theissue of reproductive rightsand discuss how we shouldrespond to Eden Foods’desire to restrict covering itswomen employees’ contra-ception. I left feeling alienat-ed and frustrated.

I suggest that we seriouslyinvestigate alternatives toRobert’s Rules of Order, anoutdated, competitivemethod of group decisionmaking. We can do better.

Joy Jacobson

ALLEN ZIMMERMAN,HAVE A HAPPYRETIREMENT

TO THE EDITOR,Among some of the inspir-

ing moments of my life as aPSFC Member are Allen Zim-merman’s presentations atthe Coop General Meetings,telling us why we absolutelyneed to get this week’s man-goes from Mexico or sharingin great but concise detailthe virtues of local youngginger. With Allen’s retire-ment, we are losing wisdomthat can only be acquiredand dispensed by those whodo what they do with pas-sion. Another great lessonfrom Allen (mentioned in theinterview published on in theAugust 7 Gazette): gettingbored as a primary goal forwhen he retires. It takessome perspective to see thatboredom is a constructiveand necessary state in whichto linger from time to time.Thanks for your knowledgeand passion, Allen, and

happy retirement! Andplease be so kind to grant uswith a special guest starappearance at General Meet-ings every now and then.

Christian Benes

GREEN2PRODUCTS: NOT SOGREEN AFTER ALL

TO THE EDITOR,The Coop has been selling

and also stocking in the bath-rooms, products from Green2(e.g. toilet paper). My con-cern about this product isthat it is made in China andshipped here at a large car-bon cost. The Coop sellscompeting products that aremade in the USA and requirea lot less energy to ship. Theother brands we sell includeMarcal, manufactured inElmwood Park NJ, (approxi-mately 500 local jobs), [nowpart of Soundview Paper],and 7th Generation which isgenerally made in the U.S.Marcal collects at least partof its recycled paper from theNYC metro area, keeping therecycling loop very close tohome.

Please consider theseother values, less carbonemissions from shorter ship-ping distances, more localjobs and the use of local recy-cled paper while shopping.

Perhaps the Coop will con-sider stocking our bathroomswith recycled products madein the U.S.

Thank you for your con-sideration.

Stewart Pravda

BDS TOPICS:

BAN THEGAZETTE’S BDSSECTION

TO THE EDITOR:BDS is abbreviation of

Boycott, Divestment andSanction campaign againstIsrael that started by Pales-tinian non-governmentorganizations. This move-ment claims that the Israelisdiscriminate against Pales-tinians in Israel and occu-pied Palestinian lands. BDScompiled a long list of so-called crimes that Israelcommitted against Pales-tinians and calls the entireworld to isolate Israel, betteryet, destroy Israeli economyand eventually to put theend of existence of Israel asa state.

BDS singles out Israel andaccuses the Israelis of allpossible crimes. BDS doesnot talk about the Palestin-ian society which is severelyintolerant to homosexuals.The Palestinian societytreats its own populationwith cruelty. The suicidebombers are encouragedand the Palestinian childrenare growing up in the societyfull of violence and hate.Very recently the worldlearned that Hamas builtmore than thousands tun-nels to terrorize the Israelis.Hamas killed the Palestini-ans who worked in the tun-nels for them, so they tunnelworkers would not give outany information. The Hamasleaders were staying com-fortably in the tunnel citywhile the Palestinian popu-lation took heat in the warstarted by Hamas.

BDS does not talk abouthow many Jews are in theGovernment of any of theArab countries, be it SaudiArabia, Syria, Yemen or anyother Arab country. There isnot a single Arab country,that has the Jews in the Gov-ernment or the Parliament.There are more than 100 ofthe Arab countries in theMiddle East. In fact, many ofthese countries killed orexpelled the Jews that livedthere for many generations.Not only all the Arab coun-tries became Jewfree(Hitler’s dream!), many ofthe Arab countries refusedto accept the Arab popula-

tion that left the land duringthe1948 war when the Egypt,Jordan, and Syria attackedyoung Israel. Those who letthe Arabs from Palestine tostay never gave them the cit-izenship and never acceptedthem as equals. In fact, theentire Arab world keeps theArabs from the Palestine inawful conditions in therefugee camps making themperpetual refugees.

Israel on the other handabsorbed 600,000 Jews whowere thrown out of the Arabcountries. BDS does nottalk about it and does notdemand to Boycott andcondemn these Arab Coun-tries.

BDS talks about occupa-tion and blockade. Whatoccupation? What block-ade? On any given day thereis convoy of trucks, onekilometer long full of stuffgoing to Gaza. Hamasbrought in enough cementand high technology con-struction machinery tobuild the entire under-ground city and to fill itwith thousands of rocketsand other arms. But BDSdoes not talk about it. BDSsingles out Israel for noother reason that this orga-nized campaign is Anti-Israeli and Anti-Semitic.

BDS does not targetPalestinians for the viola-tions of human rights orChina for her treatment ofTibet population or SaudiArabia for treatment ofSaudi women. BDS choseIsrael because it is Jewishstate, the only democracyin the Middle East.

The policy of BDS is dis-criminatory and Anti-Semitic. BDS also is themovement that supportsterrorism. By having theentire section dedicated toBDS the Gazette supportsdiscrimination, Anti-Semi-tism and terrorism. This isviolation of Coop policy.The Gazette must not givethe forum for anti-Semiticorganization that supportsterrorism.

Fanya Vasilevsky

[Editor’s note: the Gazettepolicy is to print all letters thatconform to the publication’s poli-cies. It’s a free speech platform.Editors try to carefully applythese Gazette policies for eachissue, doing that job as best aspossible as they are not experts inthe Palestinian Israeli conflict.]

We welcome letters from members. Submission deadlinesappear in the Coop Calendar. All letters will be printed ifthey conform to the published guidelines. We will notknowingly publish articles which are racist, sexist or other-wise discriminatory

The maximum length for letters is 500 words. Lettersmust include your name and phone number and be typedor very legibly handwritten. Editors will reject letters thatare illegible or too long.

You may submit on paper, typed or very legibly hand-written, or via email to [email protected] oron disk.

AnonymityUnattributed letters will not be published unless the

Gazette knows the identity of the writer, and therefore mustbe signed when submitted (giving phone number). Suchletters will be published only where a reason is given to theeditor as to why public identification of the writer wouldimpose an unfair burden of embarrassment or difficulty.Such letters must relate to Coop issues and avoid any non-constructive, non-cooperative language.

FairnessIn order to provide fair, comprehensive, factual coverage:1. The Gazette will not publish hearsay—that is, allega-

tions not based on the author's first-hand observation.2. Nor will we publish accusations that are not specific

or are not substantiated by factual assertions.3. Copies of submissions that make substantive accu-

sations against specific individuals will be given to thosepersons to enable them to write a response, and both sub-missions and response will be published simultaneously.This means that the original submission may not appearuntil the issue after the one for which it was submitted.

The above applies to both articles and letters. The onlyexceptions will be articles by Gazette reporters which willbe required to include the response within the article itself.

RespectLetters must not be personally derogatory or insult-

ing, even when strongly criticizing an individual mem-ber's actions. Letter writers must refer to other peoplewith respect, refrain from calling someone by a nicknamethat the person never uses himself or herself, and refrainfrom comparing other people to odious figures like Hitleror Idi Amin.

LETTERS POLICY

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 12



GAZA CENSORSHIP

DEAR EDITORS,I would hope that readers

of the Letters section mightthink twice about believingthe regular anti-Israel info-dump here after reading herefirst-hand accounts ofreporter intimidation in Gaza.

(July 27, 2014. FPA.org)“The Foreign Press Associa-tion deplores the Hamasgovernment’s decision toclose down media opera-tions in the Gaza Stripincluding the offices of AlArabiyeh. Hamas is not onlyacting in contradiction to thefreedom of press and free-dom of speech, it is hurtingitself by not allowing presscoverage of the territory itgoverns. The Hamas govern-ment’s crackdown on themedia organizations is causefor grave concern. The FPAcalls on the Hamas to allowAl Arabiyeh and other mediaorganizations immediateaccess to their offices,equipment and to resumetheir news assignmentswithout impediment.”

July 21, 2014. Nick Casey,Wall Street Journal, in a Twitterpost before it was deleted:“You have to wonder withthe shelling how patients atShifa Hospital feel asHamas uses it as a safeplace to see media”

July 28th, 2014. Tamer El-Ghobashy, Wall Street Journal,in a Twitter post before it wasdeleted: “An outside wall onthe campus of Gaza’s mainhospital was hit by a strike.Low level damage suggestsHamas misfire.”

July 24, 2014. (www.libera-tion.fr/monde/2014/07/24)The remains of an article byPalestinian journalist Rad-jaaAbou Dagga, detailinghow Hamas used a sectionof Shifa hospital as theiroffices just meters from theemergency room, detailinghow Hamas intimidatedhim, and how Hamas forcedhim to leave Gaza: “This arti-cle, which described theattempted intimidation ofPalestinian journalist RadjaaAbu Dagga correspondentfor ‘Ouest France’ and for-merly of ‘Liberation’ wasunpublished at his request.”

Editors: any information coming out of Gaza thatcasts Hamas in a negativelight is being self-censoredout of concern for a journal-ists’ own safety. I call on the

editors to perform an act ofprofessional solidarity: adda note to letters quotingreports about Gaza that theinformation cannot be com-pletely accurate due to astate of violent censorshipby Hamas inside the GazaStrip.

Ron Rosenbaum

THIS LETTER DOESNOT MENTION BDS

DEAR EDITORS,Hamas has murdered 18

Palestinians accused ofbeing “collaborators” withIsrael. Collaborators? Whatdoes that mean? Does itmean that these men werejust sick and tired of Hamasand its single-minded mis-sion to exterminate Jews atthe expense of their ownfamilies? What do these exe-cutions say about an entitythat kills dissenting voices?If Hamas was interested inpeace, it wouldn’t murdermen who can’t bear for theirhomes and schools to beused as munitions depots. IfHamas’s was interested instatecraft, it would havedemonstrated from the startthe will to build homes,schools, and an economybased on trade. Instead,Hamas’ alternative world-view is plain for the world tosee, even at the expense ofPalestinian lives.

All well for some peopleto decry the Jewish taking upof arms in defense. Tellagain, what’s the alternative?Few people are so liberalthat they feel guilty for notbeing killed.

This letter does not men-tion BDS, so please do notput it in that section.

Ulrich Gradinger

[Editor’s note: because of lay-out issues and other reasons weare placing this letter in the BDSsection.]

THE CRIMES OFHAMAS

TO THE EDITOR,The most remarkable

thing about the four anti-Israel letters in the BDS sec-tion of the last Gazette is thatnot a single one of theauthors mentions Hamas,the current ruling authorityin the Gaza Strip. Perhapsthey are unaware just what

Hamas is and does.Hamas is a totalitarian

Islamist group with ideologi-cal and political roots in theSalafists and the MuslimBrotherhood. It has thesame roots as al-Qaeda andIslamic State. It violentlyseized control of Gaza in2007. It evicted the legalPalestinian government,killing and maiming mem-bers of the rival Fatah party.Hamas suppresses theexpression of any activity togive voice to the aspirationsof the million plus Gazanswho wish to live in peacewith Israel. Hamas’ publiclyexecuted over 20 Gazans inthe last few days.

Rather than build hospi-tals, schools, industry orinfrastructure, Hamas sub-verts funds and material forweapons, member salaries,and the construction of anelaborate tunnel system.They conscripted both chil-dren and adults for the tun-nels projects. At least 160children died in the con-struction of the tunnels, andadult workers report tortureand execution. The tunnelswere part of an elaboratescheme to conduct a masscasualty event against Israel,targeting the Israeli agricul-tural communities near theGaza border. Most of thedamage and deaths causedduring Operation ProtectiveEdge occurred during Israel’sdestruction of this tunnelsystem.

Each of the over 3,500rockets indiscriminatelyfired from civilian areastowards civilians in Israelconstitutes a war crime.Hamas’ use of child soldiersis also a war crime. Its use ofhospitals, schools, resi-dences, and mosques forstoring and launchingweapons converts thosestructures into legitimatemilitary targets. This, too, isa war crime.

In spite of Israel’s unprece-dented and well-documentedefforts to limit civilian casu-alties, many innocents havebeen killed. This is a tragicand unavoidable conse-quence of war, and it is whycivilized peoples work toavoid war. Yet, the age andgender distribution, as wellas the terror brigades’ web-sites, indicate the majorityof Gazan casualties arecombatants

Hamas initiated the cur-

rent violence; Hamas is theaggressor. As of this date,Hamas has either rejected orbroken 11 cease fires.

It seems to me rather cyn-ical to claim a concern forthe human rights of Gazanswithout mentioning Hamas’abuse of the Gazan people.Writing about Gaza withoutmentioning Hamas, appearsto be a sign of either woefulignorance or intentionalconcealment of Hamas’behavior.

Barbara Mazor

HOW CAN ISRAELJUSTIFY DROPPINGSO MANYEXPLOSIVES ON ACAPTIVE CIVILIANPOPULATION

MEMBERS: Context: The Israel-Pales-

tine conflict is a struggle/resistance by an occupiedpeople (Palestinians) inGaza, West Bank and EastJerusalem against the occu-pying power (Israel). In apress conference, July 11,2014, in Hebrew, Netanyahusaid: “there cannot be a situ-ation under any agreement,in which we relinquish secu-rity control of the territorywest of the River Jordan.”(There will be no indepen-dent Palestinian state.)

How many bombs hasIsrael dropped on Gaza?Israel claims 3,360 rocketswere fired from Gaza intoIsrael between July 8—August 6; causing minimaldamage and casualties,most falling in “open areas.”This is miniscule comparedwith the volume of ordi-nance Israel fires into Gazaestimated at tens of thou-sands of artillery shells.

Evidence suggests muni-tions are inaccurate andindiscriminate in the con-text of densely populatedareas where they are wide-ly used, contrary to Israel’sclaims about care taken toprotect civilians. In oneseverely hit area (Khuzaa),the UN counted 2,493destroyed structures, 1,243severely damaged struc-tures and 2,024 impactcraters. Israeli military:between July 8—August 5,aerial, naval and groundforces struck 4,762 sites(including homes, mosques,power and water infrastruc-

ture, schools, agriculture,food industries).

Estimated cost of totalammunition used by Israelin Gaza was $370 million:23,400 tank shells, 20,400artillery shells and 2.9 mil-lion bullets, a woeful under-estimation according toone military source. Israelimunitions factories wereworking in shifts, 24 hours aday, to provide enoughammunition and shells toforces attacking Gaza. Inaddition, the Obama admin-istration replenished Israelistocks.

Highlights of Israel’sinaccurate and indiscrimi-nate weaponry usedagainst Gaza: not fewer than40,000 155mm artilleryshells were used. This explo-sive projectile can spreadabout 2,000 fragments in alldirections. The error radius is25 meters making Israel’sshelling indiscriminate indensely populated areas likeShujaiya. Tank shells: 23,400were used. The Kalanit type,manufactured in Israel, canexplode in midair over areaswith houses, schools, hospi-tals or mosques. It can alsobreach concrete wallsexploding inside buildingskilling and injuring a largenumber of civilians. Mortarshells: number used uncer-tain; generally far less accu-rate than other weapons. Avideo shows four vehicle-mounted large caliber mor-tars firing shells toward Gazaat a regular rhythm of fourshells every two minutes byfemale soldiers. Bombsdropped from the air: 800tons of explosives weredropped by air force jets ontargets during the first week.July 20, in Shujaiya, an aerialattack included about 100one-ton bombs.

www.electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/how-many-bombs-has-israel-dropped-gaza

Note: From the PeaceIndex in Israel: “only 6% ofthe entire Jewish public seesthe IDF as having used toomuch firepower in Gaza. Therest are almost evenly splitbetween 48% who regard theuse of firepower as appropri-ate and 45% who think theIDF made too little use of it.”

Mary BuchwaldBrooklynForPeace.org

PSFC members for BDSwww.psfcbds.wordpress.comC O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 4

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 13


BED & BREAKFASTHOUSE ON 3RD ST AT 6TH AVE

Parlor floor thru sleeps 4 in priva-

cy, AC, wifi, kitchenette, deck, 12’

ceilings, $170 a night for 2. Visit

our site at houseon3st.com or

call us, 718-788-7171. Enjoy

modern comfort in true Park

Slope style. Grandparents our

specialty! We want to be your

hosts in the Slope.

SERVICES AVAILABLE

ATTORNEY—Personal Injury

Emphasis—36 years experience in

all aspects of injury law. Individual

attention provided for entire case.

Free phone or office consulta-

tions. Prompt, courteous commu-

nications. 24-year Park Slope Food

Coop member; Park Slope resi-

dent; downtown Brooklyn office.

Tom Guccione, 718-596-4184, also

at www.tguccionelaw.com.

MADISON AVENUE HAIRCUTTER

is right around the corner from the

PSFC, so if you would like a really

good haircut at a decent price,

please call Maggie at 718-783-

2154, I charge $60.00.

EXPRESS MOVES. One flat price

for the entire move! No deceptive

hourly estimates! Careful, experi-

enced mover. Everything quilt

padded. No extra charge for

wardrobes and packing tape. Spe-

cialist in walkups. Thousands of

satisfied customers. Great Coop

references. 718-670-7071

CLASSIFIEDS

OPEN LETTER TOMEMBERS FROMSAPPHIRE

DEAR COOPMEMBERS,

On May 30, 2014 I arrivedin Amman, Jordan where Imet with an internationalgroup of writers and artists.We were participants of the Palestinian Festival of Literature 2014, Palfest.Participants includedrenowned artists like theCanadian novelist MichaelOndaatje and the Palestin-ian poet and scholar Natal-ie Handal. After five hoursof hassles at the border weentered Israel. We visitedRamallah, Nablus, EastJerusalem, Haifa, Bethle-hem, and Balata RefugeeCamp. As an African Ameri-can what hit me like a base-ball in the face was theapartheid, undisguisedsegregation based on race,religion, and nationality.Our hosts fed us andshowed us the sights in thedif ferent cit ies. At onepoint we came to a site thatour hosts walked past, butthat seemed interesting tome—I wanted to check itout and said so, “Hey, guys I

want to go in here!” Therewas a si lence, then therenowned Egyptian novel-ist and one of the organiz-ers of Palfest, Ahdaf Souief,said, “Go ahead Sapphire,we’ll wait for you outside,Palestinians can’t go inthere.” I was transportedback to being a little girlcarried in my father’s armsto the back of a gas stationto a dim foul-smell ingroom with a f i l thy holebecause we could not usethe gleaming white porce-lain and stainless steelbathroom labeled WHITEONLY. It was incredible tome that these womenclutching designer hand-bags, who spoke four andfive languages, and hadadvanced universitydegrees could not go insomeplace; that theirmovements were restrictedbecause of ethnicity. Later Iwould see that certain carshad certain color licenseplates, only certain colorlicense plates could entercertain areas, only certaingroups can live in certainareas, certain areas are sur-rounded by a massive wall,to get from certain sectionsof the city we had to gothrough checkpoints (andpeople of color will under-stand when I say that thecheckpoint equaled gun-

point! I t ain’t no joke!) .Another thing that struckme in the democracy wasencounters with the Israelipolice where they demand-ed that members of ourgroup delete the pictureson our cell phone cameras!They did not want us takingpictures of them with theirguns drawn or of the check-points.

In Haifa we met OmarBarghouti, founding mem-ber of the Palestinian Cam-paign for the Academic andCultural Boycott of Israeland a leading speaker andwriter on the non-violentresistance of BDS. He pub-lished Boycott, Divestment,Sanctions: The Global StruggleOf Palestinian Rights. Whatstruck me as he talked was(and as Desmond Tutu haspointed out) that despitethe violent opposition toBDS, it is a NONVIOLENTmovement!

The exact words ofDesmond Tutu are: “Pleaseturn the tide against vio-lence and hatred by joiningthe nonviolent movementfor justice for all people ofthe region”1

1www.haaretz.com/opin-ion/.premium-1.610687

Sincerely,Sapphire

Novelist, Poet, and Authorand FTOP Receiving worker

BDS HULLABALOOTO THE LINEWAITERS’GAZETTE:

This letter is in responseto the hullabaloo of the BDS.It is not perfectly all right toboycott products from theFood Coop. That kills thewhole theme of what theFood Coop is about. Youcould get technical and boy-cott Chinese products, orAmerican products. Israel isfighting to defend its coun-try. Other countries do thesame thing, including Ameri-ca. I oppose any actions ofthe BDS to boycott Israeliproducts.

Nancy Spitalnick

A LETTER ABOUTBDS LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR:Any sadness members

might feel about reading themany letters, any fright orfeelings of victimization thatare whipped up againstCoop members on any sideof the Israel/Palestinianissue, stem directly from oneincident and one incidentonly: the proposal to boycottIsrael.

Whose proposal was that?Let me check the Gazette. Ohmy goodness, it was yours!

Step up to the plate and

take responsibility for whatyou’ve created. You and yourallies spent a lot of theCoop’s time, money, andpatience to get theIsrael/Palestine imbrogliointo the public realm—at thesame time claiming that youwere only trying to save thedemocratic process. Whereare those BDS legions ofdemocracy-activists today? Isee no evidence of these gal-lant reformers anywhere inthe Gazette or at the GeneralMeetings. What I do see isdeliberate and continuousattempts at divisivenesswithin the confines of acooperative grocery store.Your tactics don’t createbridges—your tactics burnthem. It’s a sham, and obvi-ous one, and you can’t sayyou never predicted a back-lash from people who sawright through it.

Until you take real actionto mend what your proposalbroke, spare everyone thecrocodile tears because youare neither victim nor failedhero.

Pinny Lew

[Editor’s note: we have stated inthe past and will continue to saythat the letters to the editor sectionon the Gazette is a free speechplatform. We work hard to followthe Gazette letters policy as bestas possible.]

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 3

BDS TOPICS:

Classified advertising in the Linewaiters’ Gazette is available only to Coop members. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Coop.


Did you ever wonder exactly what those humane claims onproduct labels at the Coop mean? Or want to confirm which items

we carry are not tested on animals?

The Animal Welfare Committee provides transparent animal welfare

information about the Coop’s products.

We work with staff, the Coop’s vendors and external research resources to provide species- and issue-specific information for YOU, the Coop member. You can find us online at our blog and twitter account and you can find our

guides all around the Coop, next to their relevant products!

Find us here!Blog: www.psfcanimals.blogspot.com

Twitter: @psfcanimalsCurrent Guides:

Eggs (next to egg case)Milk (next to milk case)

Animal Testing(aisle 5,closest to the back of the aisle)

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 14


Classified advertising in the Linewaiters’ Gazette is available only to Coop members. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Coop.

To Submit Classified or Display Ads:

Ads may be placed on behalf of Coop members only. Clas-sified ads are prepaid at $15 per insertion, display ads at $30.(Classified ads in the “Merchandise–Non-commercial” cate-gory are free.) All ads must be written on a submission form.Classified ads may be up to 315 characters and spaces. Dis-play ads must be camera-ready and business card size (2" x3.5" horizontal).

Submission forms are available in a wallpocket near theelevator in the entrance lobby.


Crossword AnswersP G A S W I S H O H W O WO U R T E N A M C O I N AP I E W R E C K S T U N E DL A N A K A I M A D D I EA N O L D C A R N I ER A W D A T A S T E N C I L

O D E S S A I K I DI A M E X L A C K S S I SC P A S O C A S E KK E Y E D U P T U N A S U B

L A U D E R S T I N EB L O T T O H U B I T S AL A C T I G O R E T E C H SA N K L E I N A N E O U TM E S E S F E L T S M T S

COMMUNITY CALENDARCommunity calendar listings are free. Please submit your event listing in 50 words or less to

[email protected] deadlines are the same as for classified ads.

Please refer to the Coop Calendar in the center of this issue.

FRI, SEP 5 7 p.m. CLIMATE CHAOS OR CLI-

MATE JUSTICE? Panelists Sean

Sweeney, Michael Klare, Janet Red-

man, and JJ Johnson discuss the

social and political forces that pre-

vent action on global warming and

what we can do to create real

change. Memorial Presbyterian

Church, 186 St. John's Pl. at Seventh

Ave.,Bklyn. Info: 718.624.5921 or

[email protected].

8-11 p.m. JITTERBUG JAM! First Fri-

day Swing Dance in Park Slope with

Flying Home and Arturo Perez.

Dance lessons with Arturo Perez

followed by live 30s and 40s swing

music from Flying Home with guest

singer Cynthia Hopkins! BSEC, 53

Prospect Park West. More Info:

www.brooklynswingdance.com

SUN, SEP 149 a.m. "Run for Chips 5k

Run/Walk" Come join us. All Pro-

ceeds Benefit CHIPS Soup

Kitchen and Frances Residence

for Women and Infants. Where:

Prospect Park. Enter Park at 15th

St. and walk down to approxi-

mately. 11th Ave. Prospect Park

SW. Registration: nycruns.com.

Fee $25.

SAT, SEP 2012 p.m. PermaFest 3 Theme:

"Building Resilient Communities"

Skill sharing, services, a barter

market, a gift circle, a talk about

soil nutrition and climate change,

live music and a picnic dinner at

6 p.m. This year’s event will be

held in conjunction with the Cli-

mate Change Convergence. Old

Stone House and Washington

Park, 336 Third St., Bklyn.

SAT, OCT 11 10 a.m. Kings County Fiber Festi-

val. Spend the day with natural

fiber artists, crocheters, dyers,

felters, knitters, quilters, spin-

ners and weavers in the second

annual fiber fair at the Old Stone

House and Washington Park, 336

Third St., Bklyn. For more info:

kingscountyfiberfestival.org

8 a.m. The Run for The Rings,

Half marathon or 5k benefit run

for Michael Ring, Coop member

and Prospect Park Track club

events organizer/volunteer.For

more info:nycruns.com/races/

?race=run-for-the-rings.

NO

OPE

N-TOED SHOES

WHILE DOING YOUR WO

RK

SH

IFT

Please protect your feet and toes while working your shift at the Coop by not wearing sandals or other open-toed footwear.

Thanks for your cooperation,

The Park Slope Food Coop

Do you want your old Coopattendance records?

Up until September 2009, the Coop keptattendance on index cards.

If you were a Coop member before then, we may still have your old partial or

complete cards.If you would like to have this as a souvenir,please come to the Membership Office and

ask for it. If we have it, it's yours!We will be recycling them shortly.

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 15



WELCOME!

A warm welcome to these new Coop members who havejoined us in the last two weeks. We’re glad you’ve decided to

be a part of our community.

Moriah AkersJennifer BastienGerald BeallorEugene BukhmanJoshua CabridoRebecca DurdayScott DurdayEric FensterheimKathlina FisherDotan Greenvald

Phillip KerrEmily MelanderPeg NayduchBart-Jan PolmanNathan ReichEliza RelmanAlyson SchacherNiAstebNut SiaMaatMariah Twigg

Looking for

something new?Check out the Coop’s

products blog.

The place to go for the latest information on our current

product inventory.

You can connect to the blog via the Coop’s websitewww.foodcoop.com

PHO

TO B

Y KE

VIN

RYA

N

COME JOIN US FOR THE

When: Sunday, Sept. 14Where: Prospect Park

Start Time: 9 a.m.Location: 11th Ave. (Prospect Southwest)

Park Entrance: 15th St. Bartell-Pritchard Square

T-shirts and Prizes will be given • Register at nycruns.com • Registration Fee: $25

All proceeds benefit CHIPS Soup Kitchen and Frances Residence for Women and Infants

✮ EXCITING WORKSLOT OPPORTUNITIES ✮Bathroom CleaningTuesday, 12 to 2 p.m.Work with a partner to deep clean theCoop’s bathrooms. Tasks include scrub-bing floor tiles, cleaning toilets, moppingfloors and stocking the bathrooms. Youwill work with only natural cleaning prod-ucts. This job is perfect for members wholike to clean and are conscientious aboutdoing a thorough job.

Entrance Desk Friday, 5:45 to 8 a.m.Supervised by Membership Coordinators,you will be staffing the Entrance desk inhours of the weekday before the Coop isopen to shoppers. Primarily you will bechecking in working members, informingthem of their member and household sta-tus, and handing out entrance desk slipsto members who need them. Entranceworkers provide an essential member ser-vice and must be welcoming, polite, ableto read and interpret information on theentrance desk screen, able to clearly con-vey information about member statusdirectly to members. Entrance workersalso provide a key security function, andmust remain alert throughout the shift,which may have slow periods. Thereforereading, writing, talking on the phone, tex-ting, etc. is not allowed. Punctuality andgood attendance will be essential, as youwill be the only entrance worker scheduledat this time of day. Paid MembershipCoordinators will be present to train youon your first (and second) shift, and thento support you and answer questionsgoing forward.

Office Set-upMonday-Thursday, 6 to 8:30 a.m.Need an early riser with lots of energy to doa variety of physical tasks including: setting

up tables and chairs, buying food and sup-plies, labeling and putting away food andsupplies, recycling, washing dishes andmaking coffee. Sound like your dreamcome true? This job might be for you.Please speak to Adriana or Cynthia in theMembership Office for more information.

Compost HaulersWe need members with a van or truck tohaul the compost from the Coop to vari-ous community gardens. It is a regularwork slot, every four weeks. The time ofday is flexible. If you are a member with atruck and not afraid to haul buckets ofcompost, please consider this very impor-tant work slot. For more info talk toAnnette Laskaris in the MembershipOffice or e-mail your interest [email protected].

General Meeting Set-UpTuesday, 5:30 p.m.Adaptable, physically energetic, teamworkers with excellent attendance neededto help set up and break down the spacewhere the General Meeting is held.Contact Adriana Becerra, MembershipCoordinator, [email protected].

Van/Truck Driver for GMDelivery/Pick-UpLast Tuesday night of the monthMember with a van or truck needed to pickup and load the team of workers and gearfrom the Coop at 5:30 p.m. and drop themoff at the local General Meeting venue (cur-rently M.S. 51) and help unload. Then, beon call to return to venue for pick-up andloading of workers and gear between hoursof 8:45-10 p.m., and drive back to Coop. Youmust be dependable, with good attendance.Contact Adriana Becerra, MembershipCoordinator, [email protected].

09.04.14 pp1-16_Layout 1 9/3/14 4:56 PM Page 16

Documents

Volume II, Number 18 September 4, 2014 Jessica Childs ......book, Kombucha! The Amazing Probiotic Tea That Cleanses, Heals, Energizes, and Detoxifies, co-authored with husband, Eric,