©2021 Owen Plotkin
©2023 Owen Plotkin All content
©2021 Owen Plotkin
I’m on this indie platform Ampled
wrote this for my girlfriend when I was 16, around the time this photo was taken. :) recorded on a crappy portable cassette, years later. ©Owen Plotkin
Pity the warrior, he lives in the worst of us
When you’ve seen the face of man
what the fuck is left to us?
In places where death is the meager mercy offered
to spit in the dust like a cowboy movie maestro
no spurs jinglejangle just a bowl of bullets and powdered milk
marchin’ straight and stoic solemn faces shambling minds.
Hail the Chief, hands painted white to hide the stains
a fistful of dollars tossed onto his salad plate
truffle oil to help make the paper go down
shame in the back of his mind faded by the sun like
a lopsided sofa on a sidewalk sale,
the family mourning their possessions
with an eye to their fortunate future.
The mobster spits on the medals he bestows
and shines them with his white cuff just to gaze at the
reflection of his expensive dental work in the brass,
the casualties sliding to the floor from the printer
and caught under his shoe.
Parades where Mothers tell children to wave,
have you ever seen waves of grain?
there is no diving and swimming among them.
only dirt.
thank them for their service with a sigh of relief
you do not know their grief,
as you send them to face the face of man.
As we send them to face the face of man.
As we send them to face the face of man.
#tbt the first generation iPhone went on sale and we were there handing out free buttons and talking to people on the lines about hunger in America. I was in the Hungrr costume, hijacking G4’s shot. Support your local foodbanks. Thanks to Mark Frauenfelder and Farhad Manjoo we got some NICE PRESS in SALON !
And in 2007 student/journalist Alex Rosenblatt interviewed me..
1. What is your name and title?
Owen Plotkin, founder, Hungrr, LLC.
2. What do you believe are the root causes of hunger and food insecurity in America?
Illiteracy. Poor public education. Loss of manufacturing jobs in the US. Low minimum wages in most states. Food stamp rules and application requirements that are too complicated for many uneducated, elderly and handicapped individuals. The general public’s lack of awareness of the facts surrounding hunger in America. An unwillingness on the part of politicians and corporations to acknowledge the facts surrounding hunger in America. And sadly, unrealistic yet rampant materialism, corporate greed and a growing meanness in our culture.
3. Does the term food insecurity differ from hunger and if so, how?
“Food insecurity” includes hunger and the specter of impending hunger, but the term is also used by the current administration to remove the politically dangerous word “hunger” from the discussion of poverty in America.
4. What part of the population would you say is most vulnerable to food insecurity or poverty?
Low income workers and their children, single parent households, minorities, the elderly, handicapped and disabled people.
5. Hunger in America does not manifest it self in the same way as it does in other nations (distended bellies and starvation). Is it as a serious of a problem?
It is not about starvation. Sadly, the problem is often hidden malnutrition, and that especially effects children, their normal development and ability to learn. There is the problem of obesity caused by people filling up on cheap junk and fast foods rather than eating more expensive healthy foods including fruits and vegetables. It is very serious because of the growing disparity between the rich and the poor and the disappearing middle class in this, the richest nation on Earth.
6. Do you believe that U.S. food assistance programs such as food stamps and the school breakfast program are effective at abating hunger?
Every little bit helps. Weekend and summer programs – where available – help too.
7. Are food banks effective at abating hunger?
Yes, but there is a growing need for assistance.
8. Some people say that food banks create a situation of dependency do you think that this is possible?
I think it is much more likely that a lack manufacturing jobs, career opportunities, training and adequate public education in poorer urban and rural areas, create real need.
9. Do you believe there are programs the government should implement in order to encourage food self sufficiency?
I think there are many ways government can help overcome hunger in America. And I don’t think it is necessary to create more programs or bureaucracies or “throw money at the problem” to do so.
10. Do you believe that empowering low income urban residents with the ability to grow their own food would be an effective way of solving food insecurity?
Yes, but another public garden was destroyed just a month ago in NYC. Skyrocketing rents and housing values in many cities are making urban gardens more and more difficult to sustain.
11. How important is increasing the awareness of the public?
In my opinion, awareness is more important than anything else.
12. Is there anything else that you believe is important concerning the situation of hunger?
I think there is a socially destructive dearth of civic responsibility on the part of businesses in America and the world. I think that business must take responsibility for the society that allows it – by providing an open marketplace – to thrive.