At the Post Office

It's apparently in my nature to strike up conversations with people I don't know. I love meeting new people and learning about them--what they are interested in, projects they're involved in, ideas they have.

So when I overheard a conversation between a customer and the postal service worker about mail order chicks (as in chickens, not brides), I had to jump in. Even though I'm not thinking about owning chickens myself, I'm interested in the idea of urban chicken ownership and other ways people use their land to sustain themselves. And I'm interested in the politics of it all. Why, for example, was it okay to own chickens in Salt Lake City, but not more rural Salt Lake County for many years? (The ordinance was recently changed, by the way.)

Anyway, as we talked about chickens, the customer and I realized we already knew each other from the bookstore many years ago. She remembered specific books I had recommended to her, and I remembered a conversation we had about community gardening.

She told me about her business focused on nutrition and real food and a recipe book she'd published (she was at the post office mailing off copies to her customers). I told her that I'd just today read a Michael Pollan interview about debunking food myths and bookmarked it to share with my college writing students to teach them how easily scientific research can be oversimplified and distorted to support various agendas. (By the way, I teach that as a warning to students as they research--encouraging them to seek out the original studies--not as a technique for them to use in their own writing!)

She told me about her trips to Haiti and her interest in micro-financing. I told her about the book I was just reading last night called The Blue Sweater. She told me that the author, Jacqueline Novogratz, is one of her personal heroes. And then we bonded over Jacqueline's TED talks and, well, all TED talks.

As I write this it occurs to me that she actually does things while I just think and read about them. Hmmm. Well, I did tell her I'd help her lobby Springville City government to loosen up restrictions so people in any neighborhood can own chickens if they want to, not just in neighborhoods zoned for agriculture. If Salt Lake City lets people own chickens, why not Springville?

So fun to have a new (old) acquaintance!