Live-tweeting from the Park Slope Coop meeting – a gathering for tortured PC souls
WITH its leafy streets lined with charming brownstones, Park Slope is one of New York’s most desirable neighbourhoods. The name comes from the neighbourhood’s location on the western slope of Prospect Park – Brooklyn’s green oasis.
In the family-friendly Park Slope, also nicknamed “Stroller City”, yummy mummies brush shoulders with actors, directors and authors. Tom Hanks has a house here, as does Steve Buscemi and celebrity couple Maggie Gyllenhall and Peter Sarsgaard. Vintage shops, restaurants serving locally-sourced food and fair-trade coffee, community gardens and farmers’ markets cater to the well-to-do residents’ every need and PC preoccupation.
At the heart of the neighbourhood is the Park Slope Coop, a members’ only supermarket selling organic fruit and veg, artisan cheeses, supplements and vitamins, environmentally-friendly cleaning material and more. The coop has over 15,000 members, most of whom work at the shop once a month in exchange for discounts on groceries – and the buzz they get from feeling morally superior to their fast-food chomping peers.
This week, Reuters journalist and Park Slope Food Coop member Chadwick Maitlin attended the association’s monthly meeting and decided to live tweet it. Lasting over two hours, the Twitter documentation of the earnest proceedings gave a hilarious insight into the tortured souls of Park Slope, whose moral quandaries about things like how many times to re-use biodegradable plastic bags and which country produces the most “fascist food” is beyond parity. So here’s a selection of Maitlin’s tweets. Read them and weep.
I wasn’t going to, but it’s too good not to tweet. The park slope food coop meeting has begun.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
The room is tense with passive aggression. Israeli food referendum dominates. Free Oreos given out, but not free hummus.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Man gets up, says coop should ban Israeli food only if it bans american food because of native American occupation. He’s wearing yarmulke.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Food coordinator admits that even though clemntines are coming from Morocco, they’re really delicious.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Have now moved on to tonight’s business: whether to eliminate plastic produce bags at coop. No vote tonight. Just discussion.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Slide: “plastic bags + fracking?”
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Proponent saying one reason to ban plastic bags because they go into trash that goes through low income community in South Bronx.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Proponent says one option to replace plastic bags is that members can make their own cloth replacements.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Anti plastic bag PSA being played. Called “The Shopper”. Spoof of “The Artist”
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
“but my collards won’t fit!” — one of the actresses in the silent film PSA.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Lengthy speech abt cost of cloth bags compred to plastic bags on scale. Half cent on a scale, not factoring in cost of water to clean them.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Woman proposing that coop could have muslin (sp?) bag donation drive.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
Counterpoint! “Bio bags have their own sustainability issues. A lot of them are made from corn.” Proposes group bag share w mutual cleaning.
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
“Meeting is adjourned.” See you all next month for the Israel vote. (Or, rather the vote on whether to allow a vote)
— Chadwick Matlin (@ChadwickMatlin) February 29, 2012
More to follow…
Posted: 7th, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
