I Can Get Behind Anything

I'm not one for activism. I prefer to systematic revolution to accomplish my goals, preferably using propaganda and violent uprisings. But the good people at XYYZ have a good movement to get behind: Saying No To Bottled Water. I remember when bottled water became fashionable in the early '90's and I thought then that it was rather stupid to pay for something that was essentially free. Then again, that was before designers came out with the idea to have people pay lots of money for ripped jeans with stains on them. And now it turns out that bottled water (another reminder here: it comes out of the tap!) is bad for the environment and a waste of money. If only you had listened to me back then, we could have avoided all this.

What I like about the Say No To Bottled Water campaign is that it combines street-level social activism with an economic impact. And there are billfolds. And you can win a free book. Who doesn't like free books?

Moving on. Neal Pollack has an amusing article about eating nachos at a Dodgers game on Slate. I bring this up not because I'm a baseball fan, which I'm not, nor because I'm a nacho fan, which I am, and not even because he mentions the Nacho Dog, possibly the greatest combination of foods since peanut butter cups. I mention this because I recently re-read his Neal Pollack's Anthology of English Literature. I had the chance to interview the great man himself back in my journalist days and he signed my copy of his book. I always thought that he was on the cusp of turning into a major writer, but that hasn't happened yet. Never Mind The Pollacks was good, but his recent novel, AlternaDad, is about trying to maintain your hipsterness and raise a child, which mostly involves dressing your kid in Ramones t-shirts.

The Neal Pollack of seven years ago wouldn't have orderd bottled water in a restaurant, but now I'm not so sure....