[lit-ideas] Re: The Lie of the Master Race/Slave Race
- From: Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Paul)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 04 Jan 2005 16:54:34 PST
As far as I know, every strawberry that is picked anywhere is picked by hand.
When I was growing up (in the Willamette Valley, before the War) I picked
strawberries for two or three summers. They were then a large crop in Oregon
then. Picking strawberries is hard work because the plants grow only a few
inches off the ground and there's no way to deal with them except to stoop over
and ruin your back or sit on the ground in the dust. There was always a bonus (a
few cents a pound) for staying to the end of the season, but I never stayed.
I picked blackcaps (hard, purple raspberries that were made into dye); pole
beans; Italian prunes; and walnuts--all local crops.
The only Mexican laborers I saw were men in my uncle's uncle's prune orchard,
who drove the D4 Caterpillar, carried the prune boxes, and shook the trees (so
that the prunes would fall out) using poles with notched ends. There were no
Mexican women or childre visible in the fields or in the shops. My impression
was that the men were migrant workers whose families were in Mexico. The pickers
were all local kids and women.
I've never heard of a college student working in the fields, but I suppose some
might have. By the time we (boys) were 14 we were expected to have jobs loading
boxes and other manly things: it was a mark of status. Only girls still actually
picked stuff.
There are few strawberry fields in Oregon now. Our strawberries--we're told--are
almost all from California. Those that aren't are from Central America. Nothing
tastes as good as a vine-ripened strawberry but they don't ship well.
The prune and walnut orchards in the Valley have been replaced by vineyards.
The high school kids work at fast-food outlets. It pays more than stoop labor.
Robert Paul
Reed College
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Andreas wrote:
there was an article in the New Yorker several years ago about the Mexicans
and the
strawberry crop in California. every strawberry in Calif is hand picked by
Mexicans. it's
very hard work.
occassionally, white college students show up for work. they never last more
than a day.
i like strawberries.
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