Listen in the past the poor have had to improvise cheap food the rich never wanted as a means to survive. And over the many years of innovation made the food taste good until eventually the rich where like: “Oh hay you actually like that garbage? Why on earth would you like it?” Then they try it, love it, start buying it, and then drive the price up so much it becomes a luxury good.
They do this and its devastating, the food typically never becomes affordable again. It don’t matter how cheap the foo dis to produce, it doesn’t matter if there is almost no meat on the bone or its super difficult to eat and messy. Once the poor discover how to make some bit of cheap food taste good, the rich take it away via driving the price of it up.
THEY DID THIS TO RIBS.
Ribs were garage meat. Just look at them, there is hardly any meat on the bone, you have to eat them by hand usually, and they are messy. They where an undesirable cheap source of junk meat. But the poor being the poor made them taste good. (Because they don’t have much to choose from.) The rich discovered the meals the poor made with them and decided they liked ribs too. People discovered they could sell a few ribs to rich people and make way more money then selling lots of ribs to poor people and the price was driven up.
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO CEREAL!!!
They did the same to brisket. You used to be able to get brisket for less than a dollar a pound, which meant you could get a twenty pound brisket fairly cheaply. And then you smoked it, sliced it, and had meat for weeks if not a full month. And it was tasty. I grew up eating brisket at least once a month because my family could afford it.
It was a cheap meat because no rich person looks at the dangly part of the neck of a cow and goes ‘ooh, that looks tasty!’.
But then Food Network started showcasing things like barbecued brisket. Rich people started showing up at places that weren’t just Rib Crib to get their barbeque. And the price of brisket went up. A lot.
I regularly see it for over five dollars a pound in stores now. And while yeah, that might not seem like a lot when you’re talking only a pound or two of meat, brisket is normally sold in ten to twenty pound sizes. It’s become completely unaffordable to the people that made it delicious.
Sushi used to be really cheap, too, until it became ‘trendy’. Guess why you’re now paying twelve dollars for your order of California rolls? Because rich people discovered something that poor people had been eating for ages.
Noticed the prices of fajita meat, chicken thighs, or ham hocks has gone up recently? You guessed it. Rich people are taking our food and now we’re scrambling to afford the things that we grew up eating.
Lobster is a perfect example of this phenomenon.
For hundreds of years, lobster was regarded as a sort of insect larvae from the depth of the sea. It had zero appeal as a “luxury food” until people living in NY and Boston developed a taste for it. Before the 19th century, it was considered a “poverty food” or used as fertilizer and bait - some household servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice a week.
It was also commonly served at prisons, which tells you something about prison food.
Only by cleverly marketing lobster as an indulgence for the privileged made it cost so much. It became a vehicle for enormous profit spawning a multi-billion dollar global industry in the process. This mythical affection for lobster flesh - not its practical value in terms of taste, nutrition, or any other reasonable consideration - drives its value.
LMAO. Wait.
Anyone else’s eye twitchin?
Food gentrification is a long standing practice and it’s some of the most evil shit I can think of. It’s why I refuse for example as someone living in the US to buy things with Quinoa in them. It is specifically pricing an indigenous population out of their prime staple food. It’s a horrific invasion of one of the final requirements of staying alive.
Chicken wings. My mom gripes about this every time we’re at the store because they were cheap, garbage meat all her life until Buffalo wings or whatever came along. Her favorite part of the chicken, lol, and now they’re a luxury buy which she never indulges in.
Oysters! Poor people food. Who else would be desperate enough to pick up a fucking shell, crack the bastard open, and eat its soggy-booger-consistency innards? Folks living on rivers and by the sea could scrape them off docks and rocks for cheap sales to other poor folks. And now rich people pay out the ass to gobble them down raw. 🤷🏻
here’s a petition to sign. it’s close to it’s goal. if there’s anything else we can do to help i’ll update this post.
I don’t have the words to properly explain how horrifying this is. In April, the advocacy group Freedom For Immigrants published a report about unsanitary conditions at the detention center, where the immigrants were made to clean the facilities with only water, or shampoo. According to their report, there were sick detainees there - possibly with COVID-19, but it’s unclear since they weren’t being tested - and the conditions could easily lead to a situation in which the virus exploded among those there.
The guards are spraying this disinfectant in retaliation for the report. To be clear - HDQ is an industrial-strength disinfectant, which according to the manufacturer is
“harmful if inhaled” and “causes severe skin burns and serious eye damage.” The guards are spraying it on everything every 15-30 minutes, according to sources, and immigrants in the center have already experienced severe symptoms including
blisters, rashes, bleeding, fainting, breathing difficulties, headaches, stomach pain, and nausea.
And let’s be real - ICE doesn’t give a shit, either about protecting these people or about preventing a COVID outbreak. ICE, according to their own reports, currently has
25,911
people in custody, of which only
2,670
have been tested.
1,392
of those were positive. In simple terms - less than 10% of detainees have been tested. Of those, more than half are positive. We cannot estimate how many sick people ICE is currently holding, or how many more will get sick without any kind of prevention or care.
ICE is killing people through neglect, and when they dared complain - they started gassing them.
Unfortunately, with Trump in the white house, petitions aren’t doing much. What we can do, however, is donate to the advocacy group that is bringing these things to light, allowing them to continue their work and hopefully free more immigrants. Their donation page is here. Please spread this.
i don’t think some of you understand racism and police brutality aren’t an american exclusive issue. there’s systematic racism everywhere and the police are bastards everywhere. stop posting “thank g-d i’m not american uwu” cuz i’m sure your police force is the same breed of pigs
She watched him run around, the most energetic boy in the class. The teacher told him to slow down, but since when did 5 year olds pay any attention to their teachers?
He started running the perimeter of the room but when he passed her corner, he failed to notice a little brick on the ground and tripped over it. No one noticed the fall but her, and she let out the faintest of giggles. He looked up from his scraped knee and grinned at the sound, his smile growing even wider when he spotted her.
"It’s my birthday today, you know," he informed her matter-of-factly.
She grinned with the carefreeness that came with childhood innocence. “It’s mine too!”
"That’s so cool!" He beamed at her. "You’re the first person I’ve met who was born on the same day as me."
"You too!" she exclaimed in reply. "Happy birthday!"
"And you." He smiled happily.
That was the day the two became friends. Little did they know how close they would truly become in the years to come.
***
"Jaehwan-ah, what are you doing tomorrow?"
"Spending our birthday with you, of course!"
The two (almost) ten year olds exchanged excited grins. As always, they were holding a joint birthday party, this time at his house. Her parents would provide the cake and snacks; his would cover the cost of the decorations. Their roles switched every year.
"What time do you need us to be there?"
"Just come at 6, like you always do."
It was the one day of the year they willingly got up that early and their parents could never keep up with their birthday fuelled energy.
"Are you gonna sing this time?"
He reddened and looked at the floor. In an unusually subdued voice, he replied, “Not this year.”
He was still shy about sharing his talent in public. It was only by accident that she had discovered his aptitude for singing and this was despite the fact they were best friends.
"When are you going to? You need to share your voice with people. It’s really good, Jaehwan."
"Stop it. You know I’m uncomfortable about performing in public."
She shut up, not wanting to push him. They stayed quiet for a bit, but then he started being his normal cheerful self again and the conversation was forgotten.
***
"Hi, everyone. Welcome to our 16th birthday party." He paused, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Some of you might know that I like singing, but this is the first time I’m performing in front of an audience." His eyes darted around nervously until they landed on a person in the audience whose reassuring smile had always had a calming effect on him.
She looked up, heart full of pride, at the boy she had grown to love as he took a deep breath and started the song a capella. She didn’t even notice the tears that rolled down her face as he sang her favourite song, his voice growing stronger with every note.
His eyes didn't leave hers for the entire song.
***
The phone rang, rudely interrupting her from the sweet dream she was having.
Groggily, she picked her phone up. “Yoboseyo?”
”__________.”
Her eyes flew open, sleep all but forgotten. Jaehwan never called unless it was something important.
"What’s wrong?"
"I did it. I’m a trainee with Jellyfish."
This was met with screams of excitement from the only girl he had ever loved.
"Jaehwan, I’m so proud of you! I told you you could do it!"
"Thank you! I’m so happy!"
"Me too Jaehwany! Your dreams are going to come true!"
He laughed, the sound waking the butterflies in her stomach.
"Sorry for waking you. I’ll let you go back to sleep now."
"Wait!"
"Yeah?"
"It’s past midnight. Happy birthday, Jaehwan!"
"Happy birthday to you too, jagi!"
There was a stunned silence as they both realised what he said.
"…jagi?"
"I, I-" The dial tone sounded; he had hung up in panic.
Try as she may, she couldn’t get back to sleep that night. The one line played over and over in her mind. What did this mean? Did he reciprocate her feelings or had it just been a really embarrassing slip of the tongue?
She turned her phone over in her hands a million times that night, contemplating calling him or sending him a text, but she couldn’t muster up enough courage to go through with it.
The next morning, her parents found her with her phone still in her hand, softly snoring with her head hanging over the edge of the bed.
***
Trembling fingers keyed in the number her mother had passed on to her. Jaehwan had had to forfeit his phone once training had started, and this one was shared with the other trainees who were in the running to debut as Jellyfish Ent’s first idol group.
As the phone started ringing, she leaned against the wall to steady herself. She had never been this nervous to talk to Jaehwan before, but they hadn’t spoken in months and he might not be the same boy she had known and loved.
"Yoboseyo?"
She opened her mouth but nothing came out - her throat had dried up with nerves.
"Hello? Who is this?"
She heard a faint “Who’s on the phone, Jaehwan?” and could imagine him shrugging at whoever had spoken.
"I don’t know, hyung. They haven’t spoken. Hello? Hellooo-"
"Jaehwan-ah," she cut him off with a soft voice.
The line was silent for a whole minute. She didn’t want to be the first one to break the silence, so she waited until he spoke again.
“________?” He had lowered his voice and she could hear uncertainty in his tone, like he couldn’t believe it was really her calling.
“It’s me,” she confirmed, a lump forming in her throat. Don’t cry, you haven’t even said anything to each other.
“W-why are you calling me?”
Her eyes widened, tears forming as she realised he had probably moved on from his old life and had a whole bunch of new friends. He didn’t need her anymore.
He heard a choking sob before she hung up, the sound of the dial tone making his gut clench with embarrassment. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but the company had adamantly said ‘No Dating’ and he knew their relationship, though complicated, was definitely heading into romantic waters and he didn’t want to lose a girlfriend so quickly after acquiring one.
“Jaehwan, who was that?”
The sound of Daewon’s voice behind him snapped Jaehwan out of his trance, and he realised he was still holding the cell phone to his ear. Hitting ‘end call’ and setting the phone down, he tried plastering on a smile before turning around and facing his friend and fellow trainee.
“Nobody.”
Daewon eyed him skeptically. “Hakyeon wants the phone back - you know how he’s claiming to be the leader already.”
Jaehwan passed the phone with an underarm throw, which Daewon nearly missed.
“Don’t do that! If we break this one, the company’s probably not going to give us another one.”
Jaehwan shrugged, not really caring. He always used his iPod to Skype his family anyway, and there was no one else on the outside he really wanted to talk to. It wasn’t like Jaehwan to be so lackadaisical, so Daewon decided to let Hakyeon wait a bit longer for the phone while he talked to his dongsaeng.
He sat down next to Jaehwan. “What’s wrong, man? Who was that on the phone?”
Jaehwan kept his eyes trained on the hardwood floor, fingers tracing patterns as he neglected answering Daewon. Daewon gave him a small nudge, getting a little frustrated at his lack of communication.
“I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your problem.” Jaehwan made to push up from the floor but Daewon placed his hand on the younger’s shoulder and forced him back down.
“We might be debuting together soon, and it’s important for us to support each other, which means your problems are my problems. Talk to me.”
Still avoiding eye contact, Jaehwan muttered, “It was ________.”
“______!? The _______?”
Jaehwan nodded.
“Well why are you so down then? I thought you guys were best friends.”
“We’re more than f-” Jaehwan cut himself off when he saw the look on Daewon’s face. “Well. I want to be more than friends, and I think she feels the same way too, but you know the rule.”
“Screw the rule! Date her secretly. It’s been done before, it will be done again. Don’t choose your career over her.”
“You’re a terrible influence.”
“You mean I’m a wonderful influence. This is life advice, man.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not taking it. Music’s too important to me, and I’m too close to my dreams to let a girl jeopardise my chance at debuting with the group.”
“You might regret this, you know.”
“I know, and I hate leaving her out to dry like this but I have to.” Jaehwan finally lifted his head and looked at the other boy with a mix of sadness and determination in his eyes. “I have to.”
I’m sorry, _______. I have no choice. I hope you understand. Have a happy birthday and a great life. I hope you find someone and forget about me soon.
***
She was channel surfing, bored out of her mind. She had started university about a month ago but had isolated herself from her classmates, not accepting their invitations to go out for drinks or meals to get to know each other better. The result of that was this: her sitting alone in her dorm room on her birthday, spending it watching TV and being a couch potato. Bowl of ramen in hand, she planned not to move for at least four hours.
“And now we have idol group with their first ballad, Don’t Want to Be an Idol. Give it up for VIXX!”
VIXX was a new group she hadn’t yet listened to, but since all the girls in her class couldn’t stop gushing over them recently, she decided it couldn’t hurt to give their song a listen. Especially if the title was Don’t Want to Be an Idol. What was up with that?
Because of the endless schedule,
It’s not easy to see your face
Me inside the TV, you watching me on TV
That’s how we date
She almost dropped her bowl in surprise. From the first note, the voice flowing out from her TV stirred the long dormant butterflies in her belly. As she listened to the lyrics, really listened to them, she couldn’t help but think how much it could apply to the relationship between her and Jaehwan.
She stared at her TV with rapt attention, hands curling into fists with frustration whenever the camera cut away from Jaehwan to the other main vocal of the group or panned away from him. When the song was over, she was surprised to find that her cheeks were wet with tears. Even after a year apart, he could still affect her the way he did back then.
As the applause from the audience died down, the MC of the music show walked back onstage to speak to the group. She hurriedly grabbed the remote to turn the volume up, hoping he would interview them.
“Wow, wasn’t that amazing? I have tears in my eyes. So touching!” He turned to the group and asked them, “How did you come up with the song?”
The one with grey hair raised his mic and answered, “Actually, the idea for the song came from Ken.”
Ken? Who’s Ken? I don’t know your names!
The shot jumped to a close up of Jaehwan and her heart leaped in her throat. He raised his own mic and spoke, “Yes, I suggested the idea for the song based on past experiences.”
She blinked at her TV. His stage name was Ken? Huh, it kind of suits him. But more importantly… What did he mean ‘past experiences’? Had he entered a relationship after cutting off all contact with her?
The MC raised an eyebrow at him. “Past experiences, eh? Care to elaborate?”
‘Ken’ laughed, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Let’s just say I had to make some sacrifices to be where I am today.”
She groaned. That could mean anything! Couldn’t he have at least specified when he had had to make these ‘sacrifices’?
As the camera zoomed out and a group shot was displayed on her screen, she kept her eyes on Jaehwan while the grey haired one (she assumed he was the leader) talked about their ongoing promotions. To anyone not focusing on him, what he did next was unnoticeable, but because she had been staring at him, she caught his lips mouthing a ‘Happy Birthday’ to the camera.
She froze, eyes still on the screen where his face had just been, despite it now being filled with a girl group trying to be promiscuous on stage. Had she imagined that? If not, had that been targeted at her? It had to have been. Who else did he know whose birthday was today? Besides himself of course. She admitted he could be a bit 4D at times, but it would be weird even for him to wish himself a happy birthday on camera like that.
If her phone hadn’t vibrated just then, she would have probably continued staring at the screen for the next half hour. As it happened, she had received a text and her focus on the TV was broken. Opening the new message, she almost dropped the phone.
“Happy birthday, _________.”
***
祝你生日快乐
祝你生日快乐
祝你生日快乐
祝你永远快乐
The Taiwanese crowd sang in unison as they wished Ken, cutie main vocal of up-and-coming idol group VIXX, a happy birthday. It was the perfect way to spend his 22nd birthday - there was no one in his life he loved more than his family, his members and his fans and to be able to spend it with all three of those groups made him happy.
It was their first time in Taiwan, and they were holding a fan meeting to thank their Taiwanese fans for being the great supporters they were. Jaehwan’s eyes were brimming with tears by the end of the song, but he refused to let them fall. He grabbed the microphone and stood up, bowing to the fans and thanking them with a shaky voice. They clapped, a few shouting “Saranghaeyo oppa!” and Hongbin stood to give him a hug. Jaehwan buried his face in the younger man’s shoulder, allowing a few drops to spill out the corner of his eyes, before turning back to the fans and sending them an aegyo explosion filled with hearts of all sizes, sending them into a screaming frenzy.
The group proceeded with everything they had practiced and planned for the day, starting with several group performances, then a Q&A followed by some individual performances. Since it was Ken’s birthday, he was doing two stages, one entirely on his own where he poured his heart out for his fans and another where he was going to invite a fan onto the stage.
Like the special stage during their Milky Way tour where Hongbin and Hyuk appealed to a fan through their personal charms, one fan would be chosen through their chair number. Ken had gone backstage to change outfits for this performance and as he walked slowly back out to face the crowd, he felt the nerves building. The chosen girl was already sitting on the stool in the middle of the stage.
The music started. He was going to sing Thank You For My Love, as a general thank you to all their ST★RLIGHTS for supporting them thus far and reminding them that the love was mutual. He sang the first verse from a spot behind the girl, choosing to sing to the general audience first. With the chorus, he moved to her side, took her hand and looked directly at her.
He almost stopped singing, but managed to hold himself together and continue, a falter in his voice the only indication to the sudden increase of the beating of his heart.
It was _______.
She was in Taiwan.
She was at their fan meeting.
How appropriate this song was now.
I’m sorry I couldn’t express my heart for all this time
I guess I was too shy to say I love you
Will you close your eyes?
Congratulations, happy birthday to my love
I won’t change,
I’ll make your heart race every day
I promise you
Thank you so much, thank you for my love
For being born today, for coming to me
Meeting you was a great fortune in my life
Now blow out the candles, my love
After the initial shock of seeing her had worn off, he put his back into the song. The raw emotion in his voice moved everyone in the room, but no one more so than she herself, sitting there on that stool. She had trouble containing her own emotions as she stared up at the boy she still loved, the situation reminding her of their 16th birthday party, the day she realised how she truly felt about him. And now here they were, in a foreign country, she because it was her study abroad year, he to do something special for his fans and both trying not to break down in front of the crowd.
The song ended, and he whispered the final “Saengil chukahae” directly to her. As the fans applauded, he took her hand and led her backstage. The noise level grew as they expressed their jealousy at her luck, thinking maybe she was getting a signed album and that this was all part of being chosen.
Little did they know that as soon as the two were out of sight, Jaehwan had pulled ______ in for a hug, squeezing her so tight she almost couldn’t breathe.
“________, what are you doing here?”
“I… well, I came to Taiwan for my year of study abroad and when I heard you guys were coming,” and on our birthday no less, “I couldn’t help but apply to come to the fan meeting.”
“You’ve been listening to the band?”
She nodded.
“What do you think?”
“I told you you could make it.” She smiled at him, raising her hand to play with his fringe. “Your group’s music is good, and your powerful vocals really shine through.”
He grabbed her hand to stop the fiddling, but didn’t let go of it as he brought their hands down to rest between them. “That means a lot, coming from you.”
“I’m proud of you, Jaehwany.”
He smiled at that. “Thank you.”
“So about the times you’ve called me jagi…” She raised her eyebrows expectantly, waiting for him to explain himself.
He reddened and grinned bashfully. “Well, I guess you know how I feel.”
“You still feel the same way? Even after all this time?”
“Don’t you?” He peered at her, trying to guess what she was thinking. She turned away, not liking being under scrutiny.
“Jaehwan, I-”
“You don’t.” His tone was dejected.
“I-”
He let go of her hands. “It’s okay. It’s for the best really. I mean the company lifted the dating ban months ago and I’ve thought about contacting you a lot but I mean if you don’t feel the same way anymore it doesn’t even matter really and I just think I should get back t-”
She cut him off with a kiss. He started rambling whenever he got embarrassed and she was glad to see that that part of him at least hadn’t changed.
“Ken hyung, what’s taking you so- oh my god!” Hyuk exclaimed in English as he turned a corner and saw the two in the secluded area, arms around each other.
They jumped apart, matching blushes colouring their cheeks as they turned to face the maknae.
“Hyung, really? With a fan?”
“She’s not just a fan, Hyukkie. She’s…” He gestured emphatically with his head.
Hyuk’s eyes widened in understanding. “No way. She’s _______?”
“Wait, you told them about me?”
Jaehwan smiled at her. “Of course I did. You were my best friend and the girl I wanted to be-”
“He was pining for you, noona!”
Pining? Noona?
“Yah! You don’t know her well enough for that.”
“Sure I do. You talk about her so often I feel like I’ve known her forever.”
“Talk? Present tense?”
Jaehwan’s blush intensified. “Hyuk, shut up.”
“I won’t.”
A pause.
“Hyung, we’re all waiting for you. You need to change for our final performance.”
“Oh, of course.” He turned to her. “Wait for me? I think we need to talk.”
She nodded. Standing on her tiptoes, she gave him a peck on the cheek (since Hyuk was still standing there) and told him to go steal the fans’ hearts like he did hers. This made him grin and he blew her a kiss as he started following Hyuk to the dressing room.
“Happy birthday, you pabo.”
He winked at her. “Happy birthday to you too, jagi.” It wasn’t a mistake this time.
