The Knowledge of Green
Grass
Nerves
wired up too much
java
in the UC Davis
parking lot
and you’re staring
out
over a green grass field
wired up too much
java
in the UC Davis
parking lot
and you’re staring
out
over a green grass field
the land
full
of tiny green hands
waving
in the wild wind
saying “hi! hi! hi!”
while
humans on overpass
move
roll
brake
crowd
push
full
of tiny green hands
waving
in the wild wind
saying “hi! hi! hi!”
while
humans on overpass
move
roll
brake
crowd
push
pretending
to go
somewhere
anywhere
crawling constantly
like hungry
ants
on unknown mission
crisscrossing
murmuring
mumbling to themselves
as
they slowly race
forward
against
time
and
won’t be long
before we all kill
each other off
completely
dead
if for no other reason
to end
all the fucking
traffic
to go
somewhere
anywhere
crawling constantly
like hungry
ants
on unknown mission
crisscrossing
murmuring
mumbling to themselves
as
they slowly race
forward
against
time
and
won’t be long
before we all kill
each other off
completely
dead
if for no other reason
to end
all the fucking
traffic
but
those
green grass fingers
in
the field
they keep
waving
toward the sun
saying, “hi, hi, hi,”
oblivious
to annihilation …
those
green grass fingers
in
the field
they keep
waving
toward the sun
saying, “hi, hi, hi,”
oblivious
to annihilation …
if only we
were like
the green-green grassland
simple
and ignorant of the outcome.
were like
the green-green grassland
simple
and ignorant of the outcome.
Dutch ships arrived in Jayakarta on the island of Java in 1596 with assistance from Jayawikarta of the ruling family of the sultanate of Banten, but he attacked their fortress. The Dutch, however, drove out the nearby English in Banten and consolidated their hold on the island. They renamed the city Batavia in 1619 (it was renamed Jakarta in 1949 after Indonesia gained its independence). In 1696 the Dutch governor of Malabar sent a Yemeni (arabica) coffee seedling to Batavia, but flooding destroyed it. Hendrik Zwaardecroon took a 2nd shipment of seedlings in 1699, and the island became only the 3rd place (other than Arabia and Ethiopia) where coffee became widely cultivated. Export began in 1711, and by 1717 the volume reached 2,000 pounds. In the 18th century it was worth 3 guilders/kg in Amsterdam (an average Dutch income was worth only 200-400 guilders). However, by the end of the century the price dropped to .6 guilders/kg as the taste for coffee spread beyond the elites. Java was the leading coffee exporter until the 1840s, when Brasil took the lead, and "java" became a popular nickname for the product. Meanwhile, in 1830, Johannes van den Bosch became the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies and in his 3 years at the post he introduced the cultuurstelsel ("cultivation system," referred to by Indonesian historians as Tanam Paksa -- "Enforcement Planting"). In lieu of land taxes, 20% of village land had to be devoted to government export crops or peasants had to work on government-owned plantations for 60 days/year. However, in practice, the workers were required to devote most of their time on this endeavor and neglect their own food crops, leading to famines by the 1840s. Upon Van den Bosch's return to the Netherlands he was appointed minister of colonies and further tightened his economic regulation but was forced from office in 1840 due to irregular financial arrangements; however, he was compensated by being made a graaf (count); he was succeeded as colonial minister by Jean Chrétien Baud, who had continued his exploitation of Java when he succeeded Van den Bosch as governor-general. The system remained in effect until the 1870s.
ReplyDeleteIn 1905 the California legislature passed the University Farm Act, which called for a farm school for the University of California (which until then consisted only of a campus at Berkeley, near San Francisco). The University Farm at Davisville, near Sacramento, opened in 1909. (The post office shortened the town's name tp "Davis" in 1907, and the place was incorporated as Davis in 1917. As the institution expanded it was renamed the Northern branch of the college of Agriculture in 1922 and became the 7th campus of the UC system in 1959. It has frequently been listed as the 10th best university in the US and among the top 50 on the world.