Washington Hospital West is Scene of AVM Book Talk
(Back row, left to right) Margery Leonard, Nate Ivy, Dr. Robert Pipkin; (front) Genevieve Angelides and Kathy Garfinkle.
April 23rd was an important date in the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle journey. It represents the first collaboration our One Book, One Community reading adventure has had with Washington Hospital West. The book talk took place in the hospital’s library.
It was also the date some years earlier that Lily’s chickens hatched. Lily is Kingsolver’s daughter who fell in love with the whole mystery of raising chickens including egg laying, day-to-day care, etc. She is a wonderfully colorful character and family member in the book.
The April 23rd discussion session was led by Nate Ivy, who coordinates the Service-Learning Waste Reduction Project for secondary schools in Alameda County, California and serves as the Regional Lead for Service-Learning in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Some 14 people attended this session, including some AAUW Fremont Branch members, Lucy Castillo, Washington West Librarian and Event Planner, Dr. Marguerite McInnes and Dr. Robert Pipkin.
Aside from exploring a number of the themes in the book, the group discussed the typical high fat, sugar laden diet of the average America that results in the obesity problem so prevalent today.
Dr. Pipkin, a cardiovascular surgeon present at the book talk, mentioned that the human body has not developed fast enough to eat the high-fat foods we consumer. “If a rabbit eats its natural vegetarian diet,” said Dr. Pipkin, “it will never get arteriosclerosis. But if you feed it a human diet, including fats and sugars, it will die of heart disease.”
All the more reason to take to heart the message of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which underscores the importance of eating seasonal produce, shopping at farmer’s markets to support local farmers and understanding where our food comes from with the goal of reducing the amount of energy it takes for food to get to our door.
Discussions of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which have been in progress since September, are nearing a close. The last one this year will take place on May 17 from 7 to 8:00 p.m. at the Fremont Main Library. If you haven’t been to one of these stimulating discussions, be sure to join us on that date.