TODAY'S WORD: glaner (glah-nay) verb
to pick, to gather, to glean
BONJOUR… The United Nations Climate Change Conference is well underway now in Paris. Do you think it is too late to make a difference vis-à-vis global warming?
Reading about our earth's demise has me thinking of a little known French verb — a verb underdog if you like. Meet the humble Glaner ("to glean"). Given the alarming statistics on global warming (some predicting extinction of mankind in the next 100 years) we may finally be motivated to literally pick up the pieces of this mess. Certain French artists highlighted the practice years ago–making the art of gleaning as fashionable as the art of wandering. In other words, it's time to glaner as you flâner! Please read today's story.
ECOUTEZ/LISTEN: Listen to Jean-Marc read the following text: Download MP3 or Wav file
Quand vous ferez la moisson dans votre pays, vous ne moissonnerez pas vos champs jusqu'au bord, et vous ne glanerez pas ce qui pourra rester de votre moisson; vous laisserez tout cela au pauvre et à l'immigré. – Leviticus 23:22
When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you.
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE…
by Kristin Espinasse
In the dramatic opening scene of her memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls is riding in the back of a New York taxi, wondering whether she has overdressed for the party to which she is headed, when she sees something that knocks the wind right out of her Park Avenue sails.
Out there on the curbside, an older woman wearing rags is rooting through a dumpster. On closer look, the garbage picker is Jeannette's own mother!
As I read the page-turner memoir, I could only imagine how a daughter's heart seized up on seeing her intelligent, artistic, and once athletic mother resort to rooting through the trash. What had brought her to this? And, more curiously, why was the waste picker smiling?
It wasn't until I saw the fascinating documentary, The Gleaners and I (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse), by French filmmaker Agnès Varda, that I began to see this touching scene quite differently, and even to recall a few gleaning episodes of my own. Before writing about those, I will share some of the eloquent descriptions I gathered from viewers' reactions to The Gleaners:
… a wonderful documentary that reminds us of how much we produce and waste in the world and how the disenfranchised (and artistic) make use of that waste to survive… The characters Varda encounters are equally compelling and interestingly are not portrayed as whiny or blameful of others for their situations: they simply state how they live and we are left impressed with their ingenuity. (anonymous)
One of my favorite scenes in the film is when we are introduced to a wizened Chinese man in Paris living at home among a heap of dumpster gleanings. He has taken in a boarder—a happy-go-lucky black man who hunts the day long for discarded food and items that he himself will repair and give away to those less fortunate than himself. "Somebody might need this," the ragpicker says. Evenings, the Chinese man will cook up the dumpster chicken in one of the ovens that his resourceful roommate has brought home. As the men prepare to dine together, seated on crooked chairs and ever amazed by their "fortune", I have to reach over and hit the pause button. Have you ever seen such sweet faces, such sparkling eyes, than on these two lovely men who care for one another and for others?
In another scene, we observe a clean-cut wirey man stooping here and there as he scours the market stalls in Paris at the end of market day. Here and there he pops a broken piece of celery or apple or lettuce into his mouth… "Beta carotene! Vitamin K! I'm a biology major," he explains, adding that though he earns a salary, he still needs to eat and by the way, he's vegetarian! He admits that cheese is a little more difficult to find, but there's plenty of tossed out bread. We later learn that though he holds a scientific diploma, this biologist chooses to sell papers outside the train station. In a touching "who'd have thunk it?" scene, we see the same garbage picker volunteering his time, each evening, to teach refugees English. His carefully illustrated blackboards featuring, among other objects, a handdrawn bike and its phonetic word equivalent, attest as much to his selfless and caring soul as to his professionalism and skill.
There are several other heart-awakening moments in which Agnès Varda steadies her lens on the outcasts who in turn teach us more about the art of living than we will ever glean from the pages of any New York Times bestseller on the subject. The rag-wearing, sometimes toothless characters could write volumes on the subject. Meantime they have more meaningful pursuits: getting by, while managing to smile at life.
As for my own dumpster days—as a priviledged child—I'd root unselfconsciously through the trash bin (one we shared with the neighbor), ever amazed at the ongoing source of riches (in this case–cans of Hamm's beer which could be recycled for cash after stomping the cans flat!). Our neighbor, a single, middle-aged woman, regularly replenished the trash bin with this blatantly underestimated source of income! I began to feel sorry about her loss, which to me related to her pocket book and not her liver health (I had no idea that all those cans equalled addiction).
I regret losing the desire to salvage things (publicly, at least, though the occasional foray through a stranger's trash still happens), but I am grateful to live here in France, where gleaning is alive and well and rooted deeply in the culture! How many times during family outings has an uncle or a cousin or a grandma stooped to pick up a tumbled down apricot or a chestnut, or paused to uproot a lonely asparagus or a bunch of herbs from the edge of a neighbor's yard. "Have you seen what they charge for this at the markets?" my in-laws shake their heads. Soon they'll make up a fresh batch of herbs de provence–more fragrant and delicious than can be found on any supermarket aisle.
When my husband returned from the States after his multi-city wine tour he brought me an unexpected surprise: two charming rush-bottom chairs!
"I found them in the airport parking lot," Jean-Marc explained, "beside the dumpster." I admit, if he had brought those home 15 years ago–as a consolation gift for his two week absence, I might have been hugely disappointed! Nowadays, I don't want the ill-fitting T-shirt that he had quickly rung up at a pricy airport trap shop. (I'd rather have a couple of bars of chocolate, or, in this case, some adorable chairs!)
Each time I look at the chairs, I feel the same kind of affection one feels when looking at some of the characters in Agnès Varda's documentary. They are quirky. They are imperfect. They are charming. They are lovely. And, as one of the men in the film said, "they are needed."
COMMENTS
I would love to read your thoughts on today's post and the subject of gleaning as one idea to freiner or put the breaks on global warming. Click here to comment
- To see a preview of this wonderful film, click here.
- Rent the entire video here or let us know if you found –gleaned it — it somewhere ! Thanks.
Film maker Agnes Varda turns her camera lenses toward modern day gleaners–the poor, the dispossessed, the ecologically aware and the alienated–to paint a new but still somewhat romantic image of those follow along behind the parade of life, picking through its remains. – Jean E. Pouliot
I enjoyed seeing parts of France not normally seen on the screen or by tourists. In fact in some ways this documentary could serve as a kind of travelog so widely does Varda and her camera travel about the French countryside and cities. – Dennis Littrell
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“Gleaners,” a much better word than “trashpicker.” The Boston, Massachusetts area has a long tradition in passing on unwanted goods to new homes. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in graduate school, the neighboring city of Cambridge had a “clean up” week when discarders of large furniture and other items were encouraged to put things at curbside. The municipal trash collection was delayed a week, to let these things find new homes. (We still own a nice buffet acquired that way). Another neighborhood celebrates “Allston Christmas,” when the area’s many students move out at semester’s end and leave items behind in their apartments. There are various local free stuff websites. I understand too that there are programs for restaurant and supermarket foods, a bit beyond pristine, that are shared with the needy. Good to hear that creative reuse is alive and well in France.
Thank you, Sally, for all these wonderful examples! And good to read about your buffet =-)
Bonjour from Chicago. I enjoyed your words and it made me recall my own mother’s remembrances from the late 20s when the man with a cart would scream RAGS AND MORE and would find discarded or be given “treasures” others considered garbage. I myself have found such treasures!
P.S. visit my site and see what I f2ffo with old hats…I just returned from Paris and love the new old…there are stores there rabat sell recycled fashion by weight!!
I save unwanted items in my attic “just in case” someone needs it. I’ve been able to help others when their need comes to my attention. Also, I frequent yard sales (as we call garage/tag sales in my part of the world) for items I need and sometimes hold my own yard sale. Anything left goes to Goodwill. Recycling has become a way of life for me. Even most of my true trash gets recycled. It began when I couldn’t afford to buy new and just continued because it was very rewarding on several levels.
Oh dear! I am sorry to hear that you have fallen for the myth that man has caused global warming – or clmate change as they now call it due to no real evidence of warming. The lies that support the myth are numerous and the visciousness with which it is defended is appalling. The so-called 97% scientific consensus does not exist among scientist. It is based on a survey of a cherry-picked and very limited group. The antarctic ice is actually increasing and the data show no warming trend at all for decades. The NOAA data have admittedly been fudged. The proponents of the myth – who gain financially by it such as green billionaire Al Gore or gain power by regulation and taxation – will villify anyone who dares to question their myth. That is not how science works – science demands constant scrutiny for verification. The climate change mythologists attack anyone who should dare question their conclusions. And the remedies they propose are harmful to the good of humanity and would revert us back to the pre-industrial age.
Why is it that charity-based, second-hand shops, garage sales, gleaning, recycling etc bring warmth and comfort to anyone contemplating them and, far better, participating? Is it because it allows the conviction that, at base, we can be safe with far less so that we need not fret neurotically to constantly be ambitious and expand to assure safety? Is it that we know the pretentions of status bring envy, anxiety and isolation, whereas genuine acceptance of one’s lot gives peace and true companionship?… My wife wife and I find great joy in participating in acts of saving, recycling, and occasionally gleaning and salvaging (even when we can well afford to be conspicuous consumers) as acts of environmental conservation, as acts of charity and as acts of self-affirmation and simplification in a complex, stressed world. And yes, we are deemed political conservatives, but that label also can encompass private charity, environmental conservation and spontaneous individual joy and friendship…
Agree with Stan…..climate change is NOT the big threat in our world.
I’m interested in seeing a picture of the chairs Jean-Marc brought home from the airport garbage!
Cathy, love what you say about recycling being rewarding on so many levels.
Hi Kristin,
I will have to watch the movie! I learned about the art of gleaning when we lived in Germany. They called it “junking” there, not sure what the German word is. There were certain days of the year where everyone would put out their unwanted items on the curb in our little town of Kitzingen. We were so excited to go out early and we would “stroll as we junked” haha….it was so fun and I think I did find an old chair that I brought home. Recently in our town there was a “free” Holiday Market. Everyone brought what they no longer wanted or needed in good condition. Everyone could just take what they wanted.
I think we are all worried about global warming but I also think the world goes through these changes on its own also. I think we contribute to it of course.
Mas de la Perdrix looks lovely!
Patricia and Stan, I regret writing about a topic I know so little about. I should have stuck with the topic of gleaning, period.
Kristi, this posting is perfect for the Christmas season! Thank you!! I remember when years ago, also in December, I saw my first “dumpster diver” im downtown Denver. It was late in the day and we just came out of a restaurant with full stomachs. I was shocked at what we witnessed and not wanting to embarrass the man we looked away. Today I would act differently and help the man. There are so manu unfortunate people out there who need our help and compassion.
Marika, it is encouraging to read about how these changes happen in us, so that what we would never think of doing before now comes as second nature.
Kristin – thank you for bringing this film to our attention. I am hoping that by sharing this information, we may be able to have a viewing here in Canada. As many other comments relate, we have lived that way here for generations; though we’ve never had a name for it. In the summer months there are “community treasure days” when you are encouraged to place goods on the roadside that are too good to toss out and may be just what someone else needs. Even when it isn’t a designated weekend, it’s not uncommon to see goods at the roadside with a “free” sign on it. They’re quickly picked up. Many homes with fruit trees have large “Free apples etc” signs in the fall. Even the windfall fruit gets picked up and taken to the forest for the inhabitants there to enjoy them. Every bit helps, and the awareness that we all have too much “stuff” and some have too little, is one good way to remind us all that we are fortunate, and it doesn’t take much to be generous and share.
In our city (Nashville) we have a program whereby restaurants contribute food each day that hasn’t been sold to a central foodbank and is then distributed to food kitchens. We also provide ways for departing college students to donate items and there are numerous “recycling sales” of children’s clothing and toys. This whole city orientation was displayed when we had a masssive flood several years ago (one of the largest central city floods in American history) and the whole city turned out to rescue people and the voluntarily clean up, donate, and house those affected.
Deborah, these are wonderful examples. Thanks.
I find this unbelievable that you still believe this way!
I remember getting together with the neighborhood kids and after we had tired of playing games or got really bored, someone would always come up with the idea of garbage picking. It was a lot of fun and you never knew what treasure you might find in someone’s garbage. I still have two of my “finds.” The rolling pin with the green wood handles I still use to this day and a white and black trivet I use at dinner time.
Thanks Kristin,
I’m living this year in Nice [will return temporarily to California in Feb.] and love watching people find ‘goodies’ in the trash several times/week. Also, what
a relief for poor Mother Earth…no need to keep filling the dump and/or manufacturing more!
So sad to see that some who post here still deny that we can save the earth if we act now. If not, what creatures [and us] we will lose in the next 100 years. SAD!
I believe that we are going through a global warming whether it be a natural cyclic change on the earth or partialy man caused. IF we can help slow it down we should.I live in a very affluent area, not a big city like New York or Paris. We also have “the gleaners”. We also recycle more than any area in the state. Our “dump” is completely
run on energy produced from garbage. Any “trash” brought in by the individual consumer is sorted. All is utilized in one way or another. Wood into chips for the garden, garden waste into compost, furniture, dishes, clothes, etc. into the “last stand” warehouse where it can be purchased for pennies and so on. Nothing is just tossed. And the garage sales around here are like going to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue market only much less expensive. Friends will ask “where did you get that wonderful painting, or those cute dishes, or…..” and I reply…”Oh, garage sale” And it does make me feel good, and warm. And when I have a sale, I am either helping someone else or making someone happy. Silk purse or Sow’s ear. All depend on what one sees.
Me, too!
Hi Judy-It is not a matter of my belief. I try to form opinions by my critical analysis of facts. Maybe I’m right or maybe I’m wrong, but I am always gleaning new information and open to rethinking. I won’t belabor this any more out of respect for wonderful Kristin who regrets wading into these waters. All the best.
Gleaning gives the gleaner a sense of the extraordinary abundance in the world. Rich people, by contrast, rarely feel they have enough, and so are miserable a lot of the time. This is what I notice in New York.
Also, check out Gregoire Abrial’s website to see his Bright Friday project. He refurbished 12 discarded objects, inlaid the word FREE somewhere in them and set them back out on the street the day after Thanksgiving 2013. Then he watched the response. I was one of the lucky ones to find a bistro chair he had re-done!
“Gleaning gives the gleaner a sense of the extraordinary abundance in the world.” Yes!
During my grandmother’s visits to Canada, she often remarked that people in North America spend too frivolously, buying what they do not need, without questioning their motives. I believe that gleaning is part of a more traditional European mentality. Both my parents and in-laws forage for mushrooms in the local forest. So many people would pass right by those mushrooms without taking notice! When my grandmother cooks, she uses every little bit of a whole chicken, creating three different dishes, ensuring that nothing goes to waste. I also know many younger individuals who prefer to shop in second-hand stores instead of choosing brand-new items that cost at least twice as much. I’m glad that the trend of gleaning is slowly starting spread.
I saw a piece on that when he did that. Lovely work! So cool you found one of his pieces that fit your home!
Katia, I have to agree with your Grandmother (having lived in the United States, Canada and in several European countries )..we do get things without evaluating our motives..having been a “gleaner”, love the word in this usage, since a young child..my mother once called the police thinking I was lost or stolen, but my sister and I were simply searching for new treasures in the alley. I think my motive has always been because I thought they were beautiful or could be beautiful of useful. Now thinking..did I need it was indeed quite another story. Again this ties into the global warming discussion..what is more pressing, stopping people from being killed today or trying to change ever changing climate. Climate has always changed and will always change, but there are some things that we can do to improve our world today and the world our children will inherit. The same is true of gleaning..so so much is thrown out that has lovely further value, but evidently not to the original owners…who may have replaced it with something also not needed of less value. I love some of the ideas of passing on unwanted/unneeded treasures. I am certain that you will treasure the chairs for years to come, and if there comes a time that you just decided you have too many they may still find yet another life with someone else.
One of my favorite painting is Millet’s “The Gleaners”.
I love that y brought this documentary to our attention and love even more it’s title. As a child I had a print of a painting titled “the Gleaners”. It hung over my bed and now hangs in my guest room. I always found it peaceful-women hard at work gathering wheat in the golden sunlight. I too hate to see anything go to waste when it still has life or usefulness. When I lived in New York, I had a neighbor who worked on one of the garbage trucks in Manhattan. He picked up all the discarded furniture on his route, repaired or refinished it and sold it. He made as much money doing that as he did working for the NYC department of sanitation, which at that time paid very nice wages.
I too word like to see photos of your new chairs.
Kristin,
Before I forget … what is flâner?
I agree (from what I know from my associations when I worked in international business) that Europeans and Scandinavians are much more into “less is more.” That is, preferring less, high quality, classic merchandise than the consumerism of the States.
In my neighborhood, people also put items at the curb. I snagged a one year old bicycle that way that a neighbor alerted me to. (Need another one of those since that one was sense stolen.) With our humidity, though, it is difficult to put out soft furniture without it becoming icky if no one picks it up before nightfall.
When in NYC, I once saw an excellent chest and once a very nice iron wine rack. I hesitated and then thought of returning when dark. LOL – someone bolder, smarter and with less fear of judgement that I made out! You’d think I’d have learned after the first incident.
I have items now that I am contemplating how to recycle. Too good to throw away, but how to find the right home for the piece. An automatic recliner in excellent working order, but needs new upholstery. (Lifetime guarantee of chair but, alas, the material started to tear at 14 months and apparently material only guaranteed for 12.) A sofa bed (the bed portion still wrapped in original cover) that could use a home with someone who could sew new cushion covers (they zip off). If I had the income, I would refurbish and then donate.
Here, Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA St. Petersburg) has a thrift store where anyone can buy from, but shelter residents can choose items for free when they move out on their own. Also, Hospice here has a thrift store managed much the same way. They sell to the public, but Hospice patients are provided vouchers. My mother needed an extra lamp for lighting near her (living room) bedside for night emergency visiting nurses, and as patients change weight / sizes they can get new clothes.
Neighbors put out bags of fruit from their citrus trees also 🙂
Ktisti, do not apologize for bringing up global warming because this is a vital subject that all of us need to address. I think Stan is either living in denial or more likely just stirring the pot. There is no question that the polar caps are melting — just one example — and that our polar bears, unable to hunt from ice floes are dying off. The snow that topped many peaks such as Kilimanjaro has largely melted in the past decades — this is photographically documented, not a ‘myth’. This year, 2015, is the hottest on record since at least 1880. Wake up, Stanley!
Thank you for this beautiful message; I wish I could read the book. Here at the Villa Maria, we put out different kind of articles for whoever might like or need them. Also there is a lady who brings clothes, some time new garments she sells for one dollaar.
Your post reminds me of my grandmother, who used to find treasures in the garbage room of her apartment building. When she died, I ended up with a walnut side chair with graceful carvings and a cane seat. With my daily use for many years, the caning began sagging. I put it in a closet for another ten years or so, but just recently had it recaned. It is gorgeous and complimented by anyone who enters our living room. I smile when I see it, too, to remember my grandma’s knowing its value and saving the chair for its usefulness and beauty. Hope you enjoy your gleaned chairs and their story for many years to come.
Your post quotes Leviticus. I love that God and His people provided in this way for the poor and infirm who couldn’t buy or grow their own food. An organic farm near us publicizes gleaning days in autumn so that volunteers can glean healthy vegetables to take to local food pantries.
I have become a gleaner here, as I live alone and don’t need to waste large amounts of money on a refrigerator of food. A fellow worker gives me her sour cream and butter from her Wendy’s baked potatoe, which I take home and use as I see fit. But, your article also reminded me of living with an aunt & uncle after my grandparents died, on their farm. One summer day, a man stumbled up to the front door, blood running down his head. He and his wife were picking wild asparagus by the side of the road and the property owner came up behind him and hit him on the head with a 2 x 4 board for picking said asparagus! It was shocking to see that a neighbor would be so cruel and the roadways are public property anyway and it should have been free for anyone to pick.
Katia, Thanks for highlighting Leslies wonderful statement.
Well-written and thoughtful column, on a subject we should all take seriously, not just for ourselves but with future generations in mind. What is more precious than our beautiful, irreplaceable earth? There’s not a substitute to be found. I saw a preview of Agnes Varda’s documentary some time ago, but after your vivid description, I am eager to watch it. I will access it by clicking from your blog.
Speaking of dump diving. There is a good documentary about children in Paraguay making instruments out of things from the dump and they created a band. What wonderful music they play. Dump digging is very prevalent in many countries where the families live on the money they make by selling the items they find. What is one man’s trash is another’s man’s treasure.
http://www.landfillharmonicmovie.com
Yes, there is climate change. The glaciers are not growing but are falling into the sea.
Http:www.dailykos.com/story/2015/2/19/1365572/-Mother-Earth-weeps-as-Arctic-Circle-Ice-Cap-slides-into-the-sea
Kathleen
Cynthia, So good to read your thoughts on this. Thanks for stepping forward. It is December first and I harvested tomatoes and raspberries this morning. And there is a sunflower about to blossom in my front yard. I dont know the facts about climate, but last summer was unbearably hot here near Bandol, in France. Instead of solely reading the news, all the comments here are helping me to understand more about climate change.
It is so warming to see these thoughtful gifts–often arranged so artfully beside the municipal poubelle, as if to say, Go ahead, take me!
This is a better sight…
Your words brought tears, Jane. Love what the organic farm is doing and I could visualize your grandmother and the chair–a treasure.
On a different note, here is what I “gleaned” from your thoughtful (as always) article –“getting by, while managing to smile at life”– good food for thought.
Sad to see comments from those that deny global warning.
Thank you for a very thought provoking piece of writing, I love it. I also really enjoyed the book you talk about at the beginning of your piece. We did it for our book club a little while ago. I shall look at the documentary. Karen
Love this blog….nobody has all the FACTS….and we should all do what we can to stop wasting and to stop doing destructive things to our magnificent and abundant earth. Thank U for writing about this important topic, Kristin!
I am sorry to read that you regret writing about this topic, Kristin.
Last night on France 2, the state-sponsored news channel, there was a step by step explanation regarding both the many causes and current effects of global warming as well as varying hypothesis for what will happen to our planet depending on how many degrees the temperature rises in the future, including very plausible ones where there will be a mass extinction of animal-life on Earth (and that is just one of the frightening examples).
It is interesting to me that in France I have never – not once in my 14 years of living here – heard anyone question whether or not global warming exists. The separation of church and state inherent in this country’s society draws the lines at what are known to be scientific facts quite clearly.
And yes, in view of the recent terrorist attacks here, there is much to be worried about and yet the COP21 has been given all priority in the news as finding a solution for our future is of utmost importance as well.
I am deeply saddened by the response of your readers that are unwilling to acknowledge either global warming or the urgence needed to find an agreement so that the world will have a brighter future than this destructive present.
Stan, Patricia, and all “deniers” — we work, live sleep, eat and move in a world backed by scientists, many fighting people who have been brainwashed by oligarchs and their bought politicians and scientists. Wake up! Open your minds. The fossil fuel industry, over consumption, waste, greed, and brain washing backed by oligarchs have CLEARLY caused dangerous rises of CO2 in the atmosphere resulting in abnormal, critically threatening rises in global warming.
Stan, Patricia –I have been called a “Doubting Thomas”,
am a fan of Socrates, spent 23 years as a public school educator, earned 2 Masters degrees, have traveled extensively, and am 88 years old — perhaps I have gained some wisdom.
Our dear Kristi,
What a wonderful post today,and what wonderful responses!
The most important messages that I received were charity and kindness for each other and for Mother Earth.
Never enough of either one.
At my age there is an expression”more days behind than ahead”.
I truly wish to make each one count,especially in unselfish ways.
Love
Natalia. xo
Hi, Kristin,
It seems you have generated a lot of discussion with today’s Word! May I just
jump in and say that my introduction to gleaning was when I spent weekends with
my paternal grandmother who was raised on a farm, but lived near us in the Bay Area when she was elderly. Each of my siblings spent a weekend each month with her so we could be indulged as an only child and instructed in domestic arts and crafts. My grandmother would take me “shopping” to thrift stores to search for men’s wool suits which she would bring home and cut into strips to use in making hooked rugs. This rug-making was a great past-timeof hers as was re-finishing furniture, sewing, cooking, and, painting (as in art, not house). Thank you for the opportunity to express a memory. Joanne, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Thank you, Heather!