Capitalist Mindset No. 4

The weekend featured a couple encounters with the Capitalist mindset—one unfortunately routine; the other has changed a whole local cultural institution—namely 4-H judging at fairs.

Friday, my Claddagh Court buddy and I drove up to Edgewood, which sports a large Amish population and a landscape very different than Dubuque County. Same rolling hills, but the valley floors and fences are lined with trees, random copses, smaller fields worked with horses, less corn, more alfalfa, oats, and wheat.

At the Amish General Store you can buy things like rotary egg beaters (two different models!) that you never find elsewhere, at reasonable prices.

After the store, we meandered into town, and found a very sweet restaurant on Main St. to which you would be happy to take big-city visitors. Authentic and unpretentious, Café Rosé is the basement of an old brick building, refurbished, plumbing visible, walls stuccoed and painted. Rosie, the owner, serves fresh-squeezed lemonade, salad with green greens (not white), delicious lasagna with a thoughtful twist—zucchini replacing the noodles, great for diabetics and diets! The wine and beer are local, and the one I had from a Decorah brewery was very distinctive.

However, a fat grandmother, her daughter with her three sons may have ruined lunch for a number of other diners. The boys, aged between 7 and 12 were lovely, but the adults were so loud the rest of us had to listen to their inane conversation, “I like giving shots to chubby babies. . . “

Critical Eye classifies this as capitalist because of its general disregard for others' experience, which we are not socialized to consider. We are trained to look out for ole No. 1, Fortunately, the restaurant where I work has carpet and that solves a good deal of the problem, but that shouldn't be the solution; we should be. Tomorrow, 4-H judging in this hyper capitalist era.