food in boxes

Not the best specimen of broccoli.  Indeed, it's looking remarkably Dutch painting like here - a faint touch of yellowing memento mori, but perfectly edible - believe me, though, it wasn't.  It came in our weekly vegetable box (everything else looks fresh and fine), so I was about to report it for ageing, wilting, and limpness.  And indeed, I instantly had my refund.  But I always take a picture - long ago, one had to document one's complaint, and I always try to do so now, in the unlikely event of someone calling me out on it.

And yet ... the privilege of having a box delivered to one's door, and choosing its contents, and knowing that the money will gently be debited from one's bank account on a Sunday was very much brought home later, when Alice reported going to get her Covid shot from the USC pharmacy.  This was, indeed, advertising Covid shots for everyone earlier in the week.  When she turned up, she was told they weren't giving any - and to be sure, the website now only mentions flu.  But she initially encountered a long line.  Are you waiting for vaccinations? she asked.  No, replied a waiting student: it's the food pantry.  It's great that our university addresses student food insecurity with what seems to be a very well established, very well set up organization.  It's also deeply concerning that it's needed at all.