After I appeared in the September 2008 issue of CosmoGIRL! magazine representing Freeganism and dumpster diving, I was hit up in all directions from media outlets and journalists seeking to produce some sensationalistic copy on where I get my dinner. I took a kind and upstanding freelance journalist named David DeSario up on the offer to produce a web video for the New York Post. Honestly, when he told me that the piece was for the post, I almost laughed in his face (or ear as it were, we were on the phone). The Post is not, as most New Yorkers will likely agree, a particularly reputable newspaper. It's a tabloid in poor disguise as a daily. It's subway litter, not great literature. It's also an easy mark, so I'll get on with it. David convinced me to take him dumpster diving with his winning personality and the fact that he alluded to being a liberal who graduated from Vassar two years ago. I supposed that I was to take that as evidence of his good intentions with this piece. I took his word that the piece would not turn into mere sensationalism and planned to meet him near a strip of grocery stores at around 11 PM on a week night.

Two freegan friends and I took Dave and his camera-person dumpster diving in downtown Manhattan because it's one of the most wasteful places on Earth. (Really, if you're in New York and you're a student, you should design a project and study this phenomenon. There's even an academic discipline named after it: Garbology.) We found lots of delicious things, most of which were days from their "best by" and "expiration" dates. The video captures us finding apples, bananas, bagged lettuce, yogurt, and lots of expensive, individually boxed cakes (one of which we fed to a curious bystander on camera, for the sheer goofy fun of the shot). I felt that it was a fitting nod to the New York Post's usual style without compromising ourselves in some kind of slapstick or over-the-top moment. There is one shot that will seem nonsensical to anyone who dumpster dives regularly however: Dave DeSario climbing atop a pile of bags. No dumpster diver steps on the bags that may contain the makings of their next meal (or their next six meals, as is usually the case in the remarkably wasteful borough of Manhattan).

But the major problem with these media spots is not overly excitable journalists romping through our trash bags. The problem is that they always manage to cut out our critiques of capitalism. We come off as criticizers of waste, consumer culture, consumers themselves... but never as the remarkably intelligent theorists of capitalism and society that we are. It's unfortunate because we have a lot of information and some valuable perspectives to share with you, America, but your media just won't let us do it! I do have to say that it's fascinating to experience the censorship (call it censorship lite) of the major mainstream media first hand, but I don't think I'll ever get used to the way I'm cut and reshaped and edited at will. Here's to the freedom of writing for a blog!