Second Day of Action: Seminis Inc. Espionage and More Flyer Distribution.

A man on a mission.

        I wanted to get an up close and personal look at Seminis Inc. so I know what to expect on the day of the protest. One may use the word espionage if they so desire it as I yes, did a sort of covert mission to gain access into their facility. I first arrived on Brunken Ave. and made my way up to the front of the office. Looking around from the outside I saw a "No Trespassing" sign and a "No weapons permitted" sign on the window and I thought - they certainly are ready for a return of rowdy activists. I looked inside and realized the place was totally desolate but I continued and pushed the door open. No one heard me come in. I looked around: just a low lite room with two smaller rooms connected, a table with some oranges in a bowl, bookshelves with ceramic statues of lettuce and corn displayed on top. Then I shouted "hello?" Some guy wearing a baseball cap and a hoodie and fumbled out of the room on the right and replied "yeah hey what's up?"
"I'm a college student and I came over here because I had some questions about Seminis; like what kind of jobs you guys have to offer and how I may apply."
"Oh yeah well we got a few jobs right now. You should check us out online, there's more information there. We're just a satellite location and subsidiary of Monsanto, I don't have too much information here."
"Sure I'll check it out. So do you guys do work on lettuce around here?"
"Yep, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, sugar beets."
"Oh nice for better resistance to spraying?"
"Yeah tolerance, we are also just working on making better varieties." The guy was friendly all and all. Though I'm sure if he knew my position on Monsanto he would have been much more aggressive. After a short conversation I said goodbye and that I'd look for more information online and walked out.
                  It was beneficial that I spoke to that Seminis employee. I didn't know lettuce was being genetically modified right here in our county and communities. It made me realize that this issue really does hit home. We aren't talking about GMO corn from the middle of nowhere in Nebraska, we're talking about the lettuce right off of highway 68. It's personal now and we can't just stand around and allow them to modify our county.

               While I was still in Salinas I took the opportunity to distribute more fliers. I went to Rollicks Coffee shop, Oldtown Booknook, and Cherry bean; very friendly and helpful people. They are places that remind you why Salinas is a wonderful little town. They are like little pockets of culture in a very industrial town.