Wow, a lot has happened since my last letter! Large, sweeping historical change and processes—such as pandemics—have ways of making themselves felt. And colossal events have indeed been occurring!
I am only qualified to speak of these events as they pertain to folklore, of course, being a folklorist. But the village economy is essential to the creation of good folklore, and over time folklorists have developed a method of discussing village economies with other villagers, as a sort of technique to ensure that folklore will survive.
Which is why we need to start talking about how pie is made. As a folklorist I can assure you: the most important thing in any village economy is the presence of surplus baked goods. Everyone eats pie—not just folklorists and bakers—so it isn’t a question of who gets it. If the economy is good, everyone has pie. It’s the only metric that matters in a village economy: is there extra pie, or not?
If you have a surplus of baked goods, it means there are plenty of people around who know how to make pie. If you see a lot of people fighting over pie, on the other hand—it’s definitely time to start investing in bakers.
When everyone has been trained to divide pie up, and the news talks all day about pie division—our village economy is more important to our local assembly than ever. Let’s use use our elections to bake this year, rather than divide.
Chris Palmisano