Autobiography of Mr. Oscar Lee: An Organic Farmer from Alabama

Autobiography
Fade in
It was very difficult for me to convince my father for an interview, that too where he is
required to face a live camera. He is not camera-shy, why should he be? My father, Mr. Oscar
Lee, a man in his late 40’s, tall, fair and an athletic build with well-toned shoulders, he never
went to a Gym, according to him the Jungles of Alabama are the biggest gym in the world.
My mother, Dorothy Lee always supported him blindly whenever he said that” it is not
Birmingham, it is Alabama. Birmingham is only a small pocket of the land of Alabama and
the rest of Alabama is full of natural treasure”. He probably hates the wealth of Bermingham
because most of his childhood friends are now serving as a part of the “service economy” of
Bermingham. They have been given the uniforms of Janitors and waiter and lost their
Alabamian identity completely into the city of tamed, uniformed and civilized livestock.
In the year 1901 when the planners of Alabama were developing Birmingham as the heart of
the state, they were not aware of the fact that by the year 2019, the city of Birmingham will
become the calling card of this great land of Alabama. Bermingham became a big city and
Alabama paid the price by losing its own identity.
In the year 1960 when my grandfather decided to settle in Alabama, everybody was against
it. But my father loved this place. Although the books of history say Alabamian population
suffered from misery and poverty because agriculture was their main occupation, my father
never had any such experience. I am a “son of the soil” he always says, he is ahead of his
times, when rest of the farmers in the area were seeking for chemical fertilizers, my father
decided to stick to the conventional ways of farming. The local club of Jackson County
always found my father in a jovial mood during the evenings. When he refused to entertain
Chemical fertilizers, most of his friends in the Jackson County club tried to convince him.

Next two years were full of poverty and misery for us, but my mother Dorothy Lee, in her
late 30’s, pretty, calm slightly obese, and cent percent simpleton, never complained about
anything. After the arrival of chemical fertilizers and specialized seeds, the farmers of
Jackson County rejoiced because of the bumper crop that they received with the help of the
joint efforts of Mother Nature and chemical fertilizers. Females in the village purchased
expensive Nylon cloths from the big shops of Birmingham; some of them purchased the
standard model of Ford Fiesta which was the economic most car of that era.
The friend’s of Dorothy often told her that she should put some brain in the head of her
husband so that he can start using Chemical fertilizer. Dorothy always told them that she is
not greedy or ambitious, she is quite happy with what she has. She defended Oscar on all the
occasions, by presenting him as a visionary. The friends of Dorothy, on the other hand, felt
that Oscar is a myopic, “overconfident fool”. Dorothy always ignored those taunting voices.
Twenty-five years ago she got married to Oscar after a brief affair when Oscar helped her
father in setting up a new wood house. Dorothy can still remember, it was “love at first
sight”, his broad shoulders, and his baritone voice and to top that his manly mannerisms,
everything was magical to her.
She was unaware of the fact that it was the same case of “love at first sight” for Oscar as
well. He decided to support Dorothy’s father with an anticipation that this charity will help
him in coming a little closer to each other.
Unlike Birmingham or New York, people in Alabama love to interfere in the matters of the
other, it was the same case with Dorothy’s father. Eighty percent of Alabama’s villagers were
in favor that Oscar and Dorothy should get married. The makers of chemical fertilizers often
take resort in a glamorous advertisement where they deliberately give the message that
additional crops given by the fertilizer will help them in fighting against the evil of poverty