Dunged: A New Series
Why am I starting a new blog series called “Dunged?” Perhaps I am keeping company with an immature crowd online. Or, at the very least, a certain segment of my social media buddies prefer scatological humor. Maybe it’s because sometimes in order to re-use the refuse you have to deal with a little feces. So many products we take for granted as coming from factories and labs got their start in the dung heap. And much of how we care for our world and our health has to do with how we deal with our crap.

Fremont Solstice Parade, Seattle, Washington, June 18, 2011. Dung beetle contingent.
Photo courtesy of Joe Mabel.
The real truth is a recent assignment sent me looking for answers about how certain “jungly,” “wild,” and “earthy” flavors come to be in one of my favorite beverages. I couldn’t use the whole pile of material I managed to dig up but, I didn’t want it to go to waste either. What is a writer to do? Start blogging it!
What can you expect from this crap-themed column? Some will be serious explorations of topics from compost to coffee. Other posts will be briefs pointing out the pooptastic that grabs headlines, reduces me to giggles, or squeezes its way out of pop culture absurdity.
To tide you over until I tackle my first turd of a story, I thought I’d share some pictures to give some notion of what I might write about.

Mushrooms growing out of dung.
Photo courtesy of Wild Eepe.

Dung destined to be made into fuel.
Photo courtesy of PriyaRanjan Singh.