Final Service Learning Reflection

My service experience this semester I think very astutely reflects me as an individual. I am usually very reluctant to undertake new experiences in my life because I'm essentially perpetually nervous and afraid of having a bad time. I rose to the personal challenge a few times, volunteering time at one of the Lord's Acre trips for class and by gardening at the Womyn's Garden off campus a few times. These experiences were me stepping out of my comfort zone; my comfort zone being in my room stagnating, isolating myself from the world around me for no real reason other than feeling like I'm home. When I did exit my little bubble, I tended to actually enjoy myself despite my fears. Digging up sweet potatoes at the Lord's Acre, cutting down trees at the Womyn's Garden, and chatting with friends was a cleansing experience. I am by no means past these fears entirely, but I think these experiences are a step in the right direction.

I've learned about the community around me though, even though I don't fully feel as though I'm a part of it. I've found that there are people who dedicate their lives to helping carry the burden of those who need assistance, like the staff at the Lord's Acre. To me, that's such a beautiful sentiment that someone would make their life's work a tool to better equip the less fortunate. I want to be a high school teacher for a similar reason. I want to leave an impact on someone's life, even if it's just one lost kid like me who takes something profound from my teaching. Seeing what service can do for an individual makes me want to dive into it a little bit more and diminish a bit more of those fears of putting myself out there. Life is better when trying to work toward bettering oneself.

Feeding the World Response

Ron Finley's TED Talk (which can be viewed here) talks about issues we're more than familiar with at this junction: food deserts, food activism, and proposed solutions to issues of hunger on the community level. His tone and style of presentation is very relaxed and casual, speaking to the audience as one would imagine he'd speak to a close friend. He simply tells his story and doesn't censor himself, which is a nice rhetorical choice. It puts him on the same level as a regular individual, rather than putting himself on a pedestal like some presenters tend to do. I really enjoy his approach to getting things accomplished; "Plant some shit." really gets it's message across with no frills. He speaks of Los Angeles' gap of health, which sounds eerily like the topic I tackled in my research essay for class this semester. He proposes change from within the population, rather than through government aid or assistance. He wants his community (and others like it) to take their food into their own hands and quit relying on liquor stores and fast food for their diets. He himself took action by planting a garden in the streets on a part of city-owned land on curbsides. He has since helped build similar gardens throughout South Central Los Angeles, making a big difference.

Two articles we read this week also deal with feeding the world, though on a larger scale. One is by environmental activist and author Frances Moore Lappe about how biotechnology isn't the messiah of hunger, and the other article is written by journalist David Biello about the potential positive/negative results of widespread organic food production. They both are fairly short, interesting reads. An interesting overlap in content comes from them both noting that the world has more than enough food to go around. I really liked the quote Biello used in his article about modern industrial agriculture's sustainability, "anyone who thinks we will be using roundup in eight to ten thousand years is foolish."  He suggests that we need to change the way we produce food entirely, and essentially begin again with aims for long term sustainability. Lappe takes a different approach in answering what will be the key to feeding the world. She says we need a system of true democracy, where governments are responsive to the needs of the people, rather than the whims of soulless corporate entities. I'd be inclined to agree with that sentiment.

I believe it will take a little bit of all these methods. Local community activism, large scale change within the industrial agricultural system, and a change in the way governments make decisions & giving citizens more influence.

The Omnivore's Delusion / Real Food, Real Farming Response

The debate put together by PBS (watch here), which edits together both Pollan's (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Hurst's (farmer and author of a rebuttal piece called the Omnivore's Delusion) arguments, puts the dissenting opinions side by side so as to allow a better comparison of the two standpoints. After watching the video, it wasn't clear whether or not PBS wanted to promote any of the two differing opinions on the agriculture/food system, or whether they were just presenting the news. I personally sympathized more with Hurst though, who is an actual part of the agricultural community, immersed day-to-day in his work. When compared to Pollan, who was dressed in a button down, sweater, and blazer, he comes off as an experienced every-man in stark contrast to Pollan's academic appearance and manner of speaking. It makes one wonder if things such as these two men's appearances are consciously used as a rhetorical device on the part of the director of the video, or if that is just a reflection of the two men's differing backgrounds.

In Hurst's article, he speaks of being on an airplane stuck in front of a man who is spewing out facts he learned from Pollan's bestseller, and he eventually loses his social tact and tells him not to believe everything he reads. His position in the agricultural industry, at a small-scale (though still considered industrial), gives him the credibility to challenge the information put forward by Pollan. Pollan puts forth ideas about reducing the dependency on corn for feeding & raising animals, reducing the amount of corn we consume (as it makes us fatter as a nation, in his opinion). Hurst refutes these claims on the basis of Pollan not knowing the ins and outs of the industry he is criticizing.

It is important to note and comment on the fact that these two men do not want vastly different things; they both value food immensely, and feel it is everybody's business when it comes to how their food is grown, produced and marketed. They just stand on two ends of the spectrum of food-based activism.

Reading Response to "An Open Letter from a Farmer to Angry Vegetarians"

For starters, I really enjoyed this piece. The perspective is one that I really respect, as the author is someone who comes from the same initial background as her critics. She changed her view of vegetarianism for very valid reasons that many who subscribe to that lifestyle misunderstand and demean. People denounced her actions as murder, for crying out loud. This shows a lack of basic comprehension and illustrates one flaw I've found with vegetarians and vegans (obviously a minority, though) who are very high and mighty about their perfectly self-aware and loving life decisions, and get a sense of superiority from their lifestyle. They view the author of this article as a betrayer, which is frankly silly as all hell.
I like the way the piece is structured, too. It sets up with an introduction to give background, and then what follows is essentially an open letter to those people who don't understand and look down upon her life decisions. She justifies her actions with facts that vegetarians don't always take into consideration; things like the fact that the clearing of land to grow the crops that feed them displace critters and destroy their natural habitats, killing off animals even though they're not eaten. People think without really thinking and diving into the possibility of eating meat sustainably and morally. The types of letters she received from people show that explicitly. She deconstructs the kinds of things angered vegetarians accuse her of and gives very striking counter-points that illustrate a sort of unconscious hypocrisy.
I personally like the idea of eating local meat only and the stressing of a personal connection to the production of one's food. I think it is a very noble, intelligent way to tackle eating in a society that has an industrialized approach to food that has distanced the majority of people from the reality of what eating is. If we had a sort of renaissance regarding food where it became community based all around the country, and eventually the globe, think of how much more tight-nit humanity could be. Hopefully our future is a bright one.

Service Learning Reflection

Thankfully, as this assignment's rolled around for the second time, I am actually prepared with an experience of service to reflect upon! I went to the Lord's Acre farm to give my time and labor to people who need it. Like in most instances of my life, I had no real solid expectation of how I was going to react to the new experience, and I tried my damnedest to make sure my attitude was one of open-mindedness and willingness to put forth effort. With this mind-set, one can tackle just about anything life can throw at them.

This is a sidenote regarding a personal quirk I have; I don't like to take pictures of life events very often, as I think it is sometimes better to have the memory stored in my mind and only there. So naturally, I didn't take any pictures of the Lord's Acre, though I did soak in the view around me to say the least. It was a beautiful day of a nearly perfect temperature, with sprawling views of the Blue Ridge all around us, fall colors abounded, and any mediocre attempts at iPhone photography could have easily spoiled that for me.

At the farm though, we helped as being a source of large scale free labor. Usually those poor souls at the Lord's Acre are very shorthanded unless it's a volunteer session. It did feel rewarding knowing that us going out and having a day away from campus working with the land not only helped my mental state, but that it helped a very nice organization/establishment. I stripped up their drip-irrigation lines to clear the way to harvest their sweet potato crop, and later helped in the actual collection. I also helped weed some sections of their beds, and it was fun to just dig around in the ground and forget about obligations back at school or in my daily life. It was nice to feel like a part of a community of people who help one another because they can. In the future with my service experiences, I'd love to have them be as personally rewarding as this Lord's Acre trip was. It turned my sort-of-apathy towards service learning around a good bit. I won't dread the idea of giving my time from now on, I believe.

Reading Response

Two more articles from "Food Matters" are what will be examined in this response; "Downsizing Supersize" by Surowiecki and "Why Shame Won't Stop Obesity" by Khullar. Both pieces take a look at perceptions regarding a food related issue and attack them from an educated point of view. When taking a look at the credentials of the authors, one sees that these are two people who have professional connections to the statements they are making, Khullar being an aspiring doctor & pre-med student, while Surowiecki is a financial columnist and journalist who is using a political happening to talk about an issue regarding portions and federal regulations. I noted that the pieces are similar in their rhetoric, using a casual tone to present factual information. These are not academic sources by any means (a magazine article from the New Yorker and a blog post respectively), and the less serious tone benefits the material well in each instance.

Surowiecki's piece made me ponder on why we are so prone to overeat/over-drink just for the sole reason that portion sizes have skyrocketed in the last 3 or 4 decades. I believe it is exacerbated by our attitudes regarding instant gratification and a glorification of pleasure and convenience that pervades the country's collective mind. We as consumers always want to just continue consuming and consuming, believing all the while that they are getting a bargain on their 10$ purchase from McDonalds that increases their chance for heart disease. Rhetorically speaking, he tackles his topic from a political standpoint, disseminating its message in an informative manner. He shares stories of studies in different instances to back up and almost frame his arguments. I like his choice to end the article with likening the people effected to lab rats and subjects of experiments, after using social experiments as examples for the majority of the piece.

Khullar's article comes from a casual source, a blogpost, but is a bit more academic in nature due to the background of the author himself. He was a pre-med student writing about issues he'd been directly working with in his short time in his field. He brings forth personal anecdotes coupled with evidence to support his claims. He even proposes a few solutions to his issue, the Shaming of Obesity, at the end of the article. I also enjoy the rhetorical choice of including himself blatantly in the middle of the issue instead of distancing himself as the author, sharing his own experiences that shaped how he views the obesity epidemic. Speaking about the content purely, my topic of my research essay aligns with the issue of giving the poor options that are healthier and more convenient than fast food, so it gives nice perspective into my own topic I'll be delving more fully into in the next week or so.

Reading Response

I read the two articles assigned, both "The Pleasures of Eating" by Wendell Berry and "Food Justice" by Gottlieb and Joshi, and they were both intriguing pieces. I particularly enjoyed Berry's perspective and ideas on food and where it comes from. He speaks of eating responsibly and what that entails, and he compiles his tips in a list (that doesn't try to be comprehensive, he admits there are likely many more ways to eat responsibly). He spends a lot of his article speaking about how people have lost touch with the realities of the food they eat, becoming mindless consumers of an "agricultural product" rather than active participators in an "agricultural act." We have been distanced from the processes and hard work that come with traditional agriculture in this world of instant gratification. We expect to be served on a silver platter in 30 seconds or less with little to no regard for what additives or chemicals or antibiotics are present in our foods. I believe there is merit in the tips he shares with his readers, but one must take them seriously for them to work. His first tip is make yourself involved (even if just a little bit) in growing your own food and keeping up a compost pile, in order to feel more connected to the process of eating. When I'm in the position to do so, I'd love to have my own garden to tend in order to make vegetables an easier part of my diet. I also would love to prepare a good majority of my food; as I've never been in the position of control over my diet, really. There are other tips that I like the idea of, but I don't know if I'd consistently follow through with them, like learning the origins of my food all the time. I know myself and it's tough for me to adjust to new habits like that.

Gottlieb and Joshi criticize the private sector and food industry, highlighting it's empty promises to the Los Angeles area in the early 90s. The large supermarket and grocery store chains offered to build locations in places that desperately needed them, and then within the next few years backed out and left these places dependent on fast food and convenient stores, creating what is known as a grocery gap. The inhabitants of the more low-end parts of LA didn't have the same access to fresh food that others in the same city had. The arguments posed by these two authors are definitely on the same side as Berry, even though they're tackling it from a different angle. They're attacking the industry for causing people to go hungry by being profit driven (literally distancing the food and the people), while Berry accused the industry of distancing people from their food in ideals and conceptually.

Reflection on Service Learning

I have yet to attend any serious service learning sessions, for reasons that I don't even fully comprehend. I've felt a little apprehensive, as I've never really participated in any community outreach or involvement before. When I needed "service hours" for something like beta club or a similar organization, I just tutored people in subjects I excelled in. I've never gotten into actual work in a garden or a soup kitchen or anything with a more widespread effect. I tend to be a person who is fairly reluctant to try new things until I absolutely have to, and it appears that this service learning course will be no different in that regard. 

I do plan on attending a garden session this Friday, though. Let's all hope that I don't back out last minute due to unnecessarily crippling fears of the unknown! 

The only thing I have towards my 20 hours in this course comes from the key-center's presentation on what a service learning course entails. I can take this space, though, to reflect on the distinctions UNCA makes in regards to charity vs. service-learning and my opinion on the matter. 

The more traditional model they describe is that of charity, which shows an emphasis on helping others and feeling good about it. This is most people’s idea of community service, but the key center would have you believe that charity is outdated and leads to horrible assumptions about groups of people. I feel as though there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to help others to feel good about yourself, because it’s still a step above sitting on your couch doing nothing. I could see how a charity based service learning style could lead to oppressiveness (thinking of unfortunate people as lesser, et cetera), but I imagine more often than not that it wouldn’t. The same kind of people that would have signed up for a service learning course before the social change model was introduced would still be the same kinds of people who sign up for the social change service learning courses. 

The social change based model of service the key center touts as being more effective involves becoming an active member of the community and helping build connections between students and the people being given assistance. Here they emphasize a value of equality and collaboration, which arguably does go a little farther than just helping someone and feeling high and mighty for a week or so. Community being stressed does seem to be a more noble, equal goal than just helping the unfortunate. Ultimately though, I do feel that the social change model isn’t really any better, I feel like it is just UNCA trying to be progressive for progressiveness’ sake. 

Cultural Bastardization of Food

The two pieces for analysis, "Eating the Hyphen", a college essay written by Lily Wong, and "Reclaiming True Grits" by chef and author Bryant Terry, seem to me to be about the ways food stereotypes effect cultures that are seen as traditional and how people play into them. Wong's piece, which is titled very well, is about a Chinese American who questions why she embraces eating her frozen dumplings with ketchup over a more authentic option, which would be equally available to her. She appears to view her habit as one that is peculiar, and the way she presents it is very relatable, as I imagine most people have one of those habits that they can't really explain away. Terry's piece is about clearing up misconceptions most people have about African-American soul food, which we tend to think of as fried chicken, mac and cheese, and collared greens -- or more loosely, as unhealthy.

The two pieces are very different in how they convey their messages. As a light criticism, Wong's piece reads exactly how you'd imagine a paper written by a student would. It's a little awkward at times, but its personable tone and self-awareness save it from being a mediocre paper, in my eyes. Terry, as an author, seems to have a bit more control over his piece's direction, using specific rhetorical devices that are more apparent than Wong's. Wong uses mostly personal experience to frame her paper, while Terry utilizes his own anecdotal evidence together with quotes from experts to give his argument more weight. He also notes how African-American people's soul food is generally thought of incorrectly, which is a disservice to just how healthy, local, and fresh real soul food can be. He ends his article with a recipe for the grits he spoke so highly about, which I think he included just as a reminder that he is a professional chef.

I do like the honesty in Wong's paper, as she is very proud of her Chinese heritage, listing foods she loves that would make the average American squirm in discomfort, while also fully accepting the fact that she enjoys a very bastardized version of something from her culture. Terry's piece straddles the line between personal and informative writing, and is fairly entertaining for being about grits.

College Food

Using the Kingsolver family, one that raises their own crops and livestock in an ethical manner, as a gauge for for comparison to my college eating habits has actually shown me a lot about them. The mother of the family, Barbara Kingsolver, wrote an article delving into the ethics of their family farm and is counterparted by a short article by her daughter Camille which illustrates her dietary transition from home to college. Camille notes how very many of her peers do not share her unique perspective on food and its production. Most don't think about where their hamburgers with lettuce and tomato come from.

In my experience at UNCA, Asheville seems to not be that way. Organic and homegrown seems to be an option everywhere here. The household that I come from was not like this at all, most of our shopping for groceries was at Walmart or Food Lion with no regard being given at all to where something came from or how the cows in our ground beef were treated. My family is the kind that laughs at the notion of vegetarianism. Not to say I am that way; I respect those who make that lifestyle choice. It is still very strange though, to be surrounded by people who care so much about what is put in their bodies. I'm used to a diet consisting of the odd homecooked meal and fast food, so attending school here has been kind of a weird transition. I mainly eat in the cafeteria, trying some stuff I wouldn't usually be exposed to (there have been some good and bad experiments), but sticking to things that don't scare me too much. I really miss Taco Bell being a staple of my low-income high-school diet, but every now and again a presumably healthier alternative to the diet I'm accustomed to is served, and I am pleased.

I am one of the people described in Camille's piece that aren't unintelligent, I just have never actively sought out information on food and farming, as it never really crosses my mind. Food is a comfort and a essentially an afterthought to me. I eat until I'm full and I try to not be wasteful, and that's in a nutshell how I operate. These articles have made me contemplate how I fit into the picture of society painted by the Kingsolver family and their experiences.

I'd like to share a quote that resonated with me from Barbara's piece. If I were to become more conscious of my eating habits and their origins, and as a lover of meat, this would be the philosophy I'd espouse.

"When you kill a beast, say to him in your heart:
By the same power that slays you, I too am slain, and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivers you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven."
- Kahlil Gibran

That's metal as hell, and I love it.

The Two Sides of Eating Habits: Comparing "Her Cheeto Heart" and "Not Just a White Girl's Thing"

These two pieces, Her Cheeto Heart by Jill McCorkle, and Not Just A White Girl's Thing by Susan Bordo, do a great job of illustrating two extremes of the eating habits of the world we inhabit, but they do it in strikingly different ways. McCorkle's essay is much more casual in tone and tackles her eating habits in a manner that doesn't paint them as an issue. While on the other hand, Bordo's article is very scholarly in its tone and hits upon a pervasive, class-defying societal issue that is very serious in nature; one that lends itself well to a research based, social-science based analysis. They are two very different pieces that many parallels can be drawn from. They both show variations of eating habits, just through two different lenses.

McCorkle writes her piece from a very nostalgic point of view, recounting her favorite deliciously unhealthy treats from her youth. She does this through the sharing of fond personal anecdotes of her childhood and the listing of tasty guilty pleasures that she hopes her audience will connect with and share in her reminiscence. She essentially tells a story of food that revolves around her life's narrative. She also attempts to make emotional connections with her readers through the concept of food, by noting the reactions these foods (which she knows are disgustingly unhealthy) illicit from her. She says food makes her happy, which is a feeling I know I relate to. For that matter, I was even drinking an admittedly unhealthy Mountain Dew and eating flavor blasted goldfish while writing the bulk of this post, because they make me feel good and remind me of home. Food brings many people comfort and piece of mind, which is also a point hit upon in Bordo's article, albeit in a decidedly different light.

Rhetorically, Bordo's piece is very very different. She uses relevant data and quotes from her own research work, as well as other sources, to give her essay a sense of objectivity and reliance on fact rather than focusing on emotional based reader responses such as nostalgia and happiness. Her's is a piece of analytical observation compared to one of flashbacks to bygone days. As a reader, you notice that she is trying to clear up misconceptions that still prevail in the general populace's collective mind. It is thought that anorexia, bulimia, and other assorted eating disorders are a disease of spoiled white girls, when in reality the factors that go into studying eating disorders are much more socially diverse. These diseases cross boundaries of all races and classes, and show that not all people think of eating so fondly as Jill McCorkle.

When read and analyzed as companion pieces, these two articles clearly illuminate the differences in perception of food and its role it plays in a person's life. For some it is a destructive concept that is based in negative idol-worship that leads to crippling disorders that can take over one's life, and for others it is a concept to be pleasantly looked back upon as a reminder of the good times spent savoring the pleasure and excess life had afforded them. As always, a healthy perspective of critical thinking is required to properly contextualize two subjectively valid concepts.

What the World Eats

A couple years ago, Time published an article entitled "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats" which is an interesting visual conceptualization of the weekly diets of people's families from the far reaches of the world, from our own suburbs to Chad.
Here's a link for those who want to see it in its glory.

This article is actually very eye opening and lends itself well to serious contemplation and reflection of our own habits and lifestyles as people. It really highlights the wealth gap that is so often discussed in academia, and lets you place yourself somewhere realistic inside that gap. In this regard it's a very interactive piece. Let's compare a relatively poor nation with one from the first world so as to better illustrate my point.

(For an added connection for myself, this family is from North Carolina) They spend $341.98 a week on a fairly extravagant amount of what I like to consider "convenience" or "pleasure" foods, such as delivery pizza, Burger King, McDonalds and the like.

Then take into consideration a family from an environment less typical of a traditional nuclear American family, such as this one from Equador that spends 31 dollars a week.

In comparison it's not difficult to see who is more privileged. But both seem happy and comfortable with their stock in life, which strikes me. It makes me wonder what really makes a family unit connect and create lasting ties. I think that much like beauty, happiness is in the eye of the beholder. Life will do with you what it will, but it's up to you to decide how you respond. I take from this that you should radiate positivity whenever it's possible for you, because it's one thing that actually is in your hands as a person, unlike source of income or economic conditions.

Introduction and Why Food Matters

First, as a little introduction of myself, I’m your typical 18 year old white male. I’m interested in your typical things; among them are, music, movies, television, books, and running. I try to be healthy to a degree, but I occasionally let comfort, familiarity, and pleasure win out in the area of food consumption. My family background isn’t one of extravagance or wealth, and I was the token “picky eater” as a kid, so I am accustomed to eating simply and quickly, sometimes sacrificing quality for availability (let’s just say Totino’s Party Pizzas were my long-time staple).

Why does it matter though?

Food matters immensely, regardless of status or individual standing. It is the fuel that keeps our human essence lit, and comforts and reminds people of home. Food in my own household has been a reflection of the state of my family. Prior to my parents’ separation from one another, we ate together as a family and it was a traditional source of comradery and normality, but after the fact, living with my father who is inept in the culinary arts, we dined mainly upon fast food. Every night became a struggle to find what tired stale dietary staple we wouldn’t hate to eat.

In an ideal situation, food should not be a source of tension or disdain, but a source of connection and strengthened family bonds. Food impacts us all as people, and I am no exception.