Question #1
Oreo cookies do not belong in the Declaration of Independence. This, by far, is the most valuable thing I have learned from this class, this term. What I mean by this? All cookies, all foods are not- and perhaps furthermore- should not be created equal. It may justifiable to speak of cookie-cutter men in terms of moral equality. It is not justifiable to speak of cookie-cutter food. An apple is an apple is not the same apple. Food should be judged by its qualities. Like all other portions of the world, the realm of food is not exempt from the analytical mind, it shouldn’t be. This is the most important thing I have learned from this class, this term. That the forces shaping the food I eat are just as charged, just as political, just as economical, just as social as the forces that shape all other things existent in the world of man.
Petrini writes that we should know our food, know its history, its preparation, its components. That it is this knowledge of what we eat that helps us better enjoy our meals. He also writes that it is our responsibility. Petrini (p. 20) states that focusing on the quality of food production is one of the first steps we must take in order to rectify the damages done by industrial food production. Petrini later provides (p. 93) us with three measures with which to measure our purchased food by: Good, Clean, and Fair. My point is this, I have learned that I must research my dinners as thoroughly as another might research their first car, or home, or school to send their children. And I must do this because my purchases provide the capital that in our society serves as the feed back for production. I want a healthier environment, one of the ways I can attain it, in a sense, is by buying it. By purchasing food that creates less damage, or is the product of a farm practice which may be rebuilding the land. And if I want a healthier me? I had best feed myself food that is actually grown for the purpose of providing nourishment, not to provide the highest yield per acre.
Question # 2.)
This group experience of mine was top notch. Benefits, far more than challenges, and even benefits in the challenges, were really the essence of my experience. A’s all around, they were fabulous.
This really was the best group work experience I have had during my attendance here at PSU. This was the first time when all members seemed keen on communicating, frequently updating and asking after each other. Perhaps it was the personality mix, or the simple glue of having a common goal, but there was a spirit of moving forward, going to the next thing in every dialogue. The only true difficulty we had was in tightening our focus, and even then, a few handfuls of discussion later, we had agreement. This project truly brought home that value of open dialogue when working in groups.
I would give them all an A, because they worked for it. None of them flaked out, anytime someone was done with a task they turned to the others and asked how they could help. I had no idea the seeming simple task of constructing an informational billboard was a thing requiring hours of discussion, research, and thought. And that was just the design. The construction itself took multiple hour upon hour long sessions- and the weird part was, it was fun. So give em all an A.
As for myself, I think I could have worked a little harder, but I was distracted. My Girlfriend’s cousin was married one weekend, and the next weekend I attended a funeral service for the Dad of a dear friend. So I was unable to get some of the things done, in as timely a fashion, as I had said I would be able to. The only real response I received from them was, “do you need help with anything?” Pedro, give those guys an A. I’d prefer an A too, but am ok with a B. =)
Question # 3.)
Goals of learning, ever churning, with a million other words that rhyme. An introduction to food issues in terms of communities, urban layout- indeed the over all geographic layout of human civilization, and society- was amply provided. Pollan frequently discourses on locality and the addition of transport and production costs to the overall costs of food. Petrini focuses often on the impact of food on local economies. Both authors discuss the damage wrought by conventional farming methods, and how political the process of food production is.
Between the readings in the packet, Pollan’s book, and Organic, Inc. by Fromartz the history of the natural food industry has been well explained. Several readings in the packet discuss the history and culture of cooperatives. The methods of investigation used by Pollan in his book as well as Fromartz give us two different examples of informative investigation.
I can think of no time in the class when we didn’t consider in some way the environmental and social aspects of sustainable agriculture, land use and in general food issues. Speakers David Padberg and Will Newman especially brought these issues home. Supplemented by the issues discussed by the documentaries, I don’t think one could escape the issues of land use and food production and trade.
This was the first course I have had a professor or instructor hand out group contracts. The formalizing of methods of communication for group work in the class… to have that discussion set down in the syllabus I think is a pretty good indicator of how the course was providing us tools to mesh with one another in a productive and positive manner. The discussions in class and the readings on the values behind how cooperatives are set up really gives a framework for people to try their best to make sure everyone’s voice gets included in the process. The value placed on all input, and to have agreed upon ways for feedback to those inputs, the entire consensus model in general seemed really a great way to move forward in a way that was beneficial for all.
The presentations themselves were a direct reflection of communication and critical thought. I don’t think I could say which of those two must happen first or if perhaps it is best as a simultaneous process, but in my experience in the course it definitely happened. My group spent at least half of the time working in discussion with one another, problem solving and listening to one another- it was really positive.
The application of the issues in the projects was pretty clear-cut. Every presentation seemed very focused on getting across some point or other that had been discussed in the course. The Gluten Brand group on educating about one of the many different health issues related to food. The Farmer Profiles focus on the promotion of local producers, helping people in the local economy, supporting practices that were better for the land. My groups focus working with Food For Thought was to get people to shop more locally, not at businesses with headquarters located hundreds of miles away, and at businesses that were more focused on the health of the land around them and the community around them. Every cooperative we researched- as per the principle of community involvement, was heavily engaged in events in their surrounding areas, we wanted people to be able to be involved in those kinds of things, to support that kind of involvement, by letting them know what was going on.
I think this course met its learning goals rather well.
Question #4.)
This capstone helped me engage in issues of social responsibility. It did so by providing me with a flood of information I had to process and be able to rearticulate, in class discussions, these blogs, and the group project as well. The group project especially seemed to me geared towards students tackling issues of social responsibility. For myself, I set out to help educate my fellow classmates at PSU. I wanted to share at least some of the information I had gained; one could argue I felt a responsibility. I would say that I felt such because the lack of information on campus about what is going on in Portland in many ways is astounding. I leapt at the idea of working with Food For Thought because I felt frustrated by this lack, I had never seen healthy eating, or socially conscious eating discussed in a formal manner that was public at PSU. I had never seen even something to the extent as the billboard we put up. This capstone allowed me to address an issue that I felt was important to me, in a manner that was for me positive. I hope as simple as it is in some ways, that the billboard we created snags someone’s attention and gives them some piece of helpful info they didn’t have before.
Question #5.)
It was slim. We kept in contact with Lori, and she was very open very helpful to us. But as we were working more directly with Food For Thought, we didn’t have a lot of contact with Peoples. Working with the people at FFT was great; they are an extremely nice bunch of People. Having a group member, Sage, who already worked there made it very easy for us to mesh with them and make sure they were cool with what we were doing- and they were really supportive. Also I got free coffee.
I don’t know that I would change anything, based on my experience. Like I stated, Lori was really supportive and helpful, once we seemed like were on a viable track she seemed very happy to let us go, and that seemed to really work for us.
This class was a great experience.
