Glad to be back for another installment of this blog. Its a nice release to share some of my thoughts and process through this medium. Things got moved around a little bit in our program schedule, and I was only able to facilitate the FOOD FIGHT (video posted in last entry) viewing this afternoon. It followed with a spectrum questions activity that involved me proposing a statement, and students deciding whether they agreed or not and standing in line on the invisible spectrum we created. I think it went well. It was a bit unexpected for them (as they expressed) to look at food in that way, questioning things that seemed so normal to them (and me at times), like picking up some candy or a bag of chips at the corner store.
Here were some of the questions during the spectrum activity:
-I think that advertising affects the choices that I make when I shop
-I think that in Baltimore City, the color of my skin affects my access to healthy food choices
-I know what Food Justice is
- In Baltimore City which is the bigger killer: gun violence or diet related chronic disease?
So this is just a few of the questions. But the responses I got from these were quite interesting. The last question inspired some to share a few stories about folks they know of that had been shot, and observations about how quickly some resort to gun violence for the most minor things. I found it a bit difficult to recenter the group between questions, and had to talk over people a lot reinforcing our "one mic rule"-meaning the person who has the mic is the only one who should be talking. At least the questions got them thinking. Just one of the realities of being a facilitator/educator- a lot of times its a game of tact and timing (and sometimes just shutting down the noise). I'm very experimental with it. My experiences here are certainly leading me into deeper inquiries of classroom management,and noticing my strengths and weaknesses in groups vs. a one on one basis. I love the variety of my life.
But back to today's activity....I heard a lot of interesting things about food access and food environments, and how it connects to race and other factors.
One side of the spectrum shared that healthy lifestyles in the media are always associated with white people, and that even culturally- one of our white crew leaders admitted-was a norm. He said he would feel uncomfortable walking into a hip hop fried chicken, while black participants admitted that they would feel awkward shopping in certain areas of the city due to feeling single out. Stereotypes and tensions could come into play, one shared, and that he at times felt targeted and assumed to be in a store to steal something rather than to purchase nutritious food. Others said that skin color had nothing to do with accessing healthy food and that if one is feeling hungry they don't "consult with their skin color" to make a decision. I shared some statistics from a study that Johns Hopkins did on healthy food access, which found that according to a healthy food measure called the Healthy Food Availability Index (HFAI), predominately black neighborhoods scored the lowest score in 43% of neighborhoods while white neighborhoods only 4%. Also, 19% of black neighborhoods scored the highest in HFAI while 68% of white neighborhoods scored highest in astounding comparison. After further discussion, we sort of collectively agreed that skin color is a factor that affects healthy food access in Baltimore, but it is also very closely connected to income level and geographic location.
I really like the definition of food justice that one student gave: "Food Justice is us standing up for the way we eat"
I then asked her to read the definition that I had written down, from the JUSTFOOD website (www.justfood.org):
Food Justice is communities exercising their right to grow, sell, and eat healthy food. Healthy food is fresh, nutritious, affordable, culturally-appropriate, and grown locally with care for the well-being of the land, workers, and animals. People practicing food justice leads to a strong local food system, self-reliant communities, and a healthy environment.
I've been noticing myself delving deeper into myself, and thinking more critically about issues around social justice, non profits, and it seems just about everything else in my life. Farming during the day, then coming home to tend to my son and handle household duties is certainly changed the way that I perceive time. I'm reaching a crossroads in my professional life, and reflections of different aspects of myself I see everywhere. Its a time of refinement and emotional intelligence. as What the "real world" is all about seems to elude itself all the time. Nothing wrong with some change and expansion and the discomfort that comes along with it at times. Just scoping some things out, and soaking up lots of sun along the way...that's all for now.
Next post will be: My Core Values
Nicola "The Earthy Nutritionist" Norman
July 14, 2014
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