french fries are good for you...

Since I've been back in school I've started a small collection of ads from the big Ag companies. I don't come across them too often in my daily reading material...but when I do...oh man.
This troubles me exceedingly.


This first ad campaign comes from ADM and has the tagline..."you're body can't tell the difference." They are currently being sued over this ad campaign (US District Court) by sugar distributors, disputing that claims of High Fructose Corn Syrup being equated to real sugar is false advertising. This campaign is a jumpstart for the rebranding and relabeling of HFCS as corn sugar to deal with all the bad press it has gotten. Imagine when all the packaging changes from saying HFCS to 'corn sugar' how the consumer imagination will change.

Frankly, I can't worry too much for ADM, since corn syrup and HFCS are in a plethora of processed foods (as this picture gently reminds us), and people are unlikely to give those up anytime in the future. Although the 'real coke' and 'throwback pepsi' campaigns, which feature cane sugar probably have the execs shaking in their boots.


This next one hits a number of levels for me.
First, the idea of "fitter french fries"...that's right up there with heart-healthy cocoa-puffs. That getting rid of that 'trans-fat risk' is all that is needed to make it possible to eat french fries all the time.
Second, the normalized sounding altruism around this campaign, which is targeted at keeping people interested in fast food through explaining the use of new "non-hydrogenated oils" in the creation of that french fry we all know and love.
Third, the idea that tampering with canola seeds on a genetic level is the answer.
Fourth, the idea of growing more canola to accommodate this new 'non-hydrogenated demand' (yes, yes it's an edible oil, but think of what foods we could be growing instead)
Fifth, that once again, technology (whether it be through different processing methods, genetic manipulation, chemical use whathaveyou) is the answer to issues related to food and agriculture.

 And my all time favorite, from Monsanto. This was a full page ad spread in the New York Times, which I now have taped to the wall of my office. Again, the claim that Monsanto has anything to do with sustainable agriculture makes my skin crawl. Campaigns like this speak to the desire of global ag to convince its audience that we have used up our available resources (land, water, soil) and must turn to technology to create greater yields, efficiencies and fixes to this problem.
Nevermind the fact that the industrial processes perpetuated by big ag are largely the culprit in water pollution (including salinization), soil degradation (read: topsoil loss, desertification, toxicity) and the use of large tracts of land for the production of corn and soy that goes to feed meat and cars.
Again, the altruism that this campaign speaks to, "improving farmers lives" absolutely slays me...as if putting the "latest science-based tools in farmers hands" is an amazing feat to counter the twin issues of climate change and the impoverishment of farmers worldwide.

Lest we forget, profit is the bottom line here.
Accumulation for the sake of accumulation

...wanderings

I gave a paper at a symposium in Berkeley this week (using a prezi...it went very well); I feel as though I'm starting to figure out how to properly negotiate this whole academic thing...and I might get a publication out of it too!

Joe joined me the day following the symposium and we took in the city from a beer and food angle (surprise, surprise). We both took the train down on separate evenings..which gave us a topsy turvy feel to what day it was...

Taking in the pizza of the day.

We plotted out some of our trip, making reservations for a B&B up the hill from the UC campus.
We also made the requisite month early seating reservations for dinner at the famed restaurant pictured in the post below (p.s. it was just okay).

Taking the recommendation of a bay area native we made sure check out this place, where we had a slice of gourmet pizza (which was effing amazing) and listened to live jazz music during the lunch rush...glad we didn't try to get dinner, walking past later in the evening the line wrapped around the block. In fact, the seating was full for lunch too, so we ate our fare in the middle of the street seated in an obliging grassy median.

the famous circle of anarchy, UC campus.

 Otherwise our trip was mostly unplanned, a complete delight given our normal agenda setting days. I took to the books there and back and fielded some questions from students via email about their upcoming exam, but otherwise we checked out from our day-to-day.


We wandered about the city and UC campus taking it in and enjoying beers, kombucha, gelato and other delights as we went. It was a nice business turned pleasure trip. I think we walked about 20 miles over two days.

Humongous hen and chicks!

Just cause we happened to be in the neighborhood....literally.

Joe plays with the house-made chips.

that's the bay, behind our big heads

Golden Gate from our B&B room

City and Bay Bridge from our room

Bouldering fool : )

Taking in some sun in the gourmet ghetto. I'm not kidding, that is the actual name of the neighborhood in Berkeley. This was at the gardens adjacent to the imperial tea room. Despite the royal nuptials having been that day, we declined a pot of tea in the sun and 70 degree weather.

Channeling Tommy...mmm Gelato

 The train, while long and full of strange and mysterious folks, was a nice and affordable way to get to and fro and I was able to get a ton of work done both ways. Although they lie about 'free wifi'...it's free if you're a premium customer...in the parlour. bastards. Thank goodness for the almighty iphone and for sour beers (not from the train...the train only has $5 AB and liquor, we had these prior to the train). These menus are from here, which we hit after walking to this place, which had a nice selection, but only half the ambiance.

Through the Cascades

Yeah, I'm a foodie.

I'm okay with that.

...dog new tricks

I've just come off a week at the annual professional conference for geographers. I lost my voice due to sickness the week prior and was still recovering, which made me sound as though I'd been chain-smoking since birth and was rather uncomfortable...all things considered. I gave a talk, I used powerpoint. Other people gave talks, they used powerpoint. Because this conference allows any paper to be given that is submitted, I've learned that it is largely a networking opportunity rather than a moment for critical feedback on your own work. But I digress....

I have nothing in particular against powerpoint (except for people who use it to display the full text of their paper, while they read to you). But I want to step out of the linear style of presenting...I have reasons, empirical evidence and other anecdotes to this effect (I won't bore you).

I'm giving a talk (peer reviewed!) at a symposium in Berkeley this coming week and to that end, I took precious hours to teach myself how to use prezi today.

I'm not a particularly expressive/visually creative person...but I think my first attempt is alright. In fact, I'm obnoxiously giddy about it. Tomorrow I will test it in front of my colleagues (which is sure to bring me down to normal). A full report will be forthcoming...

Baby Hughes!!!

Remind me again

Why do people go to college?
Oh right, independence, sex, drugs and alcohol.
It certainly isn't for the classes.
I'd say about 10% of my 150 person class is clued into college = education.

Since classes started last week I have received 5 emails...which I know is only a paltry 3% of my class...asking if they missed anything crucial in the first week of class and demanding my syllabus. I have received 1 email offering me a correction on my apparent confusion over terms (citing the about dot com professional geographer) (p.s. my definitions were correct). I have received 1 email asking me which of the required reading is really the most useful. And finally, the all important nameless folks who have approached me at the start of lecture--10 to be exact--who have claimed various reasons for potentially missing class at some point and how unfair my pop quiz (you can't make them up) policy is.

Now that I have complained (yet again) about students not caring about class, I must admit that I recognize the formative experience that college is and I do not begrudge them the opportunity to grow as adults and sleep, drink and smoke their way through the undergrad student body (er...time...experience). I certainly did my fair share of those things and I realize that my experience as a student is different, as I am in love with college and classes and research and writing. I realize I'm weird.

I just want them to respect me and pay attention when I'm talking. Is that so much to ask? It's hard to know how to earn the respect of students who won't give you the opportunity to try. And, who will later feel entitled to a good grade, despite having not attempted to earn it.

I have decided not to harp on about paying attention though. In class on Wednesday I gave them the breakdown. If you are an in-state student you're paying (before fees) $600 for my 4-credit class; if you are an out-of-state student that jumps to $2200. I told them that it was up to them how they wanted to use this time that they had paid for. I will leave it at that.

It's an intro class, I can't be expected to win the hearts and minds of people who are taking gen-ed credits right?

Also, I aged several times during my second lecture having mentioned close-encounters of the third kind and 'young' Richard Dreyfuss. 150 blank stares is an amazing sight.

Some things...including signs of spring

This past week has seen many things unfold. I see an exclamation point on the erosion of democracy as evidenced in Wisconsin; a question mark on the benefits of nuclear power as Japan is absolutely and tragically devastated; and a period on winter as our garden begins to blossom.

Wrapping up this quarter I feel a lighter load than most winter's generally bring. In between editing papers and prepping for next term I have been giving time to having spirited debates over the utility of unions and corporate personhood and pouring over the daily news local and international.

When it all seems like too much, I've walked out into the garden. Perhaps things go easier with flowers involved?

While recovering from running a conference....

I learned a bit more about social media. Meaning, I hung out on our twitter feed and facebook pages looking into what other people said about the content of the conference.
We had a dedicated team of folks doing social media, including twitter, facebook and 30 second video spots with our attendees: "what does food justice mean to you?"
The delightful and amazing food advocate, Naomi Starkman of Civil Eats has already posted 'twitvids' (look at me with my lingo) for folks to peruse.

er...you can read more tidbits by using this 'hashtag:' #foodjustice

Although I tend to be critical of a soundbite approach...my weekend was bound up in soundbites as I moved from session to session making sure everything was running smoothly. I did see the entirety of all of our keynote panels, plenaries and dialogues and for that I am grateful. I also took the time to sit in on many of Sunday's sessions, which were in the easily navigable Law Center. Due to the spatial configuration of the Monday program in the student union (and having three concurrent sessions), I saw less of the program and spent more time running between rooms. But it all worked out brilliantly for me. Being behind the scenes allowed me to engage with our attendees on a much deeper level.

That said, for me, the most critical soundbites of the conference are these (and they come from a variety of speakers)...telegram style:

We must redefine deliciousness. stop. Fair Trade can be thought of as a food sovereignty strategy that cooperatives use to defend rights to land. stop. activist research is essential. stop. migrant farm workers are among the most food insecure. stop. farming for sustenance versus farming for subsistence. stop. must understand the first green revolution before beginning a second one. stop. biotech is a ponzi scheme. stop. there exist wheat anarchists in France. stop. re-decentralization of wheat. stop. Gates supports biotech, he's building a new empire. stop. NAFTA is killing Mexican farmers. stop. climate change. stop. structural racism. stop. there cannot be shame-based culinary education. stop. we must have a biodiversity of movements. stop. to have sustainable cities, must have sustainable agriculture. stop. anti-food. stop. industrial agriculture is a food desert. stop. at brink of seed famine. stop. 

I have come away from this conference blissfully exhausted; bowing under the weight of many thanks and congratulations; (which I am still not quite sure I deserve) and with a keen eye to the future.

In a beautiful synchronicity, I was able to share food at breakfast, lunch and dinners with our attendees, literally breaking bread with world renown food activists and local farmers, students and educators. I was able to share my own work, research interests and activism while asking questions.I shared food and thought. Deliciousness and hope.
As soon as I get my voice and energy back, I'll be a force to reckon with.


p.s. Oakshire got a bunch of good press for their delicious sponsorship via "liquid justice" - a special thanks to John for making this beautiful logo for us:

Yearning for a snow day

I just had one of the most demanding week/weekends of my academic career thus far (more to come). Is is so much to ask for a snow day?

Perhaps it's just the kid in me. I got up earlier than usual with hopes of being able to go back to bed and reclaim the energy and voice that has left by body after my efforts this weekend.
Sigh.

Restricted information...

I know why this building is restricted, I just find the sign funny.

Big brother

This has a totally different meaning for me then it must for the intended audience.

30 year old kid...redux

I'm sure it's not gone unnoticed that the new quarter is in full-swing. I am up to my ears in reading, food justice, grant writing and classes. However, I took a few hours off this weekend to celebrate the birthday of a friend and to also entertain good friends from out-of-town (entertain = dinner, plus late-night brewery tour).
The birthday shenanigans were hosted at the local skate rink, which brought back many elementary age memories...one of which allowed me to actually still be able to skate some 20 years later. Apparently it's like riding a bicycle.

Ducklings

You may have heard that the UO football team went undefeated this year...there's a big championship game and blah blah blah. Good for them, good for us. Perhaps now that the sports funding has paid off, academics can win some popularity contests.

It's not that I don't have school spirit, but all of a sudden EVERYONE does. The Ducks are hotter than ever before and everyone needs a piece of merchandise. I went to get a cup of coffee at the student store yesterday and I could barely get through the door there were so many people queuing up to buy BCS paraphernalia. School's not even in session!

Filled with the spirit of...something...

"It is required of every man,that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world-oh, woe is me!-and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness." - Dickens, A Christmas Carol

The holidays mean something different for everyone. For me it is generally an experience in trying to find a balance between loathing materialism and overindulgence in the joyous act of giving and receiving.
Also, taking a day to cook glorious amounts of food and be with Joe....to just be.

One of my favorite first lines of a book belongs to A Christmas Carol..."Marley was dead: to begin with"... Dickens is an absolutely brilliant writer and I think he captures it best when allowing the three ghosts to convince Scrooge that he should use his mind and body...his spirit, to the best of his ability. To savor life, to make and build rewarding friendships and to build a loving family. Frankly, I do not think it has anything to do with Christmas, it has to do with being alive and 'using well the days.'

Perhaps though, we need a gentle reminder; for some that is found in the celebration of the birth of Jesus, for others in the festival of lights, for others in choosing a noble fir and adorning it with baubles and other shiny things, even still, for others it is about the giving and receiving of gifts, or Chinese food or working a lousy shift at the movie theater...no matter which, the holidays are...in some way...sacred.

"I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest license of a child and yet been [adult] enough to know its value..."

300000

It seems appropriate that the good 'ole 'precious' hit the 300,000 mile mark on I5...of course it did make taking a photo rather risky business...

This vehicle was purchased by my Dad new in 1992, graciously gifted to Joe and I (at 186,000) in 2003, and has traveled across country at least 3 times (once with us). Original engine, 3rd battery, umpteenth distributor (ditto spark plugs) and 2nd muffler (you don't know joy until you've run back from the car to claim your muffler from the middle of the road).

...if it can just get us through grad school (apparently I said that the last time I was in grad school too).

The face of climate change

One of the biggest concerns of the agroecology promoters I met with during my short research trip this summer was the problem of climate change. The promoters work with farmers and they talk about climate change and the movement is trying to figure out how to work on this because there could be climate change related events (such as drought or at the other end of the spectrum, hurricanes) that could wipe out their crops and the seeds that they have been cultivating.One of the most immediate concerns was pests. They have seen warmer weather each year and with it more pests in the fields and in their storage facilities.

In my conversations with the lead agroecology promoter in Oventik, I learned that they are trying to establish a seed bank to protect against this; simultaneously they are working towards the “vital improvement of corn” through looking at varieties from other climates and doing experiments between climates (that is, testing highland varieties in lowland areas etc), which show that adaptation is very slow.

While they look inwards to craft local responses to climate change, a delegation is attending the COP 16 in Cancun to make demands on the global players.

On removing words from the undergraduate student vocabulary.

As a result of my fellowship with the Food Justice conference I'm not teaching this term. So, my interaction with undergrads is limited to passing moments. Also, due to my fellowship, I find that I am outside my office rather frequently these days walking to and from the law school. So, I have the opportunity to overhear many conversations (the proximity of the dorms to the law school makes this extremely amusing). I have been exposed to a whole host of exchanges, the majority of which sound something akin to this (which I overheard yesterday):

freshman #1: "hey, did you like do that paper yet?"

freshman #2: "yeah, I like worked on it, for like a little bit, like last night"

freshman #1: "I totally don't know like what I'm going to write"

freshman#2: "yeah, I like had a hard time with the first part, you know, like doing what the teacher said." "I like wrote, um...well, like, you know about the stuff from class." "wow, I like totally don't remember what I said." "and I had a hard time with my notes, because you know, like, how the teacher talks." "but then, I like, talked about that stuff from the book we read, you know like who the characters are and like, what they're doing and like what their saying"

freshman#1: "yeah, that's like a great idea, I hope I can say something like that too in my paper."

...and so on.

Which raises a number of questions for me. This conversation smacks of a lazy mind, I know because I am guilty of it too...I say "fuck" a lot and in place of other equally reasonable (and less offensive) words. But this use of "like" in a range of grammatical positions it was never intended for really bemuses me. Is it that we're so attached to 'soundbite' communication (twitter, facebook, bad television reporting, blogs and whathaveyou) that this is how we talk? Or is it simply the comfort of friendly conversation?
If we removed that one word from the student vocabulary would they cease to be able to describe things? link verbs together? start a sentence? exclaim in commiseration?

Also, does it even matter? Probably not...

I hope I never get one of these...

I walked by an office door yesterday and saw this note pinned to it. Ouch...

Professor and student names removed for privacy...but I will note (happily) that this was not an office in my department.

USDA should put its money where its mouth is.

Marion Nestle recently highlighted on her blog the disparity between the percentage of USDA subsidies that go to certain food sectors and the propaganda of the USDA dietary guidelines. Her brief discussion comes out of a larger study completed by the Produce for Better Health Foundation. The section that I was most interested in (Disconnect between USDA Spending Priorities and Public Health Goals) analyzes the extent to which the allocation of USDA spending on the major food groups is congruent with their endorsement of the 2005 dietary guidelines for people living in the US.

The methodology for their statistics on this is interesting (check out page 10-11 of the report), as it is rather difficult (as was pointed out to me by Scott) to compare subsidies to daily food intake. But I think that it is an interesting thought experiment and I was extremely happy to see that they had broken down the information visually.

Wow, look at the blue one. The meat group dominates spending, as does the grain group (a double whammy, as it were, as the majority of subsidized grain in the US goes to meat production), the only close to reality spending versus advocacy is in dairy and fats.

The beauty of irony.

My phone rang last night--an exciting event all on its own, since I rarely pick it up, people have stopped calling...
It was exciting news on the other line, my good friends had just had the ultra sound appointment for determining their baby's sex...they are expecting a boy!

What was so fabulous about this phone call (besides the good news) was that my girlfriend pointed out that she had to call me to tell me because I wouldn't see it on facebook.
...I have thus determined that my anti-social behavior has actually caused me to be more social...

On celebrating Halloween...

I have decided that how you spend Halloween is determined by your age.
As a young child you enjoy coming up with costumes and dragging your parents (read: costumed Dad) around the neighborhood with you. You return home, dump your candy on the living room floor and start trading with your younger siblings. You always end up with the choicest candy (and the most....having slyly placed your pile in close enough proximity to allow stray candy from your siblings pile to defect to yours). This strategy is essential because your candy becomes quarantined on top of the fridge where your parents "tax it."

As a teenager you still dress up for Halloween in some capacity, maybe for a halloween dance, or for class. But you do not go trick or treating and those who do are censured by adults and chastised by their girlfriends who are at home doing homework instead of traipsing about the neighborhood dressed as the guy from the Crow.

As a college student you use halloween as an excuse to have adult candy (read: drugs, sex, alcohol) and wear the most temperature inappropriate costume as you can without freezing to death.

I think I officially qualify as an adult now. I am currently handing out candy (and watching the gamecast of the world series...so I'm handing out candy and world series scores) to the toddler group who make their rounds at dusk, their parents imploring me to bring my kids by their homes later and cheering on the Giants, thanking me for the update.

Fall, tucking in.

Having been gone for the better part of two months, I was quite afraid that I would miss out on the garden and the glories of summer in the Willamette Valley. I did miss the peak weather, but I still was able to enjoy the harvest.

Before school started, I tried to pack my summer break into the remaining few weeks...and by break I mean, enjoying the garden, doing things around the house, putting my visiting (and gracious) family to work, and drinking in the glories of Pacific Northwest food/drink/weather.

My Dad did some finishing work on the deck and this past weekend Joe and I went over the entire thing lightly with the belt sander and I applied some Tung oil to help minimize the weather damage to the cedar. We also finally constructed and installed the lattice so the tiny clematis that I've been trying to keep alive has something to hang on to.

The raspberries are still producing enough to enjoy a light snack while prowling the garden.

And, it seems that tomatoes were rather late this year, so only in the past few weeks has the weather coaxed some color out of the Brandywines... 

Joe somehow convinced our next door neighbor to take him mushroom hunting (and no, we won't tell you where) and he returned home one evening with almost 7 pounds of chanterelles. 

We took a three-day weekend to both celebrate a wedding in Seattle and to prep the garden for winter. We had some wood chips delivered (free!) and we're trying out a new garden path method (pictures forthcoming). The backyard beds are still trying to produce tomatoes and cabbages, but the others have been allocated to garlic (Silver Rose varietal) and onions (red, white and yellow). Joe also secured some winter barley seeds from a connection at the brewery so we're going to see how that goes. We're trying everything both at home and at the Oakshire Urban Farm too, so we get two bites at the apple, as it were.

The fall has been bright, crisp and dry thus far, but the forecast tells of rain for the weekend, so it's reading and homework.

 

 Otherwise, these days you'll find me sitting at my desk in my office at school trying to make something of myself in the crazy academic world.

A snoring neck warmer

As I type away at the computer...

Really?

It's move-in day for the dorms...this was not the only u-haul in sight.
I seem to remember way back when that everything I brought could fit in the trunk of my car...except my CPU tower...which is amusing considering that I posted this from my phone which fits in the palm of my hand, while walking to the law school with my netbook in a bag on my back.
Of course I did probably bring more books than was absolutely necessary.

Disseminating information

I am currently in the process of reviewing and condensing my field notes (which filled one of these cover to cover...which I hear white people like...but er...so do researchers). I also am putting together a field website that has some notes, and the bulk of my photos. I'll update with the link when it's ready. {Update: link to photodrop -password protected}

For now, I'm getting back into the swing of things at home, nesting (read: cleaning, organizing and otherwise fretting over every surface of my house), knitting/reading (you cannot, sadly, do both at the same time AND there are only 20 more non-school days left), vacationing and taking up residence as the Wayne Morse Fellow for Food Justice (sounds sexy doesn't it?).

My first task as a Wayne Morse fellow is to help with a conference that is being put on this Friday on the Ocean Impacts of Climate Change, but the main event--and why my position exists--is due to the Food Justice Conference that UO is hosting in the winter, featuring a plenary talk by Vandana Shiva (another of the activists that strongly influenced my thinking and writing at an early stage), Indian food rights activist and founder of Navdanya. The official website for the conference was just launched this week.

Come one, come all.