With each project I engage in my collaborative consulting practice, I dig a little deeper to examine the root causes of policy failure and social injustice as a whole. I'm reminded of my favorite professor in graduate school at Brandeis, Dr. David Gil. In my graduate studies, I focused on oppression: sources, dynamics and manifestations. The first day I walked into one of Dr. Gil's courses, he said (in his thick Austrian accent), "If you want to begin to understand social policy as we have it today, you must go back to the beginning and understand the first roots of oppression - when individuals began to store food and control its distribution." After that, one of my classmates asked about our reading list for the semester. Dr. Gil handed us each a bibliography of no less than 100 books and commented, "You can start here."
Needless to say, I'm still working my way through that very intense book list, and, some days, I feel that I know so much less about just about everything than I did in that moment. However, I do have a damn good sense about things. And, leading back to Dr. Gil's comments on the roots of oppression, I will say that with every project or organization I work with, I come back to the fundamental question of how we can arrange society so that every human has access to what she needs to actualize herself as a full person. And friends, whether we are talking about education projects, health care policies, or projects to address isolation and loneliness for all, food security is at the core.
In the spirit of putting my money where my mouth is, I'm launching a little side project called Folks Gotta Eat. It's a blog, plain and simple. For me, it's much, much more. It's a solid way for me to continue to educate myself concerning the complexities of food systems and the policies that shape them. It's also a way for me to engage a community of thinkers on said topic - to continue to "get schooled," so to speak. Along the way, I hope to provide a service and lend voice to whatever audience I may cultivate. So, check it out, share it, make some comments, or send me some direct feedback. "Because the issues are complex, and Folks Gotta Eat..."
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