WEEK FIVE: Brainstorm/Draft your Food Ethic Essay

First of all, anyone who needs it has an extension on Week Four's comp book or discussion work. I realized too late that I failed to hit publish on my DP last week, and I am sorry for the confusion that has caused for some of you. Also, I have noticed that many of you have fallen behind a bit in the weekly questions. Please catch these up this week as well as beginning your essay.
Here is the food project syllabus again if you need to review the content gone by.

For similar reasons, the group discussions have been postponed. Here is the tentative reschedule. If you are on this list and you need to change which day I have assigned you to, let me know. I will send out the final groupings and links by email.

GROUP 1    Wednesday @2	GROUP 2     Thursday @2
Amelia Vinnie Sean Taylor Finn Chris A	Lucy Ainsley Mason J Julia Leit Mylie

This week, you should start brainstorming and drafting your FOOD ETHIC ESSAY. Click on document for details!

By next Monday 5/4, please send me a working thesis AND/OR evidence of your prewriting (outline, bulleted list, idea map, voice memo, etc).

Change in critique expectations

I have decided to make the peer critique an "opt-in" experience. If you are wanting to participate in a peer critique for your food ethic essay, PLEASE EMAIL ME BY THIS FRIDAY, MAY 1 to let me know.

OR: Please feel free to arrange the critique for yourself by sharing your draft with trusted peers or family members if you prefer to do it independently from the organized optional group critique for class.

Your draft is due for MY FEEDBACK by May 11th.

Optional Rap Session/Group Discussion/Brainstorm Meeting with Jessica: next Monday, May 4th @2pm.

I want to offer you guys some guidance and Q and A time with me about this essay assignment. If you are confused or stuck, please drop in to this meeting.  If this time doesn't work for you or you need a 1-on-1 conference, REACH OUT!

Writing Conferences (optional)
Offered by appointment throughout the writing process. REACH OUT!

DUE DATES

Prewriting/Brainstorm OR Draft Thesis Statement by May 4th

(Optional) Drafts to peer critique group: Week of May 4th-May 8th Drafts to Jessica for Feedback: by May 11th (OR EARLIER!) FINAL DRAFTS DUE: May 24th

MODEL ESSAYS

Alma Wolf “Food for Thought”

Sadie Vance, “Much Ado About What I Chew”

Cecilia Compton, “The Way I Peel”

Some of the questions below may help you to think through your food ethic.  You do not have to answer all of them!  

• How would you characterize your personal “FOOD ETHIC”? 
• What factors influence this ethic (ie. financial, health, environmental, cultural, moral?)  
• How would you characterize your relationship with food?
• What do you eat and how and why do you eat it?
• What principles govern your eating habits/decisions?
• How does your personal relationship with food impact your happiness and well being?
• What is the food culture of your family?  Your friends?
• How are you influenced by the media and food marketing?
• What does the experience of eating mean to you?  
• What kind of eater are you?
• To what degree do you participate in your own food chain?  Actively or passively?  How does this influence your ethic?
• How are you navigating your own “omnivore’s dilemma”?
• Other relevant questions???

WEEK FOUR: April 21st through April 27th

WEEK 4: D.I.Y. and other Ethical Food Dilemmas

Readings: Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Chapters 18-22 (pp 237-320)  (Afterword and supplemental materials optional!) Excerpt from The Jungle (or read the whole thing for fun if you love to read!) Optional: Thinkpiece that illuminates the pandemic’s impact on our food system Optional:  Explore this awesome Nat Geo work on The Future of Food Videos: Historical Context of The Jungle Clip from Food, Inc. Feeding Nine Billion The Questions React to Pollan’s food adventures and reflect on the DIY food chain.  What role might hunting and/or foraging play in your own food ethic?  What about for the human community?  What makes this particular ethical approach special?  Why might it be a part of someone’s ethic?  What makes it challenging in today’s world? How much should the food industry be regulated by government laws?  What sorts of things should and shouldn’t be regulated?  What happens if labor and food safety laws are lax or deregulated?  Whose interests are served by this? What problems arise when we think about feeding 7-9 billion humans this century?  What solutions or approaches might we consider in the bigger picture of the global food crisis? How is the pandemic impacting America’s food system and our individual and national relationship with food? Where are YOU with your food ethic? How has this learning about this topic impacted your ethical perspectives and/or your eating habits?

GROUP DISCUSSION TRACK GROUPS AND GOOGLE MEET LINKS FOR MON, APR 20

Check your email for Google Meet link to your discussion.

GROUP 1    1:00-1:45ish	GROUP 2      2:00-2:45ish
Amelia Vinnie Mylie Sean Julia Leit	Lucy Ainsley Mason J Taylor Finn Chris A

WEEK THREE: April 14th through April 20th

WEEK 3: Big Organic and Local Sustainable

Readings: Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Chapters 10-17 (pp. 123-234) Videos: “A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA” Optional films for enrichment: Fresh What You Eat Matters The Biggest Little Farm The Questions: Compare and contrast the industrial food chain from Part 1 of the book with the industrial organic one described in Part 2. Be sure to identify similarities AND differences.  (Perhaps make a little table?) In your opinion, is it worth the extra cost and effort to eat organic?  Why or why not? Compare and contrast the paradigms (worldviews/ideological perspectives) behind the industrial system and local sustainable systems.  How does each show a different "ethic," that is to say, a different kind of thinking about the human relationship with our food and the human relationship with the Earth? Is the local sustainable movement elitist?  Is it reasonable to think that we can figure out how to feed "the many" on sustainable agriculture?   Do you agree with the perspective of the book in regards to the local sustainable food chain being more desirable than the industrial one? If so, how does our paradigm need to change? What do we need to be willing to give up?   If not, why do you think the industrial chain is necessary or superior?

Monday, April 13th

Hello, students!  I wanted to recommend an additional quick reading to your list that is connected to the industrial system you have been reading about for this week.  It came out in the NY Times this weekend, and it deals with the tragic amount of food waste this pandemic is yielding.  Optional, but try to check it out! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html?auth=login-google   Interesting stuff!  

GROUP DISCUSSION TRACK GROUPS AND GOOGLE MEET LINKS FOR MON, APR 13

If you have a conflict and need to go to the other meeting, no worries. Just use the other link!  If you are doing the written response track and you want to drop in on a discussion, use either link to come chat with one of the groups.  If you have tech struggles, send me a message through Google Chat/Hangout!

Please check your email for links to the Google Meet group!

GROUP 1    1:00-1:45ish	GROUP 2      2:00-2:45ish
Mylie Taylor Finn Sean Chris A Daniel Julia	Lucy Ainsley Leit Vinnie Mason J Amelia Sage?

WEEK OF APRIL 7TH to APRIL 13TH

ANSWER QUESTIONS IN YOUR DIGITAL COMP BOOK OR PREPARE FOR NEXT MONDAY'S DISCUSSION GROUPS....

WEEK 2: America’s Industrial Food System



Readings:

• Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Chapters 1-9 (pp. 17-126)
• “Food Miles and Packaging: A Contrarian View”

Videos: 
Optional films for enrichment:

• Food, Inc. (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! This is essentially a film version of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and another great book, Fast Food Nation.)
• King Corn (More depth about the role of corn in our food system)
• Fed Up (About the obesity epidemic and the role of sugar and politics)
• Super Size Me! (In which the filmmaker only eats McDonald’s for 30 days YIKES)

The Questions:

1. What are the ADVANTAGES of the U.S. food system?  What do we love and celebrate about it?
2. Why are US Americans “corn people”?  What are the many dimensions of our food system’s relationship with corn? 
3. What are the benefits and problems of the way we raise food animals in the U.S.?
4. What is the relationship between the food industry and the obesity crisis?  Why are the chips (pun intended!) stacked against families with less money?
5. Is factory farming worth the trade-offs?  What would you be willing to give up in order to have a different agricultural paradigm?

Monday, April 6th

Hello, students!  I hope that your first week finds you well and that you have been able to get through the work and enjoy the thinking. Please continue to reach out with questions and issues!

WRITTEN RESPONSE TRACK:
If you have not done so already, please share your new digital comp book with me and your peers indicated below.  This same document can be used to respond to each week's questions, so this should be the only time you need to share it.  Throughout the week, I will be looking at your documents and commenting.  Please hop on your peers' shared docs and do the same in the next few days.  Feel free to move on to the assigned readings for WEEK TWO, as outlined in the food project syllabus.

GROUP DISCUSSION TRACK:
I will see you guys this afternoon on our Zoom discussions at 1 or 2. You should have prepared some sort of prewrite to get yourself ready to discuss the week's questions.  Please be ready to refer to the readings and videos AND ask your QUESTIONS!  After these meetings, you are ready to start WEEK TWO, as outlined in the food project syllabus..


LOGISTICS FOR BOTH TRACKS: 

GROUP DISCUSSION TRACK GROUPS AND ZOOM LINKS (FOR MONDAY, APRIL 6)

Come (with your prewrite) prepared to discuss the week's questions. 

GROUP 1      1:00-1:45ish Zoom link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/389374708	GROUP 2       2:00-2:45ish Zoom link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/760341684
Finn Julia Sage Daniel Amelia Mylie PLUS possible “writers” joining: Rosie Lindsay Anthony	Chris A Mason J Ainsley Lucy Sean Taylor Vinnie Leit PLUS possible “writers” joining: Britt Landon
*NOTES:  People doing written response track are welcome to pop in on these group  meetings if they have questions or thoughts or miss the rest of us. If you want to do this, please let me know, so that I can try to keep the groups even.  (The “writers” indicated above are there because they have already expressed they may like to drop in.) These meetings and groups are for Week One only!  I may change them up each week if you guys want. There is a little flexibility to change time slots as well if you have other obligations to meet at your assigned time.  Just let me know!

WRITTEN RESPONSE TRACK COMP BOOK SHARING CLUSTERS:

Please share your comp books with Jessica and the following people indicated below.  On Monday (or Tues or Wed if better for you), get on your groupmates’ documents and add a few comments of your own.  This way, you will still be engaging with the ideas of a few other people. You may also choose to share it with anyone else that you like to talk to. Don’t worry about it if your group mates aren’t on point for this!  Jessica promises to comment weekly:)

Ryan Patrick Cole	Cormac Nik B Ty	Nick A Joe Sam
Sierra  Darby Riley	Britt Ethan Colby	Xavier Zander Kian
Lindsay Rosie Anthony	Chris P Landon Chandler	Alyssa Sarah Kandice