I first came across the term “funded sovereignty” in a book by Native American scholar, Barbara Alice Mann. Her 2000 book, Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas, is an eye-opening read for anyone who believes in the ideals of the U.S. It is also sanity-inducing for anyone who’s been disappointed in the implementation of those ideals. Mann’s book […]
Food & Farm Policy
Last month I was asked to draft an editorial for a local magazine (Our Evanston) on sustainability and local foods. It was to be the back-end of a friendly deal — an ad for the Wild Onion Market (a local food co-op) in the winter issue followed by a local foods editorial in the spring issue (to […]
DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS, who pulled the plug on our household television (c.1956) and never looked back. I was 5 or 6 years old, probably in first grade, with an older sister (8-9), younger sister (2-3), and one still to come. Unfortunately, I never got to delve into their deep reasoning. Nor were they particularly […]
An article in the Fall 2021 newsletter (The Kit) of the Evanston Township High School Alumni Association spurred me to reflect on the process of creating a community project, in this case the 12-year old Edible Acre Pilot Project, an urban agriculture project at ETHS. This blog consists of three accounts of the birth and […]
Happy 2022, all. A reminder that this is an ELECTION YEAR and that the Illinois primary is later than it used to be: June 28, 2022 (instead of in spring). The filing deadline is March 14, 2022. The general election is Nov. 8, 2022. It looks like most of Evanston’s elected officials are running again […]
Thanks to Anne Sills for connecting some of us Evanston food & farm folks to a new food security initiative in Evanston that’s just getting started. The initiative (still to be decided and fleshed out) involves one of the local Rotary clubs and a cohort of Northwestern University students in SESP’s Civic Engagement Certificate program […]
Well, the listserv didn’t actually explode, not even metaphorically. The moderator ended the public discussion after four emails. From the archives and from the responses I got, I know there were at least three other people who (a) didn’t read my email clearly, and/or (b) don’t know (or won’t acknowledge) what’s going on with the […]
Some national colleagues recently shared a paper that supports FOOD POLICY STAFF POSITIONS at the city, town, and county levels — in local governments. Although written for my hometown (City of Evanston, IL) and home county (Cook County, home to Chicago), this post might be useful for other grassroots groups looking to make food policy […]