The Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program Brings Diverse Guests to Campus Classrooms
Spring 2012 features a roster of diverse guest speakers and workshops. The Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program strives to engage diverse and unexpected disciplines. This semester touches on theater, sociology, Latina/o studies, and the Office of Career Counseling.
February 29
Gregory Sharrow, PhD
Vermont Foodways: Do Past Practices Offer Sustainable Solutions?
Gregory Sharrow holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from University of Pennsylvania. He has been Director of Education at the Vermont Folklife Center since 1988. His talk focuses on the household food culture of a single rural Vermont family in the early 20th century. The talk features audio recordings, a central part of Sharrow’s field work.
Gregory Sharrow spoke in Professor Jim Nolan’s course Ways of Knowing.
March 6
Taylor Cocalis
Getting Involved in the Food Movement This Summer and Beyond
Taylor Cocoalis is the co-founder of Good Food Jobs, a leading online rsource for food-related work opportunities. She visited Harper House to speak with students about how to get the first foot in the door of a spectacular career working with food.
March 7
Maggie Gray, PhD
Labor and the Locavore: Social Justice and the Food Movment
Maggie Gray is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Adelphi University. Her research focuses on farmworker advocacy and focuses on these issue in New York’s Hudson Valley. She encourages her audience to question the labor conditions on small farms–locations that often escape scrutiny by trusting customers.
Maggie Gray spoke in Professor Carmen Whalen’s Comparative Latina/o Migrations seminar.
March 9
Rachel Miller, MFA
From Crop to Cloth: Evaluating Sustainability in Fashion and the Textile Industry
Rachel Miller is a fiber artist. She teaches about the pathway of plant and animal fibers from the field to clothing, and compares this path with that of synthetic textiles.
Rachel Miller held a natural dye workshop with Deborah Brothers’ Costume Design course, using pigments extracted from vegetables from Mighty Food Farm.
April 5
Jessica Cerullo
The Artist as Citizen: An Improvised Address on Performance, Purpose and the Vulnerability of the Tomato
Actress Jessica Cerullo spoke on her inspirations for original material and reflected on her one-woman show, Miracle Tomato. In partnership with Mt. Greylock High School, Jessica gave an acting workshop with students involved in the Youth Environmental Squad and Drama Program.
April 12
Greenhorns
Greenhorns: The Next Generation of American Farmers
Director and book editor Severine von Tscharner Fleming presented her documentary film The Greenhorns and read from her new book from Storey Publishing, which features 50 essays from new American farmers. Contibuting authors joined her on stage after the film.
This event was sponsored by the Williams College Sustainable Food & Agriculture Program, Storey Publishing, Images Cinema, Cricket Creek Farm, and Berkshire Grown.
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