On November 14th, we met at Maharani Indian Restaurant on West Washington. The restaurant was only a short bus ride from campus and they opened early in order to seat us. While we waited for the restaurant to finish opening up the buffet, I decided to treat myself to a mango lassi, a type of Indian yogurt drink, which was quite tasty. Since Laurie Beth was called on urgent passport business, Theron facilitated the class discussion.
In preparation, one group had read the article about the horrors of the meat packing industry, The Chain Never Stops by Eric Schlosser, and the other group read The Political Economy of Food Aid by Jennifer Clapp. We discussed the questions that were created Erin K. for the Chain Never Stops and the questions for the Political Economy of Food Aid that were written by Grace. I read the Chain Never Stops and the question that stuck out to me that I my group discussed was “What did you find most surprising about this reading?” Rachel said that what she found most surprising was that the money that was given to the families of people who died working on the production line amounted to $70,000. It was interesting that amount is what is considered to be the cost of a human life.
At last, the food was ready, and we loaded up our plates with Indian food. There was a mix of vegetarian and meat dishes that I think accommodated the dietary needs for the people in our class. Unfortunately, almost as soon as I started eating, my appetite just about disappeared, and I didn’t eat a lot which was disappointing because I didn’t get a chance to try everything.
Our wonderful guest this week was Lindsay Christians, who is a food writer for the Capital Times. I really liked her as a guest. I thought she was very funny and was a very engaging speaker. Some of our past guests didn’t quite hold my interest, but Lindsay talked with us rather than talked at us. She started off by talking about her experience as a food writer and what kinds of things she does in her position. She talked about how she does restaurant reviews and other side gigs she has including being a theater critic for the Overture Center’s Jerry Awards. This is when I found out that she had seen the performance of my high school musical that I won a Jerry Award for and was part of the voting process in choosing the winners. She also knows my old choir teacher and director pretty well. It really is a small world and it was super cool to find out that we had that in common.
After telling us about herself, Lindsay then discussed our blogs that she had read. She told us what we did well and what we could improve upon. I found her advise to be particularly helpful. One of the things she said to be aware of in our writing is our implicit biases and it made me think of my restaurant review for Rising Sons Deli where I said the menu reminded me of a cheap Chinese food place without realizing the connotations it could have.
I think this was an excellent way to spend our last Wednesday together as a FIG group in Laurie Beth’s class and a huge thanks to Theron for moderating our class in Laurie Beth’s place.
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