Levi Stroud
The Future (2014)
In this section, I explore writing that encapsulates the transition I was making into writing that is meant to be socially relevant. It relates to the way I was changing as a writer in how I create my own life narrative and how issues of public health, the environment, policy, and community action were playing roles in the work that I produce. It can be seen as a follow up to the "Life Crisis" page in how my changing take on life affected the work that I was producing.
Selecting Farmland
This text is an assignment from EEB 316, Introduction to Food Systems, which studies many aspects of food systems in relation to the environment, public health, and social justice. I incorporated this text into this page because it demonstrates my budding development as a writer outside of the humanities that is invested in learning about a myriad of issues including the environment. It was the first assignment that made me break out of my humanities, and for that reason it gave me a lot of anxiety. Once I finished it, however, I saw that I could explore such topics as a writer, and I am proud to have done well on it.
The Narrative of NAFTA
This was my final paper for Introduction to Food Systems in which the class was given the assignment to write about any issue related to food systems. I decided to write my paper on the impact NAFTA had on small-scale farming in Mexico. The work incorporated social, environmental, and public health issues that formed a very convincing journalistic narrative. I was proud of the work because for the first time I felt like I was drafting a dramatic narrative that was very rooted in important and real events. It was a key point of writing development because it showed me that I could write engaging stories to record wrongs and make change. It was also the first 100 percent I got on a paper, so no complaints there!
Urban Canvas
Urban Canvas is the first documentary I ever shot. It was for my Documentary Cinema class (SAC 366) with Linda Mokdad. As the director, I played a large role in shaping the story of the documentary, but I was also involved with all levels of production from camera operating to editing. It was an experience that really changed the way I see the potential of story telling and made me see how engaging every level of story telling through documentary can be. I really loved the process because it gave me the ability to engage with real social actors to produce a product that promoted positive social change. Because of this engagement with the real world and the change I felt I could provoke, documentary became my favorite form of storytelling and as a writer I hope to continue with this passion.