Hi there! I’m Nate, and I’ve been an intern at WOYP since June, 2009. I’m 22 years old (aquarius) and I will soon graduate from the lovely and prestigious Sarah Lawrence College where I’ve been studying urban planning (I get really excited about rooftop gardens and farmer’s markets). I’m 5’10” tall and I need a haircut. I enjoy ginger cookies (snaps or non-snaps) and detective stories. I dislike squash and making a fuss. My favorite color is blue, I like the Beatles better than the Stones, and I am afraid of heights. I like to cook enchiladas because all of the ingredients are different colors, so I know when I’ve forgotten something. I love portable foods in general (sandwiches, dumplings, pies, things with tortillas) and my ambition is to learn to make all of them deliciously.
My favorite thing about WOYP is that it is an optimistic take on what can be a very depressing and pessimistic subject. Much of what I read about and blog about paints a picture of a scary food-world, in which much of what we eat is either bad for us, or produced and distributed in ways that are harmful to the planet, rob communities of their economic autonomy, and distance us from our neighbors. Where most information about food reform focuses on the problem, WOYP is all about the solution. WOYP shows that building strong, efficient, local food-production systems is entirely possible, even in a city like New York. My favorite part of the movie is the big meal at the end, which reminds me that making food and eating it are community activities. I hope that films like WOYP will help people see how a community can come together around a meal, from the farm to the table, and how, even in these times of e-z mac and Cargill, such a meal isn’t so impossible a goal.
When I write for the WOYP blog, I try to focus on good things that are going on in the world of food reform. Sometimes I have to let the Internet know about depressing things or urgent problems that I get outraged about, but mostly I think the problem is all around us and impossible to ignore and I try to post solutions I find as often as I can. That tends to mean a lot of jokes and fun links, but I try to stick to helpful things.
