Don’t worry, I have a bunch of recipes I’m dying to tell you about. They’re coming... soon... I promise! But I just got my mind blown to pieces and I MUST tell you about it.
Do me a favor and read this, ok?
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/cultivating-failure/7819/
It's rare at the age that I am at now that someone can knock me flat on my face with their counterpoints to an argument I already felt reasonably well-educated on and upon which I had a established a deeply-set opinion (see the rant in my previous post). I feel a little bit shattered right now. I am grateful for these moments.... it makes me feel engaged in the conversation on the next level. But mmaaaannn, do I feel like a schmuck too.
I started reading this essay thinking it was only going to help me build upon my already strong feelings about the merit of school gardens. And yet somehow, in all my cumulating years of interest in this issue, I never once thought to consider how one-dimensional my perspective has been.
But the fact of it is, I only have the thoughts I have about all of this stuff precisely because I had a sound education and strong role modeling that gave my brain the food it needed to grow and cultivate ideas of my own. As much as I wish my childhood had been enriched by the physical experience of learning to garden and grow my own food, if I'm entirely honest with myself, enriched is really the key word in that sentence.
My brain is strong and my abilities are vast because I had parents who cared about the grades on my report card and not the calories in my belly. I learned early and I learned often that doing my homework was the only way to succeed. I had a dad who often brought the dictionary to the dinner table because he wasn't going to dumb down his conversation for the sake of appealing to my pleas to understand. "If you want to know, look it up."
Gah! If you want to know, look it up. I love my dad a lot, but I can't believe how much I am really appreciating him right now. Looking it up did lead to stronger commitment in the classroom. And the TV dinners that fed me most nights of the week.... well, I think they probably contributed less to my overall performance than I would like to believe.
Do I think being well-fed physically is as important as being well-fed spiritually, emotionally, and educationally. Absolutely. You won't get me to budge on that fact. But Caitlin Flanagan, you've just successfully expanded one very stubborn mind on a very personally important issue. Thank you for feeding me today.
A culture of thinking hard must be present in your foundation. And no amount of good eating will replace that.
