Student Info

Name: Natalie Arneson
Term: Spring 2023
Credits: 12
Title of ILC: Feeding the Diaspora: Homecoming

Faculty Sponsor

Name: Sarah Williams
Title: Faculty
Organization: The Evergreen State College

Subcontractor

Name: Catalina Ocampo
Title: Faculty
Organization: The Evergreen State College

Field Supervisor

Field supervisor: Michael Richards
Title: Editor-in-Chief
Organization: The Cooper Point Journal

Program of Project Description

Narrative: This Spring 2023 ILC titled Feeding the Diaspora: Homecoming expands on the Winter 2023 ILC titled Feeding the Diaspora: the Foods that Make Communities to explore in greater breadth and depth the entanglement of food and culture. The question posed this quarter is, how can food call a person home? This question will be explored in the context of diaspora groups and the complexity of what “home” can mean when one comes from a multitude of histories and food stories. Throughout the quarter, The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture by Edvige Guinta (Author), Louise DeSalvo (Editor) and Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee will serve as guideposts for creative writing–overseen by faculty Catalina Ocampo–surrounding themes of food, memory, and culture. These two texts tell the food stories of America’s diverse diasporic communities in unique ways; The Milk of Almonds serving as an anthology with experiences shared through the first person, whereas in Buttermilk Graffiti Lee takes up the role of story-teller, sharing tales of those he met and what he learned, with recipes littered throughout the pages. 

The quarter will not only be answering the question of how food calls a person home, but will also see the creation of a Senior Capstone Project. This project will be a multimedia cookbook that incorporates different modes of storytelling, drawing inspiration from the writing styles within The Milk of Almonds and Buttermilk Graffiti, and the students work from the previous quarter. 

 

Learning objectiveActivityDeliverable
 Create and print a 35 page (minimum) multimedia cookbook that will serve as the Senior Capstone Project. The student will select 10 recipes (minimum), 10 original photographs (minimum), and 15 pages of creative writing (minimum) to be compiled into the multimedia cookbook. The student’s WordPress ePortfolio will be utilized to track their work throughout the quarter; weekly progress updates will be posted showing what the student is working on and their process of executing the Senior Capstone Project.
A first draft of their cookbook will be turned in for feedback Thursday of week 9. The final draft will be turned in Wednesday of week 10.
 Complete two craft papers, one page minimum. The student will write one craft paper for each text they will be reading–The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture by Edvige Guinta (Author), Louise DeSalvo (Editor) and Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee–to focus on the differing writing styles and decide what the student wants to then emulate in their own writing. Craft papers will be turned in for faculty review at the end of weeks 4 and 6.
 The student will write 12 short creative writing pieces (vignettes) to contribute to the Senior Capstone Project. The student will draw on memories of food, moving between the past and present in their writing, exploring the theme of how food acts as homecoming, specifically from the view point of diasporic and multicultural backgrounds. The student will turn in at least 3 vignettes at the end of each week–except for weeks 4 and 6. Weeks 4 and 6 will serve as the revision weeks for the vignettes. Week 7 will be the student’s last week of writing.
 Continue gaining experience in Adobe InDesign. Through the student’s work at the Cooper Point Journal they will continue to help with the layout of the paper using Adobe InDesign, then applying this gained proficiency to create design their Senior Capstone Project. A field supervisor at the Cooper Point Journal will be appointed and report on the student’s progress to the faculty sponsor.

Evaluation of Work

  • WordPress ePortfolio
  • Final week ten presentation
  • Narrative evaluations from field supervisor and/or subcontractor
  • Narrative mid-quarter and final self-evaluations