“My Children’s Names” by Janet Zandy from The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture

4/18/2023
This week I’ve been diving into my reading of The Milk of Almonds with a lot more vigor now that I have all the ILC details finalized and out of the way. Each reading has been fascinating, but my favorite works are thus far “Our Father” by Cris Mazza, “My Children’s Names” by Janet Zandy, and “The Seven Sacraments” by Mary Beth Caschetta. Each have been so inspiring in their own way, and I can’t wait to have the chance to sit with each piece as I write my craft paper.

“The Seven Sacraments” by Mary Beth Caschetta from The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture

I’ve also begun working on the cookbook (Senior Capstone Project), mapping out the table of contents and sorting through what pieces of writing to include. I think I’m set on my dedication page, because I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather dedicate it to than the two people who first taught me to cook–who first taught me a lot of things. My timeline for the quarter has my hard deadline to start on the design and layout of the Senior Capstone Project for Week 8 of the quarter, but it never hurts to start early. It gives me bones to work with come Week 8 and will save me some time in case any unexpected obstacles pop up.

4/22/2023
I didn’t get as much done this week as I wanted to since I was busy working Equity Symposium. While unable to sit down and do the work I wanted, my project was constantly running through my mind, new ideas and plans for how to continue the quarter bouncing around. Despite not actively doing anything for my project, it still takes up so much space in my day-to-day. I did expect it to be so all-encompassing, but I guess I was still a little surprised how much it pops up in my thoughts. I honestly go to bed thinking about my ILC most weeks.

Wednesday night I attended the Rhythms of the Land film screening, an absolutely beautiful film with powerful storytelling by the creator of the film, Gail P. Meyers, PhD, and the people she interviewed. Through this film, we saw stories and histories of African American farmers told by African American farmers.

Tomato sculpted by Natalie Arneson on April 20, 2023; Photo Taken by Natalie Arneson on April 20, 2023

I did get to partake in a fun workshop during the Equity Symposium though! A ceramics professor was running a cultural foodstuff session that invited people in to try making their own clay food. I really enjoyed it and it was fun to try something I’ve never really done before. I made a tomato! We always ate a lot of tomatoes growing up, for a while they were my favorite after school snack. Summer always saw an abundance of cherry tomatoes that were the sweetest things you could eat. Even now there’s always three on hand in a bowl on the counter.

Natalie Arneson holding her clay tomato; Photo Taken by Sage on April 20, 2023