AmericanMagazine of American University August 2011

DifferenceDonors Make a

Acclaimed opera critic and author Karyl Charna Lynn, SOC/MA ’80, is a proud supporter of American University. After completing undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Lynn pursued graduate work in

communications and media at American University to enhance her career as a correspondent for ZDF- German Television. At AU she studied film and broad-cast journalism in the School of Communication. She credits the university’s curriculum with forming the basis for her success as a journalist and writer. For Lynn, American University’s location in the nation’s capital provided the perfect avenue for

enhancing a career in media, particularly during a time of great national investment in the

arts. While a student, Lynn was able to take advantage of Washington’s many cultural offerings, expanding the class-room beyond campus to the city itself. She then leveraged her associations to

build a reputation as a leader in the field of operatic journalism. Lynn’s passion for

the opera is evident in her six published books on opera houses, companies, and architecture and the innumerable articles, features, reviews, and profiles she has written for Opera Now, where she is the U.S. correspondent and editor at large. Lynn recognizes the value of an American University education. In an effort to make opportunities available for the next generation of scholars and to support American University’s strategic priority to increase access to higher education, Lynn has chosen to support AU by naming it among the beneficiaries of her charitable estate plan. Lynn’s generous commitment will establish an endowed fund intended to further the under-standing and appreciation of opera through the support of faculty, guest lecturers, and programming at the University. For Lynn, “Washington is home. I support the institu-tions here that are important to me and, as an alumna, wanted to be sure American University is among them.” American University is grateful to Karyl Charna Lynn’s foresight and salutes the example she sets for the entire AU community.

For information on the benefits you, loved ones, and American University can receive through charitable estate planning, contact Seth Speyer, director of Planned Giving, at 202-885-5914, speyer@american.edu, or visit www.american.edu/planned giving.

“Washington is home.

I support the institu-

tions here that are

important to me

and, as an alumna,

wanted to be sure

American University

is among them.”

Karyl Charna Lynn SOC/MA ’80; with Placido Domingo

Tenleytown, July 2011

Washing the truck is a daily summer ritual at the District of Columbia Fire Department station on Wisconsin Avenue, which serves AU. Food also plays a big role in the life beat of the recently renovated firehouse. Every day the firefighters cook up hearty breakfasts and dinners for the guys. (See page 3.)

Photo by Jeff Watts

AmericanMagazine of American University Volume 62 No. 2

FAt CAts, BodyBuilders, And Corsets

Nearly two centuries ago—American men were the first on the scales.

sAy Cheese

Cheeseheads know Bob Wills, SIS ’76, makes one mean cheddar.

‘yAnkee Cooking At its Best’

Grab a seat at Brian Zecchinelli’s, Kogod ’85, Wayside Restaurant—a Vermont institution since 1918.

stirring A PolitiCAl stew

Food libertarian Baylen Linnekin, CAS ’97, WCL ’09, wants food freed from regulations.

how to Fix everything

Heather McDonald, CAS ’07, finds solace and healing in the humble lasagna.

greening the Food desert

Anastasia Snelling, CAS, takes on food access and nutrition in northeast Washington.

Fruit guy with A ConsCienCe

The Fruit Guys serve up fresh local fruit any way their clients want it.

BAnking on Food

The Capital Area Food Bank is grocery central for 500,000 D.C.-area residents.

departments3 On the Quad

33 Alumni News

34 Class Notables

48 Nate Beeler’s World of Wonks

www.american.edu/magazine

• • •

9

14

17

18

20

22

27

28

Delicious DisciplineMy goddaughter Emma is a foodie, always has been. Emma and her soccer-champ sister Sarah are fraternal twins. Sarah always scooted and ran, chasing balls, and never cared much for food. Emma showed her stripes, when from her high chair, she strung together her first sentence, and with a look of sheer delight asked, “Can you eat it?” at the sight of anything small, bright, and appealing dangled in front of her. It became her chant as she learned what she could and must not put in her mouth. Her family was smitten. Both Emma and Sarah were taught not only what you “can eat,” (it’s not a plastic toy, and it’s not a flower), but what it’s good to eat a lot of and what you shouldn’t turn into a meal (at least not often!). Today, at nine, Emma loves restaurant dinners and serving guests at her family’s parties. She loves her snacks too, but she knows what a healthy meal is. Sarah, who’s still a picky eater, also knows a bowl of Goldfish is not dinner. So we all begin. We love food or we don’t. But no matter where we sit on that spectrum, we all need food to live. Our issue is a celebration of food and how members of our American University community embrace it. For some it’s the joy of producing food that became their liveli-hood, for others it’s the comfort of food after a day’s work or during a crisis. For yet other faculty and alumni in our issue, it’s about making healthy food available to our sisters and brothers who don’t have the resources to buy enough food for their families. That—as the AU cofounders, trustees, and directors of the Capital Area Food Bank—remind us is not a small business, but a multimillion dollar endeavor. And for one health and nutrition professor, Stacey Snelling, and her faculty partners, it’s about creating effective ways to show those families, who never learned about healthy food choice in the charming way that Emma invited that knowledge, the joy of delicious discipline. Read on, eat well, and please jump into the effort.

Linda McHughExecutive Editor

From the editorAmericanAmerican, the official magazine of American University, is written and designed by the Uni-versity Publications office within University Communications and Marketing. Personal views on subjects of public interest expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect official policies of the university.

Executive Director, Communications and MarketingTeresa Flannery

Senior Director, University PublicationsKevin Grasty

Executive EditorLinda McHugh

Managing EditorCatherine Bahl

On the Quad EditorAdrienne Frank

Staff WritersAdrienne Frank, Charles Spencer, Sarah Stankorb, Mike Unger

Art Director/DesignerWendy Beckerman

Contributing DesignersRena Hoffman, Maria Jackson, Evangeline Montoya-A. Reed, Natalie Taylor

PhotographerJeff Watts

Class NotesTraci Crockett, editor; Katie Mattern ’11, editorial assistant UP12-001American is published three times a year by American University. With a circulation of about 106,000, American is sent to alumni and other constituents of the university community. Copyright © 2011.

American University is an equal opportunity and affirma-tive action university and employer. American University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation, disability, source of income, place of residence or business, or certain veteran sta-tus in its programs and activities. For information, contact the Dean of Students (DOS@american.edu), Director of Policy & Regulatory Affairs (employeerelations@american.edu) or Dean of Academic Affairs, (academicaffairs@american.edu), or at American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20016, 202-885-1000.

www.american.edu/magazineSend address changes to:Alumni ProgramsAmerican University4400 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington, D.C. 20016-8002ore-mail: alumupdate@american.edu

2 american august 2011 3

Dear editor: I admire Liz Leer’s ability to balance the “incredibly demanding” schedule required of a student-athlete (“168 Hours: Booked Solid”). While reading this article, however, I couldn’t help thinking that as I juggled my full-time course load, my duties as a section editor for the Eagle, and working 20 hours each week between two jobs, I would have relished having time to read Cosmopolitan and watch Glee. I’m sure many AU graduates who needed to work to afford college would express the same sentiment.

Rebecca VanderMeulen SOC/BA ’04

On the Quad NEIGHBORHOOD

Three-Alarm—Make that Three-Star—Pork Chops

On this 98-degree June day Faison labors near the gas grill behind the station, flipping honey-glazed pork chops that

have been marinating overnight. His attention to detail is acute—he

constantly plucks chops from the grill, reapplies sauce, and lays them

back on the rack. His grandfather, Joseph, taught him to “cook with your eyes,” so he works without recipes. At 5:35 the chops, homemade cornbread, potatoes au gratin, rice, and his “mean green” beans are ready. Then the inevitable happens. Not two seconds after the final dish is placed on the kitchen counter, the alarm sounds. Dinner often is interrupted by work, so when firefighters

have to leap into action, a coworker covers their plates with foil.

Faison and his mates from Truck 12 return a few minutes later—false alarm.

The meal is served buffet style, and after loading up their plates the men settle into cushioned desk chairs surrounding two conference tables in the lounge. There’s little conversation while they eat; most eyes are focused on the Nationals baseball game on the flat screen. It’s most men’s dream dinner scenario. The skin of the pork is flavorful and crisp, the meat light pink and tender. The cornbread is moist, the beans spicy.

The alarm at Washington’s Engine 20 firehouse on Wisconsin Avenue sounded, and a red light lit up the room. Quickly firefighters began to assemble, anxious for what was next. A voice came over the P.A. system. “Dinner’s ready. Let’s eat.” At fire stations around the country, food is a family affair. Every day the firefighters gather for home-cooked breakfasts and dinners made with every bit the passion—and often the skill—found in professional kitchens. Those lucky enough to work on Danny Faison’s shift at Engine 20, the company that serves the American University campus, eat like kings. “I love to cook,” says Faison, a 21-year veteran. “My grandfather taught me. He cooked Sunday dinners for years. Two meats, two starches and one vegetable. He told me, ‘make sure you can always provide for yourself.’” Faison has taken that advice to a new level. During his shift—firefighters work 24 hours on, 72 off—he prepares elaborate meals such as stuffed rockfish, lamb chops, and Hawaiian chicken with fried cabbage for 14 to 16 of his coworkers. Each firefighter kicks in $10 per day for a hot and hearty breakfast and dinner. A Washington native and second-generation firefighter, Faison also runs a catering company. On one of his days off from the station he shops at Costco or Sam’s Club, then spends much of his free time during his shift preparing the meals.

“It’s delicious. We’ve had quite a few incidents where other people tried to cook. We ruined spaghetti; we made some scrambled eggs that tasted like plastic. If you want the food to be any good, you want Danny to do your cooking.” — Firefighter Patrick Swenson

BY MIKE UNGER

4 american4 american

On the Quad CHEFS

Cooking Light

making the most of your farmers’ market

• Shop seasonally: Plan meals around what’s currently being harvested in your area.

• Skip the middle: Shop the market early for the best selection and late for the best discounts.

• Buy in bulk: Enjoy the best prices—and the best flavors—at the peak of the harvest. Freeze, can, or dry what you can’t use.

• Plan to be spontaneous: Buy peaches and plums that are in season now, but also take a chance on those gorgeous gooseberries.

• Ask the pros: New to nettles? Perplexed by pommelos? Ask farmers their favorite ways to prepare produce.

• Bring green, go green: Don’t forget to bring plenty of small bills and a grocery tote. Buying meat or dairy products? Spring for an insulated bag or cooler.

• Browse before you buy: Comparison shop. Sometimes larger farms get the prime real estate on the edge of the market and will charge a little more.

• Know when to negotiate: Haggling for a bunch of basil is poor form. Asking for a modest discount for a large box or a bushel is OK.

• Don’t just focus on fruit: Fruit is the pricier produce. If you’re on a budget, focus on vegetables, which are generally less expensive.

• Wait to wash: Unless there’s obvious dirt, wash fruits and vegetables just before cooking or eating.

GazpachoA cold, tomato-based Spanish soup that’s perfect for hot summer nights.

Serve with tortilla chips and sangria.

Yields 5 1-1/2 cup servings

{ Seed and finely chop 1-cup cucumbers.

{ Chop two dozen tomatoes.

{ Finely chop one medium red onion (about ½ cup) and two bunches of cilantro.

{ Combine ¾ of chopped tomatoes; two garlic cloves, peeled; 2 tbsp. lemon juice; 1 tbsp. olive oil; ½ tsp. coarse salt; and ¼ tsp. pepper in blender. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds.

{ Pour into medium bowl; stir in cucumbers, cilantro, onion, 2 tbsp. diced hot cherry peppers, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, and remaining tomatoes.

{ Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Serve chilled with sprigs of cilantro.

Alumna Ann Kerwin and AU’s top chef Mary Soto dish on the recipe for summer: eat local, eat fresh, eat simple. American magazine challenged Bon Appetit executive chef Soto and fellow foodie Kerwin, CAS/BA ’71, to prepare a trio of light, fresh, and—most importantly—mouthwatering offerings from the Penn Quarter farmers’ market. The pair set out for the market, nestled between the National Archives and the National Portrait Gallery in northwest Washington, on a June afternoon. On the menu: gazpacho, asparagus with sorrel butter, and strawberry and arugula salad. “Nothing beats fresh, organic produce,” says Soto, a self-taught culinary wonk, as she chops tomatoes in the bright, airy kitchen of the AU president’s residence. “My philosophy is to keep it simple and let the fruits and vegetables shine.” Kerwin, too, likes to keep it simple in the kitchen. She has a collection of crowd-pleasers—including curried pumpkin soup, chicken parmesan, and lasagna—but she’s always looking for new dishes to spice up family dinners with husband, AU president Neil Kerwin; son Alex and fiancée Darcy; son Michael, daughter-in-law Kara, and granddaughter Violet. Enjoy this taste of summer, from Bon Appetit and the Kerwins’ kitchen to yours.

AU’s catering company since 2000, Bon Appetit buys at least 20 percent of its food from farms within 150 miles of

its 400 cafes. Soto, pictured at the Penn Quarter market with Kerwin, handpicks

AU’s fruits and veggies from seven farms in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

asparaGus with sorrel butterBring 1-inch of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Put 2 bunches of asparagus, tough ends trimmed, in a steamer basket, cover and steam until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drop asparagus into ice water to blanch. Drizzle with 1 tbsp. melted sweet cream butter and 4 tsp. chopped, fresh sorrel; salt and pepper to taste.

strawberry and aruGula saladTo fix this sweet and tangy mix of toasted pecans, baby arugula, berries, and Parmesan cheese, visit www.american.edu/americanmagazine.

BY ADRIENNE FRANK

6 american august 2011 7

On the Quad RESEARCH

Eeeww . . .

okra

overripe banana

cottage cheese

raw tomato

mayonnaise

graham cracker soaked in skim milk

chunky peanut butter

rice pudding

Kushner surveyed 100 people

to identify some of the most objectionable foods, then fed

50 subjects (primarily AU students) eight samples. She put each food

on a cracker, then removed the food and recorded the eater's reactions. Ten percent of the tasters wouldn’t even eat a portion of the cracker untouched by a brown banana, 30 percent rejected

the part of the cracker with the banana’s “wet spot,” and the

rest chowed down.

On the Quad CALORIES COUNT

Answering the Dinner (and Lunch, and Breakfast, and Snack) Bell

Basketball players Troy Brewer and Geleisa George have a task this summer most of us schlubs sitting at our desks fighting that three o’clock urge to get peanut M&Ms from the vending machine envy. They need to gain weight.

Calories calculated on www.sparkpeople.com

Brewer, a 6-foot-5-inch senior guard, and George, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, each want to add eight to 10 pounds of muscle to their wiry frames. Doing so requires a combination of lifting weights, limited cardio training, and consuming calories. Lots of them. Here's what they are eating to bulk up. —MU

Geleisa GeorGeCurrent weight: 132 pounds target weight: 140 pounds

target Calories: 2,500

Troy BrewerCurrent weight: 183 pounds target weight: 190 pounds

target Calories: 3,000

Two eggs and toast, with orange juice or fruit smoothie

Banana and/or peanuts

Chipotle burrito

Fifteen to 20 crackers with peanut butter

Grilled chicken (2 servings)

Chocolate or muscle milk

Three eggs and toast

Protein shake

Chipotle burrito

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, fresh fruit

Grilled chicken with vegetables or turkey and ham sub

Ice cream bar or protein shake

approximaTe Calories

450

200

970

700

240

210

2,770

450

600

970

500

300

430

3,250

BreakfasT

snaCk

lunCh

snaCk

Dinner

DesserT

approximaTe ToTal

Mr. Potato Head

Baked or fried, mashed or grilled, scalloped or diced. Any way you slice it, potatoes are palate-pleasingly popular the world over. “Who doesn’t like potatoes?” asks Larry Engel, a School of Communication professor and filmmaker who clearly does. His short documentary, Potato Heads: Keepers of the Crop, examines the history and importance of the world’s most famous tuber. “By taking a look at the lowly potato you come away learning how important it is to developing countries now and in the future,” he says. “Potatoes are the third most important produce in the world behind wheat and rice.” Engel’s film centers on two communities: Barnesville, Minnesota, home to the annual Potato Days festival featuring mashed potato wrestling, and an Andean community deep in the mountains of Peru. “They both cherish the potato,” says Engel, who made the film with a grant from the Wallace Genetic Foundation. “The potato carries such cultural weight because it’s really a critical agricultural staple.” In the movie Engel visits the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru, which preserves more than 500 varieties of potato seeds, and explores a host of serious issues pertaining to the nature of the international food production system.

“The overall food production system is under greater and greater threat as we create more monoculture agriculture,” he says. “The current industrialization of our food and agriculture, plants and animals is not sustainable. Ultimately, we will need to make changes in how we treat the land, the water, and farming.” Potato Heads will be shown September 18 at the Corto e Fieno Film Festival, in Ameno, Italy. No word yet as to whether the festival will serve fries rather than popcorn at the screening. —MU

For whatever reason, the thought of eating some foods makes us cringe. It’s been scientifically proven that certain animal parts—kidneys, livers—are unappealing to many palates. But what about overripe bananas, cottage cheese, raw tomatoes? Do people find those icky too? That’s the question clinical psychology PhD candidate Laura Kushner set out to answer in her dissertation, “Food for Thought: The Role of Texture and the Disgust Response.” “I have always been a foodie,” Kushner says. So, “I wanted to do something for my dissertation that revolved around food. The previous literature said we’re only grossed out by animal stuff. It reminds us of our animal origins. I thought that might be true, but I also thought it might be textures.” Her takeaway: nonanimal foods can elicit disgust, a finding not seen in prior research.

—MU

Larry Engel films mashed potato wrestling at the Potato Days Festival in Barnesville, Minnesota.

august 2011 98 american

AmericanMagazine of American University August

FOOD IN AMERICA

Fat Cats, Bodybuilders,

and Corsets:A History of Dieting in AmericA

by sarah stankorb

B efore Men’s Health and Glamour tempted

readers with punchy offerings of “Russian

Fat Loss Secrets” or “101 Ways to Look

Hotter Now,” stoutness was manly and real

women had curves—whether those curves

were nature- or corset-made.

Dieting—that willful and dreaded process of reshaping the body through self-denial—had an early history in America.

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Social History, Katharina Vester, professor and director of American studies in the College of Arts

and Sciences, uncovered inch-pinching and miracle diets in early nineteenth-century America; trends predating the previously accepted

timeline of dieting in the United States.

Vester’s paper, "Regime Change," was recently awarded the Belasco Prize for Scholarly Excellence from the Association for the Study of Food and Society.

Farm to FoodBLAzEr’S STOrY

For most meat eaters, dinner is purchased from fluorescent-lit groceries, where it is sold in plastic-wrapped foam trays. Rarely, are we on a first name basis with our meat. Elizabeth McDermott,

a philosophy master’s student in the College of Arts and Sciences, is an animal lover. She is also a meat eater and student of ethics. These traits, it seemed to her, were not in

moral conflict. This, despite claims by vegetarians who suggested she couldn’t in good con-science eat an animal, unless she was also able, emotionally and physically, to kill it.

So began a 10-week relationship with the bird who would become her dinner.

Philosophical ActivismSince Plato learned the trade, philosophy students have been subject to the Socratic method. But in Professor

Evan Berry’s Food Ethics course last spring, students did the usual reading, debating, and writing of papers, then were further challenged to run a community activism project of their own design. It was ethics as experiment, the

world as laboratory. That challenge brought McDermott to a local farm with a cockerel problem—an abundance of roosters was exhausting the hen population through harassment and over breeding. The largest, named Blazer, was the

worst of the batch. “I didn’t plan to name him,” McDermott clarifies. But on the farm where free range is the rule, a soft-hearted farmer habitually christens her hatch.

McDermott stepped onto the farm with her question in mind: As a meat eater, am I under ethical obligation to kill my own food?

Know Your FoodOn day one, the farmer scooped up Blazer and placed him in McDermott’s arms. “He’s beautiful,” she said. “I really love animals. I was raised to have a strong appreciation for nature.” Her father hunts. She fished as a kid. “They’ve always been in the world with me, not for me to study and examine.” Over the next 10 weeks, McDermott got to know her rooster. When the day came, Mc-Dermott packed friends into her car for support. She was uneasy. “What was making me nervous was that this had been really built up. The act of killing Blazer took on so much.” The farmer’s sons taught McDermott to wield an ax. Petite with a pixyish mien, she spent hours perfecting her swing. Soon, it was time. She held Blazer before the farmer’s sons prepared him for the ax and remembers feeling sad, watching him be tied. McDermott trembled as she readied herself. The ax fell. Blazer died. She shook for hours after. But the job wasn’t over. With a friend’s help, she dressed and cleaned the bird. The hardest part for McDermott was cutting the bird’s

skin. That part made her nauseous. “We don’t think about who does these jobs.” Her mind strays to fac-tory farms, where these activities are done by rote. This was different, “I got to continue caring

for Blazer after I killed him.”

Philosopher’s SoupWhen McDermott took the chicken home to her kitchen, she had to bone and shred the meat. It was a more familiar experience, something she’d done hundreds of times with store-bought birds. It cooked for four hours, stewed with spices to soften the cockerel’s notoriously chewy flesh. McDermott shared the resulting mélange with friends, a

communion of sorts. They toasted Blazer. In the end, McDermott’s moral queries were answered with a

call for greater mindfulness. “I would not say everyone should have to kill their own food to eat it. We don’t live in a world where it’s possible. But people should know what goes into meat consumption and vegetable production.” McDermott’s process was in itself a meditation. Knowing Blazer taught her many things, among them, that her

moral obligation is to think through her food

choices, and to do so, “you have to come from a

different starting place.”

BY SARAH STANKORB

10 american august 2011 11

Muscles Make the Man

When mid-Victorian culture began to model the male ideal on ancient,

muscular, Greek perfection, men’s fitness became an obsession. Fears abounded that due to men’s increasingly sedentary professions the male body had become too round, too soft, too feminine. Not coincidentally, this was the time when middle-class women began demanding education and political participation. Vester explains, “the need for more gender-specific embodiments emerged.” In his 1863 publication, A Letter on Corpulence, British undertaker William Banting wrote about his “miraculous” recovery from obesity through an early Atkins-like diet: low-carbohydrate, high-protein, with meat four times a day and plenty of liquor. It was a men’s-only diet. In his Letter (which before Vester’s research was held to be the first real popularly adopted weight-loss diet), Banting detailed the ridicule he suffered, as industrialization

led to more standardized furniture, uni-form seat sizes on public transportation, and ready-to-wear clothing. Nothing fit. Banting and other corpulent men were pushed into the world’s new mold. There was a new normal. By the close of the nineteenth century, the lines were set, and men, mostly, attempted to trim their bodies to fit between those lines. A new word, “slob,” slipped into the American language, used to denigrate overweight men. Around the turn of the century, the model for male perfection shifted again, from Greek artifacts to the hulking frame of early bodybuilders like Bernarr Macfadden, who quite literally co-opted the statues by placing himself on a pedestal. A sculpted specimen of broad-shouldered propor-tions, Macfadden fasted to trim fat and layered on muscle through training pro-grams he endorsed in his body-building magazine. Throughout the twentieth century, the male ideal fluctuated little

from Macfadden’s broad-chested and muscular ideal, though it was punctuated by the emergence of a new it bodybuilder every few decades. The image of the ideal female form, however, would be hotly debated.

Good Girls Don’t Diet

While men experimented with fad diets and push-ups and weight-

trained their way to fitness, nineteenth-century popular culture urged women to be plump to be healthy and beautiful. Women were meant to be soft, passive, their bodies full of round, maternal lines, most often cinched at the waist by corsets. As Vester explains, corsets softly rounded the lower belly and were “used to show fertility, for the hour-glass figure,” not thinness. Medical experts commonly stated that plumpness was necessary for healthy pregnancy and childbirth. According to

It’s a Man’s World

Dieting is conventionally understood as a female fixation. Third-wave

feminist Naomi Wolf is more than tepid on the issue, calling dieting “the most po-tent political sedative in women’s history” and “something seriously being done to us to safeguard political power.” The im-pression is that dieting was introduced to keep the gals busy counting calories and comparing measurements, so there would be no time left for civil participation or disobedience. With evidence in hand from early men’s periodicals, though, Vester offers a counterpoint. Dieting was first a mascu-line activity. When dieting was popularized in eighteenth-century England, fat-trimming measures promised men “that their influ-ence, political power, and social privileges would grow as their waistlines slimmed.”

Prior to that time, stoutness had been viewed as a sign of masculine success. But in the early 1700s in Great Britain, medical concerns about obesity accompanied cultural charges that “excessive fatness” equaled conspicuous con-sumption and a moral debate about self-indulgence. It took nearly a century for concerns about obesity to cross the Atlantic, but in the 1830s articles began to appear in medical journals, pre-scribing dieting as a cure for congestion, indigestion, and other common ailments. By 1842, British dieting articles reprinted in American magazines showed that the fad had struck a chord with readers on both continents. American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine reprinted an article that poked fun at English gentlemen, increasingly vain about their

weight. It is filled with jokes about men who managed their weight down to

the pound, and casts a wary eye toward men who opt for “short allowances” at supper or “take sweats” to shed water weight. Spirit of the Times, though, found that nobler classes, reared on rich diets and a daily

schedule of polo and cricket, were better built for excess

without the threat of obesity. The nouveau riche, on the other hand,

whose wealth was often a product of the industrial revolution, didn’t have the breeding to know how to be rich. As class lines blurred, the self-made man had something to prove. The newest member of the wealthy class, Vester notes, “was thought to be striving, ambitious, but insecure about his social standing, and needed to demonstrate self-control.”

10 american10 american10 american

1850s: Tight lacing, a practice made famous by Gone with the Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara, was actually a rare practice that emerged during the 1840–1850s. It was scorned from the pulpit and the medical establishment. To be fertile, women were encouraged to be stout.

1854: Drawing on early sports magazines for upper-class men, Katharina Vester’s research places the start of American dieting in mid-century.

1864: William Banting’s popular diet discouraged men from eating carbohydrates and endorsed eating meat four times a day—accompanied by plenty of alcohol.

1870: Voluptuous Lydia Thompson was one of the British Blondes, burlesque singer-dancers who took Broadway by storm.

1871: Notions of conspicuous consumption had become so entrenched in American culture that political cartoons frequently depicted greed as fat.

1880: Lillian Russell, songstress and model of beauty through the turn of the century.

1878: Illustration of Charles Bennett, the California Hercules, appeared in How to Acquire Strength and Muscle, a book illustrating strength training techniques.

1890s: The dress reform movement exploded from the margins and into middle-class sensibilities. A fine figure became more a matter of will-power than shaping undergarments.

1850 1870 1880 1890

1893: German strongman Professor Attila opens a gym in New York, where he famously trained heavyweight champion “Gentleman” Jim Corbett.

1860

12 american august 2011 13

Underneath the form-smoothing (rather than shape-forming) garment, women aimed for trim waists. With ready-made clothes increasingly avail-able, standard sizing made it clear when women deviated from average dimensions that were ever shrinking. Dorothy Cocks, beauty editor at the Ladies’ Home Journal in 1927 wrote that the slender female body signified a posi-tion of power—real resistance to Victori-an beauty ideals that had turned women, according to Cocks, into “idiots.” She asserted that the modern, slender woman could “win championships, follow careers, run industries.” As women’s dieting went increasingly mainstream, female slenderness was also allied to conservative messages. Good wives stayed thin by homemaking, and in boorish disjunctive reasoning, being overweight meant a woman was lazy and a “bad” homemaker. The Fun of Getting Thin, an early diet advice book, con-

cluded, “A fat man is a joke; and a fat woman is two jokes—one on herself and the other on her husband.” This disturbing rationale did not replace suffragettes’ messages of empow-erment through dieting, just complicated the goal. A thin woman should bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and burn a few calories while doing so.

Diets Not Stays

Trends in bust, waist, and hip size fluctu-ated over subsequent decades, reflecting

women’s perceived roles in society. For in-stance, when the nuclear family of the 1950s was the norm, and women were pushed to be mothers, Marilyn Monroe had the figure to emulate. Through the sixties, with rising feminism and the sexual revolution, there was Twiggy and Jane Fonda, Weight Watchers, and Diet Pepsi. Yet the impulse to diet and model one’s body after cover girls—from Gibson

Girls to Gisele—wasn’t strategically foisted upon women to consume their energy and diminish their power as many modern feminists assert. “Its liberating potential,” writes Vester, “was limited by the familiar process in which cultural revolts become co-opted.” Dieting, once a revolutionary act, became just one more way for women to model trends. And, as Vester concludes, “The disciplinary regimen of social control from without—through fashion, restricted mobility, and corsets—morphed into a dietary regimen of self-control from within.” In dieting, women internalized the corset and took hold of the strings. Culture simply sold them on the proper measurements. n

Vester, trim women were attacked in news-papers and magazines as bad mothers, a danger to their unborn children, irrespon-sible, and unpatriotic. Nevertheless, women’s magazines were beset by readers with a steadily increasing interest in dieting. Editors responded with scolding. The 1878 diet advice and beauty guide, How to be Plump, taught women how to pack on the pounds, while their husbands, fathers, and sons struggled to do the opposite. In the 1880s, Scientific American explained “body fat is feminine” and Harper’s Weekly counseled “leanness in the fairer sex is a dreadful evil.” While male bodybuilders bared pecs and biceps for students of physical culture, sex god-dess Lillian Russell topped 200 pounds at the height of her career. Big was beautiful.But heftiness didn’t exhibit power the way that dieting did for men. Vester gives a nod to why women diet today, “Women diet because they gain something by doing so.”

Suffragettes, Bloomers, and Diets

In the late nineteenth century, while popular culture endorsed female body

fat, feminists took up the mantle of diet. Elizabeth Cady Stanton endorsed un-corsetted women who trained with early women’s physical trainer Diocletian Lewis. Stanton herself famously went on a diet in the 1880s. Many middle-class women took up dress reform as a fashionable cause, rejecting the corset and depending on exercise to shape their bodies. By 1886, the Boston Daily Globe reported dieting had become THE craze among women. In 1891, Harper’s Bazaar panned the efforts of women to emancipate themselves through slenderness. Yet The Well Dressed Woman, in 1892, offered a fashion profile, endorsing a woman’s shape sans corset. Trimness began to be

idealized. Women’s universities, which decades-earlier had adopted physical activity to counteract the damage of “brain-work” by women, were in the 1890s offering physical education for general health. Finally, the Ladies’ Home Journal, which fought the turn toward dieting for decades, relented, writing in

1897 “a woman can be as stout or as slender as she desires.” At the same time that suf-fragettes were gaining political momentum, Charles Dana Gibson’s Gibson Girl came to embody iconic American beauty. Throughout the 1890s and decades into the new century, the tall, slender, broad-shouldered Gibson Girl was often depicted taking part in a fashion-

able athletic activity, like golf, tennis, or boating. By 1900, real-life women suffragettes donned bloomers that made bicycling and other activities far more manageable. Corsets were replaced by girdles—the predecessor of today’s Spanx.

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

For more on how twentieth-century dieting trends reflected women’s political and social power, read American’s online exclusive interview with Katharina Vester at www.american.edu/americanmagazine.

1899: A lack of doctors willing and able to treat obesity was quickly filled by quacks and unproven fat-busting remedies.

1907: According to Vogue, women’s sports had become fashionable—and still required the stylized accoutrement of full-length skirts and hats.

1902: Bernarr Macfadden founds Physical Culture, featuring himself on the cover. He publicized his weight training program with naked photos of himself—resulting in repeated obscenity charges.

1901: Newspapers and men’s magazines were packed with ads touting scientific means to burn fat and build muscle.

1910: With fewer middle-class families able to afford live-in servants, homemaking was increasingly seen as an avenue for women’s fulfillment—and, with the exercise it entailed, slenderness.

1910: “The Cure Consumer,” New York Times Magazine, January 16, 1910, mocked those who jumped from fad to fad—fat-reducing abdominal belts, muscle stretching, breathing exercises. The cult of the body had become a male obsession.

1921: Dubbed by Bernarr Macfadden the “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Clown,” circus clown Otto Griebling advertised his weight training lesson booklets in comic books and boys’ magazines.

1921: A year after ratification of the 19th Amendment and women’s voting rights, a September 1, 1921, article in the Chicago Tribune, “Throw Corsets Away to Keep Doctors Away,” claimed women had become more interested in work and sports than in their “hearts and appearance.”

1900

19201910

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Say CheeSe

Say CheeSe

“When you taste a good cheese there’s usually layer after layer after layer of different things happening in your mouth,” Wills, SIS/BA ’76, says. “Because it’s a living food it’s constantly developing. It’s a comfort food. It’s an ancient food. It’s a complex food.” Nestled about an hour northwest of Madison in the idyllic hills and pastures of Plain, Wisconsin, Cedar Grove factory has been churning out cheese since 1878. More than a century later Wills and his wife, Beth, took a leap of faith, purchasing the factory from her father. In the ensuing years Wills has transformed the business into one of the most environmentally friendly, palate-pleasing cheese manufacturers in the country. “Bob Wills has two of the best qualities a cheese maker can possess: skill and creativity,” says Jeanne Carpenter, a self-described “cheese geek” who writes the blog Cheese Underground. “He isn’t afraid to take risks. The first time I spotted his smoked salmon and dill cheddar, I thought he was nuts. Then I tried it. That cheese has gone on to win awards and be used in recipes by famous chefs across the country, all because Bob asked himself, ‘What if?’” Self-examination has been a staple of Wills’s personality throughout his 57 years. Growing up outside Milwaukee he became interested in international

development issues, which led him to Washington, D.C., and the School of International Service. “I think my experience at AU, having access to Congress, doing internships while I was there, has had a huge impact on everything I’ve done since,” he

says. “But somewhere along the way I concluded that I didn’t understand my own country well enough to mess around with somebody else’s.” After attending graduate school at the University of Chicago, Wills decided he didn’t like the way the faculty thought about economics, so he finished his PhD at the University of Wisconsin, where he also earned a law degree. When his wife’s parents decided to sell the cheese-making business they’d owned since 1946, Wills questioned himself once again. “I thought about it and I said, ‘What was the job I liked best?’” he recalls. “I’d

worked as a janitor during a summer, and I liked it because I saw what I’d done at the end of the day. In some ways manufacturing has the same kind of feel to it.” Like Swiss cheese, Wills’s knowledge of the business had many, many holes. But

he served a sort-of apprenticeship under his father-in-law and slowly began to reshape the company. Green initiatives were among his early priorities. Traditionally, cheese making involves the use of animal enzymes, but Cedar Grove became the first company in the nation to label its cheese free of synthetic growth hormones. They don’t use any genetically modified products, relying instead on vegetarian enzymes.

“Everybody said you can’t do that and make good cheese, but we keep winning awards with it,” Wills says. In 2000 he shelled out nearly a quarter-million dollars for the installation of a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment system. Dirty water from the factory is piped into a nearby greenhouse where plants naturally filter 7,000 gallons each day. At the end of the complex process clean water is returned to a nearby creek. “When I was at AU I worked for [former Senator] Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day,” Wills says.

By Mike UngerBob Wills's factory sits across the street from the house where he raised his family.

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“It got ingrained in me to think about the ways water is used. Also, I live across the street from the marsh, so when it’s clean I’m happy.” The use of fresh, natural ingredients is vital to making tasty cheese. Every day 160,000 to 180,000 pounds of fresh milk from the 30 Wisconsin farms Wills works with arrive at Cedar Grove. “It starts with the grass,” he says. “The health of the animals is important. We make a lot of cheeses from cows that are only on pastures. We’re operating on a small enough scale that we have a lot of control and flexibility.” After going through the pasteurizer, a cocktail of bacteria is added to the cheese to give it flavor. Enzymes are added to make the milk thicken. When it’s the consistency of pudding or Jell-O, it’s cut into cubes then heated to separate the whey from the curd. Roughly a pound of cheese is produced from every 10 pounds of milk. Cedar Grove sells 30,000 pounds of curds a week in the summer. A Wisconsin delicacy, curds are small, round, un-aged cheese nuggets with an almost rubbery texture. They can squeak when chewed. The curds that aren’t sold are pressed, shaped, and packaged for aging (at 36 to 38 degrees). The entire process takes about seven or eight hours, meaning Cedar Grove can produce 3.5

million pounds of cheese a year. It’s shipped to virtually every state and also used in products like snack foods, frozen pizzas, and even baby food. In May Wills broke ground on Clock Shadow Creamery, a smaller factory in Milwaukee that will produce 700 to 800 pounds per day of fresh cheeses, like ricotta, and host an apprenticeship program.

“Bob Wills is the incubator of new cheeses and a champion for new cheese makers in Wisconsin,” Carpenter says. “He is one of a handful of cheese plant owners who rents out space to other cheese makers and who partners with dairy farmers to make custom cheese from their milk. Wills made the decision to open his plant 11 years ago to share knowledge with up-and-coming cheese makers, despite the risks of competition and

confidentiality issues. Because of this willingness to help grow the industry, Wills has helped at least a dozen beginning cheese makers and dairy farmers launch their own cheese brands, including arguably the most famous cheese to ever come from Wisconsin: Pleasant Ridge Reserve of Uplands Cheese, a triple best of show winner at the American Cheese Society.”

Wills credits camaraderie and friendly competition for the dramatic upswing in the quality of Wisconsin cheese. He calls the last decade “the most exciting time I can remember in terms of creativity and technological advancement. “Consumers have gotten so curious about what we’re doing, we can be aggressively experimental,” he says. “It’s innovate or die.” At Cedar Grove that spirit has led to the creation of artisanal 18-month aged cheddar, goat and sheep’s milk

cheeses, and water buffalo mozzarella that is sweet, clean, and rich. It’s also motivated Wills to continue asking himself, what’s next? “I probably would have made more as an economist, and I definitely would have made more as a lawyer,” he says. “But I train people, I give farmers an opportunity to get value for their milk, I make customers really happy when they have a bite to eat. It’s a pretty nice life.” n

“The first time I spotted

his smoked salmon and dill

cheddar, I thought he was

nuts. Then I tried it.”

Just five miles separated the Zecchinelli home in Barre, Vermont, from Berlin, where the iconic eatery opened in 1918. On the way young Brian’s mouth would water as he anticipated the first bite of a juicy hamburger, made then as is it now from fresh locally ground beef. His mom usually ordered the tripe. “We batter it and deep fry it, and we still serve it to this day,” says Zecchinelli, 52, who switched sides of the counter in 1998. “Some people have been coming here their whole lives, but this place is about so much more than food.” Ever since Effie Ballou opened the Wayside on a dirt road near a trolley route, it’s been a gathering place for politicians, working folks, and everyone else who appreciates delicious down home cooking. “When my husband and I first got married in ’58 we used to go there for breakfast,” says Pat Mercier, a seven-visits-a-week regular. “We’d have breakfast so we could sleep a little later before mass. The waitresses get so they

know you. The moment you come in they’ll bring you your coffee, and they’ll tell me right off if they don’t have blueberry muffins, because I love blueberry muffins.” In 1966 Eugene and Harriet Galfetti bought the Wayside from its second owners, the Fish family. Their daughter, Karen, started working there in 1974, and for years one of her customers was Zecchinelli, Kogod/MS ’85. But the two didn’t formally meet until 1992, when both served on a local chamber of commerce board. They married four years later, and when Karen’s brother Peter followed love to Boston, the couple bought the business from her parents. “People do think of it as a diner, because there is a 12-seat counter,” Zecchinelli says. “But it’s evolved into a pretty comprehensive restaurant with everything from eggs and bacon

to beautiful salmon specials, oysters, and clams.” The Wayside officially opens at 6:30 a.m., but those at the door by a quarter past six are seated and treated to complimentary buttermilk doughnut holes. One of the most popular breakfast specials is the Cackleberry—two farm fresh eggs and toast made daily in the Wayside’s bakery. It’ll set you back 99 cents. “It’s very reasonable for a family and especially retired people like us,” Mercier says. “I don’t know where you can get dinner for two people for under $20. I can’t even cook at home for that. And they have the best scallops around—I don’t care. Even your fancy restaurants’ aren’t as good.” Specials are a staple. Each day there are at least four, including the Vermont (a country cooking classic like casserole) and the Traveler’s (seafood, steak, or pork chops).

“Yankee cooking at its best,” declared the New York Times, which especially enjoyed the universally beloved salt pork and milk gravy, “an old-timer’s dream and a nutritionist’s nightmare.” No matter what you order, chances are it comes from a farm nearby. “We deal with a dozen [farmers] on a very large scale, and another dozen folks just come through the back door and have something special they think our customers would enjoy,” Zecchinelli says. “The back door’s always open to farmers, growers, and gatherers.” At its core the Wayside is an extension of your own kitchen table: a place to enjoy honest food surrounded by the people you love. “We’re blessed to be carrying the ball forward,” Zecchinelli says. “We aren’t going to let any of our predecessors down.” n

It’s a pilgrimage New Englanders have made for generations. As a boy Brian Zecchinelli’s parents would load him into the Dodge Aspen for a monthly trip to one of the family’s favorite restaurants: the Wayside.

‘Yankee Cooking At Its Best’

cedar Grove cheesewww.cedargrovecheese.com

By Mike Unger

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from “Dr. Claw Versus Johnny Law,”www.mademan.com

“Both by my estimation and his own, Dr. Claw, a self-described ‘lobstah pushah,’ does things that are interesting, not wrong. Sometimes, though, the interesting things he does happen to be illegal. That includes boiling and preparing lobster rolls in a small nautical-themed apart-ment kitchen and selling them on the streets of Brooklyn without the proper city inspections and paperwork.”

B aylen Linnekin thinks you should be able to buy, sell, or consume pretty much

any kind of food you want. That’s why the soft-spoken Washington College of Law ’09 graduate founded the new advocacy group Keep Food Legal. “We’re dedicated to the proposition that people have a right to grow, raise, buy, sell, cook, and eat the foods of their own choosing,” Linnekin, CAS/BA ’97, says of his nonpartisan organization. “There are plenty of people telling people what to eat or what not to eat. That’s not our gig. We’re about defending everyone’s right to make those choices on their own.” When it comes to equal-opportunity eating, Linnekin lives the brand: over the course of a weekend at a spring confer-ence in Chicago he ate sweetmeats and oysters and generally indulged in high-end dining. On the trip home he feasted on a quarter-pounder with cheese (and yes, he had fries with that). That night’s dinner: a Twinkie. Good thing he runs and works out three days a week at the AU fitness center. His typical lunch, though, is half a sandwich with some seltzer water.

For Linnekin, memories of his forma-tive years in Beverly, Massachusetts, are mixed with food—baking cookies and bread with his mom, reading comic books over toast and eggs at a pharmacy lunch counter. “When I was starting law school I was trying to figure out how can I devote myself to something I care about deeply and the more I thought about it I figured, ‘Wow, I really love to cook and eat, and I care about this issue deeply. And it turns out that there are a lot of people coming from all sides who are trying to squelch what chefs can cook with, what people can purchase in the store, what farmers can raise, and how they can raise it. And there really isn’t a grassroots membership orga-

nization that’s dealing with this.’ So the more I thought about it, I thought,

‘Bingo, there’s my calling.’” The cook, food writer, and food libertarian who sees the creative art of cooking stifled by regula-

tions he thinks are killing both tradition and innovation asks,

“Who’s fighting back? We are. Keep Food Legal is.” In constitutional law classes—in ad-dition to his degree from WCL he earned

a master of laws in agricultural and food law at the University of Arkansas School of Law—“I saw that . . . one needn’t look too closely to see that a large part of modern jurisprudence—much of it based on Supreme Court decisions that I not-so-humbly argue were decided incorrectly—comes from cases that deal with things like growing wheat, selling a milk substitute, and regulations impacting bakeries . . . Seeing food’s key role in shaping the Court’s thinking was an eye opener.” It was while studying law in Arkansas that Linnekin discovered another eye opener. There he encountered the quaint practice of cow-sharing. Buying raw milk is generally illegal in Arkansas, but consumers get around that inconvenience by buying a share in a cow, which entitles them to free raw milk. Attending a spring Capitol Hill rally to protest an FDA raid of an Amish farmer who sold unpasteurized milk, Linnekin got to relive his Clinton country days and sip some of the forbidden beverage. “And I’m not a milk drinker,” he admits. “I don’t drink pasteurized milk or raw milk for the most part. I just never grew accustomed to it.” n

Keep Food Legalwww.keepfoodlegal.org

B y C h a r l e s S p e n c e r

Baylen Linnekin, executive director of Keep Food Legal, is coproducing a documentary with School of Communication professor Leena Jayaswal on food trucks and the underground restaurant scene.

from “Mopping up the raw-milk mob,”

May 13, 2011, Washington Times

“No one disputes that pasteurization helps kill harm-

ful pathogens. But where the FDA claims to see a

mountain, most states see a molehill. Nearly 25 years

after the FDA policy was instituted, just 11 states

ban raw milk within their own borders.”

from presentation given as part of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum Talks Series, Washington, D.C., January 2011

“[W]e all know food scolds go berserk over fast-food restaurants, and tend to believe that doing totally weird things to them will put a dent in obesity rates. What weird things? Things like exorcising crappy toys from Happy Meals—toys that kids lose or break in five minutes—will make the kids skinny.”

august 2011 19

Suggested Reading

• Mindless Eating,by Brian Wansink. The Cornell University professor is also a member of the Keep Food Legal board. How making small changes in your eating and diet can help you take off weight.

• Rum Punch & Revolution: Taverngoing & Public Life in Eighteenth Century Philadelphia,by Peter Thompson. The central place of taverns as a marketplace of ideas.

• Eating in America,by Waverly root. Highly recommended by Linnekin. He has an original copy.

• Books by Anthony Bourdain, whom Linnekin interviewed for his first real article in the area of food. Premise of the article: Bourdain seemed to have libertarian leanings on different issues. Was he a libertarian? Answer: no.

AmericanMagazine of American University August

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P litica Stew

Linnekin on Food Choices

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rolls. A dry, ropey chicken drumstick. We tried not to complain. We found other options after wandering the hospital corridors, at least when John could move around. We often ate Subway sandwiches. The sweet, yeast-tinged-with-preservatives smell that hits you a few yards from any Subway began to nauseate me. The store was actually in the hospital, so it was easy—and better than nothing. Occasionally, John and I would order Chinese. I doubt the hospital dietician would approve of the salt and sugar levels, so I snuck it in and hoped no one noticed the smell of broccoli with garlic sauce. One time I was caught, and said, “Oh, but it’s for me.” There was a Popeye’s and a KFC nearby; even though the fast-food chains were within walking distance of the hospital, navigating East Baltimore at 1 a.m. seemed like a death wish. I snuck in some fried chicken one day, with biscuits and gravy and mashed potatoes. That was a good day, but the questions lingered. How is this healthy? How is this what we have resorted to, after our days of cooking and eating well? We brushed it away: it was better than nothing. And that became our refrain. I guess this is better than nothing.

Back home, I shut down. After I had not returned several messages, my friend Lauren surprised me by stopping by my apartment. “I need to be alone,” I sputtered. She shut the door behind her anyway. “That’s fine,” Lauren said, pushing me out of the way. “But you need to eat,” she said. “I brought some lasagna.” She popped it in the microwave. I stood, staring at her, numb. “You. Sit. Eat,” she said. She looked over her wire-rimmed glasses until I did as I was told. She sat with me, in total silence, as I ate half of the lasagna. It had been so long since I had eaten anything

satisfying. The mozzarella, the peppers, the meat, the noodles: real food. “How about I bring some quiche tomorrow and you can take it to Baltimore? I bet John needs to put some weight on after all that hospital food,” she said. I was relieved that someone knew what to do. When I arrived in Baltimore a few days later, John was at home. He smiled a little when he saw I had brought food. His eyes focused, opening wide. “Food!” “Yes!” I said. He pre-heated his rickety oven. We set the table. The bacon, spinach and cheese quiche bubbled in the oven. I made a small salad. Despite appetites diminished from months of not eating, we devoured the meal.

The joy was short-lived. Back in the hospital, John was no longer a “good patient.” The hospital food did not help; if anything, it was a cruel joke. His steady diet of painkillers destroyed his appetite, but he knew his body needed food. John was young, and I was young, and pale food, pale people, and the smell of disinfectant surrounded us. We were supposed to be out with friends, drinking and eating our way through the glow of our late twenties. Now John was sick, weak, in pain, and trapped in a hospital where experts admitted they could not diagnose the infection consuming him. I was watching the whole scene unfold, at arms’ length, stupidly impotent. I decided to cook.

The real relief was my belief that my lasagna was a cancer-fighting superhero. The lasagna—and I—would win. When researching cancer-fighting foods, one Web site told me that garlic “appear[s] to increase the activity of immune cells that fight cancer and indirectly help

break down cancer-causing substances. These substances may also help block carcinogens from entering cells and slow tumor development.” Garlic can fight tumors. I cheered. Then, I learned that mushrooms have a protein that can attack cancerous cells and possibly prevent them from multiplying. This lasagna has one pound of mushrooms. This will stop the growth, too. I read elsewhere that tomatoes have high levels of antioxidants, which may fight free radicals and cell damage. And cooking tomatoes strengthens these powers. This lasagna will fix everything. I missed the qualifiers in that research. Magical thinking told me I could save John.

On the days I cooked, the smell of softened onions and garlic mellowed in warmed olive oil filled the rooms. The sauce always overflowed the cast-iron skillet, but I believed the extra iron the sauce absorbed would strengthen John. Tomato sauce spattered the walls. My fingertips stung from garlic and tomato soaking into the knife nicks and my raw, gnawed-on cuticles burned. But I could feel that pain and that, too, quieted the panic. The apartment smelled like it was a place where people were healthy and comforted. Sometimes I still like to believe the lasagna is what saved him. In fact, it was the infectious diseases team that diagnosed him with the bone infection and found the right intravenous antibiotics. Within a week of treatment, John began to laugh again. He spent that summer in our garden, weeding and pruning. We had the best tomatoes, green beans and zucchini we have ever had.

Creative Nonfiction (www.creativenonfiction.org) is published quarterly. Each issue features long-form essays, notes on craft, and interviews with writers and editors. Subscription information is available at www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/subscribe.htm. A one-year subscription is $32.

Nurses would bring John a menu on a half-sheet and a golf pencil so he could circle the options he wanted, though some were crossed out depending on the ward and your illness. John was on the thoracic ward. Most of the patients were frail old men with lung cancer. John was in his late twenties. No exceptions were made when an item was crossed out for that ward. “Can’t I get the eggs and bacon? Please?” John begged the nurses. “Nope.” “But I’m only on this ward because my surgeon is a thoracic surgeon! I have an infection!” “Sorry.” What would arrive was usually white or gray, served on tan melamine plates, placed on a beige elementary-school cafeteria tray. Styrofoam-flavored dinner

When I met John, we both worked at nonprofit organizations. We were underpaid, we found cheap happy hours and restaurants, and we did what we could with inexpensive groceries. He always saw it as a challenge: “What can I do with half a chicken, mustard, spinach, and Rice-a-Roni?”

We scrimped our paltry salaries for the occasional fancy dinner, having researched the best restaurants in D.C.—the ones where people whispered about the chef ’s magic.

We quit our jobs and began grad school. He moved to Baltimore and I stayed in D.C. The fancy dinners stopped, but we still cooked. That year, however, John noticed his neck tightening, his left arm going numb, his shoulders off-center. Seven years earlier, he had been treated for a benign tumor in his chest called a desmoid. He began to worry. Another tumor was now growing at the place where the arm joins to the shoulder and connects nerves, muscles, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels. The surgeon said removing the tumor would be better than chemotherapy or radiation. Days later, he had to go back into surgery because “something was wrong.” For the next few months, John was admitted and released over and over. John was wasting away and no one could do anything.

In her prize-winning essay, Heather McDonald, MFA ’07, shows how food and life are inextricably bound in our memories. The former Food & Wine intern, who was four years old when she tasted her first casserole—comfort food family friends provided after the death of her grandfather—won $1,000 as Creative Nonfiction’s first prize for best essay about food. Not bad for her first published work. McDonald is a writing instructor in AU’s College of Arts and Sciences’ literature department. What follows is a condensed version of her essay, published in Creative Nonfiction’s June issue.

How to Fix e v e r y t h i n g

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“One student told me, ‘they’re trying to poison us,’” says Anastasia Snelling, a professor in AU’s Department of Health and Fitness, who’s been working at Kelly Miller since 2009 as part of Community Voices for Health. “Here’s this delicious, healthy food, and kids won’t even touch it.”

The “nutrition lady,” as Snelling’s affectionately known at Kelly Miller, had her work cut out for her.

Navigating Nutritional

WASTeLANDSLocated in Lincoln Heights, just east of the Anacostia

in northeast Washington, Kelly Miller is just blocks shy of what social scientists, policy makers, and health advocates have dubbed a “food desert.”

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a food desert is a low-income census tract where at least 33 percent of residents live more than a mile from the nearest supermarket. Case in point: Ward 7, the second poorest ward in Washington, has just two Safeway stores. Located on either end of the ward, neither is within walking distance for many of the 70,000 people who live in the neighborhood.

What they lack in big box retail, however, communities like Ward 7 make up for with corner stores: mom and pop operations that offer high-calorie snack food, cigarettes, alcohol, canned goods, and a limited selection of fresh produce. (A 2008 report by the Food Research and Action Center found that, of 21 corner stores in Wards 7 and 8, only one offered apples.) And while fresh food is scarce, fast food is abundant: Ward 7 has one farmers’ market and 13 fast food outlets.

According to the USDA, 10 percent of the 65,000 census tracts in the United States are food deserts. Of the 13.5 million people in these areas, the majority—82 percent—live in urban areas like northeast Washington. (Locally, the problem is even more pronounced in Maryland’s Prince George’s County.)

Typically, food insecurity—the lack of or inability to purchase nutritious food—is just one on a long list of social ills that mar poor neighborhoods. Unemployment is high and median household income is low, as is educational achievement. At Kelly Miller, only 19 percent of students read at grade level and 18 percent pass math proficiency.

Obesity, paradoxically linked with hunger, is also on the rise in these communities, as are diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases. According to a 2010 report by the D.C. Department of Health, 40 percent of adults in Ward 7 are obese, compared to 22 percent, citywide. Nearly 42 percent of adults in Ward 7 suffer from high blood pressure and almost 14 percent are diabetic.

The link between diet, exercise, and health is well documented. And there’s no question that in food deserts like Ward 7—which ranks last in fruit and vegetable consumption in Washington—access to fresh produce, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, and other staples of a well-balanced diet is limited.

But, as Kelly Miller students’ preference for grease over greens indicates, access, alone, doesn’t guarantee people will make healthful choices.

“Researchers study, in very sophisticated terms, a single variable: access. But the solution here is multifaceted,” says

5WARD 3

9WARD 7

4

As students descended on the cafeteria at Kelly Miller Middle School in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 7 last year, they were met with a shocking sight. Gone were the burgers and pizza, replaced by whole grain pasta and farm-fresh fruits and vegetables. The lighter, healthier menu—prepared from scratch at the D.C. Central Kitchen—was the result of the Healthy Schools Act of 2010, legislation that aims to fight hunger, obesity, and disease among Washington’s youth. The intention was good—but the reviews were not.

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Snelling, who teaches in AU’s School of Education, Teaching and Health. “Just because we build a supermarket doesn’t mean we’ve addressed how people in lower socioeconomic areas view the importance of nutrition.

“We have to increase access to healthy foods in places like Ward 7. But, more importantly, we have to educate and empower people to make the healthy choices, the right choices,” she continues. “The best solutions bubble up—they don’t parachute down.”

An Appetite for

LeARNINGThe District has been creative in

tackling the food desert dilemma. Although only two of the city’s 26 farmers’ markets are located east of the Anacostia, 15 now accept food stamps. And this summer, Washington’s first mobile market—a school bus powered by a blend of diesel and vegetable oil—will hit the streets, offering fresh, locally-grown produce from the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture.

Urban farms and community gardens are also sprouting up across the city.But, when the mobile market rolls through Lincoln Heights, peddling peaches and peppers, will residents bite?

Snelling’s scholarship around food deserts—what she calls “community-based participatory research”—is unusual, in that it looks beyond access, asking: can carrots and corn compete with Cheetos?

“It comes down to behavior modification,” she explains. “We have to work within the family, the school, and the community to change the culture of food.”

Now in her third year at Kelly Miller, where she pioneered the Community Voices for Health project, Snelling is doing just that.

“Education and health care are the two big social issues of our time and we’ve done little to work on them, simultaneously,” she says. “Healthier students are better learners so, for us, the school was the obvious place to start.”

Community Voices in Health began with the five-week Kids Take Action project, during which sixth graders

learned about public policy, nutrition, and fitness. Students wrote letters to President Obama and other legislators, sharing their ideas for improving access to healthy foods and safe play spaces in their neighborhoods. They also created songs, skits, poems, and posters promoting exercise and healthy eating and designed a community garden for the school, planting strawberries, beans, and basil in six raised beds.

“It’s an empowerment tool,” says Snelling of the green space. “I can show the kids the food pyramid or we can go down to their garden and grow some strawberries.”

Next, Snelling and her team of grad students turned their attention to Kelly Miller’s 40 teachers and staff, helping them integrate health and nutrition lessons into the learning standards for math, language arts, science, and social studies. In math class, for instance, kids calculate the volume of a box of Cheerios; in social studies, they learn about the gardens maintained by slaves on southern plantations.

Snelling also encouraged the teachers—some of whom, like the students, expressed a preference for cafeteria pizza—to act as healthy role models. “We told them the same thing we told the kids: ‘just try it,’” says Snelling of the healthier lunchroom offerings.

Now, armed with a $95,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente, Snelling is focusing on the Kelly Miller parents: a critically important but difficult-to-capture group.

Teachers and staff can monitor what kids eat at school, but when the afternoon bell rings, all bets are off. Snelling says parents need to model healthy behavior for their children, in order to change

the culture of food in neighborhoods where SpaghettiOs are more plentiful than spinach.

Although the real work will get underway when school starts in the fall, parents—about one-quarter of whom met with Snelling during parent-teacher conferences in May—have expressed an interest in cooking and stress management classes, a walking club, and a job fair. Thanks to the money from Kaiser, Snelling will also offer a variety of health screenings.

“We have to look at the whole person,” she says. “What do they want and need to live a healthier life?”

Harnessing the

SuPeRMARKeT’S POWeRConsumers base their food

choices on four criteria: taste, cost, convenience, and nutrition. When a working mom goes to the McDonald’s drive-thru for dinner, she’s put convenience at the top of the list; when a shopper opts for conventional strawberries over the organic version, he’s likely based his decision on cost.

Not surprisingly, nutrition is often an afterthought.

And while it’s easier to put nutrition atop the list when cost is less of a concern—call it the Whole Foods effect—Snelling is adamant that it’s possible to eat healthy on a budget. “It’s not easy. You have to learn the skill of cooking and the skill of shopping, but it’s possible,” she says.

Navigating the grocery store, with shelves stocked with products promising low-fat, high fiber, and gluten-free, might be the trickier skill to master. That’s why Snelling, along with AU marketing professor Anusree Mitra and public administration and policy professor Taryn Morrissey, is undertaking a study of front-of-the-package marketing at Safeway in Ward 7.

The research, funded by an AU grant, is significant for two reasons. First, most studies of food packaging have been conducted in high-income areas; second, research on food deserts focuses almost exclusively on corner stores—likely because independent grocers are more autonomous and more prevalent than large chains.

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26 american26 american august 2011 27

“A lot of the health disparities that people have now are because of lack of access to

healthy fruits and vegetables,” says Chris Mittelstaedt, Kogod/BSBA ’91. He’s trying to change that.

Mittelstaedt is founder, CEO, and chief banana of the San Francisco–based vending machine alternative, The Fruit Guys. The business, which Mittelstaedt launched during the heydays of the dot-com bubble, was first geared toward coders and techies whose waistlines expanded as they pumped caffeine to get through long shifts. Mittelstaedt found his niche replacing chocolate-covered espresso beans and Jolt with kumquats and avocados.

Now operating from four hubs nationally, the Fruit Guys offers subscriptions of locally-grown produce to clientele including high-end businesses, local plumbers, public schools, and commuters who trek home with their weeks’ fruit, veggies, and recipes in cardboard, produce-hauling briefcases.

Good health is central, but the Fruit Guys’ mission is broader. Mittelstaedt thinks back to his entrepreneurship class with Kogod professor Richard Linowes and repeats a grounding life and business tenet Linowes planted in his mind: “He asked, ‘What are you doing that makes you a vital contributor?’” Mittelstaedt adds, “I’ve thought about that throughout the rest of my career. A lot.”

Over time, Mittelstaedt and the Fruit Guys brand became deeply linked to the causes of small agriculture and nutrition. The terms advocacy and stewardship flow as freely from Mittelstaedt as discussions of the bottom line.

The Fruit Guys searches for suppliers among farmers living on less than 100 acres, believing those who make their homes there will “tend to take better

care of the land and be willing to be good stewards.” The company runs a farm stewardship program, installing beehives as pollination aids and bat boxes to control moth and mice populations naturally. They were part of a successful statewide petition of the California Department of Food and Agriculture to opt for sustainable methods in eradicating invasive moths. The Fruit Guys runs multiple community projects, including donations to Philadelphia’s Philabundance, San Francisco’s St. Anthony’s Foundation, and the Chicago

Food Depository. They are even working with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and donated a year’s worth of produce to three low-income families living in Los Angeles’ food deserts to highlight the issue of food access.

At a time when many similarly mission-driven nonprofits are now operating businesses for new funding streams, Mittelstaedt explains, “We’ve done it the other way around.” n

the Fruit Guyswww.fruitguys.com

“But the fact is, I can reach more people at Safeway than at the corner store,” says Snelling. “Large supermarkets should be the leaders in educating consumers about point-of-purchase food choices.”

Last month, Snelling and her team began surveying consumers about their shopping habits, food preferences, and the ways in which marketing claims influence their purchases. They’ll use the data to craft “interventions” aimed at helping shoppers make healthier choices. If, for example, someone buys a gallon of

whole milk, the register will spit out a coupon for a free gallon of skim.

Snelling also plans to organize cooking demonstrations at Safeway, preparing a healthy dinner using six sale items. “If I have 30 minutes, I’d rather teach people to cook on a budget, engaging them in skill building around food preparation, than drill them down about their blood pressure,” she says.

Nudging Kids Toward

THe SALAD BARWord of Snelling’s work is spreading.In June, she was approached by the

USDA’s Economic Research Service to use behavioral economics-based strategies—a new trend in nutrition and health promotion—to coax students at Kelly Miller to make better food choices. The $20,000 to $30,000 grant, currently pending approval by the Office of Management and Budget, will allow Snelling to tweak the cafeteria layout, experimenting with things like plate size and food placement. The goal: to nudge kids to

make smarter selections by changing the way their options are presented.

Previous research conducted by the Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs at Cornell University revealed that, giving foods more descriptive names—“creamy corn,” for example—increased sales by 27 percent. Also, when researchers put apples and oranges in a fruit bowl rather than a stainless steel pan, fruit sales more than doubled.

Although USDA has funded similar research at 15 colleges and universities, Snelling’s grant is the first in Washington.

“It’s exciting that USDA wants to roll up its sleeves in its own backyard, and I’m glad AU can be a part of that,” says Snelling, who will collect pilot data at Kelly Miller and other D.C. schools in the fall, and hopes to implement similar strategies in lunchrooms across Washington next year.

“Access is one thing, but when you get kids engaged, that’s when change happens,” she continues. “This is where the rubber meets the road.” n

“Over my 40 years” in the field “I’ve never seen a time quite as troubling as now,” said Lynn Brantley, president and CEO of the CAFB, which will distribute about 30 million pounds of food this year.

Half of that food will be fresh produce, part of a push by the food bank to provide nutritious meals to those in need.

But less than a year before it moves to a new facility that will more than double its storage capacity and greatly expand the services it can provide, CAFB finds itself in the unprecedented position of launching an emergency $1 million campaign to help pay for that produce.

Otherwise, for the first time in the food bank’s history, it will have to charge its member agencies a 10-cent- per-pound fresh produce fee, a move Brantley acknowledges will severely

strain the local organizations that depend on it for food. Many of those organizations are reporting a 30 to 100 percent increase in demand for food during the past couple years.

Brantley describes the emergency situation as a “perfect storm” of rising demand and skyrocketing costs, with the food bank’s transportation and food costs jumping 30 percent in the past three months.

THe FACe OF HuNGeRWho are the people who depend

on the food the CAFB and its member agencies provide? Increasingly, they are members of the middle class squeezed by unemployment, high housing costs, and a stalled economy, Brantley said.

But in the main they are poor. In the Washington, D.C., area, where one in six residents is at risk of experiencing

The need is staggering. The Capital Area Food Bank, which serves more than 700 D.C.-area hunger-relief organizations like food pantries, kitchens, and shelters, helps feed 478,000

area residents—a 25 percent increase since 2006.

Barry Scher, SPA ’65, vice chair of the Capital Area Food Bank, at the organization’s warehouse in Washington, D.C.

AmericanMagazine of American University August

FOOD IN AMERICA28 american

30 american

hunger, 78 percent of all households served by the CAFB have incomes of less than $35,000 per year.

Need is growing, Brantley notes, precisely at the time when Congress is proposing $800 million in cuts to nutrition programs.

FOOD FOR KIDSNationally, 26.5 million children under

age 18 are at risk of suffering from hunger.One in five children in the

metropolitan area is at risk of experiencing hunger—a figure that jumps to one out of two children under age 18 in the District of Columbia, according to U.S. Census figures.

That need is addressed by one of CAFB’s most important initiatives, the Food for Kids program, which serves all of D.C., Northern Virginia, and Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland.

Kendra Rowe Salas, SIS/MA ’04, director of Food for Kids, manages a 12-person team. Through the Kids Café, her program serves about 60 community sites, or about 1,800 children per day. The Weekend Bag Program, which provides children with food for the weekend, serves 1,500 children through 35 community sites.

The Kids Café Program has three coordinators for each region, one of whom is Marie Morse, SPA/MPA ’11. The former Peace Corps volunteer, who had also worked part time at the food bank, is the Food for Kids program associate and volunteer coordinator for Northern Virginia, working mostly with 30 Kids Café sites in Northern Virginia.

For Sarah Lieberman, Kogod ’05, a senior account executive at LM&O Advertising in Arlington, Virginia, helping raise funds for such programs is one of the most satisfying parts of her job. Lieberman is now putting together a brochure to help get the word out about the food bank’s variety of services. And her firm has also provided pro bono help to develop the brand identity for the food bank’s annual Blue Jean Ball, a major fund raiser.

A FIRM FOuNDATIONRunning a food bank is labor

intensive. Donations often come from the back of the pantry, and so volunteers—the food bank depends in part on the work of 14,000 of them—must inspect every box, can, and jar for expiration dates and swollen seams.

Once that’s done, everything must be sorted and shelved so that agencies can find what they need.

That kind of front-line commitment is as essential as having a highly qualified professional staff. But just as important to a food bank’s success is a committed board of directors.

Deborah Flateman, CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, which covers the Maryland counties not served by the CAFB, agrees with the critical role an engaged, professional board of directors plays in making a food bank successful.

“This is a $38 million business,” Flateman said of the Maryland Food Bank. “That’s not like collecting food in a garage.” The Maryland organization distributed 18.6 million pounds of food to 800 soup kitchens, shelters, and other sites in fiscal 2010.

Also critical to success, Flateman said, is the relationship between the organization’s CEO and board chair. At the Maryland Food Bank, that’s Philip Andrews, WCL ’77. “There needs to be a strong relationship, with good communication,” she said. Andrews, who is finishing his first year as chair, is “totally committed to elevating our board

to the highest level. He’s got his eye on the horizon.”

“There’s actually a life to your board participation,” noted Shari Freedman, SIS ’82, the San Francisco Food Bank’s vice chairperson of the board. Freedman, who is also chief financial officer for Worldwise, praised the engagement and innovations of her food bank’s board while noting that it’s important to understand that a board member’s enthusiasm can undergo a life cycle. “You can bring a lot of enthusiasm, but you can get stale, too . . . I think it’s good for boards to get new blood and look at things differently.”

Certainly that’s been true at the CAFB, said longtime Giant VP and food bank board chair and member Barry Scher, SPA ’65. Ramping up the involvement of the board he counts as among the food bank’s most important achievements in recent years.

It also helps to have powerful friends, especially when you’re trying to raise millions of dollars for a new facility. And Scher, who is now a principal at Policy Solutions in D.C., has what the Washington Post once called the best Rolodex in Washington.

“I went out and got Abe Pollin, Bill Marriott, Don Graham—because I know them like that—to be cochairs of the capital campaign,” Scher said of the late philanthropist and Washington sports magnate, Marriott Corporation leader, and Washington Post Company chair. “They brought in millions of dollars.”

Funding for the $37 million building, which is paid for, came from a variety of sources. In addition to donations from the cochairs, William Conway Jr. of the Carlyle Group and his wife, Joanne, donated $5 million. The District of Columbia’s Department of Housing and Community Development gave $15.8 million, the federal government $3.1 million, the state of Maryland $1.8 million, and the Kresge Foundation $1 million.

NeW BuILDING, NeW PHASeThe 125,000-square-foot distribution

center at Puerto Rico Avenue is just down the road from the current building, an aging 48,000-square-foot warehouse, located in northeast D.C. The food bank also has a 12,000-square-foot distribution center in Lorton, Virginia. When the office and warehouse

operation is moved in May 2012, not only will warehouse capacity be expanded and bays added to make shipping and receiving food more efficient, but a commercial kitchen will allow preparation of food for Kids Café sites that lack kitchens.

“We want to try to be a hub for other food banks,” Brantley said. “We’ll take anything Feeding America [the national food bank umbrella group] has to offer, and bring that into the warehouse and then we’ll ship it out to other food banks. And then maybe we can get chicken from Virginia or Eastern Shore, Maryland, or maybe we can trade with somebody in Florida for fresh vegetables in the wintertime. It’ll give us a bargaining chip to work with other food banks so that we can pull in even more food.” n

Brantley describes the emergency situation as a

“PeRFeCT STORM” of rising demand and

skyrocketing costs

“THIS IS A $38 MILLION BuSINeSS,”

Flateman said of the Maryland

Food Bank.

august 2011 3130 american

32 american

Alumni news

34 Class Notables

36 News from Development and Alumni Relations

37 Class Notes

4 Alumni Foodies

www.american.edu/magazine

The class of 2011 enjoyed great fare and fellowship at this year’s Toast to Graduates, sponsored by AU's Alumni Association. More than 1,100 people attended the popular event held in the Katzen Arts Center. More photos can be seen on the Alumni Association’s Facebook and Flickr pages. Visit us at www.facebook.com/americanualum and www.flickr.com/americanualum.

august 2011 33

The Capital Area Food Bank was founded on January 15, 1980,

Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. But a vital point in its origin can

be traced a few years earlier to a future AU professor’s Yom Kippur fast.

During his third year at the University of Missouri–Kansas City law school, Richard Stack, now a professor in AU’s School of Communication, was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.

“The turning point for me towards the end of law school was a Yom Kippur fast, in which I was trying hard to pay attention to the rabbi but I was so hungry it was hard to do that,” Stack recalled. “Here I am studying the law of the land in the bread basket of the country, but it began to occur to me to ask why do some of us eat so well on the planet and others don’t. So I used my law school thesis to focus on that, to take a look at the legal, political, economic ramifications of food distribution. And that really propelled my journey.”

Stack ended up in Washington working for the World Hunger Education Service. Unfortunately, funding for his position dried up and he found himself unemployed.

About then two D.C.-area groups, the United Planning Commission and the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, were considering starting a food bank. By then Stack had begun associating with the interfaith group and had become an active member of the discussion.

“I became the point person for the group. Everybody else had jobs— I didn’t. I did the research, I did the legwork, I studied the other models, came back and reported to the group, and basically I was the natural person

to take the lead role when the grant proposals that I was writing started to be funded . . . So after a year of basically working in a voluntary capacity, I graduated to being the executive director.”

And so the Capital Area Food Bank was founded in what Stack called a “very funky” warehouse on Bladensburg Road in D.C.

“We started in a leaky warehouse, no pallet jacks, no forklifts, unloading trucks by hand. It was by the grit of our teeth that we began,” recalled Lynn Brantley, president and CEO of the CAFB, who was then on Stack’s staff.

In the beginning the food bank distributed a million pounds of food in one year to 90 agencies.

These days, it distributes 30 million pounds to 700 agencies.

The move into CAFB’s current building on Taylor Street, Northeast, Stack considers the crowning achievement of his tenure as executive director. And it was while at the food bank that he taught his first class at AU—a class called the Politics of Hunger. After leaving CAFB, Stack became the first chair of the DC Central Kitchen, which uses leftovers to feed thousands of folks while providing programs such as culinary training for the needy.

Guardian AngelsJust as vital to the food bank’s

founding was Barry Scher, SPA ’65. The longtime Giant Food VP, now a principal with Policy Solutions in D.C., joined the food bank in 1980 as a board member. He became vice chair three years ago, and before that was chair of the board for 10 straight years.

“Barry’s the undergirding, the heart of this place,” Brantley said.

“He’s always willing to jump in, always willing to help. And because of who he is he has such credibility. He started the Good Neighbor Campaign with Don Graham at the Washington Post; he opened the door for that.”

That campaign, which invited grocery customers to contribute food to the food bank, along with a donation coupon, raised about 300,000 pounds of food the first year. And the coupons allowed the food bank to build a direct-mail campaign. “We put the names into our database and now we’ve raised over $3 million just through our direct-mail campaigns. Barry Scher and Donald Graham are responsible for that.”

“He and Giant were the guardian angels of the program,” said Stack. “Safeway was very generous also, but Giant provided probably more food, more transportation support, people power, financing, funding, and Barry’s expertise in the local food industry. Sometimes people wouldn’t return my call as the director of the food bank, but they always returned Barry’s call.”

Other grocers have supported the food bank too, and Safeway’s Larry Johnson was one of the important supporters of the food bank during its founding. Indeed, the current chair, Greg TenEyck, is director of public affairs and government relations at Safeway. Dan Marett, a VP at Harris Teeter, is also a current board member.

As the food bank prepares to enter a new era, the institution remains a legacy of the vision of people like Scher and Stack and Brantley—and the staff and thousands of volunteers who have made the CAFB a vital source of food for people who would otherwise go hungry. n

34 american

Diane Gelburd, CAS/PhD ’88

rowing up in the urban jungle surrounded by concrete and cabs, Diane Gelburd dreamt of a life filled with horses and hay.

“I thought people who lived on farms were the luckiest people in the world,” laughs the Bronx native. Years later, the city girl is living her country dream. A senior executive in the United States Department of Agri-culture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Gelburd and her fiancé own 500 acres in northern Louisiana, where they raise equine, cattle, and timber. Gelburd, who commutes to the farm once a month from Washington, enjoys training and halter-breaking her beloved mules, including three-month-old Millie. “I love working with the mules because they’re like overgrown puppy dogs,” she says of the animals, which are notoriously intel-ligent, curious, and even-tempered. “They get very attached to their trainers.” And while farm life has its challenges—including a recent infes-tation of army worms and extreme weather that’s brought floods to some parts of Louisiana and drought to others—Gelburd relishes her time in the country. “When I hear the cows mooing and the donkeys braying as I walk through the pastures, I think how fortunate I am to have the peace and serenity of the farm,” she says of her brood, which includes 350 cows, 25 equine, and a rescued emu. “I miss it when I’m back in D.C.” Even when she’s in the city, though, agriculture is always on her mind. As special assistant to the chief for Strategic Natural Resources Initiatives, Gelburd works on agricultural and environmental policy issues such as food safety, biomass crop production, water quality, and conservation. Recently, she led the Greater Sage-

Grouse Initiative, which protects the declining species’ habitat while ensuring the sustainability of ranches and farms in the west-ern United States. She’s now turning her attention to the Farm Bill, which is up for reauthorization in 2012.

G

In her 31 years with USDA, Gelburd’s worked in 11 states and on three continents. She says the work’s been as varied as the locale. “I’ve had opportunities from working with farmers and ranch-ers on the ground to leading thousands of employees and billions of dollars worth of conservation programs,” she says. “Public service is incredibly rewarding. The work is hard and the hours can be long, but it’s so satisfying to know that I’m working to improve the well-being of our country.”

—adrienne frank

Allison Sosna, SOC/BA ’07

s executive chef of contract foods with Fresh Start Catering and D.C. Central Kitchen (DCCK)—located in the country’s largest homeless shelter—Allison

Sosna’s duties go beyond dicing and slicing. When she’s not in the kitchen, Sosna is teaching her sous chef to use a computer so that he can further his career, meeting local farmers as they deliver the day’s produce, and helping kids discover new, healthy foods. “The idea is helping people through food,” she says. “It’s extremely fulfilling.” The social enterprise arm of DCCK, which serves 4,500 meals daily, Fresh Start Catering is staffed by graduates of its culinary job training program. Fresh Start, which partners with dozens of farms in the area, caters everything from business breakfasts to plated dinners. Its clients include nine area schools. “When I started with the schools, we made brussels sprouts,” Sosna recalls. “No one thought they would eat them, but I said, ‘We’re going to sell them as mini cabbages’ and sure enough, one of the kids said, ‘I love brussels sprouts.’ This sixth grader was sold. Just by making food accessible and cooking it correctly, you’re able to win kids over.”

Sosna, who’s been at DCCK for nearly three years, has seen the staff swell from seven to almost 50. Most of her responsibilities revolve around oversight of school food programs. Her goal: to “create a school food model that we can replicate and feed all the kids in D.C.” It was while studying abroad in Italy that Sosna chose her life’s work. “Italy shook me to the core, made me realize what I wanted to do. I had to figure out this food itch,” she says. Upon her return to D.C., Sosna volunteered—yes, volun-teered—at Chef Geoff ’s restaurant near AU. “I started going there one day a week, peeling carrots and hanging out,” she says. After graduation, she attended culinary school and spent several years working in fine dining. Through her work at popular Washington eateries, Sosna made lots of contacts, including Barton Seaver, a National Geographic fellow and D.C. chef who encouraged her to apply for the DCCK job. “The full circle of food that we get to see every day is what makes me tingle,” she says.

—traci crockett

Class notablesSO YOU CAN CATCH UP WITH PEOPLE YOU KNEW AT AU

august 2011 3

Diane Gelburd ’88

Allison Sosna ’07

A

Gelburd and three-month-old Millie

36 american

For more information or to make a gift, please visit www.giving.american.edu or call the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 202-885-5900.

news from development and alumni relations

Thanks for sending your news. E-mail your latest accomplishments to classnotes@american.edu.

—Traci Crockett, Class Notes Editor

1950 stanley Grogan, soc/bs, soc/Ma ’55, was featured in two books,

Voices from the Korean War and The Forgotten. Grogan flew two combat tours in Korea after being called to active duty while attending AU.

1957 alan clem, spa/Ma, spa/phd ’60, is still enjoying life, is retired,

plays golf several months of the year and watches classic movies. He has five children and five grandchildren.

1962 wynn lawry, cas/ba, married Nelson Lawry on May 1, 2010. She

divides her time between New Hampshire and Arizona.

1965 Valentine Fetisoff, cas/ba, is an inventor, mentioned in Who’s

Who of American Inventors, and the author of Moonlight, an audio book of romantic poetry published by Liberty Publishing House. He also is a singer and has produced three CDs and three cassette recordings. russmusicbooks@aol.com, www.russianmusicandmore.com

1966 warren Miller, spa/ba, chair-man of the U.S. Commission for

the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, was the keynote speaker at the Italian embassy’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, 2011, where he was knighted Com-mendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian

Republic by the president of the Republic of Italy. He was recognized for his accomplishments in negoti-ating 18 bilateral agreements with Europe and Eurasia on behalf of the U.S. govern-ment and for memorializing Holocaust sites in Europe. alison owings, soc/ba, published Indian Voices/Listening to Native

Americans, Rutgers University Press, based on twenty-first century oral histories. She also founded Don’t Tear It Down, now the D.C. Preservation League, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in April. www.alisonowings.com. libby york, spa/ba, a jazz vocalist with three award-winning CDs, will appear at An Die Musik in Baltimore, the Kitano New York City, and a venue in Washington, D.C. in the fall. www.libbyyork.com.

1967 Joan plaisted, sis/ba, sis/Ma ’69, was the senior advisor for Asia for

the United States at the 65th General Assembly session of the United Nations in New York. octavio portu, Kogod/bsba, was elected president of the Breck School Board of Trustees. He is a founding partner of Portu-Sunberg Marketing and Seasonal Specialities, both located in Minneapolis.

1969 sherrill cannon, cas/ba, pub-lished her third rhymed children’s

book, The Magic Word, and has had three chil-dren’s plays published by Lazy Bee Scripts this year. She appreciates the continued support she has received since graduation from her AU men-tor, William Stahr. www.sherrillcannon.com Mike durso, cas/Med, was elected to a four-year term on the Montgomery County, Md., Board of Education. Mike retired in June 2009 after 44 years in public education in Washington, D.C.; Arlington County, Va.; and Montgomery County, Md. He has been a high school principal for the last 27 years. elinore liebersohn Koenigsfeld, cas/ba, had an exhibit, “REFLECTIONS,” which includes

sculptures and digital prints based on sculptures, paintings, and photographs, at the Jerusalem Theatre, Jerusalem. She has been living in Israel for 40 years where she has taught art, designed educational computer software programs, written a series of children’s books, and had many per-manent museum exhibits. She and her husband, Uri, have two children and five grandchildren. www.elinoreart.com

Class notes

KEY TO THE SCHOOLS College of Arts and Sciences: CASKogod School of Business: Kogod, KSB

School of Communication: SOCSchool of International Service: SIS

School of Public Affairs: SPAWashington College of Law: WCL

Alison Owings ’66

august 2011 37

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Elinore Liebersohn Koenigsfeld ’69

John M. Couric, a wire service editor who said he gave up the “high priesthood of journalism” for a public relations career, in part to support a growing family that included the future televi-

sion journalist Katie Couric, died June 22 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. He was 90. His death, of complications from Parkinson’s disease, was confirmed by his daughter Katie, the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News” and co-host of NBC’s “Today Show” who is scheduled to start a daytime talk show for the ABC network. “I encouraged her to go into broadcasting because I thought it was more promising than print, having been in print myself,” John Couric, an Arlington resident, told The Washington Post in 1991. He covered Georgia politics and the state capitol for the Atlanta Constitution before joining the United Press wire service in the late 1940s. He reported from throughout the

South for UP, chronicling the rise of then-Gov. Herman Talmadge of Georgia and a hurricane that in 1949 devastated the east coast of Florida. He joined the news service’s Washington bureau in 1951 and subsequently wrote about then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson’s heart attack, among other stories of national interest. He was an editor with UP before leaving in 1957 to begin his public relations work with a series of trade associa-tions, including the National Association of Broadcasters and the American Health Care Association. He retired in 1985 after six years with the Food and Drug Administration, where he wrote articles and speeches. John Martin Couric Jr. was born Aug. 28, 1920, in Brunswick, Ga., and grew up in Dublin, Ga. He graduated in 1941 with a journalism degree from Mercer University in

Macon, Ga., and was a newspaper reporter in Macon before serving in the Navy during World War II. Stationed in the Mediterranean and then the Pacific, Mr. Couric participated in the invasion of Sicily before serving in the campaigns for Tarawa, Peleliu, the Philippines and Okinawa. He retired from the Navy Reserve in 1965 at the rank of lieutenant commander. Besides his daughter Katie, of New York, survivors include his wife of 67 years, Elinor Hene Couric of Arlington; two other children, Clara Batchelor of Brookline, Mass., and John M. Couric Jr. of Arlington; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Their oldest child, Virginia State Sen. Emily Couric (D-Charlottesville), died in 2001. Mr. Couric received a master’s degree in communications from American University in 1968 and was an adjunct professor of journalism and public relations in AU’s graduate pro-gram and the University of Maryland for the next 27 years. He was a longtime Arlington resident and member of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington. He was involved in volunteer work for the American Heart Association and, in the early 1960s, the President’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. He served on the executive committee of both groups. n

FAM

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REPRinTED wiTH PERMiSSion FRoM THE Washington Post

John M. Couric, former journalist, P.R. executive, father of broadcaster Katie Couric

By Adam BernsteinJune 22, 2011

Update

by Thomas J. Minar, Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations

M any wonderful achieve-ments marked the end of our fiscal year on April 30, 2011.

Foremost, we completed the AnewAU campaign on December 31, 2010, with more than $214.1 million raised. As if that were not enough . . .

In a year when most institutions lost alumni donors, our alumni rose generously to meet the 50/50 Challenge, ending the year with an increase of more than 500 do-nors year-to-date, and a 12 percent increase in cash contributions to our Annual Funds, totaling nearly $1.9 million. Alumni, along with parents, faculty, staff, and friends, made a substantial difference this year. As a continued sign of American’s commitment to our alumni, we increased the number of outreach, social, network-ing, educational, and service events by 37.3 percent, holding 173 events around the globe that attracted more than 5,400 strong. We will engage even more of you in the life of the university in Washing-ton, and bring American to you at home, in print, and online. Please visit alumni.american.edu to stay up to date. All in all, American raised $18.6 million in cash and generated new gifts and pledges of $20.8 million. Our work to provide financial support for the strate-gic plan is in full force. We are focused on raising funds for the School of Communi-cation Building Campaign, scholarships, faculty positions, annual funds, and soon, the Washington College of Law. Please stay in touch. As we begin fiscal year 2012, remember that American University is your university home. We will be here for you every year, as we welcome new members into our alumni community, and remember those we have lost. Thank you for including us among your priorities. Without you, we could not celebrate the milestones of this past year and realize those of the next.

44 american august 2011 4

WEEKEND 2011ALL-AMERICAN

A celebration for alumni and familiesOctober 21–23

Hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations and New Student Programs, AU’s All-American Weekend is a celebration of AU with more than 50 events planned for alumni, families, students, community

members, and friends. This weekend celebrates the memories, the fun, and the future of AU.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS Class Reunions

Can’t remember what your classmates look like? It’s time to return to D.C. for your milestone reunion. Click “Reunions” on our Web site to learn more.

All-Alumni Party Call your friends, tweet your classmates, and let all your friends on

Facebook know that the place to be on Friday night is Ireland’s Four Fields in Cleveland Park. The party will start at 8 p.m. and end when Frank kicks us out.

All-American Picnic Pack up the kids and head to campus for the finest in picnic fare!

Hang out with Clawed Z. Eagle, enjoy live music by Matt Boerum, CAS/BS ’05, and catch up with old friends and new.

Annual Alumni Awards Ceremony

Meet the Alumni Association’s 2011 Alumni Award winners at a special ceremony detailing their accomplishments and honoring their achievements.

Alumni: Call 800-270-ALUM (2586) or e-mail reunion@american.edu.Parents: Call 202-885-3303 for more information about parent registration.Join the celebration!

www.american.edu/alumni/allamericanweekend

ari Kushimoto norris cas/ba ’99

Ari Kushimoto Norris is director of marketing and

design for KUSHI Izakaya & Sushi, the D.C. hotspot that was recently named a top Japanese pub by Bon Appetit magazine. Kushimoto Norris, who served as lead designer for the 4,000 square foot restau-rant, fused traditional Japanese design with modern accents.

www.eatkushi.tumblr.com/

“Having arrived from Japan only one year prior to enrolling in college, AU was a place where the social and educational atmo-sphere provided the groundwork for me to become an entrepre-neur. By developing valuable friendships that have lasted, I was able to partner with AU alum Thom Flynn [manager at KUSHI], CAS/BA ’00, to create our successful restaurant.”

— ari kushimoto norris

elliot schnier Kogod/ba ’71

Elliot Schnier is copresident and co-chief executive

officer of Porky Products, one of the nation’s largest indepen-dent meat and seafood distribu-tors. Schnier also serves in a volunteer capacity as a member of the Kogod School of Busi-ness Advisory Council. His philanthropy has helped realize the vision of the Katzen Arts Center and renovations for Kogod.

www.porky.com

“My experience at AU helped me in many ways to become successful in a very, very com-petitive industry. I have always been grateful for my years at AU, which provided me with a wonderful education in and out of the classroom. Believing firmly that the responsibility of success is also to give back, it has been my pleasure as well as privilege to be a part of AU’s present and future planning.”

— elliot schnier

ronald Vogel cas/bs ’72

Ron Vogel is co-owner of Booeymonger Restaurants,

a unique, local delicatessen since 1974. Booeymonger Restaurants has been a loyal sponsor of AU athletics for almost two decades. Ron began

his career in the food service industry at AU, managing the 97 Carryout, a student-run sandwich and pizza eatery. Ron and his family are long-time supporters and members of the Eagles Club and help provide pre-game hospitality at home basketball games.

www.booeymonger.com

“I always enjoy being on campus, as the university is still a home to me. For this, I feel a sense of loyalty and responsibility to give back what AU has given to me.”

—ron vogel

sandra escobar spa/Mpp ’99

Sandra Escobar, who learned the art of grinding cacao

beans from her grandmother, is executive chef and owner of the Cacao Tree, a socially responsible producer of artisan chocolates, other confections, and Mexican haute cuisine in Washington, D.C. Escobar sources her choco-late from fair trade producers in Mexico and Central and South America for delectable desserts that capture her family’s heritage and delight all . . . including President Obama.

www.thecacaotree.com/

“As a graduate student at American I learned to value education not as a means to achieve a greater material ambition, but as a means to mature as a con-fident and well-rounded individual. My experience helped reaffirm my belief that education should help you learn who you really are.”

— sandra escobar

Class notes

Executive foodies serve up success and philanthropy

Nate Beeler's World of wonks

48 american

All We Are Saying Is Give Peace a ChanceIf anyone could bring these two protagonists together, it would be an AU peace wonk. We don’t know how many graduates of the School of International Service’s International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program are working inside the Pearly Gates, but the 200 students currently pursuing master’s degrees could follow in the earth-bound footsteps of earlier grads. IPCR alums can be found at work in national and international organizations that focus on resolving and avoiding conflict, as well as promoting international interchange and understanding. Here’s a sampling of organizations where you might run into an AU peace wonk:• United States Institute of Peace• Woodrow Wilson International Center• World Bank• Nonviolence International• Carter Center• Refugees International• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia• Doctors Without Borders• Save the Children• USAID

Peace is in the forefront of many people’s minds at AU. As Washington Examiner cartoonist Nate Beeler, SOC/BA ’02, knows, no situation is without hope. n

—MU

Washington, DC 20016-8002Address Service Requested

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage PAID

Permit No. 109Hanover, NH

Chubby Hubby. Chunky Monkey. Cherry Serendipi-Tea?

Here’s the scoop: Ben & Jerry’s, the Vermont

ice cream maker behind such iconic

concoctions as Cherry Garcia and Phish

Food, challenged 23 AU undergrads to pitch the next

great flavor, made with fair trade ingredients.

Flavor engineers—students in Kogod professor

Mike Carberry’s advertising and marketing communi-

cations class—didn’t disappoint, dishing up a sundae’s

worth of sweet ideas, including Mangorita, Fair Banana

Flare, and Black Swirl, inspired by the Pirates of the

Caribbean franchise.

<< Mock-up art looks like the real thing.