BOOK:|:KITCHEN

WHY and the Media Studies and Film Department of The New School proudly sponsor their annual anti-poverty forum featuring journalists, advocates and grassroots organizations. This year's forum — "Growin' It: Food, Jobs and Justice" — will be held Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 1-5:30 pm, at the New School's Theresa Lang Community and Student Center (55 West 13th Street) in New York City. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will begin at 1 pm with Stories from the Frontline. The journalists on this panel have covered some of the biggest news events from all corners of the world. They will discuss the obstacles, heartbreaks and triumphs they have encountered — also examining the media's role in encouraging social responsibility. The panel will be moderated by Laurel Touby, founder of Mediabistro.com. Panelists include: 2005 Harry Chapin Media Awards winners Emily Hanford, an independent radio producer; Francine Orr, a photojournalist with the Los Angeles Times; P. Sainath, of The Hindu; and Tim Scheld, news director of WCBS News Radio.

The second panel discussion, beginning at 2:45 pm, is Growing Justice: Social Entrepreneurship. The panelists will discuss how their organizations are seizing opportunities others miss by improving systems, inventing new approaches and creating sustainable solutions to change their communities for the better. The panel will also examine social enterprise and the possibilities it holds as an emerging concept in the non-profit world. The panel will be moderated by Ian Marvy of Added Value. Panelists include 2005 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award winners Kathleen McKenna of Haley House, LaRhonda Ealey of Jubilee Homes and Bich Ha Pham of Hunger Action Network of New York State.

The final panel, India: Challenging Rural Poverty, will begin at 4:15 pm. Roughly 35 percent of India's population — more than 300 million people — are considered food-insecure, hungry or malnourished. The rural poor in India are marginalized by the global economy and oppressed by the upper class, landlords and corrupt government officials. At the grassroots level, the rural poor are fighting back with initiatives for education, economic justice and food security. Journalists, advocates and grassroots leaders will provide eyewitness accounts of rural poverty and social change in India. The panel will be moderated by Rhadhika Lal, of the United Nations Development Program. Panelists include Abraham George, pioneering humanitarian and author of HCMA finalist India Untouched: The Forgotten Face of Rural Poverty; and Sainath, who has been recognized for his reporting on farmers' suicides in India. Also invited are Yudhvir Singh, leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Farmers Movement; and Smitu Kothari, a political advocate, educator and author.

I'll be attending this event, as I did last year, so expect commentary to follow.  Last year, a panel of small, articulate farmers faced a woman in the audience whose post-hippie, post-60s utopia received a pragmatic reality check on sustainability, both on the feeders end and the farmers themselves.  The next day, I saw her at The Integral Yoga Natural Foods Market on 13th Street in the Village.  I introduced myself, asked her a couple questions to check what she really believed, thinking she was just a provocateur (in the best sense), but turns out, she brushed off my questions, developing an air of entitlement? privelege? And proceeded with a simple muttering of something satisfactorily incoherent to which I checked my watch and moved onto other things that mattered.  Whatever it was, whatever her ultimate point and goal of accusing small farmers of not doing enough, plus her inexplicable wihtdrawal from my polite, yet curious questions, all provided some perspective on the "morality" and "cult of personality" around such food-related topics. And how often seemingly delicate one must traverse on terrain where there are landmines the 60s left behind.

Also, I'll be finishing my MA in The New School's Media Studies and Film department this semester, if you're interested in the program.   If anyone plans to attend the WHY event, let me know; we can meet up.

Growin' It: Food, Jobs and Justice. A free, all-day forum, Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 1- 5:30 pm.

 Register Now!