Andy
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 11:22:17 +0000
From: Nancy Grudens Schuck <ng13@cornell.edu>
To: SAEd-Share-L@cornell.edu
Cc: san@nal.usda.gov
Subject: AUSTIN SARE/CSARE event: First Report
SARE 10th Anniversary
CSARE Educational Sessions
Report to SAEd-Share-L
TO: SAEd-Share-L subscribers
FROM: Nancy Grudens-Schuck, Austin TX
RE: SARE 10th Anniversary Conference Report
DATE: March 9, 1998
I had only two problems with the decision to convene the gala SARE 10th
anniversary celebration in Austin, Texas in March. First, it was too early
for the famous Austin bats to have migrated back to the city from Mexico.
Too bad. I hear that a million bats flying around a city is a breathtaking
sight. Second, the lovely redbud and magnificent crabapple blossoms made it
hard to go home to muddy, grumpy New York. Well. Soon enough.
SARE ANNIVERSARY
What a wonderful event this has been. I will try to avoid waxing silly, but
it has been a joy to celebrate the success of the Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education program, funded by USDA but given heart by the
people who cared enough to create it and keep it moving. Some of those same
people were able to attend this event.
I was also pleased to meet so many SAEd-Share-subscribers -- even writing
this note feels different. E-mail is great but faces are better. Thanks to
many of you at the conference who told me ways in which you use SAEd-Share
in your work and suggested new connections to other lists. Soon we may be
joined by new subscribers from among the educators we met at the event or
their colleagues. If you are newly on-line -- hello and welcome.
EDUCATION SESSIONS.
I thought our meetings were quite valuable and will serve us well as we
launch other projects. At the Friday session, 45 people attended -- more
than we had hoped. On Sunday, we convened an excellent meeting of 20 --
again, more than we had hoped. Altogether, I would estimate that 50 people
joined the CSARE educational meetings.
I will report more on the CSARE/SAEd Educational sessions in a future post.
Dick Richardson, Chuck Francis and I decided to stretch out the reporting,
so this post is not a 'data dump.' We will post key discussion items and
requests for assistance in small chunks instead of dutifully rushing a
report past your eyes. You don't need a 'report' any more than we need to
give it, but we feel accountable to you and plan to share some of the
important ideas people developed at the event regarding sustainable
agriculture education. Maybe we
can continue discussing issues through the list. Let's see how it goes.
A BIT MORE ON THE SARE EVENT: Jim Hightower
The explosive fun at a Jim Hightower talk was anticipated by those who had
heard him speak previously, but I was surprised by Hightower's wicked humor--
or should I say 'aghast' and 'amazed.' For those of you unfamiliar with US
history of sustainable agriculture, Hightower was an early rabble rouser --
still going strong -- and master of the unmerciful extended analogy. He is
former Commissioner of Agriculture of Texas with a new book with lots of
inflammatory quotables. Yes, I waited on line and got my copy signed and
bought one for a farmer friend. The title: There is Nothing in the Road but
Yellow Lines and Dead Armadillos.
MORE SO THAN IN THE PAST. More than at past events, I met or saw more
farmers, more African Americans and Native Americans, and more urban
community
activists in the audience and in prominent places in the speaker line-up.
Women have always been a strong part of US sustainable ag movement and here
we have gained and not lost. The conference was better because of this
diversity. Kudos to the planning committee and some of the outside funders
who helped us solidify habits that we *wish* to pursue as a community, but
sometimes act upon too little or too late.
NEW SARE DIRECTOR: It was marvelous to see Jill Auburn, a SAEd subscriber
who was active in our participatory evaluation project, in her new role
as Director of SARE in Washington. Auburn was formerly with University of
California SAREP. Best wishes to Jill in her new position.
FARM TOUR? Hey, conference-goers -- if someone has a story or description
they can post that would be great , particularly of the bus tour, which I
was unable to join.
Nancy Grudens-Schuck, list manager
***************************
Nancy Grudens Schuck
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Education
119 Kennedy Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
U.S.A.
E-mail: ng13@cornell.edu
FAX: (607) 255-7905
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