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Introduction The popularization of urban gardening has exploded in the last five years. A simple google search for “urban gardening” returns images of polished plastic container gardens, and beautifully arrayed vegetation whose smooth edges juxtapose the jagged cityscapes behind them. When these photos contain people, they  typically convey white people teaching Black youth in the garden . These photos can be beautiful and inspirational, but they can also be deceitful. They are based on a new growing aesthetic of white urban gardening betrays the movements history.  Black entrepreneurs like Will Allen of Growing Power have not only spread awareness of the unexpected fertility of cityscapes, but have also politely reminded white America that the urban gardening movement has undeniably black roots. Detroit, a city with an 84% African American population, is often referenced as a poster child for the urban farming movement, and with good reason. Take a walk through the Brightmoor
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Things I've learned to accept in myself because of my anxiety.

I'm in an episode of anxiety right now, and sometimes I beat my head thinking there must be something I haven't come to accept. That if I could just accept that last thing, anxiety would be gone. But the reality is I have already gone through so many milestones in acceptance with anxiety as a teacher. And those things lesson the duration and extent of anxiety. 1. I've learned to love myself WITH my anxiety.  I've always liked myself as a person. But I had this warring tension in my body when I tried to love the part of myself that felt broken, and felt unlovable. That part of me when I am in an anxiety episode. I wanted to shuck it away and not tell anyone and just wait until it passed so I could be myself again. But the reality is, part of me is that anxiety. It's not a fun part, but it's a part. I practiced drawing a heart on my leg and saying "I love you anxious pants" and I would cry so hard because I wanted to hate that part of myself. It fel

A Future Worth Investing In

Chancellor Blank has taken a bold move of leadership this month, as she pushed the dialogue of corporate-civic relations in her piece “A Stronger Civic Sector” published by Ford Forum. Blank warns against unregulated economies, and stresses the need for the civic sector to ensure companies are working toward the common good. She pays tribute that “ Markets are very, very good at looking at cost of production and demand and getting people together, finding a way to sell goods or sell services” but she warns “but they don’t do anything beyond that.”  Blank sums the piece up simply when she says “Markets alone can’t solve social problems.” Blank uses this framework for her argument. She pushes the need of a strong civic sector to regulate markets because sometimes “it isn’t in the best interest of the company...to invest in the community”. She outlines tools that the civic sector has to influence the marketplace, including it’s ability to influence a company’s reputation, and affec

Stand By Me: The heart of my community involvement with 350 Madison.

There's a song that captures my feelings of involvment in the Madison 350 community more than any other, and that is Stand By Me by Ben E King. If you're up for it, give the song a listen while you read. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kyGMvfZqo&feature=youtube_gdata_player When people ask why I'm involved with 350 and the UW Fossil Free Student Coaltion, I'm always a little hesitant to answer because I do not know how to articulate it. I can articulate the rational part of my involvement: the want, and need to actively do something to attempt to ensure the future of the planet. There's another part though, infinitely more powerful, that is too difficult to put into a rational string of words. And that is what this song conveys. For those who are forced to study it and see it everyday, there is no denying the gravity of our future. It is a burden we all live with everyday. I am being completely real when I say there's a good chance I may see this wor

10 things I learned creating a start-up company

1. You will never have enough time to user test.  God do I wish I could user test forever. User testing is putting your product in people's hands and getting feedback. This is extremely important because you may think you're products  the  shit, but in reality, it may just be shit. By user testing, you find out early one what people like, what they don't, and what they find confusing. If users don't like your product, they are simply not going to use it. I wish I could do endless user tests and feel confident about our product, but the reality is there is writing to be done, budgets to be made, and networking that has to get done. When you do get that precious time to user test, hit it as hard as you possibly can. 2. This isn't academia In academia I was taught to point out every nuance in my argument, and to endlessly elaborate every god-damn point. Business is nothing like academia. At first it feels weird to sell and not drone on about methods and literature.

Political Corruption in Wisconsin: How This $300 Million Dollar Education Cut Might be Connected to a Stalled Divestment Movement on Campus.

This semester, the Governor pushed a notorious budget for the state of Wisconsin: 300 million gutted from Wisconsin's public education, Wisconsin Public Radio wiped off the map, 1.3 billion borrowed for transportation infrastructure, and 250,000 for research on the health consequences of wind energy. It might seem disconnected, but let’s dial the clock back a little bit. In November 2014, there was a little amendment put on the ballot called the Transportation Fund amendment, which would deliver more funds to transportation in Wisconsin. The Daily KOS warned “Watch out for ALEC on your ballot” outlining the amendment’s ties to the group, The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which somehow keeps its non-taxed non-profit 501(c)(3) status despite being a political lobbying group that is funded by some of the largest corporations. ALEC was a major player behind legislation that helped dismantle Wisconsin unions, and increased funds for fossil fuel transportation.

My problems with the strong is the new skinny campaign

When the 'strong is the new skinny' campaign first started, I was pretty excited about it. The first article I saw was a woman who used to be what she considered anorexic. She said she was weak, and barely ate. She fell in love with weight lifting, and said it gave her confidence, strength and courage. She explained how before lifting she was taught to deprive herself, to lack confidence in her body, and be weak. After lifting she felt proud of her new strength, could eat (and was supposed to eat) more, and felt a sense of progress towards muscle, versus progress towards being smaller. She posted new photos of herself showing she didn't look much different (she didn't 'get huge'). Her photos though were fairly normal looking. She probably had a healthy 10-20% body fat, and you could tell she had some solid muscle. Her muscle, however, wasn't rippling out of her skin, and it isn't supposed to be. There are two main types of weight training I want to tal