Both Sides Now

This week's weather (in the northeast) seemed to be the perfect parallel to real life. Each day it would oscillate back and forth between sunshine and storms. The good days were magically good - warm and sunny with puffy white clouds for shade and a gentle cool breeze. The bad days it poured sheets of rain, with whipping wind, flooding the sides of the road as we drove along.

And we wonder, how could both these things exist in such close proximity to each other?

As the saying goes, that is the way the cookie crumbles (con: the cookie's crumbling / pro: there are cookies!).

Sometimes it's hard to figure out how to navigate it all. How can you be exceptionally excited / thankful / grateful about certain things in your life, and then totally nervous / unfulfilled / depressed about others? It just doesn't seem to work.

But it does. Just like the weather, these two things can, and do, happen within close proximity to each other. The trick is to understand that it's okay to feel and express the extent of both. And remember, the rainbows only come right after the rain.

TEVA SEMINAR: JEWISH OUTDOOR, FOOD, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ticket giveaway WINNER

Last week we encouraged you to enter our Teva Seminar ticket giveaway. We're thankful for each and every entry, as they gave us a great window into what Jewish food and faith means to a number of people.

But, alas, the words that spoke to us the most were those from Shoshana Rose Schultz, whose essay is as follows:

I get it, the name is misleading. My childhood was not stocked with Hebrew school, high holy days, or Hillel. I am 23 years old and I just learned the meaning of Kashrut. Upon meeting me, strangers say, "So you're named Shoshana?" then they follow with the dreaded question, "So are ya Jewish?" I am 23 years old and I still do not know what to say. I am half and half, or both: half WASPy white, half Jew. I have inherited two traditions, was raised in neither, and hence have spent a lot of time writing my own.

Pesach is the one Jewish holiday my family recognizes. We carve out time for the celebration, quite unabashedly, because we connect to its message through food. For our Sedar plate, we do the usual crisp haroset and horseradish maror. There's some parsley and a boiled egg. And here's my favorite part--the lamb shank. It's paper. We cut it out of a brown grocery bag ten minutes before we sit down for the ceremony. It's quick, it's casual, and it's labeled, "L. Shank." It's definitely not a traditional tenet, but it's Judaism as my family has written it. It represents the undetermined dimensions of my identity. Without strong Jewish community, nor a typical relationship to our tradition, I understand my Jewishness as both a cultural inheritance and a fruit of my own expression.

Which is to say, my favorite Jewish food is not a food at all. I will not eat a paper lamb shank. But the cut-out is part of the moment when I connect to my spirituality, my family, and myself. It helps untangle the many dimensions of my Jewish and non-Jewish identity. And thus makes space for me to answer that dreaded question honestly, "Yes, I am Jewish, and many other things too." The "L. Shank" affirms my own unwritten traditions. Along with the long line of relatives who stand at my back, their hands between my shoulder blades, and whisper, with a push, "Go on, we wrote this for you." These are the moments that fuel me.

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Shoshana's writing spoke to us. As with our sentiment above, life usually happens in the 'in between' where the details are not all one thing or another. We look forward to seeing how the Teva Seminar continues to shape your education and the path that you continue to chart as a result.

For those of you that didn't win (or missed the contest completely), you can find tickets and information on the event below:

Teva Seminar
June 9th - 13th, 2014
Falls Village, CT
Additional details

GFJ & STERLING COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

You still have 2 more weeks to submit to win a scholarship to Sterling College's artisan food intensives.

The focused course format allows for two things: 1) an in depth look at a subject matter that interests you, and 2) the ability to swap out your vacation days for a life changing educational opportunity.

We're offering one 50% scholarship in each of the following sessions:

Charcuterie: Butchering, Processing, Fermentation & Curing June 23rd - July 3rd ($950 value)
Fermentation, with Sandor Katz July 7th - 18th ($1,200 value)

HOW TO APPLY
Email info@goodfoodjobs.com following the submission rules below:

List your name, phone number, and email address.
You must include for which program you are applying: Charcuterie or Fermentation
Answer the following questions in the body of your email (total length: 500 words or less):
- If GFJ could provide any additional resource or tool to support the good food movement, what would be most useful/beneficial and why?
- Share your greatest summer memory, as it relates to food or any of your other passions.
Application emails are due by 8 PM on Wednesday June 11th. Our winners will be contacted directly via the email provided in the scholarship application.

JUST FOR JOBS

If you are looking to make a more permanent move to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (a beautiful place to live, as proven by Taylor's instagram shots below), Sterling College is hosting their first ever Food Jobs Summit on Saturday June 14th. Many of the employers from the area, including High Mowing Organic Seeds, Caledonia Spirits, and Vermont Soy with be present, with opportunities from entry level to major leadership roles.

While the easy street seems superficially appealing, this week's words of wisdom remind us that a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.

Cheers,

Taylor & Dorothy