Po(sey) Sessions

The Civil War’s Enduring Influence on the Gullah People The end of the Civil War marks the beginning of isolation for the freedmen of the Sea Islands. The individuals emancipated from the coastal islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are now called Gullah. During Reconstruction those on the Sea Islands rarely saw visitors imposed on their isolated space. Many of the residents would travel to the mainland to take care of various aspects of business, but few outsiders came to visit them. The survival of Gullah culture and language is fully dependent on the Civil War. It is a mistake to think of slavery as having a single origin point or homogenous experience from one slave to the next. Experiences of slaves on the Sea Islands, and throughout South Carolina, significantly differed from other slave experiences in the South. Gullah culture emerged from the interactions between Africans, African Americans, Native Americans, and Europeans combining different cultures, tradit...

February is a hard month for me. This year was better than most. I finished five books and I am happy with that. I spent a lot of time reading through Hippie Food because it had so much connection with the other research I have done in the past. The book was a really enjoyable read for me and opened me up to a lot of new information and directions for future research. I was hoping to be able to do a school project related to the book or research I have done on communal living, but so far there hasn't been a good fit. I have started some research on the plants used for food by the Southern Paiutes in Southern Utah but it is a slow process. I hope to explore more on this subject soon. Finished: 7. Walden Two 8. The Punch Escrow 9. Hippie Food 10. Fish in a Tree 11. Granny Ting Ting Currently reading: Appetite for Change Native American Food Plants Strangers in Their Own Land Home to start soon: Kiss the Ground Hillbilly Elegy  Binti

Chef Sean Brock was the person to metaphorically introduce me to pitmaster Rodney Scott. It is exciting to watch his career develop. It is interesting that the way that television can connect us with food and places and people. For many individuals who are excited about food, it started on a TV show. For me the show that transformed my interest in food was Top Chef. The way that curiosity works in like a series of falling interweaving dominoes. From Top Chef, I added Chopped, and then other shows. Finally when I stared watching Mind of Chef, I felt like the experience was mimicking my experience as an eater. This show transformed the way that I saw food, from something that you cook into something that you tasted. Of course I did know that you eat and taste food, and many food shows express flavors verbally. But I had never thought about the transformation of that experience. Sean Brock appears in Season 2 of Mind of a Chef and he planted all of these seeds of curiosity inside...

Today I started wondering, are there different types of avocados? There must be! The different names and varieties of single ingredients has been challenging when I try to study food. I have been working on building a food database on the origin of food items and any folklore that might be connected with it. But food is so much more transmutable than we give it credit for. Of course, we know these transmutations happen, that is part of the appeal! The simple answer is YES! There are different kinds of avocados. Once I read an interview with a woman who was a turnip expert . I just though that was the coolest thing ever. Should I become and expert on avocados? A cursory Google search provided me with a fascinating glimpse into avocado identification. "There are hundreds of types of avocados, but seven avocado varieties are grown commercially in California. The Hass variety accounts for approximately 95 percent of the total crop each year" Visible variations in pi...

The movie Soul Food entered theatres in 1997 and centers around the tradition of Sunday dinner. In this family, the relatives get together for a meal at Mama Joe’s house; a tradition which has been alive for over forty years. But family drama is starting to tear everyone apart. Especially after Mama Joe enters the hospital due to diabetes complication. The movie is mainly narrated by Mama Joe’s young grandson, Ahmad, who provides some unique perspectives on the family drama. The term soul food is not without controversy. First coined in the 1960s, the terms has gone through a few iterations since. The most interesting controversy that may have arisen is the desire of African American to disconnect with the terminology and the food it represents. Since I started studying the cuisine of slaves and the descendants of slaves, referred to as Gullah in some regions, I have been curious about where soul food ends and Gullah cuisine begins. And if that line exists, I still do not know ...

Social research breaks down into two basic research approaches. These methods are quantitative and qualitative. Research with a quantitative approach focuses on separating the data into numbers than can be analysed. Research with a qualitative approach focuses on understanding and exposing trends of thought through the impression of the observer. The purpose of a quantitative research method is to create an action plan, while a qualitative research method is to create a basis of understanding. Quantitative research focuses on experiments, surveys, content analysis, and existing statistics. Qualitative research focuses on field research and historical comparative research. The two variables to be examined by this paper are poverty and food security. These two variables take on different and interesting dynamics depending on the method used to collect the data. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis provides insightful understandings to these issues and the dynamic between the...

I got a good start on my reading for the year this month. I have set a goal to read 104 books this year. I am already a little behind schedule, but I am feeling okay about my progress.  The holidays are not a motivated time for me. And while this year wasn't too bad, I did not get as much reading done when I was traveling as I had hoped. I have been focusing a little bit on books about creativity. I have started drawing and painting more. I find this work really fulfilling. I also got the idea about creating a calendar/to do list system that is specifically customized for the lives of creative people. It is just an idea I have right, but the books I have been reading on creativity have helped me with some of the ideas I am having. It is exciting to be reconnecting with my creative life. Now that school has started again, I am worried that may go to they wayside. I finished SIX books: 1. Children of Eden 2. The Dot 3. Year of the Cow 4. Steal Like an Artist 5. Howl...