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[UPDATE] Fly on the Wall, food deserts, and grassroots activism.

How does one explain the concept of “food desert” to a five year-old? For two teachers at Achievement First Crown Heights Elementary School, it was easy as printing out a large neighborhood map. They marked every bodega with a “B”, fast food joints with “F”, and supermarkets with “S”. As the one “S” quickly got lost among the B’s and F’s, the children understood. The complex issue of food accessibility and imbalance was as simple as a stroll up the block.

“But I don’t want to live in a food desert,” one student sadly replied. The teachers had an idea.

Taking a note from Fly on the Wall and Carrotmob consumer activism, they developed a summer project for their students focusing on the economic side of the issue: if the bodegas and smaller shops that dot the landscape of a food desert sell healthy items- but no one buys them- they risk going out of business.

The curriculum:

The students made posters along the lines of Marna’s idea.

They also wrote interview questions for store owners.

Parents filled out a survey of the food situation in the neighborhood.

The students made multiple trips to a local bodega: to hang their posters, ask the owner questions, and execute their own Carrotmob.

The owner agreed to carry more healthy items encouraged by the demand for such options.

More info:
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Trigger: Crown Heights Carrotmob for Healthy Food

Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost.
– Isak Dineson

On Wednesday night, Marna Chester was one of 200 artists and arts organizations to receive a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council. The funds will be used to build upon her Eat Better Now! project (as featured in my film, Fly on the Wall) and to extend outreach at the community level.

It was a fun evening at the historic Brooklyn Borough Hall. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz warmed up the crowd; award recipient La Troupe Makandal brought the music, while the LAVA dancers provided an acrobatic grand finale.

The best part was seeing the diverse projects awarded over $345,000 in grants, and meeting the passionate people behind them. To read more about the BAC 2010 grant recipients, click on the link below.

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Trigger: BAC 2010 Community Arts Regrant Program

Thanks so much to everyone who came out for the Hungry Filmmakers’ screening of Fly on the Wall. For their support of the film, I would especially like to thank Aaron Lubarsky, Suzanne Hillinger, and the amazing Brooklynites who invited Marna and my camera into their businesses.

After the screening, I chatted with two teachers who work in Brooklyn public schools. One told me that her students call baby carrots “teacher food”; they see their teachers bringing this healthy snack to work with them, but otherwise they are like a foreign object in the neighborhood where they live. The other spoke of a child so malnourished from only eating processed foods that his growth was severely stunted.

The problem of food access and imbalance in our communities, in New York City and beyond, is serious and urgently needs to be addressed.

My hope is that Marna’s project can be used as a tool to draw more attention to the issue and to elicit change…stay tuned.

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Trigger: Hungry Filmmakers

Today is International Women’s Day, a great moment to be talking about human trafficking. Check out the NYU Wagner Series Anti-Trafficking Week happening now in NYC:

There are currently 27 million people who are trafficked in the world. Men, women and children are victimized and exploited for labor and the commercial sex industry. Human trafficking is not a problem limited to other parts of the world. It happens in the United States. It happens here in New York City.

This week of events raises awareness of all aspects of human trafficking in all its forms including international, domestic, local, sex, child and labor. The goal is to expose this issue to the Wagner and NYU community, discuss implications of past and current policy decisions, and identify ways to fight modern day slavery.

Monday, Mar. 8, 2010, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Film Screening: Lilya 4-Ever
The Puck Building, Jersey Conference Room, 3rd Fl.

Tuesday, Mar. 9, 2010, 4:00pm-5:00pm
IPSA Reading & Discussion Group: Labor Trafficking
The Puck Building, Jersey Conference Room, 3rd Fl.

Tuesday, Mar. 9, 2010, 5:30pm-7:30pm
An Exhibition: Building Knowledge to Take Action
The Puck Building, The Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue, 2nd Fl.
*Representatives from local and national anti-trafficking organizations speak at 6:30pm

Wednesday, Mar. 10, 2010, 12:30pm-2:00pm
Trafficking 101: Commercial Sexual Exploitation
The Puck Building, Jersey Conference Room, 3rd Fl.

Thursday, March 11, 2010, 11:30-12:30 pm
Children and Global Trafficking: a brownbag with UNICEF and SOS Kinderhof International
The Puck Building, Mulberry Conference Room, 3rd Fl.
Speakers: Susu Thatun, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Migration and Trafficking and Jenessa Bryan, SOS Kinderhof International

Please RSVP here: http://wagner.nyu.edu/events

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Trigger: NYU Public Events

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Back by popular demand, the food documentary film screening and discussion event, Hungry Filmmakers, will return to Anthology Film Archives on Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

The next Hungry Filmmakers will showcase excerpts from five food conscious films:

Fresh- Ana Sofia Joanes
Mad Cow Investigator- Nancy Good
What’s On Your Plate?- Catherine Gund
The End of the Line- Rupert Murray
Fly on the Wall- Jenny Montasir

Doors open at 6:30 PM
Screenings begin at 7:00 PM

A post-screening discussion will be moderated by Kerry Trueman- editor of EatingLiberally.org A reception will follow in the theatre lobby with complimentary snacks, Lagunitas beer and wine from T Edwards. BYOC (bring your own cup) strongly encouraged if you wish to have a drink.

Tickets are $15 at the door and in advance. Visit Brown Paper Tickets to purchase online.

Hungry Filmmakers is a not-for-profit event hosted by Shelley Rogers, Cathy Erway, Jimmy’s No. 43 and Tim Lynch. Proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit organization Just Food, which works to promote access of fresh, seasonal, sustainable grown food for all New York City residents.

Hope to see you there!
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Trigger: Hungry Filmmakers

 

Hate baseball, indifferent to parades…love the view from above.
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Trigger: ticker-taping Broadway

New work by Juan Olalde combines metal art with loteria cards to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

Graffiti in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Venezuelan artist El Hase imagines what would happen if religious icons went punk. His “La Santa Lucha” exhibition opens this Sunday in Brooklyn.

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Trigger: Alphabeta NYC

Over the weekend Glendale, AZ, hosted an Arab American Festival, “a Non-political, Non-religious, Non-profit Organization established to build community pride […] targeted to all Americans to create an awareness of the diverse ethnic groups while having fun.”

 

The main sponsors? Yes, the CIA, FBI, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence hosted a career fair thinly disguised by falafel stands and live music.

It was their way to reach out the Arab-American community, to say Uncle Sam is sorry for thinking that you all are dirty plotting terrorists; but if you know anyone who is, we’d sure love to have you come work for us!

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Trigger: Arab American Festival

This is cantante Julieta Venegas, but the gorgeous photo’s not mine. One thousand people over capacity showed up to her SummerStage performance in Central Park on Saturday. This is my view of the concert from outside the fence:

She sounded good though, and the grass was kind enough not to wilt when I started to sing along…
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Trigger: SummerStage upcoming events

The Visitor
Festival premiere
2008, USA

The Visitor begins with a chain of events that could only happen in New York City.

Walter Vale is a lonely college professor soured by everything except his nightly glass of wine. By chance he meets Tarek Khalil, a Syrian musician who teaches Walter to play the drums– and to rediscover the simple joys of life.

Tarek plays the djembe in clubs, and has a Senegalese girlfriend who sells handmade jewelry. His mother in Michigan calls everyday to check in on him. All three are undocumented immigrants.

A random stop by the police lands Tarek in a detention facility. Afraid of losing his newfound friendship, Walter visits Tarek each day and brings back news to comfort the mother and girlfriend who must wait on the outside.

With The Visitor, writer and director Thomas McCarthy brings a new perspective to the debate on immigration. For his research he visited detention centers in the New York area over the course of one year. He learned that 90% of detainees do not have access to any legal advice. He met one young man from Nigeria who was held for three years only to be deported.

McCarthy insists that the immigration issue is undoubtedly complex, and that there are no easy answers. But there are also many important questions that rarely get asked: what about the immigrants who work hard and make great contributions within their communities? What of those don’t ask for anything in return except to live their lives like any other citizen? What about the good immigrant?

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Trigger: The Visitor official site and trailer