#foodway

The Bronx finally has something good first, that's been in the works for two years! It's coming along pretty nicely, but it could be so much better if more than two people were working on it. I make a third but only on Thursdays.

What is it, you ask? It's the foodway at the Concrete Plant Park by the Bronx River. Come volunteer. We need help! Message me if you're interested in helping (:

Also look at all the mugwort I took home from helping out today

Edit: also... Apparently, mugwort is a precise shitton amount of useful. I am so happy that J started me with weeding the mugwort. (:

To be passionate about something, to find something you love enough to let it become everything for you. What ticks you, and makes one feel alive? Questions that i have carried with me from yesterdays conversation on the porch. How are we contributing to the larger context of things around us, the lives, the environment, the communities, the city and its place in the world? The subway to Whitlock Avenue gave me enough time to think about my contributions and the ones I would like to continue to make.

To tour at the Bronx River Foodway at Concrete Plant Park, located alongside the Bronx River between Westchester Ave and Bruckner Blvd. The Bronx River Alliance serves as a coordinated voice for the river and works in harmonious partnership to protect, improve and restore, so that it can be a healthy ecological, recreational, educational and economic resource for the communities through which the river flows. The Alliance works in close partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to achieve these goals. 

The Foodway tour covered edible plants growing with special attention to indigenous cultural and historical context. Nathan Hunter, Foodway Coordinator and Liz Paredes, Foodway Associate, were my tour guides for the day. 

Nathan talked about the idea of equality and equity - that the two strategies inspired that project, can be used in an effort to produce fairness within communities and hat it was more about equity, which is leads to success.

The next scheduled activity was about watching an intergenerational pairing of film and video works exploring black queer inheritance and desire through Isaac Julien’s ‘Looking for Langston’ and two films by Hayat Hyatt. Isaac Julien’s ‘Looking for Langston (1989) is a lyrical meditation on Langston Hughes and other black queer figures from Harlem Renaissance. Filmmaker Hayat Hyatt’s film ‘Villanelle (2015) and ‘Structures of Feeling: Other Countries (2019), blends documentary, poetry and found footage that delves into the history of the AIDS crisis and its impact of gay men living in New York. The films were followed by a talk with the video the video artist, filmmaker and write Hayat Hyatt, based in New York. 

Next stop, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, in Prospect Park. The organiser talked about the inspiration behind the festival, and quoted the legend Paul Robeson, “Artists are the gate keepers of truth”.  The event was a voice for the the injustice done in the USA to indigenous people, to refugees and to black people. The artist lineup included Sudanese American MC Oddisee & Good Company, and Palestinian-Jordanian band 47SOUL along with NARCY all join together for a night that highlights their Arabic roots.

Soy Diet Is Cruel and Unusual, Florida Inmate Claims - NYTimes.com