The beginning of life in Bloomington

We’ve made it all the way from Appleton, Wisconsin to Bloomington, Indiana.

Actually, we got here two weeks ago, but between organizing the apartment and grad school orientation, I haven’t had time to update. Paul and I have been busy converting our little two bedroom apartment up the road from Indiana University into a place we can call home. Figuring out finances, how to shop for and cook meals every night, getting ready for school (and trying to find a job), filling the hours of new found free time, and just generally learning how to live together.

There’s something special about your first apartment, I think. For me, it’s the first time that I’ve been responsible for paying my own rent, buying groceries and cooking for myself, getting myself to school and work, even making my own coffee. Some of these things I feel more confident about than others. Paul and I have been cooking some pretty killer food, thanks to inspiration from Food Network, but I still can’t figure out how to make coffee that tastes as good as the stuff my dad makes. (Actually, the brews I’ve crafted aren’t even drinkable, to be honest.) I think I’m getting pretty good at budgeting and keeping track of expenses, thanks to the application of a brand new grad school Excel technique I’ve learned called Pivot Tables. (Yes, I’m excited. And a huge nerd, it’s okay.) I’ve figured out how to take the bus to and from SPEA, which is 1.6 miles away from my apartment. (Though knowing how to take the bus still can’t save me from waiting an hour when the bus only vaguely sticks to what appears to be an attempt at that which most of us would call a “schedule.”) Paul and I have even mastered knowing the best place to park at the local Farmer’s Market (and we also know which vegetables are cheaper at the market, and which are better bought at Kroger’s).

I love Bloomington. Classes start at SPEA on Monday, and I can’t wait to see if my reason for coming to this wonderful little town is all that I’ve anticipated. Orientation this past week was informative and necessary, but what I’m really looking forward to is grad school classes that focus on my beloved field of environmental studies. I have crafted a partial curriculum at SPEA that I hope will prepare me for work in communities, encouraging sustainable economic, social and environmental aspects of community development. This term, I’ll be taking Sustainable Development, Public Management Economics, Environmental Chemistry, and Statistical Analysis for Effective Decision Making. I’m most looking forward to the first class. “Sustainable development” has been my personal buzz word and phrase of interest and inspiration since I came across the term in a high school history class. It has long fascinated me that two words so seemingly opposite – “development,” meaning economic progress, change for the better, increased quality of lifestyle, and “sustainable,” meaning perpetuating, lasting, capable of maintaining itself – could be juxtaposed in so much environmental, political, and economic literature. Development, as improving the quality of life, could surely not continue in perpetuity, could not be sustainable. Could it? As an environmentalist, I have to wish it can be true. But the economist in me is less sure. I’m hoping this term at SPEA will help me begin to clarify and define just what “sustainable development” is, and help me understand whether it can be a part of environmentally-friendly, sustainable communities.

Oh, and help me begin to figure out how I fit in to all this.

Eating for Enjoyment, Part 1: A Food Philosophy

It’s almost spring, for those of you who haven’t noticed. And as I spend my last term on a meal plan at Lawrence, making the trek to the school cafeteria two plus times a day, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about food. Thinking about all the good things I’m going to cook next year when I can cook for myself and have my own kitchen: all the healthy, organic produce I’m going to use in all the great homemade soups and breads I’ll make, and how I’ll never have to buy another Chunky canned soup or Ramen noodles again.

Well, given that I’ll be on the budget of a graduate student (in both time and money), living in an apartment that, except with the addition of a kitchen, will likely be worse than my current suite in the newest, nicest dorm on campus, maybe all my food won’t be organic, and I probably won’t have the time to bake a fresh loaf of bread to put out on the windowsill of my apartment every morning. And I may still buy the occasional can o’ soup in a pinch.

Still, having control over the ingredients that go into my food and being able to choose what to cook for dinner every night, and not just have to dip into the troughs that are the cafeteria buffet lines, are things I’ve been looking forward to for at least three years. Cooking what I want will allow me to be more ethical, sustainable, healthy, and satisfied with my food choices.

Part of my food angst stems from field experience this past summer in the Philippines, where we ate white rice with either a) okra, b) eggplant, c) dried fish with 90% of your daily salt allowance, d) canned tuna in a variety of flavors (including marinara, which should be illegal as a tuna flavor), or e) a Filipino variant on the theme of Spam. Eating purely for sustenance and never for enjoyment was a new experience for me, and made me much more appreciative of good-tasting, enjoyable food when it was available. And though I do realize that most of the world does not have the variety of good food available that Westerners are used to eating on a daily basis (a subject for a future post), recognizing and appreciating the variety and possibility inherent in cooking and eating in America has become part of my own personal food philosophy.

Some people are vegans or vegetarians. Some people never eat meat on a Friday. Some people buy only “happy meat” from sustainable farms, or eggs from utilitarian, free-range farmers named Chiara. Some people only buy Oscar Meyer baloney. I vow to never eat simply for the sake of sustenance. As long as I can afford to, and live in a society where there is such a large variety of foods, I will eat only foods I like, foods I enjoy eating, foods that are healthful, and foods that do not harm the environment.

I call it eating for enjoyment. Yes, it’s idealistic, and possibly a bit unrealistic. But so are vegans eating at cafeteria buffet lines. And at least when I start cooking for myself, I’ll have complete control over what goes into my tummy.

This food project of mine has only just begun. I still eat mystery meat and casseroles at the cafeteria. And after a four-year love affair with Ramen noodles, it will be hard to go cold turkey. But, I got recipe books for Christmas, and spent a good part of my spring break experimenting with bread baking. And when I occasionally cook dinner with my boyfriend, even though it still takes almost 3 hours from start to first bite, I enjoy every minute of the cooking.

And if nothing else, I’m learning that when you buy your own ingredients and spend the time and effort putting them together into something worth eating, you think a lot more about where your food came from, how it’s made, and exactly what food as a concept means to our human societies in general.

(A version of this essay is part of a three part series on food and eating that was originally written for The Lawrentian in February 2009. See all three here.)

And the winning graduate program is…

Many of you reading this blog are my friends and family, and so likely are familiar with my graduate school search.  I applied to lots of schools and programs, got accepted to most, and have recently been weighing the benefits and costs (literally) of each to try to determine which is the best school for me next year.  Well, the search is done and the game decided.  After an admitted student visit day this last weekend, I have made my final decision to attend the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University-Bloomington!

I originally became interested in SPEA when the father of a Lawrence colleague and SPEA professor visited campus last fall and attended a poster presentation I did on research I conducted last summer in the Philippines.  Professor Jeff White asked me what my interests were after undergrad and upon hearing that I was interested in working with communities and organizations making the transition to sustainability and “green” practices, suggested that I look at the Bloomington SPEA program, that it might be something I was interested in.  After perusing their website, reading program and course descriptions, and learning that their Master’s of Public Affairs program was ranked # 2 in the country by U.S. News and World Report, I was definitely interested.

The program I will be entering next fall will allow me to get both a Master’s of Public Affairs and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Science in only two and a half years of coursework.  The program emphasizes flexibility and community while you’re there, and has great job placement within government agencies and some of the top consulting firms in the country.  Not to mention that they offered me a financial/merit age package that – well, let’s just say that as far as paying for professional school programs goes, this is about as good as it gets.  I’ll have to take out minimal loans for tuition and living expenses, but given that I am fortunate enough to get out of undergrad with no loans and I’ll have a much better job upon completion, I think it’s worth it.

Bloomington, Indiana was called one of the top 10 student-friendly college towns in the nation by USA Today.  According to Bloomingpedia, Bloomington’s Wikipedia knock-off website, it’s a medium-sized city with about 70,000 year round residents and a larger metro area of about 175,000. Indiana University has about 40,000 students to add to this population, so the town, though possessing roughly the same year-round population as my hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin, actually feels larger.   Because it’s a college town, the downtown district really has a lot going on.  There are tons of ethnic restaurants, diners, pizza places, coffee houses, shops and plenty of things to do always.  Some things I’m personally really excited about: a co-op grocery store called BloomingFoods that sells organic, local products, a downtown farmer’s market from April – September, a killer Thai restaurant called Siam House, and the hills, ridges and forests surrounding the town.  Compared to totally flat Appleton, with it’s limited mile-long downtown strip, Bloomington will definitely be a nice change.

I’ve visited Bloomington twice now (once back in February for a SPEA interview, and once just last weekend for an admitted students day), and I enjoyed myself both times.  This past weekend the weather was beautiful and springy; because they are so far south, Bloomington’s about 6 weeks ahead of Appleton and so has green grass, flowers and leaves on the trees, where up here, all the snow is just barely melted.  I enjoyed walking around the city and the beautiful campus in 65-70 degree weather.  (Granted, my viewpoint may be skewed on the whole experience due to the fact that the nice weather caused me to view the entire experience with rose-colored glasses.)  Still, I think Bloomington is a place I could see myself living for a few years.

I just sent in my initial deposit to SPEA, making myself an official student for next fall.  Now, the next step in this whole adventure is to find an apartment, sign a lease, and start acquiring furniture.  Yikes!  Let the games begin…