of crockpots and caviar

for MaryBeth... and our Ugandan connection.

As I sit in Atomic writing my FINAL COLLEGE PAPER ever, I am slowly and analytically taking in the very essence of my college experience.
This final paper is for my self-designed "thesis" of the Sociology of Food and I am at the point where I am reading through, editing, cropping, adjusting, highlighting, deleting, and tweaking all parts to make it a comprehensive, logical piece about... FOOD. I'm laughing to myself to see the connections and theories I've developed about such obscure ideas as "the social constructs of edibility" and the "frameworks of social identity within food culture". All that is to say: my paper covers everything from aphrodisiacs to appetite, crockpots to caviar, dining to disorders.
I can't help but see how much this paper is the cumulative exression of my college experience in the exploration of communal living, communal dining, the expression of self and group identity through even "minute" venues as fashionable diet choices to dinner table displays, the social pressures and consequences of dieting, cultural implications of dining and the study of diverse people groups, and on and on and on. In short: an introductory study to people, to community, to growth, to sex, to fashion, to diet, to group mentality, to self expression.
It all comes down to what can be cooked in a crockpot, and who can afford to eat caviar.

in the wings

I am officially rejoining the international travel realm again on March 12, 2012.
A great friend of mine that I went to Uganda/Rwanda with is setting off TOMORROW on an indefinite backpacking trip through South America. He's flying into Colombia, then venturing over to Peru and eventually Chile. I'll be flying into Chile on the morning of the 13th and meeting him in Santiago for another alli-and-sean-abroad adventure.

If anyone has any exciting Chilean tips or contacts- let me know! :)