This week I helped a couple of the Slow Food Programs staff members prepare for the Food Justice Summit. The Food and Justice Summit (http://realfoodchallenge.org/nefoodjustice2011) is an event held by The Real Food Challenge as a venue for college students to discuss and to learn about relevant food issues. Hamilton was even represented by group who made the trek up to Boston! Two members of the Slow Food team attended the Summit in Boston this past Friday to teach students how to host an “eat-in.” An “eat-in” is a potluck style meal that can be used for a celebration or as a form of activism and protest. The driving mission behind the “eat in” is to inspired people to come together to take control of their food choices and food production in world that seems increasingly dominated by food that is just too fast. When food is too fast, taste, quality and the meaning behind it is often sacrificed. We’re working to restore the food system - to make good, clean and fair food available for everyone.

 For the prep meeting they went through their presentation and I gave my feedback and it turned into a really productive conversation. I was their target audience, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to use my point of view to contribute. We talked about better ways to encourage the audience to participate and how to make the students feel as if they could hold their own eat in at their respective schools. The event was definitely something relevant for me and it was great to be a part of the team. Sometimes being an intern is a tough position. Coming from a place like Hamilton, we have been trained to think critically and voice those critical opinions, but as an intern at the work place that is not always appropriate. There is a time and place to contribute, but often it is just a time to listen. You never want to overstep your boundaries but it is also important to feel like you contribute something to the team. I think my strategy is to stick along for the ride, but seek out moments, like this one, to assert myself. 

As usual, on Monday and Tuesday I was very busy.  We had our Valentine's Day show on Monday, so everyone in the audience had to wear red.  When some audience members weren't wearing red, I had to run back to wardrobe and find as many red pashminas as possible.  We make the audience members wear the pashminas during the show because it looks better on camera than having them stand out.  Martha actually pointed out two audience members (live on air) who were wearing maroon.  The poor couple was so embarrassed.  I guess they do not have Martha's acute sense of color distinction that has made her Macy's and Home Depot lines so successful. 

 Tuesday was a two-show day, so I was handling audience members all day.  I had to do some research on Thursday for our upcoming gardening show, thinking of things that we could talk about, fun facts for Martha to share, etc.  On Friday I did a lot of running around the city, picking things up and dropping things off.  We used a huge bathtub in a segment on Tuesday that I had to return to the prop library at our corporate headquarters.  That was quite an adventure.  It took four of us to load the tub into a van to drive the 10 or so blocks to our other building.  When we got there, the elevator man who takes our van up to the ninth floor (the Martha corporate offices) refused to drop us anywhere but the fourth floor.  So we get to the fourth floor, I am sent to office services to pick up a cart and a helper to get the tub to the ninth floor, but of course it was 1 p.m. and there were no available helpers (all on lunch breaks). 

 So I went back to the fourth floor to deliver the bad news to the PA (production assistant) who is with me.  We had to do the tub alone.  With much effort (lift with the knees!) we managed to get the tub onto a trolley and load it into the freight elevator.  However, moving the tub out of the elevator posed a new problem.  The trolley broke on our way out.  So now we're holding up the freight elevator with our giant bathtub half-in-half-out, and the heavily tattooed elevator man is getting increasingly angrier as he watches us struggle to push our load out and offers no help.  The sense of accomplishment that I got when we finally wheeled that bathtub into storage was more satisfying than any free giveaways I've gotten since working there.

This week I got to record a cheer for a promo for "The Glee Project."  This was not the original plan.  Torrey had been in a great mood all day.  He was strutting around singing the chorus of Lady Gaga's new single.  When he passed by my desk for the eighth time that day still singing Gaga, he paused to do a little dance and then start yelling at everyone.  He wanted to find Leigh, but Leigh was not at her desk.  So he started yelling at other people to tell Leigh to be downstairs in 5.  When no one responded I took off my headphones (I had been logging Bad Girls Club footage all day) and looked in his direction.  I saw him mouth some words to my supervisor across the hall. She yelled back "Kate!"  Then Torrey said, "Kate, hi, could you tell Leigh that she needs to be downstairs for the cheer in 5... Also, you go too.  I want you to be there. Ok?"  I said "ok" and Torrey turned on his heel and began gliding down the aisle as if it were a catwalk.  Four minutes later I found Leigh and we made it downstairs for the recording.  So it was a great week... Torrey learned my name and I my voice will be on national TV!

Gabi Arias '11 has an internship with El Museo del Barrio on 5th Avenue. Following is her journal entry from Jan. 29.

I would like to reflect on the week thus far. Early this week was super busy. I got a long introduction and training on the process required for my larger web project. Last year EMDB received a large grant from a government organization called the Institute for Museum and Library Services. Like other museums, for years, EMDB has researched and wanted to create a strong educational resource page for educators that draws upon the museum's permanent collection. The first major step to this project is making sure the permanent collection is digitized and in an accessible format compatible with the museum's content management system. Surely but slowly the curatorial department at EMDB has made parts of the permanent collection, called Voces y Visiones, accessible in digital format through a program known as EMuseum. Emuseum is not necessarily compatible with our current CMS and so this project requires very specific steps in order for upload of content to occur.

Though Monday was long, arduous and at many points tedious, I am looking forward to working with Curatorial, Education and Public Programs on this project. We have a test/launch date for the site set for May and though I am slowly getting familiarized with the content upload process, I can already see what the final product is supposed to look like. What most interests me about this project so far is the independent research I get to do on the objects in the permanent collection in order to make accurate texts and cross check all information before the upload.

I am learning about all kinds of Latin American art and media, from Taino Indian art to contemporary and popular culture. A quick vent though, today was pretty slow with the snow storm and many people did not come into the museum offices until the early afternoon. After such a slow morning, I was almost positive I was going to get out of work early today and at 3:30 the marketing manager sent me two major edits to be completed on the website before the end of the day! I was able to do them but I did not leave the museum till a quarter to six. I guess this is not a complaint, so much as a realization that the museum relies heavily on accuracy and efficiency with regard to the web and its promotion of the upcoming visual arts and public programs.

Tomorrow is the first of two walk throughs of the galleries with head curator Deborah Cullen prior to the opening of the new Canmitzer exhibit. I am pretty excited about that!