Clarification
In the Nov. 30 Locavore Lore, J. Christian Walsh highlighted many aspects of the innovative food education efforts at Fern Creek High School; however, he mistakenly credited my colleague, Brent Peters, and me with founding the Food Literacy Project. Our class at Fern Creek is but one initiative working to encourage students to be more food-conscious, and I want to clarify the role the Food Literacy Project plays within Louisville’s local food movement. My colleagues and I could not have made the strides we have made at Fern Creek without the foundation of institutions like this one.
Established in 2006 at Oxmoor Farm, the Food Literacy Project is a nonprofit organization providing experiential education programs from broad and diverse constituencies. Our class at Fern Creek serves our students there, while the project’s programs are available to all students, teachers and food-service personnel within Jefferson County Public Schools, as well as private and parochial schools, community groups and families. The Food Literacy Project provides these groups with access to an 8-acre working vegetable farm as an outdoor classroom, inviting students to become participants in a sustainable food system — by planting, weeding, harvesting, smelling, tasting and cooking. The Food Literacy Project’s Field-to-Fork programs have reached more than 15,000 students.
As an educator, I expect the interconnected issues of human health, environmental sustainability and consumption will continue to grow in precedence in our society and education system. I’m thankful we have so many dedicated people in this community, including those at the Food Literacy Project, working to inspire critical thought about food choices and create a more just, sustainable food economy. While my colleague and I are responsible for an innovative class at Fern Creek, we rely on the support of local food proponents and educators, including the Food Literacy Project, to provide meaningful farm experiences not only to Fern Creek students, but to young people from across the county. I challenge all LEO readers to get involved and learn more about this important work at foodliteracyproject.org.
Joe Franzen, Fern Creek High School
My Turn!
Dear Mr. Jim Welp,
I enjoyed your thought that a four-way stop is “imminently democratic” (LEO Weekly, Dec. 7). Eventually, soon, it will be my turn. On reflection, did you mean “eminently democratic,” in the sense of clearly evident egalitarian values? What I’d really like to see is a column explaining that a four-way stop is “immanently democratic,” suffused with the gracious power of God.
Ted Farrell, Crescent Hill
Smirnoff Trumps Zima
Attention B.ar Belle:
You should not wish for the return of Zima. Smirnoff Ice (red label only) is far superior and equivalent to crack in a bottle. Just sayin’. And you shouldn’t be wearing a bra in a hot tub — birthday suit! Love.
Karen Keller, Downtown
Puzzled Majority
One is puzzled by Mark Roth’s letter in the Dec. 7 LEO Weekly: He claims “no Democracy has stood for more than 50 years without major upheaval.” Apparently, he is unaware of the political histories of Great Britain, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to name a few.
The pertinent issue today is the power of a minority in the U.S. Senate to block the will of a majority, even when that majority is substantial, as it was after the death of Edward Kennedy. With 41 votes, the Senate minority, led by Mitch McConnell, repeatedly used the filibuster and other delaying tactics not available to any other faction in the representative legislative bodies in the world.
These tactics have enabled the minority to block the appointment of numerous heads of federal agencies, as well as to enact laws to address the situation left by the second President Bush. The latter includes taking a national budget that was balanced when he entered office, cutting income taxes, then going to war in Iraq, enacting a medical prescription bill, and not providing taxes to pay for the latter actions.
T.P. Wolf, New Albany
