{"id":1415,"date":"2018-05-07T07:05:25","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T07:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/?p=1415"},"modified":"2018-05-07T07:05:25","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T07:05:25","slug":"for-busy-bee-college-students-professor-litfin-offers-an-alternative-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/2018\/05\/07\/for-busy-bee-college-students-professor-litfin-offers-an-alternative-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"For Busy-Bee College Students, Professor Litfin Offers an Alternative Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Busyness has become a virtue in western society – a society that demands constant productivity as a means for constant consumption. The lack of \u201cfree-time\u201d and an ever-expanding market of distractions discourages the practice of mindfulness, but when it comes to our habits of consumption, particularly of food, the lack of careful contemplation can leave us ignorant to the larger social, ecological, and ethical impacts of our food choices. Even when pressed for time on an unpaid lunch break, the price and nutritional value are relatively easy measures to weigh. These individualistic measures of cost deny the larger systematic relationships that fuel the global food system, and thrive on our inability to pause, reflect, and research what isn\u2019t presented on an FDA required label. An important aspect of Professor Litfin\u2019s teaching style is making time for these deeper contemplations on topics from cocoa sourcing to exercises in empathy and hunger. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, as Professor Litfin recognizes in her consistent assurances to students who may think the exercises are \u201csilly\u201d, contemplative practices are not a common approach to food. The exercises led by Professor Litfin are accessible only by several layers of privilege to a small group of students: students able to afford tuition and able to attend class against larger economic and social pressures facing the college aged population. The contemplative practices are not the solution to larger problems of the industrial food system, but for us students, it may be a solution to disengagement with our education.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same pressures that discourage mindful consideration of our food choices can make it difficult for students to fully emotionally and cognitively dissect broad social issues studied in political and environmental sciences. Individualistic measures are again easily available, but the emphasis on grades and achievements for a resume fail to leave space for intellectual maturation necessary to tackle global issues that threaten our planet and population. While contemplative practices may not catch on in grocery store aisles, their role in higher education may be crucial for the development of effective, empathetic, and systems-oriented professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Busyness has become a virtue in western society – a society that demands constant productivity as a means for constant consumption. The lack of \u201cfree-time\u201d and an ever-expanding market of distractions discourages the practice of mindfulness, but when it comes to our habits of consumption, particularly of food, the lack of careful contemplation can leave us ignorant to the larger… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-practices","category-systems-theory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1421,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415\/revisions\/1421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courses.washington.edu\/ps385s18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}