On Tuesday Samantha and I went to the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building to pick up ingredients for a meal that we were preparing for our last ESF class. The only requirements were that all the ingredients had to be local and organic and it had to be delicious. Sam had the idea of doing two kinds of sandwiches, and since I am no foodie and was going to make banana bread I readily agreed. We bought tomatoes, romaine lettuce, strawberries, avocados, chilies, focaccia bread, whole wheat bread, lemons, parsley, cilantro and skirt steak.
(Documenting Sam documenting the meal)
The first sandwich was open-faced, it had Focaccia bread with a thin layer of a parsley, cilantro, lemon and olive oil spread (that I made in a Food Processor, first timer woo hoo!), tomatoes and thinly sliced steak.
The second sandwich we made was on whole wheat bread, piled high with grilled chicken, bacon, lettuce, strawberries to replace the tomatoes and a avocado aioli….glorious
One thing I noticed about the produce at the Farmers Market was that the size of the vegetables are much smaller than produce in commercial supermarkets. Commercial produce is genetically engineered, its bigger and lasts longer so people think that they are getting more for their money. But the taste is simply incomparable. Silver has always said, “Once you taste a fresh, completely natural strawberry you just can’t go back to eating regular strawberries.” And until I tasted this luscious, organic, beautifully over-priced strawberry I thought it was kind of a crock of sh*t.
Our last ESF class was filled with eating everyones homemade dishes, discussing the last chapters of Michael Pollans book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and talking about our role in the future of Media. Silver brought up how Professors often say that the future of the media is in our hands, and that it is up to our generation to solve the worlds problems through it. He continued to say that he disagreed with them, that the responsibility is not solely ours but that the media we are currently making IS the future and to keep making it. The videos that Ashton and Chris produce, the writing Teresa and Laura publish, the photos Samantha and Ali take, and the amazing work that every other person has done throughout the semester for our Easting San Francisco class is where the media is headed. This future allows everyone to publish their work, to receive immediate feedback, to be creatively expressive, to combine the various aspects of their lives, their friends, their work, their hobbies, and their passions through one photograph, one video, or one blog post.
Although I do agree with Silver and admire his aspirations for us as media makers, I personally want to try to take time to distance myself from it (who knows if that’s even possible). After 4 years of being required and assigned to create media I have come to mildly resent it . I don’t want to exist as an individual who has to Tweet every time something interesting happens in my life, I don’t want to feel that I have to write a blog post, or consciously think about taking a impressive photograph. I want to want to do all those things. And I know in time I will.
Look how wonderfully it came together. Bye ESF.