A Beautiful & Terrible Year

My 2023 recap, including a big writing milestone and my new job!

I have been promising a post about how to disagree with a stranger on the internet and still stay human, based on an interaction and subsequent conversation with a reader who disagreed with me after I wrote a bit about Gaza and Israel. Unfortunately, I do not think that post is forthcoming, as we reached a point of division that we seem to be unable to cross. I won't share any more details, as we are still trying to stay human in our disagreement, but I wanted you to know where things stand.

Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash

A year ago, I was just starting out. I was giving this newsletter my all and it seemed to be going well. I had just launched paid subscriptions and I had people supporting my work who weren't just family and friends. I was slightly terrified, but open to every possibility.

Today, I'm in a different place. I just started a full-time job (more on that later!), but I feel more certain that the work I am doing with Antiracist Dietitian is both necessary for this field and deeply fulfilling for me personally. So I wanted to put together this wrap-up of 2023, to share with supporting subscribers exactly how their support has helped amplify the call for antiracism, cultural diversity, and an acknowledgement of our problematic history in the field of nutrition. And it's also for me, because to be honest, this past year — while often exciting and full of growth — has been at times incredibly lonely and anxiety-inducing. I need to look back sometimes, to remind myself of all I've done, instead of dwelling on all I haven't been able to do yet. (And if you are a supporting subscriber, I'm sharing a bit more about the darker side of this year after all the good stuff.)

The Good

I Talked A Lot

I'm an introvert who is frequently awkward when trying to make small talk with strangers at parties, but I actually really enjoy public speaking when I'm talking about a topic I feel passionate about — i.e., everything I write about here. So I'm pretty sure I said yes to every speaking opportunity that came alone this year, which included:

• Speaking on a panel about Decolonizing the Food System for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, alongside some amazing food system changemakers: Rupa Marya, Shakirah Simley, and Esperanza Pallana.

• Presenting at two conferences: MSU Denver's virtual Nutrition Diversity Conference, where I got to present with my friend and former supervisor about our experience designing a dietetic internship rotation that openly addressed racism, and at the Weight Inclusive Nutrition and Dietetics Fall Conference, where I spoke about practical strategies for bringing antiracism into your life and work.

• Leading facilitated conversations with staff members at two food- and health-related nonprofits: one on how white supremacy shows up in philanthropy, and the other on how to incorporate culturally relevant food in multicultural spaces.

I was on some really fun podcasts, and listening to them has I think helped me get over my hatred of hearing my own voice:

• Full Plate Podcast with Abbie Attwood: #95: The Truth About The Mediterranean Diet & How To Be Antiracist In Your Approach To Nutrition

• Plantas Pod with Daniella Allam: Episode 7 - Anti-Racism and the Food Industry 

• Food Dignity Podcast with Clancy Harrison: Episode 150 - Structural Racism Exists Within the System Supporting Food Access

• Weight Inclusive Innovators Podcast: Episode 76 - A Social Justice Lens to Entrepreneurship

• BURNT with

  Natalie Love Cruz
  of
  Food For Thought.

EXTRA! BURNT with Anjali Prasertong.

I Wrote A Lot

When I stepped away from the newsletter in the summer, I focused on paid freelance writing gigs, including my first-ever article for a national print publication: a piece for Men's Health critiquing the Mediterranean Diet. !!! (It's not online yet, but you know I'll be sharing it immediately when it is.) While I'm happy about reaching that professional milestone, I'm even more ecstatic to find that there is interest from bigger media outlets to unpack the assumptions of "healthy food," explore the whitewashed past and present of the nutrition field, and think about what comes next.

Outside of the newsletter, here's what I published this year:

• Eugenicists Shaped the Pathologized Way Many Americans Think About Nutrition Today - Well+ Good

• We Need Language Justice - Good Food Jobs

• What Makes CôNu’s Corner Cafe’s Bánh Mì Sandwiches So Special? - 5280

I Got a Job

Looking for a job is terrible, 0/10 do not recommend. Looking for a job when you are a career changer with a professional degree that you do not actually need for the work you do, when you are terrified you will make the wrong choice again and be miserably working from home, and when you are trying to recapture the joy, connection and meaning you felt when you worked in-person, pre-pandemic for a nonprofit in a city you no longer live in…that target feels impossibly small.

And yet. 

Somehow it happened, and I could not be more grateful. About a month ago, I started my job with Nourish Colorado, a state-wide nonprofit that is building a food system that benefits everyone through equitable access to fresh, nutritious foods. They focus on policy change, farm to institution work (with a focus on K-12 schools), and nutrition incentive programs. I have been following Nourish since before I moved to Colorado, and what I love about their work — and I suppose I can say "our work" now — is the focus on both long-term, systemic change as well as programs that address immediate needs. I also appreciate the commitment to centering small, family-owned farms, ranches, and retailers in the state, to ensure that funding to increase access to nutritious food for everyone also strengthens local food systems.

I am working alongside a colleague at the Colorado Department of Human Services to lead a USDA-funded pilot program that will reimburse SNAP shoppers for the money they spend on fruits and vegetables, directly back to their EBT card. It's more convenient for SNAP participants, and more flexible too — they'll receive the reimbursement on fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, and they can spend the reimbursed money on any SNAP-eligible product. (You know my feelings about restricting what people buy with their SNAP benefits. I am, however, all for giving people free money to buy more fruits and vegetables in the form that works for their households.)

A little over a month in, I have been learning a ton already, and I'm sure I'll be sharing a lot of that learning and thinking here in the year ahead.

The Bad & the Ugly

If you've been reading for a bit, you know that 2023 was also a very difficult year for me.