September 21, 2011

Eric Schlosser is Coming to Visit Me

Well, not really. He's visiting the school where I work. But still, I AM THIS EXCITED!!!


He's here to talk to us about his book, Fast Food Nation. The whole school attended a screening of Food, Inc. last night, and we weren't allowed to assign homework so that the girls would actually focus on the book, the film, and, of course, the Schloss-man himself.

Now, have all the students actually read Fast Food Nation? Have all the faculty even read it? No. Because it was summer reading, and the fastest way to turn someone off to something is to call it "summer reading." But the good thing is that, instead of assigning the book, holding a twenty-minute discussion of it, and calling it a day, this lovely school is giving its students a chance to get re-interested in the issues Schlosser raises in his book and his film. And, really, I care way more about sparking a school-wide debate on food safety, ethical food production, and all the other issues Schlosser raises in his work than I do about making sure someone did the reading.

Those students and teachers who did read Fast Food Nation agree that it was: eye-opening, alarming, depressing, thought-provoking, and a whole lot of other verbal adjectives. And I'm right there with them. So I'm psyched for his visit, and I've resisted the urge to run up to him and giggle twice already this morning. Hopefully I can keep it together throughout the day!

No comments:

Post a Comment