Student Blogger

"Everything we learn supplements each other as if bridges are being built in my mind. I learned how to say eggplant in Italian and then I’m cooking it in the kitchen. I planted fennel in the garden and then I’m understanding the food sovereignty of agroecology. I visited a local farm and then I’m asking farmers how the Common Agriculture Policy impacts their agricultural practices. More than half of what I’ve learned since being here was learned outside of the classroom among the farmers, their land, and its culture." Read More »

"Observing how culture is taught to children in PUL communities is significant to me because of how some adults and scholars have spoken about PUL. I think it’s important for me to formulate my own understanding of the PUL community by debunking the many assumptions I have heard from others in and outside the community." Read More »

"Arriving in Belfast at the BHD airport was something I had been waiting anxiously for all year. I was scared that I was going to receive an email saying that Covid had, once again, disrupted my plans to study abroad." Lawrence University student, Josey McClain, tells us about her first days in Northern Ireland and her commitment to learning all she can from the people of this beautiful and complex land. Read More »

I have ambitions to write much more this summer, and keep in mind the many techniques that I learned this year in Making Media, Making Change. There is space in the world for more stories, more compassion, and more humanity. From behind my computer screen, I wish to fill that space. Read More »

Each term, one participant from each HECUA program takes on the role of student blogger, sending regular dispatches from the field. Ying Moua (she/her/hers) is HECUA’s student blogger for Inequality in […] Read More »

With only one week left of the Environmental Justice program with HECUA, I’m excited to embrace summer but also know that I’ll miss my classmates and the ability to learn in such an engaging environment. I’m already dreading when fall semester will roll around and bring with it rigid classrooms, deadlines, and lectures.   Read More »

“Destruction is a form of creation.” Sullivan uses this quote to describe the necessary factors that go into how nature thrives. At first glance, it seems so wrong to create destruction, why must the blueberry bush be burned after it is picked? In order to regulate and encourage healthy growth, heat needs to be applied. Without the cycling of destruction and creation, within moderation, there would be greater detriment to the world.   Read More »

Being is more than thinking. Pay attention to how things feel, and connect with the body. We are taught “I think, therefore I am,” but minds are not separate from bodies. “I feel, therefore I am” is more apt. Our bodies are intelligent- they hold the history of our ancestors and are constantly communicating with us. Read More »

Each term, one participant from each HECUA program takes on the role of student blogger, sending regular dispatches from the field. Carter Starkey (he/him/his) is HECUA’s student blogger for Making Media, […] Read More »

I feel guilty when my friends at the University of Minnesota ask about homework or midterms and I admit that I’m actually spending the next day paddling down the Mississippi River or learning about food justice on a farm. Amidst a year that continues to provide hurdles and tragedies, having the space for rest and transformative learning has been important.  Read More »