perspective

Final Reflection Post

by Maria Guinnip

Throughout this class my ideas have developed from simple statements about my heritage and relationship with food into research projects and deep dives into topics I wanted to learn more about including food production, modern farming techniques, sound and taste, the development of infant’s palates, and more. The blog format, along with various challenging prompts, allowed me to venture beyond my simple ideas and delve into my relationship with food in different ways with each post. I made significant changes throughout the class to a few of my posts including my Recipe As a Narrative Artifact, PSA, and Critical Summaries Portfolio reflections. After receiving critiques in comments and grading to lengthen some of my reflections, I revised them and went more in depth.
I have learned a lot about the world’s relationship with food, which has helped me better understand my own. And, this class also helped me realize how genuinely interested I am in food studies and has encouraged me learn more about opportunities surrounding it. I now see agricultural journalism as a very viable career option for me.

Image from nimasensor.com

Sharing My Graphic Novel Page!

by Maria Guinnip

I shared my graphic novel with my friend Harris who was in the World Urban Geography program at Syracuse, but left this past weekend. Sharing this with him gave me the opportunity to get another perspective while also staying in touch. He thought that my graphic novel page was really interesting because he has also heard similar stories from his mother. He elaborated saying that “[his] mom always craved fried calamari and it is still one of [his] favorite foods today.” He found this relationship funny because food traveled to him, through his mother, and yet his body still remembers it. He enjoyed my interpretation of it saying, “When you turn a biological process into a narrative, it adds life to it.” I really appreciate hearing someone else’s perspective, especially someone not in a writing class. He was honest with me while also providing feedback I had never heard, like the “adding life to a biological process”. I liked the final product of my graphic novel page and absorbing all of the feedback from my peers and friends was rewarding and interesting. I do not usually like sharing my writing or art with others, so the fact that I did both in my graphic novel page was a big step. The blog project as a whole along with all of the positive feedback I have been receiving is making me more confident and more eager to produce and share with the world around me.

Introducing Me

by Maria Guinnip
my favorite painting by Renoir

I am a high school student from Los Angeles, CA currently taking classes at Syracuse University. My passion is writing and I hope to pursue it further this summer and throughout college. I am currently a part of a writing program and write poetry, short stories, essays, and songs in my free time. I have also written for my school magazine and blog since freshman year. I play piano and guitar and am extremely interested in music. My dream is to pursue music journalism and create content I am truly proud of. I am also extremely interested in food and art and watch a lot of documentaries about both.