It was a huge honor to be included on a panel on undercover reporting last week at the Center for Investigative Reporting’s annual Logan Symposium on Investigative Reporting. Post-panel, I had a lot of (strong!) thoughts about race and gender when it comes to that kind of work, which I shared on Twitter — and posted on-site, too.
NYT Opinion: Trending and RuPaul
My New York Times Sunday Review essay, “White Resentment on the Night Shift at Walmart” also topped the site’s trending for a while—and got a Twitter shout out from RuPaul. (It also generated about 900 comments in the 24 hours it was able to accept them.)

Focus on Hunger Awareness, Loyola University – Nov. 10, 2016
Loyola’s Chicago campus has been organizing a Hunger Awareness Week for 40 years (or so they tell me) and I’m thrilled to be talking with them this week about Hunger in America — and processing the results of the election.
Hunger in America lecture
Loyola University
Damen MPR
Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 a.m.
National Farm Worker Law Conference, Keynote – Nov. 9, 2016
I’m honored to be spending the day after the election with lawyers and advocates waging a critical labor battles: Protecting farm workers.
National Farm Worker Law Conference
Indianapolis, IN
Nov. 9, 2016
Farmworkers in the News: Journalists Covering the Lives and Labor Conditions of Farmworkers
Special Treat: Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium Lecture, Oct. 14, 2016
University of Mississippi
Oxford, MS
Oct. 14, 2016
It’s a huge honor and delight to be giving a commissioned lecture at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium today:
When Corn Went Pop
Corn is elemental, the backbone grain of the American diet; that omnipresence begs questions, My assignment: to channel industrial corn products, from Jiffy to Maseca.
Flint area talks: Oct. 4-5, 2016
Quick heads up for anyone in the Flint area: I’m coming to talk in your neighborhood!
Oct. 4, 2016 (Tuesday) 5:45-6:45
Grand Blanc-McFarlen Public Library
and
I’m especially honored to kick off the Sullenger Dialogues at U-M Flint, the nearest university to where I grew up. It’s also an honor to be part of the rich lecture tradition being established on that campus which serves many of the region’s working class students.
Critical Issues Forum, U-M Flint
October 5, 2016
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Update: Nice campus PR write up here.
Common Experience:Highpoint University, Sept. 15-16, 2016
I’m thrilled to share that Highpoint University has chosen The American Way of Eating for its freshman Common Experience Program—and I’ll be spending a couple days on campus this week to talk about the book with students.
Things kick off on Thursday, when I’ll be speaking to the President’s Seminar for first year students, continue with lunch, speak with sociology and anthropology students in the afternoon—and conclude with a Friday talk to a journalism class.
“Southern Hunger” Lecture, Sept. 13, 2016
Sept. 13, 2015
4:30-6:00 p.m.
Stone Center, Hitchcock Room
The American South is often celebrated for its rich food heritage and its powerful influence on American cuisine, but the region’s culture and politics are also linked to the darker side of food. In this lecture, will discuss how modern American food issues like hunger, wages, and labor are deeply tied to the history of the South.
Sponsors: Center for the Study of the American South Hutchins Lecture Series and Food For All, UNC Chapel Hill
Handmade flour torillas, NM edition
For years I have pined for New Mexican flour tortillas, thick bready discs substantial enough to scoop up carne adovada and green chile chicken stew. For years, there was nothing similar in grocery stores outside of NM. Then, there were better thin flour tortillas. And now, a few places do sell thicker versions, but they pale in comparison to fresh.
So I finally got myself some lessons, at the lovely kitchen of Susan McCreight Lindeborg, in Las Vegas, New Mexico. She persuaded Janet Stein Romero, an artist friend in El Ancon who married a New Mexican man (artist Nicasio Romero) and learned to make tortillas from his mother. Continue reading “Handmade flour torillas, NM edition”
Spring Travel: Monroe, MI and Lake Placid, NY
I had a wonderfully busy April, enjoying visits with some amazing folks in my home state of Michigan and in the gorgeous Hudson Valley of New York.
First, as part of Monroe County’s One Book, One Community program, I met with journalism students at Monroe Community College; had a delicious dinner with faculty, staff and local library groups; and delivered a lecture at the beautiful La-Z-Boy auditorium. Special thanks to the Toledo Blade for letting folks know about the event; and my wonderful hosts in the English department, Cheryl Johnston and Carrie Nartker, who were incredibly gracious.
And then I took the inimitable Mark Richards up on an invitation to speak to students at Lake Placid’s stunning North Country School. The 4th-9th grade boarding school in New York’s Hudson Valley has a working farm, and work done there is a central part of their education; I even made it onto their daily photos blog here and here. Mark, the librarian, was so taken with my work and its relevance to their students that he designed youth-oriented curricula around it! I’m not sure there’s anything more flattering than that, but the two pieces in the local paper came close:
- Author to speak about ‘American way of Eating’, Lake Placid News staff
- Author visits Lake Placid to discuss investigative book, Andy Flynn, Lake Placid News