The TOMS story is essentially one man putting capitalism and philanthropyin a blender and hitting Ice Crush. Blake Mycoskie’s book Start Something That Matters is his way of convincing readers to do the same. Mycoskie, founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, the innovative and fast-growing shoe company, believes that anyone can make a difference in the world through their work and enjoy doing it. This short and concise book begins by telling the TOMS story, in which the twenty-nine-year-old author is inspired to do something about the prolific lack of footwear in Argentina. His solution: TOMS, a company dedicated to providing children in Latin America and Africa with a free pair of shoes for every TOMS shoe purchased in North America.

To Mycoskie, TOMS represents not only a progressive business model, but the ultimate culmination of a career, a cause, and a passion. The book segues smoothly from the opening TOMS anecdote to the first topic of advice for readers: finding your own story. The story is central to the model of conscious capitalism, as the author promotes and aims to evoke emotional connections between a given company and its consumers and suppliers. The rest of the book continues this self-help pattern established in the first chapter.

The advice segments are peppered with convincing and inspiring examples of each chapter’s topic applied by successful contemporary organizations. In the chapter titled “Find Your Story,” Mycoskie uses the Subway company to illustrate the profitable importance of having a story: in 1999, a struggling Subway put out an advertising campaign based on the tale of Jared Fogle, who defeated obesity and associated health problems using a diet of Subway sandwiches. Subway morphed into the hugely successful restaurant chain.

The author comfortably transitions from his first topic to the next, aptly teaching readers about overcoming fears in order to accomplish their dreams. Mycoskie’s tips on starting a new venture with limited capital, the value of simplicity, creating trust within and outside the company, and the profitability of philanthropic work are equally simple and well presented. Mycoskie’s discussion of each topic is specific and action-oriented; his clean prose and clear, consistent organization mercifully do not waste words.

However, the author’s starry-eyed sincerity cultivates a slightly overwhelming atmosphere of tree-hugging, environmental-loving attitude, which is present throughout the work. Although this may be disconcerting to some readers, Mycoskie appears well-intentioned and largely symptomatic of his intense dedication to the idea of conscious capitalism. Mycoskie fervently insists that the topics he covers can enable anyone with a passion to make a positive impact on the world via a new business, a not-for-profit organization, or in their current position. By the end of the book, most readers will believe him, too.

With this book, Mycoskie has not only published a meaningful tool for budding philanthropists and bleeding heart capitalists, but has also started a fund to support inspired readers. Find out more about the Start Something That Matters Fund here.

Start Something That Matters
Written by Blake Mycoskie
Spiegel & Grau
208 Pages

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It’s official: Mindy Kaling completes a holy comedic triumvirate with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. If you don’t believe me, then you really need to read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Kaling’s recently released collection of essays.

While Kaling is best known for her role as Kelly on the mockumentary television program The Office, she skillfully and humorously writes about a surplus of topics in her new book. The collection of essays starts off thoroughly autobiographical and eventually veers into ruminations on Hollywood, relationships and Irish exits (an Irish exit is leaving a party without telling anyone). There wasn’t an essay in the book that didn’t make me laugh out loud and the funniest anecdote has to be “Revenge Fantasies while Jogging.” One of her daydreams is that Al Qaeda holds the NBC television program “The Voice” hostage. The image of Kaling hiding in Cee-Lo Green’s fur coat to take out the terrorists made me howl with laughter.

Surprisingly, the strong point in the collection is not in its humor, but its relatability and earnestness. In the essay, “Chubby for Life,” Kaling remembers her high school’s star athlete tormenting her for being overweight. Many a girl can attest to being made fun of for her appearance, and Kaling is able to perfectly balance the hurt and isolation of body shaming with reassurance and wit. Throughout the early portion of her book, Kaling deliberates on universal experiences of post-college jobs, female friendships and romantic relationships. Kaling proves her ability to connect with her reader and share both the happy and the sad moments of her life.

In spite of these high points, Kaling’s shift from autobiographical essays to general musings in later stories can be off-putting. While her later essays about the different types of romantic movie heroines and the male dress code are vastly amusing, I felt myself yearning for her earlier autobiographical anecdotes. I would have preferred that the collection of essays stick with either an emphasis on her life experiences, or her insights as a candid and witty woman. However, the book is wonderful entertainment, and I enjoyed it greatly.

Overall, Kaling’s experiential familiarity makes up for any flaws and makes Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) highly entertaining. Kaling is an awesome and witty older sister dishing out all of her misadventures and experiences as advice to her naive and eager younger sister, her readers-who may soon become avid fans.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
Written By Mindy Kaling
Crown Archetype
240 pages

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Perfect for any high school or college-aged female looking for confidence and support, What You Really Really Want provides insight to young women on the most difficult topics of sex, safety and interpersonal relationships. Jaclyn Friedman covers a variety of issues with perspective from women of all different sexual, religious, and racial backgrounds.

Not to be confused with Cosmopolitan Magazine many articles claiming “50 Sexy Ways to Get a Man in Bed,” Friedman does not suggest sexual poses or recommend types of toys. The guide does not highlight the importance of Victoria’s Secret lingerie,but instead Friedman goes beneath the surface to a woman’s needs and wants mentally and sexually. What You Really Really Want gives honest stories, advice and mental exercises to increase confidence and happiness with oneself sexually and emotionally. Stories that are both harrowing and giggle-inducing gives the guide a quality of personal relation. The book leads its readers into a direction of self-fulfillment and joy.

Throughout each chapter Friedman inserts “Dive Ins,” exercises that push readers further in thinking about themselves and what they want out of relationships and sex, while considering the emotions involved with so many physical and mental acts of love. It was enjoyable to find ways in which I could better improve my happiness, using personal confidence and a greater understanding of myself when it comes to love within my relationships. The guide expands beyond the ideas of sexual relationships, and focuses on the vast amount of relationships women have.

Friedman provides many resources within the guide that allows readers to examine specific topics (like unwanted sexual pain and experimental sex) much deeper. In addition to providing great resources, I also enjoyed the narration of Friedman’s guide: she speaks in the first person, recommending and giving advice as though she is talking directly with her readers. The guide is similar to talking with an experienced best friend about sexual issues in that it is helpful, direct
and incredibly comforting.

I recommend this novel to anyone who is feeling unsure or not confident about their experiences or happiness with sex. Friedman impresses upon her readers the importance of safety and knowledge, and she does a wonderful job enabling young women to find both. Explore What You Really Really Want to feel comfortable and secure with your own sexual experiences.

What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety
Written by Jaclyn Friedman
Seal Press
352 pages

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Aside from groupies and rock and roll fans, the book is a gem for generation Y, those who grew up hearing about these artists, but never experienced the music mania first hand. Not just a photo book, it also includes personal stories from Regan as well, such as one memory of a five-hour bus ride in a snowstorm en route to shoot Elvis Presley, or an anecdote about the time a friend’s dad was his ticket into photographing at The Ed Sullivan Show.

It’s a trip in a time machine for anyone who wishes to experience the lives of these musicians in both color and black and white shots. An experienced photographer, Regan’s prints can be found on over 200 magazines covers. Regan not only captured musicians while performing, but off-set as well.

Some of these more natural shots are his most spectacular, like the series he took of The Rolling Stones at Andy Warhol’s Montauk estate in June 1975. In particular, his photograph of Ronnie Wood sitting on a worn, white wicker chair overlooking a rocky beach feels surreal for the viewer. Very rarely do fans see musicians off-stage, let alone in nature. Having such a momentous rock icon standing face to face with the ocean feels like a clash of the Titans. With his head resting on his hand and his feet on a rock, Wood is vulnerable and obviously deep in thought.

Another particularly resonating shot was of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. They are posing in New York City’s Central Park. Taken during their first United States visit, the group was posing for the media with the intent of riding on a horse-drawn carriage. Yet in this shot McCartney playfully holds his hands over his head like antlers, while Starr and McCartney look up with humorous expressions; the three stand on a snowy dock with the backdrop of a pond.

All photo credits: Ken Regan

Seeing musicians like Wood and the three Beatles off of the stage and out of the recording studio helps to humanize people who have been deemed godly by some. In a country with a culture so focused on celebrity, Regan brings fans one step closer to experiencing the greatness first hand.

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As the full title of the work suggests, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, recounts one woman’s year-long project to become happier. Unlike other more drastic undertakings, such as that chronicled in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, Rubin’s goal is not to find happiness by escaping the confines of a mundane life, but rather by enhancing the joys of everyday living. Although I’ve always been wary of the self-help aisle, this simple endeavor struck a chord in my state of flux as a college senior, anxious about leaving the cozy world of M&Cs and ivy-laden buildings.

Rubin truly began her Happiness Project as a graduate of Yale Law School, serving as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Although leading a life many pre-law students, like me, wistfully dream of, Rubin realized that the law did not ignite her passion as much as her hobby, writing, did. In a brave move, she abandoned her prestigious legal career and pursued her dream of publishing novels, ultimately publishing several New York Times best-selling works.

The Happiness Project itself was born one day on a New York City cross-town bus, when Rubin realized that her life was fleeting. As she reflected on the quick growth of her two daughters, the seeming shortness of her decade-long marriage and the meteoric rise of her career, she discovered one of the Secrets of Adulthood that she uses to frame the lessons of her book: “The days are long, but the years are short.” Although she didn’t characterize her life as distinctly unhappy, she realized that there was much room for improvement in enriching her daily experiences.

The format of the book follows a monthly account of Rubin’s experiments in applying her happiness research to improve specific areas of her life. For instance, beginning with energy in January, in which she addresses her sleeping, diet, exercise and overall well-being. To frame each month, she follows her personal Ten Commandments, such as “Be Gretchen,” to personalize her own Happiness Project. She outlines a few mini-goals to address the purpose of that month and charts her success in accomplishing these on her Resolutions Chart. When beginning a new month, she continues to chart the goals for the previous months as well.

The theories that she test-drives to improve her life are derived from an extensive array of happiness gurus in pop culture, science and ancient wisdom. She channels, and quotes, the beliefs of sages such as Oprah, Thomas Jefferson, the Dalai Lama and Woody Allen. In addition, in March, as she attempts to “Aim Higher” to focus on her career, Rubin follows through with her mini-goal of learning a new technology by starting a blog about her Happiness Project. From that point on in the book, she bolsters many of her own experiences with those of her readers, many of whom are inspired to begin their own Happiness Projects with the Toolbox she created for the site.

Rubin’s book has had wide appeal in the two years since it hit the shelves. Her A-type personality does not alienate readers, as her struggle to focus on the moment and treasure the joys of each day is universal. Although the book details her personal Happiness Project, the core structures of her life (family, work, leisure, health) are easy for anyone to relate to. Her successes and failures also offer practical lessons applicable to all, as readers relate to her resolutions to be a more pleasant partner, find more positivity in the mundane, remember blessings and cherish health.

A Mount Holyoke student, no matter the class year, will agree with the value of the wisdom she tests out and the advice she gives. Too often, students struggle with one of Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood: “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” Instead, we can focus on one of her Splendid Truths she derives from the research and her experiences, in which she realizes that a key element of happiness is the spirit of growth in which it occurs.

Armed with this knowledge, a Mount Holyoke reader might be inspired to take a new language, join a new organization or make time for a hobby (that doesn’t include Hulu). And for the seniors, fearful for their happiness in this time of transition, we are spurred to take this spirit of learning with us into the real world. After borrowing The Happiness Project from my friend for over seven months (sorry, Carol!), I was unwilling to let it end as I prepared for my LSAT and readied materials for my thesis. As I considered my future, as even first years do, I realized that I had learned more than the fact that the self-help section may not be for just the recently dumped and workplace navigators. I had discovered my own Splendid Truth: “Happiness is possible without M&Cs and Mountain Day, since in the real world there are plenty of mountains to climb and plenty of nights where carrots and graham crackers aren’t the only option.”

Anyone looking to improve their happiness at any stage of life, and who isn’t enamored with traditional self-help novels, will delight in the conversational relatability of this book and may even be inspired to undertake their own Happiness Project.

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A group of Pioneer Valley authors founded the fall conference as a way to produce what they viewed as the ideal literary symposium, a discussion run by writers. “Our planning committee changes year to year because of the new people who come in to volunteer,” Mathias said.

The WriteAngles conference takes applications from the local literary community to fill their coordination committee, panels and workshops.

This insular society of writers creates a system of support that authors would usually have trouble finding anywhere else.

“‘I’ve written this. Could you read it?’ To have someone you know has skills is the best benefit to a writer,” said Patricia Lee Lewis, one of the leaders of the “Word Play: Experiments in Poetry” panel. Lewis used an example of peer editing to show how helpful the collaboration of a community of writers can be. She described her literary relationship with fellow writer and panel leader, Diana M. Gordon, as well as Susan Spencer Smith, who graduated from college with Lewis and attended the panel to reconnect with her friend. During the panel, it became apparent that most of the writers in the room were colleagues. As the panel concluded, one of the attendees shouted, “It is so energizing to hang out with other writers!”

The other major draw of the conference was the “How Agents Think” panel and the individual sessions with literary agents. Participants had the opportunity to sign up for a one-on-one session with an agent to discuss their already-written manuscripts, their ideas or networking strategies.

“Writers love the opportunity to hear agents talk about how to get agents,” Mathias said. She also discussed how increasingly difficult the climate for the literary community has become to sell ideas to agents. The afternoon keynote speaker, Valerie Martin, author of The Confession of Edward Day, re-enforced the idea of hard-sell agents in her speech. Her agents were most interested in her historical fiction novels because “they sold the best in comparison to what we called in grad school ‘stories about people who are unhappy in their living room.’”

While there were plenty of writers of all backgrounds represented, one demographic was clearly missing. “Every year, we try to publicize at Mount Holyoke College,” said Mathias. “We don’t have any [student attendees] this year. We would be delighted if they came, but we don’t know why they don’t come.”

Whether Family and Friends Weekend or unreceptiveness to advertising is to blame, there were no college students in attendance, despite the special student application that the committee designed. WriteAngles plans to return to the Center in 2012 and hopes more Mount Holyoke students will attend.

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Don’t let the title fool you – The Marriage Plot is not just another evolution of a timeless tale of boy-meets-girl-romance. In fact, it’s anything but. This latest novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides explores the vagaries of young adulthood and follows the experiences of three Brown graduates of the class of ’82. Madeleine, the attractive English major of WASP-y parentage; Leonard, her irresistibly tortured and self-proclaimed latchkey kid and on-and-off boyfriend; and  Mitchell, the all-American parent favorite, who oscillates between obsessing over Madeleine and his faith. The story follows the characters in their first year fresh out of the cocoon of college life. True to his familiar territory, Eugenides writes about the drama of coming-of-age in such a convincing manner that it’s hard to imagine he was making up stories on the basis of his lived experience as a student at Brown almost three decades ago.

The Marriage Plot is a defiant departure from Eugenides’ first critically-acclaimed novel, The Virgin Suicides, where Eugenides intentionally limited the voice of his main characters and lent more prose to detailing the surrounding atmosphere of growing up in a suffocating suburban setting. Unlike his first novel, Eugenides has given more attention to his main characters in The Marriage Plot, in such a way that the novel quickly changes mood and pace through characters’ interactions with each other. Eugenides’ uniquely cinematic narrative of the novel’s physical milieu is now pregnant with characters’ dialogue, fleshing out the tensions and caprices of their hormonal imbalances. The characters are dynamic enough for us to admire their homework-and-sex balancing act. In addition, the novel is punctuated by bursts of ostentatious literary jargon in the form of Brown’s “lit crit elite.” Every time the author enacts a classroom discussion, the story depicts what it would be like to be in Semiotics 211 at Brown University back in 1982.

While these classroom scenes were entertaining to read, they seemed a little bit off-base for the novel, given its generous narrative: they came off as somewhat unrealistic. I question the veracity of some of the characters’ seemingly effortless intelligence, with their quick wit and brazen boldness in doubting giants like Derrida (oh the blasphemy). Perhaps it was the author’s attempt at inflating the ingenuity (read: ego) of his Alma Mater.

My other dissatisfaction after reading the book is that, while Mitchell and Leonard seemed to have blossomed post-graduation, the protagonist, Madeleine, doesn’t seem to have had a real journey – there was not really an unexpected resolution of her pre-adulthood confusion.

Her character seemed merely sketched out by Eugenides and not fully drawn, which makes it difficult for the reader to fully empathize with her growing-up quandary. Her worries about the future are reasonable at best, but not necessarily relatable. Madeleine’s early decision to move to Cape Cod with her unstable boyfriend post-graduation while he works and she plays the stay-home, wait-for-the-grad-school-admissions-letter girlfriend instead of moving to New York City with her roommates and establishing her own life seemed downright larval.

This novel is appropriate for the lot of us, hanging by that thread one may identify as an existential college limbo – the inevitable question of “What’s next?” Seniors especially would be able to relate most to this novel. It is an accidental self-help for those in dire need of knowing that everything will be alright. Needless to say, The Marriage Plot, though lacking in stories of matrimonial vices  as its title misleadingly promises, instead provides a lot of hidden advice for college undergraduates preparing to confront the next phase in our lives. I recommend this book for not only its ability to enable self-reflection among its readers (namely college-aged ones), but also for being highly effective in  providing a faraway nostalgia in a manner comparable to reading one of your best friends’ well written journals.

In The Marriage Plot the centrality of the three main characters stuck in a fragile love triangle seemed clear at first, prompting the reader to expectantly flip through a romance that would evolve.  As you go on however, the dull pain of the characters’ heartaches recede into the background, while a refreshingly unexpected tale of facing adulthood, and confronting one’s identity, becomes the forefront of this magnificent read.

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As an 11-year-old boards the ocean liner that is to be “the first and only ship of his life,” the prospect of a three-week voyage between Colombo and London strikes him as less extraordinary than the idea that his mother will manage to find him on the London pier when he arrives.

A note slipped under his cabin door indicates that he will take his meals at Table 76. Arriving in the dining room, he quickly discovers he has been assigned to the Cat’s Table along with other passengers insignificant enough to sit at the table farthest from the captain.

His journey, much like the tale Ondaatje spins around it, seems to begin without grand ambitions. As the first meal continues, though, he realizes he has been seated with two other boys and several interesting adults, including a botanist, a ship expert, and a self-proclaimed pianist. At higher ranking tables are his beautiful distant cousin Emily and Mrs. Flavia Prins, an acquaintance who has promised to keep an eye on him.

Her promise is quickly revealed to be a mere formality, and the boys at the Cat’s Table enjoy light supervision indeed as they bond over the cheerfully down-and-out pianist’s tales of jazz and women, establishing a knocking code and learning from their table mate which parts of the ship are really dangerous and which only appear so.

They rise before dawn to lick the dried salt of three seas off the railings, to watch the fiercely focused Australian girl roller skate around the decks and to steal the condensed milk set out for the first class passengers’ morning coffee. Each night the boys hide on the deck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the prisoner ordinarily kept below. Later, they join in the ship-wide speculation about his mysterious crime. The iconoclast of the three vows to urinate in the captain’s toilet before the voyage ends.

Their adventures are described with a degree of reflection by the same boy years later, now a novelist capable of probing the divide between what seemed at the time a commonplace occurrence and what looms larger in memory. He has certainly boarded other vessels in the interim, but none of such consequence. Over the years, the passengers he has kept in touch with have drifted toward fates that were hardly apparent aboard the Oronsay.

Nonetheless, their driftings take on the quiet, nearly imperceptible melancholy of the inevitable. This delicate shade contributes much to the beauty of the novel, but Ondaatje’s prose constructs lighter moments with equal ease. Unpretentious, they present the reader with as little resistance as a well-written newspaper article, but to skim through them in that manner is to miss the precise virtuosity of his phrasing. “After the meal,” one line early in the novel reads, “he carried his cup of java to the ballroom piano and placed it on the treble notes.” Even this sentence, which might have been a utilitarian bit of connective tissue in other stories, has the alliteration and quick, vivid accuracy of a poem.

Read The Cat’s Table, then, to hear words as they were meant to be used—in graceful combinations in service of a story containing all of the novelty of a first and last sea voyage, but also something of the universal.

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The journey begins in a grocery store, when Flinn finds herself guilty of judging one woman’s grocery cart filled with frozen and processed food.  After an impromptu cooking (and shopping) lesson, Flinn realizes  that many people are intimidated by cooking.  She sets out on a yearlong project to teach nine people the basics in cooking and eating good food.  Flinn begins by starting with a general observation of each person’s kitchen and cooking practices then implements different lessons to fix the appalling habits these women had fallen into.

Flinn’s selection of culinary novices additionally captures attention and reader interest. There is always a helplessly bad cook lurking within the pages, easy to relate to or find sympathy for.  She did not stick solely to one socioeconomic class, age group or gender (originally there was one male onboard but he dropped out—what can we say, women just have more initiative).

The first student introduced is 23-year-old Sabra. During Flinn’s first visit, Sabra makes her classic “White Trash Garlic Bread.”  The concoction consists of hamburger buns, Gold’n’Soft (a margarine substance), garlic powder and canned Parmesan cheese; it is evident that there is a lot of work to do. Among some of the more memorable students is Trish, a 61-year-old woman with a beautiful kitchen and access to wholesome ingredients, who is unable to figure out how to use any of her resources; Jodi, whose cooking is suppressed by a picky toddler; Terri, a distracted business owner guilty of wasting  ingredients; finally, Donna and Shannon, both of whom simply lack family support for their cooking skills.

The book is composed of informative and amusing anecdotes about cooking and food.  There is an entire chapter devoted to Flinn’s teaching methods. She instructs her students on how to shop for a specific knife and also implements proper skills for usage.

While I know knife shopping may sound dull to most college students (we only have access to butter knives in the dining halls, so why do we care?) but what I found most appealing was the financial side of the story.  This is something we can all relate to: watching our wallets and pinching our pennies, especially during the current financial crisis.  As Flinn explains at the beginning of the book (while she innocently stalks random grocery shoppers), cooking real food is actually cheaper than buying frozen and processed products. Her little tips, such as buying a whole chicken and cutting it up (rather than purchasing segmented parts) are effective cost-cutters and are surprising and helpful!

I enjoyed how the story wasn’t solely focused on the project of cooking, but incorporated tales from the author’s own life into the chapters–little glimpses into her personal experiences of times spent traveling with her husband. These private details depict Flinn as a more relatable and less intimidating narrator. She is not just some foreign culinary master lecturing random strangers, but a real character with her own story and emotions. Flinn’s interweaving of personal life and technical instruction creates an informative experience and an intriguing narrative capable of inspiring even the worst of cooks.

Flinn mentions that the idea for her experiment came about while watching an episode of TLC’s What-Not-To-Wear. Ironically, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School is a mix between a controversial Michael Pollan exposé on healthy, sustainable eating, and a makeover focusing on people’s views and attitudes about cooking.  It’s an inspiring story of one woman’s quest to change nine people’s lives by teaching them what real food is.  If you’re feeling any hesitance, don’t fear: this is a story that does not require an intense desire to become the next Bobby Flay—just an appreciation for good food and the motivation to go out there and make it.

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The majority of attendees were interested in learning about Hewitt’s ideas on how to solve the problems that lie within the American food system. His strategy, shared with many others who hold the same views, is successfully being implemented in Hardiwick, Vermont. In his book that was published last year, The Town That Saved Food: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food, Hewitt describes Hardiwick’s transformation from a town replete with food products and restaurants that lacked environmental concern, to an example of a better future.    

The Town that Saved Food follows Hardiwick as it struggles to establish itself as a role model, an environmentally conscious community in the state of Vermont. Hardiwick implemented a food system that, as Hewitt put it, “others would start blue printing.” This push for the generation of local food organizations to engage youth in agricultural service and offer the community of Hardiwick a variety of healthy food products, shows that Hewitt is on the right path to finding a cure for the depressing situation of America’s food culture.

Hewitt is the owner of a self-built farm in rural Vermont that participated in the local food movement. He has compared and contrasted the current food system with his local one, acknowledging the values, aims and challenges of each. It is evident that Hewitt’s passion and optimism lies within the new movement. His desire to produce healthy food products so that people will not have to be entirely dependent on the industrialized food allows him to use his personal knowledge and interest when answering questions asked by his audiences.
Hewitt impressed upon the group gathered in Gamble that there are four main components that local food must fulfill; he called these his ‘Four Commandments of local food.’ He stated the rules as follows:

It shall feed the locals
It shall be CIRCULAR
Is shall be based on sunshine
It shall offer viability to producers

He then used the Hardiwick food system to depict how each one of the Commandments was being exercised. For example, the Jasper Hill Cheese Company in Vermont ages their own cheese and provides an incubation system for other cheese producing companies. This allows for local cheese businesses to grow (utilizing Commandment Four) because of the lesser financial stress of having to build an incubator.

Hewitt emphasized the importance of variety in food, as specializing in one product can cause intense pressure on the land, which in time will cause a decrease in value. When land is overworked during one season specifically, its soil can be forever damaged. Food diversity also encourages a non-monopolized food system, the opposite of the current food system, since the community is not dependent upon one product. “It reduces sense of competition and instead creates one of collaboration,” Hewitt said.

Throughout the lecture, Hewitt introduced a new vocabulary of terms pertaining to the food world. Although the phrase “sustainable development” is commonly used to discuss environmental approaches, Hewitt refers to “restorative agriculture” instead. This concept appealed to the audience as it sounded more tangible and applicable.

The lecture ended with a slide of Hewitt’s two sons draped over the back of a sitting cow; their feet dangling in the air. It was a picture he had taken on his farm.  The heart-warming image illustrated the importance of a more agriculturally based food system; not only to have a healthy diet but also a healthy lifestyle that inspires families to focus on doing what is best for themselves and the world.

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