sorry i haven't updated in a quite a while. i haven't been particularly busy-- in fact, i have been really enjoying every minute of free time in the "real world" after work rather than worrying about homework!!-- but summer still induces that sort of sleepy vibe that prevents me from sitting down and writing. plus, long days spent in front of my computer at work lessens my inclination to do more of that at home. my internship is going really really well, though. i did some real fieldwork this week! as an anthro/soc major i've taken a couple of classes on it, but actually going into the field, talking to someone and having it count for more than just a grade was really different. i spoke with a fifth-generation farmer in central maryland's rapidly developing frederick county about his organic dairy. we were interested in traditional arts and ways of life on the farm (which there were plenty of) and also the influence of development on his operation. he had some really interesting things to say about the connection between his method of rotational grazing (rather than "confinement," feeding cows grain and keeping them in the barn all day) and the bible-- he believes god is pro-organic farming and laid it all out for us in the bible. interesting stuff. i am going to make a slideshow of the visit (photos + audio) sometime soon, which should be fun. i have also been spending a lot of time researching and writing a policy paper for my internship. part of the program is that we form groups and do some research on a policy problem in maryland, then present alternatives to the governor at the end of the summer. i feel pretty green on the whole process compared to a lot of my group members who are public policy majors, but it's a great experience. we're researching open space preservation programs in maryland, so i have learned a whole ton about smart growth, sprawl, and the importance of agriculture. it's been eye-opening to realize the scope of the problem, especially in maryland. we are hoping to finish our paper this week and then start preparing our presentation...we only have five minutes in front of the governor so we need to be really polished before then!
[organic dairy farmer at holterholm farms]
in other news, a neighborhood cat adopted us and spends a significant portion of time on our back porch. we dubbed him sven and even though timmy is really allergic, we enjoy playing with him. he likes to do his own landscaping in the garden, which can be frustrating, but his attention-grabbing tactics are pretty darn cute.
when not reading about smart growth or spending time in the park or our back porch, i've been baking a variety of cupcakes, biking, going to festivals like baltimore's annual artscape (crowded, hot, and overwhelming...but amazing!), making a denmark scrapbook, researching grad schools, taking walks around the lovely and very close johns hopkins campus, goofing around with photoshop, and spending time at various friends' houses. this summer has been delightfully mild so far, which is great.
and now i'm going to bike to artscape for the third day in a row!
