Archives for the 'baylen linnekin' tag
The Big Move, and More School
I have new digs. I drove from my DC home to Fayetteville, Ark. last week to earn a degree at the University of Arkansas–yes, the same school Bill and Hillary taught at together. In nine months, I’ll be the proud owner of a Master of Laws degree in Agriculture and Food Law from UARK law. It’s the only such program in the country. The program boasts a
curriculum specializing in the law of food, agriculture and the environment. Each year, the Graduate Program in Agricultural Law prepares a small number of carefully selected attorneys as specialists in the complex legal issues involving food and agriculture. The Program attracts candidates from throughout the United States and the world. Our alumni currently work in 35 different states and 15 foreign countries, serving as leaders in private practice, government, agribusiness, public policy, and academia.
I’ve been lucky enough to earn a full tuition assistantship, along with a modest stipend to work as a research assistant. This means I’m pretty much done accumulating student loans, and I’ll hopefully get to do some interesting food research and writing over the school year.
To the best of my recollection, my ten classmates hail from Arkansas, Virginia, India, Colombia, Nigeria, and Russia. Sounds like a pretty interesting mix.
Afterwards? Who knows. I certainly plan to work in some free market, food-related legal capacity. As my plans firm up, I’ll keep everyone y’all informed. In the meantime, I’m back to regular blogging duties here at Crispy.
Notes from My ASFS/AFHVS Conference Presentation: Arsenic and Trans Fats
Yesterday I sat on a panel on local and state food policies at the 2009 Joint Annual Meeting of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (AFHVS) and the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) at Penn State, in beautiful (really!) State College, PA. I presented a paper I authored on California’s mushrooming food bans and regulations, and the impact of these crackdowns on the future of American food. (Tremendously short synopsis: their impact is very bad.)
I think my presentation went very well. And I’m looking forward to sharing the paper with Crispy readers once it’s in finished form.
Though things went well, probably the most interesting moments of my presentation came as a result of the rather unpleasant man to the right. He sat in the back of the room during my presentation and interrupted me at least twice as I spoke. He seemed incredulous at some of my conclusions, asking at one point (as I discussed California’s foie gras ban), “Where’s your evidence?”
I later learned the heckler is Tufts University project developer and research associate Hugh Joseph, Ph.D. (nutrition). So much for academic freedom.
After my presentation ended, I called on Joseph first during the Q&A. Instead of asking a question, he offered a backhanded compliment and then went on a rather lengthy screed against my work. I requested that he please ask a question.
The best Joseph could do was ask me how the hypothetical presence of arsenic in a food would differ from the presence of trans fat in food. I responded that arsenic is a deadly poison, while trans fat is a food ingredient that helps make tasty things like frosting.
Joseph clearly didn’t like my answer.
“I think you need to take a science class,” Joseph scolded.
“I think you need to learn some manners,” I responded.
Minutes later, Joseph left the room. Perhaps in search of the etiquette that clearly eludes him.
Crispy Podcast Episode 8
This podcast comes courtesy my presentation at the twelfth annual conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, which took place earlier this month at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.
I sat on a panel on food, law, and culture that was chaired by Prof. Chris Buccafusco of University of Illinois Law, and that featured Prof. David Caudill of Villanova Law, me, and two others.
My presentation, based in large part on work I did as a legal intern at the Center for Consumer Freedom this past summer, focused on the evolving legal strategy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, one of the nation’s most aggressive, aggravating, and controversial nutrition nannies.
We hope you enjoy this episode and that you’ll tell us what you think. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the show for free. You can grab the RSS feed or click here to subscribe in iTunes. That way you’ll get it every “week.”
