Dialogue Week: Chewing the Fat with BSC

Talk. Gossip. Chatting. Lectures. Conversations. Discussions. Birmingham-Southern College is a primary source of information-exchange for a lot of people; among friends, professors, in and out of class. This week, however, they’re doing something special. This year BSC announced the debut of the Dialogue Series, a “yearlong, cross-disciplinary discussion on a single topic,” according to the BSC website. This fall the focus is Dialogue on Food, inspired by “Menu for the Future,” published by Northwest Earth institute. Birmingham-Southern has engaged several big-name speakers to encourage interest in this topic, including Frances Moore Lappé, democracy advocate, Ana Sofia Joanes, director of “Fresh,” and David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. The week includes events and speakers from all professions and perspectives; panels on “What is the place of food in your religious tradition?,” local issues, food taxes, and even discussions featuring some of BSC’s own Psychology professors, Drs. Witte and Meggers, on the topic of eating disorders. The week begins on September 22, 2009, with Frances Moore Lappé’s “Dialogue on Food: From Sustenance to Community.” Talks and panels continue through September 24 at various hours and locations. For a complete list of events, times and locations, visit http://csunx2.bsc.edu/CeisFutureEvents/FutureEvents.html. For more information on Dialogue Week and individual speakers, please visit BSC’s web-page about the event, at http://www.bsc.edu/dialogue/index.htm. There are links to different books about food, films about food, and even an essay contest exclusive to freshmen at BSC with rewards up to $100! Food is universal; what better way to start talking than over a meal? Join BSC in the first of many Dialogue Weeks, and get talking!

-Alyssa Briggs, Jr. at Birmingham-Southern College