Author: Claudia Chow
In the 21st century, many people may go their whole lives without knowing what it is like to work on a farm. This past weekend, however, a group of
Occidental students got a taste of the rural life as they contemplated questions of food justice and spirituality as part of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life’s (ORSL) third fall break retreat.
Director of Religious and
Spiritual Life Reverend Susan Young, along with Assistant Director of
Intercultural Affairs Dominic Alletto and Religious Adviser Maggie Contreras, journeyed with 14 students to the mountains of
Ojai near Santa Barbara, where the group stayed at a campground and worked
at an organic farm called “The Farmer and The Cook.” A marriage of religion, philanthropy and activism, the retreat appealed to Anna Goldberg (first-year) after she heard about the program during her pre-orientation trip,
OxyEngage: Social Justice and the City.
“The retreat sounded right up my alley,
because I am religious,” Goldberg said. ”Combining religion and
community service work just sounded like a great thing, because it makes a lot
of sense to me that they go together.”
Goldberg is part of a growing number of students
with an expressed interest in these issues on campus. OSRL’s first retreat in 2010 attracted only
five students, an attendance that has almost tripled in the past three years.
With 14 students at the most recent retreat, Young says she is content with the
program’s growth.
“Energy for this particular retreat and for
food justice issues on campus in general is really growing,” Young said. “I
think we are building a sense of community around issues of food justice on
campus, and I like the role that ORSL can play in supporting that.”
As one of the many events for Food Justice
Month, the retreat was focused on food justice, but also on spirituality, since
it was an ORSL retreat.
“One of my goals for the retreat was to
encourage the students to think more about their own personal opinions and
values when it comes to issues around what it means to live a sustainable
lifestyle,” Young said.
Young also hoped to cultivate a community of
students who have a sense of commitment to these issues. Although the focus of the retreat was on
spirituality and food justice, Young also wanted to make the retreat a relaxing
experience for the students. Because it was fall break, the administrators
understood that students just needed to be off campus.
“We had things we hoped we would accomplish
during the weekend, but we also kind of took it moment by moment,” Young said.
“It’s not a leadership training retreat, it’s a spirituality retreat. My goal
was for students to come back to campus more contemplative and decompressed
after midterms. I wanted them to come back in a place where they were mentally
and spiritually well.”
Before the students went up to Ojai, they were
required to fill out an application, which included writing a short essay
about why they were interested in attending the retreat. All students who
applied were accepted, but Young wanted to make sure all students attending
were comfortable with talking about spirituality.
“Students don’t necessarily need to
identify religiously, but they have to express an interest in talking about it,”
Young said.
The group left Occidental and arrived at their
campground in Ojai on Friday night, where Young had a talk
with the group to set the theme for the weekend.
“We invited everyone to talk about why they
wanted to come, what they hoped the weekend will be like, and to check in and
see where we all were when it comes to discussing issues about spirituality,”
Young said.
Goldberg, who considers herself religious,
appreciated the openness of the discussion, and how Young talked about the
numerous religious opportunities at Occidental for interested students. Although
religion may not be the most typically advertised or emphasized aspect of
Occidental, Goldberg has found that it is there for the students who desire it.
“In general, it seems like there are a lot
of opportunities for religion, but I don’t feel like it’s forced on
anyone,” Goldberg said. “Religion is present, but it’s only if you
want it to be.”
On Saturday, they started their day bright and
early at the “Farmer and The Cook” organic farm, where they picked
peppers and green beans and shucked corn. In the afternoon, the group spent
some time at the “Farmer and the Cook” store, and did some walking
meditation.
“The meditation helped us put everything
into perspective, like what food justice meant to us, and how it related to our
lives,” Goldberg said.
The highlight of Saturday night was a discussion
among the group about the theme of the retreat: food justice and spirituality. Together
they explored definitions of justice, food justice, sustainability and how they
all relate to religion.
“It was a pretty intense conversation,
because people had different opinions and had different experiences,” Young
said. “In fact, on Sunday morning we returned to the conversation to
reflect on what we had talked about, and to figure out what everyone was
feeling 12 hours later.”
Paige Dow (sophomore), however,
wished that the retreat had included a more expansive view of food justice as
well. There were many discussions on the retreat about food justice, but Dow
felt they focused on only one aspect of it.
“We kind of touched upon one
thing: organic farming,” Dow said. “But there are so many other things, like access
to healthy food.”
Aside from this, Dow was very content with how
the retreat went, as she got to meet new students at Occidental and get a break
from the city life.
”It was a big group of students who
didn’t necessarily know each other very well or at all before the retreat, but
we had fun getting to know each other,” Dow said. “I was just kind of looking forward to have a
relaxing weekend in nature. It was nice to get away from the city, be able to
see stars and to not have all the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles.”
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