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Written by Shannon Ayala.
I worked as an RFO for RFC from August, which was mostly training/conference calls and then throughout the fall and winter. I declared my resignation in late January and officially finished on February 28th, the last day of the NYC Real Food Training.
There are at least 5 RFOs at a time. I was the only one in the Northeast and now there isn’t any momentarily in the Northeast. I met RFOs from times prior when I was beginning the internship and based mostly on what they expressed to me, I think it is a job that holds potential to be an extremely fantastic time. Like anything, it’s different for everyone. I can’t make much of a judgement about the internship because there were very specific reasons why I decided to resign.
The main reason why I resigned was because my local agenda became a greater priority to me than my regional one. Originally, my plan was to try to quickly transition my old position as the leader of an environmental justice club at CCNY to a new person and give them help when they needed it. Not only did that prove to be way too special of a task, but I didn’t fully consider the political climate when I took the RFO position. Climate Justice became a huge matter from October 2009 to December 2009, and it being my last semester at this diverse school in Harlem, I felt it was my last chance to spread Climate Justice awareness at the most urgent time. If I didn’t put all my time and energy into it, it may have dwindled into a lost hope. I felt it was more important to bring CJ to Harlem and all the different colored people of NYC then to ivy league and like schools around the Northeast.
There was also the matter of Food Justice. Originally, I made a RFC team at City that semester to take the Real Food Challenge and to possibly help me with whatever else. When people heard I was making another club, they thought I was absurd, and living an impossible life. And I said that is was actually part of what I was already doing. This team grew quick and maybe it’s that people just starting to get involved is a heavier thing than people already involved, so I was very careful about fostering this new project and I could hardly help but to allocate a substantial amount of time to that, especially when again, the issue of food justice became a dominating factor in a very specific place.
Those were the two main things, but there were other reasons why I decided to resign, which didn’t have much to do with Real Food Challenge. There was the issue of cancer in my family. From the outset of the job, cancer became a huge issue, and strangely, the war against the gigantic, industrial food system had to take a side to the attention family members needed. There was also the issue of niche. I’m an artist. All of these things resulted in a lack of time that I was able to spend creatively. In the 2 years before the internship, I learned a lot about the ingredients that an artist needs and because I was spending all my time with my family, doing school work, working, reading and responding to emails, making calls, organizing data, attending conference calls usually on the go, there was no time to write, play guitar, do something meditative or absorb other art or artists.
Activism is basically my favorite thing. Often I do feel that I am fulfilling my creative needs, my social needs, my adventure needs and all that when I’m doing something for a significant cause. If you need a job and you want to change the food system then RFO is certainly considerable but you have to make a very ethical decision. I think if you have a local group, especially if you are the leader of it, especially if you are the leader of 2 local groups, definitely give those projects all the love they need. If you have a lot of classes, likewise. I think whatever you do it needs to be able to get all the love from you that it needs.
Now I take one additional creative writing class at CCNY so I can seriously focus on my creativity. In the same context, I am doing my best to launch these two local groups out into years of adventure like I have had as an activist, the best years of my life. I’m trying to fulfill those local urgencies that I wasn’t able to last semester. For 3 weeks I’m working for Earth Day Network to mobilize NYC to DC for a huge Climate Rally on April 25th. It might seem counter to what I just said, but not really. It’s not on the scale of RFO. Similarly, for the previous month I was working with Earth Day NY to help organize the NYC Amp Up Summit and Amp Up Network. Plus I need money and I only have one class and no job now (because I can’t get work-study anymore). The Food Justice group is practically going by itself and Climate Justice is fully aligned with this DC rally and Amp Up actions coming up. As I resigned from RFO my creative output exploded and that hasn’t stopped. I spend a lot of time just having fun and getting inspired. My family gets as much as me as it needs. I’m finally starting my terrace-garden project, which is still a fundraiser for RFC and my own personal weapon.
http://shannonsnortheastgardenchallenge.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/finally-getting-started/
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