Little Hawk Feature Magazine

CITY HIGH - THELITTLEHAWK.COM - SEEKING TRUTH AND REPORTING IT

FEATURE MAGAZINE 10.15.21

THE NEW LAWS OF TEACHING RACE IN IOWA

Recent legislation has changed the landscape of teaching teachers and teaching about racial issues in Iowa schools.

The Little Hawk

www.thelittlehawk.com

City High School

Iowa City, Iowa

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS AALA BASHEIR ‘22

Dear readers,

As always, thank you for picking up this copy of the Little Hawk. Greta and I are really excited to work on the mag this year. I’m sure you’re completely terrified, given the change in leadership (Jesse, please come back!), but I assure you that we will do our best to put forward good stories. Our hope is to expand the genres of content being put forward. You’ll see links to videos and podcasts, as well as the cover story, something very relevant to the current academic environment of our school and many others.

Rose Flores-Rubio was the amazing artist behind our cover this issue. Something that Greta and I have in common (among our shared love for the Co-op) is our hatred of including photos of us for this section, so for the time being, enjoy our baby pictures.

Lots of love,

GRETA ST

Aala Basheir & Greta Stainer

ROSE FLORES-RUBIO ‘24

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CONTENTS

4

Help wanted How The Great American Labor Shortage has been affecting teens and local businesses

6

Bottling Up Plastic at City High Single-use plastic consumption has grown

exponentially since its invention, and City High is no exception to this familiar substance

TANIER ‘23

8

Murals of Iowa City A look at recent murals that have painted in downtown Iowa City

10-12

Critical Race Theory: From Bills to Classrooms

A closer look behind Housefile 802 and its implemantation in the Iowa education system and withing the Iowa City Community School District.

14

Local Chef, Local Food Profile on Ben Smart, Top 50 young Chef in America and co-owner and manager of Big Grove

16

Podcasts

HELP WANTED How “The Great American Labor Shortage” has been affecting teens and local businesses

By Greta Stanier

W

alking down the streets of Iowa City, signs can be found taped up in the windows, each with the same message: Help Wanted.

These signs reflect the effects of the nationwide issue, “The Great American Labor Shortage.

“I think there are a lot of people that are afraid to go back to work,” Steve Dodge, an Economics teacher at City High said.

“People who were close to retirement have decided to go ahead and retire, which is removing people from the workforce.

There’s been tightening of immigration which has limited an influx of new workers that can add to our labor force, so that combination has certainly been part of it.”

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, the unemployment rate was 8.1 percent, more than double the rate in 2019. Now, the unemployment rate stands at 5.2 percent, still at an increase from pre-COVID levels. Many factors such as unemployment benefits, COVID numbers, and online learning,

have slowed people from returning to work. Dodge said. “You’re seeing more automatic “I think there are people who have payment systems in restaurants that might young kids that are doing online schooling, help reduce the acute shortages of staff within and [parents] had no way to care for them and get by with fewer waiters and waitresses.” while they’re doing online school so they had On both a local and national scale, the to leave their job to do that,” Dodge said. “I labor shortage has been hard on businesses think those factors have removed people from and employees. Dodge is optimistic that the labor force making openings give teens those situations more more job opporacute than normal.” tunities. “Looking The Labor Shortaround town it seems “P​​ eople have been taking on everyone has helped age has also been reported to be hard on wanted ads or hire way more hours than they businesses as well as said they would. Some of the signs,” Dodge said. workers. “There’s a “I think as a teen, it senior staff were working competition for skilled gives you more opevery day for a full week.” workers that is making portunities If you it difficult for comdo want to work.”

IZZY JURGENS CITY HIGH SENIOR panies,” Dodge said.

When looking at “I think a lot of comsolutions to the lapanies would want to bor shortage, Dodge expand, or grow their business but is hoping the United States can develop a they can’t find the workers to do that.” more sustainable workforce. “We’re going to Companies are also increasingly using need a greener labor force,” Dodge said. “I technology to combat shortages of staff. think we need to look at our immigration “[People are] seeing more ordering through policy because we’re going to need workers apps and online kiosks rather than in person,” and we’re going to bring new people into our

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country since our birth rate is not doing that things are going to run smoothly and enced people right now. We lost one of just natively. We also need to look at policies that none of the other employees are in our managers who had been here for to help workers gain more skills like access a situation where the restaurant just de- four years or so, longer than anyone else,” to community college and college so that volves into chaos and there’s nothing Harris said. “There’s just no one we can we have a trained workforce in the future.” they can really do,” Harris explained. hire to replace that sort of person, there Izzy Jurgens ‘22, and Jack Harris Picking up these extra shifts have caused isn’t really anyone applying to places ‘22, both found jobs during the pan- Harris to be a lot busier. Rock climbing, like these with real, kitchen experience.” demic. Working in the midst of a la- West High journalism, and work programs In order to provide economic aid to workbor shortage, they are experiencing the through Kirkwood have all had to be bal- ers, the government gave out unemployment effects in many aspects of their jobs. anced alongside increased working hours. benefits. In some cases, unemployment ben​​“People have been taking on way more “It’s definitely made me a lot more busy. efits have been paying more than minimum hours than they said they would,” Jurgens, I work both days on the weekends, and then wage jobs, making it hard to find workers. who works at Yotopia, said. “Some of the at least twice during the week so then I have “There was a time during the pandemic senior staff were where unemployment working every day was paying more than for a full week.” a minimum wage job,” Jurgens started Jurgens said. “That was working at Yotopia, just so strange to me. It a frozen yogurt shop was kind of incentivizin August of 2020. ing people who had lost For Yotopia, a good their jobs not to go back size staff would be into the workforce.” around 10 to 12 peoAfter experience ple, but Jurgens was with working in the laworking on a team bor shortage, Harris has of around 6 to 8. come away with more Dumpling Darling, recognition for workers a restaurant in downin the food industry. town Iowa City, has “[The labor shortbeen experiencing age has] given me more similar problems. of an awareness, more “At the height of of a guilt feeling about the labor shortage, going into restaurants we were able to find when they’re swamped some workers, but because I know that it’s over the summer an insanely stressful enwe started to lose ABOVE: A “Now Hiring” sign hangs in the window of Dumpling Darling, a vironment,” Harris said. them,” Jack Harris, a resturant in downtown Iowa City, . PHOTO BY GRETA STANIER “A lot of food industry senior at West High workers are just really said. “[Dumpling Darling] was able to get to fit in sports and friends,” Harris said. poorly paid, and they are. When the rest of up to a staff of about 24 people. But then Like Harris, Jurgens has found that the world is relaxing and trying to have a we started to lose people over the summer, working longer, more rigorous shifts have good time they are working their a***s off.” and I think we’re around 13 or so right now.” been tough on school life and other activiLocally, Harris has noticed changes in Like many local restaurants, Dump- ties. Jurgens ended up taking time off in Sep- wages. “I’ve definitely seen the signs outside, ling Darling has had to change their hours tember when work became too demanding. places are slowly starting to advertise that to accommodate the shortage of staff.

“Work was really stressing me out dur- they’re paying for more and more,” Harris said.

“We used to be open from just 11 ing August right when school started,” JurJurgens and Harris both support the to 9,” Harris said. “Now, we’ve had to gens said. “I felt like I didn’t have any time minimum wage being raised as a way to switch to where we’re closed from two to to do my homework. There was a week strengthen the labor force. “I think the best five, so that it’s not constantly as chaotic where I worked Thursday, Friday, and then way to get people to come back into the laand there’s more time to prep food.” Har- I had the SAT the next Saturday morning.” bor force would be to raise the minimum ris has been trying to help the restaurant Both Dumpling Darling and Yoto- wage and provide better benefits,” Jurgens out by coming in for extra shifts. In the pia have been trying to hire more peo- said, “That’s all they have to do. I think that’s past couple of weeks, he picked up extra ple, but in the midst of a labor short- been an issue right now because no one is 3-4 hour shifts at least two times a week. age, new staff have been hard to find. trying to pander to the employee, they’re just “I definitely want to make sure that “It’s really difficult to find experi- trying to maximize profits for the company.”

Bottling uP Plastic at City High Single use plastic consumption has grown exponentially since its invention, and City High is no exception to this familiar substance

ABOVE: Plastic waste at City High. PHOTO BY RACHEL JOHNSON

I

By Noah Seebeck

t’s widely accepted that plastic waste has a major environmental impact. Among the growing amount of trash polluting the ocean, there are over 200 thousand tons of plastic. Efforts to create individual awareness about plastic consumption are becoming more prevalent. Due to the growing amount of plastic in the environment, City High is working towards a smaller plastic footprint.

“The district is taking steps to make sure that the proper recycling practices are being put in place,” John Bacon, City High’s principal said. “They’re bringing over the [recycling bins] where everything doesn’t have to be perfectly sorted. It’s going to be more like the curbside recycling at home where you just put all of

your recycling [together]… and then sorting must happen down the line.”

The new recycling program involves less pre-sorting and more accessibility to recycling bins throughout the school. This was implemented to help with the amount of plastic that City staff and students throw away on a daily basis. Another shift that City High has already taken into consideration is changing from paper to plastic products in the lunchroom.

“We’ve made the transition back from plastic milk bottles to paper products,” Bacon said. “I assume that has to be better.”

During a normal school year, it is estimated that a student who uses single-use disposable plastic creates 67 pounds of waste.

“Obviously the biggest area of consumption is around lunch,”

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Scott Jespersen, City High’s vice principal, said. “Getting away from paper plates would probably be best, but it’s hard to manage that.”

With the amount of plastic that’s gathering in the ocean, it’s been normalized to see plastic littering our beaches and floating in the water. Large plastic-producing corporations are debatably the root of the problem; but supply and demand contributes to the issue. Out of the top eight producers of single-use plastic products, five are American owned. Bottle producers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsico are the largest to blame, according to the Changing Markets Foundation, with over 5 million metric tons of plastic produced between the two companies annually. Less than 10% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled.

Many students and staff at City are using reusable water bottles. The school also has water bottle filling stations on every floor and in most hallways.

“I use reusable water bottles.

The refill stations are cool, but I’d definitely like to see more, Liam Murphy ‘24 said.

Along with reusable water bottles, aluminum cans are a good plastic alternative for things like soda and other drinks, since aluminum can be recycled almost infinitely. There are more and more biodegradable “plastics” that are being engineered and produced daily, and things like a single-use compostable fork or straw are becoming mainstream.

An article on plastic alternatives from USA Today shows many options besides plastic, such as reusable waxed cotton instead of plastic wrap or silicone bags 10.15.21

that can hold sandwiches and other food items. Compostable garbage can liners are shown, as well as bags made of starches for storing clothing and other items.

The main argument against most of these alternatives is the initial price of the item, however when factoring in the amount that is spent on a weekly or monthly basis on single-use plastic goods, that price seems much more reasonable.

“With [eco-friendly] optins, You always have to look at your cost. Is it sustainable from a school’s standpoint?” Jespersen said.

Paper is another markete alternative to plastic that breaks down in the correct conditions.

Although it is a better choice when compared with plastic, single-use things still build up in our landfills no matter what material they’re made of. Anderson Erickson, the company that City High uses for milk, has both plastic and paper options. Cardboard cartons are three cents to

produce, and six cents for the plastic alternative (with lid and label). With the average person using 156 plastic bottles a year, the double cost adds up in your wallet, and the plastic adds up in oceans. Jim Leape, co-director of the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, estimates that by 2050 plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish. Some studies have even found microplastics in fish and other marine life that live over 6 miles beneath the ocean’s surface. Leape shares that 25% of seafood holds microplastics, and almost all tap water contains plastics as well. Even our table salt isn’t exempt from plastic.

“If we don’t ever explore possibilities I don’t think we’re going to make any progress,” Bacon said.

Products made with paper tend to use up to 10 times more energy to produce, and more water than its plastic counterpart, which can make producers shy away from that choice due to cost of production and the expen-

diture of other resources. Sure, society, norms surrounding plasusing exponentially more water tic usage are changing. and energy to produce some“When I was a kid, when you thing isn’t ideal or good for the ordered a Big Mac at McDonenvironment either, but using ald’s, it came in a styrofoam conless resources to produce some- tainer instead of paper around it, thing that and [changwill stay in “If we don’t ever explore possibil- ing] from the envithat was a r o n m e n t ities I don’t think we’re going to weird shift,” for quite Jespersen make any progress.” literally said. hundreds While JOHN BACON CITY HIGH PRINCIPAL of years isn’t it may ideal either. seem to be “ T h e a “weird more we learn about biodegrad- shift” at first, Murphy thinks it able oils and some of the new- is ultimately better for the world er technologies that can break and our planet to try and use down much more quickly, I either reusable or biodegradable think that’s when we’ll see some options. Murphy reports that gains,” Jesperson said. starting the conversation is a step Although City High has in the right direction. made sustainable advancements, “Plastic is obviously bad for such as geothermal heating and the environment, I’d definitecooling in the new cafeteria and ly like to see things move into gym addition, Jesperson reports more of a green area. I think it’s that there are still things that just objectively the right choice,” could be changed about the Murphy said. school’s plastic consumption. In

Murals of Iowa City A look at murals that have recently been painted in downtown Iowa City

BELOW: Located in downtown Iowa City on the corner of Burlington and Dubuque street, this colorful mural is the second mural in the set titled “The Oracles”. PHOTO BY GRETA STANIER

ABOVE: This 60-foot tall mural is one of a set, paired with another to form a pair titled “The Oracles.” Co-designed by Antoine Williams and Donte Hayes, and painted by Jill Wells and a team of other painters, the mural was a joint project between Public Space One and The University of Iowa’s Office of the President of Research..

PHOTO BY GRETA STANIER

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ABOVE: Found on 202 N. Linn Street, this mural was painted in June of 2020 by artists Robert Moore and Dana Harrison. “There’s a lot of Black humans and community figures in Iowa City that I wanted to elevate,” Moore told the Daily Iowan. PHOTO BY GRETA STANIER RIGHT: Painted by artist Tierra Armstrong, the mural titled “Falling Upward” portrays George Floyd and a message of unification beside Midwest landscape. PHOTO BY GRETA STANIER

ABOVE: Titled “Coexist,” this mural can be seen on 220 East Washington Street. Sayuri Sasaki and 11 young artists from the United Action for Youth worked together to design and paint this mural. PHOTO BY GRETA STANIER

Critical Race Theory From Bills to THE classrooM

By Aala Basheir & Lulu Roarick

Chapter 1: Breaking Down the Bill

E

arlier this year, House File 802 was passed through the Iowa Legislature. The infamous bill has set off debates amongst politicians, teachers and administrators, forcing them to evaluate the current training in place.

HF 802 prohibits the mandatory trainings contracted or facilitated by a public school district or higher level education from teaching that “fault, blame, or bias to a race or sex, or to members of a race or sex because of their race or sex, or claiming that, consciously or unconsciously, and by virtue of persons’ race or sex, members of any race are inherently racist or are inherently inclined to oppress others, or that members of a sex are inherently sexist or inclined to oppress others” (Iowa Code 279.74) “The superintendent must ensure ‘any curriculum or mandatory staff or student training provided by an employee of the school district or by a contractor hired by the school district does

not teach, advocate, encourage, promote, or act upon specific stereotyping and scapegoating toward others on the basis of demographic group membership or identity.” The Iowa Dept. of Ed clarifies The bill also discusses specific divisive concepts in student and faculty training that must be avoided.

Including that the United States of America and the state of Iowa are fundamentally or systemically racist or sexist, That an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex, and any other form of race or sex scapegoating or any other form of race or sex stereotyping.

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What is allowed is academic discussions on how to redress oppressive systems, as long as no student or faculty is being asked to bear responsibility for it. teachings on systems in the U.S that were used to oppress historically are not prohibited, as long as the statement of America being fundamentally racist or sexist is not stated.

Since then, the Iowa City Community School District

Art by Rosangel Flores-Rubio

has put forward the following statement in regards to Housefile 802. Received from Director of Equity and Employee Relations, Eric Howard.

“On June 8, 2021, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that prohibits “divisive concepts” from diversity training in Iowa schools, public universities, and government agencies. The bill goes into effect on July 1, 2021.

We understand that there are

questions regarding how this will impact our staff training and the ability to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion topics in our classrooms. We want to provide clarification about how the legislation will impact the Iowa City Community School District.

Most importantly, this legislation will not stop the diversity, equity, and inclusion training in our District. Our diversity, equity, and inclusion training for staff would not be considered a divisive concept because it does not “teach, advocate, act upon or promote” that an individual is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive due to their race or sex.

Our District has dedicated over six consecutive years to diversity training for our staff, including Implicit Bias and Cultural Proficiency.

Our

training focuses on helping all educators better understand how to manage the dynamics of diversity, and how to do the internal work to show up appropriately with all our students. Our cultural proficiency training is wrapped in restorative practices and refrains from isolating one entity as the root cause of the systems of inequity that currently exist.

We are proud of our work around diversity, equity, and inclusion within the District.

We are committed to continuing this important work which is critical to our growth and our ability to recognize and respect all perspectives.

If you have questions, please reach out to the District’s Diversity & Cultural Responsiveness Office at (319) 6881000.”

CRT:

FROM BILLS TO THE CLASSROOM

Chapter 2: In the Classroom

CRT:

FROM BILLS TO THE CLASSROOM

Ali Borger-Germann, City High teacher, rushed to her computer, the email she was dreading needing to send had finally become necessary. As she reluctantly signs off, a weight is lifted off her shoulders, but what came next was a highly anticipated shift in the education system of ICCSD. “We’re seeing a lot of increased anxiety and worries, in general. I definitely think that there’s been a lot of questions about the legislation and what it means,” Ali Borger-Germann comments.

Critical Race Theory is an education tool developed in the 1970’s. Using a legal framework to explain the United States and global systems, and the intersection of identity and race within them. The legal framework that characterizes the curriculum is not often applied in classrooms. Instead, terms that are often used in those lessons show up in discussions, as well as DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) training, which is what is currently being prohibited by this bill. Across the nation, bills targeting education and divisive concepts within mandated curriculum have been passed. Iowa’s state legislature has passed HF 802 that was enacted July 1, 2021.

In U.S Con-

gress, Republicans have discussed legislation that would ban “Critical Race Theory’’ being mandated in federal institutions.

“The language of the bill is pretty clear that it does not prohibit freedom of speech in an academic setting. I’m trying to give the people who wrote this bill the benefit of the doubt,” Borger-Germann stated. “I think that they were aware that topics like this do come up in academic study no matter what you’re teaching, especially for social studies and English/ Language Arts.”

The bill was introduced early in the legislative session last year, having been drafted

by Republican constituents around the state. Passing through the house with a majority vote, the bill then moved to the Senate, where it was referred to the Education Committee and sponsored by Senator Sinclair.

“A lot of the work that Laura does is still perfectly in line, there’s no conflict. In our first cultural competency training for the year, Laura actually outlined, ‘here are the things that we can no longer talk about, and here are the things we can talk about, and this doesn’t stop us from making progress in racial equity,” Borger-Germann explained. “She was very, very clear about that.

And I felt like that was really reassuring.”

Paras Bassuk ‘21 CoChairs the Equity Adviosry Committee, where Borger-Germann and Laura Gray, Director of Diversity & Cultural Responsiveness, hold seats. The Equity Advisory Commitee writes Diversity and Equity recommendations for the school board with school board members J.P Claussen and Charlie Eastham in attendance at all meetings.

“The language of the bill is pretty clear that it does not prohibit freedom of speech in an academic setting. I’m trying to give the people that wrote this bill the benefit of the doubt. “

“We provide a combination of community

Ali Borger-Germann

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CRT:

FROM BILLS TO THE CLASSROOM

“this language could prevent and is coded to prevent the discussion of things like systemic racism and sexism in this country and state.*”

Paras Bassuk

Co -Chair of equity Advisory Committee *Paras Bassuk does not speak on behalf of ICCSD Equity Advisory committee or SIYAC (State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council]

perspectives, including teachers, students, community leaders, and any other interested parties that can be on this committee and give their input ondistrict policy issues and other initiatives’ ‘ Bassuk ‘21 said when discussing the goals of the Equity Advisory Committee.

Much of the debate focuses around definitions and attempting to answer the question of what bias and education should look like. On the Left, the threat of not being able to mandatorily discuss the effects of systemic racism and its prevalence has caused concern, with confusion on what the possible impacts of this lack of knowledge will have on the next generation. On the Right, liberation from mandatory training about these topics in public school curriculum is freeing people from forcibly being “race and sex stereotyped”, and promotes learning on how to not be racist as an individual instead of “indocrtination on the system we live in.”

“I continue to educate our teachers and support cultural proficiency with a restorative lens. The thing I won’t say is that Iowa, and/or the United States is fundamentally racist,” Gray stated. “I can refrain from saying this statement and still support diversity, equity and inclusion in our district.”

In a pattern that has been developing for the past year, Republicans have been writing legislation prohibiting mandatory training on certain topics, mainly systemic racism and sexism, also generalized as “Critical Race Theory’’. In Ohio, HF 322 pro-

hibited statements discussing what founded or represented America, and the concept of “unconscious bias” being taught mandatorily.

In Oklahoma, a similar bill has been passed, prohibiting the use of language saying “ there is a conscious or unconscious bias when it comes towards race or sex being inherently oppressive” “All the large districts in Iowa brought in a law firm to sort of explain ‘here’s what we think might be a problem, here’s what’s not a problem’” Borger-Germann said. “There’s no precedent, there are no court cases around it yet. [The lawyers] were sort of inventing their own case studies and sort of testing it against the language of the law and then giving us their best interpretation.”

In the ICCSD school climate survey published June 2019, 67% of students in high school felt they had an opportunity to discuss race in the classroom. Non-white stu-

dents reported significantly lower rates of seeing themselves in the curriculum, with a lack of “inclusive content” reflecting their background and identity.

“This kind of tipping point around discussing issues related to Indigenous peoples in our curriculum. I feel that part of the conversation has really gotten shut down.

My kids who are in eighth and ninth grade in American Studies in our district basically have not had any conversations about that, and I don’t know that that’ll ever change now because of this law” Borger-German said.

“That’s part of our democratic process, when there’s something under debate, it’s totally legit to talk about it,” Borger-German said. “I wrote letters, I brought it to the district Equity Advisory Committee and asked [for us] to start thinking and planning and maybe advocating against it.”

ICCSD offers Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training according to the Iowa Department of Education Guidance which states, “provided such efforts are consistent with the provisions of this section, chapter 216, and other applicable law”.

“I continue to educate our teachers and support cultural profiency with a restorative lens. The thing I wont say is that Iowa and/ or the United states is fundamentally racist.”

Laura Gray

Director of Diversity and Cultural Responsiveness

Sourcing: the information used in this article is gathered from the Department of Education, as well as the Iowa Legislature Bill Book and Fast Democracy, a non-partisan database. The first part of this piece primarily focuses around House File 802 and then goes on to explore experiences with this new law among the Iowa City Community School District.

Local Chef, Local Food Profile on Ben Smart, Top 50 young Chef in America and co-owner and manager of Big Grove

ABOVE: Big Grove buttermilk fried chicken with butter pickles, lettuce, and seasme seed bun. PHOTO BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN 14 The Little Hawk - FEATURES

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ABOVE: Big Grove’s salmon poke bowl contains marinated salmon, edamame, avocado, sesame carrots, cucumbers, radish, Korean aioli, mango chutney, togarashi, and scallions, all served over steamed white rice. PHOTO BY HAILEIGH STEFFEN

By Lulu Roarick, Marina Escandell & Haileigh Steffen

Q

: What sparked your interest in food and becoming a chef? A: I’ve kind of always had an interest in food, ever since I was really young. I remember when I was in elementary school, I would come home, and instead of watching cartoons, I would watch PBS Great chefs, Great cities.

Q: What inspired you to begin experimenting with food? A: My dad always cooked at home. We were always cooking for ourselves and cooking from scratch, and [cooking was] just part of my upbringing. I absolutely take influence from home, I cook at home a ton, especially when I was younger, and I had more time. [Home is] where I think it’s safe to experiment and fail.

Q: What was your trajectory to working in the food industry? A: I went kind of a traditional route of school and went to the University of Iowa. When I graduated, I was up against getting a real job. But, I really felt like I needed to make a change. If I was going to go for it, now’s the time. So I kind of scratched the degree, and then went back to culinary school, here at Kirkwood.

Q: What drew you to begin working at Big Grove? A: Originally what drew me to [Big Grove] was the small town it was in, Solon, Iowa. It was an opportunity to say, Zig, when other people were zagging and do something totally different.

Q:What is working at Big Grove, and the food industry in general like? A: It’s a very hard job. It’s long hours on your feet. You’re working nights and weekends when most people have their free time.But working with those people and creating those friendships and connections and knowing that you’re here to support the person next to you, it’s amazing how strong those bonds are when you have the right team. That’s the most exciting thing. That’s what drew me into being in a kitchen in the first place and sort of kept me there for 20 years.

Q: What has your career in the food industry taught you? A: It’s not just about cooking. It’s [about] discipline, teamwork, and accountability. All [these] life skills and traits that are important to being a good human are under a microscope when you’re in a kitchen, because you are relying so much on the person next to you. I think everybody should spend time [working] in a restaurant because I think it gives you so much respect and empathy for people.

Q: Where do you gather inspiration for your work? A: I love the idea of taking everything that I’ve learned in fine dining restaurants in bigger cities and apply it to what we have here in the Midwest, you know, take some of the, the fancy, superfluous garnishes and things that make food feel pretentious, and strip that down.

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Aaron Stalkfleet, Jacob Williamson and Ben Horwitz record the latest episode of LH Sports Pod. This month LH Journalism is having a POD CONTEST. Scan the QR code below to listen to the latest LH Sports Pod on TheLittleHawk.com. Tweet out your favorite podcast or story from the issue and mention @thelittlehawk on Twitter or mention @InstaLittleHawk in an Instagram story. Everyone who mentions The Little Hawk on social wins! Drop by 2109 on paper day to pickup your prize.

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POD CONTEST:

10.15.21