Teen Observer Archive

July 30, 2018

Berkeley Farmers’ Market strives to make healthy food affordable

BERKELEY, Calif. — For more than 10 years, the Berkeley Farmers’ Market has been at the forefront of a statewide effort to facilitate purchases of healthy, affordable food for those who struggle financially. Berkeley farmers’ markets are among the most affordable in the Bay Area because they accept electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards and are participants in California’s Market Match program.

EBT cards are magnetically encoded, just like debit and credit cards. Recipients of federal welfare aid have their benefits stored in EBT cards, which can be used to buy food at stores. Some farmers’ markets, like the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, accept EBT cards.

Berkeley Farmers’ Markets began accepting EBT cards as valid forms of payment in 2008. Though they had previously accepted paper food stamps, scanning a magnetic stripe card presented a new set of challenges. To this day, most vendors at farmers’ markets have no way to scan cards and accept payments. The solution to the problem involves a token system through which money is transferred from a card holder’s EBT account to special coins worth $1 each that can be spent on certain farmers’ market products.

Thanks to the Market Match program — a program funded by a national grant designed to incentivize healthy eating — EBT card-holding shoppers are matched dollar for dollar for any amount of money they spend off of their cards up to $10. Therefore, in addition to EBT tokens, shoppers can receive up to 10 Market Match tokens to spend every time they visit a Berkeley farmers’ market.

Because the Ecology Center, which administers Berkeley’s farmer’s markets, holds three weekly markets, card holders can receive up to $30 from the Market Match program every week without leaving Berkeley.

Paras Maharjan, a produce vendor from Riverdog Farm in Guinda, Calif., estimates that 15-20 percent of Riverdog customers pay with EBT or Market Match tokens.

“I think it’s a great program,” he said. “I think that they could maybe increase the amount of the Market Match to $15 or $20.”

There are some stipulations to the way EBT and Market Match tokens can be spent, though. EBT tokens can be used to purchase any food product except for hot prepared foods, and Market Match tokens can only be used to buy fresh produce.

Paul Stone, a Berkeley Farmers’ Market manager who has been working with the Ecology Center for more than 20 years, understands that the goal of the Market Match program is to encourage people to eat healthy, and therefore does not have many problems with ways the tokens can be spent. Though he would like to see the spending capabilities of Market Match tokens expanded to nuts and dried fruit, he is generally a proponent of both EBT and Market Match programs at farmers’ markets.

EBT and Market Match coins can be used to purchase fresh produce and herbs (Photo by Caden Thun).

“I’m sure I would make some tweaks but I understand why there are restrictions,” he said. “The whole reason we do this is to get great, healthy food to the public.”

July 30, 2018

Can farmers’ markets connect with low-income communities?

Organic vendor selling Early Girls tomatoes at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market on July 28, 2018. (Photo by Izzy Nesbett)

BERKELEY Calif.—The bustling farmers’ market on a Saturday morning has a sense of community and high spirits as people buy organic produce. As Arrous Lambert, a vendor for the Street Sheet newspaper said “Berkeley people have the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” and encourages more lower income people to enjoy it.

People browsing through the Berkeley Farmers Market on an early Saturday morning. (Photo by Julia Hovet)

However, because all produce is required to be organic, few items are less than $5. The gentrified area surrounding the market allows for these high prices, and has begun to discourage lower income families from entering the community. With this in mind, vendors are hopeful the versions of food stamps such as, electronic benefit cards, and vouchers will gain funding to bring in more low income families. This will create a symbiotic relationship, helping them connect more with the neighborhood.

However, as Abel Estrella of Smit Ranch expressed, current grants for lower income families are spent too quickly on small amounts of produce because of high prices. Some argue that it is fruitless for them to go to the farmers market for a shopping trip, and there are other places that offer more for less.

The Ecology Center offers programs specifically for these families, such as Market Match and First 5. Despite their goals, the produce is too costly for them to receive a healthy fulfilling meal. The usual Market Match voucher is only $10, while the cheapest fruits at the market are around $5.

Similarly, the First 5 wants to help newborns to five year olds eat healthy within these early years of development, but again prices are too high. As one employee from Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) stated, “once those twenty dollars are gone, they will not come on their own”.

This has not gone unnoticed by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who aims to increase funding to these programs through the 2018 Senate Farm Bill. Several vendors at the market said, “Berkeley is more open to change” and people “need to dismiss the fact that the farmers market is for people with money.”

Flower vendor at the Berkeley Farmers Market delivering a positive message. (Photo by Izzy Nesbett)

Nonetheless, when observing the market there were no obvious differences or signs of hope with the introduction of the bill. Many fall into Estrella’s beliefs, who states that not much will change but does see many electronic benefit card holders for his lower priced perishable food.

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018

Farmers’ Market includes the homeless community

BERKELEY, Calif — Laughter in the crowd of people buying fuzzy peaches rises on a early Saturday morning. Children accompanying their parents sit down to sing along with a guitarist. This is a Saturday at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market.

But amidst all the chatter and laughter homeless people surround the 1947 Center St, where

the market takes place on Saturday, they are either participating in the market, sleeping on the benches in the nearby park, or walking around.

On average 972 homeless people sleep on the streets of Berkeley each night. Homelessness in Berkeley progressively got worse after the 1970’s, due to policy changes in the federal government and economic downturn.

Around 71 percent of the homeless population originally had stable jobs before becoming homeless. Homeless people gravitate toward San Francisco under the assumption that it has more benefits for them. Especially with the amount of shelters and markets provided.

The homeless population in San Francisco publishes Street Spirit, a newspaper that aims to shed light on struggles homeless people face in the Bay Area. Street Spirit has been around since 1997.

Arrous Lamberet, a seller of the Street Spirit Newspaper, is at Berkeley’s Farmers’ Market every Saturday. (Photo by Lesley Rodriguez)

Arrous Lambert, a Street Spirit newspaper vendor, greets and enthusiastically encourages everyone that walks by to purchase the newspaper. Lambert started selling paper in order to financially support himself when he retired back in 1997.

Lambert has been selling papers at the farmers’ market since the paper’s inception in 1995.

“Not trying to get rich, not gonna get rich unless I win the lotto. I love talking to people,” Lambert said with a smile on his face.

Looking in from the outside, vegan oats vendor Nazim Elahi, is familiar with the homeless people that frequent the market. He is keen on helping them and thinks that market does a good job of being inclusive to people of all backgrounds.

“A lot of homeless people come and get full on free samples and some vendors donate to the homeless. As long as everyone is good the day goes well,” he said.

Deneise Jones is a homeless woman who is a mother of four. She went to high school at Berkeley High School across the street from Saturday’s event.

Her main source of income is selling papers at the farmers’ market.

Deniese Jones, a homeless women who sells the Street Spirit Newspaper to earn a living is regular at Berkeley’s Farmers’ Market. (Photo by Lesley Rodriguez)

“I’m an African American young women striving, selling, looking for food. Out every Saturday selling homeless papers to eat and sleep,” she said. “I have a lot of spirit a mother of four…it’s not easy.”

Her faith in God also helps keep her from hitting rock bottom mentally. “I’m one of those strong survivors,” she said, her smile is wide and beaming as she continues, “ If the man above me keeps me going, if I have faith in him, I’ll be alive.”

Since Jones is out at the farmer’s market every Saturday, she is familiar with most of the other homeless people who frequent it, as well as the vendors who have become her friends.

As she glances around the market full of bustling adults and children alike, she glances back with a smile. “Everyone is a day away from being homeless,” she says. “Anything can happen. Remember that.”

July 30, 2018

How olive oil led to a lifelong friendship

BERKELEY, Calif. — The Ecology Center Farmers’ Market here is not simply a source of food, beverages and more. This market has become the home to people from all around the world who explore the extent of produce and form new relationships with people within their community. With over 50 unique vendors, shoppers have been combing into new discoveries and tastes since 1987.

“I love growing stuff myself so sometimes it’s a way to taste something… that I might want to plant, which is fun,” Lisa Jobson, a local shopper, said. “I come for the novelty and the super fresh [food].”

The vendors inform curious customers on the food they love and broaden their knowledge on the process of growing fresh produce. “The educational and social aspect of the farmers’ market… is so much fun, and getting feedback of your product as well,” Sebastian Bariani, who works for the family business, Bariani Olive Oil, said.

The market also brings new connections. “From my perspective as a vendor, the relationships with customers and tourists are ones you don’t get at the supermarket,” Bariani said.

“We met at San Francisco Market maybe 15 years ago… you can’t help but learn about olive oil when you’re working with him,” Tom Dawson, one of his friends, said. “To me, I love olive oil, and it’s more fascinating. I’ve been making olives, too, for the [business].” The excitement and fascination the vendors have for their products shows, too.

Tom Dawson (left) has been involved in Bariani Olive Oil for 15 years and Sebastian Bariani (right) for 28 years. (Photo by Kennedy McDermott)

“When it comes to lifestyle, I love the open air, the freedom that I find in farming,” Bariani said. “I don’t really come here for sales.” The production of olive oil is a year-long process.

“Every day of the year he’s committed to making olive oil, even though he’s only really making it three months out of the year,” Dawson said. “During those three months, he’ll work 24-hour days.”

Dawson added that Bariani’s 80-year-old mom and dad work, too.

“His dad’s driving around in a tractor spreading olive paste to use as an organic amendment,” part of the Barini farming technique, he said. The company website describes alternative manufacturing through packaging reduction.

The Berkeley market, which runs three times a week in different parts of the city year-round, was the first in the country to ban plastics. The Bariani Olive Oil website describes their alternative manufacturing through packaging reduction, too.

“We do so many things. We look forward to the pruning of the orchard and it’s exciting… the pruning of the orchard starts in January and it goes until the end of April. Producing the olive oil is basically from October until the end of December so during that stage of the year, we’re just super excited about the olive oil making and the smells that fill the air,” Bariani said.

“It’s just amazing.”

For more information, visit the farmers’ market website and the Bariani Olive Oil website.

July 30, 2018

What it means to be a peach farmer

BERKELEY, Calif. — As you peruse down Center Street at the Downtown Berkeley Farmers’ Market, you are met with the welcoming feeling usually found in a local coffee shop or a hometown park. Making your way through the medley of colorful canopies, it is difficult not to notice the plethora of peaches. Although this is not an inconvenience to any passerby, individual vendors are trying to come to grips with this abundance.

In 1987, The Ecology Center opened the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, which allowed the community to access organic fruits and vegetables while supporting local farms and families.

Angelina Sarver-sack, 17, who has been involved with the Berkeley Farmers’ Market for 10 years, samples peaches and helps with sales. (Photo by Althea Champion)

Being a peach farmer entails more than it lets on. The Golden State in particular is a geographical hub for growing and harvesting peaches. Out of the 33 peach-growing states, California grows more peaches than the other 32 combined. Peach season happens from May through September, according to California Dream Big.

Danny Lazzarini, who has been involved in the market for 15 years and now manages the Peach Jamboree, described how the market can be ever-changing.

“There used to be one farmers’ market a week in Oakland, and it used to be the Jack London Farmers’ Market,” she said, “and that was a really good market for us. Now that market is struggling because there is pretty much a farmers’ market every day of the week.”

Lazzarini expanded further how farmers invest in their produce.

“You have to factor in the gas. You have to factor in the stall fees. You have to factor in the staff. You have to factor in the trucks. You have to have three times as much,” she said with a warm smile.

The livelihood of a peach farmer is extremely dependent on their growing season, with their lifestyle in constant flux based on how well their crops turn out. Peach farmers “have three months to make a livelihood for the rest of the year,” Lazzarini said, which creates a hectic daily life.

She described how farmers can have financial security one day, and overnight that security can be lost. The Berkeley Farmers’ Market provides an outlet for these farmers to sell their goods, providing security.

But despite the uncertain lifestyle and ever-changing market, these farmers would not want it any other way.

Gary Spivey, a long-time employee at a peach stand at the market, said he loves the interactions he has with the customers, and the fun he has with the business.

“I love it,” he said. “I love talking to people and handing out grapefruit. It’s a lot of fun.”

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018

Nicotine’s flavored niche among teenagers

District residents demonstrated this month concern about the rise of electronic cigarette use among teenagers and young adults after the recent $16 billion valuation of vaping company JUUL.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports cigarette usage among middle and high school students is dropping, electronic cigarette usage is up.

Products like JUUL deliver high doses of nicotine, which can harm brain development in teenagers, according to the CDC.

smoking sign — Smokers at American University have to go to the edges of campus. Photo by Justin Baynes.

Joseph Grandison, 20, an American University student, says he first tried e-cigarettes at age 18 even though he acknowledges they contain potentially dangerous chemicals.

“We don’t know any better,” Grandison said.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse describes an electronic cigarette as a vessel that heats liquid containing nicotine. It combines the liquid with other chemicals that produce aerosol, which is inhaled by the user. Other chemicals in the aerosol include lead, volatile organic compounds and other cancer causing agents.

Companies also sell flavor pods in conjunction with e-cigarettes, which according to Contemporary Pediatrics makes them attractive to teenagers. Flavors include creme brulée, mint, butterscotch and grape.

Juul has become so popular among e-cigarette users that it warrants its own verb: “juuling.”

On Instagram, a search of #juul produces over 150,000 posts.

Emma Ayan, 17, who lives in New Jersey, vapes socially, saying she does it at parties. Of teenagers, Ayan said she thinks they “just get hooked real easily.”

Teenagers are acquiring vape pens despite age policies established by companies. JUUL’s policy states that customers must be 21 or older, while PHIX requires customers be of legal smoking age in their respective state.

Ayan noted her grandmother smoked cigarettes and now requires an oxygen tank, and said that her father is addicted to chewing tobacco. While vapes don’t use tobacco, they are delivering nicotine.

“It’s definitely addictive,” Ayan said.

Its website offers “a satisfying alternative to cigarettes.”

For young people like Ayan, it may offer that alternative, but research shows teenagers that have never smoked cigarettes but use e-cigarettes are more likely to take up cigarette smoking later, according to the American Journal of Medicine.

Diane Roznowski, 22, an American University graduate, has witnessed the growth in recent years.

Roznowski said her grandfather died of lung cancer when she was 4. She still has an aunt who smokes, and another who has quit and restarted multiple times.

While her experience involves tobacco usage, Roznowski noted vaping’s marketing targets younger people.

“You can’t argue it’s not for a child,” Roznowski said.

July 11, 2018

With protests on the rise this year, district residents split on political effect

Washington, D.C. residents offered divided views on protests that are on the rise this year and what effect they are having on the country.

Interviews conducted this week in the district showed many people were split on the issue of protests, that range from major demonstrations like the March for Our Lives to smaller marches by restaurant workers.

Luke Baker, 19, has definitely noticed the spike in protests around the district, saying he thinks the men and women want “an overhaul.”

“That’s beautiful,” said Baker, who lives in Texas and was working at American University this summer.

“If we didn’t protest,” Baker said, society would “be a hellscape or a utopia.”

Not everyone agrees.

Keiran Bly, 28, believes that protesting is a poor way of solving problems. Bly said to make change people should run for political office.

Bly said he wished for protest fatigue, but didn’t believe that the people protesting would tire out any time soon.

The most recent figures from a nonpartisan crowd counting group show Bly may be right.

The amount of protests in 2018 has already surpassed the total number of protests in 2017, according to Crowd Counting Consortium, a public interest group founded by two political science professors.

The CCC estimated that in 2017 there was over 8,700 protests nationwide. Through May 2018–the most recent numbers available–the number of protests already had reached 9,710.

Not everyone plans on attending protests.

Rishi Mittal, 17, fears attending marches or rallies nearly a year after a self-described neo-Nazi allegedly plowed his car into a group of counter-protesters killing Heather Heyer. Mittal said he worries about “another Charlottesville” and said he prefers to watch at home on television.

Josh Ledyart, 21, hasn’t been to a protest in the last year due to a lack of free time, but he said he is supportive.

“The protests put a lot of pressure on unpopular policies,” said Ledyart, who believes the spike in protests was caused by the Trump administration’s policies that showed what he calls a “lack of respect for humanity.”

Pamela Oliver, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin, attributed the rise to a “protest wave” that she said is common when one political party is out of power.

“I do think the people opposed to President Trump and the Republican policies feel both especially outraged and highly motivated to protest,” said Oliver, who is an expert in collective action and social movements.

Oliver also said in an email interview that the current round of protests had “a strong partisan element.” Oliver also cited large amounts of protests by Democrats during the George W. Bush administration and that less Democrats protested during Barack Obama’s tenure in office.

“Another thing that happens is that people who are not protesters get tired of the disruption after a while and start becoming more supportive of repressive measures to force protests down,” Oliver said by email.

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018

Political divide widens as teenagers ready for first vote in November

A donkey representing the Democratic party stands outside the School of Public Affairs at American University. Photo by Nina Khoshkish.

Metropolitan Washington, D.C. residents said that partisan politics is worse than they can remember, claiming the people are polarized and many are still dealing with the aftermath of the controversial and bitter 2016 Presidential election.

Michael Dahan, 50, who lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is a registered Democrat because of that party’s position regarding protecting the weakest in society, he said in a recent interview.

Dahan disagrees with the current government’s positions on most issues, because he fears that democracy is being “eroded away.”

“I believe the path to an authoritarian government is very short,” Dahan said.

The positive, as Dahan sees it, is his party being “re-energized.”

Another interviewee, Redmond Walsh, 58, also believes that Democrats are “amped up” and said he thinks even Republicans are showing signs of Trump fatigue.

“They got their win in 2016, and now they’re ashamed of what they have,” Walsh said. “They’re ashamed of Trump, so they’re keeping quiet.”

Nonetheless, still the divide between Republicans and Democrats appears to be widening, according to interviews done this week and a Pew Research Center report.

According to a study at Pew Research Center, divides in politics are bigger now than at any point in the last two decades.

Erin Fardshisheh, 34, believes that the divide America is dealing with today is thanks to “the silent majority.”

“I think people still talk politics, but mostly within their own echo chambers,” Fardshisheh said. “And that breeds cultural humiliation. It hardens people and their political views, and it’s precisely how we ended up here.”

This divide is also affecting younger generations and many interviewed this week said they wonder if they’ll be able to bridge the gap.

Joseph Grandison, 20, said he has not been keeping up with politics or watching the news lately.

“I want to enjoy myself,” Grandison said. “Watching today’s news does the opposite for me.”

Many under the age of 25 will stop at nothing to get involved and take matters into their own hands, especially when they have faced real-life violence and social upheaval.

For Ryan Foster, 2018 marks his first eligible election. And the Rhode Island resident said he isn’t going to miss a chance to cast his vote during what many said regardless of party was such a crucial time for the country.

“I’m excited to be able to contribute my part in our country’s political scene,” said Foster, 17. “I hope that a lot of other kids my age feel the same way. I know many who won’t be voting to avoid the controversy, but their votes are what we need to bring back balance.”

Some of these divides are also present within parties as well.

Foster believes that the Democratic party “has some unrest and divide in it, especially with individuals who are registered Democratic but are more Libertarian or centrist.”

“The GOP has lost itself and is now a host body being inhabited by a parasitic organism, something that is not authentic Conservatism. What’s going to happen next is the far left will respond to the parasite by destroying its own left-centrists,” Fardshisheh said. “It’s incredibly important that we do not let that happen.”

With midterms coming up, Fardshisheh believes that the “RESIST” mindset needs to be forgotten, and that those who really want to resist need to “get out, grab four friends and start knocking on doors for the 2018 midterms.”

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018

Public split on schools’ role in sex ed as feds fuel abstinence-only policies

Ashley Adams remembers sitting on the couch with her grandmother watching “Starstruck” on The Disney Channel.

Sterling Knight, Adams’ childhood crush, appeared on the screen.

“I brought up the word ‘sex,'” said Adams, now 17. “That turned…woah.”

Adams remembers her grandmother having “the sex talk” with her that night, but for many young adults, media–especially the Internet–acts as the first engagement with the topic, especially when many schools fail to teach comprehensive sexual education.

Michelle Baffour, 17, says the internet is a “dangerous place to learn about sex” and that “children should learn about sex from a reliable source.”

Many district area residents this week offered split opinions on whether public school, funded by the government, should be that “reliable source” that teaches young people about sexual education and health.

Andrew Melmed, 30, says children should learn about sex on their own or “through church” but emphasized that it is not the government’s role to dictate sex education.

Virginia Suardi, 22, disagrees.

Suardi thinks the government should facilitate comprehensive sex education and that federally funded abstinence-only programs are negative because “it’s obvious teenagers are not going to stop having sex.”

Abstinence-only sex education emphasizes that sex outside of marriage has damaging psychological and physical effects. It does not focus on contraceptive health and does not stress the importance of protection from sexually transmitted diseases. Abstinence-only education has the primary goal of preventing all sexual endeavors before they start.

However, research published in September 2017 in the Journal of Adolescent Health shows that children enrolled in abstinence-only programs are just as likely to have sex in high school and may have higher pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection rates.

According to the 2019 Fiscal Year Budget, abstinence-only sexual education is reaching more American teenagers today in public schools with a $75 million push from the Trump administration.

That is troubling for many parents in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area like Sarah Juram, 55, who says abstinence-only education is “ridiculous.”

“Students aren’t going to practice abstinence, and pretending like they are is damaging,” Juram said.

Maya Carlsen, 17, feels there are taboos surrounding sex in American culture. And she believes sex education policies in schools, even when offered, are sexist.

Young women are taught to “close their legs,” said Adams, but young boys are not taught the same.

Sex education classes in school are modeled after what she says is America’s detrimental sex culture.

“A dad will tell their son to go do it,” Adams said. “But a girl will be called a slut. And schools don’t stray far from that idea.”

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018

Schools across America are eliminating class rank

By Addie Brown

Many high schools are removing the class ranking system nationwide with the intention of ending the fierce, high-stress competition that exists between high school students.

According to a news release of Swarthmore College’s recently admitted class, only 44% of admitted students came from high schools reporting class rank.

Not only are high schools discarding the ranking system, but colleges are viewing class rank as declining in significance. A report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling stated that only 9.2% of colleges in America attributed “considerable importance” to class rank in the admissions process in 2016.

In a Daily Pennsylvanian article, the University of Pennsylvania Dean of Admissions Eric Furda stated that “Class rank has become less prevalent in our pools, and therefore, less relevant.” Furda noted that only around 30% of applicants to the Penn come from high schools with ranking systems.

Sumita Bhattarai, a rising junior at American University, said her old high school recently removed the ranking system. “I’m not sure that class rank really has much meaning anymore,” she said. Bhattarai said class rank had little to no impact on her admission to American University.

Another rising junior at AU, Jose Leoncio, did not have a ranking system at his high school and said he believes that the entire ranking system should be eliminated. “We should be moving away from rank,” he said. “I’m in full agreement that your life shouldn’t be defined just by a number.”

However, not everyone believes in doing away with the ranking system. Doyin Abubakar, a rising senior at American University, believes that class rank is a significant component of the education system. “When students can indicate their progress it can encourage them to do more,” he said.

Despite conflicting opinions about the significance of class rank, schools are still seeing a nationwide shift away from the ranking system. The majority of high schools have either abandoned class rank or are planning to dispose of it sometime in the near future.

A Washington Post article quotes David Hawkins, the executive director of educational content and policy at the NACAC, discussing the depreciation of class rank. “The most important reason that class rank is on the decline is because it really isn’t a direct measure of student achievement,” he said.