Friday, March 12, 2004


neural network

last night i was so privileged to have dinner with isaac grody-patinkin (nyu) of the united students for fair trade and a seed group of students who working to bring fair trade coffee to their campuses.

isaac is a wiry, energetic, soft-spoken but quick-thinking dynamo with a curly ponytail. he can also cook up a storm!

the group included a high-school student from the elite fieldston in the bronx; law students from cuny; activist students from fordham, the new school, and columbia, among others.

the room was just filled with people -- particularly young women -- who will clearly be leaders in the future. the place oozed talent. of course, i came to meet students as consumers and offer scaa support in whatever way i could to help.

the dinner was supposed to last just two hours, but stretched past 11:30pm. (sorry, issac's mom!) and i hope they don't blame me too much for that!

one of the results is that isaac will start a listserv on yahoo, so that further meetings can be easily coordinated. i hope they will start a blog or website for this new york group to make sharing materials and documents a cinch and to make it easy to find and join the group.

it soon became clear to me that while these charming and idealistic students were spot-on on fair-trade issues, they may not have had all the basic coffee knowledge that will be needed for them as leaders to communicate effectively with the coffee industry.

coffee professionals, i have found, truly respect those with superior coffee knowledge. also, it's my first belief that coffee lore inspires passion in and of itself, passion that is so critical in communicating the message to others, not just fellow students, but also parents, friends, and larger social networks.

thus i hope not only to find hotel rooms for the students at the scaa conference in atlanta so that some of them can come and participate in the consumer member education programs there, but also to help them acquire a better brewer for their own events.

i also think it would be tremendously helpful to hold a cupping for them. . . .but the students must determine their own course. what's crucial is that they understand that the scaa is here to support them, not only as consumers, but also in their quest for sustainability.

the students plan to have various events around the first week of may. if you are interested in participating in this group, email isaac. he travels a lot, but will get back to you.

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