About Me and This Blog

Hi everyone! My name is Lauren, and I am a 2013 graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. With a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and a keen interest in sustainability, food systems, and farming, I came into this Watson year not really knowing what to expect. Well, after 11+ months on the road, I can safely say, this has been the most enriching and enlightening collection of experiences of my life! During my time as an undergrad, I co-founded and co-led Slow Food Hamilton College, spearheaded the Real Food Challenge campaign to increase sustainable food procurement on campus, and enjoyed practicing yoga and participating in my sorority, Gamma Xi. 

I hope you enjoy reading my blog, which is filled with a combination of personal reflections, project developments, and observations from my "fieldwork" around the world. Bear in mind that the Watson Fellowship is unconventional in that it does not require fellows to publish a paper at the end, but merely encourages us to explore the world through the lens of our research project. Thus, we do not have to utilize conventionally academic research methods, though I chose to do "semi-structured intensive interviews" as my main source of "data" gathering.  Along the righthand side of my blog, you will see an extensive list of "relevant" organizations and individuals - these are the folks with whom I interacted throughout this year on varying levels, including longer term volunteer placements, short interviews, and serendipitous encounters on the road.  I've tried to list the location by country and sometimes city/region and when there isn't a location, it usually means it's present worldwide.  So I hope you will have the chance to check some of them out, follow the links, and explore how we can all collaborate more in the future.

I welcome all sorts of correspondence: find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (although neglected and underutilized), Couchsurfing, or send me a good old fashioned email: laulhowe@gmail.com

Happy reading!