Karen Washington was born in 1956 in New York city. Growing up in the projects, her family did not have that much money during her childhood. She attended Hunter College and graduated with a degree in physical therapy. She then went to graduate school at New York University, where she graduated with a masters degree in applied biodynamics and ergonomics in 1981. From there, she took up a career in physical therapy, and in 1985, moved from Manhattan to the Bronx. In 1988, she started her first community garden with her neighbor at the time, making good use of the empty land across from her apartment. Over the next 10 years, she created a coalition of community gardens called “La Familia Verde community coalition” and started a weekly farmers market. Washington was always interested in more than just food, and in an interview stated, “What urban gardening and farming is, what it does, is more than just growing food. There’s a culture behind it, there’s a story behind it.”(Altamirano 2016). To her, it was about the experience as well as the product, as she became deeply involved in the urban gardening experience. Through this, she became more involved in the topics of food apartheid as a whole. She ended up founding her own farm in upstate New York called Rise and Root farm, where she grows her own vegetables, but still continues to care for her garden in New York. In more recent years, she has quit her job as a physical therapist to focus on urban farming, activism, and working through issues like food apartheid. She has shown throughout the years that she cares deeply about her community and providing them with the food that they need to live healthy lives.
I enjoyed the structure of this podcast as it introduced Washington and her background and ended with what she is currently doing. I didn’t know that she had quit her job as a physical therapist to become a full time farmer or that she served on so many boards such as the New York Botanical Garden and the Food School New York City.
I learned that Karen Washington was originally a physical therapist. This was important to her backstory because it open her eyes to the health effects of unhealthy diets and made her aware of inequality while she was existing in a “white world.” The sound clip you chose was really powerful. You definitely told a clear story.
After listening to your podcast, I feel like I have a good grasp of Karen Washington’s achievements and how she fits into the larger local and urban food movements. Prior to listening, I didn’t know much about Karen Washington, besides what we have mentioned in class, so I enjoyed learning about her motivations for urban planning and what she is doing to inspire the younger generation, so the movement doesn’t dry up. I also liked that the podcast was formatted like a story. I think incorporating clips and quotes of Karen Washington speaking worked really well, as it provided a greater understanding of her motivations and drive.
I really enjoyed this. I was somewhat familiar with Washington from what we discussed in class and some prior research, but this definitely expanded my knowledge on her upbringing, urban gardening, and her overall career. I especially enjoyed your discussion of how she was one of the first to coin “food apartheid,” which was something I also came across in researching my own podcast; your analysis of her experiences with this term was also super effective. I also thought it was so interesting to see her start as a physical therapist. Either way, great job.