"Its right up my alley, which is less of an alley and more like a feild"

As I sit down to write this I hear the bells of an ice cream truck and the hum of it's generator as the truck passes under my 3rd story window in Brooklyn. I can't help but wonder if they're coming for me.

Up until about 2 months ago I drove and ice cream truck for well over a year (I served coffee all winter) and before that I worked in a holistic health center and before that in several restaurants. I had been a model, which is to say I didn't eat. I had been a vegan, which is also to say I didn't eat, and I had hoped to eventually work on an organic farm. I have clearly been heavily involved with food for quite some time. Many would say obnoxiously so.

So how does a 24 year old ice cream truck driver with a food-obsessed history end up interning with the New York City Council Speaker? As I have expressed once before, I came to understand the power of government through ice cream. Yes, I had been working for an amazing company that contributed to the sphere of "good" food in our great city (albeit a treat), but it was painfully obvious that a lack of "good" food was available to the masses long before I entered the biz. With a few Urban Studies classes under my belt it became clearer to me that public policy, even on a city-level, could shape the way people eat.

Mind-blowing, I know.

When I first interviewed at the Speaker's office I was terrified. For starters I couldn't remember submitting my resume, which was obviously sprinkled with hopes of finding myself working in a garden or farm all fall. My other concern was that the City Council might not be for me because I had an ice cream scoop's chance in hell in getting to work on something food policy-related, which was all I really wanted.

I guess hell is pretty cool this time of year, cause only a few weeks in to my internship I got assigned to work on the Speaker's FoodWorks Initiative. Most of the heavy lifting had been done, the reports for the launch nearly completed. I helped put some finishing touches on the big report to be released on November 22nd and soon began the invitation process, an intense task that lasted 2 weeks. A fantastic showcase of my networking abilities presented itself, it turned out I personally knew a lot of the right kinds of people to be inviting to such an event. I'm glad to have gotten in at the right time.

I'll post the official report once it is released on Monday, but I'll say its quite exciting. Until then- goodnight!

(Subject quote from a Blue Kid song.)