Editorial Board | November 9, 2011
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Under Construction

Icon by http://dryicons.com

Hi everyone!!! The Sycamore just wanted to let you know that it is under construction for the rest of the fall semester (coming up with exciting stories and concepts and making the website more awesomeified!). You can still send submissions to sycamoreeditor@gmail.com because we are currently doing the editing for our next edition (we are just taking our time because we’ve been so busy with school!). Thanks for your continued support and we hope to receive lots of story ideas, articles and art for our next edition!
Editorial Board

Category: Editorial | Tags: ,
Editorial Board | May 1, 2011
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Open Letter to the Community: Important Facts Worth Sharing

Dear Community,

Cover Art courtesy of Ayries Blanck

Since our founding over one year ago, we have received support from countless members of our community. For instance, Charles Malone, Residential Hall Director, helped the paper in its early days by sparing valuable personnel who could teach us how to design our print layout digitally. On a separate occasion, Barbara Schmidt, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, gave the paper $500 from MarCom’s budget to help towards our printing expenses. Given the nearly 100 students and community members that have contributed their time and energy to the paper, such examples could go on for pages. We at The Sycamore extend our heartfelt and most gracious thanks to the entire Naropa community for their tireless support.

Still, the road since our inception has had significant challenges. Most notable is the difficulty we have had working with the University’s administration. While The Sycamore has received endorsement and funding from the Student Union of Naropa (S.U.N) as the student news publication of Naropa, the administration has felt this endorsement as inadequate. In April 2010, the administration sent an email to the paper stating that if the paper was to receive University funding – even if it came from student government – it should subjected to editorial controls from the President’s Cabinet. We rejected this request on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and contrary to our ethical obligation to the students. Our funding was subsequently allowed for a time while the administration pondered their response.

Next, in October the administration finally came to a census decision that if the paper wished to receive funding from the University it must become legally incorporated as a non-profit organization. After deliberation, senior staff at The Sycamore concluded that given the enormous expense and arduous steps required by the process, the paper was far too young to legally incorporate. Moreover, the administration merely gave the paper a directive with no institutional support.

As an alternative to needing institutional funding, The Sycamore transitioned to an all-online platform, and thus removed our main expense, printing. This web-only format also brought the paper in line with our community’s environmental principles.

Months later in February 2011, The Sycamore received an additional message from the administration indicating that our emails to the community via the University’s listserv(s) would be suspended until we incorporated. Through Carole Clements, our Faculty Adviser, we worked out an agreement with the administration which reinstated our emailing privileges on the principle that all sides would work together toward The Sycamore’s eventual incorporation.

That agreement was re-suspended by the administration in March however. This time the adminstration stated that The Sycamore needed to be “un-branded” of Naropa on its website. We complied with the request by explicitly stating on the homepage that we are “the independent student voice at Naropa University.” This latest effort to appease the administration brought only momentary success as we were informed that our April 1 email, which marked our 1-year anniversary, would not be circulated.

To explain this decision, the administration stated that approving our messages could be construed as an endorsement of our content. This was a curious decision because the administration still allowed the Dean of Students Bob Cillo to send out emails on our behalf but would not approve messages which came directly from our Editor-in-Chief.  The timing of this recent shut down was eerily in line with our increasing coverage on the prairie dog issue.

It became clear that no matter what we did, we were being stonewalled. In light of this, The Sycamore has compiled its own contact list which we use to circulate our new editions and to highlight articles independent of Naropa’s administration. All are welcomed to join or exit our list; please email editorial@thesycamore.org.

We at The Sycamore are dedicated to informing and serving the community. As such, it is only with the best and most authentic of intentions that we move forward to have another year of student coverage of all things Naropa.

Best wishes for the summer season from us to you,

Editorial Board

Editorial Board: Editor-In-Chief, Lauren DeGaine; Senior Staff Writer, Cody Spyker; Opinions Editor, Mohammad Usman; Creative Naropa Editor, Lora Fike.

Category: Editorial | Tags:
Lauren DeGaine | September 1, 2011
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Letter from the Editor

Welcome back to Naropa! I am so excited to spend this fall semester studying and enjoying the beautiful Boulder weather. I hope you are all excited, too.

I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has ever been involved with The Sycamore – your contributions are greatly appreciated. We are very proud of all our accomplishments, especially our work advocating for the prairie dogs last semester.

Additionally, I would like to encourage Naropa community members – students especially – to get involved with what I like to colloquially call “the paper.”

Of course, we are not a true newspaper, as we do not print. However, that does not mean that The Sycamore does not have the potential to be an amazing source of news, entertainment, and information. On the contrary, we are hoping to establish The Sycamore as a Naropa University staple so that every student knows about “the paper.”

The Sycamore desperately needs contributors and interested individuals, and since we are still such a young paper, there is so much room for growth and input. You can be a very important part of how the paper evolves and what it becomes.

As of now, we are switching our format from the bi-monthly, 1st and 15th release dates, to a perpetual release date system, so that hopefully you can check the website at your leisure and there will always be something new and interesting.

We are also interested in publishing more culture-based articles – events in Denver, Boulder, and around the world; commentaries on society and people; upcoming trends in fashion, academics, or any field for that matter; stories on people, places, and so much more.

In other words, if you have an idea – any idea at all – we’d like to hear it. We are open to anything because the reason we are here is to serve the community and meet it’s needs for a community-centered publication that can bring us all together.

Soon to come: A new Sycamore facebook page, twitter account, student journalism group and possibly even a journalism class at Naropa!

Email us anytime at sycamoreeditor@gmail.com

Thanks and good luck this semester!!

Lauren DeGaine

Editor-In-Chief

(cover image aquired from naropa.edu)

Category: Editorial | Tags: ,
Lauren DeGaine | May 1, 2011
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Sycamore Welcomes Two Staff Writers

The Sycamore is proud to announce the addition of two staff writers to our fabulous team: Allan Andre and Erin Likins, both undergraduate students in the Jack Kerouac school, have recently joined our staff.

Erin Likins is a first year student majoring in Writing and Literature with an interest in psychology and a penchant for poethics. Originally from the Bay Area in California, Erin lived in Portland, Oregon before coming to Naropa. She is an active member of the Boulder Red Tent and likes to spend her free time baking vegan, gluten-free goodies for various staff members! She has been published in our creative section in the past, and her work (including a poem in the current edition) can be viewed here.

Allan Andre is double-majoring in Writing and Music. He hails from New York and holds residence in Boulder. We are lucky to have this talented poet and accomplished zine publisher on our staff. See his first article, covering the 7th annual Women of Naropa reading, here.

We are grateful and excited to have these two wonderful people on our crew, and look forward to their staff bios and pictures!

Category: News |
Lauren DeGaine | May 1, 2011
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Naropa Mourns the Death of Friend, Teacher, Mentor.

Akilah Oliver

1961 -2011

Akilah Oliver was born in 1961 in L.A. In the 1990′s she founded and performed with the feminist performance collective Sacred Naked Nature Girls. For several years, Akilah lived and raised her son Oluchi McDonald (1982-2003) in Boulder, Colorado where she… was a teacher at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Recently, in New York City, Akilah taught poetry and writing at Eugene Lang College, The New School, Pratt Insitute and The Poetry Project. She was a PhD candidate at The European Graduate School and a member of the Belladonna* Collaborative. Akilah Oliver’s books include A Toast In The House of Friends (Coffee House 2009), the she said dialogues: flesh memory, a book of experimental prose poetry honored by the PEN American Center’s “Open Book” program, and the chapbooks An Arriving Guard of Angels, Thusly Coming to Greet (Farfalla, McMillan & Parrish, 2004), The Putterer’s Notebook (Belladonna 2006), a(A)ugust (Yo-Yo Labs, 2007) and A Collection of Objects (Tente 2010). She read and performed her work throughout the country as a solo artist and with a variety of musicians and collaborators including Tyler Burba, Anne Waldman, and Rasul Siddik. She was a artist in residence at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Los Angeles, and received grants from the California Arts Council, The Flintridge Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Among her many other projects, she was writing a book-length theory of lamentation.

Bio source: akilaholiver.com

A memorial for Akilah took place at in Shambhala Hall on April 17th. There was a poetry reading by the Naropa University co-founder Anne Waldman, a copy of which can be read here.

We would like to dedicate this edition of The Sycamore to Akilah Oliver.

Category: News |
Cody Spyker | May 1, 2011
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Board of Trustees Remains Silent on Prarie Dog Report

The first prairie dog pups of the year have peeked out from their burrows and the Naropa community continues to wait for public communications from the President’s Office or the Board of Trustees relating to the report of the black-tailed prairie dog population at Nalanda campus.

A petition calling for the release of the prairie dog research, with near to 200 signatures, was turned in last Friday, April 22nd to Todd Kilburn, Chief Administrative Officer. Included in the list of names were students, staff, faculty and alumni of Naropa University.

United Naropa, the Environmental Studies Department, and the Green Team have also shown support for the request of transparency in this matter by sending in respective letters of advocacy in the past few weeks.

Ayries Blanck, an undergraduate member of the Green Team, cited this group’s interest in the prairie dog report arising around the question, “Shouldn’t we be involved in this? We’re the environmental representation [of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the Board of Trustees] of Naropa University. We have a vital role to play; this is an environmental issue.”

Costen Aytes, Landscape Manager at Naropa University, has also expressed his support for the student initiative to make the information public.

Despite these many Naropa constituencies and hundreds of community members supporting public disclosure of the prairie dog report the Board of Trustees and Administration have been mute except for an impromptu, off the record appearance by Dr. Lord at the recent student government meeting (United Naropa). While he did not allow his comments in the meeting minutes he advocated on behalf of the Board of Trustees in support of removing the prairie dogs.

Despite the President’s unorthodox appeal to the students of United Naropa many questions remained unanswered: 1) Why is the Board and Administration being so secretive about this issue? 2) The population count of 155-200 is 200% above average; how was this determined? 3) Where did the Board get their information; what were their sources? 4) Were the prairie dogs ever discussed in terms of value; were they considered as an asset? 5) What costs and expenditures has Naropa incurred regarding the prairie dogs to date? 6) What data supports the assertions of health risk, and hindered academic and recreational use? 7) What plans exist for the open space at Nalanda that justify the removal of the prairie dog colony?

The release of this information is as urgent as ever due to the timeline of removal in the state of Colorado. As per the City of Boulder’s “Prairie Dogs & Wild Birds: Wildlife Protection Ordinance,” the waiting period after the submission of an application is as follows:

“Application Phase Waiting Period
Acceptance of application as complete Within 60 days
Period between final acceptance and public comment period Not less than 15 days
Public comment period 60 days
Final determination Not less than 15 days
Total Minimum 3-5 months”
Assuming that the Board and Administration want the prairie dogs removed before students return in the later part of August, the permitting process must have already been initiated. This lies in contrast to the one and only release from the Board of Trustees on February 28th 2011, which stated that they want to “explore the feasibility of moving the prairie dog colony at Nalanda”.

The question was posed in a message to the President’s Office in March, “Was anyone in the Naropa community approached for their input? (Students, staff, faculty?)”

President Lord responded by email: “The university expects to hold an informational meeting to discuss the relocation of the prairie dogs with the Naropa community as soon as the logistics have been fully researched and we are prepared to apply for a permit from the City of Boulder, possibly as soon as April.” As of the printing of this article no such meeting has been called.

The Board of Trustees is convening next week before the graduation ceremony. On Thursday and Friday, May 5 and 6, they will be gathering at the Boulder Marriott hotel. The schedule, which includes open sessions, was released in the President’s Friday Letter of April 29.

Category: News |
June Kellum | May 1, 2011
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Naropians Not Navel-Gazers: Media Survey Results Surprising

By June Kellum and Derek Pyle

Would you have guessed that politics is the most popular news topic at Naropa?

We, a group of three undergrads, were surprised by this revelation, which came from a media preference survey we did this semester as a Civic Engagement project.

Initially, we had set out to investigate the myth of the Naropa bubble: Does the Naropa community deserve the reputation of self-isolating navel gazers, or does our introspection actually fuel connection and engagement with the outside world?
We emailed a nine-question survey about personal media habits to all students, faculty, and staff at Naropa. Later, we distributed hardcopies of our survey just to be sure that the people who took the online version were not representing a minority of Naropians who check their emails.

Results

To our surprise, the combined survey results indicated that almost 75 percent of Naropa folks engage the news daily or weekly.

Politics was the most popular topic followed by environment, then drug policy and pop culture tied for third.

National Public Radio was the preferred source, but the Internet was the preferred medium for getting news; radio was second.

Although Naropa community members expressed the most interest in world and national news, there was notable interest in local and Naropa news as well.

Other questions on the survey were aimed at evaluating whether Naropa wants to be more engaged or encouraged to engage more with news. Most said they did not. One student honestly responded that their Naropa journey is an inner time and that they fully intend to engage with the wider world once their personal world is in order.

Some who said they would like more encouragement to engage with the news requested: free access to magazines and newspapers (which are actually available in the library); a TV in the student lounge to watch news; world-event oriented performances followed by discussion panels; a greater media literacy component to the Civic Engagement Seminar; and breaking news updates via Naropa email (Naropa may not do this but other news outlets will; The Epoch Times is one: http://newsletter.theepochtimes.com/ )

The survey also seemed to indicate a less than robust relationship between Naropians and their university email accounts. Of an estimated 1,100 people who got our survey in their Naropa email boxes, 99 responded. When we passed out hardcopies of our survey a week later, over 50 percent of respondents did not remember receiving the emailed one.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the stats below,

 June Kellum, Derek Pyle, Paul Tucci,

 Who we Interviewed…

 

Online Survey                                                                                                          Hardcopy Survey

46.5% Undergrad40.4% Grad9.1% Faculty4.0% Staff 81.2% Undergrad6.3% Grad3.1% Faculty3.1% Alumni

 

*Results are based on 99 online responses and 32 hardcopy responses, although not all respondents answered every question and some questions had multiple answers.

 

 

 


What Topics Interest You?

(More than one response per person)

Online Survey                                                                                                               Hardcopy Survey

48.5% Politics (national and/or international)24.2% Environment14% Pop Culture/Entertainment12% Art11% Science

9% Human Rights

6% Law

4% each: Human Interest; Women’s Rights; Education; Food

 31.3% Politics (national and/or international)25% Environment18.8% Drug Policy12.5% Health12.5% Pop Culture

Other interesting topics included: Gorilla sign language, UFOs, war, fish politics, plus a huge concern for global issues, expressed in a variety of ways.

 

 

How often does Naropa Community watch/read/listen to news media?

 

Online Survey                                                                                                   Hardcopy Survey

59.2% Daily18.2% Weekly16.2% When important events occur15.2% Infrequently3.0% Never

1.0% Monthly

 Daily 43.8%Weekly 28.1%12.5% Infrequently9.4% When important events occur3.1% Monthly

0.0% Never

 

Scope of News Interests

(More than one response per person)

Online Survey                                                                        Hardcopy Survey

World 97.0%National 78.8%Local 67.7%Naropa 52.5%Other 12.1% World 59 %National 46.9 %   Naropa 46.9 %   
Local 40.6 %
Other 6.3 %

 

Naropa Community’s Most Trusted News Sources

(More than one response per person)

Online Survey                                                                                                               Hardcopy Survey

21.4% NPR13.6% New York Times10% BBC9.2% None5% Huffington Post

4.3% CNN

3.6% Al Jazeera

 NPR 15.6%New York Times 15.6%None 12.5%BBC 9.4%Jon Stewart 9.5%

6.3% Al Jazeera

6.3% Democracy Now!

 

 

 

 

Preferred Bias

(More than one response per person)

Online Survey                                                                                                               Hardcopy Survey

Democrat 30.8%Liberal Libertarian 12.1%All Views/Non-Bias 11%Anarchist 6.6%Conservative 3.3% Non-Partisan 28.1%Democrat 21.9%Liberal 12.5%Libertarian 12.5%

30.4% percent said other, listing Anarcho-capitalist, Anti-corporatist and Futilitarian among others.

Access Preferences

(More than one response per person)

Online Survey                                                                         Hardcopy Survey

Written on the Internet 73.2 %Radio 53.6 %Written periodicals 47.4 % Television 19.6 %Reports, Performance 12.4 %

 Song 10.3 %

Other 4.1%

 Written through Internet  62.5%
Video – 37.5% (not an option on Internet survey)Radio 34.4 %
Television 28.1 %Performance 25 %
Song  15.6 %

 

Would you like to be more engaged with news media?

 

Online Survey                                                                                                               Hardcopy Survey

43.8% No26% Yes10.1% Sometimes…Maybe…Don’t Know 28.1% No28.1% Sometimes…Maybe…Don’t know21.9% Yes

12.5% of people online said they wanted Naropa to provide more engagement with news media/current events through class discussions, campus events, and even a television on campus to watch the news!

 

And just out of curiosity, how often do you check your Naropa email?

 

 

We asked 32 people, but only 18 responded (56.3%)

61% Daily27.8% Frequently5.6% Occasionally5.6% Never

 

Yet when we asked them if they received this survey (which was sent          

to all Naropa students, faculty and staff)…

 

Again, only 56.3% responded

55.6% No27.8% Maybe16.7% Yes
Category: Opinion |
Anne Waldman | May 1, 2011
One comment

Lament for Akilah Oliver

Lament

“In which pocket did I leave that “I”?
Is “I” ever anything to miss, a personage to mourn…”- A.K.

for Akilah Oliver

And now the words
And now the words

I am grieving all by myself
All by myself and then with others
She’s alone on the bed, dead in her clench
Without all warning

I am grieving and now the words
Yee Ayee
A keeee kee kee kee La La La

A kee kee kee keel La La La

Keel, even keel, keel over and on to ballast

A great homegoing
A great homecalling

What’s the meaning of what I’m saying
What in the world hears the death of a poet
Who in the world hears the death of a poet
Because poets never die
That what they say up in heaven
& below in hell, poets never die

I’ll force the river to run upstream
I’ll force the sun to go out
The stars will shatter & fall down from their spheres

Then we will know a poet never dies

Me sick at heart & the others crying on their sleeves
Everything bright in her Bardo
In her Bardo sleeves
Where she moves keep it moving
Inside their hearts, heart of us
Crying on each other, crying on the time
Time stops and there’s a clench
Without warning
To do what I can’t do undo do undo

A kee kee kee la la la

Can’t do can’t undo

Take her back
To sooth, & then we would laugh

Little woman at the corner of the sky
All lit up with life for nothing, but laugh like a girl

Little child in the sky waiting
I’m way down like the rest of you

Why talk?

The child is waiting

Will come will come home now to its mother

A kee kee kee La La La
A kee kee kee La La La

To make her spirit dance I say
This deep lament
What does it cost
To lament a poet
Cost is inestimable

There is nothing to equal it
& all poets teach how to lament

A whole life away from you
Watching it grow
Cut short watching it grow
This song of moaning of mourning
Sing your name Akilah
She was a one she was a one
She as a one she as a one she was a one

And now the words
And now the words

A kee kee kee La La La
A KEE KEE KEE LA LA LA

After the Tsumshian Indian/ from Shaking the Pumpkin,
Ed. Jerome Rothenberg

Category: Creative Naropa |
Allan Andre | May 1, 2011
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A Look Inside The Seventh Annual Women of Naropa Reading

When my partner and I arrived in Shambhala Hall, we immediately felt a sense of ease. The Hall had been transformed into a lounge with the simplest of means: turning off the overhead light, adding a carpet, bringing in some modest decorations. There were two small shrine tables in the room to consecrate the space. One was against the window on the North side and held votive candles; the other, set up by the entrance on the West side, held a picture of the late Akilah Oliver. (See Anne’s article and poem for more about Akilah.) The spirit of this cherished woman of Naropa was called in to preside over the seventh Women of Naropa reading. In front of her portrait was a basket filled with small slips of paper. Each of these bore quotes from her writings; throughout the evening the performers would pull out quotes and read them aloud.

Akilah’s shrine was placed at the end of a central aisle bisecting a circle of seats and cushions set out for the audience. At the other end of this aisle- to the East- was the performer’s lectern. In the South, a small lamp completed the circle. Rather then a rectilinear (i. e., geometrically “male”) performance setup with a clearly defined center stage, the organizers opted for an elliptical (or “female”) arrangement. The performers were addressing Akilah’s image rather than a massed crowd. All these small touches made for a very interesting and “feminized” space.

“That’s the dakini in us,” Anne began. “The feminine principle! It takes nothing and puts make-up on it!” Her light-hearted introduction set the tone for the rest of the evening- playful yet serious, collaborative yet individualistic. This was a show to unify opposites and create a space for dialogue. And while there was a great range of performative approaches on display, all of them seemed linked together by their essential, irreducible femininity.

Anne went on to read a poem working with the onomatopoeia “rat-a-tat-tat!”, parts of which mocked military prowess. “You think that’s power?” she seemed to ask. “That’s not real power…” The theme continued through a few of the other readings. Lisa read a story tearing into barbie-doll body images, followed by a very stirring collaborative piece written especially for this reading- a dialogue between the catastrophes of Japan and Afghanistan. They spoke to each other not as the disasters themselves but as their witnesses, like two photographs joined together in collage. Again and again this power of the witness was evoked, the power of a passive rather than an active subject.

Amy closed off the first section with a doggedly persistent “soundburn”- a repeated line that exploded her last poem. By then, a kind of trance had descended on the attendees. During the intermission, my partner and I had no choice but to rush out into a giddy embrace on the fire escape, talking in poetry to one another and opening ourselves to the awesome brilliance of the nearly full moon. I hadn’t realized I was so hungry for feminine energy- the absolute immanence of the sacred, the fullness of the now. Masculine passion, for all its external glory, can never quite hold on to that secret space that makes birth possible, that gives embodied life to stories and poems.

We managed to pull ourselves back into the hall in time for the second section, the student readings. Here again were collaborations, power in witnessing, and personal stories of the feminine. The selections seemed apt for the evening. One woman metamorphosed into a mayfly; another let us into the world of her mother. A third read a magnificently fiery poem for her (female) lover. There were also two more collaborative performances- one a gentle, monophonic piece where the voices seemed to merge into one, the other a painfully raw, jarring account of surrendering to violence.

By the time it had ended the house was starry-eyed; the crowd gathered into clumps and lingered, talking. For obvious reasons, this male author is not often privvy to women-only gatherings, so it was a real privilege to be invited into this one. The energy created by this intentional gathering, this place for the female mind to meet itself, was something truly sacred. Naturally, not every reader suited my personal tastes, but the power of the group was tangible.

I bowed down to Akilah’s image, took a quote from her basket, and flowed into conversation. My partner and I hovered a long while by her shrine, savoring what was left of the evening; we were the last of the audience members to leave. Even now I find myself wanting to hold on to the space a while longer…

* * *

Featuring Naropa faculty Lisa Birman, Amy Catanzano, Michelle Naka Pierce, Sara Veglahn, and Anne Waldman, with Naropa students Kelly Alsup, Katie Ingegneri, Evie McCarthy & Stephani Nola, Janna Plant & Ariella Ruth, Sarah Schantz, Sofia Stephenson. This show was a benefit for the Women’s Wilderness Institute and the journal of the Kerouac school, Bombay Gin. These are two very valuable community resources worth donating to. Check out their websites at www.womenswilderness.org and www.naropa.edu/bombaygin.

Category: Opinion |
Erin Likins | May 1, 2011
One comment

JLP

Though a man of the armada,
I am one who defies orders
when the guttural grip tells me so.
As Captain, I must remain firm and true;
my senior officers tend to
see right through anything but.
I take tea – Earl Gray, hot –
as my beverage of choice
and relish a rare hour spent
flirting with Guinan in 10-Forward.
Personal time for a Captain
is even more rare – but before bed
I slip my beefy shoulders into my
silk lounging robe and work on my novel
about the sexually-driven conquest
of the universe, and how I
instead aim to make generous love to it.
Sometimes I even shave a star or two
into my public hair to remind me of our connection.
I am so in love with her, – E, the Sovereign Class;
we were made to chart each galaxy, together as one.

Category: Creative Naropa |
Rachel Palmateer | May 1, 2011
One comment

Dear Rachel, From Quinoa Queen

Hi Rachel!

I recently started eating quinoa for the first time in my life and, well… It’s coming out the other end!!!

Does this mean I’m not digesting it at all???

I told my roommate about it, and she said that the same thing happened to her. She and I both ate different colors of quinoa.

I’ve heard that quinoa is the only complete protein besides meat, and I’m not quite sure what that means, but if it’s true I want it to digest properly!

I think maybe I just need to keep eating it so my body can get used to it, and I tried cooking it longer to make it softer.

Do you have any info/suggestions that will help me??

Sincerely

Quinoa Queen

Hello Quinoa Queen,

I have several suggestions for you, but first of all, you should know that every body is different and requires different foods for proper nourishment. It is very possible that an energizing and filling food for you is an energy-lowering food for a friend or roommate.

A bit about quinoa…

The quinoa grains we eat are actually the seeds of the Chenopodium quinoa plant, a hardy plant capable of growing at very high elevations.

Quinoa is a great gluten-free substitute for many recipes requiring glutinous grains. Because it is very versatile, quinoa can be used instead of oatmeal for a warm breakfast with cinnamon and nutmeg or can be added to any dish that would traditionally use rice or other grains.

You are correct that quinoa is a complete protein. A complete protein is a food that naturally contains all nine of the essential amino acids required by humans for proper nourishment. An essential amino acid is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained from food sources. While most vegetable sources are lower in protein than animal products, quinoa contains lysine, an amino acid lacking in rice and wheat. It is a great source of protein for vegans and vegetarians.

In its natural state, quinoa is coated in bitter, naturally occurring chemical compounds called saponins. This protects the seeds from predators, or hungry birds and animals. The saponins create a sort of soapy foam when combined with water. This is good news if you need some natural soap, clothing detergent, or antiseptic for skin injuries, however, not so great if you are trying to consume quinoa as a food source. The saponins can irritate the digestive system and make the quinoa act as a laxative.

What you can do…

Most packaged quinoa has been pre-soaked to remove the saponins. If you are buying pre-packaged quinoa, try rinsing it before cooking. If you see any foam coming off the quinoa or if you purchase unprocessed quinoa, soak the grain in water for an hour or two and then rinse thoroughly before cooking. This should remove most of the saponins and make the quinoa easier to digest.

Eating for proper nourishment is an exciting endeavor and allows us to try new things all the time. When experimenting with new foods, it is very important to listen to how your body responds. Just because it tastes good doesn’t mean it does good in your digestive system. If you try soaking and rinsing the quinoa and it still seems that you aren’t properly digesting after 4-6 weeks, it may be that quinoa simply isn’t for you. If this is the case, don’t worry—it is possible to combine vegetable sources to create a complete protein at each meal.

Remember, the human body is a complex and individual system and no two bodies have identical needs. Even identical twins require different eating habits for optimal health! You and your roommate can experiment with new soaking techniques and exciting quinoa recipes, but keep in mind that what works for one of you might not be the ideal solution for the other.

Enjoy experimenting, and let me know how it goes!

~Rachel

 

 

Rachel Palmateer is a student of the Integrative Institute for Nutrition and a Writing and Literature student at Naropa University. As a gluten-free, lactose-intolerant vegetarian, Rachel is working toward her health counselor certification in order to live out her dedication to helping others create delicious and nutritious meals according to their body’s individual needs. Contact her at Nutrition.Rachel@gmail.com.

Category: Opinion |
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