{"id":48220,"date":"2024-09-16T09:35:13","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T13:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=48220"},"modified":"2024-09-24T08:57:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T12:57:13","slug":"cheese-for-the-culture-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/cheese-for-the-culture-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheese for the Culture: When Being Strong Isn’t Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustrated by Iris Busjahn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to leave my hotel room today. It\u2019s the last day of the American Cheese Society<\/a> (ACS) conference, and I\u2019m full of emotions. Bubbling up to the surface is disappointment and rage. I should be celebrating and filled with joy! Last night, the Cheese Culture Coalition <\/a>(CCC) had its first-ever solo event and it was AMAZING! I already have ideas for next year. I\u2019m excited to report back to the team, compare notes, and devise ways to make the next one even better. And yet, I can\u2019t get rid of this anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not supposed to be angry. At least, I\u2019m not supposed to show it. As a Black woman, I\u2019m not allowed to show that emotion. There are so many parts of me that I\u2019m not \u201callowed\u201d to have, share, or show, but anger is the big one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am so angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know what I thought would change from writing this column. I am still a Black, queer, disabled woman in a country that refuses to acknowledge my worth. I am still working in an industry that struggles with change. My column isn\u2019t going to change the cheese world. I am one person. What can I do? I feel disheartened and lost. And angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am angry at what I\u2019ve lost since I did a fireside chat with ACS four years ago. I am angry at the loss of friendships and connections since then. I\u2019m also deeply saddened by those losses. I\u2019ve had to remove people from my life I\u2019ve known since the beginning of my cheese journey because they would not stand by me when it mattered. I find it hard to forgive or forget the betrayals. I\u2019m angry because the past few days at conference confirmed that I have lost several more \u201cfriends\u201d because I\u2019ve spoken out, called people out, and called others in. It hurts, as it always does. However, I will mourn those losses and move on. I have to. I can\u2019t let this fester inside of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I pack up my room, go downstairs, and check out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sitting in the hotel lobby killing time before my flight, and a friend comes over and sits by my side. She asks me how I am. I tell her the truth. We talk. I tell her about my anger, my frustration, my disappointment, my pain. She sits and listens. Then she tells me the truth that I\u2019ve somehow let my anger overshadow. Last night was a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCC team put together an intentional event and created a space where she felt safe; where a lot of people felt safe, seen, and loved. We start talking about how the event went\u2014the ups and downs, some notes on what we\u2019re going to do next year. I start to perk up. I\u2019m thinking about the people who came out to support with very little notice. The distributor who saved our bacon: Provisions International out of White River Junction, Vermont. Cheesemakers who sent us cheese and butter: High Lawn Farm<\/a>, Old Chatham Creamery<\/a>, Don Froylan Creamery<\/a>, Grafton Village Cheese<\/a>, Shelburne Farms<\/a>, Blakesville Creamery<\/a>, Sequatchie Cove Creamery<\/a>, and Rumiano Cheese Company<\/a>. While I can\u2019t shoutout everyone who donates to the CCC, I would like to acknowledge the three businesses who donated specifically for this event: Cheese State University<\/a>, Rumiano Cheese Company, and the Curd Nerd<\/a>. And of course, a huge thanks to Kristen Cronyn and her crew at Meet and Eat Charcuterie<\/a> for donating the space and working so hard to make sure everything went right. There were faces who have been supporting us since the beginning\u2014such as the Antonellis\u2014 and people who were just learning about us. It was a good event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years ago, an event like ours wouldn\u2019t have existed. Five years ago, there wouldn\u2019t have been BIPOC
or LGBTQIA+ networking sessions during the ACS conference. Four years ago, I\u2019d never considered speaking about how it feels to be a Black woman in the cheese industry while so many experienced a social awakening after George Floyd\u2019s murder. Three years ago, the CCC was introduced to folks in Portland, Oregon. Two years ago, becoming president of a nonprofit was not on my agenda. One year ago, I sat down with the rest of the board, and we said, \u201cWe should do something at conference next year.\u201d Who knows what next year will bring. I will do my best to stay hopeful, and when it is hard to do that, I will reflect on the amazing community I\u2019ve curated, and I will find hope with you all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For so many of us in the United States, the future looks bleak and dangerous. I cannot fix it. None of us can on our own. We need to stick together and support our communities. We need to be discerning in who we support and critical of those who claim to support us. Look at how far we\u2019ve already come by speaking up and showing up as our authentic selves. We\u2019re not done yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Illustrated by Iris Busjahn I don\u2019t want to leave my hotel room today. It\u2019s the last day of the American Cheese Society (ACS) conference, and I\u2019m full of emotions. Bubbling up to the surface is disappointment and rage. I should be celebrating and filled with joy! Last night, the Cheese Culture Coalition (CCC) had its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":48221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27966],"tags":[],"coauthors":[27956],"class_list":["post-48220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cheese-for-the-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCheese for the Culture: When Being Strong Isn't Enough - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/cheese-for-the-culture-connection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cheese for the Culture: When Being Strong Isn't Enough\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Illustrated by Iris Busjahn I don\u2019t want to leave my hotel room today. 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