Buenas noches,
Hope you’re doing well!
Just imagine: flower-pot tandoor, homemade naan, first person narrative, interactive table, beautiful spiraling maps.
This is a sliver of the creative ideas the Tongue group has fabricated. Since bonding over food we’re feeling much more comfortable around each other and more open to brainstorming ideas.
Zach is still developing his idea to make a cheap tandoor oven. Apparently the cheapest way is about $200, but that’s still too much for our budget. We’ve discussed getting a club, perhaps the Asian Cultures or International Club, to sponsor the project and then donate it to the college. I’ve personally thought of cooperating with the Bonner Food Market or the Farm in some way..perhaps they could incorporate a tandoor into their efforts to diminish hunger. We want our final presentation to coincide with a meal that we prepare ourselves, with fabulously timed tea pouring skills.
Thus far, we’re all slightly frustrated. We’ve done research and brainstormed ideas, but feel as if we don’t know the destination to hone in on. We’ve done loads of research, but feel like it’s not making much progress towards our goal. Even after the sessions with Rachel I’m still slightly overwhelmed by the myriad of sources, but plan to meet with her to narrow them down. Additionally Eric’s and Zhihong’s remarks about unapologetically honing in on a narrow topic, as long as you discuss that there are other factors and topics left untouched, are valuable.
I feel like the whole group is stuck in a limbo where the deadline simultaneously feels far away but the work feels urgent.
Some productive work we did was on story maps. We discussed multiple story map ideas, like  following the experiences of a traveler leading to a culminating meal, each of us embodying a person along the way, or focusing on a virtual table. We were fond of the first idea, but decided that it would limit our ability to highlight histories and processes that the traveler themselves wouldn’t experience. Therefore we thought it would be really intriguing and unique take on the persona of “middle-men” in Kashgar.  To keep to his research themes of spices and livestock, Chris would be a shepherd, butcher, merchant, or perhaps a cycle through all three. Zach would be a cook or street vendor to focus on beverages and cooking. To illuminate cooking equipment, utensils, and clay Billie would be a potter or metalworker. We even found a real 7 year old potter from the region named Anwar Ali!!! And finally to manifest how eating relates to culture and customs I’d be a homeowner, or the one hosting a guest.  As for the table idea, Billie suggested that we make the table holding our meal the focal point of our map, and zoom out from each dish to our respective research.
Here’s our expert sketches and ideas:

Our narrative ideas are currently limited by our lack of knowledge of the StoryMap site. We’re not sure how much information we can place at one point, or how the different points link together. Luckily we’re going to have a class session on it soon.
The final update is that we’re planning to meet weekly at 9:00 on Mondays, to keep a consistent schedule.
Hopefully that was coherent enough to communicate our progress! Thank you for reading!
Regards,
-Delaney