GET TO KNOW THE SABO CENTER!

In each Staff Feature installment, we ask members of the Sabo Center staff to share what they do, along with some fun facts. 

This post features Natalie Jacobson, Campus Kitchen Coordinator.

What do you do at the Sabo Center?

I coordinate Augsburg’s Campus Kitchen program, which works to make healthy food accessible in Cedar-Riverside and on Augsburg’s campus. We provide opportunities for Augsburg students to build leadership skills and connect with one another and with our surrounding community through food!

What is one social issue that is most important to you right now?

So many–it’s hard to choose! But at this moment, the horrific immigrant detention camps are top of mind.

What’s your favorite place on Augsburg’s campus?

Hands down, the Food Lab (Hagfors 108). If you haven’t cooked something in the Food Lab yet, you’re missing out! 🙂

If you could recommend one book, movie, or podcast, what would it be and why?

I love The Mortified Podcast, a storytelling series where people share embarrassing things they wrote as kids/teens. With so much heavy stuff going on in the world, sometimes I need to consume media that makes me laugh a lot. This podcast does the trick!

What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?

Lately, I’ve been enjoying getting more involved with the Twin Cities Jewish community and organizations like Jewish Community Action that are doing work for justice through a Jewish lens!

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

Passionate, goofy, affectionate.

What’s your favorite place in the world?

My great aunt has a house in Quebec, on a big beautiful lake in the middle of the woods. Spending time at that house, surrounded by family, brings me so much inner peace and comfort.

What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?

I’m working with the Campus Kitchen team to explore a partnership with Brightside Produce, an organization working to make fresh produce available at corner stores in food deserts. Campus Kitchen will likely be selling fresh produce at a low cost to help support Brightside’s mission. Keep your eye out for that this fall!

Who would you most want to swap places with for a day?

My amazing (way bigger than me) little brother Alec Jacobson!

GET TO KNOW THE SABO CENTER!

In each Staff Feature installment, we ask members of the Sabo Center staff to share about what they do, along with some fun facts. 

This post features LaToya Taris-James, Student Leadership Programs Coordinator.

What do you do at the Sabo Center?

I help coordinate student leadership programs in the Sabo Center. Parts of my work include administrative support for Campus Kitchen, and supporting the programming for LEAD Fellows through co-creating leadership development material, providing resources, and connecting fellows to partners in the community.

What’s one social issue that is most important to you right now?

An issue that I care about deeply and that has been very present in my own experience is the imbalance of power and access to opportunity when it comes to narrative, especially in the nonprofit and education sectors. We have a collective narrative in each of the communities we are part of; however, marginalized people groups, who do not hold the same economic power as others, are rarely given the opportunity to tell their own stories. This often results in an unhealthy culture of giving where wealthy people toss money at problems they don’t understand, for people they do not know, based on stories that were not told correctly. This creates a cycle of need that is not sustainable. Much of the work that I do outside of Augsburg centers around the power of narrative and helping under-represented groups use their voice to change unhealthy narratives. Wait, did you ask me to write an entire essay on this? I will leave it at that.

What’s your favorite place on Augsburg’s campus?

The meeting room in the Religion Department area in Hagfors. Very cool natural lighting with a view of the garden outside! I’ve only been in that room once and I decided it was my favorite.

If you could recommend one book, movie, or podcast, what would it be and why?

Black Boy by Richard Wright. I became familiar with Wright’s work back in high school, and this was the first book of his that I ever read. The book was helpful to me in my formative teenage years, helping me develop thoughts around what I was experiencing as a black kid navigating different spaces. Reading about Wright’s experiences really validated my own, as I had not been introduced to a lot of literature like that at the time. Reading this book inspired me me to dive into the world of black literature and enriched my life and work in deep ways.

What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?

Ride my bike! And read.

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

Thoughtful. Sensitive. Idealistic.

What’s your favorite place in the world?

Any room where my siblings are gathering. Also North Minneapolis 🙂

What’s the coolest thing you are working on right now?

Right now I am working to further conceptualize a storytelling/social impact initiative that I started a few years ago.

Name one spot in the Twin Cities that you would consider a “must-see”?

The Skydeck at the Guthrie Theater.

Who would you most likely swap places with for a day?

Willy Wonka.

Have any last facts/favorite quotes/advice/etc. that you would like to share?

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”–African Proverb

GET TO KNOW THE SABO CENTER!

In each Staff Feature installment, we ask members of the Sabo Center staff to share about what they do, along with some fun facts. 

This post features Elaine Eschenbacher, Director of the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship.

What do you do at the Sabo Center?

As Director of the Sabo Center, I design and oversee programs and opportunities that engage a wide diversity of people in public work, community engagement, and civic agency development. No two days are alike.

What’s one social issue that is most important to you right now?

The 2020 Census. It’s nerdy, yes, but it determines political representation for the next decade and provides data that shapes how policymakers and business leaders will invest public and private resources in communities. Watch the Sabo Center calendar for upcoming events related to the Census.

What’s your favorite place on Augsburg’s campus?

Anywhere with a good view of the Catalpa tree on the corner of 22nd and 7th, especially in Spring, when it’s in bloom.

If you could recommend one book, movie, or podcast, what would it be and why?

I love the Song Exploder Podcast, in which musicians take apart their songs and tell how they were written. It’s a great window into the creative process and shows how varied and individual creative work can be.

Name one spot in the Twin Cities that you would consider a “must-see”?

The Mississippi River gorge from a boat on the river. Many of us cross bridges above the river often, but there is nothing like seeing Minneapolis or St. Paul from the river.

Have any last facts/favorite quotes/advice/etc. that you would like to share?

I believe that we humans need to work, it is essential to our happiness. One of the books I read this summer is Sarah Smarsh’s Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest County on Earth, which I recommend. She wrote the following passage about work that beautifully captures this idea and its inherent tensions: “Grandpa Arnie loved working the land, not for the price of wheat per bushel but because smelling damp earth at sunrise felt like a holy experience…Work can be a true communion with resources, materials, other people. I have no issue with work. Its relationship to the economy—whose work is assigned what value—is where the trouble comes in.”

Get to know the Sabo Center!

In each Staff Feature installment, we ask members of the Sabo Center staff to share about what they do, along with some fun facts.

This post features Green Bouzard, Program Coordinator.

What do you do at the Sabo Center?

I get the opportunity to collaborate with everyone in the Sabo Center and to be a part of much of what the Sabo Center does! I am a project manager for strategic initiatives, evaluation, grants, community collaboration initiatives, and communications.

What’s your favorite place on Augsburg’s campus?

The lobby of Hagfors. I love that Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress” is etched into the window so that the score is “projected” via its shadow onto the wall at the right time of day!

If you could recommend one book, movie, or podcast, what would it be and why?

The Daily podcast from the New York Times. They dig deep on a current event or investigative story for 20-30 minutes every weekday–I feel more informed about important national and global news than I would be otherwise!

What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?

Play and create original music.

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

Curious, creative, determined.

What’s your favorite place in the world?

Golden Gardens Park in Seattle.

What’s the coolest thing you are working on right now?

The Sabo Center just finished up hosting a national conference for the Place-Based Justice Network, a group of colleges and universities from across the country who do intentionally place-focused community engagement work with a social transformation and racial justice lens. I coordinated a lot of the details for the conference, and it was so satisfying to see everyone come together for 2.5 days of learning and networking!