Winter 2022

Happy new year everyone. I hope your winter break was restful and restorative and that you are finding time and ways to take care of yourself as we carry on in this 2021/22 school year. If you are looking for resources or support, THESA has lots to offer on our THESA Google Drive, including a folder with resources for TTOCs, and our Facebook group provides lots of collegial support if you have a question or need help (or want to share some comic relief!).

Have you checked on the most recent BCTF Teacher Magazine? The January/February issue is dedicated to “learning about food” and THESA executive members Joe, Martina, and Megan contributed the article Resisting Eurocentric standards and ideals in food studies. I hope you’ll take some time to read the article and consider if/how Eurocentric standards and ideals influence your teaching practice and how resisting those standards and ideals might support decolonization in your own curriculum and pedagogy.

Thinking back to the fall, I want to extend a giant thank you to the THESA executive members for organizing and running THESA’s second virtual conference. It was a bit of a bumpy start with some technical challenges but we ended up getting our feet under us (for the most part) and attendees were able to spend some time on professional and personal growth. We considered the inherent political nature of food with our keynote Chef Jenny Dorsey and we cooked, crafted, and considered alongside fantastic presenters who joined us from our home province of BC and as far away as South America (thanks to the perks of a virtual conference!). Thanks, too, to those of you who joined THESA’s BINGO social - that was a lot of fun! It felt great to “get together” even when we couldn’t actually get together.

It appears that a venue and host for the 2022 THESA conference on October 21, 2022 is very likely in place. Once it is all confirmed, we will be sure to shout the details from the rooftops. Please get in touch with me or another executive member if hosting is something you or your local chapter are considering for future conferences.

Speaking of Chapters - have you registered your local chapter this year? Visit https://www.thesa.org/local-chapters to register your chapter (this must be done annually) and email to apply for a chapter grant! You can use this grant to reduce fees for THESA members in your local for events that bring in a speaker/presenter/chef/sewist (etc.) for your local chapter, admittance for an event you attend together, etc.. Email thesa.membershipchair@gmail.com for details. I hope you and your local will take advantage of this opportunity!

Finally, here is my friendly reminder that the THESA executive is here to support you. The THESA executive has been hard at work this winter. Executive members Melanie and Joe are actively working on proficiency scale resources; I continue to advocate for teachers on the Ministry Health and Safety working group; and Madeline has been working on making it easier for you and your chapters to form and to access the chapter grants. We’re on Instagram and Twitter, too @thesaorg. Give us a follow if that is where you like to spend time online. Stay tuned for what we have in store in 2022!

Melissa Edstrom

THESA President

Joe TongFebruary 12, 2022

Winter 2022

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