Name:
Garrett Broad
Hometown:
Marlton, NJ but originally born in Philadelphia
Job at Fordham:
“I am an assistant professor in the department of Communications and Media Studies. So, basically that means I am a tenure track professor but I am the new guy. There’s assistant, if you get promoted and tenured, you become associate and then a full professor.”
What is something the student body might not know about you?
“I kind of own the microphone when it comes to karaoke. I grew up performing, you know, on stage doing musicals and acting and all of that stuff, and then you know, I became an academic, so I don’t have a ton of time to go and be in musicals and so karaoke is how I stay in this…when I lived in Los Angeles, I would go to karaoke sometimes with some friends and I got a roommate who was actually the band leader of a live karaoke band, so basically, they were a full band (guitar, bass, drums) and the audience would come up and sing. They had the words and the screens and everything, but instead of singing along to a track, they’d be singing along to a live rock band…So, I would go to their shows and sing and then eventually I became a part-time emcee and backup singer for them…I did some weddings and events and stuff like that, so sometimes when no one would get up to sing, I’d sing a lot of songs. I have a lot of songs in my repertoire, all of that is prefaced to say that my two go-to karaoke songs is Marvin Gaye’s ‘Lets Get It On’ and I do a really rockin’ version of Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time.’ It is really hard driving and I end up screaming at the end.”
Do you have any interesting things you do in your free time?
“I do a lot of yoga, I am a big yoga guy, I’m nerdy and watch lots of documentaries, and I have done some interesting travel recently, I was in India over the winter break, which was super cool, but as for hobbies, when I’m not doing work or watching sports or news, I am probably at a yoga class.”
What is your theme song?
“‘Here Comes the Sun,’ I love the Beatles. George puts me in a good mood! I mean I don’t think that I’m the sun or anything, but if I had to have one, that’d be it. I used to use it as my alarm, which was a nice way to wake up in the morning.”
What was your opinion on Super Bowl 50?
“I had some people over, so I didn’t really pay much attention to the commercials. Out of about a dozen people, I was the only one who really cared about the game, but they watched the commercials. In terms of the game… [the video of Eli Manning] was my favorite part! The Eli face… just a classic blank stare…I was kind of pulling for the Panthers; I didn’t really have a strong-rooting interest. Because the Eagles have been so disappointing, I put too much into them, especially that team because they are always excruciating and disappointing, so like, I kind of tried to take a step back from professional football for a little while. I also flipped on the Puppy Bowl…it was very entertaining to the crowd I was with…there was a Labrador mix that was very popular. You can even do a fantasy Puppy Bowl league, too, but I didn’t quite go that far.”
If you could have an entourage made of three celebrities who would you pick?
“You gotta say, Rihanna, right? She’d be fun. Now, where do you go from Rihanna? Chris Rock – he’d be a blast, he always makes me laugh, he’s my favorite comedian. And then, Springsteen! That’d be a very interesting crew.”
Based on the description on Amazon of your book More Than Just Food, you discuss the possibilities and limitations of a movement in food justice with the use of a community-based approach. What would you like the Fordham community to know about your book?
“The book is about community-based groups that are trying to use food as a tool for social justice. We hear a lot about food and healthy eating and urban farms and community gardens, so my question was, to what extent can these programs and projects actually lead to real social change that makes people in communities that have historically had worse health outcomes and have been economically discriminated against and racially discriminated against, how can these projects actually make people’s lives better, and how can we prove that and evaluate that and demonstrate that, and the book is an attempt to explore that. It was based a lot in my research when I was in Los Angeles and when I was working in South LA, and also with connections to things that are happening around the country and in places like New York…in terms of what students might get out of it, I think we hear a lot of messages about what people need to do and why people need to eat healthy and one thing I hope this book does is demonstrate that a lot of the places where there are challenges with health and nutrition is because there is a history of these communities that have been discriminated against and we have to look to those communities to help build the solutions. A lot of times, its easy to think that if we just go into that neighborhood over there, and show them how to eat, they will all be fixed. It is not up to us to fix those people; we need to look for some legitimate partnerships in which members of those communities can be leading the charge. I think for Fordham students, we have this Jesuit mission to go out and serve, I think one of the things to do while participating in that service is to stop and listen first. Before we start making recommendations and telling people what to do and how to live their lives, lets first stop and listen to what the experience is of folks here from leading the healthier lifestyle we’d like for everyone to experience, which is why food is a the focus of a lot of the work I do.”
Do you have any advice for anyone interested in writing a book?
“Oh man, you know, the book for me started as my dissertation while I was in graduate school, I’ve been working on this project for five or six years, so be patient, that’s number one. And think about who is your intended audience – I think that is important in all communication, and so for me, it sort of shifted over time a little bit. I started writing it for the purpose of getting a PhD but then I wanted to turn it into a book that would be for scholars and academics but also maybe folks who are passionate about these issues might be interested in opening it up as well. So as you’re writing, always be mindful of how you can connect with that audience and how you can tell a story that’s going to resonate.”
Make sure you check out the trailer for Professor Broad’s book More Than Just Food, which is available for purchase on Amazon.
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