Name: Study Circle // Real, Good Food (Hosted by Michael)
Start: 2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Northern Commons

This is the first event in a new [Northern Commons](https://northerncommons.space) lecture series called *[Diverse Futures](https://northerncommons.space/projects/diverse-futures.html)*, which explores different visions of what a more inclusive and pluralistic future might be like. [T. Aaron Cisco](https://blkintl.com) will kick off the series, and the description below is his own.

**Who broke the future?**

That’s not a rhetorical question. It’s the question I want us to sit with. Because many of us grew up on visions of tomorrow that felt expansive, hopeful, and full of possibility. Futures shaped by stories like Star Trek and Doctor Who, where curiosity mattered more than fear, and difference was something to explore rather than suppress.

Those stories taught us that the future could be better. More just. More inclusive. More human. And yet, somewhere along the way, that promise started to feel incomplete. Or distant. Or broken.

This is not a talk about perfect futures. It is about necessary ones. It is about the work of imagining worlds where we are not simply surviving systems that were not built for us, but actively reshaping them.

The session moves through narrative, reflection, and cultural analysis, and then opens into conversation. Together, we will ask what it means to repair a future that feels fractured. What we carry forward, what we leave behind, and what we are willing to build differently.

Because the future did not just break on its own. And if it can be broken, it can be rebuilt.

\- T\. Aaron Cisco

\-\-\-

As always, no need to prepare or bring anything but your curiosity and an open mind.

Complexity and Coffee

Lauren

Patrick Stein

Cory Brodeur

William

Gina

Christopher Feahr

Jennifer Luciani

Rick

Ryan

Anna

Jon Holler

Navjot Sandhu

Mark Ellis

Michael Dahl

Joy Gottschalk

John K

Edmund R Hamner

Scott Ode

Marta

Jack Shi

Talk & Discussion // Who Broke the Future? 

Northern Commons

**Overview**
Food is much more than something we consume; it's a living system of relationships connecting soil, water, plants, animals, workers, communities, markets, and culture. Over the past century, this system has become extraordinarily efficient at producing inexpensive calories, while also creating new challenges for health, ecology, equity, and resilience.

Together we'll explore how food is grown, processed, labeled, distributed, consumed, and wasted. Through essays, conversation, and shared inquiry, we'll wrestle with questions of health, affordability, labor, justice, and personal responsibility to better understand the complex relationships that shape what we eat.

**Schedule**

**What's real\, good food? \| Mon\, July 27 \| 7–8:30pm**
We'll begin with Wendell Berry's classic essay *The Pleasures of Eating*, exploring our relationship to food, agriculture, and responsibility.

**How do we know what we're eating? \| Mon\, Aug 3 \| 7–8:30pm**
Using Mark Bittman's short essay *My Dream Food Label*, we'll examine nutrition, transparency, and what information we need to make healthy food choices.

**Can we build a better food system? \| Mon\, Aug 10 \| 7–8:30pm**
Drawing from the *Michigan Good Food Charter*, we'll discuss what systemic change might look like and what roles individuals, communities, businesses, and governments might play.

**A Few More Details**
Michael will host our conversations, but the richness of the experience will come from everyone's questions, experiences, and perspectives. We'll send out all the readings before the first session. No expertise is required, just curiosity and an open mind.

Adam 

Dana

Shelley 

Elspeth

Study Circle // Real, Good Food (Hosted by Michael)

Complexity & Coffee

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