About Me

My name is Selina Miller. Welcome to my story.

I suppose food is a universal interest, so I can't really pinpoint a moment I "became interested in food." But coming to realize my eating pattern's deep impact on me and nearly every aspect of the world I live in is definitely a process. I say "is" because that process isn't over - this blog is a part of it. This page explains a bit of the personal context that I bring to this endeavor.

Until I was about nine years old, my dad was a corporate VIP. He ran the international divisions of companies like Baskin Robbins, Dunkin' Donuts, and Papa John's. While he was flying around the world every few weeks setting up franchises, our family lived in a nice suburb of Los Angeles and was pretty well off. We didn't live in a mansion or anything, but money was not scarce.

Years passed and our family moved, first from California to Georgia, then to Kentucky, then finally to Tennessee. I treasure the experiences and perspective I gained in each place. The move to Tennessee, though, was a jumping off point. My dad, sick of the corporate world, decided to do a 180-degree career switch; he bought 750 acres of beautiful land in Middle-of-Nowheresville (more commonly known as Tracy City, Tennessee) in order to develop a sustainable community. (Check out his blog here.) I’ve never been spoiled enough to object loudly, but internally I was dreading this move more than most. Five years later, I can't imagine my life without it.

It may be impossible to express all of the ways that my three years in Tennessee changed my worldview. I was used to a world of culs-de-sac, strip malls, traffic, and processed food where the only respectable jobs required business suits and graduate degrees. At my tiny, non-traditional high school, Saint Andrew's - Sewanee School, I started hearing about concepts like sustainable agriculture, local food, seed-to-plate literacy, sense of place, and connection to land. I got the incredible opportunity to spend the first semester of my junior year in Monteverde, Costa Rica living with a host family, attending the Cloud Forest School, and drinking in simplicity and beauty. 

But more life-changing and eye-opening even than my international experience was a summer I spent in our family's garden. My view on what I had, what I needed, and my dreams for the future changed entirely. How do I explain the feeling of waking up, putting on shorts and a t-shirt, walking out to the garden, picking green beans that my own family grew, snapping them, throwing them in a pot to boil, eating them, and not needing anything else in the world? In order to truly understand me, you have to understand that, and it's not something I can communicate in words.

Two years ago I left Tennessee as a transformed individual and moved to Provo, Utah, where I am currently studying Sociology, International Development, and Spanish at Brigham Young University. I am passionate about global poverty issues, especially food security, and I firmly believe my - our - actions can make real change. I am working toward a career dealing with these issues, and I love to learn everything I can about them. 

Which brings me to this blog. It's the product of some of my efforts to educate myself and others about our world and our responsibilities to it. Will you join me? 

Then welcome to our story.