Free Radicals

What could be so radical as something so traditional? We are Family and Consumer Scientists. What does that mean? Are we Home Economists? I'm not going to give you the "5 minute elevator" explanation. I'm going to give you the truth: we don't know what we are or who we are. Ellen doesn't live here anymore. Who's left? Just folks like me. Not strong and special like Ellen Richards, just ordinary and flawed. It's the ordinary and flawed folks that need to stand up and take notice right now. We need to figure out who we are and what we stand for. We need to reclaim Family and Consumer Sciences in the name of all the things it used to stand for: women's rights, support for families, nutritious (whole) foods, and a livable environment in which people can actually grow and thrive. We defined the family in a way that is still just as relevant and timely today as it was back in the 70s, but now we can't talk about diverse family forms without someone threatening to walk out of the room. Shame on us. We evolve, or we die. The flawed and ordinary among us must make a choice: do we wait for Ellen to rise from the ashes, or do we reclaim Family and Consumer Sciences, the discipline formerly known as Home Economics, in the name of the here and now? The choice is ours.