Christina Cooke

North Carolina, United States

Associate Editor at Civil Eats

Journalist and Writer at Freelance

Associate editor at @CivilEats. Journalist & freelance writer. Lover of people, place, adventure & travel.

Articles

From a Farmer and His Son, a Practical and Joyful Guide to Beekeeping

4 weeks ago | civileats.com | Christina Cooke

When farmer Kamal Bell first established a beekeeping operation at Sankofa Farms in North Carolina, his son Akeem was four years old and scared of bees. But with his father’s coaching—and the help of a protective beekeeping suit—Akeem now loves tending the hives and is now central to the farm’s beekeeping effort. “I enjoyed it so much I wanted to keep doing it every day,” the now 8-year-old remembers.
Read an Excerpt From ‘Broughtupsy’, a Queer Jamaican Diaspora Novel

2 months ago | autostraddle.com | Christina Cooke

The following is excerpted from the novel Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke, which is out in paperback today. “You’re Jamaican?” the customs official says. “Yes.”“What part?” he says, rifling through my passport with my birth certificate tucked inside. “What part am I Jamaican?” I respond. He looks up, adjusting a strap on his vest. “What part of Jamaica are you from?”“Here,” I answer. “Kingston.”It says so on my birth certificate, but he keeps watching me. He’s grinning a little.
His Ancestors Were Enslaved at This Plantation. Now, He Owns It.

Dec 9, 2024 | civileats.com | Christina Cooke

This story was published recently by The Bitter Southerner magazine, in print and online. In the months before Patrick Brown was born in November 1982, his father, Arthur, lay down on a road near the family’s farm to prevent a caravan of yellow dump trucks from depositing toxic soil in his community. The governor of North Carolina had authorized the dumping of the soil, contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which had been linked to cancer, in the rural county.
How to Help Farmworkers Impacted by Hurricane Helene

Oct 17, 2024 | civileats.bluelena.io | Christina Cooke |Lisa Elaine Held |Meg Wilcox

Hurricane Helene triggered massive flooding and landslides when it barreled through Western North Carolina in late September, wiping out homes, businesses, roads, bridges, and farms—and claiming nearly 100 lives in the state alone. While farmworkers experienced loss as well, their stories have been largely absent from the headlines.
How to Help Farmworkers Impacted by Hurricane Helene

Oct 16, 2024 | civileats.com | Christina Cooke

Hurricane Helene triggered massive flooding and landslides when it barreled through Western North Carolina in late September, wiping out homes, businesses, roads, bridges, and farms—and claiming nearly 100 lives in the state alone. While farmworkers experienced loss as well, their stories have been largely absent from the headlines.
Where Do the Presidential Candidates Stand on Climate Change?

Sep 23, 2024 | civileats.com | Christina Cooke

A version of this article originally appeared in The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox. As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaign for the November election, farmers across the U.S. grapple with extreme and unprecedented weather: blistering heatwaves, severe drought, explosive wildfires, devastating storms, and deadly floods.
Introducing Our Latest Series, ‘Climate on the Menu’ 🌎

Sep 22, 2024 | civileats.bluelena.io | Grey Moran |Lisa Elaine Held |Christina Cooke |Momo Chang

Climate on the Menu: Our Newest Series In partnership with Eater, we’re publishing a five-part series about restaurants and climate solutions. As heat, drought, floods, and storms upend every aspect of the restaurant business, from supply chains to service, we look at restaurants that are finding resourceful, nimble ways to deal with the crisis.
Too Many Great Essays to Count...

Aug 12, 2024 | memoirland.substack.com | Rosanna Xia |Christina Myers |Christina Cooke |Marisa Cadena

Welcome to Memoir Land—a newsletter edited by , now featuring four verticals:Memoir Monday, a weekly curation of the best personal essays from around the web brought to you by Narratively, The Rumpus, Granta, Guernica, Oldster Magazine, Literary Hub, Orion Magazine, The Walrus, and Electric Literature. Below is this week’s curation. First Person Singular, featuring original personal essays. Recently I published “Last Wishes” by , guest-edited by .
My Life Was Frenetic In My Eagerness To Leave Where I Had Been

Aug 7, 2024 | electricliterature.com | Christina Cooke

Something changed in my relationship to New York City during the pandemic. I don’t know how to describe it. I’m still figuring out what I mean. In the three years I lived here before March 20, 2020—the day after my thirty-first birthday, when the city of go! go! go! was told to shut up and stop—I thought New York City was fine, perfectly fine I guess, but I was wary.
Zero-Waste Grocery Stores in Growth Mode as Consumers Seek to Ditch Plastic

Jun 9, 2024 | civileats.com | Christina Cooke

A version of this article originally appeared in The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox. As a barista in San Francisco for almost a decade starting in 2007, Joseph Macrino hated all of the waste the coffee shop produced—the disposable cups, the lids, the sleeves. He’d give his regulars grief for not bringing in their own mugs. “I’d be like, ‘Bring your own cup! I see you every day, you get the same drink.