Latest Read

Currently Reading Fast Food Nation By Eric Schlosser see related

I'm reading Fast Food Nation, as suggested by above. I also ordered The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm more and more interested in food + sustainable development these days. I think it started when I came home from Germany. In Europe, I really did not diet or count calories or exercise a lot (other than walking a bit more than usual of course), yet I lost weight. Of course, when I continued this technique here in the US, I gained about 30 pounds over the past 10 months, and now I am struggling to lose weight as I run on the elliptical about 45 min. almost every day, count calories, keep a food diary, etc. Through out this year, I have wondered, WHY??!! So I thought about it.

I thought, if I kept my habits the same in two different countries yet gained weight in only one of them, there must be more to diet than just the individual's choice, genetics, or lifestyle. Environmental factors are certainly at work. Which is interesting, because in the US, as an individualistic society, a lot of blame is placed on the individual. You see this when the media portrays obese individuals as gluttonous, lazy bums.

I recognize that the American lifestyle has two general categories that cover contributing factors to the obesity epidemic:

1. Lack of physical movement Most of us live in areas that require driving and walking or biking is not a realistic option if you work about 15 miles away from where you live and there are mostly bike-unfriendly routes to get everywhere.


2. Food This is an even more extensive category, encompassing issues with both quantity and quality. I think everyone knows that our restaurants seriously distort our idea of proper portioning, and everyone hears "portion control" thrown around by diet programs like Weight Watchers. This is true, but I think that food quality is very much overlooked.

So, I am now on an adventure to read as much as I can about this issue.

Another reason not to support McCain....

The Truth About John McCain

For the past 25 years, John McCain has consistently voted against women's health. From opposing funding for family planning programs to voting against requiring insurance coverage of birth control, McCain has taken extreme positions. He has voted against women's health and has not supported legislation that would help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion. This has earned him a zero rating the lowest rating we give in the U.S. Senate.

I always find it ironic that people who are vehemently pro-life are usually (not always, but MOST of the time) also against birth control and better sex education. If you feel so strongly that having an abortion = murder, wouldn't you want people to have access to the tools that will help them minimize the risk of pregnancy as much as possible???

I know, I know-- most of the time, the reasoning is that abstinence is the answer, because the people who are both pro-life and anti-birth-control live in an idealist world where people wait until marriage to have sex.

People feel very strongly about their views on abortion on both sides of the debate, which is understandable. (If you're wondering, I'm pro-choice, but that's not what this post is to discuss-- that shall be another time.) As much as I very much disagree with the pro-life stance, it's a valid opinion, and I respect that. But when it comes to birth control options and sex education, this is something that everyone needs to be concerned about! If you're so against abortion, then you need to make it so the *need* for abortion decreases, not to just simply make it illegal. I'm pro-choice, but not pro-abortion... both men and women should be responsible when participating in sexual acts, and abortion should be a very last resort or used for medical complications (I think a lot of pro-lifers forget about the fact that all sorts of things can go wrong during pregnancy that require an abortion!). So to also deny birth control is absurd!!

So yeah... another reason not to vote for McCain. Not that this helped people to not vote for George Bush, but hey, if McCain has been marketed as the "conservative liberals can live with," this helps debunk that!!!

The Bucket List

I just saw the movie The Bucket List, staring Jack Nickolson and Morgan Freeman. I loved it. I was hesitant to watch it at first, not liking the idea of another cliche "carpe diem" flick. But I think what gave it texture was the classic (maybe also cliche, but whatever) duo-- the man rich in money but poor in love and the man rich in love but poor in money.

Something about watching it was gratifying, though. Watching them travel various parts of the world.... I think I'll make my own bucket list, now. One thing I want to do is scuba dive in the great barrier reef.... that would be wicked. I have my scuba certification, but I haven't dived since 2004, when I went to Belize. Anyway, it also makes me feel validated in my decision to participate in CIEE Teach in Spain. I'm gonna live in Spain for the better part of a year, teaching English!!! My boyfriend doesn't like that I am again going to live abroad for a few months (I studied abroad in Germany for a semester last year), of course, so making this decision wasn't as easy as it would have been if I had been single. On top of his reluctance, my experience in Germany wasn't as great as I thought it would be, so I am nervous that this will happen too in Spain. However, I believe it will be different. I'm very excited about it, and Brian agrees that if I want it, I should go for it.


Moving on from that... tomorrow is father's day! yay! I'm so going to make waffles... from scratch, too, not the crappy frozen ones!!! Although, I admit, I did not grow the wheat for the flour.... Oh, and REAL Vermont Maple Syrup.

Gas...

I just saw an old friend of mine when Brian and I were filling up at the gas station, which was exciting because I hadn't seen her for quite awhile!! She drives a Jeep Wrangler, so I saw it pull up and thought, "I bet that's her..." and it was. So she was telling us about how with the $4/gal gas prices, she's trading in her Jeep for a Toyota Corolla.

I have to say, I don't like paying more for gas (makes me more hesitant to hang out with my friend who lives all the way in north Burlington :( ), but I do appreciate that it's making Americans more conscious of conserving resources (and as a side effect, emitting less greenhouse gases!).

I'm also worried, though, because the way our country's infrastructure has developed is not very sustainable, nor is it very friendly for alternatives to cars (whether it be travel by foot, bike, or public transportation). Gas can get really expensive, and there's not much people can do about it, besides just trying to limit driving. It annoys me to walk around Church Street in downtown Burlington and think, "You know, it's nice to have this hoppin' pedestrian street full of shops... but gosh, I miss European towns and cities where they had this kind of set up with CONVENIENT stores!"

What I mean is, you can *gasp* WALK to get your groceries!! Then walk to the 1 and 2 euro store to buy random doo-dads. Whereas on Church Street, you're just walking between stores selling useless trinkets and restaurants. The only grocery store you can walk to there is City Market. While I do appreciate their products, it's still an elitist organic food store (can we say, Whole Foods?), and if you don't make much money, you cannot afford to shop there for all your groceries. Then places like Shaws and Price Chopper, you need to drive to. Even if you do live walking distance from a grocery store like that, the walk is not friendly to pedestrians-- you need to walk across a huge parking lot.

One of my favorite things about living in Europe was when I suddenly ran out of milk, or needed some ingredient for a recipe, I only had to walk across the street to grab it!!!! If you want to live somewhere like that in the US, you have to move to a huge city, which some people like, but not everyone. Having grown up in Vermont, I dislike the idea of living in New York City. It took some self-convincing to agree with Brian's move to NY. I hope to end up in Vermont again one day, though. But anyway, about Vermont-- here, if I suddenly need milk, I have to drive. There goes about $1 of gas! Could be worse I guess... at least I'm not in the real boonies of Vermont! But still....

Anyway, I'm rambling here. But basically, I wonder what kinds of changes will happen with gas at $4 a gallon.

First Entry

I had initially created a blog on live journal here, but decided that having an actually blogger blog would be better. Live Journal just has a different dynamic. The purpose of this blog is to be a public one. I used to have a political blog, which you may check out here. With all the election business these days, I really am tempted to revive my political blog!

Anyway, a little bit about my situation today.

I just graduated Mount Holyoke College with the class of 2008. My next endeavor will be to teach English in Spain this upcoming academic year. Right now I'm just doing activities like cleaning my room and working out a lot. I could get a job and earn money, but I have so much junk in my room that I'm drowning in it, so I need to take care of that. Plus, I'm kinda gonna be all over the place this summer. My boyfriend just got a job in New York and will move down there at some point. I'm hoping to move with him.

OK, that's enough for now.