9 posts tagged “real-life updates”

Last week, I decided to become pescatarian. It's been a long time coming, and I have come up with a number of reasons to try it:

1. I have the worst eating habits of EVER, and the worst of the foods that I can't live without yet will give me a heart attack by the age of thirty-five with all of their artery-clogging goodness have meat in them. Not eating most meat will force me to eat healthier.

2. Apart from fish and things of greasy fantasticness, I really don't much care for the taste of meat. It either tastes like nothing (chicken in most dishes) or vaguely greasy (beef or pork). It's not a bad taste, per se, but it's nothing so remarkable or delightful that I have to keep eating it. Fish, on the other hand, I could rave about for days.

3. I do not find meat substitutes objectionable. I know it's trendy to hate on tofu and crack the obvious seitan jokes, but I've never thought that they were particularly gross (okay, raw tofu is. But who eats that?), nor was using them instead of meat a horrifying thought for me. In the case of veggie/mushroom burgers, I actually prefer them to the meat alternatives.

4. The vegans who demonstrated on campus at the beginning of the year who were polite, respectful, and didn't suck. I think it's because they were not affiliated with PETA, whose tactics, cute t-shirts notwithstanding, make me cringe.

5. Various exposes on the environmental unsustainability and impact of meat-farming, the unhealthiness of the animals that we eat (mainly, how they're pumped full of hormones, antibiotics, and lord knows what else), and the cruel and unethical practices of the meat-packing industry. Even though I do not have a problem with eating meat in and of itself, I can't support the way that the meat industry operates. Since I do not live on a farm, it seems that becoming vegetarian is my best option.

I'm on the fence about the fish thing, mostly because I love it, but also because I have little familiarity with they ways in which fish are produced for consumption (and the environmental impact thereof). I'm also concerned about my protein intake, especially given the quality of Vanderbilt's vegetarian options. I think that once I'm living on my own and preparing my own food, I'll get more into this thing.

I am also in love with this site: Vegan LunchBox.

Again, I Fail at Updating. The beginning of the semester is so hectic, anyway.

My current projects consist of the following:

1. Finishing applying to grad school. My recommendations and transcripts are sent. Now, I just need to send my essays in. But first, I have to write them. Not looking forward to that. Admissions essays are so fake. The final list, though:

The California Institute of Integral Studies
Towson University
New College of California
Roosevelt University (Chicago)

3. Working on my thesis.

4. Going through my enormous yarn stash. Which will take forever.

More later, maybe.

I always make a ton of these, so I've separated them into categories.

I. Education-Related Resolutions
A. Finish my thesis.
B. Graduate
C...Magna Cum Laude.
D. Finish my grad school applications.
E. Get into grad school.

II. Not Strictly Education-Related, but Nevertheless Intellectual Resolutions
A. Read more outside of class. This includes literature, non-fiction, philosophy, and feminist theory. The older I get, the more I realize that I need to take it upon myself to educate myself.
B. Find a school of feminist thought that suits me better and pisses me off less than radical feminism.
C. Use this thing more. It makes my brain feel all limber and stretchy, especially since I have so few intellectual conversations these days.
D. Start paying better attention to current events.

III. Personal/Health-Related Resolutions
A. Continue working on last year's resolution of "Quit taking [unnecessary] shit off people."
B. Pay more attention to my appearance [because, normally, I don't].
C. Eat healthier.
D. Stop consuming soda. Even the diet kind.
E. Make a workout schedule and stick to it.
F. Make some friends who don't suck.
G. Date guys that don't suck.
H. Take vitamins.

IV. Miscellaneous
A. Write at least five crochet patterns.
B. Knit a sweater.
C. Go camping/hiking at least once.
D. Learn to kayak.
E. Get a decent job.

Back in Knoxville.

Let the vegging begin.

I have four papers due this week. I'll try to do this more regularly once I finish them. I miss writing.

I turned 22 today. I feel really, really old.

I'm back from DC as well as a self-imposed sabbatical from public blogging. Life's thrown a couple of pretty serious curveballs at me this past month, and I needed these two weeks to be alone inside of my own head. It was nice, but lonely, and now I'm back. I'm still not in a state to write about what it was that prompted me to become a recluse, but I'm sure I'll be able to before the year is out. And by that, I mean during Christmas break, because I have two term papers to write and a thesis to research in between now and then. Not so fun.

Anyway, DC was really fun. I saw museums, went to the Holocaust Memorial (and cried), attended a green festival and bought socially-conscious products, ate really good food, and met a few friends from the internet. It made me wish that I'd gone to school in actual cities instead of two heaving, unwieldy masses of sprawl (LA and Nashville). I think for a place to count as a real city, it needs to have good, safe, and reliable public transportation, the bulk of its inhabitants need to live within the city limits, and sprawl must be kept to an absolute minimum. Bonus points are added for well-developed historical, commercial, and musuem districts. None of these really apply to Nashville or the part of Los Angeles that I lived in, and that's unfortunate. I love everything about metropolitan life, except, of course, the crime rates, but nothing's perfect, anyway.

When I grow up, I will live in a real city. I've visited lots of cities. I really like San Francisco, DC, and Charleston (although it kind of breaks my rules. It's gorgeous, so I don't care). San Diego and Chicago are all right, but San Diego's pretty suburban and Chicago is waaaaaay too cold (and DC almost is). Me being Southern really puts a handicap on my options for future cities. I'd like to visit New York City at some point, but I've never entertained the thought of living there, especially since I'm not planning on going into publishing anymore. I've completely ruled out Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Nashville because they mostly fail all of my requirements.

I'm currently debating whether I should take a year off and work in feminist activism or go straight to grad school for it. The women's studies programs I am interested in do not require the GRE (thank heavens, because I haven't taken a math class since I was seventeen and I don't want to have to re-teach myself high school math. I'll feel stupid), and applications aren't due 'til February. It's funny, they're both in California and one's in Claremont. CGU's program in Applied Women's Studies is very well thought of, however, I'm not a huge fan of going back there, especially since all of my friends there will have graduated and moved on. On the other hand, I already know a good number of the faculty there and it's a pretty safe bet. The other is the CIIS School of Consciousness and Transformation's program in Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation with an Emphasis in Gender, Ecology, and Society, which is located in San Francisco. I haven't heard much about it, but the program looks solid and the classes are all really interesting. I'm excited no matter what; it's good to finally have a handle on what I am going to do with my life: campaign for social justice through feminism.

I hate how much crap I take from everyone for being a feminist and all the criticism I'm getting for wanting to further it as a career. I'm pretty sure my mother's family was very concerned that I might turn out to be a lesbian until I started dating because of it, and total strangers give me the fish eye every time I tell them that yes, I am a feminist. It's not that hard, people. Being a feminist does not preclude me from having relationships with men, wearing makeup, shaving (although I don't do this very often...), going out in sexy clothes (especially Halloween costumes), liking trashy pop culture, or being anything other than a shrill, man-hating incarnation of Jessie Spano from Saved By the Bell. It does, however, preclude me from putting up with offensive asshattery, but I'm nearly always nice about it (to the point where most of my friends say I'm nicer than I should be). -existential shrug- I just wish people would stop associating feminism with being a crazy man-hater...

...or a gold digger out to steal your money through child support, affirmative action, or any number of government programs that are obviously designed to funnel money out of the pockets of the hardworking menfolk of society and into the Vuitton knockoff purses of welfare queens and whiny, coddled university students (I've been called this before, and all I can say is lawlz). Feminism is about ending sexual oppression, you know, things like rape, domestic violence, the wage gap, the double standard, and everything else under the sun that unfairly screws women over while having little or no effect on men's lives. I'm not in this movement to gain anything; having experienced every item on my aforementioned list. It's really too late for me; I've already been damaged. I know I can't turn back the clock and undo all the things that have happened to me (especially since they were all out of my control), but I can work to ensure that it doesn't happen to anyone else. Nobody should have to experience what I have, and I'm one of the lucky ones. I don't care about money, I don't care about power; I just want the violence and misogyny to stop and quit wrecking the lives of countless women. That's all.

To quote Bill Watterson's character Susie Derkins: "And while I'm at it, I'd also like a pony."

But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying.

I have been at Vanderbilt since August 20th. That was five weeks ago as of this past Sunday. I have yet to do laundry. This is starting to become a problem. Here are the facts:

1. I have enough underwear to make it through three Saturdays from now. Yes, I have this much underwear on purpose. I almost never run out.

2. I am pretty much out of pants. I think I have maybe two pairs that are clean. Possibly a few more that are clean-ish, but I don't want to have to resort to Engineering Magic to avoid the doing of laundry (I have this thing about smelling like engineer. It's gross).

3. I continue to have an abundance of skirts. However:
a. It's getting cold out and none of them are particularly chill-friendly.
b. Most of the underwear that remains is thongs. Most of my skirts are of the incredibly short variety. And that's kind of sketchy.

4. I am starting to run out of cool shirts. This will become an issue if I plan on continuing my recent habit of spending my weekends out on dates. I really don't want to have to make the choice between wearing a baby-barf-yellow shirt festooned with "CRAZY IN AZ" and various lizard species, local musicians, and cacti in neon puff paint that my mom brought back from one of her recent vacations, my Gloucester Street Snoopy shirt that I got in Williamsburg two summers ago, and performing Engineering Magic (which, by the way, consists of febrezing an article of clothing until it can stand up on its own and scraping off any dirt/food stains/mold on it with one's fingernails) on something in my laundry basket. Or, as a last resort, I can wear some of my really slutty work clothes from last year. All of these are probably bad ideas.

5. I have no socks. This is starting to suck, for obvious reasons. Wearing wildery socks is not comfortable.

6. Nothing really matches anymore.

I should probably bite the bullet, I guess, but I'm pretty sure I can hold out 'til the weekend. Who's with me?

And am suffering from a really tragic addiction to Bikini Kill.

This is my obligatory first post.

Which, when I think about it, seems kind of unnecessary since 99% of my readership knows me from LiveJournal or real life.

Oh well.

Here I am: My name is Lauren. I'm almost 22. I'm an English major and a Women's and Gender Studies minor at Vanderbilt University. I'm a proud member of the vast liberal conspiracy. I really like to knit and crochet. I read constantly.

I think that's all anyone needs to know at this point.