sometimes i love baltimore. October 25, 2009
fall is pretty
and Jenny and baby Jaida are lovely.
I love Jaida
she kicks Jenny all day long and she makes my Jenny go…. “fwoooooooooo”when she breathes.
Also I love Jaida because she is helpful. Jenny and I are indecisive.
“Jenny, are you hungry, wanna eat?
I don’t care.
Do you want to eat Rachel?
I don’t care.
Well what do you want to eat?
I dunno. What do you want to eat Rachel?
I don’t know.
Jaaaida??? Are you hungry? Yes!! Do you want tofu!? Yes!!”
oh Jaida, I love you!
Jenny and Jaida.
exerpt from jonathan foer’s new book…. “eating animals” October 12, 2009
When I was 9, I had a baby sitter who didn’t want to hurt anything. She put it just like that when I asked her why she wasn’t having chicken with my older brother and me.
“Hurt anything?” I asked.
“You know that chicken is chicken, right?”
Frank shot me a look: Mom and Dad entrusted this stupid woman with their precious babies?
Her intention might or might not have been to convert us, but being a kid herself, she lacked whatever restraint it is that so often prevents a full telling of this particular story. Without drama or rhetoric, skipping over or euphemizing, she shared what she knew.
My brother and I looked at each other, our mouths full of hurt chickens, and had simultaneous how-in-the-world-could-I-have-never-thought-of-that-before-and-why-on-earth-didn’t-someone-tell-me? moments. I put down my fork. Frank finished the meal and is probably eating a chicken as I type these words.
What our baby sitter said made sense to me, not only because it seemed so self-evidently true, but also because it was the extension to food of everything my parents had taught me. We don’t hurt family members. We don’t hurt friends or strangers. We don’t even hurt upholstered furniture. My not having thought to include farmed animals in that list didn’t make them the exceptions to it. It just made me a child, ignorant of the world’s workings. Until I wasn’t. At which point I had to change my life.
((the link to the rest of this article is in go vegan- great read))
letter for you, neighbor. October 8, 2009
** Yes, this will be hanging on the little clip on her/his door.**
Dear Neighbor who lives in the apartment above me,
Hello! You don’t know me, but I live directly below you, in fact, I’m 99% sure that your bedroom is RIGHT above mine, and because the layout of this room is so weird, your bed is also probably in a very similar spot. So hey! We practically know each other, which is good, except for the fact that you and I are having some major issues, and I thought we might try and clear them up in case we actually meet face to face someday. You don’t want me to give you the stink eye. (I’m passive aggressive like that.)
You see, it’s like this. You’re kind of driving me crazy because you’re making me tired. I’m a full time nursing student so I need sleep like I never have before. I need at least 7 .5 hours and you are making this an impossible goal. My ears feel irritated, and dark circles are forming under my eyes… and it’s because I wake up early every morning since you moved in.
You thump. I stare at the ceiling. I grumble to no one in particular (since you can’t hear me) I calmly ask, “Are. You. Serious?” Sometimes, less calmly, I add, “SERIOUSLY!?” and I might pull my covers over my head (no, it does not help- it just feels dramatic) depending on how tired I am. But I consider myself a nice person, so I want to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t think you want to intentionally make my mornings a little miserable, but there are possible bad habits which are causing a real rift in our apartment neighbor relationship.
I have tried to imagine what the heck is happening up there that creates the noise your feet make when they THUD! THUD! THUD!! directly above my sleepy head. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
1. You have a vigorous morning exercise ritual. You do several jumping jacks in the morning at your bedside.
2. You have a vigorous morning exercise ritual. You jump in place, then do laps around your bed.
3. Your bed posts are really high- like three feet off the ground- high, so you literally jump off your bed in the morning… but then you decide to make the jumping down and climbing back up part of that exercising, so you do it several times every morning.
Also, I should mention… I noticed you vacuum most nights at about 11:30 pm. Why? Oh, and how could I forget, you open then slam your dresser drawers shut. Are you angry at your clothes?
Might I suggest?
1. Use the apartment gym to exercise. It’s practically right out side our apartment door! You can run, you can do jumping jacks and you can even lift some weights.
2. Hang up your clothes or if you really hate them so much, take them all out of your drawers and give them to Goodwill.
3. Tennis balls. I figure I can lay them on the pillow next to me and when you get a little out of control with the exercising, I can chuck them at the ceiling as a gentle reminder for you to get yourself to the gym!
Be well and please, less stomping, it’s driving me crazy,
Rachel
