Raw Summer

May 6, 2007 2:56am

A minute ago I was brushing my teeth after helping move my boyfriend from one dorm room to another. As always, it was a lot of work, and he expressed the same thoughts as many college kids do these days (as is evident by the amount of usable items one can find in the trash on moving day). He said, “Tonight I realized how much shit I actually have.”

I came to the same conclusion when it came time to move my stuff from my dorm room into my first apartment. I had been moving in slowly for a few weeks already and invited my parents up to help me finish things up and to see my new place. I thought I just had a few things left over to move, but it ended up being, you know, a whole lot of shit. Shit I didn’t realize I even had. Shit I didn’t really need. But once I saw it, shit I new I couldn’t part with. So as I am brushing my teeth I make a connection. This summer is going to be an experiment in minimalism.

I am in a new home; I have just finished a year of school that marks my halfway point through college. I feel I have grown so much in the past two years. I feel like I have been a sponge absorbing information: from reading, from watching people, from talking to people, from library videos. Now, I feel like I have absorbed enough information so that I am ready for some big changes in my life. I don’t want to be materialistic in the least. I already buy all of my clothes at thrift stores or come across them for free; I am not a mall go-er. I tried to work in a mall store recently and could barely stand it for two weeks before abruptly quitting.

But this morning I woke up, looked around my bedroom and felt cramped in all of my stuff – and guilty for it. This summer things are going to change, but junk and stuff isn’t the only part. I am going to change my surroundings, but I am also going to change my body. It too is going to go through a minimalist summer (and beyond). I am going to try my best to eat raw foods only. I am going to record daily as best I can a food and activity log. I am going to be riding my bike about 3 miles to school and work (school library) every day and shopping at the nearby flea market for locally grown produce for my meals. I will record how I feel each day and note changes in my moods, feelings, digestion, sleep, energy levels, and physical appearance. I will also record any interesting outside influences I encounter during this summer. Tonight I finish with the lyrics to The Broadways song “25 Degrees North":

"My friend gave everything he owns away
and my friend says he's happier that way.
He says, 'Did you ever notice the more you own,
the more worries you have?'
I thought about my rent check and my bank account
and couldn't help but understand.
He told me that he's going back to Santa Cruz to live on a boat
without a phone or a thing in his hands,
and I'm staying in Chicago to work and go to school
and fuck off with my shitty fucking band.
And he said, "Brendan you should try it. It makes you feel so good.
Brendan you should try it, it makes you feel so good."
So I threw away a stereo and some clothes to show I understood.
Down on the gold coast the people look so happy.
Money gets you laid, I saw it on tv.
A brand new car, vcr, a satellite dish,
and a 6 pack are just a few parts of this American dream.
Well my friend had a dream to be free.
He made it come true by giving away his tv.
Yeah my friend had a dream to be free.
He made it come true with a backpack and his feet.
When I walk along the city streets no one smiles or talks to me.
I've seen possessions that run people's lives.
Everything we own makes us afraid to be friends,
sharing used to be natural, it'll never be that way again.
My friend relearned to be a human being,
how to stop and talk to people on the streets.
He gave everything he owns away,
and lives his dream with a backpack and his feet."

When I look around my room now, I think of how hard this is going to be. Mostly because of the things I have that have sentimental value or things I can see myself using in the future… just not right now, or things that are just pretty to look at. But I have noticed that some things I have give me a bad feeling when I see them. It’s a sort of guilty feeling. It’s very subtle, and I only realize it when I think about it. And it does feel good to put it in the give-away pile. For now I just tell myself everything will find a home somewhere: just not with me. I want to be free. More tomorrow.

Peas Please

So, it has been a while since I wrote. Like I wrote to my feminist friend Alex on a postcard, I’ve been busy doing a whole lot of nothing. As far as relevance to Raw Summer I would like to point out that I had two good choices recently: 1. I went to the store the other day and did not buy cereal or bread, two of my most commonly eaten cooked foods, and 2. I made a delicious, big, raw salad for lunch today with red romaine lettuce, cucumbers, onions, and nutritional yeast with my roommate's ginger salad dressing. It was great. Except I think I put too much nutritional yeast on, it was cheesy tasting.

I also transplanted some of the pea plants (which are growing swimmingly by the way) because Chris planted them too close together. So now we have three rows of cute green little pea plants with their little curly spindly vines starting to feel out into the world. I then finished reading a zine which is really a copy of a chapter of the book Cunt by Igna Musico. It’s about being proud as a woman and the history of the word "cunt"; which my spell check isn’t even recognizing right now. I got the idea of collecting my period blood in a jar, mixing it with a little water and feeding it to my plants. Supposedly plants love it.

Salad!

Yesterday I made a great salad with red romaine lettuce, red onion, avocado, cucumber, and sprinkled some nutritional yeast onto it. I felt really good about such a nutrition and raw dinner. Chris sauteed some peppers and onions with brown rice to go with the meal. It was a great dinner. I think I hate avocados though. They make me nauseous. Today I had to throw away the extra avocado because it made me feel like puking every time I saw it or thought about it. Today I sliced some cucumber for lunch along with 2 veggie chicken nuggets and a P.B.J. The problem I have with raw food is that I need to learn how to make meals with it besides salad and just pieces of fruit or veggies. I need to mix it up and make it seem like more than just a snack. Research is required.

Day 1

Today isn’t going so well for my first day of raw summer. First of all, I realized I can’t do this cold tofurkey. I have a lot of food in the house that is canned or cereal and stuff that I don’t want to waste. So I figured it might be better for my body anyway if I gradually go more and more into raw only. So, this morning I had a banana and 2 packets of Nutrition for Women instant oatmeal. Then I went and helped Chris move the rest of his stuff that we couldn’t finish moving last night. He saw what I was writing last night and decided to do raw summer with me. At least the getting-rid-of-stuff part. I don’t think he knows about the food cleansing part. He said a few times today again how he needs to get rid of all of his stuff. He said he wants to only have enough stuff to live out of his backpack. I found that funny because just a few days ago I wanted to go through his massive selection of T-shirts and get rid of a few and he refused me. He later said that he just didn’t want to take the time to go through the stuff.

I found a priceless quotation by Carol J. Adams in her book Neither Man Nor Beast about the stuff you just have to do: “The moment when I realized that maintenance must be valued as productive was while I was cooking vegetarian food; thus I was doing what we generally consider to be maintenance. The problem is to escape from maintenance to produce these or any ‘productive’ thoughts. Seeing maintenance as productive is the other side of recognizing the ethical importance of the consequences of our actions.” I often think of her words when I am doing chores or errands or things I don’t want to do or I feel don’t make a difference, but must be done anyway. Another thing I kind of feel bad for doing on the first day of raw summer is getting a couch. I do give myself some credit however since it was free and would have gone to the landfill if I hadn’t saved it. It was by the dumpsters in the dorm parking lot. It is a small couch and very comfy which makes me feel better too. I also decided that since I got it, I am going to give my folding chair to my mom for her classroom. I feel that is a good trade. Today I am going to take all of the clothes and things that I sorted out during move-in to the thrift store as well as a couch Chris decided to part with (and also didn’t have room for).

I also decided to make a few rules for my minimalism. I think books should be excluded. Not all books of course. I have a pile to trade on a paperback book swap website. I think books supply knowledge that can help me in this endeavor as well as through life. I will, however, get rid of books that I’ll never use or which are not good references. I think a good way for me to get rid of things with sentimental value might be to give them as gifts to people I know will appreciate them.

For lunch I had some left over Japanese food: rice noodles with steamed veggies. Not raw, but vegetables nonetheless. I really need to go to the store and get some fruit. I start school tomorrow already, unfortunately. I guess that is the price of graduating in four years these days. At least it will be new classes. I am taking anatomy and physiology one and two at the same time this summer as well as microeconomics. I digress.

For dinner I had some dark vegan chocolate (2 pieces) and the rest of my Japanese and more oatmeal (2 packets. I am trying to use it up.) I just ordered two books off of paperback swap. One is called Communion: The Female Search for Love by bell hooks. I like this part of the description: “as feminists of hooks' generation reach midlife, they may find it easier to rethink these terms of engagement, to risk changing things. The first step, she says, is self-love accepting one's body and soul just the way it is. Without such acceptance, women cannot escape the domination-submission dynamic. Even then, in this patriarchal universe finding love with another person may require some creativity. Hooks explores romantic friendships, lesbian loves and "circles of love" (which allow for committed bonds that extend beyond one partnership). A life with no coupling, but "a more authentic relationship between self and world," may also be satisfying. Twenty-something women who've embraced the highly problematic "bitch persona" Elizabeth Wurtzel has written of may sneer at hooks's affirming style, but older women, particularly those raising girls themselves, will find much to ponder here." Although I am only 20 I feel like I am not of the “bitch persona” and I enjoy reading about older women, not the typical chick flick novels. Older women are so much more interesting and deep and comfy. Like SARK.

The other book I ordered I have been meaning to read for a while. I have had it checked out from the library but now I will own it. The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams. I read her other book Neither Man Nor Beast and it was very good and informative. I liked how she wouldn’t use the term “meat” because it was a “mass term” meaning that it ignored the individuality of the animals and didn’t recognize the amount or source of the “meat.” So instead she would say "dead flesh" or call it the "corpse production industry". It was full of sarcasm and wit. She used it at every opportunity so one could tell that she was stubborn and strong-willed. Reading time and then bed.