Thoughts on Ethical Eating

As you may or may not know, I'm a pescetarian (means I don't eat poultry or red meat). I don't usually talk about my eating habits unless asked, because I don't want it to come across as sounding judgmental, or like I'm trying to change others' eating habits. I believe diet is a very personal issue, and I don't think there is one "right" way to eat. However, I figured I'd share my reasoning for anyone who is interested. If you aren't, feel free to skip this over or send me hate mail.

I've always been a huge animal lover. I toyed with the idea of vegetarianism all throughout my teens. I would always ultimately abandon the notion, because I didn't think I could healthily maintain it. I grew up hating fruits and vegetables, and living pretty solely on very processed carbs and meat. The idea of a veggie-hating vegetarian sounded pretty dumb to me.

Then, when I was a sophomore in college, I began picking up the vegetarian pamphlets I often found displayed around campus. I'd always shied away from them, thinking that I didn't want to know how awful animals were being treated if I wasn't doing anything about it. Eventually, this began to seem cowardly to me. I figured if I was going to contribute to this industry, I should at least know what it was doing.

What I found horrified me. The fact that animals were dying for me was honestly not that upsetting. What really got to me was the terrible quality of life they had before their deaths. I won't go into details - if you're interested, check out the links below, but I don't want to shove information down your throats you may not want. I was troubled, but still not quite ready to make a change.

Reading a quote by one of my heroes, Jane Goodall, is what really did it for me. She said, "Thousands of people who say they ‘love’ animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been treated so with little respect and kindness just to make more meat." 


This really got to me. I have always been known as a Doctor Doolittle of sorts with my friends. I spent my childhood saving injured birds and squirrels and bats. I've always had a plethora of pets. Being an animal lover is a huge part of my identity. Reading this, from someone whose animal ethics I so admired, made me feel like a complete hypocrite. 


The day I came across this quote was my 19th birthday. I decided that I couldn't give up meat forever, but I could handle having it once a year on my birthday. So, that night I went out with my family, got a big Fuddrucker's cheeseburger, and then said goodbye to meat. 


People give up meat for many reasons. Let me make it clear that, for me, it is not because I find meat to be inherently unethical. I think the food chain is a good system that makes a lot of sense. I have absolutely no problem with responsibly hunted meat. I also know there are a lot of small farms that humanely raise and slaughter their animals in a very respectful way. The issue I have is America's meat industry. It is the terrible quality of life of these animals that I take issue with. 


As I continued through college, I began to become more interested in the environment. Through this, I began to realize the massive damage raising animals for food has on our planet. The amount of water and land needed to sustain a herd of cattle is staggering. A plant-based diet requires much less resources. However, I also learned that most of the plant-based agriculture in our country is ecologically devastating as well. I learned about chemical fertilizers, GMOs, and food miles. This led me to initially start buying organic produce, and eventually move on to buying almost all my fruits and vegetables from local, organic farmers markets.


When I initially gave up meat, I knew I would have to clean up my diet. My mom (who was very supportive of my decision) bought me a couple basic vegetarian cookbooks. From these, I slowly began to learn how to cook healthy food that was also delicious. As I began to research nutrition (I was very concerned that I give up meat in a healthy way), I learned that Americans actually get way too much protein. I learned that red meat and poultry are commonly believed by nutritionists to be a less healthy protein source than beans, nuts and fish. As time went on, I began to love cooking, and LOVE fruits and vegetables. I adored meat, but I was surprised to see how quickly I stopped craving it. Even when I have it as my birthday dinner, it seems like less of a treat than it used to. My taste buds evolved, and I've begun to lose a taste for it.


I am a pretty relaxed pescetarian. If I'm invited to someone's house for dinner, and the only food they have to offer is meat (and I can't make a decent meal out of the sides, which is what I normally do), I'll just go ahead and eat it. For me it's about putting as little money as possible into the meat industry, but knowing that the world won't end if I occasionally eat chicken parmigiana to avoid being an ungracious guest. Not eating meat is my choice, and I don't think it's fair to inconvenience others because of it. I eat fish because it makes restaurants easier; because I think fish has health benefits that other meats do not; because I am less troubled by the fishing industry than the livestock industry (although it is environmentally troubling, don't get me wrong); and because I grew up by the Chesapeake Bay and seafood is in my blood :). I occasionally buy shoes or belts made with leather, because it seems like a toss up to me which is worse for the environment - leather or synthetics. 


I think it's quite possible that eventually, one day, I'll become mostly vegan. I would give up eggs and dairy before fish, because, as previously mentioned, those industries seem more damaging to me, both to animals and to the environment. A few months ago I decided to only buy eggs from the farmers market, where I know the chickens have happy little lives wandering around the farm. In the near future I will probably do the same with dairy products. (I went with eggs first, because chickens are abused far more than cattle). 


My attitude towards my dietary choices is live and let live. I think everyone picks different things in life that are important issues to them, that they are passionate about. Some people only shop at small businesses. Some people join the military. Some people advocate against bullying. I gave up poultry and red meat. I don't think one of these choices is better than the other. I think it's important, whoever you are, whatever you think, to find a cause you believe in and make little (or big) changes to affect the world accordingly.


Having said that, people sometimes ask me if I think, in an ideal world, everyone would be vegetarian. I'm honestly not sure. What I do think is a realistic and desirable goal is that people eat less meat, and demand that our meat be humanely raised and killed, and that all our food not be pumped full of chemicals and hormones. I think the amount of meat we eat in this country is unhealthy for our bodies and environmentally unsustainable. If there were less of a market for such copious amounts of meat, farmers could afford to treat the animals better (by giving them higher quality food and giving them ample space, not just a tiny box they can't turn around in). I think this is a very real possibility. One of the things I love about capitalism (another blog entry for another day) is how we can very actively vote and create change with how we spend our money. Look at the green movement! Organic food and environmentally-friendly products used to be exclusive to crunchy, dreadlocked hippies. Now soccer moms are in on it. I can go to Giant and find a huge variety of vegetarian and organic options. When there is a demand (or lack of demand) for something, the market responds accordingly. 


If you have any thoughts on this, I'd be glad to hear them. I think food ethics is a really interesting topic, and would love to hear your opinions on these issues. For more info about some of the things I'm talking about, here are some links: 
The Vegetarian Resource Group
Farm Sanctuary
Sustainable Table

This Is Not My Tune, But It's Mine To You

Just pretend you don't notice my awful guitar playing, and we'll be good! Also, make sure you watch out for the surprise cameo by Stella near the end.

"Hi! Just wanted to wish you luck on your audition!"

Monday evening found me happily driving my little self to an audition. As I drove through the heart of Washington DC (which, as you may or may not know, has the worst traffic in the nation), I felt something on my face. Assuming it was a few strands of my crazy mop of curls, I shook my hair back from my face - but to no avail. After a few unsuccessful tries of this, I finally pulled down my mirror to see what was happening. And there, resting on my cheek, an inch under my eye and half an inch to the left of my nose, was a FUCKING SPIDER.

Now, let me just preface this by saying that I love spiders. I grew up playing with the bugs I found in the woods behind my house. I would rescue them from their dangerous outdoor lives, rehouse them in cozy, air-tight jars, lovingly feed them the freshest dirt, and then sob inconsolably when they mysteriously died in a 24 hour time span. I'm always the one to shriek "Don't hurt it!" and stop a conversation/rehearsal/make out session to gently carry little creepy-crawlies safely outside. I have saved numerous big, strong men from centipedes and giant beetles and wolf spiders.

However. When surprise face spiders make their presence known to me (and this wasn't a teeny tiny little guy either; it was about the size of my thumbnail), I pretty much react the way the rest of the spider-hating world does. I screamed "OH MY GOD GET THE HELL OFF ME!", smacked at my face and sent it careening off into the depths of my car, and almost took out the minivan to the right of me and two pedestrians.

I immediately called my sister and regaled my story of horror to her. She said the entire thing reminded her of the Misunderstood Spider.

I am seriously obsessed with this guy.

At the end of it all, I made it to my audition in one piece - although my monologue may have had a slightly hysterical note. Hopefully they'll think it was an inspired and unusual acting choice. I'm expecting a call offering me the part any minute now.

My Weekend in List Form

1. Friday night I went out with my co-worker and amiga, Casey. Because Casey's a hottie and a model, she apparently has all kinds of connections to various fun DC things. She got us into Art Soiree, a fancy party at The Washington Club, a fancy-schmancy gorgeous building in Dupont. Free is the best price. Especially when you're at an expensive event. Lots of dancing and frivolity ensued.

So fancy, right?

2. Saturday morning, I went to a callback for a Fringe show. It took place on GW campus, which I have officially decided to attend. As an undergrad. Pretending to be 18. It just looks like a fun place to go to college.

3. After my callback, I moseyed on over to Barnes and Noble. My new favorite Saturday afternoon activity, which I have been doing the past month or so, is hanging out for hours at B&N. Reading in bookstores is much more pleasant than reading at home. And when I start feeling antsy, I can wander about downtown Bethesda for awhile! Lovely, lovely. 

4. After my literary afternoon, I went to the children's show that my friends Dylan and Emmy directed, Alice in Wonderland. It was at Children's Theatre of Annapolis, a company that I performed with as a youth. Hence, I ran into several friends and stage moms I haven't seen since high school. The show was  really cute and well done, and the kids were hilarious. 

5. I then met up with my sister at P.F. Chang's. Laughter, chatter, Chinese food. Asian pear mojito. Good stuff.

6. Yesterday, I woke up ready for a day of outdoorsy fun. The Earth woke up and decided the best way to celebrate Earth Day was to crap all over everything (aka be really rainy and cold. I guess rain on Earth Day is fitting. Giving the earth a drink so all the plants can grow is pretty earth friendly.) Whenever I don't like what the weather is doing, I respond by wearing clothes appropriate for the weather I would like it to be, hoping this will voodoo my way to the weather I want. This absolutely never works, and always results in my being extremely miserable. So, I began my day wearing a lovely sundress.

7. I went to the farmers market and got ASPARAGUS, STRAWBERRIES, AND CUCUMBERS. I really can't quite express to you how happy this made me.

8. I then went to Living Social's Beerfest with my friends Kat and Will. A big outdoor party with free microbrews and a shit ton of food trucks. Sounds fantasmic, right? Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, it was also bitter cold with frigid rain beating down on us. Fortunately, free ponchos and free booze turned it into a pretty hilarious party, where everyone was pretty much like "What the fuck? This is ridiculous! Yaaaaay beer pong!"

9. I foolishly drove to this event instead of metroing, and was clearly in no condition to get myself safely home once it ended. Upon this realization, I promptly called my dear friend Jamie, and informed him he would need to pick me up from the metro in ten minutes and hang out with my drunk ass until I sobered up enough to be driven back to my car. He, naturally, was thrilled by the prospect of having intoxicated Katie tag along on all his various errands. Thanks, sug. You're a peach.

10. I ended my weekend by having one of the characteristic four hour long conversation marathons that Ann and I so specialize in. Basically, about once every few weeks, we stay up to an ungodly hour talking about all the feelings that we have about everything in our lives. It was actually one of the more enlightening conversations I've had in a long time. I had several pretty big epiphanies about some things going on in my life right now. It left my brain a little exhausted, but in a good way.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go feed my face some strawberries. Happy Monday!

Here's Some Random Thoughts

I think Kirby is trying to murder Stella.

He's being really stealthy about it. Whenever they're together, he acts completely enamored of her. He snuggles with her and licks her head while she lies there with a "Yes, adore me if you must" look on her face. They play together all day long. They really seem like the best of friends.

However, Kirby has developed a weird habit in the last few months. About 5 or 6 times a day, he goes over to their water dish and scoots it away from their little food station. He just bats it until he's moved it about 6 inches, then goes about his day. Every morning when I refill their water, the dish is about 3 or 4 feet away from its original location, and usually under the kitchen table. 

We've been pretty puzzled by this. I mean, what's the point? And why start now? The location of his water dish was never cause for complaint before. And then the other day, Ann pointed out to me that whenever Stella jumps on the kitchen table/coffee table/counter, it's usually to drink water out of a glass we've left out. When she sits on the edge of the tub while we shower (which she loves to do; if you forget to let her in the bathroom, as soon as she hears the shower go on she starts crying and scratching at the door to come in), it's to lean her little face out and drink the water. She even licks the water off the bottom of the tub after we shower. Ann also pointed out that Stella hardly ever actually drinks from the water dish.

I'm thinking that Kirby, recognizing the utter stupidity that is my little girl cat, has figured out that if he hides the water dish, Stella is probably too dumb to find it. Given the lengths to which she goes to get water from any other location, it seems to be working. It could even be argued that her non-stop delinquency is to achieve the dousing she then receives by the spray bottle, which she can lick off her fur.

I wish you could see the way Kirby stared at me the entire time I've been typing this. It's like he knows. Terrifying.

~*~

MFing asparagus

Do you know what I'm doing after I post this? I'm going to the farmers market and buying some damn asparagus. All my bitching about eating locally and surviving the winter on squash is about to cease, my friends. I'm going to feast on this shit.

Also, I've apparently become one of those obnoxious health freaks that gets excited about things like asparagus. So that's embarrassing.

~*~

This song is awesome.

~*~

I think I'm ready to fall in love with someone.

Not that there is a someone, mind you. It's just that, for the past nine months, while I've been pregnant learning how to be single, falling in love with someone was a bad idea. I think my relationships for the most part have been very loving and healthy, but I also have a bad habit of getting too wrapped up in significant others. I realized that after my last relationship ended, and spent this last year trying to remedy that. I finally think I'm in a place where I could love someone else and not lose sight of myself in the process. 

I'm still loving being single, and am in no rush to find someone. It's just nice to know that, when B.o.B. or Joseph Gordon-Levitt or some other perfectly nice, non-famous dude comes along, I won't go all 10 Things I Hate About You on him. 

7th grade Katie thought Kat was the coolest.

~*~

I will now leave you with an adorable photo shoot of Stella and I, to prove that, despite my constant raging against her, I actually think she is the cutest thing ever and love her a lot.

Aw. I'll make sure Kirbster doesn't kill you.

Happy Sunday!

How Ann and I Were Murdered by Ghosts in Gettysburg

Oooh, ghosty.

Ann and I recently stayed the night at the Farnsworth House in Gettysburg. For those of you who don't know, the Farnsworth house was used in the battle at Gettysburg. Snipers hid in the attic and shot out through the window. One of the snipers was responsible for accidentally shooting Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed in the battle.

Farnsworth is also supposed to be haunted as crap. It's been ranked by tons of tv shows as one of the most haunted places in America, ghost experts conduct ghostly experiments there all the time, complete skeptics stay the night and emerge believers. It's cray. Naturally, Ann and I decided this would be a good place to sleep.

I'll preface this all with saying that I'm pretty open to the idea of ghosts. I wouldn't go so far as to say I definitely believe in them, but there do seem to be a lot of things that happen that we haven't found concrete explanations for. It also seems unrealistic to me that we have figured out exactly how everything in the world works. It seems more likely that there are some things we haven't figured out yet. When Louis Pasteur came up with the germ theory, everyone thought he was crazy. The idea of invisible little things floating around and making everyone sick seemed stupid. Thing is, they just didn't have the tools to see germs yet. I think maybe supernatural stuff is the same way.

Anywho, Ann and I decided to be real scientific about this thing. We brought notebooks and wrote down everything that we felt and experienced. We decided not to tell each other what we were writing, so we couldn't trick each other into experiencing the same things via the power of suggestion. Anytime something weird happened, we tried to find a physical explanation for it first. For example, when our door started shaking on its hinge like someone was trying to get in the room (terrifying), we realized after standing in the hallway for awhile that it did that every time another door in the inn closed. Not ghosts. Just an old house.

Still, a lot of little weird, creepy things happened. Here are a few highlights.

One of the ghosts that supposedly haunts the inn is a little boy named Jeremy. Apparently he was trampled by a horse and carriage in front of the inn. He was carried inside and died in the room we stayed in. There is a whole dresser filled with little toys for him, and a lot of people leave them out to see if he moves them.* We set up toys and coins all over the room, and took pictures of everything to see if they moved. Here's what happened.

When we went to sleep, the pennies looked like the first picture. When we woke up, they looked like the second. We didn't leave the room, and no one else came in. After I noticed this, I shook the table a few times, to see if one of us could have accidentally bumped the table and made the pennies slide. Every time I tried it, the pennies went pell-mell. I couldn't make them move into a neat formation like this. Also, if you look closely, you'll see that every single penny face is facing the exact same direction in the first photo as the last one. I can't think of how the pennies could slide and just happen to all keep facing the same way. Also, I just now realized that the wipes moved as well. Hmm.

Then, this happened to Ann's shoes.

Again, the first picture is how they looked when we went to sleep, and the second is how they looked when we woke up. At first we thought maybe the rug had slid, but it's in exactly the same place. Like the pennies, we practiced gently kicking and nudging the shoes to see if we could have accidentally moved them. We couldn't find a way to do it that got them to line up this neatly. They just kind of scattered.

At one point, when Ann and I were about to go out for lunch, we heard a sound coming from the dining room. It was empty, but the swinging door that went to the kitchen was creaking. It seemed like that was the direction the sound had been coming from, so we went over and looked at it. While we were watching, the door opened several inches, hovered there for about a second, and then closed. This resulted in a lot of us yelling and freaking out a bit. Then, we started to mess with the door. If you pushed it in, it swung really easily. If you tried to push it out though, (the direction it had moved), it was very heavy and hard to move. Also, every time we pushed it, it immediately swung back shut. It never hovered like when it moved on its own. We left, thoroughly freaked out, and passed a couple on our way out. The next morning, they told us that right after we left, they heard the door moving and went to go investigate. It opened several times for them. He filmed it opening about 6 inches.

It sounds like people in the other rooms had a lot more activity than we did (which is kind of annoying, since we paid extra to stay in what is supposed to be the most haunted room). The couple had their bed shake and felt someone touching them, and a mom and daughter had things moved to complete opposite sides of the room. 

Now, obviously, none of this is proof. For all you know, I moved the stuff in those pictures around myself. Also, what is the point of all of this? Was a ghost really like "HahaHA, I'm going to slightly wiggle your pennies around! How fearsome!" I'm not even completely convinced this was ghosts. Much like my attitude towards God, it seems implausible to me that we could guess completely correctly about this kind of thing. Maybe there's residual energy from the battle moving things around. Maybe there is a physical explanation that I just didn't figure out. Who knows. I definitely think there's something going on in the house (really, in that whole town). Too many bizarre things happened for me to think otherwise. Like this.

Horrifying.

*People also leave candy for him. I may or may not have stolen some of the dead ghost baby's candy and eaten it. I will likely be haunted forever.

Allergies, allergies, allergies! (Or a cold.)

Hola, dumplings. I hope everyone is having a nice TGIF morning. Thus far, I've spilled hot tea on myself, sneezed about 74 times, and contemplated leaving Stella outside with a "Free to a mediocre home" sign around her neck. I just turned on my current favorite playlist though, so I'm optimistic that my mood will improve shortly.

This weekend, I realized that I've let a few aspects of my life fall by the wayside this past month. I haven't been eating as well as I'd like to. I think I'm in a bit of a food rut. Eating seasonally has been fantastic, and I definitely recommend it. However, after a winter of limited fruit and veggie options, I'm getting really antsy for the spring produce to show up. As a result, I haven't been eating as many fruits and vegetables as I usually do. I'm just a little sick of eating the same 5 things all winter. I also haven't been doing yoga nearly as often as I would like to. I got in the habit last year of doing yoga every day. I've recently dropped down to once or twice a week. Part of that is because, as of November (when I got a new car and started doing solo dog walks instead of huge group walks), I went from walking a couple miles a day to about ten miles. I'm just more a little more tired, and I'm getting more exercise, so it didn't seem as necessary. I still love me some yoga though, and it's really good for my hamstrings, which get pretty tight from all the walking. And, I've been a bad rat mom lately and haven't been snuggling with the rats as often as I should. All these things had been piling up and making me feel kinda crappy, so this week I resolved to work on them.

Then I got sick. Well, I don't know if I'm sick or if it's just allergies. I'm outside for about five hours every day, so I get hit pretty hard with allergies. It doesn't really matter what the cause - the result is I'm a sneezy, coughing, tired, congested mess.

At first I thought, "Sinuses be damned, I'm gonna asana/carrot munch/rat snuggle like a boss!" Here's how that went.

I tried to do yoga. I couldn't hold any of the poses because my sneezes kept throwing my balance off. After face planting into your own snot about three times, the whole serenity kick kind of dies.

After dwindling my food supplies down to some rice and pasta sauce, I decided to go grocery shopping. Now, I don't know about everyone else, but when I have a cold (or allergies), my brain operates like I've just downed two beers. Despite having a list, my sickly brain decided, upon arriving at the grocery store, to just free ball it. Forty five minutes later, I returned home with kale, wine, and several types of beans. Oh, good, Katie. Just what you need to get you through a week of healthy meals. Perrrrrrfect.

I tried to hold the rats. I forgot that I'm allergic to them. (I'm allergic to all rodents. For some reason, I've had rodents for the past six years. Obviously.) Usually, as long as I don't touch my face while I hold them, and wash my hands after, I'm fine. Unfortunately, rat allergies + pollen allergies (or a cold) = nonstop sneezing that fills my heart with misery and the rats with terror. Sigh. Back in the cage you go, little guys.

It's evening out a little bit. I went back to the store the other day and grabbed a few more essentials. Now I can make myself huge ass protein-packed salads for dinner (with spinach, not kale. I used all the kale to make kale chips. Of course.) and pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast, so at least my diet's a little more balanced. And I realized that I can still stretch out and use very little energy by doing this:

Splits against the wall for the win.

As for the rats... sorry, boys. I've been giving them lots of people food to cheer them up. I should be able to get back to regularly scheduled cuddle time in a few days. 

So things are looking up. Here's hoping I don't undo all my health progress when I go out drinking tonight...