I love Rutabegorz, and am glad Alfred shares the affinity. As we walked up to the front, I wondered aloud, "I wonder what time they close." He answered my question, "They are open from 11 am until.... close. They close when they close."I visited Southern California for part of spring break; things have definitely changed. Well, I don't know if things have changed, but I know law school has changed me. I don't want to be one of those people without long lasting relationships, without friends from high school, but I feel like I have very little in common with most of these people. And I've realized I would rather spend time with my family than with most of my old friends. I guess this is a part of growing and maturing, but a part of me is sad to see that part of my life go. But as old friends go, new friends come. I finally, for the first time in my life, feel like I have a "group of my own". I only felt this kind of comfort and camaraderie with one person in undergrad, and I am so glad she is in my life. But I never had that connection in high school, let alone with a group of people. I love Davis, and feel as though I have found a place of my own. It's mine, and I love it.
Hagrid, visibly despondent to have no more four-legged company.
I saw a middle-aged man leaning against a large planter today. He had a cart in tow with trash bags full of what I imagine to be his worldly belongings. An older man, probably in his seventies or eighties, with a hunched back and shake to his arm stepped up and asked him something I could not understand. The middle-aged man replied something along the lines of "I didn't ask", and then I saw the old man holding his wallet and a dollar in his shaking outstretched hand, offering it to the middle-aged man. I guess the cynic in me would see that scene and scoff at the assumptive old man, coming down from his high status to help those in need who don't ask for assistance. But then, as the tears formed in my eye (I am a sucker for the elderly), I realized something. Law school has failed to make me a cynical elite; instead, Davis has diminished the cynic inside. I can't imagine living in a happier, more peaceful place.
And every time I leave Davis, I quickly realize how much I really love Davis. It may not be for everyone, but... it's for me.
I am also making a concerted effort to eat healthier and more in line with these twelve points (though I've made a few of my own adjustments):
1. Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can’t pronounce.
3. Don’t eat anything that wouldn’t eventually rot.
4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer’s market or CSA.
7. Pay more, eat less.
8. Eat a wide diversity of species.
9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10. Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.
I normally don't do this kind of thing, but I think that Michael Pollan & Mark Bittman make excellent arguments particularly pertinent to our generation.
So I leave you with these seven words: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
