Reading Log #8: Response to Pollan's Article

Micheal Pollan's article for the The New York Times Magazine called "The Modern Hunter-Gatherer" is separated into six segments about his experience in hunting.

Segment one is an introduction to the essay where he talks about being in the woods and what hunting means to him. He says that hunting is an instinct that shows power. He goes back and forth saying this. He writes the statement in his paragraphs and then goes back and says he doesn't think it could be true that hunting is a instinct. The reason he is conflicted is because he enjoyed shooting pig more than he thought he would and he wanted to believe those were his instincts.

Segment two introduces Pollan's mentor for his hunting experience, Angelo, who hunts wild pig. This is where Pollan also compares hunting to "one induced by marijuana". He says the senses are heightened and focused. He talks about Ortega y Gasset's, a philosopher, description of hunting. He states that hunting is a "generic" experience.

Segment three is where Pollan experiences his first failure in the essay. While sitting down for lunch, he notices a group of four pigs about 30 yards away. He would've made the shot but his rifle had no bullets so he gave the shot to another hunter named Richard. Although a pig was shot and he got a share of the meat, he was disappointed in himself because he wasn't ready and Angelo said he must always be ready when hunting. He went home and thought about it and realized that he needs to prepare himself more than he did before.

In segment four, Pollan shot his first pig. He was in the woods with Angelo and shot three times, his first shot being the only one that made a hit but the other two were out of panic. He shot his pig perfectly in the head and Angelo was proud of him. Pollan was having more conflicting thoughts. The first emotion he felt was remorse. He wasn't sure if he was proud of himself, going back to how he first felt. He is back to believing that hunting may not be an "instinct".

Pollan helps hang and skin the pig in segment five. He is back to feeling prideful of his kill and then starts going off about digust. He thinks that no one can feel completely good when hunting. There is always some sort of digust. When he saw the picture of him with his first kill, he was shocked that he looked proud of what he's done. At this point, he isn't sure who he is anymore.

He finally finishes his experience in segment six by preparing his first-person meal that he hunted, gathered, and grew himself. This is a short section where he talks about the perfect meal. He states the perfect meal is "one that's been fully paid for, that leaves no debts outstanding". This statement is his conclusion to hunting. He is now aware that everything he eats, is originally from nature and he is more accepting now.

Response:

I thought Pollan's writing for his essay was very descriptive and worth reading. I liked that he sectioned his story into segments. It was like I was reading six different stories but they were all related to the idea of hunting. Something that made this essay hard to read was that Pollan was going through an emotional experience with hunting where he felt proud and guilty at the same time. This caused him to constantly change his mind. That didn't make me hate the essay by any means. It actually made it more relatable because we all experience conflicting emotions in situations. I experienced it in my own immersion project. Towards the end of my project, I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay a vegetarian but once it ended, I felt weird eating meat. I understand Pollan and I think he found his right path in the end.

Immersion Project Day 31

It's the last day and I haven't really put much thought into it. As much as I hate to say it now, being vegetarian became a part of my lifestyle really quickly and once I go back, I feel like I won't be the same. I want to continue with this diet but then at the same time I feel like I owe it to myself to eat chicken tenders. I might just eat fish and not meat because I can't look at beef the same anymore. My dad told me I should eat a steak once the project is over and the thought of it sickened me. I wish I wasn't so conflicted but at least I could say that this project was a really fun experience.

Immersion Project Day 30

Here's a list of the food I've been eating for the past month

Sandwiches: wheat bread with Swiss cheese, spinach, lettuce, green peppers, mushrooms, and avocado ranch.

Pizza: cheese, spinach, and mushrooms.

Vegetables: potatoes, green beans, spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, green, yellow, and red peppers.

Fruit: Oranges, apples, and bananas.

These are the main things I've been eating at school. At least two of these items were at every meal.

Immersion Project Day 29

I'd like to say I'm getting this in on time because it's 11:00 PM in my home tow; but here, it's my birthday. It sucks that I can't eat chicken wings on it either. I know I could but I only have two more official days of this project. I don't want to give up when I'm so close. I've been going crazy thinking about chicken. I think I figured out why I've been eating so many chips; it's because of the chicken. Hopefully, these last two days won't be that rough. I will stay strong and power through!

Immersion Project Day 28

I think this is the first time I actually posted on the correct day. This is probably due to the fact that I literally have done everything that I needed to do in one day. I have this new feeling of motivation back ever since I started taking economics again and I want to talk about this before I get into being a vegetarian.

A few weeks ago, I became very depressed because my major heavily involves economics. It's even my minor. I've read tons of books and have loved the subject for years. This semester is the first time I ever took and econ class. I was doing exceptionally well at first but it got to a point where I was studying 3 hours a night for this class and not understanding the topic. I am taking 6 other classes as well so I was extremely overwhelmed and worn out. I started flunking quizzes (they're 90% of my grade) and believed I just wasn't good at the subject. I did some research and I found that I developed something called learned helplessness, which means I developed a mental illness from the perception that I had no control over the situation; in this case, I believed that I just wasn't good at economics and there was nothing I could do about it.

What a stupid thing for me to believe that I couldn't understand a subject. All I had to do to solve this problem was go into my professors office and here him say I am doing a fine job in his class. My pride held me back before but I'm proud of myself for finally reaching out for help.

Now, back to vegetarianism. Since I have been extremely focused the past 4 days, I would either eat a lot at once or not at all. I notice that I have been eating really healthy meals with lots of fruits and vegetables with low carbs but my snacking has consisted of two bags of Duritos in 3 days, also chips and salsa. I don't know why I keep eating this day. I think I should research it. It would probably be an interesting perspective to see if vegetarians experience more cravings than meat eaters, who I like to call normal people.

Immersion Project Day 27

For the past two days I have been snacking. Yesterday my meals consisted of chips and salsa and popcorn. Today, I ate yogurt for lunch and chips and salsa once again. I said before in a past post that I lost weight but with how I've been eating, I'll probably gain it back in no time, which isn't the goal. I think I started to lose sight in this project and it's time to gain it back. I lost my motivation a few weeks ago to study and I finally gained it back so it's time to focus for the last couple of days for this project and get the best research I could for the next five days.
I could use this lack of motivation to help evaluate how I've been doing with the immersion project like I explained in the last post. Motivation is a huge factor in a diet like this; basically in every diet it's important. It bad to lose focus. The other night I had a dream that I ate a cheese burger and I woke up from it with the perspective that it was a nightmare. This is a good thing in my mind. Red meat causes health issues and going vegetarian is a way for me to let go of my obsession. I don't think that I'm going to eat red meat once this month is up and if I do, it's going to be very rare.

Immersion Project Day 26

Today I got my motivation back to succeed. Lately, I've been feeling really down because I wasn't doing well in school due to lack of motivation. Gaining and losing motivation made me realize some things about being vegetarian. First, I realized, at least for myself, that the positive attitude part that scientists talk about in their studies may come from the excitement of change. For the first two weeks of my project I was so excited to go out to eat because it was like an adventure trying to find something that I can eat. Now when my friends and I are hungry and we don't want to eat on campus, I'm an issue because I can't eat at places like Steak and Shake (cheap and convenient). And when these places do have options, it's only salads and I'm rarely ever in the mood to eat a salad.
This leads me to my second realization: I'm tired of being a vegetarian and really want to eat fish. They stopped selling vegetarian sushi at the dining halls on campus and I've been craving it. I really want to eat a California roll but I can't because it has fish in it. I don't even care about eating meat anymore, in fact, looking at beef grosses me out now. I just really want to eat fish.