My Vegan Week

I’m really not that fond of red meat. In fact, becoming a vegetarian has crossed my mind a few times in the past. However, the draw of a big juicy hamburger or a thick piece of grilled chicken has always kept me from going full “veggie.” Recently though, I have revisited the idea because of my friend Jill Renaud, who is a vegan and much healthier than I am. Whenever we go out to eat somewhere, I watch her eat platefuls of delicious colors: orange carrots, dark green spinach, black olives, beige chickpeas, red tomatoes. And then one day I thought, hey! Why don’t I try it out and see what being a vegan is like? So from there, I decided to embark on a five-day journey of no meat, no eggs, no fish, no dairy… actually no animal by-products at all in my food. It was going to be tough to drop some of my favorite foods cold turkey, er, cold lettuce? But I was determined to see what the life of a vegan is like and if it really is as easy as Jill says it is.


DAY ONE
I woke up absolutely starving. I went from my cabinets to the refrigerator and back again searching for something to give my growling stomach. However, I had not thought about buying vegan-friendly food the night before and thus had next to nothing to eat in my apartment. I was tempted by a big glass of milk and some cheddar cheese, but I settled instead on the vegan friendly (though not very healthy) combination of Fritos and orange soda. Obviously, I was off to a very bad start.

The rest of the day went on much better. I discovered that Ronzoni spaghetti and Newman’s roasted garlic tomato sauce are both things that I could eat. (What would we all do without the Internet?!) Later on, I ordered delivery from a place Jill had told me about called Atlas Café. I had the “Veggie Burger Sunshine” and a dairy-free strawberry and banana smoothie. The fake “meat” in the burger had a strange, cardboard aftertaste but I was so hungry by the time it came that I didn’t care. I just crossed my fingers that tomorrow would be easier.

DAY TWO
I had a good start to my morning. I stopped in a Starbucks on my way to class and had a plain multigrain bagel with some juice. From there, it was all down hill.

By noon, I was hungry again and my teacher’s assistant brought in chocolate Pocky for the whole class. I eagerly gobbled up the tiny stick and a few minutes later remembered about my challenge. I felt super guilty about it, but it’s hard to resist something offered to you that you normally wouldn’t think twice about eating.

After class, I went over to Weinstein dining hall and had myself a nice salad and a “Garden burger.” Just to be safe, I decided to check “hamburger bun” online and to my surprise and horror, the bun I was eating was NOT vegan! It contains dairy products in it. Oh brother, this was harder than I thought it would be.

DAY THREE
Breakfast at Third North dining hall put me on track. I had some fruit and half of a bagel with peanut butter. Peanut butter, I quickly learned, was a vegan’s best friend. Not only is it a good source of protein and healthy fats but also it’s delicious on almost anything.

For dinner, I went out with Jill so it was easy to stick to my diet. We ate the same things together (vegan penne dish, banana with peanut butter, and some hummus) and bonded over the amazing amount of fiber there is in a vegan’s diet.

Though I was tempted all day by egg bagels, macaroni and cheese, pasta with alfredo sauce, and other favorite foods, I managed to resist it all with the mantra “write a good story about this” in my head.

DAY FOUR
I was so excited when I found out that I could eat Cap’N Crunch cereal! After a few handfuls of that, I went off to my internship at 30 Rockefeller Center. In the weekly run-down meeting for the weekend Today Show, one of the segments for Saturday was going to be about fast food. I was practically drooling by the time the meeting was over. Of all the weeks to do a segment about fast food, it had to be during the one week I couldn’t eat any of it!

Once I got home, I made a huge bowl of pasta with marinara and some corn to make me feel better. Just for the record, pasta is the best comfort food ever, vegan or not.

DAY FIVE
Last day! At work, I made myself a toasted plain bagel with strawberry jam. The fast food segment aired and I was surprisingly unaffected. Maybe I could be a vegan after all? When I got home though, I knowingly cheated. The cheddar cheese block in my fridge was practically yelling at me to eat it! I justified this slip by telling myself that I had to “ease” my body back into eating dairy regularly again. I still stand by this excuse!

After dinner that night, I had my first taste of vanilla soy “ice cream.” It was smothered in Hershey’s syrup so I’m not sure if the actual “ice cream” was actually any good but I definitely enjoyed it anyway. When I went to bed that night, all I could think about was everything I was going to eat the next day, to make up for all the healthy foods I had consumed over the past week. I guess I failed my vegan test.


The advantages to my week as a vegan were definitely outweighed by disadvantages for me. On the plus side, I found myself eating smaller meals more often because of the low calorie foods I ate. So even though I would get full easily with big plates of salads and fruit, I would get hungry again quickly because I didn’t consume many calories to keep me going. (Note: A bowl of baby carrots is not a full meal!)

On the down side it was hard for me to resist foods that I love. Mostly, it was the dairy products that were the hardest for me to give up. My love for cheese, cream, and ice cream may not be that healthy, but it’s part of my life and I could never give it up for good. Also, I hate soy and most soy products, which means that the vegan lifestyle and I would probably never work out anyway. Some things are just not meant to be.

United Nations, New and Improved?

The lively aura surrounding the 250 resident correspondents in the United Nations building feels foreign amongst all of the dead and abandoned electronics that line the cramped hallways. Reporters are busily tapping away at keyboards and listening through headsets to the daily Security Council meeting being held all day. However, one would not believe that a major change had just occurred in one of the UN’s most powerful member states. It has only been about two months since United States’ President Barack Obama took office, but the novelty of it has seemed to have already faded. Perhaps it is the natural skepticism of journalists, but there seems to be some doubts about the predictions of positive changes to come for the UN.

“There’s not like a single story of like everyone loves Obama, everything’s going to be better,” said Inner City blog reporter Matthew Lee. “I’ve seen so many stories that are just like ‘it’s a new era’ and I’m not really sure.”

Despite the raised eyebrows at the Obama optimism by many, it cannot be denied that he has brought some change to the building, if in mood only.
Neil MacFarquhar, a reporter for The New York Times said: “I think there is a change of tone and there’s a sense of anticipation but in terms of actual concrete examples of change, I don’t think there is or has been one so far.”

It appears that the general feeling towards the new Obama administration is one of cautious apprehension. Because things work at the UN, according to Mr. MacFarquhar, at a “glacial pace,” it is too soon to say whether or not the changes brought by President Obama and Ambassador Rice will be good or bad.

Bumping and Grinding... Sometimes

As she took a sip of her coffee, Charlotte Sometimes said: “There’s nothing cool about me,” and then laughed. This statement is as deceiving as the rough hidden fingertips under her red nail polish; the 21-year-old singer/songwriter has certainly been living what most people would call a pretty “cool” life.

“I’m definitely not a starving artist because I get paid and I live alone in Manhattan,” she said with a smile. Charlotte signed with major record label Geffen Interscope last fall, released her debut album “Waves and the Both of Us” and is a “You Oughtta Know” artist on the music television channel, VH1. When asked to describe her music in a few words she replied: “Bipolar disorder at its best.” Before she had such a cool life though, she was just Jessie Charlotte Poland of Wall Township, New Jersey.

Tracy and Hartson Poland of Wall, NJ adopted Jessie soon after her birth on January 15, 1988. The only daughter of her parents, who already had two biological sons named James and Josh, Jessie grew up in a household that encouraged her to explore many creative outlets, including dance and poetry. But it was her father who introduced the concept of writing songs.

“I started singing my poetry and my dad said ‘no one wants to hear you sing poems and you might want to do something about that.’ So I started playing guitar,” she said.

Music was also a source of relief for the struggles she faced growing up, including her fight with anorexia as a teenager. Ironically, it was one of her other artistic hobbies that spurred on the eating disorder.

“I started music when I was 14, when I was crazy,” she said. “I picked up a guitar and quit dance and decided dancing wasn’t going to quite work out for me because I became anorexic, like most dancers. Sorry to generalize but most of us have eating disorders, or some sort of psychological issue. Beautiful form, but anyone who looks at themselves in the mirror for over twelve hours a day will likely go insane.”

As she used her guitar to aid in her recovery, Jessie soon realized that her music could serve as more than just a source of therapy. It became her goal to make a career out of it at the age of 15.

“Failure was not an option for me so I never allowed myself to doubt myself. I kind of just would book my own shows and you know, play. I would find anyone who would hear me and I would play for them. And you know I just luckily got it into the hands of the right people and they liked what they heard, even if I was awkward and gawky at the time.”

Ups and downs riddled Jessie’s road to success in high school: break-ups, a failed band project called J.Poland and the Pilots, business disappointments and more health issues challenged her stability. At 16, she was diagnosed with a potentially dream-breaking disease.

“I had condylar resorption, which causes your jaw to basically disintegrate. Then your whole face kind of starts moving backwards and you looked deformed.” She took a bite of her toast and said: “It was hard for me to go through but it helped me write a lot of music and really work that much harder.”

It’s this exact attitude of moving on and growing from tough life experiences that makes Charlotte such an interesting, successful person. Her slim frame gets up to leave and she grabs her bag that’s wider than she is before she leans in for a hug.

I asked her quickly about what’s next on her plate and she answered: “I’m currently working on all the new tracks for the next record and trying to get into songwriting for other people. And just keeping a good head on my shoulders and networking as much as possible; keeping my motivation and work ethic up and getting my ass moving in all ways. You know, just bumping and grinding.” Bumping and grinding seems to be exactly the right words to end the conversation on, and we head in opposite directions. But although we went our separate ways, I know that it won’t be the last I’ll be seeing (or hearing) of Charlotte Sometimes.