Title: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Author: Michael Pollan
Genre: Non-Fiction
From my journal

I had been thinking on issues of food, farming, agribusiness, animal concerns and the social, economic, environmental, and culture impact of all three for a while and this book helped define some of my thoughts and beliefs and gave me a whole batch of new things to think about and seeds of belief that need to be defined. Clearly this book has given me many gifts.

Had I not already been thinking seriously about the food in my life (where it comes from, how it was produced, how it makes me feel physically and emotionally, how I feel about it, etc) I believe this book would have been truly life changing for me. Truthfully I think it will still be life changing because of things it brought into my field of vision, knowledge it taught me and things that it introduced me to that need more personal research on my part. However it didn’t set me on this path, I was already there, but it has moved me significantly further down it. What is this path? For me it’s the path to conscious eating. The path to knowing about my food as much as possible. Also though it’s about support a certain kind of life, the life of the small American farmer, that I find worthy of supporting.
Some loose thoughts from my journal from several months ago

- It is important to me to support farming (small farms, family farms) as a viable way of life in American society. If paying more for my food would allow farmers to make a more comfortable and sucessful living I definitely would pay more for food.
- Though I do wish I could be vegetarian it is not a reasonable option for me. I don’t like vegetables enough to give up meat completely without simply swapping fake meats as replacements. This would be harmful to my diet. I currently eat very little meat balanced with grainds, fruits and vegetables. Eating a healthy diet, one low in processed and fake foods is very important to me.
- The reason I wish I could be vegetarian is because I feel great compassion for animals and feel guilty that they must die to become my food. Not overly guilty though because, as objectively as I can, I believe that humans are at the top of the natural evolutionary food chain. Though I have no scientific evidence to support or dispute my feelings I do think that being part of this food chain is important. All things are connected and humans play their part. So while I don’t feel extreme guilt over being part of a food chain that turns some animals into food I do feel extreme guilt, displeasure and anger over completely unnecessary suffering inflicted on the animals that eventually become food. An argument can be made of course that killing an animal for food is an unnecessary cause of suffering. I’ll agree with the suffering but not the unnecessary part of that argument.
As I have formulated these opinions and stances it’s become exceptionally clear that to be true to my values and beliefs then I must acknowledge that factory farming is something I am deeply opposed to. I think whenever possible I should choose food that was grown locally. Whenever I can I should choose meat that was raised and slaughtered humanely. This sounds easy enough but it is not so easy at all. But I feel it’s worth the work.

Some quotes from The Omnivore’s Dilemma that resonated with me deeply:
“It takes more than a calorie of fossil fuel energy to produce a calorie of food; before the advent of chemical fertilizer the Naylor farm produced more than two calories of food energy for every calorie of energy invested.”
- Michael Pollan
“Just because we can ship organic lettuce from the Salinas Valley or organic cut flowers from Peru doesn’t mean we should do it, not if we’re really serious about energy and seasonality and bioregionalism.”
“Part of the problem is, you’ve got a lot of D students left on the farm today.”
“The guidance counselors encouraged all of the A students to leave home and go to college. There’s been a tremendous brain drain in Rural America. Of course that suits Wall Street just fine; Wall Street is always trying to extract brain power and capital from the countryside. First they take the brightest bulbs off the farm and put them to work in Dilbert’s cubicle, and then they go after the capital of the dimmer ones who stayed behind by selling them a bunch of gee-whiz solutions to their problems.”
“It’s a foolish culture that entrusts its food supply to simpletons.”
“Frankly, any city person who doesn’t think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn’t deserve my special food. Let them eat E. Coli.”
- Joel Salatin
Polyface Farm
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Title: Ya-Yas in Bloom
Author: Rebecca Wells
Genre: Fiction
Ever have a birthday cake from your local grocery store? Not the high end grocery store with a really nice bakery but the regular bread, milk and eggs grocery store that’s not so shiny and clean. The cake’s not very good, later you’ll regret eating the big piece you just cut for yourself but the first huge bite of icing (cause you’ve plucked one of the icing flowers off the corner) is divine. It’s soft and sweet and hits that gooey spot inside that makes you happy. This book is very much like that grocery store birthday cake. It’s not very good, I almost regret the hours I’ve spent reading it but for a few pages here and there it was like the icing flower from the corner of the cake. It hit just the right spot and was delicious. Those sections of the book were quite few and far between and they were probably specific to sentimental girls like me so I definitely couldn’t recommend it for everyone but it was ok as my number 10 book of the year.

Title: The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube
Author: Michelle Goodman
Genre: Non-Fiction
Has there ever been a book title that seems more appealing to me and more apt for this moment in my life? Probably not. A lot of the stuff in this book was old hat to me because I’ve been freelancing either full time or on the side for a lot of years. However I was able to look at both old and new information with new eyes because what I want in work situation(s) has evolved over the years and is very different now than it was 8 or 9 years ago when I wanted to be a freelance copy editor and web monkey full time.
The book talks a lot about being an artrepreneur. That’s a new phrase to me that fits me perfectly. I like business, I love art, I love my passions and want to combine them all. Also there is a do-gooder-preneur dwelling deep in me that wants to get out. One of the books key points is to not be afraid of a patchwork income or what I call a portfolio income. Meaning don’t have all your eggs in one basket. Find some combination of having a part time gig, freelance on the side, temping, volunteering, seasonal work, etc that works for you. There are trade offs (lack of benefits, etc) but a lot of those trade offs are present in 9-5 jobs that driver you crazy. I just spent 3 years working for a “real” company that kept me as an independent contractor all 3 years so they didn’t have to pay taxes or benefits. That’s what the corporate world is really like these days so coming up with your own patchwork income plan isn’t that scary in the light of what corporate culture is really like.
The book is full of personal stories about woman who have left the cube for good, stayed in the cube part time, started non-profits, work 4 months a year, live and work part time in Antarctica and all kinds of other real-life inspiration stories. Those stories and the author’s action plans for each chapters gave me several thinking points. These thinking points are things that I need to really examine and think about to help me move forward with my artistic and work life goals. I’m really glad I read it and I have these things to think about. I think having read it will be beneficial to me moving forward. That’s the best endorsement of a business/lifestyle/advice book I can give.

Title: Bird by Bird Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Author: Anne Lamott
Genre: Non-Fiction
I heard about this book from many sources before I actually picked it up. It was on my list to buy for years. Literally years but I never did until just a few weeks ago. I’m glad I did. I enjoyed it. I found the first several chapters to be particularly interesting and inspiring, actually helpful instructions on the creative process. The later chapters didn’t resonate as much with me but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. It was a very quick read, some might say breezy, even though if you are a writer there is no subject matter that is more important and more intense.