Vegetarianism

You are what you eat. I have heard this saying time and time again yet, it has never meant anything until now. Over summer break I made it a goal of mine to research the importance of diet in heath. I watched several documentaries including Food Inc, Food Matters, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, Fork over Knives, and several others. I also went to the library to find books on the topic and found that my library was very limited. Some books I did find were The Food Revolution, Natural Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About, Skinny Bitch, Eat to Live, and a few others.  

At the end of the summer, in an attempt to add more fresh fruits and vegetable to my diet, I decided to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. I can’t deprive myself of anything or else that will be the only thing I want. To avoid cheating I have told myself that if I have a serious craving and want meat, then I can eat it. Otherwise, I would cut meat out as much as possible. The most shocking part is that I was able to convince my husband to do it as well. He really didn’t have much of a choice because I do all the cooking but I was very proud he made the decision on his own. So far we haven’t eaten meat in 3 weeks! I think we deserve gold stars.

The hardest part about the switch hasn’t been living without meat. In fact, I don’t even crave it anymore! The worst part is explaining my decision to all my friends and family. Our society is so used to eating meat and dairy products that most people think it is unhealthy if you don’t. Interesting right? I find myself having to explain my decision to everyone and it's getting annoying. Hopefully that aspect of the switch will die down over time.  

MegNichols Bio

I was born in Concord, MA. I lived in New Hampshire for 19 years until I joined the military. I was in the Air Force for four years. I was stationed at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. Eight months of that time was spent in Kuwait on deployment. I worked the freight section of TMO. My job was shipping and receiving of parts. We shipped parts ranging from airplane engines, propeller blades, ammo, and hazardous material to tiny screws.

I have had to transfer schools a number of times because I have moved around a lot. I graduate in May 2012 with a degree in Multimedia: Digital Media. I would like my career to go in the web design direction. I hope to do an internship before I graduate. I am excited and nervous to start a new career.

I am a middle child. I have one older brother and we are about 1.5 years apart. I have one younger brother and we are 10 years apart in age. My college years have been so backed up that this year my younger brother is a freshman in college and I am a senior!

 My favorite color is pink. My favorite food is Kraft Mac and Cheese. I love Italian food! Normally on my time off I spend time with my husband site seeing, taking pictures, laying out on the beach, wine tasting, or exploring the island. My husband and I just celebrated our third year of marriage in August. I look forward to graduating and seeing what base my husband and I will end up at next.

Week 1: The Act of War

In the documentary “The Act of War” the audience sees the events leading up to the fall of the Hawaiian government. The film showed the Hawaiian perspective regarding the incidents that took place. From this perspective the audience feels a sense of sadness for the Hawaiians and sympathize with how they were treated. The perspective of the film has a very powerful effect on what “side” the audience takes when watching it. If the film had taken a different approach and described what happened through the American’s eyes, then the audience would be more likely to sympathize with them. This has been demonstrated through other films/TV shows like Monster’s Inc, Despicable Me, Sons of Anarchy, or The Shield. Film makers can use the power of persuasion to lead the audience to view events in a particular way and the viewers must be aware of that while watching such shows.   

Throughout time civilizations have been captured and taken over. Humans have a need for power and land is very powerful. The weaker will fall, no matter how noble their intentions are, it is the survival of the fittest. The original Hawaiians were very peaceful and extremely efficient with their time before white man ever stepped foot on the islands. The Hawaiians were too innocent and that would be their downfall. Foreigners should never be underestimated. Hawaiians had never seen this kind of deceit in humans so they did not know to guard themselves from it. The actions that took place were unfortunate and sad but they were unlike the actions that took place in many other countries throughout history. Is it right? Maybe not but it happened none-the-less. Americans may look back and regret what was done but that does not mean if they could go back and change what happened that they would. Clark Gable said it perfectly when he stated, “your like the thief that isn’t the least bit sorry he stole but terribly sorry he got caught.” Americans are sorry for how everything unfolded but are not about to give back what they took.