If you were to ask people my age what they’re top 3 favorite things are, the vast majority of them would put food on the short list.  I know I would.  I love food, but if you were to ask me what my favorite food is, I honestly couldn’t tell you.  I could fill pages listing my favorite foods.  Eating food is just so simple.  Either I love it or I don’t, and I experience the former more often than the latter.  What’s interesting and more complex is why we love different foods.

    What I think I’ll focus my food essay on is talking about what draws me to particular foods, for example memory.  Smell evokes memory more than any of the other senses, and I know that sometimes I get a whiff of food that can really trigger nostalgia as it brings me back to a day that occurred years ago.  There are also certain tastes that remind me of my childhood. 

Food also connects people to their cultures.  For me, Haitian food is a large part of what makes me feel in touch with my Haitian roots.  Sometimes I eat Haitian food that gives a feeling that is equivalent to a mother’s familiar hug.  Some Haitian foods are traditional to eat only on certain occasions.   As someone who was raised in the United States, I feel most connected to my culture when I am eating griot or macaroni au gratin or soup joumou.

    In America, there are other foods that are only consumed and enjoyed seasonally.  Candy corn only tastes good in October.  Most people really only choose to cook a whole turkey on Thanksgiving.  Nobody buys ice pops during the winter.  I’ll definitely explore that in my essay and talk about the odd feeling one gets when eating certain foods on days other than their associated holidays or seasons.

    I am going to try to be as descriptive as possible in my essay when talking about the experience of eating food so that my readers can feel the same connection to food that I do.  Although, the topic that I’m exploring is broad, I feel that I can condense it to feel more specific rather than making it seem like a bunch of different topics mashed into one essay.

The coronavirus is really messing everything up, but there is something to take from all of this.

In Super Size Me!, Spurlock uses himself as an example to show the harmfulness of fast food.  Right off the bat, Spurlock gives factual information about fast food in the U.S, including that the U.S is the fattest country in the world.  As much as this information should strike some sort of emotion in people, we hear it so often that we’ve kind of become numb to how obese our country is.  Obesity is almost a part of our culture. That’s what makes this documentary so impactful and sets it apart from the countless PSAs on fast food. We actually get to witness the effects of high fast food intake as it happens in such a personal and in depth way, rather than just hearing another story of someone who has suffered some sort of illness which may or may not have been caused by fast food.

    One of the first parts of the documentary to really grab my attention was when Spurlock first supersized his meal.  I could almost feel the pain that he was experiencing in eating such a big meal, and seeing the large sugary drink that he was expected to consume was enough to make my stomach turn, so it seemed reasonable when he vomited while attempting to finish consuming the meal.  Although this did show how unreasonably extreme the supersize option was at McDonalds, it also came to mind that Spurlock was eating this completely under his own volition. Admittedly it might be irresponsible for McDonalds and other fast food chains to serve such unhealthy foods at their restaurants, but this scene also points to the fact that it is completely up to the consumer to eat the food being served.  Spurlock could have stopped eating if he really wanted to. However, as the documentary went on I was introduced to people who didn’t have as much control or logic as Spurlock.  

One example was when they visited the middle school.  The kids had the option to buy food that was so unhealthy but also much more significantly appealing to people in their age range.  At their age, it doesn’t matter to them the effects of what they’re eating. It matters how the food tastes. These kids were being manipulated for sales, and it was especially messed up because it would cost the school just as much to sell healthier food.

Another example that I found slightly disturbing was Don Gorske, the “Big Mac enthusiast”.  In the documentary Gorske claimed that about 90% of his food consumption was McDonald’s Big Macs.  In fact, we witnessed him eating his 19,000th Big Mac. What I found strange and almost disturbing was that this was being glorified, meanwhile to me it seemed like an addiction that needs to be taken care of.  Gorske might know better than to eat more than one Big Mac per day, but he’s still eaten 19,000 of them and is undoubtedly suffering internally for it. Although it’s definitely an unrealistic fantasy, it made me think that maybe there should be some sort of restriction on how much fast food a person is allowed to consume.

    Towards the end of the documentary is when we really start to see how harmful it is to eat McDonalds for so many days in a row.  While talking to his doctors, Spurlock learns that the damage he is doing to his body might end up being irreversible. One might say that it was foolish for Spurlock to put his body through all that he did, but seeing what it did to him really made an impact and definitely put things into perspective.

    I’m not a health freak.  I like McDonalds as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy isn’t Gorske).  In fact, I would say that it’s in the top three of my favorite fast food restaurants, but I’ve also been taught from a young age how harmful it can be, and thus I’ve always known that it isn’t something to indulge in too often.  I probably eat it about 10 times a year, and I enjoy the satisfaction of eating it after missing it for a while. Although the film is old, and the supersize option has since fizzled out of McDonalds, the majority of the facts still rings true.  This documentary showed me that there is something to be done about America and its obese culture.

     The essay begins with Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah on her way to James Arthur Baldwin’s home.  It’s the first time that she has a little extra money in her pocket, and a day-trip to the influential novelist’s home seems to her like a good way to spend the money.  She talks about her prior intense admiration for the author which later turned to average appreciation for his work. She explains the point where she felt some sort of resentment for him.  Her reason to resent him, though, wasn’t even his fault. She didn’t like how every essay having to do with race cited him. It frustrated her that he had so easily escaped to France, not having to face the reality that most black people were forced to accept in America.  She didn’t like that he could so feasibly come back to protest and march for the rights of black Americans who didn’t have the same ticket that allowed him into and out of the country as he pleased.  

As she sits on the train to his house, she begins to reminisce on a time when she appreciated James Baldwin more.  It all started when she got an internship at a magazine. With all the stress and excitement of her first day on the job, she had managed to pick up on every detail about her surroundings except for the lack of people of color working for the magazine.  After two editors confirmed with her that she was almost certainly the first black intern at this magazine, which had at that point existed for the past 150 years, she was shocked and became increasingly worried about her place at her job. She felt the weight of the entire black race on her shoulders.  Everything she did reflected on the competence of all black Americans. She felt at ease with the people not on the editorial side of the magazine. It was more diverse, and she didn’t feel the need to be careful not to make even the slightest casual mistake that they could perceive as a reflection on her overall capabilities.  When she was the only intern asked to do manual labor in the storeroom, reorganizing all the old copies of the magazine, she discovered her admiration for James Baldwin. Rather than lingering on the fact that she was locked away to the storeroom, she found a connection to James Balwin, a man who made it out of a metaphorical storeroom.  

    Ghansah goes into describing the displacement felt by black Americans, or what James Baldwin called “the heavy”.  James Baldwin himself loved his country but could not respect it, so he left for a better life. He had to, he could, and so he did.  Ghansah goes on to ponder the difference between the life and death of her grandfather and Baldwin, the two only four years apart in age.  Her grandfather and Baldwin both sought dignity, and they were fearless black men. Her grandfather had next to nothing when he died, and Ghansah’s only inheritance from him was his ashes and his optimism “divested of its power”.  Ghansah describes with unfortunate brilliance that whatever dignity that a black man gains in his life is at absolute odds with the national anthem.

    In the next paragraph after this revelation, we arrive with Ghansah at Baldwin’s house.  In short, it’s beautiful and elegant. Being in its presence brings Ghansah a sort of understanding for why Baldwin left for Europe.  It wasn’t because of some “empty admiration for Europe”. It’s because anything is better than home. He felt the same way that all emigrants feel.  He left for a better life, and in doing so he didn’t leave his people behind. He preserved himself. He went where he believed a gay, black man could thrive.

    Baldwin’s home however will not exist a year after Ghansah visits.  Even as she is experiencing the place where a great mind lived, it is old and abandoned.  Ghansah claims that it’s easier to associate the house as it is now with Baldwin than the legacy he left behind.  Baldwin died a black death, just like her grandfather did, remembered but over-simplified.  

    In this essay Ghansah clearly describes the reality of black people in America. She unfolds complex emotions that are easier to ignore than go into depth understanding, and she is harsh with her descriptions but honest.

Questions:

    What kind of impact does this essay have on different kinds of people?  Is it relatable, eye-opening, saddening, etc.?

    How do you regard James Baldwin after reading this essay?

    What do you think about the way that Ghansah’s opinion of Baldwin shifts as the essay goes on?

For my borrowed memoir, I want to write about something that happened recently.  It was winter break, January 18^th to be specific, and I was watching “Coco” on Disney+ for the first time with my mom and my brother.  It was my suggestion– or more accurately, my decision– to watch the movie, but it was only at the very last second of the film that I remembered that it was the 8^th anniversary of my grandma’s death.  I want to write about the overwhelming swell of emotions that the movie evoked (sadness, guilt, etc.), especially after the realization of the coincidence.  I think that this could be interesting to readers because of the recentness of the day which allows for a more complete and accurate description and because there are so many clear-cut feelings involved as well as older nostalgic memories to uncover, and I think that I could write it so that there is a very understanding reaction from those reading it.

Lopate perfectly says, “Whether you are writing this time on world peace or a bar of soap, readers must sense quickly from the first paragraph that you are going to keep them engaged.”  This quote made me think that the best idea to interest readers is by first-off vividly but also briefly describing the scene when and where it all occurred as well as a little background on myself to give them a sense of my character.  I want to then introduce them to all the complex but relatable emotions that were coursing through my brain and my perception of the reactions from the rest of the room.  Eventually I want to take my readers down memory lane, back to a time before the loss, so that they get a very evocative second-hand version of my own experience.  Does this sound interesting?  Would people want to hear about years’ worth of suppressed emotions and the memories tied to them?

In Hampl’s chapter “Memories and Imagination”, she develops the beginning of a story only for readers to later realize that many of the details which she was writing were not entirely true. Her reasoning isn’t only for her own entertainment or simply because she is a compulsive liar. There is a certain rationale for why she made up certain details. It’s all a first draft. Although this piece of writing was supposed to be a memoir, it is still important for the details of her story to serve a purpose, to be impactful. In this first draft the qualities of the characters and objects which she introduced need to have value for the future purposes they will serve later on in the story. For example, regarding the “lie” she told about the music book earlier on, she reasons “Now I can look at the music book and see it not only as a detail but for what it is how it acts.”

Hampl is aware that she could just right a fictional novel, but she chooses to take the realness of her situation and sort of twist it so that her truth is meaningful to the reader. As she puts it, “Memoir is travel writing, then, notes taken along the way, telling how things looked and what thoughts occurred.”

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.