In the beginning, there was a vegetarian...

...or am I? How 'bout a pesca-tarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, or the moderate, I'll-try-anything-once 'flexitarian'?

I have only recently flirted with the idea that I could consider myself a vegetarian, but my over-active imagination and infinite possibilities of exceptional circumstances prevents me from settling to a label. And it could be a result of my stubborness to label myself as anything. Student? Sure, I go to school, that's nothing to be ashamed of. Person interested in food issues? Yeah, I'll take that one. Vegetarian? Well, I did eat that hot dog on Friday...but I felt bad about it later!

Thing is, no matter the label one has, that doesn't make that person's life easier. Especially if you decide to abstain from eating meat. If you live in a southern state, telling your parents you're a vegetarian is like telling them you're atheist. The standard reaction from parents and other adults I've been around who know I don't eat meat is that they brush it off as a phase in youth. I'm not sure how a young atheist feels about being told that his developing philosophy is a 'phase' and therefore not worthy of consideration, but from what I've experienced, it's kind of a let down from the grown-ups. Because you have decided to go through a change, your lifestyle is different from the 'norm' and could cause some unnecessary tension at the dinner table as grandma passes you a piece of Thanksgiving turkey. And what are you supposed to say to poor ol' grandma? "Sorry Grannie, but that turkey was probably molested by an unskilled worker before it bled to death and was boiled alive"?

If Grannie can hear at all (which she can't, as she refuses to get hearing aids--damn the pride of her surname), it would break her heart that you're not eating her turkey, which, by the way, she slaved for hours over since 4 a.m. to make it for the whole family to eat, yourself included. What do you say to that? Unfortunately, it often results in a concession for the new vegetarian.

The purpose of this blog (other than to force myself to write--what's a Creative Writing student without something to write?) is to show others how I'm coping with a change in lifestyle. And maybe if someone out there in the Internet galaxy learns something, it would be that it's never easy to change your life, but the attempt is worth all the trouble. Even if it's 'only a phase.'