Koyuki Alpern

I haven't shown all the websites I saw about the truth about expiration dates on food, but below are pcitures of some that I've seen. I also started researching about this topic a week or 2 ago, since the Basic Needs Hub had a QR code about this exact issue that I was looking at.

What I've learned is that the date isn't a final say for when this food stops being safe to eat. Unless it is baby formula, food production companies aren't required to put down when their food is guaranteed to be "bad". When it says "Use By", that means it's the recommended date consumers should eat the item. In this case, check for yourself if the food has actually spoiled or if it's still edible. When it says "Sell By", that's for the grocery store, indicating the date it should be taken out of the grocery store. Consumers should also check for themselves if it's safe to eat or not. Whenit says "Best If Used By", this is the date the product stays at it's best flavor, quality, texture, or something else. Perhaps after this date, the item won't look or taste as good, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's gone bad.

I found these websites to be wholly fruitful and enlightening to me! I didn't know about these things, and it answers the thoughts younger me had about what stores do with food that looks and tastes perfectly fine.

This picture was actually taken a couple days ago, but we watched a TedTalk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, called "We Should All Be Feminists". It was 30 minutes long and posted a decade ago. I don't know how to really take picures with myself in it, so sorry about it's awkward angle. There was another person sitting on the bed out of frame.

I was very engrossed in the video and we made some commentary while listening to Adichie speak about the negative press associated with the label "feminist" she heard while growing up, and how people use it as an insult, imply that a media piece is "too feminist" and needs change to be less so, and her sharing to the audience that feminists and feminism is not a modern-age phenomenon. She talked about how her (great?) grandmother was a feminist before the term was known to her, such as running away from an arranged marriage with a man she disliked to be with the one she loved, and speaking up for her own well being and interests. Adichie talked about how she had a friend she grew up with and loved to argue and discuss with; there was an instance where, while arguing, he called her a feminist as an insult but she didn't know what the word was at the time. She recalls other instances in her life where me and women, well meaning or maliciously, advised her and women like her to try to be less femininstic because of the negative association the term has among many people. The point of her presentation was to better represent what the legitimate definition of feminism is, its benefits, what it's for and against, and how feminism isn't a miserable woman's ideaology but a humanistic solution to many social, economic, and political porblems of today.

I highly recommend people give it a watch! Adichie has a great sense of humor and timing, she has many profound and relatable discussions to share with her audiences, and she's given a couple other TedTalks too.

Today, I went to the beach and somewhere around Monterey's streets today with 2 friends! it wasn't planned on my part, instead I was invited while eating with them at noon. Although I had walked ~300 minutes, the challenge didn't let me input more than 180 minutes, so I put that down instead. When at the beach, I got to feel the cold wind of the ocean breeze, families around me, and some deceased (and living) animals in the area. I also scavanged for old remnants from previously demolished places, since an instructor pointed out that the winter waves expose them for a bit but I neglected to travel myself during that window due to reasons. When in Monterey's streets, we went to 2 thrift stores, 1 which was way out of our budget and we just browsed at, and the other which proved fruitful and much more affordable for all of us. The latter's store owner kind of knows me so we caught up, and one of my friends found many clothing items that fit her well and were of a brand that is much more expensive when sold in mint condition. These past 2-3 weeks had been tiring and overwhelming for me due to reasons I couldn't have foreseen and not really school-related, so going on this trip outdoors and being carefree was such a welcome change of pace, and I hope that it will help me throughout midterms week.

This is the first time I've come short of my challenge; I hadn't gone to errands that required a lot of walking from my dorm, and since I'm in the process of moving to an entirely new dorm by this week, I've been indoors for essentially the entire day. Also, I woke up unusually bleary-eyed, and so I took a long nap after my classes.

I did my first Eco Challenge for the project! It technically started yesterday for me, but it didn't occur to me to begin my daily when I created the account. My daily was 30 minutes of mindful walking every day, and I managed to accomplish this by walking to and from class, getting food, and helping retrieve items for my friends across campus.