Rosie Schaap reminisces on wanting to grow up on her podcast episode, aired on “This American Life”. Just like most of us at that age, Schaap is a fifteen year old who is eager to fit in with the adult crowd, and drink with her elders. She realizes that by acting, and dressing older than her age, she can gain some of the Adult’s attention at the Bar Car, so this is what she does. But, after she has spent some time reading Tarot cards, she comes across a man whom she dislikes. When she reads his future, she suddenly realizes that behind the glamour of drinking and smoking there are real life problems that adults have to deal with.

I think we can learn a lot about Schaap from this short episode. Growing up we always want the adults to give us their undivided attention, and we want to be invited to adult functions. But, the way in which Schaap takes a look into the sad and depressed man’s life through the Tarot cards and runs away is why we should wait to grow up – because if we knew what the adults actually discussed we would also run away. This is not to say that all adults are as depressed as this man, but in general, their problems may be out of our grasp at that certain point in time, therefor it may be best to hang out with our own crowd in the meantime.

Between the ages of 9-15, I went to a summer camp in North Carolina called Blue Star. As you can probably guess by this, I am very familiar with dining hall food, as that is what I ate, three times a day – for six summers. Being someone who appreciates a life-changing avocado hot-sauce and a well-seasoned chicken milanese, it was hard for me to eat at the dining hall sometimes. But, it was never enough to get me back on a plane to San Diego.

Chang Rae Lee, in his essay “Immovable Feast”, helps us understand why the thousands of people who go to summer camp and eat this way can look past the horrible food. For one, he argues, “We were fifteen-year-old boys, and we were hungry.” This is his explanation for why he was always one of the first people to make it in the hall regardless of the meal. It makes sense, that in a hot summer climate, no matter what the food is, you are going to want to eat, even if it means eating gross hot-dogs. In those times, Lee’s concluding sentence makes a lot of sense “You had few choices, hardly any liberties, but you dreamed.” But, on another occasion, food gave us the possibility to make our own traditions. That tradition consisted of a simple sandwich made up of the cheapest white bread possible, a slice of cheddar cheese, salt and pepper, and potato chips. This, we would eat only after we had finished a three hour hike up, the treacherous Mt. Pinnacle. Recreating it at home never tasted the same for any of us.

This week, in my Writing The Essay Class (Setting a Fine Table), our teacher paired us up, and asked us the question “What is a meal?” A meal, according to Google simply means a large amount of food consumed during either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. That is what I first associated a meal with : eating a large amount at once, and eating with someone else or in a group. But, after listening to my peers I realized that just like contemporary art, a meal can be anything. From eating alone to eating in a group, from take out to Thanksgiving, from cooking yourself to heating up frozen food – a meal can turn into an incredible experience or memory shared with one’s you love, or it can satisfy you’re hunger and that’s it.