On a Dollar a Day

One of the signs last week that showed how the depth of my sickness was the fact that I did not have the energy to read - even for fun! This was serious indeed. But once the doctor gave me some medicine, the first thing I felt like doing was reading a book that I had checked out of the library about a week previous. Since reading the opening chapter, I have been totally and completely fascinated by the book On a Dollar A Day: One Couple's Unlikely Adventures in Eating in America by Christopher Greenslate and Kerri Leonard.

These two English teachers - yes, they had me with that much - decided to go on a culinary adventure of sorts, but one that is unlike anything I have thought of before. They started by eating on a dollar a day each for a month. After that, they tried living on the price given to those on food stamps; they had a mathematical formula for figuring out what the amount should be. Then, they moved on to what it costs to eat healthfully. That was interesting in itself, but I really appreciated the social justice slant that pervaded their thinking and writing. Although I am not quite done with the last chapter, this book is one that I think may change my life, as strange as that sounds. I believe I was primed for it, waiting for a catalyst to push me in the right direction - who new that mono and a book from the library could bring me to this point? (Reading this after a week of total brain-rest made me more able to focus and fully interact with the ideas.)

How might it change my life? There are so many ways, but to begin with, I am rethinking a unit with my students. I have a very tight schedule for what I have to teach, but I am planning on changing a couple of literary units to focus on the social justice issues that are pervasive throughout. This may seem small, but I feel like this is the beginning of something different. And Andrew and I are thinking of embarking on a project of our own...