However… when things are going well, I really *do* feel tapped by the muse.

Maybe the best way around this problem is to teach comp classes more like creative writing classes? Because on some level, what this guy seems to be saying is that the only way to write well is to be a writer, and the only way to be a writer is to always already have been one. That system feels too closed to be true. So maybe instead, it’s the daily journal and the book report that make you a writer? Are there ways to indoctrinate students with the state of *being* a writer rather than just the *activity* of writing?

Orland and Bayles, authors of Art & Fear, are less concerned with “successful” work (how does one measure that? intrinsically or extrinsically?), but would definitely agree with Atchity that one’s work is never finished.

And, like you, I find that comforting.

Also, like you, I’m trying to set aside some time even during the school year for writing. I suspect I’ll be faithful to my work until about Halloween, and then get overwhelmed with keeping up with school and family demands and sort of abandon it. That’ll be okay. Another idea from Orland and Bayles is that there is a difference between stopping and quitting. Sometimes, for various reasons, we have to stop our work — for day, week, month, season — to begin again later. That’s natural. It would be another thing entirely, though, to quit.

I, too have issues w/ PETA. I think the way they use women’s bodies to make their point puts them on the same level as the food porn Burger King ads.

I’m really glad I found your blog (I’m a Ph.D. also).

Certain things in a vegetarian’s diet — say, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, etc — are acquired tastes. Certain things — meat flavor/texture, dairy tastes — are NOT able to be replicated. The chef that lost the challenge on “Top Chef Masters” made the mistake of using store-bought rice ice cream. Um, no. Rice ice cream tastes like crap — or at least, it does not taste like ice cream (and thus is an acquired taste for anyone who wishes to acquire it.) Do something *ELSE*. Try to think outside your comfort zone and work WITH the flavors instead of against them. If you’re into veg. eating for the long run, you have to understand that it’s not about replication, but about paradigm shift. To me, Vegetable broth tastes as good as chicken broth — but different. To me, tempeh bacon is *delicious* (oh, yum!) but it’s it NOT the same taste as bacon. You have to see it as a different kind of protein — just like chicken doesn’t taste like beef.

There’s also nothing wrong (as some people seem to imply) with acquiring these tastes. People do it all the time — with wine, for example. It’s just that vegetarian proteins are rarely seen as “gourmet.”

Oh, and by the way, I want to repeat that I totally get that some vegetarians — esp vegans — can be insufferable. But it’s not fair to judge us all that way (I know that’s not what you are doing, Anne! I was just thinking about it). It’s like assuming that feminists are man-haters — it’s a convenient stereotype. I’m sure that I’ve accidentally eaten chicken broth many times in soups (which I guess is one flaw in my “vegetarian eating as truth-in-advertising” claim!). But the idea is that I do the best I can. A vegan friend of mine once said that vegan is something to strive for, rather than achieve — she wasn’t hard on herself if she forgot that a certain food had honey in it or if she accidentally ate something in a restaurant that had eggs in it. She just did the best she could — which I think is the right attitude!

As a meat-eating cook, I sort of get it now–broth in particular adds texture and flavor that’s impossible to replicate–I guess my issue is the idea that replicating the flavor and consistency of meat is the goal of vegetarian cooking.

Mark Bittman has some good things to say on the topic of vegetarian cooking in *How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.* I love him.

Is your lecturer American or British? If she is American, there may indeed be a cultural difference, but if she is British, it’s possible that she may be influenced by American usage, OR it might be that the term doesn’t have the solitary meaning you think it does.

Language is quite slippery and subjective. This post was meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive. I assume that your professor was not trying to attack you, but rather make you aware of something. I would suggest having a more in-depth conversation with her about it.

Has my lecturer been taking her view from the American use of the word ‘Lady’?

Has pop culture had a negative effect on the word?

If a woman referred to a man as a Gentleman is SHE being sexist?

I am totally lost here – What do women want?