A Night of Preperation Would Not Suffice.

Luckily, I picked my most hectic day to try this hard but eye opening challenge. I say luckily because if I keep myself occupied, I won't have to worry about just sitting in bed being precocious. I want to be able to live life without plastics too. I start me preparation for the challenge the night before. I change my utensils from my backpack to a large cloth satchel. I am able to also find a wooden pencil versus all my plastic mechanical pencils and plastic pens. After getting my school supplies ready for the next day, I take a shower where I had realized I can't use the day of the challenge because of the bottle of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, etc.
Finally, my plastics challenge begins the following day. I failed right off the bat because my alarm clock is plastic. Oops! So for the rest of the day, I am cautious with everything I do. No brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, no make-up, and no cell phone all day. I make it to my first class while eating a banana versus my normal bagel with cream cheese, which are both contained in either a plastic bag and plastic container.
At my first and second class, I take out and use my spiral notebook and wooden pencil from my satchel that I had packed the night before. I am then done with class for the day so I head home for lunch. I live in a fraternity house where we have our meals prepared. The only plastic that I use then is the cup. All the silverware and plates are not plastic. The cooks might have used plastic to prepare or cook our chicken sandwiches, tator-tots and cut fruit. I sadly can't use the buns for my sandwich because those are still in the plastic bag.
After lunch, I get ready to go to work. I need to use my car (where parts are made of plastic) to go tutor at O'Keefe Middle School. So I hesitantly use my car to get there. Once there, I take the only writing utensil, a pen, to sign in and take the plastic laminated name tag. I arrive in the classroom in which I tutor and realize the I have to sit in a plastic chair and use a large science table (in which I can only guess has some sort of plastic layer on it). I can't avoid sitting in these basic school classroom furniture while sitting next to my student. When I am done tutoring, I have to sign back out with the pen and leave my laminated name tag behind. I jump into my somewhat plastic car to go back home.
At this point, it's close to dinner but since it is just a bit early, I sit on the couch in the living room to talk to some people to keep my self occupied and distracted from going to my room that has my laptop, TV, and cell phone which all contain plastic. Dinner was finally ready and I again must use the plastic cup to drink. After a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner with garlic bread and good company, I finally after to embrace my room. I have to give in at this point and use all my plastic things that I was trying to avoid earlier. I need my laptop to check my emails and write a reflective paper for a class. I use my cell phone to talk to my boyfriend to see how our days went. I use my television to watch my favorite TV show just before going to bed.
This plastic challenge was interesting because sometimes there are just somethings that we can not replace. For example, shoes are made of plastic whether its the sole or the aglet. When I was leaving and entering my room, I had to turn my light on/off with the plastic switch. I also had to give in at the end of the day when I finally had to use my stuff to do homework and such. If I would not have prepared for this challenge the night before, my challenge would have been so much more difficult because I always use my backpack and pen and my cell phone. I almost felt naked without my cell phone because I am so dependent on it for constant communication between myself and loved ones.

Kim Hernandez
IES 113- 308