Alan Sage mentioned an interesting reason for refining his vegetarian diet. He said he noticed that fish have eyes and quit eating them. That interesting way of looking at food made me wonder about what it is vegetarians actually should eat. Plants Penetrate Protein Marketplace

From 1954-1992, the FDA recommended the four basic food groups: meat proteins, beans, eggs, and nuts; dairy products; grains; and fruits and vegetables. The FDA uses the food pyramid, which recommends proper portioning of food. I have taught both ways, but I didn’t know much about vegetarian eating. How do vegetarians maintain their nutrient intake without eating meat and sometimes other foods, depending on the kind of vegetarian one becomes?

As a youngster, Alan Sage—scientist, rapper, and vegetarian—put up a fight against biology class dissections. He ate fish until he was about four years old, when he realized fish had eyes. As an adult, he discovered that plants react to glutamate, a neurotransmitter in the human brain, and this discovery tells us that plants have some evolutionary similarity to humans. His interpretation: Plants can think.

Would you like some ketchup with that? I wondered what it might mean to vegetarian philosophy if, through due scientific process, the notion that plants can think (and feel?) became a given. What would it mean to committed vegans and vegetarians?

If plants feel as animals do, will we start to think that eating things without eyes is discrimination against those that do?

These questions get to the very heart of why people are vegetarian in the first place. So, I asked this question on my Facebook page: “Are you a vegetarian? Or vegan? Or are you decidedly NEITHER? Why?”

Educators have a great responsibility to help our students learn to be themselves, be open to different experiences, and be accepting of others. This week’s Secret Lifer, Alan Sage, Vegetarian Scientist, shows us that he became who he is today because of these traits.

Alan takes his cue from Bob Dylan. I was incredibly inspired listening to Alan. He seems to have created his life exactly as Bob Dylan believed we should when he said, “All I can do is be me, whoever that is.”

Alan is a man who grew up understanding himself and accepting his…idiosyncrasies. From spending day upon day at the Subway Transit Museum in New York, to befriending the minority students in the other classes in his high school, to becoming a Jewish rapper, Mr. Sage shows us that being yourself can help you find your path in life.

He also spoke quite eloquently of the fact that he had no idea where he was going until a special molecular biology teacher opened his eyes to the possibilities of this field. I believe that his ability to be open to new ideas, such as rapping, allowed him to be open to learning and, consequently, becoming an Intel finalist, forever changing his life.

Listening to Alan reminds me that, as an educator, I can never be sure what might spark the interest of a child, what might change a life forever, what might be the trigger that gets them moving in a different direction. And my ultimate job is to help them stay open to the possibilities. So each new lesson, be it physics, history, writing, or even biology, must be presented with the excitement needed to start a young mind on the path to success. And isn’t that what teaching is all about?

Working long hours to complete his work for the Intel Science Talent Search, You can buy our love, Paul. (The_Admiralty) Alan probably needed “Eight Days A Week.” But he persevered with just seven and became a finalist in the competition, thanks to a little help from his parents and Paul McCartney. The musician and fellow vegetarian was so impressed with Alan and his animal-friendly scientist ways that he took the time to write him this letter. It made all of those endless days spent in the lab worth it. (And it made all of us jealous!)

Enough song references for you? Okay, okay…I’ll Let It Be.

All you need is Paul.

Freshman year of college is a dynamic time: in these first few months of transition into the “real world,” I’ve discovered a lot of new ways to bridge my science and my secret life.

Rap promoter, Cuzin Twiz. It all started when I asked myself the question: for what kind of scientific pursuit would a love for rap and hip-hop come in handy? The answer came to me as sociology, and in particular urban ethnography. This semester I’ve begun the process of conducting research in New Haven to write a book about New Haven rappers. I’ll be staying in the Elm City over the summer to continue doing interviews.

The process of interviewing New Haven rappers has been incredibly exhilarating. I’ve had the fortune to be invited by rappers to come into their neighborhoods and explore parts of New Haven most Yalies never see. It’s not always an easy task: one time, while waiting on a street corner to meet a rap promoter who was running a few minutes late, an older man approached me and escorted me out of the neighborhood, informing me that if I remained on the corner, I would surely be robbed.

More amazing than my own experiences in the research process, however, are the stories those involved in the hip-hop community tell me about their own lives. One rapper told me about the three deaths he witnessed in his childhood, one being his father, and how these events influenced him as an artist. One rap promoter told me about his experiences as a crack cocaine dealer and how he once escaped a shootout by using tactics he had learned playing high school football.

It remains to be seen whether I am more suited for research on the street or research in the lab.

It’s hard for me to imagine Alan as a youngster, willingly eating his veggies. My sister and I, loathe to eat our greens, used to push them around surreptitiously (and in revolt) until there were enough pockets of plate peeking through to make it appear as though we’d taken the required few bites. While I was pursuing the “Hamburglar” and all his meaty riches and happy meal toys, Alan was actively refusing all his tricks.

Popeye ate spinach for strength, but there’s no denying the many cognitive benefits of a diet rich in veggies. A New York Times article recently reported that a diet laden with greens can help slow the rate of mental decline. A 2006 study touted the same. Alan’s choice at a young age to become a vegetarian might mean he’ll maintain his smarts and brain function to a ripe old age. And that will buy him more time to earn a Nobel Peace Prize, something a great many Intel finalists aspire to and achieve. Keep eating those veggies, Alan! Eat your veggies, kids!

Although you might not know it from his videos, Alan Sage didn’t much like science until fairly recently. A creative juggernaut—in addition to his raps, he’s written many poems and several screenplays—Alan was sure he was going to have a career in the arts. Alan as a little guy, always creating worlds In fact, Alan had a healthy disdain for science that went far beyond his dislike of “gruesome killings.” Here’s a section from his interview where Alan describes the transformation in his thinking that led to his embrace of science:

“I think initially I was turned off by science simply because it didn’t seem beautiful or artistic. It didn’t seem like it was a creative process. You know, when you write a poem, you’re very much expressing your own universe through that poem. And science seemed like the polar opposite. While art is totally living in your own world, and being totally removed from the world, science is being totally involved in the world and paying attention to every single detail meticulously. But in a sense, I’ve come to see that they [art and science] are two sides of the same coin. When you’re working as a researcher, you’re looking at the world through so fine a lens that it almost becomes another world, just like with art. And in that sense, it’s very artistic. I mean, for example, a plant biologist very much lives on the plant’s schedule. You know, when he can go on vacation depends on when his plants have reached a certain time in their growth when he can no longer do experiments on them. So as a scientist, you’re not living in a world you created, but you’re also very much living in a different world. You’re living in the world of whatever you’re studying.”

You don’t have to be a scientist to raise a scientist. But you might have to sacrifice some sleep.

Our case in point is Alan Sage.

According to Alan, he didn’t really have a “science-y” childhood. His dad is an English teacher and his mom is an organist. Alan with his Mom and, of course, a train So while they exposed Alan to a wide range of great experiences, they, as Alan put it, “couldn’t help with problem sets.”

Of course, if you’ve watched Alan’s “Vegetarian Scientist?” video, you know that one of the experiences Alan’s folks exposed him to was the NYC Transit Museum. To feed Alan’s passion for anything and everything relating to the New York City subways, his dad took him to the museum over 1500 times during a five-year period! And Alan’s mom was a willing co-explorer whenever she and her son actually rode the subway to get from one place to another. As Alan explains:

You’d better ask Alan Sage some questions or else he’ll treat you like a vegetable (and I think we all know what that means!).

Use the comments, folks.

UPDATE: We are no longer taking more questions for Alan. But check out his answers in the comments. He may have answered a question you were going to ask!