I have always been attracted to fruit – as a girl with a sweet tooth, I resonate with their endearing size, flavour profiles, and delicate ties to femininity. During reflection on which one in particular I wanted to write about, I cycled through my favourites; mangoes, apples, grapes … they were all meaningful to me, but what came to the forefront of my mind and stayed there wasn’t remarkable at all.
I don’t often have blueberries. It’s only when the circumstances perfectly align that they end up in my fridge and subsequently in my mouth – if there’s a sale I can’t ignore, a recipe I’m determined to follow, or a family member who made them appear in front of me. I specifically recall a recent memory where I was sitting at the kitchen table of my childhood home eating blueberries alone. I picked my way through the small blue fruits in the contrasting red bowl, rifling through to find the biggest, firmest, and most promising candidates. I remember seeing it as a gamble of flavours, a psychology experiment on associations between size and taste. If I felt particularly reckless, I would scoop up a handful and feel all the different flavours combine in my mouth. I was so inspired, in fact, that I took it upon myself to write my thoughts down in the form of a Notes app poem. Working a 9-5 internship made me feel uncreative and nostalgic of my more creative middle school times, so this is the product of such feelings:
if i was blueberry
i wonder if i’d still be small
i wonder if people would avoid me in the crowd, opting to pick my bigger counterpart
i wonder if finally, at the end, they would take the risk and spear through my soft skin
or if they would throw me away
i wonder if when they break through my flesh with their teeth
they would be pleasantly surprised by my sweetness
or if they would cringe from the tartness, and live the rest of their life avoiding other small blueberries
if i was a blueberry i wonder if you would still choose me first
Although this piece is unsophisticated and unnecessarily romantic, I learned that blueberries truly do evoke much from me. Blueberries afford me imperfection. Among a world of perfectly GMO’d fruits and perfectly edited lives, blueberries connect me to nature in a way that Susannah’s Apples did for her. They provide me with variety and natural bursts of joy that still manage to reach my overloaded dopamine receptors. They are a constant in my life, regardless of if I realize it or not. They top my yogurt, colour my smoothies, and are a delightful contrast in desserts. They are not my favourite, and they are not always the tastiest. Even among the cartons labeled Jumbo XL Sweet Blueberries, at least a few are bound to disappoint. Nonetheless, their flaws are exactly what makes them blueberries, and without the ones left squished at the bottom of the carton and the risk that comes with each bite, there is no experience being evoked – it all becomes quite boring.
The blueberry mediates my view on life and how life views me. In my tumultuous age within our current world, I find myself, more often than not, unconfident. Unsure about my place in my life, the workplace, and the world. In these times, it brings me comfort to consider the similarities between me and a little blue fruit. The blueberry also has a body, and moves through its life based on, and through, its body. Unfortunately, it also gets judged on its appearance, and predetermined stereotypes determine its fate. Despite all this, it thrives! And it does this without all the unique capabilities that we have as humans. The blueberry is its own medium and the final product. It does not have the privilege of embodiment, the dynamic living experience of being a blueberry – it simply is. Wegenstein notes in her chapter on Body that online personas, cosmetic surgery, fashion and architecture as mediums demonstrate that “current trends of thinking” about the body aim to nullify the rise of disembodiment in modern culture. Through the way we edit and adjust our own body and what it produces, we are able to control our experiences and design our life. This is how we end up with human experiences, rather than blueberry experiences.
In this sense, blueberries afford me gratitude – appreciation of my uniquely human features, the dexterity of my fingers to create art, the earlobes that I intentionally pierced to make space for dangly jewelry, the still-developing brain that I fill with knowledge and skills. Wegenstein writes that our bodies, now mediated through technology, fashion, and self-representation, are not fixed but dynamic sites of creation – tools through which we experience, express, and even redesign life. Yet, as Mandel and Cézanne suggest, there is beauty in remaining tethered to the soil, in recognizing that even the most mediated body is still material. In the same way that Susannah’s apples ground her in a sensual awareness of being “part fruit, part earth,” my blueberries remind me that embodiment is a continuous act of negotiation between nature, self, and medium. The blueberry, then, becomes my counterpoint to digital disembodiment: a reminder of imperfection, decay, and the sweetness or tartness that cannot be filtered or replicated. Now when I encounter one, I feel my own presence with the world – how I consume it, and how it, in turn, shapes me. In this quiet exchange between fruit and flesh, I find an embodied media experience: a small affirmation that I am still here, still part of the earth, still alive.
Turkle, Sherry. “WHAT MAKES AN OBJECT EVOCATIVE? .” pp. 307–326.
Wegenstein, Bernadette. “Body.” Critical Terms for Media Studies, pp. 19–34.
Hi Dea,
First of all, your poem is lovely and I don’t think it’s ‘unnecessarily romantic’ as you say but I might be biased because I’m a sucker for this kind of romanticism. Secondly, I completely get your feelings about fruits because I too, have always loved them. I think the way you chose to approach this is very interesting. I would have never thought to approach writing about blueberries through an interpretation of Wegenstein’s ‘Body’ but after reading your piece, it seems to make perfect sense. I also really liked the part about how blueberries helps you make sense of your own embodiment, and the way you seamlessly connected it to digital disembodiment was really impressive!
Also the ‘This is how we end up with human experiences, rather than blueberry experiences.’ was so cute, I really loved reading this piece!
Hi Insha, thank you for your comment and reassurance! I think the fact that we both have an intuitive, unspoken connection with fruit for unspecified reasons is a really interesting addition to how our selves and bodies are mediated through what we consume (literally and figuratively). There has definitely been an online trend of connecting femininity with dainty and consumable objects, but this assignment was an insightful way for me to reflect what blueberries evoke from me on a deeper level — and I’m glad it resonated with you as well 🙂
Hi Dea！
I found your reflection on blueberries fascinating — not only because of how personal it felt, but also because of how you used the fruit as a philosophical lens to think about embodiment. The line where you write that “the blueberry is its own medium and the final product” really stood out to me. It made me consider how human self-representation, as Wegenstein suggests, often depends on mediation and reconstruction, while the blueberry simply *is*. There’s something quietly radical about that comparison — as if you’re contrasting the human desire to modify with nature’s acceptance of imperfection.
I also liked how your narrative bridged the sensory and the theoretical. The tactile act of sorting through blueberries became a metaphor for negotiating identity and value in a world obsessed with perfection. Your reflection reminded me that embodiment isn’t only about having a body, but about learning to live through it — to accept decay, sweetness, and surprise as part of the same experience.
Hi Nicole, thank you for the thought-provoking comment! I really appreciate you pointing out the line of “blueberry is its own medium and the final product”, as this is a concept that has stayed relevant to me throughout the whole course. Self-representation and self-mediation is a uniquely human trait, and the only reason we are able to discuss and analyze complex concept such as embodiment and expression is precisely because we are human. This assignment was a reflective way for me to appreciate the abilities we have that we often take for granted, and I’m glad it connected with you!
Hi Dea! I love this so much, especially describing our experiences as ‘human rather than a blueberry experience,’ I thought that was cute! I could totally relate to your sentiment of blueberries not being the first choice, but being conveniently a constant in your routine.
I love how you explain that their flaws are what resonate the most amidst a digital culture where it is so easy to get roped into Western-centric stereotypes and trends.
I also appreciated your poem! It is beautifully written and I would love to know more about how blueberries might have also afforded you with that creativity and childlike wonder when writing it!
Hi Ela, thank you for the cheerful comment! I am glad the concept of blueberries not being a favourite, but being a constant, was relevant to you, as a big reason why I chose this fruit is due to the assumption that most people have similar experiences. I appreciate that you pointed out the childlike creativity that this assignment brought out of me, and it was definitely one of the biggest emotions that were evoked by this simple object. It was exciting to see how much I was able to write about something I didn’t know I was passionate about, and I’m definitely looking forward to applying these concepts in the future!
Hi Dea! This was such a lovely read! I really liked how you wove together theory and personal experience without ever losing the emotional thread. The blueberry as a metaphor for embodiment and imperfection was so clear, and the poem from your notes app added this layer of intimacy that made the piece feel very real. I also appreciated how you connected the sensory act of eating with larger ideas about being and self-perception. It made me think about how everyday gestures can carry so much meaning.
Hi Nate, thank you for your in-depth comment! I really appreciate you noticing how I attempted to keep the narrative consistent through abstract emotional concepts to concrete media theories, it was definitely a fun challenge to try and address. I’m glad each aspect of this essay resonated with you, and I find it interesting how each layer of media and its source adds onto the overarching message of an object and what it evokes — not just from me, but from whoever this new piece of media reaches.
Great post Dea! It was obviously a really emotionally charged object for you and your poem was so lovely. Your vulnerability actually made me reflect on blueberries and how they play into my own life. Like you, I’ve got a sweet tooth, and I relate blueberries to the pancakes my grandma made me as a kid. Your analysis is really well-articulated and really opened my eyes to the role that something as simple as a blueberry can play.
I really enjoyed how you tied the blueberries to authenticity. It’s such a refreshing way to look at the variation of quality in pints of blueberries especially considering the rampant wastefulness of big-box stores that throw out perfectly good fruit because it doesn’t look perfect. The main theme I took away from your post is “it’s what’s inside that counts” and this is such a unique way to convey such a classic and important message.
Hi Molly, thank you for your kind comment! I’m so glad to see that my work evoked past memories from you, and that you were able to abstract a simple but important message out of my written amalgamation of media concepts. I definitely wrote this with the material waste of produce in mind, as well as how some humans may feel similarly disregarded in society due to their appearance. From a personal perspective, I’ve found that reflecting on my self-expression and mediation abilities affords me a sense of power that non-sentient objects don’t have, and this is something that I have to remember to be grateful for.
Hi Dea, I loved reading this post! I also like fruit but often avoid buying them as I find them unpredictable due to the variation in texture and taste among different pieces. I relate a lot to your experience of picking through blueberries to find the most appealing ones. Although this is an aspect of fruit that I don’t really enjoy, your post reminded me that this natural variation is what makes the experience of eating them enjoyable and exciting. I like how you connected a simple object like blueberries to the human body in terms of how they ground you in reality and how they help you appreciate your unique self.
Hi Adela, thank you for sharing your relatable experiences! This piece relied on the assumption that everyone shared my mild opinion on blueberries, but I’m glad I was able to provide positive insights and share my perspective. The unpredictability of blueberries and other natural foods are what turns many people away from them and towards, repetitive, consistent tastes of manufactured foods, but I definitely think this aspect of blueberries can ground us to the natural world in a way that many people yearn for.
Hi Dea! I really enjoyed reading your post, it felt so tender and thoughtful! The way you used blueberries as a metaphor for imperfection and embodiment was both relatable and profound. I especially loved how you captures vulnerability so simply yet powerfully. It reminded me how small, ordinary things can reflect deep emotional truths. Your reflection on the blueberry’s flaws connecting to authenticity in digital culture also stood out — it’s such a refreshing perspective. It made me think about how we, too, are shaped by what feels imperfect or overlooked.
Hi Christina, thank you for your insightful comment! I appreciate you pointing out the emphasis on vulnerability — it’s a concept that was definitely woven into this piece whether I intended to or not. I find that people’s relationships with fruits are often intimate, and the experience I discussed (eating blueberries from a red bowl in my childhood home) sticks with me for the very reason that it’s a personal and close memory. These are the kinds of natural, authentic experiences I believe we are in a shortage of in our digital culture.
Hi Dea! First of all, I want to say how much I enjoyed reading your work. The poem was so full of innocence but at the same time felt like profound wisdom. When I first started reading, I imagined this post would take us through something like a memory of a grandparent’s blueberry muffin recipe. It positively surprised me to read about how you placed yourself as a blueberry instead! Its also so curious to read about how this evocative object is not something permanent and unique, but something that goes through an entire lifecycle of being a flower, to being eaten, or decayed or stepped on in a farm, and something that can be found in bulk at a store.
I also find it interesting how you connected the blueberry to the body and how a fruit can never “know embodiment”
Hi there, thank you for your kind comment! I definitely didn’t intend to spout profound wisdom but I’m glad my little media creations brought you good feelings and new pieces of knowledge. Referencing your comment on the lifecyle of an object, I found that Ingold’s view on objects as “references of life” also relates heavily to this idea evocative objects, and I’m glad you were able to extract this sense of natural mortality as a positive thought from my writing!