When it comes to reading things, people nowadays don’t have a lot of patience. On the popular site Reddit, when a user tells a story, they will also post a one sentence “TL, DR” version, or “too long, didn’t read”. So writers who wish to keep an audience engaged throughout a full article must come up with creative ways to do so. This is exactly what writer Michael Pollan did in his 14 page New York Times article “Power Steer”. By beginning the story of No. 534, a young steer being raised for sale in the meat industry, the author gives the reader a specific connection that carries throughout the article. Instead of simply being told that there were many steers in a feedlot system, and picturing a giant mass of cattle, we are given one animal to take us on our journey throughout a livestock animal’s life. Pollan gives a detailed description of Poky Feeders, the feedlot where No. 534 was raised after being weaned from his mother. He describes the smell and how “cattle pens stretch to the horizons”. We then follow No. 534 from the stages in his life until the description of his inevitable death. Along the way, we learn that in No. 534’s short, sad life, he didn’t even produce much of a profit, as Pollan only made around three dollars from owning him. Although he was never given a name (the author made clear he didn’t want to think of him as a pet) Pollan still personified No. 534 by referring to “him” rather than “it”. Ultimately, by giving us specific details about the steer that he owned, Pollan produces a compelling piece of writing.