1. A one paragraph precis of 125 words or less - Michael Moore's 125 word version of the film, proportional to the film:
The movie sicko by Michael Moore was a comparrison of the united states health care system compared to Canada, the United Kingdom and France. He goes and talks to many different families about their issues with the american health care system. Most of the responses from americans about the health care were not good ones in terms of how much they liked the health care. When people in the other countries were asked they only had good things to say about their health care.
2.)
a.) Argument: People who actually need health care are being denied it.
b.) only 250 million americans have health insurance
c and d.)
In the CNN article, CNN Gupta Fact Checks Michael Moore's sicko, by Brad Wilmouth Dr. Sanjay Gupta tries to in a way prove Michael Moore wrong. He looks at Michael Moore's facts and replaces what he thinks are the correct facts with what Dr. Gupta claims to be the "correct facts. He seems to find a lot of errors in Michael Moore's movie. In the article it states, Cooper: "You know, let's be honest. Insurance companies are for-profit businesses, and the way they maximize profits is by minimizing payments. Isn't that correct?" This quote is showing that the insurance companies are doing whats best for them in terms of making money. The more claims that the insurance company denies the more money that they save which eventually adds up to more money that they make. This is a huge reason why so many americans are living without health care. There have been many moments in the movie sicko where they showed people who had real needs for health care but were denied it because the health care industry wanted to save some money. What kind of country do we live in where the people who are supposed to be giving us care are doing what ever they can to try and take that care away from the people.
3.Response-
The most important thing for me in the movie that really caught my eye was the interviews he did with the people. I feel that he really showed us what it was like for average people trying to live in America and all of the struggles that they have to go through just to survive. This movie affected my perspective of dominant social practices in the way that it really made me think about the big corporations. I always thought that health insurance was something that should be a right for all people and no one should be without health insurance. I also thought that at least some insurance companies were trying to help out the people but this movie showed me that the companies are only trying to find bigger and better ways to make money even if that means denying an american in need of health insurance.
Monday, December 20, 2010
HW 24 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 3
Precis:
The book Tuesdays with Morrie ended in the way that I assumed it would, Morrie passed on. Although everyone knew that Morrie was going to die like Morrie said nobody wanted to accept his death. Morrie and Mitches relationship became stronger then ever. But so did Morrie and Ted's relationship, Ted became very comfortable around morrie and so did Morrie around Ted. Instead of Morrie giving Ted answers that he wouldnt really understand they learned to speak more in eachothers language and learned to understand eachother more.
Insightful quotes: Koppel: "You did a good job" Morrie: "I gave you what I had".(pg.163)
This is showing that instead of it being just an interview on profesional terms it became more of a personal relationship. You can see this because Ted congratulated morrie on an interview. Usually they would say thank you but not tell them that they did a good job because that shows a sign of comfort because he felt comfortable enough to give him the truth as a friend.
"Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others".(pg.165)
This quote was particularly insightful for me because when he says you have to forgive yourself before you forgive others it really makes me wonder, forgive yourself for what? Should you forgive yourself for every bad thing that you have ever done?
"It's not contagious, you know. Death is as natural as life. It's part of the deal we made".(pg.172)
This quote shows that death is a part of life. The real main consequence to life is dying. If you want to accept a good life you also have to accept the fact taht with a good life there will still be the consequence of death.
This book really made me think about how I look at life. Even though Morrie had such a life threatening disease he still had a postive outlook on life. He made me realize that no matter how bad things get my situation is not even close to his. I have realized that through Morries knowledge that life is something that needs to be looked on positively. Through morries hard times he got all of the love and friendship that he needed and even while he was dying that was enough to make him happy during his last few weeks that he had to live.
The book Tuesdays with Morrie ended in the way that I assumed it would, Morrie passed on. Although everyone knew that Morrie was going to die like Morrie said nobody wanted to accept his death. Morrie and Mitches relationship became stronger then ever. But so did Morrie and Ted's relationship, Ted became very comfortable around morrie and so did Morrie around Ted. Instead of Morrie giving Ted answers that he wouldnt really understand they learned to speak more in eachothers language and learned to understand eachother more.
Insightful quotes: Koppel: "You did a good job" Morrie: "I gave you what I had".(pg.163)
This is showing that instead of it being just an interview on profesional terms it became more of a personal relationship. You can see this because Ted congratulated morrie on an interview. Usually they would say thank you but not tell them that they did a good job because that shows a sign of comfort because he felt comfortable enough to give him the truth as a friend.
"Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others".(pg.165)
This quote was particularly insightful for me because when he says you have to forgive yourself before you forgive others it really makes me wonder, forgive yourself for what? Should you forgive yourself for every bad thing that you have ever done?
"It's not contagious, you know. Death is as natural as life. It's part of the deal we made".(pg.172)
This quote shows that death is a part of life. The real main consequence to life is dying. If you want to accept a good life you also have to accept the fact taht with a good life there will still be the consequence of death.
This book really made me think about how I look at life. Even though Morrie had such a life threatening disease he still had a postive outlook on life. He made me realize that no matter how bad things get my situation is not even close to his. I have realized that through Morries knowledge that life is something that needs to be looked on positively. Through morries hard times he got all of the love and friendship that he needed and even while he was dying that was enough to make him happy during his last few weeks that he had to live.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
HW 23 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 2
Precis: In the second 1/3 of the book tuesdays with Morrie you really start to notice a big difference on Morrie's state of health. He has become much more weak and less able to do every day tasks. At this point Mitch is still going to see him every tuesday. Mitch usually brings food for Morrie which he would normally eat but now since he is getting more sick Morrie hasn't even had enough strength to eat the food that he brings him. When Morrie talks he usually is very enthusiastic and likes to use hand gestures when he speaks. Since the disease has worsened Morrie can no longer do that. He is in a way starting to shut down.
Insightful quotes:
1.) Morrie, " Everyone knows that they are going to die but nobody believes it".( pg.80)
When I was reading the book this quote actually made me stop right away. It is true that everyone at some time will die, but nobody really wants to come to terms with the fact that it will actually happen to them. People like to think that they will live on and on but it is not true and they don't want to believe it is not true.
2.)Morrie, "Well, the truth is if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, then you might not be as ambitious as you are".(pg.83)
This quote to me is saying that if you listen to all the negative things that could happen when you do something then you will never want to do it. So if you listen to what everyone tells you then you will never excel in life.
3.)Morrie, "Learn how to die, and you learn how to live". (pg.83)
This quote really caught my eye. I think what he is saying is that if you accept death then your life will be much more happy and you will really know what it is like to live.
In the middle 1/3rd of the book the way that the characters think about illness and dying has changed. Instead of being angry about it they have in a way learned to accept it. I can relate to this because when i was younger I was always thinking that me and my family could never die and nothing bad would ever happen to us. Then I came to terms with the fact that it was not true, something can go wrong and i can lose a family member at anytime. You just really need to cherish the time you have with those family members. This relates to Morrie's idea of not listening to the little bird on your shoulder, that is true because if you do you will never live life to the fullest.
Insightful quotes:
1.) Morrie, " Everyone knows that they are going to die but nobody believes it".( pg.80)
When I was reading the book this quote actually made me stop right away. It is true that everyone at some time will die, but nobody really wants to come to terms with the fact that it will actually happen to them. People like to think that they will live on and on but it is not true and they don't want to believe it is not true.
2.)Morrie, "Well, the truth is if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, then you might not be as ambitious as you are".(pg.83)
This quote to me is saying that if you listen to all the negative things that could happen when you do something then you will never want to do it. So if you listen to what everyone tells you then you will never excel in life.
3.)Morrie, "Learn how to die, and you learn how to live". (pg.83)
This quote really caught my eye. I think what he is saying is that if you accept death then your life will be much more happy and you will really know what it is like to live.
In the middle 1/3rd of the book the way that the characters think about illness and dying has changed. Instead of being angry about it they have in a way learned to accept it. I can relate to this because when i was younger I was always thinking that me and my family could never die and nothing bad would ever happen to us. Then I came to terms with the fact that it was not true, something can go wrong and i can lose a family member at anytime. You just really need to cherish the time you have with those family members. This relates to Morrie's idea of not listening to the little bird on your shoulder, that is true because if you do you will never live life to the fullest.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
HW 22 - Illness & Dying Book Part 1
Precis:
In the book tuesdays with morrie by Mitch Albom the main topic is about death and how to deal with it. Morrie is a man who has a disease that goes by the name of Lou Gehrig's disease. In the first 60 pages of the book you really get a good insight on what it is like to experience death. Moirrie talks about how he deals with death and everything that comes with it. He explains how he feels and how he tries to make the best out of his situation. On page 21 Morrie says, "When this all started, I asked myself, am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live? I decided i'm going to live- or at least try to live-the best way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure". This just goes to show you that he wants enjoy the time that he has left, he doesn't want to sit around and complain about death, he wants to live his remaining days in happiness.
Insightful quotes:
1.) Ted,"So how do you know things are going downhill?" Morrie,"Nobody can know it but me Ted, but I know it". (pg. 69-70)
-This quote for me was particularly interesting because although there is evidence from doctors that Morrie is very sick he still believes that only he can know when things are really starting to get bad.
2.) "Listen, I have to pee. Would you mind helping? Are you okay with that?". (pg.11)
- What this is showing is that even with this disease he is still comfortable to ask people for help. It shows that he is comfortable and doesn't to be treated any differently.
3.) "You know Mitch, now that i'm dying i've become more interesting to people".(pg.32)
- This to me makes it seem like you don't really know how good something is until its either gone or you know that it's getting taken away from you.
Morrie and Mitches relationship reminds me of me and my 4th and 5th grade teachers relationship. His name is Themi and he was just like Morrie in my opinion. He is a nice sweet kind hearted and intelligent man who thought of me as his favorite student. Like Mitch I would often go out of my way to spend extra time with Themi and help him when he was in need. Themi was a teacher for about 15 or 16 years and he retired 2 years ago. Out of all the former students he had I was the only one who showed up at his retirement party. Similar to Mitch being Morries only former student who came to visit him while he was ill. Teachers like this come along once in a life time and when they do you have to make the best out of your time with them, because trust me you will miss those moments that you had with him or her, I miss having Themi as a teacher every day.
Albom, Mitch. tuesdays with Morrie. 1. New York: Doubleday, 1997. Print.
In the book tuesdays with morrie by Mitch Albom the main topic is about death and how to deal with it. Morrie is a man who has a disease that goes by the name of Lou Gehrig's disease. In the first 60 pages of the book you really get a good insight on what it is like to experience death. Moirrie talks about how he deals with death and everything that comes with it. He explains how he feels and how he tries to make the best out of his situation. On page 21 Morrie says, "When this all started, I asked myself, am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live? I decided i'm going to live- or at least try to live-the best way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure". This just goes to show you that he wants enjoy the time that he has left, he doesn't want to sit around and complain about death, he wants to live his remaining days in happiness.
Insightful quotes:
1.) Ted,"So how do you know things are going downhill?" Morrie,"Nobody can know it but me Ted, but I know it". (pg. 69-70)
-This quote for me was particularly interesting because although there is evidence from doctors that Morrie is very sick he still believes that only he can know when things are really starting to get bad.
2.) "Listen, I have to pee. Would you mind helping? Are you okay with that?". (pg.11)
- What this is showing is that even with this disease he is still comfortable to ask people for help. It shows that he is comfortable and doesn't to be treated any differently.
3.) "You know Mitch, now that i'm dying i've become more interesting to people".(pg.32)
- This to me makes it seem like you don't really know how good something is until its either gone or you know that it's getting taken away from you.
Morrie and Mitches relationship reminds me of me and my 4th and 5th grade teachers relationship. His name is Themi and he was just like Morrie in my opinion. He is a nice sweet kind hearted and intelligent man who thought of me as his favorite student. Like Mitch I would often go out of my way to spend extra time with Themi and help him when he was in need. Themi was a teacher for about 15 or 16 years and he retired 2 years ago. Out of all the former students he had I was the only one who showed up at his retirement party. Similar to Mitch being Morries only former student who came to visit him while he was ill. Teachers like this come along once in a life time and when they do you have to make the best out of your time with them, because trust me you will miss those moments that you had with him or her, I miss having Themi as a teacher every day.
Albom, Mitch. tuesdays with Morrie. 1. New York: Doubleday, 1997. Print.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Hw 21 - Comments
Alex,
I really like your insights of how someone can be completely fine one day and have a horrible illness the next day. It is very interesting that the word death wasn't used around Eric because he was in denial. Do you think that he was in denial about his death in general or in denial about losing all the important things that he had in life?
Evan,
I'm sorry to hear that you had to watch your grandmother pass away slowly. Like you my grandmother is very sick right now and has been for some time now. I know how you feel, it is horrible to have to watch someone you love suffer like that. I do agree with your insight of how someone can do so much good for the world and then the world can kill them. It's very unfair but i guess that's just how life goes. Very good post in all though.
I really like your insights of how someone can be completely fine one day and have a horrible illness the next day. It is very interesting that the word death wasn't used around Eric because he was in denial. Do you think that he was in denial about his death in general or in denial about losing all the important things that he had in life?
Evan,
I'm sorry to hear that you had to watch your grandmother pass away slowly. Like you my grandmother is very sick right now and has been for some time now. I know how you feel, it is horrible to have to watch someone you love suffer like that. I do agree with your insight of how someone can do so much good for the world and then the world can kill them. It's very unfair but i guess that's just how life goes. Very good post in all though.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
HW 21 - Expert #1
Important insights:
1.) She loved him so much and cared about him so much that for 9 months she stayed with him while he was sick.
2.) He didn't get get insurance till 7 months after he was diagnosed with cancer.
3.) He was trying to push death away.
My first important insight was chosen because I have personal experience with this. My fathers best friends wife is living with brain cancer and her husband(my dads friend) tries takes her to the best hospitals in the United States and will do anything to get her better. Although I was not here to listen to evan's mother I do understand what they are going through. It is a horrible burden to have on yourself to be put in these situations. I feel that you just have to think about the good times that were had but try to accept your loss. From the notes I received beth did seem to deal with the loss well and of course she will still miss him for ever but it is good that she is learning to cope with her loss.
One thing that surprised me was that he couldn't get insurance until 7 months after he was diagnosed with his cancer. I think that people who have cancer should be treated no matter what. It is not fair that just because you can afford insurance and health care that you should be treated but someone who is just as sick if not sicker cant get the treatment they need because they cant afford it. In a country that is "a super power" we should at least be able to give our people something as meaningful as health care for free.
1.) She loved him so much and cared about him so much that for 9 months she stayed with him while he was sick.
2.) He didn't get get insurance till 7 months after he was diagnosed with cancer.
3.) He was trying to push death away.
My first important insight was chosen because I have personal experience with this. My fathers best friends wife is living with brain cancer and her husband(my dads friend) tries takes her to the best hospitals in the United States and will do anything to get her better. Although I was not here to listen to evan's mother I do understand what they are going through. It is a horrible burden to have on yourself to be put in these situations. I feel that you just have to think about the good times that were had but try to accept your loss. From the notes I received beth did seem to deal with the loss well and of course she will still miss him for ever but it is good that she is learning to cope with her loss.
One thing that surprised me was that he couldn't get insurance until 7 months after he was diagnosed with his cancer. I think that people who have cancer should be treated no matter what. It is not fair that just because you can afford insurance and health care that you should be treated but someone who is just as sick if not sicker cant get the treatment they need because they cant afford it. In a country that is "a super power" we should at least be able to give our people something as meaningful as health care for free.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
HW 19 - Family Perspectives on Illness & Dying
When I saw this assignment I decided to go interview my dad first. The reason I thought to interview him first was because he has had a lot people close to him pass away so I thought he would have a lot interesting things to say. When I asked my dad if he was afraid to die he said that like me he used to be but then as he lived his life he said that he came more to terms with the fact that dying is the price you have to pay to live. He does have very strong opinions on people dying though. Since so many of his good friends died at such young ages my dad thinks that death is a very unfair thing. He believes that people who have only done good and done what they could to benefit others should not die at such a young age. But the people who are selfish and do the wrong thing a lot should be the ones in that position. I agree completely with that, it is not fair for someone who has tried to do good all their life to get it all taken away from them for no reason.
When I went and talk to my mom her answers were similar to my dads but different at the same time. Unlike my dad my mom hasn't had as much experience with death but when she has it hurt her terribly. When I asked her what was the worst experience with death she had she told me it was when her father died. My mother and her mother didn't have the best relationship but she had an amazing relationship with her dad. She said that when she lost her dad the sadness went on for a while and she still thinks about him all the time. This made me think because my biggest fear is losing my parents. I just don't know what I would do with out them. My mom felt the same way about losing her father, she said that you get used to not having them around but you never get rid of the feeling of wanting to see them or hear their voice one more time.
In concussion both me and my parents do have very similar views about death. I feel that they influenced me a great deal with my views of death. In my interviews there were very few things that I was surprised about in terms of their views on the topic. Since they have always taught me to cherish my loved ones that really impacts how I feel about losing loved ones. This just goes to show you that your parents have a really big impact on how you view life and death even if you don't think that they do. It also shows that you really don't know how good something is until its gone from your life.
When I went and talk to my mom her answers were similar to my dads but different at the same time. Unlike my dad my mom hasn't had as much experience with death but when she has it hurt her terribly. When I asked her what was the worst experience with death she had she told me it was when her father died. My mother and her mother didn't have the best relationship but she had an amazing relationship with her dad. She said that when she lost her dad the sadness went on for a while and she still thinks about him all the time. This made me think because my biggest fear is losing my parents. I just don't know what I would do with out them. My mom felt the same way about losing her father, she said that you get used to not having them around but you never get rid of the feeling of wanting to see them or hear their voice one more time.
In concussion both me and my parents do have very similar views about death. I feel that they influenced me a great deal with my views of death. In my interviews there were very few things that I was surprised about in terms of their views on the topic. Since they have always taught me to cherish my loved ones that really impacts how I feel about losing loved ones. This just goes to show you that your parents have a really big impact on how you view life and death even if you don't think that they do. It also shows that you really don't know how good something is until its gone from your life.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
HW 18 - Health & Illness & Feasting
Ahhh thanksgiving time. When I think of thanksgiving I think of the "3 F's", Feasting, Family, and Football. This holiday always makes me feel happy and comfortable because I am surrounded by all those who love me. Usually on thanksgiving I have my whole "family" which would include cousins distant cousins and random assorted aunts and uncles. About a week before thanksgiving I was informed it would just be me, my mom, my dad my brother and my 1st cousins and aunt and uncle. When I asked why I was told that some of my family members were feuding with each other. I don't understand how at a time when family is supposed to come together my family just didn't even wanna be in each others presence. Every thanksgiving I do always feel bad that I have never had a thanksgiving with my grandmother. She has been in a nursing home ever since I was little so it is really sad to not have thanksgiving with her.
This year since thanksgiving was held at my house my mother got the great job of preparing the feast. The only part that I hate about thanksgiving is the anticipation for the food to come. You find yourself sitting in a room talking to your family for hours. At first your having a good time and then half way through the conversation you just really start to get hungry. I feel like I am starting to get rude since all of my responses end up just being one word. When the food comes tho the satisfaction that comes from it is worth the wait. This was the first thanksgiving where I actually sat down at a table and ate. Usually everyone is crowded on the couches watching TV. After I ate I thought I was never going to be able to eat food again or I would explode. That feeling lasted me about an hour until it was time to eat pie.
Finally the other thing that really makes up thanksgiving for me is watching a good football game. Usually my family sits around the TV and claims that they are watching the game, when really only me and my uncle pay attention. When everyone come we all say hello and then I get right back to my game. My dad always says that its fine to have the game on when people are here, but then everyone ends up just talking to each other and they claim that the TV is "so loud they cant here each other". I would like to say so then move, but I cant. So this forces me to not even be able to watch football on thanksgiving. That is until everyone starts to eat then I usually try and sneak peaks at the game.
This year since thanksgiving was held at my house my mother got the great job of preparing the feast. The only part that I hate about thanksgiving is the anticipation for the food to come. You find yourself sitting in a room talking to your family for hours. At first your having a good time and then half way through the conversation you just really start to get hungry. I feel like I am starting to get rude since all of my responses end up just being one word. When the food comes tho the satisfaction that comes from it is worth the wait. This was the first thanksgiving where I actually sat down at a table and ate. Usually everyone is crowded on the couches watching TV. After I ate I thought I was never going to be able to eat food again or I would explode. That feeling lasted me about an hour until it was time to eat pie.
Finally the other thing that really makes up thanksgiving for me is watching a good football game. Usually my family sits around the TV and claims that they are watching the game, when really only me and my uncle pay attention. When everyone come we all say hello and then I get right back to my game. My dad always says that its fine to have the game on when people are here, but then everyone ends up just talking to each other and they claim that the TV is "so loud they cant here each other". I would like to say so then move, but I cant. So this forces me to not even be able to watch football on thanksgiving. That is until everyone starts to eat then I usually try and sneak peaks at the game.
Monday, November 22, 2010
HW 17 - First Thoughts on the Illness & Dying Unit
Illness and dying have always been very significant topics through out the course of my life. Ever since I was young the thought of dying has always been a scary thought for me. The thought that there will be a point where you will die and not experience life is a scary thing to imagine. But as for the thought of getting sick it is not a scary. When I was young I took getting sick as just another opportunity to get off of school. Now on the other hand I feel that I cant afford to get sick during the week or else I will miss something important. The reason that I am not afraid of getting an illness is because I just don't think I am going to get one. But there I am just talking about the flu or a cold, on the other hand i am very afraid of getting a life threatening illness.
Some experience that I have had with death and illness is that about a year and a half ago my fathers best friend Sherman Darby passed away from cancer. Sherman was possibly the greatest person that I have ever met in my entire life. He was kind and would put everyone before himself no matter what. When someone like that dies of a disease like cancer it makes it so much worse because he did not deserve to get such a horrible disease. Another experience I have had is that my aunt passed away from leukemia when I was around 11. This again is an example of someone who got taken by such a horrible disease for no reason. I know that some people think that everything happens for a reason, but in these cases I feel that there was no reason for this to happen. These weren't bad people who deserved anything like this in there lives, so then why did they have this happen to them?
The way that my family approaches these topics are pretty similar to mine. They figure that death is something that is going to happen to everyone at some time. Although like me they don't like the thought that one day they will die they have come to terms with the fact that it will happen. I feel that the thought of my family dying scares me more then the thought of me dying. I feel that if my family dies then I wont really have anyone to be close to. I am sure my family feels the same way about this topic when it comes to losing me or another family member. I feel that the loss of a family member has much more of an impact on your life then the loss of a friend. They both hurt but one of this is more personal since those are the people that matter to you most in life.
Some experience that I have had with death and illness is that about a year and a half ago my fathers best friend Sherman Darby passed away from cancer. Sherman was possibly the greatest person that I have ever met in my entire life. He was kind and would put everyone before himself no matter what. When someone like that dies of a disease like cancer it makes it so much worse because he did not deserve to get such a horrible disease. Another experience I have had is that my aunt passed away from leukemia when I was around 11. This again is an example of someone who got taken by such a horrible disease for no reason. I know that some people think that everything happens for a reason, but in these cases I feel that there was no reason for this to happen. These weren't bad people who deserved anything like this in there lives, so then why did they have this happen to them?
The way that my family approaches these topics are pretty similar to mine. They figure that death is something that is going to happen to everyone at some time. Although like me they don't like the thought that one day they will die they have come to terms with the fact that it will happen. I feel that the thought of my family dying scares me more then the thought of me dying. I feel that if my family dies then I wont really have anyone to be close to. I am sure my family feels the same way about this topic when it comes to losing me or another family member. I feel that the loss of a family member has much more of an impact on your life then the loss of a friend. They both hurt but one of this is more personal since those are the people that matter to you most in life.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
HW 11 - Final Food Project 1
For this assignment I have decided to choose option a which was for us to be experiential (change diet, change shopping, change how you prepare food, how you eat). I chose to change three things which were to change my meals, what I had to drink and where I purchased my food from. For two days I am deciding to eat meals that don't have meat in them, I am trying to drink things that aren't loaded with sugar and I am trying to shop either at a supermarket or a whole foods. In these two days of changing my eating habits I am going to try and resist the temptation to eat things that I am not allowed to while gathering my evidence. This connects to our unit on food because it has made me realize that what I usually eat isn't exactly healthy for me even know I may like it. This is giving me a chance to see if I depend on eating the foods that I would normally have on a daily basis.
The first thing I am going to talk about is the struggle that I had while trying change my eating habits. The first thing that I had to do was pick up all of my "healthy" foods. I went to whole foods and got a bunch of pasta, cheese, salad materials, and some other things my mom picked out. That was the easy part, the hard part was actually coming to terms with the fact that I couldn't snack on any junk food when I went to a deli with friends. When I saw my friends eating their candy and chocolate it really made the whole eating healthy experience a lot harder. When you know you cant have something and people around you have it, it's definitely very hard to resist it. Also when you cant eat meat your eating options around school are very limited since basically everywhere i go for lunch has meat in their food. So I had to get pizza since that was the only place around the school that I liked that didn't have meat in it.This also connects to changing what I drink because with these meals you want to have a drink and since I am trying to drink things with little sugar I had to have an orange juice (which doesn't go well with pizza). Since the things that don't have sugar in them are very limited you also have to chose a meal sometimes according to what you can drink with it.
The second day I focused on what meals I would prepare for myself. Since most of the food my mom got me(mostly vegetables) wasn't very appealing I was going to make myself spaghetti. Since I am a very picky eater there are few things that don't have meat that I will eat. Spaghetti being my favorite non meat food(and one of the only foods I know how to make) I decided to make that. I prepared this meal no differently then I would have prepared any other. I don't think that this really has an impact on the way I prepared it since there is no way for me to disrupt my goal if I just make spaghetti normally since nothing that I should not be eating isn't being added. When I was making it I thought to myself how I actually do depend on eating meat since I am so picky that there isn't a lot that i am willing to eat and i don't want to have to eat spaghetti 4 times a day.
After this whole experience ended I did end up going back to eating meat. Actually I went to Mcdonald's and got a big mac. I thought that this unit would change the way that I think about food and in some ways it did but in some ways it didn't. It definitely didn't change it in the way that if i desire a certain food i will go and eat it no matter how it was prepared. The one thing that this unit did make me change tho was how much of this food I am going to eat. I will definitly think differently about how many times a week I eat this food.
The first thing I am going to talk about is the struggle that I had while trying change my eating habits. The first thing that I had to do was pick up all of my "healthy" foods. I went to whole foods and got a bunch of pasta, cheese, salad materials, and some other things my mom picked out. That was the easy part, the hard part was actually coming to terms with the fact that I couldn't snack on any junk food when I went to a deli with friends. When I saw my friends eating their candy and chocolate it really made the whole eating healthy experience a lot harder. When you know you cant have something and people around you have it, it's definitely very hard to resist it. Also when you cant eat meat your eating options around school are very limited since basically everywhere i go for lunch has meat in their food. So I had to get pizza since that was the only place around the school that I liked that didn't have meat in it.This also connects to changing what I drink because with these meals you want to have a drink and since I am trying to drink things with little sugar I had to have an orange juice (which doesn't go well with pizza). Since the things that don't have sugar in them are very limited you also have to chose a meal sometimes according to what you can drink with it.
The second day I focused on what meals I would prepare for myself. Since most of the food my mom got me(mostly vegetables) wasn't very appealing I was going to make myself spaghetti. Since I am a very picky eater there are few things that don't have meat that I will eat. Spaghetti being my favorite non meat food(and one of the only foods I know how to make) I decided to make that. I prepared this meal no differently then I would have prepared any other. I don't think that this really has an impact on the way I prepared it since there is no way for me to disrupt my goal if I just make spaghetti normally since nothing that I should not be eating isn't being added. When I was making it I thought to myself how I actually do depend on eating meat since I am so picky that there isn't a lot that i am willing to eat and i don't want to have to eat spaghetti 4 times a day.
After this whole experience ended I did end up going back to eating meat. Actually I went to Mcdonald's and got a big mac. I thought that this unit would change the way that I think about food and in some ways it did but in some ways it didn't. It definitely didn't change it in the way that if i desire a certain food i will go and eat it no matter how it was prepared. The one thing that this unit did make me change tho was how much of this food I am going to eat. I will definitly think differently about how many times a week I eat this food.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
HW 12 - Final Food Project 2 - Outline
Thesis: An individual living in our culture must recognize and respond to the nightmarish industrial atrocities at the root of dominant social practices in order to live a morally satisfactory life.
Major argument 1: Living with these nightmarish atrocities makes me wonder if the way I view food is correct.
Chunk 1: The way americas slaughterhouses are being run
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouse
http://media.www.tchnews.com/media/storage/paper840/news/2008/03/10/News/Animal.Cruelty.In.Slaughterhouses-3259951.shtml
Evidence 2: Exploitation of workers in slaughterhouses
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/06iht-edmeat.html
Evidence 3: Attempts of improvement in slaughterhouses
http://www.hanbooks.com/slshstofgrne.html
Chunk 2 of major argument 1: The way that animals are raised for food.
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals
http://www.ncga.coop/newsroom/animal-treatment
Evidence 2: Animals being rushed into growth by use of chemicals
http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/the-meat-you-eat-steroid-use-in-livestock/
Evidence 3: Improvements made by the state of california on animal treatment
http://environment.about.com/od/environmentallawpolicy/a/prop_two.htm
Major argument 1: Living with these nightmarish atrocities makes me wonder if the way I view food is correct.
Chunk 1: The way americas slaughterhouses are being run
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouse
http://media.www.tchnews.com/media/storage/paper840/news/2008/03/10/News/Animal.Cruelty.In.Slaughterhouses-3259951.shtml
Evidence 2: Exploitation of workers in slaughterhouses
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/06iht-edmeat.html
Evidence 3: Attempts of improvement in slaughterhouses
http://www.hanbooks.com/slshstofgrne.html
Chunk 2 of major argument 1: The way that animals are raised for food.
Evidence 1: Mistreatment of animals
http://www.ncga.coop/newsroom/animal-treatment
Evidence 2: Animals being rushed into growth by use of chemicals
http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/the-meat-you-eat-steroid-use-in-livestock/
Evidence 3: Improvements made by the state of california on animal treatment
http://environment.about.com/od/environmentallawpolicy/a/prop_two.htm
Monday, October 25, 2010
HW 10 - Food, Inc. Response
Precis:
The main idea of this movie was to give people an insight on what it is really like in the places where our food is prepared. They wanted to show you the actual truth behind what you are eating. In the movie they showed you cases were a child died from eating a hamburger from a certain company that I don't remember. The movie also showed you how the animals were treated before they were killed and how they were killed. The last main idea was that it showed you how their is actually a lot of corruption in the food industry.
Some things that the movie offered that the book did not were more specific details of the way the animals were treated. It really showed you how horrible their last seconds alive are and the way that the workers treated them. Something that the book offered that the movie didn't was that the book was a bit more specific with the interviews and they had more statistics.
Some questions that I have after watching this movie are how come there aren't any laws against the way that these animals are treated? The main feelings that dominate my response are just thinking about how horrible it must be to get treated that way for no reason. It also really makes me think twice about eating the food I do after finding out the treatment the went through.
The main idea of this movie was to give people an insight on what it is really like in the places where our food is prepared. They wanted to show you the actual truth behind what you are eating. In the movie they showed you cases were a child died from eating a hamburger from a certain company that I don't remember. The movie also showed you how the animals were treated before they were killed and how they were killed. The last main idea was that it showed you how their is actually a lot of corruption in the food industry.
Some things that the movie offered that the book did not were more specific details of the way the animals were treated. It really showed you how horrible their last seconds alive are and the way that the workers treated them. Something that the book offered that the movie didn't was that the book was a bit more specific with the interviews and they had more statistics.
Some questions that I have after watching this movie are how come there aren't any laws against the way that these animals are treated? The main feelings that dominate my response are just thinking about how horrible it must be to get treated that way for no reason. It also really makes me think twice about eating the food I do after finding out the treatment the went through.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
HW 7d
Chapter 17: One day I decided to use some of the eggs on Joel's farm. Just to see what the difference was like. When I ate the eggs I really noticed that their was a difference in taste between the eggs in a farm and the ones in a grocery store. The main difference was actually the yolk thats in the egg because it is much thicker then store bought eggs yolk. A gem was there is a difference between farm raised salmon and salmon that is from the wild. A question I have is it that is it better have wild salmon or farm raised salmon?
Chapter 18: The one more meal that I wanted to make was a meal grown with all of my grown, gathered and hunted food. Although a lot of modern americans think they don't hunt food they actually do. I had never been hunting until now and I was still deciding wether or not to do it. A gem in this chapter for me was that a lot of americans don't hunt anymore since they don't have any need to. A question that I have is that if americans don't need to hunt anymore then how come some americans still do hunt?
Chapter 19: Animal rights programs don't eat meet not because its bad for them but because an animal had to die for it. They still do eat eggs and drink milk but that is because the animal was not harmed or killed for the egg or the milk to be made. On the poly face farm they say they try their best for their animals not to suffer. A gem in the chapter for me was that the food industry use's the word "stress" instead of "suffer" when talking about the animals. A question i have is why do you think poly face farm cares about how their animals are treated?
Chapter 20: The reason that the meal i made was the perfect meal for me was because i made it with food that i hunted myself. I feel that when you go through all that trouble to make gather all your food when its all done you feel so much better about yourself. My main course was a wild california pig which i was cooking for my guide angelo and others. Although my guests might have not liked the taste I still enjoyed the meal that I made. A gem in this chapter was that even though others didn't enjoy his meal he still did. A question I have is why did the author choose to go through the trouble of making his own food? Was it for the experience or to prove a point?
Chapter 21: As a hunter gatherer there were certain skills that I needed to know besides hunting. Another skill that I needed was gathering. Since the meal that I wanted to make in this case included mushrooms I needed to know skills on gathering mushrooms for the meal. Picking mushrooms in the woods is different then picking mushrooms in your backyard. Much more fun and much more dangerous. You can get lost looking in the woods since you don't know specifically what you are looking for. A gem in this chapter for me was that there is something called a hunter gatherer because I always assumed that in the process of hunted gathering was usually included. A question I have is why did the author chose to make a meal with mushrooms in it? Was he interested in mushrooms before the book? or what gave him the idea to use them?
Chapter 22: Finally I was almost done with my "perfect" meal. The date I set for the dinner was saturday june 18. To make sure it was perfect I had developed a list to make sure I did everything I wanted for it to be the perfect meal. If I say so myself my requirements for myself are pretty fair. I am doing this with all hunted and gathered materials to show that I don't have to spend any money to prepare the perfect meal. A gem in this paragraph was that the author could make a perfect meal out of fresh prepared found items. That just shows how important it is that people have food and how food can really be made out of things you find in the woods. A question I have is if he could make such a meal the way he did why don't others do the same thing?
Chapter 18: The one more meal that I wanted to make was a meal grown with all of my grown, gathered and hunted food. Although a lot of modern americans think they don't hunt food they actually do. I had never been hunting until now and I was still deciding wether or not to do it. A gem in this chapter for me was that a lot of americans don't hunt anymore since they don't have any need to. A question that I have is that if americans don't need to hunt anymore then how come some americans still do hunt?
Chapter 19: Animal rights programs don't eat meet not because its bad for them but because an animal had to die for it. They still do eat eggs and drink milk but that is because the animal was not harmed or killed for the egg or the milk to be made. On the poly face farm they say they try their best for their animals not to suffer. A gem in the chapter for me was that the food industry use's the word "stress" instead of "suffer" when talking about the animals. A question i have is why do you think poly face farm cares about how their animals are treated?
Chapter 20: The reason that the meal i made was the perfect meal for me was because i made it with food that i hunted myself. I feel that when you go through all that trouble to make gather all your food when its all done you feel so much better about yourself. My main course was a wild california pig which i was cooking for my guide angelo and others. Although my guests might have not liked the taste I still enjoyed the meal that I made. A gem in this chapter was that even though others didn't enjoy his meal he still did. A question I have is why did the author choose to go through the trouble of making his own food? Was it for the experience or to prove a point?
Chapter 21: As a hunter gatherer there were certain skills that I needed to know besides hunting. Another skill that I needed was gathering. Since the meal that I wanted to make in this case included mushrooms I needed to know skills on gathering mushrooms for the meal. Picking mushrooms in the woods is different then picking mushrooms in your backyard. Much more fun and much more dangerous. You can get lost looking in the woods since you don't know specifically what you are looking for. A gem in this chapter for me was that there is something called a hunter gatherer because I always assumed that in the process of hunted gathering was usually included. A question I have is why did the author chose to make a meal with mushrooms in it? Was he interested in mushrooms before the book? or what gave him the idea to use them?
Chapter 22: Finally I was almost done with my "perfect" meal. The date I set for the dinner was saturday june 18. To make sure it was perfect I had developed a list to make sure I did everything I wanted for it to be the perfect meal. If I say so myself my requirements for myself are pretty fair. I am doing this with all hunted and gathered materials to show that I don't have to spend any money to prepare the perfect meal. A gem in this paragraph was that the author could make a perfect meal out of fresh prepared found items. That just shows how important it is that people have food and how food can really be made out of things you find in the woods. A question I have is if he could make such a meal the way he did why don't others do the same thing?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
HW 9 - Freakonomics Response
In Freakonomics the authors address the issue of correlation versus causation in the way they would talk about how your name could cause people to judge you. In the movie they did a test where they sent out job applications to companies using the most common white name which is Jake and the most common black name which I believe they said was Tyron. What they found out was that the person with the name Jake was 33% more likely to get the job then the person with the name Tyron. This in a way showed that since Jake was more of white person name the companies chose him over Tyron which is more of a black persons name. This represents correlation versus causation because it is showing that they chose the person with the White sounding name and judged the person with the black sounding name. So in a way the movie does prove that some correlation is causation.
The sources of evidence that the Freakonomics authors rely on is surveys I think. I think this because in the movie when they went around asking people about names for black and white people that was all the evidence that they really used. This is innovative because it really gives people a different way of thinking and really makes them wonder about these types of things. I think that they could have used a more efficient way of getting evidence but it was good to see normal peoples responses to their questions.
I agree with the statement Freakonomics serves as an inspiration and good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. I agree because it really shows that you cant tell much about someone unless you look into it. For example with the sumo wrestler part of the movie. They talked about how the sumo trainer had one of his sumo wresters killed and the police said he died of natural causes and there was no need for a autopsy. But the mans father insisted that they did and they found out what really happened. This just shows that until you look into the matter you wont really know the truth about the situation no matter how weird it is.
The sources of evidence that the Freakonomics authors rely on is surveys I think. I think this because in the movie when they went around asking people about names for black and white people that was all the evidence that they really used. This is innovative because it really gives people a different way of thinking and really makes them wonder about these types of things. I think that they could have used a more efficient way of getting evidence but it was good to see normal peoples responses to their questions.
I agree with the statement Freakonomics serves as an inspiration and good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. I agree because it really shows that you cant tell much about someone unless you look into it. For example with the sumo wrestler part of the movie. They talked about how the sumo trainer had one of his sumo wresters killed and the police said he died of natural causes and there was no need for a autopsy. But the mans father insisted that they did and they found out what really happened. This just shows that until you look into the matter you wont really know the truth about the situation no matter how weird it is.
HW 7c
Chapter 11 is still talking about the switch to being organic. The author talks about how he visited a free range chicken farm. When he was there he said that "Petaluma turns out to be more animal factory than farm". All tho the farm is a "Free range" chicken farm he tells you that the chickens are not allowed to go outside until they are 5 weeks old. But by that time since they are so used to the indoors they don't really have a desire to go outside. In a way that is actually false advertising because it makes people think that the chickens were treated fairly instead of being packed in a small room. That was actually the gem of the chapter for me. A question I have is how come this isn't considered false advertising? Has anyone picked up on this fact?
Chapter 12 talks about when he was working at a place called Polyface Farm. The reason that he went there was because he said he wanted to find out if it was possible for a non industrial food chain to survive in the twenty-first century. A gem for me was that the author says that Joel Salatin's farm was successful because its foundation was grass not petroleum. Joel Salatin says in the book that he is a "Grass Farmer". I have never heard the term grass farmer but I guess it has a significant purpose some how. A question I have about the chapter is how are you supposed to make money off of grass? Is there even a point to being a grass farmer.
Chapter 13: While on Polyface farm I really started to look at grass from different angles and aspects. I didn't only look at what the grass looked like but I also looked at the animals that were around the grass and were attracted by it. That just shows you how grass is important to some but not important for others. Other work I did on the farm was stacking 50 pound bales of hay all day. A gem in this chapter was how different types of grass have different taste and different amount of nourishment. A question I have is why do certain animals eat certain kinds of grass?
Chapter 14: Every morning I would wake up at Polyface farm and would do one of the most important jobs at the farm. That job was to feed and give water the chickens and move their pens. Every day for 56 days the pens were supposed to be moved 10 feet from each other. The chickens manure would be used to fertilize the farms soil. A gem in the chapter was that if the chickens were left in one place for to long then they would destroy the soil which is why they are moved so much. A question I have is why were they moved 10 feet away? Why did they choose that mount of space?
Chapter 15: One morning i woke up and knowing that today was going to be the day that we killed all of the chickens. The way the chickens were killed is that workers would have to cut the chickens neck without cutting its head off. After that they have to take the feathers off the chicken and take their insides out. Then they can cut the feet and head off. A gem for me was why couldn't cut the chickens head off right away. My question is why did they have to wait till everything else was off so they could cut the head off?
Chapter 16: The Polyface farm does not ship its product off to far from the actual farm. The chickens that we had just killed the other day were sent only a few dozen miles from the farm. Polyface farm sends its product much closer then the average conventional farms sell theirs. A gem in this chapter is that Polyface really only sends their products within their state. A question I have is tehat why doesnt Polyface farm expand where they send their product? Wont that make them more money in the long run if they expand?
Chapter 12 talks about when he was working at a place called Polyface Farm. The reason that he went there was because he said he wanted to find out if it was possible for a non industrial food chain to survive in the twenty-first century. A gem for me was that the author says that Joel Salatin's farm was successful because its foundation was grass not petroleum. Joel Salatin says in the book that he is a "Grass Farmer". I have never heard the term grass farmer but I guess it has a significant purpose some how. A question I have about the chapter is how are you supposed to make money off of grass? Is there even a point to being a grass farmer.
Chapter 13: While on Polyface farm I really started to look at grass from different angles and aspects. I didn't only look at what the grass looked like but I also looked at the animals that were around the grass and were attracted by it. That just shows you how grass is important to some but not important for others. Other work I did on the farm was stacking 50 pound bales of hay all day. A gem in this chapter was how different types of grass have different taste and different amount of nourishment. A question I have is why do certain animals eat certain kinds of grass?
Chapter 14: Every morning I would wake up at Polyface farm and would do one of the most important jobs at the farm. That job was to feed and give water the chickens and move their pens. Every day for 56 days the pens were supposed to be moved 10 feet from each other. The chickens manure would be used to fertilize the farms soil. A gem in the chapter was that if the chickens were left in one place for to long then they would destroy the soil which is why they are moved so much. A question I have is why were they moved 10 feet away? Why did they choose that mount of space?
Chapter 15: One morning i woke up and knowing that today was going to be the day that we killed all of the chickens. The way the chickens were killed is that workers would have to cut the chickens neck without cutting its head off. After that they have to take the feathers off the chicken and take their insides out. Then they can cut the feet and head off. A gem for me was why couldn't cut the chickens head off right away. My question is why did they have to wait till everything else was off so they could cut the head off?
Chapter 16: The Polyface farm does not ship its product off to far from the actual farm. The chickens that we had just killed the other day were sent only a few dozen miles from the farm. Polyface farm sends its product much closer then the average conventional farms sell theirs. A gem in this chapter is that Polyface really only sends their products within their state. A question I have is tehat why doesnt Polyface farm expand where they send their product? Wont that make them more money in the long run if they expand?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
HW 8 - Growing Our Own Food
The picture above is how much my sprouts grew before they were thrown away. It was actually a fun experience to grow my own food. It showed me how patient you have to be and how you really have to pay attention to your food or else it will die. That is why I made sure to always water my sprouts right when I got to class. It made me realize that people have to do this with larger quantitates of food and how hard that their job actually is. Unfortunately I did not get to eat my sprouts but if I did get to eat them I don't think I would like them because I am so picky.
Monday, October 11, 2010
HW 7b
Chapter 6 was title processed food. It really talks about how that not all of the food that americans eat is fresh corn. It can be processed corn which can be canned corn or anything I guess that is not fresh. Corn is in really a lot of the things that we eat in our every day lives, like caramel, apple sauce and most breads, etc. What I found most interesting was how many things were made with corn as an ingredient and how many with corn syrup in them. A question I have is if corn is so popular then why isnt it produced with more of an effort and with a higher manufacturing rate?
Chapter 7 talked about how corn can affect peoples health. Since corn is in all of these foods it can also play a part in affecting peoples health. It affects obesity not only in adults but in children also it is a big problem. Since there is so many calories included with corn syrup and other forms of corn obesity tends to increase. My question is how come corn is so popular if it is a big problem with obseity in children and adults? Is it because people think it is a necessary ingredient so they don't think they can eat with out it for a long period of time?
Chapter 8 is about eating habits. It talks about how unlike humans most animals dont really have a problem with their eating habits. Since animals really only eat to get what they need out of it they dont really care about what it tastes like unlike most humans who are really picky about what they eat and how they want it to taste. Its funny that I just want to eat to get full and so do animals. I shows that some humans and animals to have some eating habits in common and they they aren't completely different in that field. I found it interesting that in some ways animals are more reasonable then humans in terms of eating. A question that I have is what if humans were more like animals with their eating habits? How would that effect the food market and in turn affect the economy?
Chapter 9 is about how all Mcdonalds and fast food meals are made so that they have similar but pretty much the same taste. The author talks about how Mcdonalds uses corn in a lot of their products that they have. They talk about mainly how bad Mcdonalds chicken nuggets really are for you. The author says that they can cause cancer. I have never heard that before but I'm not going to argue with him. I found it interesting that he talked about how that since its cheap and fattening it increases obesity in children and adults since everyone can afford it. A question I have is if it is proven to be bad why doesn't Mcdonalds make their food more healthy instead of keep making it less healthy?
Chapter 10 talks all about the industrial food chains and markets. They say how a lot of these companies have been trying to drift away from buying corn and processed foods and are trying to switch to using organic foods more. It is saying about how more and more people are starting to shop at places like whole foods since it is known to be so "healthy" or so they think. A gem that I saw was that when the author goes shopping at places like whole foods he reads the labels of the food because he thinks that every item has a little background story to it. I find this interesting because I have never heard of people reading food labels to find out about the product. This brings up an interesting question that I have which is do people not read food labels a lot because they are afraid they will find something that will turn them off about the food?
Chapter 7 talked about how corn can affect peoples health. Since corn is in all of these foods it can also play a part in affecting peoples health. It affects obesity not only in adults but in children also it is a big problem. Since there is so many calories included with corn syrup and other forms of corn obesity tends to increase. My question is how come corn is so popular if it is a big problem with obseity in children and adults? Is it because people think it is a necessary ingredient so they don't think they can eat with out it for a long period of time?
Chapter 8 is about eating habits. It talks about how unlike humans most animals dont really have a problem with their eating habits. Since animals really only eat to get what they need out of it they dont really care about what it tastes like unlike most humans who are really picky about what they eat and how they want it to taste. Its funny that I just want to eat to get full and so do animals. I shows that some humans and animals to have some eating habits in common and they they aren't completely different in that field. I found it interesting that in some ways animals are more reasonable then humans in terms of eating. A question that I have is what if humans were more like animals with their eating habits? How would that effect the food market and in turn affect the economy?
Chapter 9 is about how all Mcdonalds and fast food meals are made so that they have similar but pretty much the same taste. The author talks about how Mcdonalds uses corn in a lot of their products that they have. They talk about mainly how bad Mcdonalds chicken nuggets really are for you. The author says that they can cause cancer. I have never heard that before but I'm not going to argue with him. I found it interesting that he talked about how that since its cheap and fattening it increases obesity in children and adults since everyone can afford it. A question I have is if it is proven to be bad why doesn't Mcdonalds make their food more healthy instead of keep making it less healthy?
Chapter 10 talks all about the industrial food chains and markets. They say how a lot of these companies have been trying to drift away from buying corn and processed foods and are trying to switch to using organic foods more. It is saying about how more and more people are starting to shop at places like whole foods since it is known to be so "healthy" or so they think. A gem that I saw was that when the author goes shopping at places like whole foods he reads the labels of the food because he thinks that every item has a little background story to it. I find this interesting because I have never heard of people reading food labels to find out about the product. This brings up an interesting question that I have which is do people not read food labels a lot because they are afraid they will find something that will turn them off about the food?
Monday, October 4, 2010
HW 7 - Reading Response Monday
The introduction to the book "the omnivores dilemma, the secret behind what you eat" by Michael Pollan talks about how the author like other people did not really think about food before he ate it. It talks about how he started to want to talk about food the way he does. He says that it all started when he was writing about genetically modified food and went to a farm and really got interested about where the food we eat is being made. He actually says that he "eats to get full" just like I do, which in my opinion brings up a good point about why people really eat? A question that I have is why are the foods that he talks about in the introduction prepared with so many chemicals? How long has it been like this for?
Chapter 1 talks about corn being a huge part of the food market in america. Not only is it popular among buyers buy it is especially popular among farmers. Since corn is in almost anything it is really wanted buy almost everyone. Something that was interesting in the chapter was that I did not know that corn began as a wild grass. A question that I have is if corn is so popular then why isn't there more media marketing talking about it? If they do start to put it in the media more do you think it will become more popular?
Chapter 2 says all about a farmer who got his farm passed down to him by his father. He also plants corn on his farm and has realized how big corn is in this food market. In this situation corn is kind of a dominant discourse considering how popular it is. It is really interesting that i was able to connect this part of the book to past classwork assignments. One question I have is where to the farmers get the money to take care of there farms before the sell their product? Also what happens to a farmers money if all of their crops die?
Chapter 3 talks mainly about how corn is the dominant product pretty much. If corn was not available to people then we wouldn't be able to make a lot of other foods. I really found it interesting that they need to use chemical fertilizer to grow hybrid corn. I actually never even knew that there was such a thing as hybrid corn. A question that I have is do you think that corn is a sacred thing for people in the united states? do you in your own opinion think that corn should be seen as something sacred? I also wonder why the book is focusing so much on corn as a topic.
Chapter 4 talks about one day he went to visit George Naylors grain elevator which is where he hauls his corn every october. Grain elevators are basically just a big storage room where farmers keep their corn when its cold out. I really liked how the author describes what the farming is like for corn farmers depending on what season of the year it was. A question that I have is how do they keep the corn preserved so well that it doesn't go bad? Also are the winters really bad times for corn farmers?
Chapter 5 tells you about how the way that farmers treat their cattle has changed over the years. Cattle used to be able to roam around and eat grass but now the cattle are only fed corn and have to stay inside their pens. He talked about the smell that came from the pens since the cattle were basically living in their own feces. Something that I found interesting was that farmers have changed their ways of farming so their way of farming makes people think that farming is completely different then it used to be. One question that I have is that is what the modern day farmers are doing really even farming? do you think that what they are doing should even be called farming? In my opinion is more like an industry rather then farming.
Chapter 1 talks about corn being a huge part of the food market in america. Not only is it popular among buyers buy it is especially popular among farmers. Since corn is in almost anything it is really wanted buy almost everyone. Something that was interesting in the chapter was that I did not know that corn began as a wild grass. A question that I have is if corn is so popular then why isn't there more media marketing talking about it? If they do start to put it in the media more do you think it will become more popular?
Chapter 2 says all about a farmer who got his farm passed down to him by his father. He also plants corn on his farm and has realized how big corn is in this food market. In this situation corn is kind of a dominant discourse considering how popular it is. It is really interesting that i was able to connect this part of the book to past classwork assignments. One question I have is where to the farmers get the money to take care of there farms before the sell their product? Also what happens to a farmers money if all of their crops die?
Chapter 3 talks mainly about how corn is the dominant product pretty much. If corn was not available to people then we wouldn't be able to make a lot of other foods. I really found it interesting that they need to use chemical fertilizer to grow hybrid corn. I actually never even knew that there was such a thing as hybrid corn. A question that I have is do you think that corn is a sacred thing for people in the united states? do you in your own opinion think that corn should be seen as something sacred? I also wonder why the book is focusing so much on corn as a topic.
Chapter 4 talks about one day he went to visit George Naylors grain elevator which is where he hauls his corn every october. Grain elevators are basically just a big storage room where farmers keep their corn when its cold out. I really liked how the author describes what the farming is like for corn farmers depending on what season of the year it was. A question that I have is how do they keep the corn preserved so well that it doesn't go bad? Also are the winters really bad times for corn farmers?
Chapter 5 tells you about how the way that farmers treat their cattle has changed over the years. Cattle used to be able to roam around and eat grass but now the cattle are only fed corn and have to stay inside their pens. He talked about the smell that came from the pens since the cattle were basically living in their own feces. Something that I found interesting was that farmers have changed their ways of farming so their way of farming makes people think that farming is completely different then it used to be. One question that I have is that is what the modern day farmers are doing really even farming? do you think that what they are doing should even be called farming? In my opinion is more like an industry rather then farming.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
HW 6 - Food Diary
The picture above is what I ate for lunch today, a turkey sandwich from subway. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the actual sandwich so I have to use this one. Since we are supposed to focus on the experience we had while eating the food I did. I have to say that when you really think about your food while eating it you notice a change in how it actually tastes and how you think its tasting. While eating I noticed that the turkey tasted a lot more rubbery and fake then i remember. But the cheese pretty much covered most of the sandwich so I forgot about that taste a few bites in. In all I did not really enjoy thinking about my food while I was eating it, it just doesn't make the experience as good as I would like it to be.
Tonight for dinner I just ate bagel bites. I am not really sure if its the healthiest thing in the world but it does taste good. I do not really feel good about the food that I ate now that I think about it. When I looked at all the calories and how it tasted it actually made me question if the foods I were eating were actually a good decision or not. Who knows maybe I should think about changing my eating habits.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
HW 5 - Dominant Discourses Regarding Contemporary Foodways in the U.S.
The dominant discourses in america in my opinion are who is liked most by the people. The junk food industry is highly liked by kids and a lot of adults. In the new york times article "Told to eat its vegetables, america orders fries" by Kim Severson the article says, "The baby-carrot industry tried to reposition its product as junk food, starting a $25 million advertising campaign whose defining characteristics include heavy metal music, a phone app and a young man in a grocery cart dodging baby-carrot bullets fired by a woman in tight jeans". This is showing that the vegetable industry is working hard to compete with junk food by trying to become junk food. That shows that junk food is a dominant discourse because if a company is trying to compete with another company by trying to be like it that shows that people like junk food better.
The topics about food dominant discourses that I feel are most discussed are probably how and where the food is made. On the news you always hear about different companies ways of processing their food and how they treat their workers. Just recently mott's apple sauce workers went on a strike because they felt that they were being treated unfairly. This just shows that even though mott's is a big company they still don't treat their workers fair and pay them fair because they want to stay at the top and try to spend the least amount of money possible and still make a good profit. Wall mart workers also had a problem with unfair treatment, the website http://www.walmartspeakout.com/speak-out/main says, "I have worked for Wal-mart for almost 5 years now. I work at store 5260 and at one point in time I could say that with pride. The last couple years have been an increasing struggle just to survive with Wal-mart. Aside from getting paid table scraps, and ever rule change that comes every other week. I am at my wits end because of the abuses to myself and fellow employees". This quote is showing again that to stay on top these companies are paying their workers less and less money then they deserve.
I feel like in the past two quotes i have used the people writing about them do know what they are talking about. I feel this because they found out about the quotes and they did all the research to find the person who said the quote. I am not necessarily saying that they have the best views of the food situation in america but for what they were writing about i feel like they do have a pretty good understanding of that topic. If they were to talk about another topic then that could be a different case because they might not understand the new topic as well as they did the old one. I agree with the statement about wall mart workers being underpaid. I feel like the least they could do is pay the people who keep their business running. When you under pay workers it creates a huge problem which is not good for business. If the workers are not happy with their pay they will sometimes strike against their company which slows down business and slows down profit for the company.
The topics about food dominant discourses that I feel are most discussed are probably how and where the food is made. On the news you always hear about different companies ways of processing their food and how they treat their workers. Just recently mott's apple sauce workers went on a strike because they felt that they were being treated unfairly. This just shows that even though mott's is a big company they still don't treat their workers fair and pay them fair because they want to stay at the top and try to spend the least amount of money possible and still make a good profit. Wall mart workers also had a problem with unfair treatment, the website http://www.walmartspeakout.com/speak-out/main says, "I have worked for Wal-mart for almost 5 years now. I work at store 5260 and at one point in time I could say that with pride. The last couple years have been an increasing struggle just to survive with Wal-mart. Aside from getting paid table scraps, and ever rule change that comes every other week. I am at my wits end because of the abuses to myself and fellow employees". This quote is showing again that to stay on top these companies are paying their workers less and less money then they deserve.
I feel like in the past two quotes i have used the people writing about them do know what they are talking about. I feel this because they found out about the quotes and they did all the research to find the person who said the quote. I am not necessarily saying that they have the best views of the food situation in america but for what they were writing about i feel like they do have a pretty good understanding of that topic. If they were to talk about another topic then that could be a different case because they might not understand the new topic as well as they did the old one. I agree with the statement about wall mart workers being underpaid. I feel like the least they could do is pay the people who keep their business running. When you under pay workers it creates a huge problem which is not good for business. If the workers are not happy with their pay they will sometimes strike against their company which slows down business and slows down profit for the company.
Monday, September 27, 2010
HW 4 - Your Families' Foodways
My father and I eat completely different foods since he is a vegetarian. My father doesn't want any animal to have to die for him to eat. I don't really think me and my father eat the same meal more then once or twice a month. My approach to food is if its good i will eat it. But his approach to food is if an animal had to die he wont eat it. I do not think that my father influences me on what I eat since we don't eat the same foods. I do see why my father is a vegetarian and i respect it but I don't want to be a vegetarian because it limits what you can and cant eat. I would prefer to eat what i want and not have to second guess it.
My mother is way more of an influence on what i eat. Ever since i was little she was the one making my meals so i kind of got taught what foods to like by her. Me and my mom still don't eat the same exact foods but we do like some of the same foods. My mom has always known that i am a picky eater so she usually knows what food to buy for me and how I like it. When i am eating dinner i will sometimes take brakes while eating and my parents will always say keep eating, keep eating. I think that they like to eat there food quick unlike me. I like to eat my food at my own pace and not rush. When i talked to my mother she said that her eating habits were similar to mine when she was a kid, she said she was a very picky eater like me. Since she was a picky eater she said that her mother didn't really have an influence on her eating habits.
In the paragraph above I talk about eating my food at my own pace. I think that this goes back to if food is sacred or not because for me if I eat it at my own pace it means that I want to saver it which in a way means food is sacred. Because if you want to eat it slow and enjoy it then it obviously means that the food means something to you since you are treasuring the moments that you are eating the food. But i also think that my parents believe food is sacred because even though they don't eat it as slow as I do, when i throw out food they always get angry. If they get angry when i throw food out that is showing the food is a big deal and they don't want it to be wasted.
My mother is way more of an influence on what i eat. Ever since i was little she was the one making my meals so i kind of got taught what foods to like by her. Me and my mom still don't eat the same exact foods but we do like some of the same foods. My mom has always known that i am a picky eater so she usually knows what food to buy for me and how I like it. When i am eating dinner i will sometimes take brakes while eating and my parents will always say keep eating, keep eating. I think that they like to eat there food quick unlike me. I like to eat my food at my own pace and not rush. When i talked to my mother she said that her eating habits were similar to mine when she was a kid, she said she was a very picky eater like me. Since she was a picky eater she said that her mother didn't really have an influence on her eating habits.
In the paragraph above I talk about eating my food at my own pace. I think that this goes back to if food is sacred or not because for me if I eat it at my own pace it means that I want to saver it which in a way means food is sacred. Because if you want to eat it slow and enjoy it then it obviously means that the food means something to you since you are treasuring the moments that you are eating the food. But i also think that my parents believe food is sacred because even though they don't eat it as slow as I do, when i throw out food they always get angry. If they get angry when i throw food out that is showing the food is a big deal and they don't want it to be wasted.
The picture above is a picture of my refrigerator. This shows the food ways of my family because if you can see there is all different types of food since we mainly eat different things. The only thing that we all really eat is the same breakfast. We have a lot of meals that can be made easy and quick which I like because although I do like to savor my food i do not like waiting for it to be prepared. The only times I can wait to eat is if I know it is something that I really like being made.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
HW 3 - Food - Fast Food Insights and Green Market Realizations
When our class went to McDonald's and the farmers market I noticed a lot of similarities and differences. For one at both McDonald's and the farmers market they both had signs that seemed like they were trying to persuade people into buying their product. Although the signs said different things they both had the same objective which was to sell their food. At McDonald's they used signs telling people to buy their new "Frape" which is a new coffee that they have. At the farmers market their signs were saying that they're food was fresh and organic. Both of the two places are completely different except for the fact that they want to sell their product.
Some reasons that fast food is so successful is that its cheap. When we went in i noticed that their were families going in and I feel like the reason that they were in there was that the food was affordable and they didn't mind the taste of the food. Another reason for the success of fast food is like I said in the paragraph above marketing. They have marketing that appeals to both kids and adults and if the food tastes good that is all that matters to them. A big part of their success is also that they have both breakfast and lunch so they have people coming in at all different hours to buy their food.
When we went to the farmers market I really noticed how different their way of advertising was from fast food. They didn't use corny names like at McDonald's they really just told you straight up what it was you are buying. Although I do visit fast food places more then I do the farmers market, I still wonder why if people know what their eating is so bad for them why do they continue to eat it? The farmers market may not be growing their food without any other chemicals but it is still better for you then what is in fast food. In a way what they are doing is false advertising because even thought their signs say grown fresh, when I asked one of the farmers who had one of those signs he told me his food was grown conventionally. So in a way it really makes you wonder what food is good for you and what food is bad for you.
Some reasons that fast food is so successful is that its cheap. When we went in i noticed that their were families going in and I feel like the reason that they were in there was that the food was affordable and they didn't mind the taste of the food. Another reason for the success of fast food is like I said in the paragraph above marketing. They have marketing that appeals to both kids and adults and if the food tastes good that is all that matters to them. A big part of their success is also that they have both breakfast and lunch so they have people coming in at all different hours to buy their food.
When we went to the farmers market I really noticed how different their way of advertising was from fast food. They didn't use corny names like at McDonald's they really just told you straight up what it was you are buying. Although I do visit fast food places more then I do the farmers market, I still wonder why if people know what their eating is so bad for them why do they continue to eat it? The farmers market may not be growing their food without any other chemicals but it is still better for you then what is in fast food. In a way what they are doing is false advertising because even thought their signs say grown fresh, when I asked one of the farmers who had one of those signs he told me his food was grown conventionally. So in a way it really makes you wonder what food is good for you and what food is bad for you.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
HW 2 - Food - Initial Thoughts
My main priorities in food are making sure that the food fills me up so I wont be hungry later. I don't want to eat a food and then 20 minutes later be hungry because it did not fill me up. I think that these priorities are good because I don't think that anyone wants to eat a food and not get filled up by it. But it is actually different sometimes you eat just to hold you over not to fill you up. If you do that though in my opinion there isn't much of a point to eat to hold you over since I eat to get full.
My typical meal to me is chicken, rice and corn. The reason that this fails to meet the desires of an ideal meal for me is that since I eat it so much I get tired of it and don't want to finish it. Rather then when i have an ideal meal I want to eat it all since it is so special for me to have it. Food is sacred in some ways because if you think of it in the way that you are lucky to have the food you eat then it is sacred. If you think of it in the way that it is an everyday thing then it isn't. Since I think of food as an everyday thing then it is not sacred for me since I expect to have it.
The aspect of food that is most interesting is probably picking out what food to eat. It sounds like such an easy thing but when it comes down to it, its actually a hard thing. When your at a restaurant and have all of these choices in front of you, you don't want just one thing you want all of them. Even in a grocery store when you are picking out food there are so many different options but you cant choice them all. It is just interesting for me to see how people pick and choose what they want to eat and how important a good choice of food is for them. This relates back to if food is sacred or not because if you are really thinking about what you want to eat then that seems like food is sacred for you.
My typical meal to me is chicken, rice and corn. The reason that this fails to meet the desires of an ideal meal for me is that since I eat it so much I get tired of it and don't want to finish it. Rather then when i have an ideal meal I want to eat it all since it is so special for me to have it. Food is sacred in some ways because if you think of it in the way that you are lucky to have the food you eat then it is sacred. If you think of it in the way that it is an everyday thing then it isn't. Since I think of food as an everyday thing then it is not sacred for me since I expect to have it.
The aspect of food that is most interesting is probably picking out what food to eat. It sounds like such an easy thing but when it comes down to it, its actually a hard thing. When your at a restaurant and have all of these choices in front of you, you don't want just one thing you want all of them. Even in a grocery store when you are picking out food there are so many different options but you cant choice them all. It is just interesting for me to see how people pick and choose what they want to eat and how important a good choice of food is for them. This relates back to if food is sacred or not because if you are really thinking about what you want to eat then that seems like food is sacred for you.
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