HW #24

Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom. Published by Double Day in 1997

Précis:
My Tuesdays with Morrie continued to be my most valued day of the week. With his death, he left me with his great influence. He was and has been for many many years, my coach, and even when facing death, he continued to teach me a number of things. He taught me to value life and live a life with meaning, rather than chasing after morally worthless wealth. You cannot buy happiness, which is what Morrie continued to tell me. With his death, he gave me a whole new life to live.

-"The class met on Tuesdays. No books were required. The subject was the meaning of life. It was taught from experience. The teaching goes on" (Albom, 192)
Morris absence does not change everything. He may have impacted certain people in certain ways, however life itself must continue. This relates to another quote involving a wave in the ocean and the wave not actually being a wave, but rather a fragment of the ocean. It symbolizes that life must continue regardless of losses of individual waves, or people, since they are simple part of the bigger picture.
-"Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others." (Albom, 164)
In short, this means that there are different ways to go about things. There are times to put others before you but times where that may not be the best idea. In order to forgive others you must first forgive yourself. You cannot do for others what you have not done for yourself first, just like you cannot or should not be supporting a family if you are unable to do so for yourself first.
-"It's not contagious, you know. Death is as natural as life. It's part of the deal we made."(Albom, 172)
This is just another situation where Morrie displays his acceptance of death. It also relates to the first quote where life still goes on despite his death.
As I finished the book, I began to truly value my life. I see that life is a gift and it made me think about how short it could potentially be. We do not know what could happen to us on any given day, at any moment, and I rather not let my life go to waste. I a, not going to make many significant changed and I will continue to look forward to the future, as I always have, however when an opportunity presents itself I will do my best to take advantage. I want to be proud of my life when it is through.

HW#23

I am reading Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom. It was published by Double Day, in 1997.

Precis: As I continue to spend my Tuesdays with Morrie, his health gets progressively worse. He has finally reached the point where he is completely reliant on others, being unable to wipe his own butt. As he nears his death I realize more and more that my life is incomplete. Even on his deathbed, Morrie is a happier man than I am.

-“When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” (Albom, 104)
-“Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I’m sitting here dying, when you need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling your looking for, no matter how much of it you have.” (Albom, 125)
-“The truth is you don’t get satisfaction from those things you know what really gives you satisfaction? What? Offering others what you have to give” (Albom, 126)

My eyes are continuing to open as I read. What is the point of life? Society tells us that money will make us happy and we all pretty much buy into that. For example the holidays, now they are so commercialized and generally what makes people happy on the holidays are materialistic things. I am one of these people. Although I enjoy my family time, I still very much appreciate the material things and would feel very different without them on the holidays. Society has shaped my perception of true happiness and Morrie has different ideas on what it is.

HW#22

I am reading Tuesdays With Morrie, by
Mitch Albom. It was published by Double Day, in 1997.

Precis: I not living the life I always thought I would. I wanted to be a musician and did not want my life to revolve around money or wealth. I wanted meaning. The death of my uncle, my idol, changed many things. I began to value life less, which led to my dedication to my work and career, not the career of my dreams, but my job, what makes me money. I always thought I would die the way my uncle did, but it was not me. It was my brother. When I saw Morrie, my old college professor on TV and it brought me back. He was dying and I decided to finally keep my promise and get in touch. My visits with Morrie made me remember how I used to think and begin to question my current life.

-"Do you think that’s strange? Do you think because I’m dying, I shouldn't care what happens in the world?" (Albom, 50)
-"He had taught me about "being human" and "relating to others," but it was always in the distance, as if from another life. (Albom, 17)
-"There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, i'm so angry and bitter. But it doesn't last too long. Then I get up and say, 'I want to live..." (Albom, 21)

Reading this book makes me realize that your individual death does not mean the end of the entire world. It also teaches me that the world cannot revolve around any one person, so being selfish or self centered is a waste because it does not accomplish anything. It also has made me realize that doing what you dream of dong is more important than simply being wealthy. Money does not mean happiness. Happiness comes from love, be it love for another or love to what you do. I suppose one can love money but that is not really love. You cannot buy happiness. I am very interested to see how Mitch's Tuesdays with Morrie impact him as a person and impact those close to him.

hw 21

-Symptoms included loss of weight, severe coughing, foot growth, walking difficulty, difficulty laying down or sitting up, and eventually they got worse to not being able to eat or talk and could not even hold his own head up
-Wanted everyone around them to constantly be optimistic
-She stopped working and were supported by their family
-Whenever it seemed as if he was recovering he would just end up getting worse
-Despite his poor health, the time that she spent with her husband and their family was great and she valued the experience of being so together
-He was always the healthy one and she was concerned about her health, however the health issues occurred in the person that expected it the least

Her husband wanted everyone around him to be optimistic. Because of his strong personality he did not want any negativity or doubt about his health and that he will die as a result of this disease. It interested me that the Wood family used both allopathic and holistic methods as they attempted to cure the man of the house. His being sent to many hospitals and receiving many treatments provided the allopathic methods and the constant optimism was the holistic method. I agree with the approach that they took to his dying to an extent. I would want to be optimistic about it however I think it is not the brightest move to rule out the possibility. As she stated, he was in denial. He did not want to accept death just yet, which may seem like a good thing, but his willingness to die could possibly make the loss less painful when it happens. It seemed as if at least one of these things was effective since there were times where he got better, unfortunately he could not remain that way.

It would seem like an emotional roller coaster to have one of the people I love most in life be dying and getting better over and over again. The relief and joy of his better health would make me so happy but when his health declined again it would bring even greater sadness that the last time. It would make me feel like he would not survive another attempt. It also intrigued me that he was always the healthy confident one and she was more worried about death. I am thinking that it is possible that since he was never unhealthy, he cared less about his health and may have put less effort into staying healthy. The opposite applies to the mother, where she likely took better care of herself given her fear of death and poor health. This may have lead to his poor health and tragic fight with death.

I was also interested in how things would have been different without the same kind of support from their family. What if their family was not able to assist them the way they had? Would that caused her husbands life span to be shortened or lengthened? Maybe he will fight harder to be with his family after not being with them even while he is dying. Or, maybe he will not had recieved enough support during his fight and will have given up.

HW #19

My father, like most people, is very afraid of death. The thing that scares him most, is abandoning his loved ones and those closest to him. Another aspect that he is fearful of is where he will end up in his afterlife. Like my father, it also interests me what will happen to me in the afterlife; however I see the topic with more curiosity rather than fear. If there is a heaven or hell, you hope you will end up in heaven and if not where his spirit will end up. I would like to do more research and learn where religions or other theories about post death come from.
My father, like myself, also tries not to think about death. When the thought does enter his mind, it is usually concerned about the death of others rather than himself. He tends to worry about others more than himself. I think similarly, since I have always been fortunate not to be ill or have any near death experience. I do not even have an idea of the fears of being close to death. Despite his attempts not to think about death, my father feels that some pros of doing thinking more about it would make him or anyone more mentally familiar with it. I interpret this as preparing for it when it happens, likely to someone close to him.
The closest experience that my father had with death was when his uncle died. He was one of his closest uncles and despite his poor health; his potential death was never a thought. He was a serious smoker and as a result of that, it caused him to feel sad and guilty that he never paid much attention to the fact that he was actually dying. This led pushing him away from smoking, since his uncle dying of emphazima. My father had a very close experience with illness was when it was suspected that he had a brain tumor. This really struck fear into him and made him think about his life and death and angered him for several reasons. He felt that he was being cheated out of life and was upset that there were so many things that he had not accomplished that he wanted to. I feel that if I were him at that time, I would immediately begin to pursue those things and accomplish as much as I could with the time available. I f I were to have a near death experience like that, it would make me value life more and be more productive.
My father would like people to respect his death and have a traditional burial. As for his remembrance, he wants people to talk about and remember him. Something that intrigued me about what he said was that he does not like to talk about the death, yet wants others to do so for him. It made me wonder why he does not like to talk about others. If it is simply because it is saddening why would he want others to think of him, and potentially make them feel that same sadness? He mentioned that he wanted to be remembered for his qualities only, but I am sure the negative aspects will dwell into people’s minds as well. I would like to be remembered as well, but I want an honest memory. I will try to have less bad things to remember me by so that the general thought of me has the good outweighing the bad.

HW#18

            Food obviously played a great role in the way my family and I spent our thanksgiving. There was a great deal of eating for everyone including myself, with very little thought put into the health of the food. Even the people like my uncle and cousin, whom are normally very conscious of what they eat, did not care much on thanksgiving. The only person who changed the way they eat was my stepmother, who had a diabetes test the following day and was instructed not to eat much sugar. It is interesting the way that people go about handling illnesses. There are so many studies done and antibiotics made to prevent or cure them and yet issues that seem to be easier to avoid, like obesity, are still so common. Nobody in my family is obese but several people of the elder generation have suffered from diabetes. This has never been much of a concern to me, however as I grow older it may.

            Fortunately there are not many people in my family that have been seriously ill or died. On my mother’s side, where I usually spend thanksgiving, my grandfather has passed quite some time ago, and my grandmother’s father is seriously ill. I hardly knew my grandfather so his death was not a very big deal to me. My great-grandfather however, was always a family man. He was always there for the family and when he had his stroke a few years back everything changed. That thanksgiving, my grandmother went upstate to visit him along with the rest of her siblings. That was the first thanksgiving that I can remember where there was a small dinner. Normally it is my siblings and I, my mother and stepfather, my grandmother and her father, all of my uncles, and sometimes my grandmother’s siblings as well. Ever since my great-grandfather had his stroke, the holidays were simply not the same.

            As for my fathers side, the only death that really impacts our family occasions is that of my aunts’ mother. It impacts it in a very weird way. During all of our family gatherings, some sort of discussion arises involving her or her death. On thanksgiving, it was who will inherit her house, in Trinidad. Being that it is after her death, some may view this as a negative conversation. As my aunts were discussing it, my grandfather intervened and asked that the topic of conversation be changed to a more cheerful one and it almost turned into a big deal. I think that death should not be viewed as negative for all people must die someday and my great aunt had a very long full life with lots of happiness. We should be thankful that she had a good life and reflect on it with joy rather than view in negatively.

            I suppose these conversations can be seen as a sort of traditional thing. My family has never been very into football, more of baseball people, so we all usually sit around and talk. Coffee is made, deserts served, music played, some dancing, but mostly talking. The conversation usually does not stray far from family memories, sometimes connecting into recent events, but usually things I am not familiar with. They reflect on things that they went through in Trinidad, and how things were so different there than they are here.  When with my mom, it’s usually sharing childhood stories of my mother and her brothers. They talk about the silly trouble they got into and their sibling troubles as well as when they display love for each other. I look forward to being in their shoes and having my own stories to share. This is as close to a family tradition that my family and I have.

HW 17

                I have not had many experiences with illness and dying. The closest experience I had with it was through one of my closest friends. He and I have been great friends since we were five or six years of age. We lived very close to each other, making it simple to maintain a strong, close friendship. Throughout time we also became close with each others family members. Last year his grandmother, whom he used to live with, became very ill. She remained this way for quite some time; however I never thought much of it. On Halloween last year, she passed away. I was not very sure how to feel. I felt awful about the whole situation but I felt even worse because I did not feel the pain I had expected. When I looked at my friend, grieving over his grandmother, who raised him, it made me feel worse for my lack of emotion. He went into a state of depression. He would not speak to anyone and refused to leave his house. This eventually led to a complete waste of a year of his life. He did not go to school and failed the grade. It took him nearly an entire year to recover from the loss. This makes me think and fear death in a way differently than most think about it. Most people fear death of themselves, I fear how I will react to death of someone I really care about and that impacts, or has impacted my life.

                When I think of illness I usually try to be optimistic and hope that someone that is ill can pull through their struggle. I have always been taught that death is inevitable so it is better not to think about it too much. This mindset has been constant for the most part, unless my mind strays and I think about it and alternatives.  Despite this, generally when I think of death I think of fear. I always think of people fearing death. Society teaches us to fear death and those who do fear death are those who simply are not prepared to die or accept that it is inevitable.  Scholar Thomas Aquinus stated that “people are afraid of death not only when they feel its presence but even when they think about it. The ability to understand the reality of death and realize its impact on us, ability to discuss our fears about death helps to fully live our lives.” (Aquinus, Attitudes Towards Death and Dying) I agree with this quote because I feel that the reality of deaths inevitability is what motivates me to make the best out of life, each and every day. I do not want to waste my time with pointless things that do not matter. We are slowly dying with every passing second of our life.

I do not think that my family has any abstract ideas about life. I think they, for the most part, also want to just make the best out of life. I think a theme for them is to provide the younger generation with higher quality lives than they have. When it comes to death there is also nothing very unique. All of my family are religious Catholics or Christians, so they believe in the idea of heaven or hell.  Have been raised with these ideas and do worship god, however I have had my doubts.

A potentially unusual way that I tend to think of death is with a curious approach.

I am not anxious to die, however I do wonder what happens. Of course there are many beliefs such and the aforementioned heaven or hell, or reincarnation. To me, the most likely thing would be an eternal sleep however that could lead to other things. Will you eternally dream as well? Or will it be a nightmare? Is your behavior in your current life what determines if your death ends up a dream or nightmare? Is that what the whole heaven or hell idea comes from? If not these things than do you become something else rather than a person in your dream? Is this what reincarnation really is? Regardless of what happens when you die I do not see anyway to research and truly determine what happens when death occurs. All of the possibilities or beliefs are just theories.

Bibliography

http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/attitudes-towards-death-and-dying-139943.html

HW #12 final food project part two

Thesis: Dominant social practices in our culture - nightmarish industrial atrocities they may be - evolved to fit this culture's demands and will not be replaced by voluntaristic feel-good tree-hugging utopian fantasies.

Major Claim: Despite attempts to change people’s diets that change still will not occur as a result of people’s eating habits and food being so essential.

Supporting Claim 1: There are and have been attempts to change how people eat

            Evidence: Michelle Obama vs obesity

                        -“We know this is a problem and there is a lot at stake so we know that we need to do something big and get moving on it so we are launching a nation wide campaign called lets move” (Michelle Obama when interviewed, 1:25-1:37)

            Evidence: McDonalds label products with calorie information

                        “The new labels feature a standard nutrition information label and a new icon and bar chart that provides information on a menu item’s nutrition value and how it relates to daily nutrient guidelines. McDonald's says, "the icons represent the five elements that experts agree are most relevant to consumer understanding of nutrition – calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and salt (sodium)."

Supporting Claim 2: People are not making changes

            Evidence: High obesity rates

                        “prevalence of obesity citywide increased from 20 percent to 22 percent, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.”

            Evidence: Fast food makes lots of money

                        http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MCD/financials

                       

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTf54NoZ_U4

http://news.foodfacts.info/2006/02/mcdonalds-unveils-nutrition-labeling.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6214L820100302

HW #11 final food project part one

For the assignment my partner Jay and I decided to make fliers and pass them out to people. This, overall, turned out to be quite effective. Unfortunately, there were many people who were simply not interested and paid no mind to us, however there were many who were willing to grab a flier. At first we were simply giving them out which was not all that effective. Then we began to have brief verbal engagements with the people, which proved to be much more helpful. We were very polite, which made people more willing to take the fliers. Eventually we developed a catch phrase, ‘know what you eat before you eat it” which worked especially great because we were handing them out during lunchtime.

            There was a certain group of people that stood out when I was giving out the fliers. A group of Caucasian men were walking and I engaged them attempting to give them the fliers. I told them that they could learn a lot just by reading it. Three of them said no but as the last one walked by me he grabbed one. Jay and I lingered in that area for a few minutes giving more out. When we decided to walk up the block we saw the man and the rest of his friends gathered around him, intently reading the flier. This made me feel very proud since it seemed to actually have an affect on them. They may actually make a difference in their diets and further spread the word.

            I feel that this process went very well overall, however there are a few things that we could have done differently. One of the better things that we did was with the timing. Being that we handed them out during lunchtime there were many people out and they all had food on their mind. A major con may have been that we did not provide area for further investigation. Some people may have been interested in learning more about the food and what is really in it. Had we given the names of the books read in class (Omnivores Dilemma or Fast Food Nation) the movie, Food inc., it would be easy for them to learn about the food.

            Aside from this, I attempted to be a vegetarian for one day. This did not work nearly as well. During lunchtime that day, my friends and I walked by a Kentucky fried chicken, making my desire for meat all the more. Fortunately I was able to resist the desire and settle for pizza. Unfortunately, dinnertime was a whole different story. I am a person that normally has a very large and appetizing (not that vegetables are not appetizing) dinner. As I arrived home I learned that my stepmom would be making dinner, rice, beans, and chicken. I told myself that I would not eat it. I said that I would have soup instead. I did in fact have that soup, but it did not full me. Shortly after, dinner was ready and I needed to have a full meal before I went to bed. Basically, it would be very difficult for me to go meatless permanently, if I could not even do it for one day.

Food inc response

Do not allow the big time food companies/industries to continue this way. They control the entire countries diet. By denying people as much information as they can about what they are feeding us, they are able to keep most in the dark so few have any incentive to make change. Do not allow this to continue happening. Make a difference by knowing about what you eat. If people are knowledgeable of what they are eating they will be willing to make changes in their diets. This is the key. Do not allow these sometimes even deadly foods to continue being fed to us. Make a difference.

The movie and the book had many similarities and differences. Generally the book was much more specific and detailed; spending more time on topics/ideas while for most things the movie was relatively brief in its explanation. Although this is true, the movie made the information much more pleasurable to obtain. While it is good that the book was very detailed it sometimes stayed on a topic for a bit too long. The movie was very concise. The movie also gave a much more interesting representation, being that it was able to visually show what happened in the slaughter houses and what the animals were really living like.

I defiantly preferred the movie over the book. The visual representations were much more helpful in keeping me interested and understanding what harsh conditions there were for the animals. Going back to the précis, it mentioned that the people in America are not really motivated to even care about what they are eating. This is very interesting to me because I feel that if I was someone that had issues with my health that would be one of the first things that I would look into. Doctors and other experts can simply tell you what is good and bad but knowing what exactly you are eating, to me, will be the most helpful information. This is especially true when you can easily make small changes that make a big difference from knowing these things. I even have peers that, just by watching the movie, are motivated to make changes in their eating styles. I think the main feeling that I get from the movie was disappointment more than anything. Many may be feeling sad, mainly for the animals, and while that may true, I think that animals live their lives to be eaten. It is part of life, so while I am sympathetic towards them, it was going to happen eventually. I am mainly disappointed that people can consciously have those living conditions for the animals, knowing that they can easily pick up diseases that way. They are consciously willing to risk giving life threatening diseases by them doing that. That was the most disappointing thing that I saw, especially when examples like the young boy, Kevin, who died at age two. Even after his death the company continued to distribute the poisoned meat, putting even more people’s lives at risk.

7d

Chapter 17

Modern day Americans take animals for granted. We undermine their values in our lives and basically use them simply for food. Although many may view that as a natural part of life, it is not very natural to have them drugged up standing ankle high in their own manure. The cruelty we show to them is unfair. According to Peter Singer, animals should be treated just as well as humans are. They deserve better.

"If possessing a higher degree of intelligence does not entitle one human to use another for his or her own ends, how can it entitle humans to exploit non-humans for the same purpose?" (Pollan, 307)

“The stunner has a pneumatic-powered ‘gun’ that fires a steel bolt about seven inches long and the diameter of a fat pencil. He leans over and puts it smack in the middle of the forehead. When it’s done correctly it will kill the animal on the first shot.” (Pollan, 330)

This chapter made it very clear to me the way the animals have simply been tools to humans. Sure we have our pets but who has a pet pig or cow? We genetically modify them and use them as food. We even use them to get rid our excess things like corn, which is the source for why what we are doing is even an issue.

Chapter 18

For some odd reason hunting seems to be something that many kids desire. Just the thought of having a gun in your hand, that feeling of superiority, is something to want. Being that I have no experience with hunting Angelo, who is a very experienced hunter, trained me. It was quite difficult for me and even after the training and getting my own gun, I was still a bit uneasy. After succeeding in the hunt I felt an overwhelming joy. I was very proud of myself.

“I enjoyed shooting a pig a whole lot more than I ever thought I should have” (Pollan, 337)

"So much of the human project is concerned with distinguishing ourselves from beasts that we seem strenuously to avoid things that remind us that we are beasts too" (Pollan, 357)

At first I wondered how he could be so pleased with killing a pig himself. After putting myself in his shoes and attempting to understand his joy, I concluding that he was not joyful of the idea that he killed the pig. It was more of a feeling of accomplishment, since he had succeeded in essentially becoming a hunter. Still, I wonder, what does he really accomplish from this?


Chapter 19

Now that the meat part is complete it is time to hunt for the mushrooms. Many will think that mushrooms will be easy to simply be gathered, but as a person that has minimal forest experience, this is an extremely difficult task. It is also important to be careful of potentially poisonous mushrooms. In addition it was difficult to have someone assist and escort me through the forest to hunt. After all of these things happened, I was satisfied with the result and was proud to have succeeded.

"Morel hunting didn't sound like much fun, more like survival training than a walk in the woods. I crossed my finger that Anthony was just trying to scare me and set my alarm from 4:30AM, wondering why it is all these hunting-gathering expeditions had to big at such ungodly hours."  (Pollan 379)


Chapter 20

I decided to prepare a mean for my friends and family using all of the things that I personally hunted down. While the meal was not the greatest any of us have had, I found it great. Not because of the taste, but the sense of satisfaction that I gained from having done literally the entire meal by myself.

"No, little if anything about this meal was what anyone would call 'realistic'. And yet no meal I've ever prepared or eaten has been more real" (Pollan, 392)

"It occurred to me that the making of this meal, by acquainting me with these particular people, landscapes, and species, had succeeded in attaching me to Northern California, its nature and its culture both, as nothing I'd done before or since.  Eating's not a bad way to get to know a place" (Pollan 408).

Pollans ability to literally complete the entire meal, from start to finish, really impressed me. From reading other blogs, some felt that he was “overly sentimental” (Casey Smith), however I felt that he deserved to be emotional. One thing I wondered prior to the eating, was if he would actually be able to eat the meal, even after having seen all of the things while they were alive.  

HW #7c

Chapter 11
In this chapter I tell my readers about the animals on the farm. I explain how they all work together and help each other, how everything on the farm is interconnected. A good example of this would be how the animals eat the grass, which is for them but then when they produce their manure on the grass, it helps the grass. The manure fertilizes the grass.

Chapter 12

In this chapter the main thing that I want my readers to understand is the process the animals, in this case the chickens, go through in the slaughter house I also focus on clarifying that not all slaughter houses are all that dirty, some are, by slaughter house standards, clean. By this I mean that the animals have their waste disposed of naturally, into the grass and they live life freely. Many readers will likely be interested in knowing that the killing of the animals is inevitable, however it does not always have to be cruel towards the animals. This is evident in the full lives that the animals on grass farms live as opposed to those fueled primarily by the corn.

Chapter 13

The primary objective in this chapter was to make it clear that local markets or grass farms value quantity over quality. This does not apply to farms or slaughter houses that pay little or no attention to how the animals are actually treated and the lives they live. On grass farms the animals live full lives. This connects to the big picture because although consumers like to spend the least amount of money, this is their downfall. It will intrigue people to know that modern day Americans spend below ten percent of their income on their food as opposed to as recently as the 1950s where up around twenty percent was spent on food. Clearly, people just do not care as much about what they are eating.

Chapter 14

In this chapter I focus on my experience with chicken post being the person to do the dirty work. After killing the chicken, then plucking and even gutting them myself, I wondered if I could handle the eating. I also wondered if the way the chickens were raised, naturally with grass, would actually affect their taste when eating them. After preparing a meal and eating, my family, friends, and I all agreed that the food was delicious. Many would be very interested in finding the correlation between the happiness of the chicken during its life to its taste after.

Freakonomics

The film, “Freakonomics” has several tactics in which the protagonists go about their investigations. One way is by interviewing people in an attempt to understand a more hands on perspective. In doing this they sought out a way to attain the truth from the people who experience the issue themselves. This tactic was used in the sumo section where the tried to figure out if there was cheating in sumo. By interviewing former competitors, one spoke up and admitted that there was indeed cheating going on in sumo, where some matches were rigged.

            Another tool was analyzing statistics in order to uncover the truth behind things. In doing this the protagonists were able to discover how athletes cheated. Although the interviews were very helpful in the exposure of cheating in sumo wrestling, these interviews would not have even been conducted if the statistics were not analyzed. The protagonists looked at the stats and saw that when a fighter had nothing to lose but his opponent was essentially facing elimination, the underdog won roughly 75% of the time. This stat was used to help prove the conspiracy that matches were being rigged.

            Another tool that was used to make conclusions was to conduct experiments. This was done twice in the movie. First, the protagonist sent out several job applications that were exactly the same information; however the names varied, which was the goal of the study. After a while, replies were received, however they were not quite fair. Applications that had names more commonly found in African Americans, such as Deshawn, received replies later than those with names found in white people, like Todd. This study was able to prove that your name may impact your likelihood to receive a job, depending on how you go about it. This investigation was more conclusive than the second, where the results were not very drastic. The study was about bribing students to improve academically. The students were offered money to improve their grades, but unfortunately, less than 10% of the students that were failing improved to passing grades as a result of the bribery.

            The authors mostly rely on statistics and the experiences that people have. This is because they found these sources most reliable, which they were based on the movie. By looking at stats and the experiences of a former athlete, they were able to expose an entire sport of cheating. This is an especially great achievement when realizing the true significance of the sport to the people of Japan. Aside from the entertainment and money, the sport has much tradition behind it.

            I agree that Freakonomics serves as an inspiration and good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices. This inspires me because I found it very interesting and was impressed by the insight in their investigations, especially since they investigated such uncommon aspects of life. I never would have expected that a persons name would have such an impact on their success in life. Although a professional stated the name itself was not important, the part where the applications were sent in and the replies were much later in those with black names still was a surprise to me. I found that very interesting and was very disappointed that racism is still around today. In investigating food, it may be possible to make interesting revelations by following the eating habits of two people with roughly the same weight, with relatives (primarily parents/grandparents) that have roughly the same weight, that are physically active roughly the same amount, and that are roughly the same age to observe how they gain/lose weight.

HW #7b

Chapter 6

            I wanted my readers to understand why we have the health problems that we have. The reasoning for things like obesity and diabetes is that there is such an overpopulation of corn. As a result of this excess corn, there is a need to find ways to get the corn consumed, which is when it gets processed. After this, the corn is a great source of energy in more ways that one, be it in chicken nuggets, soda, or nearly anything. The fact that it provides so much energy makes people desire these things and since it has the energy, it has lots of calories. This is why health is now such an issue.

Chapter 7

           

            I wanted my readers to understand how modern day fast food works and how simple it is to have a full meal for a low price. To make this clear, I simply explained a day where my family and I each had McDonalds for lunch. The interesting part of this was the way that McDonalds is able to deceive their customers by having healthier meals on the menu, like a salad. By doing this they seem less unhealthy overall.

Chapter 8

            In this chapter I explained to my readers the basics, and some more, about grass. Grass, like corn, plays a huge role in our lives.  Also like corn, it is often consumed by animals, which we consume, therefore it is important with us as well. It is interesting how the grass, like the corn, evolves. As the animals eat it and even walk on it, it thrives and grows back just as easily. This is how the grass is very powerful in its own way.

Chapter 9

            I want my readers to realize what organic means and what it means in products. When things are being sold, they may be advertised as organic, however they may not actually be. Just because it says it, people often believe it but it actually is not. There may be ‘organic’ milk but the cows are actually fed milk from machines that are somehow considered organic. This is somewhat confusing to me.

Chapter 10

            In this chapter I want my readers to understand grass on a more detailed level. They need to understand the significance of grass and why farmers call their farms grass farms. To achieve this, I explored a farm and went into detail with how all of the animals consume grass therefore the grass allows the farm to function properly. Without it the animals will struggle to eat properly, which is something that will likely interest my readers.

hw #8

The plant growing was pretty new to me. I never really grew anything with all of the responsibility; however I have grown simple things like flowers before. I have never grown anything edible. This was much easier than I expected, simply needing to water the sprouts on a daily basis. In doing this I realized that the world can be very difficult. While growing this the whole time I was thinking that this would not be very pleasant to eat. This made me think about people who have much less to eat and do not have a choice in what they eat. Also, it made me realize how difficult farming can be. Although it was pretty simple for me, I noticed some of my peers with much less impressive results as their plants withered. This showed me how a simple mistake like forgetting to water the sprouts for even a day can mess it up. The process may be seen as magical in the way that the sprouts grew so quickly. It may also be sacred, being that people have been growing plants to eat for years; however I did not find this process even the slightest bit unpleasant. Upon eating the sprouts, they were not nearly as distasteful as i had imagined based on their appearance, smell, and my overall preference for foods that are not vegetables. In fact, I found the sprouts quite tasty, much like lettuce in my opinion. I tried them alone at first and then with a hamburger when I got home, which was very satisfying. Overall I feel like this was a fun process.  

hw #7

Intro/Chapter 1
          
In this novel I will be informing you, my audience, of several aspects of health including how corn plays a role in our lives. Corn is in everything. Nearly everything that we consume contains some form of corn. Even looking at history corn allowed humans to survive.  On pager 27 the author stated that, “Corn’s dual identity as food and commodity has allowed many of the peasant communities that have embraced it to make the leap from subsistence to market economy” (Pollan, Michael). This quote is basically saying that corn basically allows the world to go around. It allowed the economy to function in the past.

Chapter 2

            The process of corn is not al that simple either. There is a lot of very careful work that goes into making corn. On page 32 the author stated,  “Deviate from the line and your corn rows ill wobble overlapping or drifting away from one another” (Pollan, Michael). Clearly corn is not as simple a thing to do as people may seem. A lot of work goes into its creation.

Chapter 3

I want you all to understand the process that the corn goes through before it is sold. Not just that but the history. People first realized what corn was in the 1850 and then from there began using it exclusively. Corn was also somewhat sacred to the Mexicans. If there was corn on the floor it was like a sin. “If they saw dry grains of maize scattered on the ground, they quickly gathered them up saying… If we should not gather up, it would accuse us before our lord.” The Mexicans did not want to waste the corn, they thought it disrespect to the lord.

Chapter 4
The main thing that I wanted my readers to get from this chapter was to understand all that the corn goes through and how it connects to other things. I explained the normal life of a typical animal, a cow, as it is prepared to be slaughtered for food. Corn connects to this because being that there is so much con and it is so easy to make lots of, farmers force cows and other animals to eat it. I found it cruel and feel that most readers would be interested in knowing that even creatures like fish, who do not even eat corn at all, are being forced to do so just because it is cheap for the farmers.

Chapter 5
Readers who read this chapter are learning about how corn affects its consumers. It is a starch so it may put some pounds on us. I also inform my readers something that i found very interesting. Although it may seem like we control the corn, it may control us in a way. We help it by consuming it on such a high level. In this way, we eat corn not for ourselves, but for the corn.

hw #6

           

            Over the past two days I have eaten far below what I am expected to based on the website provided. I am expected to consume 2564 calories a day, while based on my eating habits I only consume about 1800 a day. Over the past two days I have consumed a total of 3800 calories, 2200 the first day and 1600 the last. This is less than the expected amount, which is over 5000. While this may seem like it is healthy, I am not quite sure if it is. For one thing I may not be getting the nutrition that my body needs. Another point is that while I do not consume all that many calories, I do not eat very healthy foods. Vegetables rarely find their way into my diet, which cannot be good for my health. Most of the food that I eat is greasy and often fried food. The drinks that I have are almost always soda or juice which in addition to being high in calories is very sugary.  

            Day one began with my usual bowl of cereal, with milk of course. This was roughly 400 calories, mostly because of the milk, despite its being 1%.  From there, a few hours later, I enjoyed a granola bar. This was 90 calories. The day went on and for lunch I had Chinese food, fried chicken wings, a whooping 800 calories. My dinner that night, hamburger helper, was 400 calories. Aside from the foods, all I had to drink that day was soda and juice. I had one serving of soda and one of juice.  This added an extra 200 calories. Then the snack, adding 300 calories. Overall I enjoyed my eating for this day. The food was not particularly expensive and it pleased me. Food impacts people in several ways. In pleases your senses before and during the time you eat it. Before it arrives you are able to smell it, causing you to desire it all the more. While eating it, you taste it and enjoy it. Most foods are physically easy to eat, while some require more effort. I always wonder why foods have that smell about them. Is the smell intentional or does it come naturally with the ingredients? Why do the ingredients smell the way they do? Does the smell of the food actually impact the way it tastes?  

            Day two began similarly with my traditional bowl of cereal, followed by my granola bar. 490 calories. Then, being that there was early release; I assumed I would be home somewhat earlier than usual so I had a smaller lunch. Just one slice of pizza, along with the soda, added 500 calories. Dinner that night, rice, beans and chicken, added roughly 450 more calories. My juice for that night, 50, will give me a final of 1490 calories for the day. This is much less than the expected amount, leading me to believe that I should have ate more for lunch that day. Despite my lack of a full lunch, I am still overall pleased with my eating for that day.

            Generally my foods are unhealthy. They are often fried and/or greasy. My meals are usually very saucy, or wet. They almost always consist of rice or pasta, either for lunch or for dinner. The foods I eat are always tasty in my opinion. They tend to be very flavorful. I am satisfied with my meals for the past two days, however, if I could make a change or an addition I would like to incorporate fruits and/or vegetables into my eating more. I do not necessarily have the desire to take anything out of my meals; I would just like to add something healthy into my daily eating. Also, I would like to make eating every meal, every day, more of a habit. There are some days where I would not eat lunch or eat something small. I would like to have a full lunch everyday. There are also days where I may be pressed for time in the morning and therefore not be able to have breakfast. I would like to make time for breakfast every morning as well.

HW #4

            Dominant Discourse is how people argue but based on their specific position. For example my friends and I are arguing about where to go to lunch on a given day, likely candidates places that are not particularly healthy, the people whose opinions actually matter are us. If a random person shows up, or a person that will not be at lunch with us, we will not really take their opinion into consideration. Food fits into this discussion in several possible ways. For one, people have many discussions on what kinds of foods to eat. People discuss what is and is not healthy for you. They also argue which allows you to enjoy your food while still having the healthy aspects of the meal. All of these things come into play. The price if the foods are always a big deal as well. “Before we want health, we want taste, we want convenience and we want low cost,” Mr. Balzer said in a New York Times article.  Basically, all people want whatever is cheapest and tastes best. People don’t value the health aspect of food as much as the price and taste.

            Not everyone’s opinion matters as much as others when it comes to these discussions. For example people who are obese will almost defiantly be overlooked when health conversations are about. If the discussion is strictly about the quality, taste, and value of the food, the opinion of someone overweight may actually be heavily relied on. For health, experts like doctors will probably be the most listened to or people who have actually experienced the diet and benefited from it. Based on the articles, most of the people providing their opinions were doctors who have done research on health and know what is and is not healthy for you.

            While the experts do know what they are talking about, they may not be able to prevent the health recession. People will continue to eat unhealthy foods and pollute their bodies. It seems as if the doctors lived through a time where the health of food was not a huge issue. People were not overweight the way they are now so it was not as much a problem but now that obesity is such a problem, people need to eat healthier. That makes the problems more of an issue to doctors. Not only that, but the fact that seemed so easy not to be overweight in the past makes it harder for most doctors to understand the difficulty that people may have attempting to eat healthy. Fast food is very cheap where healthy foods are usually somewhat more costly, so people simply prefer to eat cheaper. It may not always be about the taste, the price plays a large role as well.  

HW #4

            My parents always eat healthier than I do. Not only that, but they are always conscious of what they are eating and how that will affect them in the long run. I however, hardly ever pay any attention to how what I am eating will affect my body. I do not pay much attention to how healthy the things that I am eating are. When asked, my parents said that their parents actually do not always eat healthier than they do, as I had thought. My grandfather apparently eats almost as unhealthy as I do. My grandmother however, eats far more healthy than the rest of our family. After putting thought into it, I concluded that my grandmother eats healthier because she is a diabetic while my grandfather has been blessed with great health.

            My parents said that the way they were raised did not really promote healthy eating habits. Although my grandmother, who did basically all of the cooking for my dad, eats healthy now, she had not always eating that way.  Becoming a diabetic completely changed her eating habits. Despite growing up with poor eating habits, my father now has much better eating habits for the most part. The main reason for this is really the desire to stay in shape as he ages. Although nobody in my family really struggles to maintain their fitness, my father now makes a conscious effort to keep in shape. Not only does he now workout, but he eats much healthier and is careful not to have to many foods that are not particularly good for him. In my opinion, the way that society is today has a lot to do with the way my father has changed the way he goes about his figure. The way that people are so critical upon others based on their appearance is what I think motivates him. In addition, he may be motivated by the fact that it is so easy to be careless and allow yourself to lose  a strong appearance and gain excess weight.

Basically, looking at , my fridge/menu, we mainly have some sort of meat along with a side or two. It will always be something like pasta, rice, mash potatoes, etc. along with a meat. This is what may be referred to as a typical/daily meal for us. Although we usually have the same thing for dinner, often together at the table, we have different routines after. My father and stepmother for example, usually do a physical activity later the evening or sometime the next day to work off the heavy meal, depending on the meal. Also, they do not always treat themselves to a snack, which I almost always do. This is how our eating habits vary.

HW #3

The McDonalds fast food restaurant and the Green Market have similarities and differences.  They both gather many customers; however, they gather different customers. We observed that McDonalds gathers primarily younger customers while the Green market has an older crowd. This relates to what we discussed in class earlier today, about how younger people are more able to eat less healthy and not be affected while adults have to care about their health more. Adults typically pay more attention and are affected more by the foods that they eat, so they are more careful to eat better foods. Kids and teenagers are able to be less affected by the foods so they can eat less healthy and get away with it.

            There were also more people at the Green Market. This may be a result a few things. One would be the health factor. Being that the food is healthier, more people, adults, would want to eat there. It was also observed that the food was somewhat more expensive there than at McDonalds. This also relates to the age group because usually adults have more money available than kids, so it is easier for them to afford the food at the Green Market.

            I generally eat fast foods like McDonalds rather than healthier foods like at the Green Market. In fact, I cannot remember ever eating there. Not only do I not eat there, but my friends do not either. It is likely because of the age factor, being that during lunch when my friends and I go to lunch we usually eat fast food. Not only that, but there are almost always other groups of kids there. Based on the observations made yesterday and the conclusions that I have made, it is very likely that there are not many teenagers or kids at the Green Market, at least not as many as there are at McDonalds.

HW #2

During class today we began our food unit. We discussed many aspects of food, however one thing particularly interested me. Talk of food being sacred was a very new way to think about food. I believe that food is sacred. It is an important part of our life and a necessity. We all partake in eating food, universally, therefore i believe it is sacred. Andy brought up a tricky question, "well if food is sacred because it is important than is money sacred?" Of my classmates that spoke all of them agreed that money is not sacred. I however, disagree because i feel that money is sacred in its own way. Looking at society today, it is clear that money is of great significance. the whole world revolves around money. Many people who observe different hollidays or are different religions have different rituals to perform. Many of them would likely say that these rituals are sacred, however the clothing worn may not be seen as sacred.You need certain attire or other seemingly less significant aspects of the ritual to be there before the ritual is done. This compares to the food and money conmparison because although the clothing may not seem sacred, it is just as important as the ritual itself, as is the money when it comes to food. You need money for food. In my opinion, both money and food are sacred.

Most of my meals are quite satisfying. I am usually full and happy with my choice. My ideal meal is a meal that will full me with the least amount of effort and that costs less, while still satisfying my taste needs. The typical lunch for me is some form of fast food. These meals normally meet all of my previously stated needs, however, they are extremely unhealthy. The only desire of mine that my meals lack are health.

I do not think of myself as a very picky eater. For this reason, i do not have many priorities for my food. Generally, i prefer a meal that tastes good and is able to full me up at a decent price, or with less effort involved, as well as the convinience. Depending on the situation, these things come into play. For example, if i am home and do nt have food but i have money, i can choose between pizza or chinese food. Often times i will choose chinese food because it is cheaper and it will be delivered faster. Also, if i have a choice between something like eggs or a bowl of cereal for breakfast, the majority of the time i will go with cereal because it is much easier to prepare, plus there will be less cleaning up do do after.