HW 25

I am Michael Moore and anything I say is correct and should not be doubted for even one second. American health care system is messed up. Every middle class and lower citizen in the US seems to think that just because they have health care that means they are fine but it is not until they have a medical emergency, do they realize how utterly screwed they really are. The health care system started to become messed up (if it was ever not messed up) during President Nixon’s time in office. We should just move to Canada or somewhere in Europe where they have universal health care which actually works to benefit the people rather than the elites.

Two senior citizens who always paid their taxes and were “model citizens” their whole life had to sell their home and move in with their children because they could not afford the cost of the husband’s cardio treatment and the wife’s cancer treatment. Another example was that one woman had health insurance and when she had an emergency medical problem, her insurance company bailed out because she had a harmless yeast infection a few years back that she thought wasn’t important enough to mention in her insurance “signup sheet”.

People think that if you pay your taxes and follow the rules like you should, your government will take care of you. Your government will not let you get screwed over by a money hungry medical system.
Insurance companies that want to make a profit (all of them) do not want to bear the cost of an expensive treatment so they just cut the patient off. I do not even need to explain how ridiculous and unfair that is.

The drug act of 2003 which was created to help senior citizens in the US more extensively than standard health care would. What they did not mention while the elitist of that time passed the law, was that the medicine companies would be free to name their price for all the medicine that they provided. If the demand for one medicine increased, the price for it would skyrocket. Price gauging and preying on the needy should be made illegal, but why would it be? Why would the US government help the people that put them in power instead of making more money? Sources: https://www.cms.gov/mmaupdate/

I thought Sicko was an incredibly insightful movie. It was silly and a bit too obvious at some parts but at others, it provided some crucial information that most Americans are blind to. Everyone in America, yes I said everyone, thinks that if you do not have health insurance, you are in big trouble. They are right but after watching Sicko, I realized that having health insurance or being able to afford it isn’t that much better.

HW 22

Kincaid, Jamaica. My Brother. USA Edition. San Val, 1997

In this book I tell the story of my experience before, during, and after my brother, Devon, is admitted in a hospital in Antigua after contracting HIV. In the beginning of the book, I delve into my childhood by exploring my life complications when I used to live in Antigua. Devon was the only one among my mother's four children that was not born in a hospital. The hospital was appalling. It is not just the hospital. It is the general health care in Antigua. I had to bring a special medication made for AIDS patients called AZT from the states since they did not have it in Antigua. The hospital is extremely dirty and mismanaged. Devon was isolated because of his condition, this is the same for every other AIDS patient. One good thing that came from my brother's illness is the fact that I realized I loved him. I guess I always knew that I loved him but it was not until I saw him in the state he was, that I truly openly said it to him. Devon was surprised when I told him I loved him but he was happy in the end and replied kindly. With the help of AZT and other western medication, Devon was starting to feel better and was discharged from the hospital.

"I felt myself being swallowed up in a large vapor of sadness...I became afraid that he would die before I saw him again...It surprised me that I loved him; I could see that was what I was feeling, love for him, and it surprised me because I did not know him at all."
- Kincaid never liked her brother's morals nor his daily practices. She was distant from him her entire life and when she finally faced him again, she realizes that she really does love him.

“I had said to him that nothing good ever could come of his being so ill, but all the same I wanted to thank him for making me realize that I loved him” (21)
- People don't really miss the things they have until they don't have it anymore. Its a good thing Kincaid realized that she loved her brother before it was too late.

“I missed him. I missed seeing him suffer. I missed felling sorry that in the midst of some large thing and hoping he would emerge from it changed for the better. I did not love him.” (57-58)
- As Devon's condition improved, Kincaid grew less and less fond of him. She was starting to take him for granted again.

To be honest, I was not surprised at all when the author said she really did love her brother. Even though Devon has been nothing short of a disappointment to her and their family, he is still her brother which makes her forced by nature to love him. In my opinion, I believe this to be true for every family. No matter how screwed up it is. I personally can't say anything about this matter because thankfully, I never had a family member that I hated. But if there was, I am certain that I would be able to forgive them. No matter what they did.

HW #21 b- T/W Comments

To Amanda:
I liked how you connection with what Beth had done for Erik and what you would want if you were ever admitted in a hospital. Like you, I also found it interesting how Erik was protected and discouraged from thinking about death. I also liked your thoughts on why Beth feels upset every time she sees anyone injured/sick.
I also liked how you ended your blog by pondering whether Beth was relieved/grateful that her husband died the way he died instead of something less painful such as a coma.
One thing i think you should include in your next blog is how you would have reacted if someone is your family was diagnosed with cancer (God forbid). Just try to make it more personal.
Overall, a really good blog. Keep it up. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amanda Pagano (classmate)
Hey Abdullah,
I think it is interesting that you felt/feel that "Erik’s fight with cancer truly motivated me to do something with my life instead of just wasting time in front of the almighty computer monitor." I find this to be interesting because I myself had a moment when I felt this way, but it swiftly passed, I don’t know if lifestyles can be changed that quickly but it would be fascinating to find out if they could and for how long the lifestyle can be altered. I am curious to know why/how hearing Beth speak about how she and Evan helped Erik motivated you.
-Amanda

Spencer Elliot (Friend)
I like what you said about illness as "a cold or a broken arm" rather than a fatal condition. It really makes me think about people's expectations of disease and how they change upon themselves or loved ones being diagnosed with a fatal illness.

Sarwar Sarker (Father)
Us human being should be there for each other, I am glad that you have same feelings as Ms. Bernett has for her husband. However, it is not clear to me as you said "made me feel a sudden appreciation for how valuable my health really is", in fact cancer may affect anyone and how we all should fight to keep patients such as Erik alive is important. You should focus on how we can contribute for similar victims.

HW #21 - Expert #1

• Together 24/7
• Asymptomatic
• Clinical Trials
• Wanted to be treated as a person instead of a disease
• Did not want to be just another number
• Palliative care
• Hallucinations

It is never easy to talk about a loved one that has passed away, I speak from experience, and therefore, I applaud Beth Bernett for her courage and valiancy. Beth shared with the class the stories of how her husband, Erik Wood, met at a blind date and fell in love at first sight. After decades of living happily together and having two kids, Erik was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Erik was asymptomatic for a substantial period of time before he was diagnosed so he never directly expressed any discomfort which did not give his family members to be truly prepared for what was coming. Erik was placed under clinical trials and he was responding fairly well until things started to look bad. Beth mentioned how they never talked about death or dying. This struck me as really interesting since people normally want to settle their affairs, write/dictate their wills, discuss burial rituals, etc. “I didn’t even know if he wanted to be buried. He wasn’t for the record.”

Beth talked about how she tried to make her husband’s room in the hospital as homely as possible by making art with her children. She did not want people to look at Erik as a disease and pity him, she wanted visitors to look at him as the same person they knew and loved before he was diagnosed. Beth mentioned treating everyone from the doctors to the x-ray technician compassionately and respectfully. I thought that was an incredibly important life lesson. Don’t just treat people as someone who can do something for you. Treat them as someone who has a life, family, feelings and emotions. She also mentioned how when her younger son, Evan, was sick last week, the people at the hospital were more helpful and friendly to them then they would have been if they weren’t known in the hospital as a kind and caring family.

At the point at which Erik could only have been subsidized by palliative care, Beth took it upon herself and Evan to take care of him on his last days instead of having a stranger come in and look after their husband and father. Her older son, Josh, was very close to Erik and Josh was depicted as a “gentle soul” and therefore he was forced to stay at his dormitories instead of taking care of his father. Beth believed that it was best for him because the grief would be too much and Josh might have ended up in a hospital himself. I completely agree with Beth’s decision. The fact that she was able look after her dying husband still take care of her boys seemed astonishing and remarkable to me.

Listening to Beth talk about how she helped her husband do tasks like going to the bathroom every day, made me feel a sudden appreciation for how valuable my health really is. When I think of illness, it is always something such as a cold or a broken arm but I never think of anything fatal. Erik’s fight with cancer truly motivated me to do something with my life instead of just wasting time in front of the almighty computer monitor. Some people say illness is a gift. I both agree and disagree with that statement. Learning about Erik’s life was sort of a gift to me, especially since the story was somewhat connected to me since I’d like to consider myself as one of Evan’s closest friends. On the other hand, the millions of people (and their families) that died of cancer probably disagree. Yes, they did learn to cherish their lives, but at what price? I think Beth Bernett did a noble job by sharing her story with us. I think it is a much better way of remembering someone instead of the traditional way; lamenting and mourning over the deceased’s old possessions.

HW 19

Although having been raised in a family that has a very deep faith in religion but now living in a society that tries to segregate religion, my opinions on illness and dying are quite similar to that of my parents’ and my grandparents’. There are many differences but there are far more similarities than I expected. Having thoroughly discussed illness and dying with my father, I have come to the conclusion that no matter where you were educated or how well you were educated, you will always have a similar idea to how things work and how they should work. Like every religious person, my parents have a strong faith in the power of prayer. Besides prayer, my parents don’t have any respect for any other holistic treatments. Unlike most religious people however; they have a lot of confidence in allopathic treatments.

Treatments such as therapists and psychologists are some of the holistic examples that my dad absolutely despises. He believes that people spend too much time determined on letting other people fix their lives that they forget that they are the ones in control. They are “Brain washing and mind controlling schemes” according to my dad. He also says therapists and psychologists just leech money from people who are desperate and give them answers that the patients want to hear. I completely agree with my dad but I also think that just because therapists and psychologists play mind trick, doesn’t mean they aren’t helpful. If a person is having suicidal thoughts and a shrink is able to help him by using mind tricks, then why not? I see nothing wrong with that.

My family has had complete faith in allopathic medicine for generations. My grandfather was a surgeon and his father was also a doctor. My sister is also studying medicine in college and she aspires to be either a surgeon or just a hospitalist. Even though I’ve never been admitted to the hospital for more than a day, I have full confidence in the work they do. This may sound hypocritical, but my family and I also try to keep away from powerful medicine. Not because we don’t trust it but because of the possible side effects and also because you should always try and have as less chemicals as you can in your body.

When I asked my dad about what he thought about dying and how he would like to die, he closed his eyes and was quiet for a while. I thought he fell asleep or something but after I nudged him a little he simply said, “I am trying to remember something”. He could not recall where the quote he was trying to remember was from but it was, “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.” I later looked up the quote and it is by Isaac Asimov. He confessed to me that he didn’t want a painful death. I didn’t question him about this since he is older and a lot more experienced with death than me. He suffered through the deaths of both of his parents and he knew how it would feel when I went through the same thing.

HW 18

Every year that I have spent in the United States, I have received the same hype for Thanksgiving as the last. Since Thanksgiving is the only original American holiday, I have noticed that a lot of people here like getting very excited over it. This behavior is not at all weird since it involves eating and putting of your problems to another time with no immediate solution to them. I guess you can say that people deserve a break from all the problems that are going on at the moment. What amuses me is that the way Americans choose to give themselves that break. By inviting all their close relatives to a dinner that they would usually not be able to afford and then spend the rest of the day watching television or playing sports outside. How is that different from any other Saturday or Sunday? I guess the difference would be that the dinner is far more body-centered than any weekend dinner but I guess that’s justifiable since Americans could always use more comfort food.
If you haven’t guessed already, my family doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Which is weird since my understanding of the origins of Thanksgiving is; the Pilgrims and Indians sharing food. (This might come off as offensive) Even though I am not the right type of Indian, I do not recall being invited to anyone’s Thanksgiving dinner party. Maybe it was because they all know that my family would not attend even if we were invited. Or maybe it was because in the past, my family is known to ignore all pointless gatherings where the only purpose was to “have fun”. Whenever I tell this to people, they always look at my family and I as unsocial. In no way is this true. We love talking to people. When there is an actual point. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time.
I just realized that I have written what I would consider two paragraphs without even addressing the question for this blog entry. How was my Thanksgiving experience? I woke up at 11PM and spent the entire day doing SAT practice problems. At around 3PM I had a very satisfactory lunch and continued to do SAT practice until 5PM. Then I put on my video game pants and got ready for my daily Call of Duty session. I was quite disappointed since all the people I usually play with were wasting time somewhere else instead. I had to fall back to my foreign friends (It’s funny that I refer to people from my own country as foreigners now). I stopped playing at around 7PM and was getting ready for bed since I had to wake up the next day at 4AM for Black Friday. That brings me to my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Black Friday. The one American tradition that I have no complaints on.
In conclusion, my Thanksgiving was more of an anti-body experience than a body-centered one. Which means that I tried spending my time according to what would be better for my mind. In no way do I say that I succeeded, but “I tried my best”.

HW 17 Initial Thoughts on Illness and Dying Unit

Illnesses and deaths are a part of everyone’s life. Everyone I know has at some point gotten sick in their life. I do not personally know anyone that has died from an illness except my grandparents. My grandfather on my dad’s side died from a heart attack and my grandmother, also from my dad’s side, died from kidney cancer. My grandmother on my mom’s side also died from a heart attack. As for illnesses, thankfully, none of my close family members have even been seriously ill and neither have I. We all had the occasional fever and runny noise every winter but nothing serious. As far as I can remember, I have only been to the hospital as a patient once in my life. That was because I had accidently ran right through a glass door and I had to get 83 stitches on my thigh. I still have the scars to prove it! I also remember having chicken pox when I was around 8 or 9 years old. I had to be isolated inside my room since chicken pox is extremely contagious. My mom would bring me food and water and leave it outside the door. Fortunately I had an attached bathroom with my room so it wasn’t all bad. I also got to skip school for 2 weeks which is always a plus.
As I said before, my family has never been seriously ill before and therefore I have been taught to look at illness as something that you should never have to go through. If either my sister or I fall ill, my parents look at it as if it was our own fault so we deserved it. Until last year, my entire immediate family would eat the same meals when we were at home. So, if only one of us was sick, it had to be because of something that person did wrong. If anyone in my family gets sick, we still get the same care any other family would give their loved ones but we also get a lecture so we try and never be sick again. I have been taught to look at death as a stage in life that everyone eventually has to go through. Since my family and I believe in heaven and hell, I have also been taught to look at death as a judgment call. Which basically connotes to; do not be too attached to life since you will eventually have to let go.
Death is something that scares everyone. I am no exception to that fear. People try extremely hard to try and please everyone around them. Most of the students in my grade are trying extremely hard to improve their grades so they will be able to go to a good college and have a successful life. Sometimes I question these norms that everyone has created for themselves. Why are we working so hard? We all know that we will eventually have to die and none of this will matter anymore. So why am I sitting in the train right now writing this essay the day it is due? If my grades do go up and I get into of the best colleges, and lead a successful life, meaning I have a lot of money, I will still die and that money will not account for anything. “The one who dies with the most toys, still dies” I read this quote in our social studies class last week and it really got me thinking about what my life goals should be. Does it really matter that I died rich? No. It doesn’t. So I have decided to use whatever money I have earned and saved up in my lifetime for something that will benefit other people for years to come.

HW 11 - Final Food Project 1

Experiential

For the last part of the food unit, I decided to put the things that I had learnt by reading Omnivore's Dilemma and by watching Food Inc. into action. Both the book and the movie stressed the point that industrial production of food is a cruel and unhealthy system. So for the last leg of this unit, I decided to not eat anything for 72 hours that is made in an industrial factory. This included all kinds of meat, vegetables and fruits grown with pesticides, dairy products from industrialized animals, and eggs from industrialized chickens. This may sound preposterous and extremely difficult but to be honest, it wasn't.

I started my special diet from Friday and I ended it today (Sunday). Being raised in a family who always eat meat for lunch and dinner, it was quite difficult for me to convince my parents that I would be a vegetarian. My job got a lot harder because my sister was coming home from college and we would be celebrating her "outstanding success" my going out to a restaurant. In the restaurant my mom was getting quite annoyed with me because I would not touch any of the food since I did not know where it came from but I was pretty sure that it was industrialized food. So to be on the safe side, I didn't eat any of the meat. I really didn't want my whole family to be angry and upset so I decided to eat some Nan bread with lentil. I figured those had to be hand made for the most part. Right?

I was really hungry when I got home that night and my family talking about how delicious the meal was did not help. I went straight up to my room, played some video games and went to bed. I did not want to think about how hungry I was. I woke up very late on Saturday. I had completely forgotten about me being a "non industrialized food eater" and was about to go eat some breakfast when my mom reminded me (very pointedly) about my diet. She also said that we didn't have any food that would (and I quote) "fit the majesty's liking". But to my surprise my dad had woken up really early and gone down to the Grand Army Plaza green-market and would be coming back any minute. I was really happy when I heard this because I felt as if I had accomplished something great! I had inspired my dad to eat healthy! My mom didn't really like this since she had a whole meal planned that we would be eating as a family which is a rare occasion since my sister lives in long island.

My dad had come back with enough groceries to last the weekend! He also added that if I wanted to turn into a permanent vegan, I would need to go look for a job since the groceries were really expensive compared to our normal ordeal. Since my mom was overpowered, she had given up trying to change my mind and started cooking our lunch with the new groceries and I made breakfast for everyone. Breakfast was a little different since I couldn't eat cereal, I made everyone omelettes and just a glass of milk with one tablespoon of sugar. My family wasn't really satisfied with the meager meals at the end of the day but I felt pretty happy that I was able to share my experience with my entire family.

After my near 72 hour diet I really didn't feel any different. Some people say (especially in my country) that they cannot survive without eating food X everyday. I used to think the same, I didn't think it would be possible for me to survive without meat for 3 days. It was a little difficult since I didn't have my mom's full support because she did cook meat on Sunday for lunch and it was just torture not to bite into a big chicken drumstick. This experience really made me think of my food values in ways that I never thought of before. I don't think I can ever be a vegetarian for life let alone a vegan. Maybe if I changed up my diet every month or so to be the same as the one i had for the last 72 hours, I could possibly get used to eat and one day not really on meat and cheap food so much.

HW 12 - Final Food Project 2 - Outline

Thesis:

The procedures that the major food industries use to process meat is a nightmarish industrial atrocity that involves many unhealthy chemcals added to sell more for less work. Many people in the US do not know about this and hence it is considered a normal routine, and if everyone knew about the outrageous process that their food is made by, there definitely would be a drastic change in eating habbits in the US.

Argument 1: Increased rates of people getting sick from eating food that is considered normal but is actually very weird.
Evidence: Obesity epidemic
Evidence: Diabetes rates in children and immigrants
Evidence: Death toll from food related incidents

Argument 2: Not enough press

Evidence: You will never see an article in a well known newspaper (ex: NY Times) about what the inside of a slaughter house looks like.

Evidence: Unhealthy fast food industries are still making billions.

Evidence:Industrial slaughterhouse structure compared to Polyface farm structure



Citation:
http://www.obesityinamerica.org/
Diabetes Article
Text: Fast Food Nation
Text: Omnivore's Dillema
http://www.vegansoapbox.com/help-needed-require-video-cameras-in-slaughterhouses/
http://www.socialistalternative.org/publications/fastfood/ch3.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/

HW 7D

Chapter 17

Precis

It is considered politically incorrect for a person in today's community to be racist. But as little as 150 years ago, it was a norm to have slaves. Is it too much to hope that it will be possible that in another 150 years it will be politically incorrect to kill animals for their meat? Animal Rights activist, Peter Singer, is one of the most motivational authors. His writing convincingly refuted all the little things I could think of that would support eating meat.

Gems

“Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us ever pause to consider the life of the pig – an animal easily as intelligent as a dog – that becomes the Christmas ham.”

Thoughts

Animals that are fed in CAFOs suffer unimaginably. Not just physically, but mentally as well. They are treated as if they are machines in their money making factory, not living beings. Fortunately, they do not live long enough to suffer extensively.

Chapter 18

Precis

I was very excited for my first hunting experience. We started really early and headed to a popular hunting spot for pigs. I wanted to know what it would feel like to hunt somewhat similar to how our ancestors did back in the old days. To Angelo however, it was all about the meat and having a good time. When we finally saw a pig, all the hunters gave me the go and I was felt ready but I missed the shot. I hadn't pumped my gun. I eventually however did kill a pig, a pig that probably weighed around 190lb. Same as me. I was excited when I had taken the shot and heard the pig slam to the ground but while we were cleaning it, I wanted to throw up.

Gems

-“Here, I decided was one of the signal virtues of hunting: It puts large questions about who we and the animals are, and the nature of our respective deaths, squarely before the hunter, and while I’m sure there are many hunters who manage to avoid their gaze, that must take some doing.”

-“And what was I so damned proud of, anyway? I’d killed a pig with a gun, big deal.”

Thoughts

If I ever go hunting, I will always think back to this time right now. I will always remember how Pollan felt when he had shot his first game and try to compare it to how I was feeling. Pollan is really talented and describing events that meant something to him. He uses vivid description of very second and of all of his thoughts. and to me, that is just amazing reading material.

Chapter 19

Precis

Its time for the last leg of my "Paris Hilton" journey, foraging. Being an omnivore and eating from an industrial food system all my life, it is hard for me to identify which mushrooms are good for me and which aren't. It was quite difficult to find someone that would show me where I can find mushrooms because the spots are very rare and precious. I now understand why, now that I have a spot of my own, I won't tell a soul about it.

Gems

-“Wild mushrooms in general throw that dilemma into particularly sharp relief, since they confront us simultaneously with some of the world’s greatest rewards and gravest risks,”

-“If the soil is the earth’s stomach, fungi supply its digestive enzymes – literally,”

Thoughts

I have never liked mushrooms. They always tasted weird to me so I cannot really relate to how Pollan was feeling when he first found his mushrooms. However; I watch a lot of movies about medieval times and in those, mushrooms are treated how gold is treated today. They will fight over it, protect it, and trade it for safety. Since mushrooms all look similar, I would never go out to the forest and try to live off of mushrooms, one mushroom can be delicious, while the other can poison you.

Chapter 20

Precis

Now its time to put everything together. Combine all of experiences in the different food systems and make the perfect meal. I won't focus too much on the industrial system since it can kill you... I will focus more on the natural stuff. Giving my friends and me a connection between what they are eating and the environment.

Gem

-“Another thing cooking is, or can be, is a way to honor the things we’re eating, the animals and plants and fungi that have been sacrificed to gratify our needs and desires, as well as the places and the people that produced them,”

-"The fact that just about all of those hands were at the table was the more rare and important thing, as was the fact that every single story about the food on that table could be told in the first person."

Thoughts

Wow! I always thought that eating healthy and sufficiently would be expensive! Pollan made so much but it cost him almost nothing compared to all the benefits he was getting. I feel smarter after reading this book but kinda dumb at the same time. All this information was right in front of me my whole life, yet I never willingly tried to figure it out.

HW 9 - Freakonomics Response

In Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephan Dubner, the dominant discourse of correlation being the same thing as causation is examined. One of the things that they studied were the fact that many people in our society today have very unique names compared to names that are very common. Since the beginning of modern civilization, people have believed that there are some names that will increase a person's chances of success in life. Freakonomics showed an experiment done by a Harvard professor to see if there was indeed any correlation between names and a person's future. The study showed that a white man with the name, Greg, will get a job faster than someone who has a very stereotypical black name, Tyrone. The two men have the same qualifications and were applying for the same field of work. The results showed that Greg would get a job 5 weeks faster or 33% faster. That is a very long time. Especially for someone that is unemployed. This was one of the few examples where they showed that correlation and causation is in fact the same thing.

In Freakonomics, the authors seemed to have relied on ethics and moral beliefs of people rather than statistics. For the example with the Sumo wrestlers, all the sumo wrestlers are honored and even feared by the people of Japan. However; "If there is an incentive to cheat, they will cheat." A lot is in the balance if one person loses a match. I personally did not feel very convinced by the sumo wrestler cheating data because I felt like it was more speculation than concrete fact. This is probably because of the fact that the data was so vague since cheating is punishable by death/banishment.

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 movie explored topics that I thought I knew something about and enlightened me further. There wasn't a single segment where I felt as if it was absurd or weird to me. It all seemed to be issues that I already know something about but in more detail than I would have ever indulged in. For example, I have read a lot about why abortion should be illegal and why it shouldn't, but I would have never thought that abortion could be related to drastically reducing crime rates. The makers of Freakonomics seemed to be able to perfectly send the message they wanted to to the readers/watchers.

HW 7C

Chapter 16

Precis

The anatomy of the human digestive system is marvelous. It lets us eat a variety of food. Compared to the very picky Kaola Bear, who only eats eucalyptus leaves. Because of the thousands of immigrants in US, there is no one traditional food. So there is not nationwide food that everyone likes. This makes marketing companies's job a lot easier. Americans don't have their minds set to one type of food. They will eat everything that tastes good. That is the omnivore's dillema, they have too much choices. They cannot decide between healthy and cheap.

Gems

“Meanwhile, the kids, and Dad, too, if he’s around, each fix something different for themselves, because Dan’s on a low-carb diet, the teenager’s become a vegetarian, and the eight-year-old is on a strict ration of pizza that the shrink says it’s best to indulge (lest she develop eating disorders later on in life)."

Thoughts

Michael Pollan has changed the food habits of many many people. But those people are almost insignificant to the number of people who follow the commands of the big industrial marketing people. What the people need is a man (or woman) of power who can motivate the people to a different level. If only there was a person who was elected to govern the people by the people...

Chapter 15

Precis

I have educated my self first hand with the food from industrial farms and organic farms. Now it is time I must learn about the last category of food. Food that is hunted by me. I have never gone hunting in my life. In America, hunting is more of a recreational sport that you do with your dad. My dad was more of an indoor type guy so he never taught me anything related to hunting or foraging. Fortunately, I had met a man called Angelo who would be helping me through my journey of finding out everything about where food really comes from.

Gems

“…you have to have had a certain kind of dad in order to join the culture of hunting in America, and mine, one of the great indoorsmen, was emphatically not that dad. My father looked upon hunting as a human activity that had stopped making sense with the invention of the steakhouse.”

Thoughts

This Chapter gave us a little bit of insight into Pollan's life as a kid. Especially with the mention of his father. I finally understand why he is doing all these studies and experiments to understand where food comes from. It is not to make money from writing a book or making a documentary. It is to educate people so that people who grew up with parents like his, but aren't open minded enough to do the studies themselves. It is a study meant for lazy people who are willing to accept the truth only if people tell it to them but they will never go out to find it for themselves.

Chapter 14

Precis

After my experience in Salatin's farm, I decide to make a meal for my friends. The healthiest and the most delicious meal I can make. Fortunately, my friends like the food. That would be an understatement, they loved the food. I dedicated the dinner to the chickens that I bought from Salatin's farm. Without the chickens, my friends and I would not have the pleasure to enjoy this wonderful meal.

Gems

“One of the reasons we cook meat (besides making it tastier and easier to digest) is to civilize, or sublimate, what is at bottom a fairly brutal transaction between animals.”

Thoughts

After reading this Chapter, all I wanted to do was visit the country side and get some chicken and ask my mom to re-create Pollan's meal. But alas, with me living in the city, going to a Polyface farm is near impossible. It will probably be a 3 hour drive one way. One day, I will go to a Polyface farm and maybe then I will truly understand the beauty of organic food. Why not just go to an organic market here in the city? Like Salatin says, if you want the truly pure food from the farm, you gotta go down and get it.

Chapter 13

Precis

Salatin has a strict code of conduct; never to feed food that has been genetically modified, meaning, corn. Salatin believes that food should never be shipped cross country. This uses up fossil fuels that could be used for something else. Even though Satalin's food may look more expensive than super market food, it really isn't. With supermarket food you need to deal withthe cost of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized oil and water.

Gems

"Oh, those beautiful eggs! The difference is night and day- the color and richness and fat content. There's just no comparison. I always have to adjust my recipes for these eggs- you never need as many as they call for."

Thoughts

The consumers should always know where their food is coming from. The problem with industries is that the meat that they process is never just one animal. Beef for example, a hamburger sold in McDonald's won't contain meat from only one cow, it will always be a mixture of 5-6. This increases the chances of diseases spreading from the cattle to consumers.

Chapter 12

Precis

Today was the day. It was my turn to experience first hand what it is like to slaughter an animal. Many of Salatin's neighbors showed up to help with the slaughtering of the animals so it was more like a family activity rather than a job. It was hard for me to first get used to it. I tried not to look at the animals that I was given to kill. But once or twice I would glance at their eyes and I would only see fear. The chickens were placed upside down in cones so they would be calm and I was supposed to slit their throats. The chickens were later placed into a dumbed down version of a centrifuge where they are cleaned and their feathers plucked. After all the chickens are slaughtered and cleaned, they are placed on a separate section of the farms where people from all over the county showed up to pick up their healthy meat.

Gems

-“We do not allow the government to dictate what religion you can observe, so why should we allow them to dictate what kind of food you can buy.”

-"Make no mistake, we're in a war with the bureaucrats, who would like nothing better than to put us out of business."

Thoughts

Pollan's description of his first time slaughtering an animal was simply stunning. It made me actually imagine my self standing in his place and doing the things that he thought he was never capable of doing. Some people may argue as to why they should buy organic because the animals have the same result as industrial animals. They get slaughtered brutally. To them I say, it is not how their life ends that matter, it is how their life was that truly makes the difference in the end.

Chapter 11

Precis

Efficiency is everything in Joel Salatin's farm. What we consider early is time being wasted to the workers at Salatin's farm. Everything in the farm works in a cycle and in order. Chickens feed from broilers and their feces helps the grass grow, which the cow eats and the cow's feces also helps the grass grow which more cows/pigs can feed on.

Gems

“One of the greatest assets of a farm is the sheer ecstasy of life.”

Thoughts

Industrial farms are cheap but they harm the environment and their consumers at a rate that is unthinkable and food from Salatin's farm costs considerably more but is very healthy and good for the environment.

HW 7B

Chapter 10

Precis

It is sad to see that organic farms like Salatin's are going to eventually become non existent. But for the time being, Salatin is an excellent idol for farmers every where. Farmers who care about healthy living rather than living lavishly. Without using any modern technology, Salatin is able to re-create farming the way it is meant to be done, the way farmers did it 20,000 years ago. Farms such as Salatin's are rare now because of the high cost of maintaining a farm of that caliber with no help from the government. It is only logical to have an industrial farm because of all the more money you could be making.

Gems

“…if the sixteen million acres now being used to grow corn to feed cows in the United States became well-managed pasture, that would remove fourteen billion pounds of carbon from the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road.”

Thoughts

The fact that government endorsed farms are affecting the environment so drastically is nothing short of repulsing. Companies that own the industrial farms need to wake up and realize that this planet is not theirs. They cannot just help destroy it so while they live, they can have fun and the people after them will need to suffer their consequences.

Chapter 9

Precis

Organic farming has spread from little groups of farmers to industries. These industries are a lot cleaner and healthier for both the animals and the people. The companies that own the industries charge the consumers more than the CAFO meat but less than Polyface farm owners such as Joel Salatin. The organic food industry is an $11 billion business. As more and more people are becoming health conscious, organic food is spreading to TV dinners and "fancy" restaurants. The animals that are slaughtered in industrial organic farms, are fed on natural grass so they aren't exposed to any GMOs hence no bacteria in their system that would need pesticides or antibiotics.

Gem

“So it happens that these organic blackberries perched on this mound of vanilla ice cream, having been grown in a complexly fertile soil and forced to fight their own fights against pests and disease, are in some quantifiable way more nutritious than conventional blackberries.”

Thoughts

As the world becomes more and more technologically advanced, farms like Salatin's will start to disappear. With population booming with it the demand for fresh meat as well, Salatin's manual labor will never be able to keep up with the high demand. Even determined people like Salatin will eventually need to give up and hand their land over to industries. I don't think they will ever hand it over to CAFO endorsed companies but they will to organic factories.

Chapter 8

Precis

We looked at the industrial side of the food industry, now we will be looking at the organic side or also known as the "good side". Specifically a Polyface farm in Virgina owned by one of the few traditional farmers in US, Joel Salatin. Salatin is disgusted by how government endorsed "farmers" operate. The very idea of the workers in CAFOs makes Salatin angry. All of Salatin's cattle and chicken feed on grass instead of corn. The process is very natural and environmentally clean. The cows feed on the grass, their manure has fertilizers which help the grass grow again. The chicken feed on the maggots and worms that grow around the cow manure. Thanks to this natural process, the animals never need to be exposed to any special chemicals used to kill bacteria that would normally stick to their skin in an industrial feed lot.

Gem

-“Polyface Farm stands about as far from this industrialized sort of agriculture as it is possible to get without leaving the planet.”

Thoughts/Questions

One question that Pollan never answered was why Salatin refused to send a sample of meat from his farm to him through FedEx. I think Salatin did this so that he would keep to his policy, he wouldn't break his ethics even for a journalist who might give his farm a lot of positive attention. Shipping meat cross country will use up fossil fuels and he also wants to keep his meat local, instead of it spreading all over the world because people would not understand his logic. Pollan portrays Salatin as one of the "good farmers" because his cattle and chickens have a "good life". Even though the animals are still slaughtered, they had a chance to live life like they were meant to by nature.

Chapter 7

Precis

One in three kids in USA eat from a fast food restaurant everyday. One of the most popular fast food chains around the globe is McDonald's. In 1983, McDonald's came with their ingenious and world renown McNuggets. Chicken McNuggets are 56% corn which includes the corn the chicken was fed on also including thirteen other ingredients made purely from corn. It also includes a corn based ingredient called TBHQ. Which if taken without paying heed to the amount, it could be lethal.

Gems

-TBHQ can cause nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse. Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.

-Why do americans not realize how much corn is infused into our lives?

Thoughts

As most kids, I loved McDonald's. It was sort of a treat for me every time my parents would announce, "Dinner at McDonald's!" The greasy food of McDonald's was heaven for me and I would behave a whole month just so we can go again to the fat paradise. If I knew how unhygienic it was and how unhealthy it is, I would have never entered that place to begin with.

Chapter 6

Precis

Today's craving for corn is very similar to the alcohol craving in the nineteenth century. They are both the result of problem. Over production. In both time periods, the over production of the two substances has led to overnutrition, malnutrition, Type 2 diabetes, and various other health and environmental complications. According to history and the present, if one specific type of food becomes easily available, its value will dramatically decrease.

Gems

"The human appetite, it turns out, is surprisingly elastic, which makes evolutionary sense... Our bodies are storing reserves of fat against a famine that never comes."

Thoughts

In general, most people do not have a lot of self control and I do not understand why that is. I myself do not have a lot of self control. Even after thousands of years, evolution still hasn't made us to learn self control. People buy fast fatty foods because they like it even though they know it is unhealthy. The day mankind is able to control its desires, the world will be a much better and healthier place. Both physically and mentally.

HW 7

The following precis includes my insight on the book, "The Omnivores's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.

Chapters 1 and 2

The first two was chapters of this very intriguing book focused primarily on corn. It talks about the continuing and mostly like unstoppable rise of the the wonderful crop through western culture and the deep impact it has had on our daily lives. Corn is every where, "If we are indeed what we eat, we are corn" After reading about the amazing journey of corn through the past hundreds of years, I could not help but think about the many people that always say, "I hate corn!" I was amazed at how absurd that statement actually is; because if that is truly the case, then that person basically hates every food product that was made in a factory in USA. Another sentence that was a particular gem was, "A notably unhealthy country obsessed with eating healthy." That sentence summarized American culture astonishingly well and made me realized how very flawed this country really is in even everyday affairs like food.

Chapter 3

Corn has fallen from its seat of royalty but it still has the same value. Corn is being produced in an incredibly high yield that the grain elevators can no longer accommodate it. No matter what kind of corn it is, it is piled up by the elevated as golden mounds of grain ready to be shipped too all over the country and beyond. Workers work tirelessly to try and utilize all the corn for maximum efficiency, all 10 billion bushels of it. Thanks to over production of corn, many farm animals who previously weren't corn consumers have no other choice but to accept it.

Chapter 4

Precis

Corn fields in the USA take up more land than New York State. The pungent odor of one of the feedlots can be smelt from many a mile away. The animal wastes that used to serve as a natural fertilizer in farms is now being used to spread diseases among not just the farm animals but humans as well. The cows often eat their own feces along with that of their bretherin. The bacteria that cow consumed will also be consumed by the kid in McDonald's who wanted a hamburger instead of the snack wrap.

Gems

"'Hell, if you gave them lots of grass and space, I wouldn't have a job.'"

Insight

The healthier way is always the inefficient and more costly way. The cows are looked at as if they are just products, like cardboard in a paper factory. If one of them is deformed they are just cast aside. They are all just numbers in a industrial machine. There is no respect for the other species of the world anymore.

Chapter 5

Precis

Corn is one of the most important aspect in our everyday lives. The corn is hardly ever seen in the form of a kernel anymore. Every part of it is processed and artificially engineered to make it into an ingredient in almost every type of food that we like to enjoy. The very existence of natural food is being changed my scientists. Almost every type of food sold in stores nowadays is being changed and new ingredients are being added to make some use of the incredibly over production of corn. High fructose corn syrup is something that is pure poison but yet food companies continue to add it to the products that people continue to consume on a daily basis.

Gems

- "It takes a certain kind of eater- an industrial eater- to consume these fractions of corn, and we are, or have evolved into, that supremely adapted creature: the eater of processed food."

- "There's money to be made in food, unless you're trying to grow it."

General Thoughts and Questions

I follow Alex Jones a lot and he has some very interesting things to say about food. He jokingly made a petition where he asked the food companies to change the name "high fructose corn syrup" to "cancer corn". He was very serious about it because this "cancer corn" is in all of the soft drinks that teenagers consume litters after litters every day. I wonder if open minded people like Alex Jones will ever get their wish and actually be able to stop the food companies from destroying our lives...

HW 6 - Food Diary

Day 1

Lunch: 3 piece chicken tenders with fries from Popeye's

Like every other fast food restaurant, Popeye's food have more calories than home cooked food. The reason I went to Popeye's that day instead of another place such as Subway, was because my friend said that she had a sudden craving for Popeye's chicken so we all ended up going there. The taste of Popeye's chicken was the same as any other fast food places', greasy but delicious. For some people, eating in fast food restaurants is more of a habit than a random choice. I saw a lot of people that I see every time I go to that Popeye's branch. For me however, I really don't care where I go for lunch, I even consider going to the school cafeteria just because I feel too lazy to go outside. Food is food. As long it isn't spoilt or po

isoned, I don't really care how it tastes. But for the people that have extra picky tongues, I think they always need to go to one place or eat one type of food because that is how their brain works and my brain works differently.

Yellow is the worldwide accepted color to represent food or hunger. Restaurants all over the world use the color yellow to lure their customers in and one thing that I realized about Popeye's for the first time on that day was that everything in that place is yellow or a shade of yellow. Yellow also represents warmth, sunshine, cheer, and happiness. These forms of subliminal messages are being used by food companies all around the world to attract their customers and make them more money.

Dinner: Rice, fish, lentil, and various spices.

My typical and favorite meal. Every night that my mom servers this meal, is a good night for me. I'll stay in a good mood and I also noticed that it sometimes helps me focus because I'm not pondering over what I had for dinner since it's so simple. I'm not quite sure what the calorie count for this meal is specifically but I'm sure it's not too high. This meal has a fair amount of carbohydrates because of the rice but it also has a lot of protein from the fish (or chicken some nights). Lentil and spices are just there for flavor.

Day 2:

Lunch: Vegetable Burrito

I wouldn't normally eat a vegetable burrito, but I had to pack some sort of lunch for my internship so this was the best I could come up with. This turned out to be a good choice because I could carry it without hassle. Nutritionally, this was also a good choice. I had some rice, spinach, beans, and potatoes in it and it tasted fantastic. Overall, I felt good about this lunch because it was not only tasty but also very healthy. Typically, American style burritos are large and stuffed with a lot of ingredients. I don't like those types of burritos because they are usually full of grease and they are also hard to manage. I think a lot of people like those better than my style because they allow you to eat a lot of stuff at the same type instead of taking it slow and actually enjoying what they are eating.