Community College kids, please read

This article is alarming and worth your time. Please read
Students vexed by community college placement tests

Go to the Cerritos College website, then go to the Assessment link, and check out the requirements:
http://cms.cerritos.edu/assessment-center/requirements.htm

Long Beach City College has started testing already:
http://matric.lbcc.edu/signup.cfm

I recommend that you practice!  There are practice exams online.  See me if you need help!

The 900 Pound man !!!

Sooooo i was watching TV with my dad couple days ago and we came across the TV show called "the 900 pound man" s obviously that caught our attention and we started watching it. This man was HUGE i mean hugeeee. He spent his whole life in bed he couldn't get up to go shower he couldn't get up to walk or anything. His wide would bath him with some clothes while he laid in bed. One of the reasons why this man was still huge is because his wife would feed him anything he wanted. She said that she would give in and would just give him whatever he wanted. One of the meals she would do is like boil 3 chickens in this huge pot and add salt and once it was done she would give it to him. To me that is so unhealthy because she knows that her husband is in bad conditions. She has most of fault on why her husband is in bad conditions because she just keeps feeding him unhealthy stuff when she can be minimizing his portions and feeding him more fruits and vegetables. This man got scheduled to go through surgery to take off a little of his fat and he later went home and one day he had trouble breathing i believe and died. I think that we need to start eating healthy and being fit because one day that could be you. It was sad watching this because this man spent his life just in bed and eating. He couldn't even get up. This makes me sad. 

Why grow a garden?

Since i was a little girl i always wondered how to start a garden. Every time i try to start and plant one they never grow. I think that the people of this world should start growing little gardens in there backyards. I believe that people should grow garden because it is beneficial in many ways. One of the ways that benefits of growing a garden is saving money. Saving money can cut the cost of the grocery bills. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars a month at the store you can spend half of that money buying seeds for your garden and also spending time nourishing your garden. Another reason is it protects our future generations. Studies say the average child receives 4 times the more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer causing pesticides in food. The decisions you make will make an impact on our children s future. Another good reason why to grow a garden is to save energy. Farmers use more petroleum than any other single industry.Energy is more used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the US. If we grow our own garden we are cutting down on transportation and population cost. Another reason we should start growing gardens is because we will keep chemicals off our food. Most of the fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides. Some pesticides are implicated in birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutations. When growing your own food you have control over what does, or doesn't go into it. I say lets all build gardens so we can be more healthier and save money.    . 

Look how pretty this is :)

"When a crop becomes king"

In the article, "When a crop becomes king" Michael Pollan explains how corn is the most produced crop and is only going to continue expanding because of over production. It has a huge impact on us because we consume corn and then the animals we eat also consume just as much corn; the reason animals who should probably not be eating corn, are eating corn is also because of the tremendous amount of left over corn is passed down so it wont be put to waste. Another explaination for the reasons to why we consume as much corn as we do is because corn can be used as two different kinds of food, a healthy vegetable or a tastey meal. It doest help that this crop is very cheap, another result from corn being over produced. Corn is not only harmful to us, but also to our environment considering all the pollution being caused by the cornfields. It is the crop that requires more pesticides than any other food crop. By providing chemicals to the corn fields to keep way predators allowing us to waste water amd depending on our oil, we are letting corn control our land. This act is being called "cornification".

TV Dinner

While writing my research paper I was able to connect the dots on the development of appliances and food over the last 50 years or so, and its crazy how directly connected they are. One of the biggest examples of the correlation between food and appliances was when televisions became common in households. As soon as this happened, people were eating and watching TV at the same time; thus, paying less and less attention to their food. When I read about this, I immediately thought about Wendell Berry's article where he discusses how our respect for food leads us to want to eat better and respect produce for what it was meant to do. When we do not acknowledge our food, we are confirming our roles as mindless consumers of a corporate food industry. Have you ever noticed how unhealthy tv dinner are? How many of us really do sit down and heat our food without something else in front of us whether its a book or a screen? I can't remember the last time I have, but I believe that once and a while eating without any distractions and simply paying attention to eat bite would be a good way to acknowledge the role of the meal.

Are Food Trucks Not Getting Inspected

      I was watching the news the other day and it was a story about food trucks and the amount of  inspection they have per year. The reporter from ABC new said that these food truck inspection only get inspected one to none at all , but the law requires that  inspection are supposed  to occur  twice a year or more. This had my mind thinking , aren't  people who have jobs in construction or any other jobs that require hard physical labor relying on these food trucks to feed them.How can these trucks not get inspected ; yes there not a major contributor to the economy ,but there a major contributor to a person heath. Why do inspectors take so little pride in these sources of food ? when the reporter question the food inspectors company , they replied saying ," we have very few employes " . When i heard that i stared to chuckle , if the population growing wouldn't the food industry be growing , and therefore the business growing. I fell that this is a growing problem and needs to be watch over the next few years.            

I want to be like you

I don't know if I'm the only person that does this, but I always imitate people and quote lines from movies and TV shows. I'm a freaking copy cat. The point is, I have a cousin that is a pescetarian, and I've always wanted to try to be just like her by giving up meat and substituting fish and seafood. But I've never really gone about it. I don't really ever plan on it, but it is an attractive idea...

There are many benefits of deleting meat from a diet. Firstly, it'll help prevent diseases like high cholesterol or heart disease since fat is being substituted for fiber and antioxidants, and weight loss is a possible outcome. Meats contain extra fat from animals that sometimes just hang out in your intestines years. Eww, that's gross. In addition, it'll keep all our cute four-legged friends alive. From "Why go veg?" featured on the Vegetarian Times, "Ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. And, unlike the farms of yesteryear where animals roamed freely, today most animals are factory farmed: —crammed into cages where they can barely move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics. These animals spend their entire lives in crates or stalls so small that they can’’t even turn around. Farmed animals are not protected from cruelty under the law——in fact, the majority of state anticruelty laws specifically exempt farm animals from basic humane protection." And my last reason is that it'll save you a little bit of money here and there. Which do you think is more pricey, 200 pounds of beef or 200 pounds of tomatoes?

Honestly, I'd never become a full-time vegetarian, pescetarian, or vegan, but I am willing to imitate one of those diets for like a day or two to save the lives of my furry friends. I mean, I am a copy cat. It should be easy.

The title of the post has no relevance. I was watching random videos on YouTube, and I came across the song from The Jungle Book, giving me inspiration to blog.

Cooking Is Hard..

I have recently tried cooking a meal for the family and completely failed. The dish that I was trying to prepare was the famous Mexican food that most people love, Carne Asada with red rice and beans with a salad on the side. I was talking to my mom one day when I told her cooking was easy and bet her that I would be able to cook a better meal than her. BIG MISTAKE. I began with the salad because it is the easiest thing to make, and it keeps the family happy while the meal is being prepared. I finished the salad, the rice and the beans. I even made some homemade salsa that goes perfect with the meat. Everything I had prepared up to this point was perfect and was running smoothly as I had planned. Felling confident I  began to gloat and tell my family that cooking is a piece of cake and I didn't understand why people say cooking is hard. Well I quickly found out why they say that. As I was preparing the meat and began too cook it on the grill, I wasn't able to figure out why the meat was burning or why it was coming out almost raw. My family began to grow impatient with how long I was making them wait so I gave up and asked my mom to do it for me, and told her I am never going to cook again.

Media Influencing Our Consumption

      I would like to address how the media plays a large role in our food consumption. I remember being that four year old girl watching Britney Spears in a Pepsi commercial endorsing this sugary beverage. Consumers want something that looks and tastes good, but they are blinded to more healthier food choices because of the media. How many celebrities do you see endorsing organic apples? If we weren't bombarded by these advertisements there would be less pressure and angst to buy these products. Even if we like to say peer pressure doesn't effect us, it does have a strong impact on the majority.
      This is the approach I would like to see change the face of American food products and consumption. Using the media as a strong role in this process, we make unhealthy foods look just as bad as cigarettes and tobacco. We could use the same approach by first banning all ads for unhealthy foods while endorsing healthier products. Then we use celebrity spokespeople to represent healthy eating as a means of influencing the general public. Also, just as elementary schools teach that drugs and smoking are bad, we'll use the same tactic; training kids from a young age to make responsible food choices.
      Just like the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day," this will be a lengthy process but the end results should prove beneficial to the overall health of the American people. Instead of using the media as a hotbed for selling unhealthy foods it could be a hotbed for organic choices and as well as introducing home gardening as a way to save money by eating better. There is so much the media could do to help the lives of many Americans living with obesity and other health problems, but with every problem there is always a solution.

Schools to blame for childhood obesity?

I have been doing  a lot of research on my topic and I have found something that I never knew before. Many studies show that students who bring their own lunch from home are more healthy and more nourished than a student who eats school lunches regularly. This is because of the fattening and sugary foods schools provide as school lunches not to mention the overwhelming amount of preservatives used for these lunches. Because of the fattening, and sugary foods, students (mainly younger kids) are becoming increasingly obese. While I was researching on this topic, I ran into a very disturbing fact about school lunches. The meat used in school lunches have been rejected by fast food restaurants two of which are McDonalds and Burger king. The meats were rejected because they did not meat the safety standards of the company. We all know how bad and unhealthy McDonald's meats are, and it is disturbing to know that the meats rejected by McDonalds are found in the hands of students all across the nation.

Secrets in My Kitchen

      A few weeks ago I was making something in the microwave but I became impatient as I waited the long two minutes for the food to cook. I was pacing around the kitchen frantically and looking around for a snack to bypass the time. I could have chosen the untouched fruit in corner with the scenery of cobwebs above it, but the Cheetos in the cupboard sounded more appealing. Now I only had a minute left until I would be welcomed by the scent of fries and chicken nuggets. As I was eating the Cheetos my mouth became parched so a drink sounded only reasonable. I opened the fridge and my face filled with grief when I saw that the large bottle of grape juice was gone. What was I going to do? Instead I decided to open the first can of diet soda and thankfully my processed foods were now unfrozen and ready to eat.
      After reading several articles focusing on the effects of unhealthy foods I cannot believe the eating habits I held only a month ago. I want to say that eating these products are not only harmful to your health, but I do believe they make you lazy as well. My family practices anything but healthy eating habits, simply because the time to make a full prepared, healthy meal just isn't there. A common theme for dinner was food that came in a box or food that came from out of a window at the local drive through. However, after consumption I would feel tired and had little energy to finish any work.
      Understandably, food that is tasty and affordable is very convenient not to mention the time it saves. How much is this really worth though? This food robs you of your health and energy while healthier choices enrich your well being. Now I have taken the time to prepare healthier meals for my family and I, and I can see a difference in that I'm not as tired and I feel more energized than before. I shook my head when I found another bottle of grape juice in my fridge and remembered how much I use to drink before. Being healthy doesn't mean we have to deprive ourselves of every sugary food and beverage, but it's always a good idea to be informed on portion sizes for that special treat.  

Obesity: the parents fault or the child's

One of the topics discussed in Pinkwasser's discussion days. Is obesity the parents fault for not teaching there children good eating habits or not providing them with healthy food choices in their home. Or is it the child's fault for refusing to eat the healthy food their parents give them and going to buy junk food. I think it's both. Some parents try to get their children to eat their vegetables and fruits but the child won't eat it so the parents can't force feed them so what to do. They can have all good snacks in the house and even make their kids lunch but doesn't mean there going to eat it. The parents can even try to teach their child good eating habits, doesn't mean there going to use them. At some point though the kid can learn how to be healthier even if their parents are not, they can make their own food, and eat the food they want to eat. They can take control and exercise everyday. A gym pass isn't needed to exercise so they can go on a hike or a run.

All in your head

Eating bugs? Would any of us get past the disgusting idea of having to bugs if it ever became popular? No matter how they are prepared they're still bugs. Little creepy crawling animals that chirp and look creepy. Is it all in our heads not to eat it? Based on the conversations discussing this topic I would say yes, it's all in our heads to not eat them. We know there better for the enviroment,less expensive to raise, and people around the world have already started eating them. They're even considered delicacies in other countries that tourists probably go try just to see if there good.
If there was ever a time to eat these insects would you give up this idea that we are not suppose to eat them?

School Lunches.. GROSSS!!!

Why are school lunches so gross? I've always ask myself that question whenever i want to purchase a school lunch. My research paper is on school lunches and why they are so bad. I read a article that this school sent pictures and there results if they ate the food or not. Most of the students didn't even eat the school lunches because how bad it looked or even tasted. One of the pictures i saw was from North Warren Regional High School in NJ. This picture was a "delicious soup"; this soup contained a secret ingredient that this poor kid had to experience. 

When i saw this this made me not want to eat school lunches ever again because that spider would've been accidentally eaten. My question is when are schools going to realize that students aren't eating their lunches and as a result they are losing money. I believe that schools should go back to the old times where they would cook students fresh food. These lunches that they are serving us are sometimes half frozen or watered down or even just old. Some students are getting stomach aches by just eating this food. Some students have no choice but to eat this food because it may be the only food they get for the day. Which makes me sad because they are consuming these school lunches that are in bad conditions, and that are not even freshly made. So I say that schools should change the way they feed us. 

How do you cook?

Ever since I could remember, my dad always cooked for my family. He would eat at some restaurant, taste their food, and then make the exact thing at home without any recipe. I have had the luxury to eat almost anything in my home. Yet, one thing is for sure, my dad doesn't like to teach us how to cook. He always says,"All you can do is watch." I didn't have time for that.

Now that we are almost graduating and entering into independence and adult hood, I have begun to think about my future without my dad's cooking. Many of us have someone cooking or buying us food. As children, we began being fed by someone other than ourselves. The idea that food will no longer be served and that it is time to cook for myself or else spend the rest of my life depending on eating out (having someone else cook for you) scares me. Can I cook for myself? My dad's cooking ability was developed through years and years of experience, learning from his own great grandfather. How will I ever be able to sustain my conditioned lifestyle of eating certain food all the time when the pressures of school and work will probably prevent me from having time to cook? This is an entire generation of people. Cooking is no longer as common as it had been before when people (mostly women) were initially called to the duty of learning how to prepare meals. This generation consists of dependent consumers who have considered cooking as a rare skill. 

2014 baby.

It's real.
Come on seniors, we've had four years of hard work, dedication and commitment and we're only a few months away from being free.

This past few weeks have been an eye opener for me, I'm transitioning into the real world; looking for jobs, places to live, future careers, priorities, making new decisions and entering the storm. My coach told me once I hit eighteen years its going to be a storm until I'm about twenty-five and I feel it already.

 I had the worst day of my senior year. I mean you guys all know me, I'm the type of person that is always trying to smile or brighten up a situation but for this one day I couldn't handle the weight. I humbled myself, tried my best not to say anything wrong, did my best to do my duties but in the end I still was able to disappoint people I dearly cared for. I know the best way to take life is one day at a time and that's how we should do it.

A quote I remember reading says "Life is about falling down but getting back up is truly living." This quote is something I live by, I know I can't give up on the people I love because they're in the same struggle I'm in. We all have our goals whether it's to make money, do something we love and be happy, whatever we desire. But in the end, true happiness is benefiting from each other's success.

Lets do our best, finish strong and show them what the class of 2014 is about.

We've all thought about it.

I know I'm not the only one who tried to go vegetarian or at least thought about it. We all care about our bodies and for a fact it's not a bad idea to try a healthy vegetarian diet, but be careful; eat small portions of greens and lower your intake on meat, slowly transition into a vegetarian diet to not shock your body. 

I have a friend, a vegetarian, who has my utmost respect because I understand what a commitment it is to deny the consumption of meat. I have tried but I definitely can't escape this community of deep fried everything, seasoning, and meat overload. 

Speaking about changing a diet, I want to emphasize the rise in obesity, in addition to genetically modified food in our food industry. Genetically modified food is enhancing a product to defend itself from insects, produce certain nutrition or mass produce with precise accuracy due to the help of the latest molecular biological equipment. An example of a genetically modified crop is soy. Recent test with a 3rd generation genetically modified rat was fed this modified soy and lost the ability to produce offspring and disgustingly grew hair follicles inside of its mouth. My opinion is if we truly care for our health, we need to emphasize what we consume, we need to read labeling, become agricultural eaters (those who know the culture and rudiments of what they consume) and care for our bodies and the environment. I dislike genetically modified foods but at the same time, it is expensive to get away from it. There is ambiguity within the research of genetically modified foods acute and chronic impacts on our body but this research isn't worth the effort with our health at its cost. 

What is color?

I was inspired to take up the topic of food coloring when Thomas showed me a flower he plucked at school. It was as bright as the sun and its colors were so pure and blinding, as the yellow illuminated into orange and red, and the cute green of the stem accommodated its blossomed partner. I also recognized how different this color was to everything else. Color, as we know it, is a visual stimuli--a surface. Yet, under every surface a whole new world filled with important knowledge is yet to be revealed.

Therefore, I chose the topic on the truth in the color of our food. If food were as naturally raised as we would like to believe, then its colors must be pure also. They would be as majestic as the colors of the flower; something only the Earth can create. However, if food were as artificial as the facts found in articles and articles of the research and discoveries on food additives, then most of these colors in our food, and in everything else, must be artificial also. One must recognize the difference with natural color (true color) and artificial color (false advertisement) for there has been consequences found in the substances of artificial food coloring formed by chemical processing. The range of health risks from the chemicals in food additives is uncharted territory where scientists are still in the midst of their studies on finding the resulting effects of groups who have been exposed.

Does it matter if the color is real or not?

Taxing Unhealthy Food

I did my research project on whether or not we should tax unhealthy food to help better people's health. What I learned through reading all five of my articles is that it can do one of two things.  It can make people start buying healthier food or it can make people start taking out more money from their wallets to pay for the Ding Dongs, Twinkies, ice cream, and soda that is in their shopping cart.  Even though there are a lot of people who have health problems are on the verge of having health problems it is hard for them to change their eating habits.  People see the unhealthy food sitting on the shelves and they pick it up and pay for it no matter the price because it's just ohh so good.  Another reason they will still buy the food is because its convenient and because they just don't have time to go home and prepare a healthy meal.  So it's easier for them to just buy a box hot pockets or taquitos and go home and cook them super fast.  However, if people are tight with money then maybe they will stop buying the unhealthy foods when they see the price of a 2 liter soda went from two dollars to three dollars and fifty cents. Then instead hopefully they'll go and buy something healthier like some tea or water.  I know I would if I saw the price changed that much it would make me not want to buy the soda and go looking throughout the store to see if there is something better to drink that doesn't cost as much money as the soda. 

Prison Food is Better

Alright so far awhile now I have been doing quite a lot of research on my topic about school lunches and I know one thing, prisoners get feed better then us when it comes to our school food in the cafeteria. That's right you know that man or woman who got sent to jail for committing a crime that was given ten to fifteen or even life in prison is eating better than you. Now how is it that they are getting feed better then us? Well for starters their food is actually cooked, not thawed out like our food, they actually have a wide variety of food to choose from that actually has more nutrition then ours. Now why is this? It makes no sense to me why our school district has the audacity to do such a thing. The supposed reason is the budget, the schools cannot pay for the healthier better tasting food arguing that it would cost to much and that kids wouldn't want to eat the food and that would cause the district to lose money, which through research is not true... I can go on to continue to talk about all of this but I need to save it for my actual research paper so just keep in mind a prisoner in a prison gets feed better then you a high school student working hard to get into a college.

MLA Help

The best tool I know for MLA help is right here.

Mouse over to the Humanities Section, and roll down to "Documenting Sources."  Every single link from there is valuable and worth reviewing.

My New Favorite Meal

Many religions and people, for several different reasons, take up fasting. It is the way a person restricts their diet as a sacrifice or meditation. I recently went through one and I was able to experience a very intriguing aftermath. I had eaten only bread and water for two days and felt incredibly refreshed! I had about 6 slices of bread and drank 3-4 bottles of water a day and felt fine and rarely felt any pangs of hunger (surprisingly). The sole purpose of food was for survival. Yet, once the fast had ended and I had my first bite of an oatmeal cookie that also had chocolate chip pieces in it, I immediately wanted another one and also felt the pangs of hunger hit me continuously through out the day.

A few of my classmates have mentioned to me how they are always hungry at school. I'm not too clear why, but the fact that I felt the urge to eat more and more after taking my first bite of this Chips Ahoy cookie that had more than 10 ingredients in its label, led me to acknowledge the importance of understanding what hunger truly means. The fasting was a psychological experiment. The less choices I had, the less I ate. Food no longer was exciting or a source of entertainment; it was solely for energy and survival. Yet, once there were more choices, more tastes, more flavors, and ingredients, hunger become more than a necessity. It became an addiction to the stimulation from the food.

Wendell Berry stated, "...eating is an agricultural act.", a cycle of energy, and source of life. The transformation of humanity from members of this cycle into its dictating consumer shifts the purpose of food. People in developed communities such as ours, eat for fun. Our bodies have somehow adapted to all the different choices we have and now survives and dependence on the variety of flavors, textures and servings we experience per day.

Have you tried to fast before? It's a pretty interesting experiment :)

Do you appreciate all the choices you have, or would you rather have it plain and simple and why?

Britta Riley: A garden in my apartment

My BAD Eating Habits..

So here I am expanding my knowledge on the food I eat day in and day out. I've read articles on pesticides, on animal cruelty, on chemicals that cause diseases; all these facts that come with the food we eat and yet I most likely will look past all the faulty reasons to eat healthier and continue my bad eating habits. I sat down on the computer for hours at a time researching all kinds of information that I figured would make me have a better out look on the food I eat, and to be honest I do want to take part in how my food is made, but I still struggle to turn down In n Out, or refusing to eat my microwave burritos my grandpas buys me. The thing is I love food, like everyone else. Fast food industries know exactly what do to make us yearn for the food they provide, they have scientist to make our food just as addicting as crack, but still knowing this doesn't stop me or a lot of people from eating it. My bad habits...

From Which Angle?

When I say angle I don’t mean what angle from the triangle, I mean we aren’t in math so if you thought this ummm yeah ill remind you again we’re in ERW guys.  When I say from which angle I mean, from where do we start writing our research paper? How do we start?  Do we tell a story regarding our topic or do we address the problem right off the bat.  The other day when we did a quick right and were asked to start talking about our topic, preferably our first paragraph, right away my table started asking the inevitable question, “How do we start a research paper?”  Unable to think of a quick response I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.  So now I was stuck.  I didn’t know how I was going to start off that’s acceptable.  I began writing that day however.  I started with a story and was about to follow up with the details and the dilemma, that is before the bell rang.  But that’s how I somewhat always start my papers.  I love telling stories that later connect with my topic, but I’ve been told at times it’s unnecessary and honestly I feel like this time it’s one of them.  So if you guys are feeling this way too, high five!!!!  You aren’t alone.  What we need to do is just ask our teachers, family members, and friends for some advice.  But the ultimate thing to do is of course DRAFTS DRAFTS DRAFTS!

           

The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Food Companies

Yeah, that's right.

Click here.

Reality Blows

In America's modern, fast, and greedy lifestyle, it is almost unrealistic to believe that we can get rid of fast food or even make it completely healthy. This is very unfortunate in my opinion; however, this is the truth. Fast food has become a staple in American families because it is price efficient and convenient. For some families, this is the best way they can afford to feed their families. It would be very easy for fast food companies to change their produce and ingredients to more healthy organic items, but it is not at all cost efficient. They'd have to spend more money on their resources which means higher prices for their products and maybe even laying off employees. Why would a company want to lose out on millions of dollars to look out for the health of their consumers? Even though more information is being provided to consumers of the unhealthy ingredients many are not changing their habits. If consumers are already aware of what they are purchasing and still purchase it, then why change? All in all, no matter how much we pressure this industry to change they will not be able to change and continue to meet the needs of their consumers. Whats your take on this? Do you believe there is a cost efficient solution? Or, do you agree that "there's no going back"?

Pesticides: Harmful or Naw

Okay so I now that I have a topic and it is set in stone, I did my fair share of research for the bibliography and wow. I always knew that our foods were processed and had a lot of crazy chemicals and other things added that I can't even pronounce but what I found was actually kind of scary. To start off, pesticides, yes pesticides, can lead to various types of cancers and doubles the risks of ADHD in children! Do you guys know how much we are exposed to pesticides? Not only in our foods but in other things like water, the air we breathe, all throughout our environments and communities. Heck, it's on our pets! Although, the percentage of foods with pesticides is generally low compared to other countries, it's still a problem that is in my opinion, very underrated. Even though the U.S. places limitations on the amount and use of the pesticides in our foods, there are still some that break the law and have more in them than they should. And get this, only one third of pesticides used are actually detected by the U.S. I guess no one is really 100% on what anyone is eating now a days. My advise to everyone is to practice digestion awareness. I really mean it even if I end up eating some Hot Cheetos later. Beware.

Annotated Bibliography

          When Ms. Fletcher told us that we were going to do a research project I automatically thought oh great this is going to be super hard.  When we were coming up with a research topic I could not decide what I wanted to research. It took me two days to finally decide on what I was going to make my topic. Then we come back to class the next day and Ms. Fletcher says that she wants us to do an annotated bibliography on our 5 articles or resources that we were going to use when we construct our research project and she wanted it by Thursday by midnight.  When she handed us the paper saying what she wanted us to explain the articles and how many words our paragraphs had to be I thought oh great I'm going to be up all night trying to get this done.
          It turns out that doing an annotated bibliography is not that hard.  As long as you have a topic that interest you and you read the articles thoroughly it is easy to write concise descriptive and evaluated paragraphs.  As I looked at my bibliography once it was finished I liked that I could just read the short paragraphs that I wrote and decide which cite is best to go to for what it was I wanted to know at the moment.  It is convenient and prevents me from having to go to each cite and look for the information or answer to what I needed.

Every Lunch Left Behind

I don't know if it's just me, but when I see a huge group of people, I get curious. I wonder, "Huh, what are they all waiting in line for?"
Here's just a little background information of myself: Although I have been a Mayfair Monsoon for six years now, I rarely ever paid attention to the MPB during snack or lunch break. I didn't even know the MPB was our cafeteria (hence, multipurpose building lol). To this day, I still have only stepped foot in the cafeteria roughly about five times.
However, I came to the realization that the long line of students were waiting to get their snack or lunch. Before we even started this food politics unit, I knew school lunches weren't healthy. My only knowledge was that they were all preserved meals that were just microwaved or something then served to the students. That always disgusted me. (The sad truth is that I actually used to enjoy school lunches in elementary school.) But now I know that school lunches are totally malnutrutious, made from high fatty meats and cheeses and comparable to fast food meals. It just leads me to question: WHY THE HECK DO PEOPLE STILL EAT THIS CRAP?
I have the answer to my own question. They eat it because it's all that is available and maybe all that they can eat. The only semi-healthy option is like... a salad that comes with soggy vegetables (I assume) and a truckload of cheese with a cup of ranch.
The solution isn't easy, though. We can't expect the whole nation to provide truly healthful, organic meals to the billions of students. Even if the government hypothetically provided enough money, the new and improved meals wouldn't guarantee a more healthy student population. Kids are super picky and sometimes prefer to eat fatty foods. Maybe serving nutritious meals would lead students to starving themselves. Also, it could lead to more of the "black market" smuggling among students that sell contaband (the good stuff) and so the children wouldn't even need the organic meals then the government would've wasted billions of dollars on the efforts. It's a tough problem to solve.

Research topic too hard?

Some the other day when we were asked to share our research topic I wasn’t prepared.  I actually didn’t pick a topic until that moment when Ms. Fletcher called on me to share.  I chose a topic I thought I would want to write about but when I started doing my research I found it somewhat difficult to find articles that made enough sense to make a favorably argument.  I was getting frustrated and I finally decide maybe the best thing to do was to pick another topic, so I began my search.  I started asking my brother because I recalled he had to do something like this.  He told me the best thing to do was to keep my original idea but change it up a bit.  So my advice to those who are having difficulty would be the same my brother gave to me, change it up a bit.  Keep your concept but change your wording.  If you still are facing difficulty then maybe it will be best to find other less difficult topic.  Ask your siblings or another people for some suggestions.  Some of them might have the one you’re truly interested in.

Insects as food?

So i ate a grasshopper this past week. Check out my Instagram profile ( @thomas_nish ) if you want to see me do it. Surprisingly, it tasted fine. I would actually prefer to eat a bag of grasshoppers than a bag of chips. It was crispy, flavorful and downright edible. And yet, there still lingers within pretty much all of us a mental block. We just can't bring ourselves to think of eating these creatures. We've been conditioned (however unintentional) into thinking that bugs are repulsive on the dinner table. But if we are to believe our readings, human population and affluency cannot continue to both grow if we continue in our present dietary habits. To get a sufficient amount of protein in the future from animals, we need to start looking beyond the 4 main sources of protein in the US: beef, poultry, pork and fish.
I know it probably won't become mainstream for a while, but we as a society need to start branching out if we are to maintain a stable earth system. And this may include eating good ole Jiminy Cricket.

Here's an Idea: Thoughts for food

      How far must we fear to become elucidated? With our growing knowledge of these issues on food happening in our own local home, we are becoming afraid of our surroundings. What i mean is that we are everyday learning more and more of what is wrong with our food and what we intake, it literally scares us and worries us. We learn what is wrong with the processed, fast food and what is even wrong with the fresh local foods. When i realized i was feed up with this fear and our decreasing heath as a nation i thought maybe Ron Finley is right. Finley inspired me that if we build it will rise. (ha ha) I mean that if we create a better eating environment, then our health will get better. His thought was to make all empty, abandon parking lots or open land into farming land. Small gardens all over California. And why not? He is right. If we have kids volunteer they will eat what they have created. and if we have enough effort we will change everything.All i think of this idea is positive things. Sure it will take work and effort, qualities our nation lacks as a whole but with our focus we can truly benefit. Starting now we can begin to grow enough to support our growing population which is said to be in the near 10 billion by 2050. If we are having issues feeding our people now, it will not get easier as the days continue. So here's a though world: lets grow everything, ourselves and our food.

Issues on School Lunches

    (3/18/ 14 quick write)
        It saddens me to know that when a child is given lunch money to have a well balanced meal to help get through the day, and that money is is either used for a unhealthy "healthy" warmed up mush at school or is used for unhealthy snacks that don't really fill one up. It seems that the only way a child receives a healthy fresh meal is to bring from home and this option is not always at hand. Most families don't have enough time or money to make meals like this daily. So with theses limited options, children are being forced to eat unhealthy or starve. We need to change one way or another or unhealthy rates will not fall.

       Due to the fact that get free lunch, I am required by my parents to eat at school or starve. The meals on campus are never in my favor but i have learned to look past taste. Will in the past years i have not had much issue with the food once i stopped thinking about it but if in order for a student to have to ignore the heath issues in school lunches to have full stomach, then there is something wrong and i needs to be changed. Recently i have had a hard time eating at school. Due to my sacrifice of meat because of lent, I given up meat. But what must i eat if all meals are meat based? I have many vegetarian friends and i wonder what do they do? most do bring food from home but many have just fruits and juice. But this isn't enough to fulfill me all day. I have had salad for the last few weeks and i feel terrible. My health is not where it should be.
I used to be proud of having been on the list of students with free lunch. To have a meal before home unlike many other kids. But once looking into what is in these free "meals", I feel more of a guinea pig to "If it doesn't kill them then its okay". So what must we do to end this whole issue?

Thought? Opinion?

Cornstalks Everywhere (but nothing else. Not even a bee)

Check out this review of the book A World in One Cubic Foot by Robert Krulwich of Radiolab!  This is cool because it communicates so well, but it's awful, tragic, devastating information.  It worries me.

The Politics of Food

This is a wide open topic with multiple fascinating avenues to explore.  Don't get stuck.  Find a research question you are genuinely interested in, and follow your research in a direction that matters.  It makes the work fly by; it's interesting and real when the writer really wants to know something.

Here are some websites you can explore:

Michael Pollan has his own web page
Here's the Atkins Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley
The Food Inc. documentary has a website
The Edible Schoolyard -- wouldn't it be cool to plant a garden here at Mayfair?  What would it take?
Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

The fourth talk here (all about ecosystems) is about our dwindling bee populations.  Galvanizing.
Ron Finley inspires me:  a TEDTalk about guerrilla gardening
Jamie Oliver's TEDTalk called "Teach Every Child About Food"
Another TEDTalk:  "My (subversive) garden plot"

I planted last year in hay bales that I purchased up the street at Bellflower Feed.  You could put one of these bales almost anywhere, even beside a driveway.  I'm going to try this again this year -- it was easy, cheap and fun -- my idea of a good time.  Last year, I planted four; this year, I'm gonna double that.  (Twice the fun.)

Early:

Later:

Funny Translated text.

So I took the opening paragraphs of Left Hand Of Darkness and ran them through a whole bunch of languages on Google Translate. The first quote is the original text. The second quote is the translated version. enjoy.

"I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a
matter of the imagination. The soundest fact may fail or prevail in the style of its telling: like
that singular organic jewel of our seas, which grows brighter as one woman wears it and, worn
by another, dulls and goes to dust. Facts are no more solid, coherent, round, and real than
pearls are. But both are sensitive.
 The story is not all mine, nor told by me alone. Indeed I am not sure whose story it is; you can
judge better. But it is all one, and if at moments the facts seem to alter with an altered voice,
why then you can choose the fact you like best; yet none of them are false, and it is all one
story."

"I learned early in my house that we are not aware of the fact. The fact difficult test success or failure . You have a unique jewel dust , it's actually better than the real bright and smooth pearl worn by female and others and implement environmental development in hard tissue . However , all of the key .

My own story , he said . In fact , I who am stories, can judge knows best . However , trade unions and faster. Why do you choose the best , and yet none of them could be fake the fact that , no subjects seems to change to a different sound ."

Feminism Presented in Left Hand of Darkness

In the Socratic Seminar we just did, the subject of feminism aroused my attention. Ms. Fletcher made the point that Le Guin uses the people of Gethen's same sexness to show that females should be treated equally with men. However, I contend that Ursula wasn't trying to convince us that women should have the same jobs and that men should be equally responsible for childrearing, but was simply showing what a society would be like if we were all the same sex or had the opportunity to change gender roles readily. I do believe Le Guin is concerned about the treatment of females. She writes that men have a lot more freedom than women. However, while females do have less time to become CEOs or presidents due to childbirth and the constraints that brings, she misses the fact that while females have different roles in society, their roles are no lesser than males and should be kept in high regard.
If I were to follow Le Guin's logic, then I could contend that males are the ones with less freedom. Males have absolutely no freedom to bear a child, a privilege reserved only for their female counterparts, while females do have the ability to achieve anything a man can.  She, as well as many feminists out there, simply forget that childbearing is one of the most important roles in society and whoever does it should be applauded. She believes that a respectable women should strive for power and wealth and forgets that while women can do this, their natural role of Birthing isn't one we should see as lower than a running a company.

Some Feminists make the moral fallacy of  seeing the role CEO as more desirable and more honorable than the role of a mother. Obviously, being a mother is exponentially more respectable.

LHOD Questions

I'm just writing this to get my present thoughts down and to see if any of you guys have answers to them. I've been reading LHOD and some questions arose. I was wondering if anyone knows what Dothe is and what the mechanics of it is. From why I gather its a form of super strength (?) but I don't really understand when it can be used or what it actually does to the body. Also I was confused on Genly's movements. When he visits the foretellers, is he in Kharhide? Thanks in advance if you can clear these things up for me.