Tracks and Ties/Somehow Form a Family November 17, 2009

Tracks and Ties
This story has a lot of action and thrill. The story tells the story in the perspective of a boy and his friends. They are trouble makers and like to get into stuff. One of the parts in the piece that had the most action was when the boys got onto the back of the truck to hitch a ride. They soon realize that the driver knows that they are the back and is taking no mercy. He is driving super fast and they have to hang on for their lives and not fall off. The truck driver is trying to teach them a lesson and make this ride a living hell.
This story is all in the perspective of a boy looking at his friends and describing their actions. There really wasn’t a lot of speaking in the essay except a few speaking parts. That were at the longest a few words. This shows that these boys aren’t like typical boys. This shows the different types of classes that are in this society.
There is a little bit of thought in this essay and more so at the end of the story. The most thought was when the boy found out that his friend was murdered by his wife. It made the boy think about how something as devastating as that happen to someone he was close too. At least he thought he was close to him. The relationship of the boy who is telling the story and his friends isn’t actually that good. It seems to me that he was just a tag along and really had no close relationship with them. Who would have thought that someone you hung out with when you were younger would turn out to be murdered later in life. This makes the narrator have a lot of thought about his life.
The author likes to describe the appearances of everybody he sees. The types of clothes the boys are wearing and their appearances. He really pays attention to details about people and too things that most people would not pay attention to. He is a very in detail person.

 

Somehow Form a Family

The most action that was shown in this story was the boy knowing about all the different television channels.  Everything in his life surrounded around TV shows and whether or not he would be able to do certain stuff because of certain shows being shown.  The action of his parents getting a divorce and his sister passing away was also a big part in the story.

The story is told in the perspective of the son of the family and all the events in his life coincided with TV.  At first you find out that the family does not have that much money and doesn’t have a TV like everyone else.  He tells us how his life changed when his father brought home a color TV.  That had been the focus of all the problems to come in his life and he didn’t even know it.

The most thought that was shown in this story was about the TV shows and times they were on.  All the thoughts and memories of the boy go with TV.  His parents on and off relationship brings up thoughts of TV shows that he watched a lot during those rough times.  He thinks about TV to help him cope with hard times in his life.  Those thoughts of rough times were camouflaged with TV in his life.

The author describes the different shows he watched.  At the beginning of the story he describes where he lives and what his surroundings look like.  He describes his neighbors and their appearances.  He really goes into detail of where he lives and descriptions of some of the obstacles that came along in his life.

Coming Home Again November 13, 2009

Coming Home Again was an interesting read. The author didn’t pay that much time and attention to the life of his family. His mom died and didn’t have to suffer anymore. The author feels better that she doesn’t have to suffer anymore, but still misses her. The fact that he went away to school and wasn’t close with his family makes him wish he had not done so. He finally realized that family is the most important thing in my life.

Tracks and Ties November 13, 2009

This passage was a bit confusing at first when reading it. It is about a couple boys who are rambunctious and break the rules. They think that they can do anything and everything they want without getting in trouble. They broke rules and messed with people. They wanted to live the life of no worries and do anything they wanted. After living a life of no rules, things turn out bad in the end. One of the boys gets murdered. He gets murdered by his wife because he was not respectful towards her and didn’t treat her right so she doesn’t take it anymore. Everything in their life doesn’t turn out as they planned it to. They had their carefree times, but now those times have caught up to them and they don’t live that life anymore. It has affected their future. They are more ashamed of what they have become. Don’t take life for granted and be thankful for the things you have.

Somehow Form a Family November 10, 2009

This essay is about the life of a boy and his aspect of growing up. He describes the people that live around him and how he his family is poor, but a better-looking poor family. He begins to talk about his television and how it is black and white that is how you can tell his family is poor. One day a new color TV is brought to the family’s house that the father had purchased. This changes the lives of the family drastically. Every single memory that the boy has coincides with a different TV show that was on at a certain time. The boy became very addicted to watching TV and being ready for a certain show to watch. He basically memorized the whole entire TV guide. This obsession of his for the TV shows that society now is so obsessed with the TV. Society doesn’t want to enjoy life and go out and try new things they are more worried about what is on TV that day. This obsession with TV has turned our society into lazy human beings. We care more about TV then ourselves. TV was so important to this person because it meant that him and his family weren’t seen as poor. They were seen as a normal every day family. The TV brought along so many memories for the boy also. He remembered so many things because he would pair it up with different TV show times. This essay was a bit scattered at times, but got its point across about how TV can affect a family and change their ways of normality.

Spelling Bound October 29, 2009

Angela is from Perryton, Texas. Her family lives on a farm that her father, who doesn’t speak any English, works at raising and caring for the cows for a couple that is retired. Her father and mother emigrated from Mexico to build a better life for their kids. She also has a brother who helps translate what their parents are saying. Her family is very proud of Angela and believes she can truly win the Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

The main reason Angela wants to win the Spelling Bee is because she wants to be known as the best speller and have the glory of being number one. Her winning the spelling bee would be such a huge help for her and her family. Her family isn’t that wealthy and just live off her father working at the farm. Winning such a large amount of money and helping out her family would also be something to keeps Angela motivated to win the spelling bee.

The obstacles that Angela has to face is not being as well rounded and being helped out as much as the other kids that are in the spelling bee. A lot of the kids have a lot of tutoring and study for hours upon hours. Angela doesn’t seem to have that advantage. She is also from a small town and may not have that exposure and availability for her.
She is from a family who has come so far and made it. I picked Angela because she doesn’t seem like everyone else. She is from a small town with parents who don’t speak a word of English, but yet their daughter speaks English fluently and is a very intelligent young girl. She won the Perryton Spelling Bee after being in the final round against another girl for almost 50 rounds before winning. She is a fighter. She is truly someone who is doubted by some people, but I think will do very well in the spelling bee competition.

Neil is from San Clemente, California. He lives with his mother, father, and sister. They are an Indian family and they take spelling and the kids education very serious.
Neil wants to win the spelling bee because it will look very good on his records and it will be a big help with college because the money that is won is a very large amount. Winning the spelling bee is an automatic shoe in to go to any college the child wants to go to. Neil is very busy with his studying and tutoring and school work. It is all that he does with his time, but his parents know that it is good for him and will keep him in line and a good student. It is important for Neil and his sister to be successful with their education because that is what their parents have taught them for so long.
The obstacle that Neil has to overcome is trying to impress his parents so much and becoming nervous at the spelling bee competition. So much pressure coming from his parents could hurt him more then help his in some ways. So much studying and preparing can burn someone out and truly hurt them, but if Neil is so used to this aggressive pattern of learning and studying then he should be fine.

I chose Neil because he seems like he is the most prepared and getting the most well rounded studying habits. He goes through and studies four thousand words a day. He gets tutored by German, French, and Spanish teachers so that he can practice and know words of the different languages incase they show up at the competition. He is a very well rounded kid and gets a lot of practice that most kids don’t even get close to practicing or get the opportunity to do the things that Neil does.

I think that Neil will be the one to win the Spelling Bee. He seems to be the most prepared and he lives, eats, and breathes spelling words. His family is fully dedicated in helping him in getting better and becoming the best speller and being able to know every word possible that can be thrown at him at the spelling bee in Washington D.C. He is truly I think almost over prepared in some sense just after learning about him for a short time in the documentary.

Chapters 12, 13, and 14. October 14, 2009

Chapter 13 was not a very pleasant chapter to read for me. It is about slaughtering. Pollan talks about killing chickens and how he would spend mornings doing it at his farm. He goes into detail about the true political aspect of slaughter. There are rules that the farmers have to follow for slaughtering which is something I never really knew that much about. A lot of people do not really know a lot about slaughtering and the process of which people use to do so. The process of slaughtering is mostly done behind closed doors and hidden from the public. It makes you wonder why the slaughter companies are so secretive to us as consumers. The author follows Joel at his farm and the places his products go.
Joel likes to do his own slaughtering because of many different reasons. Joels products are more expensive on the market then the industrialized food. This is affecting Joel because more people want the cheaper product. The government is the reason why these products are so different. After the authors visit at the farm, he took a few of the items that were made while his stay at the farm. He cooked a meal for some close friends. There are so many health benefits with eating food that comes from farms like Joels. Eating food that comes from foodlots is so unhealthy and one does not know how sanitary the places are. The food tastes better and is better for you according to Pollan. Why wouldn’t you want to eat food from natural farms then? I believe food is better when it is grown from farms like Joels, but is that really true? If food tastes so much better grown naturally then why don’t all farmers run their farm the same way as Joels?

Chapters 9 and 11. October 6, 2009

Chapter nine first introduces the author talking about organic foods. He begins to talk about buying organic foods and what the labels say about where the products came from. He talks about the grocery stores and farms of organic food. The food that he has purchased said that the food he has bought came from free roaming animals and were well kept. He knows that the labels may say this, but it is not fully true. The farms that produce these foods make it sound like they are treating their animals with the most respect and curiosity for our benefits. The only difference that the organic farmers have from the other ordinary farms is that they feed the animals organic qualified food. This is truly the only difference between everyday farms and organic farms which is so surprising. A lot of the organic farmers have taken the easy way out because it is hard to be truly one hundred percent organic. Now a days farmers have moved past their true organic roots and are organic companies now. Who knows what food truly is organic with all the changes and short cuts that have come up in the world today.
Chapter eleven goes into detail of the farm of Joel Salatin and truly shows what keeps his farm up and going. Every single animal that Joel Salatin has on his farm has a role in keeping the farm in tact and working. Nothing can be changed around or jumbled up or there will be commotion on the farm. The chickens, cows, and pigs all help out each other by cleaning up after each other or feeding the each other. The top workers at the farm are most definitely the animals according to Joel Salatin. Without them the farm would not be running at all. They are the ones who keep the farm nice, clean, and fertile. Who knew that the animals on farms were the hardest workers. The animals have such an impact on the farm of Joel Salatin and don’t even realize it! They are just doing what their instinct tells them to do. I never knew how hard the animals actually work on farms to keep it up and running. Why don’t all farmers use this system of work with their animals? It may be a little more expensive and laborious, but why wouldn’t they want to do that extra work for better quality food for us consumers?

Chapters 8 and 10 Review. September 30, 2009

In Chapter 8 the author first off started out working at a farm bailing hay. He was doing a lot of hard work and truly understood the hard work that goes into farming. He then learned from the farmer that the animals work harder than any of them do.  They are the ones that  do many tasks around the farm so it can keep on producing more and more profits. An example would be the chickens eating the larvae and parasites in the waste from the cows to prevent them from getting cow disease from eating the grass that is could be infested.  The chickens help the cows so much and the farmer because the cows are better to eat and sell and are worth more money.  The chickens produce tons and tons of eggs for the farmer.  The farmer said that he is a grass farmer.  This confused the author because he had so many animals all over the farm and sells them and why would he say he is just a grass farmer.  The animals graze in the field and fertilize the grass and help produce better hay for the farmer.  So the farmer says that they animals work for him.  This was a very interesting concept that he brought up and now that I think that is very true.  The grass is the main provider for his whole farm and will always be there.  All of the animals come and go as the years go by.

In Chapter 10, the subject of grass came into more detail.  The author learned from the farmer that there are several different kinds of grasses that the cows graze on.  The farmer has a very planned out view of how he runs his farm and the production of his grass.  He is very serious about moving around his cows when grazing throughout the day.  He has the process so down to the t that he can do it with his eyes closed.  The regrowing of grass is a very precise process.  Cows are big helpers in the regrowing of grass.  By them eating it, they are trimming the dead ends of the grass to produce newere and fresher grass.  The cows fertilize the grass so the farmer does not have to worry about it at all.  The author was learning so much on the farm about the different lifestyle of farming that the farmer was using compared to the farming technique that he saw with his cow that he bought for slaughter.  The process of moving the cows to a new pasture was interesting.  The cows knew exactly what to do when th farmer came.  They moved when he gave the signal too and were so excited to go to a new patch of grass because at that time of day the grass was so fresh and full of sugar.  It is just like candy to cows.  Feeding corn to cows is a lot cheaper, but it is still not as good as the cows grazing and eating what they are supposed to eat.  Why don’t all farmers all over the country use this same grazing method as this farmer? Why do farmers feed its cattle corn and not just let them free graze and become better food for the people?

Lobbyist views about food. September 29, 2009

http://calorielab.com/news/2005/06/12/battle-of-the-food-lobbyists/

In this article it talks about two consumer groups who are fighting with each other about what to show on the labels of foods and what to put into foods that is good or bad for the consumers.  This fight shows who truly cares about the people and what is put into the food and what kind of effects it has on us.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/23/700777/-Updated:-Video-Exposing-Food-Lobbyists-(no-one-covered-this)

In this article the author presents information about a topic he has researched for about two years. This topic is about the obesity in young kids and teens in America. He talks about how the school lunches are a huge part of the obesity in America. For instance, one lunch at a school consists of 1350 calories. Each person should consumer the most around 2100 calories a day, and that is if your very active. Also another fact he talks about is the fact that the average kid has replaced french fries and ketchup with abot 46% of their fruit and vegetable intake. This shows how the teens are making the wrong decisions on their health.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60823-2004Sep29.html

In this article, the topic of importing foods is brought up. Food that is imported used to come to America and was not really kept noted very well. There is now a law saying that before the food is to be imported to America, the providers must notify the receivers a certain amount of days before arriving. This law is helping provide safer and better quality food. The lobbyists argued that this law was very necessary and very well needed to help decline wasting food that comes in and may become unedible.  This law will save America’s food consuming industry more money and help preserve food and not be wasteful.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30250263/ns/health-food_safety/

In this article the author is presenting an issue that one was the scare of the nation. The salmonella epidemic that went across America due to the peanut butter. This little scare brought down the profits of the peanut farmers about half a billion dollars across America. After the incident occurred it was really hard for the farmers to bounce back from it. So the farmers themselves went to the white house in Washington D.C to talk with the Congress to convince them to help bring the peanut industry back to where it once was.

http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2531

In this article the author talks about how GMA represents over 300 household beverage and consumer goods. this article tells us about how biofuels are connected to the food companies. In this article the biofuels were planning to go against the energy independence and security act. And Glover Park Group undermined GMA for going against them.

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/45/supersize.htm

This article is coming from a lobbyist talking about the movie super size me.  This article tells about the adventure of a man who eats strictly McDonalds for a month.  By him doing this he gained a lot of weight and developed many health problems that were very crucial and life threatening.  By doing this experiment he truly shows how fattening and terrible the food at McDonalds is.  After this movie was shown a lot of people stopped eating at McDonalds.  Just by exposing the truth and finding out truly the effects of what this food can do to someone has opened a lot of peoples eyes.

Once Upon a Time… September 29, 2009

Once upon a timethere was a boy who loved toys. The boy loved toys so much he lived in a Toys-R-Us. Then he got fired for stealing all of the toys. He decided to go apply for another job. He lived in Toys-R-Us and never left. His manager ended up stabbing him for living there. He goes to a clinic. There he meets a really attractive nurse named Betty. Which was once a man. The boy did not know that she was once a man. They started to flirt and exchanged each others numbers. The boy was on top of the world. They soon became married. Then one day when the couple was out and about someone came up to them and recognized Betty, but not as the name Betty by the name George. The boy was in so much shock he ran away and never came back again. The end.