HW 18 - Health & Illness & Feasting

       My family does not celebrate Thanksgiving and so attempting to elaborate on the anti-body and body-centered practices of this holiday would be ultimately futile.  However, physicality plays into my life willingly whether it pertains to a holiday or just a regular day.  As we are the generation of technology, we have started to depend on phones and computers to communicate, a task performable by the simple vibrations of a human's voice box.  Entering this anti-body world, we've become less comfortable with our bodies.
       My sister, an avid member of this world, cannot accept the fact that she is addicted to texting though my mild accusations make a weak attempt to convince her otherwise.  When I try to get my sister's attention by calling her name, she ignores me and shoos me away claiming she "couldn't hear" me.  Yet, when the sound of her vibrating phone reaches her ears, she springs, without hesitating, to her phone to check her new text messages.  My sister argues she enjoys the effortlessness of texting and would rather not have to go through the trouble of making plans just to talk.  This lack of movement that my sister prefers is present in the event of dying and so I wonder, why, as human beings capable of several abilities, do we attempt to come close to death by discarding our abilities using "simplistic" technologies and fear death at the same time?
       In the event of death, people begin to reconnect with their bodies realizing its significance.  When sickness comes into play, one's well-being is at risk and neither anti-body or body-centered practices can be carried out.  Having been at the hospital only a small number of times, I have seen people embrace their loved ones stretched out onto beige colored beds, gently stroking the loved one's arm.  Though they could have just texted, "I love you.  I hope you get well" but, instead chose to do otherwise offers me a theory:  when something influential, in this case detrimental, occurs, one is willing to abandon their once beloved modern world of phones even if its only for a day.  A harsh and a bit sad statement to make but, true nonetheless.  The heat emanating from a human hand is considerably more comforting than the cold touch of a plastic cellphone.  The comforting hand a family member offers to his or hers loved one is a sign of a body-centered practice.  In conclusion, we subconsciously accept all the practices involving physicality.

HW 17 - First Thoughts on the Illness & Dying Unit

       I think I have already accepted death as inevitable.  The entirety of it is scary and unwelcoming.  When I was young, my parents had told me blatantly that my cousin died in the 9/11 plane crash.  I didn't know how to react but, one thing is for sure, I didn't cry or mourn.  Had I cried, would I have reached some level of enlightenment?  Had I mourned, would relatives at a dinner held years after his death  realize that his death had not made me break down?  As an avid television watcher, the role that which a family member plays when another dies is repetitive and plays out the same way and so, I had felt the way I had reacted was unusual.  I'm not sure what to make out of this day though, I remember evading what had happened by merely trying to forget.  Though this evasion had not done much to better my understanding of death.  It was night time and my family and I had just walked through glass doors into a vaguely familiar restaurant for a family get together.  I had forgotten about my cousins death by then and I'm ashamed to say so.  I had asked his mother where he was and mentioned his name and by no mistake, I felt the sharp sting of her slap.  His name was fresh in my mouth and I had no idea what I had done wrong at the time.  But, that changes nothing and what's in the past is in the past.  Extremely cliche but, these words made a weak attempt to explain how I feel right about now.
       After re-reading what I previously wrote out of habit, I had realized that I had not mentioned my cousin's actual name.  Does this directly correlate to what had happened the last time I spoke of his name?  Probably, given the situation, it's considerable.  About 2 years after this incident, my neighbor had committed suicide.  The memory of this day is vivid and the feeling of my heartache is slightly present.  I asked the police officer what happened with the eyes of a most innocent child and expectedly, he hesitantly responded.  The word suicide was still vague.  Then after, I hadn't spoken a word about the body I had seen on the white stretcher or his voice I had heard only hours earlier.  The void feeling of nothing that overwhelms me when someone dies makes me feel shameful of my lack of intense emotion or desire to cry.  This may be my way of coping with the idea of death seeing as the feeling of void was present in the two previous events that had occurred in my life.
       I'm not sure what happens after death.  I've given a good amount of thought thinking about it.  Death isn't something I am looking forward to because of the many scenarios of death popping up on the news channel, newspaper, and television series.  Through the media, I have seen people pitying the dead and pity disgusts me in many cases.  I don't think pity is a sufficient way to deal with death probably because I have an immense stubbornness when someone questions my potential and whole-heartedly pities me.  I digress but, death has always been put out to been horrendous, terribly sad, maybe even cartoonish.  After death, the ability to think is gone now that the brain is not functional and so I wonder what would be my last thoughts when I die?  Would my thoughts finish or be cut off by the end of my being on this terra?  Retiring to the events that had made an impact on my perspective of death, I am unsure as to why I chose to offer anecdotes to demonstrate how I approach the notion of death.  Replaying these events in my mind, now that I am older and considerably more knowledgeable, I don't think my understanding of death has become anymore clear but, instead has just become a blur that won't rub off on a pristine camera lens.  And it's terribly strange to me as to our ability to elaborate on the idea of death is unlimited in words and thoughts even though we have not yet experienced it.  But, somehow I feel that death is close at hand and fear is what drives me to avoid it.

HW 11 - FINAL FOOD PROJECT 1

Chosen Modality: Experiential

       The sharing of food, stories, and laughs at the thin glass dinner table set perpendicular to the wall is essentially second nature to my body, purely reacting to my expectations.  In my family, dinner time is like no other time, constituting its own sacred ritual where everyone eats and converses together.  The dinner table represents the connection between all those who are eating, as each person is present at one of the table's edges and is within arms reach of another person.  The literal feeling of the warmth shared between me, the food, and my family leaves my muscles less tense for the day.  The absence of this feeling and connection may leave me wandering like a confused foreigner in the streets of Time Square.  However, curiosity had struck me and the urge to find out whether I had enough will power to sit alone and eat, was stronger than the urge to do otherwise.  To separate myself from this comforting familiarity of gathering to eat, I ate dinner alone, secluded in my beige-colored room with the wooden door shut, for two days.  

       Before beginning this mere journey, my mother consented favorably while my sister choked on her snack and then proceeded to laugh at the supposed stupidity of my idea but, her lack of concern didn't heed my original incentives.  As I quietly shut the door to my room, creating the barrier between me and my family, I couldn't help but feel unusual and odd, as all the doors in my household are always open no matter the occasion.  Proceeding to sit on my cushioned chair, I placed the moderately big plate of food on my desk and worried that my neat desk would probably end up with food oil nevertheless, I began to eat with chopsticks.  These small movements and thoughts had taught me the value that I entrust into certain objects such as my work table and dinner table.  I began to question: Why do I exude such indifference toward sauce on the dinner table when I give the upmost concern about oil marks on my work table?  The change in location of where I would be eating made me realize how in the absence of my familiar dinner table and my family influences the way I react towards the same event. 

       In addition to a change in location, the silence that filled my room as I ate overwhelmed me as the only loudest things I could hear were the sounds of my gnawing on food.  The subtle sounds of my family talking only traveled slightly through the slits of the closed doors and there I was, close in literal terms but, distant mentally.  I only needed to walk a few paces to join the conversation but, of course, that would prohibit what I desired to obtain from this experience.  Hearing big hearty laughs, I wanted laugh and talk and, I could have probably played the role my own company but, I worried my sister would laugh me and I wouldn't be present to defend myself.  It was bizarre being alone during dinner time and led me to realize being a part of a task done together was important to me and so I had learned that the company of others plays a role in the enjoyment of my dinner.  If I were to change one thing about my experiment, I would have completely isolated myself from the subtle chatter of my family because there is a chance that this change could have had a influenced the path of my inquiry and so, I wouldn't have have thought about what my family might've been laughing about.

       In carrying out this fruitful experience, I had learned that gathering as a family and eating as one matters and serves a purpose to me not only as enjoyment but, as a necessity.  Without permitting me to do so, I'm left alone to experience food, filled with flavors I am unable to share.  In Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, we learn we are accustomed to what our society portrays as normal therefore we rarely question the normal and stray away from this path.  We are bound to our morals and values therefore we base our decisions on them.  As all humans are burdened with the the omnivore's dilemma, they cannot help their inquiry of foods and the influence of society.  Eating together as a family is a ongoing social practice in this society and so, to deviate from such practice would be "weird."
       In my short two day experience, I had come to comprehend my values on a different perspective, realizing my decisions and desires not only rely on my opinion, morals, and values but, that of society's and its social practices.  From Pollan's book, we can relate because as we are omnivores, we are given the ability to eat almost anything but, also the ability to reason what is right and wrong, whether slaughtering an animal is unjust.  We can watch the line between what is normal and weird with a certain prudence but, we will never be able truly define such vague words.

HW 12 - FINAL FOOD PROJECT 2 - OUTLINE

Chosen Thesis for ARG 1:  Many of the dominant social practices in our society - practices that define a "normal" life - on further investigation turn out to involve nightmares and industrial atrocities.

Major Claim: The people with whom we have trusted to scrutinize and assemble our daily foods have ignored the problems such foods have caused us, creating an overwhelming river of obscure food products that poison us to the point that labels are no longer trust worthy but, deceiving.

Supporting Claim #1: The industrial food industry does not clarify the ingredients of its foods to its consumers despite dangerous abnormalities that lie in the foods.

Evidence 1:   Lighter Fluid in Chicken Nuggets / TBHT
Evidence 1.2:   Cargill's dishonest labels
Evidence 1.3:   No Changes in Statistics of Food Borne-Illnesses in Ground Beef: Views from the Industry
Evidence 1.4:   Federal School Lunch Program uses more than 5.5 million pounds of ground beef, some contaminated with E. Coli and salmonella pathogens but agriculture department doesn't ban its sales to consumers

Supporting Claim #2: Industrial Food Corporations like Tyson and Cargill have continuously sold to their consumers, contaminated food, resulting in the advent of several food illnesses like E Coli. and Salmonella.  Our nation's food safety system has overlooked flaws in the foods that have been approved

Evidence 2:   Jack In the Box: Virulent Strain of E. Coli kills four children. (Story of Stephanie Smith)
Evidence 2.1:   Egg Recall
Evidence 2.2:   E Coli. Fight

WORKS CITED PAGE / LINKS (listed respectively from 1 - 2.2)
  
1    Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Page 114)
1.2 NYT Article
1.3 NYT Article
1.4 NYT Article
2    NYT Article
2.1 NYT Article
2.2 NYT Article

HW 10 - Food, Inc. Response

     Precis
       Industrial food corporations have come a long way, succeeding in becoming the largest retailers and powerful companies that make more than half of the food we see at the supermarket and changing the way we eat compared to the last 50 years.  Several food advocates argue to pass a bill on closing factories that continue to produce contaminated products but, food corporations like Tyson cannot be easily destroyed due to their thousands of consumers and deskilling workers which created more profitable and less money to pay to illegal immigrant workers.  Not only does the mass production of meat create a problem but, the production of corn, that takes up 30% of the U.S. land base, cannot decline because of government policy that states corn must be sold below the cost of production that not only puts farmers at risk but, the limited amount of land we have to stockpile such cheap grains.  As consumers, we deserve to know what we are eating and so, eating healthier and change in government will allow reform that will decrease the amount food poisoning, mad cow disease, and e coli infections.  As of right now, because FDA cannot shut down factories due to multiple lawsuits and its lack of legislative authority, we must take initiative, starting with the most simplest of things, reading food labels and buying foods locally grown.

     What does this movie offer that the book didn't?  What does the book offer that the movie didn't?

       While watching Food, Inc., I could hear the tone of the voices of Michael Pollan and Schlosser and see actual videos of the processes of creating the final food product, which allowed information and opinions backed up by evidence sink into my mind more easily than if I were to have read and have to process the information then to create an opinion which would require confirmation.  Both book and movie held serious biases and in no way exuded to being objective in any extreme case.  Pollan offered humbly almost entirely one perspective of the food industry while Food, Inc. explored several.  Despite this, producers did not allow supporters, the opposing view points, of the industrial food industry to back up their opinions and statements.  Of course this is necessary because Food, Inc. serves an an argument not an impartial conversation disclosing the virtues of each side of the story.  Though the pictures and videos shown in the movie were alluring, colorful, and mind-blowing, Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan allows more room for details while Food, Inc. is composed of all the necessary and key aspects of its argument.  

     What insights or questions or thought remain with you after watching this movie?  What feelings dominate your response?

     After hearing how Food Nation and Omnivore's Dilemma have changed countless meat eaters to vegetarians, I wonder why it hadn't impacted me enough to become a vegetarian? I've seen the factories and processes in Food, Inc. but why is it that I could eat a sandwich with bacon right after?  Is it because I've accepted the industrial food industry or have I chosen to subconsciously ignore it? Change is fundamental and bound to happen at one point in time but with food corporations and their power in the economy, change isn't going to happen over night especially when capitalism is in play.  Advocates of Industrial Food Industry are not thinking about the several lives they have taken with food illness but, the millions of dollars stacking up in their bank accounts.  These advocates definitely have a conscious but, are willing to push away the guilt with money in the picture.  Honestly, who wouldn't chase money, especially a huge amount of it?  I'm not saying that everyone would but, I definitely would.  Am I trying to be empathic? Yes but, I'd say the virtues of naturally grown organics are much bigger in number than that of the industrial food industry. I have more of a motivation to eat healthier but, when it comes to excluding meat from my diet, there's no question that meat is always a part of my meal.  What can I say?  I want what I want.  Selfish? Maybe but these sharp pointy teeth aren't for chewing on some lettuce.

HW 7D

Book: Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Chapter 17 (The Ethics of Eating Animals)

     Precis

       As more meat eaters convert to vegetarians, the ethics of eating animals and talk of animal rights come into place.  Controversy stirs about the suffering that factory animals endure and how the animal's suffering is no different from that of any other human.  Big corporations, like Tyson, need to consider justifying their actions or else, their actions can be registered as discrimination against a creature capable of feeling pain and an animal who tries to avoid affliction as much as we humans do.  If Tyson were to stop their unjustifiable slaughtering, their profit and trust from consumers will decrease and so, they continually refuse bills against their mass production and hide the truths of the factories from peering eyes and inquiry.

     Gems

       "Half the dogs in America will receieve Christmas presents this year, yet dew of us ever pause to consider the life of the pig- an animal easily as intelligent as a dog- that becomes the Christmas ham" (Pollan 307).
       "Humans don't need to kill other creatures in order to survive; carnivorous animals do" (Pollan 310).

     Thoughts

       I'm surprised I'm still capable of eating meat without flinching after reading most of Omnivore's Dilemma.  I doubt there's a chance I can make any measurable change to the food industry, so why try to change what's been going on for the past few decades?  However, I don't believe I can justify the evil slaughter of factory animals yet, I can eat meat with no hesitation.  Am I a hypocrite? Of course.  Am I willing to go the distance to become a vegetarian and defend the animal rights? No but, that doesn't mean animal rights aren't important to me.  I was born a carnivore, why should I change?

Chapter 18 (Hunting)

     Precis

       In the face of a group of pigs, my rifle did not shoot willingly at first ultimately because I was not mentally prepared.  After a few outings, I had succeeded in killing in a pig but I was soon overwhelmed with the same horror when the time came to treat and prepare my meal.  This process was unbearable as first but then developed into acceptance of my claim of awareness, pride, and food. 

     Gems

       "Only the hunter, imitating the perpetual alertness of the wild animal, for whom everything is danger, sees everything and sees each functioning as a facility or difficulty, as a risk or protection" (Pollan 343).

       "So much of the human project is concerned with distinguishing ourselves from beats that we seem strenuously to avoid things that remind us that we are beasts too - animals that urinate, defecate, copulate, bleed, die, stink, and decompose" (Pollan 357).

     Thoughts

       After reading about Pollan's disgust, I wonder if we can't handle the truth now, what will happen to our food industry 50 years from now and how will we react?  I know for sure that I don't want to see a pig being slaughtered or a chick being vaccinated but, we are all responsible for the mass production of meat because we have all bought and eaten the meat one way or another whether we know it or not.  A label picturing a red barn and cow is the primitive picture we all have enamored in our mind as children and so, what feelings would a picture of a factory on a label induce in us?

 Chapter 19 (Gathering)

     Precis

       Hunting for mushrooms, one can find themselves lost but yet, extremely aware of one's surroundings or rather, the ground.   Mushroom is hidden, seeking no attention in obscure places in the wild.  As I scavenge for exceptional mushrooms, the chance of gathering a batch of poisonous mushrooms does not escape my mind, although, as I mitigate my knowledge of gathering mushrooms, I've come to realize that it is a peculiar skill, difficult to master.  However, this skill represents the self-reliance we are determined to keep although in reality we depend mostly what is most easily accessible to us without much labor.

     Gems

       "The mysteries of germination and flowering and fruiting engaged me from an early age, and the fact that by planting and working an ordinary patch of dirt you could in a few months' time harvest things of taste and value was, for me, nature's most enduring astonishment" (Pollan 365).

       "It was such a feeling of empowerment, to feed yourself by figuring out the puzzle of nature" (Pollan 380).

     Thoughts

       The idea of scavenging for mushrooms seems somewhat adventurous but, by no means, do I want to even step foot near poisonous mushrooms.  I try to be efficient and some may misconstrue my actions as stubborn but, I have very little patience when it comes to growing or foraging things.  Personally, I love mushrooms and maybe I might like the enduring process of picking out part of nature's bounty however, time is valuable and foraging my own food isn't as important to me.  It could be a hobby or just something I merely enjoy partaking in on occasions, but as a routine, I doubt I have the motivation to continue unless of course my incentives were to change.

Chapter 20 (The Perfect Meal)

     Precis

       There is a distinct difference between great meal and a perfect meal and luckily, I had the chance to experience the flavors of my own perfect meal composed of all the things I had hunted, gathered, and grown.  The entirety of the meal was realistic in the way that some of my exceptions and rules to my meal had to be broken and the experience was more valuable than the amount of calories in another food.  The gathering of all those who had contributed to the meal was prolific and most rewarding, allowing the full-consciousness of a meal to blossom.  However this meal cannot serve as a solution to the all important omnivore's dilemma.

     Gems

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

       "Scarcely an ingredient in it had ever worn a label or bar code or price tag, and yet I knew almost everything there was to know about its provenance and its price" (Pollan 409).

     Thoughts

       The perfect meal seems impossible to me even though Pollan had achieved preparing and consuming it.  But after finishing Omnivore's Dilemma, I can say for a fact I am 400 pages less ignorant than I was in the beginning of this course.  This book has mitigated my knowledge of food that I know will make me step back from the shelves of food and read some labels and nutrition facts.  I hope that same day I will get to have my own realistic meal that's close to perfect and only then will I be able to experience a true attachment to my food.  

HW 9 - Freakonomics Response

         Steven Levitt and Stephan Dubner approach the truths and eccentricities of society through a number of ways: accidents and pure research. Unknowingly exploring incentives, Levitt had embarrassedly found that his own offspring of 6 years had outsmarted him.  In persuading or rather tricking his daughter to use the lavatory, Levitt provided a constellation of sweet M&Ms but, only if she were to use the toilet willingly, a bribe that all parents at one point or another present to their kids.  Young miss Levitt was thrifty: realizing acquiring her all-time favorite candy was no longer a hassle and tricking her father was even easier.  Soon after, Levitt, flabbergasted, could not believe his daughter had beat his scheme but, through this accidental experience, he had evaluated incentives.  The right incentives allow someone to flourish and allow us to predict a plausible outcome of situation and the amount of effort the person will put into something.  Incentives are what drive one to carry out a promise, a duty, morals, and ethics among other things.  

         To evaluate truth and clarify topics, Levitt and Dubner use comic book-like visuals and real life situations.  The visuals presented in front of us during the movie were beautiful, not riveting but, luring nonetheless.  Each transition from topic to topic, a new place and setting was humbly welcoming with its vibrant color and comic book animations.  The comic-book like cut out people were humorous and drew my attention to the conveyed main idea when Levitt portrayed his daughter as a tiny rudimentary drawing animated on looseleaf.  In doing the simplest task, he had come to find that even a 6 year old could trick a well educated economist into acquiring M&Ms easily.  Each reenactment of a situation was played almost perfectly allowing watchers to live what they saw on the big screen.  Reenactments could be seen when the protagonist was comparing how a real estate agent would wait longer to sell his house for a higher price compared to how he would go about advising his customer to decide to select an offer earlier than the agent would have chosen based on his different incentives.  These different approaches to society sparked the most interest and therefore allowed me to gain a new perspective of incentives.

         The Freakonomic's author's rely on statistics and not is what observably "obvious."  They seek patterns that repeat over and over again in the statistics and only then make a conclusion.  In trying to unveil the existence of yaocho in the sumo world of Japan, Levitt and Dubner needed factual data and they found exactly that in the winning to losing scores of each competitor.  In the family of sumos, the winner was always chosen before the match had even started because one sumo would fall to let his opponent advance but, when both encounter again, the opponent is in debt to the sumo.  The entirety of yaocho contains corruption and in turn, there are rigged matches therefore the purity of sumo has faded.  This analysis of statistics is innovative because several other researchers in Japan didn't dare to question the sumo world because it was a sanctuary of purity, where one fought to gain respect and the quavering of this abundant idea would be nothing but, chaos.    Levitt and Dubner found the factual data of the existence of yaocho while others could not see what was right in front of them.

         Freakonomics can serve as an inspiration and a good example to our attempt to explore the "hidden-in-plain-sight" weirdness of dominant social practices because as conscious members of this society, we all try to uncover the mysteries that haunt us and spark inquiry.  In society, we have created the ideal person, family, society, environment, morals, and values in order to stray away from foreign things.  But now as we watch Freakonomics, we can see ideal does not trail far away from weird.  Questioning the morals and ethics of cheating in the Sumo World isn't eccentric, it's our natural instinct to become wary of things "unmoral".  Although, in questioning such things has brought among several theories, research, and evidence about society and its social practices.  As we evaluate things on a number of variables such as morals, we can see how the idea of Freakonomics can directly correlate to Michael Pollan's Omnviore's Dilemma.  Our food ways reveal what is acceptable and unacceptable in society.  Our research and attempts to reconnect with nature in a forest of factories and chemicals will help us understand why we choose the foods we eat.  Research will not mitigate our knowledge but, instead expand its depths straying away from ignorance.  Yet, we cannot escape ignorance because we cannot see everything hidden in plain sight nor understand the reasons behind them.