Final Paper - AWOL, its a love hate relationship

How I used to make sense of the American Life

This was way back in September, when the media and the government were actually good at keeping the greater majority unaware of what America was really like. I had believed "the best part of believe is the lie" (Fall Out Boy), that America was awesome we weren't poor, doctor visits were free and painless, the farms I had visited smelled of fresh grass and the cows practically smiled, I knew nothing about the constitution accept that it gave me the freedom to speak freely, the babies came quickly, Taco Bell was good especially since now they list calories and that for the most part all the people I knew seemed to be equal to one another... then I met Andy... dun dun dun

How I make sense of the American Way of Life now

I'll start with the constitution, like I said all I knew about the constitution was the undeniable fact that I had the right to speak my mind (which is why I never had a problem questioning authority). But when I had begun studying it I was not interested at all. But then I realized that the Constitution told a story, a story of slavery, inequality and power. I'd learned in all of 3 weeks that the foundation of this country was in the hand of rich, old, white, racist, men. Without the Amendments this country would be in for some pretty serious crap. Which says alot, that originally the constitution only benefited white men... and that's something that I did not know. Without the Amendments there would still be slaves, women wouldn't be able to vote, everyone would have to believe in the same God, plain ol' citizens wouldn't be able to keep their nine millimeters... I would go on but I'm sure anyone reading this gets the point.

Moving on, I never really looked in to the whole birth scene. I knew that after unprotected sex, intrauterine methods and sperm banks, led to pregnancy. Which in my opinion was decent knowledge considering... What I didn't know was the exact process of having a baby is completely and totally different from what society and TV has taught us to believe. In all of 4 weeks, I had learned that over 98% of women had their baby by C-section. At first it didn't seem like a bad thing, but most women have C-sections when there is no need to. The process of having a C-section involves 'drugging' your baby. Doctor's won't tell their patients this, just that after the woman is all high off of medicine the doctor says that its necessary to have a C-section to relieve the stress off the baby. Home-birth with a certified mid-wife is much healthier and much cheaper. But hospitals don't want the competition,so very little women are unaware that there are other options to having your baby ripped out of them.

While on the topic of hospitals, let talk about the health care system. Let me just say for the record that the health care system seemed nice at first. To me all I did was go in for a checkup and come out knowing either something was wrong or that I was healthy. But like everything else in America nothing is ever plain and simple. In all of 3-4 weeks I had learned that America has the worst health care system. Here there are more people not covered probably bleeding in a ditch than the people in cool shiny most likely to be infected hospitals. In other countries things like college and health care are free. This fact suggests that other countries actually care about the people living there and not the amount of money that they are worth. America might be ‘the greatest nation’ but it lacks sincerity for its people.

Food, something every American is familiar with. Never cared much about the topic other than I ate it when I got hungry. Food was always marketed as something neat and nice that was done with a wonderful family of four. But now you can’t walk more than 3 blocks without running in to a Burger King of Wendy’s. This, being the fast food corporations, is merely designed to pull the money out of consumers. Nobody really thinks about where their food comes from just that they get it. Well like everything else I had learned that that wasn’t the case. The lovely chickens and cows that people eat are actually suffering and then being slaughtered. The animals that we humans’s depend on are getting treated like shit, but no one cares. I learned all this with-in 2 weeks…impressive huh?

Oil, well I’m not too keen on this topic but apparently we need it bad…or else. Oil, from what I’ve been learning makes up just about 100% of the things that we need/use daily. But I’m sure that if some of these things were cut that we might just have a fighting chance.

Enjoy It?

Sometimes I enjoy the AWOL and sometimes I don’t, the American Way of Life is like Andy’s teaching you might not like it but there isn’t much you can do about it. I like that we aren’t starving…yet. I like that for now we have this illusion of freedom and I like the technology. There’s a longer list of things that I don’t like but I really don’t want to write that. Some of the dumb things here include the media. I cannot stress this enough, NOBODY CARES ABOUT HOW MANY KIDS BRAD AND ANGELINA HAVE! Honestly, why waste hundreds of thousands of paper on stupid crap like that. Right now it looks like we are headed for a slow collapse, but look at the bright side, we’ll all have new ipods.

Final Thoughts

I can't think about something or look at a TV ad in the same way anymore It's almost like I have to pick it apart and analyze and or criticize it. In some ways that will come in handy but in other ways it might make your social life a bit harder, for example if a friend asks your opinion on a new sweater, in September I probably would have said something like " It looks nice" or "that's a good color for you" now I'll end up saying something like "I hope you know that you're wasting the little bit of oil that we have left on this planet?" or "you're being sucked in to this whole marketing scheme to get your money" I guess that's the difference of being educated and oblivious.

Extra Credit

Comment for Jenise:
I like the way you start off your intro saying that the AWOL is alternative, and by the end after you get a taste of the real AWOL you change you mind. I think that it shows how your understandings of topics changed. I also liked how you said that you wanted to like AWOL, it made me wonder how many people believe that just because they live in a certian place they have to like it...

Comment for Kevin:
I like how you were able to connect to each topic of the course. It shows how geared you were into the American Way of Life. I also like how you imply your favorite was the food topic. I wonder, are you going to change the way your AWOL is or not?

Collapse Assignment 2 - Short and Smart

The 'possible' collapse, I really don't think that word can eve be placed in anywhere in that statement. Andy, didn't really leave room for possibility. But when you think about it, it doesn't seem like America can avoid this collapse. Like in the Easter Island reading the civilization basically fell because they were terminating the things that they didn't know they needed for "dumb shit"(Snyder, 6/8/09). This is where it relates to America, here they cut down trees, clear cut forests, make hundreds more landfills, use up oil like nothing all for stupid crap. America has been in this cycle for centuries and I don't think people will stop now. There is an amazing quote I'd like to share from the movie Across the Universe, [two characters were talking about the war protests that were going on] "maybe when bombs start going off here, then people will listen". I think that this applies here, in America people wont care until this bad shit starts happening to them...i.e a collapse.

What is scary about this is the people of this society don't really have a choice on what rain forests get clear cut or how much oil gets used or how many fast food restaurants get erected on a yearly basis. But its going to be the poor and middle class that get affected from this recession and this upcoming collapse, the rich will get on their jets and cause problems for other countries. The fact that the people don't contribute much to this collapse sucks but will have to stick around for when the real problems start. That sucks

It seems that America wont be able to bounce back from a collapse. America depends so much on money and the extortion of the poor that if something happened to their primary form of income they wouldn't know what to do. 'Let's go green!' yeah , well look how bad that's going. Big corporations hold a few rallies and paste up a few posters and call themselves 'going green' so that when the amount of pollution gets worse they can blame it on the people. When in reality it's places like, McDonald's, Shell Gas Co and MTA that are contributing to the rapid decline of oil. If these big business were taken away even for a second America might just have a fighting chance against the all mighty COLLAPSE

Collapse Assignment 1

I think that the most important part of the reading was where Jared Diamond was baffled by how the civilization had managed to do certain things when it seemed that they lacked the necessary technology and resources. I thought that it was interesting because it shows that there are things that can be done without the constant upgrade of useless technology. I also thought that the way that Jared Diamond described the island was quite interesting. It [the description] was designed to show the reader that the setting basically screamed 'under privileged' and I think that showing that aspect of being deprived was essential to show the meaning of collapse.

Honestly the whole time I was reading this all I thought about was the United States. When Jared described the long journey to get to the island it mad em think of how people go on long journey's just to get to America, and the view that he saw when he had arrived gave me thought of how when you get to the 'land of the free' you might be one the one had happy that you made it and on the other hand thinking 'what the hell is this?!'. What was different was they were able to 'strive' without the excessive dependency on new gadgets and gizmo's. Whereas America is top notch everywhere and somehow stuck in a recession. Gives you something to think about...

I think that our culture needs to rethink alot, the people need to be involved more in our government. We should focus more on equality than money and war. But honestly there are a million suggestions that one could make but in the end it becomes a waste of time.

To Be Oblivious Is To Be Profitable -- Final Food Paper

It seems like when it comes to everything in America no one (or at least our class) seems aware of what is happening in our society. It makes me think that these ‘evil’ corporations are doing a good job at keeping us unaware of what’s really happening, all attention is devoted to keeping us [the consumers] interested in buying their products. I think that this is because we are always shown the + side of everything when we are young and from then on we don’t look into anything anymore because it doesn’t directly concern us. Take Vroom: Farming for Kids, yay big tractors that make loud sounds not to mention a great spokesman who makes farming seem like the best job that a kid could have. That sounds fun when you’re young and all but when you get older in a way you are in this state of mind that says that farming is fun and harmless so you don’t really devote more attention to the subject.

Just last weekend I watched a movie called Antz. It’s a animated children’s movie about how ants work and how one poor worker ant gets the rich girl while managing to cause a revolution within the nest. I just realized how many messages were being portrayed through this seemingly harmless and funny cartoon. I have not watched that movie or even thought about it in years. When I was a child, all I thought was how funny and cut the insects looked and I never thought about how it shows that the rich are the oppressors and it’s actually the workers who have the power if they only realize it. So in ‘fun’ farming movies we are under this spell that farming is fun and harmless, boy were we wrong.

What seems even weirder is that we [Americans] are in a way given constant reminders and notices as to what is happening. But somehow any chance that we have at gaining awareness all seems to go out of the window. Take the Meatrix the video in plain ol’ English tells us how bad things happen, I highly doubt that many people are actually aware of how they get their precious beef and chicken and pork. I wasn’t aware that the very animals that are killed get treated so horribly. Also there is also that aching response “so what?” to the constant reminders that our society for lack of a better term, sucks. It’s almost like the American people want to be oblivious, which in turn leads to more money going to McDonalds and stupidity coming to this society.

Take birth for example, countless sources are on the internet about home births and how the doctors for many women may not be the best choice. But what happens? Women, actually almost 100% of our female society go in to the doctors with high hopes and happy faces and come out with a doped up baby and a sob story. It’s almost like it’s being oblivious has become attached to our society and the only ones benefiting from this are the rich.

Food is a big deal in this society. Mostly advertising pulls everyone in depending on the demographic. What’s amazing is that even when those rare times arise when people are aware they don’t fully grasp what’s happening. I have taken the whole food thing into consideration. I showed the Meatrix, video to my mom and she actually started looking in to more healthy places to purchase our food which in turn makes me more aware of where I get my food from. Ever since we have started this food unit my mother has taken a great interest about what is really happening with the food that we buy. Just like when I went to the food conference I brought her back a little booklet that suggested healthier things to look for when you go food shopping.

I think that actually taking the time to sit back and think about something affects you take a certain level of patience. To be able to think about or even care about the life of the poor chicken that you are about to digest. Its because we weren’t taught to revolt but to accept what is given and we are forever stuck in a cycle of nonchalant oblivious people. Maybe if that were to change this lovely society might get somewhere.

Food Paper 1'st Draft

I chose to come at this from a money angle (as I do everything else). Marketing through food seems to be a very generous career if you're the CEO of Burger King or McDonalds, and if you're not the food marketing business has also been quite lucrative for non-fast food like Purdue or Boars Head. Money is to be made all around if you happen to be involved in food at all. That's well known, we get our food is not so well known. Most American's are concerned that Burger King still has char-broiled whoppers and not about the poor pathetic life of the cow that lived in its own crap for months at a time and never even go the chance to have a normal sex life as explained in Our Daily Bread and the Meatrix.

When we were kids we were taught that farming and big tractors were fun and that the little cows and the little chickens and the little pigs were all walking around with big smiles on their faces. From then on we [American's] have little to no concern of where or food comes from, just that we get it. In Vroom: Farming For kids, an enthusiastic view of farming is portrayed greatly to the kids who view it. What they so elegantly leave out is the fact that the animals that they have there are in the worst living conditions possible. Cows,chickens,pigs all cooped up with little to no room to move.

You Say Tomato I say To-mato, You Say Potato I Say Pah-tato

Well, Well, Well apparently we all have come a long way from those blogs where we don't get to the point or we just don't do it. While I was sort of sitting in on another class Andy addressed that the grades have gone up alot from the beginning of the year. He seemed sincerely perplexed...Well let me just say, that the point of school is to learn, and if given time, the right teacher and the right materials believe it or not Andy this thing called learning will happen. Eventually, the things that have been drilled in to our heads will stick, I've been told that brainwash...er I mean 'clever manipulation' works best. It seems that now it's almost impossible to see anything the same as we did 8 months ago, (not that that's completely bad). A commercial isn't just a commercial anymore, its a message to get people to spend money in the worst ways, birth isn't just birth anymore its a "billion dollar business", health care isn't the warm and loving doctors waiting to help us, its a scheme to make us all poor.I believe there's a thin line between deeply criticizing something and paranoia.

Food #8 Industrial Food

Addressing the following sources: Industrial Food Isn't Cheap & Animal Cruelty

For the first one, I agree. Although I do see some area's for argument. The major food franchises such as McDonalds, Burger King, Quiznos, Subways, 711, KFC, Popeye's and so on; have some prices that are a bit outrageous. They [major food franchises] have invented some clever ways to keep people interested: 1. Introduce more food for cheaper prices, 2. Include more food in the meal, 3. Adapt a similar food from another food franchise for cheaper, 4. Have monthly sales where things such as 'chicken' nuggets are sold for .99c These corporate schemes pull people in to the point where they wake up one morning and notice that they've gained 400lbs overnight.

Which connects to what the source addresses in the first line of the article "If you added the real cost of industrial food -- its health, environmental, and social costs..." that this fast food thing that America has going here is costing more than this weeks paycheck. Food is a big deal here and advertising it is even bigger. It pulls us all in at some point, you see some coupons for Starbucks in the Sunday paper, chances are that you are going to use them. To an extent everyone is pulled in to the fast food world. And it's not good for your wallet or your body. But getting people to stop would be almost completely out of the question, prices will raise and lower and recessions will come and go but ultimately at the end of the they the typical American must have fast food, soon to become faster food.

For the second source, animal cruelty is something that I think most people are familiar with, when it comes to using baby alligator skins for new purses or African chinchilla's for new mink coats but people tend to act oblivious to animal cruelty when it comes to actually eating it. When you see the poor defenceless cow being tied down and then slaughtered for next week's Big Mac, people get jumpy and disgusted, its almost like they [humans] know that eating all these animals in mass amounts is bad, and for the most part isn't exactly nice but if they [humans] actually have to see it it's completely out of the question. I feel that if these animals have to be eaten they should at least be treated with respect before they meet their certain doom.

One of My Favorite Simple Recipes - LATE

Uh... Honestly this is as simple as I'm going to get.

What You Need:
- 1 Blender
- 1 Container of Strawberries
- 1 Bag of Grapes
- 1 Pineapple
- 1 Mango
- 2 Banana's
- 1 Container of Cran-Grape Juice
- 1 Cup of sugar
- 1 Cutting Board
- 2 Ice Cubes

How Long Should It Take:
It shouldn't take long, once you have the fruit and juice and sugar, place the ice in the cup first then you can add all the fruit in whatever order pleases you best. If you want it 'smooth' add only 1 teaspoon of sugar and blend for 5 min. If you want it 'thick' add it 2 tablespoons of sugar and blend for 8 min. Then Enjoy

My Home Made Smoothies

- Strawberry's (cut in 1/4's)
- Pineapple (cut in cubes)
- Grapes (the darker ones)
- 2 Bananas
- 2 Mango slices
- 1/3 cup Cran-Grape Juice
- 2 Tablespoons of sugar (just because I like it that way)

This isn't going to make it to school...I'm going to drink this when I'm done with this post.
This is one of my favorite recipes because it is quick and simple and not to mention it tastes good, and it seems to be filling and semi-healthy. Its cheaper than going to Jamba Juice or Pink Berry; its my own private way of sticking it to the man!!

Make Up - Pollan Response

The book was semi-interesting, the introduction was engaging and not overly wordy. I like the fact the he brought up that Americans have too much of a variety that we glorify the things that shouldn't really be glorified. I agree completely, no matter what the topic or the subject there is always 1,000,001 ways to do it. Like choosing a home: do you wanna live in the suburbs? or in the city? do you wanna big house? or a studio? Like having a baby: do you wanna have it naturally or do you wanna let the doctor rip it out of you? (you'll never guess what women choose) Like choosing a history teacher: do you want the funny black guy? or the sarcastic white guy?. We have so many choices to make everyday, so when it comes to food as 'omnivores' we have a huge dilemma. The books goes on to say that America lacks basic culture when it comes to food, because of our large superficial variety. As opposed the (I can't recall the name of the tribe) who have a large diet composed of only corn or mostly corn.

My family and I don't really listen to the 'experts ' whoever they may be. My mom likes the food network and the recipe website I'm not sure if that could be considered as 'listening to the experts'. I will say that in some ways we do, take all these new and flashy products, like the 'magic bullet' a new and sleek blender that chops food up...yeah gotta have it. In this case the 'experts' do say "You'll love this little baby, its small and fast and sleek only here for $19.95" So naturally that commercial is going to attract the eye of someone. I think that the biggest influence on the food we eat second to the advertisements on posters and TV, are friends and family; the people that you spend the majority of your day around. If a close friend says something like "oh, that place makes the best fries" eventually you're going to go there to try the "best fries" if your mother says, "oh get this meal because it has less calories" you're going to take that in to consideration and get the meal with the fewer amount of calories.

For A Teacher With Morals

Yes, this lovely suggestion came directly from Mr. Snyder. "We should all take a trip to Queens" (Snyder, 5/6/09). Anyway, on to the food unit, at first glance one would think that this may be the one unit where Andy wasn't...well Andy. Even if its something small its always something that we are being brainwash.. er I mean manipulated slowly to do. This is a unique and clever set up might I add, that shows us to 'eat healthy'. Take the food journal, for instance, we all post things like MacDonald's, and other various junk foods, whereas Andy posts smoothies with flax seed and almonds. Or when we made a lists of veggies and fruits that we eat in a typical week, we had never even heard of anything like that, but Andy topped us all with a record breaking 40+. (GASP, you deserve an award). Was this meant to make us take a look at what we eat or convert us? Not sure, but let me say this,I'm so happy that Andy is given us the new and fresh look on food and life. "Teachers love it when they feel like they've helped a student" (Snyder, 5/5/09). There, there Mr. Snyder.

How my family uses the grocery store... extension of Veggies, Fruits & Grains eaten in a typical week...by me

Depending on how bad my family needs a certain food will affect where we shop. Mostly my step dad will stop by Wall Mart on his way home. This is where we get the bulk of our items because things tend to be cheaper here than at the grocery store by our home. We get the milk and cereal and juice and frozen foods and chips and case waters and movies and all that other good stuff. But if my mom is in the middle of cooking and she needs buttermilk or rosemary for something then the corner store will have to do. In many ways its convenient, its close and it has things that aren't offered in other places in the city. I think my mom and step dad have OFSD level 3. Other wise known as Obsessive Food Shopping Disorder, its a fatal disease. It used to be worse, they would be at the grocery store every other day. I guess the fact that the freezer wouldn't close anymore gave them the hint that they need to stop. But I think that there are a lot of people who buy a bunch of things that they may not need at the moment but they buy it just to have it for later... and the time after that ... and the time after that.

What Veggies, Fruits & Grains I eat in a typical week

Fruits:

Orange
Cantaloupe
Pear
Apple
Banana
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pineapple
(mostly in a smoothie)
Tomato

Veggies:

Broccoli
Squash
Yam
Corn
Collard Greens
Spinach
Green Beans
Carrots

Grains:

Potato Bread (not sure if this belongs here)
Rice (sometimes)

Extra Credit... all the way from Brooklyn..

Well today was kind of fun, I'm not going to lie. Some friends and I registered and then we looked around at a few of the displays that they had at the tables in the gyms. The table displays were kind of interesting, I liked the tables where they gave out buttons, and pens mostly the free stuff. There was a table that was selling cookies and brownies that I liked (because I was hungry). There was also a table that talked about the rapidly declining number of bees. We then stayed for a workshop on school lunch, it was not what I expected... The speakers were advocating for more healthy foods in New York City Schools. I'm not against that but I am against that being the only food that is available in school for us to eat. I thought that it was great how they wanted to have more plant-based foods that kids might appeal to offered in schools. I don't think they are going to get to SOF. What bothered me even more was the fact that they had kids who attend John Jay High School on the panel and they were also advocating for only healthy food to be served. The only thing that was running through my mind was they are ALL lying. Then the panel went on to discuss how they want vending machines to be taken out of the schools. SOF would disintegrate if there were no Snapple's or FRESH water or gummy bears that we could snack on. Maybe I'm blinded by junk food, but I think they should see things from kids point of view and maybe they can come to a compromise about healthy vs unhealthy.

May Day

I didn't know about may day at all. What I know is that in American society we block out everything that the big boys up top don't want us to know about. Why would we be educated about a day when workers got together to 'stick it to them man' if the mass majority of underpaid workers, uninsured workers, mistreated workers etc. got together that would be a nightmare for the books. But then again things have been horrible in the United States for generations, how would the education of one day when the workers took their power back do anything. I feel that we have been trained in a way to do what we are told and to never challenge authority. So a day that goes against what the bosses...the rich bosses believe in is something that very little to no people will know about.

Food Journal

Lunch Tuesday (12:30pm)
- Salad w/ corn, craisons, croutons, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing
Tuesday Evening (7:15pm)
- 1 bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
- 1/2 cup rice pudding w/ cinnamon
- 2 bottles of Poland Spring
Tuesday Night Dinner (9:30pm)
- Stir fry (fresh broccoli, mushrooms, green pepper, yellow pepper)
- 2 Vitamin C pills
Lunch Wednesday (12:30pm)
- 1/4 turkey sandwich
Wednesday Evening (6:50pm)
- Fillet Fish w/ French Fries
Wednesday Dinner (9:00 ish..)
- Slept through dinner, I'm told sandwiches and french fries were served

At lunch on Tuesday, I went to a store by school with my friends, the place wasn't that crowded. The seating arrangement never really matters and we all get something different. It takes a while to get your food depending on what you get. I finished my food last as I was the last to arrive. I believe I had the most expensive food within my table. I ate my food in all of roughly 10 - 13 min with nothing to drink. I watched the cook prepare my salad and told him what I wanted in it. Over lunch we usually talk about things that have happened in school or plans that we want to make over the weekend sometimes old stories for a good laugh. I felt that the salad was worth the $6.25 because it was alot and I was able to finish it all.

Tuesday evening I was home and I was hungry but not starving, there is a TV show that I like to watch on Tuesdays and I like to watch it and eat, its a ritual, a must do or the world will end...yes, seriously. I ate a few snacks but nothing too heavy because I knew my mom was going to make dinner. By the time dinner was ready, my second show was on and I had dinner and watched that. My mother did her bills and ate dinner, so we did not eat together that night I felt good because I got to eat dinner and watch my show, because I hate sitting there watchting my show without dinner or a snack.

I didn't have money for lunch Wednesday, and Sandy offered me a 1/2 of a 1/2 (beggars can't be choosers) not that I begged, but I didn't complain to what was given to me. By 5 I was hungry yet again, so I decided to go to my aunts job to mooch off of her and I ended up getting McDonald's out of the deal (not my first choice but better than nothing), i'm not really into McDonald's all that much, the food was good cause I was dying of hunger but otherwise I wouldn't be eating there Wednesday night for some reason I was completely burnt out, and ended up crashing through dinner, which I didn't mind because I got much needed/wanted rest.

Food Cultures & Home & Corporate

Lets see, it depends on the night in my house. We are never in a rush when it comes to dinner because after dinner we go to bed. My mom always cooks something new for us to try. Generally we only eat dinner in front of the TV on Thursday nights, for Greys Anatomy. My mom usually makes a big meal on Monday or Tuesday and then we eat left overs Wednesday and Thursday. Most weekends we eat out somewhere, Red Lobsters or Edo's or Friday's or Giovanni's. On, TV dinner and family life are always portrayed as the woman cooking, and the man and kids waiting at the table. That's how it is here, depending on the day. Sometimes my mother may not feel like cooking and some nights I cook and some nights we heat up left overs. I would guess that a large majority of women cook for their families and the man is waiting or watching TV and possibly on a rare occasion helping. I only see men cooking for women in movies, but I will say that for special occasions like Mother's Day or Birthdays men do their part but women are going to be stuck in the kitchen for a while. Even in marketing, women are always the one cooking. It's always some 'happy' Caucasian female standing in the kitchen with a 'happy' Caucasian male smiling over a steaming glass dish of baked whatever. But in reality the woman is not smiling the man is probably downing his 3rd beer and the kids are in the back playing X-box. Corporate America likes to portray these happy scenes in order to encourage people to buy their products. So that they typically unhappy mother may buy a hot steaming expensive dish of 'home-made' crap.

Internet Research for Quesion

Who is targeted in the food industry?

I was surprised to find that alot of young people are targeted when it comes to fast unhealthy food."Some fast food chains target their advertising at children and students - an important market for them. McDonald's Happy Meals are one example, which includes a toy often tied in with a newly-released children's film. Ronald McDonald, first introduced in 1963 is a clown-like advertising mascot designed to appeal to young children." Its a slick industry using children to get the money out of the parents pockets. Whats the one thing that little kids love? TOYS! sliding in a smooth new updated toy every month or so is the perfect way to keep the kids interested in their food and not their waistline.

Also targeted, teens and young men. The word most associated with America is POWER, so why not associate that word in to food, perfect idea. "More recently, chains like Carl's Jr. and Burger King (see Burger King advertising) have directed advertising towards a different demographic – young teenage and college-age men – with trendy, often sexualised, imagery and messages that target men's supposed desire for large, meat-filled burgers and rich, satisfying food." You want to be big and powerful? just go to Burger King...You'll be big alright.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food_advertising

Refrigerator Assignment

Honey Mustard Sauce
Miracle Whip
Apricot Jelly
Grape Jelly
Ketchup
Stir-Fry Sauce
1/2 Watermelon
Rice Pudding
Dannon Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt (peach, pineapple, raspberry)
Butter
Snapple
Hawaiian Punch
Coffee Creamer
Pickles
Eggs
Capers
Tar-Tar Sauce
Fresh Shredded Parmesan & Cheddar Cheese
Hot Sauce
Sour Cream
Onions
Tortilla Wraps
Salad Spritzers

This relates to our culture because we [Americans] are associated with having a wide variety of other cultures adapted in to our own. There isn't just one kind of food from one specific culture there is always going to be a large mix from everywhere. I think that media has a big part in that because we are constantly influenced to 'try new things' and one of the ways we think we do that is by trying all the 'foods' that these other cultures serve in their regions, we adapt them by calling them Taco Bell or Pizza Hut when in reality this is just a very Americanised way of seeing things.

Health Care Assignment --- Thoughts from Class

In class & extra thoughts:

When we were watching SiCKO the film gave us a much needed look in to the lives of the people that don’t have it all. Here in America things are made to look like everything is fine and that life is all good. There is a part in the film where Michael Moore takes a bunch of people to Cuba, where they then get free health care and cheap drugs. Someone asks if they can get in trouble for doing that, and Andy said “the Cubans are very good at differentiating the American Government from the American people” (Andy, AWOL 4/23/09). I thought that that was a good point, it made me think about how we as a people are separate from our government and in the end its us against them, and we out number them so what the hell?!.

Health Care Assignment

Should the U.S. move to a Canadian, French, or English model of health care?

Something that is portrayed to be so easy and so FREE in other countries is so complicated and EVIL here. Everything about health care is out of the control of the people. “Here the government is afraid of the people, but there [America] the people are afraid of the government” (SiCKO). That is a great point to make; here American’s will complain about everything from A to Z but in the end do nothing about it. The Big Boys [Corporate America], have weakened us into thinking that there is no alternative to the AWOL, which is basically ‘get rich or die trying’, so moving to a system that has any affiliation with “advocating public or state ownership” (en.wikipedia.org), would be completely unacceptable. America thrives on draining its people of money, as opposed to some place like Canada that is more concerned with the wellbeing of its people. It depends on the person that is being asked the question. For instance, an elderly man said “America’s health care system is a 10 [out of 10] people come here to get the best care” that might be true but, if you’re poor and living in France and you were sick and needed some type of medicine or operation that for some reason only America offered you would be out of luck, so basically what the man on the street neglected to say was that ‘if you’re rich you can get top notch care in America’. Personally I think that we should move to a more Canadian or French model of health care.


What are the major problems with the U.S. health care system and society?

Health care, like I’ve said before, is not something that many people think about. I was completely unaware of how health care in the United States worked, or how health care in other countries worked either. Media shows us things about health care but it never tells us what is going on. They [media] make it seem as if the health care offered here is good and the only thing you should worry about is choosing the right ‘coverage’. “Remember, health insurance is supposed to protect you in case of a catastrophically expensive illness, not simply cover your routine costs as a generally healthy person” (consumerreports.org). Its’ like we are steered from wanting what is probably best for the people of this country, “As inefficient as our government seems to run as it is, -just look at the economy- does America really want the government given authority over something as necessary as our country’s health?”(letters2president.org). Its like beating around the bush forever, all we know is that we need ‘good coverage’ and apparently we don’t want the ‘unsteady’ government handling our health. Not everyone is covered and they in no way deserve this, America needs to change the way it does things. This health care system that we seem to be stuck in, is only helping the rich and killing the poor.


What does the U.S.'s lack of guaranteed universal health care and guaranteed vacation show about the "American Way of Life"?

This tells us that America cares about money, more than its people. America is a country run by rich white men who want to make more and more money. Although America may be the most powerful country in muscle it is the weakest in unity. But in a way, I think that it will be a rocky road to go down if we plan on trying to change it. It’s been like this since the very very slanted development of this ‘great’ nation. The rich always dominating things at the top and the poor doing the dirty work way at the bottom. America ignores everything and the people here have been trained in a way to not challenge authority because if you do the consequences seem like the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze’. If we were able to change how the people here felt about the government then maybe that would change a lot. As long as American’s think that authority doesn’t control everything then we can make a change, a much needed change.



Sources:

http://www.consumerreports.org/health/insurance/health-insurance/good-plans-vs-bad-plans/health-insurance-good-plans-bad-plans.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

http://www.letters2president.org/letters/8180-universal-health-care-good-or-bad

AWOL Class, Andy