What are you Eating, Really? (essay 3)

Karina Ortega

Professor Martin

English 114B

May 02, 2012

What are you eating, really?

            Throughout thousands of years of evolution, to the centuries where our technology has greatly progressed, we are on a verge of consequences for going against our evolution. We are deteriorating ourselves, our food, our environment and worst of all we are allowing it. The progress in technology has greatly reached its high potential over the years. It has completely changed and altered the way we store, cook, eat and buy our food. Consequently over the past few decades evidence and circumstances have put consumers on the verge of health problems because of the intake and cheap prices of these “genetically altered” foods that exist on the shelves in markets as well as on the menu in a fast food restaurant. Thus the reason for our want of intake of food is causing us to fall in debt, reach astonishing levels of obesity, and finally, causes illness because it produces a bacterium that is due to mutations of our era of fast-food meat.

            Throughout the United States, many people, tourists or residents, stop by their occasional fast food restaurant because of the convenience and the price tag without thinking twice about the food they are putting in their bodies. The meat that comes from corn-fed cows translates into obesity and unhealthy consumers. The attempt at trying to eat healthy backfires, especially for those who lack the financial stability within a household. The price of vegetables and fruits per pound cost more than a burger or cheeseburger at any fast food restaurant; this is easily seen simply by walking into a grocery store and comparing it to a McDonald’s menu. With that unbalanced scale, it is clear the choice is more a force of the circumstance than anything else.

            With this quick input of just how important it is to know how we are being tempted into dangerous eating habits, there have been solutions presented for this special circumstance affecting thousands in the United States. This includes supporting local farmers with their organic food that is, aside from being healthier, helps the environment due to less pollution to the air when the food is distributed across the United States. Aside from the air pollution from the transportation of food, the gas and diesel usage is putting this country on a bigger addiction that keeps increasing over the years. Evidently what must be done to help reduce air pollution and dependence on petroleum can be found by visiting local food markets from local farmers. This solution would greatly help reduce environmental contamination.

            Furthermore, the likelihood of obesity in our nation is at a higher rate now than it has been in the past few decades. Furthermore it is all due to the convenience of the price tags on the food in fast food restaurants. The things we put in our bodies are also to blame for. When the food we eat is alive and unhealthy due to its inability to roam free and eat grass then we have a problem. Cows are meant to, throughout evolution, eat grass. Cheap corn puts these cows at a higher rate for becoming completely fat, corn that is found in diapers and batteries. In “Fast Food Statistics in the United States of America” it brings the case that fat and cholesterol is bad for your health, and it is true but only due to the great lengths of surpassing moderation. Therefore the chances of humans getting overweight and possibly obese in a country based on “bigger is better” then the problem begins and ends with that, and not with a solution.

            The consequences of cows eating meat have also resulted in mutated bacteria. The chances of enforcing a new diet in a farm of cows where they all interact and therefore share the same space, makes it easier to pass on the man-made mutation that occurs when one puts one stimuli and a variable together, resulting in unaccountable effects that do affect the consumers, which are thousands. The stimuli being the corn that is fed to the variable the cow, thus multiplying them together and the result is mutated bacteria that is consumed by thousands of Americans that are put at risk to get life-threatening poison caused by the pairing of cows and corn. Yes this is the easier equation of the risks that has been growing over the past half century.

            Yet, although there has been an increase in size, many still do not blame anyone and stay away from pointing fingers. Yes it is true that there are many farms to choose from, as well as the advances in technology, but you cannot hide the sun by blocking it with one finger. Something has occurred behind closed doors that our food has doubled and tripled in size, but yet, dare not point or blame anyone because of the advances in technology. Our chicken breasts are bigger and are feeding an entire nation in time record. What could their secret possibly be other than the fact that poultry is being given hormones to mature in size with less amount of time, than half a century ago. There is an issue resulting from these hormones in children like younger girls that have gotten enlarged breasts way before their time of puberty.

            It has become a worldwide problem that is growing before our eyes, and no one believes it is up to us to make a change. America’s children are becoming obese and it’s all because bags of chips containing elements of cheap corn are ingredients that produced a low cost snack whereas the healthier foods are higher in price and take longer to be ready in hunger-time than a quick grab at a fast food restaurant. It is not just the meat, but foods that contain preservatives, and other ingredients that include either corn syrup or soy bean. Although there are organizations that want to encourage the change of diet, and the movement towards healthier animals therefore healthier meat, that discourage cholesterol-induced foods, the human body needs cholesterol, the good kind of course. What they should encourage is moderation, and reading the food labels that are put on cans and boxes for the consumers welfare.

            All we can begin to do is to support local farmers that help our economy and our health, both physically and environmentally. In the documentary “Food Inc.” there are many cases brought up, but yet those who talk about the reality of the food industry are not vegetarian. Therefore this brings up a good case, that it is important to acknowledge the information of where our food actually comes from, and to be smart about how we cook, store, and buy our food, especially when it comes to meat, fruits and vegetables grown in farms across the country. Moderation is the answer and listening is the solution.

WORKS CITED

"Fast Food Statistics in United States of America." SweetAdditions. 29 May 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. <http://www.sweetadditions.net/food-drinks/fast-food-statistics-in-united-states-of-america>.

Food Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. Perf. Michael Pollan. 2008. Online Video.

Staff, LiveOAK. "Monsanto’s Food, Inc. “Facts”." Greenupgrader. LiveOAK Network, 12 June 2009. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://greenupgrader.com/8020/monsantos-food-inc-facts/>.

Little Victims Big Problem (essay 2)

Karina Ortega

Professor Martin

English 114B

April 09, 2012

Little Victims Big Problem

            Bullying is an issue involving children as well as adults, infecting like a virus. In the article, “Recognizing Bullying” it states that bullying is based on three basic components. The first component is that bullying is a hostile behavior that engages unwanted and negative actions from another. Secondly, bullying involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time. And thirdly, bullying grips an imbalance of unnatural power or strength from one person towards another. These three components defines the act of “bullying.” The problems from bullying have caused havoc in many family’s homes. Cases like depression, low self-esteem, health problems, poor grades and suicidal thoughts are all effects of bullying (“Recognizing Bullying”). The problems “bullying” inflicts onto the victim are devastating and pursues the victim all throughout their lives. The bully tends to be a fear-inflicting person and is most of the time a danger to society because he or she is more likely to carry a weapon. Furthermore, in some cases the bullies tend to be a part of a social crowd and get along with adults so the identification of a bully is much more difficult. The problem with bullying is that it tends to happen when more than one or two people are present but do absolutely nothing about the present issue. Whether it’s out of fear, carelessness, or because they approve of bullying, the bullying does not stop but keeps going on. Unfortunately, bullying is not just a stage in childhood; it’s a danger that can last a lifetime.

            In an article called “Teenager a Young Voice in the Battle Against Bullying”, a young girl named Katie Butler was bullied in middle school because she was a lesbian. She had the regular symptoms that many victims show like not wanting to be in school to the point where she would get physically sick. Even though she had broken fingers because of a group of boys that had slammed her fingers in a locker, her courage to come forth and speak against bullying was very strong and she did (Donna). But unfortunately, not many victims have those strong and powerful attitudes towards continuing forth. For example, “Stories” is written by a young woman named Lydia who had been harassed and bullied for years from age seven to eighteen, has depression, social anxiety disorders, and severe low self-esteem issues. But with situations like that of Lydia and Katie that usually begin at school, is it possible that the school can take a stand and punish without being “unconstitutional?” (“STOP Cyberbullying...”). Unfortunately there have been incidents, for example:

                        “When schools try and get involved by disciplining the student for cyberbullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours, they are often sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student's free speech right. They also, often lose” (STOP Cyberbullying...).

The position that schools have been in for putting an end to bullying often backfires.

            For this reason bills have been brought up in order to give schools the right to do what is best in bullying situations without it backfiring. In “Bullying Bill Still Needed,” it says that Maine is in the process to pass a bill to reduce bullying in schools. During the time being, the bill is being reviewed in order to be passed (Douglas). This bill would require each administration at every school to adopt an intimidation and bullying prevention policy as a way to stop bullying.

            Physical bullying has become so widespread and known in the k-12 grade world. Due to the fact that some students stay away, others ignore, and some become a part of it when they cannot fight, many children are put at risk for falling into the category of bully or victim. In a common video found on website “youtube” where a fight between a bully and his victim took hold, the victim has had enough at the end of the video and picks the bully up and throws him towards the ground. It was unknown who was blamed for the fight, but the truth of the matter is that the role of a bully can be swapped from victim to bully, and who is to blame for this action is unknown. Whether a child falls victim at home from domestic abuse or at school from bullying, the effect tends to lean toward a victim child who, out of rage can become a bully.

Additionally, physical bullying is not the only issue addressed; cyber-bullying is also a part of this new policy promoted in the Maine bill. In “STOP Cyberbullying”, the definition of electronic bullying is when a young boy or girl is being besieged, threatened, humiliated or embarrassed by another child or children. Cyber-bullying is not a one-time thing; it usually persists more than one time.

Consequently, due to the growth of cyber-bullying many children are fighting an unseen perpetrator that has no end to the harassment for many to see. Cyber-bullying also involves the issue of “sexting” which involves the act of sending inappropriate pictures to other people’s cell phones. Those pictures are then out in the open and once they are sent, it is an irreversible mistake that leads to bullying harassment (“Course Raises Awareness...”). These children are theoretically put into a cage fighting against an untraceable opponent and are getting hit hard, and when these hits are being had at a young age, suicide can be seen as the only way out at the time, when suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Mistakenly taken as a child phase, many people, mostly adults, believe that the bullying epidemic is not to be looked into, and that it is just a form of “toughing up” a child’s personality. In another video on “youtube” a news report was recorded where a devout Christian admits to a news reporter that he does not think that bullying is a real problem and should not be addressed nonetheless be looked into within the justice system and school districts. But the truth of the matter is that children are committing suicide and bullying is at fault along with other issues involving supportive figures. Bullying victims are laughed upon instead of helped correctly and also their problems are not being addressed correctly.

            With attention to this topic of bullying and cyber-bullying, the truth of the matter is that these are children nonetheless. Therefore parents should be in this picture as legal guardians and be involved with the safety of their children. Some of cyber-bullying usually involves the issue of “sexting” which involves the act of sending inappropriate pictures to other people’s cell phones. Incidentally those pictures are out in the open and once they are sent, it is an irreversible mistake that leads to bullying harassment (“Course Raises Awareness...”). Parents should not be providing their children with smart-phones since it tempts them to open Pandora’s Box and be faced with difficult situations that can scar them physically and or mentally. Bullying is a real problem and although twenty years ago it was not as problematic, it has progressed and become an epidemic that is infecting many children that usually will never get to look back upon it as just a phase when they are adults.

WORK CITED

C. Salmivalli, K. Lagerspetz, K. Björkqvist, K. Osterman, and A. Kaukiainen, "Bullying as a Group Process: Participant Roles and Their Relations to Social Status within the Group," Aggressive Behavior 22 (1996): 1-15.

"Course Raises Awareness About Cyberbullying And Sexting." WMFD.com. Mansfield Ohio News, 20 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.wmfd.com/newsboard/single.asp?Story=49818>.

Kimmel, Douglas. "Bullying Bill Still Needed." The Bangor Daily News. 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/10/opinion/contributors/bullying-bill-still-needed/?ref=relatedBox>.

Lydia. "Stories" National Bullying Prevention Center. PACER, 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://www.pacer.org/bullying/stories/>.

"Recognizing Bullying" Violence Prevention Works! Hazelden Foundation, 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/recognizing_bullying.page>.

St. George, Donna. "Teenager a Young Voice in the Battle against Bullying." JournalStar.com. Journal Star, 17 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://journalstar.com/news/national/teenager-a-young-voice-in-the-battle-against-bullying/article_77535831-4ad9-58d5-9dd2-281ed0910b80.html>.

"STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly?" STOP Cyberbullying. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html>.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

C. Salmivalli, K. Lagerspetz, K. Björkqvist, K. Osterman, and A. Kaukiainen, "Bullying as a Group Process: Participant Roles and Their Relations to Social Status within the Group," Aggressive Behavior 22 (1996): 1-15.

In this research article, the psychologists studied the roles of students in a school, and named it their bullying circle. In this circle there were many components such as bullies, followers, passive bullies, passive supporters, disengaged onlookers, possible defenders, defenders. Each role affects the other and allows another to continue with its role, and that tends to let this circle keep flowing. I used this article because it supports my argument. Much of the students in this circle stay with these roles and or become either the bully or the victim. These circles exist in a vast majority all around schools.

"STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly?" STOP Cyberbullying. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html>.

In this article it talks about cyber-bullying. The growing form of bullying that is affecting many children. It includes the form of “sexting” that involves sending inappropriate pictures or text messages that are sent to another’s cell phone and from then on it is capable of being seen by a lot of people. I used this article because it helps being a current form of bullying, that is becoming very powerful and there is no opponent to be seen on the other side which makes it hard to win the battle of bullying.

what if (essay 1)

Karina Ortega

Professor Martin

English 114B

March 05, 2012

“What if”

            Time-machines do not exist, nor the possibility of living things twice in the moment. But looking into a past and theorizing about changes that could have altered the present is a method of going back to our history. In The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls, the way Jeannette portrays her parents with respect for the things they taught her and the gain she received from their teachings has made her the successful woman she is today. But furthermore, judgment and criticism, being an inevitable trait, that targets the lack of responsibility and financial support provided by Jeannette Walls’ parents Rex and Rose Mary Walls in their roles as parents. In addition they take these roles as a leisure activity that enables them to behave otherwise irresponsible and careless, but loving enough to teach human survival skills that of which help their children become successful members of society. However one of their children becoming a misfit was a plausibility looking at their parenting methods. But on the other hand, to what extent were these luck-of-the-pot results guaranteed if the states had intervened and taken custody of Jeannette and her siblings. Furthermore, through an analysis of the basic needs for a child, does the fact that three of the four children that Rex and Rose Mary Walls’ raised became successful adults, mean they were successful parents? Through this essay that question will be explored.

            Granted, through Jeanette’s childhood Rex and Rose Mary Walls were liberal and carefree with their children. But Jeanette and her siblings were exceptionally tolerant of their parent’s choices and behaviors. Due to most of their “skedaddle” Jeannette and her siblings were not able to call a specific place home, nor did they have a meal everyday for dinner prepared by their mother. Instead their parents let them wonder, and come home with scratches and bruises. In an article called “What makes a Good Parent?” by Robert Epstein, parents are given ten competencies that would “predict good parenting outcomes”. (49) Through this article the first competency on the list is love and affection. (49) Point in fact that Rex Walls, did show Jeannette and her siblings love and affection. Throughout the book Jeannette talks about her father being there for her although he had a drinking problem, “... Dad drank hard liquor only when we had money, which wasn’t often, so life was mostly good in those days.” (23) She also states how their family had financial problems throughout the book. In the list of ten competencies, life skills, which involves providing a steady income and plans for the future is rated as number six of the ten, a competency that the Walls’ parents did not really enforce. (49) At this level the only competency the Walls’ parents did enforce was number four which is autonomy and independence, whereas they push their children to be self-sufficient and self-reliant. (49) Aside from the neglect, and abuse they literally imposed on their children, the fact that they involved their children with their decisions and skewed the truth, a convenience love existed. In this case the children were raised with Rex’s love, and Rose Mary’s emphasis on independence and autonomy.

            Consequently due to the neglect, only Lori, Brian and Jeannette became successful members of society, whereas Maureen, the youngest of the four, did not. She was not a part of the family as the older children were, as Jeannette put it, “She spent so much time with the families of her friends that she often didn’t seem like a member of our family.” (206) Jeannette, Brian, and Lori had always been with their parents when it came time to “skedaddle” but Maureen had not really experienced that nor was there any emphasis on the relationship she had with her parents in any particularity. The older children had a “better” relationship with Rex and Rose Mary Walls. The older siblings had a sense of respect and admiration towards their parents whereas Maureen’s point of view is not really reviewed until she has her meltdown towards the end of the book and ends up moving to California. In this circumstance, if the state would have intervened, maybe Maureen would have not fallen the way she did. The matter of the truth is that there is not much that can be worked with due to the fact that Maureen and her older siblings were raised differently.

            With this in mind, the life skills that Rex and Rose Mary lacked in the lives of their children simultaneously pushed forth Lori, Brian, and Jeannette’s independence. They lacked a steady income, and a meal everyday which led to pursue their sufficiency. Consequently because of the missing necessities, Jeannette, Brian, and Lori did their best to give the littlest of detail to Maureen. For birthday on her seventh year the older siblings raised some money in order to offer Maureen a birthday present. An experience that Jeannette, Lori and Brian were not offered. The life skills that were not provided by Rex and Rose Mary throughout their children’s lives really had do with the fact that their budgeting skills were not satisfactory. Evidently their habits of alcoholism on Rex’s part and being lethargic on Rose Mary’s behalf deeply impacted this family. But those hardships, those years of hunger, and suffering were really the foundations of the successful outcomes that Lori, Brian and Jeannette had. In an article by The Daily Beast called “Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids” a mother let her fourth-grade son ride a subway, and was lashed with criticism and judgment. Much of the criticism came out because they worried for the child’s safety. But statistics within the article stated that it has become safer for children under 17 than it was 25 years ago. (2) There is a big difference between letting a child go out and gain independence than that of starving your children because a father wants to get drunk with alcoholism. But even so with all judgment put into retrospect, Jeannette and her siblings did become successful adults, the ideal outcome that is what every parent wants for their child. Jeannette stated “Mom always said people worried too much about their children.” (28) Rose Mary was right, but it is because parents want to do things right, the right way. But all in all no one is perfect, we were all raised differently. In “Helicopter Moms...” the fine line to determine the space and independence offered to a child should be reviewed upon “...developmental issues, maturity, and the psychological and emotional makeup of that child.” (3)

            In a movie called “Pay it Forward” a young boy named Trevor McKinney was a latchkey kid. He was a child with an alcoholic mother, who worked two jobs, and abusive deadbeat dad nowhere to be found, who started a movement by putting the hardships he’s had and paying them forward to keep the favors going. The hardships that children go through are for intentional reasons that help them mature; the important part of that maturity is learning to deal with the hardships they endure in life.

            All things considered bad parents, good results, and successful children; the truth of the matter is that parents are there to help a child when they need them. A child does their homework but is prohibited to let their parents do it for them, so all in all children must face their world alone, like did Jeannette and her siblings, because it is a process toward maturity. The competency that Rex and Rose Mary Walls accomplished with a major emphasis was the convenient love, because although it is hard to accept that they loved their children while putting them through hunger and neglect, somehow somewhere that was the strongest variable in this equation, love. So were Rose Mary and Rex Parents of the year? Possibilities are they would have gone to jail if these kids were studied by the State. But the results don’t lie, and like Rose Mary said, “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it is beauty.” These kids struggled, and accomplished, that’s the truth of the matter.

WORKS CITED

Epstein, Robert. "What Makes a Good Parent?" Scientific American Mind 21.5 (2010): 46-51.  

Print.

"Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 20 Apr.

2008. Web. 04 Mar. 2012. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/04/20/helicopter-moms-vs-free-range-kids.html>.

Pay It Forward. Dir. Mimi Leder. By Leslie Dixon. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley

Joel Osment. Warner Bros., 2000. DVD.

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.