All Good Things Come to an End...

For the final project of the semester, we worked within the rhetorical studies of food.  After watching several various films on the matter as well as reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, we were told to create an artistic representation of a certain claim we are trying to make about food and its rhetoric and proceed to show it off at AHS's last All School Exhibition.  

I created a poster depicting my claim of how people in their teenage years seem to eat a lot of unhealthy foods and seem to make overall bad choices to their health and for the most part do not see immediate body mass changes or fluxes, so assume that it's okay, when in all honesty it's not.  These choices that people make on what and how to fuel their body with with no repercussions tends to build up what it considered "inner fats." After peoples' metabolisms slow down and become less active, these dangerous fat build-ups that may not have been obvious before,  move into "outer fats" which are the better-known fat build-ups that lay on top of muscles and are more noticeable than the inner fat storages.  My main take-away for this project was that people should try to be mindful of what they put into their bodies during their adolescent years since these choices have a way of catching up to people.  

My personal takeaways of this project primarily consisted of the personal dilemma of Organic choices.  I have grown up eating Organic and Natural foods that I no longer feel are necessarily all that they are built up to be.  Natural in a sense is an un-patented word that companies have the freedom to put onto their goods, regardless of how it was produced or harvested.  Organic is essentially the same process as un-organic foods, but without the use of pesticides.  A lot of organic companies even use GMO's...  I still believe that eating organic is a better choice as far as spraying, it just isn't the wisest choice if you are trying to be eco-friendly.  These companies ship just as much as other non-organic companies do.   I think that the best decision a person could make is eating locally and sustainably.  My family utilizes a lot of what this city has to offer as far as produce, meat and cheese.  There are a lot of people who can not afford to eat organic as it does cost a considerable amount more than the leading brand.  However, I do stress that people look into eating locally and sustainably when ever it is found to be possible.   

Below is my poster that I exhibited.   (His decisions are catching up to him... clever, eh?)

Artist Statement:

They’re Catching Up To Me.

As people tend to lean towards fast food as ”comfort food,” obesity can soon become a

problem.  One of the reasons that I consider fast food, especially McDonalds, to be a comfort food franchise, is due to the fact that the food is satisfying, cheap, accessible, and almost anywhere you go you will be able to find a location; promoting the feeling of ease and comfort.  Needless to say, fast food is not a healthy decision for any meal, let alone eating it multiple times a week, or even everyday day.   So why do people continue eating at these fast food chains, knowing how bad it can be for your health?  I have found that there is not a black and white answer to this question, but that the problem seems to be growing… literally.

America is now recognized as the most obese country in the world with an obese population of over 30%.  This obesity epidemic not solely due to these fast food franchises, yet it is found to be the leading factor affecting this nation’s health.  The cost of this food is so enticing that a lot of people fall for what is conveyed greatly through media, as to what they should eat on a daily basis.  People are faced with such conflicting ads in media that many people fail to recognize.  On one hand, people are shown the images of “healthy”, happy, fit Americans that sometimes have an unachievable level of body mass.  One the other hand, Americans are tempted with these cheap, satisfying, meals that can make you extremely unhealthy and detrimentally obese.  When trying to navigate around these walking paradoxes, some Americans succumb to the temptation and divulge in these fast foods, which essentially can deteriorate your health within a matter of times consuming these foods. 

The aspect of the fast food nation that I am focusing on is the portion of fast food eaters that do not see a direct or immediate health concern or change in body mass.  When inside of a fast food restaurant, there are people with different body types ranging from the extremely obese to the rail-skinny people. 

In my poster, I represented the most “successful” fast food franchises with iconic figures morphed to give out more of an eerie vibe.  Along with these corporations I included basic unhealthy foods that can be malign to health such as donuts, bacon and Twinkies.  The man running from these foods is considered a “standard” weight for most men, yet he represents these people who have made bad decisions for their health, which has now started to catch up to him later in life. 

These people who are not obese, yet are essentially just as unhealthy as the most obese fast food consumers, live a very risky lifestyle.  If people eat unhealthy food without repercussion, why not keep eating it? You can’t tell from the outside body image, but these foods are killing people on the inside.  These so-called “inner” fats are different from outer fats since people get smaller build-ups of fat versus the more common “outer fats” that lay on top of most muscles, making these build-ups much more obvious.  Later in life when peoples’ metabolisms slow down, and these foods and bad lifestyle choices catch up to them it is clear what these foods have the potential to do to them.  It’s important for society to know what these foods are capable of doing to their bodies and lifestyles, so my main point is: know that these unhealthy choices can catch up to you later in life, so start making better decisions early in life related to what you fuel your body with.  After all, as “they” say, “You are what you eat.”

Food for thought.  

The Hunger Games of Life Seminar Post-Write

Post-seminar writing:

1.  Reflection/Self-Assess 

      This seminar I feel started out kind of slow but seemed to pick itself up after a while of conducted conversation.  After being asked specific questions about "Supersize Me," The Hatchet, and The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race, I got the feeling that this project is going to be very interesting because everyone has their own opinions and philosophies in a way toward our food culture.  The Food Revolution, occurring around 10,000 years ago, has of course impacted our past with trade, cultures and accessibility, but is impacting our current society much more radically than it has in its past.  From fare trade of food, to fare distribution of our food surpluses on this planet, this food epidemic is very much affecting our society. (Every 1 in 7 people is starving on this planet).  There are the "fat cats" as people refer to them so often, of the rick stock-brokers of Wall Street that in a lot of ways are living a life of ease with what they receive in terms of food.  There are also so many people who feel that eating at a fast food restaurant, as bad as it may be for you, is their only option with food costing what it does.  From seeing Supersize Me 4 times since its debut in 2004, I am familiar with what this food is capable of doing to the human body, but it is also important to know where this food even comes from.  Yeah this food is fast, its easy, its somewhat tasty, but the thing that really turns me off of going to these fast food restaurants is the common knowledge of where their meat, vegetables, and other ingredients come from.  The meat industry is one of those things that I can't get enough information about once I start researching it, but it also never fails to give me a sour taste in my mouth towards society and animal cruelty.  I think that in this seminar I found myself stuck between a rock and a hard place because there were several moments that I did join in in the conversation and seminar, but I am also surprised that I did not speak up more, let alone dominate the conversation because I am so personally invested in this topic.  I think I talked an appropriate amount and because I feel that a lot of seminar-ing is based on listening and absorbing the thoughts and claims of others I feel that I completed this seminar with something around an A or and A-.   My peers seemed to have very sporadic thoughts, and I don't know if it was the day, time of day, group or what, but the seminar seemed very guided.   Meaning we did not really dominate the conversation and take off with sporadic ideas and thoughts, but in a lot of ways I thought that the seminar was slow moving and Jessica had to steer the seminar in every-which-way.  There was nothing completely outstanding about what people said in my seminar, but overall it was interesting to hear that a lot of people would choose to live as hunter-gathereres versus on the McDiet.  I feel that because so many people do like the ease of fast-food in our class and eat at McDonald's semi-frequently I was surprised by the fact that they would rather live like Brian than Morgan.  I agreed with this of course, but I also have such a distaste for fast-food that it makes me somewhat bias in a way.  I think that this changed my thinking about the text in the way that something about how Brian's situation was portrayed in the book was something that a lot of people became fond of, enough to want to do it themselves.  I love eating, cooking and living in the wilderness- I have ever since I hiked the Colorado Trail, but I also feel that a lot of what the book suggested about Brian's situation was untrue or slightly fictional.

Cat's Cradle Seminar Post-Write and Synthesis

1- Reflection
Looking back on the seminar, I think that first of all, Cat's Cradle is probably my favorite book that we have read this semester.  We have read multiple books, all of which were different yet enjoyable, I still found myself looking at Cat's Cradle like a book that I would enjoy reading out of class as well.  I think that coming out of the seminar it seems like a lot of students feel this way as well.  I think that everyone had a different feeling about this book or claim that they were trying to defend, yet for the most part the themes in this book were easy enough to grasp for us to have an in-depth conversation about and still mostly agree.  I think that I brought a lot of good points to the fishbowl without overtaking it.  I also felt that I did not take over the conversations when there were times that I could have.  I did come in late and due to that I missed being in my original group which could have impacted the conversation a little bit but at the same time I enjoyed the group I was in.  The group itself I also feel did a really good job of clarifying points and bringing new claims to the discussion.  Overall I think that I deserve an A on this seminar based on the rubric.
One thing that in particular struck me as surprising, which I'm sure is true for everyone is a comment that towards the end of the conversation Elliott made about Africa.  Not that I even view this as a reoccurring theme our discussion encountered, but it was still very surprising that he would say that he "looses respect for people in Africa who are suffering from AIDS, starvation and thirst, as well as people who make an effort to help these people." WHAT? To me this was extremely weird and almost ignorant thing to say, especially in Humanities class.  This, hopefully, was not what he was implying to say, but at the same time definitely made the conversation more interesting and... louder for the time being.  Other than that comment I think the conversation in our seminar was really self-guided and a positive seminar.

2- Synthesis
One claim that I want to make about the text is that I believe Felix Hoenikker was a coward.  The reason I think this is because I made the assumption that he commit suicide at the beach house.  He was, as we discussed, a fairly selfish person who made discoveries and invented things based upon curiosity without thinking about what his discoveries could potentially do to others, even life itself.  When the Hoenikker children were recounting the events that happened on the day that Felix Hoenikker died it gave me the impression that the way he died was entirely different.  This is what really happened.  Felix Hoenikker brought his children to the beach house with him to give him an excuse to let them go off and play while he could play with his latest toy in private.  While they were out running errands and playing on the beach, he began to look into the ice-nine and what it could in fact do.  Whilst playing with it, he realized just how risky and potentially life-ending it could be and began to do some serious reflection.  He saw how simple and instantaneous it was for the ice-nine to transform surrounding water and that it could happen to any form and body of water, including people.  Realizing that he did not want to be held resposible for the end of life itself and seeing the human population all die, himself included, he ended his life early.  By sitting comfortably down and watching the ocean around him, knowing that he would never see it again, he got comfortable, and touched his lips.  The end.  By doing this he still ended humanity, and left his already neglected children to fend for themselves for the rest of their lives.  This is why I now think of Felix Hoenikker a cowardly and selfish man.

Winding Down For the Winter

This semester's project is creating a "Narrative History" whether that be painting a picture to writing an essay, this project is extremely open ended.  Our exhibition was held on December 7, 2011 at the Discover Museum in Durango.  This venue proved to be everyone's favorite place to host an exhibition.  We exhibited out Humanities projects as well as some of our Math Analysis Projects.

My Humanities project was a "dark children's story" about the Ku Klux Klan.  I took a satirical perspective, playing the devil's advocate.  Needless to say this project was on the brink of being very controversial.  To view my project, click on the images below, to enlarge each of the pages.

The Ku Klux Klan
A Narrative History by
~ Lily Oswald

Once upon a time, there was an organization that came to be known as the Ku Klux Klan.

This Klan was created in 1865 by a group of 6 friends in Pulaski, Tennessee that all had a happy hobby of killing and harassing black freed slaves and noncompliant white civilians.

These friends were not very brave so they covered their faces with burlap sacks and dressed in robes made by patched together cloths and sacks.   

They traveled by horse from town to town terrorizing the civilians, even killing a few.

When people saw this Klan they were jealous of how popular the KKK was becoming so multiple other Klans were formed. 

These Klans all had a similar anger that the North had won the Civil War, freeing all of their black slaves.  Since these KKK men and women were so accustomed to having other people do their work for them, they found it extremely difficult to do it themselves when the war ended. 

Being the practical and proactive people that they were, they acted as vigilantes to make America the systematic, more enjoyable place it once was. 

They were careful not to be sexist or elitist, so the Ku Klux Klan was sure to target just as many women as men; children as adults; but they did focus more on black freed slaves than white republicans. The KKK went on in peace for a while, and then things went south, literally.

There was another group of people that were out to stop the KKK!  Government aided groups and officials made it their business to put an end to the Ku Klux Klan, many of which from the North.  For a while this forced the Ku Klux Klan to go underground.

Luckily, the KKK is very sneaky.  They have been able to get re-established throughout the last century.  Though this time, Americans consider them a “hate group” and do their best to shut this organization down for good.

Hopefully someday this brotherhood will be able to come out publicly, without restriction or scrutiny.  When this day comes, maybe America will finally have the order that it needs.

And we will all live happily ever after.

The End.

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
My "dark children's story" is mainly focused on the origins of the KKK and how it evolved over the years then eventually came to a close.  Taking a satirical/mocking perspective, I depicted the KKK as the good guys, objectifying the Klan as proactive vigilantes.  Granted this story is meant to be offensive and slightly sickening, while keeping it historically accurate.  Needless to say, reading this story to a child may not be the greatest idea.
-Lily Oswald, Junior Humanities

Here is my Narrative History script.

The Ku Klux Klan

Once upon a time, there was an organization that came to be known as the Ku Klux Klan.

This Klan was created in 1865 by a group of 6 friends in Pulaski, Tennessee that all had a happy hobby of killing and harassing black freed slaves and noncompliant white civilians.

These friends were not very brave so they covered their faces with burlap sacks and dressed in robes made by patched together cloths and sacks.   

They traveled by horse from town to town terrorizing the civilians, even killing a few.

When people saw this Klan they were jealous of how popular the KKK was becoming so multiple other Klans were formed. 

These Klans all had a similar anger that the North had won the Civil War, freeing all of their black slaves.  Since these KKK men and women were so accustomed to having other people do their work for them, they found it extremely difficult to do it themselves when the war ended. 

Being the practical and proactive people that they were, they acted as vigilantes to make America the systematic, more enjoyable place it once was. 

They were careful not to be sexist or elitist, so the Ku Klux Klan was sure to target just as many women as men; children as adults; but they did focus more on black freed slaves than white republicans. The KKK went on in peace for a while, and then things went south, literally.

There was another group of people that were out to stop the KKK!  Government aided groups and officials made it their business to put an end to the Ku Klux Klan, many of which from the North.  For a while this forced the Ku Klux Klan to go underground.

Luckily, the KKK is very sneaky.  They have been able to get re-established throughout the last century.  Though this time, Americans consider them a “hate group” and do their best to shut this organization down for good.

Hopefully someday this brotherhood will be able to come out publicly, without restriction or scrutiny.  When this day comes, maybe America will finally have the order that it needs.

And we will all live happily ever after.

The End.

You Say You Want A Revolution? Well, We Know.

Lily Oswald   

10-2-11

Synthesis on the American Revolution

It is evident that the conventional method of teaching the youth in America the American Revolution has proven to be seriously misleading and potentially harmful to future comprehension.  The majority of textbooks for students in Elementary through High school seem to lack the stories that really built the revolution to be what it was.

Most Elementary schools choose to teach their students through textbooks, and plainly that.  Not very much expansion on these subjects is given through the teacher’s own knowledge.  The main reason for this is that a lot of the information that is withheld from these children is far too dense for a young student to try to absorb.  Not that what they are learning is a blatant lie, but more of being guarded and not told all of the information they could be.  During the years of middle school, students are taught more of what went into the American Revolution.  Unfortunately this mostly means that their knowledge consists of knowing that Paul Revere warned the colonists of a British attack, Indians dumped tea into the Boston Harbor, and with that the colonists earned their freedom from Britain. 

Up until this year I was at this level of knowledge towards the American Revolution as well.  Having to cram years of necessary information related to the birth and history of America into a few weeks of classwork has proven to be one of the most inefficient things when it comes to the schoolwork I have done over the past 11 years.  Some of the things that we are being taught I should have learned years ago.  Yet, the things that most schools and teaching methods hold back from a student’s intellect is almost unnerving.  A recent study in 2009 conducted by The American Revolution, found that a startling 83% of adults failed a simple test of how America was founded.  Starting to create the mental image of simplicity involving the American Revolution has made for some very confused young adults when the time comes for being exposed to more of what went on during the revolution.  I am aware that telling a second grader about the dirty details involved with the Sullivan campaign would damage the brains of young readers in totally different way.

Some of the things that most structured classes may leave out of the American Revolution chapter would include some of the most valuable things that people need to know.  Mentioned earlier, the Sullivan campaign would be one example.  The Sullivan campaign was essentially a long-lived Iroquois massacre lead by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier General James Clinton against loyalists among others.  This major event coincides with the American Revolution which was also the biggest conflict involving European Americans and Native Americans in America’s history.  One of the main reasons of the American Revolution that many don’t know is our nation’s drive to obtain trans-Appalacian lands which were put in place by one of our  founding fathers,  

Just as not learning about the real events and reasons behind the American Revolution is a negative thing, it may be beneficial in some cases.  One of the benefits of not knowing some of these things as a young student, and uncovering some of our nation’s history would be the feeling of growing up, and maturing enough to be able to handle some of that information that was once withheld.   The term “virgin ears” comes to mind when dealing with this matter.  Not only are the things that you learn as an older student much more dense for a person to have to deal with, but also a lot of coming to terms with what it is that you’re dealing with.  When a person learns of the dark side of our “powerful country” it is hard to feel the same way coming out of it.  By sheltering us from some of this information, our school systems may just be protecting us from the matters that are put into our hands.  “With great power, comes great responsibility...”

Though not telling youth about the atrocities America has committed right off the bat may be a way of protecting them, I still have no doubt that the current methods of America’s school systems is not teaching our history as well as it could be.  If children were to learn a less bias history of the United States, it would help with their outlook on America later in life.  However, with this a bigger question comes to mind: Can someone ever write a true history?

Sources:

"83 Percent of U.S. Adults Fail Test on Nation's Founding -- WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/." PR Newswire: Press Release Distribution, Targeting, Monitoring and Marketing. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/83-percent-of-us-adults-fail-test-on-nations-founding-78325412.html>.

Raphael, Ray. "Re-examining the Revolution – Zinn Education Project." Zinn Education Project. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://zinnedproject.org/posts/180>.

'Merica, Land Of the... Free?

Recently in Humanities, we have been working more towards slavery and current racism occurring in America.  We watched the movie "Crash" as well as have been reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.  This book opened us up to Native American abolition as well as the current state of America's racism.  Both of these have really been eye opening for different reasons.  The movie "Crash" was much more relatable and more accessible compared with the time frame of the movie compared with Zinn's writings.  Howard Zinn's book was much more straightforward in the sense of telling us what happened all those years ago in terms of slavery, racism and colonization instead of having us extract that ourselves.
Living in a town with only 16,000 people I am very sheltered when it comes to severe racism as well as just exposure to things related to racism that you may see in a large city.  Because of not being that exposed or accustomed to racism in America, I have made the mistake of making the assumption that racism is not that big of an issue at all, since in Durango I feel that the racism is not as large of a problem as it is in some other places.
I am thankful to live in a small town, but when the time comes to move on, maybe to a larger city I feel that racism can be a much larger issue than expected.  Of course, not everyone is racist in the sense of discrimination and hatred, but I do also feel that it is a natural human response to see things as well as people and make comparisons and note internally those differences we may see between ourselves and that other individual.  These realizations don't have to be negative, just a way of making comparisons.  Because of this, I believe that ridding the world of all racism is nearly impossible.  People have been so taught and conditioned over the past 6 centuries to our dirty past as well as what American history used to include, and whether people like it or not, these things that occurred so long in the past between our ancestors cannot just be forgiven and forgotten, but they have to be remembered and not overlooked in order to move along and make progress.  Over the recent years I think that America has made progress in the hope to rid ourselves of racism, but as new problems and hatred arise, naturally, so do new tensions and problems between people.  It's a never-ending cycle that I believe is not natural, but since our ancestor's dirty laundry has been passed down for so long I believe that it will be nearly impossible to start over with a clean slate.

Picture from the movie "Crash"

Was He, Or Not Was He?

It is not clear to me that Christopher Columbus should not and can not be considered a "hero" of America.  The question of, "Is Christopher Columbus a hero?" would not have even occurred to me to ask as of about two weeks ago, but since then studying his tales of adventure and conquest, have made it obvious of what he really is: a corrupt settler.  Sure, Christopher Columbus was the first Spaniard to sail across what we now consider the Atlantic Ocean, and set foot onto these islands, but let him not be confused as the "discoverer" of America.  He was not the first one to set foot onto America, or the islands he first landed upon.  

There were native peoples on these islands which he named "Indians" because he mistook America for India, and originally thought that these were the peoples of India.  These people lived as a mostly peaceful civilization and were more than excited and curious when Columbus and his fleet of 90 men came upon these islands.  They thought he was a god, and had come upon this land for them and their benefit and started to shower these men in gifts and food.  Columbus used this as an opportunity to find out where the gold could be located on these islands.  After Columbus found out just how amazing his "discoveries" of these islands were, he began to abuse the peoples of the islands since he had no further need for them.  From a report by Bartolome de Las Casas on Columbus and his men, "And the Christians attacked [the natives] with buffets and beatings, until finally they laid hands on the nobles of the villages. Then they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of the islands had to see his own wife raped by a Christian officer."  The way the Christian sailors and Columbus treated these natives was unspeakable.  If it were not for the journals kept and other ways of keeping track of what exactly happened in these unforgivable years, the American people would not have been able to look upon Christopher as anything but a savior that was willing to sail at a time when no one else was.  

Up until this class, I was still living under the impression that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and that was that.  As a little kid in Kindergarten up until even high school, people are told nothing about the massacres and bloodbaths that Columbus and his men were capable and at guilty of.  After reading about all of the thousands of people that he almost single-handedly killed in order to get his hands upon this rich land, it makes me feel sick about how America came to be.  

From a patriot's standpoint, America is a powerful and prosperous country, no matter how it came to be.  Since Columbus helped create it into what it is today, then we should be celebrating him and his find 500 years ago.  I find it hard to agree with this however.  I now feel that Columbus was one of the worst things to happen when it comes to colonization.  Yes, it's true that Columbus made America what it is today, but I do not, and will never consider him a hero.  Columbus was a gold-hungry Spaniard that seemed to not have any morals or guilt when it came to killing thousands and thousands of innocent people in order to conquer the American Islands.  

According to the dictionary, honor is this:

a man of honor: integrity, honesty, uprightness, ethics, morals, morality, high principles, righteousness,high-mindedness; virtue, goodness, decency, probity, good character, scrupulousness, worth, fairness, justness, trustworthiness, reliability,dependability.  When I think of a hero, I think of Superman and The Incredibles, and even Rosie the Riveter, since heroes all have honor.  I do not think of Christopher Columbus or his fleet of men as having honor or any of the synonyms of honor.  Therefore I do not consider Christopher Columbus a hero in any way, shape, or form.