new copy final essay

Looking back at the year we had and trying to understand what a good and meaningful life was, I feel that the only way a person can determine whether or not they are living a good and meaningful life truly depends on them. We cannot evaluate another person’s life and say yes their living a meaningful life or not. I think the only time one is truly living a good and meaningful life is when we are younger. I say this because when we are younger we are who we are 100%, we aren’t doing things to impress people, fit in, stay in shape physically, were just regular human beings enjoying life the way we should be. I think this is important because as we get older we begin to allow others to think for us or miss lead us to things - these others are who are involved in the advertisement of the media and pop culture. We see things that pop culture display and say we need etc, and changes who we are. They also put images of those who are on magazines who are betrayed to be either sexy, handsome, physically fit, acne free. Then the average person tends to alternate their views to become or live this fantasy life that they see celebrities and other rich people living. But they fail to realize that being themselves is the most genuine thing to do and not changing to become someone but maybe changing to better themselves and help them live a more meaningful life.

To me a good and meaningful life means enjoying every aspect of life, be aware or you’re mental and physically body. Also being connected with family and friends, it’s important to have a connection with your family because then you become aware of your personal values and morals. This is meaningful to me because you have a sense of where these values were derived from and determine whether they are good or not depending on my values now that I have grown older and can think of things for myself. Things that have stuck with me that my parents have taught me are to have good manors, be true to yourself, and do your best. Also learning from my mistakes and learning how to get through obstacles allow me to become more mature.

Living a good and meaningful life can mean eating healthy, being aware of your true feelings at all times, taking part in fun filled activities (sports, swimming, art, music etc.), being aware of your body, taking part in good causes, giving back to your community, things like that can allow you to have a good and meaningful life. I’m not saying a person should have to do all of these activities listed, but understanding the value of how it can help you is good as well. You don’t have to work out to be fit, you don’t have to be on a diet to eat healthy, but it’s the decisions you make that can help you enjoy food and not be over weight.

The new unit we have been discussing has been about the collapse soon to come. I think before this collapse arrives I want to have either achieved most goals in my life, over come fears, and be living a good and meaningful life. Although the majority of our society will be wiped away, I feel that accepting the situation is better rather than trying to avoid it or covering it. Because if we are able to accept it than just maybe we could be able to get through it, or create new ideas so that we can survive.

To finish this up in order to live a meaningful life I believe that a person needs to be willing to understand his or her errors in order to become a better personWhile being in this class it has opened my eyes to so many things. When I first took this class in 11th grade I thought this was some crazy stuff. But I learned to accept the things I learned and actually have grown to like it a lot. I can honestly say that besides gym class history class has been my favorite class. Writing this is meaningful because I can honestly say I want to pursuer philosophy classes in college since it actually interests me. I doubt I will get a steady job off of this so I’m not majoring in it. Life is meaningful depending on how you play things out. Do you want to do what you’re always told or do you want to learn new things take risks and think outside the box? I’d rather try and reach my dreams and goals than to end up doing some crumby job that gets me a lot of money that I don’t appreciate or makes me happy. Life is something that should be appreciated and not wasted we all are born, grow older, and eventually die don’t die without doing something meaningful with your life as long as it’s meaningful to you than you should be fine.

Final Assignment for my SOF career =(

Looking back at the year we had and trying to understand what a good and meaningful life was, I feel that the only way a person can determine wether or not they are living a good and meaningful life truely depends on them. We can not evaluate another persons life and say yes their living a meaningful life or not. I think the only time one is truely living a good and meaningful life is when we are younger. I say this because when we are younger we are who we are 100%, we arent doing things to impress people, fit in, stay in shape pyhsically, were just regular human beings enjoying life the way we should be. I think this is important because as we get older we begin to allow others to think for us or mis lead us to things - these others are who are invovled in the advertisement of the media and pop culture. We see things that pop culture display and say we need etc, and changes who we are. They also put images of those who are on magizanes who are betrayed to be either sexy, handsome, physically fit, acne free. Then the average person tends to alternate their views to become or live this fantasy life that they see celebrities and other rich people living. But they fail to realize that being themselves is the most genuine thing to do and not changing to become someone but maybe changing to better themself and help them live a more meaningful life.

Living a good and meaningful life can mean eating healthy, being aware of your true feelings at all times, taking part in fun filled activities (sports, swimming, art, music etc.), being aware of your body, taking part in good causes, giving back to your community, things like that can allow you to have a good and meaningful life. Im not saying a person should have to do all of these activities listed, but understanding the value of how it can help you is good as well. You dont have to work out to be fit, you dont have to be on a diet to eat healthy, but its the decisions you make that can help you enjoy food and not be over weight.

The new unit we have been discussing has been about the collapse soon to come. I think before this collapse arrives I want to have either achieved most goals in my life, over come fears, and be living a good and meaningful life. ALthough the majority of our society will be wiped away, I feel that accepting the sitiuation is better rather than trying to avoid it or covering it. Because if we are able to accept it than just maybe we could be able to get through it, or create new ideas so that we can survive.

Collapse Assignment 2

The way our society is leading towards, it looks as if the collapse we all know will be comming soon. From historical examples it says that "if 2005 was the year of global Peak Oil, worldwide oil production in the year 2030 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2030 will be both much larger (approximately twice) and much more industrialized (oil-dependent) than it was in 1980." So shouldn't this mean that the civilization would be able to produce more oil to provide for the mass production of corporations? But the research says that the world will demand more oil than will be able to be produced.

" As a result, the price will skyrocket, oil dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode." I feel if our society leads to a war against each other for the resources that other countries have, then this will be the true downfall of our society. Not having the oil or the proper amount isn't the biggest downfall but when our society begins to go against each other instead of helping and perserving the oil we have now. I feel that our government should be looking in to the future and how they can help either make more oil or save oil so that if the "crash" comes we can be prepared. In history Class today (6/11/09), I began to think about if it was possible for there to be some what of an alternative for this soon to be collapse. Seeing how we know that this collapse is coming, I feel that we should be more prepared for it. Since our oil is decreasing and its our main resource, I think that scientist should be searching and testing other materials that could be used to either preserve the oil amounts or become a new substance that the society can evovle or adapt to.


RESEARCH FROM MY OWN ARTICLE: Non-Renewable Resources ; Oil, Natural Gas, LPG
"There has been some headway in the last decade toward the use of renewable resources, such as solar and wind power, but Texas relies predominantly on non-renewable energy sources. Today, some energy analysts are calling natural gas the "prince of the hydrocarbons."* The clean-burning properties of natural gas are causing consumption to increase dramatically. Natural gas can be used to power cars and trucks, to generate electricity, and to heat and cool our homes and work places. Since 1992 natural gas has accounted for 25 percent of total energy consumption in the United States. The fuel can be used to power air conditioners and is gaining popularity in the transportation sector. Sixty-eight percent of the homes in Texas use natural gas. Compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) burn cleaner than gasoline or coal. Liquefied natural gas offers a fuel alternative to vehicle fleet owners who must comply with Clean Air Act regulations. Natural gas is also being used by more utilities for power generation.Most consumers know liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as butane or propane. These liquids are removed from oil and gas during the refining process.. A flexible fuel, LPG can be used for everything from running residential water heaters to powering farm tractors. Propane is second only to natural gas in terms of heat content. It is considered an alternative fuel because it burns cleaner than coal or gasoline. One-third of the nation's propane is produced in Texas."

link: http://www.texasep.org/html/nrg/nrg_4non.html

Collapse Assignment 1

Easter Island was once known for its riches of paradise. The Island was consumed with tropical fruits, delicious fish, several culture festivals and activities, and most important the abundance of trees that surrounded the Island. These beautiful things later on lead to famines, epidemics, civil war, slave raids and colonialism, and the crash of their ecosystem. Slave raiders struck Easter Island for several months, eventually capturing or killing around 1500 men and women, about half of the island's population. Some islanders managed to escape slavery, but brought back smallpox to the island which started the epidemic. This also decreased the population of the island not including the violent clan wars starting over the remaining newly available lands. These clan wars lead them to chopping down there islands trees, this became a competition of chopping trees to build statues (Moai). They did this to have this symbol of whos clan was most powerful.

This destroyed the culture because the trees was the islands main source of supply, it contributed to every aspect of the island inwhichh the more chopped trees the less supply of the island had to survive off of. This is an example of culture values colliding with environmental reality. This connects to our own environment with Easter Islands main resource being there trees, and our main resource being our oil. An economy grows by its constant growth of its main resource, meaning if something begins to decrease or decline its takes a toll on the society. In class we talked about the fact that inorder for things not to collapse work must be applied. The collapse of an economy is everything startes to exceed until it reaches nothing. Today, our economy is based on economic growth. If our oil begins to deminish, the economy will crash drastically.

New Draft of Food Final Assignment

In today’s society, several people have been consuming food products that have been either shipped or produced in factories. Meaning that the food products have lost its natural value. The majority of vegetables, fruits, and many other farm grown products have turned into fast produced products. When we eat we usually don't take the time out to think where our food came from, or even how it was made. We buy our meats and dairy products from supermarkets and companies. The meat and chicken come from animals who have been abused and tortured to gain weight faster, while the companies selling these products make more profit. That alone changes the value of our food, making the animals gain weight, this leads me believe that this isn’t healthy for them nor is it natural. Because the food industry and other major companies have gained so much power over the society and culture, they are able to manipulate how the animals are raised. The food industry and major companies managed to push out the original farms where the animals were treated fairly to make their factories where there is animal cruelty so that they can make their profits. That’s where our society is leading towards, treating animals bad just to make a quick buck and soon our own citizens.

In today’s culture, the society we live in is based on eating industrialized foods. The food that we are consuming is produced in factories in which the chemicals used are harmful to the animals. While watching the movie "Meatrix", it talked about how the dominant food industries were able take over small family farms which were growing their food in a healthy organic environment. The larger food companies are able to produce a larger variety of food products much faster than the smaller family farms, because the factories are able to use machines, which end up having the small farms shut down. The factories use several substances, chemicals and other hormones to enhance the animal’s growth speed. This allows them to produce more meat when they die which again means more money for the companies. According to http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp, Chickens are fed steroid-like chemicals to increase their growth at a rapid pace that their weak chicken legs are not able to sustain the weight of their body, therefore killing them in the process. Cows and pigs are also fed harmful chemicals to fatten them up before they are sent to the slaughterhouse. These chemicals that are in the animals bodies not only hurt them, but they are also hurting us in the process. The chemicals that are in these animals later on cause us to get diseases. Once an animal dies, example the cow, in some situations the dead cows blood is fed to a living cow. that increases the chances of us getting affecting.

As well as harming these animals the factories are harming our world with their pollution. In the video “VROOM” there was a scene that showed a huge field of crops that were getting harvested, after this scene a huge truck spraying pesticides and other harmful chemicals was shown. These chemicals that were sprayed killed the crops which made it easier for them to destroy them and use more machines to destroy our planet with all the fossil fuels being used. The example above shows how huge companies don’t care about nature they just care about the profit.


One thing that stood out to me the most was not only do these factories fatten
up their animals, they also take the sperm of their males and perform artificial insemination on their female animals. According to a video we watched in class, the farm workers would bring a male cow to a female cow and get it in heat. Once the male cow has produced sperm to have sex with the female cow the workers will take the male cow and stick a tube in their body that is able to take the sperm out of them. Once that happens the male cow is placed back into his stall while the farm workers place the sperm in many female cows. This basically allows the industrial farms to produce more babies and animals, which means more hormones, more meat, more diseases and most important more money.

At this point in life, I feel that the society, industrial food industries and any other companies have been able to do what ever they want and get away with it. While finding out all this disturbing information about the food we eat and the way the animals are treated makes me not want to eat meat. As industrial food industries keep feeding our animals chemicals and other substances makes me wonder what food products they are eating. I feel as if what the workers are doing to these animals is cruel and they can give a healthier life for these animals. Because I have been grown up on eating meat, its obvious that I wont become a vegetarian, but maybe the amounts of meat I consume daily can decrease my chances of getting any diseases being passed on. Also cutting down on eating fast foods, which again is fast produced food products and companies making profits, can allow myself to make a slow change in my eating habits.

In today’s society People need to become more aware of what they are eating and be more educated about what’s happening to these animals. We as a community should come together and stand up against these companies that are demonstrating animal cruelty, we have to realize that in the long run the animal cruelty is affecting us as well. That's what confuses me the most, the fact that someone is allowing people to harm these animals which eventually would be harming those who eat it.

Final Food Assignment

In todays society, several people have been consuming food products that have been either shipped or produced in factories. Meaning that the food products have lost its natural value. The majority of vegetables, fruits, and many other farm grown products have turned into fast produced products. When we eat we usually don't take the time out to think where our food came from, or even how it was made. We buy our meats and dairy products from supermarkets and companies. The meat and chicken come from animals who have been abused and tortured to gain weight faster, while the companies selling these products make more profit. That alone changes the value of our food, making the animals gain weight im assuming isnt healthy for them nor is it natural. Because the food industry and other major companies have gained so much power over the society and culture, they are able to manipulate how the animals are raised. The food industry and major companies managed to push out the original farms where the animals were treated fairly to make their factories where there is animal cruelty so that they can make their profits. Thats where I society is leading towards, treating animals bad just to make a quick buck and soon our own citizens.

In todays culture, the society we live in is based on eating industrialized foods. The food that we are consuming are produced in factories in which the chemicals used are harmful to the animals. While watching the movie "Meatrix", it talked about how the dominant food industries were able take over small family farms which were growing their food in a healthy organic environment. The larger food companies are able to produce a larger variety of food products much faster than the smaller family farms, because the factories are able to use machines, which end up having the small farms shut down. The factories use several subtances, chemicals and other hormones to enhance the animals growth speed. This allows them to produce more meat when they die which again means more money for the companies. According to http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp, Chickens are fed steroid-like chemicals to increase their growth at a rapid pace that their weak chicken legs are not able to sustain the weight of their body, therefore killing them in the process. Cows and pigs are also fed harmful chemicals to fatten them up before they are sent to the slaughterhouse. These chemicals that are in the animals bodies not only hurt them, but they are also hurting us in the process. The chemicals that are in these animals later on cause us to get diseases. Once an animal dies, example the cow, in some situations the dead cows blood is fed to a living cow which increases the chances of us getting affecting.

As well as harming these animals the factored are harming our world with their pollution. In the video VROOM which we watched in class. In this video there was a scene that showed a huge field of crops that were getting harvested, after this scene a huge truck spraying pesticides and other harmful chemicals was shown. These chemicals that were sprayed killed the crops which made it easier for them to destroy them and use more machines to destroy our planet with all the fossil fuels being used. The example above show how huge companies don’t care about nature they just care about the profit.

One thing that stood out to me the most was not only do these factories fatten up their animals, they also take the sperm of their males and perform artificial insemination on their female animals. According to a video we watched in class, the farm workers would bring a male cow to a female cow and get it in heat. Once the male cow has produced sperm to have sex with the female cow the workers will take the male cow and stick a tube in their body which is able to take the sperm out of them. Once that happens the male cow is placed back into his stall while the farm workers place the sperm in many female cows. This basically allows the industrial farms to produce more babies and animals, which means more hormones, more meat, more diseases and most important more money.

At this point in life, I feel that the society, industrial food industries and any other companies have been have to do what ever they want and get away with it. while finding out all these disturbing information about the food we eat and the way the animals are treated makes me not want to eat meat. As industrial food industries keep feeding our animals chemicals and other substances makes me wonder what food products they are eating. I feel as if what the workers are doing to these animals are cruel and they can give a healthier life for these animals. Because I have been grown up on eating meat, its obvious that I wont become a vegeterian, but maybe the amounts of meat I consume daily can decrease my chances of getting any diseases being passed on. Also cutting down on eating fast foods, which again is fast produced food products and companies making profits, can allow myself to make a slow change in my eating habbits.

In todays society People need to become more aware of what they are eating and be more educated about whats happening to these animals. We as a community should come together and stand up against these companies that are demonstrating animal cruelty, we have to realize that in the lonog run the animal cruelty is affecting us as well. That's what confuses me the most, the fact that someone is allowing people to harm these animals which eventually would be harming those who eat it.

Food #8: Industrial food

Looking at the article "Myth three: Industrial food is cheap" the title alone contradicts itself. How could this be true? Food products being made faster by machines and technology just sounds as if it cost more money. "This myth of cheap food is routinely used by agribusiness as a kind of economic blackmail against any who point out the devastating impacts of modern food production. Get rid of the industrial system, we are told, and you won't be able to afford food. " The first thing that comes to my mind when reading this is, if we cant "afford" food to eat or survive than theres something wrong with our society. The next best move is to grow our own foods, vegetables, spices, things that we can eat and that are healthy. Growing your own products or even going to pick natural grown plants and vegetables have to be money consuming. Natural grown plants and vegetables allow you to avoid pesticides and other chemicals and poisons that are usually placed on store bought products. Also decreasing the environments pollution rates on our water, soil, and air. Vehicles moving food around the world burn massive amounts of fossil fuels, exacerbating air and water pollution problems. This is going to make the society suffer in the long run leading to costs of problems of global warming and ozone depletion. To me it seems that industrial food isn't cheap because the environment, society, and our health is being damaged also making us lose money.

People are affected daily by food illness due to consuming industrial foods, including the contribution of pesticides, hormones, and other chemical inputs. "Industrial food's health price tag should reflect the expense, pain, and suffering of the tens of millions who are victims of such diseases as obesity and heart disease caused by industrial fast-food diets." Meaning the real cost of these fast food products should resemble the price of someones life. The cost of medical health costs are clearly in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year. "According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farming is among the most accident-prone industries in the United States. Whereas the occupational fatality rate for all private sector industries is 4.3 per 100,000 full-time employees, the rate for agriculture, forestry, and fishing occupations was 24 per 100,000 -- or nearly six times the national average."The population of farmers for over 70 years ago has decreased from 7 million to 2 million, although or population has doubled from that time. The United States has lost an average of 32,500 farms per year, about 80 percent of which were family-run. A mere 50,000 farming operations now account for 75 percent of U.S. food production.

Connecting this back to my own food ways and the dominant corporate food messages, I see that the things the society and culture advertises are truely bias. The dominant corporate media sends contradicting messages to brainwash our social class, and target our pop culture to capture our human minds

Food #7: Recipe

WALNUT BROWNIES


INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1/4 cup butter
6 tablespoons carob powder
1 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 egg white
1 cup chopped walnuts
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DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
Melt the butter or margarine over low heat. Pour into large mixing bowl and stir in carob powder, sugar, salt, flour, and vanilla. Mix in egg whites and walnuts. Spread the dough evenly into the baking pan.
Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before cutting.

Food # 6 - Response to Pollan 1

Looking at the points that Pollan brings up in his book, the fact that we need help from "proffessionals" to tell us what we need to eat, that tells us that society has a huge problem. Theirs nothing wrong with someone giving you advice on better food choices, but the fact that we are going to experts to tell us the right and wrong foods like we have no idea whats bad for our bodies. People have no idea what to eat becuase of their bad food habits. Maybe eating fast foods for lunch or dinner daily, thats a problem. With McDonalds leading our main source of 'convient food' many other companies would simply have to follow suit to make money. Money is now the root source of pretty much anything in the United States. We would gather it and deem it more important than a pile of food.

Pollan's argument is not that we arent eating healthy foods, but we no longer know the roots that our ancestors did. The food that we constantly are shoving down are throats have lost its essence and have turend into a vast production for money and economy purposes. We no longer cook are our foods, the foods we "buy" are being processed and shipped out to us, taking the quality of good food out the picture. Many countries remember their roots. And Pollan does not care for the healthy issue. In fact, we can say that most people as of now, follow a diet plan, or become vegetarian to simply lose the weight.

Our choices have been made by those who've told us, and we've forgotten the actual choices given to us. Most people would follow the trail that everyone else has, of being in a diet. That meat, and grains are not so great for us. That all those things are just BAD for you. When it's not necessarily the truth. Yes. Most things are bad due to the chemicals and preservatives put on everything. Yes, meat is harder to process. But, it does contain things that matter to the body.Every piece of what we eat, like everything else; contains a bad and a good. Perhaps Pollan isn't exactly wrong. But he isn't right. We do need to be organized into a right direction.

Food #5: Grocery Store and habitual food

When my family goes grocery shopping my mother usually buys a variety of stuff fruits, vegetables, different types of meats (chicken, pork chops, hotdogs, ground beef) things like that. She buys these different things so that way we won't be eating the same things every night or every week. In order to live more meaningful a good way to start is to experience different types of food and experience different types of flavors. Sometimes my dad might fry the chicken or most of the times bake the chicken, which he also does for the pork chops. I like when my father bakes food because he seems to add different flavors to the meal each time. I notice that once I try things I usually don't eat I seem to enjoy it more because im not used to that taste but it is more enjoyable because its new.

The store that my family usually shops at are called Associate or Stop and Shop, these types of grocery stores push there food by having sales, different types of discounts on different foods handing out news paper. One way stores push particular types of products is by having yellow posters or just bright colors to catch our attention in our eye sight, or having the price of the product in a large font so our face expression can drop and be like wow that's cheap so we can buy it. This can also alternate what someone likes or wants just because of the cost or a sale. People will buy the cheaper product which might not have the same taste or quality as the more expensive products. Thats why when my mother has extra money she might buy more snacks, chips, things that we like, and not just the stuff we need.

May Day

I never heard about a holiday called May Day until this assignment. And while i read more information about it on wikipedia it stated "May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations and street marches by millions of working people and their labour unions throughout most of the countries of the world — though, as noted below, rarely in the United States". Seeing how the United States doesn't take part of this Holiday explains why I never learned much about it. In a way this disappoints me because we celebrate several other holidays, even some that have no meaning but yet the U.S wouldn't support other countries that is celebrating a similar holiday as " labor Day". Worker's holiday first occur in Australia in 1856 s a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement. May Day is most common by having organized street demonstrations and street marches by millions of working people and their labor unions.

Food #3: Food Cultures; Home & Corporate

The corporate media takes several different approaches of how to get their audience which is us to buy food. They do this by sending out different advertisements of food and drinks, whether the product is healthy or not. Companies have commercials that advertise their new products or sales to capture the audience. Corporate media advertises healthy foods, diets foods, diet plans, pills, fast foods and several other things. I feel that the corporate media doesn't really care about what we eat or how we eat, as long as we are buying their products and they are making money that is what matters to them.

The mainstream corporate US food ways seen from television and movies is they stress the fact of a family eating at a dining room table, the mother most likely prepared the meal, everyone eating together either in silence or discussing "important things", the father at the head of the table reading a newspaper not paying attention to his family, but everyone seems more or less happy. I have seen several if these things on television and in movies. I seen commercials where they talk about a family that eats together stays together, im not to sure where this idea came from but sounds interesting. I have also seen in movies where before the family eats, someone prays to bless the food. One thing that stands out to me about that is people will bless the food whether they are religious or not, or sometimes the movie has nothing to do with religion but yet someone prays.

Food #2: Internet research

While going through this new unit of "food" one major thing that tends to pop is this so called healthy foods. "what is healthy foods, that's my question?" People in this entire world eat several things; some organic, fried, baked, grilled, just cooking or eating things differently. But whats healthy foods, is being on a diet, eating salads. When I searched this question, I came across this website that talked about "Make healthy Food choices". The thing that i found interesting about this site was it gave more choices kind of like allowing you to choose whats best for you to eat. I was assuming that it would just have things like what you should eat, in a way of forcing you to change your complete eating habits. This website gave suggestions of whats best for you to eat and tips on how to cut down things that are "bad" or unhealthy foods. This website focused more on a general healthy heart than someone looking for a diet to have a bathing suit body. Some suggestions were:

Know and limit your fats.
Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat.
Eat at least two servings of fish each week.
Select fat-free, 1 percent fat and low-fat dairy products.
Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol.
Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt.
Cholesterol, fiber and oat bran.
Read labels for a healthy heart.



link (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=537)

Food #4: Food Journal

Tuesdays dinner:
My father usually does the cooking in my house. He made baked chicken with barbeque sause, yellow rice, mixed vegetables (corn,peas,string beans), and cornbeard. We all usually eat infront of the television as a family. We dont bless the found altogether but we do bless our food individually before we eat. Most of the food is store bought, and we eat with forks. For the most part we talk about how our day went, or something exciting that happen or something we might have seen or found funny. making a laugh at the dinner table which usually I do, puts a smile on my face and makes me enjoy my food more. Before I eat dinner I usually feel tired or stressed because of school, or sometimes just hungery. During the meal I feel more happy because im eating a home cooked meal that taste good. After probably tired but still feeling happy.

Wednesday: Breakfast
Raisen bagel
Orange juice
Water

Lunch: Mexican food
grilled chicken
french fries
Sweet Tea

Dinner:
Fried pork chops
rice and beans
Kool-Aid (Tropical)
Wheat bread
corn

Food #1: Things In My Friger

Milk
apple juice
orange juice
tea
water bottles
cold cuts (turkey, Ham)
sause
mayo
ketchup
honey mustard
eggs
chesse
onions
peppers
fish
chicken
vegetables
etc. list goes on

Because my dads a chef we have variety of things in my frige. He uses several different things to cook his food and most of the things need to be refrigerated. looking at whats in my frige i can say that i have things that are definitely major foods on the food pryamid. I never realized how much food i had in their until making this list.

health Paper

During the last couple of weeks we have been discussing and trying to figure out “What is the connection between health and a good and meaningful life?” We were able to break down health into five major categories; Emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, and social health. We discussed these different categories and carried out several activities to help us get a better understanding of what exactly they contained. I felt that the connection between health and a good and meaningful life is basically being active or taking part in each category meaning expressing true feelings, having a good diet, staying in shape, connecting to your religion, and being helpful and product to your society. I feel if you touch upon some of these points in your own life, you should be generally healthy and this could lead to a good and meaningful life.

When we first started to research health and what it meant, the majority of web links lead to things that discussed weight, food, diets, figure or shape, and exercise. This made me realize two things about the society we live in; one is they want everyone to have bathing suit shape body, and society fails to acknowledge the fact that there are other aspects of health that people must learn about in order to get a great understanding of health.

The activities we did in class touched on most parts of health. I feel the activities that were most affective for me were the activities that consisted of people interacting with each other. Because I am a people person I felt these activities would be most interesting and fun. One activity was when we were giving massages to other classmates which were fun, and at that time I needed a massage the most. A massage can do a lot for a person; it can relax your emotional, mental, and physical parts of health which is great. My classmate Mara did magic with her hands, my back felt better, my mind was more relaxed and it made me happy, what more can I ask for.

I felt as if this health unit was really helpful to my own life because it made me become more aware about my feelings. I don’t hide my feelings, but I don’t express them all the time as if I should be able to. That’s were the society corrupts us, it makes us second guess the things we want to do because we learn things that are a social norm. I feel if people break out these social norms that have been presented to us, we would be able to live our own lives more healthy; physically, healthy, emotionally, mentally and socially. And this will allow us to have a more good and meaningful life.

Break Hw

I think the most point I felt emotionally healthiest during break was on Easter Sunday. I think this because I had several family members over at my house, my father made a huge easter dinner and I can say for the most part everyone was enjoying themselves.I would say the least emotional i felt over break was when it was raining outside and i was stuck inside doing nothing at all bored out my mind.

I think what affects my emotional health depends on the amount of excitiment Im having. Mainly if i keep my self active and doing the things I enjoy or have fun doing then thats where my emotional health would be at its highest.I dont think that emotional health is the same as "constantly happy". I think being emotionally happy means expressing your true feelings and emotions when they are present to you no matter the situation. I think that if your happy, you should be expressing the feeling of happiness and not anger or vis-verse. Also not hiding your feelings could allow you to become more emotionally healthy.

Living Funeral

If I were to have a living funeral, for the most part my entire family would be there, even the family members I may dislike. This would be the perfect time to share our thoughts about each other and for once be 100 percent true to our feelings.

I would also invite several of my friends to attend. I would invite friends that I have from all over. People that can connect with me and understand the importance of my living funeral. I would even invite people from school, because they have been apart of my life for a long time now.

I think my living funeral would be pretty cool. There would be all types of my favorite foods, music, and people. Having all the people that made an impact on my life in many different ways all in the same place at once "thats awesome". But I dont think I would be influencing the idea that Im dieing to much because I want people to be happy. Not happy because Im dieing but happy because we are all spending valuable time together. I would want this to be a good time, people sharing meaningful thoughts about me and great times or eexperiences that have had with me in the past would be fun.

I would probably perfer to have my ashes spread over a tropical island so my spirit could enjoy beautiful weather and be at peace instead of having my body layed up burried in the ground in a closed casket, I dont feel as if thats very much meaningful.

Overall, I think if I had to think about it, I wouldn't really want to die. And it's not necessarily all about me. But think about what lives would be affected. I'm pretty sure there's a line of influence for everyone somewhere, and my death; anyone's death would surely result in a change, if the slightest.

Now that I sit back and analyze funerals and deaths is that people spend their money to have someone burried. I think that doesnt make any sense. Why spend money on a dead human being. Its not like the person is going to say thank you for having such an expensive funeral i really appreciate it. And what if the person didnt even want to be burried. You kind of want to customize your own funeral to what you would like. To make yourself that little legendary figure that will be soon forgotten. is there a point? Maybe.

HUMANISTIC THERAPY

Humanistic psychology focuses on an individual’s mind which is influenced by their unconscious thinking."Human issues, such as the self , self-actualization , health , hope , love , creativity , nature , being , becoming , individuality , and meaning – in short, the understanding of "the personal nature of the human experience".These theorists focused on the depth of the human psyche, which, they stressed, must be combined with those of the conscious mind in order to produce a healthy human personality.Humanistic therapy holds a hopeful, constructive view of human beings and the individual’s substantial capacity to be self-determining. By and large, this therapeutic approach works with present (rather than past) occurrences and attitudes with a goal of client growth and fulfillment.



Link.wikipedia.com

Health Q&A

What is health?
definition of health is "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity", used by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1948.

how can you maintain a good healthy life?
When people think about staying fit, they generally think from the neck down. But the health of your brain plays a critical role in almost everything you do: thinking, feeling, remembering, working, and playing – even sleeping.
http://www.alz.org/we_can_help_brain_health_maintain_your_brain.asp

Answers/ Research

1. What is the suicide rate for old people?

"The highest suicide rates of any age group occur among persons aged 65 years and older. There is an average of one suicide among the elderly every 90 minutes. In 1998, suicide ranked as the sixteenth leading cause of death among those aged 65 years and older and accounted for 5803 deaths among this age group in the U.S." (Gothelf)

(http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/44637.htm)

2. How many old people are abusing substances to feel better?
Interesting info. related to questions : "Although alcohol and substance abuse is statistically at epidemic proportions among the elderly, it remains for the most part unreported, undiagnosed, or ignored." (T. 1)

"The reasons that substance abuse by our senior citizens goes undetected are varied, but most have to do with the fact they are no longer active in mainstream society and there is simply no one around to notice.

They are less likely to get in trouble with the law -- stopped for driving under the influence, having a traffic accident, or causing problems in the community. Therefore they have little contact with the police or the criminal justice system. Since many are retired, there is very little chance their drinking will cause them to lose a job or career." ( T. 1)

(http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/elder/a/aa981118.htm)

"Incorrectly following the instructions on the medication bottle, mixing medications, forgetting to take medicines, and an inhibition to ask for assistance are all common attributes amongst elderly people that contribute to the abuse of prescription medications." (Meyer 1)

"Prescription drug abuse is present in 12% to 15% of elderly individuals who seek medical attention. " (Meyer 1)

Research Questions

1. What is it like to live in a nursing home?
2. What do old people do for fun?
3. What are their responsibilities?
4. Well organized lives or spontaneous?
5. What do you do with your time?
6. Do you have company over often?
7. How often do your kids check up on you?
8. How do you cope with health conditions?
9. How active are you in your community?
10. How do you feel internally?
11. What do you find comforting?
12. Would you prefer living with other old people? Young people?
13. How many old people are abusing substances to feel better?
14. How many old people live in poverty?
15. How many people get beat up in homes?
16. How do they spend their money?
17. Whats your prefered enviornment?
18. Are old people with grandchildren happier then old people without them?
19. What is the suicide rate for old people?
20. What is it like to feel dependency?
21. What percentage go to therapists?
22. What are your values/ think is worth doing/ think is fun to do?

Interviews

1.How did you get this far in your life?
"Working hard, and never giving up"

2.What motivated you to continue on in your life?
"Knowing that i wanted to have kids, it made me want to push myself into doing good in my life"

3.What is your definition of a good and meaningful life?
"taking what life gives you and making the best of it. Also enjoying your own life"

4.How do you categorize your life, and the things you do as meaningful?(1-10)
7. Because I am enjoying my life partially but theie are several other things that i want to do or accomplish before i die"

5.What experiences do you have that you think are life changing inspiration to anothers life?
"Well, my personal expericences aren't anything that would truely change anyones life, but it could seen as advice that i can give so people wouldn't make the same mistakes i have made"


Interview 2. "Aunt Terry"
1.How did you get this far in your life?
I made it this far by believing in my self , connecting with god

2.What motivated you to continue on in your life?
God showed me the way i should have been living my life, and that help me realize that the things i was doing wasn't the right choices i was making.

3.What is your definition of a good and meaningful life?
helping others who struggle, and being happy no matter what

4.How do you categorize your life, and the things you do as meaningful?(1-10)
9.this is because now that I am more attached to God, i feel as if I am actually living for a purpose and when I die their is a place for me in Heaven

5.What experiences do you have that you think are life changing inspiration to anothers life?
the only thing i can think of is telling others to turn their lives over to god, and let him help you get through life more enjoyable.

Interview 3. "Uncle Anthony"
1.How did you get this far in your life?
I have no idea. I just let the chips fall where they may. But i will say is that im happy about the way my life turned out.

2.What motivated you to continue on in your life?
What motivated me was money, i always wanted alot of money in my life so i strived to get it.

3.What is your definition of a good and meaningful life?
Having alot of money and being allowed to live free, enjoyin life, catching tans on the beach drinking ice tea.

4.How do you categorize your life, and the things you do as meaningful?(1-10)
10. I do what ever i want, when ever i want. Im the boss of my comopany and i can say that im living happy and ok

5.What experiences do you have that you think are life changing inspiration to anothers life?
Honestly i dont know. one thing i will say Chris is live your life to the fullest dont hang around negative energy and dont allow people to make choices for you, do what you feel is right

how I feel About old People

Some points in my life I feel in way sorry for older people because that arent able to enjoy most of the things I am able to enjoy at a young age. But other times I feel that older people have a great amount of wisdom because of all the experiences they had and what they have learned from. But some times I think the way they try and teach younger generations their learnings, its hard for us to understand them or connect with them because of difference in age and generations. Sometimes i feel that most older people are at peace because often you see them smiling or enjoying quality time with their grand children, but many are often anger, old, rude, mean elders that hate the younger generation, which makes it even more difficult for us to have sympathy and try to reach out to connect with them.

5 questions to Ask Someone old

1.How did you get this far in your life?

2.What motivated you to continue on in your life?

3.What is your definition of a good and meaningful life?

4.How do you categorize your life, and the things you do as meaningful?

5.What experiences do you have that you think are life changing inspiration to anothers life?

new Copy of bigg paper

What does living a good and meaningful life mean? Many people strive everyday by doing meaningful things to exceed in this goal, while others have a big misconception about what a meaningful life is. Many people get their perspectives from either their own experiences or what we see or are told by others. These ideas come from the larger pop culture; larger culture can be considered a combination of three major sources - corporate/commodified culture, folk culture, and big subcultures.

Our society has been affected or brain washed by what we see or hear from the pop culture. The marginal messages are things we rarely see shown by the pop culture. The dominant messages are things you always see commonly, almost seen as if they are enforcing one idea on society. The media tells us the things we need in life in order for us to be happy by making false meanings of things that don’t really matter to our life. Most common pop culture messages we see are people must look good, wear nice clothes, have a big house, a lot of money, and stay physically fit. These are just some of the corporate messages that can be found or as we call it Dominant messages.

Dominant corporate messages are things or ideas that we see with in our daily lives that influence the way we live. The dominant corporate messages can influence our lives by what we eat, the way we look, what we buy, how we shop, and how we live. Looking deeper in to these corporate messages we see that the way they want us to live is almost like some kind of brain wash the society has on the environment around us. These dominant corporate messages betray to be things we need in order to live a good and meaningful life, but in reality the pop culture is manipulating us to spend our money or alternate the way we want to live to keep up with today's society "hip" and "cool" things. I think that in our society today the dominant corporate messages are that materials will make you happy. We see several dominant messages being shown through television, magazines, commercials, and the internet.
While surfing the web I came across VH1.com, while looking through their website I felt as if VH1 had a main corporate message which is becoming famous, but at the same I noticed that several of these shows displayed on VH1 are reality shows. The reality shows contradicted the message because they were showing how becoming famous affected these individuals’ lives and showing how these famous people were acting irresponsible. The shows showed that we as the society should not act like these people but at the same time, the shows were making these people become some type of idolized figures, which made no sense.
I think that in our society today the dominant corporate messages are that materials will make you happy. For example in the commercial that says "Every kiss begins with a Kay". The commercial is for a jewelry store and basically what they are trying to tell the viewers is that the jewelry will make your girlfriend/ boyfriend happy and that their love for each other will become greater. People are relying on senseless items to strengthen their love relationship, instead of spending their hard earned money on their lover; they could be spending quality time with their lover which is price less.
The dominant message that materials will make one happy cause people to rely on the materials they want so that if they don't get what they want they are angry until they get that thing. I think it is sort of similar to a drug addiction. People who are addicted to heroin or cocaine try it and then their bodies rely on the drugs and the junkie must get the drug or they go into a different state where their body gets all messed up. Then to keep on getting the drugs for their system they do things like become prostitutes so they can get what they need. People who think that the materials will make them happy buy and buy then when they don't have enough money or can't get the material they rob banks and steal from people because they think they will be happy with the money.

Looking at several magazines to see what corporate messages are presented throughout different magazines, I wanted to see if exactly I could connect different messages. Ironically both magazines I looked at were incorporating the same message and also trying to persuade their audience / readers to buy or spend money. The first magazine is Titled- Oklist - Spotlight on the Arts (Fall Issue). I came to the conclusion of their pop cultures message was to influence others to buy expensive books / novels by giving brief analysis of several books that may or may not attract great amount buyers. Although the corporate message is asking the society to spend money, the outcome of spending money will help or enhance our intelligence as well as reading levels. The second magazine I looked at was Titled - Bazzar. Nov 2008 issue, their overall pop culture message was to live a good and meaningful life you must require materialistic things in order to feel good about yourself as well as look good. From both magazines we see how pop culture is influencing the society to spend more money on useless self objects that would supposedly help us have a good and meaningful life. The products they are selling aren’t things that will help our society grow or expand, but things that are truly affecting our culture and bringing us down. The United States are viewed as having the most customers in the world, meaning several people are spending money on things that might not even importance to their life, in other words their just spending money to spend money. Several individuals fail to realize that the corporate media doesn't try to stop or help our society, but more of enforcing these messages on us. They sell us products to add a distraction to our life to stimulate our happiness, so we can forget about the miserable life we are truly living.

The "marginal messages of commodified culture" are those messages sold to us by advertisements, movies, TV, music videos, books, magazines, etc that define the good and meaningful life in a way which is unusual. These "marginal messages" expand the range of visions of a good and meaningful life both by offering new visions and also by (to some degree) contradicting the dominant corporate messages on the good and meaningful life. Marginal messages can be seen through movies, such as Foxfire, where roles of males and females are switched. The switching of roles is not as common as it may seem and sometimes the message the movie sends to the public is not as accepted by society as the main message corporate culture sends out. For example a scene from Foxfire is when there is a nude guy being photographed by a girl. In corporate culture you do not see the roles of males and females often switching. It has become part of our culture as Americans to believe that the man is stronger and the woman is weaker, the man is in control and the woman is helpless. But marginal messages often are about breaking this stereotype between men and women and giving women more power and showing that women can be a bit more masculine.

One deeper understanding of what our culture shows us as the good and meaningful life can be seen through the various mixed messages of our holiday seasons. One holiday that is highly celebrated throughout our culture is Halloween. Halloween demonstrates several different mixed messages that can be seen in our culture. The way we celebrate Halloween is mostly through young children. Children spend the entire night going around trick or treating to several different homes to try and gather as much candy as possible. There are so many contradicted messages throughout this Halloween holiday. Several parents always tell their children not to talk to strangers, but on Halloween "it’s ok for the children to go to a stranger’s home and take candy from them." Also at the young age older adults always tell children to be themselves, but on Halloween people dressed their children up as other famous figures, monsters, killers, singers, dancers, etc. Halloween can also be seen as a customer’s holiday because we are encouraged to buy decorations, candy, costumes and several other things. I also noticed that this particular holiday doesn’t express the message that family is important, and that you should spend time with your family like most other holidays.

On Christmas Day there was nothing special on this day for my family in particular. It was more of a day where everyone had the day off and a chance to spend some time together. For the first part of my day I spent it watching the basketball game Lakers vs. Celtics that was what I really wanted to see. Because I’m getting older presents seem to come less and less every year which doesn't seem to bother me. But I could remember those good old days when I was younger waking up at like 8 o'clock just to open gifts that was my excitement then. But now I’m starting to realize that presents and gifts barely has any meaning to which why we should be celebrated Christmas. I know not as many people actually celebrate the religious part of Christmas but the actual giving of presents, that’s what many people look forward to. While watching the game there were commercial breaks about the "Christmas spirit" which made me think about this class, there was a lot of messages being sent to the audience. While thinking about class, I saw a connection with the three faces of Christmas. The corporate Christmas-corporate culture, the family style Christmas-dominant folk culture, and the religious Christmas-Big sub-culture. While watching the basketball game, the news station decided to let troops in Iraq have a "shout out" to their family. This demonstrates that family is important and the stations can air it because it is one of the dominant messages. During the holidays there are always a few classic movies that the channels choose to show, for example "Home alone". This movie has messages that involve all of these cultures. The main character, Kevin, prays before he eats and in one scene he was in a church searching for something. This suggests that there are answers held in this religion known as Christianity. In the end the family reunites and shows love and concern for Kevin which promotes the family style Christmas, where it's important that such a holiday should be spent with your entire family rather than being alone.

Inauguration Day Assignment

In the Inauguration Speech Obama moved several viewers that came forth to watch his ceremony take place. Looking at the audience that attended the Inauguration, you can almost feel the trust and happiness those individuals have toward Obama. Everyone cheered when it was time to give appriciation, everyone was serious when it was time to talk about the challenges that were ahead of us. "America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations." Here we see Obama telling us that we as the United States are all in this together. We will not give up, but we must work together and have faith in ourselves as well as President Obama if we want to overcome the up coming hardships that we are going to face. He wants us not to give up. This speech as well as the Inauguration Day in general is a great example of what a good and meaningful life is because Obama had not allowed the corporate media to brain wash his life, also not allowing it affect his dreams of becoming the president. He strived for the better for himself as well as his family, not allowing priceful things or maybe even wasting time to get in the way of his success.

Letter to Middle School Teacher

Dear Mrs. Harrish,

Hi, how are you? You may or may not remember me but I was one of you favorite studentes back in second grade. Now I am currently in the 12th grade and Im taking this course about the meaning of life. Currently we are talking about life lessons we have learned and how it affected our own lives and the way we live. At the young age teachers play a major role in a childs life because you teach us the "do's" and
"dont's", whats right and whats wrong, and most importantly respect. But I remember you always telling me be quiet, do not speak during class, and you made me sit in the back of the class everytime I said something, even if I was right. But because I was young, I didnt know how to stand up for myself or tell any one you was treating me like this. I felt that the classroom rules you came up with had nothing to do with our learning habit. You just wanted to control us. But because i never followed any of your rules or ever stayed quiet, I find myself to be more out spoken during class lectures also following proper rules that help be become someone better instead of some trying to control my brain. Thanks Again.

Sincerly,
Christopher Campbell

MLK Assignment/ John Lewis's Speech in 1963

On Martin Luther King's belated birthday several shows, and news channels basically gave us the same Plastic Postage Stamp that Andy had warned us about in class. The Plastic Postage Stamps are "stupid doll figures who are not human." What the media does is they condence the powerful meaning of something to little things that should only because recongized. I noticed that on the news they gave a brief summary or recap of what Martin Luther King did, and who he was. They rarely said anything about his personal life or how he became the man he was, as if he just woke up and became MLK the civil rights leader. When I asked a younger cousin of mine what he did in school the tuesday after Martin Luther King Day, he told me that they watched a documentary of MLK and also read the "I have a dream" speech. I asked him what did he learn from that and all he could tell me was that he risked his life fighting for black people to have equal rights. This showed me that he as well as I was learning the "plastic postage stamp" of Martin Luther King Jr. The media only wanted people to see MLk as some type of god, that couldn't do anything wrong. They never talk about his true hardships, which gives us the false image of him. This affects our understanding of the good and meaningful life because this is alternating the truth which affects our beliefs of mlk.
John Lewis was man who believed in true peace and equality. Here in his 1963 speech he talks about the fact that African Americans during slavery and proverty many people had to sacrifice their own lives whether dieing or going to jail just so others could live a better life. "We do not want to go to jail, but we will go to jail if this is the price we must pay for love, brotherhood and true peace." In this quote I agree with him because here he is sayin that we are willing to take a sacrifice only to benifit from it. this is a good example of what a meaningful life is because he is standing up for millions of people including himself inored for everybody to live a better life.

Folk Culture Holiday Analysis

One deeper understanding of what our culture shows us as the good and meaningful life can be seen through the various mixed messages of our holiday seasons. One holiday that is highly celebrated throughout our culture is Halloween. Halloween demonstrates several different mixed messages that can be seen in our culture. The way we celebrate Halloween is mostly through young children. Children spend the entire night going around trick or treating to several different homes to try and gather as much candy as possible. There are so many contridicted messages throughout this halloween holiday. Several parents always tell their children not to talk to strangers, but on Halloween "its ok for the children to go to a strangers home and take candy from them." Also at the young age older adults always tell children to be themselves, but on Halloween people dressed their children up as other famous figures, monsters, killers, singers, dancers, etc. Halloween can also be seen as a cusomers holiday because we are encouraged to buy decerations, candy, costums and several other things. I also noticed that this particular holiday doesnt express the message that family is important, and that you should spend time with your family like most other holidays.

Holiday Break

On Christmas Day there was nothing special on this day for my family in particular. It was more of a day where everyone had the day off and a chance to spend some time together. for the first part of my day I spent it watching the basketbal game Lakers v.s Celtics, that was what i really wanted to see. Because im getting older presents seem to come less and less every year which doesn't seem to bother me. But I could remember those good old days when i was younger waking up at like 8 o'clock just to open gifts, that was my excitement then. But now im starting to realize that presents and gifts barely has any meaning to which why we should be celebrated Christmas. I know not as many people actually celebrate the religious part of christmas but the actual giving of presents, thats what many people look forward to. While watching the game there were commercial breaks about the "Christmas spirit" which made me think about this class, there was a lot of messages being sent to the audience. While thinking about class, i saw a connection with the three faces of Christmas. The corporate Christmas-corporate culture, the family style Christmas-dominant folk culture, and the religious Christmas-Big sub-culture. While watching the basketball game, the news station decided to let troops in Iraq have a "shout out" to their family. This demonstrates that family is important and the stations can air it because it is one of the dominant messages. During the holidays there are always a few classic movies that the channels choose to show, for example "Home alone". This movie has messages that involve all of these cultures. The main character, Kevin, prays before he eats and in one scene he was in a church searching for something. This suggests that there are answers held in this religion known as Christianity. In the end the family reunites and shows love and concern for Kevin which promotes the family style Christmas, where it's important that such a holiday should be spent with your entire family rather than being alone.