My Journey as a ... Writer - My Blog

My Journey as a ... Writer

Collaborative Research Paper: Final Product

12/6/2010

I am very pleased with what we produced for this project. Lauren and I worked very well together and attacked the project with gusto. We shared in the work equally and met each other's time frame. We learned a lot about our topic and basically learned that as consumers we must advocate for ourselves because the government isn't going to do it for us.
All of the readings assigned from class and the journal From "Farm to Table" elped develop our ideas and opinions. We finished up with a power point to make the topic more interesting to present which was a great idea Lauren. I was thinking along the lines of an outline for the presentation part of the project. All in all I think we did a good job with an unpopular subject,

Collaborative Research Paper: The Process

12/6/2010

I chose Lauren as a partner. We have worked well together on many projects through this program so it was an easy choice. We began choosing our topic after discussing "Food, Inc." a documentary. What struck us was that even with all of the supposed laws and regulations in place, a little boy could dye from contaminated meat. We decided to explore what exactly was the problem. So we started looking at policies regarding the safety of food processing and distribution.
We decided on option #1, a traditional paper mainly because of time constraints. Finding interviewees and setting up would be impossible for this subject.
We began by studying Kevin's Law, a bill intended to safegaurd against illness from meat. From there we went on to study journals and other writings.
We each took parts of the paper and wrote our individual piece on word. Then met to put it all together. It was cool because we seemed to have found the right complimaentery information for the final product.
To make presentation easier io digest we created a power point to show the class.

From "Farm to Table"

12/6/2010

From "Farm to Table": Microbiological Foodborne Illness and the Regulation of the Beef Industry.
Huur, Melind M. April 27, 2004
www.leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/634/Hurr_redacted.html

This paper basically explains the regulations in place to oversee the beef industry. It explores the different processes and practices used in the production and distribution of the meat that is availble to consumers.
Ms. Hurr also goes on discuss the pathgens and illnesses and their conseguences when regulations fail or most notably are not enforced. She also probes the costs of thses illnesses to both the consumer and the businesses involved.She then explores the steps that different agancies have taken to rectify the situation as she cites their failures as well as successes. In the final part of her paper she explores what the government and these agencies can do to futher improve on the quality of meat processing and distribution.

Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement by Stephen Schneider

12/6/2010

Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement by Stephen Schneider 11/21/2010 0 Comment(s) Schneider, Stephen. (2008) Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement. College English 70.4, 384-401.

Stephen Schnieder writes about a man named Carlo Petrini who founded "The Slow Food Movement." The principals of this movement's are that people need to rethink how and what they eat and must be consicious of how that food is produced and distributed. The three concepts involved are Good, Clean, Fair Food. Good meaning that tasty food retains its culyural and geographic origins. Clean means that the food is produced in a way that is respectful to the environment and promotes regrowth and not death of the planet. And Fair means that food will be prodeced fairly with an eye on social justice and that workers are paid fair wages and treated well.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

12/6/2010

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan 11/27/2010    Pollan, Michael. "Our National Eating Disorder." Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006. 1-11.
Pollan, Michael. "The Farm." Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural HIstory of Four Meals. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006. 32-56.
This book is about the changes that have taken place in the way Americans and more importantly how that food is mass produced. The chapter I read called "The Farm", is the story of George Naylor and how his family farm has changed since the 1920's.    Michael Pollen visited George to conduct an interview and relates to his readers some of the negative effects that new farmng has had on the globe. George tells Micheal that the amount of corn that can be produced has increased from the use of fossil fuels to provide synthetically what the sun used to provide. The corn is all the same and doesn't have to fight for the sun. Another situation that has come from this massive growth of corn is the notable absence of animals. Pollen goes on to say that the US government has played a major role in these changes. And eventho these changes of industrialization has negative effects on society, yield is money so the government will continue to support these programs.

Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: Why the Fries Taste Good (Excerpt)

11/30/2010

Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: Why the Fries Taste Good (Excerpt) 11/27/2010 0 Schlosser, Eric. "Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: Why the Fries Taste Good (Excerpt)." 26 March 2010. pbs.org. 26 November 2010 <pbs.org/pov/.../fastfoodnation_01.php>.

This is the story of Schlosser's visit to J.R Simplot and his potatoe plant in Aberdeen, Idaho. This is the site that provides the frozen french fries for McDonald's food chain. At sixteen Simplot began potatoe farming and eventually turned it into an empire. The plant runs 310 day a year, 24 hours a day turning potatoes into french fries and making Simplot one of the richest men in the united states.
In 1941 Simplot discovered a way to turn onions into powder that he would later call gold dust. Then in the mid forties he and his chemists devised a way to flash frreze french fries and by 1953 they were selling all across the United States. The decreased cost of frozen french fries appealed to McDonald's because the profit margin soared and they struck a deal with Simplot in 1965 that was sealed with only a handshake.

Featured Article: Talking Turkey

11/23/2010

http://www.sustainabletable.org/features/articles/thanksgiving/

This article reiterates the problems of mass producing meat for human consumption. 99% of turkeys raised in the US are known as the "Broadbreasted White" or the "Large White." Like other mass produced animals theses birds live in horrible conditions. Cramped and fed grains and antibiotics, the breasts on these birds are so large they can't reproduce naturally. Artificial insemination keeps this breed alive. Without this process they would be extinct in one generation. Groups like Slow Food USA and Heritage Turkeys are attempting to re-introduce breeds that lived years ago. Again it is suggested that you buy from local well known farms where you can see ho

The Pleasures of Eating by Wendell Berry

11/23/2010

Berry, W. (1990) The Pleasures of eating. In What are People for? North Point Press.

In his article, Wendall Berry argues that the American consumer has become passive regarding how and what we eat. We have massive obesity and health problems in this country because we have let big companies dictate what we eat. We have lost sight of where our food comes from. I for one can say that beef tastes differently that it did even 20 years ago. The way that our food is produced is slowly killing us. Instead of looking for that fast fix for dinner, we need to grow and prepare our own food as much as possible. He also states we should eat locally to insure freshness and history of our food intake. He believes if we really knew how pur food was produced and the enethical politics involved perhaps we would become advocates for humane treatment of animals that are to become our food.

Food, Inc. Documentary

11/23/2010

Kenner, R (Producer,Director) and Scholsser, E. (Producer). (2008). Food, Inc.[DVD].

Food, Inc. is a documentary that focuses on the way food is mass produced in our country, for our consumption. Often the process is detrimental to our health, the workers health and the health of plants and animals. Antibiotics are given to chicken, cows, pork, and so on to prevent diseases they are exposed to from being packed together. Plants are treated with chemicals to mass produce which we the consumer ingest. Diseases like E. Coli 157:H7 have experienced huge mutation problems and not just in the cattle or other animals, but from the run off into water supplies for irrigation. This is proving to infect spinach, and apple juice as well. People have died from this disease. The documentary further goes on to state that federal inpections are lacking and the health of Americans is largely ignored by regulators.

Questions to Discuss with Professor

11/8/2010

Did I change the story significantly enough to make the project better?
How do I maintain Aunt Peg's voice if I do change the language even more?
Is Aunt Peg's voice clear
What else can I do to make this project better?
Is there anything I can add or get of to make this story more engaging.
Is my story interesting?

Author

I'm an entusiastic student "learning" how to write. I think I do my best writing personal stories. However, this blog is about my reflections on the readings we are doing for class.

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