Global Warming

On Monday, we had the pleasure of learning about global warming. We had a guest speaker who is a professor here at Western in the biology department named Dr. Karowe. In high school we never talked much about this topic and it always seemed to confuse me because in high school the teachers would just talk about it a little not making much sense of it at all! Looking up a general definition for what global warming is would be a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect cause by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants (dictionary.com). I found this definition easy to understand and it is not too scientific making it difficult to comprehend. Throughout his whole entire lecture I learned a lot of interesting information. Some of the information I found to be extremely interesting is when he talked abut how during the Summer of 2012 we lost 5% corn, 50% sorghum, and 35% soybeans. I found this to be an interesting fact because that summer it was very hot, but as a whole we lost a lot of crops due to that. What I also enjoyed was when he talked about corn....since I am completely obsessed with corn this really kept me thinking! He said that corn does have photosynthesis, but it is done in a different way than most plants--it is a C4 plant which it makes not be very beneficial from having more CO2 within the atmosphere. Overall, I am very glad I had the chance to listen to such an informational presentation Dr. Karowe really did a great job...thank you!

Event!

On Thursday, March 27 at 5:00 PM I took advantage of the opportunity to go see the documentary A Place at the Table. Going into this I was truly unsure on what to expect I had no idea. In the end I really ended up enjoying the documentary a lot! This film is from 2012 and it was directed by Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush. The film was highly based around the topic of hunger in the United States. I was very pleased I got to see this because we have been talking about the topic of hunger all throughout the semester since the first week of class. Also, seeing this film it made me connect to the book I read, which was Wintergirls. Those girls had eating problems, so it was not the same type of situation, but it did make me think of the book while the film was going. Something I found completely shocking in the film was that as of 2012 there are roughly 50 million Americans who were food insecure. They said that is just about 1 in 6 of the population. Also, children are facing food insecurity, which is very scary to think about because it is going on for 1 in every 4 children. The film went through the lives of three people that are struggling with food hunger. The first was named Barbie and she was a single mother who had two children. Rosie was the second person the movie talked about and she is in fifth grade and goes to Colorado. When they were talking about this student in the movie it just completely broke my heart because she had to ask her friends and neighbors to give her food. It made me want to cry I could not imagine being in 5th grade and not being able to have food at my house. It just completely breaks my heart. The last person was Tremonica and she was in third grade I believe, but I am not sure and she had a lot of major health problems. The problems got worse because she could not eat much because they did not have money and were unable to eat healthy foods that she needed. All three of these stories were so touching and upsetting. I am really glad I got to see this film after seeing this film and this class I am very aware of food and that I do not waste food and also that I donate to local food charities to help those that are in need!

Food Within Video Games

I would just like to start this blog out by thanking Casey and Joe about doing such a great and informational presentation about food and video games! To be honest I never ever would have thought that the topic of food would some how appear in video games. I have a younger brother who is 16 almost 17 and has been playing games for years now. Also, my younger cousin who is 11 almost 12 also plays video games. My younger cousin has been playing for awhile now, so his parents let him play at a young age. First off, I do not think all kids should be able to play these violent games at a young age or all the time. I believe they are way to violent for them and even older teens. During the presentation it really kept me interested in the different ways that food is incorporated into video games. I really liked the Cluckin  bell commercial. I even watched them again on youtube with my roommates and they thought I was completely crazy! I talked to my brother for a long time on the phone yesterday about this whole topic of food within video games and he was some what useless at first because he told me I had no idea what I was talking about and in the end he ended up agreeing with me. He never realized how food was incorporated into games and thought it was really interesting. I even sent him the video clips of Cluckin bell and he thought they were hilarious. Over all, I wish I knew more of the video games out there and how they incorporate food, but I learned a lot of useful information from this presentation and will be sure to tell my brother more about it when I am home for summer if he wants to hear more or not I'm telling him about it anyways, since he does play those games constantly!

Mon Jin Lau

This past weekend I went home to see my my dog, my brother, and my parents. One night we were unsure on where to go for dinner and I suggested trying this restaurant called Mon Jin Lau, which is right by my house and we always hear how good it is. The inside of the restaurant was very small and dark it had a few tables and a small bar. The food on their menu was a combination of both Chinese and Japanese dishes. Their dishes are larger, so you are supposed to pick a few depending on how many people you are with and all share. Since, my family eats Chinese food a lot we decided we would try some of the Japanese dishes. We got two different types of Sushi dishes one was called the "Classic Roll" and that had tuna, avocado, and cucumber. The second one that we ordered was the "New York Roll" and that had smoked salmon, apple, and avocado. My brother does not like Sushi at all so he got chicken fried rice. I tried each type of dish and ended up really not liking either dish at all...I never liked seafood and that type of food plus I already am a very picky eater, so for me to go and try something completely new was hard. I am glad I got this opportunity because I was some what forced to try new food, but I am done now trying new food for awhile! My dad really enjoyed it because he loves Sushi and my mom was in the same situation as me and ended up not enjoying it. I would completely recommend this restaurant to anyone they have great food and a large menu as well!

Ending to Wintergirls

The end of Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson is very interesting and intense. The ending of the novel is that Lia is eating the green lollipop and the sugar is making her strong and allowing her to think about her future. She then calls her mom and talks about not answering Cassie's phone calls and also lets her mom know where she is. Later, an ambulance is called for Lia and they have to take her to the hospital by ambulance, but when she is in the ambulance her heart stops beating. While reading this I was freaking out to myself and even telling my roommate about what was going on. I was so surprise what was going on and if Lia would live or not....she ends up surviving in the ambulance. Lia is trying to rebuild the relationship with her family, while she is trying to recover from her treatment. She really was working hard to fix everything that was going on and bothering her. I felt bad for her because so much was going on with her family and she had to go through the death of Cassie. Overall, I thought this book was good. I would recommend this book to most people it is book though that you have to enjoy this type of material.

Wintergirls part 2

While reading the second half of Wintergirls  I still really enjoy it, but parts of it really caught me off guard me out a bit. It continues on with the idea that Cassie's ghosts appears, which they say only comes out at night. The girls all try to get rid of this ghosts by doing different activities. Emma takes sleeping pills or will workout until she is completely exhausted and Lia will sleep with her stepsister. During Cassie's funeral, Lia says that she sees the passed away Cassie sit up in her casket and eat something. Lia said that she was eating a piece of green see-glass, which is something used to tell the future. That is the part that completely freaked me out and caught me off guard. I was not expecting that to happen in the novel this far because it is just something I would not except in the way the book is written. Lia ends up developing a very interesting relationship with Elijah and she buys him food and she does not believe that he will judge her for anything she does for him or herself. Reflecting on that now I think it is nice that she does that for him, but at the same time it just seems weird that she thinks that he would judge her even though she does so much for him. As the novel goes on it will be interesting to see how it continues since parts have already caught me off guard. I still really enjoy this book and even hope to finish it this week or weekend!

Wintergirls

The novel that sounded most interesting to me is called Wintergirls written by Laurie Halse Anderson. This novel is directed for young adults and is focued on a story about a girl named Lia. She is only eighteen years old in the beginning of the book and is dealing with a personal issue with is....anorexia nevorsa. Lia has a good friend named Cassie they have been extremely close friends for ten years now and Cassie is bulimic. One night she tried to call Lia a large number of number of time and Lia never answered her phone calls. That night night Cassie ended up passing away. Just thinking about that made me realize that even in today’s society there are so many people who are fighting with these problems. It still is happening every where in the world. I am sure people know people that are struggling with this problem and it is on the news and in newspapers frequently. I know people from my high school who are a year younger than me and are struggling with anorexia and being bulimic. It is just sad because all these people are great its just upsetting to see them have to go through this. So far though I really enjoy this book and very pleased I picked it!