College Food Problems!

Well....the whole idea of being able to make food in an apartment is still a struggle for myself and my roommates. Everyday seems to still be a struggle on what I want to eat and what there is to eat that sounds good! As this semester goes on those problems seem to be getting much worse. I have found myself eating lots of noodles like spaghetti and noodle types of meals. I also eat these frozen chicken meals, which were good when I first started eating them, but now I'm just sick of them. I told my mom about my problem and she helped me by giving me ideas of meals I would like, but it seems like a lot of work!  Knowing that Spring Break for me starts on Thursday it is making things a tad easier because I know my parents will take me out to eat and make me good meals! Coming back from spring break will be a struggle knowing there are only a few weeks and that I will want to finish all the food we have here before summer starts. So, I guess my problem is that I should expand my food and what I eat. I just don't have time to make "fancy meals" and since my roommates all eat at different times and like different types of food it makes cooking for myself harder especially since I am not a fan of eating left overs. Plus, I a
m an extremely picky eat, which does not help my food situation much at all! Maybe if I wasn't so picky then I would not be having this sort of issue. My goal is to expand what I eat and try my best to make better meals and a variety of meals the rest of the semester until summer!

The Jungle (Chapter 27-31)

While reading the end of The Jungle I found it to be very powerful. Jurgis begins to beg for a job, but that is hard for him since the strike had just ended. He ends up being able to get a job
, which does not last long for him because he is not strong enough for the position. One part that I really liked was when he came across a women he know from Packingtown and she does not have any money with her, but she is able to give him one of Marija's address. She told him to go visit Mariha and Teta Elzbieta, which he did, but when he entered the place the police had raided it. Jurgis ends up being put in jail, but the judge let him go because he said he was just trying to visit his sister. The part that really was emotional was when she tells Jurgis that women are kidnapped and then have to work and they are not able to leave because the "madam" keeps them without any money and addicted to drugs. It just shows much Jurgis is trying to understand everything that is happening and do what is trying to do what is best for him. I think it just shows how there are people who do care about other even when they are still struggling day to day. Also, in the last chapter was really interesting because Jurgis tries to have Marija leave the prostitution, but she tries to tell him that she is unable to do that since she is addicted to morphine and will continue to be a prostitute the rest of her life.

The Jungle

When reading The Jungle  I found it to be extremely traumatizing. I had a horrible time reading this because I do not like hearing, seeing, reading anything about animals being abused! I am not a vegetarian or anything, but I feel I will be one very soon. I know people do this as a job, but honestly how can one put an animal through that. How can these people hurt and put these animals through these procedures every day and continue to do that. I saw that we are able to go to a Slaughterhouse on Friday, which I want to go, but I am not sure if I want to see what goes on there. Some questions I wonder for them would be like has working here changed you at all and what is your reason for having this job? I find that interesting, since I never see myself ever working at a Slaughter House or any of my friends because we just would not be able to do that to animals. I find the killing of any animal to be horrible. It just makes me go insane on how people can harm these animals....I really do not like it!!

Modest Proposal

This is something that will be hard for me I know, but i'll try! So,
while discussing the topics of fast food in class and how much food is reused and saved in the freezer for so long....I think something about this really does needs to change. Someone in class said that they knew that they keep hamburger meets in the freezer for months, which is so gross!! Let alone it can not possibly be healthy for people to eat, but oh no those people just keep eating from those fast food places. So....I think society needs to be aware of how these fast food places keep food for so long and then will reuse food from the day before. Some how society needs to know because it is not healthy at all!! My suggestion would be after society knows that during the day these fast food places would cook there food, but not reuse anything. Instead they would make what they think needs to me made for the last few hours and then the staff is in charge of eating the food that is left at the end of the night. So, if there were like 8 large fries left some how the staff would eat those or give them to somoene they see right away before leaving for the night. (1. I know that would be gross and 2. it would probably not make many people want to work at these fast food restaurants anymore!)

Cajas de Carton

While reading Cajas de Carton by Francisco Jimenez, it was really interesting and upsetting to me. It started out by discussing the strawberry season. In June and July is when things started to slow down because it was the end of their season. During this season they spent much time pulling the crops and putting them into boxes. When he saw all the boxes packed in the front door and knowing that they were moving to Fresno it was a hard time for him. Once he arrived he was back to the vineyard to pick the crops. Just thinking about living this type of life-style is so different than what it is like today for the majority of us. He talked about feeling dizzy because he has been packing boxes and they do not seem to get the chance to sit down and relax often, which I think is sad. During this reading they never went to school when they should be. Instead they were picking crops. Also, in today's society the majority of people do get an education through 12th  grade and then make the decision on what they want to do next. In the reading while Papa was checking the boxes the school bus came by and he got all pale and told them to go run and hide in the vineyard. He told them to that was because they did not go to school. If someone on the bus would have saw them they could have gotten in trouble for not attending school. After lunch they went back to packing boxes, while the sun would beat down on them and the bugs would be flying around all over. Just trying to think of what they had to go through day after day is truly scary to me. Being a girl and having to do that I would be completely miserable. When reading this it just shows how times have changed over the years in all different types of way. 

Guatemala

When reading about Rigoberta Menchu's life  in Guatemala I found it to be depressing because within the first paragraph she says "It's hard for me to remember everything that's happened to me in my life since there  have been many very bad times but, yes, moment of joy as well" (2). Just barely getting into the reading and reading that just made me upset. She never went to school and had to learn Spanish just by listening. I cannot imagine that because in today's society going to school is something most of the society does. Since she was unable to do so I would think she also lost many memories there. She belong to the Quiché group and practiced those customs. At least being part of something can keep her active and helps build close relationships I would think. It even maybe help her out by giving her people to talk and connect with about what she is going through. Her father was an orphan and lived a hard life. Thinking to myself I wonder what his life was like because her life is not one that any of us would want to life, which then makes us grateful for how fortunate we all are for everything we have and can experience. He lived in a village and his father died when he was a small boy leaving the family with a small patch maize. That is just so upsetting to see situations like that happen today, but even trying to put myself into that position I have no idea how I would get past anything like that. The grandmother then helped them out by finding them jobs, but she ended up giving the oldest son to a man so he would not go hungry. That just shows how even she cared about trying to provide the necessary food for them and even when it did not work she found a way to have it be better even though it is something that no one would want to have happen in today's society. Reading this memoir just made me upset because it is so sad to see what people have to go through. People still struggle like this today and I just wish there was something we could do to help everyone, but that would be so hard. The only the thing I can think of is to be grateful for what you have, who you know, and the relationships you have with people. (Even in this picture you can tell how upset and worried she looks...I could not imagine what she has gone though it really can't be easy)

Modest Proposal

While reading the "Modest Proposal" written by Jonathan Swift I found it to be extremely appalling. One thing that bothered me the most is when he was discussing about how women could not afford to feed their kids. I can not imagine some day if I have kids and not being able to provide food for them. Luckily, I was thankfully enough as a child that my parents were able to provide my brother and I with food without it being a struggle for us. While reading the article I was reflecting back on our trip to Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes and how their goal is to try their best to provide food to families and individuals that need it most. Also, while reading the article and when it was talking about other countries and how it is hard to provide food. It is still like that today there are countries out their besides us who I think struggle even more to provide food for their families and communities because they can not afford it. Even on the news and in articles there are pictures of children who are just so thin and pale looking because they can not get the proper food that they need everyday. I wish there was something we in the United States could do to help people in other places that can not afford food, but I think that is so hard for us because there are a lot of families and individuals who do struggle. It is so upsetting to think about, but I think we need to be grateful for what we have while still volunteering at places to give back to those people. 

Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes

 I looked at the Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes website....to be honest I never have heard of this place before. The first thing I did was look at "Our Vision and Mission" to get an idea of what this is about. What I really liked was their Mission which stated, "Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes will feed hungry people and engage our community in the fight to end hunger". It was nice reading that because it shows that there are people out in this world and within our community who truly do want to try and help others who are not as fortunate as we are. I went their information for students and clicked on a link their provided and saw that in 2012, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty were 11.8% and 9.5 million. That is very sad because many of us are just so thankful that we do not seem to realize that there are people out there who struggle every single day. Another statistic I found to be extremely interesting is that in 2012, 13.7% of people ages 18 to 64 (26.5 million) were in poverty compared with 9.1% of people 65 and older (3.9 million) and 21.8% of children under 18 (16.1 million).  That information is really shocking because that is a huge number for people between the ages of 18 and 64 to be in poverty. I kind of figure from ages 65 and older would be lower because by that time people have been working and have been having a source of income, but it is still upsetting the number of people that still suffer day to day. It is just really nice to see how Loaves and Fishes is a location that is their for people who need help and are able to go their for that. After reading about this website and all the support it gives to people it truly makes me want to give back and help those people that need food/support the most!

Websites: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb13-165.html
http://www.kzoolf.org
http://www.fbcmich.org/site/DocServer/Hunger_in_Michigan_2010_report.pdf?docID=1761

Article Response

While reading "Dinner with Trimalcheo" I found it to be extremly confusing to me. Having it be confusing through out most of the reading it was, also long, which was not helping me get through it and understand it any better. The part I found to be most interesting is the amount of food at these feast. It seems like there was an unlimited supply of this food. While reading this I was thinking about today's society and in today's world people still gather for meals and/or events. There is always enough food for everyone, but in the article it really sounded like there was a lot of food and all they did was continue to eat. I also like how the food is connected to Zodiac symbols and how it reflects back to having a variety of different types of food. The picture I have is something that would remind me of some types of foods that would be served at a gathering in today's world with a large amount of people, while having just the amount of food for everyone. 







This clip  I found to be very interesting. Watching it was something so different since situations like this do not happy in modern society. I also was googling different ideas from the reading online and I found this interesting website about the pig. I really enjoyed it because of the picture, which is below and also it was something I was able to understand!