Class in depth study about food: investigative journalism

In my English 12 class room we watched an Oprah full eposibe Oliver's Food Revolution, and Anne Cooper on Ted Talks. All of this three eposides all were relating to the topic of food. In the Oprah a completely vegan diet was dissucsed. As voulnteers Oprah's cast decided to praticpate in a two week long only vegan diet. The reactions were varied. Some of Oprah's cast loved the vegan way and didnt see much of a diffrence in their energy throughout the day but others thought it was terrrible and all they wanted to do was basically eat a big huge steak. I thought it was intresting how much they contrasted. The second video we watched was an Oliver's Food Revolution eposide. In this eposide Oliver went into a LA school districts cafteria to try to change it to a much heathier diet. Oliver showed many suprsing stastics about the average school lunch provided in American it shocked me. He also talked about how the less ingredients in a food, the better.

Class In-Depth Study:Food Inc. and Non-Fiction Text

In the classroom, we watched a film called , Food Inc, Robert Keener reveals the truth about the way that American food can be inproperly produced. Throughout the film, Keener exposes many of the wrong doings of the American ways of getting food. In the film they showed how throughout the many decades how the ways of producing food changes. They showed live slaugher house action which to me was rather disurbing and was very hard to watch. I think the fact that i cringed away from watching that was Keener's idea. He wanted the viewers/audience to feel an emotion attached with watching his film. Another danger that was showen was possible diseases that can outbreak when unsanitary conitions are present in a food producing enviroment. At the end of the film they had many diffrent ways that consumers could help the food industry from leading down a unhealthy path. Such as buying organic and making sure you know where your food came from.


After watching Food Inc, we were able to choose a non-fiction text and I chose Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I choose chapter eight called The Most Dangerous Job. In the chapter it disucssed slaughter houses and how the danger and unsaftey is not only on the animals but is also on the workers. Meat packing industry was also talked about how in the olden days it was acceptable to have workers limbs in there. Where now there is the FDA which makes it a little safer but consumers would be supprised by what is actually in their meat. The chapter in all discussed how the meat packing industry is unfair to their workers and untrue to their cosumers.

Research Topic: Drugs

I choose the topic of drugs for my topic. The major reason why i chose this topic is becasue in this day and age drugs are used for many diffrent reasons some good and some bad. I think the topic is very intresting and can be looked at in many diffrent viewpoints. I have had people close to me who have delt with problems and postives with drug use. Such as perscription drugs they can do postives where harmfull unnatural drugs can really hurt and change a person. I think its intresting to examine the statstics behind drugs and how they affect diffrent people. I know that alot depends on how one is affected by drugs such as: gender,age,genetics and much more.
Another reason why I chose the topic of drugs was because i want to work at a nursing home when im older. It is a very unlikely site to see a elder at a nursing home who dosent take a handfull of pills throughout the day. Drugs used as medcine can be very benifical and if used wrong can be deathly. It would be intresting to look at all sides of drug use. I think that another diffrent aspect of drugs to study in detail would be the FDA. The FDA basically makes or breaks a drug. A legal one that is. I'm sure the FDA has to go through many proccess and trails to pass a drug. I think that could potenially be another field that I am intrested in.

E12 Quarter Two Wrap-Up: Critcal Approaches

The duration of quarter two of English 12 we mainly focused on the different perspectives/lenes that could be explored throughout forms of expression. We read articles, watched movies,watched documentaries and read novels. During the time we mainly focused on aspects of the social class, feminist approaches, cultures and the main way that historical events have shaped them . We had the option of choosing out of a few diffrent books that were about social class and feminist view points. I chose to read a book to read called Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. As our close-up of the quarter my class had a chance to watch one out of two movies that reflect on many of the aspects we have covered in class. We watched Water for Elephants directed by Fransics Lawrence. This film showed many if not all of the major aspects that we have covered in class. For example the feminist approach was very much there. All of the woman were for show and on display while all of the men were either running the show or some type of dirt worker. Social class to me was the most apparent throughout the film. When Jacob was going to college I considered him to be an upper- middle class citizen. Unfortunately everything fell through for Jacob, his parents were both killed in a car accident and he was left with absolutely nothing. On the train for the circus social class was very blunt. There was the end of the train which was filled with the dirty animals and the low class workers who had very bad sleeping and living conditions. There was the middle part of the train where it was the performers who were mainly the woman performers. Then there was the high part of the train which included August and all of the other men who were in control and could basically do whatever he wanted. August showed this a lot during the film when he would abuse Rosie with a pole and when he threw workers off the train and had no apparent consequences. In the matter of race there wasn't too much that was apparent to me. I'm sure during that time period when the whites were in  control there was a lot of mistreatment of the underclass race citizens it just wasn't presented in this film. Something that impressed me was how during the day the cast/workers of the circus could put on this amazing show making it look like a dream to all of these children. Where in reality it was all fake, at night their was a completely different show people were being killed off and starved and they weren't receiving money. This just really showed how during the Great Depression many people wanted to think that there was this "dream" and this circus made them believe that there was, when there really wasn't.

Blink

In the novel Blink by Malcom Gladwell I read the chapter titled The Warren Harding error:Why we all fall for tall,dark, handsom men. Throught this chapter what is talked about is how "blink" decisions meaning fast and having no time to think about can sometimes be the best decisions. In the chapter they had you play what I would call a game. It starts out by having to catagorize male or female for a certain name then it goes to job duties and work. The decisions have to be made in the blink of an eye.

I have any easy time connecing to this chapter and im sure I would the whole book if I had read every chapter. In the chapter i selected i can really relate to very much. I know for myself and many others judging looks is somthing we try not to do but no matter what your mind is going to do it wither you like it or not. When it comes to men, with only seeing someone for a breif second it's easy to prejudge everything about them such as their social class, work, relationship status and many other things. Although, some decisions can be made about men in a second some need more time.

In the T.V show Friends their is a character named Rachel Green. Rachel works at Ralph Lauren and she had been reccently promoted. With her new promotion she had to self select a assist for her many new duties.When the time came around to interivew Rachel had met many qualified contestants but one stuck out to Rachel. His name was Gaven he was tall dark and handsom but he had no qualifications. Rachel within a blink of an eye told Gaven he was hired because in that momment in time it seemd like the best option.

Predictably Irrational

In the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely I read the chapter on the influence of arrousal. Throughout this chapter the main idea was about how the choices that people make while in the arroused state or non arroused state can vary alot. Such as a survey conducted about how men rated certain activitys in the arroused state. One question was asked "Can you imgaine being attracrted to a 12- year old girl" there was a more than twice percent rate of men who would be in the arroused state.

I have many friends who have made poor decisions when they were with the opposite sex. Although some personal responsiblity is always to account for the fact that they were in the "arroused state" could have affected their decision. According the the survy alot of things that would not normally have been done in fact are done when people are under the influence of arrousal. This chapter says if you know you dont want to do somthing dont put yourself in this sort of situation becasue its hard to say know when you are in this certain state.

In the show Friends there are two ex lovers Ross and Rachel. They have alot of past history but they have determined they will no longer try for a relationship due to their past problems. One night Ross and Rachel both being under the influence of arrousal had sex. Ross and Rachel regreted this decision but they were both not their normal selves. Ross and Rachel didnt think about all of the consequences before they made their decision. Rachel later became pregant with Ross's baby from that one night of a wrong decision.

Mindset

In the book Mindset by Carol S. Dweck I read the chapter about relationships. Throughout this chapter there were alot of short stories about how diffrent mindsets can affect a relationship. There are two midsets; fixed and growth. The first two chapters of the book talked about the two mindsets and how they act together and apart. In a relationship if you have a fixed mindset that means that you most likely believe that you shouldnt have to work in a relationship everything should be just perfect,naturally.

I choose this chapter because it was what i most connected to out of all the topics. With being 17 relationships are present in my life and throughout the chapter I read alot of things that I can relate to. One of the topics in the chapter that really struck out to me is that the author said that couples dont have to agree on everything say someone with a fixed mindset may think that they do becasue personal growth isnt as important to them.

In the show Sex and The City there is a character named Charolette. Charolette meets a man named Harry. Somthing is diffrent about harry, he is Jewish. In order for Charolette to be accepted by his mother who has a fixed mindset Charolette must convert into a jew. Instead of refusing this opportunity Charollete takes this as a postive thing and goes to a church to become an offical Jew. Charolette eventually became converted to Jew she also made alot of other adjustments for Harry as he did for her . I would consider both Charolette and Harry to have a fixed mindset.