HW 21 thinking partners

Sarah's blog comment:

Your 10 thoughts and insights from the talk were very similar to mine if not the same, so I agree with the ideas you chose to put down. Your insights about how Erik continuing his art work till his late stages of illness were very powerful, I agree with your ideas and think you got into depth and really focused on how he didn't let his illness stop him from doing things he enjoyed. Your last couple of questions confused me a bit and I didn't see how they connected, next time you can possibly explain your question and how it connects. Other then that I'm looking forward to your next post.

Megumi's blog comment:

Your 9 insights from the speaker were powerful and you went into depth with each one which made your blog powerful. Your connection to your grandfather in the first paragraph was a great way to connect everything together and it really showed how much Beth's words affected you. One thing I would say to do is to proof read because I saw a couple of gramatical and spelling mistakes. Other then that i look forward to reading your other post.

Jay's blog comment:

The way you chose to list your insights and experiences was creative. unlike other blogs you intertwined the insights into your paragraphs and explained them with depth and thought. I believe if you connected your thoughts to yourself in more depth your pst could have been more powerful. other then that i really enjoyed reading your work and I look forward to reading more.

HW 21 excerpt

Insights:

1. Never mentioned death or dying

2. Erik was mostly home with the kids instead, while Beth worked. (Traditional gender roles switched)

3. Didn't stop making art

4. When Erik started feeling sick he did not go straight to the doctors, he waited some time. Beth stated this was one because of health care/ money issues but also because as a male her husband was stubborn

5. Family really helped Beth out with day to day things such as laundry, so she could spend more quality time with Erik

6. Erik and Beth wanted people to look at Erik as a regular person not a person with cancer

7. Once Erik passed on there was a stillness and feeling in the room that she couldn't describe

8. Although Beth wasn't a Buddhist she found comfort in a Buddhist, who explained what to expect once Erik was ready to pass on

After hearing Beth's story I was very touched, not touched as in "aw I miss someone who left my life" but touched in the way were I wanted to let everyone know I appreciated them even if I picked on them ever so often. Hearing Beth talk about how her husband and her never mentioned death or dying stunned me. I was actually quit jealous, Erik was able to live the rest of his life without really thinking about his death and just enjoying the time he had left with his family and doing "regular" things. Now that I think about it if people didn't have to worry about there death and were always surrounded by people who loved them, there passing would be more peaceful an a lot more relaxing (minus the pain factor depending on the persons illness) Like my mother always tells me "some things are better left unsaid" and I agree this statement fits perfectly with how Beth and Erik treated not mentioning death or dying during Erik's different stages of kidney cancer.

When Beth first started her talk she mentioned that since she was good with computers, she was the one who went to work everyday and earned the larger paycheck. This meant that Erik stayed home with the kids. I found this to be powerful because the "normal" thing is for the guy to work and the women usually stays home and raises the kids, but to hear that the roles were switched gave me some hope that "normal", might not be so normal after all.

Some questions that popped into my head when listening to Beth speak was why did she choose to speak to a Buddhist? Why not a priest or a Rabbi? Another question was how did Erik's illness affect the rest of the family? Such as any of his brothers or sisters, or even her sisters or brothers? She only talked about how Erik's illness and death affected her and her two sons, not those who he had encounters with. My last question was how was she able to hold her composure (tears) while talking to all four classes about her husbands death? I would personally be in tears and unable to hold myself together and just brake down. Having Beth come in and talk to our class really affected the way I act towards people, although its only been a day I am more grateful for the people in my life and I've told all my closest friends that I enjoy there company and would miss them dearly if they ever went anywhere.

HW 19

Me:"Are you afraid of death?"

Mom:

I use to be but as the years go by I become more comfortable with the fact that I too will pass away. The more you understand, the more you appreciate the gift of life and that alone can make me become afraid all over again....

Me: What about death scares you the most?"

Mom: It would be the pain that often comes with dying and will my caregivers know when enough is enough.

Me:"Do you think grandma appreciated her illness?"

Mom: In the earlier stages of her illness, I think your beloved grandma was a bit angry about what was happening to her mind but she was never angry at others around her because of her confusion. She eventualy accepted her lot, relied on and enjoyed her caregivers, continued to adore her family and slipped into being totally present or living completely in the moment which many healthy humans aspire to do.

Me:"Am I in your will"

Mom: Yes, and Mary Ann and I have provided for you in a way that will take care of you if you are still a minor...under 21....so that you can get a great start in life with a solid, meaningful education. Because the economy has taken a turn for the worse and may take a long time to rebound....later on there may not be a lot of money for you to inherit....so my advice is to be wise about how you manage your financial affairs...and if you do inherit....it will be a nice surprise.

Me:"If you could choose how you die, how would you choose to die?"

Mom: Peacefully without horrible pain and with the opportunity to have quality time with my closest family members including our pets.

Me:"Did your family discuss death with you when you were younger?"

Mom: Yes in a meaningful way and perhaps that is why I'm not "deathly afraid of dying".

Me: "Did you teach me about death and illness the way your mom taught you?"

Mom: I've been trying to share my beliefs with you so that you can understand that death is a part of life....and we are all spiritual beings having a human encounter and when this human encounter has been completed as we die, we will return to where we belong....

After looking over my mothers answer, I was really surprised by her responses. We never really talked about death before so hearing about her thoughts on it actually inspired me. When I asked my mom how she would wish to die, she mentioned the normal regurgitated answer, "in a peaceful and painless way." What caught me off guard was she added shed like her pets to be with her in her final days. I never realized how much she appreciated and adored the cats so it was nice to see another side of her.

Hearing my mom say she's no longer scared of death but that realizing how much she appreciates life could scare her again it kind of confused me, how could realizing how much you appreciate life scare you. I took a pause and thought... wait that really does make sense, if I'm having the time of my life and realize that I could die at any moment of course that would scare me. I never thought about death in that way and when I'm having a great time I tend not to really think about my life ending. I personally think that's a good quality but anyone could disagree.

I like how my mom is very open about her thoughts and not afraid to talk about such a touchy topic. Hearing that her family was very open death and illness explains why death isn't such a soft topic for my family. When my grandmother passed away we never really talked about her being gone or about how she passed away. We only talked about all the good times and tried to cover the fact she was really gone. Now I don't disagree with this method it actually makes my mother and I miss her less but the pain of not seeing her is still there.

Interviewing my mom actually brought us closer and the tension about my grandmothers death is now less, we have a better understanding of each other and our personal views. After interviewing my mom we went on to talk about religion and if we believed in heaven and hell etc. This assignment actually impacted my life more then I thought it would.

Hw 18

Thanksgiving morning my family and I were up around 9 and started eating food at 11. By the time the actual thanksgiving dinner was ready most of us were full. My two elderly aunts came to dinner and as they were eating I noticed that my aunts arthritis in her hand really effected the way she held her fork. She barley had a grip on it and her food kept falling off, it made me sad inside but I just got her a bigger fork and for the moment it helped. Later that night she said her hearing aid was acting up and she wanted to go home. I tried putting myself in her shoes and I just couldn't picture it. After dropping my aunt home I tried driving with the music really low, so I could try and feel what she was feeling and I got really annoyed really quickly because I knew music was playing but I couldn't make out exactly what was being said.

After paying attention to my aunt's disabilities I was very grateful for my good health and my parents health. Other then feeling sad, I felt overly stuffed and after vacuuming in all of my food I sat on the couch with my moms and watched football. The dishes stayed on the table until 1 in the morning and everyone had at least 2 helpings of pumpkin and apple pie. Laziness definitely kicked in and no one wanted to do anything. During dinner i brought up how I was getting tired from all the food and one of my moms brought up an interesting fact, she said that there's a chemical in turkey that actually makes people tired. Now I haven't checked if this was exactly true but it made some kind of sense.

If thanksgiving wasn't made to be a holiday were a lot of eating is done, I doubt people would use thanksgiving as an excuse to eat so much. My mother made so much food I have left overs for at least a week and a half, and everyone knows that thanksgiving food is probably not the healthiest food out there. So to hear people complain about how fat and unhealthy they feel after thanksgiving is extremely annoying. Thanksgiving is suppose to be about giving thanks to your loved ones and enjoying all the good in your life, not to complain about how fat you feel because of how much YOU decided to eat.

Growing up death was never an issues for me, It didn't scare me and It didn't really affect me. During sophomore year my grandmother ended up in the hospital, shortly after she passed away. I feel that hospitals just make everything 10 times sadder and 100 times harder (for coping reasons). They have an odd smell, and odd sounds (personally the beeping noise on the life monitor freaks me out). Growing up I always thought that once someone went to the hospital they weren't going to come back. Of course I was wrong but no one ever explained to me what hospitals were.

It blows my mind how a simple cold can turn into bronchitis or how making love with someone who has AIDS and be transferred. If we know about all these problems why hasn't someone found a cure? Technology is so advanced that it should be easy by know. In my family illness is not really talked about, for instance another one of my grandmothers has cancer and diabetes, I can count on one hand how many times we have talked about it. I see how that could be a good thing, that we don't worry about it and just try to savior the good times but its something that could potentially and probably will kill her, and I'd personally would like to know what exactly it is that is inside of her.

Its interesting to see how most people are afraid to take about death and illness and try to hide from it, when in reality it effects everyone and you can't run from it. I feel that if people were more open to discuss certain topics we wouldn't be scared once it came into our life. Illness is a great way to appreciate the little things in life and to not take people for granted, it just sucks that that is the way some people have to learn.

Disability is a illness I see almost everyday, and taking pit on them is something I don't do. Instead I try to treat them like any other person and look at them for who they are inside not there physical appearance. One of my friends mother is blind and she is one of the most intelligent people I know. Disabilities is just another aspect in life that i feel makes someone stronger, physically and mentally, and we can all learn from them.

hw 11

I decided to do two experiments. 1 being trying different types of tofu and not eating no meat for 2 meals, and the 2nd being an activist.

I went to this Japanese market called JAZ mart and tried different types of tofu. I started with normal tofu which my mother makes ever so often and I enjoyed the taste. I then found tofu that supposedly tasted like shrimp. I made it and shrimp is one of the many things I didn't taste. I found the shrimp tofu to be very bland and have more of a chemical taste then anything. That chemical taste could have simple been me cooking the tofu wrong. I was on a hunt to find tofu that tasted like chicken, I made my way to west 4th and found another JAZ mart and to my surprise the famous tofu chicken was found. This time I asked my mother to cook it and when i tasted it the chemical taste did not exists, but neither did a chicken taste. Although it didn't hold the full taste and consistency of chicken it wasn't that horrible.

On Thursday i tried to have a meat free lunch and dinner, and without even thinking about it my mother asked if I would like a sandwich and i said yes. It shocked me how even after finding out about all the qualities of how certain meat is taken care of I was so easy to say yes to a ham and cheese sandwich without even thinking about asking my mom where the meat was from. Friday was more productive, I had pizza for lunch and pasta for dinner. Although I was still hungry after I ate, (both meals) it felt nice to know I didn't eat another animal. I'd like to change my eating habits and have less meat but still maintain all the nutrients I need.

Ally gave me and a few others a brilliant idea one day in the computer lab, she said we should get flyer's and put pictures of slaughter houses on them, then write quotes on them informing our community of how fast food meat is taken care of. Although we didn't do this as a group I decided to print a few photos out and write sayings across the meat, such as E Coil, death, and feces. I hung them up on the sliding glass doors of the Gristides by my house and in my elevators. I was surprised when I saw the flyer's stayed up a whole night in my elevators before people started complaining about the disgusting images. I was unable to go back and visit the Gristedes but I'm pretty sure management ripped them down right away.

This project changed my views completely, I respect people who go out of there way to advocate for things they believe in, I would like to start paying them more attention and contributing to my community more.

Hw 12 Outline

Thesis:

The corporations profiting from dominant social practices in the U.S. hide the industrial atrocities involved in production from the consumer.

Supporting claim 1: Truth behind the counters of fast food franchises

Evidence 1: Slaughter houses and there affects on the meat and the way the chickens are raised and killed. A statement made from the movie we watched in class is going to be used as the evidence.

Evidence 2: The risk slaughter house workers take in order to satisfy customers "Indeed, the rate of these cumulative trauma injuries in the meatpacking industry is far higher than the rate in any other American industry." Page 173 "They used me to the point where i had no more body parts left to give." Page 190

Evidence 3: The kids who died because of infected meat "She was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve, suffered terrible pain, had three heart attacks, and died in her mother's arms on December 28, 1992. She was six years old." Page 199

Supporting claim 2: Icons are used to distract customers from the truth

Evidence 1: Ronald McDonald is used to attract the kids http://marketingtransformationforum.com/mtf/marketing-news/ronald-mcdonald-time-call-it-day

Evidence 2: Happy meals and the toys that come with them A "Happy Meal" is a meal specifically marketed for children, sold at the fast-food chain McDonald's since June 1979. A toyis typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a small box or paper bag with the McDonald's logo

Evidence 3: Associating eating Burger King with being/ feeling like a king afterwards (totally not true) My evidence for this will be one of the burger king commercials.

Works cited:

Fast Food Nation

Wikipedia

Marketing transformation forum