Blog Entry 21 Reflection

            It is almost the end of this semester. Looking back through all my blog entries, they are like journal records about how I open my vision starting from "The Allegory of the Cave" in this English class. I feel that while I'm learning English writing, I'm also studying philosophy, and using that philosophy to think and to write. I have never had this experience before in my other writing classes. I chose blog entry 8, 13, and 15 to be considered as my best work because I put a lot of thought into those writing pieces and followed the writing structure.
            Writing online is different from writing on paper. Sometimes I feel it is a bit easier because when you spell a word wrong, it will correct you right away, and if you type fast and think fast, you will finish your essay faster than writing on paper. Writing blog entries has helped improve my writing but I'm afraid it will slow down my writing on paper if I'm not used to it. I felt that the online work was a shared experience because I could read others work online and we did many online activities to interact with others. Sometimes I read other students' online work and I got the impression that they read my blog too when they left comments on my blog.
            Overall my experience in the class, it has taught me to free my thoughts by using philosophy in my writing. I like all the assignments that we did in class because I was able to chain them together and think about how they were related to our society and affected to our lives. Through all the films that we watched in class, I discovered many problems and learned many good lessons that exist in our society. I feel that my ideas are still low compared to other students', but at least I have had a basic understanding of writing strategies. Meanwhile, there are many memorable things in this class, especially all the films that I watched. The most memorable was the interactive online activity of the Matrix. That was my first time interacting with other students. I felt excited and understood the film better through others' discussion. I will recommend students to take this class next semester because we can gain not only writing skills, but open our vision. I think in the future, most classes will be held online.
            Thank you all.

Blog Entry 20

            As Lijun Zhou explains, "Memo is going to fight for his hometown and the people like him, because some business company took away the natural sources for their own benefits." I agree with Lijun. When Memo's father was killed. Memo finally understood why his father cared about the village. In his memory, he could always see how his father threw the stone hardly into the dam's wall. He knew he needed to fight for this unfair world and this was also his father's dream. He released his anger on Rudy who killed his father. Together they succeed in breaking the dam with Rudy's jet and returned the rights to the village people. I believe people will fight for their rights if there is unfairness or if someone tries to take over their land.

Blog Entry 19

            "According to those exploiting the planet's resources to make stuff, the people living in the countries with the resources do not have value because they don't own the resources even if they've been living there for generation, they don't own the means of production and they've not buying a lot of stuff." This statement reminds me of a film I watched before, it is about Botswana which is a country in Southern Africa that has rich natural resource of diamond. It was a very poor country before, now this country's economy is getting better because of the diamonds.  American big firms hire their people to produce most of the diamond products. People can have jobs and better lives, but still can't afford to buy diamonds even though it is their own resources. The benefits have belonged to their government and those corporations and they should be responsible for this reality. So, is this reality necessary? My answer is no because people living there don't need or buy these products. The demand is for rich countries and rich people because diamonds are expensive products. Since people live in the business world and everything involves business and profits, the third world which are poor countries, sell or use their resources to make products to rich countries, to exchange for their living. Now, our planet's nature resources are dropping. As we know, we only have one planet. If all resources are gone we can no longer live in the planet. It is not right for us to continue damaging our world. Some people are doing something to protect our world, but it is not enough. We should unite and use our efforts to change the world.   

Blog Entry 18 Outsourcing Labor

http://empowerednews.net/outsourcing-by-u-s-firms-add-to-unemployment-woes/185016/

             In the picture above, hundreds of people sit in rows in front a computer with a headset on to take phone calls from around the globe. I can assume that this is an outsourcing labor firm. Our technology today makes everything more convenient, easier, and faster. Many big American firms have set their working place outside the U.S. because a lot of jobs now are through the internet. People can connect to the whole world in one place. If you are online in India, you could connect with people in the U.S. As we know, American labor cost is one of the highest in the world. Today outsourcing labor has grown larger and faster since other countries' labor are much cheaper than the U.S. Through the film of  "Sleep Dealer," we can understand why American companies like to hire Mexicans because they do hard jobs for small earnings per day. Since Mexico is a poor country, the U.S. currency is a big amount for their people. That's why so many Mexicans cross the border to U.S. They work in America so that they can support their families. Technology is also another example for outsourcing labor outside the U.S. I remember three years ago, I had a problem with the Dell computer company for a money refund since I did not receive the laptop I had ordered. I made a lot of  phone calls but all answers were always from India, causing the problem to be extended over a long period of time. Technology development has changed the whole world including our labor resources. Many companies need to make profits by reducing their costs, especially the expensive labor cost. But the problem is when companies move their working place to another countries, our nation has less jobs for our own people. That is one of the reasons why the unemployment rate continues to stay high and why we are still in a difficult economic situation.               

Blog Entry 17 Reflection Food Unit

            In this food unit section, I like how The Meatrix's maker used "The Matrix" idea to create the characters of the pig Leo and  the cow Moopheus and direct people to find the truth in the food industry. Just like Neo and Morpheus in The Matrix, they are finding the truth of the real world. It is kind of similar plot but the topics are different. Since I liked "The Matrix," I also liked "'The Meatrix" film. Because of the connection of two films, it makes me pay more attention to food. I think the maker of The Meatrix film used The Matrix as the basis for their arguments, it is because they have the same purpose to finding the truth in our world. People might not ask where their food come from because they believe all the food they eat everyday is safe and has good nutrition. By watch The Meatrix film, people can realize most of the meat they eat everyday actually comes from factory farms instead of family farms. The film tells us what actually happens to the animals in the factory farm. The possible connection the food industry has to the idea in The Matrix is that the food industry is being taken over by machines, instead of the people. It is the truth that our world now is controlled by machines even though human creates all these machines. Now, here is the truth that the factory farms have almost taken over in the food industry. Workers,who work in the factory farms everyday, are fighting with the machines since they have to keep up with the fast machines. That's how the big firms make profits: by low cost with a fast produce. So, you will expect the good quality food to be expensive but you will get the poor quality food to come in low prices.
            I think I did okay in this section, but not very well. The last CAT writing was okay, but I needed to make many corrections and put more details when I rewrote my essay. I'm afraid for the real CAT that is coming because I still need to improve a lot in my writing. The challenge I am facing now is how to follow the author's main idea to develop my essay and to make good connections. The only thing I can do now is to keep reading and writing.

Blog Entry 16 Let Them Get Fat

            Fast-food has grown widely and taken place in our nation, especially in the poor-inner-city communities. Fast -food are targeting in such areas because of customer's economic status. In "Let Them Eat Fat," Greg Critser reminds us how fast food has caused many big problems such as high calories, getting fat and less physical activities in teenage boys' and girls' daily lives. I agree with the author when she observes that fast-food not only makes kids fat, it also makes kids addicted to it when the fast food companies such as McDonald's offer the cheap "supersizing" meal.
            Accoring to the article, high calories are one of the big problems that cause kids to get fat and leads to bad health. It says, "1340 calories represent more than half of a teenager's recommended daily caloric consumption, and the added calories themselves are protein-poor but fat and carbohydrate-rich." In fact, fast food, especially supersize meals, their calories are much higher than those numbers. Since fast food restaurants like McDonald's support supersized meals for low prices and great taste, kids like to hang around in the restaurant with others after school. I often see it happening in my neighborhood too. However, kids usually don't realize that while they are enjoying their meals, they are eating all the salt, sugar, and fat. That's how kids' calories build up and cause them to gain weight. As a result, the author is right that fast food has let kids eat fat and kids who live in poor areas are affected the most.
           Another reason is that kids easily become addicted to fast food because fast food companies always use strategies that attract kids to keep coming. They always promote the food with toys for the kids, support cheap packaged meals like "supersize" meals, and sometimes even free meals. In the article, the author mentioned that ads are saying, "If we don't recommend a supersize, the supersize is free!" I'm not surprised at how kids are addicted to these supersized meals and "happy meals." My friend Lily, who is a single mother, always brings her kids to McDonald's, and she told me that her kids like to collect McDonald's toys. For her, McDonald's food is cheap and she can afford it since her income is low. However, when I met her few days ago, she told me that her doctor said her cholesterol is too high now and she needs to take medicine. Now she said she is worried about her kids' health since they go to McDonald's so often. She always thought that fatter kids are better and she liked her kids fat. Kids are young and if they spend most of the time eating at fast food restaurants, it will become a habit they may not be able to get rid of since they have been going for so long.
           Furthermore, the author also states that " Completing this jumbo dietetic horror is the fact that the east availability of such huge meals arrives in the same years in which physical activity among teenage boys and girls drops by about half." In our society, we always see lots of fat kids on the street, especially when you walk around in the poor communities. When kids get fat, they usually become lazier. I have heard some fat kids saying that they don't want to join sport teams because they get tired easily. This is because they need to use a lot of energy to carry their weight. Otherwise, a lot their energy goes toward digesting food, making them feel tired too.
          Fast food has nothing good for kids since it causes so many health problems. But fast food companies' business keeps growing. Because they offer cheap food, they like to target their market at the poor-inner-city communities. So, it is not fair for the families of low economic status whose kids have more health problems then other kids. I believe the author has sent us a massage to consider our kids' eating habits while they grow up in today's busy society.
       

Blog Entry 15 Food Culture

          Over the past two decades, people's eating habits have changed since the fast food culture developed and extended all over the world. In "The Meatrix" film, the maker shows us how the big corporation took place and controlled most of the animal farming industries in America. Since the fast growing businesses need a tremendous amount of meat supply in the market every day, they have changed the natural way to produce their unlimited meat supplies. People might not realize that the food culture has changed since they are busy all the time and enjoy eating out. I deem that we are changing ourselves by following the change of the food industry, and are forgetting the natural way of eating.
           In the old days, people used to cook with fresh natural food. I remember when I was a kid in China, my mom used to bring me with her to buy food. There are many small food markets in my hometown; people there only sold fresh food like raw meat and vegetables. When we got back home, I would give my mom a little help with washing the vegetables. Then I would watch my mom cook. When I first came to America, I felt so excited when I shopped at the supermarket because there were no supermarkets in my hometown. Now, supermarkets are everywhere in China. Shopping at the supermarket is very easy and convenience because everything is either in cans or in boxes, you just pick what you want. Also, a lot of foods are ready to eat, you can just put the ready food into a microwave, few minutes later, your lunch or your dinner is ready on the table. See how easy for people to forget about the fresh food since those can and box foods are convenient to buy, easy and ready to cook, and the most important reason is save time.
          In the modern day, people have changed the way they eat. Preparing a dinner at home takes a lot of time. First, you need to shop for the materials, then prepare and wash them, and finally cook. After dinner, you need to do the last part by washing the dishes and cookware. Today, most people are busy at work and are tired to cook. So, eating out becomes people's habits. Not so many people can afford to eat in an expensive restaurant. However, since fast food restaurants supply cheaper food and are open everywhere for long hours, people like to eat there all the time. People might not realize when they enjoy their meal, that they are eating all the salt, sugar and fat. I watched a film called "Supersize Me" where a guy who ate McDonald's for a month almost died. This is a warning for everyone. We all have the choice to either eat fresh, natural food or junk food.
          With the growth of the fast food culture, America has become the fattest nation in the world. For me, I have combined both the Chinese and American food culture in my life. Most of the time I like to cook at home, but sometimes I like to enjoy eating out in different restaurants including fast food restaurants. I believe we have to realize that what we are eating now is not the natural way anymore. "The Meatrix" shows us the truth. We know that we are all involved in "the meatrix" world, but it is not too late to make a change.