English 106 Blog

Somehow Form A Family November 10, 2009

This essay was very repetitive and bland. The author used alot of TV show references, he tied his essay together by using strong and abstract ideas.
This essay was about the destruction of the modern family due to technology. He provides a pretty good example of his own family. He told us how his family used to be a typical southern family, they were very close. However once the TV was introduced the family foundation started to break down. The sit down at the table meals started to disappear, they even stopped going to church. The message I got from this essay is that TV is like a drug it starts off small but grows to consume your life.

Spellbound October 29, 2009

Neil is a 8th grader from San Clemente, California. He lives with his brother, sister, mom, and dad. His sister was also in the spelling bee. He want’s to win because it would bring pride and honor to his self and his family. Indian people are very serious about honoring their families and this would definitely bring honor to his family. His obstacles are he lives in a big state which provides for a lot more competition. Another obstacle would be that he still has a life that he tries to maintain so he doesn’t have much time for anything. I chose this kid because his dad said something about analyzing old spelling bees and computing their mistakes, it just made me laugh. I believe Neil is going to win because of how he studies. He has the french and german teacher come in and help with those words. Also he practices more words than anybody.

I also chose Ashley. I chose her because of how young she is. Also i chose her for her mentality towards the competition. She is very cocky. She lives in DC and is very young. She wants to win because of the pride she would get. She also wants to gain a lot of confidence. Some of her biggest challenges are financial and healthcare. Her mom is struggling to make ends meet but she will do anything to see her child shine.

Chapter 12, 13, 14 October 15, 2009

Chapter 12 goes through the entire process of slaughtering. It goes into great detail about the process. Pollan helps load chickens into a crate that are going to be slaughtered. Chickens are considered to be more as profit or goods rather than an actual living organism. The chickens are actually going to be slaughtered at the farm that they were raised because it is more economical for the farmer.
This chapter really was quite disturbing and gruesome. There was a lot of detail that was really quite sickening.
Chapter 13 talks about the government involvement of farming organically and industrially. The government has very strict rules about organic farming. Industrial farming produces cheaper food and people will always go with what’s cheaper. Polyface or organic products might be better in quality however with quality comes the price.
When I read this chapter I almost felt bad for the farmer because I never eat organically, I always go with what is cheaper. It is just how I shop.
Chapter 14 Pollan leaves the farm and the farmer has given him for free a chicken, eggs, and corn. He uses these “goods” to prepare a meal for his friends in Charlottesville. He then begins to talk about how delicious the food is and the health benefits.
I really want to try an all organic meal.

Chapter 9 & 11 October 6, 2009

Chapter 9 starts out with what he calls the “Supermarket Pastoral”. Supermarket Pastoral is all the stores behind all the food that you would find at Whole Foods.

He then begins to start talking about organic foods, and how they are good for us. This sparks the topic of organic farming, which has lots of pro’s and con’s. One of the biggest pros is how healthy organic foods are. However they do have some cons like the price. They are much more expensive to grow so they do cost more. Also they have a certain amount of pesticide already inside of the plant. This leads to pesticides in the water that goes to streams.

In chapter 11 Michael Pollan visits a Polyface farm. When he is there he is supposed to help out with chores on the farm but he ends up oversleeping. So when he wakes up everyone has already started work.

This chapter also goes into the circle of life between plants and animals. There is a serious interdependence between each other. He goes on to explain how it works by the animals fertilizing the Earth, which the plants need to grow healthier and stronger. This is called stacking.

I found th stacking idea very interesting because this is a technique that could make farming much much easier.

Story Board Link October 6, 2009

http://kmadayag.wordpress.com/

Chapter 8 & 10 October 2, 2009

Chapter 8 is called All Flesh is Grass. This chapter introduces a different type of farmer, a grass farmer. It starts out with Michael Pollan working on a farm. Pollan is helping a man load bales of hale before the storm hits.

Then Michael meets up with a man named Joel Salatin. Salatin is a grass farmer and owns a hundred acre farm filled with farm animals. Salatin explains how crucial the element of grass is to running a farm. It doesn’t go to market but it does provide the animals with food.
He then goes into the human grass alliance, which is very important.

At the end the chapter he brings us back to an earlier part of the book by comparing Naylor to Salatin on Polyface farms. Pollan talks about the advantages of a polyface farm over Naylor’s farm.

Chapter 10 goes deeper in to the topic of grass in the world today. Grass farming is a somewhat new type of farming. It only came about around 1980. He shares facts about cows and how there are different types of grass. He also gives us a very interesting fact about how humans cannot get anything out of grass even though it is very beneficial to many other animals.

I would like to know how many types of grass there are and which ones cows like the best.

Variable October 2, 2009

“Less Water, More Biotech”

Scientist are now trying to help evolution along with making different varieties of corn. If they are able to accomplish this task then these reengineered plants will need less water and grow just about anywhere.

http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/auth/checkbrowser.do?ipcounter=1&cookieState=0&rand=0.2050804495693762&bhcp=1

Opinionated October 2, 2009

“Bottled Up”

Bleu is a water bottle company and they are completely green. Their bottles are made of corn and can be reused and can be composted into the soil. This completes the circle of life. Even though the company the company went green they didn’t lose a cent to do it they actually made a profit.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=13&sid=a59dafdd-

9bea-4791-a0f9-c28b55390fb8%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=mih&AN=43750573

Peer Reviewed October 2, 2009

“Genetically Engineered Corn May Harm Stream Ecosystems”

A recent study conducted by the NSF (National Academy of Sciences) has proven that the newly engineered corn produced by farmers called Bt corn is actually very dangerous. The chemical that is produced from the corn to keep bugs away from the crop is actually getting into the streams and draining into rivers. This is when it affects the fish and eventually humans that eat the fish.

http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_single.jhtml;hwwilson id=SCY2GHZYTFPHRQA3DILSFF4ADUNGIIV0

Bacardi Commercial October 1, 2009

This commercial came out in early 2006. It’s all about living life to the fullest even if you only have 24 hours to live. This sets the mood for the entire commercial.

It starts out being all dull and gloomy. They make it look that way with dark lighting, being alone in the park, and having one of the flies die. This gives a great shock to the audience watching and gets their attention.

Once they have the audience’s attention they start to make it more happy and cheerful by making it brighter and shooting at parties. This is when the commercial starts to go to faster cuts, and it also takes on more of a funny type of commercial. This part of the commercial also adds music.

The music is very fast, and upbeat. This really contributes to the new mood of the commercial.

All the people at the parties are dancing and smiling. They also add very attractive women, this grabs the men’s attention.

The fly is supposed to be your average guy who has to try everything once. He represents what all guys want to be, like the one who always gets the girl, is really lucky in poker, and two girls in a pillow fight.

Then at the very end the fly dies and a Bacardi slogan comes on that says “Live like you mean it”. Then a bottle of Bacardi comes on to finish the commercial implying that you need Bacardi to have a good time.