Final Food Paper

Ever since the start of evolution the food has been an important aspect in the lives of species everywhere. Food has influenced different varieties of cultures and religious all over the world. The way one eats is also effected by efficiency. Most people eat what is most convenient for them, easy to make, and saves time. They just want to be satisfied and get the hunger issue over with fast. These days all the products that we eat don't really stress enough how bad they can be for someone.
Many years ago people would fend for themselves and not rely on machinery to assist them with the food they needed. Farmers had to grow, hand pick, raise, and kill the animals for food all by themselves. They're were no hazardous chemicals like pestisides being sprayed as well. It was all pretty "natural". Now we depend on big tractors to pick the food for us, machines to assemble the food into plastic and big trucks to distribute. All these things run on fossil fuels that hard the enviorment. It may be efficient, but the amount of pollution that the machinery releases is harmful.
The second semester of class we had focused on the food unit. Topics like how our food is produced or even how it is being picked, who pick our food, how we shop, what we eat, how we cook it, why we eat it, where bought it from, etc. Many of us never really paid as much attention to what we ate and whether or not it was really good for us. Keeping a journal of what we consumed and what was stored in our refrigerators at home helped us get the basic idea of how the food we ate affected our lives. I knew that the food in my refrigarator was a mix of good and bad. My family didn't really focus on whether or not its healthy, it was the basic fact that what we consumed revolved around my culture and what tasted good.
My family goes food shopping a lot. Mostely because there is 5 people and a dog living in the household but also because 3 of us are teens having cravings all the time. Every time we go food shopping, usually we buy a lot of fruits and vagtables, alot of bread, rolls, bagels, meat, potatoes, dairy and cold cuts. We don't really get a lot to drink just a few packs of water and the occasional juice. We conume alot of poultry. (chicken, streak, pork, beef, etc) The food I eat at home is never the "easy to make" stuff. It's always made from stratch, from recipes that have been passed down from generations. I wouldn't say my family dosen't eat healthy because I think it is, maybe the sound of it dosen't sound so good, but what it consists of and the ingridents added are. I think the way people eat now, is effected by the way they were raised and what they're parents fed them growing up.

Respose to Pollan

I agree with Pollan's argument about our food culture. We are a counntry made of many different cultures and you can see this through the different variety of foods present. Many people don't even know what to eat anymore because they are being told what is good or bad for them. We seem to care so much about appearances, and always trying to follow and abide by this on going idea of perfection and what one has to do to become it. People are so concerend with what others will think of them that they listen to people's advice to tell them how, what, and when they should eat, such people as nutritionists. My family hasn't really paid attention to eating healthy at all. It's not a concern to people in Poland (and those who grew up there) Polish people tend to choose taste over healthiness. All the meals are pretty heavy and as long as they taste good that's all there is to talk about. These days my mom has been trying to lose weight for a while now because for some reason everyone in my family is on a diet now so she feels like she had to go on one as well to fit in. But I have noticed she doesn't really change her style of eating or what she eats. She still eats the traditonal Polish meals..maybe smaller portions of them but still the same food. It's hard to give up since it's what she had grown up eating her whole life. I would say it's pretty hard changing eating patterns.
I don't think experts are always right about what they're opinion of what's healthy and what's not is. I feel like everyone is different, everyone's bodies are different they're metabolizms are different etc. I think people themselves know whats good for them and whats not, it's just up to them whether they want to eat it or not. Not everyone thinks about how it will effect they're bodies and some peope think about it too much. I think people who are athletic can eat whatever they feel will satisfy them. They need the engery to be able to move. I know that at lunch I would prefer eating a larger meal one that will fill me up because in the afternoon I'll need that food to keep me going through a 90 min soccer game.

Food

Typically my mother is the one who does the grocery shopping in the family. I am usually the one that goes with her because when she goes she gets too much for her to carry on her own. the foods that we eat require many different ingredients so we must always have everything at the house even if we dont plan on useing it at the time. When we first come into the grocery store we always go straight to the vegatables/ fruit section because thats whats always in front of us as soon as we walk in. My mother will get 6 out of lets say 10 of the vegtables present. Everyone in my family enjoys eating fruits on a daily basis so we tend to run out alot. Vegatables are a nessesity in the soups that my mom makes. She will take several different vegatbles and combine them together to produce a final flavor. I would say mostly all of the foods that I eat at home are healthy..but they aren't really made healthy. Polish food consists of large heavy filling meals. Usually there is always soup before the actual dinner. So when your done eating everything your pretty full and don't really want to eat anything after that. The meal itself is usually a certain type of meat, whether its chicken, beef, pork, etc. Then with that there's ALWAYS pototoes..usually mashed or baked with either cabbage or a side salad or sautyed vegatables. So your getting alot of protein and vitamins...but in a not so healthy way because they calories add up. It's not really just how my family eats its how all polish people eat. All mothers were raised to pretty much cook the same meals so then after time when the daughters get old enough the mothers or grandmothers teach them to cook and the recipes are just passed on through generations. I've been taught to eat all kinds of foods. I didn't really experiment eating other foods until I was about 13 years old. There was always the take out chinese or pizza...but as to going out to dinner to get real spanish food or ethnic food..it was never really an option. My parents fed me everything when I was little thats why i think I have gotten used to the foods and I don't really fuss about not liking something because I have developed to liking many things as I got older.

May Day

May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by the unions and socialist groups.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day
I think may day should be acknowelded as a holiday in the United States. If it was and is a holiday celebrated by people in different parts of the world it must be signifiant to people. People work they're whole lives so I think it would be nice to celebrate it. May Day is a holiday celebrating the struggles and achievements of the working class. May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. Although May Day received its inspiration from the United States,(which is why it should be celebrating here) the U.S. Congress designated May 1 as "Loyalty Day" in 1958 due to the day's perceived appropriation by the Soviet Union. Alternatively Labor Day takes place on the first Monday in September in the United States.MayDay has kind of been neglected and forgotten by our country, and celebrated around us as a day for those whom work hard to keep a country working. May Day is a historic day and it should be aknowledged rather than been replaced by labor day.

Food Diary

Within the 24 hrs i have eaten a sandwitch with cheese, ham lettuce, tomato, on a roll. I made it myself when I got home from my soccer game. I had water with my sandwitch, and 3 cookies. I sat in the kitchen at the table and watched tv at the same time. I felt satisfied because I was exhausted after the game and it gave me the energy back. The next day I had nothing for breakfast, and for lunch I had spanish food (dominican chicken with black beans and yellow rice) I went to lunch with my close friends so iI enjoyed the company, and since there was no available seats we took the food back to school and ate upstairs. I had iced tea with the meal and everyone was conversating the whole time. Later that night, for dinner my father had make grilled chicken with mixed spices and salad so it was pretty good. I felt healthy eating it as well so i didn't feel as gulity eating it as usual. I ate dinner with my brother and sister at the table watching tv and conversating at the same time.

Food Question

Q: Why does everything revolve around food?


Because it is the center of our diets and our social lives. Think about it, without food, we would die from lack of nutrition. And, our social activities (like barbecues, movies, dinner dates) wouldn't be as fun. You have to have food!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090415134327AAxeW1i

Fridgee

milk (organic)
fruits -(apples, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, bananas, mango, lemons, limes)
tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers (red and green)
eggs (organic)
bread (whole wheat, white, and rye)
onions
butter
margarine
cream cheese
cottage cheese
sour cream
orange juice
apple juice
iced tea
water
beer
salad dressing
mustard
ketchup
jam
BBQ sauce
mayo
cold cuts(cheese's & poultry)
watermelon
bacon
etc..

I live with 5 people so having alot of food in the refrigarator is a must, we tend to run low all the time. Both my mom and dad love to cook. My mother tends to stick with the traditional polish meals that involve a lot different foods being combined where as my father likes to experiment and try different things so everything needs to be in the fridge at all times. I try to eat at home as much as possible because it's healthier, but I'm usually not home so i tend to miss meals. Being from Europe food is very meaningful to us. It's basically what brings people together and allows people to sit down together an enjoy eating and it just makes everyone happy i guess.

list shows about food, your relation to food, our culture's food ways, etc.

breakk

Please pay attention to your emotions over this break. At what points do you feel emotionally healthiest?

The break was definatly something i needed. School was too stressful and the bad was piling up. My break felt the most healthy when i spent time with family, especially for the holidays. Family from all over got together and spent the whole week together catching up and just having fun. I also got the chance to sleep in. I would go to sleep really late at night because I would spend time with friends outside enjoying the warm weather. The time that break seemed the least healthy was when i had to spend long hours at work. Since i work at a pharmacy things are very strict and kept together, which means no sitting down, no breaks and every moment spent at work must be spent doing something productive. My emotional health is a lot better I have been going through a lot emotionally but that has all passed and everything seems to be going pretty good. I like to do whatever i can to distract myself from whatever is making me feel a negative way whether its listening to music or talking to someone about it or going outside either to shop or play soccer, doing things that make me happy basically. I don't think being emotionally happy is the same things as being constantly happy because you can be happy physically or spiritually etc. it dosen't all depend on emotions.

Reasearch

5. About how many old people are on antidepressants?
7. How many old people live in poverty?
10. What is the suicide rate for old people?
12. How/on what do they spend their money?
14. Are they sexually active?


Depression is common in elderly people. Old people are at greater risk of developing adverse events while taking any medication. Its symptoms include chronic worry and anxiety and other problems, such as muscle tension, sleep disturbance and fatigue.As many as 7.3 percent of older people suffer from anxiety, and the percent is even higher among those receiving medical care. Social inferiority, isolation, physical weakness and vulnerability, all of which form part of the experience of poverty combine for many older people to make old age itself a form of social exclusion. Instead of achronological definition, old age is defined in many societies as a state of dependence and incapacity.Older people in poverty themselves tend to sharea view of ageing as incapacity. A commondimension of older people's poverty is a sense of uselessness and low self esteem,related to their perceived inability to participate in family and social life. "Between 1997 and 2006, the number of people living in severe poverty – defined as living on less than 40% of median population income – increased by 600,000. The poorest quarter of pensioner households saw their incomes rise by less than 1% last year, well below inflation. The poorest single pensioners saw their real incomes drop by 4%." The highest suicide rates of any age group occur among persons aged 65 years and older. There is an average of one suicide among the elderly every 90 minutes. In 1998, suicide ranked as the sixteenth leading cause of death among those aged 65 years and older and accounted for 5803 deaths among this age group in the U.S. Risk factors for suicide among older persons differ from those among the young. In addition to a higher prevalence of depression, older persons are more socially isolated and more frequently use highly lethal methods. They also make fewer attempts per completed suicide, have a higher-male-to-female ratio than other groups, have often visited a health-care provider before their suicide, and have more physical illnesses. Most old people spend their money on healthcare. They are retired so they are lving off social security, and the money they spend is just used on housing, haathcare such as medicine, insurance, and hospital/doctoral visits. Other than that its just on food,travel and clothing.Most Americans remain sexually active into their 60s, and nearly half continue to have sex regularly into their early 70s, researchers are reporting today as a result of the most comprehensive national survey to date of sexual behavior among older adults. But many older people also report struggling with sexual problems, like reduced desire and erectile difficulties. With more than 3,000 Americans, 57 to 85 years old, who gave detailed descriptions of their sexual activities.The National Institutes of Health, found that 84 percent of men from 57 to 64 reported having had some sexual contact with another person in the last year, compared with 62 percent of women in the same age group. Those figures dwindled to 38 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in people 75 and older. Among those adults who were sexually active, about two-thirds had sex at least twice a month into their 70s, and more than half continued at that pace into their 80s.



http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/318/7199/1640
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/01/20/antidepressant-eases-anxiety-in-older-adults.html
http://www.thematuremarket.com/50_plus_marketing/millions_elderly_people_live_in_poverty-10451-5.html
http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/44637.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/us/23sex.html

15 (absent)

1. Do they ever think about death?
2. How do they feel being old?
3. Do old people make up most of the world's population?
4. Do they live their lives more spontaneously or planned?
5. About how many old people are on antidepressants?
6. How many are left without families caring/checking up on them?
7. How many old people live in poverty?
8. What is it like living in a nursing home?
9. How many people are actually active in their community?
10. What is the suicide rate for old people?
11. How many old people suffer from life threatening diseases?
12. How/on what do they spend their money?
13. What do they do in their free time?
14. Are they sexually active?
15. Do they have people to speak to?

Old People

I love old people. I think they are wise and intelligent. The things they say are usually very interesting, thing you don't really hear from anyone else. I work in a Pharmacy in Brooklyn, so i have a lot of interactions with old people. I see them every other day for several hours all speaking either Polish, English or Spanish. When you help them with something they get this joyful look of gratitude on their faces. After picking up their medications and making their way up to the register to check out, all they want to do is talk. They tell you their life story or what happened yesterday or whether or not they are in pain today. I'm not always in the mood to socialize but I feel like they need someone to talk to, so I become their target of torture. When old people walk into the pharmacy they always smile no matter what mood they're in. Even if they are in scorching pain they will still be nice to you and respect you no matter what age you are. I noticed it depends on one thing, if you are nice to them, they are nice to you.
I also see my grandparents quite often. It is said that your grandparents love you more than your actual parents. I don't know if i agree with that but sometimes it seems that way. If I do something bad, they are understanding and they won't yell. They try to teach me a lesson about it. To them, life isn't about punishment and arguments and grief, it's about what you have to do to make it better. I feel like everything my grandparents say is true. It's because they have lived so long and already gone through the problems and situations I have in life. Many times I don't believe what they say or won't take the advice they give me because I feel like my scenario is different and they just don't understand, but I always catch myself going back to what they said and accepting it. Every time I visit them or they visit me there is a sense of ease and relaxation. Everything is good and tensionless. I think they feel the same way about me about it, because it gives them a chance to talk to me and find out what's going on in life and how they can be of help.

Big Paper

When people ask themselves what is really the true meaning of life, they usually don't always have an answer. Everyone has a different opinion on how to live a good and meaningful life, and those who have no idea, turn to the people and the society around them for answers. People in today's world are so blinded by corporate messages that they can't even realize the true meaning of they're own lives.
The most common thing people turn toward is happiness. If there's no happiness then life isn't really meaningful. Many would say living a good life is being able to enjoy it in whatever way makes one happy. These thoughts are influenced by both folk and corpoate culture. They both control people in a way that people tend to lose the idea of what life is really about and leaves them uncertain of what the real meaning truly is. This uncertainty has people wondering and it can all be blamed on corporate messages.

Dominant Messages:
The dominant corporate culture is created by people working for companies that always fill poeple's heads with things they would "like" to hear in order to bring forth happiness, fit in, and be accepted by society. Over time, being exposed to more and more of these corporate messages brainwashes people's real views on how to live a good and meaningful life. These people begin to relay on these messages so much that it shapes and dominates they're lives into living there lives based on what corporate companies say you should. Media as always had a big impact on people. Media always makes if sound like they have an asnwer for everyting, that they have a resoulation to any problem one may have.
The companies create advertisements everywhere. If its online, they appear in every corner of the screen, and if they're not on the page, they're popping up in your face. Almsot every website attemps to tell people how to live a good and meaningful life. The internet isn't not the only way the media tries to take control of peoples heads. There's t.v shoes,commercials, newspaper ads/articles, magazines,flyers that people hand out in the street, posters you see on the train, streets, buses etc. Where ever one will go there will always be something or someone telling them how to live a good life, and what they need to do to make that happen. People see these celebrities on television driving hot new cars, flaunting their diamonds, giving tours of their cribs etc. and it puts a idea in their head that that's whats cool. Living in a big mansions with being rich, going on multi million dollar shopping sprees is what many people would say is a good life. They think having all that will bring happiness because they wouldn't have any problems. The dominant corporate perspective on living a good meaningful life are basically trying to teach people how to upgrade themselves and to be better in some way. For example being good looking even though you mayb already be beautiful but they will always find a way to make you think otherwise and find the smallest flaws just to make you change the way you are. In school children learn "always be yourself" "don't change who you are" but as these kids grow older they are having all this media that they can now understand and be influenced by thrown at them.

Support #1
There are so many contradictory messages. People saying money and fame doesn't always bring happiness, but by listening to songs by world known artists such as Kanye West and Rihanna, that's not quite the message. In Kanye's song "The Good Life" he mentions:
"So I roll through good
Y'all pop the trunk, I pop the hood, Ferrari
And if they hate then let 'em hate...and watch the money pile up, the good life"..."having' money's the everything that having' it is I was splurging' on trizz
But when I get my card back activated I'm back to Vegas cause I always had a passion for flashing' before I had it I close my eyes and imagine, the good life".
What Kanye is telling us here is that in order to have a good life, it is necessary to have materialistic things,being rich, having a expensive car, having a credit card with tons of money on it to go to Vegas and spend it. At the end when he says " before I had it i close my eyes and imagine, the good life." So basically he didn't have what he has now, tons of fans, and being loaded with money and he is telling us that the good life is to be famous, and hes livin' the life. Another artist that people adore, Rihanna. Her top of the charts single: "Live Your Life" Rihanna says:
"You're gonna be a shining star, and fancy cars, fancy car-ars and then you'll see, you're gonna go far cause everyone knows, who you are-are"..."Cause I'm a paper chaser. Just living my life."..."Come walk in my shoes and see the way I'm living if you really want to got my mind on my money"...'So keep on getting your paper and keep on climbing look in the mirror and keep on shining." Rihanna is basically saying being famous is a good thing and then when you have money and extravagent cars and you go after the money and look good are the same time is what a good life is.

Support #2
Another way that corpoarte messages brainwash people into thinking that what they say and do for you can make you a happier person, is by adversiting. You go to the local store and pick up the most recent magazine. People enjoy reading these magazines because they give people the advice they want to hear. For example, of someone has acne, there will always be something in the magazine or something on televsion what is promoting Proactive. It's not ordinary people advertising this product. It is always a celebrity, for some reason the media thinks that people will buy the product because Jessica Simpson is talking about how the cream made her face all better and how amazing her life is now and how happy she is to have beautiful skin. What is stupid about that is that she a actress. She has professional make up artists that take care of her skin for her. But everyone is supposed to buy the product because Jessica Simpson is pretty female that everyone wants to look like. All those television commercials about losing weight how it will make you look more attractive by taking a certain diet pill or getting lypo suction, will make you happy. They say it in a way that pulls you into wanting it, if one knows he or she is over weight the commercial gives them hope and motivation "how that women went from a size 14 to a size 8 it really works".

MLK

For Martin Luther King Day I didn't really hear anything about the holiday. I don't recall the t.v even being on that day. Watching things comemorating him is a bit repetative to me. We already know what happend to him and we know about his famous "I have a dream speech". I feel like if the media found different ways of celebrating the life if MlK then they should be a bit more creative then to just run shows and biographical movies about him because people have already seen it several time and they just aren't as interested in it. I feel like it's a important holiday in America since it's they day celebrating the life of a African American that put an end to segregation and fought for equality amoung blacks and whites so I think it's a positive thing that his Birthday was made into a holiday.

In class what had grabbed my attention is when Andy talked about how people don't really know MLK for what he really was, a socialist and the fact that he had assosiations with prostitutes. I felt like that was an interesting point that maybe people are covering parts of his life up to make him a good figure for people. MLK is acknowledged as "postage stamp saint" he today is treated like a saint to all people that he put in end to racial inequality and that he risked his life for black ansd whites to be able to drink from the same water fountains, but really he is just an ordinary man who just did a good deed for what he believed him he fought for what he wanted to change, basically just going after his dream. There are many people like that in the world today who try to make changes, some are successful some aren't but people tend to over do it a little bit. People know MLK for all the good things that he has done for people, but if someone were to take a survey, more than half of the people wouldn't really know the true events of MLK's life. If those who didn't know found out, they would deny it because everything is made so that these people are presented as such good images that they couldn't possibly have done anyting bad in they're lives. No one really knows who to believe anymore and whether or not something is true because everything in America has frosting

Inaguration Day

Having watched the inaguration in school gave me a different feel about the whole event. I think that if i had watched it at home by myself, it wouldn't have been as exciting. Seeing everyone's anxcious faces made everything more significant. There was a sense of unity and happiness between everybody,people throwing they're hands up in the air and clapping brought forward the emotional part of the occasion. I felt that Obama's speech was alright. He had thanked Bush for his time serving the country, and then he basically told everyone the deal, where America is at right now and what we will have to do to bring change to get America back on it's feet. He sounded very confident, and caught many people's attention. The stands where packed with people, although it was freezing fans in the crowds were bundled up. The ceremony was very nice, flags all around;big and small, everything color cordinated red white and blue. It was a specfically historic moment for African Amercians because it shows how far they have come to finally have a Black President. This day had shown the message that in order to live a good and meaningful life everyone must unite, respect each other. It shows how being intelligent and successful will get you anywhere in life as long as you give it your best. It seems like a lot of people are counting on the new president to make this change. In the other hand, Obama gives people hope, another chance to be better, to improve things, make people feel safe, and have higher expectations. All about changing. Thus, everybody have a good meaningful life, mostly-happiness.
As for what Obama planning what to do as the 44th president of the United States is good, but I think it makes a lot of people to have high expectations on him. Obama promised changed and gave people hope to count on him that he can make everything better and overcome this crisis that's taking place in America. Whether or not he will be successful enough to fix everything is doubted but but whatever he can do is good enough. Personally, I don really think him being president will change much. He is only human, that gives us things we want to hear, therefore we think highly of him because we believe in what he says. I don't think that he will be able to change America significantly, there are just too many problems going on at once.

The Holidays

I feel like most if the holidays that Americans celebrate include Christmas,Birthdays, Halloween, Easter etc. The Holiday that has the most participants would have to be Easter. Before Easter many people do Spring cleaning, so that before Easter the house is clean and refreshed. Then the decorating of the homes begin, from new table cloths to to little Easter bunnies around the room. Typically the whole family gathers together, eating the dinner recalling the good memories, and they're plans on what they want to do next in life.The different varieties of food, course after course, you eat until you can't breathe anymore. Rule is, you can't eat anything that day until you go to church that morning for the mass with your Easter basket. The night before Easter, people decorate they're eggs in many different ways. I don't really understand why that is done, if your going to spend all that time and effort making the egg look good when your just going to have to destroy the shell to eat the egg. Not only the eggs, but the basket also contains the food that you will eat that morning after it is blessed. The Mass is a very short one lasting to about 30 minutes. Everybody then goes home, to a clean house dressed all nice and begin the Easter breakfast. Where I come from, there is a tradition called sharing of the egg. It is quite the same as what is done during Christmas, with the sharing of the bread, but this time an egg is used, since it is a symbol of Easter. After all of that is done the whole family sits down at the table and eats the blessed food. Everybody is responsible for being on they're best behavior and give a good impression of themselves and they're family. Parents urge kids not to fight or argue because it a holy day and nothing negative is supposed to happen. Unlike many Americans, Europeans do acknowledge the fact that Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion, is commemorated on Good Friday, always the Friday just before Easter. Through his death, burial and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thus purchasing for all who believe in him, eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Dominant Corporate Messages

The dominant messages that we see today in either movies, pictures, music videos, magazines etc.) are telling us that in order to live a good and meaningful life you can't really be yourself. To live a good and meaningful like one must make a lot of money, have a good job, look good, etc. These are the messages that are attempting to mold us, and we follow them not knowing what else to do. No one really questions these messages, because people try to be better than each other and fit in. Everyone is following the same route. We all have the same requirements. We're all living in one big cycle. After a while we get sucked into this cycle and not many of us think about it anymore; we just go along with it. The reason we go along with it, is because all of us are trying to fill an emptiness; we're trying to make something of our lives, even if our lives are already perfect, it just never seems enough. In class when we discussed this topic we had said that people do this because we are all trying to distract ourselves from our misery. There are many people who are just unhappy. Those with money, distract themselves with buying hiuge houses all over th world, planes cars, jewlery etc, to distract themselves from pain. All these corporate companies and people are trying to sell all of us more distractions, or convincing us that we'll be happy if and only if we do/ buy the things they want us to.

Election Reflection

I really didn't know what to think of the election. I wasn't sure if I was for Obama or McCain. In my opinion I the only reason Obama won is because he became somewhat of a celebrity figure, at least to the general public. Obama caught peoples attention because he was different. The wat he looks, and the things he is interested in doing to changing the country. There are Obama books, shirts, stickers, buttons, yard signs, bags. It's less like a presidential campaign, and more like an ad. The thing that had me thinking was that people that were voting for Obama didn't really even know why they were voting for him, besides that fact that he is Afican American. Walking down 42nd street a news reporter approached a group of young adults and asked for the for who they were voting for and why. They simply yelled out "cuz he's black,hes on of us" They had no idea about Obama's policies and regulations. Ehen watching the news throughout th elections for some reason the reporters seemed to be inferring. Also this shows how although Obama is for "change" he is still the typical American. I feel like during the campaigns many people pretty much treated Obama as God. Guessing they thought he would fix American and make everything all better again. Unfortunatly, I don't think Obama will be able to do much with the state the country is in right now. I don't have anything against Obama, as for right now I am for him more than McCain. He seems like the best person for the job at hand, although most people would disagree I don't think he will be able to bring much change anytime soon. Everyone is so hyped about about him being president, but when I come to think of it, won't be be known as a bad president because he wasn't able to get America back on it's feet? Even though it's a significant event in history, that we have a black man as President I am just interested in seeing how it all works out.

Christmas Break

The two major holidays that I had celebrated this break were Christmas and New Years. My break hasn't been anything special but it was still enjoyablei guess. In the morning on Christmas Eve my family and I had driven up to my country house where we were going to be celebrating the holiday. I spent the day wrapping gifts and getting things ready for later on that night, basically helping my mother cook and clean. Later on that night the family came, so it was a full house. My parents had agreed that Christmas Eve was going to be celebrated with her side of the family and my fathers side on Christmas Day. It wasn't really a nice day, it rained everyone hoped that it wold snow to kind of bring the Christmas spirit. We spent the night eating and talking and laughing and unwrapping presents. On Christmas day we woke up ealry went to church for the Christmas mass and then went to Narrowsburg NY to meet with my fathers side. This year Christmas wasnt as exciting to me for some reason, I just wasnt feeling all the joy your supposed to feel. New years eve was VERY eventful. Went to a party with people my age, and I had run into friends from middle school so it was a good feeling. New years day I spent home with my sister since my parents went to they're own new years party. We figured they would be hung over and in a bad mood so we figured we would clean the house. Doing certain things on Christmas and for new years are every meaninful to many people. I guess you can call it the " cliche" things to do on Christmas. Everything i do for Christmas, is what every other Polish Catholics do. To us, Christmas Eve is more important then Christmas day in a way. That night is very meaningful because it's when Jesus was born. My family tends to celebrate Christmas in a mixed way between Polish and American. I would say the tradition of Christmas is getting a Christmas tree and decorating it with your family one day. Decorating the house, with lighting, holly, etc. Putting out milk and cookies for " Santa" one Christmas eve and waking up 6 in the morning and running to your parents to open gifts. Being a consumer and buying things is very meaningful to people, everything seems to revolve around the corporate messages. You need to have buy things if the holiday is Christmas or valentines day or a birthday us Americans have based holidays such as Christmas on buying things for each other, sort of taking away the real meaning of it. Little kids wake up on Christmas morning and instead of thinking about how we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, and the whole concept of Christmas they hurry to open presents. It just goes to show how meanings can be overlooked by material objects.

Trampled Wal-Mart Worker

When i first heard about theperson trampled at Wal-mart was shocked. I didn't think people would be that crazy as to kill a man, just to get things for a cheaper price. The Wal-Mart worker died after anxious shoppers ambushed the store and trampled him. The people anxiously rushed into the store taking the door off of the hinges, and the customers had grabbed numerous things. Not being at all concerned about the safety of each other or even of themselves, at the end the innocent worker; Jdimytai Damour was pronounced dead and four other shoppers were said to only have been injured. I feel discusted by this occurence. For people to become that feend over products so much to not even have the decency to respect other people. Taking a persons life cant be replaced, unlike a item. This just comes to show the priorities of many Americans. Putting replaceable things ahead of lives should never take place, no matter the situation. From all of the hype that this day receives, it probably gave the idea to people that they are suppose to be vicious on this particular day, because that’s all its known for. If people continue to act like this the world will turn into a nasty place. Getting what you want and doing whatever needs to be done juat for you to have something you want or need. These workers being up in the morning serving the consumers, and that's how they get replayed. All i get from all of this is that people are just selfish and cruel. All they care about is themselves and what they need to do to have it good. They dont care about the process, but about the final outcome. The idea of whether or not someone will get hurt doesnt pertain to them. I would understand if the man got knocked over but someone tried to help him up, but when they just leave him there on the ground with hundreds of people stepping all over him, is a whole different argument. Wal-Mart is known for having very low prices, compared to all the other stores. Maybe if they had more workers at the door or on duty in general the man wouldn't have died. Right after Christmas all you hear on the news and radio is talk about black friday. Notifying and pursuading people to go out and shop. This made people pay attention to this day even more, and inspired them to go out themselves to try getting the best bargains. What comes out from all of this is that people would rather sacrifice the life of a man, then to miss an event where they get to save money.