Blog 6 Daniel 5 and 14 Sunday, Mar 4 2012

I thought those stories were awesome. Love how everybody got proven wrong and stuff. There was a lot of condemning people to death though. I do not know if I should be scared by the fact that I did not mind it or not. Daniel has been throughout some stuff and still believes that God will protect him. I enjoyed those stories because God did come through for hi all the time. I especially liked Daniel 14 because the king thought that he was dead but he really was not. He was just chilling and the lions did not do anything to him. However when the other people got throne in the den they were eaten on sight. Anyway all the feasts in both stories if you look at it were pointless because they were not doing anything but worshiping fake gods. The feast in Daniel 5 was extremely dumb. All it was was a party basically. Then they worshiped the gods of gold, silver, bronze and other unimportant things. In  Daniel 14 the king just got punked he thought his god was as good as Daniel’s God but of course it really was not. So overall the feasts in Daniel 5 and 14 were to worship there fake deities. In the sense that we are all worshipping someone, ancient feasts and or modern day feast for St. Joseph aren’t different. They are similar because we do offer food for the feast day. However in modern feast days we take the pleasure in eating the food after it has been set up. In ancient times the food would be purely for the god that they are worshipping. Also they some did not worship anything worthy giving worship to. It was just like gold or bronze idols of animals or some stuff like that. We worship modern day saints.

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Blog 5 What is the main premise of Campbell and Esselstyn? Sunday, Mar 4 2012

At first I did not really think too much about the title of Forks over Knives but then I really took the time to think about it. (It did not take me that long I am not that slow). Anyway it occurred to me that you use a knife to eat meat because you have to cut it. Then you would use a fork to eat salad. So in the title Forks over Knives they want you to eat more green (Forks) over more meat (Knives). Or at least I think that is the point of the title. Campbell and Esselstyn’s premise is to inform people that there is a better way of eating. Their research shows that we as a nation are getting fatter and fatter, especially younger kids. It is because we are eating too much fast food and relying too much on an animal protein diet. They want to promote a whole food plant based diet. They say “What can save America is a plant-based diet, which will help individuals recover their good health, and which in turn will set our health care system right (as well as our economy). However, for this plant-based diet to take hold, the public must be endowed with nutritional literacy, the kind of knowledge that is portrayed in the new documentary.” It is scientifically proven that it helps to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and other types of problems. I respect there motive and what they are trying to do. I might even part take in it. However a lot of people I feel will try but will not stick with it because whole food stuff is expensive. A lot of Americans do not have the money to spend on whole food products. Plus it is truly hard to give up fast food just because it is there and ready. But when it comes to health I feel that people should give it a try because it could be the difference between life and an early death.

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Social, Religious, and Economic connection to bread Sunday, Mar 4 2012

I have to be honest the article on french bread and all its glory was boring. So maybe I would not say that is was boring it was just a lot to read about bread. However I can say that it was more interesting to learn about when the speaker came in and talked about it. Anyway from what I did read back in the day a bakery used to make “poor boy” sandwiches. They called them poor boy because they would actually feed poor people. It was simple and easy to make. Socially it brought people together because while they would eat the sandwiches they would talk with other people. This habit was made regularly so you could say that the food brought everyone together. Religiously bread would have a significant importance. The bread is used in a part of the altar for St. Joseph’s Feast Day. There is another feast day,Día de Muertos, which is Day of the Dead. It is a Spanish holiday and also religious for them and bread is also part of the alters they make for their feast day. Also bread is used all in the Bible by jesus when they break bread and do Communion in church. Bread is really all up and down the Bible. I used to wonder as a kid if that was all people in Jesus time ate was bread and fish. Honestly the thought used to fascinate me. Its Economic connection, if I am reading the article right, at first bread was expensive because the flour to make it was expensive. Then over time bread became less expensive so it was good for everyone because bread could go with anything. Also over time it became easy to make the bread and people bought more bread because of the new bigger size. So eventually bread became a primary staple again in New Orleans.

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Purpose of Traditions? Sunday, Mar 4 2012

Preserving traditions is a very important aspect in people’s everyday lives. Or at least it should be  because traditions are so important. A tradition is the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way. A long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way. Traditions are like a family’s signature I guess you could say. Or for lack of a better analogy like a family tree type thing because a tradition is passed throughout a family tree. It shows a persons culture. Seeing as though you can trace a tradition back to your ancestors and gives people a sense of an idea of where they come from. Also it contributes to a person’s identity. It does because tradition is like your culture and a lot of people base themselves of of there culture. For instance, the people who are from China. They celebrate  a different New Years than we do. They have the traditional foods that they eat and certain activities and games. It helps them stay tied to there ancestors ad by doing so they remember where they came from. Traditions can give people such a since of pride because they know who they are and where they come from. Also by preserving traditions it can really bring a family together. When someone makes a tradition it is usually with family so by doing it every year or every whenever they want it brings family together. It is never good to not know your family. A tradition some of family partakes in is a family reunion. We always pick some random location where everyone can meet and have a good time. We play games and take to family we haven seen in a long time and just enjoy each other’s company. So preserving  traditions are important because in a way they help define who you are as a person and gives you a since of pride in family.

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Memorable Food Sunday, Mar 4 2012

My most memorable food would be steak and potatoes. My dad would come home from the store with steak and like a huge sack of potatoes. So he would cook them on Friday’s and that would be our meal. Unfortunately my family is a busy family. Everyone would have something to do. My mom and dad had to work and I had softball practice like everyday. My little brother had stuff to do after school too depending on what sport season it was. So when we would get home it would be late like six or seven o’ clock at night. That means that we don’t eat as like a family at the dinner table because we would just eat wherever we need to finish work or whatever. But whenever my dad makes steak and potatoes on Fridays we would eat at the table as a family. now that I think about it that is pretty pitiful of us to do. And now since I leave on campus of course I don’t eat with them at all so who knows what my dad cooks on Fridays now. Also another memorable thing we would do is dinner surprise. It would never be a set dish. Like I said we didn’t eat much as a family so no one would feel like cooking anything big and extravagant. What my mom would do is look through the kitchen to see what we had and whatever we had that didn’t require too much work she would put that together and it would be our dinner. Very memorable in our house was egg and rice because it take less than ten minutes to make and it would be perfect for us because no one wants to cook. If Xavier allowed us to have a real kitchen in the dorms I probably wouldn’t eat much in the cafeteria because I would be eating egg and rice all day and never get tired of it.

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My thoughts about Xavier and the mission Saturday, Dec 10 2011

Goodness. I’m glad that this semester is finally over. It went be so fast. I guess it is because there are so many things to do that most days just feel short and like I don’t have much time in them. But really who isn’t glad when a semester is over no matter what school they go to. Xavier is… well Xavier. A lot of people say that it is boring, well thats because they do not know how to find things to do I think. And all those people do is just study and go to sleep. I feel that I enjoyed my semester. Honestly no offense I did expect a little more from Xavier. With curfew and all these rules I feel like I am back in high school. I mean 2:00 am curfew on a weekend? Come on, people don’t usually walk out the door till 12 to go to a party!. I guess that is my biggest complaint. I had a pretty good semester academically I did not have a problem with any of my classes, except for me being accused of giving information on a chemistry lab homework, WHICH I DIDN’T! But that it behind me everything was resolved with that problem. Anyway I just cannot stay at Xavier consecutively for too long in the dorms. I have to get out of these 4 gray walls every once and awhile. I don’t mind staying but that is when it gets boring because sometimes there is nothing to do. And seeing as though we are college students we don’t have a whole lot of money to go and spend on leisure pursuit. As for commenting on the mission, honestly I never think about until somebody asks, which is never. Yes I do feel that it is important but I guess the mission is implied by how we should behave anyway. All in all I really do like Xavier as a school but I am ready for my break. So until spring I will be chill.

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What do I think about Fast Food Nation? Saturday, Dec 10 2011

I think that this is such a redundant question. I’m not saying I think the question is dumb or something. I just here the question being asked a lot by faculty. It makes me think that they want to know if they did a good job of picking a book. Well personally if you wanted to bore me to death with the first few chapters of a book then you definitely picked the right one. I did not hate it I just thought it was boring. All the talk about what was in The Jungle I think I would have much rather have read that. Obviously I did not have reading it. It was just too slow and too many facts and statistics for me to get into. I do admit I did like the sarcasm they author had in the book. The humor made the concepts bearable to understand. I ended up watching Food Inc. in english class and I really liked the video much better than the book. I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone who just wanted a book to read for fun. Maybe if they needed help sleeping then I would recommend it but other than that, no. But then again it really was like the first 3-5 chapters that were really slow. When it started to talk about stories that happened to people like the one about Kenny or the case with some Europeans and McDonald’s. That was good. I do feel that it is a great book to get information from if one was writing on the topic. Like I said it was really slow and too much of a chore to read it to me. A lot of people said they liked it but I guess we just think differently. All in all it was not a bad book it was pretty good other than the slowness.

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Automobiles and fast food Saturday, Dec 10 2011

Well I think automobiles are the key to fast food culture. With out them there really would not be any fast food nation. For on let’s just talk about the vehicles that get the fast food places the stuff they need. Such as trucks delivering meat to the many different McDonald’s establishments. I mean how else are they going to get it. Actually without those trucks I think that we would not have as many fast food places and they would be located near areas that they could get the supplies in walking distance. But who wants the job of walking back and forth with frozen met in their hands? When someone gets off a work and they are tired I am pretty sure that they do not feel like cooking. However they are seriously hungry. So it is convenient to have a car to drive to the fast food restaurant and just pick up some food pretty quickly and be on your merry tired but full way. If that person did not have a car they would have to walk. And people are lazy these days so they would just give up on walking and just suck it up and cook something at there house. so yes to have a car is very helpful. When taking into consideration of interstates that is the best for fast food places. People drive long distances these days also. Maybe because they are afraid of flying or maybe they realize that driving is sometimes cheaper, however that statement is questionable with these gas prices. But anyway they drive for hours at a time and they get hungry. They can’t stop and cook anything because they have no access to a kitchen so their only option is to stop at a fast food place. So yes automobiles play a significant role and the fast food nation.

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Thanks Favorite teacher Saturday, Dec 10 2011

Dear Dr. Baker,

You are an incredible professor. Where did you get your degree from? Anyway you are so awsome you can tell the other english professors to kick rocks. I’m totally kidding that is not nice and they will probably shun you for it so just do it in your mind. I really wish I still had you for next semester. Okay so let’s see. The books and essays you had us read were so interesting. I’m glad I did not have to write about something boring. It was actually stuff that I cared about. I think my favorite writing had to be when we had to pick a poem by Lucile Clifton and analyze it. Also when we had to make our own poem. I did not submit it to new voices yet, but do not worry I will and I think my parents will keep a copy and frame it. I swear they are so corny. But any way I like how you help to explain and analyze the things that we read. I wanted to keep the This I Believe book but I rented so I have to give it back. But thank you for introducing it to me. All the stories and philosophies were interesting. HUGE thanks to not making us do like a ten page research paper! I remember I had to do it for my senior year in high school. I want to say thanks for giving great feedback on my essays it really helped. I feel prepared to go on to the next english. I want to also wish you the best of luck with your wedding! I really wish I could come crash it but anyway don’t worry too much because that gives you wrinkles. And as a result you wouldn’t look “thick.” But anyway I just really wanted to thank you for a great english semester. It was seriously one of the classes I wouldn’t think about skipping. So thanks again!

 

Jade

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A senior’s opinion Saturday, Dec 10 2011

So I thought this assignment would be pretty difficult seeing as though I am a freshman, but I forgot that I have all kinds of connections at this school. So I asked a friend of mine what he thought about the mission. It was pretty interesting to here in talk about it too. When I was a senior in high school I know I did not pay any attention at all to the mission statement. I thought that it was my immaturity and the upperclassmen here would think differently and enlightened about the mission. So it was a surprise for me to hear my friend say what he had to say. Basically he said “Oh okay? You are talking about the one that says that xavier students are just and fair and will live in a humane society?” I was thinking umm yes… Is there more than one? but then he continued and said ” yeah I don’t really pay attention to the mission statement. I don’t think any student at Xavier does. It is really the faculty that cares about that stuff. Everybody here is too worried about grades and trying to pass and get out of here. I pay Xavier tuition just like everybody else and really the education is all I care about. The mission statement is just something to hold the school to some sort of prestige, no real importance to the students. You can ask anybody around here and probably half of them won’t even know what a mission statement is.” Those were his words. I dont really blame him though I really did not expect too many people to actually care about the statement. It is funny though, because even though no one cares about it and dont seem to know it they miraculously can recite it when graduation comes around. I guess that is the only time they really care.

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