What are your thoughts about Xavier and its mission after your first semester? Tuesday, Oct 18 2011

I think that Xavier is a great school. I do love that Xavier is pushing and making forth and effort to help me out anyway they can. I think that this school is for me and I’m proud to be attending this school. The only thing I don’t agree with its living arrangements. I think that Xavier’s mission statement is something powerful to me. The mission statement states “The purpose of the University is to contribute the promotion of a more just and human society by preparing its student to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society. This preparation takes place in a diverse learning and teaching environment that incorporates all relevant educational means including research and community service.” I think this is true because we do need more leaders in the world and also that we should fight to make this world a better place. My public speech teacher made is present an informative speech that focuses on this mission statement. She told us that we had to find a nonprofit organization that mission statement fits with making the world more just and human society. One girl in class told us that she didn’t like the topic. Our teacher then gave us a big speech and I will never forget this. She told us that if we can’t dig deep and understand this mission statement then why are we here. That if we didn’t like this assignment that we need to reevaulate why we are. Basically she told us that if we can’t get away from material things like just going to college for a degree and getting money then we are not doing it for the right reasons. I think this is true because how can I go to a school that I don’t believe it what it teaches me and I can’t take away from it. It would be that I’m just wasting money and time because I’ll be going nowhere.

One Response »

 

What did you think of the book Fast Food Nation? Tuesday, Oct 18 2011

I thought Fast Food Nation was a good book. It told us exactly how the fast food industry actually works. I do think that it could have been more than what it seems. In this book, it did exactly what I said, informed. I know that he wanted us to remember most of the book and take away something from that but I did not. The book just told me that fast food was bad and how it was bad. It didn’t really give me an issue to go by or try to help stop the spread of fast food industry in America. The book was just a symbol to me that tells us exactly what is going on in the fast food industry. The book told us exactly how McDonalds and other fast food restaurants came up and how they profit for many things that happen throughout the years. The part of the book that I liked was informing us exactly how farmers are affected by the fast food nation. That many farmers are put off their family’s farms and losing a lot of business. I think that this book is not going to get a lot of publicity because of how it was presented. Basically it seems that we were just to read the book and take away what was going on. His focus basically stayed on McDonalds and Taco Bell as a whole. He could have talked about more restaurants and gave us an idea on how to stop some of the traffic of this business that is basically influencing our nation. The book won’t be as impactful like the book the Jungle. People would read this book and not get anything and wonder why he didn’t try to change and give us and impact of this businesses.

Leave a Response »

 

How do automobiles and interstates play a role in spreading the fast food culture? Tuesday, Oct 18 2011

There are many ways automobiles play a role in spreading the fast food culture.  When automobiles were invented in the early 1930’s, the food industry played off of this. Many people thought about getting food on the go. Many restaurants started off as just sit down restaurants. Many of these restaurants didn’t get a lot of attention or business because of the business men and women being on the move all the time. When automobiles were built, many restaurants were then converted into drive-through. Once many executive from other restaurants saw that their competition was make more money this way, they began to convert as well. Since automobiles were made, many roads began to become congested due to so many cars on the road. When the roads congestions were found out by President Dwight Eisenhower, he then passed a law. The law was called the Federal- Act Highway Act of 1956. It took at least 35 years to get this plan into action. This is how interstates were created for the need of linking different cities together. Once interstates were formed, many restaurants then put franchise of their restaurants on the outskirts of these interstates. They found out that many people were on trips and would get hungry after being in a car for so long. With their drive through, the family would never have to get out of their car and quickly get back on the road to finish their trip. This also gave people on the go a way to find a restaurant without searching high and low for one. Since then, there was a great big boom of fast food restaurants that were at least one restaurant in 5 mile radius of an interstate. Many more restaurants were then founded based on this discover of many people buying food since they would never have to leave the road for at least 10 minutes.

Leave a Response »

 

Send an email to your favorite teacher at Xavier thanking them for their work and post the text of the email in your blog. Friday, Oct 14 2011

Dear, Dr. Chandler:

For my Freshman Seminar assignment we had to email our favorite teacher at Xavier thanking them for their work and also blog about it. I chose you as my favorite teacher at Xavier thus far. The reason I chose you as my favorite teacher because the way you teach is not so ethical. Everyone does not use the same teaching method as you. You force us to learn the material whether we like it or not. You do not let us and sit in class without a clue because you know that we are better than that. I have had some teacher who really didn’t care if I understood the material that we were going over because either way it went they were going to get pay regardless. After your talk with my class the other day, it really opened my eyes. I knew that if I wanted something badly enough that I had to find a way to get there. The way you told us that no one would give us a degree no matter who we are or where we come from really got me to thinking. The high school that I came from didn’t have the greatest teachers in the world and we didn’t learn as much as many of the “high and mighty” high schools from around the world did.  I also did think that at first that I was going to be given a little mercy since I was alone here by myself. I quickly threw that from my mind on your first “pop” quiz you gave us. I believe  now that if I work harder that I ever had before and study harder that I will make the grades that I need and earn the fair way. You taught me so much in the little time that I have been here at Xavier and I really appreciate that.

Sincerely,

Keaira Turner

Leave a Response »

 

Do some research on Katherine Drexel. Do you think she would be happy with Xavier today? Why or why not? Tuesday, Sep 13 2011

Katherine Drexel was a nun that did a lot within her community. Her family has a large amount of money from banking. Her uncle was actually the founder of Drexel University. When she became a nun, she gave herself the name Sister Katharine. She voiced the opinons of African Americans and Native American across the United States. She then started a religious order called the Sister of the Blessed Sacrament. She gave money to at least 60 schools around the United States. She also founded our beloved University: Xavier University. I do think that she would be happy with Xavier and what it stands for now. Xavier University is still the only historically black and Catholic University in the world. Xavier University is also the nationally rank #1 for African American students getting into medical school. I think that she would think that Xavier is doing a fine job of helping out minority races to gain an education. Xavier has no changed much from their academics and still teaches that basic principles that I believed that she stood for. Xavier mission statements states: “The purpose of the University is to contribute the promotion of a more just and human society by preparing its student to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society. This preparation takes place in a diverse learning and teaching environment that incorporates all relevant educational means including research and community service.”  I believe that if she was still alive that she would love this mission statement and would support it. She would want her beloved students to learn about community service and leadership and help out within their communities. She would want us to tell others and pass on our knowledge that we learn from Xavier. She would want to see how we take the fundamentals that we learn here and turn the world into a better place for minority of all races.

Leave a Response »

 

Does the author have a political agenda? Give examples to support your claim. Tuesday, Sep 13 2011

I do think that that author has a political agenda. I think he is trying to warn us about many fast food restaurants and what happen with most of them. Fast Food Nation is the book to tell us about what exactly is going into our food. It’s also telling is what we are putting in our bodies. An example of this is the E.coli cases that are mention in chapter 9. Lee Harding is one of the cases mentioned in Chapter 9. He said that he got chicken tacos from a Mexican Restaurant. About a hour later, he started suffering from bad cramps and also had diarrhea. It continued through the whole weekend. He then went and checked his self into the emergency room. He was then tested positive for Escherichia coli or E.Coli for short. This is a lethal foodborne pathogen. There are many cases around the United States about many pathogens just like E.coli. These pathogens are extremely dangerous and can cause food poisoning. Many foodborne pathogens can cause many of diseases. It can precipitate long-term aliments like heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, neurological problems, autoimmune disorders and  kidney damages. The author tries to tell us through chapter nine about these harmful pathogens. There are many other names within the chapter like Campylobacter jejuni, Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Listeria monocytogens and Norwalk like virus. Many deaths that happen in the United States that are food related are caused by pathogens that are probably not identified. Many of these pathogens are carried and shed by health animals. The author warns us and tries to tell us to be careful about what we eat. We also need to make sure that we clean our food that we cook and pay attention to cook food that we buy from fast food restaurants.

Leave a Response »

 

In The Reading for last week, Schlosser writes about a man name Kenny. Write about someone you know who has suffered parallel misfortunes. Tuesday, Sep 13 2011

In this reading, Eric Schlosser talks about Kenny. Kenny was a young man that worked in meatpacking company. Kenny hurt his back, inhaled dangerous chemicals that burnt his lungs. He also broke his leg, hit by a train, shattered his ankle and then had a heart attack. Even though he was hurt, he thought it would be better not to be apart of a union. After the last accident, (his heart attack) he was fired. Now he has been remarried and now has to hock most of his things to pay for his wife’s medicine. They both have teenagers and only get a small amount of money. I do know of someone who has had parallel misfortunes. I was the person that had parallel misfortunes bu it was indirectly. When I was younger, my dad kind of stay sick a lot and he would never go to the doctor to see what it was. It was until a couple of years later that he started to get weak and pass out a lot. My mother made him go to doctor and we found out that he had cancer. He fought the cancer. At first the doctors thought he was going to fight it off. After so long of not having it, it came back even more vicious. He was then put on bed rest and had nurses to come to the house and check on him. He didn’t survive the fight and died in our old house in a hospital bead on November 2004. Almost a year later, my mother fell down the steps on the day before Halloween. (2 weeks before my father died). The next day we found out that she could have died. She had a stroke and we rushed her to the hospital. My mother is a diabetic so after the stroke, her health went down hill. She then fell down the stairs again after the stroke, broke her leg and then lost her eye sight. She is now partial blind and in a wheelchair.

Leave a Response »

 

What is your favorite class at Xavier and why? Friday, Sep 2 2011

My favorite class at Xavier would have to be Biology. As a child, I always had a love of science. When I took my first science class as a child, I was hooked. I was amazed at the different things that you can discover with Biology. It wasn’t until 7th grade, when I did a project for the science fair on photosynthesis. My teacher was impressed that I understood the process and I was second place winner . Science is always a part of everything you do especially in the medical field. (Which I’m going into one day) Biology makes up everything, it makes up us as well. If there was  something that I wanted to know about the human body or the cells in the body, I turn to biology. If I want to know why certain animals make certain sounds…I turn to biology. If I wanted to know why most animals use scents to mate, I turn to biology. I find it interesting that most things that we never think about is associated with biology. An example is breathing. Breathing is something that we take for granted sometimes. A lot of people don’t know that plants give off oxygen for us to breath. This is the reason why we need plants. We breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. With plants, they do the opposite they breath in carbon dioxide and breath out oxygen. I find that is ironic that we cut down so many trees for paper and not recycle at least because plants are one of the reasons (other than God) that we have oxygen to breath. In the line of work I’m going into (sports medicine) makes me learn about the human body as a whole. Biology and anatomy are what I have to remember no matter what. Biology is always gonna be here no matter what.

Leave a Response »

 

How did Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906) dramatically change the food industry? Will this book Fast Food Nation do the same? Why or why not? Friday, Sep 2 2011

This book was about life of an immigrant in the United States. This book was basically about the conditions in a meatpacking industry. The book caused a lot of controversy in the world about better working conditions.  A lot of people complained about the conditions of Chicago’s labor in the meatpacking. At first, the President did not believe that anything in this book was real. He called Sinclair “a crackpot” and said he didn’t believe him. After the people of the United States complained enough, the President sent out the Labor Commissioner and a social worker. They made surprise visits to different meat packing places in  Chicago. They were surprised and also utterly disgusted at what they found. They made a report to the President about what they found. The President was not impressed about it.   After this whole ordeal, their were laws passed after this. President Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Food and Drug Act of 1996.  I do not think the book Fast Food Nation will get that type of change in the food industry. This book doesn’t really tell about bad outcomes that will affect the world. It tells us how the fast food nation is growing and taking over most things. Fast Food actually is a good thing to many people. It gives people jobs in a safe environment and also a lot of people don’t have to worry about cooking. Fast Food Nation isn’t really a controversy like The Jungle is. There are no dire needs to attend other than beef fat in the french fries. Its not as if they’re selling “people” in the french fries like bits of people were in the lard in the book the Jungle. It talks about how the Fast Food industry is changing the world but not changing in a bad way.

Leave a Response »

 

What factors have hurt small family farmers and benefited giant corporate farms? Friday, Sep 2 2011

There are many different factors that have hurt small family farmers that benefited giant corporate farms. In the book, Fast Food Nation, the author talks about the potato industry for example. A man name J.R Simpltot was just a potato farmer. He ,after a bet, started to sell, buy potatoes, open warehouses and form relationships with different restaurants. It wasn’t until World War II that he found that he could make more money by dehydrating his products. He then found a way to make more money from this. He met up with Ray Kroc and talked about selling his “frozen fries” to him for McDonalds. He then made a factory just for McDonald’s french fries. Since most of the restaurants use frozen products or in this case “frozen potatoes”, everyone wanted to get into the business. A lot of people started selling potatoes in Idaho. This gave the small family farmers only two options: to grow into a factory or leave. To grow even more meant to buy more acreage or land. Not only did that have to buy more land, they had to buy more equipment for their farm. For potato farmers, they had to buy a machine that’s called the Spudnik. The spudnik is described as a bright red machine. In a county in Idaho called Bingham County, it cost at least 1500 dollars an acre to grow potatoes there. During one season, potato sales went down. This cost farmers a lot of money to grow and they were not getting a profit back from it. Many farmers said it was better to let the potatoes rot in the field than to sell them. Big corporate farms have the means to produce on a wider scale than family farmers. A lot of family farmers ended up closing their farms because it gotten to expensive. When the corporate farms compete with them, it becomes a different game because they can get more money and produce more products than a family farmer.

Leave a Response »