Memorable Food Tradition Sunday, Jan 15 2012

    In my family we have a lot of food traditions that we hold valuable. There are plenty of young kids in my family so we specifically adore the pastries. Sweet potato pie is one the most renown traditions that we have. In my neighborhood, everyone hopes that my grandmother would make extra pies so that they could have a pie to enjoy. Sweet potato pie became one of my favorite treats to enjoy because they taste so sweet. My family began making sweet potato pie around the time I turned six. Before making pies, my grandmother was a huge pastry baker and her favorite was red velvet cake. Pies became a family favorite after my grandmother made several pies for Christmas one year. The first year she made pies, every single bit of each pie was gone and my family requested for more. Every year my grandmother picks 2 names out of a hat, those two names will be the grand children that will help with the pie process. Ironically every year, the two names are my sister and I. Since I drive, I am able to go the the Giant food store to pick up the groceries that are needed for the pies which are sweet potatoes, ground nutmeg, lemon extract, vanilla extract, sugar, eggs and cinnamon. Also if the pie crust are available I will pick those up but if not my grandmother likes to make home made pie crust from her special recipe. We use a blender to blend together all the ingredients and we cook the pies in the oven on 320 degrees. The pies usually are an all night process and can take up to 1 hour to cook depending on the preference in taste. The family tradition of sweet potato pie will be a tradition that is long valued and it is a tradition that I am sure will hold longevity. 

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Week 11 Saturday, Dec 10 2011

Interstate’s and automobiles play a significant role in spreading the fast food culture. The invention of the highway system created more possible places to place fast food chain restaurants. The highway system helped people access many places inclding fast food restaurants. Fast food restaurants were initially created for families to access the food on the go. Automobiles for some families are the way to reach the restaurants and they play a major role in why fast food rastaurants are so active today. Interstate’s connect the people in different cities to area’s that would not be easily accessed through regular roads. In the 1940’s the automobile service’s provided a direct income for the few fast food chain restaurants that existed. Without the invention of automobile’s many fast food restaurant’s would not have flourished and became what they are today. Industries such as McDonalds grew because of their affordability and easy accessiblity.

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Week10 Saturday, Dec 10 2011

Dear Ms. Kaitlin,

I would like to thank you for a wonderful semester of Math 990. Before entering your class, I was struggling with many of the concepts and I thought that it would hinder my freshman year. During the beginning of the semester I struggled to score over a 75 on most of the exams you gave to the class. When you sent me an email that recommended that I attend your office hours at least 2-3 times a week, I knew that you were not like most professor’s. Most professor’s would not attempt to be so curteous and reach out a helping hand. You also recommended that if I needed help on any of my math homework or if I had any questions, that i should attend the math lab. I was not familiar with the math lab and I was not sure if they would be able to help because I did not want any of the peer teachers to judge me based on how many questions I had. Putting aside those fears I began to attend your office hours and the math lab at least 2-4 times a week. Also in class I began to ask questions about topics I did not understand. By you reaching out a helping hand, it prompted me to take initiative in my other courses. I would like to thank you for helping me build my math skills this semester and I look forward to your Intensive Pre-Calc course.

Sincerely,

Keyvae Singletary

 

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Week 9 Saturday, Dec 10 2011

 

For the week nine blog I did not get a chance to catch up with Xavier senior, however I did get a chance to ask junior Daneeka Dasher a few questions. Daneeka is a junior from Houston, Texas and she is a Bio Pre-Med major. She began Xavier as a business major but she decided to switch in the middle of her freshman year. The reason she decided to switch is because of Xavier’s liberal arts curriculum. She said “ once I took Dr.McFarren I knew I had to switch”. I also asked Daneeka about what she thought about Xavier’s mission and if she thought that Xavier abided by their mission statment. For the most part she thought that Xavier does a good job of preparing their current student to assume roles of leadership. The professor’s that she has had thus at Xavier have been nothing but kind and generous to her. She admire’s how hard the profeesor’s work and how serious they take their jobs. When she was an incoming freshman, her freshman seminar teacher tought her section the meaning of assuming respomsiblity and taking control of their destiny. Since her freshman year she has recieve offers for three intership’s that will began when her senior year. She has also been recently admitted to LSU’s earliy acceptance program for medical school. Overrall she has enjoyed her time at Xavier, she loves the  city and she adores the people. She looks forward to graduating in the Spring semester of 2013 but if she takes additional classes this summer she will be able to graduate in the Fall with honors. Good Luck Daneeka!

 

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Week 12 Sunday, Dec 4 2011

During the summer time when I first received the book Fast Food Nation i did not immediately read it. Before reading it, i chose to watch the HBO documentary which gave me some insight into what the book might be about. I began reading the book around the second of July. The introduction is what prompted me to continue reading the book Fast Food Nation. The introduction talked about things that interested me such a hidden military operation underground. i personally think that Fast Food Nation is a very informative book that is not too lengthy. The author Eric Schlosser did a good job of writing a book that engaged readers of all age groups. Readers of all age group have the same concern of what is actually in the fast food that they consumer sometimes 2-3 times a day. Schlosser also did a god job of comprising a book of facts and not only opinion. My favorite chapter of the book Fast Food Nation is the chapter about Kenny. This chapter became my favorite because Schlosser did an excellent job of shedding light on situations that happen everyday within mass production companies. Everyday companies release their most loyal employee’s in order to save money and increase production. Also in this chapter Schlosser showed just how unsafe these meat packaging companies were. These companies have illegal immigrants coming in to clean machines without proper training leading to a mass increase in injuries. Overall Fast Food Nation was a excellent book however I would have not chosen to read this book on my own. I would not have chosen to read this book on my own because I have read similar books and seen documentaries such as Super Size Me. These similar books and documentaries reflect some of the same idea’s that Schlosser had.

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Week 13 Sunday, Dec 4 2011

After attending Xavier University of Louisiana for a brief semester I am very proud of where I am academically. The classes I have taken thus far were great classes. Xavier has a great staff of professors that not only act as teachers but they are also mentors. The professors and staff at Xavier are people who do not mind sharing their knowledge and sharing info with students regarding school. The professor’s at Xavier try their best in my opinion , to prepare students to assume roles of leadership. The professor’s do not baby their students and they force us to become responsible for our grades in their class. Even though I will transferring after I complete this upcoming spring semester I still believe that Xavier is an excellent academic institution. Xavier has an excellent Bio-Premed program that has gained the school a lot of recognition. I think I chose the right school to start off my collegiate experience at. Xavier is a very welcoming school that is in a very welcoming city. I have a lot of memories here at Xavier that I won’t forget. Some of those memories include living alone for the first time away from home. Living away from home for most freshman and a couple of freshman left because they missed home. Also this was my first time being extremely far away from home. Being here at Xavier also taught me how to be responsible and learn how effectively manage my time. Although the classes I took were not as demanding as they could have been, I did not begin properly managing my time until midterms. Although I had to figure things on my own here, I enjoyed being here.

 

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Week 7 Sunday, Oct 16 2011

In Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, he could potentially have a hidden political agenda. In the book Fast Food Nation, Schlosser discusses companies starting from where they were built. He starts from employee’s, managers and then discusses the people who run the companies. People who run the companies solely run the companies off of greed and wants. This can be connected to how the government works today in some aspects. These companies hire people entirely for money purposes. They only want to see the outcome of money, the do not want to hear of the stress,pain and agony that their employee’s go through. The government has hired companies and are allowing companies to be ran in the country that care nothing about what they’re doing to the nations population. This is more specifically happening in the food industry which Eric Schlosser explains in Fast Food Nation. These companies are making food quickly and fast with no regards to the effect that their food has on people. The food they make can be potentially harmful and deadly and yet there has been no yield to creating food of that nature. People are still consuming this food without knowing what they are exactly consuming because they are not informed. Lose rules and regulations of the FDA, a company under the government, has allowed this. Companies have found ways to go around certain rule of the FDA which has resulted in finding in foods such as e coli.  For many years the FDA’s rules and regulations have been bending by food packing companies which only results in the plaguing of Americans. American’s always receive the bad outcome of the governments neglect. If the a government official read Fast Food Nation today, they still would be negligent. Eric Schlosser’s hidden agenda can be viewed through the specific detail and layout of the book. In the book he explain from the bottom to the top of the companies which would essentially be the employee’s all the way to the government groups monitoring these companies.

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Week 8 Sunday, Oct 16 2011

Katherine Drexel was born November 26, 1858 to a well off family in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. From a very young age Katherine Drexel was instilled with the values and qualities of her parents. Her parents were caring, loving and very devoting people. Throughout her life, Katherine Drexel was always concerned with the well being of people. She devoted her life to christ after a visit with the pope. From then Katherine’s life shifted into a position that prepared her to accomplish great achievements. She cared to know the condition and state of people such as Native Americans. Her focus then shifted to the African American race. She saw the mistreatment of African Americans, how they were denied almost every right and did not have the best opportunities. They were sometimes poor and undereducated because they were denied education. Katherine began to focus on educating people of color to help. She wanted to change the racial disposition and negativity that the United States had towards people of color. Katherine Drexel then opened over fifty schools that did just what she set out to do. The schools were beginning to show that everyone no matter what  color they are can receive a quality education. Xavier University of Louisiana is Katherine Drexel most pending achievement. Originally, Xavier was not wanted in the city until it received support from some people in New Orleans including the late Archbishop Hannan. Xavier then begin to set out to achieve the goals that it was created for.

Today Xavier is one of the top 5 HBCU’s in the United States. Xavier trains and prepare young African American kids to take and pursue roles of leadership. Xavier is also one of the top school’s for placing African Americans in medical school. The university has employee’s who are enthused about their job and take it seriously just like Katherine Drexel did. If St.Katherine Drexel could see Xavier now, she would be very proud. Xavier has accomplished just what its founder has accomplished for most of her life. It has prepared and helped people to accomplish there goals in life by simply supporting people. Xavier runs strictly by its mission statement and is an excellent institution of higher learning.

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Week 4 Friday, Oct 14 2011

The novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair dramitically changed the food industry. Sinclair’s book showed the deep in depth process that meat and food companies go through every year to produce the food that they do to American’s. The Jungle shows just how much a jungle the food industry is. Sinclair’s novel revealed just how treacherous food companies working quarters are. The novel by Sinclair spawned a response from the public. The public suddenly was careful of what was purchased. They also wanted to know the quality of the food that families were eating. They had questions and demands for the FDA that needed to be answered. The reaction from the public forced and bullied the FDA into making changes. The FDA tightened regulations and rules that companies had to abide by. The novel Fast Food Nation by Schlosser is generally reflecting enhanced idea’s by Upton Sinclair. Fast Food Nation shows the recent qualities of fast food companies. Fast Food Nation put’s the spotlight on country renowned companies such as McDonald’s. Schlosser’s novel also reveals the nasty conditions in which workers are forced to work in. Untrained employee’s of the food industry companies work dangerous machines everyday and deal with food. The food could possibly be tainted or just not right to eat because of the conditions it came from. Fast Food Nation could create the same response the The Jungle did, based on what demographics his book is read by. Currently it is read by teenagers like myself who really do not care about the condition of food as long as its edible. If his book is read by the working class of Americans who work everyday in hopes to provide food for family and themselves then Schlosser could turn heads. People will then began to question the FDA once again and force them to tight restrictions and regulations for companies.

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Week 3 Sunday, Oct 2 2011

Small family farms have contributed greatly to giant corporate farms from a large amount of years. They have built a not so good relationship over the years as well. Small families grow crops and sell them to giant corporate farms to help them produce. Giant corporate farm have not been paying small family farmers adequately for their services. Larger corporate farms have been cheating family farms out of money. When small farms are producing these crops that big corporate companies and farms like to use, they are producing from home. Many small farmers live on the same farms that they produce crops from. When large companies cheat these farmers out of money they are taking away from their family. Without a consistent, steady and appropriate income most small farmers eventually go bankrupt. When these farmers go bankrupt they can not afford materials that are necessary to produce crops for corporate farms. They also won’t have enough money to maintain the maintenance on their farm land. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser makes a comment about who and how the companies were run by. He says that corporate farms are not ran by real farmers. That corporate farms were ran by people with degree’s from the most prestigious universities. Scholosser says that these graduates don’t know where the crops are grown and can’t make distinctions. These men and women who control the corporate companies are only concerned about money. They want money by all means so they are not worried about the measures it takes to get money. They are willing to cut short the dollars they give to small farms in order to retain a large amount of money.

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