ALL OF THE ABOVE

I am choosing to write my blog about The Jungle, the visit to the slaughterhouse, and The Huger Games and maybe more too like our guest speaker!  First off, I give major props to everyone who went to the slaughterhouse and witnessed all that went on in there because I am pretty sure that I would not have lasted more than 5 minutes.  I can't stand terrible smells and all the blood would most likely have made me pass out (knowing my luck I would have passed out in the knife room and gotten slashed) so I dodged a bullet on that one.  I really enjoyed having the guest speaker (whose name I forgot) answer all of our questions and tell us his own person experiences/ views of working in the slaughterhouse.  Having a real person present and not just reading about it in a book really gives me a whole new perspective on slaughterhouses.  For example, S(the speaker) said that he loved working in the slaughterhouse because he was a good worker and was treated good.  Also, by working hard he was even able to get promoted all the way to supervisor and he knew how to do every job in the company.  The one thing that kind of made me wince was when he said he loved the smell of blood... I found that just a bit discomforting, but hey we are all different.  He also mentioned several things that were ironically similar to The Jungle especially since that book is like a bazillion years old, but yet still is somewhat accurate in today's time.

Are you ready to fight for your life for entertainment?  If not too bad because you will die quickly in the Hunger Games.  I just read this book last semester in another class so I am just going to mention a few things so hopefully I don't spoil it for anyone.  The Capitol got this messed up idea of the Hunger Games to help all the districts realize that they basically own them and not have a rebellion.  Katniss, her sister Prim, and her mother live in district 12 the cole miners district.  Her father died while working in the mines in a terrible accident.  Katniss then has no choice, but to step up to try and feed her family because her mother basically becomes docile for a while.  She becomes friends with Gale who helps her hunt and practice more with her bow.  Each district is part of a reaping in which one male and female of a certain age range (children) are chosen from each district.  That's all I am going to say for now.      

Jungle 6-13

The section of the Jungle I had to ready for Monday was chapters 6-13.  During these chapters the family continues to struggle.  They worry about losing their house due to a lack of money that Jurgis is making.  As an immigrant, I think it would be very tough to come to a new country and start a new life like Jurgis and Ona's family did.  I feel this way because even today WE take advantage of immigrants.  Granted, things have improved since the Jungle, but still it is definitely not easy.  I can't imagine moving to a new country and having to find a house and a job.  In chapter 8 the wages of the workers get discussed and  I was disgusted with how the workers got screwed over time and time again.  For example, if the workers came to work early they did not get paid until they were supposed to clock in, but had to work anyways and if you were late to work you didn't get paid for that hour.  Finally, if you left early like say @ 2:50 you don't get paid for that hour because you left ten minutes early.  That is such crap, I wouldn't put up with that especially coming into to work early and not getting paid for it.  However, I guess if you are working to provide for your family you'll put up with anything like Jurgis did.  I don't understand how people can treat others this way.  For the wages the slaughterhouse workers get, I don't think it is nearly enough for the conditions

they have to work in.  For example, it mentioned that some workers' nails wore off from pulling hides off.  When I read this I instantly looked at my nails and couldn't fathom them being worn off.  I really admire Jurgis and what he did to try and make a better life for Ona's family and himself.

Welcome to the Jungle

Jurgis wasn't intimidated by all the the talk about breaking men down in the stockyards of Chicago, he actually laughed about it.  Jurgis was the type of boy that the bosses wanted to get a hold of...trouble. One day he met Ona at a horse fair who he married later on.  Jurgis hadn't thought he would get married, in fact he laughed at the idea.  When Ona's father died they decided to all go to America because Jonas said he heard one of his friends became rich there.  They decided to leave the following spring.  When all twelve arrived in Chicago they walked around utterly lost the first day.  They avoided the police as much as they could, but when nightfall hit they were taken to the station where an interpreter taught them the word stockyard and off they went. On the way to the stockyards they noticed several changes like the grass wasn't as green and it grew darker and darker outside.  What were they getting into? Jurgis began working in a slaughterhouse and when he first walked through it he didn't wince or anything.  I'm sure he just looked at the slaughterhouse as a job and a way to bring in money.  I couldn't imagine working in slaughterhouse especially on the super hot days like Jurgis described.  I admire the family so far in the fact that they have remained somewhat positive with the whole situation especially since there home has already been broken into twice.  Also, I was a bit surprised with the overall tone of the first few chapters.  I thought for sure that the family would show more emotions then what they had so far.  But hey their positiveness is probably what is keeping them going.  I look forward to hearing about the rest of the book from the class besides the part that my group is going to read.  I hope that the rest of their time in America is what they hoped it would be.    

       

Migrant workers

Cajas de carton by Francisco Jimenez starts out by telling us how his family emigrated from Mexico to California where they worked in the fields.  When it was time for one season to end and another to begin they would have to pack up everything they had into their vehicle and drive to try and find work.  When strawberry season ended his family had to back up and head to Fresno to hopefully find work picking grapes.  The first labor camp they arrived to did not leave work, but luckily the foreman told them to try another house down the road.  This labor camp had work and the foreman told his family that they could stay in the garage and they would have work all season long.  The garage was not very clean and needed a lot of work.
 While the boys were working in the field they would have to hide when the school bus came by so that they did not have to go to school.  The conditions in the fields were rough.  It was 100 degrees out and if you drank too much water you would feel sick.  Being a child I couldn't imagine working in conditions like this.  I know I wouldn't last long at all.  It wasn't until the grape season was over that the children went to school.  When Francisco got to school it took him time to get the English words to come out of his mouth.  He struggled to read and his only friend was his teacher.  He was just starting to get comfortable and even began learning how to play the trumpet.  He was so excited to tell his parents when he got home that day. However, when he did arrive home he saw that everything was packed up and they were moving again.  This is so sad because Francisco was finally starting to feel happy at school and he had something to look forward to, but unfortunately it was time for him and his family to move on.  The life of a migrant worker is no joke.  They work hard in terrible conditions all day long with little breaks.  I think we all should have to work a day in the field to see what they have to endure to get us our fruit and vegetables.    

I Propose.....

As time has passed our society has done nothing, but go downhill.  A lot of people are poor and even more are struggling to get a meal.  Everyday in America we throw away and/or waste way too much food. For example, after reading The American Way of Eating   I realized that grocery stores such as Wal-Mart will throw such things like a whole bag of grapes or carton of strawberries just because one is bad.  How wasteful is that? Why are we so picky?  In America I think that we have it made because in other countries like Africa a majority of their population are starving.  Granted I know that their are plenty of people in the USA that are hungry as well, but nothing like in Africa. We need to stop being so stingy and enjoy the luxuries we have.
I'm not sure if I have told anyone in this class yet, but I am in college so I can become an elementary teacher.  That being said my proposal is based on helping provide students with a sack dinner to bring home at the end of the day.  Unfortunately, some children only get to eat when they are at school because their parents or guardians may not have a lot of money to provide a dinner or may be working when they get home from school so they can't make a meal for themselves.  I have seen situations like this time and time again.  While I was doing my pre-internship at a school I noticed a kid who would eat as much as they would give him for breakfast and lunch and I always wondered why.  Later I found out that child did not get a regular dinner every night so they were eating as much as they could to help if they didn't get dinner.  What is my point in all this?  I propose that students who are on any type of food assistance in school not only get free breakfast and lunch, but also get a take home dinner.  How will this all work?  Well I don't know if anyone pays attention to the lottery, but in order to pay for this we will raise the price of a mega millions ticket from $1 to $2 and 1/4 of the money spent on a mega millions ticket will go to funding my proposal.  But wait it gets better... Not only will the money go just to buy the food it will also be used to help in the process of taking food that is thrown away at the end of the night (but still good) from groceries, cafes, and restaurants to schools to be used for the take home dinners.  So not only will this help make sure students get a dinner to eat, but it also will cut down on all of our food waste.  I did some research on this and found out that someone is basically already doing something to my proposal which I think is awesome.  CHECK IT OUT!

Guatemala and Me

After reading the articles about Guatemala I didn't realize how selfish I am.  I rarely think about how a ton of people and children are starving every day.  The last time I thought about all the children who are malnourished was when I was at the gym last week and a commercial came on about donating to help feed starving children.  I really liked The Family article because it was told by a person who actually experienced everything themselves and not just witnessed it.  Rigoberta Menchu lived in the mountains, so their would have to walk a long ways just to get to their neighbors.  Her parents worked in the fincas to make money.  When she was five she remembered picking coffee and cotton.  When she was eight she became ill and her family had to return back to the Altiplano.  Here, it rained a lot and they were hardly comfortable because they were always wet and had no clothes.  I couldn't imagine living like this which once again goes back to me being selfish.  When I have a bad day and use some expression like (FML) I need to stop and realize that I have it made.  I have a roof over my head, I'm not starving, I have several luxuries, and I have a decent job that doesn't entitle me to work all day and all night to make some tiny wage.  The women in Guatemala usually have nine to ten children and of those children Rigoberta said that only three or four would be healthy and caould survive.  The remaining children would have bellies swollen from malnutrition and most likely would die.  I don't know how the mothers can cope with knowing that some of her children will die because of malnutrition.  Just reading this hurt my heart because I wish there was a way to just make this all stop, no one would be hungry and we could all be healthy.  Too bad it's not that easy :(     

Babies...?

When I first found out that we were going to read A Modest Proposal  by Jonathon Swift I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  I had been told by several students and friends that it was a bit disturbing.  I had no idea what they meant by this until I got to the part about eating infants in a roast.  I don't know how anyone could think that eating babies would some how change poverty and hunger. I don't understand how anyone could even suggest eating a baby.  I don't have a baby of my own, but I have a nephew and the thought of someone eating him makes me want to vomit. Swift talked about beggars plumping up their one year old babies to sell them to rich Irish men.  He also discussed how he thought this would resolve several problems in the Kingdom of Ireland.  What is with this?  How would buying a baby to eat solve problems in the Kingdom of Ireland? I think that this would just make things in the Kingdom worse and not better. What is up with this "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust."  Talking about a child being put in a stew or roasted....?     Thinking about eating any part of a human being is revolting to me, but a baby really? I am excited for class tomorrow because I am really looking forward to seeing how this relates to our class discussions.      

After having class on Monday and rereading The Modest Proposal I have a different view on this.  I caught the satire the first time I read it, but after reading it the second time it is much more apparent.  Also, I read the historical context and I realize that Swift just was proposing this to improve the conditions in Ireland and it wouldn't happen.  

Hunger Free Community

In 1982 a group of churches got together to create this wonderful organization called Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes to help stop local hunger in Kalamazoo.  As time went on more congregations joined and the food distribution sites expanded.  What does KLF do?  KLF works with others to provide prepared meal support, senior commodity programs, agency food support, food packs for kids, and other

 community food programs.  KLF is the largest charitable food distribution system in Kalamazoo county.  I have always wanted to become more involved with the community and help people who need it.  I used to volunteer all the time back home in Coloma MI.  I have volunteered for the salvation army and soup kitchen.  I loved the feeling I got from volunteering, it just made me feel like I made a difference in someone's life even if it was just a minor thing.  
I really liked reading about their mission and vision and I especially liked their values : Respect, Diversity & Inclusion, Stewardship & Accountability, Integrity, Collaboration, Urgency, Service.  Also I really value their commitments: To provide

 high quality food, to develop high quality client access and support, to nurture our volunteer base, to market our services and our mission, and to improve our efficiency and effectiveness.  I think it is really important to have commitments like this because yes, the people that they are helping may be less fortunate than us, but they still deserve the best.  

How does KLF work?   Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes works with local partners like the Food Bank of South Central Michigan to procure low-cost foods. This relationship allows them to stretch food dollars further, securing a multitude of food resources at a minimal cost.  I really like writing about KLF because it helped me remember that their still are good people in the world.  

Can I have one of everything?

After reading this I was amazed with how much food was made and eaten in one day.  As soon as I thought the dinner was over....there came more food.  Food and wine, that's the life of Trimalchio.  When I read the part about the pig getting cut open and all the blood and guts I wanted to puke.  The amount of food that was brought out for one meal was more food then my whole family made on a typical holiday gathering like Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I get that he was trying to show off his wealth, but seriously you could have probably fed two football teams with the amount of food at his feast.  Why did he have to have all that food?  Yes, it was a feast, but come on there is no way all of that food was eaten/needed.  But hey I guess the saying goes "If you got it flaunt it".  Might is well let people know that you are "stuffed" with riches.
Did anyone else think Mr. High and Almighty was rude?  He seemed so snobbish like everyone was beneath him. At least that's what I thought.  I don't understand how Trimalchio could have the younger life, like he did and then grow to be some rich prude to flaunt his wealth in everyone's faces.  Grow up... oh wait he did and became even more of a snob.  I didn't like how he treated his servants when they did something wrong.  We all make mistakes and usually most of them are unintentional, but yet they had to be punished.  I get that mistakes need consequences, but his were a bit extreme if you ask me.  Overall, I found this reading to be interesting especially because I never thought a meal could have that many courses.  I hope that if I ever become rich unexpectedly I will be humble with my wealthiness and remember the "middle men".