Tim Wise Interview

Racism has been a burden that mankind has been cursed with since the beginning of the exploration. The object is to build a foundation base on color and ethnicity to demand respect and obedience to the “superior” race. After hundreds of years of struggle, the people of color and the minorities have gained equal rights in society, legally that is. Today, many people of color live in extreme poverty. Opportunities are hard to come by due to the lack of proper support and education. Even though we live in a democratic world, sometimes we can’t help but express some social preferences that might be considered racist.
With the election of Barack Obama, racism has been dug a deeper hole to hide in. Chances are, in any community, racism is still there whether it is realized or not. According to Tim Wise, "...there is probably a human tendency..."(6, wise). It is not our fault we're like this to begin with as we are all wired to act/feel this way but it is our fault we have not strived harder to change it. In an age where the press are stating that "Racism has ended." or "The End of Racism has come." shouldn't that mean it really should be ended for them to be able to say that? We use the comfort of social equality to shelter us from the possibility that something is wrong with America today. We subconsciously make these comments because we believe that the jokes are harmless. Those who heard the joke do not take it so lightly, however.
In high school, I had a variety of friends, who I believed were very good people and varied culturally. Sometimes though, when we joke together some hurtful things are said. I would never confront my friends about it though, because I don’t want to create a rift between us. I think that it’s wrong to not confront each other when it is offensive or even “racist” because it promotes social demoralization. When we don’t talk about it though, we would never know if certain things hurt or not. How can we avoid racism if we don’t even know what is considered to be?
On paper three, most of the food communities are created from specific beliefs and cultures that prospered through ethnic pride and normalities. We think that racism does not occur today, but in truth, it is everywhere.

Works Cited
Wise, Tim. "By the Color of their Skin: Tim Wise on the Myth of a Postracial America." Interview by David Cook. The Sun July 2009: 4-12. PDF file

Choosing Sources

As college students, writing is a major part of proving our academic understand. When we present our ideas, we often need supports and opinions to contrast our ideas with others. In my process in writing paper for English 101, I often have to find sources to either research or to use as references. Usually, I would first think about ideas and what I want to do or write about then find references to support it, rather than having to write an essay base on the resource that I’ve found. By doing so, I would limit my own writing. After I have an idea, I would search the library for books or online documents for scholarly source. Having scholarly source would help make my paper more credible to the audience, as it had been base off well researched data. Then, after skimming the information, I can see if the source can be used in my paper. I also check the author for credibility and if the information is current. After compiling my list of sources, I would usually have few more than what I need, just in case the sources cannot be used. Before writing my essay, I would write down a few lines that I would like to use from each books so that I know what subject to steer my writing to. When I write, I keep in mind some of the information so that if I feel that the point should be supported, the quote/information can be used. I also try to use a quote to refute or support if my essay is argumentative and a naysayer is necessary. My method however could be improve by beginning an outline of the essay, insert an even amount of sources on each paragraphs so that it would flow much smoother, doing so it would make future writing become more clear and structured so that my counting words limits are close to being over.

Norman Borlaug: Biotechnology

In his article, Norman Borlaug discuss the advantageous in biotechnology and explain why it is Important to continue and expand the study. The use of biotechnology help foster plant growth and genetically alters the plants to develop certain immunity that’s good for the consumer and also enable them to foster and flourish in other region. The technology alters the way plant fertilizes, reducing water requirements, and also improves the plants itself. In summary, plants could be re-engineered to become better and live longer. One could see the possibility as amazing as it could change our whole entire system to the advantage of mankind, possibility feeding the entire world population. While some people, being skeptical to the idea of changing the ecosystem and genetically changing plant’s structure might strike fundamentalists as going a bit too far. Borlaug also strongly suggested that biotechnology be research under government fund instead of being a private research as it is something that would benefit everyone. I find Borlaug argument to be very convincing, feeding over 8.1 billion people, changing the way we cultivates seems very outstanding.However, I can also sympathize with those who are skeptical about physically genetically altering a plant since consumers would be the one who’s eating it, you’d just never know what could possibly be the consequence.

2-27-10- Omnivore's Dilemma: Final Word

Michael Pollen ends his adventure in discovering the omnivore’s dilemma by reproducing the cycle of preparing a meal using only what he has. Pollen hunted, gather and forage his entire meal through the help of others. Especially when learning to hunt pigs and picking mushrooms. Even though Pollen had obtained it all physically on his own, he has to depend on others for help and knowledge. Without the experience that others had share, Pollen would not have known which mushroom was poisonous or not and how to properly look for them. This makes me realize how much we’re depended on scientific knowledge and experts to tell us what is good from bad. Now, it seems like those with even the slight bit of authority are abusing our trust by telling us what food we should eat to benefit them instead of us. Also, seeing the process that Pollen goes through to produce one meal, it is hard to imagine doing so much trouble just to eat when we, today, can just drive our car to the nearest fast food joint. Today, we face many problems in choosing what to eat. We decide between organic or industrialized, fat free or non fat free, grass or corn. With that, Pollen leaves us the question: what’s for dinner?

2-22-2010 The Omnivore's Dilemma

To sum up the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollen discusses the problems that we face today when it comes to food, which include the influence of our past and history has on our food. Certain tribe custom and values has long been the core work of our diet today. We ingest the food that has been passed down from experiences and then pass down what we learn to the next generation. That was the old way. Today, especially in America, the values of choosing food no longer are from passed down knowledge and recipes; it is from scientific studies, marketing and other variables that we trust. My mom, growing up from traditional Vietnamese culture influences her decision in my family food choice; she always encourages healthy balanced meals and junk food would only be consumed sparingly. Living in the US for ten years, I’ve found myself slowly conforming to the American culture of food consumption; trusting restaurateurs and its scientific research to produce my food safely. Our meat consumption is based on ethical values that are sum by denying the fact that the meat eat was killed for that purpose. There isn’t really a “humane” way to kill an animal, because no matter what. It’d be dead. The Omnivore’s Dilemma had done an admirable job of mapping our eating habits from the start to our current condition. With food in mind, we continue to eat both plants and meat graciously.

2-15-2010 Omnivore's Dilemma: Resisting Nature

Grass, one of the most overlooked natural abundance that affects our entire ecosystem in a way that we cannot imagine. Even though we, human, as omnivore don’t consume grass like many others, we live and thrive through it as a balanced system. The sun give solar energy to the grass, the animal that consumes it takes the energy, and the animal that consumes that takes the energy. The cycle goes on to us, in each stage, energy is lost by roughly 10%. Polyface farm look at our already developed system and adapt to it. With rotational grazing, they were able to take and give back to natural, without harming the earth and on the contrary, enrich the soil. Every animal in the farm has their own job that contributes to the successful of the farm. When we think of farming, this is what we think of. Not overly processed, chemical filled, industrialized farming, where everything is sanitized and everything is overly processed, to a point where the energy is just cheap leftover. When we compare the pros and cons, we see that even though industrial farming is “cheap” and efficient, it is nothing more than our nation’s struggle to power. Where the nation that holds the most grain holds the power; corn is just more sustainable in the sense of containment, breaking down, and storability. That’s why our government decided to switch over to corn instead of using the nature system that works so effectively.

2/08/2010 - Omnivore's Dilemma: Sealed with a Barcode

Reading the chapter’s that talk about slaughter house and market in the Omnivore’s Dilemma reminded me how different local and industrial manufacturing of food really are. With industrial food, you get the benefit of having quick, easy, and cheap food. With local food, you get the more authentic and “organic” experience and taste, depends on how your animal was raised. What really interest me is that how certain animals like cow have to go be prepared and package in a federal approved centralized location. This actually increases the risk for them of attaining a harmful disease. When I was reading Fast Food Nation there was a particular chapter where the author speaks with many people working at slaughter houses. They worked in heavy and difficult condition; many of them are low incomes and can’t quit their job because of it job competition, especially to immigrant workers. Many people lose fingers and even arms to accidents that are not fully covered by insurance, most just get it patch up and go back to work. Farmers are making less as money are spent to slaughter animals, packaged, and injecting them with chemicals that help them last longer in a Supermarket. Even though buying these products from your supermarket seems cheaper, much more money is spent trying to clean up problems such as pollution and fossil waste. Weighing out pros and cons of having local food or industrialized products, I have to wonder. What is the best choice?