Start Something That Matters

If I didn't have to worry about money I would cook and eat all the time. I would travel to new places and learn about cooking and different cuisines all around the world. I love to cook for other people. Everyone enjoys good food and cooking is a service I could provide to those in need. I could do any kind of work to help those who need delicious, healthy meals. I also enjoy the gardening side of food. So I would be perfectly happy planting vegetables and cooking for those in need.

The Hungry Planet Farms project is a new way of growing plants indoors. The company focuses on vertical farming. It is small scale farming for those in need of disaster relief or areas that have a lot of malnutrition. Brittany Ferguson’s inspiration is “The world is hungry. Our need for food will never go away and too many people in the world are surviving on very little every day.” I think this is a good idea because it is inexpensive and condensed to it doesn’t take up a lot of space. The system working at its best can feed a family of 4 on $3 a day, and I think that is amazing. This connects to my interest in gardening and science. I would enjoy working on a project like this, figuring out the best way to grow plants in less than ideal conditions.

Half 4 the Hungry is an idea that helps the hungry through restaurants. People can get half portions for full price and the extra money goes to the hungry. It eliminates wasted leftovers and helps Americans consume less food. I think it is a very clever idea because America has an obesity problem and this way people without food benefit from us eating less. This ties in with my interest in food and helping the hungry. I also feel strongly about the obesity problem in the US, so this idea kills two birds with one stone.

Higher Ground Farming is the idea of farming on rooftops in bigger cities that don’t have the space. It provides fresh produce right in the area and helps with climate control. I think this is a pretty cool idea because it is a way to take advantage of a space that hasn’t been used. It also can have an impact on the health of people in the area by making it easier to eat healthy. This again relates to me and my interest in food and farming. I also approve of anything that will help the environment and by having the gardens on the roof it lowers the energy useage of the building. They will also retain rain water which has multiple up sides. This idea is future forward, using what we have to provide something good for the community.   

Article 1 Response

I liked the way the article was broken up into the different types of grammar problems people have. It was easy to read and understand. I made a connection with me, myself, and I . My aunt always used to correct me when I would say me and so and so, instead of so and so and I. The article talked about how "... most of us have said it ourselves; for some reason, it comes trippingly off the tongue. We also (most of us) know not to use it in a piece of writing meant to be published." I don't do it anymore since I have been corrected so much. Something I still have problems with is parallelism and the article didn't help very much. It was one of the smallest sections. Something I think I am starting to master is semicolons. You use it to separate two complete clauses or to separate a list of items that already contains punctuation. This article is a good, small look at some common grammar problems people have. I think it was both helpful and a little too simple. Things weren't explain as well as they could be for all sections, I had some confusion with the smaller sections. In class I would like to discuss the quote "Moreover, grammar is one of the least pressing problems when it comes to the poor state of writing today." I think that is interesting because if the problems aren't things like what is talked about in the article then what are they. I believe if you have the learned skills like grammar, then you can be at least some what successful in writing. 

PechaKucha

I watched Lessons in Falling. It was about how Alain Parizeau found himself with the help of Graphic Design. Things fell into place in his life and he found a way to use Graphic Design to creatively solve problems and help people feel good. All his slides where good, the pictures fit well together and were good sizes. He had lots of examples of things he had created, which I liked. So the presentation itself was good, but his speaking was an example of things not to do. He said things like umm and uhh a lot, and took very long pauses in talking. This took away from his presentation because it was easy to lose track of what he was talking about and get off focus. It also made it less clear what he was talking about. I could tell he was less comfortable talking and not rehearsed. I like this form of presentations, because I like pictures and would prefer not to read slides, but I am concerned about my talking going smoothly. Knowing what not to do can help just as much as knowing what to do. I just will be more aware of not using words such as: umm, uhh, like, and okay. Those extra words we don't need and add because we lose our train of thought or run out of things to say.

The Bitter, Sweet, and Aftertaste

In one of the letters I received from China the girl, Danlei, told me about the ancient city of Dali, located in northwestern Yunnan, where she grew up. She told me that if I were ever to visit that I needed to try the three courses of tea by the Bai nationality (Huang.)  I thought this was interesting, I’ve heard of multiple courses of meals, but never thought about having multiple course of a drink. She described each course and what really stood out to me is that one of the courses had cheese in it. I couldn’t imagine having a type of tea with cheese in it, so I had to look into these teas.

 

The Three Course Tea of Bai today is a kind of welcoming ceremony for treating guests and friends of the Bai people. It was originally a ceremony held by the senior members of the family to express good wishes for younger generations leaving home for school, work or when they are married. But now it has become one of the ways the Bai people show their value of friendship  (Three-course Tea Of Bai, Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority.)


The courses are the "bitter, sweet and aftertaste". The first course is the Bitter Tea. This tea is made from baking a local green tea in a pottery jar till they have a “scorched” smell and they turn yellow, then the boiling water s added to make the tea. You get half a cup, it is described as bitter and strong, but still refreshing. The second, the Sweet Tea, is made by diluting the bitter tea with more boiling water, and adding brown sugar, cinnamon, and Ru Shan, which is the cheese like food. It is just a daily product made from goat cheese. This course is “chewed” and is sweet and nourishing. The last is the Aftertaste. Honey, ginger, Chinese pepper, and semen juglandis, which are type of walnut kernel, are added to this tea. Danlei described how in all three courses you taste the five flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. The Bai people think of it as your life- bitter, sweet and full of aftertaste (Three-course Tea Of Bai, Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority.)

 

I think this is a very fascinating tradition. The Bai people found a way to get all of these different tastes just from only three teas. Danlei said it was an unforgettable taste for her, and I would love to try it one day if I get the opportunity, even though I am not a big fan of tea. I also think it is a good connection with life. The more I’ve thought about it life is exactly that: bitter, sweet, and full of aftertaste.

 

 

Secondary Sources

 

"Three-course Tea Of Bai." -Yunnan Tourism Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.

 

"Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority,China Guide,Great Wall Travel." Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority,China Guide,Great Wall Travel. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.

Primary Source

 

Huang, Daniela. "Good days in Dali." Letter to Mary Books. 21 Oct. 2014. MS. Qingdao, China.

Reading Response #4

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I started reading this series of books a few years ago, but like most things I just never finished them. So I decided to start over from the beginning. There are four books, and the first is Uglies. It is a book based in the future. This is clear due to the crazy technology and this society's totally new way of thinking about how our humankind looks. People that look like how normal people look today are considered “ugly”, and on everyone’s 16th birthday they get an operation to become “pretty”. Basically the operation makes everyone perfect, it takes away human flaw, and gives everyone the best life they could imagine. After getting the operation teenagers are moved to a new town to party and be pretty with other pretty people.

Tally, the main character has just lost her best friend, Peris, to New Pretty Town, because he is three months older than her and has been turned pretty. Tally, wants nothing more than to become pretty and be with Peris. She feels like a young gross child, still having all her impurities. Through the book Tally starts to realize there is more to life than just partying and being pretty, and she values her three months as an ugly more than she would have originally thought. There is a good deal of excitement in this book, as Tally and a new friend have a few adventures. The whole pot and idea of the book is quite interesting.

Right off the bat Westerfeld uses an odd style, and describes the surroundings in different way, “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.” This statement is off putting and kind of gross, but it paints a picture. It says something about both Westerfeld’s writing style but also ties into the character of Tally. At the beginning of the book Tally has very a negative outlook on being ugly, and really a negative outlook on her whole life. She thinks all her problems will be solved by this big operation.

The image shows how even though Tally thinks she is an "ugly", she is what we would think today is normal. Just an average girl, but because of the world she lives in she is thought to be ugly. I think it's interesting to think about what it would be like if we all looked perfect. Even our pretty people today would still be considered ugly until they got the operation.

Refection

I honestly don't know what to think about what we did in class today. I didn't like the bias test. I don't feel like that was a reliable test. I didn't think of it having anything to do with a race or bad and good words, I was just sorting things in the way that they told me to. Naturally I messed up more when they switched the sides, because it took me adapting to something different. I got that I moderately prefer European American, which I don't really agree with. I have no preference, and I put I was neutral about both when the test directly asked. I believe I got that result because I made more mistakes when I had the European American and Bad on the same side, but that was the way it was after they switched sides, so it was the opposite of what I had done to start with. I didn't like the test, and don't like being told I have a preference, when I don't.

The Face to Face sight was interesting. I only listened to the section about FBI Investigations. It was insightful, and I liked directly hearing about personal experiences having to do with the treatment of different races after 9/11. They all felt like their lives were intruded on and that they had nothing personal. Multiple people talked about how they were surprised about all the FBI knew. Another common theme was about how people where judge based just on their skin color and names. Khaled Abou El Fadl talked about how now he wears a suit and has to be accepting of things that could happen when he flies. He knows there is the possibility for people wanting to change seats, and that people will watch what he does more closely. I believe who we are has nothing to do with the color of our sign. This isn't a topic people like to talk about, but it is sad that people live in fear and take extra precautions because of something they have no control over.

Reading Response #3

Reading Response: Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

When I was younger I loved Nicholas Sparks. I spent a whole summer just reading his books and I ended up reading most of them. For some reason I just stopped after a while, and then my mom got me Safe Haven for Christmas. So I finally decided to read it. I feel differently about Nicholas Sparks’ writing than I used to. He is a really good writer but his stories just seem a little cheesy and predictable now. I don’t even know if I’ll finish the book.

Like all of Sparks’ books this is a love story. Katie wonders into Southport, NC, with no intention of making any friends. She stays to herself, trying only to get what she needs: new clothes, a job, and a house. After going into the local grocery store it becomes clear she isn’t going to be able to keep her life secluded from everyone like she wanted. Alex, a widowed man with two children, owns the store. Right away you see there is going to be something because of the way Katie acts with his children. What keeps you interested in the beginning is trying to figure out what Katie is trying to get away from.

“He didn’t want that to happen. Not for selfish reasons, but because she was entitled to the kind of life she’d come here to find. A normal life. A life of simple pleasures, the kind most people take for granted: the ability to go where she wanted and live in a home where she felt safe and secure. She also needed a way to get around.”(p.65)

In the quote above you can tell Alex cares about Katie from the start. He wants to respect her, and keep his distance because he can tell that’s what she wants, but he just can’t help wanting to make things easier for her. He knows some about her past, but I can’t explain any of that. I wouldn’t want to give it away, even though I’m sure a lot of you have seen the movie. Alex just wants to do all he can without it being too much.

This picture is from the movie, when Katie first goes into Alex's store, and meets him and his daughter, Kristen.You can see from the picture how Kristen automatically takes a liking to Katie. Alex is hooked on Katie in the beginning because of how well she gets along with his children. This moment is the start of everything.

Even though I don't like this book, it's still good, and I think it's better than the movie. So if you like love stories you should read it.