Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Reading Response

I LOVE THIS ARTICLE. Let me just say that. So I was asked to read "An Open Letter From A Farmer to Angry Vegetarians" by Jenna Woginrich. I wholeheartedly agree with everything Woginrich is saying. To summarize the article is from Jenna basically saying she is sick of being called a murderer because she eats meat and owns a farm there is obviously more to the article than that but that sums up the main point I got from it. I understand the desire to be a vegetarian, hell I was a vegetarian for almost four years, so believe me I completely understand. Whatever your personal reasoning is for eating meat or not eating meat is totally up to you, and nobody has the right to criticize your choices simply because of a disagreement.  I don't believe that being vegetarian makes you better than anyone else because when you think about it like Woginrich stated multiple times there isn't a meal you can pick up from the supermarket that hasn't harmed an animal in some way. Please go read this article vegetarian or not it will make you think about topics you may have never thought of.
Go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenna-woginrich/an-open-letter-from-a-far_b_5587803.html

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Service learning reflection

This past Wednesday I went to the Lord's Acre to help volunteer in the gardens with my class. Initially I didn't think I would enjoy going to a garden because I've never had a green thumb, but this experience was one I truly enjoyed. The Lord's Acre is a non-profit organization that helps provide vegetables and other nutritious items to people in need in the community. With all the work we were doing I could never imagine only two people completing the tasks we did. We were weeding, harvesting sweet potatoes, and cutting down okra. It was all a lot of fun and it was time well spent. The people that run  the Lord's Acre are very sweet, down to earth individuals who only want to help the                                                                                            community. It was great getting the opportunity                                                                                      to meet them and ask them questions like why                                                                                         they started volunteering there. I learned a lot                                                                                          from this trip and would love the chance to go                                                                                             back and volunteer again in the spring.               
Gardening in a purse:Just one of the many ways they showed us you can garden.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Reading Reflection

The two articles we were asked to read for class were very interesting. The first article "Downsizing Supersize" (Surowiecki 123) is actually the topic I am focusing on for my research paper. The article discusses the idea that Mayor Bloomberg wants to cut back on the sizes of sodas provided for many public places. Just like in research I've done people tend to have a problem with this saying the government can't control what we do or how we feed ourselves. The Mayor thought it would be a good idea to cut back to lower obesity risks. One question people had was " If someone wants a soda that is larger than 16oz they can just double or triple the soda they buy" , the mayor says that due to laziness of people doing that would be too much work and that's why he believed regulating drink sizes would help. The second article " Why Shame Won't Stop Obesity" (Khullar 127)   brings up many good points about the availability of healthy food compared to the easily accessible junk food. Khullar also brings up how much cheaper it is to buy junk food compared to expensive nutritious food. Khullar talks about the first step to solving the obesity epidemic is to provide more healthy options to low income areas so they have the option to eat better. Khullar brings in an interesting point about working in a hospital and even there the food options aren't the healthiest food choices. I think in general the first step needs to be providing more nutritious options  in a variety of areas especially low income areas that need it. Both articles were very interesting and I think they both bring two very important ideas to the table. They are both focusing on trying to make the food we eat healthier and controlling portion sizes, but that's not something they can solve overnight. Also the general public needs to have the desire to be better and healthier if they want to get anywhere with these movements.