Tuesday Night:
-Broccoli and Cheddar Noodles
- Grilled Chicken
-Peas and Carrots
-Diet Soda
-Root Beer Float
My family ate dinner together again and we ate for about 30 min. because my sister and I were in a rush to get to rehearsal. My mom cooked the meal and my dad helped by cooking the veggies. We are not allowed to watch T.V. or text at the table and of course whenever we try to text at the table we get in trouble. We all were made to wash our hands before dinner and we used forks. We all talked about our day and what happened. We talked about funny things that happened or memories we have. Before I ate, I was really really hungry and all I could think about was I cant wait to eat. Then while we were eating, I was thinking that I was really glad to be eating my favorite noodles, but I wished that I had more time to stay home and eat, but I had to leave. After eating dinner, I was still hungry but I didn't have time to eat anymore and by the time I got home, I wasn't that hungry anymore. Then when I came home, I had a root beer float and I had been craving it all day so when I finally had it I was really glad and I couldn't wait to taste it. After, I felt just tired because I had been filled from my eating.
Thursday:
-Corn Pops
-Bacon Cheese Burger
-Pepsi
-Chicken Wings
-Plantains
-Yellow rice and Sausages
-Watermelon
I got a bowl of Corn Pops this morning and I was so hungry. I put it in a bowl all by myself and used a spoon to eat it. All I was thinking before I ate was that I wish I could stay home and eat Corn Pops all day and sleep. After I ate my corn pops I was still hungry and I was still tired so I forced myself to get out of bed and get ready for school. When I got to school, during class all I could think of was what I was going to eat for lunch because I was still really hungry. Finally I had a bacon cheese burger and a pepsi and while I was eating it I was thinking about how happy I was to be eating it. I watched the guys in the corner store make it so I know it was ok. I ate lunch with my best friend Arianna and we talked about our memories and stories about my boyfriend and her girlfriend. After I ate, I was full and I wanted to go home. After my soccer game I was starving again and I rushed home to eat chicken wings, plantains and yellow rice with plantains. My mom cooked and we used forks. Before I ate it, I thought the same thing as the night before: I wish I could have enough time to stay home and eat more. During the meal, we had the same topics of conversation like soccer and other things that went on through out the day. While I was eating I was thinking about how I wished I could be eating the noodles I ate the day before. I also didn't really like the chicken wings, but I ate them anyway because I was really really hungry. After I ate, I was still hungry, but I had to rush to rehearsal. After rehearsal, I ate some watermelon and I was really happy because they're my favorite fruit. I was really happy that it was juicy and I felt full and sloshy afterwards.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Food #3 Food Cultures
My family always eats together at the dinning room table. My mother insists on us eating as a family because we are all so busy that we rarely have time for each other. My mom makes dinner and my dad helps a lot of the time or they take turns cooking each night. At dinner we always talk about what went on in our day or what our plans are for the rest of the week. I feel that on T.V. and in the media, they send out two different messages about food and they way we eat. A lot of T.V. shows portray the same method of eating as a family bonding point in the day. People come together during meals to share their experiences and socialize, but another message that they send is that eating in a living room with T.V. trays and not really getting to know the other people at all.
I also noticed that people in America eat without even thinking. They eat at random times in the day and don't take much account for what exactly they put into their bodies. I follow this trend myself. Eating is a very common ritual that everyone follows for a number of different reasons. I find that people eat when they are sad and when there's nothing to do. We use food as a time for togetherness and when friends or family get together, they use food to bring each other together. No matter what culture or ethnic background I feel that food is important to bring people together.
I feel that in bringing people together with food, America has tried to bring other cultures into our world, but I feel that in doing so we have changed food to fit our unhealthy lifestyle. We have Americanized a lot of the food that we now have in our society and I feel that America's food is based off of 2 things. There is 1 extreme that is the unhealthy, fatty artificial foods. These people are the people that don't really care what they eat wether they are fat or not. They don't think about what they eat and just eat whenever they feel like. The 2nd extreme is when people obsess about what they eat and how many calories they consume or if what they eat in the day is healthy. Those who try to break away from the normal nonchalance of the American culture and try to create a "healthier" and different lifestyle for themselves are not really being to original or different. They are in fact falling into the other common group in America of those who are constantly watching what they eat or those who are vegetarian.
I think it’s interesting to go to other “cultural” restaurants that America has changed. I went to a Spanish restaurant called Sofrito. In this restaurant, there are actual Spanish dishes and music from South America and Puerto Rico and not Reggeton. There was also art all over the wall from Spanish artists. I think this was interesting to have because usually we only have Americanized Spanish foods and in this restaurant, they decided to bring their culture to America. The menu was also in Spanish which was interesting to see the actual names of all the food and to translate it in English and see the differences. Although this restaurant was Spanish based, there was still a small Americanized aspect of it. When someone was there on their birthday (like all American restaurants) they sang happy birthday. Even though they sang it in English and Spanish, I still felt like it was a very American thing to do in a restaurant and it snuck its way into the Spanish restaurant.
I also noticed that people in America eat without even thinking. They eat at random times in the day and don't take much account for what exactly they put into their bodies. I follow this trend myself. Eating is a very common ritual that everyone follows for a number of different reasons. I find that people eat when they are sad and when there's nothing to do. We use food as a time for togetherness and when friends or family get together, they use food to bring each other together. No matter what culture or ethnic background I feel that food is important to bring people together.
I feel that in bringing people together with food, America has tried to bring other cultures into our world, but I feel that in doing so we have changed food to fit our unhealthy lifestyle. We have Americanized a lot of the food that we now have in our society and I feel that America's food is based off of 2 things. There is 1 extreme that is the unhealthy, fatty artificial foods. These people are the people that don't really care what they eat wether they are fat or not. They don't think about what they eat and just eat whenever they feel like. The 2nd extreme is when people obsess about what they eat and how many calories they consume or if what they eat in the day is healthy. Those who try to break away from the normal nonchalance of the American culture and try to create a "healthier" and different lifestyle for themselves are not really being to original or different. They are in fact falling into the other common group in America of those who are constantly watching what they eat or those who are vegetarian.
I think it’s interesting to go to other “cultural” restaurants that America has changed. I went to a Spanish restaurant called Sofrito. In this restaurant, there are actual Spanish dishes and music from South America and Puerto Rico and not Reggeton. There was also art all over the wall from Spanish artists. I think this was interesting to have because usually we only have Americanized Spanish foods and in this restaurant, they decided to bring their culture to America. The menu was also in Spanish which was interesting to see the actual names of all the food and to translate it in English and see the differences. Although this restaurant was Spanish based, there was still a small Americanized aspect of it. When someone was there on their birthday (like all American restaurants) they sang happy birthday. Even though they sang it in English and Spanish, I still felt like it was a very American thing to do in a restaurant and it snuck its way into the Spanish restaurant.
Food #2 What Constitutes as "American Food"?
When I looked up the answer to this question, I noticed that there is no real defined "American Food." Recipes came up for different French recipes and Mexican recipes. When I actually did find something that was "American Food," it was really not anything healthy. Reading an article called "10 foods that make America great" the author writes "Hamburgers. Apple pie. Potato chips. Foods that helped shape our nation." I really hate to think that these foods are what "shaped our nation" because I see this as an overdramatic statement that is really pathetic to think of. It is also pathetic to think that other countries have foods that are considered an art to make and are prepared carefully and with as much perfection as possible. Other cultures also have many spices and seasonings that they add and we as Americans have hamburgers and potato chips. Our food is simple and in a sense stolen from other cultures and we don't have our own cultural food. Our food is not our own and whenever we do adapt food from other cultures, we Americanize it and make it our own unhealthy version of what was an art.
Monday, April 27, 2009
My Fridge
-Apples
-2 bottles of diet soda
-Pink lemonade
-Butter
-Jelly
-Salad dressing
-Tomatoes
-Capri Suns
-Various Vegetables
-Grapes
-Pickles
-Cold cuts
-Mayo
-Mustard
-Cream Cheese
I think my fridge is a typical "American" fridge. My family tries to eat healthy and tries to eat together. My mom makes my sister a sandwich everyday for lunch which I think is a pretty typical thing to do for an elementary school child. This shows me how much meat Americans actually consume. I also feel that Americans try and eat healthy, but end up just forgetting their "commitment" because I am really the only one in my family who eats the fruit. My mom buys a lot of it, but no one else really eats it and they eat other less healthy things. I think that Americans really don't care what they eat, they just care if it tastes good and if it'll help them to not be hungry because that's personally all I care about.
-2 bottles of diet soda
-Pink lemonade
-Butter
-Jelly
-Salad dressing
-Tomatoes
-Capri Suns
-Various Vegetables
-Grapes
-Pickles
-Cold cuts
-Mayo
-Mustard
-Cream Cheese
I think my fridge is a typical "American" fridge. My family tries to eat healthy and tries to eat together. My mom makes my sister a sandwich everyday for lunch which I think is a pretty typical thing to do for an elementary school child. This shows me how much meat Americans actually consume. I also feel that Americans try and eat healthy, but end up just forgetting their "commitment" because I am really the only one in my family who eats the fruit. My mom buys a lot of it, but no one else really eats it and they eat other less healthy things. I think that Americans really don't care what they eat, they just care if it tastes good and if it'll help them to not be hungry because that's personally all I care about.
Health Care Paper
Health care in America is far from perfect. Based on the Information we learned in class, I conclude that our society is based on the priorities of those in power. Those who have the most money and most authority create the laws of our society and none of us really realize it. There are those people who realize what the government is doing and try and regain some form of power by means of populism (uniting people under the same topic to fight for an idea). People like Michael Moore feel the urge to unite people based on their needs for health care and the fact that it is so much better in many other circumstances. For example in Cuba, the doctors treat their patients with a lot more care than American doctors do. It was shown in that in America, people who cannot pay in hospitals are put into a taxi and taken wherever the doctor decides to send them. Often times the patients are not fully conscious or aware of what is going on and therefore have no idea where they are or where they are going. In an interview, Michael Moore discovered that sometimes patients are kicked out of hospitals with IV's still in their arms and in one particular case a woman still had unhealed stitches and broken bones when she was kicked out of the hospital.
This problem lives on while in Cuba, there is a pharmacy and/or hospital available on almost every block. The medication prescribed to Cuba's patients is much less expensive than the exact same medication would be were it have been bought in America. Moore talks about how people have problems with health care such as the 9/11 workers who now have lung problems and other physical and mental issues. These people have health care, but they are having difficulty paying for the doctors and the treatment they need or receiving approval for care from the doctors and health insurance companies. One of the woman that Moore brought with him to Cuba had extreme lung problems where she had a terrible cough and extremely inflamed lungs. In order to reduce inflammation and the overall status of her lungs, she had to purchase a certain asthma pump that would help to heal her lungs. In America she had had to pay around $120 per pump where as in Cuba she only had to pay 5 cents a pump. This was an extremely upsetting fact for the woman because she didn't understand why in a country that was supposed to be America's enemy, she was receiving better care than her own country would provide for her.
When we look at how the wealth is split in this country, we may be able to understand why there is such a difference in medication. For example, our simulation of wealth using chairs.When playing musical chairs, i feel that it was a little easier to understand what poverty is like. The 1st version of musical chairs was a normal version of musical chairs and although just a game, it gave me the perspective that in America, people have to fight each other to get what they need to survive. When they needed to get to a chair quickly, people would do anything possible to get to the chairs such as jump over them or push people out of the way in order to fend for themselves. This signifies how in the work place or in life in general, we have a system where the strong and "cunning" people who know how to play dirty and manipulate will prosper. Some people were very into the game, but they wanted to be sure they didn't hurt anyone by pushing them out of the way and even some of those people knew that they could not fight certain people for a seat because they would lose. This, to me, signifies how some people in the workplace try to play fair and worry about the well-being of others and this of course led them to get stepped on and thrown out of the game which can only tell us that niceties and fairness can only get you so far in America which turns out to be not that far at all. The last category of people were the people who were just too tired to take part in the game. These people either sat on the sides and watched or played the game, but walked really slowly around the circle and when it came to finding a seat, they would walk to the nearest seat and if they couldn't find one then they would just sit out. This represented those in America who are too lazy or just don't see the point in working so they give up which eventually leads to poverty. This isn't always the case of course. There are always people who are hurt and can't work or too old or something, but in this case we just had lazy people because no one was hurt or too old to play the game. Yet there are people who in the beginning of the game tried to say "my leg hurts" or "I cant play I'm sick" which then gives us an example of those who pretend to be sick in order to not do any work which happens a lot in America.
While playing the second simulation of musical chairs, people started playing like normal, but then we started to see a change when it came to our classmates owning the chairs. Everyone was playing like normal and then some people started to own chairs and the students who were in the "owned" chairs got kicked out of the game. As the amount of owned chairs increased, the people playing decreased. There were a few ways that people stopped playing the game. Some people tried really hard to stay in the game and get empty chairs which led to these few people fighting over the spots and those who played "dirtier" were able to get a chair and those who were fair and played to everyone's benefit got kicked out because they couldn't keep up with those around them. Once people understood how the game worked, there were people who just decided there was no point in trying because they knew that in the end, the owners of the chairs would just take them away. The people who knew they owned chairs walked around without a care and knew that they were safe and wouldn't have to worry about fighting anyone for a chair. It was to the point where some of the people walked around the circle texting and walking slowly because they knew that they wouldn't have to fight anyone because they owned so many chairs. In the end though, no one could win because the people who owned chairs would never give them up and there was never 1 chair left because all the owners of the chairs would always be able to sit.
Thinking about this, we can relate it to America perfectly. In terms of people giving up on the game, we see in America all the time how we just feel defeated and give up. We see things that are corrupt about our government and people and laws yet many of us just sit down and say this is our world there's nothing we can do to change it because what authority says goes. So we all just sit back and let those in power make living conditions worse for us because they don't know what it's like and frankly I feel they don't really care. They know that they have enough to support themselves and whatever family they have that they need to care for and that's it. We as Americans feel angry and upset, but we sit back and say there's nothing we can do and so nothing will ever get changed. The people who are on top and own everything sit back and don't do much because they know they don't have to and they let the "lesser people" fight over wealth and such. Those who see how the game is played give up and then if conditions are as bad as they truly seem end up in poverty. Yet there are those who see how the game is played and decide to try and fight the system. These people see those in charge and fight all they can to try and have conditions changed and sometimes it works and sometimes not.
From all of this information I can see that there is a valid argument in saying that there aren't enough chairs because it is true that there aren't and this isn't poor people's part because wealth is a lot of times inherited or stolen, but there are also ways to create your own wealth and it is hard, but it is the fault of those who don't even try that they are poor. If I think about the other chair simulation, I can see how the wealth is not evenly distributed. 1 person had a lot of chairs and then further down the line, the amount of chairs that people owned git significantly lower. Some people had to share chairs. Then towards the end of the line, people were piled up on 2-.5 chairs. On the last chair they were only allowed half of the chair yet there were still a lot of people for that half a chair. This signified how little wealth there is for the poorer people to share and this isn't the poor people's fault, but if they don't fight for it then it becomes there fault.
Amanda did an interesting thing that could be seen as a poor person fighting for wealth. When Andy was sitting across 4 chairs and he got up to talk, Amanda said "this is bullshit I'm gonna be the rich person" and took his chairs. Although it is NEVER this easy in real life, her actions were valid. When Andy got careless and left his chairs, Amanda took over which is essentially what happens a lot in our society even if it's not between the two extremes of really really rich and really really poor. Americans steal and fight their way to better possessions except for when it really matters because those people who were a lot more poor than Amanda didn't think to steal anyone else's chair. This makes it people's fault that they are poor.
Here we see that there isn't much wealth to split and those who have the wealth don't really pay attention to others to help them. Yet for some reason in other countries such as Denmark, their programs are a lot better and they actually want to help their people. America's welfare system is set up in a way in which people can get a lot of help, but the problem with this is that they don't always get every benefit they can have. People can go to the welfare office, go to the website or call in and speak with someone about their situation. They answer a series of questions such as where do you live, do you have a child, where do you work etc. Based on these answers, people are given a list of benefits they are eligible to receive. There are programs that enable people who are looking for a job to find work in various places to get them started. There are also benefits that allow single parents who have no one to help them care for their child find day care centers or send people to care for the child at the families home. Food stamps can help those on a tight budget. Not only does America have the welfare system, but we pay taxes. Americans pay taxes on clothes, food and annual taxes as well. These taxes depend on the income of the family and the amount of children a family might have. There are also health care benefits and social security etc. (to tell the truth I honestly know nothing about taxes and such).
In Denmark, there are some differences. Children go to school until about 10th grade and if they decide to continue school, they get paid to go to school (college) instead of paying to go to school. All education is free unless people decide to go to a private school. They also have specific cards that are given to people so they can show it to officials and those people don't have to pay taxes. The government helps their people as much as they can. There are health care benefits and daycare benefits where people can come to the families house and care for the children. Should a person be fired from their job, they would be given money by the government in order to help them live and get the essentials they need to survive. It seems to me that in Denmark, they try their hardest to make sure their people do not end up in poverty and homeless. The kids that spoke to us told us that there weren't that many poor people in Denmark and poverty wasn't big and those who did suffer from poverty were given a lot of help and it was not as visible as it is in New York.
In terms of having a "working" tax system, I think that a mixture of our system and the system in Denmark would work to benefit for everyone. If the government took care of its people like Denmark's government then we would have a better chance of decreasing the poverty rate, but I also think that it would be important to make the rich people pay more taxes than the poor people which we don't really do right now in America, but we do pay taxes. Taxes are good because it can help the government and the state, but I think if people are really poor then they should pay less taxes.
This problem lives on while in Cuba, there is a pharmacy and/or hospital available on almost every block. The medication prescribed to Cuba's patients is much less expensive than the exact same medication would be were it have been bought in America. Moore talks about how people have problems with health care such as the 9/11 workers who now have lung problems and other physical and mental issues. These people have health care, but they are having difficulty paying for the doctors and the treatment they need or receiving approval for care from the doctors and health insurance companies. One of the woman that Moore brought with him to Cuba had extreme lung problems where she had a terrible cough and extremely inflamed lungs. In order to reduce inflammation and the overall status of her lungs, she had to purchase a certain asthma pump that would help to heal her lungs. In America she had had to pay around $120 per pump where as in Cuba she only had to pay 5 cents a pump. This was an extremely upsetting fact for the woman because she didn't understand why in a country that was supposed to be America's enemy, she was receiving better care than her own country would provide for her.
When we look at how the wealth is split in this country, we may be able to understand why there is such a difference in medication. For example, our simulation of wealth using chairs.When playing musical chairs, i feel that it was a little easier to understand what poverty is like. The 1st version of musical chairs was a normal version of musical chairs and although just a game, it gave me the perspective that in America, people have to fight each other to get what they need to survive. When they needed to get to a chair quickly, people would do anything possible to get to the chairs such as jump over them or push people out of the way in order to fend for themselves. This signifies how in the work place or in life in general, we have a system where the strong and "cunning" people who know how to play dirty and manipulate will prosper. Some people were very into the game, but they wanted to be sure they didn't hurt anyone by pushing them out of the way and even some of those people knew that they could not fight certain people for a seat because they would lose. This, to me, signifies how some people in the workplace try to play fair and worry about the well-being of others and this of course led them to get stepped on and thrown out of the game which can only tell us that niceties and fairness can only get you so far in America which turns out to be not that far at all. The last category of people were the people who were just too tired to take part in the game. These people either sat on the sides and watched or played the game, but walked really slowly around the circle and when it came to finding a seat, they would walk to the nearest seat and if they couldn't find one then they would just sit out. This represented those in America who are too lazy or just don't see the point in working so they give up which eventually leads to poverty. This isn't always the case of course. There are always people who are hurt and can't work or too old or something, but in this case we just had lazy people because no one was hurt or too old to play the game. Yet there are people who in the beginning of the game tried to say "my leg hurts" or "I cant play I'm sick" which then gives us an example of those who pretend to be sick in order to not do any work which happens a lot in America.
While playing the second simulation of musical chairs, people started playing like normal, but then we started to see a change when it came to our classmates owning the chairs. Everyone was playing like normal and then some people started to own chairs and the students who were in the "owned" chairs got kicked out of the game. As the amount of owned chairs increased, the people playing decreased. There were a few ways that people stopped playing the game. Some people tried really hard to stay in the game and get empty chairs which led to these few people fighting over the spots and those who played "dirtier" were able to get a chair and those who were fair and played to everyone's benefit got kicked out because they couldn't keep up with those around them. Once people understood how the game worked, there were people who just decided there was no point in trying because they knew that in the end, the owners of the chairs would just take them away. The people who knew they owned chairs walked around without a care and knew that they were safe and wouldn't have to worry about fighting anyone for a chair. It was to the point where some of the people walked around the circle texting and walking slowly because they knew that they wouldn't have to fight anyone because they owned so many chairs. In the end though, no one could win because the people who owned chairs would never give them up and there was never 1 chair left because all the owners of the chairs would always be able to sit.
Thinking about this, we can relate it to America perfectly. In terms of people giving up on the game, we see in America all the time how we just feel defeated and give up. We see things that are corrupt about our government and people and laws yet many of us just sit down and say this is our world there's nothing we can do to change it because what authority says goes. So we all just sit back and let those in power make living conditions worse for us because they don't know what it's like and frankly I feel they don't really care. They know that they have enough to support themselves and whatever family they have that they need to care for and that's it. We as Americans feel angry and upset, but we sit back and say there's nothing we can do and so nothing will ever get changed. The people who are on top and own everything sit back and don't do much because they know they don't have to and they let the "lesser people" fight over wealth and such. Those who see how the game is played give up and then if conditions are as bad as they truly seem end up in poverty. Yet there are those who see how the game is played and decide to try and fight the system. These people see those in charge and fight all they can to try and have conditions changed and sometimes it works and sometimes not.
From all of this information I can see that there is a valid argument in saying that there aren't enough chairs because it is true that there aren't and this isn't poor people's part because wealth is a lot of times inherited or stolen, but there are also ways to create your own wealth and it is hard, but it is the fault of those who don't even try that they are poor. If I think about the other chair simulation, I can see how the wealth is not evenly distributed. 1 person had a lot of chairs and then further down the line, the amount of chairs that people owned git significantly lower. Some people had to share chairs. Then towards the end of the line, people were piled up on 2-.5 chairs. On the last chair they were only allowed half of the chair yet there were still a lot of people for that half a chair. This signified how little wealth there is for the poorer people to share and this isn't the poor people's fault, but if they don't fight for it then it becomes there fault.
Amanda did an interesting thing that could be seen as a poor person fighting for wealth. When Andy was sitting across 4 chairs and he got up to talk, Amanda said "this is bullshit I'm gonna be the rich person" and took his chairs. Although it is NEVER this easy in real life, her actions were valid. When Andy got careless and left his chairs, Amanda took over which is essentially what happens a lot in our society even if it's not between the two extremes of really really rich and really really poor. Americans steal and fight their way to better possessions except for when it really matters because those people who were a lot more poor than Amanda didn't think to steal anyone else's chair. This makes it people's fault that they are poor.
Here we see that there isn't much wealth to split and those who have the wealth don't really pay attention to others to help them. Yet for some reason in other countries such as Denmark, their programs are a lot better and they actually want to help their people. America's welfare system is set up in a way in which people can get a lot of help, but the problem with this is that they don't always get every benefit they can have. People can go to the welfare office, go to the website or call in and speak with someone about their situation. They answer a series of questions such as where do you live, do you have a child, where do you work etc. Based on these answers, people are given a list of benefits they are eligible to receive. There are programs that enable people who are looking for a job to find work in various places to get them started. There are also benefits that allow single parents who have no one to help them care for their child find day care centers or send people to care for the child at the families home. Food stamps can help those on a tight budget. Not only does America have the welfare system, but we pay taxes. Americans pay taxes on clothes, food and annual taxes as well. These taxes depend on the income of the family and the amount of children a family might have. There are also health care benefits and social security etc. (to tell the truth I honestly know nothing about taxes and such).
In Denmark, there are some differences. Children go to school until about 10th grade and if they decide to continue school, they get paid to go to school (college) instead of paying to go to school. All education is free unless people decide to go to a private school. They also have specific cards that are given to people so they can show it to officials and those people don't have to pay taxes. The government helps their people as much as they can. There are health care benefits and daycare benefits where people can come to the families house and care for the children. Should a person be fired from their job, they would be given money by the government in order to help them live and get the essentials they need to survive. It seems to me that in Denmark, they try their hardest to make sure their people do not end up in poverty and homeless. The kids that spoke to us told us that there weren't that many poor people in Denmark and poverty wasn't big and those who did suffer from poverty were given a lot of help and it was not as visible as it is in New York.
In terms of having a "working" tax system, I think that a mixture of our system and the system in Denmark would work to benefit for everyone. If the government took care of its people like Denmark's government then we would have a better chance of decreasing the poverty rate, but I also think that it would be important to make the rich people pay more taxes than the poor people which we don't really do right now in America, but we do pay taxes. Taxes are good because it can help the government and the state, but I think if people are really poor then they should pay less taxes.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Break Homework
Our families experience with health care is currently a good one. But a few years back we had some problems. In the beginning, my mother and father had 2 separate health insurance policies because of both of their jobs, but my mother had several miscarriages and therefore some problems. Eventually she got pregnant with me and had to stop working in order to take care of herself and insure the safety of her baby. This caused a problem because she then lost her health insurance coverage from her job and the only had 1 health insurance plan. My father's health care plan was a union health care fund which at the time meant they could go through the union's clinics which were extremely far or they could pay at a doctor of their choice out of pocket and then submit for reimbursement. It would then be reviewed and the union would say how much they thought the visit was worth. This was a disadvantage because the union's fee scales seemed to be outdated and current fees were very much above what they were offering. They only offered a certain percentage of what the visit was actually worth. The doctors discovered my mother was high risk and said that she needed more care then what she was being offered. It was estimated that her pregnancy and birthing process would cost her $6,000 - $8,000 when the union was only willing to pay $1,200 - $1,900. They got lucky and found that there was a clinic in New York hospital that would accept whatever the union paid them and would give them the best possible treatment as long as they were willing to see a different doctor at each visit. Because they had miscarriages, my mother was considered a high risk case and therefor had to have many specialist work with her to find what was wrong. They paid for nearly everything however it still costs them $6,500 or more and by the time I was born the union coverage was a little better so I was able to see a pediatrician. The only problem was that my parents had to pay for vaccines because the union didn't cover well child care. This meant my parents had to pay for the vaccines out of pocket.
When I was 2 years old my mom was pregnant again and the insurance was a lot better and they only had to pay 20% of the obstetric care. Because she was still high risk, however, it still cost them around $2,000. The good thing was they only had to pay $20 every time they saw a doctor in addition to the $2,000. By now the union started to pay well child care, but they still had to pay 20% of doctor visits. This was better than what they ever had. They dropped the 20% charge when I was about 5, but through this time, my doctor told my family not to worry about payments, because she needed to see us and we needed our vaccines. We had had to stop coming for a while because we couldn't afford the vaccines until our doctor told us she would handle it. A few years later, health care was a lot better and my mother got pregnant again. This time she was under blue cross blue shield and still high risk, but it only cost them $15 a visit and there was no charge for specialists or tests. So they had my sister and by then well child care costs them nothing and sick visits were $10. This was 10 years ago. Presently now that the rates have gone up, we have to pay $15 co-pay as long as we went to a doctor through blue cross blue shield and there is no fee for well child care. Now my mother sees a hematologist and they are very happy to have health insurance because each visit is approximately $3,200 a visit. The insurance negotiates with the doctor's office and they pay approximately $900 - $1,000 a visit and she only has to pay $15 co-pay.
This is different if we compare it to the movie "Sicko" by:Michael Moore. In this movie, Michael Moore talks about people in America who have health care and yet still have problems with their physical illnesses. He talks about how people have problems such as the 9/11 workers who now have lung problems and nightmares. These people have health care, but they are having difficulty paying for the doctors and the treatment they need. There was a women who had a husband who was a fire fighter and he had a serious illness that even though they had health care was hard to treat because the health care company wouldn't okay the necessary treatment. In our case, there really wasn't any problem we were just dealing with the changing times of health care and we got really lucky and had a good health care program.
When I was 2 years old my mom was pregnant again and the insurance was a lot better and they only had to pay 20% of the obstetric care. Because she was still high risk, however, it still cost them around $2,000. The good thing was they only had to pay $20 every time they saw a doctor in addition to the $2,000. By now the union started to pay well child care, but they still had to pay 20% of doctor visits. This was better than what they ever had. They dropped the 20% charge when I was about 5, but through this time, my doctor told my family not to worry about payments, because she needed to see us and we needed our vaccines. We had had to stop coming for a while because we couldn't afford the vaccines until our doctor told us she would handle it. A few years later, health care was a lot better and my mother got pregnant again. This time she was under blue cross blue shield and still high risk, but it only cost them $15 a visit and there was no charge for specialists or tests. So they had my sister and by then well child care costs them nothing and sick visits were $10. This was 10 years ago. Presently now that the rates have gone up, we have to pay $15 co-pay as long as we went to a doctor through blue cross blue shield and there is no fee for well child care. Now my mother sees a hematologist and they are very happy to have health insurance because each visit is approximately $3,200 a visit. The insurance negotiates with the doctor's office and they pay approximately $900 - $1,000 a visit and she only has to pay $15 co-pay.
This is different if we compare it to the movie "Sicko" by:Michael Moore. In this movie, Michael Moore talks about people in America who have health care and yet still have problems with their physical illnesses. He talks about how people have problems such as the 9/11 workers who now have lung problems and nightmares. These people have health care, but they are having difficulty paying for the doctors and the treatment they need. There was a women who had a husband who was a fire fighter and he had a serious illness that even though they had health care was hard to treat because the health care company wouldn't okay the necessary treatment. In our case, there really wasn't any problem we were just dealing with the changing times of health care and we got really lucky and had a good health care program.
Understanding of Poverty
When playing musical chairs, i feel that it was a little easier to understand what poverty is like. The 1st version of musical chairs was a normal version of musical chairs and although just a game, it gave me the perspective that in America, people have to fight each other to get what they need to survive. When they needed to get to a chair quickly, people would do anything possible to get to the chairs such as jump over them or push people out of the way in order to fend for themselves. This signifies how in the work place or in life in general, we have a system where the strong and "cunning" people who know how to play dirty and manipulate will prosper. Some people were very into the game, but they wanted to be sure they didn't hurt anyone by pushing them out of the way and even some of those people knew that they could not fight certain people for a seat because they would lose. This, to me, signifies how some people in the workplace try to play fair and worry about the well-being of others and this of course led them to get stepped on and thrown out of the game which can only tell us that niceties and fairness can only get you so far in America which turns out to be not that far at all. The last category of people were the people who were just too tired to take part in the game. These people either sat on the sides and watched or played the game, but walked really slowly around the circle and when it came to finding a seat, they would walk to the nearest seat and if they couldn't find one then they would just sit out. This represented those in America who are too lazy or just don't see the point in working so they give up which eventually leads to poverty. This isn't always the case of course. There are always people who are hurt and can't work or too old or something, but in this case we just had lazy people because no one was hurt or too old to play the game. Yet there are people who in the beginning of the game tried to say "my leg hurts" or "I cant play I'm sick" which then gives us an example of those who pretend to be sick in order to not do any work which happens a lot in America.
While playing the second simulation of musical chairs, people started playing like normal, but then we started to see a change when it came to our classmates owning the chairs. Everyone was playing like normal and then some people started to own chairs and the students who were in the "owned" chairs got kicked out of the game. As the amount of owned chairs increased, the people playing decreased. There were a few ways that people stopped playing the game. Some people tried really hard to stay in the game and get empty chairs which led to these few people fighting over the spots and those who played "dirtier" were able to get a chair and those who were fair and played to everyone's benefit got kicked out because they couldn't keep up with those around them. Once people understood how the game worked, there were people who just decided there was no point in trying because they knew that in the end, the owners of the chairs would just take them away. The people who knew they owned chairs walked around without a care and knew that they were safe and wouldn't have to worry about fighting anyone for a chair. It was to the point where some of the people walked around the circle texting and walking slowly because they knew that they wouldn't have to fight anyone because they owned so many chairs. In the end though, no one could win because the people who owned chairs would never give them up and there was never 1 chair left because all the owners of the chairs would always be able to sit.
Thinking about this, we can relate it to America perfectly. In terms of people giving up on the game, we see in America all the time how we just feel defeated and give up. We see things that are corrupt about our government and people and laws yet many of us just sit down and say this is our world there's nothing we can do to change it because what authority says goes. So we all just sit back and let those in power make living conditions worse for us because they don't know what it's like and frankly I feel they don't really care. They know that they have enough to support themselves and whatever family they have that they need to care for and that's it. We as Americans feel angry and upset, but we sit back and say there's nothing we can do and so nothing will ever get changed. The people who are on top and own everything sit back and don't do much because they know they don't have to and they let the "lesser people" fight over wealth and such. Those who see how the game is played give up and then if conditions are as bad as they truly seem end up in poverty. Yet there are those who see how the game is played and decide to try and fight the system. These people see those in charge and fight all they can to try and have conditions changed and sometimes it works and sometimes not.
From all of this information I can see that there is a valid argument in saying that there aren't enough chairs because it is true that there aren't and this isn't poor people's part because wealth is a lot of times inherited or stolen, but there are also ways to create your own wealth and it is hard, but it is the fault of those who don't even try that they are poor. If I think about the other chair simulation, I can see how the wealth is not evenly distributed. 1 person had a lot of chairs and then further down the line, the amount of chairs that people owned git significantly lower. Some people had to share chairs. Then towards the end of the line, people were piled up on 2-.5 chairs. On the last chair they were only allowed half of the chair yet there were still a lot of people for that half a chair. This signified how little wealth there is for the poorer people to share and this isn't the poor people's fault, but if they don't fight for it then it becomes there fault.
Amanda did an interesting thing that could be seen as a poor person fighting for wealth. When Andy was sitting across 4 chairs and he got up to talk, Amanda said "this is bullshit I'm gonna be the rich person" and took his chairs. Although it is NEVER this easy in real life, her actions were valid. When Andy got careless and left his chairs, Amanda took over which is essentially what happens a lot in our society even if it's not between the two extremes of really really rich and really really poor. Americans steal and fight their way to better possessions except for when it really matters because those people who were a lot more poor than Amanda didn't think to steal anyone else's chair. This makes it people's fault that they are poor.
While playing the second simulation of musical chairs, people started playing like normal, but then we started to see a change when it came to our classmates owning the chairs. Everyone was playing like normal and then some people started to own chairs and the students who were in the "owned" chairs got kicked out of the game. As the amount of owned chairs increased, the people playing decreased. There were a few ways that people stopped playing the game. Some people tried really hard to stay in the game and get empty chairs which led to these few people fighting over the spots and those who played "dirtier" were able to get a chair and those who were fair and played to everyone's benefit got kicked out because they couldn't keep up with those around them. Once people understood how the game worked, there were people who just decided there was no point in trying because they knew that in the end, the owners of the chairs would just take them away. The people who knew they owned chairs walked around without a care and knew that they were safe and wouldn't have to worry about fighting anyone for a chair. It was to the point where some of the people walked around the circle texting and walking slowly because they knew that they wouldn't have to fight anyone because they owned so many chairs. In the end though, no one could win because the people who owned chairs would never give them up and there was never 1 chair left because all the owners of the chairs would always be able to sit.
Thinking about this, we can relate it to America perfectly. In terms of people giving up on the game, we see in America all the time how we just feel defeated and give up. We see things that are corrupt about our government and people and laws yet many of us just sit down and say this is our world there's nothing we can do to change it because what authority says goes. So we all just sit back and let those in power make living conditions worse for us because they don't know what it's like and frankly I feel they don't really care. They know that they have enough to support themselves and whatever family they have that they need to care for and that's it. We as Americans feel angry and upset, but we sit back and say there's nothing we can do and so nothing will ever get changed. The people who are on top and own everything sit back and don't do much because they know they don't have to and they let the "lesser people" fight over wealth and such. Those who see how the game is played give up and then if conditions are as bad as they truly seem end up in poverty. Yet there are those who see how the game is played and decide to try and fight the system. These people see those in charge and fight all they can to try and have conditions changed and sometimes it works and sometimes not.
From all of this information I can see that there is a valid argument in saying that there aren't enough chairs because it is true that there aren't and this isn't poor people's part because wealth is a lot of times inherited or stolen, but there are also ways to create your own wealth and it is hard, but it is the fault of those who don't even try that they are poor. If I think about the other chair simulation, I can see how the wealth is not evenly distributed. 1 person had a lot of chairs and then further down the line, the amount of chairs that people owned git significantly lower. Some people had to share chairs. Then towards the end of the line, people were piled up on 2-.5 chairs. On the last chair they were only allowed half of the chair yet there were still a lot of people for that half a chair. This signified how little wealth there is for the poorer people to share and this isn't the poor people's fault, but if they don't fight for it then it becomes there fault.
Amanda did an interesting thing that could be seen as a poor person fighting for wealth. When Andy was sitting across 4 chairs and he got up to talk, Amanda said "this is bullshit I'm gonna be the rich person" and took his chairs. Although it is NEVER this easy in real life, her actions were valid. When Andy got careless and left his chairs, Amanda took over which is essentially what happens a lot in our society even if it's not between the two extremes of really really rich and really really poor. Americans steal and fight their way to better possessions except for when it really matters because those people who were a lot more poor than Amanda didn't think to steal anyone else's chair. This makes it people's fault that they are poor.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Poverty: Questions and Answers
http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/FileLib/PDFs/nyhomelessness_factsheet_2008.pdf
1. What Percentage of Homeless people actually seek out help from shelters and such?
109,000 and the population of shelters has increased by 2/3.
2. How often do these people actually receive the help they need?
109,000 people resorted to shelters.
3. How often do people get discriminated against based on their race and not get the benefits they need to survive?
4. What is the percentage of homeless families?
15,884 families were recorded in homeless shelters.
5. Percentage of Homeless children?
Nov. 2008- around 16,000. Was extremely high, but then kept decreasing and increasing.
1. What Percentage of Homeless people actually seek out help from shelters and such?
109,000 and the population of shelters has increased by 2/3.
2. How often do these people actually receive the help they need?
109,000 people resorted to shelters.
3. How often do people get discriminated against based on their race and not get the benefits they need to survive?
4. What is the percentage of homeless families?
15,884 families were recorded in homeless shelters.
5. Percentage of Homeless children?
Nov. 2008- around 16,000. Was extremely high, but then kept decreasing and increasing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)