Final Essay

**Please comment Andy**

The American Way of life is the only thing I have lived. I don't know any other way of living so I can't say that I would rather live any other way, but I do see flaws in the way that we live. We are extremely and increasingly ignorant. We place so much faith and parts of ourselves in the system and it's authority figures thinking that they will make everything "all better" instead of fixing it ourselves or fighting for something better for ourselves. We trust the government to solve our economic problems and our pollution problems so we do little to no work to fix it. The government has written in the constitution things that will lead us to believe that we have power in our country, but in reality it gives them the most power and enables them in turn to abuse it.

States can have their own laws as long as they do not contradict the constitution. We can prosecute people as we see fit, but if the government doesn't agree with what we choose they have the power to change it. We have a right to privacy, but we are subjected to random (or rather "RANDOM") police searches and if we refuse, we could be prosecuted. We have freedom of speech, but if we say something against our president or to contradict the country, we are shunned from society and thought of as "Un-American." We are told that we live in a great nation where anything is possible and we have most of the power, but in reality we have little to no power if we don't fight hard for it and we as Americans are to lazy to do so. This in turn lets authority figures like doctors and policemen to violate our privacy and tell us what we need to do instead of letting us decide, but we still think of them as heroes.

Doctors are seen as one of the biggest heroes in our society, but that is only because it's what we are raised to see and believe. We rarely know that doctors will prescribe medication like Pitocin without even asking the mother and this in turn causes the women more pain. AWOB is the only way of birth that we as Americans know and so we go through the process as planned without being told about any alternative ideas. Doctors put women in the most uncomfortable positions in order for them to be in control of the birthing process and in order to be able to tell the mother what to do instead of just letting the mother listen to her body and find what to do herself. Women have had births before in earlier times with less technology and they were fine birthing their child by themselves.

While AWOB sounds horrible, I feel that not all births of course are like this and that not all doctors are "evil." The technology that is used is the only technology on hand and the only thing that the doctors have learned hoe to use. Doctors are taught different methods of helping people and ways that they can best do their job. They want to help the woman the best way they know, but it is not always as effective as one would like to think, but women rarely have any other way to think because they aren't given an alternative choice. If they knew about home birth, it could be possible that they would feel less limitations and restrictions placed on them. Midwives are there to give their mothers options and to know that it is imperative that they follow what their body tells them to do. They know that they don't have to use medication or painkillers and can have a natural, beautiful birth at home.

Women that don't know that they have any alternatives just resort to the "normal and practical" hospital birth that is quick and "easy" and they "know what to expect." Doctors sometimes speed up the process in order to get more patients in and out. They schedule births for when THEY are ready (inducing labor and C-sections) which causes careless mistakes and/or women to get hurt. This makes things much more expensive for the mother and also causes a higher rate of unsafe births (C-sections). Mothers are not the only ones that suffer from these negative aspects of doctors. Any patient can and might suffer especially if they don't have enough money to pay the hospital.

People who can't pay their hospital bills are often times put in a cab and sent to any destination and dumped on the street. Sometimes these people still have open cuts, healing stitches, broken limbs etc. This of course shows us how our authority figures abuse their power, but for some reason these things mainly happen in America. In Europe (France, Denmark etc.) and Canada, people get free health care so these things don't happen to them. They have systems that ensure their people don't fall into poverty. In Denmark, people who are unemployed are paid by the government for a certain amount of time before they find a new job so that they can still afford essentials for survival. Their children go to school for free and if they decide to continue through college, the government pays for college as well. Health benefits and daycare benefits are given to the people of Denmark as well. The Government of Denmark seems to try anything in their power to help their people and they KNOW that they have these benefits.

Americans could possibly get a lot of help as well, but we don't know just how much help we can get because our authority figures who we have placed all our trust in will not show us all of our options. When we know some of our options we see that they are similar to Denmark, but not as helpful. We can get daycare services and food stamps, but rather than supporting us, the government gives us suggestions on places to work and this could be a problem if the person is ineligible for specific work and such. These are all really helpful for people who suffer from poverty, but not if they are not given all of their options.

Americans are known for being ignorant and staying ignorant. We don't always get or look for the information we need to help us better ourselves and therefore we become lazy. It has become such a trend that now we don't even know how our own food is processed and made. We place our trust in the authority or this category (farmers, factory workers etc.) and therefore we know nothing of our own food which is essential to surviving. As I have stated before, There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many Carbs they are consuming, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingredients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier.

In America our conditions for producing food are terrible and they are unknown to us. We have been taught since childhood that cows and chicken are cute animals that live on a farm happy and living their life, but in fact this isn't true. The factory conditions for the animals are terrible, they get hooked up to machines and the cows have their tails cut off and the calfs also get taken away from their mothers and hooked to a machine that will feed them. Not only are these conditions terrible for the animals, but also for the workers. The machines go at a rate that is so fast that the factory workers can become injured. The factories themselves are also sometimes unsanitary. These things show us how ignorant America as a whole is.

If we keep ourselves in this cycle of ignorance and not learn about what is hurting our society, each of these topics will plummet and change our ways of life completely. These are all really drastic points, but they are very valid. There are things that I disagree with and I do think that some of these points are over-exaggerated and that people should be cautious of, but I think all of these people should know this so that they can properly decide for themselves what they think and feel about our world.

Collapse Assignment 2 - Short and Smart

There are people that are aware of our oil and energy problem and that oil is running out, but I wonder how many of these people are actually trying to find a solution. Unlike the people of Easter island, we know that our resources are running out and that we are the reason for this. The people of Easter island didn't know that their trying to please their God and their chief and to "survive" would lead to their demise. But even if they did, I wonder if they would have tried to do anything about it. If they had brought this idea of decreasing resources to their community, would people have followed them or would they have been shut out of their society.

There are scientists and business men who knew that this problem was approaching and now know more that it will happen, but what exactly is being done about it. They are informing people that this will greatly effect our community, but there are those who will constantly deny it which follows our common American ways of living. We deny things will happen to us, because we don't like to think about the negative aspect of things. There are people who are trying to find solutions to our oil problem like liquid coal, but these resources will produce more greenhouse gases and therefore pollute our other resources.

I feel that it could be possible that people know about the problem of oil and low energy, but they feel (like me) what can possibly be done? How can we fix this and what is the point if no one else will fix it with me? These things are restraining Americans from even trying to make a difference. Some people are by buying hybrid cars and such, but in order to stop peak oil we need to use less oil. If our peak oil problem continues, we will have problems like recession, large unemployment, inflation, economic trouble and much much larger problems.

We are not only limiting our oil and energy output, but we are also destroying our land. In order to get to some of the oil, we have to dig up land and use giant machines that pollute our society. This shows us what lengths we are going to in order to find oil, but we cannot find a better way of producing energy (?). This seems strange to me and I wonder if we will ever fix this problem. Other places like Kuwait can produce massive amounts of oil and have it at low prices so why can't we find a way to fix our problem? Saudi Arabia thinks that they can double their oil output and there are people who strongly disagree and think that this is ridiculous and that we cannot trust them, but this feels to me like the only plan we have.

We rely on oil for so much and this is a bad habit to fall into because now people won't believe that something like this could happen. If people keep on brushing issues aside how can we possibly fix this problem? We need to find a new thing to rely on or else we can't possibly sustain our way of life.

Collapse Assignment 1

Easter island was described as a culture with little to no "technology" of any kind yet they still seemed like a fairly civilized community. They were able to build statues and find food and make a living for themselves and their family without the many mechanical aids we have in our society today. It is interesting to me that this society relates to ours in the sense that we (although having some tools) didn't have the amount of technology that we do today and we still managed to be a fully functioning and working community. The people of Easter island created all the forms of technology that they might need and therefore were successful, in the beginning.

The people of Easter island began to become more and more industrialized and also started to domesticate animals and this is when everything in their community started to collapse. The more they felt the need to industrialize, the more resources were being used and wasted. They felt obligated to make their chief happy and in turn their God and in order to do so, they built giant statues which destroyed nature and their resources. The need to fulfill culture and religious "obligations" seemed to be greater than the need to preserve what these people needed to survive. None of the residents of Easter island realized that they were going to run out of resources. This, plus epidemics and kidnappings that lead to slavery all contributed to the loss of this society as a whole, but I personally believe it all stemmed from the waste of resources.

Americans, I feel are in a similar situation. People in America before us have worked hard to create a life for us to have now and as time goes by, we slowly use all of these resources given to us and they will slowly decline. We use fossil fuels which will not only become obsolete, but also pollute the land which in turn helps in the pollution of all of our other resources. If Americans continue to use these same methods, we might end up like the people of Easter island.

Final Food Assignment

In the story by James Agree, I feel that the mother can be easily connected to the people of America. In some sense, she was in denial of what happened when the cows were loaded into the train car and taken away. She was reluctant to tell her children the story of what happens to the other cows and she doesn't want to believe it happens herself so she ignores it and tries to tell her children to live their normal lives. Americans remain ignorant as to how their food is made and some would rather keep it this way. Other people know what goes on with their food, but decide to pretend it doesn't happen and ignore the fact that there are bad conditions in factories and that there are health hazards and all just so that these factories will be efficient. This ignorance and reluctancy to believe what actually happens leads people to create imaginary, ideal farms and ways of getting food that they then pass onto their children. Americans teach their children that industrialized food is the only way to obtain nourishment and then they think that farm like is the coolest thing they've ever seen. They don't know that farms are based off of fossil fuels or that the giant machines that they think are so cool, actually pollute the earth or cause soil to be unhealthy for growing other plants. They also don't know about the pesticides used that sometimes harm the food and the fact that some of the foods when picked are thrown on the ground to be sorted. The vegetables are not the only thing that people ignore the negatives of.

In factories where cattle are made into beef and pig are turned into pork and etc, the animals are kept in crowded pens and are mistreated as we saw in the "Meatrix" video. The cows tails are cut off and attached to machines to be milked. The babies are taken away from their mothers and also attached to machines that will feed them. After the cows are killed and in the actual factory, the workers work on conveyer belts that at times get so busy that they can lose fingers trying to cut the meat or hurt themselves in other ways. The blood and feces that drips off of the dead carcasses of the cattle, lad on other meats that are already ready to be packaged and this is also a medical hazard. I believe that things like this do happen and that the conditions for animals and workers are bad, but I feel that "The Meatrix" video over exaggerates things to make its point. Yes, these conditions are terrible and they do exist, but people are not purposefully trying to harm their workers and people are not trying to ignore the medical aspects that negatively effect society. People are poorly informed about the aspects of society that make us sick or harm us. Of course there are people in the world that try and only think about efficiency, but they (I believe) do not make up most of the population of factory owners. We also must keep in mind that there are inspectors whose job it is to check these factories and make sure they are up to code and clean. Of course like every job, there are people in this profession who do a bad job, but nothing is perfect. I also think another possibility for this "Meatrix" video is that people watch it because it is targeted to fans of a specific movie and they watch it because they want to see the similarities and differences in the movie and the "Parody." This being said, I think that people watching this video either some insight into food and how its made or get nothing at all. They laugh because of the jokes and they like the irony of the movies being the same. I personally didn't think differently about my food, i just eat the same as usual. This video is just another thing that Americans will watch and ignore the true meaning behind it. We are already know and are used to our food ways and I think few people are willing to change.

People maybe unwilling to change, but there are also people who care too much about what they eat. In the book "Omnivore's Dilemma" Pollan addresses this issue. I agree with Pollan 's argument becuase I feel like Americans pay so much attention to what they eat and that they care so much about carbs and what not, but not as much about what exactly is in the food. The constant need to check the percentage of carbs and fat and such drives people to read "proffesional's advice." There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habbits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many carbs they are consumng, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingrdients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier. In my family we don't ever follow what anyone considers healthy. We eat everything and anything we want, but as mentioned before, we eat everything in moderation. My mom usually cooks and she cooks healthy foods and then we snack on whatever we want. My family goes to the grocery store a lot considering the fact that we are a very hungry family of 5. When I go to the grocery store with my parents, I never really realized the marketing in a grocery store was so well thought out. When I went by myself, I noticed that on the higher levels (on about Kevin's level) there was the "Hungry Man feasts" that were frozen dinners advertised for men. On my level, I noticed that there was the "Kid Cuizine" and things advertised for younger kids. The same applied for the cereals. Again on Kevin's level, there was the "healthier" cereals and on my level, there were the cereals that came with prizes in the boxes and the junky cereals to market to kids. This is an interesting strategy because I notice that kids can see these things more easily and therefore want to ask for more from their parents. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible and to ensure this, my mother doesn't take us with her grocery shopping so we don't all get sidetracked. She asks us what we want before she leaves the house and then she goes to the store and gets what she needs to. My mom has always taught me everything is good in moderation. She allowed me to have things that I wanted to, but she taught me to have those things little by little and ever since I was a kid I just always really liked healthy fruits and vegetables so I never really had a problem with eating healthy. My younger sister is the same way, but my middle sister is so different which is weird because we were all raised the same way, yet she eats so much junk and she doesn't realize how bad it is for her even when her doctor says that she is not healthy and needs to start eating healthier. I think this just goes to show that it doesn't matter how you were raised, if a child decides to change their habits, they will and they'll do whatever they want.

Not only are food habits changed, but culture of food is changed as well. 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. 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.

Food # 8 - Industrial Food

I believe that things like this do happen and that the conditions for animals and workers are bad, but I feel that the videos (The Meatrix) over exaggerate things to make their point. Yes, these conditions are terrible and they do exist, but people are not purposefully trying to harm their workers and people are not trying to ignore the medical aspects that negatively effect society. People are poorly informed about the aspects of society that make us sick or harm us. Of course there are people in the world that try and only think about efficiency, but they (I believe) do not make up most of the population of factory owners. We also must keep in mind that there are inspectors whose job it is to check these factories and make sure they are up to code and clean. Of course like every job, there are people in this profession who do a bad job, but nothing is perfect. I also think another possibility for this "Meatrix" video is that people watch it because it is targeted to fans of a specific movie and they watch it because they want to see the similarities and differences in the movie and the "Parody." This being said, I think that people watching this video either some insight into food and how its made or get nothing at all. They laugh because of the jokes and they like the irony of the movies being the same. I personally didn't think differently about my food, i just eat the same as usual. This video is just another thing that Americans will watch and ignore the true meaning behind it. We are already know and are used to our food ways and I think few people are willing to change.

Food # 6 - Response to Pollan 1

I agree with Pollan 's argument becuase I feel like Americans pay so much attention to what they eat and that they care so much about carbs and what not, but not as much about what exactly is in the food. The constant need to check the percentage of carbs and fat and such drives people to read "proffesional's advice." There are so many different opinions about what to eat if a person wants to go on a diet that the media can basically control a person's dietary habbits. The media tells people what is and is not considered healthy and thus fools people into eating whatever they see fit. Americans worry so much about dieting and how many carbs they are consumng, but rarely do they ever find out the actual ingrdients that are in their food. This leads to people being misinformed about what is and is not healthy and therefore people don't get the nutrition they need. Countries like France and Italy eat healthy and might possibly consume as much as America, but they eat things in moderation and so they are healthier. In my family we don't ever follow what anyone considers healthy. We eat everything and anything we want, but as mentioned before, we eat everything in moderation. My mom usually cooks and she cooks healthy foods and then we snack on whatever we want.

Grocery Store and Habitual Foods

What I eat:

Fruits:
-Cucumbers
-Tomatoes
-Apples
-Grapes
-Watermelons
-Pears
-Peaches
-Raspberries
-Cherries

Vegetables:
-Broccoli
-Strawberries
-Carrots
-Corn
-Bean Sprouts
-Potatoes

Grains and Roots:
-Rice
-Peanuts
-Garlic
-Red Beans

My family goes to the grocery store a lot considering the fat that we are a very hungry family of 5. When I go to the grocery store with my parents, I never really realized the marketing in a grocery store was so well thought out. When I went by myself, I noticed that on the higher levels (on about Kevin's level) there was the "Hungry Man feasts" that were frozen dinners advertised for men. On my level, I noticed that there was the "Kid Cuizine" and things advertised for younger kids. The same applied for the cereals. Again on Kevin's level, there was the "healthier" cereals and on my level, there were the cereals that came with prizes in the boxes and the junky cereals to market to kids. This is an interesting strategy because I notice that kids can see these things more easily and therefore want to ask for more from their parents. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible and to ensure this, my mother doesn't take us with her grocery shopping so we don't all get sidetracked. She asks us what we want before she leaves the house and then she goes to the store and gets what she needs to. My mom has always taught me everything is good in moderation. She allowed me to have things that I wanted to, but she taught me to have those things little by little and ever since I was a kid I just always really liked healthy fruits and vegetables so I never really had a problem with eating healthy. My younger sister is the same way, but my middle sister is so different which is weird because we were all raised the same way, yet she eats so much junk and she doesn't realize how bad it is for her even when her doctor says that she is not healthy and needs to start eating healthier. I think this just goes to show that it doesn't matter how you were raised, if a child decides to change their habits, they will and they'll do whatever they want.

May Day Response

May Day is also known as national workers day. It is to celebrate the struggle of the working class over the years and is celebrated all over the world. In different countries, such as Greece and England, there are festivals held and May Day is celebrated like many other holidays, but not so much as in America. We acknowledge this holiday exists, but we don't really celebrate it. It used to be that Americans would make May Day baskets and leave them on someone's door step. They would then ring the doorbell and run away. This is the only way that early settlers celebrated May Day. Now, Americans don't really celebrate May Day. It is semi-ignored in our society. Us not celebrating May Day is another example of how Americans ignore important parts of society.
Americans are so wrapped up in their own lives that they don't appreciate those who work and have worked hard to keep our country running smoothly. People have worked really hard in every job that they have no matter how small and have struggled. Americans think nothing of those who have worked hard to help our community and just brush it off because they see workers everyday. Because these people are seen everyday, no one acknowledges what they do for society because it seems like their jobs are just done and no one appreciates what we have and what would happen if these jobs were not completed. May Day is also a form of communism and socialism. Americans of course were always taught that communism and socialism were a source of evil so of course this holiday would be forgotten by a society that was brainwashed into thinking communism was evil. Americans don't want to give other forms of ruling a country a chance. This makes us ignorant to the rest of the world.
Another point is my constant mention that America is known for stealing other cultures' holidays and traditions. America goes to other countries, takes over and at the same time steals traditions and makes those traditions our own like with food. Yet after we "stole" this holiday, we didn't pay it any mind after a while. Once we realized what is stood for, we ignored it because it wasn't part of our beliefs as "The Great Nation of America." This shows that Americans are lazy and never want to do things on their own, but when we do have a tradition we change it or ignore it to fit the American standard.

Food #4 Food Journal

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Denmark Taxes

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.

Natural vs. Normal Essay

Midwives are uneducated, unhygienic minorities who are unable to complete the proper procedures necessary for a successful birth. Yet doctors are overbearing, power-hungry people who want nothing more but to fill a hospital bed. These two harsh stereotypes have formed the foundation for women for years about how they would go about the birthing process. For years, men and women have debated over the advantages and disadvantages in “Normal” and “Natural” births. It is said that women rush to the hospital because they fear pain, but many people say that they choose midwives because the doctors in the hospital want to take over women’s bodies. Both of these are valid points so I feel that, women should all have a choice in how they decide to birth their child. Women own their bodies and have been through the birthing process many times over the course of years, but it is also important that a doctor who is properly educated in the birthing procedure is available should the mother want and or need medical assistance.
While watching the movie, I kind of got the sense that birth didn’t hurt as bad as everyone was saying because of the way that the women were acting in the movie. The women weren’t screaming as much as they would in a hospital and they seemed much more relaxed. This made me feel like maybe having a home birth wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t really think that the EHM is that helpful for the women because it kind of cripples the mother and disables her to do what her body is telling her to do. The movie said that “In the 1900’s, 95% births took place at home” and I wonder what changed this. If births were going so well and “everyone was doing it” I wonder why people switched.
When people went to the hospital, they were pumped full of chemicals and that, to me, seems wrong if the mother didn’t ask for those chemicals. Those chemicals also sometimes cause C-sections to become a necessary thing and that hurts women. People in the Netherlands lose fewer mothers and babies and have planned home births where things go perfectly fine but in America, we spend twice as much money on births and more negative side affects and deaths occur. Doctors rush the birthing process for their own personal gain and to “fill the hospital beds.” They rarely let the women decide and based on all of the guest speakers we have had come into our class, it seems that the women know what to do because their body tells them.
The women say that they are able to decipher when they have to push and when they have to move a certain way, which would be an extremely good idea if the doctors would just cater to the mother’s needs. In a specific case that we heard about when a guest speaker came in, the mother knew she needed to start pushing and she knew what was the most comfortable for her and she felt that what the doctors were trying to do was wrong for her body and she shouldn’t have to be put through this. The doctors however did what they pleased and didn’t listen to her wishes. This is a good example of how for years, men have been trying to take over the women’s birthing rights and have the power when labor is in process.
In the 1950’s women were strapped to their beds and forced to have certain chemicals injected into their bodies to “help them through labor.” There was really no alternative because those who resorted to home birth were seen as outcasts because midwives were being portrayed as horrible and abnormal. In the article that I read in class, it talked about how a woman was a gynecologist and she chose to have a home birth with a midwife even though she worked in the medical field. This was seen as abnormal to her colleagues because they were all working in a hospital and knew how the birthing process went. She decided to go through with the natural birth anyway because she knew that it was right for her. Through every woman that has experienced a birth, they have all said that they felt when things were right for them so again I say that the reason that I disagree with hospital births are because they leave little choice for the mother and what to do with her body.
This does not mean however that hospitals should never be used and I disagree with them completely. I feel as if hospitals are necessary in the event that a woman should experience a complication and her body responds the wrong way. Doctors have the experience necessary to help a mother in need, but they automatically decide that the woman cannot do things by herself before they even learn her specific case. They assume that the woman is in desperate need of medical attention right away and that’s where complications can sometimes stem from.
Hospitals can be extremely helpful should the mother or the child (or both) experience a complication during labor. In special cases, this occurs in women who have previously had a C-section and for their second birth want to have a vaginal birth. In the event that the woman’s uterus should rupture, the baby and the mother could both be facing fatal circumstances. This is where a doctor would not be such a bad idea. They are trained to do what is best for the mother and the baby and what will keep the two healthy and ultimately alive. It is also important to keep in mind the fact that midwives don’t have the proper tools in order to perform an emergency procedure in the event of a mishap.
It is also possible to have a normal birthing experience in a hospital. Hospital births can sometimes be quick and semi-painless. A woman in severe pain is asked if she’d like an epidural and in the event that she would like one, the doctors will administer it and the patient will be in less pain and can thereby try and understand what is needed from her from that point on to have a successful birth.
I feel that hospital births are something that we are exposed to from a very young age and this is why we all think that the proper way to have a child would be at a hospital. We as children ask where we were born and most of us receive the answer of a specific hospital. So from a very young age we believe that because our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers have had their babies in a hospital that it is only normal for us to have our child in a hospital as well. This makes it hard for women to acknowledge the fact that they have other options and I think this is the reason why home birth rates have decreased. Women are many times automatically pushed to hospitals because they know nothing else.
For the women that do know about midwives and home birthing, I think it is important that they know they have a choice and why that choice is the best one for them. Women have undergone the birthing process since the beginning of time and never really had that much help from anyone so they should be able to choose to do things on their own and know what is best for their bodies. It is also important that should a women feel she is not capable of completing such a task as birthing a child, that she has experienced doctors on hand that are ready willing and able to help her. Sometimes women feel that their bodies aren’t strong enough to undergo such a giant feat as childbirth and this is where having a doctor comes into play. For those women who are afraid of the pain or are afraid that things might go wrong, it is a good thing that we have doctors that are able to work with the patient to let her know that she can do this, but at the same time, doctors also just want to fill hospital beds.

BOBB extended (Paper Part)

B.O.B.B.
While watching the movie, I kind of got the sense that birth didn’t hurt as bad as everyone was saying because of the way that the women were acting in the movie. The women weren’t screaming as much as they would in a hospital and they seemed much more relaxed. This made me feel like maybe having a home birth wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t really think that the EHM is that helpful for the women because it kind of cripples the mother and disables her to do what her body is telling her to do. The movie said that in the 1900’s, 95% births took place at home and I wonder what changed this. If births were going so well and “everyone was doing it” I wonder why people switched. When people went to the hospital, they were pumped full of chemicals and that, to me, seems wrong if the mother didn’t ask for those chemicals. Those chemicals also sometimes cause C-sections to become a necessary thing and that hurts women. People in the Netherlands lose fewer mothers and babies and have planned home births where things go perfectly fine but in America, we spend twice as much money on births and more negative side affects and deaths occur. Doctors rush the birthing process for their own personal gain and to “fill the hospital beds.” They rarely let the women decide and based on all of the guest speakers we have had come into our class, it seems that the women know what to do because their body tells them. They say that they are able to decipher when they have to push and when they have to move a certain way, which would be an extremely good idea if the doctors would just cater to the mother’s needs. In a specific case that we heard about when a guest speaker came in, the mother knew she needed to start pushing and she knew what was the most comfortable for her and she felt that what the doctors were trying to do was wrong for her body and she shouldn’t have to be put through this. The doctors however did what they pleased and didn’t listen to her wishes. This is a good example of how for years, men have been trying to take over the women’s birthing rights and have the power when labor is in process. In the 1950’s women were strapped to their beds and forced to have certain chemicals injected into their bodies to “help them through labor.” There was really no alternative because those who resorted to home birth were seen as outcasts because midwives were being portrayed as horrible and abnormal. In the article that I read in class, it talked about how a woman was a gynecologist and she chose to have a home birth with a midwife even though she worked in the medical field. This was seen as abnormal to her colleagues because they were all working in a hospital and knew how the birthing process went. She decided to go through with the natural birth anyway because she knew that it was right for her. Through every woman that has experienced a birth, they have all said that they felt when things were right for them so again I say that the reason that I disagree with hospital births are because they leave little choice for the mother and what to do with her body. This does not mean however that hospitals should never be used and I disagree with them completely. I feel as if hospitals are necessary in the even that a woman should experience a complication and her body responds the wrong way. Doctors have the experience necessary to help a mother in need, but the automatically decide that the woman cannot do things herself before they even learn her specific case. They assume that the woman is in desperate need of medical attention right away and that’s where complications can sometimes stem from.

BOBB

While watching the movie, I kind of got the sense that birth didn’t hurt as bad as everyone was saying because of the way that the women were acting in the movie. The women weren’t screaming as much as they would in a hospital and they seemed much more relaxed. This made me feel like maybe having a home birth wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t really think that the EHM is that helpful for the women because it kind of cripples the mother and disables her to do what her body is telling her to do. The movie said that in the 1900’s, 95% births took place at home and I wonder what changed this. If births were going so well and “everyone was doing it” I wonder why people switched. When people went to the hospital, they were pumped full of chemicals and that, to me, seems wrong if the mother didn’t ask for those chemicals. Those chemicals also sometimes cause C-sections to become a necessary thing and that hurts women. People in the Netherlands lose fewer mothers and babies and have planned home births where things go perfectly fine but in America, we spend twice as much money on births and more negative side affects and deaths occur.