Chew on this!

Do you really know whats in your fast food? What are artificial flavors anyway?
Chew on this will answer all you questions and much more. This is a influential and eye opening book that will keep you away from fast food chains for a LONG time!
One thing that I found very ridiculous is that fast food chains target children to boost their sales! They take the most vulnerable and easily influenced people and they persuade them to eat their food. They use toys, friendly characters and of coarse bright colored commercials with memorable jingles that the kids will repeat and in turn eat. 
An important issue brought up in the book was the way the food in fast food chains is made. They use old meat from slaughtered malnourished animals and they cook their fries in beef fat! The food is extremely unhealthy. They fill all their food and drinks with artificial flavors to mimic actual flavor! And the facilities in which these foods are made? They are disgusting and unsanitary. Nothing about fast food is healthy or appetizing to me after this book!
After finishing my eyes were opened to the horrid things that go on behind the drive thru window. When your eating fast food you never really thing about whats in it because you're hungry! But when you actually know how artificial everything is you wouldn't even want to give them any money.
In the last few chapters it talks about how corporations like McDonald's are corrupting our people and making us overweight but I have to disagree. I think you as a person are in charge of what you put into your body. If you want to put toxic fast food into your body that is your choice, you cannot blame the media! Overall I believe that we, as a society should decide not to eat fast food and we should make a healthier future for ourselves and get fast food corporations out of business!

Reaction: Bowling for Columbine Documentary

In class we are learning about documentaries and how there are several sub-genres within the general theme documentaries. We watched an interactive/reflexive documentary by Micheal Moore called Bowling for Columbine. This documentary focused in on gun rights and the tragedies that happen because of guns.
Overall, I feel  that Moore did a good job at providing insightful facts and helping to uncover the harmful things guns are capable of. He had several stories about gun violence that helped to support his claim that guns are dangerous. I enjoyed that he interviewed many people and he got many opinions on the topic.
But, I also have some constructive criticism. I feel that the film was very unorganized and the information was scattered. He would switch topics so fast that it was confusing as to what he was talking about at certain times. Also, I felt that some of the information he mentioned was unnecessary and had absolutely nothing to do with gun rights. If I was in Moores position I would also make sure to always go back to Columbine and talk about that since that was his central idea, or I would change the title for it to be called gun rights rather than focusing on one specific incident.
Although, I would change several things I do feel that the documentary was very influencing because it really did make you think, why is America so violent? I think the information provided was great and it helped to make Moores opinion relevant!

Chew On This

I recently read the first few chapters of the book Chew On This. This book is about the history of fast food, where it originated. I really enjoyed this book because it really opens your eyes to how unhealthy fast food is. It is taking over our lives! I personally eat fast food maybe 2 times a month which isn't a lot compared to the average of Americans. But, even eating it a little bit of fast food can affect your health significantly.
In the preface of the book it talks about how McDonald's originated as a groundbreaking new achievement that changed our society forever. I am excited to see how the book explains the growth of fast food restaurants and what made them have a negative look!

Article Review

 http://www.layouth.com/i-wish-i-were-thinner/

The article above is about a girl who suffered from Bulimia. She felt pressure from her classmates or the " popular" girls to be skinny. She starved herself and vomited food back solely to lose weight.  But in the end she learned that she didn't have to be skinny to feel accepted. Also, that self acceptance is the most important.

Through this article I learned that journalism can really be about anything. It can be about your own personal experiences and things maybe other people can relate to. I also learned that kids my age can be journalists which is really cool. There are websites like the one above that are devoted to teenage writers sharing whatever they want and that is really interesting!

Reflection

Over the past 8 weeks our Creative Writing class here at Sota has had a student teacher named Mr. Ludwig. During this time we as a class, and individuals have learned many things about writing and ourselves as writers.
I have learned to try to find the messages behind things. For example, when we did the fairly tale activity and the one where we saw the picture and had to find hidden images. I liked those activities because they really caused you to think about things from a whole new perspective.
I also think during these 8 weeks we've learned to find ourselves as writers. I learned to find a specific thing about my writing to give me a " voice" as a young writer.
Overall this was a learning period for us and our class is grateful!

The Robber Bridegroom

In the short story The Robber Bridegroom by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm the main character,a young bride discovers that her groom is a killer! A cannibal to be exact. He takes women and cuts up their bodies to eat with a dash of salt. Overall I like that the book includes the use of fictional things such as talking birds! This is an interesting story to read and I like the ending; how she exposed him for being the killer he is!

In this short story there is an obvious use of symbolism that helps to convey the theme of the story. One of my favorite uses of symbolism is the talking bird. A talking bird is obviously fictional and the authors use personification. The birds symbolize the bride’s conscience telling her that marrying him would be a mistake. I like that this symbol also correlates with the whole “fairy tale” theme and it fits together nicely.

Overall this symbol helps to prove that your conscience is usually always right and you should listen to it!

Blue Beard?

I'm pretty sure everyone has heard the saying "curiosity killed the cat" but in the short story Blue Beard it takes a whole new form. 

We see that saying put in a whole new, semi modern situation. When the wife opened the door her husband specifically told her not to look into, she disobeyed because her curiosity was greater than her self-control. And she realized when she finally opened the door she wasn't pleased with the result. Her regret came immediately!

We learn that sometimes when people tell us not to do something, it’s for our own benefit. And sometimes, ignorance is bliss. But in this case the blue bearded man was a psychopath and it was a good thing that she discovered this!

Overall this short story gives us another perspective to the quote and it shows us the repercussions of doing something your told not to do. Sometimes we regret it, like the wife. And sometimes it’s a good thing, also like the wife!