Monday, February 29, 2016

Journal 5- Z. L Hill- Devon

For this profile Isay used first person point of view. He did this that way the reader could get a better understanding of who she was.  In this profile a lot of flashbacks are used. I think that this was very helpful. It made the history more clear and helped people understand how important the hotel meant to people. Bessie Smith had died when the place was hotel was a hospital. I think that this showed how much things could change.

The first thing that I do not think you would notice if you weren't paying attention is to me what looks like a person standing in the door way behind Hill. The person looks as they may be leaning up against the wall. The next thing I saw was hair growing out of her chin. From the picture I got that the hotel was a place where people came when in despair. I think that the hair on Hills chin showed what kind of woman she was. She did not care what others thought about her. I think that she is very alright with herself and what she has made of life.

I think that Hill represents the theme of creativity because she made something out of nothing. She started out with nothing but faith. She didn't give up and she made the place into something that she would like. She made a hospital into a hotel which I bet wasn't easy. I think that she would have to know a lot of different things to run a hotel. She would have to make sure the bills got paid. She would have to provide enough comfort to make people want to come back. I think that she would have to be very organized.

A passage I underlined was on page 156 " The Riverside belong to the people. I tell you which way to go and what to do, but Bessie Smith made this their home." A building is a building. The people that inhabit this building are what give the building it's personality. We make places how we want them to be.  We may be told how to do things but we will leave a piece of us in the building.  We may not stay for long but when we are there we will try to make it into something that we like.
Journal 5 - Randi Goney
     For this journal I choose the profile of Stanley Kilarr, the record collector. Isay uses the first person point of view for this profile, and I think that allows us as readers to really step into his shoes and experience the same things he is seeing. Isay also includes multiple sections of Kilarr speaking directly about himself and his records. Through Kilarr's speaking, the readers can understand this man better and are able to get to know his personality.
    The photo for this profile is one of my favorites so far in the book. One thing someone may not notice at first is the curtains on the window that are actually falling off. They seem detached from the one side, maybe because the room is so cluttered and Kilarr's focus is more on his collection than his indoor decorations. Another thing someone may not see is where Kilarr is pointing to. It does not look like anywhere specific, but it could be him pointing to his favorite record or just a specific one that's important to him. Lastly, one may not notice the actual amount of records there are just in this one picture of this one room. At first glance one may look at it and see that yes it is a lot, but they do not take in just how much. How much Kilarr has devoted his life to collecting his most prized possessions. This picture shows Kilarr's life. It holds a thousand words and gives off a positive representation of who he is. The picture reveals a lifetime of dedication and passion.
     Stanley Kilarr represents creativity beyond what words can describe. The diversity of records he holds and the records themselves hold creativity. The work and time put into writing songs for all the different records and then this man putting all his time into collecting and listening to the records is creativity at its maximum. The skills Kilarr might need to live his life of choice involve patience. All his records were not just handed over to him. He had to have patience in collecting and adding to his collection over his lifetime.
       I personally love the quote by Kilarr that "in time it draws you back and you want to hear it again." Kilarr is so into his collection that he lives through the music played and it can take him to a happy place in time that he wants to remember. Patience is a big theme in this profile. Kilarr would not have the collection he does today without the patience he put foreword while collecting.  


Friday, February 26, 2016

Journal 5 Theo Potts

Four jurnal 5 I chosee to do the Zimmerman Profile. I thought Zimmermans profile was particularly interesting because its one of the profiles that Isay uses a third person perspective for the majority of the profile (with some sentences from Zimmerman himself.) I think he does it this way because there is so much to say about the actual hotel and Zimmerman probably isn't one for talking. He lives in a cave in the middle of no where, his social skills probably aren't the best. This profile is also one of the few that have more than one picture. The first picture depicts Zimmerman in one of his cave suiets, and after furter examination you can see that hes in one of the deluxe rooms because hes sitting on a old bus chair. The second pictue is probably my favorite because it screams "free" to me. It shows one of the caves and gives the back drop of the seemingly endless desert behind it. I love that in the window theres a picture of jesus along with a bald egale just over his head, combined with the shack and the desert all I can think of is freedom. Freedom to live where ever you want and live how you want. The last picture I like to think is the best one of Zimmerman. Although you can't see his face it depicts him the best, his love of the caves, the land, his pets, and even the shadow of him being reclusive. I don't think he needs or wants anything more than those simple things. I think out of all the profiles in this book Zimmerman has to be at least in the top five for living creativly. He makes a hotel out of what most people consider to be junk, and yet I bet he is happier than most people. I think the message that meant the most to me was on page is on page 139 when Zimmerman is talking. He describes how the natural is just as good if not better than what most hotels have, but my favorite part is when he says " Taking his own cue, Dick straps on a guitar and launches into a lengthy and somewhat tuneless rendition of Listen to the Mockingbird". I can only imagine him whipping out a guitar and singing, I like to think he is so happy that he's ready to break out into song on the spot.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Journal Four from Alli Clark

GMO OMG - An Introduction to Understanding

In the film GMO OMG by Jeremy Seifert, he is trying to create a general understanding for himself to understanding GMO's. Even though there is much bias throughout the whole movie, I believe that the information is still relevant. There are many different viewpoints to be taken here, and the one that I believe to be most prevalent is the art of "questioning". We as Americans have the right to know where our food is coming from and how it is made. We also should have the choice to decide if we want to ingest GMO modified foods. In the movie, it says 80% of processed foods are genetically modified and we as consumers have no clue which of it is or not, In his countless interviews with average citizens, many are not even aware that they are eating them or what they are. I think that is where our problem starts.
I would recommend this film to anyone who wants the basic understanding of what GMOs are, but would advise to look at other sources that aren't as biased towards organic foods along with watching the movie. The visuals used in the film  are there to create a "feeling" inside of the viewers. He uses the connection of family in the film to create a message. As a parent or adult, the damage has hypothetically already been done, but the real question is do we want to raise the next generation in a world of uncertainty and unsafe food consumption. Seifert strives to know what the affects of GMOs are and how they will affect the future of our country. He strives to know this for his children and for society. His honesty and easy going nature really makes the film connectable and easy to watch and understand.
If you see through the bias in this film, and take the views with a grain of salt, one can become very aware of the role of GMOs in our society and the future of it. It proposes questions of our current situations which I believe to be important, and gives credible sources and information to further find answers to these questions. We can use this movie as a tool to better our country, and we should not turn a blind eye to it. It is important to be an educated citizen movies like GMO OMG do just that for us, that's why I recommend it to all.

Friday, February 19, 2016

GMO OMG , Bubba Spaulding

At the beginning of the film I had mixed feelings about GMO's. I did not understand them or did I know what they really were. I did my research and watched the film GMO OMG by Jeremy Seifert and I find myself with mixed feelings still. But I am leaning toward the side of against GMO food. I'm not sure who said this in the film but it did stick in my brain and I do firmly believe it. "Its not the way nature made it." I totally agree with this. To me if falls along the same lines as test tube clones and babies. Who are we to play God? I'm sorry I'm getting religious here but God had this world created for us and here is man kind saying with our actions, "Its not good enough, we will make it better."
The thing I don't understand is that we have all this food, all this corn, grain and other stuff we grow and there is still 14 billion people that are malnourished in this world. And since we are using the GMO seeds there are now 5.1 billion pounds of insects that are becoming resistant to pesticides. This is natures way of fighting back and telling us to "STOP!!" Again the movie went to fast for me to catch the persons name who said this but it goes along with trying to play God. The person said "We are trying to patent nature and I don't think its moral." It just seems to me that we are trying to make things better, we might be but we are making other things worse. For example humans are still getting sick but the antibiotics that we have to take are not working because those same antibiotics are being used on livestock, causing an adverse affect on us.
I guess I do have a one sided opinion on this but not for the reasons others have. I don't think we should play God. We should live with what we have and learn how to do it better, not change it to make it easier and more profitable.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Journal 4 Scott Price

I found GMO OMG to be an informative, but intentionally misleading and biased documentary. From the very start of the film, it is obvious that the narrator believes that natural food is better than the genetically modified food. Opening the film with a poem about the purity of nature immediately made me realize what the narrator's position on GMO's would be. When the film illustrates the modifying of food, it shows an info-graphic that makes the science behind GMO's sound like science fiction jargon. This scene in particular bothered me, because it represents an anti-intellectual idea; that science and technology are lesser schools of reasoning to feeling and emotional reaction. GMO's are frequently represented as a syringe being injected into vegetables, often with a dark cloud appearing over the food. The film also jumps to conclusions on what food is considered a GMO. In one scene, the narrator catches a fish in a forest pond. The author claims that because the fish may have eaten genetically modified fish food, it is also a genetically modified organism. This is not a very sound argument, and I do not think that GMO's actually permeate the food chain as much as the narrator seems to think.
Is this corn a GMO or organic?

The film also seems to discard the scientific studies that have been done on GMO's in favor of on the ground research. There is nothing wrong with this method, but I believe that the narrator goes about it the wrong way. The author only spoke with a single scientist that had done research on GMO's, and he admits that that scientist's work was heavily criticized by others in his field. Instead of scientific evidence, the film takes the word of old fashioned farmers, Haitian peasants, and people who know nothing of GMO's over the evidence put forth by scientific studies. If the author wanted to make a truly unbiased and informational  documentary, he should have taken a closer look at the side that he was arguing against.

I feel that this documentary is a good introduction to GMO's for someone who has no knowledge on the topic, but it should be taken with a grain of salt. The film is eager to tell what GMO's are, and what risks they might possibly pose, without bogging the audience down with all of the needless scientific mumbo-jumbo, like evidence. I would not recommend this film to someone who wants an unbiased depiction of GMO's, but for anyone who only wants their suspicions to be affirmed, such as the creator of the documentary, this film is a perfect match.

Journal Four - Randi Goney
      I would definitely recommend the film GMO OMG to anyone wanting to learn more on the topic of GMOs. I do think the film is biased to the side that GMOs are a bad thing considering the facts and statistics Jeremy Seifert uses. Statistics such as 80% of all processed food in the United States contains GMOs. Not only that, but 85% of all corn grain grown in the United States contains GMOs as well. So not only is the processed food we eat almost all GMOS, but even vegetables that most people would think are organic contain GMOs as well.
      The film contains other sources of bias with the people Jeremy talks to. When he asks people on the street what they know about GMOs, all the people he shows say they know nothing about them. After the first day of watching the film, I also asked a few people what they knew about GMOs. Although most of the people I talked to did not know what GMO stood for right away, once I told them they were able to recall more information. One of my friends learned from a previous class that GMOs are labeled in multiple countries across the globe and also that other countries believe them to be very harmful. Countries such as Haiti especially. When Monsanto tried giving GMO seeds to the people there, they outrageously refused. Some believed the seeds were "a gift to kill you". 
     Other statistics showed that many and most Americans want GMOs labeled here in the United States. I personally agree with this, but with the massive amount of GMOs already in the food we eat daily would a label stop us from eating it? Humans need food to survive and so a little label will not do much in stopping people from consuming GMOs. 
Even if GMOs were labeled all over the United States, would this
change what American citizens choose to buy and eat?


Journal 4: Film review - Antonio

The documentary GMO OMG by Jeremy Seifert is a film that attempts to raise questions about Genetically Modified Organisms. I have mixed feeling on the film because there are plenty of health concerns brought up, but in doing my own research I cannot find any real studies on the health risks, but plenty of reasons why there is nothing to worry about. These doubts come from the fact that humans have been genetically modifying food since the beginning of agriculture and have been eating genetically modified food for a long time. (A great YouTube video by SciShow called "Why are GMOs bad?" provided good information on genetically engineered organisms). From interviewing my girlfriend, she explained that genetically modified food is not a big concern, but should still require tests for health risks. A statistic that 5.3 billion pounds of pesticides was in use when the film was made, but I have a hard time equating statistics to reality without context, which the film does not clarify. What was most intriguing was patenting and soil erosion. The film explains that companies patent genetic sequences that they have incorporated into their seeds and so the seeds must be bought every year, saving these seeds is illegal. While I understand the economics of high research costs versus funds, it brings a strange idea into play, "These people are trying to patent nature." says one of the farmers from the documentary. Soil erosion was also introduced as being increased because of genetically modified crops, I could not find much about this from my own  research, so it does raise questions. While the maker, Seifert, makes overplayed use of emotions by having his own kids dramatize issues from the film, it ultimately is about questioning the unknowns of our lives. I would advise against taking this movie too seriously about every one of its claims, a healthy skepticism however on the producers part is appreciated.

Image result for healthy skepticism

Good Questions brainstorming sharing. From Mike Lohre



Students, you have created a list of 9 Good Questions for today.  Share your best question on dreams and dreamers, your best question on eccentricity, and your best general question that you might ask anybody.

Share these three best questions in the Comments section here, so we have them all in one place here below my post.  Then we can cherry pick some of the best questions for our own question lists for our interviews.

Thanks,

Mike


Journal Four

Omar Shehadeh
English 2367 at 3
February 17, 2016


GMO OMG Review

Gilles-Eric Séralini examining a rat which developed huge tumors
      While gathering primary research on peoples everyday knowledge of GMOs I found  shocking evidence that peoples whose lives are being affected everyday by them have little to no knowledge of what they really are or the affects they can have on our body. My sister was one of these people. This really struck home for me since she is a breast cancer survivor and picked up this terrible disease at the age of thirty. Gilles-Eric Séralini, a scientist featured in the film GMO OMG stated that by the age of thirty humans can start to fall prey to the ill effects of GMO consumption, one of those being cancer. I would recommend this movie for every American to watch and learn about our consumption habits.
GMO OMG is full of statistics and shocking information about our food industry. For instance Atrazine, a chemical used to suppress weeds has become the biggest containment of ground water in the United States and yet it is continually used daily. Or the fact that organic crops can grow at least a 30% more yield than Genetically modified seed crops in times of stress such as during a flood or a drought. With statistics such as these two its clear to see that capitalistic greed is simply the driving force behind the continued use of GMOs and their non-regulation in the United States food markets. Before I watched this movie, I had no idea how wide spread GMOs were in my daily consumption. In my secondary research I found out that as much as 80% of all processed foods contain GMOs according to Nongmoproject.org. What is more surprising is that the companies who are selling these products do not even know the majority of the time whether or not they contain GMOs as GMO OMG often found as they questioned companies about their products.
This movie opened my eyes to the world of GMOs and the affects they have on each and every human being. I agree with the Haitians in this film that “seeds of life are the common inheritance of humanity” and that three companies that control the seed market, flooding them with GMOs are masking their goals as “feeding the world” when in reality they are damaging the world, killing people and focused solely on profits. This movie was an excellently informing documentary that I think every person should watch to become more informed on what we are ingesting.


Journal Four: Dillan

GMO OMG was quite the interesting documentary. Prior to watching the film, I didn't have a clue about what GMOs were, and I can't honestly say I know exactly what a GMO is after finishing the film. Not knowing what exactly goes into these genetically modified food sources may be the point of the whole film though. Apparently, food companies are not legally obligated to openly reveal whether or not their products have been infused with or effected by GMOs, and those businesses that do admit that they use them refuse to tell what exactly is being used to modify their food. As I watched, I tried to keep an open mind over the subject.
The documentary does highlight that genetically modified food may be a necessity in our modern world. Supposedly, seeds that have been modified are more resilient to insects and pesticides, which is important to note because as of 2000 there was 5.1 billion pounds of pesticides being used in the U.S. The reason for this large quantity is because insects and weeds have been adapting to the older, weaker pesticides, so it has become more important to not only use more but the potency of these chemicals have been strengthened to the point that they'd probably kill off an average plant. Fields are now required to be "Round Up Ready" if they're to stand up against the forces of nature that'd kill or devour what is grown. It seems that without these hyper, super-powered chemicals we'd be facing plague levels of famine throughout the world as the U.S. is one of the largest food making countries, and without modified seeds the seeds would either die or the plants that grow from them would be heavily laced with dangerous chemicals.
Mr. Seifert, the documenter, does bring up an interesting counter point by showing organic farmers whose plants are thriving without being modified. He then explains that these claims of potential famine may be over exaggerated, and he mentions how many seed manufacturers have patents over their seeds. These patents mean that it is illegal for farmers to save and plant any seeds that may be gained after their harvest, so a farmer is forced to purchase what seed manufacturers make. These farmers are then coerced to buy modified seeds because they're an investment in the farmers' future yield. Farmers fear that without the modified seeds, and high octane chemicals, that they will not be capable of generating enough fruitful crops to compensate them for their efforts and feed the amount of people that rely on their production. In 1860, farmers made up 50% of our workforce, but now they're only 2%, so a lot of pressure to basically feed the world is placed on the shoulders of only a few people.
Seifert implies that a world without these two elements, modified seeds and chemicals, is possible, but he also admits that it is rather common for modified and unmodified plants to cross pollinate creating new seeds that are in actuality modified without people knowing at first glance. He also talks about how Round Up, probably the most common pesticide, can be found in random fields, lakes, streams, and inside of people throughout the U.S. These two aspects make me wonder if the world were to give up on GMOs and chemicals would we truly be able to escape their effects.

Overall, I found the documentary to be quite engaging, and I'd advise people to check it out if only to familiarize oneself with the issue of GMOs. Throughout my viewing experience, I kept thinking back to my own research. I thought about how much money food producers, manufacturers, and distributors save because of their use of genetically modified seeds. Honestly, I don't know if the money they save is worth the possible health effects that GMOs may be causing, but I think that GMOs will continue to be used because they basically assure that crops will grow and people will eat. I do hope that one day manufacturers will be forced to note whether their food has been modified and explain in what way. I feel like people have a right to know.
If only food manufacturers were this honest...


Journal Four from Patience



I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who knows little to nothing about GMOs as well as Monsanto. I found the film enlightening. I never knew how strongly some people feel about GMOs until it was depicted in the movie. The people in Haiti are almost completely against the use of genetically modified organisms, and when Monsanto offered them to the Haitians after the earthquake the people turned them down,even in their time of dire need. This speaks volumes to how strongly some people feel on the subject, As well, some countries have even outlawed the use of GMOs and others require proper labeling on all processed food products sold in the area.

"80% of all processed foods in America contain GMOs," and as shown in the movie, most people don't even know what they are. We are consuming these foods and do not even know what we are putting into our body. Is it harmful? That is unclear. However, shouldn't we have the right to know what we are eating and how it could alter us later in our lives? Apparently, Monsanto does not think so. When legislation was brought forth in some states to make labeling foods that contain genetically modified organisms a law, Monsanto jumped in and threatened to sue, should the legislation pass. This seems sketchy; why, if it was safe, would they not want to label their foods? Monsanto, whether you believe GMOs are good or bad, is clearly hiding something, which only furthers the question of our own safety in the foods we consume every day.

Something else that shocked me was the outreach of GMOs. Not only is it in most of the processed food consumed in America, but it can also be in meats and dairy foods that are home grown. It is entirely possible to eat a cut of meat that, when alive, ingested feed that contained GMO seeds. This is frightening simply because we almost have no choice but to consume these things that we are unsure about. There is almost no escape. Even when Jeremy, the filmmaker, took his children fishing in the woods and they ate the fish, they had the potential to be consuming GMOs, as the fish were fed pellets that possibly contained the material. Deciphering what exactly contains them is difficult, and should be made easy here in the states, whether you believe in the use of genetically modified organisms or not.

Journal Four: Kristen

GMO OMG Review:                                   
For or Against GMOs?
The film GMO OMG, by Jeremy Seifert, seemed to be well put together. A person could easily tell the passion that Seifert has towards the pressing issue of GMOs. His side was for no GMO. Seifert included handfuls upon handfuls of statistics to help emphasize his stance on the matter. One of which being that there are 60 countries that require GMO labeling and yet the U.S. struggles to have or keep one single state with that requirement. It was mentioned that Monsanto threatened to sue the states that did pass GMO labeling law and as a result the law was dismissed. The main reason, I found from personal research and from watching this film, that these genetically modified seeds are being used to help resolve the world hunger issue. Well, according to one person from the film, "After 30 years of side by side comparisons between organic and chemical agriculture, the rod ale farming systems trial proved that organic yields match conventional yields." It seems as if Seifert really did his homework on this one. When he went to one of the Monsanto headquarters, they shoed him out like a bug and refused to share information. Steifert brought up that if they refused to say anything that there must be something they are hiding and if it is safe then why hide it? I think this video was very informative and put together well, although, it was biased on the side of anti-GMO and not much information for pro-GMO was shared other than the fact that it will help with world hunger which is highly doubtful considering that is just like saying we can finally have world peace. It's just not going to happen.

Journal four, Theo Potts

After watching this documentary I have a totally different look on GMO's. I used to think that genetically modified good was just something we had to do to survive, but after seeing the success of organic farms I'm not so convinced. They said in the film that organic farms produce 30% more yield in bad weather than GMO fields. So then why do we do it? The answer is one that applies to just about every big business, especially in america, money. Money drives these companies to push their product onto farmers, and the worst part is they even have the farmers convinced! There was one farmer in the documentary who said that the GMOs in the product wasn't the problem, it was the insecticides. If he doesn't know what is in the food he's growing I don't think he should be a farmer. Even when I talked to one of the people who run the resteraunt I work at they didn't seem to have much of a clue as to what is in our food. So the real question is how do we stop GMOs? The reality of it is we have to start with the individual. We have to demand for non GMO crops, and inform others of what is in those crops so they can protest it too. Once we make our voice heard we can get it outlawed like so many other countries have done and maybe start to work toward a more healthy and honest future.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Journal Four Rebecca Aleshire


Journal Four

     From the movie that we watched in class I have decided that GMO’s are both a bad thing and a good thing. The companies that help produce GMO crops say we use them to help other countries from starving. However those people burn the seeds because they say they are the “Seeds of death.” They are not natural to the earth so they refuse to grow the seeds. One statistic is that 80% of the GMO’s that are grown world wide are engineered for herbicide tolerance yet most people who were asked if they were okay with GMO’s had no clue what they are. I asked my mother and grandma if they knew what they were and they had never heard of it. To me this is a problem because it is so hard to get away from GMO’s that are in foods.

     Another statistic that I learned was that 5.1 billion pesticides are put on crops. This is an issue because the weeds and insects grow a tolerance to the pesticides. So they have to increase how much they have to put on the crops each year. However from all of these negative things I think GMO’s are okay if they could prove that it doesn’t have harmful effects. Also if we had the food with GMO’s labeled it would give people the choice if they wanted to eat it or not. It wouldn’t be on the companies that produce GMO crops because they gave the consumers the choice to know what is in the food that we eat everyday.


Journal Four- Watch GMO OMG- Devon

I think that this movie was a very well produced movie based on the budget and would be a movie that I would highly suggest to anyone that is looking to gain new information about GMOs. I learned things from the movie that I never knew about GMOS. I never knew that so many other countries had already outlawed the use of GMOS. I also did not know that there were some states in the United States that had already had laws that required GMOS to be labeled. In one of the scenes in the movie the people of Haiti are chanting " Stop Monsanto! Chase them out! ". This was powerful to me. If a country that is poor has people that are chanting things like this then there has to be some type of problem. I liked the way that the director went to the people in charge of the companies that were delivering the GMOS to farms. I think that if he would have just talked the whole time you would get bored . I liked the images that he used in the movie and the songs as well. The songs seemed to relate a lot to nature.

I never knew that there was a such a huge increase in how much we used pesticides. In 1945 there were 200 million pounds of pesticides that were used. In 2000 there were 5.1 billion pounds of pesticides that had been used. This increase resulted in 500 different types of bugs being resisted to pesticides. These numbers were necessary because they showed how pesticides were impacting nature.
When I had done my own research at home I had a vague since of how accurate the information was. I was not sure that the source was credible. In this documentary you get to hear the phone calls, not all of them but bits of pieces. He’s phoning the companies directly. He talks to farmers, scientist, and people from the GMO industry making the sources seem much more credible then the ones that we see online.
This would be a movie that I would suggest to anybody that is looking to find out some interesting facts about GMOS.  Although it is low budget it still gives you valuable information that could help you deciding on the decision to live a GMO free life or one with them. 
Photo provided by Google. 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

GMOs Questions: Dillan

For today's homework I decided to interview my sister, who is kind of going through a health kick, and my girlfriend as she is a mother.

My sister doesn't trust GMOs. Because of her recent healthy-living-enthusiasm, she has been attempting to be very aware of what she is eating and what is inside the food she eats. She is afraid that GMOs might be some form of poison or disease causing force, but she does eat food with GMOs in them. Her mentality is that she tries to avoid them, but she knows that she can't wholly avoid them because there are just too many food products that have been effected by GMOs.

She believes that the use of GMOs in food production causes the price of growing the food to be lowered, which she thinks is good because it allows more people to afford meat and vegetables. Like previously stated, she thinks that GMOs may be poisonous, and she thinks that people shouldn't be eating the now cheaper meat and vegetables. She was quite conflicted over the subject.

My girlfriend admitted that she doesn't know too much about GMOs. We both talked about how little we know of the subject, and how split people are over it. She figures that a majority of the food we eat has been effected by GMOs in some way or another, and she isn't too concerned over the matter. She figures that they're just common place now, and until their is definitive evidence that GMOs are dangerous she would rather wait and see what happens.

She said that she heard the GMOs cut cost production, and she heard that they make super plants and animals. Basically, GMOs are used to just make these food products bigger and more resilient. She has heard that they cause cancer, but she isn't convinced that they do.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Film Observation and Homework sharing, from Mike Lohre



Good afternoon, students, and before we go forward in class today, I want to stop and share our observations and homework.



Using the Comments feature of this post, share two things in your Comment,and this way all the Comments for the while class will be easily found here under my post.  Write about:  

1)  What two visuals or images stood out to you most in the first 15 minutes of GMO OMG? In film, images are obviously a vital part of the presentation, and what is allowed in the final film is going to be there for a reason.  What struck you as noticeable, effective, manipulative, pleasing, etc.?  Share two visual observations from your active listening notes.

2)  Whatever your research turned up, let's not cement our mindsets just yet on whether GMOS are perfectly okay or totally terrible.  But let's start to compile information to lead us toward taking an informed stand on GMOs.  Share one of the most interesting research facts or ideas that you discovered in your research, and also try to describe the sources credibility and/or possible bias.


Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Matthew Hines writing exercise two

Bavarian Meatballs

Ingredients:
  • 2 tablespoons chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Dash of pepper
  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 1 can mushroom stems and pieces, undrained
  • 2 gingersnaps, coarsely crushed
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
 
Directions:
  1. In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Transfer to a large bowl; add bread crumbs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into six meatballs; place in a greased 1-qt. baking dish.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, combine mushrooms, gingersnap crumbs, water, brown sugar and bouillon. Cook and stir over low heat for 2-3 minutes or until thickened.
  3. Pour over meatballs. Cover and bake 25 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.
 

This dish gets its name from Bavaria, which is a federal state in Germany. I chose this recipe because my family has German ancestry, and I haven't tried very much German food. Also, it looks like it wouldn't be very hard to make.



Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Exercise Two: Rebecca Aleshire


Cream Wafers

What you need for the crust: 1 cup of soft butter, 1/3 cup of whipping cream, and 2 cups of sifted flour.

First you need to mix the butter, whipping cream, and sifted flour then let chill for 2 to 3 hours. Next you roll out on to a floured surface (roll about 1/8 thick). Thirdly you need to cut out the cookies using a small cookie cutter that’s about 1 1/2  and only roll 1/3 of the dough at a time so you can keep the remaining dough chilled. Then place aluminum foil onto the cookie sheet and sprinkle sugar on the foil before placing the cookies onto it. Finally you prick each cookie 4 times with a fork and then bake at 375 for 7 to 10 minutes. After the cookies are done baking you will let them cool.

Filling for cream wafers: ¼ cup of soft butter, ¾ cup of confectionary sugar, 1 egg yolk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

First mix the butter, confectionary sugar, egg yolk, and the vanilla together. Next put any of food coloring that you want then spread onto the wafers after that press the cookie together like a sandwich.

     The reason I chose this recipe was because its my favorite thing that we make on Christmas. My grandma every year made these for our family because of that it made it like a tradition. I would recommend this to other people who like making cookies for a special event.

Exercise two Theodor Potts

To start off I would like to say that my family does ave an amazing recipe for chili, but its a family secret so I decided to do something that I have always wanted to make, Onigiri. Onigiri is a very common snack or meal in Japan. Ever since I was little I have had a facination with japanese culture and on almost any japanese show you watch you will see them eating Onigiri. I was suprised to learn that it is actually a very simple dish, but if made properly it can be very delicious. So let me start out by saying I found many diffrent varietys of Onigiri and I chose to to the traditional stuffed Onigiri. So lets get started.
Ingredients
Round grain rice
Soy sauce
Nori seaweed
Katsuobushi


First things first, boil the rice untill sofened as you would with any other dish that requires rice. While your rice is boiling put the Katsuobushi flakes in a bowl and let them soak in soy sauce. You can add seasoning to the rice to give it a little flavor, but the traditional way is plain rice. Once your rice is done mold about 80 grams of rice into the shape of a triangle and add your soked Katsuobushi to the middle to form the triangle around it. use the sea weed to wrap the bottom and Bam! your done. 

Exercise Two- Sesame Chicken - Omar Shehadeh

Chicken Ingredients:
  • 1 pound boneless chicken thigh, cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon sesame paste
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
  • 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper  
Sauce Ingredients:
  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
  • 3/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch + 2 tablespoons water, mixed into a slurry
  • 1 scallion sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
Preparation:
  • Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.
  • Take your boneless chicken thigh and begin to mix it with cornstarch, salt, sesame paste and Shaoxing wine then let it marinate for 20 minutes. 
  • Mix sesame seeds, flour, and white pepper in a separate bowl.
  • Now mix the chicken breast and marinade until there is no standing liquid.
  • Dredge chicken in the dry mixture and proceed to place them onto a sheet pan which is lined with any nonstick material such as nonstick-foil or parchment paper.
  • Now Bake at 475 degrees for eight minutes on the top rack. 
  • Then flip chicken pieces and broil on low for three minutes or until golden brown.
  • Now heat a wok at medium heat and add garlic and oil.
  • Stir for only five seconds then immediately add Shaoxing wine.
  • Repeat again for another five seconds and immediately add chicken stock, rice wine vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and soy saucs until everything's at a simmer.
  • Now gradually add the cornstarch slurry to the sauce while constantly stirring.
  • After letting it simmer for twenty seconds, make sure the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
  • Finally add the scallions and chicken and toss them in the wok until coated completely with sauce.
  • Garnish the meal with toasted sesame seeds, and vwallah , you have sesame chicken.
Sesame chicken is one of my favorite meals. Often times when I am starving and my refrigerator is looking intimidatingly empty, I hop into my car, drive five minutes away to my local Chinese restaurant and pick up a order of seaming hot sesame chicken. It is a perfectly sweet chicken with a little bit of tang to it. Before I began my research on this dish, I knew it was a staple at pretty much any Chinese restaraunt across America. After I began my research this was only confirmed. It seems as though Sesame chicken was a dish prepared very similarly to General Tso's chicken and both of which seemed to emerge from popular culture only twenty or so year's ago as Chinese buffets and restaurants boomed across America. It is believed that this dish was specifically invented in 1970s New York to a family opening a Chinese restaurant looking to expand their menu. Over that time it has not changed very much requiring a delicate recipe and of course sesame seeds to become well, sesame chicken.

Exercise Two: Kristen

Sesame Chicken w/ White Rice
My favorite food to eat is typically Italian food, but if I am wanting to pick something quick up to eat that isn't fast food I will always go for Chinese take-out. Sesame Chicken is always my go to item, but I have always wanted to learn how to make it myself. From what I read it seems that Sesame chicken was just taken from General Tso's chicken and altered and is typically just served in the English-speaking world.
link: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=384315
Ingredients:
1c white rice (cooked)
12oz chicken breasts (1" Dices)1/4c Soy Sauce
1/4c Sugar
2tsp Sesame Oil
1Tbsp Sesame Seeds
2Tbsp Honey

Directions:
Cook rice according to package directions.
Dredge chicken in flour (and pepper if desired).
Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add chicken.
Cook until golden brown on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.
Combine soy sauce and sugar in a bowl or cup.
Remove chicken from pan.
Pour soy sauce and sugar mixture into pan and simmer until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes).
Add sesame oil and honey and stir to combine.
Add cooked chicken back to pan and stir to coat.
Simmer to reduce sauce until thick and sticky.
Serve hot over rice and add sesame seeds if desired.

Exercise 2-Chili Con Queso


Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
  • 1 can (4 ounces) diced green chilies
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey jack cheese with jalapeno peppers
  • Tortilla chips and crisp raw vegetable dippers


Instructions

  1. Melt butter in 3 to 4-quart pan over medium heat.
  2. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender: Stir in tomato sauce and chilies; reduce heat to low.
  3. Simmer 3 minutes.
  4. Gradually add cheeses, stirring until cheeses are melted and mixture is evenly blended.
  5. Transfer to fondue pot or chafing dish; keep warm over heat source.
  6. Serve with tortilla chips and vegetable dippers.
 I chose Mexican Chili because chili is one of my favorite foods and I thought it would be interesting to try it in a different way. They often serve chili at many Mexican restaurants and almost every place makes it differently. This is just another way of making it that I found on mexicanrecipes.org. I don't really have any recipes that my family makes together so I picked on that I would enjoy personally. 

Writing Exercise Two from Alli - Chocolate Gravy

Option One

Chocolate Gravy:

Many chocolate lovers think it's nearly impossible to have something sweet and chocolate-y for their first meal in the morning, but my great grandma Mary has proved that to be wrong. While it sounds a little sketchy of a flavor, one would be surprised how yummy it really is, especially when it's done just right. When I was a kid, we always visited my great grandparents in Kentucky, that's where all of my mom's side of the family is from'; and thats where a lot of good recipes originate from. Southern cooking is the best, maybe not for the average healthy eater but every visit for me was the perfect amount. I remember my Grandma making this for me as a child, and she always enjoyed to make the quirky treat for us, it was a staple for her to make this for us every Sunday before we all went to church. For the good memories that were created from this dish, that's the reason why it should be passed on, also for the reaction I get when I tell people about the mystical and wondrous "Chocolate Gravy". 
To get this recipe just right, you have to enjoy the chocolate gravy over my great grandma's homemade from scratch biscuits. Since she always made them just right, it's hard for the rest of to recreate that perfectly and sometimes have to settle from your run of the mill canned biscuits from the supermarket. Without them, it doesn't quite transport me back to running around my grandparents land playing with the rest of my cousins and the joy that came from getting the call for breakfast. These are the memories that I cherish. Like we all talked about from Mirror On America, the lifestyle down south on my grandparents farm revolved around our meals. 
Unfortunately, my grandma kept her own chocolate gravy recipe to herself so I have to settle for trying to recreate the same taste from google search recipes. She was one to rarely write down her recipes, unlike my other grandma who we are lucky to have her whole recipe book still today. So instead I'll leave a recipe that we use to try and recreate her recipe. 

Through this I have learned the importance of conversation in our society, and paying attention to the people that have come before us. I cherish the fact that my grandma taught me how to make her pies that she always made, and all the other information that she shared with me while we worked in the kitchen. She told me about cooking with her own mother, and where her mother learned to cook. These stories are important to me, because it's a part of me, and it's where I came from as well. Like we've talked about in class, conversation has been lost in our society and this experience has made me more knowledgeable about the people who have made me, me. 

Monday, February 8, 2016

Writing Exercise 2 - Asian Chicken Salad.


The recipe that I chose was Asian Chicken Salad. I love Chinese food and I think that one day in time this would be a great dish to make.

What you will need-
2 tablespoons brown sugar.
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil.
1/4 cup vegetable oil.
3 tablespoons rice vinegar.
Package Dried Rice Noodles
1 head iceberg lettuce
4  boneless chicken breast halves
3 green onions

   First you combine brown sugar , soy sauce, sesame oil, salad oil, and rice vinegar to make the salad dressing. Then you prepare the chicken noodles. You will heat a skillet with a few teaspoons of oil. You'll break off the noodles and fry them together. When they begin to puff use a towel to drain them. Once you have cooked the noodles add them to the salad mixture. In a large bowel you will combine iceberg lettuce , cook and shredded chicken, green onions, and toasted sesame seeds. Just before serving add the cooked noodles.
I picked this recipe because it was from a different culture. I wanted to try something different that I have never heard of. It is very traditional. It is used sometimes has a whole meal. Other times salad is unknown in other parts of Asia.  They are carefully arranged on a platter. The appearance matters a lot.

Exercise 2-option #2 Gumbo (Antonio)

The food that I have chosen to investigate is gumbo, specifically Cajun gumbo. Gumbo has a tricky history that is usually associated with Acadian's who were originally from Nova Scotia and migrated to Canada. They were not happy with being coerced to pledge allegiance to Great Britain and so were forced to migrate again, and ended up in Louisiana. After settling in this area the pronunciation of Acadian turned into "Cajun". Since this group of people wandered so much they integrated many foods into their gumbo dish, which is why gumbo has many forms.

Gumbo is the perfect food to experience the culture of many peoples together.

***(All information above is referenced from the television show "Good Eats" hosted by Alton Brown, season 2 episode 12).

Ingredients
4 ounces vegetable oil
4 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 pounds raw, whole, head-on medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp
2 quarts water
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green peppers
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned
1 tablespoon file powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.

While the roux is baking, de-head, peel and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set in the refrigerator. Place the heads and shells in a 4-quart saucepan along with the 2 quarts of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to 1-quart. Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a container, discarding the solids.

Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Gradually add the shrimp broth while whisking continually. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the shrimp and sausage and stir to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice.

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown, 2007

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/shrimp-gumbo-recipe.html?oc=linkback



 
Writing Exercise Two - Randi Goney
 
I researched the recipe of Baked Flan, a popular Mexican dessert. I've always enjoyed Mexican cuisine as well as desserts, and I also remember talking about Flan in my Spanish class a few years ago.
 
You will need:
- 2/3 cup of  white sugar
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 can (14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup of milk
- 5 eggs
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
 
Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2) In a small nonstick pan, heat the sugar to medium heat. Mix occasionally to distribute sugar until it is dissolved and begins to brown. Once brown, lift pan above the heat source (4 to 6 inches) to continue to brown sugar until it is a dark golden brown. When finished, pour caramelized sugar into a 1 1/2 quart casserole large loaf pan. Coat pan evenly.
3) In a blender, combined sweetened condensed milk, cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Blend on high for 1 minute. Pour over caramelized sugar.
4) Place the filled casserole dish into a larger pan and add 1 inch of HOT water to the outer pan. Bake in oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until set.
 
As I mentioned above, Mexican food has always been my favorite outside of classic American food. Also, dessert is obviously the best dish served throughout the day, and so I decided to combine the two to research Flan. Flan originally originated from Rome, where they kept a multitude of chicken eggs for different foods. One was a custard cake, now known as Flan. The word Flan is derived from the Latin word "flado" which means flat cake. From there Flan took two routes, in Spain it became a well known sweet custard made with caramelized sugar. In England, Flan consisted of a pastry shell with an open top filled with custard and often mixed with nuts or fruits. 

Friday, February 5, 2016

Exercise 2 Recipe Research Bubba Spaulding

The food I researched is Kimchi. I found this side dish when I visited our local Chinese buffet restaurant. The funny thing about that is Kimchi is Korean side dish of fermented cabbage.


1 medium head (2 pounds) napa cabbage
1/4 cup sea salt or kosher salt (see Recipe Notes)
Water (see Recipe Notes)
1 tablespoon grated garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
1 teaspoon grated ginger 
1 teaspoon sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons seafood flavor or water (optional, see Recipe Notes)
1 to 5 tablespoons Korean red pepper flakes
8 ounces Korean radish or daikon, peeled and cut into matchsticks


  1. Slice the cabbage: Cut the cabbage lengthwise into quarters and remove the cores. Cut each quarter crosswise into 2-inch-wide strips.
  2. Salt the cabbage: Place the cabbage and salt in a large bowl. Using your hands (gloves optional), massage the salt into the cabbage until it starts to soften a bit, then add water to cover the cabbage. Put a plate on top and weigh it down with something heavy, like a jar or can of beans. Let stand for 1 to 2 hours.
  3. Rinse and drain the cabbage: Rinse the cabbage under cold water 3 times and drain in a colander for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse and dry the bowl you used for salting, and set it aside to use in step 5.
  4. Make the paste: Meanwhile, combine the garlic, ginger, sugar, and seafood flavor (or 3 tablespoons water) in a small bowl and mix to form a smooth paste. Mix in the gochugaru, using 1 tablespoon for mild and up to 5 tablespoons for spicy (I like about 3 1/2 tablespoons).
  5. Combine the vegetables and paste: Gently squeeze any remaining water from the cabbage and return it to the bowl along with the radish, scallions, and seasoning paste.
  6. Mix thoroughly: Using your hands, gently work the paste into the vegetables until they are thoroughly coated. The gloves are optional here but highly recommended to protect your hands from stings, stains, and smells!
  7. Pack the kimchi into the jar: Pack the kimchi into the jar, pressing down on it until the brine rises to cover the vegetables. Leave at least 1 inch of head space. Seal the jar with te lid.
  8. Let it ferment: Let the jar stand at room temperature for 1 to 5 days. You may see bubbles inside the jar and brine may seep out of the lid; place a bowl or plate under the jar to help catch any overflow.
  9. Check it daily and refrigerate when ready: Check the kimchi once a day, pressing down on the vegetables with a clean finger or spoon to keep them submerged under the brine. (This also releases gases produced during fermentation.) Taste a little at this point, too! When the kimchi tastes ripe enough for your liking, transfer the jar to the refrigerator. You may eat it right away, but it's best after another week or two.
I chose this dish because even though this dis is spicy hot the flavor is amazing. This side dish is the first thing I get when I visit the Chinese restaurant. 

During the Vietnam war the Korean government ask the Americans to help for their soldiers to obtain this dish. This was supposed to boost the moral of the Korean soldiers. 


Journal 3 Bubba Spaulding

Holding On is a book that I have to force myself to put down. When I start reading it I just cant stop. I wish some of the profiles were much longer than they are. The best part of the book is the people. How he found these people I dont know. Their stories are amazing. I could sit and listen to their stories all day long. I even have my wife read about some of the people. For example, after I read about Robert Shields I had my wife read his profile. You see, my wife is a psychologist and she analyzed Shields for me, that was interesting. I thought he had issues.

Tommie Bass is a special man. It really struck me to read about Bass. Isay starts the profile with a story told by Bass. I love that. Its like a movie that opens up with the action. It grabs your attention right away. Bass tells how he started his little herb business. I can only picture a little scrawny boy trying to haul a few pounds of herbs around. This first paragraph told us a lot about Bass. It tells about his fathers profession and how he got started in the herbs and how he started to get recognized in the community.

What really stood out to me about Bass was that he loved to help people. One of his first cures was the man trying to help his daughter with colitis. He would not charge this guy any money, even after the man offered him $5.00. Bass said, "Man, you mean to tell me that you think I'd charge you five dollars to get something to cure your little girl?" I read that like Bass was offended by the man for wanting to pay him. Bass was a good man. He wanted to serve his neighbors. Only if we all would do that, this world would be a better place.

The reading was easy. The language seemed to be like I would talk. But the funny think I thought was very interesting was that he referred himself as "we." It makes you wonder who the "we" are. It does me.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Journal Three from Alli

Holding On Analysis 

Part One

So far, in Holding On, my reading has been going great. I have enjoyed each and every profile. I love how each of these people have given a piece of themselves to our society. For me, that's one of the most interesting topics to learn about, how society is every changing. The strengths of this book are how they take each profile and make it individually special to each person that it's explaining even though its the same person writing them. For each and every person is unique in their own way. The weaknesses like we discussed in class are the bias' that the writers have for some of the people but in my eyes that really makes the people more real. They aren't just a profile in the book, they're connectable people that make an impact on people's lives. I have been pretty passive in my reading, for this book in particular I didn't want to over analyze each person but take in and think about what they have to offer as I keep reading. This is one of the only books that I have not actively read and I'm very happy with my decision.

Part Two

The profile that I chose was Robert Shields, the message that stuck out to me about him was how you shouldn't let a detail control your whole life. He let the obsession he had stop him from living his life to the fullest. The point where I am at in my life right now makes this theme really important to me because I have a blank canvas still. I have a full life ahead of me with a lot of decisions to make. The organization of this piece really made sense to me to include Shields' fear of being forgotten, it included his own words from his diary. The words are important because he took all of his time to write them. As this profile might be about an odd man that kept an insanely detailed journal to most, I take so many lessons from him. 



































































Journal Three - Antonio

The reading for Holding On is easy to get through because of the way the stories are told. Each profile is short and digestible, letting you reflect on a person's profile quickly then move to the next one. I enjoy these interviews because it gives views of people around the country that I would never meet in person. At times the chapters are not captivating for me, such as the dinosaur park one. To continue actively reading I try to take notes while I go, about things that interested me or words I did not understand.

The person that stood out most for me was the herb expert, Tommie Bass. Although some of his claims were extraordinary, herbs and teas can affect the body in many positive ways. I especially liked when he listed off various herbs and their uses for common complaints of people. He also came started young and never demanded a payment for helping someone, just the satisfaction of aiding them seemed to be enough for Bass.

Journal three from Rebecca

    
I love reading the book Holding On because of the stories you get to read. I love how they are all written in there perspective because you get to see how they tell their story. I also like how the stories all different from each other. I would recommend people to read this because you get to learn about people’s lives during different time periods.
     One of the profiles that I really enjoyed reading was Harold C. Cotton. I find it amazing that in North Carolina during the Civil Rights struggle that Harold C. Cotton was not only able to run a store but also integrated it as well. During 1952 the Brown vs Board of Education they were trying to segregate schools so children of a different color could have equal opportunity of a higher education. The reaction to the Brown decision was negative and in some cases was violent they had threats and even parents pulling their kids from public school systems. However Harold was lucky to have black and white people sit on the stand side by side peacefully. This was different from the brown case because the reactions were violent.
     The line that stood out to me was that Harold said "From now on, anybody that comes in here can get up on the stand. I don't care whether they close us up or not." This surprised me because he was brave enough to take a stand and do what he wanted to do. He didn't even get it okayed with the man who owned the property. He was very lucky that the man said " If your satisfied, I'm satisfied.”