A Sinking Ship

As I read chapters 14 through 20 I was intently focused. Chapter fourteen rather grossed me out when it spoke of all the horrible things the packers did to the meat. Using science to take old meat and make it look good. And science has only gotten better so who knows what they do to our food now. The book spoke of what they do with the bad meat and how it often gets turned into sausage. All I could think about while I read this chapter was the salami I have in my fridge and how I know nothing of what is in it or how it was made. The story really turned for the worst and kept me reading when Ona went missing and then we find out her boss is doing her dirty. I was greatly disapointed that Jurgis did not killer Conner! And then the readers former fears where realized when he is sent out of prison to indeed find out that the house they had purchased was a scam and they had been evicted. And THEN to find out his wife is dying and stumble upon that mean dutch lady who did not have an ounce of sensitivity in her. I am quite sure I would have ended up strangling her and going back to jail. Needless to say I will be finishing the book. I just have to know what becomes of the main character, as his life just seems to be a sinking ship bound for the depths of the perilous sea.

The Jungle

The Jungle, has been an interesting book so far. I am slowly getting pulled in and attached to the characters. I can not personally relate to being immersed into a culture of which I do not understand nor speak the language of but I can only imagine the fear and unease that would come with that. I can only imagine what it would have been like for Jurgis and his family if they did not run into there old friend who had been in America for a long time. Luckily for them he showed them the ropes and helped them settle in. I found the part where they were going to buy a house to be very interesting. They were so responsible with what little they had and gave great thought to their purchase before making it. I compare that to the housing collapse very recently in the early 2000s. It is quite common in America to buy a home but even today if things go south you can be financially ruined. With the recent recession many families lost a lot to include their home and almost six years later things are not getting better all that quick. So I really found this part of the story interesting and relevant to today. This book is slowly working the reader into how gross the meat packing industry is and I fear it will only get worse. In fact the whole town seems to be a slum all owned by a few wealthy people who probably live towns away in prosperity.

A Modest Proposal II

In this great country we have a Democracy. This form of government allows for the people to vote representatives into office to represent their interests. These elected officials then guide policy toward what their voters want. In the Congress their are Senators from each state who represent those states and hold a majority of the power. These senators go to Washington D.C. to vote on bills and pass legislature. Many of them have to travel often. This means that they have to stay in hotels or apartments or lofts that are most surely paid for with tax dollars. Being that America has come up on harder times financially we need to save a dollar every where we can. Furthermore we have the best elected officials in the world. Everyone elected into office is honest and true and only in it to serve the public the best they can. There is no one in Congress who has ties to big business that affects their decision making or who vote in a way that will profit themselves. Instead, they are always looking out for the voter. Because of this the American people adore their politicians and would do anything for them. This brings me back to the issue of tax funded housing arrangements for the politicians in D.C. What I propose is that we start an initiative to move many lower income families to Washington D.C. We would restructure Capital Hill and its surrounding area to provide homes for some of the poorest in our country. Being a country who has politicians who only care about the people and do not serve their own interests I am sure no one would object to an initiative that would house more of our poor and needy. Next I propose that the traveling politicians be housed by their constituents for the duration of their stay in D.C. Each time they come to Washington they would stay with a different family. The family housing them would be responsible for providing food and shelter to their politician This will cut down on the burden of spending money on food and housing for the hard working Senators and representative who do not live in the area. The families who are hosting the politicians will have no problem nor objections to this idea I assume because they adore the elected officials that are in our great and uncorrupted government. And would only want to give back to them what they have given in their service to our country. This initiative would allow the politicians to sleep where their voters sleep and eat what their voters eat and live like their voters live. As for the families housing the politicians they would consistently know how hard it is to do the work the politicians do and all the tough decisions they make in the very best interest of the people. Since our government is so transparent our elected officials will have nothing to hide from the hosting families and will only be treated with respect and hospitality because they are such honest and noble people. Thus, I see no reason that anyone should object to my room and board initiative. As it is a  way for the voters to give back a little to those public servants who give so much to them.

Card Board Boxes

I feel like this is the story of many immigrant workers in America. My best friend in the whole world Jorge grew up in Washington state. He is Mexican along with his whole family. All of them are legal US citizens. Jorge's dad is a hard working orchard farmer and his mom runs a small business. His parents work very hard. When Jorge would come back from leave (we were both in the Marines) he would say he had a good trip but he had to work a lot. Now I don't want to generalize but it seems to be a Latino norm for the whole family to work very hard and pitch in to help the family. That is what the story made me think of. It was unfortunate how little they all had. The family in the story had so little stuff it all fit into the car. I know that I have enough stuff just for me to fit into a large Uhaul truck and then some. I was very saddened that Jimenez finally was able to go to school only to have to move to another place. He could have done very well at his school with the help of the teacher. Who knows he could have finished his education and received a scholarship to college and then helped his family out of poverty. But instead he will have to continue to move place to place. This story makes me wonder how many immigrant families in America have to live similar life styles.

The Family

I found "The Family," to be a very sad story. I was very surprised that such tragedies would happen in a country so close to our own. I could not believe that the Indians worked in such horrible conditions and did nothing about it for a while. I was appalled at the fact that they were treated like slaves. The events of this story are not too long ago. The land owners and government of this country clearly had zero regard for human life. They only cared about the profit of what their land yielded. The government was corrupt and did not care about the people and in fact only tricked/forced them into voting in wealthy white politicians who would look our for the interests of the land owners. I was absolutely appalled at the story of the woman being chopped up because she would not cheat on her husband with an over privileged land owner who just wanted her as a sex slave. And then the mayor did not even have the body disposed of. I think what disturbs me the most is that the United States contributed to this corrupt government to protect the interests of the United Fruit Company. In America we like to view ourselves as these great champions of democracy. After 911 we had an axe to grind in the Middle East and I can say that I honestly supported the war, I was just not found of the where we went and how we fought. But what I am getting at is that we went in to set up a democracy in Iraq. We wanted to bring a stable form of government to the Iraqi people and save them from the atrocities of Saddam Husein. But here it is only a few decades prior to 2001 and there are horrible atrocities happening in a neighboring country.

A Modest Proposal

What the heck? Let me first just share my initial thoughts. I was reading along and thinking that a legitimate proposal was about to be made concerning the poor and starving people of Ireland. You can bet I was very surprised when Swift proposed the purchase and consumption of babies. Quite frankly just reading about his proposal made my stomach upset. I can not even wrap my brain around eating a person. And eating an infant is an even further stretch than an adult. As I read "A Modest Proposal," I pictured Swift as with the up most seriousness proposing his idea in all sincerity. I could here the calmness and seriousness of his voice in my mind. This is what gave me the creeps the most. The reading was hard to follow as it is several hundred years old and we do not talk that way. Also the math was hard to follow but I believe he was generous in his calculations. After some pontification over the ending of his proposal I think that Dr. Swift was not serious. I would like to think he was trying to be clever in an obscure way. It is possible that Jonathan is a true patriot for his country and was fed up with how impoverished Dublin/Ireland was becoming under the rule of England. For all I know he hoped the very idea of it would sicken the English and have them running scared. Overall I think there was some deeper point to this proposal in a sort of way that was pointing out just how bad things had gotten. Or maybe Dr. Swift was a loon but I don't think he was so I will stick with the former.

Loaves & Fishes

Loaves and Fishes of Kalamazoo is a charitable food distribution center. They were founded in 1982 and have been serving the needs of the county for over three decades. Loaves and fishes was started by a group of churches. Their mission is to feed the hungry of Kalamazoo and be accountable with what they have. I think Loaves and Fishes does a great service to the hungry families of Kalamazoo. Initially I assumed that this organization was still church sponsored. I was wrong and that is not the case. In addition to spreading the gospel the church has an obligation to help the poor and needy. So when I read the website I linked it to its founding and thought to myself "oh good churches doing what they are supposed to do, cool, check in box." Wrong! I was blown away to find out that Loaves and Fishes went nonprofit some time ago and operates off of the donations of the community. I am surprised at the local people and local business' generosity to their city. The facility that I visited was fairly new. While I am not an architect or engineer or even construction worker I assume this facility cost several million dollars. And it is just one of many facilities. That means that the people of Kalamazoo County collectively and despite their many different beliefs and experiences have a heart for the starving in our community. I was also impressed at what lengths Loaves and Fishes goes through to make their clients feel good and not ashamed. I am overall impressed and proud of my city from this experience. I am a relatively conservative man. That being said I am not a fan of government. Realistically I am slowly disliking both political parties more and more every day. I think our political system on all fronts is becoming corrupt and unsuitable. That being said I appreciate a community taking care of its own with little to no government assistance. I am not trying to demonize government welfare programs I am simply staying that in my limited knowledge I think when people pull together and do good for their common man that is the best form of welfare we can hope for. I would personally like to see or become more aware of more organizations such as this one. I did not realize the depth and magnitude of hunger in Kalamazoo. I am young and have a limited amount of wisdom. So, I struggle with where I stand on certain issues. I love my country and am a patriot. That being said it troubles me that one of the greatest countries in the world would have such a real struggle with hunger. That one of the richest countries in history cant seem to get it right. It is both reflective of our political system and our culture. To hear that many young children rely on schools for their meals upsets me and I don't even know who to be mad at about it. All that being said, there is a great deal of responsibility on us as individuals to do something with that information. I am not sure what, I am merely talking out loud. I could volunteer more than I already do of course that is always an option. This whole experience just reminds me why I want to become a teacher. Money comes and goes and obviously is not why people go into teaching. I want to be a teacher to serve my community and the children in it and all that that entails. So I guess for me that's a main goal and it is what I do from now until then and in the future. 

The Dinner of Trimachio

The Dinner of Trimachio is a reading about a dinner party. Trimachio is a Roman citizen and the host of a dinner party. The party is set during the reign of Nero. As I read the story I found it really weird. The writer made note of the wealth that the host was obviously trying to display at his home and on his person. I was very confused about the nature of the party. It would seem to me that the guests were not close friends of Trimachio. There were a few points were he was rude to his guests and they were rude to him. When I host a dinner at my house it is with friends and family. I like the people I am serving. The dinner seemed to never end. There was a gross amount of food. If I recount right there was like three rounds of appetizers, three beasts of various forms, mainly pig. And then like two desserts. That is way to much food to eat. Also if Rome's wealthy ate like they did in this story and ate like that often they probably did not live long. The meal seemed to be heavy on meat, wine, and pastries. I was just kind of put out by the whole story. The people at the dinner party seemed of poor quality. They were all very proud and egocentrically snobs. Overall the story was an interesting look into a different time and culture and how they ate.