The Hunger Games (Chapters 1-5)

This week's reading was the first five chapters of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. For those of you who don't know, The Hunger Games is a book about a girl named Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is a 16 year old girl who lives in a place called District 12. North America has collapsed and in its place rose Panem, a new country consisting of 13 districts of impoverished people. Each district is sectioned off and guarded by tall gates. The people in these districts (especially 12) are filled with poor people who can barely feed their families. 

As an act of power, the Capitol (the main power of Panem) puts on an event every year called The Hunger Games. These games ask for two "tributes" from each district. Tributes are kids from age 12-18 and are picked at random. The tributes are sent away to the Capitol and forced to participate in a "fight to the death". The last tribute standing wins his/her life and fame across the districts. 

After reading these first few chapters, and having watched the movies, I couldn't imagine a world like this. They're pitting children against each other for their entertainment. It doesn't matter if they just turned twelve and can barely hold their own, they still have to fight for their survival. This reminds me a lot of third world countries in our world currently. Even though no one is forcing the kids to fight, most of them have to learn to survive on what they have. Poverty is high and kids starve everyday due to a lack of resources. Even some countries are forcing their kids to fight. A few years ago we had the "Kony 2012" ordeal where a ravenous leader was making the children become soldiers. Some places don't seem too far off from the idea of this book, and that frightens me. 

The Jungle (Chapters 14-20)

This weeks blog post is dedicated to Chapters 14-20 of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Due to the fact that I had to miss class this week and wasn't there to be assigned to a group, I just chose one at random, I hope this is alright. Anyway, during these chapters the phrase "It couldn't possibly get worse than this" really gets proven wrong over and over again. To sum up these chapters, Jurgis fights alcoholism, is sent to jail for attacking his wife's rapist, misses Christmas because he's in jail, gets evicted, loses his unborn child, loses his wife Ona, is unable to find a job due to his wife's rapist and finally loses his son. One thing after another, Jurgis fights for the survival of his family and keeps losing. Fortunately, he is able to land a job working a little further from home and is able to start a comfortable routine. Obviously, this good fortune is ended quickly when his son drowns in the muddy water of the streets. Reading these chapters kept me very sad the entire time. When there was hope it was dashed away as fast as it was presented.

Something I found interesting was in the beginning of these chapters. Jurgis explained the conditions of the food company he worked for and how the most spoiled meat was used for sausage. This relates to our discussions on the food industry and how quality is not something most places seem to care about. Makes me wonder how our food is prepared and handled.

New, Personal Blog

Hi Everyone! I just thought I'd let you all know that I've decided to make a new, personal blog that I will be using to post my late night thoughts and questions that typically keep me up at night. It's kind of like a personal journal, except on the internet and open for everyone to see. I've really enjoyed blogging for this class and I feel like this will really help me think more outside the box with all the different perspectives people may contribute. So feel free to visit my new blog at overusedpun.blogspot.com and give me your opinion.

Cheers!

The Jungle

This week's reading was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. This is yet another reading to make me feel so grateful for the time and place in which I live. This story is about an immigrant worker, Jurgis, from Lithuania who is seeking to make it in the big city of Chicago with is teenage wife and her family. Jurgis is a strapping young man who is fit for any work thrown at him. There isn't a task that can't be done by this man. Even so, Jurgis finds working in Chicago harder than he could have imagined. The working conditions are poor, people are out to con them and his family is getting sick.

Like I said before, I am so grateful for the time and place in which I live. Never have I had to struggle to survive like this man and his family have. I have a roof over my head, enough money to survive and a bed, more than this family usually had. These first few chapters really gave me some insight into what life was like back then and how hard it was for immigrants to live. Not only do they have barely anything to begin with but people are so ready to pounce on the ignorant to use them for everything they're worth. It's sickening. I'm excited to read more about what this young man and his family go through.

I Shall Persevere

This weeks readings were And the Earth Did not Devour Him and Cajas De Carton. These two readings made me feel a slew of things, among them, gratefulness and sorrow. As I read And the Earth Did not Devour Him I couldn't help but try to relate this to my life. Every day I complain about money, driving in Kalamazoo traffic, not having enough free time and having to eat sandwiches for lunch every day, while this kid doesn't start complaining or getting angry about the back-breaking work he has to do every day for twelve hours a day until his family starts to get sick and die. It makes me supremely grateful to have the life I have. I get to better myself and receive a fantastic education while only having to endure very minimal hardships. 

As for Cajas De Carton, I thought it was really interesting how this sixth grade boy was already working in the fields with his family and how he had to hide from the school bus in order to not get in trouble for not going to school. At the end, the little boy had started school and had made friends with his teacher Mr. Lema, who was teaching him English. Mr. Lema decided he would teach the boy to play the trumpet and the boy was beyond excited as he rushed home to tell his family the great news. This news was quickly diminished as he saw the same cardboard boxes that he had seen earlier in his life, signalling that he was moving yet again. This really crushed me, emotionally, because I have been in the situation where moving may be your only option, leaving everything behind and starting anew. Thankfully, I didn't have to endure the pain that this young boy did. Overall, these readings left me grateful and ready to take on this week, because my week isn't nearly as bad as theirs was. 

A Modest Proposal

In this world we're faced with many problems. For us college students in the States those problems could include finding a job, working part-time and barely making money, doing your homework and worst of all, walking to class in this nasty weather. Luckily for us college students, those are our biggest problems. The United States isn't exactly a third world country but we do have our issues. A large portion of our population is in poverty or hungry, wages are being cut and the food industry controls what we eat. If they aren't already supplying us with genetically mutated foods then they're trying to "persuade" the government to pass bills to help them do so. So for us college students, trying to eat healthy or even eat something that isn't terrible for us is a struggle. In order to combat the tyranny of the food company, I propose this modest proposal; we host a Hunger Games.

     The idea is simple, really. We divide the food companies up into a certain "districts" (Kellog, Tyson, etc.), randomly select a "volunteer" from their executive boards and put on our own "Hunger Games". We place this volunteers into one of our poorer areas of the States and make them live how they live. No help, no shelter, no guidance, just them against the "environment". If they complete a task of some sort they may win a "care package" filled with foods from their respective companies. The last person still alive by the end of this may decide how the food industry is run from here on out. Hopefully, with this experience under their belt, they have a better idea of what we're being fed.

Random Video About Happy Cows

Hey everybody, this is just a random video I found on the internet today. In the video it shows cows being released into an open field after being cooped up all winter for milking. I thought it was a cute video. Enjoy!

Guatemalan Passage Post

I, Rigoberta Menchu and La United Fruit Company, are two passages that discuss, through personal experience, the life of a Guatemalan. The first passage, I, Rigoberta Menchu, is written by the young, Quiche, Indian girl Rigoberta Menchu, whose first hand experience of life in Guatemala is a testimony of how poorly the indigenous Guatemalan people were treated during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996).

Reading these texts, I found it very difficult to fully grasp the idea of how these people lived during this time. Coming from a nice, suburban home, the biggest problem I had to deal with was not wanting to walk two blocks to school. My ability to empathize with these people is severely hindered by this fact. After really thinking about the issues they faced, and are still facing, on a daily basis, I've really started to appreciate what I have. I may have to walk for twenty minutes to my classes now that my car has died on me, but that is nothing compared to the walk into town Rigoberta had to endure. It really changes your perspective.

In La United Fruit Company, the last paragraph really sums up, in good detail, the point of this poem;





Meanwhile the Indians fall 
into the sugared chasms 

of the harbors, wrapped 

for burial in the mist of the dawn: 

a body rolls, a thing 

that has no name, a fallen cipher, 
a cluster of dead fruit 

thrown down on the dump.  

A Not-So-Modest Proposal

Going in, I didn't know what to expect from reading Jonathon Swift's "A Modest Proposal". But after reading just the first few lines, combined with the knowledge of what our class is focusing on, I knew exactly what I was getting in to. 

The idea of eating your young does not sound like the most ideal or delicious plan of action. They're human, they have rights and they're just so adorable (well, most of them). But look at the time this was written and the situation they were in. The poor are littering the streets, their numbers growing, people are sick and spreading disease and the overall welfare of the state is diminishing.. The fact that Swift is even mentioning this "modest proposal" shows the state of mind people of this nation were in. The mere act of conceiving this idea reeks of desperation. Like the old saying goes, "Nothing great comes without great sacrifice"

Although the thought of eating a child, specifically my own offspring, makes me physically sick to my stomach, but imagine that you're poor, homeless, starving with no idea how you'll feed your family, let alone yourself, and prone to sickness and death. A man offers you a handsome sum of money for your child that you may have not even wanted in the first place. Do you decline or do you accept, knowing full well what will happen to that child and what that money can bring to you and the rest of your family? I honestly couldn't tell you what I would do given this situation. Decisions like these make me glad that I live in this day and time and have a roof over my head. 

Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes

Before I read over Kalamazoo's Loaves & Fishes' website, I only knew that they owned a giant warehouse that they kept food that was donated to them. That's about it. I've been to their warehouse once to drop off food donations from Western Michigan University's Bronco Marching Band in years prior but I've never investigated further. After reading over their website I'm excited to find out that not only are they helping " keep a hunger-free community since 1982" but they're also trying to educate the community on hunger issues in our community and in the world. 

    On their website they have information about hunger in the community, local events that are taking place involving food donations and legislation pertaining to hunger related issues being passed or talked about. They are probably the most involved organization I've seen in quite some time. It was also astonishing seeing that they distribute two million pounds of food every year, with 25% of that food being donated by community members. 

     I'm very excited to visit Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes with all our lovely classmates tomorrow. If you need a ride I'll be at Miller Circle at 9:30a.m! 

Satyricon

Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is written about, primarily, Trimalchio, an extremely wealthy freedman who puts on "feast" for himself and his fellow freemen and other various guests. During the chapters of 26-78, Encolpius, the narrator of this story, tells us of Trimalchio's feast and the kinds of grotesque acts that go on during it. For the most part, I found Satyricon very hard to follow and understand due to a lot of foreign words and phrase that I am not that familiar with. What I did gather, however, was that this feast was nothing to feel envious about. Yes, they were waited on hand and foot (literally), but Trimalchio and his other wealthy freedmen treated the slaves and other guests like worthless dogs. Their acts made me feel as if it kind of relates to how society can be in this day and age. No, we don't have slaves (at least in the U.S) and we don't engage in these sort of feasts. More so, I'm referring to the act of gluttony. Taking for granted what we have and wasting what we don't want. This whole story ties into what we've been reading and watching these last few weeks as in our country will throw away pound after pound of food just because we don't want it anymore or because we can easily attain more. This behavior is sickening makes a lot of us no better than Trimalchio. At least in that aspect.