A Look Into America's Food Inc.

 This afternoon I sat down with my two younger brothers to watch a documentary film called Food, Inc. I first learned about this film in my Journalism class and, although many of my classmates had already heard of or seen the move, the title was completely new to me. At first I was hesitant to watch this film because I'm a squeamish and impressionable person, especially when it comes to animals. The picture of a cow with a bar code stamped onto its side on the cover of the film did not do much to sway my interest either. In the end, I decided to give the film a chance, because I wanted to know the truth, even if it came at a cost. What I found in this film was astonishing. Both myself and my brothers sat attentively with our jaws literally hanging open at times as we became enlightened as to where our food came from. As I was watching the film, I couldn't help but think to myself how amazing it would be if every single person in the world were required to watch this movie. Although there would be immense skepticism, it would be impossible to watch this film and not feel inspired to make a big change in your community. Entertainment Weekly did an excellent job at summarizing Food, Inc. stating that, “More than a terrific movie—it's an important movie.”

The movie Food, Inc. takes it's audience on a disturbing but incredible journey as it seeks to “lift the veil” that massive food industries have placed between consumers and their “kitchens” or production plants. This documentary is both expository and interactive as the the filmmakers, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein, are trying to inform the audience on an issue while still making themselves present in the on-screen action. Food, Inc. explores the issue of food and worker exploitation by dividing the topics up into subcategories. The film first gives a short introduction on supermarkets and labels before moving into its first topic: chicken. The storyline then transitions into corn, then soybeans, spinach, cattle, pork, etc. Throughout each of these subsections, the filmmakers give the audience a deeper look into the issue by shooting on location at farms controlled by major food corporations like Tyson, Smithsfield, Perdue, and Montansto. Each subsection also includes interviews with farmers and workers, captions, footage from hidden cameras, close-up shots of the animal and worker abuse that goes on in factories, and snippets of background on how the food industry has changed over time as demand has rapidly increased. Suspenseful music and different cartoons are also added in to set the mood and explain different concepts to the audience through animated visuals. The lighting and characters, however, are all kept authentic. Only natural light seems to be used in the film. All of the characters are presented as is, without any makeup or costumes. The conversations appear natural and unrehearsed as well. Using all of these different little details, the filmmakers are able to slowly reveal the horrors behind the extreme industrialization of modern day food production. But not all the film is set in such a morbid tone. The filmmakers chose to spend the last 15 minutes or so of the documentary reviewing what the average person can do to help stop this serious issue and made sure to end on a positive note.

I would highly recommend this film to anyone and everyone, especially the younger generation. Because sometimes the truth, although not easier, is necessary if we wish to flourish as a planet and achieve universal harmony.

The movie Food, Inc. is rated PG for some thematic material and disturbing images. It has an approximate running time of 91 minutes

If you are interested in learning more about this movie, the film's official trailer and website are both posted below:

Website: http://www.takepart.com/foodinc

Trailer:

The Butterfly Effect

This week my grandmother flew in from Buenos Aires, Argentina to visit my family for the holidays. On the ride back from the airport we started catching up and soon stumbled onto the topic of current Argentine politcs. At first I wasn't very interested in the conversation because I didn't think it to be relevant to my life and I also wasn't very interested in foreign politics. I became more engaged, however, as I began seeing connections between my life and Argentina's policies. President Kirchner's policies specifically seemed to have a big impact on my family and, by extension, myself. And so, I decided to dedicate this post to a reflection on how someone thousands of miles away can have an influence on my life.

Before I get into the philosophical aspects of it, I'd like to give a brief background on Kirchner's policies that are affecting my family in Argentina. This is a translated transcript of what my grandmother had to say about her country's politics:

“It's a very serious problem. The problem is that Kirchner has spent more money than the budget allows. Kirchner doesn't want people to spend money outside of Argentina so that she can use that money within the country to pay off all the debt she has put Argentina in. On top of that, there has been an since there were bad politics with Argentina's foreign commerce. Because of all this, it's now practically impossible to exchange pesos (Argentine currency) for dollars.  This has an impact mostly on the middle class, which can be seen with the increasing poverty rates. There's also a high indication of inflation, around 30% annually, which is making the Argentine peso lose value. The middle class wants to save up on dollars because its a more stable currency but its almost impossible to get them. But the rich, on the other hand, have a lot of dollars saved up outside of the country so it doesn’t impact them. But I'm not rich. . There's also the issue of internal debt. Kirchner has made it harder for people to fly anywhere, to leave the country. This is also political because there is more internal touristic consumerism since people can't leave Argentina. For example, people go to Mar de Plata and spend a lot of money that stays within the country. Because of inflation, people who use to be able to travel for 15 days can only travel for 10 days now. One dollar use to be one peso but now one dollar is 4.5 pesos and you can't even get the dollar because the banks won't give you the official currency. So instead people go to the “Blue Dollar,” which is an illegal market that sells one dollar for 6.5 pesos to anyone. A lot of people resort to unofficial means of getting dollars in order to be able to travel and visit their loved ones. But everything gets really expensive and its a horrible error that this president is committing. She's also driving people to get into boats and cross the river that divides Uruguay and Argentina to deposit their money in another country with a more coherent president.”

What I heard from my grandmother left me truly awe-stuck. I had no idea how terrible the political situation in Argentina was because I never take the time during my daily life to consider how things may work in other countries. I then realized that it has been far too long since I've taken a world history class and that I needed to start taking some initiative to be more aware of the world around me, especially in my own culture.

So now, the philosophical stuff. It's not very interesting, just me reflecting on the old conjecture that the flap of a butterflies wings could cause a hurricane halfway around the world. Although its not that extreme in my case, I am still being impacted by Kirchner. Because of some of her policies, its very difficult for my family to visit me. Consequentially, my interactions with all of my mother's side of the family and a fourth of my father's side is stricly over Skype. I think I should look more into the issue before I say anything else, but what I've heard so far has left me appalled. 

The PMS Store

I've decided to dedicate this post to an idea I have for what I believe would be a very marketable business. The idea for this business came on a day  my friend and I were walking to Whole Foods to pick up some ingredients to make dinner.* On our way, we passed a store. Although I can't recall it's name, I do remember that its initials spelled out .PMS. This got us talking about how funny it would be if there was actually a store for women called The P.M.S. Store, in which women could buy the stereotypical things they might crave while PMS-ing. There could be stacks of chick flicks, a large assortment of gourmet chocolates, roses, perfume, Ibuprofen, teddy bears, and racks of warm robes. In the back there could be freezers full of Haagen Dazs ice cream. They would also sell those pouches you can fill with warm water. Everyone who worked there would be required to give female customers compliments as they left the store. It would be awesome. The more we thought about it, the more enthusiastic we grew.  We thought we'd just come up with the most genius idea ever, and wondered if anyone else had already thought of this, and if such a store existed somewhere. When we got home, we went straight to the computer to do some research.  It turns out there weren't and stores in current existence, at least not on the Internet. So just in case you were thinking of starting your own original business, this could be the market for you. That is all.

           

*So for that dinner I made some potato salad as a side. There wasn't any mayonnaise though so I had to make my own. In case you didn't know making mayonnaise requires using a raw egg. Anyways, I ate it really happily and didn't think much of it until 24 hours later when I had to spend the night at the hospital thanks to Salmonella. Not fun guys, don''t eat raw eggs. There's no way it'll be worth it.

The Supernaturality of Being Human

Superhero movies have recently become immensely popular. In the last decade there has been a surge in the production of superhero movies with "The Avengers," "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Amazing Spider-Man," "X-Men," "Iron Man," "Captain American," "The Fantastic Four," etc, etc, etc. But why are these kinds of movies so popular? Because, they click with something inside of us. Sure, most of us just laugh the intense scenes off with snarky comments and general impudence. But there's no denying that after watching a superhero movie, you feel a sense of elevation. You wish you too could have extraordinary powers and save the world. The funny thing is though, that you can (now its about to get cheesy). All too often, we absorb ourselves in a longing to have such a gift bestown upon us that we overlook the supernatural abilities we already have. For example, our opposable thumbs. If those were just taken away one day, life would be ridiculously hard. What about our ability to walk on two legs? Or see color? Or create language? Or our body's ability to heal itself and morph if survival is threatened? Those sound like pretty cool powers to me. You probably aren't convinced by these average examples though, so I'll try to provide more impressive ones. What about that sense you get that something just isn't right. That ability that most parents have to sense when their child is in danger even when they're miles apart. That's pretty cool. Usually it just takes the right circumstances for our powers to show. Like how we can lift incredible amounts of weight or run incredibly fast when put in life threatening situations. For example the old woman who lifted the car to save her son, or something. There's also those monks in some mountains who can regrow limbs. It just takes dedication people! The mind has incredible potential, far beyond any being's comprehension. I'm just saying, that old refrain "You can do anything you put your mind to" is way truer than it gets credit for (cheesiness again). Anyways, believe what you want, but the fact that there already are super-humans out there proves that its possible to do more than we do. The only thing holding us back is lack of determination and commitment. We're too afraid to be the first Eagle to fly the chicken coop. I just called society a chicken coop. Bam. But actually, humans are pretty cool so you should look into learning how to fly and walk through walls. Because you can do it. And most importantly, I believe in you.