Preparing a Meal

When I was home recently I prepared a meal for my family. First I had to plan what I wanted to make. I decided to do something fun and make homemade pizzas, raspberry jell-o salad, and brownies for desert (not very healthy, but fun). I had to go to the store to find all of the ingredients I needed for my meal. Making the meal itself was fun but also a lot of work. It ended up being delicious and I felt proud that I made a meal everyone enjoyed that night. I think each step was important to my feeling accomplished because everything had to be thought out in advance.

After reading the section of In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan I do agree with what he is saying. It seems that America has turned food into something that needs to be processed and changed in order for us to get what we want out of it, even though this is obviously not true because we can get all the nutrients we need out of natural foods. According to Pollan eating and preparing food has become a matter of “sound nutrition and good sanitation”. I also agree when Pollan says that Americans have always had a problem with taking pleasure in eating and the article I found defends this point by saying that French women have less weight problems because, to quote the article, "French women take pleasure in eating well, while American women see it as a conflict and obsess over it."

I don’t think that the meal I created affects my opinion when it comes to this topic as a whole, but looking back on it I did find myself trying to make my food look neat and sanitary, reflecting the matter of good sanitation that Pollen mentions in his book.

* Photo taken from www.apartmenttherapy.com

Response to Frank Behling's Blog Post

Frank Behling wrote a blog post about Lance Armstrong and his celebrity endorsement of Michelob Ultra Light beer. The specific ad that Frank is talking about is a commercial in which the thing that stood out to him most was the song in the commercial. He also finds it odd that Lance Armstrong is promoting an alcoholic drink at all since he is an athlete and alcohol most likely does not relate to his success as an athlete. Frank says that he thinks the creator of the commercial is trying to portray people who drink Michelob Light as “cool”. He also thinks the commercial was well put together but that they could have picked someone else other than an athlete to connected to their particular product.

Frank provides a link to the actual commercial that was very helpful to me, especially since I had never seen it before. The picture he provides is also very relevant to his post and adds to the post as a whole.

I think that Frank makes some excellent points in his analysis of Lance Armstrong’s celebrity endorsement of beer. I agree that at first it does seem odd that a very successful athlete is endorsing an alcoholic beverage. Then after watching the commercial and thinking it over a bit I also think that they commercial is convincing and makes you feel like if you drink Michelob Ultra Light beer you will be fitting in with the “cool” crowd, even though that alone would not make you “cool”. The one thing that I think Frank could have done in his post is expand on why the song in the commercial caught his attention and stood out to him. Other than that I thought the post was interesting and I agree with a lot of Frank’s ideas.

* Photo taken from blogspot.com

Self Evaluation of Demonstration Speech

In class I gave a demonstration speech on how to make three-dimensional paper snowflakes. I think I did a good job of giving an example in the introduction of why the topic is relevant and why my audience should want to learn how to make 3D paper snowflakes. Throughout the speech I think that my steps were organized and appropriately broken down, but the topic I picked made that easy since it required very specific steps to be done one after the other.

I believe that I had appropriate energy and enthusiasm. I tried to be as excited as you could be about a paper snowflake. The volume I think was good. I think it might have been a bit difficult, especially for those in the back, to see the smaller details of my product. In this aspect the physical demonstration of my topic could have been improved. I could have done much better with my eye contact. I was constantly looking down at my product and failed to make much eye contact because of this. I also talked way too fast.

I believe that my visual aid was essential to my topic so it obviously was effective. One thing I could have done to increase the effectiveness of my visual aid would be to have everyone in class making snowflakes along with me, but that would have been difficult because I don’t have nearly enough staplers, tape, scissors, and it would have taken too long.

I would probably choose the same topic again but I would find some way to incorporate class participation. That is also the change that I would make to my visual aid. A couple things that I would improve include more eye contact, I would talk much slower, and would make it at least five minutes.

* Image taken from www.hipretty.com

Comparing Online Articles: Should Smoking Be Banned in Public Places?

I found two articles online discussing their opposing viewpoints on the controversial topic of whether cigarette smoking should be banned in public places.

In the first article, “Why smoking in public places should be banned”, the author tells the story of her cousin who died from cancer due to secondhand smoke at her workplace. She explains that smoking is not critical to survival of the people who smoke and it is not fair that they put other people in harm’s way because of their bad habits. She wants smoking to be banned.

In the opposing article, “Why ban smoking in public?: Arguments against”, the author offers three reasons why smoking should not be banned. His first reason is that there are already set aside areas in most public places for people to smoke. Another reason is that many people have stressful jobs and need smoking to relive stress. His final reason is that smokers have rights too and should be able to keep their designated smoke areas.

After reading both articles I think that the article supporting banning smoking in public places was more convincing because the author was able to portray smoking as a very evil-like thing that threatens people’s lives. She used specific stories and examples that really made me think. The other article was also convincing because of the three distinct reasons the author presented, but did not have that relatable aspect.

My opinion has not changed on the topic after reading the articles; I don’t think one or the other was convincing enough to change someone’s mind altogether on the topic. I understand where both sides are coming from, but I personally believe that people should not have to suffer because of other people’s choices, so I think I relate more to the first article.

* Picture taken from autopartsnews.blogspot.com

Response to Mike Sorenson's Blog Post

Mike Sorenson makes the point in his blog about Michael Pollen’s book In Defense of Food that Pollen thinks nutrition experts may not really be experts at all. Mike explains some of Pollen’s other ideas: processed foods are bad for you, people should be concerned about how much they eat and not eating for bodily health, and that people should eat for enjoyment. Mike links to a blog about processed foods being unhealthy. I think this was an excellent article to link to because it gets right at the point that Pollen is trying to make.

Mike then goes into why he agrees with Pollen’s argument. I think Mike does an excellent job of backing up his opinions. He provides good examples, such as bringing up William Prout and the fact that he made a big discovery about food when it was thought that everything was already known, making a reference to the fact that this could happen again. Mike thinks that the government needs to stop companies from making unhealthy foods. He thinks that it is not beneficial for companies to make foods that were once considered healthy into what we would consider unhealthy foods just to make them taste better so more people will buy them.

I also agree with what Mike is saying in the second half of his blog post. He mentioned at the very end that he agrees “America has a problem with being obsessed with eating healthy.” All of Mike’s ideas are clear and he does a good job of linking Pollen’s opinions with his own. His ideas also seemed very convincing to me and he seemed like he had done the reading and knew what he was talking about.