Poor Quality Food in a HIgh Quality Society

In America the consumption of mass produced food is at an all time high; the production of this food is highly dependent on technology.  Processed foods are "commercially prepared food designed for ease of consumption". Commercially prepared meaning, products of a factory: an unnatural operation of attaining food.   These foods are becoming dominant in the average American's diet: 

Source 

As seen in the bright yellow Americans today spend the greatest amount of money on processed foods and sweets.  This is a great shift from 1982, showing a rapid spike in consumption of these foods.  Processed foods contain colourants, emulsifiers, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, stabilizers, texturizers and bleach products.  All of which have potentially devastating effects on humans.  For example "a seven year study done by the University of Hawaii revealed that people who consume processed meat products had a 67% higher risk of falling prey to pancreatic cancer than those who ate few to no processed meat products".  Other factors such pesticides and genetic modification of fruits and vegetables as well as a high number of fast food restaurants in the United States contribute to the poor quality of the American diet. 

These man made problems are non existent 8149.83 miles away in the lush environment of Papa New Guinea, home to one of the last uncontacted tribes.  As 'uncontacted' implies, the tribe is self-sufficient, and lives purely off the land.  Pictures taken by National Geographic depict individuals who are described as "well and strong".  None of the individuals pictured are overweight, nor do any look underweight.  Although we know very little about the uncontacted tribe we are aware that they are in existence and that they appear healthy.  Therefore we can conclude that these individuals are attaining adequate amounts of food; on top of that the food attained in this Primitive society is high quality, for the food comes directly from nature. Their diet greatly differs from the American diet.  

Source 

American society is highly advanced and dependent on technology and research, yet the diet of Americans is creating health problems.  On the other hand the uncontacted tribe of New Guinea is a society where technology and education is non-existent, but they benefit from a healthy diet.  I believe this demonstrates how far Americans, in pursuit of technology, have strayed from nature.  The technology that was intended to improve our quality of life has had the opposite effect.  How is it possible for technology to return us to the Garden of Eden?  

Rags to Rags

The idea of "rags to riches" made famous in Horatio Alger's stories,  encapsulates the American dream.  This idea is what made America so appealing to English settlers.  This idea is what empowered thousands to make a treacherous journey to an unknown land.  A large amount of settlers came as indentured servants, for it presented an opportunity of social mobility.  This social mobility was in part made possible by the public schools.  Today the Chicago Public School system doesn't seem to offer the hope that it once did.  There exists a large discrepancy in the quality of Chicago high schools.  Malcolm London an activist, poet and graduate from the Chicago Public School system speaks on this issue in his poem 'High School Training Ground', below is an excerpt: 

"Reading textbooks is stressful. 
But reading does not matter when you feel your story is already written"

 These students feel there 'story is already written' meaning due to their social standing their destiny has been predetermined.  This leads to lack of academic engagement, London states that at this point 'reading does not matter'.  This is evident in Kelvin Park high school a Chicago Public School, which is composed of 90.3 percent low-income families, 89.7 percent of these families are minorities.  The lack of engagement is evident with the 16.3 percent drop out rate.  

At New Trier High School where only 1.2 percent of the student body is below the poverty line, the drop out rate is only two percent.  Students at new Trier start out with an advantage, since it is a primarily high-income and predominantly white school. 

 What does this say about the American society?  It shows that the idea of rags to riches has developed into a story of rags to rags and riches to riches.  Ideals that were once fundamentally American are now more prevalent in other Nations: “The world’s most equal developed nations have significantly more social mobility than the distinctly unequal United States”.  This shows a great shift in the fundamental ideals that originally shaped America.  

London performing his poem 'High School Training Ground' 

Where are the Trees?

The Kentucky cycle has been a beneficial tool in recognizing changes in the American Society over the course of time.  One of the most dominant themes throughout 200 years of history was land: land accumulation, land value, and landscape.  I would like to focus on the latter option: landscape.  The play is set in the “Cumberland plateau” of Kentucky an area that closely mimics mountains.  The area was once dominated by lush trees and rivers.  Michael Rowen, an Irish indentured servant expresses his admiration for the environment “look at the size of them trees. Sure, but that’s the King of Oaks there”(23).  These trees seem to captivate and impress Rowen.  As he says ‘Kings of Oaks’, ‘kings’ meaning the greatest and most superior.  Therefore Rowen sees something special in the environment something that stands above the rest.  Over one hundred years later in 1890 these trees seem to have the same captivation on Mary Jane Rowen “I jist love them old trees. ‘Specially that oak there? That’s my favorite… I don’t think there’s a tree in these hills comes close to touchin’ it for size…(145)”.  Similar to Michael, Mary Jane recognizes the same dominance the tree holds by setting the tree apart from all the others as she says no other ‘comes close’.  

Today Americans seem to be less impressed by their environment. This is addressed in the play "A War On Poverty" that takes place in 1975, Joshua Rowen describes the mountains as ‘useless’.  Which shows how little value he places in the landscape, the word ‘useless’ means lack of purpose.  Joshua expresses an ideal that is prominent today; if something isn’t producing or benefiting human kind it possesses little value.  This ideal that seems to be taking over Americans today is evident through our treatment of the environment. Deforestation is defined as the “permanent removal of standing forests”.  America comes in seventh place for the county with the highest rates of deforestation of natural forests, losing  215,200 hectares of land each year.  Deforestation produces wood products such as timber for construction, furniture, pencils, and books, all items with are important to humans lives, yet this is disregarding the lives of Animals and plants.   Americans only value what will directly effect them, and have little regard for bigger issues.  In the process we are loosing the majesty of the landscape that impressed the Rowens 200 years ago.

Deforestation in America 

Enforcing Stereotypes

This week we trekked to Kenilworth beach on a mission to locate indicators of class.  This exploration has forced me to think about my surroundings more critically.  Which has lead me to question how society beyond the North Shore views us.  I found my answer through the media, two twenty-first century movies: Mean Girls and Cheaper by the Dozen. Both of which are regarding outsiders moving to the North Shore and struggling to fit in.  Cheaper by the Dozen takes place in Evanston and Mean Girls takes place at ‘North Shore High’.  New Trier is often associated with Mean Girls as Charlotte Woodhams, a junior at the American School in London asked, “New Trier…isn’t that the school ‘Mean Girls’ is based on?”. 

Above is a shot of the “plastics” from Means Girls, these girls are cruel to fellow peers, and are extremely materialistic.  As shown in the photo these supposedly juniors in high school are wearing heels, short skirts, and low cut shirts they seem to be replicating the appearance of a Barbie.  This photo is also made up of only white girls, whom only differ in hair color.  What does this say about the girls of New Trier? Nothing positive.  These girls are symbols of shallow, materialistic teens.  The scene below shines light on how rude and appearance oriented these girls are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOy1EoX5T0k 

First off, Regina a clearly new driver due to her young age is sporting a Mercedes convertible, a highly expensive car which shows the great wealth of her family.  The words “Get in loser we’re going shopping” is much less an invite then a command, for she uses the words ‘get in’ giving Katy no choice.  Regina also refers to Katy as a ‘loser’, playful or not Regina is insulting Katy.  Lastly, the girls are going shopping, which is another indicator of class; the girls spend their free time spending money.  This is a materialist action and enforces the connotation that the girls are fake and only concerned about their appearance.  Regardless of whether girls at New Trier are really like this, it says a lot about how outsiders view New Trier, and stereotypes that exist. 

Cheaper by the dozen is the story of a family who movies from a very rural middle class area to the wealthy urban town Evanston, the children have a difficult time fitting in due to their differences.  Below is a shot of some of the children from the middle school. 

The boys are wearing clothes with large brands across them, which show that they are materialistic as well as wealthy enough to afford expensive brands. They are also carrying coffee cups, which is an unusual thing for middle school boys to be drinking but seems to be an accurate depiction of the North Shore.   The boys are both white, which shows lack of diversity. And in the movie these tweens are bullies.  These boys are representing spoiled, wealthy, bullies.  Judging by these two films we can conclude that the media views the North Shore as extravagantly snobby and exclusive.   

An Oxford Man?

Hype about the newly released movie "The Great Gatsby" has been covering the media.  One of the most interesting ways I have seen the movie advertised is through Brooks Brothers limited time ‘Great Gatsby Collection’.  The high-class store has created a line of men’s clothing that replicates clothing from the 1920, and clothing unique to "The Great Gatsby". One of the unique clothing items I would like to focus on is the Gatsby’s pink suit.  

The coat alone is on sale for 698.00; clearly the coat is only for those who are very wealthy, and therefore we can reasonably infer high-class individuals.  Yet, in the book The Great Gatsby Tom a wealthy man from east egg doesn’t believe Gatsby is an Oxford man because of his attire "An oxford man! Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit" (122).  Oxford is one of the leading universities in the world, consisting of only the most wealthy and elite.  Tom doesn’t believe Gatsby attended this high-class institution because of his choice in clothing.  Therefore the pink suit is not considered high class and seems to be an indicator of low class to Tom.  Brooks Brothers a high-class store is selling a pink suit in honor of 'The Great Gatsby’, the suit is considered to be an indicator of low class in 'The Great Gatsby'.  The fact that Brooks Brothers is selling this suit classifies it as a high-class commodity, yet the book in which the suit is honoring is saying the opposite.  All in all Americans will still buy the suit and assume it is a "classy" thing to do.  I believe that this ignorance tells us a lot about the American Society.  For Americas are reliant, and believe everything that society and the media says.  Therefore Americans should be more skeptic of what the society tells us.  

The Nail Salon Capital

Today in class a fellow peer Sarah Henzlik made a statement that the North Shore of Chicago was “the nail salon capital of the United States”.  Although I cannot find hard evidence for this, it is not hard to believe.  This statement got me thinking about the amount of nail salons; I discovered that Winnetka alone has at least nine salons and many of them are even on the same block.  Is the demand really that high for nail salons, and why Winnetka?

First of all I think it is important to establish that nail salons are purely cosmetic they serve no purpose in well being or health of humans, yet groceries stores do; and there about four times the amount of nail salons as there are groceries stores in Winnetka.  The fact that there is such a great concentration of Nail Salons in Winnetka is a great indicator of social class; individuals in Winnetka can afford to spend forty dollars on their nails weekly. 

In the grand scheme of things the fact that we have high class people spending forty dollars a week on coloring their nails while “The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million” is ridicules. This means in one week 2.8 million children in the US are spending about one third of what a Winnetka woman spends on her nails, for their necessities. There is a clear disconnect between the wealthy and the poor in America today, it is evident in these facts.  It is not right that wealthier Americans are spending such extravagant amounts on luxuries while children in the same county are struggling to survive.  

Come Inspire Us

Although I already turned in my junior theme I have still continued to research and begun the first steps of advocating for my topic.  In my essay I interviewed Kirk Smalley, Smalley tragically lost his son Ty at the age of eleven to Bullying, as Smalley says, "two years of being bullied was just too much for him (Ty)".  Smalley is now an advocate and started the organization "Stand for the Silent" who’s mission is to "spread the message 'I AM SOMEBODY.'" For they believe that "each human being has a valuable contribution to make in the world and deserves to feel loved, included, and treated with respect". Another way Smalley has been an activist is through his role in the documentary 'Bully' a movie that "takes us on a journey inside the real lives of young people who day-in and day-out are tormented by bullies... Hirsch (producer) gives voice to the voiceless, and his movie dispels forever the myth that "kids-will-be-kids" and bullying is a harmless rite of passage...” A huge part of Smalleys advocacy consists of him traveling to schools throughout the US.  The Documentary ‘Bully’ highlights Smalleys actions in a powerful way: 

*Start the video at 1:28

The video depicts masses of people coming together for a single cause.  Smalley has currently reached over 635,000 children through his presentations.  As one student posted on SFTS website after hearing Smalley presentation "I get bullied all the time...It really hurts and you have just inspired me and taught me that I am somebody! I can make a change!”  If only New Trier kids could feel the same way.... but wait, what if they could?  I think Smalleys presentation would be highly beneficial to the students and community of New Trier.   I think the Names program is awesome and should continue but I believe Smalleys presentation would be a great addition.  Smalleys presentation would be necessary because it sends a message of 'I am somebody' and in a school like New Trier it is VERY easy to forget that.  New Trier provides an environment that is highly competitive which often results in stress and failure; failure to make a team, to possess the right grades, scores and fit in with peers.  On top of that the obsessive use of technology at New Trier often result in cyber bullying via face book, text, twitter etc.  I'm currently working on the linguistics with the Mrs. Gamrath the junior and senior girls advisor chair.  Hopefully Kirk Smalley will come and inspire the New Trier community.