How Class is Distinguished

In the article “The Color of Family Ties: Race, Class, Gender, and Extended Family Involvement” (Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian) the authors Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian briefly introduce their topic by stating that many politician judge the way Black and Latino/as live by having weaker family trades. One of Gertel and Srkisian main points is that Blacks and Latinos/as live better than white families. White families tend to be at the top of these groups and mostly have financial help. Blacks and Latinos/as help their families most by living near by and supporting each other. They are likely to visit their relatives more than those in the White families. Gertel and Srkisian explain that these racial differences are due to social class. They support this by saying that many Black and Latinos/as say that extended family is important to their lives. White families have more of an advantage because they have more income than Blacks and Latinos/as. Gertel and Srkisian also suggest that these differences are important in our lives because many of the family strategies and difficulties these family have are due to how they live and how their economic life shape their way of living in the communities. Gertel and Srkisian also point out that although Blacks and Latinos/as help their families it should not be considered an obligation that will lead to antipoverty, but that it should be accommodated whenever it is possible.

            While reading through the article I came across many point that seemed to be true and that is why I agree with the authors Gertel and Srkisian. Being Latina my family is very supportive of one another and they are always there to help when something goes wrong. Like Gertel and Srkisian mention in the beginning of their article that many people say that these groups of families such as Blacks and Latinos have a disorganized life, it is not true. I can assume that many people say this because many of these family groups are considered low and middle class. Gertel and Srkisian points were convincing to me because my family is very united and tend to have often communication and we always do family meeting to keep in touch with everyone. In Next to Normal the family that is portrayed there is a White family, with Diana bipolar disorder the family tend to be a little disorganized. Dan at certain points doesn’t like the way he lives because of her wife’s condition. Her daughter Natalie doesn’t even feel like she is apart of the family because Diana doesn’t seem to pay to much attention to her because she only cares about her dead son Gabe. With this you can see that this family doesn’t live very well because they don’t seem to have much support with one another and the only support they encounter is the doctor visit and there own opinions wit one another. 

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Next to Normal

Next To Normal is a magnificent Broadway show based on a woman with a mental illness. Diana is in her thirties or forties, lives with her husband, daughter Natalie and her dead son Gabe. Diana looses control over the course of the show as in the beginning of act 1 she starts off singing and making many sandwiches in the floor. Her husband questions himself by singing a song “who’s crazy” while she’s in the doctors office. Act one is based on Diana’s behavior, how she acts with certain things. She is the only one who is able to see her son Gabe. Gabe is Diana’s son that died at a young age and she can’t seem to let him go. In act one Diana sees two doctors, which the first one is physcopharmacologist who prescribes her many medicine that only make her feel worse. The second doctor helps Diana find her traumas that are affecting her by making her feel bad. Natalie (Diana’s) daughter meet this boy Henry while she plays the piano, after many encounters he admits he is in love with her. Towards the end of act one Dr. Madden suggest Diana to do ECT (Electro compulsive treatment), which will help her feel better. She finally agrees and they start on the process right away.

            Act two starts off by Diana’s ECT procedure claiming how well she feels. Natalie disagrees and makes a comment on how she would not allow anyone to mess with her head. When Diana is sent home there is a conflict where she cant remember who Natalie is and where she lives. Natalie’s feels sad, upset and frustrated leading her to decided to let henry go because she can’t deal with all the mess that is going on. Dan goes to the Dr. Madden’s office saying how Diana can’t remember anything. Dr. Madden comments on how it is a little normal for patients to feel that way and that over time she will recover her lost memory. Diana forgets about her dead son, until she sees a music box her son leave for her to see. Suddenly she starts to processes her lost memory remembering how her son died of an intestinal problem at eight months old. She starts to realize how she has been ignoring Natalie and Dan faces off a sort of depressing asking Dr. Madden for help. Act two ends off by all the characters singing a line that says “finding the ways of things, they know that the darkest skies will one day see the sun” ending the play with the song light.

            What stood out for me in this show was Diana’s character. Her bipolar disorder in the show seemed to be better than a usual bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorders tend to have mood changes but most of the time there person is sad. Her character showed more of a happy side even though she had her sad moments when she will think about Gabe. Another thing that stood out was that she was willing to go ask for help because she wanted to feel normal; in most cases these people loose control and don’t seek help. I can say that this text showed a good side about her bipolar and how it didn’t affect her much then what a bipolar disorder is really considered.

            Having taken a phycology class and learning about the metal illnesses, bipolar disorder is one the most affect metal disorder that destructs peoples lives. People suddenly live in a world where it doesn’t necessary exact in the human world. I think that every one should be well aware of these consequences because it can affect anyone and the sooner we know about it the better it is for us to prevent it and instead ask for help when we feel like life has become a brick of walls.

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Genetically Engineered Food Taking Over

Americans have become wide critics about what exactly they eat on a daily basis. Food labels have become unimportant in todays society, as many don’t exactly know what type of ingredients they consume. Food has become the target of many people’s lives, killing over 3,000 people a year due to the fact of many food born pathogens and illnesses growing in our food. Many argue that our food is not safe anymore and that many of the food industries oppose to health issues because they base on how much they make for selling their inhumane products. In California Prop 37 was decline, this proposition claimed the “right to know” of what exactly the consumption of food would be. These big industries argued that consumers should not have the right to know because they would have to deal with large lawsuits and that food would increase $400 more on their yearly grocery bills. These food industries don’t what their consumers to know how food production is made in their big farm factories. Supports believe that everyone should have the right to know the types of food that have been genetically engineered and make knowledgeable decisions on what to feed their families.

Many researchers have concluded that our foods are becoming more contaminated, and industries are not well aware of the harms they are causing to our society by creating Genetically Engineered foods. To think that our society has become ignorant to this issue, I argue that by digging deeper through these industries hands we can make a change on how they produce our foods. This issue has become more of a political issue affecting our food health. Why should we wonder about what’s in our burgers. Are we actually eating real “food” or is everything we eat now engineered? I don’t think that our food should be genetically engineered; we can let our crops grow the way nature allows it, so that we can stop all these illnesses causes by pesticides and bacteria’s.  We should limit the amount of death cause by food illnesses and support the smaller farms that treat their animals humane. Supporting big industries only makes them bigger, but it does not do any good to our way of living.  Finding evidence of our foods can only put us a step forward to see the hidden lies behind our foods.

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Are you telling the truth

   Food consumption occurs nearly everyday, ever hour, minute and second. These types of foods that we consume contain a great amount of health issues. Food born illnesses in the US is the great cause of many hospitalizations leading to deaths. Most common bacteria found in food like E-coli, are causing a great amount of conflicts amongst death in the American people.  That is why a new law was created to protect these types of food that we eat. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) allows many of our foods to be protected against these types of bacteria.

When it comes to bacteria, people would normally think of it as catching a cold. Who would know that many of the deadliest bacteria grow in the foods many of the farmers harvest. E-coli is a bacterium that is mainly found in the guts of animals. Mostly found in contaminated waters. In recent years E-coli has been found in many of our vegetables like spinach, carrots, and lettuce. The center for diseases has confirm that there had also been salmonella tracking’s in many of our harvest vegetables as well as fast food restaurants.

   Fast food restaurants have evolved over the years as is has become the leading market to many individuals. The foods that are being sold here have nearly over 1000 calories and many other nutritional facts that are not considered nutritional. These foods are bringing many health issues like heart diseases, diabetes, obesities, and even arthritis. According to news reported these fast food industries should not have the fault for many of these illnesses but the government as well. The government should be more aware of these consequences and take a step towards making these industries sell healthier food. What these industries are doing is advertising obesity and making kids their center of attention.

Americans should think about where our food comes from and why it affects us in ways that can lead us to death. Many of the foods we eat contain a nutritional fact that talks about the ingredients these foods have. Like fast food industries there are farming industries where most of our food comes from. Cows, chickens, pigs and other animals are feed and born in these farms. These farms are different than regular farms. Animals are injected with many engineered hormones and other types of injections to keep them healthy and “organic”. Not much is know from these farms because other wise their market would not sell and people will not bother to eat it. The animals live in a stretched environment with nearly over a hundred of other of their types. They are not fed natural grass but other types of foods like corn, grain, and some antibiotics. Many of these farms, consider the ones that produce egg products seem to be the most conflicting. These hens are raised in cages with no free will, injected almost everyday to allow egg production to occur faster and their beaks are cut to decrease the chances of pecking each other. With given information, researchers believe that there is many consequences as to why are foods contain many of the bacteria’s that Americans consume. These animal’s environments are filled with many filthy feces that most of the times are not picked up due to the fact of so many animals in the industrial farms. Certified organic labels and all natural labels have causes contradictory arguments on weather or not these products are actually organic and natural. If these products are not considered to be organic, many question as to why the government still allows these types of misuses in order to sell their products.

Food INC is a video that allows many viewers to look deep in these types of industries and the way they treat our food. According to the film in the 70s there were about a thousand slaughterhouses selling meat for production and now there are about 13 still selling the meats that are bought in the store (Food INC). Shocking to know that the USDA doesn’t have as much power as these industries. USDA was taken to court by the meat association and caused the USDA to have less power in order for them to not shut any types of food that were considered toxic.

By 2011 Obama signed a law that allow many changes in our food consumption. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), allows prevention amongst our foods and as well as food that gets imported to the US. This law has three main goals to accomplish: improve food safety, detect and respond to any issue regarding food safety, and improve the safety of imported food. It will take time for this law to be fully active, and allowing the improvement of our safety and the food we eat.

The more detailed preventions of the FSMA are based on food facilitator to sign specific papers every two years, which includes the industrial farm and warehouses. The FDA has the authority to suspend any facility that has a probability of containing hazardous and deadliest contents to the food. While these facilities require signing papers they also must come up with a sort of analysis that explains the possible harm the food can cause and also ensure that the food is not mislabeled. Fruit and vegetables have a regulation that also allows the FDA to know if these produce carry any food born illnesses like salmonella and E coli. Now this allows the FDA and USDA to have a product tracing and tracking system. In order to make this effective, the FDA must cooperate with the government to create an overview of the food that have caused many Americans to become sick. Imported food takes a similar step as these industries companies. According to the US Department of Agriculture about 80% fish and 60% fruit and vegetables come from different countries (USDA).  Imported food goes through a verification program that allows the food to be verified and meet the food safety requirements of the US. Inspections in these industries also allows the FDA to be more aware of what goes on in their factories and if they are doing what is right for them to still be active. Inspection occurs every three years depending if the facility is considered high risk or low risk of contamination. FSMA is doing its best to keep food safe from harmful substances from selling in the markets.

Through the process of our food from new law regulations of our safety foods, Americans can conclude that there has been a big change in how our food is processed. There is not much evidence of these new changes, as our food still happens to be contaminated form many food born illnesses and deaths are still occurring from food illnesses. E coli, considered the number one bacteria in food is spreading to foods likes our fruits and vegetables and are causing a great amount of conflict towards society. The government has not taken action in the right way that make our food safe as there is still toxic chemicals found and our foods. Fast food restaurants continue to become a large industry filling their pockets with many fortunes and leaving society with poor health. Many of our meats still come from slaughterhouses and factory farms that treat many of the animals inhumane. Our food is still not considered organic even if the labels say so. Food has still not reach to the point were the secrets are uncovered. As a society we must dig deeper and uncover all the hidden lies that hide behind the food that take a big part in our lives.
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Is that my food...

     The American society consumes nearly a ton of food per year. It is a daily consumption that keeps each American alive and energetic. But as Americans do we actually know what we consume in our foods? In 2011 Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, allowing our foods to be more safe and healthy. Eating food that we do not know can make us sick causing us to produce different types of diseases. Nearly 3,000 people die in hospitals from food poisoning according to the FDA. Food should be safe to consume and we as American’s should be aware what the nutrition facts tell us in our foods. This act allows the FDA to secure the food that transports from other places in the world. It is important to keep in mind the things we consume on a daily basis and know the hazard that can affect the way our body functions. Investigating the things we eat can be an interesting topic because you identify the possible things you can and cannot eat. Obesity has become a big issue in America due to the fact of what our foods actually have. Fast food also leads to these categories that affect our health. Processes foods have nearly different types of chemicals that can later affect our lives. Food industries have created big money on their pockets. Nearly trillions of money goes to those corporations by selling snacks and beverages. These industries promote their products so that consumers can easily be caught in their trap. This affects our society, making us sick and unhealthy. Food industries are more advertised than those that are healthy. These industries do not take in consideration that the food they make are only harming us in way that society has become sicker that the 1900s. It only helps them to make more money and more money because that is the motto of those big industry companies. This message does not only affect one individual, but it affects our society in general. The Untied States have become the leading country with more health issues than others and causing nearly millions of death per year. As a society we should be aware of our food consumption and healthy life style so that we can live a longer, healthier life.

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