Reading Journal Eight

Reading Journal Eight is about Willow Rosenthal, an author and founder of Slicker Farms.

Throughout the reading, one of the quotes I underlined is ‘People who worked the hardest-the farm workers- seemed to be the poorest.’ This shows the unfair life the farmers are going through. Another quote, ‘transmitted his love of gardening’ tells how a skill that is passed down can become a pursuit of happiness. In Rosenthal’s case, gardening was one of her favorite pastimes. The quote, ‘I knew I would be a farmer and sell at the farmers markets to rich people’ represents the Rosenthal’s thoughtfulness and ability to see the consequences of her actions clearly.

I am impressed by Rosenthal’s virtuous dream. Experiencing Oakland’s poor access to food made her to think about bringing changes to the food system in Oakland. She had ‘the idea of farming in Oakland and of providing food for the community.’ This thought of her depicts her concern towards the society in Oakland. She was a proactive person for letting the dream to turn into reality. She began to initiate changes by buying an empty land for $11,000. Then, step-by-step, she developed City Slicker Farms. I adore her for conducting a big project that started from just a piece of land.

Reading this profile induces me to think about utilization of skills. Sometimes, people’s skill cannot be seen because the people have no opportunity to express them. This can be due to lack of motivation and materials or instruments needed to express those skills. Rosenthal realized that the people in Oakland have the ability to conduct the farming in their own house, but they have no instruments and materials needed to do so. Hence, she created a mean to provide the things needed for the society.

Willow Rosenthal is among the great examples of women who change the way of eating!

Reading Journal Seven

Nature and Nature’s God by Matthew Scully is the piece I have chosen to respond for Reading Journal Seven. This piece is about views of a vegetarian.

One of the quotes I underlined, ‘How many people can actually pinpoint some moment in their lives when they decided to eat meat?’ strikes the thoughtfulness of vegetarians regarding meat-eating and their courage to stop it. Another quote, ‘What sickened him one hour, maddened him with hunger, the next.’ shows how hunger can affect the thoughts. Besides that, I find that the quote, ‘We may be predators, but we are the only predator with a choice in the matter’ is strong to stop people from boasting about their meat eating habit.

At the beginning of the reading, my sense of sight stands out when the deer hide is mentioned. It became an unpleasant ‘sight’ when the quarry bleeds. The words ‘dried and smoked; or boiled or baked or fried’ don’t sound appetizing enough to stimulate the sense of taste as the thought of the death of the deer is still vivid. When the author says about ‘nibbling away at our rabbit food,’ I can I imagine sound of crunchiness of the long, orange carrot when it’s bitten and chewed.

A style I note is the writer has presented a manifesto of a vegetarian in which the latter shares the views about the diet he has approached and his opposing views about meat-eating. Besides that, the piece is told from the first person’s point of view. Examples for this are, ‘I enjoy a good feed as much as anybody…’ and ‘For my part, it has always seemed a good rule.’ At the beginning of this piece, the writer has posted questions such as ‘…how troublesome to have to make a choice…?’ and ‘Why is industrial farming wrong…?’ Another style I realize is the writer has used a quote from another piece, The Yearling. This one paragraph long quote is about Jody being sorry for causing a deer to die, but later, being torn between pity and hunger.

I sense hypocrisy when people ‘could not bear to see how it (the meat) was produced’ yet, they eat meat. I felt kind of embarrassed as I am categorized under this group of people! In term of science, humans are animals. The mind is what greatly differentiates human beings from the other animals and I believe this is the reason for humans to be able to adapt ‘unnatural secondary nature’. I belief the author’s point, humans are not meat eaters by nature. Humans have mind to decide. Hence, this might be the reason for the human population to start consuming meat when they choose to taste meats due to curiosity. Our ancestors might have developed liking for the meat which lead to change in the diet of humankind. I wonder what else human being’s ‘unnatural secondary nature’ is.

Reading Journal Six

For Reading Journal Six, I have chosen to respond to Melissa Nelson, PhD, an author’s profile. She is also the President and executive director of Cultural Conservancy.

The reading comprises of quotes that stimulate my thinking. One of the quotes that I underlined is ‘I was elated to find and work for an organization that was so aligned with my life passion’. I can’t agree more with this sentence as I a firm believer that people find true happiness and satisfaction when they do something related to their passion. Another quote, ‘…allowed many species of plants and animals to co-evolve with humans’ shows how evolution of a species affects the evolution of another species in the ecosystem. Besides that, ‘…they held important leadership roles within tribes’ is a quote that presents about female leadership. Often, leadership is related to masculinity. So, not many tribes are led by female leaders.

From this profile, I was interested to read about the impacts on culture on the food system and eating styles. I was curious to know how changes in this traditional food system affect the lifestyle of the tribe. For instance, when the tribe switches its diet from eating own farm products to government subsidized food the change results in diabetes that was uncommon before.

Costa has organized this profile by splitting it into three sections. The first is about her background, untitled. The following two parts are titled. These subtopics help to tell the gist of their passage. For example, the subtopic, ‘WOMEN’S ROLE IN WILD CULTIVATION’ shows me that the main point presented will be about women in the tribe and their job scopes in wild cultivation.

Apart from that, this profile is full of substance. It is loaded with information about the traditional food system and its effects on the tribe when the food system changes.

Costa has also presented by widely using complex sentences, often continuously. ‘Melissa found the oral traditions… As a collaborative ethnographer, … It is critical to document and protects…’ is an great example.

Besides that, Costa has presented the profile in third person’s point of view. ‘…Melissa is of mixed-blood heritage’ is an example for this. Occasionally, the usage of direct quote from the main character, Melissa Nelson, PhD gives first-hand experience of the main character of this profile, Melissa Nelson, PhD. For instance, at the second paragraph, the author has presented the exact words by the main character, ‘…This connection to place was visceral and spiritual, not intellectual…’ depicts the exact feeling of this woman without ‘contamination’.

I my opinion, preserving culture and traditions lead to balanced, undisturbed lifestyle. Sometimes, changes that are considered good might not bring the outcomes desired. For instance, the commodity food distributed by the government alters the practice of customs of the tribes. Consequently, the health of the tribe is badly affected.