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Article Response #7 [Q2]

Posted by Lauren Thomas in Spanish 3 - Manuel - Y on

Lauren Thomas & Andrew Roberts         Q2

Senorita Manuel


El terrorismo golpea el cuartel general de la seguridad en El Cairo

El viernes pasado, una grupa de terroristas atacó mucho ubicaciones en el ciudad de Cairo, Egipto.  La primera ataque era el Dirección de Seguridad.  Este ataque lesionó sesenta y seis personas y mató cuatro otros.  Los principales complejos fue el sede de policía y seguridad en Cairo.  Un terrorista suicida condujo un carro en el edificio, y se pudo oír también en los barrios adyacentes.


El segundo ataque era tres horas más tarde. El explosión mató un policía y heridas a una quincena de personas. El explosión era cerca una estación de metro de la capital. Entonces, otro explosión ocurrió. Este ataque era minutos después. Este explosion era en un suburbio de El Cairo. Etsa ataque fue sin víctimas. Pero el explosión era cerca un estación de policía en Giza. Las piramides son aqui.


El cuarto y final ataque era varias horas más tarde, cerca un cine, matando una persona. Este es un de las series de los ataques a la ciudad. Los ataques son un grande problema. Todos los ataques son antes del aniversario la revolución que depuso al dictador Hosni Mubarak.


Nadie ha reclamado responsabilidad para los ataques, pero hay un sospechoso: Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, o “partisanos de Jerusalén.”  Eso grupo es un organización yihadista basada en Sinaí.  Ellos han reclamado responsabilidad para otros ataques cómo este ataque, pero el gobierno quiere culpar los Hermanos Musulmanes, su enemigo.


Nosotros aprendimos nueva vocabulario de este artículo. Nosotros aprendimos que  islamista es “islamist” en Inglés. Nosotros aprendimos que fachada es “facade” en Inglés. Nosotros aprendimos que motociclistas es “motorcyclists” en Inglés.


Nosotros decidimos escribir sobre este artículo porque este artículo es un evento actual.


Gracious por su tiempo.


WORD COUNT: 278


Anthony Best Food Project

Posted by Anthony Best in Science and Society - Best - Y on

Recepie

Baked Mac

I dont have the exact formula from the dome but it goes something like this:

Macaroni

Cheddar cheese

American Cheese

Other cheese

Butter

sour cream

Other stuff im missing. 

1. Shred Cheese

2. Boil noodles

3. Mix sour cream and butter and other stuff.

4. stagger mac and mix in pan.

5. bake it

6. baked mac

So macaroni is just grain and most cheeses are just salt and milk which is separated. Sour cream is just spoiled cream, butter is also just salt and milk. Come to think of it, there really isnt much to this dish. Its all 100% processed. The salt content here is cray cray. The only thing saving you is the absorbency of the macaroni and the deliciousness of the dish as a whole. The wheat to make the dough to make the macaroni was probably organically grown, whatever that means. There arnt many salt mines in the us, in fact it probably came from pakistan. cheese is made in the Us. Wisconsin is famous as the cheese state. Overall the meal is medium to produce. Compared to other common soul food meals, greens, string beans, beans etc, which only really take one ingredient and then spices, macaroni has a few ingredients. Macaroni is pretty cheep, cheese isnt though. getting enough to make a full thing of macaroni cost a bit. 


Reflection


I learned about in depth about what I already new: the food I eat is weird and bad in so many ways. These ways include being horizontally engineered somehow from corn or beans. I had heard somewhere that corn was the miracle seed, but I didnt know why until I saw the video about it. 

Generally, thanks to this unit I am disgusted at the meat industry. Lust for profit makes poorly raised cattle and chicken end up on my darn dinner plate. I learned how many things actually go on and in my meat before it gets to me, like insecticides, chemicals too numerous and confusing to name, poo (seriously?) and worst of all, corn! 

What else did we do... oh yea. Diabetes is bad for me. I dont have it yet, but I might in the future because my diet is high in sugar. But that's not all my fault, sugary stuff tastes great and is readily available almost everywhere. Also, our ancestors have evolved so that we are attracted to sweet stuff. 

Also the brain. Crazy stuff. 

Hi.

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Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 12.54.05 PM

Occupy Wall Street: False Advertising Beware!

Posted by Sean Morris in English 2 - Pahomov - E on

On September 17th, 2011, the first of several ‘Occupy Wall Street (O.W.S)” protests emerged to protest against economic inequality. O.W.S wanted a more fair economy that allowed more than 1% of the nations population to hold the majority of its money. To promote their protest and message they produced a series of ads to reach out and grab the public. However, the movement stopped its bigger protests and later moved onto smaller projects. As you can see, despite them getting their message out the movement fell though. This is due to the fact, that while they produced multiple ads- they rarely explain Occupy’s message.Occupy Wall Street’s ad’s fail to convey their message and often instead promote the downfall of the 1% and Wall Street rather than the personal success of the 99%.


One of O.W.S’s famous ads is the image of a woman dancing barefoot on the metal bull statue (a symbol for Wall Street in this and many other ads) as protesters in hoodies and gas masks emerge from a gas, some bearing weapons, and at the top the ad it asks- “what is our one demand?” If Occupy’s message is for economic equality, then what about this poster represents that? A ballerina atop a metal bull or the faceless, menacing group of people that look like they are about to riot shows absolutely nothing for equal benefits and for a reduction between the classes. O.W.S is clearly not showing what can be achieved by their want for economic equality, instead they demonstrate an unclear imagine that is supposed to excite people who are part of the 99%. The image is suppose to excite them because it shows something of a rebellion, presumably against the very wealthy and Wall Street itself, which is suppose to make the audience feel as though that they are part of this powerful movement. But because they make the crowd look like a massive riot and with an apparent disrespect of the bull statue by dancing barefoot on it- don’t show a change to a new and more equal world. Instead all it does is represent a massive rebellion or an ‘uprising’ for the downfall of the very wealthy. By them pursuing this, rather than some image of  the 99%s gaining better treatment and a more equalized economy they fail to show their message and instead promote the downfall of Wall Street and the very wealthy.


Another ad shows a minimalist image of a bull being tied and held down by rope with the tagline “the beginning is near” . The bull, as previously mentioned , is a symbol for Wall Street and with that the very wealthy, and the tying it down represents a literal downfall of them. By tying it down and pretending its like a wild animal, it dehumanizes residents of Wall Street and the wealthy and doesn’t reinforce any kind or equality desire. Instead it seems to scream ‘bring them down’ rather than to demand a fairer economic system and ,if anything, shows a progression more backwards than forwards. And while it says “the beginning is near” it doesn’t give the slightest indication upon what is near. If anything this can be more easily converted into a rodeo poster than an ad promoting economic equality. So, clearly Occupy is

promoting and glorifying a downfall for Wall Street and the Wealthier class than actually presenting facts, data or information about why they are doing it.


The third ad I shall be discussing is a cartoon that shows a mob tearing down a stature of the Monopoly man with its podium saying “Wall Street” and the caption being “Occupy Wall Street we are the 99 percent”.  Now by having a stature torn down it does, indisputably, show a want for a downfall. Instead of easily showing people of a poorer class being uplifted to seeing eye to eye with the statute, it is being brought down. So instead of progressing forward, the ad shows something akin to progressing backwards. Additionally, by having the ad represent Wall Street and the very wealthy as the Monopoly man is another act in dehumanizing them by presenting them as cartoonish characters rather than actual people. To further promote their downfall, one of the people in the crowd raises their hands in a celebratory fashion, telling the audience that this is a good thing. By doing that they promote tearing down statues of cartoon men rather than make an effort at trying to teach about the economic inequalities. So rather than to take the opportunity to promote a fairer economy Occupy instead produces ads that are meant to awaken people’s systematic prejudice against wealthier people. By doing this they lose their message to an almost entirely different idea.


Occupy Wall Street’s ad’s fail to convey their message and often instead promote the downfall of the 1% and Wall Street rather than the personal success of the 99%. Occupy wall street was a movement that seemingly came as quickly as it went. While it still technically goes on today, it is in a much less greater degree than it was almost three years ago. Part of which could have been the downfall for this was their advertising techniques into the general public. What they missed is something that Joseph Goebbels discussed in his speech saying that “It is not just the fantasy of a few people among the people, rather it becomes the idea of the rulers, the circles that have power. The view does not only preach, but it is carried out in practice. Then the idea becomes the worldview of the state.” What Goebbels means by that and how it relates to Occupy, is that propaganda must be an idea that people can see take power. However what Occupy missed with their ads was that the ad’s perceived idea was more in line with extremists then with average Americans who just want to have the same rights as those wealthier than them. It is interesting to note how much people systematically will, at first glance, perceive one idea presented to them but in actuality the same idea can mean something entirely different. It’s a fault in history and humanity, that has been repeated multiple times and Occupy was simply not an exception, and most definitely will not be the last to suffer from it.

Central Park Five: Racial Bias

Posted by Jada Terrell in English 2 - Pahomov - E on

We all have biases. Unfortunately, sometimes our biases distract us from what is right. In the recent  past, there have been several criminal cases in which justice was disrupted due to law enforcement’s bias against or towards a certain group of people. Whether it’s racial profiling by law enforcement or stereotypes held by the jury, bias can turn the entire justice process inside out. Racial bias affects criminal cases to the extent that the criminals often get turned into victims.

Professor Jerry Kang from UCLA calls them “schemas”. He goes on to explain that we often associate these schemas to larger ideas. When our mind categorizes simple things into larger concepts, and we associate them with larger ideas. “Automatically, we categorize individuals by age, gender, race, and role. Once the individual is mapped into that category, specific meanings associated with that category are immediately activated and influence our interaction with that individual”. This means that when we have an experience or simply learn about a category of people, our minds automatically influence our judgement.

In 1989, there was a case in New York City that sparked a lot of controversy in America. The case involved 5 African-American/Hispanic teenagers that were convicted of raping an upper class white woman, Trisha Meili- the “Central Park jogger”. On April 19, 1989, Trisha was attacked and severely beaten. The 5 young men convicted at the time were: Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise. Once the police got the the crime scene, they bought them in for questioning. The boys were giving little to no information that can give the detectives a lead. The detectives told the boys that all they needed to do was give a story, confess and they can go home. Each of them did thinking that it was it. The prosecutors and detectives used the confession tapes to convict. However, 13 years later the real rapist, Matias Reyes admitted to the crime.

The two main prosecutors in the case were Elizabeth Lederer and Linda Fairstein. The detectives investigating the case were Det. Humberto Arroyo and Carlos Gonzalez. When the boys were brought in for questioning, they were intensely, almost violently questioned. Such treatment led the boys to essentially confess.  It is understandable that a detective trying to solve a case, will get inpatient and upset, but it is unacceptable to carry it as far as the did. The detectives split the boys up and tricked them into admitting to a crime they didn’t commit just to get a confession. The details of the five boys’ stories didn’t match what was found at the crime scene, but these inconsistencies were ignored. Elizabeth Lederer , the lead prosecutor didn’t even bother to put the boys on the stand.

The documentary, “Central Park Five”, was released in 2012. It focused particularly on the differing stories of the boys. . The prosecutors, police, and jurors involved didn’t choose to participate in the film. Identifying the bias of the law enforcement agendas is obvious. specifically wasn’t hard at all. Implicit bias is the certain stereotypes that affect our decisions, and understandings. Implicit bias is being studied in the judicial decision making. This means making a decision based on your current understanding or even stereotypes that we are familiar with.  During conviction, all the boys went to juvenile detention centers except for Korey. He was the eldest and was sent to Riker’s Island. This was simply unfair being that just because he was 16, he was sent to an adult facility. This is age discrimination, treating someone less favorably because of their age.  Racism was and still is an issue today in many ways but it is only discussed when something like this happens. When the racial bias of law enforcement is publicized. When a rape case of an upper class white woman hits the air, all of a sudden everyone is interested. Sometimes, the subjects of the case determine whether the case will be covered as severely or publicized. Example, the previous rape recently in New York that got little to none because the attacker and the victim were of the same racial background. A test of our “justice” system. Donald Trump contributed to the storm by saying, “You better believe that I hate the people that took this girl and raped her brutally. You better believe it.” Not only did he openly voice his opinion, but he added it in 4 local newspapers saying that the death penalty should be brought back. Would Donald Trump care and have commented if this woman were to be found in an alley or in Harlem? Wasn’t hard to find either. A woman, the same night of the jogger attack, was rapped and thrown off a four-story building. Sure, teenagers have a reputation to always be under some sort of mischief, but African American teenagers? Guilty without question; but it wouldn’t be fair at all to bring the death penalty into play without even testing DNA and hearing their statements. In the documentary, there was a connection to Emmett Till. Young black males, white woman as victim. Harsh punishments. The racial bias was obvious to this point that a connection can even be made! Emmett Till’s punishment doesn’t fairly compare to a prison sentence but at a minor extent, they are similar. Justice wasn’t served in either case.

The goal of the prosecutors were clearly to put these boys in jail. To punish them for a crime that they knew that they didn’t commit. There was no evidence. The DNA from the crime scene didn’t match any of the boys. When Trisha woke up from a coma, she was not able to recall anything from that night of the attack. A white journalist says that it was a good thing. Maybe because she could have sent these boys home.  ⅗ of the boys family’s were able to afford to bail them out. Raymond and Korey remained imprisoned. The truth still hadn’t come out yet. Social psychologist, Saul Kassin stated that once we form a strong belief that someone is guilty of a crime, all the details that can prove us wrong, we tend to ignore them. This proves that original goal of the prosecutors. Once they associate “guilty” with these young men, it was impossible for them to steer off and let them walk. Can perhaps their bias be against African-Americans? I think it is safe to conclude that this was a racial hate crime.

The bias within this whole case is clear. Little to nothing was fair. Terrorizing and pressuring these young teens to admit to a crime they didn’t commit. Sending Korey to an adult facility! Adding extra time to Raymond’s sentence when caught with a drug charge just because he was apart of this case prior. It seems that some people are comfortable with their bias within society, that is, if we identify it. Implicit bias, is not limited in the judicial system and it must be something that the system is comfortable with. Sometimes it is a bad thing but it becomes a personal thing because then we’d sit around and judge everyone because of their bias but if they are fine with it, who are we to judge because we have blind spots of our own. My personal bias attracted me to analyse this case. My reaction watching the documentary was like many, “Wow, that’s unfair!” and “What kind of “justice” system do we live in?” but my reaction may be different of someone not within my “category”. I am a African-American teenager. The subjects of this crime were African-Americans. We are within the same “category” so my understanding and sympathy may be stronger than an “outsider” who might not understand but I have a connection with the boys that the “outsider” wouldn’t. The way I viewed the case is okay being different than someone else.






Citations:

1. Gove, Tracey G. "Police Chief Magazine." Police Chief Magazine. N.p., Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch>.

2. "Central Park Five." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nydailynews.com/services/central-park-five#trial2>.

3. Central Park Five. Dir. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon. Perf. Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, and Yusef Salaam. 2012. Netflix.

4. Press, The Associated. "Woman Is Raped and Thrown From a Roof." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 May 1989. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/04/nyregion/woman-is-raped-and-thrown-from-a-roof.html>.

5. "Age Discrimination." Age Discrimination. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm>.


Daniel Varnis: Banana Bread (With and without nuts)

Posted by Daniel Varnis in Science and Society - Best - Y on

RECIPE AND ANALYSIS

Banana Nut Bread

Recipe

Ingredients:

⅓ cup of shortening

½ cup of sugar

2 eggs

1¾ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of salt

1 cup of a mashed ripe banana

½ cup of chopped walnuts (optional)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350° F

2. Cream together the shortening and sugar

3. Add the eggs and beat well

4. Sift together the dry ingredients

5. Add dry ingredients and banana to the mixture

6. Mix together

7. Fold in nuts (optional)

8. Pour into well-greased 9x5x3-inch load pan

9. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until done

10. Put on cooling rack

 

Analysis

Being a nutritionist and ooking at the list of ingredients, six out of nine are natural ingredients, so about 67% of the dish is all natural. The human body should be able to deal pretty well with eating a slice... or two... or three... or ten slices of the banana nut bread, considering it’s all natural. Since the the pan it’s cooked in has a length of nine inches and each slice is cut about ¾ of an inch, that should be 12 slices. Then doing the math, each slice should only contain around 0.04 cups of sugar, which is barely anything. Then for the unnatural ingredients, each slice would only contain 0.04 teaspoons of baking soda, 0.08 teaspoons of baking powder, and 0.02 cups of shortening.

From the standpoint of an environmentalist, there shouldn’t really be any issues. Almost every ingredient is manufactured or grown in the US except the bananas. Those are probably grown in South America, which isn’t too far.

From a politicians perspective, the cost of one loaf banana bread probably costs around $2.00 - $3.00. This meal cannot be compared to fast food for a few reasons. First, fast food restaurants don’t serve banana nut bread. Second, most of these ingredients are natural. And third, you know the bread isn’t bad for you.

From a socialists perspective, the one thing that might be conflicting are the bananas and eggs. For instance, it would probably be more convenient to have a farm on your property so you can grow a banana tree and tend to chickens that will lay the eggs for the bread.

FOOD RULE SLIDE

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REFLECTION 

During this unit, I actually learned a lot of things…particularly about food! In all seriousness, I looked at the idea of food at a more in depth perspective. At first, if anyone were to ask me “What are a few things that come to your mind when you think of the word food?” I would probably say some pretty broad things like “It’s the stuff that gives the ability to live” or “A human’s best friend.” Now that I have (almost) completed the food segment of our class, I’d probably respond to the question with answers that are focused on the idea of food, rather than the static object of food itself. For instance, I’d probably say stuff like “One of the biggest money makers in the world” or “An stabilizer of the human race” or even “The one thing that could give enough information to explain a human’s personal life.”

Looking at the suggested questions, I would say that one of the LARGEST problems with the food system is their carelessness for the well being of the consumers. There are so many distributed foods in the world that are healthy, whereas there is an equal amount of, if not more, unhealthy goods. One thing that really stuck to me from this unit was the integration of high fructose corn syrup in foods. In the past, I never questioned why so many foods contained high fructose corn syrup. Until this unit came about, I would’ve never known that it was two things. First, it’s a cheap replacement for sugar, and two, it’s in so many foods because of the overpopulation of corn in this country. If I remember correctly, 30% of the land in the US is covered in corn. THAT’S A LOT OF CORN. Although it’s a cheaper alternative for sugar, I think it has to be voided from many foods that are being distributed because it’s presence is only a catalyst to worldwide obesity.

My Dish: Jamaican Oxtail with Broad Beans

Posted by Jonathan Spencer in Science and Society - Best - Y on

  • 1 pound beef oxtail, cut into pieces

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 green onion, thinly sliced

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
  • 1 scotch bonnet chile pepper, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup canned fava beans, drained
  • 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch

  • 2 tablespoons water

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.

 

2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

 

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

 

4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

Analysis: I think very flavor is very important and that it the difference between eating and dining. There are a lot of vegetables that provide various nutrients and vitamins. There is a high level of salt though which is why this dish should be enjoyed in a bit of moderation. It is a cultural dish that I've enjoyed on many occasions. I thought that it is a good way to introduce Jamaican food to other cultures. If I would have made this food I would have made the meat a little tender and done medium with a little bit of red. My dad told me to do this because there is more moisture within the meat that can hold the flavors and spices in. 

Reflection:
The food unit was a fun one, and I feel as though I learned quite a bit of the less popular facts about things like obesity and heart disease that are good conversation pieces (sort of).
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Screen_shot_2014_01_14_at_7_53_15_AM

Viet Le

Posted by Viet Le in Science and Society - Best - Y on

Shrimp Fried Rice

List of ingredients

1 Egg

Half pound of shrimp - peeled and chopped to half inch pieces

Salt ( can be sea or store bought)

2 bowls of rice (This is the quantity of rice before you cook it.)

Mixed Vegetables( You can buy them in the freezer aisle or you can do it yourself) A half cup

Includes (but not limited to) peas, chopped green beans, diced carrots.

1 and ½ tablespoons of soy sauce

Dice onions (about 1 tablespoon)

Non-stick pans

 

This is going to serve about 4-6 people

 

First heat a pan of oil with ½ tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Cook the egg like a pancake, making sure to have the egg make a thin layer over the pan until almost set and then flip to the other side until set. Let the egg cool a bit and then cut into thin strips and then set it aside.

 

Heat a pan with 1 tablespoon of oil on high and stir fry the mixed vegetables until crisp and tender. Make sure to sprinkle a pinch of salt when stir frying. After finishing this also put it aside,

 

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil on high heat, after that put dice onions in on the pan until about brown. (It should smell good by the end of this) After the onions are about brown put in the shrimp and add a pinch of salt and stir fry until golden brown. After finishing that put it aside.

 

Lastly you want to heat 1 tablespoon of oil over a large pan ( a large pan is needed when you’re going to mix all of the ingredients) After heating the oil you want to the onions on the pan until they are golden brown and then add the rice and stir fry the rice with about 2 teaspoons of soy sauce until warm throughout (This will take up to a maximum of 5 mins, might be less depending on the amount of rice and how warm it is before hand)

 

After stir frying the rice you want to mix everything together on the same pan you made the rice so that all the ingredients mix well together and are warm.

 

Serve and divide amongst bowls

 

Analysis:

Based on the estimate calorie count of each bowl(which is about 400) I’d say that the impact on someone’s health isn’t that bad. The total about of fat per serving is about 12g and about 20g of protein. Most of the ingredients aren’t processed besides the soy sauce and the mixed vegetables. The rest of the foods are fresh and shouldn’t really be processed at all. Environmentally this mean isn’t tasking on the environment as most of the food is grown and in the case of the shrimp caught. Depending on where you live you can either grown the vegetables on your own or catch the shrimp yourself. It doesn’t really take much to find these ingredients in your local supermarket because these ingredients aren’t really special. If you were to try to locate where certain ingredients came from you’d be able to find where the shrimp of the mixed vegetables pretty easily.  

If you were try to trace some of the ingredients to the source before it got to your bowl you would find that the shrimp probably came from somewhere like maine where fishing is a big thing, almost everything else on the list you would probably find most of that stuff grown on farm. Looking at the intermediate steps before it reaches your dinner table you could see that the shrimp is probably cleaned and made sure that it fits a certain standard before being packaged and sent out. That can also be said for most of the other things on the list.

Lastly, if we were to look at the cost efficiency of this meal it could cost you somewhere from 10 to 15 dollars.


Reflection

In this unit I learned about how a lot of our foods are made. Certain foods that we might think that are good for us are actually bad for us. I learned to now look at what I really eat. The food system isn't as linear as we think it is. There's a lot of different processes that our foods goes through before getting to us. I don’t think that as an individual I don’t affect the larger food system so much because I’m only one person. I think that the food manufactures don’t care as much because they know that the average person doesn’t really look into what’s actually in their food. I think that the problem with our food is that there’s not enough people that care enough about the food that the big companies will change their ways. There’s not much push for change because people don’t really know what’s in their food. 

Some changes that I could possibly make is that I could find foods that aren’t as processed as others, or in other words better for me. It wouldn’t be as difficult for me because I’m not a picky eater but it might be for other people because they might have a condition or if they live on a tight budget. Some of the impacts that this might cause is that people start becoming healthier. As an individual I am ready to make these changes because my family usually makes homemade meals for every meal of the day. 



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Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 9.20.43 PM

Food Project: Michael Roth, Isaac Adlowitz

Posted by Michael Roth in Science and Society - Best - Y on

As Isaac and I are both Jewish, matzah ball soup is a meal that we have eaten nearly every year of our lives during passover.

Ingredients:

1 packet Manischewitz Matzo Ball Mix

One container College Inn Chicken Broth

2 eggs

2 tbsp vegetable oil

10 cups water

1 onion

A few carrots

salt, pepper.

 

Recipe:

1. Mix 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a bowl.

2. Add 1 packet mix, stir well until evenly mixed.

3. Chill mix in refrigerator for ~15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, pour 10 cups water into pot and bring to boil.

5. After 15 minutes, remove mix from refrigerator, wet hands, and form batter into balls ~1 inch in diameter.

6. Drop balls into boiling water.

7. Reduce heat to simmer for ~20 minutes.

8. While balls are cooking, pour chicken broth into pot, bring to simmer.

9. While broth is heating, dice onion and handful of carrots and add to broth.

10. When balls are cooked, drain pot and put balls into broth.

11. Wait for 5-10 minutes.

12. Take broth off heat, soup now ready.

13. Refrigerate overnight and bring to school in tupperware.

 

Analysis:

Of all of the ingredients, 25% appear to be processed, though all but two of those are said to make up less than 1% of the broth. The entire thing made (4 servings of broth and 4.5 servings of matzah balls) contains about 245 calories, 6620mg of sodium, 58g carbohydrate, 4g sugar, 4.5g protein. Assuming that the thing is to be split among 10 people, that's 24.5 calories per person, 662mg sodium per person, 5.8g carbohydrates per person, .4g sugar per person, and .45g protein per person. The meal seems very healthy in terms of sugar, calories, and carbohydrates, but 662mg of sodium is over 25% of the recommended daily value of sodium. If this was the only thing that you ate every day, you wouldn't be consuming enough calories, fat, cholesterol, potassium, carbohydrates, protein, or vitamins, and you'd consume way too much sodium. As far as I can tell, the broth came from Pittsburgh and the ball mix came from Newark. The eggs are local, as well. The furthest thing away was only one state over, so the environmental impact of cooking and eating this meal is very small. The entire thing cost only $5.05. $6.80 if you include the entire price of the matzo ball mix (only half was used.) It's a fairly cheap meal, is healthier in many respects than fast food, and took only 40-50 minutes to make.


Reflection:

I knew about food, but I now know about nutrition. I eat food that is processed, and a lot of my food has corn in it. Corn, I have learned, covers about a third of the US's landmass. Corn can be used to make a lot of things, so some would say it's the miracle food. However, we end up feeding it to a lot of animals that don't normally eat it, like cows. We need to diversify our food intake, not just eat various forms of corn.

People think that obesity just means you're very over weight, but in reality, if you're obese, you are likely at risk for a lot of seriously dangerous nutrition-related things, like heart disease, diabetes, or even cancer. While learning about this, we found that more than half of the top 15 reasons for death in America are preventable simply by living a healthy lifestyle. 

I also learned that eating animal protein might be less healthy than eating other kinds of protein. In rats, having 20% protein caused already-existent cancer to grow, but 5% protein did not.


Food Rule Slide:

In creating this masterpiece, I took the wise words of the late President Theodore Roosevelt and modified them to fit the content of this unit. While designing the slide, I wanted to ensure that the focus was the gigantic spoon, but that the words of the slide still read in a natural left to right, top to bottom flow. It is a good food rule for two reasons: The first is that eating slowly will ensure that you stop before you're too full, and the second is that, by using a big spoon, you are able to eat a lot of food at a time.

dcd8Feb
dcd8Feb

Bias In Police Force

Posted by Jonas Bromley in English 2 - Pahomov - E on

Jonas Bromley

1/22/14

Bias In Police Force

When making arrests police officers in the United States are unfairly biased towards minority races. During 1995-1997 in Maryland, there was a court mandate for a poll to be taken on interstate ninety five, counting the number of african american drivers pulled over versus the amount of white drivers pulled over. Only twelve point seven percent of drivers on the road were african american and sixty percent of the drivers pulled over were african american. This means that even though the ratio of black to white drivers was almost nine to one, even though three fifths of the drivers pulled over were black. This shows how biased american police officers are. There are many more cases in our society that demonstrate the same results.

In the documentary Central Park Five, five teenagers, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson,  Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise,  ranging in ages from fourteen to sixteen were out in Central Park one night with a bunch of friends. These five teens were with a group of people who were harassing pedestrians and beating up random people. These five are only guilty of these crimes by association. On the same night a jogger got brutally raped while jogging in central park. The police arrested a bunch of the teens who were out that night including the five who this documentary is about. They made a bunch of the teens say that certain people had committed these crimes just because the police wanted people to blame. These five teens were forced by the police to turn themselves and each other in, giving false testimonies. When telling these testimonies they were told to put themselves in the scene to make it more believable. They were told by the police that they were just going to be witnesses, but they were convicted and put on trial.

This case and trial were all over the news, but strangely enough a rape case that had happened just before this one had had gotten next to no publicity. In this case a woman was raped and then thrown off the roof of a building! The reason that this case had almost no publicity was that, one reporter speculated, both the victim and the perpetrator were of the same race. So in a city where there was, on average, three murders a day why did this case get so much publicity? The reason the Central Park Five case got so much publicity was because the victim was a white, upperclass, investor, and the rapists were lower class African American and Latino teenagers. This case was completely about race and not actually about the person who had been abused and raped, or the teens who had been wrongly accused and convicted.

In an article on Pbs four people involved in Santa Clara County’s justice system talk about racial unfairness in the judicial system District Attorney Kurt Kumli talks about the differences in treatment between races. He gives a hypothetical example of two teens, from different backgrounds who have committed the same crime. One of the teens is white, upper class and has a mom that doesn’t work. The family says, “I will always be at home and watch him, we will provide for all of the services that he needs, we will make sure he goes to a personal counselor.”  and the judge then says, “Sounds good to me. I will take advantage of these resources. It will not drain on the system. You are out of custody.” You take another teen who does not come from a privileged family, and cannot provide all of these services. These circumstances create the racial disparity. This is a good example of what can happen in cases when there are differences in economic class.

In an article entitled New ACLU Report Finds Overwhelming Racial Bias in Marijuana Arrests, the ACLU report states that in counties with racial disparities people of color are thirty times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than whites. These disparities were apparent 10 years ago but are much more pronounced now. Ezekiel Edwards, a member of the ACLU states that, "The war on marijuana has disproportionately been a war on people of color." Ezekiel also states that, "State and local governments have aggressively enforced marijuana laws selectively against Black people and communities, needlessly ensnaring hundreds of thousands of people in the criminal justice system at tremendous human and financial cost." This shows that people think that the government tries to target people of color for some arrests. Which can not be true. This makes things worse because if people believe something is a certain way then they will act on it.

According to another study by the ACLU in Oakland, California: seventy three point five percent of arrests made by the police between 2006 and 2012 are arresting African American boys when they only make up twenty nine point three percent of the population. Also the Oakland School Police Department, over the last two years, has arrested 85 students. Seventy three percent of students arrested were black. None of the students arrested were white. These statistics prove that there is racial bias in arrests in the United States. These arrests are also harmful to the communities they are conducted in because if a person is falsely arrested or arrested for something they should not be arrested for then if it happens to them again it is a longer sentence. Furthermore it will make it harder to find work and get into colleges in the future.

When making arrests police officers in the U.S. are negatively biased towards minority races. Racial bias in the U.S. makes it harder for many people in this country to proceed with their everyday lives. It also contributes to the countries already crowded prisons and wastes the time and money of everybody. Furthermore it could spiral upwards because police officers who are biased towards minorities have more of a reason to be when they see the numbers in jails. This could make them arrest more minorities for unfair reasons which would make higher numbers of minorities in jails and the whole thing would keep going.


Dissection Portfolio

Posted by Felix Schafroth Doty in Bio-Chem 9 - Sherif - C on
Hello! Here is our Dissection Portfolio. Also, here are some of the photos that we took during our dissection. WARNING! They are graphic.


For our Bio-Chem class, we dissected Grasshoppers and Fetal Pigs. We have created a portfolio compiling our findings. We hope that you enjoy our portfolio, because we loved creating it.

Thin Blue Line- the Bias Involved

Posted by Noah Caruso in English 2 - Pahomov - A on

Noah Caruso A Band


Bias has played a prominent role throughout time in the development of people and society. While not everyone likes the idea of acknowledging bias, it is there. Bias exists everywhere, most notably in the courtroom. In  Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line, he explores the arrest of two men, Randall Adams and David Harris, for the murder of a police officer and the impact of bias and human error. Bias was used throughout the trial to determine the murderer based on the likelihood of an individual committing murder at a certain age.

While interviewing a private investigator that had worked on the case, she explained the reasoning behind the arrest of Randall Adams instead of David Harris, the more likely suspect to have committed the murder. She states that Adams was the “convenient age” for the arrest. Harris was only sixteen, and unable to be charged with the death penalty, while Adams, twenty-six, was able to be tried as an adult and given capital punishment. This presents the bias that all juveniles are innocent, that adults are more likely to be in the wrong and influence the juveniles. It is easier to convince a jury that a twenty-six year old man had committed murder than a sixteen year old boy.

While the age was convenient to prosecute Randall Adams, the evidence was not. The stories given by both Harris and Adams were the same, though Harris’s was two hours ahead of what actually happened. Crucial pieces of evidence were overlooked and suppressed for the sake of conviction by the prosecution. The prosecution was faced with two options: give a somewhat suspicion man jail time, possibly death, or prosecute a juvenile and have no repercussions because of the laws restricting punishment.

Not only did age play a part in the conviction of Adams, but where he was from as well. David Harris ran away from home with his parent’s gun, and stole a neighbor’s car, but was still a native to the town where the murder was committed. Randall Adams, however, had come to town only a few days before meeting Harris on the road, and sharing his motel room with him. Having a murderous sixteen year old from your town making headlines across the country is not desirable. This gave the prosecution even more reason to pin the murder on Adams. They were biased towards not only the youth of Harris, but where his roots are.

Adams was convicted for the murder of officer Robert Wood and sentenced to death. When an officer is murdered, authorities want the worst possible punishment for the murderer, in this case death. The death penalty was unable to be given to a sixteen year old, and they would not see the punishment fit for a murderer of a fellow member of the law. False witnesses were brought to the courtroom to testify against Adams as well as false evidence. Three days before his execution, Supreme Court Justice Lewis R. Powell Jr. granted a stay of execution, instead sentencing Adams to life in prison without a new trial.

Through the investigation by Errol Morris and his documentary, he was able to collect enough evidence to make a case that Adams was innocent and Harris was the one who committed the murders. Being that Harris was now older and able to be tried as an adult, there were no biases toward him and no evidence was suppressed in favor of Harris. While Harris was never charged with the murder of the police officer, Adams was granted freedom. After his release from prison, Harris was convicted of breaking and entering, attempted kidnap, and attempted murder. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection, with nothing interfering in the case or conviction.

This case and wrongful conviction is a clear representation of the unjust and corrupt court system, something Morris tries to demonstrate in all of his films. The film exploits the bias, though not always noticeable, that is present in society, not just the courtroom. Great measures were taken to ensure the conviction of the man the authorities wanted- an adult male from Ohio who is able to be charged with the death penalty, something they felt was deserved for the murder of another police officer. They crossed the thin blue line, the willingness to blur the truth in favor of justice and defense of their fellow officers. They wanted a death for a death, something that is unable to be given to a sixteen year old, and they let bias sway them into doing everything in their power to convict the wrong person.

Bias exists in the courtroom today as well, sometimes more noticeably than others. Whether there is more bias today as opposed to the time period of the murder is debateable. Aside from bias being based on age as it was in the case of Adams and Harris, bias is more based on race, gender, and as of late, sexual preference. Laws are being put in motion to prevent bias from affecting the conviction and defense of a suspect in the court of law, especially in extreme cases like Randall Adams.


Skateboarding Bias

Posted by Felix D'Hermillon in English 2 - Pahomov - E on

Felix d’Hermillon

Skateboarding Bias Essay

A bias is made against skateboarders today, from past events, planting the thought in people’s mind that skateboarding is for trouble makers. There has always been a bias against skateboarders. There are many different kinds of people all over the globe that have a bias against skateboarding. Police, Security Guards, and many more.

They have been known for being troublemakers. Skateboarding was first invented in the 1950’s. Surfer’s wanted to explore their possibilities. The surfers decided to take it to the streets. “Concrete Surfing” a.k.a “Skateboarding”. The surfers made the board out of taking roller skate wheels and putting them onto a wooden box and riding it through the streets. Skateboarding got its bad name from Dogtown and the Z-boys. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, skateboarder’s used to break into backyard pools. They would shred these pools illegally knowing full well what they were doing. They weren’t thinking clearly but that doesn’t mean that all skater’s are trouble makers from today and from back then as well.

There are many laws against skateboarding all over the world. Love park is one of the most famous skate spots on the east coast. Love park is skated everyday by skateboarders all over, but sadly it is illegal. Skaters are ticketed with a $300 fine and then they have their boards taken. People have been arrested if they aren’t a minor.  It is not only a monument in artwork standards, but a monument in skateboarding. In this quote, skaters are protesting to keep love park open to skaters(when it was closed down in 2002). “Before LOVE was officially closed in late April 2002 for the redesign, skateboarders and others organized a protest on April 22, 2002. Dozens of skaters and supporters flooded the park for one last session together before police came and dispersed the skaters and the session. However, before the protest was over, skateboarders and their advocates made numerous statements to the media. Some noted the sad loss of this great skate spot, others pointed out that the loss of skateboarding at LOVE is a scar on the attractiveness and accessibility of Philadelphia to a younger generation” says UHistory.org. This quote is stating clearly that skaters are feeling the loss. They clearly stated to the media that they are feeling neglected. I don’t believe having that last skate session was he most helpful way of convincing the city to allow it but I do think that it helps the community hear about the banning of skateboarding at Love and I think it did spread the word to help support the community of skaters.

Another example of skateboarding being known as thugs is that it is out lawed in San Francisco, California. In the City of San Francisco, Police officers are allowed to arrest skateboarders for skating on Public Property. When I say public property, I mean streets, ledges plazas, parking lots, or anything else you can think of. Police officers will always arrest you if you are riding a skateboard in San Francisco, they will depending on what ever mood they are in, so if you are skating through the streets of San Francisco and a Police officer stops you to give you a warning, don’t provoke him because he can arrest you if you set him off.

Skater’s should be awarded for the amount of effort that they put in. Most skater’s aren’t causing trouble while doing so. At least people are doing something. For kids, at least they are doing something instead of drugs or any other bad thing you can think of. And for older people skating, at least they aren’t just sitting around not doing anything. They are being active and thats all that matters. Much of today’s modern architecture is perfectly made for skateboarders. Skater’s have searched for these architecturally advanced spots.

All around the world, there is tons of police brutality with skaters. All over youtube there are videos. In baltimore there was an instance where a group of skateboarders were skating at the inner harbor. Police officer, Salvator Rivieri, stopped these kids and started verbally harassing them about skateboarding there. Then, the police officer man-handled a 14 year old skateboarder Eric Bush. Officer Rivieri grabs the minor around the neck and throws him on the ground.

There are a lot of parents that are really supportive of their kids. There are professional skateboarders all over the world that all have had supportive parents to help them get somewhere. Their parents helped them achieve their goal of making a living out of skateboarding. And its not only skateboarding, there are filmer's that make a living out of it by simply doing what they love. Torey Pudwill is a professional Skateboarder that rides for Plan B skateboards, DVS shoes, Bones Bearings, venture trucks and has even made his own line of Grip tape for the skateboards just from the help of his parents. “My dad or mom would drive us here (Skatelab Skatepark) after school almost everyday, get our homework done, or not, and just skate”. Another Skater is Nyjah Huston is 19 years old. He has been a professional skater since he was 11 years old. He was in the X-games at the age of 11.“My dad was really controlling and he did want me to skate every single day. I would say he did it in a little bit of a strict way which probably wasn't necessary because, bottom line I loved skateboarding and thats all I wanted to do anyway.” Later on in the same interview he says “If he did happen to call me anytime soon, i would completely accept him because I am thankful for the way he raised me, even thug it was very strict, it was what got me to where I am right now.”

A lot of upperclassmen think that Skateboarding is reckless and a waste of time. They believe

As you have seen, Skater’s are considered bad boy’s. This is a false term. Skater’s have been named this when it is completely the opposite. Skater’s are artist’s. They have a talent. They search out spot’s and are being creative. It is the people surrounding skater’s that attach this false baggage to them. From having a shitty day at work, the law enforcer’s make our’s worse. The butterfly effect. Some skater’s might be thugs, or “gangbangers” but to say that the all of skater’s fits that description is simply ignorant and demoralizing.


Food Project- Sean German Mac and Cheese with Bacon

Posted by Sean Mcaninch in Science and Society - Best - Y on

I will be making Mac n’ Cheese with bacon. How this meal ties into my family and heritage is my grandfather made it a lot before he passed away, In all I think everything comes from america, I may travel across country but not over any large bodies of water. The health issues that could arise from it is heart failure due to the fat in it but you would need to do a lot more than just eat that to fully kill you. the people who made the money off of this meal are the slaughterhouses that cut up the meat the grainery that make the noodles the dairy farm that makes the Cottage Cheese and so on. The Bacon starts on a pig farm, then it moves to a slaughterhouse where the pig is killed and carved the meat is then shipped on a truck to the packaging and then to a supermarket where we buy it. for non commercial companies they would do almost the same thing just at the last part they would sell to a local store not a supermarket. I would say that 75% of the meal is processed and 25% of the meal is whole.


Ingredients:

1 pound of Pasta

1 pound of bacon

2 pound of Cottage Cheese

1 tablespoon of Salt

1 tablespoon of pepper

or salt and pepper to taste

2 small onions



Step1:

Dice the onions and bacon and have the pasta cook to directions on box.


Step2:

Let bacon cook on high heat until it starts to brown then add the onions.


Step3:

While the bacon and onions are cooking together becoming real happy start working on the Cottage cheese by adding the salt and pepper to it and mix it up.


Step 4:

Pour the pasta into a large bowl and mix the cottage cheese into it.


Step 5:

when the bacon is browned and the onions are “See through.” add them to the pasta and cottage cheese mixture.


Step 6:(Optional)

If you want the cottage cheese to melt place it back on the heat until the cheese melts.


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Screen Shot 2014-01-14 at 7.49.51 AM

Yo Soy Frida Kahlo

Posted by Sadie Sprague-Lott in Spanish 4 - Manuel - E on

Yo soy Frida Kahlo. Mi marido es Diego Rivera y el piensa que yo era el ying y yang de el. Yo siempre quiero ser una pintura y una modela para mi esposo. Haciendo estas cosas da me una oportunidad  a expresar mis emociones. Yo tengo un amor para Mexico. Para todo mi vida vivio en el famoso casa azul. 

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Screen Shot 2014-01-24 at 10.16.25 AM

Food Project: A piece of Italy, and Albania. Sara, Karly, and Anthony

Posted by Karly Bornstein in Science and Society - Best - Y on
Anthony and Karly are both Italian, so they decided to incorporate pasta as a dish. Karly was also raised healthy, so she added a healthier alternative to the pasta. Sara is part Albanian, so she wanted to add a touch of her culture and make a dessert. 

Pasta, 1 box of Barilla Plus

Directions:

1. Boil a large pot of salted water. (1 1/2 tablespoons.)

2. Put pasta into the boiling water

3. While that's cooking, gather olive oil, chopped garlic etc. and put them together in a pot to boil, using olive oil as the base liquid.

4. Once the angel hair is cooked properly (not long, a few minutes.) drain the water and give the angel hair time to cool a bit. 

5. Once you find the olive oil to your liking, pour it over the angel hair and toss it a bit. If you want you can add some cheese in the mix. 

Sauce Ingredients

  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
  • 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste 
    4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/3 cup finely diced onion
  • 1/2 cup white wine
Karly's Analysis:

  The pasta is from a box, so the noodles are processed. For the sauce, the tomato paste is processed. After eating the Barilla Plus pasta, it will give your body extra nutrients then if you were to eat just regular pasta. It provides you with extra fiber, protein, and omega-3. If you ate nothing but Pasta with red sauce everyday, it wouldn't provide you with any fruit or vegetables, and the carbs would add up. If you eat too much of this pasta in one sitting, it can cause bloat because it's eating a lot of bread. But the Barilla Plus is a better option then just regular Barilla. All the ingredients are from the US. Maybe the tomatoes are from New Jersey.. I think it could of traveled several hundred miles. My meal is at least under $10. The Barilla company probable makes a lot money. Comparing this to fast food, I'm sure it didn't or wouldn't make as much money because it's not cheap and popular. Barilla is one of the most popular pasta brands, and with such a large variety, and being from Italy, they are able o make a lot of money. Processing at the pasta factory probably put a lot of bad fumes into the air. Commercial growing a potato is much different if i were to grow one myself. Growing my own tomatoes would have less pesticides and could also get more attention with water and sunlight. Most people are just going to buy their vegetables instead of growing them. They may not have access to a garden, or they just don't have the time. 

Anthony's Analysis:

    This dish isn't unhealthy. Pretty much everything in this is either a herb or an oil, the only exception being the angel hair, which is often made from durum wheat, water and salt. Going off of that, I could say this dish is easily 85% natural, but that's entirely off of where you get your ingredients from. Pasta is known for having a ton of carbs in it. While it does have carbs (40 to a cup) it's no more than a cup of other wheat based products such as rice. It's about the serving size that matters, and people tend to eat a lot of pasta. Environmentally I can see no problem with this dish as long as you don't use up every source of wheat, parsley etc. on the planet. It's almost entirely possible to grow everything for this dish in you own yard! The exceptions being wheat, salt and olive oil. Economically, the actual angel hair can be bought for as little as 69 cents a box at some stores such as Shoprite. The herbs however can vary and have the potential of being a small bit if you buy a fair amount. Alternatively you could just grow them though! Salt is also not too hard to come by so that should give you no problem. The only possible issue I could ever think of with this is where the salt would come from as I'm not aware of where the salt is coming from. I do know that there is a salt mine in Natrona, PA if I recall correctly. The great thing about this dish is that not only does it go well with everything, everything goes well with it. You can put this in your soup, or you can use the broth of the soup as a sauce for it! The possibilities are endless really.

Albanian Cookies 

 

Ingredients: 

One pound of butter

Four cups of flour 

Two tsp of baking powder

One egg

3/4 cup of sugar

 

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Put the cup of sugar in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add the butter (preferably heated or soft) into the bowl. 

4. Beat egg and add to the bowl.

5. Start mixing ingredients together.

6. Gradually add one cup of flour to the bowl and continue to mix until the flour is completely mixed in. 

7. Take small portions of the mix and roll into balls and flatten between palms.

8. Put each ball onto the cookie sheet and bake for 15-20mins. 

9. Let cool. 

10. When cooled, dip each cookie in powdered sugar. 

11. Enjoy! 

 Sara's Analysis: 

•Health/nutrition:  

The contents in his dessert is mainly butter, flour, and sugar. None of these ingredients are nutritious or good for you in any way. Butter is high in fat and is approx. 100 calories in every tbsp (and there were 5 sticks used). Your body wouldn't take anything out the cookie, it would turn into fat or you would poop it out. If one ate nothing but this meal everyday, they would be obese and extremely unhealthy. There is no nutritional value in these cookies, so your body wouldn't be getting the things that it needs to properly live and be energetic/healthy. 

 

Environmental: 

  I think that these ingredients could have came all from PA, or from different states. They are universally known and everyone uses them. Sugar cane is organic, but the way they process it and add different things to it is unhealthy. Butter is churning milk/thick cream, which is 35% fat to begin with. Flour is grained cereal, wheat, grains and seeds. They are 578 calories per cup (which my recipe os 4 cups) and 127g of carbs. The way it is processed may not be that healthy. 

 

•Political/economic:  

All of the ingredients are relatively cheap and easy to access. It's my grandmothers recipe. The original was to add nuts inside of the cookies, but they were too poor to afford nuts so they used the ingredients they had. Large corporations are involved in making these products, because their used in almost everything and highly demanded. 

 

My dessert represents my culture, but it isn't healthy. 


Anthony's Personal Reflection:


In this unit I've managed to strengthen my understanding of how the food system works and how to treat it. For starters, corn and beans are important, and I was honestly surprised a bit by how much our food industry is dependent on it. The fact that 1/3rd of the nation is covered in corn is incredible. People putting their hands inside living cows however, is kind of nasty. I don't think that myself as an individual affects the larger food system. As an individual, I just eat what I'm given as long as it tastes good and doesn't seem like it would give me diabetes or something of the sort with one bite. Speaking of diabetes and other food related things, the amount of risk a bad diet puts you at is outstanding. What's even more outstanding is what exercise can do to get rd of those bad things. I though it was pretty interesting (and a bit self-shaming) when I found out I had eaten 4,800 calories in one McDonalds sitting.  Makes you wonder how much one person can eat.I'm not really going to make many changes to my diet, as I can balance it out with other healthy habits, but what I can do is show others in a good way of how they should eat. Good way not being showing them cows being oddly treated...


Karly's Personal Reflection:
To this day, I've been pretty aware about my food habits and what I'm putting into my body, and what is and isn’t good for you. That being said, I still enjoyed  this food unit. I enjoy talking about the topic because it consumes our lives all the time. My role in the larger food system is buying all the expensive stuff that whole foods sells!  That’s why I like trader joe’s better, but I only get my food from those two stores. With the diseases we researched, I'm now more aware of what obesity and diabetes actually mean. I learned that you can’t get diabetes from just sugar, and so many americans are diagnosed with it everyday. I think our biggest issues in the food industry today is what we're putting into our food. Corn is in everything, and although it’s easy and cheap, it’s really going to affect us later on. Also, the way we treat the animals before we kill them. I still don’t understand why we can’t just have the animals in comfort before they’re slaughtered. There is such a high demand for cheap, and addicting foods. It was interesting seeing the growth of McDonalds and the real reasons why people in there. I found it strange that even people who knew that their food wasn't good for you, they still continued to go. America sometimes forgets that our body is a machine, and if we keep feeding it unhealthy foods, it's not going to run properly. The only things I would change about my food choices are the endless amount of snacks I eat. I think if I tried really hard I could eat less snacks, but I'm usually eating organic, so it's not all bad! Overall, I can say I’m proud of my diet and I thank my parents for teaching me to eat the right things. 

Sara's Personal Reflection:

Reflecting on this nutrition unit,  I think it has been the most beneficial lesson to me this year. I could relate everything to my everyday life, and it helped me explore every aspect, helping me make decisions/choose sides for myself. I think the biggest problem with our food system is that we don't make enough time for food, resulting in eating poor foods for our bodies. We are always rushing everywhere, and there are too many fast food places (one at every corner), so it's easier and seems like the best way to get our meals in. We have eliminated eating at "dinner time", and sitting down with a fork and knife. Fast food is capable of being eaten in the car, on the way to keep moving in our busy lives.  I think that my only role in the food system is controlling what I put into my body. I can't control others actions, but I can promote healthy eating by doing it myself. I could change a variety of things like: Eliminating my intake of fast foods/eating out, eating fruits and veggies with every meal, replacing dessert with fruits/healthy alternatives, have portion control, drinking more water, and eat organic/healthy things (things I can pronounce, not high fructose corn syrup). I think that the impact of these changes would be significant. I would feel better, have more energy, lose weight, and overall feel better about myself. This unit really helped me understand diseases related to poor diet, which are 100% preventable. I learned that a healthy diet will not only be positive for me now, but through my entire life. 


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      Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 9.40.48 PM
      food
      food
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      Screen Shot 2014-01-24 at 10.04.44 AM

      Central Park Five

      Posted by Imani Weeks in English 2 - Pahomov - E on

      Imani Weeks  

      Central Park Five


      Race is always the go to answer or this happen because of the skin color for everything. Even today after slavery and segregation is banned there is still racism against every race. Central Park Five shows how the color of your skin can put you in a bad position, even your gender is enough to ruin your life. Five young black and latino boys were arrested for a crime they did not commit and even served time for something that had nothing to do with them. Your race and gender will make you a target when people don’t know the true or full story.


      In the movie Central Park Five they had different people speaking on the case. It was mostly the victims that were accused, their parents and media journalist. They were describing how it was back then around the time the crime was committed and how everything went downhill when the five boys got arrested. When the movie first started one thing that stuck out to me was when Rev. Calvin Butts and he was talking about young black men and one thing he said was “The most endangered species in American, that was a popular phrase, was young, black man.” When he said this my mind was based off of that one sentence the whole time I was watching the movie. It is not a coincidence that five, young, black and latino males were arrested, better yet accused for something they didn’t do. There was nothing that they could have done to get them out of the situation they didn’t deserve to be in, except changing their skin color and gender.


      Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Korey Wise. and more than 25 others teenaged boys entered central park together. While his friends were being arrested “I basically said what’s going on then he said didn’t I tell you not to run you little animal, something like that...” Why did he have to call that young boy an animal? I don’t think this officer will ever call his friends animals. I think it’s weird that they never revealed the skin color of this officer. It’s shocking because everybody looked at this case as a racial and gender issue, but they never once told people the names and color of the officers, only the boys and lady that was raped. I’m wondering if they trying to hide something and if they are what exactly are they trying to hide.


      To identify somebody, one of the first thing you would say is “Oh, he look mexican.” or “I thought he was white.” I know it’s easy to point somebody out based on skin complexion or color but you can’t do that especially during an important case you don’t want to seem like racism. The district attorney lady that was interviewing the kids to get their confession on video did exactly that. “First it was the black boy then it was the puerto rican guy then you got on top of her?” The guy she is referencing that is puerto rican is Antron McCray and he is also mixed with African American. The black guy could have been any of the three other boys. She knew exactly what they names were but she decided to picked them out by color. That wasn't helpful at all for him to say yes he did it. It could have been any “black boy” that was being interrogated. I know the boy getting interviewed wrote their names down during the false confession because the detectives were telling them the names of the other boys.


      Criminal Justice systems is not good. It’s unfair and not right. Back then and today. People always and will forever question that system. No matter what it has to do with. The media always seem to switch up stories or seem to have a huge affect on what others opinion is going to be. It was this one new paper that said “Grim test for the justice system.” While watching I’m sitting thinking like what do that mean test. After hearing oh there was no evidence against the boys just confessions that were told for them to say I knew exactly what it meant. The Justice system and people working for and with it has failed the test. I always wondered why didn’t they tell everybody that they didn’t have exact proof against the boys. Is it because they wanted the story to be over with? Did they just want to find people to blame it on or did they not want the people of their city to worry about things?


      Working on this piece I realized it a lot that is going on with this case. A lady in the movie said that there was another rape around the same time as Central Park Five but it had absolutely no coverage because of the interracial part of it, and the lady got thrown off a roof. I can't help but think that it was because the lady was white and it was in Central Park, the holiest place a person can go back then besides a church. This reminded me of the Emmett Till story I learned when I was a kid. A young African American boy who whistled at a white lady and got killed for it, he done nothing wrong to hurt the lady but he life was taking. People were even talking about the death penalty for the boys. Donald Trump was willing to pay for it to come back. They were kids and they wanted them on the death penalty! More and more watching and reading articles about Central Park Five I think it’s all about the New York Police pointing out a group of innocent black males saying they committed a crime when they didn’t know what was going on or what to do. Your race and gender will make you a target when people don’t know the true or full story.




      Trayvon Vs. The Jury

      Posted by Joie Nearn in English 2 - Pahomov - A on

      Joie Nearn

      January 15, 2014

      Silver


      The U.S court system has continued to get progressively biases toward certain cases. Being that in America there has been several cases that have displayed\ racial injustices such as Emmitt Till, Oscar Grant, Troy Davis and the most recent Trayvon Martin trail. The Trayvon Martin trial has enabled America to express their bias, towards discrimination.

      Ironically the vast majority of the jurors that have taken part of the trail, were white americans. Meaning that they racially could not relate. According to a news article written by  Richard Gabriel one of the jurors stated “And it is a combination of skin color, idiom, nonverbal behavior, and personality that causes this cultural outgroup divide, not just her race.” These jurors wronged them the fact they could not relate with the witness Rachel Jeantel, which  based their verdict decision. Knowing that Zimmerman is much more similar, in race and background, the jurors disregarded everything that she testified. This allowed five out of six of the jurors to rule in favor of George Zimmerman.

      Stereotypes have taken a major role in how the jurors and Americans function. Knowing the history of African Americans had their past with the law enabled the jurors of the trail to be more lenient towards Zimmerman. According to an article written by the Huffington Post “ The infamous Juror B-37 said that Zimmerman was not racially profiling young Trayvon, but was merely profiling him based on the fact that black men had been involved with burglaries in that neighborhood.” Knowing that Trayvon was African American made this juror believe that Zimmerman was automatically in correct for murdering him. Knowing that African Americans in the past have had serious issues with criminal behavior, made the jurors believe that Trayvon Martin’s death was vital.

      Knowing that America became very involved, in this historic trail. Society began to believe that this outcome of this trail was because the jury was bias. There was only one juror of color on this trail. According to The Huffington Post “as the only juror of color states that George Zimmerman "got away with murder" and as the nation lurches through yet another tragic episode that forces us to deal with our racial legacy -- new ways of viewing race are surfacing.” Being that this juror was the only one of color she could relate in some way with Trayvon Martin which made her very remorseful for this young man's death.

      The Implicit Association Test has been used to display your blind spots, in terms of our personal biases. Theses test are developed by Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts. These test are used to measure someone's automatic association between to objects. For example, in class we taken the Race IAT test, to measure Pleasant words and Unpleasant words with, African American Children and European American Children. While studying the results of this test it has been indicated that European Americans have a bias towards pleasant words and European American People. This demonstrates how the juror of this cases allowed bias to affect their decision against Trayvon.

      In conclusion The  Trayvon Martin trail was one of the most controversial and disputed trails in the US history. The US court system is very unfair and bias.  The Trayvon Martin trial has enabled America to express their bias, towards discrimination. This has displayed that America needs to reavaluated their injustices.



      1. "Trayvon Martin Case (George Zimmerman)." Trayvon Martin. N.p., 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/trayvon_martin/>

      2. "Race, Bias and the Zimmerman Jury | Houston Style Magazine | Urban Weekly Newspaper Publication Website." Race, Bias and the Zimmerman Jury | Houston Style Magazine | Urban Weekly Newspaper Publication Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://stylemagazine.com/news/2013/jul/16/race-bias-and-zimmerman-jury/?page=3>

      3. Paterson, Eva. "Trayvon Martin and Implicit Bias." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-paterson/trayvon-martin-and-implic_b_3692331.html>

      4. "Implicit Association Test." Implicit Association Test. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://projectimplicit.net/nosek/iat/>








      The Bias of the Police

      Posted by Jesse Shuter in English 2 - Pahomov - A on

      The Influence of the Police

      by Jesse Shuter


      “I would like to begin this story Doctor by telling you that murder is a crime. It is not to be laughed about, made fun of, attempted, or even discussed by those not in a position to deal with the fact that it is a crime.”


      “Tell me the whole story Steve, from the beginning.”


      “It all began last July, or was it August, no wait it was May. Yes I’m certain it was May because it was springtime. I was doing my usual paperwork when I came across a very peculiar file. This file was especially peculiar because it was marked Top Secret from the date January 12. Usually the files that are brought to me at the Police Station are not marked in this way. Anything that is marked Top Secret is to be brought to me immediately. So as you must also be wondering, why was this file not brought to me earlier? Why was a file that is supposedly urgent from January being brought to me now in May?


      So I open the file, and I read the thing that gets police commissioners all across America more apoplectic than anything else. A murder. I was especially frustrated because I had previously worked so hard to keep the streets of Philadelphia clean of murder and yet here one was. Then the weirdest feeling of deja vu overcame me. I felt like I had heard this case before before. Yet I was adamant that it was new. It was because of these mixed emotions that I was not prepared for, nor was I in a position to deal with what was to come in the next few days.


      The next day, I officially sent out a warrant for the arrest of whoever murdered the man. I decided to take a look at the body in our analyzation lab. The body was on an examination table, yet there was no one in the lab examining the body. I quickly slipped on some rubber gloves and began taking a look for myself. It was a man, he appeared to be  in his late thirties to early forties. He was a white man, handsome, he had short brown hair that reminded me of my own. He seemed like the kind of man I would be friends with, and here he was in front of me dead with a bullet hole through his chest. I could have sworn that I knew the man, there was a feeling of longing, both for the knowledge of who this man was, and also who killed him. It was crazy that we couldn’t find him in the system. To be honest, it was this attachment to the man, that drove me to make such rash decisions about this murder. Finally, an officer, Jenkins was her name, came to me with news, regarding the man’s killer. Apparently two men came to turn themselves in. The interesting thing is it was the same crime. Both of these men were claiming to be the murderer of the same man.


      I did the only logical thing to do in this scenario, I decided to interrogate both the men and see what each of them says about the murder. The first man was named Jack Jordans. His file said that he had graduated from UCLA and was now working as a successful architect. The file also said that he had a wife but no kids and that he currently lives in New York City. He was 34 years old. I decided to take a look at this guy wondering why he would commit a crime if he is as successful as his file says he is.


      I started by examining him through the two way mirror. He was young looking for his age. He was a black man, strong looking. He was tall and had short hair. He looked up at the mirror and it almost seemed like he was scowling at himself in the mirror. I stepped into the interrogation room and asked Jordans who this man was that he killed and he said that he was a client of his named David Read. I asked him questions about the murder and why he did it. He wouldn’t give me much of a straight answer until I got in his face. I began raising my voice and asked him why he killed the man, he said that he didn’t know why, he just had to. I turned around and began walking away after getting all of the information I could from him. Then he spoke again, in a lower register, I heard him say “I killed him because he was a punk, like you”. I quickly spun back around, and yelled at him asking him to repeat that. He looked at me frightened, saying he didn’t say anything. I stormed out furious, the nerve of that man. He definitely seemed like the kind of guy that would want to kill, in more ways than one. After the interrogation I looked up David Read in our system, however, no one existed under that name.


      The next man to claim that he was the killer of “David Read” was a man named Chase Stefano. According to his file he was a lawyer who graduated from Michigan University. He was just as successful as Jordans, it was almost uncanny how similar they were financially and otherwise. He too had a wife but no kids. It was weird that these men with seemingly great lives turned themselves in for a crime. I asked him a few basic questions about his family and his job, nothing I didn’t already know the answer to, but then I got to the juicy stuff. I decided to come out of the gate by asking him why he turned himself in. He said that he couldn’t live with the guilt. I looked at his face and he looked sad, also he wouldn’t make eye contact with me. I noticed some of his features, he was white first of all, he had blonde hair and green eyes. Despite the looming despair of the situation his held himself well. He answered all of my questions in a mature manner. I respected him, he seemed like a guy I would vote for to be president. He was well spoken and seemed to be telling the truth at all times, but I knew something didn’t seem right he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would kill. He had a great life, why would he throw he it away. I even heard him whisper under his breath, “why am I here right now?”. That cinched it. The guy didn’t even think he should be here, clearly he was innocent.


      After interrogating both men it was clear to me that Stefano was innocent while Jordans was lying for some reason. So I told everyone that Jordans was clearly the murderer, and that Stefano should be released. That was how it seemed, I heard this guy Jordans say horrible things, while Stefano admitted to not wanting to be here. It makes sense if you think about it Doc, most of the bad guys out there, the killers, are black guys. Haven’t you noticed that in the news. I hate murderers more than anything, and murderers are usually those African Americans that think they are too cool for the law. White guys stay clean. So I released Stefano and gave Jordans the chair for murder after a sentencing by the judge.


      So Doctor what do you have to say to that, it all adds up, so why am I here. Just because I was diagnosed with some disease, doesn’t mean that I am crazy. Everything I told you was true, so why did the judge sentence me to come to sessions with you?”


      “It is because, of what happened next Steve! You got the wrong guy, your delirium acted up and you convicted the wrong guy after hearing things! Do you want to know what I found out after going to the police station later? A month later, Stefano comes back to the station after another murder. This time Steve, it was not voluntary, this time he blew up a school bus and was caught running from the scene of the crime, luckily no kids were on the bus, but he killed the driver and a teacher. I asked him why he did it and he revealed that he is a terrorist, he was ashamed of what he had done so he tried to turn himself in, but when he was released he knew he had a duty to continue spreading havoc. Meanwhile I found out that Jordans was being blackmailed by his organization to turn himself in. You are dangerous Steve, and that is why you are here now.”

      Ethan Reese Food Project

      Posted by Ethan Reese in Science and Society - Best - Y on

      Reese family chicken noodle soup recipe - 


      1 whole onion sliced 

      3 stalks of celery chopped

      3/4 cups of carrots chopped

      1 pound of Boneless skinless trimmed Chicken Thigh sliced

      10 cups of water poured

      2 large russet potatoes halved

      2 Table Spoons of parsley poured

      1/2 bag of Pennsylvania Dutch yolk free home style ribbon noodles poured

      1/2 tea spoon of salt poured

      1 teaspoon of pepper. poured

      1 table spoon of oil

      2 tons of love 

      1 ton of caring

      3 cups of Secret Reese Family Ingredients


      Directions: Lightly brown chicken thighs in vegetable oil... Add two stalks of celery and one onion quartered. Cover with water. Let simmer for one hour. Remove from heat. Place a strainer into a large pot and place cheesecloth in the bottom of the strainer. Pour contents of pot into the stainer. Remove chicken. Break chicken into small pieces- remove as much fat as possible. In a clean pot, add a small amount of oil ( just enough to coat the bottom of the pot) add 3 stalks of chopped celery, one chopped onion, and carrots.  Place a fresh piece of cheesecloth into a strainer and strain the broth again back into the pot to cover the simmering vegetables. Add the chicken, potatoes, additional water. When boiling- add noodles and parsley and cook for 7 min. Salt and pepper to taste, and add love and care along the way. 


      All of the ingredients aside from the chicken, oil, salt, pepper, and noodles are all natural straight from the farm to the store about  45% of the ingredients are processed. One serving is about 240 calories containing about .23 grams of sugar, 1.3 grams of total fat. The body is actually nourished greatly by authentic pennsylvania dutch soup, my mom says that traditionally the dutch grow all of the ingredients and that it is used to cure several ailments of the body and soul. The body is not labored by the digestion process due to the low sugar and fat content of the soup, if you cut out salt and pepper it makes the dish healthier but I season to taste. All of the ingredients are either extremely low in sodium and fat or all natural and our bodies are meant to digest it, living in an urban environment it is hard to acquire fresh ingredients for some parts of the recipe. The meal is actually a poor mans meal meaning it can be eaten everyday and sustain the person without causing bodily harm of course if all the ingredients are kept natural as they are supposed to. I wouldn't even know where to start guessing where the ingredients were grown, probably rural states like Ohio and Idaho. I think the salt traveled the furthest, there are no foreign ingredients so probably less than 2,000 miles. The vegetables were not organically grown although traditionally they should be all naturally grown. The price of the soup was under 10$ to make including the cost of using the stove. Of course corporations can do this on a larger scale and for less money but my families soup tastes far superior because there is one ingredient that is special to mine, love. 

      My role in the larger food system is to balance the ecosystem by making sure to eat the things that reside lower in the food chain. As a human I am at the top of the food chain and my responsibility is to hunt and eat.  The biggest problems with our food system is that we over consume proteins and starches which leads to a unhealthy and unbalanced diet that causes diseases of the body due to dietary unhealthiness. We need to switch to eating more natural and energy efficient food such as vegetables and fruits.  I could cut sodas, sugars, caffeine, fast food, and other heavily processed and unhealthy food.  The impact of these changes would probably make my heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys healthier. I am not willing to make these changes.


      Multigenre Projects B band

      Posted by Meenoo Rami in Reading, Writing, and Rising Up - Rami - B on

      During this quarter, my students have been on a multigenre research journey.  They were asked to to pursue a passion in their intellectual/emotional/spiritual life, to explore a chance  to strive to answer a question involving a topic of consuming interest to them and to communicate their learning through a multigenre project.  This is where they got at the factual, the emotional, and the imaginative. This was a time to be daring, to try the untried. 


      Students chose a person, idea, topic, trend, cultural phenomenon, movement, thing, place and were asked to become the quintessential, mad-obsessed researcher who follows this research thread until their insatiable curiosity about the topic was satisfied.   


      This work was inspired and guided by the work of Tom Romano.


      Students have published their work on a website, please check them out, comment, and share widely:

      Kathy Arim




      Manage Kathy Arim


      Diamond Blenman




      Manage Diamond Blenman


      Drue Boccuti




      Manage Drue Boccuti


      Roger Bracy




      Manage Roger Bracy


      Amanda Cartagena




      Manage Amanda Cartagena


      Octavius Collins




      Manage Octavius Collins


      Daniel Varnis




      Manage Daniel Varnis


      Keyaira Doughty




      Manage Keyaira Doughty


      Sean Force




      Manage Sean Force


      Branden Hall




      Manage Branden Hall


      Margaret Hohenstein




      Manage Margaret Hohenstein


      Katherine Hunt




      Manage Katherine Hunt


      Jasmin Hussain




      Manage Jasmin Hussain


      Kilah Kemp




      Manage Kilah Kemp


      Vannary Kom




      Manage Vannary Kom


      Tamatha Lancaster




      Manage Tamatha Lancaster


      Jermel Langley




      Manage Jermel Langley


      Kenny Le




      Manage Kenny Le


      Danielle Little




      Manage Danielle Little


      Jacob Lotkowski




      Manage Jacob Lotkowski


      Sean Mcaninch




      Manage Sean Mcaninch


      Maleena Mel




      Manage Maleena Mel


      Byshera Moore-Williams




      Manage Byshera Moore-Williams


      Aazimah Muhammad




      Manage Aazimah Muhammad


      Nicholas Murray




      Manage Nicholas Murray


      Shannon Powers




      Manage Shannon Powers


      Meenoo Rami




      Manage Meenoo Rami


      Merrik Saunders




      Manage Merrik Saunders


      Jonathan Spencer




      Manage Jonathan Spencer


      Taylor Veasley




      Manage Taylor Veasley


      Willie Willson





      Hernán Cortés

      Posted by Claudia Bonitatibus in Spanish 4 - Manuel - E on

      Yo soy Hernán Cortés un conquistador muy famoso.  Yo era comandante de la expedición de México en 1518.  Cuando yo y los otros conquistadors capturado el líder de las Aztecas, Montezuma II.  Yo estoy responsable por muchos  vidas de las Aztecas.  En este pictura mis manos se cubren en sangre de las Aztecas. Yo impacto la cultura de México mucho.  Este es por qué yo estoy un personaje importante en la historia de México

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