When asked what an important part of culture is, one might say the language, the music, or the history. While all of these are indeed necessary elements to a culture, they lack the ability to be easily shared with others. Music has the capability of being shared with everyone, however, messages and meanings within the words of the songs can be lost due to language barriers. On the other hand, food does not require language or words to be understood. Food is one of the most important aspects of a culture because of how it represents that culture and its traditions.

Within a culture, food can represent its history. Amy Choi, an author at TED, wrote, “American cuisine is shaped by the natural wealth of the country. Having never faced agricultural hardship, Americans had the luxury of not relying on rotating crops…” Often, traditions that have carried on into modern times started because of food availability and the method of preparing it. Cultural dishes that are still made now were influenced by what the world was like when it first came into creation. For example, many dishes in the Jewish culture are based on where people lived and what food became available during specific times. During the Diaspora, when the Jews were being forced to move around a lot, they had to assimilate into the cultures of the areas they lived in. This resulted in many of those cultural dishes being shaped and incorporated into Jewish tradition. What started as a necessity to live became part of the culture and got passed down through the generations.

Food can also display status and respect. In many cultures, the type of food and way it is prepared is a symbol of one’s status. In an article written by PMC, it is stated, “Food also plays an important role with respect to an individual’s place in society. As Counihan observed, ‘One’s place in the social system is revealed by what, how much, and with whom one eats.’” Expensive foods are commonly used to display one’s wealth and status in society. Because of this, food is used to show one’s respect to another person. Expensive food, or food someone usually would not eat, would often be prepared in order to honor guests. Another way to show respect is how food is positioned on the table. In Chinese culture, when eating fish, the head is positioned towards the most respected member at the table and should not be moved from that location. Similarly, only after the most respected member has started eating can everyone else also begin.

One of the most important sides of food in culture is the symbolism. Food can have different meanings based on what it is made of and how it is prepared and presented. An article by Guansheng Ma at ScienceDirect says, “Food has many symbolic meanings; it not only expresses but also establishes the relationship between people and their environment as well as between people and what they believe.” A good example of this is the Jewish holiday, Passover, where almost everything in the meal represents something. The meal itself is a ceremony of remembrance to what happened to the Jews before and after they fled Egypt. A staple food of the holiday is matzah, an unleavened bread, which the Jews eat to remember their hasty exodus out of Egypt. During a Seder, this is typically eaten with horseradish and charoset to represent the bitterness of slavery and the mortar Jews used to build while enslaved. Another example of symbolism is found in foods eaten during Chinese New Year. When celebrating the New Year, the type of food and how it is prepared symbolizes the desires for that year. Dishes such as fish and dumplings represent prosperity and wealth, and are considered to foresee an auspicious year.    

In every culture, food means more than just nourishment. It can hold the culture’s history, struggles, and hopes within one dish. However, it does not have to be constrained to just those in the culture. When people who are not part of a certain culture eat a traditional dish, they get to experience a piece of that culture and possibly gain a newfound appreciation for the people and their history.  

Works Cited

Choi, Amy. "What Americans Can Learn From Other Food Cultures." ideas.ted.com. N. p., 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2018. https://ideas.ted.com/what-americans-can-learn-from-other-food-cultures/

Ma, Guansheng. "Food, Eating Behavior, And Culture In Chinese Society." Journal of Ethnic Foods 2.4 (2015): 195-199. Web. 23 Apr. 2018.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352618115000657

Nordström, Karin et al. "Food And Health: Individual, Cultural, Or Scientific Matters?." Genes & Nutrition 8.4 (2013): 357-363. Web. 23 Apr. 2018.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689889/

The Great Chase

A comparison between “Taming of the Shrew” and “Ella Enchanted”

Prince Charmont had been visiting Frell when a mob of his fangirls began to chase after him. While escaping, Prince Charmont runs into Ella as she is walking home, and tries to hide behind her. Ella, who is avidly against royalty and their treatment of the kingdom’s species, is not thrilled by this turn of events and brushes him off. Prince Charmont isn’t used to this treatment from the ladies and develops an interest in Ella. Despite Ella’s attempts at driving him away, Charmont insists on seeing her home. Unlike in the “Shrew,” Charmont and Ella interact before Charmont starts to like her and wants to pursue her. He hopes that by being courteous, she will warm up to him and eventually return his feelings. Prince Charmont’s infatuation with Ella when they first meet is much more subtle than Lucentio with Bianca -- he simply hopes that they’ll meet again instead of trying to trick her by impersonating her teacher.

Ella and Prince Charmont are resting in an giant’s pub after several days of adventure. The two are sitting by the fire together and talking about their lives prior to meeting each other, along with other current events. After an especially touching moment where Ella tells Charmont that he will be a good king, he decides that he wants to kiss her. Similar to the scene from the play, this moment between Ella and Charmont shows the beginning of their relationship and how Ella was able to overcome the prince’s shortcomings (much like how Bianca overlooked Lucentio’s lies). This scene and the scene from the “Shrew” both reflect that a strong bond can be formed in only a few days as long as the effort is there.

Ella and Prince Charmont have just met and are arguing with each other when Hattie bumps into them. Hattie is shown to be an expressive fangirl of Charmont, and gets jealous upon seeing Ella close to the prince. Even though her reasoning for interfering and end goal differs from Baptista, she is also trying to prevent a relationship happening between Charmont and anybody but herself. Hattie realizes that there are already romantic feelings growing between her step-sister and the prince, and she wants to avert those feelings -- thus, becoming an obstacle in Charmont’s path to Ella.  

In both the play, “The Taming of the Shrew”, and the movie, “Ella Enchanted”, the main couples -- Lucentio and Bianca, and Charmont and Ella -- successfully marry each other in the end. In these cases, the pursuit of a person resulted in the “happy ending” for the characters involved. Even though this isn’t the most realistic scenario, there is a grain of truth in that when something or someone is desired, then it is worth striving towards.

Works Cited

Haver, Tommy O, director. Ella Enchanted . Netflix, Miramax, 2004

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Washington Square Press, 1992.

A compromise is an agreement between two sides, usually with both sides winning and losing some. Compromises are made with hopes of a semi-peaceful ending. What happens when one side is not willing to compromise? It depends. In certain cases, this could result in both sides losing things. In other cases, if one side is weak, the possibility of a compromise between the two sides is less likely. The weaker side, not having much to give, might not see the point in compromising with the stronger side. On the other hand, the stronger side might already have everything they need, and see nothing to gain from the compromise with the other side. While compromise is important in some situations, either one of the sides in the conflict won’t be willing if they don’t think they could gain from it.

The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, in which a group of boys are stranded on an island with no supervision, provides many examples that show why a side in a fight between two groups would not be open to compromise. In chapter ten of the book, Jack, one of the “leaders” of the groups, steals the glasses from his rival side’s advisor, Piggy, so that his “tribe” could make fire. In the next chapter, Ralph, the other “leader”, and Piggy go to get Piggy’s glasses back from Jack. Once they arrive and confront Jack, he demands for Ralph to leave. “You go away Ralph. You keep to your end. This is my end and my tribe. You leave me alone (176).” Even though not much had happened between the two groups in this scene, tension had already risen because of Jack’s previous actions and Ralph, the conflicting group, appearing in Jack’s “territory”. Since Jack stole the glasses from Ralph’s group in order to get the thing he wanted and needed, fire, more conflict was created between the two groups. At this point in the book, Jack’s crew is much larger than Ralph’s and Ralph makes it clear that he would have been willing to compromise with Jack if he had just asked to use the glasses. This demonstrates that the stronger side in a fight might not compromise with the opposing side because compromising wouldn’t benefit them.

Another example from the book that showcases issues regarding compromise is the scene soon after Ralph and Jack meet face to face with each other. During this scene, the two boys begin to argue, which leads them to start jabbing at each other with the butt ends of their spears. This continues for a short while before Ralph tries to reason with Jack again. “Listen. We’ve come to say this. First you’ve got to give back Piggy’s specs. If he hasn’t got them he can’t see. You aren’t playing the game—(177)” This quote further shows that Ralph would have been willing to cooperate with Jack and his crew. Ralph hoped that if all the boys were a big group again, things would operate smoother on the island. Instead of reasoning with Ralph, Jack continued to hold his grudge against Ralph, and did not want to change the “superior” way that he had built up his tribe. In this case, the weaker side wanted to compromise so they could be on equal ground as the stronger side. However, the stronger side in this scenario, Jack and his group, see no point in compromising with Ralph because they have nothing to gain from doing so. Compromising with Ralph would not have aided Jack’s agenda on the island any more than being forceful would. In fact, Jack believed he was strong enough that he didn’t need to compromise.

The conflict between Jack and Ralph in the book is not the only example of want and rejection of compromise. The Melian Dialogue was a meeting between the Melians and Athenians during the Peloponnesian War, with the Athenians wanting to compromise with the Melians and the Melians wanting to stay out of the war. The reason for The Melian Dialogue caused a very similar situation to what happened in the book, except it is reversed. Instead of the weaker side, the Melians, wanting to compromise, the stronger side, the Athenians, asked to compromise instead. The Athenians were going around offering to form alliances with other groups of people, relying on force to subdue them if they refused (similar to how Jack decided to steal Piggy’s glasses, except without the asking part first). Melians, inhabitants of Melos, wanted to be and stay neutral while other areas struggled with the Athenians. Eventually the Athenians targeted them to be allies as well. The Melians refused the Athenians, using their honor and hope as an excuse.

The Melians did not see how compromising would benefit either themselves or the Athenians. The only thing the Athenians promised them if they became allies was to spare Melos. The Melians were a small group of people and didn’t have much to give to the Athenians. In this event, the weaker side saw no point in compromising with the stronger side. The Athenians warned the Melians that they would take Melos by force if the Melian’s final answer was to not cooperate with them. The Melians figured that Melos was so small and weak compared to the Athenian forces that they would have nothing to give if they were allies, and nothing to lose if they refused. In the end, the Melians rejected the Athenians proposal, and the Athenians took Melos using force.

Compromise, in many cases, will help both sides reach their goal. When compromise is not an option or not an accepted tactic, usually one group comes out on top. More often than not, this group is the stronger one. The reason compromise is not a possibility is because while a strong group relies on force to get them what they want, the weak group depends more on hope to get where they want to go. These reasons prevent compromise between the groups. Regardless of which side is asking which to compromise in situations like these, the group being asked to compromise will not because they believe there is nothing to gain from working together.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord Of The Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

"The Melian Dialogue". Colorado.edu. N. p., 2017. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.colorado.edu/classics/clas2041/Lecture%20Outlines/LOMelian.htm

"The Melian Dialogue". Mtholyoke.edu. N. p., 2017. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/melian.htm

Soy Ayala, vivo en Mt. Airy y vivo en mi barrio toda mi vida. Para mi, es un buen barrio pero es un poco aburrido. Cuando pienso en mi barrio, veo familias y grupos progresivos. Me gusta el área en general y la diversidad de la gente. No me gusta mis vecinos porque ellos dan mi familia problemas. Mi casa es en el lado oscuro de nuestra calle, así que no tiene sol y mi casa siempre frío. Me gusta donde vivo debido a mi familia y porque conozco el área también. No sé qué cambiaría en mi barrio.

Voy a crear mi mural en mi barrio, Mt Airy. Fue una parte pequeña de Germantown durante los 1700s. William Allen lo llamó Mt Airy después compra el área. Tiene muchas culturas diversas. Sin embargo, Mt Airy no tiene mucho grafiti, especialmente donde vivo en el barrio. Quiero crear un mural hacer el barrio bonito. Un lugar de mi mural es ideal porque muchas personas verlo como ellas caminan o manejan pasado, por lo tanto la gente puede ver el mensaje de mi mural. La mayoría de las personas en mi barrio ya le gusta leer, por eso ellos puede gustar el mural.

Mi mural es un libro grande con los palabras “Leer más, es sentirte mejor” escrito. El propósito de mi mural es para expresar un mensaje. Quiero hacer este diseño porque mi mural tiene un tema similar de los “little libraries” en mi barrio. Voy a incorporar imágenes de un libro porque es sencillo y la gente puede entenderlo. Voy a incorporar las palabras “Leer más, es sentirte mejor” porque es un mensaje simple pero bueno.

El propósito del arte público es transmitir un mensaje, así que mi mural llena el papel de arte público. En mi opinión, mi diseño es muy bonito. El mural representa la comunidad también y está ubicado en un lugar donde muchas personas pueden ver la pared. El diseño es sencillo pero fuerte y personas pueden entender.

Una oda a Venustiano Carranza

Ambicioso, carismático, inteligente

Cuando yo te veo pienso en Santa Claus

Me inspiras y me motivas

Tú eres mi animal de espíritu

Why has God forsaken me? What did I do in my past life to be treated in this way? Am I in hell? Please, God, if you’re listening, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t wave hello to stupid Ms. Jeckles. I’m sorry I didn’t pick up that most likely flea-infested dog. I don’t know what I’ve done but I’m sorry. It’s not fair, I’m a relatively good person, I should have money. (small pause) Maybe I should ask mom. Yeah. She should understand where I’m coming from. (pause) Then again, maybe not. She might get suspicious because I never call her. Ooh, I could probably text her. (pause) Maybe not, she’s always calling me disrespectful and if I text her asking for money then she will never shut up about it. (pause) In that case, then I’ll have to go meet her in person and that is way too much work. But that means that I have to call her and then she’ll probably yell at me over the ph–

(ring) Hello? (pause) Mom? (pause) What do you mean I have no emotion when I answer the phone, I have plenty of emotions. (pause) Yeah, yeah, okay, fine. Actually, it’s a good thing that you called because I have a question to ask. (pause) I swear on my life that it’s important. (pause) Can you lend me some money? (pause) Because you’re my mother and you’re supposed to pamper me. (pause) But moooooom, I’m too old to be getting up and running around like that! (pause) It doesn’t matter that I’m only twenty years old, my back says otherwise. (pause) What’s it for? (pause) Ice-cream sundaes.

(pause) Why are you yelling at me?! (pause) So what if I have money in the bank? That requires leaving the house and interacting with the nasty bank people. (pause) Mom, I barely have two pennies to rub together right now and Swanky Sundaes is really effing expensive! (pause) I do not have to act my age! (pause) Don’t “Lee, please” me, you’ve never gone through what I’m going through right now! (pause) Mom, you don’t understand. Listen, waiting in line for ice-cream sundaes is fun. Waiting in line at the bank isn’t. (pause) What kind of question is that? Of course I have to go to Swanky Sundaes, where else would I get high quality ice-cream sundaes? (pause) Ew, Pete’s only has like three flavors.