Cat practice Sleep Dealer

In the passage written by Jason Silverman, he explains that the Sleep Dealer movie introduces us to the future were technology is taken over the system, and it is affecting overseas countries where the United States get all of its labor, and natural resources. In my opinion, this statement is already happening since the United State’s corporation is extracting the natural resources, exploiting people labor, and destroying their land.

Nowadays, it is so usual that the United State’s corporation extract natural resources from others countries to produce its own goods. Even though those natural resources were in another country, they did not belong to the population in that country. As it was shown in the film, Mexican villagers are forced to buy water for their crops from an armed robot. A similarity can be drawn from the crude extracted in Colombia. The major part of the crude, which is used to produce gasoline, is being sold to the United State Corporation at a low price, and the remaining is resold to Colombia at a high price.

Another topic that is discussed in the movie is that United States is exploiting people’s force of labor by paying very low salaries. In the movie, it was shown that the system uses an overseas labor to do general works in the country. In the present time, corporations send their workload overseas to reduce their expenses. Companies as; General Motors, Nike, Ford, and so on, have been sending their factories to several countries outside of their main offices to minimize the cost of labor. Someone who could be paid here in the country for the same type of work in Mexico is not working at the present time, and this cost our society to struggle.

The government is playing a high role in the corporation rush of making profit by destroying entire communities. In the movie, we saw an evil scene were the village of Memo was destroyed. In reality, those scenes are currently occurring in Iraq, and Afghanistan. The video that are being revealed by Wiki leaks in the past few months, it shows us a Jet from the Army, killing suspects that later on were only civilians. If they were not sure about of those people were terrorists, how could they killed them all, as if they were animals.

In my conclusion, movie as the Sleep Dealer are a great form of criticizing the system of corruption that our country is heading to. Therefore, we need to take action to change our reality and enhance our future.

Blog entry 21

A. Go back through your blog entries for the semester and choose three (3) that you consider your best work. Write a paragraph explaining why/ how these blog entries reflect your best work.

I consider the blog entries 15, 16 and 17 as the most interested section of the entire course. All of them were part of the food section. The blog entry 15 was an essay in which we responded to the Meatrix film, in this assignment I felt surprised by the circumstances in which employees and animals were treated in the meat industry. I was not aware of the holocaust that those corporations have perpetuated to make profit out of the workers and animals. I hope that someday there will be positive changes in the industry to avoid the cruelty of the meat factories. Blog entry 16 was about the cat practice, ‘Let them Eat Fat.’ I really enjoyed writing my essay about that passage, because all the facts behind the fast food corporations were revealed to me. I used to be very addicted to fast foods restaurants, especially Chinese restaurants and MacDonald. At this time I have changed those habits of eating there, and I have started to eat at home, which it was something I stopped doing since I moved to New York. Lastly in blog entry 17, I presented my comments about the food section in which I was really interested to complete due to my reactions against the negative exposure of the meat industry. Therefore, these three blogs are the ones I consider to be my best work, because it directly motivates me to overcome many issues relate to my food habits. I was emotionally involved in this section of the course.

B. Next, consider your online experience this semester and write a second paragraph that answers the following questions:
Was writing online different from other writing experiences you have had in the past? If yes, how so? If not, what was the same?
Did writing blog entries help improve your writing ability? Please explain why or why not.
Did you feel that the online work was a shared experience or an individual activity?
Did you read other students’ online work? (Never/ Only when Assigned/ Sometimes/ Often)
Did you get the impression that other members of the class or the network read your blog? (Never/ Only when Assigned/ Sometimes/ Often)

Writing Blogs was a different experience as I was not used to do it. Before I have attended the ESL classes at La Guardia but I have never been in a class where all the assignments were presented in blogs. I believe this method of keeping track of assignments online, it is really useful to save time and in my case, I feel more engaged to the class since all the assignment were posted prior to class. Also, writing blogs have been interesting for me. I have never done a blog in my life, and with this one I have noted that my English is improving much more than the previous classes. In addition to this, sharing thoughts and giving feed back to my classmates has improved my knowledge of English as well. We can take a look into everyone’s blog, and it really helps to in some way improve our knowledge by comparing our writing style to the students with different backgrounds. I constantly read other students’ blog a lot, to look for ideas of how to start my essay, and to look for examples of writing styles. Some of the students were looking through my writing, some of them let me know that they were, and make comments about it, that was really helpful for me and I told them that I really appreciated them for taking the time of doing so.

C. Finally, consider you overall experience in the class and write a third paragraph that answers the following:
What lessons will you be taking away from this class?
Is there something you would have liked to discuss that we did not get to? What is it and why did you want to discuss it? (Or, what did we not cover in depth that you would have liked to cover in depth and why?)
Do you feel that you are leaving this class with a basic understanding of writing strategies? Why or why not?
What was the most memorable moment, assignment, interaction, or experience you had in the class? Please explain why.
What recommendation(s) would you give to a student that plans to take this class next semester?

I have learned a wonderful lesson from the food section in which I have changed many aspects of my food consumption. But the most important lesson that I could have learned from this class, was to learn how to organize my ideas when I start to write my essays. I do not think that we had missed anything from the writing process that it was taught by the professor. This class has taught me several strategies to overcome the issue in my writing. In the present, I have accomplished all my expectations in order to face the Cat test. The most memorable moment of the class when we took the cat practices test, I almost felt as if I was in the real one, and I made some mistakes that I believe I have amended those mistakes. The recommendations that I would give to the students that are about to take this class; is that the need to complete all the blog entries, and check back with the tutors to correct any misspelling.

Blog 20: Expanding on one topic in Sleep Dealer

I was assigned to the group 4, I believe that selling memories, or sharing it with others for business purposes is unethical, and it should not be allowed. I completely agree with one of the students in Dr. X class, “back in those days a person could remember 10 numbers or more. However, today if a person accidentally misplaced their phone, she/he might not even remember one. The technology is taking our less complicated and also less difficult, this could be very inconvenience since we become laziest every time a new technology comes out and replace our vital functions. Looking back into my life, I could remember when I have to memorize all the friends’ numbers, it was not easy but I could remember most of their numbers. Also I agree to Jihyun Oh, about the memories of Luz being sold through the system. She explains that; “It is similar to some cases when people upload pictures/videos without permission of people involved in it.”I could not agree more to her explanation; it is not allowed to the show a personal image of someone without asking for permission. This is considered to be a violation of privacy. For instance, this could be shown in TV shows, but in other to do so, both parties reach an agreement to post memories, images, and so on.

Blog 19: Watching and Responding to The Story Of Stuff

I consider the treatment that the system has against the third world as a symbolism of dehumanization. For many years, humans have been though that we have to compete in every step of our life, in the early years of school, in college, and after we graduate from college. We must keep our competitions in the highest level possible against our rivals. This thought makes us believe that we are superior to the rest, and therefore we have these results. People dying from external diseases as a result of the chemicals that the factory’s uses in the production of goods. I believe that we; corporations, consumers, politicians, and people in general are responsible for this tragic. From people that work extracting the natural resources, to those who owns the corporations, or work for the corporations, to the finals consumers, we must stop this proliferation of business breaking apart our home, our planet, the only asset that human civilization has. 

Blog Entry 18

http://www.strayercommunications.com/images/uploads/Outsourcing.jpg

In the movie, “Sleep Dealer”, the outsourcing of labor was one of the issues showed in the movie.  The outsourcing issue has been debated in the nation, and it has been criticized during the last decade. In my opinion, the outsource of labor affects our society for the following reasons; works have been taking overseas, people displacement of jobs, and people are under pay for similar jobs.

People in America have been struggling to find open positions in many fields where they used to be a great source of jobs due to the outsourcing of labor. In the movie, the government did not want immigrants to stay in the United States, but they manipulated them for many different forms of hard labor, but only paid low salaries. This has been happening in the last few decades in many poor countries around the world, such as: India, Mexico, China, and Morocco. For instance, Dell computers outsource their customer service department to India, as well as many other companies.

Many Americans are being displaced of their jobs without a chance to get a new one, because of the outsourcing outcomes in business operations. Some companies sent their workload out of the country to reduce the expenses of its companies, as a result, this cause former workers to lose any hope of getting their job back. This can be told by the many IT specialist that are currently unemployed by the new boom of IT department specialist in India. Even though Indians are very respectful professionals, we have to prioritize our society members to be first in the list of potentials employees, because it is part of developing our society.

The outsourcing is not beneficial for the companies in the long run. Think about all our jobs being done in Mexico as it was done in the movie. What people living in the United States would do to get money? A capitalism economy needs its own people to spend money to survive; this means that the money needs to flow in order to increase value of the economy. Companies cannot just pretend to save tons of money without looking at the final outcome. They need people to have power of purchasing their products which is why they made it to be sold.

In my conclusion, outsourcing labor is not a good option for our society and companies as well. Americans have been traded by the company’s business of making profit out of the need of poor countries to save money. I will try to stop this by making those companies to pay higher taxes, because they are letting their people out of the job market.

Blog Entry 17

Today, I will respond to my experience in the food section of the class. In addition to this part of the class, I will discuss the last Cat practice that we had last week, and also my comments to the respond of the ESL class.

One of my major surprise about the fast food and the meat industry, were the facts behind the hidden reality of the food industry. In the Meatrix, I recall the video that shows many of the bad industry procedures that take over the life of the animals. I was not aware of the way those animals were treated, from the killing to the suffocating barracks were those animals are tortured to stay all their life. On the fast food part of the class, the cat practice consolidates my view of the fast foods restaurants about targeting the poorest people in the cities. The passage Let them Eat Fat, make me feel intimidated about my preferences in food intake.  Honestly, I don’t want to eat fast food anymore in my life, I rather cook now believe it or not. On the ESL class respond, I was surprised by one of the student fluent in writing. I actually wrote to her that she was doing great on her paper and she should keep it up. The other two students were more likely to be in their levels, both of them were struggling with claims on the introduction. Therefore, I could not understand their ideas clearly because they lost the point of their essay. I kind of reflect myself when I write without thinking on the claim. Another part that I want to mention is the tutoring class on Monday. I believe that we gain more knowledge of the writing process when we sit one on one with a tutor.

Blog Entry 16. Let them Eat Fat

As shown on the passage, “Let them Eat Fat,” the fast food industry has targeted their business by taking advantage of the poorest in the country. My concern will be to stop buying their meal, until they give more healthy options on the menu, cease the negative advertisement, and people start cooking their own food as our grandparents used to do it.

Most people love to buy fast food, but they do not demand healthier options. If we go to the most popular fast food restaurant, McDonalds, we are only going to find one smart option free of saturated fat, “the Veggie Burger.” This demonstrates that costumers do not demand healthy meals. It is a reality that the obesity resulting from the super size portions is consuming the best years of our kids lives, especially black kids. We need to educate our kids to make better choices in their diet.

We have to cease the negative advertisements that these restaurants have created over the past years, and then this might stop the assimilation that the fast food industry has implemented on the poor people. As I have noted, people are engaged with the propaganda. They recall the songs, TV commercials, the names of the products, and so on. They identify themselves with the products.

Nowadays, people do not like to cook anymore. We have become so lazy that some people do not even have a kitchen anymore. We might need to go back to the old tradition of preparing our meals at home, as my grandmother used to do. Cooking can be delightful, if we share our recipes with our friends and relatives. This will be the best solution for avoiding those high calories food at the fast food restaurant, and it may save us a lot of money in the long run.

In conclusion, the poorest people in the country are being affected by the exaggerated consumption of high calories in fast food restaurants. We should fight together to avoid the malicious intentions of the well known fast food corporations. I think learning how to prepare healthier food at home will also help you to avoid bad choices in food.

Blog Entry 15 Responding to The Meatrix.

This short film “The Meatrix” aware us of the unsafe procedures that the meat industry is taking to process their products. Therefore, I strongly believe that the consumer should not be supporting these gigantic corporations, and we should stop buying their products because of animal cruelty, unsafe working conditions, and the factory’s waste that is destroying the environment.

Animal conditions are strongly cruel. One of those conditions that impact me most is the debeaking of the chickens; this practice is by far intolerable and unacceptable. The lack of space on the animal barracks is another major concern about the cruelty conditions of meat industry. As an example of this issue, the pigs are packed together so close and tight that they cannot move to the sides, and neither they are not able to turn around, this issue cause animals to have a variety of diseases that could be prevented, if they would have more space to interact on the barracks.

The workers conditions are insane. It is really dangerous to be an operator at these factories, as it is well known by the fatal statistics all over the country; the meat industry is actually the most dangerous work in the nation. If you watch the Meatrix film the meat packer workers were losing their fingers and continue to work even though they were bleeding without time to take care of their injuries. There should be some standard regulations of sanitation to prevent those accidents to happen, such as decreasing the speed of the machines to avoid mayor and minor injuries.

 All the wastes of the industry factory are affecting our community.  As it is shown on the Meatrix; all the wastes that are coming from the meat industry is contaminating the environment. These wastes are being thrown into rivers, and therefore our water becomes contaminated. The excrement of the animals is not being incinerator and they are being used to feed the animals. Besides, the factory produces smoke in high rates; this is causing the air to become highly polluted around the factories affecting people whom live around them, and to deteriorate the ozone layer even more. As the go green propaganda is spreading the world, the meat factory should catch up on this goal.

My conclusion from this video is that; the meat factory is violating the rights of animals, workers, and the community. There are inadequate practices being exposed on the internet and we should put an end to them. We, the final consumer will have to stand together on this matter to raise our voice and demand these factories to cease the cruel exploitations of animals and the community as well.