BP #7 - Financial Responsibility

The article talks about the current financial crisis the people of the United States are in. It focuses on problems with credit and loans, explaining why people get in trouble and what could be done to prevent it in the future. It then explains what President Obama is doing about it with the “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee”, and how this could make the “financial responsibility” a reality instead of a myth.

I personally agree with what this article has to say. As a student myself, I have to admit I am also not very informed about credit cards or loans. What I do know is that some of my friends that are now out of college, have large sums of money they owe and will have to pay for many years. Some of them don't have a job yet and have no idea how they are going to do this.

I also think some of the solutions in this article could really help a lot of people. I think colleges should offer a short course on some of these issues and make it mandatory to graduate. It could even be offered in the last years of high school, as to prepare kids that are going to college.

BP #5

C.  Do you agree with Congress's decisions about school lunches?  Why or why not?

The decision made by the Congress basically seems to be linked to saving money and promoting certain industries. If saving money is so important to these congressmen, then it would make sense for them to want healthier children that will have less health problems in the future. This will surely save the very wealthy health industry a lot of money, and of course, benefit the people too. I would have to conclude that I don't agree with the Congress's decision in any way, it sounds like an excuse to keep certain industries happy and nothing more.

BP #4 - Going Green

To be honest, I never gave food much thought. Living in a country like Uruguay, you never really become aware of processed foods and non organic vegetables or fruits. Healthy food is something that is taken for granted most of the time.

Since I moved to New York, I started to struggle with the change in lifestyle, in particular the change in my diet. At first I was just concerned about learning to cook the dishes I wanted to, but then I realized that food here was not always organic. So I started to do research about what non organic food was, and its consequences. I quickly learned that it’s better to make an effort to go to a further but organic market, than to stick with what is convenient but not organic. I guess the only struggle is, since I don’t own a car, taking a longer trip to the market. It can get tough during the winter. I learned it’s better to go fewer times and trying to get most of what you need, even if that means having to plan out your meals and cooking only with what you have.

When it comes to food sustainability, I only learned about it the other day at class. I was never aware of this before, but it’s something that I’ll try to incorporate from now on.

BP #3 - Mini Research on HeLa themes

Hennrietta Lacks lived during a tough time in the United States history. This was a hard moment in history, where segregation in the U.S was legal. Those were the times under the Jim Crow laws; these laws were active in the U.S between 1876 and 1965. The Jim Crow laws indicated that black people shouldn't have the same civil rights as white people.  Things like not allowing black people to sit in the front of the bus, or sharing the same entrance to a building are only a few examples of what was going on during this time.

"Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws)

The Jim Crow laws were annulled in the year 1964 supported by all African-American Civil Rights Movement between 1955–1968.

BP #2 - Taking advantage of someone

1.

I was 22 years old and I was working in a big advertising agency in my country. I was working as a copy writer, and I was just getting to know the business and my co-workers. My job was about writing radio and TV scripts for brands. One day I realized that the agency won a small creativity mention and when I checked out what ad was the winner I realized  that the ad was written by me. When I asked who got the credit for this ad, I was told one of my co-workers had taken all the credit. He was the art director of my department and decided that I didn't deserve any recognition for my efforts. I felt really used and disappointed. So I confronted my art director and he told me that I was too young to receive recognition. 

I felt this was really unfair, but it taught me a lot about the business.

2.

I think HeLa's family probably feel this is very unfair and cruel. 

They must feel cheated and powerless against such big organizations.

INTRODUCTION

Hello, my name is Federico, I live in Brooklyn, New York and this is my blog for the class ESL 099.