Kyle Scudder Final Project Image

Microtia

Final Research Paper Overview

This is the visual pathway, from the source of input to the primary visual cortex.

This shows the "what" and "where" pathways that are associated with recognition.  This is an incredibly complex process that is not completely understood.  This includes being able to recognize objects from a variety of perspectives, object constancy, as well as being able to recognize faces and where certain objects are.  The "what" and "where" pathways also emphasize specific areas of the brain, depending upon whether the individual is focusing on a specific object (foveal vision) or something in peripheral areas.  There are a number of deficits involved with these pathways as well such as prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces).

I am utilizing Riders of the Purple Sage and Sea of Tranquility to show how the science behind these pathways can be exemplified through literature.  It is emphasized that Jane is metaphorically blind throughout the novel, and it could be argued that her blindness results from a failure in recognition.  While the man from Sea of Tranquility suffers from a loss of eyesight and in turn a failure of recognition when he is holding his son for the first time.  The literature provides an image of these scientific processes as well as the faults.

Response to Discussion Leading

In response to James and Emily's fourth discussion question: "In the end, is the driving need to be fertile and conceive a mostly natural one, or one that is ingrained in us by society?," I think that these days, women are becoming less expected to become mothers and have children. Society used to believe that all women had to become mothers, that all women had to conceive and raise children, and that all women had to take care of the household. These days, things are completely different. While there are some people who still hold the belief that women must become mothers, raise children and take care of the household, society has changed and women are pursing a higher education and working jobs outside of their home. Many women do not have a desire to become mothers, and they will not give in to the pressure of anyone.

On the other hand, some women have pressure from their family members like sisters, cousins, or even good friends. When family members that are close to women such as their sisters become mothers, the rest of the family may start to question that women's choices and why she has not had a child yet, whether she is in a committed relationship or not. Mothers, aunts, sisters, and even cousins can have an effect on women who have no desire to become mothers, and they can try to push them into thinking about having a child when they don't want to have a child at all. I think that although society has changed and that many people are accepting of the fact that not all women want to become mothers and raise children, that some people, like mothers who want to become grandmothers, try to force their daughters to find the "perfect man" and start a family when that may not be their ideal life path at that point in time. I think that people need to be more respectful of women's choices and not try to push them into doing something that they do not want to do or becoming something that they do not want to be.

My Year of Meats Ch 11- Epilogue Discussion Leading (James Lillin and Emily Teach)

A brief summation of the chapter: Both Akiko and Jane wake up in the hospital, Akiko from the rape and beating received by "John", and Jane from the severe blow to the head in the meat factory. Jane has a miscarriage of her stillborn baby, having died days ago. When she calls Sloan, he blows up and they become estranged, while Akiko conceives a child. Jane is fired from the show but retains enough of her slaughterhouse tape to create a documentary about the meat industry and treatment of animals. Akiko gathers the strength to leave John, and leaves to go to America where she visits Lara and Dyann, and the Beaudroux family. Jane gets back together with Sloan as Bunny's distribution of the documentary tapes sparks worldwide interest and debate. She gets closure with Suzie flowers as Akiko's child grows while she lives with Lara and Dyann, and everything appears to be resolved, although ending on a somber note with Jane reminiscing over a peak incidence age for "DES daughters".






1) "She studied the woman's battered face: the lip was split and started to heal; the fading bleed of yellow, green and blue skin that ringed both her eyes told of older battles, as did the thin white scar above her brow." This is probably the least gut wrenching description of the abuse that occurs throughout the book. Violence and sex are both extremely sensually described in the book. Did it make you uncomfortable, or was the method of description justified?

2) “There is another young husband waiting here, anxiously pacing up and down. His wife is having a baby. My heart is heavy with grief and envy. Promise me that the next time the anxious young husband will be me.” These are the last delivered words of good ol' John Wayno, written in the letter given to Akiko in the hospital. What a gigantic, monstrous asshole. The novel has a very complicated relationship with gender portrayal. Is John, in the end, anywhere near a sympathetic character, and could he have been developed better? Also, What’s the significance that Jane is unable to carry a boy to term, and Akiko is completely sure that her developing child is a girl?

3) When Jane learned of how Akiko was affected by My American Wife, she said that  “Akiko’s fax threw me for a loop… up until now I’d never really imagined my audience before… Now it hit me: what an arrogant and chauvinistic attitude this was. While I’d been worrying about the well-being of the American women I filmed as subjects, suddenly here was the audience, embodied in Akiko, with a name and a valuable identity” Both the American and Japanese characters in the book show a perturbing degree of ethnocentric and concern for only the morals and happenings in this country. Is this a natural thing? A Healthy one? How does it affect the actions of the characters in the novel?


4) "Like one of those science documentaries on television. I could see it up close in my mind from the fertilization right through the implantation, the little blastocyst burrowing deep into my uterine tissue. Well, it's going to take a while longer to really settle in there, but to all intents and purposes, I'm pregnant..."  It's appropriate that fertilization is described so viscerally in a novel that holds such stock in the importance of fertility. In the end, is the driving need to be fertile and conceive a mostly natural one, or one that is ingrained in us by society? 

5) In what is perhaps a slightly heavy-handed bit of foreshadowing, before the epilogue, in the church with Jane, Sloan, and Mrs. Helen, the choir sings “It Remains to Be Seen What He Can Do For Me”, and in the remaining section of the book pretty much everything goes right and peachy for Akiko and Jane. Jane gets with Sloan, Akiko goes and visits families from My American Wife and goes on wonderful adventures on the Chicken Bone Express (WHICH IS TOTALLY NOT A THING), settling down to watch her baby grow with the lesbian couple from the show, Jane’s documentary is a smash, Gale gets his just desserts, BEEF EX is implicated in the whole affair and a firestorm starts about their involvement, John Wayno is demoted, as is Kenji, and Suzie Flowers calls saying that she absolutely adored the show, sound effects and all, and that her husband got back with her. In the last page of the book, Jane says “I don’t think I can change my future simply by writing a happy ending. That’s too easy and not interesting.”

Did Ruth Ozeki write an overly happy ending for her? Is the epilogue a realistic and satisfying way to end the book?

Samsara Meat Video

I came across this video months ago and decided to look it up again because it fits perfectly into our class discussion we had earlier today. It's the true and disturbing reality of meat processing yet the video is very interesting even though it's hard to watch at some points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIFVbxqAGY8

My Year of Meats Ch 9-10

I felt like these chapter were a turning point for the book. I've realized that I'm waiting for Jane and Akiko to meet, I'm waiting for Akiko to leave John, and I'm waiting for Jane to lose her job and now that Akiko has become more bold and Jane is taking her work a step further I feel like things will come together in the end.

I also felt like, with the information in Dyann's articles about the meat industry and Akiko being sick and John's reactions to the meat that someone might die in the end. That instead of enhancing, the meat will make someone really sick. Maybe John? The very thing that he lives for, basically, is the thing that will kill him in the end?

Dyann's article also said that the slogan for that particular meat industry was "You call the shots" and I thought it was funny that she said that to John and kind of compared him to the horrible meat packing industry. She wasn't really giving him any power, she was mostly mocking him by giving him what he wanted.

Victoria Thompson: Discussion Leading

Chapters 9-10:

1.) "I haven't yet aborted, although I did deposit your check." (Ozeki 208).

This quote refers to when Jane is talking to Sloan about their baby.  She sent him a fax after continuously ignoring his calls.  Why do you think Jane didn't get the abortion?  Does she actually want the baby or does she just like the idea of a baby?

2.) "I will visit Chicago and Colorado and scout both women,  I will send you my opinions, but of course, the final decision is yours.  You call the shots." (Ozeki 208).

This quote is from Jane's letter to "John" Ueno.  She is talking about the changes she wants to make to the show and her new approach.  Why did Jane tell "John" her plans for the show if she knew he wouldn't like them?  Why is she being so submissive to him when she is the one with the power?

3.) "Life is bloody, she thought, wiping her mouth.  I don't mind, because it can't be helped."(Ozeki 251).  

Here Akiko is thinking to herself days after "John" has raped her.  Why is Akiko so accepting of the rape?  Why doesn't she leave him instead of staying and taking all of his abuse?  Is this a common thing of the time or is she just extremely emotionally scarred from "John's" abuse?  

4.) "Bunny's" husband and Akiko's husband share one thing in common; a name.  Do you think they share anything else in common?  Can you draw any parallels between them?  

5.) Did this chapter change your opinion on meat?  When Jane was going through the farm did you feel differently about the meat you see as a normal part of your diet?     

 

Brea Spinelli CBI

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fawn-weaver/what-is-the-proper-role-o_b_4993332.html


    We all recognize that My Year Of Meats its just about a closer look at the controversy with the meat industry, its about the story of Jane and Akikos self- discovery of them as women. My Year Of Meats is based around this show called My American Wife which is a cooking show about the "typical" American wife. Jane is responsible for finding American housewives who are wholesome and attractive who will open her home to the cameras and make a meal whose centerpiece is some kind of beef dish. This aspect of the book bothered me. Why is it obligation that women need to be this perfect housewife and why are women perceived as that in the media?
     I found this article from the Huff post called What Is The Proper Role of a 21st century wife?  by Fawn Weaver. The article is about how the author once attempt to be a stay at home mom, she left her job for sabbatical but still worked on several projects during it. Then somehow down the road she thought shed be a better wife and mother if she stayed at home. Her husband questioned that thought "Honey, I'm not trying to be funny but you're not built to be a stay-at-home mom. Every day, I'd come home from work and the kids would run up to me, 'Daddy, please save us from mommy! She's trying to turn us into another one of her projects!'". Then she goes on talking about her friend, Courtney Joseph, author of Women Living Well, she loves being a homeschooling stay-at-home mom and wife with sole responsibility of domestic duties. Its been her dream since she was a little girl and she's now living out that dream. The first time I met Courtney, I found it incredibly refreshing to see the pure joy in her eyes when she talked about being a stay-at-home mom and wife. Then the author goes on saying how that same feeling Courtney gets from being a domestic housewife is the same feeling she gets from sharing a business idea with her husband. She says that her friend Courtney is the perfect example of a 21st century wife and so is she...the working wife and mother. She ask the question    
So what is the proper role of a 21st century wife? Whatever you want it to be.  "Whatever brings the most joy to you and your spouse." She also quotes "You are beautiful. You are wonderful. You are unique. So don't make your role as wife look like a cookie cutter image of anyone else. Don't allow anyone outside of your home to define the roles within it."
        Reading this made me think of the two women, Jane and Akiko. Both these women are very different but both are women who are just trying to discover who they are their place. The pressure of looking perfect,being the perfect wife, and being good at her job push her too her limits. Jane cheats on john and is left with an unwanted pregnancy. Akiko on the other hand wants a child and find it very difficult to get pregnant. Akiko thinks about the episode of My American Wife! with the lesbians and realizes she cannot find happiness with her husband. As Akiko reaches this conclusion, her husband's occasional abuse.
         Having the body of a women we think have this maternal need to find a husband and get pregnant....but why is that the case. Women can have more, we can have a successful job, we can have a family, we can have happiness. There doesn't need to be this pressure to be perfect. The irony of My Year of Meats is that the show they are perceive are these perfect, attractive housewives but the women in the book are far from perfect. Like Weaver says women don't need to be some cookie cutter way.

Luke Dumke CBI

I decided to relate a specific article to Akiko's eating disorder. Throughout My Year of Meats, it is very clear that she is bulimic, throwing up everything she's eaten after she's done consuming it. However, I wanted to aim toward a different point of view because in today's society, it seems as if people only recognize disorders such as bulimia and anorexia to be conditions that only females suffer from. But that is not the case.

I found this article on the Huffington Post about someone's first-hand experience living with bulimia.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-cuban/men-eating-disorders_b_4150441.html

Within the article, it describes how people at school, and unfortunately even his own mother, used to call him fat, which eventually led him to become bulimic.

The saying "Sticks and stones" is, according to the writer, Brian Cuban, one of the biggest body misconceptions. He notes that "Words do hurt, words can cause permanent damage."

The writer of the article also goes into male body stereotypes, and how much the "norms" of being a male can affect the way younger men view themselves as.

          -Men have to be strong

          -Men are leaders

          -Men don't worry about weight

          -Men don't starve themselves

Also, mentioned toward the bottom of the article, a statistic from the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) states that around 800,000 men have suffered from bulimia and/or anorexia. Yet, as mentioned, these numbers aren't accurate because men tend to "hide in the shadows of the disorder" simply because of the stereotypes mentioned above.

So, even despite that Akiko is a woman and that anorexia and bulimia are primarily viewed upon as a disorder that women only suffer from, I found Brian Cuban's article highly intriguing. It's rare when the focus of bulimia and anorexia are centered on men, but it is very clear that not only woman suffer from the conditions. 

       

My Year of Meats Chapters 4-5

These are my responses to the discussion leading questions from today's class.

For the first question, "Do you think that John is treating the women in his life like the meat or cattle that he focuses his work on? What about the other men in the novel?," I do think that the men in the novel definitely treat the women in this book like a "piece of meat." The men expect certain things from the women that they are having a sexual relationship with, whether it be their wife or not. I felt that John thought that he could get away with treating Akiko like she had to, in a way, bow down to him and do whatever he tells her to do just because of the fact that she is married to him.

For the second question, "Why do you think it's so important for Japanese women to watch beautiful American women cooking the meat?," I think that it's all about how women are portrayed in commercials or TV shows for advertising. Women in the show, My American Wife!, are portrayed as the typical American wife that cooks all of the meals, cleans the house and raises the children. The Japanese women that watch this show think that they have to live up to the standards of the TV show, which makes Akiko think that she has to be "perfect" in the definition of perfect that society has given.

My Year of Meats Prologue-3

I really enjoy reading this book but I felt like some of the things she wrote weren't very believable which would have been okay with me but I feel like this is supposed to be a very real book especially with the situations the characters are in and how they apply to the real world. 

She writes about a lot of interesting themes that I think very closely apply to problems people are still facing and will probably always deal with. I feel like I'm learning from her characters rather than just trying to understand what they're going through. 

I think it is very interesting how Jane thinks of herself especially when she describes her body and she talks about her green eyes. I pulled a quote from page 51 "The green's not traceable, but Ma thinks it's the oni and I'm the devil's spawn." I like that she is still connecting herself to her Japanese culture but there is also an american side because you can tell she doesn't believe in the oni. 

Maria Freda's CBI

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/overview.html

The article I selected comes from PBS.org and is about modern meat in the United States. This debate article revolved around the question of our meat being safe to eat and the effect the antibiotics put into it  can have on our bodies. The first paragraph of the article really grabbed my attention and helped me connect to some of the issues raised in My Year of Meats. The article stated, "Meat producers have fed growth-promoting antibiotics to food animals for years. Recently, scientists have raised concerns that, in conjunction with the general overuse of antibiotics in humans, this use of "sub-therapeutic" levels of antibiotics in food animals may lead to serious health risks for people. Banning the use of such drugs, however, would greatly reduce the efficiency of the industry, driving up the cost of meat." 

This debate helped me to relate to the scene in book where Oda goes into Anaphylactic shock after eating the Sooner Schnitzel. During this scene, Oda's entire body went rigid and started to swell and his windpipe closed after eating the meat. Later, when Jane was talking to the doctor, he explained the harm that meat can have on our bodies. He says, "But all these surplus antibiotics are raising people's tolerances, and it wont be long before the stuff doesn't work anymore. There's all sorts of virulent bacteria that are already resistant.... It's like back to the future- we're headed backward in time, toward a pre-antibiotic age." This quote relates back to the article in the respect that the antibiotics given to the animals we eat is having a negative impact on our bodies and we don't even know it. Ranchers and farmers have been giving antibiotics to their animals for decades. These small daily doses of antibiotics would make the animals gain as much a three percent more weight, which increased their profits. On top of this, the meat industry doesn't publicize its use of antibiotics, so accurate information on the amount of antibiotics given to food animals is not easy to find. 

However, the largest problem centers around taking antibiotics that are used to treat human illnesses and administering them to food animals. With the increasing amount of evidence suggesting that sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in food animals can pose health risk to humans, there is a greater push for these drugs to be banned. For example, if a group of animals is treated with a certain antibiotic over time, the bacteria living in those animals will become resistant to that drug. So the problem for humans is that if a person ingests the resistant bacteria from improperly cooked meat and becomes ill, they may not respond to antibiotic treatment. 

Overall, we need to be more aware of what we are putting into our bodies. The effects of antibiotics can alter our bodies and lead to certain defects in the future. For example, on page 117, Mr. Purcell explained, "It was some medicines they was usin' in the chickens that got into the necks that we was eatin'.... An' that medicine, well, if it didn't start to make me sound just like a woman!" This again goes to show the adverse effects these drugs can have on our bodies and we should further research how we can prevent such deformities from happening. As Americans, we are blind to the where our food comes from and are unaware of the side effects it can have. We should care more about the treatment of the food animals we eat as well as what is being put into their bodies. For what the eat, so do we. 

My Year of Meats prologue-3

Hey!

So far this is the most interesting novel. My year of meats keeps me engage and excited to read more. It all started with Wal-Mart. A few quotes that I had to share with the class are on page seven and page ten. On page seven, “I had just gotten into bed and was lying there, rigid, trying to relax against icy sheets long enough to fall asleep.” I hate that when you first hop into bed and it’s so cold. I love how they describe the sheets as icy. On page ten, “ I would prowl the freezer sections of food chains across the country, eyeing the unsuspecting housewives of America as they poked their fingers into plastic wrapped flank steaks.” I don’t even want to think about what people do to food behind our backs. I carefully look over the package of meat whether it is chicken, pork or beef to see if there are any holes in the package and check the package or sell by date. So I thought it was ironic the author bring up people poking their fingers into the package. Thats all for now.

Karie King

My Year of Meats Emily Teach

So far I am really enjoying this book and it's really keeping my interest. In the novel, the two main women seem very different on the outside, but some how have certain similarities. Jane has always struggled with being comfortable in her own body, because of her 'freakish' height, but America's diverse culture has made it easier for her to fit in and feel comfortable. So far, she seems like a very strong and self- dependent character. Aklko however is very different. She seems very lost and is married to an arrogant abusive husband who controls every aspect of her life. She constantly sides with her husband and has no opinion of her own, which I find to be very sad. She has an eating disorder which is making her body weaker and more frail everyday, sadly this seems to be the only way she can have any control in her life. I can't wait to see what else unravels throughout more of the book.

My Year of Meats

First of all, My Year of Meats so far is one of the most interesting novels that, in my opinion, we've read in class. (despite the fact that we haven't read much of it yet!) I love the switching between point of views and I like how you can see differences in the character's embodiment and roles that they play in two completely separate cultures. One of the quotes that I chose to write about was found on page 14:
     
 "The eating of meat in Japan is relatively new custom. In the Heian Court, which ruled from the eighth to the twelfth centuries, it was certainly considered uncouth; due to the influences of Buddhism, meat was more than likely thought to be unclean."

The quote shows the influence that Religious bodies and beliefs had on the cultures of the people of the time. So far there is a very present aspect of cultural differences between the embodiment of the characters. There was also another section of our reading that emphasized that fact. On pages 12 and 13, the section titled "Note on American Husbands" described, while not bringing up the religious aspects of it, the similar theme of the differences in cultures. Japan's culture didn't eat meat because of it's "uncleanliness" and religious beliefs. It also compared to how the American household couples are different than what the Japanese household couples seem to be. With that, along with the mentioning of the lack of dietary meat in Japan, those are just two examples of how the cultural embodiment are described within the first 3 chapters of the book.

I imagine that there will be plenty of more differences seen throughout the pages that enhance the differences between the roles of culture and the way it influences both genders to act. I hope that there is a bigger theme of how the meat is produced and I hope that the book explores more into the things that people seem to ignore when it comes to producing meat for the consumers of both cultures.

My Year of Meats-- Walmart

Right from the beginning of the novel, there is an emphasis on the impact of Walmart and its considerations with the American identity.  It is consistently referred to throughout the novel.  In the third chapter specifically, Jane states that Suzuki, "had a passion for Jack Daniel's, Walmart, and American hard-core pornography."  And then she states that he would ask about Walmart whenever they entered a new town.

What is most important in this aspect is when Jane states that she does not blame him for these questions.  She then states, "There wasn't anyplace else to go in those towns.  I mean, if you took a Sociological Survey of the people who lived there, they all spent their days off at Walmart too."

This continues as well, when Jane makes the statement that what truly impresses her group is the sheer amplitude of America.  "To a Japanese person, Walmart is awesome, the capitalist equivalent of the wide open spaces and endless horizons of the American geographical frontier.  All this for the taking!"

To the characters introduced so far that have not had past experiences with Walmart, they see it as exemplifying American identity and culture.  There are great opportunities and low costs in America.  And I see this as a misrepresentation, as Walmart and other large corporations are essentially destroying true culture as smaller business, local shops and stores are not able to compete and are forced out of business.  As well as their mistreatment of their employees, this portrayal so far in the novel seems deceiving and I am curious to see if progression into this area will continue in the rest of the novel.

My Year of Meats - Cultural Identity

Throughout the beginning of the novel, there is a significant amount of attention and emphasis on Akiko's body. She wants to have children but is unable to because she is so thin and fragile. Akiko sees Suzie as a typical American woman who is strong and able to bare children, as is stated by the quote on page 20:


"Canned peas, Suzie suggested. Easy. Done. Suzie bent over the oven. Her children pushed between her sturdy, mottled legs and hung off her hem. They must have just poured out, Akiko thought, one after the other, in frothy bursts of fertility. It was a disturbing thought, squalid somehow, and made her feel nauseous."


We see here that Akiko almost feels envy for what Suzie has, although she states that "it's not spite...or my contrary nature. She tried a smile again at Suzie, tried to feel happy-go-lucky." It is obvious that Akiko thinks highly of Suzie because of what she has and, more specifically, because of what Suzie has that Akiko cannot. It goes to show the cultural differences seen between women in America and women from other countries such as Japan. Women in America pride themselves on their families and raising their children and this is something Akiko cannot have. Akiko therefore cannot find her identity and almost struggles with her own mind to find who she really is.

Morgan Thompson CBI

Eating Disorders

http://www.ulifeline.org/articles/400-eating-disorders-why-do-they-happen

"Eating disorders are rarely about food or wanting to be thin. Instead sufferers use food and unhealthy behaviors like dieting, starving, bingeing and purging to cope with unpleasant and overwhelming emotions and stressful situations."

In our class discussion we talked about how Akiko has an eating disorder. We know that she has a bad relationship with John in the sense that he is controlling and rude to her. Akiko feels the need to live up to the perfect My American Wife! standards and that is where her eating disorder come in.


A direct quote I picked out explaining the act, On page 37 it says, "After dinner, when the washing was done, she would go to the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror, and stare at her reflections. Then, after only a moment, she'd start to feel the meat. It began in her stomach, like an animal alive, and would climb its way buck up her gullet, until it burst from the back of her throat."

On page 38 it says, "But she knew always to flush while she was vomiting so John wouldn't hear. She also knew that she felt a small flutter in her stomach, which she identified as success, every night when it was over."

From the psychological view on this, the quote actually helps show that through this eating disorder, she actually believes that it helps her unwind, and feel less stressed out.

This connects with many people today. Eating disorders are becoming more and more common because they feel the need to be in control of something, or the need to reach society's standards of being beautifully thin.

My Year of Meats

To add on today's class discussion I wanted to talk about the first chapter on page 11. There is a list of all the things needed in My American Wife! It says..
"DESIRABLE THINGS:
1.Attractiveness, wholesomeness, warm personality
2. Delicious meat recipe (NOTE: Pork and other meats is second class meats, so please remember this easy motto: "Pork is Possible, but Beef is Best!")
3. Attractive, docile husband
4. Attractive, Obedient children
5 Attractive, wholesome lifestyle
6. Attractive, clean house
7. Attractive friends and neighbors
8. Exciting Hobbies

UNDESIRABLE THINGS:
1. Physical imperfections
2. Obesity
3. Squalor
4. Second class peoples. "

I connected this with the way the meat industry works now a days. The meat industry attempts to raise their animals to be perfect so they can make valuable meat products. Now of course the meat industry doesn't look for attractiveness or anything above but indirectly they connect. They want the family in My American Wife! to be perfect just like the meat industry wants their animals to be perfect.
                     

Victoria Thompson: CBI

Meat Industry: 

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2451.aspx

These sites educate readers on the dangers of infected meat.  Just like Jane a lot of people in this world don't know the truth behind what really happens on the farms.  The article states the drab conditions that the animals are forced to live in.  

"The giant corporations that run most factory farms have found that they can make more money by cramming animals into tiny spaces, even though many of the animals get sick and some die." 

Because the animals are kept in tight, damp, and dirty spaces they often carry diseases that can be passed to humans when we eat them.  Also when animals die they are not always taken care of right away.  Some dead animals are even cut up and put back into the feed.  Humans tend to eat their red meat rare or medium rare which can cause the diseases such as E. Coli and ring worm to be passed on.  

"Genetically altered to grow faster or to produce much more milk or eggs than they naturally would"

These hormones are very harmful if ingested over a long period of time.  They can lead to early puberty in both girls and boys.  Also they can cause stunted growth, lack of puberty, and in extreme cases tumors.  

Jane is like typical americans, she blindly cooks and eats the meat that could possibly kill her.  She doesn't realize yet the process her meat goes through before it can get to the table.  Akiko does't realize that by eating the beef more often she might be jeopardizing her chances of fertility.  Cows are loaded with hormones that if consumed enough can cause your reproductive system to shut down.  They are both blind to the effects of the meat industry but hopefully they can be enlightened before its too late.   

Discussion Leading- Chapters 4-5 of My Year of Meats

Contextual Material: An interview with Ruth L. Ozeki

http://ruthozeki.com/meats/conversation.html (Spolier alert! The ending in discussed at the end of the interview)

She was asked: “What inspired you to write a novel about the meat industry?”

Her reply: “Actually, it never occurred to me to write a novel about the meat industry. I started out writing a novel about a woman who makes television, specifically Japanese TV documentaries about American life. I'd worked in this small niche of the media industry for eight or nine years, and during that time it always struck me that the funniest, most interesting, most tragic and most culturally profound interactions always happened either behind the camera or when the camera was turned off. I hate wasting good narrative and am an archivist at heart, so I decided to record some of the anecdotes….The meat was metaphorical, a gag, if you will. As Jane and her crew embarked on a road trip to make a cooking show featuring rural American housewives (I'd done a similar kind of show myself and found it rich in narrative episode), meat took on a variety of metaphorical resonances: I was thinking of women as cows; wives as chattel (a word related to cattle); and the body as meat, fleshy, sexual, the irreducible element of human identity.”

1. Based on the information learned in the author’s interview, and these quotes:

“And with that he gave Akiko one last violent shake, with such force that she slipped from his hands, spun once, fell over the back of a kitchen chair, which caught her squarely in the abdomen, then collapsed against a china cabinet...blinded by sudden blood, she groped her way into the bathroom.” (100).

“He kicked the door shut with his heel, and before I knew what was happening, he had landed on top of me. I couldn’t fight him off. He was enormously heavy and put all his weight into his shoulder to pin me to the floor. He ripped my shirt open in front and grabbed my breast and started squeezing it and moaning, while he got his knee wedged between my legs and my skirt around my waist,” (109).

Do you think that “John” is treating the women in his life like the meat or cattle that he focuses his work on?What about the other men in the novel?

2. It has been made quite clear throughout the novel so far that BEEF-EX has an image of an American woman that is acceptable to be on there show. We can see the lengths that the company goes through to get acceptable women in these quotes,

“The challenge was to find out what they looked like. But there were ways. You could phone up the local Nu U Unisex Salon...and appeal to the owner as a colleague...you're a beauty professional, and what I really want to ask you for is your professional assessment on her appearance…” (57).

“The BEEF-EX people are very strict. They don’t want their meat to have a synergistic association with deformities. Like race. Or poverty. Or clubfeet.” (57).

John was very upset when Jane tried to choose authentic families or when the man was cooking on the show. Why do you think it is so important for japanese women to watch beautiful american women cooking the meat?

3. “I’m not your girlfriend, Sloan. And I don’t get pregnant.” (91)

   ‘“Do you have any kids?” Grace asked. I shook my head. ‘I tried. I was married once,

     but it just didn’t work out…”(75). Both of these quotes were conversations Jane had.

Based on these quotes we know that Jane couldn’t conceive and had a bad marriage. Akiko is very similar in that she hasn’t been able to have a baby with her abusive husband. However, Akiko is very malnourished and timid while Jane is strong and healthy. Why do you think the author chose these specific physical similarities and differences between the two characters?

4. A lot happens in both of these chapters, mostly because there are almost “mini chapters” throughout them. In just chapter 4, we go from a section about Jane, one about Akiko, a fax, back to Jane with a script intertwined, back to Akiko, and then a part for Grace. How do you think the body of these chapters affects the way that we read this novel?

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Many of the other tales that we read had gender issues that were discussed in class and when I read this tale I actually noticed that the roles seemed reversed because when the man in the beginning first sees the "angel" he is frightened and runs to get his wife. I just thought it was interesting how different the gender roles seemed to be in this tale compared to the others.

I also noticed that the wise woman in the story advised the family to kill him because he was there to take their child but it said that "..they did not have the heart to club him to death..." pg 204 and I thought it was interesting that they could keep him locked in a cage and make money off of him but they couldn't kill for their child (not that they should have killed him). In a sense the people are fighting the natural way of things especially if they're refusing death and they have no fear of punishment which kind of makes me think that they haven't just lost their faith but they are purposefully repelling it.

With the reaction of the woman at the end when the angel leaves and she just feels relief I felt that we didn't really know her character that well and maybe the angel didn't know her either and that was why there wasn't a change in the relationship between the family and the angel. It was like they were disconnected which could relate back to her not having any faith. That could explain her feeling of relief because maybe she felt guilty for refusing an angel and treating him so badly.

Kamrie Gademske CBI

http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/the-actual-difference-between-women-who-are-hot-and-who-are-beautiful/

The article I selected comes from ELITE DAILY and is titled “The Actual Difference Between Women Who Are Hot And Who Are Beautiful.” The first two paragraphs of the article hooked me immediately and illuminated the perfect article for me to conduct my CBI.

“Women. We’re curvy, skinny, hood, pretty, cute, ethnic, bad, dime pieces, unicorns, babes, pieces of tail, juicy, fine, sexy, foxes, sultry, voluptuous… The list goes on.

When was the last time you heard a man describe a woman with an adjective that isn’t dripping in sexual innuendos and defaming premises? When was the last time you heard a man describe a woman by something that compliments her soul and her inherent elegance? When was the last time you heard a man describe a woman as beautiful?”

This article talks about the loss of respect when it comes to women and how they are perceived in today’s society. The article specifically illuminates how men have been programmed to believe that any female with added features to enhance their appearance (plastic surgery, tanned skin etc… ) are automatically deemed as beautiful.  

I related this article back to the folktale Little Snow-White and how the prince talked about her as a possession rather than a girl he would feel honored to have in his life. In the tale, Little Snow-White is attacked several times by her evil step-mother as a result of jealousy due to Little Snow-White’s beauty. The step mother hopes that her attacks on Little Snow-White will end in her death. When the step mother prepares a poisoned apple and Little Snow-White takes a bite, she drops to the floor unconscious. She is then placed into a coffin to be laid to rest by the seven dwarfs who she was living with. It so happened that a kings son had come to the forest and saw Little Snow-White laying in the coffin when he said...

"Let me have the coffin, I will give you whatever you want for it." But the dwarfs answered, "We will not part with it for all the gold in the world." Then he said, "Let me have it as a gift, for I cannot live without seeing Snow-White. I will honour and prize her as my dearest possession."

This quote relates back to the article from the ELITE DAILY perfectly. The prince saw Little Snow-White’s beauty and wanted her as a “possession” immediately after laying eyes on her. The fact that the prince had never met Little Snow-White and automatically wants her simply based on her looks leads back to the aspect of men and the illusion they have created of women.

Throughout this course we are constantly focusing on the body and how certain characters are talked about through the texts we analyze. The reason I liked this article is because I was able to connect to it on a personal level. Being a young adult growing up in today’s society outlines that this is how men view females. It is sad that women are not looked at for who they are and what makes them unique individuals. They are viewed as “sexy or hot” if they possess dark tans, big chests and hair extensions to name a few. Its time for men to realize that women have more to offer than just a body.

Wolf Alice

This tale reminded me a lot of Kafka's Metamorphosis. When I started reading this tale, all I could think about was "Is this really happening? What is she?", and those were the same kinds of thoughts that I had when reading Metamorphosis. These tales are similar in their storyline. Wolf Alice acts as a wolf and has trouble behaving like a human should when she is taken in by humans, where in Metamorphosis, Gregor acts like a human at the beginning and has trouble acting like a bug until he gets used to it. Gregor does better with the changes that he goes through because he becomes his true self.

On page 119, this quote reminded me of Metamorphosis as well. "Her long nose is always a-quiver, sifting every scent it meets. With this useful tool, she lengthily investigates everything she glimpses. She can net so much more of the world than we can through the fine, hair, sensitive filters of her nostrils that her poor eyesight does not trouble her." This reflects back to Metamorphosis because Gregor uses his senses to help guide him around when he first transforms into a bug. His senses are much more sensitive than they were when he was a human. Just like Alice uses her nose to sniff out certain things, Gregor uses his nose to decide what kinds of new foods he likes as a bug as well as to help him move around.

Wolf Alice

Today, in class, we were discussing the importance of the mirror and it's role in humanizing Alice and the Duke. Alice was able to see herself in the mirror all along, but what she saw in her reflection changed as she was aware of her natural body. However, the Duke wasn't able to see his reflection until Alice linked his wounds. When I read this piece, I understood the mirror as a reflecting an image of what the characters thought of their own physical identity. For Alice, she first saw herself in the mirror, she touched it with her "fore paw". She mentally and physically identified herself as a wolf, so that is what she saw in the mirror, that is until nature started to change how she identified herself. That was when she was able to realize that she was looking at herself, and that she was more human than she thought. For the Duke, he obviously had some kind of history of being labeled as an outsider and different (that is why the nuns brought Alice to him), so I thought that the reason that he couldn't see himself in the mirror was because the way that he identified himself was being different, or someone that no one else cared about, so when he looked in the mirror he saw nothing. But when Alice licked his wounds, it showed him that someone really did care about him, and that is why slowly his face appeared in the mirror. He slowly realized that, maybe he was different, but he felt like a human at that point because someone care about him.

I just thought about it like this because even today, people look in the mirror and see themselves as something that they physically do not really look like. For example, how people think they look too fat or too thin, when really they aren't. It's all about how we identify our self, when we look in the mirror we see whatever we think our body looks like. We pinpoint something and think that we look a certain way, whether we really do look that or not. Others see what we really look like, but when you look in the mirror you see what you want to see.

-Jessica Mitchell

Wolf Alice

I felt like a major idea in this story was the distinction between how we perceive ourselves as opposed to how others perceive us. I didn't feel like Alice brought out the Duke's humanity as much as she brought out his identity. I think he was unsure of who he was just like Alice and because they were able to connect in that way and not need to be "normal" he actually embraced his sense of self and was able to see his reflection in the mirror. They had a connection because they were different and they were able to empathize with one another. I think there was a realization that they weren't alone and they could be themselves and that would be okay for the other person.

Also, I thought the identity of the narrator was really important because there is a constant reminder that Alice is a human being -- not a wolf. The narrator isn't accepting of her and agrees with shutting her out. He admits to not understanding her and why she can't grasp acting like a human. I pulled a quote from page 122 "..we secluded her in animal privacy out of fear of her imperfection because it showed us what we might have been..." I think it is really important to think about how people who are considered normal are shutting out the things that are different and maybe scary. Alice is a young girl but still they are too afraid of her to see who she really is. The narrator represents the idea that people are not accepting of different.

Lauren Voelkle CBI

In Wolf Alice, Alice was raised by wolves and did not physically appear to be similar to the rest of the society when she is brought in with the nuns. "When they found her in the wolf's den beside the bullet-riddled corpse of her foster mother, she was no more than a little brown scrap so snarled in her own brown hair they did not, at first, think she was a child but a cub," (120).

I connected this to the issue of body hair in our society.

Chicago Tribune Article

"Some cultures regarded it as uncivilized, since body hair appears on animal bodies," said Sherrow. "The idea of a hairless body for American women developed between 1915 and 1945."

This article gives a brief overview of the history of women shaving their body hair. Greeks and Romans used pumice to remove body hair, while the Egyptians used beeswax and a quicklime substance to remove leg hair. In 1915, Gillette's Milady Decollete, the first razor aimed at shaving women's underarms, was first introduced on the market, which allowed women's fashion to become more revealing with sleeveless shirts and shorter hem-lines. Now, women more than ever will go through any pain in order to remove unwanted body hair. In most hair salons, they offer waxing- pretty much anywhere on the body, with a great cost. If not the salon, there are centers for solely waxing off unwanted body hair.


On the other hand, men are embracing their body hair more than ever. There are beard clubs, competitions, and mustaches became a new cultural fad. The longer the beard, the "manlier" you are. My brother is the co-founder of a beard club in Buffalo that has both men and women followers, young and old, and they have monthly meetings and get togethers in order to talk about beards.

We see Alice experiencing puberty in this story and the changes that accompany it, "the white growths reminded her of nothing so much as the night-sprung puff balls she had found...then, to her astonishment, she found a little diadem of fresh hairs tufting between her thighs," (124). Then, it goes on to say how the nuns did not give her enough information on how to deal with puberty, which leaves her lost and scrambling to be clean like the others.

"In a world of talking beasts and flowers, she would be the bud of flesh in the kind lion's mouth: but how can the bitten apple flesh out its scar again?" (121). This quote refers to how if Alice was born amongst Adam and Eve, she would be the new poster-child of femininity with her animalistic lifestyle. Perhaps women would be more accepting of their body hair. Ultimately, it is your choice whether you want body hair or not, because it naturally belongs to you.

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CBI Emily Teach

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tykiisel/2013/03/20/you-are-judged-by-your-appearance/

The article I selected is from Forbes, titled " You Are Judged by Your Appearance", the first statistic introduced was a study proven that.... 

1. Tall people get paid more money; " study by Timothy Judge at the University of Florida found that for every inch of height, a tall worker can expect to earn an extra $789 per year. That means two equally skilled coworkers would have a pay differential of nearly $5,000 per year, simply because of a 6-inch height differential, according to the study. "
2. The next statistic was, Women who wear makeup make more: Not only do people judge beauty based on how much makeup a woman is  wearing, make-up adorned women also rank higher in competence and trustworthiness. A study in the American Economic Review said women who wear make-up can earn more than 30 percent more in pay than non makeup wearing workers.
3. Fat people get paid less: Obese workers (those who have a Body Mass Index of more than 30) are paid less than normal-weight coworkers at a rate of $8,666 a year for obese women, and $4,772 a year for obese men, according to a George Washington University study that cited data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 2004. And other studies indicate obese women are even more likely to be discriminated against when it comes to pay, hiring and raises.
4. Blondes get paid more: A 2010 study from the Queensland University of Technology studied 13,000 Caucasian women and found blondes earn greater than seven percent more than female employees with any other hair color. The study said the pay bump is equivalent to the boost an employee would generally see from one entire year of additional education.
   

These statistics prove that we are under the microscope everyday being judged by our every action. We are constantly being judged by everyone around us whether they're doing it on purpose or not, we just live and breathe in a judgmental society which obviously can sometimes affect us unfairly.

I related this article back to the folktale, " One Eyes, Two Eyes, Three Eyes," by how Two Eyes was always being singled out and mistreated by her mother and her two sisters because she looked "normal." In the tale, Two-Eyes is portrayed as a fairly helpless individual,who must draw upon the old lady’s magic to rid herself of her wicked sisters’ tyranny. She isn't strong enough of a person to stand up to them on her own so she must use the magic of the old woman to help her break free of them. …

“I cannot help weeping,” she replied; “for because I have two eyes, like other people, my mother and sisters cannot bear me; they push me about from one corner to another and make we wear their old clothes, and give me nothing to eat but what is left, so that I am always hungry. To-day they gave me so little that I am nearly starved.”

This story Is the perfect example of how easily people can become bullied or pushed astray just because they do not look like everyone else( in this case she did however). In today’s society, if a person had anything other then two eyes they would more than likely be seen as “ugly” or "weird" as awful as that is. Even though throughout the entire story Two Eyes is mistreated,she forgives and forgets how horribly she has been treated, and welcomes her sisters with open arms when they come to her door begging. I found this to be surprising and unlike other tales I have read.  

In many of the tales that I have read, these are completely opposite of the "norm."  Typically, the one who is different is the one that is the outcast. The extremes, meaning the youngest and the oldest, are usually the ones that are targeted or featured in the tales.  Cruel treatment is usually a result of mixed families (step-children and -mothers).  And, something terrible happens to those who do the punishing, and we do not hear anything about them again.Of all these differences, the one that I keep returning to over and over again is that Two-Eyes takes in her sisters at the end of the story.  She completely forgives and forgets.  As the last sentence in my version states,

"Two-eyes however, made them welcome, and was kind to them, and took care of them, so that they both with all their hearts repented the evil that they had done their sister in youth."

This is what I like to think is the true happy ending!  Despite the poor choices made, the harm that was done, in the end, kindness and love is stronger than evil and will always win out in the end which I believe was the overall message in this tale. 

Rianna Seelig and Kerry Brooks Discussion Leading Questions

1.) Great attention is given to the physicality of women in multiple tales. What is the significance of female bodies within the tales? How does a woman's beauty effect her treatment within the tales?

• "Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature that ever was seen."-Little Red Riding Hood
• "The two ugly maidens replied that they had another sister, but they dared not let him see her, for she had only two eyes, like common people... and the knight was astonished to find her so beautiful."-One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes

2.) How does the prominence of female narrators/protagonists effect how you interpret and receive the story? Would you feel differently about certain tales if told from the perspective of a man?

3.) How is "The Beautiful Dancer of Yedo" different from the other tales? In what ways does the tale explore more mature themes and what effect does this have on the message of the tale?

4.) How is disability portrayed in the tales? What effect does disability have on the fate of the characters?

• "Now because little Two Eyes looked just like other people, her mother and sisters could not endure her. They said to her, 'You are not better than common folks, with your two eyes; you don't belong to us.'"-One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes

Folk Tales 1

In class we discussed how the female characters tended to make silly mistakes, like Snow White continuously letting the witch into the house when she really should have known better. However, she didn't really know better because she was really innocent. I think within these tales, beauty and innocence become one in the same. Both Snow White and Rapunzel are characterized as being beautiful, Snow White with "none as so fair as she" according to the mirror and Rapunzel's beautiful hair. These characters make mistakes but it ends up being all right because they are innocent/beautiful.
This reminded me a lot of Bess. In the beginning, Venters didn't really know just how innocent she was, but she still seemed innocent. Then as she kept maturing in front of his eyes, he couldn't think of her as being innocent because of being near Oldring. However, when Venters finds out she never did anything with Oldring, she is at the point completely innocent and completely a matured woman to Venters. I think this is a really interesting point to look at if comparing these two stories how all the authors paralleled innocence with beauty so you may not physically see innocence but you can see beauty. Their bodies become a way that the reader can observe the innocence of a character from the outside.

Folk Tales (1)

In reading the four tales, there was one tale that had an aspect that I really liked, that I think ties in with how we are looking at the body in our readings. In Little Snow White, it starts,

"Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at a window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of black ebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the window at the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked pretty upon the white snow, and she thought to herself, "Would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame"

Later, when we learn that the Queen gave birth to a daughter, we also learn that her wish cam true. It said,

"Soon after that she had a little daughter, who was as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony; and she was therefore called Little Snow-white." 

When I read this tale, I just really liked how the description of colors was used so vividly. A fantastic image of  what Little Snow White physically looks like is created with the use of these quotations and colors. The red looked pretty upon the white of the snow, so we know that Little Snow White's skin is very white, but that it is red as blood, so I image her cheeks with little natural blushes of red.. Because the red looked pretty on the white snow, we should assume that the red in Little Snow White's skin added to her beauty.

I just liked the choice in language for this section of the tale. The connections with what the Queen was seeing in the physical body of the world around her and how the same use of color was used to create beauty in the physical appearance of the girl was just nice to read for me. I also really liked how they chose to not only write that the wood of the window frame and her hair was black, it was black ebony, it just seems to give the description a strong affect, and I really liked it.

-Jessica Mitchell 

Folktales

Reading Folktales (1) was a very interesting experience for me. I noticed how I like having a physical book in my hands rather than reading electronically. When I have the physical book in my hands, I am less distracted by other things I can do on my computer and also I can just focus on the words on the paper.

Regarding the actual folktales, I noticed one thing that most of them had in common, which was the use of animals and other creatures who were characterized with human traits. For example in "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Little Snow White," characters such as wolf and seven dwarfs are used in order to bring the tales to extremities. The circumstances and characters also make the tales very fun to read, which is why I think little kids like tales so much. 

My theory is that little kids have a certain perception of tales, which is a fun transition into reading more dense material. However, tales are also for adults because adults can look deeper into the tale and extract deeper meaning/lessons applicable to every day life.

In terms of embodiment, I noticed that the descriptions of the characters' bodies are more simple in the tales than the characters of the books we have read. There are minimalistic adjectives and less sensory descriptions used. For example in "Repunzel," Repunzel is described with "wonderful long hair, and it was as fine as spun gold" (Grimm) The author did not describe Repunzel's hair in a way that makes a reader feel some type of way or connect the decryption with something they have/have experienced in their life.

Tales are different than novels, clearly, and I do have to admit they are a nice break from analyzing the dramatic novels. However, I like reading novels better for a few reasons. First off, the physical aspect of holding a book in my hands is very comforting to me. Secondly, I love the more dense material that I can interpret and take lots of notes on. I am excited to start My Year of Meats soon!