Andrew!

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to go to Andrew's lecture yesterday. However, I did go to Andrew's lecture last Thursday with my Intro to Social Work class.

He showed us a lot of resources that could be used for all classes, not just social work. He showed our class how to use the Lewis Library VuFind resource. This is a search database that compiles information from ALL other databases, ex. EBSCO, Proquest, etc. It's really, really helpful because you don't have to search through every database separately, which can be very time consuming.

Andrew is really an awesome librarian as well. He's really relatable and he has a great sense of humor. He made a topic that could have been really boring, interesting. He also offered to give us individual help on any projects or to help us learn how to use any resources the Lewis library offers. So, if you did miss it, I would definitely ask him about setting something up. It won't take an extensive amount of time and like I said, Andrew is really cool.

I saw this picture this morning and it really spoke to me, I guess you could say. With everything going on in our society today, I think this is really relevant.

What do you guys think?

My "Revised" Rant

Rant!

            My grandfather, after a lifetime of back-breaking work, has endured double knee replacement surgery, twice, within a ten year span. Walking is strenuous for my grandfather, but he does the best he can. He has a positive attitude about life and spends every moment living his life to the fullest. Having to use a wheelchair is a blow to my grandfather’s pride, in his own words. He chooses not to use one unless it is absolutely necessary. My grandfather is a sweet old man who spent his entire life working day in and day out for his family. The reality that he cannot walk on his own breaks his heart, as well as the rest of our family’s. Walking in to Sam’s Club, my grandfather considers food shopping a grand ole’ time, we realized there were no motorized shopping carts available. The issue was not regarding the wait time to use the carts, we are both patient people. However, several people on motorized shopping carts passed us while we were waiting. The people using these motorized shopping carts appeared to have no physical handicaps other than being overweight. I instantly felt a fire in my belly. My grandfather needed to use one of the carts; he couldn’t go shopping without it. The condition of his knees would not allow him to. Many negative thoughts and judgments of these people passed through my mind, I am ashamed to say. I was livid and counted the seconds until a cart was returned that my grandfather would be able to use. After thirty-seven minutes, someone who was overweight returned one. The woman dropped off the cart and walked to her car, what looked like, quite easily. This made my blood boil. Now, it was apparent that she could have done her shopping without the use of a motorized shopping cart. I was so angry at this woman for bringing attention to my grandfather’s ailment, when it is such a sensitive issue.

            The initial thoughts running through my head were rude. “She doesn’t even need that!” “She’s only fat, my grandfather needs to use the cart more!”

            After looking more into the matter, I saw there were other people who felt the same way I did. Why were obese people allowed to use motorized shopping carts? Many people stated there was nothing really wrong with them. I decided to take look from the other side. There were many blogs written by people who had been obese and lost large amounts of weight. On a blog written by Lyn, who chooses to keep her last name private, she pens everyday situations experiences on her journey through weight loss. Her blog post entitled, The Walmart Cart, depicts her experience having to use a motorized shopping cart at her local Walmart store. She describes her feelings of shame and embarrassment at having to use one, but knowing she could not complete her shopping without it. Lyn spoke of constantly dodging cruel glances and trying to ignore not so silent whispers. Reading Lyn’s article gave me more insight into what it is truly like to be obese. In America, there is a stigma behind being overweight. Many people who are overweight also suffer from depression and anxiety that can ultimately add to their weight gain. I sympathized with Lyn’s story and realized she deserves to be treated as a human just like everyone else, based on her character, not her weight.

 

 

 

References

"The Walmart Cart." Escape from Obesity. 15 June 2010. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. <http://www.escapefromobesity.net/2010/06/walmart-cart.html>.

rant! pt.2

After what we talked about in class, I started to think about how social media really can be a platform to initiate change. This week, as some of you have mentioned too, the buzz on Twitter was all about Amber Rose and Khloe Kardashian's feud. Considering neither of these women have real careers, I'm not sure what they could possibly be fighting over.

Anyway, this just shows that using social media can extend an idea to the masses. I wonder how different the world would be if celebrities used the advantage they are given to use the social media platforms for good. What if celebrities posted educated tweets, regarding today's social issues? I know I would definitely respect them more. I think there would also be a stronger push for change throughout the world.

Before taking my rant public, I would want to edit it and make it more clear. For example, on Twitter you only have 140 characters! So I would have to make sure I got all the important things in, while still having it be easy to understand.

My rant is about overweight people using the motorized shopping carts at stores. This might sound mean or harsh, but please listen to my reasoning behind it first. My grandfather has had double knee replacement surgery, twice. He physically cannot walk around a store, trust me, if he could, he would absolutely love to. There have been instances where we had to actually wait to start our shopping because there were not any of the motorized carts left. When one was finally returned, the person on the cart was not disabled, they were overweight. They got off the cart and walked to their car just fine. I was so frustrated because my grandpa actually needs this cart and someone who doesn't is taking advantage of it.

I read the following article about this topic:
http://www.escapefromobesity.net/2010/06/walmart-cart.html

This actually shifted my thinking about what I was ranting about. I still do get upset about the fact that my grandfather couldn't take advantage of something he needed because someone else was unnecessarily using it, but, this article showed that you never really know what someone is going through. You don't know why they're overweight or the ailments that obesity may cause them. Everyone needs to and is entitled to, go shopping. If someone is overweight but they cannot walk around the grocery store because they have arthritis, they should be able to have assistance in doing their shopping.

I also read this basic definition of a motorized shopping cart and what its use is intended for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorized_shopping_cart

Obesity is a really big topic in society today. So I think there are many platforms one could use to promote change in this category. Social media would be a great platform in this case. People from the ages of 13-40+ use Twitter/Facebook, etc. By posting your thoughts to Twitter, you are able to express your idea for change to a broad spectrum of people of all ages. Also, by using social media, you are able to get your ideas out there worldwide. If someone was to put an ad in a newspaper, only the local citizens would see it. To produce change, there requires a large population to support the change.

As I stated in class, it is hard, on the internet, to interpret text the exact way in which the author intended it to be interpreted. That is because everyone is different, everyone perceives things differently and when someone cannot physically hear your voice and see your reactions, their mind is left to its own devices in creating your "voice" and interpreting the feelings behind your words. However, this may also be a benefit of using social media. People are completely free to generate their own thoughts and feelings on the topic. People do not like to be bossed around and when they can create their own opinions without any social repercussions it can be a positive thing.

This is definitely a really cool project because when you are in the middle of ranting, you want to hear nothing contrary to your personal opinion. This project gave us a chance to pinpoint something that bothered us, rant about it and then basically evaluate what we thought about it and research the other side of things as well.

Thanks!

RANT

Hi Everybody!

So I waited to do my rant until now and I'm really glad because I just was in a situation that really IRKED me. 

One of the things that's drives me absolutely freaking nuts is when people who are overweight use the motorized shopping carts. I am not saying this to be mean or hurtful. It really bothers me because I feel like it's enabling people. Why take the time to lose weight if life is less exhausting being overweight. 

So today, I was walking down the aisle of the grocery store and there was a woman on a motorized shopping cart blocking a part of the aisle so I couldn't get through. After I asked her TWICE politely to move, she gave me a death glare and drove her scooter up. 

Then I got a fire in my stomach. She was mad at ME for me asking her to move the cart when she shouldn't have even been using it!!! She was not disabled, she was only overweight. 

This also bothers me because there was an instance when I went to a store with my grandfather, who has had double knee surgery, twice, with no motorized carts to be found. After 37(I WAS SO MAD I COUNTED) minutes of waiting for someone to return one, come to find someone who was NOT handicapped was using the cart. I really wanted to scream at someone and be like um, HELLO?!?! What about the people that really need them. 

Then this lovely woman proceeded to not hold the door for me so it almost smacked me in the face, what a peach 

Cake Eating 101

Since my documentary is about unhealthy food, here is my niece stuffing her face with cake on her 1st birthday this past weekend! This is also my McDonald's McNugget monster! 🐓

kay and Uncle Matt, my boyfriend!

Hi Everyone!

So, my entire family lives in Boston and as we know they're having a WICKED snow storm :) Here is a picture from my Aunt's house in Boston, this was today at NOON and they already had 2 feet!!! This was their sad attempt to dig out the car...

 

 

Anyway, on to my blog post to answer my documentary question!

 

The question I'm choosing to share with you guys is about the scene that stuck with me the most. Every time I have watched this documentary the scene that sticks with me is the scene where Morgan Spurlock throws up his McDonald's lunch right in the parking lot. This scene will always deter me from wanting to eat fast food, but especially McDonald's because watching this was just beyond disgusting! It was shocking to me that after eating McDonald's for 5 days his body felt so sick and sluggish that his body wanted to expel these toxins! I can almost guarantee (maybe?) that if someone ate broccoli or salad for 5 days straight they would not be throwing it up. Whatever ingredients McDonald's uses are obviously harmful and not necessary for the human body. During this scene, Morgan is literally forcing himself to eat the McDonald's lunch. He is gagging and in physical pain throughout the whole scene. There is a timer going during this scene to show you how long Morgan took to eat the meal because he felt so sick. I can't imagine what someone who eats McDonald's everyday for years and years has done to their body.

 

 

Anyone want to go on a date to McDonalds? LOL, kidding.

 

 

 

Currently: NEVER eating McDonald's again.....like, ever

Hi Everyone!
 
I watched Supersize Me during my freshman year of high school in health class and I was disgusted then, although it was super interesting and I really enjoyed it. I watched it yesterday, again, and was even more disgusted than last time. This is probably because, honestly, I eat more fast food then I should and McDonald's is probably the place I go to the most.
 

 
 
In the beginning of the movie, I obviously knew that Morgan eating McDonald's everyday was going to be a disaster for his body the day it started. I really didn't know it would get to the major extent it did though. The part that actually surprised me was that after eating McDonald's for only five days, Morgan literally became ill. He was in PAIN eating McDonald's and then for those of us who watched it, we saw him physically get sick in the McDonald's parking lot. I can guarantee that no one who decided to eat salad for 30 days would experience this terrible feeling in their body.
 
I watched this for the first time a long time ago and watching it again had an even bigger impact on wanting to deter me from eating McDonald's. As a freshman in high school, I didn't have access to a car or friends with cars so going to fast food restaurants frequently was not an issue. But, now that I can drive and am frequently traveling from school to work and back again, stopping for fast food is just easy. But this made me wonder how much better I might feel if I cut fast food out of my diet.
 
I think this is actually a really creative idea that Morgan Spurlock came up with for a documentary. He was willing to put himself at risk to help the mass public understand that these foods are causing problems for us that could be easily be avoided. He was interested in advocating for the greater good. 
 
Occasionally, my boyfriend and I take my niece to McDonald's because she is OBSESSED with chicken nuggets (like any other kid under 5). This makes me seriously think about what we're feeding her. She is only 1 and she doesn't need that nasty food influencing her growing body.
 
Okay on to something exciting! My niece started walking this week!!! YAY :)

Have a good weekend everyone!