Ashley Pfaff

     After watching food ink, and reading over The Omnivore's Dilemma and The pleasures of eating, I have come to the conclusion that if we do not make the smart choices when it comes to the food that is placed into our body, our food has the ability to control us. I look at it as if no matter what we do, we are going to fill our bodies with harmful substances, half the time without meaning to. It's hard to keep our lives full of organic foods because of the economy, but after educating myself on this topic, I realized that that may be the only full proof way to keep myself healthy.

     For me, it has officially been one week since the last slice of meat was put into my body. It is not that I am making the decision to become a full fledged vegetarian, it is just that after watching Food Inc. I cannot put meat to my mouth without feeling the urge to gag. On campus, it is a tough task to accomplish because there are not  many non meat choices that are healthy, but so far I have succeeded.

     The only thing that I do dread is going home, where my parents are indeed infected by this idea of the Omnivore Dilemma. I do not believe that any of them could give up eating meat, well chicken that is. Who knows, I may get up the urge to indulge in chicken by then, but as of right now they can keep on clucking their way into someone else's stomach.

In preparation for our oral history/collaborated research project, Professor Mangini had us watch Food Inc. during our classroom time. To get our minds thinking, we were to pick three different questions that sparked our thoughts and write about them in this blog post. The following are the questions that I chose to answer:

Do you think eating healthy should be a right, a responsibility, or a privilege?
     Before beginning my college years, during my senior year, my eating habits got the best of me, and I gained a significant amount of weight. Freshman year brought changes, and instead of gaining my freshman fifteen, I decided to lose it. Because of this, eating healthy should be a responsibility, because like many other things in life, if you want something, you need to have the discipline to work for it. Because eating healthy is more expensive, it gives someone the iniciative to work hard for their health, to make money to feed their family. Also, living long means fueling your body with the correct things, it is your responsibility and your choice to do such a thing. Not everyone needs to choose to do such a thing, but I see it as we are responsible for our choices and our lifestyles.

There is a lot of research showing that healthful food makes people feel better, have more energy, and stay well. Do you think if more people knew about this research, they would make different choices? 
     Yes, I strongly believe in this theory. I know that ever since I began eating healthier I have had a higher amount of self-esteem, and my body feels as if it can accomplish anything. If I fall off the healthy band wagon and start to eat tons of junk, I find myself becoming more tired, and I have less of a motivation to go to the gym which I usually do on a regular basis. I know from experience that being sick effects everything in my life and it makes me miserable, as I am sure that everyone else feels the same way. To avoid this would make the days that we speand on earth more enjoyable.

Whose responsibility do you think it is to inform us about what is in our food?
In my opinion, I believe that it is the producer's responsibility tp inform us about the food that they are supplying to us, which we are putting into our bodies. If something is harmful, I want to know, and if they are the ones to tell me, there is a less of a chance that I will be dissapointed with their products. Also, if a producer is having an issue with their products, it should be featured on the news, whether on TV or in a paper, so that we are aware of what we are going to be eating in the future.

     When I found out that I was not going to be able to present my Twitterive in class, I was both excited and dissapointed all at once. It would have been nice to explain the meaning of my twitterive, but at the same time I liked that my readers got to read it and make their own interpretations. Plus, I often have trouble with speaking alloud and explaining myself to others, especially my peers. Overall, the feedback of both my classmates and Professor Mangini helped me out a lot. I was already confident in my draft, but with their opinions I know that a few tweeks will be able to make my story a little better. 

     Almost everyone pointed out the addition of the "Once upon a time", most enjoyed it, said it added depth but Samantha C stated that is made everything seem like a fairytale, which is usually more upbeat. In my opinion, my story does have a happy ending, therefore it is something that I am confident works in my peice. Alexa told me to maybe state how I found out about his cheating, which may give more of a background on my story.

     Both Rebecca and Michael Y pointed out things regarding my pictures, which I really appreciated because I wasn't sure if their additions were relevent. I really enjoyed Michaels comment about my dissapearing picture of kyle and I and how it represented my depression. He then recomended maybe doing the opposite at the end, a picture coming into light. This is a brilliant idea, and may deffinately be a good possibility.

     Finally, I liked the fact the Professor Mangini sent me a well written out critique of my twitterive, it better helped me sort out my thoughts and my plans for its future. Constructive criticism always helps me, and I am thankful for the help of my peers. Without their opinions I would have been stuck at a dead end.

Speaker: Samantha Caltabiano
Topic: Family Room
Comments: Family is important to a lot of people, and each one has their own stories. It is a great thing to feature as a Twitterive, but the creator must know where he/she wants to go with it. Samantha did not. I felt that she had so many ideas and directions that she wanted to take her story, that she could not limit herself and create a polished draft. When you don't know  much about a persons background it is hard to give them advice. In my opinion, the idea of secrets in her life could be focused on. It could feature the secret of her father cheating, and the fact that she didn't know about her brothers until recently. 

Speaker: Alexa Kalin
Topic: Hunting for the perfect house
Comments: Overall, I felt that this Twitterive was headed in the right direction. I enjoyed that the perspective on buying a house was given by the couple to be and the mother, but I felt as if there was not enough depth to it. It was mostly covered by writing, and if more genres were incorporated I feel as if more emotion could be felt by the readers. I will point out though that I enjoyed the diary entry that was placed in the beginning. It would be nice for her to possibly turn that into her repetend.

Speaker: Sam Olenowski
Topic: Grandfather's Story
Comments: For Sam's Twitterive, there was not much constructive criticism that I could give her. Overall, it seemed to be complete. One thing that I will point out, is that I loved the incorporation of the bible verses with her Aunts and Uncles names, since they were all featured in the bible. It was a very creative genre. She represented the character of her grandfather to the fullest, and I was able to understand and respect the man that he one was. Also, the ending, where she tied both of their lives together with a picture, was a great added touch. It showed the ability to have a connection with someone in your life that passed away before you could have the chance to meet them personally.

Speaker: Michael Youngkin
Topic: limbic space
Comments: In all honesty, there is not much that I could say about this piece. It is tough to offer someone suggestions when they themself have no idea what they are looking to pursue. One thing that I will point out, is that I enjoyed the idea of the loss that he expresses, he just needs to figure out exactly where to go with it. Does he want to associate his Twitterive with that feeling in general? o r does he want to concentrate on what caused that feeling? It is something that a lot of us have been through, so I believe that the finished product will be both moving and relatable.

Speaker: Stephanie Bowser
Topic: Life with Dance
Comments: Stephanie's presentation honestly moved me. I had been in her TLC2 class, so I remember her mentioning her Turrets and Dance when we presented our "Me boxes", but I never got to know her enough to realize that she danced as an escape. The fact that she turned to dance to feel "normal" inspired me, and I loved that she does not let her flaws take control of her. I could not imagine dealing with something like that everyday, and for her to make a joke out of it and laugh it off made me grow respect for the person that she is. One thing that I really enjoyed about her Twitterive was her confessional style video. It allowed me to get to know her feelings towards her Turrets, and it put a highly emotional twist into her story. The only suggestion that I can make is to move it too a different spot in her narrative, maybe as an intermission, because it shows emotions that should be expressed on their own.

Speaker: Katie Collins
Topic: Relationship with father - Alcoholism
Comments: Listening to Katie's story about her lack of relationship with her parents, especially her Father because of his tendencies to abuse alcohol, made me realize how grateful I am to have a strong and supportive relationship with both my mother and father. She gave us great background information about her feelings towards her fathers abuse and her respect for her grandparents, but I found myself wanting more. She made it clear that her grandparents became her parents, but as I read her twitterive I noticed that some information was missing. Where was her mother during this process? Her siblings? During our discussion she told us that her mother spent her life taking care of her husband, and that she was barely in her life also. If it was included, I feel that a better connection would be made between her and her readers. One thing I did enjoy though, were her letters to her father, which gave her twitterive a sense of emotion.

Speaker: David Lucas
Topic: His battle with cancer
Comments: I will be honest, David's presentation made my eyes tear up. I give him credit for having the strength to tell us such a personal story about his battle with cancer. I could not imagine dealing with such a life changing event. I know I have been through some rough patches, but nothing that  can compare to the challenges that both him and his parents went through. I wish my thoughts could be beneficial and that I could offer changes, but I felt that the Twitterive that he presented to us today could be his final draft. It is hard to tell someone to add or take out things when it is such an emotional topic. I felt like I gained a sense of what he went through, and the picture story really helped. 

Speaker: Darren Guant
Topic: A day in the life of a child
Comments: I have always wondered what little kids see in today's world. It is hard to draw my thoughts back to my childhood and remember how I saw and heard different events, so Darren's twitterive came as interesting to me. I love how he took his job and used it help show us how children see things and view adult situations. His genres also helped me gain a good sense of children, especially when he had one of his preschoolers carry around the camera. Something I also enjoyed was the day in the life of a preschooler schedule. A few suggestions that I would make though, is too add his own dialogue to the video, rather than having just a walk through. It is possible to make the video more of a comedic genre by talking like a child and going through his thought process while he makes his way through the school.

     In all honesty, my life revolves around technology. Whether it be social networking, my iPod, or my cell phone, I am always connected to the technological world around me. As I jumped into this assignment I was not hesitant when it came to using my online resources, but I was however stumped on how to incorporate them into my theme. I did not want to overwhelm my Twitterive with just one form of technology, but at points I felt as if pictures and writing were the only things that would fit correctly.

     As I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, I am a terrible procrastinator. It took my two weeks into the class to start tweeting, but now that I have began I am constantly on that site, which also contributes to my terrible habit. I was not nervous about my choice to procrastinate until the day before my Twitterive was due. With my luck, the lovely Rowan Internet Connection was lagging, and it tended to kick me off often. It was if it was saying "HAHA! Serves you right! begin sooner next time." I needed to find a song on Youtube, and of course each time I tried to play it, it would freeze. Trying to post things to Weebly? Forget it: "This site is currently facing issues". AWESOME! My goal was to incorporate a video of myself into the program, well lets just say the fact that my camera died and You tube didn't seem to want to show my video to the world stopped that from happening.

     Finally, as the due date of my Twitterive came, my issues were pushed behind, and i was pleased with my finished product. Although the internet rebelled against me, the combination's of technology that are in my piece bring out my story, and I am satisfied with it. Yes, there is still more to add and fix up, but as a first draft it does justice. Let's just hope my procrastination comes to a stop, and the technology of the internet becomes my best friend before the end of this semester!