Quotation: “today’s fast food industry is the culmination of those larger social and economic trends” pg 261

Talking point: Fast food seems best suited for the American lifestyle since people are constantly rushing about and don’t have time to actually sit down for an actual meal. It’s ‘cool’ to go indulge in high calorie foods that don’t burst ones wallet, but the cost comes in the form of weight and health conditions so is it really worth it?

Connection:  Fast food is one of the main things associated with Americans and even though McDonalds are all over the globe, the trend starts here in the USA.

Quotation: “Behind them lies a simpler explanation for why eating a hamburger can now make you seriously ill: there is shit in the meat.” Pg 107

Talking Point: I find it absolutely abhorrent that the meat industry (specifically the beef industry) has made no real improvements in their quality of meat. Instead of focusing on sanitation and safety they continually shuffle blame elsewhere and find new ways to worsen the conditions which are already atrocious.

Connection: I connected the injustices the workers face (the low pay, poor conditions, and low level of intelligence amongst them) to the conditions of the school systems in Savage Inequalities. Perhaps the conditions are a bit better in the school system, but it’s the same hopelessness since the lack of funding keeps the poor in poor environments.

Quotation: “today the average american eats about sixty-eight pounds of beef every year” pg 142

Talking Point: I guess I always just assumed the French fries supplied to different restaurants all came from the same place, but it’s kind of interesting to see the competition between the French fry suppliers. Should there be competition on that level or should it all be uniform?

Connection: There’s a Little Caesars literally 10 minutes from my house and I never really knew how much work went into starting it up. I guess I always assumed they were a cheap place because they made cheap pizza, but it’s not.

Quotation:  “show them you are glad to see them. I’nclude eye contact with the cheerful greeting” pg 70

Talking point: it seems highly unfair that McDonalds expects a very optimistic demeanor out of their employees when the people working behind the counters are faced with such an abrasive group of spoiled Americans that look down upon the employees and regard them as less than equal.

Connection: I connected this book with the documentary “Super Size Me” where the guy sets out to prove that McDonalds and other large scale fast food places contribute to some of the pitfalls of American society (obesity being his main focus).

Quotation: “at each new job you have to start all over, clueless and friendless.” Pg 205

Talking Point: Most things in life, from the smallest microorganisms to the largest of ecosystems exist as organized systems. Should the workplace be any exception to this or is it justifiably organized down to the minutest detail.

Connection:  I found it to be amusing that the author says she could have probably survived in Minneapolis, but yet she was clearly failing. That overconfidence is quite like anyone who has just barely completed a task and is now looking back on it in hindsight.

Quotation: “so it’s interesting, and more than a little disturbing, to see how Barb turned out – that she’s meaner and slyer than I am, more cherishing of grudges, and not quite as smart as I’d hoped.” Pg169

Talking point: The poor are expected to trust the rich and they lack the power to fight back so they are the ones who must meekly leave their meager possessions behind and go do what is asked of them whereas a rich person would raise argument. Is it fair?

Connection: A lot of Americans feel that the Latinos are moving in and taking their jobs and it reminded me of a movie we watched in Spanish class my junior year of high school (I forget the name of the movie) in which the lower class white citizens were outraged at the increase in illegal immigrants stealing their jobs.

                I’ll admit to being terribly frightened the first time I stepped into the chapel on Sunday October 25, 2009. That brisk morning I stood in front of my dorm room mirror for a good hour trying desperately to figure out what one wears to church. Jeans seemed too informal, and a lot of my clothes didn’t seem conservative enough. The only knowledge I had of church were the few times I went as a little kid and back then I always dressed up, but I couldn’t remember if it was because I had to or because I simply wanted to. I found it was the latter. When I entered the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, an Episcopalian church just fifteen minutes from my dorm, I realized that I could have shown up in nice jeans and a sweater.  My first venture into the church was merely for observation – I wasn’t planning on talking to anyone since I just wanted the outsider view for a week, but people approached me and asked me who I was, why I was there, and how my morning was going. I didn’t start my interview process that first Sunday; instead I just casually took part in the gossip as we all waited for the service to begin. It was a small group of roughly 50 or so people from the area, mostly college kids, and some older patrons. The church is a decent sized chapel fit to house at least 100, and it looks rather empty being only half full. It’s managed by Father Bunder (or Padre as the members of the congregation sometimes call him). I found the pamphlet with the service directions (which one of the older women so kindly explained was called a “bulletin”) to be a challenge to follow because half the time the service veered off the path of the paper and I was completely lost. Some of the people around me were just speaking the words with no paper in hand because they knew them by heart. I puzzled over whether or not the words meant anything to them or if it had merely become an automatic function. I approached one of the young men I’d seen speaking sans paper that morning and asked him that sole question. He looked right into my eyes, furrowed his bushy brown eyebrows, and then spoke very serenely; “The first time I read those words I didn’t understand them, but these are words spoken every Sunday morning and once you finally get them you really feel them – it’s not something you lose. I could say them a thousand times and they would still mean so much to me all because I know that behind those words is a God who I can believe in and a community willing to speak those words with me and believe what I believe.”  

The next time I went was the 6:00pm service November 8^th.  It was labeled “contemporary” by the website, and I didn’t quite know what the constituted. In my house contemporary church services were deemed “circus church” by my father who was ultra-traditional in his views. He always told us that people jumped around and hugged each other and clapped off-rhythm while a pastor stood at the altar in the midst of all the chaos just accepting the randomness abounding. I’d never been to a contemporary service for that reason. What I found was an insanely tight-knit group of people who looked as though they’d found something that I didn’t believe existed. The second I walked in that night I was identified as a newcomer where the weeks prior at the early service I was able to blend into the background for a while. The Padre asked who I was and what I was majoring in. For the first few minutes it was only me and another kid, Devin, a sophomore in the forestry/wildlife management major sitting talking to the Padre. The second thing Padre Bunder did was ask me to move up (I’d carefully chosen a seat near the back to observe). He told me that normally the 6:00pm service was a small group of roughly 10 college kids and I would stick out for sure if I sat that far back. He was the same man who ran the service during the morning, but with less of a crowd to entertain he was a lot more easygoing and quick to joke. He explained to me that they used to have a contemporary band, but the funding faced a few cuts and with it went the band. He laughed there telling me “I could have fired the secretary and kept the band, but eh…” He also explained that the only reason this service was still going was because Eli Lilly left a lot of money to the Episcopalian church in the West Lafayette area when he died and so that group of 10 was able to meet Sunday nights and enjoy an extremely casual church service. I thought he was joking again, but as soon as the 8 people wandered in for the night (Padre was aware of who was attending that night too; the other students asked about their two missing friends and he had explanations for both) the first thing that was done was the ordering of pizza. I honestly could not believe that. Padre looked out at his 8 congregation members and me, gave a serious face, then broke into a chuckle as he called out “okay – who wants to call Papa John’s tonight?” Devin, the boy I’d met earlier was the one to go place the phone call and order the pizza which enabled him to miss the first 10 minutes of the service. Then the students chimed in, joking with Padre about the bulletin which was titled “Martha Stewardship Sunday.” One sarcastic girl, a 5^th year food science student, piped up and told Padre the Martha Stewart slogan “it’s a good thing” should have been printed on there as well. Padre just laughed, not minding at all that the service should have been starting, but was running a bit late.  The service was nothing spectacular, a few lessons, a sermon, a couple of prayers, a lot of banter with Padre, and 8 people standing in a church showing up when no one else would because they trusted something without question.

I talked to Liz, the 5^th year student, since she had proudly declared that she had been with Good Shepherd since her start of college. She first told me that she used to be a Methodist, but didn’t like the Methodist church on campus and wandered into Good Shepherd one night. She looked over to where Padre was sitting and chuckled softly. I asked her why that response and she told me “I joined Good Shepherd all because Padre told a funny religion joke the first time I attended a service.” She then told me that being involved in church is like having a family wherever you go – she went to Europe a few summers ago and the first thing she did was find an Episcopal church to join. In that church she met a doctor who spoke perfect English and was able to give her free allergy shots. “It about our connections to each other, the biggest of which comes from our connection to Him, our one God. He is with us wherever we go and that’s why we show up on a Sunday night when we know it’ll only be 10 of us and none of us can carry a tune. We take the time out of our busy lives because Jesus gave his life to give us that time. And we believe in what we cannot see because it’s more than just sight and scientific proof – it’s a feeling of love, belonging, and most importantly hope that even through our darkest times we have Jesus as our defender. We are the ones who fight on when others are lost, and we are the ones who go back to help them because our Lord expects that of us.”

I bid her a gracious thank you for the information. She looked like she believed every word she spoke, but faith can’t be found by others and I was still left to doubt. Science is too deeply rooted in my mind and I thought the other’s might be less enthusiastic than Liz.

Quotation: “so ours is a world of pain – managed by Excedrin and Advil…” pg 89

Talking Point: The author brings up the topic of a soul and how she wonders what soul is it that goes onto the “next life.” What constitutes a soul? Does everyone have them and is the soul always pure even when the body acts the contrary?

Connection: The author talks about how this opportunity is a chance for her to disconnect from her former life and take on new challenges to become a new person yet she longs endlessly for her old life. I connected to that in terms of college because at first I was more than ready to cut all the ties I had to my past life, but now I find I am talking to my old friends more often and I am keeping in contact with my parents. I didn’t realize how much those relationships meant to me until I almost lost them.

Quotation: “the only way to find out was to get out there and get my hands dirty” pg4

Talking point: The woman writing the book is kind of a cheater in her choices since she started out with so much more than most of those other people. She’s far too spoiled by her normal life and spends a good majority of the first portion complaining instead of actively trying to make do with things.

Connection: She kind of regards herself as Cinderella, but yet the other workers are more like Cinderella (although few of them will ever escape this lifestyle) in such the manner that they don’t think about what they could be doing if they had a better life – they just deal with the life they have now.

Quotation: “my brother shot himself in a hotel room. You write him down as a hurricane victim”

Talking Point: In my mind everyone who faced the hurricane or lost a loved one to it should be classified as a hurricane victim. Is it really fair to tell someone suffering psychologically after seeing their mother washed away in the hurricane that they are not a victim and that they are okay because I think not.

Connection: The cleanup took far too long. Unlike 9-11 where people got in and cleaned up within the week, hurricane Katrina left New Orleans a mess for a long, long time. It seems that the government is only quick to respond in certain cases. Clearly they didn’t want to go in and help New Orleans and judging by the job they did I would say they didn’t do enough.