Thanksgiving!

Seeing as Thanksgiving is coming up (and also seeing as how this was assigned), I've decided to blog about all of the things I'm thankful for!

First of all, I'm thankful for all of the people in my life: my family, even though they can get pretty annoying; my friends, without whom I would be nowhere; my teachers/coaches because I actually wouldn't know what to do without them. I love being around people and so it's great that I have so many wonderful people in my life!

I'm also thankful for swimming! As anyone who's ever met me knows, swimming is basically my whole life. 99% of the time that I can't do something, it's because of swimming. I love the sport so much because it doesn't involve running (which I can't do) and because I'm not bad at it (because I pretty much stink at every other sport.) Swimming is really rewarding because it's easy to see the times improving and also because it keeps me in good shape. I can eat pretty much whatever I want to and it usually doesn't have any consequences! Plus, most of my friends are from my swim team, so that's another thing I'm grateful for.

I'm thankful for my pets, simply because they make me so happy by being so nice! I love that animals don't really get angry... they just always seem so happy about everything. My dogs are especially good for that. My fish makes me happy, too, because its fun to watch him swim around in his tank.

I'm thankful for all of the founders of our country (duh) because I live here and love it!

And that's pretty much it... I guess I'm thankful for this blog because it saves me from having to write a bunch of formal papers and I'm allowed to use first-person and write run-on sentences like this with incorrect punctuation and probably incorrect grammar. So thanks, Blogger!

Have a good Thanksgiving, everyone (if there's even anyone) who's reading!

Visual Essay

When most teenagers think of McDonald's, they think of food that is horrible for them but, regrettably, tastes good. When parents think of McDonald's, they see an easy alternative to cooking dinner and cleaning it up that takes much less time and makes the kids happy. And when kids think of McDonald's, they think of bright red and yellow, free toys, yummy food, and fun characters. The reason that kids love McDonald's so much is that McDonald's preys upon their innocence. Kids like bright colors, so McDonald's uses red and yellow as its theme. Kids are attracted to mascots, so McDonald's has Ronald the clown to interact with them and tell them all about how great McDonald's really is. Kids like playing, so there are Playplaces that they can have fun in after they enjoy their meal. And kids like burgers and fries, so McDonald's knows that it's the perfect place, selling an "all-American" meal that tastes great. The corporation knows that selling products to children is the best way to make a profit - what parent can say no when their hungry little Sally is begging for a Happy Meal? Executives attend national conferences about how best to appeal to children and tailor their advertisements and techniques to fit the desires of kids.

But kids don't realize the negative consequences that eating fast food can have for them. What I focused on in my essay was the nutritional aspect. A McDonald's Happy Meal contains anywhere from 380-700 calories and 12-27 grams of fat. Eaten rarely, foods like these are fine for kids to eat. But when they are eaten in large amounts, which happens a lot, they can lead to long-term health consequences. Plus, when children learn to associate fast food with happiness and fun, it can wreak havoc on their future nutritional decisions. Obesity is a rising epidemic in our country, and the fast food restaurants of today are doing absolutely nothing to stop it.

Anyway, now I can finally get to the actual analysis of my project. My claim is that fast food companies' advertising to children can have devastating consequences on their health. My intended audience, besides my class, is the general American public, especially parents of young children. I hope that they will see how McDonald's takes advantage of the youth and easy-to-please attitudes of their kids and maybe stop taking them to such places before it's too late.

The images I chose to use and the order I put them in reflects, I hope, the pattern that usually takes place. I started with some pictures of McDonald's restaurants in order to introduce the topic and to show how even the architecture is appealing to children by looking very simple and comfortable, almost like a home. Then I showed the various ways that McDonald's draws children in: Playplaces, Happy Meals, toys and themes from familiar movies, mascots/characters, merchandise, and attractive and tasty food. I showed kids eating with their families in order to make a point that by attracting the kids, the entire family is persuaded to attend McDonald's. Finally, I showed pictures of children who are obese, ending with a picture of two heavy boys eating McDonald's. This is to show the consequences that McDonald's can have on the health and well-being of whom they are advertising to. I closed with a picture of the McDonald's golden arches with a caption that says "i'm lovin' it." This is meant to inspire questions in the minds of viewers - should we really love something that is so bad for us?

Musically, I chose to use the Justin Timberlake version of the McDonald's theme song. It's kind of similar to the example Mrs. Cardona used because it carries the same connotation - do we really love it (McDonald's)? If I had used a different song, I think it would lose some of the irony that I tried to portray. We love McDonald's so much, yet what does it do for us? It gives us cheap, poorly processed foods that are terrible for our bodies, then keeps us coming back for more.

Something needs to change in the way that we see fast food. It's not, as is thought, an American cuisine. The companies don't care about individual customers. They're out for a profit, and the sad truth is that they will do anything to make money.

Thanks to Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation for inspiring this video!

On Entitlement

ENTITLEMENT (n): the right to guaranteed benefits under a government program, as Social Security or unemployment compensation

(dictionary.com)

Entitlement. It's something that we all see every day. Most people, when they think of the word, think of government programs like Social Security that citizens feel entitled to. But I think that entitlement is much more than that. People feel that they have the rights to something every day. For example, everyone feels that, as citizens of the United States, we are entitled to free speech under the Constitution. But what does that even mean? Again, we are all entitled to create our own definition of it. (Unless, of course, there's a lawsuit involved, in which case the court gets the right to decide. But that's beside the point.) Swimmers, before the biggest meet of the season, are entitled to skip gym and relax when they would otherwise be doing something active. I'm entitled to use this blog to write down my thoughts and share them with anyone who cares to read what I'm saying.

When it comes to government entitlement, I believe very much that it is the government's responsibility to make sure that their citizens are entitled to the lives that they want to have. We, as constituents of the Constitution of the United States, are guaranteed the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So yes, I believe that the government should protect our lives and our liberty. The pursuit of happiness is much harder to define, becuase what makes one person happoy could cause another harm. But everyone IS entitled to try and make their own lives as good as they can get.

So I don't really know if I even wrote this post on the right topic, but hopefully I did!