Journal 4- Kenzie

Part One:
I read the blog links about police violence towards African Americans and the articles about Kaepernick. I had not really looked much into the Kaepernick story before I read the articles, I knew the general idea, but not many details. I found out that he was doing it to protest oppression of African Americans and learned that he did not stand during the national anthem. While I understand why this could upset some people, I think that it is a great way to PEACEFULLY protest something. I think Kaepernick wants to gain peace, less unfair violence and treatment of African Americans, so I think it is a good example on how to peacefully take a stand against something.

After listening to Mike speak about his project on campus to bring more food here, and GOOD food, it reminded me of this documentary that I watched on Netflix recently called Food, Inc. It gives an inside look at the processing behind the food we eat and all the dramatic changes that the food industry has gone through in the last 50 years. The first thing I learned when I watched it was that there are a few major companies that have almost complete control over how our food is made. For example, McDonald's is the biggest buyer of potatoes, so basically any way that they want the potatoes is the way that they will be made. That is in regards to the various processes that potatoes go through until they are ready to be sold. It also showed some of the very disgusting conditions that the animals are raised in. I remember the chickens were shown. Many of the farmers would not even allow cameras to go in and see. The rooms are PACKED full of chickens and a dirty environment would be an understatement. The chickens live in their own feces and there are just dead chickens that are left in the rooms until someone gets around to removing them. My thought is that we have these animals living in very dirty and unsanitary conditions and then we eat them. I feel like that can't be the best option for your health. What you eat has a huge impact on your life; it effects your mood, skin, weight, fatigue, and many other things. I think it would be very beneficial to have farmers markets in smaller areas (such as Bucyrus or Marion), or have them in a closer radius so more people would have the opportunity to get more whole, fresh, and nutritious food. Not only would we be putting better food in our bodies, but we would help support local farmers. Farmers who sell to big companies only receive 10 cents of the retail food dollar. I picked the documentary because I really enjoy watching documentaries about things that interest me and I felt like if it is credible enough to be a documentary very accessible to the public they must have pretty accurate information. I thought the link I provided below is good because it just talks about things that aren't talked about often in the food industry and I just think they are great things to consider when purchasing your food!


This is a picture from the Food, Inc. documentary. As you can see, she has to wear a mask to enter the room.
 

This is a link that provides more information about the benefits of farmers markets.
http://www.cuesa.org/learn/10-reasons-support-farmers-markets

Part II
I really enjoyed the Lydia Emery profile. It was a great example of how women did not have equal right as men in the early and mid 1900's. She explained how most girls were not even expected to go to high school, let alone medical school. She had to jump through many hoops to get the education that she received, so she must really value education. I also found it interesting how she had to hide that she was trying to go to medical school to become a doctor from her parents. She said, " My folks were getting kind of old, and you want to shelter them from some of the hard facts of life, so I just didn't say anything." I thought it was interesting that that was the type of thing that was taboo or looked down upon for a women to do in that time. I know that my mom likes to share with people that I am even in college, most parents would be thrilled and proud to have a child ambitious and dedicated enough to go through medical school! I also loved that she was still charging people her original 1940s fees of one dollar for an office visit and two dollars for a house call. That makes me think that she truly just likes to help people and she did not go into the profession for the money. I think  that the profile ends with a great quote that is very powerful and true! Lydia said," The qualities like a sound basis of knowledge and good clinical judgment and diagnostic acuity and empathy and compassion - that's what medicine is about. And gender doesn't enter into that, and neither does money!"